This article was published in the daily newspaper The Daily Capital Journal, South Dakota, USA, on October 11, 1966.
|
PIERRE (AP) -- Strange lights in the sky and a sound "like a car on a gravel road" touched off a wave of interest in flying saucers in central South Dakota Monday night.
Law officers wouldn't go so far as to say the objects appeared to be flying saucers, but some of them in a 100 miles radius of Fort Thompson, S.D., were routed by curious individuals who thought so.
At least seven unusual lights in the sky were observed to the east at one time by Fort Thompson persons.
Edgar Loudner, with the Public Health Service, and Joe Blacksmith and Oscar Hislaw, both of the Bureau of Indian Affairs police, all at Fort Thompson, and others at the Crow Creek Indian Reservation community said they saw an object to the West that seemed to be blue-green, then disappeared.
Shortly afterward, Loudner heard an unusual sound, seemingly overhead.
"It sounded like a jet motor or a car on a gravel road," Loudner said. Others agreed.
Not long afterward, they said, the lighted object appeared in the east of the sky.
Numerous persons also reported seeing an object with blinking lights. to the East.
"Whatever it is, it has red, green and white flashing lights," said Pat McGregor, Brule county deputy sheriff, Kimball, as he glanced out of the door of the fort Thompson police station.
He and Howard Pulse, Kimball chief of police, drove to Fort Thompson after receiving a report og strange lights.
"It's definitely not a star," McGregor said, adding that it was too bright. "It could be a planet."
He said he couldn't estimate how far away it was - "Maybe it's 20 miles and maybe its 1,000."
Does he believe in flying saucers?
"I don't know," he said with a sigh.
The object with the blinking lights and the other with the blue-green light, observers said, seemed to be about the same general area in the east.
Later, after 11 p.m., more strange lights were observed by Fort Thompson persons. "You can see seven," said Blacksmith.
One of the first reports came from a rancher to state Highway Patrolman Pat Gribbin, Kennebec, about 9 p.m. He and Lyman county sheriff Lee Roberts drove to a high point and for about one and one-half hour watched an unusual light toward the east, apparently the same blinking light later noticed by Fort Thompson persons.
"It was changing color," Gribbin said, "It looked like a beacon. The colors rotated."
Gribbin said he notified officers at Fort Thompson, who hadn't noticed the lighted object.
He said the object appeared to gradually move farther away and higher.
"It was never close, but it was larger than a star," he said.
Game Warden Floyd Gaarder, Presho, watched the blinking lights with a spotting scope.
A number of Pierre persons said they saw unusual looking "stars,planets or something" in the sky toward the east.
