Subject: Big Explosion in McMinnville, Tennessee (fwd)
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 21:36:12 -0500
Organization: OBC
Lines: 110
Keywords: UFO

The following is a transcription of a brief segment of the Laura 
Lee Show from KVI, Seattle.  Laura is interviewing Peter Davenport 
of the National UFO Reporting Center.  The date is Saturday, 14 
January, 1995.  Earlier, I mistakenly identified the guest as 
Michael Strenek of MUFON Canada.  Sorry!

[This segment was preceded by discussion of a large number of 
sightings in Michigan]

PD.  Actually, it [the Michigan incident] was a prelude to 
something that took place just a week ago tonight out in 
McMinnville, Tennessee.  I took a report about 9:27 pm. last 
Saturday night from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.  
Theyāre based in Nashville.  And interestingly, they had been 
directed by the US Air Force to the hotline out here in Seattle.  
Apparently - and you can rest, uh, more soundly tonight knowing 
that I apparently am the first line defense against exploding 
UFOās, because last Saturday night, there apparently was an 
*immense* explosion very near McMinnville, Tennessee -- thatās in 
Warren County, just east of Nashville -- that caused the Warren 
County Sheriffās Office to be activated, the Tennessee Emergency 
Management Agency to be activated, people were launching aircraft 
to look for the fragments or fires or injuries or property damage.  
It apparently was quite an explosion.  I received a seven-page fax 
from the TEMA -- Tennessee Emergency Management Agency -- and Iāve 
had a number of phone calls from a number of people about this, 
and it certainly took place.

LL.  Now, you were called because strange lights, explosions in 
the sky -- but do you personally think it had something to do with 
a UFO, or couldnāt it have been some other phenomenon?  Someone 
set off a bomb, or a small meteor came down, uh, thereās many 
causes of explosions.

PD.  Uh, thatās true -- a good point, and I skipped over part of 
the -- the  -- the most important part of the story.  The 
explosion occurred several minutes after the Warren County 
Sheriffās Office emergency dispatch was *swamped* with UFO calls.  
People were seeing saucers, they were seeing bat-like or 
triangular ships.  And one of the objects that was seen descending 
to earth in Warren County, Tennessee, was a bright cylinder that 
was positioned vertically, that was seen by -- from many vantage 
points.  I received a map showing the lines of sight from, uh, 
perceivers or witnesses to this event.  Lines of sight from people 
who saw it. The object descended to the ground level, after which 
there was an *immense* explosion -- a white flash, and blue 
burning fragments of material were seen thrown high into the sky 
over McMinnville. 

LL.  Did you ask a scientist how do you get a blue burning 
fragment?  I mean -- red hot, we know about.  You can get blue 
flames or white flames, but blue flames, could you even 
guesstimate the temperature, therefore the kind of material used -
- you can begin to piece these little factts together?

PD.  Youāre full of good questions tonight, because thatās the 
reason I said "blue burning fragments".  Because exactly as you 
state, the temperature is a function -- er -- the, the 
incandescence, the color of the burning fragment is a result of 
its temperature.  And the fact that it was blue makes it very 
mysterious.  The, uh, I was told by TEMA that the airport manager 
of the McMinnville, Tennessee airport, after he saw the explosion, 
jumped in his own airplane, and took off, and searched the area 
for about six minutes, canāt -- not believing his eyes that there 
wasnāt some kind of visible damage or destruction or fire or 
something in process there.

LL.  So, nobody found any damaged buildings, nobody found a hole 
in the ground, ah, um, nothing.

PD.  Thatās my understanding.

LL.  It was just -- and nobody found fragments.

PD.  Thatās my understanding.

LL.  You donāt know if some government agency, or *somebody* came 
in.  Or do you?

PD.  Well, I do.  And weāve had -- we have a number of 
investigators to whom I have handed this information out in that 
area.  As you know, the, the hotline here, the National UFO 
Reporting Center does not have its own investigators.  All we are 
is a clearing house for information.  We take in reports and we 
try to turn that infromation around on short notice to 
investigators or interested parties -- ah, in this case, out in 
that area, that neck of the woods.  And weāve had a number of 
investigators skulking around Warren County trying to find out 
whatās going on.  The one thing we do know, uh, reasonably 
certainly at this point, is there have been some federal 
investigators circulating in that area -- we presume theyāre 
federal -- telling all of the authorities to say nothing about 
this event -- for what reason, I donāt know, but it comes from a 
very, very good source.

LL.  You never know, I guess, when the next Roswell will happen, 
and you never know when itās gonna happen in your own back yard, 
is that what youāre trying to tell us here?

PD.  Well I donāt know.  I may have seemed to have implied that, 
but itās only inadvertent, because frankly, I really donāt know 
what happened there, except to say that the events that were 
described *before* the explosion apparently are very similar to 
what was reported just three or four days earlier out in the heart 
of Michigan.  In point of fact, I took, six nights running, Laura, 
I took telephone calls all times of night and day, uh, about bat-
like or delta-shaped ships.  It started on the first of January 
that was my, uh, New Yearās greeting.

[The discussion continues regarding sightings elsewhere]