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ON THIS PAGE:

*REPORT ON McKEE KENTUCKY SIGHTINGS*

*FLORENCE (BOONE COUNTY), KY UFO REPORT*

*UPDATE ON FLORENCE (BOONE COUNTY) KY SIGHTING*

*BUTLER (OHIO) SEARCH TURNS UP NO CRASHED SAUCER*

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REPORT ON McKEE, KENTUCKY, SIGHTINGS

August & September, 1998

Filed by Annie MacFie, 9/23/98

I found a cordial reception from a young family living temporarily in a mobile home until their new house can be constructed. Their 16-acre site is located several miles outside McKee, along a rural road where subdivision is taking place; it offers a clear view of a fairly wide area of sky and borders on the Daniel Boone National Forest.

The primary witness, Sandy Dyer is 35 years of age, an attractive, brown-eyed wife and mother of two sons. Now a full-time homemaker, she formerly worked as an accountant until the family moved to the country two years ago. Her husband Tom, a professional truck driver, is often away, so Sandy and her boys are accustomed to spending nights in their isolated home on their own.

Sandy doesn't remember the exact date when she noticed some points of light in the night sky, which were behaving in an odd way. A single, bright light traveling east to west stopped and began rapidly flashing "from red to blue." She summoned Tom to have a look, and over the next hour, the couple saw at least six smaller lights moving toward the bright one and stopping near it. After a few moments, they would swiftly leave it, disappearing into the stars. They chalked the activity up as something peculiar, but it got Sandy watching the sky, wondering if she would see something similar again.

Insomnia frequently troubles Sandy, and on this sleepless early morning, she left her bedroom and went into the living room. A brilliant, star-like light was visible through the sliding glass door that leads from her living room out onto a deck. Sandy put a videotape into the VCR, noting the time as 4:17, and then fell asleep before the TV.

A bright light shining through the glass door onto her face woke her. Alarmed to think an intruder might be on the deck shining a flashlight into the room, she shielded her face from the pale amber light with her hand and sat up quickly. The time, she noticed, was 5:55, and the light was coming from the "star" she had seen earlier. Then the bright object and its beam were gone. Frightened, she woke her sons, although there was no longer anything for them to see.

Within a few days Sandy's hair was coming out "by the handful." Thinking this might be caused by a medication she was taking for gastric problems, she consulted her doctor. Hair loss is not a known side effect of the drug, Prilosec, she was advised; however, she was switched to another medication.

Unable to sleep again, Sandy was back on the living room sofa, reading a novel, with the television on. The glass door was partially covered with a blind, but she had a clear view of the sky through half of it and watched a bright aerial object she said might have looked as large as a dime at arm's length come from the east, getting closer and larger until, by the time it halted behind the mobile home, it appeared larger than a quarter, perhaps as big as a half-dollar coin. She drew the object as oval, although it was radiating such bright light, she seemed uncertain what shape may have been inside the oval glow. It seemed close enough to be hovering over their property, but from her reclining position, she could see only treetops and so had no reference as to how far away it was, but it was high above the horizon, between 45 and 60 degrees, she estimated.

Tom was out on a run, so her first thought was of waking her 15-year-old, Joshua, but before she could call to him, the amber beam of light, almost as broad as the object itself, came through the glass again. The beam illuminated a portion of the carpet as it fell over Sandy's body from the lower part of the ribcage down to her knees, and she felt prevented from rising. All she could do was relax back onto her pillow; the sensation, she said, was very much like being anaesthetized for surgery. She felt mentally drawn to the light outside and was barely able to turn her head to look into it. She lost all feeling of control over her body and wondered if she was dying.

The next thing Sandy remembered was waking from a nightmare at 7:10 a.m. Her alarm clock had been ringing since 6:30, and her kids were late for school. In her dream she was back in her childhood home and had been saying, "I don't believe in aliens." At that, the family housekeeper, a woman Sandy had liked and trusted, removed a device something like the powerpack of a camcorder from her stomach and plugged herself into a wall outlet, saying, "Now, do you believe me?" A later part of the dream had to do with "trying to get away from someone or something." The day was a highly emotional one for Sandy; she felt hungry and tired; she found herself crying and looking again and again into the empty sky.

When her sons returned from school in the afternoon and went to care for their dogs, which are penned in various places around the property, Josh discovered one of them was dead. A registered Walker hound, a young female he'd been feeding up to breed, lay lifeless, with open eyes, in the pen farthest from the house. Josh and Sandy examined her body carefully but could find no injuries, no blood nor any apparent cause for her death. The other dogs, cats, rabbits and poultry the family keeps were all accounted for and unaffected. The dogs, ordinarily quick to bark at any disturbance, had been silent during the sighting. The dead hound was buried with no further investigation. Sandy accepts that its death may not have been related to the UFO but says the family has always taken pride in proper animal care, and she is puzzled by the sudden demise of a young dog that seemed in excellent health.

Having awakened several times in the night, Sandy bedded down once more in the living room to see if the UFO would return. She'd prepared herself with camera and binoculars in case it did. Concerned about his mom and how upset she had felt, Josh took his sleeping bag in and slept on the floor near her.

Around 4:45, what looked like the same bright object came sailing in from the same direction as the previous morning's visitor. Sandy woke her son and grabbed her binoculars, but she was trembling so violently, she couldn't focus on it. Josh took the binoculars and got the UFO in view. "My God, Mom," he gasped, "it's coming right at us - fast!"

The object came to a stop, again south of the mobile home, but farther away, Sandy thought, than it had hovered before. She and Josh both likened its apparent size at this time to a quarter at arm's length. The boy watched it through the binoculars for about five minutes.

He could make out an oblong shape which looked grey, and spaced around it were red, white and green lights and a yellowish one at the center. These flashed continuously, at times very rapidly. Cone-shaped areas extended from the top and bottom of the oval but were so bright that Josh was unable to discern whether they were solid parts of the structure or converging rays of light.

The object remained in their view until 5:30. During this time, it maneuvered in angular patterns, traveling horizontally, then descending vertically, then leveling out before ascending straight up, then plunging earthward. Sandy remembered her camera but decided not to attempt to take a picture because she was afraid the automatic flash would attract the attention of whatever might be piloting the thing.

As daybreak approached the UFO became dimmer. Through the binoculars it appeared farther away, and they eventually lost sight of it. After a night of little rest, Josh got up and went to school, along with his younger brother Jerry, who had slept soundly through the whole adventure.

More of Sandy's hair fell out in the days following the second sighting. Under treatment for a case of Lyme disease she contracted from tick bite last May, she has been put on the antibiotic Doxicyclene for several months. Again, her doctor sees no connection between her medication and the hair loss incidents.

As often happens when people see a UFO, Sandy got to ruminating on other strange events that had happened in her life. She recalled a night sometime before she and Tom had their sighting when she had fallen asleep reading to Jerry in his bedroom. The phone rang in the night and Sandy woke to find herself and her bedclothes on the living room sofa with no recollection of moving there. Jerry was asleep and had no knowledge of how or when his mother had left his room.

Then there was a childhood CE-II experience Sandy had shared with her mother and sister, but which the family had "swept under the carpet" because her father didn't want them talking about it. At the age of twelve, Sandy was awakened at night by her mother's voice calling to her sister, "Connie, come and see this!" She bounded out of bed in time to see the two of them standing before a large picture window, staring out at a big, circular, flashing object resting on their lawn. They got a long, awed look at it before it lifted off vertically and drifted out of sight. In the morning an area of burnt grass was discovered where the UFO had set down. About half an acre of their expansive lawn had been destroyed, and nothing grew there until her father tilled it up some months later and re-seeded.

This incident also occurred in Jackson County, only a few miles from where the Dyer family now lives. Sandy's father's determination that no one should think of his wife and daughters as crazies who saw UFOs squelched discussion of it, even within the family. It was only after Sandy reported her recent sightings to her mother that they began to talk about what happened in 1975, and Sandy learned that both her parents and some cousins had soon afterward seen another. All of them had watched a glowing, round object hover nearby, as if it were going to land. It then rose straight up and took off instantly. It was enough to convince her father that their previous sighting had not been made-up - but he still didn't want anyone knowing about either experience.

Coincidentally, perhaps, the week of Sandy's September 3 CE, her sister Connie had been puzzled by a bright thing that whizzed past the window of her home in Sevierville, Tennessee. She didn't get more than an instant's glimpse of it but it struck her as so strange, she had no idea what it could have been.

"I just can't imagine why this would be happening to us," Sandy Dyer told me. "We're just a normal, churchgoing family, living a really ordinary country life. I don't know why it would be interested in us." After speaking at length with Sandy and her sons, I consider her assessment of their lifestyle and personalities accurate. The witnesses seemed to me thoroughly credible people and competent as observers.

Despite her physical problems, Sandy is an energetic homemaker; she enjoys craft projects and has festooned her kitchen with many prize ribbons for jars of pickles and preserves entered in the county fair. She is talkative and excitable, but hardly seemed one to become hysterical at the sight of something not truly extraordinary to her. She freely gave permission for her name to be used when I reported her sightings because she feels the public ought to know that UFOs are out there and being seen by responsible people like her. The encounters, she admits, frightened her. They've taken a degree of normality out of her life. She wonders what will happen next and worries about being alone at night.

A bit bashful, as teenage boys often are around adult strangers, Josh answered my questions and explained the drawings he made without much elaboration, but forthrightly. He attends Jackson County High School and is involved in FFA, apparently with many friends - the phone rang constantly for him after he came in from school. He was not as upset to see the UFO as his mother had been, but he is still curious about it and defensive of their experience if anyone jokes about it. The more outgoing 13-year-old Jerry only wishes he'd been able to see it, too.

As for a conventional explanation, I have difficulty in imagining that these sightings could have been misperceptions of a planet or the moon. The moon was, in fact, visible in another part of the sky during the September 14 and 15 sightings, Sandy noted. She also mentioned that these two nights were cloudless and clear.

Although their area is not a busy one for conventional air traffic, the family has seen its share of planes and ambulance helicopters flying overhead; they believe they may have once been treated to the sight of Air Force One, as a low-flying jet with a fighter escort on each wing passed over on a day the President was traveling. The Dyers feel certain the object that remained outside their window for so long was not a conventional aircraft. It stayed around much too long to have been a plane, and the noise a helicopter makes would have been audible inside the mobile home; with no central air conditioning, its windows are kept open night and day.

I have no reason to suspect a hoax was concocted by The Dyers, a busy family, much involved in their day-to-day activities. The witnesses' accounts have been consistent over several tellings and agree with one another. Sandy has questioned her neighbors about noticing anything unusual in the sky and has located one other family on her road who may be able to corroborate her story.

I consulted Joe Petrocelli, M.D. concerning the medical aspects of this case. He agreed with Sandy's doctor that neither of the medications she had taken should cause anyone's hair to fall out, nor should Lyme disease. He believes the culprit is more likely stress, which can definitely be linked to sudden hair loss. He declined to speculate what could have killed the hound. He mentioned that, especially among larger breeds, a healthy dog can die of intestinal torsion in a short time, but it is not a quiet death. Only autopsy could have disclosed why the Dyer dog died.

At this writing, Sandy is feeling better, both physically and emotionally. The 4 o'clock UFO has put in no more appearances, but she has promised to keep us posted if it does.

On Thursday, September 10, 1998, Bob Riker (name changed, on file), sought to report a UFO sighting via e-mail notification. Riker advised of spotting an unusual object in the sky on Wednesday, September 9, 1998 in Florence, Kentucky (Boone County).

Bob writes: "I work in Florence as a computer technician and administrator. About 4:00 pm on this date, I stepped outside for a cigarette. My work is under two landing paths for the Cincinnati airport. The sky was spotted with clouds, the sun was shining between them, enough to provide adequate lighting."

Bob then relates how he noticed a white spherical object moving from North to Southwest. The object was approximately the size of a pencil eraser at arms length.

"It traversed the entire horizon from N to SW in less than 10 seconds," he informed, "going under the low, dark clouds, before disappearing in a distant cloud-bank (and under an approaching plane.)"

Bob added that there was no sound heard from the object, which seemed to glitter slightly from the background sun, which was in the west. He stressed that the object was not a bird, nor was it a balloon.

As per a request from this researcher, Bob agreed to a follow-up telephone interview for further review of the sighting report. On Friday night, September 18, contact was made and Bob and he again told of the sighting.

Bob was coherent and very intelligent, and he stated that the reason for his email was to inquire if there had been any other reports received of such an object.

He explained the location of his employment, and added that he even called on a co-worker shortly after viewing the object and told him of the sighting also.

He said the object seemed to briefly sparkle, as if it were reflecting a glare from the sun. "It was not necessarily glowing," he said, "more like a reflective sparkle."

"No, it was definitely not a balloon.. it had no variations of a balloon riding randon currents of air. And to move to fast against the wind, no, definitely not," he said.

Bob also stressed that the object left his field of view by disappearing into a cloudbank, and that one would hardly 'notice a balloon that high.

Although the object looked transparent at times, Bob said it was solid enough for him to discern a geometric shape.

Florence, Kentucky is nearly 12.5 miles south of Downtown, Cincinnati. Florence is situated adjacent to the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky International Airport (Erlanger, KY), and traffic to and from this area is always seen over Florence.

A mis-identification of an airplane is highly unlikely given the witness description of a sphere-shaped object. Furthermore, he told of his ability to discern the reported object at the same time that he observed an airplane taking off from the airport.

There have been no publicized accounts of any reports of pilot- sightings of a UFO in the airport vicinity.

Mr. Robert McCoy of Mason, Ohio evaluated the report and surmised that no sound being heard/reported from a helicopter or other aerial vehicle, as claimed by the witness, would be understandable due to the noise levels near the Florence area and around the airport.

McCoy adds: "Ten to One this was a helicopter flying low with the sun shining off its glass winshield. This bright effect is exceptionaly noticable under overcast conditions and direct sunlight."

Regarding the McCoy comments, I would have to concur with the possibilities he raises of sunlight reflecting from a helicopter canopy. Despite its plausibility, I'm not entirely satisfied that this scenario is viable, however, as such an 'eye catching' illusion, when scrutinized, can usually be discerned and identified by the eyewitness. The witness in question declared that he held the object under visual observation for at least 10-seconds, which should presumably be long enough for any ground observer, with moderate observational and recognition skills, to identify if it were a helicopter. The witness seemed sober and coherent.

If one were to reference the 'witness misidentification' potential, I would think it prudent to take exception to the witness claims by asserting that this was, despite the witness convictions and denials, a balloon. Even more possible I suspect, would be if a large sheet of plastic or something partly transparent were seen floating along in a wind current. Although firmly denied by the witness, I have seen such large sheets of plastic floating around high in the sky and can assure that they do appear deceptive.

As for his contention that the object did not 'shift' around on currents of air as a balloon would, might I advance a scenario to account for his claim? Could such a large sheet of plastic or balloon happen into a 'wake' from a passing jet, causing an aerodynamic oddity resulting in the appearance of an object traversing the sky with a seemingly controlled path?

I find these scenarios more likely than the 'helicopter canopy' situation. Furthermore, from his location, which I am very familiar with, a helicopter can and should be heard if visible in the area, despite the tumultous clamor of traffic in the Florence area or its proximity to the heavily traveled Interstate 75. The din of approaching or departing aircraft from the airport would not likely negate the witness perception of the droning of helicopter engines, even if at a higher elevation.

Due to the nebulous nature of this specific report and the limited information available, further exploration of this case may be relegated to the limited application of hypotheticals such as helicopter canopies or sheets of plastic riding along in jet turbulence (which the witness will - and has - taken exception to). Perhaps a combination helicopter canopy/sheet of plastic/balloon in turbulence notation could be sufficient to address this report with a possible explanation, but with no great satisfaction.

At about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday a truck driver received a CB message from the apparent pilot of a helicopter, who said he had crash-landed and was injured, Capt. Mike Grimes of the sheriff's office said.

The pilot gave his location as two miles south of Camden near U.S. 127 and asked the truck driver to contact Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The truck driver also called the sheriff's office and an aerial search was launched Tuesday night, continuing into early Wednesday morning.

According to the sheriff's office, Wright-Patterson will neither confirm nor deny the existence of a helicopter in the area, but Dayton International Airport detected an emergency distress signal at about 10:15 p.m. that lasted almost 10 minutes.

Grimes said a farmer in Preble County also reported hearing a low- flying plane or helicopter at about 11 p.m.

At about 9 a.m. Wednesday, the Butler County Sheriff's helicopter and ground crews searched the area along the Butler-Preble County border. Authorities also searched a 10-mile radius between Camden and Somerville, but called off the search Wednesday afternoon.

The receptionist informed that the Eaton fire department was never notified of the event, nor was their assistance requested in the search and rescue operation. The receptionist said that the search and rescue operation was conducted by the Preble County Sheriff's Department.

The search and rescue operation was reported on WKRC Channel 12 News in Cincinnati, but no mention of this event appeared in any other Cincinnati or Dayton, Ohio news media.

This report is strangely similar to a bizarre event which happened on November 29, 1996 in areas near Springboro, Ohio, 24-miles due East of Camden. The November, 1996 incident dealt with several interesting similarities to the Camden mystery copter mishap, including an ELT distress signal, audible sounds of a low-flying aircraft/crash and no trace of wreckage. The November, 1996 report also included an eyewitness description of a 'red circular light' which was seen near the time of an ELT signal announced to Dayton International Airport from headquarters in Langley, Virginia. For details on this incident, see: http://home.fuse.net/task/POST83.htm

In the most recent case, the account is further mystified by the plea from a helicopter pilot over the CB radio for the trucker to alert Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio (27.5-miles northeast).