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CLOSE ENCOUNTER
ON INTERSTATE 84
By:Philip J. Imbrogno
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- They
were amazed at the size of the object, "larger than a football
field". The dog continued to bark as the object passed over
their car . Neil looked up and saw a very dark structure
connecting the lights that extended toward the rear of the
object. He said it was teardrop in shape and the lights in the
front were in a half circle. The object was so large he said
that" it covered the sky and blocked out everything overhead"
The object he said was made of some type of "dark grey material
with very little reflectability"
In the past, the state of Connecticut has always been an area of
few UFO reports, however this is no longer true. Since 1985 the
counties of Fairfield and Litchfield and Hartford has seen a
dramatic rise in the number of UFO reports. This UFO is
described as being a semi circle or boomerang with multi-
colored lights. Even more incredible the size of this UFO has
been reported to be the length of a football field!. This UFO
that has been seen recently in Connecticut is without a doubt
the Hudson valley UFO which is described in my book:
- NIGHT SIEGE THE HUDSON
VALLEY UFO SIGHTINGS
- (Ballantine Books 1987).
For some reason unkown to this researcher the giant boomerang
UFO has shifted it's activities from New York to Nearby
Connecticut. The most recent sightings took place on May 26 of
this year around interstate 84 one of the most heavily traveled
highways in the northeast.
Between 9;30 and 10;15 PM more than 200 people phoned local and
state police to report a huge object with bright lights flying
low over the highway near the towns of Newtown and Southbury in
Connecticut. Those witnesses that called state police in
Southbury were told that it was nothing more than a group of
Ultralight aircraft from Candlewood airport flying in close
formation and hanging colored lanterns from the bottom of the
plane. The police also told witnesses that the aircraft were
painted black so that all that can be seen is the lights. Many
of the witnesses to the phenomenon found it very hard to believe
the official explanation.
One witnesses to the UFO was Mrs. Betty Proulx of Middlebury who
said that the object hovered over her house without a sound for
over two minutes. There was no doubt in her mind that what she
was looking at was one solid object. When Mr. Proulx heard about
the explanation he could not accept it since he was in the air
division of the Navy. "It was one craft and like no aircraft
that I have ever seen in my life".
Another witnesses was Mr. Randy Etting a commercial airline
pilot with over thirty years of experience. Mr. Etting said that
the idea of the ultra light theory "is the prattling of idiots"
Mr. Etting observed the lights from his home in Newtown
Connecticut at about 9:45 pm. He said that there were at least
eight lights of different colors flying very close together and
without a sound. As the object passed his home he observed it in
a pair of 7X35 binoculars. Mr. Etting told me that the UFO was
one object and he saw some type of heat waves coming from the
object which distorted the area around the lights. Mr. Etting
watched the object with neighbors and his son for over ten
minutes as it slowly drifted to the north west. All the
witnesses agree that the UFO was one solid object and round in
appearance.
The Etting party was observing the UFO while it was passing
close to I-84. At this time over a dozen cars pulled over to
view the UFO as it passed overhead. One witness a Charlie
Tuperman described what happened that night.
"It was about 9:30 or so and I was driving East on 84 around the
Southbury area when I noticed these lights ahead of me. They
were low and it looked like a 747 was going to land on the
highway. This thing had about ten lights in kind of a half
circle and the lights were yellow, green, blue, white and red.
This thing was going very slow and moving from the east to the
west. All of a sudden every one on both sides of the road began
slamming on their brakes and pulling over to the side. It was a
dangerous thing to do since there were several trucks apparently
trying the same thing. I pulled over and watched this thing pass
directly over the west bound lanes. I saw a dark mass behind the
lights and there was no sound. I saw the lights of a state
trooper just ahead of me and I figured he was called to see what
was going on. Then all of a sudden this thing gets real bright,
I mean all the lights just got ten times brighter for about ten
seconds or so, then they faded to where they were before and
that is about as bright as a planes wing lights. That really
scared me. I wanted to get going because I thought there was
some type of invasion or something, I just wanted to get home.
Besides I was afraid of some trucker plowing into my car. I
watched it head west and lost it . I turned on the radio for
news, but didn't hear anything about any UFOs on any of the
local stations".
Close Encounter in New Milford
At about 10:00 after the series of sightings in the I-84 area.
The UFO was seen heading to the west. It was then seen in the
New Milford Connecticut area by a Robert Nellis his friend Jeff
and Mr. Nellis dog. They were all in Nellis car off a side road
off Route 7 in the northern area of New Milford. They were
driving home after a long day of boating upstate along the
Connecticut river.The dog began to bark and cry and at that
point Jeff looked over to the northeast to see a number of
bright lights hovering over a stand of pine trees less than a
quarter mile away. They stopped the car and at that time their
car radio began to sound "funny" with all types of strange
sounding static that interfered with the station that they were
listening to.
They stopped the car and continued to watch the lights. At this
moment the lights began to move slowly towards them. They were
amazed at the size of the object, "larger than a football
field". The dog continued to bark as the object passed over
their car . Neil looked up and saw a very dark structure
connecting the lights that extended toward the rear of the
object. He said it was teardrop in shape and the lights in the
front were in a half circle.The object was so large he said
that" it covered the sky and blocked out everything overhead"
The object he said was made of some type of "dark grey material
with very little reflectability". There was no sound and they
estimated that the giant UFO was no more than 500 feet above
their car. The UFO then passed over their car and then shifted
towards the north. They both noticed some type of flashing
lights under the object that gave the impression as if something
was moving. They watched the UFO slowly move away. The total
duration of the sighting was ten minutes, however both men
arrived home forty minutes later. This is could be a case of
missing time, or the witnesses observed the object longer than
they thought. Neil would call me for several days after my
interview with him since he felt "uneasy and upset" about his
Close Encounter. My research team and I are still investigating
this case and it seems that it may be another of the many
missing time cases that are escalating in the area.
Photographic Proof
This UFO was so bright and large that it was only a matter of
time before someone would come forward with a photograph. To
our surprise we were contacted by a person of high standing in
the Southbury area who took a picture of the object as it
moved very slowly over I-84 at about 9:30 PM. The photographer
wishes to remain anonymous since his position is very
sensitive. He his a very highly trained college educated man
who fears that the publicity surrounding the photograph could
hurt his career. He gave us full rights to the photograph and
his sighting account providing we do not use his real name. We
will refer to him as David.
David was on I-84 on Official business when he saw the lights.
The lights were in the northwest and heading east. As he
watched, the object tilted and all the lights got much
brighter. He was pulled off the road at the time and had his
camera ready. The UFO was about 45 degrees above the horizon.
Due to traffic he had time to take only one picture. His
camera was a 35mm with a 50mm lens at 1.8, the film type was
Kodacolor ASA 400 and the exposure was 1/60th of a second, or
1/125. He was not sure of the setting, but feels it was 1/60th
of a second. The object then moved toward the east without a
sound. During an interview with this researcher, David told me
that the he was sure there was a solid object behind the
lights. He also said that when the object turned it looked
like the lights on the sides were pulling out from the main
mass, but he realized that this effect was due to the object
changing position from his point of view.
What about the Photo:
Several photo-analysis experts are now looking at the
photograph. Our initial study showed that the image is without
a doubt hanging in the sky above the ground. Also the
photograph was looked at by Dr. Willy Smith a scientists and
UFO researcher of some repute. Dr. Smith's initial
calculations show the object to be anywhere from 650-1600
across!
We believe that this photograph is one of the best nighttime
UFO pictures taken in the past twenty years. There were quite
a few witnesses to the sighting over a twenty-five mile
radius, all reporting the same thing. A close examination of
the original negative shows that the lights are reflecting off
of some type of structure in the central part of the object.
Also the lights are in a perfect half circle. There is no
doubt that what ever the UFO photograph represents it is one
solid object. We hope to get more data on the photograph and
the sightings in the weeks to come. I have taken an add in the
local papers asking for videos and photographs and sighting
accounts from that night.
A Rational Explanation?
What about the theory that the UFO is nothing more than Ultra
lights from Candlewood airport. We questioned state police on
this theory. An officer stated that they made a mistake about
the airport, it wasn't Candlewood but Stormville airport. A
flight instructor at Stormville later told us that there is
only one Ultra light at Stormville and it only flys in the day
since it is illegal for them to fly at night.
The UFO sightings in the Northeast continue. In the days to
follow I received several calls from witnesses who saw
formations of military helicopters in the sighting area. One
witnesses took a picture of this formation. Is the government
involved in the mysterious happenings over the Connecticut
area? Many of the residents feel that the government is well
aware of the UFO and is doing its best to play down the
sightings by explaining them away. I called nearby Bradley
international airport to find out if they had any information
about the sightings. I was informed by air traffic control
that no formations or large aircraft were tracked on radar at
that location and time. I was also told that unless the
"aircraft" have transponders (a device placed in aircraft that
help identify them on radar) in them they would not be picked
up at that location at an altitude of less than 2,000 feet. I
have enough witnesses in different locations at the same time
observing the UFO to determine that the approximate altitude
was between 1,000 and 1300 feet. Based on this information my
calculations indicate that the span of lights was at least 900
feet! Its apparent size in the sky was quite large, this is
evident by the image on the 35mm frame that takes up almost
half the negative. It is obvious from the photograph and by
the witnesses statements that something more than ultra light
aircraft was in the sky over Connecticut that night.
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