YouTube video · UAP Gerb · 12 September 2024
The 1965 Kecksburg, Pennsylvania UFO Crash
Gerb's case file on Kecksburg, built mainly on Stan Gordon's and Leonard Stringfield's work. He names the witnesses one by one, from the volunteer fireman Jim Romansky to the trucker who saw the bell at Wright-Patterson, and follows the trail from the woods through Lockbourne AFB. NASA's orbital-debris chief Nicholas Johnson ruled out Cosmos 96 and any other man-made object, which leaves Blue Book's meteor and Oberg's Soviet probe as commentary. Gerb also lays out Eric Walker's Penn State Navy laboratory and Lyndon Johnson's meetings the next day, and leans to 'a legitimate UAP retrieval case'.
On the record
- Blue Book's file and its 'Acme, PA' meteor verdict.
- Cosmos 96 re-entry records placing it about 13 hours earlier.
- LBJ's schedule for 10 December 1965 (Grant Cameron's files).
- The October 2007 settlement of Kean's FOIA suit.
Open questions
- What the Lockbourne hangar logs show for 10 December 1965.
- Whether the WHJB tapes survive anywhere.
Leads to follow
- Gordon's notarised statements from WHJB staff and Jerry Betters.
- A deleted Reddit post by a self-described NHI-technology worker (left 2018) describing a stored 'dreidel without the handle'; anonymous, lead only.
Timeline
On the recordWitness testimonyAlleged / one person's word
People across the timeline · click a name or a dot
Click a person to follow their thread.
The claims, checked
On the record (4)
The fireball of about 16:45 on 9 December 1965 was seen across six states and Canada; Blue Book called it a meteor, found nothing, filed it under 'Acme, PA' and called the Michigan fragments chaff.Natural cause proposed, not demonstrated.firsthandProject Blue Book (Quintanilla)Kecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods searchProject Blue Book
NASA's 1965 release and US Space Command and Navy records place Cosmos 96's re-entry over Canada at about 03:18 EST, some 13 hours before the fireball.firsthandNASA release (1965); Space Command and Navy FOIA recordsKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods search
Kean's lawsuit for the Coalition for Freedom of Information, settled in October 2007, produced only unrelated pages; NARA had listed the NASA files as lost since 1987.firsthandcourt settlement and NARA recordsKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods search
On 10 December 1965 at the Texas White House Johnson met the Joint Chiefs, McNamara, Vance, Califano and Moyers, with Hornig, Webb and Seaborg among the day's visitors; Califano held an off-record meeting with OEP director Buford Ellington on 13 December.No entry names Kecksburg; the link is Gerb's reasoning.firsthandLBJ daily diary (Grant Cameron's files)Lyndon Johnson's schedule for 10 December 1965Kecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods search
Witness testimony (13)
The object changed course by about 25 degrees over Elyria, Ohio, and moved at roughly 1,000 mph, far too slow for a meteor.analysisClark McClelland's estimate (cited by Gerb)Kecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods search
A state fire marshal told WHJB news director John Murphy 'you better get your information from the Army'; his documentary 'Object in the Woods' aired cut, witnesses withdrew their tapes for fear of the Army, and station staff signed notarised statements to Stan Gordon that officials took tapes.secondhandJohn Murphy and WHJB staff → Stan Gordon → told itKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods searchJohn Murphy (WHJB)
Murphy's widow said in 2003 that he had seen a metallic object in the woods; he died in a hit-and-run soon after the documentary.secondhandJohn Murphy's widow (2003)John Murphy → his widow → told itJohn Murphy (WHJB)Kecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods search
Volunteer fireman Jim Romansky saw a 10-12 ft bronze acorn, 8-10 ft across, half-buried at 30 degrees with a 25-ft trench, no seams or openings, and a raised ring with 'broken straight lines, dots, rectangles and circles'; men in trench coats ordered the firemen out before troops arrived.First told to Gordon in 1987.firsthandKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods searchJim Romansky
Bill Bulebush watched it turn over Lloydsville in a figure eight 'like radio-controlled', then found it embedded with blue arcing light, a rotten-egg smell, sizzling as if cooling, and 'Egyptian writing' on the back ring.firsthandBill BulebushKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods search
Jerry Betters saw an army flatbed hauling an acorn 'a little bigger than a Volkswagen' with hieroglyphs before the tarp went on, and soldiers turned their guns on onlookers; he gave a notarised statement.Came forward in the early 1990s.firsthandJerry BettersKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods search
David Newhouse had an M1 pointed at him; Bill Weaver saw four men in 'moon suits' carry a 4-5 ft box on a stretcher toward the object; 14-year-old Mike Slater was asked by an officer to send sightseers the wrong way.firsthandDavid Newhouse, Bill Weaver and Mike SlaterKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods search
Trucker 'Myron' delivered Navy-ordered double-glazed bricks for a lead-lined building and saw a 10-14 ft copper-bronze bell under parachute silk, while a technician said torches, diamond bits and acid had all failed; in 1998 he added a 4-4.5 ft body with a three-fingered hand.Filmed by Dr Brian Thompson; the body detail came late.firsthand'Myron' (first name only), to Stan Gordon and Leonard StringfieldKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods search
Myron's cousin 'JS' confirmed the brick delivery and protective clothing in 1990, and in 1991 said he had seen a Liberty Bell-shaped object on a lowboy on an earlier solo trip.anonymousLeonard Stringfield'JS' → Leonard Stringfield → told itKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods search
'Joel' told Gordon in 2002 that an Army general struck the object with a probe that flew from his hand, then a hatch opened with a hiss on 'two fingers and an unusually long arm'.firsthand'Joel' (first name only), to Stan GordonKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods searchStan Gordon
Nicholas Johnson, NASA's chief scientist for orbital debris, ruled out Cosmos 96 and said no man-made object came down over Pennsylvania that day, Corona capsules included.Documented exclusion of the satellite explanation.secondhandLeslie Kean (May 2000 conference)Nicholas Johnson → Leslie Kean → told itKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods searchNASA
Stringfield described a rapid-reaction recovery unit, the 'Blue Berets'; a former member, 'Cam', spoke of a friend's recovery of a 'big head'.Gerb notes the SAC Elite Guard wore blue berets in 1956-66, Lockbourne included.secondhandLeonard StringfieldCam → Leonard Stringfield → told itKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods search
Eric Walker told Henry Azadehdel 'we went there with two from the military but not on duty', and 'I cannot comment on that'; no reports were written.Gordon heard of a man fitting Walker's description at the site.firsthandEric Walker → Henry Azadehdel → told itKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods searchEric A. Walker
Alleged / one person's word (3)
A guard at Lockbourne AFB saw the bell arrive by truck early on 10 December, backed into a hangar under tight security, then moved on to Wright-Patterson.Told to Gordon before the 1990 Unsolved Mysteries broadcast.anonymousLockbourne AFB guard → Stan Gordon → told itKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods searchWright-Patterson AFB & 'Hangar 18'
A Soviet probe came down at Kecksburg.Natural cause proposed, not demonstrated; commentary, and against Johnson's exclusion.analysisKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods searchJames Oberg
An insider Stringfield called 'Uncle' said Kecksburg was a crashed spy plane.An alternative, not demonstrated.anonymousLeonard Stringfield'Uncle' (insider via intermediary) → Leonard Stringfield → told itKecksburg, Pennsylvania: the fireball and the woods search