From: aa440@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Dale Wedge) Newsgroups: alt.paranet.ufo Subject: TRIANGULAR SHAPED UFO INVESTIGATION REVISITED Date: 11 Aug 93 15:57:30 GMT Reply-To: aa440@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Dale Wedge) Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA) With the ongoing interest in triangular-shaped UFOs, I thought that I would upload a case that I worked on in 1988 along with a fellow investigator. With the continuing interest over triangular shaped UFOs, I am uploading an article on an incident that both Dale B. Wedge and Rick Dell'Aquila worked on in 1988. The investi- gation received an award from MUFON. The event remains un- solved, but is still interesting. Rick Dell'Aquilla (co-Sysop) of this system wrote an article on our involvement with the Eastlake, Ohio case. The following is the text concerning our investigation: Richard P. Dell'Aquila and Dale Wedge, Ohio State Section Directors for Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula Counties (note: Dale B. Wedge no longer is associated with MUFON) investigated a series of sightings beginning around March 4, 1988 and seemingly centered around sever- Power Plants around Eastlake, Ohio. March 4, 1988 was a clear, crisp night. The stars were clearly visible, especially to the north over the lake where there are no city lights. Venus and Jupiter were bright and in close proximity to each other in the western sky. At about 6:30 P.M., S.B. (name withheld) and her children were driving home to Eastlake along the lake shore when they observed a large blimp-like object with lights at each end, hovering over the lake and rocking up and down like a "teeter totter." One light was brighter than the other and was strobing. On arriving home, she asked her husband to accompany her to the beach about 200 yards north for a closer view of the object which she described as "larger than a football field at arm's length." She and her husband walked onto the beach. The noiseless object was gun metal gray and seemed to cause the ice on the lake to rumble and crack loudly in an unusual way which frightened her. The witnesses had to shout to be heard by each other, and were surprised that no dogs were out barking as would have been expected. After observing the object for a while, the couple became concerned for the safety of their children in the car when the object revolved slowly about 90 degrees, coming almost overhead (about 1/4 mile high) and pointing it's "front" end down toward them. They drove the children home (which was only one street up from the lake) and continued watching the object from their living room window which faces the lake. A neighbor was phoned and she and her son went to the beach, reporting the same thing. They took photographs which did not turn out (others from elsewhere would). The object began to descend and the witnesses returned to the beach, where it was now observed to have red and blue blinking lights. It emitted 5 or 6 noiseless, intensly bright yellow triangular lights from its side. Mr. B. noticed a brighter light at the apex of the triangles. They intermittently hovered around the larger object, darted and zig-zagged into the night sky at velocities far in excess of known aircraft. Mr. B stated the noiseless triangular objects were smaller than a one-seat Cessna and travelled 50 mile stretches low over the ice in the "snap of a finger." They were said to be able to approach the shore, turn abrupt right angles due east toward a Power Plant about 12 miles away, climbing rapidly and returning again, all within several seconds. By this time, a Coast Guard patrol vehicle had arrived on the beach in response to S.B.'s several phone calls. The triangular objects came closer to the shore, causing the witnesses to become concerned that the lights on the Coast Guard vehicle would attract the objects and the lights were turned off. The triangles continued to fly off at high speed northward over the lake and eastward toward the Power Plant. About an hour later, they returned one at a time into the large ship, which then landed on the ice. Several multi-colored lights now came on for about 5 minutes on the bottom of the object "in a wave like a movie theater sign." When these went off, the ice stopped making noise and everthing became "dead silent." The object could no longer be seen within about a half hour and it was assumed to have gone below the surface. The next day, huge pieces of broken ice were observed in the area of the landing. The Coast Guard informed Mr. and Mrs. B the following day that the Army and NASA had instructed them not to inves- tigate the matter further or go out on the lake in their cutter to observe the ice in the area of the landing, since the matter was "out of their league and out of their hands." They informed the couple that all information was being forwarded to Wright Patterson Air Force Base and a facility in Detroit, Michigan. In response to a Coast Guard inquiry, Wright-Patterson re- fused to confirm or deny any interest in these activities. On March 7, 1988, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Lake County News-Herald carried articles which attributed a series of reports of large brightly lit objects over Lake Erie on the prior weekend to several witnesses' misidentification of the planets Venus and Jupiter. The newspaper accounts indicated that the Fairport Harbor Coast Guard went to the area and saw a large bright object that seemed to dispurse smaller, briight multi-colored objects. But when they called the local air traffic controllers, they were "informed" that Jupiter and Venus were in alignment and that the colors were the result of "spontaneous gas emissions from the two planets." One article even attributed this amazing explanation to a professor of astronomy at a local university. On reading the articles, Dell'Aquila felt it was unlikely that U.S. Coast Guard personnel, trained in navigation and identification of basic celestial objects such as the planets, could have made such a gross misidentification. Likewise, the statement attributed to the professor of astronomy was equally unacceptable, in that no other similar "spontaneous gas emission" from the planets cited, of the necessary magnitude, had ever been noted, particularly on this weekend. In the course of the follow-up investigation by Dell'Aquila and Wedge, a Coast Guard incident report was found which states that Coast Guard personnel responded to several calls reporting UFOs over Lake Erie on the night of March 4, 1988. When the Coast Guard arrived, the report confirms that a large object "dispersed 3-5 smaller flying objects that were zipping around on them rather quickly. These objects had red, green white, and yellow lights on them and strobed intermittently. They also had the ability to stop and hover in mid-flight." The incident report confirms Mr. and Mrs. B's reports, including the abnormal cracking of the ice as the object came closer to it and apparently landed. "The smaller objects began hovering in the area where thee object landed (about 1/4 mile east of the power plant) and after a few minutes they began flying around again." The report states that, "One of the small objects turned on a spotlight where the large object had been, but the Coast Guard personnel could not see anything, and then the object seemed to disappear. Another object approached these personnel approximately 500 yards offshore about 20 feet above the ice, and it began moving closer as the Coast Guard began flashing its headlights, then it moved off to the west." By the next night, a subsequent report states that the sightings are misidentifications of the planets Venus and Jupiter and that "the flashing lights are gases in the atmosphere.... Request incident closed this unit." In response to a classified advertisement placed by the investigators, other witnesses contacted Dell'Aquila and Wedge, and were interviewed as the investigation continued. At about 10:30 P.M. that night T.K. (name withheld) took a photograph in his back yard, within a few miles of the Power Plant, showing a portion of a brightly lit triangular object travelling across the sky. This object was later confirmed by Mr. and Mrs. B and another witness to be identical to the triangular objects they were also observing about the same time a few miles away. T.K. and his friend were outdoors on the night of March 4, observing the stars through his telescope. Venus and Jupiter were reported to be in the western sky behind a stand of trees. While looking southward through the telescope, out of the corner of his left eye, T.K. noticed a bright, moving object in the sky. He and his friend were awe-struck by the triangular object, but he did have the presence of mind to take 3 photographs with a small "snapshot" type camera loaded with Kodak 110 film, with which they had intended to photograph stars through the telescope. Only one photograph turned out. It is the last in the series, taken while panning ahead of the object, and shows the front portion of the triangle. The object was described as about 3 - 4 inches tall at arm's length and glowing an intense yellow/orange to white, with a bright orange/red glow behind it. It seemed to pulse brighter and dimmer, moving in a roughly southwesterly direction until it was obscured by trees. As it moved, it accelerated, slowed and accelerated again. No sound or smell was noted, although his dog had a strong reaction, running in circles and tugging on T.K.'s sleeve, apparently in an attempt to urge him away from the object. PLEASE NOTE: The information contained on this system is not intended to supplant individual professional consultation, but is offered as a community education service. Advice on individual problems should be obtained directly from a professional.