1987: Close Encounter on Interstate 84, Connecticut

This UFO that has been seen recently in Connecticut is without a doubt the Hudson valley UFO which is described in Night Siege The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings (Ballantine Books 1987).

For some reason unknown 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 Ultra light 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.here 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 7 X 35 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 westbound 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 reflect ability”. 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. (This person was actually Randy Etting; B J)

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 35 mm with a 50 mm 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 flies 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 helps 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 35 mm frame that takes up almost half the negative.

It is obvious from the photograph and by the witness statements that something more than ultra light aircraft was in the sky over Connecticut that night.

source: Philip J. Imbrogno – http://www.ufocasebook.com/bestufopictures4.html