1966: UFO with dome ‘buzzes’ automobile

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THINK ABOUTIT SIGHTING REPORT

Date: October 15, 1966

Sighting Time: between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m

Day/Night: Night

Location: Split Rock Pond, New Jersey

Urban or Rural: Rural

Hynek Classification: NL (Nocturnal Light) Point or extended luminous source observed at night.

Duration:

No. of Object(s): 1

Size of Object(s): 25 to 30 feet wide and five or six feet high

Distance to Object(s):

Shape of Object(s): Disc

Color of Object(s):

Number of Witnesses: Single

Source: NICAP; Medical Times, October 1968; Hall 2001, p. 37; Keyhoe & Lore, 1969a, p. 9

Summary: “The object was directly in back and above me and followed my car along the road.” He estimated the object to be approximately 25 to 30 feet wide and five or six feet high. His diagram shows a typically flat-bottomed and somewhat domed object. Simons then noticed that his car began to act abnormally.

Full Report

A dramatic car-buzzing case that occurred during a minor wave of sightings in North Jersey in October 1966 was reported to and investigated by Dr. Berthold Eric Schwarz, Assisting Attending Psychiatrist, Montclair (N.J.) Community Hospital. Dr. Schwarz, a NICAP member, included a detailed account of this sighting with its unusual physical and physiological after-effects in an article published in Medical Times, October 1968, entitled “UFOs: Delusion or Dilemma.”

The witness, Jerry H. Simons, a 22-year-old forester of Newfoundland, New Jersey, had been camping out at Split Rock Pond, a few miles south of Newfoundland. On October 15, between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m., “I was traveling north on the road and noticed a very outstanding glow in the rear-view mirror. I thought at first that my brake light was stuck because it was a very dull glow at the time I first noticed it,” he reported to Dr. Schwarz. Simons then noticed the glow, which was orange-red, become brighter. “I stopped my car and lowered my window. I stuck my head out to get a clear view of the rear of my car. What I saw took me completely unawares and scared the living hell out of me. I’ve never been so startled in my life. It was something I could not understand. At first glance it seemed to be nothing but a huge glowing light, but then I noticed a very distinct outline of what appeared to be some sort of a solid body.”

Simons briefly did not believe what he was seeing, and when it was apparent that the object was indeed “very real, it was then that I decided to get out on the main road as fast as I could get my car over the cow path. The object was directly in back and above me and followed my car along the road.” He estimated the object to be approximately 25 to 30 feet wide and five or six feet high. His diagram shows a typically flat-bottomed and somewhat domed object.

Simons then noticed that his car began to act abnormally. “The worst thing that could have happened in my frame of mind happened. Without any warning, all of the electrical equipment quit working. My headlights, dash lights and engine quit. I don’t believe I have ever been so frustrated in my life. I noticed that this object was directly over my car. Then it fell back and I could go on. Three times this happened, and three times my car refused to give any electrical response until this object either moved to the rear or to one side of the car.” He said all he could do was “lock my doors and hope.” He estimated the car motor was unresponsive for less than a minute, and then when the lights came back on he was able to restart the engine. The glow from the object lit up the ground to the right and to the left of the car. “The only time the glow was very distinctive in front of the car was when it (the car) went dead and then it was all around me.”

As Simons turned onto Charlottesburg Road, he could see by the glow around the car that the object was still with him. “The last good look I got of it was just before reaching the dam, when it was so bright in my mirror.” The car-buzzing had lasted at least ten minutes.

Simons drove straight to the home of Thomas P. Byrnes, Superintendent of the Newark Water Shed in Newfoundland, to report the incident. It was Mr. Byrnes who later told Dr. Schwarz about the sighting. Simons and Byrnes immediately contacted the West Milford police and together they drove back to the scene of the sighting. Nothing out of the ordinary was observed.

Two subsequent developments make this case especially in-teresting. While reporting the incident at the Reservoir Office, Simons had parked his car and turned the motor off. When he came out again, the car motor had apparently started spontaneously. Later examination of the electrical system offered no explanation, but several weeks later, as he was driving the car, the motor inexplicably exploded.

A second peculiar development was a recurring illness that came upon Simons a short time after the sighting, characterized by fatigue, anorexia, generalized soreness, weakness of muscles, chills, and a loss of 35 pounds. This illness extended over a three-month period and in its acute phases, which occurred on a monthly basis, lasted three or four days. Because of its severity, Simons was finally hospitalized. The exact cause of the illness could not be determined – Simon’s illness “did not conform to any readily identifiable pattern, including various psychosomatic reactions,” according to Dr. Schwarz. “Although there is not sufficient supporting data, it is conceivable that Simons’ overwhelming fear, associated with the strangeness of his UFO experience, could have precipitated a response similar to what is seen in animal hypnosis” (inhibitory reflexes evoked by a strong stimulus or even weak stimuli if unusual enough). Six months after his sighting, Jerry Simons had fully recovered and showed no further signs of the strange malady.