Date:
September 15, 1962
Location: Oradell, New Jersey, United States
A
series of New Jersey police sightings after a reported
disc landing in a reservoir. The action began on September
15, when two shiny discs were seen by multiple independent
witnesses. On September 21, four Hawthorne police officers
watched a device with two beams like headlights. Just
after midnight, September 24, the same or a similar device
was seen over the quarry by over a dozen Hawthorne police
officers and the chief reporter of the N. J. State Press,
George Della Penta.
Drawing
based on interviews with the witnesses. Drawn by Dr. John
Pagano, NICAP.
(credit: Waterufo.net)
Source:
Waterufo.net / NICAP UFO Investigator, Oct/Nov 1962
DISC
LANDING REPORTED IN NEW JERSEY - IN U.S. & ABROAD
SIGHTINGS CONTINUE
(Extract)
A
series of New Jersey police sightings after a reported
disc landing in a reservoir -- important because police
and several newspapers openly rejected an attempted "hoax"
explanation.
The
action began on September 15. At 5 p.m., two shiny discs
were seen over Oradell, N.J. At 6 p.m., two shiny round
UFOs were sighted by former Navy flying officer J. J.
McVickers, just across the state line. At 7:50, NICAP
member Victor Cipolla saw a glowing object descend toward
Oradell, and other witnesses saw it dart back and forth
near the reservoir. At 7:55, three teen-aged boys saw
a bright oval-shaped object land in the reservoir, with
a loud splash. A man working nearby also heard the splash,
according to police. After a moment, the strange device
took off, climbed silently at high speed.
As
McGuire AFB began an investigation, new reports came in.
On September 21, four Hawthorne police officers watched
a device with two beams like headlights hover over a quarry.
Officer George Jediny, in a report to NICAP, said the
UFO - which he sketched as a disc - seemed to revolve.
The quarry night watchman, Wm. Stocks, said the UFO had
also appeared the night before. When he drove a Jeep nearer
to check up, the object maneuvered to keep out of the
headlights. (Similar reaction often reported.)
Just
after midnight, September 24, the same or a similar device
was seen over the quarry by over a dozen Hawthorne police
officers and the chief reporter of the N. J. State Press,
George Della Penta. When a police-car spotlight was pointed
up at the UFO, it began to move. Before it left, Mr. Della
Penta shot 18 feet of color film. (Analysis not completed.
)
Later,
Oradell police received a letter signed "The Bergenfield
Pranksters," purporting to be from some boys who
said they faked the sightings with aluminum-coated model
aircraft supported by helium balloons. This was promptly
rejected by the police and newspapers that checked the
facts, among them:
The
Newark Evening News, Science Writer Philip Del Vecchio:
"It would have been impossible for them (the Bergen
County boys) to put their model planes so high that they
could be seen in Hawthorne... No object such as they could
have put together could have moved at the lightning speeds
attributed to the UFO. The light...could not have been
produced by amateurs. This newspaper makes an appeal to
other residents...with the assurance that reports will
be treated with dignity."
The
Hawthorne Observer, rebuking those who accepted an unsigned
letter from a town miles away, said it was time to treat
the reports seriously.
The
Riverdale Sunday Trend: "Suppose the real hoax
is the letter purporting to explain the whole thing?"
The
Hawthorne News Record: "To imply so flippantly
that our police officers spent almost half an hour looking
at a balloon and then watched it speed away at an incredible
rate - all in quite an opposite direction from Oradell
- is insulting."
The
Newark Sunday News: "Flying saucers are still
a big mystery...are seen with great regularity by sane
and logical inhabitants of the planet Earth. What they
are and where they come from and what their mission is
has not yet been satisfactorily explained."
Regardless
of the final outcome, these New Jersey sightings have
shown that an increasing number of newspapers no longer
accept quick brush-off answers to sightings by competent
witnesses.
Source:
http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case796.htm