STEPHENVILLE, Texas, Jan. 15, 2008

Dozens Report UFO Over Texas Town

Many, Including Pilot, Constable Describe Similar Huge Craft Flying Low Over Stephenville

  • Play CBS Video Video Did Texans Witness A UFO?

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  • Standing near the area where he saw a large silent object in the sky, Ricky Sorrells talks about the sighting, Monday, Jan.14, 2008 in Dublin, Texas. Photo

    Standing near the area where he saw a large silent object in the sky, Ricky Sorrells talks about the sighting, Monday, Jan.14, 2008 in Dublin, Texas.  (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam)

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(AP)  In this farming community where nightfall usually brings clear, starry skies, residents are abuzz over reported sightings of what many believe is a UFO.

Several dozen people - including a pilot, county constable and business owners - insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.

"People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it's the end of times," said Steve Allen, a freight company owner and pilot who said the object he saw last week was a mile long and half a mile wide. "It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts."

While federal officials insist there's a logical explanation, locals swear that it was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said the object's lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane. People in several towns who reported seeing it over several weeks have offered similar descriptions of the object.

Machinist Ricky Sorrells said friends made fun of him when he told them he saw a flat, metallic object hovering about 300 feet over a pasture behind his Dublin home. But he decided to come forward after reading similar accounts in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune.

"You hear about big bass or big buck in the area, but this is a different deal," Sorrells said. "It feels good to hear that other people saw something, because that means I'm not crazy."

Sorrells said he's seen the object several times. He said he watched it through his rifle's telescopic lens and described it as very large and without seams, nuts or bolts.

Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, said no F-16s or other aircraft from his base were in the area the night of Jan. 8, when many sightings were reported.

Lewis said the object may have been an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes. Lights from the aircraft would seem unusually bright and may appear orange due to the setting sun.

"I'm 90 percent sure this was an airliner," Lewis said. "With the sun's angle, it can play tricks on you."

Quote

I think it must be some kind of military craft — at least I hope it was.

Lee Roy Gaitan,
Erath County Constable
Officials at the region's two Air Force bases - Dyess in Abilene and Sheppard in Wichita Falls - also said none of their aircraft were in the area last week. The Air Force no longer investigates UFOs.

About 200 UFO sightings are reported each month, mostly in California, Colorado and Texas, according to the Mutual UFO Network, which plans to go to the 17,000-resident town of Stephenville to investigate.

Fourteen percent of Americans polled last year by The Associated Press and Ipsos say they have seen a UFO.

UFO sightings have been reported all over the world for centuries, including the infamous 1897 crash of a cigar-shaped object near the tiny Texas town of Aurora. While some thought it was a hoax, decades later investigators from UFO groups said evidence suggests the disfigured pilot's body buried that day was an alien.

In Chicago in late 2006, some United Airlines pilots and other employees reported seeing a saucer-shaped craft hovering over O'Hare Airport before shooting up through the clouds. But federal officials said nothing showed up on the radar and explained it as some type of weather phenomenon.

In 1997, dozens of people saw lights in a V-formation over Phoenix, a mystery that was captured on videotape and spurred calls for a government investigation. A few months later people reported a similar sight over Las Vegas.

One of the most famous cases was the 1947 crash on a ranch near Roswell, N.M. Although the government said it was a top-secret weather balloon, an Army officer who helped recover the debris came forward 30 years later claiming a cover-up, asserting that an alien spacecraft had crashed. Reports later surfaced that a base nurse told someone that autopsies were performed on aliens from the wreckage.

A few months after the New Mexico incident the U.S. Air Force started Project Blue Book, which investigated more than 12,600 reported UFO sightings - including 700 that were never explained - before the program ended in 1969.

Erath County Constable Lee Roy Gaitan, who said he isn't sure about the existence of UFOs, said one night last week he first saw red glowing lights and then white flashing lights moving rapidly across the sky.

"I didn't see a flying saucer and I don't know what it was, but it wasn't an airplane and I've never seen anything like it," Gaitan said. "I think it must be some kind of military craft - at least I hope it was."

© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Add a Comment See all 176 Comments
by shanev137 January 15, 2008 2:56 AM PST
All those people are nuts....every last one of them.

Reply to this comment
by Con Mohrat January 15, 2008 3:05 AM PST
Those are turrrists being hunted down by Dubya''s military. They were supposed to fight them there, not here. They are slipping.
Reply to this comment
by jedi08 January 15, 2008 3:12 AM PST
If there really are UFO''s I think we can all agree it must be Bush''s fault
Reply to this comment
by sandy777-2009 January 15, 2008 5:14 AM PST
In 1957 or 1958, in Mount Vernon, Ohio, I was like 6 years old and saw a UFO hover over our house and backyard. Other neighbors and neighborhood kids saw it too. No one would belive us even if we did report it. To this day, I will never forget that UFO hovering over our house.
Reply to this comment
by shanev137 January 15, 2008 5:26 AM PST
Why do idiots even bother reporting UFO''s?...everyone already knows they don''t exist.
Reply to this comment
by piercetheval January 15, 2008 5:41 AM PST
They here! They''ve been here a long, long time. MIB do exist. Area 51 has been engaged in reverse engineering for quite some time. I grew up with a kid whose dad worked as an engineer for JPL and he was invalved in the reverse engineering process. Two months after the Stealth Fighter was revealed to the public in 1991/92 I saw his dad for the last time [He was in his 70''s then] and I asked him about rumors that we [The USA] had even more advanced craft in secret. His reply: "Kid we got *** int the air that makes the Stealth Fighter look like something out of Kitty hawk."
Reply to this comment
by shanev137 January 15, 2008 5:46 AM PST
piercetheval ....i have a tinfoil hat for sale on e-bay for $799...i think you need to buy it from me.
Reply to this comment
by shanev137 January 15, 2008 5:50 AM PST
ok...i''ll tell you what....you bring a live alien to my door right now, and i''ll give you 40% off the retail price.
Reply to this comment
by piercetheval January 15, 2008 5:55 AM PST
shanev137. I''ll be right over..head. Look for the flashing red blue and pink lights. The Ion Sun model x3000 with the "Raider Nation" bumber sticker. You wouldn''t happen to have the matching tin foil vest too, would you?
Reply to this comment
by shanev137 January 15, 2008 6:02 AM PST
Sandy777 ....that was just a past-life flash back you had when you rented Close Encounters of the Third Kind and played it on your new big screen TV that you got for Christmas.

It''s very common occurrence during the holidays.
Reply to this comment
by piercetheval January 15, 2008 6:03 AM PST
go to linsdomain on the web. Check out the pictures of orbs and then click on more pictures of Devas and Sprites and check out the American River photos. I took ''em. I''ve seen ''em. You have no idea of what''s going on here. It''s about to get real interesting. Get the kids and grab some popcorn and suspend dis-belief.
Reply to this comment
by shanev137 January 15, 2008 6:07 AM PST
piercetheval ...I think you watched one too many M. Night Shyamalan movies.... it''s OK to unboard your windows now.

Reply to this comment
by piercetheval January 15, 2008 6:07 AM PST
"...Their Lights will be seen in the sky..." Edgar Cayce.
Reply to this comment
by shanev137 January 15, 2008 6:17 AM PST
from the article:

"The Air Force no longer investigates UFOs"


That oughta tell you somethin right there.....how wrong can our entire Air Force be?
Reply to this comment
by lambofgoth January 15, 2008 6:52 AM PST
Are they looking to bring Bush back to his home world?
Reply to this comment
by shanev137 January 15, 2008 6:54 AM PST
What are these fricken chicken-schitt coward aliens afraid of anyway?

Why can''t the wussies show themselves at noon in Times Square sometime where millions of people can see them in broad daylight? Why does it always have to be in Podunk Alabama, or Podunk Montana, or Podunk Oklahoma at 3am in some corn field?
Reply to this comment
by vet_sk January 15, 2008 7:00 AM PST
I love how the author said, it''s the bible belt and some believe it is the end of times. Well, heck, they did elect Bush didn''t they...
How can these people function in citizens believing the world is going to end - what does that say about wanting to protect the environment for our kids and many generaions after.
Reply to this comment
by Krazcarl January 15, 2008 7:15 AM PST
I saw a UFO in the camode!!!!!
Reply to this comment
by gfd3ejm January 15, 2008 7:28 AM PST
What you''ve just read is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
Reply to this comment
by January 15, 2008 7:36 AM PST
shanev 137 sez
"That oughta tell you somethin right there.....how wrong can our entire Air Force be?"

...or for that matter, how wrong could our entire government be? oops, I get it:)
Reply to this comment
by hwy71so January 15, 2008 7:53 AM PST
Did I just log in to the Inquirer?
Reply to this comment
by eggy1620 January 15, 2008 8:08 AM PST
These sightings are ET%u2019s equivalent to the drunken fan running across the infield.
Reply to this comment
by mrmazerati January 15, 2008 8:12 AM PST
There''s no intelligent life in these comment sections.
Reply to this comment
by iceman_1960 January 15, 2008 8:19 AM PST
"Machinist Ricky Sorrells said friends made fun of him when he told them he saw a flat, metallic object hovering about 300 feet over a pasture behind his Dublin home."

Well it must have been an extraterrestrial space ship.

How else could it get from Texas to the capital of Ireland in such a short time ?
Reply to this comment
by radiob-2009 January 15, 2008 8:26 AM PST
Hmmm now we know what Dennis Kuninch saw a flying "keg" filled with drunken "leprechauns".
Reply to this comment
by erichsh January 15, 2008 8:29 AM PST
Everyone in this room is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Posted by gfd3ejm at 07:28 AM

LOL! All of a sudden I feel an uncontrollable urge to say "duh" and "doh", but by gosh I feel smarter, not dumber. All this time I was mis-spelling "ALEIN", now I know the right way to do it.
Reply to this comment
by rushman71 January 15, 2008 8:37 AM PST
There''s no intelligent life in these comment sections.
Posted by mrmazerati

I agree with you here. Makes you wonder,"What planet did these people come from?" But, I do have to say that some questions are best left unanswered!!!
Reply to this comment
by allunknowing January 15, 2008 8:43 AM PST
They failed to mention that all of these people were walking out of the same bar at 2am.
Reply to this comment
by jonathan1cas January 15, 2008 8:52 AM PST
Lack of familiarity with the sky in the daytime or night can lead to miss identification of common astonomical and atmospheric conditions.

Certain clouds an clear night skies can be seen as UFO. They can seem to move, hover and be lighted in strange ways as the viewer can not understand the distances, and spaces involved.
Reply to this comment
by radiob-2009 January 15, 2008 8:54 AM PST
Hmmm it was a ten gallon hat filled with "ale" from some Texan (Dublin) leprechauns.
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 January 15, 2008 8:54 AM PST
Hoax''s like this spring up during hard economic times. Perhaps the a few of the town''s leadership would like a few outsiders to spend some time and some money hoping to catch a glimpse of something.

When the mayor as well as pastor of a church in a small missouri town attempts to seduce a 13 year old girl on the internet it tends to help one believe any sort of fraud and deception could be conspired in this case.
Reply to this comment
by l8c6 January 15, 2008 8:59 AM PST
Hmmm now we know what Dennis Kuninch saw a flying "keg" filled with drunken "leprechauns".

Posted by radiob

Years ago in the 70''s there were films and books out about alleged proof of previous visits from extra terrestrials. At one point in one of the films some script written in stone was discovered which indicated these extra terrestrials would return some time about 2019. Maybe Carter and Kucinich will wave goodbye to you when they hitch a ride provided Carter is still living.


Reply to this comment
by inventagod January 15, 2008 9:03 AM PST

One mile long, half a mile wide...

Must be the Congressional Moving Van, they are ready to follow Bu$h back to Crawford after the elections...

Reply to this comment
by slim1h2o January 15, 2008 9:05 AM PST
Hmmm it was a ten gallon hat filled with "ale" from some Texan (Dublin) leprechauns.

Posted by radiob at 08:54 AM : Jan 15, 2008

Nah,,it was Shiner beer,,or maybe it was Lone Star beer. LOL
+
Reply to this comment
by January 15, 2008 9:06 AM PST
It was some kid playing with his new Christmas toy....
Reply to this comment
by quetzal666 January 15, 2008 9:06 AM PST
its the space ship singinrick has been looking for.....
Reply to this comment
by zykracosmos January 15, 2008 9:18 AM PST
"Several dozen people - including a pilot, county constable and business owners - insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast." So why, tell me, in this day when everybody on earth has a cellphone in his pocket that can take photos and video, is there no visual confirmation?
Reply to this comment
by radiob-2009 January 15, 2008 9:29 AM PST
Posted by l8c6


Hmmm Kuninch now has a found a voter in Mr.Peanut. How many are on board the UFO? enough to sway the election? Singing, dancing and having a good old time until they are "roasted".
Reply to this comment
by excoachken January 15, 2008 9:34 AM PST
Texas, itself is a UFO. Have another Lone Star and go back to the two step.
Reply to this comment
by radiob-2009 January 15, 2008 9:35 AM PST
Kuninch was seen waving from the "bill" of a ten gallon hat alongside Mr. Peanunt. They were previously "toasting" one another.
Reply to this comment
by walt1944-2009 January 15, 2008 9:35 AM PST
The Great Emperor Bush II is interested that extraterristials are visiting his state of Texas. He is hopeful that they will decide to land on the Texas White House and that perhaps they might be interested in appointing him as the "Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler of the Universe" after his term as Great Emperor of the USSA is over in 2009 (we all hope!)!

Of course, the Emperor would have some rather stiff competition for the job since Ming the Merciless of Mongo and Kayless, the Emperor of the Klingon Empire, are also favored for the position.

However, if the Emperor does not receive the appointment from the extraterristrials, he is hopeful that they will take him to their home planet where he can work out an agreement with them to strip their planet of its resources and send them all the the USSA.

As far as many on this planet are concerned, the extraterristrials gave have him!!!!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!
Reply to this comment
by truefeed January 15, 2008 9:39 AM PST
I''m not disinclined to believe, indeed, much like Mulder, I want to believe...HOWEVER:
"People in several towns...reported seeing it over several weeks..."
And yet NO ONE could pull out a video camera -- or still camera -- or even a cell phone camera -- and snap a photo. From the report, there was ample opportunity to acquire photographic evidence of this event. And without photos, I just can''t grant it any credence.
Reply to this comment
by radiob-2009 January 15, 2008 9:42 AM PST
Hmmm From Dublin, Texas to Crawford is only 75 miles, maybe they (UFO''s) got directions from George.
Reply to this comment
by yankeerebel7 January 15, 2008 9:43 AM PST
Wouldn''t the fact that it was seen by people of faith, those more likely not to believe in aliens, make it slightly more credible? Kind of like a scientist claiming to have seen an angel.
Reply to this comment
by antizion January 15, 2008 9:48 AM PST
Who knows, maybe about 60 years ago an alien race lost their village idiot in Texas while visiting Earth. It would explain a few things.
Reply to this comment
by antizion January 15, 2008 9:49 AM PST
What''s a few more illegal aliens in Texas, a state with millions of them.
Reply to this comment
by hotpaulie January 15, 2008 9:49 AM PST
So King George isn''t the only nut in Texas.
Reply to this comment
by mediabrat60 January 15, 2008 9:51 AM PST
To sincityq:

I only know for myself and my kids that i bow down and worship One that has performed many miracles in our life, including those that physically healed before my eyes. Even doctors cannot explain.
So even though I believe in the Bible and in God, i also believe that there ARE other life forms somewhere in the universe.

Why can''t UFO''s be real?

But I also go along with the fact that all these people seen all these sightings over several weeks and not one of them has a photo?
Hmmmm.
Reply to this comment
by yankeerebel7 January 15, 2008 9:54 AM PST
Wow, it is quite pathetic that people cant comment on any story, even non political ones, without having to let everyone know they hate their president. It''s obssessive to the point where it''s not even healthy...and it just gets old.
Reply to this comment
by monkfellow January 15, 2008 10:02 AM PST
Dennis Kuchinich,call your office...
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