1977: Man encounters UFO hovering over field

THINK ABOUTIT SIGHTING REPORT

Date: March 29, 1977

Sighting Time:

Day/Night:

Location: Morgan Run, Pennsylvania

Urban or Rural: –

Entity Type:

Entity Description:

Hynek Classification: CE-I (Close Encounter I) Observation of an object in close proximity to the witness (i.e. within 500’)

Duration:

No. of Object(s): 1

Size of Object(s): 170-200 feet in length

Distance to Object(s):

Shape of Object(s):

Color of Object(s):

Number of Witnesses: Single

Source: The Clearfield Progress (Clearfield, PA), Apr. 4, 1977         

Reported:

Summary/Description: Burton Woods, 45, of Morgan Run, PA, said he saw a craft hovering over a field near his mobile home. Woods suffered from headaches and blurred vision after the sighting. Much excitement was stirred by his UFO encounter, since he was able to get so close to the craft before it veered up and out of sight. The object was described as 170-200 feet in length.

Full Report

This is one of three sketches made by Burton Woods of Morgan Run of the UFO he reported seeing near his home lost week. He was requested to make the drawings for the Pennsylvania Center for UFO Research. (credit: Clearfield Progress)

Burton Woods sketched this additional view of a UFO he saw at close range hovering low over a field near his Morgan Run home. This drawing shows position of craft and his position (note x) when he made two photographs. Neither picture turned out. (credit: Clearfield Progress)

“Negatives of UFO Blank; Investigation Continues”

MORGAN RUN-Hoped for photos of an unidentified flying object taken in Clearfield County last week failed to turn out, the Pennsylvania Center for UFO Research reported over the weekend.

Robert Cowell, co-director of the Pittsburgh based group, said the blank negatives were a disappointment to UFO study centers across the country. Cowell and Dennis Duez, a field investigator, visited the area Sunday where Burton Woods, 45, said he saw the craft hovering over a field near his mobile home.

He took two color photographs with a Kodak Instamatic camera without a flash shortly after midnight last Tuesday. Coweil said experts were only slightly optimistic, however, that the moonlight and a green glow Woods said he saw coming from the bottom of the craft would be sufficient to create an image on the film. He said thought was given to increasing the develop ment time but the idea was rejected at the last minute for fear of jeopardizing the quality of any image I hat might appear.

“Had the negatives shown even a thin image, we would have kicked ourselves for not pushing it, but there was nothing,” Cowell said. He added that failure of the pictures to turn out in no way discredits Woods’ story of what he saw. Woods’ continuing headaches and blurred vision are typical of other people who say they have been exposed to UFOs, he noted.

The excitement stirred by the Woods’ report was triggered mainly by the fact that he was able to get so close to the craft before it veered up and out of sight. Cowell and Duez scanned the field over which Woods said the object hovered for additional clues but found nothing.

They also began investigating reports by other residents of the area who said they saw a similar looking object in the sky later in the week, including at least one daylight sighting. Duez said the research teams work negatively toward their goal by initially trying to discredit reports. However, he said the Woods’ sighting appears to be valid.

All of the information gained through interviews and field work, as well as sketches of the craft made by Woods, will be computer analyzed for further study, according to Duez.