THINK ABOUTIT UFO|ENTITY SIGHTING REPORT
Date: July 1 1981
Sighting Time: Late Night (The report mentions “the rest of the day” following the events, and the family was up on the roof “during the night”).
Day/Night: late night
Location: Rome Ohio
Urban or Rural: – Rural (The presence of a wood line, cornfields, a barn, and a pasture with a horse indicates a rural farm setting).
No. of Entity(‘s): Multiple
Entity Type: unknown
Entity Description: several dark forms
Hynek Classification: CE-III (Close Encounter III) Close observation with animate beings associated with the object.
Duration: Night-long (The report mentions witnesses being up on the roof “during the night” and experiencing effects “the rest of the day” following the events).
No. of Object(s): 4
Height & Speed: Slow/Hovering (The objects were seen “hovering over the top of the back tree line” and the cigar-box craft was described as “flying slowly over the house”).
Size of Object(s): basketball held at arms length
Distance to Object(s): 200 feet (Specifically for the cigar-box shaped object that flew over the house).
Shape of Object(s): huge oil tanks, somewhat square and box like
Color/Description of Object(s): They saw four objects/lights. The four lights were spaced along the entire wood line, and were changing color, from red to blue and then yellow then something that looked like black.
Number of Witnesses: 2
Source: Dennis Pilichis
Summary/Description: Two family members were up on the roof keeping watch on the area. Soon they noticed lights that could be seen hovering over the top of the back tree line. They saw four objects/lights. The four lights were spaced along the entire wood line, and were changing color, from red to blue and then yellow then something that looked like black. The witnesses estimated the objects to be the size of a basketball held at arms length. They looked like huge oil tanks, somewhat square and box like. They then saw a bright light, white in color; shine down on the ground from one of these objects. It made an area the size of a half acre glow as bright as day. At this point the lights just went out, and several dark forms could be seen running by the edge of the trees. The forms were out of gun shot range. Every time various family members thought they could see one of the forms, they would shoot and the forms would “scream.” They then saw red glowing eyes, standing, watching their every move standing by the wood line. They would shoot at the red eyes, with no effect, at the same time seeing forms running to the left and to the right of the set of “eyes.” The witnesses thought that the red glowing eyes were being used as some sort of diversion to draw their attention away from the forms. They kept shooting at the forms, hitting them, and hearing them scream.
Later while up on the roof, they noticed two forms, with red glowing eyes come up the side of the field and stand to the side of the barn. They tried to talk to them, from up on the roof, waited five minutes and then fired on them. The forms screamed, yelled, and ran off. At one point during the night, while taking turns shooting at these forms, they looked out again and saw what appeared to be their horse standing out in the field. They knew that their horse was locked up in the barn, but the “form” looked like their horse. They then fired at the “pseudo horse” which then screamed, growled, and took off back toward the northeast part of the field. The witnesses then came down from the roof, and walked to the field. They found no blood, no hair, and just a few strange prints on the ground. Later back on the roof they saw in the cornfield across the street a bright white light. One of the family members felt the light form the glow hit him in the head; he staggered and almost fell off the roof. Another family member then fired at the light and it went out. The man hit by the light felt dizzy and had a headache the rest of the day.
Later something like a red-hot coal, but bigger in size, came down and landed in the tree east of the house. The red glowing ball was shot at, it then jumped down a branch and transformed into a small animal like creature resembling an “owl.” They continued to shoot at it; it continued to jump down a branch, until it fell to the ground. At this point the “thing” got up and ran down the wood line on all fours. The family ran over to the tree, and saw a depression in the soft field grass. At this point a small object shaped like a cigar box flew directly over the farmhouse at about 200 feet. The family members on the roof noticed that it had blue lights around it, with a red brighter light in the middle. This object appeared to come from the backwoods, up over the wood line flying slowly over the house and across the street heading a southeast direction over the cornfields. One of the men shot at the object as it went over and apparently hit the red light, which went out, they heard a sound like a bullet hitting something like glass.
Researcher’s Notes: The Siege Archetype and Mimicry
The Rome, Ohio incident is a remarkable example of a “Siege” style encounter, sharing structural similarities with famous cases like the 1955 Kelly-Hopkinsville event:
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The “Siege” Dynamic: Unlike many CE-III cases that involve a brief observation, this encounter was a night-long confrontation involving defensive maneuvers by the witnesses and repeated approaches by the entities. The use of diversionary tactics—where glowing red eyes drew attention while other forms flanked the property—suggests a high level of tactical intelligence.
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Shape-Shifting and Mimicry: The appearance of a “pseudo-horse” is a rare but documented phenomenon in high-strangeness cases. This indicates the entities may have been using a form of holographic projection or psychic “screen memory” to approximate familiar local fauna, albeit with imperfect results.
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Biological and Technological Hybridization: The entity that transformed from a glowing coal into an owl-like creature suggests that these manifestations may not be purely biological or purely mechanical, but rather trans-dimensional forms that can alter their physical density and appearance at will.
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Physical and Physiological Effects: The bright white light that caused a witness to stagger and suffer a lingering headache is consistent with exposure to high-frequency electromagnetic radiation or microwave auditory effects often reported in close-range UFO encounters.
The 1981 Rome Ohio Encounter remains one of the most aggressive CE-III reports in the Dennis Pilichis archives. The sheer variety of phenomena observed—from color-changing basketball-sized lights to cigar-box shaped craft and red-eyed humanoids—points to a massive localized intrusion.
While the family took a defensive stand with firearms, the “screams” and lack of physical traces like blood or hair suggest that the beings involved possessed a physiology that was resistant to conventional kinetic force. This case stands as a chilling reminder that close encounters are not always peaceful observations, but can sometimes manifest as a prolonged and terrifying struggle for those on the ground.
