THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTING REPORT

1977: Security guard sees oval UFO with bright headlights

On a clear October night in 1977, an 18-year-old woman working the overnight shift as a security guard at the French and Hecht plant in Walcott, Iowa watched a pair of brilliant flashing “headlights” glide silently toward her watchtower. They belonged to an oval-shaped object that moved without engine noise, blocked out a flashing red beacon on a grain elevator as it passed, and killed everything electrical in its path: her two-way radio went dead, her walkie-talkie stopped working, a mercury vapor lamp a hundred yards away went dark, and a television in a nearby farmhouse went blank. Even the cows stopped. Even the crickets. The object hovered silently for several minutes. When she went inside to find another witness, it was gone. She reported it to the Davenport police, who laughed. They did, however, call the Center for UFO Studies in Evanston, Illinois — which did not laugh.

Date: October 1977

Sighting Time: Approximately 1:00 AM

Day/Night: Night

Location: Walcott, Iowa — French and Hecht plant watchtower

Urban or Rural: Rural (industrial plant in agricultural area)

No. of Entity(‘s): None reported

Entity Type: N/A

Entity Description: N/A

Hynek Classification: CE-II (Close Encounter II) — Observation of an object in close proximity to the witness, with physical/electrical effects documented.

Duration: Several minutes (object observation); effects persisted during the encounter

No. of Object(s): 1

Height & Speed: Low altitude — obscured a grain elevator beacon light during transit. Silent glide approach, then stationary hover.

Size of Object(s): Approximately the size of a compact car or slightly larger

Distance to Object(s): Within 100 yards (the mercury vapor lamp at that distance went dark during the approach)

Shape of Object(s): Oval

Color of Object(s): A pair of bright flashing “headlights”

Number of Witnesses: 1 primary (18-year-old female security guard, unnamed for employment protection); secondary corroboration from nearby farmhouse (blank television)

Special Features/Characteristics: Two brilliant flashing “headlights.” Complete silence — no engine, rotor, or aerodynamic sound. Electromagnetic interference: two-way base station radio ceased functioning, portable walkie-talkie ceased functioning, mercury vapor lamp (~100 yards) went dark, television in nearby farmhouse went blank. Biological silencing: cows and crickets in adjacent field went silent during approach. Object obscured the flashing red beacon on a grain elevator during transit.

Source: Moline Daily Dispatch (Moline, IL), January 7, 1978, article by Stacey Burling. Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) investigation.

Case Status: Unexplained

Summary/Description: In October 1977 at approximately 1:00 AM, an 18-year-old female security guard manning a watchtower at the French and Hecht plant in Walcott, Iowa observed a silent oval-shaped object with two brilliant flashing “headlights” gliding toward her. The object obscured a grain elevator beacon during its approach. During the encounter, her two-way radio and walkie-talkie ceased functioning, a mercury vapor lamp approximately 100 yards away went dark, a nearby farmhouse television went blank, and both cows and crickets in the adjacent field fell completely silent. The object hovered for several minutes before departing while the witness sought other observers. She reported the incident to Davenport police, who contacted the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) in Evanston, Illinois. The case was documented by the Moline Daily Dispatch in January 1978.

Detailed Report

The witness, an 18-year-old woman from Davenport, Iowa, was working as a security guard at the French and Hecht plant in Walcott. She requested anonymity due to concerns about jeopardizing future employment.

On a clear night in October 1977, at approximately 1:00 AM, she was manning the plant’s watchtower when she observed a pair of bright “headlights” flashing from an oval object moving silently through the sky. The object glided toward her position.

As the object approached, it obscured a flashing red beacon light on a nearby grain elevator — providing a clear reference for its low-altitude transit path and confirming it was a solid, opaque body between the witness and the beacon. Her initial thought was that it might be a helicopter, but the complete absence of any engine or rotor noise eliminated that identification.

During the encounter, multiple electromagnetic and environmental effects were documented. Her two-way base station radio ceased functioning. Her portable walkie-talkie simultaneously stopped working. A light-sensitive mercury vapor lamp approximately 100 yards from the watchtower went dark. She later learned that a television in a nearby farmhouse had gone blank at the same time. In the adjacent field, both cows and crickets fell completely silent.

The object remained stationary for several minutes, creating what the witness described as complete, eerie stillness. Terrified, she initially stood frozen outside the guardhouse. She then went to search for other witnesses. When she returned, the object was gone and normal conditions had resumed.

Her supervisor instructed her to report the incident to police. The Davenport police officer in charge and three other officers responded with laughter. They did, however, contact the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) in Evanston, Illinois, which connected the witness with a local investigator identified as DeGraw.

The case was reported by journalist Stacey Burling in the Moline Daily Dispatch on January 7, 1978, under the headline “Area ‘encounter’ defies explanation.”

Researcher’s Notes

The Dead Zone Around the French and Hecht Plant

Source Chain: This case has a strong evidentiary foundation for a single-witness event. It was reported to police (documented, though the response was ridicule), referred to CUFOS (the preeminent civilian UFO research organization, founded by J. Allen Hynek), investigated by a CUFOS-affiliated investigator, and published in a mainstream regional newspaper by a named journalist. The newspaper article provides contemporaneous documentation — the report was published within three months of the event, not years or decades later.
Electromagnetic Interference Profile: The EM effects documented in this case constitute one of the more comprehensive interference profiles in the CE-II literature. Four separate electronic/electrical systems failed simultaneously: a two-way radio, a walkie-talkie, a mercury vapor lamp, and a television. These systems operate on different frequencies and different physical principles — the radio and walkie-talkie use RF transmission, the mercury vapor lamp operates via electric arc through vaporized mercury, and the television uses a combination of RF reception and CRT electron beam scanning. A single interference mechanism that simultaneously disrupts all four would require either extremely broad-spectrum electromagnetic emission or some other non-conventional energy effect. The mercury vapor lamp failure is particularly significant: these lamps use light-sensitive photocells to activate at dusk and deactivate at dawn, meaning the lamp either detected a light source bright enough to trigger its photocell shutoff, or its electrical supply was disrupted.
Biological Silencing (“Oz Effect”): The simultaneous silencing of both cows and crickets is a well-documented phenomenon in CE literature, sometimes called the “Oz Effect” — a sudden, total cessation of ambient biological sound during a close encounter. Animals respond to ultrasonic frequencies, infrasonic vibrations, and electromagnetic fields with startle/freeze responses. The crickets stopping is particularly notable: cricket stridulation is remarkably persistent and typically ceases only in response to ground vibration (predator approach) or significant acoustic/electromagnetic disturbance.
Industrial Proximity Pattern: The sighting occurred at an industrial plant with power grid connections, grain storage facilities, and associated infrastructure. UAP events near industrial sites, power generation/transmission facilities, and grain elevators are well-represented in the CE literature. Whether this represents a pattern of genuine interest in human infrastructure, electromagnetic attraction, or observational bias (security guards are among the few people awake and watching at 1:00 AM in rural Iowa) cannot be determined.
Witness Treatment: The witness’s experience of ridicule — from police, from acquaintances, from the broader community — is unfortunately typical for UAP witnesses of this era and represents a documented barrier to reporting. Her concern about employment consequences led her to request anonymity. The Davenport police, despite laughing, did the right thing in calling CUFOS. The witness’s own words — “I know what I saw. I’m not blind” — reflect both conviction and the exhaustion of having to defend a genuine observation against institutional dismissal.
Classification Rationale: CE-II is correct and well-supported. The object was within 100 yards (confirmed by the mercury vapor lamp failure at that distance), and multiple measurable physical effects were documented: radio failure, walkie-talkie failure, lamp failure, television failure, and biological silencing. These are not subjective impressions — they are observable, independently verifiable interference events. The farmhouse television blackout provides secondary corroboration from an independent location. Status is Unexplained.

Four electronic systems failed. Two species of animal went silent. A mercury vapor lamp designed to burn all night went dark. And an 18-year-old security guard stood alone in a watchtower in Walcott, Iowa at one in the morning, watching something oval and silent hover in front of her. The police laughed. CUFOS didn’t. The Moline Daily Dispatch ran the story under a headline that still says everything that needs saying: “Area ‘encounter’ defies explanation.”