UFOS OVER NEW YORK
UFOs Over New York
By Preston Dennett
UFOs Over New York is the first book to document the complete history
of extraterrestrial activity in the Empire State. Starting with accounts in
the early 1800s and reaching to the present day, the book covers the
entire range of the UFO phenomenon, including cases both famous and
unknown. Some of the world’s most influential encounters have taken
place in New York. All are presented here, including such high profile
cases as the 1956 Ryan-Neff UFO sighting near Griffis AFB, the 1965
UFO-caused New York Blackout (the largest ever recorded), the
sighting of a UFO by musical legend John Lennon, and of course, the
Hudson Valley UFO super-wave. Hundreds of other cases are
presented, including accounts of underwater UFO activity, several
officially unidentified Air Force Blue Book cases, and dozens of UFO
sightings deep in the heart of New York City, including directly over
such landmarks as the Empire State Building and the United Nations
Building. New York’s history of UFO landings is equally impressive,
and includes several well-known and dramatic events such as the 1964
Tioga City UFO landing, the 1965 Cherry Creek UFO landing, the 1989
Kissena Park landing and many more, along with several crop circle
accounts. Much of the UFO abduction movement originated in New
York, including such influential cases as the Steiner brothers’ abduction
(one of the first reported cases in the United States); the incredible
visitations of novelist, Whitley Strieber and, of course, the controversial
Brooklyn Bridge abductions. UFO crashes, animal mutilations and other
uniquely New York conspiracies such as Montauk and the UFO
connection to TWA Flight 800 are also presented. Finally, New York
puts its own unique slant on the phenomenon, producing a several cases
in which extraterrestrials are seen in New York City itself – in
bookstores, hotels, subways and other seemingly unlikely locations. A
large section of full-color genuine UFO photographs will leave every
reader searching the skies, seeking the truth!
UFOS OVER NEW YORK
A True History of Extraterrestrial Encounters in the Empire State
By Preston Dennett
Introduction
1. In the Beginning
2. Sightings (1950-1959)
3. The Great New York Blackout
4. Sightings (1970-1979)
5. The Hudson Valley Wave
6. Sightings (1990-1999)
7. New York UFO Landings & Humanoids
8. Onboard UFO Experiences
9. Celebrity Encounters
10. New York UFO Crash-Retrievals
11. Conspiracies, Cover-ups and High Strangeness
12. New York UFOs Today (2000-2007)
Conclusions
Appendix
Footnotes
Sources
“There’s UFOs Over New York, and I Ain’t Too Surprised”
--John Lennon
New York State is undeniably one of the most famous and influential
places on the planet. Although it is the 30th largest state in the union,
New York holds the second largest population of all the states (nearly 20
million people) almost half of which is located in New York City. The
population is one of the most diverse in the world. New York City is a
phenomenon in itself; it has been called the center of human civilization,
containing the entire range of human diversity and culture. It is an
undisputed world leader in economics, politics, theater, publishing – you
name it, it can be found in New York City.
New York became a state on July 26, 1788 as the eleventh of the
original thirteen states. Prior to that, it had been occupied by various
Native American tribes, mainly the Alongonquin and the Iroquois.
The state contains 49,108 square miles, with 127 miles of
coastline. The highest point is Mt. Marcy at 5,344 feet, located in the
Adirondack Upland in northeast New York. There are a large number of
lakes and artificial reservoirs, and much of the non-urban areas are
forested. The climate is varied with the lowest recorded temperature at
negative 52 degrees Farenheit at Stillwater Reservoir and the highest at
108 degrees Farenheit in Troy.
It should come as no surprise that New York has a rich UFO
history. The state’s first major introduction to UFOs came more than
100 years ago, during the now-famous 1897 airship wave. Following
the dawn of the modern age of UFOs in 1947, New York soon produced
a number of significant or high-profile “classic” cases such as the 1956,
Ryan-Neff UFO chase, the 1964 Gary Wilcox UFO landing and the
1965 Cherry Creek landing. That same year the now famous UFOcaused
New York blackout occurred, plunging nearly one-third of the
nation into darkness. This was followed by the 1966 sighting of a UFO
hovering over the U.N. building, the revelation of the Robert & Jason
Steiner abduction case (one of the first cases in the United States), the
sighting of a UFO over downtown Manhattan by musical legend, John
Lennon, several well-known Air Force Project Blue Book cases…and
many more.
Then in the mid-1980s, the Hudson Valley area experienced one of
the most intense UFO waves in world history, lasting at least four years
and involving hundreds of objects and thousands of witnesses. Around
the same time, a small town known as Pine Bush began to attract
attention as a hotbed of continuing UFO activity.
Also, unknown to many, the UFO abduction movement had much
of its origin in New York, spearheaded mainly through the investigative
work of New York artist, Elliot Budd Hopkins, and by the incredible
revelations of novelist Whitley Strieber whose 1988 book Communion
about his own abductions by “visitors” from his upstate cabin in New
York broke publishing records and remained a New York Times
bestseller for two years.
In 1999 researcher Budd Hopkins announced the unique Brooklyn
Bridge abduction case – one of the very few cases of an observed UFO
abduction. The attention of the world became focused on the incident
and New York again showed its powerful influence in the UFO
movement.
New York also has a surprisingly complex history of UFO-military
encounters that illustrate the government interest in and cover-up of the
UFO phenomenon, including several cases of apparent UFO
crash/retrievals.
One perhaps uniquely New York feature is the large number of
accounts in which New Yorkers have seen extraterrestrials walking
among the urban population, in bookstores, restaurants, hotels,
apartment buildings, subways, train-stations and other seemingly
unlikely locations.
These are only a few of the many incredible UFO events that have
taken place in New York State. As can be seen, the Empire State has a
colorful and unique history of UFO events. In fact, according to the
National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) based in Washington State,
New York ranks fifth against all the other states in terms of the number
of reported encounters, with a total of more than 1690 reports. As we
shall see, however, the total number of recorded cases is considerably
higher than that.
Because of its prominent position in world society, the history of
New York has been exhaustively documented. There have already been
a few books written about New York UFO encounters, most notably
Night Siege, by J. Allen Hynek, Philip Imbrogno and Bob Pratt, which
presents the story of the now famous four-year-long Hudson Valley
UFO wave, some of which actually took place in Connecticut.
Imbrogno also wrote a follow-up book, Close Encounters of the 5th Kind
with co-author Marianne Horrigan, which presents more Hudson Valley
sightings and several New York abduction cases, though the scope of
that book is again not limited to the state. Ellen Crystall’s book Silent
Invasion, presents a narrative of her own encounters in California, New
Jersey and most significantly, Pine Bush, New York. Vinny Polise’s
book, The Pine Bush Phenomenon follows up Crystall’s research, again
focusing mainly on Pine Bush. Finally Budd Hopkins’ book Witnessed
presents the now-famous Brooklyn Bridge abductions. Few other books,
however, have focused on New York encounters, and none has done so
exclusively.
UFOs Over New York: A True History of Extraterrestrial
Encounters in the Empire State is the first book to present the complete
history of UFOs in New York State, from the first encounters more than
150 years earlier to the present day. Cases have been derived from a
wide variety of sources including books, magazines, newspaper articles,
UFO journals, television and radio programs, websites, UFO
organizations, UFO investigators and firsthand interviews. The book is
organized chronologically and topically, starting with a history of
sightings, then moving on to more extensive cases of UFO landings and
humanoids. After that there is a section on abductions and onboard UFO
experiences. Finally, there is a chapter on uniquely New York
conspiracies and cover-ups, and at the very end, a chapter outlining
current events. So come along on this fascinating journey as we explore
New York’s involvement with one of the most persistent and perplexing
mysteries of modern times.
“The Great New York Black Out”
(excerpted from UFOs Over New York)
On the evening of November 9, 1965, New York City experienced
one of the largest blackouts in United States history, covering an area of
80,000 square miles, affecting more than five million homes and
businesses and 36,000,000 people – fully one-fifth of the nation’s
population. At first the blackout was a mystery, and no damage could be
found. Later an official investigation finally concluded that a faulty
relay break at the Sir Adam Beck Plant #2 in Clay, New York, was
allegedly responsible. It apparently became overloaded and when the
power trippers failed to function, it set off a domino effect that couldn’t
be stopped. At least, that is the official explanation.
However, there is considerable evidence that the blackout may
have been caused by UFOs. Certainly UFOs have been known to affect
electromagnetic devices and had already been associated with other
widespread power outages. The New York Blackout, however, turned
out to be the clincher that cemented the connection between UFOs and
power failures.
One night before the blackout, a group of teen-agers were on a
Syracuse hilltop when they observed a “reddish ball” of light moving
over the local dormitory.
The next evening, on November 9, 1965, Robert C. Walsh, then
the Deputy City Aviation Commissioner for Syracuse, was flying at
about 1500 feet above Syracuse when the blackout struck. As all the
lights disappeared, he became disoriented and decided to land at the
nearest airport. He successfully landed and was discussing the blackout
with others when they all observed an enormous “ball of fiery light”
fifty feet in diameter flying upwards overhead at an altitude of 100 feet.
Meanwhile, Flight Instructor Weldon Ross and his student James
Brooking were flying over the airport when they too observed a large
“glowing ball-shaped body” traveling over the power-lines leading to the
Niagara Falls power plant. They later signed statements for NICAP
investigators.
At the same time, William Stilwell, sexton of St. Paul’s Episcopal
Church had a 117-power telescope set up next to the window on his third
story room in the cathedral. When he saw several glowing objects
outside, he aimed his 117-power telescope on one of the objects. He
could see that the center of the glowing object was rotating. He snapped
several photographs, two of which were later published in the New York
Herald Journal under the headline, “Flying Fireball Photographed.”
One of the objects remained in place for up to two hours before finally
streaking away.
He later revealed to investigators that he had seen the strange
“fireballs” at least twelve times prior since mid-August. Sometimes the
balls of light would dart around quickly and disappear. On other
occasions, they would “hang there for a couple of hours.” Stilwell
didn’t report his sightings because he was afraid how people might react.
He had actually photographed several of them previously to the night of
the black out. The photographs show small white objects in the night
sky. Later, Stilwell would have a much closer encounter (described
later).
Another witness who managed to capture a photograph was Life
photographer, Arthur Rickerby. Immediately following the blackout,
Rickerby whipped out his camera and began snapping photographs. He
and numerous other witnesses in the building observed an unexplained
bright light in the sky. One of his photos shows the New York City
skyline just after the blackout. In the western portion of the sky, the
photograph shows a “brilliant, silvery object.” The photo appeared in
the November 19, 1965 issue of Time, and has never been satisfactorily
explained.
Yet another photograph was taken during the blackout by an
anonymous photographer. Writes Antonio Huneeus, “Many [UFO
photos] were taken around the period of the great blackout of 1965,
including one that shows a totally black, saucer-shaped figure flying
very close to the Empire State Building, precisely at the point of the
huge antenna at the top. I have been unable so far, however, to obtain
any reliable data that can back up this picture, such as the name of the
photographer, the type of camera and film used, the exact date and time
of the event, etc. Until such data can be produced the photo remains in a
‘maybe’ category.”
Meanwhile, a group of six people (including Renato Pacini, the
Assistant Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra) driving
from Syracuse to Rochester observed a “peculiarly brilliant light in the
sky.” Everyone in the car watched the glowing object as it descended
from the sky and moved towards Syracuse. Shortly after it disappeared
from sight, an announcement came over the car radio that the blackout
had struck.
Mrs. Gerry Falk was driving along Prospect Avenue at the time the
blackout struck. Looking up, she saw a strange red streak of light ahead
of her in the sky. As she crested the hill, she got a closer look. Says
Falk, “It was shaped rather like a half-moon, with two tips facing up. It
was pale red, not like a flame, and there appeared to be something at the
tip. It was very high in the air….it was different from anything I had
ever seen.”
Mrs. Sol Kaplan was watching television in the bedroom of her
Central Park West apartment. When the power suddenly went out, she
walked over to her window and looked outside. Says Kaplan, “There
were a number of planes in the sky…As I kept looking I saw a big
circular dome – it was not flying, but going up and down and sideways.
It was silvery looking, no lights like an airplane. I was looking through
binoculars.”
In the nearby town of Camillus, the Boshers family all observed a
“huge dome-shaped” object hovering still in the sky for about ten
minutes. Suddenly it rose upwards. At that moment, the blackout
occurred and the UFO darted away in a flash.
Nearby resident Tom Doxsee and his neighbor went outside after
the blackout had occurred and observed a large, yellow, glowing object,
which hovered in the sky for about an hour.
During the blackout, an anonymous resident of Mattydale said that
he was driving near Hancock field when he saw a large “egg-shaped”
object hovering at a low altitude.
Tom Doxsee of Manlius, near Syracuse, also reported his
observation of a ball of fire “sometime within an hour of the time the
lights went out.”
In the days that followed, the Syracuse-Herald Journal received
more than 100 reports of “strange glowing objects in and around
Syracuse” since the night of the blackout. Dozens of other accounts
came from surrounding areas including as far away as Pennsylvania,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Jersey.
One of the most amazing stories from this incredible night comes
from actor Stuart Whitman who was in his twelfth story New York City
hotel room when he was woken up by a loud siren-like sound. Seconds
later, he heard his last name being called “as though the voice was being
projected by a loudspeaker.” Looking outside his window he observed
two large, glowing egg-shaped objects hovering in place, one blue and
one orange. Says Whitman, “They gave off a strange luminescent light.
So I couldn’t see if there were portholes or who was in them.”
Speaking perfect English, the voice said he had been contacted
because he held no malice or hatred. They then proceeded to give
Whitman a message. Says Whitman, “They were concerned about our
continued use of uncontrolled nuclear weapons, and about the chaos and
lack of morality now in existence on our planet….They informed me
that they will definitely interfere if we go too far in our war-like
attitudes. They claimed that they are able to stop all electrical apparatus
from functioning and could put a halt to our normal everyday activities
any time they wanted to!”
The voice said that they had contacted several other people and
that they wanted Whitman to tell their message “to all those with ears
that will hear.”
They told him that the blackout had been a “demonstration,” but
that their only concern was the welfare of humanity. Says Whitman,
“They requested that I attempt to assist in any possible manner, their
campaign to wipe out racial prejudice, hatred, bigotry, and war from our
planet.”
During the encounter, Whitman felt no fear. Rather, he felt as if he
were in the presence of friends. Says Whitman, “I was not frightened,
but strangely elated. I had no fear, as I somehow knew they would do
me no harm.”
Following his encounter, Whitman bravely told his account to
reporters, and spread the message of the ETs as they had instructed him
to do. Says Whitman, “I don’t know why they picked me as a contact.
But I’ll swear on a Bible that I saw them out there and that they talked to
me.”
Even one week later, UFOs were still being reported over
Syracuse. A group of teen-agers who had seen UFOs the night before
the blackout observed a repeat performance involving a mysterious
reddish ball of light. Fortunately, there were no further blackouts.
Pioneering researchers Ralph and Judy Blum investigated the
blackout and learned from an inside source that the incident caused
major concern at high levels of government. An Air Force intelligence
officer told them, “My boss suggested that the UFOs were showing off –
making it plain what they could do. I think he expected us to laugh.
Nobody laughed.”
Three years later, Congress held open hearings on the subject of
UFOs. Atmospheric scientist and UFO researcher, Dr. McDonald was
asked to testify. He told Congress that in his opinion, UFOs may have
been responsible for the New York Blackout. Said McDonald, “Dr.
Hynek probably would be the most appropriate man to describe the
Manhattan sighting, since he interviewed several witnesses involved. I
interviewed a woman in Seacliff, New York. She saw a disk hovering
and going up and down and then shooting away from New York just
after the power failure. I went to the Federal Power Commission for
data. They didn’t take them seriously although they had many dozens of
sighting reports for that famous evening. There were reports all over
New England in the midst of that blackout, and five witnesses near
Syracuse saw a glowing object ascending within about a minute of the
blackout.”
McDonald then quoted a few other known cases and concluded,
“Just how a UFO could trigger an outage on a large power network is,
however, not yet clear. But this is a disturbing series of coincidences
that I think warrant much more attention than they have so far received.”
Congressman Ryan asked McDonald, “As far as you know, has
any agency investigated the New York blackout in relation to UFOs?”
Dr. McDonald replied, “None at all….There is no one looking at
this relation between UFOs and outages.”
Congressman Ryan then said, “One final question. Do you think it
is imperative that the Federal Power Commission, or Federal
Communications Commission investigate the relationship between the
sightings and the blackout?”
Dr. McDonald replied, “My position would call for a somewhat weaker
adjective. I’d say extremely desirable.”
The Cherry Creek Saucer Landing
(excerpted from UFOs Over New York)
William Butcher Sr. never claimed to see a flying saucer land on
the property of the Cherry Creek farm where he resided, but his children
did. Because they are often outside, children comprise a large portion of
witnesses to UFO landings. On August 19, 1965, William Butcher Jr.
(age seventeen), and his brothers, Harold (sixteen) and Robert
(fourteen), all observed the object, though it was Harold who saw it first.
It all began when Harold, who was in the family barn – heard their
bull moaning strangely. At the same time, his radio began to static.
Looking outside, he saw a metallic “chromelike” football-shaped object
about 50 feet in diameter come down out of the clouds and land in their
field. As he watched, the object rose up and down to ground level,
emitting a strange red vapor. The object emitted a strange beeping
noise.
As the object landed, the electric milking machine suddenly
stopped functioning. Harold grabbed the phone in the barn and called
his family in the house.
Meanwhile, back in the main house, the radio in the house stopped
functioning and became filled with static. Then the phone rang and
Harold’s mother answered. Harold shouted out that a UFO had landed
outside the barn and to come outside and look. Suddenly the phone
went dead.
Back in the barn, Harold dropped the phone and ran to the window
just in time to watch the object took off. It made a whooshing sound,
and the weird beeping noise increased in pitch. The object ascended into
the sky, emitting a bright green-yellow flame that illuminated the low
cloud cover. There was a loud boom and it disappeared. Harold ran
back inside the house. Only his brother Robert, however, had come
outside in time to see the weird glow from the craft’s departure.
A few minutes later, Harold and Robert saw the craft again. They
rushed inside and told their mother, who phoned the police.
Moments later, their neighbor, Kathleen Brougham rushed inside,
knocked down one of the Butcher children, and screamed, “It’s hear
again!” Brougham and the Butcher children ran outside again and
watched the object, which was now 700 feet away, floating slowly at a
low altitude. After about a minute the object rose up and disappeared
over a hill heading towards Jamestown, leaving a red-yellow exhaust. It
reappeared a few times, before finally leaving for good.
Shortly later, police troopers E. J. Haas and P. M. Neilson arrived,
but by then the saucer had departed. They briefly inspected the area
with flashlights, but didn’t find anything unusual. All that was left was a
strange pungent odor. The next day, however, the Butchers’ cows
produced less than half their normal amount of milk. The bull had been
so terrified that it bent the iron bar to which it was tethered.
The troopers were impressed by the case and called the U.S. Air
Force in Niagara Falls, who agreed to come and investigate.
The next day, Harold was investigating the area when he found a
strange deposit of purple liquid which he said smelled like “3-in-1 oil.”
He saved a sample which he put in a shoebox.
Later that day, five officers from Niagara Falls Air Force Base to
investigate. They were unable to find any further physical evidence left
by the object, but they concluded that the witnesses were telling the
truth, and that they definitely “did see something.” Captain James M.
Dorsey, operations officer of the 4621 Air Force Group supervised the
investigating team at the landing site. He also believed the case was
genuine. “I don’t think this is a hoax,” he said. “These children saw
something. The neighbors feel the same way about it.” The other
officers agreed that they found no evidence of hoaxing. The Blue Book
Intelligence officers declared the case unidentified (case #9806.)
Dr. James McDonald was shocked at Blue Book’s conclusion,
mainly because they normally seemed to function as debunkers rather
than investigators. As McDonald later wrote of the case, “I wonder why
it happened to be tagged UNIDENTIFED so quickly. Does it imply that
the credibility of all the observers and especially the son, Harold, were
so high? Or was it the indentations, singed brush and ‘purplish liquid.’
Or did the bull sell this one by bending the stake with his nose-ring?”
J. Allen Hynek, however, thinks that the case was so good, that the
officers had no choice but to accept the case as genuine. As he wrote,
“There was a strong impulse to regard this case as a hoax, but the
evidence pointed in the opposite direction. In addition, the witnesses
concerned were from a rural family and there seemed to be nothing to be
gained by fabricating such a story. As a consequence, Blue Book
reluctantly carried this case as unidentified.”
The third day after the landing, further landing traces were
allegedly discovered in the form of depressions or burn marks. The area
was also later tested with a Geiger counter but no trace of radiation was
found.
Allegedly a team from Wright Patterson arrived on August 23, and
were reportedly interested particularly in the landing traces. The Air
Force investigation on the landing traces revealed an unusually high
presence of phosphorous.
Later, researcher Robert Galganski did follow-up research on the
case and discovered that the landing trace aspect of the case may have
been exaggerated, however, the general sequence of events seems to be
true. He also found further confirmation of the event.
Barely two days after the Cherry Creek landing, on August 21,
New York State troopers Richard Ward and Mr. Purcell were in their
patrol car about one mile south of the Butcher’s farm when they saw a
brilliant array of seven amber-orange circles of light pass overhead at an
estimated elevation of only 2000-3000 feet. The objected made a low
purring sound “like a bagful of kittens.”
NICAP investigators soon uncovered further local cases. Just days
before the Cherry Creek landing, another resident saw a light that
“exploded like a skyrocket.” She only mentioned the encounter after
hearing about the UFO landing which occurred a few days later.
But it was the days after the Cherry Creek landing that seemed
particularly busy. Two days after the police officers sighting, on the
evening of August 24, Harold and John Butcher and their cousin Richard
observed “a deep yellow-orange ball of fire” rise from the woods along
Route 83, less than two miles from their farm. As the object took off,
their car radio and headlights both failed. Only a few miles away,
Harold Butcher Sr. and two of his co-workers at the nearby cannery also
saw the craft as it ascended into the sky.
Meanwhile, Dick Nelson, a dairy farmer and the Butcher’s next
door neighbor said that in the week following the landing, he kept
hearing strange beeping sounds coming from both his television and
radio. Nelson also said that two days after the landing, he was working
in his garage when a speeding carload of people screeched to a stop in
front of his house. Said Nelson, “That car-full of people were scared.
They saw something. They said a reddish-orange ball followed them
down the road.”
Robert Galganski was able to locate the driver of this car who said
that they had gone out driving to prove to her children that “all this talk
about flying saucers was nonsense.” It was shortly later that they
noticed their car was being followed by a “big ball of fire.” Everyone in
the car became extremely excited until the object finally darted away.
Galganski also located other witnesses who said that they observed
unusual light activity around that time, but couldn’t be sure of the exact
date. In any case, the Cherry Creek saucer landings remain one of New
York’s most famous UFO events.
