Somewhere in the Skies - Bite-Sized UFOs | Saucer Bumps and Men in Black

Starting point is 00:00:00 Ambition comes in all shapes and sizes. At First Citizens Bank, we roll with your goals because we're built for what you're building. Fit for your ambition for Citizens Bank. You're great at protecting your data, but lots of places could still expose you to identity theft. I thought it was safe. If that happens, LifeLock gives you a U.S.-based restoration agent

Starting point is 00:00:24 who will stick by your side from start to finish. Phone calls, filing documentation, preparing insurance claims, Your agent handles it all. In fact, we're so confident, restoration is guaranteed. Pour your money back. Isn't it nice to have someone like that on your side? Save up to 40% your first year at lifelock.com slash Spotify. Terms apply.

Starting point is 00:00:47 Welcome to bite-sized UFOs, a show where we break down lesser-known UFO cases in 20 minutes or less. And now here's your host, Graham Rendell. Two teenagers driving down a deserted country road in Ohio late one night in mid-July 1967 would have an unforgettable experience. However, the mystery did not stop there. The driver went on to have visits from two sets of strange individuals.

Starting point is 00:01:23 They wanted to know more about the incident. We discuss all of this in this latest episode of bite-sized UFOs. Details of this case first appeared in the July-August 1967 edition of the Apple. The Newsperson, the newsletter of the Aerial Phenomenon Research Organisation. A young man called Robert Richardson, a 21-year-old from Toledo, Ohio, had sent APRO a telegram telling them what happened on the evening of 13th July, which was a Thursday night. Apro contacted the witness by telephone and informed him that they would send an investigator out to interview him, and the results were published in the July August 19th.

Starting point is 00:02:08 In 1967 edition of the Aprop Bulletin. According to Richardson, 21, and his companion, Jerry Key, 21, also of Toledo, they had been en route to White House, Ohio, to see if White House quarry, a famous swimming area, would be open for the coming weekend. At a point about midway between Maumee and White House, Ohio, Richardson turned around a bend in the road and saw before him a very brilliant blue-white source of light which completely blocked the road. He later said he instinctively brake the car, closing his eyes at the same time, as he knew he would strike it. He was going 40 miles per hour when he spotted the object.

Starting point is 00:02:49 Fearing the inevitable impact, Richardson stamped on the brakes and both men shut their eyes. A distinct bump was heard and felt, but when the car came to a halt, Richardson and He opened their eyes again and could see nothing ahead. There was nothing to the sides of the car or behind it. Whatever they'd seen had disappeared. Following the incident, the two men drove to Waterville to phone the police, but they were not taken seriously. They then went to Maumee, Ohio, where they contacted the state police. They were instructed to proceed to the Maui Police Station and await the arrival of highway

Starting point is 00:03:28 patrol officers, which they did. Present at the station during the questioning were Richardson, Key, two Maui policemen and two state highway patrolmen. After questioning and concluded their testimony had been written down at Moormy, Richardson and Key were taken to the scene of the incident. Accompanied by the two highway patrolmen, they searched the area where they had seen the intense blue white light, but found nothing apart for entire marks on the road where they had skidded to a halt. However, Richardson decided to return to the scene the following morning, as

Starting point is 00:04:03 described by Jim and Coral Lorenzen, in their book, UFOs over the Americas. On the next day, however, Richardson went back to the spot and found a small lump of metal. Examination of the car revealed that there were dents and scratches on the hood of the automobile, and that some of the chrome plating on the bumper seemed to have been stripped off in some unknown manner. The area surrounding the dent on the bumper was not scratched, cracked, or lifted away from the plating base metal of the steel bumper. Mr. Nils Pauquette, the local APRO representative, who investigated the scene of the collision and also Richardson's car, later observed that the sound and sensation of the impact indicated that the object was probably lifting off just as the car struck it. This was also indicated by the small amount of damage done to the automobile.

Starting point is 00:04:54 Bite-sized UFOs, where the truth matters. If Robert Richardson thought that this was the end of the story, then he was sadly mistaken. He would have visits from two sets of strange individuals. On the 16th of July at 11 o'clock p.m., two men in their 20s presented themselves at Richardson's home and asked to talk to him about the incident. They stayed about 10 minutes, mainly asking questions about the incident and its location. They seemed slightly friendly. They did not identify themselves, however, and Richardson neglected to ask them for their names. When they left, he noted that they were driving a 1953 black Cadillac sedan with the license plate 8577D.

Starting point is 00:05:45 He later checked with the Toledo Police Department to see if he could get a lead on their identity, and found that this license plate had not yet been issued. However, the strangers were not the last to turn up on Richardson's doorstep asking about the strange encounter. and key it hard. One week after the first two visitors' arrival, two other men came to Richardson's home when he was alone. They were dressed in black suits and were dark-complected. They impressed Richardson as being foreigners. One had an accent, but the other spoke fluent English. From the conversation of the two men, Richardson gathered that they were trying to make him think he had not hit anything on the road that night. They then contradicted themselves by demanding

Starting point is 00:06:27 the two pieces of physical evidence that he had retrieved. Richardson did retrieve two pieces of metal from the road when he returned to the scene the following morning. It was clear that the purpose of the visit was to retrieve the two pieces of metal. They asked Richardson what he'd done with them. He said he'd given them to APRO for analysis. They asked him if he could get them back. He said no. They weren't happy with this.

Starting point is 00:06:51 An issue of threat. If you want your wife to stay as pretty as she is, then you'd better get the metal back. Richardson was very upset about this, particularly since his wife was pregnant. He had been very concerned for her safety. He confided to Apro that he hated to leave her alone to go to work because of what the man said. When these two left, he noticed they were driving a 1967 tan two-door Dodge sedan. He couldn't make out the license number because of the way the car was parked. What happened to the metal fragments that were passed to Apro for analysis?

Starting point is 00:07:27 Information regarding the analysis conducted on the materials appeared, strange enough, in the 1968 Condon Report. The Condon Report was the Condon Committee's scientific study of UFOs, and its recommendations led to the cancellation of Project Blue Book in early 1970. The relevant passage in the Condon report read as follows. Two metal samples were submitted through APRO headquarters, reportedly from the site of a UFO F-O automobile collision of July 16, 1967. One of these, a tiny piece of thin, rolled metal, was shown by analysis to be an alloy of magnesium, aluminum, and zinc. The other sample, weighing several grams, was an iron-chromium-manganese alloy in unworked, crystalline state. Large crystals extending from one surface suggested this sample had solidified at the edge of a

Starting point is 00:08:23 vessel from which the rest of the melt had been poured. Both of these materials, could be produced by conventional technology. Roy Craig, who authored the section on material analysis in the Condon report, requested analysis to be carried out on the two samples provided by Richardson, but he wasn't impressed about the authenticity of these items. Proof that they are residue from a strange object would require demonstration that they were actually found at the site, that they were not there prior to the reported UFO event

Starting point is 00:08:53 and could not have been brought there by the automobile or by other means subsequent to the event, that there was dependable continuity of custody of samples between discovery and analysis, and that there was, indeed, a UFO involved in the reported event. In other words, the existence of these materials, since they are easily producible by earthly technology, cannot serve as evidence that a strange flying object collided with the automobile in question. The Condon Committee's analysis of the two samples wasn't the first one that was conducted. Dr. Alan Utker, a consultant,

Starting point is 00:09:27 in chemistry at the Wisconsin State University in Oshkosh, had examined one of the lumps of metal found in the road by Richardson. He found that it was made of iron and chromium with traces of nickel and manganese. The presence of iron, chromium and manganese would be verified by the Condon Committee's own analysis of the same sample. However, without a robust chain of custody for the samples, plus the only evidence of the UFO incident being the testimony of the two men concerned, plus the conclusion that the material could have been produced on earth, then it was inevitable that the Condon Committee would conclude that there was nothing to see here, move along. Just what had Richardson and Key ran into that night back in July 1967?

Starting point is 00:10:17 Were the samples that Richardson had found on the side of the road the following morning genuine? Did the suggestion that they could be made using earthly technology rule them out as being a fragment from a UFO? If the samples were of no consequence, then why did strangers appear at Richardson's house demanding to take possession of them? And why were threats issued against the witness's wife when he said that he'd already sent the material off to APRO for analysis? The suggestion that a UFO was damaged by an automobile on a country road late at night in Ohio back in. in 1967 is strange enough, but the possibility that the so-called men in black were involved just adds another dimension to this tale. Once again, we are left with more questions than answers. Until next time, bite-sized UFOs is all about the facts. This has been bite-sized UFOs,

Starting point is 00:11:24 with your host, Graham Rendell. Be sure to rate and review wherever you get your podcasts. For a full video version of this episode, subscribe to the bite-sized UFOs. YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.

Somewhere in the Skies - Bite-Sized UFOs | Saucer Bumps and Men in Black

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.