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[Music]

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the portage county ufo chase by charles

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lear

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in 1966 there was a ufo case that

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involved a chase and sightings by

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multiple police witnesses

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in addition to their testimonies there

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was a reported radar confirmation

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and a possible pilot witness faced with

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all this evidence

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the initial air force investigation

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consisted of two

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phone calls to a single witness based on

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interviews lasting a total of around

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four minutes

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the conclusion was that the officers had

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seen a satellite

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and chased the planet venus the case was

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re-evaluated after a more thorough

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investigation

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thanks to the efforts of an outraged

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congressman and the conclusion was

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that the officers had seen a satellite

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and chased the planet venus

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on the morning of april 17 1966

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two sheriff deputies dale sparr and

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wilbur barney neff

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chased a ufo from portage county ohio

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for 86 miles all the way into

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pennsylvania

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they chased the object at speeds ranging

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from 80 miles per hour to 105 miles per

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hour

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and according to them there were times

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when the object actually stopped and

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waited for them to catch up to it

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other law enforcement officers witnessed

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the object after

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being alerted by radio communications

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between the deputies and their

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dispatcher

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the strangeness began at 4 30 am a call

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came over the radio informing the

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deputies

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that a woman in summit county had

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reported seeing a bright object

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that flew low over our property she said

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it was moving towards portage county

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spar and neff laughed it off and went on

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with their schedule of spot checks

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at around 5 am they saw an abandoned

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vehicle on route 224

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near ravenna and got out of their car to

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investigate

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according to sparr he was in the habit

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of looking behind him to make sure

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no one was sneaking up on him he turned

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around and saw a light over the trees of

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a nearby hill

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he alerted neff and as they watched it

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moved over the police car and hovered

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they could now see it was an object 35

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to 40 feet wide

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with a bright white glow that lit up the

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area around the car

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it hummed like a loaded transformer

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thinking it best he gets something

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between

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them and the object they got into the

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car the object moved off towards the

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east

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and then stopped about a hundred feet

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away as if it was waiting for them

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they contacted their dispatcher deputy

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robert wilson

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and told him they were looking at what

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might have been the object reported

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earlier

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wilson asked sparr if he had his 44

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magnum with him

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sparr confirmed and wilson suggested he

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take a shot at the object

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sparr considered this briefly and

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decided it was unwise to risk

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antagonizing

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whatever might be controlling such a

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large object wilson realized spar was

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serious

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and asked sergeant hank schoenfeld for

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advice

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schoenfeld got on the radio and told

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them to maintain visual contact

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while he arranged for a car to be

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dispatched he said he would send along a

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camera

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in order to take a picture of the object

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spar acknowledged

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put the car in gear and moved slowly

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towards the object

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the object responded by moving away at a

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similar speed sparr told schoenfeld what

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was happening

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and asked if they should keep up with it

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shone felt confirmed and repeated that

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there was a camera on the way

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spar accelerated and the object did as

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well

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soon they were after it at 85 miles per

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hour they noticed that the object tilted

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its leading edge down as it moved

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and the light below it remained

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perpendicular to the object and followed

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on the ground behind it

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as daylight came on they could see more

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details

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the object had a definite outline with a

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metallic top and what looked like an

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antenna

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whenever spars slowed down to negotiate

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in traffic

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the object slowed down let him catch up

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and then accelerated

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before long the deputies were in another

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county

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they were out of their jurisdiction and

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headed for the state line

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they approached unity ohio on route 14

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and patrolman wayne houston

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of the east palestine police force was

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waiting for them after hearing them

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on the radio he called spar and asked

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him where to look for the object

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spar told him to look to the northwest

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houston did so and saw the object

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heading towards him

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it passed him at over 80 miles per hour

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followed by spar and neff

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houston got into his car and joined the

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pursuit in pennsylvania

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conway patrolman frank panzanella

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spotted the object while on his way home

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after a night on duty

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he pulled over and got out of his car to

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look at it as it hovered by

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the cars from ohio came up from behind

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him and stopped

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houston spa sparring neph got out and

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ran towards him they asked panzanella if

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he was seeing the object

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and he reluctantly admitted he was the

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object moved straight up

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hovered and a commercial airliner flew

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under it panzanella called the rochester

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base radio station

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and asked operator john b to call

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greater pittsburgh airport

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and see if they had the object on radar

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be he complied and reported back

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that they had it on radar and were

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sending two planes up to intercept

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as soon as the planes were mentioned the

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object shot upwards until it was out of

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sight

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the ohio officers headed back towards

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portage county

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and panzanella got a call from b the u.s

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air reserve at the airport had requested

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that the officers give them a report on

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the object

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panzanella contacted the ohio officers

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relayed the message and a report was

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given to the air reserve

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office from there it made its way to the

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office of project blue book

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at wright-patterson air force base in

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dayton ohio

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sparr was interviewed by the head of

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blue book major hector quintanilla

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the next morning quintanilla started the

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conversation with

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what was this mirage you saw the

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interview lasted two and a half minutes

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quintanilla called again on april 21st

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and that interview lasted one and a half

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minutes

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sparse sensed that quintanilla wanted

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him to say he'd only observed the object

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for a matter of minutes

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he noted that quintanilla broke off the

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conversation when he told him he'd seen

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it for much longer

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civilian investigators were far more

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thorough two members of the akron flying

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saucer investigating committee

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a.e canduso and larry moyers brought a

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geiger counter

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they checked the area of the initial

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sighting for radiation and found nothing

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unusual

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three members of the cleveland ufology

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project visited the portage county

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police station to interview sparr and

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neff

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and william weitzel representing the

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national investigations committee on

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aerial phenomena

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was there as well weitzel was the

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chairman of the pennsylvania nycap

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subcommittee

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and he wrote up a narrative account that

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can be found on the qfos.org website

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reports and documents relating to the

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case can be found at the nycap.org

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website

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on april 22nd quintanilla called sheriff

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ross dustman

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at the station and gave his evaluation

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he told the sheriff that the deputies

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had seen

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an echo satellite moving to the

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southeast venus was also in the

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southeast

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according to quintinea they mistook

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venus for the satellite

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and proceeded to chase it all the way

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into pennsylvania

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according to weitzel's account dussman

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laughed out loud when he heard the

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explanation

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the congressman representing portage

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county william stanton

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was preparing to be interviewed about

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the case for the record courier

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and he wanted to know the facts

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whitesell sent him a letter and the

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congressman forwarded it to the air

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force

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and asked for an explanation after two

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weeks of waiting for a reply

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he went to the pentagon and spoke to

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lieutenant colonel john spalding

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chief of community relations division

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usaf

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spalding admitted that not sending

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someone to portage county had been

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an error and promised someone would come

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within a week

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that someone was quintanilla and he

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interviewed sparr in an office at the

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county courthouse

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sparr asked weitzel to tape the

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interview sparr filled out a report

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and was interviewed alone with the tape

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running after this was done

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quintanilla repeated his original

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evaluation

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and stubbornly stuck to it despite

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long-term attempts by white soul and

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others to reason with him

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sparr was encouraged by nikop to speak

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out about the case

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and he did so as other witnesses went

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silent

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he was hounded by the press and

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ridiculed the pressure took its toll

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and spar lost his job his wife and his

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children

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he ended up working in a coal mine in

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west virginia

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this case came just after quintanilla

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had been called to appear at hearings

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before congress

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these were convened in the wake of blue

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book scientific consultant jaylen

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heineck's explanation

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that swamp gas might have been the cause

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of ufo sightings in michigan

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the air force was moved by the hearings

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to fund the condon committee study that

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led to blue books demise in 1969

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it's likely that quintanilla didn't lose