UFO Sightings In Lincoln County in 70s & 80s

From: campbell@ufomind.com (Glenn Campbell, Las Vegas)
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 17:33:11 -0800
Subject: UFO Sightings In Lincoln County in 70s & 80s

An acquaintance of mine in Lincoln County, a long-time driver for UPS, has
been driving up and down US-93 for years -- possibly more than anyone else
alive.  He is a private pilot and is very familiar with operations on the
Nellis Range, so I regard him as a knowledgeable witness.  He reports four
nighttime UFO sightings in the 1970s and 80s that he found remarkable.
Like other long-ago sightings, there is probably not much that can be done
with them, but since they are within my "territory," I thought I should at
least note them for the record.  Here is a rough summary.

(#1) US-93 near the 168 Cutoff

One night around 1975, he was driving a UPS truck on the late night shift to
or from Las Vegas, about 2-3 am, when a bright golden orange ball descended
slowly in front of him.  It appeared to him to be about 100 years away and
to be the size of "the front end of a car."  He and a couple of other cars
pulled over to watch it.  Although it was originally descending, it
stopped, hovered, and then took off upward at great speed.  He couldn't see
any details in the object, except that it was spinning. It almost seemed
like the object was reacting to his presence.

(#2) US-93 crossing Delamar Valley

This was about 1975 or 76, probably in the summer. While driving the truck
north from Las Vegas late at night, he saw what looked like searchlights in
the sky as he passed through Alamo.  He didn't think much of it.  However,
about 15 minutes later, when crossing the Delamar Valley, he saw the object
making the lights.  He described it as a huge, "hot-dog" shaped object that
appeared to be sitting on or close to the ground in the vicinity of Delamar
Lake, south of the highway.  He and several truckers stopped and watched
the object for "at least 15 minutes." The oblong object had distinct
"windows" along its side where the bright light was emitted.  One of the
truckers had binoculars, so they each looked at the object through them.
He realized then that this wasn't any military craft. The drivers all left
before the object did, however, since there was nothing more they could do.
They were all on a schedule and had to move on.

[Delamar Lake is in an unihabited valley about 10 miles east of Alamo and
about 8-10 miles south of the point where US-93 crosses the valley.  The
lakebed is called "Texas Lake" by military pilots (because it is shaped
like the state of Texas).  It is often used for military exercises, like
touch-and-go landings on the lake bed.  You can't actually see the lakebed
from the highway, so it would be hard to judge how far the object was.]

(#3) Over Panaca

In the evening, in 1977 or 1978, shortly after dusk.  On his free time, the
UPS man was at the airport in Panaca, which is on a bluff overlooking the
town.  He and his brother saw the same kind of object he had seen in the
Delamar Valley, but this time it was hovering in the sky.  The size was
huge and the UPS man judged that it was roughly over the football field at
Panaca High School.  He joked to his brother that it was watching the game,
but he concedes that he was not sure of distance, since it was above the
horizon and they were looking up at it. Since this was not his first such
sighting, the UPS man was not upset but his brother was very alarmed.
Through binoculars they could count the "windows" (although I didn't ask
how many).  The lights from the windows did not seem as bright as in the
Delamar sighting, but that may have been because they were seeing it from a
lower angle.  He described the surfaces of the object as "silver grey", but
he says the sky was dark enough that there most have been something
illuminating the skin for him to be able to see it.  The object moved
south, then took off upward at great speed.

He figured others in town must have seen it, but never found anyone.  His
relations with the townsfolk were distant (If you knew Panaca you'd
understand.), and his casual inquiries were met with disinterest, so he
didn't press it.

[I asked if the object was "cigar-shaped", but he said, no, it was more
like a hotdog shape, meaning, I assume, rounded ends rather than tapered.]

(#4) Crystal Springs (Junction of US-93 and 318/375)

He calls this sighting "iffy".  It was around 1985.  He is driving his own
vehicle on US-93 sometime after dusk when he came upon some truckers parked
along the road at the 318 junction.  They were looking up into the sky with
binoculars.  He figured they were looking at routine air exercises, but he
pulled over anyway to join them.  What he saw he couldn't be sure of, but
it seemed to be an object being chased by jets and outmaneuvering them.
The object had one or more blinking light not unlike a jet, but it was
vastly outperforming the other aircraft around it.  Although he didn't see
it, the truckers said they had seen the object stop short as the jets
screamed past.  This "dogfight" took place south of their location, in the
direction of Alamo.

[Note: This sighting predates the current UFO sighting hysteria in the
area, which started in 1989 with Bob Lazar's claims.  "Area 51" wasn't in
the public vocabulary back then, but the region was certainly an active
area for military air exercises, just as today.]

This is all my recollection of my phone conversation today with the
witness, and I don't guarantee every detail.  There probably isn't much I
can do with this report but file it on the web, but at least it will be
available.

-- Glenn Campbell, 1/27/96

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