textfiles/ufo/SIGHTINGS/lakeerie.ufo

                             N.E. OHIO FLAP by Richard P. Dell'Aquila

         Richard P. Dell'Aquila and Dale B. Wedge, MUFON State Section
Directors for Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula Counties (Ohio)

have been investigating a series of sightings, beginning about March  4, 1988
and seemingly centered around the Perry Nuclear Plant, and the CEI coal
burning plant at Eastlake, both on the shore of Lake Erie, east of Cleveland,
Ohio. March 4th was a clear, crisp nigh t and the stars were clearly

visible, especially to the north over the lake where there are no city

lights.  Venus and Jupiter were bright and in close proximity to each  other
in the western sky.  At about 6:30 P.M., S.B. (name and address provided to
MUFON) and her children were driving home to Eastlake along the lake shore
when they observed a large blimp-like object with bright white lights at each
end, hovering over the lake and rocking end to end l ike a "teeter-totter."
One light was brighter t han the other and was strobing.  On arriving home,
she asked her husband to accompany her to the beach about 200 yards north for
a closer view of the object which they later described as "larger than a
football held at arm's length." She and her husband walked onto the beach.
The noiseless object was gun metal gray and seemed to cause the ice on the
lake to rumble and crack loudly in an unusual way which frightened her.  The
witnesses had to shout to be heard by ea ch other, and were surpr ised that no
dogs were out barking as would have been expected.

After observing the object for a while, the couple became  concerned for the
safety of their children in the car when the object revolved slowly about 90
degrees, coming almost overhead (about 1/4 mile high) and pointing its "front"
end down toward them.  They drove the children home and continued watching the
object from their living room window which fac es the lake.  A neighbor was
phoned and she and her son went to the beach, reporting the same thing.  They
took photographs which did not turn out. The object began to descend and the
witnesses returned to the beach, where it was now observed to have red and
blue blinking lights along its bottom edge.  It emitted 5 or 6 noiseless,
intensly bright yellow triangular lights from its side.  They intermittently
hovered around the larger object, darted and zig-zagged into the night sky at
velocities far in excess of known aircraft. Mr. B stated the triangular
objects we re smaller than a one-seat Cessna and "crossed 50 mile stretches
low over the ice in the snap of a finger."  They were said to be able to
approach the shore, turn abrupt right angles due

east toward the Perry Nuclear Plant about 12 miles away, climbing  rapidly and
returning again, all within several seconds.  By this time, a Coast Guard
patrol vehicle had arrived on the beach in response to S.B.'s several phone
calls. The triangular objects came closer t o the shore, causing the

witnesses to become concerned that the lights on the Coast Guard  vehicle
would attract the objects and the lights were turned off.  The triangles
continued to fly off at high speed northward over the lake and eastward toward
the Perry Nuclear Plant.  About an hour later, they returned one at a time
into the large ship, which then landed on the ice.  Several multi-colored
lights now came on for about 5 minutes


(Page 1 of 3) on the bottom of the object "in a wave like a mo vie theater s
ign" and the brighter white light on the end began strobing red and white.

When these went off, the ice stopped making noise and everything  became "dead
silent."  The object could no longer be seen within about a half hour and it
was assumed to have gone below the surface.  The next day, unusually huge
pieces of broken ice were observed in the area of the landing.

The Coast Guard informed Mr. and Mrs. B the followi ng day  that the Army and
NASA, whom S.B. had also phoned, instructed them no t to investigate the
matter further or go out on the lake in their cutter to examine the ice in the
area of the landing, since the matter was "out of their league and out of
their hands."  They informed the couple that all information was being
forwarded to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and a facility in Detroit,
Michigan.  In response to a Coast Guard inquiry, Wright-Patterson refused to
confirm or deny any interest in these activities. O n the next night, the same
witnesses observed sever al triangular objects over the lake for about 45
minutes.  By the time Coast Guard personnel arrived on the scene, the objects
were gone. On March 7, 1988, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Lake County
News-Herald carried articles which attributed a series of reports of large
brightly lit objects over Lake Erie on the prior weekend to several witnesses'
misidentification of the planets Venus and Jupiter. The newspaper accounts
indicated that the Fairport Harbor Coast Guard went to the area and saw a
large bright object that seemed to dispurse

smaller, bright multi-colored objects.  But when they called the local  air
traffic controllers, they were "informed" that Jupiter and Venus were in
alignment and that the colors were the result of "spontaneous gas emissions
from the two planets."  One article even attributed this amazing explanation
to a professor of astronomy at a local university. On reading the articles,
Dell'Aquila felt it was unlikely that U.S. Coast Guard personnel, tra ined in
navigation and identification of basic celestial objects such as the planets,
could have made such a gross misidentification.  Likewise, the statement
attributed to the professor of astronomy was equally unacceptable, in that no
other similar "spontaneous gas emission" from the planets cited, of the
necessary magnitude, had ever been noted, particulary on this weekend. In the
course of the follow-up investigation by Dell'Aquila

and Wedge, a Coast Guard incident report was found (p res ently in  MUFON's
possession) which states that Coast Guard personnel responded to several calls
reporting UFOs over Lake Erie on the night of March 4, 1988.  When the Coast
Guard arrived, the report confirms that a large object "dispersed 3-5 smaller
flying objects that were zipping around rather quickly.  These objects had
red, green white, and yellow lights on them that strobed intermittently.  They
also had the ability to stop and hover in mid-flight." The incident report
confirms Mr. and Mrs. B 's reports, including the abnormal cracking of the ice
as the object came closer to it and apparently landed.  "The smaller objects
began hovering in the area where the large object landed (about 1/4 mile east
of the CEI power plant) and after a few minutes they began flying around
again."  The report states that, "One of the

small objects turned on a spotlight where the large object had been,  but [the
Coast Guard personnel] could not see anything, and then the object seemed to
disappear.  Another ob ject approached [these personnel] approximately 500
yards offshore about 20 feet above the ice, and it began moving closer as [the
Coast Guard] began flashing its headlights, then it moved off to the west."

                             (Page 2 of 3)  A subsequent Coast Guard report
(also in possession of MUFON) prepared after the sightings of the following
night attributes the sightings to misidentifications of the planets Venus and
Jupiter and says, "the fla shing lights are gases in the at mosphere...Request
incident closed this unit."  In response to a classified advertisement placed
by the investigators, other witnesses contacted Dell'Aquila and Wedge, and
have been interviewed as the investigation continues. On the same night (March
4th) at about 10:00 P.M., and continuing until approximately 10:30 P.M., C.H.
(name and address

provided to MUFON) also reported a UFO near her home, which is a few  miles
south of the lake shore and just east of the Perr y Nuclear Plant.  C.H. wa s
walking a puppy when she noticed the stationary triangular object in the
southeasterly sky.  It was much brighter than the moon, and seemed to upset
the puppy, which she took back indoors. Returning outdoors, she reported that
the object began sequentially flashing multi-colored lights, suspended in rows
below the base of the triangle.  The witness responded by flashing her
cigarette lighter and the UFO's light pattern beca me more erratic.  At one
point, the triangle revolved clockwise, turning it s apex about 90 degrees to
a horizontal position, but still flashing the rows of light. After several
minutes, it turned back counter-clockwise as it simultaneously

accelerated away to the south at a high rate of speed, disappearing  behind
some trees.  No noise or odor was reported. At about 10:30 P.M. that night
T.K. (name and address provided to MUFON), took a photograph in his back yard,
within a few miles of the Perry Nuclear Plant, showing a portion of a brightly
lit triangular object travelling across the sky (Photograph in possession of
MUFON).  This object was later confirmed by Mr. and Mrs. B and C.H. to be
identical to the triangular objects they were also observing

about the same time a few miles away, and is also similar to one  reported to
Phil Imbrogno as having been near the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant in New
York State on the same night. T.K. and his friend were outdoors on the night
of March 4th, observing the stars throu gh his telescope.  Venus and Jupiter
were reported to be in the western sky behind a stand of trees. While looking
southward through the telescope, out of the corner of his left

eye, T.K. noticed a bright, moving object in the sky.  He and his  friend were
awe-struck by the triangular object, but he did have the presence of mind to
take 3 photographs with a small "snapshot" type camera loaded with Kodak 110
color film, with which they had intended to photograph stars through the
telescope.  Only one photograph turned out. It is the l ast in the series,
taken while panning ahead of the object, and shows the front portion of the
triangle.  The object was described as about 3-4 inches tall at arm's length
and glowing an intense yellow/orange to white, with a bright

orange/red glow behind it.  It seemed to pulse brighter and dimmer,  moving in
a roughly southwesterly direction until it was obscured by trees.  As it
moved, it accelerated, slowed and accelerated again. No sound or smell was
noted, although his dog had a strong reaction , running in circles and tugging
on T.K.'s sleeve, apparently in an attempt to urge him away from the object.
Total time of observation was a few minutes. Dell'Aquila and Wedge continue to
receive reports of additional UFOs over the same period, some supported by
photographs, as the sightings continue to the date of this writing.
Supplementary reports will be provided as the investigation of the flap
progresses.

                             (Pag e 3 of 3)