A Busy Year For UFO Cases Still Unsolved

A Busy Year For UFO Cases Still Unsolved

by Bill Knell

It began as a way for me to quickly connect with some of the people working for UNSOLVED MYSTERIES in the 1980s. I had been asked to work as a consultant to the NBC Network series that delved into various unexplained events. As a UFO and paranormal investigator and researcher, author, speaker and so on, I felt right at home. Every so often I met with Robert Stack, the show's host, and various staff members in his office located in the Astoria Motion Picture and Television Center (also called Kaulfman Studios) in Astoria, Queens, New York City.

The place was like a small town with people coming and going at all hours. I knew some of them. A friend of mine who helped run the place asked me to help him by babysitting the exposed film from various projects which was worth its weight in gold in those pre-digital days. I agreed because we had served together in the Marines and he knew many important people. Those relationships ended up getting me more consultation gigs and speaking engagements.

I met Whitley Strieber, author of “Communion”, when he first published his non-fiction book about alien abduction. At Kauthman he was working on turning his novel “Wolfen” into a film project and writing a follow up to “Communion” called “Transformation”. Among the other people and projects there at that time were Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Richard Pryor (The Wiz), Dudley Moore, Liza Minelli (Arthur), Al Pacino (Author, Arthur) and so on. Once they found out I had real and interesting UFO stories to tell they began occasionally hanging out with me during breaks while I protected the exposed film and expensive sets. Sadly, only a few shared their stories with me.

The building was huge with several floors, a small theater, elevators and one large covered studio so big that an entirely recreated NYC neighborhood could fit inside it. At that time there were still several Army Barracks in the back of the building from the time when it was used to create military training and instructional films. One side of the building was split in two to create luxury suites for Diana Ross and Michael Jackson so they could work on their films without running back and forth to Manhattan hotels.

At some point an old time guard and retired US Army soldier began to talk to me. He had an amazing number of stories from his days in the military of all types including many paranormal encounters and I wanted to hear them all. As is often the case with former military, he was fearful of revealing too much about what he heard or saw during those dark days of Vietnam.

Model built for Unsolved Mysteries

1965 was a particularly busy year with major UFO cases and my new friend had been right in the middle of one of those. The most significant US military UFO encounter in 1965 was the December 9, Kecksburg, Pennsylvania incident, where an acorn-shaped, metallic object crashed. Witnesses reported U.S. Army personnel (including a buddy of my new friend) cordoned off the area and quickly removed the object. My new friend actually got a good look at some photos. Official reports claimed it was a meteor, though many believe it was a UFO crash/retrieval event.

The object was large, bronze-colored, and acorn-shaped, with unusual markings similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics on its base. Numerous witnesses observed military personnel in the woods shortly after the incident. The area was completely sealed off by the Army.

While authorities claimed to have found nothing or that it was a meteor, the rapid response fueled rumors of a "coverup" or the recovery of a "downed experimental craft". Most importantly, the object fit into no known type of human technology of the time. However, strange similar symbols have been found on other unexplained crashed objects. Later explanations said it was a crashed Soviet satellite or space device. That also became a non-starter. To be honest, I was so busy with my own cases that I had very little time for others. I would simply say that honest consensus and commonality leads me to believe it was a UFO.

Some of the other big 1965 UFO cases include the Exeter Incident (Sept 3, 1965): Police officers in New Hampshire documented a low-flying object, sparking multiple sightings in the area that were investigated by federal officials. In Virginia a rotating disk with blinking red/orange lights was witnessed, with reported connections to military/NASA observation. At the same time a number of sources from around the world indicate that Russian soldiers turned to stone after attacking a UFO that same year.

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