UFOs have become commonplace. Perhaps that is part of the reason for SciFi, to ‘warm us’ to the whole aliens amongst us concept. I don’t think it will be too bad. I mean, have you been to Grand Central Station? Well, in 1966, forty years ago, for a brief but interesting time, Washtenaw County became the flying saucer capital of the Midwest.
It started when a Dexter farmer named Frank Mannor and his 18-year-old son, Ronald, told the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department that a strange flying object appeared and landed in a swampy area at Quigley and Brand roads.
Frank Mannor, 46, told authorities that night that the two went out in search of the object moments after they saw it touch ground. He said it appeared to be brown, with a “quilted” effect on the surface. It was flat on the bottom and cone-shaped toward the top, with two small lights on the outer edges emitting a glowing blue-green color that intensified and turned red at times. When it became brightly lit, the entire object was light yellow, with the light running horizontally between the two outer running lights.
The Michigan Sightings Case Directory
NICAP website (nicap.org)
Several articles on the Michigan sightings of 1966 relating to a UFO in Washtenaw County Michigan.
The great Michigan UFO chase
Vivian M. Baulch / The Detroit News
On a quiet day in March, 1966, seven eyewitnesses reported an unidentified flying object maneuvering over Livingston and Washtenaw counties. Ordinarily, these reports might have been dismissed by officials as the work of cranks. But this time, the seven witnesses WERE officials — police officers and sheriff’s deputies from the two counties.
‘UFO’ mystery still haunts some: 1966 Dexter sightings by residents, officer called swamp gas by U.S. government
Ann Arbor News, March 20, 2006
Forty years ago today, for a brief but interesting time, Washtenaw County became the flying saucer capital of the Midwest.
Sheriffs Watch High-Performance Discs, Also Tracked on Radar
March 14-20, 1966: Southeastern Michigan
From about 3:50 a.m. on March 14 and for 2-1/2 hours thereafter, Washtenaw County sheriffs and police in neighboring jurisdictions reported disc-shaped objects moving at fantastic speeds and making sharp turns, diving and climbing, and hovering. At one point, four UFOs in straight-line formation were observed. Selfridge AFB confirmed tracking UFOs over Lake Erie at 4:56 a.m. Following is the log of “Complaint No. 00967″ signed by Cpl. Broderick and Deputy Patterson of the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department:
“3:50 a.m. Received calls from Deputies Bushroe and Foster, car 19, stating that they saw some suspicious objects in the sky, disc, star-like colors, red and green, moving very fast, making sharp turns, having left to right movements, going in a Northwest direction.
4:04 a.m. Livingston County [sheriff's department] called and stated that they also saw the objects, and were sending car to the location.
4:05 a.m. Ypsilanti Police Dept. also called stated that the object was seen at the location of US-12 and I-94 [intersection of a U.S. and an Interstate highway].
4:10. a.m. Monroe County [sheriff's department] called and stated that they also saw the objects.
4:20 a.m. Car 19 stated that they just saw four more in the same location moving at a high rate of speed.
4:30 a.m. Colonel Miller [county civil defense director] was called; he stated just to keep an eye on the objects that he did not know what to do, and also check with Willow Run Airport.
4:54 a.m. Car 19 called and stated that two more were spotted coming from the Southeast, over Monroe County. Also that they were side by side.
4:56 a.m. Monroe County [sheriff's department] stated that they just spotted the object, and also that they are having calls from citizens. Called Selfridge Air Base and they stated that they also had some objects [presumably on radar] over Lake Erie and were unable to get any ID from the objects. The Air Base called Detroit Operations and were to call this Dept. back as to the disposition.
5:30 a.m. Dep. Patterson and I [Cpl. Broderick] looked out of the office and saw a bright light that appeared to be over the Ypsilanti area. It looked like a star but was moving from North to East.
6:15 a.m. As of this time we have had no confirmation from the Air Base.”
Washtenaw County deputies B. Bushroe and J. Foster formally stated: “This is the strangest thing that [we] have ever witnessed. We would have not believed this story if we hadn’t seen it with our own eyes. These objects could move at fantastic speeds, and make very sharp turns, dive and climb, and hover with great maneuverability. We have no idea what these objects were, or where they could have come from. At 4:20 a.m. there were four of these objects flying in a line formation, in a north westerly direction, at 5:30 these objects went out of view, and were not seen again.”
Deputy Bushroe told the press: “It would swing back and forth like a pendulum, then shoot upward at tremendous speed, hover and then come down just as fast.” Dexter police and Livingston County sheriffs, contacted by Bushroe and Foster, “reported that they saw the same objects engaging in the same maneuvers.”
March 17, 1966, Milan, Michigan. 4:25 a.m. Sgt. Nuel Schneider and Deputy David Fitzpatrick saw top-shaped objects making sharp maneuvers. They alternately hovered, rose and fell quickly, darted around at jet-like speed, their light dimming and brightening periodically. In a report to NICAP, the officers stated that two objects were operating together, circling and flying in formation, while a third object hovered at lower altitude.
March 20, 1966, Dexter, Michigan. About 8:30 p.m. Frank Mannor and family, and dozens of other witnesses, reported that a domed oval object with “quilted” or “waffled” surface and lights in the center and on each end had landed in a swampy field. Deputies David Fitzpatrick and Stanley McFadden parked car #34 adjacent to the area and began a search with Frank Mannor.
“While in the woods area,” their report states, “a brilliant light was observed from the far edge of the woods, and upon [our] approaching, the light dimmed in brilliance….The brilliant light [then] again appeared, and then disappeared. A continued search of the area was conducted, through swamp and high grass, with negative results. Upon returning to the patrol vehicle, the undersigned officers were informed that one of the objects had been hovering directly over the area where our flashlight beams had been seen, and then [it] departed in a west direction of flight, at high rate of speed.”
As he and other officers were rushing to the scene, Officer Robert Hartwell of the Dexter Police Department saw a luminous object buzz his car. Robert Taylor, Dexter Police Chief, said he watched an object in the field from Frank Mannor’s home on a knoll overlooking the area. It appeared as a pulsating red, glowing object. Through binoculars he saw “a light on each end of the thing.”
