Since the 2017 bombshell report published in the New York Times which revealed the existence of the DoD’s top secret Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), the interest in UAPs/UFOs has gained tremendous momentum. Even for those of us who have researched UFOs for decades, this was an unexpected announcement but the underlying premise that there are strange UAPs/UFOs being regularly sighted came as no surprise.
The UFO category of blogs posted on this site will explore the history, reports and theories involving UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects), UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena), USOs (Unidentified Submerged Objects) and other associated phenomena. I will attempt to distinguish between fact, anecdotal reports, theories and speculation as best as I can. I guess a place to start is to tell you about a personal experience I had a long time ago that was very strange and started my travels down this path.
It happened way back in the summer of 1968 when I was about to enter my senior year of high school. “Flower power” dominated pop culture, phones had cords, Microsoft wasn’t even a glint in Bill Gates’ eye and the government’s Project Blue Book was still in effect. My experience occurred in Michigan at Camp Dearborn; a 626 acre park owned by the city of Dearborn and located 35 miles to the north west of the city limits in the rural village of Milford. I was enjoying a sunny and cloudless day in late August soaking up the sun, swimming at the beach and doing one of my favorite pastimes of tossing a Frisbee. I had recently added a wooden boomerang to my assortment of Frisbees but it was too dangerous to throw around other people.
In a secluded part of the park back between a lake and the Huron River was a large, mowed picnic area … now part of the 3rd and 4th holes at the Mystic Creek’s “Lakes” golf course. The picnic area was vacant that day so I decided it was a good time to make some test tosses with the boomerang. I would fling the ‘rang out across the field, trying to make it return to me. I was having only limited success so I kept practicing. I looked up towards the sky as I flung the curved stick and noticed a flock of birds go overhead and land in the overgrown wilderness on the other side of the river. These were dark colored birds, probably starlings, so at the time it was nothing special. As I continued my practice I noticed more groups of birds flying in from all directions, swooping low over me and landing in the same area just across the river. These flocks varied in size from just a handful of birds to other flocks which contained dozens of individuals. The odd part was that each of these groups was composed of a single species of bird. There were groups of robins, cardinals, red-winged black birds, sparrows, crows, chickadees, herons, and others birds which I could not identify. I thought this was strange because I did not think some of these species congregated in flocks. I could not see the birds after they landed due to the thickets and dense brush across the river but they were all chirping, cawing, whistling and singing in unison so that the noise betrayed their presence. It was loud.
As one of the larger flocks came by I looked up and, being a typical teen, I tossed the boomerang into it to see how the birds would react and maybe wing one. Just then I caught a glimpse of a very small, very bright whitish-silver spot high overhead in the cloudless late-afternoon sky. I dropped the boomerang and stared at the spot. I could see no markings, navigation lights or any other identifying markings. It was simply a featureless tiny dot or orb in the sky. It was silent and remained motionless for a minute or two. Then it started a fast, momentary vibration and shot off in a flash to the west at a very high speed where I lost it in the glare of the sun. That event along with the cacophony of birds across the river kind of freaked me out so I left the area.
I returned to the social area known as the canteen where they held outdoor dances, sold hot dogs, ice cream and such. I met my schoolmates there and told them what I just saw. Back then UFO sightings were actively being discredited by the government and those who claimed to witness such events were labeled as weirdos. The guys didn’t believe my story so I took them out to the picnic field so they could hear the birds across the river. When we got there it was eerily quiet and not a bird was around. This reinforced their skepticism and I was kidded relentlessly about “flying saucers” and “little green men”. As a result of becoming the butt of teenage sarcasm I kept the story to myself for many years. I only repeated it much later to a few open minded friends and colleagues when “flying saucers” gradually became known as UFOs and gained a degree of credibility. Now you know it too. This is what piqued my interest in UFOs and I remain a student of the subject to this day. There was definitely a correlation between the action of the birds and the appearance of the dot, but I have not been able to ascertain a causal relationship between the two events.