The Great UFO Wave:
October, 1973

25th Anniversary Of Truly Scary Pennsylvania UFO Encounter
From Stan Gordon

October 25, 1973 Fayette County, PA

Twenty five years ago, I was directing the Westmoreland County UFO Study Group based in Greensburg. I had started this volunteer research group in 1970, and I had established a good relationship with law enforcement and the news media in western Pennsylvania.

Then in 1973 a major UFO wave broke out across the country, and hundreds of sightings were being reported in the Keystone state. Then to make the situation even stranger, sightings of Bigfoot-like creatures began to be reported over a multi-county area in both western and eastern Pennsylvania. These reports continued for several months then began to slow down.

Interestingly, the media and police agencies for the most part took the reports seriously, And our UFO Hotline number was literally deluged with reports and questions. While some police agencies were investigating some incidents, they were commonly referring the reports to our group to investigate, and in some cases our teams were assisting the agency involved.

I had set up a communications center in my home, and we were radio dispatching investigators to the sites as reports were coming in. We were conducting this research around our regular jobs, but in many cases, we had teams on site within minutes to hours after a UFO or creature sighting was reported.

But it was one case which occurred, that made myself and my associates aware, that there were some aspects of the UFO and Bigfoot mystery that are even stranger than were first apparent. As I have stated since this event, most unexplained UFO sightings are not reported with Bigfoot encounters. And most sightings of Bigfoot have no association with UFO reports. But here in PA we investigated a few cases, where both were seen at the same time. In other cases, A UFO would be reported in an area, and soon Bigfoot reports would come from that area, or vise versa. What association there exists between the two anomalies if any, remains open to speculation.

I must stress, these cases are historically rare, but some are well documented. It was my position as an investigator to gather the data, and present the information, not hide the facts that were uncovered because it would cause controversy from both Cryptozoologists and UFOlogists who have their theories as to what these phenomena represent.

Briefly, on the night of October 25, 1973, My UFO Hotline was active with UFO reports from around the state. About 10:30 P.M. that evening, I received a call from state trooper from the Uniontown barracks concerning an incident which he had just returned from investigating. One of those involved, was put on the phone for me to interview. At about 9 P.M. about 15 people observed a very large red spherical object hovering low in the sky which began to descend towards a pasture. The witness and two boys proceeded up the field and observed a white dome shaped object on the ground that illuminated the area, and was making a loud whirring sound. It was estimated at about 100 feet in diameter. They were about 250 feet from the object, and about 75 feet from a fence line.

Walking along the fence line were two tall figures, 7 to 9 feet tall, covered with hair, and arms hanging down past the knees, and displaying glowing green eyes. The creatures were fired upon, first tracers were shot overhead, then live ammo was used. The largest of the two creatures turned towards the other almost touching it, and at the same time the object in the field disappeared, and the sound stopped. The creatures slowly walked towards the woods.

One boy had already ran home, the other two left the field, went to the farmhouse and moved the family members to a neighbor's home, and called the state police. When the trooper arrived he and the main witness went to the site, and where the object had landed there was a glowing area, that according to the trooper was about 150 feet in diameter.

He said he could read a newspaper from the amount of light that it was emitting.

The farm animals refused to go into the area.

The witness we talked with has always stated that before they left the field, the largest of the two creatures was seen in the woods about 10 feet from them, and he shot at it and it struck the fence that stood between them.

Later that night our team arrived in the area. Radiation levels normal, glowing area now gone, but animals still wouldn't go near the spot. Strange events began to occur during the early morning hours in this dark secluded location. A farmhouse several hundred feet from us was seen by some in the party to suddenly light up like daylight for several seconds. A bull in the field and a dog seemed unconcerned about us, and were looking into the woods. The main witness, a rather large individual while being questioned, suddenly begins to growl, throwing his father and my assistant George Lutz towards the ground. The man ran into the field growling like an animal and emitting screams, one which was near inhuman. His own dog approaches him as to attack, then runs off whimpering. The man suddenly collapses onto the ground.

Then two of my team members begin to complain that they are having trouble breathing. Suddenly the air is filled with a strong odor that can best be described as rotten eggs.

The man as he came out of what appeared to be an almost trance-like state, began talking about visions he saw about the end of the world, etc.

Not knowing what could happen next we helped each other back to our vehicles. It was apparent that professional help was required in this case, and eminent psychiatrist Berthold E. Schwarz was contacted.

Dr. Schwarz traveled to PA at his own expense and interviewed all of those involved including the eyewitnesses and state trooper. There is much more detail to this case, and I spent years following the life of the principal involved. There were many para-normal events which reportedly occured in the years following this episode. And many years later in a follow up interview, an MIB event associated with the case was revealed.

For a more detailed account of the case see Dr. Schwarz's article "Berserk" in Flying Saucer Review, Volume 20, Number 1 (January-February, 1974, or "An Encounter in Fayette County" in True Tales of the Unknown, Vol.II, published by Bantam Books, November, 1989.

This was a well documented event involving numerous individuals who had no interest in the unusual. But it seems that the circumstances of this case affected many of those who were involved. If you are aware of any similar cases please contact me.

Please check out my website at
www.westol.com/~paufo
Stan Gordon