Description

Maybe Swamp Gas Theory Just Hot Air

HILLSDALE (AP> —

The Civil Defense director of Hillsdale County, completing what he said was a seven-week investigation, issued a 24-page report today disagreeing with A i r Force explanations of an unidentified flying object reported in the county. William E. Van Horn said he first was skeptical of such flying objects hut now "I am firmly convinced that the UFO does exist." He attacked an Air Force astrophysicist's conclusion on the sighting March 21.

Dr. J, Allen Hynek' of Northwestern University, a scientific consultant to the Air Force on unidentified flying objects, looked into reported sightings in Michigan' in March. Hynek said then the Sighting at Hillsdale "could have been due to the release of variable quantities of marsh gas" which could produce lights that might be mistaken for objects in the sky.

Hynek replied today to major conclusions in Van Horn's report by maintaining the swamp gas hypothesis still "seems to me the most logical conclusion." He note d Van Horn's report was based largely on data accumulated by Van Horn and by two teenagers who conducted scientific tests.

CITES OMMISSION

Hynek said "both Van Horn and particularly the youngsters i watched "the object from the their the south of them and then reappearing over the area and descending to where we observed it." Hynek "was informed by myself," Van Horn said, "that at one time I could make out a convexed surface between the two lights which I estimated at 25 feet between." Hynek in his report had said "They have not described an o b j e c t," only "lights that seemed to move."

FIND RADIATION

A major portion of Van Horn's report covered results of scientific tests the day after the sighting by Kipling Vandenberg, 15, and Jerry Wilson, 16, of Bay City, amateur chemists and biologists. They tested radiation, soil, plants, animals, minerals and water in the area. Using a Geiger counter and a radiological survey meter, the boys reported "the area contained an abnormally high amount of radiation from some unknown source. The area also strangely contained Boron which was found in both water and soil. These two facts are the only ones which would substantiate the presence of a UFO."

Vandenberg said they checked radiation in both the area of the sighting and in town and other unrelated places. Radiation is measured In roentgens. "It registered .27 to .35 roentgens per. hour in the area," the boy said. "In town, we got readings of around .15 to .20 roentgens per hour." He said the settings on the measuring devices were the same for both areas.

None of the plants blue pigment, a coloring which he said could have been eliminated by radiation. Radiation checks wero taken over a period of three hours at the location, he said, and "the radiation was decreasing at a rate of six - tenths milliroentgens per hour." He said within few (lays after their tests the had any | radiation probably would linvo disappeared altogether. Vandenberg said "We found large amounts of Boron floating on the water" and on the soil. Ho said It wasn't mixed with the water or soil and termed this "very very strange."

Van Horn, who said he was not with the boys when they conducted their tests, said Boron ordinarily not found in the soil In his county. "There's got to be a reason for that Boron to be there and also for the increased radioactivity," he said. 'TOO FAST' Van Horn said Hynek "never stepped his foot Into" the area...

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