Area has history of strange sightings 5/31/2009 12:34 AM
By MIKE GELLATLY Staff writer
Living next to a super-secret federal facility involved in cutting-edge government research means one thing - aliens!
Well, UFOs at least.
Though the Savannah River Site has never been said to be a Southeastern, or more humid, version of Area 51, Aiken County and the CSRA has been a hotbed of UFO sightings for as long as the bomb plant has been around.
More than 50 years ago, The Aiken Standard and Review had reports of fighter jets being scrambled to investigate and see-off "flying saucers." But rumors of unidentified flying objects persist in the area, including a documented account earlier this year.
Air Force Intelligence reports from the same year, 1952, although at different times, show two more officially recorded sightings of flying objects that cannot be identified.
The first incident happened May 10, 1952, around 11 p.m. Four individuals saw four disc-shaped objects come from the south over the DuPont Savannah River Project where they were working. After these possible little green men-carriers left, another single saucer came back flying very low to the ground.
Lt. Colonel Leo K. Johnson reported the incident and concluded that no action was taken by Special Investigations.
A few months later, on July 28, U.S. Air Command in Washington, D.C., scrambled F-94 jets when "glowing white lights" were spotted over Aiken.
However, the Air Force did not think anything in the UFO had the capacity to fly or even phone home.
"No pattern which would indicate the objects are being controlled by a reasoning body" was detected by investigators. However, being a sensitive area, "The Air Defense Command ... is vitally interested in anything unidentified that flies in the air," a spokesperson said.
The official record of such objects continues with another sighting by people who were working to build the bomb plant.
On Nov. 24 of the same year, Air Force Intelligence reported two heavy equipment operators who claim to have seen "a glaring red fireball" that left no trail or emitted any sound. The report notes the pair were "probably untrained observers."
Jumping forward to the 21st century, very similar reports continue to surface.
This year on March 20, a fireball and loud noise was reported in Aiken. It was said to have been a meteor, but some did not accept the explanation. Two weeks before that, a group of adults claim to have heard something very similar but reported seeing a submarine-shaped object.
Since the beginning of 2008, one website has eight separate reports of UFOs in the Aiken/Augusta area.
Is there an explanation? Does SRS have Roswell-style weather balloons or experimental aircraft?
"There's never been a UFO sighting at the Site that we know of," SRS Spokesperson Jim Guisti said. "The only thing that has occurred in recent years was an unidentified military aircraft just after 9/11."
Technically, the Savannah River Site was not in operation when the intelligence reports were made; it was still under construction.
So is there a massive government cover-up? Or are there reasons for aircrafts to be around SRS?
"We have two helicopters on site; we've had DOE aircrafts flying over, military aircrafts flying over us, landing on us," Guisti said. "It's part of the normal routine; some during the day, some at night. Nothing unusual for a federal facility."
It is possible that some sightings, at least, are unexpected aircrafts doing their duties at SRS.
But with more stars in the universe than grains of sand on earth, who is to say that visitors from beyond aren't stopping by to see how things are progressing in H-Canyon or simply to see 35 million gallons of high-level nuclear waste is kept so close to a river?
Contact Mike Gellatly at mgellatly@aikenstandard.com.
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Comment Title: UFO
Last night sept 8th 2009 at approximately 9:30..I looked to the western sky (which is towards the SRS) and I saw what looked to be a triangular shaped object hovering just above the trees. It had a white light on top and red and green stobing lights moving in a clockwise motion. It was there for about 10 minutes and moved slighty to the right and just disappeared. I called my daughter and she was shocked because she saw the same thing the saturday before. I know it sounds crazy but i know what i saw and it was something I've never seen before.
Posted by: mightyme On: 6/21/2009
Comment Title: @ aaron
Well! Check out the big brain on Aaron! 1. The satellites you saw were probably NOSS, and are not easily confused with Black Triangles, which are real. Look up the Belgium, Illinois, & Phoenix sightings. & before you say it, no, they are not classified planes of this nation or any other. 2. Regarding speed of light, read up on entanglement - I think its safe to say we don't really know what's impossible anymore, just what we're incapable of right now. 3. I have never known anyone to hallucinate whilst drunk. You're an idiot for saying that.
Posted by: Always Thinking On: 6/18/2009
Comment Title: Fiction - maybe not!
Stable and radioactive atoms are a reasonably basic component of the UNIVERSE. Yes, this situation even exists in your home and body regardless of where you live. In the realm of an infinite universe, surely an extremely advanced entity is keeping an eye on our activities here.
Posted by: On: 6/1/2009
Comment Title:
I believe!
Posted by: On: 6/1/2009
Comment Title:
I saw a pregnant young dark girl with purple, yellow, red, and green hair and 3" long finger nails talking on the cell phone while purchasing groceries with an EBT card at the grocery store. Maybe she was an alien, sure looked funny to me.
Posted by: On: 6/1/2009
Comment Title: Aaron
You ASSume to much....we don't drink. It must be tiring thinking tou know everything eveyone does...jerk
Posted by: On: 6/1/2009
Comment Title: Aaron
Aren't you special!
Posted by: Aaron On: 5/31/2009
Comment Title: uhhhhh
It would take 100,000 years traveling at LIGHT SPEED, just to get to the other side of our own galaxy.... If people see funny things in the sky, it is because we "humans" are flying it.... or they are drunk. I've seen satellites come across the night sky in what looked to be a triangular formation.... But I knew what they were and I knew it was by design or by coincidence that they were spaced that way. We might not be alone in the universe.... but we are too widely separated to interact.
Posted by: On: 5/31/2009
Comment Title:
A few years ago, my husband & I were outside one night and saw a trangle shaped flying object (at tree top level) over HWY 78 with BIG round lights, and no sound. Anyone driving 78 to Windsor HAD to have see it. It was moving slowly, then turned off it's lights, and just took off. Strange but true.
Posted by: On: 5/31/2009
Comment Title:
Maybe they are just gaining info on how a centralized corrupt government can so easily and drastically waste money and implode the once greatest country on planet earth.
Posted by: Earthling On: 5/30/2009
Comment Title: Sign of intelligent life at SRS?
Perhaps they are observing how a society could be so stupid as to walk to the brink of nuclear war and contaminate itself with the by-products of nuclear weapons production. This is not the most intelligent of behavior nor any "cold war" victory.
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