"The case was closed and never reopened," according to Brian Seese's, in his book "Unexplained Events in Beaver County."
In late 1966, a NICAP investigator assigned to the case, delivered his final report to his Washington, D.C., supervisor, Richard Hall, who in turn gave it to Dr. Edward Condon
"I personally hand-carried a copy of Weitzel's very thick and extremely well-documented report to Dr. Edward Condon," Hall said. Dr. Condon, you may remember from Alien Lore No. 32: The Condon Report - The Study That Killed Project Blue Book And All (Admitted) Government Research On UFOs And Alien Visitors. He was the guy who helped kill all government research into UFOs and The Greys.
"Years later, I learned to my astonishment that he never turned over the case to his staff, and it gathered dust in his personal files," Hall said. It never appeared in the report Condon made to Congress, even though it was one of the UFO incidents most ripe for further research. The government report instead focused on the cases like Roswell, that could never be proved or verified.
"Maj. Hector Quintanilla tried to pass it off as a sighting of the planet Venus and an earth satellite," said Hall.
Project Blue Book files would show the final status of the incident, Hall said. But the real truth behind Blue Book may never be known. As you may remember, the government shut down Project Blue Book in 1972. Or, at least, they quit talking about it.
Dozens of sites, most pointing to a government cover-up, recount the sightings of April 17, 1966.
Deputy Sheriff Dale F. Spaur and Posse Member W. L. Neff made the following statement about the interstate UFO chase in a report to the National Investigation Committee On Aerial Phenomena.
"On April 17, 1966, at about 5:00 AM, the undersigned, Dale F. Spaur and Barney (W. L) Neff, were patrolling the southeast portion of Portage County, Ohio. We had been hearing radio traffic about a UFO near Portage County. We found an abandoned car on the berm on Rt. 224 between Atwater and Randolph. We left our car to routinely investigate this vehicle. Spaur noticed a light over the trees on the hill next to the berm, and called Neff's attention to it. As we watched, the light came closer and a large, self-illuminated object was seen as its source. The object came directly overhead and hovered above us. Its light lit up the ground where we were standing, and our cruiser, P-13. It was too bright to look at without hurting the eyes.
"We got into our car and radioed that we had spotted the UFO. During that time, it began moving away from us. We followed it down 224 onto Rt. 14, to the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, and into Pennsylvania on Rt. 51; then through Rochester, Pa., and on Rt. 65, up to Conway, where we stopped.
"As we passed East Palestine, Ohio, Patrolman Wayne Huston, of the East Palestine Police, joined in our pursuit. In Conway, Pa., Officer Frank Panzanella met us where we stopped, and we stood with him watching the object as it hovered and then rose, twice, in a rapid climb. The object seemed 30-45 feet across, and 18-24 feet high. The light it gave off lit up the ground over the road and over fields as we pursued it. At first it was about 150 feet up; then it rose to around 1000 feet. During the chase it changed altitude and direction, maneuvered smoothly, had a sort of dome-shaped top, and at times showed a projection on the top part, near the trailing edge. Not all of it was self-illuminated; part of the top trailing portion looked metallic; not shiny,
but satiny.
"At times we measured its speed over the ground at about 103 miles per hour. At one point, near Rochester, we lost it while getting through a bridge-underpass area, but when we emerged, it had come down lower and seemed to have waited for us; it went off fast ahead again then. We were, and are, sure we were not chasing an illusion, or seeing a reflection, star, planet, or similar still object. "
Signed:
Dale Spauer
William Neff
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