The Kecksburg Incident

The Seattle Times article about Area 51 that I just linked to contains some very interesting information:

Noce says he was among those who flew to the crash site in a giant cargo plane loaded with several trucks. They loaded everything from the crash into the trucks.

The Seattle Times article He remembers that a local deputy had either witnessed the crash or had quickly arrived at the scene. There also was a family on a vacation car trip who had taken photos.

"We confiscated the camera, took the film out," says Noce. "We just said we worked for the government."

He says the deputy and the family were told not to talk to anybody about the crash, especially the press.
"We told them there would be dire consequences," Noce says. "You scared them."

As an added incentive, he says, the CIA arrived with a briefcase full of cash.

"I think it was like 25 grand apiece, for the sheriff and the family," says Noce.

Robarge says of cash payments to cover things up, "It was common practice."

When I was a kid growing up in Acme, Pennsylvania (yes, that was its real name, because it was atop a mountain. "Acme" means the highest point. It was called a "village," but really it was just a rural area. Here's a picture of the house I grew up in, though it has since been remodeled -- it no longer has our big front porch), I have firm memories of what I have since learned is a notable incident in the history of UFO research: The Kecksburg Incident.

I didn't remember the year, but now I know it was Dec 1965. I was almost 6 yrs old. However it happened (no doubt via phone calls, as was the "Internet" of that time -- neighbors were always calling neighbors back then, usually via 4-digit dialing (and even then we were on a party line for most of my youth) to find kids or dogs or sugar or something, unlike anything today where you probably barely even know the name of your next door neighbor), someone called us and said that something strange was going in in Kecksburg, a small town (barely a town) about 4 miles down the "Back Ridge" from us.

I don't remember a lot, but I do remember a sense of great excitement and my mother and I on our front porch looking northwest towards Kecksburg. It was towards evening. I remember red in the sky, but that might not have been unusual.

That's all I remember, but I've since asked more questions. My father was a member of the Acme volunteer Fire Department (one station, one small truck, about 300 yards up the hill from our house), and they were called down to the area. My mother has since told me that when he came back he told her they arrived and headed up towards the scene on a hill behind Kecksburg, but were stopped by army-types and were not allowed to proceed. He said something was taken out (I don't know how) under a brown tarp. From the accounts I've since read, that was very consistent with the experience of others.

My mother has always been into UFOs and psychic shit and Edgar Cayce and Art Bell, and she's sure a UFO landed in Kecksburg that night. I don't believe her, of course, but there still seems to be some interest/mystery about it all. There's a DVD about the event, but it seems very rare, and I've never been able to find or rent a copy.

Who knows? It was no doubt a crashed aircraft, or experimental something or other, though its "reported" odd shape (above) is suspicious. I probably ought to file a FOIA, although I suspect others have done so.

Who knows? It was the Cold War era, and people saw all kinds of things. The US govt was paranoid, as always.  It'd be beyond delightful if it was an alien spacecraft, but no doubt it was a wayward satellite or experimental aircraft.