"Strange object seen here like flying saucers"
Bet you didn’t know that a “strange illuminated object” was sighted in rural Bluffton. It occurred one month after a “flying disc” was recovered from a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, home of one of the most well-known extraterrestrial area in the United States.
One can only imagine how history might have struck us, had the object crashed in rural Bluffton – no matter what might have been discovered in such a wreck. We might have become the Roswell of the Midwest.
However, with 2024 alive in the oddest of conspiracy theories, perhaps we still have a chance to “make the grade” as the News account below reports.
The rural Bluffton nighttime sighting was reported on the front page of the Bluffton News on July 17, 1947. The complete story follows, and we provide a few observations.
• Bluffton News editor Clarence “Ted” Biery was grounded in reality when he wrote the account.
• He placed the story it at the very top center of the front page. That’s where every reader or potential newsstand purchaser would view it.
• Then, in a slightly sarcastic, but straight-forward news report, he wrote that “Bluffton made the grade in the flying saucer parade last week.”
His account follows, and no follow-up story appeared in the News that summer.
Strange object
seen here like
flying sauce
Farmer reports seeing lighted
body at night at treetop height
No trace is found in search
throughout area on
following morning
Illustration by Bluffton Forever
July 17, 1947, Bluffton News – Bluffton made the grade in the flying saucer parade last week when Henry G. Reichenbach, 74, farmer, saw a strange illuminated object flying at tree top height over his farm, four miles northwest of Bluffton, about 11 p.m.
Traveling at low altitude, the aerial phenomenon had an appearance something similar to a meteor, Reichenbach reported, and after passing overheard it remained in sight until it went thru the top of a tall tree.
Standing in his yard, Reichenbach noticed a ball of light traveling toward him. At times, there appeared to be two lights, and the illuminated object was visible until it reached the tree.
Member of the family who searched the area near the tree the next morning found no trace of the object, linked by many with the flying saucers reported in widespread district throughout the country.
Below - Front page of Roswell Daily Record July 1947
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