By SHELLEY TERRY - Staff Writer - sterry@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon
November 16, 2008 12:35 am
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Experts say even in late fall, northeast Ohio is a hot spot for UFOs.
So, after local law enforcement officers searched for what they thought was a crashed ultralight plane Thursday in Madison Township, at least one area UFO investigator says he is interested in what it was.
After all, if people see something in the sky and don’t know what it is, then by definition it remains “unidentified,” at least until it is identified.
Aaron Clark is one of many UFO investigators and a member of the Cleveland Ufology Project. It’s not a flash in the pan group. It’s been around since 1952.
“It’s interesting that is was near a nuclear power plant,” he said. “We have been getting lots of reports (of UFOs) all over Ohio.”
Clark and his fellow UFO investigators will meet today in Cleveland. The Madison Township sighting will be discussed, he said.
“We would like to hear eye-witness reports,” he said. “For instance, did the witnesses see the object from different angles?”
Despite four hours of searching on Thursday, officials found no plane and now believe the object witnesses saw fall across the sky may have been a meteoroid, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Department.
Madison Township police said they received several calls from witnesses who saw a red light flash across the sky with dark smoke trailing behind it at about 2:20 p.m. near Haines and McMacken roads, north of Route 20.
Fire officials checked with area airports and ultralight owners and found no reports of missing planes or pilots.
Madison firefighters, police and troopers combed the area about four hours after witnesses reported seeing and hearing a small explosion near some trees.
Officials called off the search when they couldn’t find any debris.
On Friday, no one at the National Weather Service in Cleveland knew anything about it.
According to Wikipedia, most meteoroids are very difficult to observe. Weather permitting, people see them when they're 50 to 60 miles high. By the time they pierce the clouds at 50,000 to 60,000 mph, they're virtually too fast to see.
In the past year, there have been more than 20 reported UFO sightings in northeast Ohio. An Austinburg man said he saw a UFO this past summer near his home.
Thousands of sightings go unreported every day worldwide. But many go unreported because of skepticism.
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