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Military Offers Reason For UFO Reports
UFO Researchers Descend Into North Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas -- More than two weeks after UFOs were reported over Stephenville, the U.S. military has offered an explanation as to the source of the mysterious lights.
Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, said in a news release that an "error was made regarding the reported training activity of military aircraft" and that "10 F-16s from the 457th Fighter Squadron were performing training operations in the Brownwood Military Operating Area."
Lewis had previously said there were no F-16s or other aircraft from the base in the area the night many of the sightings were reported.
Officials now report the aircraft were airborne from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Jan. 8 in the MOA, which is an area designated for military training, and in this case includes airspace above Erath County.
When asked about the erroneous information regarding the F-16s being airborne Jan. 8, Lewis told NBC 5's Scott Gordon that "it was an internal communications oversight" and that it was being fixed.
Lewis also told Gordon that a news conference was possible for Wednesday, but later said that there would be no news conference on the matter and that no on camera interviews would be given. Lewis was also unable to offer any details on the training being conducted by the pilots of the F-16s, including whether or not it was routine.
The military's explanation doesn't add up for everyone, including Steve Hudgeons with the Mutual UFO Network.
"I think it's a little late ... then there is a comment here about an error. The military isn't supposed to make errors. I think it's just a standard cover up. That is immediately what I am thinking ... some kind of cover up," said Hudgeons. "With the lights going around as quick as they said they were ... I just don't see them being aircraft."
If the lights were military aircraft, Hudgeons wants to see them again, NBC 5's Omar Villafranca reported.
"If this is a military exercise then I would like to see them get back over there in another 24 hours and repeat that exercise so that we can see them duplicate it," said Hudgeons.
On Saturday, interviewers with the Mutual UFO Network met with about 200 people who said they saw something mysterious in the night skies over Stephenville in late December and early January. Witnesses have described the object as silent, large and with bright lights flying low and fast.
Several witnesses also reported seeing fighter jets chasing the object.
"This supports our story that there was UFO activity in that area," said Kenneth Cherry, the Texas director of the Mutual UFO Network, which took more than 50 reports from locals at a meeting last weekend. "I find it curious that it took them two weeks to 'fess up. I think they're feeling the heat from the publicity."
James Huse, a retired electronics technician, said what he saw on Jan. 8 was neither a helicopter nor a plane while pilot Steve Allen, of Glen Rose, said the lights he saw while sitting around a campfire were brighter than the glare from welding.
"The first time we saw it, the duration was three minutes; then it started slowing down and passed us, and the lights in the back reformed into an arc shape, and they would flash on and off with no particular pattern," he said. "Then those changed into two vertical lines. It was totally silent."
Since the reported sightings two weeks ago, the 17,000-resident town has had some fun with the international publicity. Some high-schoolers made T-shirts that read "Stephenville: the new Roswell" on the front and "They're here for the milk!" on the back. A picture features flying saucer beaming up a cow.
Several stores put new messages on their marquees, including "Aliens welcome."
This week Tarleton State University is even hosting a lecture by a UFO researcher on the U.S. government's secret response to UFOs, based on previously classified documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The U.S. Air Force says it has not investigated UFO sightings since 1969 when it ended Project Blue Book, which examined more than 12,600 reported UFO sightings -- including 700 that were never explained. That program started a few months after the 1947 crash near Roswell, N.M., which the government said was a top-secret weather balloon but others involved later said was an alien spacecraft.
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