AudioBlog: A UFO Flap in Virginia in 1965

Throughout modern UFO history, there have been periods when a large
number of reports have come from one area. These were termed UFO
“flaps” by Air Force UFO investigators working for Project Blue
Book. According to former Project Blue Book Director in his
1956 book “The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Air Force
parlance, a flap was a state of confusion just below panic that
could be brought on by any number of things. This week, we’ll look
at a 1965 flap in the Virginia area that involved reported EM
effects, creatures, and armed citizens ready to defend the planet.
Newspaper clippings and comments by investigators about the events
can be found at the UFO History Group website. The flap
actually began in 1964 with the December 21st sighting by
Harrisonburg, Virginia, gunsmith Horace Burns. According to the
report, he was driving on Route 250 near Fishersville when he saw a
huge metallic object in the sky coming from the north. As it landed
in a field to his right, his car stalled, and he drifted to a stop.
Burns described the object as shaped like a beehive, 125 ft in
diameter, and 80 ft tall. He observed it as it rested for 60 to 90
seconds and then rose up and flew away to the northeast. He was
able to restart his car and drive home. Burns contacted the UFO
Investigators Club at Eastern Mennonite College. Club President
Ernest Gehman, who was a professor at the College and a member of
the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, checked
the area with a Geiger counter and claimed to have found heavy
radioactivity. He also reported that homeowners in the area had
complained to the Virginia Electric and Power Co. that their radios
and televisions stopped working for several minutes and that their
lights dimmed. Read more