W-File: msartic2.html

Type: Newspaper Article

Source: Ellsworth, WI Pierce County Herald, July 22, 1987

Real UFO's or just UFO Days fever?

Rumors of unidentified flying object touchdowns always seems to prompt folks to recall their own experiences with the unknown. When I returned from a visit to Doug Hines' hayfield Friday, the Herald girls were ripe with questions - and stories.

"What did it look like? Did it have flashing lights? Any footprints?" they asked excitedly.

While Hines admits he enjoys an occasional science fiction novel, he appears willing to hang his hat on evidence that the powdery rings left in his alfalfa field were a form of mold, not star dust.

I was the first one to say shucks.

As usual, the Dzubay family was enroute to church when I saw my first UFO. It was June, 1967 and we were traversing a Vance Creek town road when Pop pointed out what looked like an aircraft over Nick Peroff's hayfield.

He pulled over, killing the lights and we watched, spellbound as the object darted back and forth over the 20-acre plot. It was too maneuverable for an airplane, too quiet for a helicopter and too remote for some secret Air Force Project.

I was and still am convinced we witnessed something from the beyond that night.

Ad representative Vicky Howe bettered my story.

It was maybe 10 years ago that Vicky, her husband Chuck and Chuck's brother-in-law were heading to the latter's house following an evening at Joe's Valley. They were motoring down County Trunk O when simultaneously, the motor died, and the car was bathed in blinding light and a horrendous roaring sound.

"We figure one of those darn things must have been sitting down there and when we came through, it took off and lit us up," Mrs. Howe recalled. When someone snickered, she added emphatically - "I wasn't drunk, either!"

The Howe's took a different route home.

Not to be bettered, Robin Kruse said she'd never seen a UFO per se but there was an evening a few years ago when she witnessed seven rings around the moon.

Hmmmmmmmm. Maybe.

It's easy to see how Elmwood has managed to build a whole festival around UFO's. I think it would be great if E.T. and his buddies would make their first public appearance there this weekend and put Pierce County on the world map.