◆ SpookStack

"THAT WAS NO AIRPLANE’ . Are They Hiding Those Lights Under a Bushel? By EVERT CLARK Mysterious red lights which have flown over the Quantico Marine Base 22 times in the past six nights: were officially explained away today as a new type of aircraft navigation light. But most of the Marines who saw them still don’t believe that’s what they were. In addition, The News ran into what seems to be a delib- erate attempt to cover up cer- tain facets of the longest con- tinuous “flying saucer” run in history. The first man to see the light was Pic. Norman Viets, 18, of Greenville, Pa. Since’ then, at least 30 other Marines, including half a dozen officers, have seen it, too. On one occasion, sentries report- ed seeing three lights at once. They say they have seen the lights drop straight down, fly straight up and stand still. Even the most’ careful—and skeptical—observer, the base prov- ost marshal, Maj. D. D. Pomerleau, admitted the lights had character- istics he never expected to find on an airliner. FIRST SIGHTING Pfc. Viets was standing sentry duty at the Tank Park a few miles north of Camp Barrett on the south- western side of the Quantico reser- vation at 9:05 p. m. Dec. 30 when he “reported a moving, blinking red jight near his post which he could not explain.” The sergeant of the guard, Sergt. Francis R. Salinder, “investigated and saw the light but could not ex- plain it.” Pfc. Viets told The News the light first appeared to come straight toward him over a line of trees about 200 yards to the south of his post. “Tt was about a foot and a half in diameter,” he said, “only going about $0 or 15 miles an hour. ‘Then it fol- jowed the tree line about 50 yards to the right and went down. “yt went straight down, all of a sudden. Fifteen minutes ae it went straight up and moved over Ss! here toward the tank shed. Lp) K 3k “qT saw it two times after that. Tt Z 0 did the same thing. It was the © NOT RECORDED irdest looking thing I ever saw. weirdest 100M cine noise anano) © MB JAN 12 154 ghape—just the light.” ——a a ces