SUBJECT: MICHIGAN UFO SIGHTINGS 03/94 FILE: UFO2741
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Interest Soars In Recent UFO Sighting Over Lake
from the Grand Rapids (MI) Press - Sunday, March 13, 1994
By Michael G. Walsh
Grand Rapids Press News Service
A UFO Group sends a team to investigate the sightings, which were picked up on
radar.
MUSKEGON -- A West Michigan UFO sighting is prompting worldwide interest
because the phenomenon was not only seen by several people but also was
picked up on radar.
Walter Andrus, director of the Texas-based international Mutual UFO Network,
said the radar veriflcation is extremely rare.
"That's why we're especialy interested in this case,' Andrus said. Several
MUFON investigators were to be in West Michigan this weekend to probe
Monday's sighting.
"What impressed us most is that it was picked up on weather radar, 20 miles
out in Lake Michigan, moving east to west," Andrus said.
"We're interested in knowing if anyone in (West Michigan) saw it pass over,
then we'd have a real confirmation ," he said.
The case started about 10:15 p.m. Monday when a Holland police officer and
others in Ottawa Couniy noticed sets of red and green lights "oscillating"
over Lake Michigan south of Holland.
At the same time, tower personnel at the Muskegon County Airport saw what
they took to be aircraft flying in formation some 60 miles south, near
South Haven.
Simultaneously, a National Weather Service oporator picked up radar blips
that found a fast-moving object near South Haven.
Leo Grenier, official in charge of oporations at Muskegon's National Weather
Service station, said the most interesting aspect of the phenomenon was the
object's - or objects - speed.
The radar blips zipped from South Haven to 10 miles west of the city, over
Lake Michigan, in 10 seconds, Grenier said.
The speed is not beyond human ability. Modern military aircraft can fly
even faster.
However, unlike known aircraft, the South Haven phenomenon could hover and
was quiet. There were no sonic "booms" reported.
"To go out and hover over Lake Michigan is not what aircraft would be able
to do," Andrus "That's what becomes more interesting."
Unidentified flying ojiects are not a new phenomenon to West Michigan skies,
but what they are remains a mystery.
A review of sightings over the past year shows most occurred this time of
year, of what people believed were spaceships over Lake Michigan or remote
areas of West Michigan..
A few witnesses claimed they saw cylindrical shaped objects flying at
incredible speeds. Most reported mystic lights in the sky.
Andrus said 80 percent to 90 percent of reports MUFON receives "turn out to
be something mundane after investigation."
Nonetheless, Andrus said, "we take our UFOs very seriously" and he has
assigned a team to probe Monday's West Michigan sighting.
About one or two sightings take place in the region each year, according to
Muskegon Chronicle files. However, between 1982 and 1993 none was reported.
Most of the reported sightings had natural explanations. A sighting last
year, for example, turned out to be student pilots practicing their skills.
-END-
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*@SUBJECT:Michigan UFO Newsclip 1993 N
UFO Sightings Match Thumb Reports
Grand Rapids (MI) Press News Service
(Exact date unknown - 1993)
MUSKEGON -- Mysterious lights seen hovering over Oceana and Muskegon
counties Monday night match the description of an unidentified flyihg object
witnessed in Michigan's Thumb area over the last month, officials with an
international UFO organization said Wednesday.
Shirley Coyne of Flint, state director for the Michigan chapter of the
Mutual UFO Network, said there have been at least 16 sightings of triangle-
shaped flying objects in eastern Michigan over the past month. Other areas
reporting UFOs within the last month include Caro, Cass City, Kingsley and
Lake Odessa.
Like those seen in the Muskegon area, witnesses describe the objects as
triangles with round corners, accented with two red lights and one white
light.
She said her organization is investigating the sightings including two home
videos taken of two separate UFOs. One recent sighting was of an object
estimated as 500 feet long, but most involve smaller triangles.
"We've had a lot of reports like that," Coyne said. "What are they? No one
really knows. All we have is a lot of reports."
On Monday, two Muskegon county residents described three lights in the form
of a triangle over Whitehall and minutes later over Muskegon. Since an
article appeared on the sightings Wednesday in the Muskegon Chronicle, that
newspaper has received other calls from residents with similar accounts,
some as far north as Shelby.
All reported seeing a grouping of lights capable of moving very slowly, then
suddenly leaving the area at terrific speed. Area law enforcement officials
and air traffic controllers at Muskegon County Airport said they received no
reports on the sightings.
Officials from the National Weather Service said they received one call from
a person who saw three lights in a triangle pattern Monday over Lake
Michigan.
Linda Andrews, of Whitehall, said she was the person who made the call.
According to Andrews, she and her husband, Robert, were in the process of
dropping their car off for repairs Monday night in Whitehall when they saw
three bright lights hovering over Colby Street.
She said the object they saw was similar to those described by other eyewit-
nesses - but had two white lights and a red light in a triangle- or V-shaped
pattern. Andrews said the red light was made up of three round lights.
She said the lights occasiorially broke away from that formation and the two
white lights almost collided. She said her husband estimates the lights were
1,000 feet above the ground. The object moved slowly to the northeast and
was silent.
"I was relieved to read that others reported seeing it too," she said. "My
husband got a lot of grief at work when he told his friends what he saw."
Although Michigan residents typically report a large number of UFOs, the UFO
Network's Coyne said Florida residents now are reporting many sightings,
especially near Gulf Breeze.
Reports of UFOs are investigated by the Mutual UFO Network.
-END-
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