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This article was published in the daily newspaper the New York Times, March 22, 1966.
Also check other files on the Michigan 1966 swamp gas story.
Ann Arbor, Mich. March 21 (UPI) - At least 40 persons, including 12 policemen, said today that they saw a strange flying object guarded by four sister ships land in a swamp near here Sunday night.
Descriptions of the unidentified flying objects tallied closely. A patrolman, Robert Hunawill, said he and other residents of the area saw similar craft before dawn last Monday and Wednesday.
In Washington, the Air Force said it knew nothing of the reports. The Air Force's Michigan headquarters in Battle Creek would not comment.
Two persons who slogged through the 300-acre swamp today and looked for traces of the craft found nothing but marsh grass, quicksand and muck.
However, the two persons who reportedly were closest to the object, Frank Mannor, 47 years old, and his son, Ronald, 19, said it did not appear to touch the ground but sat on a base of fog.
Fredrick E. Davids, state police commissioner, who is also head of the civil defense for Michigan, opened an investigation. "I used to discount these reports too but now I'm not so sure," he said.
Mr. Mannor and his son said they had run to within 500 yards of the object. Mr. Mannor said the craft was shaped like a football and was about the length of a car with a "grayish yellow" hue and a pitted surface "like coral rock."
It had a blue light on one end and a white light on the other, he said.
"They were pulsating and each of them looked like they had a little halo around it," he said.
Other witnesses saw only the lights, but their descriptions, including those of policemen, agreed closely.
Stanley McFadden, Washtenaw County sheriff's deputy, said he and deputy David Fitzpatrick watched the object fly over their car about the same time the Mannors reported it had taken off.
Officer Hunawill said four other unidentified flying objects had hovered in a quarter-circle over the object in the swamp.
