Ann Genader

Columnist

While camping and fishing at Splitrock Reservoir on Oct. 15, 1966, Jerry Simons had what he believed to be unidentified flying object (UFO) encounter. He told authorities about it and local representatives who knew him believed his story to be true. This was an era when a number of suspected UFO events were reported in North Jersey.

Among those fully convinced that Simons had an experience involving a UFO was the late Thomas P. Byrnes, a long time West Milford community leader who was known to be adamant about truth and integrity. Byrnes was superintendent for the City of Newark Pequannock Watershed and functioned as a parish leader at St. Joseph Church in West Milford’s Echo Lake community.

Byrnes said he knew the 22-year-old forester well and that he had great respect for his sincerity and honesty. When Simons arrived at the Byrnes home in Charlottesburg at an early morning hour to tell the superintendent about his early dawn experience with a UFO, Byrnes was ready to listen.

Mary Byrnes, the superintendent’s wife, was the first person to answer the doorbell on the early weekend morning when the family was still asleep. She found herself greeting a terribly excited, very pale young man who she knew to be a friend of her husband. Byrnes soon joined them in the living room and he and Mary listened while Jerry told them what he had experienced and seen just a short time before.

Also hearing about Simons’s experience was Martin Shauger, who was on guard duty at the watershed office near the residence. Information about Simons' UFO experience and other related information can be found on the National Investigation Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP.org) website.

Byrnes immediately telephoned the West Milford police and New Jersey State Police who were soon at the Byrnes home after receiving the call. Together they drove to the place at Splitrock Reservoir where Simons had been earlier and seen the unusual object.

Splitrock reservoir is 1,500 acres of wilderness and part of Farney State Park. It includes a 650-acre reservoir on the border of Rockaway Township and Kinnelon in Morris County. To get there from the Byrnes residence on Charlottesburg Road, the lawmen and Byrnes and Simons went a slight distance north to Green Pond Road, traveling a little over six miles, passing Lake Telemark and then they turned into Upper Hibernia Road. After traveling a mile they arrived at Split Rock Road.

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The rest of the ride to the scene of the sighting was a mile along the bumpy, unpaved, dirt road to the reservoir. From end to end Splitrock Reservoir is three miles in length and it has some large islands in it.

Nothing out of the ordinary was observed so the small investigative group drove away from the scene without finding anything that indicated a UFO had been there. Simons' report of what had happened to him was by no means ignored. Byrnes believed what Simons said he saw without question. West Milford Police Officer Al Hooper and Special Officer Vincent Meyer wrote a report about the investigation that in no way questioned Simons’s reliability in reporting what he had seen.

Information from the report on the NICAP site and from the late Thomas P. Byrnes, said Simons was traveling north on Split Rock Road and saw a very bright glow in the rear view mirror of his car. He suspected the glow might be trouble from his brake light that possibly was sticking so he attempted to put his foot under the brake pedal to pull it up. That, Simons said in his report to officials, is when he became aware of the orange red glow getting brighter. Although not knowing what to think he did not immediately suspect anything out of the ordinary. Stopping the car, Simons rolled down his window and put his head out to look at the back of his car.

The report of his experience goes on to say that what he saw frightened and startled him. Simons said that at first glance there seemed to be nothing but a huge glowing light but afterward he saw what seemed to be a distinct outline of what looked like some kind of solid body.

The forester went on to say at first he could not believe what he was seeing but when reality set in he knew this experience was very real. He decided to get back to the main road as quickly as he could and began to cross the rough Split Rock Road en route back to Green Pond Road.

The object was directly in back and above his car and following him as he drove along the rough road and suddenly the vehicle started acting abnormally with the power dying out, adding anxiety to his frightened state, Simons reported.

Without any warning his headlights, dash lights and engine quit and he saw the object hovering directly over the top of his car. When the object fell back he could move on. This happened three times and each time the car gave no electrical response until the thing above him either moved to the rear or one side of the car.

When the object was right over the top of his vehicle all Simons could do was lock his door and hope, he told Byrnes and others. He went on to say he continued to be aware the object was with him because of the glow in the trees and on the ground to the right and left of the car. The only time the glow was distinctive in front of the car was when everything went dead and the glow was all around him, Simons continued.

When he reached Charlottesburg Road he looked up into the sky to see if the object was still with him. Although the glow was still visible on either side of the car, he had to be sure the glow on the ground was not his imagination and it wasn’t, Simons said.

The last good look he got of the object was just before he reached the watershed complex. It was its brightness in his car mirror. Nothing was visible in the sky. Simons said he did not waste time looking for it because he was already running toward the Byrnes house.

The object made no noise and had no odor or other sensation, Simons reported. The estimated unresponsiveness in the car was less than a minute.

Dr. B.E. Schwarz’s article in the Medical Times issue of October 1968, “UFO’s Delusion or Dilemma” provides detailed information about the UFO incident and what happened to Simons physically after the episode at Spltrock Reservoir. It can be seen on the NICAP.org website.

Simons had very good health up until the time of his Splitrock experience but he became ill soon after his return. Three months after the UFO incident he was admitted to Montclair Community Hospital for what was described as an unusual illness. Some health problems continued from that time on. The medical reports can be seen in Dr. Schwarz’s article.