Five credible witnesses saw a UFO and one of its passengers on Presque Isle Park. Two women clearly saw a strange being. John Keel, respected paranormalist, investigated.

The summer of 1966 was a strange one for some Erie residents. Eight gave descriptions of the alien beings they saw. People reported seeing mysterious lights in the sky. Something was eerie in Erie, the city of the canal folk song fame.

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Erie UFO Sighting

A glowing objected landed on Erie’s Presque Isle Park deserted beach during the night of July 31, 1966, a few hundred feet from a car that was bogged down in the sand with five young people in it.

The terrified witnesses, with no escape, watched. After the craft landed, they saw it send strange rays of light into the woods close by.

A tall dark figure slowly moved awkwardly toward the car, adding to their terror. It scratched the vehicle’s roof, then left.

The witnesses reported the incident to the police. During the investigation the next day, large amounts of silicon and some cone-like indentations were found in the sand where the craft had landed.

Presque Isle police vouched for the sincerity of the witnesses who were still very very scared when they reported the event. Many other Erie residents reported seeing bizarre lights or, as some would say, “UFOs,” in the sky that night.

Sightings of a Weird Creature in Erie

John Keel went to Erie to investigate the events of July 31st. While he was looking through police files, he found an interesting note about a sighting of a very weird creature on West Third Street which faced Erie Harbor and was across from Presque Isle. He interviewed the woman who filed the report.

Julie Helwig told Keel barking dogs woke her up at 5:30 AM on August 3, 1966. She went to the window and looked out to see what they were barking at. She saw a human shaped entity which was about 5 1/2 feet tall.

It wore a yellow jacket and yellow pants. She saw no belt. Its large head was moon-shaped and was flat on the back. The head was covered with muddy colored tangled hair. Although the creature was slender, the shoulders were huge.

Its movements were stiff and robot-like. The arms, held at its side, didn’t move and the legs didn’t bend at the knees, reminding her of a wind-up toy. It ignored the dogs who were barking at its feet.

She was scared and woke her husband. He raced to the window, forgetting to put his glasses on. He saw something that was moving, but couldn’t clearly see it. They watched until the creature shuffled out of sight.

Keel talked to another woman who wanted anonymity. She was driving on Third Street at night and saw the creature during the same week. For some reason, she decided to stop her car.

The strange being moved, clumsily, to the car, pounded on the hood, then shuffled away in its robot-like manner.

The mystery of Erie remains unsolved to this day.