Was it a meteorite? An Air Force spy satellite that fell out of orbit? An experimental aircraft or spacecraft from a secret government program? Something Russian? An alien spaceship?

Most folks in and around Kecksburg - and, in and around the UFO community - agree that something came out of the sky and into a wooded hollow near this Westmoreland County village, about 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, in the late afternoon of December 9, 1965.

The disagreements and diverging theories/solutions begin at that point and have yet to end.

A primary reason for that ongoing discussion more than 50 years later is the annual Kecksburg UFO Festival hosted by the local volunteer fire company.

This year's festival runs today through Sunday.

In many communities without what many believe was an acorn-shaped craft engraved with strange symbols that crashed nearby in 1965, it would be a standard firemen's carnival.

The event includes a corn-hole tournament, truck burnout competition, bed race, craft show, parade, food vendors and the other trappings of a community celebration.

However, in Kecksburg it also includes UFO, paranormal and Bigfoot speakers and displays. The UFO-Paranormal Conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.

And, of course, there's the 8-foot-tall replica of the acorn-shaped object, complete with engravings around the rim, on a platform across the street from the fire hall and the small UFO souvenir room in the back of the fire hall (ask the bartender to unlock the door).

Stan Gordon, a nationally known UFO, Bigfoot and cryptozoology investigator and the leading expert on what he describes on his website, Stan Gordon's UFO Anomalies Zone, as the "UFO crash-recovery incident" at Kecksburg, has been involved in the UFO side of the festival for many years. He began his long history of field investigations in 1965, with the Kecksburg incident.

He summarizes his Kecksburg investigation as follows: "It has been stated that moments after the object fell, blue smoke rose up among the trees, but dissipated quickly.

"Many people say that the military, including members of the Army and Air Force, began to arrive in the area around the village of Kecksburg within a few hours after the reported landing. During the evening, reporters from numerous media sources went to Kecksburg to investigate the event.

"The area around the alleged impact site was cordoned off, and a search for the object was conducted in the woods. Neither civilians nor reporters were able to get near the spot where the object had reportedly fallen."

Reports indicate that the military retrieved the object and hauled it away, first to Lockbourne Air Force Base near Columbus, Ohio, and then to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio.

Gordon will be part of the festival and conference again this year, but isn't expecting anything new to emerge about the Kecksburg incident this weekend.

"I will be giving a brief historical synopsis of the case," he said. "I will be mainly speaking about the history of UFOs, Bigfoot and Cryptid sightings across the state, and discussing more recent incidents."

Also on the speakers list for the conference are Brian Parsons, author of 5 books, executive director of ParaNexus and host of the radio show, "The Foundation of UFO Research and Investigation;" 16-year-old, Crypto-Kid Colin Schneider, one of the youngest UFO researchers and cryptozoologists in the country, and host of the radio show, "Cryptozoology 101;" and Ron Murphy, author of several books, including "Unexplained World of the Chestnut Ridge: A Hike through Western Pennsylvania's Goblin Universe."

For more about the Kecksburg incident and other UFO incidents in Pennsylvania: