In the summer of 1965, an apparent landing of a UFO would unfold in Cherry Creek, New York, witnessed at first by a teenage son, Harold Butcher, of the farm’s owners, and then, when it reappeared, by the entire family. What’s more, the incident was investigated by the New York police, the United States Air Force, and the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon (NICAP).

Interestingly, it would also come to light that around thirty minutes before the sighting at the dairy farm in Cherry Creek, a radar system at Lockport Air Force Base would pick up a “momentary target” of an unknown aircraft. It is certainly no stretch at all to assume that this object was the same as that witnessed by the Butcher family only minutes later.

Interestingly, as we will examine a little later, at around the same time, another very similar looking UFO was spotted flying extremely low over the Brooklyn Bridge. Might the two sightings be connected? And might they have a connection to the eventual power blackout that hit much of the northeast region only two months later in November 1965?

While the two cases we are about to examine are not widely known outside of the most ardent and enthusiastic UFO researchers, they are yet another two incidents that are awash with similar details contained in many other UFO encounters.

Sudden Static Interference Over The Radio

At 8:20 pm on the evening of the 19th August 1965, 16-year-old Harold Butcher was at the family’s dairy farm. He was in the barn utilizing the milking machine on the 17 cows which resided there. As he worked, a portable radio broadcast the news.

Suddenly, however, the radio was overcome by a prolonged burst of static interference. Seconds later, the milking machine shut down as if it had suddenly lost all of its power. When it did, Harold could hear one of the bulls outside bellowing and banging against its enclosure, as if severely anxious about something.

Upon hearing the commotion from the bull outside, Harold went quickly over to a window in the barn. Peering through it, he could see a “large elliptical object” slightly above the ground approximately a quarter of a mile away. Underneath the bizarre object was a “reddish vapor” and a strange “beeping” sound was also audible.

The craft remained just above the surface for several moments and then “shot straight up” vanishing into the summer evening sky in a matter of seconds.

He immediately picked up the telephone to speak to his family in the main house. When they arrived and looked up to where the object had disappeared all could see a “greenish glow in the clouds”. Furthermore, a strange odor remained in the air around the farm. Even more bizarre and unnerving, a steel bar on the bull’s exposure was severely bent.

Far from being over, however, thirty minutes later, the strange craft would reappear. This time, in view of the Butcher family.

The Return Visit!

Upon the object’s reappearance, Harold’s mother immediately telephoned the state police. It was “circling” in the skies above the dairy farm. Two state police officers would investigate the property and log the report. They would also inform the air force who would arrive at the dairy farm the following day.

Captain James Dorsey would represent the United States Air Force with regard to the sightings by the Butcher family. With him, were “four technicians” who would conduct an extensive search of the ground, specifically the landing site.

They would indeed make some intriguing discoveries such as “unexplained markings” on the ground and a “purplish liquid substance”. Parts of the grass and other vegetation were also singed slightly. They would ultimately end their investigation with the sighting “unexplained”.

NICAP would later manage to obtain samples of the strange purple substance and have it tested at the Kawecki Chemical Company. Their analysis would find traces of aluminum, iron, and silicon. However, it was as a liquid, unidentified.

The following evening, Richard Ward, a state trooper on patrol, would witness a very similar object in the skies overhead. He would report that it had “eight circular lights” on what he presumed to be the underside. Furthermore, it moved “twice as fast as a jet”. He also noticed a strange, faint sound, unlike anything he had heard before, but that he believed was associated with this strange craft.

Similar Sightings (At The “Same” Time, In The “Same” Place!)

Other sightings in the (relatively) same region would also come to light. For example, at just before 5:30 pm in the early evening of 20th August in the Plattsburgh area of New York, a “round, flat, disc-shaped object” was witnessed “circling back and forth” in the skies overhead.

The witness would estimate the object to be around 15 to 20 feet across and around two or three miles away from their location. After several minutes the disc-shaped craft accelerated off and vanished into the night sky. Once more, like the Cherry Creek incident, radar at Plattsburgh Air Force Base would pick up an aerial anomaly at the same time as the sighting.

Later that evening, at around 11:30 pm at Pease Air Force Base in nearby New Hampshire, the Watch Supervisor would track an anomalous object for several miles as it made its way to the north-west of Pease.

Interestingly, especially with the above case in mind, as well as the one we are about to examine in a moment, the object was “slow (and) sporadic at times” as opposed, like many such sightings, to feature an object moving across their screens at impossible speed. In fact, so calm was the apparent journey of the unknown craft that it remained visible on the radar screens for close to half an hour.

However, it is a sighting that occurred in nearby Brooklyn that might be of particular interest to us with regard to the Cherry Creek landing case.

The Brooklyn Bridge Sighting – A Submarine Off The Ground!

Whether or not there is a connection is open to debate, however, another similar sighting in the New York area – over the Brooklyn Bridge also occurred in August 1965 (although the exact date is uncertain).

On this particular evening, at around 8:20 pm, the 10-year-old anonymous witness was walking the family dog with his mother. They would go to a park of baseball and football fields known as the Parade Ground near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. The area was undergoing renovation and so allowed them to let their dog run free without running into gangs of children playing sports.

As they stopped and allowed their canine friend to investigate for a while, they turned their attention towards the sky, eager to pick out the constellations in the darkening late evening blackness. It was then the young boy noticed that what he would recall as looking like a submarine floating around the height of a several story building. He would suddenly blurt out to his mother to see if she too could see the bizarre craft.

His mother turned her attention to where he was now focused.

The craft was moving slowly and without making a sound. Its exterior was of a material that was a very dark grey and “not battleship grey”, which the witness would go out of their way to point out, further stating it was “as grey as can be before you rule it black”. Furthermore, despite its metallic look, there was most definitely no shine to the object.

What the witness presumed was the front of the craft was rounded, as was the tail end. In fact, they would recall, this apparent otherworldly craft was “shaped more like a very long medicine capsule”.

A “Dark Light” Behind The Darkness!

The parent and child would watch this craft as it floated calmly past their location. The closer it came, the more certain they both were of the “solid” nature of the craft’s exterior. As well as its “perfect” shape.

Perhaps one of the strangest descriptions is best left in the original words of the witness. He would state:

…even though it (the object) is almost black, we sense a light behind the darkness. This does not make sense, as my mother I later reckoned. The best I can come up with is that my eyes saw dark grey, but my mind knew the cylinder was emitting light! Dark light!

This is an interesting observation. Many UFO witnesses, especially those who have had particularly close contact encounters often speak of the strange way lights are “everywhere but with no apparent source” and how lights can be both brilliantly bright and dim at the same time. Was this observation by the Brooklyn Bridge witness another similar detail?

The witness would estimate the object was around 200 feet above them. So close that they could see “even the slightest imperfection”. They were certainly close enough to dismiss the notion that the object was an airship. There was “no lights! No sounds! No gondola beneath. (And) no visible markings!”

One thing that did mystify the witnesses, both then and now, was how calm each of them was. They were, as the witness recalls “unusually serene”. This could be another interesting detail. Many accounts of UFO sightings speak of some kind “influence” or a controlling of emotions. Once more, might this have been the case here?

A Calm Display Over Brooklyn

As the huge cigar-shaped craft passed the pair they were able to see the back of the object. It appeared very much to the witness as though there was an opening there so big that “at least three buses could have driven inside at the same time”. The witness would further estimate that the object was likely three times as large as a commercial jet airliner.

As this was happening, the witness ran to another nearby field so as to view the object from another viewpoint. Whether because he had separated himself from his mother, or whether another telepathic and subconscious manipulation of his emotions by those inside the craft, he suddenly felt unsettled for the first time, worrying that he might be seen by the occupants of the cigar-shaped craft. He turned back and ran to where his mother had remained standing.

They both stood watching the craft as it passed over the Prospect Park Police Station. It then disappeared out of sight into the distance. Although they themselves would not tell anyone of the incident, the witness would notice that not a single report appeared in the newspapers, local radio, or television. It would appear that they were the only two people to have witnessed this cosmic vehicle as it made its way over the skies of Brooklyn.

As an adult and with the advent of the Internet, the witness would research cylinder-shaped UFOs out of interest. Not surprisingly, many accounts and pictures were forthcoming. So much so, that he would eventually report the sighing to the HBCC UFO research group.

The Ever-Murky Depths Of UFO Waters

The two sightings we have examined both appear genuine. If only as they contain many small but potentially important details also found in other cases.

We have also looked previously at the famous power blackout of November 1965, only a little more than two months after each of the sightings above. Given that some researchers believe there to be a connection between that incident and the several UFO sightings in the region in the days and weeks leading up to it, might we find that these two sightings are also connected to the blackout?

And, from the occupants’ perspective, what was the purpose of such public displays with no apparent attempts at communication? Were these incidents some kind of extraterrestrial reconnaissance mission? And if so, was one of the goals of these missions to cause the power blackout of 9th November? Further still, for what reason would they, whoever “they” might prove to be, have to carry out such a course of action?

Or are the two sightings as separated from each other as they are from the events of November 1965? As with many UFO encounters, once we begin asking questions, the waters become murkier still. At least for a time. And then, more questions bubble up from the depths below. Of course, we should not let this disturb or discourage us in our collective drive for the truth of such incidents. Or in our push to reveal the answers to the UFO and alien question.

Check out the video below for further viewing. It looks at UFO activity in the New York and northeast region of the United States further.