Red Bluff Incident, 1960 - Police nearly shoot at UFO.

As it mentions in the FBI's law enforcement bulletin here "a great many times police officers have figured in UFO sightings directly" and the case below is an interesting example involving close range sightings, separately located witnesses, electromagnetic interference effects and an object reported to be performing 'aerial gymnastics'- it even states in the report by Dr James E. Mcdonald that the police officers 'had their pistols drawn and were debating whether to fire' on the unknown object...whatever it was.

Red Bluff Police UFO Encounter - August, 1960:

Aug. 13, 1960..Red Bluff, CA: California Highway Patrol Officers Charles A. Carson and Stanley Scott were on patrol when they sighted what they thought was an airliner about to crash. When the UFO had descended to about 100 or 200 feet altitude it suddenly reversed direction and climbed to 500 ft. Description: round or oblong surrounded by a glow (color not mentioned) and having definite red lights at each end. They continued to watch the UFO as it performed "unbelievable" aerial feats. The local RADAR operator confirmed the UFO at this time but denied it the next day. Other Tehema County Sheriffs' officers also saw this UFO and another similar one that same night.

NICAP Case Directory

UFOs: Greatest Scientific Problem of Our Times? - Dr James Edward McDonald

Object description - Police teletype report:

"At this time it was clearly visible to both of us. It was surrounded by a glow making the round or oblong object visible. At each end, or each side of the object, there were definite red lights. At times about five white lights were visible between the red lights.As we watched the object moved again and performed feats that were actually unbelievable."

Object emits red beam / EM effects:

The local radar base confirmed a UFO at this time (but denied it next day). "We made several attempts to ... get closer to it, but the object seemed to be aware of us and we were more successful remaining motionless and allow it to approach us, which it did on several occasions." Each time it did so, they experienced strong radio interference as the UFO emitted a red beam of light that swept the area and illuminated the ground. "The object was capable of moving in any direction. Up and down, back and forth .. it moved at high (extremely) speeds and several times we watched it change directions or reverse itself while moving at unbelievable speeds."

Second object / Separately located witnesses:

..When they had reached the Vina Plains Fire Station, the object was approached by a second object that came from the south.

The second object moved near to the first and both stopped and hovered for some time, occasionally emitting red beams. After a time, both objects vanished below the eastern horizon. They had observed the first object for a total of about two hours and fifteen minutes.

When they returned to the Tehama County Sheriff's Office, they found that the object had also been seen by Deputies Fry and Montgomery, as well as by the night jailer. All described the same thing.

USAF explanation:

"refraction of the planet Mars and the two bright stars Aldebaran and Betelgeuse".

Other links:

http://lightsinthetexassky.blogspot.com/2010/08/red-bluff-ufo-encounters-then-and-now.html
http://www.ufocasebook.com/redbluffincident.html
http://www.greatdreams.com/red-bluff-ca-may-2007.htm

Comprehensive piece on the Red Bluff case taken from the book 'UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry' by Michael Swords and Robert Powell.


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Regarding the official (and very silly) USAF debunk for this case apparently the three named celestial objects weren't even in the sky at the time...so they changed the explanation to 'Capella'.

The Bluebook explanation that came out after a few days attributed this very detailed, close range sighting of a large object, seen by two experienced officers to "refraction of the planet Mars and the two bright stars Aldebaran and Betelgeuse".

NICAP referred the question to one of their astronomical advisors, who found that none of these three celestial objects were even in the California skies at that time. Bluebook then changed the explanation to read Mars and Capella. Capella, the only one of those celestial bodies that was even in the sky at 2300, was nowhere near the location of the sighted object, and could not, of course, give the impression of the various movements clearly described by the officers.

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