Source: Dayton Daily News
May 8, 2004
(Re-typed news article)Centerville couple convincedUFO appeared in sky
DP&L, neighbor saytransformer exploded
By Katherine Ullmer
Dayton Daily News
CENTERVILLE | A full moon shone overCenterville when a young mother nursing her 3-week-old baby at 5:30 a.m.saw the electricity go off and on, the tops of trees glow, and bright lightsarcing outside.
Numerous 911 calls streamed into theCenterville Police Department from Lakeview Drive residents near StingleyElementary School about explosions and electrical disruptions.
The couple, who asked that only theirfirst names be used, said they saw an alien spacecraft hovering in thesky.
The March 8 event has an area UFO researcherclaiming a cover-up by city officials who have shown disinterest in investigating."My wife first saw it. It was right outside our window," Mark told a policedispatcher in his 911 call.
"It was like an alien ship and it blewup," he said. "It was like a bomb going off. It was going to the powerlines. I don't believe I'm saying this. It hovered down over the schooland it was streaming lights and flashing. It came down all the way overthe school towards my house and then it would just go 'Boom!' All the electricwould drop."
Mark later described it as a disk-shapedship "about the size of a small house. I thought it was a ship attackingin the night," he said. The ship appeared and disappeared over the school,and was gone by the time police arrived, he said.
"It was only about 50 feet away and15 feet off the ground and it had lights," wife Deanna said. "My firstinitial thought was that they were trying to get the baby."
Mark described the craft as having a"burnt polished aluminum surface" to Kerry Young, a UFO researcher fromthe Kentucky/Cincinnati area who manages a UFO Web site. Young said heplans to post a story he wrote about the event along with 911 tape he gotfrom Bruce Forester, a Bellbrook UFO investigator. He said he's concernedabout radioactivity in the area and the fact city officials have dismissedUFO claims.
Centerville police say they don't haveany plans to investigate.
"We are convinced it was a transformerblowing," Centerville police Sgt. Scott Owsley said.
Dayton Power and Light Co. spokesmanTed Tathan said DP&L had "one brief outage in the morning that affected200
customers. A tree limb got on the linesat Main and Normandy streets north of Franklin Street and a circuit breakerin a substation (260 Zengel Drive) opened up" to protect the system, hesaid.
Regis Higgins, 91, who lives acrossfrom Mark and Deanna, heard three loud explosions. He said he understandshow they might think it was "something else. They're not imagining, butit was a mistake on their part," he said. "I don't think we had any UFO.It really was an illusion."
Centerville Assistant City Manager JudyGilleland and Washington Twp. fire Chief Ken Parks said high winds madeelectrical wires arc and spark on Lakeview and North Johanna drives. "It'sa very frequent occurrence," Parks said.
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