The Kecksburg UFO Incident

On the evening of December 9, 1965, in the small town of Kecksburg, PA, a fireball tore through the sky and crashed to earth. Some might think it was a meteor, but the government’s dramatic response caused rumors that a UFO had crashed in Pennsylvania to spread. During a time when Sci-Fi, the Space Race, and the Cold War filled the zeitgeist, it’s easy to shrug off the incident and nothing more than mass hysteria. In the years since “Pennsylvania’s Roswell,” the conversation about UFOs has changed.

The Evolution of UFO Sitings

The conversation regarding UFOs and the possibility of aliens existing has taken a turn from the public thinking the thought of UFOs is outlandish and a sign that maybe some men in white suits should come and take the person to a nice comfy padded room, to a real possibility. After the leak of military footage showing UAP — Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, the new term for UFOs that doesn’t carry as much of a stigma — the Department of Defense had to address the footage and UAP reports.

As governments around the world become more open about UAP, the question arises about the validity of previous UFO/UAP sightings. According to Discovery UK, the fireball that would become the Kecksburg UFO was seen in at least eight U.S. states and Ontario, Canada, resulting in thousands of calls to authorities. Rumors claim the fiery object to have caused fires to ignite in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Even with the witnesses, the question of came shooting through the sky is unclear. Witnesses say that the military quickly arrived, set up a perimeter, and took an acorn-shaped object on a flatbed from the area.

A Search for Answers

In 2009, after years of litigation and use of the Freedom of Information Act, journalist Leslie Kean accessed NASA documents relating to the incident and drew a report. Many had hoped that this would finally answer the question as to what came down in Kecksburg, but to the disappointment of many, the question remains unanswered. One interesting part of the report was the reference to Project Moon Dust. Project Moon Dust was a top-secret government program tasked with the recovery of Soviet space objects that ended up in the U.S., but it’s also rumored to have an element of looking into UFOs.

The NASA documents may not have given the answers people had hoped for, but in 2015, two researchers released a theory for the Kecksburg UFO Incident. They believe the mysterious object was a General Electric Mark 2 Re-Entry Vehicle that the U.S. government had launched as a spy satellite against the USSR. This would explain the quick government response and military presence.

Celebrate the Incident

Whether the object was man-made or extraterrestrial, the town of Kecksburg, PA, commemorates the event annually with the Kecksburg VFD UFO Festival.

What do you think? Was it an alien spacecraft or a top-secret government project?