After reading about Joe’s story in recent editions of the Villager, two Hiram residents were moved to relay a similar experience they shared. “My mom and I were reminded of an experience we had when I was a child,” Willow*, now in her early 60’s, shared recently. “We lived in Parma, Ohio in a neighborhood composed of tightly placed bungalows and modest ranch homes separated by fences surrounding tiny yards,” she explained. The year was 1967. “My parents were playing cards with neighbors on our patio late one summer night,” she began. Willow and her older sister were inside watching TV with some neighborhood friends.
Her mother, Rose, recalled their neighbor saying, “What the H is that?!” prompting them all to turn and see a UFO, silent and stationary, hovering 200-300 feet above them. The craft was hovering over a utility pole located at the side of their driveway. “I remember them calling us outside,” Willow explained, sharing that the neighbor and his teenage son climbed on top of the detached garage to get a better look.
“They sent me in the house to get the camera, but it had no film,” Willow reported. They sent her back inside for the Polaroid camera, with the same results. “All the while, it hovered, unmoving and silent,” Willow noted. “I remember standing under it, gazing up,” she noted. “It was large, round, aglow and silent.” Her mom recalled trying to memorize its details. “From the underside it was round and about the same size across as our bungalow (approximately 50 feet across). It had a low, saucer shaped profile that bumped up in the center.” Rose explained. “It was symmetrical, with a rim of lights around the perimeter.” Willow confirmed these details, sharing that overall, the object had a soft glow. She explained that the underside appeared to have a honeycomb-type appearance, with each of the geometric shaped cells aglow with soft light. She noted that she’d never seen anything like it before or since.
When the object finally moved, they explained that it moved straight up, and then immediately to the side, “like a drone moves today”. Willow noted it then sat hovering over a group of abutting back yards a few doors down, and explained that the group then hopped the fence and called those neighbors out of their house to see it. She noted that those neighbors were entertaining company, so the whole group entered the backyard and observed the craft some more. Willow noted the saucer-shaped craft was quite a bit higher by then. While they watched, the craft suddenly headed north, stopped, came back toward us, giving us one last look before it headed north and was gone from sight. They estimated that the experience lasted roughly an hour.
A day or two after the strange event, Rose noted hearing a report on the radio addressing the multitude of similar sightings of a potential UFOs called in that night. According to the report, the craft was reported to be a small plane, advertising Mars Pennsylvania, with lights under the wings. “Of course, this was a totally ridiculous and absurd explanation,” Willow exclaimed.
“Fortunately in our case, so many of us witnessed this not just for an instant, but for an extended period of time, and we all knew what we saw,” she added. “Looking back, it was really quite remarkable.”
“You know, I don’t know why we weren’t afraid,” Rose, now in her 80s, remarked. Willow concurred, adding that no one in her family has seen anything remotely similar since that summer evening. She added that her sister, who was present that night, saw a program that aired last year about Project Blue Book, the US Air Force investigations into UFO sightings. She noted that in the credits, they referenced a Plain Dealer article, which she looked up. The story indicated that in 1967, there were several unexplained sightings in the Parma area similar to the one they had witnessed in their neighborhood.
Willow noted that although they’ve each talked about the experience on occasion over the years, their purpose in sharing their experience today is simply to highlight the fact that, in spite of all the advances made since that time, there’s still much we don’t understand. They share this conclusion with Joe, which is what prompted them to come forward to share their story.
*Names have been change to protect the privacy of the individuals.
