As time passes we lose more eye witnesses and I would ask that any serious investigator look into this report before the witnesses have all gone.
Close
Encounters of the Third Kind/Alien Entity Project
Terry
Hooper-Scharf
Anomalous
Observational Phenomena Bureau (1977)
AOPMAR1966/Reeves
1966 4th Of July Parade Street Scene Newport Oregon Kodachrome Slide Ref L-B
The
Kathy Reeves Encounter & Reeves Farm Events
On the night of April 5, 1966, a 16-year-old witness named Kathy
Reeves was allegedly walking along with her friend on a secluded dark
road in the small city of Newport, Oregon, when they got the sudden,
unmistakeable feeling that they were being followed and watched. The
two girls assumed it was just someone messing around trying to scare
them, which was made clearer when they thought they could see a
dimmed flash-light beam bobbing about behind them.
They picked up their pace and even tossed rocks behind them at the
unseen follower, but the feeling that someone was lurking in the
darkness behind them did not abate, and when they turned around at
one point what they thought had been a simple flash-light suddenly
erupted into a brilliant beam of incandescent light far beyond what
would be expected, which was then joined by more spears of brightness
jutting from the night to converge upon them. Squinting through the
glare, they claimed that they could make out a large, dome-shaped
object some distance off that seemed to be wreathed in some sort of
fog or smoke.
The now terrified girls began to run as fast as they could towards
home, but as they did their path was blocked by three unearthly
creatures the likes of nothing they had ever seen. The entities were
described as being headless and armless, and as looking like mobile
tree stumps that moved about on what resembled spider legs and which
were dressed in some sort of multi-coloured cloth. The creatures
thankfully did not seem to pay too much attention to the witnesses,
instead scurrying across the road to scamper off out of sight towards
the inscrutable dome, which still flickered in the dark behind them.
The case attracted quite a lot of media attention at the time, and
was covered in both Jim Brandon’s Weird America: A Guide to
Places of Mystery in the United States, as well as Jerome
Clark’s Extraordinary Encounters: An Encyclopedia of
Extraterrestrials and Otherworldly Beings, but no further
reports have ever been recorded of these enigmatic stump-like beings,
leaving us to wonder just what they could have possibly been, if
anything.
In fact, again, Clark is simply quoting from Brandon. The question
is: who investigated this report? Inference is that the
Sheriff talked to Reeves –and the other witnesses?- but if UFO
investigators were involved I have to ask why every single recounting
of this incident is basically word-for-word the same. I can give a
list of ten sources without even going into my files and that would
be pointless because it is all the same.
Location of Newport in Oregon
All the same unless you read J. Francyl Howard’s Weird Phenomena
At Toledo, Oregon, USA that was published in The UFO
Register (Contact UK) volume 5, nos. 1 & 2, 1974 pp.
55-56. Howard begins his piece with these words: “During the early
days of 1972…” My initial reaction was to ask “Two cases
involving a person with the name Kathy Reeves?” The phenomena
described by Howard is interesting and seems to border more on
something akin with lights seen at ‘Marley Woods’ or the
Skinwalker Ranch –but far more intense. There are other problems,
however.
Howard must have surely carried out some research? His is the only
account that I have come across that states the Reeves events started
in 1972 –seven years after the date given by everyone else:
April/Spring, 1966. It is worth giving Howard’s account as it is,
as far as I can find, the most detailed available and that is
a very sad thing to have to write.
“During the early days of March, 1972, a succession of very strange
happenings centred at or near the Douglas Reeves farm at Pioneer
Mountain, near Toledo, caused this otherwise quite normal family at
the farm to abandon it, and to make other local residents to doubt
their senses. The following information summarizes several of the
many weird events tha occurred during this period.
“Pioneer Mountain, incidentally, is situated in a sparsely
populated region between Toledo and Siletz, in Oregon. Also, a total
of some 30 or 40 persons claim to have witnessed extraordinary
effects and aerial objects near the Reeves property so there can be
little doubt that the undermentioned account describes events that
really took place.
“The beginning of the succession of events culminating in the
Reeves’ vacating of their farm began in early March when 16-years
old Kathy Reeves, and a girl friend, were walking through woods near
the farmhouse, when they glimpsed out of the corners of their eyes a
fire apparently burning in an open section of ground cleared of trees
only shortly before. Approaching closer, the two girls realized that
the “fire” was really some type of object hovering only a few
feet above ground level and which gave off a ruddy glow visible from
some distance. The object appeared to be dome-shaped, with sparks
and smoke flying outwards in all directions, almost as if the object
was burning up. Somewhat frightened the two witnesses hurried
homewards to fetch older relatives to confirm their sighting. But,
hurrying now through the woods, they found themselves confronted with
what appeared to be a large searchlight beacon. Thinking that they
were the victims of a poor joke, the girls picked up stones and small
rocks and threw them at the light’s source. Suddenly, and without
warning, they found themselves surrounded by identical lights, that
seemed to be moving in on them from all sides. Near to panic, the
girls now raced at top speed back to their farm to tell their
parents.
“Arriving at the Reeves’ farm, the teenagers blurted out to
Kathy’s mother all that had befallen them. Kathy’s mother,
Evelyn Reeves, did not at first take the girls’ story seriously,
but then noted how extremely frightened they were and that they would
not retract their story no matter how much she tried to get them to.
After discussing the matter with her husband, and the parents of the
other girl, Mrs Reeves decided the best course was to keep silent
about the events that had supposedly happened.
“However, about midnight the same day, after everyone had retired
to bed, Mrs Reeves was awakened from a sound sleep to find her
bedroom filled with a strange pitched hum unlike anything she had
previously heard. Rising to investigate, she was instantly attracted
to a pulsating light shining through the curtains of the partly
opened window. Drawing the curtains apart, the entire room was
filled by a harsh glow emanating from what appeared to be a large
object sitting in the yard outside. Suddenly the same glow filled
all the rooms in the farmhouse, and likewise appearing from nowhere
were strange doughnut shaped lights that seemed to be creeping up the
very walls of their dwellings. By this time, the hum had increased
in intensity and the doughnut shaped lights were rapidly increasing
in numbers.
“Grabbing a gun from a rack in the living room, Mr Reeves pointed
it toward someone or “something” he thought he saw moving
outside. Immediately the house sparkled anew with bright lights and
many more “crawling lights” materialized on the walls. Indeed,
for a while it seemed as though the Reeves family would be
overwhelmed by literally hundreds of these weird lights.
“Then the original reddish harsh glow gradually dimmed and
disappeared, the humming sound fading away at the same time.
“Realizing the unbelievable nature of their experiences, the Reeves
family decided to remain silent about what they had seen and heard.
As the days passed and no further similar events occurred, the Reeves
began to forget about their strange experiences, and felt that they
could again live normal existences. But their hopes were in vain.
“After a while, however, the family began again to be woken up at
about 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning by a rosy glow filling the
entire farmhouse which was so intense that one could “read a
newspaper by it”. These occurrences became so frequent and
annoying that the Reeves boarded up their windows. This failed
utterly to exclude the glow, and, worse still, the “crawling”
doughnut-shaped lights returned in various rooms.
“About this time, the Reeves decided it would be best to call in
experienced ufo investigators. One, the percipient of weird ufo
activity himself, later told how he had observed disc-shaped lights
flying in helter-skelter fashion through some trees in the Reeves’
apple orchard. They flew at high speeds and produced an almost
inaudible high-pitched hum.
“Another witness, Max W. Taylor, a chemist with the Georgia-Pacific
Corporation reported how he and a group of neighbours camped, at the
request of the Reeves family, on their property in an effort to find
a rational explanation of the amazing happenings. Originally
sceptical, Taylor soon joined the ranks of believers when he, and his
co-watchers, saw several strange pulsating blue lights that appeared
on the outside walls of the kitchen at the farmhouse. Telephoning the
local police, Taylor brought in deputy sheriff Thomas W. Price, from
Lincoln County. At approximately 1.30 am, Price arrived at the
Reeves’ property, and, as he got out of his squad car, saw a very
fast moving unknown aerial object speeding from northeast to
southeast. It emitted a high-pitched whine. It was orange and
appeared to be spinning. It also made a complete stop, then passed
on again towards the southeast. Price said that the object “made
the hair on the back of my neck stand on end”.
“Other initially sceptical neighbours likewise reported odd
occurrences. Five or six of them, described by police as “apparently
sober”, insisted that they had seen “stumplike” entities moving
across an open field near the Reeves Farm on two occasions.
“On another occasion, Douglas Whitlow, a 17-year old high school
senior, found himself being followed down the Siletz-Toledo
highway by a bright object that criss-crossed the road for over an
hour. Others watched strange lights through binoculars, some
witnesses asserting that the objects were oval shaped and that they
appeared to be scanning Earth as though conducting a survey.
“Similar sightings continued to be made in the Pioneer Mountain
region into May, while the astonishing and unnerving activity around
the Reeves Farm persisted to such a degree that it forced the Reeves
to abandon their home. Apparently unable to stand these visitations
any longer, the Reeves family suddenly left their home and left no
forwarding address. Their present whereabouts is unknown.
“This, and many other strange aspects of this series of sightings,
are still under investigation. One day, perhaps, we will know the
purpose behind these events, why the Reeves appear to have been
singled out by the ufos, and what in fact became of the ill-fated
family. All that is certain is that ufos continue to be sighted in
this remote area of Oregon”.
Firstly, date error aside, the duration of events comes to around two
plus months. A pity no one took any photographs of the phenomena.
Now those photographs would be interesting to see.
Secondly; everyone from Keel, Coleman et al state that Kathy
and her friend saw the stump-like entities. In this account it was
not the girls but neighbours who saw the “entities” and we have
to be careful as we have no real details; I note the article seems to
indicate these may have been seen more than once.
Thirdly, you can see and note a great deal with a good pair of
binoculars, however, that these “craft” appeared to be surveying
Earth is highly conjectural. We cannot say that extraterrestrial
craft were involved because there is no evidence of this just of
there being some form of phenomena and based on the Maracaibo,
Venezuela case of 1886 it was probably for the best that the family
did move out. It could very well be that, if a natural but unknown
phenomenon (UNP) was involved then levels of radiation could have
been encountered.
Has no one tried to locate Kathy Reeves in recent years because if it
was all a gag then being in her 60’s (?) now she is liable to say
so but I cannot see why she would since everything was originally
about her and her friend and their encounter with entities; an
encounter that, it seems, did not involve them. We are not
just talking about a far more complex case than any of the “big
names” such as Keel and Coleman have hinted at; they both seem to
take the event that never happened with tongue-in-cheek humour but
have obviously not looked at the case at all.
I
hate to say it again but it appears that this is another case of IBNC
–Investigation By News-Clipping.
In 1974, Howard tells us, the case was still under investigation.
Well, my late friend and colleague, Franklyn A. Davin-Wilson tried
for years, right up to his death in 1983, to find out what happened
to this investigation and report. Every year or-so I give it a try
but can find out no more. Even if most of the witnesses have passed
away now but surely their families must have heard the stories about
the Reeves Farm? There is still the possibility that the area in
question is still subjected to light phenomena even if not as intense
as in 1966.
Interestingly I came across an item relating to the Reeves’ in the
November-December, 1966, APRO Bulletin; p. 6 titled
Weird Aerial Phenomena In Oregon:
“In October of 1966 a remote logging area near Toledo on Pioneer
Mountain experienced the presence of strange objects which captured
the interest of the press. Among those who observed the
manifestations were Georgia-Pacific Co. chemist Max W. Taylor and the
Evelyn Reeves family. The sequence of events began in March when the
Reeves’ called Deputy Sheriff Thomas Wayne Price about the small
doughnut-shaped lights which had been “crawling” across walls
almost nightly both inside and outside the house. These were
accompanied by noises described as like a high speed saw or a “giant,
spinning top”.
“Taylor had been called by the Reeves family also, and one night
while visiting there for the specific purpose of observing, he saw
one of the small light spots on the living room wall and at the
opposite end of the house, another spot, located in such a way that
it indicated that an invisible beam of light had penetrated the house
and was showing at each extreme.
“However –there was no apparent source for the light and no beam
in between.
“When Price arrived on the scene at 1:20 a.m., the morning he was
called, he was startled to see a large orange, glowing object
maneuvering in the sky. The whining noise was then heard and the
orange object vanished.
“The first indication of the strange phenomena came when Mrs
Reeves’ daughter, Kathleen, 16, was walking up Pioneer Road with a
friend and both girls saw what looked like a neighbor’s field on
fire. “It was dome-shaped”, she said, “and it looked like it
was burning.” The sight perplexed the girls and they started on
home and then saw what appeared to be a “flashlight with a cover
over the end so there was no beam.”
“Kathleen said she thought it was someone playing a trick, and
threw a rock at the light, whereupon, “a lot of big ones went on
all around it and we ran home.”
“Thereafter, according to Mrs Reeves and her daughter, the house
was increasingly visited by pulsating “wall donuts” and the
strange noises including the high-pitched whine heard and described
by Price.
“On one occasion, said Mrs Reeves, one member of the family went
for a gun after seeing “something” outside a living room window.
When he pointed the gun, the “thing” appeared to back away, and
then the inside of the house suddenly sparkled with a multitude of
crawling lights.
“Another incident took place at about 2 one morning when Mrs Reeves
woke up to see her whole bedroom lit up with a rosy glow so bright it
would have furnished adequate light by which to read. She turned
toward the living room door and saw a watermelon-colored red thing,
like a cloud –just hanging there. She could see through it. It
hung there, a hazy mass for a couple of minutes, and then
disappeared.
“Among others who witnessed the strange sights was the owner of the
house, Delbert Mapes, who bought the house from the Reeves. He said
there has been no more activity since the Reeves left.
“Mapes observed round, luminous objects whizzing about through the
orchard on one occasion.
“The remarkable thing about this incident is that no one believed
the observers who reported the strange manifestations –until the
doubters saw the things themselves. One of the incidents which Kathy
reported and which no one can accept is the three little “stumps”
that walked across the pasture one night.
“The activity, which started in March was still going strong as
late as October 1966 when a secretary and two others in a car had a
“near miss” with a “house-sized glowing sphere” on Friday the
14th of October.
“This seems to be another one of those series of incidents which
may involve UAO occupants engaged in certain activities in a certain
area, and the methods by which they discourage local residents from
interfering with them.
“An Oregon member far removed from the Toledo area has volunteered
to make the long trip to thoroughly investigate the incidents and
attempt to procure exact times, places and dates. We will report on
this series of sightings when more information is available.”
In fact, I went through the 1967 and 1968 APRO Bulletins
and any follow-up is notable by its absence. Instead the Lorenzens
seemed to concentrate on the “sexy news” –such as ‘UFO
fleets’ over Europe and South America, more South American reports,
Richard Greenwell’s tour of South America as APRO representative,
flying saucer ‘attacks’ and their own books. I doubt the Reeves
case was sensationalist enough –or the investigator (whoever) was
greeted with silence.
The noticeable differences in the account stick out like a sore
thumb. Kathy and her friend saw the stump-like entities.
Kathy alone saw the stump-like entities by herself one
evening. Locals saw the stump-like entities. So which of
these was it? The account in the APRO Bulletin seems
to clearly describe lights “coming on” around the dome-shaped
object and there is mention of Kathy throwing a rock and not both
girls picking up rocks and stones and throwing them. We then have
the part of the account where Mr Reeves takes a gun –I am assuming
this was a son since it is clearly identified as the “Evelyn Reeves
family” –usually indicating a widow and family. I am not sure
where Howard got the information for his article but it is a good
deal different from the version APRO reported on.
Here we have a major problem in that we have no idea which is the
most accurate account, though I would edge toward Lorenzens’
version.
To complete a full record we need to try to locate any surviving
members of the Reeves family. We have the names of Deputy Sheriff
Thomas W. Price of Lincoln County and Max W. Taylor and Douglas
Whitlow –others mentioned in the APRO report. There were said to
have been 30 to 40 other witnesses to phenomena –all of these
people must have told their families the UFO stories or recorded them
somewhere?
And just who were the UFO investigators?
There must be competent UFO investigators who can locate and talk to
the witnesses if any can be located and carry out a newspaper
archives search. With all the fuss over ‘Marley Woods’ and the
Skinwalker Ranch we have here an historical precedent for light
phenomena that surely deserves a fresh look?
I
am already re-opening two investigations in the United States because
UFO investigators there –MUFON- are simply not interested in
getting up off of their backsides to look into events. This case, and others, really require local investigators or people who know the area, people and resources.
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