The Kathy Reeves Encounter & Reeves Farm Events 1966 -A Call To UFO Investigators

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 14^th 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.