The Kecksburg incident occurred on December 9, 1965 at Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, USA. A large, brilliant fireball was seen by thousands in at least six U.S. states and Ontario, Canada. It streaked over the Detroit, Michigan/Windsor, Ontario area, reportedly dropped hot metal debris[citation needed] over Michigan and northern Ohio, starting some grass fires, and caused sonic booms in Western Pennsylvania. It was generally assumed and reported by the press to be a meteor.
However, eyewitnesses in the small village of Kecksburg, about 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, claimed something crashed in the woods. A boy said he saw the object land; his mother saw a wisp of blue smoke arising from the woods and alerted authorities. Others from Kecksburg, including local volunteer fire department members, reported finding an object in the shape of an acorn and about as large as a Volkswagen Beetle. Writing resembling Egyptian hieroglyphics was also said to be in a band around the base of the object. Witnesses further reported that intense military presence, most notably the United States Army, secured the area, ordered civilians out, and then removed the object on a flatbed truck. At the time, however, the military claimed they searched the woods and found "absolutely nothing".
The Tribune-Review from nearby Greensburg had a reporter at the scene; the headline in the newspaper the next day was "Unidentified Flying Object Falls near Kecksburg — Army Ropes off Area".
The official explanation of the widely-seen fireball was that it was a mid-sized meteor. However speculation as to the identity of the Kecksburg object (if there was one — reports vary) also range from it being an alien craft to debris from Cosmos 96, a Soviet satellite.
Similarities have been drawn between the Kecksburg incident and the Roswell UFO incident, leading to the former being referred to as "Pennsylvania's Roswell."
There had been some speculation that the object in the Kecksburg Incident may have been debris from Cosmos 96, a Soviet satellite. Cosmos 96 had a bell- or acorn-like shape similar to the object reported by eyewitnesses (though much smaller than what witnesses reported).
However, in a 1991 report, US Space Command concluded that Cosmos 96 crashed in Canada at 3.18am on December 9, 1965, about 13 hours before the fireball thought to be the Kecksburg object undergoing re-entry was recorded at 4.45pm.
In December 2005, just before the 40th anniversary of the Kecksburg crash, NASA released a statement to the effect that they had examined metallic fragments from the object and now claimed it was from a re-entering "Russian satellite". The spokesman further claimed that the related records had been misplaced. According to an Associated Press story:
The object appeared to be a Russian satellite that re-entered the atmosphere and broke up. NASA experts studied fragments from the object, but records of what they found were lost in the 1990s.
This new explanation from NASA contradicts the official Air Force explanation in 1965 of the fireball being from a meteor and of nothing being found.
Looks a lot like an early unmanned re-entry vehicle...
astroguyz 1 year ago
@astroguyz
yes thats what it looks like and it was claimed it might being crushed landing of a Russian Venus probe that failed reaching orbit and fall back to Earth in Keckesburg.
KurdstanPlanetarium 1 year ago