Two Cops, a UFO and an Alligator

Sheriffs, UFOs, healed wounds and the 'Men in Black'.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/281d3ef32fd3.jpg[/atsimg]

On the night of September 3rd, 1965 two local sheriffs were in for quite an adventure. One of them in particular, Deputy Sheriff Goode, was about to step into the Twilight Zone for the next few hours.

Deputy Sheriff Bob Goode and Chief Deputy Sheriff Billy McCoy were driving down Highway 36 just before 11pm. Goode had a bandage around his hand after being bitten on the finger by a young alligator some hours earlier. In the dark sky, a light became noticeable and they argued about what it was before pulling over for a clearer look. What they saw was a bright purple light not far above the horizon. It was apparently stationary, but as they stared, a small blue light appeared from within the larger light and took up a position some 10 degrees above and to the right (McCoy later came to the conclusion that the blue light was part of the same object and became visible as the UFO revolved to face them).

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/8ab2ff4baffe.jpg[/atsimg]
Antares

Grabbing a pair of binoculars, they jumped out and tried to get a better look at what the hell these lights were. Not good enough! They jumped back in the patrol car and tried to get closer to the lights by cutting through some back roads. They were able to get within 7 miles and stopped the old Ford patrol car with McCoy in the passenger side and Goode sitting with his window down and sore hand resting outside on the door.

Unexpectedly, the lights suddenly manoeuvred and began to approach the sheriffs at speed. At 100 yards away the lights stopped dead and they could now see a huge object suspended in the air before them; it had no discernible features other than a tapered, round shape. McCoy noticed how the Moon’s light cast a massive shadow of the object on the ground before them. They felt a heat from the object and before anything could happen, Goode throttled the engine and took off like a kid from a graveyard…

Extract of Billy McCoy's statement
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9caa16a8ed59.png[/atsimg]

The guys hit speeds of a 110mph as McCoy kept staring out of the back window in fear of being pursued by the strange object. As he watched, the object ‘snapped back’ to its earlier position. Basically, they had panicked! Probably a wise course of action, yet as the fear and adrenaline faded away, cool heads returned and they decided to go back and have another look. Isn’t this what people do in bad horror movies? Who else would go back?

So…they return at a slower speed and look for the lights. Curiously, the lights are in the same place as they were when the sheriffs first saw them…large purple light hanging motionless in the sky with the small blue light shining above it. As they looked on, the lights moved against the sky in the same way as earlier and the object faced them once more…

Goode’s curiosity grabbed his courage by the hand and ran squealing into the Texas night. The sheriffs did the same thing and roared away…

McCoy immediately told the City Judge of West Colombia, Jim Scott; he went straight out there and waited over an hour without seeing anything. All of this was reported to the local AFB on the 8th of September although there’s little doubt the story did the local rounds in the intervening days. The investigation was led by Major Leach of Ellington AFB (submitted to Blue Book) and they were interviewed by APRO, NICAP, Saucer News and a young Jerome Clark.

Initially, Maj. Leach thought the two men had seen the star Antares (pictured above) and somehow gotten themselves carried away. The star was the brightest thing in the night sky.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b974d3a11e88.jpg[/atsimg]

They altered their explanation after considering the characters of McCoy and Goode and their positions in the sheriff’s office; McCoy supervised some 42 personnel. In the end, the incident became one of the 1600 cases classified as ‘unidentified.’ Some of Leach’s thoughts are in the conclusions of his report…

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/fb7e0df2e163.png[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d0805687e6ba.jpg[/atsimg]

It was back in winter of this year when I became interested in the case after stumbling onto it in the Blue Book Archive. The main reason was because I (wrongly) thought it represented an early report of the ‘big black triangle.’ Mike Swords (CUFOS, Project47) corrected me on that one.

Men in Black and vanishing ‘gator bites

This went on the back-burner when the alligator bite, mentioned earlier, came into the story. According to Goode and McCoy, the injury had completely healed within a few hours of the light shining on them.

In fact, before they’d finished their shifts, the wound had stopped bleeding and was almost gone. I expected this part of the story to be made-up BS that was added by UFO researchers and reporters years after the fact. Looking into the APRO and NICAP reports from the period revealed that it hadn’t been added much later and was there in writing shortly after the incident. In the course of trying to confirm that Goode or McCoy had made the claim, I emailed a few UFO researchers for help and they obliged. IsaacKoi provided the NICAP report and Tim Beckley responded that he was the interviewer for the Saucer News article in the BB files. Jerome Clark also describes the healing of the alligator bite shortly afterwards in Flying Saucer Review…

Flying Saucer Review, March ‘66
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ddce1afc81e8.png[/atsimg]

APRO Sep-Oct 1965
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/aa8bea133417.jpg[/atsimg]

The healed wound was definitely claimed by both Goode and McCoy. At this point, it’s up to the reader to make their own minds up. Were these men lying or did the wound heal?

Goode is the central figure in the encounter and I’ve tried to contact relatives without success. For any US readers, this is a golden opportunity to corroborate his account by making contact with relatives. Aside from the sighting and the healing, he was also approached by two odd characters with all the features of the Men in Black. These guys had phoned dispatch at the station and asked for McCoy…who was out of town. According to Goode, they met him in a local restaurant before the story had left town. In the, typically weird, conversation that followed, he claimed that they told him what had happened before he could tell them. Stranger still, they explained how both of the sheriffs would have been taken for a ride in the object if they hadn’t run…on condition of silence.

Now all that is a lot to believe and makes you wonder if Goode was fond of embellishing stories or practical jokes. Without witnesses, who’s to say?

Confirmation of this odd meeting comes from an interview with McCoy for the local media outlet, Brazzoria News/ The Facts in 2009. I emailed them enquiring about the interviewer, Mary Openshaw, and seeking contact details. The reply (March 13) was a one-line ‘Ms. Openshaw is no longer employed by The Facts.’ Make of that what you will, but at least it confirms her existence and lessens the chance of the interview being made-up. A range of searches and a couple more emails failed to make a connection with Openshaw; it’s possible she’s retired from journalism. Once more, US readers might enjoy trying to find her. Here are some relevant quotes from her interview…

On the subject of Goode’s injury:

“He unwrapped it and it was all swollen and chewed up, with bloody streaks running down it,” McCoy said.

Describing the object

... he picked up his binoculars. As soon as he picked them up to look, that thing was on top of us. The car was totally inundated with this brilliant purple light. Bob later said he felt heat from it; I didn’t feel any heat. We could see it was just a large, dark object, and it just seemed to be looking right at us in that field next to us. We heard no sound, didn’t see any openings.”

Recollecting the healing

“I noticed Goode using his left hand,” McCoy remembered. “I said, ‘Well, Bob, the only good thing about this is, it’s made you forget about your finger.’ He said, ‘You know, it’s not even sore!’ So help me, he unwrapped those bandages and you could barely see those marks. There was no redness, the inflammation seemed to be gone. He threw the bandages away.”

His part in the ‘M.I.B.’ visit

“He said before he could tell them anything, they began telling him what we had seen and the whole circumstances,” McCoy said. “They told him that if we had stopped and not run away, the craft would have landed, we would have been greeted by beings much like we are, and we would have been invited aboard and taken for a ride and brought back unharmed as long as we didn’t say anything about it or make any report.”

The two men told Goode they were reporters from Pasadena. They never came back to talk to McCoy.

“Monday morning I started calling every state that had a Pasadena in it. We found nobody that had been sent here, because nobody knew anything about it,” McCoy said.

The interview is here...

Although this case is long-forgotten by most, it’s considered one of the best by UFO researchers. Issac Koi’s website shows how many books have included it. The excellent Michael Swords has also listed the incident in his best CEII case files and I asked him for help. Expecting an email or comment post, he exceeded expectations and posted a an article on the subject.. What a guy! The following sketches by McCoy are thanks to Swords' blog...

McCoy’s sketches and checking out the location


By April, I found an unreferenced interview with Billy McCoy that was buried in a radio broadcast from 1965. Thanks to the great work of Wendy Connors (Faded Discs) and Mike Swords that interview has now been ripped from the show and uploaded to You Tube…



So what does ATS think about all this? The healing and the sighting are the intriguing elements of the case. If the healing is true, it suggests that one day we might have a technology that causes rapid cell regeneration without scarring.

What continues to puzzle me is the vastly different experience of Bob Goode compared to Billy McCoy. Goode’s claims involved the UFO, mystery aircraft, MIBs and the healed wound. McCoy simply shared the UFO sighting, but verifies Goode’s claims too. The M.I.B. could be anything from UFO researchers, pranksters (Gray Barker and Jim Moseley enjoyed the sport of faking MIB encounters), non-uniformed personnel or maybe something more mysterious?

It seems that the only way to debunk this popular case is to condemn McCoy and Goode as hoaxers and there isn’t the evidence to justify doing so.

McCoy (seated) and Goode with the sketches
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/306b2209d9da.jpg[/atsimg]

Blue Book notes


NICAP
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/56147e3c85a8.jpg[/atsimg]

APRO
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f7e7db372f83.jpg[/atsimg]

McCoy Statement from the Project Blue Book Archive




Project Blue Book Archive

So glad the thread lived up to the title! s+f
Another example of credible witnesses with no legitimate reason to make it up.

Great post!! Another great story. I am getting the feeling that disclosure is always near but I have felt this way before. After a while you just have to decide for yourself on the available facts and not wait for the MSM to finally drop Alien/UFO Bomb.

Hey I just solved this case....

The silhouette is the image of an helicopter
Probably a military copter, maybe a Huey Cobra....

As for the men in Black.... probably military.

As for his finger.... it was wrapped up, so of course it will relieve swelling and pressure...


NO brainer .... CASED CLOSED

Thank you

reply to post by imitator

The AH-1G HueyCobra has a length of about 53 feet. Bill McCoy commented that it was about 200 feet wide. Even a Chinook is only about 98 feet. Also Bill reported there was no noise ...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9caa16a8ed59.png[/atsimg]

I'm not sure the helicopter explanation works in this scenario.

BTW, nice thread K.

Originally posted by Xtraeme
reply to post by imitator

 

The AH-1G HueyCobra has a length of about 53 feet. Bill McCoy commented that it was about 200 feet wide. Even a Chinook is only about 98 feet. Also Bill reported there was no noise ...

Yes but, when you see something that your brain can't make out in the dark, your mental faculties can shut off causing a state of excitement and mental confusion. The two guys probably feed off their fear like a mob out of control... All your senses in perception of sound and distance is distorted.

As for the noise.... I bet that squad car was loud, probably good ole V8 engine.... you can't hear a copter at certain angles and distances... especially in old car like that...

As for the heat... probably from the car... from driving 100mph

I think it was helicopter.... Texas is a big copter state.

Well this is a new one for me! I've not read about
This case and I have the books, sounds legit but then I am
A believer.
One of the most interesting cases I have read for a while
And your contribution is superb Kandinsky.
As for the MIB encounter I don't know so much but I won't
Discount the possibility. S&F for a great case.

reply to post by imitator
Would that Huey be flying from Ellington AFB? Does an idling Ford engine drown out a heli at 100 yards?

oops..double post

not only was the op interesting, but hilarious as well!

best part of the sheriffs story: "Goode’s curiosity grabbed his courage by the hand and ran squealing into the Texas night. The sheriffs did the same thing and roared away…"

Originally posted by imitator

Originally posted by Xtraeme
reply to post by imitator

 

The AH-1G HueyCobra has a length of about 53 feet. Bill McCoy commented that it was about 200 feet wide. Even a Chinook is only about 98 feet. Also Bill reported there was no noise ...

Yes but, when you see something that your brain can't make out in the dark, your mental faculties can shut off causing a state of excitement and mental confusion. The two guys probably feed off their fear like a mob out of control... All your senses in perception of sound and distance is distorted.

As for the noise.... I bet that squad car was loud, probably good ole V8 engine.... you can't hear a copter at certain angles and distances... especially in old car like that...

As for the heat... probably from the car... from driving 100mph

I think it was helicopter.... Texas is a big copter state.

edit on 5-8-2011 by imitator because: (no reason given)

A helicopter? Texas is a big helicopter state? I live in texas right next to one of the buisess air ports in texas. I dont ever see helicopters. You all so have to remember that this did not happen in 2011.

Helicopters make a TON of noise, are you just trolling? A car engine louder then a helicopter? ha. You have to scream when you are buy one and when you are side one you have to use a mic to talk. They said the object was 150ft away from them and 100ft in the sky when they stopped. They said they wear 7miles away from the object and that the object instantly jumped to their position. Helicopters have bright purple and blue lights? Helicopters are triangles? The military is interested in a helicopter siting? haahaha I think your just trolling cause you have nothing better to do.

Originally posted by imitator
Hey I just solved this case....

The silhouette is the image of an helicopter

Probably a military copter, maybe a Huey Cobra....

As for the men in Black.... probably military.

As for his finger.... it was wrapped up, so of course it will relieve swelling and pressure...


NO brainer .... CASED CLOSED

Thank you

edit on 5-8-2011 by imitator because: (no reason given)

I am glad you are so certain that you can say "CASED CLOSED"
Why should we believe you when you cannot even spell CASE?

Anyway the Huey Cobra was not first produced until 1966

Originally posted by expat2368
I am glad you are so certain that you can say "CASED CLOSED"
Why should we believe you when you cannot even spell CASE?

Anyway the Huey Cobra was not first produced until 1966

Ah, I see you have to be a nerd to word check.... guess you never heard of an auto speller?

How about a fact check, your clueless in aerial aircraft, so anything you say about UFO's is NULL and VOID.


Bell Model 209 "Huey Cobra" 1965

www.aviastar.org...
In 1965 the US Army finalised its requirement for the world's first armed battlefield helicopter, the Bell AH-1 Cobra, often called the HueyCobra.

so I'm troll and a poor speller, because I think it's case closed?.... I have a better name for you guys, but I can't say it on these forms.

reply to post by imitator

While I'm pretty skeptical of the helicopter explanation, especially since I see news and police choppers on a near daily basis, I'm willing to hear you out. However if you intend to convince anyone of your theory you need to account for all the details:

1. Why was this hypothetical military chopper using a purple and blue light configuration? Have there ever been any US helicopters known to date that have used this sort of lighting pattern? With normal aircraft configurations the usual lighting patterns are red lights on the left side, green light on the right, and white taillights.
   
   
2. Are you suggesting the helicopter wasn't picked up on radar due to some form of stealth capability? Or are you suggesting the ATC controllers lied to Major Laurence Leach Jr.?

   
   "It should be noted on the inclosed maps that the area of sighting is in the immediate vicinity of the Victor 20 airway. Although the officers emphatically denied that the object was an aircraft, and it is highly improbable that it could have been, I nevertheless checked with Houston Air Traffic Control Center. A review of their records indicated that there was no IFR traffic in the area at the time of the sighting. They also had no records on any VFR traffic. Houston radar coverage extends into the area in question but not below 2000 feet. (The minimum altitude for Victor 20 is 2000 feet). Houston radar records indicated no UFO or unusual sighting during the period in question."
   files.abovetopsecret.com...

   
   

3. 
   

   
   Bill reported there was no noise ...

   Yes but, when you see something that your brain can't make out in the dark, your mental faculties can shut off causing a state of excitement and mental confusion. The two guys probably feed off their fear like a mob out of control... All your senses in perception of sound and distance is distorted.

   Since you argue it was the inability to see clearly that confused the two officers. How do you account for the fact that the weather conditions were "cloudless skies and good visibility ... eleven miles visibility"[1] and that there was "a bright moon out and it cast a shadow of the object on the ground?"[2] Isn't the moon casting a shadow indicative that visibility wasn't a problem? This would seem to fly in the face of your speculation that their imaginations were getting the better of them. How do you rebut this?

I'd be interested to hear your comments.

edit to add:
Here's what a chopper sounds and looks like a night:

reply to post by imitator


Your own quote says "finalized requirements" in 1965. That would mean the helo was not in production yet at that time.

I think you're just trolling as your explanations are just ridiculous. Yes, Blue Book, who looked for and assigned just about any possible explanation they could come up with, true or not to cases- was unable to assign such a benign explanation but thankfully you are here to provide one decades later...

reply to post by ecoparity


Who cares when it went into production? It flew in 1965 and that's a fact...but who cares, I said maybe a Huey Cobra! Maybe is the key word and Texas does build helicopters. The fact is you guys are looking for an excuse that it's not a helicopter, when in fact...again the silhouette drawing is in the shape of an helicopter.

It doesn't have to be a Huey, though it could be.. who knows..... I'm saying it's a Helicopter and nothing more.

reply to post by Xtraeme

While I'm pretty skeptical of the helicopter explanation, especially since I see news and police choppers on a near daily basis, I'm willing to hear you out. However if you intend to convince anyone of your theory you need to account for all the details:

Back in 1965 news and police choppers was probably a rare sight.... so for two Texas cowboys back then, a chopper could be mistaken for a UFO...

reply to post by Xtraeme


1. First off look at the bifocals that Goode is wearing! McCoy has poor eyesight too, picture shows him wearing glasses as well. A white light can give off a blue hue, and blue is next to purple on the color wheel. Plus they where excited to see something in the air...

2. Helicopters can fly below radar.... and often do.

3. Nope, the last time I checked it's still dark even when the moon is out... why else where the lights on? It's still dark that is why the drawing is in silhouette form... plus poor eye sight, and their state of excitement = mental confusion.

4. Helicopter's can't be heard at certain distances and angles.

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck.

This is a poor UFO case as far as I'm concerned...

reply to post by Xtraeme
Hiya X, the idea of a chopper (100 yards away) being drowned out by an idling engine on a Texas back road is hardly worth addressing.

It really comes down to whether these two men were lying about it...or not. Maj. Leach seemed assured by their character and the intervening years haven't brought to light any conflicting accounts. On top of that, with McCoy getting some 'friendly ridicule' and supervising 42 personnel you'd think that at least one of them would jump at the chance to drop him in it.

I made a typo about when they reported it to Ellington AFB. It was the 6th of September and not the 8th. Here's the cover sheet of their report...

That was a good read, great thread.
The shape slightly resembles a blimp imo.