by Kenny Young, Norwood, Ohio
Bill Jones of Ohio MUFON informed me of an April, 1998 UFO sighting and provided contact information for this report.
The primary witness was contacted around 3:30 P.M. at his place of employment. He was very reluctant to speak about the sighting and angrily stressed he did not want to go "on the record" because of the "freaks" that he feared would be calling.
The UFO sighting happened in downtown Cincinnati (Hamilton County) on April 28, 1998, while a Cincinnati Reds baseball game was in progress. The witness stated that as he was leaving the ballgame, somewhere between 9:30 to 10:00 P.M., he and his fiancée spotted an unusual object in the sky.
From their vantage point on a concrete stairway near the Crown Coliseum, close to the Ohio River, the two observers beheld a "little white thing in the air, like a star but duller." The object was moving back and forth from the Covington side, in the vicinity of the Reds game at Cinergy Field, which is situated adjacent to the Crown Coliseum.
"It was not a plane," the witness stated. "It was doing zigzag motions, moving from one side of the river to the [other]…and there is no way it was a helicopter."
The object remained above the river at a somewhat low elevation and continued to pointlessly zigzag from the Covington bank to the Cincinnati bank. Although the baseball game was continuing at the time of the sighting, the witness does not know if the crowd at the ballgame would have seen the object, which may have been out of visual range because of the design of the stadium and the lights in the ballpark.
The weather conditions at the time were somewhat cloudy with warm temperature. There was no sound heard. Later, at work, the witness told his buddy, who has an interest in MUFON; from there the report reached the desk of Bill Jones.
The sighting may be complicated by the fact that Cincinnati Reds baseball games are frequently over flown by helicopters, blimps, and airplanes pulling advertising banners. Most of this activity would be limited after darkness, however, especially banner-pulling airplanes or helicopters. The "zigzagging" descriptive detail is not consistent with a blimp. The helicopter explanation may be applicable, were it not for the sighter's insistence to the contrary, due to visual characteristics and lack of sound.
Report filed July 16, 1998.
This article originally appeared in the July 1998 issue of the Bluegrass Bulletin, P.O. Box 271, Stanton, KY 40320.