Uniontown UFO-Bigfoot Incident

 The Uniontown UFO-Bigfoot Incident

By Cole Herrold

When it comes to the Bigfoot mystery, there are several theories as to what the creature is and where it comes from. The most widely accepted hypothesis is that Bigfoot are a relict population of Gigantopithecus, a giant ape that reached a staggering 8ft tall height and lived in Asia in the Cenozoic Era. A similar theory and one that I personally tend to lean towards is that Bigfoot and his ilk are actually hominids that branched off from either Paranthropus or some other ancestor to common man. After these theories, it enters what many flesh and blood theory researchers would describe as "Woo" theories. These theories range from everything that Bigfoot sightings are the spirits of early hominids or Gigantopithecus to Bigfoot are multidimensional beings that pop in and out of our world from another. John Keel, the infamous Mothman researcher, coined the term Ultraterrestrial which were beings that could manifest as anything to feed on the fear and emotions of humans in several of his books; he felt that Bigfoot was one such creature. In the 1960s and 1970s, however, another theory came to mind, and that was that the creature was not a spirit, or some malevolent entity, or a traveler from another plane of existence but a traveler from another world. Some of these sightings are some of the most bizarre records around, and many defy a rational explanation.

One of the epicenters for the theory I've come to dub the Spacesquatch Hypothesis is my home state Pennsylvania. These sightings, beyond anything else that has been reported in the state, are perhaps the most well-known and famous paranormal phenomenon, second perhaps only to the infamous Kecksburg UFO Crash. Sightings of UFOs in conjunction with Bigfoot-like creatures in Pennsylvania during the 60s through the 80s were surprisingly common; however most cases, an object is seen in the sky, and a Bigfoot might be seen on the ground going towards are coming away from the flying object. Yet while there is a significant stack of sightings, there are only a few that are weird enough that they almost have to be connected. Many of these accounts were collected by Stan Gordon and appear in all of his fantastic resources, such as Silent Invasion: The UFO-Bigfoot Casebook, Really Mysterious Pennsylvania, and Astonishing Encounters - Pennsylvania’s Unknown Creatures. Perhaps the most iconic account and the one that is featured on the cover of the book Silent Invasion is one that's story when told, is never told completely. Many variations exist, and even in Stan Gordon's book, some of the details are missing or altered to protect the eyewitness, yet even with these discrepancies, the tale is extremely harrowing and one of the most insane and bizarre cases of Fortean encounters that outside of perhaps the infamous Mothman flap nothing pales in comparison.

The Uniontown UFO-Bigfoot Incident first came to my attention through two books, none of which were written by the investigator and major player of the case, Stan Gordon. Both books had maybe two pages written on the subject, the first being the incredible collection of accounts The Bigfoot Casebook by Janet and Colin Bord the second was the first book on the Bigfoot subject I ever purchased it was Bigfoot by B. Ann Slate and Alan Berry I managed to find an old used copy of it at a thrift store tucked away in-between some books of less than interesting subject matter. Upon reading the account, I had mixed reactions to the case. It was my first time reading about a case that seemed to be completely opposite of what Bigfoot was said to be. It was to the point that, as a child, I rejected the account altogether. It wasn't until I got older and began to read other accounts that I became slightly more open to the idea but still not convinced that it was the nail in the coffin answer to the Bigfoot enigma. Yet my exact thoughts on this case I will discuss later on.

Uniontown, which is located in Fayette County, is no stranger to bizarre phenomena, and in the 70s, the entire state seemed to be slithering with all sorts of bizarre beasts and perplexing phenomena. It was on October 25, 1973, however, that the small rural community would be plunged into chaos as the night darkened and the stars shined. It was on this dark night at around 9 pm that 22-year-old George Kowalczyk (in other sources named Steve Palmer or Stephen for the sake of anonymity in some books, yet early newspaper accounts and later documentaries would reveal his true name) was driving home on a rural dirt road with his wife when he noticed that the stars were not alone in the inky black sky that permeated the surrounding fields and farmlands of Uniontown. The young man who Stan Gordon would describe as being over six foot and weighing some 250lbs who wore glasses and was softspoken had noticed a peculiar sight that perplexed him as he drove home. There in the sky was an object seemingly flying some 100ft above the ground; it looked to him like a bright reddish-orange ball and seemed to be heading in the same direction as he was towards the small area where his and his Father's house was situated. He managed to follow this object on the dirt road and noticed that its trajectory was dead set to his own as he pulled up to his Father's house, he saw that his family was already outside on the porch watching the eerie light as it slowly started to move over his Father's field. While he was more focused on the object and his family, they were not alone in observing this craft as most of the neighbors had also left the comforts of their homes and proceeded to sit and stand in the various yards and porches to watch the anomaly. There were approximately 15 people who would witness the craft from a distance, but for George, he would have a more horrifying and up-close encounter with the unknown.

George pulled out of his parent's driveway and pulled into another neighbor's yard to watch the object descend from a different angle. As he watched the object from the safety of his truck, he noticed that the object now was no longer soaring above the ground but was slowly descending. The object dipped lower and lower in the sky until it ultimately seemed to land into his Father's pasture, yet from where he was positioned, he could not see the object outside of an orangish glow that illuminated the spot. It was around that time that he returned to his parent's house and discussed the object with his family. George would talk about this in an interview later on, which would appear on the Small Town Monsters Invasion on Chestnut Ridge Documentary "My wife looked, you know, we was astonished, and stopped and then drove up to the house. So, we all looked off the porch and we watched it was just coming down slow. It was making some kind of humming noise then. My Mother and them was there and they was a little bit scared. So, I said, "Well, I'll go down and look and see what I can see from down there." So, I went and down pulled up in their driveway, and I'm looking upon the hill. All I could see was like a glow-reflection off the ground. I'm going to have to go back to my house I said, and I'll go out in the field and check". This decision was not met with any known hesitation from the rest of the family, but two 10-year-old twin boys who possibly were George’s nephews (there are some discrepancies in the accounts on to whether the boys were related or not to George, some sources also claim they were in the car with George at the beginning but not mentioned in the interview) whose names Rick and Nick filled with more curiosity than fear asked George if it would be alright to go up with him to the Ridge. George said that it was fine, and so the trio promptly went to George's house on North Gallatin Ave and then returned to the farmhouse where George grabbed his Father's 30.06 and some ammunition, six bullets in total, and two being tracers. The group, now armed and determined to investigate the light started to drive down an old dirt road on his Father's property; it was a decision they all would regret.

As the group slowly drove down the road, they noticed that every dog in the area was agitated. Every dog was barking, howling, whining, and acting bizarre as though some predator was in the area. As they drove along the road, they could hear the whirring from the craft still, but this sound was not alone for in close proximity to the whirring noise which George would describe not unlike a lawnmower, a second set of sounds like that of a mournful baby's cry echoed through the woods and fields. George was disturbed more by this second set of sounds than the first but proceeded in driving his truck down to a position where the headlights of the truck could light a path, helping them to see as they worked their way up to the hill where the craft landed. The trio began their trek up the hill, but as they were walking, they noticed something peculiar their headlights seemed to flicker as though the battery was being drained.

George, however, was not worried, seeing that the house was only a short distance away and several neighbors’ homes were also close by, so if something happened, he could easily get some help. The group eventually made their way to the top of the hill, and as they reached the hills peak, they found what they were looking for. There only 250 ft away was the object, but George and the boys were perplexed; the object, which was the size of a barn, was completely different from what they had seen in the sky only a short time earlier. The craft, which, while inflight appeared to be bright rusty orange or red and orb-shaped, was now a glowing white object that was flat on the bottom and domed on the top. The whirring sound of the object still continued, and the group could approximately measure the object as being 100ft in diameter. The air around the object was highly illuminated; it was so bright that George and the boys could see everything around them; the object also seemed to of been burning or released some sort of chemical into the air as the entire area smelled like burning rubber.

As the group looked on at the seemingly transformed ship, one of the twin's attention was drawn to some bizarre movement to the right of them next to a long barb wire fence made from railroad ties. The twin would look back to George and his brother, noticing the moving form proclaiming, "Here comes something along the fence". The figure was slowly moving its way towards them, its form slowly becoming more and more revealed by the luminescent object. George would describe the figure and its movements thusly "I’m looking, and I can see the movement of the thing from the glow of this ball. So, when it got within about maybe 50 or 60ft maybe 70ft away I looked at it and there was this object walking. It was real tall and it seemed like it was walking real slow but taking long strides. I mean there was movement slow in the body, but the strides looked- I’m watching it and here its following the fence line every time it would get to another fence post it would make its noise and then I seen why it was making this noise for this thing behind it. Another one to come right up behind it. Soon as the second one would get up to it it would proceed up to another fence post". The figures whose bizarre movements he was encapsulated by were taller than the railroad ties; one was he estimated 8ft, and the smaller figure which followed behind the big one as it waited for the child-like cries it would make was only 7ft tall. They were darkish brown/gray in color with no neck and had glowing green eyes that were as big as a fifty-cent piece; the most bizarre feature, however, was that their arms hung down to their feet, yet they walked bipedally. The creatures continued to wail as they moved and seemed to move in a rigid fashion even with the slow strides that George had described.

When the creatures were approximately diagonally from George, and the twins, one of the twins had finally had enough and started screaming in absolute terror. The terrified twin proceeded to run back down to the house, all the while the other twin was gripping George's leg, crying out, "shoot it, shoot it". George, not knowing what else to do, loaded the tracer bullets into the rifle and proceeded to fire one of the bullets above the head of the taller creature. The tracer flared over the creature's head, and that seemed to be the first time the creatures noticed the group. The creatures stopped and stared at George and the boy as George proceeded in putting another tracer into the chamber. Once completed in a swift pace, he fired the second and final tracer above the creature; this time, the largest creature let out a brief whine and lifted its arm to the incoming tracer almost as if it was attempting to grab it. As soon as the tracer would have made contact with the creature's hand, the sudden pasture became dark. George briefly looked over and where once the UFO had stood was nothing. The white-domed object was gone and in its place was simply an orangish glow that was low to the ground. The area also became deathly silent; the lawnmower esque sound was gone, and all of nature seemed to be holding its breath.

The two creatures then, as George was trying to figure out how an object the size of a barn could disappear without moving, proceeded in turning around and heading back to the area of the woods from whence they came. As the creatures left, George shot three more bullets at the larger of the two hitting it twice. George knew he had hit the creature, for when the bullets hit, it "sounded just like shooting into a lake or something just like water plopping". The creature then turned and stared at George for a little bit but gave no impression that the weapon had hurt it in any way. The witnesses soon began to feel a burning and itching sensation in their eyes as they watched the creatures turn around and return to the woods. So, the two began to run back to their truck and headed back towards the farmhouse.

After attempting to figure out what to do and recollecting their wits, the group proceeded to run over to their neighbor's house to use the phone with the sole purpose of calling the state troopers. It was 9:45 when an officer by the name of Byrne showed up at the scene. After listening intently to the group's story and the rest of the witnesses' reports of seeing a UFO, the officer asked George to accompany him to the area where he saw the UFO and the Bizarre Bigfoot. When the officer pulled up to the area, he could see that the area was still illuminated by some light source or another. Wanting to make sure this was not caused by some mundane source, particularly his headlights, he moved his car, and to his amazement, the light source was still there. The group, as they walked through the pasture, noticed that the cows were keeping away from the glow, and so were all the other animals in the area. The officer coming to the area soon began taking notes and investigating the anomalies that he could see; he focused primarily on the glowing area where the craft was. He noted that the glowing area was 150ft in diameter and extended up about 12" from the ground. The officer noted that the light was so bright if he had a newspaper, he could have easily read it in the luminescence of the area. When the trooper shined his own flashlight into the area, he noticed that he could barely see it and also noted that the temperature inside the glowing area was much warmer than outside, but later, he felt that might have been attributed to the excitement of the time.

The trooper soon began to notice that George, the longer he was out in the area, seemed to behave strangely and on edge. He was extremely upset by all this and was sweating profusely as he continued to conduct the investigation. George, terrified, said to Byrne, "I don't get paid to be brave, I'm not going any further" The trooper soon felt that he had to get George out there and that they could finish giving his statement back at the police station. The two decided, therefore, to head back and finish their investigation at the safety of the barracks. As the two head back, George got the ominous feeling of being followed, and as he paid close attention to the sound of their footsteps, he noticed that this was most certainly the case. He told the trooper about it, and as the two listened, they could distinctly hear a large set of footprints that would move when they moved and when they would stop would only take a few steps before stopping also. George still had his 30.06 with him during this outing and proceeded to put the last bullet into the chamber. The men, as he did this, proceeded in hearing something large in front of them and the officer flicking on his flashlight caught in the beam 10ft away from the hulking form of the larger creature George had seen earlier that hour. George picked up his gun and fired the last round into the creature, this time seemingly taking effect as the creature started to rock back and forth as if the bullet managed to offset its balance. This would be short-lived, however, as the creature seemingly studying itself proceeded in charging after the men from the other side of the fence and running straight into the barbwire fence. The men picked up the pace as they made their way to the patrol car and, speeding like a bat out of hell without looking back, made their way to the station.

When they arrived at the station, the other Troopers listened in disbelief to the account their brother in blue was telling them and also what George was. The officers then separated the two men and, in a way of verifying and seeing how similar their stories were interviewed each. After the interview, the officers realized that both stories matched identically, and so the officers felt that they were out of their league. Robbers, accidents, and murders were something they could handle UFOs, and giant green-eyed seemingly bulletproof ape-men were another story altogether, but luckily, there was a group of people who they could call who were the only experts in the area that could be there within a few hours.

It was about 10:30 when the officers reached out to paranormal investigator Stan Gordon. The officer told Stan the whole story and even said that the witness was still at the station and that he might want to investigate this event. The officer was concerned and noticeably shook up on the phone, and so Gordon decided to put together a team and head out that very night. Stan Gordon then went and assembled a team of five, including himself of members from the Westmoreland County UFO Study Group or WCUFOSG. The members were George E. Lutz, a former air force pilot and officer; Fred Pitt, a photographer; David Smith, a physics teacher and the Westmoreland County Civil Defense Radiation Defense Officer; and Dennis Smeltzer, a sociology major, and the group traveled to Fayette County to meet up with George at the local mall there. It was 12:45 am when the group reached the mall, and George was already waiting for them along with his Father. The trooper who also encountered the glow and the Bigfoot was not available as he decided to turn in since he had to wake up early the next day. Stan Gordon would interview him on a later date, however.

While at the mall, Stan and his crew unpacked their gear and began taking notes from George and his Father and also did some residual tests on George. They used radiation meters to see if he was radiated at all from the encounter. However, there were only background radiation levels detected. After all of this, the group made their way back to George's Father's farm and proceeded on working their way back to where George encountered the UFO and the creatures. The entire party consisted of George, his Father, Stan, and his crew, George’s Dog, a German Shepherd, Ricky, and Nicky, but when they got to the actual area, the boys were told to stay near the car and truck. The boys, though, weren't the only thing left behind, however, as when George had said about wanting to bring his rifle with, but Stan had insisted that he leave the gun at the car, which he did end up doing.

When they left their car, they noticed that the hillside was dark the glow was completely gone. The group stood in a circle discussing the plan and decided the best plan of action was to test the area for radiation. The group proceeded in testing the area and found that, just like with George, the area was lacking any significant radiation levels. The group, while performing this test, however, did notice that the cows that were still in the pasture refused to come near the area and kept their distance from the area where the UFO was. The group proceeded in searching the massive area where the UFO was and could find no evidence; the same was along the fence line as they could not find any footprints, hair, or other imprints in the ground.

It was 1:45 when Stan Gordon and fellow researcher George Lutz decided to go and record the full investigation. George and his Father were standing down by the truck watching the investigators do their research when the two happened to notice something bizarre by the farmhouse. The two noticed a bright white light about several hundred feet away that seemed to engulf the house. The light only lasted for a few seconds, but it was as bright as daylight before disappearing. The two told the group about the bizarre anomaly, and so Lutz ended up driving George's Father down to the farmhouse to see if they could figure out what had caused it. Lutz had taken a radio with him just in case there was some issue, but once he had done a check-up around the house, he returned almost immediately.

It was at 2am when their investigation, which outside of the light seemed uneventful, began to change once more into the bizarre. The group had begun to walk the fence line where the Bigfoot-like creatures were seen. The group searched the fence looking for hair or some other evidence of the creatures, but as they stared out at the adjoining field, they noticed that a large bull did not seem to be at all concerned with them or their investigation. The animal instead seemed to be more concerned with something that was ahead of the group. It was as if on cue as they moved closer towards the area, George's dog began to behave strangely; it began sniffing the ground and moved off through the path as if it was trailing something it would move a distance then stop at times focusing its attention towards the woods.

Lutz asked George around where the creature crashed into the fence after their second sighting. Lutz noticed that George suddenly started to behave strangely, just as how the dogs were. He would rub his face and seemed to experience some difficulties, so Lutz continued to ask about where the creature hit the fence, but George continued to remain silent and rub his face. Lutz asked him one more time before asking him if he was ok, but George remained silent the entire time. George moved back and forth in a jerky manner as though he was going to faint. Lutz yelled to George's Father that there was a problem with him. So, the two ran up and held him so that they could sturdy him to avoid following.

As Lutz and George's Father continued to support George but his condition turned for the worst as his breathing began to worsen. This ailment out of nowhere, however, was not the end as George began to as his head slunk down unleash unnatural sounding growls which sounded more animal than human. George then, in what can only be described as a feat of super strength, proceeded in throwing both Lutz and his Father on the ground. George's dog then seemingly had lost recognition of George and began to run after George with the intent to attack. George, who was running around the field like a madman howling and screeching seeing his once faithful companion coming after him, proceeded in turning towards the canine and chasing after it assumedly with the sole purpose of killing it. The dog seeing that his owner was coming after him, turned tail and began running away whimpering. Stan and the group seeing the madness that unfolded, picked up the recording tapes and watched as George was running around, swinging his arms, and unleashing bellowing frightening growling sounds. George's Father called out to his son, and George unleashed a giant inhuman-like scream as well as three more growls.

As the group sat back and watched this descent into the maelstrom, Dennis Smeltzer soon began feeling ill as well. The color had left his skin, giving him a sickly pale hue, and he kept feeling as though he was going to faint. Seeing that Dennis was not well, Fred Pitt and David Smith rushed over the insanity field to aid their comrade, but as Fred got close to Dennis, he began heaving and felt as though he could not properly breathe. As the research group slowly became ill, George's mad dash had finally come to a close. As he was still swinging his arms and growling, he, after a distance, dropped face down on the ground, his glasses flying off his face, and he continued to just lay still on the grass. Seeing a break in the madness, Stan rushed over to aid his team, and Lutz and George's Father rushed over to the now crumpled pile that was his son.

As the group began caring for the ill, each member soon noticed something peculiar that began to fill the area as if from nowhere. The air around them had become permeated with a sickening sulfur smell, almost like the smell of rotting eggs. As this smell arrived, George was starting to come to on the ground, slowly moaning and saying phrases like "Keep away from the Corner! Its in the Corner!". They could interpret that George was trying to warn them to a presence only he could detect, saying over and over that something was still here, and they need to get out of the area. Stan Gordon decided that this was accurate and, after the bizarre behavior that seemed to be caused by the area, decided that they should start leaving the area. So, Lutz and George's Father picked the man up and helped him to head back to the trucks. On the walk back, George was complaining of ankle pain either from when he fell or from his spell of running around. When George's Father handed him back his glasses, George looked at them inquisitively and asked whose glasses did they belong to and indicated that he could see just fine. This would not be the only bizarre behavior George would experience as they worked their way to the vehicles. Lutz noticed that George's hands were held in a tight grasping position, not unlike a cat clenching its paws. Lutz, concerned that the man might be hurt or might be hurting himself, proceeded in trying to physically open George's fingers but try as he might, he could not flex them out.

As the group limped back, George soon started to talk about what happened in the field. He said that he saw a black-robed man-like figure in the field; it had a black hat, and in its hand, the entity was carrying what looked to be a sickle. George stared at the apparition as it began to speak to him, proclaiming that the world will end if humanity did not change their way. This entity would then flash visions of the world burning before George. When his Father told George about what he was doing in the field, all that he could say was that he did not remember any of that and instead insisted that during that time, he was being flashed images of destruction shown by the dark-clothed entity.

George's Father was very disturbed by this and knew it was out of character for his son, who was by all intents and purposes not religious and never spoke nor acted in that manner at all. The group then made their way to their vehicles and back to their respective lodgings, trying to recover from the horror and mystery they had just witnessed. Stan could not sleep, and most certainly, George could not. Stan was in a scene reminiscent from the Mothman Prophecies, playing and replaying and rewinding the tapes that he had rolling in the field during the investigation. The tapes were incredible, and he decided that he needed to get a medical opinion on this account and so proceeded to go and call New Jersey doctor Dr. Berthold E. Schwarz MD. Stan chose to get a hold of him specifically because Dr. Schwarz had allegedly treated and interviewed other individuals who had reportedly experienced other UFO and paranormal events. Dr. Schwarz and Stan Gordon talked for a long time about the case, and he was extremely interested. He was so interested in fact he decided to take it up and would drive to Fayette County out of his own pocket. The only problem, however, was that he would not be able to get there till November 1^st.

While they waited for the good Doctor to arrive, Stan, Lutz, and the state trooper who was with George that night in the field would return to the location. While there, the pair walked along the fence line and managed to find the spot in daylight where the creature had run into the fence. The pair found no evidence of hair or blood but did find the broken fencing where the creature came through. As they walked, they found splintered fragments of one of the fence posts where George had shot at the larger creature during his first encounter, yet just like the night prior, there was no physical evidence to be found.

The very next day after the encounter, several newspapers caught wind of the event. Several who had interviewed George put his full name as well as his street in their articles. Something which probably did not sit well with him as later book sources would change his name to protect his identity. One skeptical newsman had wanted to see if there was some evidence to corroborate George's story, so the two went down to the area and walked the fence line. The newsman felt that there should be bullet casings from where he shot at the creature, and if there were, this would end credence to his account that he actually did fire at some strange thing. As the newsman was explaining this to George, a glint caught his eye next to his feet, and as he reached down, he found one of the casings.

As the days rolled by, Stan and Lutz had planned to reinterview George to get a feeling of how he was as a person and further details he might have missed during his encounter. The first thing they found out about George was that before this encounter, George was, in fact, a hard-born skeptic. He had no interest in the paranormal and, in fact, had often laughed at other accounts claiming them to be figments of the imagination, or the manifestations of alcohol, or downright hoaxes. While he was completely uninterested in the supernatural, George was they found extremely intelligent and had a particular interest in farming and reading sources about agriculture and various other farm-oriented literature.

After the preliminary questions, Gordon asked George about his incident in the field the other night, but outside of the horrendous visions and the shadowy apparition, George had no recollection of his animalistic fit. As they went through the questions, nothing was out of the ordinary, and George answered them as honestly and best he could. Yet all this would change with one question. They asked if he knew why the creatures and the UFO were seen at the same time and location. George did not answer. They proceeded on asking him again, and again George did not answer but instead began rubbing his face and head and began breathing rapidly. Lutz and Stan realized this was the same type of behavior he had near the fence line before the animalistic fit overtook him and with it the spectral apparition and its apocalyptic visions. In response to this and the potential threat, George might be the two investigators began yelling out loud in an effort to get him out of this fit. This seemed to work as his behavior soon began to return back to normal. The researchers felt then that there was no point in asking him any more questions until the Doctor got here and he could analyze George’s health and mentality.

It was November 1^st, and Dr. Schwarz came to Greensburg and met up with Stan. Stan gave Gordon full reign of his files and the data that he so far collected from this case. Dr. Schwarz listened intently to the recordings. The Doctor, after feeling that he had a thorough enough understanding of the case, proceeded to go with the researchers and interview all the key witnesses, namely George, his parents, the state trooper, the twin brothers, and their family, and all of the WCUFOSG researchers who were in the field that night. After all the tests and interviews, all the Doctor could really say about the encounter was that all parties were truthful. Gordon approached the Doctor later on and asked him about George's reaction in the field. The Doctor looked at Stan and said in his medical opinion George entered a fugue state caused by the bizarre phenomenon he witnessed. Stan was unsure of this, and George would later on too.

Stan Gordon had kept in contact with George over the years and had reinterviewed him several times. During one night, Stan had talked to Lutz about possibly hypnotizing George they had been hesitant to do it in the past as Dr. Schwarz had suggested they not do it because of the current situation, but now that it was several years later, Stan felt perhaps it would be less stressful on him. So one day, they managed to get a hold of George and come down for a visit. While there, they asked him if it would be fine with them hypnotizing him to come up with more answers to what went down that October night. George looked at Stan extremely perplexed and then asked him, "Why do you want to hypnotize me again". Stan, equally confused, asked George to explain what he meant. George realizing something was a miss began to explain that about two weeks after his incident, two men abruptly showed up at his home with the sole purpose of talking about his experience. The men were dressed formally; one was in an air force blues uniform, and the other was in a suit. The man in the suit George could remember better as the man was tall and had dark hair. The air force blues man he could have sworn was Lutz in his officer's uniform, but Lutz confirmed that it was not him. George went on thinking that these men were members of the WCUFOSG because they had wanted him to describe in vivid detail all he could remember about that night and the creatures and UFO. George told them as much as he could, and after telling them everything he could, they would go on and tell him that he was not crazy.

After explaining that they believed his account, the air force officer opened a briefcase, he was carrying with him and revealed to George a series of UFO pictures and placed them on the table in front of him, asking him different questions about comparing the crafts in the photos to the ones he'd seen. After the UFO pictures, however, the officer pulled out a series of Bigfoot photographs and began asking similar questions; one particular photo that George could remember was from Georgia; the officer said it showed a hairy creature stepping over a fence with a pick under one of its arms. After showing them the photographs, they asked if any of the creatures were like the one hed seen and after that said about an interest in hypnotizing him. George agreed to this, and the strange men proceeded to go and hypnotize him. After the session, the men thanked him and went on their way, exclaiming only as they were leaving that they would stay in touch, but they never did.

Stan and Lutz looked at each other, totally understanding what George had told them. During this time frame in Pennsylvania Fortean history, several strange men had shown up at several Bigfoot sighting locations, oftentimes interviewing the witnesses, taking photos of tracks, or interrogating those who were around the area. Many of them often mystified the community or claimed to of been members of government or other paranormal research groups. These men would be very similar to those that only a few years earlier seemed to of appeared in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, during the infamous Mothman flap.

While all of this chaos seemed to peak in 1973 for George, it would not be the end. George would later relate to Stan that he had developed several startling abilities, which to him have been curses. The most notable being that he developed ESP-like abilities claiming that he would experience dreams and have visions of future events not unlike what he experienced in the field. Some of these visions would come to fruition as he allegedly foresaw a plane crash which in a short time later did happen. He also claimed that due to this newfound ability that he could see spirits and even managed to meet a deceased in-law that he never met before. While these are by far the more depressing abilities, he had a bizarre ability develop, which seemed to be some psychic link to birds. One example of this was when out with a friend, he noticed a Blue Jay in a tree and pointed to it, proclaiming that the bird would leave its nest and come rest upon his shoulder at which not even a second later what he said would happen. It was an ability he wished he never had. While not much else is available when it comes to George's other abilities, it is known that George has since passed away, and so with him, all the troubles he experienced.

While the night of 1973 was an encounter that extremely affected George and his family, they were not alone in experiencing the anomalous effects of the craft and its ostensibly alien comrades. Sometime later, another family reached out to Stan Gordon about some bizarre things that occurred on the same night when George had his experience. Just like the other 15 neighbors, this family too saw a strange light in the sky at 9 pm and that it was making its way towards George's Father's farm. About an hour later, the family's farm became alive with the sounds of the livestock, but they were making peculiar sounds that were unlike anything they had heard before. The Father believing that perhaps some coyote or bear was around, grabbed his shotgun and headed outside to the barn to investigate. The Father shined a light at the animals, and as soon as the beam hit the cattle, they all went quiet. The Father then went and searched the area looking for any reason the animals were behaving the way they were but found nothing and so went back inside. It was a few days after this particular night that while out in the field tending to the herd, he noticed that the animals would not move into the upper pasture as they had always done and would avoid it at all costs. The farmer proceeded to head towards the tree line where the upper pasture was and, as he came closer and closer, began to smell a strong odor; as he moved ahead, the smell got stronger. He eventually gave up as he could not find the source of this strange smell and so returned to his cattle. In a few days, however, the cows returned to the upper pasture, and the smell never returned.

Needless to say, this case is an incredible case of high strangeness. There's nothing exactly like it, and in doing so, it's very difficult to break down. There are several outlets that you can look at with this case, and one of the simplest is that all of the events are unrelated. Our brains as humans are programmed to find patterns, and sometimes those patterns we see really do not exist. I’ve thought about this in the past with many Bigfoot-UFO sightings, for very rarely is there ever a bigfoot coming out of a UFO in these cases. Usually, it's a bigfoot and UFO seen in the same area, either minutes, hours, or days apart, and never the tween shall meet. Now, this case is different because the UFO and Bigfoot are in the same area at the same time. This is where one could argue a direct connection; however, the problem is the two objects outside of when the tall bigfoot creature grabs the tracer, and the UFO then goes out there is very little connection between the two outside of them being in the same location. This does not mean they are connected inherently. If Bigfoot is a biological animal that we have not discovered yet, then that just means it's an animal; the problem is the unknown factor of it. We see tons of cases of animals and UFO-related encounters, from cattle mutilations to the Ausso One Elk abduction to even in fiction the dog that is returned in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The instant thought when these animals are around is that they are not aliens but earthbound animals, yet with creatures that are unknown, the leap towards the alien connection is often taken for no real reason other than the unknown factor. Even with this account which is very bizarre, we never once see the Bigfoot get in or out of the UFO; we never once see it wield some sort of tech or give any inclination that it is out of this world. Even the fact that the craft lands before the creatures even are seen by George and the Twins seems to imply that they are coming from another direction to investigate the craft, which some animal-UFO cases do report, which being that animals sometimes seem to chase or are interested in a UFO. The way these creatures behave is also more like something we'd see in the wild, especially with how the male lead either the mate or the child along the fence post its something that one would expect to see in an adult animal, making sure the area is safe for the mate or offspring.

Now while I've pointed out how the Bigfoot and UFO could not be related, there is also the chance that they could be. For one thing, the obvious fact that the creatures were seen in the exact location at around the same time implies a direct or indirect connection. Another thing is that the creatures outside of the bizarre movements do not seem to be at all interested or perplexed by the object; in fact, they seemed to of walked around it and seemed to pay no attention to it or to George for creatures that are alleged to be curious as the Bigfoot is supposed to be this is very unusual and may hint that these creatures view it as some mundane tech and only the ride for their task or mission whatever that may be. The obvious light disappearing when the creature tried to grab the tracer could imply some connection to the craft, just what I'm not at liberty to say, however. Another point is that George's reluctance to discuss why the creatures and craft were together is almost a nail in the coffin for this hypothesis.

While there are obviously points to the Bigfoot-UFO hypothesis in this case, there's also the chance that the creatures reported are not earth Bigfoot but Spacesquatches. I put this point out there because these creatures are physically different than the typical Bigfoot reported and even more different than the Eastern Bigfoot, which is often lankier than the barrel-chested Pacific Northwest variety. The creatures, in this case, have ridiculously long arms that reach down to their feet. This is something that is almost never reported in bigfoot cases. Bigfoot arms typically hang down to the knees or just below the knees, but they never hang down to the feet. These creatures are also assumedly bulletproof or just about and have a composition that sounds like splashing water when hit. Bigfoot have been killed, anecdotally at least, and if you include the Minnesota Iceman carcass and some of the Yeti relics that are said to exist, there have been bodies that can or could have been studied. This is almost completely opposite to these creatures, where bullets do nothing, and they can still keep coming. Now it's difficult to imagine a biological organism being able to stand up to something like that; perhaps on another planet, such a development could be possible. This then implies that there are several creatures out there that are similar in appearance but are not the same creatures; perhaps this might have to do with some rule in evolution that plays out on similar planets that we do not know yet.

Another possibility is the Keelian concept of the Ultraterrestrial. Entities that seem simply designed to mess with us and feed on fear and simply wreak havoc. These entities are shape changers and perhaps could be what we’re seeing here since there was a UFO, two Bigfoot-like creatures, and a shadow man with a sickle, and a follow-up by essentially the Men in Black. This account smacks very much like the ideas that Keel expressed in his books The Mothman Prophecies, the Eighth Tower, and Operation Trojan Horse and even has several features often described as being interconnected with such cases such as seeing things others can't, irritation of the eyes, strange behavior, prophecies and in an even more bizarre twist the correlation between Bigfoot and demons. The correlation I am speaking of is John Keel claims in his books that demons left footprints and were described as hairy entities, and interestingly enough, in this case, George essentially becomes possessed in a fugue state, growling and unleashing inhuman screams and attacking dogs all behavior often associated with Bigfoot all the while seeing a dark shadowy entity and seeing apocalyptic visions things associated with classic demonology. I find this comparison interesting but whether or not this is actually an example of the phenomenon Keel intended is mere speculation.

Another possibility that has gained some followers in recent years is that Bigfoot is a multidimensional being either popping in and out of dimensions intentionally or accidentally. Perhaps the UFO that was reported was the gateway hence why it only stayed for so long, and that may be much like the Terminator; it was only one way. Of course, all of this is speculation, but I feel that the Multidimensional or Interdimensional Bigfoot hypothesis, especially for this case, is more plausible than the Spacesquatch hypothesis.

Another possibility that was brought to my attention in the book the Fairy Realm is that perhaps the creatures seen here are faerie folk. The image of the Wildman of the Woods is often in Europe viewed as a form of Faerie as their appearance is similar to Trolls and Giants, and the author of the Fairy Realm offers the possibility that perhaps the Sasquatch phenomenon is actually the modern equivalent to this much ancient tradition. The fact that these creatures are interconnected with essentially a bright glowing light that appears to not be a physical craft could imply that these would be Spacesquatch are actually faerie lights, a phenomenon reported in a variety of other cases with other entities mostly of a diminutive stature. Jacques Vallee and John Keel had mentioned before the connection between Aliens and Faeries in their behavior, tech, and other features, so perhaps this is what we're seeing here, but in reverse, a faerie folk misidentified as an extraterrestrial.

I personally am left with no definitive answers to this case; it's simply high strangeness. When originally setting out to write about this case, I thought it would simply be a Bigfoot and UFO seen in the same place case just like the Presque Island Incident where it was a onetime occurrence, and that's all, but instead, it turned into a bizarre highly involved multifaceted Fortean occurrence that is maddening to try to get straight. I don't think anyone will have a straight answer to this encounter, for there's so much that happened to George Kowalczyk that it seems as though destiny or fate picked him as some universal punching bag for bizarre phenomena. To this, I wish wherever he is now the best and the same for all the researchers involved, many of whom to this day are still investigating the unexplained, and I thank them for all of their invaluable research and wish them the best of luck in all they do. As for this case, it'll go down in history as one of the most bizarre in Fortean history and one where we most likely will never come to a sane answer.

Dr. Paul Johnson Interview with George Kowalczyk

“We was in a pickup truck. We was coming out to my Father's farm. We turned off the main road up a dirt lane to go up to his farm. As we were going up the lane, I looked to the left and I seen this big orange ball in the sky…and it wasn't no more than maybe a hundred feet off the ground. My wife looked, you know, we was astonished, and stopped and then drove on up to the house. So we all looked off the porch and we watched. It was just coming down slow. It was making like some kind of humming noise then. My Mother and them was there and they was a little bit scared. So I said, "Well, I'll go down and look and see what I can see from down there." So I went down, pulled up their driveway, and I'm looking upon the hill. All I could see was like a glow-reflection off the ground. "I'm going to have to go back to my house," I said "and I'll go out into the field and check" So they had twin boys-their names was Rick and Nick and they was about 10 to 12 years old in that range. They says "Can we go up with you to the rise?" 'Yeah get in" so they got in the back of my truck. We went up to my dad's house and we parked the truck at the house. Got out of the truck you could hear this like alarm whir but it was a real loud whirring noise like a turbine or something. Were standing there listening and I hear like this distant crying. Like a baby crying or a kid yelling, whatever, and it scared me. So my dad had a couple of tracers there for his 30.06 rifle and some bullets don't ask me why I put the tracers in and I carried the bullets with me up there. These two twins were standing there with me, and one of them said, "Here comes something along the fence". It must have been maybe 100ft to my right on the hillside. I'm looking, and I can see movement of the thing from the glow of this ball. So when it got within maybe 50 or 60ft maybe 70ft away, I looked at it and there was this object walking. It was real tall, and it seemed like it was walking real slow but taking long strides. I mean there was movement slow in the body, but the strides looked- I'm watching it and here its following the fence line. every time it would get to another fence post it would make its noise. And then I seen why it was making this noise for this thing behind it. Another one to came right up behind it. Soon as the second one would get up to it, it would proceed up to another fence post. And this thing when it got directly diagonally from us, this one little twin. He started screaming, I think it was Ricky. He started running, he run back down to the house. Nicky grabbed my legs. He said, "Shoot it!, Shoot It!". So I stand there, So I shot a tracer over its head. The tracer flared. I seen these things. I mean, they were tall. The fenceposts that were there were railroad ties they towered over top of these things. The front one towered over two feet the second one must have been maybe a foot shorter. Shot that tracer over there and I just looked at them… and the front one looked at me, and I could just see the glow of its eyes. So I shot the second tracer, same thing. I mean, when I shot the second tracer, the first (one) reached its hand back and to my mind it would be the length of this table and it touched the other one and that light went out. The light just completely went out. I was standing there, and I could see both their eyes looking at me. Just like cats eyes. This little kid screamed so I put a regular bullet in, Here there was still a glow out there from the ground. Like the ground was glowin, the glow was along the fence but the big ball, it went out. I shot the first shot, and I just remember seeing a piece of that wood splatter. Come out to the side, but the other two bullets. I had underneath the chamber made three. I shot again and twice I hit right in it. Cause it sounded just like shooting into a lake or something just like water plopping and I hit the thing. They turned around and they followed that fence. They didn’t go towards it. They followed that fence back. They started moving and we run, were both Running.”

 

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Earth Hominid/Hominin or Extraterrestrial Hominid/Hominin like species

Location: Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania

Sighted: October 25, 1973

Works Cited:

Bigfoot Casebook Updated: Sightings and Encounters from 1818 to 2004 by Janet and Colin Bord

Monsters of Pennsylvania By Patty A. Wilson

Silent Invasion: The Pennsylvania UFO-Bigfoot Casebook by Stan Gordon

Invasion on Chestnut Ridge. Small Town Monsters. 2017.

“The Strangest Bigfoot Spree Of All Time” Bob Gymlin. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC-n6E4EB1E&t=799s.

The Evening Standard. Uniontown, Pennsylvania Fri, Oct 26, 1973.

The Morning Herald. Uniontown, Pennsylvania Sat, Oct 27, 1973.