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 1st.
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 1st, 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.
