50 Years Ago: The Kearney UFO Sighting

(from Nebraska.tv) - This week marked the anniversary of some out of this world occurences.

It was 50 years ago, that this station reported an encounter with a spacecraft.

Back in 1957, a grain buyer known by the name of Reinhold Schmidt was driving through Kearney, when he claimed to have encounted German speaking "Saturnians from Saturn." Schmidt claimed they stalled his car, and took him aboard thier cigar shaped spaceship. And now, 50 years later, Bob Ayres is a local resident still trying to piece the puzzle together.

"I believe I saw something, but I believe it was very possibly enhanced. The encounter that he had, he claims that he went aboard and talked to space people. And they told him about global warming," said Ayres.

So some say that Schmidt was a little crazy, but according to official documentation, he appeared to be just fine.

"They took him in for mental evaluation, and there was rumors that he was a little bit off.

But i saw the report at the courthouse ten years later. And it said he passed his mental test, and seemed normal," explained Ayres.

But something not so normal about that time, was the fact that there was another encounter by a farmer that same day. The farmer's tractor stalled, and he apparently had strange time himself. Bob was lucky enough to interview the farmer's brother, and this is what he said.

"Well, he said, my brother had a strange experience out there at the same time."

So definately some inconclusive evidence. But there are a couple things that we can look for some reasoning behind these reports.

"There were some movies that came out and I think it could have influenced a lot of things.

To me, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" comes to mind," said Ayres.

And the other thing that comes to mind, is of course a hoax.

"I'm going to think probably 90 percent. Because a lot of people aren't trained observers. And maybe some people drink I suppose."

And needless to say, wether it did or did not happen, it is a good story.

Keith tells us that the Air Force went to the alleged location the very next day.

And deemed the whole occurence a hoax.

Kearney UFO Sighting
Kearney UFO Sighting

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