Videos: UFO Mystery Continues in Knoxville, Iowa

This is the original story from April 15, 2009:

The sun was out, but it was cold, too cold for Iowans, to willingly gather near a body of water unless, something unusual was about to happen.

But before we explain what's going on today a brief history lesson is in order. Over the winter, this farm pond south of Knoxville was the site of a UFO, an unidentified falling object, that appeared to have made a giant hole in the ice about 2 feet across.

The property owners, Denny and Terry Straube, enlisted the help of underwater photographers who took a picture of something. Then came the underwater video camera, the flashlights, and last month, the best evidence yet something was down there. And that was enough for the dive team from linn county to agree in writing to take a look.

Diving in Iowa water is always a challenge. The water clarity is so poor you wouldn't see a fish if it bit you on the nose. With cameras ready to capture the moment the mystery object was brought to the surface, anticipation building with onlookers guessing what it will be.

The divers started their search around a pole marking where the hole in the ice had been at first nothing. After twenty minutes of looking the divers were frustrated. So were the onlookers, but then, a wooden stake.

There was plenty of befuddlement to go around they even tried to probe again from the surface but no luck. Pond owner Denny Straube said, "It just makes me want to take my clothes off go down and find it but it's too cold, and I'm too old."

Whatever fell through the ice apparently melted, moved, or never existed in the first place leaving everyone feeling empty. Just like the pond.

NOTE: whatever the object was, it's obvious that it's gone. I've made inquiries to the local media this past week and was told that the incident is still fresh on the residents' minds but many feel there was some sort of cover up involved...namely, that the object was removed undercover by government officials...Lon

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Here's an earlier account from January 2009:

An Iowa couple is looking for help trying to identify whatever fell from the sky and onto their land over the weekend.

It happened some time late Friday night or early Saturday just south of Knoxville.

Their only evidence is in an ice-covered pond.

"I enjoy living here. Every day it's something different," said Denny Straube.

Different used to be a fox or a ten point buck, but now different is really different.

"Whatever it was, it hit hard enough to throw water out of that hole in a big round circle," Denny said.

Saturday morning, Straube saw three holes in the ice on his pond -- the biggest some three feet across.

From his dining room that morning, Denny quickly noticed what else was different.

"There's no tracks in the snow, something airborne has his that pond," Denny said.

The impact left several 15 foot cracks running from the hole and about three inches of displaced water pooled on top of the ice.

Denny and Terry Straube have heard plenty of theories.

Even their grandson chimed in.

"He said maybe God's mad and throwing snowballs at us," Terry said.

There's also the neighbor's theory about the eccentric man who lived in the house before the Straubes.

He believed the house was targeted by extra-terrestrials.

"He went across here and started chipping this out. This was going to be his escape pod from aliens -- a hole he could go in and hide," Denny said as he pointed to a patched hole in the home's brick wall.

The man also had oak trees taken down in the front yard because he thought they were homing beacons for aliens.

"It was airborne, whatever it was," Denny said.

Whatever fell from the sky this weekend, it's under six feet of water.

"You know if things go to worse, if aliens come we may have to hide in there," Denny said, referring to the escape tunnel.

The Straubes are hoping someone volunteers to scuba dive in their pond this summer to discover what is at the bottom.

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