Triangular UFO Encounter - Patapsco State Park, MD - 3/22/1978

On Wednesday, March 22, 1978 at approximately 11:00 p.m. EST, Gary Oickle, 24, his brother David, 22, and two friends, Barry Smith, 22 and Ken Cabot, 25 were around a campfire talking in Patapsco State Park at the Baltimore & Ohio railroad tunnel. Barry and David were about 50 feet away from the others when they noticed a strange object in the southeastern sky which disappeared over a ridge in the distance. They watched the object for about 10 seconds and could see no particular details except a rough shape. Barry described it as a flat looking object.

They then walked back to the fire to tell the other two about what they had seen when another similar object appeared directly over the four of them from behind a ridge to their north. The object was described as a huge triangular shaped object with large windows and three white lights at the corners. The size was estimated from "a quarter the size of a football field" to "150-200 feet on each side". The object moved very slowly, hovering at times, in a southeastern direction following the contour of the ridges just above the trees.

When it appeared above them it was very low, approximately 200-250 feet, and made a sound like a "quiet wind" or "quietly rushing waterfall". The witnesses watched the object for approximately 15 to 20 seconds until it disappeared behind the trees. Three of the witnesses thought they could see the shadow or silhouette of a figure at the windows. Three of the witnesses also reported seeing a bright star-like object in the southern sky immediately after the sighting. Two of them said the star-like object changed colors; blue, green, yellow, red, repeatedly, while the other thought the object may have been a helicopter or something in the distance.

Two of the witnesses thought that the large triangular object had a "metallic" or "bluish-gray" color, but all four agreed that it had three white lights at the corners and a blinking red light on the top.

None of the witnesses were frightened by the experience but, quite the contrary, were very curious and even yelled at the object hoping it would land. All had also read something of UFOs previously but none had seen anything like this before. - APRO, April 1978 - By Joe and Doris Graztao

NOTE: this is an area very familiar to me since I have lived near there for almost 30 years. The area has a lot of paranormal connection and history. One of the most haunted facilities in the world, Henryton Center, is situated nearby. There have been sightings of Bigfoot-like creatures since the early 1970's. There are many ruins within the park including a church, houses, etc...in fact, this is the actual location where the 'Blair Witch Project' was filmed. Triangle UFO sightings are not uncommon in this part of Maryland...there have been several reports over the past few years. Lon

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