Carroll County Wave, 1977

Carroll County, Arkansas 1977. UFO Flyover.

Hey all,

First, I checked the archives for this and didn't turn up any results. So I thought I would try and do a write-up on a case that hits home for me.
I grew up in Carroll County. Many of the witnesses to this extraordinary event are people who I either know directly or indirectly, as could be said for about 60% of the entire County actually. What I found odd upon reading this case-file, however, is that growing up, I never heard of this. And upon what little independant investigation I have done so far, I can only find a few people that remember it at all, even though at the time it made front headlines and garnered a LOT of calls to the local radio station.

First off, lets see Carroll County. [atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/52ea66fda8d7.jpg[/atsimg]

There are really only three major towns in Carroll County. Eureka Springs, Berryville and Greenforest.
Throughout this case, we are only worried about two. Eureka Springs and Berryville. They are situated about 12 miles apart East to West. Please keep this in mind while reading, as it gives a scope when looking at the different times the object was sighted.

The story takes place on December 15, 1977 (of note is the number of flaps across the Country and indeed the world in '77. And also that this event occured very near McDonald County Missouri that had quite a wave itself the same year) and begins with the report from Peter and Kathryn Bezjian of Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

(note, much of this thread is taken from material investigated by the late, great Bob Pratt and can be found here www.mufon.com... ...I will link it again at the end)

Now, asking around, I haven't been able to locate where the Bezjian's actually lived, but that they lived in the town of Eureka Springs. They both saw the object from inside their home between the hours of 7:00 and 7:30pm. Their report isn't much to comment on. The wife witnessed the object first and exclaimed to her husband that there was a large plane about to crash outside their house. When they went to look at it they were surprised to see a large "diamond" shaped object moving slow and low that displayed a red light in the center of the underside. They argued about how big it was. The husband said it was 150' from front to back, the wife thought even bigger. Nothing follows for two hours.

Frances and Ira Whitney
Between the hours of 9:00 and 9:30pm both Frances and Ira witnessed this object independantly while driving home at slightly different times. Both of these folks were Scientists of sorts. Ira, a nuclear chemist and Frances a Biologist with a Masters degree in Science Education.
Frances was going home first returning from a school board meeting where she describes seeing what appear to look like headlights on a hill up ahead shining VERY brightly. But, as she rounds a corner realizes there isn't a hill there at all and that the lights are hanging in air roughly 1,000 - 1,500 feet. Frances had also spent time in the AirForce and had flown during that time. Having kept up with the newer planes as best she could, she could not identify this as any sort of craft she was familiar with. In her words: "It was huge in every way!" (Note, she doesn't comment on a red light like the Bezjian's had seen. She describes two white lights that shine with the intensity of flood lights and two smaller green lights that were above and to either side of the white lights.)
Frances decides to stop her car and while watching, for approximately five minutes, the object descends and moves towards her. By now she is thinking that she may be seeing a UFO and reports being thrilled by the prospect of it. Then, the object "checks her out" with its light and disappears.

Meanwhile, Ira Whitney is on the same road behind her. He is witnessing the same thing, but from afar.
He describes witnessing this object as it hung stationary over a cove in the lake. After watching it for a little bit he decides to get out of his truck and get his bearings straight. Then the object started to move, but very slowly. He goes on to talk about how it passes directly over his head (!) about 1,000 feet up with lights that appear to be about 100' apart. Last seen moving towards Berryville. When both Frances and Ira got home, they compared stories and were sure it was a UFO. Exceptionally large.

Frances says:

"I have lived so long and done so many things,” she added. “I am one of those people who was in on the beginning of this great age of ours. I've done everything. I flew across the English Channel in 1922 and then I was in the new Air Force. At my age, I feel I have taken part in so many exciting things that it is just fitting that I should have seen a UFO.

“It's like the great fireworks at the end. I was just delighted because I've done everything and seen everything."

So, at this point we have an object that started in Eureka Springs at 7:30, moved Southwest towards Beaver Lake where it was seen two hours later. It has now turned East and is going to move across the county towards the county seat of Berryville.

Berryville Residents

The next series of sightings occured between 9:30 and 10:00pm.

Bob Weathers was the General Manager of the Carroll Electric Co-Op in '77. He was the next witness in line both time-wise and what can be shown to be the object's flight path. He lived three miles West of Berryville on Highway 62. His account speaks of how he looked out a window and saw three bright lights in the air west of him towards Eureka Springs. After watching the object for about five minutes he walks outside and watches them gradually approach, moving at what he guessed was between five and ten miles per hour. When the object became somewhat close, he noticed a fourth light appear on the object. His first thought was a weather balloon, but noted that the wind was moving in the opposite direction.
Eventually, he got his wife to come out and she said she might have heard a small humming sound.

Jim Dwyer is another witness. He was a police officer. On patrol that night he was heading west through town until he saw the lights in the sky. He turns around and heads up to Saunder's Heights (Saunder's Heights is one of the tallest points in the county and it sits right in the middle of town.) for a bird's eye view. From there he watched the lights moving slow and low right over town! He watched for half an hour until it passed beyond town to the East.
He describes the object as kite-shaped and notes that the lights would dim out or grow larger or dissappear altogether only to reappear later.

Another watching from Saunder's Heights is Howard Hill, a volunteer fire-fighter. Like Dwyer, he saw the object approaching the town and went to Saunder's Heights for a better view. Apparently there were quite a few who did the same because he describes people coming to him to look through his binnoculars. He notes 25-30 people watching this thing from the hilltop.

Many other witnesses in this case. Ummm... a local radio personality who watched it from his home was frightened by the approaching lights and who's radio program was inundated with calls the next day. A town clerk encountered the object on the road on the way home from a bowling match with her children. They were terrified.

And finally a lady who witnessed it on the tail-end of its flight-path through the county encountered the object as it chased her down the road for a few miles. She describes it as a blue light.

There really isn't much to say about this story other than it shows that these giant triangle/diamond shaped objects have been in the skies for quite some time. Has the Government had these things THAT long?

Cont. Next Page

[edit on 30-8-2009 by JayinAR]

[edit on 30-8-2009 by JayinAR]

Anyhow, here is a map of the flight path according to witnesses. Overall, the wave of sightings lasted three or four hours by MULTIPLE witnesses independantly spread across some 25 miles, as the crow flies. I wonder how many more saw it and didn't report.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9a9b941f63f0.jpg[/atsimg]

And here is a satellite view of Saunder's Heights in Berryville where many of the witnesses viewed the object from. As you can see, it sits right near the junction of 62 and 21/221. From here the object would have been in plain sight for anyone, least of which a Police Officer and Fireman dedicating half an hour to observing it pass them to the South heading out of town.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/6cc47710f45b.jpg[/atsimg]

Finally, here is the link to Bob Pratt's files. This is where I got the story. Worth a read, for sure. As are many other cases in his files. www.mufon.com...

So, like I was saying. If the Government is behind these particular brand of UFO sightings, how long have they had them?

1977 was a huge year for sightings of this nature.

Also, to date I have hit a dead end trying to get too many people to speak about it. Just a blip on the radar. But an interesting story nonetheless.

reply to post by JayinAR


Star, and flag for the op. I have read the govt. has the triangle shaped ships. I donno the validity, but considering hidden tech. I totally buy into it

reply to post by sanchoearlyjones


I'm not sure if it is Government or not.
I just thought that people who think that all of these types of sightings are Gov. related may want to check the dates of some of the sightings.

Witnesses reporting humming sounds, noting that the wind was moving opposite to the object that was cruising as low as just a couple hundred feet off the ground at very slow speeds?

Weird story.
One common denominator, though. The object was very big.

reply to post by JayinAR


OUTSTANDING thread, it is always good to see some good work in the all too cluttered UFO board. I for one have NEVER heard of this case, thank you for sharing this with us. It sounds like a classic case that, as you said, as been overlooked by researchers. Those types of UFOs, among other shapes were common during that very active decade so I am not surprised. Again, wonderful work here, keep up the good work!

[edit on 8/30/2009 by jkrog08]

reply to post by jkrog08


Thanks.
I had never heard of it either until I saw it in Pratt's work.
He did most of the leg work, I just brought his stuff here, with some observations of my own.
I have spoken to a couple of the people related to this story. Berryville is my hometown. But once again, not much to mention. I mean, it almost seems as if now, 3 decades removed, people just aren't as excited anymore. Almost as if they wish the event was behind them.

Borderline collective amnesia.

reply to post by JayinAR


No problem....

It is added to the archives now.

I'm working on trying to get ahold of some of the people mentioned above specifically so I can talk to them about the event. Some of these folks are now dead.
When I talk to some of them I hope to be able to add their stories now 3 decades removed from the event. See how they compare.

The one thing that I have noticed in the story though is the unreliability of eye-witness reports.
Reports vary across the board on exactly what this thing was.





[edit on 30-8-2009 by JayinAR]

reply to post by JayinAR


Now, I would dig hearing from the eye witnesses. Strange that accounts varied. I still go with the govt. It would be interesting to have had an air sample; possible it was a govt. psychological test, using wide spread aerosol dispersion?

reply to post by sanchoearlyjones


I hope to God they weren't spraying aerosol over my hometown.
I was born three years later.
Of course, that could explain some things.


I've only spoken to a handful of people who actually saw it so far. Their reactions to the story were varied, to say the least.
I hope to be able to speak to some of the people specifically named in the report. And hopefully get them to give me permission to publish another account of the same story. (I'm not getting my hopes up but for two of the people in the report, as I know them personally, and heck, they've already let it be published once.)

[edit on 30-8-2009 by JayinAR]

reply to post by JayinAR


If by some chance you can get interviews with the witnesses' just remember that after this long of time memory is crap,lol. So they might not remember it exactly how it happened, it is said that the first report is the most accurate.

reply to post by jkrog08


This is true.
It has been quite some time. Most of these people are retired now. Many of them long retired.
Still interesting to hear what people have to say, though.
And how they say it.

I've spoken to two people in particular who seemed completely put off by the whole thing. Of course those people may have been put off initially.

I know that the next day there were a lot of very concerned people calling the radio station. People thought they may be under attack. Apparently the object was flying very low.
Menacing, almost.


[edit on 30-8-2009 by JayinAR]

Great post, and an interesting case, specially if you can further investigate it!

1977 was a year with many sightings all over the world, if my memory is correct, but it was at least the year in which my grandmother saw a large cylindrical, dark object in the sky hiding the stars behind it.

I think it was the same year that we had some airline pilots reporting about cigar-shaped UFOs in Portugal.

reply to post by JayinAR

Thank you for your very interesting info, JayinAR.

I'd not previously heard of this case.

reply to post by ArMaP


Yeah, '77 was a pretty interesting year.
There was another wave I thought about writing up that occured that same year.

A LOT of sightings of these diamond or triangular craft then. MASS sightings, also.

I wonder what it is.

(I should have put in a hoaxed video if I wanted the thread to take off. :lol

reply to post by JayinAR


JayinAR, Love your post. I just directed a full-feature film in Eureka Springs and would like to chat with you asap. I am interested in including a short documentary of this case in the movie's extras section. Do you have an email address you could share? I tried the chat feature on ATS but it won't allow me to use it without having 150 posts. Thanks!

reply to post by JayinAR


I saw this UFO at about 9:30 in the evening on Dec. 15, 1977. It was huge, blacking out a big portion of the stars behind it in the sky. I will never forget it. It was wedge or triangular in shape, flying fairly low, and moving very slowly. It had four white to amber spotlights on the bottom of it. There were blinking red lights as well. There were two rows of what looked like windows, with a faint greenish colored light emanating from them. I worked at the Eureka Speings Times-Echo newspaper at the time, and was involved in gathering facts and interviewing several people for an article in the paper. Many more people saw this UFO than reported it to police, radio, or the papers. Some people I talked to were very afraid. I was not. I felt a sense of awe and wonder. I watched it for several minutes, spellbound. The craft/ship sort of folded up on itself (kind of like origami) and then Zoom! A compact version of itself went north, toward the Missouri State line.
I saw this before ever seeing movies like Star Wars, Close Encounters, etc.
Thanks so much for starting this thread!