By Charles Lear
In 1966, there was a flap over Michigan that got the attention of the press and the Air Force. There was a great deal of excitement and Project Blue Book’s scientific consultant, J. Allen Hynek, was sent in to help calm things down. At a press conference, he offered some possible explanations. Due to sightings over a marsh, he speculated that people had seen ignited balls of swamp gas, some going out and others igniting and that this created the illusion of movement. The swamp gas explanation made the headlines, outraged many Michigan residents, including then-Governor Gerald Ford, and became forever associated with Hynek in the history books. Fortunately for Hynek, he had a sense of humor and was able to turn his gaffe into an entertaining talk at a celebration of the Michigan events, ten years later.
On March 14, 1966, in the early morning hours, police officers in Washtenaw County saw lights in the sky flying at extremely high speed over Lima Township. Officers across the border in Sylvania, Ohio reported seeing the same lights, as did observers at Selfridge Air Force Base located in Harrison Township, Michigan. This is in the area of Ann Arbor, 40 miles west of Detroit in southeast Michigan. The lights were seen a few days later, around the same time, by sheriff’s deputies at various locations around the area. One deputy described seeing a red, green, and yellow object, shaped like a top.
On March 20, police went to investigate reports of a U.F.O. landing, coming from residents around a swamp in Dexter Township. One witness, truck driver Frank Mannor, went to investigate with his son. He told the police the following:
(sic) “We got to about 500 yards of the thing. It was sort of shaped like a pyramid, with a blue-green light on the right-hand side and on the left, a white light. I didn’t see no antenna or porthole. The body was like a yellowish coral rock and looked like it had holes in it—sort of like if you took a piece of cardboard box and split it open. You couldn’t see it too good because it was surrounded with heat waves, like you see on the desert. The white light turned to a blood red as we got close to it and Ron said, ‘Look at that horrible thing.'”
More than 40 officers searched the swamp and some reported seeing red and white lights flying back and forth. Patrolman Robert Hunawill, of the Dexter Village Police Department, described seeing the same object Mannor said he’d seen, hovering 1000 feet over his car. It then continued making sweeps over the swamp. Then, over 80 students at Hillsdale College reported lights over another swamp near the college. Soon reports were coming in from all around the area of Ann Arbor.
The Air Force was called in to investigate by congressman Weston Vivian and they sent J. Allen Hynek, who arrived on March 23, where he encountered a situation he described as, “near hysteria.” Adding to his stress was the fact that his jaw had been broken and was, at that time, wired shut. He struggled to interview witnesses and often had to fight with press members to gain access. He was frustrated and called the head of Project Blue Book, Maj. Hector Quintanilla. Quintanilla described his interactions with Hynek in a manuscript he wrote in 1975, “UFOs, An Air Force Dilemma.”
According to Quintanilla, Hynek wanted to call a press conference, which would be a precedent for the Air Force. Hynek told Quintanilla that his solution for the sightings was “swamp gas” and Quintanilla advised him to get a reaction to this from his “colleagues at the university.” The press conference was approved and the Detroit Press Club was chosen as the sight. Hynek offered his thoughts that a crescent moon, the planet Venus and swamp gas were all possible explanations for the sightings. The press latched on to swamp gas and indignant articles were printed in many papers.
Among the people who were outraged by Hynek’s explanation was the U.S. representative from Michigan’s 5th congressional district, Gerald Ford. Ford was House minority leader at the time and he proposed that Congress investigate the Michigan sightings. He sent a letter dated March 28, 1966, to the chairmen of the Science and Astronautics Committee and the Armed Services Committee, suggesting that one of them schedule “hearings on the subject of UFO’s”. He mentioned Hynek’s explanations in the letter and, in a press release that same day, it is noted that he described Hynek’s swamp gas explanation as “flippant.” Documents relating to Ford’s efforts and the resultant open hearing are housed at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
The Armed Services Committee held an open hearing on April 5, 1966. There to answer questions were both Hynek and Quintanilla. When the session was opened to the press and public, the first person to answer questions from the committee chairman, L. Mendel Rivers, was Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown. Brown’s answers reflected a belief that most sightings could be explained in prosaic terms and that any remaining unidentifieds were due to lack of information.
Hynek was next and he started by stating that he was treated “rather unfairly” by the press. Brown responded, “You ought to be chairman of this committee.” Hynek then added that he was described by the press as “a puppet of the Air Force.” In response, he had prepared a written statement and he was allowed to read it. Hynek declared that he had “attempted to remain open-minded” throughout his involvement “despite the fact that the whole subject seemed utterly ridiculous.” He mentioned that he’d recommended that a “small civilian scientific panel” be used to study “selected unknowns” in 1953 and 1965. Hynek then told Rivers that he’d been “scooped” by Brown, who’d mentioned that the Scientific Advisory Board had recommended the same.
The “civilian scientific panel” would turn out to be a group put together at the University of Colorado, led by Dr. Edward U. Condon. This would become known as the “Condon committee.” The group conducted a study and released a public report in January 1969. The report recommended that further study of U.F.O.s was unwarranted, as it offered nothing of scientific value. The Air Force shut down Project Blue Book shortly thereafter.
In an April 21, 1966 press release, Ford attributed the Air Force funded study directly to his call for the hearings. If this was the case, then Hynek could be blamed for Project Blue Book’s demise. He would forever be associated with swamp gas but he got beyond that and became a champion of civilian U.F.O. study and one of its heroes. In 1973, Hynek founded the Center for UFO Studies, which included many scientists and academics. He wrote books on the subject and remained open to the possibility that there was an otherworldly explanation for the phenomenon.
In 1976, the Mutual UFO Network held a symposium in Ann Arbor celebrating the 10th anniversary of the sightings. Hynek was a speaker and his talk was titled, “Swamp Gas Plus Ten and Counting.” During his talk, according to an attendee, Steve Ward, Hynek showed a cartoon that made reference to his infamous statement. Depicted were aliens with ugly weapons, one saying, “Take us to the one that called us ‘swamp gas.'” Hynek may be forever linked to swamp gas, but he owned it.
Gerald Ford was never governor. His correct title is noted later.