Isaac Koi

This website was the first generated by my self-improving AI system (Skynet), to summarise the top 100 UFO cases.

The 1966 UFO chase involving two Portage County sheriff’s deputies stands as one of the most thoroughly documented law enforcement encounters with unidentified aerial phenomena in American history. The case is remarkable not only for the duration and distance of the pursuit, but also for the credible witnesses involved and the controversial aftermath that followed. This incident would later inspire a pivotal scene in Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and raise important questions about government transparency in UFO investigations.

Historical and Factual Background

In the early morning hours of April 17, 1966, at approximately 5:00 AM, Deputy Sheriff Dale Spaur and Mounted Deputy Wilbur “Barney” Neff were investigating an abandoned 1959 Ford on Route 224 near Ravenna, Ohio. While examining the vehicle, Spaur noticed a bright light emanating from the nearby woods12.

As described in the official Air Force report, Spaur initially believed the light might be an aircraft in distress, but soon realized it was something extraordinary. According to his statement: “I always look behind me so no one can come up behind me. And when I looked in this wooded area behind us, I saw this thing. At this time it was coming up… to about tree top level. I’d say about one hundred feet. It started moving toward us…. As it came over the trees, I looked at Barney and he was still watching the car… and he didn’t say nothing and the thing kept getting brighter and the area started to get light”2.

The object approached the officers and stopped directly above them. Spaur described a strange humming sound “like a transformer being loaded or an overloaded transformer when it changes”2. Both men were momentarily frozen in place, despite their extensive military backgrounds. Spaur was a Korean War veteran who had served as an Air Force gunner on B-51 aircraft, while Neff had Navy experience3.

The object was described as approximately 40-50 feet in diameter and about 18-25 feet tall. It had a metallic, polished appearance with a glowing, elliptical shape that emitted such intense light that it was difficult to discern specific details1. Some accounts describe it as having a dome-like structure on top and a protrusion resembling an antenna4.

Spaur radioed the dispatcher, Robert Wilson, at the Portage County Sheriff’s Office, who logged the report at 5:07 AM3. Sergeant Henry Shoenfelt, who was off duty at the station, initially instructed the officers to shoot at the object but quickly reversed his order and instead told them to wait for someone with a camera4. However, before backup could arrive, the object began moving eastward, and the dispatcher instructed Spaur and Neff to follow it2.

What followed was an extraordinary 86-mile pursuit across state lines. The deputies followed the object eastward along Routes 224 and 14 through multiple jurisdictions, crossing from Portage County into Mahoning County and then Columbiana County before entering Pennsylvania3. The chase reached speeds of up to 103 miles per hour, yet the officers reported that the object seemed to be aware of their pursuit, slowing when they slowed and accelerating when they did14.

Near East Palestine, Ohio, Police Officer Wayne Houston joined the pursuit. Houston, an Army veteran with six years of police experience, described the object as resembling “a melted ice cream cone” with a rounded top that appeared solid and a flatter intersection on one side3. As the chase continued into Pennsylvania, Conway Police Officer Frank Panzanella also became involved as a witness4.

At approximately 5:58 AM, the officers contacted the Federal Aviation Agency at Pittsburgh airport. While on the line, they observed a Boeing 707 passenger jet (United Airlines flight 454) passing about 1,000 feet below the object. Shortly after this, around 6:15 AM, the mysterious craft reportedly ascended straight up at high speed and disappeared as daylight broke3. By this time, Spaur and Neff’s patrol car was running on fumes, forcing them to stop at a service station in Conway, Pennsylvania, where Officer Panzanella was waiting4.

The Spaur/Neff Ravenna UFO Chase of 1966: A Critical Examination - Full-Text (SVG)

Credibility Assessment

The credibility of the Spaur/Neff case rests primarily on the professional standing of the witnesses. All were law enforcement officers with reputations to protect, and several had military backgrounds that made them familiar with conventional aircraft.

Dale Spaur was described as a 6’7” deputy with a “wicked sense of humor” who was known on the force for having “a bit of a lead foot”5. Before joining the Sheriff’s Department, he had served as a gunner on B-51 aircraft during the Korean War, giving him familiarity with aerial phenomena5. His partner, Wilbur “Barney” Neff, was a weekend volunteer deputy who worked weekdays as a mechanic3.

The chase involved multiple independent witnesses across different jurisdictions, significantly strengthening the case. Officer Wayne Houston of East Palestine and Officer Frank Panzanella of Conway both corroborated key elements of Spaur and Neff’s account4. Additionally, Portage County Sheriff Ross Dustman publicly supported his deputies’ testimony, lending institutional credibility to their claims4.

Another significant piece of evidence came from Police Chief Gerald Buchert of Mantua, Ohio, who photographed the object as it passed over. Buchert was quoted in the Plain Dealer describing what he saw: “round when I looked straight up at it, but when it moved to the left — I feel like an idiot saying this — it looked like a saucer, like two table saucers put together”4.

The consistency of the officers’ reports, despite being interviewed separately, adds to their credibility. Their descriptions of the object’s appearance, behavior, and the sequence of events remained remarkably consistent over time and across multiple interviews. Furthermore, the officers had nothing to gain professionally from fabricating or exaggerating their experience—quite the opposite, as later events would show.

Deputy Spaur and Chief Buchert both reported taking photographs of the object. Spaur and Neff reportedly took “dozens of photographs” during the chase, while Buchert developed at least one image45. However, according to multiple sources, representatives from Project Blue Book confiscated the negatives during their investigation5. Buchert’s remaining photograph was reportedly inconclusive after development4.

Counterarguments and Skepticism

On April 22, 1966, just five days after the incident, Major Hector Quintanilla Jr., the commander of Project Blue Book at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, released the official explanation for the incident. According to Quintanilla, the deputies had first observed an Echo communications satellite passing from the northwest, then unknowingly redirected their attention to the planet Venus rising in the southeast36.

This explanation was immediately contested by the officers involved. Sheriff Dustman bluntly stated: “I’ve seen Venus many times. I like to look at the sky and am familiar with it, but I never saw Venus 50 feet above a road and moving side to side like this was”3. Buchert similarly questioned Quintanilla’s explanation, writing on April 22: “I asked the Major [Quintanilla] if it was the planit [sic] Venus then how come it moved up and down and to the side. I at one time kept the wires from the telephone pole in view and the object DID go below the wires and then above them. The wires were NOT moving”4.

More damaging to the Air Force’s credibility was the response from William Powers, an astronomer whom Quintanilla had briefly consulted during the investigation. Powers took the extraordinary step of writing a personal letter of apology to Spaur and Neff, firmly rejecting Quintanilla’s identification of the object. In his letter, Powers stated: “at no time did I suppose that the earlier part of the sighting involved anything other than an Airborne object”34.

Most significantly, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Project Blue Book’s own scientific consultant, disagreed with Quintanilla’s conclusion. In his book “The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry,” Hynek evaluated the case as a “strong unidentified.” While he could not determine exactly what the officers had seen, he was certain it was “neither a satellite nor Venus”3. Hynek noted that Venus had risen at 3:35 AM and would have been too high in the sky by 5:00 AM to be mistaken for a low-flying aircraft4.

The Air Force maintained that no fighter jets were dispatched to intercept the object, despite the officers’ claims to the contrary. They also stated that nothing unusual appeared on radar during the incident4. However, these denials must be considered in the broader context of Project Blue Book’s approach to UFO reports during this period.

The Spaur/Neff Ravenna UFO Chase of 1966: A Critical Examination - P1 (SVG)

Influence and Impact

The personal toll on the primary witnesses was severe and well-documented. Within six months of the incident, Dale Spaur experienced a complete breakdown of his personal and professional life. He lost his job with the Sheriff’s Department, and his wife left with their children. In October 1966, a Plain Dealer reporter found him living in a motel, surviving on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Spaur lamented his situation: “Thirty-four years old and what do I have? Nothing. Who knows me? To everyone, I’m Dale Spaur, the nut who chased a flying saucer”45.

Police Chief Buchert similarly suffered from the intense scrutiny. His wife Joan recalled: “It was like we set off a bomb in this town. My husband lost 20 pounds in three days.” Buchert himself described the aftermath as “three days of living hell” due to constant phone calls, media attention, and pressure from the Air Force4.

The case received extensive media coverage both locally and nationally. Headlines like “THEY TAILED A SAUCER 86 MILES!” appeared in newspapers, and the attention prompted the Air Force to respond quickly with its explanation5. However, after Quintanilla issued his official statement identifying the object as Venus, media coverage abruptly decreased4.

The Spaur/Neff chase had a significant impact on UFO discourse in several ways. In May 1966, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) took an interest in the case. Investigator William Weitzel collected reports, newspaper articles, and conducted additional interviews with Spaur and other witnesses. Weitzel personally delivered his files to the University of Colorado, where researchers were conducting a comprehensive review of UFO sightings for the Air Force. Curiously, despite the case’s prominence and the quality of documentation, the Condon Report made no mention of the Ravenna case when it was submitted to Congress in 19694.

The incident’s most visible cultural impact came through its influence on Steven Spielberg’s 1977 film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” The movie features a dramatic scene in which police officers chase a UFO across state lines, clearly inspired by the Spaur/Neff case. According to James Evans, Spaur’s son, his father briefly consulted on the film but “walked off set in a huff after he found out the main character was not a cop”5.

The case also highlighted serious institutional issues within Project Blue Book. The handling of the Ravenna case became a point of contention between Major Quintanilla and Dr. Hynek, contributing to Hynek’s growing disillusionment with the Air Force’s approach to UFO investigations. After Project Blue Book was disbanded in 1969, Hynek founded the Center for UFO Studies to apply more rigorous scientific methods to UFO research, free from governmental constraints4.

In Congressional hearings about Project Blue Book in 1966, Ohio Congressman William Stanton criticized the Air Force’s handling of the case, stating that “The Air Force has suffered a great loss of prestige in this community… Once people entrusted with the public welfare no longer think the people can handle the truth, then the people, in return, will no longer trust the government”6.

Lingering Questions and Research Directions

Several aspects of the Spaur/Neff case remain unresolved and would benefit from further investigation:

  1. The confiscated photographs: Both Spaur and Buchert reported taking photographs of the object, yet the negatives were allegedly confiscated by Air Force representatives. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests targeting these materials could potentially yield valuable evidence.
  2. Radar data: The officers contacted Pittsburgh air traffic control during the chase, but conflicting accounts exist about whether anything unusual was detected on radar. Access to historical radar data from that night could provide crucial corroboration.
  3. Fighter jet deployment: The officers reported seeing military jets sent to intercept the object, which the Air Force denied. Military flight records from that morning could resolve this discrepancy.
  4. Witness testimonies: While James Evans (Spaur’s son) was interviewed for a 2016 article, other family members of the primary witnesses might provide additional insights or possess documentation from the time.
  5. Vatican connection: One intriguing detail appears in search result #5, mentioning that “the priest” from St. Joseph’s Church in Mantua also witnessed the object. This witness, whose name was not remembered by the Bucherts, could potentially be identified through church records.

The Spaur/Neff case demonstrates recurring patterns seen in recent UFO/UAP discussions. The 2023 Congressional hearings on UAPs featured testimony from David Grusch and former Navy pilots who described similar institutional resistance to reporting unusual aerial phenomena789. Ryan Graves testified that “the stigma attached to UAP is real and powerful and challenges national security. It silences commercial pilots who fear professional repercussions and discourages witnesses”1011. This echoes the experiences of Spaur and Buchert in 1966, suggesting that despite decades of time passing, similar institutional challenges persist.

Conclusion

The 1966 Spaur/Neff UFO chase represents one of the most compelling law enforcement encounters with unidentified phenomena in UFO history. The case features multiple credible witnesses, consistent testimony, and extensive documentation. While the official explanation identified the object as the planet Venus, this was directly contradicted by Project Blue Book’s own scientific consultant, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, and astronomer William Powers.

What makes this case particularly significant is not just the unusual nature of the object observed, but the institutional response and the devastating personal consequences for the witnesses. Dale Spaur’s life was effectively destroyed by the incident, while Chief Buchert suffered significant personal distress. Their experiences highlight the very real stigma that has surrounded UFO reporting—a stigma that continues to affect witnesses today, as evidenced by recent Congressional testimony.

The Ravenna case exemplifies the tension between witness testimony and official explanations that has characterized the UFO phenomenon for decades. As government agencies including NASA and the Department of Defense continue to investigate unexplained aerial encounters, the Spaur/Neff case remains a powerful historical reminder that the personal and professional risks for witnesses can be substantial when official narratives conflict with lived experience.

Whether the deputies encountered an extraterrestrial craft, an experimental aircraft, or a misidentified natural phenomenon remains uncertain. What is clear, however, is that the official explanation was inadequate to account for the specific details reported by multiple law enforcement officers, and the case continues to stand as one of the most significant documented UFO encounters in American history.

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The Spaur/Neff Ravenna UFO Chase of 1966: A Critical Examination - P2 (SVG)

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  1. https://theufotimeline.com/events/spaur-neff-chase/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. http://www.nicap.org/reports2/660417portage.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_7XQDu5yM0 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11

  4. https://www.clevescene.com/news/strangers-in-the-night-1485939 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20

  5. https://www.clevescene.com/news/50-years-ago-a-small-town-ohio-policeman-chased-a-flying-saucer-into-pennsylvania-and-it-ruined-his-life-4877356 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Blue_Book ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. https://www.foxnews.com/us/ufo-whistleblower-testifies-his-life-was-threatened-to-hush-up-about-secret-alien-tech-retrieval ↩ ↩2

  8. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-hearing-congress-uap-takeaways-whistleblower-conference-david-grusch-2023/ ↩ ↩2

  9. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ufo-hearings-congressional-testimony-whistleblower-b2383458.html?page=3 ↩ ↩2

  10. https://www.space.com/us-hiding-evidence-alien-intelligence-ufo-whistleblower-claims ↩ ↩2

  11. https://www.livescience.com/space/extraterrestrial-life/us-government-is-hiding-evidence-of-non-human-intelligence-ufo-whistleblower-tells-congress ↩ ↩2

  12. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/projectbluebook/ProjectBlueBook-April171966-Ravenna-Mantua-Ohio.pdf ↩

  13. https://www.tribtoday.com/news/local-news/2016/04/ufos-spotted-in-ravenna-in-1966/ ↩

  14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Grusch_UFO_whistleblower_claims ↩

  15. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/analysis-whistleblower-testimonies-did-not-change-our-basic-understanding-of-ufos ↩

  16. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/whistleblower-alleges-us-government-is-covering-up-alien-life-at-UFO-hearing-180982614/ ↩

  17. https://www.reddit.com/r/ufo/comments/egrks0/strangers_in_the_night_in_1966_ohio_cops_chased_a/ ↩

  18. https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-1966-april-resu/9185568/ ↩

  19. https://dks.library.kent.edu/?a=d\&d=dks20040416-01.2.7 ↩

  20. https://dks.library.kent.edu/?a=d\&d=dks19661018-01.2.2 ↩

  21. https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0054/4525586.pdf ↩

  22. https://www.forcesnews.com/usa/project-blue-book-what-was-us-air-force-operation-investigate-ufos ↩

  23. https://uk.forceswarrecords.com/document/7105943/ravenna-mantua-ohio-blank-page-86-us-project-blue-book-ufo-investigations-1947-1969 ↩

  24. https://www.euronews.com/2023/07/26/us-military-whistleblowers-testify-to-existence-of-ufos-in-major-congressional-hearing ↩

  25. https://www.seti.org/truth-out-there-ufo-whistleblower-likely-doesnt-have-it ↩