transcript

Oh my God, what is this?

“Oh my God, what is this?” the radar operator shouted into the phone as he talked to police in Holland. Officers were seeking confirmation of what was being seen in the night sky.
The tape recording of the March 8 Ottawa County 911 calls, obtained by the Muskegon Chronicle under The Freedom of Information Act, includes a number of people who called police to report strange lights in the sky.

But the tape also records the startling findings of a stunned National Weather Service radar operator in Muskegon who tracked something zooming over West Michigan’s night sky.

“There’s something right there”, the radar operator said to a dispatcher’s question. “There’s something big down there (near Holland). It’s really strange.”

No one is saying what happened last week in the skies above West Michigan – UFO, starlight or imagination – but the tape recordings made between 9:30 and 11 P.M. clearly reveal that residents, police, and a radar operator saw something unusual.

The thing “zipped” from South Haven to 10 miles west of the city, over Lake Michigan, in 10 seconds, one National Weather Service official said.

“It’s moving. I can see it moving,” the unnamed radar operator at the Muskegon National Weather Service station said to the dispatcher. “It’s moving towards west-southwest. It looks like a big blob.”

The weather radar operator found several objects – up to four at various times – flying in formation at between 6,000 and 12,000 feet.

“It’s a pretty strong return I’m getting…. Oh my God, what is this? Now I’m just getting three of them separated by about 5,000 feet in height and maybe 50 kilometers (apart). They’re very strong returns. It’s something pretty solid.”

The 911 dispatcher told the radar operator that a Holland police officer was, at that moment, seeing three lights in the southwestern sky.

The National Weather Radar operator confirmed it.

“It looks like a triangle on my scope,” the operator said.

The government’s weather radar marked the contacts near South Haven, over Lake Michigan, northwest of Benton Harbor, in Berrian County and over Decatur.

“These are huge returns,” the radar man said. “I’ve never seen anything like this even when I’m doing storms (research).”

911 dispatcher: “This is weird.” Radar: “The one off South Haven moved out into Lake Michigan. It popped! Now I’m getting four (objects). They’re all between 7,000 and 12,000 feet.”

911 dispatcher: “This is strange.”

Radar: “It’s kind of like a triangle…. They look like very strong (images)…. These are bigger than planes. They’re all moving toward….the center of Lake Michigan.”

The tape recording also contains calls from worried Ottawa County citizens, informing police of the phenomenon.

the first call, as recorded by Central Dispatch, came from Holly Graves. The tape documents that as her kids – 10 and 14 – screamed in the background, Graves reported the object across the street, hovering above tree level.

I’ve never seen anything like it,” Graves told the dispatcher. She described the object as circular “like a bunch of different lights flickering.”

A Holland police officer responded and saw the same thing as it moved toward the southwest horizon in the night sky.

They’re out there,” another called told police. “They ain’t planes. They’re just kinda hanging there.”

Another called described the same thing, but added the object moved out and “it took off real fast.”

The sightings- with radar confirmation – have touched off intense interest by UFO researchers, including a no-comment government agency that will not return phone calls.

Media attention has also been intense.

UFO researchers said CBS’s “48 hours” will the study the phenomenon. Today, a news crew from the syndicated show “Inside Edition” was in Michigan to explore the incident. That show is to air at 7:30 PM on local NBC affiliates, and plans were for the segment to be included Friday evening.

There is no official explanation for what happened on March 8. The aurora borealis – the Northern Lights – were intense that night, one report said, but those who saw the phenomenon said that what they saw was not a natural occurrence.