Knox County man is eye in sky for strange sightings
By Garret Mathews (Contact)
Originally published 09:55 p.m., October 11, 2008
Updated 09:55 p.m., October 11, 2008
VINCENNES, Ind. — A strange object appears in the sky and gives off an equally mysterious wave of light that trails off into the darkness.
Who you gonna call?
Jerry Sievers.
The 69-year-old Knox County man is state director of Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), an international agency that investigates unexplained aerial sightings. There are about 3,000 members worldwide — including comedian Dan Aykroyd — and approximately four dozen in Indiana.
Sievers says he's seen "hundreds of questionable flying objects." He says he's talked with "a dozen or so credible persons" who claim to have been abducted.
"A lot of people think I'm a kook," the retired security guard admits, "but I get the impression that more and more individuals believe it's arrogant to have the feeling we're the only life form in the galaxy. There could well be other planets like the Earth orbiting other suns."
Sievers points to UFO programs on the History and Discovery channels as proof that believers have a foothold in society.
And he cites a "very strange occurrence" in March of this year in Kokomo, Ind.
"There was a loud explosion, and the police were dispatched to a debris field. There were all sorts of vehicles from ambulances to school buses, but officially it was labeled a nonevent. Later, the field looked like it had been bulldozed and any evidence removed."
Sievers said MUFON investigators talked to 22 witnesses who claimed they saw UFOs over Kokomo.
"One described a black triangle with lights trailing about the time of the explosion. There was background radiation, but nothing was determined."
Sievers hasn't been able to walk unaided since he was a toddler because of a muscular disease that until recently was believed to be polio.
"They're not specifically certain on what I have, but the bottom line is I can't get up off the couch without crutches. Because I don't get around so well, I don't go out in the field too much any more. I find myself coordinating the efforts of others."
He believes there are alien objects whose inhabitants "have harmful intent" but admits MUFON volunteers differ on the subject.
"Some think they are scoping us out with an eventual plan for the mingling of the races. In that sense, we're like lab animals. A few others see a more spiritual end of it. They believe the UFOs are angels coming to save us."
Sievers blames the government for years of denial.
"When I first got interested, the avowed purpose of saying there were no UFOs was to prevent panic. Those in charge were ordered to tell the public that any peculiar sightings were just swamp gas."
Knox County, Sievers points out, has a history of bizarre goings-on in this regard.
"A lot of it occurred in an area known as Lucky Point, not far from Monroe City. From the 1960s to the 1980s, there were almost daily reports of strange lights in the sky and electrical interference. People were sitting in their cars, and all of a sudden their radios went out. It got so bad at one point that the town marshal had to go out there and direct traffic."
He recalls a 1985 incident.
"I was there with a friend for some night watching. I'm in a lawn chair, and she's walking the road. Over the ridge comes a reddish ball of light with two white lights at a 45-degree angle. In 10 seconds, it was gone.
"Twenty minutes later, a bigger orange ball of light raised up above the road and then moved slowly toward the south. Those were the most definitive things I've ever seen."
Not all his visits to Lucky Point were so fruitful.
"I've spent the entire night in that area and seen absolutely nothing."
He says MUFON workers have talked with people who claim aliens have implanted radio wires in their skulls as tracking devices.
"I believe only about 2 percent of people make up stuff to get attention. I mean, why would you want to open yourself up to ridicule? And sometimes people are just wrong. There was a strange beam of light reported not long ago in northern Indiana, but it turned out to be a police helicopter."
Sievers, who has no formal scientific training, notes that it isn't the job of UFO investigators to determine if the person making a claim is telling the truth.
"We just do the legwork and file the reports."
He smiles.
"I've talked to all the police dispatchers around here. They know to contact me if anything comes up."
Sievers recalls one woman who claimed she had been abducted.
"They brought in a hypnotist to talk her through the experience. When she got to the part about the aliens, she became so traumatized he had to bring her out of it before she caused physical damage to herself."
Other people, he says, have said the aliens have the appearance of an image on a projection screen.
"But I'm sworn to secrecy about these matters."
Would it be vindication if a UFO landed in Times Square?
"I want to hope for that," he says, "but, truthfully, in my lifetime I don't think there will be a solution."
