The Holland Michigan Radar-Visual UFO Case.

Really interesting case from Holland, Michigan on March 8th, 1994 (9 months before the Trumbull County UFO flap) where 'panicked' citizens flooded 911 operators with UFO reports from around Lake Michigan and police officers who were dispatched to investigate also witnessed the objects - the case also made international news due to the National Weather Service Radar Station picking up very strange radar returns in the same area (and at the same time) as the UFOs were being witnessed.

Professor Michael Swords makes some very interesting comments about the radar data in the video below, explaining how the returns were at least as bright as commercial aircraft 'but four times bigger', he also mentions how the object was originally plotted at 18000ft but within 15 seconds it ascended vertically at a speed of around 1000mph - also how the UFO broke from one object into three objects (which he describes as 'fundamentally mysterious')  .

See 4:35

On the evening of March 8, 1994, residents of Southwest Michigan began seeing strange things in the skies over Lake Michigan to the south of Holland. Blue, white, red, and green lights, sometimes attached to cylindrical objects, and sometimes performing unusual maneuvers, were reported.

911 operators began receiving calls at around 9:30 p.m. about something that looked like "a string of Christmas lights way up in the sky." It wasn't just a few people reporting these things; it was counties all up and down Lake Michigan. Some sources said 300 witnesses, including several police officers, saw the lights.

There were so many reports that one of the Ottawa County 911 operators decided to call the National Weather Service radar operator at Muskegon. The conversations that 911 had with the NWS operator were taped and later made their way into the media. The radar operator's voice could be heard describing abrupt movements of the object and multiple objects appearing on the radar screen..

link

Transcript (excerpt):

Transcript of the 08 MARCH 1994 Ottawa County 911/National Weather Service tapes

NWS: I'm looking at it in the vertical now and I... not really.. ok, wait a minute something right...there. Ok, lets see what that is... looks like a... there's a larger return down there... let's see, that looks like um... up about maybe... (garble) goes up about 6,000 feet and about... um

BACKGROUND VOICE: Presumed at NWS: Coulda been a plane.

NWS: Well it's pretty big...wait a minute

BACKGROUND VOICE: Presumed at NWS: That's weird..

NWS yeah, um...I got it on manual now... I'm just kinda um...I'm continuously um radiating on it...and um, it looks like it's steady right now.....................(garble)...... I'm getting it now at um, about 12,000 feet... and it's uh......(this appears?) a pretty strong return

911: Huh!

NWS:.......... but...... yeah, I've never seen...Now I'm getting multiple returns.

911: One of the people that called that I just had happened to talk to said it looked like a bunch of cylindrical objects...

NWS: Well we...OH MY GOD!... WHAT IS THIS!?

911:...they were going together and coming apart.

link

Professor Swords also provides more info below about the CUFOS investigation into the case and the UFO's movement on the radarscope - there are also reproductions of eye-witness UFO sketches and inevitable claims of witness harassment.  

CUFON Investigation



Holland MI Radar-Visual UFO Case, March 8, 1994, part one

Holland, MI Radar-Visual UFO Case, part two.

The Holland Michigan Radar-Visual UFO Case, part three and final.

Links:

Audio -Police Dispatch Call
Seeing a UFO was unforgettable

Hey, thanks, Karl 12! This is a great case and I'm digging through the supporting materials to refresh myself.

Maybe I'm mistaking this for another incidence, but I thought I'd either read about some electromagnetic effects associated with it and/or someone also observing the UFO "pulling" electricity over high-voltage wires?

Gut wrote:Hey, thanks, Karl 12! This is a great case and I'm digging through the supporting materials to refresh myself.

Hey Gut, good to see you here mate and you're not wrong about this being a great unexplained UFO case -there are quite a few relevant news articles below and one even describes it as 'the hottest case in the country':


http://oldnews.aadl.org/taxonomy/term/9218?page=1
http://oldnews.aadl.org/aa_news_19940316-researchers_flock_to_state_for_ufo_proof
http://oldnews.aadl.org/aa_news_19940315-orb_in_w_michigan_sky_remains
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=okIPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HYYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6079,3875052

Gut wrote:Maybe I'm mistaking this for another incidence, but I thought I'd either read about some electromagnetic effects associated with it and/or someone also observing the UFO "pulling" electricity over high-voltage wires?

Could be wrong but think you may be thinking of the Colusa case there mate from 1976 -here's the main witness describing the object and it does sound pretty similar (see 2:40)

UFO Made His Hair Stand On End And Crackle
MUFON Journal -October 1976 (pdf)

Cheers!

Gut wrote:Maybe I'm mistaking this for another incidence, but I thought I'd either read about some electromagnetic effects associated with it and/or someone also observing the UFO "pulling" electricity over high-voltage wires?

Hi mate had a look around and there's also this  report from Centreville in Ohio (see 3:40) although it is a few years later. As for the Holland case there's also a good vid below with the recordings of the police and NWS radar station as well as police UFO reports from town residents found at the beginning.

On the evening of March 8, 1994, residents of Southwest Michigan began seeing strange things in the skies over Lake Michigan to the south of Holland. Blue, white, red, and green lights, sometimes attached to cylindrical objects, and sometimes performing unusual maneuvers, were reported.

911 operators began receiving calls at around 9:30 p.m. about something that looked like "a string of Christmas lights way up in the sky." It wasn't just a few people reporting these things; it was counties all up and down Lake Michigan. Some sources said 300 witnesses, including several police officers, saw the lights.

There were so many reports that one of the Ottawa County 911 operators decided to call the National Weather Service radar operator at Muskegon. The conversations that 911 had with the NWS operator were entirely recorded and presented here.

Cheers.

Those are all fascinating additions, Karl. I'm now thinking the event I'm talking about was in Akron, OH. I probably learned of it through you. You know how I am about UFO cases involving electromagnetic effects ha.

I have to admit as far as the topic here, that The Holland Case is very exceptional. So much so, that I guess I'll force myself to watch the UFO Hunters episode. I must have skimmed this case before, because it has much more to it than I remembered.  

What, btw, is Prof. Swords up to these days as regards ufology?

Edit: Oops, that's it, Centerville, Oh! Thanks.