Portage County Police UAP Pursuit

At 5:00 AM on April 17, 1966, Deputy Sheriff Dale Spaur and Deputy Wilbur Neff responded to a report of an abandoned vehicle on Route 224 in Portage County, Ohio. They observed a bright disc-shaped object rise from nearby woods and hover over their cruiser before moving east. Spaur radioed dispatch and began pursuit at speeds reaching 105 mph. The chase continued for 85 miles across Ohio into Conway, Pennsylvania, where Officer Frank Panzanella also observed and confirmed the object hovering above. The object reportedly descended and hovered over a water tower before departing at high speed vertically. Project Blue Book's J. Allen Hynek initially stated the object was the planet Venus — a conclusion that was publicly contradicted by the officers and the fact that Venus was not visible in that sector of the sky at that time. Congressman William Stanton (R-OH) publicly called for an investigation of Blue Book's methodology, contributing to the Congressional scrutiny that eventually led to the Condon Report.