EXPERTS LAND IN ASHLAND TO REVIEW UFO SIGHTINGS by Staff Reporter Ronna Wiig Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles on reported UFO sightings in Ashland. ASHLAND -- A recent visit by experts in the field of unidentified flying objects to the Ashland area is renewing interest in the area’s history of sightings. The experts, members of the Mutual UFO Network, visited Ashland last week to study a UFO sighting that was video taped last winter on Ashland’s east side. Their visit brought a news crew from Omaha’s KETV channel 7 and a bit more notoriety to the area. However, this is not the first time the news media has reported a UFO sighting in Ashland. UFO MAKES HEADLINES IN 1897 Air ship seen in Ashland was the headline over 100 years ago in the Ashland Gazette. In the April 16, 1897 edition of the Ashland Gazette, it was reported that mysterious lights had appeared in the heavens over Ashland. The first sightings started the night of April 5, 1897 in Omaha UFO sightings with over 100 people witnessing the appearance of the flying object. It was reported that the object was approximately 12 feet long, spherical in shape and shiny. The object was so luminous that the brightness woke people as the light came through their bedroom windows. Several nights later there were sightings in Sioux City Iowa. Next It was sighted in Chicago, Illinois where a newsstand dealer took pictures of the object. In Ashland, however, Mrs. Cornelius and her son, Eugene, were fortunate to get a good view of the object, as reported in the Gazette the next week. While returning home from church Sunday evening shortly after 9 p.m. they saw what first appeared to be a cloud. It was quite small, described as about as large as the side of an ordinary room and appeared not to be far from the ground and was hovering over the western part of town. Its flight was rapid and it moved towards the north. Twice it flashed a brilliant light and passed beyond the range of vision. The evening was perfectly clear and what was taken for a cloud was the only object bearing any such appearance anywhere in the heavens." Professor Gibson Harris and several others at the Harris home in the western part of town witnessed a similar event, the Gazette reported. An interesting fact to ponder is that this wasn't until December 17, 1903 in, Kitty Hawk, N.C., that the Wright Flyer became the first powered, heavier than air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. That is six years prior to these first reported sightings of an object flying over Ashland. SCHIRMER SIGHTING Over 70 years later on December 3, 1967, another UFO was sighted in the Ashland area. This time, a 22 year-old Ashland Police Officer, Herbert Schirmer, revealed that he had seen something in the southern part of town. His logbook read "Saw a flying saucer at the junction of highways 6 and 63, Believe it or not!" The story, reported in the December 7, 1967 issue of the Ashland Gazette, said Schirmer was alone in his police car driving southwest on Highway 6. He was approaching the junction where highways 6 and 63 meet when he saw a lighted object over the slope not far from where you turn off Highway 6 on to Highway 63 to come into town. He drove on south to the loop off to the right side of the road (on the shoulder) that encircled a tree to see what was there. He then saw what he described as an elliptical object about 20 feet long and 14 feet thick surrounded by lighted portholes connected to a line or band which may have been paint and/or some sort of catwalk. When the police car's lights fell upon the object, the inner cabin lights of the object began to flash off and on. Schirmer said the craft was hovering a few feet off the highway and partly over the shoulder next to the ditch and the steep embankment. Schirmer speculated that the glow at the bottom of the craft must have been some type of ray rather than any sort of propulsion device. The craft soon shot up to 50 feet in the air and began to emit a strange noise. Schirmer compared ti to the noise of Ashland's new fire truck, only weirder, he said. Then he said the craft rose straight up and disappeared. In the article, Police Chief Charles Wlaschin was quoted as saying, "Schirmer is a fine officer and he is a teetotaler and he is perfectly willing to take a polygraph test." It was also reported that an U.S. Air Force investigation team was being sent to check out the report. In the February 22, 1968 issue of the Ashland Gazette the headlines read " Schirmer Talks Under Hypnosis: 'Fuzzy Space Man to Visit Me Twice More This Year.' Under this headline it was reported that Schirmer was asked to meet with the Unidentified Flying Object Study Team from Boulder, Colorado on February 13. While in Boulder, Schirmer was said to recall under hypnosis that a white fuzzy human-shaped form approached him from the UFO. He said that the white form struck him in the neck. He told investigators that the visitors were not from our solar system but from another galaxy although they have bases on Jupiter and Mars. He also said that he was told that the spacecraft would make two more visits to him sometime in 1968. The Unidentified Flying Object Study Team based out of Boulder was better known as the Condon Committee. The committee of scientists set up in 1966 worked under the guidence of Dr. Edward U. Condon, scientific director at the University of Colorado worked under contract for the U.S. Air Force to complete a study on UFOs. The study ended in 1968 with a published report that basically said UFOs were not worth further study and of little significance. Schirmers encounter was not only reported in the Omaha World Herald, the Lincoln Star Journal, the Lincoln Star and on KETV, his encounter made the front page of the National Enquirer. Schirmer also signed book deals and in investigating this story, the Gazette staff has found Schirmer and his experience mentioned in numerous books and on several web sites dealing with UFOs. Next week, the Gazette will focus on the most recent UFO sighting, as well as some of the experts who investigate these phenomenon.