Uploaded June 2023 | Updated September 2026, 24 minutes ago
By Jacob Fife
AUGUSTA COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) - It’s December 21, 1964 and things are quiet in the Shenandoah Valley. Gunsmith Horace Burns is heading towards Fishersville from Staunton on Route 250 when his vehicle starts to mess up. What he’s about to see will change the Valley for the next 6 months.
“This is an Unusual Sighting”
The story of Burns’ encounter was published in several newspapers from the Valley all the way to Richmond, but this version comes from the ‘Flying Saucer Investigating Committee’ of Akron, Ohio.
The article states that Burns’ was near the Woodrow Wilson Center when he saw a metallic object coming from the north, and when it passed ahead of him Burns said the engine in his car stopped. He claimed his car came to an unnaturally quick stop, and he watched the craft land gently in a field about 100 yards back from the road.
The article says Burns got out of the vehicle and watched the craft, which he described as an “Upside down spinning top toy” and was about 125 feet wide and abut 90 feet high. Burns claimed to see a bluish glow from under the object, but he couldn’t see any doors, windows, landing gear, or people inside. After about 60-90 seconds the craft made a “whooshing” sound and flew straight up, according to Burns.
Burns told his wife and decided to keep his sighting quiet until he saw a report by WSVA a few days later about a UFO club at Eastern Mennonite College he decided to share his story. Jim Shipp of WSVA interviewed Burns about his sighting, and a professor at EMU who was in the UFO club went to the landing site with a Geiger counter.
He reportedly picked up readings of over 60,000 counts per minute, and the sighting was reported to Project Blue Book at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Agents from the top secret program Project Blue Book were dispatched to investigate, including Sergeant David Moody, who was one of Blue Book’s top investigators. After their arrival at the airport, words spread that military investigators were in town investigating the reported landing.
A reporter asked Moody what he thought about the sighting, and Moody told the reporter “This is an unusual sighting. If it was routine, we wouldn’t be here.”
See the complete report at: ufocasebook.com/2023/fisherville-landing.html
By Jacob Fife
AUGUSTA COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) - It’s December 21, 1964 and things are quiet in the Shenandoah Valley. Gunsmith Horace Burns is heading towards Fishersville from Staunton on Route 250 when his vehicle starts to mess up. What he’s about to see will change the Valley for the next 6 months.
“This is an Unusual Sighting”
The story of Burns’ encounter was published in several newspapers from the Valley all the way to Richmond, but this version comes from the ‘Flying Saucer Investigating Committee’ of Akron, Ohio.
The article states that Burns’ was near the Woodrow Wilson Center when he saw a metallic object coming from the north, and when it passed ahead of him Burns said the engine in his car stopped. He claimed his car came to an unnaturally quick stop, and he watched the craft land gently in a field about 100 yards back from the road.
The article says Burns got out of the vehicle and watched the craft, which he described as an “Upside down spinning top toy” and was about 125 feet wide and abut 90 feet high. Burns claimed to see a bluish glow from under the object, but he couldn’t see any doors, windows, landing gear, or people inside. After about 60-90 seconds the craft made a “whooshing” sound and flew straight up, according to Burns.
Burns told his wife and decided to keep his sighting quiet until he saw a report by WSVA a few days later about a UFO club at Eastern Mennonite College he decided to share his story. Jim Shipp of WSVA interviewed Burns about his sighting, and a professor at EMU who was in the UFO club went to the landing site with a Geiger counter.
He reportedly picked up readings of over 60,000 counts per minute, and the sighting was reported to Project Blue Book at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Agents from the top secret program Project Blue Book were dispatched to investigate, including Sergeant David Moody, who was one of Blue Book’s top investigators. After their arrival at the airport, words spread that military investigators were in town investigating the reported landing.
A reporter asked Moody what he thought about the sighting, and Moody told the reporter “This is an unusual sighting. If it was routine, we wouldn’t be here.”
See the complete report at: ufocasebook.com/2023/fisherville-landing.html
