In the Saucer Nest

AP, Port Huckettstown, FL, Mar 8 - Independent investigations regarding the recent discoveries of several "saucer nests" located just south of Horseshoe Laguna have concluded, says James T. MacPherson, director of Cypress Laboratories. The interpretation of the study's conclusions, however, are open to apparently heated discussion.

The investigation began as a joint venture between Cypress Laboratories and the University of Southern Florida-Macadam at the behest of the United States Air Force in an attempt to calm public fears of a "UFO invasion." Such fears began after a rash of sightings beginning in late January and ending in mid-February. Over 200 visual reports, combining with several radar sightings, flooded local authorities during those weeks, necessitating the involvement of the Air Force. At least three witnesses claimed to have photographs of the mysterious objects, and one claimed to have film.

On January 25 at approximately 8:30 pm, three reports came in to the Port Huckettstown police department within minutes of each other. All three reports detailed a "luminous disk-like object approximately a hundred feet in diameter." A "bubble-like protuberance" was reported on top of the "craft", which "glowed with a soft purplish light from underneath." Several cruisers were dispatched to the neighborhood in question and an immediate high-speed chase of the object began, lasting twenty-five minutes, circling about Jeffers County. Eventually the UFO was lost over Horseshoe Lagoon, a thick 800-square mile marsh inaccessible by automobile.

The next night over two-dozen sightings of what appears to be the same or similar craft(s) flooded not only the Port Huckettstown PD but also those of adjoining Caxton and Medina PDs. The Air Force was contacted but declined any investigation or comment on the matter. Activity within the lagoon increased, as residents and workers in the area reported more incidents over the next ten days. In total, over 120 reports came in during the twelve day period.

This prompted Dr. Morris J. Suptine of the University of Southern Florida-Macadam to send a team into the lagoon in hopes of making contact or at least capturing on film the mysterious object on high-speed film. The expedition set out with six men and was prepared to spend one week in the wilderness. During this week-long period, sightings continued unabated, yielding just under 200 complete reported incidents and two more photographs. Dr. Suptine's expedition, however, yielded no incidents nor photographs or film, despite reports from residents living on the outskirts of the lagoon.

Until the last day of the expedition.

Suptine's team came across several "saucer nests", over a dozen areas circular in size ranging from thirty feet in diameter upwards to one hundred twenty. Vegetation had been flattened in a clockwise pattern, most but not all taking on a brownish coloration. Areas of vegetation surrounding the "nests" appeared to have been clipped off evenly, as if taken for sampling. The team collected over one hundred photographs of the sight and some of the compressed and non-compressed vegetation as well as soil and water samples to take back for testing.

At the behest of NICAP, in agreement with the Air Force, testing would be jointly done between the University and Cypress Laboratories. High priority was ordered, hence the initial and somewhat controversial results.

Reports of more sightings trickled in over the next week, although at a slower rate, ending on February 16. 202 sightings in total were reported, seventeen from members of law enforcement.

"Initial test results indicate a high level of radiation," said James T. MacPherson, director of Cypress Laboratories. "Normal vegetation for this area yields one to three clicks; samples brought back by Dr. Suptine's team came in at close to a hundred clicks per second." Other findings estimated that the vegetation was crushed by objects weighing perhaps thirty tons. High levels of deuterium were found in surrounding waters. But the most controversial of the findings was determined by microscopic inspection of the plants themselves: apparently, the heat, pressure, or radiation, or perhaps some combination of the three or something else entirely, changed the DNA of the vegetation. "What we see here," MacPherson explained in his Mar 7 press conference, "is advanced mutation of a kind we've never seen before. We're thinking about a million years' evolution overnight."

More teams of scientists from both national and international universities, as well as a military-funded party, are planning on-sight expeditions over the spring and summer. "Bring 'em on!" said Horace B. Finmore, owner and operator of Hor's Hot Dog stand on Route 31 just outside of Horseshoe Lagoon. "You show me a scientist's badge and you get yerself a free hot dog!"