It was late summer 1965, four years after President John F. Kennedy announced in May 1961 that the USA would “catch up and overtake” the Soviet Union in the “space race.”
In February 1965, the Ranger 8 space probe crashed onto the lunar surface after transmitting photographs of possible landing sites for a future manned mission to the moon.
In March 1965, NASA’s space program pushed further ahead as the Gemini 3 space capsule transported the first two astronauts into orbit around the Earth. It would also be another banner year for UFOs, unidentified flying objects, being spotted around the country.
The Lake George Mirror newspaper, not to be outdone, had its “Twilight Zone” moment, too. On September 3, 1965, the publication carried the article — “Anti-Aircraft Lights At Gaslight Village Are ‘Flying Saucers’?”
The news story came on the heels of a cluster of upstate UFO activity. A local “flap” of unidentified flying objects that may be unintentionally attributed to the region’s greatest show person — Charles R. Wood.
The entrepreneur and philanthropist owned Gaslight Village, a popular Lake George, New York tourist destination that operated from 1959–1989.
To promote the vaudeville-themed amusement park, Wood acquired two U.S. military surplus anti-aircraft searchlights. Described as “attention-getters,” the omnipotent beacons lit up the nighttime skies between 9 and 10 pm.
A public relations spokesperson for Gaslight Village noted that the illuminations generated from the two mammoth spotlights could be seen as far away as 40 miles.
The park’s media representative suggested that these lights frequently created “some interesting reflections” in the upper atmosphere. However, the park employee fell short of declaring that the giant searchlights were the cause of all local UFO sightings.
The 1965 Lake George Mirror news article also told of two area UFO sightings during a night when one of the large spotlights crisscrossed the skies.
A Corinth, NY man detected an “orange, balloon-like object” in the evening heavens. Then a mother, daughter, son, and daughter-in-law in nearby West Glens Falls reported witnessing “three orange objects” that suddenly changed into a “white light.”
Following these observations and speculation as to what caused them, the summer tourist season at Lake George came to an end, but not the oddities.
Two months later on November 9, 1965, the northeastern USA and parts of Canada were victimized by a colossal power outage. Thirty million people were without lights and other electrical power for 13 hours.
There were various reasons offered for the blackout including some UFO buffs that claimed the mishap came from “little green men” from outer space.
Some Lake Georgians probably wished Charlie Wood could have powered up a portable generator to turn on his two military surplus spotlights to brighten the darkness around the “Queen of American Lakes.”
Illustrations, from above: Film poster for the film “Earth vs. Flying Saucers” (1956, Columbia Pictures); and Gaslight Village at nighttime postcard.
Source link
