Michigan 'swamp gas' sightings
- Date
- 20 Mar 1966
- Place
- Marshland near Dexter, and Hillsdale College arboretum, southern Michigan, United States
- Record
- Curated case
- Assessment
- Contested
- Evidence strength
What was reported
After a week of police and public reports of lights over Washtenaw County, on 20 March 1966 Frank Mannor, his family and responding deputies near Dexter reported a glowing object over a swamp, and the next night 87 Hillsdale College women and a civil defence director watched lights over a swampy arboretum for hours. Project Blue Book's scientific consultant J. Allen Hynek suggested at a crowded press conference that some of the lights could be marsh gas. The explanation was widely ridiculed, Congressman Gerald Ford called for hearings, and the furore led to the first congressional UFO briefing in April 1966 and to the Condon study. Hynek said swamp gas was offered only as a possible explanation for some of the reports, and on 6 April 1966 he told the House Armed Services Committee that UFO reports deserved serious scientific study.
What officials concluded
Tentative explanation
Possibly swamp gas, for some reports (Hynek for Project Blue Book)
Strongest ordinary reading
Mixed: marsh-gas luminescence is doubtful; stars, aircraft and a contagious flap of reports explain most
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- Yes: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- Yes: Civilian
- No: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- Yes: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- Yes: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Outside sources
- Wikipedia: Michigan 'swamp gas' UFO reportsen.wikipedia.org
On the map
42.34° N, 83.89° W, plotted at the centre of the region named in the record
Show on the map