How often do you get to experience a UFO, or unidentified flying object, in your backyard? On this date in 1966, newspapers from the state reported on an 11-year-old boy in Sargent County who got to do just that.
A few days earlier, around 7:30 a.m., Emanuel Rotenberger’s son Randy saw what could only be described as a saucer land in the field. Describing the scene, Randy said he saw some flashing lights and then an object in the sky that looked like two bowls put together. He said it was silver-colored, with red and green lights. It made a noise like a whistle and a hum together. Randy said it was a different sound than an airplane. He initially thought it was an airplane, but the noises were different from other airplanes he had heard.
The next day, holes were found in the Rotenberger’s fields, about 300 yards from the farmhouse. The holes were measured at 12 inches in diameter and about 5 inches deep and were slightly tapered. A neighboring farmer, Willie Nelson, who measured the holes, said they were definitely formed by something pressing into the ground, not dug. These holes were not seen right away because it had been raining the day Randy saw the object, and nobody went out into the fields.
Unsure what had made these holes in the field, and not quite sure it was a spaceship, Cliff Melore, president of the Melore Manufacturing Company, asked General Homer Goebel, commander of the North Dakota National Guard base in Fargo, to come see the holes. General Goebel was not sure what had made them either, but he was less likely to think it was a spaceship. Because of the rain that was falling that day, he said it could have been lightning or “ball lightning.” A report on the holes and Randy’s story, General Goebel said, would be sent to the Air Force in Washington, D.C.
So, what did Randy see? It was never reported what the object was or what caused the holes in the ground. This sighting in Sargent County was one of many UFO sightings in North Dakota and the United States in the 1960s that sparked interest and intrigue among Americans.
Dakota Datebook by Ashley Thronson
Sources:
- “Gwinner Has First Class Mystery After Boy Sights ‘Flying Saucer or Something’”. Forum. September 17, 1966.
- “UFO Sighted Near Stirum”. Sargent County Teller. September 20, 1966.
