true account by Samuel M. Sherman

In 1961 I saw and photographed an illuminated domed disc over New York
City. I was treated with ridicule then and didn't like it. I had three other
witnesses to this event. I planned to do a UFO documentary in the 1960's
on this subject and use some of the stills and motion picture footage
photographed.

At the time I was more interested in going to LA to make dramatic films,
which I did. I came back to my old project in 1992. I had to endure the slings
and arrows of ridicule from friends, and even business associates working
on this film, now called Beyond This Earth.

I decided that I needed hard evidence that the subject was a real one,
especially evidence from government agencies, that would have credibility,
it they had any connection to this subject.

From December 1992 to about June 1994 we filmed interviews, staged
reenactments, obtained unique UFO footage, filmed unique UFO footage,
and even sent up a plane to chase and film UFOs from the air. (The plane
succeeded in its mission, but that is another story.)

Having that success, I felt we were on a roll and more real events would
take place which we would cover, but they did not. Not knowing if what we
filmed in Northern California posed a threat to the public, I felt we should
make an official report on it. Which we did.

This led to the suggestion that we go to various government agencies
through the Freedom of Information Act and otherwise.

This has been a long, tedious process because we found out that we could
classify the people we were in contact with into three categories, regarding
the UFO phenomenon:

1.They knew nothing and couldn't help at all.
2.They knew nothing but wanted to help and were pro-release and
moved us along.
3.They knew something and didn't want to help or encourage us.

Even still, we obtained the following de-classified materials, related to the
UFO subject: Over 4000 pages of paper documents and correspondence;
still photographs, radar photos, motion picture film, videotapes and audio
tapes. Audio tapes?? Who was interested in that? We all wanted to see
something.

Well, it turned out that the sounds presented some
fantastic images all their own. I reviewed the audio
materials last, as I had shelved them for months, I
wanted visuals. What a mistake! I listened to six
hours of confusing audio recordings from Edwards
Air Force Base from the night of October 7, 1965
in which it sounded like a UFO alert was taking
place over the base with 12 strange luminous
objects coming down over the runway of one of our nation's most secure
test facilities. This was/is the place where they fly the black, classified
projects. They know what they are and what planes, helicopters, stars,
weather balloons, planets and satellites are.

So what were they getting excited about? It was difficult to tell on the six
hours of tapes. These tapes were de-classified, but in a form called
"scrambled release" - all chopped up out of sequence, so they made no
sense at all. I knew there was a story in there somewhere.

Between the chopped up editing and the overlay of noise, something very
important lay in waiting. I decided to analyze the tapes for possible use in a
segment in Beyond This Earth.

I took eight months in my own audio studio editing 1/4 inch audio tapes,
after signal processing them in computer to remove noise. I got to know the
tapes so well, I felt I almost knew the people on the tapes, which I would in
time.

Now, what were these tapes and why were they made? In 1965 the Air
Force ran large reels of recording tapes which recorded all of the signals
from Radar.

Then if an accident or problem took place, the Radar could be re-played like
running a video tape to figure out what took place. In the case of special
events a track on these radar tapes could be used to record voice
transmissions at the air base.

This included all Phone Patches, Base-to-Base Communications and
Ground- or Tower-to-Air Radio. Now this is what took place on the night of
October 7, 1965 at Edwards Air Force Base. By putting the tapes into
chronology and doing further research the story emerged.

At approximately 12:30AM, the Tower Operator at Edwards (a/k/a Edwards
Tower) - Tech Sgt. Charles "Chuck" Sorrels saw a group of luminous
objects flashing red, white, and blue or green light coming over the field. His
job as an air traffic controller taught him to be watchful, so he could identify
incoming planes. when these objects started to do unusual maneuvers, he
knew this was out of the ordinary and called the Air Defense Command - in
this case a unit known as LAADS (The Los Angeles Air Defense Sector).

Major Struble at LAADS ordered the recordings to be made--now we hear
all this taking place on the actual tapes. He involved NORAD and the
following other air bases- NORTON, HAMILTON, GEORGE and MARCH.

The major wanted to send planes up after the objects but could not do this
until a CAPTAIN at Edwards approved sending up the planes. This Captain
was the . . . get this . . . UFO officer (pronounced Yoo-fo) officer in charge
on the base.

This was apparently more than just a job
classification for reporting sightings, but he had to
request the plane or planes go up, from the 28th
Air Division at Hamilton, or they would not go up.
In short the Air Defense Command needed HIS
authority.

Well, here we are: the UFO subject, which we have heard does not exist,
has its own UFO officers . . . how strange.

There were no officers on base for the other paranormal pursuits - Demon
Officers, Ghost Officers or Leprechaun Officers.

Once I started editing the tapes into some kind of sequence, everybody
wanted to hear them. I then started making some cassettes as samples, and
everybody wanted them. I gave many away and was encouraged to go
further with my research. I did.

I found Chuck Sorrels, who authenticated the event and recorded an audio
interview for my tape verifying the details.

I went to about a dozen military agencies, and they helped with the
research. Eventually I put this together into a 54-minute audio documentary
on audio cassette, along with a copy of Air Force written documentation, in
a large vinyl display case and called the final program "THE EDWARDS
AIR FORCE BASE ENCOUNTER."

I have had great positive response to this work. Where I have made feature
films for theatres for many years, and do have some fans, nothing I ever
worked on yielded this response. Apparently many people, like myself, had
been researching the UFO subject seriously, and were ridiculed by friends
and family.

They, as I, needed some hard evidence to show/play for others, to gain new
respect. I have been told that people are getting this tape, inviting their
friends over and having a UFO party playing the tape to the amazement of
all present.

That is what has been going on. The media caught onto this. I have been
interviewed on numerous radio and TV programs on this subject and
Paramount flew me out to California to appear in and work on a two-part
"Sightings" episode on the Edwards tapes. We filmed in the Mojave Desert
near Edwards AFB, where the original event took place.

They were very pleased with how it turned out and got good reaction to it. I
have also sent copies of the documentary back to official agencies, with
positive reaction, on a person-to-person basis.

I think many people want to get this UFO information out to the
public. One well-known airline pilot, who is also a UFO
investigator, sent me a nice letter when he finally got our tape
and said: "When I first heard of your tape, I said to myself, who
needs this? How wrong I was. This is solid evidence in a field
where there is precious little (evidence)."

Since this has only been a side issue away from the production of my film,
this tape is not yet available in stores, although we have had requests for it.
Many people have contacted me who wanted to obtain it and said it was
hard to find. So, we set up a mail order division to make the tape available,
generally on short turn-around.

The tapes are guaranteed to be authentic. I am still researching the subject
for a two-hour TV special on the same topic and an interactive CD-ROM on
it. These programs will take this subject and broaden out the events of
10-7-65 and go forward and back in time. On the tapes the UFOs were
spotted on Radar, Heightfinder Radar, Weather Radar and Visual
Observations from many locations--ground, towers, tops of buildings, and
planes. On the tapes we hear one F-106 pilot chasing a UFO up to 40,000
feet. However, my research shows that one plane may have crashed and a
third plane also sent up.

The six hours of tape I received, I believe to have been cut down from over
40 hours of original tapes . . . what could be on the rest of them?? I am
seeking further research on this event and connecting events at Edwards
and related bases.

I am also seeking to locate Major Struble, Captain John Balent (the UFO
officer) and others involved with this event which was given a Code Name:
"The Incident."

There were some civilians near Edwards who also saw something and
some stories in local papers, which I would like to obtain copies of. Many
other events like this have taken place at other locations, but the
information is . . . where? The existence of these tapes serves to prove that
the entire subject is real. I am continuing to work on it . . .

Samuel M. Sherman