Wytheville, Virginia (1987-1988)
Preston Dennett:
On October 7, 1987, Wytheville, Virginia (a small town of 8000 residents) became the target of a UFO wave of epic proportions. Literally overnight, hundreds of people began to report UFOs in the skies. These were not just anomalous lights in the night sky, but large, silent, structured crafts at treetop level. After airing a 60-second UFO story, newsman Danny Gordon of WYVE radio in Wytheville found himself fielding hundreds of calls and was pulled into a UFO investigation he never meant to follow.
Over the next week, the calls continued to flood in, so Danny (with an associate) set out onto the streets of Wytheville to see the UFOs himself. To his shock, he did. The next day, he saw them again. This time he was able to capture photographs. Danny quickly began contacting various authorities to get some answers. He called every branch of the military he could think of. He called NORAD, the Pentagon, Langley AFB in Virginia; nobody had any information.
The UFO wave continued to rage. People reported all kinds of craft: saucers, cigar-shaped objects, spheres, egg-shaped craft, orbs, and weird plane-shaped craft, all perfectly silent. People reported being woken up in their homes, craft landing in their fields, cars being chased down the road. Some believed these were secret military craft, some were convinced they were extraterrestrial.
Danny contacted Virginia state officials: the governor, Senators, representatives, heads of aerospace technology; and found himself stonewalled at every turn. Reporters and television stations across the nation converged on the small town, eager to hear the story of the small town invaded by UFOs. Danny Gordon was besieged with interview requests and Wytheville citizens demanding answers. The wave spread beyond Wytheville to surrounding cities. Day after day, hundreds of people continued to report a wide variety of UFOs.
With his co-worker, reporter Paul Dellinger, Danny Gordon organized a press conference, and then a UFO conference, which brought more attention to the UFOs. As the months passed, the wave showed no signs of stopping as the hundreds of reports mounted to thousands. Citizens reported an increase of unmarked black helicopters and military planes canvassing the area. Several people saw NASA vehicles, who apparently had covertly joined the investigation.
Danny Gordon quickly became overwhelmed. He received unmarked letters warning him that he was in danger of being rubbed out. He received death threats. His phone was tapped. His house was broken into, and photo negatives stolen. He began losing weight. His hair thinned. He couldn’t sleep. His marriage suffered. All his efforts to get answers and conclude the investigation failed as still more reports came in.
As 1988 rolled around, the sightings continued as strong as ever. Danny held more UFO conferences and brought in more researchers and speakers to help solve the Wytheville UFO mystery. But still, no answers were forthcoming. All branches of the military denied any involvement and claimed to have no information. The citizens of Wytheville remained divided about the nature of the phenomenon, whether it was military or extraterrestrial, but all agreed on one thing: something unusual was flying over their town.
Danny continued to investigate the wave. He wrote a series of articles, winning him multiple journalism awards. Still, the mainstream press largely ignored the story. One day, Danny was rushed to the hospital with chest pains and shortness of breath. What he thought was a heart attack turned out to be esophageal spasms brought on by stress, pour diet and lack of sleep. Danny knew he had to back away from the investigations.
This was easier said than done. By mid-1988, the flood of encounters began to slow down, or Wytheville residents simply stopped reporting them. Danny was still in high demand for interviews and receiving UFO reports. Eventually the program Unsolved Mysteries visited Wytheville and filmed a segment about the activity. By the end of 1988, the wave seemed to come to an end.
Along with reporter Paul Dellinger, Danny Gordon penned a book about the wave titled “Don’t Look Up! The Real Story Behind the Virginia Sightings. Ultimately, the mystery of the Wytheville UFO wave was never solved. Following these extraordinary events, Wytheville holds the annual UFO Fest, commemorating and celebrating the wave that put their small town on the map.
YouTube link:
https://youtu.be/S5luU8W-X2Y?si=evmUH1GzIKAm0OQm