August 11, 2025 • 7 mins
On the morning of April 17, 1966, two sheriff deputies, Dale Spaur and Wilbur “Barney” Neff, chased a UFO from Portage County, Ohio, for 86 miles all the way into Pennsylvania. They chased the object at speeds ranging from 80 mph to 105 mph. According to them, there were times when the object actually stopped and waited for them to catch up to it. Other law enforcement officers witnessed the object after being alerted by radio communications between the deputies and their dispatcher. According to Project Blue Book Director Hector Quintanilla, the officers chased the planet Venus. Spaur stuck to the story that they had chased a physical object as others went silent, and he ended up losing his job and his family. A case that is remarkably similar is reported to have occurred in June of that year, and the officer who reported it also seems to have suffered for speaking out, but to a lesser extent than Spaur.There is an article (page 3 of the pdf) by Bob Lindsey in the October 27, 1977, Richmond, Virginia, Times Dispatch headlined “UFO Sighting Changed Stevens’ Life.” Under the headline, there is a quote from William L. Stevens Jr.: “I often stop and wonder if you’re better off when you see something like that, to keep your mouth shut.” Read more →
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
In nineteen sixty six UFO police chase report by Charles Lear.
On the morning of April seventeenth, nineteen sixty six, two
(00:21):
sheriff deputies Dale Spar and Wilbur Barney Neff chased a
UFO from Portage County, Ohio for eighty six miles all
the way into Pennsylvania. They chased the object at speeds
ranging from eighty miles per hour to one hundred and
five miles per hour. According to them, there were times
when the object actually stopped and waited for them to
(00:42):
catch up to it. Other law enforcement officers witnessed the
object after being alerted by radio communications between the deputies
and their dispatcher. According to Project Blue Book director Hector Quintinia,
the officers chased the planet Venus. Spar stuck to the
story that they chased the physical object as others went silent,
(01:02):
and he ended up losing his job in his family.
A case that is remarkably similar is reported to have
occurred in June of that year, and the officer who
reported it also seems to have suffered for speaking out,
but to a lesser extent than Spar. There is an
article by Bob Lindsay in the October twenty seventh, nineteen
seventy seven Richmond, Virginia Times Dispatch headlined UFO Sighting Changed
(01:26):
Stephens's Life. Under the headline there is a quote from
William L. Stephens Junior. I often stop and wonder if
you're better off when you see something like that. To
keep your mouth shut. According to Lindsay, at three thirty
a m. On June twenty fourth, nineteen sixty six, Stephens,
a patrolman, was approaching the Ladies Mile Road intersection in
(01:48):
his police car when he noticed some green and yellow
lights in the air over the fair grounds, where there
had been a carnival set up a few days before.
The lights seemed strange to him, and he drove into
the county, passed the city limits to check them out.
He then saw an object shrouded and mist encircled with
lights and shaped like a blimp. According to Lindsey, Stephens
(02:11):
said it was hovering about two hundred feet of a
Richmond and Rico turnpike near the surface entrance to the
fair grounds. He is quoted saying that he picked up
his mic, went towards the object, turned on his red
light and his spotlight, and when his spotlight hit it.
He could see that it was in its own cloud,
like a fog or a mist. He said it immediately
(02:33):
turned away from him, and that it was shaped exactly
like a dirigible, but it didn't have a gondola or
anything under it. According to Stephen's the object moved off
and followed the road at tree top level as he
followed under it, and he asked the despatcher to notify
bird Field and get radar on. He said, I look
(02:54):
down at my speedometer. I'm running fifty. It's running fifty.
I'm running sixty. It's running sixty. So he kept it up.
It was just like it wanted me to follow him.
According to Lindsay, the chase went on for almost five
miles and was the last chase Stephens would be involved in,
as he was taken off the street and assigned to
(03:15):
police lock up, which he considered a demotion. Lindsay adds
that someone asked him if he saw any little green
man with horns. He says that nothing was picked up
by the radar at bird Field and that Stephens had
nothing but his word that he saw something. Lindsey tells
the reader that Stephens was visited by an Air Force
(03:36):
representative and was questioned by the National Investigations Committee on
Aerial Phenomena NICAP, a private group. Stevens is said to
have wondered if what he saw was an experimental craft
being tested by the government. According to Lindsay, about a
month after the chase, Stephens got some corroboration for his
(03:57):
story from two county policemen who spoke anonymously with reporters,
saying they saw a light a few miles from where
the object disappeared at the end of Stephens's chase. They
said it, in Lindsay's words, moved through the sky, stopped,
moved again, and frequently changed directions. Lindsay goes into more
(04:17):
detail about the chase and quotes Stephens extensively. He says
the chase got up to one hundred miles per hour
and that Stephens ran a stop sign. He quotes Stephens'
as saying, I came through the intersection at about one
hundred miles an hour, and by the grace of God,
nothing was coming. It never dawned on me that I'd
run this stop sign until after it was all over with.
(04:40):
He said he wasn't scared until then. Lindsey adds more
details about the craft in the same manner, saying that
it stayed about two hundred feet in the air and
that Stephens could see with his spotlight that it was
a dull gray ship. He quotes Stephens' as saying it
was one hundred maybe two hundred feet long and thirty
five feet high. According to Stephens, when it was over
(05:03):
the cemetery, past the intersection of Meadowbridge and Shady Grove Roads,
it left going from a hundred miles an hour to
thal Well. It had to be thousands of miles an
hour in seconds. It was out of sight. According to Lindsay,
Stephens was now a police dispatcher, but wanted to be
a policeman, and he thought he would be if it
(05:24):
weren't for the UFO. The final three paragraphs are Stephens
being quoted saying he sometimes thinks he should have turned
his car around, gone back to Richmond and forgotten the
whole thing. He explains, because people still don't want to
believe it. They want to joke about it, and it's
nothing to joke about. He says, I wasn't a UFO buff,
(05:47):
but now I am because I've seen it and I
know what I saw. It seems Stephens wasn't the only
one to see a UFO over the Richmond area that year.
He is quoted in order to corroborate another witness's story
in an article in the October twenty ninth, nineteen ninety
nine Times Dispatch by Mark Bones head lined Sheriff reveals
(06:08):
nineteen sixty six u f O encounter and death of dog.
The story concerns a report by Enrico County Sheriff A. D.
Toby Matthews that on October ninth, nineteen sixty six, he
is said to have been a road sergeant at the time,
he saw a large UFO that was thirty feet in
diameter hovering over his farm and Verena, Virginia. According to Bones,
(06:32):
Matthews said the object turned slightly, put out a burst
of light, and took off like a bullet after he's
shown his flashlight on it. Matthews is said to have
suspected that whatever was inside was responsible for the death
of his German shepherd, who was found dead with his
collar removed, on the road in front of Matthews's driveway.
(06:54):
According to Bones, more than half a dozen people, including
three Richmond area police officers reported seeing similar objects hovering
over the city Enrico and Goochland County, according to news
accounts in The Times Dispatch and the Richmond Newsleader. He
says that the Newsleader was told by a Richmond policeman
(07:15):
that he chased the UFO in his patrol car. He
quotes Stevens from a July twenty first, nineteen sixty six
news story as saying, if I live to be one hundred,
I'll never forget it. Charles Lear is the author of
The Flying Saucer Investigators, available in its second edition at
Amazon dot com.
In nineteen sixty six UFO police chase report by Charles Lear.
On the morning of April seventeenth, nineteen sixty six, two
(00:21):
sheriff deputies Dale Spar and Wilbur Barney Neff chased a
UFO from Portage County, Ohio for eighty six miles all
the way into Pennsylvania. They chased the object at speeds
ranging from eighty miles per hour to one hundred and
five miles per hour. According to them, there were times
when the object actually stopped and waited for them to
(00:42):
catch up to it. Other law enforcement officers witnessed the
object after being alerted by radio communications between the deputies
and their dispatcher. According to Project Blue Book director Hector Quintinia,
the officers chased the planet Venus. Spar stuck to the
story that they chased the physical object as others went silent,
(01:02):
and he ended up losing his job in his family.
A case that is remarkably similar is reported to have
occurred in June of that year, and the officer who
reported it also seems to have suffered for speaking out,
but to a lesser extent than Spar. There is an
article by Bob Lindsay in the October twenty seventh, nineteen
seventy seven Richmond, Virginia Times Dispatch headlined UFO Sighting Changed
(01:26):
Stephens's Life. Under the headline there is a quote from
William L. Stephens Junior. I often stop and wonder if
you're better off when you see something like that. To
keep your mouth shut. According to Lindsay, at three thirty
a m. On June twenty fourth, nineteen sixty six, Stephens,
a patrolman, was approaching the Ladies Mile Road intersection in
(01:48):
his police car when he noticed some green and yellow
lights in the air over the fair grounds, where there
had been a carnival set up a few days before.
The lights seemed strange to him, and he drove into
the county, passed the city limits to check them out.
He then saw an object shrouded and mist encircled with
lights and shaped like a blimp. According to Lindsey, Stephens
(02:11):
said it was hovering about two hundred feet of a
Richmond and Rico turnpike near the surface entrance to the
fair grounds. He is quoted saying that he picked up
his mic, went towards the object, turned on his red
light and his spotlight, and when his spotlight hit it.
He could see that it was in its own cloud,
like a fog or a mist. He said it immediately
(02:33):
turned away from him, and that it was shaped exactly
like a dirigible, but it didn't have a gondola or
anything under it. According to Stephen's the object moved off
and followed the road at tree top level as he
followed under it, and he asked the despatcher to notify
bird Field and get radar on. He said, I look
(02:54):
down at my speedometer. I'm running fifty. It's running fifty.
I'm running sixty. It's running sixty. So he kept it up.
It was just like it wanted me to follow him.
According to Lindsay, the chase went on for almost five
miles and was the last chase Stephens would be involved in,
as he was taken off the street and assigned to
(03:15):
police lock up, which he considered a demotion. Lindsay adds
that someone asked him if he saw any little green
man with horns. He says that nothing was picked up
by the radar at bird Field and that Stephens had
nothing but his word that he saw something. Lindsey tells
the reader that Stephens was visited by an Air Force
(03:36):
representative and was questioned by the National Investigations Committee on
Aerial Phenomena NICAP, a private group. Stevens is said to
have wondered if what he saw was an experimental craft
being tested by the government. According to Lindsay, about a
month after the chase, Stephens got some corroboration for his
(03:57):
story from two county policemen who spoke anonymously with reporters,
saying they saw a light a few miles from where
the object disappeared at the end of Stephens's chase. They
said it, in Lindsay's words, moved through the sky, stopped,
moved again, and frequently changed directions. Lindsay goes into more
(04:17):
detail about the chase and quotes Stephens extensively. He says
the chase got up to one hundred miles per hour
and that Stephens ran a stop sign. He quotes Stephens'
as saying, I came through the intersection at about one
hundred miles an hour, and by the grace of God,
nothing was coming. It never dawned on me that I'd
run this stop sign until after it was all over with.
(04:40):
He said he wasn't scared until then. Lindsey adds more
details about the craft in the same manner, saying that
it stayed about two hundred feet in the air and
that Stephens could see with his spotlight that it was
a dull gray ship. He quotes Stephens' as saying it
was one hundred maybe two hundred feet long and thirty
five feet high. According to Stephens, when it was over
(05:03):
the cemetery, past the intersection of Meadowbridge and Shady Grove Roads,
it left going from a hundred miles an hour to
thal Well. It had to be thousands of miles an
hour in seconds. It was out of sight. According to Lindsay,
Stephens was now a police dispatcher, but wanted to be
a policeman, and he thought he would be if it
(05:24):
weren't for the UFO. The final three paragraphs are Stephens
being quoted saying he sometimes thinks he should have turned
his car around, gone back to Richmond and forgotten the
whole thing. He explains, because people still don't want to
believe it. They want to joke about it, and it's
nothing to joke about. He says, I wasn't a UFO buff,
(05:47):
but now I am because I've seen it and I
know what I saw. It seems Stephens wasn't the only
one to see a UFO over the Richmond area that year.
He is quoted in order to corroborate another witness's story
in an article in the October twenty ninth, nineteen ninety
nine Times Dispatch by Mark Bones head lined Sheriff reveals
(06:08):
nineteen sixty six u f O encounter and death of dog.
The story concerns a report by Enrico County Sheriff A. D.
Toby Matthews that on October ninth, nineteen sixty six, he
is said to have been a road sergeant at the time,
he saw a large UFO that was thirty feet in
diameter hovering over his farm and Verena, Virginia. According to Bones,
(06:32):
Matthews said the object turned slightly, put out a burst
of light, and took off like a bullet after he's
shown his flashlight on it. Matthews is said to have
suspected that whatever was inside was responsible for the death
of his German shepherd, who was found dead with his
collar removed, on the road in front of Matthews's driveway.
(06:54):
According to Bones, more than half a dozen people, including
three Richmond area police officers reported seeing similar objects hovering
over the city Enrico and Goochland County, according to news
accounts in The Times Dispatch and the Richmond Newsleader. He
says that the Newsleader was told by a Richmond policeman
(07:15):
that he chased the UFO in his patrol car. He
quotes Stevens from a July twenty first, nineteen sixty six
news story as saying, if I live to be one hundred,
I'll never forget it. Charles Lear is the author of
The Flying Saucer Investigators, available in its second edition at
Amazon dot com.
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