Newspaper Clipping of the Day

This story of an alleged “close encounter” (and assorted other Fortean events) appeared in the Clarksville, Tennessee “Leaf Chronicle” on October 19, 1973:

Via Newspapers.com

Reports of unidentified flying objects continued in the South Thursday night but in far less numbers than the previous night. 

At least one sighting of a strange object proved harmless. Booneville, Miss., police used a .38-caliber pistol to shoot down a large plastic balloon carrying 14 birthday candles, which, when lit, provided hot air to lift the balloon over Prentiss County.  And Gulfport, Miss., Police Chief Craig Monroe called a news conference to announce that a taxi driver who had reported that a UFO had chased his cab later admitted the story was a hoax. 

In Falkville, Ala., however, policeman Jeff Greenhaw described an encounter with a strange creature and produced pictures of him. Greenhaw said he was investigating a report of a spaceship landing in a pasture when he met a metallic looking creature. 

"He was standing there in the middle of the road," he said. "I got out of my patrol car and said, 'Howdy, stranger,' but he didn't say a word. I reached back, got my camera and started taking pictures of him." 

The policeman said he then switched on the flashing blue lights of his patrol car and the creature started "running faster than any human I ever saw." 

In Alabama, one sighting of the night was in Bullock, Friday, October 19. 1973, a County southeast of Montgomery where residents reported a "greenish glow." State troopers sent to the scene said it appeared to be clouds being caught by the rays of the sun. 

The National Scientific Balloon Facility at Palestine, Tex., announced Thursday it had launched two separate balloons on Wednesday which drifted eastward and may account for some of the UFO sightings on Wednesday night. Alfred Shipley, manager of the facility, said one balloon landed at Augusta, Ga. Shipley said the balloon was launched for the Naval Research Laboratory and was made of a plastic material that would reflect sunlight. He said the facility often sends up huge balloons, particularly in good weather.

Meanwhile, officials at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida widely publicized launchings Thursday night of high atmospheric test rockets to prevent the rockets being mistaken as UFOs. A spokesman at the base said the rockets would be visible over much of the Southeast and would release glowing clouds of red, green, blue and yellow gasses. 

There was no official explanation, though, for a mysterious filmy substance which fell over portions of northwestern Louisiana Thursday afternoon. The substance appeared like strings of cotton or silk, sometimes five to six feet long. The strings fell from a clear blue sky and were reported at Ruston, Shreveport, and Springhill.

 

After these events, things went south pretty quickly for Mr. Greenhaw.  The “Honolulu Star Bulletin,” November 23, 1973:

 

A little more than a month after Falkville Police Chief Jeff Greenhaw photographed what he believed to be a silver-suited creature from outer space, he has lost his automobile, his home and his wife. 

The 23-year-old police chief drew national attention Oct. 17 when he photographed a.metallic looking "being" after a woman called that an unidentified flying object had landed. 

Greenhaw became a national celebrity. Then he started getting threatening telephone calls. One caller told his wife of three and one-half years, "I'm going to get your husband for taking my picture." 

Greenhaw says that on Oct. 21 "My car engine blew up." Three days later, his wife left him and Greenhaw filed for divorce. It was granted. 

While Greenhaw was at a football game, his mobile home was destroyed by fire. 

"It almost seems like somebody or something wants me to leave Falkville," he said, "but I've already made up my mind that I am not going to leave." 

Greenhaw said he now believes the object he photographed was a being from an alien planet. "Why shouldn't there be life on another planet?" he asked. 

The lesson here is obvious: if you should happen to encounter a space alien, no photographs.  Extraterrestrials are obviously of the Garbo type.