Subject: Big Explosion in McMinnville, Tennessee (fwd)
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 21:36:12 -0500
Organization: OBC
Lines: 110
Keywords: UFO
The following is a transcription of a brief segment of the Laura
Lee Show from KVI, Seattle. Laura is interviewing Peter Davenport
of the National UFO Reporting Center. The date is Saturday, 14
January, 1995. Earlier, I mistakenly identified the guest as
Michael Strenek of MUFON Canada. Sorry!
[This segment was preceded by discussion of a large number of
sightings in Michigan]
PD. Actually, it [the Michigan incident] was a prelude to
something that took place just a week ago tonight out in
McMinnville, Tennessee. I took a report about 9:27 pm. last
Saturday night from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.
They�re based in Nashville. And interestingly, they had been
directed by the US Air Force to the hotline out here in Seattle.
Apparently - and you can rest, uh, more soundly tonight knowing
that I apparently am the first line defense against exploding
UFO�s, because last Saturday night, there apparently was an
*immense* explosion very near McMinnville, Tennessee -- that�s in
Warren County, just east of Nashville -- that caused the Warren
County Sheriff�s Office to be activated, the Tennessee Emergency
Management Agency to be activated, people were launching aircraft
to look for the fragments or fires or injuries or property damage.
It apparently was quite an explosion. I received a seven-page fax
from the TEMA -- Tennessee Emergency Management Agency -- and I�ve
had a number of phone calls from a number of people about this,
and it certainly took place.
LL. Now, you were called because strange lights, explosions in
the sky -- but do you personally think it had something to do with
a UFO, or couldn�t it have been some other phenomenon? Someone
set off a bomb, or a small meteor came down, uh, there�s many
causes of explosions.
PD. Uh, that�s true -- a good point, and I skipped over part of
the -- the -- the most important part of the story. The
explosion occurred several minutes after the Warren County
Sheriff�s Office emergency dispatch was *swamped* with UFO calls.
People were seeing saucers, they were seeing bat-like or
triangular ships. And one of the objects that was seen descending
to earth in Warren County, Tennessee, was a bright cylinder that
was positioned vertically, that was seen by -- from many vantage
points. I received a map showing the lines of sight from, uh,
perceivers or witnesses to this event. Lines of sight from people
who saw it. The object descended to the ground level, after which
there was an *immense* explosion -- a white flash, and blue
burning fragments of material were seen thrown high into the sky
over McMinnville.
LL. Did you ask a scientist how do you get a blue burning
fragment? I mean -- red hot, we know about. You can get blue
flames or white flames, but blue flames, could you even
guesstimate the temperature, therefore the kind of material used -
- you can begin to piece these little factts together?
PD. You�re full of good questions tonight, because that�s the
reason I said "blue burning fragments". Because exactly as you
state, the temperature is a function -- er -- the, the
incandescence, the color of the burning fragment is a result of
its temperature. And the fact that it was blue makes it very
mysterious. The, uh, I was told by TEMA that the airport manager
of the McMinnville, Tennessee airport, after he saw the explosion,
jumped in his own airplane, and took off, and searched the area
for about six minutes, can�t -- not believing his eyes that there
wasn�t some kind of visible damage or destruction or fire or
something in process there.
LL. So, nobody found any damaged buildings, nobody found a hole
in the ground, ah, um, nothing.
PD. That�s my understanding.
LL. It was just -- and nobody found fragments.
PD. That�s my understanding.
LL. You don�t know if some government agency, or *somebody* came
in. Or do you?
PD. Well, I do. And we�ve had -- we have a number of
investigators to whom I have handed this information out in that
area. As you know, the, the hotline here, the National UFO
Reporting Center does not have its own investigators. All we are
is a clearing house for information. We take in reports and we
try to turn that infromation around on short notice to
investigators or interested parties -- ah, in this case, out in
that area, that neck of the woods. And we�ve had a number of
investigators skulking around Warren County trying to find out
what�s going on. The one thing we do know, uh, reasonably
certainly at this point, is there have been some federal
investigators circulating in that area -- we presume they�re
federal -- telling all of the authorities to say nothing about
this event -- for what reason, I don�t know, but it comes from a
very, very good source.
LL. You never know, I guess, when the next Roswell will happen,
and you never know when it�s gonna happen in your own back yard,
is that what you�re trying to tell us here?
PD. Well I don�t know. I may have seemed to have implied that,
but it�s only inadvertent, because frankly, I really don�t know
what happened there, except to say that the events that were
described *before* the explosion apparently are very similar to
what was reported just three or four days earlier out in the heart
of Michigan. In point of fact, I took, six nights running, Laura,
I took telephone calls all times of night and day, uh, about bat-
like or delta-shaped ships. It started on the first of January
that was my, uh, New Year�s greeting.
[The discussion continues regarding sightings elsewhere]
