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Horry Man ShootsAt “Flying Saucer99By—W. Horace CarterAll over the United States reports have been mafic of the sighting of various unusual objects in the air. now generally referred to as flying saucers. and just such a thing was reliably reported by-Lloyd C. Booth, of the Poplar-Adrian community of Horry county. this week.Booth is a 29 year old ex-scrv-iceman. a member of the Poplar Methodist church and of exceedingly high character throughout the area in which he is known. There is no doubt in the minds of those who know hirr. well, including ministers, that he is by nature truthful and of high moral integrity. What he saw was no hoax, and he had ample time to study it in great detail.Booth runs a community store and service station on highway 701 about eight miles North of Conway. He usually keeps his business open until about 11:00 which he did on the night of January 29. last Thursday.He lives with his parents a mile or so from the store and after closing the station, he drove home and arrived there at about 11:15. His mother had left his supper picpar-ed for him as usual, so he put on the coffee pot. and sat down to rcncl the paper while it was heatingA moment later, he heard one of his father’s mules neighing at the barn. A few minutes more and a second mule began causing a commotion. a mule that is not easily disturbed. Then at about ti c same moment, the chickens and a pen of ducks began squawking and Booth sensing something awry, grabbed a 22 calibre pistol and went outside to investigate.He was particularly anxious to investigate because the day before a cow of his had died suddenly and vctinarian diagnosed her cause of death as poisoning. Portions of the cow were cut up and sent oft for laboratory study to determine what type poisoningThus. 1 ^th thought perhaps some more stock was being tampered with bv some one. When he was outside the house, he went directlv to the barn and, seeing nothing, he went around behind the building. By this time it was near midnight and a full moon 'it up the sky. The eclipse of the moon on the tame night hod already completely vanished. From his vantage point there, he locked up above the top of the pine trees, and there was the strange object that at first frightened him but never kept him from fully investigating.The object was almost still, like it was drifting at a pace lower than the fast walk or a human. It was only some ten feet above the tree tops and easily visible. It was making a very low humming noise, barely detectable. Sooth, realizing he was perhaps getting the best view in history of the long discussed flying saucer. yelled loud and long for rtnnc one at the house, about 200 yards away. But the late hour had them soundly asleep, and he was not able to arrousc them.But I still wanted to know more about this thing that was hovering around out barn and with my gun in hand. I went di-I Clnintothe woods, easilycatching up with the object. I walked under it. around it. and viewed it from all sides. It was about 21 feet long and about 12 feet across, was a light greyish color and was lit up on the inside. Two places in the front resembled strange cockpits and were glassed over I could see the light inside but could see no object in there. The back also had something resembling a cockpit with n stained glass over it. Light was coming through this section but I could not see through it, Booth said.The object was uooul eight or ten feet deer. The front sloped upward at the base at an Ongje of about 60 degrees and the back was sloped upward at an angle of 40 to 50 degrees. The sides came straight down from the top for maybe four or five feet and then sloped outward and joined the base at about n 45 degree angle, Booth said. The object obviously was novel in construction and gave an overall streamlined effect something like half an egg cut from end to end.Underneath the ’saucer* was something resembling a retractable wheel, with half the wheel', possibly three feet across, extending below the base in a crescent shape. There were no markings anywhere on it because I looked hard for some Identification/'no vapor trail and I could detect no unusual odor. If simply sat there and drifted along as I ran around and around it getting just as good a look as I could. [ watched it for at least 20 minutes, maybe as much us 30 minutes.Despite Booth's yelling Tor some one to come and sec the object, he arroused no one and in desperation after this length of time, he fired his pistol straight up at the saucer at a distance of about 75 feet. I heard the bullet hit the object. It made a met a lie sound and bounced off. 1 fired again but did not hear the bullet hit. A bare instant later, the object began making considerably more noise like a large electric motor and took off at a high rate of speed at about a 65 degree angle. It kept that same course until it was completely out of sight, said Booth.He pointed out that the noise it made when it took off could have been heard easily at his house if some one had been listening for it. although it was by no means a loud noise like an aircraft of conventional design would have made.He also debunked any notion that it was a helicopter or anyother known typo aircraft. I hovebeen in helicopters and been in and around almost every type plane. This was none of them and didn't even i iintly resemble any of them. he said.Booth said that he even was reluctant to U '1 anyone about the object, even his family because of the widespread debunking of those who have reported seeing mysterious objects. However, his family had heard the shot, and he told them about what he had seen.He also told Rev. Elwell Jones. Baptist minister in Horry county, and Rev. Jones said I have known Lloyd Booth all my life. We are about the same age and grew up together. When he says he sav some-Ling. hlt; did. Atvi that's the opinion of dozens of Horry citizens who have known Booth for years. He is a Chrisl-ian man who doesn’t »t.mk or misrepresent anything, said one of his neighbors.And as a finishing touch, the cow poisoning entered the affair. At least 18 cows have died mysteriously in Horry County within the last few weeks. All have died instantaneously, some never even kicked. All have died from poisoning, of a caustic nature. There have been no early symptoms. The cows simply have fallen over and have d'ed in an instant.Two cows owned by Henry Anderson died oi poisoning less than a mile from the sighted object on the very night that Booth saw it. Botn cows were milked and fed the evening boefore. but were stone dead at milking time the next morning. Other cows have died the same way from Myrtle Beach througn Red Hill and into the Adrian and Poplar sections.And the greatest number o' hogs have died in the area in history. Some farmers have lost whole herds. One man nlonc reported losing 75. They did not die of cholera.All of which might add to the mystery. What did Booth set * Why was it there? Did it have anything to du with tie death of llorrv livestock?Homemakers Meet In New BuildingMenbeis of the Homemakers Hon.c Lemon*! rat ion held the first meeting in their newly constructed clubhouse Tues.ltty, January 20Mrs. Elbut Wright, president, presided. The devotional was given by Mrs. J. IV Spivey and rc-poits were given as follows: Garden. Mrs Austin Wright; home beautified ion, Mrs.A. Jernigan; and education. Mrs. Humphrey Howell.Mrs. Gas lo Powell assistant home agent, envc a demonstration entitled How To Buy Kitchen Tools with Iht assistance of Miss Frances Long, homo manngomen* leader.Refreshments were enjovccl during the social period.Booth said.He continued, There was no visible means of support for the object. It had no propeller, there were no exhaust fumes showing.MONTHLY REPORTReport of the Register of Deedsfor the month of January. 1943:546 Chattels at 50c$273.00400Liens at 50c200.00172Deeds ....... 357.75241Mortgages622.00428Irreg. Instr'mts460.1572Misc. Instr'mts . .... 82.805 Marriage License. 20.0012015.70
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Tabor City Tribune
Tabor City, North Carolina, US
Wed, Feb 04, 1953
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