ON ROUTE 66: UFO'S along the Mother Road

As author of SOONER SAUCERS: OKLAHOMA UFOS 1947-1969 I explored the reports of strange things in the skies over Oklahoma.  As a relocated, I have been looking for tales associated with Route 66.

For many years a private, static display of found art sculpture has garnered a lot of interest for people traveling the route to glimpse a little Americana and experience some of the feel of the historic past the road represents.   Now, the UFO sign points to a private yard that is a little overgrown and neglected but that black and white sign proclaiming "UFO" still causes interest.

So, for the curious or unaware there have been reports of UFO's in and around the Stroud area of Oklahoma and Route 66.

Here is one: 

In 1956, 5-10 miles south of Stroud, on January 19, at 1651z (daylight) an F84f pilot observed four objects moving east for about 3-5 seconds. 

He observed that the four objects were the size of a bushel basket at arm's length and that were a brilliant emerald green. There were 3 smaller objects white and silver trailing. He tried to establish a fix on radar but was unsuccessful and he noted he had never seen any meteor as bright or as green as the object he saw.  Additionally, they followed a straight and level flight heading east. Meteors often follow a descending arc or a straight falling type of trajectory as they plummet to earth.

So what was the extremely fast, level and multi-colored set of objects the pilot had observed? The explanation

provided by the Air Force and Project Blue Book was that he had observed a rare daylight meteor, a true transient celestial body,  but one that was a perfectly natural occurrence.

I will leave you to decide if that was an adequate explanation....

 In August of 1965 - the summer called the summer of the saucer by some - there were reports from Minnesota to Mexico of things zipping by in the skies. The Air Force tried to limit it to a "Great Plains" event caused by "temperature inversions" and mistaken sightings of the planet Jupiter. The Oklahoma City Planetarium staff on hearing that last one had to take exception indicating that the planet Jupiter was not even visible on this side of the globe at the times reported. The Air Force would then backtrack and say they were applying that explanation for events in Wyoming and Nebraska but did not seem to understand the same facts would apply for those locations. So, they ditched the whole planet and stars explanations and wowed the locals with highly technical explanations of widespread temperature inversions that would result in hundreds of sightings of groups of objects moving across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Wyoming and further north.

Several of the groups of objects buzzed in diamond formations on a line that more or less followed the Turnpike between Oklahoma City and Tulsa. They were sighted by law enforcement and private citizens all across the area in Seminole, Cushing, Chandler, Stillwater, Bristow, Stroud and elsewhere. At the same time others were reported in Woodward, Texas and the western plains of Kansas and some were keeping highly trained guards at the top security missile silo stations near Cheyenne and the ammunition center at Sydney, Nebraska.

I am still digging out stories. If you have one to share send to Marilyn A. Hudson, Author.

ON ROUTE 66: Stroud, Oklahoma

 They are termed "ghost signs" - those lingering imprints of old graphic work on brick and stone edifices. They advertise long defunct businesses or - like this one - well known and loved products. Some are faint enough to seem to be disappearing before the eye, hence the term "ghost" and others are being restored to capture and share some of the vitality such ads once added to bustling small towns.

Along Route 66 in Oklahoma are many such "ghost signs" and each one has a story. I look forward to gathering some of them and sharing the happenings and history along the "Mother Road" as it wends its way through Oklahoma.

Marilyn A. Hudson, Author and Researcher

Stroud, Oklahoma

A Literary Landmark in Stroud, Oklahoma

From a 2013 press release: 

Hello, Friends of Libraries in Oklahoma. We hope you will join us for Oklahoma’s next Literary Landmark dedication on Sunday, April 28 during National Poetry Month. The late poet Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel (1918-2007) will be honored at 2:30 p.m. at Stroud Public Schools, C. B. Wright Auditorium. Literary Landmarks are a national program which started in 1989. 

 

Sites honor a deceased literary figure, author, or his or her work. www.ala.org/united/products_services/literarylandmarks

 

The dedication will feature author and Route 66 expert Michael Wallis as emcee, author Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, film screening “Down an Old Road: The Poetic Life of Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel” by Chris Simon, poetry readings and award presentations for the Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel Poetry Contest, and music by the Stroud High School Choir.

 

Born near Stroud in 1918, Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel was the daughter of Benjamin and Anna McDaniel. Her father was a sharecropper and her mother was a homemaker. Her siblings were Verne, Roy, Allen, Keith, Harold, Opal, and Kenneth. Wilma attended schools in Lincoln and Creek counties until the effects of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl led her family to migrate to California in 1936.

 

Friends of Libraries in Oklahoma (FOLIO) www.okfriends.net has dedicated 10 other Oklahoma Literary Landmark sites: 

 

Woody Guthrie, Okemah (2001); 

Ralph Ellison Library, Oklahoma City (2002);

Lynn Riggs, Claremore Public Library (2003); 

Angie Debo, Marshall City Hall and OSU Library, Stillwater (2004); 

John Berryman, McAlester Public Library (2005); 

Sequoyah’s Cabin, near Sallisaw (2006); 

Will Rogers Memorial Museum, Claremore (2007); 

John Joseph Mathews, Osage Tribal Museum, Pawhuska (2009); and 

Woodrow Wilson Rawls, Tahlequah Public Library (2011).

 

The Stroud Public Library is co-sponsoring the Literary Landmark Dedication and will be the site for the bronze plaque. Additional sponsors to date include, Friends of Oklahoma State University Library, Back40 Publishing, Friends of Oklahoma Center for the Book, Village Books Press, Tom and Leslie Hubbell, George and Karen Neurohr, and The Estate of Poet Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel. Partners include Stroud Chamber of Commerce, Lincoln County Museum of Pioneer History, Oklahoma Department of Libraries; Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers; Oklahoma History Center and Oklahoma Library Association.

 

For information, contact Marsha Morgan, Stroud Public Library, 918-968-2567 or Karen Neurohr, OSU Librarian and Coordinator Oklahoma Literary Landmarks, 405.744.2376.

Some Interesting Memorials and Markers: Okmulgee, Oklahoma

Cushing, Oklahoma : Methodist Church History