14-year-old student reports ‘cigar-shaped’ UFO near Staunton in 1964

AUGUSTA COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) - On December 21, 1964 Horace Burns claimed to see a large UFO land in a field near Fishersville. After an investigation by Project Blue Book, an Air Force program that investigated UFO sightings, they said it would’ve been impossible for no one else to see a large UFO land near Fishersville and they discounted Burns’ sighting.

But someone else did see something that day.

According to an article in the “Times-Dispatch” dated January 14, 1965, a 14-year-old Staunton High School student told the reporter that he saw a cigar-shaped UFO at around 4:50 p.m. on December 21, about 20 minutes before Burns had his sighting. Kenneth Norton Jr. said he saw the object outside of his bedroom window. He said he told his mom about the UFO, but his family told him not to say anything about it because they didn’t want people thinking he was crazy.

“My mother let me call this evening because she thought maybe what I saw would verify Mr. Burns’ story.” Norton told a reporter.

Norton said the object was about 125 feet long, but Burns said the object looked like an upside down top or a beehive, not a cigar. Norton told a reporter that it is possible that the angle he saw the object from could have distorted it.

The article states that Norton was a member of the Civil Air Patrol Cadets, and that even though he only saw the UFO for around 5 seconds, he did not see wings, a tail, or anything that had moved that fast before.

This sighting contradicts Blue Book’s report that said no one else saw anything that night, and adds credibility to Burns’ sighting on Route 250 on the night of December 21.

By May 1965, there would be over 35 reported sightings of UFO’s in Augusta County, and there may be many other sightings that have gone unreported 50 years later.

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