Craft Leaves Trace Evidence
This ground trace case has received wide attention, probably because of the photographs taken from an airplane showing the marks allegedly left by an unidentified flying object.
The only testimony that an object was there at all comes from 2 young girls who, were preparing to retire in the upstairs bedroom of the Warren Barr home 7½ miles south of Garrison, IA.
Pat Barr's attention was caught by what sounded like a low flying jet and she went to the north window and looked out in the direction of a neighboring farm. She called to her cousin Kathy Mahr, 17, and both girls watched what they described as a strange object which appeared to be hovering over a large bean field on the Barr farm.
Kathy described the object as follows:
It had a dull metallic finish which was easily discerned because of the 2 rows of lights which were arranged across the face of it at its mid line. It had the appearance of 2 coffee saucers placed rim to rim, and it rotated as it hovered.
The sighting lasted only a few seconds, after which the object left at such high speed that the girls did not know precisely which direction it went, except that it went past their window. But they claimed that the area where it had hovered was glowing red after the object disappeared from sight. Neither of the girls was frightened but they were curious about the strange craft.
At breakfast the next day, the girls told the Barrs about what they had seen, and Mr. Barr tended to be skeptical and attributed the whole thing to a figment of their imagination. However, later that morning he discovered, at the spot indicated by the girls, a nearly circular patch of ground in his bean field which was almost bare. The bean vines appeared to have been burned although there was no evidence of flame.
The area in the field which was burned was approximately 40' in diameter and was easily seen from the air.
The local news media showed interest in the incident and a taped interview with the Barr girl was made, which was played on a local radio station. Most of the area's residents were inclined to think that the scarred field resulted from a fireball or lightning, and Mr. Barr did not rule out lightning entirely. When interviewed, he said that he hadn't informed authorities at first because he was skeptical.
Pat Barr, on the other hand, was convinced that the object she had seen had caused the damage to the bean crop and that it was an air flying object from outer space. Mr. Barr told interviewers that he would hesitate to guess at the object's identity and the cause of the scar on the field but did say that he felt it was something unusual.
I'll put it that way.