Unidentified flying object turns out to be advertising stunt
By Connie Cartmell, ccartmell@mariettatimes.comThe question of whether it was a bird, a plane, or something "else" that was spotted by a number of Lowell residents last Sunday evening after a ball game, has apparently been answered.
Lowell's unidentified flying object is a mystery no longer - it was an advertising balloon.
"We were cleaning up after the ball tournament on the (Buell) Island and some of the guys saw something over on the hill," said Kim Schwendeman of Lowell. "I didn't see it myself."
Schwendeman said that after the sighting, people immediately jumped into their trucks and went toward the location where they thought they had seen a craft of some sort crash.
"We looked all around that night, but never found anything," he said. "All these people came. It seemed like overkill at the time, but if it was a plane crash, you don't want to take a chance."
He didn't find out that it was actually a balloon until Tuesday.
Initially the object was reported as a downed aircraft of some type, perhaps an ultra lite (plane) or possibly a hang glider or parachute. It fell out of the sky, witnesses reported, crashing into a hillside on the east side of the village, maybe a mile from the island.
A patrol helicopter was called in from Columbus Sunday to aid in the search, which was conduced east of Lowell between Ohio 60 and Ohio 530.
"The next morning (Monday), we did recover something," Lt. Mary Pfeifer, commander of the Marietta post, said Thursday. "It was a 'sale' balloon of some sort, about five to eight feet long."
It was Josh Harris, captain of the Lowell-Adams Volunteer Fire Department, who finally found the balloons resting in the tree tops east of the village late Monday.
There were eight to 10 red and white advertising balloons, he doesn't remember for what particular business, and one large one, maybe five feet long.
"I was relieved when I found them," Harris said. "We were very close to finding them the night it happened, but it was dark and rough terrain."
The Washington County Sheriff's Office assisted in the search and brought the balloon out of the woods, she said.
In the meantime, lots of speculation and plenty of rumors circulated around the sleepy village located 14 miles north of Marietta.
"I work at the bank and was just listening to people talk. There were a lot of rumors," said Pat Lang, a lifelong resident of Lowell. "Some people said it might be someone running drugs, just all kinds of rumors."
It had even been called a UFO sighting by some.
But the sighting had a serious side.
Lang said, initially, it was an incident that could not be ignored.
"If it had been a real thing, you couldn't go home with someone out there hanging in a tree."
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doublej986
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07-21-08 12:52 AM
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I think the business or company that did that should be made to pay for all the fuel and expenses the volunteer depts spent searching for that thing.
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IsaacEastwood
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07-18-08 11:15 PM
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Cover up... I'm from the Village of Lowell... definitely aliens
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ladynoogs
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07-18-08 7:41 PM
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actually at the time it was a ufo (unidentified flying object).... lol.. just not of the alien kind. so thats what all the commotion was about.. lol...
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NasCarNut
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07-18-08 12:23 PM
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too funny Mark1961...
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mariettaman
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07-18-08 12:20 PM
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Now THAT would be a great story!!!
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mark1961
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07-18-08 9:53 AM
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Sounds like a cover up to me. Did anyone see the National Guard, FBI, CIA or the MIB on the scene? I was told a space ship crashed after flying threw Eramets cloud of dust.....
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ColtsMommy
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07-18-08 9:41 AM
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This goes to show how a small community works together to help others. Even though it was an unknown object, the residents of Lowell went searching the woods...just incase a fellow human was in trouble. I think the rest of the world has a lot to learn from those of us from a small town. Kudos to you all!
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Animallover
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07-18-08 9:20 AM
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Now that's a great story!
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