The Hillsdale swamp gas sighting
On 21 March 1966, residents of a Hillsdale College dormitory in Michigan reported flashing lights over the campus arboretum, and the sighting drew the interest of Congressman Ford.
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Reports of unidentified flying objects came in from across Michigan in March 1966. The Hillsdale Collegian records that sightings began in Ann Arbor and Dexter on 20 March 1966 and reached the local press.
On 21 March 1966, residents of a Hillsdale College dormitory reported flashing lights over the Slayton Arboretum. The Collegian counts 19 students, plus the house director and Bud Van Horn, her husband, who held the post of Civil Defense Director. Wikipedia puts the number of residents at about 87 and the time at around 9 p.m. It says they phoned the county civil defense director, who looked at the lights through binoculars, and that the group watched from a second-floor vantage for over three hours, taking notes. The Collegian says this sighting made Ford, then a congressman for Michigan's fifth district, take an interest.
On 26 March 1966 the Hillsdale Daily News ran an Associated Press story from Detroit. It reported that an expert thought several of the state's sightings were probably swamp gas. The story said this may have won over the Air Force, but the witnesses stayed unconvinced.
"Around 9 p.m. on March 21, some 87 residents of the MacIntyre Residence Hall at Hillsdale College saw flashing lights hovering over the Arboretum.[16] They called William Van Horn, Hillsdale County civil defense director, who investigated and observed the lights through binoculars.[17] From the second floor, the group watched the lights for over three hours, taking notes at the time."
- Hillsdale's founding role in the UFO craze, The Hillsdale Collegian (2017)
- Expert Says UFOs Merely Marsh Gas (Hillsdale Daily News, 26 March 1966), Associated Press via Hillsdale Daily News (1966)