The Portage County UFO Chase

What Happened

In the early morning hours of April 17, 1966, a UFO chase began in rural Ohio that would span two states, involve four police officers from multiple jurisdictions, and become one of the most controversial cases in Project Blue Book history. The incident later inspired the police chase sequence in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

At approximately 5:00 AM, Portage County Deputy Sheriff Dale F. Spaur, 35, and auxiliary deputy Wilbur L. "Barney" Neff, 26, were patrolling the southeastern portion of Portage County, Ohio. They had been hearing radio chatter about UFO sightings near the county. When they stopped to investigate an abandoned car on the berm of U.S. Route 224 between Atwater and Randolph, Spaur noticed a light over the treeline on a nearby hill.

As they watched, the light grew closer, and both men realized they were looking at a large, self-illuminated object. According to their official report, the object came directly overhead and hovered above them, its light illuminating the ground where they stood and their patrol car, P-13. The light was so intense it hurt to look at directly.

Spaur and Neff scrambled into their cruiser and radioed that they had spotted the UFO. As they reported their sighting, the object began moving away to the east. What followed was an 85-mile pursuit at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour—a chase that would cross county lines, state lines, and the line between credibility and official ridicule.

The Chase

The deputies followed the object east on Route 224, then onto Ohio Route 14. The object, which they described as approximately 30-45 feet across and 18-24 feet high with a dome-shaped top, maintained a position ahead of them while varying its altitude between approximately 150 feet and 1,000 feet. At times, its light illuminated the road and fields below as it traveled.

The object displayed several unusual characteristics during the pursuit:

• It seemed to pace their vehicle, staying ahead but never allowing them to close the distance
• When they were delayed by obstacles—traffic, intersections, a bridge underpass—the object appeared to slow or wait
• It changed altitude and direction smoothly, with no apparent propulsion system
• Part of the upper trailing portion appeared metallic, with a satiny rather than shiny finish
• At times it showed a projection on the top part, near the trailing edge

As the chase crossed into Mahoning County and approached the Pennsylvania border, East Palestine Patrolman Wayne Huston, 32, who had been monitoring the radio traffic, spotted the object himself before Spaur's cruiser reached him. He joined the pursuit in a second police vehicle.

The three officers crossed into Pennsylvania, following the object along Route 51 to Rochester and then south on Route 65 toward Conway. By this time, Spaur—now well outside his jurisdiction and unfamiliar with the area—was thoroughly lost but determined to keep the object in sight.

The End of the Chase

In Conway, Pennsylvania, Officer Frank Panzanella of the Conway Police Department met the Ohio officers. Together, all four men watched as the object hovered in the brightening dawn sky, then rose rapidly in two distinct climbing maneuvers before they lost sight of it.

By approximately 6:15 AM, with full daylight approaching, the pursuit was over. The officers had traveled roughly 85 miles in approximately 30-40 minutes. Exhausted and bewildered, Spaur, Neff, and Huston headed back to Ohio.

Witnesses and Evidence

The Police Officers

• Deputy Dale F. Spaur: The primary witness. Spaur had less than two years on the Portage County Sheriff's Office but was also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, having served as a gunner during the Korean War. He was familiar with aircraft and unimpressed by suggestions he had chased the planet Venus.
• Deputy Wilbur L. "Barney" Neff: An auxiliary deputy and mechanic who volunteered weekends with the sheriff's office. He corroborated Spaur's account in detail.
• Patrolman Wayne Huston: East Palestine police officer who independently observed the object before joining the chase and witnessed its characteristics throughout the pursuit into Pennsylvania.
• Officer Frank Panzanella: Conway police officer who observed the object with the other officers at the terminus of the chase and watched its final climbing maneuvers.

Additional Witnesses

Mantua Police Chief Gerald F. Buchert made a separate observation of an unusual object that same morning and attempted to photograph it. His black-and-white film showed anomalous marks, though Project Blue Book dismissed these as processing defects.

The Officers' Reports

All four pursuing officers filed detailed written reports describing the object consistently. They estimated its size, described its dome shape, noted its smooth maneuvering, and documented speeds measured against their speedometers at approximately 103 miles per hour. Importantly, in their reports they independently described seeing the Moon, Venus (which they identified as a bright "star" near the Moon), and the separate UFO—demonstrating they could distinguish between celestial objects and what they were chasing.

Official Investigations

Project Blue Book Response

The Portage County chase generated national media attention, and the officers submitted their detailed reports to Project Blue Book, the Air Force's official UFO investigation program. Blue Book investigators checked with radar facilities and found no unidentified targets. They confirmed that no weather balloons had been launched in the area that morning. The Youngstown Air Force Base reported no interceptor activity.

Five days after the incident, Major Hector Quintanilla, Blue Book's director, announced the official explanation. Based on brief interviews with only one of the police officers (and none of the other ground witnesses), Quintanilla concluded that the officers had first chased a communications satellite, then the planet Venus.

The Backlash

The satellite-and-Venus explanation was immediately and vociferously rejected by the officers involved. Deputy Spaur, a Korean War Air Force veteran, found it insulting to suggest he had chased Venus for 85 miles at over 100 mph. The officers pointed out that they had seen and correctly identified Venus as a "star" in their reports—separate from the object they pursued.

Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the Air Force's own scientific consultant for Project Blue Book, publicly dissented from the official conclusion. He described Blue Book's explanation as "absurd," noting that the officers' own reports demonstrated they could distinguish between the UFO, Venus, and the Moon. Hynek's criticism of this case contributed to his growing disillusionment with Blue Book's investigative methods.

Ohio Congressman William Stanton issued a statement condemning the Air Force's handling of the case: "The Air Force has suffered a great loss of prestige in this community... Once people entrusted with the public welfare no longer think the people can handle the truth, then the people, in return, will no longer trust the government."

Proposed Explanations

Satellite and Venus (Official)

Project Blue Book's official explanation proposed that the officers initially spotted a communications satellite, then transitioned to chasing the planet Venus as it rose in the pre-dawn sky. Venus was indeed bright and low on the eastern horizon that morning.

However, this explanation fails to account for numerous reported characteristics:

• The object's apparent size (30-45 feet) and structure (dome shape, metallic surface)
• Its low altitude (as low as 50-150 feet at times)
• Its variable speed and altitude changes during the chase
• Its apparent "waiting" behavior when the officers were delayed
• The officers' own identification of Venus as a separate object in their reports
• The fact that four officers across multiple jurisdictions pursued it for 85 miles

Misidentification Under Unusual Conditions

Some researchers have suggested that atmospheric conditions could have created unusual optical effects, possibly making Venus or other light sources appear larger, brighter, and lower than they actually were. Autokinesis—the tendency of a bright point of light to appear to move against a dark background—could account for some perceived movement.

However, this explanation still struggles with the chase dynamics. Experienced police officers driving at high speeds would presumably notice if they were gaining on a stationary celestial object rather than pursuing something maintaining distance ahead of them.

Unknown Aircraft or Phenomenon

The officers' consistent description of a structured object with distinct features—a dome, metallic surface, and climbing capability—suggests they believed they observed a physical craft. No known aircraft from 1966 matches their description, and the object's reported performance characteristics (hovering, rapid climbing, silent operation) exceed the capabilities of conventional aircraft of that era.

Current Status

The Portage County UFO Chase remains officially "explained" in Project Blue Book's files as a satellite and Venus observation. However, this explanation has been widely rejected, not only by UFO researchers but by the Air Force's own scientific consultant at the time.

The case had lasting impacts beyond its immediate controversy. Deputy Spaur's life was reportedly damaged by the incident and its aftermath—the ridicule he faced, the failure of the Air Force to take his report seriously, and the stress of public attention contributed to personal difficulties in the years that followed.

The Portage County chase became a symbol of Project Blue Book's perceived inadequacy—a case where credible witnesses with nothing to gain were dismissed with an explanation that didn't fit the facts. It contributed to the erosion of public confidence in official UFO investigations and helped set the stage for the 1969 closure of Project Blue Book following the Condon Report.

Steven Spielberg drew on the case when crafting the police chase sequence in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), bringing the incident to a much wider audience and cementing its place in UFO lore. Whether the officers chased something genuinely anomalous or experienced an elaborate misperception remains debated, but the Portage County chase endures as one of the most dramatic and contentious police UFO encounters ever documented.