Possibly the most famnous and often cited but incredibly flawed UFO-Bigfoot Case: Berserk: A UFO Creature Encountered basically ticked all the boxes in Charles Bowen and Gordon Creighton's evil UFOs theoryonce Flying Saucer Review stepped away from factual reporting. I ought to note here that FSR published some well known hoaxes -some possibly created in-house as well as explained reports as genuine and continued to do so which makes its credibility not that great in the first place.
Stan Gordon is cited s the main investigator on this case and while he may know his local geography and dates he certainly cannot keep a conssistent account. Gordon was someone I looked at as a person who would look into a report no matter how bizarre it sounded to get to the facts. We all make mistakes.
The article is written by Berthold Schwarz, M,D. (who also wrote the introduction to Dennis Pilichis' Night Siege: The Northern Ohio UFO-Creature Invasion (1981). In case you are not familiar with the report and all of its blatant neon sign warnings:
According to Berthold Schwartz, based in New Jersey, he received a phone call one Sunday in September, 1973 from Allan Noe of the Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained (a New Jersey based organization founded by Ivan T. Sanderson) and Stan Gordon, director of the Pennsylvania based Westmoreland County UFO Study Group. They told him they were in the midst of a great deal of activity involving UFOs and creatures. Gordon, in the Small Town Monsters documentary, Invasion on Chestnut Ridge, describes the activity as “a major UFO-Bigfoot wave.”
Schwartz made plans to visit the area and these were moved forward when he got a call on 27th October, from his office and was told to get in touch with Gordon “immediately.” According to Schwartz, Gordon had called about a “multiple witness (UFO) landing–creature case with dangerous overtones.”
Schwartz contacted Gordon and was told about the case and said that an episode where the primary witness went into a “fugue state” had actually been caught on tape during a field investigation. Schwartz wrote that “I gave first-aid advice and made arrangements for my first visit the following week.”
Schwartz was in Pennsylvania from 1st–3rd November, 1973, that had listened to the recordings made and interviewed the WCUFOSG members who were involved, the witnesses, and “conducted a psychiatric interview” with the primary witness. Schwartz also spoke by telephone to a Pennsylvania state trooper who was there and “read Gordon’s excellent written collations.”
According to Schwartz, at around 2100 hrs (9 pm) on Thursday, 25th October, 1973, Gordon had received a phone call from Trooper Byrne (pseudonym), who told him something “unusual” had taken place on a farm near Greenburg. The primary witness, Stephen Pulaski (pseudonym), was at the station and told Gordon over the phone that Byrne had witnessed evidence that backed up what he had seen before Byrne arrived. A little warning sign pops up at this point.
The study group went out to meet 22-year-old Pulaski and his father, and all went to the alleged incident site arriving just after midnight. There were six study group members: a photographer, a physics teacher, a radiation expert, a sociologist, a former Air Force pilot, and Gordon. Pulaski gave them his account.
He and about fifteen other witnesses, who included relatives and neighbors, watched as a large red ball of light hovered above a field. Pulaski, armed with a 30.06 rifle, got in his car to drive up to the area along with a pair of neighbour boys (twins). As they approached the area the car’s headlights dimmed as the object slowly descended into the field; the trio got out of the car and walked towards it. I assume that they then lost sight of the object as it is noted that as they came over a hill crest, they saw what they described as a dome-shaped object about 100 feet in diameter making a sound “like a lawn mower.”
It was at this point that one of the twins yelled out that he could see something moving along the fence and Pulaski had two tracer bullets loaded and fired one over the heads of what were described as two creatures: one about eight-feet tall and the other about seven-feet tall. Their height was determined by the six-foot posts of the fence they were slowly walking along. Both creatures were covered with dark grey hair, had greenish-yellow eyes, and had arms that hung almost to the ground.
The largest creature was touching the fence posts as it passed them, and the smaller creature seemed to be taking extra long strides to keep up. "They seemed to be communicating, making noises like that of a crying baby." Pulaski fired his remaining tracer over their heads and the creatures kept walking and so he then decided to shoot three live rounds into the chest of the larger creature. At this point as one of the twins ran off scared back to the house. The larger creature made a "whining noise" and reached out to the smaller creature. And it was at this point that the dome blinked out and the noise it seemed to be making stopped. The creatures then turned around and walked slowly towards the woods. The area where the dome had been was seen to be glowing brightly.
Pulaski reported the incident to the police and Byrne got to the house at about 2145 hrs (it is important to note that online and even some You Tubers who did "deep dives" into the case state 2200hrs which woul;d mean Byrne arrived 15 minutes before the incident!) and he, along with Pulaski went up to the field and, it is said, Byrne saw the glowing area. The account goes on to state that Byrne had said that if one bent down there one could read a newspaper. However, and this is very important. Byrne maintained that he could not be sure that the glow was not caused by his headlights. Schwartz wrote that Byrne moved the car so that the lights shone elsewhere and that he could still see the glow. It needs to be pointed out that the pairt had not left the car so it could very well be an optical illusion or even some form of bioluminescence that caused a weak "glow".
The statement that Byrne exited the vehicle and inspected the ground closely is absolutely incorrect as Schwarz notes that they then got out of the car to look around.
The duo then heard a noise from the woods as if a large animal was walking towards them. They moved, and the noise seemed to follow them. When they stopped, the noise stopped. Yet another suspicion flag goes up when it is reported that Byrne wanted to get closer to the circle of light but Pulaski told him: “I don’t get paid for being brave. I’m not going any further.” Byrne thought about going on alone but thought better of it in light of Pulaski’s being armed and in a scared state of excitement. Byrne could not, therefore, check to see what might be causing any glow which means that a hoax cannot be ruled out but it also indicates that Byrne was on alert due to Pulaski's state of mind and that he had a weapon.
As they headed back to the car they heard more noise, and Pulaski said he saw something brown coming towards them. He asked Byrne for permission to shoot, Byrne said yes, and Pulaski shot his last bullet. Pulaski again yelled that there was something coming towards them, and they jumped into the car and sped off. Byrne got ahold of himself and turned the car around. He shone his high beams into the woods, and according to Pulaski, the glowing area had vanished. The sound was no longer heard at this point. Byrne got a hold of himself a little too late. To state someone should open fire on something that cannot be seen in the dark (even if to make sure Pulaski had no more ammunition) is reckless. What was moving about could conceivably have been a human wondering what was going on or even if a deer or other wildlife firing and wounding it not killing it is not good.
Let me make it clear that the only thing Byrne can confirm is Pulaski's state of mind and that he might have seen an illuminated area (which a few minutes later had vanished) and some noises. Only Pulaski "saw" something heading for them and not the trooper.
Gordon's study group arrived at around 0130 hrs and went to the field with Pulaski and his father. This is where yet another warning flag literally explodes. When the group got to the field there was no glowing ring and since it had vanished just around 2200 hrs(?) there should have been no surprise.. The group had earlier checked Pulaski for radiation and then the checked the field; there were no unusual readings. Considering that it was clearly stated that there was no glow it is interesting that when the group went into the field Pulaski and his father stayed by the truck. The group then heard the Pulaskis yelling out that they saw a glow that lit up the farm house but by the team joined the duo it was gone. Two group members went to investigate and found nothing.
One might suspect that there was some hoaxing going on but it may well just be nerves on the part of the Pulaskis based on what happened next. It is amazing that all of these red warning flags were just ignored.
The group along with the Pulaskis then returned to the field and Stephen had his dog with him and the dog became alert and started tracking. The dog then became focused on a spot at the edge of the woods. All this indicates is that the dog simply picked up a wildlife scent; the most important aspect comes next. Stephen started rubbing his head and face and started weaving as if he were going to faint and his father went to support him but Stephen started growling and then threw his father off; the dog ran towards Stephen but its master then went on the attack, sending the dog off whining.
At this point we see near hysteria as two group members reported feeling light-headed while Stephen ran around growling and then collapsed facedown into a pile of manure. Schwarz notes that as Stephen started "coming out of his altered state" he started yelling “Get away from me! It’s here! Get back!” He continued yelling warnings and mumbled that he could protect the group. The group reported that they could smell a strong smell of sulphur and this crack team did not connect the odour with the manure Stephen had fallen into: odours released by manure containing large doses of nitrogen and sulphur are particularly strong. One of the investigators was a physics teacher apparently. Stephen then said he saw a man “in a black hat and cloak, carrying a sickle.”
The red warning flags were accompanied by a huge firework display and the 1812 Overture at full volume.
Schwartz noted that when he later conducted a psychiatric interview with him that Stephen went into trances and Schwartz struggled keep him in a conscious state. Stephen reported seeing the creatures, the man in the black robe, receiving warnings about the world ending if mankind doesn’t straighten out, and “seeing the date 1976.”
I do not for one minute believe the invulnerability to bullets aspect and either Stephen missed or (if we accept Bigfoot as real) clipped the creature. Bigfoot seen at the same time as a natural light phenomenon? Alright, I might go for that but this cases seems to involve a lot of hysteria and panic and investigators acting far from clear headedly -Byrne as a trooper appears to have just lost it bnefore pulling himself together after concerns over the gun toting and odd behaving Pulaski.
No one gives the conclusions of Schwarz at the end of his article. One wonders why?
"This case is but one of many that Stan Gordon and the Westmoreland County Study Group have documented. More might be speculated about various intriguing aspects, but sauffice it to say that this case demonstrates (1) the here-and-now implicit danger to those witnesses who are involved in such an experioence, (2) perhaps more so, the dangers to those who study such people, (3) the challenging need for collateral, psychiatric investigations, and (4) the urgent need for a bold but responsible stance in finding out all we can about the UFO-creature relationship."
Schwarz seemed to be strongly indicating that there was a clear psychological problem at play in this case. (1) and (2) might well be ferring to the violent behaviour of Pulaski who had obviously entered an altered state anbd lashed out at his father and pet dog. Not to mention discharging a firearm at "somnething" real or imagined. In his forewrd to Pilichis's work Schwarz wrote that: "...numerous instances are pointed out where there are risks of something going askewb with the free-handed use of firearms" and one recalls a number of such acses from the August, 1955 Kelly-Hopkinsville incident and Paul Brown opening fire on a landed UFO and entities in Georgia in October, 1973.
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