July, August and September the Exeter area received barely more than half of its normal rainfall. During these three months, there was only 6.0 in. of rain, compared to the average of 10.8 in.
When corona first occurs, it usually has a bluish color which can then take on the color of a lightning strike, according to experts on the subject. But the presence of sodium-chloride (salt) on the line could give it a pronounced orangish-red color from the sodium with a touch of green due to the chlorine.
This suggests that some of the Exeter sightings could have been no more than a corona discharge traveling along the power line. Here are some of the first-hand observations described by Fuller in his book:
■ Meredith Bolduc: "This thing was coming up the power lines toward the road . . ."
■ Mrs. Jerline Jalbert: "We see it regularly along here. Always seems to be somewhere near the power lines."
■ Mr. Heselton: "Just the other night, some other people saw it along another section of the power lines."
■ Mr. A. Reid Bunker, Sr. "We were under the high-power lines . . . when at 10:45 p.m. we saw an object approach . . . It had red lights most, and sort of green and white lights . . ."
First Sighting
The first Exeter sighting on Sept. 3, 1965, that triggered many subsequent reports, made by a teenager and subsequently witnessed by two policemen, was located near the 34,500-v. transmission line of the Exeter and Hampton Electric Co. The line is mounted on wooden poles approximately 29 ft. above the ground. In total there were 73 instances, Fuller writes, where persons reporting UFO sightings near Exeter used the words "power lines" or "transmission lines" or referred to locations near power lines.
During the period in which Fuller was researching the Exeter incident, he visited Beaver, Pa., near Pittsburgh, to check UFO reports. One night sighting during the previous month near high-tension power lines had been made by 17-year-old James Lucci and two friends and Lucci had managed to photograph the object (see photo, p. 49).
When Fuller and Lucci visited the area of the sighting and he was asked to pinpoint its location, the youth responded: "I'd say it was right up there, directly over the wires, not more than fifty or sixty feet."
A sighting was made three days later in the same general area by Donald de Turka from his yard. His house, Fuller reports, was "down the street from a section of high-voltage transmission line."
The Northeast power blackout pro-
vided an unexpected opportunity for additional evidence that indicates a relationship between electric transmission lines, and associated power distribution apparatus, and the type of object sighted near Exeter and Pittsburgh.
A private pilot, Weldon Ross, was approaching Hancock Field at Syracuse, N.Y., for a landing "at almost the exact moment of the blackout. As he looked below him, just over the [345,000 v.] power lines near the Clay, N.Y., substation, a huge red ball of brilliant intensity appeared."
This particular substation initially was reported to be the "crux of the difficulty," Fuller writes.
Same Report
A total of five persons reported the same phenomenon, including Robert C. Walsh, deputy commissioner for the Federal Aviation Agency in the Syracuse area, according to Fuller.
On Nov. 26, Fuller reports that a power failure in St. Paul, Minn., coincided "with the appearance of objects overhead giving off blue and white flashes . . . Fifteen minutes later a resident on Hogt Avenue reported a 'blue-glowing' UFO as all house lights and appliances in the area went dead."
Fuller hints at foul play by extra-terrestrial spacecraft by claiming that scientists have not been able to explain the causes of the Northeast power blackout or the simultaneous proximity of the UFO sightings.
Engineers working with large-area power distribution networks concede that the complexity of such systems makes it difficult to pinpoint readily a specific faulty circuit breaker. But no competent expert has publicly advanced the idea that the blackout resulted from external causes.
Voltage Surges
During conditions of such power network instabilities, there are voltage surges at some points in the network. These higher-than-normal voltage conditions would induce very large corona discharges.
The leakage current during corona contains harmonics in larger than usual proportions, creating an inductive effect which aggravates network instability. But only to this extent could the corona or corona-induced ball lightning have contributed to the blackout problem, according to several experts.
The marked resemblance between many of the Exeter sightings and reported observations of ball lightning appears significant, as well as their frequent appearance on, along or near high-tension power lines under atmospheric conditions likely to produce corona discharges along the lines.
The only unresolved question is the mechanism by which the corona dis-
50 Aviation Week & Space Technology, August 22, 1966
Catalogue Reference:AIR/2/19086 Image Reference:3