1946: Lights in Sky Baffle Chesterton Folk

Vidette Messenger
Valparaiso, Indiana
5-3-1946

Lights in Sky Baffle Chesterton Folk

Man-Made or Natural, Is Issue Debated, In North County

CHESTERTON - The people of this North Porter county community are
perplexed, and here's the reason why: They can't agree whether the
weird lights which have been visible in the sky above the them for
the past three nights, are phenomenon or illumination projected by
man.

Casting a vote in favor of nature is Dr. E.M. Carlson, who is
director and operator of the Carlson Planetarium in Porter. This 70
year-old student of the stars says "If its man-made then it is a new
discovery or invention which has not yet been announced. If it is a
cosmic phenomenon it is the rarest I have ever seen."

Cleon Trowe, ex-serviceman and employee of the Charleston Tribune
reports " I think the light comes from the direction of the Lansing,
Ill. airport and I'd say it was an army arc light which I had
experience with while serving overseas."

First Seen Tuesday

The eerie lights first made their appearance in the sky over
Chesterton Tuesday, and people there have seen them on Wednesday and
Thursday nights also. Descriptions of the illumination vary greatly.

According to Miss Bertha Kubick, of the Charleston Tribune staff, she
saw the lights Tuesday night about 10 p.m. when she was traveling on
a bus on route 49 on her return home from Valparaiso. She described
them as "two very slender rays of white light which seemed to go
straight up shooting like a rocket with the tails fading out first."

Dr. Carlson who studied the lights for two hours Thursday night, said
that the rays were very, very bright but not with the harsh
brightness of a beacon light.

In Constant Motion

The veteran astronomer stated that the lights definitely are not
connected with the meteors, stars or northern light, nor did they
have their source in any airplane for "no plane travels as fast as
these lights."

The rays, Dr. Carlson pointed out, were in constant motion and came
together, but never crossed. They were always overhead and kept in
that area, which he stated discounted the belief held by some that
the light was man-made.

Thowe, in his explanation, said that his father Fred worked in the
area of the Lansing airport which has been used as an emergency
field. This lies south of Hammond, was originally constructed by
Henry Ford, and today government surplus goods are being sold there
according to Trowe.

Another Version

He said he saw the army arc lights used in combat and said they could
been seen for 30 or 40 miles and that there was no beam visible such
as from the ordinary search light.

Mrs. Ralph Carpenter, the Vidette - Messenger's correspondent said
she saw the lights briefly Wednesday night about 11 p.m. It was very
dark and the lights looked like shooting stars to her, the beams
coming down into a wedge-shaped formation.

She reported that she spoke to Mrs. Roland Johnson, who resides on
U.S. 12 near Chesterton and several steel mill workers from the that
vicinity and they all stated that they believed the lights came from
two powerful searchlights being used as an advertisement scheme at a
carnival in Hammond. The state police at the Dunes Barracks reported
that possibly the lights might have their source in the White City
amusement park in Chicago.






Finder's Credit: J. W. Hudson