Spies in the Sky Over Michigan? The 2023 UFOs Weren’t the First Unidentified National Security Threats.

MICHIGAN—It all started with the mysterious object the US military shot down over Lake Huron.

The pilot who took it down said it appeared octagonal in shape, and about the size of a four-wheeler. And although the US Coast Guard spent 60 hours conducting 23 different searches over 4,000 square miles—aided by the Canadian Cost Guard and the Canadian Royal Mounted Police—the object could not be recovered from Lake Huron.

We’re pretty sure this and the other unidentified flying objects that have floated over the country in recent weeks weren’t sent by aliens, but if you’re skeptical, you’re not alone. A recent survey found that Michigan ranks in the top 10 states in the nation for UFO sightings.

When we at The ‘Gander started digging into the Lake Huron object, we learned that Michigan has one of the most curious UFO cases in US history—so mysterious that a future president asked the federal government to take a deeper look. How could we not go down this rabbit hole?

That’s why, every other week, we’re bringing you “Extraterrestrial Tuesdays: UFO Sightings in Michigan.” So far, we’ve covered the Kinross incident, the Kecksburg UFO, the infamous “swamp gas” sightings.

This week, we’re looking into lingering uncertainty surrounding what happened over Oscoda in 1975.

Never forget, ‘Ganders: The truth is out there.

Wurtsmith Air Force Base

Oscoda—Oct. 30, 1975

A two-week span gave both the public and the Defense Department anxiety over what kinds of advanced technology we’d invited into our lives. (Sound familiar?)

According to Defense Department reports, sensitive military sites around the US were visited by low-flying, highly technological, unidentified flying objects in late October and early November of 1975. Sandwiched in-between sightings of the UFOs in Maine and Montana, Oscoda’s Wurtsmith Air Force Base also received a surprise visitor. 

A KC-135 tanker plane was coming in to land when crewmen noticed what appeared to be an “unidentified helicopter” hovering over weapons storage bunkers. No helicopters or flights were scheduled to take off that day from Wurtsmith, so the tanker crew gave chase. Able to reach speeds of close to 600 mph, the KC-135 couldn’t keep up.

When the tanker turned around, the unidentified aircraft—which other reports say resembled a “glowing disc”—immediately reversed course, caught up to the plane, and followed it for a while before shooting up into the sky.