Skelton UFO Sighting 1967

Skelton, West Virginia is a small, old coal camp community, located just a short drive from Beckley, in Raleigh County. However, there would be quite a bit of excitement and gossip in Skelton during May of 1967. That was when silvery-grey, saucer-shaped UFO was observed over town by two men. Here is there story, as it appeared in the May 25, 1967 edition of The Raleigh Register: 

Cape Employee/Cousin Claim: 

SAUCER-SHAPED UFO SEEN IN SKELTON AREA

A Skelton man and his cousin, an employee at Cape Kennedy in Florida cited (sighted?) an unidentified flying object (UFO) “hovering” Wednesday night over the Skelton vicinity.

The saucer-shaped object “silvery-gray” in color was topped with a high dome, according to the men, Robert Walker of Skelton and Charles Teel of Cape Kennedy. 

“We stood and watched the object, at first thinking it was a cloud,” the men said, “and then it started to move.” 

“I’ve never seen anything move so fast,” Teel said.

Employed as an electrician at Cape Kennedy, Teel said he had seen satellites and other apparatus such as missiles and so forth, “but this was different. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.

“I’ve never doubted anyone seeing such a thing, but this was really hard to believe,” he said. “And I swear,” he said, “that I never even had a drink of cough syrup.” 

I searched newspaper archives from around this time and couldn’t find any mentions of others in or around the area seeing this same craft that Wednesday night. However, it is interesting to note that around this time, a flap of UFO sightings in Pt. Pleasant (which may or may not have been related to the Mothman sightings) were in the newspapers as being ‘debunked.’ It’s also interesting to note that Beckley and the surrounding area have a long history with UFO sightings, many of which took place during the famous 1973 flap! 

I love taking a look back at these old UFO sightings, even though there really isn’t much to actually investigate after so many years! But, if you love these old newspaper articles on UFOs, monsters, ghosts, and other strange happenings in West Virginia’s history, stay tuned to Theresa’s Haunted History of the Tri-State this month as I continue to delve into my archives and share some of these stories so that they’re no longer lost to history.