Mysterious substance. United States

Witness Ronald Johnson.

The Ring: Delphos, Kansas 1971

One evening in 1971, November 2 to be exact, sixteen-year-old Ronald Johnson was tending the sheep on his father’s farmn ear the small town of Delphos, Kansas. At about 7:00 p.m. Ronald and his dog Snowball were suddenly surprised to see an object hovering about two feet off the ground in a grove of trees some twenty-five yards from where he stood. The object, which he later estimated to be about nine feet in diameter and ten feet tall, was shaped like a mushroom with a short stem and was covered with multi-colored lights. It made a sound that Ronald described as like that of an old washing machine which vibrates. As he watched, it suddenly became very bright at the base and then it took off at an angle, temporarily blinding him. Ronald would later say that the dog was noticeably “very quiet”, but that the sheep were bleating nervously.

MUFON sketch showing sideview of the encounter. (credit: MUFON / Connelly)

Some minutes later, as Ronald’s eyes once more adjusted to the light, he went into the house and told his parents, Durel and Erma Johnson, what he had seen. They got outside in time to see the object, which was now about half the full moon in size, before it vanished into the sky to the south.

…her fingers went numb.

Ronald and his parents then went to examine the place at which the object had been first seen. They were astonished to find a glowing ring on the ground, and some sort of glowing material on nearby trees. When Mrs. Johnson touched the glowing area, which had a crust-like texture, she found that her fingers went numb. She tried to wipe the substance off onto her leg, and her leg became numb where the material touched it. Her fingers reportedly remained slightly numb for about two weeks, although she never sought medical attention for the problem. Mr. Johnson fetched his camera and took a photo of the ring and then phoned the local newspaper, The Delphos Republican.

The next day, Durel and Ronald drove into town and spoke to a Delphos Republican reporter, Thaddia Smith. Mrs. Smith, her husband, and her son-in-law then accompanied the Johnsons back to their farm, where she found:

Photograph of the landing ring left by the object.

The circle was still very distinct and plain to see. the soil was dried and crusted. The circle or ring was approximately 8 feet across, the center of the ring and the outside area were still muddy from recent rains. The area of the ring that was dried was about a foot across and was very light in color.

The object had crushed a dead tree to the ground either when it landed or took off, and from appearance had broken a limb of a live tree when it landed. the broken limb was most unusual, it would snap and break as though it had been dead for quite some time, yet it was green under the bark, and the upper area still had green leaves clinging to its branches. However the lower area looked as though it had been blistered and had a whitish cast.

That afternoon, Sheriff Enlow, Undersheriff Harlan Enlow, and Kansas State Highway Patrolman Kenneth Yager investigated the ring after being called by Thaddia Smith. Harlan Enlow’s report of the investigation stated:

…we observed a ring shaped somewhat like a doughnut with a hole in the middle. The ring was completely dry with a hole in the middle and outside of the ring mud. There were limbs broken from a tree and a dead tree broken off, there. There was a slight discoloration on the trees.

The soil sample taken was almost white in color and very dry.

…he had observed a bright light descending in the sky…

Enlow’s report also stated that:

On 11-03-71 Mr. Lester Ensbarger of 416 Argyle St. in Minneapolis advised Deputy Sheriff Leonard Simpson that at approx. 7:30 p.m. 11-02-71 he had observed a bright light descending in the sky in the Delphos area.

The ring was still clearly visible thirty-two days later when examined by a UFO investigator named Ted Phillips, who specializes in physical-trace cases. The soil in the ring itself was still dry to a depth of at least twelve inches even though at this time it was covered by snow, whereas the soil outside the ring was wet and black. Phillips took several photos of the ring and collected soil samples from the ring and from the ground outside the ring.

A number of analyses were done of soil samples taken from the ring and from the surrounding soil. The ring soil was found to be resistant to water, to contain more calcium and more soluble salts, and to be more acidic than soil from outside the ring. In addition, the soil from the ring was found to contain an unidentified hydrocarbon and an organic material composed of white, crystal-like fibers.

According to Jacques Vallee, in his book Dimensions, a French biologist identified the white fibers as a fungus-like organism of the order Actinomycetales, whose growth can cause a circular pattern to form on the ground. In addition, this biologist, who asked not to be identified, stated that this fungus is often found growing with another fungus of the order Basidiomysetes, which may fluoresce under some conditions.

So… does that wrap the Delphos Ring up in a neat little package labeled “solved?”

Only if you’re one of those debunkers who thinks that if you find an explanation for part of an incident, then you have “debunked” the entire incident. Remember, three witnesses saw a UFO, not just the ring, and their sighting was at least partly corroborated by a fourth witness eleven miles away in Minneapolis. The ring itself may not be directly related to the UFO sighting, and the presence of a fungus in the soil does not explain how the fluorescent material got onto the surrounding trees, nor how the branches got broken and the dead Chinese elm tree knocked down.

Both Thaddia Smith and Sheriff Enlow told Ted Phillips in 1972 that the Johnsons were well respected in the area and that they did not believe that it was possible that the family could be perpetrating a hoax.

The dog would furiously try to get into the house at nightfall.

The day after the incident, Ronald’s eyes became red and watered as though from irritation. For a week after the incident he had nightmares from which he awoke screaming.

Even the animals were traumatized by the sighting. Vallee says:

For about two weeks, every evening at sunset, the sheep would jump out of the pen and run wildly. The dog would furiously try to get into the house at nightfall. He practically destroyed the screen door, and the only way to keep him outside was to replace it with a stronger metal door.

An adequate explanation for the Delphos incident has never been found.

________________________

Delphos, Kansas
November 2, 1971

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A very credible UFO encounter occurred in the small town of Delphos, Kansas in 1971. This case has never been debunked, and is still considered as one of the very best physical trace cases involving a UFO landing.

Sixteen year old Ron Johnson, along with his dog Snowball, was tending the family sheep when his attention was suddenly drawn to a mushroom-shaped UFO appearing in the night sky.

The flying object, metallic with multi-colored lights, was hovering approximately 75 feet away from Ron among some trees. Johnson estimated the craft was only a few feet above the ground. He estimated the crafts diameter at 6-8 feet.

Stunned by what he was looking at, he tried to get a closer look, but the brilliant luminance of the craft did not allow him to make out any additional details. Ron described the craft as making a loud sound, "like an old washing machine which vibrates."

The glow of the objects bottom increased as it began to rise up into the sky. Ron would later state that he was temporarily blinded by the brightness of the craft as it ascended.

After he regained his sight and composure, he ran back to the family house to alert his mother and father, Erma and Durel. The bright, glowing object was now even higher in the sky.

Ron's parents came running around the side of the house to get a glimpse of the unusual phenomena. They arrived just in time to see the object, now big as the full moon, as it disappeared from view.

The three Johnsons were shocked to see a glowing ring on the ground, right below where the craft had hovered. There was also a glowing material on some of the trees nearby. Family members would agree that the ground around the glow "felt strange, like a slick crust, as if the soil was crystallized."

Ron's mother's fingers went numb, like she had been given a local anesthetic. After they were sure the craft was not returning, the family settled down for the night.

When dawn broke the next day, the family immediately returned to the sight of the glowing ring, and to their surprise, it was still there! The inside and outside of the ring was damp from a rain shower, but the exterior of the ring was amazingly dry. The ring had a crusty appearance, as though the rain had simply ran off, leaving it bone dry.

Slightly over a month later, after a snow fall, the white ice had melted both inside and outside of the ring, but the ring itself maintained the snow drift. Investigators experimented with the ring by removing snow from a section of it, and pouring water on the exposed part. The soil would not allow the water to pass through.

The Johnsons told their story to the local newspaper, The Delphos Republican. Reporter Thaddia Smith, along with several members of her family, drove back out with the Johnsons to see the site of the UFO landing and the strange ring. Smith's report was as follows:

"The circle was still very distinct and plain to see. the soil was dried and crusted. The circle or ring was approximately 8 feet across, the center of the ring and the outside area were still muddy from recent rains. The area of the ring that was dried was about a foot across and was very light in color.

The object had crushed a dead tree to the ground either when it landed or took off, and from appearance had broken a limb of a live tree when it landed. the broken limb was most unusual, it would snap and break as though it had been dead for quite some time, yet it was green under the bark, and the upper area still had green leaves clinging to its branches.

However the lower area looked as though it had been blistered and had a whitish cast. "

Later the same day, Sheriff Enlow, Undersheriff Harlan Enlow, and Kansas State Highway Patrolman Kenneth Yager investigated the ring after being alerted to the factis of the case by Thaddia Smith. Harlan Enlow filed this report:

"...we observed a ring shaped somewhat like a doughnut with a hole in the middle. The ring was completely dry with a hole in the middle and outside of the ring mud. There were limbs broken from a tree and a dead tree broken off there. There was a slight discoloration on the trees."

Further experimentation showed the ground under the ring to be dry to a depth of one foot. The ring itself was composed of a whitish substance, which was sent to a laboratory for analysis. The findings were as follows:

[it was resolved into fibers which] was vegetal in nature and belonged to an organism of the order of Actinomycetales, which is an intermediate organism between bacteria and fungus... family actiniomycete, genus Nocardia... [and is] often found together with a fungus of the order Basidomycetes, which may flouresce under certain conditions... one possible interpretation is that high energy stimulation triggered the spectacular growth of the Nocardia and of an existing fungus, and caused the latter to flouresce.

There would also be another witness to corroborate Ron Johnson's account of the UFO. Sheriff Enlow told the press;

"On 11-03-71 Mr. Lester Ensbarger of 416 Argyle St. in Minneapolis advised Deputy Sheriff Leonard Simpson that at approx. 7:30 p.m. 11-02-71 he had observed a bright light descending in the sky in the Delphos area."

The experience of Ron Johnson is still considered as one of the best documented "ground trace" UFO cases of the past century, and is still unexplainable by any conventional or earthly means.