Within 1973 Wave
What Did Evergreen's Police Officers Actually See?
Three police employees reported a long-lasting stationary light, but missing positional data keeps the Evergreen case unresolved and weakly specified.
On this page
- The midnight sighting and immediate reporting chain
- What the three witnesses consistently described
- Why missing distance and altitude prevent firm conclusions
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Introduction
The Evergreen police sighting of 16 October 1973 occupies an unusual place in Alabama’s UFO history because it combines two features that often pull in opposite directions. On one hand, the observation came from three named police employees who reported what they saw through official channels almost immediately. On the other, the case lacks the basic positional information needed to determine what the light actually was. As a result, Evergreen remains an unresolved incident, but not a strong evidential one. It is remembered less because of what was seen than because it illustrates the strengths and limits of witness testimony when no photographs, radar records, measurements or physical traces are available.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comtoday marks 41st anniversary of strange16, 1973, two Evergreen police officers and a police dispatcher witnessed a bizarre sight over downtown…Read more…
Within the wider sequence of October 1973 Alabama sightings, Evergreen serves as a useful counterpoint to more dramatic claims. The witnesses appear to have reported sincerely and cautiously, yet the surviving record leaves crucial questions unanswered.
The Midnight Sighting and Immediate Reporting Chain
Shortly after midnight on 16 October 1973, Evergreen police officers Henry Vickery and Johnny Blackmon were outside city hall when they noticed an unusual light in the sky. According to later recollections, the object appeared brighter and different from surrounding stars and seemed to remain in roughly the same position for an extended period. The officers called radio operator Snow Turner to observe it as well, creating a three-witness observation rather than a single-person report.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comDispatches from the LP-OPFormer Evergreen police officer remembers Oct16, 1973…13 Oct 2011 — Dubose, who was a dispatcher at the state trooper post, in turn, notified his superiors in Montgomery of the UF…
The reported duration is one of the most notable aspects of the case. Rather than a fleeting flash or momentary glimpse, the light was reportedly observed for around 15 to 20 minutes. That length of observation gave the witnesses time to compare impressions and decide that the sight was unusual enough to report.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comDispatches from the LP-OPFormer Evergreen police officer remembers Oct16, 1973…13 Oct 2011 — Dubose, who was a dispatcher at the state trooper post, in turn, notified his superiors in Montgomery of the UF…
The reporting chain is unusually well documented for a local sighting of this type. Turner contacted Gene Dubose at the nearby state trooper post. Dubose then passed the report to superiors in Montgomery. News organisations subsequently learned of the incident, and reporters travelled to Evergreen to interview the witnesses. Contemporary local coverage and later recollections indicate that the sighting entered official communication channels almost immediately rather than emerging years later as an anecdote.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comDispatches from the LP-OPFormer Evergreen police officer remembers Oct16, 1973…13 Oct 2011 — Dubose, who was a dispatcher at the state trooper post, in turn, notified his superiors in Montgomery of the UF…
That reporting history matters because it establishes that something was reported at the time. It does not verify the nature of the object, but it does strengthen confidence that the event itself was not a later invention.
What the Three Witnesses Consistently Described
One reason the Evergreen sighting continues to attract attention is the relative consistency of the core account. The witnesses described an unusual light rather than a clearly structured craft. Surviving descriptions focus on brightness, apparent size and an impression that the object remained largely stationary.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comDispatches from the LP-OPFormer Evergreen police officer remembers Oct16, 1973…13 Oct 2011 — Dubose, who was a dispatcher at the state trooper post, in turn, notified his superiors in Montgomery of the UF…
Just as important is what the witnesses did not claim. Later interviews with Vickery show a notable degree of restraint. He did not insist that the object was extraterrestrial, nor did he claim certainty about its shape, distance or origin. Instead, he maintained that it was an unusual light that he could not identify.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comDispatches from the LP-OPFormer Evergreen police officer remembers Oct16, 1973…13 Oct 2011 — Dubose, who was a dispatcher at the state trooper post, in turn, notified his superiors in Montgomery of the UF…
This caution is often overlooked in discussions of police witnesses. Law-enforcement personnel may be perceived as especially reliable observers, but credibility and identification are separate issues. A witness can be entirely honest while still lacking the information needed to determine what was observed. The Evergreen testimony is valuable because it appears sincere and relatively consistent, not because it provides definitive answers.
Several features therefore support the witnesses’ credibility:
- Three people reportedly observed the light independently.
- The sighting was reported immediately rather than decades later.
- The witnesses did not make escalating or sensational claims.
- The account remained centred on an unidentified light rather than a detailed craft narrative.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comDispatches from the LP-OPFormer Evergreen police officer remembers Oct16, 1973…13 Oct 2011 — Dubose, who was a dispatcher at the state trooper post, in turn, notified his superiors in Montgomery of the UF…
Those factors make the testimony worth preserving within Alabama’s UFO record. They do not, however, transform it into strong physical evidence.
Why Missing Distance and Altitude Prevent Firm Conclusions
The central problem with the Evergreen case is not witness reliability but missing data.
The surviving accounts provide no dependable measurement of distance, altitude, speed or exact direction. Witnesses could see a light, but they could not determine how far away it was. Without distance, apparent size becomes meaningless. A small nearby light and a large distant light can appear identical to an observer on the ground.
The reported stationary behaviour creates a similar difficulty. Many aerial and astronomical objects can appear nearly motionless when viewed from certain angles. A distant aircraft approaching head-on may show little apparent movement. Bright planets and stars can seem unusually prominent under particular atmospheric conditions. Helicopters, towers, or other light sources can also create misleading impressions at night when depth cues are absent. Because the Evergreen witnesses could not establish range or altitude, investigators lack the information needed to test these possibilities rigorously.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comDispatches from the LP-OPFormer Evergreen police officer remembers Oct16, 1973…13 Oct 2011 — Dubose, who was a dispatcher at the state trooper post, in turn, notified his superiors in Montgomery of the UF…
Equally significant is the absence of corroborating technical evidence. No known radar record, photograph, instrument reading or surviving official investigation has emerged that would allow the event to be reconstructed in detail. The sighting therefore rests almost entirely on human observation.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comDispatches from the LP-OPFormer Evergreen police officer remembers Oct16, 1973…13 Oct 2011 — Dubose, who was a dispatcher at the state trooper post, in turn, notified his superiors in Montgomery of the UF…
This is where the limits of witness testimony become clear. Even careful observers can accurately report what they experienced while remaining unable to identify its cause. Testimony can establish that a light was seen; it cannot by itself establish distance, size, velocity or origin when those variables were never measured.
What Evergreen Contributes to Alabama UFO History
Evergreen’s importance lies less in the object and more in the evidential lesson it provides.
The case demonstrates why witness quality and evidential quality are not the same thing. Three police employees observing a light for twenty minutes sounds impressive at first glance, and it is certainly more substantial than an anonymous report. Yet the absence of basic observational data prevents investigators from moving beyond broad possibilities. The case remains unresolved not because it points strongly toward an extraordinary explanation, but because the available information is too limited to support any firm conclusion.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comDispatches from the LP-OPFormer Evergreen police officer remembers Oct16, 1973…13 Oct 2011 — Dubose, who was a dispatcher at the state trooper post, in turn, notified his superiors in Montgomery of the UF…
Within the October 1973 Alabama wave, Evergreen therefore occupies a middle ground. It is stronger than many one-person anecdotes because it involved multiple named witnesses and immediate reporting. It is weaker than cases supported by photographs, radar information or physical evidence because none of those elements exist here.
More than fifty years later, the most defensible assessment remains a modest one: three Evergreen police employees appear to have observed an unusual light that they could not identify, reported it responsibly, and left behind a case that highlights both the value and the limitations of eyewitness testimony.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comDispatches from the LP-OPFormer Evergreen police officer remembers Oct16, 1973…13 Oct 2011 — Dubose, who was a dispatcher at the state trooper post, in turn, notified his superiors in Montgomery of the UF…
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Endnotes
1.
Source: leepeacock2010.blogspot.com
Title: today marks 41st anniversary of strange
Link:https://leepeacock2010.blogspot.com/2014/10/today-marks-41st-anniversary-of-strange.html
Source snippet
16, 1973, two Evergreen police officers and a police dispatcher witnessed a bizarre sight over downtown...Read more...
2.
Source: leepeacock2010.blogspot.com
Title: Dispatches from the LP-OPFormer Evergreen police officer remembers Oct
Link:https://leepeacock2010.blogspot.com/2011/10/former-evergreen-police-officer.html
Source snippet
16, 1973...13 Oct 2011 — Dubose, who was a dispatcher at the state trooper post, in turn, notified his superiors in Montgomery of the UF...
Additional References
3.
Source: odmp.org
Link:https://www.odmp.org/agency/1210-evergreen-police-department-alabama
Source snippet
Evergreen Police DepartmentThe Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP) honors law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in the United...
4.
Source: reddit.com
Link:https://www.reddit.com/r/futurama/comments/npf8at/in_1973_and_alabama_police_officer_responded_to/
Source snippet
reports of...In 1973 Jeff Greenhaw, then 26-year old chief of police of Falkville, Alabama, was responding to a ufo landing report and f...
5.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py2tETQBlRA
Source snippet
"Jeff Greenhaw & The [Falkville Metal Man]({{ 'metal-man/' | relative_url }})" (The Goods from the Woods Episode #351)...
6.
Source: public.ukp.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de
Title: wikipedia word frequencies.txt
Link:https://public.ukp.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/reimers/embeddings/wikipedia_word_frequencies.txt
Source snippet
tu-darmstadt.dewikipedia_word_frequencies.txtoctober 860849 2010 857641 ・ government 844053 four 843969 ・ john 781672 $ 778031 end 771626...
7.
Source: reddit.com
Title: in 1973 two men went to police claiming to have
Link:https://www.reddit.com/r/HighStrangeness/comments/155soi2/in_1973_two_men_went_to_police_claiming_to_have/
Source snippet
The police thought they were lying, so they left the men alone in the room with a...Read more...
8.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2V3ViH1Se4
Source snippet
Mysterious Beings Not From Earth Caught On Camera - Part 7...
9.
Source: downloads.cs.stanford.edu
Title: vocab wiki.txt
Link:https://downloads.cs.stanford.edu/nlp/data/jiwei/data/vocab_wiki.txt
Source snippet
born became states including americanUNK the. of and in " a to was is) human police track teams usually museum 1999 body sea health …...
10.
Source: research.cs.queensu.ca
Title: unique n3.txt
Link:https://research.cs.queensu.ca/home/skill/unique_n3.txt
Source snippet
queensu.caunique_n3.txtOctober 37444 83 capacity 37006 84 years 36929. Transactions 31989 122. Department 28685 146 government … things 2...
11.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Mysterious Beings Not From Earth Caught On Camera
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGIBzAFYSUw
Source snippet
REAL Cryptids Caught Clearly On Camera - Part 4...
12.
Source: instagram.com
Link:https://www.instagram.com/reel/DV9ClfGjG2L/?hl=en