One of the best civilian recorded cases of 10 consecutive UFO sightings in Norwood, Ohio
| Name | Norwood Searchlight Incident |
| Occurred on | August 19, 1949 to March 10, 1950 |
| Seen by | T/Sgt. Donald R. Berger (primary) and several civilians and armed officers |
| Investigated by | Leonard Stringfield |
The Norwood searchlight incident of Ohio might be a little-known case, buried beneath the more prominent UFO cases of the 1950s, but it had three things that set it apart:
- Multiple highly respected witnesses, both civilian and uniformed personnel
- Documented evidence, such as observation logs, photographs, and film reels
- Prompt media coverage, with the news shared the morning after every sighting
These three are the very reasons why civilians like the late Leonard H. Stringfield and Kenny Young conducted their respective investigations years after it happened. Young even went so far as to call for witnesses and anyone with knowledge of the incident in the Ohio newspapers just to get critical information.
Unfortunately, like many UFO cases, the Norwood searchlight incident remains inconclusive and a mystery. Regardless, it won’t stop us from recording its details into our UFO archive for interested readers and researchers like you to use in your own study.
What Is the Norwood Searchlight Incident?
The Norwood searchlight incident refers to the 10 consecutive UFO sightings that happened over Ohio from August 19, 1949 to March 10, 1950.
Eight of the ten occurrences were observed from the St. Peter and Paul Church grounds in Norwood. The other two were at St. Gertrude Church, Madeira, five miles north-east of Norwood, and at Milford, nine miles east of Norwood.
And we in the UFO community are lucky that T/Sgt. Donald Berger, the primary witness, had the presence of mind to log his observations of this incident, which you’ll read in the next section.
He then gave this log to Rev. George Miller, the head pastor at Saints Peter and Paul Church, for safekeeping, who later shared it with Leonard H. Stringfield, the civilian who led the investigation into this case in 1952.
So far, no one has heard from T/Sgt. Berger again. Kenny Young, who revived the investigation into this case in the 2000s, wanted to interview him for his account but couldn’t find any trace of him or his family.
How Did the Norwood Searchlight Incident Unfold?
Here’s the timeline of events, including the civilian reports made to the military, regarding the Norwood searchlight incident.
August 1949
The Saints Peter and Paul Carnival and Jitney Dance was upcoming, and Rev. Gregory Miller bought an 800-million-candlepower searchlight from the army surplus depot to liven up the festival. He looked for volunteers to man the searchlight, and he found one in T/Sgt. Berger of the ROTC Unit at the University of Cincinnati.
While operating the searchlight on the night of the festival, August 19, T/Sgt. Berger saw an unidentified circular object at the end of its beam, which he thought to be a “space platform.” He then called the attention of Rev. Miller, who rushed to the scene along with several other people.
Here’s T/Sgt. Berger’s log about it:
August 19, 1949. Place: St. Peter and Paul Church, Norwood, Ohio. 2015 to 2300 hours. While operating for festival, picked up object at 1585 mils elevation. The object was stationary, appearing as glowing disc. When I moved the searchlight away the disc continued to glow. Estimated range: 4 or 5 miles. The sky was clear with thin haze at high altitude. I took no action, but next day articles appeared in two local papers re object.
The news of this unidentified object soon caught the attention of the festival goers and eventually made its way into the next day’s newspapers from The Cincinnati Post, The Cincinnati Enquirer, and The Cincinnati Times Star.
In the Cincinnati Post, a statement from a weather bureau official who saw it thought that it looked like two weather ceiling balloons, but doubted they really were as such because they didn’t move with the wind, which was moving at 25–32 mph at the time.
Three days later, August 22, the University of Cincinnati ROTC reported the incident to the U.S. Air Force (USAF). There, they described the unidentified object as:
- Having a phosphorescent appearance, but would have a bluish color if held in the light
- Retaining its luminous appearance even when the beam from the searchlight moved away from it
- Remaining stationary for the entire observation period
The report later reached Project Grudge, but sadly, they provided no immediate response or action to this UFO case.
September 1949
The incident happened again on September 11 and 17, with T/Sgt. Berger once again manning the searchlight.
Sept. 11, 1949. Place: St. Gertrude Church, Madeira, Ohio. 1915 to 2315 hours. Picked up object at 15,000 to 20,000 ft. at 1620 mils elevation. The object disappeared within a few seconds, traveling straight up. I picked it up again at much greater altitude. Then, when I changed carbons I lost it again until 2115 hrs. As soon as it reappeared, I phoned Wright-Patterson Field. The sky was clear with no visible clouds or haze. Several thousand people also saw object.
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Sept. 17, 1949. Place: Milford, Ohio. 1900 to 2000 hours. Testing the searchlight about dusk, I had it set at 1600 mils. I could see an object which looked like a white glow. When I turned the light off, I could see nothing. I did this several times. As soon as it became dark I turned on the light at same elevation and caught object in the beam.
There has been no record so far of any action from the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB) about T/Sgt. Berger’s report on September 11.
October 1949
The most significant of the 10 sightings happened on October 23, when the witnesses saw smaller flying objects coming from the main, larger object. Rev. Miller and Robert Linn reported the strange event to Wright-Patterson AFB.
The next day, an unnamed Advanced Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) agent from the base came. By coincidence, he was able to witness the fifth sighting of this Norwood searchlight incident.
Oct. 23, 1949. Place: St. Peter and Paul, Norwood. 1915 to 2245 hours. I turned on the light and picked up object at 1600 mils. Among those present were William Winkler, Father Gregory Miller, Robert Linn (Managing Editor, Cincinnati Post) and Leo Hirtl (Post reporter). Reverend Miller and Linn phoned Wright-Patterson and reported object to Intelligence Officer. About 2200 hours, two distinct groups of triangular-shaped objects seemed to come out of the main disc. Each group had about five objects. They came down the beam then turned out of the beam. The same performance was repeated about half hour later. The disc was still visible when I turned out the light for the night.
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Oct. 24, 1949. Place: St. Peter and Paul. 1915 to 2100 hours. Set light at 1600 mils. The object appeared immediately in the beam. ATIC agent and Lou Gerhart with me at the time. Held object in beam for about half hour until covered by clouds.
Four days later, October 28, one of the witnesses to the October 23rd event, William R. Winkler, the president of Winkler Offset Color Service, wrote to USAF Chief of Staff Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg to not only report the event but also to try to obtain information about what it was.
The General then forwarded his letter to Project Grudge, which many suspected indirectly pressured Grudge to do something about it.
Winkler received the Grudge’s reply two months later, on December 6. The letter stated that they had “taken steps to investigate the phenomenon” and that Winkler should expect a call from them soon. He was then interviewed on December 16 and 21.
November 1949
The sixth sighting happened, as logged by T/Sgt. Berger.
Nov. 19, 1949. Place: Norwood, Ohio. 1830 to 2245 hrs. At 1915 hours the beam of the light flashed on the object. Guiding the light back on the object, it then disappeared immediately. About a minute later I picked it up again much higher. The elevation was between 1605 and 1610 mils. Many witnesses, including William Winkler. Sky was covered with low broken clouds. At time objects appeared much brighter.
December 1949
While not as extraordinary as October 23rd’s, this seventh sighting was significant because it was witnessed by two academic experts and two Office of Special Investigations (OSI) agents.
Dec. 20, 1949. Place: Norwood, Ohio. 2015 to 2200 hours. Turned light on at 2015 and picked up object immediately. At first it was faint and small. As haze cleared, object brightened. At 2130 it got much brighter and spread out almost as large as beam, then disappeared. Present were D. A. Wells (Un. of Cincinnati physicist), Dr. Paul Herget (Un. of Cincinnati astronomer), two OSI members, Father Miller, the mayor of Norwood (K. Ed Tepe) and Reginald Myers.
Three days later, December 23, an investigation report was written by OSI Special Agent Harris L. Stewart, who might or might not be one of the two OSI agents present that day.
Below you’ll find excerpts from his report. We only picked out the parts that we believe are critical to understanding the Norwood searchlight incident.
| Person Mentioned | Their Statement |
| William R. Winkler | On the October 23 sighting The unidentified object occupied 25% of the beam’s center and appeared to be beyond the beam’s tip. At 9:30 PM, a strong of small indefinite triangular objects appeared to emanate from the large object, dived down the searchlight beam towards the light, and then turned out of the beam towards the south-east and disappeared. Their appearance and descent were accompanied by a high-pitched whistle or whine. There were two groups of [diving] objects. There were 12–15 objects, and the size of those diving objects were approx. three times the size of a fighter aircraft. The main object’s height was estimated to be at 35,000+ feet. He believed the object was a spaceship from another planet. |
| Greater Cincinnati Airport Weather Station | On the October 23 sighting The weather files noted there had been a thin overcast at 15,000–16,000 feet and another thin overcast at 25,000–30,000 feet; visibility was better than 15 miles. On the December 20 sighting There had been a thin overcast from 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM and a thin broken clouds with a thin scattered clouds halfway through from 9:30 PM to 11:30 PM at 30,000 feet, and visibility was better than 15 miles. |
| T/Sgt. Berger | He recounted what happened from the first to the seventh sightings. He stated that the searchlight’s beam had to be in a vertical position in order to pick up the object. On the November 19 sighting He revealed that Winkler took some pictures of the object but nothing was seen. |
| [Redacted], Physics Department, University of Cincinnati | On the December 20 sighting He considered the object to be an atmospheric phenomenon. He believed that the object’s appearance and disappearance with the movement of the beam were due to the refraction of the light beam by either haze or a lower layer of thin clouds. He believed the object itself to be the light of the beam striking a high layer of thin clouds. The fact that the object appeared to remain in the same place when the beam was moved off of it might be due to latent retinal image caused by staring at the spot for longer periods of time. His explanation was based on the fact that the object’s appearance and disappearance coincided with the high cloud conditions the weather bureau reported that night. |
January 1950
Eleven days after welcoming the new year, T/Sgt. Berger once again sighted the unidentified object on the grounds of Saint Peter and Paul Church—and this time, with officers from the Air National Guard.
Jan. 11, 1950. Place: Norwood, Ohio. 1930 to 2115 hrs. Turned on light, but didn’t find object until about 1945 hours when haze blew away. Observed it for about 15 minutes, very clearly, then it dimmed. It was called to my attention that some smaller objects were passing through the beam. I saw at least two objects several times. Also present were William Winkler and M/Sgt. K. Ekleberry, M/Sgt. John Savage and Sgt. W. Pflueger of the Air National Guard.
March 1950
March saw the last of the Norwood searchlight sightings.
March 9, 1950. Place: Norwood, Ohio. 2000 to 2200 hours. About 2000 I picked up object with the light. About 2045 hrs. two small objects came out of the disc and it looked as if the disc was pushed out of the beam. In about ten minutes, the disc moved back into the beam. The sky was clear. Eleven people were present.
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March 10, 1950. Place: Norwood, Ohio. 1900 to 2300 hours. Caught object in beam at 1600 mils. At 1945 hours the object moved up and across the beam and disappeared. Half hour later, object reappeared in beam in same position. Object stayed in beam until I turned light off for the night. Present were Father Miller, Capt. Wilks, K. Myers, Wm. Winkler and others. Capt. Wilks phoned Wright-Patterson Field. Capt. Wilks watched the object with glasses while I moved the light.
Curiously and interestingly, a glowing object, “much brighter than the star,” was sighted the day before, March 8, over the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Did this unidentified object have any relation to the one seen over Norwood? No one knows.
Were There Additional Findings About the Norwood Searchlight Incident Uncovered Later?
There are, particularly by Leaonard Stringfield, the director of Civilian Research, Interplanetary Flying Objects (CRIFO), and Kenny Young, an independent UFO researcher.
What Did Leonard Stringfield Uncover?
Photographs and Film Evidence
Leonard Stringfield first heard about, and later became invested in, the Norwood searchlight incident in 1952 while guesting at a special UFO program on WCPO-TV. One of the guests was Rev. Miller, who, after the program, showed him several photographs and film reels of the unidentified object Norwood had seen at the end of the searchlight beam.
He recounted in his published report, Inside Saucer Post …3-0 Blue, that he and his wife, Dell, watched the movie film as the “giant stationary disc appeared, glowing intensely in the sweeps of searchlight’s beam.”
These photos and films were taken on October 23 by Sgt. Leo Davidson of the Norwood Police Department, on request by the reverend. Overall, there were:
- 10 photographs taken using a Speed-Graphic camera with a 14-inch Wallensach telephone lens
- 3 rolls, 25 feet each, of film reels taken using a Hugo-Meyer F-10-3
Sgt. Davidson commented that the smaller objects “were visibly the size of pinheads, but they didn’t have the intensity to register clearly on the film.” To the naked eye, however, each of those smaller objects had halos brighter than the searchlight beam.
Sadly, the two best photographs, which showed the parent object and its brood, are now lost.
Harry Mayo, the editor at Cincinnati Post and a Time-Life correspondent, was the last to see them. He had asked for these photos for use in his feature story for Time, but not only were these not used, but there was also no story published in either publication.
Stringfield suspected that Time-Life had consorted with the USAF and so tried to reclaim them by writing to Capt. R.C. White of OPI in Washington. In his reply, the captain denied that they had received such photographs.
Eyewitness Testimony
As a Cincinnati resident, Stringfield was privileged enough to interview eyewitnesses closely.
- William Winkler, who mentioned having used a telescope to observe the October 23 sighting, described the smaller objects as “triangular.”
- Rev. Gregory Miller and his brother, Rev. Cletus, who backed Winkler’s statement and said they were shaped like the apex of Indian arrowheads.
- Robert Linn, who admitted “he saw the searchlight beam bounce off some definite object” and that the smaller objects were “something like bits of paper.”
- Unnamed source from the Cincinnati Enquirer, who admitted that the newspaper received reports of unidentified lights in the sky, even beyond Norwood.
- Mayor R. Ed Tepe, who firmly believed that the object was a solid round body because of its discernible ridges or ribbing.
Expert Claims
Stringfield had also talked with Dr. Dare A. Wells and Dr. Paul Herget. While most of their conversations were under strict confidence, the two shared their comments with Harry Mayo’s April 6, 1950 Cincinnati Post story.
- Dr. Wells: In my opinion, it’s an optical illusion.
- Dr. Herget: It’s not a fake. I believe it may be caused by the illumination of gas in the atmosphere. We need an explanation to squash people’s fears.
Stringfield also mentioned in his published report that Dr. Wells brought a camera and protractors to compute the object’s size while huddling with the two OSI agents. In their final confirmation, the object’s size was approximated to be 10,000 feet in diameter.
What Did Kenny Young Uncover?
Photographic Analysis
Dr. Haines’ Evaluation
Young asked Dr. Richard Haines of the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP) to evaluate the photo featured in Stringfield’s book.
Here were some of Dr. Haines’ remarks:
- The unidentified object wasn’t completely round.
- The upper-right 1/6th (approx.) was either missing or not illuminated to the same degree as the lower portion of the object. This suggests that it wasn’t self-luminous.
- The photo still showed the presence of several (about 3) small luminous sources located at about 0.5–0.8 diameters from its edge.
- It wasn’t clear whether the round object was seen by virtue of being illuminated by the searchlight or because it gave off its own light.
You can read the complete analysis on NICAP: https://www.nicap.org/reports/norwoodanal.htm.
Light Bending Anomaly
During the MUFON Tri-State UFO Conference 2004, Young revealed that they found a new photograph of the unidentified object in November 2003.
The photo was in Ray Stanford’s possession and showed how the searchlight beam bent at the tail end, at about 26.5°, with small spikes in it. It seemed as if the light was being sucked right toward the object.
Stanford excitedly stated:
This is several generations down from the original 16 mm movie film, but it seems to rather clearly show that while the beam was projecting several degrees away from the object, when it got within a certain event horizon of the object, it was simply bent or “pulled” the beam directly into the object, seemingly bending it about 26.5 degrees, as measured in the photo plane!
This frame has always amazed me since I first saw it in the mid-’50s. Several persons back then, who had seen the actual movie, said that at one time the object seems, indeed, to “suck” the beam squarely into it!
According to Young, this bending is common in photography and science, but for a massive object to do so could be considered a physics anomaly.
Eyewitness Testimony
Former Radar Officer
In October 2003, Young interviewed a former officer of the 123rd Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, an Air National Guard radar unit based at Lunken Field, Cincinnati.
The officer claimed that they didn’t know anything about the UFO incident going around in Norwood. Only that their unit received a call from headquarters to check the radar for a massive object over Norwood, as per the advice from the Cincinnati Astronomical Society.
Their unit had confirmed the object’s presence on radar and had watched it for several months. They also had seen the smaller objects coming from the main object on the radar until the object finally left the Earth’s atmosphere at a terrible speed.
The officer said their unit was told to keep quiet about this.
This particular testimony indicates that Wright-Patterson AFB (and perhaps the USAF by extension) was very much aware of and interested in this object.
Arthur Veser
A new witness came forward, named Arthur Veser. He was T/Sgt. Berger’s friend and was also a witness to the October 24th sighting.
He confirmed T/Sgt. Berger’s logs, in which they discovered the object as soon as they turned on the searchlight beam.
In the interview, Veser admitted that he still didn’t know what it was, but it was definitely something.
What Is the Significance of the Norwood Searchlight Incident in Ufology?
While it’s true that the Norwood searchlight incident is less famous than other 1950 UFO cases, it doesn’t erase the fact that:
- Witnesses with various backgrounds—civilians, pastors, journalists, local officials, scientists, police, and military—had reported seeing the same luminous, disc-like object.
- Photographic, film, and radar evidence proved that an unknown, mysterious phenomenon had been observed in those seven months.
For UFO researchers and scientists, these details hold weight. They point to a case that was unusually well-documented for its time and still leaves key questions unanswered, keeping the incident relevant in discussions of unexplained aerial phenomena.
If you want to learn more about similar cases, visit UFO Connect’s library.
FAQ
What explanations were proposed for the Norwood searchlight incident?
Many had proposed that the UFO in Norwood could be a weather balloon, an atmospheric phenomenon, or a light reflecting off clouds. However, these were highly unlikely because the object remained stationary despite strong winds and repeatedly appeared in the same location whenever the searchlight beam was directed at it.
Did anyone follow up on the results of the military’s investigation of the Norwood searchlight incident?
Yes, by businessman William Winkler. He wrote to Gen. Vandenberg on November 27, 1950, asking whether the military had thoroughly investigated the incident. The General’s office replied that his inquiry will be “given due cognizance by the proper agency.” Winkler also personally visited Project Blue Book in 1952 for the same inquiry, as well as penning a letter to its chief, Edward James Ruppelt, two days later.
References
1 Unsolved Mysteries of the World. “The Norwood Searchlight UFO.” Acast, https://shows.acast.com/unsolved-mysteries-of-the-world/episodes/the-norwood-searchlight-ufo. Accessed March 6, 2026.
2 Explorer1x. “Norwood, Ohio – Searchlight UFO Incident – 1949.” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CmnKaUvAVo. Accessed March 6, 2026.
3 “Norwood Photos.” UFO Research: CINCINNATI! https://kenny.anomalyresponse.com/norwoodphotos.html. Accessed March 6, 2026.
4 “Caught in the Light.” Saturday Night Uforia, https://www.saturdaynightuforia.com/html/articles/articlehtml/caughtinthelight.html. Accessed March 6, 2026.
5 “Three Aircraft Spot UFO / Radar Track at ATIC.” NICAP, https://www.nicap.org/500308wright-pat_dir.htm. Accessed March 9, 2026.6 X/@richgel999. X, https://x.com/richgel999/status/1634111124156162048?s=20. Accessed March 9, 2026.
