Sean C. Morgan
Some people garden for fun. Others make quilts.
Ed Matthews of Seaside and formerly of Sweet Home watches and takes photos of unidentified flying objects. Saturday, he was set up signing and selling copies of a book, “Katydids? Or UFOs!” with photos and stories of his and other encounters with UFOs.
He doesn’t have any idea what they might be, but he knows they cannot be conventional aircraft the way they move.
After getting a scanner and software to handle photos, Matthews enlarged UFO photos he took in the Sweet Home area in 1983 along the shore of the South Santiam River. He is in the process of having them authenticated by UFO organizations.
While living in the area, he “went out in the evening and started watching the skies,” Matthews said. After seeing UFOs, he started taking his camera with him.
“I had four or five close encounters, when a UFO was, at the most, 150 feet above me,” Matthews said. “One time, it shined a light on me.”
The light was about 12 feet wide. The UFO abruptly changed angles and elevation a couple of times before nearing Matthews and shining the light on him.
“Then it flew just a little bit more past me and took off, no noise,” Matthews said.
In most of the photos, Matthews used a 135 mm lens with a 2x converter on a tripod with a cable release to eliminate camera shake.
Most of the UFOs showed as small lights, but blown up, they take several shapes.
“My mom used to sit in the house and watch them in the evenings,” Matthews said. “My mom always called them Katydids. (She) didn’t want everyone to think she was crazy.”
When Matthews left in 1998, he was still seeing the UFOs regularly, he said. Most often, two would come in from the east, then after an hour or two, they would take off toward Portland.
Many folks never see UFOs at all.
“Honestly, people don’t look at the stars long enough to realize what’s there,” Matthews said. He suggests watching the brightest stars and “see what happens.”
Matthews’ book was published through Trafford Publishing in Victoria, B.C., Canada, on a print-on-demand basis. It was released in September.
“It’s a real fun hobby,” Matthews said. Interest was “picking up quite a bit. I’ve probably had 15 people at least take an interest in it.”
Persons may order online at http://www.trafford.com/robots/03-0719.html. For more information, persons may call (888) 232-4444.