What happened
The Mannors walked toward lights over a swamp on their land and said they got within about 500 yards of an object. Their descriptions differ by interview: football-shaped with a waffled or quilted surface, pyramid-shaped with a blue-green light on one side and a white light on the other, and a brown sphere. Hunawill said an object passed over his patrol car and made sweeps over the swamp. The next night Hillsdale College students and a civil defense director reported lights over a swamp near the college. J. Allen Hynek, sent by the Air Force, told a March 25 press conference the Dexter and Hillsdale reports were probably swamp gas. Gerald Ford called the explanation flippant and pressed for a congressional hearing, which helped lead to the Condon study.