Paul Cunningham of Manchester, England, first called and talked to my English husband, David, then called back and we had a nice conversation. I have since sent him copies of three columns that I wrote back in October 2005.

He would like to hear from anyone in this area who has information about or actually sighted a UFO about that time. He can be contacted at paulcunningham2 @hotmail.com.

Cunningham said the UFO sighting that he is most interested in took place on July 25, 1953, over Perrin Air Force Base, now Grayson County Airport. He said that the government report says that some witnesses from Denison and Sherman saw the event.

He described the formation as seven objects in the shape of a "Z" with three on the top, one in the middle and three on the bottom. Then the lights peeled off one by one and spiraled up into space.

Paul thinks that this UFO sighting probably is one of the most significant ever, since the crafts were showing deliberate formation to convey a specific meaning. Paul included a Web site where the declassified documents on the sighting of the UFO's are published. That site is http://www.ufologie.net/htm/foia85.htm.

The one-page report was sent from Perrin to the Pentagon, The Air Defense Command, the CIA and others on July 25, 1953, and was classified at the time as confidential. It has since been declassified.

The report includes information that "ground observed seven unidentified objects with one bright red light on each object hovering at estimated altitudes from five to eight thousand feet, visually observed from Perrin tower and citizens of Denison and Sherman, Texas. No lateral movement was observed, formation was in groups of three with one trailing and then coming together to form the letter 'zebra' formation. Then circled while gaining altitude and faded from sight one at a time. No air to air contact made. No radar contact made by Perrin radar. Visual contact was maintained from 2139 to 2155. Visibility unlimited with clear sky condition."

Paul is trying to find servicemen from the base at the time to see if they are willing to talk. He said he has run into a problem with some veterans who feel that they are betraying official secrets, but added that because the report has been declassified, they are also allowed to talk about it freely.

The amazing thing about this particular sighting, he said, is that it doesn't require any debris or landing somewhere it shouldn't be. It simply records proof that something alien visited.

When I was writing the 2005 articles, I talked to a couple of men who were stationed at Perrin in 1953. One, a major when the base closed in 1971, said the story about the UFO's being seen on Perrin's radar screen was a "bunch of bull." He came to Perrin in 1953 before the radar site was complete and was stationed there for five or six years. He said "I know positively that is couldn't happen."

Another former Perrinite from 1951 to 1953, Chandler Yergin spoke to me from his home in Tucson, Ariz. He had been sent to Perrin to help install the radar equipment. He said he had a 37-year career in aerospace technology, working with prime contractors who manufactured critical components to satellites and weapon systems. He said he was on the "cutting edge" of technology and his clearances were "secret" and he also was certified by NASA to perform certain activities.

Yergin said he "knows" there is nothing that can violate the laws of physics as we know them and "UFO's are simply Unidentified Flying Objects. There is not one shred of evidence or confirmation of any supernatural occurrence," he said.

Yergin believed that the only real story about the sighting at Perrin illustrated the paranoia of the government at that time. He said that "a group of guys were taken at gunpoint, intimidated, and threatened with a $10,000 fine and imprisonment for 10 years in a federal prison if we spoke about what we had seen. 'Today Never Happened' they said."

Yergin said it would be nice to find someone who was in the Radar Annex at the time and/or a pilot that was scrambled to try and get a visual sighting, "and we could have a good laugh about it over a drink."

The Perrin Radar Annex was located not far from the main base, east of FM 1417. The facility was part of a large system of radar stations guarding the skies during the Cold War. The facility was also known as a Ground Controlled Intercept site. It remained active until Perrin closed, Yergin said.

While the sighting discussed here was in 1953, there have been numerous "sightings" in this area as early as 1878. This sighting was related in a Jan. 2, 1878, Denison Daily News article telling of a "sighting" of a strange phenomenon by a farmer six miles north of Dallas. The farmer thought it resembled a balloon and disappeared in the southern sky as quickly as it had appeared.

An Aug.5, 1965, Denison Herald story tells of a spokesman at Perrin admitting the reference to "saucer" in the 1878 report could have been the first official report of a flying saucer.

In May 1981 at least seven people reported spotting a UFO over Texoma. One man went so far as to draw a sketch of the object that he said had lighted portholes with fire streaming in sparks from the rear and green and yellow pulsating lights.

A Denison High School classmate of mine told me a story when he attended our last class reunion that may have excited some Denisonians who thought they were seeing UFO's. I don't have all the facts yet, but when he sends his version of the event, I'll pass it along.

DONNA HUNT is a former editor of The Denison Herald. She lives in Denison and can be contacted at d.hunt_903@yahoo.com