The 1964 Beauford Parham Georgia UFO Case

Shortly before midnight on June 29, 1964, Beauford E. Parham was returning home from a business trip. A resident of Wellford, South Carolina, he was nearing the border to his state from Georgia, driving on State Route 59, when he noticed a brilliant light in the sky when he was between Gainesville and Lavonia. Within an instant it was suddenly hovering in front of his headlights, estimated as no more than five feet from the front of his vehicle and a mere foot above the road. He said it was shaped like a child’s spinning top, the upper portion of it moving in a clockwise direction and the lower portion of it spinning in a counterclockwise direction. Parham said that it made a “hissing sound like a million snakes.” He also described bright flames near the underside, and estimated its size as six feet high and eight feet wide. He reported that it was amber-colored and noted that it had a sharp, steeplelike cone rising up from the object’s top midsection. He also noticed a dark band that surrounded the cone at its base.

The object soon flew up into the air but then returned and continued to stay in front of his headlights for about a mile. Then the object flew up over the top of Parham’s car, at which time he detected a strong odor like embalming fluid, and also became aware of a very gaseous vapor. Then the object began to come toward his vehicle again, a third time. Parham felt at this point that the UFO was attracted to his headlights, so he shut them off. “I looked up again and this object was spinning like crazy and turned and went back toward space which seemed like in a split second’s time,” Parham stated.

Parham then drove on into nearby Lavonia, Georgia, where he awoke the mayor of that community to share with him his story. The mayor urged Parham to notify personnel at the airport in Anderson, South Carolina, about an hour away. He did, and there met FAA representatives who checked him and his car for radioactivity. Parham stated: “Readings were obtained where the paint on my automobile was marred by this oily substance which this flying object left. They also obtained readings on both my arms...” After his sighting, Parham had complained about a burning sensation on his arms.

Parham soon washed his car several times to try and remove the mysterious smudge marks. By the time a NICAP investigator was to interview Parham, the remaining smudge marks weren’t that apparent, and the overall appearance of the car was that of the normal look of an older automobile.

The Air Force’s Project Blue Book queried the personnel at the Anderson airport about the incident. They learned from a Mr. Woodcock of the FAA that his geiger counter readings showed no trace of radioactivity. Blue Book offered two possible explanations: 1) St. Elmo’s fire and 2) ball lightning. Parham rejected both explanations. In fact, both phenomena require the presence of a thunderstorm, and none reportedly existed at the time. They also don’t resemble the structured object Parham described, although ball lightning as large as Parham’s UFO have been reported, although such instances are quite rare.

Interestingly, the following week, nine people in Tallulah Falls, Georgia, described seeing a cup shaped object, having red, white, and green lighting, and producing an odor comparable to “brake liquid” or “embalming fluid.”

Sources:

1) The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomenon from the Beginning, Vol. 2, 2nd Edition, by Jerome Clark. Omnigraphics, Inc., Penobscot Building, Detroit, MI 48226. 1998.

2) Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma, by Jacques and Janine Vallee. Ballantine Books, New York. 1966, 1974.