KINGMAN, Ariz. — At the heart of Kingman, Arizona, is Route 66.
Whether they are just passing through or stopping for a bite to eat, countless visitors have seen the famous logo all throughout the city over the years.
But in May of 1953, a different visitor came to Kingman and they didn't take Route 66.
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These visitors came crashing down from the sky, slamming into the desert just east of Kingman, according to UFO researchers.
It's a familiar story for those living in Kingman. While many claim to have seen UFOs in the sky above, others think this so-called crash just makes for a good story.
Author Preston Dennett believes it's more than just a story. He's been investigating UFOs since 1986 and is one of many who have looked at this alleged particular UFO crash, calling it the "Paradise Valley Crash" or "Kingman Crash".
While it's not well known to those outside of Kingman and may not be as infamous as the 1947 Roswell Crash, Dennett considers the incident in Kingman to be in the top five of known UFO crashes.
"It's very rare to have multiple witnesses, multiple sources of information, confirming an incident like this," Dennett said.
As to what brought down the UFO, researchers have many different theories - nuclear tests happening nearby, unstable gravitational field lines or powerful radars being tested around Kingman to combat foreign aircraft.
At the research center at the Mohave Museum of History and Arts right off Route 66, there's a section dedicated to the UFO crash. Old newspaper clippings, sketches and even redacted government documents allegedly detailing the crash from those who were there.
One of the names that kept coming up: Fritz Werner.
"We now know him to be Arthur Stansel," Dennett said.
Werner was a pseudonym Stansel reportedly used when he discussed the situation in Kingman. Documents claim Stansel was an Air Force Engineer who studied the impact nuclear blasts had on homes and buildings. He was one of 40 people transported to the crash scene in a bus with blacked-out windows so passengers wouldn't know where they were.
According to the redacted documents, they were told this was part of a secret project.
When they arrived the reports claim they saw a UFO measuring 14 feet high and 30 feet in diameter. It was made out of an unfamiliar metal that was plunged about 20 inches into the ground but was not damaged from the impact.
"It was [Stansel's] job to basically determine the speed of this object as it came down, based upon the gouge it made in the soil, and he estimated it was about 1200 miles per hour," Dennett said.
Next to the UFO, documents claim, was the corpse of the so-called pilot who was described as being about four feet tall and wearing a silver metallic suit. It appeared the pilot was dead.
Surrounded by military police, the workers conducted their studies on the aircraft. The reports don't reveal how long they were there, but when they all got back on the bus it claims an Air Force Colonel who was in charge of the operation made them take an oath to keep this a secret.
About 20 years later, Stansel signed an affidavit reportedly confirming what he saw.
Then 50 years following the alleged crash, another secret was revealed: a claim that officials didn't just investigate the crash. They also took it.
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Christopher Mellon released a redacted conversation between him and a person he called a senior U.S. government member whose name was not disclosed.
It claimed people would be "slack-jawed" if word got out about what they knew—writing that the federal government seized the Kingman UFO.
"These craft are scooped up, taken to various Air Force bases, scientific labs, and studied intensely, intently to figure out exactly what we can figure out about how they work," Dennett said.
Despite the reports and alleged witness accounts, Dennett believes we will never truly know if what happened in Kingman is true unless the U.S. Government admits to it which he also said is unlikely.
12News reached out to members of the U.S. House Oversight and Accountability Committee which has held hearings on UFOs in the past. However, a spokesperson said they don't have anything on the Kingman Crash.
However, with more meetings and discussions happening on the federal level surrounding the topic of aliens and UFOs, Dennett is optimistic that more answers are coming.
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