Mysterious Lights Over Southwick
– A Southwick Time Machine Historical Mystery
Shortly before 8:00 p.m. on September 25, 1952, Isabel Root of Southwick, Massachusetts, was sitting in the living room of her Springfield Road home with her daughter, Sandra, when they saw an intense, bright light in the sky. Mrs. Root went to the front door to investigate. Looking skyward, she saw a strange light slightly larger than a car headlight.
She debated reporting the mysterious light to authorities because she feared people would ridicule her if it turned out to be nothing. The light, however, scared Sandra.
Mrs. Root finally decided to call the local Civil Defense director, but her attempt was unsuccessful. She then rang Deputy Director William F. Buschmann and told him what she had seen. She said that the mysterious bright light lasted approximately two minutes. She also told him that the light did not float or waver.
After speaking with Mrs. Root, Mr. Buschmann called the ground observation tower atop Westfield High School in Westfield, Massachusetts. Volunteers staffing the tower told him that four observers reported seeing a bright flash of light in the southeast sky that lasted two to three seconds around 9:00 p.m.
A Westfield resident, Mrs. Dorothy Premny of Granville Road, called in around 9:45 p.m. and reported seeing an orange light in the sky.
Less than a year later, Mrs. Premny experienced another light incident. While driving down Ashley Street in Westfield on July 26, 1953, she became blinded by oncoming traffic and slammed into an unoccupied automobile parked on the side of the road, flipping it over.
A few months before Mrs. Root’s report, the nation was already abuzz about flying saucers due to an incident the United States Coast Guard described as a daytime "unidentified aerial phenomena" over Salem, Massachusetts.
While cleaning a camera on July 16, 1952, an official photographer at the Coast Guard Air Station (CGAS) Salem noticed four brilliant objects in the clear morning sky as he looked out the photo laboratory window. The lights were in a V-formation. To make sure he wasn't seeing things, the photographer quickly called over a first-class hospitalman.
For five to six seconds, the photographer watched the lights, which he said appeared to waver. He grabbed his camera, but by the time he focused it, the lights had considerably dimmed.
The two men watched as the mysterious lights started burning brightly again. The photographer snapped a photograph through the screened window at 9:35. According to the men, there was a momentary flash, and the lights disappeared.
Together they developed the film.
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| Coast Guard Air Station Salem, July 16, 1952 |
Around the time of the Salem air station sighting, the United States Air Force said it received more flying saucer reports that summer than at any time since the initial flood of sightings that occurred in 1947.
The United States Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C., made the Air Station Salem photograph public on August 1, saying it had no opinion as to the cause or source of the objects and was releasing the picture due to widespread public interest.
Experts in photography examined the negative. They reported that the negative was clear and unscratched. They also said there was no evidence of it having been exposed to liquids.
The Coast Guard photographer said there was no noise when he saw the lights. He also said, “ I cannot say in all honesty that I saw objects or aircraft, merely some manner of lights.”
— Uncovered and preserved by the Southwick Time Machine
Isabel F. (Deming) Root
November 19, 1910 – March 24, 1986
United States Coast Guard Air Station Salem
1935 – 1970
This article is based on original primary-source research, including official records and documents, census data, U.F.O. and science websites, and period newspapers and directories.
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without
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Thank you for helping keep these stories alive.
Edited Out/Author's Additional Research Notes
Richard W. Root: July 17, 1910 – December 11, 1995
Sandra Deming (Root) Savard: December 26, 1940 – December 28, 2011
William F. Buschmann: January 1, 1912 – February 7, 1962
Isabel Root was Southwick's town clerk. She was born in Granby, Connecticut, but lived most of her life in Southwick.
The Root home in 1952 was likely today's 24 Feeding Hills Road.
Mr. Buschmann became director the Civil Defense. He was sworn in on January 5, 1953.
Isabel and Richard also had a son, Charles R. Root.
Mrs. Root's sighting wasn't the last time mysterious lights were seen in the sky over Southwick.
Isabel and Richard lost an infant son, born and died on April 4, 1939.
Springfield Road in Southwick was later renamed Feeding Hills Road.
Richard Root owned an express/transport business.
DeLance's appeal may have been won on a technicality.
On December 27, 1958, several residents in and around Chicopee, Massachusetts, notified authorities after hearing an explosion and seeing a bright flash of light across the skies toward Southwick and Westfield between 2:30 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. Many thought it might have been a plane breaking the sound barrier, but a Westover spokesman said no planes from the base were aloft at the time.Dorothy’s father was a professional boxer.
Dorothy’s husband died in 1981.
The United States Navy said they were not firing anything in the area of Air Station Salem on July 16, 1952. The Air Force also denied any activity on that day.
Mrs. Premny's Road Trouble
On Saturday evening, April 1, 1961, Mrs. Premny was driving down Western Avenue in Westfield. As she prepared to stop at the intersection of Granville Road, her high heel became caught in the car’s floor rug. In trying to free it, she accidentally stepped on the gas pedal. The car shot across the road, knocked down a sign, and traveled about 60 feet onto a lawn in front of a residential home.
Years later, Dorothy Premny was involved in another automobile accident in Westfield, this time under very different circumstances.
On February 22, 1984, a tractor-trailer truck was traveling on South Maple Street in Westfield when the trailer broke loose. The truck continued down the road, but the unhitched trailer veered and struck a Chevrolet driven by Dorothy Premny, who was seriously injured and taken to Baystate Medical Center. Her seven-year-old grandson was also in the vehicle. He received minor cuts and bruises and was treated and released from Noble Hospital.
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| Dorothy Premny's car following the February 22, 1984 accident |
The truck driver, twenty-nine-year-old Jeffery C. DeLance, stopped and began backing up to assist the victims. DeLance was unaware that another car had pulled off the road; he struck the vehicle with his truck, damaging the car’s left front end.
Police charged DeLance with drunken driving and driving to endanger. Appearing in Westfield District Court on February 23, DeLance pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Dorothy remained in the hospital for weeks. On March 14, 1984, Dorothy’s attorney filed a $5 million suit against DeLance and the truck’s owner of record: Edgar W. Root, Inc. of Westfield.
An investigation into the crash revealed that on the day of the accident, DeLance and a friend had been drinking all day. A witness later testified that DeLance nearly fell off a bar stool and was warned not to drive, but he did anyway. An officer testified that the cab had never been properly attached to the trailer. On June 4, 1984, a Westfield District Court judge found DeLance guilty of both charges.
Prior to his sentencing hearing, DeLance appealed the decision.
The jury-waived trial in Springfield District Court came on June 29, 1984, one week before DeLance was scheduled to be sentenced in Westfield District Court. DeLance won the wet-driving charge on appeal.
Back in 1982, DeLance was scheduled to answer charges of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor and being in possession of stolen license plates.
Jeffery DeLance was a career truck driver. He reportedly won several safety awards.
Dorothy E. (Miller) Premny
June 28, 1922 – January 2, 2000
Jeffery C. DeLance
August 17, 1954 – November 15, 2022
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