Looking back: ISP officer reports an ‘object that he couldn’t identify’ was ‘off to the side of his vehicle’ before it moved away
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Dec. 25 to Dec 31 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
RIGBY — There was “much complaint” being made about “youngsters who … persist in getting on sleighs,” The Rigby Star reported on Dec. 25, 1919.
The paper said the boys on the drays, which were used to haul goods, have “repeatedly thrown the children off their sleighs in order to keep them from getting injured.”
“They still persist in climbing on the runners,” the article stated. “And of course, if one should fall beneath the runners, it ‘would be the fault of the drayman,’ and not the disobedient children who are allowed to run about the streets and menace the draymen and those driving sleds to and from town.”
1926-1950
IDAHO FALLS — An Idaho Falls man “narrowly escaped a perilous night” in the snow on the hills after breaking his leg, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on Dec. 26, 1934.
Thomas Robinson was riding a horse when somehow the animal fell on him and shattered his leg in two places.
“Robinson was left alone on a seldom frequented road on Flint hill,” the Post Register wrote.
Donald Randberg, a mail carrier to Bone, was traveling in a sled — the road was impossible for cars to travel on — when he spotted Robinson. He picked the man up after dark and brought him into town.
“Robinson was reported as resting well, little affected from the long exposure,” the paper added.
1951-1975
POCATELLO — Babies born on Christmas Day were highlighted in the local paper, the Idaho State Journal reported on Dec. 26, 1951.
The first baby born in Pocatello on Christmas in 1951 was a boy named Robert. He was the son of Rev. and Mrs. Dickson. He was born at 2:35 a.m. at St. Anthony’s hospital “as Santa was in the midst of delivering his presents.”
Later that morning at 8:40 a.m., Mr. and Mrs. John Sonna welcomed a daughter at the same hospital.
1976-2000
SODA SPRINGS — “Strange happenings” were reported in the Wood Canyon area, approximately three miles east of Soda Springs, the Caribou County Sun reported on Dec. 30, 1976.
In the early hours of Dec. 19, law enforcement were involved in a search for what was reported as a possible downed aircraft in the vicinity of Wood Canyon.
“Various sightings had been made on what appeared to be an aircraft over the mountains above Wood Canyon,” the article explained.
Sheriff-elect Kelly Izatt was driving in his own private vehicle and was communicating with officers on a radio. He said he was at the top of Wood Canyon coming back down when Idaho State Police officer Dennis Abrams, who was in front of Izatt, reported an “object that he couldn’t identify off to the side of his vehicle.”
“Apparently the object was stationary and then moved off to the west and north from Abrams position,” the Caribou County Sun wrote.
Izatt said it was a clear night and no moon but because of the position of the hill, he said he was unable to see Abrams’ vehicle and the object.
Another state police officer reported to be “tracking an object north of Soda Springs” and a Soda Springs Police officer said he saw something that “looked similar to a shooting star about 11:30 p.m. Saturday night.”
“It came across in a northerly direction, stopped momentarily, and then continued on,” the paper said.
A spokesman for ISP in Pocatello said a “very crude homemade bomb” was found on the Wood Canyon road but not in the general vicinity of the sighting. He said the bomb looked like a part of a car muffler and black powder had been used as the explosive.
“Abrams, who made the closest and most accurate sighting, has been out of the Soda Springs area, and could not be reached at press time,” the paper added. “Much of the information being passed around this area is rumor based on very little fact.”
It continued, “The real fact remains that a trained law enforcement officer made a sighting at very close range of an object that could not and has not been identified. Other observances made that night by law officers and others may or may not have had anything to do with the incident in Wood Canyon.”
The paper said this may “never have a logical or satisfactory answer.”
“It will probably just be recorded as another ‘sighting,'” the article reads. “It seems very difficult though, to ignore the facts.”