Kearney, Nebraska: Reinhold Schmidt claims contact with crew of cigar-shaped craft
In the late afternoon of November 5, 1957, grain buyer Reinhold O. Schmidt claimed to have found a large cigar-shaped object in a field near Kearney, Nebraska, and to have been taken aboard by a human-looking crew of four men and two women; police he brought to the site found imprints and a green residue. He was convicted of grand theft in 1961.
Background
In the late afternoon of November 5, 1957, grain buyer Reinhold O. Schmidt was driving through the countryside near Kearney, Nebraska, when he noticed a large, cigar-shaped object resting in a field. He said he was escorted inside the craft, crewed by four men and two women of completely human appearance who spoke perfect German, claimed to come from Saturn and said they were interested in the recently launched Russian sputniks and US satellite-launching plans. Schmidt later brought local police to the landing site, where they found deep imprints and some 'mysterious green residue.' He claimed further visits to the craft, which he said carried an ordinary MG sports car and had large propellers at both ends, and eventually a ride to earth orbit and a tour of the mother ship. On October 26, 1961, Schmidt was convicted of grand theft in Oakland, California, after bilking a widow out of $5,000 for a worthless mining venture in Tulare County; Judge Donald K. Quayle sentenced him to 1–10 years in prison. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.