IPSWICH — A bit of a mystery is lingering over Crane Beach: A Beverly man wants to know what he saw falling from the sky yesterday afternoon.
"It definitely was not a UFO," stressed Richard Wilson, an engineer originally from Wales. "It was bloody bizarre."
Wilson was spending the afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather with his wife and son at Crane Beach. His walk was just ending when something caught the attention of him and other beachgoers.
Wilson saw two objects fall within 15 minutes of each other. The first, a rather large piece, fell between Crane Beach and Little Neck near the Ipswich River.
The second object fell as he and his family were headed for the parking lot.
"We were walking back to our car, crossing over the boardwalk, and someone ran towards us," Wilson said. "I looked up at the sky and there were 20 to 30 pieces really high up and they fell on the dunes."
One man managed to pick up the smaller piece but Wilson couldn't get to him without walking a long way on the dunes. The rest of the pieces blew away to a swampy area behind the dunes.
The first piece fell at 1:30 p.m. and was much bigger, about 200 to 300 feet long, Wilson estimated.
"There was a plane in the sky doing aerobatics near the sea — this stuff was higher than that," Wilson said. "It rolled over and (was) moving like a piece of material, getting blown away."
The first piece to fall caught the attention of many beachgoers, and they stared up at the sky.
While Wilson said many people were captivated by the falling object, park rangers from The Trustees of the Reservation, which owns the beach, said no one informed them of any falling objects.
Ipswich police were not notified until about 2 p.m. when a Boston television station called them about the report, which they heard about from a viewer.
Police Sgt. Justin Daly said officers from the day shift responded to the beach to investigate, but no one reported seeing anything.
"After a brief investigation it was determined nothing fell out of the sky," Daly said.
Police in Rowley and Newbury also reported no calls about objects falling from the sky.
Wilson said he may return to Crane Beach to do more of his own investigation and try to locate the smaller fallen pieces.
"It's a mystery," he said.
Staff writer Bruno Matarazzo Jr. can be reached at 978-338-2525 or by e-mailing bmatarazzo@salemnews.com.
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