Submitted photo UFO researcher, lecturer and author Chad Lewis stands next to a Marshall County Sheriff’s Office squad car involved in an alleged 1979 UFO encounter. Lewis will present some of Minnesota’s most unusual UFO sightings at the New Ulm Public Library 3:30-4:30 p.m. Friday, July 8.

NEW ULM — A researcher, author and lecturer on strange, unusual topics will present some of his most unusual UFO (unidentified flying object) cases at the New Ulm Public Library from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Friday, July 8.

Chad Lewis will discuss some of Minnesota’s most unusual encounters and inexplicable occurences, including crop circles and a hovering craft that stopped a deputy sheriff’s watch for 14 minutes.

One of the UFO incidents Lewis will discuss involves Marshall County Minnesota Sheriff’s Office Deputy Val Johnson, who reported a light beam above a road near Stephen, Minnesota, on Aug. 27, 1979.

Johnson said the beam of light sped at him, engulfing his squad car, breaking vehicle glass. In addition, the encounter stopped his wristwatch and car clock for 14 minutes. The squad car windshield was shattered, a headlight and red emergency light were damaged and a radio antenna was bent.

Deputies responded to Johnson’s call for help and found the squad car sideways on the road. Johnson was bruised and had eye irritations similar to “welder’s burn.”

Johnson’s encounter has been called one of the most significant of the 1970s. He appeared as a guest on ABC’s “Good Morning America” television program on Sept. 11, 1979.

Lewis has written a number of books on the supernatural. Over the past three decades, he has searched for the strange and unusual, including crop circles and sea serpents in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala and across the United States.

The free program is made possible by a Traverse des Sioux Library Cooperative grant and money from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

(Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.)