SUBJECT: KEY LARGO ABUZZ AFTER UFO SIGHTING                  FILE: UFO1249


DATE OF ARTICLE: January 12, 1989
SOURCE OF ARTICLE:  REPORTER
LOCATION:  TAVERNIER, FLORIDA
BYLINE:  NONE
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              KEY LARGO 'ABUZZ' AFTER UFO SIGHTING
                               ..
           EARLY MORNING APPARITION PROMPTS QUESTIONS

     If  you were out in the pre-dawn hours Monday  morning,  you
may have been eyewitness to an alien invasion.  The Florida Keys,
long known as landing site for Haitian and Cuban refugees as well
as  a  favorite  drop-off for drug smugglers,  played host  to  a
mysterious early-morning light show.   Some are calling it a  UFO
sighting.

     The   apparition  started  out  as  an  ominous   cloud   of
luminescent  smoke  hovering over the ocean off  Key  Largo,  but
witnesses  said  it performed a series of aerobatics  that  would
explain-away   it   being  a   natural   phenomenon.    Tavernier
photographer Bill Rigby managed to take a series of photos of the
apparition,  but  they  don't show conclusive proof of  an  alien
invasion.  Also early Monday morning, several Tavernier residents
contacted The Reporter with their sighting reports.

     "It's  nothing of ours," said a spokesman for the  U.S.  Air
Force at Homestead AFB.   And agents of the U.S. Customs Service,
while  not  revealing  the exact whereabouts  of  their  aircraft
Monday morning said it was "unlikely" that they were responsible.

     Accompanying the large cloud-like object were several moving
points   of  light.    Witnesses  said  that  the  patterns  were
uncharacteristic of any aircraft.  Copies of the photographs will
be  examined  by  Air  Force  officials.   In  the  meantime,  no
immediate  plans are being made to start an alien welcome  center
although  officials  of the Key Largo Chamber  of  Commerce  said
Tuesday  that  the word about Key Largo has spread  farther  than
anyone thought.

     The  Air  Force later announced that a Trident  missile  had
been  launched  from Cape Canaveral moments before the Key  Largo
sighting.  It is unknown  if the UFO was, in any way, related.

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