The people of Central Ohio's Tuscarawas Valley were terrorized by bright, booming objects in the sky early Monday morning.

Ohio sky mystery [link to www.sploid.com]

Tuscarawas, Stark and Wayne counties all had multiple reports of bizarre things in the night sky around 12:45 a.m. Monday, according to the Times-Reporter newspaper.

Houses shook as the huge object or objects flew overhead.

According to Tuscarawas County Sheriff Lt. Lon McEnroe, frightened eyewitnesses asked "Did we just get bombed?" Others thought, "It might be a space shuttle."

A space shuttle has never landed in Ohio, and the last U.S. shuttle flight was nearly a year ago. Whatever the object was, residents were astounded by the sight of it.

"Dispatchers from the county's 911 center contacted Air Traffic Command in Washington, D.C., to inquire about the event," the paper reported today.

Many described a "red fireball," but one woman specifically described "a blue light that lit up the sky and went down."

Another witness told of "a marvelous fireball with red streaks in the sky."

National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Reed in Pittsburgh said his office received many calls.

"A meteor is the best explanation we can come up with at this point," Reed said.

UFO hotspot

Ohio has been plagued by mysterious night lights for centuries.

In Waynesville -- about 160 miles west of the Tuscarawas Valley -- there was a dramatic sighting by scores of eyewitnesses and more than a dozen police officers who attempted to identify two massive disc-shaped objects that floated over town for hours in April 2001.

The UFOs returned for a second night, with the frightening addition of a sinister black triangle that pursued motorists at low altitudes.

A "mothership" and four smaller UFOs was seen in Bainbridge in August 2001 and even videotaped by witnesses. That same month, at least one man saw a "repeat" of the Waynesville sightings, this time in nearby Franklin.

"Fireballs" somewhat similar to those seen on Monday morning were seen over Ohio in November, as well.

The presence of the mysterious Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and research complex near Dayton has long been associated with the stranger UFO stories.

According to legend or intentional disinformation, Wright Field was the final destination for "recovered" alien spaceships and bodies, including the otherworldly visitors who reportedly crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in the summer of 1947.