January 4, 2007
By CHRIS NEWMARKER
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - Authorities were trying to identify a
mysterious metallic object that crashed through the roof of a house in
eastern New Jersey.
Nobody was injured when the golf-ball sized object, weighing nearly as
much as a can of soup, struck the home and embedded itself in a wall
Tuesday night. Federal officials sent to the scene said it was not from
an aircraft.
The rough-surfaced object, with a metallic glint, was displayed
Wednesday by police.
"There's some great interest in what we have here," said Lt. Robert
Brightman. "It's rather unusual. I haven't seen anything like it in my
career."
He said he hoped to have the object identified within 72 hours, but
declined to name the other agencies whose help he has enlisted.
Approximately 20 to 50 rock-like objects fall every day over the entire
planet, said Carlton Pryor, a professor of astronomy at Rutgers
University.
"It's not all that uncommon to have rocks rain down from heaven," said
Pryor, who had not seen the object that struck the Monmouth County home.
"These are usually rocky or a mixture of rock and metal."
Pryor said laboratory tests would have to be conducted to determine if
the object was a meteorite.
Police received a call Wednesday morning that the metal object had
punched a hole in the roof of the single-family, two-story home, damaged
tiles on a bathroom floor, and then bounced, sticking into a wall.
The object was heavier than a usual metal object of its size, said
Brightman, who added that no radioactivity was detected.
Brightman would not disclose the address of the house or the names of
the people who lived there, citing the family's desire to not talk to
the media. He would only say that the couple and their adult son live in
a township housing development.
Brightman said one man who lives at the home found the object at about 9
p.m. Tuesday after returning from work and hearing from his mother that
something had crashed through the roof a few hours earlier.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which sent investigators to the
town, did not know where the object came from, said spokeswoman Arlene
Murray.
"It's definitely not an aircraft part," she said. "I can't speak beyond
that as to what it might be."
In the neighborhood later in the day, residents chatted with each other
in the streets about the fallen object, but none said they knew which
house had been hit.
Robert Nalven, 55, said nothing this exciting had happened in the six
years he's lived in the affluent development. "I'm happy it didn't hit
my house," he said.
A metal, rock-like object about the size of a golf ball is seen in this
undated photograph provided by Det. R. Gelber of Freehold Township
Police Department in Freehold Township, N.J., Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007.
Nobody was injured when the oblong object, weighing more than 13 ounces,
crashed into the a Monmouth County home Tuesday night. Federal officials
sent to the scene said it was not from an aircraft. (AP Photo/ Det. R.
Gelber of Freehold township Police Department )
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