Travel Channel Shoots Scenes in Chehalis Airport, Museum for 'Monumental Mysteries'
Dec 07, 2012 (Menafn - The Chronicle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --A New York-based production company for the Travel Channel came to Chehalis this week to reenact scenes from Kenneth Arnold's famous 1947 flight from the Chehalis Airport where he claimed to see nine unidentified "flying saucers" near Mount Rainier.
The scenes will be used for the Travel Channel's show "Monumental Mysteries."
Arnold, a businessman from Boise, Idaho, was flying to Yakima when he reported witnessing the
mysterious objects racing over the Cascade mountains, according to a June 26, 1947 news story.
The production company, Optomen Productions, contacted the Chehalis-Centralia Airport to schedule filming and find locals to act in each scene.
The company came to Chehalis on Monday and stayed through Thursday morning.
Dave Neiser, whose wife, Ladonna Neiser, is the secretary at the airport, played the role of Arnold.
Neiser, who has flown airplanes for 40 years, said the production team filmed him taking off and landing in his 1972 Cessna Cardinal plane, which he said is nothing like the Callair A 2 plane Arnold flew more than 60 years ago.
Neiser also shot scenes with Airport Manager Allyn Roe, who played a military investigator. Roe's father, John, played a newspaper editor; Central Aircraft Repair owner Wally Jordan, played a mechanic; and Ladonna Neiser played a secretary.
Dave Neiser, a retired Lewis County detective who lives in Napavine, said it was an unexpected experience to act in the scenes.
"It was a little unusual for a guy from Napavine," Neiser said. "but it was pretty easy."
None of the locals had to memorize lines since none of the scenes had spoken dialogue, Neiser said. A narrator will speak over the reenactment.
The production team also filmed at the Lewis County Historical Museum.
Before shooting scenes in Chehalis, the film crew went to Oakville on Tuesday to reenact scenes from August 1994, when mysterious green blobs reportedly fell from the sky.
Neiser said the production company plans to air the segments on the Travel Channel in April.
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