At Auction, UFO Home Didn't Take Off

22 hours ago

This "flying saucer" house is pictured on the side of Signal Mountain in Chattanooga, Tenn., Tuesday, March 11, 2008. A Cincinnati woman's $135,000 bid bought the flying saucer-shaped house Saturday March 15, 2008. An auctioneer who conducted the sale said the buyer, Pearl Johnson, did not want to talk about the transaction. Auctioneer Terry Posey said he thought she bought it as a second home. (AP/Photo Mark Gilliland)

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — The sale price for a Chattanooga, Tenn., house shaped like a flying saucer is nothing to phone home about.

The Space House sold at auction Saturday for a down-to-earth bid of $135,000. Auctioneer Terry Posey says he's surprised bidding didn't go higher. The sale of the 38-year-old, three-bedroom structure perched on six "landing gear" legs attracted worldwide attention.

Posey says Pearl Johnson of Cincinnati bought the mountainside house but didn't want to discuss the transaction.

The house has a retractable staircase that lowers to the ground. A neighbor says that feature came in handy for one former owner who was having an argument with her husband. She pulled up the stairway, drove her husband's truck underneath it so he couldn't get the stairs down and left him stuck inside.