PROJECT BLUE BOOK

——— #) me they re peri oT gamed SST EER EP ESR Pager hill et pik eee
ey eer Adis diate obit Abed Limes . SRE or eee ter MP ty ¢ Sp , a ee Ce . 4

“ 4 -
2
dee, ae PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD ee
1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12, CONCLUSIONS
0 Was Boll
20 - 23 May 64, Hartford, Indiana 0 Probably Geltoen
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION O Possibly Bolloon
night QO Was Aircraft
ocd fo XEKxGround- Vi sual O Ground-Radar QO Probobly Aircraft
GMT___ ata, 0D Air Visual D Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircroft
| 5. PHOTOS 6. SOURCE 4 Was Astronomical VENUS
0 Yes 0 Probobly Astronomical
30 No civilian D0 Possibly Astronomical |
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE DO Other is
D Insufficient Data for Evaluation
0 Unknown
not reported y one stationary a oR am
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS

Orange light low in NW sky observed for three | Probable VENUS observation.
succeeding nights.

4

ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)

o
ar Whe
°

be? * . _*
;
ij AGS OANA RTE saan laa nA me Ei ener ein bBo A A Sac
*

- Preliminary Investigation of UFO Reports, May 1B - 2, 1964.
William T. Powers, Systems Ingineer, Dearborn Observatory

On Friday night, May 22-23, I made a brief telephone survey in response
to a request by Je Ae Hynek, “Srector of Dearborn Observatory, following his
apprisal of a UPI report of sightingsin Lansing, Michigans

Wy first call was to UPI in Chicago; a repObt of a UFO sighting had coms
in, but from Marion, Indiana. A subsequent call to UPI in Lansing established
that reports were coming independently from both locations.

I contacted the Police Departmdnt in kaa Marion, and was informed thet
ding

police officers in the Marion force and in police departments of s

towns ( Tipton, Hartford, Tipton CRnery Sheriffts office, sobs (obs hed

doxiny Me Past thxee Mal
witnessedjeither single lights or groups of lights, both stationary and moving,
which struck witnesses as unusual enough to report, Calls to several of ths
other departments in the area did not add much information, as the witnesses were
on patrol or were not on duty at the time. In every case I was assured that the
witnesses would be available if a complete investigation were carried out; in most
' cases the sightings were logged, or else the force is smal 1 enough that the
‘individuals involved will be easy to find,
I did succeed in locating one witness who saw an orange Light low in the
boutwans sky, apparently "200 - 500 feet high, three to six miles away", having
driven to the west end of town ( Hartford City)fs after hearing over his police car

radio comments about other sightings in progress, Koxmenmnizaxhhaim The officer,
Robert Meredith, reports that the Blackford county ‘ge, 2nd
another man named Fes a ae ee sew the orange light. It seems clear thet the
object was Venus, just prior to setting,
The other reports may involve more definito motion, and some involve
multiple objects ( at least one observation through binoculars), so the Venus
explenation cannot readily be extended without further information.

Having established that enough information could be obtained throuzh the

- ~ * ° * ) ine * ¢ a bern 0 Oe a oF

=)
yy

etal Ba) theme) / PLE

The first Lansing call was to the Lansing Police Department, where I

@ ;
spoke with Sgt. Rxk@/Snyder. A series of calls had been received from residents
Wedne sday

of Southern Lansing for several days, starting at 3 AM Cy / SDERAR OTHERS, May
20. A list of names was obtained from the log of Wednesday, all from people who |

‘complained of a "wierd noise." This noise was described approximately as shemkinm
a "whirring" noise, starting low and going high, then stopping. In a subsequent
call to the Tngham County Sheriff's office, I was informed that at 3AM Wednesday
morning a police'car had made an emergency run down Miller street, employing a
new "warbling" siren, which the denic/oaateut described as souncing "wierd,"

then x read him the list $f addresses of the complainants, he identified pred most
| but not all, of them as being close to the route of the emergency TUN»

. It was sso found that an elephant was tethered all night in a shopping cen
nearby, part of a snot ion stunt. | |

‘The reports of 3 AM Wednesday, therefore, may tentatively be connected with
the known emergency rum, ab least those definitely concerned with noises, which I
understand is true in all cases.

Reports from Thursdgzy and Friday night, however, carmot be connectedtith
the siren, as objects were Seen. There eppear to be several independent sightings
of different objects. |

| ‘oie object, 2 bright blue or blue-green light » Was seen descending "to the
ground" ( that is, going out of sight following a downward course) by two people,
Mr. ala Se Mr gga ch was in his own car on the way home
when he caught sight of the object. Both were impressed sufficiently to attenvt to
drive to where the object diséappeared, and both seem to have thought it might be
an aircraft in trouble, The men met subsequently, while ier =- acting in his
cepacity of television annourer ( for WILX) at a remote broadcast —

restaurant J in Lansing, and here they each learned that tho

other had seen the light. Unfortunately, it appears thet they have already compere
their stories, as both reported to me in Phone calic Sqtustsy morning that

"12:10 to 12:15".) Both men have agreed to cooperate

the sighting took place at
in any detailed investigation,
“One of the calls associated with the night of the emergency run previo aly,
| 7 antuna aw \Ady
mentioned was from a farmer in Grand Ledge, who called the PST +S
a
_department with a report that he had seen a flying gucer land and take off again,
A police car 5 miles from the scene was dispatched, but before it arrived the
farmer, whose name was not obtained, said that the object was gone; the investigatii
patrol reported sighting nothing unfisual, so the sighting was not logged: ia name
| shinin;
of the farmer may be difficult to discover. The farmer said the object was blue/and
roared and was | | fF
/15 feet in diameter. The police officer clearly believes the man to be "mistaken",
There are several more reports which need to be straightened out better then

I could do over the telephone, One involves two men coming home from the night shift

- (apparently) at Oldsmobile, on een: a2 WNP The two men were

they
in a car parked in front of Spears! house when/heard a weird noise ( apparently not

the siren - time is wrong) and saw an object that looked like a shooting star
going behind the house, It made ( or something made) a sufficiently impressive noise
thategiliies rife siaped out of bed, terrified, the sound having awakened her,
Between phone calls tamgondggymgmes on Saturday morning, I received
an unsolicited call from a reporter, MN of the Lansing State-Journal, who
was trying to find out if my calls of the night before were legitimate, and vho had
énother report which came in just after I had ceased operations Friday night. A Mrs.
NTE es Lansing, saw three objects as 9:00, 9:45, end
11:00 PM on the 20th, at least one of which showed shape ( outline, not point source)
and which was objeerved through binoculars. Mrs -@Ms husband also say the object >
end thegfealres some neighbors who also =smom were witnesses. One object was described
as roughly circular with many little white lights on its underside, Mroim dia
not report until she heard of other reports, for fear she would be c alled crazy,

Wie s2ys she is willing to talk to scientists from Northwestern ( Qi informe:
her of our investigations). urs, ee address is described asbeing "near

”

Wi: , a street which appears on the list of comfainants ( not in chronological

' involving a
order) from Wednesday night, and which should be checked as possibly Bae cba teen'

report from the "noise" reports,

Saperdey. afternoon the final call before making this report was received fror

(nor
Sgt Castojof the Michiga& State EAAGe in reponse to my request f, idit 4
information that might arise. He reported that a a
had just reported that she

Lansing,/heard on the night of the 20th a very strange "whirring" sound from her

\

back yeex yard, at 9:00 or 9:15 PM. She saw nothing, but fowmd a burned area in

hex —— yard, about 10 feet by 4 or ) feet in dimensions. Leaves lying on the grount
wore charred, but the grass underneath was not, She has saved sanples of the leaves,
end is willing to be interviewed. She, too, delayed her report for ‘fear of ridicule,
until other reports were publicized, Her husband sav vnat she saw, heard the noise,

This brief report actually represents only a small portion of the reports
that were received and logged at the police departments in the area. All police agence:
appear quite willing to cooperate, and individuals seem to show a healthy mixture of
interest and skepticism, My impression is that a more detailed reading of the logs

xk together with exanination of records of waxian eme rgency-car

movements will eliminate the bulk of reports concerned with noises only, but that
other events appear to have occurred which require more detailed zmvestigation and .

probably will call for several diffent explanations.
agencies and —
There follows a list of maxmmx some of the/persens who made reports; this

is a very abbreviated list, and is given only for the purpose of aiding identification
of the pxoper log pages or proper individuals with whom to communicate,
MARION, INDIANA POLICE DEPARTMENT: 317 = No $8131

Tom Sena: Chief ay Ke: ards ne’ nigrtl can wig

Richard Harrigan, Asst. Chief,

KOKOMO, INDIANA POLICE DEPARTMENT (SHERIFF's POLICE). 317-GI, 2-2/,,);
HARTRORD CITY POLICE, DEPARTMENT 317 - 348-3730 7 _f

Officer Rohert Menads t tr core mone mm 1S mtb

. ® ip? *

TIPTON POLICE DEPARTMENT, TIPTON, INDIANA
TIPTON COUNTY(SHERIFF'S)POLICE Sightings Sunday through Tuesday, May 17-19.
INDIANA STATE POLICE )

LANSING, MICHICAN POLICE DEPARTMENT : 517 = IV 5=7165 |
Sgt. Reif Snyder, desk, Gave following names: (yr/ ‘doled:

"van:
x a ; "3 pe, one far from emergency rur
| |/ Vrs QE. (this one noRy reside

— \ropeperegeliipes J 20 sing
np iemesg: 1 2035.02 ( Emergency run was Gown \y

MASON, MICHIGAN: INGHAM COUNTY SHERIFF'S POLICE ( originators of emergency run)
517 — OR 7=9661
sox ‘owe “450 ciset TER te lee

Lansing: mICHIGAN STATS POLICE: 517 = ED 22521
Investigated call from farmer about saucer lending.

+e TT Ati aereeh Ort ais

OFFICER Bassett at desk,

LANSING MICHIGAN: Mr diljiiiiiIRIRaaaiias amemeenacs

Saw blue light descend,

Lansing, MICHIGAN: Mrs" on:

Sew same blue light.
LANSING, michigan: Mrs a Lansing ( ma 0D

Informent: Dick Frazier, of lensing State-Journal, reporter.

PRELIMINARY WEATHER RETORT: temperatures in area on Wed, May 20, and Thursday May 2

CLANS)
: (night ) in mid-thirties - high probability of snversion layer, UFI reporter/volunte —

‘nia eatdan that he received 14 television channels wea fiche

tt) ree

SH A