PROJECT BLUE BOOK

1. DATE - ‘TidE GROUP

2. LOCATION
8 February 65 09/0555: Elk Grove, Village, Illinois

3. SOURCE 10. CONCLUSION
Civilian

Astronomical (1/00)
4. NUMBER OF OBJECTS

One
5. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION
Not Reported (iMinutes)
6. TYPE OF OBSERVATION

Ground-Visual
7. COURSE

Regraction of setting moon.
BRIEF SUMMARY ANDO ANALYSIS

1.

Case used in NSC Documantary. Investigated by Dr Hynek.
SHZ CASE FILE.

Stationary
8. PHOTOS

2 Yes

XXNe
9. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

O Yes

XKNoe

FORM
FTD sep 63 0-329 (TOE) Previous editions of this form may be used,

. ft _

Major Quintanilla
3 June 1965
Pare 4

Elk Grove Village, Ill., February 8, 1965

orange-ish tinge than reported by Mrs. Crowley. However, in the
absence of her reporting the moon, and coupled with the fact that the
moon was certainly in any event within a few degrees of the reported
Sighting, considerable doubt must be thrown on there having been a
Separate globe from that produced by the setting moon.

NBC wishes me to come in at the end of this documentary to discuss
these Sightings. It ought to be easy, Since the Barrington Hills

case iS almost certainly a meteor, this caSe is probably the moon,

but the only puzzling case remaining is that of the Elmwood Park police

and this iS a real puzzler. It is a "Levelland" case right in our

own back yard! It is unfortunate that O'Hare did not report it

AS chee So that it could have been investigated much sooner than it
as been!

Sincerely,

Bho

Je Allen Hynek

JAH: mjp

DEARBORN OBSERVATORY
: NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

EVANSTON, ILLINOIS 60201

June 3, 1965

Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr.

Box 9494

FID Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Dayton, Ohio

Dear Major:
Sighting, Elk Grove Village, Ill.
February 8, 1965

This is an account of the NBC "Documentary on UFO'S" treatment of the
Elk Grove Village case. I was present throughout the entire interview
and filming, although I did not take part in it. The witness was a

who iS a photogenic girl of about 26 and reasonably
well self-possessed. Her story follows and then I'll give a few details
of how the filming was done.

She was coming home by herself at about midnight, February 8, 1965

(Feb. 9 ). (CNICAP report says 11:55 p.m.) She was coming from a
doctor's appointment, a doctor who makes late appointments for people

who can't come earlier. She lives on a curved street called Hamony
Lane and as she was curving around toward her house, some four doors
approximately north of it, she saw a glowing oval of light over her
neichbor's house, more or less directly west of her. I determined the
bearing to be 275-280 degrees, magnetic. She stopped her car and put out
the lights and gazed at the "object". Although she said object, she
pointed out that it was nothing more than two inter-connecting ovals of
licht of uniform intensity that seemed to sway back and forth. She con-
tinued toward the house in the car without turning the lights on and
drove into her driveway which is in the front of the house, as it is in
many Suburban type homes. This temporarily blocked her view of the globe
of lisht but she hurried over the icy Sidewarlk to the left of her house.
The house over which she said the light was, is just fifty to’ seventy-
five yards from her house and she was positive that the light was directly
over that house. She did not seem to get the point when I asked her

how she knew that it was directly over the house. It was over the house
and that's all there was to it. The house is fifty feet long and she
Said the object was about forty feet long and was about twenty or thirty
feet above.the house, although whenever she drew it, she drew the light

quite close to the house, almost directly over the roof.

She said she stood at the back of her house transfixed at this sight,

but not at all frightened--there was no sound--and then, instead of going
directly into the house, which she could have from where she was standing,
She ran around to the front of the house again, fumbled with her keys, _

: ~ t 7 «» eo bd -. * A. * ? a. ST = ae > 2 ~~ . <a oe 4
230 wily got inh, ran tO tne wt idol, but the obvect wa
~

“1 t¢
~~ o> ” alt an
Fone —Nne THSH

~ ?

Major Quintanilla

3 June 1965

Page 2

Elk Grove Village, February 8, 1965

dashed to the bedroom to get her husband and hauied him out to look.
They both went to the window to look. At that time the object was
definitely gone.

I questioned her closely on the edges of the object and she maintained
that the ovals of light had a definite periphery and were not fuzzy.
She drew them for the cameras many times and the best description I can
give here is that they were simply two ellipses at right angies to each
other, two ellipses of rather low eccentricity.

The filming of this whole episode took from about 7:00 p.m. until

1:09 aem.e It is ridiculous the lengths to which these documentary people
will go. They will do a scene over and over again, aiming for perfec-
tion. They first had her tell her story to the cameras and the mike.
The story is much as I have given it above. She Spoke also of not being
afraid of the ridicule of neighbors. She saw what she saw and there

was no point in hiding it. She said she was conscious of the fact that
her husband's position, and that of her children in School, might be
jeopardized by unsavory talk, but that she felt that she must report it.
The girl herself is a highschool graduate and then had a year or two, I
believe, of interior decorating. I would judge her a poSitive reporter
but not a terribly good reporter. She decides on the things she is sure
of and then sticks with them.

After the filming at the dining room table, with all the lights going
Full blast for fully half an hour or more, they had her draw the pictures
for the silent cameras. Then they had her change clothes and re-enact
the wintery scene of her coming in, running to the window, looking,
running to get her husband and pulling him out of bed. (They did not
Show that portion; they showed merely his running out of the bedroom

tc the window in his pajamas and robe. in her desire to be extremely
accurate, the young lady remarked that her husband doesn't wear pajamas,
but the NBC people said they had to take some liberties in the name of
decency and he wore pajamas!) AS you can See, it was a rather jolly
evening and I forgot to mention that two NICAP members were present,
Larsen, who is President of the Chicago chapter and another man whose
name temporarily escapes me, though I can get it. I maintained amicable
relations with them, but in no Sense coming to grips with them. In

any event, they Seemed a cut above the average NICAP members, or at
least did seem So until I overheard them talking in the kitchen when
they thought I was aSleep. I might as well tell that now.

Along about midnight, I was getting rather tired and since I had a nine
o*clock class the next morning, I excused myself and lay down on a couch
ain the living room while the NBC cameramen went outside to film the

= . eo ie alte cd ~~ ty ~ -. - Po * he t i io <5 + — | ot ~ @ ~ oe 4 ie . , os
2) rey we ho te OD OL Lez Caz do \VT2 Cie ob th ee ts e Les as iC to? ne doth TOT ! 2 OWL IR) @ ‘ >
.

Major Quintanilla
3 June 1965

Page 3

Elk Grove Village, February 8, 1965

—

to hear the NICAP people regaling one of the NBC crew members and

with some real cock-and-bull stories. They didn't
know that I waS listening. Along with the usual vilification of the
Air Force and their secrecy, they were tossing around Some real oddball
Stories about friends of theirs having gone to the basement of the
Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and wandering into a forbidden
region where they found "little green men", or at least models of them.
They were Shooed out of this "restricted" area. Then the NICAP man went
on to say that "Did you know that during the war, the basement of the
Museum of Science and Industry wasthe center of the Security operations
of the U.S.?" If those were not his exact words, that waS certainly the
sense of it, mamely, that the basement of the museum was a Super-Secret
"hideout", The NICAP members Showed out in their uSual uncritical
form! Both these men, however, are basically likeable chaps and cer-
tainly fair and honest, according to their lights.

We finally got away from there at 1:30 a.m. and the next day, in
thinking this over, I came unon what is probably the solution.

I asked the girl where the moon was and she stated that she did not See
the moon, but that the sky was very clear. She said she knew it wasn't
the moon because it was too bright and too big and that it wasn't Venus
for the same reason. It wasn't the great white owl, which some neighbors
Said it might have been, because owls move, and this didn't. She said
there were no Clouds, but we should check meteorological conditions on
that day. Both this caSe and the Elmwood Park case will Cause a great
deal of comment Since they will be aired before approximately a million
people. And the documentary is quite good, have no question on that.

erence to the nautical almanac for February 8 (she first said
Druary 15, which would have thrown this whole case out of court), but
now has been established that she went to the doctor on February 8.
The moon was exactly at first quarter (and thus a very fine half oval)
and it set in the Chicago region at 12:24 a.m. It's declination was
plus 13 degrees, which would have placed the half moon with the rounded
Side largely pointing downward at about five or six degrees above the
western horizon and slightly to the north of west. Refraction and
eSnecially the presence of a thin cirrus cloud bank could have given
the impression of an inter-locking oval sitting over the neighbor's
house. The directions check out exactly. The Sighting bearing was
275-230 and elevation was 10° + 3. This was almost exactly the position
of the moon at that time. The fact that she should have reported the
moon and this globe makes it likely that she saw the setting moon.
There iS no question from her general demeanor that she is excitable,
and most people are not aware of how the moon looks at exactly first

4. 1, ae ae HE : ° ' a

Pn hae adel & Bead a ‘ec — ‘ ~ 4 . de y - we (on T 4. a. - - > = e te

quarter wnen 2 1s setts: 22 O71 the wesrerm NOCTta ne Et looks at Least
” . .

— eo
. .
~~ ~ - * " - ow 7 . ~ . 4- - . °. . a a: i to * 4
twice as jLarte as it normally does but ‘eneraily has a d2ener yetlow or

7

Major Quintanilla
3 June 1965
Page 4

Elk Grove Village, Jil., February 8, 1965

orange-ish tinge than renorted by qgyyeQiggggme lowever, in the
absence of her reporting the moon, and coupled with the fact that the
moon was certainly in any event within a few degrees of the reported
Sighting, considerable doubt must be thrown on there having been a
Separate globe from that produced by the setting moon.

NBC wishes me to come in at the end of this documentary to discuss
these Sightings. It ought to be easy, Since the Barrington Hills

case 1S almost certainly a meteor, this case is probably the moon,

but the only puzzling case remaining is that of the Elmwood Park police
and this is a real puzzler. It is a "Levelland" case right in our

own back yard! It is unfortunate that O'Hare did not report it
officially so that it could have been investigated much sooner than it
has been! |

Sincerely,

Lhhbo~

Je Allen Hynek

JAH: mjp

yor ie MMB se
git - ;

hea dine.

eT EAI tC) STRUT Ig:

| 1.° DATE --T1aE GROUP

ae
& February 65 09/0555% Elk Grove, Village, Illinois

3. SOURCE
Civilian
4. NUMBER OF OBJECTS
One

10. CONCLUSION
Astronomical (ii00N)

Regraction of setting moon.

5. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION /[11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS

Not Reported (Minutes) Case used in NBC Documantary. Investigated by Dr Hynek.
6. TYPE OF OBSERVATION SEE CASE FILE.

Ground=Visual
7. COURSE

Stationary
8. PHOTOS

O Yes

XXNo
9. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

O Yes

XK No

FORM
FTD sep 63 0-329 (TDE)

(a

ee |

Previous editions ef this ferm may be used.

DEARBORN OBSERVATORY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

BVANSTON, ILLINOIS 60201

june 3, 1965

Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr.
Box 9494
FTD Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

Dayton, Ohio

Dear Major:
Sighting, Elk Grove Village, I1l.

February 8, 1965

This is an account of the NBC "Documentary on UFO'S" treatment of the
Elk Grove Village case. I was present throughout the entire interview
and filming, although I did not take part in it. The witness was a

Mrs. Patrick Crowley, who iS a photogenic girl of about 26 and reasonably
well self-possessed. Her story follows and then I'11 give a few details

of how the filming was done.

She was coming home by herself at about midnight, February 8, 1965

(Feb. 9 ). (CNICAP report says 11:55 pem.) She was coming from a
doctor's appointment, a doctor who makes late appointments for people

who can't come earlier. She lives on a curved street called Hamony
Lane and as she was curving around toward her house, some four doors
approximately north of it, she Saw a glowing oval of light over her
neighbor's house, more or less directly west of her. I determined the
bearing to be 275-280 degrees, magnetic. She stopped her car and put out
the lights and gazed at the "object". Although she said object, she
pointed out that it was nothing more than two inter-connecting ovals of
light of uniform intensity that seemed to sway back and forth. She con-
tinued toward the house in the car without turning the lights on and
drove into her driveway which is in the front of the house, as it is in
many Suburban type homes. This temporarily blocked her view of the globe
of light but she hurried over the icy sidewarlk to the left of her house.
The house over which she said the light was, is just fifty to seventy-
five yards from her house and she was positive that the light was directly
over that house. She did not seem to get the point when I asked her

how she knew that it was directly over the house. It was over the house
and that's all there was to it. The house is fifty feet long and she
Said the object was about forty feet long and was about twenty or thirty
feet above the house, although whenever she drew it, she drew the light
quite close to the house, almost directly over the roof.

She said she stood at the back of her house transfixed. at this sight,

but not at all frightened--there was no sound--and then, instead of going:
directly into the house, which she could have from where she was Standing,
She ran around to the front of the house again, fumbled with her keys,
finally got in, ran to the window, but the object was gone, She then

Major Quintanilla

3 June 1965

Page 2

Elk Grove Village, February 8, 1965

dashed to the bedroom to get her husband and hauled him out to look.
They both went to the window to look. At that time the object was

definitely gone.

J questioned her closely on the edges of the object and she maintained
that the ovals of light had a definite periphery and were not fuzzy.
She drew them for the cameras many times and the best description I can
give here is that they were Simply two ellipses at right angles to each
other, two ellipses of rather low eccentricity.

The filming of this whole episode took from about 7:00 p.m. until

1:00 aem.e It iS ridiculous the lengths to which these documentary people
will go. They will do a scene over and over again, aiming for perfec-
tion. They first had her tell her story to the cameras and the mike.
The story iS much as I have given it above. She spoke also of not being
afraid of the ridicule of neighbors. She saw what she Saw and there

was no point in hiding it. She said she was conscious of the fact .that
her husband's poSition, and that of her children in school, might be
jeopardized by unsavory talk, but that she felt that she must report it.
The girl herself is a highschool graduate and then had a year or two, I
believe, of interior decorating. I would judge her a positive reporter
but not a terribly good reporter. She decides on the things She is sure
of and then sticks with then.

After the filming at the dining room table, with all the lights going
full blast for fully half an hour or more, they had her draw the pictures
for the silent cameras. Then they had her change clothes and re-enact
the wintery scene of her coming in, running to the window, looking,
running to get her husband and pulling him out of bed. (They did not
Show that portion; they showed merely his running out of the bedroom

to the window in his pajamas and robe. In her desire to be extremely
accurate, the young lady remarked that her husband doesn't wear pajamas,
but the NBC people said they had to take some liberties in the name of
decency and he wore pajamas!) AS you can see, it was a rather jolly
evening and I forgot to mention that two NICAP members were present,
Larsen, who is President of the Chicago chapter and another man whose
name temporarily escapes me, though I can get it. I maintained amicable
relations with them, but in no Sense coming to grips with them. In

any event, they seemed a cut above the average NICAP members, or at
least did seem So until I overheard them talking in the kitchen when
they thought I was aSleep. I might as well tell that now.

Along about midnight, I was getting rather tired and since I had a nine
o'clock class the next morning, I excused myself and lay down on a couch
in the living room while the NBC cameramen went outside to film the
progress of her car down the street, etc, I did sleep Some, but awoke

Major Quintanilla * te

3 June 1965
Page 3
Elk Grove Village, February 8 1965

to hear the NICAP people regaling one of the NBC crew members and

Mr. Patrick Crowley with Some real cock-and-bull stories. They didn't
know that I was listening. Along with the usual vilification of the

Air Force and their secrecy, they were toSsing around Some real oddball
Stories about friends of theirs having gone to the basement of the
Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and wandering into a forbidden
region where they found "little green men", or at least models of them.
They were Shooed out of this "restricted" area. Then the NICAP man went
on to say that "Did you know that during the war, the basement of the
Museum of Science and Industry wasthe center of the security operations
of the U.S.?"' If thoSe were not his exact words, that was certainly the
sense of it, mamely, that the basement of the museum was a Super-secret
"hideout'"'. The NICAP members Showed out in their usual uncritical

form! Both these men, however, are basically likeable chaps and cer-
tainly fair and honest, according to their lights.

We finally got away from there at 1:30 asm. and the next day, in
thinking this over, I came upon what is probably the solution.

I asked the girl where the moon was and she stated that she did not see
the moon, but that the sky was very clear. She said she knew it wasn't
the moon because it was too bright and too big and that it wasn't Venus
for the same reason. It wasn't the great white owl, which some neighbors
Said it might have been, because owls move, and this didn't. She said
there were no Clouds, but we should check meteorological conditions on
that day. Both this case and the Elmwood Park caSe will Cause a great
deal of comment since they will be aired before approximately a million
people. And the documentary is quite good, have no question on that.

Reference to the nautical almanac for February 8 (she first said
February 15, which would have thrown this whole case out of court), but
it now has been established that she went to the doctor on February 8.
The moon was exactly at first quarter (and thus a very fine half oval)
and it set in the Chicago region at 12:24 a.m. It's declination was
plus 13 degrees, which would have placed the half moon with the rounded
Side largely pointing downward at about five or six degrees above the
western horizon and Slightly to the north of west. Refraction and
eSpecially the presence of a thin cirrus cloud bank could have given
the impression of an inter-locking oval sitting over the neighbor's
house. The directions check out exactly. The Sighting bearing was
275-280 and elevation was 10° ¢ 3. This was almost exactly the position
of the moon at that time. The fact that she should have reported the
moon and this globe makes it likely that she saw the setting moon.
There iS no question from her general demeanor that she is excitable,
and most people are not aware of how the moon looks at exactly first
quarter when it is setting on the western horimn. It looks at least
twice aS large as it normally does but generally has a deeper yellow or