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sky until dawn. Running out of the car, Ronnie awakened his family and his mother, father, brother, and sister all looked at the mysterious light from their kitchen windows. it seemed fixed in the eastern sky above a darkened farm-house about 200 yards from the Bruce home. At 12:25 A.M., Mr. Austin decided to call County authorities and have them get in contact with the Air Force. These officials contacted Deputy Sheriff Harry Lea and told him to investigate the report. He was not the first to arrive on the scene, however, as State Trooper Richard Gidcumb of McLeansboro and George Sexton, Village Marshal of Wayne City, had intercepted the radio message and had stopped at the Austin farm at about 12:45 A.M. Wanting as much verification as they could get, the Austins also called their nearest neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Withrow, who went outside and observed the light. By the time Deputy Lee arrived at the Austin farm it was 1:10 A.M., and the light was fading away in the southeastern sky. Deputy Lee described what he saw as an extremely bright star which remained in the Ronnie Austin was visibly shaken when he arrived home. He could barely express himself. The Austins called Dr. S. W. Conarski, who prescribed a sedative, which the family had on hand, to help settle the youth's riled nerves. Deputy Lee had no doubt that the Austin boy had seen something that had thoroughly terrified him. It was not long before the story made headlines. The Chicago Tribune gave it 15 column inches on its first page. Other newspapers picked it up, and soon the entire Midwest was buzzing with the news of the light that had chased Ronnie Austin across a twisting trail in southern Illinois. Overnight, reports of sightings of other strange lights in the heavens came in from all over the Midwest. Around the town of Fairfield itself, keen eyes of the citizens turned to the heavens, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever it was that had visited their community shortly before. Sightings of some strange heavenly phenomena became an almost nightly occurrence. A coming air show in Fairfield used the event as part of their advertising, appealing to people to come to Fairfield and have a chance to see visitors from outer space. The area had made saucer hunting a kind of festival activity. To Ronnie Austin and the Austin family, the results were taken much more seriously. In the habit of going out every night, Ronnie was so shaken by the event that he did not stir from the Austin farm for