Wayne County, Illinois, August 4–5, 1963, 11:30 PM — A luminous object pursues Ronnie Austin's 1956 Ford Victoria across twelve miles of gravel roads, producing radio static, engine failure, and a cooling effect at its closest approach of 100 feet. The Director of Project Blue Book personally investigated. NICAP field report by Francis Ridge.
THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTING REPORT
1963: The Wayne City, Illinois Car Chase
On the night of August 4, 1963, something chased eighteen-year-old Ronnie Austin down the back roads of Wayne County, Illinois, at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour — and the United States Air Force considered the event significant enough to fly in the Director of Project Blue Book from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to investigate personally. The object — brilliant white at distance, shifting to a dull orange with a flare when it made passes at the car — tracked Austin’s 1956 Ford Victoria for roughly fifty minutes across a twelve-mile course of rural gravel roads, at one point hovering within a hundred feet of the car while the radio erupted in static, the engine sputtered and nearly died, and the witness experienced a sudden “cooling effect.” When Austin reached home in a state requiring medical sedation, his father grabbed a shotgun and went outside — then put it down when he saw the object hovering over the field. The phone was dead. The dogs barked all night. And when the Air Force team arrived six days later, they washed the car, then took instrument readings that produced numbers the Austin family remembered for years: “Six point something for the front… four point something for the top… two point something for the trunk.” The NICAP field investigation by Francis Ridge of Indiana Unit No. 1 — one of the most thorough civilian UFO investigations of the early 1960s — documented six witnesses, multiple electromagnetic effects, and possible radiological anomalies. The Air Force explained it as “a refueling operation” or “the planet Venus.”
Date: August 4–5, 1963
Sighting Time: 11:30 PM (initial observation) through approximately 4:00 AM (final observation by additional witnesses)
Day/Night: Night
Location: Wayne City and surrounding rural Wayne County, Illinois (route from Mt. Vernon via Route 15, then rural gravel roads near Keenes, Illinois)
Urban or Rural: Rural
No. of Entity(‘s): None observed
Entity Type: N/A
Entity Description: N/A
Hynek Classification: CE-II (Close Encounter II) Observation of an object in close proximity to the witness, where physical effects are felt — documented electromagnetic effects on car radio, car engine, speedometer, and telephone
Duration: 50 minutes of primary sighting (11:30 PM to approximately 12:20 AM); additional witnesses observed an object until 4:00 AM
No. of Object(s): 1
Description of Object(s): Single luminous object described initially as “fuzzy” and “about the size of a washtub” at distance, later estimated at automobile-sized when it made close passes. Changed from brilliant white to a duller or dimmer light with an orange tinge during aggressive maneuvering. Flared bright orange before making direct approach runs at the car. Produced a whirring sound during close passes.
Shape of Object(s): Not precisely defined — described as a luminous mass rather than a structured craft; no geometric shape specified by the witnesses
Size of Object(s): Estimated as automobile-sized during the closest approach (within 100 feet overhead)
Color of Object(s): Brilliant white (at distance/cruising); dull orange with orange tinge (during maneuvering); bright orange flare (before aggressive approach runs)
Distance to Object(s): Ranged from approximately 500 feet (parallel tracking) to within 100 feet (direct overhead pass)
Height & Speed: Initially observed at treetop level, approximately 20 degrees above the horizon. During the pursuit phase, the object matched the car’s speed (estimated at up to 100+ mph on gravel roads), made instantaneous stops, gained altitude to hover over an electronic relay tower, and performed high-speed diagonal traverses over structures. Capable of hovering motionless and departing at extreme velocity.
Number of Witnesses: 6 primary witnesses: Ronnie Austin (18), Phyllis Bruce (18), Orville Austin (Ronnie’s father), Ronnie’s mother (name not recorded), Ronnie’s sister Roxie, and Ronnie’s brother (name not recorded). Additional witnesses included Phyllis’s sister Forestine Bruce, Trooper Gidcumb, Marshall Sexton, and several of Ronnie’s friends who observed until 4:00 AM.
Special Features/Characteristics: Electromagnetic effects — car radio (WLS) erupted in loud whining static during close pass; car engine sputtered and nearly died during overhead pass; telephone at Austin residence was dead when Orville attempted to call police; magnetic speedometer on 1956 Ford Victoria possibly gave false readings due to EM interference. Physiological effects — witness reported sudden “cooling effect” during close encounter; Ronnie Austin required medical sedation (prescribed by Dr. Konarski of Fairfield). Possible radiological/magnetic anomaly — Air Force team washed the car interior (apparent decontamination procedure) and took instrument readings producing differential values across the vehicle body (front: ~6, top: ~4, trunk: ~2). Behavioral effect — dogs barked all night; Ronnie Austin refused to leave the house for days afterward. Object appeared to track and respond to vehicle speed, appeared to be attracted to lights, and appeared to wait for the witness to be isolated before pursuing aggressively.
Source: Francis Ridge, Field Investigator and Subcommittee Chairman, NICAP Indiana Unit No. 1 (investigation conducted August 10–12, 1963); Wayne County Press (interviewed Ronnie August 5, 1963); Jeffrey Liss, FATE Magazine; Associated Press; Project Blue Book on-site investigation (Lt. Col. Robert J. Friend, Director of Project Blue Book; Capt. Hector Quintanilla; Sgt. Charles R. Sharp — Wright-Patterson AFB, August 10, 1963). Blue Book file reference: BBU.
Case Status: Unexplained
Summary/Description: On the night of August 4, 1963, Ronnie Austin (18) and Phyllis Bruce (18) were pursued by a luminous object along approximately twelve miles of rural roads near Wayne City, Illinois, for fifty minutes. The object tracked the car’s speed, made aggressive approach runs within 100 feet, produced documented electromagnetic effects (radio static, engine interference, telephone outage, possible speedometer anomaly), and induced a “cooling effect” in the witness. Austin required medical sedation upon reaching home. Six primary witnesses observed the object. The case prompted a high-priority Project Blue Book on-site investigation by the Director himself (Lt. Col. Robert J. Friend), Captain Hector Quintanilla, and Sergeant Charles Sharp, who were flown in from Wright-Patterson AFB. The Air Force team performed apparent decontamination and took instrument readings on the car showing differential values across the body. The investigation was conducted independently by NICAP Indiana Unit No. 1 (Francis Ridge, investigator). Blue Book explanation: “a refueling operation” or “planet Venus.” Both explanations are inconsistent with the documented evidence.
Related Cases: Levelland, Texas EM Cases (1957) | 1952 Wave — Southern Illinois Cluster
Detailed Report
The Wayne City car chase of August 4–5, 1963, is one of the best-documented CE-II cases of the early 1960s, with independent investigations by both the civilian NICAP organization and the United States Air Force’s Project Blue Book. The primary investigator was Francis Ridge, Field Investigator and Subcommittee Chairman of NICAP Indiana Unit No. 1, who conducted his on-site investigation on August 10–12, 1963 — approximately one week after the event. Ridge’s comprehensive report, preserved in full on this page, documents the sequence of events, witness interviews, electromagnetic effects, and the remarkable Air Force response in detail.
The encounter began at approximately 11:30 PM on Sunday, August 4, 1963. Ronnie Austin, eighteen years old, and his girlfriend Phyllis Bruce, also eighteen, were driving east on Route 15 from Mt. Vernon, Illinois, where they had attended a drive-in showing of “The Great Escape.” As they passed the airport, Ronnie glanced south and noticed a large white object moving at treetop level, approximately twenty degrees above the horizon to the southwest. He described it as “fuzzy” and about the size of a washtub. Both witnesses watched casually for several minutes before realizing the object was keeping pace with the car — accelerating when Austin accelerated, decelerating when he slowed.
The object initially tracked them on the south side of Route 15. Approximately six miles west of the Orchardville Road intersection, it made an aggressive move toward the car, closing to within a few hundred feet, then gained altitude and stopped over an electronic relay tower for several seconds before shooting across the road to the north side. It maintained a position approximately 500 feet to the left of the car.
When Austin turned north on the gravel road to the Bruce residence — approximately 1.5 miles — the object tracked them on the right side. At the Bruce home, Phyllis’s sister Forestine came outside and observed the object in the southeast. It appeared to move closer, and the group retreated inside, turned off the lights, and watched through windows for approximately fifteen minutes. When Ronnie decided to leave for his own home, the object appeared to be waiting for him to be alone: as soon as he pulled away, it began to follow.
The most intense phase of the encounter occurred on a one-mile east-west gravel road near the Austin farm. When Austin turned east, the object shot diagonally ahead of him, positioning itself over a barn about a mile away. It shifted from brilliant white to a dull orange. Austin accelerated to what he estimated at 120 mph (his father later expressed skepticism about this figure, noting the car could “easily peg 100” but that both father and son knew the road too well to take that risk normally; Ridge noted that the magnetic speedometer may have been giving false readings due to EM interference). The object then flared bright orange and came straight toward the car at high speed, swerving upward to hover within 100 feet directly overhead.
At this closest approach, multiple physical effects occurred simultaneously. The car radio, tuned to WLS Chicago, erupted in what was described as a loud whining static. The car engine began sputtering and missing — nearly dying. Austin experienced a sudden “cooling effect” which his father later confirmed as an accurate statement. The object produced a whirring sound. It then made a second pass, west to east, again producing engine interference when directly overhead, before returning to its position over the barn where it hovered and dimmed to a duller orange.
Austin turned north and drove over three miles to his home, the object following. As he turned down the lane to the Austin residence, the object cut across the road behind him. He spun the car around in the driveway, ran inside, and woke his parents. His father, Orville Austin, thought someone had physically chased the boy and grabbed a shotgun — then put it down when he saw the object hovering over a field approximately 300 yards to the east. The object appeared to move closer, and the family retreated to the kitchen, turned off lights, and watched through windows. Mr. Austin believed the object was attracted by lights.
When Orville tried to call the police, the telephone was dead. It later resumed operation, and he called the Fairfield Police, who thought he was joking. He requested they contact Scott Air Force Base, eighty miles northwest. It was approximately 12:25 AM. Ronnie’s condition required medical attention; Dr. Konarski of Fairfield prescribed medication by phone. When police — Trooper Gidcumb and Marshall Sexton — arrived, they also observed the object. Several friends and neighbors watched an object until approximately 4:00 AM, though Ridge notes that these later observers “probably never saw the UFO; but probably the morning star.”
The Air Force response was extraordinary. On August 10 — six days after the event — a three-man team arrived: Lieutenant Colonel Robert J. Friend, then the Director of Project Blue Book; Captain Hector Quintanilla, who would shortly succeed Friend as Director; and Sergeant Charles R. Sharp. This was not a routine investigation: the Blue Book Director was personally present, and the team had been flown in from Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, bypassing the normal protocol of sending the local UFO officer from the nearest air base (which would have been Scott AFB at Belleville, Illinois). The Austin family watched as the team instructed Ronnie to wash the car — an apparent decontamination procedure — then used an instrument to take readings across the vehicle body. The family remembered the readings: approximately 6 for the front, 4 for the top, and 2 for the trunk area. Ronnie’s younger brother independently confirmed these figures without prompting.
Ridge, who later became a Civil Defense radiological monitor and county RADEF Officer, analyzed these readings in his report. He concluded that counts-per-minute readings (averaging 16–30 in normal conditions) would not produce the observed front-to-back gradient; that roentgens-per-hour readings would indicate unrealistically high dose rates; and that milliroentgens-per-hour was the most likely unit if the readings were taken seriously — corresponding to approximately 100 times normal background, consistent with the elevated readings described in cases cited by Captain Edward Ruppelt. Ridge noted that his own checks a week later showed normal readings, and that radiation would not linger for a week then drop abruptly — suggesting the readings may have represented magnetization rather than radiation, or that the instrument and methodology remain unidentified.
Project Blue Book’s official explanation — “a refueling operation” or “the planet Venus” — is inconsistent with the documented evidence on every count. An aerial refueling operation does not track a car at varying speeds across twelve miles of gravel roads, make aggressive passes within 100 feet, produce electromagnetic interference on radio, engine, speedometer, and telephone, cause physiological effects, produce differential instrument readings on the vehicle body, or prompt the Director of Blue Book to fly in personally from Dayton. Venus does not hover over barns, change color, produce whirring sounds, or chase teenagers at 100 mph down gravel roads.
Researcher’s Notes
The Wayne City Pursuit — Illinois 1963 and the CE-II Evidence Package
- Classification Confirmation: CE-II is correct and well-supported. The electromagnetic effects are documented through multiple independent channels: radio interference confirmed by Phyllis Bruce (Wayne County Press), Orville Austin (Ridge interview), and Jeffrey Liss (FATE Magazine); engine interference reported by Austin and documented in the Wayne County Press; telephone outage confirmed by Orville Austin directly; and the possible speedometer anomaly inferred from the magnetic speedometer design of the 1956 Ford Victoria operating in an EM-effect environment. The physiological “cooling effect” and the instrument readings taken by the Air Force team further support the CE-II classification. This is one of the most comprehensively documented CE-II cases of the pre-1966 era.
- Source Chain Assessment: The source chain is exceptionally strong for a 1963 case. The NICAP investigation by Francis Ridge — a named, credentialed investigator who later held positions in Civil Defense radiological monitoring — was conducted within one week of the event. Ridge interviewed the witness’s father (Orville Austin) directly and conducted on-site inspections. The case was independently covered by the Wayne County Press (which interviewed Ronnie on August 5, the day after the event), the Associated Press, and FATE Magazine (Jeffrey Liss). The Project Blue Book investigation was conducted on August 10 by the Director of Blue Book himself (Lt. Col. Friend), with Capt. Quintanilla and Sgt. Sharp — a level of institutional response that contradicts the official dismissal. The primary weakness is that no signed witness statements were obtained by NICAP, and the instrument readings taken by the Air Force team are known only through the Austin family’s memory of the numbers called out — no formal report of the readings has been located in Blue Book files. Ridge himself notes this limitation honestly: “Although this is hearsay and we never did get a signed report of any kind, I still believe the report warrants further study.”
- The Blue Book Response Paradox: The most analytically significant detail of this case may be the Air Force response itself. In August 1963, Project Blue Book was in its period of maximum institutional skepticism — Quintanilla, who would succeed Friend as Director later that year or in early 1964, would become known for aggressively explaining away sightings and ridiculing witnesses. Yet this case prompted the Director himself to fly from Wright-Patterson to rural southern Illinois — bypassing the standard protocol of dispatching the local UFO officer from Scott AFB — to conduct a personal on-site investigation that included apparent vehicle decontamination and instrument readings. The subsequent explanation (“refueling operation” or “Venus”) is so grossly inconsistent with the investigative response that it reads as a bureaucratic formality rather than an analytical conclusion. If the Air Force genuinely believed the case was Venus or a tanker aircraft, the Director of Blue Book would not have personally traveled to Wayne County, Illinois, to wash a car and take readings.
- Electromagnetic Effects Pattern: The Wayne City case sits within a well-documented pattern of vehicle-interference CE-II events, the most famous cluster being the Levelland, Texas cases of November 2–3, 1957, in which multiple independent witnesses reported engine and headlight failures in the proximity of a luminous object. The Wayne City case adds radio interference, telephone outage, and a possible magnetic/radiological anomaly to the standard EM-effect package. The differential readings across the car body (front highest, trunk lowest) are consistent with a directional exposure model — the front of the car facing the object during the approach runs would receive the greatest exposure. Ridge’s radiological analysis, informed by his later professional training, is a rare example of a UFO investigator bringing genuine technical credentials to the evaluation of physical evidence claims.
The Wayne City pursuit remains one of the strongest CE-II cases in the Illinois record and one of the few pre-Condon-Report cases where both the civilian and military investigations are documented in comparable detail. The contrast between the intensity of the Blue Book response and the absurdity of its official explanation is, as Ridge’s report makes clear, the case’s most telling feature. The record speaks for itself.
Source
Investigated by Indiana Unit No. 1, NICAP
After a long UFO “dry spell” in the U.S., a sudden rash of sightings in 1963 in S. Illinois prompted the investigation by our NICAP team. The primary event of 1963 occurred on the Sunday evening of August the 4th, at about 11:30 PM, at Wayne City, Illinois. Although a little out of our territory (about 75 miles away and out of state), it was urgent that we respond. There were no NICAP FI’s anywhere in S. Illinois. Because of jobs, we had to wait a few days until the weekend. By Saturday evening we were on our way to Wayne City. Accompanying me on the investigation were James Catt (Communications Officer) and Phillip Studler (Public Relations). Phil had contacted the news media and the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office and arranged the interview.
We interviewed the witnesses to the Uphoff-Hill case first, there in Fairfield, then made a trip over to the Austin home in rural Keenes, Illinois, nearby. It was getting late. Here is what we found:
A week earlier, a young man, Ronnie Austin and his girlfriend, Phyllis Bruce (both 18) had driven to Mt. Vernon, Illinois, to attend a drive-in movie, “The Great Escape”. At around 11:30 PM they departed on Route 15 heading east for home, which was Wayne City. Phyllis had gotten angry with him, and as they drove along past the airport, Ronnie leaned over to speak to her. As he did this, he glanced out of the window to the south and saw a big white object moving along at treetop level, about 20-degrees above the horizon to the southwest. He described it as fuzzy and about the size of a washtub. Both witnesses watched, casually talking about the light for several minutes.
Then they discovered that the light seemed to be keeping pace with them. Ronnie reported that when he speeded the car up, the object seemed to speed up. Also, when he decelerated, the object seemed to slow down, too. This continued, as indicated by the map included in this report. At first the light was on the south side of the car; then it crossed over in front to the north side. The transition took place when they were about 6 miles west of the Orchardville Road intersection. The object had been on their right (south) and keeping up with them, when all at once the object headed for the car. It appeared to get within a few hundred feet and then it suddenly gained altitude and stopped for several seconds over an electronic relay tower. Then the light shot across the road to the north side to the left of the car. It maintained this position for a while about 500 feet distant.
They then turned north on the gravel road leading to Phyllis’ home, which was approximately 1.5 miles away. The object was now on their right. Upon arrival, Phyllis’ sister Forestine came outside to observe the thing, which was now in the southeast. The object appeared to move closer, so went inside, turned out the lights and watched through a window. After 15 minutes had passed, Ronnie decided he had better go home. He made a run for the car. As soon as he pulled away from the Bruce home, the object began to follow. In our interview with the boy’s father (Orville) on August 12, he told us that this is what scared Ronnie, the thought that the UFO was waiting for him to be alone before it took off after him. He had to head south and the object was on his left now.
When he turned east onto another gravel road, the object suddenly shot diagonally ahead of him over a barn about a mile away, just beyond the T-road. The object now changed from a brilliant white to a duller or dimmer light with an orange tinge. Ronnie said he “really poured the coal” to the car and must have been doing 120 mph when he topped the hill on the gravel road. Then, he reported, the object flared bright orange and came straight toward him at high speed. It hovered over the car, within 100′. Just before it hovered it had swerved upward and Ronnie judged its size as that of an automobile.
At the point right over the car his radio (tuned to WLS) went crazy with static, which was described as a loud whining sound.. At that time he noticed a “cooling effect”. The object made another pass at the car, this time west to east, and at this point where the object was again overhead, the engine of the car started missing. The object proceeded back to its position over the barn, hovered, changed to a duller orange. This small road running east to west is only about a mile long and the events that took place according to the witness indicates an increase in activity by the object, which really had the boy scared by now.
Ronnie now turned north at the intersection (extension of road not shown) and headed for home which was over 3 miles away. The object followed him again. As he headed west down the lane leading to his home, the object cut across the road behind him to the left. He spun his car around in the driveway in front of the house, got out of the car and ran inside. The object was now above another farmhouse in the east about 300 yards away.
When Ronnie woke his parents, they thought he had gone crazy. He told them that “it” had chased him home. He could hardly talk; every third or fourth word would trail off. Mr. Austin thought that somebody had chased the boy and was trying to hurt him, so he grabbed the shotgun as he went out the door.
Ronnie told him that it wouldn’t do any good. Orville Austin told us that when he saw the object hovering over the field, he understood what the boy was trying to say. He put the gun down. The object started to move closer again so they went into the kitchen and turned out the lights, watching through the windows. Mr. Austin felt that the object was attracted by the lights. Then Ronnie told him to call the police. Orville tried but the phone was dead. Later, the phone was operating and he called Fairfield Police. He said that they thought he was joking. He wanted them to contact Scott Air Force Base which was 80 miles to the northwest. It was about l2:25 A.M. now.
At this time Ronnie’s parents saw that he needed medical aid. They called Dr. Konarski of Fairfield and he told them what to give him. When the police arrived, they saw the “object”, too. Several friends and neighbors watched this “object” and at one time Ronnie got scared and ran back into the house. Several buddies of Ronnie’s watched an object until 4:00 in the morning.
In all there were six witnesses of the original UFO: Ronnie, Phyllis, Orville, Ronnie’s mother, Ronnie’s sister Roxie, and his brother (name unknown). The total sighting time was 50-minutes. The other observers probably never saw the UFO; but probably the morning star.
The above report was derived from corrected versions of the WAYNE COUNTY PRESS, our interview with Ronnie’s father, and story by Jeffrey Liss (FATE).
The following day, August 5th, the WAYNE COUNTY PRESS interviewed Ronnie. His parents were not at home; he was alone. The press report and report by Mr. Orville Austin differ in several ways. Orville stated to me that the WAYNE COUNTY PRESS had “put words in the boy’s mouth”.
On Saturday, August 10th, after being interrogated by ASSOCIATED PRESS and FATE magazine, Ronnie was interrogated by the Air Force team. The team of physicists was made up of three men: Lt. Col. Robert J. Friend (Director of PROJECT BLUE BOOK), Captain Hector Quintanilla (later the longest-term PROJECT BLUE BOOK Director), and Sgt. Charles P. Sharp.
According to our interview with Orville Austin, the boy was instructed to wash the car. The officers then appeared to be decontaminating the inside of the automobile. After this was done, the car was checked for what we thought at that time was radioactivity. Later, I thought that it might have been a magnetic signature check, but I found that no special magnetic device is used for this…simply a magnetic compass. The “readings” called off and remembered by the Austin family were as follows: “Six point something for the front of the car…four point something for the top of the auto…” Orville said that his younger boy (name unknown, to this investigator) had been there during the check and would vouch for the rough figures. Within a half-an-hour the boy showed up and confirmed the figures without a hint. I was amazed. He even added a “two point something for the trunk area”…
At that time I was a Civil Defense radiological monitor. Many years later I had moved from Vincennes and finally located in Mt. Vernon, Indiana, where I became a county RADEF Officer and, I guess that’s one reason why I felt the case should be re-opened or at least relayed to MUFON & CUFOS. It appears there was radioactivity present for these reasons:
a) Readings of counts per minute average 16-30, depending on locale. You wouldn’t get the wide difference of 6-4-2 under normal conditions and even then the readings were too low.
b) Roentgens per hour would indicate a high dose-rate, something expected after a nuclear attack has subsided, etc., very high. I don’t believe for a minute that this was the interpretation.
c) Milliroentgens per hour is more likely and possibly the only answer if we take the testimony seriously. This corresponds with the dose-rate observed by the “rockhounds” mentioned in Captain Ruppelt’s book, …1OO times normal.
Although this is heresay and we never did get a signed report of any kind, I still believe the report warrants further study. Although the Austins’ at the time (1963) were really tired of the whole thing, I believe we could contact them (especially Ronnie) and get a signed and corrected report.
The Orville Austin interview produced several other findings:
a) Ronnie’s car was capable of very high speed, “easily could peg 100”. Orville doesn’t believe he was going that fast. I believe the loose gravel gave false mph at high (but short) acceleration. In any case, Orville said that he and the boy knew the road too well to take that kind of a risk, normally.
b) Mr. Austin was convinced the object was something unusual…not natural. He saw it from the front porch. Mr. Austin’s father told him that he would not have been afraid of it and his son told him that, something to the effect, “Oh yes you would (have been scared)…it did look horrible”.
c) Ignition interference was discussed. Mr. Austin did not confirm the fact that the object seemed to cause the E-M effect. It was mentioned in the WAYNE COUNTY PRESS articles. The only thing we have is the statement that the car was in top shape and the press report of the car sputtering and missing… almost died when object made a pass.
Ronnie allegedly made the statement also to the FATE MAGAZINE reporter, Jeffrey Lies. I believe this effect was observed and reported accurately. Mr. Austin may not have realized the significance.
d) Radio interference was confirmed by Phyllis Bruce (WAYNE COUNTY PRESS article), Mr. Austin, and the FATE reporter. Mr. Liss believes the area is “noisy” anyway, from his experience during the investigation he conducted. However, the burst of static occurred when the object made the first good pass at Ronnie, within an estimated 100′. This is when it zoomed toward him and swerved up over his car. This is where Ronnie estimated the object’s size of a small automobile.
a) Telephone interference was noted. This came from Orville, himself.
f) The “cooling effect” was confirmed by Mr. Austin as an accurate statement made by the boy. It was stated later that it was possible that Ronnie had a sudden chill. Again, this should be viewed as a physiological effect, in any case, since it deals with reaction to stimuli.
g) The “whirring sound” was correctly reported. This was during the passes.
h) Ronnie had really needed sedation. Not only his father (and family) noticed this, but Trooper Gidcumb and Marshall Sexton, and others. He was so keyed up that he reportedly ran inside when others saw a star “they” thought was a UFO.
i) Mr. Austin felt that he and the family saw a real UFO and that it disappeared before the other people got to the scene.
3) The radiation angle came out of our talk with Orville and his other son. Nobody else seems to have reported the incident of the Air Force men taking readings. I still believe that the car was indicating an abnormal reading, then.
Our checks showed normal readings. I doubt that radiation would linger for a week and then abruptly drop off to normal in a couple of days. It is a gradual, but steadily increasing process. Maybe this means something; maybe it wasn’t a radiation device used to check the car.
k) Statement by Mr. Austin that Ronnie always ran around with a group of boys at night, but since the incident he has been afraid to leave the house. On the previous Thursday (4 days after the incident) the boys had asked him to come out; he had refused.
1) The dogs barked all night.
This unknown is listed as a CE-2 with E-M effects on car radio, car engine, speedometer, and telephone.
The 1956 Ford Victoria was equipped with a magnetic speedometer which was probably giving false speed reading due to the UFO’s E-M effects. This case was investigated by our NICAP Subcommittee AND a team of Air Force Project Blue Book physicists. Evidence gathered by the Air Force indicates that the car was slightly radioactive or magnetized. This was determined by the type of readings called off by members of the AF team as the family watched and listened.
An interesting historical note for the record, the Air Force team consisted of three men. These were Lt. Col. Robert J. Friend, then the Director of Project Blue Book; Capt. Hector Quintanilla, and Sgt. Charles R. Sharp. Later in the year or early in 1964, Quintanilla became the Project Director. The AF, and especially Quintanilla, were ridiculing many witnesses who claimed sightings of UFOs. The “explanation” issued after the investigation was “a refueling operation” or the “planet Venus”. The AF must have considered this case important. They had flown in the special team of physicists from Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio. Normally, when investigating a case, they would send the local “UFO officer” from the nearest airbase.
In this case it would have been Scott AFB at Belleville, Illinois (near St. Louis). Something strange was going on in the midwest, and AF Intelligence was interested in something that “didn’t exist.” A quick check would have eliminated a refueling operation and the need for an onsite.
Francis Ridge
Field Investigator & Subcommittee Chairman,
National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (1960-1970)
