Homer, Indiana, June 15, 1963 — An acorn-shaped gray metallic object with paneled markings sits in a farm barn lot approximately 100 yards from a watching family. A yellow ring of dead grass was found at the site after departure. MUFON Case 71168.
THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTING|LANDING REPORT
1963: Homer Indiana Landing
On June 15, 1963, a family returned to their farm near Homer, Indiana, and walked outside to play — and found a craft sitting in the barn lot. It was roughly 100 to 150 yards away, and they were mesmerized. The primary witness, standing on the right end of the line of family members, described an acorn-shaped object approximately 15 to 20 feet in diameter and the same height, surfaced with three-foot panels arranged in two rows — the top row smaller than the bottom — each panel bearing different lines, shapes, and dots. No windows, no doors, no lights, no sound, no emissions. Gray metal, the size of an above-ground swimming pool. Her sister and cousin, standing beside her, described a more conventional saucer shape. Her mother watched from behind the screen door. The witness thought of The Day the Earth Stood Still and wondered if anything was going to get out. As if in answer, the craft rose above the barn and in a single second was a black dot in the sky. The witness walked to the barn lot and found a yellow ring of dead grass where the object had sat. Nearly fifty years later, she, her sister, and her cousin each discovered small scoop-like marks on their bodies in the same location — marks none of them could explain. Indiana MUFON investigated and closed the case as Unknown.
Date: June 15, 1963
Sighting Time: Not recorded — daytime, after returning from a trip to Rushville
Day/Night: Day
Location: Farm near Homer, Walker Township, Rush County, Indiana — southeastern Indiana
Urban or Rural: Rural — agricultural farm with barn lot
No. of Entity(‘s): None observed
Entity Type: N/A
Entity Description: N/A
Hynek Classification: CE-II (Close Encounter of the Second Kind) — structured object observed at close range (100–150 yards) with physical trace evidence (yellow ring of dead grass at the landing site)
Duration: Not precisely recorded — several minutes of observation before rapid vertical departure
No. of Object(s): 1
Description of the Object(s): Primary witness described an acorn-shaped object with three-foot panels arranged in two rows around the body — top row smaller than bottom row. Each panel bore different markings described as lines, shapes, and dots. No windows, no doors, no lights, no sound, no emissions. Sister and cousin described a more conventional disc/saucer shape. Gray in color.
Shape of Object(s): Acorn-shaped (primary witness) / disc-shaped (sister and cousin) — discrepancy in witness descriptions documented by MUFON investigators
Size of Object(s): Approximately 15–20 feet in diameter, approximately 15–20 feet tall — witness compared the size to an above-ground swimming pool
Color of Object(s): Gray metallic
Distance to Object(s): Approximately 100–150 yards, sitting on the ground in the barn lot
Height & Speed: Grounded during observation; departed vertically at extreme speed — rose above the barn and became a black dot in the sky within approximately one second
Number of Witnesses: 4–5 — primary witness, sister, cousin, and mother (observed from behind screen door). Brother present but claimed he did not observe anything. Mother and brother are now deceased.
Special Features/Characteristics: Physical trace — yellow ring of dead grass at the landing site, observed by the primary witness immediately after the object departed. The witness drove past the site years later and found a pole barn had been built on the exact location. Unexplained body marks — the primary witness, her sister, and her cousin each discovered small scoop-like marks on their bodies (upper outer leg on primary witness, back of leg on sister, same location on cousin). None have any memory of abduction. Panel markings — the acorn-shaped body featured panels with distinct markings (lines, shapes, dots), a detail more commonly associated with the Kecksburg 1965 case acorn.
Case Status: Unexplained — investigated and closed as Unknown by Indiana MUFON
Source: MUFON Case 71168 — investigated by Stewart Hill (Indiana MUFON State Director) and Philip Devon Leech (State Section Director). Berliner database reference.
Summary/Description: Multiple family members observed an acorn-shaped (or disc-shaped, per other witnesses) gray metallic object sitting on the ground in a barn lot near Homer, Rush County, Indiana on June 15, 1963. The object was approximately 15–20 feet in diameter and height, surfaced with paneled sections bearing markings. It departed vertically at extreme speed. A yellow ring of dead grass was found at the landing site. Decades later, three witnesses discovered unexplained scoop-like marks on their bodies in corresponding locations. MUFON Case 71168, closed as Unknown.
Related Cases: 1957 Merom Indiana CE-II (physical effects, same state) | 1965 Kecksburg, Pennsylvania (acorn-shaped object with hieroglyphic-like markings)
Detailed Report
The Homer landing case was reported to MUFON roughly fifty years after the event, assigned Case 71168, and investigated by Indiana MUFON State Director Stewart Hill and State Section Director Philip Devon Leech. Despite the extreme reporting delay, the investigators closed the case as Unknown — a classification that reflects their assessment that the testimony was credible and the physical trace (the yellow ring) and body marks could not be explained conventionally.
The primary witness, her mother, brother, sister, and a cousin had returned from a trip to Rushville (the Rush County seat, approximately 10 miles north of Homer). They went inside briefly, then came out to the front yard. In the barn lot — 100 to 150 yards from where they stood — sat an object. The primary witness described being mesmerized. The family stood in a line: the witness on the right, her siblings and cousin beside her, her mother visible through the screen door behind them.
The primary witness’s description of the object is the most detailed and the most unusual. She described an acorn-shaped form — roughly 15 to 20 feet in both diameter and height — with three-foot panels arranged around the body in two concentric rows. The top row was smaller than the bottom row. Each panel bore different markings: lines, shapes, and dots. There were no windows, no doors, no lights, and no sound. The surface was gray metallic. She compared the overall size to an above-ground swimming pool.
Her sister and cousin, standing beside her, described a more conventional disc or saucer shape — a discrepancy the MUFON investigators documented without attempting to reconcile. The brother, also present, claimed he did not observe anything. The mother watched from behind the screen door. Both mother and brother are now deceased.
The witness recalled thinking of the film The Day the Earth Stood Still and wondering whether anything would emerge. Immediately after this thought, the craft rose above the barn and in approximately one second was a black dot high in the sky — a departure speed that implies extreme vertical acceleration. The cousin became frightened and wanted to leave. The witness instead walked to the barn lot and found a yellow ring of dead grass where the object had been sitting.
The most unexpected element surfaced decades later. The primary witness, her sister, and her cousin each discovered small scoop-like marks on their bodies — the primary witness on her upper outer left leg, the sister on the back of her leg, the cousin in the same corresponding location. None of the three has any memory of being abducted. The witness initially attributed hers to a possible chickenpox scar but was uncertain. The coincidence of three witnesses from the same event bearing similar marks in corresponding body locations is noted in the MUFON file without interpretation.
Researcher’s Notes
The Homer Acorn — Rush County 1963 and the Kecksburg Morphology Question
- Source Chain and Investigation Quality: MUFON Case 71168 was investigated by Indiana MUFON’s senior state-level personnel — Stewart Hill (State Director) and Philip Devon Leech (State Section Director) — and closed as Unknown. This is a strong investigative disposition from a credible organizational chain. However, the approximately 50-year reporting delay severely limits the evidentiary value. The landing site now has a pole barn on it. The yellow grass ring was observed only by the primary witness in 1963 and was not photographed or sampled. The scoop marks were not examined by a medical professional in the context of the MUFON investigation. The case relies almost entirely on retrospective testimony.
- Classification Rationale: CE-II is appropriate. The object was observed on the ground at 100–150 yards — well within CE range — and physical trace evidence (the yellow ring of dead grass) was observed at the landing site. The scoop marks, while potentially significant, were not discovered contemporaneously and cannot be directly attributed to the 1963 event. CE-II is supported by the landing trace alone.
- Acorn Morphology and the Kecksburg Connection: The primary witness’s description of an acorn-shaped object with paneled surfaces bearing different markings (lines, shapes, dots) invites comparison with the December 9, 1965 Kecksburg, Pennsylvania incident — the most famous acorn-shaped object case in the American archive. The Kecksburg object was described as acorn-shaped with band-like markings resembling hieroglyphics. The Homer object predates Kecksburg by two years. If the primary witness’s description is accurate and uncontaminated by later Kecksburg imagery, it represents an independent observation of a similar morphological type. However, the fifty-year reporting delay makes contamination a serious concern — the witness may have been exposed to Kecksburg imagery over the intervening decades and unconsciously incorporated elements into her memory of the 1963 event. The shape discrepancy between witnesses (acorn vs. disc) further complicates this assessment.
- Physical Trace and Body Mark Assessment: The yellow ring of dead grass is a classic landing-trace indicator documented in CE-II cases worldwide. Without soil samples, chemical analysis, or photographs, its evidentiary value is limited to the witness’s testimony. The scoop marks discovered decades later on three witnesses in corresponding body locations are provocative but epidemiologically ambiguous — small scars of uncertain origin are common in the general population, and the correspondence of location may reflect coincidence amplified by the suggestive context of the shared experience. The MUFON investigators noted the marks without interpretation, which is the correct approach.
An acorn in a barn lot, a ring of dead grass, three matching scars that no one can explain, and a fifty-year silence before anyone filed a report.
The Homer landing sits at the intersection of a compelling narrative and an irretrievably degraded evidence base.
MUFON closed it as Unknown.
The archive agrees with that assessment.
