Cat: 2
Distribution: CE, SHG
Call came into the UFO Filter Center at 11:45 a.m.
Conversation was taped.
FI/SSD Francis Ridge
Oct. 18, 1973; Mt. Vernon, IN
10:30 p.m. Mrs. Charles E. Blackburn had gone to bed at 10:30 PM on
this Thursday night but was disturbed by a noise. She described it as
sounding like a barge on the river. After 2-3 rainutes she decided to
go outside and check it out. she's in the line of traffic from the
airfield (Evansville Dress-Regional) and sees a lot of chopper traffic.
She saw an object over her garage and to the south. It was merely an
outline produced by as many as 50 lights, not exactly evenly-spaced. It
didn't appear to have any body to it and it had a red flashing light on
the rear. It was long and narrow, about 3 times as long as it was wide,
moving real slow East to West. She observed the long side view
about 3 minutes, and right in front of her house it turned south toward
the river and she saw the end view. It was described as not round but
sort of rectangular...like a squared-off cigar. At this tiias it was
really low and she said she should have seen metal as it went past a
tree. It got lower than the trees at least during one point during the
observation, meaning nearby treeline. Total time of observation: 5
minutes. Dogs present showed no response, FAA Tower at Evansville said
there was no aircraft in the area as such. Description given to FAA on
10/22 drew a blank.