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Near Wayne City, Illinois August 4, 1963
---------------------------------------- Date of Sighting: August 4, 1963 ------------------------------------------------
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NICAP Form 97 not used. CR Form C or written report filed. ------------------------------------------------------
Aug 5. Monday. WAYNE COUNTY PRESS article, June 5, 1963 Aug 6. Tuesday. EVANSVILLE PRESS article and press coverage all over U.S. Aug 10. Saturday. Investigation. Uphoff/Hill case UFOI at Wayne County Sheriff's Office, followed by trip to the Austin home at Keenes. Vehicle was not available for check, but we spoke with the boy's father, Orville Austin. Aug 11. Sunday. A typewritten narrative report was constructed from notes taken down during the onsite with Orville Austin. We also used a corrected press account, the Wayne County Press, to construct the narrative, since a lot of the data in the "outside" accounts was sketchy and sometimes inaccurate. Aug12. Monday. WAYNE COUNTY PRESS article, June 12, 1963. Aug 13. Tuesday. A telegram was sent to NICAP by our communications officer, James Catt. The contents described and refuted the AF explanation which appeared in newspapers all over the country the previous Sunday. Aug 14. Wednesday. Second onsite investigation. This time we checked the car, but were still not allowed to talk with the boy. His father answered all our questions. Aug 19. Monday. Specific questions were directed to Ronnie Austin to clarify press accounts and the interview Saturday with his father, Orville. This was our final attempt to get a signed statement. We received no reply. In this case it was obvious that the Austin's had had enough and were definitely sincere, but were not interested in whether anyone believed them or not. Aug 21. Wednesday. Complete report sent to NICAP. Aug 30. Friday. Letter from NICAP requested a map showing Ronnie' s movements and the object's movements relative to the car, etc. We were unable to construct a detailed map from our information. Later, when the Fate Magazine article came out on the S. Illinois Sightings, a detailed map was obtained. The article was entitled, "The Light That Chased A Car." It was written by Jeffrey G. Liss. Fate was able to get an interview along with the Air Force on that Saturday, August l0th, and some of the details we didn't get were in the Fate article. (On February 8, 1976 the case was updated arid submitted to MUFON and CUFOS. Form 3, 5 completed). ---------------------------------------------------------
Philip Studler contacted the Fairfield Police Department that afternoon (8/10) arid they agreed to round up the witnesses. That evening, three members of Indiana Unit No.1 of NICAP (National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomenon), which included myself, James Catt, and Phillip StudIer, ventured to Fairfield. The Air Force investigation had taken place the same day, but prior to our arrival. At that time that time Col. Robert Friend was director of Project Blue Book. He, Captain Hector Quintinilla (later Blue Book head), and Sgt. Charles Sharp conducted the investigation. At one point they asked the Austin boy to wash his car. We arrived after dark, stopping first at the Wayne County Press office to pick up papers arid get info on the location of the police department, where the witnesses were to be interrogated. The Uphoff-Hill case was investigated first because they came to the police department as requested. The interrogation took place in the coffee shop of the PD. It was a taped interview. We then proceeded to the Austin home which was 15 miles west of Fairfield. It was getting late, between 9:30 & 10:00 PM when we arrived. ---------------------------------------- See press accounts and Fl notes. ------------------------------- Attached. ------------------------------------------ The boy had been truly frightened by the experience. He had lost 18 pounds and was afraid to go outside at night. -------------------------------- Unidentified. --------------------------------------------- 7 - Unambiguous CE-2 (Apparently only one explanation). ---------------------------------------------------
2- Multiple average witnesses. ----------------------------------------------------
S5 - Highly strange; suggests intelligent guidance. ------------------------------------------ P4 - Credible and sound. -------------------------- Comments Interrogating Official ----------------------------------------------------
The Austin sighting was witnessed by quite a few people. There were other good sightings that week. The Air Force concluded that Ronnie saw the planet Jupiter or the moon through haze, and the Uphoff/Hill case was explained as a refueling operation. The map on the Austin case illustrates that the object moved back and forth over a road, something that neither Jupiter, nor the moon, can do. They also cannot produce E-M effects, shouldn't cause fear that would induce weight loss, nor produce radiation. With Jupiter, being almost in the same place every evening, it is not likely that the Austins' would have stuck to their story. Weeks afterward, Ronnie was afraid to go out at night to get a root beer with his friends. It could have been something to laugh about privately, if it had been just Jupiter or the moon, but it wasn't funny at all. Francis Ridge --------------------------------------------------
On February 8, 1976 the case was updated and submitted
to MUFON and CUFOS. Form 3, 5 completed by FI. Francis Ridge |
My NICAP
team investigated this case right after it
happened. It was the type of case being reported
back then, the classic "UFO car chase". But there
were other factors that made this case unique and
possibly very significant. There was a
concentration or "mini-flap" going on during that
week in the midwest, in particular, southern
Illinois and southern Indiana. Normally, when a
case warrants, the Air Force has the "UFO officer"
from a nearby AF base investigate a UFO sighting.
In this case it would have been Scott AFB at
Belleville, Illinois. Instead, they sent a team of
three physicists from Project Blue Book, with the
team leader being none other than the project
Director, Lt. Col. Robert J. Friend.