| INVESTIGATOR's REPORT Fran Ridge, Investigator CASE: SOLITUDE, INDIANA; JULY 30, 1974 - CLOSE ENCOUNTER As MUFON State Section Director I had been sending monthly status reports to police, sheriff and state police in my three counties, since my family and I moved to Mt. Vernon, Indiana in January of 1973. I was responsible for my county, Posey, plus Vanderburg and Gibson. The list of mailings included some local enthusiasts, some who volunteered to be local spotters. I had made headlines on the front page article in the MT. VERNON DEMOCRAT in March of 1973. This was the beginning but when the massive UFO Wave of 1973 hit the U.S. in the fall I was still a "lone wolf", but I did have a UFO "hotline" that worked. The special dedicated line was to the "UFO Filter Center", and I had a pad of special "message slips" at the ready. So by 1974 I was much better prepared and had settled down to a respectable routine. Two of my main contacts were police dispatcher, Kermet Steele and sheriff, Bill Cox. Bill's wife, Lydia, was a UFO enthusiast. When a UFO call would come in, one of them would call me right away. This time it was Bill Cox, and he called right after the incident had occurred. Solitude is about 5 miles north of us at Mt. Vernon, Indiana. My Rapid Deployment Team of three men were on the road to the area within minutes. July 30, 1974; Solitude, Indiana Mr. and Mrs. Gary McCarty and their little boy had been to a play at New Harmony and were traveling south on Highway 69 between Solitude and Farmersville, heading towards Mt. Vernon, Indiana when they spotted an object silhouetted against the moonlit haze. The object, which appeared to be about 1 to 2 miles' away, had a clear shape with three lights. They continued driving down the highway and, as they got over the top of some hills the object started to descend, getting larger and larger all the time. The object continued toward the McCarty vehicle, and they stopped their car after driving 1.6 miles beyond the point where they first saw the object. It was approximately a hundred yards from them then, and it was moving, but very slowly. Right at the bottom of the hill they slowed down and the object appeared to be hovering. According to the witnesses, the object appeared to come to within 50 to 100 feet of the McCarty vehicle, which remained stopped for approximately 2 minutes. "You wouldn't believe how big it was," Mr. McCarty told the investigator. The witnesses estimated the diameter of the object at 6 to 7 car lengths, or about 150 feet. The object was now observed to have four lights, rather than the three seen when the object was first spotted. The lights were described as being "like headlights." The speed of the object was estimated at "0 to 20 m.p.h., but most of the time about 5 mph. There was no sound from the object. No additional objects were seen. The object appeared to hover "like on water," according to the witnesses. Mr. McCarty said he thought the object was going to land, and that the witnesses had scared it off. The McCartys said the object did not appear to interfere with the operation of their vehicle. After observing the object for about two minutes, they continued south on Route 69 for two-tenths of a mile, then stopped again. They had rounded a curve, and the object was not seen again. The object was "thin on the ends" and, "as it got to the middle, it was thicker. But like I say, we could just see the shadow". With obstructions blocking the view on the highway the duration varied between 7-18 minutes.The sighting was reported to the county sheriff. The MADAR at Mt. Vernon did not detect an anomaly, but the UFO had not powered up to depart or ascend. ENDREP |
