FORM 112 - MADAR SIGHTING
INFORMATION REPORT
MT. VERNON, INDIANA - AUGUST 15, 1977
I. DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENTS
It was August 15, 1977. At
10:14 pm the siren had begun to sound, indicating the MADAR system
had been triggered. I hadn't retired for the evening and was only
feet away from the lab, so I was able to go to the MCP (mode
control panel) and flip the switch which turned the siren off
while allowing all the other pieces of equipment to run until the
datatapes had run out. One recorder documented the sensor pulses, which
provided the data from the magnet variometer movement. Another
recorder documented the audible clicks from the geiger counter in
counts per minute. And yet another unit, a two-track recorder
logged the tracks from two radio frequency scanners: one scanning
law enforcement frequencies; the other, aircraft. The datatapes
were 30-minutes each.
II. MADAR DATA
The disturbance lasted 3
minutes and 29 seconds, and the compass had girated back and forth
18 times. The background radiation, usually about 15 cpm had
jumped to 30 cpm. At that time it was considered a significant
reading. Today, the standard for significant is at least 2-1/2
times the BG. Everything recorded was telling me that something
truly unusual was going on. Right after flipping the DAS (alarm)
switch I headed outside with my binoculars. Nothing unusual was
observed. I contacted the local police and gave them a heads-up in
case anyone called in to report anything in the skies. But that
was it. I replaced the tapes and reset the alarm panel and called
it an evening. This had been #7 of seven events that began on July
10, and had been logged up to the 15th of August,
III.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Thirty-two years later (2010) one of our MADAR members had ran across a story about the
"WOW!" Signal and were were shocked to see that this famous event
had occurred at the exact same time as MADAR 15. I released a
special NCP paper on August 12th of that year.
19770815 - MADAR
& the "WOW!" Signal.
IV. STATUS OF
INVESTIGATION
Since no sightings correlations were found in 1977, the report was
filed away as an "uncorrelated target". Twelve years later, in April
of 2022 I was able to publish an official paper in Volume 3.2
of the SCU Review for the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies,
"OPINION PIECES, "MADAR and the WOW
Signal".
V. CONCLUSIONS
What conclusions CAN there be? There WERE UFO sightings on
the 12th of July and MADAR was triggered. There were 7 events
involving MADAR during those 35 days and the summer of 1977,
culminating on the 15th of August with the "WOW!" Signal and MADAR
15. The scientist who wrote "WOW!" on the log that day at
Ohio State University's "Big Ear" was Jerry Ehman. As recently as
2020, Ehman was sticking to his story that the signal was never
explained. The one thing that stood out when I had looked for the
sighting activity in 1977 was the same thing you'll see at the top
of this NICAP UFO Chronology.
That famous film was in the works all that year and was released
on November 16th. If there was a message somewhere in all of this,
it went over ALL of our heads.
VI. SCU PAPER
April 22, 2022
http://www.nicap.org/match/MADAR_101/20220422-SCU%20Review-WOW.pdf
Fran Ridge
MADAR OPERATIONS CENTER