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21 April
2023 OP-2, Facing South
This use to be our first observation post in the 70's, but is now OP-2. OP-1 is now at Norris City, Illinois, just a few miles from MADAR site 115. The Nation Road site OP-2b is 6.6 miles to the NE.  Steve Curtis Retired. Pilot, airplane mechanic, crop duster, Parish Flying Service. Steve lives in Mt. Vernon and operates MADAR site 119. OP-2 is just one mile north of his residence. Steve had a UFO experience when he was about 13 years old, about 1963 or 1964. He and two others were tossing rocks and "whirlybirds" off the steep Mulberry Street overpass. It was by now dark, but they were still on the curving concrete overpass. The boys were just looking down before they would head for something else to do when one of them saw something ought of the corner of his eye and proceeded to get the other boy's attention. This was something that none of them had ever seen before. A light was on the ground in the ditch at the corner of Locust Street and it wasn't a white light, it was a light that was alternating colors. It couldn't have been any larger than a frisbee and was there for several minutes. Then, all of a sudden it lifted off the ground, hovered a few seconds, then flew straight towards them following the RR tracks. It then went under the overpass where they were standing, came out the other side, and while they were startled by this sudden and silent maneuver the strange light headed west and then straight up and out of sight. This was a probe and today we would catalog this as a UFO-type "drone". papers/  Scott Harris Scotty works at Qualex at Mt. Vernon. He builds and flies experimental ultralights. Although he lives near Davis Airport near the Nation Road site, OP-2b, he and Steve will use site 2 when it is appropriate. Scott and I have known each other for at least 20 years as he use to pick up supplies at Bud's Hardware all the time. In the last few years we have been collecting vinyl LP records, mostly rock and roll. I don't think Scott has ever seens a UFO but he did have a spectacular view of a good-sized meteor. Fran Ridge MADAR Director |