---------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================ PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD -- TRANSCRIPTION File: 1967-12-6977815-Franklin-Indiana.pdf Transcribed by Claude Sonnet 4.6 for GlitchyMatrix.com/bluebook/ ================================================================ FIELD 1 -- DATE: 4 December 1967 FIELD 2 -- LOCATION: Franklin, Indiana FIELD 3 -- DATE-TIME GROUP: Dec 67 / 05/0110Z (December 5 at 0110Z = December 4 at approx. 7:10 PM local time) FIELD 4 -- TYPE OF OBSERVATION: Ground-Visual [X] Ground-Radar [ ] Air-Visual [ ] Air-Intercept Radar [ ] FIELD 5 -- PHOTOS: No FIELD 6 -- SOURCE: Civilian FIELD 7 -- LENGTH OF OBS: 10 Minutes FIELD 8 -- NUMBER OF OBJECTS: One FIELD 9 -- COURSE: NW FIELD 10 -- CONCLUSION: Other: (UNRELIABLE REPORT) The observer has a similar sighting on 30 November 1966. FIELD 11 -- BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS: SEE CASE FILE FIELD 12 -- CONCLUSIONS: NOTE: Form is FTD SEP 63 0-329 (TDE), not the standard ATIC Form 329 (REV 26 SEP 52). Conclusion is carried in Field 10 as text. No Field 12 checkbox structure is present on this form variant. Field 10 conclusion is "Other: (UNRELIABLE REPORT)." Form: FTD SEP 63 0-329 (TDE) ================================================================ SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTS ================================================================ LETTER FROM LT. COL. QUINTANILLA TO FRANKLIN POLICE DEPT., 7 May 1968: "TDFT (UFO) Lt Col Quintanilla/70916/mhs/7 May 68" Subject: UFO Observation, 4 December 1967. Addressed to: Franklin Police Department, Franklin, Indiana 46131. Content: The Aerial Phenomena Office is in receipt of a UFO report from Franklin, Indiana, occurring on 4 December 1967 at approximately 7:10 PM. The observer sighted an egg-shaped object with a window in the rear. The craft was reported at approximately 500 feet altitude, hovering over a housing development 1/2 mile west of U.S. 31. The craft then flew away to the northwest at great speed. Quintanilla requests any corroborating reports and comments on possible cause. Signed as Chief, Aerial Phenomena Office, Aerospace Technologies Division, Production Directorate. [Note: By May 1968 Quintanilla has been promoted to Lt. Colonel. The office name has shifted from Project Blue Book to "Aerial Phenomena Office."] A carbon copy of this letter is also present in the file. FTD FORM 164 (U.S. AIR FORCE TECHNICAL INFORMATION, OCT 62 164), received January 3, 1968. Questionnaire covers both the November 30, 1966 and December 4, 1967 sightings. Form completed December 29, 1967 per Q34. PRIMARY SIGHTING covered by Form 164: 30 November 1966: Q1: 30 November 1966 Q2: 5:57 PM Q3: Eastern Standard Time Q4: Location: Taylorsville, Indiana Q5: Duration: 7 minutes, certain. 5:57-6:04 by clock on car dashboard. Object in sight continuously. Q6: Sky: Dusk. Bright behind object. Clear sky on the horizon; thick or heavy clouds overhead and to the East. Q7: Sun to observer's right (i.e. to the west). Q8: Stars: a few visible. Moon: dull moonlight. Q9: Clouds: clear sky on horizon / thick overhead to East. Weather: dry. Q10: Object appeared: Solid. Q11: N/A (not a light). Q12: Edges: Sharply outlined. Q13: Object did NOT stand still, speed up, break up, give off smoke, change brightness, change shape, flash, or disappear and reappear. All answered No. Q14: Disappeared: Flew over horizon out of sight. Q15: Moved behind something: Yes -- tower lines and telephone poles. Q16: Moved in front of something: Yes -- a 2-story farm house. Q17: Sound: "deep humming -- like the sound of a power transformer." Color: "metallic light grey Similar to unpolished Alum[inum]." Q18: Angular size / dimensions: 199 foot [object] at approximately 150 yards. 100 yards altitude. Speed about 30 to 50 mph. Q19 (SKETCH -- observer-drawn): Elongated egg shape, wider at front tapering toward rear. - "A window Recessed 3ft Round with an Interior Pale white light seen only from the Rear" - "2 Green glowing lights" on underside - "3 Red ball shaped bright lights flashing in order 1-2-3 front to back" - No exhaust or vapor trail - Direction arrow pointing toward NNE/NW Q20: Speed: Yes, estimated 50 mph. Q21: Distance: Yes, 150 yards at closest point. Q22/23: Outdoors. In open countryside. Q24: Moving in automobile, heading South at 60 mph. Stopped and got out to observe. Q25: No optical aids used. Q26: "It was egg shaped, but elongated, four times as long as thick, with an angular rim on the front. 25 ft long, 15 ft wide in front, 4 to 6 ft wide in rear." Q27: Elevation/compass: Object first seen at approx 75 degrees elevation, last seen at horizon east. First seen to south, last seen to east (compass). Q28: Motion path: Object moved from south, curved, and headed NNE. Observer positioned at curve. Q30: Prior sightings: Yes. "Middle of April [year not given] I & [another person redacted] saw lights near Atterbury headed NW same pattern. And again on Dec. 16 at 6:45 a.m. at Greenwood, Ind." Q31: Others present: No direct companions. "Several cars stopped on US 31 but I did not talk to any of them. Many people saw the object as it came down and reported it, but I am the only one who saw it close up and reported it to authorities." Q32: Observer: Name redacted. Address: Columbus, Indiana (phone unlisted). Age 26. Sex M. Background: "I am a tool and die maker and I have automobile racing experience, both which require accurate and fast observation." Reference supplied: "In July of 1964 I was a witness to a very heavy damage accident on I65 at Henryville Ind involving semi trucks. Any question of my ability as a witness can be verified by John B. Howell of 901 3rd St Columbus Ind who helped investigate the accident." Q33: Reported 30 Nov 66. Sheriff Dept. and to Maj Gregg at Backalar [Bakalar] AFB, Columbus [Ind.]. WITNESS NARRATIVE (Q35, Page 7 of questionnaire, dated 29 December 1967): Regarding the period following the November 1966 sighting, the observer writes: "For several weeks after this incident I was both afraid and angered by several things like: When I would be talking on my phone and when the connection would get to [the] sighting, that object. I began to notice that every few seconds (20-30) I would hear a beep on the line, this made me feel my phone was tapped and I did not like it. Or how about the mail pick-ups at the corner by a man with US Air Force pick up trucks each morning for about 2 wks? Or the two men who came to sell hardware door to door with expensive suits who did not know the prices of what they were selling and asked my wife many questions about the sighting? Or the 65 Chrysler sedan that followed me from home to work and back home for 3 days? These and [many] other things happening caused me to be reluctant to send this report in at all." SECOND SIGHTING NARRATIVE (Page 8 of questionnaire, dated 7 Dec 67, headed "4 Dec 67"): "On Dec 4, 1967 when I was driving home from work in Indianapolis I saw another object the same size and shape as the one 30/11/66. 2 mi South of Franklyn [sic] Ind at 7:10 in eve. It was about 500 ft alt, over a housing development 1/2 mile west of U.S. 31. It was in view for 10 min just kind of drifting around in about a 1 sq mile area. From time to time a very bright spot light about 3 ft in dia at the object would shine down. The craft moved around at 30-50 mph in a pattern like it was searching for something. At one time it flew over my head and I saw an insignia like this [sketch of flag-like symbol] about a foot high in dull red paint. (2 stripes with a 5 point star below) Just before it flew away it made a flight pattern like [curved arrow sketch] and flew away N.W. at a great speed. I did not report this sighting to the authorities because of all the notoriety from the last time. I sure hope that the insignia I saw means something to you, It doesn't to me." Bottom note: "See part of previous case attach. 30 Nov 66" ================================================================ SEARCH INDEX TERMS ================================================================ Franklin Indiana Taylorsville Columbus Greenwood 1966 1967 November December civilian unreliable egg-shaped metallic aluminum light-grey deep-humming power-transformer NW-course US-31 housing-development 500-feet 100-yards 150-yards 30-50-mph 7-minutes 10-minutes ground-visual solid sharply-outlined green-lights red-lights spotlight window-recessed 25-feet tool-and-die-maker automotive-racing-experience Bakalar-AFB Camp-Atterbury Quintanilla phone-tapped surveillance men-in-suits MIB insignia 5-point-star recurring-sightings prior-sighting 1967 dusk night open-countryside driving-automobile stopped ================================================================ CASE ANALYSIS -- Claude Sonnet 4.6 ================================================================ THE OFFICIAL CONCLUSION ----------------------- The record card carries "Other: (UNRELIABLE REPORT)" with the note that the observer has a similar sighting on 30 November 1966. Field 11 directs to the case file. Quintanilla wrote to the Franklin Police Department in May 1968 -- five months after the December 1967 sighting -- requesting corroborating reports; no police response is present in the file. The file otherwise contains no investigative findings, no explanation offered for the sighting, and no follow-up beyond the single outgoing police inquiry. WHAT THE EVIDENCE SHOWS ----------------------- This file spans two sightings, with the FTD Form 164 covering the November 30, 1966 event in Taylorsville and a separate handwritten page describing the December 4, 1967 event near Franklin. Both are from the same observer. The November 30, 1966 account is the more detailed of the two, preserved in the completed questionnaire. The observer was driving south on US 31 near Taylorsville at 5:57 PM when he spotted the object. He stopped the car and got out. He was in open countryside. The object was at approximately 100 yards altitude and 150 yards at its closest point. He described it as egg-shaped, elongated -- four times as long as thick -- roughly 25 feet long, 15 feet wide at the front tapering to 4-6 feet at the rear, with a sharply outlined profile and metallic light-gray coloration similar to unpolished aluminum. A recessed circular window approximately 3 feet in diameter in the rear showed pale interior illumination visible only from behind. Two green glowing lights were visible on the underside; three red ball-shaped lights flashed sequentially front to back. No exhaust. No vapor trail. Sound: a deep humming resembling a power transformer. Duration approximately 7 minutes by car clock (5:57 to 6:04). The object moved at 30-50 mph in a pattern the observer described as searching. It eventually departed, flew over the horizon, and was lost from sight. The observer had moved behind telephone lines and in front of a 2-story farmhouse at various points, providing angular reference points. The December 4, 1967 account is shorter but consistent with the first: same reported shape and size, same general flight pattern including the northwest departure, same hovering-and- searching movement at 30-50 mph over a housing development 1/2 mile west of US 31. The 1967 sighting adds two new details: a downward-pointing spotlight approximately 3 feet in diameter, and an insignia in dull red paint described as two stripes with a 5-point star below, roughly 1 foot high, seen as the object passed overhead. The observer did not report the second sighting initially because of "notoriety from the last time." POINTS OF INTEREST / WHAT GIVES ME PAUSE ----------------------------------------- The basis for the UNRELIABLE tag appears to be the Q35 narrative. After his November 1966 sighting, the observer reported a series of experiences he attributed to surveillance: regular beeping sounds on his phone that he interpreted as wiretapping, US Air Force pickup trucks collecting his mail each morning for two weeks, two men in expensive suits selling hardware door to door who did not know the prices of their products and asked his wife many questions about the sighting, and a 1965 Chrysler sedan that followed him to work and back for three days. This cluster of perceived surveillance is the classic Men in Black (MIB) experience pattern that recurs across the UFO reporting literature. Its relevance here is double-edged. On one side, these perceptions suggest either active paranoia, embellishment, or a degree of fixation that reasonably prompts an investigator to downgrade the overall reliability assessment. On the other side, the fact that the observer explicitly states these experiences made him reluctant to file the report at all is itself notable. A fabricator seeking attention typically does not begin with "I almost did not send this because of all the trouble it caused me." The observer's self-supplied credibility evidence is unusually substantive for an unsolicited questionnaire submission. He is a tool and die maker -- work requiring precision measurement and close attention to tolerances -- with automotive racing experience requiring rapid, accurate observation under pressure. He provided a named third-party reference regarding his credibility as a witness: John B. Howell of Columbus, Indiana, who could verify his performance as a witness to a serious accident on I-65 in 1964. This is not typical of a casual or confused reporter. The sighting description itself holds up well against internal consistency checks. All thirteen behavioral questions in Section 13 of the Form 164 were answered No: the object did not stand still, did not suddenly speed up, did not break apart, did not emit smoke, did not change brightness, did not change shape, did not flash or flicker, did not disappear and reappear. This uniform negative response pattern is consistent with a stable, well-defined physical object observed under controlled conditions, not with a misidentified light source or a confused impression. The sharply outlined edges further distinguish this from astronomical or atmospheric phenomena. The recurring nature of sightings in the area is also significant. The observer mentions a mid-April prior sighting near Camp Atterbury with a companion, and a December 16 early-morning sighting at Greenwood -- both on the US 31 corridor between Columbus and Indianapolis. Camp Atterbury was an active military installation in the period, which adds potential context but no explanation. Bakalar AFB in Columbus was an active Air Force Reserve facility and the observer had already reported his November 1966 sighting there directly to a Major Gregg. The five-month lag in Quintanilla's letter to the Franklin Police is notable. The report was received January 3, 1968; the inquiry went out May 7, 1968. No police response appears in the file. Whether the police were unable to corroborate, declined to respond, or the inquiry was simply filed and forgotten is not determinable from the record. BOTTOM LINE ----------- The UNRELIABLE designation here rests almost entirely on the Q35 surveillance narrative. The sighting descriptions themselves -- particularly the November 1966 account -- are among the more carefully documented in this corpus: timed by dashboard clock, cross-referenced against terrestrial objects, sketched with labeled component detail, from an observer who was stopped and outside the vehicle, with dimensional estimates and behavioral observations across seven minutes. The observer's background and the reference he provided suggest someone accustomed to making accurate rapid assessments under demanding conditions. Whether the Men in Black experiences reflect genuine paranoia, fabrication, or something that actually occurred, the UNRELIABLE tag was applied to the whole package. What the classification does not address -- and what the record leaves unresolved -- is whether the object described in November 1966 and again in December 1967 near US 31 in Johnson County, Indiana has any mundane explanation. No such explanation is offered, attempted, or even sketched in the file. The verbal and sensory account stands independently of the surveillance narrative, and on its own terms it is one of the more specific, internally consistent civilian reports in the UNRELIABLE set. POST-FILE FLAGS: - Observer name, address, and phone are redacted throughout the questionnaire, consistent with standard practice. - John B. Howell of 901 3rd St, Columbus, Indiana is named in an official capacity as a credibility reference. This is a third-party name supplied by the observer voluntarily and appears in the observer's own statement rather than in investigator notes. - The prior sighting companion (Q30) is partially redacted. - "Backalar AFB" = Bakalar Air Force Base, Columbus, Indiana. Named correctly for context. "Maj Gregg" at Bakalar is named only by the observer in passing. - Form 164 received Jan 3, 1968 vs. Quintanilla letter dated May 7, 1968: 5-month investigative lag noted. - No response from Franklin Police Department present in file. ================================================================ https://glitchymatrix.com/bluebook/ GlitchyMatrix Project Blue Book Archive All 10,808 declassified USAF UFO case files, 1945-1969 ================================================================ ----------------------------------------------------------------