---------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================ PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD -- TRANSCRIPTION File: 1956-10-7071727-Crane-Indiana.pdf Transcribed by Claude Sonnet 4.6 for GlitchyMatrix.com/bluebook/ ================================================================ NOTE: This file contains two distinct cases from the Crane, Indiana area in October 1956. The primary record card (ATIC Form 329) covers the October 11, 1956 sighting. A secondary UFOB Index Card (AISOP Form 5) covers an October 27, 1956 sighting involving multiple witnesses, resolved as Mars. Both are documented by the U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot (NAD) Crane via letters to Bakalar AFB. The UNRELIABLE database classification derives from the primary card. -- PRIMARY RECORD CARD (ATIC Form 329, Rev 26 Sep 52) -- FIELD 1 -- DATE: 11 October 1956 FIELD 2 -- LOCATION: Crane, Indiana FIELD 3 -- DATE-TIME GROUP: Local 2245 / GMT 12/0345Z 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: 30 seconds FIELD 8 -- NUMBER OF OBJECTS: One FIELD 9 -- COURSE: Unknown FIELD 10 -- BRIEF SUMMARY: 18 year old youth rptd large, glowing object red or amber in color observed 75 to 100 ft in air. Claims objects 40 feet in diameter. FIELD 11 -- COMMENTS: No low flying a/c in vicinity. No objs rptd by radar. Sighting observed adjacent to US naval depot. Not rptd by others. Significant that youth's father had also rptd UFO less than 1 month before. Conclude, therefore, strong possibility conventional obj or light seen, but exaggerated due to suggestibility resulting fm parent's rpt and/or belief. FIELD 12 -- CONCLUSIONS: [ ] Was balloon [ ] Probably balloon [ ] Possibly balloon [ ] Was aircraft [ ] Probably aircraft [ ] Possibly aircraft [ ] Was astronomical [ ] Probably astronomical [ ] Possibly astronomical [X] Other: Exaggeration due to Suggestibility [ ] Insufficient data for evaluation [ ] Unknown Form: ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) ================================================================ SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTS ================================================================ NAD CRANE INVESTIGATION REPORT, 21 November 1956 (AB(8)-ADE:bmn, Ser 2085): From: Commanding Officer, NAD Crane, Indiana To: Commanding Officer, Bakalar Air Force Base, Columbus, Indiana. Subject: Unidentified Flying Objects; report of investigation of. Ref: 9ND INSTR 3820.1A dtd 2 Feb 1956. Report compiled by Legal Officer from information obtained by Depot Criminal Investigator. Para 2: On the night of 11 October 1956, one person reported seeing a UFO while driving north on Highway 45, which parallels the western edge of the Depot at a distance of approximately one mile. Para 3: Object seen at 2245 on the right side of the highway, approximately 100 yards from the road. Described as a large, glowing, red or amber light about 75 to 100 feet in the air, circular and about 40 feet in diameter. Witness stopped for approximately 30 seconds to view the object. Object departed going across the Depot at a speed comparable to that of a shooting star. Sky was clear, no other aircraft in sight, and the object made no noise. Para 4: Witness name redacted. Age 18. Resides with parents in Crane, Indiana. Para 5: Witness denied use of alcoholic beverages. A neighborhood check indicates the witness is a normal person from above average environment, who is not subject to illusions. The father of the witness reported seeing a UFO over the Depot on the evening of 17 September 1956, documented in CO NAD CRANE ltr AB(2)-ADE:hmn Ser 2045 of 9 October 1956, to CO Bakalar AFB. Para 6: No comments or preliminary analysis of possible causes beyond noting that the father's sighting less than a month beforehand might have been suggestive. There was no report of low-flying aircraft over the Depot on 11 October 1956. Signed: R.C. TURNER, JR., Acting. Marginal notation (handwritten): "* It appears that the father's observation led here [the son's] UFO report." TRANSMITTAL LETTER, 2466TH AIR RESERVE FLYING CENTER, Bakalar Air Force Base, Columbus, Indiana (DEC 6 1956): Subject: Transmittal of "UFOB" Reports. To: Commanding General, Air Defense Command, Ent Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Forwards two enclosures: UFOB Report dtd 21 Nov 56 and UFOB Report dtd 29 Nov 56. Note: This activity is unable to comply with the prescribed reporting procedure as defined in paragraph 7. Signed: [?] RAYBOURN, CWO, W-3, USAB, Adjutant. Marginal notation at top: "1 Witness" SECONDARY CASE -- UFOB INDEX CARD (AISOP Form 5, 13 Oct 54) Reference: AISS-UFOB-485-56: Date: 27 October 1956 (amended from 4 Jan 57) Location: Crane, Indiana Date-Time Group: 28/0400Z Oct 56 Type of Observation: Ground-Visual [X] Source: Civilian Number of Objects: One Field 12 Conclusion: [X] Was Astronomical (METEOR) [NOTE: The checkbox reads "METEOR" but the attached investigation letter (Ser 8559, 29 Nov 1956) states "the object was definitely established to be the Planet Mars." The METEOR designation on the index card appears to be a form error. The correct identification is Mars.] Brief Summary: One luminous object, changing colors like a prism, exhibiting primary colors. Object glittered and twinkled like a star. Object was seen by various sources all through the night. Comments: Report received by letter from CO, NAD, Crane. A copy is attached. The object was definitely established to be the Planet Mars. Form: AISOP Form 5 (13 Oct 54) NAD CRANE INVESTIGATION REPORT, 29 November 1956 (AS(8)-ADE:wmm, Ser 8559): Covers the 27 October 1956 sightings at NAD Crane. Para 2: On the night of 27 October 1956, six persons reported seeing a UFO from Crane Village (western edge of Depot), one person from the Administration Building (center of Depot). One additional person saw the same object but did not initially report it, considering it to be a star. Para 3: Primary witness described object to northwest at 30° elevation; impossible to determine distance, height, or size; luminous, changing colors like a prism with primary colors; did not give off a steady light but glittered or twinkled; small enough to be a star; not seen to move. Witness said he had seen celestial bodies behave this way under frosty atmospheric conditions. Colors: red, blue, yellow. Witness volunteered opinion that the object was a star or celestial body. Para 4: That witness is a police guard in the Security Department of NAD Crane. Para 5: Five Crane Village witnesses saw an object in the eastern sky at approximately 2000 on 27 October, blinking and slightly changing in color. Para 6: Names of five witnesses redacted. One is a maintenance man at Crane Village North; the other four are NAD Crane Security police guards. Para 7: One witness said the object was, he believed, a star. Night was extra clear and the star very bright; it glimmered and appeared to change colors. He has since checked the same area, found the star, and been told it is the planet Mars. Para 8: A non-reporting witness (Crane area at 2030) remarked to companions that the brightness was "no doubt the flying saucers." He was familiar with Mars and definitively identified the object as Mars. Para 9: That witness is the Chief of Police, Security Department of NAD Crane. Rank: Captain [redacted]. Para 10: Administration Building witness sighted object to north and west at 15° elevation, 1827-1835; appeared to flash red, then green, then white or clear; size and brilliance of a very bright star. Unable to locate object subsequently. Para 11: That witness is a MAC(A) in the Comptroller Department, stationed at NAD Crane. Para 12: Navy OOD log entries confirm object seen from Crane Village 1830-1835. Security guards also reported a second object to the Northeast, 1850-1920. Investigation failed to account for the second object. Para 13-14: Legal Officer preliminary analysis: All described objects consistent with celestial bodies. Conjecture that the sudden cold snap caused supersaturation of the air and condensation around dust particles, rendering celestial bodies unusually vivid and increasing twinkling effect. Copies to: CNO, Commander Eastern Sea Frontier, ComG. ASTRONOMICAL NOTE (handwritten, page 9): "Three or four fairly brilliant stars at approx 30-45 degrees to N, NW at approx 2300 hours, 27 October 1956 -- Vega, Altair, Deneb. Mars was more to the SW at this time. Elevations and bearings difficult to give at night by laymen. Bright stars at E part of sky at this time: Castor, Rigel, Aldebaran -- [signature redacted]" ================================================================ SEARCH INDEX TERMS ================================================================ Crane Indiana Martin-County NAD-Crane Naval-Ammunition-Depot Highway-45 Bakalar-AFB Columbus-Indiana 1956 October civilian 18-year-old unreliable suggestibility exaggeration father red amber glowing 40-feet 75-feet 100-yards shooting-star silent no-noise 30-seconds 2245 ground-visual October-27 Mars planet astronomical multiple-witnesses Crane-Village Security-police-guard Chief-of-Police twinkling color-change cold-snap atmospheric Legal-Officer Criminal-Investigator AISOP-Form-5 ATIC-Form-329 father-witness prior-sighting ================================================================ CASE ANALYSIS -- Claude Sonnet 4.6 ================================================================ THE OFFICIAL CONCLUSION ----------------------- The primary case (October 11, 1956) is evaluated as "Other: Exaggeration due to Suggestibility." The theory is stated directly in Field 11: because the observer's father had reported a UFO over the same installation less than a month earlier, the son's report is presumed to be a psychologically contaminated account -- a conventional object or light inflated by prior suggestion into something anomalous. No aircraft, no radar return, no other witnesses. The secondary case (October 27, 1956) is resolved as the planet Mars, with good supporting evidence from multiple witnesses who independently identified it as such. WHAT THE EVIDENCE SHOWS ----------------------- The October 11 account is brief but specific. A civilian, age 18, driving north on Highway 45 adjacent to the western edge of NAD Crane at 2245 observed a large, circular, red or amber glowing object approximately 75-100 feet in the air and about 40 feet in diameter, located roughly 100 yards from the road. He stopped for approximately 30 seconds to watch it. The object then departed across the Depot at a speed the witness compared to a shooting star. The sky was clear. No other aircraft were in sight. The object made no noise. The Depot Criminal Investigator, through the Legal Officer, compiled the report. A neighborhood check found the witness to be a normal person from above-average environment and not subject to illusions. The investigator noted no conventional explanation for the sighting and no low-flying aircraft reports for that date. The entire weight of the suggestibility conclusion rests on one fact: the witness's father had reported a UFO over the same installation on September 17, 1956. From that single data point, the investigator infers that the son's account is a psychologically colored exaggeration. POINTS OF INTEREST / WHAT GIVES ME PAUSE ----------------------------------------- The suggestibility argument has a logical problem that the investigators appear not to have considered: the same circumstantial fact that supposedly undermines the son's credibility could equally suggest that the area around NAD Crane was experiencing genuine anomalous activity. A father reports something in September. A son reports something in October. They live in the same town, adjacent to the same major military installation. The investigators chose contamination as the explanation. They could as easily have noted a pattern. The detail that sits most uncomfortably with the suggestibility dismissal is the departure speed. A circular object approximately 40 feet in diameter, at 75-100 feet altitude, departing at the speed of a shooting star across a major military installation, silently -- this is not a description of a light source that someone half- convinced themselves to misidentify. The dramatic, instantaneous departure at extreme speed is a specific detail that does not map to a conventional misidentification scenario. The investigator's report does not engage with it at all. It is included in the facts and then set aside. The investigator's own neighborhood check actively contradicts the suggestibility argument: the witness was described as "a normal person from above average environment, who is not subject to illusions." Having established that the observer is not prone to suggestion, the investigator then suggests he was subject to suggestion. NAD Crane is worth noting as a geographic context. Then as now it is one of the largest military installations in the United States by land area, used for ordnance storage and testing. Highway 45 running along its western edge would be a public route passing by a high-security perimeter. Whatever flies over or near such a facility would have substantial interest to the people running it. The October 27 cluster at the same location, sixteen days later, was definitively resolved as Mars by multiple witnesses including the Depot Chief of Police, who self-identified Mars without prompting. That resolution is well-supported and the atmospheric scintillation hypothesis offered by the Legal Officer for the enhanced twinkling is reasonable. One item in the October 27 case is worth noting: Security guards reported a second object to the northeast from 1850 to 1920 that the investigation "failed to turn up any information" about. That thread goes nowhere in the file. The UFOB Index Card for the October 27 case carries a form error: the Field 12 checkbox reads "Was Astronomical (METEOR)" while the attached investigation letter states "the object was definitely established to be the Planet Mars." The correct conclusion is Mars. BOTTOM LINE ----------- The suggestibility conclusion for the October 11 case is weakly reasoned. The investigator's own language undermines it: a witness assessed as not subject to illusions describing an object that instantaneously accelerated to shooting-star speed from 75 feet altitude -- silently -- is not obviously a case of an 18-year-old talking himself into seeing something anomalous. The conclusion may be correct -- it cannot be ruled out -- but it is not demonstrated. It is inferred from family circumstances and applied to a report that the investigation itself produced no conventional explanation for. The verbal account stands independently. The departure speed in particular is the detail that makes this case something other than a routine misidentification. That detail received no analytical attention. The UNRELIABLE/Suggestibility tag closed the file before the most anomalous element in the report was addressed. POST-FILE FLAGS: - Observer name, parents' names are redacted, consistent with standard practice for civilian reporting. - R.C. Turner, Jr. is named as Acting (CO, NAD Crane) in official capacity. Standard institutional disclosure. - Captain [redacted] at NAD Crane is named only as "Chief of Police, Security Department" in official capacity; name itself is redacted. - FORM ERROR: UFOB Index Card AISS-UFOB-485-56 for the October 27 case has Field 12 checkbox marked "Was Astronomical (METEOR)" but the attached letter and narrative clearly establish the identification as the Planet Mars, not a meteor. This should be noted for any database display of the October 27 sub-case. - The father's September 17, 1956 sighting (CO NAD CRANE ltr AB(2)-ADE:hmn Ser 2045, 9 October 1956) is referenced but not reproduced in this file. ================================================================ https://glitchymatrix.com/bluebook/ GlitchyMatrix Project Blue Book Archive All 10,808 declassified USAF UFO case files, 1945-1969 ================================================================ ----------------------------------------------------------------