Subject: UFO Sighting
Location: Greenwood, IN (Johnson Cty)
Date: Oct. 1, 1997 - 8:00 p.m. C.S.T.
SUMMARYA Navy Chief Petty Officer claims tohave witnessed something unknown in the skies near Greenwood, Indiana onOctober 1st. Two days later on Friday, October 3, he placed a phone callto Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on his own initiative, seeking to reportthe UFO sighting. He was referred to the Cincinnati UFO Hotline withthis concern.
The 'Senior Enlisted Man' was interviewedon Saturday, October 4 and Sunday, October 5 by telephone. He was veryknowledgeable, kind, and gladly willing to submit this report.
On Wednesday night, October 1st between8:00 and 8:30 p.m., C.S.T. this gentleman, who sought to be referred tosimply as a 'Senior Enlisted Man' working at the Reserve Station in Indianapolis,Indiana, saw what he believed to be a UFO. He is a Vietnam and Gulf Warveteran.
It was from his vantage point on theoutskirts of Indianapolis (city of Greenwood, Johnson County), that the'Senior Enlisted Man' (whose name will not be disclosed for this report)witnessed the aerial anomaly that he could not identify. He was lookingto the south-east and a brightly-lit object 75 to 80-degrees in the skycaught his attention.
The object looked like a star at firstbut continued to grow in intensity, until it reached an extremely intense"pure white" state which lasted about 15 seconds.
"After that, the object grew dimmeras it appeared to move up and away from my view until it finally was lostfrom my sight," he said.
The Petty Officer drew the comparisonto a construction-site light; the high intensity type "white lights" thatroad construction crews use to light their work areas with at night.
He added that there is a small airparknear there, and planes were conducting 'touch and go' maneuvers at thetime, but categorically discounted any possibility that this air trafficwould have caused the spectacle reported. The air park was located to thenorth-east of the viewing area and the type of planes located there couldnot possibly have attained the attitude acquired by what was viewed.
When asked if the object could havebeen a missile, he said that he witnessed the object in the sky, and didnot see the object near ground or any indications of a launch, so he couldnot speculate on any missile possibilities. There was no visible trailor audible jet noise. He could not determine how near to his position theobject could have been.
When asked of his familiarity with flaresutilized by the military, he replied that he is very knowledgeable withthe current inventory of military flares and has viewed many during hiscareer in the military and most recently at Camp Atterbury, a Army NationalGuard Training Center, South of Indianapolis, IN. Crane Naval Weapons Centerwas ruled out as a source of the light due to its distance and locationfrom the sighting area.
Weather conditions: Darkness Clear skiesNo moon visible
When asked if he had previous sightings,he said that in May of 1985 in Kansas, he had seen a meteor flash throughthe sky that impressed him.
123-miles southeast of this location,a UFO sighting was claimed near Frankfort, Kentucky just hours later. Detailsof that sighting are listed below.
Frankfort, Kentucky Nocturnal Light
October 2, 1997 - 2:22 a.m. EDT
Frankfort, Kentucky (Franklin County)
A UFO was supposedly spotted on Thursday morning (between 2:22 and 2:30a.m., E.D.T.), according to a UFO report posting which has been availablefrom the internet. The sighter, an employee of a Kroger Supermarket onthe east side of Frankfort (Franklin County), advised of sighting a lightin the sky to the west of his location, which moved from side to side sofast that it left a notable streak. The object departed by blinking andclimbing straight up (this descriptive characteristic is similar to a JohnsonCounty, Indiana report which had been received several hours earlier).
Newspaper Article, courtesy of Joe Ritrovato
A Good Night To View Mir, Atlantis Duet
The San Francisco Chronicle October 2, 1997
If skies are clear this evening, Bay Area residents will be ableto watch the Mir space station and shuttle Atlantis pass overhead.
No binoculars are needed. ``This should be one of the best passesever. It will be very bright, like Venus,'' said David Rodriguez, programdirector of the East Bay Astronomical Society at Chabot Observatory inOakland.
The linked shuttle and space station are calculated to go over theBay Area, moving from the southwest to northeast, with peak visibilityat 8:25 p.m. They should appear above the southwest horizon at about 8:22.A few seconds after passing overhead, they will disappear from sight.
The shuttle is to separate from Mir tomorrow. However, Mir will continueto be visible in the Bay Area tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday evenings.
Tomorrow, Mir moves from southwest to southeast, appearing at 7:25and rising about one- third of the way from the horizon. Saturday, Mirwill cross to the northwest, with peak visibility at 8:07. Sunday, it willpass straight overhead, appearing to the southwest around 7:04 with bestvisibility at 7:07.
End of article
The report date is only the day before and two time zones east ofthese best dates and times of viewing.
However, a check with the 'Earth Satellite Ephemerides' web-siteat: https://www.chara.gsu.edu
to try and locate the position of Mir in the sky, found its appearancefrom San Francisco on 10/2, but not from Indianapolis on 10/1. No satelliteslisted above this area at the time would have put on such a good show andall such orbiters would have faded out before reaching the south-west partof the sky.
There remains the possibility that the "Senior Enlisted Man" sightedan 'Iridium Flare,' a situation in which sunlight momentarily reflectsoff of a satellite. This 'flare' of light, no larger than a routine star,does not involve motion or movement, however, as claimed by the witness.This is still a good mystery.
Report filed:
October 5, 1997
Kenny Young
