“Reed’s encounter with the unknown” by Norman Kissell. (Dearborn Co. Register; Lawrenceburg, IN. March 19, 1992. CR: D. Worley.)
Reed Thompson, a Milan High School freshman, was at his home on Hickory Lane in Milan early in the afternoon of Jan. 19, 1967, due to a partial school day. Thinking he saw a light outside where none was supposed to be, he realized that a silver-colored object about 200 yards away was moving slowly toward the house.
The object was about 20 feet off the ground and was moving at about the speed of a walking man. Later it was estimated to have been approximately seven feet in diameter and five-and-a-half feet high. It had tiny portholes. Reed succeeded in taking a picture of the object through a window. I have seen and examined this picture.
Reed also snapped several more shots with his camera, but only the one picture was obtained. Reed phoned his dad, Bill Thompson, owner of the Milan Furniture Factory, who suggested that the State Police be contacted.
The thing followed ground contour and seemed to float along. It did not touch any trees, and no broken branches could later be found. Months later, however, it was discovered that tree limbs in the object’s path were dead. In fact, every limb that had been within 10 or 15 feet of the moving object had died. I talked recently with Jim Turner, who was a neighbor of Reed’s in 1967, and he told me about this strange fact. He witnessed the discovery of the dead branches.
That same day, two girls in Dillsboro reported seeing an object like this one. Could it have been the same object? If either of these ladies read this and would like to verify this part of the story, would they please call the Register?
In addition, there was a report that similar sightings occurred at Corydon and Bedford, Ind. Reed remembers that this was mentioned in the Indianapolis Star.
The Indiana State Police investigated and Reed was questioned. The initial report was taken by Jim Harris. Trooper Harris came back later after the film was developed and spent considerable time with Reed and his parents.
The Air Force sent investigators from Dayton, and there was an
investigation by Dr. Robert Lowe from the University of Colorado, who
analyzed Reed’s negative. Reed was visited by Frank Edwards, author of
several books on strange phenomena, and also was visited by Don Worley,
an author and an investigator for Aerial Phenomena Research
Organization. I have examined a copy of a five-page report, signed by
Don Worley and dated Feb. 7, 1967. His report narrates Reed’s story in
detail and includes some technical findings, including speculation that
the object emitted electromagnetic radiation. This may have produced the
color seen on the film, which showed as dark gray, even though the
object originally appeared to have been a silver color. In his
conclusions, Worley stated, among other findings, that the photo was
judged to be genuine.
Worley concluded with this declaration: “The object is
unidentifiable. Reed Thompson captured its closeup detailed image on
film for all posterity.”
Recently, I contacted Worley, who lives in Connersville. Since
1965, he has been a field investigator for two leading UFO research
organizations whose advisory staffs consist of scientists from many
fields. Worley has researched over 340 individual sightings.
He has been a guest speaker before many groups, and has appeared on
a number of radio and tv programs. He is a successful writer, and his
articles have appeared in all English- speaking countries of the western
hemisphere.
I have a list of his published articles. I also have a copy of a
page from the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) Bulletin
which concerned Reed’s sighting.
My next column will continue Reed’s story and will describe an
eerie visit from what many people have called “the men in black.”
Six years later…
It was near closing time one warm April day in 1973 at Thompson’s
Auto Parts store, which was located on Franklin Street in Milan. Two
strange “persons” came into the store. Were they human — or something
else?
Reed’s ferocious guard dog, ordinarily murderously protective,
didn’t think they were human. The dog, named Queen, was a 100-pound
plus German Shepherd, a dog that would attack when told to do so. But
when she saw these visitors, she hid in a corner and rolled herself into
a ball, trembling, cowering and crying in devastated terror. Reed told
me, “At this point, I knew we were in trouble!”
What did the visitors want? One was very thin, wearing a hat,
apparently male, and so tall (possibly seven feet) that he had to duck
to enter the shop door. This was the first thing that grabbed Reed’s
attention.
The other “person” was abnormally short (probably under five feet),
also very thin, long-haired and apparently female. In spite of the warm
weather, both wore heavy gloves, and their clothing left no exposed
skin. Their faces were flesh-colored, but appeared not to be human
faces — more like plastic than skin.
In an odd monotone devoid of any inflection, the spokesman said to
Reed, “On January nineteenth, nineteen hundred and seventy [sic] seven,
at four minutes until three o’clock p.m., Eastern Standard Time, did you
see something unusual?” It seemed more a statement than a question.
Reed replied, I’ve been so busy today that I can’t even remember
what I saw yesterday at three o’clock.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Plastic Face fired back to Reed in a
sharper voice the exact same question, still speaking in an unemotional
monotone. At that time it dawned on Reed what he was talking about.
“Yes, I did,” he answered. Plastic Face wanted to hear a
description of what Reed had seen six years ago. Reed told his weird
visitors about his observation of the UFO that moved slowly across his
parents yard that day. Then the “man” asked another question. “Did you
take a photograph?”
Reed told him bluntly, “Yes.” Then Plastic Face spoke with
additional commanding emphasis in such a way that the words burned in
Reed’s mind: “I MUST have the photograph and the negative, NOW!”
Reed flatly defied them, “I’m not going to give them to you.”
Two customers in the store and a now-deceased employee watched in
amazement. Reed was a typically courageous and stubborn man, and he and
Plastic Face continued a loud argument. Finally Reed told him that what
they wanted was in a bank vault and the banks were now closed.
Not in the least deflected, Plastic Face said, “That does not
matter. It will be no problem. We will go get it.” The little one
maintained, “Yes, we WILL go get it.”
Up until now, Reed’s employee had seemed to find the situation
humorous. But when he slipped out to check out their visitors’ car, he
came back grim and wide-eyed with this alarming news: the car appeared
to be a 1969 Buick LeSabre, bright yellow, lacking any chrome — and the
car was a shell! It had no interior, no seats, nothing at all inside!
Reed was still wondering if these were either “two incredibly
weird” people or if this was some horrific dream. He finally told them
once and for all that they could not have the picture or negative, that
he was closing for the day, goodbye, and would they please leave? He
walked out and shut the door. (When he returned later, he found the door
locked, which must have been done by the visitors.)
Reed got into his pickup truck and headed for Versailles fast by
way of back roads, hoping he wouldn’t be followed and to lose the eerie
pair. But the yellow car did follow him, mere inches away at the same
high rate of speed. It was impossible for Reed to shake them off his
bumper. For once, Reed wished a policeman would show up.
The visitors followed him, “practically pushing,” right to Reed’s
destination, a garage in Versailles. The creatures got out of the
yellow car directly behind Reed and followed him like shadows to the
door of the garage. Inside, some welding was taking place. The second
Reed opened the door, a blinding arc- flash was emitted by an electric
welder. The unwelcome duo and their bright-yellow car vanished
instantly — never to return.
According to the April 1974 issue of Argosy magazine, UFOs in
great numbers were seen in the summer and fall of 1973. Argosy claimed
that there were over 500 sightings, seen by 5,000 people, any of whom
were stable citizens of high reputation (including John Gilligan,
Governor of Ohio), and also including a number of police officers and
others of indisputable integrity.
That same summer, a neighbor told me that she had seen a “flying
saucer” land in her field, but she had not reported it because of fear
of ridicule.
Was there a connection between Reed Thompson’s eerie visitors in
1973 and these sightings?
Unwelcome visits from pairs of these unexplainable creatures have
been reported numerous times in the past. They usually were, but not
always, reported to have been dressed in black and driving black
automobiles.
For example, a Mrs. Mary Block, South Bend, saw a silver flying
object one December day in 1968, then several days later, answered a
knock on her door. Her caller had a deathly-white face which had
absolutely no lines and no expression (was it a Plastic Face?).
The figure wore all-black clothing and wore a black hat. The “Man
In Black” got straight to the point. She and her children were not to
mention to anybody what they had seen. He left riding in the back seat
of a big black car whose windows were heavily tinted. Mrs. Block did
not report this experience until 17 years had gone by, and then she was
still badly frightened as she made her report to Don Worley.
Worley believes that the MIB (Men In Black) phenomena seems to operate in some other dimensional realm. Reports of MIB actually extend back into Antiquity. In the Middle Ages, they were called “The Brothers of the Shadow.”