The Multi-Witness 2003 Huntingdon Incident And The Discreet Indiana UFO Wave

The day after Christmas 2003 in Huntingdon, Indiana, three police officers witnessed a bizarre aerial object moving over the town in the middle of the day. All three of the witnesses saw the object independently of each other and from different locations. Although the curious craft was only visible for less than a minute, the sighting is rich in detail and, considering the profession of the witnesses is regarded as a credible UFO encounter.

While the Huntingdon encounter was documented in local newspapers, it would soon come to light that several sightings of an almost identical object had taken place around the Hoosier State within the same window of time as the sighting reported by the three police officers, suggesting that a surge of sightings had discreetly taken place in Indiana in the final weeks of 2003.

The incident entered the wider public arena via an article titled The Object Of Their Vexation in the January 4^th, 2004, edition of The Herald-Press, and while little extra has come to light since, the incident, as we shall see, remains of interest to UFO researchers and investigators today.

An Aerial Anomaly On A Cold Winter’s Afternoon!

It was around 2:30 pm on a particularly cold winter’s afternoon on December 26th, 2003, in Huntingdon, Indiana, when off-duty policeman Chip Olinger turned the key in his car’s ignition in order to warm up the engine. ^[1] As the engine ticked over nicely against the harsh winter environment of the American Midwest, Olinger noticed something unusual in the bright, blue December sky.

Olinger later stated to the newspaper that, to begin with, he thought he was looking at “a parachute that you can steer. (It was) black and curved!” ^[2] However, after looking at the aerial anomaly for several moments, he quickly realized that there was no pilot, ruling out that he was looking at a parachute. He continued to watch as the object began “a slow roll” before turning upside down, now resembling “a giant set of bird wings!” This rolling continued, with the object seeming to morph into something “oblong and orange!”

Olinger immediately reached for this police radio to report the sighting to the Huntingdon Police Department dispatcher, as well as to request that any other available officers attempt to locate the object and report their location. Only moments later, two fellow Huntingdon police officers – Greg Hedrick and Randy Hoover – stated they could see the mystery object also.

Hedrick was in the kitchen of the police department when he heard the radio notification. He stepped outside and immediately saw the strange object overhead, later claiming that it looked like a “tire in the sky!” Hoover, on the other hand, was leaving the police station by the back door when Olinger’s call came through. He immediately looked skyward, stating later that the object “was so big, within no time at all, I spotted it!” He elaborated that the object appeared to “glide (and) rotate the wide way around” before hovering in one position and seeming to turn a bright orange color (although we should note that all the witnesses agreed that this sudden orange glow was likely the reflection of the afternoon sun as opposed to the craft physically changing color).

From his point of view and location, it appeared to Olinger that the object was “going to get hung up on the steeple of the church” as it disappeared behind the building. In total, the object remained visible for no more than a minute, more likely 45 seconds, before it disappeared from view.

An Event That Would Normally Have “Lit Up The Emergency Lines!”

Surprisingly, even the police officers themselves were the only witnesses to the strange events that cold December afternoon. Olinger stated that he felt this was extremely strange and that, normally, such events would have “lit up the emergency lines!” Ultimately, not one 911 call was made by a member of the public to report the bizarre aerial object, and the three police officers were the only witnesses to the curious events, with Olinger – the officer who alerted the others to the object’s presence – only spotting it as he happened to look in that direction at the “right moment” by pure luck.

In part because of the sheer lack of other reports about the object, the three witnesses agreed to stop speaking of the events and remain quiet, fearing they would become the subjects of ridicule – or worse. After only several days, however, unable to get the events from their minds, they decided to make an official report. Several days after that, the newspaper article appeared in The Herald-Press newspaper.

All three of the witnesses were certain they had seen something completely out of the ordinary that afternoon, elaborating that they were in no doubt that the object was mechanical in nature and that there wasn’t “anything (they) could relate (it) to!” Hoover added that he was “never really afraid, I was just in total amazement!”

When the pastor of the church that the object hovered over was asked for comment, he responded that this was “the first (he) had heard of it,” adding that not only had they not seen anything unusual on the day in question, but that none of his parishioners had reported seeing the curious object to him. Similarly, when the two nearby airfields – Huntingdon Municipal Airport and Fort Wayne Smith’s Field – were approached as to whether they had any anomalous radar data for the date in question, both responded they had nothing to indicate anything “out of the ordinary” on the afternoon of December 26^th, 2003.

While the three police officers were seemingly the only witnesses to this strange object over Huntingdon that afternoon, in the Christmas and New Year’s period of 2003 going into early 2004, several other similar reports of bizarre and potentially otherworldly craft were reported from around the Hoosier State.

The Dearborn Sighting

Although the exact date is not known, an incident that unfolded several weeks before the Huntingdon sighting in Dearborn, Lawrenceberg County, in early-to-mid December is worth our attention here. According to the report, at around 7 pm on the night in question, an anonymous local resident was walking his dog when he noticed an extremely bright, glowing object in the dark sky overhead.

What was particularly interesting, both to the witness and the local residents who learned of his sighting afterward, is that this was the third sighting of the same craft over Dearborn in the last few days. Both of the previous encounters resulted in the strange light simply moving across the sky and disappearing into the distance. On this evening, though, the glowing object remained visible. In fact, it appeared to the witness that it was following them home.

The witness continued on his walk, eventually arriving home where he went inside the house and remained there for two or three minutes. Then, he decided to venture outside to his yard to see if the object was still visible. To his amazement, the object was hovering almost directly overhead at an approximate altitude of no more than 500 feet.

Following the report it would come to light that a local teenager and a woman had also seen the object at the same time as the main witness, each from different locations. What it was, however, remains a complete mystery.

The Lake Monroe Incident

Only two days before the sighting over Huntingdon, at around 7 pm on Christmas Eve in Heltonville, yet another anomalous object was reported. The main witness – once more an anonymous person – was at their property “just south of Lake Monroe” doing some work on the building before they moved in in the new year. They were working in the bathroom, with the only light in the room coming through a skylight in the ceiling, and with the sun long gone, that light was minimal.

Suddenly, however, the entire room suddenly lit up “like it was daylight!” The source of this suddenly appearing light was clearly coming from outside, and the witness, now intrigued as much as anything else, grabbed their coat and headed to the yard. As soon as they stepped outside, the nervous feeling that was rising inside them turned to one of complete shock. There, directly overhead, was a “bluish-whitish disc” moving slowly across the sky, approximately 200 feet from the ground. The glow from this object made the outside area appear as though it was “daylight conditions,” with the entire immediate area bathed in the white glow.

The witness continued to watch as the object passed overhead and headed in the direction of the woods nearby. As it did so, “shots of bright lights” would “shoot down” from the underside and into the woodland below. The witness remained outside and watched the object until it disappeared into the distance. Like the other sightings we have explored here, no explanation was ever given for the bizarre craft.

A Case Of Computer Interference – The Tipton County Sighting

Almost exactly a week later, on New Year’s Eve 2003 – and only five days after the Huntingdon daylight sighting – another bizarre encounter unfolded in Kimpton, Tipton County. At around 7:30 pm on the night in question, the witness – an unnamed computer repair technician – was at a customer’s home in the middle of a computer repair when his evening took a dramatic turn.

As they carried out the repairs, they noticed the computer system begin to behave strangely. They stated in their report that not only was the system’s hard drive suddenly “not responding,” but the “CMOS BIOS settings (were) all wrong!”  They further stated that only a person physically going into the computer’s settings should result in such behavior. Given that the owner of the computer was a “complete novice,” it was unlikely anything they had done (or were doing).

At this point, the witness joked with the customer if there had been “any UFO activity” in the area recently, insinuating that this could have resulted in the bizarre activity shown on the system. As it was getting late and with the New Year’s celebrations already starting, the witness offered to take the system back with them so he could test it fully and then return it to the customer in full working order, to which the customer agreed.

They both transported the system to the computer repairman’s car, placing it on the backseat. As they were doing so, however, they noticed a “bright white light” overhead. They both watched it for several moments before the nearby trees began to obscure their view. The witness bid farewell to the customer and set off. However, instead of making their way home as they had planned, he suddenly decided to head in the direction of the strange, glowing object.

An Object That Remained In Sight For Over Two Hours

The witness continued in the object’s direction for several minutes, determined to see exactly what it was, eventually arriving at the outskirts of the town. Here, near the main track of the railway, they pulled their vehicle to the side of the road. There, right in front of them – on what was a “very clear night” – was a “baseball-sized object” hovering in the sky. They remained exactly where they were for several moments, not allowing the object out of their sight, almost captivated by it.

Then, remembering it was New Year’s Eve and that they had prior engagements, they forced themselves to restart the car and then set off for home. The object, though, remained visible for the entirety of the journey – and when it began to move in a “swaying motion” and “doing loops,” they brought their car to a stop once more. As he did so, he noticed that several other motorists had also brought their cars to a stop at the roadside, seemingly in order to get a better look at the glowing aerial anomaly.

The witness eventually arrived home in time to change and welcome his guests for a prearranged New Year’s Eve party. Even at this point from the witness’s home, the object was still visible and very noticeable in the sky. During the evening, the witness’s friends suggested they go out to a club and see in the new year there. The witness, though, claiming he was a little short on money, urged his friends to go, saying he was happy to remain at home. As soon as they left, the witness made his way straight to his backyard.

Although it was a particularly cold night, not least due to the (now) late hour, he remained in the yard watching the object for over two hours. He noticed that it had changed color, going from a bright blue-white to a proud yellow-orange color. At around 10:20 pm, the phone rang. On the other end was a family member who asked if he would be able to pick him up from a gas station where he worked at 11 pm. The witness agreed, and 20 minutes later, at around 10:40 pm, he got in his car and set off.

As he made his way to the gas station, the witness realized he could no longer see the object. He wasn’t sure if it had disappeared or if it was just out of his view, cut off by the trees. The witness, though, offered in his report that they “see this (kind of) object quite often,” usually while returning home from classes they attend in nearby Indianapolis. What the object might be, though, and what intelligence is behind it remains unknown.

Little-Known Sightings That Offer Huge Insight

The sightings we have detailed here are interesting and useful in equal measure. Firstly, it would appear that a surge of sightings occurred over Indiana in December 2003 – sightings that shared remarkably similar details and suggested the same intelligence – whatever that intelligence might be – was behind each of them. They also serve as a reminder that these kinds of surges are likely more common than we think. It is easy, for example, for these reports to become lost as isolated, even unimportant sightings. When viewed together, however, we can see that something strange was unfolding over the Hoosier State at the end of 2003.

We might consider how many other sightings from Indiana in December 2003 alone went unreported, whether through disinterest or through fear of ridicule. We might then expand that, though, and consider how many more sightings go unreported, not only throughout America but around the world, from across the decades. Indeed, if each and every UFO sighting and encounter had been documented and records safely kept, we might find that these strange objects – whatever they might be – are much more prevalent in the Earth’s skies than even those in the UFO community might think.

As such, the sightings we have examined here remain important and of interest to UFO researchers and enthusiasts today two decades later, providing an extra, if small, part to the overall UFO and alien picture.

The short video below looks at some of the best UFO sightings from around the world.