THINK ABOUTIT UFO SIGHTING REPORT
On November 6, 1957, 33-year-old ironworker Rene Gilham experienced a harrowing close encounter near Merom, Indiana. After being bathed in a brilliant, “eerie” light from a 40-foot hovering object, Gilham suffered severe, welder-like facial burns that led to a mysterious and restricted hospitalization. This report delves into the physical traces of the encounter and the reported military intervention that followed.
Date: November 6, 1957
Sighting Time: 6:30 PM?
Day/Night: Night
Location: Merom, Indiana
No. of Entity(‘s): 0 (No biological entities were observed outside the craft, only the “eerie light” was encountered).
Entity Type: n/a
Entity Description: n/a
Hynek Classification: CE-II (Close Encounter II) Observation of an object in close proximity to the witness, where physical traces (impression, burn, medical effect, etc.) are left or (electrical effect, heat) are felt
Duration: about ten minutes
No. of Object(s): 1
Height & Speed: altitude as 1000 feet.
Size of Object(s): 40 feet in diameter
Distance to Object(s): Directly overhead (at an altitude of 1000 feet).
Shape of Object(s): Brightly Luminous Object
Number of Witnesses: Gilham’s wife and children, and his father-in-law in the adjacent house, also saw the object but did not watch it continuously. “The other members of the family verified the fact that the object was so bright that it lighted the entire surroundings”.
Special Features/Characteristics: Physiological Effects
Source: Herb Taylor / Ohio MUFON Case Notebook / Project-1947 Discussion List, November 5, 2003, Original Source
Summary: Rene Gilham, a 33-year-old ironworker, saw that a brightly luminous object was hovering overhead. Gilham estimated its size as 40 feet in diameter and its altitude as 1000 feet.
Full Report
From the Ohio MUFON Case Notebook
By Herb Taylor
Merom, Indiana November 6, 1957
Source: Project-1947 Discussion List, November 5, 2003
Presenting some of the better (though lesser-known) reports from the 1957 period is both important, and worthy of discussion. The Merom, Indiana case is a good example. Following are the basic details:
At an unspecified time on the night of November 6, 1957, a potentially very important event occurred near Merom, Indiana (30 miles south of Terre Haute, on the Wabash River that bounds Indiana on the West). Rene Gilham, a 33-year-old ironworker was at his farm home when he noticed an unusual light. He went outside and saw that a brightly luminous object was hovering overhead. Gilham estimated its size as 40 feet in diameter and its altitude as 1000 feet. From this object there “beamed out” a light that “bathed his farm with an eerie, penetrating light”.
He stood staring at this object for about ten minutes, during which time it was temporarily joined by a smaller object. Then the larger object departed, “went straight up and headed west”. As it did so, the light became more intense, and it emitted “a whirring noise like a high-speed electric motor gaining revolutions”. Gilham’s wife and children, and his father-in-law in the adjacent house, also saw the object but did not watch it continuously. “The other members of the family verified the fact that the object was so bright that it lighted the entire surroundings”.
On the day after he had stared up at the UFO, Gilham’s face began to itch and redden, and that night the “sunburn” was so painful that he went to a doctor on of the 8th. The physician, Dr. Joseph Drake found that Gilham’s condition was not a rash such as might be caused by poison ivy or an allergy, but a real burn, “similar to the burns that are inflicted on the face and eyes when working near an arc welder without a face mask”. Gilham said that he had not been near a welder for three weeks.
Two days later, “his condition worsened”, and he was taken to Mary Sherman hospital in nearby Sullivan, Indiana. Hospital staff members refused to talk to reporters about the case and permitted no visitors. Notably, they refused to say by whose orders the patient was being held incommunicado. (The Terre Haute Tribune, after mentioning this, adds that it was known that “military authorities: had been informed about the case.) However, it was announced on the 11th that “the swelling about the eyes and reddening of the skin had lessened today,” and that Gilham was expected to be released the next day. Whether he was or not is not known, and nothing further is known about this intriguing event.
(The only sources on this are the Sullivan Times of November 11th and the Terre Haute Tribune of November 12th.)
(It may be noted to add that at approximately 6:30 PM, on the evening of the 6th, numerous people in Sullivan, Indiana watch a glowing orange-red object in the southwest. The time and direction would seem to indicate misidentification of the Planet Venus, but Merom is also southwest of Sullivan, and several of the Sullivan witnesses described a smaller, reddish object moving away from the larger object and finally disappearing in the east. While the Sullivan observers may be corroborations of Gilham’s sighting, the possibility remains tentative, because the time that Gilham saw the UFO was not given.)
The Merom, Indiana report is one of those that cried out for a full and thorough inquiry by competent investigators. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, this did not occur, either then or later. This is not a Blue Bookcase, nor am I aware of any investigation by civilian researchers. Does anyone know whether NICAP or APRO ever made any attempt to investigate this potentially important event? What a damn shame if they failed to pursue this matter! All we have are some newspaper articles that demanded a follow-up. Something very interesting apparently occurred that night in Indiana, but apparent failure to conduct an all-out inquiry has ensured that what it was will never be known with any certainty. Hopefully, insightful commentary by list members would be appreciated.
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Indiana Notes on the above case:
By Jerry Sievers
State Director
MUFON of Indiana
June 2004
Seeing this case in the Ohio UFO Notebook brought back memories. A friend and I both called the Sherman hospital in Sullivan, Indiana as part of a NICAP investigation of the Rene Gilham case. We were told by the hospital reprehensive we talk to that patient records were not public property and that they had a small fire in the records room and that the records were not available. Years later, after the fact, we learned that an Air Force officer had been sent to investigate this case for Project Blue Book. We later met this officer on an unrelated case in Illinois. So we were never really able to follow up on this case.
Researcher Notes: The Rene Gilham Case (1957)
These notes emphasize the analytical context and the high-strangeness aspects of the Gilham encounter:
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Clinical Correspondence: Dr. Joseph Drake’s medical assessment is critical; the diagnosis of “arc welder” burns on a man who hadn’t been near a welder in three weeks provides a rare, objective medical link between a UFO encounter and physiological damage.
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The “Incommunicado” Mystery: The hospital’s refusal to allow visitors or identify who ordered Rene Gilham’s isolation at Mary Sherman Hospital points toward high-level military or governmental intervention, which was later confirmed by the presence of a Project Blue Book investigator.
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Evidence Destruction: The reported “small fire” in the hospital’s records room that specifically made Gilham’s files unavailable is a classic “men in black” style trope, suggesting a concerted effort to erase the physical documentation of the encounter.
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Corroborating Flight Path: Sightings in Sullivan, Indiana at 6:30 PM of a glowing orange-red object moving east from the southwest align with Gilham’s location, transforming a single-witness account into a multi-witness event.
On November 6, 1957, ironworker Rene Gilham witnessed a 40-foot brightly luminous object hovering 1,000 feet above his farm in Merom, Indiana. The craft projected an “eerie, penetrating light” that illuminated the entire area, an event witnessed by his extended family. The encounter left Gilham with severe facial burns—comparable to those from arc welding—which resulted in his restricted hospitalization.
The case remains a cornerstone of Indiana ufology due to its classification as a Close Encounter of the Second Kind (CE-II) and the subsequent suppression of medical records. Decades later, the Merom incident serves as a chilling example of the potential biological risks of close-proximity encounters and the opaque official protocols that often follow them.
