Milan, Indiana is a quiet little town in the rolling hills of south central Indiana USA. Reed Thompson seemed to be just an ordinary schoolboy. Why all this happened we haven't a clue. Nevertheless it truly did all happen.

It was a sunny afternoon in January 1967 and high school freshman Reed was home alone. He was changing clothes in the front room when he noticed what appeared to be a moving silver street light keeping ground contour and making angular turns around obstacles at about the speed of a walking man.

Reed was stunned but grabbed his sister's camera, and keeping back from the picture window due to some unexplained fear, he took two quick shots of the now very close UFO object. He got only a double exposure of curtains and tree since he failed to advance the film.

Rushing to the bedroom window, Reed took the photo of a "bean pot UFO" you see with this article. The camera was a Kodak Hawkeye 50 mm focal length, lens at 13.5, shutter speed 1/45th of a second of acrylic material, Kodacolor film ASA 80. The object glided out of sight and Reed dropped the camera and rushed out to the side yard to watch it. Down by a pine tree, it suddenly vanished. Reed came into the house with a nose bleed, but did not remember coming back inside.

To Reed the object was a sharp bright silver with some kind of diagonal lines in it. He did not see any form in the upper lip of the object. A freight train was passing at the time so no sound could be heard. The drugstore developed film reveals a dark object with clear reflections of the tree limbs it was near and which soon died.

So the UFO's position can be reliably placed as 32.5 feet from the camera. The UFO was 20 feet off the ground and its bottom portion can be estimated as 6 feet in diameter. In the lip of this object can be faintly be seen the outline of a beings head and shoulder. One can wonder if the bright sun coming from this angle caused this revelation.

Similar flying barrel shaped UFOs have been reported. On an aerial photographic flight as part of a geolyphic study for a mining enterprise over the southern part of the state of Guarico, Venezuela a "flying bean pot UFO" was photographed from above. Around 10 a.m., the plane was surveying a region 80 kilometers south of the city of Calabozo, flying at 8,000 feet, when suddenly Mr. Inake Oses' attention was attracted to a brilliant yellow UFO flying erratically at high speed below the plane. Mr. Oses took this photo on February 13, 1966 which looks very similar to the UFO photographed by Reed Thompson in 1967, a year later.

Near Fort Beaufort, South Africa, a nearly landed "bean pot UFO" received a hot reception from law enforcement. The hot lead never seemed to affect it.

Through my efforts, the negative was finally sent to the then ongoing University of Colorado government sponsored UFO study. Our contact was with one Robert J. Low. He and his colleagues actually had the nerve to suggest the photo lacked any indication of where it was in space.

All this was the beginning of this fantastic case which I was involved in as a special investigator in the Midwest for APRO (Aerial Phenomenon Research Organization) up to 1992.

The unfortunate Reed Thompson received a lot of flack at the local high school and learned it did not pay to become the captain of a "flying bean pot" story.

Six years later on a warm April day in 1973, two weird looking humans, which we know were MIB's (Men-In-Black), entered Reed Thompson's Auto Parts store in Milan. Reed's ferocious guard dog Queen, saw the strange creatures, and immediately rushed to a corner, rolled herself into a ball, trembling and crying. Reed knew if the guard dog was scared, that he was in big trouble.

Two other customers standing in the corner of the store did not remember the incident afterward, which is indicative of the strangeness of MIB contact.

Reed's friend, Craft, thought the two weird humans were some kind of joke and hurried outside to see the car these strange characters had driven. It was a bright yellow 1969 Buick LeSabre. Peering through the dark window, Craft was shocked to see the car was an empty shell - no seats, no steering wheel, no interior. Craft returned to the store, stunned, wide eyed, and in disbelief.

One humanoid was so tall he had to stoop to enter the store. The other weird human was under five feet tall. Both MIB's wore tan clothes, heavy gloves, were very thin, but walked normally. Their faces looked like plastic with their elliptically shaped glossy black eyes with pointed ends with long hair.

However, their voices were peculiar. In an odd monotone devoid of any inflection, the taller MIB with the plastic face spoke to Reed and said, "On January 19th, 1967 four minutes until three o'clock p.m. eastern standard time, did you see something unusual?" It seemed more like a statement than a question.

When Reed answered "Yes," the plastic faced MIB indicated he wanted a description of what Reed had seen. Reed described the "bean pot UFO."

The MIB asked if Reed took a photograph of it.

Reed responded, "Yes."

In a sharper tone, the plastic faced MIB said, "I MUST have the photograph and negative NOW."

Reed, who was a courageous and stubborn man, refused, saying he was not going to give them to him.

The MIB insisted it be done now. Reed repeated "No" and informed the MIB that the items were in a bank and it was now closed. The MIB said it did not matter and they would go get them. Reed refused and proceeded to close his store.

Out on the street by the MIB's car, both Reed and Craft again looked into the empty car and got the license number that later proved to be non-existent. Craft accidentally brushed up against one MIB which seemed to cause it to move away, quickly alarmed.

Reed got into his truck for a business trip to Versailles and hoped he would never see such scary apparitions again.

Two years later, Craft died suddenly in the hospital and no cause for his demise could be found.

Enroute to Versailles, Reed found that his Nemesis, the MIB, had not left him. They stuck inches from his rear bumper at breakneck speeds. Upon arrival at the welding shop, Reed found they had parked their car and were only a few steps behind him.

When Reed opened the shop door, a welder's arc flash was omitted. Reed turned and was shocked to see the eerie pair of MIB's and their strange auto had vanished.

In the ensuing years, a lot of strange things happened to Reed, like plenty of nose bleeds, like the serious one he had after the UFO incident that defied a doctor's efforts. Seeing silver beams, pale blue light, going up through his ceiling, Grays and their long thin fingers. Reed also found unexplained scoop marks, scars, lines and puncture holes on his body.