Baker report, 1968 congressional hearings

In this case, the subject's abnormal liver function (reversed A/G ratio, etc.) increases the danger of such toxicity because of
his impaired ability to bind, detoxify, and excrete both bromides and atropine. Hallucinations are among the outstanding
toxic effects of both these drugs (Ref. 2). It would thus not be unlikely that the contents of the sleeping pills have not only
contributed to the subject's current psychic disequilibrium but have specifically affected his propensity to "see things".
Creditability score 75%
Ref. 2. Walker, S. Psychiatric Signs and Symptoms Due to Medical Problems, C.C. Thomas, Springfield, Ill. 1967.
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V. Psychiatric Evaluation
A. Anamnesis
The subject was seen for psychiatric evaluation on each of two successive days for one and a half hour interviews. The first
interview took place 36 hours after he had seen the luminal object. He is aware of why he is being seen, says he "doesn't
mind a bit", but feels nervous because he doesn't know exactly what he will be "expected to tell" about himself.
He came to live in the Tucson area 12 years ago because of his widowed mother's failing health and a doctor's
recommendation that she move from East Boston (where they had always lived) to a drier climate. Since her death 9 years
ago, he has carried on alone, at first in their apartment and then in a boarding house where his meals are prepared and his
laundry is done for him. Although he is not enthusiastic about his living arrangement, he seems quite proud of his
association with a branch of the local bank. In the past five years, he has advanced from assistant bookkeeper to teller to
head teller to the banks' real estate loan section, of which he has been the chief for a week. He says that it was five days
after he had assumed this new responsibility that he saw the "odd light in the sky".
He describes the scene as follows: He had been having trouble getting to sleep for two months (doesn't know why) and this
particular night was no exception. Although he had taken several "Sleep-eze" tablets, he still felt edgy and very wide awake
at 2:30 AM. So he got up from bed to get a cigarette and a shot of bourbon. He then sat facing his closed window and
gazing out, preoccupied, for about half an hour. He remembers everything seemed very still and quiet but can't recall what
he was thinking about. About 3 AM he became vaguely aware of a new light near the mountains off to his left (northeast).
It seemed to be moving toward his direct line of vision and as it did so became increasingly vivid. The light was a diffuse,
pale, yellow-green color. It seemed very large (twenty to thirty times the size of an airplane at the same distance) and its
shape was like that of a humped disc that was flat at the bottom. At times, it seemed to be hardly moving at all, at others it
bobbed up and down as if from a breeze. He felt peculiarly drawn to it and seemed unable to avoid looking at it. When he
tried to glance to either side of it, the disc seemed to fade, and he felt almost as though his direct gaze was the only thing
holding it there. At the same time, he felt almost as though he were being called upon by it to stare. Afterwards, upon
reflecting, he decided that it was the unusual nature of the object that had created these peculiar feelings in him.
After a couple of minutes it seemed less bright and looked like it was beginning to move away. At that point he felt as
though he wanted to follow it. By the time it had completely faded away, he felt a little sad, lonely, hopeless, or something,
he's not sure which.
It never occurred to him to call anyone else's attention to the light (probably because of the late hour, he says) and he was
surprised to be asked about that by the police the next day. He says, however, that anyone in the city who was looking in a
northeasterly direction at the right time that
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night couldn't have missed that light. Although it was an unusual sight, it seemed very real to him and is still very vivid in
his mind. He had never seen anything like it before and in fact had never previously had the occasion to report anything
whatever to the police. He says that the only reason he had reported seeing the light was a sense of duty, after he had read
in the morning paper that someone else had also seen an unusual object in the sky on the same night.