5 Mi NW of Copemish, MichiganJuly 1961

On a July evening in 1961 near Copemish, Michigan, several people reported seeing unusual lights in the sky that moved slowly and disappeared intermittently over the course of two hours. The sighting began when a person in Beulah, Michigan observed a bright, bluish-red light that appeared to be descending and then vanishing behind trees. After about two minutes, they drove to a nearby location and picked up three other witnesses. Together they watched as the object lit up the back of a nearby house with a glow similar to a full moon, brightening and fading on and off. En route to Zimmerman Road, which lay about three miles northwest of their starting point, the group observed what they described as a faint rotating beacon inside the glowing object. After parking, they spotted a red object approximately the size of a grapefruit emerging from the woods about two feet above the ground and moving at a speed similar to a bicycle. A white object suddenly appeared three feet away from the red one, and the two began moving together. The witnesses became frightened and drove back toward Beulah. On the return trip they again saw the rotating beacon. After dropping off their parents, three boys returned to the location around 1900 (7 p.m.) but observed no objects. The Coast Guard station in Grand Haven, Michigan confirmed there was no air-sea rescue operation in the area at the time of the sighting. The investigating officer noted that while there were no known aircraft operating in the area, it was possible the lights came from a private helicopter. However, the report was classified as unidentified, pending further information that might allow a definitive conclusion. The full case file as reproduced here contains 10 pages and is held by the National Archives.