Alaska, September 1958September 1958

On the night of September 20, 1958, observers across Alaska reported seeing a bright ball of fire with a long trailing tail streaking across the sky. Multiple witnesses on the ground and at least one pilot in the air saw the object. It appeared to change colors, ranging from white to blue to green. Many witnesses said it looked like it was disintegrating as it fell, with some comparing the effect to a giant firecracker. No one reported hearing any sound.

The sightings happened in and around Anchorage and other locations across Alaska, including near Cordova, Kodiak, and King Salmon. The object appeared to be at a low altitude to many observers. Witnesses disagreed about which direction it was heading, with some saying south, others northeast, and still others west to east. The display lasted somewhere between ten seconds and two minutes, depending on which witness account is most accurate, though most accounts remain vague about timing.

An Alaska Airlines DC-4 aircraft was flying nearby at the time, and the pilot saw the phenomenon too. Military officials at Elmendorf Air Force Base and the Air Force's Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) looked into the sightings. The chief of intelligence at the Tenth Air Division suggested the object was possibly a meteorite, or possibly debris from a satellite reentering Earth's atmosphere. Air Force investigators asked the University of Alaska to check whether any large meteor had passed through the atmosphere that night. The university reported they had no information about any such natural event at the time of the sightings.

The full case file, consisting of 7 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.