Alexandria, LouisianaFebruary 1960

On February 23, 1960, two U.S. Air Force officers in Alexandria, Louisiana, reported seeing unusual lights in the sky. The cases were submitted separately, but the Air Force reviewed them together. This summary covers both observations.

The first sighting involved Captain Bernard A. Campbell, an intelligence officer at England Air Force Base. Campbell saw a streak of light about the size of a pinhead at arm's length, with a tail roughly half the size of the object itself. The light was white. The sighting lasted only two seconds. Campbell was looking south to north when the object passed out of view behind a building to his northwest. Because of the object's brief appearance and typical meteor-like characteristics, the file indicates Campbell himself believed he had observed a meteorite. Weather conditions at the time included unlimited ceiling and visibility restricted by light haze. No radar contacts or unusual aircraft activity in the area were recorded. The Air Force concluded this sighting was consistent with a meteorite.

The second sighting, also on February 23, came from Master Sergeant Richard L. Callen, a radio operator at England Air Force Base. Callen observed a round object that appeared to change to a pear shape. The object flickered with red, green, and blue lights and was slightly larger than a golf ball. Callen watched it for about three hours from roughly the same position in the sky. He filmed the object with an 8mm color camera using a telephoto lens. The star Spica was in the reported location at the time of the sighting, and because the object remained stationary relative to other stars throughout the observation, the Air Force concluded it was an astronomical body, most likely the star Spica itself. Callen's motion picture film was submitted for analysis. Analysts at the Air Technical Intelligence Center could find nothing on the developed film that matched the witness's description of the object. The center suggested that Callen identify specific frames showing the object, but the OCR text does not indicate whether this clarification was provided.

The case files are reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 19 pages.