Alexandria, La., June 1958June 1958

On June 23, 1958, a Louisiana State Trooper near Alexandria spotted two bright white lights while looking through the viewfinder of his Polaroid Land Camera. He was standing about two miles south of England Air Force Base, taking photographs of cloud formations as a hobby. The lights appeared roughly the size of dimes, positioned side by side, and the trooper snapped two photographs in quick succession, placing a filter on the camera between shots. Within roughly 30 seconds, the lights vanished. The trooper never saw them with his naked eye, only in the camera's viewfinder. A fellow State Trooper accompanied him but was facing a different direction and saw nothing.

An Air Force investigating officer examined the photographs and the scene. The initial investigation suggested the lights might be camera defects or reflections on the windshield. However, a later discovery proved significant: the original report had omitted a critical detail. In a follow-up interview, investigators learned the trooper had been sitting inside his car when taking the photographs, and the images appeared through the vehicle's windshield. This changed the explanation. Tests with curved windshields and reflective surfaces in vehicles successfully recreated the mysterious lights. The Air Force investigating officer concluded the bright spots were reflections of sunlight bouncing off the windshield.

The case generated attention beyond official channels. The National Investigations Committee for Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), a civilian UFO research group, published the story in their bulletin and criticized the Air Force's handling of the case. Some published accounts suggested the lights were authentic unknown objects, while the Air Force file settled on a reflected-light explanation tied to the camera position and the windshield.

The full case file, comprising 18 pages of reports, photographs, and correspondence, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.