Alexandria, La., September 1949September 1949

Insufficient Data

Summary

On September 2, 1949, two people in Alexandria, Louisiana saw something unusual in the sky.

The first sighting happened around 6:50 p.m. A retired writer and poet named Mrs. Gwen was sitting on her front porch with her granddaughter and another family member when she spotted a bright object about 35 degrees above the horizon in the eastern direction. She described it as resembling the setting sun if it had suddenly become aflame. The object shot across the sky horizontally, moved faster than lightning, and vanished from sight in a mere instant. She saw no exhaust, heard no sound, and observed no visible means of support.

A second sighting occurred that same evening around 2:30 p.m. in Alexandria. A woman named Mrs. Cal Varres, who was riding in a car near her home, saw another bright object through the windshield at about a 30-degree angle above the horizon. She described it as a disc or sphere that displayed brilliant red and purple colors. The object moved faster than an airplane and seemed to disappear into a cloud, where it appeared to vanish. Like the first sighting, it made no sound, left no exhaust, and showed no visible support mechanism. Mrs. Varres observed it for approximately five seconds.

The Air Force investigation included both detailed witness interviews and background checks. The Air Force classified the second sighting as an "unknown" and noted weather conditions and wind data from nearby Barksdale Air Force Base.

This case file, containing 19 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Alexandria, La., September 1949

Date of incident

September 1949

State / country

? / XX

Page count

19 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 6

| | | F | 5 | | 1 PROJECT 10073 RECORD Eo En ———— — EE —— ————————— EE —————— ——— A Tw — ~ 1. DATE - TIME GROUP . LOCATION. . : 2 Sep 49 2/23662 Alexandria, la, ©. SOURCE 10. CONCLUSION ~ Sivilian ED . Astro (METEOR) ~ 1. NUMBER OF OBJECTS (ne | E 5. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION [11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS ~ 5 Seconds Object was round and was comparable to the brilliance of the BD - dazzling sun, as if it suddenly became aflame and shot across | 5 TYPE OF OBSERVATION the sky. The object was in view only a mere instant, There ~ Ground-Visual was no evidence of exhaust or trails, no sound was heard, and EB the object did not appears: to be supported by any discern- p ~ 7. COURSE able means, j ~ Southerly Eb 1. PHOTOS | i O Yes : i "sf No h 9. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE DO Yes : XX No | i FORM 1 FTD sep 63 0.329 (TDE) Previous editions of this form may be used. | ] A 4 | Ee