Baldwinsville, MassachusettsFebruary 1962

Unidentified

Summary

The witness in Baldwinsville, Massachusetts watched an unusual object in the night sky on February 18, 1962, at 21:15 (9:15 p.m.). Through a telescope, the object appeared sharply outlined, white in color, and roughly the size of an average house. The witness described it as resembling two ice cream cones stuck together sideways, with two holes visible in the top. The sighting lasted approximately two minutes and thirty seconds, during which the witness heard no sound from the object.

The object moved from the southwest to the north, appearing to rise as it traveled across the sky. The witness initially thought it looked like a falling or shooting star. However, the Air Force investigators found serious problems with this account. The witness had observed fine details through a telescope while the object was moving at what appeared to be considerable speed, which the Air Force noted would have been difficult or impossible to accomplish in practice. The written summary on the case file explicitly states: "Impossible to follow object going at this speed with telescope. Also impossible to get this much detail."

The investigators noted that the description and the additional information the witness provided were conflicting and inconsistent with one another. Despite these contradictions and the technical improbability of the detailed observations, the Air Force evaluated the case as "possible meteor" based on the general impression of a shooting star. However, the official evaluation on the case card lists the sighting as unidentified, reflecting the inability to confidently explain what was observed.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, consisting of 11 scanned pages.

Reported location

Baldwinsville, Massachusetts

Date of incident

February 1962

State / country

MA / US

Page count

11 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 44

f : iv PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD NLRC | 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS i i 0 Wes Bolloon b 18 Feb 1G62 Baldwinsville, Massachusetts [=] Siskenty Rilo 4 3. DATE-TIME GROUP i TYPE OF OBSERVATION LYRE PEL | i. 2115 O Was Aircraft i Local es sual D Ground-Rodar QO Probably Aircraft | h 157 | E EE APACE Hg O Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft i 5. PHOTOS » SOURCE 0 Was Astronomicol | : O Yes D Probobly Astronomicol, ir 7 \ 1 #1 Ne Civilian Possibly Astronemicol|/ alice. 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE =) yy eri rv pe pT ] Conflicting me N/NE 8 Daneion Data for Evaluation 1 CERES Ra RE RRR SRS, REA ECO RES EUSA) AEE TRIO SEA AREAIOUNIT TSR SI 3 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 17. COMMENTS | hiect in gignt about 2 min. 30 sec. This is | Additional data is conflicting. : completely out of ine with additional info. Impossible to follow object going at this cach described as snooting star. opeed speed with telescope. Also impossible EE] red 4500 mun hia + flachad £13 A lrarad PIO BT git n Pins ? OEE So RT STRODE ARES Ry SaACHErR. to get this much detail. Basing cierved sarougn _JL4 T2.esScope. JoJect observation on general impression narply outlined. No sound. Color white. Like |as5 a "Shooting Star” case is evaluated ice cream cones stuck sogather sideways. AS |as possible meteor. big as average house. 2 noles in top. Appeared in SZ disappeared in Z., No evaluations. Locked like falling star. ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP $2) Ed