Bangor, MaineFebruary 1958

On February 23, 1958, an A/1C (airman first class) Michaud of the base police at Dow Air Force Base in Bangor, Maine, reported seeing a large, bright, round object low on the horizon near Brewer, Maine, about 15 miles south of his location. The object appeared to be moving up and down. Michaud watched it for approximately five minutes before it disappeared, though the exact manner of disappearance is not described in the available file materials.

The same evening, other witnesses in the Bangor area also reported sightings. A woman caller to the Dow Air Force Base operations office reported seeing a large, bright object hovering over Brewer. Several other people in the region reported similar observations. The sightings were noted as lasting about twenty minutes for one witness. Within hours, local officials and amateur astronomers began investigating. A professor from the University of Maine examined the sighting details and initially considered whether the object might be the planet Jupiter, Saturn, or Mars, but concluded it did not match those bodies. A motorist traveling along the Bangor-Brewer toll bridge also reported witnessing the phenomenon.

The Air Force's evaluation noted that the sighting report suffered from limited information regarding elevation, azimuth (compass direction), direction of movement, manner of disappearance, and weather conditions. However, the file indicates that a balloon had been in the area, and investigators tentatively correlated the report with that balloon sighting. The evaluation sheet lists "Probably Balloon" as the conclusion, though the sparse data available made a definitive assessment difficult.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 9 pages.