Bataan, Phillipines, January 1953January 1953

On the evening of January 31, 1953, two men fishing from a rowboat off Bataan, in the Philippines, spotted three or four disc-shaped objects moving rapidly across the western sky. The objects were extremely bright and appeared transparent, with light reflecting off them as if from shiny metal. The witnesses watched them circle in a horizontal position for about two seconds before the discs seemed to bank upward into a near-vertical position and then vanished in a northwesterly direction in a flash, moving as fast as a falling star.

The sighting took place between 2030 and 2100 hours (8:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.). One of the witnesses was a Lieutenant Colonel who held an important position as Chief of the Customs Secret Service and Harbor Police in Manila. The other was a thirty-nine-year-old Filipino native. Both men had lived in the area for years and were familiar with the sky. The Lieutenant Colonel estimated the objects were between 30,000 and 75,000 feet high. He emphasized that these objects were distinct from anything he had ever seen before, and ruled out the possibility that they were Jack-O-Lanterns (a term sometimes applied to unexplained lights) or falling stars. The night was clear with a full moon, no wind, and calm seas. Neither witness heard any sound, saw any trail or wake, or noted any other unusual activity.

The U.S. Air Force interviewed both men and collected sworn statements. However, no physical evidence was recovered, no photographs were taken, and no other information emerged from further investigation. One Air Force officer noted in the file that without reference points on the ground, the estimates of size and altitude could not be verified. The file does not state a final conclusion about what the objects were.

This case file, consisting of 7 pages, is held by the National Archives.