Beckley, West Virginia area, June 1960June 1960

On the night of June 6, 1960, at approximately 1:30 a.m., multiple witnesses in the Beckley, West Virginia area reported seeing a bright, glowing object streak across the sky. The object appeared greenish-blue and roughly the size of a basketball. As it traveled downward toward the horizon at a steep angle, it ejected smaller fireballs from each side, roughly the size of grapefruits, before disappearing. The entire event lasted only three to five seconds. The sighting was accompanied by a rumbling sound. Additional witnesses reported seeing similar phenomena in the area around the same time.

One detailed observer, driving near Mt. Hope, West Virginia, described the object as brilliant and rosy colored, appearing roughly the same size as the moon. He watched it descend at about a 45-degree angle from the horizontal, moving at roughly the speed of a meteor. As it neared the horizon, it vanished abruptly, and three or four smaller objects with the same appearance scattered in various directions before disappearing almost immediately. The witness noted distant lightning flashes and thunder both before and after the sighting, and thought the object might have been an unusually large meteor, a burning satellite, or possibly ball lightning.

The Air Force technical information sheets and questionnaires filled out by witnesses were detailed, including sketches and descriptions of the object's path across the sky. The case file includes handwritten accounts and a formal analysis sheet. The file describes the object's course as traveling southwest and its disappearance as sudden.

According to the case file's evaluation form, the Air Force concluded that the description fit that of a meteor classified as a "bolide" (an exceptionally bright meteor). The case is archived in the National Archives as held in microfilm T1206, Roll 38, and comprises 25 scanned pages.