Bloomington, IllinoisJune 1961

Insufficient Data

Summary

On June 18, 1961, in Bloomington, Illinois, a civilian reported observing a shiny round star-like object in the early evening. The witness was lying on grass near a swimming pool when he spotted the object in the sky. There were no clouds and wind velocity was near ground level. The moon was in its first quarter and almost directly overhead. The witness noticed a bright round object which resembled Venus in size and brightness. It was also directly overhead near the moon in the same position as Venus often takes in relation to a new moon. As the witness watched, the object moved slightly toward the northwest, circled clockwise, and headed almost due southwest at a very rapid speed. It disappeared from sight about 30 to 40 degrees above the horizon. The entire sighting lasted about 10 to 20 seconds. The Air Force evaluation was listed as Unknown.

Reported location

Bloomington, Illinois

Date of incident

June 1961

State / country

IL / US

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 42

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD

1. DATE
18 Jun 61

2. LOCATION
Bloomington, Illinois

12. CONCLUSIONS
[] Was Balloon
[] Probably Balloon
[] Possibly Balloon
[] Was Aircraft
[] Probably Aircraft
[] Possibly Aircraft
[] Was Astronomical
[] Probably Astronomical
[] Possibly Astronomical
[] Other
[X] Insufficient Data for Evaluation
[] Unknown

3. DATE-TIME GROUP
Local 1620
CMT 10/2200Z Jun 61

4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION
[X] Ground-Visual [] Ground-Radar
[] Air-Visual [] Air-Intercept Radar

5. SOURCE
Civilian

6. [illegible]

7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION
10-20 Sec

8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS
one

9. COURSE
S/I

10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING
Shiny round star-like object. In some position as Venus often takes in relation to a new moon when seen early in the evening. Resembled Venus in size and brightness. Object circled clockwise and headed almost due Southwest at a very rapid speed. Disappeared from sight about 30-40 deg elevation. Speed was 3-4 times faster than jet a/c. Seemed very high while circling and proceeded in a straight line at disappearance.

11. COMMENTS
Short observation rules out balloon. The maneuvres rule out astronomical objects. Short objects indicated rule out a/c although the possibility exists that there was an overestimation on speed. Airation is considered with the speed indicated. Report received in letter end no follow up information requested. Report listed as insufficient data. Time lag reduced probability of checking on information.

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28993080