Boron, California, [ILLEGIBLE]Date unknown

On August 19, 1952, a 30-year-old scoutmaster named Sonny DesVergers ventured into a palmetto forest near West Palm Beach, Florida, to investigate strange lights. When he returned about forty minutes later, his arms were burned, he was in shock, and his story stunned investigators and the public alike. He claimed he had encountered a dome-shaped, gray metal craft hovering just a few feet above the ground, and that a ball of fire had streaked from an opening in the object and struck him.

DesVergers told Air Force interviewers that he had been driving Boy Scouts home when he spotted odd lights in the woods off Military Trail. After instructing the boys to get help if he did not return within ten minutes, he entered the palmetto thicket with a flashlight and machete. Deep in the woods, he found a clearing. Looking up, he saw a smooth gray metal surface with horizontal grain lines, hovering about four feet overhead. When he tried to back away, he said the object seemed to retreat as well, as though both were startled by the encounter. Then a hatch appeared to open, and a ball of fire drifted toward him. He felt a sickening odor and intense heat. He covered his face, fell backward, and blacked out.

The three Boy Scouts, one about twelve, two younger, corroborated parts of DesVergers' account. They saw a series of white lights descend into the trees, then after he entered the woods, they observed red lights that looked like flares streaking across the clearing. When DesVergers emerged, he was pale, shaking, and nearly incoherent. Deputy Sheriff Mott Partin, who arrived at the scene, found DesVergers' hair singed and his skin reddened. A large flashlight was found face-down and still burning near the clearing. Partin noted scorch marks on the grass and holes burned in DesVergers' cap.

Air Force investigators from the Technical Intelligence Center traveled to Florida to interview DesVergers, the Boy Scouts, the deputies, and anyone else who might shed light on the incident. The investigation expanded as officers dug into DesVergers' background and character. They learned he had suffered financial troubles, operated a gas station that failed, claimed military service that others disputed, and told stories that seemed embellished or fabricated. A physician who had treated DesVergers after a previous accident described him as "mentally unbalanced" and "an exhibitionist." People at a hardware store where DesVergers worked praised him as honest and hardworking. Friends from military academy remembered him as a prankster prone to exaggeration.

The file documents extensive interviews with deputies, Boy Scouts, neighbors, business associates, and acquaintances, as well as a detailed ground search of the sighting area. Officers photographed the clearing, the approach through the palmetto, and the approximate spot where DesVergers claimed the object hovered. Radiation readings were taken and found normal. No debris, no burned vegetation beyond small patches, and no physical evidence of an otherworldly craft emerged from the search.

The case file contains no explicit final Air Force evaluation, though the extensive character investigation and the absence of corroborating physical evidence suggest the investigators harbored doubts about DesVergers' account. This 84-page case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.