Bostonia, CaliforniaOctober 1956

A high school student in Bostonia, California took a photograph in October 1956 as part of a class assignment. She aimed her simple box camera at the moon on a clear night and left the shutter open for 10 to 20 minutes to capture the moon's path across the sky. When she developed the film five months later, an odd object appeared in one of the prints: something that looked like an inverted chandelier or light fixture.

The student reported her strange photograph to the FBI, which forwarded it to the Air Force. Investigators and photo analysts examined the negative carefully. They concluded the image was a double exposure, created accidentally when the camera shutter had been tripped twice during the time the film was in the camera. Evidence supporting this conclusion included two separate moon tracks on the photograph pointing in different directions, suggesting the camera had been moved between exposures. The analysts also noted that the object resembled a conventional ceiling light fixture, and they detected photographic manipulation during development, including techniques called "dodging" and "burning in" that made the fixture appear brighter.

Air Force officials concluded someone (not necessarily the student herself) had tampered with the film by exposing it a second time to a light fixture indoors, then attempted to reposition the camera to its original spot. The broken moon tracks proved the effort was imperfect. The student's father, a minister, and her instructor both vouched for her good character, but the Air Force remained convinced the photograph was a hoax, albeit perhaps not an intentional one by the student.

The full case file of 73 pages is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.