Bristol, Rhode IslandOctober 1962

Insufficient Data

Summary

Two eleven year old boys found plastic debris in Bristol, Rhode Island on October 20, 1962, after seeing a gray object fall from the sky with a whooshing sound. One of the boys said he touched the object and found it warm, so he did not pick it up. The boys brought the debris to their science teacher, who turned it over to authorities at the U.S. Naval Base in Newport, Rhode Island, and then to the Air Force for analysis.

The Air Force laboratory identified the samples as common plastic materials. The white sample matched U.S. Nylon 66. The brown sample was polystyrene, and a cream colored piece found inside it was polyethylene. The physical appearance of these materials strongly suggested they were scraps, or "end-of-run" waste from plastic extrusion machines, which produce plastic sheets and films. Testing showed none of the samples had been exposed to a space environment or used in any space application.

The Air Force compared the debris with known waste materials from local industries that manufactured insulated wire and cable using nylon and similar plastics. The samples matched the appearance and consistency of this industrial scrap. The investigation concluded that the materials came from everyday plastic manufacturing processes in the local area. The case file describes the story told by the youths as a hoax, with the plastic debris simply industrial waste from nearby factories.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 10 pages.

Reported location

Bristol, Rhode Island

Date of incident

October 1962

State / country

RI / US

Page count

10 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 46

pb gh EE EN EET EY HA PSEA Ii i. spn teas 5 HERA dad a = - Bi | “ ; PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD 5 | | I. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS *' ~~ 4 : w] edly Bu} | | |.2 er 1962 ri Rhod sla 9 LYRE Been | § |'3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION 5. Ty, eneen RR A RG TOR B2Ground- Visual O Ground-Reodar 5 ’ Shy Averett | E GM not repor ted : 0 AirVisuvdl 0 Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft | | 5. PHOTOS « SOURCE O Was Astronomical : OYes Physical oO Adit iets ; BNo Specimen Civilian TY | | 7. LENGTH OF.OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BX Other_plast ip ——0- | ; DO Insufficient Data for Evaluation | O Unknown | . not reported multi fell (r r ~ B |10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING vg 11. COMMENTS | | 8 | Two 11 year old youths found objects Samples submitted for analysis | | that supposedly fell to earth with indicates that material was | & | whooshing sound, Warm, Samples sent plastic residue of Type 66 Nylon, . | to Air Force for analysis. a piece of cream colored sub- | stance identified as polyethylene 1 and other scrap fm extrusion io 3 : machine, Story by youths classed 1 Soe SNA 1 -23NHS ~- 46 | as hoax; materials, as plastic 1 : : from local industry. } | | ( o8je<T JAN SW SSreqt Stet MEN 7c | 8 ATIC PORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) al | : : /