Cabin John, Md., February 1958February 1958

Insufficient Data

Summary

On February 22, 1958, two separate objects were spotted over Cabin John, Maryland, according to an Air Force case file marked "unknown" in its final assessment.

The first sighting involved a tear-drop-shaped object described as roughly the size of a basket. It glowed with a whitish-yellowish color and appeared to descend. The second object was longer, described as a "long, bluish white cigar shaped" item measuring 15 to 20 feet. It appeared to have a flame. The file notes that the objects traveled in different directions: one at 332 degrees from true north (roughly northwest), and another at 235 degrees from true north (roughly southwest). The second object was observed for approximately five seconds.

The Air Force investigation noted that the information in the case was characteristic of a meteor. However, the case file itself offers little additional detail about who made the observations, exactly what time they occurred, or how thoroughly investigators followed up. Most of the internal pages are either heavily degraded or contain routing information rather than investigative findings. The evaluation appears in the case summary but lacks supporting analysis or conclusion statements in the available portions of the file.

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

Reported location

Cabin John, Md., February 1958

Date of incident

February 1958

State / country

? / XX

Page count

7 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 32

: E E E RIT PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD - 1. DATE | 2 LOCATION [12. CONCLUSIONS 4 Cabin John, Md, 5 Was Balloon : 22 Feb 58 Andrews AB, Md, 15 BRS agen L 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION ossidly Balloon & > J [QO Was Aircraft 3 se me ee CX Ground- Yi sual 0 Ground-Radar ‘a Probably Aircraft F GMT 2o/UaVJad4 ad / 02157 CO AirVYisuol 0 Air-Intercapt Radar E Possibly Aircroft : 5. PHOTOS 5. SOURCE 8 Was Astronomical 2 LCOT i FF O Yes 0 Probebly Astronomical | 0 No Military & Civilian Git a Ea le Ly & 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 2. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 5 po) YF RR UA a SLD Si 0 Insufficient Data for Evaluation i £3 Q Unknown 5 secs one descending . 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS 7 LE Ly Tear “drop ‘shaped obj; Size of basket Info is characteristic of a {ball, whitish-yellowish, glowing. meteor, 2. Long, bluish white cigar shaped § ghiy 1&5 to 20 ft long, Appeared in 4 flame, v E ATIC FORM 329 (REV 25 SEP 52) E bt v BJ E;