Camp Lucas, Mich, June 1959June 1959

On the night of June 17, 1959, military personnel at Camp Lucas, Michigan, spotted an unusual object in the sky. The witnesses were members of an anti-aircraft artillery battery near Sault Ste. Marie. They described the object as a sphere about the size of a quarter, with a color that shifted from bright white to a reddish orange. One witness noted a bright red spot at the five o'clock position that stayed red the whole time. Small sparks fell from the object, though they did not resemble engine exhaust, and no sound was heard.

The object appeared to orbit the location where it was first sighted for about five minutes. After that, it moved away on a northwest heading and disappeared over the horizon. The object was visible for 30 minutes. The witnesses used telescopes mounted on anti-aircraft guns and binoculars to observe it, but the object could not be detected by radar.

The air defense officer on duty initially thought the object might be a cargo or passenger aircraft equipped with navigation lights. However, because no radar contact was made and the object moved northwest toward open country rather than toward a populated area, he ruled out that possibility. After reviewing all available information, the officer concluded that the object was probably the reflection of light from the furnaces of the nearby Algoma Steel Company, bounced off a cloud of smoke and dust. The analysis noted that the visibility was very low (1.5 miles) at the time, and the object moved only about one and a half degrees in 30 minutes, which was consistent with a stationary light source viewed through atmospheric distortion. However, the analysis also stated there was insufficient data to form a valid conclusion.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 16 pages.