Capevay, Atlantic City, September 1961September 1961

On September 30, 1961, multiple Coast Guard stations and light houses along the New Jersey coast reported seeing unusual lights in the sky near Cape May and Atlantic City. The sightings began in the early morning hours and were witnessed by personnel at locations including North Cape May, Five Fathom Light Vessel, Lewes, Corsons Inlet, Hereford Inlet, and Townsends Inlet. A report also came in from the New York area around the same time.

The witnesses described the lights in varying ways. Early reports characterized them as a whitish blue light moving across the sky from east to west in streaks. As the sightings continued, observers noted the lights were turning red in the center with a greenish hue on the outer edges. The lights appeared to spread across the sky from north to south-southeast, and multiple stations reported seeing the same phenomena, suggesting the witnesses were observing the same event from different vantage points.

The initial military response was swift, with the reports being relayed through Coast Guard and Air Force channels to multiple commands including Atlantic Fleet, NORAD, and Air Force headquarters. However, the case file reveals little about any investigation conducted on the ground. The only substantive follow-up documented is a letter from an Air Force officer dated October 30, 1961, responding to a civilian inquiry. The officer stated that the Air Force had no record of any UFO sightings in the Duluth, Chicago, and Fort Wayne area, and requested that the inquirer complete questionnaires if they had witnessed an object. This suggests some confusion or miscommunication about which sighting the civilian was asking about.

The file includes several pages of material that appear unrelated to the Cape May sightings, including astronomy articles about Jupiter and its moons from a September 1961 Science News Letter, and a summary table of UFO sightings from October 1961. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 13 pages of microfilm.