Charleston, W.V., May 1961May 1961

On the evening of May 13, 1961, a sales engineer standing four miles south of Kanawha County Airport near Charleston, West Virginia, spotted an unusual light in the sky. The object appeared as a small, white, starlike point that pulsed with a steady glow. It moved from west to east at a high angle above the horizon, then faded away in the eastern direction. The witness watched for five to ten minutes.

An investigator from the Air Force noted that a weather balloon had been launched from Kanawha County Airport at roughly the same time the object was sighted. The 122 gram balloon remained aloft for twenty seven minutes, staying nearly stationary over the Charleston area due to light winds. Because the balloon was almost directly overhead, an observer on the ground would have had difficulty determining its actual direction of travel. The balloon reached a maximum altitude of about 25,000 feet, and wind patterns would have carried it on a south easterly course. The investigator concluded that the weather balloon was a possible explanation for the sighting, noting that the pulsating motion the witness reported could have resulted from varying wind speeds at different altitudes.

The investigator marked this case as unknown pending further investigation.

A second sighting was recorded nearby in Silver Grove, Kentucky, at 2200 local time on May 13. The witness reported a bright spotlight at first, which transformed into a large shiny button like object when observed more carefully. The object changed colors from white to red, disappeared and reappeared several times, and displayed sharp edges. The Air Force evaluator noted that the description and behavior were consistent with a bright star distorted by atmospheric refraction (the bending of starlight through different layers of air at different temperatures). This case was evaluated as probably astronomical.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across 22 pages.