Coloma, MichiganMay 1962

Insufficient Data

Summary

In May 1962, a child and grandmother in Coloma, Michigan witnessed a bright light moving across the night sky. The object appeared brighter than the stars and made no sound as it traveled in level flight across their view. The boy estimated the object's speed at 240 miles per hour, while his grandmother thought the sighting lasted between one and two minutes. The object eventually disappeared behind trees.

The case file notes some inconsistencies in the reporting data. The grandmother had seen a similar object in 1955, which she described as either a ball of flame or a falling star and said was moving very fast. The general description from this 1962 sighting conforms to a meteor sighting, and the Air Force classified the case as astronomical in nature, likely a meteor.

The full case file, comprising 19 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Coloma, Michigan

Date of incident

May 1962

State / country

MI / US

Page count

19 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 45

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 19

View transcribed text

4 Es PROJECT 10073 RECCRD CARD :
: :
p 1. DATE 4 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
Lees EAL Fin rs le 0 Wos Balloon
i 4 Moy 1902 LOLOMR, MLCALEAD 0 Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 3. TYPE OF OBSERVATION SLAG ed teed
i = ¢ 0 Was Aircraft
Lokal le a sas £1 Ground-Visual 0 Ground-Radar 8 Prokably Aireroft
GMT 0500137 0 AirVisual 0 Air-Intercept Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft
3 3. PHOTOS é. SOURCE Was Astronomical «0520
gE 0 Yes 00 Probably Astronomicol
; ZX No < Civilian 0 Possibly Astronomical
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE Be 1 TRE SY A Se ER a
0  Insufficiant Dora for Evaluation
1 : 00 Unknown
Es y | . N
-J wl ole - 3
4 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING ivr lor 11 ont with 11. COMMENTS Inconsistancies in reporting daa
viL CULL LAg3( <bLl RS is Wd - ts ol dnc Jour Bho
no sound moved across sky in level flight. However general description conforms to
Disappeared behind trees. Viewed by chile meteor sighting and case is listed as
] snd graadnmother. Speed estimated 240 MPH by astronomical (meteor).
j boy. Grandmother estimates duration 1-2 min.
Cbjt brighter than stars and appeared only as
a light. Was X objt similar in 1955 and
described it as ball of {flame or falling star.
! Speed described as very fast.
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
E : y | Ba

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28997191