Cyprus Gardens, FloridaAugust 1961

On August 9, 1961, a civilian witness in Cyprus Gardens, Florida, observed a bright orange object that appeared star-like and grew larger as the night went on. The witness thought at first it might be a meteor. The object seemed to be descending and heading straight toward the observer. After a while, the object changed direction, turned upward, and retraced its original path until it disappeared from view. The entire sighting lasted between 45 and 60 seconds.

Nearly four years later, in June 1965, the witness wrote to the Air Force requesting information about the sighting. Officials at the Foreign Technology Division reviewed their case files and found only one other report from the Florida area around that time: a meteor sighting at Cape Canaveral on August 8, 1961. The Air Force response noted that the witness's description matched characteristics of other reports that had been identified as jet aircraft using afterburners. However, because nearly four years had passed since the observation, the Air Force concluded it was impossible to make a positive identification. The file describes the sighting as characteristic of an aircraft with an afterburner in operation.

The Air Force officially rated this case unidentified. The full case file, comprising 29 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.