Dayton, OhioAugust 1961

Unidentified

Summary

On a summer evening in August 1961, a resident of Dayton, Ohio reported seeing a bright light in the sky. The object appeared to the southeast and looked brighter than the brightest stars. According to the witness account, it displayed red, green, and yellow colors as it moved slowly westward across the sky. The light remained in roughly the same general area for between 30 minutes and three hours, maintaining a steady intensity throughout the sighting.

The witness was looking toward 3rd Street from his location when he noticed the object. He continued to watch it for an extended period before finally reporting what he had seen. The object did not disappear suddenly; instead it remained visible in the same general region of sky, which led investigators to consider whether they might be looking at something other than an unidentified craft.

Project Blue Book investigators concluded that the object was most likely the planet Jupiter. Jupiter was found to be positioned in the same area of the sky that the witness reported, and the planet's appearance and behavior matched the description given. Jupiter, when observed at certain times and atmospheric conditions, can indeed appear bright and colorful in ways that resemble the account provided in this case.

The full case file, consisting of 18 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Dayton, Ohio

Date of incident

August 1961

State / country

OH / US

Page count

18 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 43

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 18

View transcribed text

- . TT r————— RC YTS brs vi 5 SRE THETA 8 wc
»
~
i
H
1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
Be pl RMT TEN 0 Was Bolloon
: 3 sug oi Dayton Ohio Qo by 114 of bn
: 0 ossl ollson
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF O3SERVATION y
235073 DOD Was Aircraft
is ong fy 7 D - o
han
TEL SEE ae Q Air Visual O Air-Intercept Rody |D Possibly Aircraft
8, ‘PHOTOS + SOURC O Was Astronomical
QO Yes O Probobly Astronomical
J a SRG D
YT Na Civilian Possibly Astronomical
ee a Ee ee Se ee ee ett eet ee Gear ete “J i JT 1 IE) dn Te (PRR ile d
7. LENGTH CE OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 8 Other2OS Sone resllection :
(w] 1h hihi Deta for Evaluation
: ~ i i 0 nknown
: : 30 min id Stationary
i a EE ET SA m———————;
10, BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING Lig moving around in |1 COMMENTS /itness repprbine sishtd ng
. - <9 pogBlrad i+ rare a
levy J rratre At wamrt Yemen <td ae 5a la, ANY 4 Yn | 7 TP oy a BE MLS AE a 4 : . . A
SRY alway 8 he cllalr coniinea TO one general apparently nad .peen wag ching obJt THO, of
area, same intensity. 30 rr prior to calling and objt was
still In view. Witness could only report :
that he was looking toward 3rd st, whic:
is to I of him, and objt apparently re-
mained in same general area, It is possible
. that, since objt did not disappear, it das x
; reflection of undetermined light source laff
££. Lyd ee) Tey mp Toes as :
of a 01gn PIL ALC LatVed'
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
\ Ba ss esd iy FART EO RA I VE J ER i N g
i jo 4 ]
as Sa

/ 18

Use ← → keys to navigate · scans hosted by the U.S. National Archives

Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28993841