Deer Creek Springs, NevadaJuly 1953

On July 26, 1953, two civilians working at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada went on a picnic at Deer Creek Springs. While relaxing at their camp, they spotted an unusual object in the sky that neither had ever seen before.

The two men were separated by roughly 100 yards, camping in different spots. One noticed the object first and called the other over to look. Using binoculars with magnifications of 7 power and 10 power, they watched for about an hour. They described the object as disk or lens-shaped, silvery metallic in color, and reflective enough to catch the sun's rays brilliantly. At times it appeared flat, and at other times it seemed to show a top or pointed view. A slight whitish vapor trailed behind it occasionally, though the observers could not determine the source. They estimated the object to be roughly 70,000 to 100 feet in altitude and about 20 feet in diameter, though they acknowledged these were rough guesses.

When the Air Force investigated, an officer confirmed that no weather balloons or aircraft were known to be in the area at that time. However, a check of upper air research balloon tracks from Lowry Air Force Base revealed that a balloon was very probably over the location during the sighting. The Air Force concluded that the object was probably an upper air research balloon, a device used to measure atmospheric conditions at high altitudes.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 23 pages.