Des Moines, IowaApril 1949

On the morning of April 7, 1949, at around 4:15 a.m., a retired man in Des Moines, Iowa, was awakened by an intense light shining through his bedroom window. He got out of bed and observed the object moving slowly northward across the sky. It appeared roughly twice the size of a full moon, with reddish, yellow, and purple coloring in its upper portion. The man compared its shape to a grocery scoop. He watched it for about twelve minutes before it disappeared behind a neighbor's house and chimney.

The object moved with extreme slowness, traveling what the observer estimated as thirty-five degrees of angle in twelve minutes. No sound or odor accompanied it. The light was so bright the man described it as brighter than daylight, and it cast shadows on his bedroom floor and in his backyard, though he noted the telephone pole to the rear of his house created no shadow from the object.

When Air Force investigators interviewed the man in June 1949, they discovered he was known in his neighborhood as eccentric and a source of trouble. Neighbors told the agents that he was capable of fabricating information for attention. The investigator noted that the man seemed uncertain about his own statements and would alter them when questioned. The agent concluded this was likely a publicity stunt that never gained traction. A local scientist who reviewed the case suggested the object might have been a natural phenomenon, possibly searching the terrain, and noted that similar sightings occurred over specific geographical features like rivers and hilly regions.

The Air Force's official conclusion on the form stated the report was unreliable. The full case file, comprising 22 pages of investigations, correspondence, sketches, and weather data, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.