Durenville, TexasAugust 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

# Bluish-White Light Over South Texas

In August 1960, a man in San Antonio reported seeing an unusual light near Durenville, Texas, about three to five miles from his location. The witness said the light started out bluish-white in color, then changed to yellow. He described it as roughly the size of a street light as seen from a distance. The sighting lasted about ten minutes, and the witness was driving back to San Antonio at the time.

The witness submitted a detailed report to Harvard College Observatory, which forwarded it to the U.S. Air Force. The Air Force's Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center received the case and asked the witness to complete an official questionnaire. Based on the witness's own background in field service and amateur astronomy, he appeared to have some experience observing the sky.

The Air Force's initial assessment, however, was skeptical. Officials noted that the information provided was not extensive enough to determine what the object actually was. More critically, an Air Force evaluator wrote that it was "impossible to determine from the information provided by the witness what he saw or if he actually saw anything," and suggested the sighting might be "a complete figment of his imagination or some natural occurrence to which his imagination has added considerable fringe." The case was marked as unknown, but no definitive conclusion appears in the file.

The full case file, 21 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Durenville, Texas

Date of incident

August 1960

State / country

TX / US

Page count

21 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 39

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 21

View transcribed text

Jat:
lS PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
1 ? ‘ . . ’
| | 1. pate 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
: ¥ DO Was Balloon |
22 Aug 60 Durenville, Texas 8 Probably Bolloon |
"| 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION al Whigs cine
i 01) Vi ’ 0O Was Aiicraft
i FEE BRA CF RRR SI ea 1 Ground- Visual O Ground-Rodar Q Probably Aircraft
RI Te CL 0 Air Visual O Air-Intercopt Radar | DT Possibly Aircrobs |
3 5. PHOTOS . SOURCE U0 Was Astronomical
§ 0 Yes O Probably Astronomical
1 5 Civilian O Possibly Astronomicol
B Ne
4 p| 7+ LENGTM OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 0 Other imi ammions
E : Insufficient Date for Evaluation
i | 10 min ona NITW I. NTE : |
{ : PESE— . CE ——————— |
~ 110. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS |
3 | Bluish-white light which changed to yellow. It is impossible to determine from the
4 Size of street light 3-5 miles away. information provided by the witness what
: he saw or if he actually saw anything, It
E | is cbvicus that the witness has the desir
£ : to see objects in owr upper atmosrhere
- and in spece; it is therefore possible
RE | : that this sighting is a complete figment
Er | of his imagination or some natural
i | occurrance to which his imagination has
BE | y added considerable fringe.
FE |
A ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 5?)
i
1 ; | |
b. : -

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28988408