Project Blue Book Case File
EAST COAST (ATLANTIC) Connecticut, December 1958December 1958
Summary
On the night of December 13-14, 1958, witnesses across the East Coast reported seeing a brilliant object moving rapidly through the sky. The sightings began over the Atlantic Ocean near New York and Connecticut and continued across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, with observers in places like Newburgh, New York; Wilmington, Delaware; and Akron, Ohio all reporting similar phenomena within a short time window.
The object was described consistently by multiple witnesses as bright and glowing, with colors ranging from white and yellow to green, orange, and red. Several observers noted a distinct trail or tail following the object. The thing moved at a high rate of speed in a generally northeasterly or northwesterly direction. Most sightings lasted only a few to fifteen seconds. One civilian observer near New Hyde Park, New York, reported seeing what appeared to be a half-dollar-sized object that seemed to descend rapidly. Other witnesses, including pilots of commercial aircraft southeast of Cape Cod, reported a bright object with a trailing light at very high altitude traveling at tremendous speed.
The Air Force investigated the reports through multiple channels, collecting weather data and interviewing witnesses. A base operations officer at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, after checking with radar stations and air traffic control towers across the region, concluded that the sightings were most likely a meteor penetrating further into Earth's atmosphere than normal in that area. No radar confirmation of the object was obtained from any facility. The file notes that multiple transient pilots reported seeing many "falling stars" that evening.
The complete case file, comprising 22 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.
Reported location
EAST COAST (ATLANTIC) Connecticut, December 1958
Date of incident
December 1958
State / country
? / XX
Page count
22 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 34