Encanto La Mesa, CaliforniaJune 1956

On the evening of June 13, 1956, someone in the Encanto neighborhood of La Mesa, California saw an unusual glowing object in the sky. The observer reported the object as oval in shape, about the size of a basketball, with a color described as incandescent. The sighting lasted between three and four minutes. The object appeared about 60 degrees above the horizon before fading from view.

The object was reportedly traveling slowly at a low altitude, somewhere between 1,000 and 2,800 feet. It was sighted twice that evening, first at 0411Z (local time around 8:11 p.m.) and again at 0427Z (roughly 8:27 p.m.). The location was approximately 18 miles southwest of a military post, near the San Diego destroyer base.

Investigators checked whether the object might have been a burning aircraft by looking for emergency reports in the area. They found none. The object's slow speed and behavior suggested it was circling in the area rather than passing through. The case file notes that "probable a/c sighting" was considered, though no aircraft matching the description was immediately identified.

The U.S. Air Force rated this case as unidentified. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 16 pages of records.