Eureka, Utah, Rocky Mountain area, April 1962April 1962

On April 18, 1962, a brilliant fireball streaked across the night sky over Eureka, Utah and was seen across much of the western United States, from Kansas to California. The object was so bright that street lights in Eureka automatically switched off, confused by the daylight-like illumination from above.

Multiple observers reported seeing the event. An Air Force pilot flying near La Van, Utah in a military transport aircraft (a C-119) witnessed intense illumination that filled his cockpit. He saw the object itself briefly as a long, slender form, white on one end and yellow on the other, with no tail or exhaust trail. The pilot estimated he saw it for about one or two seconds before it vanished. Residents on the ground in the Lynndyl and surrounding areas of Utah also reported the bright object passing overhead in a northwesterly direction at low altitude, with a long trail of flame that turned to smoke. Several witnesses heard 20 to 30 sharp explosions in the distance after the object passed.

The Air Force investigated the sighting thoroughly because of the widespread public interest and potential scientific value. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Friend and Dr. J. Allen Hynek, an Air Force consultant on UFO matters, conducted a one-day investigation in May 1962. They interviewed witnesses across several Utah communities and attempted to locate debris from the object. Based on the eyewitness accounts, they concluded that what observers saw was a bolide (a bright fireball meteorite) that exploded as it neared the Earth's surface. The investigators estimated the object likely came down somewhere in the inaccessible Wasatch National Forest, roughly 10 to 15 miles long and several miles wide. Due to the remote, rugged terrain, no search for physical evidence was made.

The file contains 78 scanned pages as held by the National Archives.