Project Blue Book Case File
Ferndale, MichiganOctober 1961
Summary
On October 12, 1961, at about 1802 (6:02 p.m.) local time, civilians in Ferndale, Michigan, reported two objects in the sky. The witnesses were a school teacher and a librarian. The report was filed on the Project 10073 record card, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports.
The witness described objects that looked like flaming tubes or short bars of red light, low on the western horizon at about 20 degrees elevation, glowing red through the haze of the setting sun. They appeared to turn, move, and change position over about 28 minutes. The witness wrote a detailed letter arguing the objects could not be aircraft contrails. The Detroit News reported about 300 calls from people who saw the phenomenon that evening.
The Air Force concluded the object was probably a non-persistent condensation trail (an aircraft contrail). The analysis explained that such trails can appear to move and turn as the trail forms at one end and fades at the other, and that the red color came from the setting sun.
Reported location
Ferndale, Michigan
Date of incident
October 1961
State / country
MI / US
Page count
5 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unidentified
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 44