Flagstaff, ArizonaJune 1949

# A Mystery in Baltimore's Sky

On June 29, 1949, observers in Baltimore, Maryland reported seeing a group of strange, moving objects in the afternoon sky. The U.S. Air Force investigated the sightings but could not identify what people saw.

## What People Saw

The main witness was a commercial art student sitting on his front porch around 1830 (6:30 p.m.). He first noticed a civilian airplane flying east at about 2,000 feet altitude. Then he observed what he thought was a cylindrical object underneath it. When he looked more carefully at the sky, he saw something unusual circling a nearby cloud at great speed. These objects would appear for about two seconds, disappear for one to two seconds, then reappear. Over the next two hours, until darkness fell around 2030 (8:30 p.m.), the witness counted approximately 15 to 20 objects moving in and out of the clouds.

The witness described the objects as shaped like "a boomerang that had been pulled out" or an open angle with a seventy-degree point. They had some thickness but showed no signs of engines, tail sections, landing gear, or cockpits. The objects were black with a dull finish that did not reflect sunlight. He was struck by how fast they moved and how they could reverse direction instantly, as if disappearing and reappearing 180 degrees opposite from where they had been.

## The Investigation

The witness called a local newspaper, which was skeptical. He later reported the sighting to military authorities. Investigators interviewed the main witness and found him to be "a very well educated, intelligent, conscientious individual." They also gathered statements from nearly two dozen neighbors who had watched the objects as a group. Most neighbors agreed they had seen something too fast to be birds and nothing like conventional airplanes.

Investigators checked with: - Andrews Air Force Base radar operators, who reported nothing unusual on their screens - National Airport radar operators in Washington, D.C., who tracked one C-47 aircraft but saw no unidentifiable objects - Pilots flying in the area that afternoon, who reported nothing strange - Local aircraft manufacturers, proving grounds, and military facilities, which confirmed no experimental flying or firing tests were underway that day

A company was found to have flown a banner-towing plane advertising beer in the area between 1930 and 2015 (7:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.). However, the times and descriptions did not match what the witnesses reported.

The file includes a detailed sketch drawn by the main witness trying to depict what he saw.

## The Air Force's Conclusion

The case file does not state a final conclusion about what the objects were. The investigation was marked as "pending" and described as continuing, with more reports to follow. The case remains in the Air Force's "unidentified" category.

The full case file, comprising 28 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.