Frenchman's Bayou, ArkansasMay 1958

Insufficient Data

Summary

In May 1958, a local farmer near Frenchman's Bayou, Arkansas, found a rock-like object weighing about 40 pounds in a field 32 miles north of Memphis, Tennessee. The object lay in gumbo soil (a heavy clay) and was unusual because rocks of that type did not naturally occur in the area. The farmer, Mr. Smenjens, understood that the Air Force was collecting material that might have fallen from space, so he turned the object over to a representative from a nearby military installation.

The Air Force sent the object to the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio for analysis. An initial examination found that the object was not magnetic, which suggested it was stone rather than metal. However, the item was then accidentally included in routine disposal materials before a thorough scientific study could be completed.

Several months later, the Memphis Air Force Depot realized the mistake and tried to recover the object. By December 1958, the Air Technical Intelligence Center reported that preliminary analysis had determined the object was likely of meteoritic origin. The center noted that the low priority given to meteorite research at that time had led to the disposal. With increasing scientific interest in space research, the Air Force said it would attempt to recover the item for further study, though the file does not indicate whether this recovery was successful.

The full case file, as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below in 7 pages.

Reported location

Frenchman's Bayou, Arkansas

Date of incident

May 1958

State / country

AR / US

Page count

7 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 33

kta . : ¢ {Ea PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD Le 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS | O Was Balloon DR 21 May 58 Frenchm@n's Bayou, Arkansas a ind 14 kasd 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION ossioly Balloon Local BT Ir — R3Ground- Vi sual o Ground-Radar - Probably Aircraft : GMT__not given 0 Ain Visual O Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft S. PHOTOS + SOURCE : O Was Astronomical &Xxes Physical O Probably Astronomical “7 No Specimen Civilian : DO Possibly Astronomical | 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE LL Jc Te RR a A Data for Evaluation nknown : N/A one N/A 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING : 11. COMMENTS Rokk like iten weighing approx 40 1b Iten. inadvertently disposed {found in gumbo type soil. Type of rock| of before analysis could be not native to area, made, Item was determined to be nonmagnetic before being : disposed of, Therefore, it was | probably a stone of some sort, "ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) Ei » | ) { | | Eo i AA eet AR 0s AA UR Ri bes at