Garreston, S. D., October 1959October 1959

On the morning of October 5, 1959, a man and his family driving near Garretson, South Dakota, spotted an unusual object in the sky. The witness reported seeing a yellowish-white ball of light with a tube-like structure around each end. After watching the object for about two minutes, he saw it angle sharply upward while changing into a cigar shape, then disappear at roughly twice its original altitude.

The sighting lasted about twelve minutes total. The object appeared to be roughly one thousand to two thousand feet above the ground and traveled east at an estimated forty-five miles per hour, keeping pace with the family's car for about seven miles before the final acceleration and vanishing.

The U.S. Air Force received the report a week after the sighting, which hampered a detailed investigation. More significantly, when officers looked into the observer's background and reliability, they found troubling information. Local police reported that the witness was considered a publicity seeker and faced allegations of passing bad checks in counties near his former Nebraska residence. He was also accused of taking down payments from music students for lessons he never delivered. Investigators concluded that the man had likely fabricated the entire sighting to draw attention to his newly opened music store.

Based on this assessment and the delayed reporting, the Air Force did not pursue the case further. The file suggests the object was probably the planet Venus as it rose in the northeast, with its unusual appearance caused by atmospheric refraction effects.

The full case file, consisting of 25 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.