Hampton, VirginiaJuly 1954

On July 31, 1954, a woman employed by the Veterans Administration in Hampton, Virginia reported seeing an unidentified object in the sky. The woman was sitting in the shade of a tree when she spotted the object approaching from the east at a 45-degree angle of elevation. The object appeared round and white, about the size of a dice or bus token at first, but grew larger as it came closer, reaching about the size of a baseball. The object paused for roughly ten seconds, then moved away toward the northwest at a 50-degree angle of elevation, gradually fading from view. The entire sighting lasted between one and two minutes.

The Air Force interviewed the witness and found her to be sincere and trustworthy. Two additional witnesses, her parents, also observed the event. At the time of the sighting, numerous military aircraft were operating in the Hampton area, though the observers reported seeing no aircraft near the object itself.

The Base Intelligence Officer concluded that the object was most likely a Rawinsonde weather balloon released from the Norfolk Naval Air Station around 1:50 p.m. The winds measured in the area at various altitudes were consistent with the balloon drifting over Hampton at the time the sighting occurred. A 10-foot diameter weather balloon would have appeared roughly the size described by the witness.

The Air Force classified the sighting as unidentified. However, in the officer's professional opinion, the weather balloon explanation was the most probable cause. The file contains 32 pages as held by the National Archives.