Hatchville, MassachusettsAugust 1962

Unidentified

Summary

# Hatchville, Massachusetts, August 1962

On the night of August 18, 1962, a woman on vacation in Hatchville, Massachusetts woke up and looked out at the night sky. She saw a white, roundish object with flames moving in an arc across the sky. The object hovered at an elevation of 50 to 60 degrees above the horizon for about five minutes. Then it climbed straight up and hovered again in the western sky for another five minutes before disappearing to the north in a steep climb. In total, the woman watched the object for somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes, though the exact duration was unclear.

The U.S. Air Force received the sighting report and opened a formal investigation. Investigators noted that the woman's account contained conflicting details about the object's movements and position. She was on vacation at the time and had not immediately reported what she saw. The Air Force determined that no follow-up investigation was feasible because the available information was incomplete. However, they did note that the object's random motion and hovering behavior were consistent with what a weather balloon (a device used to measure atmospheric conditions) might do, even though the overall data remained sketchy and contradictory.

The Air Force ultimately classified this case as unidentified due to conflicting data. Their official conclusion stated that while balloon analysis seemed plausible, the incomplete and inconsistent details prevented them from reaching a definitive answer about what the woman had observed.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, spanning 23 pages of declassified records.

Reported location

Hatchville, Massachusetts

Date of incident

August 1962

State / country

MA / US

Page count

23 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 46

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 23

View transcribed text

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a PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
a I. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
=
| 0) Wos Balloon
a 18 August 1962 Hatchville, Massachusetts 5 ey Raion
& 3. DATETIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION Spd
. Local i 9 Ground- Visual D Ground-Radar = bah hal SER
1 MT... 13. 3 ALY 15- 01007 HE 0 Air Visual O Air-Intarcapt Rodor O Possibly Aireraht
S. PHOTOS | 6. SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical
3 Yes O Probably Astronomical
2 Ne Lo boil tai 0 Possibly Astronomical ;
I RIT TT ET eT Rs SETA TT LT A Rt BRR RTE ST TI J PT TE TA A A FE a Se Te de (nara ep > 1 be 2
7. LENGTH OF C=3ZRVATION | 3. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BX Other. Conflictino Data
; O Insufficient Dota for Evaluation
: | 0 Unknown
49 minutes i one random
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS |
White roundish object with flames Reported objects movements and
observed moving in an arc and hovering | positional information conflict,
Tor 0 minutes at 50-60 dgr elevation. Observation by lady on vacation,
Went into vertical climb and hovered No follow up feasible. Onlv date
in the West for another 5 minutes. given was that an obj was in the
Object disappeared in the North on an SKY somewhere, moving around and
angular climb, In sight for 30-45 se at times stationary. Duration
minutes, and random motion is consistent
w/balloon analysis however data |
1s incomplete & conflicting. Case
considered as other-conflicting
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/ 23

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28998694