Henderson, North CarolinaApril 1956

Unidentified

Summary

On the morning of April 6, 1956, an FBI employee and her fiance were driving north on Route 1 near Henderson, North Carolina, just before dawn when an unusual object suddenly appeared in front of their car. The woman reported seeing an oval-shaped object flying low, less than 25 feet above the ground. It was light blue in color, as wide as the highway, and only two to four feet thick. The object appeared to be spinning and had lights arranged in a zigzagging pattern. It made no sound as it approached their vehicle at high speed, then passed over the car and accelerated away behind them. The entire sighting lasted only a few seconds.

Air Force investigators later interviewed the couple, who were considered reliable witnesses because of their government affiliations. The woman was an FBI employee, and her fiance was believed to work for the CIA. When asked to describe what they saw, both observers agreed the object's outline resembled a large top. They firmly denied it was a newspaper, a large bird like an owl or goose, or any similar everyday object.

Astronomer J. Allen Hynek, a technical consultant to the Air Force, investigated the case in September 1956. Based on the witnesses' description and the time of year, Hynek and the Air Force officer who interviewed them proposed an explanation: a kite caught on a string and hanging from a telephone wire or tree over the road. A kite dangling a few feet above the highway could appear to flash past the car at startling speed when illuminated by headlights, they reasoned. March was kite-flying season in the area. However, the investigators acknowledged this explanation was thin and incomplete.

The Air Force ultimately classified the sighting as unidentified due to insufficient information. The case was documented by the National Archives across 10 pages of microfilm (T1206, Roll 25).

Reported location

Henderson, North Carolina

Date of incident

April 1956

State / country

NC / US

Page count

10 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 25

; EER PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD Lr KA | ; 1. DATE i LOCATION : 12. CONCLUSIONS f ; D Was Balloon | 16 April 1956 Henderson, North Carolina 0 Probably Bolloon I 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION DO Possibly Balloon Lopali RRL Coos ae #:Ground- Visual O Ground-Radar 9 NAR LASS oMr__16/1000Z 0 Air Visual O Air-Intercept Radar |D Possibly Aircraft 3 5. PHOTOS - SOURCE D Was Astronomical 1 0 Yes DO Probably Astronomical : No FBI emplovee DO Possibly Astronomicol 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION i NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE Or) NE Route 1 IX Xin sufficient Dota for Evaluation 3 fleein lance(l-2 sec one North-South : 8 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS : / | While driving on Route 1 near Hender-| Interviewed by USAF UFO investi- son, N, C., just before daylight, an |gators, On basis of discussions, | oval-shaped low flying object suddenly/believe that possibly newspaper, 1 appeared coming towards, then over, large bird (owl,goose) or perhap observer's car, Was light blue in kite hanging fm string fm tree : color, appeared wide as the highway. or telephone wire, Under questi | No sounds, ing, observer states ''general 4 outline was that of large top.’ i This would resemble outline ¢ x kite, Kite season in area at ; of sighting. Although above i strong possibilities, will ; "ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) ABA % dS\ ASR Lod 4 / i » |