Kansas City, MissouriMay 1962

Insufficient Data

Summary

In May 1962, a person driving a car near Kansas City, Missouri saw a red light in the center of heavy thunderstorm clouds. The light blinked on and off. The observer was struck by how unusual it seemed and reported the sighting to authorities.

After the report was filed, a newspaper article identified the light as Venus, the planet. However, Air Force investigators noted some problems with that explanation. If the object really were Venus, they reasoned, other features of a planet would also have been visible in the sky. The investigators also found it difficult to evaluate the sighting fairly because the witness's description lacked key details. For instance, there was no clear record of exactly how many times the light blinked on and off in those six seconds, or how the object finally disappeared from view.

The Air Force concluded that there was insufficient data to reach a firm determination about what the witness observed. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, 15 pages.

Reported location

Kansas City, Missouri

Date of incident

May 1962

State / country

MO / US

Page count

15 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 45

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 15

View transcribed text

i
E p IY
i 5 i
3 Reh PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD :
& 1. DATE | 2 LOCATION 112. CONCLUSIONS
4 a Was Balloon
] 10 Mav 62 | Kansas Citv. Missouri 0 Probably Balloon
3 | > Te rom ee TAR FL ro AT Ee BR eT Sos Aemd sta rad QUI L EP oe ! a Possi bi bd 8 alloon
4 1 3. DATES-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF O3SERVATION |
; : § 3 0 Was Aircraft
i al 2G o 1G -Re 5 : &
| BOON sl se Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Radar 0 Probably Aircraft
9 : aly X Ly ] sil irr
: eMT_t1/ 02507 Su Laie] 0 Air Visual LC Air-intercapt Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS 8. SOURCE {3 Was Astronomical
0O Yes | 0 Probably Astronomical
1 5 MARTEL {0 Possibly Astronomical
: BL Civilian
7. LENGTH OF O3SERVATION | 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE Spe LU] ee Oa SS
pe Or Insufficienr Data far Evaluation
Ia : Re 3 0 Unknown
E 0 SoCs | one wtationary
gE 10. BRIE® SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
: Red light observed in the center of No mention of how n iny times the
; | heavy thunderstorm % cdauds. Obsrver obj blinked on & off in six seconds
] in auto. Rptd sighting because No mention of disappearaace. Red
3 impression was that this was smae obj| light compared to a/c 1 ignt indi}
3 ldentified as Venus in newspaper artit+ cated that this was prxobxbiy
cle. Light blinked on and off. possibly an a/c, however it
likely that some other feature
; | would also have been observed.
E [Insufficient data for eval,
] CRE RRR Cok SR
: ATIC FORM 229 (RZV 26 SEP 52)
LJ

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28997243