Key West, FloridaJune 1953

On the evening of June 19, 1953, three people fishing from a small boat near Key West, Florida saw something bright and unusual streak across the twilight sky. The main witness was a civilian who said the object looked like a half-moon shape glowing yellow-green. Two other witnesses saw it too. The sighting lasted about 13 seconds.

The observers reported that the light came on and off several times, glowing brightly for about 3 seconds at a time, then fading to darkness. The object seemed to move fast, traveling roughly 100 degrees across the sky in the time they watched it. Near the end, it made a sharp 90-degree turn and disappeared behind a distant thundercloud. There was no sound at all during the sighting. One witness estimated that the object had traveled about 11 nautical miles during those 13 seconds, which would put its speed at around 3,100 miles per hour if it was as far away as he guessed.

The observers could not agree on some details. The main witness was a sophisticated individual who considered himself a keen observer, having spent much time studying the night sky. One witness wore polarized sunglasses, one wore regular prescription glasses, and one watched with the naked eye. Later, the main witness pointed out an odd puzzle: he claimed he could see the star Polaris right after the sighting, which is dim and hard to spot in bright twilight. Yet he and the others said they did not see the moon, even though the moon that night was in its first quarter phase and should have been visible in the same part of the sky they had been looking at. This inconsistency troubled the investigator.

A second sighting was reported the same evening (though the exact date in that account is unclear) by a U.S. Navy radioman and his wife, who were also fishing nearby. This witness described a very bright light, almost like a carbon-arc searchlight, that seemed to be "focusing" on them. He reported that the light moved rapidly, turned sharply at 90-degree angles, and vanished by dimming out like a searchlight being switched off. He estimated the object traveled 15 to 20 miles. The two accounts differ in some details but share the bright light, rapid movement, sharp turns, and lack of sound.

The Air Force investigators checked whether any military aircraft could have caused these sightings. A search of flight records showed that the TBM aircraft known to have a searchlight was not operating in a searchlight mission that day, and was not airborne at the time. Two local flights that were listed in early reports had actually been cancelled. The closest aircraft in the area had arrived and departed at times that did not match the sightings. No explanation was found among conventional aircraft.

The investigators also considered weather conditions. There were scattered clouds, good visibility, and a thunderhead about 12 miles away. Official sunset was at 7:14 p.m., and the sightings occurred right at twilight, around 7:13 p.m. The Air Force received comments from an observatory that the observers did a fine job of reporting, but that the inconsistency about seeing Polaris while missing the moon was hard to square with the facts.

The file does not state a final conclusion about what the object was. The designation "unknown" appears in the case metadata, indicating the Air Force left the sighting officially unexplained. The full case file, including witness statements, weather data, aircraft search results, and official correspondence, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across 30 pages.