La Camp, LouisianaApril 1960

On the night of April 12, 1960, a farmer near La Camp, Louisiana witnessed a dramatic encounter that would puzzle investigators for months. The man reported seeing a round, fiery red disc or sphere, about the size of a nickel held at arm's length, pass in front of his house. What followed was a loud rumbling noise and four or five massive explosions that lit up the area brilliantly for two or three seconds. The object traveled in a straight line and disappeared to the west within about three seconds, after the witness briefly looked away.

The Air Force's response was swift and thorough. Officers from England Air Force Base visited the impact site, which lay approximately 2.5 miles southwest of La Camp, and discovered something remarkable: the object had skipped along the ground at tremendous speed, leaving nine distinct points of contact across the landscape. The terrain in the area consisted of very hard clay. At one impact point, investigators found paint scrapings. A nearby tree bore scorch marks on its bark and leaves. All samples were collected for analysis.

A radar operator stationed at a nearby base reported tracking an unidentified target on radar screens at almost exactly the time of the sighting. The target was traveling at an estimated 800 to 900 knots (roughly 900 to 1,000 miles per hour) and exhibited characteristics consistent with a guided object. A neighbor who lived about 124 yards away also reported hearing explosions and noted that his television set went black for about five seconds before the blacked out. He described hearing a high whine followed by ten to twelve rapid explosions that reminded him of artillery fire, which he was familiar with from living near a military reservation.

The lead investigator, Major Ray F. Grodhaus, concluded from the ground evidence that some type of rocket had struck the ground and ricocheted across the countryside at high speed. However, when paint samples from the impact sites were compared against samples from the Air Force's own rocket inventory, including JATO (jet-assisted takeoff) bottles and 2.75-inch rocket warheads stored on base, they did not match. The investigation also revealed that no aircraft from England Air Force Base or surrounding bases were airborne at the time, and the firing range at Fort Polk, located 25 to 30 miles away, was closed and inactive that night. A search of the impact area failed to locate any physical wreckage or debris.

Despite extensive investigation, the Air Force could not identify the object or its origin. The case file contains 86 pages of documentation held by the National Archives, including witness statements, photographs, physical evidence descriptions, and radar reports.