Lafayette, IndianaAugust 1954

In August 1954, someone found a mysterious metal object in an abandoned gravel pit near Lafayette, Indiana. The object was about 3 inches high, 4 inches long, and 2 inches wide. It appeared to be made of small pieces of metal fused together in a way no one could explain. The finder sent samples to Leonard Stringfield, a civilian UFO researcher in Cincinnati, who spent months trying to figure out what it was.

Over the next year, Stringfield took the metal to metallurgists, geologists, and engineers at various universities and companies. Early tests seemed puzzling. One expert thought it might be marcasite (a form of pure iron), but that was ruled out. Spectroscopic analysis at the University of Cincinnati suggested it contained between 60 and 85 percent chromium, along with iron, manganese, and other metals. The samples showed high crystallinity and had been subjected to extreme heat, yet cooled slowly. The metal showed high electrical conductivity and unusual density. Radioactive tests came back negative.

The Air Force became involved in October 1956, when Stringfield contacted them with the specimens and also with a sample of "angel's hair," a fibrous material that UFO believers claimed was exhaust from flying saucers. An Air Force investigator, M/Sgt Oliver Hill, visited Stringfield's home to collect both the metal and textile samples. Upon detailed chemical and spectrographic analysis, the Air Force determined that all the metal samples were ferrochromium (an alloy of iron and chromium), a common industrial material used in steel production. The textile sample was identified as Bemberg rayon, a type of industrial waste product sometimes ejected into the atmosphere by textile manufacturers. The Air Force concluded that the metal likely came from a steel mill or foundry where chromium is routinely added to steel, and that the discovery of a nine-pound piece in an isolated gravel pit represented a deliberate hoax. The complete case file, comprising 13 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.