Lake Nottawa, MichiganJuly 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the evening of July 1, 1960, a man, his wife, and two young grandchildren were driving near Lake Nottawa, about ten miles southeast of Marshall, Michigan. Their three-year-old grandson pointed out two bright objects in the sky. All four witnesses watched the objects travel silently in a southeastern direction at an angle of about 45 degrees above the horizon. The objects appeared to be about half the size of a dime held at arm's length.

The witnesses described the objects as oval in shape with a pearly or blue-gray color. The man's wife said she could see a ring of lights around the center of each object. There were no wings, tails, smoke, exhaust, or sound. The objects kept the same distance from each other as they moved across the sky in a straight line. The man estimated their height at about one mile and their speed at roughly 400 miles per hour. The sighting lasted about one and a half minutes.

What struck the witnesses most was the objects' behavior when they passed behind thin clouds. Even though light normally spreads out when passing through clouds, the objects appeared just as bright on the other side as they had been before entering the clouds. They eventually disappeared as tiny points of light in the distance. During the same time, the witnesses saw a conventional airplane nearby, which looked like a dark silhouette by comparison.

The witness who reported the sighting was a music teacher in the Detroit Public School System. An Air Force investigating officer noted that he was "very lucid and cooperative" but had read widely about flying saucers before and after the incident. The officer found his wife, a librarian, also articulate but "susceptible to suggestion." No radar station detected the objects. The weather in southern Michigan that evening was clear with only small patches of thin clouds. No additional witnesses could be found to confirm the sighting, and no physical evidence was recovered.

The Air Force concluded that it had insufficient data to evaluate the sighting. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across seven pages.

Reported location

Lake Nottawa, Michigan

Date of incident

July 1960

State / country

MI / US

Page count

7 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 38

| E PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD | PE 1. DATE 2 LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS B : 0 Was Boll g 1 Jul 60 Lake Nottawa, Michigan Q Probably Balloon i 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION TN, Som" PF local 2020 ~~ | 1 Greund-Visuel O Ground-Radar Q Probably Aircraft | J GMT 02 01202 0 AirVisval O Air-Intercept Radar |O Possibly Areralt : S. PHOTOS ; « SOURCE - i es gp od | a i ? igs Civilian O Possibly Astronomical | E 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE CR NC RES SELES | 3 X Insufficient Data for Evaluation 3 1 1/2 min two not given 0. i 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS § bjects were oval shaped one half the diameter of There were 2 objects reported. Witnesses : 3 dime held at arm's length. Color--pearly hue or state that brightness of objects did not qlue-gray. Objects maintained the same relative | change when they went behind some light i pacing, but were not close enough to each other | clouds, which is highly improbable, as a | jo call in formation. They had a ring of lights ~ light becomes diffused when shining thru ground the center. No tail, trail, smoke. or | such a medium. The direction objects were gxhaust. No sound. Appearance described as brig observed wasmt reported, nor the direction | end pleasant, like looking at a dim light bulb, in vhich they moved. A valid conclusion | dighted 45° elev. Cbserver estimated height at | cannot be made as to nature of sighting ope mile. Angle of elev at disappearance yim due to limited information. ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 82) 3 ; \ oo" IRE Bh aN Gp pei cs a jai a i . L/S