Levittown, New YorkDecember 1958

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the evening of December 14, 1958, a man in Levittown, New York, was taking family photographs on his front lawn when he noticed an unusual glowing light to the east around 4 p.m. The sky was cloudy with light snow falling, and there was no visible moon. He used his camera's viewfinder to get a better look at the object, then quickly snapped a photograph. According to his account, the object resembled a small moon. It appeared stationary and seemed to hover in the sky, then faded away after about ten seconds without changing position.

The photograph the witness submitted showed what appeared to be a dull spot of light. However, when the Air Force analyzed the image, they concluded that the spot was not a genuine unidentified object but rather an artifact caused by internal reflections within the camera lens. The analysis noted that an additional image appeared in another location on the film, which supported this explanation.

The Air Force sent the witness a detailed technical questionnaire to gather more information about the sighting, but the case remained classified as unknown in the official record. The investigation relied primarily on the photograph itself and the witness's written account, since no corroborating radar data or additional witnesses were documented.

This 17-page case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Levittown, New York

Date of incident

December 1958

State / country

NY / US

Page count

17 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 34

i \ i . § J PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD ; ! 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS 00 Was Balloon | |B iE % 2 Cavs iA + yen Now York 01 Probably Balloon ERE LI CU segmbap 1080 | levitiown, New Yor 0 0 : EB 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION Ll LEE | 1600 TT oy i 0 Was Aircraft Local Lien iD Joie 0 Ground- Visual J Ground-Rador Q Probably Alreraft | & GMT. 2.007% 0 Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar DO Possibly Aircraft 5. "PHOTOS Hw 6. SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical TOYes O Probably Astronomical | 8 lgividien 0 oo 39 Poeiparenenis with 0 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BE Giher 2D ReRE “oT O Insufficient Dota for Evaluation D Unknown | BEERS ee es OR NON Be | 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 1). COMMENTS ] | A dull spot of liBht appeared on a Analysis of the film leads to nhotogxraph. conclusion that the imave is due to reflections within the lens. : This is indicated by the. addi. tional image in another location ATIC FORM 329 (REV 246 SEP 52) LJ i : BR RRR RAR NS a seri . } ’ 3 ; . | A CE PLE TE ap Fr SE I TL Er TOE aad