Lexington, MassachusettsMay 1962

On May 31, 1962, a driver on the road near Lexington, Massachusetts had a brief but striking encounter while traveling at 55 miles per hour. Through the car's windshield, the witness saw four blue-grey objects that resembled parachutes without shrouds or suspension lines, positioned roughly one mile away. The objects remained stationary and visible for only four seconds before disappearing.

The witness described the objects as appearing solid and noted their slow motion, or lack of motion. The brief sighting prompted the witness to compare them to parachutes or similar devices, though nothing moved between or around them to suggest conventional parachute deployment. The witness also noted in a separate section of the questionnaire that the manner of the objects' appearance suggested a possible reflection, which may have shaped the Air Force's initial assessment.

The Air Force's investigation resulted in two separate conclusions. The official record card lists the case as "probably balloon," while a secondary evaluation noted "probably balloon" as well. However, the case file itself ultimately marks the sighting as unidentified, indicating that the investigators could not definitively confirm what the witness observed. The brief duration of the sighting, the daylight observation through a windshield, and the visual comparison to parachutes presented challenges to the investigation. The OCR quality of the witness's written responses on the detailed questionnaire is poor and largely illegible, limiting additional details that might have clarified the encounter.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, spanning 8 pages of microfilm.