Lima, OhioNovember 1957

Unidentified

Summary

On the evening of November 6, 1957, people in Lima, Ohio called the local newspaper to report a strange sight in the sky. They had seen a round, red object at high altitude in the northeast direction. The object appeared around 8:00 p.m., and reports of similar sightings continued until 2:00 a.m. the following morning.

The Air Force investigated by checking weather records from the region. A weather station at Sulphur Grove had released lighted balloons at 6:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. local time. The distance from Sulphur Grove to the sighting area was 52.085 miles. Wind conditions at the time were blowing from the south-southwest at 30 knots (about 35 miles per hour). These wind speeds and directions would have carried each balloon over the sighting area at almost exactly the times when witnesses reported seeing the object.

The Air Force concluded that the sightings were consistent with observations of the lighted weather balloons released from Sulphur Grove. However, the case file itself remains officially listed as "unidentified," suggesting some uncertainty remained despite the balloon explanation.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, spanning 13 pages.

Reported location

Lima, Ohio

Date of incident

November 1957

State / country

OH / US

Page count

13 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 30

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 13

View transcribed text

BE oT sr 4
a Sn ne ’ . —— — -— a TL er eee VEE SOY I HE .
)
bow We PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD a )
1. DATE \ 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
Ax Wes Belloon
6_- November 195 Lima, Ohio = 0 ip L4 oh
3. OATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION lhe sie Atop
. . O Was Aircraft
Local 8:00 PM & 2:00 AM| x Ground-Visual D Ground-Roder Bry Kverehs ad
eMy__07/01002Z 0 Aine Visvel 0 AirIntercopt Roeder | 9 Possibly Airerefy
S. PHOTC : » SOUR O Was Astrenomicol
O Yes O Probably Astronomicol
XC Ne local Citizens OD Possibly Astronomicel
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 6. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE CRE TORR Reno
0 Insufficient Dete for Evaluation
DO Unknown
c n minutes one unknown
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 1. COMMENTS /
A round, red object was observed at Check showed that WX Unit at
a very high altitude by a number of’ Sulphur Grove released lighted
l | people, who called the Lima newspaper,| balloons at 6:30 PM & 12:30 AM.
The object was observed to the NE. local time, Distance to sighting
area is 52.085 miles, Winds were
| from the S SW at 30 knots. This
would just put each balloon over :
: sighting area at almost exactly |
1° the times reported.
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 32) cles
k : ; .
3
! A A Bo oo ATT Er SO RIE a a : .
CL SE

/ 13

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28974016