Limona, FloridaMay 1949

Unidentified

Summary

On May 4, 1949, a 60-year-old public health nurse named Miss Sherman saw a bright, shining object in the sky from the front porch of her home in Limona, Florida, near Tampa. Her two dogs had barked loudly enough to wake her from bed. When she went outside to investigate, she spotted the object moving in the western sky.

The object looked like an extremely bright moon with a ragged, flaming border. The flames seemed to droop at the bottom, creating a short tail-like effect. When Sherman first saw it, the object appeared about the size of a dinner plate. As it moved away, it seemed to shrink to about the size of a tea saucer. The object remained visible for roughly fifteen minutes. It rose from behind the tree tops to an angle of about twenty degrees above the horizon, then dropped away again to disappear below the horizon.

Sherman watched the object move slowly back and forth, up and down, with what she described as a quivering motion. It made no sound, left no trail or smoke, and showed no visible means of support or propulsion. She estimated its speed at roughly twenty to forty miles per hour, similar to an airship. The object shone with steady light throughout the sighting. Weather conditions at the time showed a ceiling of 25,000 feet with thin broken clouds, clear visibility, and light winds from the east.

The Air Force officer who interviewed Sherman found her to be reliable, of high integrity, and of average intelligence, though he noted her ability to estimate speed and size was somewhat below average. No other witnesses were reported, though there was an unconfirmed report of several school children and one adult having seen a similar object a few days earlier. The Air Force classified this sighting as unidentified. The full case file, comprising 14 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Limona, Florida

Date of incident

May 1949

State / country

FL / US

Page count

14 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 5

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 14

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28934604