Lorain, OhioSeptember 1960

# Summary

On the morning of September 14, 1960, a resident of Lorain, Ohio reported seeing an unidentified object in the sky along with two other witnesses. According to the initial case summary in the file, the object was first observed as a single bright point but then appeared to separate into four distinct objects. The witnesses described it as having the same brightness as Echo I (an early artificial satellite). The objects suddenly vanished while positioned 35 to 40 degrees above the horizon, disappearing one by one into the Earth's shadow.

The Air Force's initial response, dated October 4, 1960, found the letter from the witness contained insufficient information for a valid conclusion. Officials requested that all three witnesses complete detailed Air Force questionnaires and submit them to the Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for analysis. The case file includes these lengthy questionnaire forms, though the OCR quality of the handwritten witness responses is too degraded to read reliably on most pages.

The official evaluation recorded on the cover sheet notes one of the following conclusions: the object was a balloon, probably a balloon, or possibly a balloon. An alternative evaluation option marked on the form indicates the phenomena was probably natural, though the file states there was insufficient data for a valid conclusion. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 16 pages.