Manitowoc, Wisconsin.April 1958

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the night of April 12, 1958, two nuns at Holy Family Convent near Manitowoc, Wisconsin reported seeing two mysterious lights in the sky. One was described as a large white light that seemed to pulse and change colors, shifting from white to orange and red. The other was smaller and appeared red. Both objects were visible for roughly an hour, starting around 8:30 p.m.

The larger object hovered low over a nearby field, appearing to drop and bounce but never quite touching the ground. The smaller red object descended in jerky motions and seemed to tumble as it fell. At one point, the larger object flared so brightly that the nuns thought it might explode. When the sheriff arrived to investigate, he saw one of the objects on the ground from the convent, but it vanished when he approached the spot.

The nuns, who were familiar with the night sky because they had been watching for the Soviet satellite Sputnik, were confident these objects were something unusual. One sister watched them through binoculars and drew detailed descriptions. She said the larger object resembled a basketball in size when held at arm's length, while the smaller one looked more like a grapefruit. Both appeared solid and gave off light, with no visible tails or exhaust.

The Air Force's 1006th Air Intelligence Service Squadron investigated the case in late May 1958. An officer wrote in his report that the movement near the horizon could suggest "confusion of surface lights, or other known phenomena." However, the OCR text becomes unclear at this point, and the complete analysis and final conclusion are difficult to read in the surviving document. The case file includes 33 pages as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

Date of incident

April 1958

State / country

WI / US

Page count

33 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 32

rs : 4 iH gE : : ] PROJECT 1u5073 RECORD CARD 3 TC DATE = LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS : | 0 Was Balloon 1 ARE eh se Manitowoc. Wisconsin 0 Probably Balloon } Tras ad Frise ia © ok ER SL AR Ere eed] 71 Po ssibly Balloon : 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION Deal ARR S0 PM oc iid £ Ground- Visual AL rr Q Was Aircraft Binoculars 1 Probably Aircraft 5 Yr 13. 4a LO © OF G14 49 Aff H \ H - : GMT E37 D23807 0 Air-Visual O Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft Pollux 5. PHOTOS 6. SOURCE ‘1; Was Astronomicalllot ol coals : QO Yes 0 Probably Astronomical °% 20: No | civilian Vests 0 Possibly Astronomical : : 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 3. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE Eli Othwp seit aii (avin so : m] Eatlictent Data for Evaluation - op i ens i § BA .13 Un : 30 - mins, still view | two in SW descending Sg 1 10. BRIEF SUMMARY CF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS 5 gs : One white star like light. One red Star Betelgeux (mag 0; -to-1) in : qiight, too small to get idea of shape.| position of sighting at 10 degregs #hite obj shape of grapefruit w/ a elevation 270 degrees azimuth. roint, The white obj seemed to he Pollux is at 275 degrees azimuth ; yoing back & forth. The red obj was 35 degrees elevation, Sighting very small, It fell in a very uneven attrimted to these two stars w/ - Xt slow manner, variitions due to atmospheric conditions. ATIC FORM 329 ‘REV 25 SEP 52) |