Project Blue Book Case File
Marksville Leesville Colfax La., May 1962May 1962
Summary
On the night of May 19, 1962, law enforcement officers and motorists across three parishes in Louisiana reported seeing an unusual object moving through the sky. The sightings began when a sheriff's officer driving through Boyce, Louisiana, noticed a bright object. The description varied among witnesses: some described it as round or oval in shape, about four times the size of a basketball, white in color, and roughly the size of a battleship. One state police officer near Marksville observed what he called a cigar-shaped craft with lights and windows along its side.
The object moved across the sky at a high rate of speed, generally heading northwest before disappearing over the horizon. Multiple observers reported seeing it, and several radioed reports to police dispatchers. The sighting lasted roughly from 2157 hours (approximately 9:57 p.m.) to 0233 hours (2:33 a.m.) the following morning.
Investigators noted significant inconsistencies in the witness accounts. Time discrepancies could be attributed to human memory, but differences in the object's apparent size, shape, and direction of movement proved harder to reconcile. Some witnesses suggested they had simply misidentified the rising full moon or the beacon lights from nearby England Air Force Base, made distorted by atmospheric refraction. After interviews with the observers, investigators concluded that activity at the air base may have been responsible for at least some of the reports. A FAA representative confirmed that no commercial flights were operating at the time of the sightings.
The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 36 scanned pages.
Reported location
Marksville Leesville Colfax La., May 1962
Date of incident
May 1962
State / country
? / XX
Page count
36 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 45