Meriden, ConnecticutJuly 1962

# Project Blue Book Case Summary: Meriden, Connecticut, July 1962

On a summer night in Meriden, Connecticut in July 1962, a group of young people spotted an unusual object in the sky. The witnesses included Donald Blakeslee, 19, an astronomy major at Wesleyan College, along with George Dodge, Richard Wright, and Jan Aldrich. They were later joined by Donald's father, John Blakeslee, and his brother Keith.

The object was described as white and star-like, but distinctly different from any aircraft or star the witnesses knew. It traveled from northwest to northeast across the sky before disappearing behind a group of trees. According to the witnesses, the object moved far too slowly to be a satellite. Most striking was its motion: it followed a zigzag course, gleamed brightly for several minutes, appeared to stop completely for a short time, then shone again. Blakeslee noted that the brightness and movement patterns were inconsistent with any known aircraft.

The Air Force collected detailed witness statements using a standard questionnaire designed to gather information about the sighting. The questionnaire asked the witnesses about the object's size, brightness, movement, color, sound, and behavior, as well as atmospheric conditions and their own locations and backgrounds at the time of the sighting. However, the OCR quality of the later pages of this file is too degraded to extract specific answers from the forms.

The case file does not contain a clear final evaluation or conclusion from Air Force investigators. The file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 13 pages.