MEXICO BEACH, FLORIDANovember 1954

Unidentified

Summary

On November 30, 1954, a brilliant fireball streaked across the sky over the southeastern United States. Multiple observers in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama saw the flash high in the atmosphere, followed by a trail of smoke. The event produced loud explosions that were heard over a wide area.

The most dramatic detail of the sighting occurred over the town of Sylacauga, Alabama. A nine-pound fragment of the meteorite crashed through the roof of a house and struck Mrs. Hewlett Hodges as she lay resting on a sofa. She was bruised on her hip and arm but survived the impact. The rock was recovered and later examined by the Air Force's Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The Air Force investigation concluded that the object was very probably a member of the Andromedid meteor shower, which occurs annually from November 24 to December 7. Testing at Wright-Patterson revealed normal results: a Geiger counter showed zero radiation, ultraviolet examination showed normal fluorescence, and the stone itself was consistent with common earth-variety material. The meteorite later became the subject of considerable public and scientific interest, with various institutions and private collectors bidding for its purchase.

The full case file, consisting of 29 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

MEXICO BEACH, FLORIDA

Date of incident

November 1954

State / country

FL / US

Page count

29 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 22

7) UFCB INDEX CARD _—_— | I. DATE 2. LOCATION 112. CONCLUSIONS I= Wos Balloon | 30 NOV 195k MEXICO BEACH, FLORIDA £: Probobly Balloon / | 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION |O Possibly Balloon | | Ll sc EE O Ground- Vi sual O Ground-Rador 8 Aa GMT 2019007 (D) O Air Visual 8% 0 Air-lutercept Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft | 5. PROTOS 6. SQURCE 2 Was Astronomical H 0 Yes O Probably Astronomical e 2 No UNX |B Possibly Astronomical | 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BEE ev] | O Insufficient Data for Evaluc =n | O Unknown |G UNK ONE DOWNWARD if ho. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING jn. COMMENTS ¢ { { | DESCRIBED AS A FLAMING MISSILE. NO INVESTICATION ON THIS SIGHTING | : CONTEMPLATED, | | | hf | : AISOP Form 5 (15 Oct 54) : . BT a a : 3 i » . \ - :