Project Blue Book Case File
Murrieta, CaliforniaJanuary 1955
Summary
On January 24, 1955, a woman in Murrieta, California saw a shiny, aluminum-colored object in the sky around 1635 hours (4:35 p.m.). The object appeared solid and round, resembling a grapefruit in shape. She watched it for roughly eleven to fifteen minutes as it moved slowly across the sky with no visible changes in its appearance. The object's course took it from a low angle in the northeast sky toward the southeast, and it eventually disappeared below the horizon.
The Air Force gathered information from the witness and from the 27th Air Division Ground Observer Corps, a network of civilian spotters trained to watch for aircraft and unusual aerial activity. The case file notes clear skies and good visibility at the time of the sighting, along with detailed wind and weather information for various altitudes.
By the time the Air Force closed the file, the sighting had been classified as unidentified. However, a comment in the case record suggests that information from both the witness and the 27th Air Division was "sufficient to indicate that sighting was a balloon." Despite this assessment, the official USAF conclusion recorded on the front page remained unidentified.
This case file contains 12 pages as preserved by the National Archives.
Reported location
Murrieta, California
Date of incident
January 1955
State / country
CA / US
Page count
12 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unidentified
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 22