Project Blue Book Case File
Naples, New YorkMay 1960
Summary
On May 26, 1960, a resident of Naples, New York observed an unusual sight above the Naples Gorge around 5 p.m. The witness was sitting at home when they heard a heavy plane pass overhead. About five minutes later, they noticed a large, fishbowl-shaped sphere with a glassy appearance moving toward their side of the gorge. The object appeared to tumble as it moved. Beneath it, and some distance ahead, the witness spotted a smaller, gleaming sphere. The unusual appearance prompted the witness to find binoculars for a closer look.
When the witness went outside to search for the spheres with binoculars, they were no longer visible. The sun was bright enough to make observation difficult. Shortly after, a small plane passed over the area, flying very close to the ground. Within moments of the plane's passage, the witness observed two small spheres, about the size of oranges, that appeared to revolve downward into an old vineyard. Later, as the wind picked up, what the witness described as two flat, shiny objects also dropped into the vineyard. The witness speculated that the objects might have been designed to shrink or disappear due to heat or moisture, and wondered if they could contain harmful spores or insects. As a precaution, they reported the sighting to several agencies.
The Air Force replied in July 1960, requesting a completed technical questionnaire for further analysis. The case file shows that the witness provided detailed responses to the Air Force form, though the quality of the OCR makes some handwritten answers difficult to read. The witness indicated they had no other observers with them and suggested that gasoline from planes might be responsible for the phenomena. On the official case evaluation form, the Air Force marked the sighting as unidentified, but also noted there were apparently no other witnesses and categorized the report as having insufficient data for evaluation.
The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 13 pages of scanned documents.
Reported location
Naples, New York
Date of incident
May 1960
State / country
NY / US
Page count
13 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unidentified
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 38