Near Beebeetown, IowaAugust 1958

In the early morning of August 12, 1958, a woman living on a farm near Beebeetown, Iowa, was awakened by a bright light shining through her bedroom window. She described it as round and white, about the size of the rising sun when viewed from a quarter-mile away. The light resembled the glow cast by automobile headlights sweeping across a driveway. She watched it move horizontally just above a nearby cornfield for less than a minute before it disappeared behind terrain.

The woman's husband was asleep and did not see the object by the time he woke. She waited to hear news reports about the sighting but heard nothing before calling the Air Force at 8:50 a.m. to report what she had witnessed. According to Air Force notes, she was coherent, cooperative, and concerned about providing accurate information. Her neighbors and the local police had no knowledge of the sighting.

Around the same time in the Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska areas, several other people reported seeing an unusual bright light in the sky. A Wesleyan University watchman described a bluish-white oval with a short yellow-red tail, about half the size of the moon, traveling northwest. Another observer near Omaha reported seeing a blue flame traveling straight west. A third person reported the impression of a flash followed by a glowing object moving north then west.

An Air Force investigation team interviewed the primary observer and her daughter in September 1958, four weeks after the incident. The daughter clarified that her mother had been unable to sleep and was sitting up in bed when she first noticed the light. Weather conditions at the time were clear with four miles of visibility. The file notes that the probability of a meteorite exists, though no definitive conclusion was reached.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, 9 pages.