Project Blue Book Case File
New Carlisle, OhioSeptember 1957
Summary
# New Carlisle, Ohio - September 1957
A woman in New Carlisle awoke at 3:30 a.m. on September 21, 1957, to feed her baby. As she looked out her window, she saw a group of lights moving across the sky. The lights appeared in two clusters: two in front and three trailing behind. They moved from west to east at roughly 20 miles per hour, staying about 4 to 5 feet above the ground. The sighting lasted about 30 seconds before the lights disappeared from view.
The woman reported that she was frightened by what she saw and called her husband, who contacted the Air Force's Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC). The Air Force investigated by checking whether the lights might have been from vehicles on a nearby highway. A highway and turnpike were under construction in front of her home at the time. The investigation found that a police patrol was working on the highway that night to prevent theft of construction materials. The patrol was operating at roughly the same speed that the witness reported, and it is possible the lights were patrol car headlights seen from her window.
The witness indicated in her report that she believed the object was genuinely "out of this world" and described herself as a believer in flying saucers. The Air Force ultimately classified this sighting as unidentified, though the evidence suggested the lights were most likely an automobile or automobiles on the highway below.
The full case file, comprising 9 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.
Reported location
New Carlisle, Ohio
Date of incident
September 1957
State / country
OH / US
Page count
9 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unidentified
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 29