Norfolk, VAMarch 1959

On the evening of March 16, 1959, a man and his family saw an unusual glowing object in the sky near Little Creek Amphibious Base in Norfolk, Virginia. The man, his wife, and their twelve-year-old son first spotted it while backing out of their driveway around 8:30 p.m. The boy noticed it first, saying "Mother, it's lightning up here." What they saw was a large, ball-shaped object that glowed orange-yellow and appeared enormous compared to anything they had ever seen in the sky before.

The object flashed with intense bursts of light that briefly illuminated the entire housing area around them. Each flash lasted about five seconds, with short intervals between them. When the flashes stopped, the area went dark. The family drove two blocks and saw the object again, this time much closer to the ground and glowing steadily without flashing. It appeared they might witness a landing. They then drove about a mile and a half toward the air base and saw it once more, now higher and farther away, flashing twice more. During the final long flash, they managed to see what they described as a distinct outline of a craft unlike anything they had ever seen.

The witness was a professional artist and art teacher who had lived in Norfolk for over twenty years and was familiar with the aircraft in the area. He emphasized his trained eye for color, proportion, and perspective. The next morning, he created a large pastel drawing of the object in full color based on what they had observed. A second independent sighting occurred when Captain Edward D. Falkenburg of the Air Force saw similar flashes from his home about two miles away.

The Air Force investigation determined that the flashes corresponded with photo flash bombs being dropped at Ship Shoal Range near Cape Charles during a night photography training operation. This explanation accounts for the bright flashes and the ability to see an outline of something during the final flash. The case file contains 11 scanned pages as held by the National Archives.