Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaMay 1962

Insufficient Data

Summary

On May 23, 1962, a man in Philadelphia reported seeing an unusual object in the sky. He watched it move several times over a period of about forty-five minutes, observing it through binoculars on at least one occasion. The object appeared to rotate and moved in a circular, erratic pattern. It seemed solid and moved both in front of and behind clouds. The witness reported seeing details such as portholes and lights, and noted that the object disappeared very rapidly.

The Air Force questionnaire responses and supporting documents are difficult to read in places due to OCR (handwriting recognition) errors in the scanned material. However, the cover sheet summary indicates that the witness did not call anyone else to observe the phenomenon while it was happening, and no additional witnesses came forward. The investigating officer noted a strong possibility that light reflections playing off the clouds contributed to the sighting. The officer also suggested that the witness's active imagination, as reflected in the amount of detail reported about distant and fuzzy objects, may have influenced what was observed.

The Air Force concluded that the sighting was probably a balloon, though the case file preserves other possible explanations including aircraft or astronomical phenomena. The case was classified as "unknown" in the final evaluation, meaning the Air Force could not definitively explain what was observed. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, containing 14 pages.

Reported location

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Date of incident

May 1962

State / country

PA / US

Page count

14 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 45

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 14

View transcribed text

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§ i PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
{ 1. DATE I LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
] ¥ 0 Was Balloon
23 May 62 | Philadelphia, RennsylvanialQ Probebly Balloon
1 ——— Al —————— = —————10 Possibly Ball
: | 3. DATE-TIWE GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION | ld. rosnioly Saloon
: S : 0 Wos Aircraft
He fa Viale a -R a as Aircraft
k BN a a ER Ee a Ls Ground-Visual 1 Ground-Rador 0. Probably: Alrorsts
1 EE aN Bn 0 a al Ac
b CMT__ = t/ Va lI4 Fides Tr | C Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft
x 5. PHOTOS 4. SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical
: C Yes 01 Probably Astronomical i
] 8 No Civilian 0 Possibly Astronomical |
7. LENGTH OF O85ERYATION 8. HUMBER OF 08JZCTS | 9. COURSE 0 Otheddefloctipn |
g 0 Insufficient Data for Evaluation |
E J ; ~ ’ : 0 Unknown
10 mins oO min ea one stationary
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING hat COMMENTS Bi
1 Obj viewed for 5 ning 4 differant times QObserfer did not call anyons to
juring a 45 man period. Gave appear- witness this strange phenomena,
ance of rotation, Mction circular, It appeared 4 times in a 5 min
1 Disappearaoce very rapid, Appaared as period, No additional witness
§ - 1 Ss ~ he ? 2 | Hg Ly Eee got FY: , 1 Fr
3 solic, Moved both in front of cdéouds gE were summoned. Only observers
1 pehind then. Erratic motion, Observ dl rpting obj fm city of several
A also w/binoculars. iissing sound accom- million neopnle. Stron nossibi-
nani Hi - Bh ET yd ey \ . 3 or Ih . 2 = E Pa oe % -
A nin l obj. Detaiss w/portholes. lighits lity of light reflections play-
y = o  § ATTA 4 ”e # as yy . rr > 1 ~ yy > »~ : 3 : E
etc. in NW at appearance & disappearancel/ing on cdouds. Undoubtedly ov:
is. 3 cer 1 / r - Le Ye Toy yee : o
§ 20UCer w/dome & motiors, active imagination on part of
ap fF Adela v= 4 ITcat Sana y+ nd 3 4
| witness.as indicated by amount
dt HERRiT5055Va on distant
] and fuzzy obj.
ATIC FORM 3129 (RZV 25 SEP 52)
3 Ld
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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28997367