Queens, New YorkJuly 1955

On the evening of July 31, 1955, a man standing in his backyard in Rego Park, Queens, saw four spherical objects that reminded him of glowing light bulbs. They appeared to be about five miles away, roughly northwest of his home. The objects moved in two pairs, one group traveling east to west while the other moved west to east. Every fifteen to twenty seconds, they changed direction. The man watched them for approximately thirty minutes before they vanished into the cloudy night sky. His wife and landlady also witnessed the event, though they offered little additional detail.

The observer was an automobile insurance adjuster with a college education and post-graduate study. He was nervous but cooperative, and the investigator found him reliable and sincere. Notably, the man had not told neighbors or friends about the sighting and had asked the investigator to visit in civilian clothes to avoid embarrassment. The man himself suspected the objects might be searchlight beams, but he noted there were no visible shafts of light beneath them.

The Air Force investigator pursued this searchlight theory. Phone calls to the 206th Air Division and other military units confirmed no unusual aircraft or balloon activity in the New York area that night. A check with the Times Square area police found no multiple searchlight activity there. However, the investigator learned that the Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey operated four powerful 60-inch searchlights. When contacted, the park's secretary confirmed that all four searchlights were indeed operating on July 30th between sunset and midnight. He stated the lights could easily be visible from a distance of approximately 10 miles and noted that the pattern described by the witness was entirely possible with their equipment.

The investigator concluded that the four spherical objects were the beams of the Palisades searchlights reflecting off the overcast cloud layers. The approving officer concurred with this assessment. The Air Force evaluated the sighting as "probably balloon," though the investigation itself pointed to searchlights as the cause. This case file, consisting of 11 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.