Rapid City, South DakotaSeptember 1953

On the evening of September 15, 1953, near Rapid City, South Dakota, three separate witnesses reported seeing an unusual glowing object in the sky. The first sighting occurred around 1945 hours (7:45 p.m.). A young woman attending a 4-H meeting in Black Hawk happened to look up and saw a red glow moving rapidly across the sky, traveling roughly north to south at an estimated 150 to 200 miles per hour. She watched the object for about thirty minutes before it disappeared behind a hill. Several children at the meeting also saw it, though their accounts were considered less reliable due to their ages.

At the same time, a husband and wife also spotted the object from Black Hawk and reported seeing the same red glow. Later that evening, around 2330 hours (11:30 p.m.), the couple saw the object again while at a drive-in theater. They said it appeared to hover over the movie screen, then suddenly turned brilliant white, like an automobile headlight, before vanishing behind a hill to the north. The witnesses estimated they watched this second sighting for about twenty minutes. The sky was clear with many visible stars, and the moon was in the west giving off only a dull glow.

According to the official report filed by Captain Atha L. Le Croix, the officer preparing the case noted skepticism about the sightings. He observed that all three civilian witnesses had been involved in previous flying object reports. He commented that if the objects matched the descriptions given, many more people in the area should have seen and reported them. The case file indicates the witnesses described the object as changing colors, flickering like a star at times, and appearing to stand still at intervals.

The Air Force's evaluation concluded that the sightings were most likely caused by an astronomical object, specifically a star, though the file also mentions an unidentified weather balloon launch at Rapid City. The case remains classified as unknown in the official records. The complete case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 22 pages.