Richfield, IdahoJuly 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the evening of July 3, 1960, a young witness in Richfield, Idaho saw a shiny, metallic object in the sky that appeared very large but distant. He watched it for about 15 minutes before it disappeared.

What makes this case unusual is that the witness waited nearly a year before reporting what he had seen. According to the Air Force's notes, other people were apparently watching the same object at the same time, but the witness was the only one among them who filed a report with the military.

The Air Force investigated and concluded the object was probably the planet Venus. At that time and place, Venus was nearly fully illuminated and shining very brightly in the evening sky. The investigators determined that the witnesses were most likely observing Venus during the final minutes before it set below the horizon, which could account for the object's appearance and behavior.

The full case file, containing 11 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Richfield, Idaho

Date of incident

July 1960

State / country

ID / US

Page count

11 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 38

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 11

View transcribed text

\
a PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD | |
I. DATE i 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
3 Jul 60 Richfield, Idaho 0 Probably Belison |
| 3 DATE-TINE GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION lB ot, Crain
Local SII iscsi 2 Ground- Visual O Ground-Rador 5 eo ARO
GMT ol 02002 O AirVisval O Air-Intercopt Radar O Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS « SOURCE = gus Rs ag ri ;
a] i
» hig Civilian HB Petitly Aunonemiva | To |
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BE DTI iiiiiiiinnipiiionsciiiins |
O Insufficient Data for Evaluation
15 min one W O Unknown |
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 1). COMMENTS |
Shiny, metalic object. Very large but far away.| Young witness waited until almost a year
before he reported this sighting, and he
was the only one among the reported groug
| of people watching the object who reportdd
it. It has been determined that the plandt
! Venus was in the position reported for tHe
object. Venus was almost fully illuminatdd
and very bright at this time. The witnesdes
were probably watching Venus during its
last minutes prior to setting.
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP $2)

/ 11

Use ← → keys to navigate · scans hosted by the U.S. National Archives

Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28987623