San Antonio, TexasMay 1953

# San Antonio UFO Sighting, May 7, 1953

On the evening of May 7, 1953, a civilian employee at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, reported seeing an unusual object in the sky. The man was standing on his front porch at approximately 8:55 p.m. when he noticed what he first thought was a star or airplane. As he watched, he realized the object was far too large and moving too fast to be conventional aircraft.

The witness described a round object, dark gray in color, with a diameter between forty and fifty feet. Most striking was a semicircle of eight to ten small yellow lights arranged evenly across the front of the object. The lights reflected off the hull, revealing its dark gray surface. The man estimated the object was traveling at least three hundred miles per hour while maintaining a straight, level course toward the northeast. He reported hearing no sound whatsoever, which he found remarkable given the apparent size of the craft. A faint vapor trail appeared to form beneath the object as it moved. The witness watched for roughly twenty to thirty seconds before the object passed overhead. He ran inside to call his wife, hoping she could see it from the backyard, but a pecan tree blocked their view and the object had already disappeared by the time they found a clear vantage point.

The observer was a cost accountant employed by Fort Sam Houston and a former civilian property officer at Randolph and Kelly Air Force Bases. The Air Force noted his reliability as unknown. At the time of the sighting, fair weather prevailed with clear skies, no overcast, and a five-mile-per-hour wind from the southeast. The Air Force investigated whether weather balloons, astronomical objects, or known aircraft in the area might explain the report. They found no meteorological conditions or other known activity that would account for the sighting.

The U.S. Air Force concluded that the object remained unidentified. The full case file of 51 pages is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.