San Mateo, Calif., November 1961November 1961

On November 13, 1961, a San Mateo resident named Alice Reynolds saw strange objects in the sky near her home. She called the police to report what she had witnessed. Officer Guido Piacente responded to her call at 14751 Norfolk Street. Mrs. Reynolds described seeing about 100 small objects flying in a southeasterly direction. What caught the attention of investigators was her description of the objects themselves: each one appeared to have two white balls roughly ten inches apart, with a small white tail about three feet long trailing behind.

The objects remained stationary in the sky during the sighting. Mrs. Reynolds observed them from her window over a period she did not specify in the available case file. The newspaper coverage of the incident, dated November 14, 1961, described it as the "first autumnal spotting" of a flying object reported in San Mateo, and noted that these particular objects were unusual because of the tails visible behind them.

The Air Force's investigation was hampered by incomplete information. An officer from the San Mateo area wrote to Mrs. Reynolds requesting that she and any other witnesses complete detailed questionnaires about the sighting. The case file notes that a request for additional information went unanswered. The Air Force suspected the objects might have been a weather balloon or possibly a mirage, but found no confirming data to support either explanation. The case was officially listed as "insufficient data for evaluation," meaning investigators could not reach a definitive conclusion about what Mrs. Reynolds had seen.

This case file, consisting of eight pages as held by the National Archives, remains part of Project Blue Book's official records.