Scott AFB, Ill., January 1958January 1958

On the night of January 2, 1958, six people at or near Scott Air Force Base in Illinois reported seeing a bright, fast-moving object in the sky. The observers were stationed at different locations around the base, so they each saw the object from different angles. Their descriptions of what they saw varied considerably. Some called it an inverted comma shape. Others described a spheroid (a ball-like object). One observer saw only a bright flash. The colors also differed from witness to witness: reddish-white, blue-white, orange-white, greenish-blue, and other combinations. Most observers reported seeing a tail, trail, or stream of sparks and smoke trailing behind the object. No one heard any sound.

The object descended nearly straight down in most accounts, with no unusual maneuvers reported. Depending on which observer you asked, the sighting lasted anywhere from one to ten seconds. The object then vanished, either fading from view or disappearing behind buildings, hills, or terrain. All observations were made with the naked eye on a clear, cold night with a bright moon visible.

The Air Force interviewed the witnesses, all of whom were considered reliable. They included an Air Force control tower supervisor, two Air Police officers, an Army serviceman, a truck driver, and another Air Policeman. The weather service had documented wind patterns at various altitudes that night. No military aircraft were in the area at the time, though the investigation noted that a commercial Eastern Airlines flight in the vicinity may have also observed the object.

The Air Force's Wing Operations Officer, Lt Colonel Bernard P. Whitehouse, noted that newspapers and radio stations had reported a meteorite falling in that general area around the same time. The extreme variation in where the six observers said they saw the object made it unlikely to be an aircraft. The file states that the consistent details across all reports supported the conclusion that the object was a meteorite. No physical evidence was collected. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, with 9 pages.