Seattle, WashingtonMay 1960

On May 6, 1960, a civilian in Seattle sent a letter to the U.S. Air Force with four photographs he claimed showed unidentified flying objects. He said he had taken the pictures between 9:50 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. using binoculars attached to his camera while photographing the moon. The weather that night had been hazy, with temperatures between 52 and 62 degrees Fahrenheit and light rain.

In his letter, the photographer described seeing cigar-shaped objects in the images that seemed to be in formation. He noted that the objects appeared to have the same texture as the moon itself, suggesting they were roughly the same distance away. A third photograph, he wrote, showed another object that appeared much larger or closer than the rest. He also mentioned seeing two dots above some of the objects that he observed when examining the film under magnification.

Air Force analysts examined the photographs and negatives in July 1960. They concluded that the objects were reflections of street lights bouncing off a window pane. According to their report, if the photographer had opened the window slightly wider with each successive exposure, the angle of the reflections would change, making the street lights appear exactly as they did in the three photographs. The Air Force concluded this was "a poor, but determined, attempt to perpetrate a hoax," noting that any trained observer would recognize how light fixtures reflecting on a window could create the illusion of unidentified flying objects.

In a letter dated July 29, 1960, the Air Force returned the photographs and negatives to the photographer, informing him that the images showed "definitely pictures of light fixtures reflecting on a window." The complete case file, consisting of 9 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.