Project Blue Book Case File
Silver Lake, Calif., August 1952August 1952
Summary
On August 26, 1952, at 8:15 p.m., a ground observer near Silver Lake, California spotted a spherical, brightly lit object moving across the sky. According to the case file, the object was flying on a nearly flat path when it suddenly halted, then turned sharply upward and climbed steeply at high speed. During the initial level flight, there was no visible exhaust. Once the object began its steep climb, a light extinguished and a "victor shaped contrail" (a V-shaped trail of condensation) appeared for about one second.
The object approached from the south-southwest at an altitude between 3,000 and 8,000 feet, moving in the vicinity of Silver Lake with a west-northwesterly heading. It then turned sharply toward the northeast and headed toward Lathrop Wells, Nevada. The entire sighting lasted between three and five seconds. The case file notes there was no thunder, lightning, unusual weather, known aircraft activity, or meteorological disturbances in the area at the time. No physical evidence or photographs were recovered.
The Air Force's evaluation, as recorded on the case form, states "Unknown."
The full case file, comprising 8 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.
Reported location
Silver Lake, Calif., August 1952
Date of incident
August 1952
State / country
? / XX
Page count
8 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 14