Springer, New MexicoApril 1949

On the morning of April 25, 1949, two men fishing for minnows at Springer Lake, about four miles northwest of Springer, New Mexico, heard an odd sound. It resembled a high-pitched whistle, or the noise of ducks preparing to land on water. When they looked up, they saw something unexpected: silvery white objects moving across the sky at extremely high speed and altitude, passing overhead in just a few seconds.

Over the next hour, the witnesses observed multiple groups of these objects. The first group contained eleven of them, flying in formation and heading due west. About two to three minutes later, a second group of nine objects approached from the east, flying due west. When this group passed directly overhead, one object suddenly broke away, peeling off to the left at a forty-five-degree angle and heading southwest. The remaining eight continued westward. Several more groups followed, totaling eight or ten separate formations. The last group, heading due south, contained five objects arranged in a line, one behind the other.

The witnesses noted something peculiar about the sound they heard. Although it resembled ducks or an aircraft landing, the noise did not actually come from the objects themselves. Both observers described the objects as small, round, and ball-like, similar to Christmas tree ornaments. They estimated the objects were traveling faster than the speed of sound and at an altitude well over thirty thousand feet. One observer, a former Army rifleman, was confident the objects were neither jet aircraft nor guided missiles.

The witnesses sent a letter to Dr. Lincoln La Paz, a scientist in New Mexico known for studying meteorites, requesting information about the sightings and asking whether others had reported similar events on or near the same date. The Air Force interviewed the observers and classified the objects as unidentified. The weather that morning was clear, with unlimited ceiling and visibility.

The full case file, consisting of seven pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.