Springfield, OhioOctober 1962

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the night of October 7, 1962, an Air Force officer driving a car near Springfield, Ohio saw an amber-colored light in the sky around 12:15 a.m. The witness was traveling by automobile when the object appeared. It looked like a light only, with a fuzzy or blurred shape that sometimes appeared domelike. The object moved in a random fashion and seemed to give the appearance of being solid, even though its edges were not sharp.

The witness watched the object for about twenty minutes as it moved across the sky. During this time, it appeared and disappeared into cloud bases, making its path difficult to track. The weather conditions were stormy, which added to the challenge of observing the object clearly. The witness considered the possibility that the light might have been a refraction of the moon, though they were uncertain about this explanation.

The Air Force investigators examined the case and looked at several possibilities. They noted that the moon was below the horizon at the time of the reported sighting, making it unlikely that the object was a refracted moon image. They also considered the star Altair, which was setting at the time of the sighting. However, the investigators concluded that the sighting was probably caused by light reflection or refraction from a ground-based source. The official Air Force evaluation listed the case as unknown. This case file comprises 13 pages as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Springfield, Ohio

Date of incident

October 1962

State / country

OH / US

Page count

13 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 46

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 13

View transcribed text

Ne PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD © ~ te we

1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS ;

ingfiel h a Peobably Bell |
7 October 1962 Springfield, Ohio rebably Beiioon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION clr he ca |
EE EE RRC SRN Af Ground- Visual O Ground-Redar a Poy Reh
omT1__07/0520Z Qa Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar 0 Possibly Aireraft
5. PHOTOS « SOURCE . |B0 Was Astronomicol
0 Yes DO Probobly Astronomical
x% No | Civili D Possibly Astronomical Grgunk
s ‘Yo h [4 KOI = ade ®
re pr Schon h | gm rolitnsd ini | ills BD inautiicien Dota for aren
nown
20 minutes one varied 8 :

10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS |
Amber obj observed fm moving auto. Moon at 19 on Ecliptic with
Appeared and disappeared into cloud declination of -20 45, Moon
base, Appexred as a light only. Move- set was at 2346, or about
ment random, Gave appearance of being 30 mins prior to sighting.
solid, Fuzzy or blurred irregular The moon would have been to far |
shape, sometimes domelike only inverted./below the horizon to be refracted:
WX conditions stormy. Witness considered/if the rptd time of sighting
the possibility of refraction of the was correct, The star Altair
moon, : was setting at the time of sighg-

ing; however, more likely the
sighti wag caused b ligh
| ror ctl on Im a greg und Yih % |
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) ah 3 ; ) : ; on : :
: : / |
| : ‘
| :
|
bi HRA ORR A sb BR MR ors A FRE ! ; si /

/ 13

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28999487