Tularose, New MexicoAugust 1952

In August 1952, a family driving near Tularosa, New Mexico, witnessed what the U.S. Air Force could not explain. On the evening of August 31st, shortly after passing through a tunnel on Highway 54, the observers noticed two unusually bright lights in the northwestern sky. The lights appeared as bright as stars, and one seemed to hover about six inches directly above the other. Both were stationary at a 45-degree angle above the horizon.

As the family's car passed through a cut in the road, the lights disappeared from view. When they emerged from the cut moments later, the second light was gone, but a single object remained. This object was moving slightly downward and continued descending until it reached approximately eye level with the observers, at which point it leveled off and traveled southward at an altitude of about 4,000 feet until it vanished behind the mountains. The object appeared to move faster than a jet aircraft could travel.

The witnesses observed the object for a total of three minutes from a position approximately one and a half miles west of the highway tunnel. Their coordinates placed them near Tularose, while the initial sighting was located about two and a quarter miles to the southwest. The observers described the object as star-shaped and bright, resembling the color of a bright star. They saw no visible propulsion system, trails, or exhaust.

The Air Force investigated the sighting and noted that it occurred shortly after a scheduled balloon release at the nearby facility. However, investigators could not definitively link the observation to the balloon, and the case file contains no explanation for what the witnesses saw. The Air Force ultimately evaluated the sighting as unidentified. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 13 pages.