Upper Greenwood Lake, New JerseyAugust 1959

Insufficient Data

Summary

On a clear night in August 1959, a civilian observer near Upper Greenwood Lake, New Jersey, reported seeing a moving light in the sky. The witness described the object as roughly the size of a silver dollar when held at arm's length. It appeared yellow-white with a red rim and was very bright.

The object first caught the observer's attention as a moving light high in the sky. According to the witness, it seemed to appear from behind the moon and headed straight across the sky. The light moved in intervals, sometimes appearing stationary and then accelerating to speeds faster than a jet aircraft. The sighting lasted about five minutes. The witness noted that the object always appeared on Tuesday mornings from the same general location, always moving east.

The Air Force investigation found very clear weather conditions at the time and place of the sighting, with visibility of 12 to 15 miles and no cloud cover. Officers checked Air Force bases in the area and found that no weather balloons (instruments carried aloft to measure atmospheric conditions) had been released nearby at the time in question. However, investigators noted that winds were blowing from the west, making it possible that a balloon released from a base farther west could have drifted into the sighting area. The case file indicates the investigation was hampered by limited information and ultimately classified the sighting as a balloon observation, though the full basis for this conclusion is not clear from the available records.

The complete case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 8 pages.

Reported location

Upper Greenwood Lake, New Jersey

Date of incident

August 1959

State / country

NJ / US

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 36

bs E : FE : PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD na ; E 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS i id ; O Was Balloon | : 11 Lug 59 Upper Greenwood Lake, Kew Jersaei|Qc Probably Balloon | fe ET 4 + 7 oh LC sl : 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION hdd BA LL, > Sep re eh : Vi 0 Was Aircraft 2 Local __midnt chi 2 DO. Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Radar 00 Probably Aircraft Ri. - ! oy H i 3 GMT __ 12 LOR007 0 Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft Eo 5. PHOTOS 6. SOURCE O Was Astronomical E 0 Yes O Probably Astronomical E :0:No Civilian O Possibly Astronomical A 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE fifo], fy ert EE SA EE DO Insufficient Data for Evaluation : al O Unknown i not given it fn SE 4 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS ji Star that moves, Always appears on a No additional info received, only A ‘I Tuesday fm the same general location & that a moving star was in the area. 4 going Bast. Star was staticnary & then No data upon hich to conclude. Case 8 moved at a speed faster than a jet. Move- listed as insufficient data. Additional 4 ment in intervals. Assorted rpts fm same info received. Case related to 18 Aug 3 area given to witness, Info received by sightng fm New Milford, New dersey. 3 letter fm private citizen. Case classed as balloon observation. ; | | ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) i p- : / FE . 4 1 oa