Valdosta, GeorgiaJuly 1949

On the morning of July 7, 1949, a woman in Valdosta, Georgia saw a bright, reddish object hovering in the sky. She described it as shaped like an electric light bulb, with the narrow stem pointing upward, hanging at about a 45-degree angle from the horizon. The object gave off such brilliant red light that it lit up her entire neighborhood. She watched it for roughly ten minutes before it slowly disappeared toward the southwest, moving in a straight line without gaining or losing altitude.

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations interviewed the woman on July 19, 1949. They learned she had been asleep when the light woke her around 3 a.m. She said the object didn't seem very far away, and she only saw the light itself, not any physical structure it might have been attached to. She also said she only saw the light of the object and could not determine whether the object was connected to anything else. The investigator noted that the woman was trustworthy but also described her as nervous, excitable, easily led during questioning, and having a vivid imagination. She had only a vague sense of the object's exact color, position, and shape.

The Air Force checked local weather records and found calm winds, scattered clouds at 25,000 feet, and eight-mile visibility at the time of the sighting. They also reviewed the flight schedule for the Municipal Airport in Valdosta and found no scheduled aircraft departing at that hour, though transient flight schedules over the area were unknown. A canvass of nearby residences turned up no other witnesses. The file notes that residents of Valdosta generally believed a government experimental laboratory dealing with guided missiles was located on the Florida coast, south of the city.

The case file does not state a final conclusion from the Air Force. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, totaling 6 pages.