Villa Grove, ColoradoJune 1957

Unidentified

Summary

On the evening of June 24, 1957, a resident of Villa Grove, Colorado spotted an unusual object in the sky while standing near a highway. The witness described the object as round at the bottom with a star-shaped top, roughly the size of a volleyball, and bright gold in color. The object drifted behind nearby mountains in a straight line without making any maneuvers. The entire observation lasted approximately two hours.

The witness sighted the object from the ground at roughly eight degrees elevation looking toward 315 degrees azimuth (west-northwest). At another point, the object appeared at about 42 degrees elevation looking toward 335 degrees azimuth (northwest). The object's path was steady and level, with no changes in direction or altitude during the sighting.

Air Force investigators examined the case, including weather data and atmospheric conditions for the area and date. Captain Eugene Maxwell, an intelligence officer, noted that the sighting could possibly have been a weather balloon. The Air Force ultimately marked this case as unidentified in its official records, meaning the sighting did not match any known aircraft, balloon, or astronomical object documented in the case file.

The full case file, consisting of 14 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Villa Grove, Colorado

Date of incident

June 1957

State / country

CO / US

Page count

14 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 28

3 . / : PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD |). DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS 0 Wos Balloon B 24 June 1957 Villa Grove, Colorado o Saher 4 14 iether | 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION Sb soe (tc Li 00 1 | Local rr er B:Ground- Visual O Ground-Radar a Probobly Alreralt 3 CMT 24/2330Z 0 AirVisuol OQ Air-Intercept Rador O Possibly Aircraft E |S PROTOS CEES i ET ci SS O ‘Was Astronomical ER | 0 Yes O Probably Astronomical 4 | XB Ne Civilian O Possibly Astronomical 4 | 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE RRR Ae Ra AR 2 ®] ivi bthoitd Dota for Evaluation A 0 y | 2 hours one ! 310 dgr | ee © 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING Ks COMMENTS ; 1 | Object round at bottom, star shaped | Balloon observation, jl | on top;size of volley ball, color jl | braght Gold, Object drifted behind Ef | mountains, Straight flight, no man- jl | euvers, 3 | BR | BB | 3 ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 3E? 52) f o : : i : KX b bd . e hs