Washington, GeorgiaOctober 1959

Insufficient Data

Summary

On October 12, 1959, residents of Washington, Georgia noticed something strange falling from the sky. A thin, web-like substance drifted down over the town and nearby areas for nearly two hours. Some witnesses described it as gossamer or angel hair. A few strands even had small red objects at the ends that looked like tiny spiders.

Investigators from Robins Air Force Base arrived the same day to document the sighting. They collected samples and interviewed witnesses. One Georgia Highway Patrol officer found two whitish streaks on his lawn about ten feet long and eight inches wide. When he mowed over them, gray dust rose into the air. Samples from his grass tested positive for silver compounds.

Chemical analysis showed that the material contained silver halides, compounds used in cloud seeding operations to produce rain. Research teams from the University of Georgia and a Lockheed facility in Marietta had been conducting cloud seeding experiments in the area that day. The Air Force concluded that the "angel hair" was residue from those experiments. Silver iodide particles can travel miles downwind in mountainous terrain, and they sometimes form visible plumes that witnesses describe as web-like material.

The Air Force closed the case on October 27, 1959, determining that the sighting had been satisfactorily explained as a natural phenomenon resulting from ongoing cloud seeding efforts. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, 33 pages.

Reported location

Washington, Georgia

Date of incident

October 1959

State / country

GA / US

Page count

33 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 37

] PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD j | 1. DATE {2. LOCATION 112. CONCLUSIONS fe | | Washington, @eorgia (Sharon &% s Wos Belloon 1 12 Oct 59 Crawforsville ba. ) 8 Liovanly sliidgo 1 3. DATE-TIME GRGUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION 283/01y DANIEL fe 2 - 3 C ‘Yas Aircroft 3 Ee pertan I5. 10, HER STON ATR BBround- Visual 0 Cround-Rador lo Probably Aircraft E GMT 0 AirVYisuol O Air-Intercept Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft : 5. PHOTOS hysical ecinme 6. SOURCE 00 Was Astronomical POY 2) 8 | Q Probably Astronomical E HNo Militar % Civilian O Possibly ARroncm|eat 4 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE Ctx Other__Cloud Seeding Fal | nex g haitgiehs Date for Evaluation 1 N/A N/A at 4 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS gia 1 | Gossamer type substance, like spider webs, The material was analyzed and found i {continued to fall fm the sky for approximatel to contain elements used in cloud - 2 hrs. Some witnesses described it as web- seeding cperations. : iike strings w/red pea sized cbjs, like k spiders, at the ends. : i / I: / / ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 3EP 57) / Be bt 4 5 Eb / : ¢