West Babylon, New YorkJuly 1960

On the evening of July 16, 1960, a man in West Babylon, New York noticed a bright object moving across the sky. He was outside checking his television antenna when he spotted it approaching from the southeast at a 45-degree angle. As he watched, the object gradually moved westward until it passed directly overhead, at which point it vanished from view. The man estimated the sighting lasted about 15 minutes.

Curious about what he had seen, the man's brother and two nephews kept watch the next evening at the same time and place. The object reappeared within a minute or two of when it had shown up the night before. Over the following four nights, the group observed the same bright object appearing at roughly the same time and disappearing in the same way, always vanishing when directly overhead. When they looked through 7-by-50 binoculars and a 60-power telescope, they saw what appeared to be something rotating like a pendulum beneath the object. Through the telescope, they also spotted approximately 15 pieces of debris trailing behind it, which would disappear at the same moment the main object did.

An Air Force investigator visited the witnesses on September 7, 1960 to gather more details. The object was roughly the size of a person's head held at arm's length, round in shape, with no visible tail, fins, exhaust, or sound. The witnesses described clear skies and excellent visibility throughout the sighting period. Weather records for July 16 through 20 showed scattered clouds, westerly winds, and no unusual atmospheric or astronomical conditions.

The Air Force investigator concluded that the object was most likely a weather balloon. The U.S. Weather Bureau station near the area had released a weather balloon around the time of the first sighting. The investigator noted that the description of the pendulum-like object dangling below the main shape matched what one would expect from a weather balloon and its instrument package. The case was officially evaluated as unidentified, though the file indicates the probable explanation was a weather balloon.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 7 pages of documents.