West Florence, OhioOctober 1961

Unidentified

Summary

On the evening of October 17, 1961, a resident of West Florence, Ohio watched the sky for approximately one and a half hours and observed what they described as a flashing greenish-blue and white object. The object appeared brighter and larger than a typical star, roughly twice the size of one as it appeared to the witness.

The Air Force investigator noted that the object's appearance, brightness, the time of the sighting, the angle at which it was viewed, and other details all matched the position and characteristics of Arcturus, a first-magnitude star (one of the brightest stars visible from Earth). The witness's description conformed to what would be expected when observing this well-known celestial body.

Despite this strong match to an astronomical explanation, the Air Force ultimately classified this sighting as unidentified. The case file includes the witness's original report form, assignment orders for investigative personnel, and diagrams, though much of the detailed investigative notes and analysis are difficult to read in the scanned version.

The full case file, 12 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

West Florence, Ohio

Date of incident

October 1961

State / country

OH / US

Page count

12 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 44

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 12

View transcribed text

1] $0 |
1
i REE PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD a
E 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
; el 3 Aen 0 Was Balloon
| 17 Oct 61 West Florence, Ohio O Probably Balloon
3 DATE-TINE GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION i bedi
4: i 18.5 ; As xe a 0 Was Aircraft
Locol I XEGround- Visual 0 Ground-Redar 0 Probobly Aircraft
3 H CMT 1723452 D AirVisval 0 Air-Intercept Radar DO Possibly Aircraft : Ghd
| 5 PHOTOS f 6. SOURCE 0 _ Was Astronomical RECTVEASS
E i O Yes £3* Probobly Astronomical
LE : B'Ne Civilian O Possibly Astronomical
EF in LENGTH OF OBSERYATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE OF Others cle sis
E ! 0 Insufficient Data for Evaluation {
2 a . 0O Unknown
& i -— —-4 [oS Lid OS - 3
E 130. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING Flzshing greenish-blue [11 COMMENTS Doscription conformed to
3 jznl white objt; brighter and larger than a starjastronomical body. Witness viewed for
4 i Swice as large as ‘a ‘star. aprox 1 1/2 hrs. Time of sighting, angle
FE of elev, etc., conformed to position of
EE | Arcturus (lst magnitude star).
-
FE |
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FE |
E |
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3 ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP $2)
E 4
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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28995223