Wilton, ConnecticutFebruary 1955

On February 23, 1955, at approximately 2420 hours (12:20 a.m.), Robert C. Hardy, a motorist traveling on Connecticut State Highway 33 north of Wilton, witnessed an unidentified flying object streaking across the night sky. Around the same time, a second observer in Westchester County, New York, also reported seeing the same luminous object.

Hardy described the object as round, oval, and spherical in shape, glowing reddish orange in color. It resembled a bright ball of light and left no tail or trail behind it as it traveled in a straight line across the sky. The object was illuminous and audibly silent. The entire sighting lasted between five and six seconds. A map included in the file shows the approximate paths traced by both observers, allowing investigators to triangulate the object's flight path.

The U.S. Air Force's Office of Special Investigations conducted a formal investigation, led by Special Agent Michael Theodorakis, and filed a report on April 15, 1955. The case file contains witness interviews and technical analysis but the OCR quality of the internal pages degrades significantly, making detailed reconstruction of the investigative findings difficult to read with confidence.

The Air Force's final evaluation, recorded on the case record card, was "Probably Balloon," though the file also notes meteor as a possible explanation. The full case file, consisting of 10 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.