DOW-UAP-D164, Flying Object Report, Indiana, 1953
WAR.gov / Department of War PURSUE Release 07
A UFOB report dated January 13, 1954, from the headquarters of the 2466th Air Force Reserve Combat Training Center at Atterbury Air Force Base, Columbus, Indiana, to the Director of Intelligence, U.S. Air Force, on two objects a civilian couple saw from their car near Seymour, Indiana, in December 1953.
Document Highlights
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Short overview
A UFOB report dated January 13, 1954, from the headquarters of the 2466th Air Force Reserve Combat Training Center at Atterbury Air Force Base, Columbus, Indiana, to the Director of Intelligence, U.S. Air Force, on two objects a civilian couple saw from their car near Seymour, Indiana, in December 1953.
Why this is interesting
Filed in lieu of the standard form under AFR 200-2, the report describes two white, cloudy or gaseous circular rings in staggered formation, each with four bright, equidistant points of light rotating slowly clockwise, and a bluish-white, vapour-like trail compared to a jet take-off at night. According to the observers, the objects approached in line with a steady descent, hovered with complete level stability and then left at an abrupt upward angle toward the southwest with seemingly instantaneous acceleration, without any sound. They watched for three to four minutes, five to six minutes in all including two moves of the car; they could not remember the exact date, so the weather section covers the whole week of December 8–15, 1953, and other air traffic could not be verified. With no officer available, a staff sergeant prepared the report and noted that the story surfaced only through the husband’s doctor: the couple had told just three friends, to avoid ridicule, but firmly believed what they saw.
Selected passages
- “tremendous acceleration on in-line flight at an abrupt”
- “He firmly believes in what he saw, however.”
Background
This document is a Flying Objects Report prepared in accordance with Air Force Regulation 200-2, which established guidance for reporting unidentified flying objects. The report records an incident near Seymour, Indiana, in which two civilian reporters stated that they observed two airborne objects while traveling by car. The report does not identify an exact event date; its weather assessment addresses conditions during the period December 8–15, 1953. The report describes the incident as consisting of a “brilliant moving light” and two large, white, cloudy or gaseous objects in a staggered formation. It further describes four bright points of light within each object and a bluish-white, vapor-like trail. The report describes the object kinematics as an in-line approach with a steady descent, a stationary interval of unreported duration, and a rapid departure along an abrupt upward angle toward the southwest. It records an estimated direct observation period of three to four minutes, with a total elapsed period of five to six minutes that included changes in the vehicle’s route. All descriptive and estimative language contained in this report reflects the reporter’s subjective interpretation at the time of the event. Such characterizations should not be interpreted as a conclusive indication of the presence or absence of any intrinsic object features or performance characteristics.