West Palm Beach, Florida: Scoutmaster DesVergers says red flare from ball of light hit him
Around 10:00 p.m. on August 19, 1952, scoutmaster D. S. 'Sonny' DesVergers entered a palmetto grove south of West Palm Beach, Florida, while three scouts saw red lights flashing there; he staggered out saying a red flare from a hatch in a red ball of light had hit him.
Background
Around 10:00 p.m. on August 19, 1952, scoutmaster D. S. 'Sonny' DesVergers was driving with three scouts on the edge of the Everglades south of West Palm Beach, Florida, when he saw a light in a palmetto grove. He returned, went into the grove alone, and the three boys soon saw red lights flashing there and went to a nearby house for help. DesVergers staggered out, incoherently saying he had been zapped into semiconsciousness by a red flare from a hatch in a red ball of light; his cap was burned. An area of flattened and burned grass was found, and grass samples sent to the Air Force showed root damage extending 4 inches or more into the soil, suggesting overheating. DesVergers had a reputation as a prankster and hoped to profit from his story, but the scouts corroborated it; Karl Pflock considers it a hoax, while Jerry Clark is not fully certain. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.