Project 10073 Record: Sighting Report - Richland, Washington, 15 July 1953

This document is a compilation of records related to Project 10073, primarily focusing on a sighting report from Richland, Washington, dated 15 July 1953. The primary witness, whose name is redacted, submitted a detailed account of an unidentified aerial object to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in March 1966, thirteen years after the event. The witness, who identified himself as a professional engineer and NRA marksmanship instructor, described observing a bright, shimmering object at approximately 30,000 feet through a telescope. He noted the object appeared to be a transparent, disc-like craft with four exhaust humps on its outer edge, which hovered before darting away at high speed. The witness provided a sketch of the object as it appeared through his telescope. The FBI acknowledged the report in August 1953 and referred the matter to the Atomic Energy Commission, as the location was near the Hanford Works. By the time the report was formally processed in the 1966 project records, investigators concluded that the significant time delay made it impossible to verify the details, and the case was classified as 'Information Only.' The document also includes a list of various sightings from July 1953, categorized by location and evaluation, such as 'Probably Balloon,' 'Astronomical,' or 'Unsolved.' Other entries in the file include reports of meteors and abnormal refraction observed by mariners in the North Atlantic, as well as a separate, unrelated sighting report from East St. Louis, Illinois, involving a witness named Harold Parvin who claimed to see a flying saucer while observing the moon through a telescope in July 1953.