Project 10073 Record Card and Related Correspondence — September 1956

This document collection comprises a series of reports and correspondence related to UFO sightings in September 1956, compiled under Project 10073. The primary record details a sighting on September 30, 1956, in Ballas, Pennsylvania, where a witness reported a yellow, snowflake-shaped object, approximately the size of a basketball at arm's length, with two tails and flashes of light. The object was observed for one hour and forty minutes, moving south and then back to the west. Official evaluation concluded the object was likely the planet Mars, noting that the sky was clear and Mars was visible at the time. The collection also includes various other reports from the same period, such as sightings in Salem, Indiana, on September 15, 1956, where a witness described a gunmetal, yo-yo-shaped object hovering over a field. This witness, a writer and editor, noted that the object eventually vanished at high speed. Other entries include press clippings from the C.R.I.F.O. Orbit newsletter, documenting sightings in locations ranging from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Yorkshire, England, and Yokohama, Japan. These reports describe a variety of phenomena, including glowing objects, spheres, and delta-shaped craft. The documentation reflects the Air Force's systematic effort to collect and evaluate these reports, often categorizing them as astronomical events, aircraft, or insufficient data, while also acknowledging the public's growing interest and the role of amateur researchers like Leonard H. Stringfield in documenting these accounts.