Project 10073 Record Card — Amherst, Massachusetts, 5 December 1956

On 5 December 1956, at approximately 2205Z, a student at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst observed an unidentified aerial object. The witness described the object as a dark, round, basketball-sized entity at arm's length, which possessed a ball-shaped exhaust that tapered to a pencil-thin trail. The object was first sighted at an elevation of 30 degrees and an azimuth of 132 degrees, and it disappeared at an elevation of 30 degrees and an azimuth of 35 degrees. The total duration of the observation was between one and three seconds. The witness reported that the object traveled in a straight flight path and vanished in an orange-yellow puff of explosion. The witness contacted the 4050th Air Refueling Wing at Westover Air Force Base on 7 December 1956 to report the incident. A preliminary investigation was conducted by a Sergeant from the 4050th Air Refueling Wing on 7 and 8 December 1956, in accordance with Air Force Regulation 200-2. The investigation included checking with the Ground Observer Corps and Radar Site Eggnog. While radar data confirmed the presence of jet aircraft in the area at the time of the sighting, the official conclusion reached by the military investigators was that the sighting was likely caused by a meteor. Alternative possibilities mentioned in the comments included sunspots or the exhaust blast from jet aircraft known to be in the vicinity.