Project 10073 Record Card - Sheffield Lake, Ohio, 21 September 1958

This document details the investigation of a UFO sighting reported by Mrs. William H. Fitzgerald in Sheffield Lake, Ohio, on September 21, 1958. Mrs. Fitzgerald reported that at approximately 0300 EDT, she was awakened by an intense light and observed a flat, circular, dull aluminum object with a dome-shaped top hovering in her front yard. She described the object as approximately 20 feet in diameter and 6 feet thick, emitting a pinkish-gray smoke from side openings. Her stepson, John, also observed the object from a different room. The sighting lasted approximately five minutes before the object rose instantly out of sight. Mrs. Fitzgerald subsequently contacted her congressman, A. D. Baumhart, Jr., to request an official Air Force investigation, expressing concern that the object might be a government missile or a threat to public safety. The Air Force conducted an investigation on October 3-4, 1958, involving interviews with the witnesses and checks of local infrastructure. The investigation concluded that the sighting was an illusion caused by a combination of factors: an oscillating headlight from a passing train, a spotlight from a Coast Guard cutter searching for a missing boat on Lake Erie, and prevailing weather conditions (mist, haze, and smoke). The Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) maintained that the witness was a victim of an illusion, exacerbated by her emotional state after watching a horror movie, 'Dracula's Daughter,' before retiring. The document includes extensive correspondence between Mrs. Fitzgerald, her congressman, and Air Force officials, as well as internal Air Force routing slips and memoranda. A significant portion of the document addresses the 'Fitzgerald Report,' a pamphlet published by the UFO Research Committee of Akron, which accused the Air Force of 'criminal mishandling' and 'duplicity' in its investigation. The Air Force responded to these charges by defending the competence of its investigators, T/Sgt L. A. Haisten and T/Sgt V. J. Hof, and reiterating that the evidence collected precluded the need for further investigation. The document concludes that the UFO Research Committee's activities were intended to discredit the U.S. Government and the Air Force rather than conduct scientific inquiry.