Project 10073 Record Card and Related Correspondence — Milan, Indiana, September 1958

This document archive details a series of reports concerning an unidentified aerial phenomenon observed on the morning of September 29, 1958. The primary incident involved a sighting in Milan, Indiana, where witnesses described a round, white object, approximately half the size of the moon, emitting a whirring sound similar to a baseball with a loose cover. The object was observed moving from the southeast to the northwest and appeared to be breaking up. Similar reports were received from witnesses in Washington, D.C., and as far west as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) conducted an investigation into these reports. The official conclusion reached by the Air Force was that the witnesses had observed a meteor that made an unusually deep penetration into the Earth's atmosphere. The observatory at Georgetown University also received reports of the object and concluded it was a meteor. The ATIC noted that the consistency of the reports across a wide geographic area, combined with the description of the object's appearance and sound, supported the meteor hypothesis. Some witnesses reported seeing the object break into multiple pieces, which investigators attributed to the breakup or burnout of the meteor. The document includes various record cards, correspondence from witnesses, and internal Air Force memos, including a cover sheet from the 2253D Air Base Group. The investigation also addressed and discounted other possibilities, such as aircraft or errant missiles. A light seen on the ground near Washington, D.C., was determined to be a floodlight on a barn. The archive also contains subsequent correspondence from 1960 and 1961, where individuals who had reported sightings in 1958 requested information on the findings of their reports, to which the Air Force responded by confirming the meteor conclusion.