Unidentified Flying Object Report, Charleston, S. C. Area, 28/1755Z Oct 58

This collection of documents details the investigation into an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) sighting that occurred on October 28, 1958, in the vicinity of Charleston, South Carolina. The primary report, filed by the 1608th Air Transport Wing, describes an object sighted at 1755Z by multiple witnesses, including shipyard workers and Air Force personnel. The object was described as a spherical, white ball of fire with a glowing red appearance and a blue streak tail, approximately 30 feet long. Witnesses estimated the object's size to be that of a basketball, noting that it traveled downward at a steep angle of 80 degrees with the horizon at a very high rate of speed. The duration of the sighting was brief, lasting only 1-3 seconds.

Subsequent investigations involved the District Intelligence Office of the Sixth Naval District and the Office of Special Investigations (OSI). A check with local military and civilian authorities, including the 444th Fighter Interceptor Squadron and the U.S. Weather Bureau, yielded no radar contact or evidence of an aircraft crash. One witness, a teamster, reported seeing what he believed to be a jet aircraft falling in flames near Harleyville, South Carolina, and later observed smoke in a wooded area near Cross, South Carolina; however, the Forest Service found no evidence of a fire or incident in that area.

Internal military communications, including messages between the 32nd Air Division, the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), and the 35th Air Division, indicate that this sighting was part of a broader series of reports across the southeastern United States on the same date. Other agencies reported similar fireball sightings in Florida and Georgia. The consensus among the reporting agencies, as noted on the Project 10073 record card, was that the description and duration of the sighting were consistent with a meteor. Some reports of 'tumbling' objects were attributed to the re-entry of a USSR satellite. The documents conclude that there was no further evidence to suggest the object was anything other than a natural phenomenon, and the case was closed with the classification of the reports to protect official interests regarding re-entering space debris.