Project 10073 Record Card and UFO Report — Lakota, North Dakota, January 1960

On January 19, 1960, at 0455Z, two observers located eight miles west of Lakota, North Dakota, reported a sighting of an unidentified aerial object. The witnesses, a contact representative from the Veterans Administration and a soil scientist from the US Soil Conversation Service, both based in Grand Forks, described the object as a crescent-shaped entity with horns pointing upward, colored yellowish-green or aqua. The object featured an empennage on the left horn and a large cone surmounted by a shaft between the horns. The sighting lasted between 5 and 10 seconds. The object was observed to be descending, moving due north of the observers, and eventually faded out as it descended into ground fog at an altitude of 10 to 15 feet. The weather conditions at the time were reported as clear with patches of ground fog. The Grand Forks Air Defense Sector conducted a preliminary investigation, which included interviews with the witnesses, consultation with Detachment 2 of the 29th Weather Squadron, and a review of radar data. No unusual objects were detected by the Air Defense Sector during this period. The official conclusion reached by the evaluating agency was that the description, while lacking specific detail, was consistent with a meteor observation. The report notes that the Lycids meteor stream, which occurs between January 12 and 23, is characterized by slow-moving meteors, suggesting the object was likely a meteor from this stream.