Project 10073 Record Card and Incident Report — Charleston, West Virginia, 14 May 1961

On 14 May 1961, at approximately 140145Z, a sales engineer located in East Charleston, West Virginia, near the State Capitol, observed a circular, white, starlike object. The witness reported that the object, which appeared to be the size of a dime, exhibited a pulsating forward motion with slight erratic lateral movement before fading out in the east. The observation lasted between five and ten minutes. The incident was formally reported by the 733rd ACW Squadron at Guthrie AFS, West Virginia, to the Air Defense Command and other relevant Air Force authorities in accordance with AFR 200-2. The report includes detailed meteorological data from the US Weather Bureau office at Kanawha County Airport, noting that a 100-gram weather balloon was launched from the airport at 1825 EST (132325Z). The investigating officer concluded that the sighting was likely caused by this weather balloon. It was noted that the balloon remained in the general vicinity of Charleston for some time due to relatively low winds aloft, reaching a maximum altitude of 25,000 feet. The report suggests that the pulsating motion described by the witness could have been caused by varying wind velocities acting upon the balloon. The observer's reliability was assessed as good.