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Declassified UFO / UAP Document

Project 10073 Record Card — Orcas Island, Washington, 28 August 1962

📅 28 August 1962 📍 Orcas Island, Washington 🏛 ATIC 📄 Record Card and Correspondence
UFOUAPProject 10073Orcas IslandWashington1962insufficient data

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AI-Generated Summary

TL;DR

A 14-year-old witness reported four stationary amber lights over Orcas Island, Washington, on August 28, 1962. The official investigation concluded the case as having insufficient data after failing to confirm astronomical or atmospheric explanations.

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and a supporting letter from a 14-year-old witness regarding an aerial sighting on August 28, 1962, near Orcas Island, Washington. The witness reported observing four bright amber lights hovering in a straight line, estimated to be a couple of hundred feet above the ground. The objects remained stationary for a period of 30 minutes, during which two of the objects descended to a lower altitude and disappeared below the horizon. Later, all objects vanished, though one briefly returned before disappearing again. The witness, who was staying with grandparents at the time, provided a written account and noted that they had drawn a picture of the scene. The official evaluation on the record card suggests the lights might have been astronomical bodies setting, or potentially a reflection of ground lights caused by an atmospheric inversion. However, the report concludes that because the necessary conditions to confirm these theories could not be established, the case is officially categorized as having insufficient data for a definitive evaluation.

Since these conditions have not been established the case is considered as insufficient data.

Official Assessment

Information indicates observation of four astronomical bodies setting; however, at the rptd time of sighting, there are not four bodies of 1st or 2nd magnitude in position for this to occur. The other possibility is that there was a reflection of ground lights on a possible inversion. Since these conditions have not been established the case is considered as insufficient data.

The sighting was initially evaluated as potentially astronomical or a reflection, but due to lack of established conditions, it remains classified as insufficient data.

Witnesses