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Declassified UFO / UAP Document

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD - Skokie, Illinois - 8 June 1963

📅 8 June 1963 📍 Skokie, Illinois 🏛 ATIC 📄 Record Card and Correspondence
SkokieIllinoisProject 10073UFO1963advertising aircraft

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AI-Generated Summary

TL;DR

A family reported a bright, rotating object with portholes over Illinois in 1963. The Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) concluded the case was insufficient data, noting it may have been an advertising aircraft.

On June 8, 1963, at approximately 9:30 P.M., an 11-year-old child, accompanied by their father, 15-year-old brother, and a cousin, observed an unidentified object while traveling on the Edens Highway between Skokie and Highland Park, Illinois. The witnesses described the object as a very bright, rotating light featuring portholes around its perimeter, estimated to be at an altitude of 2,000 feet. The child subsequently wrote to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on June 11, 1963, to inquire about the nature of the object. The official Project 10073 record card for this incident notes that the duration and motion of the object were not reported. The investigating agency, ATIC, suggested that the description was consistent with an advertising aircraft equipped with an electric sign operating in the area. However, due to the lack of reported motion, the case was officially classified as having insufficient data for evaluation.

I saw a very brightly lit rotating object at about 2,000 feet high which had brightly lit up portholes all the way around it.

Official Assessment

Duration and motion omitted. Description indicates possible observation of the advertising a/c operating in this area with an electric sign. However, since no motion was reported the case is considered as insufficient data.

The sighting was likely an advertising aircraft with an electric sign, but insufficient data prevented a definitive conclusion.

Witnesses

Key Persons

Organizations