Sighting Report — South Boston, Virginia, January 10, 1965

This document contains correspondence from the Air Force to a witness in South Boston, Virginia, regarding a sighting on January 10, 1965. The witness, Lowell Strickland, reported seeing an object at approximately 7:15 P.M. that he initially assumed was a large falling star. He described the object as making a loud hissing noise, traveling from North to South, and leaving a long trail of sparks similar to a child's sparkler. The sighting lasted only a few seconds due to cloud cover. A separate press clipping from the Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, dated January 27, 1965, notes that two men, Lowell Strickland and Dr. George L. Wilkinson, observed the same object from locations three miles apart. Dr. Wilkinson described the object as elliptical in shape, approximately 100 feet long, and emitting flaming sparks at a high rate of speed. He characterized the object as a 'concept of a bright light' moving at a phenomenal speed. The Air Force responded to the witness on April 27, 1965, stating that the object was a meteor and that the sighting was positively associated with a meteor event in Silver Spring, Maryland, at the same time.