UFO Report - Ellerbe, North Carolina, 17 November 1965

This document consists of two sections of an Air Force incoming message regarding a UFO sighting report filed on 19 November 1965, concerning events that occurred on 17 November 1965 near Ellerbe, North Carolina. Two witnesses, a salesman and a local law enforcement officer, reported observing as many as twenty-five objects over a two-hour period. The objects were described as white, burning lights with tails of red-orange sparks, appearing to be the size of a pinhead at arm's length. The witnesses reported that the objects generally traveled from east to west, twenty degrees off the horizon, and disappeared before reaching the horizon. While the initial observer was struck by an apparent course change in one of the objects, he later concluded that this was likely an optical illusion caused by refraction through the curved windshield of his vehicle. The investigating officer, 2nd Lt. Nolan W. Schmidt, concluded that the phenomena were meteorites, noting that November is considered the peak of the meteorite season and that Pope Air Force Base control tower personnel had also reported sightings during the same timeframe. The document includes a reference table of recurring Northern Hemisphere meteor showers taken from the 1960 Handbook of Geophysics.