Project 10073 Record: UFO Sighting, Surfside, Texas, 20 March 1966

This document collection details a UFO sighting reported by three members of the U.S. Coast Guard stationed aboard the USCGC LEGARE in Surfside, Texas, on the morning of March 20, 1966. At approximately 0125 hours, the witnesses observed lights in two houses blinking rapidly, followed by a power failure in the area and a blue flash of light. The witnesses reported seeing a large, oval-shaped object with ports or windows, emitting an orange glow and a blue light, hovering between 300 and 1000 feet above the ground. The object reportedly moved away at a high rate of speed. Later, two smaller objects were observed shooting up from the ground. The Commanding Officer of the USCGC LEGARE, Lieutenant Peter L. Collom, forwarded these statements to the Commandant of the Coast Guard and the U.S. Air Force for investigation. Subsequent inquiries conducted by the Coast Guard with the Houston Lighting and Power Company revealed that the power failure was caused by a defective transformer on a power pole. The electric company's repair crew, which arrived to fix the transformer, was later identified by the witnesses as the source of a rotating orange light they had observed. The official conclusion reached by the investigation was that the power failure was a mechanical issue, and the reported phenomena were likely associated with the electrical fault and the subsequent repair activities. The Commanding Officer noted that the witnesses were credible and not under the influence of alcohol, but emphasized that without personal observation, the origin of the reported aerial objects remained a matter of supposition.