Project 10073 Record — Bourbon, Missouri, 7 January 1968

This document consists of a series of reports and correspondence regarding a civilian observer in Bourbon, Missouri, who repeatedly reported sightings of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) between 1967 and 1968. The primary record is a Project 10073 form dated 7 January 1968, which categorizes the report as 'UNRELIABLE.' The observer, a housewife, claimed to see lights in the sky almost every clear night, often describing them as large, star-like objects that changed color from white to red or orange. She provided detailed, albeit confusing, accounts of these objects moving, hovering, and joining together.

Official military and law enforcement assessments consistently dismissed these claims. A report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, dated 7 March 1967, details an investigation by Trooper D. R. Shelton. After observing the area for two hours, the trooper identified eight airplanes flying in the vicinity, which matched the observer's description of flashing red, green, and white lights. The trooper concluded that the observer lived in a flight path and that her advanced age and long-term fixation on the sky contributed to her misidentifying routine aircraft as UFOs. Subsequent correspondence from the 375th Aeromedical Airlift Wing to the Foreign Technology Division (FTD) in January 1968 reaffirmed that these new sightings were identical to those previously investigated and that no further action was warranted. The observer's own notes, included in the file, reflect a persistent belief in the phenomena, despite the official findings.