UFO Observation Report — 27 January 1968, Maysville, Kentucky

On January 27, 1968, at approximately 04:39 A.M., Patrolman Eugene McRoberts and Patrolman Charles Kendall of the Maysville Police Department in Kentucky observed an unidentified flying object while on patrol on Highway 11. The witnesses described the object as being approximately the size of a basketball, with a yellow or orange glow in the center and fuzzy white outer edges. The object was observed at an altitude of 2,000 to 3,000 feet, traveling at a very high rate of speed on a level flight path in a southwestern direction. It featured a long trail of fire behind it and made no sound. The observation lasted less than one minute before the object dropped over the horizon. The incident was reported to the Maysville Police Department, and subsequent investigation by the Air Force's Aerial Phenomena Office (Project Blue Book) involved coordination with the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Colorado. While there was initial confusion regarding potential photographs of the object—with some speculation that they might be the result of static electricity—the official conclusion reached by the Air Force was that the phenomenon was a 'Probable Astro (METEOR).' This conclusion was supported by the absence of predicted satellite decay for that date and the visual characteristics reported by the witnesses, which were consistent with a fireball.