Project 10073 Record — UFO Observation, 19 October 1968, Fort Mill, South Carolina

This document contains a record of a UFO sighting reported by two sixteen-year-old high school students in Fort Mill, South Carolina, on October 19, 1968. The witnesses described observing a single object for approximately fifteen minutes. They initially mistook the object for a helicopter or a planet while driving on Fairway Drive. As they continued their journey, they observed the object from different vantage points, including near a pond and the old Sprett Family graveyard. The witnesses described the object as egg or pear-shaped, appearing three times larger and brighter than Venus. It was initially pure white but changed to red when it moved. They estimated its altitude to be a few hundred feet at a distance of half a mile to a mile, noting that it later dropped to an altitude of less than two hundred feet before regaining altitude and moving toward Rock Hill, South Carolina. The witnesses reported no sound. The Air Force, specifically the Aerial Phenomena Office under the Foreign Technology Division, reviewed the report and concluded that the data provided was insufficient for a scientific investigation. Lt. Colonel Hector Quintanilla, Jr. sent a letter to the witnesses requesting they complete an AF Form 117 to provide more detailed information, but as of January 10, 1969, the forms had not been returned.