Project 10073 Record: UFO Sighting, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 24 October 1968

On 24 October 1968, at 2317Z, a civilian observer on the campus of the University of Western Michigan in Kalamazoo reported a sighting of an unidentified flying object. The witness, a 25-year-old psychologist, described the object as a light, comparable in size to half the diameter of a dime held at arm's length. The object was observed for three to five minutes, during which time it changed color from red to orange and appeared to drop flaming material before disappearing upward into or behind clouds. The Air Force investigation, led by 2nd Lt Herbert D. Birkhead of the 4627th Air Base Squadron at Custer Air Force Station, found no corroborating evidence from local police, university security, the 34th Air Division, or local airport control towers. The investigation noted that there were no planes burning in the area, though the Kalamazoo Fire Department reported a brush fire a few miles away. The official conclusion reached by Lt Col Hector Quintanilla, Jr., Chief of the Aerial Phenomena Branch, was that the object was a hot air garment bag balloon. The report suggests the object could have been a student-made hot air device or burning cinders from the nearby ground fire, noting that the lack of additional witnesses in a metropolitan area was a significant factor in the assessment.