PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS 3. OATETIME GROUP .C. TYPE OF OBSERVATION Was Balloon Probably Balloon Passi bly Balloon .local 1800 0 Was Aircraft )I(Grouncl-Visual 0 GraundRadar 0 Probably Aircraft GMT 152400Z, XJ AI,.. Vi al 0 Air Intercept Radar Possibly Aircraft %1{ Prohably Astronomical 0 Possibly Astronomical H No Civilian ~ M I(...IT ~"( . 7. LENGTH OF.OISERVAT ON 0 Insufficient Data fer Evaluation 0 Unlcnown 110. BRIEF SUMMARY Ofl SIGHTINGBluish-white "shooting . ptar" with ball of blue light and slight ~ppeared lO,ooo 090. Burned out with red 11. COMMENTSObJect in question was probab~ a meteor, one of the many that are bei~ observed at this time. U"eetFt ~v D/2 Rettu S7(..\)Y' L~lt!t-Nce-~...,6c ATIC FORM 3l9 (REV 26 SEP 52) 18 miles north of Minocqua. She was outdoors watching a snowplow clear- ing the surface of a skating rink. The fireball. as she observed it, passed more or less direct~ overhead from south to north. wish \-latera, which it 1 anded within a no sounds, Mr saw the fireball from a location near Manito- is about 21 miles northwest of Minocqua. He thought ... ~and feet to the east of him. Although he heard ticed a strong odor of burning sulfur in the Mrs as in a car about two miles southeast or Presque Isle, which is on the }iichigan border twenty-five miles north of Minocqua. The fireball seemed to ~ass almost directly overhead . As it did so, the car radio faded out and she heard a "distinct hummir1g'' soun~ Before it disappeared to tha north, the fireball seemed to ex- plode in a burst of greenish light and shoot fragments in all directions. The foregoing re?Oi."ts are consistent td th the path of the main fireball as inferred fr~r.1 observations in the Hauston and Ft. William areas. Some other re )orts we!'"e received which are ap:-Ju-ently inconsis- tent, either because they involve serious errors in co1npass directions or because one or more ot~1er fireballs {possible fragments of the main one) were observed during t~v:! same evening. For exarr1~le, .Hiss driving south on Highway 47 and saw a tireball when she about . miles northwest of f~inocqua. Accord- ing to Miss Walnick, the fire~all seemed to come from overhead and fell in front of her--to the southeast. Mr saw a fireba:l through the open door of the Enchanted Forest Bar ut three miles northwest of Lac du Flambeau (ap9roximately 11 miles northwest of Hinocqua). She called to customers who were in the bar at time, and they also witnessed the fireball. According to Mr the direction o! travel was from ~E;t to east, and the course some~rhat to the south. Another observer who saw a fireball apparently falling toward the southeast was Mrs. or Eagle River. She was driving north on Highway 51 and was ut 1 rr.iles north or Irma--roughly 35 r.Ules south of Minocqua. The fireball seemed to come from almost directly over the car. It left a conspicuous trail and illuminated the ground "like lightning". >Ir. sa..t '10 f ireball, but a s he t-ras walking along a road 4 miles south of Three La~es, noticed a ?eculiar blue-green illumi- nation of the sky, which lasted for several seconds. One or tt.ro seconds later he heard a dull "boom", aptJarently from the S.)utheast, and simul- taneously felt a distinct grom1d tremor. Three Lakes is about 27 miles -- east of ~1inocqua. A!1other re:)ort, :tl thcu~h i t introduces an addj tional. complication i n tha matter o! direction, i.s i ,1:.ar asting i n that it lands support for the idea that two distinct fireballs m~ have been seen in the Minocqua area. a high school student, was driving south of Highw~ 51 about 20 miles south of Minocqua when he noticed a bright flash of white light in the s~. About ten minutes later, after he had turned off the highw~ onto a side road, he saw a fireball, which resembled "a burning plane", apparently falling straight down to the southwest. No effort was made to secure re~rts from the area between riauston and lli.nocqua. newspapers reported that the fireball was seen from a North Central Airlines plane in the vicinity of Wisconsin Rapids. In northern Hichigan, inquiries were addressed to the Ontonagon and Chamber of Commerce. No response was received. It may be that the fireball could not be seen here due to weather conditions. Mrs. in her report. from just south of the ~iichigan border (see above) , ,\.44cated that the sky to the north was overcast. Mrs. mentioned above, ha.r)pened to be a f'omer resident of the Ft. William area and called to the writer's attention an article in the Ft. William. Times-Journal for January 16th indicating that the Mauston- fireball had been seen from the north shore of Lake Superior. Requests for f~ther detailed inforMati on were addressed to the Times- Journal and the Port Arthur Ne~s Herald. Thanl<s to the very generous cooperation of these news~apers, a nQ~ber of excellen~ eye-witness reports were later r~ceived by the writer. Inquiries were also sent to various other Canadj an locations from wi1ich the fireball might have been seen, but these failed to .>roduce additional data. Two of the reports from the Ft. T~illia"l-Port t'LTthur area are partic- ular~y interesting in that they provide an approximate "fix" on the point of impact. kr. was l~cated on the north ~hore of Thunder Bay about 5 mile:J nort:1east of the Port Arthur city lirri ts. He saw the fireball reach the on a line just a little to the west of Pie Island. Mr. was looking out the !ron~ window of his home near the intersection of Isabella and Ford Sts. in Ft. William. He saw the fireball appear from behind the summit of Mt. ricK~ and descend in an apparently ea3tward direction so that it reached the horizon sli the east or the base of the mountain. The intersection of Mr. and Ur. lines puts the point of irrltlact between the west ends Pie Island and Thomoson Island Three ether rei.Jorts were received from ~-rithin the cit .. if limits of Ft. ~.Villiam. a lJ-year-old boy, was skating in Ninne- sota Park near the north city limits \-rhcn he saw the f i r eball, looking "bigger than a star" and f allov1ed b;,r a short trail "like a blot.z torch", falling to an end point 1.5 east of south. !-~Ir was in a ar at the intersection of Oakvrood St. and Victoria i:..ve. He t oo gave a course for t he mel'.eoritd :r!ti ch ~T)tlld "Ju t t,_a ')Oint of l noac t ose t o r. line. ~ ... Irs ~..ra;> i a a .:;ar ( a :J9;uoe n t l y McKellar General ~os~ital. As soon as she saw the fireball, t out of the car for a better view. She watched the descend to the southeast and noted the time as exact~ 6:12 Two reports came in rsons located a considerable distance west of Ft. William. Mr. was fishing near the west end of ~,fuitefish Lake--about )6 st. He described the fireball as "about the size of the moon", and its course as nearly parallel to the ~9utheastern horizon. The point of impact he estimated to be on a line running toward the southwest end of Isle Royale. Miss saw the fireball through the window of a house located about miles west o Ft. William. To her it looked like "a large star" with a trail like vapor behind a jet plane "but very red" Most Canadian observers ( excef)ting 11r described the apparent size o the fireball as something between a star of extraordinar,y bright- ness and "about one <!Ua.:ter the size of the moon". NJne of them was aware of any sounds con. iected ~ri th the flight or impact. of the bolide. It m~ be mention~d that, as in the r1inocqua area, several reports were received on uhat appear to have been other fireballs or large meteQrS visible the same evenL1g. Since the norti1ern ;art of La:<:e Superior is ordinarily ice-covered until well along in the s :J!ing, and thick ice is not eafily penetrated even by a falling meteorite, it seemed desirable to try to initiate aa air search around t !1e ?robable .Joint of impact. Accordingly, the Ft. William Times Journ:U. and also the Ft. Hilliarn Chamber of Com.merce were notified that, if a..,_y srttall plane olr.lers Cc~ed to look for it, a reward of plOO would be p:.Ud l'or the recovary or the meteorite. It was suggested that the search be concentrated bet~1~en the west e!'lds of Pie Island and Isle Royale. ~.'het.her a.I'.y search was made is not known. So far, no one has atl~lied for the ret-~c..rd. ~JED~QIAIR TEC~I INTELL w. I v L t O J \1T D T:lc r !.JUT i -rl nC'.L LIG!iT C I fti: , 25, :J GATIVE RESULT~. ~ JlOCTI.:G LAWRENCE COLLEGE APPLETON. WISCONSIN Maj. William T. Coleman, Jr. UFO Project Officer Public Information Division 0 :f'tice of Information Office of the Secretary Dept. of the Air Force Washington, D.o. Dear Major Coleman: I appreciate very much your sending me a list or your records on meteor sightings in Wisconsin, }.tinnesota, and Iowa tor 1959-61. You will note from the enclosed mimeographed report that I did considerable work on at least one ot these sightings. I shall perhaps take the liberty of bothering you again a year or so from now for any additional meteor reports that may have come your way. Would it be a lot of trouble for you to give me the name and address of the person who reported the meteor from Booth Lake, Wisconsin, 6-10-59? I should like to get further information on this one if possible. Cop; to Col. ?.~a-Jombdr Truax Field 1.tadison, Wis. Very sincerely yours, !liRe an two pnu..D 1D Ml41aca, ule to 7'AI ca -u. ~ the 1 JII418CID w. are to uln 70'1 W,(T.J;tAM '1'. COIPII'JI, JB. MaJor, UBAr - 010 Projea" Offtcer Publ1e In~ozaUca Dl'Yia1on Otftae ~ Infoltioa u .... rt Arthur Fireball or January 15, 1961 Lawrence College, Appleton, Wis \J \ "-"' _,A\. Ft. William ~Pi Is. '-' Isle Royale !l!inocqua On the evening of Janu~ 15, 1961, a large fireball was seen travelling northward from points between Mauston, Wisconsin, and Port Arthur, Ontario. This came to the writer's attention through a news- cast concerning the Hauston sigh tings pres en ted by Green Bay Radio Station \~AI. An immediate effort was made to secure accurate, detailed reports from the Mauaton area. The Juneau County sheriff's office, Mauston Station \ITMV, and a Hauston newspaper, Chronicle, rendered active assistance. Subsequently, Lawrence College student whose home is in Uaus f personally in rviewed several of the witnesses. Nrs. who lives on a farm near Camp Douglas ,13 miles northwest of Hauston, reported the course of the fireball as "straight , down" to the north. This suggests that the bolide passed directly over Camp Douglas, although it did not become visible until it had travelled some distance beyond. 141-s. sail the fireball from an automobile about half' a mile southeast of Lake Delton--23 miles southeast or 11auston. To her, it appeared to be "as large, if not twice as large; as the moon". She checked her liatch and noted that the time was exactly 6:10 P.M. (Central Standard TiJ'Ile}. t-lr was in the living room of his home at the Castle Boy Scout Camp, about 1) miles northeast of Mauston. He described the firebal 1 as. "larger t~1an t ne .full moon" and resembling an airplane coming down in flames. None of these observers heard ~ sound which they connected with the passage or the fireball. About a week later, a letter was received from Mr or Minocqua indicating that the same fireball had been seen in that area. The writer visited l.finocqua on January 24th and collect~d a number or verbal reports. Additional written reports were received subsequently --thanks to the cooperation or Minocqua's newspaper, the Lakeland Times, and Rhinelander Radio Station HDBT. and in a car about 8 miles west ot Minocqua. They reported the fireball as about half the size or the full moon and shooting out s,)ar:<:s It !las sed more or less c!.irecUy rhead and r.<~as visible for a t l3ast five 3econds. Twenty seconds after its disappearance they heard "rumbling or craokling" sounds. an eleven-year-old boy, was walking toward the barn on his family's farm just west o~ Hoodruff ,. a mile north of Hinocqua. He saw the fireball passing a little wast of overhead and was impressed by its brilliant illumination of the snow-covered ground. lives t-...,o mi les t-ras t o f Boulder .Junction, about