================================================================ PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD -- TRANSCRIPTION File: 1962-10-9316070-Farmington-Utah.pdf Transcribed by Claude Sonnet 4.6 for GlitchyMatrix.com/bluebook/ ================================================================ FIELD 1 -- DATE: 23 October 1962 FIELD 2 -- LOCATION: Farmington, Utah FIELD 3 -- DATE-TIME GROUP: Local [blank] / GMT 23/2300Z FIELD 4 -- TYPE OF OBSERVATION: Ground-Visual [X] Ground-Radar [ ] Air-Visual [ ] Air-Intercept Radar [ ] FIELD 5 -- PHOTOS: No FIELD 6 -- SOURCE: Civilian FIELD 7 -- LENGTH OF OBS: 20 seconds FIELD 8 -- NUMBER OF OBJECTS: one FIELD 9 -- COURSE: SE FIELD 10 -- BRIEF SUMMARY: Duck hunter heard sound like flock of ducks and observed a grey and silver round ball 3 ft in diameter approaching from the West at speed of jet a/c. What appeared to be grey or silver twine or cobwebbing with two knots trailing behind object. After passing overhead object swerved to SE and accelerated to a tremendous speed and disappeared in 1-2 seconds. Total sighting was 20 seconds. FIELD 11 -- COMMENTS: UNIDENTIFIED FIELD 12 -- CONCLUSIONS: [ ] Was balloon [ ] Probably balloon [ ] Possibly balloon [ ] Was aircraft [ ] Probably aircraft [ ] Possibly aircraft [ ] Was astronomical [ ] Probably astronomical [ ] Possibly astronomical [X] Other: UNIDENTIFIED [ ] Insufficient data for evaluation [X] Unknown [Note: Both "Other: UNIDENTIFIED" (written in) and "Unknown" are marked on the original form.] Form: ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) Supplemental documents present: - Intelligence Report IR-4-62, AF Form 112 (JUL 61), 3 pages, dated 30 October 1962, prepared by George W. Takos, Internal Security Branch, Sec & Law Enforcement Div, Hill AFB Utah; signed by Major William H. Derrington, Chief, Sec & Law Enforcement Div. Note: "This format is used in lieu of AF Form 112A, which is not available." - Dept. of Air Force Staff Message Branch, INCOMING, AF IN: 4961 (30 Oct 62), 3 pages. Unclassified. From HILL AFB UTAH to multiple commands including ADC ENT AFB COLO, HAMILTON AFB CALIF, WPAFB OHIO, HQS USAF, SEC AIR FORCE. Advisory copy to DIA. ================================================================ SEARCH INDEX TERMS ================================================================ Farmington Utah Davis County 1962 October duck hunter duck hunting Farmington Bay Wildlife Refuge Great Salt Lake civilian ground-visual round ball sphere gray silver cobwebbing twine trailing jet speed acceleration climb 45-degree 20 seconds daytime naked eye unidentified Hill AFB Hill Air Force Base Ogden Utah FBI OSI Salt Lake City intelligence report IR-4-62 George Takos Derrington weather bureau balloon ruled out no exhaust no heat waves rushing air sound single witness mature stable credible observer UNIDENTIFIED ================================================================ CASE ANALYSIS -- Claude Sonnet 4.6 ================================================================ THE OFFICIAL CONCLUSION ----------------------- The USAF classified this case UNIDENTIFIED. The conclusion appears on both the ATIC Form 329 and explicitly in the comments field. The investigating officer, Security Specialist George W. Takos (GS-7) of the Security and Law Enforcement Division at Hill AFB, Utah, conducted a personal interview with the witness and concluded that the observer was "a logical, mature person" who "was convinced he observed some tangible object, not identifiable as conventional type aircraft." Takos and his superior, Major William H. Derrington, found no meteorological, astronomical, or missile-related explanation for the sighting. The report was forwarded to multiple major commands and an advisory copy sent to the Defense Intelligence Agency. The case was left open, with no further action contemplated unless follow-up was requested. This is a well-investigated conclusion. The investigators were methodical, they checked the alternatives, and they were honest about what they could not explain. WHAT THE EVIDENCE SHOWS ----------------------- On the afternoon of 23 October 1962 -- approximately 4:00 PM Mountain Standard Time, a clear daytime hour -- a 52-year-old Salt Lake City cab driver was duck hunting at Farmington Bay Wildlife Refuge, half a mile west of US Highway 91 on the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake. What first got his attention was sound: a rushing noise similar to a flock of ducks coming over his position. What he saw was not ducks. Looking west from his blind, he noticed a gray and silver round ball approximately 3 feet in diameter, approaching from the west at approximately the speed of a jet aircraft. The object was flying level at an estimated altitude of 2,000 to 3,000 feet. It was trailing what appeared to be gray or silver twine or cobwebbing -- with two distinct knots -- behind it. The object passed overhead. After clearing his position it swerved 20 degrees to the right (turning to approximately 110 degrees, southeast), then climbed out at a 45-degree angle and accelerated to what the observer described as a tremendous speed, disappearing within 1 to 2 seconds. Total observation time: approximately 20 seconds. The observer noted no exhaust, no heat waves, and no engine sound. The only sound was the initial rushing-air noise as the object approached, which he compared to the sound of duck wings. Weather conditions were nearly ideal for observation: clear sky, no clouds, unlimited ceiling, 30-mile visibility, very little surface wind. The observation was naked eye, in full daylight. POINTS OF INTEREST / WHAT GIVES ME PAUSE ----------------------------------------- The cobwebbing. That detail is the anchor of this report and the detail that keeps it from easy dismissal. "Gray or silver twine or cobwebbing with two knots" is not the description of a person trying to describe something exotic in familiar terms -- it is an extremely specific, mundane-vocabulary attempt to describe something that actually had that appearance. The two knots are a particularly concrete detail. A witness fabricating a report does not typically invent trailing cobwebbing with two knots. The investigating team specifically explored the balloon hypothesis. US Weather Bureau had released balloons at 1700Z and 2300Z that same day -- one of them right at the time of the sighting. But both were tracked south and west over Bingham, Utah, moving away from Farmington Bay. This isn't a vague dismissal; it's a specific tracking check with a specific result. The balloons are eliminated by data, not by assumption. The sound description is also notable. A duck hunter in a waterfowl refuge is exactly the person most likely to know what a flock of ducks sounds like, and he heard something that mimicked that sound well enough to look up -- only to see a gray ball. The rushing-air noise without engine sound is a consistent feature of several other UNIDENTIFIED cases from this era and is difficult to explain with conventional propulsion. Hill AFB is roughly 25 miles north of Farmington Bay. The investigating office was Hill's own Security and Law Enforcement Division, and they explicitly stated that no missile test firings were being conducted in the immediate area. They had institutional access to know whether something experimental was aloft that afternoon. They said no. The observer's description of the flight path and maneuver is precise in a way that matters: level approach from due west (270 degrees), straight overhead, then a controlled turn to 110 degrees (southeast) combined with a 45-degree climb and sudden acceleration. This is a described flight path, not just an impression. Controlled directional change combined with extreme acceleration in 1 to 2 seconds is not consistent with any balloon or natural phenomenon, and in 1962 no conventional aircraft could execute that profile while appearing as a 3-foot sphere with trailing silver material and no visible exhaust. The intelligence distribution on this case is worth noting. The staff message went to Air Defense Command, Hamilton AFB, Wright-Patterson (home of Blue Book), HQ USAF, the Secretary of the Air Force's office, and DIA received an advisory copy. That is a significant routing for a single civilian witness with a 20-second observation. Finally: the source evaluation in the intelligence report is rated B-2 -- "Usually Reliable" source, "Probably True" information. That is a meaningful credibility rating in the military intelligence system. BOTTOM LINE ----------- This is a solid UNIDENTIFIED. The investigators did their work. The obvious alternatives -- balloons, conventional aircraft, astronomical phenomena, meteorological effects -- were checked and ruled out, not hand-waved away. The weather conditions for observation were nearly perfect. The witness was interviewed in person, assessed as credible, and his account was consistent across multiple tellings. The cobwebbing detail is genuinely strange and I am not aware of a satisfying conventional explanation for a 3-foot round object trailing knotted silver material while traveling at jet speed in level flight before executing a sharp high-g climb and acceleration. If that description is accurate -- and the investigators gave the observer reason to believe it was -- this is not a case where UNIDENTIFIED reflects a data gap. It reflects an object that does not correspond to known aircraft, natural phenomena, or military hardware active in the area on that day. What's missing is corroboration. One witness, 20 seconds, naked eye in an open marsh. No radar contact is mentioned or attempted. No other witnesses reported. Those are real limitations. But the single witness was in an exceptional position to observe -- an outdoor hunter in a clear open sky, alerted by sound before the object came into view -- and the investigating team found no reason to doubt him. The Farmington Bay sighting of 23 October 1962 earns its UNIDENTIFIED classification. ================================================================ https://glitchymatrix.com/bluebook/ GlitchyMatrix Project Blue Book Archive All 10,808 declassified USAF UFO case files, 1945-1969 ================================================================