---------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================ PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD -- TRANSCRIPTION File: 1955-06-6967598-Holt-Florida.pdf Transcribed by Claude Sonnet 4.6 for GlitchyMatrix.com/bluebook/ ================================================================ FIELD 1 -- DATE: 26 June 1955 FIELD 2 -- LOCATION: Holt, Florida FIELD 3 -- DATE-TIME GROUP: Local [not recorded] / GMT 27/0200Z (June 26 at approx. 9 PM local Central time) FIELD 4 -- TYPE OF OBSERVATION: Ground-Visual [X] Ground-Radar [ ] Air-Visual [ ] Air-Intercept Radar [ ] FIELD 5 -- PHOTOS: No FIELD 6 -- SOURCE: Civilian & military FIELD 7 -- LENGTH OF OBS: 5-10 min FIELD 8 -- NUMBER OF OBJECTS: 1 FIELD 9 -- COURSE: Stationary FIELD 10 -- BRIEF SUMMARY: Disc-shaped, blue-white w/10-14 blinking lights. FIELD 11 -- COMMENTS: Eval as unreliable observer by investigating officials. FIELD 12 -- CONCLUSIONS: [ ] Was balloon [ ] Probably balloon [ ] Possibly balloon [ ] Was aircraft [ ] Probably aircraft [ ] Possibly aircraft [ ] Was astronomical [ ] Probably astronomical [ ] Possibly astronomical [X] Other: Unreliable source [ ] Insufficient data for evaluation [ ] Unknown Form: ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) ================================================================ SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTS ================================================================ UFOB INDEX CARD (AISOP Form 5, 15 Oct 54), Reference: AISS-UFOB-197-55: Date: 26-27 June 1955 (date-time group 27/0200Z June 1955) Location: Holt, Florida Type of Observation: Ground-Visual [X] Source: Civilian and Military Length of Observation: Five to ten (5-10) minutes Number of Objects: One (1) Course: Stationary Field 12: [X] Other: WITNESS UNRELIABLE Brief Summary: One (1), disc-shaped, blue-white object with 10-14 blinking lights (6 inches in apparent diameter) was seen by three observers just above the tree tops. Weather: Stormy, lightning, and some rain. Comments: Due to the delay in receiving the original report (received by 112), no investigation was authorized by this headquarters. ATIC Forms 164 were sent to the observers to be returned to this organization for analysis. Upon receipt of the above forms and after analysis thereof, the conclusions of this headquarters will be forwarded ATIC, to be filed with this form. Information on the possibility of electrical vortices was requested from Eglin AFB intel. off. LETTER FROM HQ 4602D AIR INTELLIGENCE SERVICE SQUADRON (ADC), Ent AFB, Colorado Springs, 6 July 1955: Subject: UFOB Reports. To: Maj. John J. Walsh, Chief, Intelligence Division, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Signed by: RAY L. JONES, Major, USAF, Adjutant. Content: Encloses USAF Technical Information Sheets Form A for distribution to each of the observers listed in the UFOB report of 28 June 1955. Requests completed questionnaires be returned for further investigation and evaluation. Para 4 specifically requests the following additional information: a. Type terrain at the area of sighting. b. Type soil at the area of sighting. c. Any known vortices at the approximate time of sighting. d. Are vortices known in the area of the UFOB sighting? 1ST INDORSEMENT FROM HQ AIR PROVING GROUND COMMAND (APGC), Eglin AFB, Florida, 17 August 1955: DCS/O-O&T/ID:JW/sp To: Commander, 4602d Air Intelligence Service Sqdn (ADC), Ent AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Reference: AIIR No. 1-55, dated 28 June 1955, Hq APGC. Signed by: CHARLES R. KENICK [?], Lt Colonel, USAF, Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations & Training. Para 2: "Further inquiries concerning the reliability of A/2C Carlos Hernandez, observer who reported referenced sighting, revealed that subject airman is of a very unstable nature and on previous occasions he reported seeing other objects which never existed." Para 3: "Therefore, it is requested that AIIR No. 1-55 be removed from your files, destroyed, and disregarded completely. In the future persons reporting Unidentified Flying Objects to this Headquarters will be checked for reliability and character before a formal report is submitted, thus eliminating the possibility of imaginary sightings." Para 4: In view of the foregoing, the USAF Technical Information Sheets Form A are not being completed as requested. They have been withdrawn for future reference in this Command. [Note: Despite the explicit destruction request, the report (AIIR No. 1-55) was not destroyed and remains in the Blue Book archive.] MEMO ROUTING SLIP (DD Form 95), 22 August 1955: To: Captain Hardin, ATIC, ATTN: ATIAE-5. From: A/1C DeRudder, AISOP, 4602d AISS. Handwritten note at top: "10 Witnesses" [Note: this contradicts the UFOB Index Card's "three observers" figure. Source of discrepancy not resolved in file.] Remarks: "Inclosed herewith is correspondence relative to a limited investigation of a UFOB sighting at Holt, Florida (AISS-UFOB-197-55). In view of the information contained in the 1st Ind, this headquarters has evaluated the UFOB as 'OTHER: WITNESS UNRELIABLE', and has marked the UFOB Index Card accordingly." Actions marked: INFORMATION [X] and NECESSARY ACTION [X] ================================================================ SEARCH INDEX TERMS ================================================================ Holt Florida Okaloosa-County 1955 June civilian military unreliable disc-shaped blue-white 10-14-blinking-lights stationary tree-tops stormy lightning rain electrical-vortices ball-lightning Carlos-Hernandez A2C airman Eglin-AFB 4602d-AISS Ent-AFB 5-10-minutes three-observers ground-visual destruction-request AIIR-1-55 AISS-UFOB-197-55 imaginary unstable-nature previous-reports character-check ================================================================ CASE ANALYSIS -- Claude Sonnet 4.6 ================================================================ THE OFFICIAL CONCLUSION ----------------------- Other: Witness Unreliable. The conclusion was reached after the primary observer's own command -- Headquarters Air Proving Ground Command at Eglin AFB -- provided a character assessment of A/2C Carlos Hernandez, stating that he "is of a very unstable nature and on previous occasions he reported seeing other objects which never existed." Eglin simultaneously requested that the original report be destroyed and disregarded completely. The 4602d AISS forwarded the case to ATIC with the UNRELIABLE evaluation and the UFOB Index Card marked accordingly. No observer questionnaires were completed. WHAT THE EVIDENCE SHOWS ----------------------- The sighting occurred on the night of June 26, 1955, near Holt, Florida, approximately 15-20 miles north of Eglin Air Force Base. The report lists "civilian and military" as source, and the UFOB Index Card states three observers saw the object. Weather at the time was stormy, with lightning and some rain. The described object was disc-shaped, blue-white, with 10-14 blinking lights, appearing stationary just above the tree tops. Duration was 5-10 minutes. The apparent diameter was noted as 6 inches -- likely an angular size estimate rather than absolute size, suggesting a perceptibly large object at close range. No investigation was authorized by the 4602d AISS due to a delay in receiving the original report. The standard questionnaires (ATIC Form 164) were sent to the observers at Eglin for completion; Eglin withdrew them without completing them after issuing the character assessment. POINTS OF INTEREST / WHAT GIVES ME PAUSE ----------------------------------------- Three things in this file stand out. First, the vortex inquiry. The 4602d AISS specifically requested information on electrical vortices in the area -- terrain type, soil type, known vortex activity. This is not a routine Blue Book request. It suggests the investigators had a specific hypothesis: that the blue-white disc seen during a stormy night might have been a naturally occurring atmospheric electrical discharge -- ball lightning or related phenomenon. That hypothesis is scientifically plausible. Ball lightning has been observed as disc-shaped, luminous objects near the ground during or after storms. Multiple blinking lights is less typical but not impossible. The questionnaires were withdrawn before this hypothesis could be tested. Second, the destruction request. Eglin asked that AIIR No. 1-55 be "removed from your files, destroyed, and disregarded completely." That language is aggressive for what is nominally a routine reliability assessment. The file survived -- it is here. Whether the requested destruction was overridden by ATIC's archival procedures, or was simply never carried out, is not addressed in the file. What it demonstrates is that at least one command was willing to issue an explicit destruction order for a UFO report, citing the observer's character. Third, the witness count discrepancy. The routing slip carries a handwritten note "10 Witnesses" while the UFOB Index Card reports "three observers." If there were ten witnesses -- civilian and military -- the character assessment of one airman (A/2C Hernandez) would not account for the remaining nine. The UNRELIABLE designation was applied to the case based on Hernandez's history, but if nine other witnesses saw the same thing, their accounts were never collected. No questionnaires were completed by anyone. The Eglin AFB context is also worth noting. Holt sits in the Blackwater Forest area north of Eglin, which is one of the largest air force installations in the world, used extensively for weapons testing and experimental flight programs. Proximity to such a facility does not explain the sighting but adds geographic weight to any anomalous report from the area. BOTTOM LINE ----------- The UNRELIABLE tag was applied on the basis of a character assessment from the observer's own command, citing prior false reports. The assessment may be accurate -- the record offers no basis to contradict it. But the investigation it terminated was substantively incomplete. The vortex hypothesis was promising and was dropped before it could be tested. The witness count discrepancy was never resolved. No questionnaires were collected from any observer. The verbal account -- a stationary blue-white disc with multiple blinking lights near tree tops during a storm -- is compatible with atmospheric electrical phenomena. It is equally compatible with a genuinely anomalous observation. The Eglin character assessment closed the file before either possibility was examined, and the destruction order, had it been followed, would have erased the question entirely. POST-FILE FLAGS: - A/2C Carlos Hernandez is named explicitly in the 1st Indorsement from Eglin AFB in his military capacity. His name appears in a document calling him "of a very unstable nature" -- a serious characterization applied by his command. The name is not redacted in the file as archived. This is the only case in the UNRELIABLE corpus so far where a named individual's mental health is directly impugned by name in official correspondence. - Maj. John J. Walsh (Intelligence Division, Eglin), Lt. Col. Charles R. Kenick [?] (Deputy COS, Eglin), Maj. Ray L. Jones (4602d AISS Adjutant), A/1C DeRudder (4602d AISS), and Captain Hardin (ATIC ATIAE-5) all appear in their official capacities. - Date discrepancy: Record card says 26 Jun 55, UFOB Index Card shows 27 June 1955 with date-time group 27/0200Z -- the sighting occurred locally on the evening of June 26. - Witness count discrepancy: "10 witnesses" in routing slip margin vs. "three observers" on the UFOB Index Card. Not resolved in file. - Destruction request issued by Eglin AFB (1st Ind, 17 Aug 55): "removed from your files, destroyed, and disregarded completely." Report survives in archive. ================================================================ https://glitchymatrix.com/bluebook/ GlitchyMatrix Project Blue Book Archive All 10,808 declassified USAF UFO case files, 1945-1969 ================================================================ ----------------------------------------------------------------