---------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================ PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD -- TRANSCRIPTION File: 1957-11-6962230-Centerville-Texas.pdf Transcribed by Claude Sonnet 4.6 for GlitchyMatrix.com/bluebook/ ================================================================ FIELD 1 -- DATE: 23 November 1957 FIELD 2 -- LOCATION: Centerville, Texas FIELD 3 -- DATE-TIME GROUP: Local [not recorded] / GMT 24/0152Z (November 23 at approx. 7:52 PM local Central time) FIELD 4 -- TYPE OF OBSERVATION: Ground-Visual [X] Ground-Radar [ ] Air-Visual [ ] Air-Intercept Radar [ ] [NOTE: Ground-Visual is checked but Field 7 states no object was sighted. The observation was auditory and indirect -- a light flash seen through windows, not a direct sighting of any object. The checked box appears to be the default for a ground-based civilian report rather than an accurate descriptor.] FIELD 5 -- PHOTOS: No FIELD 6 -- SOURCE: Civilian FIELD 7 -- LENGTH OF OBS: Heard / was not sighted FIELD 8 -- NUMBER OF OBJECTS: N/A FIELD 9 -- COURSE: N/A FIELD 10 -- BRIEF SUMMARY: Observer was in her home when the windows of her house lit up in a flash of light and she heard a loud roar. FIELD 11 -- COMMENTS: Very little information upon which to base a conclusion. No object sighted. Not a UFO report. FIELD 12 -- CONCLUSIONS: [ ] Was balloon [ ] Probably balloon [ ] Possibly balloon [ ] Was aircraft [ ] Probably aircraft [ ] Possibly aircraft [ ] Was astronomical [ ] Probably astronomical [ ] Possibly astronomical [X] Other: Unreliable Rpt [ ] Insufficient data for evaluation [ ] Unknown Form: ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) ================================================================ SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTS ================================================================ TELETYPE UFOB REPORT (DO 741-11-52), Originated: 741st ACWRON, Lackland AFB, Texas Time: 25/1345Z November 1957 To: COMDR 33D ADIV (33rd Air Division) Info: COMDR ADC / COMDR ATC / DIR OF INTELL HQ USAF ITEM ONE: All sub-items N/A. ITEM TWO (Description of phenomenon): (A) The windows of her house lit up in a flash of light. (B-E) N/A (F) Duration: A matter of seconds. ITEM THREE (Observation type): (A) Ground Visual (B) None (C) N/A. ITEM FOUR (Date/time): (A) 0152Z, 24 November 1957 (B) Night. ITEM FIVE (Case/file number): F25353. ITEM SIX (Observer): (A) Mrs. [REDACTED], Centerville, Texas. Telephone: [REDACTED]. (B) N/A. ITEM SEVEN (Atmospheric/wind data): Altitude and direction data at multiple levels: 5,000 ft / 200 deg / -125; 12,000 ft / 210 deg / -130; 16,000 ft / 240 deg / -150; 20,000 ft / 210 deg / -160; 30,000 ft / 210 deg / -175; 50,000 ft / 240 deg / -100; 30,000 ft / N/A. (C) N/A. (D) Five miles visibility with light snow and light rain. (E) Overcast. (F) Scattered thunderstorms all over area. ITEM EIGHT: N/A. ITEM NINE (Radar): None. ITEM TEN: N/A. ITEM ELEVEN (Narrative): "Mrs. [REDACTED] did not actually sight the object(-s). She was in her house when her windows lit up, and she heard a loud roar. Nothing unusual was picked up on radar." ITEM TWELVE: N/A. BT. 25/2146Z NOV RJWFHW Handwritten note at bottom: "Discard? Very little (see reports) [?] and auto [?] but not that." ================================================================ SEARCH INDEX TERMS ================================================================ Centerville Texas Leon-County 1957 November civilian unreliable no-sighting flash-of-light loud-roar windows thunderstorm lightning overcast light-snow light-rain 741st-ACWRON Lackland-AFB 33rd-Air-Division ADC radar-negative not-a-UFO-report November-1957-wave F25353 DO-741-11-52 ================================================================ CASE ANALYSIS -- Claude Sonnet 4.6 ================================================================ THE OFFICIAL CONCLUSION ----------------------- Other: Unreliable Report. Field 11 is unusually direct: "No object sighted. Not a UFO report." The case was recorded, assigned a case number (F25353), and filed, despite the investigator's own assessment that it does not qualify as a UFO report. The UNRELIABLE tag appears to function here as a disposal label rather than a finding about the observer's credibility. WHAT THE EVIDENCE SHOWS ----------------------- On the evening of November 23, 1957, at approximately 7:52 PM local time, a civilian woman in Centerville, Texas was inside her home when the windows lit up briefly in a flash of light and she heard a loud roar lasting a matter of seconds. She did not see any object. She reported the incident; it was passed to the 741st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron at Lackland AFB, which generated a formal UFOB teletype to the 33rd Air Division, with information copies to Air Defense Command, ATC, and the Director of Intelligence at HQ USAF. The weather at the time was: overcast, five miles visibility, light snow and light rain, with scattered thunderstorms all over the area. Radar at the 741st ACWRON detected nothing unusual. The teletype's Item Seven wind data shows conditions at multiple altitude bands, consistent with standard atmospheric reporting for the period. POINTS OF INTEREST / WHAT GIVES ME PAUSE ----------------------------------------- Nothing about the reported experience resists a straightforward natural explanation. A flash of light through windows accompanied by a loud roar, during a night with scattered thunderstorms across the area, describes a lightning strike and thunder with routine accuracy. The duration ("a matter of seconds") is consistent. No object was seen by the observer because there was no object to see. What is worth noting is the reporting chain. A civilian woman in central Texas experiences what is almost certainly a nearby lightning strike during a thunderstorm. This generates a formal UFOB teletype from a Lackland AFB squadron routed to the 33rd Air Division, Air Defense Command, ATC, and the Director of Intelligence at HQ USAF. The handwritten "Discard?" on the teletype copy suggests someone in the chain recognized this as disproportionate but the filing happened anyway. The November 1957 context explains the sensitivity. November 1957 was a major UFO reporting wave month across Texas and the United States. The Levelland, Texas incidents -- where multiple witnesses reported UFOs on November 2-3, 1957, with associated vehicle electromagnetic interference -- generated national attention. Centerville is approximately 80 miles northeast of the Levelland area. In that environment, any anomalous report from a civilian in Texas was likely to be treated with heightened attention regardless of its specific merits. BOTTOM LINE ----------- This case should probably not have been filed as a UFOB at all, and the investigator said exactly that. The UNRELIABLE label is a filing system artifact -- the only available box that accommodated a report with no object sighted, no data, and no evaluable content. The observer may be entirely reliable; she experienced a real physical event that is almost certainly a lightning flash and thunder during a documented thunderstorm. The case is notable in the UNRELIABLE corpus as the clearest example of the label being applied not because the reporter is questionable but because the event itself falls outside the category the filing system was designed to handle. The record card's own Field 11 says it plainly. POST-FILE FLAGS: - Observer name, address, and telephone are all redacted in the teletype, consistent with standard practice for civilian reporters. - The 741st ACWRON personnel who originated the teletype are identified only by unit and command channel; no individual names appear. Standard institutional disclosure. - Field 4 (Type of Observation) is marked Ground-Visual but the observation was indirect -- window flash and sound, not a direct visual of any aerial object. This is a form completion error, not a false claim by the observer. ================================================================ https://glitchymatrix.com/bluebook/ GlitchyMatrix Project Blue Book Archive All 10,808 declassified USAF UFO case files, 1945-1969 ================================================================ ----------------------------------------------------------------