July 1948 — three cases: the Yakima, Washington flying blob witnessed by hundreds, the Indianapolis, Indiana propeller-shaped object, and the Chamblee, Georgia student sighting near Atlanta. thinkaboutitdocs.com.
1948: July UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive
July 1948 is a dense month anchored by two already-documented landmark cases: the Chiles-Whitted encounter over Alabama on July 24, one of the most historically significant pilot sightings of the era, and the “Tomato Man” Laredo, Texas crash claim — already correctly built out elsewhere on this archive as a confirmed hoax, with the specific anachronisms (a radar system that didn’t yet exist, aircraft types not yet in service, a uniform the Air Force never issued) that unraveled it. Between those two, the month carries a genuinely wide range of material, from a University of New Mexico scientist’s ten-minute motionless-disc observation over Albuquerque to a thin, single-witness account of little men carrying a mother down a staircase in Trenton, New Jersey.
Date: Mid-1948
Location: Erie, Pennsylvania
Time: Afternoon
Summary: A silver, oval object was observed by one male witness (Didelot) at a lake for 18 seconds, moving rapidly east parallel to the Lake Erie shoreline before, on reaching the city of Erie, abruptly shooting straight up at roughly three times its prior speed until lost to sight. No sound was heard.
Source: Edward Sullivan, CSI/LA investigation files
Date: Mid-1948
Location: Detroit, Michigan
Time: Around 15:00
Summary: One object was observed by several witnesses for 12 seconds (Lemke).
Source: NICAP
Date: Mid-1948
Location: Easton, Pennsylvania
Time: Around 20:00
Summary: Electromagnetic effects were noted. Several objects were observed by two male witnesses for a few minutes (Mitchell).
Source: NICAP
Date: Mid-1948
Location: Rogers, Arkansas
Time: Around 20:00
Summary: Three blue-green balls were observed by seven witnesses in a yard for 30 minutes (Duty), bouncing vertically, veering off horizontally, then regaining a bobbing motion, with no vapor trail, exhaust, or noise.
Source: Edward Sullivan, CSI/LA investigation files
Date: Mid-1948
Location: Newtown, Connecticut
Time: Around 22:00
Summary: Three objects, roughly 300 feet across, were observed by six witnesses (Rose).
Source: Kenneth Arnold, The Coming of the Saucers, Amherst, 1952
Date: Mid-1948
Location: Poynette, Wisconsin
Time: Night
Summary: A 40-foot-diameter, silver-colored disc paced a moving car, coming within a few feet; when another car approached, the object ascended several hundred feet and hovered, its circular rim spinning around the middle portion.
Source: Edward Sullivan, CSI/LA investigation files
Date: July 1948
Location: Asotin, Washington
Time: Daytime
Summary: Two objects were observed by three witnesses for two minutes (Ruckman).
Source: NICAP
Date: July 1948
Location: Pasco, Washington
Time: 13:00
Summary: A black disc, observed near a nuclear test site by four male witnesses including a private pilot (Newman), dove and then climbed away quickly. Duration two minutes.
Source: Dominique Weinstein, Aircraft UFO Encounters, Project ACUFOE, Paris, 1999
Date: July 4, 1948
Location: Camden, New Jersey
Time: Unknown
Summary: One object was observed by a male witness at a park (Thompson).
Source: George M. Eberhart, A Geo-Bibliography of Anomalies, Greenwood Press, Westport, 1980, ISBN 0-313-21337-2
Date: July 4, 1948
Location: Near Longmont, Colorado
Time: Around 14:00
Summary: A revolving, silver, circular object soared upward at “terrific speed,” observed by two witnesses on a farm for 12 seconds.
Source: The UFO Evidence, Section XII
Date: July 7, 1948: ‘Tomato Man’ Photographs and Laredo, Texas UFO Crash
Editorial note: This linked full report has already been correctly rebuilt and confirmed on this archive as Case Status: Explained (hoax / misidentified incinerated human remains). The Ohio UFO Investigators League’s 1979-1982 investigation identified a radar system that would not exist for years, aircraft types not yet in service, an air base never called by the name used in the story, and a uniform the Air Force never issued — the specific anachronisms that unraveled the claim.
Date: July 8, 1948
Location: Fairborn, Ohio
Time: Unknown
Summary: Nocturnal lights were reported.
Source: George M. Eberhart, A Geo-Bibliography of Anomalies, Greenwood Press, Westport, 1980, ISBN 0-313-21337-2
Date: July 8, 1948
Location: Concoules, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Time: 20:00
Summary: Nocturnal lights were reported.
Source: Jacques Vallée
Date: July 9, 1948
Location: Alaska
Time: Unknown
Summary: Two Air Force officers reported approximately 20 discs or spheres milling around in formation and making a jet-like sound.
Source: Project 1947, Report C-7
Date: July 9, 1948
Location: Osborn, Ohio
Time: 21:47
Summary: An Air Materiel Command Technical Intelligence Division officer and pilot saw, to the north at roughly 70° elevation, a luminous yellowish-white object traveling east to west at an estimated 3,000-4,000 feet and 500-600 mph, blinking in a repeating pattern (lit 1-2 seconds, dark 3 seconds) before disappearing to the west slightly above the horizon north of Patterson Field. No sound or trail.
Source: FOIA (BBU)
Date: July 10, 1948
Location: Santa Maria, Azores, Portugal
Time: Around midnight
Summary: A white, cylinder-shaped object passed over the local airport at 12,000 feet, witnessed by numerous people over 45 minutes with no sound; all clocks at the airport reportedly stopped working during the object’s passage.
Source: Larry Hatch
Date: July 10, 1948
Location: Smithton, Pennsylvania
Time: Evening
Summary: One object was observed by two witnesses briefly (Cutright).
Source: Newspaper (name not preserved)
Date: July 12, 1948
Location: Huntington, Indiana
Time: Night
Summary: One object was observed by two witnesses briefly (Goshorn).
Source: Ted Bloecher
Date: July 13, 1948
Location: Concord, Massachusetts
Time: Unknown
Summary: One object was observed by one experienced male witness (Dr. C. Vaughan).
Source: Ted Bloecher
Date: July 14, 1948
Location: Boise, Idaho
Time: Daytime
Summary: More than six objects were observed by three witnesses (Shangle).
Source: Fate Magazine
Date: July 15, 1948
Location: Alajärvi, Finland
Time: 21:30
Summary: A large, silent, glowing metallic cigar-shaped object with no wings flew rapidly west to east, observed in a residential area by two military witnesses, including an Army major, for over one minute.
Source: Contact U.K.
Date: July 17, 1948
Location: 5 miles south of San Acacia Dam, New Mexico
Time: 16:50
Summary: Two Kirtland AFB sergeants on a fishing trip with their families saw seven aluminum, circular (possibly spherical) objects approach from the south at 20,000 feet, passing overhead at an estimated 1,500 mph. They initially resembled snub-nosed jet fighters of unknown type, shifting between V, L, and circular formations before settling into no regular formation, at which point a pulsating flashing light appeared within the group. No noise or trail.
Source: FOIA (BBU)
Date: July 19, 1948
Location: Trenton, New Jersey
Time: 03:30
Summary: A witness woke late at night to see five small figures carrying his mother down the stairs. When he tried to follow, one of the figures warned him to stay in bed. Frightened, he remained, but a bright light through the window drew him to look outside, where he saw the figures and his mother walk into the light. He recalled falling asleep and later waking to find his mother safely home; she told him their dog had jumped out a window and been fatally injured, apparently while chasing an intruder.
Source: Mysterious Reality, UFO Reports
Source Status: INSUFFICIENT DATA — single witness, sourced only to a general compilation with no named investigator, and no independent corroboration located.
Date: July 20, 1948
Location: Alameda, Andalusia, Spain
Time: Evening
Summary: 17-year-old shepherd Lucas del Pozo, guarding his family’s watermelon patch, noticed what appeared to be a whirlwind kick up dust across the field. Approaching, he found a large, metallic, bowl-shaped object sitting in the field, from which a short humanoid figure emerged — long dangling arms, short legs, small beady black eyes, slicked-back black hair, small fingers, moving with strangely coordinated motions, wearing a tight-fitting mustard-colored coverall. The frightened witness fled without seeing the object or figure depart.
Source: Alberto Guzmán, July 11, 2004 Editorial note: The cited source postdates the claimed event by 56 years; this archive located no earlier or independently corroborating account.
Date: July 20, 1948
Location: Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands
Time: 13:30
Summary: A cigar-shaped object with two rows of windows was seen four times over Arnhem, moving very fast through the sky, observed briefly by two witnesses on a farm.
Source: Project Blue Book
Date: July 21, 1948
Location: Van Nuys, California
Time: Afternoon
Summary: One ball-shaped object was observed for two hours (Richardson).
Source: McDonald list (BBU)
Date: July 21, 1948
Location: Chisholm, Alberta, Canada
Time: 21:30
Summary: One object was observed by two witnesses for under one minute (Smith).
Source: Newspaper (name not preserved)
Date: July 22, 1948
Location: Covington, Georgia
Time: 03:00
Summary: Nocturnal lights were observed by two witnesses.
Source: Harold T. Wilkins, Flying Saucers on the Attack, Ace Star A-11, New York, 1967
Date: July 24, 1948
Location: Blackstone, UK
Time: 02:40
Summary: A luminous, cigar-shaped, glowing object with a trail was observed briefly by two experienced male witnesses (Feldvary), moving at terrific speed to the southwest with no sound.
Source: Undocumented
Date: July 24, 1948: The Chiles-Whitted Case
Date: July 24, 1948
Location: Robins AFB, Georgia
Time: 02:50 EST
Summary: Walter C. Massey, a civilian alert member, observed a squash-shaped object with flaming exhaust heading south at terrific speed; seven additional witnesses from Augusta, Georgia also observed the object. Per Blue Book microfilm records: “In none of these instances does a meteorological or astronomical explanation suffice to explain the sightings.”
Source: James McDonald
Date: July 24, 1948
Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Time: Around 14:00
Summary: A bright, pulsating light was observed hovering by a Luscombe Silvaire pilot (Petty); it moved away when the pilot flew toward it, then disappeared.
Source: Dominique Weinstein, Aircraft UFO Encounters, Project ACUFOE, Paris, 1999
Date: July 24, 1948
Location: Rayne, Louisiana
Time: 20:00
Summary: A wingless, box-shaped object with windows flew east to west, observed in a residential area by two witnesses, including a schoolteacher, for over one minute; the witness wrote a letter to Project Blue Book.
Source: Larry Hatch
Date: July 25, 1948
Location: Yakima, Washington
Time: 14:00 and 16:20
Summary: A silvery, moon-sized flying blob was seen by hundreds of witnesses over Yakima; hundreds of calls flooded the local CAA office regarding the object.
Source: Project Blue Book
Date: July 25, 1948
Location: North Carolina/Virginia border
Time: 02:30
Summary: A luminous, cigar-shaped object was observed by one witness (Rubb) for over one minute.
Source: Edward J. Ruppelt, Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, Doubleday, 1956
Date: July 25, 1948
Location: Noblesville, Indiana
Time: Night
Summary: One object was observed by more than three witnesses for a few seconds (Davis).
Source: Newspaper (name not preserved)
Date: July 26, 1948
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Time: 15:45
Summary: Fewer than 30 objects were observed by two witnesses (Hansen, McKittrick).
Source: Newspaper (name not preserved)
Date: July 26, 1948
Location: Chamblee (near Atlanta), Georgia
Time: 20:45-21:00
Summary: 5-15 students outdoors at Georgia Tech’s Chamblee campus saw a green light with a silver tail, roughly football-sized at arm’s length, flying steadily southeast and slowly descending as if for a landing, completely silent. Around 9:00 PM, an Atlanta Naval Air Base tower observer independently saw a blue-white object in level, high-altitude flight travel from northeast to southeast in a few seconds, then gain altitude and turn sharply south, also completely noiseless. Additional independent witnesses included the city editor of the Atlanta Chronicle and nine others.
Source: FOIA (BBU)
Date: July 27, 1948
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Time: 08:35
Summary: A University of New Mexico scientist saw a flat, metallic, disc-shaped object hang motionless in the sky for ten minutes.
Source: Jacques Vallée, Anatomy of a Phenomenon, p. 54
Date: July 27, 1948
Location: Warrenton, Georgia
Time: 10:30
Summary: One object was observed by one witness briefly (Hill).
Source: Newspaper (name not preserved)
Date: July 27, 1948
Location: Prichard, Alabama
Time: 21:15
Summary: A meteor-like object was observed by four military witnesses at an airfield (Browning, Bryan, Taylor), briefly.
Source: Kenneth Arnold, The Coming of the Saucers, Amherst, 1952
Date: July 27, 1948
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Time: Night
Summary: Several objects were observed by a male witness.
Source: Newspaper (name not preserved)
Date: July 28, 1948
Location: Montgomery, Alabama
Time: Unknown
Summary: Many objects, roughly 40 feet across, were observed by two witnesses; physiological effects were noted, though the appearance and behavior most likely have a conventional explanation.
Source: Frank Scully, Behind the Flying Saucers, Holt, 1950
Source Status: Frank Scully is the same author responsible for the fabricated Aztec, New Mexico crash narrative, already flagged extensively elsewhere on this archive; this entry’s own summary independently notes a likely conventional explanation. Retained with appropriate caution given the source.
Date: July 29, 1948 (BBU #185)
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Time: 09:58 (case file lists 09:55)
Summary: James Toney and Robert Huggins, both employees of a rug cleaning firm, driving across a bridge, saw a shiny, aluminum object shaped something like an airplane propeller, with 10-12 small cups protruding from either blade, roughly 6-8 feet long and 1.5-2 feet wide. The object glided across the road a few hundred feet ahead of their vehicle, in a flat glide path at roughly 30 feet altitude, in a moderate left turn, and appeared to go down in a wooded area; no trace of it was found despite the sighting’s short duration. Case I, Serial 0573.00.
Source: Project Blue Book, Case Serial 0573.00
Date: July 30, 1948
Location: Alice, Texas
Time: Unknown
Summary: A hovering object was observed.
Source: H. Edward Hill, Catalog Through 1950
Date: July 30, 1948
Location: Richmond, Indiana
Time: Unknown
Summary: Nocturnal lights were observed by a male witness (Bradfield).
Source: George M. Eberhart, A Geo-Bibliography of Anomalies, Greenwood Press, Westport, 1980, ISBN 0-313-21337-2
Date: July 30, 1948
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Time: Daytime
Summary: Four objects were observed by two witnesses (Fuller).
Source: Newspaper (name not preserved)
Date: July 31, 1948: Domed Disc Seen in Indiana
Date: July 31, 1948
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Time: 16:30
Summary: A disc, about 40 feet across, was observed in the city by three independent witnesses (Geshorn, Price, Watson) for over one minute, with no sound heard.
Source: Project Blue Book
Date: July-August 1948 (BBU #191)
Location: Marion, Virginia
Time: Shortly after sunset
Summary: Max Abbott, flying a Bellanca Cruisair four-passenger private plane, saw a single bright white light take off, accelerate to an estimated 300 mph, and turn up a valley.
Source: Don Berliner; cf. Project 1947
Date: July-August 1948
Location: Sosnowiec, Poland
Time: Afternoon
Summary: During harvest time, a 12-year-old boy left alone at home switched on the radio and heard only a strange whistling sound, then realized the noise was coming from outside. Opening the window, he saw two small, very thin figures in shining, tight-fitting outfits, with large heads and dark, slanted, piercing eyes; one appeared to have horns or wore a horned helmet. Frightened, the boy fainted and remained unconscious for several hours before his parents found him. He later told them he had seen “the devil,” and reportedly carried a lifelong belief that he had been cursed by the encounter, which he blamed for later illnesses and setbacks.
Source: Undocumented
Editorial note: The witness’s own later-life belief that he had been “cursed” is presented here as his own reported interpretation of the event, not as an assessment this archive makes or endorses.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
July 1948 — Chiles-Whitted, and a Hoax Already Laid to Rest
This month’s two landmark entries are both already properly documented elsewhere on this archive: the Chiles-Whitted case, one of the most significant pilot sightings of the era, and the “Tomato Man” Laredo, Texas crash claim, already correctly rebuilt as a confirmed hoax with its specific anachronisms laid out plainly. Between them sits a genuinely wide range of material — a University of New Mexico scientist’s ten-minute motionless disc, hundreds of Yakima, Washington residents flooding the local CAA office over a single object, and a Frank Scully-sourced Alabama entry retained with the same caution this archive applies to all of Scully’s material given his role in the Aztec hoax.
“In none of these instances does a meteorological or astronomical explanation suffice to explain the sightings.”
James McDonald, quoting Blue Book microfilm records on the July 24, 1948 Robins AFB, Georgia sighting.
