1952: August 18th–31st UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive

The back half of August 1952 brings some of the month’s most vivid reports — a “saucer” that appeared to dive into Seneca Lake in front of three carpenters, an hour-long, multi-witness light display over Chickasaw and Brookley AFB, Alabama investigated on the spot by an AFOSI agent, and the disputed Desvergers “Scoutmaster case” out of West Palm Beach, Florida. This page covers August 18th through 31st; see the companion page for August 1st–17th.

Date: August 18, 1952 (BBU 1920)
Location: Fairfield, California
Time: 12:50 a.m.
Summary: Three policemen saw a diamond-shaped object change color from red to green to orange to blue, changing direction while apparently traveling “sideways” in a straight line, and gaining altitude. Military witnesses also reported the object. Duration about 30 minutes.
Source: Berliner; cf. Hynek-CUFOS re-evaluation; Jan Aldrich

Date: August 18, 1952
Location: Duncanville, Texas
Time: 8:45 p.m. CST
Summary: Ground observers made a visual sighting of a slow-moving object, reported to Carswell AFB, showing red and green lights changing to white. The object moved up and down, hovered, then moved off rapidly. At 8:47 p.m. CST, the 147th AC&W Squadron at Duncanville also picked up objects on radar, approximately 265° azimuth, 28 miles distant, in the same direction as the visual sightings. The object changed direction several times at an estimated 300 mph, observed for about 40 minutes total.
Source: Dan Wilson, BB files

Date: 1952: Encounter near Salt Lake City, Utah – 2nd Sighting

Date: August 18–19, 1952
Location: West Palm Beach, Florida
Time: Unknown
Summary: The Desvergers “Scoutmaster case” — cataloged as “Cat 6” and noted in this archive’s own sourcing as a probable hoax, though with some degree of genuine strangeness attached. This entry previously appeared twice on this page under two different dates (Aug. 18 and Aug. 19); consolidated here into one entry. [Full Report]
Source: Unknown

Date: August 19, 1952 (BBU 1928)
Location: Boron, California
Time: 8 p.m. PDT
Summary: The pilot of a USAF aircraft saw a tailless object greatly accelerate away to the east and disappear, tracked briefly by airborne radar; no ground radar tracking was possible due to ground clutter.
Source: Berliner; cf. Hynek-CUFOS re-evaluation; Jan Aldrich

Date: August 19, 1952
Location: Red Bluff, California
Time: 2:38 p.m.
Summary: Ground Observer Corps observer Albert Lathrop saw two objects, shaped like fat bullets, fly straight and level at very high speed for about 25 seconds.
Source: Berliner

Date: August 20, 1952
Location: Dayton (Wright-Patterson AFB), Ohio
Time: Unknown
Summary: Cataloged as “Cat 8” — possibly additional gun camera photographs, or a misdated entry related to the August 1 Bellefontaine intercept.
Source: NICAP files

Date: August 20 (or 19), 1952 (BBU 1938)
Location: Neffsville (or Lancaster), Pennsylvania
Time: 3:10 a.m.
Summary: Bill Ford and two others saw an undescribed object flying at 500 ft altitude for several minutes. No further data survives in the files.
Source: Berliner; cf. Hynek-CUFOS re-evaluation; Jan Aldrich; FUFOR Index

Date: August 20, 1952
Location: Congaree AFB, South Carolina
Time: 10:00 p.m.
Summary: Air Defense Command radar tracked a UFO 60 miles from base at a speed of 4,000 mph. One “ball” was also observed visually by military witnesses at an airfield.
Source: UFOE, VIII

Date: August 21, 1952 (BBU 1944)
Location: Dallas, Texas
Time: 11:54 p.m.
Summary: Jack Rossen, an ex-artillery observer, saw three blue-white lights hover, then descend; roughly 1.5 minutes later, one or two of them descended further.
Source: Berliner; cf. Hynek-CUFOS re-evaluation; Jan Aldrich

Date: August 22, 1952
Location: Ontario, California
Time: 3 p.m.
Summary: Pilot Irvin saw two teardrop-shaped objects cross his flight path half a mile away in high-speed, straight-and-level flight, creating severe turbulence that rocked his aircraft. Duration about 2 seconds.
Source: Hynek-CUFOS re-evaluation; Jan Aldrich

Date: August 22, 1952
Location: Elgin, Illinois
Time: Unknown
Summary: USAF jets, guided by the Ground Observer Corps, chased a pulsating yellowish light.
Source: UFOE, VII

Date: August 23, 1952
Location: Sinuiju, North Korea
Time: 1:04 a.m.
Summary: A USAF 19th Bomber Group weather reconnaissance B-29 crew saw an orange-red, cigar-shaped object.
Source: Weinstein; BB files

Date: August 23, 1952 (BBU 1956)
Location: Akron, Ohio
Time: 4:10 a.m.
Summary: USAF 2nd Lt. H. K. Funseth, a ground radar observer, and two U.S. Navy men saw a pulsing amber light fly straight and level for about 7 minutes.
Source: Berliner

Date: August 24, 1952 (BBU 1961, Chop Clearance List Item #32)
Location: Between Hermanas, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas
Time: 10:15–10:20 a.m.
Summary: Georgia Air National Guard F-84G pilot Col. G. W. Johnson saw two 6-ft silver balls flying abreast; one turned grey rapidly, the other slowly, and one changed to a long grey shape during a turn. Duration about 10 minutes.
Source: Berliner

Date: August 24, 1952 (BBU 1964)
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Time: 5:40 p.m.
Summary: Mr. and Mrs. George White saw a large, round, metallic white light with a vague lower surface, flying slowly then fast with a dancing, wavering motion. Duration about 1 minute.
Source: Berliner

Date: August 24, 1952 (BBU 1969)
Location: Levelland, Texas
Time: 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
Summary: Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Sharp saw an object shaped like a spinning top, changing color from red to yellow to blue, with a fiery tail, hover for 20 minutes with a shrill, whistling sound before flying away on a NNW course over 3 minutes. The same or a similar object returned an hour later, repeating the same maneuvers. Total duration 23 minutes.
Source: Berliner; cf. Hynek-CUFOS re-evaluation; Jan Aldrich

Date: August 25, 1952 (BBU 1979)
Location: Holloman AFB, New Mexico
Time: 3:40 p.m.
Summary: Civilian supervisor Fred Lee and foreman L. A. Aquilar saw a round, silver object fly south, turn and fly north, make a 360° turn, then fly away vertically. Duration 3–5 minutes.
Source: Berliner

Date: August 25, 1952
Location: Watkins Glen and Seneca Lake, New York (Schuyler County; 42°23′N, 76°52′W)
Time: Morning (approx. 9:30 a.m. for the village sighting)
Summary: Two separate but related sightings on the same morning. First: Mrs. Marion Granston of 315 N. Glen Ave. reported two “flying saucers” — described as big silver balls gliding through the air — just over the top of her elm tree at 9:30 a.m., moving eastward before disappearing over Seneca Lake; neighborhood children William, Ronald, and Robert Pierce also saw them clearly. Second, and separate: three carpenters — Ray Andrew, Alfred Sullivan, and Clayton Crout — working near the lake about 150 feet offshore near Glen Eldridge, on the east side of the lake roughly five miles from the village, watched a bright object “like a sheet of steel” come through the air and suddenly crash into the lake, splashing water 8 to 10 feet high. State police were notified but declined to investigate, citing the lake’s depth (up to 200 feet in places) and the impracticality of any grappling operation. Separately, in nearby Trumansburg, several people reported seeing five jet planes pursuing a flying saucer that day; Air Force officials at Hancock Field, Syracuse confirmed jets from the 32nd Air Division were on maneuvers in the Schuyler County area at the time but said they were unaware of pursuing any flying saucers, and stated they would investigate the Seneca Lake incident. This was reported as the first flying saucer case in Schuyler County.
Source: The original Romeike Press Clippings, from The Herald, Sharon, PA; Watkins Glen “Express,” 8-27-1952

Date: 1952: “Figures” seen in windows of oval-shaped object

Date: 1952: Delaware Ohio UFO Sighting

Date: August 25, 1952: Maxatawny Pennsylvania Sighting

Date: August 26, 1952 (BBU 1986)
Location: Lathrop Wells, Nevada
Time: 12:10 a.m.
Summary: USAF Capt. D. A. Woods saw a large, spherical, very bright object with a V-shaped contrail and a dark cone in the center, approaching at 1,000 mph, hovering briefly, making an instant 90–180° turn, then climbing gently before a final sudden acceleration that left a blue-white contrail which evaporated immediately. No sound was reported.
Source: Berliner; cf. Hynek-CUFOS re-evaluation; Jan Aldrich

Date: August 26, 1952 (BBU 1987)
Location: Biloxi, Mississippi
Time: Unknown
Summary: Unknown — no further detail survives in the sourced record.
Source: NARA

Date: August 26–27, 1952 (BBU 1994)
Location: Veracruz, Mexico
Time: 2:15 a.m.
Summary: Many witnesses saw an object traveling in a straight line out to sea with a buzzing noise, for about 8 seconds. A related sighting was logged on August 30.
Source: Hynek-CUFOS re-evaluation; Jan Aldrich

Date: August 27, 1952 (Chop Clearance List Item #25)
Location: Pittsburg, Kansas
Time: Unknown
Summary: ATIC recorded basic details and a soil sample forwarded from the town where the sighting occurred. An object was reported hovering over an open field with bluish lights visible through ports, before a swift ascent as it was observed. The soil sample broke up in transit and could not be analyzed for radioactivity.
Source: Chop clearance list

Date: August 28, 1952 (BBU 2062)
Location: Chickasaw and Brookley AFB, Mobile, Alabama
Time: 9:30–10:20 p.m.
Summary: Three civilians in Chickasaw reported multiple red, stationary and maneuvering objects to the south, one moving south to west, all in the direction of Brookley AFB, to the on-duty USAF Captain. An AFOSI agent arrived in Chickasaw at 9:50 p.m. to investigate and independently saw the same four objects to the south and southwest, estimated 8–12 miles distant; one fiery red object remained stationary for 15 minutes, then drifted 15–20° right before going stationary again. A radar operator visually spotted a red-green object over Chickasaw to the north. The USAF duty officer and control tower operators saw one object to the southwest, lower than the moon, and another to the west, confirmed by GCA’s MPN-1 radar as a stationary target 4 miles out at 4,000 ft altitude. The AFOSI officer and others saw one object explode, another perform a figure-8 maneuver, and four to six objects, larger than a star or planet, varying between fiery red, red-blue, red-green, and a sparkling diamond appearance; a civilian Air Force employee separately saw a flat, oval shape. Total observation period roughly 50 minutes.
Source: Berliner; cf. Hynek-CUFOS/Willy Smith files

Date: August 28, 1952
Location: Le Roy, New York
Time: Unknown
Summary: A disc circled an airliner vertically.
Source: UFOE, II

Date: August 28, 1952
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Time: Unknown
Summary: Police watched a maneuvering UFO.
Source: UFOE, VII

Date: August 29, 1952 (Chop Clearance List Item #2)
Location: West of Thule, Greenland, North Atlantic
Time: 10:50 a.m.
Summary: Two U.S. Navy pilots flying a P4Y-2 patrol plane saw three white, disc-shaped or spherical objects hover, then fly very fast in a triangular formation. This may be the same incident as a separately recorded August 1952 sighting by a P4Y-2 crew (pilot Lt. John C. Callaghan, copilot Lt. j.g. Bill O’Flaherty, and crewman Merchant) following a Skyhook balloon, in which three silvery discs briefly clustered on the balloon’s instrument package at 90,000 ft for several minutes before banking and climbing away out of sight within 3 seconds.
Source: Berliner; Naval History Magazine, October 2004 (web version)

Date: August 29, 1952
Location: Villacoublay, France
Time: Unknown
Summary: An unidentified bright blue light was observed through a theodolite; at one point it appeared as a luminous white bar edged with black.
Source: UFOE, X

Date: August 29, 1952 (BBU 2013)
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Time: 8:35 p.m.
Summary: Military pilot C. A. Magruder saw three objects, 50 ft in diameter and 10 ft high, aluminum-colored with red-yellow exhaust, flying in trail at roughly 1,500 mph. Duration 4–5 minutes.
Source: Berliner

Date: August 30, 1952
Location: Santa Monica, California
Time: 8 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
Summary: Hehr and another witness, sitting in a park, saw many horizontal, bar-shaped objects appearing and disappearing, forming a formation and traveling laterally at roughly 1,500 mph. A second sighting that night involved a light near the moon. Duration about 10 minutes.
Source: Hynek-CUFOS re-evaluation; Jan Aldrich; FUFOR Index

Date: Fall 1952
Location: Route between New York and Puerto Rico
Time: Unknown
Summary: Three Pan American Airways pilots (Zammett, Harris, and Hutchins) watched a UFO hover, then speed away.
Source: UFOE, V

Date: End of August 1952: Humanoid seen near Fauga, France

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A Saucer in Seneca Lake, an AFOSI Field Investigation, and the Disputed Desvergers Case

The back half of August 1952 delivers three cases worth special note. Three carpenters near Watkins Glen, New York watched what witnesses described as a sheet-of-steel object plunge into Seneca Lake and throw up an eight-to-ten-foot splash, in a case documented directly through contemporary press clippings rather than secondhand summary. Days later, at Chickasaw and Brookley AFB, Alabama, an AFOSI agent personally drove to the scene and independently corroborated a fifty-minute, multi-witness light display that included one object appearing to explode. And on August 18–19, the well-known and disputed Desvergers “Scoutmaster case” out of West Palm Beach, Florida — previously duplicated across two separate entries on this page under conflicting dates — has been consolidated into one entry here, preserving its own long-standing “probable hoax, but with some degree of strangeness” characterization.

“Suddenly it crashed into the lake, and splashed water eight to ten feet high.”
— Carpenters Ray Andrew, Alfred Sullivan, and Clayton Crout, Seneca Lake, New York, August 25, 1952