THINK ABOUTIT UFO SIGHTINGS REPORT

1968: The Redlands Sighting, California UFO Sighting:

A Rare Split Verdict

Around 7:20 on the evening of February 4, 1968, roughly two hundred residents of Redlands, California, saw or heard a huge, low-flying disc pass over their town, ringed with alternating red and green lights and trailing seven jets of orange flame from its underside. A minister recording his own sermon that night unknowingly captured a strange, high-pitched whine on tape. Project Blue Book referred the case to four University of Redlands professors, who spent three months on it, ruled out known aircraft and natural phenomena for the object itself, but traced the recorded sound to something far more mundane: a rescue vehicle’s siren that happened to be running nearby.

Date: February 4, 1968 (Project Blue Book case, referred by Blue Book to University of Redlands investigators)

Sighting Time: Approximately 7:20 to 7:25 p.m.

Day/Night: Night

Location: Redlands, California, first observed just west of Columbia Street and north of Colton Avenue

Urban or Rural: Urban

No. of Entity(s): Not Applicable

Entity Type: Not Applicable

Entity Description: Not Applicable

Hynek Classification: CE-I — Close Encounter of the First Kind. This site’s legacy field data listed DD (Daylight Disc), which cannot be correct given the sighting’s own recorded time of approximately 7:20–7:25 p.m. on February 4, well after sunset in Southern California; combined with the object’s low altitude of roughly 300 feet and the highly resolved structural detail obtained (light count, color pattern, flame jets), CE-I is the appropriate classification.

Duration: Less than 5 minutes total

No. of Object(s): 1

Description of the Object(s): A large disc-shaped object with seven lights on its underside that appeared to expel jets of bright orange flame, and a row of eight to ten lights on top alternating between red and green, creating the impression the object was rotating. A composite illustration was produced by art professor John Brownfield from independent witness interviews and confirmed accurate by the witnesses themselves.

Shape of Object(s): Disc

Size of Object(s): Estimated at approximately 50 feet in diameter, based on its apparent size at an estimated altitude of 300 feet

Color of Object(s): Orange flame-like jets on the underside; alternating red and green lights on top

Distance to Object(s): Estimated altitude of approximately 300 feet

Height & Speed: Traveled slowly at an estimated 300 feet altitude for about a mile, came to a stop and hovered briefly, jerked forward, hovered again, then departed straight up with a sudden burst of speed. Sources differ on the object’s direction of travel: this site’s own summary and UFO Evidence describe a northwestern course, while NICAP’s account describes a northeasterly course; this discrepancy is flagged here rather than resolved.

Number of Witnesses: Approximately 200 Redlands residents reported seeing or hearing the object; NICAP’s account specifically describes around 20 witnesses who directly observed the object in detail

Special Features/Characteristics: A minister recording his sermon at a Redlands church that evening unknowingly captured a high-pitched, modulated whining sound many witnesses associated with the object; a scholarly sonic analysis of that recording later attributed the sound specifically to an emergency rescue vehicle siren that happened to be operating in Redlands at the same time, a finding consistent with the original investigating professors’ own conclusion; Project Blue Book referred the case to four University of Redlands faculty, Dr. Philip Seff (geology), Dr. Judson Sanderson (mathematics), Dr. Reinhold Krantz (chemistry), and John Brownfield (art), who investigated for approximately three months; the object was not detected on radar by nearby Norton Air Force Base, whose radar type was reportedly not suited to detect it, nor by March Air Force Base, whose closest radar coverage was blocked by an intervening mountain range; NICAP separately noted that no one at Blue Book followed up by phone with the investigating professors despite having referred the case to them

Case Status: Unexplained (visual sighting of the object itself); the associated audio recording is separately Explained, attributed to a coincidental emergency vehicle siren rather than the object

Source: APRO / Ronald Story, 1980; NICAP (nicap.org); investigation conducted for the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization by Dr. Philip Seff, Dr. Judson Sanderson, Dr. Reinhold Krantz, and John Brownfield of the University of Redlands

Summary/Description: On February 4, 1968, from approximately 7:20 to 7:25 p.m., about two hundred residents of Redlands, California, either saw or heard what was apparently the same huge, low-flying, disc-shaped object as it passed overhead at an estimated altitude of 300 feet. A minister recording his sermon captured a high-pitched whining sound associated with the sighting, later attributed by sonic analysis to a coincidental emergency vehicle siren. Four University of Redlands professors investigated for the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization over roughly three months, producing a witness-verified composite illustration of the object, ruling out known aircraft and natural phenomena, and concluding the object itself remained unidentified even as the associated sound was explained.

Related Cases: None documented

Full Report

On February 4, 1968, from approximately 7:20 to 7:25 p.m., about two hundred residents of Redlands, California, either saw or heard what was apparently the same huge, low-flying, disk-shaped object as it passed overhead. A minister conducting services in a church in Redlands was recording his sermon at the time and obtained a recording of the sound, which many people present described as a high-pitched, modulated whining sound much like that of the “flying saucer” seen on the TV program “The Invaders.” An investigation was conducted for the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization by four University of Redlands professors: Dr. Philip Seff (geology), Dr. Judson Sanderson (mathematics), Dr. Reinhold Krantz (chemistry), and John Brownfield (art). The following information was obtained by them.

The object apparently came down just west of Columbia Street and north of Colton Avenue, then proceeded slowly in a northwestern direction for about a mile or less, at an altitude of about 300 feet. Coming to a stop, it hovered briefly, jerked forward, hovered again, then shot straight up with a burst of speed. Total time of the sighting must have been less than five minutes.

The object’s size and altitude were estimated by Dr. Sanderson. The object seemed, if at 300 feet altitude, to be around 50 feet in diameter.

The artist’s conception was based on a series of interviews with witnesses by Professor Brownfield. His composite painting was verified by witnesses, obtained from witnesses who had seen the object at different angles, and is therefore probably a very accurate representation of the object. The lights on the base appeared to expel jets of bright orange flame and were seven in number. The lights on top, eight to ten in a row, alternated in color, red and green, giving the impression that the object was rotating.

The object was not detected on radar by nearby Norton Air Force Base, but a USAF spokesman admitted their radar was not the type that would have spotted it anyway. The closest radar that might have detected the object was at March Air Force Base near Riverside, but a range of mountains stands between Redlands and that base’s location.

Professor Philip Seff, who headed the investigative team, reached the following conclusions: the object sighted could be attributed to no known type of aircraft, since the atmosphere was clear and the object was low, giving witnesses a clear view, and no known aircraft was over Redlands at the time; as far as could be determined, the object could not be attributed to any known natural phenomenon; and the sound heard was that of the emergency rescue vehicle, with witnesses, in the excitement of seeing a UFO, naturally assuming the sound was coming from the object overhead.

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

Redlands, 1968 — A Case With a Rare Split Verdict

This case is unusual for cleanly separating an explained detail from an unexplained one. Most cases in this archive are weighed as a single whole. Redlands is a rarer example where the investigating team, and later independent scholarly sonic analysis, confirmed one specific element, the recorded sound, had a mundane source (an emergency vehicle siren), while the visual sighting of the object itself remained unresolved. Treating these as a single undifferentiated “explained” or “unexplained” verdict would misrepresent the actual finding; the field data above keeps them separate deliberately.
Classification corrected: CE-I, not DD. The sighting occurred between roughly 7:20 and 7:25 p.m. on February 4, well after sunset in Southern California in winter; a Daylight Disc classification is simply inconsistent with the case’s own recorded time. Combined with the low, close-range altitude (roughly 300 feet) and the unusually resolved structural detail obtained by the investigating team, CE-I better reflects both the timing and the observational quality of the case.
Genuine institutional investigation, not a casual witness report. Four named University of Redlands faculty members, spanning geology, mathematics, chemistry, and art, conducted a three-month investigation at Project Blue Book’s own referral. This is a meaningfully more rigorous evidentiary chain than most contemporaneous sightings receive, and the investigators’ own domain expertise (a mathematician providing the size/altitude estimate, an artist producing a witness-verified composite) strengthens confidence in the specific figures reported.
Blue Book’s own follow-through was reportedly minimal. Despite referring the case to the Redlands professors, NICAP’s contemporaneous account notes that no one at Blue Book followed up with the investigators even by phone to discuss their findings, a detail worth weighing when considering how seriously the case was handled at the institutional level once it had been formally referred out.
Minor source discrepancy in direction of travel, flagged rather than resolved. This site’s own summary and other secondary compilations describe the object moving northwestward; NICAP’s account describes a northeasterly course. Both cannot be correct as stated, and this entry preserves the discrepancy rather than silently picking one.

Redlands offers something genuinely rare in this archive: a case where careful investigation actually resolved part of the mystery. The eerie whine on the minister’s tape turned out to be an ordinary siren, coincidentally present at the worst possible moment. But the low, slow, flame-jetted disc that roughly two hundred people watched cross their town on a February evening in 1968 was never identified by the four professors who spent three months trying, and it hasn’t been since.