THINK ABOUTIT UFO SIGHTINGS REPORT

1948: The Hamel, Minnesota Ground Trace — The Leuer Boys and CIC Special Agent Victor

Two boys playing outside on an ordinary summer afternoon watched something small and metallic drop out of the sky and land eight feet from where they stood. That alone would be a memorable childhood story. What makes this case genuinely unusual is what happened next: the U.S. Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps sent a special agent to investigate, and he found something real waiting for him in the grass — a two-foot circle of ground that had been pressed with extreme force, exactly where the boys said the object had touched down.

Date: August 11 or 17, 1948 (exact date disputed in the source record)

Sighting Time: 12:00-12:15

Day/Night: Day, midday

Location: Hamel, Minnesota

Urban or Rural: Rural/small-town residential

No. of Entity(s): Not Applicable

Entity Type: Not Applicable — no occupants observed, though the case summary notes “occupants of the craft were seen” in one indexing reference without further surviving detail

Entity Description: Not Applicable

Hynek Classification: CE-II — Close Encounter of the Second Kind. The object was observed at extremely close range (landing between the two witnesses) and left a documented, independently investigated physical trace, meeting the standard definition for this classification.

Duration: Approximately 15 minutes total window (12:00-12:15), with the object’s own active maneuvering sequence likely lasting well under a minute

No. of Object(s): 1

Description of the Object(s): Round, dull gray or silver in color, resembling two inverted plates joined together, roughly 2 feet in diameter and 1 foot thick. It produced a metallic clinking sound upon landing and a distinct train-whistle-like noise during its subsequent ascents.

Shape of Object(s): Round, disc/plate-shaped (inverted-plates description)

Size of Object(s): Approximately 2 feet in diameter, 1 foot thick

Color of Object(s): Dull gray or silver

Distance to Object(s): Extremely close — landed approximately 8 feet from one of the two boys

Height & Speed: Approached from a height of roughly 12 feet before dropping down like a falling balloon; on departure, ascended to 20 feet, then hovered, then rose to roughly 30 feet while actively maneuvering to avoid nearby phone lines and trees

Number of Witnesses: 2 — the Leuer boys, playing outside together

Special Features/Characteristics: The object’s behavior sequence was specific and structured rather than a simple fall or crash: it approached from the northwest, dropped down “like a balloon” (implying a controlled, gentle descent rather than a ballistic fall), landed with a metallic sound, spun once, ascended abruptly, produced a whistle sound again, hovered, then climbed further while actively steering around physical obstacles (phone lines and trees) before departing to the northeast — this obstacle-avoidance behavior is a particularly notable detail, since it implies either active control or some functional guidance system distinguishing it from an inert falling object; CIC Special Agent Capt. Charles L. Victor of the 113th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment personally investigated the site and found a 2-foot-diameter area where the ground showed signs of extreme pressure, providing physical evidence independent of the boys’ verbal testimony; the case’s official designation notes “occupants of the craft were seen” and “traces found,” though the surviving summary does not elaborate further on any occupant description.

Case Status: Unexplained

Source: Magonia, issue 66

Detailed Report

Sometime in mid-August 1948 (sources differ on whether the specific date was the 11th or the 17th), two boys from the Leuer family were playing outside in Hamel, Minnesota, sometime around midday. Between 12:00 and 12:15, they saw a round, dull gray or silver object — described as resembling two inverted plates joined together, roughly 2 feet across and 1 foot thick — approach from the northwest and drop down from a height of about 12 feet, landing approximately 8 feet from one of the boys with a distinct metallic clinking sound.

What followed was an active, structured sequence of behavior rather than a simple crash landing. The object spun once, then shot upward roughly 20 feet, accompanied by a sound the boys described as resembling a train whistle. It hovered briefly, then continued climbing to about 30 feet — but rather than departing on a straight path, it maneuvered specifically to avoid nearby phone lines and trees, before finally flying away to the northeast. That obstacle-avoidance behavior is worth emphasizing: an inert falling or malfunctioning object would have no reason to actively steer around physical hazards during its departure.

The case did not end with the boys’ testimony. It came to the attention of the U.S. Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps, and CIC Special Agent Capt. Charles L. Victor of the 113th CIC Detachment personally investigated the site. There, he found and documented a roughly 2-foot-diameter area of ground showing clear signs of extreme pressure — physical evidence consistent with the boys’ account of an object landing at that precise spot, and independent of their own testimony.

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

When the Army Sent Someone to Check

On why official military follow-up matters here: Most cases in this archive’s record, whatever their inherent credibility, rest entirely on witness testimony with no subsequent official verification. This case is different in kind: it attracted the attention of the U.S. Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps, an actual investigative body, which dispatched a named agent to the site. That agent did not simply take statements — he personally examined the physical location and documented a specific, measurable ground disturbance. This transforms the case from “two children’s account of something strange” into “two children’s account, independently corroborated by a physical trace a trained military investigator found and measured himself.”
On the significance of young witnesses in this specific case: Child witnesses are sometimes treated with automatic skepticism in UFO literature, but this case’s specific, structured behavioral sequence — approach, controlled descent, landing, spin, ascent with a repeated whistle sound, hover, and then active obstacle avoidance during departure — is a level of narrative complexity and internal consistency that would be unusual to fabricate spontaneously, particularly given that the account was corroborated by physical evidence the boys themselves could not have manufactured.
On the obstacle-avoidance detail specifically: The object’s active maneuvering around phone lines and trees during its ascent is arguably the single most analytically significant detail in this account. A falling or malfunctioning inert object has no mechanism for course-correcting around specific physical hazards; this behavior implies either active guidance or control of some kind, distinguishing the case from simpler “object fell from the sky” reports elsewhere in this archive.
On the limits of what survives in the record: The case’s own indexing notes reference “occupants of the craft were seen,” but no further detail on any occupant description survives in the source material available to this archive. This is a significant gap; if further primary CIC documentation exists and could be located, it would likely substantially expand what can be said about this case.

Two boys, a metallic clink, a train-whistle sound, and an object that knew to steer around the phone lines on its way out. Weeks or days later, an Army investigator knelt in the same spot the boys pointed to and found the ground itself had something to say about what had happened there. Of all the cases this archive documents from 1948, few come with both a child’s memory and a soldier’s measuring tape agreeing on the same eight feet of grass.