THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTINGS REPORT

1950: Spartanburg, South Carolina — The Drive-In Saucer in the Mist

Late on the night of July 22, 1950, Spartanburg Journal reporter Vernon Gwynne and his wife were watching the last show at the Starlite Drive-In Theater, northwest of town, when he noticed a cloud-like formation drifting against the other clouds. It took on a rounded, fairly flat bottom. Over about an hour the shape appeared three times, each wreathed in mist or smoke, with the stars clearly visible beyond it; the third time it looked very large and brightly lit and frightened his wife.

Gwynne and two men in the next car agreed the thing was no aircraft or planet. The Counter Intelligence Corps interviewed him two days later, and the Air Force card evaluates the Spartanburg drive-in UFO as Astro (Star/Planet). A control-tower operator was said to have seen something similar, but the operator on duty that night told the CIC he saw nothing.

Date: July 22, 1950 (Saturday)

Sighting Time: Between 23:00 and 24:00 (the last show started about 23:00)

Day/Night: Night (clear, stars visible)

Location: Starlite Drive-In Theater, about 3 miles northwest of Spartanburg, South Carolina, on the Asheville, North Carolina highway

Urban or Rural: Rural edge of town

No. of Entity’s: 0 — Not Applicable

Entity Type: Not Applicable

Entity Description: Not Applicable

Hynek Classification: NL (nocturnal light)

Duration: About 2 minutes, then about 3 minutes, then a third appearance; the viewing totaled 8 to 10 minutes over about an hour

No. of Object(s): One shape, appearing three times

Description of the Object(s): A huge elongated silver object generally in the shape of a great saucer, rounded and fairly flat on the bottom and surrounded by mist or smoke; the rounded bottom was brightly lit “as if the light from a big forest fire was being reflected”

Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Round saucer shape; the witness estimated the bottom surface at about 200 feet in diameter; the card says round, 200 feet; larger than any dirigible he had seen

Distance to Object(s): About 1,200 yards (a bit under a mile)

Height & Speed: About 2,000 feet by estimate; no motion while visible, though the third appearance was lower and to the right

Number of Witnesses: 4: the reporter, his wife and two men in the next car (the two men were not identified)

Special Features/Characteristics: Mist or smoke around the shape each time, with clear skies and visible stars; reappeared in the same spot twice; the witnesses discussed it for about an hour and decided not to alert others for fear of hysteria

Case Status: Astro (Star/Planet) per the Blue Book July 1950 listing; the CIC report states the observers ruled out aircraft and a planet

Source: Project 10073 Record Card; Spartanburg Herald-Journal clippings, July 24, 1950; Counter Intelligence Corps report, July 24, 1950; Third Army letter to Air Materiel Command, July 27, 1950

Summary/Description: A reporter and three others watched a mist-wreathed saucer shape appear three times over an hour at a drive-in theater.

Related Cases: None identified in the archive

Detailed Report

The reporter’s account. Gwynne wrote that he first noticed a “cloud-like” formation drifting opposite the direction of the other clouds, very low and indistinct, which took a more definite shape, rounded on the bottom and fairly flat. He asked two men in the next car to look up, but by the time they did it was gone. He saw the cloud form again in the same place, apparently out of a clear sky, and he and his wife and the two men watched a shape form in its center, then disappear after two or three minutes. About 30 minutes later all four saw the shape again, this time very clearly lighted and in a different position. He believed the mist or cloud came from within the shape. He found it hard to estimate size or distance at night but thought it less than a mile away and between 1,000 and 2,000 feet up, with the rounded bottom the color of reflected fire on a silver or white surface and larger than any dirigible he had seen.

The CIC interview. On July 24 an Army CIC agent interviewed Gwynne. The last show had started about 2300 hours. Gwynne saw a round object with a bright surface, as if light reflected from it, at about 2,000 feet. He and his wife watched it about two minutes before he walked to the next car to show two men, by which time it was gone. It returned a few minutes later in the same place, which he tracked against the top of a light pole, and the four watched it about three minutes. The third time, lower and a little to the right, the bottom was round, saucer-shaped and brilliantly lit. Each time it was surrounded by mist or smoke; the sky was clear and the stars shone beyond it. He estimated the underside at about 200 feet across, 2,000 feet up and roughly 1,200 yards away. All four agreed the shape, behavior and size eliminated any aircraft they knew and any planet, and that it was not an illusion. He said they chose not to alert others to avoid mass hysteria and did not get the two men’s names.

The tower. Gwynne told the CIC that a Spartanburg airport control-tower operator had reported seeing a similar object about the same time. The CIC interviewed the operator on duty until midnight, who said he saw nothing unusual and reported nothing. He thought the colleague who relieved him at midnight might have been the one, but that colleague was off duty until July 27 and believed to be in Atlanta. A Journal column by Alex McCullough said a Memorial Airport tower operator had told the paper the same object had been seen there; it said the speculation was that it could be a planet, but nobody was sure, and there were no reports of dirigibles in the area.

The card. The Project 10073 card lists a civilian couple, 2300 to 2400, round, 200 feet, altitude 2,000 feet, observed 2 to 3 minutes, with the remark that the object reappeared three times surrounded by mist or smoke, the first and second in the same spot and the third lower and to the right. The handwritten evaluation reads Astro (Star/Planet).

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

A Careful Witness and a Thin Evaluation

Planet claim: The card says star or planet, but the witnesses and the CIC agent record that a planet was ruled out by the four observers; the file does not say which star or planet, or where it was.
Corroboration: The tower corroboration is secondhand: the newspaper and the reporter say it, the operator on duty says he saw nothing, and the second operator was not interviewed.
Mist: The mist around the shape in a clear sky is the detail the witnesses stress; the card mentions it, but the planet/star evaluation does not address it.
Witness conduct: The four decided not to alert others, so there is no independent audience for the sighting at the theater.
Unnamed witnesses: The two men in the next car were never identified; the reporter is named in the clippings.

The Spartanburg report is a thoughtful account from a newspaperman who worried about mass hysteria and still wrote it up. Blue Book’s star-or-planet label sits uneasily with his description of mist, motion and a lit underside, and the file never says which star or planet was meant.