Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, May 14, 1952: two orange spheres.
THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTINGS REPORT
Mayagüez, Puerto Rico: Two Orange Spheres Over the Bay
Just after sundown on May 14, 1952, five people on a cliff-top above Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, saw two bright orange spheres over the ocean. One hung motionless; the other, smaller, darted away at a rapid rate of speed, vanished and reappeared close beside the first. The show lasted twenty to thirty minutes, and an attorney and former pilot among the group studied it through 18×50 Zeiss field glasses.
The Mayagüez, Puerto Rico UFO sighting was investigated by the Air Force, whose investigating officer judged the witnesses people of sound judgment and integrity, ruled out mass hysteria and found no natural circumstance that accounted for the sightings. Blue Book’s own 11–31 May table lists Puerto Rico as UNIDENTIFIED.
Date: May 14, 1952
Sighting Time: 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. (just after sundown)
Day/Night: Dusk / early night
Location: A cliff-top overlooking Mayagüez city and Mayagüez Bay, Puerto Rico (18°11’N 67°13’30″W), 700–1,000 feet above sea level
Urban or Rural: Rural hillside above a city
No. of Entity(‘s): Not Applicable
Entity Type: Not Applicable
Entity Description: Not Applicable
Hynek Classification: Nocturnal Light (NL)
Duration: 20 to 30 minutes
No. of Object(s): 2
Description of the Object(s): Bright orange spheres “like the sun” in color, one larger and stationary, one smaller that darted away at rapid speed and reappeared close beside it; no exhaust, sound or contrail
Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Spherical / one larger than the other / bright orange
Distance to Object(s): Far out over the ocean; distance could not be estimated
Height & Speed: Unknown; the smaller object moved rapidly
Number of Witnesses: Five, including an attorney and former pilot, a 20-year-old Puerto Rican college student and two women
Special Features/Characteristics: Observed through 18×50 Zeiss Jena field glasses, which showed only the movement; clear sky with 20-mile visibility and alto-stratus cloud; Ramey weather station 25 miles away
Case Status: Unidentified (Project Blue Book)
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Air Intelligence Information Report; Berliner (BBU 1213)
Summary/Description: Five witnesses on a cliff-top watched two orange spheres off Mayagüez for up to half an hour; the investigator found no natural explanation.
Related Cases: Houston, May 20, 1952; Walnut Lake, May 25, 1952
Detailed Report
The Air Intelligence Information Report states that bright orange objects, “like the sun” in color, were observed off the coast of Mayagüez between 1900 and 1930 hours, with the observation lasting twenty to thirty minutes after sundown. The observers saw no regular formation, but one object thought to be larger than the other appeared stationary, while the smaller seemed to dart away at a rapid rate of speed and then to reappear in close proximity to the larger. There was no exhaust, sound or contrail.
The observation point was a cliff overlooking Mayagüez and the bay, about 700 to 1,000 feet above sea level at 18°11’N 67°13’30″W. Zeiss Jena 18×50 field glasses were used, but the observers could not distinguish anything more about the objects except the movement. Five witnesses were present. The principal witness, an attorney and former pilot who was in business in Mayagüez, used the glasses, and the major part of the report is based on his description. The others were a 20-year-old Puerto Rican college student and two women, whom the investigator did not interview.
It was clear, with visibility of about twenty miles, and alto-stratus cloud; the Ramey weather station, 25 miles away, was consulted. The investigator concluded that all the observers were people of sound judgment and integrity and were not influenced by mass hysteria, and reported that an inquiry “revealed no natural circumstance” that adequately accounted for the sightings. The record card shows the conclusion line as “None,” and photographs were marked with an unclear annotation.
RESEARCHER’S NOTES
Two Orange Lights, One That Would Not Stay Put
- Evaluation: Blue Book’s 11–31 May table carries Puerto Rico as UNIDENTIFIED; the card’s conclusions line says “None.”
- Witness names: Berliner’s catalog gives “Mr. Stipes and Sr. Garcia-Méndez”; the names are redacted in the Blue Book file, so they could not be verified.
- Binoculars: The glasses showed only the movement and not shape or detail, consistent with distant lights or a light source seen against a dark sea.
- Candidates: Blue Book considered the conditions (clear sky, alto-stratus) and found nothing to account for two orange spheres moving independently; possible astronomical explanations were marked on the card without support.
The Mayagüez report is a short, simple, credible and unexplained case: two orange lights, one still and one jumping, watched for as long as half an hour by five people from a cliff. Blue Book recorded no conclusion, and the investigator’s own opinion of the witnesses stands as the strongest part of the record.
“One object stationary, other darted around.”
— Project Blue Book record card, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, May 14, 1952
