El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, September 14–15, 1952, 11:30 p.m.–1:20 a.m.
THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTINGS REPORT
1952: El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, Luminous Formations
Between about 11:30 p.m. on September 14 and 1:20 a.m. on September 15, 1952, a consulting engineer with a hand compass and a notebook watched eight displays of luminous spheres sweep across the night sky over El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. They came in arcs, semicircles and, at about 12:45 a.m., a perfect inverted Y: a long-pointed lead with two arms trailing behind, each light spaced evenly from the next, with no connecting trail and no color change.
Project Blue Book evaluated the case as Unidentified. The observer’s own written log, preserved in the Blue Book file, is one of the longest and most carefully timed civilian observation records of the 1952 wave, and it was written by a man who said he deliberately practiced watching the sky for exactly this.
Date: September 14–15, 1952
Sighting Time: About 11:30 p.m. on September 14 to about 1:20 a.m. on September 15 (1 hour 50 minutes)
Day/Night: Night
Location: El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico (the same observation appears under both names)
Urban or Rural: Urban border area, observed from open ground
No. of Entity(‘s): None reported
Entity Type: Not applicable
Entity Description: Not applicable
Hynek Classification: NL (Nocturnal Light)
Duration: 1 hour 50 minutes of repeated displays
No. of Object(s): Six groups of 12–15 spheres or discs each, in the engineer’s count, with later displays also logged
Description of the Object(s): Luminous white spherical or disc-shaped objects in even spacing (about three-quarters of a sphere diameter between neighbors), with no coronic effect, no change in brilliance or color and no connecting trails
Shape of Object(s): Spherical or disc-shaped lights in arc, semicircle and inverted-Y formations
Size of Object(s): Not recorded
Color of Object(s): White, equal brilliance across groups
Distance to Object(s): Estimated altitude 10–12 miles
Height & Speed: Estimated about 4,000 mph; erratic maneuvers including hovering and extremely high-speed rectilinear flight
Number of Witnesses: 3–4 (a consulting engineer, R. J. Portis, and two or three others)
Special Features/Characteristics: Formation changes from arc to a perfect inverted Y whose lights vanished one by one without crossing the horizon; the engineer noted star positions with a hand compass; the Y display passed overhead and to the east at about 12:45 a.m.; later displays at about 1:00 a.m. (semicircle) and 1:20 a.m. (semicircle in the southern sky)
Case Status: Unexplained (Project Blue Book evaluation: Unidentified)
Source: Blue Book file (observer’s written log and Air Intelligence Information Report); Don Berliner; Project Blue Book Unknowns
Summary/Description: A consulting engineer and two or three others in the El Paso–Ciudad Juárez area watched six groups of 12–15 luminous spheres or discs between about 11:30 p.m. and 1:20 a.m. on September 14–15, 1952, in arcs and a perfect inverted-Y formation at an estimated 4,000 mph and 10–12 miles altitude. Blue Book evaluated it as Unidentified.
Related Cases: the other September 14 East Coast and Southwest light reports on the September 1st–16th page
DETAILED REPORT
The Blue Book file for this case is mostly the observer’s own typed log. Starting about 11:30 p.m. on September 14, he recorded six groups of luminous spherical or disc-shaped objects traveling in arcs to an inverted-Y formation over El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. The Blue Book summary lists an estimated speed of about 4,000 mph, an altitude of 10–12 miles and erratic maneuvers including hovering and extremely high speed.
The log is careful. Group number five resembled group two, traveling in a westerly direction at about 12:30 a.m., with no change to the spotty haze in the western sky. At 12:45 a.m. on September 15 the most interesting display appeared: a group in a perfect Y form, the leg of the Y leading and the arms trailing, with the spheres evenly spaced at about three-quarters of a sphere diameter. The lights had no connecting trails and no coronic effect, and the Y vanished from view without going over the horizon, each light going out in turn as the Y advanced. Display seven came at about 1:00 a.m. as a semicircle with slight wave-like movement among the individual lights, and display eight at about 1:20 a.m. as a semicircle in the southern sky.
The observer logged that he checked star positions with a hand compass and that the skies were watched for several more hours with no further displays. He closed with a recommendation that the army and navy post constant watches with proper equipment, and said he would not theorize about the cause. The Blue Book summary notes that some of the haze may suggest optical phenomena, but the case remained Unidentified.
RESEARCHER’S NOTES
El Paso and Juárez, September 14–15: A Single Observer’s Six-Group Log
- One event, two entries: The live archive carried this as an El Paso entry (BBU 2092) and a Ciudad Juárez entry. Both describe the same six groups and the same night, so the two are cross-referenced and covered here by one report.
- Observation quality: The observer was a consulting engineer who timed each display, noted compass bearings and kept the record on the following evening. He said he had practiced watching the sky, and the log reads like it.
- Same night, wider pattern: September 14 was a night of many light reports across the country, including a bright meteor-like event in the East that Blue Book filed as a meteor. The El Paso formations do not read as a single meteor, because they repeated for nearly two hours in coordinated groups.
- Caveat on OCR: The scanned log is poorly legible in places, so times and the group count are given as the log and the Blue Book summary state them, with ranges where they disagree.
The El Paso and Juárez record is a long, disciplined civilian log of luminous formations repeating over nearly two hours, ending in a perfect inverted Y that winked out without crossing the horizon. Blue Book listed it as Unidentified, and the observer’s own plain conclusion was to keep watching.
“any and all parties wishing for a new field of definite scientific interest can now find such by taking the time out each night for observation”
— Civilian observer’s written log, El Paso–Ciudad Juárez, September 14–15, 1952 (Blue Book file; OCR of a typed original)
