1967: Meridian, Mississippi Sighting

THINK ABOUTIT UFO SIGHTING REPORT

Date: July 10, 1967                      BBU 11869

Sighting Time: 5:50 p.m.

Day/Night: Day

Location: Meridian, Mississippi

Urban or Rural: Rural

Hynek Classification: DD (Daylight Disc) Metallic or whitish object seen in the day.

Duration:

No. of Object(s):  1

Size of Object(s): size of house

Distance to Object(s): 300 feet

Shape of Object(s): like a cymbal

Color of Object(s): dirty metallic gray

Number of Witnesses: 1

Source: Air Force unexplained case, Project Blue Book files, National Archives.

Summary/Description: One of the very last cases reported to Bluebook that was labeled as unidentified occurred in Meridian, Mississippi. Philip Lanning was driving south of town, on the evening of July 10, 1967, when his car coasted to a stop and the radio faded. Lanning got out and started to look at the car engine, when an enormous object flew over his head about 300 feet in the air. The object was silent and moving to the east. Lanning thought the object was about to crash.

Just before the object reached a group of nearby trees, it tilted upward, turned right and then accelerated at great speed straight up into the low-flying clouds. The object was described as being ‘like a cymbal on a drum set and was a dirty metallic gray in color on the underside’. He saw no portholes or hatches and said that it appeared to the size of house.

Lanning wasn’t sure who would be interested in the report, but he felt that it should be sent to someone in the US Government, so he forwarded it to a friend in Navel Intelligence. The Air Force eventually received it and began an investigation. They were impressed with Lanning as a witness as he was a former military officer who had received a great deal of training. After extensive research and interviews, the Air Force was forced to label this sighting as unidentified. This was one of the very last reports in Bluebook to receive that tag.