October 22–31, 1952: Gaillac, Laurinburg-Maxton, Hickman Canyon and Martinique.
1952: October 22nd–31st
UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive
October 1952 closes with a genuine outbreak: exactly ten days after the famous Oloron “angel hair” fall, a nearly identical cylinder-and-spheres display appeared over Gaillac in southern France before dozens of towns, from Forbach to Marseille, filed their own reports on October 27.
Blue Book files add a low pass of a huge oval over Laurinburg-Maxton AFB, a Pan American crew’s falling green light near Martinique, a Toledo car party that photographed six objects, and one of the strangest files of the month: two deer hunters who saw a saucer crash into a Utah mountain near Dugway Proving Ground. This page covers October 22nd through 31st; see the companion pages for October 1st–10th and October 11th–21st.
Date: Oct. 22, 1952
Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina
Time: 10:10 p.m.
Summary: A/2c Bernard F. DeMonte, on guard duty at Laurinburg-Maxton AFB, saw a huge oval object, 100 to 200 feet across, pass low overhead with two red lights in front and eight to ten steady green lights at the rear. A droning sound grew to an earsplitting pitch unlike any jet or conventional aircraft. The object flew north, made a 180-degree turn west, vanished, then reappeared and turned east before fading out. Three other airmen verified the sound, but no one else saw the object. [Full Report]
Source Status: The report is dated October 22 at about 0310Z, which is October 21 local time if read as Zulu; the accompanying message gives 2210 hours, matching the live 10:10 p.m. The witness name is as read from the scan.
Source: Blue Book file (57th Tactical Control Group, Pope AFB, with the witness statement)
Date: Oct. 22, 1952
Location: Elmendorf AFB, Alaska
Time: Not legible
Summary: Airman 2c John E. Driscoll saw a round, reddish-orange object over the airfield, first northwest of the intersection of the two main runways and traveling southeast. It emitted short spurts of thin gas.
Source Status: The scan does not give a legible time or evaluation. The name is as read from the message.
Source: Blue Book file (message from Elmendorf AFB relayed to HQ USAF)
Date: Oct. 23, 1952
Location: Malacca, Malaysia
Time: 8:30 p.m.
Summary: A hovering object was observed by more than five witnesses for 30 minutes.
Source: Unknown
Date: Oct. 23, 1952
Location: Toledo, Ohio
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Summary: Three people riding in a car, two civilians and one military, saw six yellow-orange objects fly due south without sound, seemingly trailing fire. At first the objects looked stationary, then began to move. The witnesses stopped the car and got out, and one took a series of five color slides. [Full Report]
Source: Blue Book file
Date: Oct. 23, 1952
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Time: Not recorded
Summary: Male witness Hobner observed an object at close range, with reported physiological effects.
Source: Unknown
Date: Oct. 24, 1952
Location: Elberta, Alabama
Time: 8:26 p.m.
Summary: USAF 1st Lt. Rau and Capt. Marcinko, flying a Beech T-11 trainer, saw a brilliant orange and black plate-shaped object with a vague trail fly a constant course and speed with its concave surface forward. It left a streak of light as it disappeared. Duration 5 seconds.
Source: Berliner; FUFOR Index; Blue Book file (BBU 2184)
Date: Oct. 24, 1952
Location: Ten miles west of Fort-de-France, Martinique
Time: 7:55 p.m. AST (about 2355Z)
Summary: The crew of a Pan American World Airways flight cruising at 21,500 feet, heading 190, sighted a bright luminous green object about 20 degrees above their sight level that fell straight down, rapidly, for about three seconds before entering a cumulus cloud at about 3,000 feet, which it illuminated. The pilot’s sighting was verified by the co-pilot. The message was relayed by the Caribbean Sea Frontier. [Full Report]
Source: Blue Book file (Caribbean Sea Frontier message to HQ USAF)
Date: Oct. 25, 1952
Location: Stead AFB, Reno, Nevada
Time: 10:30 a.m. (live listing)
Summary: Two tower operators at Stead AFB saw round, orange objects traveling at great speed, leaving vapor trails that were visible for about four minutes and changed direction. Similar objects were reported by civilians. The report does not make clear whether one or two objects were involved, and Blue Book concluded they were possibly aircraft.
Source Status: The live listing recorded three military witnesses and a daytime disc; the file reports two tower operators. The file is assumed to describe the same October 25 event.
Source: Blue Book file (Stead AFB report)
Date: Oct. 26, 1952
Location: Akureyri, northern Iceland
Time: 9:30 a.m. (0930)
Summary: Four or five spherical objects flying at high speed over the northern coast of Iceland were seen from two separate locations by three people, who reported them on a northerly track for about two minutes. They were clearly visible and made no sound. The source is a newspaper clipping forwarded by Keflavik.
Source: Blue Book file (Keflavik Airport report with newspaper clipping)
Date: Oct. 26, 1952
Location: 2 miles south of Roanoke, Texas, on Highway 77 (about 18 miles north of Fort Worth)
Time: 4:18 p.m. CST (1618)
Summary: Civilian witnesses traveling by car saw a bright silver, cigar-shaped object with a very brilliant blue reflection in the east at about 30–35 degrees elevation, 2–3 miles away. It climbed straight up, then moved south while losing altitude, then turned southeast and climbed again “like a top,” covering about 60 degrees of sky in 80–90 seconds before fading from sight to the southeast. Duration about 3 minutes. [Full Report]
Source: Blue Book file (Fourth Army G-2); Brad Sparks catalog
Date: Oct. 27, 1952
Location: Northern Kyushu, Japan
Time: Not recorded
Summary: AF pilots saw a far-away, star-like object change from a deep orange glow to pale yellow, repeatedly disappearing and reappearing every few minutes at high altitude while slowly losing height. Blue Book judged it astronomical because it was not picked up on radar and made no erratic maneuvers.
Source: Blue Book file (Air Intelligence Information Report)
Date: Oct. 27, 1952
Location: Marignane Airport, near Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France
Time: 2:03 a.m.
Summary: Customs officer Gabriel Gachignard, working at the airfield, saw a roughly 15-foot-long, football-shaped object with a metallic grillwork and four rectangular windows about 8–12 inches wide land briefly about 100 meters away in overcast weather. The object throbbed with soft, changing tints, made a dull sound on touching the ground, and departed with a soft swishing sound and instant acceleration, vanishing from view within three seconds. [Full Report]
Source: Challenge 6 (per NICAP’s 1952 chronology); Gabriel Gachignard
Date: Oct. 27, 1952
Location: Gaillac, Tarn, France
Time: Approximately 5:00 p.m.
Summary: One hundred witnesses in Gaillac observed a long, cigar-shaped object tilted at a 45-degree angle, hovering at roughly 300–400 meters altitude, with a plume of smoke escaping its upper end. About ten pairs of red, Saturn-like discs accompanied the cylinder, flying in zigzagging maneuvers around it. Large quantities of angel-hair fiber fell over the town’s rooftops afterward. Exactly ten days earlier, an almost identical event had occurred over Oloron-Sainte-Marie, roughly 100 miles to the southwest. [Full Report]
Source: UFOE, Vol. VIII (per NICAP’s 1952 chronology); Margaret Sachs, “The UFO Encyclopedia”
Date: Oct. 27, 1952
Location: Lignan-de-Bazas, Aquitaine, France
Time: 7:45 a.m.
Summary: Two glowing balls hovered over the town for about ten minutes before apparently bursting.
Source: Unknown
Date: Oct. 27, 1952
Location: Forbach, Lorraine, France
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Summary: White trails appeared in the sky as roughly 40 small gray balls emerged and flew north toward the Saar region of Germany.
Source: Unknown
Date: Oct. 27, 1952
Location: Brives-Charensac, Auvergne, France
Time: Approximately 5:30 p.m.
Summary: Roughly thirty minutes after the Gaillac sighting, a UFO was seen hovering over Brives-Charensac.
Source: Unknown
Date: Oct. 27, 1952
Location: Woomera, South Australia, Australia
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Summary: Five military witnesses at the Woomera Open Air Theatre watched a cigar-shaped object fly on a straight, horizontal course at roughly 40 degrees elevation, moving right to left, faster than a jet. It had two portholes and visible interior lighting. [Full Report]
Source: Unknown
Date: Oct. 27, 1952
Location: Eyrans, Aquitaine, France
Time: 10:30 p.m.
Summary: A large, round, white object with a pointed end flew from east to west over a farm, throwing off sparks; angel-hair residue fell to the ground here as well. Observed for over one minute. A separate green fireball was also reported in the area.
Source: Unknown
Date: Oct. 27, 1952
Location: Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France
Time: 11:30 p.m.
Summary: A female witness (Saux) in the city observed one luminous, ovoid object for over one minute.
Source: Unknown
Date: Oct. 27, 1952
Location: Hickman Canyon, near Dugway Proving Ground, Tooele County, Utah
Time: Not legible (the witnesses stayed in the area until 3:30 p.m.)
Summary: Two deer hunters watched a dark gray or brown saucer-shaped object with a dark central area and two forward-pointing “exhaust” pipes approach at about 3,000 feet, descend in a straight line on a compass line of 110 degrees east, and crash into South Mountain with “a terrific crash” but no explosion. A ground and air search found nothing. A Dugway guided-missile test was suggested as a possibility. [Full Report]
Source: Blue Book file (witness statement to the Munitions Branch, Dugway Proving Ground, and Blue Book record card)
Date: Oct. 28, 1952
Location: Dallas, Texas
Time: 6:12 p.m. CST (1812)
Summary: Flight personnel at Love Field saw an orange object, at first like the running lights of an aircraft, descend on a slight dive from southeast to northwest, crossing about 15 degrees of arc in 4 seconds. It then appeared to fire a number of rockets, whose bursts looked like 5-inch HVAR rockets, and vanished. Nothing indicated a crash. The Blue Book card evaluates it as probably astronomical (a meteor).
Source: Blue Book file (message from Clovis AFB to HQ USAF)
Date: Oct. 28, 1952
Location: Texarkana, Arkansas
Time: Not recorded
Summary: A daytime disc was reported.
Source: Unknown
Date: Oct. 28, 1952
Location: Ashdown, Arkansas
Time: Not recorded
Summary: A daytime disc was reported.
Source: Unknown
Date: Oct. 28, 1952
Location: Tarbes, Midi-Pyrénées, France
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Summary: More than two witnesses observed one object.
Source: Unknown
Date: Oct. 29, 1952
Location: Jacksboro, Texas
Time: 6:10 p.m.
Summary: One metallic disc, about 40 feet across, was observed from a highway.
Source: Unknown
Date: Oct. 29, 1952
Location: Erding Air Depot, Germany
Time: 7:50 a.m.
Summary: USAF S/Sgt. Anderson and A/2c Max Handy, at an airfield, saw a silver round object silhouetted against a cloud in the western sky, moving directly away. It flew straight, level and smoothly at roughly 400 mph toward the west-northwest. Duration 20 seconds.
Source: Berliner (BBU 2196)
Date: Oct. 29, 1952
Location: Hempstead, Long Island, New York
Time: 2:00 a.m.
Summary: Two USAF F-94 jet fighter crews on a training flight (four witnesses) pursued a dark object with a bright light that maneuvered like a jet except for its rate of climb and speed. It made tight orbits, rose rapidly and disappeared. Duration about 8 minutes. The Blue Book card notes the light appeared 3 hours and 50 minutes after a scheduled rawin balloon release from Mitchell AFB and suggests an unscheduled balloon.
Source Status: The live listing said the object was tracked simultaneously on airborne radar. The Blue Book card states that the aircraft’s airborne intercept radar was inoperative.
Source: Weinstein; Blue Book file
Date: Oct. 29, 1952
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Time: Not recorded
Summary: A Venezuelan Airlines pilot watched a luminous UFO speed past the plane.
Source: UFOE, V (Rivas)
Date: Oct. 30, 1952
Location: Madison, Wisconsin (Truax Field)
Time: 10:35 a.m.
Summary: Two airmen at Truax Field, including A/2c Lewis E. Geer, saw an egg-shaped, silvery-blue object pursue a normal course and then disappear in a rapid climb.
Source Status: The airman’s name is as read from the scan.
Source: Blue Book file (78th Air Base Squadron report forwarded by the 31st Air Division)
Date: Oct. 30, 1952 (date uncertain)
Location: Dayton, Ohio
Time: Evening
Summary: Four civilian observers saw two bright orange or yellow lights, quite close together, move slowly over the Dayton area, accompanied by a heavy drone. Aircraft from Patterson operations took off at 1911 and landed at 2053.
Source Status: The date on the card is badly degraded; October 30 is the most likely reading.
Source: Blue Book file
Date: Oct. 31, 1952
Location: 4 miles south of Fayetteville, Georgia
Time: 7:40 p.m.
Summary: USAF Lt. James Allen saw an orange, blimp-shaped object, 80 feet long and 20 feet wide, appear to the north at treetop level about 600 feet away, traveling toward him at about 60–70 mph. His car radio faded out as it crossed overhead at about 500 feet. He got out and watched it linger overhead about 20 seconds, then point its nose up at a 45-degree angle, accelerate and climb to disappearance in 30–40 seconds to the east, slightly right of the full moon. A similar sighting with the same electromagnetic effect was reported by Lt. Col. Charles Smith, Jr., elsewhere in Fayetteville at the same 7:40 p.m. [Full Report]
Source: Brad Sparks catalog; NICAP website; J. Allen Hynek, “The UFO Report,” pp. 191–2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Gaillac Echoes Oloron, and a Wave Crosses Southern France
The final ten days of October 1952 are defined by October 27, when about a hundred witnesses at Gaillac, Tarn, watched a cigar-shaped cylinder with a plume of smoke, escorted by pairs of red, Saturn-like discs, and angel-hair fiber fell across the town. Similar objects were logged at Lignan-de-Bazas, Forbach, Brives-Charensac, Eyrans and Marseille the same day, and at Marignane a customs officer described a football-shaped object with four windows that touched down briefly beside the airfield.
The United States contributes unusually well-documented cases. At Laurinburg-Maxton AFB a guard saw a huge oval with red and green lights pass low overhead while three other airmen heard the sound; Toledo witnesses stopped their car and took five color slides; and the Hickman Canyon file, written by a hunter to Dugway Proving Ground, records a saucer-shaped object crashing into South Mountain, followed by days of searching that found nothing. The Hempstead and Dallas cards show the Air Force explaining its cases with balloons and meteors.
“A terrific crash. But no evidence of an explosion.”
— Hunter’s statement to Dugway Proving Ground on the Hickman Canyon, Utah sighting, October 27, 1952
