In the summer of 1947, unidentified objects were reported in the skies above New Mexico. Both military and FBI officials were aware of the situation, but the documentation remained classified for decades.
A recently released file, FBI case 62-HQ-83894, Section 6, spans from June 1947 to July 1968 and includes eyewitness testimony, investigative records, and technical proposals. Within the file is a memorandum dated August 25 of an unspecified year. Addressed to D.J.
Ladell, the memo summarizes concerns from the Office of Special Investigations regarding repeated sightings near sensitive military sites in New Mexico. The phenomena included green fireballs, disc-shaped objects, and meteors.
The OSI classified these sightings as a security issue. Dr. LaPaz, a meteor expert from the University of New Mexico, analyzed the events and concluded that the green fireballs and discs were not meteors. This distinction was significant because it left the objects without a natural explanation.
The military responded by contracting Land-Air Inc., based in Alamogordo, New Mexico, to conduct a scientific study. The file does not disclose the findings of that study.
The document categorizes the phenomena into three types: high-speed green fireballs, discs with distinct shapes, and meteors behaving as burning rock. The first two categories did not fit known meteorological patterns. This release is part of a broader declassification effort by the U.S. government.
The Department of War made the document available on May 8, 2026, through the PURSUE archive. The file is 58.1 megabytes and requires a PDF viewer.
The timing of the memo is notable. The atomic age had begun just two years earlier, and the first Soviet nuclear test was still months away. New Mexico housed key facilities including Los Alamos, White Sands, and the Trinity test site, all located beneath the same skies where the green fireballs appeared.
The OSI treated the sightings as a security concern rather than a scientific curiosity. Unexplained objects near sensitive installations, moving at high speed with unknown origins, prompted a threat assessment.
Dr. LaPaz was selected for his expertise in meteor science. He ruled out natural explanations, but the file does not record any alternative theory he may have proposed. Land-Air Inc. was a defense contractor specializing in radar and missile tracking. The military contracted the company to investigate, but the file does not indicate whether the study yielded conclusions.
The document itself is a bureaucratic record, typed in formal language describing “continued appearance,” “unexplained phenomena,” and “scientific study.” It contains no dramatic claims or definitive answers. The significance lies in the fact that the memo was written, filed, and kept classified for over seventy years before being released.
The file covers a 21-year period, while the memo focuses on a single summer. The green fireballs and discs remain unidentified. The contracted study remains unreported.
The document is now publicly accessible online, allowing anyone to read the same information that was once restricted to officials like D.J. Ladell.
