Grafton, Wisconsin UFO Sighting (early Sunday) — FBI Files
An investigation into a reported disk-shaped object striking a church in Grafton, Wisconsin, revealed the incident was a prank involving a saw blade.
Background
On early Sunday, in Grafton, Wisconsin, U.S. government investigators recorded an unidentified-object incident later released to the public on May 8, 2026, as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). This specific event occurred during a period of intense public fascination with aerial phenomena, positioned within the first wave of “flying saucer” reports that swept the United States following the Kenneth Arnold sighting of June 1947 and the Roswell incident of July 19
During this era, the mid-century phenomenon of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) became a matter of national security concern. The geographic landscape of the American Midwest, characterized by vast-open skies and various military installations, often served as a backdrop for such sightings. The case was filed with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose Knoxville, Albuquerque, Los Angeles, and other field offices routed UFO reports to headquarters under the Bureau’s standing protocols for the protection of vital installations. This bureaucratic process ensured that any perceived threat to airspace or infrastructure was documented and centralized for federal review.
The Incident and Investigation
The documentation regarding the Grafton event focuses on a specific physical impact reported by a local clergyman. Father Brasky reported that a disk-shaped object struck his church. The nature of the object’s flight and the circumstances of its impact were central to the initial report, which aligned with the broader contemporary trend of witnesses describing objects as disc- or saucer-shaped.
Upon investigation, the mystery of the aerial object was resolved through physical evidence. The investigation revealed the object to be a prank involving a Dunlop circular saw blade. The mechanism of the event also involved secondary physical disturbances, as a glass ball was dislodged from a lightning rod during the incident. The number of witnesses to the impact was not specified in the released document. The official findings concluded that the perceived aerial phenomenon was not an extraterrestrial or anomalous craft, but rather a man-made projectile. The file contains the following verbatim detail: “It turned out that the disk was a prankster made projectile, featuring a Dunlop circular saw blade.”
Analytical Context
The Grafton case serves as a notable example of how terrestrial activities can mimic the characteristics of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). In the late 1940s, the distinction between atmospheric anomalies, human interference, and unknown technology was often blurred by the limitations of radar and visual observation. While many reports of the era were attributed to experimental aircraft, weather balloons—specifically the Project Mogul series—or atmospheric optical phenomena like sundogs and lenticular clouds, the Grafton incident highlights the role of intentional human deception.
The classification of this case remains subject to the standard administrative procedures of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). All records released under the PURSUE program are designated unresolved by AARO by default. This designation does not imply that the event remains a mystery, but rather that the federal government has not concluded that the events were anomalous, has not concluded that they were conventional, and has not ruled out either possibility. While the investigation in Grafton successfully identified a conventional, albeit prank-based, explanation, the official status reflects the rigorous standards of documentation required for all reported encounters within the archive.