Case File · FBI · First Saucer Wave (1947-1952) Declassified May 8, 2026 · PURSUE Release 01

1952 UAP Sighting — FBI Files

UFO Visual Sighting

Reports detail unusual lights observed in the sky, potentially related to meteor showers. The document references the Taurid and Leonid meteor showers, noting that these events were particularly noticeable. It suggests that observers may have mistaken these natural phenomena for

November 1952
Unknown location
Source document: PURSUE doc 16
Source document: PURSUE doc 16 · Source: declassified document

Background

A UFO/UAP incident extracted from page 28 of 65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_SUB_A, a declassified FBI vault file released by the Department of War on May 8, 2026 as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). The incident is dated November 1952 and located in Unknown location.

What the file records

Reports detail unusual lights observed in the sky, potentially related to meteor showers. The document references the Taurid and Leonid meteor showers, noting that these events were particularly noticeable. It suggests that observers may have mistaken these natural phenomena for something else.

Witnesses on file: civilian observers.

Status of the case

The page-level assessment recorded in the file is: identified as star or planet. All records released under the PURSUE program are designated unresolved by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office unless otherwise stated, meaning the federal government has not concluded the events were anomalous, has not concluded they were conventional, and has not ruled out either possibility. Conventional candidates for sightings of this period include experimental aircraft, weather balloons (especially the Project Mogul series), atmospheric optical phenomena, and astronomical objects.

Sources