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| Sky and Telescope Magazine Cover - June 1966 |
The object was very bright and seemed to have what I thought of as “sparks” coming from the trailing end, which was teardrop-shaped. It had a long, even, white train of smoke trailing behind it, much like a thick contrail, which crossed the entire length of the sky. At times, the object's trailing edge became greenish in color, the leading edge yellow-orange, while the main body remained white. It seemed to pulse slowly several times, brightening with each pulse and I wondered if something else was going to happen to it. During these moments of brightening, the “sparks” separated from the main body and trailed it by at least two or three diameters. I remember thinking how strange it was that these sparks, or fragments, were detaching from the object and that they became visible only after they were some distance behind it. The fragments themselves alternated green and orange and left short trails of their own. I distinctly remember thinking that I couldn’t account for what it was I was seeing and I was especially boggled by the fragments trailing behind the object, seems to ignite only after they were some distance away. I wished that I could predict what was going to happen to the object next but I had had no similar prior experience with anything like this. I felt quite at a loss for an explanation for what I saw. Later that night, I heard my mother on the phone, tell someone that there had been an announcement about the object on TV, about halfway through The Andy Griffith Show. I don’t know what channel it was or what the station call letters were.
The object seemed to move perfectly parallel to the school rooftop, which was just a degree or two below the object, as it moved in a South to North direction. I was struck by the object's slow speed – about the speed of any plane I might have seen on the horizon at any other time. It seemed to take a long time to move across my entire field of view, which was clear all the way from the south to the north, except for the low school rooftop. The rooftop spanned almost the entire length of the western horizon but was itself only about five degrees in height and perfectly flat. I don’t remember hearing any sound at all. I remember thinking that the thing was going to explode at any time after it had swelled again and again. I remained quiet the whole time, not wanting to call out or call attention to the thing, but just watching and waiting to see what was going to happen next. I don’t remember anyone else being around, anyway. Again, it seemed as if the event was endless and it struck me how the object seemed to go through many changes during its flight. I estimate the duration of the flight at about 30 seconds. Finally, it seemed to break apart completely and fade out just before disappearing below the tree line in the NNW.
A similar, nearly identical incident occurred in the summer of 1979 or 1980, during the late afternoon (I don't remember the date), which I also witnessed while at work at Quickset Harbor. A similarly sized object had entered the atmosphere - I estimated somewhere over Maine or Nova Scotia - at the NNE tree line and disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean, at roughly the SE tree line. I was able to time the duration of this object's flight - or as much of it as I had witnessed - at 45 seconds. The object's train, speed, and its color approximated that of the 1966 incident. My sister, Linda, claimed to have seen the object while in a friend's boat on Vineyard Sound, just outside of Falmouth Harbor.
I feel very lucky to have seen such rare and wonderful things.
Almost three months after the 1966 incident, on Friday, July 1st, Barry and Binky’s band, “The Beau Brines” opened for “The Animals” at the Cape Cod a-Go-Go, in Yarmouth, MA. On Christmas of that same year, I received my second telescope, a 3-inch Newtonian reflector. It had a white cardboard tube with a screw-clamp ball-and-socket tripod mount. I saw the moon for the first time with this instrument. I also had a black-tubed 3-inch alt-azimuth reflector a year or two earlier, but other than burning my retina with it trying to locate the sun, I only remember using it to try to locate the moon. I didn't find the moon but I did find the sun! This was also the year that I got to sit in the pilot’s seat of John Glenn's Mercury space capsule, “Friendship 7”.
Dale Alan Bryant
Senior Contributing Science Writer
I saw the same thing in Concord NH
ReplyDeleteI was about 11 years old it was 1966, there were four of us in a boat headed to our homes. We all had summer cottages in Union Michigan on Shavehead Lake.look at the night sky we noticed a huge Green ball of light it look like the size of the moon, within a few seconds or more it what looked like the sun. The entire lake light up especially because the reflection of the night-time lake. The mega ball of fire shot past us on a north east trajectory and directly behind it was a trail of fire the likes you may have only seen in a magazine. To our perception it looked like it landed just miles from our location. We told our parents who were in the house what happened and we got a oh okay lol I don't think they believed us. I guess it one of those things you have to see to believe. That was our once in a lifetime experience.
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ReplyDeleteI saw it in Bristol Connecticut. I was 13 years old and walking home in a field just as it was getting dark. Like has been described it had a parallel tragectory toward the north and was in the western sky. That moment was imprinted in my memory for a life time. I saw a fire ball that was orange yellow in color with darker areas swirling inside the sphere. It seemed in the western sky traveling south to north just as it was getting dark. The smoke trail it left behind was visible for a long time right until it got dark. It’s nice to see others mention their rememberance of this event.
ReplyDeleteHello Bob! I am happy to see that, at least, a few people still remember that event! As you said, that moment was imprinted in my memory, for a lifetime, as well. I'm glad that you mentioned that the train left behind by the asteroid, was visible for so long, and that there were darker areas, seemingly, swirling around inside the oblong head. I had almost forgotten those particular aspects! Even though I made the painting, those particular points had dimmed, somewhat, but you brought that back for me.
Deletebob, I was 14 living in New Windsor, NY (7-8 mi. N. of USMA West Point, just S. of Newburgh, NY) when I just randomly walked out to the back yard. It was twilight and I hadn't got 15 ft. from the house when I saw this fireball going south to north at about 60 degrees above horizon. Since it was only visible for several seconds, and I was trying to understand what I was seeing, I had no time or ability to call for others to see. There was no sound and it "appeared" at first to be some kind of big skyrocket a hundred feet up. But I realized that was just an illusion and ran into the house once it had passed telling what I had seen. The phrase "you had to be there" really is true, I couldn't get anybody to seem interested. But it's an event I've always remembered. If I had walked outside 10 seconds later it would have been a non-issue. Cool memory.
DeleteI was 7 yrs old and playing with cousins on their steps in Pennsauken NJ..i saw a huge fireball moving actoss the sky..it was low and bright with a fiery tail. It lit me up & my cousins had time to stand up and turn to watch it sail overhead. We all thought it landed in a place we called "the lot" at the end of our block. One other odd detail...when it had gone from sight, an old black car with men in dark clothes and hats drove by very slowly. I never forgot that...probably a coincidence but the entire event made quite an impression on me. I can still picture it all clearly.
DeleteI was seven when I saw this fireball in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It was twilight out and the fireball was bright with trailing sparks, slightly to the East and traveling toward the north/northwest. I have never personally witnessed any other fireball like that since!
ReplyDeleteI was ten years-old and standing on the corner of the street where I lived in Philadelphia. It was twilight, but still light outside. I'd received a Polaroid camera for my birthday the month prior and carried it everywhere I went. When I witnessed the fireball, orange, green and white, with a glittering tail and its long trail of white smoke, I watched frozen for half a minute or so. As it disappeared over the rooftop of Sol S. Cohen elementary school, I realized that I was clutching tightly the camera I held in my hand. I stood awestruck from the astrological event, but also dumbfounded that I'd missed this once-in-a-lifetime photographic opportunity. I remember placing the camera on the desk in my bedroom that night, but soon lost interest in keeping it with me all the time.
ReplyDeleteI was 14 and flying a kite in Syracuse NY when I saw this beauty. Since I was west of it I saw it in the eastern sky flying north and parallel to the horizon. I had no idea what I was looking at but noticed as it blazed along its path, it had broken up into many pieces. I remember it was green mostly, and really seemed to be on blazing. It even left a smoke trail for many minutes. The next day it appeared on the front page of the local paper in all its glory, except it wasn't in color. The person taking the picture was a reporter out photographing flocks of geese when she captured it with 3 pictures. The caption said she was using color film, but I can't located the original pictures unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteI saw the event. I was 12. Utica New York. My perspective was directly head on. It was at what seemed to be rooftop level. It was a huge fireball. When it entered the horizon from the south it lit up the room I was in. I thought there was a fire in the backyard. I rushed to the window and opened the shears. This massive fireball came at me directly over my childhood home. I still get goose bumps when I think about it. Most incredible thing I have seen in my life. I was so lucky to see it that way. The dinosaurs did not have a chance.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to hear that so many others witnessed this event. I'm going to be interviewed about the event for the American Meteor Society's publication, soon!
ReplyDeleteI saw it in Bronx ny fly across i was at gun hill road projects it seemed very large and close i was about 12 or so and though it landed in mt vernon
ReplyDeleteNY thats how huge and close it seemed glad i found this article because no one i asked remembered
I can’t believe I found this blog I’ve been telling this story my whole life and it seems there is no record of it happening
DeleteBTW I was in city island Bronx 5yrs old
I love reading everyone's first hand accounts of this. I was sitting on a log bench at our Boy Scout meeting in Bartlett NH, outside on the side of the Saco River. I was in that same spot a couple of days ago, telling my friend of the event I had witnessed there 55 years ago, when I had just turned 14 a few days before. Since I was the patrol leader of Eagle Patrol, I was facing in a different direction than most of the others. I was facing directly toward it, and I leapt to my feet swearing and pointing, holy shit! just as it disappeared behind a mountain top. I yelled KEEP LOOKING! It popped out the other side and we all watched for several more seconds cruise all the way across the Western horizon. It was the size of the full moon, and glowing green like the then popular mercury vapor street lights. It had a persistent train across the sky and was an amazing and memorable sight. My parents saw it from another location and described other colors along with the green. A week later, we were playing football in the town park and several people saw another bright meteor, but not nearly as good as this one!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have any color pictures of this event? My local newspaper published b&w pics but said it was taken with Kodak Ektachrome film which allows it to be processed in color. All my efforts have been dead ends.
ReplyDeleteSeen it also from Westborough Mass. It was definitely something you do not see every day. I am not convinced it broke up, I also heard it, before I seen it, as the noise made me turn to look in the front yard, and when I looked to the southwest it appeared that atmosphere was on fire and then this monster ball comes out of it, I always thought it went back out of the atmosphere. I think we got lucky that day myself. If it did survive I hope they know where it's at. If that event happened now with the internet, what a sensation it would cause. The only other object I have seen on video that comes even remotely close to the size of our object was the fireball in grand teton, the teton one ,not as big.
ReplyDeleteMe and my 2 brothers were down a park at the time of the 1966 fireball. We actually heard it before we saw it. The word awesome is overused these days, but this was AWE-SOME! There was no one else in the park at the time and it was so shocking it felt like an omen or something.
ReplyDeleteFinally! I too have been telling this story my whole life, and periodically searching for information about it ever since the dawn of the internet. Somehow I missed the evidence of the Sky & Telescope issue. Most of what has been commented here before me matches what I saw, with some strange and intense differences. As to date, all I know was that it was 1965-1967 timeframe. I was in Boalsburg, PA, it was near sunset (I thought twilight, but I'm seeing sunset was 8pm). I was ~6, playing out in the street. The event began with sound, from the south, a very low frequency rumbling, like a train coming when you are on the tracks, but stronger--so I faced south. The southern horizon of trees and houses lit up orange like a high-speed sunrise, and then it rose indeed. Incredibly, this flaming orange fireball (I don't recall any green or other colors) rose and proceeded to fly seemingly directly over our house, although actually to the east maybe 20-30 degrees from zenith. It was at least the size of my adult balled fist in apparent size, swirling with orange flames on the surface, and trailing flames as it lit the sky like midday. It roared, loudly, as it flew past, with very little delay (?), disappearing on the northern horizon over the woods, in a high speed sunset that returned the sky to what I remember as twilight (maybe it was overcast?). The entire event lasted perhaps 20 to 30 seconds.
ReplyDeleteI know that these observations are problematic. How could I hear this object before any light reached me? How was there no apparent delay in hearing it roaring loudly as it flew over? For me, the greatest question was how something this dramatic is so obscure to hear about? I saw people gushing about "fireballs" that were simply bright meteors, when here I had seen what appeared to be a flaming building fly over my house?!
I am so glad to read the accounts here of what must be the same event that I witnessed. I notice that most comments before me are from the NYC area, and saw it on the horizon without sound. It seems the accounts further west sound more like what I saw: Bethlehem reports it nearly overhead. Utica reports "head on". Seems maybe it flew more directly over something like Baltimore.
Last comment--This blog says "around 7:15pm on Sunday, April 24, 1966", but Sky & Telescope calls it the "April 25th, 1966 Fireball". I look forward to more comments, thank you!
I can tell you I was standing in central mass 28 miles west of boston and was facing south and it crossed the horizon(notice no one has said they seen it come down or was appearing to go down, nothing like the one in russia in 2014, my opinion is that it was one of the near earth asteroids) in front of me at somewhere between 23-25 degrees, and i heard it before i seen also, yes indeed very amazing
DeleteI saw this fireball as I was walking south on East Walnut Street in Oneida, NY when I was 9 years old. It was traveling north west. I don't remember if I heard it but am thinking I might have and that's why I looked up. No one else I knew saw it. For years, I have been googling it and for the first time, I found information! It was a marvelous sight that was burned into my memory! Now, no one in my family can call me crazy!
ReplyDeleteTypical of a Spring night in Queens Village, NY, my friends and I were outside in the street after finishing a game of touch football. We were in some useless conversation when suddenly we heard a "wooshing" sound and simultaneously saw this immense fireball seemingly pass overhead in a north - northeasterly direction. It was the most impressive sight in the sky that any of us had seen. A clear trail followed the fireball and remained for a brief time. Immediately, the thought of flying saucers came up and of course, we had to call the cops. I don't recall any urgency in their voices when a bunch of 13 year olds were clamoring about strange objects in the sky. The memory of this experience has always remained .....good to see the observations of others.
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ReplyDeleteI was alone in my Westchester NY front yard, three miles east of the Hudson river, and 9 years old. I had an unobstructed view of the west, north, and southern skies. My parents were inside. I don't know what first caught my attention, the loud, steady low zipping sound or the object itself. It was flying around 60 degrees above the western horizon and I saw it hurtling toward me from the south like a large extraterrestrial terrain of cavernous rock, flames, gas and smoke. It was literally sizzling and making spitting noises as it spewed pieces of itself into the air. It was going so slowly, it seemed, that I had time for a full ,intense look into the landscape of the thing. It was a world unto itself. It was a hell stage of craters deep flames and smoke. It was so shockingly surreal and out of the blue (lol) , that the only thing I can think of that maybe comes close to it is 9/11 (I was there too).
ReplyDeleteFor me it wasn't a blur of speeding light. It was traveling at an almost casual pace inviting me to look and giving me the time to really observe it.
I have heard people who didn't witness it say it is impossible to see what I saw but I tell you I felt like it could have been outer space right there on my front lawn; looking smack dab into something you could only get to and see in a rocket ship.
I could see its entire eastern flank and from stem to stern. It traveled completely parallel to the ground and I saw it fly for several miles straight north leaving a heavy contrail behind it.
Now this it the thing: just like so many others here have remarked, this thing was very very big and seemed very very low. Someone said it was like the size of an adult fist held above at 60 degrees and that describes the proportion perfectly.
It was like a large house on fire where you could see its windows and doors. That's how detailed it was, so I don't know how I could see what I saw unless it was that large and that low.
It was just before the break of dusk when it appeared and after I stared at the lingering contrail for a while, I went inside. God knows what I was saying or doing inside but several times later that evening, before it got dark, I went back outside to see the dissipating, widening, contrail remnants just to prove to myself that yes it had been there and I saw it. It was not a dream. No one else I knew saw anything. No one mentioned it in school. Nobody talked about it. Except there was a local paper published the next day with the headline: "Did You See It Too?!".
In 1966 living in Manhattan I was 10 years old sitting at my kitchen table facing the kitchen window doing my homework when I saw this bright orange fireball with a tail comet pass by my window it scared the mess out of me it was streaking across the sky of Manhattan I called my parents to come to the window, it was moving slowly towards the George Washington Bridge, I told my teacher about it, he said he heard it on the news, I think the time was something to 6 pm, it vanish behind the GWB, I will never forget that day.
ReplyDeleteI was 12 when this happened. I and my friend Bill were standing at the northeast corner of Maplewood and Park Avenues in Bridgeport CT. Approaching us from the south I heard a hissing sound, like a truck's broken air hose flapping around . I looked down Park Ave and there were no vehicles on the road.This is one thing I remembered: I heard it before I saw it. Bill shouted "Look!" and pointed upwards. At that point I saw the meteor. It was headed north, had an oblong shape and left a vapor trail in the sky. Sparks were trailing the object. The underside consisted of patches of changing shapes, which in turn were varying shades of red and green. I ran home to tell my mom what I had seen. Soon afterwards the TV announced a meteor had been spotted.
ReplyDeleteOh heck, why not. I wasn't going to leave my comment of the event as everyone else seems to have covered it quite thoroughly. However, I do have a slightly different recollection of the event as I thought I heard a sound as it passed and I haven't seen any others here that mention this.
ReplyDeleteLike about everyone else, I was 11 years old and sitting at our kitchen table at dusk doing some homework (another rare event!) and looking to my left I would be looking out the front screen door of our split level home in Colonie, N.Y. (Albany suburb). I heard my mother say something from the front yard in an excitable and raised voice, then others talking as well. I could tell something was going on so I jumped up and ran out to our front yard and everyone was looking up at the sky. I can't say I saw the actual fireball (or if I did it was the very tail end) but there was a very obvious smoke trail from something that had just passed from south to north. When discussing what it might have been my mother suggested it was some sort of firework rocket that college kids at SUNY Albany (about 3 miles away as the crow flies) may have been fooling around with. It was at that time that I recalled hearing an unusual "whooshing" sound from outside right as I heard the excited voices. With that, I remember thinking perhaps her appraisal was correct.
I'm not sure how long it took in 1966 for science editors to confirm what it was, but it was definitely a once in a lifetime event for those who had the good fortune to observe it. Man do I miss those seemingly innocent and carefree days!