The Las Vegas UFO Crash - April 18,1962

I was sleeping in the backyard with my older brother when this happened. I awoke and the skies were daytime with blue skies and white clouds. Seconds later it was night again. I laid back down and went back to sleep.

Cool case, I just have one question.

In the opening post we read:

The unidentified flying object was first noticed by witnesses in Oneida and Cuba New York and was heading in a westerly direction.

and,

Sighting reports from witnesses who saw the object in Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California evidently confirmed the UFO had indeed traveled towards the west coast.

But in the Project blue book report it says:

Most observers in Nevada declared the object was traveling west to east.

Did I read this wrong?

Great thread OP! I live in Vegas and I've never known about this great story!

I can tell you with certainty that Las Vegas gets its fair share of viable UFO sightings. Police officers are often sent out on calls where there are multiple people reporting suspicious lights or objects in the sky. Because of our proximity to Creech and Nellis AFB and Vegas being a potential terrorist target, the response is more compulsory rather than investigative in nature. But there have been several sightings (recently) that have defied any logical explanation by officers who confirmed what citizens have reported.

were there ever any pictures of anything related to this story anywhere? crash site, damage to surrounding area, anything?

Apparently the alien had $100 dollars on a 5 team team parlay at the las vegas casino and was in too much of a hurry to cash in his winning ticket and lost control of the craft.Happens to the best .

Originally posted by thesearchfortruth
Cool case, I just have one question.

In the opening post we read:

The unidentified flying object was first noticed by witnesses in Oneida and Cuba New York and was heading in a westerly direction.

and,

Sighting reports from witnesses who saw the object in Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California evidently confirmed the UFO had indeed traveled towards the west coast.

But in the Project blue book report it says:

Most observers in Nevada declared the object was traveling west to east.

Did I read this wrong?

The way I understood it was that it was first seen heading west over New York, seen again in other states west of NY towards the west coast. Then seen later heading back east, however, much further south, from California to Vegas where it alledgedly crashed.

Very cool post...Could it be, would it even be possible, that it was some sort of giant ball lightning? With the directional emphasis the "ufo" seemed to have, bolides/meteors seem out of the question. Many of the eyewitnesses described it as a huge fireball, with varying dimensions in diameter and color, exploding on occasion, "crashing" then "taking off" again; all of these attributes have been witnessed in ball lightning, including the electric hissing sounds it seemed to emit. I believe it was said to have appeared to have displayed intelligent motion, slowing, speeding, changing course, "arching." Ball lightning has also been observed to behave this way...As for the cigar shape, I may be mistaken, but I only recall one witness, the pilot, describing it as such, and perhaps, indeed, the lightning could have take that shape for a moment, especially to any eye that has been staring into the dark night and then suddenly sees a brilliant light...whatever it was it must have been a sight to see!

reply to post by easynow


they probably brought it down. I think I read somewhere they discovered amplified radar could adversely affect some UFOs.

I've been reading the Area 51 book by Annie Jacobsen. From the timing and description of the object... It almost sounds like it's OXCART. However the A-12 didn't go into service until 1962. The U2 was flown over Cuba plenty of times. However that doesn't explain the "glow".

reply to post by Wide-Eyes


Ok thanks.

That explains it.

Speaking of Cylinder Ufos

This footage Show the chase but something is saying that within the Migs Cockpit Showing from the video Camera resembles more that of a American Cockpit of a Fighter plane either a F14? F16 ? F18 ? I forgot which One .. and here on ATS there was a Debate on Some thread about it

Any who....

Russian MIG's Chase a UFO


NASA Pilot Joseph Walker Filmed 5 Cylinder Objects ? in his X15

(History Channel )
Joseph Walker NASA Astronaut UFO Sighting

reply to post by Wolfenz

Yes the Mig & UFO video has been discussed here on ATS and the jet is supposedly an F-16 chasing a tow target used for practicing ariel dog-fights.

link 1 - www.abovetopsecret.com...
link 2 - www.abovetopsecret.com...

I believe that footage just shows the Russians testing the combat capabilities of an American fighter jet.

The Joesph Walker case is a good one and it's still unsolved and some folks seem to favor the debri theory but since Walker said "disc shaped" or "cylindrical" objects, I don't think a debri explanation is a strong hypothesis.

There is a good discussion about the Joe Walker and Ed White cases here in this thread.



A good case for a clylindrical or cigar UFO is the 1948 Chiles-Whitted Eastern Airlines incident and interestingly that report supposedly caused employees of the USAF Project Sign to favor the Extraterrestrial hypothesis.

The Chiles-Whitted UFO Encounter
Montgomery, Alabama - July 24, 1948



Summary: Another one of the famous airline sightings of earlier years is the Chiles-Whitted Eastern Airlines case. An Eastern DC-3, en route from Houston to Atlanta, was flying at an altitude of about 5,000 ft.. near Montgomery. ...The object was some kind of vehicle. They saw no wings or empennage, but both were struck by a pair of rows of windows or some apparent openings from which there came a bright glow "like burning magnesium."

www.ufoevidence.org...

illustration of ufo drawn by the pilot


The Chiles-Whitted UFO Encounter occurred on July 24, 1948 when two American commercial pilots reported that their Douglas DC-3 had nearly collided with a strange torpedo shaped object flying near them.

It was an important UFO sighting for several reasons: it was perhaps the first that occurred at close distance (allegedly within a few hundred feet); and it was reported by two very experienced pilots, Clarence Chiles and John Whitted. Both pilots had been decorated for their service as airmen during World War II, and both were regarded as valuable, respectable employees of Eastern Airlines. Chiles, in particular, was highly esteemed by his peers and by his employer.

It was a pivotal case for the personnel of the U.S. Air Force's Project Sign, and was a main reason they championed the extraterrestrial hypothesis as the best explanation for UFOs.

en.wikipedia.org...

And in the other thread, ATS member "spacevisitor" posted this very interesting report of a cylindrical UFO spotted in Virginia by NASA Engineer and ufologist Paul Hill and the sighting is from 1962 which interestingly is the same year as the Las Vegas UFO

Originally posted by spacevisitor

It reminded me of a sighting that was done in 1962 by NASA Engineer Paul R Hill [to bad he didn’t mention the month] and I wonder the following.
Can you when you reed it figure out by the names of the places of where he speaks if it could be possible that he saw the same object then?
I am just curious.

Also In 1962 Afternoon Hampton, Virginia , USA NASA Engineer Paul R Hill sights a dirigible-shaped object, about 300 feet long, which cruises at 100 mph below the clouds, then accelerates away soundlessly to 8900 mph.

Soon after passing the area of Fort Wool and Fort Monroe, and when it was about opposite La Salle Avenue, it began to accelerate very rapidly and at the same time to emit a straw-yellow, or pale flame-colored wake or plume,

www.ufodna.com...


When reading the rapport on www.ufocasebook.com...

I saw that some of the witnesses spoke also about “the fiery end to the object” or bright yellow jagged flame coming from the rear “

except for Frank Maggio, who reported the fiery end to the object

A man in Silver City, Utah (name blanked out by air force officers in 1976) claimed that the object was a glowing ball of light about the size of a soccer ball. He said it was white with a yellowish tint and a bright yellow jagged flame coming from the rear (confirming the description of Captain Shields). The unidentified witness claimed:

post link - www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thanks everyone for the replies

Hi easynow, thanks for this marvelous thread. S&F
It’s a very interesting case indeed buddy therefore I posted a link to it here.

reply to post by spacevisitor


Regarding the illumination as described by the witnesses and Captain Herman Gordon Shields and Lieutenant Larson which was at a certain moment so powerful and intense that they could see objects [on the ground] as bright as day for a radius of five to ten miles from the aircraft which also triggered photocells causing street lights to shut off and its shape comparable to a "cigarette in size shape and caused even a pick up truck to malfunction or almost stall tells me that we can rule out a meteor, U-2 or a high balloon.

This case reminded me in a way of this object.
It always intrigued me very much because of its "cigarette in size shape" and quite remarkable pulsating light effect.

Geüpload door baba752 op 8 jan 2011
On Sunday, August 27, 1995, at 9:30 AM the late Tim Edwards of Salida, Colorado, was a witness to a strange aerial object first observed by his young daughter. As he watched it he realized it wasn't anything usual so he got his 8 mm videocamera with a 8 power zoom. He began to film it and then the battery light came on so he went inside and got another battery. He also called his restaurant in Salida to alert other possible witnesses. One of these people did see it. Some minutes later his father arrived at his house and looked at the object through binoculars. Edwards also called a local radio station to alert others to look. Edwards also called the sheriffs office, a fact confirmed by the sheriff on Sept. 7. The sheriffs office had received no other reports. He also called the National UFO Reporting Hot Line number given to him by the sheriff's office. Between phone calls he filmed the object, managing to obtain only about 6 minutes of video during the roughly

I find this also quite remarceble footage, do you know something about it or anyone else?

Geüpload door allesgutes op 22 nov 2008
A strange spraying cylinder UFO

Originally posted by easynow

A few guesses on my part for what the object might have been:

Interesting guesses easynow, here are my views on yours.

Originally posted by easynow

1- Astronomical anomaly never previously encountered or seen before ?

After reading all the information about that object in your OP I personally rule that option out.

Originally posted by easynow

2- A covert test of a secret weapon from the American military ?

Could be, but Because of the following message I personally rule that option also out.

April 18, 1962, National Air Defense Alert
From New York to Las Vegas - A Ten-State Incident

The Air Defense Command was alerted after the object was tracked by NORAD and ground witnesses as it traveled for 32-minutes from Oneida, New York across the midwest, through Kansas & Colorado, Utah, and the disapeared from Nellis AFB radar at 10,000 feet. Jets had been scrambled from two locations. Power outages were reported and the object made a turned toward the east and landed.

nicap.org...

Originally posted by easynow

3- A secret weapon sent from another country and the USA was actually under attack ?

Because it happened in 1962 I suppose such a weapon could only have belonged to the Soviet Union.
I cannot think of any other country that would have such secret weapon technology in 1962.
However, it’s interesting to note is that the Cuban Missile Crisis started also in 1962.

In 1962, the Soviet Union was desperately behind the United States in the arms race. Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe but U.S. missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. In late April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. A deployment in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union.

library.thinkquest.org...

But again after reading all the information about that object in your OP I find a Soviet Union missile option or a supposed other Soviet Union secret weapon very unlikely.
It must have had quite some extraordinary technology because of the following.

Search parties under the watchful eye of the military attempted to locate any remains of the object but nothing was found and interestingly some witnesses said the UFO didn't crash and claimed they saw it land and take off again.

Originally posted by easynow

4- Two objects, not one and America was being attacked on both coasts ?

See my answer on option 3.

Originally posted by easynow

4- A real UFO as in something not man made or possibly Alien?

I personally find this option the most likely so far.

reply to post by spacevisitor


Hello spacevisitor and yes I agree this report is indeed interesting to say the least

I'm not sure if the cylindrical object Captain Shields reported seeing was the source of the intense light that lit up everything like daylight. Shields said there was an instrument panel in the center of the cockpit ceiling of the aircraft he was flying and the light source was coming from behind that which probably means the source of the very bright light was above him. Then after the intensity of the light decreased he noticed that long slender object against the hills on left side of his aircraft between the wing and the lower part of the fuselage. That seems to indicate the cylindrical ufo he saw was at a lower altitude then his aircraft and has me thinking there was a second object in the area at the time?.

If the bright light was coming from above his aircraft how could the source of the light be the cigarette shaped object if that was lower and out to his left side and against the hills? Perhaps the question is, was the cigarette object above them and then it somehow quickly moved over to where Shields saw it ? If there was just one object that's the only explanation I can think of. I'm not sure if my interpretation of the report is correct or not so I would like to hear what you and others might say about it.

And yes I have seen the Salida Colorado video taken by Tim Edwards and it's a good one. I posted a few things in this thread about it and in this thread Arbitrageur (despite the object being seen by multiple witnesses in different locations) tried to explain it away as a mirage !


The video of the strange spraying cylinder UFO is certainly odd and my first reaction was, it was a jet dumping fuel but without more information I couldn't say for sure what it is. Interesting video though thanks for posting that one. You might like this video from Brazil ?

OVNI no Brasil - UFO in Brasil Maio-May 2010

enhancement video - www.youtube.com...


And there is the Cigar UFO from Peru 1952

PUERTO MALDONADO 1952:


At 04:30 p.m. on July 19, 1952, the attention of Customs Inspector Sr. Domingo Troncoso, then with the Peruvian Customs Office at Puerto Maldonado on the jungle frontier with Bolivia, was called to a very strange cigar-shaped flying object over the river area. The big dirigible-shaped craft was flying horizontally and fairly low in the sky, passing from right to left from the observers position. It was leaving a dense trail of thick smoke, vapor, or substance on its wake. This object was a real, structured, physical machine and may be seen from its reflection in the waters of the Madre de Dios river underneath it. The object was estimated to be over a hundred feet long.

wiki.razing.net...

Thanks for the reply spacevisitor and I'll be back tommorrow to respond to your other post. I've been staring at this computer screen too long today and need to take a break. cheers

Well, the answer is simple- the videos show chinese lanterns/balloons/aircraft/Venus/sky divers (delete as appropriate) and all the eye witnesses were lying or mistaken. I have no need to put forward any evidence to back up my claims and you are all stupid for believing that the sightings could be anything else apart from the options above. (sarcasm is the lowest form of wit or the highest form of vulgarity....)


Very interesting Easynow.

reply to post by spacevisitor

4- A real UFO as in something not man made or possibly Alien?
I personally find this option the most likely so far.

Hey spacevisitor. My gut feeling or intuition is telling me there are pieces of this puzzle the general public hasn't seen and since I don't have enough information on this case I can't really make a decision. however if it was one object that traveled from N.Y. to Utah and then to Vegas then perhaps it's logical to have, at the top of the list of possibility's the UFO hypothesis.

One possible example of information that I don't have:

Similar to the sheep-kill incident, several other tests had large percentages of nerve agent float beyond test grids - but that does not necessarily mean they went beyond Dugway borders.
===One test almost totally missed its target grid.
==="On Trial D-1, the major portion of the pattern was deposited before the aircraft was over the sampling grid," a document says about an April 18, 1962, test with 203 pounds of VX dropped from an aircraft drone.

link - www.project-112shad-fdn.com...

If you notice the date, it's the same as the ufo incident and the location is very close to where the ufo reportedly landed in Utah. Also an "aircraft drone" is mentioned dropping nerve agents so i'm thinking there may be some kind of connection for all these events of that day? I've been searching for specific details of any tests on April 18, 1962 but no luck yet.

Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) is a US Army facility located approximately 85 miles (140 km) southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah

en.wikipedia.org...

In October 1958, the U.S. Army Chemical Center, Maryland detached the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Weapons School to Dugway Proving Grounds.

en.wikipedia.org...

Since its founding in 1941, much of the activity at Dugway Proving Ground is a closely guarded secret. Activities at Dugway included aerial nerve agent testing.

en.wikipedia.org...

In October 1958, the U.S. Army Chemical Center, Maryland detached the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Weapons School to Dugway Proving Grounds.

en.wikipedia.org...

I don't know if these nerve agent tests have anything to do with the ufo but I have to admit it's certainly odd there was a covert operation going on the same day of the ufo event and they were using drone aircraft to test weapons of mass destruction near the same location in Utah where the ufo supposedly landed. The plot thickens

Originally posted by easynow
Hey spacevisitor. My gut feeling or intuition is telling me there are pieces of this puzzle the general public hasn't seen and since I don't have enough information on this case I can't really make a decision.

Hi easynow, no problem, I surely understand that.
Some other reasons for why I think it was most like a real UFO as in something not man made or possibly Alien are for instance these points.

Originally posted by easynow

April 18, 1962, National Air Defense Alert
From New York to Las Vegas - A Ten-State Incident
The Air Defense Command was alerted after the object was tracked by NORAD and ground witnesses as it traveled for 32-minutes from Oneida, New York across the midwest, through Kansas & Colorado, Utah, and the disapeared from Nellis AFB radar at 10,000 feet. Jets had been scrambled from two locations.
Power outages were reported and the object made a turned toward the east and landed.

nicap.org...

Originally posted by easynow

April 18, 1962, Power out for 42 minutes
"an incident on April 18,1962, involving a UFO that had been tracked from New York, through Kansas to Eureka, Utah, was well documented.
The Air Force spokesman admitted that the object had landed, and during the 42 minutes that it was on the ground near the power station there was no power, but it was restored when the UFO left.
The object was pursued by jet interceptors summoned from Phoenix and Stead Field in Reno until it exploded over the Mesquite Range in Nevada in a brilliant glare that was visible over five states".

stevequayle.com...

www.nicap.org...

So it landed and did take off again.
And the most interesting of that landing is that during the 42 minutes that it was on the ground near the power station there was no power, but it was restored when the UFO left.
So it seems as if the UFO interfered with the generator in some way.
And that effect reminds me of this phenomenon when a UFO is near vehicles and self-starting engines.

INTRODUCTION
Unidentified flying objects are frequently reported to have exerted some influence upon the physical environment.

1. Engine Disruption And Failure. A normally operating engine begins to run roughly and loses power, with accompanying reduction in speed. It may shortly resume normal operation. Either following the disruption, or occurring suddenly, the engine simply stops running altogether.

2. Failure To Restart. Efforts of the operator to start the engine are unavailing in the presence of a UFO. Usually, it can be turned over, but does not catch. After the UFO has departed, however, starting is again normal. In a few instances, permanent damage has been suffered.

3. Self-Starts. Without any assistance from the operator, the engine starts by itself at the time the UFO flies away or very shortly thereafter.

www.nicap.org...

Here are some other interesting examples.

reply to post by spacevisitor


reply to post by spacevisitor

Originally posted by easynow
I don't know if these nerve agent tests have anything to do with the ufo but I have to admit it's certainly odd there was a covert operation going on the same day of the ufo event and they were using drone aircraft to test weapons of mass destruction near the same location in Utah where the ufo supposedly landed. The plot thickens

I doubt if such a drone aircraft could have been responsible for the really amazing light-display as seen by the witnesses, but that is again just speculation from me.

Bye the way, it could be that you know this already but I post it to be shore.

The following pdf file contains all of the resized Project Blue Book documents below and is now housed on the NICAP site for security reasons.

www.nicap.org...

www.nicap.org...

www.nicap.org...

This doc contains only maps.

www.nicap.org...

www.nicap.org...

Hi easynow, I looked again to that interesting Brazil video you posted earlier.



enhancement video - www.youtube.com...

It’s really quite amazing footage, no plane in my opinion; it looks definitely cylinder shaped to me and not saucer like as said in the enhancement video and it looks as if it emit’s light, very interesting indeed.
But what it really is, is impossible to tell.

That cigar shaped UFO from Peru 1952 is also very interesting, too bad they did not said anything about if it made yes or no any kind of sound.

www.ufoevidence.org...

Thanks for posting it.

Here quite some other interesting cigar shaped UFO sightings.

www.ufoevidence.org...

Not to beat a dead horse or a dead thread...lol...but I just read 'The Stickmen" by Edward Lee and the plot of the book centers around this UFO incident. Fiction, but had me interested enough to do some research on it and ran across this thread. It's a light read, day or two at most if anyone is interested. Not great but interesting subject matter. Funny...I'm in Vegas now. Where can I go on site to do more in person research?