The 1951 Lubbock Lights

The 1951 Lubbock, Texas lights

The first sighting occurred on August 25, 1951, at just about 9 p.m. The first three people who witnessed the object(s) were three professors: Dr. A.G. Oberg, Dr. W.L. Ducker, and Dr. W.I. Robinson, all who worked at the Texas Technological College, located in Lubbock, Texas. The professors were in the backyard of one of their colleagues, who was one of the three professors, when they witnessed the lights. Possibly 30 lights were seen. The objects were not stars, as, even though they appeared to be as bright as a star, they were larger than stars. Meteors were ruled out by the professors, so these were neither stars, nor meteors. And in a relatively short time, another cluster of lights flew overhead.

Within a short time, the professors reported their sightings to a local newspaper called "Lubbock Avalanche-Journal". Shortly after, three women reported their sighting that occurred on the same day, though from their description of the lights, it did not appear to be group of lights, but rather a bright, flashing object. Another professor reported a similar sighting, as well as a member of the college's journalism.

The professors attempt to see the lights again

Following this, the professors attempted to see the lights again and identify what they are. And once again, the professors saw the lights; this time on September 5, 1951. The professors were viewing the lights from Dr. Robinson's front yard. One of the professors, Dr. Grayson Mead, reported that the lights "Appeared to be about the size of a dinner plate and they were greenish-blue, slightly fluorescent in color. They were smaller than the full moon at the horizon. There were about a dozen to fifteen of these lights...they were absolutely circular...it gave all of us...an extremely eerie feeling." He claimed that the lights were not birds. He also said that the lights "went over so fast...that we wished we could have had a better look.", which supports his claim that they were not birds. The lights were apparently moving at a very high speed, as the professors noticed that the lights were above a cloud at roughly 2,000 feet and, through this, calculated their speed, which was around 600 mph

Photographs of the lights taken by Carl Hart, Jr

On August 30, 1951, while in his room looking out the window, Hart, who was a Texas Tech freshman, witnessed 15-20 lights in the sky flying in a V formation. After seeing this, he went to his backyard with his 35-mm Kodak camera to see if the lights will return.
Two rounds of lights flew overhead after, and so Hart was able to take four, possibly five photos of the lights.

(Four of the photos taken by Hart.)

(Though the photos appear to represent what the professors had seen, the professors claimed that the lights in this photo were in a different formation than what the professors had seen fly over.)

Hart then took the photos to the local newspaper, to see if the newspaper would publish the photos. The newspaper editor, Jay Harris, examined the photos of the lights, and wanted to publish them in the newspaper. Harris paid Hart $10 for the photos. After the photos became publicly known, being in many magazines and newspapers, the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base physics laboratory scrutinized the photos. Soon after, the supervisor of Project Blue Book, Lieutenant Edward J. Ruppelt, released a statement regarding the photos of the lights, saying "the photos were never proven to be hoax, but neither were they proven to be genuine."

The US Air Force investigation of the sightings and photos of the lights

In the latter part of September, 1951, Lieutenant Ruppelt had decided to investigate the photos, as well as the sightings. The lieutenant traveled to Lubbock, Texas to interview the professors, Hart, and others who had seen the lights. Ruppelt had concluded that the lights were a group of migrating plovers, a type of bird. He concluded that the lights from vapor street lights were reflecting off the birds, thus causing the group of birds to appear as if they are a group of lights, or perhaps UFOs. There were some people who had seen birds flying around the same dates that were "reflecting" street lights. One person, T.E. Snider, had apparently seen birds reflecting lights over a drive-in movie theater on August 31, 1951. Another person, Joe Bryant, had apparently seen a group of lights fly overhead on the same date as the original sighting while sitting outside of his home with his wife. However, the "lights" started to circle around his home, and that is when, apparently, he and his wife could hear plovers overhead, and so concluded that the lights were plovers. One of the professors had also concluded that they were plovers, after researching the sightings.


Not everyone had concluded the same. Many disagreed with the conclusion that these were birds. The chief photographer of the local newspaper, "Lubbock Avalanche-Journal" had apparently photographed birds flying over the vapor street lights, and did not get the same results as the Hart photographs. However, the photos could not be developed as they were too dark. Another person who disagreed with the plover explanation was Dr. J.C. Cross, the head of Texas Tech's biology department. He had dismissed the plover explanation. And once again, another person who disagreed with the plover explanation was a game warden Lieutenant Ruppelt had interviewed. He had deduced that they could not be plovers, as plovers usually fly at speeds of around 50 mph, and fly in groups much smaller than the group of lights seen over Lubbock. Dr. Grayson Mead had also disagreed with the plover explanation, stating "these objects were too large for any bird...I have had enough experience hunting and I don't know of any bird that could go this fast we would not be able to hear...to have gone as fast as this, to be birds, they would have to have been exceedingly low to disappear quite so quickly."

In Ruppelt's book, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, he had apparently dismissed the plover explanation as well, so once again, another person that disagreed with the birds explanation.

Were they real UFOs? A military project perhaps? Aliens? I do not know, but this is a very interesting UFO case.

Thank you for reading.

Nice post, I'd never heard of the Lubbock lights. Sort of reminds me of the Phoenix lights, same V shape. I really hope in my lifetime, that something is revealed about the nature of these UFO's, Aliens, Abuductions, etc.....

reply to post by Glassbender777


Yes, they do appear similar. Perhaps they are the same UFO?

Thank you for the post.

reply to post by extraterrestrialentity


Birds my arse.

More force fit debunking by the Blue Book Clan.

I would guess Northrop flying wing
en.wikipedia.org... but it`s last flight (officially) was in April 1951

The search police is here

check this threadthread


Lots of info and analysis

Originally posted by IMSAM
The search police is here

check this threadthread


Lots of info and analysis

OT I certainly hope you don't believe that old threads should not be given new life?

reply to post by Glassbender777


Me too!! I always wondered about them

Very similar don't you think?

reply to post by extraterrestrialentity


The bird theory is interesting, because when I was young my dad, my brother, and myself all saw a flock of geese flying in the distance and the light that reflected off of them looked like a ufo.
Here's why I don't think that the Lubblock light were birds though. What I saw was what the Air Force claimed it was(though they wern't vapour street lights) and they didn't look like the photos and we could hear the birds and none of the witnesses said they heard anything. So because of this I don't think they were birds and are definitely unexplained.

Originally posted by grey9438
reply to post by extraterrestrialentity

 

The bird theory is interesting, because when I was young my dad, my brother, and myself all saw a flock of geese flying in the distance and the light that reflected off of them looked like a ufo.
Here's why I don't think that the Lubblock light were birds though. What I saw was what the Air Force claimed it was(though they wern't vapour street lights) and they didn't look like the photos and we could hear the birds and none of the witnesses said they heard anything. So because of this I don't think they were birds and are definitely unexplained.

Don't you find it very coincidental that all these lights are in the formation of geese flying?

I do.

I recall reading (probably in Ruppelt's book) that the professors said the Hart photos did not resemble what they saw, and commented that they thought their objects were too faint to be photographed.

A few months ago, I had a similar sighting. There was an irregular "V" composed of faint red dots, dimmer than the stars. This group of objects initially appeared to be very far away. After a flash of excitement, I realized it was a flock of birds, somehow reflecting light, and they were much closer than it had originally seemed.

The professors were able to see the lights on several occasions. Most serial sightings are not true UFOs, just misidentified earthly objects.

But- what was in the Hart photographs?

reply to post by Hopechest


Well there is that, but what I find weird is that ufos are not frequently reported in this formation than because most cities have geese in them so you think people would see that more often.

reply to post by abeverage



surely they must be given life IF there is something new to add dont you think?

Besides its easier to read one thread than wade dozens of the same threads.

Originally posted by grey9438
reply to post by Hopechest

 

Well there is that, but what I find weird is that ufos are not frequently reported in this formation than because most cities have geese in them so you think people would see that more often.

Well yes, many ufo's are not in formation and I honestly have no clue about what they are.

When I do see a V formation however, I tend to lean towards some anomaly and a flock of geese. Just too many of them to be anything else in my opinion.

"But they are flying 600 mph..." ....well maybe your instruments got it wrong.

reply to post by IMSAM

Some cases are so complex that just one facet of them is worth examining, so I have no gripe about multiple threads. I do agree, that it can make tracking down the conversations tricky.
Might be nice to have a "famous case" index and various threads about them could be linked.

Originally posted by Hopechest

Originally posted by grey9438
reply to post by extraterrestrialentity

 

The bird theory is interesting, because when I was young my dad, my brother, and myself all saw a flock of geese flying in the distance and the light that reflected off of them looked like a ufo.
Here's why I don't think that the Lubblock light were birds though. What I saw was what the Air Force claimed it was(though they wern't vapour street lights) and they didn't look like the photos and we could hear the birds and none of the witnesses said they heard anything. So because of this I don't think they were birds and are definitely unexplained.

Don't you find it very coincidental that all these lights are in the formation of geese flying?

I do.

The voice of one desperate for normalcy i [presume.......
NO i dont find it totally too coincidental at all...
There are other reasons they couldnt be birds...
A speed calculated at ^))mph rules out most irds i am aware of....
Silent flight and hieght/ size also preclude birds.
Why do you always seem to spout the official line?

reply to post by Hopechest


Lots of things fly in a v. It is efficient.

reply to post by Hopechest

Nope...i just dont think that geese flying in a v formation reflecting light is was seen and photographed. IT sound's ridiculous to me.

Try this:

Minus the night vision, it is very close to the "UFO" I saw streaking supersonically across the night sky.

"In later years after ufo reports became widely known, investigators found that night-flying birds with breasts reflecting ground lights did cause some ostensible UFO sightings."

Jerome Clark, Unnatural Phenomena: A Guide to the Bizarre Wonders of North America, 2005 pg 88