PROJECT BLUE BOOK

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD

1. DATE 2. LOCATION
9 Aprid 1957 Tomple, California
3, DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION
Local O Ground-Vi sual D Ground-Roadar
GM nl or 0 Air Visual D Air-Intercept Rador
5. PHOTOS 6. SOURCE
O Yes
0 No

Civilian

7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION

-_

NUMBER OF OBJECTS

9. COURSE

a ee Se _—_—

12. CONCLUSIONS

Was Balloon
Probably Bolloon
Possibly Balloon

Wos Aircraft
Probobly Aircraft
Possibly Aircraft

Was Astronomical
Probably Astronomical
Possibly Astronomical

Other hols in STOUD j
Insufficient Data for Evaluation
Unknown

coc osoaqg aoo 900

One object,

dwelling,

ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)

wale

er. :

10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING

fell into yard of private

no one saw object. Just rpt

11, COMMENTS

This object

U.S. army
found,

and

WaS investigated by

“O02d. No object

|

DIG FOR SOLUTION—Army Or

home in search of mysterious object that may have rocketed out of sky and plum-
meted into earth there. They planned to dig to depth of 20 feet if it is necessary.

— -

dnance experts dig in

Fe ay
foe JP

San Gabriel Home f

> .0 =

cf the sky-earty“Tuesday.

| Patrick Murphy, 10-year-
old son of Osear and Virginia
Murphy, faund a 30-inch-wide
crater in their yard at $831
Greenwood Ave. shortly after
the San Gabriel Valley rocked
under what residents took to
be a sonic boom.

Arrive at 2 AL

The cone-shaped hole was
iwo feet deep and by the
lime it finallv came ‘to the
attention of Army ordnance
men from Ft. MacArthur
curly Yesterday, conviction
had frown that it had been
left by ether a small missile
gr meteorite,

(apt, Robert Jackson, com-
manding officer of the S55ist
Ordnance Detachment, ar-

ved with three enlisted men
and Temple City Sherift’s
deputies at 2 a.m.

fle said thera wasn

-

Army explosives. specialists dug down into the back
vard of a San Gabriel home yesterday in search of aj
rvsterious object they believe may have bulleted o

’ )
4 Fe te Me re

back yard of San Gabriel

LP) photo

plosive Experts Dig
ror Mysterious Object

Army Specialists Excavate in Back Yard of
or Possible Missile

ut)

|

—

fa} doubt}

in his inind that “something

| Tuen to Page 27, Column’

t , ee

¥

—— a , )
AT lmerie =
; Tne bY

Army Digs for
| Mystery Objet

Continued from First Page

fronr*the-air entered the

ground.”

He and his men dug cau-

tinusly for three hours, then

returned at 10 a.m. with more

explosive ordnance disposal;

unit specialists and a truck-j)

load of shoring equipment. |,

Ry midafternoon, they had)

cuz LO feet down in the rocky

soil without finding any ob-|

ject.

Digging operations were

stopped at 5 p.m., with plans:|

‘ to resume the job _ today.}

Meanwhile, two Sheriff's dep-

ulies were assigned to stand

guard during the night.

Capt. Jackson said they in-|

tend to dig to a depth of 20

feet and“... if we find noth-!

ing, there will be a hole av ail-

able.” ak

Oscar M. Murphy, a. vene-

tian-blind salesman, recalled)

* that the blast-about 4:45 a.m.

(the same hour other San

Gabriel area- residents -were|

awakened by the so-called)

Fonic hoom) rattled’ windows!

and knocked toys off shelves.

But Jackson said: |

“There's. -nothing to indi

cate that anything exploded)
when it hit the ground.”

* Nothing Missing -

He.said the hole could have!

heen made-by anything up to

a 100-pound. bomb. but’added|.

that if the object had ex+

ploded, his°men: would have}

ciscovered: blackened. rock’
and dirt..

Jackson: said he under-|
stood there was an Air Force}
| practice~ operation going on)

about the time of the shock,
. but Air Force information of-
fieers announced a check
wit h- Southern - California ,
hases fatled to turn-up a re-
port. of arry lost missile, bomb
-Orequipment. ~
‘ To neighborhood conjec-
ture that some youngster!
might have dug the hole,
Jackson: responded, “If aj
child had dug it, we'd know}
tt by now. There would have! 4
been knee marks around the} § :
erater,”’ ij
His estimate’ was that
whatever streaked into ther
earth back of the Murphy'
home had a 6 or 8-inch’di-;
ameter and “could be any!
length.” :
Digging With Care
He admitied the possibility |
that—if an unexploded bomb
or missile lav deep in the /
ground—a probing shovel)
might set it off. For this rea-,
son, he and his men were dig-!
ging with extreme care.
One thing was c ertain:
Whatever struck the earth
filled in its own burrow with
dirt so that the Army meni
were unable-to trace the un-!
derground trajectory. :
At one point they uncov- §
eved a chunk of concrete: ‘
bearing yellow paint marks,
but this was examined at Ft.!
MacArthur and experts de-)

; ;
wcet.ie VAS ‘ : ’

}

_

a

VEPs

reese
— J

rds

crater, |
lis estimate was that,
whatever streaked into ther{

earth back of the Murphy
home had a 6 or §8-ineh di-
ameter and “could be any:
length.”

Digging With Care

He admitted the possibility)
that—if an unexploded bomb
or missile lay deep in the!

zround—a probing shov el

Plant set it off. For this rea) .
son, he and his men were dig-|
ging with extreme care.

One thing was certains);
Whatever struck the earth) §
filled in its own burrow with!
dirt so that the Army meni}
were unable-to trace the un-' 4
derground trajectory, | :

At one point they uncov-| ;
ered a chunk of concrete;
bearing yellow paint marks, ! §
but this was examined at Ft.| 9
MacArthur and experts de-i
cided it was unrelated. F
riisted portion of an ancient, g
baby carriage, a tin can and a!
piece of garden hose long}
buried.

On the digging operation
with Jackson's men were!
members of the 8th Ord-
nance Detachment under Lt.)
T. D. Smith, Air Force men;
and two Air Force _intelli-'
gence officers Who were close-
Lh One of the latter,

Charles [t.. Hoskins, did’
epiivede however:
There's defnitely-a hole f in.
wee
Grounds Roped Off

Little Patrick Murphy saw, |
the small crater Tuesday
morning as he was. leaving}
for school, but he didn’t show) 3
it to his father until that
evening. His dad called Tem-| ;
ple City Sheriff's deputies.| |
They contacted Norton Air
Force Base and Ft, MacAr-|
thur ordnance men wereld
summoned. F

By noon vesterday, the dig!
ing operation was in fulll§

swing and deputies were) #
forced to rope off the house) §
to keep the curious at a dis-,
tance. |

Pat's sister Diane, 12, took §
the dim view of the cynie: |

“There's nothing in the!
ground. I think some kid dug
the hole. Either that or it's,
* ~9xas B sopnets

SORE WE LE FEE rn a =

crys

crater.

His estimate’ was that
whatever streaked into ther
earth back of the Murphy'

home had a 6 or S8-ineh di-!
ameter and “could be any!

length.”
Digging With Care

He admitted the possibility
that—if an unexploded bomb) ]
or missile lay deep in the)
ground—a probing slrovel
might set it off. For this rea-,
son, he and his men were dig-
ging with extreme Care, r
One thing was certains,
Whatever struck the earth) §
filled in its own burrow with! §
dirt so that the Army meni}
were unable-to trace the un-| 3
derground trajectory. .:
At one point they uncov- :
ered a chunk of concrete) }
bearing yellow paint marks,'
but this was examined at Ft.) 5
MacArthur and experts de-i ;
cided it was unrelated. F-
rusted portion of an ancient, |
baby carriage, a tin can and a! @
piece of garden hose long,
buried. | j
On the digging operation }
with. Jackson's men were! §
members of the 58th Ord-,
nance Detachment under Lt.
T. D. Smith, Air Force men:
and two Air Force _intelli-!
gence officers who were close-
mouthed, One of the latter,
. Charles It.” Hoskins, did!
iene, however:

“There's definitely a hole i in.
the ground.”

a

Grounds Roped Off

Little Patrick Murphy saw,
the small crater Tuesday;
morning as he was. leaving}
for school, but he didn’t show} g
it to his father until that;
evening. His dad called Tem-| §
ple City Sheriff's deputies. |}
They contacted Norton Air}§
Force Base and Ft. MacAr-|j
thur ordnance men were
su mmoned. |

3y¥ noon vesterday, the dig-|
ing operation was in full:
swing and deputies were)!
forced to rope off the house);
to keep the curious at a dis-.
tance. i.

Pat's sister Diane, 12, took §
the dim view of the cynie: |

"There's nothing in the!
ground, | think some kid dug
the hole. Either that or it’s
- ‘“exas gopher.” |

mt. Jackson did not share:
2 ‘w. His men continued ¢

eo WS, Se Cpe !
SUID SP Kitwetior Corre |

IN Cir
bp GE if
Fa29 Zhers7? 05 562 4/ /
WPGZSE3IENAZ4SS : |
Zz ‘f Z fies, 7 (
P RJEDWP 7 7 7 X YK-
Ok
D2 RJEDEN 127 (ae
1229192 Wr < sar
‘ (
°M% COMDR 4692 D AISS ENT AFB COLO a
TO COMDR ATIC WPAFB OHIO a ) an

3T
‘UNCLAS/AISOC 313. PD REFERENCE MY MESSAGES AISOC 295

AND AISQC 394 PD FINAL REKRT TEMPLE CALIF INCIDENT PD ARMY |
BORDINACNE CEASED OPERATION S AFTER DIGGING SIXTEEN FEET PD

TEAM COMMANDER STATED THAT IF ANY OBJECT WAS/N GROUND

SMM ITMULD NOT BE DAGEROUS PD APPARENLY QTHERE WAS NO

OBJECT PD FURTHER OPEATIONS SINCE AISOC 324 LEND CREDENCE

fO RUMOR REPORTED PD NEWSPATPER CLEPPINGS OF INCEIDENT WILL

FOLLOW BY MAIL PD NOT FURTHER ACTION CONTEMPLATED PD END
ET
12/2112 APR RJEDEN

1957yApre9San Gabriel, Cal-Zarly-Unidentified Object plunges in vackyard |
hore, digging a crater! Soniceboom rocked town! Army Ordnance |

diczinge-up entire yard’to find it! Believed to ea an Object |

adout Sin. in diameter,a missile,rocket,meteorite,ice or UFO!, |

There were Ai planes in the Sky at the time of"Boom" ! |

Another datum that is perhaps relevant is found in the Los ‘nreles Examiner
and Los “neeles Times, ‘pril 11. Another sxkyquake “rocked" the San Gabriel Val-
ley at li:h5 a.m. two days carlier. lesidents were awakened by the "so-called
sonic-boom," the force of which "rattled windows and knocked toys off the shelves."
But the novelty of the "slyquake" was eclipsed by an additional feature: a thirty-
inch wide, tizo-foot deep conical hole was found in the backyard of the home of
Guam, 2 venctian-blind salesman. His 10-year-old son QM, who said
that he heard something land with a "thump" about 5 a.m., found the hole on his
way to school, and told his father about it that evening. ‘iiurray informed the
Temple City sheriff's station of the hole, deputies investigation, and the matter

| was turned over to the Explosive Ordnance Wisposal squad at Fort WacArthur. Cap-

| | toin Qe said that “something from the air had entered the ground--
|
|

| something about six or eight inches in diameter that could be any length." He
added that the hole was similar to one made by a small dud bomb; speculation also
included the possibility of a meteorite or "one of those confounded flying saucers."
CMM and his men dug cautiously and by 5 p.m. (April 10) they had reached a
depth of ten feet without uncovering any dud bombs, meteorites or flyins saucers,
M@QMMMMMD said that they would continue to dig to a denth of 20 feet, and should
nothing be found, "there will be a hole available." Anparently there is now a
20-foot hole available: lirs. QauMMMM@MNm (10 whom we are indebted for all
of the California news clippings) writes us that subsequent news accounts reported
the search for the “unidentified object" was fruitless.

Of course, the possibility that the "object" responsible for the hole was a
meteorite is strong, although none was found. But the connection between the
hole and the "skyquake" remains unknorm. Apparently, there was "nothing to in-
a dicate that anything exploded when it the ground," according to Capt. Jackson.

a | <x xX xxx ae St

ad ;

MUSSILE MYSTERY—Army bomb ex.
pects, proceeding on premise there
| mMisht be a missile buried there, di

uw
Lm]

SS 2 eG ee 8 ee,

—Los Angeles Examiner photo,

hole in backyard at 8831 Greenwood
avenue San Gabriel, where Pat Murphy,
If), said he heard object land.

oP ee

7-7. =

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~~

a Oi

Great ‘Unidentified Fallen
Odject’ Hunt in Yard Fails

(Continued From Page One)

would be too far down to cause
any damage.”

| Capt. Jackson, a Korean war
veteran from West Frankfort, IIL.,
‘Said that there was a possibility
,ice from a diving jet plane may
have plunged into the earth, melt-
ing after forming the impact
crater.

, The hole was noticed Tuesday
morning, shortly after neighbors
heard what they thought was a
; Sonic boom,

| A meteorite enthusiast, rocket
engineer Rollin W. Gillespie, of

Friday, April 12, 1957

nearby Arcadia, theorized that a
meteorite could have streaked
fram the sky, smashed into the’
earth and then been overlooked}
by the soldiers in their search for}
high explosives. i

“I wouldn't know a meteorite |
from a hole in the ground,” an!
Army spokesman admitted.

Earlier the Air Force sent a dei.|
egation of tight-lipped intelligence)
experts to the scene, A first]
lieutenant from Norton Air Force

=

Base near San Bernardino, grilled!
by newsmen, finally admitted:

“There definitely is a hole in!
the ground,” {

Jen peraardia d
b Ae te
THE DAILY SUN—3

oe

a

| Army Digging
tor Mystery

Vissile Here |

(Photo on Page 30
SAN GABRIEL, April 10.—

+}Army bomb experts today are
digging a deep, wide hole in
the backyard of a San Gabriel
\residence searching for what
they believe may be a danger-
ous explosive missiie.

| But they're not really sure};
it’s a missile they're after. It
could be anything. All they

cT - -

a.

know is:

Me landed with a thud at 9)!

. m. Tuesday morning. 0;

ar made a crater-shaped hole},;
in the ground.

It’s about six inches in |
diameter. cq

it cid not explode. But it/0a
might. ,

The hole was found by Oscar}|,|}
. |Murphy, 8831 Greenwood ave-| "|
nue. His ten-year-old son, Pat,|™4
says he heard the thump/en}
when it landed. But no oneifie
“ielse heard it, and his. father|.,¢|
is rather skeptical. |
Murphy called the Temple} {
City sheriff's station to report; \!
the hole. Sheriff's deputies in-| Cd
vestigated, decided it was out elt
fiside their jurisdiction, andith
called the Explosive Ordnanceldga
Disposal squad at Fort Mac.
Arthur. si f
Captain- R. B. Jackson said| Ja
the hole made by the object} m)
was similar to those made by|G4
smal! dud bombs when thev!let
land. He Said it is also poside
sibie the mysterious object
jcould be a meteor, something} t]
dropped from 2 Civil aircraft,| h
or “one of those confounded oO
(lcd r 7 saucers p
“Aeanwnile, Air Force sources 7
emphatically denied any mis-lit
E
v
t
4
t
c

Siles are missing from any of!
their aircraft. Fi nofficial}
Alc Karke observers came front
Force Base to the

Murphey backyare but had no!
comment. ——

de ab el eebli vs le oe

oT [ood bet

baie at he ee I San
Big Unidentified rallen Object

runt in Murph
dunt in Murpny
' SAN GABRIEL (#—A small hole
discovered. by a small boy—and
then enlarged by Army crews into
a junior grade mineshaft—kept
its subterranean secret last night.
At a depth of 15 feet Army
‘demolition experts stopped dig-
ging, probed: the earth, listened

to the noncommittai hum of a!
aes detector,

and
nounced:

_ “if there is anything down here
it won't hurt anything if it does
explode.”

ee . ah.

then ane!

Backyard Fails

Ten-year-old Pat Murphy start
ed.everything Tuesday when h
discovered a strange hole in th
backyard of his suburban Sa
Gabriel home.

His father, Oscar Murphy, called
sheriff's deputies. They called the
Army, and ordnance specialists
pronounced the hole an “impact
crater.”

"We could tell by examining the
hole that it was caused by an ob-
ject falling from the sky,” said
Army Capt. Robert Jackson, com-
manding officer of an ordnance
unit at nearby Fort MacArthur.
“Because it couid. have been
caused by something dangerous,
we decided to dig down to find it.”’

Diz the Army did—until the
Murphy yard was heaped with
‘tons of sandy soil and créWwded
‘with soldiers, sheriff's officers and
newsmen, The driveway was
‘jammed with hulking Army
trucks, Earth-moving machinery
ripped up the flagstone patio and
clothesline poles,

but in two days of digging noth-
,ing more interesting than a
‘wrecked baby.carriage was found.
There are conflicting expianations
on why the Army ‘has a job ot

,covering a 7-by-8-by-15-foot hole

today.
: Said Lt. T. D. Smith, of Salem;
Avk., who- directed the digging:

“Tf there is, say, a rocket down),

there—and I'm not saying there

[* a rocket—if it exploded now it)

«(Continued on Page 3, Column 6)

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