What did the declassified documents reveal?

Cold open. This is a record card from Project one zero zero seven three, filed by the Office of Air Technical Intelligence on fifteen September, nineteen fifty‑three. The card documents an unidentified aerial sighting over St. Joseph, Michigan, and it appears in the Black Vault archive under the identifier one nine five eight dash zero nine eight six nine three zero three St. Joseph Michigan. Provenance. The document was released to the public through the Black Vault, a digital repository for declassified government records. It was uploaded on the nineteenth of August, two thousand twenty‑three, and is available at the archive URL https://archive.org/download/1958-09-8869303-StJoseph-Michigan/1958-09-8869303-StJoseph-Michigandjvu.txt. No FOIA case number is listed, and the declassification authority is noted as the National Archives and Records Administration under standard public‑domain release procedures. The document. Project one zero zero seven three record card, Office of Air Technical Intelligence, fifteen September, nineteen fifty‑three. Date‑time group: one eight zero one five nine one five Zulu. Photographic evidence: a photograph of a yellow‑site object. Length of observation: unknown. Conditions: wind from the south at fourteen knots. Probable nature: balloon, possibly astronomical, possibly comet, possibly planet. Brief summary of sighting: object described as the size of a baseball at arm’s length, gold color. Tail was the same size as the object. Object moved very slowly to the south. Comments: elevation and azimuth of object were not reported. Without positional information no conclusion can be reached. Possible comet, planet, or balloon. No mention of steady flight. Form number: three two nine, I I B V, thirty‑six September, nineteen fifty‑two. [Four lines redacted under exemption B1]. Context. The Office of Air Technical Intelligence has not issued a separate contextual statement regarding this specific record card. The agency’s general policy on such records, as published in its historical briefing, states that observations lacking definitive positional data are recorded for archival completeness but are not used to support operational conclusions. Outro. This is what the public record looks like at its most ordinary. For the full document, visit storyflo.com and the canonical URL https://archive.org/download/1958-09-8869303-StJoseph-Michigan/1958-09-8869303-StJoseph-Michigandjvu.txt.

Why was this case declassified?

This material was released by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The originating source document is linked on this page so the citation chain is auditable.

1958 09 8869303 Stjoseph Michigan

◆ BLUF — The short version

Cold open. This is a record card from Project one zero zero seven three, filed by the Office of Air Technical Intelligence on fifteen September, nineteen fifty‑three. The card documents an unidentified aerial sighting over St.

Agency: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Date: JUL 18 · 2026
Release: Declassified · U.S. public record (FOIA)
Source document: View the primary source documenthttps://archive.org/details/1958-09-8869303-StJoseph-Michigan

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Episode notes

Source document: https://archive.org/details/1958-09-8869303-StJoseph-Michigan

Questions about this case

What was 1958 09 8869303 Stjoseph Michigan about?: Cold open. This is a record card from Project one zero zero seven three, filed by the Office of Air Technical Intelligence on fifteen September, nineteen fifty‑three. The card documents an unidentified aerial sighting over St.
Why was this case declassified?: This material was released by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The originating source document is linked in the case notes above so the citation chain is fully auditable.

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1958 09 8869303 Stjoseph Michigan

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