Hackensack, New Jersey disc sighting
3 August 1947 · Hackensack, New Jersey
Summary
The FBI Newark office sent an urgent teletype to the Director on 4 August 1947 about a reported flying disc at Hackensack, New Jersey, on 3 August. It named Charles Casella Jr. and Army soldier William Truex of Fort Dix as the observers, and said Casella had telephoned the Hackensack police. The teletype gave the time as late afternoon and said Casella described the object as revolving slowly, moving rapidly, and neither a kite nor a balloon.
A memorandum from the Newark Special Agent in Charge dated 13 August 1947 gave the interview results. Casella told Special Agent Arthur F. Williams that he and Truex saw a round, black object at about 7:45 p.m. Truex had first remarked that a child had apparently lost its balloon. Casella said it was too fast for a balloon, about thirty to forty inches across, and about two hundred yards up, moving north. He said he was positive it was no optical illusion.
Joyce McFarland told the same agent that the event was at about 7:30 p.m. and that she watched for approximately one minute. She described the object as round, silver-blue and revolving. Truex, interviewed by Special Agent T. Howard Waldron, put the time at 8:00 p.m. and said they watched for fifteen or twenty seconds. He said it resembled a large, flat child's cup and that he first thought of a balloon but saw no strings.
Casella had said a man on the porch across the street also saw the object. Mrs. Winfield S. Booth, who lived there, said she did not notice any unusual object and that no man had been present. Sergeant James Perone of the Hackensack Police told the FBI that the department had taken no further action and had received no other reports.
The case also appears as Incident 88 in two Air Force and War Department check-list compilations. Both list one object, late afternoon, 200 yards distance and altitude, and mark size, color, shape and time in sight as not stated. Their summaries repeat the teletype wording, with Casella's name spelled Cosells in one copy and Casella in the other.
What the files say
“CASELLA said that he was positive it was no optical illusion.”
Page 4 →“TRUEX said he thought at first it was a child's balloon, but when he noticed there was no wind and the object had no strings to it, he decided it was something else.”
Page 7 →“She said it was round and silver-blue in color and appeared to be revolving.”
Page 6 →“Mrs. WINFIELD S. BOOTH, 459 Simons Avenue, stated that she was on the porch on the evening in question with her mother but did not notice any unusual object in the sky nor had any man been present there to point out the object in question.”
Page 6 →“Claimed it was 200 yrds in air, revolving slowly but moving rapidly and was neither a kite nor a balloon.”
Page 231 →
Explanations in the record
What the documents themselves say the event was, as recorded. Not our assessment.
- Truex said he first thought the object was a child's balloon, but ruled it out because there was no wind and no strings. Casella said it moved too fast to be an ordinary balloon. — FBI UFO case file section 2: flying disc records (1947-1968), page 7
- The Newark teletype recorded Casella's claim that the object was neither a kite nor a balloon. — FBI UFO case file section 1: flying disc records (1947-1968), page 155
- Casella said McFarland remarked it looked like a bird on the horizon; McFarland said she did not recall saying that. — FBI UFO case file section 2: flying disc records (1947-1968), page 4