August 13, 1947; St. Louis, MO
Teletype report:
ATTENTION: DIRECTOR, FBI
ATTENTION: SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, BUTTE, MONTANA
SUBJECT: FLYING DISCS
These signals led off an alert sent out by FBI
agents in the Idaho area after story appeared in the
Twin Falls TimesNews concerning "vision" of
"saucer-jet." The thing was reported flying "in" a
canyon. Could it have been trying to sneak into the
U.S. under radar coverage?
The Air Force's official file on the case is
faithful to the newspaper account with the exception
of being lean-worded:
"...(deleted) had sent his sons to the river for
some tops from his boat. As they were overdue he went
to look for them, when he noticed some 300 feet away
some 75 feet in the air a sky-blue object silhouetted
against the steep walls of the (Snake River) canyon on
the far side. (The canyon is about 400 feet deep and
1200 feet across at this point.) The object was
traveling 75 feet in the air (300 feet below the rim
of the canyon) and so was plainly visible. states that
the sky-blue color would probably not be noticed
against the sky. He states that 'It did not spin like
top.' However, he did say that the trees over which it
passed almost directly did not just bend with the wind
as if plane had gone by but that they 'spun around on
top as if they were in vacuum.' (Air Force emphasis).
Keith son, eight years of age said he saw the
machine coming down the canyon heading from east to
west and following the contours of the ground. Billy,
age ten, another son, saw it almost immediately. Both
watched it fly out of sight behind tree in matter of
moments. 231.
Of special interest, of course, were what the
two children said of the pair of apparent
smokeless turbine, or red rocket, exhaust flames
through which: "...could be seen daylight..." as
the craft zoomed by with swishing sound. 232.
The jet-like knots on the UFO's side are
depicted as emitting puffs of smoke in the drawing
done by an artist on the staff of the Times-News
but according to the eyewitnesses, such detail was
not apparent during the sighting and the puffs had
been penciled in as an explanatory emphasis. 233.
234. One other point that should be touched upon
here was the skyblue color. This hue may have been
the reflection of the atmosphere off the
mirror-like finish, but officially this was not
considered.
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