FBIUnresolvedAmbiguous

Silver round/egg-shaped object at high speed — Portland, Oregon, September 11, 1947

Sep 11, 1947Portland, Oregon10,000 ft30s

⟳ Deeper read pending. This record is from the FBI 62-HQ-83894 flying-disc file, whose cursive, clippings and faint scans are under-read by automated OCR. It is flagged for a vision-transcription pass and likely undercounts what the source contains — see the documents collection note.

Analysis — our summary

Portland Police Chief Jenkins and multiple officers observed a silver round/egg-shaped object at approximately 10,000 ft altitude over Portland, Oregon on September 11, 1947. The object made a wide turn and traveled south, disappearing in approximately 30 seconds. Speed estimates ranged from 150 mph (one officer) to 'extremely great' (Police Chief Jenkins). Individual officer descriptions varied from conventional airplane reflection to a large silver elliptical object.

As reported — verbatim from the document

“Police chief Jenkins and officers: silver round/egg-shaped object at approximately 10,000 ft, making wide turn, very fast; disappeared in approximately 30 seconds. One officer estimated 150 mph; chief said 'extremely great speed.'”

Analyst notes — caveats & confidence

Multiple law enforcement witnesses. Wide variation in speed estimates (150 mph to 'extremely great') and descriptions suggests observer variability rather than consistent instrumented measurement. One officer attributed it to conventional airplane reflection. Confidence moderate.

Provenance

Source document65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_Section_1.pdf

Document typecase file compilation

Reporting agencyFBI

Source pages185

DeclassifiedFirst public at this release (2026)

Held classified~79 years (≥, to this release)

Extraction confidence ModerateHow cleanly this record could be parsed from the source — driven by legibility & redaction. It is not a measure of how credible or anomalous the sighting is.