FBIUnresolvedAmbiguous

Round black object moving north — Hackensack, New Jersey, August 3, 1947

Aug 3, 1947Hackensack, New Jersey30s

⟳ 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

On August 3, 1947, Charles Casella and Army Private William Truex observed a round black object at approximately 200 yards altitude moving steadily northward for 15-20 seconds over Hackensack, New Jersey. No motive power was visible. A third witness, Miss Joyce McFarland, described the object as round and silver-blue in color, revolving, and visible for approximately 1 minute. The discrepancy in color description (black vs. silver-blue) and duration (15-20 seconds vs. 1 minute) suggests either different angles of view or different objects.

As reported — verbatim from the document

“Casella and Truex: 'round black object approximately 30-40 inches diameter at approximately 200 yards altitude, moving north steadily, no motive power visible, 15-20 seconds'; McFarland: 'round and silver-blue, revolving, approximately 1 minute.'”

Analyst notes — caveats & confidence

Three witnesses with slightly discrepant descriptions (color, duration). Army Private Truex provides a military observer. Object apparent size (30-40 inches at 200 yards) is ambiguous without knowing actual distance. 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.