38_143685_box_Incident_Summaries_101-172

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FILE REF: - SIGGE-M-1

March 14, 1948

From:

Norman G. Markham
MAIN HOTEL, Pueblo, Colo

To:

Chief Signal Officer
U. S. Army, Washington, D.C.

Subject:

Norcatur, Kans., sky explosion
of 18 February, 1948

Purpose:

To show a speculation regarding the above phenomenon and another one of earlier date and to call attention to occurrences between the two which have an appearance of relationship whether coincidental or not.

The geographical position of the Norcatur explosion suggests possible linkage with other occurrences happening inside latitudinal limits arbitrarily demarkable between 43° 36' North (which is the latitude of Boise, Idaho) and 36° 10' North (the latitude of Nashville, Tenn.), a belt about 485 miles wide.

This suggestion is gained from positions given for occurrences happening between June 24, 1947 and February 18, 1948, as shall be hereinafter briefly described.

THE BOISE (Idaho) OBJECT--This was seen either beginning or ending at 330 pm 24 June 1947 and was visible for 20 minutes. It was in the western sky, was of comet-like appearance, and settled gradually toward the horizon as planetary bodies set. It was seen by Lt. Gov. Whitehead and Chief Justice Lampert. Its nature was unknown.

The peculiarity which connects this object, for speculative purposes, with the explosion of some unknown object over Norcatur, Kans., on 18 February 1948 is the seeming of a relationship between the positions of the moon for the two phenomena:

In the former case the moon was at the date of phenomenon, about 7%, 63 before the position of First Quarter; on the second case it was about 8%. 73 beyond the position of first quarter.

Since the Boise object was visible for 20 minutes before it sank this argues it was about ten degrees above the horizon when first seen. Now if a line be drawn westward and at ten degrees zenithward from the