DOW-UAP-D164: Hiram and Gladys Jones’s Seymour account
A January 1954 Atterbury Air Force Base report records Hiram and Gladys Jones’s account of two cloudy rings with bright lights near Seymour, Indiana. The witnesses described hovering and a rapid departure but could not recall the exact date. That uncertainty prevented an air-traffic check, and the report records no physical evidence.
- File
- Document · Release 07
- Date
- Dec 1, 1953
- Extent
- 6 pages
- Agency
- Department of War
Search This File
Probed Assessment
The file preserves a two-person witness account with an uncertain date and no physical evidence or verified flight performance.
Key takeaways
- The witnesses described cloudy rings and bright points rather than a clearly defined solid structure.
- Rapid motion and hovering are witness descriptions.
- The missing exact date prevented the stated air-traffic check.
Why it matters
The report records the observation and referral history while showing why contemporaneous verification remained limited.
Corroboration
Hiram and Gladys Jones are named as co-observers; the file contains no instrument data or physical trace.
Open questions
- • Can the actual sighting date be recovered?
- • What atmospheric or air-traffic information could then be checked?
Probed separates this editorial assessment from the source claims below. It summarizes what the released artifact supports; it is not independent verification.
Official Description from War.gov
This document is a Flying Objects Report prepared in accordance with Air Force Regulation 200-2, which established guidance for reporting unidentified flying objects. The report records an incident near Seymour, Indiana, in which two civilian reporters stated that they observed two airborne objects while traveling by car. The report does not identify an exact event date; its weather assessment addresses conditions during the period December 8–15, 1953. The report describes the incident as consisting of a “brilliant moving light” and two large, white, cloudy or gaseous objects in a staggered formation. It further describes four bright points of light within each object and a bluish-white, vapor-like trail. The report describes the object kinematics as an in-line approach with a steady descent, a stationary interval of unreported duration, and a rapid departure along an abrupt upward angle toward the southwest. It records an estimated direct observation period of three to four minutes, with a total elapsed period of five to six minutes that included changes in the vehicle’s route. All descriptive and estimative language contained in this report reflects the reporter’s subjective interpretation at the time of the event. Such characterizations should not be interpreted as a conclusive indication of the presence or absence of any intrinsic object features or performance characteristics.
Preserved verbatim as source metadata. This wording is separate from Probed’s file-specific description and assessment.
File Context
Related entities
Tracker findings
Hiram and Gladys Jones described the sighting
The report identifies Hiram and Gladys Jones as the observers near Seymour, Indiana.
Witnesses described two smoke rings and bright points
The witnesses described two circular smoke-like rings with no visible upper or lower structure and four bright points rotating in the same plane.
Maneuvers were reported without measured speed
The witnesses described a descending approach, a stationary interval and an apparently rapid climbing departure; the file supplies no measured speed.
The precise sighting date remained unknown
The observers could not remember the exact date, although the report supplies a 0002–0008Z time interval.
No physical evidence or useful traffic check resolved the report
The report records no physical evidence and says air traffic could not be verified without an exact date.
Release provenance
- Release
- Release 07
- Official ID
- release-07-file-017-dow-uap-d164-flying-object-report-indiana-1953
- Cleared
- Oct 23, 2026
Referenced Timeline
Joneses report a sighting near Seymour
The report uses a December 8–15 weather window, but the witnesses could not recall the actual sighting date.
Fisher contacts the Air Force information office
The recorded phone referral to Satin leads to contact with Jones.
Atterbury forwards the sighting report
The headquarters report documents the account and the date-related limits on verification.
Source Claims
Claims are attributed to the released source and remain distinct from Probed’s assessment and tracker findings.
The report identifies Hiram and Gladys Jones as the observers near Seymour, Indiana.
Mr Hiram and Mrs Gladys Jones
The witnesses described two circular smoke-like rings with no visible upper or lower structure and four bright points rotating in the same plane.
Circular ring of smoke ; cloudy substance that stayed in a plane. No upper or lower structure could be seen.
The account says the observers left their car to listen but heard no sound.
None to the ear, although observer s stood outside of car to make sure
The witnesses described a descending approach, a stationary interval and an apparently rapid climbing departure; the file supplies no measured speed.
stationary attitude at one spot; then tremendous acceleration
The report distinguishes roughly three to four minutes of observation from a total five-to-six-minute interval including repositioning the car.
Total time , then, was five to six minutes.
The observers could not remember the exact date, although the report supplies a 0002–0008Z time interval.
Observers unable to remember exactly.
The weather information spans December 8–15, 1953 and was supplied by Billy R. Egger; it does not fix a specific sighting date.
Period covers the week of 8 December to 15 December 195.3.
The report records no physical evidence and says air traffic could not be verified without an exact date.
Impossible to verify without exact date through ACS and 2466th Operations
Dr. W. S. Fisher’s January 9 telephone contact with Marvin Satin led the information office to interview Jones.
through a telephone call to Lt Marvi n Satin
Jones reportedly limited earlier disclosure to three friends because he wanted to avoid ridicule; the report attributes this explanation to him.
Mr Jones stated that he had not told anyone of his exper- iences other than three personal friends desiring to avoid ridicule.
Source Material & Evidence
Research Map
Lines appear only when two entities share a row-level source claim or dated timeline event. Unconnected nodes remain visible without implying a relationship.