The Green Fireballs of New Mexico
In the late 1940s, bright green fireballs kept streaking silently over America's most secret nuclear laboratories.
What was reported
From late 1948, people in New Mexico began reporting brilliant green fireballs crossing the night sky, often near Los Alamos and Sandia, where nuclear weapons were designed. Witnesses included security guards, pilots and scientists.
The meteorite expert Lincoln LaPaz, who saw one himself, said they didn't behave like meteors: they made no sound, travelled in flat paths and left no fragments. The Air Force set up Project Twinkle to photograph them, with little success.
Explanations offered
Most scientists then and since think they were bright meteors, which can glow green from burning metals, and that more were noticed because of the area's security watch. LaPaz never accepted that. The project closed in 1951 without an answer.
- When
- 1948–1951
- Where
- Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
- Witnesses
- Scientists, security guards and pilots near secret weapons sites
- Status
- Never settled
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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