◆ CASE FILEThe facts, corroborated
The Runaway Balloon and the Virginia Posse
In January 1964 the people of a small Virginia town formed a posse to go and collect "the little green men", the Condon Report says. They got past their sheriff after a gun-waving encounter and searched a field that held nothing. The Report explains the scare as a runaway research balloon from Arizona that caught the sunset at 140,000 feet over the East Coast. This is the record of what the Condon Report says happened, not a verdict on what anyone saw.
◆ THE SHORT VERSION
- The Runaway Balloon and the Virginia Posse is a reported UAP case in Virginia (an unnamed small town); the balloon was launched from the Glen Canyon Dam area near Page, Arizona, and came over the East Coast, United States, January 1964.
- The Condon Report says the people of a small Virginia town formed a posse to collect the little green men and got past their sheriff after a gun-waving encounter.
- The Report blames a six-million-cubic-foot research balloon from the Glen Canyon Dam area near Page, Arizona, which did not burst when its payload was cut away and rose to 140,000 feet.
- Still lit by the sun just after sunset over the East Coast, it drew pilot reports of a balloon at 60,000 to 70,000 feet and a rash of flying saucer stories.
- The Report names no town, sheriff or pilot, and a catalogue of launches from the site lists no January 1964 flight.
- For this case Fractured Realities holds 1 distinct source and 1 corroborating primary document.
- The case is resolved: it was identified as a research balloon. The Condon Report traced it to a high-altitude balloon launched from Arizona.
- A resolved case sits off the evidence ladder, so the archive marks it RESOLVED · IDENTIFIED rather than grading how well sourced the original reports were.
Counts are resolved totals of what sources say, computed 2026-10-03; the reported details above are claims in the record, not findings. A record of reports, not a verdict on what happened.
EVENT DATE
January 1964
LOCATION
Virginia (an unnamed small town); the balloon was launched from the Glen Canyon Dam area near Page, Arizona, and came over the East Coast · United States
COORDS
37.50°N 78.80°W
INDEPENDENCE
RESOLVED · IDENTIFIED
SOURCES
1 distinct
CLAIMANTS
0
STATUS
Known from released government records
NUMBERS COMPUTED 2026-10-03 · RESOLVED COUNTS, NOT A VERDICT
