◆ CASE FILEThe facts, corroborated
The Glowing Discs over Birmingham, Seen by an Army Sergeant
At about 20:45 on 6 July 1947 Staff Sergeant Ira L. Livingston was called outside by his neighbour in Birmingham, Alabama, and watched silent glowing discs cross the western sky in an arc. He swore a statement the next day and it sits in the FBI's flying-disc file with no evaluation. This is the record of what a sergeant and his neighbour reported, not a verdict on what crossed Birmingham.
◆ THE SHORT VERSION
- The Glowing Discs over Birmingham, Seen by an Army Sergeant is a reported UAP case in Birmingham, Alabama (seen from the Green Acres district), USA, 6 July 1947, about 20:45.
- In a sworn statement of 7 July 1947, S/Sgt. Ira L. Livingston of the US Army Air Forces said he watched silent, glowing round discs move in a definite arc over Birmingham, Alabama, at about 20:45 on 6 July.
- Livingston estimated the objects at about two feet across and 500 to 600 mph, believed there were seven to ten, but conceded "there could have been only one".
- His neighbour Herman H. Sockwell called him outside to see the "flying discs"; the statement sits in Serial 130 of the FBI's flying-disc file 62-HQ-83894.
- A newspaper clipping in the same FBI serial reports scores of Birmingham residents seeing discs and lights that night; no agency conclusion appears in the file.
- For this case Fractured Realities holds 1 distinct source, 1 corroborating primary document and 2 distinct claimants on its resolved list.
- The archive grades it L4 · OFFICIAL RECORD — a released government record names who saw it, the top of our scale, though no independent testimony sits beside that record.
Counts are resolved totals of what sources say, computed 2026-10-12; the reported details above are claims in the record, not findings. A record of reports, not a verdict on what happened.
EVENT DATE
6 July 1947, about 20:45
LOCATION
Birmingham, Alabama (seen from the Green Acres district) · USA
COORDS
33.52°N 86.80°W
INDEPENDENCE
L4 · OFFICIAL RECORD
SOURCES
1 distinct
CLAIMANTS
2
STATUS
Known from released government records
NUMBERS COMPUTED 2026-10-12 · RESOLVED COUNTS, NOT A VERDICT
