A Spinning Ball of Fire Falls Toward a Houston Field

It was just before sun-up on 2 November 1947, and already fairly light, when Mrs Elmer L. Brimberry saw a large round ball of fire in the sky over Houston. She put it at 26 to 30 inches across. A tail about 20 feet long trailed behind it and shrank as it fell. The ball seemed to spin. It seemed to be coming down in the 18-acre vacant field next to the Brimberrys' home, and then just before it reached the ground it "went out".

Her husband saw it as well. Elmer L. Brimberry worked for the Immigration Service of the Department of Justice. He described it as almost round, perhaps a little oval or saucer-shaped, giving off a bright light and spinning. He did not see the tail.

What is on the record

The account is Incident 98 in the Air Force's analysis of flying objects in the United States, a study the Department of War released in 2026. It is a single check-list. The record itself adds a caution: the object could have come down far away, and only seemed to fall into the field. No conclusion is stated. NICAP's catalogue lists the sighting under Houston with a Blue Book reference, and Hatch's database records a red-yellow ball of light.

The description is one an ordinary bright meteor would fit. A fireball low on the horizon often seems to land close by. The check-list does not draw that conclusion, and nothing in the file says anyone looked in the field.

Why it sits where it does

L4 · OFFICIAL RECORD — a released government record names who saw it. The witnesses are a married couple. Mr Brimberry is named; his wife appears under his name. Their two accounts differ only in the tail. No other account of that morning has reached the archive. The level rates the source, not the sighting. What the Brimberrys saw fall that morning is not resolved here.