◆ CASE FILEThe facts, corroborated
A 'Giant Firecracker' over North-east Philadelphia
Late on 6 August 1947 a former bomber pilot and a retired policeman in north-east Philadelphia watched a bluish-white flaming object streak south-west, while ten miles away a woman saw a white object rush south with a buzzing sound. The Army Air Forces check-lists found the accounts roughly matched and the observers reliable, and entered no conclusion. This is the record of what four people reported, not a verdict on what crossed Philadelphia.
◆ THE SHORT VERSION
- A 'Giant Firecracker' over North-east Philadelphia is a reported UAP case in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Oxford Circle, north-east Philadelphia, and a second street about 10 miles away), USA, 6 August 1947, about 22:30-22:45.
- Retired police officer John J. Kelley described "a giant firecracker" with a "fiery trail for about 100 ft" over north-east Philadelphia late on 6 August 1947.
- Former B-24 pilot John Snyder reported a bluish-white flaming object crossing north-east to south-west at an estimated 400-500 mph without losing height, with a moderate hissing sound.
- About ten miles away Eleanor Naddle reported a large white object rushing south followed by a slight buzzing, which her companion Cecelia Fine also heard.
- The Army Air Forces check-lists (Incidents 69 and 70) note the accounts "roughly correspond" and that all observers "seemed reliable", but enter no conclusion.
- A bright meteor is an obvious ordinary candidate that the record itself does not raise.
- For this case Fractured Realities holds 2 distinct sources, 2 corroborating primary documents and 4 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 August 1947, about 22:30-22:45
LOCATION
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Oxford Circle, north-east Philadelphia, and a second street about 10 miles away) · USA
COORDS
40.03°N 75.09°W
INDEPENDENCE
L4 · OFFICIAL RECORD
SOURCES
2 distinct
CLAIMANTS
4
STATUS
Known from released government records
NUMBERS COMPUTED 2026-10-12 · RESOLVED COUNTS, NOT A VERDICT
