Neffsville saucer sighting in 1952 remains among handful of unresolved UFO cases

In the early morning hours of summer 1952, three Neffsville boys spotted what they believed to be a UFO.

Nearly 70 years later, the mystery of what exactly it was that they saw remains unresolved.

The Lancaster New Era noted that the three boys, Gordon James, Bill Ford and Tom Groff, all about 14 years old at the time, saw what they believed to be a flying saucer “whirring overhead” near the Neffsville Ground Observation Post at around 4 a.m. on Aug. 20, 1952. The post was one of many civilian air-spotter posts set up as part of Civil Defense initiatives in the 1950s and crewed by volunteers. 

At first, the boys only saw a single light in the sky. Then, a second light slid underneath the first, before going out a few minutes later.

The boys notified Olmsted Air Force Base and later prepared an official report to the U.S. Air Force on what they had seen, according to the report.

A similar light was spotted again that night at around 9:45 p.m., this time by two Neffsville teens. This time, the light faded completely and was in a different position.

The case remains among a handful of unresolved, unexplained UFO sightings in Pennsylvania.

Declassified records indicate that the U.S. military investigated 12,618 UFO sightings worldwide between 1947 and 1969 and were able to explain all but 701 of them, according to the Bucks County Courier Times. The Neffsville sighting is one of 11 unresolved UFO incidents in Pennsylvania.

Other unexplained UFO sightings in Pennsylvania occurred in Allentown, Lehigh County, on Sept. 13, 1952;  Altoona, Blair County, on July 23, 1952; Corsica, Jefferson County, on March 26, 1959; Juniata County, on Aug. 27, 1956; Kutztown, Berks County, on July 9, 1952; Pleasant View, Armstrong County, on May 26, 1964; Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, on Feb. 11, 1952; Stroudsburg, Monroe County, on October 2, 1958; Union County, on July 11, 1966; and one incident which only lists the location as “Pennsylvania” on March 2, 1954, according to the report.

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