File 017 · 2–3 November 1957
Levelland engine failures
Levelland, Texas, United States
Opened 9/4/2026
Ledger illustration of the file — not a photograph of the object. Ledger illustration of the report. West Texas two-lane at night. — Night Ledger illustration of the file
Standing
Unidentified
On the public record, and still open. A claim, paper, or film — not a finding that it was ours, and not a finding that it was not.
What was claimed
Drivers on separate roads reported a glowing egg-shaped object and engines that died, then restarted when the light left.
What is on the record
This file is a working record — a report, not a verdict. Official paper, if any, is linked where we have it.
Beginning about 10:30 p.m., the Levelland sheriff’s office took a run of calls. Motorists west, east, and north of town described a large, glowing oval on or near the road. Headlights and engines failed. When the object rose or moved off, the cars started again. Sheriff Weir Clem drove out and said he saw a flash across the road himself.
Blue Book called it ball lightning in a thunderstorm. Local weather records show little or no storm. Donald Keyhoe used Levelland as a centerpiece of the NICAP argument that some UFOs interfered with electrical systems.
Independent drivers, a sheriff, and a fire-department witness, all within two hours, is the spine of the file. No photograph. A pattern of close approaches and stalled machines.
Could this have been ours?
The known sky, that night.
Satellites were already up. The station was not. Starlink was not.
Always
Aircraft, balloons, meteors
Landing lights, flares, lanterns, reentries, fireballs. They are on the known sky. They do not close a file by themselves — they are what a serious look has to hold the claim against.
Orbit · Space — the desks for lights that are already named.
Sources
Related files
Same craft, same place, same years. A neighbor in the catalogue — not a conclusion.
Same craft · Same country · 14 August 2026
Car-sized object over Shagawa Lake, Ely
Ely, Minnesota · United States
Unidentified
An adult and three children at Semers Beach independently described a car-sized object with two round lights over the lake.
Same craft · Same country · January 21, 2015
GIMBAL
Off the East Coast (Atlantic Ocean) · United States
Unidentified
U.S. Navy F/A-18 ATFLIR footage showing a rotating unidentified object tracked during operations from the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Cockpit audio captures pilot reactions to the object's apparent rotation and flight characteristics.
Same craft · Same country · 7 November 2006
Chicago O’Hare disk
O’Hare International Airport, Chicago · United States
Unidentified
United Airlines ramp workers and pilots saw a dark disk hovering under an overcast, then shooting up through the cloud and leaving a hole.
Same craft · August 6, 2026, evening
Disk shoots across sky leaving trail, photographed
Poway, California · USA
Unidentified
While photographing an unusual storm, the witness and family saw a disk zoom across the sky at hypersonic speed with no sound. The long-exposure photo captured the metallic disk with a visible trail and possible greenish cloud/wormhole above it.
Same craft · May 2026 (circulated September 2026)
Glowing disc over a bowling-alley lot, Argentina
Argentina · Argentina
Unidentified
Young people outside a bowling alley later found a luminous disc in their night video; Argentine researchers circulated the clip in September.
Same craft · Mid-April 2013
Collahuasi Mine Disk Photos
Collahuasi Copper Mine, Tarapacá Region · Chile
Unidentified
Multiple mine workers observed and photographed a bright, flattened silvery disk performing vertical and horizontal maneuvers at about 600 meters altitude for roughly two hours in clear skies. CEFAA analyzed the images and concluded it was a genuine UFO after ruling out conventional explanations.