File 096 · 15 August 1950

Mariana film, Great Falls

Great Falls, Montana, United States

Opened 9/4/2026

Ledger illustration of the file — not a photograph of the object. Ledger illustration of the report. Montana sky over a prairie town. — Night Ledger illustration of the file

LightsHynek DDphotographicArchive2 witnesses

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

Nick Mariana filmed two bright objects over Great Falls, Montana, with a later pass of jets for comparison.

What is on the record

Blue Book and later studies treated the film as genuine photography of something in the sky. Identification as aircraft has been offered and disputed. The film is in the historical record.

The manager of the Great Falls Electrics baseball team, Nicholas Mariana, was at Legion Park with his secretary when he saw two bright objects and ran for his 16mm camera. The film shows two lights in formation, passing the tower, remaining round. Color frames were later missing from the print the Air Force returned.

Blue Book and later the Condon Committee looked at the film. Reflections off jets were proposed and disputed; the F-94s that were airborne that day did not match the path some analysts drew. The remaining footage is still shown. A hometown manager, a tower for scale, and lights that stay lights.

Could this have been ours?

The known sky, that night.

Before Sputnik the known lights were planets, meteors, aircraft, and balloons. No station. No Starlink.

Always

Venus and the bright planets

A fixed brilliant point. Does not streak. Does not hover over a street then leave. Often the first misread light in a rural report.

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.