Hartford, CT: Cone-shaped object crashes into shed causing fire
On September 4, 1960, a witness reported seeing an object descend like a green flame over Hartford, Connecticut. The cone-shaped item, approximately one foot tall, landed in a residential backyard and ignited a shed fire. Local authorities responded to the incident before the U.S. Air Force analyzed the debris.
Background
During the evening of September 4, 1960, an observer witnessed an unusual aerial phenomenon over Hartford, Connecticut. The object appeared to fall through the atmosphere resembling a green flame. Upon impact with a residential property, the approximately one-foot-tall conical object caused significant damage by setting fire to a backyard shed structure.
The local police department responded to the emergency call and documented the scene. Subsequently, the case attracted attention from Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force's systematic study of unidentified flying objects. Investigators collected physical evidence from the impact site and conducted thorough analysis of the material.
After examination, military officials identified the object as furnace slag, a byproduct of industrial metal smelting processes. The complete case file, comprising seventy-three pages of investigative documents and thirty-eight pages of photographic evidence, has been archived in the National Archives and made available through Freedom of Information Act requests.