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 âwhirring overheadâ 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.Â
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.