March 24, 1967 — Belt, MT
9:00 p.m. Truck driver Ken Williams driving northwest on US Highway 87/89 about 5 miles southeast of Belt, Montana, sees a dome-shaped object emitting a bright light moving at 50–60 mph about 1 mile to his left. After it hovers briefly about 600 feet in the air, it drops slowly to “within a very few feet from the ground” and shines a bright light three times in his direction that momentarily blinds him. He drives to the top of a hill, stops a car, and asks them to stop at a gas station and call the highway patrol. Williams returns to his previous viewing spot and watches the light for several more minutes before it rises and disappears “like a bolt of lightning.” Numerous other reports come in from this area. At dawn, police and a helicopter from Malmstrom AFB conduct a search without success. [Eberhart]
Record Card:
Lewis D. Chase Letter to Condon with report on case:
Chase explaining there were no equipment malfunctions during this sighting [Robert Salas’s fake missile shut down event was moved to this date because it was the only date Salas could find evidence of UFO sightings, he previously had stated it was on the day of the Echo Flight shutdown, and another date. Salas used hypnotic regression to come up with his missile shutdown story details, it can’t be taken seriously as a real event]
Sources:
“Officers Sight UFO at Belt,” Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune, March 25, 1967, pp. 1,7;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/great-falls-tribune-greatfallstribune/191645432/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/great-falls-tribune-greatfallstribune/191645470/
“UFO Breaks Monotony of Run,” Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune, March 26, 1967, p. 18;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/great-falls-tribune-greatfallstribune/191645574/
“Belt UFO Authenticity Stires Lively Argument,” Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune, March 29, 1967, p. 9;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/great-falls-tribune-greatfallstribune/191645495/
“Local boys describe UFO sighted in Belt area Sun. night,” Lewiston (Mont.) Daily News, March 30, 1967, p. 1;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/lewistown-daily-news-lewistondailynews/191645627/
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 1738, p. 335;
Robert L. Hastings, “Remarkable Reports from the Missile Field,” IUR 32, no. 1 (August 2008): 9–10;
NICAP, “Dome-Shaped Object Lands in Ravine”;
Kevin D. Randle, “The Belt, Montana UFO Sighting and the ‘Attack’ on Echo Flight,” A Different Perspective, March 3, 2023;