65_HS1-101634279_100-DE-26505
- Date
- 1944
- Place
- near a German military work site, Germany (precise place not given in this file)
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
An FBI Detroit field-office report on a November 1957 interview with Wladyslaw "Walter" Krasuski, a Polish immigrant in Detroit. The inquiry was triggered by an August 1957 letter Krasuski sent to Robert Cutler, Special Assistant to the President, mentioning he had heard on Polish radio about a rocket in Texas and might have relevant information; Hoover personally ordered Krasuski found and interviewed. In the interview Krasuski described no rocket knowledge, but recounted a wartime memory: while a forced laborer on a German work crew (with Russian and French POWs) in 1944, he says he twice saw a large circular vehicle rise vertically out of a guarded circular enclosure and then move off slowly and horizontally, with a droning, propeller-like hum that stalled a nearby tractor's engine. The FBI found no derogatory record on Krasuski, made no attempt to verify the wartime account, and closed the matter by referring a separate 1966 UFO-organization inquiry to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
What officials concluded
No conclusion stated
The file gives no official explanation.
- Agency
- FBI
- Released in
- 123456
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- Yes: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- Yes: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- Yes: Electromagnetic
- Yes: Sound
- No: Silent
Why this rating A single non-sworn witness recounting a 13-year-old wartime memory with unusually specific technical detail (dimensions, rotating middle band, engine interference), but with no other named witness reachable, no instrument or photograph, and no independent FBI verification of the wartime event itself -- the Bureau only checked whether Krasuski had a criminal or subversive record before passing him along.
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- Wladyslaw (Walter) Krasuski, sole witness interviewed, non-sworn, recalling events 13 years later; he says an unnamed German tractor driver and a work crew of 16-18 Russian, French and Polish men were present or nearby, but only one crew member (Franciszek Grabowski) is named and Krasuski had lost contact with him since 1945
- Sensors
- Visual
- Shape
- Circular; stationary dark-gray top and bottom sections with a faster-moving middle band
- Size
- Roughly 75-100 [OCR: possibly 100-150] feet/yards in diameter, about 14 feet high
- Motion
- Rose slowly and vertically out of the enclosure, then moved slowly horizontally a short distance before passing from view
- Altitude or range
- Observed from about 500 feet away, partly obstructed by trees
- Effects
- A tractor's engine stalled on two occasions near the site and would not restart until the noise stopped
Pentagon files
65_HS1-101634279_100-DE-26505
Open the original on war.gov
What the file claims
- Unverified
Krasuski said that in 1944, while a forced laborer near a German military site, he saw a large circular vehicle rise vertically out of a guarded, walled enclosure and then move off horizontally.
- Unverified
Krasuski said the vehicle's middle section spun rapidly and produced a continuous hum resembling an airplane propeller, while the top and bottom sections stayed still.
- Unverified
Krasuski said a tractor's engine stalled near the site and its German driver could not restart it until the vehicle's noise stopped.
- Unverified
The FBI found no derogatory record on Krasuski or his wife in Detroit indices.
- Unverified
When a UFO-research organization wrote the Detroit FBI office in 1966 asking about local sightings, the Bureau declined to help and redirected them to the Air Force.
On the map
51.20° N, 10.40° E, plotted at the centre of the country
Show on the map