Project Blue Book Case #10942. On September 9, 1966, witnesses near Franklin Springs, New York — a small community in Oneida County in the Mohawk Valley — observed a bright object in the evening sky. Franklin Springs sits near Utica, in the valley that has served as a natural transportation corridor across upstate New York since colonial times.
The fall of 1966 continued the elevated UFO activity that had characterized the entire year. New York State was one of the most active contributors to Blue Book during 1966, with cases from the Adirondacks, the Hudson Valley, and now the Mohawk Valley.
Griffiss AFB in Rome, approximately 15 miles to the west, was a SAC installation and headquarters for the Rome Air Development Center — a major Air Force electronics and intelligence research facility. The base's research mission included advanced radar and surveillance systems.
The case was classified "Unknown."