Project Blue Book Case #6563. On October 19, 1959, witnesses in Plainville, Kansas — a tiny community in the vast wheat fields of Rooks County — observed a bright object in the sky. Plainville sits on the High Plains at approximately 2,100 feet elevation, in terrain so flat that the horizon is visible in all directions.
The Kansas High Plains would soon become even more militarily significant as Minuteman ICBM silos were deployed across the state's wheat country. In 1959, this transformation was just beginning, and the region's strategic importance was growing.
No aircraft or atmospheric phenomenon accounted for the sighting. The case was classified "Unknown."