Project Blue Book Case #8647. On December 11, 1963, an unusual aerial object was reported over McMinnville, Oregon — a small city in the Willamette Valley that already held a prominent place in UFO history. In May 1950, McMinnville residents Paul and Evelyn Trent had photographed a disc-shaped object from their farm, producing what remain among the most analyzed and debated UFO photographs ever taken.
The Trent photographs had been published in Life magazine and subjected to extensive analysis over the years, with conclusions ranging from genuine unknown object to elaborate hoax. McMinnville had embraced its connection to the phenomenon, eventually establishing an annual UFO festival that continues to this day. The occurrence of a Blue Book case in the same town thirteen years after the famous photographs added another layer to McMinnville's UFO legacy.
The December 1963 sighting was independent of the 1950 photographs — different witnesses, different circumstances. The object exhibited characteristics that the observer or observers could not reconcile with any known aircraft. McMinnville sits in the heart of Oregon's agricultural Willamette Valley, between Portland to the north and Salem to the south, with primarily commercial and general aviation traffic in the area.
Blue Book investigators examined the case on its own merits, without reference to the town's earlier UFO fame. Flight records and weather data for the region were checked, and no conventional explanation was found. The case was classified "Unknown" — returning McMinnville to the Blue Book files more than a decade after the Trent photographs had first put it on the map.