Department of War

Project Blue Book Photo File Relating to Tremonton Film, Utah, 1952

A five-page Project Blue Book photo file on the 2 July 1952 Tremonton, Utah film. It holds a routing slip, a record card on CPO Delbert C. Newhouse's sighting listing 'pillow balloons or birds' as possible explanations, a blank card, an example photograph, and a General Mills Research Laboratories note on pillow balloons.

Record: DOW-UAP-D103
Release: Release 06 · Sep 18, 2026
Incident: 1952-07-02 · Tremonton, Utah
Pages: 5
Verdict: Partly new
Source: war.gov ↗

Context · why this verdict

No page matches earlier releases in our archive, but the Tremonton film is a well-known 1952 case and the pillow-balloon explanation is widely discussed. The file itself is a thin set of card, photo and notes, with little text beyond the catalogue description.

Findings in this document

2 findings

Unclear if new SIG

Blue Book card lists 'Pillow balloons or Birds' as possible explanation, Tremonton 1952

Verbatim
Possible Explanation -- Pillow balloons or Birds
DOW-UAP-D103 · Release 06 · page 2 · war.gov ↗
Verbatim
No reference points by which to estimate speed, distance or size
DOW-UAP-D103 · Release 06 · page 2 · war.gov ↗
Context
The card summarizes a sighting by CPO Delbert C. Newhouse, 7 miles north of Tremonton, Utah, at 1110 MST on 2 July 1952, with a small attached photo labeled 'Pillow Balloons'.
Inference · AI interpretation
The card suggests investigators judged the film too limited to measure speed or size directly, and so considered conventional explanations.

New or already public? No overlap with earlier releases in our archive; the Tremonton case and these explanations are publicly known from other sources.

Unclear if new SIG

General Mills note says 2x2 ft 'pillow bellows' could give a 'saucer' appearance

Verbatim
these could give a "saucer" appearance
DOW-UAP-D103 · Release 06 · page 5 · war.gov ↗
Context
The note is on General Mills Research Laboratories, Minneapolis, letterhead and includes pencil sketches of oval shapes. Parts of the text are redacted.
Inference · AI interpretation
This suggests the manufacturer's staff considered that these balloons seen against a cloud or varied background could look like a disc.

New or already public? No matching pages in earlier releases; the General Mills consultation is described in the catalogue description.

Page by page

The pages and what the AI read on them

The transcription is the page reader's: black bars mark what the government redacted; hatched tags mark personal data we removed.

Page 1 of 5

This is a typed cover or routing slip for Project Blue Book photo files 1377 and 1415, dated July 7, 1952, referencing Tremonton, Utah and two photos. The page bears the file number NND 923007 at the bottom.

Files 1377 & 1415 July 7, 1952. Tremonton, Utah 2 photos NND 923007

Page 2 of 5

A typed record card from the Tremonton, Utah case describing a sighting by CPO Delbert C. Newhouse at 1110 MST on 2 July 1952, with a small attached photograph labeled "Pillow Balloons." The card lists a possible explanation of pillow balloons or birds, with handwritten annotations and a question mark.

CPO Delbert C. Newhouse 7 miles north of Tremonton, Utah 1110 MST PII removed -- Wife noticed objects Group of objects milling about in rough formation No reference points by which to estimate speed, distance or size Size to small on photo to show detail Possible Explanation -- Pillow balloons or Birds ILLEGIBLE ILLEGIBLE

Page 3 of 5

A blank cream-colored card with four punched holes along the bottom edge and a handwritten number "1377" in the lower right corner, plus a printed reference "NND 923007" below the image. No typed text is present.

1377 NND 923007

Page 4 of 5

A black-and-white photograph captioned "FIG. 6" showing three men in long coats walking across a snowy, flat field while a cluster of light, flat objects, possibly fragments of paper or film, tumbles through the air above them. The bare shrubs and open sky are visible at the horizon.

FIG. 6 vertical marking at left edge NND 923007

Page 5 of 5 · 2 redactions

This is a page of a photo laboratory letterhead from General Mills Research Laboratories, bearing handwritten notes describing "pillow bellows" 2 by 2 feet, which could give a "saucer" appearance against a cloud or diverse background, along with several pencil sketches of oval shapes. The page is stamped NND 923007.

General Mills Research Laboratories PII removed. MINNEAPOLIS 13, MINN. Photo Laboratory No. ILLEGIBLE Date These are "pillow bellows" 2'x2'. at [REDACTED and with a cloud or diverse background — these could give a "saucer" appearance when [REDACTED] on a flat, horizontal position] 1377 NND 923007