November 3, 1957. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2 into orbit, carrying a dog named Laika. In the archive, the launch marks the start of a restless stretch. That same weekend, drivers around Levelland, Texas, reported stalled cars, and a wider American saucer wave followed. Two days later, grain buyer Reinhold Schmidt was driving near Kearney, Nebraska. In New Mexico, Army military police patrolled White Sands Proving Ground near the old Trinity bunkers. At Merom, Indiana, ironworker Rene Gilham's case belonged to a run of reports involving burns.
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