The Salisbury Diamond with Orbiting Balls, North Carolina, 1966

Salisbury sits in Rowan County, North Carolina. The woman at the centre of this case was, by one later account, a trusted teacher in her community and a lifelong sceptic. Her name and her husband's were blacked out before the Blue Book files went to the National Archives. Don Berliner, who worked from the uncensored originals at Maxwell AFB in 1974, recorded them as Mr. and Mrs. L.J. Wise.

February 2, 1966, about 11:15 p.m. She had just got into bed when the dog began barking in a panic, and she opened the curtains. Over the trees in a neighbour's backyard, about 300 feet from her window, hovered a silver, diamond-shaped object. At first it did not change position. But it was in "a tremendous state of activity."

About a dozen smaller objects "resembling balls" circled the central body. Berliner's notes describe "several balls constantly in very fast motion around it, and much light." Red, green and white lights flashed. Small explosions came from it and changed colour.

For three or four minutes it held its place. Then it jumped to a nearby position, at a speed she said she could not estimate. In Berliner's words, it "zipped out of sight." She later made a sketch.

The object did not vanish but moved off slowly and stayed in view. Her husband came home around 11:50 p.m. Through binoculars he saw the same small coloured explosions and flashing lights. Together they followed it as it moved northeast, began to recede, then travelled in an arc toward the east. They watched until about 1 a.m.

Her statement ended plainly. "I do not know what the object was, but I hereby swear that I saw the object as described."

On March 24, 1966, she wrote to Dr. J. Allen Hynek, scientific consultant to Project Blue Book, stressing that there were "no swamps" in her area. The record card describes a bright object that changed colour rapidly, mainly red, green and white. It "hovered in the position for 3-4 minutes but then moved NE where it hovered for an hour." The surviving sources show no field interview. Blue Book filed it as Unidentified, and it joined Berliner's list of the project's unknowns, compiled for the Fund for UFO Research.

In 2020 the sceptical newsletter SUNlite revisited case 10193. It noted that Arcturus stood at azimuth 70 degrees and elevation 5 degrees at 11:15 p.m. on the 2nd, and at azimuth 84 degrees and elevation 26 degrees at 1 a.m. on the 3rd. A drift from northeast to east, rising. The author compared this to the couple's arc and put the diamond shape, the circling balls and the colour changes down to the twinkling of a star low on the horizon. The verdict: "probably Arcturus." The author also suggested Hynek avoided that answer after the backlash over his "swamp gas" explanation in Michigan. That is opinion, not record.

The witnesses' account leaves questions for the star theory. She placed the object about 300 feet away, above particular trees. She described a sudden jump. She reported small explosions. No one has ever alleged a hoax.

NICAP, Patrick Gross and The Black Vault preserve Berliner's notes, and CENAP reposted the SUNlite analysis. In 2024 Ryan Pitkin counted it among the five most believable UFO sightings ever reported in North Carolina, in a feature republished by Cardinal Pine, which placed it among "around 700" unexplained Blue Book sightings. The original letter, the record card and her sketch still sit in the Blue Book microfilm.