On Sept. 18, 1973, future president and then-governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter filed a report with investigators attesting that he’d seen a UFO.
In a letter to an organization focused on UFO investigations, Carter said he’d seen a strange, glowing sphere moving through the sky in Leary, Ga., on a moonless night in 1969. He said that shortly after nightfall, he and around 10 other people saw the mysterious flyover while waiting for a meeting.
At times, the object seemed as close as 300 yards away, while at others it was as far as 1,000, moving without a sound the entire time. After approaching the group for a bit, the sphere paused and turned around, changing from blue to red as it went. The sight lasted around 10 to 15 minutes, Carter reported.
The president-to-be’s background in the sciences helped him rule out a couple of possibilities. He said it couldn’t have been an alien spacecraft based on his knowledge of physics from his time working on nuclear submarines in the Navy. He said it equally couldn’t have been Venus, as some investigators had suggested, something he knew thanks to his status as an amateur astronomy hobbyist. Since then, he’s speculated it may have been a military aircraft.
When running for president in 1976, Carter said he’d publicize “every piece of information” about UFOs in his possession. But he flip-flopped when in office, saying following through on his promise would pose a threat to national security. He has confirmed, however, that he doesn’t think the U.S. government has anything to hide on the matter.
