UFO History: Aug 15, 1950 - The Mariana Incident

It's been a couple of days since I last posted here because I have been busy covering the Tennessee Titans during training camp. I love covering the NFL, but at times it's difficult to keep up with all my projects. 

Today, I am digging into the Mariana Incident for my disclosure project, which took place on August 15, 1950. Here is the video and some specific details. 

At 11:29 am on August 15, 1950, Nick Mariana, the general manager of the Great Falls Electrics minor league baseball team, and his nineteen-year-old secretary, Virginia Raunig, were inspecting the empty Legion Stadium baseball field before a game. A bright flash caught Mariana's eye, and, according to his reports, he saw two bright, silvery objects rotating as they flew over Great Falls at a speed he estimated at around 200 to 400 miles per hour (320 to 640 km/h). He believed that they were roughly 50 feet (15 m) wide and 150 feet (46 m) apart. Mariana ran to his car to retrieve his 16 mm movie camera and filmed the UFOs for sixteen seconds. The camera could film the objects in color, but could not record sound. Raunig also witnessed the objects.

The day after Mariana's sighting, the Great Falls Tribune, the city's daily newspaper, described the sighting and the film in an article that was picked up by other media outlets across the nation. For several weeks after the sighting, Mariana showed his film to local community groups, including the Central Roundtable Athletic Club.