France in the fifties was overwhelmed with UFO reports. One of the lesser known and more mysteries anomalies connected to this wave was the collection of white fibrous material that fell from the heavens. Dubbed Angel Hair because it falls from the sky, it was seen in conjunction with UFO sightings, but more often without. Even the Condon Report, a UFO study done by the University of Colorado in the late sixties at the behest of the U.S. Air Force, examined the issue. They described angel hair as “fibrous material which falls in large quantities, but is unstable and disintegrates and vanishes soon after falling.”
One of the earlier more fantastic reports of angel hair took place in Oloron, France in October of 1952. According to several witnesses they saw a large cylinder in the sky at a 45 degree angle. Below it was a cloud and witnesses could also make out a mass of smaller objects. Using opera glasses they could see that these smaller objects were red spheres surrounded by a yellow ring. Their movements were described as “following a broken path characterized in general by rapid and short zigzags. When two saucers drew away from one another, a whitish streak, like an electric arc, was produced between them.” Witnesses estimated there were about 30 of these objects. Falling from these objects was a white hair-like substance. When picked up and rolled into a ball it turned into gelatin and then disappeared. This entire scenario repeated itself 10 days later in Gaillac, France.
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| Illustration of UFOs over Oloron, France. (image credit: GEOS/Mary Evans Picture Library) |
Since these early recollections, angel hair events have been reported sporadically. Brian Boldman wrote an extensive article on the angel hair phenomenon for the International UFO Reporter in their fall 2001 issue. His research demonstrated that during a famous UFO wave in 1973, there was also an increase in angel hair reports. The peak of the UFO wave was on October 18 on which date there were also five angel hair reports. One of the cases was from Hamilton, Illinois. Witnesses reported seeing two a large oval/oblong gray objects. The second one appeared to be covered in cobwebs. 15 minutes after the sighting witnesses found cotton-like material that “became a small ball which melted as it was touched.”
The Condon Report’s analysis of the angel hair covered incidents from 1952 through 1955, and referred to a report which suggested that the majority of the phenomena was caused by spiders. Some spiders create webs that they use to glide through the air. A medical doctor in France made the same assumptions about the French cases, although he acknowledged that he could not explain the UFO sightings. The Condon Report also conceded, “in other cases, the composition or origin of the “angels hair” is uncertain.”
The Condon Report included analysis on angel hair samples which their team had received. They found these samples to be “space grass”, which they described as, “aluminum “chaff” of the various sizes and types used by military aircraft to confuse tracking radar…” Their report ends on this note.
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| Angel Hair samples (image credit: Brian Boldman) |
Boldman’s report was not able to explain the phenomenon away so easily. He noted that in several cases from Australia to Italy to Argentina, samples were analyzed and found to be made up of boron, silicon, magnesium and calcium. He also found cases in which angel hair was found to be radioactive. One case in February of 1995 in Horsehead, New York it was assumed that the radioactive angel hair was cotton debris from a nuclear test three days prior in Nevada.
Boldman concluded that there really is a mystery here, and that the correlation between the UFO waves and angel hair reports could not be ignored. The most recent report of angel hair like substance comes from Arizona. A witness reported to MUFON on October 10, 2010 that “for three days in a row a yarn type material fell from the sky, but is only visible hanging off of objects when the sun is low in the sky.”
This appears to be another phenomenon that can be listed as one that is unresolved and thus far the answers that have been found only lead to more questions. The best we can hope is that witnesses that find this material quickly get a hold of researchers (such as Open Minds) as quickly as possible. If Boldman is correct, the final results could be remarkable.
