Mantell UFO incident

Record summary

Captain Thomas Mantell died while pursuing an unidentified object during a Kentucky Air National Guard flight. Early reporting associated the object with a large disc, while later explanations proposed a Skyhook balloon or another conventional airborne object; the precise identification remains debated. The case provides a useful comparison between a dramatic anomalous report, military aviation records, and changing official explanations. It is not a haunting in the narrow sense, but it belongs to the period’s place-centered anomaly literature and is readily verifiable through newspapers and military documentation.