Norfolk, VA July 8th 1947 Billy Turrentine - anyone know this sighting?

Odd that I can't find anything on this sighting on ATS. I would think because of the date that this would be pretty well known. July 8, 1947 was the day Roswell Daily Record's headline story about the Roswell incident. Now I have no idea if this paper would have circulated to Virginia at the time, but I think the coincidence of the dates is funny.

This was also reported and checked out by the FBI. They interviewed Turrentine in August. His picture was taken on the 8th and ran in the local newspaper on the 9th. I know there was a craze of sightings going on at the time, but just found this one interesting in particular since they actually took it serious enough to interview this kid. He was 14 when he took the pic.

Outside of these tidbits and the FBI docs, I can't find any more info on him or this sighting in particular.....anyone here know what ever came of Billy or if this was deemed a HOAX or anything?



Here is the FBI report in text:

STANDARD FORM NO. 64

_Office Memorandum_ . UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT


TO : Director, FBI DATE: August 8, 1947

FROM : SAC, Norfolk

SUBJECT: FLYING DISCS


Re Bureau Bulletin No. 42, dated July 30, 1947, Series 1947, wherein
information is set forth pertaining to flying discs.

There is enclosed with this letter a newspaper clipping from the
"Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch", dated July 9, 1947. The photograph appearing
on this clipping is alleged to represent a flying disc which was
observed by BILLY TURRENTINE, a Norfolk school boy, who was successful
in photographing the object with his small camera.

BILLY was interviewed on August 8, 1947 by Special Agent (A) ____ at
which time BILLY informed that the original negative was given by him
to a Mr. BROWN of the Photo Craftsman Service, who in turn furnished
the negative to the International News Service. BILLY advised that he
has an agreement with Mr. BROWN whereby the latter will share equally
in any profits derived from the use of the negative by commercial firms
or newspapers. As of August 8, 1947 BILLY has not received any
remuneration for the use of this negative.

He informed that he was sitting on the front porch of his apartment
which is located on the third floor at 410 West 14th Street, Norfolk,
Virginia, around noontime on July 8, 1947. He had read numerous
newspaper articles pertaining to flying discs and decided to sit on his
front porch in the hopes of seeing one and attempting to photograph it.
On July 8, 1947 BILLY observed a large, black object moving rapidly
through space proceeding from the southwest to a northeast direction.
He said the black object was followed by two smaller objects which also
proceeded in the same direction. BILLY explained that the objects were
moving at a very fast speed which appeared to him to be much faster
than the speed of an airplane, and further, that the objects appeared
to be extremely high. He said that they were much higher than the
average plane travels in the City of Norfolk and appeared to be above
the clouds, and that a white mist followed each of the three objects.
BILLY was unable to state what the black objects represented, but
admitted that they could have been large balloons. He indicated that he
has observed small, toy balloons flying through the air, but that
definitely these were not the toy type balloons. He said that when he
first observed the objects they were at such a great distance from him
that it was not necessary that he raise his head in order to see them
from his porch on the third floor of the apartment building. He
immediately turned around to obtain his camera and estimated it took
him approximately twenty to thirty seconds, at which time the discs
were almost directly over his apartment and it was necessary that he
stoop and look up almost perpendicular in order to obtain the
photograph, which accounts for the porch railing being shown in the
newspaper clipping. BILLY pointed out that the day on which he took the
picture, the weather was hazy and somewhat cloudy and there was a
slight breeze blowing from the southwest in the general direction of
the northeast, which is the same direction traveled by the black image
which he photographed.

Inasmuch as the Army authorities in the Tidewater Area of Virginia are
cognizant of the above information, no further investigation will be
conducted by this office in this matter.

Enclosure.

TJC:lab
62-182


[Stamped: RECORDED & INDEXED

COPIES DESTROYED
270 NOV 18 1964]

Well it was the same day as the Roswell crash, so not too hard to see why the FBI would be interested in a day or so.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Here is a bigger pic that I found online:

originally posted by: smurfy
Well it was the same day as the Roswell crash, so not too hard to see why the FBI would be interested in a day or so.

I think that was just the day that the news reported it, if I am not mistaken, the crash actually took place earlier than that.

a reply to: butcherguy

Thanks!

Here is a poor quality pic of the newspaper article:

originally posted by: Vasa Croe
I know there was a craze of sightings going on at the time, but just found this one interesting in particular since they actually took it serious enough to interview this kid. He was 14 when he took the pic.

There really isn't much to go by except the story itself, which could be fiction OR real. I wish the version of the image we can see was better quality.

As for it being checked out -- this was just after the end of WWII, and the beginning of the cold war tensions with the Soviet Union, and Norfolk was maybe the largest east coast Naval installation at the time. I suppose they could have been worrying about a Perls harbor-like attack by the soviets, so authorities may have been keen to investigate many sightings of unidentified craft.

While I was looking into the OP story, I saw something that I never saw before.
On July7th, 1947..... the same time as the Roswell incident, this guy in Phoenix, Arizona took photos of flying saucers over Phoenix.
Link to story

The photographs taken by William A. Rhodes remain an enigma. Despite sixty years of commentary on them, no one has been able to identify the object, nor has anyone found evidence they were faked. The actual sighting is unremarkable and not of much interest — if it weren’t for the photos. Rhodes took pictures because he couldn’t identify the object. The problem for us all is that neither could the Air Force…apparently. A key point in this discussion is that we have never seen a print of either negative, only cropped portions of them. The first part of this story runs from July 7 through July 14 July 7 — Rhodes takes two photographs. July 8 — The Arizona Republic obtains them and distributes prints and the negatives to “aircraft identification experts”. The CIC. at Williams Field, Chandler, Arizona (in Phoenix), obtains prints from the newspaper July 9 — The Arizona Republic publishes a story about the sighting including crops of the two photos. July 14 — Aldrich sends the prints to A-2 at Hamilton Field, CA. The FBI also receive copies. 47/07/8 – 47/07/14 On July 14, Army Air Forces Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) Special Agent (SA) Lynn C. Aldrich reported: On 8 July 1947, this Agent obtained pictures of unidentifiable objects, (Exhibits 1 and 2) from the managing editor of the Arizona Republic newspaper. The pictures were taken by Mr. William Rhoads, 4333 N. 14th St., Phoenix, Arizona, at sunset on 7 July 1947. The Subject objects flew at unconceivable speeds, making three circles in the vicinity of Mr. Rhoads’ home. The pictures were taken with a box camera, size 620. The photograph (Exhibit 1) was taken as the object passed in front of Mr. Rhoads, and Exhibit 2 as the object turned towards Mr. Rhoads. The height of the object was estimated at 1000 feet. AGENT’S NOTES: See Exhibits 1 and 2, photographs of unidentifiable objects, enlarged approximately 20 times. No further reports have been received by this office of objects seen by military personn

a reply to: butcherguy

Yeah...I read about that one as well. I had heard of it before and I think his photos were pretty well circulated and that they have not been debunked as far as I could find.

originally posted by: Vasa Croe

originally posted by: smurfy
Well it was the same day as the Roswell crash, so not too hard to see why the FBI would be interested in a day or so.

I think that was just the day that the news reported it, if I am not mistaken, the crash actually took place earlier than that.

In the Virginia paper's story Billy says Tuesday, that was July 8th 1947.

Rense has a blow up of the Norfolk Ledger 9th July story here so the printed story at least is not a figment of imagination,

www.rense.com...

a reply to: Vasa Croe

This is off-topic to this specific case but relates to old cases that get lost in the shuffle of time.

As a youth, I remember reading about a case is the southeast. Some young guys supposedly finding a dead alien that had been hit by a (or their) car. Maybe there were two of the creatures. As I recall, the story turned out to be a hoax and the dead creature was a monkey that had been shaved and its tail removed. But I think this was in the early 1950s. I remember pictures in the original newspaper story, but as I said, it was later said to be a hoax.

I always wonder about that case. Anybody have anything definite on it?

originally posted by: Vasa Croe
a reply to: butcherguy

Yeah...I read about that one as well. I had heard of it before and I think his photos were pretty well circulated and that they have not been debunked as far as I could find.

At the link I provided for the Arizona story, they have FBI letters and such, showing how the Air Force wanted to have an officer present when the FBI interviewed Rhodes, but J. Edgar hoover wasn't keen on the idea.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People
Yeah, obviously the boy photoshopped it in 1947.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

This is new to me but there are a few things about this case that raise my suspicions as to why I've not heard of it before.

He had read numerous newspaper articles pertaining to flying discs and decided to sit on his
front porch in the hopes of seeing one and attempting to photograph it.

It seems an amazing stroke of luck that this 13 year old boy after deciding to try to photograph UFOs actually managed to do so .

BILLY was unable to state what the black objects represented, but admitted that they could have been large balloons. He indicated that he has observed small, toy balloons flying through the air, but that definitely these were not the toy type balloons

Unfortunately the picture quality is such that it's impossible to tell what the object is or isn't but I have a feeling that Billy probably knew more than he was letting on, boys will be boys.

originally posted by: Enochstask
a reply to: Soylent Green Is People
Yeah, obviously the boy photoshopped it in 1947.

What? Are you sure you responded to the right person?

I never mentioned anything about photoshop (or whatever image doctoring method from 1947).

The version of the image we can see is not a good enough quality for me to have any idea what it is. It could be a real alien spacecraft, or real terrestrial aircraft, or even an object thrown up in the air. I can't tell.

However, I never said "photoshopping" (or the 1947 equivalent) had anything to do with it.

a reply to: Aliensun

My Dad told me about this. Made quite the stir back in the day. hoaxes.org...

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

I was kind of riffing on the fact that you wrote "There really isn't much to go by except the story itself, which could be fiction OR real. I wish the version of the image we can see was better quality", and the way when everyone sees a UFO picture on here and they say "photoshopped". I guess humor is a thing of the past and not allowed in this modern day FEMA/NSA society.