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Nashville,TN- September 20, 1950- part 1

Nashville, Tennessee                     September 20, 1950

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A meteor flashed through the sky to the west of here early today and
apparently exploded in the air jarring an area from Paducah, Ky., to
Memphis, Tenn.

The Illinois Central Railroad dispatcher in Paducah said reports from all
along his line to Memphis told of a jar of an explosion.

He said a railroad signalman at Covington, Tenn., 40 miles north of Memphis
told of seeing a ball of fire in the sky getting larger and larger, then
exploding.

The IC dispatcher's account was related here by Fred Denton, Tennessee
Central Dispatcher who said the IC man called to ask if there had been an
explosion.

At Memphis, 220 miles southwest, the Shelby County and state highway patrols
sent six cars racing towards the north of the city. The county radio officer
said one car reported the meteor hit in the vicinity of Hatchie Bottoms, a
semi-swamp area between Memphis and the Millington Naval Base, about 20
miles away. This report was not confirmed.

An eye-witness report of the sky flash was given in Memphis by American
Airlines Capt. H.J. Garman of Dallas, Tex. Garmen had just landed a DC-6
with 41 passengers from Washington.

"We sighted that thing about one-thirty (1:30 a.m. CST) some 50 miles east
of Nashville," Garman said.

"I was flying at 18,000 feet and it looked as though it came right across
our nose. I tell you, I never saw such a brilliant flash before. No, it
wasn't a clear light. It seemed to be burning with a orange, yellow and blue
flame."

"I can't say for sure whether it burned out in the air or hit the ground.
I've seen hundreds and hundreds of meteors, but that was the lowest I ever
saw one. I tell you, it lit up the whole sky."

A TVA substation employee in Nashville said he heard over the authority's
communications system that residents of the Paducah area reported a loud
explosion and jarring of windows.

Garman had seen the flash up close about 250 miles from where it apparently
ended. The CAA operator at the Nashville airport said it lit the sky "bright
as day" and he thought it landed between the field and the city, only five
miles away.

Morton Lloyd, Nashville radio announcer who was driving on a city street,
said he saw a huge ball of fire close to the ground. To him, it looked as
big as a house only 300 yards away, and "reddish-pink."

Both Llyod and the operator thought it had dissipated just before reaching
earth.


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