Near Dutton, MT being encounter — 1953

Cecil Tenney told researcher Leonard Stringfield in March 1978 that, during the autumn of 1953, he had been driving from Great Falls toward Conrad, Montana, when he saw a silvery cigar-shaped object near Dutton. It appeared low and relatively close, pulsating and emitting fire and smoke for several minutes as though it was in difficulty. Tenney described an explosion, a rushing sound and falling balls of fire before he left the area. He said he later received a call ordering him to Great Falls Air Force Base, where he was questioned and signed a statement the following morning. While being escorted out, he saw two military men carrying large blue bags. Their bulges made him wonder whether they contained bodies. Stringfield's original published account preserves Tenney's explicit uncertainty: he had not inspected the contents and could not establish that they were bodies. No named additional witness was available for independent checking. Later crash lists and elaborate occupant descriptions should not be substituted for that limited testimony. The plate illustrates Tenney and the reported cigar-shaped object before the alleged explosion, without inventing visible aliens, recovered bodies or a confirmed crash site.