Mariana Movie
APRIL 15, 1952 >> GREAT FALLS, MONTANA

Nick Mariana, the general manager of the Great Falls Selectrics baseball team, and his 19-year old secretary, Virginia Raunig, were inspecting the filed in the empty Legion Ball Park at about 11:25 AM. A bright flash caught Mariana's eye and he saw two bright slivery objects, rotating, flying over Great Falls at a speed he estimated to be 200-400 miles per hour. He ran to his car to get his 16mm movie camera and filmed the UFOs for 16 seconds. Raunig also reported seeing them. Mariana thought they were about 50 feet wide and 150 feet apart.

Mariana showed the film to local community groups. A member of one wrote to Project Blue Book and investigators interviewed Mariana. Blue Book's conclusion was, after viewing the film, that the UFOs were a pair of F-94 fighters that landed at Malmstrom AFB only minutes after the sighting. Marian said that both he and Rautig had seen jets in the sky after the UFOs had flown by.

In 1952 Blue Book borrowed the film again. When the film was returned thirty frames were the UFO distinctly rotated were missing according to Mariana. The USAF denied taking more then a single frame which had been damaged. The 1953 Robertson panel examined the film and accepted that it showed aircraft. William Hartmann, who analyzed the film for the Condon study, added a new side when he found it showed the objects had a constant elliptical shape. After all is said about the Mariana Movie one issue remains. Why would the USAF take 30 frames of a movie when the claimed it did not show anything but two air force planes?

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