Footage · photograph
Battle of Los Angeles searchlight photograph
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The visual record
Illustrations, recordings and archival references — each with its own provenance. A documented source is a starting point for investigation, not a verdict on its explanation.
Searchlights over Los Angeles
Historical press photograph. Retouching and the limits of the exposure matter when interpreting the converging beams. A period photograph presented as the reported object; what it shows remains undetermined.
Unknown photographer / Associated Press · 1942 ↗Public domain (US) — copyright not renewedLicence terms ↗Resized and WebP-converted for display; content unchanged.American Alchemy · 1:57:54
Open the source at the cited time. The episode thumbnail is video packaging, not a photograph of the reported subject.
American Alchemy / Jesse Michels ↗YouTube-hosted preview and player; not relicensedJesse Michels · 0:08:28
Open the source at the cited time. The episode thumbnail is video packaging, not a photograph of the reported subject.
American Alchemy / Jesse Michels ↗YouTube-hosted preview and player; not relicensedThe retouched Los Angeles Times photograph of 25 February 1942 showing anti-aircraft searchlights converging on a point over the city during a night barrage of more than 1,400 shells at unidentified objects. In the corpus the episode with Harald Malmgren describes a UFO flying down the coast and General Marshall being briefed.
The recording
| Shot | |
|---|---|
| Shot by | Los Angeles Times staff photographer press |
| Released | 26 February 1942 — Los Angeles Times (front page) |
| Official status | Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox called the alarm a false alarm the next day; the Army said unidentified aircraft may have been present, and a 1983 Office of Air Force History study attributed the shooting to a weather balloon and war nerves. |
| Kind | photograph |
| Where | 33.940, -118.240 approximate |
| Media rights | See each item in the visual record |
Mentioned in the corpus
Passages this record cites, with the stamp of the block each quote sits in.
Presidential Advisor: “I Directly Handled UFO Material” (Ft. Harald Malmgren) 22 April 2025
The Defense Secretary Killed Over UFOs (Ft. Richard Dolan) 28 June 2025
- 0:08:28 ▶ Jesse Michels
he starts with the Battle of Los Angeles but he he goes through like the really the UK
- 0:08:28 ▶ Jesse Michels
On the map
Battle of Los Angeles searchlight photograph, Battle of Los Angeles. Open the full map filtered to this record.
Sources on this record
- 1:57:54 Presidential Advisor: “I Directly Handled UFO Material” (Ft. Harald Malmgren) ▶
the Battle of Los Angeles in 1942 where a UFO shows up and like flies down the coast and George Marshall was briefed to that. And so that very interesting. Okay. So you
- 0:08:28 The Defense Secretary Killed Over UFOs (Ft. Richard Dolan) · Jesse Michels ▶
he starts with the Battle of Los Angeles but he he goes through like the really the UK
- Battle of Los Angeles