In early April, two strange metal balls were found near Create in southeastern North Dakota. Both were similar, weighing about 20 lbs with faded stripes, were very hot and were 15 inches in diameter. One, found by Corwin Brumond, had a hole five inches in diameter, and the other, found east of Oakes by Mike Michel, had a hole six inches in diameter. What were these strange things?

Today in 1971 the Oakes Times reported that they had fallen from the US Experimental Satellite. It was later learned that two others had been found, one near Engevale and one near Litchville. According to Oakes native Irving Tedin, a space project manager in Huntsville, Alabama, the mysterious balls came from the Agena spacecraft, a multi-purpose vehicle used as a docking vehicle in the Gemini program.

By Tessa Sandstrom

Source: Dickey County Historical Society. History of Dickey County. 1976.

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