A former U.S. Air Force officer is recounting a chilling Cold War-era incident he says left an entire set of nuclear missiles mysteriously disabled after strange lights appeared in the sky above a Montana base.
According to the New York Post, Robert Salas, now 85, says the encounter happened in March 1967 while he was stationed underground at Malmstrom Air Force Base, tasked with monitoring and potentially launching Minuteman I nuclear missiles.
Speaking on the “Danny Jones Podcast,” Salas described how the night took a sudden turn when security personnel above ground reported unusual activity.
“The main guard calls down, says, ‘Sir, we’ve been seeing some strange lights in the sky, flying directly overhead,’” Salas said.
At first, he dismissed the call as a possible prank.
But minutes later, the situation escalated.
“He’s yelling. He’s babbling. He’s frightened,” Salas recalled of a second call from the guard.
According to Salas, the guard described a craft hovering over the front gate, glowing with a “pulsating reddish light.” Armed personnel had reportedly drawn their weapons, unsure how to respond.
“Do whatever you have to do,” Salas said he told them.
Moments later, alarms began sounding inside the control room.
“We looked at the board, and sure enough, one of them went from green to red. No ability to launch,” Salas said. “Then, very quickly thereafter, bing bing bing bing, all 10 of them went down. They all went red.”
Salas said the sudden loss of control over the missiles triggered an emergency response. Crews ran through procedures while reports came in from other launch sites suggesting possible breaches near the silos.
Guards sent to investigate allegedly saw the same lights hovering nearby.
“They were scared to death,” Salas said. “They didn’t want to go any further. They were so frightened of these things.”
An investigation later failed to determine what caused the shutdown, according to Salas, who emphasized the system was heavily shielded against interference.
“They had no idea how this signal could have been injected into each of the missiles,” he said.
Salas believes the incident points to something far beyond human technology.
“It’s another civilization out there that is visiting us and are concerned about us destroying this planet through nuclear war,” he said.
He also claimed he and others involved were ordered to remain silent under threat of punishment.
Decades later, Salas says he chose to speak out after learning of similar accounts, convinced the story was no longer a secret.
