2/25/42: The Battle of Los Angeles

Every so often, when I'm driving around I'll see these old air raid sirens. They've been rusting here ever since World War II. Most people who walk in the shadows of these things probably have no idea there was an air raid in Los Angeles back in 1942. And almost everybody would be shocked to hear that it wasn't an attack by enemy bombers that set the sirens wailing - but something otherworldly.

At around 3 o'clock in the morning on February 25th, 1942, residents of Los Angeles were rattled out of bed by the loud thumps of anti-aircraft guns lobbing 12-pound shells into the sky. Super bright spotlights criss-crossed above the blacked-out city and converged on a mysterious and massive object that drifted across Santa Monica then hovered over the MGM Studios in Culver City.

Here's an eerie description from the LA Times:

"The object...caught in the center of the lights like the hub of a bicycle wheel surrounded by gleaming spokes. The fire seemed to burst in rings all around the object."

All kinds of shrapnel and unexploded ordnance rained down on the city, causing lots of damage. 6 people died. After about an hour of getting shot at, the object leisurely made its way down to Long Beach and disappeared over the ocean.

The days after were filled with all kinds of theories about what had happened that night, but it remains one of those great unexplained moments in time.

There are still plenty of people trying to figure it out. Here's a website with some creepy eyewitness accounts and some pretty amazing pictures.

Meanwhile, I'll keep an eye on the sky, and an ear open for the air raid sirens.