What caused the commotion that has caused chaos among residents after more than 3,000 cars were left with small holes and dents in their windshields?

In the spring of 1954, a phenomenon was confirmed in Bellingham, Washington, north of Seattle, where 'small holes and dents were made in car windshields.' The commotion, which was suspected to be anything from malicious pranks to the effects of cosmic rays, sand flea eggs, and even hydrogen bomb experiments, spread to Seattle within a few weeks of its occurrence, but disappeared only a few days after reaching Seattle. What on earth was this commotion? HistoryLink.org, an encyclopedia of historical events, has compiled information.

Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954. - HistoryLink.org
https://www.historylink.org/File/5136

Seattle windshield pitting epidemic - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_windshield_pitting_epidemic

The first reported case of a 'windshield hole incident' occurred in late March 1954 in Bellingham, a town north of Seattle.


The hole was very small, and the police officers investigating initially thought that someone may have fired a BB gun into it.

However, within a week of the initial report, similar incidents were reported in Sedro-Woolley and Mount Vernon, about 30 km south of Bellingham.


In the early morning of April 13, 1954, the 'hole incident' was finally confirmed in Anacortes, a large town on Fidalgo Island across the river from the mainland. The local police immediately deployed personnel to the town to arrest the culprit. Barriers were set up on the bridge connecting the town to Whidbey Island to the south, and all cars and drivers entering and leaving the town were checked.

The measures were ineffective, and dents and holes were found in windshields of vehicles at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. The Navy mobilized 75 personnel from the base to conduct an intensive five-hour search of the area around the base, but failed to find anything. By the end of the day, damage to more than 2,000 vehicles had been confirmed between Bellingham and Oak Harbor, south of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

On the morning of April 14, a Seattle newspaper finally reported on the 'hole-punching incident' that had occurred in the north. Then, police in downtown Seattle started receiving a steady stream of reports of 'damaged windshields,' including one of the police cars parked in front of the police station.

Due to the sheer number of reports, the possibility that 'someone is going around smashing windshields' has at least been ruled out, but the cause remains a mystery.

One possibility was that some kind of flying object had come from the Marshall Islands, where hydrogen bomb tests, known for the Daigo Fukuryu Maru bombing, were conducted in March 1954, but the Geiger counter did not react. Other possible causes included a 'new 1 million watt radio transmitter installed by the Navy,' 'cosmic rays,' 'mysterious atmospheric phenomena,' 'the hatching of sand flea eggs laid in glass,' 'supersonic sound waves,' and 'changes in the Earth's magnetic field,' and finally some people even suggested that it was ' gremlins .'

Dr. D.M. Ritter of the University of Washington is skeptical and has worked with authorities to examine the windshields and the debris. He commented, 'There's nothing that I know of that would cause any unusual damage. Are people dreaming?'

On April 15, the 'hole incident' reached a crescendo when police received over 3,000 reports of windshield holes, prompting Mayor Alan Pomeroy to contact President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Governor Arthur Langley to ask for help in resolving the situation.

Governor Langley asked the University of Washington to form an investigative committee. Experts from the Earth Environment Laboratory, Applied Physics Laboratory, and Chemistry, Physics, and Meteorology Departments examined 84 cars on campus and concluded that the damage was 'exaggerated' and was most likely the result of 'a small object striking the windshield of a car during normal driving.' In other words, Dr. Ritter's view was correct.

When the Seattle Police Department conducted an additional investigation, it was confirmed that 'newer cars had no holes or dents, while older cars had more holes and dents.' Although there were a few cases of deliberate vandalism, most of the time the holes had been there and gone unnoticed.

In the end, Sergeant Max Allison of the Seattle Police Crime Lab announced that '5% of hole cases are the work of thugs, and the remaining 95% are mass hysteria of the masses.' By April 17, reports of 'holes' had stopped altogether.