The Windshield Pitting Epidemic Of 1954
Museum of History and IndustryA man shows his pitted windshield to a police officer in 1954.
Beginning in March 1954, residents of Bellingham, Washington and the surrounding area began reporting unusual dents and pitting in their cars’ windshields. These pits were small — no wider than a dime — and initially, locals thought they must be the work of vandals.
“Anywhere from 10 to 20 blue-edged pits first appear in the glass, although as many as 50 ‘craters’ may be discernible later,” reported the International News Service that spring, according to NPR. “The tiny holes do not pierce the glass, but pit depth of 1/16th of an inch have been reported.”
When the story hit the press, reports of unexplained windshield pitting swelled into the thousands. Motorists across Washington state began flagging down police cars to examine their pitting issues. As the phenomenon spread to nearby cities, affecting some 3,000 cars, people began to panic, thinking that these mysterious dents could be the result of cosmic rays, sand-flea eggs, aliens, or even nuclear fallout.
Some Seattle residents speculated that a new transmitter at the Jim Creek Naval Radio Station near Arlington, Washington was producing waves that tampered with the structure of the glass. However, the Navy commander in charge of the facility pointed out that no pitting incidents had occurred at Jim Creek.
By mid-April, panic over the windshield pitting epidemic was such that officials decided to make a statement: The phenomenon was “5 percent hoodlum-ism, and 95 percent public hysteria.”
Following this statement, reports of pitting decreased dramatically.
