The strange phenomena started in late March, 1954, when tiny pits in automobile windshields were first reported to the police in the northwestern Washington community of Bellingham. The small size of the pits led police to believe that the damage had been the work of vandals using buckshot or BBs. Then, within a week, a few residents in Sedro Wooley and Mount Vernon, 25 miles south of Bellingham, also began noticing damage to their windshields. By the second week of April, the "vandals" had attacked further south in the town of Anacortes on Fidalgo Island. Losing no time, all available law enforcement officers in the area sped to town in the hope of apprehending the culprits. Road blocks were set up south of town, and all cars leaving or entering the city were given a detailed once-over, as were their drivers and passengers.
To no avail.