Fireball landing, and when inspection attempted, retreating.

In the mid 1950's, on the grounds of Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, my wife and I were driving late one afternoon on a back road, parallel to and south of to San Fransiquito Creek ( where the Stanford Shopping Center is now ).  At that time, it was a "back road."  As we were about half a mile west of El Camino Real, a brilliant ball of silvery-white light, about 3 to 6 feet in diameter, came whizzing in from about North-Northwest and landed then bounced a couple of times on the ground approximately 100 feet to our south - in what, at that time, was an empty field bordered by a barbed-wire fence.
Being amazed and wondering, I stopped the car and attempted to get through the barbed wire - to see what the thing was.  But, before I could make it through the fence - say in about 5 minutes! - that ball suddenly shot up and retreated back in the direction from which it came.
Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate.  PD