0 812 1547 1561 1600 1638 1663 1665 1686 1700
1737 1741 1742 1745 1749 1755 1756 1758 1759 1762
1767 1777 1780 1783 1790 1798 1800 1803 1808 1819
1820 1824 1825 1826 1829 1831 1835 1838 1845 1847
1850 1854 1855 1857 1858 1860 1862 1865 1866 1867
1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1876 1877 1878
1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888
1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898
1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908
1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918
1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928
1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938
1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948
1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958
1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968
1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978
1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988
1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Date: 0’s
Description: Greek and Roman records of UFO’s
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 812
Description: Agobard, the
archbishop of Lyon, France, writes De Grandine et Tonitruis (“On Hail
and Thunder”), in which he condemns pagan folk beliefs, such as the
notion of a “certain region called Magonia, from which ships, navigating
on clouds, set sail to transport back to this same region the fruits of
the earth ruined by hail and destroyed by the storm.” He cites an
episode in which some foolish peasants capture “three men and one woman
who they said had fallen from these ships.” Brought out in front of an
enraged mob, Agobard intervenes and prevents their lynching, persuading
the crowd that the charges are false and absurd. Some ufologists
interpret this as a visitation from an alternate reality or an abduction
case, while Jean-Louis Brodu observes that in the 9th century the
atmosphere was likened to an ocean in which aerial ships could navigate
from point to point on the earth. Miceal Ross argues that Magonia is a
corruption of Magonianus, relating to the city of Mahón, the port of the
island of Menorca, Spain. (Jean-Louis Brodu, “Magonia: A Re-Evaluation,”
Fortean Studies 2 (1995): 198–215; Miceal Ross, “Anchors
in a Three-Decker
World,” Folklore 109 (1998): 63–75; Vallée, Magonia, pp. 23–24;
Clark III 1213–1214; Vallée and Aubeck, Wonders in the Sky, Tarcher,
2009, pp. 70–73;
Pierre Chambert-Protat, “Florus
de Lyon et les Extra- terrestres,”
Florus de Lyon, November 4, 2014; Pierre Lagrange, “Agobard,
la Magonie et les ovnis,” Actualité, no. 440 (October 2017): 28–29;
Wikipedia, “Magonia
(mythology)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 0
Date: 12/15/1547
Description: Mariners in the port of Hamburg, Germany, see a fireball
moving to the south. Its rays are so hot that passengers cannot remain
inside the ships. Thinking the vessels are about to burn, they hide and
take cover. (Simon Goulart, Thrésor d’histoires admirables et mémorables
de nostre temps, Geneva, 1600, vol. 1,
p. 55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1
Date: 4/4/1561
Description: Dusk. A “frightening vision” is seen in the sky above
Nuremberg, Germany, said to be observed by many. Printer Hans
Glaser describes in his broadside many blood-red, blue, and black
balls or discs near the Sun. “They were three alongside each other,
sometimes four in a square, and several alone, and between these balls
blood- colored crosses” are seen. Two “great pipes” (cannon) are also
observed, and everything starts to “fight against each other.” The
battle lasts about one hour, then the burning balls fall to the earth
and vanish on the ground. Although cited as a possible early UFO report,
the narrative is simply about a battle in the sky by phantom armies told
as an allegory of what awaits an unrepentant humanity on Judgment Day.
(Hans Glaser, Himmelserscheinung
über
Nürnberg am 14. April 1561, Holzschnitt, 1561; Carl Jung, Flying
Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies, Mentor ed., 1969, pp. 103–104,
between pp. 120–121;
Ulrich Magin, “A UFO in the Year 1561,” Fortean Times 283 (February
2012): 40–42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2
Date: 1600’s
Description: Significant sightings
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Charles
Fort
Date: 1638
Description: English clergyman and philosopher John
Wilkins writes The Discovery of a World in the Moone, in which he
highlights the similarities of the Earth and the Moon (seas, mountains,
atmosphere) and concludes that the Moon is likely to be inhabited by
living beings, whom the calls “Selenites.” (Maria Avxentevskaya, “How
17th Century Dreamers
Planned to Reach the Moon,” Real Clear Science, December 2,
2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3
Date: 1638
Description: Night. John Everett and two companions are crossing the
Muddy River near Boston, Massachusetts, in a boat when a “great light”
appears above them. It darts back and forth across the river, sometimes
hovering and “flaming up,” for about 2–3 hours. After they stop watching
it, they discover that their boat has moved about one mile against the
current to the place where they had embarked. (John Winthrop, The
History of New England from 1630 to 1649, Little, Brown, 1853, vol. 1,
pp. 349–350)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4
Date: 8/15/1663
Description: 12:00 noon. The faithful gathered in a church in a village
near Lake Zarobozero, Vologda Oblast, Russia, hear a loud noise outside
and see a large ball of fire descend from the north and then head south
following the lake, low over its surface. The fireball seems to measure
about 140 feet across and has blue smoke issuing from its sides. Two
fiery rays extend from its front part. Less than an hour later, a
similar fireball reappears over the same lake. Moving from south to
west, the object again disappears. It reappears a third time a short
while later, this time larger than before, and stays over the lake for
an hour and a half. Peasants in a boat try to get close to it, but the
heat is too intense. The water of the lake is illuminated to a depth of
30 feet, and fish are seen swimming away from the object, which then
flies off to the west. (Akty istoricheskie, sobranye i izdanye
Arkheografischeskaia Kommissiia, Vol. 4, Saint Petersburg, 1842, pp. 331–332;
Hobana and Weverbergh 54–61; Jacques Vallée and Chris Aubeck, Wonders in
the Sky, Tarcher, 2009, pp. 215–217;
Thomas E. Bullard, “Defending UFOs,” IUR 34, no. 2 (March 2012): 31;
Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020,
pp. 157–161)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5
Date: 4/8/1665
Description: 6:00 p.m. Numerous wonders are seen in the sky over
Stralsund, Germany, including ships, large flocks of birds, fire, and
smoke, as well as a dark “round flat form like a plate and like a big
man’s hat” that hovers above St. Nicholas Church for one hour. Witnesses
include several fishermen who later complain of tremors in their hands
and feet. (Eine
abgebildete Beschreibung von dem wunderbarlichen Stralsundischen
Lufft-Kriege und Schiff-streite, Leipzig,
1665; Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough, Return to Magonia: Investigating
UFOs in History, Anomalist, 2015, pp. 23–38)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6
Date: 1686
Description: French philosopher Bernard
le Bovier de Fontenelle writes Conversations on the Plurality of
Worlds, in which he speculates on extraterrestrial life. He imagines
Venusians to be “little black people, scorched with the Sun, full of
fire, very amorous.” (Wikipedia, “Conversations
on the Plurality of Worlds”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7
Date: 1700’s
Description: Significant sightings
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Charles
Fort
Date: 12/5/1737
Description: 5:00 p.m. Physician Thomas
Short witnesses a blood-red luminous display in the sky around
Sheffield, England, which moves from west to north and then to the east.
The cause seems to be one or more clouds in which are embedded brilliant
lights as bright as the full moon that give off slow-moving streamers or
rays. The display is accompanied by unseasonable heat and lasts until
10:30 p.m. Short hears that a similar phenomenon is seen at the same
time in Venice, Italy, and Kilkenny, Ireland, where it appears as a
bursting fireball. (Thomas Short, “An
Account of Several Meteors,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society 41 (1741): 625–627)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 8
Date: 12/6/1737
Description: Afternoon. A large, blood-red object is seen in the western
sky at Bucharest, Wallachia [now Romania]. It lingers for two hours
before splitting up then reuniting once again. The phenomenon is said to
have occurred at night in the Banat region. (Hobana and Weverbergh 222;
Romania 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 9
Date: 9/21/1741
Description: Dawn. Parson-naturalist Gilbert
White wakes up at his vicarage in Selborne, Hampshire, England, and
finds the neighboring clover fields matted all over with a thick coat of
cobwebs, laced with dew. The dogs are blinded by it when they attempt to
hunt. At 9:00 a.m. more cobwebs fall from the sky and continue until
dusk. They are “perfect flakes or rags; some near an inch broad, and
five or six long, which fell with a degree of velocity that showed they
were considerably heavier than the atmosphere.” The fall extends to the
neighboring villages of New Alresford and Bradley. (Gilbert White, The
Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789), Letter
XXIII)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 10
Date: 12/16/1742 (approximate)
Description: 8:40 p.m. Physician Cromwell
Mortimer, secretary
of the Royal Society, is walking through St. James’s Park in
Westminster, London, England, when he sees a light ascend from behind
the trees and houses in the southwest. When it reaches 20° against the
sky, it takes a horizontal path with an undulating motion before
disappearing in the northeast after a full 30 seconds. The front part is
luminous with a frame-like structure behind it, and it has a faint
trail. The date is questionable since Mortimer calls this a “Thursday”
and December 16 was a Sunday. ([A
Note by Cromwell Mortimer], Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society 43 (1745): 524–525)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 11
Date: 7/14/1745
Description: Astronomer George
Costard observes a meteoric stream of fire that persists for at
least one hour at Standlake Broad west of Oxford, England. (“Part of a
Letter from the Reverend Mr. Geo. Costard to Mr. John Catlin, concerning
a Fiery Meteor Seen in the Air on July 14, 1745,” Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society 43 (1745): 522–524)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 12
Date: 11/4/1749
Description: 11:50 a.m. The crew of the HMS
Montagu watches
a large blue fireball, apparently low on the water, head directly toward
them from the northeast and explode some 150 feet away from the ship,
causing some damage to the mast, before it continues on toward the
southwest. The incident takes place in the North Atlantic Ocean some 240
miles west of Cape Finisterre, Spain. (Chalmers, “An
Account of an Extraordinary Fireball Bursting
at Sea,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 46 (1752):
366–367; Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough, Return to Magonia:
Investigating UFOs in History, Anomalist, 2015, pp. 67–75; Martin Shough
and Wim van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 2, Anomalist, 2021,
pp. 105–114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 13
Date: 3/1755
Description: German philosopher Immanuel
Kant publishes Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens,
in which he theorizes that distance from the Sun determines the
intelligence level of a world’s inhabitants; thus, the people who live
on Mercury are the stupidest, and the Venusians are only dimly
brighter—making any Jupiterians and Saturnians much smarter than
earthlings. (Wikipedia, “Universal
Natural History and Theory of the Heavens”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 14
Date: 1756
Description: Scottish astronomer James
Ferguson writes Astronomy Explained upon Sir Isaac Newton’s
Principles, proclaiming the certainty of a plurality of inhabited worlds
“peopled with myriads of intelligent beings, formed for endless
progression in perfection and felicity.” (James Ferguson, Astronomy
Explained upon Sir Isaac Newton’s Principles, 8th ed., London, 1790, p. 6;
Matthew Goodman, The Sun and the Moon, Basic Books, 2008, pp. 189–190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 15
Date: 1758
Description: Swedish theologian and mystic Emanuel
Swedenborg writes in The Earths in the Universe that that he has
conversed with spirits from Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, Venus, and
the Moon, as well as spirits from planets beyond the solar system. From
these encounters, he concludes that the planets are all inhabited and
that such an enormous undertaking as the universe cannot have been
created for just one race on one planet. (Emanuel Swedenborg, The
Earths in the Universe, London, 1875; Richard Smoley, “Is
There Really Life on Other Planets?”
Swedenborg Foundation, February 15, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 16
Date: 4/27/1759
Description: 4:00 p.m. Following a clap of thunder, a flat, pale object
is seen “dancing” in the sky over Longdon, Somerset, England. It is
joined by three similar objects, all of which move from west to east for
30 seconds and disappear in a cloud. (London Universal Chronicle, May 5,
1759; Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough, Return to Magonia: Investigating
UFOs in History, Anomalist, 2015, pp. 83–96)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 17
Date: 8/9/1762
Description: 12:00 noon. An amateur astronomer named de Rostan is
observing the Sun at Lausanne, Switzerland, when he notices a large,
spindle-shaped body moving across the solar disc from east to west at a
slower rate of speed than sunspots move. It is surrounded by a thin
“nebulosity.” An observer named Croste in Solothurn, Switzerland, also
observes the object, but French astronomer Charles
Messier, who is also taking solar measurements in Paris, France,
does not see it. It remains visible until September 7, when it passes
the Sun’s western limb. (“Observation Astronomique,”
Histoire de l’Académie Royale des Sciences, 1766, pp. 106–107; “An
Account of a Very Singular Phaenomenon
Seen in the Disk of the Sun,” Annual Register, 1766, pp. 120–122;
Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 2,
Anomalist, 2021, pp. 33–45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 18
Date: 9/9/1767
Description: A cloud “like a house on fire” that soon takes on a
pyramidal form is seen traveling along the course of the River Isla near
Coupar Angus, Perth, Scotland. It moves northeast to the confluence of
the River Ericht and follows that stream to the west toward Blairgowrie
where it disappears. It is accompanied by strong winds that destroy two
houses. (Annual Register 1767, pp. 127–128)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 19
Date: 6/17/1777
Description: 11:46 a.m. French astronomer Charles
Messier views a large number of round, dark-brown globules passing
in front of the disc of the sun for 5 minutes from west-southwest to
east-northeast. He sees them through an achromatic refractor at the
naval observatory located in the Hôtel de Cluny in Paris, France. His
estimate of their size (one-600th the size of the solar disc) puts them
near the limit of resolution for his telescope, but Messier claims the
objects are far away and in focus. (Charles Messier, “Observation
singulaire d’une prodigieuse quantité de
petits globules qui ont passé devant le disque du soleil, le 17 juin
1777,” Mémoires de l’Academie Royale des Sciences, 1777,
pp. 464–472; Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht, Redemption of the
Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist, 2019, pp. 7–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 20
Date: 1780’s
Description: Coulomb’s law of electrostatics
Type: scientific advanced
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 1783
Description: British astronomer William
Herschel has been observing the lunar surface since the mid-1770s in
Bath, England, and writes journal entries in which he details sightings
of immense trees, forests, and pastures, comparing it to the English
countryside. By 1778, he is seeing circular formations that he thinks
are towns and villages. He also notes canals, roads, and patches of
vegetation, but never writes about it publicly, since he knows that
telescopic observations can be tricky. (George Basalla, Civilized Life
in the Universe, Oxford University, 2006, pp. 51–52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 21
Date: 8/18/1783
Description: 9:15–9:30 p.m. An unusually bright bolide is observed in
the British Isles on a clear, dry night. Analysis indicates that the
meteor has entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the North Sea, before
passing over the east coast of Scotland, England, and the English
Channel; it finally breaks up, after a passage within the atmosphere of
around 1,000 miles, over southwestern France or northern Italy. Perhaps
the most prominent witness is Tiberius Cavallo, an
Italian natural philosopher who happens to be among a group of people on
the terrace at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England, at the time the
meteor appears. (Wikipedia, “1783
Great Meteor”; Tiberius Cavallo, “Description
of a Meteor, Observed Aug. 18, 1783,” Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society 74 (1784): 108–111; Charles Blagden, “An
Account of Some Late Fiery Meteors,” Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society 74 (1784): 202–232; Martin Beech, “The
Great Meteor of 18th August 1783,” Journal of the British
Astronomical Association 99 (1989): 130–134; Kaushik Patowary, “The
Great Meteor of 1783,” Amusing Planet, September 8, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 22
Date: 6/12/1790
Description: 5:00 a.m. Several farmers in Alençon, Normandy, France, see
a large globe surrounded by flames and making a whistling sound. The
object slows, oscillates, and moves toward the top of a hill, unearthing
some plants along the slope. The heat is so intense that grass and small
trees start burning. In the evening the sphere is still warm. Witnesses
include two mayors, a doctor, and three other authorities in addition to
the dozens of peasants who are present. A kind of door opens and a
person emerges. He is dressed in a tight-fitting suit and, seeing all
the people, says some words that are not understood. He runs into the
woods. The sphere explodes silently, throwing pieces everywhere, and
these pieces burn until they are powder. The original source is
allegedly from a June 17 report by a Police Inspector Liabeuf and
forwarded to the French Academy of Sciences. However, the Academy
reported in 2006 that it has no knowledge of such a report in its
archives. Probable hoax. (Alberto Penoglio, “Antichi Visitatori
dal Cielo,” Clypeus 3, n. 3 (1966): 13–14; Vallée, Magonia, pp. 60–61;
“1790
UFO Crash or Time Traveller?”
Cool Interesting Stuff, June 1, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 23
Date: 9/10/1798
Description: Before midnight. Schoolmaster Alexander Campbell and one
other person observe a “remarkable comet, or meteor” at Alnwick,
Northumberland, England. It rapidly increases in brightness, changing
from a star-like object to a shape like “two half-moons, back to back,
having a short luminous stream between the two backs” over the course of
5 minutes. (Annual Register 1798, p. 83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 24
Date: 1800’s
Description: Significant sightings
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Charles
Fort
Date: 2/22/1803
Alternate date: 3/24/1803
Description: An attractive young woman aged 18–20 years old arrives on a
beach aboard a “hollow ship” (Utsuro-bune) that looks like a rice
cooking pot or incense burner in Hitachi province, Japan. Fishermen
bring her inland to investigate further, but the woman is unable to
communicate in Japanese. She is dressed in a foreign fashion made of
unknown fabrics and is clutching an ornate box also marked with the
unknown script. The vessel is covered in hieroglyphs that no one can
decipher. The fishermen return her and her vessel to the sea, where it
drifts away. Accounts of the tale appear in three texts: Toen shōsetsu
(1825), Hyōryū kishū (1835), and Ume-no-chiri (1844), but no official
records mention it. (Wikipedia, “Utsuro-bune”;
Kazuo Tanaka, “Did a Close Encounter of the Third Kind Occur on a
Japanese Beach in 1803?” Skeptical Inquirer 24, no. 4 (July/August
2000): 37–60; Masaru Mori, “The Female Alien in a Hollow Vessel,”
Fortean Times 48 (Spring 1987): 48–50; Junji Numakawa, “On
a UFO-Shaped Boat in 1803,” UFO Criticism 1, no 1 (January 2001):
2–3; Tanaka Kazuo, “‘Utsurobune’:
A UFO Legend from Nineteenth-Century Japan,” nippon.com, June 26,
2020; Shoichi Kamon [pseud. of Tanaka Kazuo], The Mystery of
Utsuro-bune: Ancient UFO Encounter in Japan? Flying Disk Press,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 25
Date: 5/16/1808
Description: 4:00 p.m. Swedish lichenologist Erik
Acharius watches a stream of dark-brown spherical objects moving
slowly through the sky in a straight line over Biskopsberga, near
Skänninge, Sweden. Some hover temporarily and speed up, while others
fall to earth. The objects appear in the western sky and stream to the
east for 2 hours. Some are apparently linked together in groups of
three, six, or eight, and all of them have some kind of trail. A few of
them fall in the vicinity of K. G. Wettermark, who has also been
observing. They resemble soap bubbles and dissipate quickly, leaving a
film like cobweb. (Erik Acharius, “Besynnerligt
Meteor-Phenomén,” Konglige Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handligar,
ser. 2, vol. 29 (July/September 1808): 215–218; “Account
of an Extraordinary
Meteoric Phenomenon,” North American Review 3 (1816): 320–322;
Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 1,
Anomalist, 2019, pp. 18–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 26
Date: 8/13/1819
Description: 8:00–9:00 p.m. A brilliant white fireball streaks across
the sky at Amherst, Massachusetts. The next morning, Erastus Dewey finds
a strange substance 20 feet from his front door and assumes it is
residue from the meteorite. It is about 8 inches in diameter, resembles
an upside-down salad dish, and consists of buff-colored pulpy substance
with an overwhelmingly bad smell. It is covered with a nap that, when
removed, causes the interior to liquefy and form a starchy substance. A
couple days later, it largely dissipates. Geologist Edward Hitchcock thinks
it is some kind of “gelatinous fungus” common to the area in the late
summer. (Rufus Graves, “Account
of a Gelatinous Meteor,” American Journal of Science 2 (1820):
335–337; Edward Hitchcock, “On
the Meteors
of Nov. 13, 1833,” American Journal of Science 25 (1834): 354,
362–363)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 27
Date: 2/12/1820
Description: 10:45 a.m. A German astronomer and cleric named Steinheibel
watches a clearly defined dark orange-red spot traversing the disc of
the Sun in about five hours. (Joseph Johann von Littrow, “Further
Note on the Supposed
Observation of an Intra-Mercurial Planet on the 12th of February,
1820,” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 22 (1862):
276)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 28
Date: 1824
Description: Bavarian astronomer Franz
von Gruithuisen of Munich, Germany, writes Discovery of Many
Distinct Traces of Lunar Inhabitants, Especially of One of their
Colossal Buildings, in which he announces his discovery of a city on the
Moon in the rough terrain to the north of Schröter crater that he names
the Wallwerk. This region contains a series of somewhat linear ridges
that have a fishbone-like pattern, and, with the small refracting
telescope he is using, can be perceived as resembling buildings complete
with streets. His claims are readily refuted using more powerful
instruments. Gruithuisen also thinks that the mysterious “ashen light”
observed on Venus’s dark side is due to a festival of fire in honor of
the “ascension of a new emperor to the throne of the planet.” Later, he
speculates that the illumination is caused by burning jungles to create
new farmland. (“Gruithuisen’s
Lunar City,” whatsupinthesky.com; David Dunér, “Venusians:
The Planet Venus in the 18th-Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate,”
Journal of Astronomical Data 19, no. 1 (2013): 162; Andrew May, “The
Lost Ruins of the Moon,” Fortean Times 358 (October 2017): 56)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 29
Date: 1825
Description: Ampère published his “Ampère’s law.”
Type: scientific advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 4/1/1826
Description: 4:00 p.m. Stone mason Johannes Becker hears a noise
resembling thunder at Rastpfuhl, northwest of Saarbrücken, Germany, and
sees a grayish object “like two pieces of tin” approaching the earth
with lightning speed and expanding itself like a sheet before falling to
earth, apparently not far away. After one minute there is another sound
like thunder and a strong whirlwind, as if coming from an impact. Pastor
Köllner collects testimony from other nearby witnesses and visits the
supposed landing site but finds no burn marks or meteoritic stones.
(Ernst Chladni, “Über
eine merkwürdige meteorische Erscheinung, am 1 April 1826, nicht weit
von Saarbrücken,”
Annalen der Physik und Chemie 7 (1826): 373–377; Martin Shough and Wim
van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist, 2019,
pp. 31–38)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 30
Date: 8/20/1829
Description: 11:00 p.m. A man on the York Road east of Leeds, England,
sees a moon-like object split into two halves, the upper half of which
gives off an apparent shaft of light. He sees two human figures visible
to the waist, one of which has a red cloth around its head. The object
is visible for more than one hour and is seen by others, during which
time a cloud passes in front of it. (“Celestial
Phenomena,” York Herald, August 22, 1829, p. 2; Chris Aubeck and
Martin Shough, Return to Magonia: Investigating UFOs in History,
Anomalist, 2015, pp. 111–125)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 31
Date: 1831
Description: Michael Faraday is generally credited with the discovery of
induction
Type: scientific advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 5/11/1835
Description: At the Palermo Observatory in Italy, astronomer Niccolò
Cacciatore detects a starlike object in the Southern sky between the
constellations Virgo and Crater moving at a slow rate that might
indicate a planet beyond Uranus. It is nowhere to be seen during his
next observation on May 14. (“Supposed New Planet,” American Journal of
Science 31 (1837): 158–159)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 32
Date: 8/25/1835
End date: 8/31/1835
Description: The New York Sun publishes a series of six articles on the
alleged discovery by English astronomer John Herschel of
plants, animals, and winged people on the lunar surface. Using a huge
and powerful telescope, Herschel supposedly sees herds of bison-like
quadrupeds, a spherical amphibious creature, and a bipedal beaver that
lives in huts. The humans are man-bats “covered, except on the face,
with short and glossy copper-colored hair, and had wings composed of a
thin membrane, without hair, lying snugly upon their backs.” The article
is an elaborate hoax. Herschel hasn’t observed life on the moon at all,
nor is Herschel even aware of the story until much later. The
announcement causes enormous excitement throughout America and Europe.
Authorship of the article is usually attributed to Richard Adams Locke,
a reporter who is working for The Sun at the time. Locke publicly admits
to being the author in 1840, in a letter to the weekly paper New World,
although his intent is satire, not misinformation. (Wikipedia, “Great
Moon Hoax”; Richard Adams Locke, The
Moon Hoax, Gowans, 1859)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 33
Date: 1838
Description: Samuel F. B. Morse demonstrates telegraph transmission
across two miles of wire in Morristown, NJ
Type: scientific advance
Reference: link
Date: 1838
Description: Scottish minister and science writer Thomas
Dick publishes Celestial Scenery: The Wonders of the Planetary
System Displayed, in which he suggests that every planet in the Solar
System is inhabited. At his home in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, he computes
that the Solar System contains 21.9 trillion inhabitants, 53.5 billion
of them on Venus. This is done comparing the surface area of each planet
and the population density of England. (Thomas Dick, Celestial
Scenery, Harper,
1838)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 34
Date: 6/18/1845
Description: 10:30 p.m. The British brig Victoria, captained by George
Henry Caithness, is
becalmed in the Strait of Sicily about 30 miles southwest of Licata,
Sicily, Italy, when a huge wind suddenly blows from the east for two
hours. Then the wind suddenly stops, and the crew feels an overpowering
heat and smells a sulfuric stench. At this moment three “luminous
bodies” emerge from the sea about one-half mile away and remain visible
for 10 minutes. Shortly thereafter the wind picks up again. (This could
be a magma plume from an undersea volcanic vent.) Around 7:10 p.m., at
Ainab, Lebanon, two objects five times as large as the moon, joined by
“streamers or appendages,” are observed in the west and remain visible
for one hour, moving slowly on an easterly course. The objects are so
bright they are painful to look at. A possible outgassing event from the
Madrepore subsea vent. (“Atmospherical
Phenomena,” London Morning Chronicle, August 8, 1845, p. 5; The
Athenaeum, August 19, 1848, p. 833;
James Glaisher, et al., “Report on Observations of Luminous Meteors,
1860–61,” Report of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science, 1861, pp. 30–31;
Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough, Return to Magonia: Investigating UFOs in
History, Anomalist, 2015, pp. 139–152; Martin Shough and Wim van
Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 2, Anomalist, 2021,
pp. 115–126)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 35
Date: 3/19/1847
Description: 8:30 p.m. A woman and her companion are in Highbury East,
London, England, when they notice what seems to be a fire balloon
ascending slowly in the west, seemingly over Hampstead. It shoots out
“several fiery coruscations” and turns into an intensely radiant cloud,
which moves on further west. Its light shines down on the houses below.
Suddenly another bright cloud appears above the first. After 2–3
minutes, a fiery ball drops from the upper cloud to the lower one,
followed by two others. Soon after this, both clouds disappear. (“Meteoric Stones,”
Littell’s Living Age 56 (1858): 503)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 36
Date: 9/15/1850
Description: 6:20 p.m. Senior medical officer Elisha
Kent Kane and other crew members of the USS
Advance,
participating in the First Grinnell Expedition to the Arctic to
determine the fate of the lost Franklin Northwest Passage expedition,
watch a balloon-like object over the Wellington Channel between
Cornwallis and Devon islands, Nunavut, Canada. It is floating slowly
northward and appears to be 2 feet long by 18 inches wide. After a short
time, a small object appears below it. (Elisha Kent Kane, The U.S.
Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, Harper and Brothers,
1854, p. 190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 37
Date: 3/21/1854
Description: 9:30 p.m. People in Washington, D.C., see a brilliant light
in the sky overhead “like a coal of fire glowing,” red in color and
stationary. It is visible for 20–30 minutes before it fades away. (“Atmospherical
Phenomenon,” Gettysburg (Pa.) Adams Sentinel, March 27, 1854,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 38
Date: 1/22/1855
Description: 10:00 p.m. A witness walking in the public square in New
Haven, Connecticut, sees a brilliant red fireball in the sky near the
star Gamma Draconis. At first it is stationary but after 15 seconds it
moves slowly toward the east with a slight undulatory motion. It passes
below the star Eta Ursae Majoris and disappears not far from Denebola in
the constellation Leo. The object is visible for 10 minutes. (“Meteoric
Phenomenon,” New York Times, January 25, 1855, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 39
Date: 6/19/1857
Alternate date: 6/20/1857
Description: Sunset. A large cloud moves in over Carbondale,
Pennsylvania, from the northwest, accompanied by considerable wind. It
emits a dark-looking substance that falls to the ground, where it
becomes highly luminous. It moves toward a large barn and passes through
its center, setting it on fire, and continues on in a straight course
for the woods, burning up the underbrush. It makes a path about 16 feet
wide for a distance of 3 miles, and it finally stops against an outcrop
of anthracite coal 60 feet in thickness. It leaves a sulfurous mass
behind. (“Extraordinary Meteoric
Phenomenon,” Baltimore (Md.) Sun, June 27, 1857, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 40
Date: 7/10/1858
End date: 1/7/1943
Description: Nikola Test born (dies 1/7/1943)
Type: scientist
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 1860
End date: 1864
Description: Louis Pasteur’s key germ theory experiments
Type: scientific advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 7/20/1860
Description: 9:40 p.m. A poem by Brooklyn, New York, poet Walt
Whitman, “Year
of Meteors (1859-60),” published in a later edition of Leaves of Grass,
describes a “strange huge meteor-procession dazzling and clear shooting
over our heads.” For many years, no one could identify the event. Then
in 2000, Texas State University–San Marcos physicist Donald W.
Olson discovered a painting by Hudson River artist Frederic
Edwin Church depicting two large meteors streaming across the sky
and dated July 20, 1860. An examination of contemporary newspapers
revealed that this was probably Whitman’s meteor procession. Around 9:40
p.m., two meteors with trails, one behind another, are seen in New York,
Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Norfolk, and other locations
in the East, proceeding slowly from northwest to southeast for nearly
one minute. They are as bright as Venus. A rare event, and little
understood until 1913, a meteor procession occurs when an earth-grazing
meteor breaks apart and the fragments travel across the sky in the same
horizontal path. Olson and his colleagues finally publish their
discovery in the July 2010 issue of Sky & Telescope. (“The
Wonders of the Heavens: The Meteor Train,” Brooklyn (N.Y.) Evening
Star, July 21, 1860, p. 2; “The
Meteor of Friday Night,” New York Herald, July 22, 1860, p. 1;
“Texas State Astronomers Solve Walt Whitman Meteor Mystery,” Office of
Media Relations, Texas State University, May 28, 2010; David Dickinson,
“Remembering
the Great Meteor Procession of 1860,” Universe Today, July 20,
2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 41
Date: 8/2/1860
Description: 11:00 p.m. Another seeming procession of two meteors is
observed in Norfolk, Virginia, moving with an undulating motion in the
western sky in a northerly direction. One of the lights is clear red and
the other is greenish, and they both emit flashes of light, leaving a
sparkling trail. The phenomenon is also seen in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. Some unnamed contemporary scientists compare it to the
July 20 meteor procession. (“Another Splendid
Meteor,” Baltimore (Md.) Sun, August 6, 1860, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 42
Date: 11/1862
Description: Early morning. Magistrate Osman
Edward Middleton hears a “peculiar rushing noise” at Morpeth, New
South Wales, and looks up to see a dark object traveling rapidly toward
the southeast. It appears to be revolving on its axis. ([Letter],
Sydney (N.S.W.) Morning Herald, November 20, 1866, p. 5; Chris Aubeck
and Martin Shough, Return to Magonia: Investigating UFOs in History,
Anomalist, 2015, pp. 167–173)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 43
Date: 1865
Description: French novelist Jules
Verne publishes From the Earth to the Moon. It tells the story of
the Baltimore Gun Club, a post–American Civil War society of weapons
enthusiasts, and their attempts to build an enormous Columbiad space gun
and launch three people—the Gun Club’s president, his Philadelphian
armor-making rival, and a French poet—in a projectile with the goal of a
lunar landing. (Wikipedia, “From
the Earth to the Moon”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 44
Date: 1865
Description: James Clerk Maxwell publishes “A Dynamical Theory of the
Electromagnetic Field” on electromagnetism. Maxwell derives an
electromagnetic wave equation with a velocity for light in close
agreement with measurements made by experiment, and deduces that light
is an electromagnetic wave.
Type: scientific advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 12/1865
Description: The British Board of Trade asks Trinity House to
investigate the “false lights” of the Durham, England, coast, mysterious
revolving lights seen above a rocky headland at Whitburn by mariners
negotiating a hazardous stretch of the northeast coast. Between 1860 and
1870, more than 150 ships are wrecked on the rocks near Whitburn after
following a light or lights in the sky that they wrongly believe are
from a lighthouse at the mouth of the Tyne. A commission led by Rear
Admiral Richard
Collinson meets in Sunderland on December 28 to interview witnesses
and determine whether salvagers are responsible for the lights that are
causing shipwrecks. Although the commission decides that the false
lights are not deliberately lit, they are puzzled about the true cause.
The lights and wrecks continue until January 1871 when the Souter
Lighthouse is erected on Lizard Point. (“False
Lights on the Durham Coast,” Newcastle Weekly Courant, January 12,
1866, p. 5; David Clarke, “Britain’s
First X-File?” August 14, 2010; David Clarke, “The False Lights of
Durham,” Fortean Times 266 (October 2010): 40–42; Martin Shough and Wim
van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist, 2019,
pp. 77–79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 45
Date: 6/21/1866
Description: The US Hydrographic Office is established by Congress. It
is assigned to the Navy Bureau of Navigation and collects reports from
ships’ officers on observations of various marine phenomena, hazards,
and other activities. Among the reports collected are meteors, ball
lightning, and other celestial and meteorological phenomena. (Wikipedia,
“United
States Hydrographic Office”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 46
Date: 11/4/1867
Description: 3:00–4:00 p.m. James E. Beveridge is passing the mill by
the Waterworks Reservoir in Chatham, England, when he and the miller see
numerous black discs moving in the air to the west, some in groups,
others scattered. They are visible for more than 20 minutes. In passing
in front of the sun they appear like large cannon shot. Several groups
pass over his head, disappearing suddenly, and leaving puffs of grayish
brown smoke. (“Three
Strange Stories,” Symons’s Monthly Meteorological Magazine 2 (1867):
130)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 47
Date: 6/8/1868
Description: 9:50 p.m. John Lucas Sr., an observer at Radcliffe
Observatory, Oxford University, England, notices a comet- like object
with a trail a bit west of Polaris. As he is pointing it out to some
others, it begins moving west. It moves in a straight line at first,
then moves south for a bit, then continues to the north. They watch it
for 4 minutes until it disappears below the northwestern horizon. (“Remarkable
Meteor,” English Mechanic 7 (July 10, 1868): 351)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 48
Date: 7/1868
Description: A strange “aerial construction” bearing lights and making
engine noises flew low over this town. Local people also described it as
a giant bird covered with large scales producing a metallic noise.
Although not an actual landing, this is the first instance of close
observation of an unknown object at low altitude in the nineteenth
century.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fort 638; Anatomy 11 (Vallee)
Location: Copiago, Chile
ID: 1
Date: 7/25/1868
Description: Engineer Frederick
William Birmingham of Parramatta, New South Wales, watches a bizarre
procession of the faces of two prominent Australians (Archbishop of
Sydney Frederic
Barker and New South Wales Premier James Martin)
through the air as well as a vessel he calls an “ark.” He hears a voice
suggesting that “That’s a machine to go through the air.” The voice
comes from a “spirit” whom he describes as “like a neutral tint shade
and the shape of a man in his usual frock dress.” After the ark
maneuvers for a while in the air, the spirit says, “Have you a desire or
do you wish to enter upon it?” He is then lifted up and carried through
the air into the object about 60 feet away. The spirit guides him into
the “pilot house” of the machine where he is given some papers with
formulas on them that will help him construct a flying machine. He
observes another UFO-like craft on March 9, 1873, and later attempts to
build a mechanical replica of what he has seen. (Bill Chalker, “The
Mystery of a Machine
to Go through the Air: A UFO Vision?” 1998; Clark III 60–65; “Did
Frederick William Birmingham Build
a Flying Machine Based on His Bizarre 1868 UFO ‘Vision’ in Parramatta,
NSW, Australia?” TheOzFiles, November 30, 2013; Chris Aubeck and
Martin Shough, Return to Magonia: Investigating UFOs in History,
Anomalist, 2015, pp. 185–190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 49
Date: 1869
Description: French poet and inventor Charles
Cros is convinced that pinpoints of light observed on Mars and Venus
are the lights of large cities on those planets. He spends years
petitioning the French government to build a giant mirror to communicate
with the Martians and Venusians by burning giant lines on the deserts of
those planets. (Alissa Walker, “A
French Inventor Once Proposed a Giant Mirror to Burn a Message on
Mars,” Gizmodo, October 16, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 50
Date: 8/7/1869
Description: About 4:45 p.m. During a total solar eclipse, four amateur
observers in St. Paul’s Junction [possibly a railroad stop between
Maynard and West Union], Iowa, both with and without instruments
independently notice a bright object below the lunar disc and just
outside the solar corona. There are no visible stars in that position in
the sky. (“Was
It the Intra-Mercurial Planet?” Astronomical Register 7 (1869):
227–228; John Russell Hind, “Stellar
Objects Seen during the Eclipse of 1869,” Nature 18 (1878):
663–664)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 52
Date: 8/7/1869
Description: 12:00 noon. Four or five witnesses watch a luminous object
land in a vacant lot about 200 yards north of the village of Adamstown,
Pennsylvania. It is originally square-shaped but shoots up into a column
about 3–4 feet high and 2 feet thick. The object glitters like a “column
of burnished silver.” It gradually fades away and disappears after 10
minutes. No unusual traces are found on the lot. (“Singular Phenomenon,”
Lancaster (Pa.) Daily Evening Express, August 10, 1869, pp. 2–3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 51
Date: 3/22/1870
Description: 6:30 p.m. Capt. Frederick William Banner, master of the
barque Lady of the Lake, is sailing in the North Atlantic 400 miles
north of the Equator and 860 miles from the coast of West Africa when he
sees a “curious- shaped” light-gray cloud in the south-southeast. It is
circular, with four rays or arms extending from the center to the edge,
and a curved tail. It is visible for about 50 minutes until it is too
dark to see. (Frederick William Banner, “Extract
from Log of Barque ‘Lady of the Lake,’” Quarterly Journal of the
Royal Meteorological Society 1 (1873): 157; Martin Shough and Wim van
Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist, 2019, pp. 89–
109)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 53
Date: 9/26/1870
Description: A luminous object with a tail is seen in the constellation
Lyra by Reginald
Brabazon, 12th Earl of Meath, second
secretary of the British legation to the North German Confederation, in
Berlin, Germany. Possibly a light pillar reflection caused by a bright
arc-light source at a military installation on Eiswerder island.
(Brabazon, “A
Meteor,” London Times, September 30, 1870, p. 9; Martin Shough and
Wim van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist, 2019,
pp. 111–116)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 54
Date: 1871
Description: English astronomer Richard
A. Proctor writes Other Worlds Than Ours, in which he discusses the
question of the plurality of worlds in the light of new facts. He
suspects that Venus is likely the “abode of living creatures not unlike
the inhabitants of earth.” (Richard A. Proctor, Other
Worlds Than Ours, Appleton, 1871)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 55
Date: 8/1/1871
Description: 10:43 p.m. Astronomer Jérôme
Eugène Coggia at Marseille Observatory, France, watches a slow,
blood-red fireball move across the sky and change course twice before
falling to the earth. He sees it for 20 minutes and 20 seconds. Possible
earth-grazing meteor or a candle balloon. (Jérome Eugène Coggia, “Observation
d’un bolide, faite
à Observatoire de Marseille le 1er août,”
Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des Sciences 73
(1871): 397–399; Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht, Redemption of the
Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist, 2019, pp. 117–119)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 56
Date: 12/7/1872
Time: 0100 hours
Description: At King’s Sutton an object resembling a haystack flew on an
irregular course. Sometimes high, sometimes very low it was accompanied
by fire and dense smoke. It produced the same effect as a tornado,
felling trees and walls. It suddenly vanished.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fort 189 (Vallee)
Location: Banbury, Great Britain
ID: 2
Date: 1873
Description: Maxwell published A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism
as a summary of his work on electromagnetism
Type: scientific advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 1873
Description: English-American geologist and psychometrist William
Denton of Wellesley, Massachusetts, publishes volume 3 of The Soul
of Things, in which he describes his astral visit to Mars along with his
sister Anna Cridge and wife Elizabeth. He finds it harbors a thriving
civilization with a technology based on aluminum. He reports that they
soar above traffic on their individual fly-cycles and seem particularly
fond of air travel, with as many as 30 Martians occupying some of the
large flying conveyances. (William Denton, Soul of Things, Wellesley,
Mass.: Elizabeth M. F. Denton, 1873, vol. 3, pp. 171–267)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 57
Date: late 3/1873
Description: Evening. Thomas Inman and his son are traveling home from
the village of Taylorsville [now Philo], Ohio, and are possibly in
Bristol Township when they see a bright light descending swiftly with a
roaring noise. It strikes a short distance in the road [probably
Lawrence Road] ahead of them, flickers and flares, then fades. A man
dressed in a suit of black carrying a lantern emerges from the object.
He walks a few paces and steps into a buggy, which Inman has not noticed
before. The buggy begins to move silently and quickly, even though there
is no horse attached to it, until it reaches a deep gully, into which it
plunges and disappears. Historian William Alexander
Taylor, who
supplies the story to the New York Herald, vouches for the witnesses.
(“Very
Like a Whale,”
New York Herald, April 8, 1873, p. 7; Clark III 1123–1124; Chris Aubeck
and Martin Shough, Return to Magonia: Investigating UFOs in History,
Anomalist, 2015, pp. 175–191)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 58
Date: 4/24/1874
Description: 3:30 p.m. Chemist and astronomer Vojtěch
Šafařík of Prague [now in the Czech Republic] sees “an object of so
peculiar a character that I do not know what to make of it.” It is a
dazzling white object slowly crossing the moon. He first sees it in
front of the moon, then watches it against the “deep blue sky like
Sirius or Vega in daylight.” (Vojtěch Šafařík, “Telescopic
Meteors,” Astronomical Register 23 (1885): 205–211)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 59
Date: 8/13/1874
Description: 11:00 p.m. A large, “luminous electric cloud” flies over
the western edge of Pascagoula, Mississippi, from the northwest to the
southeast. It illuminates the ground and emits heat so intense that some
witnesses think their houses are about to ignite. When last seen over
the Gulf of Mexico, it renders the spars and rigging of a ship
“distinctly visible.” (“Singular
Phenomenon,” Pascagoula (Miss.) Star, August 22, 1874, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 60
Date: 12/21/1876
Description: 8:30–8:45 p.m. A bright bolide that explodes and breaks up
into a group of 20–100 smaller balls is seen over a wide swath of the US
from Topeka, Kansas, to western Pennsylvania. Over Columbus, Ohio, it is
described as “a cluster or flock of meteors seemingly huddled together,
like a flock of wild geese, and moving with the same velocity and grace
of regularity. The color of their light was a yellowish red, like red
rocket-balls.” A stony chondrite falls 3 miles northwest of Rochester,
Indiana, at the same time. (James Glaisher, et al., “Report on
Observations of Luminous Meteors during the Year 1876–77,” Report of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science 47 (1877): 98, 149–152;
Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 1,
Anomalist, 2019, pp. 144–145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 61
Date: 10/1877
Description: Astronomer Giovanni
Schiaparelli reports seeing canali on the Martian surface from Brera
Observatory in Milan, Italy, during the Great Opposition. While the term
“canals” indicates an artificial construction, its proper translation as
“channels” implies that the observed features are natural configurations
of the planetary surface. From the incorrect translation into the term
“canals,” various assumptions are made about life on Mars; as these
assumptions are popularized, the canals become famous, giving rise to
waves of hypotheses, speculation, and fiction about the possibility of
intelligent life on Mars—the Martians. (Wikipedia, “Martian
canal”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 62
Date: 1/22/1878
Description: John Martin is out hunting near his ranch 6 miles north of
Dallas, Texas, when he notices a dark object high in the southern sky.
It is so bright it hurts his eyes as it moves with great speed to
directly over his head. The object is “about the size of a large saucer”
and looks like a large balloon. It speeds away rapidly. (“A
Strange Phenomena,”
Dallas Daily Herald, January 23, 1878, p. 4; Patrick Gross, “The
First Publicized Flying ‘Saucer’ Report?”;
“Dallas
1878,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library, February 5,
2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 63
Date: 7/29/1878
Description: About 12:30 p.m. Astronomers James
Craig Watson, director of the Ann Arbor (Mich.) Observatory, and Lewis
Swift, an
amateur from Rochester, New York, both claim to see a planet-like object
close to the Sun during the total solar eclipse. Watson, observing from
Separation, Wyoming, places the object about 2.5° southwest of the Sun
and estimates its magnitude at 4.5. Swift, observing from a location
near Denver, Colorado, sees what he takes to be an intra-mercurial
planet about 3° southwest of the Sun. He estimates its brightness to be
the same as that of Theta Cancri, a fifth-magnitude star which is also
visible during totality, about six or seven minutes from the object.
Both Watson and Swift describe the object as red in color. Watson says
it has a definite disc, unlike stars, which appear as shimmering
pinpoints of light. (James C. Watson, “On
the Discovery of an Intra-Mercurial
Planet,” American Journal of Science, ser. 3, 16 (1878): 230–233;
Lewis Swift, “Letter
from Mr. Lewis
Swift, Relating to the Discovery of Intra-Mercurial Planets,”
American Journal of Science, ser. 3, 16 (1878): 313–315; Richard Baum
and William Sheehan, In Search of Planet Vulcan: The Ghost in Newton’s
Clockwork Universe, Plenum, 1997, pp. 185–223)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 64
Date: 3/14/1879
End date: 4/18/1955
Description: Albert Einstein born
Type: scientist
Reference: Wikipedia
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 5/15/1879
Time: 2140
Description: Two very large “wheels” were seen spinning in the air and
slowly coming to the surface of the sea. Estimated diameter: 40 m.
Distance between the objects: 150 m. Speed: 80 km/h/ Duration: 35 min.
Witnesses aboard the ship “Vultur”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Round up 17; Anatomy 12 (Vallee)
Location: Persian Gulf
ID: 4
Date: 1880
Description: A 14-year-old boy saw a luminous ball descending from the
sky and hovering near him. He felt somehow “drawn” to it, but succeeded
in backing away in spite of his terror.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 2O6 (Vallee)
Location: Eastern Venezuela
ID: 5
Date: 1880
Description: A strange being dressed in tight-fitting clothes and
shining helmet soared over the heads of two sentries, who fired without
result. The apparition stunned them with something described as “blue
fire.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 61, 3; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Aldershot, Great Britain
ID: 3
Date: 3/22/1880
Description: About 6:00 a.m. A large number of brilliantly luminous
bodies are seen to rise from the horizon and pass from east to west at
Kattenau, East Prussia [now Furmanovka, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia].
They move through space “like a string of beads.” Possible meteor
procession. (“A
Remarkable Phenomenon,” Nature 22 (May 20, 1880): 64; Martin Shough
and Wim van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist, 2019,
pp. 169– 170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 65
Date: 3/26/1880
Time: evening
Description: Four men walking near Galisteo Junction were surprised as
they heard voices coming from a “strange balloon,” which flew over them.
It was shaped like a fish and seemed to be guided by a large fanlike
device. There were eight to ten figures aboard. Their language was not
understood. The object flew low over Galisteo Junction and rose rapidly
toward the east.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 65, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Lamy, New Mexico
ID: 6
Date: 3/26/1880
Description: Night. The train depot operator and a few friends are
walking at Galisteo, New Mexico, when they hear loud voices and laughter
coming from a “large balloon” shaped like a fish approaching from the
west. A flower is dropped from the car of the balloon to which is
attached a slip of silk-like paper on which Chinese characters are
written. The next morning, searchers find a cup of peculiar workmanship,
but both artifacts are purchased by a “wealthy young Chinaman” and a
“collector of curiosities” who visits town on March 28, although this
part of the tale seems facetious and racist. The yarn is typical of
sensational newspaper hoaxes that have no basis in reality. (“Galisteo’s
Apparition,” Santa Fe Weekly New Mexican, March 29, 1880, p. 3; “Solved
at Last,” Santa Fe Weekly New Mexican, April 5, 1880, p. 4; Clark
III 69–70, 592; Patrick Gross, URECAT, December
3, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 66
Date: 6/1880 (approximate)
Description: David Muckle and W. R. McKay of East Kent [now
Chatham-Kent], Ontario, are in a field on Muckle’s farm when they hear a
loud explosion and see a cloud of stones flying upward. They go to the
spot and find a circular area, 16 feet across, that has been swept clean
of vegetation. (“A
Curious Phenomenon,” Rock Hill (S.C.) Herald, July 7, 1880,
p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 67
Date: early 7/1880
Description: A train is running on the Chattanooga Railroad near
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in a thunderstorm when the engineer sees a
large ball of fire rushing down the rails to the engine. As it passes
under the locomotive, he feels a shock that jars the entire train. There
is a loud explosion “opposite the ladies’ car” and a telegraph pole is
splintered from top to bottom. (“Passengers
Shocked by Lightning,” Memphis (Tenn.) Public Ledger, July 15, 1880,
p. 2; Mark Rodeghier, “UFO/Vehicle Very Close Encounters,” IUR 27, no. 1
(Spring 2002): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 68
Date: 7/28/1880
Description: 6:00 p.m. C. A. Youngman and Ben Flexner are looking out a
drugstore window at 2nd and Chestnut streets in Louisville, Kentucky,
when they see something in the air coming from the direction of the Ohio
River bridge. As it approaches them, it appears to be a man surrounded
by machinery, which he is working with his hands and feet. The object is
too high to make out the details of its construction. The man moves off
to the south, pedaling constantly. Around 8:00 p.m., the Royster family
of Madisonville, Kentucky, watches a circular flying object with a ball
at each end moving above the train depot. (“More
Monkeying,” Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal, July 29, 1880, p. 4;
“The
Flying Machine,” Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal, August 6, 1880,
p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 69
Date: 9/30/1880
Description: 9:45 p.m. A brilliant object is seen crossing the sky in
Columbus, Georgia, at a very low altitude. Coming from the south, it
heads northeasterly in a horizontal line. It appears made of three
perfectly developed balls of an equal size and equidistant from each
other. The first ball emits a tail that envelops the two following and
extends behind them. The tail is luminous except at the far end, where
it is indistinct and nebulous. It is visible for a full 50 seconds and
continues on its course without falling. (“Wonders
of a Meteor,” Marion (Ohio) Star, October 5, 1880, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 70
Date: 6/11/1881
Time: 0400
Description: The two sons of the Prince of Wales, one of them the future
king of England, were cruising aboard “La Bacchante” when an object
resembling a fully lighted ship was seen (“a phantom vessel all
aglow”).
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fort 637; Anatomy 12 (Vallee)
Location: Between Melbourne and Sydney at sea, Australia
ID: 7
Date: late 10/1881
Description: An unusual fall of spider web occurs near the coast of Lake
Michigan at Milwaukee, Green Bay, Fort Howard, Sheboygan, and Ozaukee
County, Wisconsin. The webs seem to come from “over the lake” and fall
from a great height. The strands are from 2 feet to several yards long,
strong in texture, and very white. No spiders are seen. (“A
Rain of Spider Webs,” Scientific American 45 (1881): 337)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 71
Date: 7/6/1882
Description: 10:30 p.m. Amateur astronomer N. S. Drayton in Jersey City
Heights, New Jersey, watches a red object without a trail move across
the sky from the constellation of Ursa Minor to Capricorn in 45 seconds.
(N. S. Drayton, “A Supposed
Meteor,” Scientific American 47 (July 22, 1882): 53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 72
Date: 11/17/1882
Description: 6:00 p.m. An auroral beam is observed from the Royal
Observatory, Greenwich, London, by astronomer Edward
Walter Maunder and by John
Rand Capron from his private observatory on Hog’s Back, Surrey,
England, in association with a geomagnetic storm. The beam is described
in detail in various ways, including as a “beam,” “spindle,” “definite
body” with a Zeppelin-like shape and pale green color, passing from
horizon to horizon above the moon. The phenomenon transits the sky in
approximately 75 seconds. (Wikipedia, “November
1882 geomagnetic
storm”; J. Rand Capron, “The
Auroral Beam of November 17, 1882,” Philosophical Magazine, ser. 5,
15 (1883): 318–339; Edward Walter Maunder, “A
Strange Celestial Visitor,” The Observatory 39 (May 1916): 213–215;
Paul Fuller, “The
Life and Times of John Rand Capron (1829–1888),” The Antiquarian
Astronomer 8 (March 2014): 21–45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 73
Date: 2/5/1883
Description: 6:45 p.m. A witness at Lake Glasfjorden, near Arvika,
Sweden, spots a meteor-like object high on the horizon moving from
southeast to northwest. It makes several minor course changes, varies
its color from white to yellow, and emits some sparks. After 18 seconds,
it changes its course to the southeast and is so low to the ground that
its light is reflected in the lake. By this time, it has a distinct
tail. Total duration is 50 seconds. (“On
February 5,
at 6.45 p.m.,” Nature 27 (March 1, 1883): 423)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 74
Date: 8/12/1883
End date: 8/13/1883
Description: Astronomer José
Árbol y Bonilla, director
of the El Cerro de la Bufa Meteorological Observatory in Zacatecas,
Mexico, is observing the sun by eyepiece projection when he and an
assistant see a large number of small bodies crossing the solar disc.
Over the course of two days, they count a total of 447 dark objects.
They seem bright as they approach the sun but are dark as they pass
across its face. He takes several photographs and suspects that they are
relatively near the earth. Mexican astronomers in 2011 suggested that a
comet may have split into several pieces; these objects were estimated
to have had a size of between 150 and 3,350 feet, and to have passed
only 334 to 5,000 miles from the Earth; they thought a fragmented Comet
12P/Pons-Brooks was one possibility, in which case Earth barely avoided
multiple Tunguska events or even a mass extinction; this was reported in
the media and disputed in October 2011; but the source of these objects
could also have been comet C/1883 D1 (Brooks-Swift) or even a third,
unknown comet that year; the event also coincided with the annual
Perseid meteor shower; even migrating birds cannot be ruled out. (José
Á. y Bonilla, “Passage
sur le disque
solaire d’un essaim de corpuscles,” L’Astronomie 4 (1885): 347–350;
Hector Javier Durand Manterola, Maria de la Paz Ramos Lara, and
Guadalupe Cordero, “Interpretation
of the Observations Made in 1883 in Zacatecas
(Mexico): A Fragmented Comet That Nearly Hits the Earth,” Earth and
Planetary Astrophysics (2011); “Billion-Ton
Comet May Have Missed Earth by a Few Hundred Kilometers in 1883,”
MIT Technology Review, October 17, 2011; “Did
a Massive Comet Almost Wipe Out Humans in 1883?” The Week, January
8, 2015; “OT- 1883
Zacatecas Observation of Objects before Sun Were Not 12P/Pons-Brooks
Fragments,” October 17, 2011; Phil Plait, “Did
a Fragmenting Comet nearly Hit the Earth in 1883? Color Me Very
Skeptical,” Bad Astronomy, October 17, 2011; Martin Shough and Wim
van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist, 2019,
pp. 189–207)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 75
Date: 6/6/1884
Description: 1:00 p.m. Rancher John W. Ellis and some of his ranch hands
in south-central Dundy County, Nebraska, allegedly see a blazing object
fall from the sky and crash into many pieces, burning the grass and
fusing the sand. The light is so intense it blinds one of them. The
newspaper suggests it is a “vessel belonging originally to some other
planet.” The remains of the object are said to have dissolved in a
rainstorm. However, the tale is actually a fictional story written by a
correspondent in Benkelman. (“A
Celestial Visitor,” Lincoln (Neb.) Daily State Journal, June 8,
1884, p. 5; “The
Magical Meteor,” Lincoln (Neb.) Daily State Journal, June 10, 1884,
p. 4; Jerome Clark, “Spaceship and Saltshaker,” IUR 11, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1986): 12, 21; Clark III 593)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 76
Date: 7/3/1884
Description: 8:30 p.m. L. C. Yale of Norwood, New York, watches an
object with a long tail move slowly from east to west. It has a “nucleus
like a globe, as large as the moon, surrounded by a bright ring, two
dark lines crossing the nucleus in vertical direction, the lines larger
in the middle, straight on inside, curved on outside, tapering both ways
to points.” The general appearance is of a “gigantic sword of fire,
moving handle first.” (“A
Great Meteor,” Illustrated Science Monthly 2 (1884): 136)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 77
Date: 1885
Description: The Benz Patent-Motorwagen by the German Carl Benz is
widely regarded as the world’s first practical modern automobile and was
the first car put into series production.
Type: industrial advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 2/16/1885
Description: Night. During a severe snowstorm, a bright light suddenly
flashes in the high rocks on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River
some five miles northwest of Port Jervis, New York. The snow-covered
hill glows like red-hot iron for several feet around, gleaming through
the storm for several minutes, then growing dim and disappearing. (“Mysterious
Light,” Wichita (Kan.) Beacon, March 25, 1885, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 78
Date: 2/25/1885
Description: 5:00 a.m. Sailing in the North Pacific some 800 miles west
of Victoria, British Columbia, Captain John Waters of the barque
Innerwick and his mate see the sky turning fiery red. Suddenly a large
fireball appears above the ship and falls hissing into the sea about 150
feet away from them, causing a wave of water to impact the ship.
Electrical discharges run through the rigging and the masts. (“Frightful
Experience at Sea,” Sacramento (Calif.) Record-Union, March 3, 1885,
p. 1; “Notes
and News,” Science 5 (1885): 242–243; Martin Shough and Wim van
Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 2, Anomalist, 2021,
pp. 177–199)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 79
Date: 11/2/1885
Time: dawn
Description: A luminous object circled the harbor. Altitude: 5-6 m.
Illuminated the whole town. Duration: 1 1/2 min, as a bluish-green
flame. Then plunged into the sea. Made several circles above the
ferry-boat pier.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 48; Anatomy 14 (Vallee)
Location: Scutari, Turkey
ID: 8
Date: 1886
Description: French novelist Jules
Verne publishes Robur the Conqueror, which describes the appearance
of mysterious objects and strange lights in the sky all over the world.
It turns out that the sightings are of a flying machine, invented by the
novel’s anti-hero Robur, who kidnaps people and takes them on board the
airship. (Wikipedia, “Robur
the Conqueror”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 80
Date: 10/24/1886
Description: Night. Nine persons who are sleeping in a hut some 10 miles
from Maracaibo, Venezuela, are awakened by a loud humming noise and a
dazzling light that illuminates the interior. The people begin to pray
but they start vomiting as extensive swellings appear on the upper part
of their bodies, especially around the face and lips. They feel no heat,
although the light has a smoky appearance and a peculiar smell. The next
morning, the swellings subside but leave black blotches. By November 2,
the skin peels off and the blotches are round sores. Portions of their
hair falls off. Trees around the hut show no damage until November 2,
when they suddenly wither. The symptoms are similar to those of ionizing
radiation syndrome. (Warner Cowgill, “Curious
Phenomenon in Venezuela,”
letter, Scientific American 55 (December 18, 1886): 389; Clark III 949;
Patrick Gross, UFO
Reports from
the Past)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 81
Date: 11/1886
Description: Heinrich Hertz became the first person to transmit and
receive controlled radio waves.
Type: scientific advance
Reference: link
Date: 3/19/1887
Description: 5:00 p.m. Captain Cornelis Dirks Swart of the Dutch bark
J.P.A. sees a “meteor in the shape of two balls” during a storm in the
North Atlantic about 590 miles northeast of Bermuda. One ball is black
and the other is luminous and oblong. The luminous object descends with
a roar and lights up the ship and surrounding water. The crew feels heat
from the object even as solid lumps of ice fall on the deck and the
rigging becomes iced. The side of the ship where it falls turns
partially black and the copper plating is blistered. The wind increases
to “hurricane force.” (“Rare
Electrical Phenomenon at Sea,” American Meteorological Journal 4
(July 1887): 98–99; Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough, Return to Magonia:
Investigating UFOs in History, 2015, pp. 205–217; Martin Shough and Wim
van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 2, Anomalist, 2021,
pp. 201–210)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 82
Date: 11/12/1887
Description: Midnight. Captain R. F. Moore of the English steamer SS
Siberian, sailing 10 nautical miles off Cape Race, Newfoundland,
watches an enormous fireball rising from the sea to the height of 15
feet. It travels against the strong wind and comes close to the ship,
then turns to the southeast and disappears. The object is seen for about
2 minutes. Moore says he has seen this phenomenon before and considers
it a sign of stormy weather. (“Globular
Lightning,” Science 10 (1887): 324; Thomas Corwin Mendenhall, “On
Globular Lightning,” American Meteorological Journal 6 (February
1890): 437, 442–443; Theo Paijmans, “Fiery Objects Rising from
the Oceans,” Charles Fort Institute Blogs, July 6, 2007; Martin Shough
and Wim van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 2, Anomalist, 2021,
pp. 151–174)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 83
Date: 11/12/1887
Time: 2400
Description: A huge sphere of fire was observed rising out of the ocean
by witnesses aboard the “Siberian.” It rose to an altitude of 16 m, flew
against the wind, and came close to the ship, then “dashed oft” toward
the southeast. Duration: 5 min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 48; Anatomy 14 (Vallee)
Location: Cape Race, Atlantic Ocean
ID: 9
Date: early 9/1888
Description: 3:15 p.m. During a severe thunderstorm, after a flash of
lightning and a peal of thunder, witnesses see a huge flame at Highland
Lake, near Winsted, Connecticut. The water is parted for yards by a huge
ball of fire at least 10 feet in diameter, and billows rise on either
side to a height of 20 feet. The light moves toward the head of the lake
with great velocity. When it is within 100 yards of the shore, another
flash of lightning strikes, and the fireball disappears. The waters of
the lake remain disturbed for hours. (“A
Ball of Fire on a Lake,” Hagerstown (Ind.) Exponent, September 12,
1888, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 84
Date: 2/7/1889
Description: 6:00 p.m. A cylindrical luminous object passes over Oella,
Maryland, at only several hundred feet altitude. It lights up the
village “as brilliantly as if by a strong electric lamp.” It curves and
appears to descend to the ground one mile away. It follows the course of
the Patapsco River to the north for several seconds. (“A
Brilliant Meteor,”
Washington (D.C.) Evening Star, February 9, 1889, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 85
Date: 4/20/1889
End date: 4/30/1945
Description: German dictator Adolf Hitler, who initiated World War 2 and
was closely involved in military operations throughout the war, and was
central to the perpetration of the Holocaust, is born in
Austria-Hungary.
Type: historical figure
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: Winter 1889
Description: Nikola Tesla’s experiments at his Experimental Station on
wireless electricity transmission in Colorado Springs
Type: scientific event
Reference: link
Date: 1890’s
Description: The experimental proof of Maxwell’s equations was
demonstrated by Heinrich Hertz in a series of experiments. After that,
Maxwell’s equations were fully accepted by scientists.
Type: Wikipedia
Reference: link
Date: 6/13/1891
Description: Day. An unnamed witness claims to see a “meteor” explode
with a loud noise over the Wasson & Miller flour mill and cotton gin
in Dublin, Texas. The object looks like “a bale of cotton suspended in
the air after having been saturated in kerosene oil and ignited, except
that it created a much brighter light” that dazzles people standing
several hundred feet away. The object shatters into pieces before it
hits the ground, the fragments setting the grass and weeds on fire. In
addition to the fragments is a scrap of paper with writing in a strange
language. (“Dublin 1891,”
Texas UFO Museum and Research Library, February 5, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 86
Date: 7/12/1891
Description: 7:00 p.m. Residents of Theodore Street in Ottawa, Ontario,
see over the rifle range a cigar-shaped balloon with a bright light on
one end and a fan on the other traveling from south to north. (MacLeod
(Ont.) Gazette, July 16, 1891; Clark 45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 87
Date: 9/2/1891
Description: 8:00 p.m. Alonzo
M. Swan and L. D. Dodson (an equestrian recovering from an illness)
are camped in Coyote Canyon [now within the Sandia National Laboratory
complex], New Mexico, to benefit from the mineral springs there when
they see a brilliant light rise above a mountain to the south. As it
moves closer against the wind, they see it has a series of “electric arc
lights” around it and a “pole” or rudder that is similarly lit. The
object is in view for nearly two hours. Another lighted object appears
from the southwest and approaches the first object, but clouds prevent
any further observation. Swan sees a lighted object again on September
4, although this time it could be a star. (“Strange
Mid Air Ships,” Albuquerque (N.Mex.) Weekly Citizen, September 12,
1891, p. 3; Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough, Return to Magonia:
Investigating UFOs in History, Anomalist, 2015, pp. 219–237)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 88
Date: 1/1892 (approximate)
Description: George
W. Crusselle and S. D. Cuthereil from the USS
Thetis are wandering among the salt water lagoons on the west coast
of Baja California, Mexico, when they see a luminous object with smooth
edges about 30 feet in diameter approaching from the ocean at an
altitude of 50 feet. It changes shape from circular to an hourglass and
moves swiftly to the surface of a lagoon, covering it with a “brilliant
halo of light.” It rises moments later, changing its shape frequently,
and moving swiftly in a zigzag fashion. After 15 minutes it disappears
inland. (George W. Crusselle, “The
Coast Survey,” Atlanta Constitution, April 10, 1892, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 89
Date: 3/23/1892
Description: Evening–1:00 a.m. Residents of Warsaw, Poland, watch a
balloon over the city that casts rays of light from an electrical
apparatus. It remains stationary until 1:00 a.m., then it takes off to
the west. Other supposed balloons are seen March 22 or earlier over
Kaunas Fortress, Lithuania; and Modlin Fortress (in Nowy Dwór
Mazowiecki), Sosnowiec, Dąbrowa Górnicza, and Dąbrowice, Poland. As they
remain stationary for as long as 40 minutes, some assume they are
piloted by German spies. (“Spying
by Balloon,” New York Evening World, March 25, 1892, p. 1; “Balloons
As German Spies,” New York Times, March 26, 1892, p. 3; “Steering
Military Balloons,” Birmingham Daily Post, March 31, 1892, p. 8;
Clark 45; Brett Holman, “The
Phantom Balloon Scare of 1892,” Airminded, July 11, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 90
Date: 4/16/1892
Description: Witnesses at Przemyśl Fortress, Poland, see a bright point
of light in the north that seems to be a sphere emitting searchlight
beams above and below it. The object is hovering at an altitude of 2,100
feet and begins circling. (Poland 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 91
Date: 6/1/1892
Description: Night. A large balloon carrying a searchlight and four
passengers passes over Newark, New Jersey, descending as low as 20 feet
from the ground. (Trenton (N.J.) Times, June 2, 1892; Clark III
70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 92
Date: 6/19/1892
Description: Night. J. L. Shaw of Conyers, Georgia, sees a mysterious
light in the sky from which balls of fire fall to the ground near him.
(“Saw
Balls of Fire,” Atlanta Constitution, June 21, 1892, p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 93
Date: 8/30/1892
Description: 11:00 p.m. Several people in Waxahachie, Texas, see a “kind
of balloon” with colored lights passing over the northern part of the
city after hearing a man shouting a greeting. (“What
Was It?” Galveston (Tex.) Daily News, September 2, 1892, p. 6; Clark
III 70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 94
Date: 9/20/1892
Description: Large quantities of a white, thread-like substance fall
from the sky during a rainstorm at Gainesville, Florida. Samples are
sent to arachnologist George
Marx of the US Department of Agriculture, who performs a chemical
analysis that shows it to be from migrating spiders. (“Spider
Web from the Clouds,” Scientific American 67 (1892): 325)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 95
Date: 2/24/1893
End date: 2/25/1893
Description: 10:00 p.m. Charles
James Norcock, captain of the corvette HMS
Caroline,
is sailing about 16 miles south of Jeju Island, South Korea, in the
Korea Strait when the officer of the watch observes some round lights
resembling “Chinese lanterns festooned between the masts of a lofty
vessel.” They are moving slowly north and appear to be in the air
between the ship and the Hallasan volcano on Jeju. They are visible
until roughly 12:00 midnight, sometimes appearing as a mass, other times
strung out more in an irregular line. The ship’s crew observes them
again the next night as they are sailing east from Port Hamilton [now
the Korean islands of Geomundo]. This time they are visible until dawn.
Although there are some odd characteristics of this observation, the
likeliest explanation is that they are inferior mirages of distant
fishing boats, as atmospheric conditions are favorable on these dates.
(Charles J. Norcock, “An
Atmospheric Phenomenon in the North China Sea,”
Nature 48 (1893): 76–77; Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht, Redemption
of the Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist, 2019, pp. 253–281)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 96
Date: 8/18/1893
Description: Sunrise. People living near the small hamlet of Leslie in
Cumberland County, Kentucky, notice that the sun has a peculiar color.
Thousands of small discs, seemingly about the size of a wagon wheel,
appear in the sky, all of them in motion. They appear round in shape
from far away, but when closer to the ground they change to triangles,
squares, or odd forms. Their colors vary: Some are bright red, others
green or black, but when they are close to the ground they are all a
deep purple color. All are silent. The phenomenon lasts about one hour,
during which time the villagers fear it is judgment day. (“Judgment
Day,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 20, 1893, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 97
Date: 1894
End date: 1895
Description: The first practical radio transmitters and receivers
invented in by Guglielmo
Marconi using radiotelegraphy
Type: industrial advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 2/1894 (approximate)
Description: Capt. Corning of the British schooner W. and H. Witherspoon
sees several lights rise from the Gulf of Mexico off the west coast of
Florida. They ascend to a height of 25 feet, explode, and disappear.
(“Cum
Grano Salis,”
Lowell (Mass.) Daily Sun, February 8, 1894, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 98
Date: 5/1894
Description: During the opposition of Mars, the idea that Schiaparelli’s
canali are really irrigation canals made by intelligent beings is first
hinted at, and then adopted as the only intelligible explanation, by
American astronomer Percival Lowell in
Flagstaff, Arizona, and a few others. The visible seasonal melting of
Martian polar icecaps fuels speculation that an advanced alien race
indigenous to Mars has built the canals to transport the water to drier
equatorial regions. Newspaper and magazine articles about Martian canals
and “Martians” capture the public imagination. Lowell publishes his
views in three books: Mars (1895), Mars and Its Canals (1906), and Mars
As the Abode of Life (1908). He remains a strong proponent for the rest
of his life of the idea that the canals were built for irrigation by an
intelligent civilization. (Wikipedia, “Martian
canal”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 99
Date: 6/7/1894
Description: Astronomers Percival
Lowell and William
H. Pickering at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, see two
“dazzling white specks” for a few moments on the south polar cap of
Mars. The most likely explanation is the reflection of sunlight from ice
on the surface or ice crystals in clouds. (Percival Lowell, Mars,
Houghton, Mifflin, 1897 ed., pp. 86–87)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 100
Date: 7/20/1894
Description: Sunset. Bernard Parry and his wife are near Marriott [now
Marriott-Slaterville], Utah, when they see a “small black cloud” in the
northeast quickly approaching them. It grows bigger, then smaller, as
they watch it. When it is only 450 feet away, it stops and hovers. Its
sides seem to be folded up toward the center. Many small black-and-
white objects (birds?) are moving in its center. Suddenly the object
pivots to the east and moves away toward Ogden. (Ogden (Utah) Standard,
July 26, 1894)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 101
Date: late 11/1894
Description: 11:00 p.m.–2:00 a.m. Mennonite farmers Henry
W. J. Smith and Benjamin
W. Blue see a luminous ball in the northeastern sky about 30° above
the horizon some 3 miles west of Manchester, Kansas. The object, in the
shape of a “casket,” shoots toward the west 3° then returns to its
original position. As it maneuvers near them, it opens several times,
revealing various entities each time, from a crowned man to a “haughty
woman” and a military leader. The original report appears in the
Evangelical Visitor. (“Battle
in the Heavens,” Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Times, October 6, 1894,
p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 102
Date: 1895
Description: French parapsychologist Albert
de Rochas is asked to hypnotize a family friend, “Mireille,” who is
suffering from some ailment. In one of her sessions, Mireille describes
how she is rising in space, which she describes as luminous and peopled
with phantoms. Subsequent sessions reveal that she has visited Mars and
other planets in astral form. Mars has canals, of course, but also
Martians who are less intelligent than earthlings. (Hilary Evans,
“Martians of the 1890s,” IUR 11, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1986): 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 103
Date: 8/1895
Description: US psychical researcher James
Hyslop begins investigating a case of automatic writing by Sarah
Harper Cleaveland (“Mrs. Smead”)
in Onondaga County, New York. She keeps records of her planchette
experiments and puts them at Hyslop’s disposal. In August, she makes
several references to the planet Mars and Jupiter. She provides a crude
map of Jupiter’s surface, and the planet is said to be the “babies’
heaven.” At the next sitting, she draws a map of Mars, the different
zones named in the Martian language; she gives several communications
about the inhabitants and the canals. Martian revelations cease for
another 5 years until September 1900, when the communications return in
a developed state. She draws men, boats, houses, and flowers, named in
Martian and written in hieroglyphic characters. Some of the sketches (a
self-winding double clock) are very ingenious, while others (a Martian
airship) are peculiar but unconvincing. (Hilary Evans, “Martians of the
1890s,” IUR 11, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1986): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 104
Date: 8/31/1895
Description: 8:00 p.m. Oxford English Dictionary lexicographer James
Murray watches a “brilliant luminous body” move slowly over the
Oxford University campus in Oxford, England, toward the east. At roughly
the same time, other observers in London see a similar meteor pass over
slowly for about 5 minutes, and A. Warren Melhuish sees it at Margate,
Kent, around 10:15 p.m. (J. A. H. Murray, “Remarkable
Meteoric (?) Appearance,” London Times, September 4, 1895, p. 3; “Remarkable
Meteoric Appearance,” London Times, September 6, 1895, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 105
Date: 11/8/1895
Description: X-Rays discovered
Type: scientific advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 1896
Description: Author Aleister Crowley was walking in the mountains when
he suddenly saw two little men. He made a gesture to them, but they did
not seem to pay attention and disappeared among the rocks.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Magic Without Tears, by A. Crowley (Vallee)
Location: Arolla, near Zermatt, Swiss Alps
ID: 10
Date: 7/1/1896
Description: 6:00 p.m. A mysterious balloon passes over Winnipeg,
Manitoba, to the east at an estimated 2,000 feet. It is lost to view
after 20 minutes (“A Mysterious Balloon,” Winnipeg Manitoba Morning Free
Press, July 2, 1896, p. 4; “They
Think It’s Andreé’s,” Chicago Tribune, July 2, 1896, p. 1; Clark III
70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 106
Date: 7/3/1896
Description: The chief of the Kispiox people and a group of Canadian
trappers see a brightly lit balloon traveling north near Blackwater
Lake, British Columbia. The same day, a First Nations boy sees something
similar at the Skeena River, British Columbia. (“It Was No Dream,”
Winnipeg Manitoba Morning Free Press, August 13, 1896, p. 2; Brett
Holman, “Believing
Is Seeing,” Airminded, May 2, 2010)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 107
Date: mid 7/1896
Description: Night. Chester
N. Crotsenburg, a
postal clerk on the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railway, is on a
train heading north from Princeton, Missouri, when he notices a round,
dull-rose-colored light low on the western horizon. It then rises in
height to 45°, and appears to be pacing the train, keeping a half-mile
or one mile distance. After the train reaches Lineville, Iowa (13.7
miles away), it passes out of sight behind buildings. Possibly the moon.
(“Ball Lightning,” Monthly Weather Review 26 (August 1898): 358; Martin
Shough and Wim van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist,
2019, pp. 291–304)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 108
Date: 8/11/1896
Description: Charles
Abbott Smith of San Francisco, California, is granted a patent for a
cylindrical airship with a cone- shaped bow, “two wings hinged at the
upper part of the vessel,” and a compartment for machinery and
passengers. (US Patent, “Air-ship,”
granted August 11, 1896)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 109
Date: 10/1896
Description: Evening. A Miss Hagstrom is riding a bicycle on Telegraph
Avenue in Oakland, California, when she notices an object with a
powerful headlight moving toward the west and gradually descending. (“Saw
the Mystic Flying Light,”
San Francisco Call, November 22, 1896, p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 110
Date: late 10/1896
Description: Fruit rancher Constant
T. Musso and his family in Bowman, California. watch three bright
lights moving toward the east at about 100 mph. (“Mission
of the Aerial Ship,” San Francisco Call, November 25, 1896,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 111
Date: early 11/1896
Description: 8:00 p.m. Louis
Charmak and one other person in Woodland, California, notice three
bright lights in the southwestern sky moving toward the northeast. As
they reach Main Street, they rise another 100 feet in the air. They are
close together and followed by a white trail of light. (“Was
It an Airship?” Woodland (Calif.) Daily Democrat, November 24, 1896,
p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 113
Date: early 11/1896 (approximate)
Description: Evening. Some of the employees at the Sutro Heights estate
[now Sutro Heights Park in the Richmond District] of San Francisco,
California, Mayor Adolph
Sutro watch a brilliant light approaching from the sea at a height
of 500 feet. Two lights are visible, one a “misty-looking mass” and the
other a searchlight. The object disappears in the direction of the city
and turns to the north just before it passes from view. Another report
suggests that the object passe over Seal Rocks and shone its searchlight
on the seals. (“The
Apparition of the Air,” San Francisco Call, November 24, 1896,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 112
Date: 11/17/1896
Description: Afternoon and evening. A mystery airship wave begins in
California when residents of the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento see
a high-flying object moving slowly in a circle, leaving a trail of
smoke. Around 6:30 p.m., a light resembling an electric arc lamp appears
in the night sky above Sacramento. Horse trainer David Carl notices it
close to the ground and hears a voice saying, “We are too low down here.
Send her up higher.” Hundreds watch as it passes at low altitude for 30
minutes, avoiding buildings and hills. Some people claim to hear voices,
either arguing or singing. R. L. Lowry sees four men pushing the vessel
by its wheels. The witnesses include streetcar workers Charles Lusk and
Granville
C. Snider, who
watch the object rise and fall as it moves southwest. (Wikipedia, “Mystery
airship”; “Voices
in the Sky,” Sacramento (Calif.) Evening Bee, November 18, 1896,
p. 1; “Strange
Craft of the Sky,” San Francisco Call, November 19, 1896, p. 1;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs:
A History,
1896, The
Author, 1974; Thomas E. Bullard, The Airship File, The author, 1982;
Clark III 70–75)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 114
Date: 11/20/1896
Description: 5:30 p.m. Passengers on a streetcar in Oakland, California,
notice a “peculiar-looking contrivance” high in the sky and moving in a
westerly direction toward San Francisco. It has a powerful headlight and
another light on the bottom. It is also seen over Folsom, San Francisco,
Sacramento, Modesto, Manteca, Sebastopol, and several other cities later
in the evening and is reportedly viewed by hundreds of witnesses. (“Saw
the Mystic Flying
Light,” San Francisco Call, November 22, 1896, p. 13; Wikipedia, “Mystery
airship”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 116
Date: 11/20/1896
Description: Afternoon. D. H. Risdon is working in an orchard near
Tagus, California, when he spots an object “like an immense sheet”
moving against the wind at a “considerable elevation.” (“Saw
the Mystic Flying Light,” San Francisco Call, November 22, 1896,
p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 115
Date: 11/22/1896
Description: 7:05 p.m. M. H. Cohen, a conductor on the Hayes Street
line, sees an aerial light at about 300–400 feet altitude when he is at
Market and 8th streets in San Francisco, California. Other people on the
streetcar also watch the light, which is moving across the Golden Gate
and flashing periodically. When the streetcar disembarks at 1st Street
at 7:13 p.m., Cohen and the others see the light over the Twin Peaks
downtown. At the top of Pierce Street hill, Cohen sees it returning from
Twin Peaks, and at 7:51 p.m. he watches it from Ashbury Street. Airships
are seen later at Oakland, Alameda, San Leandro, San Jose, California,
and Tacoma, Washington. (“The
Apparition of
the Air,” San Francisco Call, November 24, 1896, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 119
Date: 11/22/1896
Description: San Francisco attorney George
D. Collins announces that he represents the airship inventor, a
“very wealthy man who has been studying the subject of flying machines
for fifteen years” and who moved to California from Maine in 1889. He
claims the airship is a 150-foot metal contraption with two canvas wings
18 feet wide and shaped like a bird’s tail. It has been built in
Oroville and is now hidden in the San Francisco, California, area as the
inventor deals with technical problems. However, people in Oroville
sense a hoax, as they know of no such inventor. On November 24, Collins
complains to the San Francisco Call that another newspaper, the San
Francisco Examiner, has been printing falsehoods about him, including an
interview with another attorney, Frederick Bradley. Suspicion falls on
an itinerant dentist from Maine, Elmer H. Benjamin, who insists his only
inventions are dental fittings. A prominent citizen of Oakland, George
H. Carleton, claims to know the inventor but has been sworn to
secrecy. Former California Attorney General William
H. H. Hart soon claims to represent the mystery inventor, who has
fired Collins for talking too much. But Hart is also blabbing
prolifically, saying that two or three airships exist (a second built in
an eastern state) and his role is to “consolidate both interests.” Hart
asserts that the airship can carry four men and 1,000 pounds of dynamite
for dropping on Havana, Cuba. (Clark III 71–73; “A
Lawyer’s Word for That Airship,” San Francisco Chronicle, November
22, 1896, p. 36; “Collins
Sticks to His Airship Story,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 23,
1896, p. 12; San Francisco Chronicle, November 24, 1896, p. 9; “Have
We Got ’Em Again?” Sacramento Bee, November 23, 1896, p. 1; “Coy
Mr. Collins and His Airship,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 24,
1896, p. 9; “The
Apparition of the Air,”
San Francisco Call, November 24, 1896, p. 1; “Mission
of the Aerial Ship,” San Francisco Call, November 25, 1896, p. 1;
“Hart
Stands by His Ship,” “Hart
Confirms the Story from Sacramento,” San Francisco Call, November
26, 1896, p. 1; “Three
Airships, Says Hart,” San Francisco Call, November 29, 1896, p. 1;
Michael Busby, Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery, Pelican, 2003,
pp. 249–315)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 117
Date: 11/22/1896
Description: 5:30 p.m. Another mystery light moving in a wavering
fashion toward the southwest is seen in Sacramento, California, by many
people. At times it disappears, then flashes out again with renewed
brilliance. Edward Carragher, owner of the Saddle Rock Restaurant, views
the light through binoculars and is able to see a large object
supporting an arc lamp. Cigar store vendor Jacob Zemansky watches the
undulating light through a telescope until it fades into nothingness.
(“Have
We Got ’Em Again?” Sacramento Bee, November 23, 1896, p. 1; “A
Winged Ship in the Sky,” San Francisco Call, November 23, 1896,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 118
Date: 11/23/1896
Description: 7:00 p.m. A bright light is seen west of Chico, California,
traveling to the northwest. The same or similar light is seen west of
Red Bluff, California flying west at about 2,000 feet. After a few
minutes it descends to 1,000 feet. It disappears over the Coast Range.
(“Mission
of the Aerial Ship,” San Francisco Call, November 25, 1896,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 120
Date: 11/24/1896
Description: 6:45 p.m. Several passengers on a train crossing the bay
from San Francisco to Oakland, California, see an airship alternately
stop, hover, and move on. Minutes later, 6th Street in Oakland is
overflowing with onlookers as the object passes above Broadway, flashing
its light. One spectator is watching through binoculars and says the
airship’s turns causes the searchlight to shine in different directions.
Among the witnesses are Col. Thomas
F. Garrity, city
electrician George
H. Carleton, George
Hatton of the Oakland Tribune, and Melvin Holmes. (“Mission
of the Aerial Ship,” San Francisco Call, November 25, 1896,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 121
Date: 11/25/1896
Description: Evening. A mystery light flies in circular patterns around
Sacramento, California, at a rapid rate of speed. Observers include
Deputy Secretary of State George A. McCalvy, District Attorney Frank
D. Ryan, and E. D. McCabe, the governor’s personal secretary. It is
three times as large as Venus, also visible. The light is observed for
20 minutes then reappears later in the evening. A Professor Dodge of
Galt, California, claims he can make out the “outlines of a dark body”
just above the light. (Clark III 73; “Hart
Confirms the Story from Sacramento,”
San Francisco Call, November 26, 1896, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 122
Date: 11/25/1896
Description: 6:00 p.m. Col. H. G. Shaw and Camille Spooner are riding in
a carriage near Lodi, California, when their horse stops suddenly.
Looking up, they see three slender beings about 7 feet tall. Shaw walks
up to them and asks them where they are from; they reply in an odd
warbling language. He notes that they are hairless and wear no apparent
clothing. The eyes are large and lustrous, and they each seem to be
carrying and egg-shaped light and a breathing apparatus under the left
arm. Shaw claims the beings try to lift him but they are not strong
enough. They then notice a 150-foot airship hovering 20 feet above the
water close to a bridge. The three beings float to the craft, open a
door in the side, and disappear inside. The ship flies quickly out of
sight. Shaw speculates that the beings are from Mars. (“Three
Strange Visitors,” Stockton (Calif.) Evening Mail, November 27,
1896, p. 1; Patrick Gross, UFOs
in the Daily Press)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 123
Date: 11/26/1896
Description: 7:00 p.m. Farmer John Bawl and his family see an airship
moving to the southwest over his residence on Monroe Street near
Franklin Street in San Jose, California. It is lunging sharply from side
to side and has a pair of flapping wings and a red light on the bottom.
Musician and President of the University of the Pacific Moses
Smith Cross also
sees the strange aerial light when he is visiting a colleague two blocks
away. (“It
Flitted over San Jose,”
San Francisco Call, November 28, 1896, p. 1; “Three
Airships, Says Hart,” San Francisco Call, November 29, 1896,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 124
Date: 11/26/1896
Description: 8:00 p.m. Electrician Case Gilson and three other men see
an unlighted airship in a clear sky 1,000 feet over Oakland, California.
It is flying northward against the wind and looks like a “great black
cigar with a fishlike tail.” The body is at least 100 feet long and
looks as if it is made of darkened aluminum. It is seen again at 8:30
p.m. and disappears in the direction of San Francisco. (Clark III 73;
“Says
He Saw It,” Oakland (Calif.) Tribune, December 1, 1896, p. 1; “Saw
the Airship at Close Range,” San Francisco Call, December 2, 1896,
p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 125
Date: 11/27/1896
Description: 10:00 p.m. A prominent attorney and others in Woodland,
California, see a cluster of lights attached to an apparent airship
moving at an altitude of about 500 feet at about 25 mph. It remains
visible for an hour. (“More Airship
Stories,” Woodland (Calif.) Daily Democrat, November 29, 1896,
p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 126
Date: 11/28/1896
Description: Percy Drew watches an enormous airship with a red light
over Oakland, California. (“Says
He Saw It,” Oakland (Calif.) Tribune, December 1, 1896, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 127
Date: 12/1/1896
Description: Harry
Lytle watches an airship as it flies toward the southwest over the
Coast Ranges 3 miles north of Rumsey, California. He claims to recognize
it as an “aircycle,” kind of a winged balloon with a pedal-driven
propellor, plans for which he submitted to E.
W. Brown of Davis, California, and which they constructed in 1893.
He calls it the Nonesuch. On an alleged test flight to Los Angeles on
March 2, 1893, the device was stolen by some “hoboes.” He assumes the
airship is his stolen invention. (“The
Mystery Solved,” Woodland (Calif.) Daily Democrat, December 8, 1896,
p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 128
Date: 12/4/1896
Description: 6:30 p.m. Travelers on a freight train between Dixon and
Elmira, California, see two large, bright lights moving parallel with
them at about 1,000 feet altitude. The lights outdistance the train and
disappear to the southwest. (Clark III 74; “The
Airship Again,” Woodland (Calif.) Daily Democrat, December 7, 1896,
p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 129
Date: 12/26/1896
Description: Early morning. Dairy farmer Ezekiel Sergeant and a hired
man have just finished milking their cows near Wilmington, Delaware,
when they hear strains of music in the air. Then a bottle falls at
Sergeant’s feet and breaks into pieces. He sees an enormous, fish-shaped
airship with extended wings, a large tail, and a bright searchlight.
Amid the shattered glass he finds a slip of paper allegedly written by
Capt. James Dashiel and Thomas Murphy on the airship Icarus that is
sailing from Salt Lake City to Cuba. (“Saw
an Air-Ship,” Philadelphia (Pa.) Times, December 28, 1896,
p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 130
Date: mid 1/1897
Description: Just after sunset. People in Acampo, California, see an
airship the size of a small house, seemingly built of canvas, and moving
to the southeast. It looks “like a cigar box with a spark of fire in
it.” (“Airship
Reported Again,”
Stockton (Calif.) Evening Mail, January 22, 1897, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 131
Date: 1/31/1897
Description: 9:30 p.m. A “large, glaring light,” apparently from an
airship, is seen for nearly 30 minutes west of Hastings, Nebraska,
hovering, ascending, descending, and moving at a “most remarkable
speed.” (“See
an Air Ship
at Hastings,” Omaha (Neb.) Daily Bee, February 2, 1897, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 132
Date: 2/1897
End date: 7/1897
Description: The mystery airship wave continues, from Nebraska and
Colorado to Texas and Ohio. Hoaxes and pranks pollute the information
pool in a major way during this era and the planet Venus and other
celestial objects undoubtedly play a major role, but many airship
reports emanate from manifestly sober, puzzled citizens, and they
continue long after the initial excitement subsides. To all appearances,
they are objects of some kind, but since newspapers rarely question
witnesses critically about details at this time, little can be deduced
from the mass of reports. (Loren E. Gross, The
Mystery of Unidentified Flying Objects—A Prelude, 1896–1949, The
author, 1971; Roger L. Welsch, “This
Mysterious Light Called an Airship: Nebraska Saucer Sightings,
1897,” Nebraska History 60 (1979): 92–113; Daniel Cohen, The Great
Airship Mystery, Dodd, Mead, 1981; Thomas E. Bullard, The Airship File,
The author, 1982; Jerome Clark, “Airships: Part I,” IUR 16, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1991): 4–23; Jerome Clark, “Airships: Part II,” IUR 16, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1991): 20–21, 24; Michael Busby, Solving the 1897 Airship
Mystery, Pelican, 2004; Jerome Clark, “UFOs or Mystery Airships?” IUR
31, no. 4 (March 2008): 8–14, 29; J. Allen Danelek, The Great Airship of
1897, Adventures Unlimited, 2009; Dennis Crenshaw and P. G. Navarro, The
Secrets of Dellschau: The Sonora Aero Club and the Airships of the
1800s, Anomalist, 2009; Clark III 75–90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 133
Date: 2/4/1897
Description: Night. A dozen people returning home from a prayer meeting
in Inavale, Nebraska, see a bright light passing overhead. Six smaller
lights are placed at intervals around a larger dark body. After 10
minutes it returns at a lower altitude, now visible as a conical object
30–40 feet long with two sets of wings and a large rudder. Voices can be
heard plainly. (“Air
Ship Is Seen
at Inavale,” Omaha (Neb.) Daily Bee, February 6, 1897, p. 6)
February 17 —Night. Hy Smith, Charles Braternitz, and Harry Reese see a
bright light moving to the east just west of Big Springs, Nebraska. The
light repeatedly rises up about 300 feet then descends quickly, sending
out sparks. (“Seen near
North Platte,” Kearney (Neb.) Hub, February 18, 1897, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 134
Date: mid 2/1897
Description: Residents of Valley Falls, Kansas, can see the outlines of
an airship behind a large light that passes over the town. (“The
Supposed Kansas Airship,” Atchison (Kan.) Daily Globe, February 27,
1897, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 135
Date: 2/26/1897
Description: 10:15 p.m. People at the railway depot in Falls City,
Nebraska, see an object with a large searchlight in the northern sky.
According to dispatcher Ike Chidsey, it is moving west at 60 mph and
also has a red light. Chidsey alerts other Missouri Pacific train
stations to the west. Over the next four and a half hours, the object is
seen over Stella, Beatrice, Wymore, Hastings, Kenesaw, and Hartwell.
(“The
Supposed Kansas Airship,” Atchison (Kan.) Daily Globe, February 27,
1897, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 136
Date: 3/13/1897
Description: Night. A bright fireball appears in the west over North
Loup, Nebraska, moving up and down erratically. It occasionally throws
out sparks. (“That
Strange Light Again,” Lincoln Nebraska State Journal, March 16,
1897, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 137
Date: 3/14/1897
Description: 9:30 p.m. An object with a “big engine headlight” flies
over South Omaha, Nebraska, and remains visible for 30–40 minutes. It is
moving to the west and disappears behind some buildings. One of the
witnesses is Isaac
J. Copenharve, a
compositor for the Omaha Bee. (“Visions
of an Air Ship,” Omaha (Neb.) Daily Bee, March 16, 1897, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 138
Date: 3/23/1897
End date: 3/26/1897
Description: Night. Residents of Belleville, Kansas, watch a lighted
airship moving at 75 mph and “lighting up the houses and city like an
immense meteor.” It hovers for 20–30 minutes, changes direction, and is
seen on four nights in succession. At 9:20 p.m. on March 25, workers at
the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad depot and others in
Belleville watch a bright light pass above the city for 45 minutes. It
disappears to the northwest and reappears two more times. (“Say
They Saw an Air-Ship,” Kansas City (Mo.) Times, March 27, 1897,
p. 5; “It Flies
at Night,” Kansas City (Mo.) Journal, March 28, 1897, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 139
Date: 3/26/1897
Time: night
Description: Approximate date. Robert Hibbard was caught by an anchor
dropped from an unknown flying machine 22 km north of the town. He was
dragged over 10 m and fell as his clothes were torn.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Sioux City, Iowa
ID: 11
Date: 3/27/1897
Description: 8:30 p.m. A blood-red light appears in the western sky over
Topeka, Kansas, moving northward parallel with the horizon until after
20 minutes it disappears “with a flicker.” Among the witnesses is Kansas
Gov. John
W. Leedy, who
describes it as a “very strange light.” Harold
T. Chase, editor of the Topeka Capital, is on the State House steps
with Leedy and says the object is a large, oblong shape. (“Strange Light
in the Sky,” Topeka (Kan.) Daily Capital, March 28, 1897, p. 1; “Neither
Star Nor Planet,” Kansas City (Mo) Times, March 29, 1897, p. 1; “Airship
Is Seen by Gov. Leedy,” Chicago Tribune, March 29, 1897, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 140
Date: 3/28/1897
Time: 2230
Description: The majority of the population observed an object arriving
from the southeast. It looked like a huge light, flew northwestward
slowly, came to low altitude. A crowd gathered at a street corner to
watch it.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 185 (Vallee)
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
ID: 12
Date: 4/1/1897
Description: 9:00 p.m. J. E. Gunn, proprietor of the Commercial Hotel,
and other residents of Everest, Kansas, watch a 30- foot-long object
that looks like a canoe suspended from a balloon. Two wings are visible
on each side. Its light appears to dim when the object is moving and
glows brightly when hovering. (“Air
Ship Headed toward Omaha,” Omaha (Neb.) Daily Bee, April 3, 1897,
p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 142
Date: 4/1/1897
Description: Night. Residents of Galesburg, Michigan, see a brilliant
white light passing overhead. It is attached to a black object that
emits a crackling sound. Human voices are heard distinctly. (“The
Airship Story Spreads,” Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Evening Gazette, April
2, 1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 143
Date: 4/1/1897
Time: 2100
Description: The whole town saw an object fly under the cloud ceiling.
It came down slowly, then flew away very fast to the southeast. When
directly over the town it swept the ground with its powerful light. It
was seen to rise up at fantastic speed until barely discernible, then to
come down again and sweep low over the witnesses. At one point it
remained stationary for 5 min at the edge of a low cloud, which it
illuminated. All could clearly see the silhouette of the craft.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Everest, Kansas
ID: 13
Date: 4/1/1897
Description: 8:00 p.m. Strange lights appear in the sky south of Kansas
City, Kansas, zigzagging and crossing the horizon. (“Air
Ship Headed toward Omaha,” Omaha (Neb.) Daily Bee, April 3, 1897,
p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 141
Date: 4/2/1897
Description: Evening. People in Wesley, Iowa, view a cone-shaped object
with windows in the side through which light is visible. It is traveling
slowly toward the northwest. (“Wesley
Saw the Air Ship,” Algona (Iowa) Republican, April 7, 1897,
p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 144
Date: early 4/1897
Description: An airship allegedly lands near Elburn, Illinois, where
some farmers run across it. It is made of “some light substance like
aluminum.” Two aeronauts are repairing the vehicle and will only say
that they are flying from the Pacific to the Atlantic by following the
Chicago and North Western Railway. (“That Blooming Ship,” Rockford
(Ill.) Daily Republic, April 12, 1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 146
Date: 4/4/1897
Description: 12:15 a.m. Dairy farmer Dick
Butler is returning to his farm in Wolf Creek Township, Iowa, after
delivering milk in Sioux City when he notices an electric-like light on
his right about 200 feet away in a cornfield. He can see a dark object
with light coming through its windows. It appears to be a “long, narrow
car, resembling a corset box in shape,” some 30–35 feet long and 6–7
feet high. Above the car floats a cigar-shaped bag about the same length
and 8–10 feet thick. When his horses see the object, they bolt and
tumble his wagon into the ditch. By the time Butler recovers, the object
is moving briskly in a descent to the south. He watches it as it moves
out of sight. (“Air Ship Again,” Marshalltown (Iowa) Evening
Times-Republican, April 9, 1897, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 145
Date: 4/6/1897
Description: 2:00 a.m. James Southard gets lost on his ranch near Peru,
Nebraska, looking for strayed cattle. He notices a light on a bar in the
Missouri River, and it turns out to be on a landed airship 200 feet
long, whose crew are apparently repairing its searchlight. The aeronauts
answer all of Southard’s questions, telling him that “the craft is
loaded with several tons of dynamite and is bound for Cuba” to bomb
Spanish ships. (“Boarded
the Airship,” Auburn (Neb.) Granger, April 9, 1897, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 147
Date: 4/8/1897
Description: 8:00 p.m. Many people in towns along the Burlington, Cedar
Rapids, and Northern Railroad from West Liberty to Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
see an object with a “bright glaring headlight,” a glistening steel
body, and wings on either side. It makes a hissing noise as it glides
through the air. By 10:00 p.m., it fades from view to the north of Cedar
Rapids. (“Airship Appears in Iowa,” Chicago Record, April 9, 1897,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 148
Date: 4/9/1897
Description: 8:30 p.m. Hundreds of people in Chicago, Evanston, Niles
Center, and Schermerville, Illinois, see an airship earing multicolored
lights and swinging a huge white searchlight from side to side. Nearly
800 witnesses on Davis Street in Evanston watch the object, estimated to
be 400 feet in length. Using binoculars, the outline of a structure can
be seen behind the powerful light. By 9:30 p.m., the airship is last
seen over South Chicago. Northwestern University astronomer George
W. Hough, director of the Dearborn Observatory, tells the newspapers
he is sure the airship is the star Alpha Orionis (Betelgeuse). (“See
Airship or
a Star,” Chicago Tribune, April 10, 1897, pp. 1–2; “California
Airship on the Wing,” Chicago Tribune, April 11, 1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 149
Date: 4/10/1897
Description: 11:00 p.m. A bright white light with red and green lights
on either side of it is observed by many residents of Quincy, Illinois,
flying low above the Mississippi River on the city’s west side. At one
point it is no more than 400–500 feet above the ground. The light is
attached to a metallic cigar-shaped object. Two wings extend from the
sides and on top is some kind of superstructure. Witnesses estimate its
length to be 50–100 feet. The object ascends, moves east, then south,
then west, hovers above South Park for a few minutes, then moves north
and stops again. It reverses direction and leaves toward the south at
“tremendous speed.” (“The Airship over Quincy,” Quincy (Ill.) Morning
Whig, April 11, 1897, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 153
Date: 4/10/1897
Description: 10:30 p.m. Policemen, firemen, and many other residents of
Jacksonville, Illinois, see a bright light moving swiftly from east to
west a few hundred feet in the air. The light sways from side to side
and throws out beams several hundred feet in length. When it is above
the city, the object the light is attached to can be seen as metallic
and long with possible wings. Some witnesses can hear voices. The object
reverses direction over Jacksonville, throwing its searchlight in all
directions, and disappears to the east. (“The Airship over Quincy,”
Quincy (Ill.) Morning Whig, April 11, 1897, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 152
Date: 4/10/1897
Description: 10:00 p.m. A noise draws residents of Platte City,
Missouri, outside where they can see a hovering object 100 feet long and
20 feet wide. Two immense wings on either side are moving up and down.
Greenish light beams shine down on Main Street from its back and front.
Suddenly there is a hissing sound and explosions and the object moves
away to the northeast. (“Saw
the Airship,” Buffalo (N.Y.) Enquirer, April 12, 1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 151
Date: 4/10/1897
Description: Evening. Witnesses in Marshfield, Wisconsin, see a
cone-shaped airship with a bright headlight moving south of town. (“Hides
in the Woods,” Chicago Chronicle, April 11, 1897, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 150
Date: 4/11/1897
Description: 7:45 p.m. John
Lee and others in Benton Harbor, Michigan, watch an airship rapidly
moving north-northwest for 15 minutes. With the naked eye it looks like
a huge ball of fire, but through opera glasses it resembles a cluster of
soft yellow lights. (“Air Ship Seen Here,” Benton Harbor (Mich.) Evening
News, April 12, 1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 157
Date: 4/11/1897
Description: 8:00 p.m. R. G. Adams and his parents at 3126 Fourth Avenue
South in Minneapolis, Minnesota, watch a lighted, cigar-shaped object
flying low towards the southwest. Through binoculars it appears to be
18–20 feet long. A square light that changes from white to green to red,
depending apparently on its speed, is on top. Hundreds of other people
also see the object over the next four hours, maneuvering above Lake
Minnetonka and eventually receding into the northeast. (“Does He Hail
from Mars?” St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, April 12, 1897, p. 4; “Wonder! Mysterious
Airship Seen by Stuart Mackroth,” Minneapolis Tribune, April 13,
1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 158
Date: 4/11/1897
Description: 9:00 p.m. An airship approaches Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from
the northeast over Lake Michigan and heads toward the southwest. It
stops and hovers 1,000 feet above City Hall for 15 minutes. (“Airship
Myth Yet Soars,” Chicago Tribune, April 12, 1897, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 159
Date: 4/11/1897
Description: 12:30 a.m. John Peterson, E. K. Rowley, George
Moody, Bayard
Taylor French, and
other residents of Hawarden, Iowa, see a conical object about 60 feet
long with four sets of 15-foot wings. It is flying so low (about 600
feet) that they can hear machinery, voices, and laughter. Two red lights
are positioned on the tail end and a large searchlight is in the front.
After three minutes it moves off to the north. (“Another Wonderful
Tale,” Des Moines (Iowa) Leader, April 13, 1897, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 154
Date: 4/11/1897
Description: 11:15 p.m. A bank clerk in Decatur, Illinois, sees an
object “like two monster cigars with three bright headlights” moving to
the north. (“Saw
the Air Ship,” Decatur (Ill.) Evening Republican, April 12, 1897,
p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 161
Date: 4/11/1897
Description: After 10:30 p.m. Stuart Mackroth is riding a bicycle just
east of Minnetonka Mills, Minnesota, when a flying machine “shaped like
an ordinary boat” passes overhead. It has red and green lights on each
side and a powerful electric light in front. Inside he can see men,
women, and children, all moving about “as if very busy.” (“Wonder! Mysterious
Airship Seen by Stuart Mackroth,” Minneapolis Tribune, April 13,
1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 160
Date: 4/11/1897
Description: 5:30 a.m. An alleged photo of an airship is taken at 4356
East Ravenswood Park in Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois, by an
ex-policeman named Walter
R. McCann and George A. Overrocker, who provide copies to several
newspapers. The Chicago Tribune photo editor pronounces it a fake
because it looks like it is taken by a Kodak with a small lens that
cannot achieve a panoramic view. A later report claims that McCann has
photographed a piece of canvas on which an airship is painted. (“Airship
Myth Yet Soars,” Chicago Tribune, April 12, 1897, p. 5; “Airship
Is All a Joke,” Chicago Chronicle, April 13, 1897, p. 2; Wautauga
(N.C.) Democrat, April 27, 1897, p. 1; Clark III 78; Wikimedia Commons,
“Mystery airship 1897”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 155
Date: 4/11/1897
Description: 12:15 p.m. Gary Carlton Jr. watches a flat object looking
like a “big piece of yellow canvas” pass over Bloomington, Illinois, at
a high altitude toward the northeast. (“The
Air Ship,” Bloomington (Ill.) Daily Pantagraph, April 12, 1897,
p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 156
Date: 4/12/1897
Time: 1430
Description: On the property of Z. Thacker, 19 km north of Carlinville,
an unknown object landed. Before the three witnesses could reach it, the
craft, which was shaped like a cigar with a dome, rose slowly and left
majestically toward the north. Witnesses: Edward Teeples, William Street
and Franklin Metcalf.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 186; Anatomy 12 (Vallee)
Location: Nilwood, Illinois
ID: 14
Date: 4/12/1897
Description: Morning. F. L. Bullard, engineer on the Fast Mail train on
the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, says he caught sight of an
airship moving parallel with the train shortly after his Engine 950 left
downtown Chicago. The train is moving at 70 mph, and by the time it
reaches Lisle, Illinois, the object is far ahead. Bullard estimates it
is moving at 100–150 mph. (“Air-Ship
Distances a Train,” St. Louis (Mo.) Globe-Democrat, April 13, 1897,
p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 162
Date: 4/12/1897
Description: 8:00 p.m. During a rainstorm in Lincoln, Illinois, more
than 50 people stand on Pulaski Street to watch a light moving to the
northeast. John Fitzgerald sees a V-shaped object with a bright
searchlight moving rapidly toward Lincoln. It changes course, the light
changes from white to green, and the object disappears behind clouds.
(“Was It the Airship?” Lincoln (Ill.) Weekly Courier, April 13, 1897,
p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 163
Date: 4/12/1897
Time: 1800
Description: A large crowd of miners saw an unknown object land 3 km
north of Green Ridge and 4 km south of Girard. The night operator of the
Chicago-and-Alton Railroad, Paul McCramer, stated that he came
sufficiently close to the craft to see a man emerge from it to repair
the machinery. Traces were found over a large area. The object itself
was elongated like a ship with a roof and a double canopy. It left
toward the north.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 186,187 (Vallee)
Location: Girard, near Green Ridge, Illinois
ID: 15
Date: 4/13/1897
Description: Night. Mayor Charles
Merritt Seely and other people in Canton, South Dakota, watch a
winged airship passing to the north over the town with a red light in
front and a green light in back. (“Airship
Is Seen by Moonlight,”
Omaha (Neb.) Daily Bee, April 15, 1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 165
Date: 4/13/1897
Description: Before sunrise. Augustus Rodgers, a farmer living two miles
south of Louisville, Kentucky, goes outside to attend to his livestock.
He sees an oblong object, some 40 feet long by 15 feet tall, flying
about 400 feet in the air at 100 mph. His wife comes out to watch it
with him, and they both see “a form like that of a man” standing in the
front and directing its course. (“Airship Passed in the Night,”
Louisville (Ky.) Evening Post, April 13, 1897, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 164
Date: 4/13/1897
Description: 11:15 p.m. Frederick Chamberlain and O. L. Jones are riding
one mile west of Lake Elmo, Minnesota, when they notice a figure in a
clearing, walking around as if he is looking for something. They turn
off the road to investigate and hear a cracking sound followed by a
rushing noise. A moment later they notice a gray-white object that looks
like the top of a covered wagon. It has two rows of four red or green
lights. The object rises quickly at a sharp angle to clear the treetops.
They can make out no machinery or wings or rudders or even an outline of
the object. In the mud, Chamberlain finds 14 footprints, each 2 feet
long, 6 inches wide, “arranged seven on each side, and in an oblong
pattern.” Adam Thielen, a nearby farmer, independently sees a dark
object with red and green lights flying overhead about the same time.
(“Adam Saw the Airship Light,” St Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, April 15,
1897, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 166
Date: 4/14/1897
Description: 3:00 p.m. A brownish cigar-shaped object with wings passes
south of Marion, Indiana, coming from the northwest. Six passengers can
be seen on board. (“Six
Men Seen in the Airship,” Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer, April 15,
1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 170
Date: 4/14/1897
Description: 3:00 p.m. An airship looking like an “immense bird”
approaches Gas City, Indiana, from the northwest. As it draws nearer,
witnesses see that it is cigar-shaped and “propelled by broad canvas
wings.” The object lands briefly one mile from town, terrifying some
farm animals. As a crowd rushes toward it, it takes off and vanishes to
the east. (“In
Daylight,” Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer, April 15, 1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 169
Date: 4/14/1897
Description: 4:30 a.m. Farmers see an airship land about 3 miles
northwest of Howard City, Michigan, and some go to investigate. Inside
the craft is a “strange man” dressed in heavy furs although he seems “to
have no use for them, as he was almost naked and seemed to be suffering
from the heat.” The man is 9.5 feet tall and speaks in a musical
language that, however, sounds like bellowing. One farmer gets too
close, and the giant kicks him severely enough to break his hip. (“Trip
of the Airship,” Saginaw (Mich.) Courier-Herald, April 17, 1897,
p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 168
Date: 4/14/1897
Description: Early morning. Marble merchant David
W. Paul is traveling with a party of workmen from Burlington to
Frankfort, Indiana. When they are at the middle fork of Wildcat Creek,
they hear a “swishing, roaring sound” and see an object with a blinding
white searchlight and smaller green and yellow lights. The object is
cigar-shaped with wings or fins. It descends to just above the treetops,
hovers there for a moment, then rises and noisily shoots off to the
southwest. (“That Mysterious Airship,” Indianapolis Sentinel, April 15,
1897, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 167
Date: 4/14/1897
Description: Just after 9:00 p.m. Farmhand John Halley and vintner Adolf
Wenke see an airship land on Jefferson Street three miles west of
Springfield, Illinois. They supposedly converse with one of its
occupants, a bearded scientist who is outside the craft. Inside, they
can see another man and a woman. The scientist says little other than
“as soon as Congress recognizes Cuban belligerency his air ship would be
heard from.” (“Mystery Solved,” Springfield (Ill.) News, April 15, 1897,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 173
Date: 4/14/1897
Description: Night. The Rio Grande Railroad operator at Cresson, Texas,
sees an object about 60 feet long and “resembling the top of a passenger
coach in shape” with a powerful searchlight in the front and several
smaller lights on the sides. It is moving to the southwest at a
“terrific rate of speed” and has wings “something like that of a bat.”
It turns to the southeast after passing the station and disappears in
the clouds after a few minutes. (“Sighting the Air Ship,” Dallas (Tex.)
Morning News, April 16, 1897, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 176
Date: 4/14/1897
Description: Night. A man in Denton, Texas, is watching the stars with
binoculars when he notices a shadow crossing the Moon. It is caused by a
large cigar-shaped object with wings moving slowly to the southeast. In
the front it has a powerful searchlight, and along the side appear a row
of lighted windows. It remains in sight for 20 minutes. A woman also
sees possibly the same object “bounding along through space like a
balloon.” (“The Air Ship Again,” Dallas (Tex.) Morning News, April 15,
1897, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 175
Date: 4/14/1897
Description: Night. Many persons in Mount Vernon, Illinois, including
Mayor Barton
C. Wells, allegedly
see an object “resembling the body of a huge man swimming through the
air with an electric light on his back.” (“Airship’s Travels,”
Cincinnati (Ohio) Commercial Tribune, April 16, 1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 174
Date: 4/14/1897
Description: 8:00 p.m. James McKensie is feeding hogs on his farm north
of Casstown, Ohio, when he hears an odd noise like a flock of geese
passing overhead. Looking up, he sees an object with wings and a rudder
flying slowly along about 150 feet in the air, and he distinctly hears
music. As it disappears, he thinks he hears a human voice, and something
large and white is thrown overboard. (“Talking
Heard by the Citizens,” Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer, April 16, 1897,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 172
Date: 4/14/1897
Time: 1500
Description: An object landed 2 km south of Gas City on the property of
John Roush, terrifying the farmers and causing the horses and cattle to
stampede. Six occupants of the ship came out and seemed to make some
repairs. Before the crowd could approach the object, it rose rapidly and
flew toward the east.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 188 (Vallee)
Location: Gas City, Indiana
ID: 16
Date: 4/14/1897
Description: Joseph Singler, captain of the “Sea Wing,” was fishing with
S. H. Davis, of Detroit, when they saw on the lake what they thought was
a ship, about 13 m long, with a canopy. A man, about 25 years old,
wearing a hunting jacket and a cap, was fishing from the deck of the
object. Near him were a woman and a 10-year old child. When the “Sea
Wing” came close to the craft, a large, colored balloon rose from the
object, which flew up with it to an altitude of about 150 m and circled
“like a hawk” before flying away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 189 (Vallee)
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
ID: 17
Date: 4/14/1897
Description: 7:30 p.m. An airship 100 feet long and 20 feet high in the
center lands in a meadow three-quarters of a mile west of Birmingham,
Iowa. A large crowd of men and boys sets out to examine the object, but
when they are within several hundred feet, it rises with a loud whirring
sound and moves away to the northwest. Two men can be distinctly seen
inside, one carrying a lantern that he waves as the airship ascends.
(“Airship Positively Seen,” Burlington (Iowa) Hawk-Eye, April 16, 1897,
p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 171
Date: 4/15/1897
Description: Between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. A cigar-shaped airship with a
row of red lights along the sides passes above Emerson, South Dakota.
(“That
Ubiquitous Airship,” Sioux City (Iowa) Journal, April 17, 1897,
p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 181
Date: 4/15/1897
Description: Two farm workers, Adolph Winkle and John Hulle, saw a
strange craft in a field. They had a discussion with its occupants, a
woman and two men, and were told the ship-had flown from Quincy to
Springfield in 30 min and that the crew. was making electrical
repairs.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 65,1 (Vallee)
Location: Springfield, Illinois
ID: 21
Date: mid 4/1897
Description: Between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. A man in Eldridge, North
Dakota, sees an airship that looks like a car attached to a large,
kite-shaped structure with wings. It stops and changes course. At one
point the man is close enough to hear a humming sound. Some of the time
it displays colored lights; at other times it is completely dark. (“He
Saw the
Air Ship,” Jamestown (N. Dak.) Weekly Alert, April 22, 1897,
p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 184
Date: mid 4/1897
Description: Early evening. J. W. Lansing sees a cigar-shaped airship
twice in Grinnell, Iowa. It moves in various directions, sometimes
against a strong wind. (“He Saw It,” Springfield (Ill.) News, April 26,
1897, p. 1) Mid-April – Night. F. Crocker is sitting near the window of
his apartment on Barr Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana, when he notices a
yellowish light coming from the west. It seems attached to a pear-shaped
object with the apex pointed downward. Two yellow rays of light come
from its sides as it sways to and fro in the air. He calls R. J. (or R.
T.) and J. L. Tretheway, who live in the apartment below his, and they
also glimpse the object, which is in sight for 20 minutes. (“Sighted
Here,” Fort Wayne (Ind.) Weekly Gazette, April 15, 1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 183
Date: mid 4/1897
Description: 3:00 p.m. Railroad conductor Capt. Jim Hooton is hunting
near Homan, Arkansas, when he hears a loud mechanical sound like an air
brake. Investigating, he discovers an airship undergoing repairs. The
aeronauts are not very communicative, so once the repairs are complete,
they reenter the airship and take off with a loud hissing sound. (“Saw
the Air Ship,” Little Rock Arkansas Gazette, April 22, 1897,
p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 182
Date: 4/15/1897
Description: 9:00 p.m. Residents of Farmersville, Texas, notice a dim
light traveling toward the city from the south at 60– 80 mph. Thinking
it might be a meteor heading toward the Earth, more people gather
outside to watch. City Marshal Brown is in the western part of town
making his rounds, and the “ship or balloon” passes overhead about 200
feet in the air. Brown can see two men in the object and something like
a large Newfoundland dog. He can hear them talking but cannot understand
what they are saying. (“Airship Seen in Galveston,” Galveston (Tex.)
Daily News, April 18, 1897, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 180
Date: 4/15/1897
Description: Night. An airship with red, green, and white lights lands
on a farm near Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Five witnesses see an odd-looking
man in a fur coat emerge and walk to a farmhouse belonging to Melvin
Bannister, whose dogs are barking fiercely. The stranger points a
lantern-like device at them and sends them running. Bannister answers
the door and converses awkwardly with the man, who is speaking an odd
language, but loans him a hammer, some nails, and a can of skim milk.
The man returns the tools, along with a strange coin. The airship takes
off with a whizzing sound. (“Brunswick
and Drammen,” Eau Claire (Wis.) Leader, April 17, 1897, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 178
Date: 4/15/1897
Description: 8:15 p.m. Willie
Mahon, ex-Marshal
French, and other residents of Dunkirk, Ohio, watch a winged object “as
large as a wagon bed” pass over the town toward the east. It has
propellers on each end, a red light in front, and a greenish-yellow
light on the tail. Voices can be heard coming from the object. (“Seen at
Dunkirk,” Kenton (Ohio) News-Republican, April 16, 1897, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 179
Date: 4/15/1897
Description: Late evening. Telegraph repairman Patrick
C. Byrnes is operating a railroad handcar about 7 miles west of
Cisco, Texas, when he sees a light a little distance from the track on
the south side. Knowing there is no farmhouse in the area, he goes to
investigate. It is a landed cigar-shaped airship about 200 feet long and
50 feet across at its widest point. Several men are repairing its
searchlight, and they tell him that the craft is loaded with several
tons of dynamite for bombing Spanish troops and ships in Cuba. (“Oft-Seen
Air-Ship,” Fort Worth (Tex.) Register, April 18, 1897, p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 177
Date: 4/15/1897
Time: morning
Description: A large object was seen to fly slowly toward the north. It
seemed ready to land and five men (F. G. Ellis, James Evans, David
Evans, Joe Croaskey, Benjamin Buland) drove toward it. About 7 km north
of Linn Grove, they found the craft on the ground, came within 700 m of
it but it “spread its four giant wings and rose towards the North.” Two
strange figures aboard the craft made efforts to conceal themselves.
Witnesses were surprised at the length of their hair. Most residents of
Linn Grove saw the craft in flight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 190 (Vallee)
Location: Linn Grove, Iowa
ID: 18
Date: 4/15/1897
Time: nightfall
Description: A flying object coming closer and closer to the ground
followed a train, as reported by the engineer, Joe Wright
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66,4 (Vallee)
Location: Howard-Artesian, South Dakota
ID: 19
Date: 4/15/1897
Time: 2100
Description: A passenger train on the Wabash line, going toward Quincy,
was followed by a low-flying object for 15 min between Perry Springs and
Hersman. All the passengers saw the craft, which had a red and white
light. After Hersman it flew ahead of the train and disappeared rapidly,
although the train was then running at 65 km/h.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 190 (Vallee)
Location: Perry Springs, Missouri
ID: 20
Date: 4/16/1897
Description: Night. Judge John
Spencer Bounds is riding in a buggy in Hillsboro, Texas, when his
horse whirls around in fright. A brilliant light as if from an arc lamp
shines on him for less than a minute and then moves over to a nearby
field. The light suddenly ascends to an altitude of 1,000 feet. As he
watches, the searchlight blinks out and smaller lights surrounding a
dark object become visible. The object moves slowly to the south and
disappears. (“Seen near Hillsboro,” Dallas (Tex.) Morning News, April
17, 1897, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 190
Date: 4/16/1897
Description: 12:03 a.m. An airship and a smaller “trailer which followed
it very closely” are seen by residents of Danvers, Illinois. The objects
are made of aluminum-like material, and its “occupants were dressed in
western style.” (“The Aerial
Mystery,” Bloomington (Ill.) Daily Pantograph, April 17, 1897,
p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 185
Date: 4/16/1897
Description: 12:30 a.m. A group of people returning home from a lodge
meeting in Bay City, Michigan, notice a large conical object approaching
from the south and slowly descending to about 50 feet altitude above
Center Avenue. A red light appears at either end of a body that is
apparently 50–75 feet long. It shines with a dull red glow, as if there
are lights on its upper side. The object moves away to the northeast.
(“Air Ship a Reality,” Saginaw (Mich.) Courier-Herald, April 16, 1897,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 186
Date: 4/16/1897
Description: Morning. A large object passes slowly over Linn Grove,
Iowa, heading north. Five men—James
Evans, F.
G. Ellis, Ben
Buland, David
Evans, and
Joe
Croskey—jump into a rig and follow it 4 miles north of town where it
has landed. But when the pursuers get within 2,100 feet of the airship,
it spreads out four massive wings and ascends again. The two occupants
have extremely long beards and make desperate efforts to conceal
themselves. They toss two enormous boulders “of unknown composition” out
of the airship. (“More
Air Ship Fakes,” Indianapolis Journal, April 17, 1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 187
Date: 4/16/1897
Description: While wandering in the hills east of Springfield, Missouri,
W.
H. Hopkins, a traveling insurance agent, spots a landed airship in a
clearing. Next to it is a nude female with hair down to her waist. As
she picks flowers, she speaks in an unknown language with a musical
voice and fans herself as if the day is hot. In the shade cast by the
craft lies a naked man with shoulder-length hair and a long beard. After
a few minutes, Hopkins approaches the woman, who shrieks and runs toward
the man. Hopkins speaks soothingly and the two aeronauts relax. Hopkins
asks where they come from, and they point upward, pronouncing a word
that sounds like “Mars.” The two examine Hopkins’s clothing, hair, and
watch with great curiosity. They show him the interior of the ship but
take off shortly afterward, “laughing and waving their hands.” (“Golden
Haired Girl Is in It,” St. Louis (Mo.) Post- Dispatch, April 19,
1897, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 188
Date: 4/16/1897
Description: Approximate date. While working in his field, Haney Savidge
saw an aerial craft land near him. Six people emerged from it and spoke
to him for a few minutes before leaving again.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 191 (Vallee)
Location: Downs Township, Illinois
ID: 22
Date: 4/16/1897
Description: 12:00 midnight. C. G. Williams is walking across a field
two miles south of Greenville, Texas, when he comes across a brilliant
light and a large, cigar-shaped object resting on the ground. Three
aeronauts emerge from it; two go to work on the ship, and the third
approaches Williams and asks him to mail some letters. The man tells him
that the airship runs on electricity and that his invention was
perfected in a small town in New York State. (“C. G. Williams Saw It,”
Dallas (Tex.) Morning News, April 19, 1897, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 191
Date: 4/16/1897
Description: 8:00 p.m. Howard
R. Bolander, superintendent of the Ohio Bicycle Works in Marion,
Ohio, is looking at the night sky when he sees the light from a
cigar-shaped object moving to the southwest. Its light looks like an
incandescent lamp. (“Is
Your Credulity in Condition for the Only True Airship Story?” Marion
(Ohio) Daily Star, April 17, 1897, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 189
Date: 4/17/1897
Description: 9:00 p.m. George Alverson, Alex Oxford, and Charley Hunter
are walking on Manchester Street near the Cincinnati Southern Railway
trestle bridge in Lexington, Kentucky. An airship lands and settles in a
vacant lot about 600 feet away. They hurry forward but are stopped by a
man who has just emerged from the machine. He is carrying a bucket,
which he fills with water from a nearby spring. He declines to answer
any of their questions, reenters the airship, and flies away to the
southeast. (“Talked
with the Airship Man,” Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer, April 19, 1897,
p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 195
Date: 4/17/1897
Description: 8:30 p.m. A large white light attached to a cigar-shaped
object passes over Trenton, Tennessee, at an altitude of about 1,500
feet. It has a red light on the left side and a green light on the
right. The object remains in sight for 5 minutes then disappears to the
east. (“Trenton
Has ’Em,” Memphis (Tenn.) Commercial Appeal, April 18, 1897,
p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 194
Date: 4/17/1897
Description: 6:00 a.m. An airship is said to collide with the tower of
Judge James
Spencer Proctor’s windmill in Aurora, Texas, causing it to explode
and strew debris over several acres. The pilot (reportedly “not of this
world,” or a “Martian” according to an alleged Army Signal Service
officer named Thomas
Jefferson Weems from nearby Fort Worth), does not survive the crash
and is buried “with
Christian rites” at the Aurora Cemetery. Wreckage from the crash site is
either dumped into a nearby well located under the damaged windmill or
ends up with the alien in the grave. Adding to the mystery is the story
of Brawley
Oates, who purchases Judge Proctor’s property around 1935. Oates
cleans out the debris from the well in order to use it as a water
source, but later develops an extremely severe case of rheumatoid
arthritis, which he claims is the result of contaminated water from the
wreckage dumped into the well. As a result, Oates seals up the well with
a concrete slab and places an outbuilding on the spot in 1945. The
entire yarn is widely regarded as a hoax, although Proctor’s windmill
apparently did exist. (Wikipedia, “Aurora,
Texas, UFO incident”; “A Windmill Demolishes It,” Dallas Morning
News, April 19, 1897, p. 5; Donald B. Hanlon, “Texas
Odyssey of 1897,” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1966):
9–10; H. Michael Simmons, “Once
upon a Time in the West,” Magonia, no. 20 (August 1985); Wallace O.
Chariton, The Great Texas Airship Mystery, Wordware, 1991; Thomas E.
Bullard, “Defending UFOs,” IUR 34, no. 2 (March 2012): 8–10; Clark III
316–318, 592–593; “Aurora
1897,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library, February 5, 2014;
Mutual UFO Network, “Aurora,
TX Crash, 1897,” May 14, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 193
Date: 4/17/1897
Description: 1:30 a.m. R. E. Draughon, a night watchman at a lumber
plant in Beaumont, Texas, sees a “globular” object with a bright light
the size of a star in one end. It is moving to the northwest at a high
altitude. (“Seen at Beaumont,” Dallas (Tex.) Morning News, April 18,
1897, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 192
Date: 4/17/1897
Description: Aurora, TX: An “airship” crashed into Judge Proctor’s
windmill and disgorged the mangled body of a little man.
Type: ufo crash
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Aurora, TX
Date: 4/17/1897
Time: morning
Description: At least a dozen farmers saw an object maneuver in the sky
for an hour before it landed. A strange man near 3 m tall, almost naked
and suffering from the heat, was the pilot of the craft. “His talk,
while musical, seemed to be a repetition of bellowings.” One farmer went
near him and received a blow that broke his hip.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 196 (Vallee)
Location: Williamston, Michigan
ID: 23
Date: 4/18/1897
Description: 9:30 p.m. An object with lights on both ends is seen
southeast of Lyons, Nebraska, traveling to the northwest. Some young
observers estimate it is moving at 4–6 mph. When the object is south of
Bancroft it makes 2–3 large circles and then moves to the southwest.
(“Airship’s
Lamp Is Lighted,” Omaha (Neb.) Daily Bee, April 20, 1897,
p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 197
Date: 4/18/1897
Description: 8:30 p.m. W. E. Roe, captain of the Ohio River packet T. M.
Barnsdall, as well as watchman Elmer Hardy and engineer Litus Kinnard,
sees a light high in the air above the river as the riverboat is lying
at Sistersville, West Virginia. It seems to be moving to the northwest
but at other times it retraces its course. Around 12:00 midnight it
disappears over a hill to the west. (“The Airship Seen near Marietta,”
Marietta (Ohio) Daily Register, April 19, 1897)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 196
Date: 4/19/1897
Description: 9:00 p.m. A bright light moves from the northwest over
Cochransville [now a ghost town], Monroe County, Ohio, where it hovers
for 20 minutes, flashing red, white, and green lights. Through
binoculars a cone-shaped object with large fins on either side can be
discerned. It is apparently 180 feet long. (“Hovered over the Town,”
Cincinnati (Ohio) Commercial Tribune, April 20, 1897, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 201
Date: 4/19/1897
Description: 10:30 p.m. Rancher Alexander
Hamilton, his son Will, and his hired hand Gid Heslip are awakened
by a noise in the cattle pen of their ranch at Yates Center, Kansas.
They watch as a 300-foot-long, cigar-shaped airship with a carriage
underneath descends to about 30 feet above the ground. Two men, a woman,
and three children are heard talking in the carriage. They see a calf
caught in a nearby fence with a cable knotted around its neck that
connects to the airship above. They cut the cable and the airship floats
away. A few weeks later, Hamilton admits he made the story up. (Clark
III 130, 593; Jerome Clark, “The Great Airship Hoax,” Fate 30, no. 2
(February 1977): 94–97; Jerome Clark, “The
Leroy, Kansas, Calfnapping Hoax of 1897,” Flying Saucer Review 22,
no. 6 (April 1977): 26; Daniel Cohen, The Great Airship Mystery, Dodd,
Mead, 1981, pp. 92–102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 202
Date: 4/19/1897
Description: After 11:00 p.m. John
R. Ligon, an
agent for a brewery in Houston, and his son Charley notice
lights in a pasture a few hundred yards away near Beaumont, Texas. They
walk over and discover four men moving around a large dark object, who
ask for water. They accompany Ligon to his house, each bringing two
baskets, which they fill and return. One of the men identifies himself
as “Wilson” and says they are traveling in a flying machine that has
been over the Gulf of Mexico and is now headed toward Iowa. Ligon says
the airship is 130 feet long and 20 feet wide, propelled by four large
wings and powered by electricity. Wilson gives Ligon a tour of the ship
and says it is one of five built in a small Iowa town. Rabbi Aaron
Levy of Beaumont also claims to have met aeronauts from a landed
airship near the city around the same time. (“Inspected
the Air Ship,” Houston (Tex.) Daily Post, April 21, 1897, p. 2; “The
Airship,” New Orleans Daily Picayune, April 25, 1897, p. 7; Jerome
Clark, “Mystery Aeronauts of Texas,” IUR 33, no. 3 (December 2010): 5–6;
Clark III 81–82)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 203
Date: 4/19/1897
Description: 12:00 noon. George Dunlap, a man known to Davis
H. Tucker, physician
at the Harlem Prison Farm [now the Jester State Prison Farm] in Fort
Bend County, Texas, is riding in the country near Lake Charles,
Louisiana, when he sees an airship moving toward him about half a mile
distant. It makes a loud whistling noise, scaring his horses and causing
him to be thrown from the buggy. As the horses flee, the ship lands, a
rope comes down, and two men rush over to apologize. They are the owner
Mr. Wilson (formerly of Fort Worth, Texas) and his friend Scott Warren.
The man is taken into the airship and introduced to two others, a
Mr. Waters and a Hispanic man. Wilson tells him the airship is sustained
by a gas, and that several of them have been built. (“Was Aboard an
Airship,” Dallas (Tex.) Morning News, May 16, 1897, p. 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 200
Date: 4/19/1897
Description: 1:30 a.m. As people are returning from a party at the
Armory Hall in Natchitoches, Louisiana, they see a bright light attached
to a massive airship in the form of a balloon with a cigar-shaped
undercar. The light dims while it is over the city and intensifies again
when it has passed beyond it. It moves in undulations and is visible for
30 minutes. (“The
Airship Seen in Louisiana,” New Orleans Daily Picayune, April 21,
1897, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 198
Date: 4/19/1897
Time: 2230
Description: Alexander Hamilton was awakened by a noise among the cattle
and went out with his son and his tenant. They saw an elongated
cigarshaped object, about 100 m long with a transparent cabin underneath
showing narrow reddish bands, hovering 10 m above ground. They
approached within 50 m of it. It was illuminated and equipped with a
searchlight. Inside it were “six of the strangest beings” the witness
had seen, also described as “hideous.” They spoke a language no witness
could understand. A cow was dragged away by the object with the help of
a strong red cable; it was found butchered in a field the next
day.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Anatomy 16; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Leroy, Kansas
ID: 24
Date: 4/19/1897
Description: 2:00 a.m. A man in El Paso, Texas, sees a cigar-shaped
object with lighted portholes on each side. The object approaches from
the east and passes overhead at 500 feet. Voices from the craft are
heard. (“The
Air Ship Seen in El
Paso,” El Paso (Tex.) Herald, April 20, 1897, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 199
Date: 4/20/1897
Description: Henry
Heintz of Elkton, South Dakota, patents an airship consisting of a
cigar-shaped balloon and a structure for passengers beneath it. At some
point he allegedly brings his invention out for a test flight in front
of the Elkton blacksmith shop. The airship rises 8 feet into the air
before plopping to the ground. (US Patent, “Air
Ship,” granted April 20, 1897; Ruth Becken, A History of Elkton,
[City of Elkton,] 2000, p. 94)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 204
Date: 4/20/1897
Time: 1800
Description: Capt. James Hooton was hunting in the vicinity of Homan
when he heard the noise of a steam engine and found an object in a
clearing. It looked like a cylinder with pointed ends, lateral wheels,
and horizontal blade over it. Hooton spoke with a man who wore dark
glasses and walked behind the craft. There were three or four occupants.
The witness was told this was indeed “The Airship” and that it used
compressed air for propulsion. Hooton saw the wheels spin as the craft
rose and flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 4; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Homan, Arkansas
ID: 25
Date: 4/20/1897
Description: 10:00 p.m. Sheriff Henry
W. Baylor of Uvalde, Texas, sees a bright light and hears strange
voices behind his house. He finds a landed airship and its crew of three
men, one of whom is named “Wilson” (from Goshen, New York), who inquires
after an acquaintance, C.
C. Akers of Eagle Pass, Texas. After procuring water from a hydrant
in Baylor’s yard, the men board the airship, which speeds away northward
toward San Angelo. County Clerk Henry J. Bowles sees the airship as it
passes over Getty Street in Uvalde. Akers tells a reporter in Galveston
that he knew a New Yorker named Wilson when he lived in Fort Worth in
1876–1877. Baylor’s seemingly compelling testimony disintegrates after
he confesses in late May to making the whole story up, possibly in
collusion with Akers. (“The Airship in West Texas,” Galveston (Tex.)
Daily News, April 24, 1897, p. 3; “The Airship
at Uvalde,” Weimar (Tex.) Mercury, May 1, 1897, p. 6; “Airship
Story Exploded,” Weimar (Tex.) Mercury, May 22, 1897, p. 7; Jerome
Clark, “Mystery Aeronauts of Texas,” IUR 33, no. 3 (December 2010): 6–7;
Clark III 82–83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 205
Date: 4/21/1897
Description: 12:30 a.m. An employee of the Picayune newspaper in New
Orleans, Louisiana, steps outside the office and sees an airship, 50–60
feet long and bearing a powerful searchlight. He returns to tell his
colleagues, but by the time they come out, the airship is gone. (“The
Airship,” New Orleans Picayune, April 21, 1897, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 206
Date: 4/21/1897 (approximate)
Description: 8:00 p.m. A man is riding his horse between Lancaster and
Baltimore, Ohio, when something scares his horse. He sees an object with
two brilliant white lights on either end landing in a nearby field. He
tethers his horse and approaches the object, which seems as large as a
house. Inside he can see two men conversing, so he walks up to ask them
questions. One of the aeronauts seems to be Japanese and the other
speaks English with a British accent. The craft is called the
Aeribarque, and they are on a test flight. The aeronaut says that they
often land in remote areas and come to nearby towns for supplies or
mechanical parts, posing either as tourists or “harmless cranks trying
to invent perpetual motion.” After giving the witness a demonstration of
the electrical lighting system, they take off into the sky. (“Aeribarque,
That’s It’s Official Name,” Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer, April 25,
1897, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 207
Date: 4/21/1897
Description: 11:00 p.m. Confectioner John
S. Scheer, Frank
King, and Frank Mulick of Erie, Pennsylvania, watch a cigar- shaped,
winged object moving north at a relatively high rate of speed. It has a
large propeller on its tail end, but it flies silently and disappears
over Lake Erie. (“Passed over Erie,” Erie (Pa.) Daily Times, April 22,
1897, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 208
Date: 4/22/1897
Description: 10:10 p.m. A ball of fire is seen moving slowly and
horizontally from southwest to northeast over Kokomo, Indiana. Some
people can distinguish the faint outlines of a cigar-shaped object and
wings. The light is white with a reddish tint and no more than 300 feet
in altitude. The witnesses include Harry
M. Grimes, William
E. Sollenberger, and
banking executive Frank
McCarty. (“The Mysterious Air Ship,” Kokomo (Ind.) Daily Tribune,
April 23, 1897, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 210
Date: 4/22/1897
Description: 7:30 p.m. Prominent citizens, including the mayor, observe
a low-flying airship heading slowly southwest above Kenly, North
Carolina. Its sails “resembled mosquito netting to the naked eye.” The
outlines of two people aboard are plainly visible. (“Men
Seen in the Airship,” Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, April 25,
1897, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 209
Date: 4/22/1897
Description: John M. Barclay was intrigued when his dog barked furiously
and a high-pitched noise was heard. He went out, saw a flying object
circling 5 m above ground. Elongated with protrusions and blinding
lights, it went dark when it landed. Barclay was met by a man who told
him his purpose was peaceful and requested some common hardware items to
repair the craft. He paid with a ten-dollar bill and took off “like a
bullet out of a gun.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 192; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Rockland, Texas
ID: 26
Date: 4/22/1897
Time: 2400
Description: Frank Nichols, who lived 3 km east of Josserand and was one
of its most respected citizens, was awakened by a machine noise. Looking
outside, he saw a heavy, lighted object land in his wheat field. He
walked toward it, was stopped by two men who asked permission to draw
water from his well. He then had a discussion with a half-dozen men, the
crew of the strange machine. He was told how it worked but could not
follow the explanation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 193; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Josserand, Texas
ID: 27
Date: 4/22/1897
Description: 12:00 midnight. Frank Nichols, a farmer living 2 miles east
of Josserand, Texas, is awakened by a whirring noise. Outside, he sees a
huge airship in his cornfield. Before he can get close, two men with
buckets ask him if they can draw water from his well. Nichols consents
and in return they give him a tour of the vessel, whose motive power is
“highly condensed electricity.” One aeronaut tells him that five
airships have been built in an Iowa town. (“That
Airship,” Houston (Tex.) Post, April 26, 1897, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 212
Date: 4/22/1897
Description: 11:00 p.m. John
M. Barclay wakes up when he hears a whirring noise that causes his
dogs to bark wildly outside his home near Rockland, Texas. He goes
outside and sees an oblong airship with wings and brilliant lights. When
he first sees it, the object is hovering 150 feet above the ground. It
circles a few times then lands in a nearby pasture. Barclay goes down to
investigate with his Winchester rifle, but the lights go out as he gets
closer. Some 90 feet away from the airship he is stopped by a man who
asks him to put his rifle down. He identifies himself as “Smith” and
gives Barclay $10 to purchase lubricating oil, two chisels, and
bluestone. When Barclay returns with the materials, the aeronaut will
only say he is from “anywhere,” adding that “we will be in Greece
tomorrow.” (“Supplies
for Airship,” Houston (Tex.) Post, April 25, 1897, p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 211
Date: 4/23/1897
Description: Judge Lawrence A. Byrne of Texarkana, Arkansas, was
surveying a tract of land when he saw a peculiar object anchored on the
ground. “It was manned by three men who spoke a foreign language, but
judging from their looks one would take them to be Japanese.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Farish, in Allende Letters - Award Special, 1968 (Vallee)
Location: McKinney Bayou, Arkansas
ID: 28
Date: 4/23/1897
Description: Night. Henry
A. Hooks and A.
W. Hodges of Kountze, Texas, allegedly meet two aeronauts named
Wilson and Jackson when their airship suffers a gas leak and lands. (“That
Airship,” Houston (Tex.) Post, April 25, 1897, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 213
Date: 4/24/1897
Description: 11:00 p.m. Howard Warn is outside his home in Toledo, Ohio,
when he notices bright, multicolored lights moving rapidly toward the
southwest. The lights are attached to a cigar-shaped object at an
altitude of 500 feet. He calls his father, Milo
S. Warn, and
they watch the lights until the object disappears into heavy clouds to
the southwest. (“Say They Saw the Airship,” Cleveland (Ohio) Plain
Dealer, April 28, 1897, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 215
Date: 4/24/1897
Description: An airship in need of repairs lands near Stringers Ridge on
the other side of the river from Chattanooga, Tennessee. An unnamed
journalist talks to one of the aeronauts, who identifies himself as
Prof. Charles Davidson of Sacramento, California, the inventor of the
airship, which can travel as fast as 93 mph. (“Is
This a Reality?” Knoxville (Tenn.) Morning Tribune, April 25, 1897,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 214
Date: 4/25/1897
Time: evening
Description: People returning from church observed a heavy object being
dragged along the ground by a rope attached to a flying craft. The rope
got caught in a railroad track. The craft was too high for its structure
to be visible but protrusions and a light could be distinguished. After
about 10 min a man came down along the rope cut the end free, and went
back aboard the craft, which flew away toward the northeast. The man was
small and dressed in a lightblue uniform.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 194; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Merkel, Texas
ID: 29
Date: 4/25/1897
Description: Night. William
F. Whittier, editor of the Sunbury (Ohio) News-Item, sets up his
camera in the printing office to take lightning photographs. He manages
to take a photo of a nearby lightning strike and develops it the
following morning. The negative shows not only the lightning but the
outline of what seems to be an airship. Whittier makes many copies of
the photo and sells them to Sunbury residents. (“Fairy Story: A Sunbury
Editor Takes a Photograph,” Dayton (Ohio) Daily Journal, April 28,
1897)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 217
Date: 4/25/1897
Description: Evening. As some residents of Merkel, Texas, are leaving a
church service, they notice a heavy, anchor- shaped object being dragged
by a large rope that is attached to an airship in the sky not far above
them. After 10 minutes, a small figure dressed in a blue sailor suit
starts climbing down the rope. But when he sees people watching him, he
cuts the rope and returns to the airship, which moves away to the
northeast. The anchor goes on exhibit at a local blacksmith shop. (“Anchor
of the Airship,” Houston (Tex.) Post, April 28, 1897, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 216
Date: 4/26/1897
Description: Approximate date. A lawyer was surprised to see a lighted
object fly over. His horse was scared and nearly toppled the carriage.
When the main light was turned off, a number of smaller lights became
visible on the underside of the dark object, which supported an
elongated canopy. It went down toward a hill to the south, 5 km from
Aquila. When the witness was on his way back one hour later he saw the
object rising. It reached the altitude of the cloud ceiling and flew to
the northeast at a fantastic speed with periodic flashes of light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 195 (Vallee)
Location: Aquila-Hillsboro, Texas
ID: 30
Date: 4/28/1897 (approximate)
Description: 8:00 p.m. Hiram
C. LaGrone hears a disturbance among his horses on his ranch at
Deadwood, Texas. Stepping outside, he sees a brilliant, multicolored
light approaching from the southwest. It slows, hovers, then lands in a
field. LaGrone walks up and discovers five men, two of whom take rubber
bags and procure water from his well. The other three tell him that this
is one of five airships touring the country (and the same one that
landed in Beaumont on April 19). (“The
Airship,” Houston (Tex.) Post, April 30, 1897, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 218
Date: 5/2/1897
Description: 1:00 a.m. Edwin Shaffer is driving a rig about one-half
mile west of Cassville, Indiana, when he encounters a landed airship 40
feet long. The object spooks his horse, which will not run past it.
Shaffer claims the airship is crewed by midgets who speak no English.
(“The Air Ship at Cassville,” Kokomo (Ind.) Daily Tribune, May 4, 1897,
p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 219
Date: 5/4/1897
Description: 9:00 p.m. Louis Dumhoff, a physician living at 112 Garfield
Place in Cincinnati, Ohio, sees a red, egg-shaped light, “the rays
escaping in the center and at each end.” It passes to the southeast in
about 5 minutes, moving in a zigzag, up-and-down course. Conductor J. C.
Gaupel and attorney W. J. Klein also see the light in the same
neighborhood. (“Airship,”
Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer, May 5, 1897, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 220
Date: 5/6/1897
Description: Two policemen, Sumpter and McLenore, were riding northwest
of Hot Springs when they saw a bright light in the sky. About 7 km
farther they saw the light again coming down to the ground. One km
farther the horses refused to walk. Two men were seen carrying lights.
The lawmen took their rifles, called the strangers, and were told that
they crossed the country with a flying craft. The silhouette of the
machine, about 2O m long, could be seen in the clearing. There was a
woman with an umbrella nearby. It was raining, and the younger of the
men was filling a large container with water. The elder man had a beard
and suggested that the policemen fly with them “to a place where it does
not rain.” The same witness went back through the same spot 40 min later
and found nothing.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 4; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Hot Springs, Arkansas
ID: 31
Date: 5/6/1897
Description: During a rainstorm five miles west of Hot Springs,
Arkansas, Deputy Sheriff John McLemore and Constable John J. Sumpter
Jr. see a light in the sky descend behind a hill one half-mile away.
After seeing two persons carrying lights, they draw their rifles and
demand to know who is there. A man with a long, dark beard tells them
that he and two others are traveling around the country in an airship
and hope to end up in Nashville, Tennessee. He invites the officers to
take a ride and transport them to somewhere dry, but they tell him they
prefer to get wet. They return to the spot 40 minutes later and the
airship is gone. (“Swore
They Saw It,” Little Rock Arkansas Gazette, May 9, 1897, p. 1; “Swear
They Saw It,” Arkadelphia (Ark.) Southern Standard, May 14, 1897,
p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 221
Date: 5/9/1897
Description: 8:00 p.m. Abe Parker of Norwalk, Ohio, sees an object with
10–12 bright white and red lights moving slowly over the town for about
10 minutes. Other witnesses report hearing music coming from it. An
unnamed young witness, who follows the object out of town for about one
mile after it passes over Main Street, says the shadow cast by the
object is round. (“That Airship Again,” Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer,
May 11, 1897, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 222
Date: 5/11/1897
Description: 10:00 a.m. John
E. Hopley is one of a small group of people in Sandusky, Ohio, who
watch a “fleecy white bulk” floating far away to the west. Through
binoculars the object looks like a white bird with long black wings.
Hopley guesses that it is 1–2 miles high, 20 miles away, and 60–80 feet
long. (“The
Air Ship: John E. Hopley Sees
This Modern Invention,” Bucyrus (Ohio) Evening Telegraph, May 11,
1897, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 223
Date: 7/4/1897
Description: 7:45 p.m. Hundreds of witnesses in Lexington, Kentucky, see
a lighted object silhouetted against a storm cloud in the southwest
moving to the north at 500 feet altitude. When it nears the city, the
light goes out and it disappears after passing over the western part of
the city. (“The
Air Ship or Its Twin Brother Passes over Lexington,”
Lexington (Ky.) Morning Herald, July 5, 1897, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 224
Date: 7/29/1897
Description: Sunset. Farmer Andrew
Henderson sees a large, unlighted, oblong object with a suspended
car and a huge sail drifting to the northeast over his farm three miles
from Whitemouth, Manitoba. He estimates it is only a half-mile away.
(“Could It Be Andree?” Winnipeg Manitoba Free Press, July 31, 1897,
p. 1; “Big Balloon Story,” Winnipeg Manitoba Free Press, August 2, 1897,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 225
Date: 8/26/1897
Description: 6:45 p.m. An airship with an attached car is seen moving
steadily southwest above Asheville, North Carolina, by Dr. Willard
P. Whittington and two other men who are standing on Grove Street.
It is about one mile in altitude. (“Maybe
It Was Andree on His Return?” Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, August 27,
1897, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 226
Date: 8/28/1897
Description: 3:00 a.m. Luther
Myers hears dogs barking outside his home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
When he looks through the window, he sees a rapidly moving airship with
a light on each end. It has a propeller and rotates as it moves forward.
(“Our
Closeby Neighbors,”
Chambersburg (Pa,) Valley Spirit, September 1, 1897, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 227
Date: 9/7/1897
Description: 2:00 p.m. V. H. Hollingsworth and his family in Ellsworth
(between Sherman and Denison), Texas, see an unusual object approaching
from the east. It has a fan-like wheel on front and fin-like projections
on the side. (“The
Air Ship,” Marshall (Tex.) Evening Messenger, September 9, 1897,
p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 228
Date: 11/2/1897
Description: 12:45 p.m. Engineer Charles W. West sees a balloon of
unusual size passing southwest above Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. It looks
like an inclined cylinder with rounded ends and has a car suspended from
it. After 20 minutes it passes out of sight. (“Saw
the Man Who Saw the Ship,” Boston Daily Globe, November 5, 1897,
p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 229
Date: 11/19/1897
Description: 11:00 p.m. A telegraph operator in Kellogg, Iowa, sees a
bright, bluish light moving rapidly to the southwest. He notifies the
operator at Colfax, Iowa, and people in the depot there also see it.
(“See
the Airship,” Chicago (Ill.) Chronicle, November 20, 1897,
p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 230
Date: 12/5/1897
Description: Early morning. Engineer John J. Hussey and fireman John
Henderson of the Great Northern Railroad in northern Minnesota see a
“large, white long light which seemed surrounded by some dark objects”
near Deerwood. Other employees of the Great Northern and Northern
Pacific railways also view the light (“Was
It an Air-Ship,”
Saint Paul (Minn.) Globe, December 7, 1897, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 231
Date: 1898
Description: English author H.
G. Wells publishes The War of the Worlds, one of the earliest
stories to portray a conflict between humans and an extraterrestrial
race. The novel is the first-person narrative of both an unnamed
protagonist in Surrey and his younger brother in London as southern
England is invaded by Martians. (Wikipedia, “The
War of the Worlds”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 232
Date: 1/10/1898
Description: 9:00 p.m. Residents of Rome, Georgia, watch a blue light
“attached to some dark and indistinguishable object” as it flies from
the northwest to the east. (“Star-Gazing
in Rome,” Atlanta (Ga.) Constitution, January 11, 1898, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 233
Date: 2/4/1898
Description: Mid-day. The postmaster of Greifswald,
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state, Germany, and 11 other persons see an
object crossing the Sun’s disk. They watch the object approach the Sun
for 15 minutes, take one hour to pass, and stay visible for another hour
until clouds obscure it. (Martin Brendel, “Ueber
ein 1898 Febr. 4 in Greifswald
beobachtetes Phänomen,” Astronomische Nachrichten 145 (1898):
333–334)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 234
Date: 5/2/1898
Description: Dusk. Bystanders in front of the Pearson building in
downtown New Castle, Pennsylvania, notice a bright arc light moving in
from the southwest just below the clouds and remaining visible for 5
minutes. (“A
Mysterious Light,”
New Castle (Pa.) News, May 4, 1898, p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 235
Date: 6/1/1898
Description: 8:30 p.m. Harry
McCandliss is riding in the country near Emporia, Kansas, when he
sees a cigar-shaped object flying toward the northwest at about 300
feet. It is suspended from a balloon and is peppered with electrical
lights. At one point the lights go out then reappear. A searchlight beam
in the front skitters in different directions. It ascends to 600 feet
and is lost to view. ([News
note], Emporia (Kan.) Gazette, June 2, 1898, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 236
Date: 10/4/1898
Alternate date: 10/3/1898
Description: Night. At Fort Washita, Oklahoma, Mrs. William Peveto
(possibly Mary
Peveto) watches a fireball (probably the same one as October 4)
descend. A few minutes later, distracted by the meteor, she is standing
in her kitchen when a “female ghost” appears and chats with her for a
few minutes, saying that if she would follow her, she will lead her to a
fortune. Peveto becomes terrified, and the entity flees through a closed
door. The entity visits her again on other nights, again talking about
treasure in the basement. They continue until February 1899 when they
occur nightly. At one point the ghost claims to have been murdered years
ago in Fort Washita and shows her strangle marks around her neck.
Poltergeist phenomena (tables moving) occur and a male ghost also talks
to her. Peveto becomes ill and apparently moves away from the place.
(“Ghosts at Old Fort Washita,” Dallas (Tex.) Morning News, October 20,
1898; “Old Fort Washita Ghosts: Mrs. Peveto Contributes Another Uncanny
Chapter to the Record,” Dallas (Tex.) Morning News, March 26, 1899; Theo
Paijmans, “High Strangeness in Texas,” Fortean Times 286 (May 2012):
30–31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 238
Date: 10/4/1898
Description: 9:00 p.m. A brilliant object passes over Italy, Greenville,
Garland, and Blossom, Texas. Initially moving in an easterly direction,
it seems to change course and shoot upwards then burst, throwing out
three distinct objects, one red, the other white, and the last one blue.
The red and blue lights die out, but the white one continue a few
seconds before it too bursts, emitting a shower of sparks. Blossom
merchant Dick Moore says the light is so glaring that he thinks his
“house was falling on him.” About 2.5 miles north of Sherman,
12-year-old George Campbell is riding with his father when they see the
fireball descending, apparently coming as close as 3 feet above the
ground before moving upward; they can hear a buzzing noise and think the
object is about 10 feet in diameter. (“Aerial Phenomena in Texas,”
Dallas (Tex.) Morning News, October 5, 1898; “The Meteor,” Dallas
Morning News, October 7, 1898; Theo Paijmans, “High Strangeness in
Texas,” Fortean Times 286 (May 2012): 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 237
Date: 1899
Description: Swiss psychologist Carl
Jung investigates his 15-year-old cousin, Hélène
Preiswerk (“S.W.”), in Basel, Switzerland, who claims to be a
spiritualist medium. Her trances frequently involve journeys to other
planets. She claims that Martians have flying machines, and they
irrigate the land with canals and artificial lakes. (Hilary Evans,
“Martians of the 1890s,” IUR 11, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1986): 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 240
Date: 1899
Description: Serbian-American inventor Nikola
Tesla is working in his laboratory near Colorado Springs, Colorado,
when he observes unusual signals from his receiver that he speculates
are communications from another planet. He mentions them in a letter to
a reporter in December 1899 and to the Red Cross Society in December
1900. Reporters treat it as a sensational story and jump to the
conclusion Tesla is hearing signals from Mars. In 1901, Tesla writes
that it has not been immediately apparent to him that he is hearing
“intelligently controlled signals” and that the signals could have come
from Mars, Venus, or other planets. It is possible that he is
intercepting Guglielmo
Marconi’s European experiments in July 1899—Marconi may have
transmitted the letter S (dot dot dot) in a naval demonstration, the
same three impulses that Tesla hinted at hearing in Colorado—or signals
from another experimenter in wireless transmission. Brian
Dunning of the Skeptoid podcast attributes Tesla’s signals to
pulsars, which are not identified until 1968. (Nikola Tesla, “Talking
with the Planets,” Colliers Weekly 26 (February 9, 1901): 4–5;
Margaret Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, Dorset Press, 1989 ed., pp. 111–113;
Daniel Blair Stewart, Tesla: The Modern Sorcerer, Frog, 1999, p. 372;
Michael D. Swords, “Radio Signals from Space, Alien Probes, and Betty
Hill,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005): 11; W. Bernard Carlson, Tesla:
Inventor of the Electrical Age, Princeton University, 2013, p. 315;
Brian Dunning, “The
Black Knight Satellite,” Skeptoid podcast, no. 365, June 4,
2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 239
Date: mid 1/1899
Description: Late night. People returning from a dance near McMahan,
Texas, see a group of stars in formation, moving in one direction. A few
miles further east, hunters camping on a hilltop see the full outline of
an airship with headlights and windows. (Dallas (Tex.) News, January 25,
1899; Clark III 86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 241
Date: 1/26/1899
Description: 11:00 p.m. People outside the opera house in McAlester,
Oklahoma, watch an airship “like a railway car suspended from a large
balloon-like arrangement” pass overhead. It shines a bright searchlight
along the ground. ([News
note], Garfield County (Okla.) Democrat, February 9, 1899,
p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 242
Date: 6/1/1899
Description: Late evening. Observers in Kamen-Rybolov, Primorsky Krai,
Russia, see a blue sphere about 28 inches in diameter flying silently
from south to north near the steamboat Kazak Ussuriyskiy moored on Lake
Khanka. It is seen for 20 minutes, then it returns later in the evening
flying north to south at greater speed, disappearing 11 minutes later.
(Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020,
p. 113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 243
Date: 7/4/1899
Description: 4:30 p.m. A mystery balloon floats across the sky in
Spokane, Washington, from southwest to northeast. Before it disappears,
it ascends so high that “nothing but a small black ball far up in the
heavens could be discerned.” (“Who
Owns the Big Balloon?” Spokane (Wash.) Chronicle, July 5, 1899,
p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 244
Date: 10/1899
Description: Midnight. Physician Malcom McKinnon is driving home to
Fosston, Minnesota, in his carriage when a dazzling ball of white light
crosses the road ahead about one-quarter of a mile away, lighting up the
road like daylight. It resembles an electric arc lamp and moves slowly
from north to southeast about 3 feet above the ground, throwing the
field furrows into visible relief. As it passes closer, McKinnon sees
that it is clearly “disk shaped, about the size of an umbrella.” It is
in sight for 30 minutes. (Minneapolis Minnesota Journal, October 25,
1899; Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough, Return to Magonia: Investigating
UFOs in History, Anomalist, 2015, pp. 239–251)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 245
Date: 1900
Description: Psychic medium Catherine-Elise
Müller (under the pseudonym “Hélène Smith”) of Geneva, Switzerland,
becomes famous with the publication of Des Indes à la Planete Mars (From
India to the Planet Mars) by Théodore
Flournoy, professor
of psychology at the University of Geneva. The medium and the
psychologist remain very close until 1900, when the book is first
published, documenting her various series of somnambulatory trances in
which she experiences a civilization on Mars and her former lives: the
“Martian” cycle, “Ultramartian” cycle, “Hindu,” “Oriental,” and “royal”
cycles. She writes out the Martian communications on paper and
translates them into French, popularizing automatic writing. (Society
for Psychical Research, PSI Encyclopedia, “Hélène
Smith”; Hilary Evans, “Martians of the 1890s,” IUR 11, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1986): 4–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 246
Date: summer 1900
Description: Dusk. A 12-year-old girl is walking back to her farm from
Cadwst, Denbighshire, Wales, when a large disc- shaped object about 14
feet in diameter silently passes above her and over a nearby meadow.
(Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 13–14) Mid-summer —
3:00 a.m. Perrian
A. McGilvra, 14, is returning on horseback from a dance near
Reedsburg, Wisconsin, when his horse begins acting up. He sees a large,
dark, dirigible-shaped object passing over a grove of poplar trees. The
trees bend like they are in a strong windstorm, but he notices no wind.
The object flies over his head with a whooshing sound. The horse remains
frightened even after the object leaves. (Clark III 1161)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 247
Date: 12/1900
Description: Percival
Lowell at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, records a shaft
of light that projects from a “well-known geographical point” on Mars
for 70 minutes. (“Science
Notes,” Scientific American 84 (1901): 179)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 248
Date: summer 1901
Description: Day. A 10-year-old boy is walking home to Bournbrook, West
Midlands, England, through a path behind his family’s garden when he
comes upon a large box-shaped device with a small, centrally placed
turret. The only opening is a door, through which two small men (less
than 4 feet tall) in military uniforms (but no insignia), each wearing
an odd-looking cap with a wire sticking up on both sides, step out. One
stays by the door, but the other walks toward the boy and waves him
away. The beings go back in the craft, a bright flash surrounds it, and
it shoots into the air with a whooshing sound. (Clark III 261; Jenny
Randles and Philip Barnet, “Humanoids Encountered
in 1901?” Flying Saucer Review 24, no. 5 (March 1979): 28–29; “UFO
Britannia: Part 1, The Early Years,”
Above Top Secret, December 19, 2012; Jenny Randles, “The ‘Wes’ Effect 1:
The Hut That Flew,” Fortean Times 309 (Christmas 2014): 27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 249
Date: 5/13/1902
Description: 8:00 p.m. A blue-colored fireball appears over Austin,
Texas, and ascends into the sky until it disappears. (Austin (Tex.)
Daily Tribune, May 14, 1902; Clark III 1168)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 250
Date: 10/28/1902
Time: 0305
Description: Three persons aboard the “Fort Salisbury,” including Second
Officer A. H. Raymer, saw a huge, dark object bearing lights in the sea
ahead. It was observed sinking slowly. Estimated length: 200 m.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fort 641; Anatomy 20 (Vallee)
Location: Gulf of Guinea
ID: 32
Date: 3/17/1903
Description: Mid-evening. Madge
Brosius, 12, and her father Charles see
a “huge object like a gigantic ripe cucumber with slightly tapered ends”
over the family farm in Helmer, Indiana. Its inside is illuminated, and
it has 8 windows in two rows of four each. Her father estimates it is
100 feet long. It begins moving away from him as he moves toward it,
zigzagging like a child’s balloon losing air. (Madge Brosius Allyn, “The
Flying Cucumber of 1903,” Fate 24, no. 3 (March 1971): 45–47; Clark III
1162)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 251
Date: 9/29/1903
End date: 10/3/1903
Description: An implement dealer named U.
G. Griffith is on his way home in Van Meter, Iowa. As he approaches,
he notices a strange point of light like a spotlight emanating from the
top of the Mather & Gregg’s building. He approaches cautiously, but
the light sails across the street. He tells others about the experience,
and over the next few days several people report a half-human,
half-animal entity with large bat-like wings. The townsfolk chase the
creature toa local mine shaft, down which it disappears, never to be
seen again. (Clark III 1216–1218; Craig Woolheater, “The Van Meter
Visitor,” Cryptomundo, May 9, 2013; Chad Lewis, Noah Voss, and Kevin Lee
Nelson, The Van Meter Visitor, On the Road, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 252
Date: 12/17/1903
Description: Inventors Orville
and Wilbur Wright make the first controlled, sustained flight of a
powered, heavier- than-air aircraft with the Wright Flyer 4 miles south
of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. (Wikipedia, “Wright
Flyer”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 253
Date: 1904
Description: Late afternoon. Wirt
M. Covert, 17, and Arthur
B. Eldert are returning on horseback from a grocery store in
Dixboro, Michigan, when they see a large object in the air moving west
behind the steeple of the Dixboro United Methodist Church. He compares
its shape to the Confederate ironclad Virginia and it has a thick mast
sticking up from its center and orange light shining through some
windows. Suddenly it rises at about a 60° angle over the hills, tipping
its mast back, and disappears. (NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 254
Date: 1904
Description: Tom Darby, with his brother and mother, saw two
whitish-blue objects about 400 m away, from a point situated 3 km north
of Rolling Prairie. The objects hovered 2 or 3 m above ground, flew
toward a barn, came closer to each other, and were hidden from view by a
hill.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Hartle 164 (Vallee)
Location: Rolling Prairie, Indiana
ID: 33
Date: 2/28/1904
Description: Mid-evening. The steamer USS
Supply is
transporting the ill Governor of Guam, William
Elbridge Sewell, from
Guam to San Francisco, California. About 300 miles west-southwest of San
Francisco, commanding Lt. Frank
Herman Schofield observes three objects “beneath the clouds, their
color a rather bright red.” As they approach the ship they appear to
soar, passing above the broken clouds. After rising above the clouds,
they appear to “be moving directly away from the earth. The largest had
an apparent area of about six suns. It was egg-shaped, the larger end
forward. The second was about twice the size of the sun, and the third,
about the size of the sun. Their near approach to the surface appeared
to be most remarkable.” The objects are in sight for over two minutes by
three people. Barry
Greenwood thinks they are meteors, but Bruce
Maccabee is not so sure. (Frank H. Schofield, “Remarkable Meteors,”
Monthly Weather Review 32 (March 1904): 115; Bruce Maccabee, “Even More
Remarkable,” IUR 9, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1984): 14–15; Bruce Maccabee, “Meteors?
Even More Remarkable,” 2005; NICAP, “Three
Red Objects Sighted from USS Supply”; Barry Greenwood, “The
USS Supply Sighting of 1904,”
UFO Historical Revue, no. 2 (September 1998): 2–6; Martin Shough and Wim
van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist, 2019,
pp. 329–351)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 255
Date: 6/1904
Description: 10:00 p.m. When Tony Darby goes outside to the well on his
farm 5 miles north of Rolling Prairie, Indiana, he notices two round,
orange-colored, silent objects hovering 5–6 feet from the ground near
the barn. He estimates they are the size of wagon wheels. One of the
objects is 2 feet behind and to the left of the other. Running back to
the house, he calls for his mother and brother, and all three walk
toward the objects, which move away slightly then stop when the
witnesses stop. Soon the objects move steadily away to the northeast,
still maintaining their relative positions, at about the speed of a man
walking. They pause briefly in a small hollow, then continue over a
small hill and out of sight. (Lore and Deneault, pp. 91–92)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 256
Date: 1905
Description: Frederick
Spencer Oliver’s book A Dweller on Two Planets is published
posthumously. It is a narrative channeled by Oliver in Yreka,
California, through automatic writing and mental dictations by a spirit
calling itself Phylos the Tibetan, an Atlantean who reveals his story
from 1883 to 1886. The book deals with deep esoteric subjects including
karma and reincarnation and describes Phylos’s final incarnation in 19th
century America where his Atlantean karma plays itself out. In that
incarnation (as Walter Pierson, gold miner and occult student of the
Theo-Christic Adepts) he travels to Venus in an astral body while his
physical form remains at a temple inside Mount Shasta, California.
(Wikipedia, “A
Dweller on Two Planets”; Frederick Spencer Oliver, A
Dweller on
Two Planets, Baumgardt,
1905)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 257
Date: 8/3/1905
Description: 1:30 a.m. Farmer John A. Jackson is driving a herd of hogs
from Silsbee (a former settlement 6 miles southwest of El Centro) to
Imperial, California, when a bright light flashes on him from above. He
is momentarily blinded, and the hogs start running away. Jackson sees it
is a searchlight from an airship about 100 feet long and propelled by
wings that move up and down. It has smaller lights along the sides.
Jackson wakes up W. E. Wilsie, who lives nearby, and they watch it
disappear to the northeast. Another farmer, A. J. Morey, also glimpses
the airship. (“Aerial
Navigation in Imperial Valley,” Imperial (Calif.) Press, August 5,
1905, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 258
Date: 9/6/1905
Description: Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity paper
published
Type: scientific advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 1906
Description: Herbert
Vern DeMott, 10, watches an object come down near his family’s water
well in Mitchell, South Dakota. As he approaches it, a door rolls back
and he is welcomed inside by two human-like occupants who are sitting
inside on camp stools. They converse with him fluently, but he does not
know where they come from. He sees a lever that apparently can cut off
the earth’s “magnetism,” allowing the object to rise. The occupants take
water from the farm’s horse trough to be “used in making electricity.”
(“DeMott
Rock Study Crosses Continents,” Albany (Oreg.) Democrat-Herald,
August 27, 1973, p. 11; Clark III 261; Patrick Gross, URECAT, July
22, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 259
Date: 1/4/1906
Description: Night. Martin Meyerson is on the beach at Paia, Maui,
Hawaii, when he sees a green object with the shape and diameter of the
full moon appear from behind the southern slopes of the Wailuku
Mountains. It is so bright it illuminates the cane fields below, then
travels like a “slow-pitched baseball” and disappears behind Mount
Haleakala to the southeast. (Clark III 1168)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 260
Date: 9/16/1906
Description: Late afternoon. Hundreds of people in Indianapolis,
Indiana, see a “cigar-shaped object” like an airship pass over the city.
It is seen first in Irvington and then floats over the southern side of
the business district where it is distinctly seen from downtown. Some
estimate it to be 2,000 feet in the air; the watchman at the courthouse
tower looks at it through binoculars but cannot see any detail. It
disappears to the west. (“Ship
Founders in Air,” Indianapolis Star, September 17, 1906, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 261
Date: 10/7/1906
Description: 5:00 p.m. An airship again floats over the southeastern
portion of Indianapolis, Indiana, and is seen by many as it turns
northeast and disappears in the distance. (“Ship
Floats over City: Hundreds See It in Flight,” Indianapolis Star,
October 8, 1906, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 262
Date: 11/1906
Description: Dusk. Roy Russell and four other cotton-pickers are taking
a brief respite from work 10 miles southeast of Anadarko, Oklahoma, when
they see a fiery object shaped like a stovepipe. From an initial
altitude of 60 feet, the object sinks down, comes toward them, and
passes within 16 feet at eye level. Then it seems to flatten out and
just blacks out. Another similar object follows and then several others.
Russell watches them for 20 minutes. (“Recalls Fiery
1906 U.F.O.,” Des Moines (Iowa) Tribune, May 4, 1966, p. 36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 263
Date: 4/20/1907
End date: 4/26/1907
Description: The Nashville American prints some tall tales about
encounters with occupants of a balloon who land briefly in various
places (usually near a spring) around central Tennessee. The witnesses
include a farmer named W. A. Smith, Walter Stephenson, Herman Schubert,
Asa Hickerson, and A. Mollycoddle. The aeronauts are dressed strangely,
play music, and speak a foreign language. (Nashville (Tenn.) Sunday
American, April 21–23, 28, 1907; “Here’s
a Weird Tale,” Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer, April 25, 1907, p. 6;
Theo Paijmans, “The Tennessee Aeronaut Flap of 1907,” Fortean Times 313
(May 2014): 28–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 264
Date: summer 1907
Description: While playing along the shore of a lake near Vilppula [now
Mänttä-Vilppula], Finland, a group of boys see a light come from over
the water and settle on the beach nearby. A door opens, and human-like
beings emerge, sending the youths running. Searchers who come to the
site later find traces and footprints. (Clark III 261; Center for UFO
Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1900-1909, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 265
Date: 7/2/1907
Description: Just before 12:00 noon. Bishop John
Stephen Michaud is talking with Vermont ex-governor Urban
A. Woodbury at
the corner of Church and College streets in Burlington, Vermont, when
they hear a loud explosion and see a torpedo-shaped object about 6 feet
long and 8 inches in diameter suspended in the air about 300 feet away.
It is dark, with several tongues of flame issuing from it at various
points, as if its covering is ruptured. It slowly begins to move to the
southeast. The explosion has either knocked down or stunned a horse in
College Street. A strong downpour of rain ensues shortly afterward.
Although described as a “possible case of ball lightning,” the object
appears more likely to have been an exploded balloon that someone has
attached fireworks to in preparation for a Fourth of July celebration.
(William H. Alexander, “A
Possible Case of Ball Lightning,” Monthly Weather Review 35 (July
1907): 310–311; Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht, Redemption of the
Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist, 2019, pp. 354–372, reprinted in “Revisiting
the Bishop’s Torpedo,” Fortean Times 387 (Christmas 2019): 44–51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 266
Date: 7/7/1907
Description: 6:40 p.m. W. E. Thomas is watching a vivid sunset in
Phoenix, Arizona, when he sees a “blue disk floating in the heavens
apparently close to the sun.” It passes in front of the sun, completely
covering it. Other discs appear until there are seven of them. His wife
also sees the objects, which are constantly in motion, changing
directions and sometimes moving in a straight-line formation. The disks
are visible for another hour until sunset, when they are last seen as
blue blotches. (“Phoenix
Man Sees Blue Stars,” Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen, July 11, 1907,
p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 267
Date: 1908
Description: The English ship “Mohican,” piloted by Capt. Urghart, was
going to Philadelphia when it was surrounded by a thick, luminous cloud
which “magnetized” everything on board. The compass was observed to
swing wildly. When seamen tried to move some chains on the bridge, they
found that they were glued to the metal floor. Suddenly the cloud rose
and was seen above the sea for some time.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 197 (Vallee)
Location: Coast of Delaware
ID: 34
Date: 3/30/1908
Description: 10:15 p.m. F. W. Longbottom in Queens Park, Chester,
England, is photographing the Whirlpool Galaxy (NGC 5194) in Canes
Venacti with a 12.25-inch reflector. When the plate is developed, it
shows an unknown nebulous object some 25 minutes of arc northeast of the
galaxy. He does not see the object when he examines the same spot again
on April 6. (F. W. Longbottom, “Comet
or ———?” The Observatory 31 (1908): 215–216)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 268
Date: 5/1908
Description: Late evening. Helen C. Peterson sees a string of lighted
beads in the sky over Great River, Long Island, New York. The first
light stops and as the others reach it, they seem to bump into it. It
grows a little bigger, appearing like a large star. Suddenly it begins
to spin like a pinwheel, but without sparks. The motion stops and what
looks like a very bright star takes off at great speed toward the
southeast. (Clark III 1168–1169)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 269
Date: summer 1908
Description: Repeated sightings of unidentified airships, sometimes
flying against the wind, take place in Denmark. They usually have wings
and searchlights; on one occasion, an antenna is seen jutting from the
front end. Other reports are of oddly shaped clouds from which a
searchlight emanates, sweeping the ground. (Willy Wegner, “The Mystery
‘Airship’ over Denmark in 1908,” The UFO Register 8, no. 1 (November
1977): 3–8; Clark III 1163)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 271
Date: 6/30/1908
Description: 7:14 a.m. A large explosion takes place near the
Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate [now Krasnoyarsk
Krai], Russia. Evenki natives and Russian settlers in the hills
northwest of Lake Baikal observe a column of bluish light, nearly as
bright as the sun, moving across the sky. About 10 minutes later, there
is a flash and a sound similar to artillery fire. Eyewitnesses closer to
the explosion report that the source of the sound moves from the east to
the north of them. The sounds are accompanied by a shock wave that
knocks people off their feet and breaks windows hundreds of kilometers
away. The explosion over the sparsely populated eastern Siberian taiga
flattens 770 square miles of forest and possibly causes up to three
human casualties. The event is generally attributed to the air burst of
a meteoroid. It is classified as an impact event, even though no impact
crater has been found. The object disintegrates at an altitude of 3–6
miles rather than hitting the surface of the Earth. The area is so
remote that the site is not inspected until 1927 by a team led by
Russian mineralogist Leonid
Kulik, who finds a zone about 5 miles across where trees are
scorched and devoid of branches but still standing upright. More exotic
explanations for the event include a black hole impact, antimatter, a
UFO crash (as recently as 2004 by Russian ufologist Yuri Labvin), a
nuclear explosion, and an inadvertent experiment by Nikola
Tesla. (Wikipedia, “Tunguska
event”; Hobana and Weverbergh 10–30; John Baxter and Thomas Atkins,
The
Fire Came By: The Riddle
of the Great Siberian Explosion, Doubleday,
1976; Surendra Verma, The Mystery of the Tunguska Fireball, Thriplow,
2005; Vladimir Rubtsov, The Tunguska Mystery, Springer, 2009; Phil
Plait, “Aliens
Saved Tunguska!”
Bad Astronomy, May 29, 2009; Mark Peplow, “Rock
Samples Suggest Meteor Caused Tunguska Blast,”
Nature, June 10, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 270
Date: 6/30/1908
Description: Unexplained explosion in the taiga, equivalent to a
thermonuclear blast, sometimes interpreted as the crash of an
interstellar vehicle.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Anatomy 18; Challenge 99 (Vallee)
Location: Podkamennaia Toungouska, USSR
ID: 35
Date: 7/25/1908
Description: About 6:00 p.m. A “large airship sailing very high” is seen
passing from north to south over the Forestville neighborhood of
Bristol, Connecticut. It seems to be an elongated gas bag under which a
framework with a propeller is suspended. After “maneuvering” a while, it
stops and circles over Lake Compounce then changes course toward the
southwest. An East Bristol man named Wilson later claims it was a
pig-shaped balloon he had sent up for his daughter’s birthday party, but
“balloon” sightings continue in Massachusetts through December. (“Large
Airship Seen Sailing over East Part of Bristol, Ct.,” Boston Herald,
July 26, 1908, p. 16; “The Lake Compounce Airship,” Willimantic (Conn.)
Daily Chronicle, July 29, 1908, p. 26; Clark III 1163)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 272
Date: 7/26/1908
Description: A special agent force in the Department of Justice,
forerunner of the FBI, is created by Attorney General Charles
Bonaparte. Its first chief is Stanley
Finch. Attorney General George
W. Wickersham renames the force the Bureau of Investigation in March
1909. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, Timeline, March
31, 2002)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 273
Date: 10/1908
Description: Skipper J. H. Stockman of the smack Superb is fishing in
the North Sea 35 miles out of Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, when he sees
a large “star” rise out of the water and approach his ship. He signals
it with a red flare, and to his surprise he is immediately answered with
a red flare above him. He then shows a white flare and receives a blue
flare in response. The object appears sausage-shaped and carries a
single light. It disappears in the direction of the Netherlands. (East
Anglian Daily Times, May 20, 1909; Norfolk News, May 22, 1909; Clark III
1163; David Clarke, “Scareships
over Britain: The Airship Wave of 1909,” Fortean Studies 6 (1999);
Patrick Gross, URECAT, August
17, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 274
Date: 10/1/1908
End date: 5/26/1927
Description: The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by the
Ford Motor Company. It is generally regarded as the first affordable
automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans.
The relatively low price was partly the result of Ford’s efficient
fabrication, including assembly line production instead of individual
handcrafting.
Type: industrial advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 1909
Description: Night. Frederick
G. Hehr sees a bright white light executing a “curious dance” over a
village one mile away in East Frisia, Lower Saxony, Germany. A minute
later the light suddenly streaks in his direction, coming within 300
feet as it passes by at 60 feet altitude. Three seconds later it is
gone. (“Report from the Readers,” Fate 4, no. 5 (July 1951): 95–96;
Clark III 1169)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 275
Date: 3/4/1909
Description: 8:25 p.m. Charles Maberly, an organist at St. Michael’s
Church in Lambourne, Berkshire, England, is returning home from choir
practice when he sees a bright searchlight attached to a torpedo-shaped
dirigible heading west at 200 feet altitude. He walks for about 50 yards
watching it. As it passes out of sight, he hears three explosions at
regular intervals. (London Evening News, May 18, 1909; Carl Grove, “The
Airship Wave of 1909: A
Preliminary Survey,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1970): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 276
Date: 3/23/1909
Description: 5:15 a.m. Police Constable James Kettle of Peterborough,
England, sees a powerful light about 1,200 feet in the air above
Cromwell Road making an engine-like buzz. The light is on a dark,
fast-moving oblong object. It is in view for about 3 minutes.
(Peterborough Advertiser, March 27, 1909; “Aerial
Mystery,” London Standard, May 17, 1909, p. 7; Carl Grove, “The
Airship Wave of 1909: A Preliminary Survey,” Flying Saucer Review
16, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1970): 9; David Clarke, “Scareships
over Britain: The Airship Wave of 1909,” Fortean Studies 6
(1999))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 277
Date: 5/9/1909
Description: 11:20 p.m. Miss H. M. Boville notices from her bedroom
window at Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, a “large dark object looming
out of the sky” and traveling slowly from the east. After a few seconds
it remains nearly stationary for a few minutes in front of her window,
and she sees the outline of a torpedo-shaped airship about 1,300 feet in
altitude. It rises higher then travels swiftly to the west toward
London. It shows two powerful searchlights at each end very briefly.
(London Evening News, May 15, 1909; Carl Grove, “The
Airship Wave of 1909:
A Preliminary Survey,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1970): 10; David Clarke, “Scareships over
Britain: The Airship Wave of 1909,” Fortean Studies 6 (1999))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 278
Date: 5/13/1909
Description: 9:45 p.m. Fred Harrison of King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England,
sees a “long, dark object” moving swiftly overhead just above treetop
level. It carries a searchlight that illuminates the road, farm
buildings, trees, and everything it touches. (“Mystery of the Air,”
London Daily Express, May 14, 1909, p. 1; David Clarke, “Scareships
over Britain: The Airship Wave of 1909,” Fortean Studies 6
(1999))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 280
Date: 5/13/1909
Description: Night. C. W. Allen and two other men are motoring through
Kelmarsh, Northampton, England, when they hear a loud explosion in the
air followed by the rumbling of an engine. Allen sees an oblong dark
shape, perhaps 100 feet long, with lights in front and behind moving at
an altitude of 500–600 feet. They dimly perceive some men on a platform
below it. It passes out of sight at 20 mph northeast toward
Peterborough. (East Anglian Daily Times, May 13, 1909; Carl Grove, “The
Airship Wave of 1909: A Preliminary Survey,” Flying Saucer Review
16, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1970): 11; David Clarke, “Scareships
over Britain: The Airship Wave of 1909,” Fortean Studies 6
(1999))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 279
Date: 5/16/1909
Description: 1:30 a.m. A Mrs. Wigg, who lives near Belle Vue Park on
Yarmouth Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, wakes up to an engine-like
sound. She looks out her window and sees a long, dark, bottle-shaped
object pass by at a low altitude. She thinks she can see a man in front,
steering the craft. Other people in Lowestoft hear engine sounds and
flashes of light around the same time. (East Anglian Daily Times, May
18–19, 1909; Norfolk News, May 19, 1909, p. 13; David Clarke, “Scareships
over Britain: The Airship Wave of 1909,” Fortean Studies 6
(1999))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 281
Date: 5/17/1909
Description: The subject of mystery airships is brought up in a debate
in the House of Commons. Arthur
Fell, MP for Great Yarmouth, England, had asked Secretary of State
for War Richard
Haldane if he could give the number of dirigibles, either built or
in progress of being built, in Germany. Haldane replies that 7 dirigible
airships have been built and another 5 are under construction. Horatio
Myer, MP
for Lambeth North, follows up by asking Haldane: “Will the honourable
gentleman, in any report he may circulate, tell us about a certain
dirigible supposed to be hovering about our coast?” The question is
greeted with laughter and Haldane does not reply. (Neil R. Storey,
Zeppelin Blitz: The German Air Raids on Great Britain during the First
World War, History Press, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 282
Date: 5/18/1909
Description: 11:00 p.m. Charles Lethbridge (part-time dock worker and
Punch-and-Judy showman) is traveling on a “spring cart” from Senghenydd
on his way home to Cardiff, South Wales. At the summit of Caerphilly
Mountain he sees a long, tube-shaped object sitting on the grass by the
roadside, with two men busily working on something. They are wearing
heavy fur coats and fur caps that fit tightly over the heads. Lethbridge
proceeds to about 60 feet of them when they notice him and start jumping
up and jabbering in a foreign language. They quickly pick up something
from the ground, then jump into a little carriage suspended from the
object (with wheels at the bottom), which rises into the air in a
zig-zag fashion. When it clears the telegraph wires, two electric lights
shine out and the craft heads toward the southeast. Lethbridge returns
to the site with a newspaper reporter and they find signs of trampling
in the grass for about 45 feet. They also pick up a small red French
military label, letterhead from a London stockbroker, many newspaper
clippings with references to airships or the German army, and a tin box
with paste for polishing metal. (“Airship
Mystery,” The Guardian (London), May 20, 1909, p. 7; “Mystery of the
Air,” London Daily Express, May 20, 1909, p. 1; Nick Redfern, “UFOs
over Wales: A 1909 Wave,” Mysterious Universe, May 23, 2016; Brett
Holman, “What
the Showman Saw,” Airminded, November 17, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 283
Date: 5/18/1909
Time: 2300
Description: Mr. Lethbridge was walking along a road near the mountains
when he saw on the grass a large tubelike machine. Aboard were two men
wearing furs and talking excitedly in a language the witness could not
understand. The grass was found depressed at the site after the object
had flown off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 198; Anatomy 21 (Vallee)
Location: Caerphilly, Wales
ID: 36
Date: 5/19/1909
Description: 12:00 midnight. A Mr. Chatten, grocer’s assistant, is
cycling home to Tharston, Norfolk, England, when he is dazzled by a
bright light with a bluish tinge overhead. It switches off for a few
seconds, and Chatten can see a long, cigar-shaped object 300–400 feet
above him, moving rapidly toward Norwich. On its underside is a
framework with a yellow light at each end. (“Airship Mystery,” London
Daily Telegraph, May 21, 1909, p. 12; Brett Holman, “Saturday,
May 22, 1909,” Airminded, May 22, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 286
Date: 5/19/1909
Description: 11:30 p.m. A lone motorcyclist observes a glowing light
traveling in a straight trajectory overhead near Wroxham, Norfolk,
England. As it passes, the motorcycle headlight fails. It begins working
again after the UFO passes. (East Anglian Daily Times, May 21, 1909;
Norfolk News, May 22, 1909; Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving
Vehicle Interference, CUFOS, 1981, p. 1; Brett Holman, “Saturday,
May 22, 1909,” Airminded, May 22, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 285
Date: 5/19/1909
Description: 1:15 a.m. Robert Westlake, railroad signalman at King’s
Junction in the Queen Alexandra Dock at Cardiff, Wales, sees a
cigar-shaped object flying swiftly at perhaps 2,600 feet and making a
whizzing noise. It has two lights and is moving eastward. Some dock
workers who are loading the SS Arndale also see the object for “a minute
or two.” It passes over the Bristol Channel towards Weston-super-Mare.
Aeronaut Percival
G. Spencer says that he recently sold several of his “man-lifting”
25-foot-long model airships to advertising firms in the UK, one of them
in Cardiff. (London Globe, May 19, 1909; Brett Holman, “Wednesday,
19 May 1909,” Airminded, May 19, 1909; London Standard, May 21,
1909; Brett Holman, “Friday,
21 May 1909,” Airminded, May 21, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 284
Date: 6/16/1909
Time: 0410
Description: An elongated object following a west to east trajectory
flew over the town. It gave off a strong light and was seen by two
fishermen to plunge into the sea 6 km away from the coast, after a
steady flight of about 9 min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Anatomy 21 (Vallee)
Location: Donghoi, Annam
ID: 37
Date: 7/1909
End date: 8/1909
Description: A mystery airship wave begins in New Zealand with numerous
sightings of unusual nocturnal lights and airships seen in both daytime
and nighttime. The sightings are at first most intense over the southern
end of South Island. In the following weeks the reports appear to move
northward and by August, Australia also falls under the grip of what
press accounts call “aerialitis.” (Bill Chalker, “Early
Australian Historical Encounters,” 1997; Tony Brunt, “The
New Zealand UFO Wave of 1909,” Ufocus NZ, July 22, 2020; Clark III
65–67; Brett Holman, “Scareships
over Australia—1,” Airminded, October 20, 2010; Brett Holman, “Scareships
over Australia—II,” Airminded, October 23, 2010; Brett Holman, “Scareships
over Australia—III,” Airminded, October 25, 2010; Robert E.
Bartholomew, “The
Great Zeppelin Scare of 1909,” NZ Skeptics, May 1, 1998; Hilary
Evans and Robert E. Bartholomew, Outbreak!, Anomalist, 2009,
pp. 479–483)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 287
Date: 7/23/1909
Description: 12:00 noon. Mrs. James Russell and several schoolchildren
in Kelso, New Zealand, see an airship shaped like a boat that flies
toward them from the east, circles above the school, and returns in the
same direction. It seems to have a propeller. (Bill Chalker, “Early
Australian Historical Encounters,” 1997; Bryan Dickeson, “The
’1909 Kelso
Airships’ of New Zealand,” Ufocus NZ, July 22, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 288
Date: 7/30/1909
Description: 5:00 a.m. Two men working on a dredge on the Mataura River
north of Gore, New Zealand, see a lighted object descend out of the
mist. It appears to be a narrow, boat-shaped craft that circles the
dredge over a period of several minutes, rising and falling like a bird,
and varying its speed. Two figures can be seen inside. It disappears
into the mist, leaving behind a yellow glare. (Bill Chalker, “Early
Australian Historical Encounters,” 1997; Tony Brunt, “The
New Zealand UFO Wave of 1909,” Ufocus NZ, July 22, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 289
Date: 8/3/1909
Description: Night. A man is riding in Waipawa, New Zealand, when his
horse becomes nervous. He sees a large, gray, torpedo-shaped object
passing overhead. Three persons are visible in it, one of whom shouts to
him in an unknown language. The object rises to a great height, showing
lights fore and aft. After circling around, it disappears behind a hill.
(Clark III 261; Hawkes Bay Herald, August 6, 1909; Tony Brunt, “The
New Zealand UFO
Wave of 1909,” Ufocus NZ, July 22, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 290
Date: 8/7/1909
Description: 10:30 p.m. Four young men at brick kilns near the railway
station in Goulburn, New South Wales, see a bright, pale blue light
arise from behind some hills to the east. After ascending, it circles
back in the direction it came from. The object is said to be visible
every night from August 5–10. (“The
Goulburn ‘Airship,’” Sydney (N.S.W.) Morning Herald, August 11,
1909, p. 10; Bill Chalker, “Historical
Australian UFO Reports,” UFO Research Australia Newsletter 4, no. 3
(Nov.–Dec. 1983): 27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 291
Date: 8/9/1909
Description: Night. Residents of Moss Vale, New South Wales, watch a
large lighted object like an airship float over the town. (“Is
It an Airship?” Sydney (N.S.W.) Morning Herald, August 10, 1909,
p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 293
Date: 8/9/1909
Description: 7:30–8:00 p.m. A flying object with lights on its front and
back sails at a great altitude from west to east over Concord, New
Hampshire, eventually disappearing into a cloud. Capt. Lyman
Jackman at first thinks it is a balloon, but its estimated speed of
45–50 mph against the wind leads him to think otherwise. (“Air Ship or
Meteor,” Concord (N.H.) Evening Monitor, August 10, 1909, p. 3) At about
the same time, Bertha Niles of Vale Perkins, Quebec, watches a similar
lighted object moving west to east. (“Air Ship or What?” Concord (N.H.)
Evening Monitor, August 13, 1909, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 292
Date: 8/18/1909
Description: 2:30 a.m. Four men (Capt. Edward P. Sisson, Ernest T.
Newton, Prentice Lanphear, and Edward M. Knapp) at the Coast Guard
life-saving station on the south side of Fishers Island, New York, see a
winged airship 60 feet long and 20 feet wide. Moving swiftly against the
wind, it moves in from the northeast, its engines whirring and a
dazzling white light at its head. Two dark figures can be seen in the
center of the object. Visible for 3 minutes, the object moves off to the
west. (“Fishers Islanders See Big Aeroplane,” Providence (R.I.) Journal,
August 19, 1909, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 294
Date: 8/22/1909
Description: Evening. Residents of Upper Montclair, New Jersey, watch a
mystery airplane that emits a large puff of smoke. It descends and flies
off to the north. (“Airship
over Montclair,” New York Times, August 24, 1909, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 295
Date: 9/1909
Description: 7:30 p.m. E. B. Hanna of South Windham, Connecticut,
watches a high-flying, meandering “searchlight” along Windham Center
Road for about an hour. After heading toward him, it changes direction
and moves southward. (“What Mr. Hanna Saw May Have Been the Worcester
Airship,” Willimantic (Conn.) Chronicle, December 14, 1909, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 296
Date: 9/3/1909
Description: 9:00 a.m. Several hundred residents of Bloomingdale,
Indiana, see a “dirigible balloon” pass over the city for 15 minutes.
The car beneath the gas bag is plainly visible. (“Sights
Strange Airship,” Indianapolis Star, September 4, 1909, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 297
Date: 9/20/1909
Description: During the opposition of Mars, astronomer Eugène
Antoniadi uses the 83cm aperture telescope at Meudon Observatory in
Paris, France, to observe Mars. He sees no canals. The outstanding
photos of Mars taken at the new Baillaud dome at the Pic du Midi
Observatory in the French Pyrenees also bring formal discredit to the
Martian canal theory, and the notion of canals begins to fall out of
favor. Around this time, spectroscopic analysis also begins to show that
no water is present in the Martian atmosphere. (Wikipedia, “Martian
canal”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 298
Date: 9/30/1909
Description: Evening. A balloon “supposed to be from Chicago” passes
over Edinburgh, Indiana. Its anchor somehow gets entangled in
high-tension wires of the traction station for the Indianapolis,
Columbus, and Southern interurban rail. It moves south to Taylorsville a
few minutes later, and it is so low to the ground that the occupants are
able to talk to passersby. (“Tramp
Balloon Snaps Wires,” Indianapolis Star, October 1, 1909,
p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 299
Date: 10/1909
Description: 10:30 p.m. Rev. Ruth Smith and some church members are
riding in a wagon in La Porte, Indiana, when the horses rear and a
blinding light splashes across the road. A large structure resembling
two inverted bowls, separated by a row of lights, is hovering, with
several phosphorescent beams extending to the ground. It is encircled in
a corona of light and begins moving slowly. After 15 minutes, it blinks
out. (Lore and Deneault, p. 97;
Clark III 1169)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 300
Date: 12/13/1909
Description: 10:00 p.m. A. W. Norris of Mabelvale, Arkansas, sees a
bright, bobbling light moving through the air about 300 feet above him
from the south. (“Airship
Flies near Little Rock, Perhaps,” Little Rock Arkansas Gazette,
December 15, 1909, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 301
Date: 12/22/1909
Description: 6:30 p.m. Many residents of Worcester, Massachusetts, see a
“brilliant ray” emitted by a large black object 1,000 feet high in the
southwestern sky. After circling over the town, the object heads to the
west, where it is seen over Marlboro. It returns to Worcester between
7:00 and 7:30 p.m., flying at low altitude and sporting a searchlight.
One policeman thinks he sees enormous wings; others detect one or two
figures inside. The airship is attributed to a Worcester businessman
named Wallace
E. Tillinghast, who has told the Boston Herald on December 12 that
he has invented a heavier-than-air monoplane and has made more than 100
test flights at night to Boston and New York City. But Tillinghast never
offers his aircraft for public viewing, and people gradually realize it
is a hoax. (“Tells of Flight 300 Miles in Air,” Boston Herald, December
13, 1909, p. 1; “Airship
Seen in Two
Cities,” Boston Globe, December 23, 1909, p. 1; Clark III 1165;
Stephen Whalen and Robert E. Bartholomew, “The
Great New England Airship Hoax of 1909,” New England Quarterly 75,
no. 3 (September 2002) :466–376; Hilary Evans and Robert E. Bartholomew,
Outbreak!, Anomalist, 2009, pp. 483–486)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 302
Date: 12/23/1909
Description: 10:00 p.m. Thousands of citizens of Boston, Massachusetts,
and neighboring communities see an airship with lights flying at an
altitude of around 400 feet. Alex Randall of Revere reports wings, tail,
and propeller, but other observers only see a cylindrical shape at most.
(“Skyship of Mystery Flies above Boston,” Boston Journal, December 24,
1909, p.1; Clark III 1165)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 303
Date: 12/24/1909
Description: In Providence, Rhode Island, author H.
P. Lovecraft sees what people are claiming is Tillinghast’s airplane
bearing a powerful searchlight, but he identifies it as the planet
Venus. (“City Is Airship Mad,” Providence (R.I.) Journal, December 25,
1909, p. 2; “Providence Men See Searchlight in Sky,” Providence (R.I.)
Journal, December 25, 1909, p. 14; H. P. Lovecraft, Collected Essays,
Volume 3: Science, ed. S. T. Joshi, Hippocampus, 2005, p. 99; Clark III
1165)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 304
Date: 1/1910
Time: 2300
Description: Several witnesses among them the vicar, the Mayor, and a
policeman -saw a cigar-shaped object hovering at 30 m altitude. A man
appeared at a lateral door and was heard shouting some words in an
unknown language. The opening closed, and the object accelerated and was
lost to sight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Stuart 24 (Vallee)
Location: Invercargill, New Zealand
ID: 38
Date: 1/12/1910
Description: 9:30 a.m. An unknown cigar-shaped aircraft is seen moving
over Chattanooga, Tennessee, to the northeast. It returns on January 13.
(“Airship
in the Air,” Chattanooga (Tenn.) Daily Times, January 13, 1910,
p. 7; “Another
Airship Flying,” Chattanooga (Tenn.) Daily Times, January 14, 1910,
p. 6; Patrick Gross, URECAT, February
20, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 305
Date: 1/12/1910
Description: 4:30 p.m. An unknown airship flies high over Huntsville,
Alabama, against the wind, from southwest to northeast, disappearing
over the crest of Chapman Mountain. (“Strange
Airship,” Huntsville (Ala.) Journal, January 13, 1910, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 306
Date: 1/14/1910
Description: 6:55 p.m. Two men on Summit Hill in Knoxville, Tennessee,
see a large airship moving south. Its outlines are distinct. The men
hear a hum of machinery and see sparks from “its motors.” (“Positive
That They Saw an Airship,”
Knoxville (Tenn.) Journal, January 15, 1910, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 307
Date: summer 1910
Description: Morning. Lawrence J. Crone is playing on a baseball field
in the Violetville neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, when he sees a
metallic, brown, blimplike object, more than 100 feet long, hovering
above a pine tree 200 feet away. It has a row of colored, rectangular
windows. Through one he can see as many as 20 strange entities taking
turns looking at him. Their heads are pointed, and they are dressed in
light-colored garments with a fur-like texture. Each has small dots for
eyes and a slit for a mouth. Two other young men also see the object and
are badly frightened. (Clark III 262; Patrick Gross, URECAT, February
20, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 308
Date: summer 1910
Description: Night. Carl H. Darden is riding near Vernal, Utah, when he
notices that his horse is acting strangely. He dismounts and walks the
horse into a clearing, where he sees a row of lights a few feet above
the ground. They are attached to a huge, hovering disc. After watching
it a while, he steps toward it, and it makes a buzzing sound as if in
warning. As he advances, it rises slowly into the sky until it reaches
an altitude of several hundred feet, when it suddenly streaks off to the
north. (Clark III 1169)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 309
Date: 10/25/1910
Description: 5:30 p.m. A mystery airship is seen at Minderoo Station,
Western Australia, by Mrs. A. J. Roe, wife of the station manager. She
says it “looked compact, like a dirigible balloon, but it appeared to be
squarer and more like an aeroplane. The sun shone on it, and flashes
came from it, as though reflected from something revolving, or from
metal work.” Three station hands also see the object. (“Mysterious
Airship Sighted at Onslow,” Sydney (N.S.W.) Morning Herald, December
5, 1910, p. 9; Bill Chalker, “Early
Australian Historical Encounters,” 1997; Brett Holman, “Scareships
over Australia—IV,” Airminded, October 27, 2010)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 310
Date: 10/27/1910
Description: 1:10 a.m. An airship with a powerful headlight and red and
green taillights is seen flying at 600 feet above Swift Current,
Saskatchewan. Observers at Irvine, Alberta, see it at 4:45 a.m. going
west. It is also seen at Medicine Hat, Alberta, flying southwest. (“Unknown
Aeronaut in Alberta,” Calgary (Alberta) Herald, October 27, 1910,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 311
Date: 10/29/1910
Description: 5:30 a.m. Two objects flying at a great altitude are seen
over East Providence, Rhode Island, by newspaper workers and others up
early. They are too distant to be recognized as dirigibles or balloons,
but they resemble luminous pumpkins. One is far ahead of the other, but
both are “cutting pigeon wings, looping aerial loops, circling and
diving like birds and generally doing skylark stunts.” (“Aviators Seen
High Up in Air near City,” Providence Journal, October 30, 1910,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 312
Date: 1/9/1911
Description: Harvard astronomer William
H. Pickering tells the Boston Post that he believes Venus is
populated by “huge monsters and lizards such as roamed the earth ages
ago.” He adds that “If human life exists on Venus, the people do not
live as we do.” (“Olden
Monsters Inhabit Venus?” Chicago Tribune, January 9, 1911,
p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 313
Date: 5/5/1911
Description: 5:00 p.m. William Nixon is working at his father’s sawmill
18 miles from St. George, Queensland, Australia, when he sees a flying
machine carrying two men, one of whom is dressed in dark clothing. He
estimates it is traveling from south to northwest at about 1,000 feet.
(“Mysterious
Airships,” Perth West Australian, May 15, 1911, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 314
Date: 7/22/1911
Description: Evening. A ball of fire the size of the full moon is seen
for several hours at Durango, Colorado. For a time it grows even larger,
then diminishes in size until it disappears entirely. (“Large
Ball of Fire Is Seen in the Sky,” Reno (Nev.) Evening Gazette, July
25, 1911, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 315
Date: 8/3/1911
Description: 9:00 p.m. Adam
H. McCullough and his wife Carrie are
driving on Brinkerhoff Avenue in Mansfield, Ohio, when they notice a
light, as brilliant as an arc light, in the northern sky. It has an
apparent size of 6 inches and looks to be about 50 feet up. It remains
visible for several minutes then fizzles out. (“A Phenomenon,”
Mansfield (Ohio) News, August 4, 1911, p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 316
Date: 4/8/1912
Description: Sunset. Charles Tilden Smith at Little Bedwyn, Wiltshire,
England, observes the apparent fan-shaped shadow of a stationary object
45° in the sky against the altostratus cloud layer. The dark patch
remains stationary against the moving clouds and is visible for 30
minutes. Meteorologist Charles
John Philip Cave suspects the object is a pilot balloon. (Charles
Tilden Smith, “Clouds
and Shadows,” Nature 89 (1912): 168; Charles J. P. Cave, “Clouds and
Shadows,” Nature 89 (1912): 268)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 317
Date: 4/15/1912
Description: Sinking of the Titanic
Type: disaster
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: fall 1912
Description: About 2:30 p.m. C. F. Rowling, 15, and two friends see
three perfectly round, pale-green objects less than a mile away in the
northern sky over Alameda, California. They are traveling in parallel
with the horizon in a vertical formation (one atop the other) and
heading west. They are completely silent and 75–100 feet in diameter. He
watches them for 10 seconds before they pass behind some trees. (Clark
III 1170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 318
Date: 10/14/1912
Description: 7:00 p.m. Noise from an unseen aircraft startles the
residents of Sheerness, Kent, England. Nearby at Eastchurch, residents
light flares to guide the craft in case it needs to land. The incident
comes up in a debate in Parliament on November 21. MP William
Joynson-Hicks asks First Lord of the Admiralty Winston
Churchill whether the government has any zeppelins capable of
traveling at 60 mph, but Churchill answers no. However, some authorities
conclude that the incident is caused by the intrusion of the LZ
13 Hansa Zeppelin
over British airspace. (“The
Alleged Visit of a Foreign Airship,” London Times, November 22,
1912, p. 8; Brett Holman, “The Sheerness
Incident,” Airminded, October 14, 2007; Brett Holman, “Secrets
of the German Aërial Fleet—I,” Airminded, May 29, 2013; Hilary Evans
and Robert E. Bartholomew, Outbreak!, Anomalist, 2009, pp. 486–487;
UFOFiles2, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 319
Date: 1/4/1913
Description: 5:00 a.m. Council worker John Hobbs hears aerial motors at
Dover, England, and sees a light speeding toward him from the sea in a
northeasterly direction. It is moving steadily despite a gale-force
wind. Two other people, tradesman Mr. Langley and Police Constable
Pierce, hear the noise but do not see the object. (“Unknown Aircraft
over Dover,” London Times, January 6, 1913, p. 6; “Mysterious
Airship,” London Daily Telegraph, January 6, 1913; Brett Holman, “Monday,
6 January 1913,” Airminded, January 6, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 320
Date: 1/6/1913
Description: 10:00 p.m. Two lights “thought to be the lamps of an
airship” maneuver in the sky over Lavernock Battery, Vale of Glamorgan,
Wales. (“Mystery Airships,” London Daily Express, January 7, 1913, p. 5;
Brett Holman, “Friday,
10 January 1913,” Airminded, January 10, 1913)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 321
Date: 1/17/1913
Description: 4:45 p.m. Capt. Lionel
Lindsay, chief constable of Glamorganshire, watches a large,
fast-moving object above Cardiff, Wales, leaving in its wake a dense
volume of smoke. Other witnesses see the light moving west from Cardiff
at considerable speed. (“An
Airship over Cardiff,” London Times, January 21, 1913, p. 10; Brett
Holman, “Tuesday,
21 January 1913,” Airminded, January 21, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 322
Date: 1/25/1913
Description: 7:00–8:30 p.m. Several people see a mysterious aircraft
over the Clubmoor neighborhood of Liverpool, England. It is traveling
about 25 mph and carries a brilliant light. (“Aircraft
over Liverpool,” London Times, January 28, 1913, p. 13; Brett
Holman, “Tuesday,
28 January 1913,” Airminded, January 28, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 323
Date: 1/25/1913
Description: 8:25 p.m. Villagers of Chancery, Ceredigion, Wales, watch a
mystery airship with searchlights that turns south and leaves in the
direction of Carmathenshire. (“Mystery Airship,” London Daily Express,
January 30, 1913, p. 1; Brett Holman, “Thursday,
30 January 1913,” Airminded, January 30, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 324
Date: 1/27/1913
Description: 9:00 p.m. A resident of Stretford, Greater Manchester,
England, sees an aircraft “like a huge ball” passing silently overhead
in a southerly direction. He estimates its speed at 40 mph and its
altitude as 700 feet. It has a yellowish light that later turns light
red. When it is over Eccles, it turns westward in the direction of
Liverpool. (“Is It a German Airship?” London Daily Express, January 31,
1913, p. 5; Brett Holman, “Friday,
31 January 1913,”
Airminded, January 31, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 325
Date: 1/29/1913
Description: 8:00 p.m. An airplane with a powerful searchlight is seen
over Iași, Romania, coming from the direction of Russia. It maneuvers
over the town for 10 minutes and then moves toward the barracks. Troops
are mustered out and signals are given for the aviator to land. Two
warning shots are fired, but the lights go out and the object
disappears. Other mystery aircraft are seen this month at military
barracks in Focşani, Brăila, and Târgovişte. (“‘Russian
Aeroplane’ Scare in Roumania,” Manchester Guardian, January 31,
1913, p. 9; Romania 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 326
Date: 2/1/1913
Description: Evening. A Russian airplane equipped with a searchlight is
seen maneuvering over Lvov, Ukraine. Another mystery plane, making
signals, is spotted over Ternopil, Ukraine. (London Globe, February 4,
1913, p. 3; “Airplane Fired at,” London Daily Express, February 3, 1913,
p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 327
Date: 2/2/1913
Description: 8:45 p.m. Mr. Trubshaw of East Croydon, England, sees an
airship come in from the southeast and disappear rapidly to the
northwest. Rays of light stream from it on the right and the left and
downward. Others see the object, said to be moving with the wind.
(“Mysterious Fly-by-Night,” London Daily Express, February 3, 1913,
p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 329
Date: 2/2/1913
Description: 9:25 p.m. Robert Lawrence Thornton sees an airship pass
over his house in Framfield, East Sussex, England. (“The Mystery
Airships,” London Daily Express, February 4, 1913, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 330
Date: 2/2/1913
Description: 7:30 p.m. Police Constable Church at Aberavon, Wales,
watches an airship flying for an hour over Swansea Bay and the Mumbles.
(“Another
Mysterious Airship,” London Times, February 3, 1913, p. 6; Brett
Holman, “Monday,
3 February 1913,” Airminded, February 3, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 328
Date: 2/5/1913
Description: Evening. Numerous witnesses in Newport, Cardiff, and Neath,
South Wales, watch a “dirigible” carrying a bright light pass in a
northwesterly direction. (“The
‘Mysterious Airship,’” Manchester Guardian, February 6, 1913, p. 9;
Brett Holman, “Thursday,
6 February 1913,” Airminded, February 6, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 331
Date: 2/9/1913
Description: 9:00 p.m. An earth-grazing meteor procession is seen from
locations across Canada, the northeastern United States, and Bermuda,
and from many ships at sea, including eight off Brazil, giving a total
recorded ground track of over 7,000 miles. The meteors are particularly
unusual in that there is no apparent radiant—no point in the sky from
which the meteors appear to originate. Witnesses are surprised to see a
procession of between 40 and 60 bright, slow-moving fireballs moving
from horizon to horizon in a practically identical path. Individual
fireballs are visible for at least 30 to 40 seconds, and the entire
procession takes some 5 minutes to cross the sky. Subsequent observers
also note a large, white, tailless body bringing up the rear, but the
various bodies making up the procession continue to disintegrate and
travel at different rates throughout their course, so that by the time
observations are made in Bermuda, the leading bodies are described as
“like large arc lights in appearance, slightly violet in colour,”
followed closely by yellow and red fragments. Research carried out in
the 1950s by Alexander
D. Mebane uncovers a handful of reports from newspaper archives in
the northern United States. At Escanaba, Michigan, the Press states the
“end of the world was apprehended by many” as numerous meteors travel
across the northern horizon. In Batavia, New York, a few observers see
the meteors and many people hear a thundering noise, while other reports
are made in Nunda and Dansville, New York (where several residents again
think the world is ending) and Osceola, Pennsylvania. The observations
are analyzed in detail later in 1913 by the astronomer Clarence
Chant, leading him to conclude that as all accounts are positioned
along a great circle arc, the source is a small, short-lived natural
satellite of the Earth. One curious feature of the reports, highlighted
by Mebane, is that several appear to indicate a second meteor procession
on the same course around 5 hours later, although the Earth’s rotation
means that there is no obvious mechanism to explain this. One observer,
A. W. Brown from Thamesville, Ontario, reports seeing both the initial
meteor procession and a second one on the same course at 2:20 a.m. the
next day. Chant’s original report also refers to a series of three
groups of “dark objects” that pass on the same course as the previous
meteors from west to east over Toronto on the afternoon of February 10,
which he suggests are “something of a meteoric nature.” (Wikipedia, “1913
Great Meteor Procession”;
Clarence A. Chant, “An
Extraordinary Meteoric Display,” Journal of the Royal Astronomical
Society of Canada 7 (1913): 145–191; Alexander D. Mebane, “Observations
of the Great Fireball Procession of 1913
February 9, Made in the United States,” Meteoritics 1, no. 4 (1956):
406–421; Condon, pp. 570–571;
Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn
Press, 2006, pp. 31–35; “Sample
Press Coverage
of the 1913 Meteor Procession,” UFO Historical Revue, no. 12
(September 2006): 7; Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht, Redemption of
the Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist, 2019, pp. 383–385)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 332
Date: 2/21/1913
Description: Evening. An airship is seen at several locations around
Selby, North Yorkshire, England. It alternately flies and hovers,
flashing a searchlight and skirting the roofs of houses before vanishing
to the north at “great speed.” At one point a group of businessmen
waiting for a train at the Church Fenton railway station are treated to
the sight of a powerful searchlight running along the tracks. Other
witnesses hear the whir of motors as the vehicle passes by. (“The
Fly-by-Night,” London Daily Express, February 24, 1913, p. 7; “Night
Raids by Air,” London Daily Express, February 25, 1913, p. 1; Brett
Holman, “Monday,
24 February 1913,” Airminded, February 24, 2013; Brett Holman, “Tuesday,
25 February 1913,” Airminded, February 25, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 333
Date: 2/25/1913
Description: 8:00 p.m. Coast guards at Hornsea, Yorkshire, England, see
a bright light traveling to the west and report it to the Admiralty. Roberrt
Falconer Jameson watches it through binoculars and sees that the
lights are attached to a cone-shaped craft. A little later, the object
appears over Hull, seen by crowds in the city center and Paragon
Interchange for over an hour. It alters its course frequently and hovers
occasionally. (“Airship Mystery,” London Daily Telegraph, February 26,
1913, p. 11; Brett Holman, “Wednesday,
26 February 1913,” Airminded, February 26, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 334
Date: 3/13/1913
Description: 6:00 p.m. Two women walking along a forest road by the
Schwielowsee between Caputh and Ferch, Brandenburg, Germany, observe an
airship catch fire and explode. The fire brigades of three villages, 40
riflemen from a local garrison, and several police officers and medical
attendants rush to the scene. They search the woods south of Potsdam
until early morning but find nothing. Though the women are considered
trustworthy, they are accused later of hoaxing the report. Later, airman
Lt. Zwickau claims that he was firing rockets while flying from Leipzig
to Döberitz in order to see his way in the night. (“An Airship
Catastrophe near Potsdam?” Berliner Tageblatt, March 13, 1913, p. 3;
“The Tale of the Airship,” Berliner Tageblatt, March 13, 1913, p. 4;
“Phantom Airships,” London Daily Telegraph, March 14, 1913, p. 15; “Mysterious
Airship near Berlin,” Manchester Guardian, March 14, 1913, p. 8;
Brett Holman, “Friday,
14 March 1913,” Airminded, March 14, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 335
Date: 4/8/1913
Description: 8:23 p.m. An airship reappears over Cardiff, Wales, once
again seen traveling at high speed to the southwest by Chief Constable
Lionel
Lindsay. (“The
Cardiff Aerial Mystery Again,” Manchester Guardian, April 9, 1913,
p. 9; Brett Holman, “Wednesday,
9 April 1913,” Airminded, April 9, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 336
Date: 5/1913
Alternate date: 5/1914
Description: Morning. Silbie
J. Latham, 12, is working with his brothers Sid and
Clyde on
a cotton farm 2.5 miles west of Farmersville, Texas. Their two dogs, on
the other side of a picket fence 50–75 feet away, begin barking and
howling. The boys stop work and go to investigate. They see a little
man, dark green in color and 18 inches high, who “looked like he was
sitting on something.” His arms are hanging down by his sides. He has a
Mexican-looking hat on, but no other clothes. Right after the boys get
there, the two dogs jump him and tear him to pieces. Blood and internal
organs spew out, but it doesn’t cry out. The boys go back and check the
spot the next day, but the remains are gone. (Clark III 262; Patrick
Gross, URECAT, October
19, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 337
Date: 6/29/1913
Description: Sunset. An aerial object passes over Lansing, Michigan,
from southeast to northwest at a great height. It moves swiftly, taking
only 3 minutes. (“Strange
Aircraft Passes over Lansing at Great Rate of Speed Sunday,” Lansing
(Mich.) State Journal, June 30, 1913, p. 3; Clark III 1167)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 338
Date: 10/1913
Description: Swiss astronomer Fritjof Le Coultre at the Geneva
Observatory in Switzerland reports seeing “bluish-white flashes” on Mars
for 17 consecutive nights. Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona,
also observes them. However, astronomer Guillaume
Bigourdan at the Paris Observatory thinks the flashes are merely
“auto- suggestion.” (“Is
Mars Trying to Signal Us?” Santa Cruz (Calif.) Evening News,
November 24, 1913, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 339
Date: 1914
Description: 3:00 p.m. Hans M. Schnitzler, 7, is sitting in his front
yard in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, when he hears a musical humming sound
and sees a 30-foot domed object about 25 feet away hovering about 10
feet above the ground across the street in front of a church. An opening
appears and eight small entities emerge and begin singing a melody over
and over again. Then they return inside. The object rises slowly and
disappears behind the church. He remembers the melody and plays it on
his harmonica years later. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 6 (Dec. 1982/Jan. 1983): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 340
Date: 1/1/1914
Description: The world’s first scheduled passenger airline service took
off from St. Petersburg, FL and landed at its destination in Tampa, FL,
about 17 miles (27 kilometers) away. The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat
Line was a short-lived endeavor — only four months — but it paved the
way for today’s daily transcontinental flights.
Type: aerospace
Reference: link
Location: St. Petersburg, FL
Date: 3/1914
Description: Twilight. A farmer is returning to his house at Lajoumard,
Haute-Vienne, France, when he sees a round, green, luminous object
hovering just above a hilltop. Several small beings emerge, walk around
the machine, and go back inside. The object takes off. (Clark III 262;
Patrick Gross, URECAT, March
3, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 341
Date: 6/1914
Time: 0400
Description: Gustav Herwagen opened the door of his house and saw in a
field a shining cigarshaped object with illuminated windows. Near it
were four or five dwarfs 1.20 m tall, clad in light clothing. He
approached them, but they went aboard the object as soon as they
appeared to be aware of his presence. A door closed, and the craft took
off silently, climbing vertically.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Nachrichten April, 62 (Vallee)
Location: Hamburg, Germany
ID: 39
Date: 6/1914
Description: 4:00 a.m. Gustav Herwagen sees a cigar-shaped object with
luminous portholes in a field next to his house in Hamburg, Germany.
Near it are 4–5 dwarfs about 4 feet tall. He walks toward them, but they
flee inside the ship, which ascends and disappears. (Clark III 262;
Patrick Gross, URECAT, November
28, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 343
Date: summer 1914
Description: Mid-afternoon. For about 60 minutes at Mount Lyndhurst
Station, South Australia, an unusual substance floats by at a constant
altitude. Some pieces, 6–8 inches long, fall to earth and leave no
trace. (Keith Basterfield, “Angel Hair: An Australian Perspective,” IUR
27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 342
Date: 7/28/1914
End date: 11/11/1918
Description: World War 1
Type: war
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 8/1914
Description: William J. Kiehl and seven other persons saw a spherical
craft on the surface of the water. On its deck were two small men
wearing green-purple clothes. They seemed to be busy with a hose,
plunging it into the water. On the opposite side were three men dressed
in light brown, wearing square masks down to their shoulders. Seeing the
witnesses, they reentered the craft except for one dwarf, wearing shoes
with a curved, pointed tip, who remained outside while the craft rose 3
m above the water and shot upward, leaving a short trail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 199 (Vallee)
Location: Georgian Bay, Canada
ID: 40
Date: 8/1914
Description: William J. Kiehl, 18, is with seven others in a small cove
along the shore of Georgian Bay, Ontario. They see a strange machine on
the surface of the lake. Two little men wearing square masks and
purple-green coveralls are working with a hose leading from the water to
inside the UFO. Three other figures, dressed in khaki, are adjusting
some rods that are pulsating with various colors. The beings notice the
group watching them and run into the machine, which starts vibrating
with colors. It starts to ascend, but one being has not made it inside
and is hanging on. After hovering 12 feet in the air to balance itself,
it rapidly accelerates upward. A likely hoax. (“Old-Timer Tells
of Outer Spacemen in Letter to Wanaque Police Officer,” Paterson
(N.J.) News, August 15, 1966, p. 9; Clark III 262; Lorenzen, Encounters
with UFO Occupants, Berkley Medallion, 1976)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 344
Date: 8/10/1914
End date: 8/11/1914
Description: Night. Maj. Becke, commander of defenses at
Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, reports that two or three
cigar-shaped airships are seen above the Vickers shipyard. Soldiers fire
upon them with machine guns and the only anti-aircraft battery on the
west coast. (UFOFiles2, p. 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 345
Date: 8/11/1914
End date: 9/9/1914
Description: Many British residents in South Africa observe a mystery
monoplane that is assumed to be on a German reconnaissance mission. Most
of the sightings are at night and at a distance. The government issues a
statement on August 29 that there are no Union airplanes in South
Africa, so any mystery aircraft are assumed to be enemies and should be
fired upon. (“The Aeroplane,” Cape Times, August 21, 1914; “Aeroplanes
in the Union,” Cape Times, August 22, 1914, p. 7; “Mysterious Airship at
Sanday,” Pretoria News, August 24, 1914, p. 5; “Aeroplane Mystery,”
Johannesburg Star, August 26, 1914, p. 4; “The Mysterious Aeroplane,”
Cape Argus, August 27, 1914, p. 5; “Aviator Discusses Air Visitors,”
Cape Times, September 5, 1914, p. 5; Hilary Evans and Robert E.
Bartholomew, Outbreak! Anomalist, 2009, pp. 487–489)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 346
Date: 8/13/1914
Description: 7:30 p.m. High Constable Hobson and numerous residents of
Sweaburg, Ontario, see “two large aeroplanes” pass from east to west.
Sporadic sightings of mystery airplanes continue in the region for the
next two weeks. (“Reports Aeroplanes over Oxford Village,” London Free
Press, August 13, 1914, p. 2; “Three Aeroplanes Scan Topography of the
Province, London (Ont.) Free Press, September 5, 1914, p. 8; Barry
Greenwood, “And
Yet More
in 1914!” UFO Historical Revue, no. 12 (September 2006): 6; Hilary
Evans and Robert E. Bartholomew, Outbreak! Anomalist, 2009,
p. 491)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 347
Date: 8/14/1914
Description: Afternoon. A large ball of fire sweeps over the southeast
portion of Montpelier, Vermont, seen by employees of the C. P. Gill
stone cutting plant near the Winooski River. It is accompanied by a loud
noise. One man says the heat of the object has scorched his hands. The
plant motor stops as the object passes over, and insulation from some
electrical wires is found burned off. (“Great
Ball of Fire,” Rutland (Vt.) Daily Herald, August 18, 1914, p. 5)
Autumn (or 1915) — Dusk. A man is having an outdoor meal with his family
in Bujoreanca, Romania, when they see a reddish object moving to the
east 60 feet above the ground, causing trees to bend from its movement,
and making a whistling noise. It leaves a trail of glowing sparks and
reappears for 6–7 days in the same position. (Hobana and Weverbergh
224)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 348
Date: 9/1914
Description: Two schoolboys named Uden and Hopkins are wandering along
Caerphilly Mountain, South Wales, when they encounter an unexpected
mist. Two white humanoid figures with piercing eyes and unusually tall
hats are standing at the edge of it. They approach, and the boys take
off. (Clark III 262–263; Patrick Gross, URECAT,
March 5, 2013; Center for UFO Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1910–1939, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 349
Date: 9/9/1914
Description: Mid-day. Amateur astronomer William
Herbert Steavenson points his 3-inch refracting telescope in West
Norwood, south London, England, at the planet Mercury, then about 8°
distant from the Sun, when a round, luminous object the apparent size of
the planet, but brighter, speeds across his field, passing centrally
from south to north in about 3 seconds. A few seconds later, another
appears going in the same direction. More follow, and the display
continues until at least 3:00 p.m. when the sky becomes overcast. He
watches several hundred bodies pass; about half are perfectly round and
the rest are dumbbell shaped. All the objects are well defined and
intrinsically brighter than Venus. The prevailing color is yellowish
white. Steavenson sends a telegram to the Rev. T.
E. R. Phillips at Ashstead, Surrey, but the sky is now overcast and
he cannot confirm the observation. Steavensen thinks high-altitude seeds
are the most likely explanation. (W. H. Steavenson, “Bright
Objects Observed
near the Sun,” Journal of the British Astronomical Association 25
(1914): 36–38)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 350
Date: 10/10/1914
Description: Afternoon. Albert Alfred Buss is observing the sun using a
spectrographic telescope at Manchester, England, when he sees an
“absolutely black spindle-shaped object” against the sun. (Albert Alfred
Buss, “Cosmic and
Terrestrial Flotsam and Jetsam,” English Mechanic 100 (October 14,
1914): 256)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 351
Date: 11/21/1914
Description: Some 20–30 people watch an airship flying at 2,300 feet
descend to about 1,300 feet and shine a searchlight on a passing ship
near Skjaervser lighthouse on the island of Mindlandet, Nordland,
Norway. (“Airship at Tjølta,” Morgenbladet, November 25, 1914, p. 2;
Clark III 1167–1168)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 352
Date: 12/15/1914
Description: 4:10 p.m. The crew of a Hull trawler, the SS Ape, is
streaming toward Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, when they see a
“black object astern” which gradually approaches them. It turns and
heads for the Lincolnshire coast where it vanishes in the fog.
(UFOFiles2, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 353
Date: 2/14/1915
Description: 9:15 p.m. The mayor and three city constables of
Brockville, Ontario, see the lights of unknown aircraft crossing the
St. Lawrence River heading for Ottawa. They can hear the sound of
motors. A second flying machine is heard as it crosses the river from
the direction of Morristown, New York. Three balls of fire drop from it
into the river. Two more objects pass from the east and west ends of
Brockville. The mayor, who has seen one of the planes flash a
searchlight beam that lights up a city block, tells the police chief to
alert the mayor and police chief in Ottawa. At 9:30 p.m., the mayor of
Gananoque, Ontario, reports that two invisible aircraft are heard flying
over his town. Prime Minister Robert
Borden hears about the reports and orders the lights on Parliament
Hill to be turned off at 11:15 p.m. The entire city follows suit 5
minutes later. The airplanes do not reappear, but Ottawa is placed on
high alert. Later, Brockville police find two paper balloons that might
explain the sightings. (“Ottawa in Darkness Awaits Airplane Raid,”
Toronto Globe, February 15, 1915, pp. 1–2; “Scare
in Ottawa over an Air Raid,”
New York Times, February 15, 1915, p. 1; Brett Holman, “The
Air Raid That Didn’t,” Airminded, February 13, 2014; Hilary Evans
and Robert E. Bartholomew, Outbreak! Anomalist, 2009, pp. 492–493; Chris
Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press,
2006, pp. 36–38)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 354
Date: 2/15/1915
Description: Early morning. Residents in a Toronto, Ontario, suburb
notify police of a “strange aeroplane” hovering above their homes.
Later, a man in Guelph sees “three moving lights passing over” the
Ontario Agricultural College. He alerts other residents in his boarding
house and they watch the silent lights until dawn. (Chris Rutkowski and
Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006,
pp. 37–38)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 355
Date: 4/26/1915
Description: Possibly the first UFO film ever made, The Mysterious
Airship premieres in the United States. A lost two-reel French short
produced by the Ideal Film Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and
distributed by United Film Service, the film does involve a mysterious
airship built by aeronauts, but it is more of a murder mystery. (“United
Film Service,” The Moving Picture World 24 (May 1, 1915): 806; Barry
Greenwood, “UFO
Feature Film:
In 1914!” UFO Historical Revue, no. 12 (September 2006): 2–4; Barry
Greenwood, “The
Mysterious Airship:
An Early Silent Film, Update,” UFO Historical Revue, no. 14 (May
2015): 1–3; Internet Movie Database, “The
Mysterious Airship”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 356
Date: 5/24/1915
Description: The Allied Powers (Britain, France, and Russia) jointly
issued a statement which for the first time ever explicitly charged a
government, the Ottoman Empire, with committing a “crime against
humanity” in reference to that regime’s persecution of its Christian
minorities, including Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks.
Type: historical event
Reference:
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocides_in_history_(World_War_I_through_World_War_II)
Date: late 6/1915
Description: Just before dawn. Cecilia Peel Yates of Ashburton, Devon,
England, is awakened by her dogs barking. She sees outside her bedroom
window a bright light in the sky bearing north. It disappears in the
direction of Haytor rocks on Dartmoor. This incident is followed by
others at Hexworthy and Dartington in July and August, so much so that
British Naval Intelligence sends two officers out to investigate. (Nick
Redfern, “UFOs
and the Military, 1915:
Pt. 1,” Mysterious Universe, May 7, 2014; Nick Redfern, “UFOs
and the Military, 1915: Pt. 2,” Mysterious Universe, May 8,
2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 357
Date: 8/21/1915
Description: During severe fighting in the Dardanelles a peculiar cloud
engulfed a British regiment which was never seen again. This was
observed by 22 men of the First Field Company, NZ Army Corps and stated
in an affidavit.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Spaceview 45; LDLN 82; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Gallipoli, Turkey
ID: 41
Date: 9/4/1915
Description: 9:30 p.m. Two British Naval Intelligence officers, Lt. Col.
William
Price Drury and Lt. C. Brownlow, on Dartmoor, Devon, England, watch
a “bright white light, considerably larger in appearance than a planet”
ascend steadily from a meadow to a height of 50–60 feet. It then swings
300 feet or so to the left and suddenly vanishes. The officers have been
investigating reports of similar lights seen in the region during the
summer. In December, GHQ Home Forces issues a 16-page confidential
report on the investigation and concludes there is “no evidence on which
to base a suspicion that this class of enemy activity ever existed” and
that 89% of the reports are explained. Some “moving lights in the air”
are attributed to marsh gas. (Nick Redfern, “UFOs
and the Military, 1915:
Pt. 1,” Mysterious Universe, May 7, 2014; UFOFiles2, pp. 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 358
Date: 11/1915
Description: Einstein presents to the Prussian Academy of Science what
are now known as the Einstein field equations, which form the core of
Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.
Type: scientific advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 1916 (approximate)
Description: Mrs. Whiteland of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England, sees from an
open window a “round platform” on which nearly a dozen men wearing blue
uniforms and little round hats stand gripping a handrail. It is moving
in the air about 30 feet above the house and coming from the direction
of a nearby marsh. It moves toward a railway yard and disappears behind
some houses. (Clark III 263; “The
Aldeburgh Platform,” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1969), pp. 23–24; “The
Aldeburgh Platform,” parts 1–3; David Halperin, “UFOs,
Screen Memories, and
the Aldeburgh Platform Mystery,” April 8, 2016; Chris Aubeck and
Martin Shough, Return to Magonia: Investigating UFOs in History,
Anomalist, 2015, pp. 299–314)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 359
Date: 1/31/1916
Description: 8:25 p.m. Royal Flying Corps Lieut. Reginald
Maxwell is cruising his B.E.2c biplane at 10,000 feet near Romford,
Essex, England, patrolling for German Zeppelins. He sees an “artificial
light” to the north. He follows it northeast for 20 minutes, but it
moves higher and he loses it in the clouds. At the same time, Royal
Flying Corps pilot Sub-Lieut. J. Eric Morgan, also flying a B.E.2c at
5,000 feet near Rochford, Essex, and looking for Zeppelins, sees an
object about 100 feet away with a row of windows “like a railway
carriage with the blinds drawn.” He tries to close on it, but his engine
is malfunctioning. When he fires his pistol at it, the lights rise and
rapidly disappear. Morgan is forced to make a crash landing.
(Capt. Joseph Morris, The German Air Raids on Great Britain, 1914–1918,
Sampson, Low, Marston, 1925, pp. 81–82;
David Clarke, “Britain’s First Military UFO Encounter?” Part
1 and Part
2, The
Real UFO Project, 2004; UFOFiles2, p. 10;
Patrick Gross, “Pilots
UFO Sightings,”
August 10, 2021, and “Near
Rochford,” August 2, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 360
Date: 2/29/1916
Description: 4:30 a.m. John Tullyson, head watchman at Globe Elevators,
and John Gustavson at the Carnegie Coal Dock in Superior, Wisconsin,
hear an engine noise and see a large flying object “50 feet wide and 100
feet long,” with three lights, “one on each end and one in the middle.”
Moving swiftly at 600 feet altitude, the object carries a long rope
trailing behind it with a large object attached to it. Three “men” are
inside the craft, one of them sitting in the front of the machine. The
other two seem to be looking around. Possible Chinese lantern or
airplane. (“Mysterious Aeroplane Continues Nocturnal Trips over
Superior,” Superior (Wis.) Telegram, February 29, 1916, p. 5; Clark III
263; Patrick Gross, URECAT, March
16, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 361
Date: 3/12/1916
Description: Early evening. Claude D. McGee is walking home from a trip
to a ranch outside Lowry, South Dakota, when he sees a strange glowing
light in the hills ahead of him. Suddenly the light swings in a huge arc
down into the valley but stays close to the wall of hills where it comes
to rest. It stays there a few moments then swings back to where it had
been about 2 miles away. It repeats the action twice then disappears.
(Clark III 1171)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 362
Date: 5/4/1916
Description: Evening. Astronomers Charles
Dillon Perrine and Anna
Estelle Glancy observe an object resembling a comet at the National
Observatory in Córdoba, Argentina. It is moving remarkably fast, moving
10° toward the sun within an hour and passes below the horizon. It has a
prominent tail of 8°–10° in length. (“Comet
or Meteor?” Scientific American 115 (1916): 493)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 363
Date: 7/19/1916
Description: 10:30 p.m. Walter H. Eager and another witness in
Huntington, West Virginia, watch a nebulous object in the shape of a
dirigible that slowly fades from view. Possibly a light pillar created
by a nearby blast furnace. (Walter H. Eager, “An
Unusual Aurora,” Scientific American 115 (1916): 241; Martin Shough
and Wim van Utrecht, Redemption of the Damned, vol. 1, Anomalist, 2019,
pp. 391–397)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 364
Date: 12/17/1916
Description: On the Western front in Europe, Canadian soldier Maurice
Philipp Tuteur and two sergeant majors watch a Zeppelin-like object
rise into the clouds in the rear of their lines. It darts ahead at an
estimated speed of 200 mph, turns around, darts backward, and shoots up
and disappears. (“I Saw a Flying Saucer,” Flying Saucers, May 1959,
pp. 6–18, 78; Clark III 1170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 365
Date: 4/1917
Description: Night. Residents of the African American neighborhood of
Charlotte, North Carolina, report hearing strange, motor-like noises in
the air at night for several nights. Some have fleeting glimpses of the
swiftly moving dark objects that are causing the noise. (“The
Colored People Are Seeing Visions,” Charlotte (N.C.) News, April 11,
1917, p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 366
Date: 4/13/1917
Description: Early morning. Two National Guardsmen from Company L of the
Sixth Massachusetts Infantry are stationed on the bridge linking
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine, when they hear the noise
of an airplane. They see an unidentified aircraft circling near the
bridge. When it descends, apparently to make a pass at the bridge, one
of the guardsmen panics and fires his rifle at it. It moves off and
disappears in the distance. Other vague reports continue through April
30. (“Hunt for Aircraft Base,” Manchester (N.H.) Union, April 14, 1917,
pp. 1, 3; Hilary Evans and Robert E. Bartholomew, Outbreak! Anomalist,
2009, pp. 496–497)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 367
Date: 5/13/1917
Description: Three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria in Fátima,
Portugal—Lúcia
dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and
Jacinta Marto—report seeing a woman “brighter than the sun, shedding
rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal goblet filled with the
most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun.” The
woman wears a white mantle edged with gold and holds a rosary in her
hand. She asks them to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to pray
“the Rosary every day.” The children had seen an “angel” at the cove
since the spring of 1916. (Wikipedia, “Our
Lady of Fátima”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 368
Date: 6/13/1917
Description: The three children at Fátima, Portugal, again see the lady,
who reveals that Francisco
and Jacinta will be “taken to heaven” soon, but Lúcia will
live longer to spread the message. The lady also purportedly reveals to
the children a vision of hell and entrusts a secret to them, described
as “good for some and bad for others.” (Wikipedia, “Our
Lady of Fátima”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 369
Date: 8/13/1917
Description: Some 18,000 people have been flocking to Fátima and nearby
Aljustrel, Portugal, drawn by reports of visions and miracles. The
assembled multitude hears thunder and witnesses lightning in a clear
blue sky. Then the sun grows pale and a cloud hovers above the oak tree
where the apparitions usually appear. Provincial administrator Artur
de Oliveira Santos, believing that these events are politically
disruptive, takes the children into custody, jailing them before they
can reach the Cova da Iria. Santos interrogates and threatens the
children to get them to divulge the contents of the secrets.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 370
Date: 8/19/1917
Description: Instead of the promised apparition in the Cova da Iria on
August 13, the children see the Virgin Mary at nearby Valinhos,
Portugal. She asks them again to pray the rosary daily, speaks about the
miracle coming in October, and asks them “to pray a lot.” Late Summer —
12:30 p.m. John Boback is walking along railroad tracks in Youngstown,
Pennsylvania, when he hears a swishing sound and sees an elliptical
object about 100 feet away on the ground in a pasture. It has portholes
emitting ligt from the interior and a smooth surface. Moments later the
object ascends smoothly in a gradual climb and flies away to the east.
(Lore and Deneault, pp. 104–105)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 371
Date: early 9/1917
Description: Witnesses at Salida, Colorado, watch distant moving lights
flicking on and off over a period of several days. Through a telescope,
one light appears to be a revolving wheel with lights on it. (Arlene
Shovald, “Edwards’ UFO Sighting Not Salida’s First,” Salida (Colo.)
Mountain Mail, September 7, 1995; Clark III 1171)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 372
Date: 9/13/1917
Description: With the three children in attendance, the crowd at the
Cova da Iria, Portugal, see a “luminous globe” sail across the sky. A
white cloud envelops the children and the oak tree. A rain of white
roses is said to have fallen out of the heavens but dissolves just
before landing. Behind the cloud, the crowd can see Lúcia talking
to the invisible lady.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 373
Date: 10/1917
Description: John Boback, 17, was walking along the railroad tracks
between Youngstown and Mt. Braddock when he saw a saucer-shaped object
with a platform and rows of lights, sitting in a field 30 m to his left.
He watched the object for 1-2 min until it took off with a high-pitched
sound, rising gradually like a slow plane. Its size was that of an
average car. The top of the object was a dome with elongated windows
through which figures could be seen.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Hartle 157 (Vallee)
Location: Youngstown, Pennsylvania
ID: 42
Date: 10/1917
Description: Seven-year-old Elizabeth
Klarer and her older sister Barbara have their first alleged
encounter with a UFO on their parents’ farm Connington in the
KwaZulu-Natal midlands, South Africa. While playing outside the
farmhouse, Elizabeth claims to witness a giant orange-red wheel rolling
across the sky. The plummeting object, also described as a fiery
pockmarked meteor or planetoid, is intercepted by a silver disc bathed
in a pearly luster. Around this time Elizabeth begins receiving
occasional telepathic messages from a friendly space alien named Akon.
(Clark III 657; Elizabeth Klarer, Beyond the Light Barrier, Howard
Timmins, 1980)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 374
Date: 10/13/1917
Description: After some newspapers report that the Virgin Mary has
promised a miracle for the last of her apparitions, a huge crowd,
possibly between 30,000 and 100,000, including reporters and
photographers, gathers at Cova da Iria, Portugal. What happens then
becomes known as the “Miracle of the Sun.” Various claims are made as to
what really happened. The three children report seeing a panorama of
visions during the event, including those of Jesus, Our Lady of Sorrows,
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and Saint Joseph blessing the people. Father
John de Marchi, an Italian Catholic priest and researcher who wrote
several books on the subject, included descriptions by witnesses who
believe they observed a miracle created by Mary, the mother of Jesus.
After a period of rain, the dark clouds break and the Sun appears as an
opaque, spinning disc in the sky. It appears significantly duller than
normal and casts multicolored lights across the landscape, the people,
and the surrounding clouds. The Sun then seems to careen towards the
earth before zigzagging back to its normal position. Witnesses report
that their previously wet clothes become “suddenly and completely dry,
as well as the wet and muddy ground that had been previously soaked
because of the rain that had been falling.” Not all witnesses report
seeing the Sun “dance.” Some people only see the radiant colors, and
others, including some believers, see nothing at all. The only known
picture of the Sun taken during the event does not show anything
unusual. No unusual solar phenomena are observed by scientists. Some
theologians, scientists, and skeptics have offered alternative
explanations that include psychological suggestibility of the witnesses,
temporary retinal distortion caused by staring at the intense light of
the Sun, a sundog, and optical effects caused by natural meteorological
phenomena. The Miracle of the Sun is interpreted by others as a UFO
event. Investigator Joe
Nickell thinks that the effects are “a combination of factors,
including optical effects and meteorological phenomena, such as the sun
being seen through thin clouds, causing it to appear as a silver disc.
Other possibilities include an alteration in the density of the passing
clouds, causing the sun’s image to alternately brighten and dim and so
seem to advance and recede, and dust or moisture droplets in the
atmosphere refracting the sunlight and thus imparting a variety of
colors.” (Wikipedia, “Miracle
of the
Sun”; Clark III 484–485; “O
Milagre do Fátima,” Ilustração Portuguesa, no. 610 (October 29,
1917): 353– 355; John de Marchi, The
True Story of Fatima, St. Paul,
Minn.: Catechetical Guild Educational Society, 1956; Joe Nickell, “The
Real Secrets of Fatima,” Skeptical Inquirer 33, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 2009): 14–17; Jeffrey S. Bennett, When the Sun Danced,
University of Virginia, 2012; Auguste Meessen, “Apparitions
and Miracles of the Sun,”
in Science, Religion, and Conscience, Actas do Forum International,
Centro Transdisciplinar de Estudos da Consciência, October 23–25, 2003,
Santos, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 375
Date: 3/1/1918
Description: Early morning. A woman at Tahunanui Beach, Nelson, New
Zealand, sees two distinct “seaplanes” flying together near the surface
of the water. They soon diverge, one going in the direction of the
eastern hills and both getting lost in the clouds. (“Seaplanes
over Tasman Bay,” Nelson Colonist, March 2, 1918, p. 4; Brett
Holman, “The
Mystery Aeroplane Scare in New Zealand—1,” Airminded, August 28,
2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 377
Date: summer 1918
Description: 7:30 p.m. At an isolated ranch 60 miles from Malta,
Montana, 9-year-old Theodore
Warren sees a cigar- shaped “airship” with windows that shine with
greenish light. It flies in from the mountains in the east and hovers
above the ranch house. He watches it for a while, and then it “whooshes”
away to the northwest. (Ione Warren Conway, “A UFO(?) from the Past,”
IUR 7, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1982): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 378
Date: 8/12/1918
Description: After 5:00 p.m. Two women at Durie Hill, Whanganui, New
Zealand, see an airplane moving swiftly off the South Spit heading
toward the south. It disappears behind Landguard Bluff. Other witnesses
come forward to corroborate the sighting. (“Aeroplane
off Wanganui,” Wanganui Chronicle, August 13, 1918, p. 4; Brett
Holman, “The
Mystery Aeroplane Scare in New Zealand—IV,” Airminded, October 26,
2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 379
Date: 8/13/1918
Description: Evening. Mr. C. Rawlinson is cycling to a dance on
Carrington Road, New Plymouth, New Zealand, when he sees a bright star
against some mountains about 6 miles away. It starts flashing red and
white and moves closer and downward, then rises to 400–500 feet and
performs other maneuvers. He rides home to tell his sisters, who also
see the light until about 8:30 p.m., when it moves off to the sea. (“Local
and General,” Wellington Dominion, August 14, 1918, p. 4; Brett
Holman, “The
Mystery Aeroplane Scare in New Zealand—IV,” Airminded, October 26,
2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 380
Date: 10/1918
Description: During operations against the Bolshevik Army in Tulgas,
Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, soldiers of the US 339th Infantry Regiment
watch a round object the color of burnished copper, with a faint light
and vapor obscuring much of its shape. (Letter to J. Allen Hynek; Jan
Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 381
Date: 11/11/1918
Description: End of World War 1
Type: war
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: winter 1918 (approximate)
Description: Edwin T. Bauhan and other soldiers at Rich Field in Waco,
Texas, see a noiseless, flame-colored, cigar-shaped object 100–150 feet
long flying overhead at an altitude of 500 feet. (Lore and Deneault, p. 105;
Clark III 1170; “1918
Sighting,” Civilian Saucer Investigation Quarterly Bulletin 1, no. 4
(Winter 1954): 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 376
Date: 1919
Description: Wireless inventor Guglielmo
Marconi claims that he has detected large-wavelength radio signals
from Mars. He claims the most frequent signal is the Morse code for “S,”
or three short dots. The signals, however, are subsequently traced to an
experiment conducted by chemist Irving
Langmuir at the General Electric Laboratories in Schenectady, New
York. (“‘Hello,
Earth! Hello!’” White Earth (Minn.) The Tomahawk, March 18, 1920,
p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 382
Date: 1/22/1919
Description: After 10:00 p.m. A brilliant light the size of a tennis
ball appears in a garden at Shuttlewood, Derbyshire, England. When the
witness approaches it, it moves away at a leisurely pace and passes
through wire netting. It follows the top of a hedge, turns right, and
ascends until it finds a break in the high branches of a tree, where it
hovers for 3 minutes before flying on. The witness then notices his
neighbor’s farm is illuminated with bright white light. Several minutes
later, the sphere returns to the garden, hovers another 3 minutes, then
approaches the witness. As it does so, it turns from white to orange. It
moves away, stops above a neighbor’s garden, travels along a hedge,
traverses a field, and circles a row of houses before soaring into the
sky and disappearing. The light is seen for 40 minutes. (Mark Ian
Birdsall, “The Luminous Pearl of 1919,” Quest International 10, no. 2
(1991): 26–27; Clark III 1171)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 383
Date: 6/2/1919
Description: 9:30 a.m. A tiny circular cloud appears in an otherwise
cloudless sky over Ottertail, Minnesota. Suddenly it expands to several
times its size. Seconds later, the window that the witness is watching
through starts to shake and creak. By the time it stops, the cloud has
expanded more and now has a ragged appearance, bending toward the earth.
A black object shoots out of the bottom of the cloud, leaving a vapor
trail, and begins making 6–7 barrel rolls. It then peels off in a
straight line, headed north. (Clark III 1170; “Supersonic Jet in 1919?”
IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 6 (Jan./Feb. 1982): 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 384
Date: 6/28/1919
Description: Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June
1919. One of the most important treaties of World War I, it ended the
state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers.
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 7/1919
Description: 11:00 a.m. A young brother and sister who live on a farm
near Webster City, Iowa, hear a strange chirping sound while out
playing. They turn and see a brown-green object under a tree near a
creek 75 feet from them. They notice a similarly colored figure standing
in a door that has been lowered down. It makes strange guttural sounds.
They see another figure running toward the stream leading to a pond.
This smaller one dips up some water into a can. The larger figure seems
to be hurrying the smaller figure back into the object. The door slams
shut with a metallic sound, and the vehicle rises up quickly with its
three legs still out and goes over a hill. The soil where the object had
been is covered with round spots that resemble cane marks. (Clark III
263; Patrick Gross, URECAT, July
23, 2009) Late summer — 10:00 p.m. Harry Anderson, 13 (or 16), is out
riding with his family and two friends when their car runs out of oil
east of Barron, Wisconsin. A passing farmer offers to give them some
oil, and Harry accompanies him 2 miles away to his farmhouse. Harry
walks back to the car alone and sees 20 little men walking in single
file towards him. Their heads are bald, and the figures are dressed in
leather “knee pants” held up by suspenders. They are mumbling but pay no
attention to him. Terrified, he continues and does not look back.
([Jerome Clark], “Encounters with Little Men,” Fate 31, no. 11 (November
1978): 83–86; Clark III 263; Patrick Gross, URECAT, July
24, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 385
Date: 12/1/1919
Description: Boni & Liveright publishes Charles
Fort’s first book of scientific anomalies, The Book of the Damned.
Fort gathers reports of objects or “vessels” that he humorously
speculates might be visitors from a multitude of worlds that have come
to earth over the centuries. Among his wilder expressions is the
suggestion that floating land masses in the sky harbor civilizations and
oceans. Fort also speculates that someone is fishing for us and that an
alien race considers us its property, warning off all interlopers. It
receives positive reviews from Ben
Hecht and Booth
Tarkington. (Wikipedia,
“The
Book of the Damned”; Clark III 506–507; Jim Steinmeyer, Charles
Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural, Tarcher, 2008, pp. 173–174;
Ulrich Magin, “The Book of the Damned,” Fortean Times 386 (December
2019): 38–43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 386
Date: 1920
Description: Day. Stanley
Clason, 10,
is walking across his uncle’s pasture in northern Montana when he sees
an object traveling from northwest to southeast. It has a “long, slim,
pointed shape” and appears “silvery in color.” (“Report from the
Readers,” Fate 7, no. 4 (April 1954): 115–116; Clark III 1171)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 387
Date: 1/16/1920
Description: First meeting of the League of Nations
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
See also: 4/20/46
Date: 6/3/1920
Description: Day. Jesse
Clark Linch is fishing on a pond near Mount Pleasant, Iowa, when he
sees a soundless, blue, disc- shaped object emerge from behind a grove
of 100-foot-high maple trees. It flies across the pond and lands 15 feet
away. Linch gets up and walks toward it, but it rises up, slowly moves
over some trees to the west, and disappears. (“Mini UFO Landed near Mt.
Pleasant in 1920,” The UFO Examiner 2, no. 2 (June 1978): 8, 19; “Man
Visited by Strange Object While Fishing in Iowa in 1920,” MUFON UFO
Journal, no. 382 (February 2000): 12; Clark III 1170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 389
Date: summer 1920
Description: 11:00 p.m. A group of young people, including sisters
Louise and Marie Grasset, returning from a dance at Nontron, Dordogne,
France, observe small beings in the air above a wooded area. Luminous
balls surround the figures, who are giving off “musical sounds.” (Clark
III 264; Patrick Gross, URECAT, October
3, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 388
Date: late 10/1920
Description: 3:00 a.m. C. B. Alves sees four flying discs 50 miles north
of Freeport, Texas, when he is out fishing with some friends. They look
like two big silver plates set edge to edge. Each appears to be about 25
feet in diameter and 10 feet thick at the center. (“Report from the
Readers,” Fate 8, no. 2 (February 1955): 122–123; Clark III 1170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 390
Date: 11/2/1920
Description: First commercial radio broadcast from KDKA in Pittsburgh
PA
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Date: 1921
Description: Undocumented report of an “abduction” by two beings.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Marseilles, France
ID: 43
Date: 1921
Description: An 8-year-old is playing in the hillocks near a canal in
Marseille, France. He is suddenly accosted by two tall, slender men
wearing apparent diving suits who drag him into a strange looking
“tank.” After a while, an opening appears in the ceiling, and in a few
moments he finds himself back on the ground. He must walk all afternoon
to get back to the place where the UFO picked him up 5 minutes earlier.
(Clark III 264; [Letter], “J’ai voyagé en soucoupe,” Paris-Match, no.
291, October 23, 1954; Patrick Gross, URECAT, September
7, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 391
Date: late 7/1921
Description: 2:00 a.m. Annie Baker of 39 Highland Road, Southsea,
Portsmouth, England, sees a “strange looking bladder like monster the
shape of an airship only much wider” during a thunderstorm. It is
luminous and remains stationary for several minutes but moves away and
disappears quickly. (UFOFiles2, pp. 13–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 392
Date: 7/29/1921
Description: The Council on Foreign Relations is incorporated. Founded
by corporate lawyer Elihu
Root, the organization brings diplomats, high-level government
officials, and academics together with lawyers, bankers, and
industrialists to engineer foreign policy. The first issue of Foreign
Affairs is published in September 1922. (Wikipedia, “Council
on Foreign Relations”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 393
Date: 9/1921
Description: The British Air Ministry has asked the public to submit
reports on observations of ball lightning to its Meteorological Office.
The results are summarized by geophysicist Harold
Jeffreys, who
notes very little uniformity in the observations, with little agreement
on size, duration, color, or shape. (Harold Jeffreys, “Results of
the Ball Lightning Inquiry,” Meteorological Magazine 56 (September
1921): 208–211; UFOFiles2, pp. 13–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 394
Date: 9/1/1921
Description: J. H. C. Macbeth of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company
announces that inventor Guglielmo Marconi is
convinced he has intercepted wireless signals from Mars while cruising
in the Mediterranean Sea on his mobile laboratory and yacht, the
Electra. The signals are regular and “produced high in the meter band.”
One of them resembles the letter “V” in the Marconi Code. (“Marconi
Sure Mars Flashes Messages,” New York Times, September 2, 1921,
p. 1; Michael D. Swords, “Radio Signals from Space, Alien Probes, and
Betty Hill,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 395
Date: 10/9/1921
Description: Harvard University astronomer William
Henry Pickering claims that he has discovered, through two years of
observation, vegetation growing in lunar craters that contain water and
a source of heat. They seem to form strips or “canals” that vary
according to season. (“Says
2 Crops a Day Grow on the Moon,” New York Times, October 9, 1921,
p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 396
Date: 1922
Description: Starting this year, ghost lights are seen every year until
1932 in the desert near the Oregon Canyon Ranch, McDermott, Nevada. They
look like lanterns or car headlights in the distance. More than 50 of
the sheepherders in the area have seen the lights, including Tito
Bengoa, the brother of Frank and
Christopher
Bengoa of the King’s River Ranch near Orovada. (Kenneth Arnold,
“Phantom Lights in Nevada,” Fate 1, no. 3 (Fall 1948): 96–98)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 397
Date: 1922
Description: County Donegal, Ireland: Irish Republic Army man, Lawrence
Bradley, wrote to the editor of “Watfordand West-Hersts Post” magazine
(4/30/64) that while he was fighting a scattered rear-guard, mostly in
the mountains of Donegal, he came upon a cave with vegetation at the
entrance that had been scorched. The only occupants in the cave were the
sick and the wounded that had been unable to walk. The six able-bodied
soldiers that were looking after them said they had been awakened early
pre-dawn by a whirring noise outside of the cave and had fired their
rifles in the direction of the noise, thinking that it was an armored
car. Suddenly the object retaliated by firing jets of flame at the cave
entrance. After near suffocation, the soldiers ran out to see the flame
throwing UFO ascending into the sky. Clearly visible, it was circular in
shape and glowing and of a shiny metal.
Type: UFO sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: County Donegal, Ireland
Date: 2/22/1922
Time: 0500
Description: William C. Lamb was following strange tracks when he heard
a high-pitched sound and saw a circular object intercepting starlight.
It became brilliantly lighted and landed in a hollow. Soon afterword, a
creature over 2.4 m tall was seen flying from the direction where the
object had landed. It left tracks in the snow, which Lamb followed
without results.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Anatomy 22 (Vallee)
Location: Hubbell, Nebraska
ID: 44
Date: summer 1922
Description: Many witnesses in Warsaw, Poland, see a silvery object,
shaped like two hemispheres divided by a rotating ring, that shoots a
beam of light and ascends with a loud noise. (Bronislaw Rzepecki, “UFOs
and Ufologists in Poland,” IUR 11, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1986): 15; Poland
8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 399
Date: summer 1922
Description: A teenage couple, William O’Brien and Irma (later married
surname is Hinz), walking home from a movie in Detroit, Michigan, see a
large disc-shaped object hovering above a vacant lot on South Dragoon
Street. Rectangular windows surround the perimeter of the UFO’s base.
Seated at those windows are 20 or so bald- headed beings with close-set
eyes. They stare at the witnesses, who become unnerved and leave. (Clark
III 264; Center for UFO Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1910–1939, p. 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 398
Date: 9/9/1922
Description: John Morris and William James saw an object fall into the
ocean so slowly that it was thought to be a plane. A boat was sent out,
but nothing was found.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fort 639 (Vallee)
Location: Barmouth, Wales
ID: 45
Date: 1923
Description: A photograph shows a domed disc hovering near the church
tower in Sebeş, Romania. (Romania 10-11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 401
Date: 1923
Description: Two DePauw University college students, Andrew Wallace
Crandall and Herrick
Greenleaf, watch a revolving red object pass over Greencastle,
Indiana. The object, round and glowing, moves silently from northeast to
southwest, then vanishes. (Lore and Deneault, p. 106)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 400
Date: 10/1923
Description: Boni & Liveright publishes New Lands by Charles
Fort, who writes about odd aerial and astronomical observations: “It
seems no more incredible that up in the seemingly unoccupied sky there
should be hosts of living things than that the seeming blank of the
ocean, should swarm with life.” (Wikipedia, “New
Lands”; Jim Steinmeyer, Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the
Supernatural, Tarcher, 2008, pp. 198–199; Clark III 507, 1098)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 402
Date: 1/1924
Description: 1:00 a.m. Perry G. Powers and Duncan Miller are returning
to a ranch when they see a beam of light shining on the snow in the
Osage Hills, Oklahoma. It emanates from a large oval-shaped object with
white dots of light on the side and blue flame at the trailing end. It
makes a slight hissing noise and moves out of sight over the horizon in
less than 3 minutes. (UFOEv, p. 129;
“1924
Sighting,” Civilian Saucer Investigation Quarterly Bulletin 1, no. 4
(Winter 1954): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 403
Date: 8/22/1924
Description: Mars enters an opposition closer to Earth than at any time
in the century before. In the US, a National Radio Silence Day is
promoted during a 36-hour period in August 21–23, with all radios quiet
for 5 minutes on the hour, every hour, just in case the Martians take
the opportunity to communicate with Earth. At the US Naval Observatory
in Washington, D.C., an SE-950 radio receiver is lifted 1.9 miles above
the ground in a dirigible tuned to a wavelength between 8 and 9
kilometers, using a “radio photo message continuous transmission
machine” recently invented by Amherst College and Charles
Francis Jenkins of Washington. The program is led by retired
astronomer David
Peck Todd with the military assistance of Chief of Naval Operations
Adm. Edward Walter
Eberle, with
William
F. Friedman (US Army chief cryptographer), assigned to translate any
potential Martian messages. The device records radio signals on
chemically treated film. One signal consists of a “fairly regular
arrangement of dots and dashes along one side” and on the other “at
almost evenly spaced intervals … curiously jumped groups each taking the
forms of a crudely drawn human face.” Todd tells a reporter, “It may not
be a message from Mars, but if it isn’t from Mars, where is it from?”
Astronomer Frederick
E. Fowle of the Smithsonian thinks they are “disturbances introduced
by solar or terrestrial causes not yet understood.” Other scientists
suggest the images are caused by static discharge from a passing trolley
car, malfunctioning radio equipment, or the natural symphonic radio
waves produced by Jupiter. (Jerome Clark, “Conversations with Martians,”
IUR 29, no. 3 (Fall 2004): 20; Michael D. Swords, “Radio Signals from
Space, Alien Probes, and Betty Hill,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005): 11–12;
Kristen Gallerneaux, “Reaching
for Mars,” Past Forward, August 23, 2016; Jessica Leigh Hester, “Everybody
Shut Up! We’re Listening for Mars,” Atlas Obscura, August 3,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 404
Date: fall 1924
Description: Dusk. A hunter in a rowboat on Okanagan Lake, British
Columbia, sees a faint blue light moving from northeast to southwest. It
temporarily disappears behind a mountain but reappears and approaches
the boat, passing it at a distance of 200 feet and a speed of 30–40 mph.
The object is pearly silver in color with faint dark blue light at the
rear. After moving a quarter mile away, it ascends and disappears at
terrific speed. (Clark III 1171–1172)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 405
Date: 1925
Description: Thomas Green is riding with another young man on a farm
near Moora, Western Australia, when they come across an object “like two
saucers placed edge on edge” resting on a paddock. Some oval-shaped
windows are visible, and it is resting on four legs splayed outwards.
The two decide to return home. Several days later they return and find
the earth “scuffed about” on the spot. (Bill Chalker, “Historical
Australian UFO Reports,” UFO Research Australia Newsletter 4, no. 3
(Nov./Dec. 1983): 28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 406
Date: 6/1925
Description: 2:30 a.m. A driver stops his Ford Model T to watch a
300-foot-long, cigar-shaped object flying south toward Chicago,
Illinois. Red sparks are peeling away from its nose and it has
multicolored lights. As it passes in front, the driver feels a heat
wave. (San Diego (Calif.) Evening Tribune, August 12, 1965; Clark III
1171)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 407
Date: 1926
Description: UFO’s seen around Altai Himalaya
Type: UFO sighting
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Himalaya Mountains
Date: 1926
Alternate date: 1927
Description: 3:00 p.m. A 14-year-old girl is tending cows in a meadow
between Brzezie and Ujazd, Poland. Suddenly the cows become agitated and
pull on their halters. She notices three cement-colored spherical
objects some 650 feet away in a field to the north. In front of each is
a small entity dressed in greenish uniforms. (Poland 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 408
Date: 1/1926
Description: Aviator Bert
Acosta is flying somewhere between Wichita, Kansas, and Colorado
Springs, Colorado, when he notices 6 or so objects that look like
manhole covers flying off his starboard wing 600 feet away. They keep
pace with his plane for 5 minutes. Finally they turn, change course, and
fly away. (Jacques Vallée, Anatomy of a Phenomenon, Ace ed., 1965, p. 49;
Patrick Gross, “Pilots
UFO Sightings,” August 6, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 409
Date: 6/1926
Description: After midnight. Farmer Ion Bunescu is with his horses on
the Leurda plateau near Colun, Romania, when he sees a light ascend from
the village of Cârța. An illuminated globe moves toward him with a light
so strong that it brightens the River Olt some 2.5 miles away. Hobana
and Weverbergh 224–225; Romania 9–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 410
Date: 8/1926
Description: Dusk. Frank Tezky and his father watch 6 disc-shaped
objects in Westmont, Illinois. Five smaller discs are trailing in a
straight line behind a much larger one, moving west beneath cirrus
clouds, which reflect the light cast by the objects. (Clark III
1170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 411
Date: late 9/1926
Description: 11:00 p.m. An Air Mail pilot named Colin Murphy is
repeatedly buzzed by a huge glowing object one hour after he takes off
in his DH-4 biplane from Salt Lake City, Utah. The object is a
90-foot-long cylinder with no wings or propeller. Every time the object
approaches closer than 150 feet, his engine sputters and misfires. He is
forced to land in a sheep pasture, whereupon the object shoots away to
the south. Possible hoax. (Patrick Gross, “Pilots
UFO Sightings,” August 5, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 412
Date: 10/27/1926
Description: Attorney and “telepathist” Hugh Mansfield Robinson, who has
been in contact with a female Martian entity named Oomaruru since 1918,
convinces the central radio office in London, England, to send out a
message, “MMM opesti nipitia secomba” over the airwaves. He intends for
it to be picked up by Martian wireless. The next day, he claims that
Oomaruru telepathically told him that only the first three letters had
been received. Robinson describes the Martians as 7–8 feet tall with
large ears, a wealth of black hair, and almond eyes. Over the years he
continues receiving messages from Oomaruru while in a trance and
attempting to send signals to Mars. Psychic investigator Nandor
Fodor, who has attended some of Robinson’s séances, calls him “as
slippery as a human eel.” (Earl J. Johnson, “Imagination
Runs Wild about Visit of Martian Realm,” Pomona (Calif.) Bulletin,
October 28, 1926, p. 1; “Doctor
Files Mars Message by Radio ‘At Sender’s Risk,’” Vancouver (B.C.)
Sun, October 28, 1926, p. 18; Nandor Fodor, The Haunted Mind, Garrett,
1959, pp. 259–269;
Clark III 1018–1019; Marc Hartzman, “Earth
to Mars in the 1920s: The Strange Case of the Man Who Tried to Contact
Martians via Radio,” Weird Historian, February 22, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 413
Date: 11/1926
Description: Early evening. Playing hide-and-seek with friends in
Bolton, Lancashire, England, Henry Thomas slips into a backyard and
finds three figures dressed in odd suits made of silvery gray rubber
tubes. They are looking into a window in the back of a house. A tube
extends from their helmets into a tank on each figure’s back. They turn
to look at him and he sees their heads are pale and “shaped like
lightbulbs” and they have slits for mouths. Thomas runs away. (“1926:
Humanoid Hide and Seek,” ThinkAboutIt; Clark III 264)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 414
Date: 1927
Description: For a few weeks, 10-year-old Cecil
“Danny” McGann, his family, and other farmers in the area of
Fernvale, New South Wales, are terrorized by dancing aerial lights
during the night, the unusual deaths of their cattle and pigs, mystery
intruders, apparitions, circular areas of scorched grass, large and
unfamiliar birds, bizarre noises, and strange men in odd suits. McGann
is still terrified of this series of events when he relates them to UFO
investigator Bill
Chalker in 1985. (Clark III 485–491; Bill Chalker, “Physical
Traces,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, p. 190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 415
Date: summer 1927
Description: Reece
Andrew Lacey, 9,
sees a large fish-like object with “big fins extended outward near the
front, and small, short ones near the rear” in Wolfe County, Kentucky.
(“Report from the Readers,” Fate 11, no. 2 (December 1958): 111–112;
Clark III 1171)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 416
Date: 7/1927
Description: Agricultural engineer Gheorghe Achimescu sees a smoke-gray,
cylindrical object fly silently from west to east over the village of
Nicolae Bălcescu, Romania, at an altitude of 650–950 feet. He estimates
it is about 50 feet long with a diameter of 10 feet. (Hobana and
Weverbergh 152–153)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 417
Date: 8/5/1927
Description: Explorer Nicholas
Roerich and others in his caravan observe a UFO near Qinghai Lake,
Tibet. “We all saw, in the direction north to south, something big and
shiny reflecting sun, like a huge oval moving at great speed. Crossing
our camp this thing changed in its direction from south to southwest,
and we saw how it disappeared in the intense blue sky. We even had time
to take our field glasses and saw quite distinctly the oval form with
the shiny surface, one side of which was brilliant from the sun.”
(Nicholas Roerich, Altai-Himalaya, Frederick A. Stokes, 1929, pp. 361–362;
Brad Sparks, “Analysis:
Roerich Case, Aug. 5, 1927”) Late summer — Long delayed echoes—radio
echoes that return to the sender several seconds after a radio
transmission has occurred—are first observed by civil engineer and
amateur radio operator Jørgen Hals from his home near Oslo, Norway. The
cause of LDEs remains unknown, although A. G. Shlionsky has proposed 15
different explanations. (Wikipedia, “Long
delayed echo”; Carl Størmer, “Short
Wave Echoes and the Aurora Borealis,” Nature 122 (1928): 681; Sverre
Holm, “The
Five Most Likely Explanations for Long Delayed Echoes,” March 16,
2004; Sverre Holm, “15
Possible Explanations for Long Delayed Echoes,” November 6,
2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 418
Date: 10/18/1927
Description: Richard Sweed is driving west on the outskirts of
Bakersfield, California, when he sees a bluish-gray metallic disc with
portholes take off from the ground at a 45° angle. It is about 60 feet
in diameter and makes a whining sound. He examines the spot where the
object had rested and finds the sand “fused like glass crystals.”
(Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 419
Date: 1/3/1928
Description: Kansas journalist Charles
Benedict Driscoll begins writing about ball lighting in his
syndicated column, “The World and All,” keeping the subject alive for
many years. (Charles B. Driscoll, “The
World and All,” Lexington (Ky.) Herald, January 3, 1928, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 420
Date: 5/1928
Description: Mystic and white supremacist William
Dudley Pelley claims he has an out-of-body experience in which he
travels to other planes of existence devoid of corporeal souls. He
describes his experience in an American Magazine article titled “My
Seven Minutes in Eternity,” expanded to a book 1933 as Seven Minutes in
Eternity. In later writings, he describes the experience as
“hypo-dimensional.” During this event, he meets with God and Jesus, who
instruct him to undertake the spiritual transformation of America. He
later claims that the experience gives him the ability to levitate, see
through walls, and have out-of-body experiences at will. (William Dudley
Pelley, “Seven
Minutes in Eternity” with Their Aftermath, Robert
Collier, 1929; Clark III 1285)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 421
Date: 6/13/1928
Description: 9:00–10:00 p.m. Something like a “great blurred electric
light” appears over Miami, Florida, for more than 30 minutes. One
witness, amateur astronomer R. C. Fahrion, describes it as a comet
without a tail, but it does not move, is of an “enormous size,” and
disappears very suddenly. (“Miami
Astronomers Unable to Identify Light in Sky,”
Miami Herald, June 14, 1928, p. 1; “Miamians
Watch Sky Mystery, Mistaken for Tailless Comet,” Miami News, June
14, 1928, p. 12; Clark III 1172)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 423
Date: summer 1928
Description: A 6-year-old girl sees a black, faceless, 5-foot-high
figure with a large head and dangling arms in a field off Anstey Lane,
Leicester, England. She thinks it is a scarecrow but notices a “large
globe on legs” near the figure. She wakes up her father (who is resting
in the open air) but when she turns around, the scarecrow and the globe
are gone. (Pauline Berger, “The
Disappearing Scarecrow,” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1969): 29; Clark III 264)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 422
Date: 10/1928
Description: Richard E. Byrd’s first expedition to Antarctica. He set up
a large base on the Ross Ice Shelf, called Little America. This was the
first of the American bases on the continent and was
well-equipped.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Antarctica
Date: early 11/1928
Description: 10:30 p.m. Norman
H. Sabie and Thorsten
Sabie are driving cattle near Milton, North Dakota, watch a round,
metallic object, like a “soup bowl turned upside down,” speed by at a
low altitude (15–20 feet), emitting 4–5 rays of light that illuminate
the ground and startle cattle. It makes a sound like air pouring through
a tube. (UFOEv, p. 129;
Clark III 1170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 424
Date: 11/28/1928
Description: French diplomatic scholar Henri
Pensa writes that a silvery object trailing fire is seen in Rodez,
Aveyron, France, coming from the “direction of Mars.” He says that in
the winter of 1927–1928, he has seen a bright light, usually between
8:00 and 11:00 p.m., that brightens the landscape. (Giuseppe Stilo, “Francia,
1928: Marte
Attacca?” Cielo Insolito, October 2, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 425
Date: 1929
Description: In Hertford, England, a 5-year-old girl and her 8-year-old
brother have such an unsettling experience that they do not talk about
it themselves until about 1960, and the woman herself does not reveal it
to outsiders until 1970. They are playing in a garden when they hear
engine sounds and see a tiny (12 or 15 inches wide) biplane coming over
the fence from the direction of an orchard. It swoops down, nearly
hitting a trash can, and lands for a few seconds before resuming its
flight. While it is stationary, the girl can see a “perfectly
proportioned tiny pilot wearing a leather flying helmet, who waved to us
as he took off.” (Gordon Creighton, “A
Weird Case from the Past,”
Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1970): 30; Clark III
1173)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 426
Date: Spring 1929
Description: SAUCER SIGHTED YEAR WALL STREET COLLAPSES - Larry Reynolds
of San Francisco, California saw a mysterious object in the clouds. The
day was early spring and occasional clouds hid the oval-shaped craft
from time to time. At times it was clearly visible and Reynolds judged
its size to be tremendous.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fate Magazine 1952 (Fortean Society Sightings (Scully box 3
ff5))
Location: Bainbridge Island, WA
Date: 6/12/1929
Time: 2300
Description: Levis Brosseau, 2O was returning home when he saw a dark
object with a yellow light and his horse became very nervous. Within 6 m
of the object four or five dwarfish figures were running back and forth.
He heard their pointed, childlike voices, then saw the dark object take
off with a machinelike sound and a rush of air. Estimated size of
object: 15 m diameter, 5 m high.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: GEPA Dec., 68 (Vallee)
Location: Fermeneuve, Canada
ID: 46
Date: 6/12/1929
Description: 11:00 p.m. As he is driving home at Ferme-Neuve, Quebec,
Levis Brosseau, 20, sees something like a black cloud with a yellow
light resting on a hillside. He gets out to investigate and discerns a
structured object 50 feet in diameter. Outside of it, 4–5 small men of
yellowish color are moving quickly about. Soon the object flies
overhead, “purring like a milk separator,” and he hears two voices
arguing. (Center for UFO Studies, HUMCAT Index
1910–1939, p. 31;
Clark III 264)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 427
Date: 7/1929
Description: Five persons among them Einar Rostivold, saw a huge ball of
light giving off fiery colors, 25 km from Robsart. It landed slowly,
vanished gradually after illuminating the whole countryside for 30
min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fate Jan., 58 (Vallee)
Location: Robsart, Canada
ID: 47
Date: 9/1929
Description: Medical student William Walton is crossing a street in Oak
Park, Illinois, when he sees a very bright yellowish-white light like
two saucers pressed together. It approaches his position, and he hears a
humming sound like the throbbing of a turbine and feels heat and
pressure. The object passes over him at about 100 feet altitude, but the
force knocks him to his knees. After it passes, he detects an odor of
sulfur. (Linda Zimmerman, More Hudson Valley UFOs, Eagle Press,
2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 428
Date: 10/4/1929
Description: US stock market crashes
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: New York City, New York
Date: 11/29/1929
Description: Richard E. Byrd and his companions would become the first
to fly over the South Pole. The flight took 19 hours to fly from Little
America to the Pole and return.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Antartica
Date: 1930
Description: 10:00 a.m. A woman is driving the family car in an isolated
hilly area of Texas when she rounds a curve and sees a huge object about
100 feet across by the side of the road. A small door is open with steps
leading down to the ground. One side of the object is braced up by two
slender legs with round plates for feet. A man of normal size comes
walking toward her and forces her to stop. He seems to speak to her
telepathically, telling her to leave the road and make a shortcut
through a gully. Some 8–10 other figures walk forward, much smaller and
with slanted eyes. They are wearing tan coveralls and tight caps.
Despite potential damage to her car, she drives through the gully as the
larger man walks alongside. The next thing she remembers is walking up
to her porch at her home 15 miles away. It is around 12:00 midnight. In
March 1968, having read Interrupted Journey about the Betty and Barney
Hill case, she writes to the Colorado project and offers herself for
hypnosis and research. Edward
Condon files the letter under “psychological” and does not respond.
(Michael D. Swords, “Too Close for Condon: Close Encounters of the 4th
Kind,” IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 4–5; Patrick Gross, URECAT, August
29, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 429
Date: 1930
Description: Day. Schoolboys and teachers at the Barton Hill Academy in
Bristol, England, watch a cigar-shaped metallic object speed across the
sky faster than a dirigible. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet,
1969, pp. 16–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 430
Date: 1930
Description: 9:30 p.m. Two men walking along a lane at Tomintoul,
Scotland, see a white light “like a meteor.” When it gets brighter, they
can see figures moving inside it. The witnesses think it is a ghost
light. (Clark III 264; Patrick Gross, URECAT, September
20, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 431
Date: spring 1930
Alternate date: spring 1931
Description: 7:00 p.m. As he walks down a country road near Newberry,
Michigan, high school student Ralph Newman sees a “distinctly green
fireball” in the low eastern sky that moves from south to north. About
the size of the full moon, its light brightens the countryside, then it
vanishes. (Clark III 1175)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 432
Date: 5/1930
Description: Day. A top-shaped object 40 feet wide lands in a garden in
Greensboro, North Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Rankin and their two
daughters can see the head and shoulders of a figure inside wearing a
tight-fitting outfit and helmet. Some 5–10 minutes later the object
ascends quietly and is gone. (Center for UFO Studies, HUMCAT Index
1910–1939, p. 33;
Clark III 264; Patrick Gross, URECAT, September
15, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 433
Date: 1/1/1931
Description: 1:00 a.m. J. Stewart Childerhose and his brother, two
farmers of Cobden, Ontario, see an object with a brilliant white light
on its front illuminating treetops on the shore of Muskrat Lake. Green
and white lights twinkle on its tail end. It moves in a rectangular
path, then speeds up suddenly and climbs out of sight. (Lore and
Deneault, p. 108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 434
Date: 1/26/1931
Description: Author Tiffany
Thayer founds the Fortean Society during a dinner with Charles
Fort in the Savoy-Plaza Hotel in New York City in order to promote
his books and ideas. (Wikipedia, “Fortean
Society”; Jim Steinmeyer, Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the
Supernatural, Tarcher, 2008, pp. 239–241)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 435
Date: 2/1931
Description: Charles
Fort writes in Lo!, published this month, that “Unknown, luminous
things, or beings, have often been seen, sometimes close to this earth,
and sometimes high in the sky. It may be that some of them were living
things that occasionally come from somewhere else.” (Wikipedia, “Lo!”;
Jim Steinmeyer, Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural,
Tarcher, 2008, pp. 235–243; Clark III 507–508, 1098)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 436
Date: 5/1931
Description: 4:30 p.m. Pasquale Masala is out riding his horse with a
friend a few miles southeast of Paulilatino, Sardinia, Italy. When they
reach a megalithic tomb known as Nuraghe Trudumeddu, they dismount to
enjoy the view. Suddenly, a strange object the size and shape of a
football emerges from the partially blocked entrance of the tomb. It
travels at a height of about 3 feet above the ground at a constant speed
of about 10–15 mph and enters a thick patch of undergrowth. Marsala runs
after it for about a half mile and notices that the bushes part in front
of the object and close up after it passes. His companion is frightened
and insists on returning to the village. (Mary Boyd, “An
Early Italian Cross-Country Case,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 3
(December 1974): 21; 1Pinotti 13– 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 437
Date: 6/6/1931
Description: Aviator Francis
Chichester sees a dull gray-white “airship” as he is making the
first solo flight in a Gypsy Moth seaplane from New Zealand to Australia
over the Tasman Sea. (Francis Chichester, The Lonely Sea and the Sky,
Hodder and Stoughton, 1964, p. 165;
Keith Basterfield, “Aviator
Francis Chichester’s Classic Sighting: Is the Date
Wrong?” Unidentified Aerial Phenomena–Scientific Research, May 29,
2018; Patrick Gross, “Francis Chichester
Sighting, 1931”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 438
Date: summer 1931
Description: Alice May Williams of Auckland, New Zealand, begins writing
letters over a two-year period to Edison
Pettit and Seth
Barnes Nicholson, astronomers
at the Mount Wilson Observatory in Pasadena, California, describing her
encounters with telepathic aliens who fly in a circular machine “like a
great big lamp.” She writes that “The Planet mars is inhabited by human
spirits like us can talk eat & drink wear clothes, but have great
power. They are something people of this earth have never seen.” Their
ships “are round like the moon with airtight shutter at the front,
glass. The machine must be built with some light material, airproof
fireproof, waterproof. The inside must be like a room, 2 beds tables
& chairs.” Much of her information seems to be derived from articles
in the Auckland Star about conditions elsewhere in the solar system.
(David Herkt, “Who
No: Letters from Alice May Williams,”
Speaker: Public Address, September 3, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 439
Date: 1932
Description: Danish pilots Lt. Col. Peter Grunnet and Lt. Tage Andersen
are flying an H.M.II (Heinkel HE 8) seaplane over eastern Greenland as
part of a photogrammetric survey. Suddenly, Andersen notices they are
being followed by a hexagonal metallic object about a mile behind them.
(Rufus Drake, “UFO Crisis over Greenland,” Saga, October 1976,
pp. 36–38, 54, 60; Patrick Gross, “Pilots
UFO Sightings,” August 8, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 440
Date: 4/1932
Alternate date: 5/1932
Description: Terry F. Lapeza sees an aluminum-like disc with yellowish
lights or “portholes” on the underside, about 100 feet in diameter over
Durham, New York. It is moving north at about 300 mph. (UFOEv, p. 129)
Early summer (or early summer 1933)— 7:30 p.m. Teenager Fred W. Van Sant
and his brother Milton see 7–8 “meteors flying in a bunch” over hills
east of Oakland, California. They maintain the same altitude from east
to west in a great arc. The objects are silent and are so bright they
seem to be emitting their own light. (NICAP case file; Clark III
1175)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 441
Date: 6/1932
Description: Evening. Reuben
D. Knight is standing on the porch of his farmhouse near Wattsburg,
Pennsylvania, when he notices a bright speck of light approaching from
some woods to the south. Growing in size, it comes to within 4 feet of
him and appears as a silvery-blue ball about 14 inches in diameter. It
travels in a loop and circles back to the woods in a steady path of
35–40 mph. After it circles past him again, he calls his wife and she
sees the ball make a final loop before it disappears in the woods.
(NICAP case file; Clark III 1175; Patrick Gross, URECAT,
August 19, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 442
Date: 1933
Description: Richard E. Byrd’s 2nd expedition to Antarctica. In 1934 he
spends 5 months alone in a hut, 100’s of km’s from the nearest support,
in total darkness. He almost dies from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Antartica
Date: 1933
Description: Earl J. Duncan and a Native American boy are in a truck
near Fort Washakie, Wyoming, on the Wind River Indian Reservation. As
they reach the crest of a hill, they see three perfectly round,
pulsating, orange-red balls about 900 feet away. They are moving “in
absolute alignment” about 20 feet from the ground toward the nearest
mountain range. After 5 minutes of silent movement they disappear over a
nearby mountain. (NICAp case file; Clark III 1175)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 443
Date: 1/30/1933
Description: Hitler is made Chancellor of Germany.
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Germany
Date: 3/4/1933
End date: 4/12/1945
Description: President Franklin D. Roosevelt in office.
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Washington DC
Date: 6/1/1933
Description: English mountaineer Frank
Smythe, during
the British Mount Everest Expedition in the Himalaya Mountains of Nepal,
is heading for camp at 27,500 feet when he sees two dark objects
floating in the blue sky. In shape they resemble kite balloons, except
that one appears to possess short squat wings. As they hover motionless,
they seem to pulsate in and out as though they are breathing. A minute
or two later they disappear behind mountain mist. (Frank S. Smythe, Camp
Six: An Account of the 1933 Mount Everest Expedition, Hodder and
Stoughton, 1937, pp. 264–265;
Barry Greenwood, “UFOs
on Mt. Everest in 1933,” UFO Historical Revue, no. 5 (July 1999):
2–3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 447
Date: 6/13/1933
Description: An unknown aircraft allegedly crashes at Magenta, just west
of Milan, Italy. The Italian government establishes a top-secret group,
Gabinetto Ricerche Speziale/33, to examine the craft. It is headed by
Prime Minister Benito
Mussolini, Foreign Minister Galeazzo
Ciano, and Air Marshal Italo
Balbo, with scientific support from Guglielmo
Marconi and astronomer Gino
Cecchini. Debris
is reportedly stored in the hangars of the SIAI- Marchetti aircraft
company in Vergiate, Varese. Journalists are ordered to keep silent
about the incident due to national security. (Good Need, pp. 12–15;
Roberto Pinotti and Alfredo Lissoni, Gli “X-Files” del Nazifascismo,
2001; 2Pinotti 179–197)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 448
Date: summer 1933
Time: Morning
Description: A man observed a faint violet light in a field between this
town and Morrestown. Walking to it, he found an ovoid object 3 m in
diameter and 2 m thick with a circular opening similar to a vault door.
Pushing it, he found the room full of violet light and observed many
instruments, no occupant. Smell of ammonia.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Jul., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Chrysville, Pennsylvania
ID: 48
Date: summer 1933
Description: Night. Frank Van Keuren is fishing with others along the
waterway off Beach Haven, New Jersey. Suddenly they are illuminated by a
searchlight coming from an object moving slowly and silently about 1,000
feet in the air. It goes on to circle some radio towers about 8 miles
away, flooding them with light. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story,
Signet, 1969, pp. 19–20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 446
Date: summer 1933
Description: 2:30 a.m. A man who still insists on anonymity in 1964 is
driving near Cherryville, Pennsylvania, when his car gets a flat tire.
As he is jacking it up, he sees a faint violet light in the field on his
right. Curious, he walks about 200 feet toward the light and sees a
bell-shaped object about 10 feet in diameter and 6 feet high on the
grass. Light is issuing from a circular door about 1 foot in diameter.
He pushes it and it swings open. Putting his head inside, he cannot see
much because of the peculiar light coming from the ceiling. The chamber
inside is about 6 feet in diameter, 4 feet high, and full of tubing and
dials on a console. An ammonia scent pervades the room, which is notably
chilly. The man then walks around the object, touching the surface,
which is slick, metallic, and cold. After 10 minutes, he goes back to
the car, replaces the tire, and drives home. (“Flying
Saucer Spotted
in 1933,” Allentown (Pa.) Sunday Call-Chronicle, February 16, 1964,
pp. B1–B2; Clark III 1175–1176; “1933
Sighting Reported,” APRO Bulletin, July 1964, pp. 7–8; Patrick
Gross, URECAT, July
16, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 445
Date: summer 1933
Description: For weeks, strange lights in the sky are reported around
Tobin Lake, Saskatchewan. Curious about the reports, two young men and a
woman drive to the lake from Napawin. On their way they see a glow near
the horizon, so they park and trek a quarter mile into the woods where
they can see a large, oval-shaped craft sitting on legs. From an open
central doorway shines a bright orange glow; a ladderlike stairway
extends downward with a dozen figures dressed in silver suits moving up
and down the steps. They appear to be repairing the craft. The witnesses
watch for 30 minutes when they decide to return to their truck and get
closer. Two nights later they return and find imprints and burn marks,
which they photograph. Two of them write an article that they submit to
magazines, which refuse to publish what they consider outlandish
fiction. (John Brent Musgrave, “Saskatchewan,
1933: UFO Stops
for ‘Repairs,’” Flying Saucer Review 22, no. 6 (April 1977): 16–17;
Clark III 264; Patrick Gross, URECAT, July
15, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 444
Date: 7/4/1933
Description: The Nazis become the only political party left in Germany,
after all other parties are banned or split up.
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Germany
Date: 7/5/1933
Description: Evening. Four RAF Hawker Fury I biplanes flying over
Sussex, England, encounter a gigantic light that shines directly into
the center of their formation from a higher altitude. Two Hawkers
experience mechanical trouble and separate. Capt. Nigel Tompkins and Lt.
Bruce H. Thomas make emergency landings when both their planes’ engines
quit. On his way down, Thomas passes so close to the light that it
causes burns on his face and hands. Probable hoax. (History of the III
Fighter Squadron, RAF, London Press, 1947; Jan Aldrich, “Aircraft/UFO Encounters
Prior to 1942,” Project 1947; Patrick Gross, “Pilots
UFO Sightings,” August 3, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 449
Date: 7/31/1933
Alternate date: 8/1/1933
Description: 9:15 p.m. Somewhere between Butt Valley Reservoir and
Humbug Valley, California, high- school science teacher Paul M. Barry
Jr. is skywatching when he sees two objects shoot across the sky. They
are solid, prolate spheroids with a green luminescence. Their brightness
changes considerably as they approach the zenith and diminish as they
approach the horizon. He thinks they are 8–10 miles distant. The two
objects disappear and are followed by a third. (Clark III 1175)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 450
Date: fall 1933
Description: 11:45 p.m. A chemist in Contra Costa County, California,
hears a humming sound outside coming from the northeast. Looking out the
window, he sees the yard bathed in a steady blue-purple light. Suddenly
the light goes out and the humming ends with a “pow” sound. (Lorenzen,
UFOs; The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 451
Date: late 11/1933
Description: After sunset. A lone observer sees what appears to be an
aircraft land on ice-covered lake Fjosoken, Sorsele, Sweden. It takes
off and circles the lake for one hour, during which time it projects a
powerful searchlight on the lake’s surface. However, local police
interview the witness and suspect that he was looking at Venus. (Swords
361)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 452
Date: 12/24/1933
Description: 6:00 p.m. Witnesses in Kalix, Norrbotten, Sweden, see beams
of light coming from a machine that seems to be searching the ground
below. The beams are “blinding.” The sighting is part of a wave of
“ghost flier” reports of gray monoplanes without identifying markings
that are reported over rural areas of Scandinavia from November 15,
1933, through February 11, 1934. The Swedish Military Record Office
accumulates 96 reports from Sweden, 234 from Norway, and 137 from
Finland, and the Swedish Air Force undertakes at least two
reconnaissance missions in search of the mystery planes. More than 50%
of the reports take place between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., when Venus is
low over the horizon. (Strange Company 7; Hilary Evans and Robert E.
Bartholomew, Outbreak! Anomalist, 2009, pp. 497–499; Swords 361–363;
Anders Liljegren, “Ghost
Flier Mystery
Still Unresolved,” AFU Newsletter 41 (September 2001): 1–3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 453
Date: 12/28/1933
Description: The 4th Swedish Flying Corps begins an investigation of the
ghost flyers. (John A. Keel, “Mystery Aeroplanes
of the 1930s, Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1970): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 454
Date: 12/30/1933
Description: Swedish customs sends a request for air support to Gen. Eric
Virgin, head
of the Swedish Air Force, to help apprehend the ghost fliers who could
be smuggling liquor into Sweden. However, he is cautious and wants more
information to evaluate. (Swords 361–362; Good Above, p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 455
Date: 1934
Description: INDIAN RESERVATION HAS THREE SPACE VISITORS - Earl J.
Duncan of Chamblee, Ga., saw three bright round orange objects in the
sky above Shoshone Indian Reservation near Fort Washakie. They were
soundless and moved at a snail’s pace. Duncan’s sighting has many things
in common with the January 29, 1952 sighting over Korea by Army planes,
as appeared in Life Magazine, April 7 1952.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fortean Society Sightings (Scully box 3 ff5)
Location: Fort Washakie, WY
Date: 1/1934
Description: George
Adamski, who
has been a lecturer and counselor on spiritual topics since about 1928,
opens the Monastery of the Royal Order of Tibet at 758 Manzanita Drive,
Laguna Beach, California. The monastery serves as his home and
headquarters until 1940. (George M. Eberhart, “George Adamski—New Age
Meets the Space Age,” IUR 21, no. 2 (Summer 1996): 20; “Laguna
Beach, 1932–1940: From Temple to Ranch,” The Adamski Case, September
27, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 456
Date: 1/2/1934
Description: 3:45 a.m. Olof Hedlund is taking a walk in Sorsele,
Västerbotten, Sweden, when he hears an engine above him. There is a full
moon and visibility is good. He sees an airplane fly over the city from
the west, passing directly above the train station. It turns three times
in wide circles, then it takes off to the north, following the railroad
tracks. It is at about 1,300 feet altitude and visible for 15 minutes.
(John A. Keel, “Mystery
Aeroplanes of the
1930s, Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1970):
12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 457
Date: 1/9/1934
Description: A mystery airplane is seen again over Västerbotten
province, Sweden. The Swedish Air Force loses two aircraft trying to
discover where the plane is based. (“Mystery
Plane Reported,” New York Times, January 10, 1934, p. 11; Strange
Company 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 458
Date: 1/10/1934
Description: Gen. Pontus
Reuterswärd, chief
of armed forces in Upper Norrland, Sweden, recommends to officials of
Norrbotten County that they request assistance from the Air Force to
deal with the ghost fliers. Norrbotten administrator Bernard Gärde is
skeptical of the “vague and unreliable” reports at first. (Swords
361–362)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 459
Date: 1/22/1934
Description: A mystery aircraft flies over the military fortress at
Boden, Norrbotten, Sweden, seen by 30 soldiers, and Reuterswärd alerts
the press that planes had flown over restricted military areas. (John A.
Keel, “Mystery Aeroplanes
of the 1930s, Part III—The Landings,” Flying Saucer Review 17, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1971): 17; Swords 362)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 460
Date: 1/27/1934
Description: Swedish MP Arvid
Lindman puts a question to Prime Minister Per
Albin Hansson, asking
what action the government plans to take about the ghost fliers. (Swords
362)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 461
Date: 2/1/1934
Description: Night. A mystery aircraft flies in circles for two hours
over central London, England. Its engine is noisy, and its course can be
clearly seen by its lights. On February 6, Under-Secretary of State for
Air Philip
Sassoon claims that it was an RAF plane carrying out a training
exercise in coordination with ground forces. (John A. Keel, “Mystery
Aeroplanes of the 1930s, Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1970): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 462
Date: 2/2/1934
Description: Night. A large unidentified airplane is seen over eastern
Finland close to the Russian frontier, apparently scouting the district.
Flights of ghost planes and mysterious lights have been seen for the
past month over Helsinki and Vyborg, Finland, as well as Sweden and
Norway. The Scandinavian mystery fliers continue to be seen into 1935.
(“Finnish
Alarm Grows over ‘Ghost’ Planes,” New York Times, February 4, 1934,
p. 9; Strange Company 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 464
Date: 2/2/1934
Description: Prime Minister Hansson tells
the Swedish Parliament that most ghost flier sightings are
misidentifications or fantasy, while others are unsolved. (Swords
362)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 463
Date: 2/12/1934
Description: Norrbotten, Sweden, administrator Bernard Gärde officially
requests assistance of the Air Force with the ghost fliers. But air
surveillance has actually been taking place since early January. (Swords
362)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 465
Date: 3/4/1934
Description: Sweden calls off its hunt for the ghost fliers, although
sightings are still being reported. Even though 24 airplanes
participated in the search, no Swedish pilot has seen a ghost flier.
Soldiers on the ground occasionally report sound from a motor or lights
in the sky. (Swords 362–363)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 466
Date: 4/30/1934
Description: Gen. Reuterswärd tells
the press that several ghost flier reports in January had been of real,
unidentified aircraft involved in a violation of Sweden’s airspace. MP
Elof
Lindberg accuses him of not being competent enough to draw such a
conclusion. (Good Above, p. 13;
Swords 363)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 467
Date: 6/11/1934
Description: Night. Two mystery airplanes circle around London, England:
“The machines were low enough for their outlines, as well as their
navigation lights, to be clearly visible against the sky.” Regulations
prohibit RAF planes from flying over London at less than 5,000 feet.
(John A. Keel, “Mystery
Aeroplanes of the 1930s, Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1970): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 468
Date: 6/19/1934
Description: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is established,
replacing the Federal Radio Commission.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Washington DC
Date: summer 1934
Description: Day. 9-year-old Coral
E. Lightner and two friends watch a white object “like an open
umbrella without the ribs or spurs” glide silently through the sky from
the west-southwest to the northwest over Barron, Wisconsin. It moves
silently with a slight undulation before it disappears after 20 seconds.
(Lorenzen, FS Hoax, pp. 15–16;
“The
Wisconsin Flying Saucer That Changed UFO Research Forever,”
Wisconsin Frights, September 20, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 469
Date: 7/29/1934
Description: Ufologist and nuclear physicist Stanton T. Friedman is born
in Elizabeth, NJ.
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Elizabeth, NJ
Date: 8/9/1934
Description: Around 5:00 a.m. Musician Leon
M. Thompson is boating on Keuka Lake in western New York when he
notices an odd cloud on the west side of the lake. It is in the form of
an elongated cone some 60–75 feet in length and 10–15 feet in diameter
at its largest point. Suddenly the sky lights up in a flash and the
cloud emits a fireball that arcs across the lake to the east and leaves
a fiery train. It falls on a cottage and throws up a cloud of mist or
steam that slowly dissipates. (“Ball
of Fire Brings Thrill to Fisherman,” Elmira (N.Y.) Star-Gazette,
August 4, 1934, p. 5; Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough, Return to Magonia:
Investigating UFOs in History, Anomalist, 2015, pp. 315–328)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 470
Date: 1935
End date: 1937
Description: UFO activity around Second Italo-Ethiopian War
Type: UFO activity
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Ethiopia
Date: 1935
Description: Astronomer Arthur
M. Harding writes that “Surely there must be some forms of life on
Venus that are not so very different from what we find on earth.”
(Arthur M. Harding, Astronomy: The Splendor of the Heavens Brought Down
to Earth, Garden City Publishing, 1935, p. 408)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 472
Date: 1935
Description: 10:00 p.m. Edward Winters of the US 4th Coast Artillery
Regiment watches a dull-red, Zeppelin-shaped object flying over the
Panama Canal Zone at high speed from the Pacific to the Atlantic for
about 30 minutes. Later it returns, moving in the opposite direction
farther away. (NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 471
Date: 1/10/1935
Description: Charles Spayde, the operator of a telegraph station west of
Lima, Ohio, claims that he has been receiving a “series of strange,
unintelligible signals” that are broad in wavelength and “come in all
over the dial.” He is convinced they are not static or mechanical
disturbances and they do not originate on this planet. (Jerome Clark,
“Conversations with Martians,” IUR 29, no. 3 (Fall 2004): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 473
Date: 1/22/1935
Alternate date: 1/23/1935
Description: 8:00 p.m. A woman in Vienna, Virginia, sees a
lightning-like flash in the southwest that flares up several times then
dies down. It seems to come from a “great blazing light, almost a ball
of fire,” that is moving around the horizon. It is lost to view in the
southeast. (“A correspondent from Vienna, Va., writes,” Science 81
(1935): 294)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 474
Date: spring 1935
Description: Night. A Mr. Aerts sees a brilliant circular object “like
aluminum” in the sky above the roofs of nearby houses in Mechelen,
Belgium. It lands and he sees two small occupants come out of the rear;
they wear square helmets with short antennas and are apparently
examining the exterior surface. (Center for UFO Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1910–1939, p. 42;
Clark III 265)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 475
Date: 4/5/1935
Description: Dusk. A farmer named Mora sees a large, round, brilliant
object descend and hover just above the ground near his property in
Aznalcázar, Seville, Spain. Several small beings appear and stroll
around it. (Clark III 264–265; Patrick Gross, URECAT, April
9, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 476
Date: 5/1935
Description: Radu Popescu and his cousin are walking by the Olt River
near Drăgășani, Romania, when they come upon what seems to be a Romany
wagon. They see five figures—one next to the object, two farther away,
and another two next to a boat on the shore. Suddenly the figures run
toward the object, something black covers it, an antenna appears, and it
rises up above the river. It turns to a white color as it moves away.
(Romania 121–122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 477
Date: 7/1/1935
Description: The US Division of Investigation officially becomes the
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, Timeline, March
31, 2002)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 478
Date: 7/8/1935
Description: The Swedish Chief of Staff releases its final report on
ghost fliers. After concluding that 42 of the 487 reports investigated
by Sweden, Norway, and Finland are of actual aircraft violating borders,
the military admits the phenomenon is at least partially real. (Swords
363)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 479
Date: 1936
Description: Atmospheric physicist William
Jackson Humphreys, after examing 280 cases, argues that ball
lightning is caused by persistence of vision, meteorites,
will-o’-the-wisp, brush discharge, and other natural phenomena. (W. J.
Humphreys, “Ball
Lightning,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 76
(1936): 613–626)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 480
Date: 1936
Description: Late evening. Mrs. E. P. Higgins and another member of the
Canal Zone Astronomical Society observe a moving orange-red star passing
from north to south near Miraflores Lake, Panama. Suddenly it halts and
travels in three small circles from right to left. (Lore and Deneault,
pp. 112–113;
Clark III 1176)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 481
Date: 1/1936
Description: George
Adamski’s Royal Order of Tibet publishes Universal Jewels of Life as
a free monthly newsletter for those attending his meetings in Laguna
Beach, California. Besides Adamski, talks are also given by Marguerite
Weir, Alice Wells, and others. Beginning in May, the Royal Order has a
weekly 15-minute slot on local radio stations KFOX in Long Beach and
KMPC in Los Angeles. He also publishes Wisdom of the Masters of the Far
East, a summary of his “ageless wisdom” teachings. (“Laguna
Beach, 1932–1940: From Temple to Ranch,” The Adamski Case, September
27, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 482
Date: 6/26/1936
Description: Heinrich Focke designed the world’s first practical, stable
transverse twin rotor helicopter
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Reference: link
Location: Germany
Date: 8/17/1936
Description: A metallic disc with a diameter of 33–40 feet is seen
flying soundlessly near Venice, Italy. It has windows and alternating
white and red lights. Two fighters from a nearby air base attempt to
intercept it but cannot reach it. After maneuvering for an hour and
passing above Mestre, Veneto, it appears more like a torpedo-shaped
object. Two other smaller, domed discs are also seen following it. A
report on the incident is sent to Foreign Minister Galeazzo
Ciano. (Good
Need, p. 12;
Roberto Pinotti and Alfredo Lissoni, Gli “X-Files” del Nazifascismo,
2001)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 483
Date: fall 1936
Description: Before 12:00 midnight. Louie
R. Lindblad and five companions from Texarkana, Arkansas, are fox
hunting in Bowie County, Texas [around the current site of the Red River
Army Depot] when they observe numerous star- like objects in a circular
formation. Occasionally a light would fly across the circle and take up
another position until they all seem to relocate. They watch the display
for about 30–40 minutes. (MUFON UFO Journal, no. 150, August 1980,
p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 484
Date: 10/1936
Description: Night. Holger Berg and another worker at the Civilian
Conservation Corps in Eklutna, Alaska, are walking south toward
Anchorage when the see a light approaching them from the south. It is
attached to a cigar-shaped object embedded in a blue-green haze and
making a strange buzzing noise. As the object passes directly overhead,
they notice it actually has a triangular shape and multicolored lights
on its tail end. Frightened, they dive into a nearby snowbank then run
back to Eklutna. (Marler 64–66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 485
Date: 10/10/1936
Description: 4:15 a.m. Capt. Mario Rossi, flight instructor at the
airfield at Orbetello, Grosseto, Italy, is flying a Savoia- Marchetti
SM.62 at 12,465 feet over Talamone, Italy, when he sees an unusual light
ahead of his plane. He follows the light, which is at a slightly higher
altitude and moving at nearly 440 mph. Rossi loses it after flying into
a cloud for 12 minutes and finding himself over Elba. (Ernesto Thayaht,
“Three
Sightings in Italy,” Flying Saucer Review 1, no. 3 (July/Aug. 1955):
6; 1Pinotti 15–16; “Pilots
UFO Sightings,” August 7, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 486
Date: winter 1936
Description: Robert Damion, an astronomer of Nice, Alpes-Maritimes,
France, who has a private observatory in the Alps, claims that for
several nights a “certain portion of the sky in the vicinity of Mars”
has been lit up with a deep bluish tint for 40 seconds each time. He is
convinced that Mars is trying to signal Earth. (“Strange
Light from Mars
Called Signal to Earth,” Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner, March 11,
1936, p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 487
Date: 1/1937
Description: A man who later becomes an administrator in a Missouri
state agency chases a disc-shaped object in his private aircraft over
Van Buren, Missouri. (Harley D. Rutledge, Project Identification: The
First Scientific Field Study of UFO Phenomena, Prentice-Hall, 1981, p. 213)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 488
Date: 1/1/1937
Description: Noon. Pilot Howard S. Behr is flying a Curtiss-Wright CW-15
Sedan at 3,000 feet over Virginia on his way to Raleigh, North Carolina.
Suddenly he sees an object beginning to cross his flight path about
1,000 feet below him. It looks like a gondola, gun-metal gray in color,
with both of its ends turned up. He estimates it is about 35– 40 feet
long and traveling at 150 mph. It moves off to his left and disappears.
(Jerome Clark, Strange Skies: Pilot Encounters with UFOs, Citadel, 2003,
p. 6; Patrick Gross, “Pilots
UFO Sightings,” August 7, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 489
Date: 1/4/1937
Description: New ghost flier sightings around the fortress at Boden,
Norrbotten, Sweden, have prompted Gen. Pontus Reuterswärd to
alert Minister of Defence Janne
Nilsson about the possibility of foreign spies. (Swords 363)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 490
Date: late 1/1937
Description: Ghost fliers return to Västerbotten, Sweden. A light is
seen wandering near the horizon east of Umeå. A light brighter than a
headlight is reported from a community near Dorotea. A light similar to
position lights on an aircraft flies over a village outside Stensele.
(Swords 363)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 491
Date: 2/11/1937
Description: 9:00 p.m. The crew of the fishing vessel Fram is departing
Kvalsvik, Norway, when they notice a “large aeroplane” with red and
green glowing lights resting on top of the water. The captain turns the
boat around to offer assistance, but the object’s lights go out and it
is cloaked in a “cloud of smoke” and vanishes. (Strange Company
11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 492
Date: 2/15/1937
Description: MP Elof
Lindberg demands in the Swedish Parliament that a commission with
civil experts, not military, should investigate the ghost flier
intrusions. He suspects the military has embellished the reports to
direct more resources to the northern region and to the Air Force in
general. (Swords 363)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 493
Date: 5/19/1937
Description: Lindberg’s
request for a civilian ghost flier investigation is rejected by Swedish
Minister of Defence Janne Nilsson, who
explains that no new facts have surfaced and few new observations have
been reported. (Swords 363)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 494
Date: 5/30/1937
Description: Amateur astronomer Latimer
J. Wilson of Nashville, Tennessee, is observing Mars through a
12-inch reflector when he sees a series of intermittent bright flashes
across the south polar cap. A line of tiny white spots seems to extend
across the cap, some coalescing to swell in a brilliant white spot that
quickly becomes yellow, then red- yellow, the “phenomenon passing from
left to right across the polar cap.” (Latimer J. Wilson, “Apparent
Flashes Seen
on Mars,” Popular Astronomy 45 (1937): 430; Walter H. Haas, “Flashes
on Mars Observed in 1937 and Some
Random Remarks,” The Strolling Astronomer 45, no. 1 (Winter 2003):
43–45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 495
Date: summer 1937
Description: An object allegedly falls from the sky in Langenau [now
Czernica, Poland] into a field belonging to Eva Braun’s
family and is retrieved by German soldiers. It supposedly winds up in Wernher
von Braun’s laboratory, but the story is probably mythical. (Poland
116–117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 496
Date: 9/1937
Description: Tiffany
Thayer publishes the first issue of the Fortean Society Magazine
(retitled Doubt in 1944) in New York City. (Fortean Society Magazine 1,
no. 1 (September 1937); Clark III 516)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 497
Date: 9/10/1937
End date: 9/12/1937
Description: George
Adamski’s Royal Order of Tibet organizes a festival in Laguna Beach,
California, dramatizing the “teachings of the universal masters” and a
round-table discussion focusing on the “present day needs in unifying
all mankind.” (“Laguna
Beach, 1932–1940: From Temple to Ranch,” The Adamski Case, September
27, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 498
Date: 1938
Description: Harvey L. Sperry, 13, sees a white, vapor-like object
moving at 5–10 mph at less than 100 feet altitude from north to south in
Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its rim seems to be “composed of two interwoven
parts revolving and moving in opposite directions.” (Lore and Deneault,
p. 136;
Clark III 1176)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 500
Date: 1938
Description: The Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation begin
contributing large amounts of money to the Council on Foreign Relations.
They create various Committees on Foreign Relations throughout the
country, which later become governed by the American Committees on
Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C., funded by a grant from the
Carnegie Corporation. Influential men are chosen in several cities and
are brought together for discussions in their own communities as well as
participating in an annual conference in New York. These local
committees serve to influence local leaders and shape public opinion to
build support for the council’s policies, while also acting as “useful
listening posts” through which the Council and US government can “sense
the mood of the country.” (Wikipedia, “Council
on Foreign Relations”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 499
Date: 2/1938
Description: Raymond
A. Palmer is hired as editor of Amazing Stories magazine, owned by
Ziff-Davis in Chicago, Illinois. He immediately sets out to enliven the
periodical, which is close to folding. Concentrating on “space opera”
stories, he expands its size to more than 200 pages and encourages
readers to contribute content. (Wikipedia, “Raymond
A. Palmer”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 501
Date: summer 1938
Description: Midnight. Artist Malcolm B. Perry sees what looks like a
Navy blimp moving east to west over Somerville, Massachusetts. It has
apparent portholes in the sides, and he can see the silhouette of
someone looking at him. Other figures are taking turns looking through
portholes. It disappears below some low clouds. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The
Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 20–21; “1938: Perry’s Alien,” UFO Roundup
5, no. 37 (September 4, 2000); Clark III 265)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 502
Date: 7/25/1938
Description: 11:30 p.m. A lieutenant and his aide see a strong light
coming from a hovering lens-shaped object near Guadalajara, Spain. It is
over 35 feet in diameter and 15 feet high. A platform with two moving
figures is lowered from underneath. A blue beam from the object shines
on the witnesses, who feel a sudden chill. The platform rises back up,
and the object glows with an intense white light and flies away.
(Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, A Catalogue
of 200 Type I UFO Events in Spain and Portugal, CUFOS, 1976, p. 2;
Clark III 265)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 503
Date: fall 1938
Description: (Or following year.) Two persons saw a strange “frog-man” 1
m tall with a round head, no neck, and a hump in front of the body. The
mouth was a large, straight slit, the eyes were like smaller slits. The
skin was brown-green, compared to pegamoid, hands normal. The creature
walked in a peculiar “but elegant” fashion, the head waving up and down
while the legs moved “carefully.” When pursued, the creature accelerated
very fast, with feet “fluttering.” About 100 m away it vanished
completely’.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Juminda, Estonian coast
ID: 49
Date: 10/1938
Description: Dusk. A man is in a cornfield with his father near Alger,
Ohio, when an object moves up and hovers about 500 feet above the field.
The tractor motor stops running. The object is about 100 feet in
diameter and has a ring of pulsating, multicolored lights around it.
Soon it makes a right-angle turn and vanishes in the sky, after which
they get the tractor working again. (Michael D. Swords, “The Timmerman
Files,” IUR 26, no. 4 (Winter 2001–2002): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 504
Date: 10/22/1938
Description: Italian Lt. Col. Mario
Pezzi reaches a record altitude of 56,850 feet in a Caproni Ca.161.
It is still the highest a manned, propeller-driven biplane has gone.
(Wikipedia, “Mario
Pezzi (aviator)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 505
Date: 10/30/1938
Description: 8:00 p.m. “The War of the Worlds” episode of the American
radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air, directed
and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson
Welles, is an adaptation of H.
G. Wells’s
novel The War of the Worlds (1898). It is performed and broadcast live
in New York City as a Halloween episode over the Columbia Broadcasting
System radio network. The episode becomes famous for allegedly causing
panic among its listening audience, though the scale of that panic is
disputed as the program has relatively few listeners. In the days after
the adaptation, widespread outrage is expressed in the media. The
program’s news-bulletin format is described as deceptive by some
newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the
broadcasters and calls for regulation by the FCC, which declines. Some
government agencies in the US, Germany, and Russia take note of how
segments of the population are easily manipulated into thinking fiction
is fact. According to Annie
Jacobsen, the confusion allegedly inspires Joseph
Stalin to create a similar scenario with a fake alien crash in the
US. (Wikipedia, “The
War of the Worlds (1938
radio drama)”; John Gosling, Waging the War of the Worlds: A History
of the 1938 Radio Broadcast and Resulting Panic, Including the Original
Script, McFarland, 2009; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 22,
211)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 506
Date: 10/30/1938
Description: Orson Welles “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast performed
and broadcast live over the CBS Radio Network. The episode is famous for
inciting a panic by convincing some members of the listening audience
that a Martian invasion was taking place, though the scale of panic is
disputed.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: New York City, New York
Date: 12/17/1938
Description: The process of nuclear fission is discovered by chemist Otto
Hahn and his assistant Fritz
Strassmann at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut für Chemie in Berlin,
Germany, producing barium by bombarding uranium with neutrons. (Atomic
Heritage Foundation, “Atomic
Timeline”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 507
Date: 1939 (approximate)
Description: Sisters Lucile and
Allene
Holt, daughters
of Rev. Turner
Hamilton Holt, claim they are separately told by their father, a
cousin of Secretary of State Cordell
Hull, that
Hull personally showed Holt a wrecked circular craft of some kind and
glass jars holding unknown creatures. These are stored in a sub-basement
of the US Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Both sisters are told the
story when Holt is a minister at the Shenandoah Christian Church in
Greenwich, Ohio, before 1947, but researchers can find no confirmation
in any of Hull’s papers or memoirs. (William E. Jones and Eloise G.
Watson, “Pre–World War II ‘Creature’ Retrieval?” IUR 26, no. 4 (Winter
2001–2002): 6–9, 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 508
Date: 1939
End date: 1941
Description: Richard E. Byrd’s third Antarctic expedition. President
Roosevelt asked Byrd to command the U.S. Antarctic programme. This time
they again used the Little America base but also set up on Stonington
Island, near the Antarctic Peninsula. This expedition would complete
extensive studies of Antarctic geology, biology, meteorology and
continue exploring new areas. Due to the impending involvement of
America in the Second World War, Byrd was recalled to active duty in
1940 and assigned to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. The
expedition continued without him.
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Antartica
Date: 1/13/1939
Description: The process of nuclear fission is explained theoretically
in Stockholm, Sweden, by Lise
Meitner and her nephew Otto
Robert Frisch, who compares it to the biological fission of living
cells. (Atomic Heritage Foundation, “Atomic
Timeline”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 509
Date: 1/25/1939
Description: A Columbia University team conducts the first nuclear
fission experiment in the US in the basement of Pupin Hall on the south
side of 120th Street in New York City. The experiment involves placing
uranium oxide inside an ionization chamber and irradiating it with
neutrons, then measuring the energy released. The results confirm that
fission is occurring and hints strongly that it is the isotope
uranium-235 that is undergoing fission. (Richard Rhodes, The Making of
the Atomic Bomb, Simon & Schuster, 1986, pp. 267–270)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 510
Date: 1/26/1939
Description: The Carnegie Institution of Washington holds a press
conference at the Fifth Washington Conference on Theoretical Physics in
D.C. to announce the discovery of nuclear fission. (Atomic Heritage
Foundation, “Atomic Timeline”)
Late summer — A girl sleeping in the back yard of her home in Fort
Worth, Texas, is awakened by a whirring noise. She sees a small object
approaching from the east at an altitude of 20–30 feet. When it gets
close, it descends to the level of her bed and hovers briefly at the
foot, so close that she can touch it. It has the shape of an “old-time
Mississippi steamboat with a deck around the bottom.” Strata or veins
run through it, and a soft, blue-green glow surrounds it. It is 3 feet
around and 1 foot high. It rises suddenly and disappears. (“Woman
Says Strange Object Flew
by Her Bed in Yard,” Fort Worth (Tex.) Star-Telegram, March 24,
1950, p. 23; Clark III 1176)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 511
Date: 8/1939
Description: The turbojet powered Heinkel He 178, the world’s first jet
aircraft, made its first flight
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Germany
Date: 8/2/1939
Description: Hungarian-American physicist Leo
Szilárd writes a confidential letter to President
Roosevelt, in consultation with fellow Hungarian physicists Edward
Teller and Eugene
Wigner. He has persuaded Albert
Einstein to sign it as well. The letter warns that Germany might
develop atomic bombs and suggests that the United States should start
its own nuclear program. It results in the establishment of research
into nuclear fission by the US government, and ultimately to the
creation of the Manhattan Project. Delayed by the outbreak of war in
Europe, the letter is eventually hand-delivered to Roosevelt by
economist Alexander
Sachs on October 11. Roosevelt gives the letter to his aide, Brig.
Gen. Edwin
“Pa” Watson with the instruction: “Pa, this requires action!”
(Wikipedia, “Einstein–Szilard
letter”; Atomic Heritage Foundation, “Atomic
Timeline”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 513
Date: early 8/1939
Description: George Pârvu and four other schoolchildren are playing in
an open field in Armășești, Romania, when they see a bright light in the
sky moving in a zigzag fashion. It circles a few times then descends in
their direction, getting bigger and brighter. The egg-shaped object
hovers silently at an altitude of 230–260 feet. Suddenly it becomes a
dull coppery color and lands about 140 feet away. Two of the children
flee but Pârvu and two others remain. The bottom of the object has a
ring of small turbine blades that look like paddles in a water mill. It
seems to be 16 feet high. A hatch opens and two little men about 4 feet
tall come out, dressed in gray diving suits. They walk toward the
children, one of them holding a rectangular box pointing at the ground.
The children approach them, holding hands, but when they are about 23
feet away the other man points a thick stick-like device at them and
they are no longer able to move forward. The little men bow in their
direction, waist deep, then turn around and reenter the object, which
takes off. The children find a circular area of yellowed grass where the
object had been. Pârvu feels energized, but one of the other boys is
temporarily sick. Pârvu encounters what he perceives to be the same
object in August 1944, August 1949, and the summer of 1954 (in the
center of Bucharest). (George Pârvu, La voia destinului, CNI Coresi,
2011; Romania 124–128)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 512
Date: 8/2/1939
Description: Einstein’s atomic bomb warning letter to President
Roosevelt stating “it may be possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction
in a large mass of uranium, by which vast amounts of power and large
quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated. Now it
appears almost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate
future… This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of
bombs”
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Washington DC
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 9/1/1939
End date: 9/2/1945
Description: World War 2
Type: war
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 10/1939
Description: An egg-shaped object with 8 spots like portholes is
observed through an astronomical reflector telescope at Wisconsin
Rapids, Wisconsin. (Richard H. Hall, From Airships to Arnold, UFO
Research Coalition, 2007, p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 514
Date: 10/21/1939
Description: After reading Szilárd’s
letter, Roosevelt creates
an Advisory Committee on Uranium, which meets for the first time at the
National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C. The committee consists
of NBS Director Lyman
James Briggs, Army Lt. Col. Keith
F. Adamson, and Navy Cmdr. Gilbert
C. Hoover. It is attended by physicists Fred
L. Mohler from the National Bureau of Standards and Richard
Brooke Roberts from the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and
Szilárd, Wigner,
and Teller.
Einstein is
invited but declines to attend. Adamson is skeptical about the prospect
of building an atomic bomb, but is willing to authorize $6,000
(equivalent to $107,000 in 2018 dollars) for the purchase of uranium and
graphite for Szilárd and Enrico
Fermi’s experiments into producing a nuclear chain reaction at
Columbia University. (Wikipedia, “S-1
Executive Committee”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 515
Date: 11/13/1939
Description: 7:00 a.m. A building foreman is driving past a deserted
farm near Brockworth, Gloucester, England, when he hears a high-pitched
humming sound. He watches a gray, bell-shaped object hovering about 20
feet above a field 100 feet away. He estimates it is about 25 feet
across. Dark window-like patches are visible on the side. A “curtain” of
blue-green light emanates from the underside. After about two minutes,
the green light retracts into the base of the object. The object then
tilts to an angle of about 80° and moves away without a sound. (Jenny
Randles and Peter Warrington, Science and the UFOs, Basil Blackwell,
1985, p. 3;
Jenny Randles, “Beam Me Up,” Fortean Times 381 (July 2019): 29–30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 516
Date: 1940
Description: Astronomer Royal Harold
Spencer Jones publishes Life on Other Worlds, an essay on the
cosmos, the possibility of life arising, science’s tools, the
development of the Earth, solar system bodies without atmospheres, the
giant gas planets, Venus, Mars, the origin of solar systems, and
possibilities for life beyond the solar system. (H. Spencer Jones, Life
on Other Worlds, Macmillan,
1940; Michael D. Swords, “SETI/ETI and UFOs,” JUFOS 5 (1994):
141–142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 517
Date: 3/1940
Description: George
Adamski moves from Laguna Beach to a property along the Star Route
in Valley Center, California, about 9 miles from where Palomar
Observatory is under construction to set up a spiritual retreat. He
acquires a 15-inch telescope to create an interest in astronomy. (“Palomar
Mountain, 1940–1960: From Obscurity to World Fame,”
The Adamski Case, September 22, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 518
Date: 3/1940
Description: US physicist John
R. Dunning and colleagues at Columbia University verify the
hypothesis of Danish physicist Niels
Bohr that fission is more readily produced in the rare uranium-235
isotope than the abundant uranium-238 isotope. Dunning begins
investigating gaseous diffusion as a process for enriching uranium.
(Atomic Heritage Foundation, “Atomic
Timeline”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 519
Date: 3/1940
Description: Otto
Robert Frisch and Rudolf
Peierls, two researchers at the University of Birmingham in
England—who ironically have been assigned to investigate nuclear weapons
by Australian physicist Mark
Oliphant because, as enemy aliens in Britain, they are ineligible to
participate in secret war work—issue the Frisch-Peierls memorandum. It
contradicts the common thinking of the time that many tons of uranium
would be needed to make a bomb, requiring delivery by ship. The
calculation in the memorandum shows that a bomb might be possible using
as little as 1–10 kilograms of pure uranium-235, which would be quite
practical for aircraft to carry. (Wikipedia, “Frisch–Peierls
memorandum”; Atomic Heritage Foundation, “Atomic
Timeline)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 520
Date: spring 1940
Description: Afternoon. Walking down a street in Hinsdale, Illinois,
William T. Powers sees five disc-shaped objects in the northern sky.
They are traveling together at 100–200 mph and disappear into a cloud.
(Clark III 1177)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 522
Date: 3/22/1940
Description: Franklin
D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 8381, creating the three security
levels for the most important documents: Restricted, Confidential, and
Secret. (US President, Executive Order No. 8381, “Defining
Certain Vital
Military and Naval Installations and Equipment,” March 22,
1940)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 521
Date: 4/10/1940
Description: The first meeting of the MAUD Committee in England,
established in response to the Frisch-Peierls memorandum to determine if
an atomic bomb is feasible, meets in the Royal Society committee room in
Burlington House, London. The original members are physicists George
Paget Thomson, James
Chadwick, John Cockcroft, Mark
Oliphant, and Philip
Burton Moon; physicists Patrick
Blackett, Charles
Drummond Ellis, and
chemist Norman
Haworth are subsequently added, along with a representative of the
Director of Scientific Research at the Ministry of Aircraft Production
(MAP). (Wikipedia, “MAUD
Committee”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 523
Date: mid 5/1940
Description: 9:00 a.m. Lavern
P. Zewiske and his father Paul are
checking some recently planted corn on their farm near Fairbank, Iowa. A
gray object with multiple hooked “hairs or tentacles” moving around on
the bottom passes overhead at 500–1,000 feet. (“Out
of the Past,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1984):
6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 524
Date: 5/21/1940
Description: President Franklin
D. Roosevelt authorizes the FBI to conduct electronic surveillance
and wiretapping on US spies, saboteurs, or suspicious individuals. (“Warrantless
FBI Electronic Surveillance,” US Senate, Select Committee to Study
Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Final
Report, April 23, 1976, pp. 271–351)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 525
Date: 5/26/1940
End date: 6/4/1940
Description: Dunkirk evacuation (Operation Dynamo)
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Dunkirk
Date: summer 1940
Alternate date: summer 1941
Description: Near St. Clair, Pennsylvania, as he is walking along a
country road, young Frank Sever hears a loud noise in the nearby woods.
He sees something like an “aluminum building” partly concealed in the
trees. A short distance from it he sees “six small men milling about or
looking for something on the ground.” Thinking they are ghosts, he runs.
Later he comes back and confirms there is no building on the spot.
(Clark III 265)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 526
Date: 7/10/1940
End date: 10/31/1940
Description: Battle of Britain
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Britain
Date: 7/10/1940
Description: Einstein security clearance approved by the Office of Naval
Intelligence, 16 days before the US Army G-2 turned him down.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 8/11/1940
Description: The RAF Bomber Command issues a report on “Phenomena
Connected with Enemy Night Tactics” concerning unidentifiable aircraft
observed by bombing crews over the coast of Holland and the Ruhr Valley
of Germany. The report suggests the sightings are either due to observer
strain or German “experimental apparatus.” (Strange Company 16–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 527
Date: 1941
Description: Charles Fort’s four famous books
Type: historical event
Reference: Pea
Research
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 1941
Description: Physicist and his wife north of Bakersfield, California
watch a long slender UFO traveling at 50mph, 200–300 feet altitude
Type: UFO sighting
Reference: link
Location: Bakersfield, CA
Date: 1941
Description: A physicist and his wife are traveling notrh on US Highway
99 north of Bakersfield, California, and pull off to the side to watch a
long, slender object of a blazing red, green, and yellow color moving
about 8 miles east of them. It is traveling at about 50 mph at an
altitude of 200–300 feet and is clearly outlined against the foothills.
It seems to be several times longer than a bomber. (“Recent
Sightings,” APRO Bulletin, January 1957, p. 5) Early spring —
9:00–9:30 p.m. Rev. William
Guy Huffman of the Red Star Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau,
Missouri, is summoned to an apparent airplane crash one Saturday. When
he arrives at the scene, about 15 miles from town, he finds a
weird-looking craft “broken and scattered all around,” but smooth and
rounded without edges or seams. A cockpit with a chair facing an
instrument panel remains intact. Police officers, military men, and
plain-clothes individuals are sifting through the wreckage. He also sees
three non-human bodies about 4 feet tall with long arms, oversized
heads, and large eyes. He says a prayer for them, and afterward sees
someone take a photo of an alien propped up by the arms between two
plainclothesmen. The following evening, he is given a copy of the photo
by a member of his congregation (thought to be Garland
D. Fronabarger), but he loans it later to someone who never returns
it. Huffman’s wife Floy reveals
the story to her granddaughter, Charlette Mann, on her deathbed in 1984,
who relates the story to ufologist Leonard
Stringfield. (Clark III 343–344; Paul Blake Smith, MO41: The
Bombshell before Roswell, W&B Publishers, 2015; Billy Booth, “1941
Cape Girardeau, Missouri Crash,” liveabout.com, February 5, 2019; Kevin
Randle, “Cape
Girardeau UFO Crash, 1941,” A Different Perspective, December 5,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 528
Date: 3/1941
Description: The Chain Home radars placed around the English coastline
detect a formation of blips moving across the English Channel. RAF
fighters are sent to intercept, but their crews see nothing and the
blips fade. The radar returns are characterized as radar “angels,”
invisible targets in the clear atmosphere. (David Clarke, “The Radar
Angels,” Fortean Times 195 (May 2005): 36–37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 529
Date: 3/17/1941
Description: US Army establishes the Western Defense Command for
coordinating the defense of the Pacific Coast
Type: military
Reference: link
Location: West Coast
Date: 3/17/1941
Description: The Western Defense Command is established as the command
formation of the US Army responsible for coordinating the defense of the
Pacific Coast and training soldiers prior to their deployment overseas.
(Wikipedia, “Western
Defense Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 530
Date: Late 4/1941
Description: Cape Girardeau, MO Crash Retrieval (MO41)
Type: UFO crash retrieval
Reference: link
Location: Cape Girardeau, MO
Date: 5/1941
Description: With the help of the American Legion, volunteers are
recruited into the Aircraft Warning Service, the civilian arm of the
Army’s Ground Observer Corps. On the east coast, the AWS is under the
auspices of the Army Air Force’s 1st Interceptor Command based at
Mitchel Field near Uniondale, New York. On the west coast, the AWS is
under the auspices of the 4th Interceptor Command based in Riverside,
California. On both coasts, observation posts, information centers, and
filter centers are established. (Wikipedia, “Aircraft
Warning Service”; Project 1947, “Aircraft
Warning Service (AWS): Freeman Observation Post #52”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 531
Date: late 6/1941
Description: About 5:30 p.m. Helen Michailoff and her mother are in
Odessa, Ukraine, when they see a raspberry-red object slowly moving east
and emitting smoke. Thinking it is a bomb, they rush to the basement,
but there is no explosion. (“Out
of the Past,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1983):
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 535
Date: 6/20/1941
Description: The Army Air Corps becomes the US Army Air Forces to
provide the air arm greater autonomy. (Wikipedia, “United
States Army Air Forces”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 532
Date: 6/26/1941
Description: The first draft of the final report of the MAUD Committee
is written by George
Paget Thomson and circulates among committee members. It concludes
that an atomic bomb is feasible. Vannevar
Bush receives a copy. Without the help of the MAUD Committee the
Manhattan Project would have started months behind. Instead, they are
able to begin thinking about how to create a bomb, not whether it is
possible. (Wikipedia, “MAUD Committee”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 533
Date: 6/28/1941
Description: Roosevelt establishes
the Office of Scientific Research and Development; Vannevar
Bush is appointed director. It subsumes the National Defense
Research Committee, whose Uranium Committee becomes the Uranium Section
of the OSRD, soon renamed the S-1 for security reasons. To the S-1
Section, Vannevar Bush adds American physicist Samuel
King Allison, Russian-American
physicist Gregory
Breit, American physicist Edward
Condon, physicist
Lloyd
P. Smith, and Henry
DeWolf Smyth. American physicist Ross
Gunn is dropped in line with an NDRC policy not to have Army or Navy
personnel in the sections. Lyman
James Briggs remains the chairman, with American physicist George
B. Pegram as the vice chairman. (Wikipedia, “Office
of Scientific Research
and Development”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 534
Date: 7/3/1941
Description: The Northrop N-1M, an experimental “flying wing” aircraft
with a 38-foot wingspan, is first flown at Baker Dry Lake in the Mojave
Desert, California, by test pilot Vance
Breese for several hundred yards. He reports that the aircraft can
fly no higher than 5 feet. After this is corrected, the N-1M takes
another 28 flights through November. (Wikipedia, “Northrop
N-1M”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 536
Date: 7/11/1941
Description: Roosevelt establishes
the Office of the Coordinator of Information, a forerunner of the Office
for Strategic Services, headed by lawyer William
J. Donovan. It is tasked with collecting and analyzing national
security information. (Wikipedia, “Office
of the Coordinator of Information”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 537
Date: 9/1941
Description: Night. Seaman Mar Doroba, Anthony Kornilak, and others on
the British troopship SS
Pulaski in the Mozambique Channel see a “strange globe glowing with
greenish light, about half the size of the full moon.” They watch it for
more than an hour before it disappears. (Strange Company 17; Lore and
Deneault, pp. 130–131)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 538
Date: early 10/1941
Description: A possible UFO crash/retrieval takes place during
preparations for the US Army’s Carolina maneuvers in south central North
Carolina (possibly in or around the Uwharrie National Forest). The
sketchy story is based on the participation of Pvt. Guy
B. Simeone, who relates a few details about a crash and dead “little
people” to his family in a letter and phone call. Walter
N. Webb reports on his investigation of the incident in 1996.
(Walter N. Webb, “An Anecdotal Report of a UFO Crash/Retrieval in 1941:
Part 1,” IUR 21, no. 4 (Winter 1996): 20–28; Walter N. Webb, “An
Anecdotal Report of a UFO Crash/Retrieval in 1941: Part 2,” IUR 22, no.
1 (Spring 1997): 28–32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 540
Date: 10/2/1941
Description: German test pilot Heini
Dittmar attains an unofficial airspeed record of 623 mph in a
rocket-powered Messerschmidt Me 163A at Peenemünde, Germany. (Wikipedia,
“Heini
Dittmar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 539
Date: 10/9/1941
Description: Roosevelt approves
an atomic weapons program after meeting with Office of Scientific
Research and Development Director Vannevar
Bush and Vice President Henry
A. Wallace. On Bush’s advice, Roosevelt chooses the US Army to run
the project rather than the Navy, although the Navy has shown far more
interest in the field, and is already conducting research into atomic
energy for powering ships. Bush’s negative experiences with the Navy has
convinced him that it would not listen to his advice and cannot handle
large-scale construction projects. (Cameron Reed, “Manhattan Project
Mystery,” Forum on the History of Physics, Spring 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 541
Date: early 12/1941
Description: Army Lt. Walter Hanson and his wife are stranded in the
Georgia countryside when they run out of gas. They see a star-like
object that swiftly moves in circles counterclockwise. Suddenly it stops
and takes off obliquely. (Strange Company 17–18; Lore and Deneault, p. 140)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 542
Date: 12/8/1941
Description: Around noon. Red Cross volunteer Yoshio
Taketa is resting on the lawn of the Kuhio School in Honolulu,
Hawaii, with 9 others. The smoke is still rising from the Pearl Harbor
attack to the west. One of them notices a round white object at about
20,000 feet overhead. It floats away slowly. (Clark III 501)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 543
Date: 12/18/1941
Description: With the US at war, funding for an atomic bomb is now
available in amounts undreamed of the year before. At the S-1 Section
meeting, American physicist Ernest
Lawrence asks for $400,000 for electromagnetic separation, and the
section immediately recommends granting it. MIT physicist Karl
Taylor Compton is allocated $340,000 for nuclear reactor research at
Columbia and Princeton, and $278,000 at the University of Chicago.
Another $500,000 is earmarked for raw materials. His proposed schedule
is no less breathtaking: to produce a nuclear chain reaction by July
1942, and an atomic bomb by January 1945. In January 1942, he creates
the Metallurgical Laboratory, centralizing the work at the University of
Chicago. (Wikipedia, “S-1
Executive Committee”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 544
Date: 12/22/1941
Description: Electrical engineer George Bogner stops his car at the
corner of St. Agnes Avenue and Pleasant Street in Utica, New York, to
watch a round, metallic object speed silently across the sky. He
estimates it at 100 feet in diameter and moving at 300 mph. (Strange
Company 18; Lore and Deneault, pp. 140–141)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 545
Date: 1942
Description: Naval Intelligence Officer Bernard M. Baruch Jr. develops a
submarine reporting network, Communication Instruction for Reporting
Enemy Sightings on which CIRVIS is modeled in 1948. (US Naval War
College, Master
Script for “Communication Instruction for Reporting Enemy
Sightings,” undated; NICAP, “Capt. Bernard Baruch
Jr.”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 546
Date: 1942
Description: 1:00 a.m. A woman returning home in Prouvy, Nord, France,
finds herself face-to-face with three small entities with large round
heads and short beards. They have large, luminous yellow eyes and wear
tight, one-piece suits with a metallic sheen that leave only their faces
exposed. The beings stare at her without moving, so she goes inside to
get her husband, but by the time they return the entities have gone.
(Center for UFO Studies, HUMCAT Index
1940–1949, p. 3;
Clark III 265; Patrick Gross, URECAT, September
26, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 547
Date: 2/24/1942
End date: 2/25/1942
Description: Battle of LA
Type: military
Reference: link
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date: 2/24/1942
End date: 2/25/1942
Description: The Battle of Los Angeles takes place, a rumored enemy
attack and subsequent anti-aircraft barrage over Los Angeles,
California. Air raid sirens sound throughout Los Angeles County on the
night of February 24. A total blackout is ordered, and thousands of air
raid wardens are summoned to their positions. At 3:16 a.m., the 37th
Coast Artillery Brigade begins firing .50 caliber machine guns and
12.8-pound anti-aircraft shells into the air at reported aircraft; more
than 1,400 shells are eventually fired. Pilots of the 4th Interceptor
Command are alerted, but their aircraft remain grounded. The artillery
fire continues sporadically until 4:14 a.m. The “all clear” is sounded
and the blackout order lifted at 7:21 a.m. Several buildings and
vehicles are damaged by shell fragments, and five civilians die as an
indirect result of the anti-aircraft fire. Three are killed in car
accidents in the ensuing chaos and two die of heart attacks attributed
to the stress of the hour-long action. The incident is front-page news
along the Pacific coast and earns some mass media coverage. Within hours
of the end of the air raid, Secretary of the Navy Frank
Knox holds a press conference, saying the entire incident was a
false alarm due to anxiety and “war nerves.” Knox’s comments are
followed by statements from the Army on February 26 that reflect General
George
C. Marshall’s belief that the incident was caused by commercial
airplanes used as a psychological warfare campaign to generate panic.
Some contemporary press outlets suspect a cover-up. Rep. Leland
M. Ford (R-Calif.) calls for a congressional investigation, saying,
“none of the explanations so far offered removed the episode from the
category of ‘complete mystification’ … this was either a practice raid,
or a raid to throw a scare into 2,000,000 people, or a mistaken identity
raid, or a raid to lay a political foundation to take away Southern
California’s war industries.” The Japanese government, after the war
ended, declares that they had flown no airplanes over Los Angeles during
the war. In 1983, the US Office of Air Force History attributes the
event to a case of “war nerves” triggered by a lost weather balloon and
exacerbated by stray flares and shell bursts from adjoining batteries. A
number of fake documents about this incident have been circulated by Timothy
S. Cooper. (Wikipedia, “Battle
of Los
Angeles”; Clark III 1176–1177; NICAP, “Battle
of Los Angeles”; Lore and Deneault, pp. 74–87;
Good Above, pp. 15–17;
Good Need, pp. 17, 31;
“No Bombs Dropped, No Planes Shot Down,” Los Angeles Herald Express,
February 25, 1942, p. 1; “Japanese
Carry War to California Coast,” Life, March 9, 1942, pp. 19–23;
Brett Holman, “New
Light on the Battle of Los Angeles,” Airminded, April 20, 2011;
David Marler, “The
Battle of LA UFO
Incident,” OpenMindsTV YouTube channel, October 9, 2018; Strange
Company 19–22; Robert Wood, “‘Leaked’
Documents Shed New Light on Outcome of ‘Battle of Los Angeles,’”
MUFON UFO Journal, June 2010, pp. 3–7; US Office of the Chief of
Military History, “History of the Western Defense Command, 17 March
1941–30 September 1945,” five ms. vols., Appendix no. 5, “Chronology of
Enemy Operations on Pacific Coast of Continental United States,”
pp. 25–27; History, Fourth Anti-Aircraft Command, January 9, 1942, to
July 1, 1945, pp. 112–124; Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate, The
Army Air Forces in World War II: Vol. 1, Plans and Early Operations,
Office of Air Force History, 1948, pp. 283–286;
Lorraine Boissoneault, “The
Great Los Angeles
Air Raid Terrified Citizens—Even Though No Bombs Were Dropped,”
Smithsonian Magazine, January 19, 2018; Patrick Gross, “Los
Angeles, February 25, 1942”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 548
Date: 2/26/1942
Description: Army Chief of Staff George
C. Marshall writes Roosevelt that
as many as 15 unknown commercial aircraft, flying at various speeds up
to 200 mph and at elevations from 9,000 to 18,000 feet, were responsible
for the Battle of Los Angeles. (presidentialufo.com, “General George
Marshall Secret Memo to President Roosevelt about the Unidentified
Objects over Los Angeles on February 25, 1942”; Good Above, pp. 17,
446)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 549
Date: 2/26/1942
Description: Secret Memo to the President from Chief of Staff, C.G.
Marshall stating: UFO’s appeared over Los Angeles, CA, yesterday
morning. The 37th Brigade (AA) expended 1430 rounds of ammunition
against them. No bombs dropped, no casualties among our troops, no
planes (UFOs) shot down, no AA or Navy planes were inaction. (AA
Document, OCS 21347–86.)
Type: secret memo
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p15,446)
Reference: link
Location: Washington DC
Date: 2/26/1942
Description: Royal Netherlands Navy cruiser HNLMS
Tromp, returning to Australia after the Battle of Badung Strait (off
Bali in Indonesia), reports a large, aluminum disc speeding above it in
the Timor Sea and maneuvering for nearly 4 hours. It departs at an
estimated 3,500 mph. (“Australasia,”
Flying Saucer Review 3, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1957): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 550
Date: 3/5/1942
Description: Benjamin Smith, formerly of the Army Air Corps, sees
several blinking lights moving slowly over the Middle River adjacent to
Essex, Maryland. They circle the river two or three times then
disappear. Smith reports the incident to local police, who then inform
Naval Intelligence. (Towson (Md.) Union News, March 6, 1942; Jan
Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 551
Date: 3/9/1942
Description: The Air Service Command becomes a major Army Air Forces
unit to support logistical functions. (Wikipedia, “Air
Materiel Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 552
Date: spring 1942
Description: Rev. Robert H. Moore and six other persons attending the
Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, watch a
small, light-gray, rectangular object over the northern part of town for
10 minutes. (Lore and Deneault, p. 142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 553
Date: 4/1/1942
Description: The Materiel Division of the Air Service Command assumes
responsibility for R&D and procurement and is redesignated as the
Air Corps Materiel Command. (Wikipedia, “Air
Materiel Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 554
Date: 4/27/1942
Description: Nazi Amerikabomber long range bomber project study
completed
Type: project study
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Germany
Date: 5/1942
Description: 3:00 p.m. Abdon Gonzales Tello, 13, and other boys see a
silvery, cigar-shaped object in the sky to the west of Miraflores, Peru.
Its ends are cut off at sharp angles, and it takes 20 seconds to proceed
to the south and out of sight. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet,
1969, p. 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 555
Date: 6/1942
Description: Col. James
C. Marshall is selected to head the Manhattan Project. (Wikipedia,
“Manhattan
Project”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 556
Date: 6/13/1942
Description: Roosevelt establishes
the Office of Strategic Services, a wartime intelligence agency, with
Gen. William
J. Donovan at
its head. (Wikipedia, “Office
of Strategic Services”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 557
Date: 6/13/1942
Description: The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), predecessor of the
CIA, begins operations
Type: historical
Reference: link
Location: Washington DC
Date: 6/19/1942
Description: Roosevelt abolishes
the S-1 Section and replaces it with the S-1 Executive Committee, tasked
with the technical and contractual aspects of producing an atomic bomb,
while the Army handles engineering, construction, and site selection.
American chemist James
B. Conant is appointed as its chairman, and Lyman James
Briggs, Karl
Taylor Compton, Ernest
Lawrence, and
American chemists Eger
V. Murphree and Harold
C. Urey as
its other members. Roosevelt approves the committee’s recommendation to
move to the pilot plant stage and build piles to produce plutonium and
electromagnetic, centrifuge, and gaseous diffusion plants to produce
uranium-235. (Wikipedia, “S-1
Executive Committee”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 558
Date: summer 1942
Description: 5:50 p.m. An RAAF pilot is on flying patrol off the Tasman
Peninsula, Tasmania, following reports by fishermen of strange lights on
the waters of Bass Strait. A “singular airfoil of glistening bronze
color” appears out of a cloudbank. It’s about 150 feet long, 50 feet in
diameter, and has a dome on top. It accompanies his plane for a few
minutes before departing at “a hell of a pace.” It turns again and dives
into the ocean, throwing up a “whirlpool of waves.” (Bill Chalker, “Australian
A.F. UFO Report Files,” APRO Bulletin 30, no. 10 (October 1982):
6–7) Late summer — Pvt. Albert Lancashire, 27, is standing guard at
Cresswell radar station near Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland,
England, when he sees a cloud-enshrouded light approaching from the
North Sea. As it descends, he is drawn up into it by a beam. Small men
grab him and carry him into the craft, where he sees other human figures
of normal height, including an apparent captain with dark hair and
goggles. He is made to lie down on a couch or table. He has only vague
memories of what happens next, but he thinks a medical exam is
performed. He wakes up back at his sentry post. (Center for UFO Studies,
HUMCAT
Index 1940–1949, p. 4;
“New Time Lapse Case from England Uncovered,” MUFON UFO Journal 107
(October 1976): 1–18; Clark III 265)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 561
Date: 6/25/1942
Alternate date: 3/25/1942
Description: Midnight. Flight Lt. Roman (Ray) Sabiński of the 301 Polish
Bomber Squadron is flying an RAF Wellington bomber after returning from
a run on the Ruhr Valley, Germany; he sees a bright copper-colored light
the “size of the moon” following the aircraft over the Zuiderzee in
Holland. When it gets within 200 yards, the rear gunner shoots at it
with all four machine guns. After two minutes, it moves at terrific
speed to the port side, and the front gunner starts firing at it.
Sabiński takes evasive action, but the object keeps pacing him. Finally,
it moves in front of the bomber, stays there a while, then takes off at
fantastic speed. (Strange Company 23–25; Gordon W. Creighton. “Foo
Fighters,” Flying Saucer Review 8, no. 2 (March/April 1962): 15;
Patrick Gross, “Pilot
Reports”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 559
Date: 8/1942
Description: Evelyn M. Howell and two other adults see a huge
cigar-shaped object hovering near them between Lafayette Township and
Newton, New Jersey. It has “two rows of windows” that give off blue,
green, white, and red fluorescent lights. They watch it for 10 minutes,
after which it silently and slowly takes off. Howell and her husband see
a similar object on the drive home to Ogdensburg, New Jersey. (Clark III
1178)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 562
Date: 8/5/1942
Description: Early morning. The Navy destroyer USS
Helm is on its way to the Solomon Islands in preparation for the
Guadalcanal landings. A radio blackout is in effect. An aircraft
approaches, a full alert is sounded, and three cruisers (Vincennes, Quincy, Astoria)
and seven other ships open fire on it. The object is not hit and
proceeds to circle around the fleet. An anonymous sailor on security
detail on the Helm watches it through binoculars and sees it as 90 feet
in diameter, oval, with a round dome on top. The ships continue to fire
on the UFO, which attains extremely high speeds. Commanding Officer Chester
Edward Carroll later hears that the aircraft is neither German nor
Japanese. (Strange Company 27–28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 563
Date: 8/12/1942
Description: Day. Sgt. Stephen J. Brickner of the 1st Marine Division on
Tulagi in the Solomon Islands is cleaning his rifle when an air-raid
warning is sounded. He dives into his foxhole looking to the sky. He
hears a roaring sound unlike that of an aircraft. Soon he sees a
formation of more than 150 silvery objects, in straight lines of 10 or
12. The objects seem to wobble slightly. They are flying faster than
Japanese planes and are soon out of sight. (Good Above, p. 18;
Strange Company 28–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 564
Date: 8/13/1942
Description: The Manhattan Engineering District, with Brig. Gen. James
C. Marshall as district engineer, is established by Chief of the US
Army Corps of Engineers Maj. Gen. Eugene
Reybold. (Wikipedia,
“Manhattan
Project”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 565
Date: 8/29/1942
Description: Army Air Corps control tower operator Pvt. Michael Solomon
sees two small reddish objects descend near the AAC Advanced Flying
School at Columbus, Mississippi, then speed away. He later contacts
government officials and officers from the school in attempting to
confirm his sighting. (Clark III 1177; Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 566
Date: 9/23/1942
Description: Col. Leslie
Groves is promoted to brigadier general and becomes director of the
Manhattan Project. The Military Policy Committee, consisting of Vannevar
Bush (with James
B. Conant as his alternative), Maj. Gen. Wilhelm
D. Styer, and
Rear Adm. William
R. Purnell, is created to oversee the project. (Wikipedia, “Manhattan Project”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 567
Date: 9/25/1942
Description: RAF Bomber Command’s Operational Research Section releases
a report titled “A Note on Pyrotechnic Activity over Germany.” An
unnamed Flak Liaison Officer has coordinated the reports from No. 3 and
No. 5 Groups and determines there are two types of phenomena: a ball of
fire that is shot from the ground and drips multicolored fragments, and
multi-part flares. Another type involves “small coloured balls” that
climb to 7,000 feet. (Strange Company 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 568
Date: 9/29/1942
Description: US Under Secretary of War Robert
P. Patterson authorizes the Corps of Engineers to acquire 56,000
acres in Tennessee for Site X, which will become the Oak Ridge,
Tennessee, laboratory and production site. (Wikipedia, “Oak
Ridge, Tennessee”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 569
Date: 10/3/1942
Description: First German V-2 rocket test to get very close to space,
85–90km
Type: aerospace
Reference: link
Location: Germany
Date: 10/7/1942
Description: Land at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is acquired by eminent domain
for Clinton Engineer Works. (Wikipedia, “Clinton
Engineer Works”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 570
Date: late 1942 (approximate)
Description: According to records released in August 2010, Prime
Minister Winston
Churchill supposedly classifies for 50 years an alleged UFO incident
because of fears it could create mass panic. The incident allegedly
involves an RAF reconnaissance plane returning from a mission in Europe.
The aircraft is over or near the English coastline when it is allegedly
intercepted by a strange metallic object that matches the aircraft’s
course and speed for a time before shooting away. The plane’s crew
photograph the object, which “hovered noiselessly” near the aircraft
before moving off. According to the documents, details of the cover-up
emerge when a man writes to the government in 1999 seeking to find out
more about the incident. He describes how his grandfather, who served
with the RAF, was present when Churchill and Gen. Dwight
Eisenhower discussed how to deal with the encounter. However, the
evidence is hearsay and somewhat questionable. (UFOFiles2, pp. 20–21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 560
Date: 10/19/1942
Description: Leslie
Groves approves J.
Robert Oppenheimer to coordinate the scientific research of the
Manhattan Project at the Site Y laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
(Wikipedia, “Manhattan
Project”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 571
Date: 11/15/1942
Description: Teams under physicists Herbert
L. Anderson and Walter
Zinn have constructed 16 experimental nuclear reactors under the
Stagg Field stands at the University of Chicago. (Wikipedia, “Metallurgical
Laboratory”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 572
Date: 11/25/1942
Description: The Los Alamos site in New Mexico is acquired for Project
Y. (Wikipedia, “Project
Y”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 573
Date: 11/28/1942
Description: 10:40–10:45 p.m. Capt. Lever and the No. 61 Squadron crew
of an RAF Lancaster are returning from a bombing raid on Turin, Italy,
when about 10–15 miles southwest of the city they see an object 200–300
feet long traveling southeast at a speed of 500 mph. It has four pairs
of red lights spaced along its body and is flying on a level course.
Five minutes later, as the Lancaster approaches the Alps at 14,000 feet,
the crew sees the object again traveling southwest up a valley. It
disappears when the red lights go out. (UFOFiles2, pp. 25–26;
Strange Company 34–35; Good Need, pp. 18–19, 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 574
Date: 12/1942
Alternate date: 1/1943
Description: THEY FOLLOW THE LEADER - Mrs. A.M. Strickler, while out
walking between 9 and 10pm, sighted in the sky over the Susquehanna
Bridge, on Route 30, a string of highly illuminated objects which, she
says she can best describe as being similar to a train of passenger
coaches, seeming to weave in and out in a highly specialized
follow-the-leader pattern. Illumination seemed to emanate from an
endless string of portholes which were arranged on a straight line or
plane and were yellowish like an incandescent bulb. The objects were
cigar-shaped, but could have been one side of a flat, saucer-shaped
form. Each “coach” was identical in size and shape except the first,
which was larger, brighter and seemed to have a proboscis-shaped
appendage in front like a figure head. The objects traveled extremely
fast, emitting no noise, jet exhaust, or flame.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fortean Society Sightings (Scully box 3 ff5)
Location: Columbia, PA
Date: 12/1942
Description: 8:00 p.m. RAAF Lt. Bruce
Clyde Lumsden is flying a Hawker Hurricane heading for the French
coast. About 7,000 feet over the mouth of the River Somme, France, he
observes two orange lights climbing, one slightly above the other. He
completes a full turn, putting the lights behind him on the port side.
They now appear brighter and larger. When they reach his altitude, they
stop climbing and stay at his altitude. He makes another full turn, but
the objects stay with him. Lumsden dives to 4,000 feet, but the lights
match his maneuvers. He increases his speed to 260 mph and gradually
leaves them behind. His squadron mates do not believe him, but the next
night another squadron member has a similar encounter with a green
light. (Strange Company 36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 576
Date: 12/1942
Description: A Technical Data Laboratory is established at Wright Field
near Dayton, Ohio, as part of the Army Materiel Command. Its operations
include the evaluation of foreign aircraft and related equipment. (US
Air Force, “National Air and Space Intelligence Center Heritage,” July
31, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 575
Date: 12/2/1942
Description: Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1), the first human-made self-sustaining
nuclear chain reaction (criticality) was initiated during an experiment
led by Enrico Fermi
Type: scientific advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Germany
Date: 12/2/1942
Description: Chicago Pile-1, the first nuclear reactor, goes critical at
the University of Chicago under the leadership and design of Enrico
Fermi, achieving
a self-sustaining reaction just one month after construction was
started. (Wikipedia, “Chicago
Pile-1”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 577
Date: 12/27/1942
Description: The Northrop N-9M, a prototype flying wing bomber with a
wingspan of 60 feet, makes its first test flight at Jack Northrop Field
[now Hawthorne (Calif.) Municipal Airport] with pilot John
Wescott Myers. Through May, 44 more flights are made, nearly all
terminated by mechanical failures. (Wikipedia, “Northrop
N- 9M”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 578
Date: 1943
Description: SAUCERS GIVE NAVAL GUNS THE BRUSHOFF - In conversing with a
former Navy man who is presently a radio technician for the Santa Fe
railroad, he related that sometime in 1943 while he was stationed at San
Diego and assigned to a gun crew on a naval destroyer they were alerted
to their stations. Shortly five saucers (such as those pictured by
George Adamski) appeared over the ship and hovered. Orders were given to
fire upon them. He asserted that they could see the tracers and shells
heading directly toward the saucers. The shells either exploded or
disintegrated before reaching the objects. This attack continued for 10
minutes but nothing affected them. At the approach of naval planes the
saucers disappeared.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fortean Society Sightings (Scully box 3 ff 5)
Location: San Diego, CA
Date: 1/7/1943
Description: Nikola Test dies
Type: death
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: United States
Date: 1/15/1943
Description: During a US bombing raid over Cherbourg, Manche, France,
several crews see “large numbers of projectiles resembling ‘schools of
flying fish,’ about a foot long and similar to incendiary bombs, coming
up from a direction of the town.” (Strange Company 38)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 579
Date: 1/16/1943
Description: Approval for the Hanford Site for plutonium
production
Type: nuclear weapons
Reference: link
Location: Hanford, WA
Date: 1/16/1943
Description: Leslie
Groves approves development of the Hanford site in Washington State
for plutonium production. (Wikipedia, “Hanford
Site”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 580
Date: 2/9/1943
Description: Land for a plutonium production complex is acquired at
Hanford, Washington. (Wikipedia, “Hanford
Site”) February 18 — Construction begins for Y-12, a massive
electromagnetic separation plant for enriching uranium at Oak Ridge,
Tennessee. (Wikipedia, “Y-12
National Security Complex”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 581
Date: 2/18/1943
Description: Construction begins for Y-12 electromagnetic separation
plant for enriching uranium at Oak Ridge
Type: nuclear weapons
Reference: link
Location: Oak Ridge, TN
Date: Spring 1943
Description: Air Craft warning observer spots a very bright repeatedly
flashing light SW of Laguna, P-38 dispatched, flashing stopped
Type: UFO spotted, P-38 dispatched, UFO got away
Reference: link
Location: Laguna Beach, California
Date: 4/1/1943
Description: Los Alamos Laboratory begins operations in New Mexico
Type: nuclear weapons
Reference: link
Location: Los Alamos, NM
Date: 4/1/1943
Description: Los Alamos Laboratory is established in New Mexico and
begins operations. (Wikipedia, “Project
Y”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 582
Date: 4/5/1943
Description: 9:50 a.m. Flight instructor Gerry A. Casey and a student
pilot in a Boeing-Stearman Model 75 watch a radiant- orange, elliptical
disc dive at their aircraft near Long Beach, California. There is no
propellor and it has a rounded hump above and below. It hovers alongside
with a slight wobble, then accelerates, turns from orange to white, and
climbs out of sight in 2 seconds. (Project 1947, “UFO
Reports, 1943”; Gerry A. Casey, “UFO: The Time for the Telling Has
Come,” Tacoma (Wash.) Western Flyer, July 7, 1989, via UFO
Newsclipping Service 241 (August 1989), p. 3; Patrick Gross, “Observation
at Long Beach, 1943”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 583
Date: 4/9/1943
Description: 5:00 p.m. Kazimierz Bzowski and other resistance fighters
are monitoring a fire in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland. They notice a
flying object approaching them at about 60 mph. Through binoculars it
appears to be a sphere colored with tangled strips of both raspberry and
blue-green colors. Bzowski estimates it is at an elevation of 200 feet
and is about 25 feet in diameter. They observe German and Lithuanian
snipers on Bonifraterska street shooting at it, although the bullets
seem to pass through it. The object alters course and heads toward Old
Town, then stops dead and shoots away at great speed. (Poland 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 584
Date: 5/1943
Description: Einstein hired by USN to work on sub warfare/high
explosives. Dr. Vannever Bush asks Einstein to consult for the OSRD, but
apparently Einstein turned him down.
Type: nuclear weapons
Reference: link
Location: Princeton, NJ
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 5/1943
Description: Capt. Gordon W. Cammell is flying an RAF Lancaster bomber
back over the English Channel when he and his entire crew see a “huge
orange ball on or near the sea” 7,000–8,000 feet below them. Over the
next 10 minutes, they watch it project a bright and constant light.
(Strange Company 41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 585
Date: 5/19/1943
Description: The Northrop N-9M flying wing bomber prototype crashes 12
miles west of Muroc Army Air Base [now Edwards AFB], California, killing
its pilot Max
Constant. (Wikipedia,
“Northrop
N-9M”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 586
Date: 5/26/1943
Description: Late night. Capt. Ray Smith and copilot Sgt. Gordon N.
Cockcroft are flying at 18,000 feet in a Halifax bomber on a run near
Essen, Germany, when they see a silvery-gold cylindrical object, larger
than their aircraft, on the port side. It has several evenly spaced
portholes. It is hovering at a 45° angle. After 20–30 seconds it climbs
away at high speed. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1982): 4–6; Strange
Company 40; Project 1947, “UFO
Reports, 1943”; John Hanson and Dawn Holloway, Haunted Skies: The
Encyclopaedia of British UFOs: Volume 1, 1940–1959, Fortean Words,
2010)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 587
Date: 6/1943
Description: The Army Air Force’s Air Tactical Service Command asks
Lockheed to develop a jet fighter
Type: aerospace
Reference: link
Date: 6/1943
Description: The Army Air Force’s Air Tactical Service Command meets
with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in Burbank, California, to ask them
to develop a jet fighter. (Wikipedia, “Skunk
Works”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 588
Date: 6/2/1943
Description: Construction begins on K-25, the gaseous diffusion plant at
Oak Ridge, Tennessee. (Wikipedia, “K-25”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 589
Date: 6/15/1943
Description: Einstein’s USN work announced in JTA Daily News
Bulletin
Type: scientist
Reference: link
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 7/1943
Description: Skunk Works begins in Burbank CA. Lockheed Engineer Kelly
Johnson deliver proposal for the XP-80 jet fighter
Type: aerospace
Reference: link
Location: Burbank, CA
Date: 7/1943
Description: Lockheed Engineer Kelly
Johnson and other associate engineers hand-deliver a proposal for
the XP-80 jet fighter to the Air Tactical Service Command. Two days
later, the go-ahead is given to Lockheed to start development, and the
Skunk Works is born in Burbank, California, with Johnson at the helm.
The name supposedly comes from the L’il Abner comic strip, which has a
place called “Skonk Works” where a strong beverage is brewed from
skunks, old shoes, and other ingredients. (Wikipedia, “Skunk
Works”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 590
Date: 7/1/1943
End date: 3/31/1944
Description: Date range of Einstein’s USN pay stubs at National
Archives.
Type: scientist
Reference: link
Reference: link
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 7/18/1943
End date: 10/15/1944
Description: Einstein reports on his “explosives” work to USN
Type: scientist
Reference: link
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 7/18/1943
Description: A French prisoner in a German labor camp near Gdynia,
Poland, is walking to work along the Baltic Sea when he sees a flat,
metallic object embedded in the sand. A human figure is standing next to
it, apparently trying to dig it up. When he passes by, the figure,
apparently an Asian woman with long blonde hair and dressed in a tight-
fitting overall, turns in his direction. The witness assumes she is the
famous German aviator Hanna
Reitsch and helps her dig the experimental aircraft out of the sand.
The object is 20 feet in diameter and looks like two metallic saucers
put together. The woman touches the witness’s chest with her hand and
points to the sky. She touches her belt and a door in the object opens.
She crawls inside, the door closes, and the object ascends and departs
at a tremendous speed. (Jean Sider, Ultra Top-Secret: Ces OVNIs qui font
peur, Axis Mundi, 1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 591
Date: 9/1943
Description: During an air battle between the Germans and Russians, a
member of the Spanish Blue Division fighting with the Germans near
Pushkin outside Leningrad [now Saint Petersburg], Russia, notices a
disc-shaped object above the planes. It appears to be observing the
battle, then disappears at a fantastic speed. (Antonio
Ribera, Platillos Volantes en Iberoamerica y España, Santiago
Pomaire, 1968, pp. 411–412)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 592
Date: 9/1943
Description: Ray
Palmer, editor of Amazing Stories magazine, receives a letter from a
reader named Richard
S. Shaver, who claims to have discovered “Mantong,” a proto-language
that is the source of all earthly languages. In Mantong, each sound has
a hidden meaning, and by applying this formula to any word in any
language, one can decode the secret meaning. Palmer applies the formula
to several words and realizes Shaver might be onto something.
(Wikipedia, “Richard
Sharpe Shaver”; Clark III 609; Walter Kafton-Minkel, Subterranean
Worlds, Loompanics, 1989, p. 136)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 593
Date: 9/1943
Time: 0400
Description: Navarro Ocampo, driving between Rosario and Cordoba, saw a
large, saucer-shaped object on the ground 500 m to the left of the road.
It glowed with a bluish-green light, made a whistling sound, rose to 100
m altitude, then left at fantastic speed. A strange metal block is said
to have been found at the spot.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: GEPA Dec., 68 (Vallee)
Location: Oncativo, Argentina
ID: 50
Date: 9/6/1943
Description: 9:50 a.m. During an aerial fight over Stuttgart, Germany,
the crews of two aircraft of the 384th Bomb Group, commanded by
Capt. Raymond P. Ketelson, observe two round objects “resembling silvery
discs” floating downward through the aircraft formation. One hits the
wing of a B-17 bomber, setting it on fire. The bomber does not return
from the mission. (Strange Company 43) Autumn — A Polish bomber unit
based in England claims that silver-blue balls of fire appeared near
their wing on six missions when they raided the Nazi V-1 weapons plant
in Peenemünde, Germany. RAF intelligence officer Michael
Bentine debriefs them later and asks, “But what did it do to you?”
They reply, “Nothing.” Bentine points out, “Well it was not a very
effective weapon, was it?” (UFOFiles2, p. 20;
David Clarke and Andy Roberts, “The Foo
Fighters: The RAF Experience,” The Real UFO Project, January
2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 594
Date: 10/1943
Alternate date: 11/1943
Description: 11:00 p.m. 2Lt Thomas
J. Duzynski is stationed at Camp Ibis on the west side of the Dead
Mountains Wilderness northwest of Needles, California. Taking a stroll
outside his tent, he notices an elliptical- shaped object traveling to
the south at high speed parallel to the ground between himself and the
mountains. It banks sharply, almost on edge, and gains altitude,
disappearing in seconds. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969,
pp. 22–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 598
Date: 10/1943
Description: 9:00 p.m. Wilberta
Finley, an air spotter for the Civil Air Patrol, notices a “huge
dark aerial object approaching” her home in Santa Barbara, California,
facing the Goleta Valley. Moving low and soundlessly, it barely skims
over a nearby hill. From its front a beam of light shoots down, and at
intervals it swings from side to side as if scanning the hills and homes
below. (“Report from the Readers,” Fate 11, no. 11 (November 1958):
116–118; Clark III 1178)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 595
Date: 10/10/1943
Description: Construction begins for the first reactor at the Hanford
site in Washington. (US Department of Energy, Office of History and
Heritage Resources, “Hanford
Becomes Operational,” August 7, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 596
Date: 10/14/1943
Description: Night. A group of B-17s from the 384th Bombardment Group
are returning from a mission over Germany when they see a cluster of
silver-colored discs in the path of their formation and closing with the
bombers. The crews talk back and forth, discussing and confirming the
sight before them. They describe the objects as “about one inch thick
and three inches in diameter…gliding down slowly in a very uniform
cluster.” One of the bombers goes directly through the cluster “with
absolutely no effect on engines or plane surface,” even though one is
heard to strike the tail assembly. A mass of black debris about 3-4 feet
long is also observed. (Clark III 502; Martin Caidin, Black Thursday,
Dell, 1962, pp. 188–190; Frank Edwards, Flying Saucers—Here and Now!
Lyle Stuart, 1967, pp. 77–78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 597
Date: 11/1943
Description: Ray
Palmer publishes an article, “An Ancient Language?” on the language
of Mantong in the January 1944 issue of Amazing Stories and enters into
correspondence with Richard
S. Shaver, who responds with a 10,000- word document titled “A
Warning to Future Man.” Shaver writes of advanced prehistoric races who
built underground cities before abandoning Earth for another planet
because of damaging radiation from the Sun. Those ancients also
abandoned some of their own offspring here, a minority of whom remained
noble and human “Teros,” while most degenerate over time into a
population of mentally impaired sadists known as “Deros”— short for
“detrimental robots.” Shaver’s robots are not mechanical constructs, but
robot-like due to their savage behavior. These Deros still live in the
cave cities, according to Shaver, kidnapping surface-dwelling people by
the thousands for meat or torture. Deros can be blamed for nearly all
misfortunes, from minor “accidental” injuries or illnesses to airplane
crashes and catastrophic natural disasters. Though generally confined to
their caves, the Deros sometimes travel in spaceships or rockets, and
have dealings with equally evil extraterrestrials. Shaver claims to
possess first-hand knowledge of the Deros and their caves, insisting he
had been their prisoner for several years. The article stirs
considerable reader interest, and the pages of Amazing Stories are soon
filled with stories and articles about the “Shaver mystery.” (Wikipedia,
“Richard
Sharpe Shaver”; [Richard] S. Shaver, [Letter], “An
Ancient Language?” Amazing Stories 18, no. 1 (January 1944):
206–207; [Ray Palmer,] “Mantong: The
Language of Lemuria,” Amazing Stories 19, no. 1 (March 1945): 71,
206; Walter Kafton-Minkel, Subterranean Worlds, Loompanics, 1989, pp. 136–137;
Clark III 872; Richard Toronto, War over Lemuria: Richard Shaver, Ray
Palmer, and the Strangest Chapter of 1940s Science Fiction, McFarland,
2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 599
Date: 11/4/1943
Description: The X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, goes
critical. The Y-12 plant is separating uranium- 235 from natural
uranium, which is 99.3% uranium-238, by using calutrons to perform
electromagnetic isotope separation. (Wikipedia, “X-10
Graphite Reactor”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 600
Date: 12/1943 (approximate)
Description: Matt P. Dillingham is on evening duty adjacent to Mullinix
Field [now Bonriki International Airport] on Tarawa Atoll in the Pacific
Ocean. He begins receiving radar plots showing a north-south track to
the west moving at 750 mph. It disappears, but two other targets on the
same trajectory appear, moving at the same speed. The same targets are
repeated for several nights following. (“Out
of the Past,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 6
(Dec. 1983/Jan. 1984): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 601
Date: 12/2/1943
Description: Night. Some 105 German Junkers Ju 888 bombers attack the
port of Bari, Italy, a key supply center for Allied forces. 28 Allied
ships are sunk, including the US Liberty ship SS
John Harvey, which
is carrying mustard gas intended for retaliation in case German forces
use chemical warfare. Liquid sulfur mustard from the bombs spills into
waters already contaminated by oil from the other damaged vessels. The
many sailors who abandoned their ships into the water become covered
with the oily mixture. The wounded are pulled from the water and sent to
medical facilities whose personnel are unaware of the mustard gas.
Medical staff focus on personnel with blast or fire injuries. Within a
day, the first symptoms of mustard poisoning appear in 628 patients and
medical staff, including blindness and chemical burns. That puzzling
development is further complicated by the arrival of hundreds of Italian
civilians also seeking treatment, who have been poisoned by a cloud of
sulfur mustard vapor that blows over the city when some of John Harvey’s
cargo exploded. As the medical crisis worsens, little information is
available about what is causing the symptoms, because US military
command want to keep the presence of chemical munitions secret from the
Germans. By the end of the month, 83 of the 628 hospitalized military
victims have died. The number of civilian casualties, thought to have
been even greater, cannot be accurately gauged since most have left the
city to seek shelter with relatives. (Wikipedia, “Air
raid on Bari”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 602
Date: 12/11/1943
Description: US bombers conduct a daylight raid on Emden, Germany, and
observe an unknown object about the size of a Thunderbolt aircraft over
the target area. It passes below the bombers in a straight line and at
terrific speed, leaving a vapor trail that persists. (Strange Company
51–52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 603
Date: 12/14/1943
Description: Night. British 255 Night Fighter Squadron leader Patrick
Hardy Vesey Wells is flying his Bristol Beaufighter on a patrol
mission around Naples, Italy, when he and his navigator notice a small
bright light behind them. It stays on their tail, moving from side to
side. After 1–2 minutes it goes off in another direction. (Strange
Company 52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 604
Date: winter 1943
Description: Day. While on a bombing mission over central Germany,
Sgt. Louis
Kiss, a tail gunner on the Phyllis Marie, a B-17 of the 390th
Bombardment Group, sees an odd-looking sphere approach the plane from
behind and below. It seems to be the size of a basketball and shimmery
gold. The object hovers just above one wing, then passes over the top to
the other wing where it hovers again. Soon it moves to the rear and gets
caught in the B-17’s backwash and disappears. (“First
Official Foo-Fighter Records Discovered,” Just Cause, no. 32 (June
1992): 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 605
Date: winter 1943
Description: 3:00 p.m. Harry G. Barnes, a member of the Washington,
D.C., Metropolitan Police Department stationed at No. 1 Precinct, sees
three oval-shaped objects in V-formation speeding eastward across the
northeast sky. The objects have pulsating, greenish-red exhausts that
occasionally flare and curl around them. (UFOEv, p. 64;
Clark III 1177)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 606
Date: 1944
Description: Richard Shaver’s stories re. UFO
Type: paranormal phenomenon
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 1944
Description: During WW2, E.L. (initials), serving as Carpenter Mate, 1st
Class, Hqt. Co. 112th Construction Battalion, came across a landed
saucer near a wooded ridge, near the beach of Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii.
Description: 50 ft. diam.; metallic; looked like an igloo; topped with a
clear glass dome about a foot high with agold colored weather vane-like
device spinning inside.
Type: scientist
Reference: Pea
Research (A5, B3-C)
Date: 1944
Description: George
Adamski and his followers move closer to Palomar Mountain,
California, along the Road to the Stars where his long-time associate
Alice K. Wells sets up a roadside café, Palomar Gardens. According to
coworker Charlotte Blodget, “Each member of the group shared in the
manual labor that went into this effort, and since heavy restrictions
were still in effect regarding materials [in the war’s aftermath],
anything available had to serve.” Adamski builds a “small observatory”
to house his 15-inch telescope to study the skies. (“Palomar Mountain,
1940–1960: From Obscurity to World Fame,” The Adamski Case,
September 22, 2019; George M. Eberhart, “Palomar Gardens Café,” IUR 30,
no. 3 (May 2006): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 608
Date: 1944
Description: During a mission to bomb oil fields in Romania, a Russian
Tupolev Tu-2 piloted by Maj. Bajenov and Boris Surikov are flying over
southwest Ukraine at an altitude of 3 miles when a large, elliptical
object approaches them. The bomber starts shaking, the oil pressure
rises, and Surikov feels a strong electrostatic charge. Even after the
object passes, the bomber’s wings are covered with glowing discharges.
(Good Need, pp. 21–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 607
Date: 1/15/1944
Description: The Materiel Command becomes the AAF Materiel Command.
(Wikipedia, “Air
Materiel Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 609
Date: 2/1944
Description: 2:30 a.m. An Australian Beaufort bomber is flying at 4,500
feet over Bass Strait, Australia, when it is joined by an object like a
“dark shadow” with a flickering flame coming out of its rear. It appears
only 100–150 feet away and stays with the bomber for 18–20 minutes,
during which time its radio and direction-finding instruments fail. It
shoots away at 700 mph. (Bill Chalker, “Australian
A.F. UFO Report Files,” APRO Bulletin 30, no. 10 (October 1982):
7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 610
Date: 2/9/1944
Description: RAF No. 5 Group issues a report of its investigation on
“Rocket Phenomena,” concluding that the air crews are seeing either
rockets fired from aircraft, parachute rockets, or high-explosive
projectiles at maximum altitudes of 18,000 feet. Reports of objects
changing their course are either defects causing erratic flight or light
flak tracers reaching their highest point and descending. (Strange
Company 57–58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 611
Date: 2/20/1944
Description: 2:30 a.m. Two guards of the 3rd Marine Division on
Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands see what they first assume are the
headlight beams of a truck coming from a swamp about three-quarters of a
mile from their position. It moves laterally about 50 feet and they see
it is a circular light about 50–60 feet long and 20 feet high. It then
rises into the air about 25 feet and heads in the direction of the
guards at about 45 mph. It makes a 45° turn and passes about 100 feet
above the trees of a coconut grove. Several days later, a 200-foot cut
in the reeds is discovered in the approximate spot where the light
originated. (Alvin G. McNish, “Letter,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1984): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 612
Date: 2/23/1944
Description: Brig. Gen. George
C. McDonald is appointed assistant chief of staff for intelligence
for the newly created US Strategic Air Forces in Europe. “Many months
preceding the collapse of Germany, McDonald recognized the imperative
need for the creation of a new type of intelligence activity to
investigate and exploit air intelligence objectives in Germany and
liberated countries. This unique system was established and consisted of
a great number of highly qualified technical and scientific personnel to
exploit all the worldwide aeronautical research developments of Germany.
This resulted in the collection of priority intelligence information of
value in the prosecution of the war against Japan; technical and
non-technical information of immediate operational significance and
value; as well as a substantial portion of important documents and
personnel of the German Air Ministry that enabled the US Army Air Forces
to undertake long-range research with respect to many valuable- phases
of air doctrine, research, employment, organization, procedure, and
plans of the German air force.” Among the personalities involved in the
operation are some who will become involved in UFO investigations in the
future: Col. John
A. O’Mara, Col. Howard
H. McCoy, Col.
Harold
E. Watson, and Col. Malcolm
D. Seashore. (Wikipedia, “United
States Strategic Air Forces in Europe”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 613
Date: 2/24/1944
Description: Night. Southwest of Saint-Quentin, Aisne, France, three
silver objects are seen by an RAF bomber returning from a mission over
Schweinfurt, Germany. They resemble Zeppelins but move independently of
the wind. (Strange Company 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 614
Date: 3/1944
Description: An Army Air Force pilot flying a B-17 sees a fast-moving,
glowing green object light up the cockpit and speed out of sight over
the horizon at Carlsbad, New Mexico. (UFOEv, p. 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 615
Date: 3/1/1944
Description: The first prototype H.IX V1, an unpowered glider with fixed
tricycle landing gear, is tested in Germany, but there is an accident
when the pilot attempts to land without first retracting an
instrument-carrying pole extending from the aircraft. The design is
taken from the Horten
brothers and given to Gothaer Waggonfabrik. (Wikipedia, “Horten
Ho 229”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 616
Date: spring 1944
Alternate date: 1945
Description: Two grammar school teachers are driving in the mountains
near Auberry, California, when their car stalls and they see a
cigar-shaped object with lighted portholes along the side hovering in a
nearby ravine. They watch it for several minutes until it begins moving
slowly out of the ravine, ascends, and shoots away to the west at a
tremendous speed. The car engine remains stalled for a while, then
starts by itself. (“Past
Sightings Come to Light,”
APRO Bulletin, Jan./Feb. 1968, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 617
Date: 4/1944
Description: Late afternoon. Near the Eastern front in western Slovakia,
a man is standing on a hill near his home when he sees a dark round
object moving at high speed to his right for less than one minute. It
moves at a steady speed and is followed by another object about 20
seconds later. As many as 6 others appear, and five are visible at one
time, each beginning as a pinpoint of light, growing bigger, then
decreasing back to a pinpoint. The display lasts for about 5 minutes.
(“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1982): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 618
Date: 4/1944
Description: The first operation jet fighter, the Messerschmitt Me 262,
is introduced
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 4/5/1944
Description: The Y-12 plant at Oak Ridge has sent 200 grams of enriched
uranium to Los Alamos. Italian-American physicist Emilio
Segrè receives the first sample and within 10 days discovers that
the spontaneous fission rate is too high for use in a gun-type fission
weapon (because of pu-240 isotope present as an impurity in the pu-239).
(Atomic Heritage Foundation, “Atomic
Timeline”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 619
Date: 4/26/1944
Description: Night. RAF pilot Arthur Horton of the 622 Squadron is
returning from a bombing mission to Essen, Germany, when he is followed
by four orange balls of light with “short stubby wings” and emitting
sparks, two on each side of the aircraft. He takes evasive action with
his Lancaster, but the objects follow all his maneuvers for 10 minutes.
When they reach the coast of Holland, they seem to “burn themselves
out.” (Strange Company 64–65; UFOFiles2, pp. 16,
18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 620
Date: 5/29/1944
Description: The Aircraft Warning Service is deactivated. (Wikipedia,
“Aircraft
Warning Service”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 621
Date: 6/1944
Description: Edward W. Ludwig is commanding a small, Coast Guard–manned
cargo vessel near Palmyra Atoll. While looking for a lost Navy patrol
plane, he observes a bright aerial sphere that alternately moves and
stops for 30 minutes. (“True Mystic Experiences,” Fate 3, no. 8
(December 1950): 82–87)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 623
Date: 6/1944
Description: 12:30 p.m. David
A. K. Morris, a fitter with Service Unit 10 of the Royal New Zealand
Air Force, takes a swim with a friend at Torokina Beach, Bougainville
Island, Papua New Guinea. They see “a huge, dark-gray, seemingly
metallic, bulbous mass hanging out of a large cumulus cloud.” It moves
silently, its outline fading into the cloud and out of sight. It
resembles a Zeppelin or the R101 airship,
only bigger. (D. Morris, “RNZAF
Camp UFO Sighting
of 1944,” Ufocus NZ, July 22, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 622
Date: 6/10/1944 (approximate)
Description: The Liberty ship SS
George E. Badger is off Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, when gunner
Edward Breckel sees
a “dark ellipsoidal object” on the horizon about 5 miles away. “Blunted
on each end like a sausage,” the silent craft remains in view for 3
minutes, moving slowly at about 15 feet above the surface of the water.
(Strange Company 67; “The
Case for the ‘Sea-Saucer,’” CRIFO Orbit 1, no. 10 (January 7, 1955):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 624
Date: summer 1944
Description: Day. Asa
Howard Jr. is outside the barracks at RAF Molesworth in
Cambridgeshire, England, when he and other airmen see a pencil-shaped,
metallic object moving faster than a jet about a mile away. While
watching it for about 2 minutes, they see it pass behind a small cloud
before it disappears. (NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 634
Date: summer 1944
Description: Mid-day. Franceen Andron is at Camp McCain, southeast of
Grenada, Mississippi, when she sees a large, fat, cigar-shaped object
that changes from dull black to gray to “fog blue.” It is joined by
three smaller discs that appear below it after emerging from a cloud.
The large object disappears first, followed by the discs, which race
away in different directions. (NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 633
Date: summer 1944
Description: Fred Wieland and some friends are riding their bicycles on
a footpath adjacent to the Grand Central Parkway in Queens, New York
City. As they climb a hill, they look up and see a cigar-shaped object
“broadside” to them. It is of smooth metallic construction with no
windows or openings. They race to the top of the hill for a better look,
but by then the object has completely disappeared. (Clark III
1178)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 632
Date: summer 1944
Description: 5:00 p.m. François Panes watches a cigar-shaped object at
an altitude of about 5,000 feet above the Kamensko Forest north of
Blovice, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic], glittering brightly with
no wings, no rudder, and no propeller. It is about 150 feet in diameter
and 300–400 feet long. The object is lit up from underneath. It slowly
descends, after which it rises up again and vanishes into the blue sky
after 10–15 minutes. (Hobana and Weverbergh 215–216)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 631
Date: early 7/1944
Description: 10:30 a.m. During Allied operations in the area around
Loreto, Castelfidardo, and Osimo, in Ancona province, Italy, Antoni
Szachnowsky, of the 2nd Polish Artillery Regiment, notices an
egg-shaped, glistening, metallic, motionless object. The Polish Army
anti-aircraft gun fires on it, then the German batteries join in.
Eventually both sides stop, and the object remains motionless for a
minute. Then it tilts at a 45° angle, moves rapidly upward, and
disappears. (“1944: An Italian Foo-Fighter?” UFO Sightings Italia, no.
2, March 2002)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 625
Date: 7/4/1944
Description: Oppenheimer reveals
Segrè’s
final measurements to the Los Alamos staff, and the development of the
gun-type plutonium weapon “Thin Man” is abandoned. Designing a workable
implosion design (Fat Man) becomes the top priority of the laboratory,
and design of the uranium gun-type weapon (Little Boy) continues.
(Atomic Heritage Foundation, “Atomic
Timeline”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 626
Date: 7/6/1944
Description: German test pilot Heini
Dittmar attains an unofficial airspeed record of 702 mph in a
rocket-powered Messerschmidt Me 163B at Lagerlechfeld, Bavaria, Germany.
(Wikipedia, “Heini
Dittmar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 627
Date: 7/9/1944
Description: Afternoon. After a successful air strike by the US 449th
Bombardment Group against the Concordia-Vega refinery at Ploești,
Romania, witness Grigore Zmeuranu sees a round, yellowish object flying
from the north at a speed about 3-4 times that of an aircraft. It leaves
a short vapor trail, moves over the bombed area, and returns silently in
the same direction. (Hobana and Weverbergh 226–227; Strange Company
71)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 628
Date: 7/17/1944
Description: The Air Service Command and the AAF Materiel Command are
placed under AAF Materiel and Services. (Wikipedia, “Air
Materiel Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 629
Date: late 7/1944
Description: Evening. Jaakku Kivistö is serving in the Finnish Army as a
noncommissioned medical officer stationed on a farm near Impilahti,
Karelia [now Russia], by Lake Ladoga. He notices a large object next to
the corn-drying building on a steep hillside that he at first takes for
a military truck. As he walks closer, he sees it is reddish in color,
moving slowly about 150–230 feet in the air, 100 feet long, and has a
row of black windows. It moves off quickly in the direction of the lake
and vanishes. (“A
Close Encounter from the Year 1944,” Nordic UFO Newsletter, 1985,
no. 1, pp. 3–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 630
Date: 8/1944
Description: Twelve dismantled V-2 rockets were shipped to Japan. These
left Bordeaux in August 1944 on the transport U-boats U-219 and U-195,
which reached Jakarta in December 1944. A civilian V-2 expert was a
passenger on U-234, bound for Japan in May 1945 when the war ended in
Europe. The fate of these V-2 rockets is unknown.
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 8/1944
Description: Night. Officer George Todt of the 38th Regiment, Second
Infantry Division, is between Saint-Lô and Vire, Normandy, France, when
he sees a cherry-red light one-fifth the size of the moon moving
silently west at 120 mph towards Omaha Beach. It stops over the American
lines and hovers for 14 minutes. It expands and contracts regularly
every few seconds. Col. Francis
Henry Boos and another officer also observe it. (Strange Company 78–
79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 635
Date: 8/11/1944
Description: Shortly after midnight. Capt. Alvah
M. Reida is piloting a B-29 bomber based at Kharagpur, India, on a
bombing mission over Palembang, Sumatra, Indonesia, when his right
gunner and copilot notice a sphere “probably five or six feet in
diameter, of a very bright and intense red or orange in color” that
constantly throbs, at about 12,500 feet, pacing them about 1,500 feet
off the starboard wing. It keeps up with the B-29, then flying at 210
mph. Reida tries to shake it off his plane, but it stays in the same
relative position until, after 8 minutes, it makes an abrupt 90° turn
and accelerates rapidly, disappearing in the overcast. (UFOEv, p. 23;
Strange Company 71–75; Good Above, p. 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 636
Date: 8/11/1944
Description: Night. RAF Warrant Officer Ronald R. Claridge is over
France aboard a No. 7 Squadron Lancaster bomber returning from a bombing
run on La Pallice, La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, France, when his
radar screen goes blank. Another crewman shouts to look at a vast
disc-shaped object with a long row of lights on their starboard side.
They watch it for 3 minutes, then it shoots away in a flash of light.
Later he draws a watercolor painting to show how the UFO dwarfed the
bomber. (UFOFiles2, pp. 26–27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 637
Date: mid 8/1944
Description: 11:00 a.m. During the Warsaw Uprising in Poland, Zenon
Sergisz notices a German bomber passing by, as well as three bright
points of light that descend as the bomber moves away. The lights are
flattened spheres that move low behind some buildings then rise up at an
angle and disappear. (Poland 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 638
Date: 8/17/1944
Description: The Allied command creates the Combined Intelligence
Objectives Subcommittee (CIOS), charged in part with investigating the
strange balls of fire. (Strange Company 79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 639
Date: late 8/1944
Description: 4:20 p.m. A nurse, Mrs. E. M. Church, on her way to a tram
station in Christchurch, New Zealand, sees an object like an “upturned
saucer” resting on the ground near the road. It seems to be 20 feet
across and 9 feet high. Two beings, not quite 4 feet tall, are inside,
visible through a rectangular window. A third stands motionless, just
outside an open door. All three seem to be looking toward the lights of
a nearby fairground. The nurse cannot decide if their skin color is
green or they are dressed in green, but all are encased in a transparent
oblong box. The head takes up half of their bodies and there are no
apparent legs or arms. She inadvertently makes a noise, and the outside
figure notices her. Its helmet flips over automatically, and it drifts
inside the object, which rises up and disappears in the clouds. (Center
for UFO Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1940–1949, p. 12; Clark III 265)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 641
Date: late 8/1944
Description: Sgt. Ness and another man of the mine-laying platoon of the
175th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, see a large rectangular
object “like a railroad boxcar” with no apparent source of propulsion
move steadily at about 90 mph over the front lines near Brest, Brittany,
France, and out to sea. At one point the object passes in front of the
moon, briefly obscuring it from view. (Lore and Deneault, pp. 120–121)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 640
Date: end of 8/1944
Description: A mysterious man appeared at windows, as if in search of
someone. He stunned witnesses by pointing at them a device that “made
consciousness dissolve” and left a strange cloying smell behind
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 61, 3; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Mattoon, Illinois
ID: 51
Date: 8/31/1944
Description: The Army Air Forces Air Technical Service Command is formed
as the result of the merging of the Materiel and Air Service Commands.
(Wikipedia, “Air
Materiel Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 642
Date: 9/1944
Description: 9:00 p.m. Canadian Army Lance Cpl. Carson Yorke is just
outside Antwerp, Belgium, during a German bombardment. He steps out of
his vehicle and sees a glowing globe traveling at about 30 mph and 40
feet altitude from the front lines toward the city (in the same course
that the German V-2s are following). It seems to be 3–4 feet in diameter
and looks “as though it was cloudy glass with a light inside.” It
disappears from view, then is followed by another, then five others in
succession. (Jerome Clark and Lucius Farish, “The
Mysterious ’Foo Fighters’
of WW II,” Saga UFO Report, Spring 1975)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 644
Date: 9/1944
Description: Dusk. Three Oak Ridge workers (a man named Nelson, A. C.
Butler, and Albert Profitt) are driving 2 miles southeast of Oliver
Springs, Tennessee, when a strange object appears about 50 feet ahead of
them at the level of their windshield. It is glossy white in color and
about 30 feet long and 4 feet wide. Nelson eases the car up to the
object, but it withdraws; when he stops, it also stops. Soon the light
rises high in the air and disappears over Black Oak Ridge. (Lorenzen,
UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp, 23–24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 643
Date: 9/2/1944
Description: Two chemists are killed, and Arnold
Kramish almost killed, after being sprayed with highly corrosive
hydrofluoric acid while attempting to unclog a uranium enrichment device
that is part of the pilot thermal diffusion plant at the Philadelphia
Navy Yard. (Wikipedia, “Arnold
Kramish”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 645
Date: 9/6/1944
Description: The Combined Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee holds its
first meeting in London, England. Present are Air Commodore K. C. Buss
(Air Ministry), Gen. George
C. McDonald (AAF Director of Intelligence), Lt. Col. Lewis
F. Powell Jr., Col. Howard
McCoy (chief of the Air Technical Section), Howard
P. Robertson (CalTech physicist), and Cmdr. Ian
Fleming (Admiralty). (Strange Company 80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 646
Date: 9/7/1944
Description: First V-2 rocket attacks begin. Two launched at Paris.
V-2’s speed and trajectory made it practically invulnerable to
anti-aircraft guns and fighters, as it dropped from an altitude of
100–110 km (62–68 mi) at up to three times the speed of sound at sea
level (approximately 3550 km/h). The British government, concerned about
spreading panic or giving away vital intelligence to German forces,
initially attempted to conceal the cause of the explosions by making no
official announcement, and euphemistically blaming them on defective gas
mains. The public did not believe this explanation and therefore began
referring to the V-2s as “flying gas mains”.
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Germany
Date: 10/1944
Description: Late night. Members of a family who live in an isolated
area on the outskirts of Rochester, Pennsylvania, are awakened by a loud
noise and flash of light. The father goes to the door, where he sees a
4.5-foot-tall figure dressed in a brown robe. Fifteen feet to its left
are five other figures dressed in luminous brown metallic suits. Their
heads seem large, with only a slit for a mouth. The arms are long, with
long thin fingers. Three of them enter the house and the father
accompanies them to a landed craft nearby. He remembers nothing else
when he wakes up in the morning. A round, burned circle 20 feet from the
house and 25 feet in diameter is found the next day. (Clark III
265–266)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 647
Date: 10/1944
Description: Nellie Carlin and another woman are about to drive to work
in St. Paul, Minnesota, when they see what seems to be an airplane about
to crash. It abruptly stops 20 feet above their heads, revealing itself
to be a brown, bullet- shaped object with a flat end “like frosted glass
with a bright light behind it.” It makes a crackling noise, turns right,
and ascends at great speed. (Clark III 1178)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 648
Date: late 10/1944
Description: 9:30 p.m. 1Lt. J. B. Douglas Jr. and other soldiers of the
489th Armored Field Artillery near Weert, Netherlands, watch a bright
silvery object through field glasses moving silently from northwest to
southwest through an arc of 90° in about 30–45 minutes. (UFOEv, pp. 30,
129)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 649
Date: 10/28/1944
Description: Physicist David
T. Griggs, a
civilian adviser on radar to the War Department, is asked by Gen. Henry
H. “Hap”
Arnold to look into incidents of unusual aerial phenomena in Europe
and interview pilots. He later moves his investigation to the Pacific
Theater. His report to Arnold at the end of the war has never been
located. He was interviewed by James
E. McDonald on April 10, 1969. (Michael D. Swords, “David Griggs and
the Foo Fighters,” IUR 31, no. 1 (January 2007): 17–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 650
Date: 10/30/1944
Description: Late night. RAF Flight Engineer Maurice Juberley of the 640
Squadron is returning from a bombing mission over Köln, Germany. His
Halifax III is flying at 19,000 feet above the clouds when the rear
gunner reports a ball of orange fire closing in on them. He orders an
evasive maneuver and loses the light. (Strange Company 86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 651
Date: early 11/1944
Description: Night. Lieut. Col. Oris
B. Johnson’s 422d Night Fighter Squadron, equipped with P-61 Black
Widow fighters, reports seeing 15–20 mystery objects every night over
Germany, either alone or in formations of four. Johnson says he could
accept that the reports are rocket planes or night fighter jets.
(Strange Company 87)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 652
Date: 11/3/1944
Description: The Japanese Army launches the first of some 9,300 Fu-Go
bomb-bearing fire balloons intended to land in North America to instill
fear and terror. About 300 are found or seen in America. It is likely
that more of them land in unpopulated areas. On November 4, a US Navy
patrol craft discovers one of the first Fu-Go balloons floating off San
Pedro, Los Angeles, California. National and state agencies are placed
on heightened alert status when balloons are found in Wyoming and
Montana before the end of the month. (Wikipedia, “Fu-Go
balloon bomb”;
Franklin Matthias, “Japanese
Balloon Bombs Fu-Go,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, August 10,
2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 653
Date: 11/4/1944
Description: Night. RAF Lancaster bombers over Solingen, Germany, report
what they call “scarecrow” dummy airplanes that explode with a sheet of
flame and dense black smoke. (“German
Dummy Planes Explode Amid Our Own,”
New York Times, November 6, 1944, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 654
Date: 11/8/1944
Description: Nazis officially announce the V-2 rocket on 11/8/1944
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Germany
Date: 11/12/1944
Description: 9:30 p.m. A radio station in Santiago, Chile, broadcasts a
version of The War of the Worlds in Spanish in which Martians land in
Puente Alto, causing a panic and the death by heart attack of at least
one person in Valparaíso. (John Gosling, Waging the War of the Worlds: A
History of the 1938 Radio Broadcast and Resulting Panic, Including the
Original Script, McFarland, 2009, pp. 99–102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 655
Date: 11/16/1944
Description: 11:55 p.m. Lt. J. L. Besmond, officer of the day on the USS
Gilliam, enroute from Oro Bay, Papua New Guinea, to Leyte Gulf,
Philippines, observes an unusual object at a distance of 21 miles. Fire
Control Officer P. Kendall Bruce describes it as a bright green globe
that rises from behind the ship and moves in a “perfect parabola at
great speed, finally disappearing behind the horizon to the north.”
(NICAP, “UFO
Observed from USS Gilliam”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 656
Date: 11/24/1944
Description: Capt. William
D. Leet’s B-17 crew (part of the 2nd Bombardment Group, 5th Wing of
the Fifteenth Air Force) is returning from bombing a target at
Klagenfurt, Austria. While flying over northeastern Italy near Trieste,
Leet notices a blinding light and feels an intense heat. It goes away
quickly, but seconds later he sees a “round amber light” sitting off the
left wingtip of the B-17. It is bright and perfectly circular. Leet
orders the gunners not to shoot at it. Sgt. Harris, the upper gunner,
thinks it is 10 feet in diameter and 150–300 feet away. The object stays
with them over the Adriatic Sea for 50 minutes, until it “just turned
off” like a light bulb. (Strange Company 90–93)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 657
Date: 11/29/1944
Description: Night. A Bristol Beaufighter crew (pilot Lieut. Edward A.
Schlueter and radar observer Lieut. Donald J. Meiers of the 415th Night
Fighter Squadron, and intelligence officer Capt. Fred
B. Ringwald as observer) is on a bombing mission and flying above
the Rhine River north of Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France. They see “eight
to 10 bright orange lights off the left wing…flying through the air at
high speed.” Neither the airborne radar nor ground control registers
anything nearby. Schlueter and Meiers also see red lights on November 26
above Mannheim, Germany. (Zoe Crasney, “What
Were the Mysterious ‘Foo Fighters’ Sighted by WWII Night Flyers?”
Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine, August 2016; Strange Company
93–95)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 659
Date: 11/29/1944
Description: 3:00 p.m. Reginald
Herbert Mortimer and his daughter Frances are on the Bruce Peninsula
between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, Ontario, when they hear a hissing
sound behind them and see 9 disc-shaped objects pass overhead at
approximately 2,000 feet. Moving three abreast in a square
configuration, they are lost to sight over the lake. (Clark III
1179)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 658
Date: 11/30/1944 (approximate)
Description: As the USS
Gilliam is transporting troops from Leyte Gulf to Lingayen Gulf,
Luzon, Philippines, Lieut. JG Kendall Bruce, fire control officer on the
ship, observes a bright green, globe-shaped object rising out of the
nearby headlands and disappears to the north, It is too slow for a
missile. [Same event as November 16?] (NICAP, “UFO
Observed from USS Gilliam”; Strange Company 95–96)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 660
Date: 12/13/1944
Description: SHAEF in Paris, France, issues a press release identifying
the fireballs as a “new German weapon” and that the Ninth Air Force has
reported seeing “many silver balls floating in the air above enemy
territory.” An Army Air Force spokesman says on December 20 that the
silver balls have “no detectable effects” on Allied planes. He does not
know whether or not they are metallic. (Strange Company 96, 101)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 661
Date: 12/14/1944
End date: 12/28/1944
Description: Numerous balls of light are reported by the Night Fighter
Squadrons during bombing raids over Germany. Pilot and operations
officer Charlie
Horne of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron suggests calling the
objects “foo fighters,” a name gleaned from the men’s favorite comic
strip, “Smokey Stover” by cartoonist Bill Holman. The
comic follows the escapades of a madcap fire fighter who calls his fire
truck the “Foomobile.” Smokey Stover often states, “where there’s foo,
there’s fire.” (“More
Foo-Fighter Records Released,” Just Cause, new ser., no. 33
(September 1992): 2–6; Strange Company 96–111; Swords 3–5; “The
Foo Fighters of World War II,
Part One,” Saturday Night UFOria; Clas Svahn, “The Origin of the
Expression ‘Foo Fighter,’” IUR 25, no. 3 (Fall 2000): 18; Don Berliner,
with Marie Galbreath and Antonio Hunneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The
Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 47–49;
Barry Greenwood, “Foo
Fighter Archive Donated to UHR,” UFO Historical Revue, no. 17
(December 2015): 2–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 662
Date: 12/23/1944
Description: Night. Navy Lt. George
Arents III and copilot Lt. Elon Forster are flying a military DC-3
at 9,000 feet between Blackstone and Richmond, Virginia, when they
notice a cigar-shaped object hovering below them at about 4,000 feet. It
appears to be 200 feet long and has two horizontal rows of blue-lighted
windows and a flaming exhaust coming out of its tail. (Jan Aldrich) Late
December through February 1945 — Radar operators at Naval Air Station
Pasco, Washington, report unusual blips that appear out of nowhere and
proceed from northwest to southeast. A Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter is
scrambled on at least two occasions with orders to shoot down anything
that appears to be hostile, but nothing is seen. In another incident,
Lt. JG Clarence R. Clem accompanies Lt. Commander Richard Brown and
Ensign C. T. Neal to a waiting aircraft and Brown takes off in pursuit
of a ball of fire that quickly leaves him behind as it speeds off to the
northwest and is lost to radar. On another occasion, naval officer R. W.
Hendershot, flying an SNJ aircraft, is asked by ground radar to make
contact with two high-altitude blips flying at the speed of a single-
engine Piper Cub. Though he can see nothing, he is convinced the blips
are real. (Strange Company 142; Nukes 43–44; Project 1947, “UFOs
over Hanford: Cdr. R. W. Hendershot,” June 22, 2014; Robert L.
Hastings, “Reports Confirm
UFO Activity at the Hanford Nuclear Weapons Plant during World War
II,” UFOs & Nukes, August 9, 2015; Headquarters Fourth Air
Force, “Air
Defense Measures at Hanford Engineering Company,” January 23, 1945;
Robert L. Hastings, “Former
US Navy Pilot Says Huge Fireball Maneuvered above the Hanford
Atomic Plant
during World War II,” UFOs & Nukes, October 5, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 663
Date: 1945
Description: An American soldier saw a disk-shaped object come down
rapidly, oscillate, and land. The site could not be found in the dark.
The event took place 35 km northwest of the town.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Habbebishopsheim, Germany
ID: 52
Date: 1945
Description: (Approximate date.) Radar signals secretly bounced off the
Moon during WW2 according to a public statement by Dr. Oliver J.
Lee.
Type: scientific advance
Reference: link
Location: New Jersey
Date: 1945
Description: Green Fireballs seen in Southwestern US
Type: anomalous phenomenon
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Los Alamos, NM
Date: 1945
Description: Soviet underground city Ozyorsk starts construction, using
70,000 prisoners from 12 labor camps. Later turned into the
“Chelyabinsk-40” atomic bomb project plant opened (Plutonium production,
component manufacturing). Now one of the most contaminated places on
Earth.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Reference: link
Location: Ozyorsk, Russia
See also: 1947
Date: 1/1945
Description: Ray
Palmer edits, rewrites, and publishes Richard S. Shaver’s
description of the cave-dwelling Dero for the March 1945 issue of
Amazing Stories under the title “I Remember Lemuria.” The issue sells
out and generates quite a response. Between 1945 and 1949, many letters
arrive attesting to the truth of Shaver’s claims (tens of thousands of
letters, according to Palmer). The correspondents claim that they, too,
have heard strange voices or encountered denizens of the Hollow Earth.
(Wikipedia, “Richard
Sharpe Shaver”; Richard S. Shaver, “’I Remember
Lemuria,’” Amazing Stories 19, no. 1 (March 1945): 12–70; Walter
Kafton-Minkel, Subterranean Worlds, Loompanics, 1989, pp. 137–144;
Clark III 872, 1069; Richard Toronto, War over Lemuria: Richard Shaver,
Ray Palmer, and the Strangest Chapter of 1940s Science Fiction,
McFarland, 2013; David Halperin, “The Shaver
Mystery—Richard Shaver, Ray Palmer, and the Quest for Lemuria (Part
1),” July 4, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 664
Date: 1/2/1945
Description: Col. Clayton
Lawrence Bissell, in the Pentagon’s Office of the Assistant Chief of
Staff for Intelligence, sends SHAEF in Paris a classified message
seeking an explanation for the red balls of fire pacing planes. No
response has been located to date. ([Clayton Lawrence] Bissell, [message],
January 2, 1945; Project 1947, “UFO Reports,
1945”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 667
Date: 1/2/1945
Description: 2:30 a.m. USAAF Lieut. Jack Green and navigator Lieut.
Warren Barber, 653rd Bombardment Squadron, are conducting a
reconnaissance flight in a Mosquito over the Netherlands and northern
Germany when they encounter two balls of fire on three occasions pacing
their plane. Barber describes them as a “pair of fog lights, shooting up
to 60 or 70,000 feet.” (Strange Company 114–116, 208–209)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 665
Date: 1/2/1945
Description: The New York Times publishes an article stating that the
foo fighters are German weapons. Lieut. Donald J. Meiers of the 415th
Night Fighter Squadron says he has been followed by foo-fighters twice.
“A foo-fighter picked me up at 700 feet and chased me 20 miles down the
Rhine Valley [Germany]. I turned to starboard and two balls of fire
turned with me. I turned to the port side and they turned with me. We
were going 260 miles an hour and the balls were keeping right up with
us.” (“Balls
of Fire Stalk U.S. Fighters in Night Assaults over Germany,”
New York Times, January 2, 1945, pp. 1, 4; Strange Company
117–118)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 666
Date: 1/16/1945
Description: Lt. Col. Leavitt
Corning Jr. of the XII Tactical Air Command sends a secret memo to
the assistant chief of air intelligence requesting further information
on the “Night Phenomenon.” (Strange Company 126–127)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 668
Date: 1/20/1945
Description: First Tactical Air Force Executive Officer Maj. Samuel
V. Boykin responds to Corning asking
for more particulars about the reports. (Strange Company 127)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 669
Date: 1/22/1945
Description: British prisoners being force-marched out of the German
Heydebreck labor camp (near modern Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Poland) see a
four-engine bomber overhead. Behind it is a “brilliant light” that is
following it closely. (Clark III 503)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 670
Date: 1/30/1945
Description: Capt. Fred
B. Ringwald, intelligence
officer for the 415 Night Fighter Squadron, responds to Corning’s
January 16 request by offering a summary of 14 foo fighter reports from
December 14, 1944, to January 29, 1945. (Strange Company 129–132)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 672
Date: 1/30/1945
Description: 12:10 a.m. A 415th Night Fighter Squadron crew observes two
amber-colored “lights in the air at 2,000 feet” between Wissembourg,
Bas-Rhin, France, and Landau, Germany. They seem to be about a foot in
diameter and 20–50 feet apart. The lights follow their Bristol
Beaufighter, closing in to about 1,000 feet before disappearing.
(Strange Company 129)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 671
Date: 2/1945
Description: Borderland Sciences Research Association (BSRA) Founded by
Meade Layne. Works with expert medium Mark A. Probert. Their motto:
“Serving Higher Intelligence since 1945”.
Type: ufological event
Location: San Diego, CA
Date: 2/1945
Description: Meade
Layne founds the Borderland Sciences Research Associates in San
Diego, California, and publishes the first issue of its newsletter, The
Round Robin. Working with local medium Mark
A. Probert, who channels “etheric” entities from discarnates with
advanced knowledge of spirit and cosmos, Layne and BSRA seek to explore
the mysteries of the invisible world. (Borderland Sciences Research
Associates, [History];
Clark III 876; Håkan Blomqvist, “Round
Robin and
Contactee History,” Håkan Blomqvist’s Blog, March 30, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 673
Date: 2/2/1945
Description: The first flight of the H.IX V2 is made in Oranienburg,
Germany. All subsequent test flights and development are done by Gothaer
Waggonfabrik in Gotha. By this time, the Horten
brothers are working on a turbojet-powered design for the Amerika
Bomber contract competition and do not attend the first test flight. The
test pilot is Leutnant Erwin
Ziller. Two further test flights are made in February. There are
reports that during one of these test flights, the H.IX V2 undertook a
simulated dogfight with a Messerschmitt Me 262, the first operational
jet fighter, and that the H.IX V2 outperformed the Me 262. However, the
Me 262 is considered by many as unsuitable for fighter missions, being
slow in turning. (Wikipedia, “Horton
Ho 229”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 675
Date: 2/2/1945
Description: The first Hanford plutonium arrives at Los Alamos. (Atomic
Heritage Foundation, “Atomic
Timeline”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 674
Date: 2/7/1945
Description: Afternoon. Several F6F fighters on patrol (one piloted by
Ensign Norman
P. Stark) from the USS
Wasp aircraft carrier anchored at Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline
Islands are told to investigate a radar target at 30,000 feet some 10
miles west of the fleet. Before they can reach altitude, the object
moves back to the west at high speed. They catch a brief visual glimpse
of it. (LCDR Norman P. Stark, “A
WWII F6F Navy Fighter Pilot’s Experiences in
the Pacific,” Battle of Saipan, January 1, 2000)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 676
Date: 2/10/1945
Description: The Chicago Tribune and Washington Times-Herald reveal Bill
Donovan’s plans for a postwar intelligence agency and publishes a
secret memo he has sent to Roosevelt proposing
its creation. The article compares the proposed agency to the Gestapo.
Knowing that Americans want a smaller federal government after the war,
Roosevelt is not entirely sold on Donovan’s proposal, although Donovan
feels reasonably confident that he can talk the president into the idea.
J.
Edgar Hoover disapproves of Donovan’s plan, which he sees as a
direct threat to FBI authority, even though Donovan has stressed that
his agency will operate only abroad, not domestically. (Walter Trohan,
“Super-Spy
Idea Denounced As New Deal OGPU,” Chicago Tribune, February 10,
1945, p. 1; Central Intelligence Agency, “Origins
of CIA,” August 3, 2005; Mark Riebling, Wedge: From Pearl Harbor to
9/11, Simon & Schuster, 2002, pp. 59–61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 677
Date: 2/11/1945
Description: Air Commodore Colin
McKay Grierson, RAF assistant chief of staff A2, refers Ringwald’s
report to the Air Ministry. (Strange Company 133–134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 678
Date: mid 2/1945
Description: As their C-47 prepares to land at Biggs Field, Fort Bliss,
El Paso, Texas, S/Sgt Ralph Bayer is alarmed to see an aircraft
approaching from the left and only 900 feet below them. The object is
about 30 feet long and a dull, flat gray in color, and it travels in a
straight course 500 feet above the ground until it disappears. (Clark
III 1178)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 679
Date: 2/18/1945
Description: Disaster strikes during the third test flight of the H.IX
V2 in Gotha, Germany. Erwin
Ziller takes off without any problems to perform a series of flight
tests. After about 45 minutes, at an altitude of around 800 meters, one
of the Jumo 004 turbojet engines develops a problem, catches fire and
stops. Ziller is seen putting the aircraft into a dive and pulling up
several times in an attempt to restart the engine and save the precious
prototype. He undertakes a series of four complete turns at a 20° angle.
Ziller does not use his radio or eject from the aircraft. He already is
unconscious as a result of the fumes from the burning engine. The
aircraft crashes just outside the boundary of the airfield. Ziller is
thrown from the aircraft on impact and dies from his injuries two weeks
later. The prototype aircraft is completely destroyed. (Wikipedia, “Horton
Ho 229”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 680
Date: 2/22/1945
Description: Night. A B-24 bomber flying near Chichijima in the
Ogasawara (Bonin) Archipelago, Japan, sees an object trailing exhaust.
It is also picked up on radar and follows the plane for about 20 miles
before disappearing off the screen. (Project 1947, “UFO
Reports, 1945”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 681
Date: 3/1945
Description: A man is squirrel hunting in a wooded area near Belfast,
Maine, when he sees a huge, elongated object just above the trees. He
runs after it, thinking it is a dirigible about to crash. The object
crashes into the trees at the far edge of a clearing, splitting a huge
pine tree down the middle. He smells burned rubber. The object seems to
be as big as several B-36 bombers. As he stands there stunned, the
lowest end of the craft begins to rise and he hears a humming sound of
increasing intensity. After it rises to a horizontal position, it begins
to spin faster and faster and the hum becomes very intense. Suddenly one
end spews a shower of fine, silvery threads that glint in the sunlight.
The object begins to change to a white metallic color and it takes off
straight up at fantastic speed. (“I Saw a Flying Saucer,” Flying
Saucers, May 1959, pp. 6–18, 78; Clark III 1178–1179)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 683
Date: 3/1945
Description: A man out hunting observed an elongated object flying very
slowly, tilted toward the earth. It crashed into some trees at the end
of a clearing. The enormous craft seemed undamaged as it rested briefly
on the ground, then lifted again with a humming sound, started to spin,
released a shower of fine silvery threads, and rose straight up,
disappearing in seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS May., 59 (Vallee)
Location: Belfast, Maine
ID: 53
Date: 3/1945
Description: Aboard the US attack transport “Delarof,” 14 sailors saw a
dark sphere rise out of the ocean, follow a curved trajectory, and fly
away after circling their ship.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Evidence 30 (Vallee)
Location: Aleutian Islands
ID: 54
Date: 3/1945
Description: The K-25 gaseous diffusion plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
begins production. (Wikipedia, “K-25”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 682
Date: 3/1945
Description: Ray
Palmer travels to Barto, Pennsylvania, and spends a weekend with Richard
Shaver and his wife. He witnesses Shaver’s channeling trances and
the different voices describing the cavern world that he generates
during his sleep. (Wikipedia, “Richard
Sharpe Shaver”; Walter Kafton-Minkel, Subterranean Worlds,
Loompanics, 1989, pp. 137–144;
Clark III 872, 1069; Richard Toronto, War over Lemuria: Richard Shaver,
Ray Palmer, and the Strangest Chapter of 1940s Science Fiction,
McFarland, 2013; David Halperin, “The
Shaver Mystery—Richard
Shaver, Ray Palmer, and the Quest for Lemuria (Part 1),” July 4,
2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 684
Date: 3/10/1945
Description: A Japanese Fu-Go balloon strikes a high-tension wire on the
Bonneville Power Administration in Washington State. The balloon causes
sparks and a fireball that results in the power being cut.
Coincidentally, the largest consumer of energy on this power grid is the
Hanford site of the Manhattan Project, which suddenly loses power. The
officer in charge at Hanford, Col. Franklin
Matthias, says “it shut down the plant cold, and it took us about
three days to get it back up to full power again.” (Franklin Matthias,
“Japanese
Balloon Bombs Fu-Go,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, August 10,
2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 685
Date: 3/12/1945
Description: Nearly a week after the US Army launches Operation
Lumberjack to cross the Rhine River, the Ho 229 is included in the
Jäger-Notprogramm (Emergency Fighter Program) for accelerated production
of inexpensive “wonder weapons.” The prototype workshop is moved to the
Gothaer Waggonfabrik (Gotha) in Friedrichroda, Germany. In the same
month, work commences on the third prototype, the Ho 229 V3. (Wikipedia,
“Horton
Ho 229”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 686
Date: 3/17/1945
Description: Nazis fired eleven V-2 missiles at a bridge, their first
use against a tactical target and the only time they were fired on a
German target during the war
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Germany
Date: 3/18/1945
Description: Night. A 416th NFS crew is flying a Mosquito 25 miles
northwest of Florence, Italy. Suddenly a light is flying alongside them
at 13,000 feet. It doesn’t appear on the radar screen. The pilot turns
the plane toward the light, keeping on its tail, pursuing at 260 mph and
climbing to 16,000 feet. Suddenly the light disappears. (Strange Company
148)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 688
Date: 3/18/1945
Description: Grierson writes
to Samuel
V. Boykin that the Air Ministry thinks the fireballs are either
Me-262’s or flak rockets. (Strange Company 147)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 687
Date: late 3/1945
Description: At least two residents of Dresden, Germany, see a round,
flat, silver-colored object without propellors or wings hovering
silently in the air. It suddenly disappears like a “burst soap bubble.”
(“Weltrundschau,”
Weltraumbote, no. 32/22 (July/Aug. 1958): 14–15; Clark III 503)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 689
Date: 3/22/1945
Description: 1:00 p.m. The USS
New York is off New Guinea preparing to rejoin the Seventh Fleet.
Gunner Cpl. Donald Pratt is preparing for a Japanese attack when he sees
a shiny silver object hovering directly over the battleship. It remains
stationary over the ship for 30 minutes and is tracked on ship radar.
Two antiaircraft guns fire on the object, but it does not move or seem
affected. Capt. Kemp
C. Christian Sr. orders the guns to stop. Immediately the object
shoots up and away at a fantastic rate of speed. (Strange Company
151–152)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 690
Date: 3/25/1945
Description: Around 10:30 p.m. Company A of the US 44th Armored Infantry
Battalion is bivouacked on a hill along the Autobahn between Mannheim
and Darmstadt, Germany, when 6–7 circular, glowing, yellow-orange
objects approach at 150 feet, roughly following the road. They are not
in strict formation and seem individually controlled. John G. Norris
recalled that after 5–6 minutes they are hidden by the trees. (Strange
Company 153– 154)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 691
Date: 3/26/1945
Description: During an air operation, Lieut. Calvin
P. Lamb (pilot), Lieut. James G. Holmes (radar observer), and
Sgt. John W. McIsaac (gunner) notice lights on an airborne object. The
lights follow them through a few turns but move away as the crew orbits
north of Iwo Jima, Japan. They give chase, obtaining a slight target on
the aircraft radar, then the object pulls out of sight. A similar
lighted object is again seen March 28 by Lieut. William
F. Sill (pilot), Flight Officer George W. Hayden (radar observer),
and PFC William Brasvell (gunner). (Project 1947, “UFO
Reports, 1945”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 692
Date: 3/27/1945
Description: Final V-2 rockets used during WW2
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Germany
Date: 4/1945
Description: Ray
Palmer publishes a second story by Richard
Shaver, “Thought
Records of Lemuria,” in the June issue of Amazing Stories. Here it is
revealed that Shaver’s knowledge of the cave world and Lemuria isn’t
really a “racial memory,” as the first story had asserted. Shaver,
working in a factory, heard voices speaking to him, apparently through
his welding gun. (Richard S. Shaver, “Thought
Records of Lemuria,” Amazing Stories 19, no 2 (June 1945):
16–52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 694
Date: 4/1945
Description: During operations around Okinawa, Japan, the radar crew on
the aircraft carrier USS
Independence frequently notices strange radar returns that move at
slow speeds (30–70 mph). Aircraft and destroyers sent to search for them
never find anything. These radar ghosts are usually detected 25–30 miles
away at an altitude of 1,500 feet, but occasionally 3,500 feet. The
primary diagnostic for these false returns is their speed. The Navy
nicknames them the “ghost of Nansei-shoto” after the Japanese name for
the Ryukyu Islands, of which Okinawa is one. (Strange Company
183–186)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 693
Date: 4/3/1945
End date: 4/4/1945
Description: US B-29 bombers over Honshu, Japan, encounter numerous
balls of light tagging along with them. (Strange Company 157–159)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 695
Date: 4/7/1945
Description: Walter
and Reimar Horten, German designers associated with wingless
aircraft, are arrested by US troops near Göttingen, Germany. (Lance
Cole, Secret Wings of World War II: Nazi Technology and the Allied Arms
Race, Pen & Sword, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 696
Date: 4/10/1945
Description: As part of the Manhattan Project, 18 people in the US are
injected with plutonium in doses ranging from 95 to 5,900 nanocuries
without their knowledge or consent. The intent is to study how plutonium
is absorbed into the digestive tract. The last experiment is conducted
on July 18, 1947. (Wikipedia, “Unethical
human experimentation
in the United States”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 698
Date: 4/10/1945
Description: 11:00 p.m. James L. Hendry sees from his porch in
Jeffersontown, Kentucky, a bright light that seems to be directly above
Fisherville, 3 miles to the east. Its brightness fluctuates and it seems
to be moving directly toward his location, casting a light beam
downward. After 10 minutes, it goes out “like a snuffed candle.” (“A
Meteor?” Louisville Times, April 14, 1945; Project 1947, “UFO
Reports, 1945”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 697
Date: 4/12/1945
End date: 1/20/1953
Description: President Harry S. Truman in office
Type: historical event
Location: Washington DC
Date: 4/12/1945
Description: Roosevelt dies at Warm Springs, Georgia. Harry
S. Truman is sworn in as president.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 699
Date: 4/17/1945
Description: Maj. Gen. James
P. Hodges writes a memorandum to Gen. Henry
H. “Hap” Arnold, saying that infrared devices are now available to
take photographs of “balls of fire” in the Pacific. (Project 1947, “UFO
Reports, 1945”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 700
Date: 4/22/1945
Description: The USS
Lewis Hancock is northeast of Okinawa, Japan, when the SG radar
picks up an unidentified target at 6 miles heading their way at 70–115
mph. Its movements are erratic. Two miles out, the ship identifies a
“tight formation of more than fifty birds.” (Strange Company 184)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 701
Date: 4/24/1945
Description: The USS
Audubon is headed for Okinawa, Japan, with US Army passengers and
equipment. Radar operators pick up “unidentified aeroplanes” heading
their way. The screens show a blip, alternately fuzzy and strong, some 8
miles away headed down the starboard side at 25 mph. Still, nothing can
be seen visually, and the radar operator suggests that it is a flock of
birds. (Strange Company 184–186)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 702
Date: 4/25/1945
Description: 9:45 a.m. Acting Squadron Leader Kit Francis Williams of
the RAF 617 Bomber Squadron is flying a Lancaster with 25 other aircraft
to bomb Hitler’s headquarters at Berchtesgaden, Germany, in the Bavarian
Alps. Just after a turn near Kaiserslautern, Germany, at 16,500 feet,
Williams witnesses an object like a large woolly blanket that takes up
his entire windshield. He thinks it could be as much as 4–5 miles wide.
It moves vertically and is gone in an instant. Suddenly his aircraft
loses its electrical power and loses one of its bombs. He and his bomber
and engineer get severe headaches. They return to base in England after
regaining power. (Keith Basterfield, “Observation
by Pilot over Germany, 1945,” Unidentified Aerial
Phenomena—Scientific Research, November 14, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 703
Date: 4/26/1945
Description: Gen. Curtis
LeMay’s XXI Bomber Command’s Air Intelligence staff produces a
5-page report representing the most up-to-date information and theories
on the balls of fire but cannot find a good explanation for them.
(Strange Company 162–163)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 704
Date: 5/1945
Description: German scientist Viktor
Schauberger, who
has been using inmates from the Mauthausen concentration camp to help
him develop new aircraft and submarine engines, is captured by Allied
forces in Leonstein, Austria. Supposedly his devices and documents,
which allegedly include a prototype flying saucer, are kept under lock
and key. He is released in March 1946 and moves to Linz, Austria, but
the Americans do not confiscate his workshop and laboratory materials,
although they prohibit him from further military experimentation.
(Wikipedia, “Nazi UFOs”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 705
Date: 5/3/1945
Description: Early morning. Nine B-24’s with the 11th Bombardment
Group’s 431st Squadron are heading out on a bombing mission against
Japanese air installations on Truk [now Chuuk] Atoll in Micronesia. One
plane over Fala Island sees two objects at their altitude of 11,000
feet, changing from cherry red to orange then white, then dying out and
turning cherry red again. Both follow the B-24 through all sorts of
evasive actions. (“B-24
Sights Circles
of Light,” UFO Historical Revue, no. 2 (September 1998): 8; Strange
Company 163–165; NICAP, “May 2,
Truk Atoll Sighting”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 706
Date: 5/5/1945
Description: A pregnant woman, Elsie Mitchell, and five children are
killed when they discover a Japanese Fu-Go balloon bomb that has landed
in the forest of Gearhart Mountain near Bly in southern Oregon.
(Wikipedia, “Fu-Go balloon
bomb”) May 23 and 25 — Night. In the wake of two B-29 raids on
Tokyo, Japan, both nights, businessman Iomoyo Okado looks up from his
air raid shelter and sees slow-moving “roundish objects, like hot cakes,
about 20 square yards” in diameter, and silent. They are blue or gray in
color. (“‘Flying
Hot Cakes’ over Tokyo in 1945,” St. Joseph (Mo.) News-Press, July
12, 1947, p. 6; Clark III 503)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 707
Date: 6/1/1945
Description: The Army Air Force approves a Northrop-recommended change
for installing eight jet engines in each of two modified YB-35
piston-driven flying wings, which are redesignated YB-49s. (Wikipedia,
“Northrop
YB-49”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 711
Date: 6/1/1945
Description: 7:30 p.m. A shiny, tubular object, 5–6 feet long, is
observed over Morganton, North Carolina. It streaks toward the
northwest, blue flame shooting from the rear. After it vanishes in the
mountains near Lake James, witnesses hear an explosion. (Loren E. Gross,
The
Mystery of Unidentified Flying Objects—A Prelude, 1896–1949, The
author, 1971, p. 156)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 712
Date: 6/9/1945
Description: XXI Bomber Command Air Intelligence issues an Air
Intelligence Report on the balls of fire in the Pacific Theatre. The
Truk sighting is attributed to an unknown Japanese experimental
aircraft, though not a jet. (Strange Company 177–180)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 713
Date: Summer 1945
Description: Ensign Rolan D. Powell and 5 others, while stationed at US
Naval Air Station in Pasco WA, were scrambled in their F6F Hellcats to
intercept unknown flying craft the size of three aircraft carriers.
These craft where hovering at high altitude above the top-secret
Plutonium production facility in Hanford, WA. Pilots were ordered above
42k feet, well above their rated ceiling, but were unable to reach the
unknown craft.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: “Alien Base”, Timothy Good, page 152 (photos)
Location: Hanford, WA
Date: summer 1945
Description: Radioman Robert S. Crawford and 13 other sailors aboard the
US Army Transport Delarof see
a large, dark sphere rise out of the ocean east of Adak in the Aleutian
Islands, Alaska. The UFO, showing darkly against the setting sun, climbs
almost straight up for a few moments, then it arcs into level flight,
and circles the ship two or three times. All the observers are convinced
it is a large object. Crawford estimates the UFO is 150–250 feet in
diameter. The gun crews hold their fire. After several minutes, it
disappears to the south. (NICAP, “Large
Object Emerges
from Sea near the Delarof”;
“The
Question of Submerging UFO’s,” UFO Investigator 4, o. 5 (March
1968): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 710
Date: summer 1945
Description: After 5:00 p.m. Future ufologist Ann
Druffel is on a bus returning from her summer job in Long Beach,
California, when she sees out of the left-hand window a bright,
stationary, yellowish-white light in the northeastern sky. It looks like
Venus but has a yellow color. She gets off the bus and still watches it,
walking home. Soon she sees it is moving slowly to the northwest. She
gets her mother to view it as well. Druffel thinks it is too high to be
a coastal defense balloon. Druffel watches it for 90 minutes, after
which it takes on some “activity.” Some 10–15 pieces of light begin
separating from it, fading from view after moving several diameters away
from the large object. (Ann Druffel, “UFO Sightings by UFO Researchers:
The ‘Inaccessible Cases,’” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 139 (September 1979),
pp. 14–15; Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR
29, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 708
Date: summer 1945
Description: Future ufologist Illobrand
von Ludwiger sees an object like a black plate, whose diameter is
one-eighth that of the Moon, flying against the wind below the clouds,
in Stendal, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. (Margaret Sachs, The UFO
Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, p. 357)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 709
Date: 6/26/1945
Description: United Nations charter signed, goes into full force on
10/24/1945
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: New York City
Date: 7/1945
Description: When several balloon-shaped objects appear above Selfridge
Field [now Selfridge Air National Guard Base] near Mount Clemens,
Michigan, the base commander asks for a volunteer to attack them as
possible Japanese balloon bombs. Jean Kisling, serving with a Free
French Air Force detachment as an instructor on P-47 Thunderbolts,
accepts the challenge. He chases one “well beyond the service ceiling of
the P-47D” and opens fire with 8 machine guns. The object shoots away
sideways on edge, leaving a contrail. (Good Need, p. 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 716
Date: 7/1945
Description: In northern Okinawa, Japan, on a bluff looking toward the
South China Sea, Artillery Capt. William
A. Mandel sees a cigar-shaped object with a lighted tail moving at
eye level at about 200 –300 mph at an elevation of no more than 400
feet. He estimates its length at 30–40 feet and its diameter at 6–8
feet. (Project 1947, “UFO Reports,
1945”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 715
Date: 7/1945
Description: The 9th Bombardment Group on Tinian in the Northern
Marianas: “During our night missions in June and July a UFO phenomenon
was reported. Our air crews started sighting balls of fire, i.e.,
glowing objects about the size of a full moon which flew around in the
vicinity of our flying patterns over Japan. One of our crews reported
that one of the objects followed their airplane halfway to Iwo Jima. I
saw them on two missions. I don’t remember any reports of any hostile
action by these objects and the reports of sightings stopped after a
couple of months. The object of these reports was dismissed by some
experts as the planet Venus. And, after these reports started coming in,
some crews did mistake the rising full moon as one of these balls of
fire. Some reports speculated that these balls of fire were exhausts
from a Japanese development called a Baka Bomb, but exhaust flames can
only be seen from the rear; and these objects appeared to have the same
size and intensity in whatever direction they were traveling. I have
never heard of any official assessment as to what these objects were. I
had an occasion to ask General LeMay about
them several years after the war and he had no explanation. I am sure
that what I saw was neither Venus nor the moon nor a Baka Bomb.”
(Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 24; Henry C. Huglin,
“Group
Commander’s Reminiscences,” in Lawrence S. Smith, et al., History of
the 9th Bombardment Group (VH), 9th Bomb Group Association, 1995,
pp. 27–28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 714
Date: 7/1/1945
Description: The Air Technical Service Command is moved into T-2
Intelligence. (Wikipedia, “Air
Materiel Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 717
Date: mid 7/1945
Description: Noon. Pilot Rolan D. Powell and five other F6F Hellcat
pilots at Naval Air Station Pasco, Washington, are scrambled after radar
reports a fast-moving object over the nearby Hanford facility. They see
a bright object with a saucer-like appearance at. It is the size of
three aircraft carriers, side-by side, oval shaped, very streamlined
like a stretched-out egg and, and pinkish in color. It hovers in a fixed
position at 65,000 feet and then goes straight up and disappears.
(NICAP, “Huge
Saucer over Nuclear Reactor—Radar/Visual”; Strange Company 188;
Patrick Gross, “Alleged
UFO Intercept Attempt at Hanford Nuclear Plant, July 1945”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 719
Date: 7/16/1945
Description: The first detonation of a nuclear weapon (an
implosion-style plutonium-based bomb) takes place at the Trinity site on
what is now the White Sands Missile Range near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
At this time, the bomb’s price tag, adjusted for inflation, is $28
billion. (Wikipedia, “Trinity
(nuclear test)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 718
Date: 7/16/1945
Description: First atomic bomb test “Trinity”, 35 miles (56 km)
southeast of Socorro, NM (now part of the White Sands Missile
Range)
Type: atomic
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Atomic type: aboveground
Atomic KT: 18.6
Date: 7/20/1945
Description: The Joint Chiefs of Staff establish Operation Overcast, a
forerunner to Project Paperclip, a secret recruitment program to aid in
postwar military research. The Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency is
established to conduct the operation. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Paperclip”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 720
Date: 7/24/1945
Description: President Truman discloses
to Soviet leader Joseph
Stalin that the United States has atomic weapons. Stalin feigns
little surprise, since he already knows this through espionage. (Gene
Dannen, “Truman
Tells Stalin, July 24,
1945”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 721
Date: 8/1945
Description: 5:00 a.m. Ilona Johansson-Paasonen, staying in a sauna
along lake Längelmävesi, Finland, wakes up and sees a 35-foot dazzling
ball of fire streaking in her direction along the opposite shore. She
throws herself to the floor, but when nothing happens she looks outside
and sees a big dog, frozen in terror, its gaze fixed on the lake and a
dark log-like object, 6 feet long, gliding through the water with a
tall, slender man at the prow. He is dressed in a green coverall. On the
other side another man sits steering an engine enclosed within a big
glass bulb. (Ilona Johansson- Paasonen, “Humanoideja
Längelmävedellä?” Vimana 1970, no. 3/4, pp. 22–24; Ilona
Johansson-Paasonen, “Humanoids
at Längelmävesi,” FSR Case Histories 13 (February 1973): 3–4; Clark
III 266)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 723
Date: 8/1945
Description: The Army Signal Security Agency persuades ITT, RCA, and
Western Union to continue the wartime cable intercept program, both
foreign and domestic, now called Project SHAMROCK. No courts, no
warrants. It remains secret from Congress and the President. (Wikipedia,
“Project
SHAMROCK”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 722
Date: 8/6/1945
Description: 8:15 a.m. An atomic bomb (a fission weapon containing 64
kilograms of Uranium-235, Little Boy) is detonated 1,900 feet above
Hiroshima, Japan, by the Enola
Gay. The weapon is considered very inefficient, with only 1.7% of
its material fissioning, but it is enough to obliterate the city. Some
78,000 people die instantly or immediately afterward in the firestorm.
By the end of the year, another 25,000 will also sicken and die from
radiation exposure. (Wikipedia, “Atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 724
Date: 8/6/1945
Description: First atomic bomb attack at Hiroshima, Japan. 20,000
soldiers killed, 70,000–126,000 civilians killed.
Type: atomic
Reference: link
Location: Hiroshima, Japan
Atomic type: aboveground
Atomic KT: 16
Date: 8/7/1945
Description: During a press conference with the Seattle Times, Col. Franklin
Matthias, officer in charge at the Hanford Engineer Works in
Washington, admits the plant has had problems with aerial intrusions,
but that radar has been installed and an arrangement made with the Navy
to intercept any unidentified aircraft. (Project 1947, “UFOs
over Hanford:
Commander R. W. Hendershot”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 725
Date: 8/9/1945
Description: 11:01 a.m. Another atomic bomb (an implosion-type plutonium
weapon, Fat Man) is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, by Bockscar. Although
the bomb is more powerful than the one used on Hiroshima, its effects
are confined by hillsides to the narrow Urakami Valley. At least
35,000–40,000 people are killed, and 60,000 others are injured.
(Wikipedia, “Atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 726
Date: 8/9/1945
Description: Second atomic bomb attack at Nagasaki, Japan. 39,000–80,000
killed, At least 150 soldiers killed.
Type: atomic
Reference: link
Location: Nagasaki, Japan
Atomic type: aboveground
Atomic KT: 21
Date: 8/10/1945
Description: 3:00 a.m. Pianist Doris La Fountain is driving home along
Market Street after finishing a concert at a night club in East Paterson
[now Elmwood Park], New Jersey. She is accompanied by music store
proprietor Thomas Brino and
James Shaw of Clifton, New Jersey. For about 5 minutes they watch a
brilliant red and green rectangular object maneuver at ground level
about 70 feet away. It shoots off into the sky and disappears. (“Seeing
Saucer Sweet Music to a Pianist,” New York Daily News, September 8,
1957, Passaic-Bergen Sec., p. 22; Lore and Deneault, p. 145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 727
Date: 8/16/1945
Description: “Trinity” Crash Retrieval near San Antonio, NM
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: link
Location: San Antonio, NM
Date: 8/16/1945
Description: A UFO allegedly crashes near San Antonio, New Mexico, and
is discovered by Jose Padilla, 9, and Remigio Baca, 7, when they are
looking for a cow. The crashed saucer has created a gouge, and they can
see entities moving around inside. They collect two shiny metal parts
from the periphery of the crash site. A recent analysis shows that the
metal is of terrestrial origin. (Paola Leopizzi Harris, “The
Reme Baca and Jose Padilla Witness Case,”
The UFO Chronicles, November 30, 2010; John Greenewald, “Analysis
of Two Metallic Parts Purportedly from
a Crashed Unidentified Aerial Object (San Antonio, New Mexico, August
16, 1945),” The Black Vault, February 1, 2017; Jacques Vallee and
Paola Leopizzi Harris, Trinity: The Best-Kept Secret, StarWorksUSA,
2021; Kevin D. Randle, “Trinity:
The Best Kept Secret—A
Critique,” A Different Perspective, June 2, 2021; Jacques Vallée,
“The
Other Lessons of Trinity,” Trinity blog, December 6, 2021; Kevin D.
Randle, “Jacques Vallée
and Ten Unexplained UFO Cases and Metallic Debris,” A Different
Perspective, December 16, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 728
Date: 8/21/1945
Description: Manhattan Project physicist Harry
Daghlian is conducting an after-hours experiment at the remote Omega
Site of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico when his hand slips. The
test assembly he has built—a ball of plutonium surrounded by tungsten
carbide bricks—goes critical. He sees a momentary blue flash and is
struck by a wave of gamma and neutron radiation amounting to more than
500 rem. He disassembles the experiment, walks away, and admits himself
to medical care. He falls into a coma and dies on September 15, the
first person to die accidentally from close exposure to nuclear fission.
(Adam Higginbotham, Midnight at Chernobyl, Simon & Schuster, 2019,
pp. 30–31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 729
Date: 8/22/1945
Description: Stalin appoints Lavrentiy Beria to direct Soviet atomic
bomb effort
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Moscow, Russia
Date: 8/28/1945
Description: Twelve 5th Air Force intelligence specialists flying on a
C-46 approaching Iwo Jima (in the Ogasawara Islands, Japan) see three
white, teardrop-shaped objects paralleling the plane. Navigational
needles go wild, the engine sputters, and the plane falters until the
objects speed away. One of the passengers is future UFO investigator Leonard
Stringfield. (Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest, 1977,
pp. 9–10; Strange Company 191–193, 209–211; NICAP, “C-46
Encounters Objects / Magnetic Compasses ‘West Wild’”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 730
Date: 9/1945
Description: Policy adviser Ferdinand
Eberstadt writes for Secretary of the Navy James
Forrestal a report recommending a complete realignment of national
security organizations. (Wikipedia, “Eberstadt
Report”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 733
Date: 9/1945
Description: The US Army atomic bomb production unit, Z Division, named
for its director, Jerrold
R. Zacharias from Los Alamos, New Mexico, moves to Oxnard Field, New
Mexico, from Wendover Field [now Airport], Utah, to be closer to Los
Alamos. This marks the beginning of Sandia Base [now part of Kirtland
AFB]. Nearby Kirtland Field is used as a B-29 base for aircraft
compatibility and drop tests. By October, all the staff and facilities
at Wendover are transferred to Sandia. As reservist officers are
demobilized, they are replaced by about 50 hand- picked regular
officers. (Wikipedia, “Manhattan
Project”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 732
Date: 9/1945
Description: The first group of seven German rocket scientists arrive at
Fort Strong in Boston harbor, Massachusetts, through Operation Overcast:
Wernher
von Braun, Erich
W. Neubert, Theodor A. Poppel, August Schultze, Eberhard
Rees, Wilhelm
Jungert, and Walter Schwidetzky. By the end of the year, they and two
other groups are moved to Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sands, New
Mexico, as “War Department Special Employees.” (Wikipedia, “Operation
Paperclip”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 731
Date: 9/2/1945
Description: End of WW2
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 9/20/1945
Description: The OSS is dissolved by Executive Order, effective October
1, scattering personnel through the Departments of State and War. The
Research and Analysis Branch is transferred to the State Department. The
War Department takes over Secret Intelligence (SI) and Counter Espionage
(X2), which are rolled up into the Strategic Services Unit (SSU) headed
by Brig. Gen. John
Magruder, the former OSS Deputy Director of Intelligence who
oversees the OSS liquidation. Most of the other personnel are cashiered.
(Wikipedia, “Office
of Strategic
Services”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 734
Date: 9/26/1945 (approximate)
Description: Night. Machinist Mate First Class George M. Reynolds,
attached to the submarine tender USS
Beaver with Submarine Squadron 45, anchored in Buckner Bay, Okinawa,
Japan. He is on the main deck when he sees a bluish light move to the
south, turn right, go over to the west, stop, and stand still. When it
moves again, it goes back to the general area it started from. (Strange
Company 195–196)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 735
Date: 10/1945
Description: The temporary successor to the OSS, the Strategic Services
Unit (SSU), begins
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Langley, VA
Date: 10/1945
Description: 8:00 p.m. While driving a car between Bryan and Stryker,
Ohio, Gerald
M. Kryling and his wife Thelma approach a bright light about 50 feet
in the air and 20 feet from the road near some high-tension wires. It
appears to be a 35-foot oval object with an amber-colored opening like a
window that has shadows moving around inside. It takes off horizontally
at great speed and then moves straight up. (CUFOS case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 736
Date: 10/2/1945
Description: British Operation Backfire near Cuxhaven: V-2 launch
test
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: Cuxhaven, Germany
Rocket type: V-2
Date: 10/9/1945
Description: Brig. Gen. George
C. McDonald, AAF director of intelligence, writes to Maj. Gen. Elwood
Richard Quesada in
answer to a request for the investigation into wartime “balls of fire.”
Exhaustive investigations of German technical personnel and US and UK
sources reveal no confirmation of German involvement with the phenomena.
(Macdonald–Quesada
correspondence, October
1945)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 737
Date: 10/15/1945
Description: British Operation Backfire near Cuxhaven: V-2 launch
test
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: Cuxhaven, Germany
Rocket type: V-2
Date: 10/24/1945
Description: United Nations charter in full force
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: New York City, New York
Date: 11/1945
Description: Operation Overcast is renamed Project Paperclip.
(Wikipedia, “Operation
Paperclip”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 738
Date: 12/1945
Description: Lt. Col. Jo Chamberlin’s article on foo fighters appears in
American Legion Magazine. Intelligence officers have ordered him not to
state his military rank or position, but he is a special aide to Gen. Henry
H. “Hap” Arnold. (Jo
Chamberlin, “The
Foo Fighter Mystery,” American Legion Magazine 39, no. 6 (December
1945): 9, 43–47; “Foo
Fighter Archive Donated to UHR,” UFO Historical Revue, no. 17
(December 2015): 2–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 739
Date: 12/5/1945
Description: A training flight (Flight 19) of five TBM Avenger torpedo
bombers disappears while over the Atlantic Ocean. The squadron’s flight
plan is scheduled to take them due east from Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
for 141 miles, north for 73 miles, and then back over a final 140-mile
leg to complete the exercise. The flight never returns to base. A report
by Navy investigators concludes that flight leader Lt. Charles
C. Taylor mistook small islands offshore for the Florida Keys after
his compasses stopped working, resulting in the flight heading over open
sea and away from land. The report is later amended by the Navy to read
“cause unknown” to avoid blaming Taylor for the loss of five aircraft
and 14 men. One of the search-and-rescue aircraft deployed to look for
them, a PBM Mariner with a 13-man crew, also disappears. The report
attributes the loss of the PBM aircraft to an explosion in midair while
searching for the flight. According to contemporaneous sources, the
Mariner has a history of explosions due to vapor leaks when heavily
loaded with fuel, as it might have been for a potentially long
search-and-rescue operation. A tanker off the coast of Florida sees an
explosion and a widespread oil slick when fruitlessly searching for
survivors. The weather is becoming stormy by the end of the incident.
None of the Avenger bombers have been found. (Wikipedia, “Flight
19”; Larry Kusche, The Bermuda Triangle Mystery— Solved, Harper
& Row, 1975, pp. 97–122;
Larry Kusche, The
Disappearance of Flight 19, Harper
& Row, 1980)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 740
Date: 1946
End date: 1951
Description: Between 1946–1951 the Army fires 67 V-2 rockets from the
White Sands V-2 Launching Sight, Launch Complex 33
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Launch Complex 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Date: 1946
Description: Soviet “Sverdlovsk-44” atomic bomb project plant opened
(Uranium enrichment)
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Soviet Union
Date: 1946
Description: Soviet “Arzamas-16” atomic bomb project plant opened - the
Soviet “Los Alamos” (Weapons design and research, warhead
assembly)
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Reference: link
Location: Soviet Union
Date: 1946
Description: Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s fourth Antarctic expedition
(Operation High Jump). Involved 4,700 men, 13 ships (including the
aircraft carrier Philippine Sea), and 25 aircraft. It was the largest
Antarctic expedition ever attempted and would map and photograph almost
1,400,000 square km of the Antarctic continent, especially the
coastline. Byrd made his second flight over the South Pole and was
involved in a number of other flights. In 1948 the U.S. Navy produced a
documentary about the operation. It was called The Secret Land and won
an Academy Award for best documentary.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Antarctica
Date: 1946
Description: Dancers on the roof of a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey,
watch the rapid passage of four square-shaped lights, reddish in color
and aligned side by side, moving from the east and disappearing in the
west in less than 60 seconds. One witness, meteorologist and RAF pilot
George Raymond Leatherbarrow, estimates their altitude at 50,000 feet
based on reflections on cirrus clouds. (G. R. Leatherbarrow, “Two
Early UFO Cases from the Middle East,”
Awareness 5, no. 3 (Autumn 1976): 4–5; Clark III 1177)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 742
Date: 1946
Description: A farmer named Gunyon in Westerham, Kent, England, calls
the British Technical Intelligence staff asking that the Air Ministry
come and remove one of these “darned contraptions” which has fallen on
his farm. The intelligence officers ask for directions and are told to
drive from Croydon to Westerham, turning onto a lane when they reach a
pub called The White Dog. Amid great security, two staff cars are
dispatched, but fail to find the farm. They locate a pub called The
White Hart and a farmer named Bunyan, who strenuously denies having made
the call. Although the incident appears to be a hoax, few people can
reach the Technical Intelligence staff and convince them to make a field
visit. Indeed, the intelligence officers believe that former Air
Intelligence scientist Reginald
Victor Jones, who has been skeptical of foo fighters and ghost
rockets, is behind the affair. Jones writes that a signal is received
from Gen. Douglas
MacArthur’s staff in Tokyo, asking for confirmation of a report that
a Russian flying bomb had recently crashed in England. The other
Director of Intelligence on the Air Staff, Air Commodore Roland Eugene
Vintras, suggests to Jones that this might tie in with the “Westerham
Incident.” (R. V. Jones, Most Secret War, Hamish Hamilton, 1978, pp. 507–513;
“UFO
Britannia: Part 2—World War Foo and Post
War Cover Ups,” Above Top Secret forum, December 19, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 744
Date: 1946
Description: American astrophysicist Charles
Greeley Abbot writes that he thinks Earth might make contact with
Venusians, coming into “fluent communication by wireless with a race
brought up completely separate, having their own systems of government,
social usages, religions, and surrounded by vegetation and animals
entirely unrelated to any here on earth.” (Charles Greeley Abbot, The
Earth and the Stars, Van Nostrand, 1946, p. 110;
Roger D. Launius, “Venus-Earth-Mars:
Comparative Climatology and the Search for Life in the Solar
System,” Life 2, no. 3 (2012): 255–273)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 743
Date: 1946
Description: The US nuclear stockpile consists of 9 atomic bombs. (Ryan
Crierie, “U.S.
Nuclear Stockpile, 1945–2009”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 741
Date: 1946
Description: Ghost Rockets seen in Scandinavia
Type: UFO sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Scandinavia
Date: 1/10/1946
Description: Public announcements of radar signals bounced off
Moon
Type: scientific advance
Reference: Medium
Location: New Jersey
Date: 1/10/1946
Description: The Air Materiel Command at Wright Field, Ohio, issues a
restricted-access document, German Flying Wings Designed by Horten
Brothers by Capt. N. LeBlanc, detailing the drawings, photos, models,
and documents relating to aircraft designed by Nazi aircraft designers
the Horten
brothers that were recovered in Germany by Allied forces. (N.
LeBlanc, German Flying Wings Designed by Horten Brothers, Air Material
Command, Technical Intelligence summary report no, F-SU-1110-ND, January
10, 1946; H. P. Dabrowski, The Horten Flying Wing in World War II: The
History and Development of the Ho 229, Schiffer, 1991; Kevin D. Randle
and Donald R. Schmitt, “Roswell and the Flying Wing,” IUR 18, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1993): 3; John Powell, “The
Horten Flying
Wings,” War Bird Forum, July 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 745
Date: 1/18/1946
Description: 11:00 p.m. A US C-54 transport plane is at 7,000 feet over
the French countryside on its way to Paris, France. Suddenly the pilot
sees a brilliant “shooting star” about 35° above the horizon. It streaks
down below the eastern horizon, then reappears and moves in a hyperbola
before falling again. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History:
1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed., p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 746
Date: 1/22/1946
Description: President Truman creates
a National Intelligence Authority (State, War, Navy, Chief of Staff, and
a presidential representative with the DCI as a non-voting member) for
policy and coordination and a Central Intelligence Group for operations
under it. Rear Adm. Sidney
Souers heads the CIG as Director of Central Intelligence.
(Wikipedia, “National
Intelligence Authority”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 747
Date: 2/21/1946
Description: 8:30 p.m. One or more meteors are seen in west Finland and
the counties of Västerbotten, Västernorrland, Kopparberg [now Dalarna],
Gävleborg, Uppsala, Östergötland, and Skaraborg [now Västra Götaland] in
Sweden. It supposedly sets a farmhouse on fire in Vaasa province,
Finland. It leaves a long trail of smoke in the sky. (Archives for the
Unexplained, “Case
XXX: The Meteor That Did Not Start a Fire”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 748
Date: 2/26/1946
Description: Ghost Rocket reports in Scandinavia, Sweden/Finland
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Scandinavia
Date: 3/1946
Description: The Air Technical Service Command becomes the Air Materiel
Command. (Wikipedia, “Air
Materiel Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 749
Date: 3/5/1946
Description: 6:00 p.m. João Prestes is returning on foot from a fishery
on the banks of the Tietê River to his sister’s home in Araçariguama,
São Paulo, Brazil. As he is entering the house, a light from outside
strikes and envelopes him. He becomes dizzy and confused but manages to
get up and go inside. He summons Araci Gomide, a nurse who has served in
the military with him. Gomide describes his friend as being literally
cooked, with his flesh detaching from his bones, injuries on his feet
and ankles, and his feet clenched like the claws of a bird. His arms are
burned and the flesh on his fingers is falling off. His chest, neck, and
face also seem to be burned but not charred or red. Prestes dies on the
way to a hospital in Santana di Parnaíba at 3:00 a.m. (Clark III
166–167; Brazil 17–21; Pablo Villarubia Mauso, “The
Incredible Saga of João Prestes,” UFO Casebook)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 750
Date: 3/6/1946
Description: The Western Defense Command is deactivated. (Wikipedia, “Western
Defense Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 751
Date: 3/6/1946
Description: The Western Defense Command, activated on 3/17/1941, is
deactivated
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Pacific Coast Region, US
Date: 3/14/1946
Description: Dusk. Paul Cummings Jr. is driving east on US Highway 136
about 10 miles east of Havana, Illinois, with Douglas Gowdy. A bright
orange ball appears in the road about 1 mile ahead, gliding down the
highway only one foot above the pavement and possibly touching both
shoulders of the road. When it is within 2,000 feet, Cummings pulls the
car over and stops, and they rush out to lie down in a ditch, fearing an
explosion. When they look up again, the object is nowhere in sight.
(Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 26–27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 752
Date: 3/15/1946
Description: First static test fire of V-2 missile at White Sands Pad
33
Type: aerospace
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Date: 4/1946
Alternate date: 5/1946
Description: Around 12:00 noon. Richard R. Hill and Stanley Ogdrzyiak
are driving in an open convertible on the Country Club Road near
Lafayette, New York. Suddenly they see a gleaming, metallic,
cigar-shaped object in the sky. It remains motionless at 5,000–10,000
feet altitude, which at that height would make it 300–400 feet long.
After 2 minutes, it disappears instantaneously. (“Case
84,” CRIFO Newsletter 2, no. 3 (June 3, 1955): 4; Clark III
1179)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 755
Date: 4/2/1946
Description: The Strategic Services Unit is transferred to the new
Central Intelligence Group and becomes the Office of Special Operations.
(Wikipedia, “Strategic
Services Unit”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 753
Date: 4/16/1946
Description: First V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, reaching
5.5km altitude (radio cut off after launch, fin 4 failed prior to
cutoff)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 5.5km
Date: 4/20/1946
Description: League of Nations dissolved, succeeded by the United
Nations (UN)
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 4/25/1946
Description: While ice fishing at Anima Nipissing Lake, Ontario, Don
Cameron and his family watch 12–14 small disc- shaped objects descend at
a 45° angle about 75 feet away. They come spinning down on the ice, rise
2 feet into the air, then come down again. Cameron walks toward them,
and they ascend and shoot away at the same angle and direction. They
find black marks on the snow and ice. (Clark III 1179)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 754
Date: 5/1946
End date: 12/1946
Description: 2,000 Ghost Rocket sightings in Sweden/Finland
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: link
Location: Scandinavia
Date: 5/1946
Description: Day. Navy Lieutenant Andrew A. Titcomb is on leave and
picking oranges at his wife’s family home at La Grange, north of
Titusville, Florida, when he hears a whistling noise and sees a dark
“flying football” directly overhead at about 1,000 feet elevation moving
at 125 mph. It appears 15–20 feet in diameter and flies in an arc to the
southeast. It disappears in a cloudbank. (UFOEv, p. 6;
Clark III 1179)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 756
Date: 5/10/1946
Description: First nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33,
112.6km altitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 112.6km
Date: 5/13/1946
Description: Plans for a new test site for the first Soviet ballistic
missiles and atomic bombs at Kapustin Yar test site
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Astrakhan Oblast
Date: 5/13/1946
Description: A rocket is seen traveling over Helsinki, Finland, in a
southwesterly direction at 1,000 feet. It supposedly moves at supersonic
speed, emitting a magnesium-like light and a trail of smoke. (Jan L.
Aldrich, comp., The Ghost
Rocket File, Fund
for UFO Research, 2000, p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 758
Date: 5/13/1946
Description: The Soviets establish a rocket center called NII-88 [now
TsNIIMash] at Kaliningrad [now Korolyov], Russia, northeast of Moscow.
Missile designer Sergei
Korolev is appointed chief designer of Section 3 on long-range
missiles. Stalin declares Korolev’s name a secret, which it remains
until his death in 1966. Russia keeps dozens of its captured German
scientists here, working on special projects until 1955. (Wikipedia, “TsNIIMash”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 757
Date: 5/18/1946
Description: 10:45 p.m. Gösta
Carlsson, later
to become founder and owner of Cernelle AB, is walking in the forested
area of Kronoskagen near Ängelholm, Sweden, when he sees a disc-shaped
machine more than 50 feet in diameter. On the top is a cupola with oval
windows, and beneath it are an oblong “fan,” two legs, a small ladder,
and openings. A man dressed in a white, one-piece outfit gestures to
Carlsson to stop. Two other occupants, three of them women, all wearing
suits and transparent helmets, are nearby. One of the males points a
boxlike device at the witness, who leaves the scene but returns by a
different route 30 minutes later, just in time to see the UFO depart. A
concrete model of the UFO is dedicated in 1963 as a memorial.
(Wikipedia, “UFO-Memorial
Ängelholm”; Sven-Olof Fredrickson, “The
Ängelholm Landing Report,” Flying Saucer Review 18, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1972): 15– 17; Anders Liljegren, “High-Quality
Investigation of 1946 CEIII Case,” AFU Newsletter, no. 38 (March
1995): 2–3; Clark III 528–529; Clas Svahn, “Gösta
Carlssons möte,” Riksorganisationen UFO-Sverige, July 10, 2018;
Håkan Blomqvist, “UFO-Sweden
Memories: Ängelholm 1996,” Håkan Blomqvist’s Blog, July 1, 2020;
Clas Svahn and Gösta Carlsson, Mötet i gläntan: Sveriges mest kända
närkontakt med UFO, 3rd ed., Parthenon, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 759
Date: 5/21/1946
Description: Two motorists report an elongated craft resembling a rocket
or Zeppelin over Stora Mellösa, Sweden. One of the witnesses sees two
short wings, although the other cannot see any despite watching the
object for 5 minutes. (Swords 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 760
Date: 5/24/1946
Description: 2:20 a.m. Witnesses in Landskrona, Sweden, see a wingless,
cigar-shaped object, spurting sparks from its tail. About 300 feet above
the ground, it is moving at airplane speed toward the southwest. (Loren
E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History:
1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed., p. 1; Göran Jansson,
“Spökraketerna
1947,” January 2005, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 761
Date: 5/28/1946
Description: The Aftonbladet newspaper in Stockholm, Sweden, is the
first to use the term “Spökraket” (ghost rocket) in a headline. (Swords
12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 762
Date: 5/29/1946
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 112.1km
altitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 112.6km
Date: 5/31/1946
Description: 11:43 a.m. A huge, metallic, wingless cigar moves rapidly
at 1,000 feet altitude over Katrineholm, Sweden. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed.,
pp. 2–3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 763
Date: 6/6/1946
Description: The Joint Research and Development Board is created by the
Secretaries of War and the Navy to coordinate research efforts. (Joint
Research and Development Board, Organization
Authority Record, June 6, 1946)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 766
Date: 6/9/1946
Description: Night. An enormous light drops earthward over Sala, Sweden,
leaving a long, fiery trail. An explosion is heard. Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed.,
p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 767
Date: 6/9/1946
Description: 10:17 p.m. A rocket-like light passes over Helsinki,
Finland, at 10,000 feet leaving a smoke trail and making a distant
rumble. A luminous afterglow lasts 10 minutes. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 768
Date: 6/10/1946
Description: Lieut. Gen. Hoyt
Vandenberg replaces Souers as
director of the CIG. He expands it and wins the right to collect
intelligence in Latin America. (CIA Historical Staff, Chronology
1946–65, vol. 1,
1946–1955, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 769
Date: 6/12/1946
Description: The Swedish Defense staff secretly orders reports of
unknown rockets to be collected by military and civilian defense units
in Sweden. (Anders Liljegren and Clas Svahn, “The Ghost Rockets,” UFOs
1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, p. 33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 770
Date: 6/13/1946
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 117.2km
altitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 117.2km
Date: 6/18/1946
Description: A first-strike scenario, the Pincher war plan, is created
by the US military to strike Moscow and the Caucasus with 50 nuclear
weapons if the Soviets invade the Middle East. It is never officially
approved, but the Joint Chiefs agree to use it for planning purposes.
(Phillip S. Meilinger, “The
Early War Plans,” Air Force Magazine, December 1, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 771
Date: summer 1946
Description: Day. Eleanor Hancock is in Colorado Springs, Colorado,
looking southwest toward Cheyenne Mountain when two shining silver
objects appear, moving rapidly in tandem from east to west toward the
escarpment. Just before they reach the mountain, they turn sharply
upward, still in formation, and disappear. (Clark III 1179)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 765
Date: summer 1946
Description: Late evening. Two women on a walk in Johannesburg, South
Africa, see an aerial object hovering 5 feet above the roof of a nearby
hotel. It is shaped like a saucer with a round, golden ball in the
center, evenly split between the top and bottom sections. They hear a
clicking noise, and the ball drops through the saucer until it is level
with the roof. More clicks are heard, and the ball rises through and
above the saucer 8–9 feet. In the space between the ball and the disc
the witnesses see two figures larger than normal height (7 feet),
fair-complexioned and broad-shouldered, with short wavy hair. They are
wearing white uniforms with stiff collars and stand motionless until the
object floats away and is lost to view. (John Judge, “Near-Landing
in 1946 in Johannesburg,” Flying Saucer Review 24, no. 5 (March
1979): 14–16; Clark III 266)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 764
Date: 6/25/1946
Description: A four-engine Northrop XB-35 flying wing bomber makes its
first test flight from Jack Northrop Field [now Hawthorne Municipal
Airport] to Muroc Army Air Field [now Edwards AFB] in California.
(Wikipedia, “Northrop
YB-35”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 772
Date: 6/26/1946
Description: The commander of the military district in Morjärv, Sweden,
issues instructions on how to report incidents with “certain kind of
light phenomena’ that might be associated with “tests made by foreign
powers with guided weapons.” (Swords 12).
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 773
Date: 6/28/1946
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 107.8km altitude
(nose separation failure)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 107.8km
Date: 7/1946
Description: Amazing Stories publishes four short articles in its
September 1945 issue by William C. Hefferlin, each describing a
wonderful new invention that has come to the author, according to editor
Ray
Palmer, “from
Tibet by mental telepathy.” One of the inventions is a “circle-winged
airplane.” In later issues, Hefferlin and his wife Gladys go on to
describe the Rainbow City, an underground Martian city beneath
Antarctica where the flying saucers originate. (“A
Description of Rainbow City from the Hefferlin Manuscript (Hollow
Earth)”; Walter Kafton- Minkel, Subterranean Worlds, Loompanics,
1989, pp. 160–167;
Clark III 610)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 774
Date: 7/1946
Description: Day. A long, silver-colored cigar appears suddenly out of
the haze over Crane Beach, Ipswich, Massachusetts, moves noiselessly
over the water, then disappears suddenly. (Lore and Deneault, p. 148;
Clark III 1179)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 775
Date: 7/1946
Description: 2:00 p.m. Hans Sorensen is cycling near Viskinge, Denmark,
when he sees three discs flying silently overhead. The underside is
uneven and dull gray, but they are like “polished mirrors” on top.
(Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History:
1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed., p. 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 776
Date: 7/1/1946
Description: Able nuclear test, Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands.
Radio-controlled autopilots are installed in eight B-17 bombers,
converting them into remote-controlled drones that are then loaded with
automatic cameras, radiation detectors, and air sample collectors. Their
pilots operate them from mother planes at a safe distance from the
detonation. The drones can fly into Able’s mushroom cloud, which would
have been lethal to crew members. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Crossroads”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 777
Date: 7/3/1946
Description: The Joint Research and Development Board is established.
Essentially it is Vannevar
Bush’s existing cadre of brain trust from the still active Office of
Scientific Research and the postwar Joint New Weapons Committee. Added
to this are other reconstituted R&D committees and advisers like Lloyd
Berkner of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The original
founding members are physicist Alfred
Lee Loomis, biologist Caryl
Parker Haskins, physicist Luis
Walter Alvarez, physicist
William
Shockley, and George
Doriot. Two military representatives each from the Army, Navy, and
Air Force complete the board’s membership. Counting Bush, this makes a
board of 12. (Michael Hall and Wendy Connors, “The Research and
Development Board: Unanswered Questions,” IUR 26, no. 2 (Summer 2001):
7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 778
Date: 7/5/1946
End date: 12/1946
Description: Dr. Oliver J. Lee, director of Dearborn Observatory at
Northwestern University, states in a Los Angeles Examiner article that
radar signals were secretly bounced off the Moon during WW2. He also
speculates that the saucers are remotely controlled.
Type: Newspaper Article
Reference: link
Location: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Date: 7/6/1946
Description: Astronomer Bertil
Lindblad, after
consulting with the Swedish Defense staff on ghost rocket reports,
remarks that the “adjective ‘cigar-shaped’ is something new.” (Anders
Liljegren and Clas Svahn, “The Ghost Rockets,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean
Tomes, 1987, p. 33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 780
Date: 7/6/1946
Description: A special ghost rocket investigations committee is formed
with Col. Bengt
Jacobsson from the Royal Swedish Air Force Materiel Administration
as chairman. Other members are Henry
Kjellson and Eric Malmberg from the Air Administration; Maj. Nils
Ahlgren and Capt. Gerdt
Stangenberg from the Air Defense department; chemist Gustaf
Ljunggren; physicist Martin
Fehrm; and Olof
Kempe from the Defense Radio Institute. They hold at least 12
meetings, beginning on July 10. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed., p. 13;
Anders Liljegren and Clas Svahn, “The Ghost Rockets,” UFOs 1947–1987,
Fortean Tomes, 1987, p. 33; Swords 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 779
Date: 7/9/1946
Description: About 3:00 p.m. A housewife near Sörbo, Sweden, is washing
on the shore of Södra Barken when she sees a falling object coming from
the northeast. It changes color from blue to green and has a long tail.
It tumbles into the lake about 320 feet away. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., pp. 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 786
Date: 7/9/1946
Description: 3:30 p.m. A young man in Mockfjärd, Sweden, sees a
silver-colored star diving toward the ground with a whistling noise. It
comes down about 490 feet away from him, and he is blinded by the
intense light. He thinks it crashes into Mt. Landholm. A powerful
burning smell lingers for 15 minutes. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946,
the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 787
Date: 7/9/1946
Description: 3:35 p.m. Many people see a bright red, rocket-like object
moving swiftly over Turku, Finland, and leaving a short trail. It casts
shadows on the ground. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 788
Date: 7/9/1946
Description: 2:30 p.m. A member of the US legation sees a silent ghost
rocket falling rapidly over Stockholm, Sweden, according to a July 11
telegram from State Department official Christian
M. Ravndal to Washington, D.C. Hundreds of other observations take
place over central Sweden. Ravndal suggests that the Soviets are trying
to intimidate the Swedes. (Göran Jansson, “Spökraketerna
1947,” January 2005, p.11; Clark III 524, 527; Good Above, p. 20;
Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed., p.p. 6,
betw. 12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 784
Date: 7/9/1946
Description: 2:30 p.m. Two people on the north side of Vaxön, Sweden,
watch a glowing white object with a blue-white tail streak across the
sky in about 2 seconds, disappearing to the southeast. Around the same
time, a witness at Järna Station in Södertälje sees an object “like a
glass flask in a thermos” descending from a high altitude. (Loren E.
Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 783
Date: 7/9/1946
Description: 2:30 p.m. Erik
and Asa Reuterswärd take a photo of a greenish-white daylight meteor
by a lake at Guldsmedshyttan, northwest of Lindesberg, Sweden. They are
atop a forest watchtower and have a good view of the object. The image
is circulated to newspapers throughout Sweden; however, the photo
probably shows an unusual daylight meteor, not a ghost rocket. (Loren E.
Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., pp. 12–13; Clas Svahn, “The 1946 Ghost Rocket Photo,”
`IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 12–14, 23; Swords 13–14; Clas Svahn, “Spökraketerna:
Den Största Gåtan,” Riksorganisationen UFO-Sverige, March 7,
2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 782
Date: 7/9/1946
Description: 2:35 p.m. Efrain Johnson sees a strange, cigar- or
sugarloaf-shaped object to the east of Ockelbo, Sweden. It shines like
silver and appears “like some glistening mass.” It falls to the ground
and is gone in a few moments. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed.,
p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 785
Date: 7/9/1946
Description: A journalist finds three dubious fist-size fragments, one
of iron and the other two slag-like, after a bright projectile is seen
over a beach at Njurunda, Sweden. (Göran Jansson, “Spökraketerna
1947,” January 2005, p. 12; Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed.,
p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 781
Date: 7/9/1946
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 134.4km
altitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 134.4km
Date: 7/10/1946
Description: A brilliantly glowing projectile trailing luminous smoke
crashes into a beach near Norrvikssand, Sweden. Airline pilot Torvald
Linden and other witnesses find a shallow crater a little more than 3
feet in diameter. A mass of slag-like material, some of it reduced to
powder (which burns the hands when touched) is found at the site and
collected into bags. A journalist from Svenska Dagbladet on July 11
finds a “burnt-brown object with a hollow cylinder” with a diameter of
about 1–2 inches. Military authorities take over the site. The debris is
taken to Dr. B. Backlund at a laboratory in Kubikenborg, who finds it
contains paper with microscopic black-and-white squares like a screen.
Some porous, rust-colored fragments are also present. The same day, the
beach is visited by Lt. Col. Rudberg,
Capt. C. Ljungdahl, and Capt. R. Westlin, who conclude that the material
has been in the area for a long time. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed.,
pp. 10–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 789
Date: 7/10/1946
Description: 2:30 p.m. A bluish flying cigar 10–12 times the diameter of
the full moon in length passes over Stockholm, Sweden. (Loren E. Gross,
UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed.,
p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 790
Date: 7/12/1946
Description: Swedish Intelligence agrees to cooperate in sharing ghost
rocket information with the British military attaché in Stockholm,
Sweden, Maj. de Salis. (Swords 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 791
Date: 7/12/1946
Description: Day. The railway station master at Gryon, Vaud,
Switzerland, is watching a B-24 Liberator flying overhead at 15,000 feet
when he also sees a “flying bomb” looking like a big star traveling
northeast at about 250 mph. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 792
Date: 7/12/1946
Description: 10:00 p.m. Inga Eriksson is in her garden in Usta, Örebro,
Sweden, when she hears a sharp, sizzling sound in the air and sees three
silvery triangular objects traveling horizontally from east to west.
They are visible only for 2 seconds, but her mother notes that the
electrical power has gone out in their home. (AFU case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 793
Date: 7/15/1946
Description: The Swedes provide the British attaché with analytical
reports of all observations to date. (Swords 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 794
Date: 7/16/1946
End date: 7/18/1946
Description: US Secretary of the Navy James
Forrestal makes an unexpected visit to Stockholm, Sweden, to meet
with the Swedish Defense Minister Allan
Vougt and two members of the special committee on ghost rockets.
(Anders Liljegren and Clas Svahn, “The Ghost Rockets,” UFOs 1947–1987,
Fortean Tomes, 1987, p. 35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 795
Date: 7/18/1946
Description: 12:00 noon. Sigvat Skaug and his son, who live along Lake
Mjøsa in southeastern Norway, and his sister Åse Tandberg watch two
rocket-like objects about 7 feet long pass over their heads at a very
low altitude. They fall simultaneously into the lake, throwing the water
several feet into the air. The objects look like V-1 rockets and come in
low from the west at about 150 feet, causing the trees to sway. They
fall into the lake about 1.2 miles from the western shore and 4.3 miles
from Minnesund. (NICAP, “‘Ghost
Rocket’ Crashes into Lake”; Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., pp. 18–19; Göran Jansson, “Spökraketerna
1947,” January 2005, pp. 19–20; Clas Svahn and Anders Liljegren, “The
Kölmjärv Ghost Rocket Crash
Revisited,” AFU Newsletter 27 (Jan./Dec. 1984): 1–5; Swords 16;
Clark III 526)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 797
Date: 7/18/1946
Description: Three workers see a ghost rocket above Ortviken, Sweden.
Shortly afterward, Gunnar Falck watches a silvery cylinder moving over
the northern part of Sundsvall. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed.,
p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 798
Date: 7/18/1946
Description: Two British intelligence officers arrive in Stockholm to
meet with their counterparts in Sweden. One is from the Air Ministry
(Squadron Leader Barrie Heath) and the other (Maj. Malone) is from
MI10(a), a branch of the Directorate of Military Intelligence. (Swords
20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 796
Date: 7/19/1946
Description: Failed V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 4.8km
altitude (oxygen pump explodes)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 4.8km
Date: 7/19/1946
Description: 11:15 a.m. In the village of Bölebyn, Sweden, Leonard
Danielsson and his sons Kjell, Dan, and Hans see an “aeroplane” moving
against the wind to the southwest. The boys say it looks like a large,
metallic milk canister. It travels from horizon to horizon in about 20
minutes before disappearing in the northwest. (Swords 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 799
Date: 7/19/1946
Description: 11:30 a.m. Kurt Larsson, 11, is fishing at the north end of
Lake Kattisträsket, Sweden, when he hears a roaring sound. A huge column
of water rises out of the lake as if a mine has detonated. Military
officers from Boden investigate, but the lake is too muddy to send in a
diver. They conclude that whatever fell is buried in 15 feet of mud.
(Swords 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 800
Date: 7/19/1946
Description: 11:45 a.m. Many witnesses see a gray, winged rocket crash
into Lake Kölmjärv, Sweden, with a loud bang close to the southwest
bank. Knut Lindbäck says it generates a high plume of water when it hits
the surface, “followed by another cascade as if something had
detonated.” Water lilies and other aquatic plants are torn up and thrown
on the shore. Lieut. Karl-Gösta Bartoll from the Boden engineer corps
arrives the next day to supervise the salvage operation. Engineers
Roland Rynniger and lab technician Torsten Wilner from the Defense
Research Department also arrive with a Geiger counter. A three-week
search turns up no traces of metal, even though the evidence points to
an underwater explosion. (NICAP, “‘Ghost
Rocket’ Crashes into Lake”; Göran Jansson, “Spökraketerna
1947,” January 2005, pp. 20–26; Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., pp. 20, 76; Clas Svahn and Anders Liljegren, “The
Kölmjärv Ghost Rocket Crash Revisited,” AFU Newsletter 27
(Jan./Dec. 1984): 1–5; Swords 17–20, 24; Clark III 525, 526)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 801
Date: 7/19/1946
Description: 3:00 p.m. Karl and Tyra Axberg are sitting on the porch of
their cabin on Lake Vassarajärvi in Norrbotten County, Sweden, when they
hear a loud noise. A projectile comes in at a very low angle and hits
the water at a 30° angle, continuing underwater for about 600 feet. A
military team led by Karl-Gösta Bartoll can find no trace of a “ghost
bomb.” (Swords 24–25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 802
Date: 7/19/1946
Description: 3:40 p.m. Ingrid Hansson is sunbathing with her father on a
floating jetty at the northern end of Lake Marmen, near Sunnanå, Sweden.
She hears a violent roaring over the water and looks up to see an object
bouncing along the surface, stirring up a wake. The object has created a
water column 66 feet high upon impact. (Swords 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 803
Date: 7/19/1946
Description: Maj. Gen. George
C. McDonald prepares a memorandum for the Commander of the Army Air
Forces Gen. Carl
Spaatz on reports of “rockets” over Scandinavian countries. (Jan L.
Aldrich, comp., The
Ghost Rocket File, Fund for UFO Research, 2000, pp. 9–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 804
Date: 7/24/1946
Description: 1:20 p.m. Engineer Tennlund sees a small cigar-shaped
object with a pair of small wings south of Vålberg, Värmland, Sweden. It
comes from the direction of Norway (west) at great speed with no sound.
Tennlund thinks it crashes into Vänern lake. (Anders Liljegren and Clas
Svahn, “The Ghost Rockets,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987,
p. 35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 805
Date: 7/25/1946
Description: The Swedish military states that ghost rockets are not
meteors. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost
Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., p. 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 806
Date: 7/25/1946
Description: Baker nuclear test, Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
(Wikipedia, “Operation
Crossroads”; Fran Ridge, “The Baker
Blast: Cause for Alarm?” May 4, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 807
Date: 7/27/1946
Description: British Air Attaché Capt. Henderson informs the Foreign
Office in London, England, that cooperation with Swedish Air Staff
should be kept from the Americans. (David Clarke and Andy Roberts, Out
of the Shadows, Piatkus, 2002; Joel Carpenter, “Guided
Missiles and UFOs: A Tangle of Fear, 1937–53, Part Two”; Swords
20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 808
Date: 7/28/1946
Description: Night. Sections of Oslo, Norway, are shaken by two violent
aerial explosions. An “intense white light” accompanies the blasts.
(London Daily Telegraph, July 29, 1946; Clark III 526)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 809
Date: 7/29/1946
Description: Norway begins censoring ghost rocket reports just as Sweden
is doing. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946,
the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., p. 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 810
Date: 7/30/1946
Description: 5:00 p.m. A customs officer on the Norway-Sweden border
watches a silvery torpedo with short wings. The object moves in from the
south but changes direction with a sharp turn and continues east with a
whining sound. (Anders Liljegren and Clas Svahn, “The Ghost Rockets,”
UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, p. 35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 813
Date: 7/30/1946
Description: 3:12 p.m. William Jorgensen, a soldier at the fort at
Oskar-Fredriksborg, Stockholm, Sweden, sees a silent flying object with
short wings at a distance of about 6,560 feet. It is moving faster than
a jet aircraft. (Anders Liljegren and Clas Svahn, “The Ghost Rockets,”
UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, p. 35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 812
Date: 7/30/1946
Description: 1:15 p.m. Two objects shaped like dark crosses are seen in
the sky over Filipstad, Värmland, Sweden. (Anders Liljegren and Clas
Svahn, “The Ghost Rockets,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987,
p. 35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 811
Date: 7/30/1946
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 161.5km
altitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 161.5km
Date: 8/1946
Description: Day. Charles A. Johnson is driving on US Highway 41 along
Lake Michigan north of Chicago, Illinois, when he sees three silver
discs going from east to west in a triangular formation. (Clark III
1179)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 814
Date: 8/1946
Description: 8:30 p.m. A young man sees a pan-shaped object near a road
in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. A small entity holding an acacia branch is
nearby. The being enters the object through an opening on the underside.
Afterward, traces of burning on the ground are detected. (Center for UFO
Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1940–1949, p. 20; Clark III 266)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 815
Date: 8/1/1946
Description: 6:00 p.m. AF Capt. Jack E. Puckett is flying over Tampa,
Florida, in a C-47 transport and sees a long cylinder twice the size of
a B-29 with luminous portholes. After 3 minutes, it disappears at a
speed of 1,500 mph. (“Rocket
Craft Encounter Revealed by World War 2 Pilot,” UFO Investigator 1,
no. 2 (Aug./Sept. 1957): 15; UFOEv, p. 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 820
Date: 8/1/1946
Description: President Truman signs
the Atomic Energy Act, transferring the control of atomic energy from
military to civilian hands, effective on January 1, 1947. It categorizes
information on atomic energy as “born classified,” even if it is not
created by any US government agency. “Restricted Data” is not a level of
classification; rather, a document can be classified as Confidential,
Secret, or Top Secret, while also containing Restricted Data. In
addition, a document containing Restricted Data can also contain
Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information. In this way, a document can
be classified as Secret (S), Secret//Restricted Data (S//RD), or
Secret//Restricted Data- Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information
(S//RD-CNWDI), depending on the type of information it contains.
(Wikipedia, “United
States Atomic Energy Commission”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 817
Date: 8/1/1946
Description: Truman approves
the establishment of the Office of Naval Research for “planning,
fostering, and encouraging scientific research” in relation to naval
power and national security. (Wikipedia, “Office
of Naval Research”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 818
Date: 8/1/1946
Description: Col. Edwin
Kennedy Wright, Vandenberg’s
executive assistant at the Central Intelligence Group, sends a
memorandum to President Truman saying
the ghost rockets conform to a V-1 shape and seem to be launched from
the USSR. The report notes that the missiles can turn and fly circular
courses, seemingly indicating radio control. Most information comes from
the military attaché in Sweden and the conclusions are from the director
of intelligence for the War Department general staff. (Swords 21–23; Jan
Aldrich, “Investigating the Ghost Rockets,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter 1998):
10, 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 819
Date: early 8/1946
Description: An astronomer and meteorologist is looking at some clouds
through a telescope in Stockholm, Sweden, and sees a luminous object
that he estimates is about 90 feet long, torpedo-shaped, and metallic.
It has a “tapered tail that spewed glowing blue and green smoke and a
series of fire balls.” The object explodes with a terrific flash. (“Sweden
Plans Radar Fight on ‘Rockets,’” Los Angeles Times, August 13, 1946,
p. 1; Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History:
1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed., p. 39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 816
Date: 8/5/1946
Description: 11:00 p.m. A fast-moving, silent, circular object glitters
in the sun over Skåne, Sweden, as it heads toward the south-southwest at
a high altitude. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., p. 28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 822
Date: 8/5/1946
Description: 6:26 p.m. A luminous object is seen by a motorist near
Landskrona, Skåne, Sweden.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 821
Date: 8/6/1946
Description: The US delegation in Budapest, Hungary, reports that a
German scientist now working for the Russians has revealed that the
Soviets have developed guided rockets called V-3 and V-4 that are able
to fly a round trip of 700 miles. (Jan Aldrich, “Investigating the Ghost
Rockets,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter 1998): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 823
Date: 8/7/1946
Description: Swedish Lt. Lennart Neckman of the Defense Staff’s Air
Defense Division sees a clear, yellow flame passing low and slow over
the countryside. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed.,
p. 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 825
Date: 8/7/1946
Description: A Top Secret message from the Commander-in-Chief Air
Forces, Pacific, to Gen. Lauris
Norstad, War Department Operations, requests guidance on the current
classification of the substitute code word “Majestic” for Operational
Plan Olympic (the invasion of Northern Japan). The plan has been
downgraded to Restricted (Message CM1472 IN). The answer is that both
code words had been declassified by the JCS on October 8, 1945 (Message
CM96908 OUT 8 Aug 1946). (Jan Aldrich; Murray Bott, “Military
Codenames ‘Olympic’ and ‘Majestic,’”
UFO UpDates, April 4, 2002)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 824
Date: 8/8/1946
Description: Chief of Swedish Air Defense Maj. Nils Ahlgren says that
some of the rockets are seen at low altitude, maneuver in half circles,
and appear to come from the south. (Göran Jansson, “Spökraketerna
1947,” January 2005, p. 36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 826
Date: 8/11/1946
Description: 9:00–10:00 p.m. Hundreds of people in central and southern
Sweden see “ghost bombs” that fly from south to north, giving off a
brilliant blue-white light. Sometimes two of the objects are seen flying
together. Some witnesses see smaller silver balls come out of the larger
objects, which are variously described as cylinders and torpedoes with a
“wide nose” and “fire-spurting tail.” Stockholm is said to be “near the
boiling point” with ghost rocket speculation. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed., pp. 33–
39; Göran Jansson, “Spökraketerna
1947,” January 2005, pp. 38–40; Clark III 525; Anders Liljegren and
Clas Svahn, “The Ghost Rockets,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987,
p. 37; Don Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO
Briefing Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 50–53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 828
Date: 8/11/1946
Description: 8:47 p.m. Astronomer Bertil
Lindblad sees an exploding fireball in Ljugarn on Gotland, Sweden.
(Göran Jansson, “Spökraketerna
1947,” January 2005, p. 38)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 827
Date: 8/12/1946
Description: 10:00 a.m. A twin-engine Saab 18 Swedish Air Force bomber
crashes and explodes near Valdshult, Jönköping, Sweden, killing three
airmen. Rumors circulate that it collided with a ghost rocket, but an
investigation indicates that the pilot lost control. (Good Need, pp. 39–40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 829
Date: 8/12/1946
Description: 8:15 p.m. A torpedo-shaped ghost rocket moves slowly over a
seaport town in southern Sweden, barely grazing the roofs and trailing
smoke. It continues out to sea and seems to come down on a small island.
Two men go out to investigate, but the island is too overgrown to allow
a search. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the
Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., pp. 40–41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 830
Date: 8/13/1946
Description: The New York Times says the ghost rocket situation is
extremely dangerous and that Sweden will not tolerate such violations.
(“Swedes
Use Radar in Fight on Missiles,” New York Times. August 13, 1946,
p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 833
Date: 8/13/1946
Description: The US naval attaché and the Assistant US military attaché
in Stockholm interview three Swedish Air Force officers assigned to the
General Staff who say that they believe the objects are rockets. (Joel
Carpenter, “Guided Missiles
and UFOs: A Tangle of Fear, 1937–53, Part Two”; Swords 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 834
Date: 8/13/1946
Description: Capt. Roscoe
H. Hillenkoetter, US naval attaché in Paris, forwards as top secret
a report by the French government on ghost rocket activity in
Scandinavia. It states that “a good number of these projectiles are of
the V- 1 type in the form of a torpedo with two small wings.” A map
shows them originating in the Leningrad [now St. Petersburg] area,
Russia. (Swords 21; Good Need, pp. 38–39;
Jan Aldrich, “Investigating the Ghost Rockets,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter
1998): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 831
Date: 8/13/1946
Description: Afternoon. A troop of Boy Scouts in Denmark see a
rocket-like object moving quickly at an altitude of 1,600 feet. They can
see small side wings and fins. A blue-white light streams from the
bottom, and it diverges from a straight course to a 35° curve. (Loren E.
Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed.,
p. 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 835
Date: 8/13/1946
Description: 8:00 p.m. A cigar-shaped object flies past a witness at
Karlskrona, Sweden, at a distance of only 150 feet. Only 5 feet long, it
emits a faint green light and trails smoke from the rear. (Loren E.
Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946,
the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., p. 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 836
Date: 8/13/1946
Description: The Hungarian report of August 6 causes Maj. Gen. Stephen
J. Chamberlin, Army
assistant chief of staff for intelligence, to ask Budapest for further
information. Top-secret requests are sent to military attachés in
London, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, and Copenhagen asking for listings of
all ghost rocket reports, as well as V-3 and V-4 missiles. The military
attaché in Oslo reports that a Soviet ship in the north Baltic Sea has
been transmitting code to shore stations regarding the ghost rockets.
The military attaché in Moscow asks other European officials about where
the rockets originate and gets several answers, which he forwards on to
Chamberlin: Hiiumaa island, Estonia; Latvia; or Peenemünde, Germany.
Gen. Joseph
T. McNarney of the US Forces in Europe Theater replies that
Peenemünde is a likely origin, since the site has been refurbished. The
military attaché in Stockholm suspects Hiiumaa, Peenemünde, or Parikkala
in Finland, while the naval attaché in Stockholm thinks that Łeba,
Poland, is the launch site. (Jan Aldrich, “Investigating the Ghost
Rockets,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter 1998): 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 832
Date: 8/14/1946
Description: The New York Times reports that Secretary of State Dean
Acheson is “very much interested” in the ghost rockets. (Loren E.
Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed., p. 46; “2
Swedes Escape
a ‘Ghost Rocket,’” New York Times, August 14, 1946, p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 837
Date: 8/14/1946
Description: 10:02 a.m. Swedish Air Force pilot Lieut. Gunnar Irholm and
his signaler, Cpl. Möller, are flying a B-18A bomber at 650 feet 4 miles
northeast of Malingsbo in central Sweden when they see a dark
cigar-shaped object approaching on their left. It has no visible wings,
rudders, lights, flame or projections of any type. It appears to follow
the terrain at 370–430 mph, maintaining the same height, then vanishes
into a storm cloud. (“Ghost Rockets over Scandinavia,” Intelligence
Review, no. 49, January 9, 1947, US Department of Defense; Don Berliner,
Marie Galbraith, and Antonio Huneeus, Unidentified Flying Objects
Briefing Document, UFO Research Coalition, December 1995, pp. 33–35;
Swords 15–16; “Cigar
Sighted from B-19 Bomber,” AFU Newsletter, no. 44 (September 2002):
1–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 838
Date: 8/15/1946
Description: Night. Several residents of the east side of Waterloo,
Iowa, see an object buzzing rapidly around some trees. It gradually
ascends, surrounded by a cloud of white vapor, and disappears high in
the sky. One person calls it “a great white bird; another, a bomb.” Mrs. Russell
Lampman says that the object is “6 feet, 3 inches tall, like a large
man, and rather rectangular in shape.” She and her husband watch
it for an hour after it starts hovering about 20– 25 feet above a nearby
alley. (Al Starr, “Street Scene,” Waterloo (Iowa) Sunday Times, August
18, 1946, p. II-1; “Well,
We Saw It First!” Waterloo Daily Courier, July 7, 1947, p. 2;
Project 1947, “UFO
Reports: 1946”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 839
Date: 8/15/1946
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 6.4km altitude
(Radio cut-off 16.5s after launch)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 6.4km
Date: 8/16/1946
Description: Col. L. H. Johnson, US naval attaché in Stockholm,
transmits a “Top Secret Report R334-46 of 13 August 1946 Subject: SWEDEN
Guided Missiles Rocket Sightings Over Sweden.” It concludes: “No
tangible evidence to date as to nature or origin of rockets reported
over Sweden, although Swedish Defense Staff insists that they are
rockets.” (Joel Carpenter, “Guided
Missiles and UFOs: A Tangle of Fear, 1937–53, Part Two”; Jan L.
Aldrich, comp., The
Ghost Rocket File, Fund for UFO Research, 2000, pp. 32–35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 840
Date: 8/16/1946
Description: A missile produces an enormous explosion over Malmö,
Sweden, that shakes or breaks many windows. Some witnesses think they
can see fragments of the object falling to earth. (“Windows
Broken by Rocket Bomb,” Manchester Guardian, August 17, 1946, p. 6;
Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed.,
p. 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 841
Date: 8/18/1946
Description: 8:00 or 10:00 p.m. An aerial object like a 9-foot cigar is
seen moving slowly on the north side of Copenhagen, Denmark. It explodes
with extraordinary force. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., p. 53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 843
Date: 8/19/1946
Description: The US military attaché in Moscow reports on the visit of
Maj. Stig
Wennerström of the Swedish Air Force, who reveals that radar
indicates the ghost rocket launch site is at Peenemünde, Germany. The
rockets appear to be radio-controlled, carry no warheads, are
self-destructive, and are plotted over a range of 620 miles. Sometimes
they follow zigzag courses. (Jan Aldrich, “Investigating the Ghost
Rockets,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter 1998): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 844
Date: 8/19/1946
Description: Two US experts on aerial warfare, aviation legend General
Jimmy
Doolittle and British Group Captain Douglas
Bader, and
General David
Sarnoff, president
of RCA, arrive in Stockholm, Sweden, ostensibly on private business, and
independently of each other. The official explanation is that Doolittle,
who is now vice-president of the Shell Oil Company, is inspecting Shell
branch offices in Europe, while Sarnoff, a former member of General Dwight
D. Eisenhower’s London staff, is studying the market for radio
equipment. However, the story indicates that the Chief of the Swedish
Defense Staff, Col. C. R. Kempf, makes no secret that he “was extremely
interested in asking the two generals advice and, if possible, would
place all available reports before them.” However, Doolittle denies the
correlation to Barry
Greenwood in 1984, and researchers have found no evidence to support
a collaboration. (Joel Carpenter, “Guided
Missiles and UFOs: A Tangle of Fear, 1937–53, Part Two”; Loren E.
Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., pp. 53–54; Clark III 527; Swords 21, 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 845
Date: late 8/1946
Description: Margaret Sprankle, a civilian employee at Tinker AFB near
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is returning from work when she sees, about 300
feet away, a large, metallic, lens-shaped structure about 75 feet in
diameter. On the lower right side are 12–14 square windows; in each,
visible from the shoulders up, is a figure. Their heads are very round.
The object rotates 90° on its vertical axis and silently flies northwest
and disappears in seconds. (Center for UFO Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1940–1949, p. 22; Clark III 266)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 842
Date: 8/21/1946
Description: The General Staff in Norway issues a memorandum to the
press asking it not to mention any ghost rockets seen over the country
and to pass on all reports to the military Intelligence Department. In
Sweden, the ban is limited to any mention of where the rockets are seen
to land or explode. (London Daily Telegraph, August 22, 1946; Good
Above, p. 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 846
Date: 8/22/1946
Description: Director of the Central Intelligence Group (CIG) Lt.
Gen. Hoyt
Vandenberg writes a top secret memo to President
Truman via Adm. William
D. Leahy, stating
that the “weight of evidence” points to Peenemünde (which has become a
Soviet naval base), East Germany, as the origin of the ghost rockets,
and that a US military attaché in Moscow has been told by a “key Swedish
Air Officer” [Wennerström]
that radar course-plotting leads to the conclusion that Peenemünde is
the launch site. CIG speculates that the missiles are extended-range
developments of V-1s being aimed for the Gulf of Bothnia for test
purposes and “do not overfly Swedish territory specifically for
intimidation; self-destruct by small demolition charge or burning.”
(Joel Carpenter, “Guided Missiles
and UFOs: A Tangle of Fear, 1937–53, Part Two”; Barry Greenwood, “Significant
Ghost Rocket Documents
Available,” UFO Historical Revue, no. 15 (June 2015): 1–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 848
Date: 8/22/1946
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 0km altitude
(Control failure led to cut-off command at 6.5s)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 0km
Date: 8/22/1946
Description: 3:00 p.m. Photographer Gösta Skog takes a color film of a
ghost rocket at Getå, 100 miles south of Stockholm, Sweden. The
cigar-shaped object appears out of a cloud at 3,000 feet, trailing
exhaust. The film turns out to be overexposed. (Clas Svahn, “Spökraketerna:
Den Största Gåtan,” Riksorganisationen UFO-Sverige, March 7, 2017;
Swords 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 847
Date: 8/23/1946
Description: The British Foreign Office states that English radar
experts, including Reginald
Victor Jones, having
returned from Sweden, had “submitted secret reports to the British
government on the origin of the rockets.” (Good Above, p. 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 849
Date: 8/24/1946
Description: Evening. A Norwegian student and a Swedish engineer are
boating on a small river “somewhere in Sweden” when a light approaches
them from the southeast. It resembles a full moon and emits an intense
light: “As it passed immediately overhead, it grew so bright you could
see a well as on a sunny day.” The object, about 10 feet long, releases
four stars that fall silently to the ground. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost
Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., pp. 58–59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 852
Date: 8/24/1946
Description: Admiral Henry
Kent Hewitt, Commander of US Naval Forces in Europe, writes a letter
to the US naval attaché in Oslo, Norway, on “Rocket Bombs or Guided
Missiles over Norway and Sweden.” Two “missiles” have fallen into a lake
near Oslo, and the US Navy is “very interested.” ([Adm. Henry Kent
Hewitt], Letter to US Naval Attaché, Oslo, “Rocket
Bombs or Guided Missiles over Norway and Sweden,” August 24,
1946)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 851
Date: 8/24/1946
Description: Stockholm Air Attaché Maj. Gen. Alfred
A. Kessler Jr. informs the War Department that the Ghost Rockets are
an “unintentional hoax which developed naturally but which exploited by
Defense staff by implication and lack of frankness possibly interest
defense budget and to alert west against east.” (Joel Carpenter, “Guided Missiles
and UFOs: A Tangle of Fear, 1937–53, Part Two”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 850
Date: 8/26/1946
Description: The US military attaché in Stockholm reports that the
Swedes, possibly worried about a Soviet veto of their application for UN
membership, have canceled their request for British radar equipment.
(Jan Aldrich, “Investigating the Ghost Rockets,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter
1998): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 853
Date: 8/29/1946
Description: The American embassy in Stockholm tells the State
Department that the ghost rockets are probably Soviet missiles. (Loren
E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed., p. 63A;
[Memo
on telegram
of August 27, 1946]; Good Above, pp. 22,
447)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 854
Date: 9/1946
Description: German rocket engineer Walter Ziegler tells Army CIC that
400 men from his former rocket group at Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW)
in Munich, Germany, are invited by Russian military officers to a fancy
dinner, wined and dined, then taken home. Several hours later, all 400
are woken up by the Russians and forced to take a trip. (Ziegler is not
among them.) They are transported by train to a small town (“Kubischew”)
outside Moscow, Russia, where they remain and work on secret military
rocket projects under terrible conditions. (Jacobsen, Area 51, p. 42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 855
Date: 9/1/1946
End date: 9/2/1946
Description: Late night and early morning. Rocket-shaped objects are
seen over northern Greece, according to Prime Minister Konstantinos
Tsaldaris. Physicist
Paul
Santorinis is placed in charge of an investigation. He rules out
Russian missiles, but the Army ends the investigation in 1947. (Clark
III 525; Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946,
the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., pp. 62–63; Good Above, p. 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 856
Date: 9/4/1946
Description: Top Secret Memo, to Mr. Morgan, from Mr. Lyon stating: 800
UFO reports have been reported with new ones coming in daily from
Sweden. Full details of these reports have been forwarded to Wash., D.C.
by our Military and Naval Attaches
Type: top secret memo
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p22,447)
Location: Sweden
Date: 9/7/1946
Description: British pilot Edward
Mortlock Donaldson attains an airspeed record of 616 mph in a
Gloster Meteor F Mk 4 at Littlehampton, England. (Wikipedia, “Edward
Donaldson (RAF officer)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 857
Date: 9/9/1946
Description: The scientific advisor to MI6, English physicist Reginald
Victor Jones, considers the ghost rockets a social panic phenomenon.
An RAF Intelligence report, “Investigation of Reported Missile Activity
over Scandinavia,” identifies eight types of ghost rocket sightings:
iron cylinder, magnesium-like light, white core surrounded by
blue-green, shining ball with tail, torpedo-shape, black object with
flame, small rocket, small missile. It takes the daytime reports
seriously but concludes are probably only a few genuine reports of
actual missiles. (Joel Carpenter, “Guided
Missiles and UFOs: A Tangle of Fear, 1937–53, Part Two”; Swords
26–27; Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed.,
pp. 63–64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 858
Date: 9/11/1946
Description: 2:00 p.m. Justin
B. Rinaldi is standing in a friend’s backyard in Engle, New Mexico,
when he hears a loud whirring sound and sees a black object whiz by. It
is pointed at one end, has a narrow body, and what appear to be fins on
the tail. It is traveling fast at an altitude of 75 feet. Rinaldi sees
it hit a clump of trees at a ranch house and the “branches parted like a
great force had struck.” He and friends go to the site but can find
nothing. (“Flying
Disc Tales Bring 2 Reports from Engle Area,” Albuquerque Journal,
June 29, 1947, p. 1; Clark III 530)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 861
Date: 9/11/1946
Description: Jack
Northrop grounds the XB-35, which has suffered gearbox and propeller
control problems, until the Army Air Force can fix its propulsion
system. (Wikipedia, “Northrop
YB-35”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 860
Date: 9/11/1946
Description: The Chief of Naval Intelligence requires naval attachés to
forward information on Soviet rocket research and operations including
launches from submarines. (NARA, US Naval Intelligence files; Jan
Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 859
Date: 9/12/1946
Description: Cmdr. Robert
A. Winston, acting naval attaché in Stockholm, Sweden, writes to the
London naval attaché in a secret air mailgram that he suspects there is
a secret British-Swedish collaboration on ghost rocket information
designed to keep the US from learning the truth. (Jan Aldrich,
“Investigating the Ghost Rockets,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter 1998):
13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 862
Date: mid 9/1946
Description: Two luminous globes that shine “like an electric arc” are
seen flying in a straight line over Longwy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France.
(Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed.,
p. 66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 863
Date: 9/18/1946
Description: Two greenish globes, one following close behind the other,
zoom over Castanheira, Portugal. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., p. 67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 864
Date: 9/21/1946
Description: Chemist Gustaf
Ljunggren of the Swedish National Defense Research Institute
summarizes for the Swedish Defense staff his analysis of 27 finds of
mysterious substances, allegedly from ghost rockets. None are
radioactive and all have mundane explanations. (Anders Liljegren and
Clas Svahn, “The Ghost Rockets,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987,
pp. 33–34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 865
Date: 9/22/1946
Description: 3:15 a.m. A rocket-shaped object is seen for 90 seconds
over Florence, Italy. It makes an abrupt turn, then speeds south toward
Rome. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed.,
p. 69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 866
Date: fall 1946
Description: 9:00 p.m. Gladys McCage and her 4-year-old son see a
yellowish-orange light coming from the northwest at a “terrific speed”
toward their farm 8 miles north of O’Neill, Nebraska. Its color changes
to red as it approaches, and soon it is hovering above the witnesses.
They run toward the house and the cigar-shaped object swings up to the
northeast. McCage says it is as big as a football field, has windows,
and is making a loud noise. A yellowish- blue-green flame is shooting
out near the back, and it is traveling too fast for any plane at the
time. (Clark III 530)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 868
Date: 9/30/1946
Description: David
Sarnoff, in a speech at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City,
says that the “ghost bombs are no myth but real missiles.” (Joel
Carpenter, “Guided
Missiles and UFOs: A Tangle of Fear, 1937–53, Part Two”;
“Sarnoff
Predicts Weather Control and Delivery of the Mail by Radio,” New
York Times, October 1, 1946, p. 1, 48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 867
Date: 10/1946
Description: Ray
Palmer publishes a letter from Maurice
Doreal (pseudonym of Claude D. Dodgin) of the Brotherhood of the
White Temple in Denver, Colorado, regarding the “Shaver mystery.” Doreal
claims intimate knowledge of the subterranean realms, which he claims
are inhabited by the Black Brotherhood and protected by “space-warps.”
In 1949 Doreal claims to have visited caves inside Mount Shasta,
California, inhabited by Atlantean masters. He equates Shaver’s Dero
with an evil group of Lemurians. (Walter Kafton-Minkel, Subterranean
Worlds, Loompanics, 1989, pp. 154–160;
Charmaine Ortega Getz, “The (Sort of) Amazing Story of Maurice Doreal
and the Brotherhood of the White Temple Revealed at Last,” Weird
Colorado, September 6, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 869
Date: 10/1/1946
Description: The US Military Attaché in London, England, writes a
top-secret memo to the War Department complaining that the British “may
not have given us all information on reported rockets over Scandinavia.”
(Jan L. Aldrich, comp., The
Ghost Rocket File, Fund for UFO Research, 2000, p. 73)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 870
Date: 10/9/1946
Description: Newspaper/radio UFO reports after meteor shower over
southern CA. BSRA received many phone calls. BSRA mediums established
contact and reported it would return
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: rg
Location: San Diego, CA
Date: 10/9/1946
Description: Evening. George
Adamski and some associates are watching a meteor shower associated
with Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner when they see a “gigantic spacecraft”
hovering above the mountain ridge south of Mount Palomar, California. He
claims to meet a military officer a few weeks later who assures him that
the object was indeed from another world. Others in San Diego see an
object with a long, tube-shaped fuselage, giant wings, and two red
lights. The medium Mark
Probert later tells the press that he has established psychic
communication with the occupants and the object is called the Kareeta.
(“Sparks
Fly As Comet Passes Earth,” Los Angeles Daily News, October 10,
1946, p. 3; Colin Bennett, Looking for Orthon, Paraview, 2001,
pp. 28–29; Harold T. Wilkins, Flying Saucers on the Attack, Citadel,
1954, pp. 41–48;
Curt Collins, “1946,
Before Saucers, Kareeta: UFO Contact in California,”
The Saucers That Time Forgot, August 8, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 871
Date: 10/10/1946
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 173.8km
altitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 173.8km
Date: 10/10/1946
Description: First picture of Earth from space. V-2 missile test at
White Sands Pad 33, 104.6km altitude (subnormal propulsion
performance)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 104.6km
Date: 10/10/1946
Description: 4:00 a.m. Waltraut Anlauf, a telephone operator in
Friedland Refugee Camp, Lower Saxony, Germany, sees small, elongated
flashes at a great height in the sky. They look like cigars and are
luminescent white in front and bluish-white in back. She sees about 10
objects pass per minute. Sometimes there is an interruption of about 10
minutes, and then new groups appear. The sighting lasts one hour.
Possibly these are part of the Taurid meteor shower. (Clark III
529)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 872
Date: 10/10/1946
Description: The defense staff in Sweden admits it cannot explain the
ghost rockets because reports are too vague. About 80% appear to be
meteors (“celestial phenomena”), although radar has tracked a few
unusual targets. The report concludes that they are not V-type bombs.
(“Swedish
Inquiry Fails to Solve Rocket Case,” New York Times, October 11,
1946, p. 3; Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., pp. 71–72; Good Above, p. 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 873
Date: 10/21/1946
Description: Two persons on the shore of a lake in southern Sweden hear
a whistling sound in the air, like a “flock of birds.” They see an
object moving over the trees at a low altitude. It is dart-shaped and
has short wings and a “ball-shaped tip.” It falls into the lake and
possibly explodes on impact. (Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the
Ghost Rockets, The
Author, 1988 ed., p. p. 74)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 874
Date: 11/1946
Description: The War Department issues a press release on how German
scientists are helping out at Wright Field, Ohio. (Dolan, p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 875
Date: 11/7/1946
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, .32km altitude
(Guidance failure preceded emergency cut-off at 31s)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: .32km
Date: 11/21/1946
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 101.4km altitude
(Sub-normal propulsion performance, beyond Kármán line)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 102.4km
Date: 11/29/1946
Description: A top secret Air Intelligence report, “Significant
Developments of Scientific Warfare in Russia,” designates the ghost
rockets as “V-5” weapons produced by the Siebel Works in Halle, Germany.
(Jan Aldrich, “Investigating the Ghost Rockets,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter
1998): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 876
Date: 12/3/1946
Description: The Swedish military reports that about 100 impacts were
investigated by the Defense Research Institution and not found to be
rockets. (Joel Carpenter, “Guided
Missiles and UFOs: A Tangle of Fear, 1937–53, Part
Three”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 877
Date: 12/5/1946
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 152.9km altitude
(Control system failed at altitude)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 152.9km
Date: 12/10/1946
Description: Gen. Curtis
LeMay answers an inquiry from Assistant Secretary of War for Air Stuart
Symington about establishing interim projects at the Air Materiel
Center (AMC). LeMay’s answer: The Commander of AMC on his own volition
may establish an interim project; however, to continue the project it
must be approved for the next budget cycle. (Air Force Historical
Research Agency, Maxwell AFB; Jan Aldrich, “Secret
Twining Letter: ‘The
Reported Phenomena Are Real,’” October 11, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 878
Date: 12/17/1946
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 184.4km altitude
(Rocket exploded at 440s)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 184.4km
Date: 12/23/1946
Description: Jacobsson’s
ghost rocket committee issues its final report on 987 ghost rocket
cases, stating that 225 reports had been made in full daylight. More
than 100 reports describe spool-shaped objects with or without wings. It
concludes: “Despite the extensive effort, which has been carried out
with the means available, and seven months after the first observations,
no actual proof that a test of rocket projectiles has taken place over
Sweden has been found.” (Swords 26; Loren E. Gross, UFO’s,
a History: 1946, the Ghost Rockets, The Author, 1988 ed., pp. 75–76;
Anders Liljegren and Clas Svahn, “The Ghost Rockets,” UFOs 1947–1987,
Fortean Tomes, 1987, p. 36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 879
Date: 1947
Description: Soviet “Sverdlovsk-45” (Plant 418) atomic bomb project
plant opened (Uranium enrichment, warhead assembly)
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Reference: link
Location: N 58 39 E 59 47
Date: 1947
Description: Soviet “Chelyabinsk-40 and later 65” atomic bomb project
plant opened (Plutonium production, component manufacturing). Now one of
the most contaminated places on Earth.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Reference: link
Location: Ozyorsk, Russia
Date: 1947
Description: Cmdr. Bernard Baruch Jr. makes 44 trips at his own expense
to lobby for the implementation of the peacetime Communication
Instruction for Reporting Enemy Sightings (CIRES) message system. He
meets with DCI Gen. Hoyt
Vandenberg, Rear
Adm. Roscoe
Hillenkoetter, Secretary of the Air Force Stuart
Symington, Rear
Adm. Earl
E.
Stone, Vice Adm. Arthur
W. Radford, Rear Adm. John
E. Gingrich, Adm. DeWitt
Clinton Ramsey, Maj. Gen. Robert
W. Harper, Lieut.
Gen Idwal
H. Edwards, Vice Adm. Ralph
Riggs, Capt. Richard Burke (USCG), and about 20 other officials.
(NICAP, “Capt. Bernard
Baruch, Jr.”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 880
Date: 1947
Description: 11:00 p.m. Air Force pilot Edwin
T. Yeoman is returning home with his wife Eva after
going to a movie in Sacramento, California. As they drive northeast,
they see a stationary light hovering at an altitude of 3,000–4,000 feet
above Roseville. After watching it for 5 minutes, the light gets
brighter, rises vertically for several thousand feet, makes an abrupt
90° turn, and shoots across the horizon from east to west. (CUFOS case
file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 881
Date: 1947
Description: Einstein sees “Greys” for the first time
Type: rumor
Reference: anonymous (channeled) information (R.G.)
Location: Roswell, NM
Attributes: Einstein
Attributes: channeled
Date: 1/1947
Description: W.H. (initials) of Yucca Valley, Calif., while still
serving in the U.S. Navy, was on leave with C.C. (initials) who was just
out of the U.S. army. While they were looking for desert property to buy
they came upon the Papagos Indian Reservation, north of the rugged
Superstition Mtns. west of Globe, Arizona. While traveling on a dirt
trail, they came upon a group of military personnel guarding a crashed
saucer half buried in the sand. Description: Disc shaped with a domed
top; about 30 ft. diam.; two rings on its outer edge which seemed to
have windows between them. There was no evidence of an encampment or
heavy equipment.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research (A5, B3-C, RECOVERY)
Location: Papago Indian Reservation
Date: 1/1/1947
Description: The civilian US Atomic Energy Commission assumes
responsibility for nuclear energy from the wartime Manhattan Project.
The Armed Forces Special Weapons Project assumes responsibility for all
aspects of nuclear weapons remaining under military control. (Wikipedia,
“United
States Atomic Energy Commission”; Wikipedia, “Armed
Forces Special Weapons Project”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 882
Date: 1/7/1947
Description: SKY OBJECT A MYSTERY ROCKET? - A laboratory analysis of the
cylindrical object which fell in Portland yesterday from a clear sky
established presence of aluminum, titanium, magnesium, calcium, chrome,
and zircon. Dr. John E. Allen, chief geologist of the Oregon department
of geology and mineral industries, said it gives reasonable basis for
the hypothesis that it could have been used in rocket construction.
Largest portion of the object has been taken over by an Army
investigator for examination. The object was found when a mysterious ice
shower occurred Saturday confined to a fifteen foot square area of Hill
Military Academy.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Los Angeles Examiner - Fortean Society Sightings (Scully box
3 ff5)
Location: Portland, OR
Date: 1/9/1947
Description: The US Defense Department’s Intelligence Review, no. 49,
contains a four-page summary of ghost rocket sightings and suggests some
may have been Soviet test missiles or jet airplanes. (“Ghost Rockets
over Scandinavia,” Intelligence Review, no. 49, January 9, 1947, US
Department of Defense; Don Berliner, Marie Galbraith, and Antonio
Huneeus, Unidentified Flying Objects Briefing Document, UFO Research
Coalition, December 1995, pp. 33–35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 883
Date: 1/10/1947
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 116.2km altitude
(Degraded performance led to roll rate of 60 rpm)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 116.2km
Date: 1/16/1947
Description: 11:30 p.m. An RAF Mosquito plane chases an unidentified
target detected on radar at RAF Trimley Heath Radar Station [now closed]
near Felixstowe, Suffolk, England, moving at a speed calculated to be
faster than sound at an altitude of 38,000 feet over the North Sea, 50
miles north of the Netherlands acoast. It descends to 17,000 feet and
takes controlled, evasive action. The plane pursues it for 40 minutes,
even though the pilot cannot see it visually, until he loses it over the
Norfolk coast. (UFOFiles2, p. 29;
ClearIntent, p. 151;
Sparks,
p. 16; David Clarke, “Operation
Charlie,” 2002; Martin L. Shough, “A
New Study of the British ‘Ghost Airplanes’ of 1947,”
April 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 884
Date: 1/17/1947
Description: 11:37 p.m. After two unidentified targets similar to
yesterday’s are reported by RAF Neatishead, northeast of Norwich,
England, over the North Sea, another radar track enters the Eastern
Sector area, and an RAF Mosquito piloted by Flight Lt. William Kent is
scrambled to 18,000 feet. Kent attempts to close in, but his onboard
radar is unable to keep it on track because the target is “jerking
violently” and taking evasive action. After 20 minutes, the target
descends below 2,000 feet and is lost from ground radar. Unofficially
the radar operators give the intruder a name—Charlie—and when the Air
Ministry later begins a concerted effort to solve the mystery, its code
name is “Operation Charlie.” (Martin L. Shough, “A
New Study of the British ’Ghost Airplanes’
of 1947,” April 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 885
Date: 1/20/1947
Description: In London, Ben
Lockspeiser, chief
scientist for the UK Ministry of Supply, after meeting with Swedish
scientists and air force authorities, informs the American naval attaché
in London, England, Cmdr. Jenkins, that the Swedes doubt the rockets are
from Russia but prefer that the US and UK continue to think so. Natural
phenomena and popular imagination are considered the causes. (Loren E.
Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1947 January 1st–June 23rd, Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2000, pp. 3–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 886
Date: 1/23/1947
Description: Night. Three senior RAF officers are visiting RAF
Neatishead in Norfolk, England, for an interception exercise when an
unidentified radar target makes another appearance at 28,000 feet. RAF
Mosquitos from Yorkshire are scrambled, but by the time the aircraft
reach the area, the target is gone. (Martin L. Shough, “A New
Study of the British ‘Ghost Airplanes’ of 1947,” April 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 887
Date: 1/23/1947
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 49.9km altitude
(Degraded performance led to roll rate of 80 rpm)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 49.9km
Date: 1/27/1947
Description: RAF Flying Officer Stewart of the Northern Signals Area,
after investigating the Operation Charlie radar incidents at RAF
Neatishead, England, issues a report, no longer extant, that suggests
that some of the targets are radiosonde balloons released by the USAAF’s
8th Weather Squadron in Downham Market, Norfolk. However, RAF and Air
Ministry sources continue to refer to the sightings as unexplained over
the following months. (Martin L. Shough, “A
New Study of the British ‘Ghost Airplanes’ of 1947,” April
2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 888
Date: 1/29/1947
Description: Secretary of War Robert
P. Patterson and Secretary of the Navy James
V. Forrestal issue a memorandum that formally establishes the Armed
Forces Special Weapons Project, a new agency to take over responsibility
for the aspects of nuclear weapons that still remain under the military.
It is to be jointly staffed by the Army and Navy. Los Alamos
Laboratory’s ordnance engineering Z Division and AFSWP establish
themselves at Sandia Base, New Mexico, bringing the strict secrecy that
has prevails at Los Alamos. (Wikipedia, “Armed
Forces Special
Weapons Project”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 889
Date: 2/6/1947
Description: Around 7:30 a.m., Frederick
Walter Flavel and his wife Emma are walking to their house in Lock,
South Australia, when they see five gray, oblong objects rise apparently
from the sea and move from northwest to southeast. At 9:00 a.m., Ronald
Ernest Ellis and two other railroad workers in Port Augusta, South
Australia, watch five white or light-pink egg-shaped objects moving
across the sky from north to south at about 6,000 feet. They quiver,
cast shadows on the ground, and move out of sight in a few seconds.
(NICAP, “Five
Objects Cast Shadows”;
Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough, Return to Magonia: Investigating UFOs in
History, Anomalist, 2015, pp. 329–350)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 890
Date: 2/8/1947
Description: A US Navy Privateer bomber flying over Sweden picks up
signals that might be directing rockets. (Letter from US Naval Forces
Europe, London, to Chief of Naval Operations; Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 891
Date: 2/9/1947
Description: Student and Einstein assistant Shirley J. Wright wins
writing essay competition
Type: scientist
Reference: link
Location: Coral Gables, FL
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 2/17/1947
Description: Capt. J. B. Pearson Jr., US naval attaché in London,
England, sends an intelligence report to the Chief of Naval Intelligence
about his conversation with Col. Westergard, head of the Airplane Design
Section for the Swedish Air Ministry. Westergard tells him some 40% of
the 1,000 ghost rocket sightings are “reliable.” They seem to originate
in Peenemünde, Germany, and fly toward Finland. The best observation is
from an artillery officer who sees an object in his optical range finder
and follows it for about 90 seconds. It is in level flight at 4.5 miles
distance and is about 36 feet long and torpedo shaped. (Loren E. Gross,
The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1947 January 1st–June 23rd, Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2000, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 892
Date: 2/20/1947
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 109.4km altitude
(Blossom 1 — Propulsion degraded at 55.5s)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 109.4km
Date: 2/28/1947
Description: Capt. Emmet
O’Beirne, Chief
of the Defensive Air Branch, writes a memorandum to the chief of the
USAF Office of Air Intelligence about the branch’s interview with H. W.
Flickinger, vice president for exports at Republic Aircraft Corp. after
his return from Sweden: “He stated that he had seen one of the Swedish
‘spook rockets’ in flight, which resembled the V-1 buzz bomb but was
somewhat smaller. The noise of this missile was more that of a rocket
than like a V-1.” (Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 893
Date: 3/7/1947
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 165.2km
altitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 165.2km
Date: 3/17/1947
Description: Newspaper article stating Einstein “has helped many young
students to find their directions”
Type: newspaper article
Reference: link
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 3/21/1947
Description: A cigar-shaped object with smoke coming from its tail is
seen flying from east to west at considerable height over southern
Sweden by several witnesses. It looks metallic and is about 60 feet
long, flying slowly. The object seems to turn around and fly back
eastward briefly. (“‘Phantom
Bomb’ Returns to Skies over Sweden,” New York Times, March 22, 1947,
p. 8; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 January
1st–June 23rd, Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2000, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 894
Date: 4/1947
Description: The June 1947 issue of Amazing Stories is devoted in its
entirety to “proofs” of Richard
Shaver’s claims and includes four of his novellas. Vincent
Gaddis has written a prescient article on UFOs, titled “Visitors
from the Void.” (David Halperin, “The
Shaver Mystery—Richard Shaver, Ray Palmer, and the Quest for Lemuria
(Part 2),”
July 11, 2014; Richard S. Shaver, “Formula
from the Underworld,” Amazing Stories 21, no. 6 (June 1947): 10–29;
Vincent H. Gaddis, “Visitors
from the Void,” Amazing Stories 21, no. 6 (June 1947):
159–161)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 895
Date: 4/1947
Description: 11:00 a.m. US Weather Bureau meteorologist Walter A.
Minczewski watches a silvery disc through a theodolite while tracking a
ceiling balloon in Richmond, Virginia. It is traveling east to west at
less than 15,000 feet and has a flat bottom and a dome on top. (NICAP,
“Silvery
Disc Seen through Theodolite”; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 62; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 January 1st–June 23rd,
Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2000, pp. 17–21; Sparks, p. 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 896
Date: 4/1/1947
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 129.2km
altitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 129.2km
Date: 4/8/1947
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 102.2km
altitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 102.2km
Date: 4/15/1947
Description: The US Naval Attaché in Stockholm issues a secret
intelligence report, “Sweden: Guided Missiles, Alleged Rockets over
Sweden.” Both the naval and military attachés agree that there is
nothing to the ghost rocket episode. No foreign missiles have overflown
or landed in Sweden, according to the evidence a, vailable. “Swedish
officials prefer to dismiss it as an unexplained press sensation.”
(Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1947 January 1st–June 23rd, Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2000, p. 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 897
Date: 4/17/1947
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 142.4km
altitude (Successful test of ram-jet payload)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 142.4km
Date: 4/17/1947
Description: Col. Oliver
G. Haywood Jr. of the Atomic Energy Commission writes a memorndum to
Harold
A. Fidler at the Clinton Engineer Works in Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
saying: “It is desired that no document be released which refers to
experiments with humans and might have adverse effect on public opinion
or result in legal suits. Documents covering such work should be
classified ‘secret.’” (Advisory Committtee on Human Radiation
Experiments, memo, “Documents Retrieved from Oak Ridge Operations: The
Atomic Energy Commission’s Declassification Review of Reports on Human
Experiments and the Public Relations and Legal Liability Consequences,”
December 6, 1994; Wikipedia, “Unethical
human experimentation in the United States”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 898
Date: late 4/1947
Alternate date: early 5/1947
Description: 12:05 p.m. Mrs. William Down and Mrs. H. G. Olavick of
Tucson, Arizona, see an unusual, fleecy cloud in an otherwise cloudless
sky. Moving around it in “yo-yo fashion” are a number of small discs
with a dull-white finish. They move up and down and sideways,
occasionally disappearing into or behind the cloud. They watch the
objects for 5–7 minutes, then all the discs disappear above the cloud,
while a larger object emerges from the cloud and moves eastward. Behind
it comes a V-formation of nine of the smaller discs, which then climbs
at high speed toward the northeast and disappears in 2–3 seconds. The
witnesses assume the objects are some new type of aircraft. (Bloecher,
p. ix;
Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects and Cloud Cigars,” IUR 29, no. 1
(Spring 2004): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 899
Date: 5/1947
Description: 9:00 p.m. Harry Bentrup Jr. is on his porch in Jennings,
Missouri, when a circular object surrounded by a ring of luminous green
lights swoops in quickly from the east, hovers above him for 15 seconds,
then takes off to the west. (MUFON case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 900
Date: 5/1/1947
Description: Rear Adm. Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter replaces Hoyt Vandenberg
as Director of Central Intelligence. Dr. Leon Davidson notes this as the
actual beginning of the CIA in 1961.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Washington DC
Date: 5/1/1947
Description: Rear Adm. Roscoe
H. Hillenkoetter replaces Hoyt
Vandenberg as Director of Central Intelligence.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 902
Date: 5/1/1947 (approximate)
Description: Mrs. W. C. Clark of Memphis, Tennessee, watches two objects
“like tennis balls” fly over her yard. (“Three Memphians Say They Saw
Objects,” Memphis (Tenn.) Commercial Appeal, July 7, 1947, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 901
Date: 5/5/1947
Description: Hillenkoetter writes
to Baruch, saying that his CIRES plan is “on the verge of being put into
effect.” (Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 903
Date: 5/10/1947
Description: Rose Slawuta of Newark, New Jersey, sees a shining,
elliptical object with a gold band around it approaching fron the west.
(Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger, July 7, 1947; Bloecher, p. I-2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 904
Date: 5/14/1947
Description: 8:30 p.m. A spherical object 3-4 feet in diameter is seen
over Budapest, Hungary, passing southeast to northwest at about 3,000
feet altitude in a flat trajectory. (Allied Control Commission for
Hungary; George Mitrovic, The
Gateways to the Gods, Kindle,
2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 905
Date: 5/15/1947
Description: 4:11 p.m. A Hermes test missile (V-2) at White Sands
Proving Ground, New Mexico, goes off course and lands 6 miles east of
Alamogordo five and a half minutes after launch. Commanding Officer Lt.
Col. Harold R. Turner blames “peculiar phenomena” for the accident. The
official explanation is that the V-2 had a defective fin. Trade
consultant and former state representative Jon
Andrew Kissner finds evidence in 1994 that possibly another object
was seen in the vicinity of the rocket after the launch that might have
been responsible for the failed test. (“V-2
Goes Astray, Lands in Six Miles of Alamogordo,” Las Cruces (N.Mex.)
Sun-News, May 16, 1947, p. 1; Good Need, pp. 55–57;
Wikipedia, “Hermes
program”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 906
Date: 5/15/1947
Description: A V-2 test missile at White Sands goes off course. Reaches
135.2km, internal explosion at 64.3s. Commanding Officer blames
“peculiar phenomena” for the accident. Former state representative Jon
Andrew Kissner finds evidence in 1994 that possibly another object was
seen in the vicinity of the rocket after the launch that might have been
responsible for the failure.
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 135.2km
Date: 5/15/1947
Description: UFO sighting in Oklahoma City: round, disc-like, ten times
longer than thick, high speed, Project Grudge case #82. (Possibly
5/21/47)
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: link
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Date: 5/17/1947
Alternate date: 5/19/1947
Description: 8:30 p.m. Byron B. Savage, an RCA field engineer, sees a
frosty-white or silvery elliptical object about the size of a B-29
heading northwest at 10,000 feet over Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at three
times the speed of a jet (about 1,800 mph). As it noiselessly passes
overhead, it appears to be circular. (NICAP, “Round
and Flat Object
Observed by Field Engineer”; Oklahoma City Times, June 26, 1947;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of
the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 January 1st–June 23rd,
Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2000, pp. 27–28; Sparks, p. 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 907
Date: 5/19/1947
Description: UFO sighting in Manitou Springs CO: “Reversal of direction
of fight, manoeuvres” , Project Grudge chase #92
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: link
Location: Manitou Springs, CO
Date: 5/19/1947
Description: Around 12:30 p.m. Navy veteran Dean
A. Hauser and six other Pike’s Peak Railway workers (including Ted
Weigand, Marion Hisshouse, T. J. Smith, L. D. Jamison) at Manitou
Springs, Colorado, are taking a lunch break when they watch a silver
object come in from the northwest, hover overhead, and gyrate at 1,000
feet. The UFO is moving “erratically in wide circles” and reflects light
like it is made of metal. After 20 minutes it disappears in a straight
line to the west-northwest. (“Manitou Vets Relate Story: Another ‘Disk’
Seen,” Denver Post, June 28, 1947, p. 1; Bloecher, p. I-1;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 January
1st–June 23rd, Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2000,
pp. 29–30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 908
Date: 5/19/1947
Description: UFO sighting in Manitou Springs CO: “Reversal of direction
of fight, manoeuvres” , Project Grudge case #92
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: link
Location: Manitou Springs, CO
Date: late 5/1947
Description: 11:00 a.m. Colden
R. Battey, a physician from Augusta, Georgia, is fishing 10 miles
off St. Helena Sound, near Beaufort, South Carolina. He notices a
formation of four disc-like objects flying overhead in a southeasterly
direction at a terrific rate of speed. The discs appear to be spinning
on their axes and are at an estimated altitude of 20,000 feet. They are
silvery and appear highly polished, and on their undersides Battey can
see a circular rim or projection, about one-quarter of the way from the
edges. No sound is heard as they fly overhead. The formation speeds out
of view in less than 20 seconds. (NICAP, “Four
Discs Flying Overhead”; Bloecher, p. I-2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 909
Date: 5/29/1947
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 79.3km altitude
(Hermes II prototype with dummy Organ ramjet test. Lost control after 4s
and crashed outside range near Juarez, Mexico.
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 79.3km
Date: 5/29/1947
Description: 7:30 p.m. A Hermes II test missile (a modified V-2) is
launched from White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico to test the
“Organ,” a series of ramjet air intakes designed to take pressure
measurements. The missile travels south instead of north and lands in
the Tepeyac Cemetery, 3 miles south of Juárez, Mexico, creating an
international incident. It leaves a crater 50 feet wide and 24 feet
deep. German scientists Wernher
Von Braun and Ernst
Steinhoff are conducting the test. (Wikipedia, “Hermes
program&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1674889728048267&usg=AOvVaw21w5H7PR0bJxyaVhiz6Kw9)”;
J. Terry White, “The
Hermes II Incident,” White Eagle Aerospace, May 2, 2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 910
Date: 5/31/1947
Description: Student and Einstein assistant Shirley J. Wright class
photo in newspaper
Type: newspaper article
Reference: link
Location: Coral Gables, FL
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 6/1947
Description: AMC civilian engineer W. R. Presley takes a muddy photo of
a UFO at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It is most likely a photographic flaw.
(Hynek UFO Report, p. 142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 911
Date: 6/1947
Description: Oppenheimer-Einstein Majestic Document on US Space Law,
“Relationships with Inhabitants of Celestial Bodies”
Type: majestic document
Reference: Majestic
Document
Attributes: Einstein
Attributes: majestic
Date: 6/2/1947
Description: Private pilot Forrest
Wenyon is flying over Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and sees a silvery,
jar-shaped object cross in front of his plane. It has a silver-white,
fiery exhaust. (NICAP, “Jar-Shaped
Object Crosses in Front of Aircraft”;
Bloecher, p. III-9;
Sparks,
p. 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 912
Date: 6/4/1947
Description: Project Mogul flight number 4 is allegedly launched from
Alamogordo Army Air Field. (Kevin D. Randle, “The Project Mogul Flights
and Roswell,” IUR 19, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1994): 6–7, 23; Robert J. Durant,
“Project
Mogul Still
a Flight of Fancy,” IUR 26, no. 1 (Spring 2001): 17–27; David
Rudiak, “The
Phony Mogul Balloon Trajectory,”
2002; Kevin D. Randle, “Mogul
and Roswell,” A Different Perspective,” July 11, 2013; Kevin D.
Randle, “A
Few Facts about Project Mogul,” A Different Perspective, August 12,
2013; Kevin D. Randle, “Truth about
Mogul,” A Different Perspective, April 4, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 913
Date: 6/9/1947
Description: A still-unlocated air intelligence summary is released,
alleging that the Soviets in eastern Siberia are producing (or may be
able to produce) 1,400 (or 1,800) aircraft based on the Horten
brothers’ VIII-type, low-aspect, disc- shaped design by 1952. A
Russian aviation historian thinks that the factories in question are at
the time producing copies of the German Messerschmidt Me 262 jet
fighter. A correct, more detailed summary of the intelligence report is
published in December 1948 in Air Intelligence Report Number 100-203-79,
“Analysis of Flying Object Incidents in the U.S.” (Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 914
Date: 6/10/1947
Time: 2300
Description: Coral Lorenzen saw a light rise from the ground in Mexican
territory. It took a definite spherical shape and vanished in less than
ten seconds among the stars.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. I 4 (Vallee)
Location: Douglas, Arizona
ID: 55
Date: 6/10/1947
Description: 3:30 p.m. Gyorik Ferenc and others on Arena Street [modern
Dózsa György út] in Budapest, Hungary, watch four yellow-red discs
moving toward the northwest in a straight-line formation for about 30
seconds. They are about 165 feet apart. The objects make a small arc
around a corner of a park before disappearing. (Project
Blue Book
record; Joe Brill, “UFOs behind the Iron Curtain,” Skylook, no. 76,
March 1974, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 915
Date: 6/11/1947
Description: Student and Einstein assistant Shirley J. Wright’s last day
of high school (estimate)
Type: scientist
Reference: link
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 6/12/1947
Description: 6:15 p.m. Lovena
Erickson sees two high-speed, round objects at a high altitude over
Weiser, Idaho. They move up and down twice and leave a vapor trail that
persists for more than an hour. (NICAP, “June
12, 1947, Weiser,
Idaho”; Bloecher, p. II-8; Sparks,
p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 916
Date: 6/17/1947
Time: 1030
Description: John A. Petsche, electrical worker and another witness
independently saw a disk-shaped object, which seemed to land near
Tintown.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. I 6 (Vallee)
Location: Bisbee, Arizona
ID: 58
Date: 6/18/1947
Description: Day. E. H. Sprinkle is one of a half-dozen Eugene, Oregon,
residents who spot a formation of round objects “racing overhead” on a
course to the northeast. Watching from Skinner’s Butte outside town.
Sprinkle takes a snapshot of the objects with an inexpensive camera as
they race over. Enlargements of the photograph show “seven dots” in a
formation “shaped like an X or a Y, lined up across the sky.” Newspaper
photographers say the dots “might be a fault in the developing process”
that sometimes appears on a negative that has not been agitated properly
in the developer. (“Local
Man Asserts Flights Seen Here,” Eugene (Oreg.) Guard, June 26, 1947,
p. 1; Bloecher, p. IV-3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 917
Date: 6/19/1947
Description: Maj. Gen. Stephen
Chamberlin, head
of War Department Intelligence, authorizes three electronic signals
intelligence flights between July 1 and August 1 to look for radio
signals over the Baltic Sea. The Swedish military is told that they are
training flights. (Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 919
Date: 6/19/1947
Description: USAAF Col. Albert
Boyd reaches a world airspeed record of 624 mph in a Lockheed P-80R
Shooting Star at Muroc AFB [later Edwards AFB], California. (Wikipedia,
“Albert
Boyd”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 918
Date: 6/21/1947
Description: Maury Island Incident
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Medium
Reference: link
Attributes: metals
Date: 6/21/1947
Description: 11:55 a.m. Guy
R. Overman watches several silvery objects moving below a plane at
Spokane, Washington. (NICAP, “Eight
Disc-Shaped Objects As Big As a House”; Bloecher, p. II-18;
Sparks,
p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 920
Date: 6/21/1947
Description: Harold A. Dahl and others allegedly saw six tire-shaped
objects, 30 m in diameter, metallic with dark openings, over Puget
Sound. One of the objects exploded, showering the witnesses with metal.
Officially regarded as hoax.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Ruppelt (Vallee)
Location: Maury Island, near Tacoma, Washington
ID: 56
Date: 6/21/1947
Time: 1150
Description: Eight disk-shaped objects the size of a house, were seen
flying at 1000 km/h. A civilian woman stated that the objects fell with
a deadleaf motion and landed before ten witnesses on the shore of the
Saint Joe River, in Idaho.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Spokane, Washington
ID: 57
Date: summer 1947
Description: Naval Cmdr. L.
H. Witherspoon sees a disc-shaped UFO flash over the airport at
Pittsburg, Kansas. (UFOEv, p. 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 949
Date: 6/21/1947
Description: Harold Dahl sees 6 discs near Tacoma Harbor, WA. Drops
metal residue.
Type: UFO sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Maury Island, WA
Attributes: metals
Date: 6/21/1947
Description: Log salvager Harold
A. Dahl is patrolling east of Maury Island, Washington, with his
15-year-old son Charles and two crewmen when he allegedly sees six
doughnut-shaped objects. Five of them are circling the sixth, which
seems distressed. When it is directly above the boat at 500 feet, it
supposedly spews some hot slag-like material that breaks Charles’s arm
and kills his dog. Dahl claims he filmed the objects. (Clark III 721;
John A. Keel, “The Maury Island Caper,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes,
1987, pp. 40–43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 921
Date: 6/22/1947
Description: Dahl claims
he is visited by a mysterious dark-suited man who knows all about the
sighting. He tells his associate Fred
L. Crisman, and
they allegedly go to the beach to pick up fragments. Dahl mails Ray
Palmer in Chicago, Illinois, some fragments. (Clark III 721; Kenn
Thomas, Maury Island UFO: The Crisman Conspiracy, IllumiNet, 1999;
Charlette LeFevre and Philip Lipson, “The
Maury Island UFO Incident,” February 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 922
Date: 6/22/1947
Description: Evening. Yale University astrophysicist Lyman
Spitzer is speaking on WTIC radio in Hartford, Connecticut, and
speculates that if life on Mars developed a bit earlier than on earth,
it is possible that Martians have been civilized for millions of years.
“Unless they had spent some time in a large city or had landed
sufficiently recently to be photographed, we would have no record of
their being here,” he says, and that “any few men who had seen them
would probably not be believed by anyone else.” (“Mars
May Be Peopled, Says Yale Speaker,” Hartford (Conn.) Courant, June
23, 1947, p. 1; Clark III 455)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 925
Date: 6/22/1947
Description: Edward
Louis DeRose in Greenfield, Massachusetts, sees a small,
round-shaped, silvery-white object moving in a northwesterly direction
faster than a speeding plane at an estimated altitude of 1,000 feet. The
object stays in view for 8–10 seconds until obscured by a cloud bank. It
reflects the sunlight strongly as if is made of polished aluminum or
silver. (Air Force Base Intelligence Report, “Flying
Discs,” July 30, 1947; Kevin D. Randle, “Roswell,
Nathan Twining, and the Mini-EOTS,” A Different Perspective, October
6, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 923
Date: 6/22/1947
Description: 3:30 p.m. G.
Oliver Dickson sees a shiny disc “a little like a blimp” flying
north to south about 3,000 feet above Mount Franklin just north of El
Paso, Texas. He estimates it is about 40 feet across and 5 feet thick.
(“More El
Pasoans Report Seeing ‘Flying
Discs’ in Southwest,” El Paso (Tex.) Times, June 29, 1947,
pp. 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 924
Date: 6/23/1947
Description: 9:30 p.m. Richard
L. Bitters and his wife Martha are
returning from a movie in Wapakoneta, Ohio, when they see a saucer-like
object flying an uneven course in the sky. (“Saucer
Just Didn’t Fit Editor’s Idea of a ‘Scoop,’” Madison Wisconsin State
Journal, July 7, 1947, p. 2; Bloecher, p. III-6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 927
Date: 6/23/1947
Description: Afternoon. Disabled stunt pilot Richard Rankin views 10
flat, circular objects flying in a V-formation over his house in
Bakersfield, California. About two hours later, 7 of the objects are
seen flying in the opposite direction. (Bloecher, p. II-3;
Sparks, p. 17;
Kevin D. Randle, “More
Pre-Arnold UFO Sightings,” A Different Perspective, June 30,
2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 926
Date: 6/24/1947
Description: A civilian pilot, Kenneth Arnold, reports seeing 9 flying
saucers flying in formation at an altitude of 9200 feet and at almost
1700 mph. He estimated them to be 20 to 25 miles away from him and
between 45 to 50feet long
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Date: 6/24/1947
Description: Afternoon. Fred M. Johnson, a prospector in the Mount
Adams, Oregon, area, sees 5-6 oval objects with tails about 30 feet in
diameter. He watches one through a telescope. They are not flying in any
sort of formation and as they bank in a turn, the sunlight flashes off
them. As they approach, Johnson notices that his compass begins to spin
wildly. When the objects finally vanish in the distance, the compass
returns to normal. Johnson’s report is the very first “unidentified”
case in the Project Sign files. (NICAP, “Prospector
Compass Incident”; Bloecher, p. IV- 3;
Clark III 170–171; Bruce Maccabee, “The Arnold Phenomenon: Part Three,”
IUR 20, no. 3 (May/June 1995): 6–7; Martin Shough, “The
Singular Adventure of Mr. Kenneth Arnold,” June 2010, pp. 106,
109–110; Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 58–59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 932
Date: 6/24/1947
Description: 3:30 p.m. Idaho Lieutenant Governor Donald
S. Whitehead and Justice of the Peace Jacob
M. Lampert see an object with a brilliant head and a smoky tail from
an office window in downtown Boise, Idaho. It dips from view after about
20 minutes. (“Whitehead,
Lampert, Join ‘Disc List,’” Boise Idaho Statesman, July 3, 1947,
p. 9; Bloecher, pp. III-18–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 931
Date: 6/24/1947
Description: 3:00 p.m. Boise, Idaho, businessman Kenneth
Arnold, flying his CallAir Model A-2 from Chehalis to Yakima,
Washington, sees a string of nine objects flying in an echelon formation
past Mount Rainier, Washington. At first he assumes they are jets, but
he can see no trails. They cover the 50-mile distance between Rainier
and another peak in 1 minute 42 seconds. He estimates their speed to be
at least 1,200 mph. The objects swerve in and out of the smaller peaks,
flipping from side to side in unison, dipping, and presenting their
lateral surfaces, which reflect the bright sunlight and cause the
flashes he saw earlier. They are in view for about two and a half
minutes and are last seen heading south over the last high peak of Mount
Adams. Arnold tells the airport staff about it in Yakima at 4:00 p.m.
and they call ahead to Pendleton, Oregon, to alert them of Arnold’s
arrival at an air show and his story. A large crowd awaits him, and a
discussion follows. The consensus is that Arnold has seen guided
missiles. But no such technology exists at the time that can match the
objects’ description and performance, and the late 1990s explanation
that Arnold observed a flight of white pelicans is equally improbable.
Researcher Martin Shough concludes
in 2010: “Examination of the sighting report in detail improves its
evident internal consistency, rather than degrading it, and study of the
principal contending explanations reveals that they are each very much
less attractive when tried out in quantitative detail against the best
information than they may appear at first sight.” (Wikipedia, “Kenneth
Arnold UFO Sighting”; [Project
Blue Book file]; NICAP, “Kenneth
Arnold Sighting”;
Center for UFO Studies, [clippings
and reports]; Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer, The Coming of the
Saucers, Palmer, 1952, pp. 9–13; Bloecher, p. I-2–3;
Patrick Gross, “The
Kenneth Arnold Sighting, June 24, 1947”;
Kim Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987,
pp. 48–53; John A. Keel, “Kenneth
Arnold and the F.B.I.,” Flying Saucer Review 32, no. 5 (August
1987): 2–12; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History:
Volume 1, 1947, The Author, February 1991, pp. 5–9; Bruce Maccabee,
“The Arnold Phenomenon: Part One,” IUR 20, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1995):
14–17; Bruce Maccabee, “The Arnold Phenomenon: Part Two,” IUR 20, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1995): 10–13, 24; Michael David Hall and Wendy Ann Connors,
Alfred Loedding and the Great Flying Saucer Wave of 1947, Rose Press,
1998, pp. 14–22;
Don Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing
Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 54–59;
Martin Shough, “The Singular
Adventure of Mr. Kenneth Arnold,” June 2010; Bruce Maccabee, Three
Minutes in June: The UFO Sighting That Changed the World, The Author,
2017; Nigel Watson, “Was It a Bird? Was It a Plane?” Fortean Times 355
(July 2017): 46–49; Clark III 169)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 930
Date: 6/24/1947
Description: 1:50 p.m. Railroad engineer Charles Kastl sees 9 or 10
spinning discs in the air about 12 miles east of Joliet, Illinois. They
are a string of flat circular objects “going faster than anything I’ve
ever seen.” Kastl can see no connecting link between them, but they act
as though the leading disc has a motor in it to power the others,
because when it flips, the others do as well. When it rights itself, the
others also right themselves. (“Flying
Discs Seen
by Railroad Man,” Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette, June 28, 1947, p. 2;
Schopick, pp. 1–2;
NICAP, “Engineer Reports
10 Shiny Flat Discs”; Kevin D. Randle, “The
June 23, 1947 UFO Sighting,” A Different Perspective, March 20,
2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 929
Date: 6/24/1947
Alternate date: 6/30/1947
Description: Afternoon. Bill
Schuening, a
farmer, is driving his pickup truck down a remote rural road 25 miles
north of Pendleton, Oregon, when he hears a loud humming sound. Coming
over a rise, he sees in a nearby field a large disc-shaped object
hovering 5–6 feet off the ground. He can also see two short (3 feet
tall) figures wearing green suits and white helmets standing underneath
the object. The figures suddenly vanish, and the craft then shoots
towards the Columbia River, makes a big circle, and flies towards the
mountains. (NICAP, “Man
Sees Figures
Standing near Disc”; Clark III 267; Patrick Gross, URECAT, November
7, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 928
Date: 6/24/1947
Description: Kenneth Arnold sights 9 discs near Mt. Rainer,
Washington
Type: UFO sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Mt. Rainer, WA
Date: 6/25/1947
Description: Shortly after 12:00 noon. W. I. Davenport is working on the
roof of a house at 82nd Street and Holmes Road in Kansas City, Missouri,
when he hears the sound of a motor. Looking up, he sees 9 objects
approaching from the east. They are aluminum-colored and leave vapor
trails. (“Puzzle
in Sky Whiz,” Kansas City (Mo.) Star, June 26, 1947, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 934
Date: 6/25/1947
Description: Kenneth
Arnold goes to the East Oregonian office in Pendleton, Oregon, and
speaks with reporters Nolan Skiff and William
C. Bequette. Arnold
says the “saucer-like” objects were racing over the Cascade Mountains
with a peculiar weaving motion “like the tail of a Chinese kite.” Bill
Bequette writes the first saucer news story for the newspaper. He does
not use the term “flying saucer,” but headline writers in other papers
use it (such as the Philadelphia Inquirer on June 26), and reporters
start picking it up. (“Impossible! Maybe, But Seein’ Is Believin’, Says
Flier,” Pendleton East Oregonian, June 25, 1947, p. 1; “Flying
Saucers Puzzle Pilot,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 26, 1947, p. 1;
Clark III 170; Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer, The Coming of the Saucers,
1952, Palmer, pp. 13–15; Pierre Lagrange, “A Moment in History: An
Interview with Bill Bequette,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter 1998): 15, 20; “Saturday
Night Uforia: ’It Seems Impossible—But There It Is,’” Daily Kos,
April 18, 2009; Phil Wright, “The
Sighting,” Portland East Oregonian, June 16, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 933
Date: 6/26/1947
Description: Northrop delivers a second four-engine XB-35 flying wing
aircraft to Muroc AFB [now Edwards AFB], California. (Wikipedia, “Northrop
YB-35”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 937
Date: 6/26/1947
Description: Kenneth
Arnold is interviewed live on KWRC radio in Pendleton, Oregon, by
broadcaster Theodore
A. “Ted” Smith. (Patrick
Gross, “About
the June 25, 1947, Interview on WKPG Radio by Bill Bequette”; “Kenneth
Arnold Interviewed
by Bill Bequette [actually Ted Smith],” Nutsandbolts UFO YouTube
channel, December 12, 2010)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 936
Date: 6/26/1947
Description: 2:00 a.m. Mrs. J. M. Harrison watches a large fireball pass
toward the northwest from her residence at 4639 South Oakenwald,
Chicago, Illinois. It breaks up into two dozen small discs that whirl
around rapidly. (“Dr. Urey Scoffs
at ‘Atom Angle’ to Flying Disks,” Chicago Tribune, July 6, 1947,
p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 935
Date: 6/27/1947
Description: Afternoon. Clyde Homan sees two groups of loosely bunched
objects, rocking back and forth as they fly noiselessly above Woodland,
Washington. The objects are bright, flat, and moving at an estimated 600
mph. (Bloecher, pp. II-1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 942
Date: 6/27/1947
Description: Day. Capt. Robert
D. Dwan, a
pilot out of Alamogordo Army Air Field [now Holloman AFB], New Mexico,
is flying a private plane near Engle, New Mexico, at 3,000 feet, when he
looks down and sees a “ball of fire, with a fiery blue tail behind it.”
The object is about 2,000 feet below him, and he is “certain it is a
meteorite.” The object disintegrates as he watches it. (Bloecher, pp. III-9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 941
Date: 6/27/1947
Description: In a United Press dispatch from Pendleton, Oregon, Kenneth
Arnold expresses frustration over the furor that his saucer sighting
has caused. A preacher has called him from Texas to say that the flying
discs are “harbinger of doomsday.” A woman recognizes Arnold in a
Pendleton café and runs out shrieking that he is “the man who saw the
men from Mars.” He says the whole thing has gotten out of hand: “Half
the people I see look at me as a combination Einstein, Flash Gordon, and
screwball. I wonder what my wife back in Idaho thinks.” (“Report
of ‘Flying
Saucers’ Causes Furor; Texas Preacher Calls Flock for World’s End,”
Medford (Oreg.) Mail Tribune, June 27, 1947, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 940
Date: 6/27/1947
Description: Pentagon Army AF Public Relations Officer Capt. Tom Brown
says the army has no idea what the discs are. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 1, 1947, The Author, February 1991, p. 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 939
Date: 6/27/1947
Description: 9:50 a.m. Mrs. W. B. Cummings is driving about 5 miles
southeast of San Antonio, New Mexico, when she sees a bright silver
object descending quickly in the east. It leaves a short white trail.
White Sands officials say there has been no missile testing since June
12. (“More
El Pasoans Report Seeing ‘Flying Discs’ in Southwest,” El Paso
(Tex.) Times, June 29, 1947, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 938
Date: 6/28/1947
Description: 9:20 p.m. Two pilots and two intelligence officers
(Capt. Wilson
H. Kayko, Capt. John H. Cantrell, 1st Lt. Theodore Dewey, and
Capt. Redman) at Maxwell Field [now Maxwell AFB] in Montgomery, Alabama,
see a bright light zigzagging across the sky for 25 minutes. When it is
directly overhead, the UFO makes a sharp 90° turn and disappears to the
south. (NICAP, “Object
Zig-Zags with Bursts of Speed”; Bloecher, p. III-3;
Sparks,
p. 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 944
Date: 6/28/1947
Description: 1:15 p.m. Lieut. Eric
B. Armstrong, flying an F-51 at 6,000 feet 30 miles north of Lake
Mead, Nevada, sees a formation of 5–6 objects streak by his plane. They
are in close formation at an estimated speed of 285 mph. (NICAP, “Formation
of 5–6 Objects Head toward P-51”; Bloecher, p. III-10;
Sparks,
p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 943
Date: 6/29/1947
Description: Days before the Roswell Incident on June 29, 1947, Dr. C.
J. Zohn (working for a Washington naval research lab) and 3 others see
UFO’s 20 miles from the V-2 rocket testing grounds at White Sands (which
would probably be Pad 33).
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Newspapers.com
Location: White Sands, NM
Date: 6/29/1947
Description: 1:15 p.m. Carl
J. Zohn, a
guided missile expert with the Naval Research Laboratory, is 20 miles
east-northeast of Las Cruces, New Mexico, to observe a V-2 rocket launch
scheduled for July 3. Between 1:00 and 1:30 p.m., he is riding out to
the testing grounds with John R. Kauke and NRL scientist Curtis
C. Rockwood (and his wife Nancy) when they see a silvery disc flying
at 8,000–10,000 feet. It has no appendages, wings, tail, or propellers.
After about 60 seconds it disappears. (NICAP, “Naval
Research Lab Rocket Scientists See Silver Discs”; Bloecher, p. III-18;
Sparks, p. 18;
Evelyne Tsezana, “Grandpa
Zohn Saw UFOs in New Mexico,” Geni, April 6, 2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 945
Date: 6/30/1947
Time: 0910
Description: A Navy lieutenant was flying at 9000 m toward the south
when he saw two circular objects diving at “unconceivable” speed. They
were gray, about 3 m in diameter, and appeared to land 40 km south of
the Grand Canyon.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Grand Canyon, near Williams Field, Arizona
ID: 59
Date: 6/30/1947
Description: 9:10 a.m. Naval Lt. William G. McGinty is flying a P-80
from Williams AFB [now Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport], Arizona, near the
Grand Canyon when he observes two circular objects diving at
inconceivable speed and landing 25 miles south of the canyon. (NICAP,
“P-80
Pilot Sees Circular Objects Dive and Land”; Bloecher, p. II-12; Sparks, p. 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 946
Date: 6/30/1947
Description: Around this time the Air Force Research and Development
office of the Air Materiel Command organizes an informal project at
Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, to collect UFO reports in the interests of
national security. The project officer at Wright Field is Lt. Col. Edward
G. Nabell Jr. (Sparks,
p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 948
Date: 6/30/1947
Description: Eighth Air Force Brig. Gen. Roger
M. Ramey and intelligence officer Col. Alfred
Kalberer hold a press conference in Fort Worth, Texas, on the flying
discs. Ramey thinks people are “seeing heat waves.” Kalberer labels the
sightings as “Buck Rogers stuff.” (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History:
1947 June 24th–July 6th, Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2000, p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 947
Date: 7/1947
Description: Conclusion to an FBI/ARMY Intelligence Report: Based on a
detailed study of the Kenneth Arnold case (6/24/47) and 15 other UFO
encounters during the first month of the “flying saucer” mystery the
conclusion is “this flying saucer situation is not all imaginary or
seeing too much in some natural phenomenon. Something is really flying
around.” (This report was declassified FOIA, 1976.)
Type: ufological event
Reference: Pea
Research
See also: 6/24/47
See also: 9/23/47
Date: 7/1947
Description: Alternate date for the organization of the MAJESTIC-12
group by General George C. Marshall. Established in order to study the
crash debris from the Roswell-Magdalena area.
Type: majestic document
Reference: “Matrix 1”, Valerian
Attributes: Majestic
See also: 9/24/1947
Date: 7/1947
Description: Student and Einstein assistant Shirley J. Wright visits
Princeton and studies under Einstein
Type: scientist
Reference: Bragalia
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 7/1/1947
End date: 7/3/1947
Description: US Signal Corps radar sites in southern New Mexico and one
at Kirtland Air Force Base near Albuquerque allegedly track an object
“flitting around” the sky, frequently returning but finally disappearing
on the night of July 4. Much of this story originates with
now-discredited Roswell witness Frank
Kaufmann, who claims he was ordered to bring a group of radar
experts to Alamogordo to evaluate unexplained radar targets at White
Sands Missile Range. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth
about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 159;
Kevin D. Randle, A History of UFO Crashes, Avon, 1995, p. 8;
Jim Wilson, “Roswell
Plus 50,” Popular Mechanics 174 (July 1997): 48–53; Kevin D. Randle,
“Frank Kaufmann, Roswell Witness,” IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 8, 17–19;
Mark Rodeghier, “Frank Kaufmann Exposed,” IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall 2002):
9–11, 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 958
Date: 7/1/1947
Description: Military installations at White Sands, Alamogordo, and
Roswell, New Mexico track high-speed objects on radar, all flying at
speeds well above what current jet fighters were capable of doing. With
the radar blips penetrating highly secure air space at will, all three
facilities go on full alert.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: link
Location: White Sands, NM
Location: Alamogordo, NM
Location: Roswell, NM
Date: 7/1/1947
Description: Day. Animal ecologist Charles
K. Gunn, his
wife, and two passengers are driving near North Bedeque, Prince Edward
Island, when they see a bright, shapeless object speeding along in the
sky for 30 seconds. (Bloecher, p. III-18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 951
Date: 7/1/1947
Description: A target is picked up on radar at Chitose Air Base,
Hokkaido, Japan, moving 16 miles north at speeds in excess of 500 mph.
The blip instantly reverses course four times, breaks into two objects,
then merges into one again. (Col. James F. Olive Jr., “Radar
Pick-Ups of High-Speed Targets in the Far East,” Memorandum for
Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Washington, D.C., September 26,
1947)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 952
Date: 7/1/1947
Description: 10:10 p.m. Meteorologist Ellwood E. Unger and his wife
watch a round, orange, luminous object going about 100 mph after they
leave a movie theater in Louisville, Kentucky. (Bloecher, p. III-2;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 June 24th–July 6th,
Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2000, p. 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 955
Date: 7/1/1947
Description: Col. Alfred
Kalberer holds another press conference in Fort Worth, Texas, and
brings astronomer Oscar
Monnig along to comment that the discs are “an interesting study in
human psychology.” (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 June 24th–July 6th,
Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2000, pp. 23–24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 953
Date: 7/1/1947
Description: Night. Albuquerque, New Mexico, Chamber of Commerce
official Max
Hood sees a bluish disc zigzagging for about 30 seconds. (Bloecher,
p. III-17;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947
June 24th–July 6th, Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2000, pp. 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 954
Date: 7/1/1947 (approximate)
Description: 11:00 p.m. Mrs. A. M. King is with another passenger on the
deck of the Union-Castle Mail SS
Llandovery Castle as
it is steaming through the Mozambique Channel. They notice a star-like
object traveling fast toward the ship. It shines a strong beam of light
on the water within 150 feet of the ship, then descends, the beam
shortening and becoming brighter as it nears the water. Soon the light
switches off and they can see a metallic object that looks like a cigar
with the end cut off. It remains about 20 feet above the sea, moving
parallel with the ship. King estimates it is about four times the length
of the ship and four times as tall. After a few seconds, a large flame
erupts from the rear of the object. It vanishes soundlessly in the
darkness. (Lorenzen, FS Hoax, pp. 18–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 956
Date: 7/1/1947
End date: 7/3/1947 (approximate)
Description: According to Annie
Jacobsen’s informant, EG&G engineer Alfred
O’Donnell, the upcoming Roswell, New Mexico, crashes are the result
of a psychological warfare operation by Soviet leader Joseph
Stalin to fly into US airspace two disc- or wing-shaped aircraft
based on a Horton
brothers design obtained at the end of World War II. One craft
allegedly contains living dwarves or children (human guinea pigs) who
had been surgically altered using similar methods to those used in
Auschwitz concentration camp by Nazi doctor Josef
Mengele. This aircraft is remotely controlled by the crew of the
second craft. The idea is to land the first aircraft in a visible
location in the US, perhaps in Washington, D.C. The children would exit
the craft and present themselves to the highest echelons of the
government. However, the two aircraft crash in the New Mexico desert
and, he claims, the Atomic Energy Commission is put in charge of the
remains. (Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 367–374;
Kremlin 30–36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 957
Date: 7/2/1947
Description: 8:00 p.m. Spectators at a baseball game at the Cincinnati
(Ohio) Milling Machine Company watch two slow- moving discs hovering
above the field for 10 minutes. (“100
at Ball Game Tell of Seeing Two Mystery Saucers,” Cincinnati (Ohio)
Post, July 7, 1947, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 959
Date: 7/2/1947
Description: 9:50 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Dan
Wilmot see an oval object like two inverted saucers pass over their
house moving northwest in Roswell, New Mexico. (Sparks,
p. 19; Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO
Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 159;
Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, “When and Where Did the Roswell
Object Crash?” IUR 19, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1994): 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 960
Date: 7/2/1947
Description: Roswell area crash
Type: ufo crash
Reference: “Matrix 1”, Valerian
Location: Roswell, NM
Date: 7/2/1947
Description: Roswell area crash
Type: ufo crash
Reference: Valerian, Matrix 1
Date: 7/2/1947
Description: Magdalena, N.M.: Mr. Barnett sighted a shiny object out in
the desert and, upon investigation, came upon a crashed disc-shaped
object, 9 meters (30 ft.) across. Later a military truck arrived to
supervise the investigation of the crash site. Barnett saw dead bodies
strewn about the crash site. They weren’t wearing military uniforms, and
in fact didn’t even look human. Seen from a distance, the bodies had on
silvery suits and appeared to be about 3 ft. tall.
Type: ufo crash
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Magdalena, N.M.
Date: early 7/1947
Description: A cyclist near Amfreville-la-Mi-Voie, Seine-Maritime,
France, encounters an oval object, 10 feet long and 5 feet high, resting
on the road 100 feet in front of her. Two small beings dressed in
outfits and headgear are busy around it. When she honks her horn, the
entities scurry into the object, entering it through a 20-inch opening.
The UFO rises, oscillates, and streaks away. (Clark III 267; Patrick
Gross, URECAT, August
81, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 950
Date: 7/3/1947
Description: 8:55 a.m. William F. LeFevre watches a shiny, mirror-like
disc zoom over River Drive near West 8th Street in Denver, Colorado, at
several thousand feet and make a 45° turn before vanishing toward the
southwest. (Denver Post, July 5, 1947; Michael David Hall and Wendy Ann
Connors, Alfred Loedding and the Great Flying Saucer Wave of 1947, Rose
Press, 1998, p. 44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 961
Date: 7/3/1947
Description: Morning. Project Mogul Flight number 8, a cluster of
plastic balloons, is launched from Holloman AFB, New Mexico. (Kevin D.
Randle, “The Project Mogul Flights and Roswell,” IUR 19, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1994): 6–7, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 962
Date: 7/3/1947
Description: 2:30 p.m. Amateur astronomer John F. Cole watches a group
of 10 objects moving northwest near Harborside, Maine, at 600–1,200 mph.
Each is 50–150 feet wide. The objects are milling about in loose
formation like a “swarm of bees” for 10–15 seconds. (NICAP, “Astronomer
Observes Ten Large Objects”; Bloecher, p. III-18;
Sparks, p. 19;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 963
Date: 7/3/1947
Description: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Air Research
Center at Wright Field, Ohio, and the army intelligence service are
looking into the flying discs. An INS dispatch states that Commander of
the Army Air Force Gen. Carl
Spaatz has asked Wright Field to look into such reports. Air
Materiel Command’s Lt. Gen. Nathan
F. Twining tells Idaho Evening Statesman reporter David
N. Johnson that officials are indeed looking into the discs and that
Wright Field has no comparable technology. Lieut. William
C. Anderson, Wright Field public relations officer, says there is no
confirmation that the discs exist. Maj. Paul
Gaynor says the Army Air Force needs more concrete information.
German scientists working at Wright Field are asked about the discs, but
they say they have heard nothing about any such experiments in Europe.
(“Army
Gets Around to Checking ’Flying Discs’
and Is Mystified,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 3, 1947, p. 1; Dave
Johnson, “AAF
Investigates Reports of Mysterious
Air Objects,” Boise Idaho Daily Statesman, July 3, 1947, pp. 1, 9;
“Military
Says ‘No Results’ in Disc Probe,”
Boise Idaho Daily Statesman, July 4, 1947, p. 2; “Weird
‘Flying Saucers’ Seen over 10 States,” New York Daily News, July 4,
1947, Final ed., p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 964
Date: 7/3/1947
Description: 5:45 p.m. Farmer Ewen McNeill in Village Green, east of
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, sees a black, rocket-shaped
projectile trailing a blindingly white flame and a smoke trail pass
overhead as he is working his fields. It seems to be flying at 10,000
feet and is visible for 15 seconds. Around the same time, a resident of
Augustine Cove watches an “object the size of an apple” traveling south
at high speed. (Bloecher, p. II-17;
Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
p. 64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 965
Date: 7/3/1947
Description: 6:30 p.m. Mrs. Walter Johnson and her family see 8–9 discs
flying out of the southern sky 6 miles west of Saint Maries, Idaho, over
the St. Joe River. The objects came in “very fast, slow down jerkily,
then flutter to the ground like leaves.” Mrs. Johnson thinks the objects
are about the size of a “five-room house.” When they reach a clearing in
the timber, they appear to “settle Down” a few at a time. Mrs. Johnson
reports the sighting to intelligence officers at the Spokane Army Air
Base [now Fairchild AFB], and an intensive air search is carried out by
two missions of the National Guard’s 116th Fighter Group. Local
sheriff’s deputies also make a ground search, but no traces of alanding
can be found. (“‘Saucer’
Reports Increase As
Sky Is Searched in Vain,” Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review, July 7,
1947, pp. 1, 6; “Dishman
Residents Saw ‘Flying Saucers’ Land,” Spokane (Wash.)
Spokesman-Review, July 7, 1947, p. 6; Bloecher, p. II-12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 966
Date: 7/3/1947
Time: 2:30 PM EDT
Description: Witness: astronomer John Cole of South Brooksville, Me.
Watched 10-15 seconds while ten very light objects, with two dark forms
to their left, moved like a swarm of bees to the northwest. A loud roar
was heard.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Harborside, Maine
ID: 0
Date: 7/3/1947
Description: Magdalena, NM area crash
Type: ufo crash
Reference: “Matrix 1”, Valerian
Location: Magdalena, NM
Date: 7/3/1947
Description: 7:30 p.m. Project Mogul Flight number 9, a cluster of
plastic balloons, is launched from Holloman AFB, New Mexico. (Kevin D.
Randle, “The Project Mogul Flights and Roswell,” IUR 19, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1994): 6–7, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 967
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: 9:12 p.m. United Air Lines Flight 105 pilots Capt. Emil J.
Smith and First Officer Ralph Stevens are flying from Boise, Idaho, to
Seattle, Washington, when they see a formation of five discs over
Emmett, Idaho, silhouetted against the sunset. Stewardess Marty Morrow
sees them as well. The objects appear to merge and speed away to the
northwest. Another group appears and arranges itself in a straight line.
The nine objects are seen at least 12 minutes over a distance of 45
miles. (“View of ‘Flying Saucers’ over Ontario Dumbfounds Veteran Pilot,
Other Crew Member of Airliner,” Portland Oregonian, July 5, 1947;
Project 1947, “UFO
Reports, 1947”; NICAP, “5 Discs
Sighted by United Flight”; Bloecher, pp. III-10–11;
Sparks,
p. 20; Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer, The Coming of the Saucers, 1952,
Palmer, pp. 18–19; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,”
in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Hearings, US House
Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29,
1968, pp. 41–42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 983
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: During a thunderstorm near Corona, New Mexico, W.
W. “Mack” Brazel hears a tremendous thunderclap that sounds like an
explosion but is somehow different from the rest of the thunder. Others
in the area report the same phenomenon. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R.
Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 160)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 985
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: 11:27 p.m. Army Signal Corps radar sites in southern New
Mexico supposedly continue to track a mysterious object. Kirtland AFB’s
commander scrambles a fighter jet piloted by Kenny Chandler to locate
the object, but he cannot find it. Before midnight, Frank
Kaufmann allegedly sees a brilliant glow on the radar display,
pulsates a number of times, then explode in a starburst. The belief is
that the object has now crashed. Jim
Ragsdale and “Trudy Truelove” supposedly see a bright flash of light
and hear a roaring sound that passes overhead. Ragsdale knows that
something has struck the ground close to their campsite. (Kevin D.
Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell,
Evans, 1994, p. 160;
Jacobsen, Area 51, p. 36;
Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, “When and Where Did the Roswell
Object Crash?” IUR 19, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1994): 14; Kevin D. Randle, “The
Truth about the Jim Ragsdale Story,” IUR 21, no. 3 (Fall 1996): 13–16,
29–30; Jim Wilson, “Roswell
Plus 50,” Popular Mechanics 174 (July 1997): 48–53; The Roswell
Files, “Jim
Ragsdale,” April 11, 1998; Kevin D. Randle, “Frank Kaufmann, Roswell
Witness,” IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 8, 17–19; Mark Rodeghier, “Frank
Kaufmann Exposed,” IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 9–11, 26; Kevin D. Randle,
“Jim
Ragsdale’s Roswell
Tale,” A Different Perspective, April 22, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 986
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: 1:05–5:30 p.m. Many people in Portland, Oregon—including
KOIN newsman Frank Cooley, deputy Clark County Sheriff Fred
Krives, Portland
police officer Kenneth
A. McDowell, and Oregon highway patrol Sgt. Claude Cross—view five
large discs moving at high speed to the east, two flying south and three
to the east, with an oscillating or wobbling motion, sudden 90° turns or
zigzagging. Radio reports alert other officers (including Walter
Lissy, Robert
Ellis, and
Earl
Patterson, all
WWII veterans) who see the metallic objects that look like a disc or
hubcap or pie-pan or half-moon flashing in the sun. No vapor trail or
noise (except possible humming) is reported. (NICAP, “Seven
Discs Observed by Many Witnesses”; Bloecher, pp. II-9, III-15;
Sparks,
p. 20; “Air Liner Crew Confirms Flying Discs over State; Many Seen
during Day over City,” Portland Oregonian, July 5, 1947; Project 1947,
“UFO
Reports, 1947”; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 58; Michael David Hall and Wendy Ann
Connors, “Alfred Loedding: New Insight on the Man behind Project Sign,”
IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter 1998): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 974
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: 11:00 a.m. C. J. Bogne and other witnesses in a car near
Redmond, Oregon, see four discs flying past Mt. Jefferson on a straight
course at high speed. (Ruppelt, p. 20;
Bloecher, p. II-9;
Sparks, p. 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 972
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: 3:00 a.m. Lenora Woodruff wakes up in her home at 184 S.
Arlington Avenue, East Orange, New Jersey, when several airplanes fly
overhead. She looks out and sees a “strange goldenish platter” moving
swiftly across the sky. It disappears in a second. (“South
Plainfield Woman Reports Seeing ‘Flying Saucer’ Formation,”
Bridgewater (N.J.) Courier-News, July 5, 1947, p.1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 968
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: 11:00 a.m. Harry Hale, production manager of the Portland
Oregonian, sees one shiny disc moving swiftly just west of Beaverton,
Oregon. (“Air Liner Crew Confirms Flying Disks over State; Many Seen
during Day over City,” Portland Oregonian, July 5, 1947; Project 1947,
“UFO
Reports, 1947”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 973
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: After 4:00 a.m. Mrs. Martin Kole is awakened in her home in
Alexandria, Virginia, by something shining through her bedroom window.
She sees a large, roiund object hovering in the southwestern sky. She
watches it for a few minutes, then goes back to bed. (Bloecher, p. II-6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 969
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: UFO crashes in Horse Mountain Canyon: 2 dead grays, one
heavily injured, one surviving
Type: ufo crash
Reference: anonymous (channeled) information (R.G.)
Location: Magdalena, NM
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: Capt. E. J. Smith co-pilot & stewardess see UFO’s in
PNW
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Wikipedia
Reference: Twitter
Location: Pacific Northwest
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: The United Press service rounds up theories about the
flying discs. It quotes Army Air Force “experts” saying that the
sightings might be caused by weather conditions, or meteorites, or
foreign aircraft that it is “our responsibility to know about it and
take proper action.” Occultist Ole J. Sneide from San Francisco,
California, thinks they are “oblate spheroid space ships from other
planets” with hidden bases on the dark side of the moon. This is
apparently the first public mention of an extraterrestrial origin for
flying saucers in the media. (“U.S.
Stops ‘Laughing
Off’ Stories of Flying Disks,” Hollywood (Calif.) Citizen-News, July
3, 1947, p. 1; “Flying
Disks Said ‘Space
Ships’ from Other Solar Systems,” Bryan (Tex.) Eagle, July 3, 1947,
p. 8; “Buck
Rogers Special,” Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat, July 4, 1947,
p. 2; Curt Collins, “A
1947 Pioneer of the UFO Extraterrestrial Hypothesis,”
The Saucers That Time Forgot, December 16, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 970
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: Sunset. M. K. Leisy, a junior intern at the Institute of
the Pennsylvania Hospital at 44th and Market streets in Philadelphia, is
reading on the porch of the hospital when he hears a loud roar. A large
transport plane passes overhead, but he also sees a dark sphere with a
luminous halo around it moving below the clouds at a moderate speed. It
disappears into the clouds. (“Flying
Discs Seen
over City,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 5, 1947, pp. 1, 3; Bloecher,
pp. II-14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 982
Date: 7/4/1947
Time: 8:17 PM PDT
Description: Witnesses: United Air Lines Capt. E.J. Smith, First Officer
Ralph Stevens, Stewardess Marty Morrow. Watched for 12-15 minutes while
four objects with flat bottoms and rough tops moved at varying speeds,
with one high and to the right of the others.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: over Emmet, Idaho
ID: 1
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: Sunset. Henry
Seay, a
farmer living 2 miles north of Fayetteville, Arkansas, watches three
yellow discs flying overhead to the southwest, dropping sparks, and
frightening his cattle and horses. The following night it happens again
and the cows go into a panic, running off to the other side of the
pasture. Some kind of dust falls on Seay, although it does not burn.
After several seconds, the object rises up vertically 30–40 feet and
shoots off horizontally at 50 mph. (Bloecher, p. IV-1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 981
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: Portland area mass sightings, hundreds of witnesses, Blue
Book Report includes state and local police witnesses
Type: mass ufo sighting
Reference: Twitter
Location: Portland, OR
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: 7:00 p.m. George Aster and others at Hauser Lake, Idaho,
watch a flying disc for 30 minutes as it hovers with a lateral
oscillation about 30° above the horizon at an estimated 20,000 feet. It
shoots straight up and vanishes when a small aircraft approaches it.
(“Disks
Seen Here Today, Is Report,” Spokane (Wash,) Spokesman- Review, July
7, 1947, p. 1; Bloecher, pp. II-6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 980
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: 10:30 a.m. CAA official Irving C. Allen is flying a small
aircraft near Moscow, Idaho, when he sees a white disc moving north for
5 minutes as it crosses his path several miles in front of him.
(Bloecher, p. III-10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 971
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: 6:30 p.m. United Press correspondent John C. Corlett, along
with artist V. H. Selby and their wives, see a white disc speeding over
Boise, Idaho, at an altitude of about 10,000 feet. It takes about 3
seconds to disappear. (“View of ‘Flying Saucers’ over Ontario Dumbfounds
Veteran Pilot, Other Crew Member of Airliner,” Portland Oregonian, July
5, 1947; Project 1947, “UFO
Reports, 1947”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 979
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: 5:45 p.m. Coast Guard Yeoman Frank
Ryman photographs a round disc over his home at 12321 22nd Street
NE, Lake City, Seattle, Washington. The object is in sight for 4–5
minutes and is seen by at least 20 others, traveling 500 mph. The photo
shows a small, blurred white oval against a background of sky, but when
enlarged the object is quite distinct. The Air Force explains it as a
weather balloon. (“Observers
Report Discs over
Entire Western Area,”
Salt Lake City Deseret News, July 5, 1947, p. 1; Bloecher, pp. IV-3–4;
London UFO Research Unit, “Seattle,
Washington, America, North America”; Michael D. Swords, “Can
You Learn Anything from UFO Photos,
Part Two,” The Big Study, July 5, 2012; Kenneth Lloyd Larson, “A
Summer 1947 Sighting,” IUR 20, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1995): 19–20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 978
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: After 5:00 p.m. Private pilot Dan Whelan and passenger
Duncan Underhill are flying at 5,000 feet west of Long Beach,
California, when they see a disc about 2,000 feet above them, traveling
at 400–500 mph. They estimate it is 40–50 feet in diameter and flying
north-northwest. (“‘Air
Disc’ Mystery Grows, Baffles
U.S.,” Hollywood (Calif.) Citizen-News, July 5, 1947, pp. 1, 3;
Bloecher, p. III-10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 977
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: 5:00 p.m. Nova Hart and his wife Marveline are picnicing
off Old Saint Charles Road west of Pattonville, Missouri. They see a
saucer-shaped object, ribbed like a “parachute canopy,” gliding slowly
(50–60 mph) and silently from south to north about 300 feet off the
ground. It seems to have a propellor attached to a red conical structure
on its underside and is about 20–25 feet in diameter. (Bloecher, p. II-14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 976
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: 2:50 p.m. Seven people at Twin Falls Park, seven miles east
of Twin Falls, Idaho, watch a group of discs in a rough V-formation
flying at great speed. A second flight of 9–10 objects circle overhead
in a loose formation. They gain altitude rapidly and move to the west.
(“Flying
Saucer Mystery Grows,” Tucson (Ariz.) Daily Citizen, July 5, 1947,
p. 4; Bloecher, p. II-5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 975
Date: 7/4/1947
Description: The first of the special flights from Washington, D.C.,
arrives at Roswell Army Air Field [now closed], New Mexico (presumably
to investigate the radar reports claimed by Frank
Kaufmann). On the plane is Warrant Officer Robert Thomas. Thomas and
his companions are in uniform upon arrival, but quickly change to
civilian clothes. Thomas wants an on-site briefing as soon as it can be
arranged. These men remain at RAAF throughout the later retrieval.
(Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at
Roswell, Evans, 1994, pp. 160–161)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 984
Date: 7/5/1947
Description: 5:01 a.m. Project Mogul Flight number 10, a cluster of
plastic balloons, is launched from Holloman AFB, New Mexico. (Kevin D.
Randle, “The Project Mogul Flights and Roswell,” IUR 19, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1994): 6–7, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 989
Date: 7/5/1947
Description: Plains of San Agustin area: Gerald Anderson and
family/friends witness a crashed UFO with 4 ET’s, later passes a
polygraph test, interviewed by ufologist Stanton Friedman.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: link
Location: Plains of San Agustin, NM
Date: 7/5/1947
Description: Frank Cooley, a former Marine Corps observer now with radio
station KOIN in Portland, confirmed numerous reports of witnesses in the
Portland are Friday afternoon. Cooley estimated the disks were flying at
20,000 feet. He saw twelve of them and flatly declared them to be manned
and maneuverable.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Los Angeles Examiner, Fortean Society Sightings (Scully box 3
ff5)
Location: Portland, OR
Date: 7/5/1947
Description: Following the rain the night before, Brazel inspects
the pastures surrounding the J. B. Foster ranch house southeast of
Corona, New Mexico. Riding with him is the young son of the Proctors, William
D. Proctor. During the inspection, Brazel discovers a large debris
field. Scattered on the slopes and into the sinkhole and depressions are
plastic-like beams, pieces of lightweight balsawood-like material only
stronger, light metallic foil (which doesn’t stay bent or folded,
resumes its original shape, and won’t tear), and heavy-gauge
monofilament. The debris is thick enough that the sheep refuse to cross
the field and are driven around it to water more than a mile away.
Brazel, taking a few scraps of the material, heads to the home of his
closest neighbors, Floyd and
Loretta Proctor. He
shows them “a little sliver” of material that he can neither burn nor
cut. Some of the beams have symbols on them that reminds Brazel of
Chinese ideograms. The Proctors suggest he take it into town to show the
sheriff. (Don Schmitt and Kevin D. Randle, “Did a Balloon Crash at
Roswell?” IUR 15, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1990): 4–5; Kevin D. Randle and
Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans,
1994, pp. 27– 32, 161;
Michael D. Swords, “Roswell:
Clashing Visions of the Possible,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 11–13,
33– 35; Robert A. Galganski, “The Roswell Debris Field: Size Doesn’t
Matter,” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001): 14–19, 30; Donald R.
Burleson, “Roswell
Trajectory Feasibility,” Center for UFO Studies; Michael D. Swords,
GrassRoots UFOs: Case Reports from the Timmerman Files, Fund for UFO
Research, 2005, pp. 125–127)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 992
Date: 7/5/1947
Description: 5:30 a.m. According to discredited Roswell witness Frank
Kaufmann, a small contingent of men from Roswell Army Air Field in
New Mexico drive north on what is now US Highway 285. Near mile marker
132, they turn off the road and began driving across the desert,
stopping from time to time to cut the barbed-wire fencing. They discover
a heel-shaped craft measuring about 25 feet long and 12 feet wide
embedded in a cliff. The soldiers find civilians on the site already.
Besides the archaeologists, a local man named Larry Campbell (later
called Jack Armstrong or Cactus Jack) also claims to have been there.
They escort them off while others secure the area. Five bodies are
allegedly found on the site. The impact site is cleaned and secured by
11:30 a.m. Annie
Jacobsen has interviewed Alfred
O’Donnell, later an engineer at EG&G, who tells her that one of
the objects crashed and was recovered by the Joint Chiefs, including the
airframe, propulsion equipment, and the power plant. It has no wings or
tail. The fuselage is round and there is a dome on top. Inside there are
Cyrillic letters stamped or embossed in a ring running around the
inside. Army intelligence officers suspect that the craft is the
brainchild of German airplane engineers, Walter
and Reimar Horten, working for the Russian military. A frantic
search to find what happened to the brothers allegedly takes place;
informants like Austrian physicist Adolf
Smekal of Frankfurt, Germany, provide leads, with confusing results
for several months. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth
about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 161;
Thomas J. Carey, “The Strange Saga of ‘Cactus Jack,’” IUR 22, no. 1
(Spring 1997): 3–11; Jim Wilson, “Roswell
Plus 50,” Popular Mechanics 174 (July 1997): 48–53; Jacobsen, Area
51, pp. 36–40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 990
Date: 7/5/1947
Description: Later that evening, Brazel removes
the large, circular piece of the debris from the range. Brazel either
loads it into the back of his truck or drags it along behind. He stores
it in a livestock shed about three miles north of the crash site. (Kevin
D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at
Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 163)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 994
Date: 7/5/1947
Description: 5:00 a.m. Archaeologists, including William
Curry Holden, working the sites around Roswell, New Mexico, stumble
across an impact site where an object has crashed. One of them heads to
the closest phone to tell Sheriff George
A. Wilcox of the discovery of the remains of a crashed aircraft of
some kind. Wilcox calls the local fire department to alert them about
the crash. One truck, with Dan
Dwyer on it, responds to the call. The site is about 35–40 miles
north of Roswell. The Roswell Fire Department, escorted by members of
the Roswell Police Department, makes a run along Pine Lodge Road
northwest of Roswell. They are among the first civilians to stumble
across the impact site. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The
Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, pp. 33–36;
Thomas J. Carey, “The Search for the Roswell Archaeologists: Casting the
Net,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993): 3–8, 23–24; Thomas J. Carey, “The
Continuing Search for the Roswell Archaeologists: Closing the Circle,”
IUR 19, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1994): 4–12; Kevin D. Randle and Anthony
Bragalia, “Two Roswell Witnesses, Reconsidered,” IUR 32, no. 3 (July
2009): 6–8, 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 988
Date: 7/5/1947
Description: 10:00 a.m. W/O Robert Thomas and his crew proceed to the
impact site. The bodies, originally covered by sheets, are now in
lead-lined body bags. Only those with the highest clearance are allowed
close to the center of the impact. Guards are posted, facing out, to
keep the curious away. According to researcher Kathy Kasten, the dead
bodies are taken to Roswell Army Air Field, but one is still alive and
taken to Fort Stanton [now closed] in Lincoln, New Mexico, whose Marine
Hospital was used to confine troublesome German and Japanese detainees
during World War II. Allegedly, aerospace physician William
Randolph Lovelace II travels there from Albuquerque to examine the
survivor, who reportedly dies one week later and is buried in the Fort
Stanton cemetery. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth
about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 161;
Nick Redfern, The Roswell UFO Conspiracy, Lisa Hagan, 2017,
pp. 204–221)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 991
Date: 7/5/1947
Description: 3:00 a.m. Acting on what he claims are orders from Brig.
Gen. Martin
F. Scanlon of the Army’s Air Defense Command, discredited Roswell
witness Frank
Kaufmann returns to Roswell Army Air Field from Alamogordo to alert
Colonel William
H. Blanchard, Roswell AAF commanding officer, about a potential
crash. (Jim Wilson, “Roswell
Plus 50,” Popular Mechanics 174 (July 1997): 48–53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 987
Date: 7/5/1947
Description: 2:30 p.m. Automobile dealer Kjell
Qvale and dozens of others see a triangular formation of silvery
discs flying south near Auburn, California. They appear directly
overhead and are in view for 3–4 minutes, disappearing one at a time,
but not over the hdorizon. (“Skeptical
Experts Call Disc
Reports ‘Mass Illusion,’” San Francisco Examiner, July 8, 1947,
p. 1; Bloecher, p. II-5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 993
Date: 7/6/1947
Description: 9:00 p.m. Because of the distance to the ranch over roads
that are less than adequate, Brazel,
Marcel,
and Cavitt do
not arrive until after dark. They stay at the “Hines” house (an old
ranch house close to the debris field), eat cold beans, and wait for
daylight. Marcel runs a Geiger counter over the large piece of wreckage
Brazel has stored in the cattle shed. He detects no sign of radiation.
(Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at
Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 165)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1002
Date: 7/6/1947
Description: 8:45 p.m. Army Staff Sgt. Ira
L. Livingston watches a procession of glowing round objects moving
at 500 mph over Birmingham, Alabama. A new one appears every 5 seconds.
Many others report UFOs in the area between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. Robert
Crossland, a copy reader for the Birmingham Age-Herald, takes a photo
that shows two round white spots close together. (Bloecher, pp. III-3–4,
IV-4;
Michael David Hall and Wendy Ann Connors, Alfred Loedding and the Great
Flying Saucer Wave of 1947, Rose Press, 1998, pp. 67–68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1001
Date: 7/6/1947
Description: Colonel William
H. Blanchard, Roswell AAF commanding officer, entrusted with
oversight of the first and only atomic-bomb strike force in the world,
the 509th Bomb Group, orders Jesse
A. Marcel, the air intelligence officer, to investigate the debris
report. Marcel immediately drives to the sheriff’s office. Marcel
interviews Brazel, examines
the pieces of the material that Brazel brought in, and decides he had
better visit the ranch to examine the field for himself. Marcel, taking
some of the debris with him, returns to the base and reports to
Blanchard on what he has seen. Blanchard, convinced that he is in
possession of something highly unusual, perhaps Soviet, alerts the next
higher headquarters. Marcel and Blanchard all know this is from not any
type of balloon. Marcel returns to the sheriff’s office with the senior
counterintelligence agent assigned to the base, CIC Captain Sheridan
W. Cavitt. They
escort Brazel back to his ranch and examine the debris field. Acting on
orders from Major General Clements
McMullen, deputy
commander of the Strategic Air Command, Blanchard obtains more of the
debris from the sheriff’s office. It is sealed in a courier pouch and
loaded on an airplane to be flown on to the Fort Worth Army Air Field,
where it is given to Colonel Thomas
J. DuBose for transport on to Washington, D.C. After Marcel and
Cavitt leave with Brazel, the two deputies return to say they did not
find the debris field but observed a burned area in one of the pastures.
There the sand has been turned to glass and blackened. It looks as if
something circular has touched down. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R.
Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, pp. 37–40, 164;
Good Need, p. 89;
Nukes 482–483)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1000
Date: 7/6/1947
Description: Afternoon. Francis Howell and his wife are in their yard at
317 Ash Street in Tempe, Arizona, when they see an object floating down
to the ground with a kite-like motion. It appears to be about 2 feet
across and made of aluminum. It disappears behind some trees. The
Howells and some neighbors walk toward the place where it apparently has
landed, and they see the disc ascend at a 45° angle and move at high
speed toward the northwest. (“Tempeans
See ‘Disc,’” Phoenix Arizona Republic, July 7, 1947, p. 1; Bloecher,
p. II-13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 999
Date: 7/6/1947
Description: 2:45 p.m. David
A. Kenney, an aircraft instruments engineer, and two others watch an
oval-shaped UFO flying at a high altitude for nearly 2 minutes near
Encampment, Wyoming. (Bloecher, p. III-17);
David Kenney, “Right Place, Right Time,” IUR 30, no. 4 (August 2006):
28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 998
Date: 7/6/1947
Description: Day. Army Air Corps Capt. James
H. Burniston and his wife watch a round, flat object that oscillates
on its lateral axis of travel three quarters of the way across the sky
in a few seconds at Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Field [now Travis AFB]
near Fairfield, California. (NICAP, “Round
Flat Object Size of C-54”; Bloecher, p. III-3;
Sparks, p. 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 997
Date: 7/6/1947
Description: 1:45 p.m. Maj. A. B. Browning and the crew of a B-25 flying
over Clay Center, Kansas, see a silvery disc about 30–50 feet in
diameter slightly lower than their plane. It paces them for a while then
shoots off. (NICAP, “30–50ʹ Circular
Object Paces B-25, Accelerates”; Bloecher, p. III-11;
Sparks,
p. 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 996
Date: 7/6/1947
Description: Brazel gets
up early, completes his chores, and then drives into Roswell, New
Mexico, about 75 miles away. He stops at the office of Sheriff George
A. Wilcox. Contrary
to published reports, Wilcox is excited about the find and suggests the
military at the Roswell Army Air Field [now closed] be notified. While
waiting for the military officers to arrive, Wilcox dispatches two of
his deputies to the ranch. They have only the directions given by
Brazel, but both men are familiar with the territory; and Wilcox
believes they will be able to find the debris field. KGFL reporter Frank
Joyce calls Wilcox, who tells him Brazel is in his office with an
interesting story. Brazel allegedly gets on the phone with Joyce and
mentions debris and a stench from dead bodies. (Kevin D. Randle and
Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans,
1994, pp. 163–164)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 995
Date: 7/6/1947
Time: Daytime
Description: Witnesses: Army Air Forces Capt. and Mrs. James Burniston.
Watched for 1 minute while one object having no wings or tail rolled
from side-to-side three times and then flew away very fast to the
southeast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Fairfield-Suisan Air Base, California
ID: 2
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: CAMERA CATCHES TWO IN FLIGHT - Photographer Al Hixenbaugh
took a photo of a flying saucer at 10:15. There were three objects in
the sky, but he had time to snap only two. They made no sound. Neither
did Hixenbaugh. He had no comment as to what they might be. They look
like either two very bright saucer trails, or two saucers seen flat edge
on against a dark sky.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Louisville Times - Fortean Society Sightings (Scully box 3
ff5 )
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: Gen. Hoyt
Vandenberg’s activity log: 1:10 p.m., answers a Toronto Star
reporter’s question about possible secret military aircraft. Vandenberg
says no AAF planes are looking for discs, but National Guard planes are
looking into the discs on their own. 1:50 p.m., Stephen Leo, public
relations officer for AF Secretary Stuart Symington, calls
concerning the Shreveport, Louisiana, incident. 1:55 p.m. Leo and
Gen. Curtis
LeMay discuss the discs. Col. Warren, at Ellington Field [now
Ellington Airport] in Houston, Texas, calls concerning the Shreveport
disc. 4:20 p.m., Col. Warren calls back and says the incident is a hoax.
(David Rudiak, “Lt.
Gen. Hoyt S.
Vandenberg and Roswell,” Roswell Proof, 2001)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1009
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: 7:45 p.m. Five students on a practice baseball field at
Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, see three metallic oval objects
flying swiftly and silently in a triangular formation overhead. They
seem to be about 10 feet in diameter and are flying east over the
Olentangy River. They are out of sight within 10 seconds. (Bloecher, p. II- 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1014
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: A hoax in Shreveport, Louisiana. A 16-inch aluminum disc
with smoke coming out of it is found. Army investigators find “Made in
USA” on the disc. It is one of many homemade gadgets, weather balloon
radar targets, circular saws, and other disc-like debris that people
find or make in order to have some fun in the press or with gullible
saucer-seekers. (Sparks, p. 21;
“Speaking
of Pictures: A Rash of Flying Disks Breaks Out over the U.S.,”
Life, July 21, 1947, p. 14; ClearIntent, p. 149;
Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, “Secret Projects and Open Eyes: A
Response,” IUR 19, no. 3 (May/June 1994): 15–17; Kevin D. Randle, “The
Hoover Memo Again,”
A Different Perspective, July 29, 2015; Maurizio Verga, “Here
They Are! Early Crashes of Flying Saucers,
a Visual History,” Cielo Insolito, no. 6 (March 2018): 8–27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1006
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: 9:00 p.m. Orrin
Williams and his wife Albertine, along
with Mr, and Mrs. Cecil Grant, are fishing on Great Pond near Rome,
Maine, when they see a “spinning rocket” come out of the southern sky
and stop abruptly overhead, where it hovers as a ball of fire. A similar
object comes from the east, passing close by the first one. A third
object approaches from the east and stops by the first object before
moving on. The first object then retraces its path to the south at high
speed. The display lasts several minutes. (Bloecher, p. II-10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1015
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: 9:00 p.m. William
A. Rhodes, an
independent scientist and inventor in Phoenix, Arizona, takes two photos
of a dark, heel-shaped disc at his home at 4333 N. 14th Street. The
photos are reproduced in the July 9 issue of the Arizona Republic. A few
weeks later, an Army Air Corps Intelligence officer from Hamilton Army
Airfield [now closed] in Novato, California, visits Rhodes and takes the
prints and negatives, but Rhodes is unable to get them back. However, Kenneth
Arnold obtains them on a later visit to Hamilton, and they wind up
with James
E. McDonald. Rhodes
actually has an informal top-secret clearance because of his invention
of a degaussing device for ships. He dies in 2007 at the age of 90.
(NICAP, “The
Rhodes Photo Case”; Bloecher, p. IV-4;
Michael D. Swords, “Can
You Learn Anything from UFO Photos, Part Two,” The Big Study, July
5, 2012; Swords 53, 54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1016
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: 9:30 p.m. Charles Crockett, 15, is walking along Western
Avenue in Manchester, Maine, when he sees a cluster of luminous objects
to the west, just above the treetops on the north end of Cobboseecontee
Lake. They are still visible when he arrives home and alerts his mother
and grandmother. Possible searchlight beams. (“’Flying Saucers’
Still Seen Flitting in
N.E. Sky,” Bangor (Maine) Daily News, July 8, 1947, pp. 1–2;
Bloecher, p. II-20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1017
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: 10:15 p.m. Louisville Times photographer Al
Hixenbaugh is at Preston Street and Bickels Lane in Louisville,
Kentucky, when he notices three “fiery balls” in the sky. He takes a
5-second exposure, capturing two of the objects that show as slightly
curved streaks. He estimates they are 1–2 miles away, moving at 200 mph,
and at an altitude of 1,000–2,000 feet. Robert Delara of 2745 West
Market Street also sees the three objects shooting northward.
(Louisville (Ky.) Times, July 8, 1947; “‘Flying
Liver Pills’ over Kentucky,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 9, 1947,
p. 1; Bloecher, pp. IV-4–5;
“La
Fotografía (y la Pélicula) Al Hixenbaugh 1,” Marcianitos Verdes,
February 5, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1018
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: 2:30 p.m. Capt. Robert
J. Southey and Clem
Hackworthy are flying a private aircraft near East Troy, Wisconsin,
when they see a fast-moving silver object flying southeast from Eagle to
Muskego, covering 17 miles in 20 seconds (approximately 3,060 mph). They
try to photograph it, but it quickly disappears, then suddenly reappears
about 10 miles away. (Bloecher, pp. III-11–12;
Sparks,
p. 22; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1947 July 7th–July 10th, Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2001, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1010
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: A meeting is held in the office of Brig. Gen. George
F. Schulgen, chief
of the Requirements Intelligence branch of Army Air Force Intelligence.
It is decided to investigate five flying disc incidents with “qualified”
observers and obtain detailed statements: two in Seattle, Washington;
one in Boise, Idaho; one in Palm Springs, California; and one in
Washington State. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 July
7th–July 10th, Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2001, p. 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1011
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: John
Philip Bessor of Zelienople, Pennsylvania, writes to the US Air
Force to offer his own theory that UFOs are “a form of space animal, or
creature, of a highly attenuated (ectoplasmic?) substance, capable of
materialization and dematerialization, whose propellant is a form of
telekinetic energy.” (“Report from the Readers,” Fate 4, no. 4 (May/June
1951): 88; John P. Bessor, “Are the Saucers Space Animals?” Fate 8, no.
12 (December 1955): 6–12; Curt Collins, “The
1947 ET Hypothesis of John P. Bessor,” The Saucers That Time Forgot,
February 15, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1012
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: 5:20 p.m. Radar technician David W. Chase watches a
disc-shaped object passing overhead at Medford, Oregon. It appears to be
flying at 600–700 mph on edge at right angles to the surface of the
earth, though following its contours at 500–1,000 feet. The object gives
off a bright light. (Bloecher, p. III-18;
Ray Palmer, “New Report on the Flying Saucers,” Fate 4, no. 1 (January
1951): 63–81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1013
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: AMC commander Lieut. Gen Nathan
Twining unexpectedly flies to Alamogordo AAF and Kirtland AAF in New
Mexico, remaining there until July 11. Army Air Forces Commander Gen. Carl
Spaatz is supposedly “vacationing” in Washington State. He tells
reporters he knows nothing about the flying discs. (Kevin D. Randle and
Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans,
1994, p. 165)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1005
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: Brazel takes
Marcel and
Cavitt out
to the debris field. It is three-quarters of a mile long and 200–300
feet wide. A gouge starting at the northern end of it extends for
400–500 feet toward the other end. It looks as if something has touched
down and skipped along. The largest piece of debris is recovered at the
southern edge of the gouge. The debris is as thin as newsprint, but
incredibly strong. There is foil that, when crumpled, unfolds itself
without a sign of a wrinkle, I-beams that flex slightly and have some
symbols on them, and material resembling Bakelite. Marcel and Cavitt
walk the perimeter of the field and then range out looking for more
details or another crash site but find nothing else. Finally, they
return and spend the remainder of the day collecting debris. They load
the rear of Marcel’s car and then the jeep carryall driven by Cavitt.
About dusk they begin the trip back to Roswell. (Don Schmitt and Kevin
D. Randle, “The Roswell Material,” IUR 16, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1991):
10–11; Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO
Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, pp. 27–29,
165;
Kevin D. Randle, “Don’t Bother Me with the Facts…,” IUR 18, no. 3
(Jan./Feb. 1993): 16–17, 24; Robert A. Galganski, “The Roswell Debris: A
Quantitative Evaluation of the Project Mogul Hypothesis,” IUR 20, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1995): 3–6, 23–24; Charles B. Moore, Robert G. Todd, Mark
Rodeghier, and Kevin D. Randle, “Project Mogul and the Roswell Crash: An
Exchange,” IUR 20, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1995): 7–9, 19–22; Kevin D. Randle,
“Bessie Brazel’s Story,” IUR 20, no. 3 (May/June 1995): 3–5, 24; Robert
A. Galganski, “Roswell: Connecting the Debris Field and the Impact
Site,” IUR 21, no. 2 (Summer 1996): 11–17; Robert A. Galganski, “The
Glue Explanation Just Won’t Stick,” IUR 22, no. 4 (Winter 1997–1998):
3–7; Robert A. Galganski, “An Engineer Looks at the Project Mogul
Hypothesis,” IUR 23, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 3–6, 32; Thomas J. Carey,
“Will the Real Sheridan Cavitt Please Stand Up?” IUR 23, no. 3 (Fall
1998): 14–21; Kent Jeffrey, “Roswell:
Anatomy of a Myth,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 12, no. 1
(1998): 79–101; Michael D. Swords, “A
Different View of ’Roswell: Anatomy of
a Myth,’” Journal of Scientific Exploration 12, no. 1 (1998):
103–125; Robert M. Wood, “Critique
of ‘Roswell:
Anatomy of a Myth,’” Journal of Scientific Exploration 12, no. 1
(1998): 127–140; Thomas J. Carey and Donald R. Schmitt, “Mack Brazel
Reconsidered,” IUR 24, no. 4 (Winter 1999): 13–19; Robert A. Galganski,
The Roswell Debris Field: An Engineer’s Perspective, Fund for UFO
Research, 2002; Kevin D. Randle, “Bessie Brazel
Schreiber and the Roswell Crash,” A Different Perspective, September
19, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1004
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: 9:55 a.m. Newspaper editor John Brackett and his wife Wilma
see an object streak across the sky in Reno, Nevada, leaving a trail of
bluish-white vapor. It is high in the sky and traveling at about 1,000
mph. (“Tiny
Speck Whizzes
across Sky Here at Unbelievable Rate of Speed; Many Reno Persons See
Small Object,” Reno Nevada State Journal, July 8, 1947, p. 14;
Bloecher, pp. III-7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1007
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: 11:30 a.m. Flight instructor Kenneth Jones out of Elkhart,
Wisconsin, is practicing take-offs and landings with a student near
Koshkonong. They watch a disc descending vertically on edge through the
alto-cumulus clouds at 6,000 feet, stop at 4,000 feet, assume a
horizontal orientation, and fly horizontally for 15 seconds, covering 23
miles at 5,500 mph. At one point it heads straight towards them on a
course of about 120°, then stops again (apparently overhead) and
disappears. (Bloecher, p. III-11;
Sparks, p. 22;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the
Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 July 7th–July 10th, Supplemental
Notes, The Author, 2001, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1008
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: 2:00 a.m. A special flight (the first) leaves Roswell AAF
for Andrews AAF in Washington, D.C. Some of the debris and the bodies
are on that flight. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth
about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 165)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1003
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: Secret operation to recover a crashed saucer in NM 75 miles
northwest of Roswell Army Air Base (RAAF)
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research (crash)
Location: Roswell, NM
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: Newspaper article: A P-38 tangles with a flying disc at 32k
ft near LA, gets caught in prop wash and appears to disintegrate and
crash, pilots forced to recant their story in contradictory manner
Type: anomalous incident
Reference: Medium
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: Newspaper article: “Army can’t locate crashed saucers” in
Spokane area
Type: newspaper article
Reference: Medium
Location: Spokane, CA
Date: 7/7/1947
Description: OREGON HAS MORE SAUCERS - David W. chase of Phoenix,
Oregon, radar technician saw an object five miles south of Medford,
flying eastward, going 6-700 miles an hour at approximately 10,000 feet.
It was in view about 60 or 70 seconds before disappearing over the
horizon. The total view of the course was about 150 degrees. The saucer
flew on edge at right angles to the plane of the earth and gave off a
bright blue-white light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fortean Society Sightings (Scully box 3 ff5 )
Location: Medford, OR
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 6:29 p.m. An Associated Press story goes out that a Fort
Worth Army Air Field officer (Newton)
has identified the Roswell debris as a weather balloon. (Kevin D. Randle
and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans,
1994, pp. 46–52, 168)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1036
Date: 7/8/1947 (approximate)
Description: British radio and TV entertainer Hughie
Green is driving across the US. About 250 miles west of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he hears an announcement that a flying
saucer “had crashed in New Mexico and that the Army were moving in to
investigate. Later the program was interrupted again and quite a few
details were given.” When he arrives at Philadelphia, there is nothing
in the newspapers or on the radio. (“Star
Puzzled,” Flying Saucer Review 1, no 1 (Spring 1955): 3; Clark III
319; “Hughie
Green: ‘Peripheral Witness to Roswell?’” Above Top Secret forum,
October 20, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1027
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: Rep. Lyndon
B. Johnson (D-Tex.) requests information on the flying discs from
the War Department. Someone from Gen. Carl
Spaatz’s office writes back on July 21 to tell him the Army Air
Forces are looking into it, but there is “no indication” that the discs
are “new or unusual missiles or aircraft.” (Swords 38)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1026
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: The Army Air Force issues a press release saying that,
based on a “preliminary study,” the flying discs are not secret
bacteriological weapons designed by a foreign power, experimental army
aircraft, or spaceships. However, Army and Navy officials are not
certain what they are. (“‘Saucer’
Dept.—All Designs,” Racine (Wis.) Journal Times, July 8, 1947,
p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1025
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 11:00 a.m. Col. William
Blanchard dictates a press release about the Roswell recovery to
Public Information Officer Lt. Walter
Haut, who
delivers the release to radio stations around noon (the first apparently
to Frank Joyce at KGFL) and the newspapers in Roswell, New Mexico.
(Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at
Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 167)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1024
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 9:30 a.m.–9:20 p.m. Five separate UFO sightings take place
at Muroc AFB [now Edwards AFB] in southern California, the Air Force’s
aircraft testing and development center. Ruppelt says
these are the first sightings “that really made the Air Force take a
deep interest in UFOs.” At 9:30 a.m., 1st Lt. Joseph
C. McHenry and three others see three discs heading in a westerly
direction. At 10:10 a.m., XP-84 test pilot Maj. Jowell
C. Wise sees a yellowish-white object at 10,000 feet traveling about
200 mph. At 11:50 a.m., Maj. Richard
R. Shoop, Col. S. A. Gilkey, and Capt. John
P. Stapp are sitting in an observation truck at Rogers Dry Lake and
see a round, white aluminum-like object descending from 20,000 feet for
about 90 seconds; it has two knobs or thick fins on the top. Around 4:00
p.m., a pilot flying an F-51 some 40 miles south of Muroc sees a “flat
object of a light-reflecting nature”; it is flying too high for him to
climb up to it. At 9:20 p.m., spherical objects are again seen in the
area, this time at 8,000 feet and moving against the wind at 300 mph.
(NICAP, “Observers
Sight Saucer over Base”; NICAP, “Object
Observed by Four Witnesses in Observation”; NICAP, “Object
Descends to Ground Level, Rises”;
NICAP, “Flat
Object with Fin Observed by F-51 Pilot”; Bloecher, pp. III-4,
12; Clark III 783–784; Sparks, pp. 22–23; Patrick Gross, “The
Muroc Army Air Field Incidents”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1023
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 9:00 a.m. Cavitt and
Lewis
S. Rickett, who
has returned from an assignment in Carlsbad, New Mexico, drive a staff
car to the impact site north of Roswell, followed by MPs. They are
stopped by the guards who are still posted. When they arrive, they see
that a small containment of debris remains that Rickett is allowed to
examine. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO
Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 166)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1022
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 7:30 a.m. The regular 9:00 a.m. Roswell Army Air Field
staff meeting is moved up 90 minutes. The main topic for discussion is
Marcel and
Cavitt reporting
an extensive debris field near Corona in Lincoln County, New Mexico,
approximately 75 miles northwest of Roswell. A preliminary briefing is
provided by Blanchard about
the separate impact site approximately 40 miles north of Roswell.
Samples of wreckage are passed around the table. Pieces that resemble
metal foil, paper-thin yet extremely strong, and pieces with unusual
markings along their length are handed from man to man, each voicing
their opinion. No one is able to identify the crash debris. (Kevin D.
Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell,
Evans, 1994, p. 166)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1021
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 6:00 a.m. Marcel and
Cavitt visit
with Blanchard in
his quarters and tell him what they have seen. Blanchard calls base
Provost Marshal Maj. Edwin
D. Easley and orders him to post guards on the roads around the
debris field. Armed guards encircle the primary areas, denying access to
anyone without official business. Easley is directed to locate Brazel and
have him escort the MPs to the debris field. Blanchard calls Eighth Air
Force headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, and advises them of the new
find. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO
Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 166)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1020
Date: 7/8/1947
Time: 9:30 AM PDT
Description: Witnesses: lst Lt. Joseph McHenry, T/Sgt Ruvolo, S/Sgt
Nauman, Miss Janette Scotte. Watched for an unstated length of time
while two disc-shaped or spherical objects–silver and apparently
metallic–flew a wide circular pattern, and then one of them later flew a
tighter circle.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Muroc Air Base, California
ID: 3
Date: 7/8/1947
Time: 1200
Description: An Air Force major observed a metallic object, reflecting
sunlight oscillate, go down to ground level, and rise again.
Simultaneously it was observed by a captain in Rodgers Dry Lake.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Muroc Air Field, California
ID: 60
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: Intel. Officer Maj. Marcel reports Roswell Army Air Force
captures a downed flying saucer near Roswell NM
Type: ufological event
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-B, J2, RECOVERY)
Location: Roswell, NM
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: Roswell radio announcement, debris being flown by special
plane to Wright Field
Type: ufological event
Reference: YouTube
Location: Roswell, NM
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: FBI Dallas teletype to Director: flying saucer crashed and
was recovered near Roswell NM
Type: teletype
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A, RECOVERY)
Location: Dallas, TX
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: Urgent FBI Memo from Gen. Roger Ramey concerning “flying
disc information”: “Maj. Curtan, HQ 8th AF, telephonically advised this
office that an object purporting to be a flying disc was recovered near
Roswell, N.M., this date…Information provided this office because of
national interest in case and fact that (certain media sources)
attempting to break the story of location of disc today…(the recovered
disc was) being transported to Wright Field by special plane for
examination…Maj. Curtan advised would request Wright Field to advise
(FBI) results of examination.”
Type: memo
Reference: Pea
Research
See also: 7/2/47
See also: 7/7/47
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: United Press reports on a phone call to Einstein:
“absolutely no comment”, claimed no knowledge
Type: newspaper article
Reference: Newspapers.com
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: BSRA (Borderlands) Memorandum found in official FBI UFO
files, addressed to “important aeronautical and military authorities, to
a number of public officials” that “a serious situation may develop at
any time with regard to the flying saucers”. “If one of these should be
attacked, the attacking plane will be almost surely destroyed.” “Part of
the discs carry crews, others are under remote control.” “Heat resistant
metal or alloy not yet known.”
Type: FOIA release
Reference: Medium
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: Newspaper article in England: Maury Island incident
fragments sent for analysis to metallurgists at Chicago University
Type: Newspaper article
Reference: Newspapers.com
Reference: Newspapers.com
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 2:30 p.m. Blanchard decides
it is time to “go on leave.” Too many phone callers into the base are
asking to speak with him. He, along with a few members of his staff,
drive out to the Corona, New Mexico, debris field. Those left at the
base are told to inform the reporters that the colonel is now on leave.
(Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at
Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 167;
Kevin D. Randle, “When a Leave Is Not a Leave: Col. Blanchard and the
Roswell Timeline,” IUR 19, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1994): 18–20; Karl T.
Pflock, “Taking Liberties with a Leave,” IUR 20, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1995):
18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1030
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 5:17 p.m. Special Agent Percy
Wyly II in the Dallas, Texas, FBI office sends a teletype headed
“Flying Disc, Information Concerning” to J.
Edgar Hoover and Strategic Air Command in Cincinnati, Ohio,
expressing some doubt about the balloon explanation: “telephonic
conversation between [Eighth Air Force] and Wright Field had not borne
out this belief. Disc and balloon being transported to Wright Field by
special plane for examination.” Wyly receives this information from Maj.
Edwin M. Kirton at Fort Worth. Roswell mortician Glenn
Dennis, intrigued by inquiries from the base about small caskets,
visits the base hospital but is turned away forcibly; a nurse friend
(possibly 1st Lt. Adeline
“Eileen” M. Fanton) warns him to leave before he gets into trouble
and supposedly tells him that three alien bodies had been found. Other
witnesses to recovered bodies include T/Sgt Ernest
R. Robbins, Maj.
Edwin
D. Easley, Ruben and Pete Anaya, New Mexico Lieutenant Governor Joseph Montoya, Sgt. Melvin
E. Brown (who says the bodies looked Asian), Capt. Oliver
“Pappy” W. Henderson,
Staff Sgt. Robert
A. Slusher, and Charles
H. Forgus. ([Wyly’s
teletype message]; Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth
about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, pp. 168–169; Good Need, pp. 91–93;
Mark Rodeghier and Mark Chesney, “Who’s the Dummy Now? The Latest Air
Force Report,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 10; Nick Redfern, The Roswell
UFO Conspiracy, Lisa Hagan, 2017, pp. 97–100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1035
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 4:30 p.m. The Roswell Daily Record carries the “RAAF
Captures Flying Saucer” story. In Fort Worth, Texas, Ramey issues
a statement saying the Roswell officers were fooled and that the
material is a Rawin target device suspended by a Neoprene rubber
balloon. (“Rawin” is a method of determining wind speed and direction by
using radar or radio waves to track a balloon carrying either a
radar-sensitive target or radio transponder.). The debris is switched
for the newspaper photographer, James
Bond Johnson, at a press conference held by Ramey and Col. Thomas
J. DuBose in late afternoon. Johnson takes six photos of the debris
and leaves after 20 minutes. One of the photos shows Ramey holding a
piece of paper (the “Ramey memo”) with words written on it;
unfortunately, the resolution is inadequate to decisively “deblur” the
text using modern technological methods. A weather officer, Maj. Irving
Newton, is
called in to identify the debris as from a balloon. A photo of Newton
with the debris is taken by another photographer. (Kevin D. Randle and
Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans,
1994, pp. 41–43, 168; Donald R. Schmitt and Kevin D. Randle, “Fort
Worth, July 8, 1947: The Cover-Up Begins,” IUR 15, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1990): 21–23; Donald R. Schmitt and Kevin D. Randle, “The
Fort Worth Press Conference: The J. Bond Johnson Connection,” IUR 15,
no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1990): 5–16; Robert A. Galganski, “Probing the Roswell
Thin-Strut Debris,” IUR 24, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 8–12, 30; Donald R.
Burleson, “Deciphering the Ramey Memo,” IUR 25, no. 2 (Summer 2000):
3–6, 32; Robert A. Galganski, “The Roswell Debris Field: Size Doesn’t
Matter,” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001): 14–19, 30; James Houran and
Kevin D. Randle, “Interpreting the Ramey Memo,” IUR 27, no. 2 (Summer
2002): 10–14, 26–27; Donald R. Burleson, “On Blobs and Chiaroscuro,” IUR
27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 24; James Houran and Kevin D. Randle, “’A Message
in a Bottle’: Confounds in Deciphering the Ramey Memo from the Roswell
UFO Case,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 16, no. 1 (2002):
45–66; Barry Greenwood, “An
Observation on the Ramey Memo,” UFO Historical Revue, no. 11 (March
2004): 1–8; James Houran, A
Search for Meaning in the Ramey Document: From the
Roswell UFO Case, Fund
for UFO Research, 2006; Dennis Balthaser, “Interview:
James Bond Johnson (Roswell
Wreckage Photographer),” The UFO Chronicles, March 27, 2006; Barry
Greenwood, “Ramey
Memo Redux:
Line 5,” UFO Historical Revue, no 13 (September 2009): 5–19; Kevin
D. Randle, Roswell in the 21st Century, The Author, 2016; Nick Redfern,
The Roswell UFO Conpsiracy, Lisa Hagan, 2017, pp. 232–238)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1034
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 4:26 p.m. Thomas Dale is flying a small plane at 2,800 feet
over Alton, New Hampshire, with passenger Jere Stetson. They see a
metallic object some 2 miles away to the east and some 1,500 feet below
their aircraft. It approaches them at great speed before veering to the
north. They estimate it is 20 feet long and “not exactly round.”
(Bloecher, p. III-12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1033
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 3:50 p.m. An Army National Guard pilot flying near Mount
Baldy, California, observes a flat object, reflecting light, about the
size of a fighter. He gives chase, attempting to keep it in sight, but
is unable to do so. (Air Force Base Intelligence Report, “Flying
Discs,” July 30, 1947; Kevin D. Randle, “Roswell,
Nathan Twining, and the Mini-EOTS,”
A Different Perspective, October 6, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1032
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 2:41 p.m. The press release is put on the United Press
wire.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1031
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 2:00 a.m. Marcel stops
at home in Roswell to show his wife Viaud and
son Jesse
Jr. some of the Corona, New Mexico, crash debris. Over the next hour
they examine it on the kitchen floor. Marcel Sr. says it is a flying
saucer. Marcel is not breaking regulations since nothing has yet been
classified. With the help of his son, Marcel loads it into the car to be
taken to Roswell AAF. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth
about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 166;
Robert J. Durant, “C. B. Moore’s Mogul Tape,” IUR 23, no. 2 (Summer
1998): 7–9, 32; Robert A. Galganski, “Probing the Roswell Thin-Strut
Debris,” IUR 24, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 8–12, 30; Karl T. Pflock, et al.,
“Debris Details,” IUR 24, no. 4 (Winter 1999): 28–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1019
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 2:26 p.m. Haut’s
press release about the recovered disc reaches the Associated Press
wire. The story announces: “The army air forces here today announced a
flying disc had been found” the previous week. It says that the disc is
recovered by intelligence officers of the 509th Bomb Group at Roswell
Army Air Field [now closed], New Mexico, with the help of local ranchers
and the Chavez County Sheriff’s Office. It adds that the disc is being
loaned by Maj. Marcel “to
higher headquarters.” (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth
about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 167)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1029
Date: 7/8/1947
Description: 1:00 p.m. Marcel goes
on a B-29 special flight (the second) to Fort Worth Army Air Field,
Texas, with the wreckage to report to Gen. Roger
M. Ramey. The pilot is Lt. Col. Payne
Jennings Jr. with Lt. Col. Robert Barrowclough riding
in the bombardier’s seat. Only a few packages are loaded onto the plane.
One, a triangular package about two feet long, is wrapped in brown
paper. The other three are about the size of shoe boxes. They are so
light that it feels as if there is nothing in them. When it lands in
Fort Worth, the enlisted soldiers on the plane are ordered to remain
aboard until a guard is posted and Marcel gets off taking one of the
packages that he has been carrying on his lap. According to Flight
Engineer M/Sgt. Robert
Porter, the soldiers go to the mess hall once the guard is posted.
The remaining debris is transferred to a B-25 that is flying to Wright
Field in Dayton, Ohio. Marcel goes to Ramey’s office and puts the
package on his desk. They both go to a map room, where Marcel shows him
where the debris was found. When they return to Ramey’s office, Marcel
sees that the package he brought has been substituted by a torn-up
weather balloon. Ramey proposes a plan that possibly originates from his
bosses at the Pentagon. Attention needs to be diverted from the more
important impact site north of Roswell by acknowledging the Corona
location. Too many civilians are involved, and the press is already
alerted. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO
Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, pp. 167–168;
Thomas J. Carey and Donald R. Schmitt, “Flight to Fort Worth: From
Complicity to Cover-Up,” IUR 25, no. 2 (Summer 2000): 7–13, 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1028
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: Brig. Gen. George
F. Schulgen, chief of the Requirements Intelligence branch of Army
Air Force Intelligence, requests FBI help with the problem of the flying
discs from Special Agent S.
Wesley Reynolds. Army intelligence claims they are not Army or Navy
craft. He says that Air Corps Intelligence is utilizing all its
scientists to study the cases to see whether they are natural or
artificial or inspired by “individuals of Communist sympathies with the
view to causing hysteria and fear of a secret Russian weapon.” (E. G.
Fitch, [FBI
memo], July 10, 1947; ClearIntent, p. 148;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 July
7th–July 10th,
Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2001, p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1051
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: 12:50 p.m. Vandenberg and
Symington meet
with the Joint Chiefs.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1046
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: 10:50 a.m. Doolittle,
Vandenberg, and
Symington meet
in the office of Army Chief of Staff Dwight
D. Eisenhower. Maj.
Gen. Lauris
Norstad, director of the Plans and Operations Department, is also
present. (Donald R. Schmitt, UFO Crash at Roswell II, Moonset,
2001)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1044
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: 11:30 p.m. Constable Eric Kearsey sees four yellowish discs
flying in close formation above Grand Falls, Newfoundland. He calls
other people to watch them as well. They are moving at high speed to the
east with a dipping motion. At 11:40 p.m., an egg-shaped object “the
size of a barrel head” passes overhead in the same direction.
(St. John’s (Newf.) Evening Telegram, July 9, 1947; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1947 July 7th–July 10th, Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2001, pp. 45–46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1053
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: Shortly after 5:00 p.m. Electrician Raymond Edward Lane and
his wife are picking huckleberries near Midland, Michigan, when they
hear a kind of “puff” noise nearby. Looking up, they see a ball of
white, sparkling fire, like a Fourth of July sparkler, about the size of
a bushel basket, no more than 100 feet away. It is hovering several feet
above a stretch of sand. After about 10 or 15 seconds, the light goes
out and the object vanishes. The only thing that remains is a peculiar
dark substance on the sand and some metallic fragments. Lane collects
fragments of the material in a tin can and brings them the next morning
to Robert S. Spencer, a senior researcher at the Dow Chemical Company
materials research laboratory in Midland. Spencer goes to the site with
Lane and Dow’s internal security chief Edward Fales. Spencer has the Dow
spectroscopy laboratory analyze the fragments and reports that the shiny
pellets are largely silver mixed with a bit of silicon. They conclude
that it consists of fused sand. By the end of September, the lab has
analyzed ashlike powder found at the site. It turns out to be thorite
that is slightly radioactive, mixed with magnesium hydroxide and other
trace minerals. The conclusion is that the sighting is the result of
some kind of home-made fireworks experiment, although Dow chemist John
Josef Grebe suspects it might have been a small missile. (NICAP, “Object
Hovers over Sand”; Bloecher, pp. IV-2–3;
Joel Carpenter, “The
Midland Fireball: Dow Chemical, UFOs, and Evidence,” IUR 23, no. 3
(Fall 1998): 28–32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1052
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: RAAF officers locate Mack
Brazel and take him to the base for questioning, then to the Roswell
Daily Record and radio station KGPL for a revised, sanitized version of
his story, this time saying he found the debris on June 14. Copies of Haut’s
original press release are recovered. Three fully loaded C-54’s carry
debris to Los Alamos, New Mexico, via Kirtland AFB, according to Robert
E. Smith, First Air Transport Unit. A crate allegedly carrying alien
bodies is flown from Roswell to Fort Worth in a B-29, according to Staff
Sgt. Robert
A. Slusher, who says he was on board. (Don Schmitt and Kevin D.
Randle, “Roswell, July 9, 1947,” IUR 14, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1989): 4–6,
23; Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash
at Roswell, Evans, 1994, pp. 53–58, 169–171;
Kevin D. Randle, “Bessie Brazel’s Story,” IUR 20, no. 3 (May/June 1995):
3–5, 24; Thomas J. Carey and Donald R. Schmitt, “Mack Brazel
Reconsidered,” IUR 24, no. 4 (Winter 1999): 13–19; Kevin D. Randle, “Bessie
Brazel Schreiber and the Roswell Crash,” A Different Perspective,
September 19, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1038
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: Late afternoon. 1Lt Chester
P. Barton, stationed at Roswell Army Air Field in New Mexico, is
sent by Maj. Edwin
D. Easley to go to the crash site and report back to him about what
is going on. He gets no closer than about 50 feet from the wreckage,
which appears to have burned. He is convinced it is the remains of a
B-29 bomber. He remains at the site for about 90 minutes then reports
back to Easley. (Joseph Stefula, “The Roswell Testimony of Chester P.
Barton,” IUR 26, no. 2 (Summer 2001): 21–23, 29–31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1050
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: 4:17 p.m. Vandenberg meets
with Maj. Gen. Emmett
O’Donnell Jr., director of information for the Army Air Force.
(Donald R. Schmitt, UFO Crash at Roswell II, Moonset, 2001).
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1049
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: 2:30 p.m. Vandenberg and
Symington meet
again.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1048
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: 12:17 p.m. Idaho Statesman aviation editor and former B-29
pilot David
N. Johnson, flying
in an Idaho Air National Guard AT-6 Texan, sees a black object standing
out against the clouds as he prepares to land at Gowen Field [now Boise
Airport], Boise, Idaho. Johnson takes 10 seconds of 8mm motion-picture
film (but it shows no trace of the object). It makes a slow roll, then
makes a stair-step climb, then disappears into the clouds. (NICAP, “AT-6
Encounters Black Disc”; Bloecher, pp. III-12–13;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: 1947 July 7th–July 10th, Supplemental Notes, The Author,
2001, pp. 39–43, 55; Sparks,
p. 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1047
Date: 7/9/1947
Time: 12:17 PM PDT
Description: Witness: Idaho statesman aviation editor and former (AAF)
B-29 pilot Dave Johnson. Watched for more than 10 seconds from an Idaho
Air National Guard AT-6 while a black disc, which stood out against the
clouds, made a half-roll and then a stair-step climb.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Meridian, Idaho
ID: 4
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: 10:30 a.m. President Truman meets
with Sen. Carl
Hatch (D-N.Mex.).
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1042
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: The FBI interviews Capt. Emil J. Smith and copilot Ralph
Stevens at Boise (Idaho) Municipal Airport about their July 4 sighting.
(ClearIntent, p. 151;
Good Above, pp. 253–254)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1039
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: 1:00 a.m. William Valetta sees 5–6 domed discs streaking
eastward as he stands outside his house at 4328 South Emerald Avenue in
Chicago, Illinois. They make a swishing noise and he sees a blue flame
underneath each of them. Smoke seems to be coming from the tops.
(Bloecher, pp. II-13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1037
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: US Sen. Glen
H. Taylor (D-Idaho) says he hopes the saucers will turn out to be
space ships from another planet, whose hostility might end all our
“petty arguments on earth.” (“‘Can’t
Laugh Off Saucers,’ Says Senator,” Boston Globe, July 9, 1947,
p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1040
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: The US Army Air Force issues classified orders requiring
reports of any “saucer-like” objects to be investigated and passed on to
T-2 Technical Intelligence at Wright Field, Ohio, with summaries sent to
the Pentagon. However, most of the early cases still go directly to the
Air Force Office of Intelligence at the Pentagon. (Michael David Hall
and Wendy Ann Connors, “Alfred Loedding: New Insight on the Man behind
Project Sign,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter 1998): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1041
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: 10:35 a.m. Assistant Secretary of War for Air Stuart
Symington meets with Lt. Gen. James
Doolittle and Gen. Hoyt
Vandenberg. The
conversation is presumably about the flying discs. (Donald R. Schmitt,
UFO Crash at Roswell II, Moonset, 2001)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1043
Date: 7/9/1947
Description: 11:58 a.m. Vandenberg calls
President Truman.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1045
Date: 7/10/1947
Description: FBI Memo: Gen. George F. Schulgen (Chief of the Air
Intelligence Requirements Division) organizes top scientists to
determine if the flying discs are indeed fact and whether or not they
are a foreign body mechanically devised and controlled. He desired the
assistance of the FBI in locating and questioning the individuals who
first sighted the discs. Col. L. R. Forney of MID indicated that it has
been established that the flying discs are not the result of any Army or
Navy experiments and should be of interest to the FBI
Type: memo
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A p148)
Reference: link
Date: 7/10/1947
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 16.25km altitude
(Early yaw led to termination at 32s.)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 16.25km
Date: 7/10/1947
Time: Between 3 and 5 PM local time
Description: Witnesses: three ground crewmen, including Mr. Leidy, for
Pan American Airways. Watched briefly while one translucent disc- or
wheel-shaped object flew very fast, leaving a dark blue trail and then
ascended and cut a path through the clouds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Harmon Field, Newfoundland, Canada
ID: 5
Date: 7/10/1947
Description: Estimated date student and Einstein assistant Shirley J.
Wright accompanies Einstein to Roswell area. She was 17 years, 10
months, 21 days old.
Type: scientist
Reference: link
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 7/10/1947
Description: Roswell debris and bodies have been flown from Fort Worth
to Wright Field, according to future Brig. Gen. Arthur
Exon, then
stationed at Wright Field, Ohio, who says that a special unit is created
to study them. The story is slightly corroborated by Jack
G. Tiffany Jr., whose father Jack
G. Tiffany Sr. is one of the crew members that flies debris from
Fort Worth to Dayton. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth
about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, pp. 61–66;
Thomas J. Carey and Donald J. Schmitt, Inside the Real Area 51, New
Page, 2013, pp. 165–175; Nukes 483–486)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1055
Date: 7/10/1947
Description: FBI agent E. G. Fitch forwards Schulgen’s
request to Assistant Director of the Domestic Intelligence Division D.
Milton “Mickey”
Ladd at FBI headquarters in a memo titled “Flying Disks.” Ladd adds
a note saying that the “Bureau does not believe it should go into these
investigations” because many cases are “pranks.” Associate FBI Director
Clyde
Tolson adds, “I think we should do this,” while J.
Edgar Hoover writes, “I would do it but before agreeing to it we
must insist upon full access to discs recovered. For instance in the La.
Case the Army grabbed it and would not let us have it for cursory
examination.” (E. G. Fitch, [FBI
memo], July 10, 1947; RosRept, pp. 25– 26;
Good Above, p. 541;
Kevin D. Randle, “The
Hoover Memo Again,” A Different Perspective, July 29, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1054
Date: 7/10/1947
Description: 10:00 a.m. John
H. Janssen, aviation editor of the Morristown Daily Record, takes a
photo of four luminous objects as he is flying his Piper J-3 Cub at
10,000 feet over Morristown, New Jersey. Three of the objects are
silvery white, while the fourth is a dull metallic color. (“‘Flying
Saucers’ Invade Morristown; 4 Discs Photographed
near Airport,” Paterson (N.J.) Evening News, July 11, 1947, p. 10;
NICAP, “07-10-1947
USA, New
Jersey, Morristown”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1056
Date: 7/10/1947
Description: 10:30 a.m. Lt. Gen. Curtis
LeMay, deputy chief of Air Staff for Research and Development at the
Pentagon, meets with Vandenberg, Maj.
Gen. Leslie
Groves, and Lt. Gen. Robert
Miller Montague.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1057
Date: 7/10/1947
Description: 5:30 p.m. Three civilian airline mechanics (John N. Mehrman
Jr., Robert Leidy, and John E. Woodruff) at Ernest Harmon AFB [now
Stephenville International Airport] are returning from a fishing trip
and driving up a mountain road near Stephenville Crossing, Newfoundland.
They see a bluish-black exhaust trail that has cut through some clouds
leaving a “hole.” Woodruff sees a disc-shaped object the apparent size
of a C-54 transport plane coming out of the clouds and traveling at a
terrific rate of speed. The hole remains in the cloud for more than an
hour. Leidy takes two Kodachrome photos of the exhaust trail. The
sighting later impresses Project Sign personnel to the extent that they
ask questions about UFO effects on clouds. (NICAP, “Harmon
Field Photo”; Sparks, p. 24;
Michael D. Swords, “Can
You Learn Anything from UFO Photos, Part Two,” The Big Study, July
5, 2012; Swords 38–39; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 1, 1947, The Author, February 1991, pp. 44– 45;
Chris Rutkowski, “The Cold, Hard Facts about UFOs in Canada,” IUR 34,
no. 1 (Sept. 2011): 8–9; Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian
UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 49–50; Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s
UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 167, 264–267)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1062
Date: 7/10/1947
Description: Mac Brazel is still being held at a guest house on the
Roswell, New Mexico, base. The officers try to convince him not to say
anything about what he has seen. They also try to prevent him talking to
reporters. He is given a physical by doctors at the base hospital.
(Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at
Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 172)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1063
Date: 7/10/1947
Description: 4:47 p.m. University of New Mexico astronomer Lincoln
LaPaz, his
wife Leota, and two daughters, Jean and Mary, are driving west on
Highway 60 near Fort Sumner, New Mexico, when they see a sharply
outlined, white ellipsoidal object wobbling in the sky to the west about
25 miles away. They watch it for about 30 seconds, then it disappears
behind a cloud, but reappears 5 seconds later further to the right. He
estimates its size as 245 feet long and 100 feet thick at the maximum,
with a horizontal speed of 120–180 mph and a vertical speed of 600–900
mph. It moves silently with no vapor trail. It resembles no known
aircraft. (NICAP, “200ʹ
Ellipsoidal Object Sighted
by La Paz Family”; H. B. Darrach Jr. and Robert Ginna, “Have
We Visitors from Space?” Life, April 7, 1952, p. 84; Bloecher, p. III-19;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 July
7th–July 10th, Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2001, p. 58; Sparks,
p. 24; James E. McDonald, “Statement on
Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1061
Date: 7/10/1947
Description: 4:25 p.m. A V-2 launch is aborted at White Sands Proving
Ground, New Mexico, after 32 seconds due to an early yaw. Gen. Gen. Nathan
Twining stops at White Sands before returning to Wright Field,
Ohio.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1060
Date: 7/10/1947
Description: 2:40 p.m. Secretary of War Robert
P. Patterson meets with Groves and
Montague.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1059
Date: 7/10/1947
Description: 12:15 p.m. Doolittle and
Vandenberg meet
with Truman.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1058
Date: 7/11/1947
Description: 11:00 a.m. USAAF Col. Bruce
H. Perry and Maj. William
E. Geyser, 59th AACS Group, see a round 2–3 foot or 10-foot aluminum
or silver-metallic sphere traveling at great speed to the south of
Elmendorf AFB [now Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson], Anchorage, Alaska.
Estimated altitude is 3,000–4,000 feet. (NICAP, “Round
3ʹ Aluminum
Object at Great Speed”; Sparks,
p. 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1065
Date: 7/11/1947
Description: Debriefings of all military participants in the debris
recovery operation take place. They are taken into a room in small
groups and told that the recovery is highly classified and not to talk
about it. Military personnel warn civilians around Roswell, New Mexico,
that they are not to talk about what happened. (Kevin D. Randle and
Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans,
1994, pp. 72–76,
172)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1064
Date: 7/11/1947
Description: A Washington beltway newspaper column reporters that a
visitor found Einstein “sick”, but Einstein stated not to worry, that
the world is sick and the “military mass-minded approach” he saw in
Germany was coming here.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: Newspapers.com
Date: 7/12/1947
Description: Kenneth
Arnold is interviewed at the Hotel Owyhee in Boise, Idaho, by Lt. Frank
M. Brown and Capt. William
L.
Davidson, who
have flown in from Hamilton Army Airfield [now closed] in Novato,
California. He also submits a written statement to Army Air Force
intelligence, referring to the objects as “saucer-like.” At the end of
the report he draws a picture of what the objects appeared to look like
at their closest approach to Mt. Rainier, Washington. He writes, “They
seemed longer than wide, their thickness was about 1/20th their width.”
As to motion, Arnold writes, “They flew like many times I have observed
geese to fly in a rather diagonal chain-like line as if they were linked
together.” (James Easton suggests in 2007 that Arnold may have seen
pelicans, based on their movements, but this seems unlikely.) While they
are at Arnold’s house, Brown and Davidson hear that pilot Emil J. Smith
is in Boise on a layover, and all three go to the airport to talk to
him. (Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer, The Coming of the Saucers, Palmer,
1952, pp. 21–23; Kenneth Arnold, “Confidential,”
Project 1947; Frank M. Brown, “Memorandum
for the Officer in Charge,” July 16, 1947; James Easton, “Kenneth
Arnold and the
Pelicans,” UFO Conjectures, April 4, 2007; Martin Shough, “The
Singular Adventure of Mr. Kenneth Arnold,”
June 2010; Michael David Hall and Wendy Ann Connors, “Alfred Loedding:
New Insight on the Man behind Project Sign,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter
1998): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1066
Date: 7/12/1947
Description: The FBI conducts a shorter follow-up interview with
Capt. Emil J. Smith. (ClearIntent, p. 153)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1067
Date: 7/12/1947
Description: 6:35 p.m. Seamen John C. Kennedy and Ben Bobberly are on
duty at Naval Air Station Seattle at Sand Point [now closed and
redeveloped as Magnuson Park], Seattle, Washington. They notice a
silvery disc-shaped object flying overhead to the east at 12,000 feet.
At about the same time, Arnold
Bergh and James Calahan watch three silvery discs flying quickly
north from their location near North 82nd Street and 11th Avenue in
Seattle. (Bloecher, p. III-6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1069
Date: 7/12/1947
Description: In a declassified statement, Kenneth Arnold points out why
the unidentified discs he saw couldn’t have been mirages: “I observed
these objects not only through the glass of my airplane but turned my
airplane sideways where I could open my window and observe them with a
completely unobstructed view (without sunglasses).”
Type: declassified statement
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-G, p16)
Date: 7/12/1947
Description: Announcement of Einstein’s ABC Special live radio broadcast
on “The Immediate Need for World Law” next Thursday (so either July
17th, or the 24th)
Type: newspaper article
Reference: Newspapers.com
Date: 7/12/1947
Description: 6:30 p.m. USAAF Maj. Edward Graham and others at Elmendorf
AFB [now Joint Base Elmendorf- Richardson], Anchorage, Alaska, see a
balloon-like grayish object, 10 feet long, flying northwest at 100 mph
at an altitude of 1,500 feet and following the contour of mountains 5
miles away. It is paralleling the course of a landing C-47. (Sparks, p. 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1068
Date: 7/13/1947
Description: 5:48 p.m. Warren
Baker Eames is driving with his wife Alice on
State Highway 2 near Gardner, Massachusetts, when they see a large,
silvery, disc-shaped object in the sky ahead, moving west. As they
watch, its nearest edge dips down toward them and it accelerates in a
sudden burst of speed to the west-northwest. (Bloecher, p. III-1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1070
Date: Mid 7/1947
Description: In a paper by U.S. Navy Physicist, Dr. Bruce Maccabee, he
stated: “…the Air Force knew by the middle of July, 1947 that saucers
were real and not manmade…the technology represented by the (recovered)
disc…was so far beyond our own that it could not be understood
immediately…Therefore it would be necessary to treat the disc as a
military secret. This would mean containing all information about it
within some small group.”
Type: ufological event
Reference: Pea
Research
See also: 1/31/49
Date: 7/15/1947
Description: Memo to Mr. Ladd with a handwritten note from J. Edgar
Hoover, Director of the FBI stating, ”…before agreeing (to the
investigation of crashed saucers)…we must insist upon full access to
discs recovered. For instance in the Soc. (Socorro, N.M.) case the Army
grabbed it and would not let us have it for cursory examination.
Type: memo
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E, p541, RECOVERY)
Date: 7/15/1947
Description: Mack
Brazel is returned home after an extensive interrogation at Roswell
AAF, New Mexico. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The Truth about
the UFO Crash at Roswell, Evans, 1994, p. 173)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1071
Date: 7/15/1947
Description: 12:15 p.m. Col. Frank
A. Flynn is flying a Vultee BT-13 Valiant over Concord, California,
when a group of 12–15 objects approaches and passes him. At first he
takes them for birds, but he can see no necks or wings and they are
moving in excess of 200 mph. They are moving in a see-saw fashion at
three different altitudes about 200 feet apart, and they appear to be
about 15 feet across, white on the top and gray and black on the bottom.
At their closest point, they are about one mile away. Flynn turns his
plane around to pursue them, but they outdistance him quickly.
(Bloecher, p. III-13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1072
Date: 7/16/1947
Description: An initial report on the Ernest Harmon AFB case in
Newfoundland is written up by a base intelligence officer. (Michael
David Hall and Wendy Ann Connors, “Alfred Loedding: New Insight on the
Man behind Project Sign,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter 1998): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1073
Date: 7/19/1947
Description: The antiaircraft command base of the Chinese Nationalist
Government Air Force spots a UFO over Lanzhou City, Gansu, China. It is
50 feet long and has an apparent rudder and two jet pipes in the back.
About 8:00 p.m., witnesses in Gansu province watch a red object cross
the sky in 2 seconds. (Paul Dong, The Four Major Mysteries of Mainland
China, Prentice-Hall, 1984, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1074
Date: 7/21/1947
Description: Life magazine publishes a pictorial news story on the
flying discs. (“Speaking
of Pictures: A Rash of Flying Disks
Breaks Out over the U.S.,” Life, July 21, 1947, pp. 14–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1076
Date: 7/21/1947
Description: A more detailed report on the Ernest Harmon AFB incident is
sent to the Pentagon. (Michael David Hall and Wendy Ann Connors, “Alfred
Loedding: New Insight on the Man behind Project Sign,” IUR 23, no. 4
(Winter 1998): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1075
Date: 7/22/1947
Description: Ray
Palmer writes to Kenneth
Arnold and tells him about the Maury Island, Washington, case,
asking him to look into it. (Jason Colavito, ed., “Inquiry
into Richard Shaver and Ray Palmer, Federal Bureau of
Investigation, 1947”;
Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer, The Coming of the Saucers, Palmer, 1952,
p. 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1077
Date: 7/23/1947
Description: José C. Higgens and some assistants are surveying a field
in Campina do Amoral in the Colônia Goio-Bang, located between Luiziana
and Mamboré, Paraná, Brazil. On hearing a sharp sound, they see a
grayish-white disc- shaped object about 100 feet in diameter, which soon
lands and rests on curved metal feet. His assistants flee, but Higgens
goes up to examine it. He sees a small, glass window, then two
odd-looking beings observing him curiously. A door opens in the craft,
and three other hairless beings dressed in transparent overalls. They
have large, round eyes with eyebrows and pronounced eyelashes. Their
legs are disproportionately long and they are about 7 feet tall. One
points a small tube at Higgens. They are speaking in an unknown,
sonorous language. He walks toward the door and can see only a small
cubicle, bordered by another door, and several portholes. Higgens by
gestures asks where they are from and the leader draws a map in the
dirt, indicating a seventh planet, presumably Uranus. He eludes them by
pretending to look for his wife and goes into a hidden spot in the
woods. After 30 minutes the beings climb into the object and take off.
(Wikipedia, “Caso
José Higgens”; Clark III 576– 577; Brazil 21–23; Mark Cashman,
“Behavioral Classification System for UFO Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1
(Spring 1999): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1079
Date: 7/23/1947
Description: Day. John
H. Janssen, aviation editor of the Morristown Daily Record, is
flying his Piper J-3 Cub at 6,000 feet near the Morristown Airport in
New Jersey. He sees a flash of light, the engine gives out, and the
plane seems to be motionless. Then he sees two UFOs (this time with
portholes) and manages to get the propeller going again. This is one of
the first cases of “vehicle interference” UFO cases involving an
airplane. (NICAP, “07-10-1947 USA,
New Jersey, Morristown”; John H. Janssen, “My Encounter with Flying
Disks,” Fate 2, no. 3 (September 1949): 12–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1078
Date: 7/23/1947
Description: A group of survey workers ran away as they heard a hissing
noise and saw a disk land 50 m away. Jose C. Higgins saw two figures
through, a window. Later three beings in shiny clothes and translucent
suits, with oversized bald heads, huge round eyes, no eyelashes or
eyebrows, and a metal box on their back, emerged from the craft. They
were over 2 m. tall. They drew the solar system and pointed to Uranus as
if to suggest that was their point of origin.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Round-up 163; FSR 61, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Bauru, near Pitanga, Brazil
ID: 61
Date: 7/24/1947
Description: Einstein’s ABC Special live radio broadcast on “The
Immediate Need for World Law”
Type: newspaper article
Reference: Newspapers.com
Date: 7/25/1947
Description: Day. Leonard Robertson is riding his motorcycle northeast
of Dumas, Texas, when he sees a flash of light to his left. An oval
object like a bubble is floating over a field about one mile away.
Suddenly the object explodes, so Robertson takes a side road to the
field where he retrieves a piece of metal “lighter than aluminum foil”
about 30 inches long and 24 inches wide. There are two small holes in it
and the center seems to be burned. (“Perryton Man
Displays Proof of Saucer Story,” Amarillo (Tex.) Daily News, August
6, 1947, p. 1; “Salvage
from Mystery Blast,”
Amarillo (Tex.) Daily News, August 9, 1947, p. 5; Curt Collins, “The
Texas UFO Crash Debris Photo from July
1947,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, May 21, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1082
Date: 7/25/1947
Description: A memorandum over the signature of Maj. Lester
M. Garrigues states that by order of Col. Blanchard,
the nine men who had been assigned duties in the recovery of the
Roswell, New Mexico, crash are relieved from duty on that project.
However, it is now largely considered a forgery by Frank
Kaufmann. Garrigues has assumed duties in China prior to this and is
no longer in Roswell. (Kevin D. Randle, “Frank Kaufmann, Roswell
Witness,” IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 8, 17–19; Mark Rodeghier, “Frank
Kaufmann Exposed,” IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 9–11, 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1081
Date: 7/25/1947
Description: Intelligence agents from the Fourth Air Force, Lt. Frank
M. Brown and Capt. William
L. Davidson, visit
Kenneth
Arnold in Boise, Idaho, and tell him to contact them if he runs
across any interesting UFO evidence.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1080
Date: 7/26/1947
Description: President Truman signs
the National Security Act, a major restructuring of the military and
intelligence agencies. It creates a unified National Military
Establishment (Army and Navy) and a Department of the Air Force, both
under the new Secretary of Defense. The Joint Research and Development
Board becomes the R&D brain center. Each of the three service
secretaries maintains quasi-cabinet status. It establishes the National
Security Council to advise the president and the Central Intelligence
Agency, the first peacetime intelligence agency in the US. The CIA is
prohibited from conducting domestic surveillance, but Allen
Dulles ensures it can handle “other functions” affecting “national
security” without scrutiny from Congress or (sometimes) the president.
Much of the CIA’s funding initially comes from wealthy Americans. The
act creates the first black military and intelligence budget.
(Wikipedia, “National
Security Act of 1947”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1083
Date: 7/27/1947
Description: Capt. Davidson and
Lt. Brown interview
Richard Rankin. The FBI finds that the CIC agents have also interviewed
Kenneth
Arnold, Capt. Emil
J. Smith, Flight Officer Ralph Stevens, and Boise Stateman Editor David
N.
Johnson about their UFO sightings. Leverett
G. Richards, aviation
editor of the Portland Oregonian, informs the FBI of this information.
He also calls Lieut. Gen. Nathan
Twining, who leaves “the impression that the AAF instituted this
investigation to wash out the disc reports since they are definitely not
of AAF origin.” (Memo for FBI Director from Mr. D. M. Ladd, August 14,
1947)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1085
Date: 7/27/1947
Description: Ray
Palmer wires Kenneth
Arnold $200 to investigate the Maury Island, Washington, case.
(Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer, The Coming of the Saucers, 1952, Palmer,
pp. 23–24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1084
Date: 7/28/1947
Description: 8:34 p.m. Capt. Charles F. Gibian and First Officer Jack
Harvey are piloting United Air Lines Flight 105 and descending above
Mountain Home, Idaho, in preparation for landing in Boise. Harvey sees
an object that seems to be another aircraft ahead of them and to the
south, but it rapidly moves to the northwest in a weaving fashion,
diminishing in size and vanishing from view. (“United
Air Lines Crew Reports Sighting Flying
Saucer between Mountain
Home and Boise,” Boise Idaho Daily Statesman, July 29, 1947,
pp. 1–2; Bloecher, pp. III-13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1087
Date: 7/28/1947
Description: After assessing the Ernest Harmon AFB, Newfoundland,
report, Gen. Schulgen orders
Col. Howard
M. McCoy, deputy
commander of T-2 intelligence at Wright Field, Ohio, to send a top-level
assessment team (possibly Alfred
Loedding or Col. William
R. Clingerman Jr.) to Stephenville “immediately” and report directly
to the Pentagon afterwards. McCoy suspects German or Russian technology.
(Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,”
JUFOS 7 (2000): 33–34; Swords 39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1086
Date: 7/29/1947
Description: 6:55 a.m. Kenneth
Arnold is flying to Tacoma, Washington, to investigate the Maury
Island mystery. As he is over Union, Oregon, preparing to land at La
Grande to refuel, he sees a cluster of 25 small (24–30 inches) brass-
colored discs with a spot in the middle moving at a terrific speed. They
come within 1,200 feet of his aircraft before veering away. At La
Grande, he phones aviation editor David
N. Johnson about his sighting, then reaches Tacoma at dusk. He gets
a room (502) at the Winthrop Hotel, where a room and a bath have already
been mysteriously reserved for him. Harold
A. Dahl visits Arnold that night, then takes him to Fred
Crisman’s place to see some Maury Island fragments. Arnold thinks it
looks like lava. (Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer, The Coming of the
Saucers, Palmer, 1952, pp. 25–38; Bloecher, pp. I-15–16, III-14;
Clark III 720–721)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1089
Date: 7/29/1947
Description: A memo from FBI agent E. G. Fitch says that Special Agent
Reynolds has
met with Gen. Schulgen again,
who assures him that “all discs recovered would be made available for
the examination by the FBI agents.” (ClearIntent, pp. 149–150)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1088
Date: 7/29/1947
Description: 2:50 p.m. Assistant Base Operations Officer Capt. William
H. Ryherd and ex-AAF B-29 pilot 1Lt Ward Stewart see two round,
shiny, white objects near Hamilton Army Airfield [now closed] in Novato,
California. The objects are 15–25 feet in diameter and are flying at
about 750 mph at an altitude of 6,000–10,000 feet heading south. One
object flies straight and level; the other weaves from side-to-side like
an escort fighter. (Bloecher, p. III-5; Sparks, p. 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1090
Date: 7/29/1947
Description: Kenneth Arnold interviews Dahl in Tacoma WA, near Maury
Island. Retrieved metals sent to Ray Palmer and sent to a lab for
analysis. Metals confiscated by the military from Ray Palmer. Dahl
leaves in terror and is tracked down in public archives to the southern
Oregon area.
Type: ufological event
Reference: Medium
Date: 7/29/1947
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 160.7km altitude
(Near vertical trajectory.)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 160.7km
Date: 7/29/1947
Time: 2:50 PM PDT
Description: Witnesses: Assistant Base Operations Officer Capt. William
Rhyerd, ex-AAF B-29 pilot Ward Stewart. Watched for unknown length of
time while two round, shiny, white objects with estimated 15-25 foot
diameters, flew 3-4 times the apparent speed of a P-80, also in sight.
One object flew straight and level; the other weaved from side-to-side
like an escort fighter.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Hamilton Air Base, California
ID: 6
Date: 7/30/1947
Description: Arnold calls
United Airlines pilot Capt. Emil J. Smith and asks him to come listen to
the Maury Island, Washington, story. Smith arrives in Tacoma in the
afternoon and cross-examines Dahl and
Crisman.
Smith stays with Arnold at the Winthrop Hotel. Journalist Ted
Morello of United Press calls Arnold and says that a crackpot has
been calling him, explaining everything that is going on in the hotel
room, including conversations with Smith when they are alone. They try
but fail to locate a listening device in the room. (Kenneth Arnold and
Ray Palmer, The Coming of the Saucers, Palmer, 1952, pp. 38–46; Clark
III 721)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1091
Date: 7/30/1947
Description: The FBI issues a policy statement on “Flying Discs,” saying
that sightings should be investigated to see whether an “individual
might be desirous of seeking personal publicity, causing hysteria, or
playing a prank.” (“Flying Disks,” Section B, Bureau Bulletin no. 42,
Series 1947, in Black Vault FBI documents compilation, p. 48;
ClearIntent, p. 150)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1092
Date: 7/30/1947
Description: A memo with the subject line, “Recovery ‘Flying Discs,’”
purportedly written by Maj. Edwin
D. Easley, acknowledges that the Roswell, New Mexico, crash could
“represent an interplanetary craft of some kind.” However, it is now
largely considered a forgery by Frank
Kaufmann. (Kevin
D. Randle, “Frank Kaufmann, Roswell Witness,” IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall 2002):
8, 17–19; Mark Rodeghier, “Frank Kaufmann Exposed,” IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall
2002): 9–11, 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1093
Date: 7/30/1947
Description: The Garrett Estimate, an Air Force Base Intelligence Report
on “Flying Discs”—an informal estimate of the situation based on 16
reports selected by Collections Officer Lt. Col. George
D. Garrett—says that the “flying saucer situation is not all
imaginary or seeing too much in some natural phenomena. Something is
really flying around.” Also, “Lack of topside inquiries . . . give more
than ordinary weight to the possibility that this is a domestic project,
about which the President, etc., know.” The study is passed up the line
to Gen. George
Schulgen and Hoover at
the FBI for comment, subtly indicating that investigating a domestic
project is a waste of time. (Air Force Base Intelligence Report, “Flying
Discs,” July 30, 1947; Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the
Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 32–33, 57–61; Swords 39,
474–475; Kevin D. Randle, “Roswell, Nathan
Twining, and the Mini-EOTS,” A Different Perspective, October 6,
2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1094
Date: 7/31/1947
Description: Crisman and
Dahl bring
heavy fragments and white metal from the Maury Island case to the
Winthrop Hotel room in Tacoma, Washington. They cannot locate the
photos. Arnold calls
Brown and
Davidson at
Hamilton Army Airfield in Novato, California. They quickly depart for
Tacoma. Morello calls
Arnold and says his informant knows that Brown and Davidson are on their
way in a B-25. They arrive in the late afternoon. The five men talk
until 11:00 p.m., when Crisman offers to go home and get more Maury
Island fragments. He returns with slightly different, more slag-like
rock stuffed in a large cereal box, which is loaded into Brown’s army
vehicle. Brown and Davidson leave to go back to Hamilton for Air Force
Day the next day. Morello calls again and says his informant told him
everything about what has just taken place. (Kenneth Arnold and Ray
Palmer, The Coming of the Saucers, Palmer, 1952, pp. 46–57; [FBI
teletype, August 6, 1947], pp. 87–88)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1095
Date: 7/31/1947
Description: Capt. Edward
Ruppelt: “By the end of July 1947, the UFO security lid was down
tight. The few members of the press who did inquire about what the Air
Force was doing got the same treatment that you would get today if you
inquired about the number of thermonuclear weapons stock-piled in the
U.S.’s atomic arsenal. . . [At T-2 there was] confusion almost to the
point of panic.” (Ruppelt, p. 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1096
Date: 8/1947
Description: T-2 Intelligence and Army Air Force Intelligence hold
meetings over the next two months and prepare documents requesting an
authorized project to investigate UFOs, per General LeMay’s
1946 instructions.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1098
Date: 8/1947
Description: USAF fighter pilot W. Boyce sees a hovering disc above
Media, Pennsylvania. (UFOEv, p. 33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1097
Date: 8/1947
Description: The Air Materiel Command headquarters replaces T-2
Intelligence with the Technical Intelligence Department, tasked with
producing reports and estimates on foreign air weapons. It begins to
develop a photoanalysis capability.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1099
Date: 8/1947
Description: The Denver Post runs a story that claims the military is
building a secret base consisting of huge caverns for atomic weapons
defense purposes. The article says the new base is in the Manzano
Mountains southeast of Sandia Base, New Mexico. The military responds by
issuing a statement that operations and construction near Sandia Base
are top secret. In fact, however, the Armed Forces Special Weapons
Project is building one of several bases around the country that will be
used for nuclear weapons storage. The AFSWP code-names the base “Site
Able.” (Wikipedia, “Sandia
Base”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1100
Date: 8/1/1947
Description: A B-25 plane containing materials retrieved from Harold
Dahl near Maury Island WA crashes near Kelso, WA
Type: ufological event
Reference: Wikipedia
link
Date: 8/1/1947
Description: Brown and
Davidson make
a stop at McChord Field near Tacoma, Washington, to speak with
intelligence officer Maj. George
Sander, then
board the B-25 for Hamilton Army Airfield [now closed] in Novato,
California. It explodes and crashes near Kelso, Washington, at 1:30
a.m., 20 minutes after taking off, when the left engine catches fire. An
army hitchhiker and engineer parachute to safety. Brown and Davidson
fail to signal distress or bail out. After hearing the news, Arnold calls
Palmer and
offers to return his money. Palmer says to just mail him some fragments.
Arnold and Smith visit Morello and
Dahl and
Crisman.
They talk to Tacoma Times reporter Paul Lantz in
the hotel lobby, who writes the article “Sabotage Hinted in Crash of
Army Bomber at Kelso.” Debris from the crash is not discovered until
2007. (“Air Force Day Marred As B-26 Crashes Here,” Longview (Wash.)
Daily News, August 1, 1947, p. 1; “‘Flying
Saucers’ Figure in Two
Air Crash Deaths,” Galveston (Tex.) Daily News, August 3, 1947,
pp. 1, 5; Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer, The Coming of the Saucers,
Palmer, 1952, pp. 57–72; Charlette LeFevre and Philip Lipson, “The
Maury Island UFO Incident,” February 2014; Leslie Slape, “Marker
Placed near Kelso to Honor Pilots in ’47 Crash,” Longview (Wash.)
Daily News, August 3, 2007, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1101
Date: 8/3/1947
Description: Newspaper article: “Crashed Bomber Reported Carrying
‘Flying Disc’”. Maury Island incident metallic fragments were reported
to be extremely heavy and subjected to extreme heat.
Type: ufological event
Reference: Medium
Date: 8/3/1947
Description: Smith contacts Maj. Sander, who
relieves Arnold and
Smith of all their fragments. He shows them a smelting lot where he
finds similar pieces of slag. Smith and Arnold check out of the Winthrop
Hotel in Tacoma, Washington. (Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer, The Coming
of the Saucers, Palmer, 1952, pp. 73–84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1102
Date: 8/4/1947
Description: Pilots Capt. Jack Peck and
Vince Daly see a smooth UFO northwest of Bethel, Alaska, dead ahead as
they are flying a DC-3 for Al Jones Flying Service. Peck hauls back on
his controls to bring his plane up to safer altitude. Now 1,000 feet
higher, the pilots glance downward and spot the UFO closer but on a
changed course. Still dark against the sky, it looks to be as large as a
C-54. Intrigued, Peck dives on the object as it pulls away, doing his
best to get a better view, but it speeds up to an estimated 500 mph and
is lost to view in four minutes. (NICAP, “Smooth
Black Object Crosses Path of DC-3”; Harold D. Johnston, “Matters
of National Interest,” August 5, 1947; Sparks,
p. 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1103
Date: 8/6/1947
Description: An FBI memo from E. G. Fitch to D.
Milton Ladd identifies either Brown or
Davidson as
a CIC agent on a top secret mission. (Jason Colavito, ed., “Inquiry
into Richard Shaver and Ray Palmer, Federal Bureau of Investigation,
1947”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1104
Date: 8/7/1947
Description: The Seattle, Washington, FBI office interrogates Crisman and
Dahl and
announces the Maury Island incident is a hoax. The FBI file notes that
Dahl stated that “if questioned by the authorities he was going to say
it was a hoax because he did not want any further trouble over the
matter.” Dahl’s daughter Louise admits in 2007 that the whole story was
made up, as did her brother Charles in the late 1960s, who called
Crisman a “smooth-talking con artist.” The affair had started as a joke
and blossomed into something worse. Associated Press reporter Elmer
Vogel says that Dahl’s wife had compelled him to tell Vogel the truth.
Morello also
speaks to Crisman, who admits the story is baseless. (Clark III 721;
Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer, The Coming of the Saucers, Palmer, 1952,
pp. 105–111; Jason Colavito, ed., “Inquiry
into Richard Shaver and Ray Palmer, Federal Bureau of Investigation,
1947”; Kenn Thomas, Maury Island UFO: The Crisman Conspiracy,
IllumiNet, 1999; Anthony Bragalia, “Maury
Island No Longer a Mystery: A UFO Hoax Exposed!” UFO Digest, July 8,
2010; Brian J. Robb, “Conspiracy Central: The Life and Lies of Fred Lee
Crisman,” Fortean Times 355 (July 2017): 32–39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1105
Date: 8/8/1947
Description: Lt. Col. Donald
L. Springer,
assistant chief of staff for army intelligence at the Fourth Air Force,
who has just returned to Hamilton Army Airfield [now closed] in Novato,
California, from Tacoma, Washington, says “there is not sufficient
evidence or testimony available to this headquarters to conclude whether
or not the reports of so- called flying disks in the Tacoma area or any
other area have any basis of fact.” He adds that the Maury Island crash
“did not occur.” (“Fourth
Air Force Drops Disc Inquiry; Search Held Futile,” San Francisco
Examiner, August 9, 1947, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1106
Date: 8/9/1947
Description: John
Derry, serving
as acting general manager of the Atomic Energy Commission, proposes a
set of guidelines that restate the proposition that secrecy can be based
on reasons other than national security. The definition of Confidential
that he proposes goes beyond the Army and Manhattan Project rules:
“CONFIDENTIAL: Documents, information or material, the unauthorized
disclosure of which, while not endangering the National security, would
be prejudicial to the interests or prestige of the Nation or any
Governmental activity, or individual, or would cause administrative
embarrassment, or be of advantage to a foreign nation shall be
classified CONFIDENTIAL.” The Derry memo calls for review by a
classification board assembled from the AEC’s regional sites. In
September, this board assembles in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The available
documentation does not show that Derry’s proposed rules go into effect,
but it does show that the Classification Board blesses the illustrations
of matter that “should be graded” Secret or Confidential. The former
category includes “certain selected human administration experiments
performed under MED [Manhattan Engineer District].” (US Advisory
Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, “Final Report,” October 1995,
chapter
13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1107
Date: 8/13/1947
Time: 1300
Description: Two boys and their father saw a sky-blue object 100 m away
and 25 m above ground. Treetops under it were spinning wildly, although
the object itself did not spin. It made a swishing sound. Shape:
inverted plate, 7 m diameter and 3.5 m thick. There was a red flame on
one side of the top.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Twin Falls, Smoke River Canyon, Idaho
ID: 62
Date: 8/13/1947
Description: The San Francisco Examiner’s Washington Bureau hears a
rumor from a US intelligence source that Soviet agents have been ordered
to solve the mystery of flying saucers. It reports that the Kremlin
believes that the discs are connected with Army experiments in
anti-radar weaponry. (San Francisco (Calif.) Examiner, August 14, 1947,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1109
Date: 8/13/1947
Description: 1:00 p.m. Albert
Clarence Urie and his two sons Billy and
Kenneth see a straw hat–shaped, sky-blue object about 10 wide, 10 feet
high, and 20 feet long. It has “pods” on the side emitting flames and is
flying along the Snake River Canyon six miles west of Blue Lakes Ranch
near Twin Falls, Idaho. The UFO is moving up and down towards them at
1,000 mph and an altitude of 75 feet about 1/2 mile away. Urie is about
300 feet from the object, which is about level with him and silhouetted
against the canyon wall. It disappears behind a hill about one mile
away. Hynek, for
Project Blue Book, later identifies it as an “atmospheric eddy.” (“Flying
Saucer Reported Flashing
Down Canyon at 1,000 Miles Per Hour; Two
Others Seen,” Twin Falls (Idaho) Times-News, August 15, 1947, pp. 1,
8; NICAP, “Snake
River Case”; Hynek UFO Report, p. 34;
Sparks,
p. 26; Story, pp. 337–338);
Patrick Gross, “Snake
River, August 13, 1947”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1108
Date: 8/14/1947
Time: 0900
Description: R. L. Johannis saw a disk on the ground and two dwarfs less
than 1 m tall, wearing dark blue coveralls with red collars and belts.
They had oversized heads, greenish faces, huge, salient dark eyes
without eyelashes or eyebrows, but surrounded by a ringlike muscle. They
wore something similar to crash helmets. The center of their belts
projected a “vapor,” and the witness suffocated, feeling a strong
electrical discharge. The creature had greenish hands with eight
talonlike fingers.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 2; Magonia; FRS 67, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Raveo, Italy
ID: 63
Date: 8/14/1947
Description: The first Gallup poll on UFOs shows that 90% of Americans
have heard of flying saucers; 33% don’t know what they are, 39% consider
them hoaxes or misidentifications, 16% consider them US or Russian
secret weapons. The ETH is not mentioned. (Project 1947, “August
1947 Gallup Poll”; Robert J. Durant, “Evolution of Public Opinion on
UFOs,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993): 9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1110
Date: 8/14/1947
Description: The FBI concludes that the plane carrying Davidson and
Brown was
not sabotaged, nor was it carrying actual flying disc parts. (Memo for
FBI Director from Mr. D. M. Ladd, August 14, 1947)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1113
Date: 8/14/1947
Description: 10:40 a.m. Three men of the 147th Airways and Air
Communications Service Squadron at Harmon Field, Guam, see two small
crescent-shaped objects zigzagging at 1,200 feet. They disappear in the
clouds and another object emerges and proceeds west. (Lt. Col. Donald L.
Springer, “Flying
Disc,” August 27, 1947; Sparks,
p. 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1112
Date: 8/14/1947
Description: Shortly after 9:00 a.m. Italian artist and author Luigi
Rapuzzi (who uses the pseudonym L. R. Johannis) is hiking along the
left bank of the Torrente Chiarzò near Raveo, Udine, Italy, when he sees
a vivid red, metallic, domed disc on the riverbank about 165 feet ahead.
It is about 33 feet wide and embedded in a cleft in the rock about 20
feet above thqwe stream. Looking around, he sees two “boys” on the edge
of a grove of trees. He shouts at them and points to the object, walking
toward them, but notices they are actually odd-looking dwarfs who are
approaching him stiffly. They are about 3 feet tall and wearing dark
blue coveralls with red collars, cuffs, and belts. Their greenish heads
are covered in tight-fitting, brownish caps. He looks at them in
astonishment for 2–3 minutes, then waves his geologist’s pick at them
and asks where they come from. One of the entities raises its right hand
to its belt, which emits a puff of smoke that knocks Rapuzzi to the
ground as if from an electric shock. As he is lying there, one of them
grabs his pick and he notices its green hand has 8 claws. They climb up
the rock and into the disc, which soon shoots straight out and into the
air, hovering briefly at an angle, then vanishes. Rapuzzi feels a blast
of wind that blows him across the ground. His pick is missing. (NICAP,
“Professor Encounters
‘Lens’ and Creatures”; “The
Villa Santina Case,” in Charles Bowen, ed., The Humanoids, special
issue of FSR, Oct./Dec. 1966, p. 2; 1Pinotti 19–30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1111
Date: 8/15/1947 (approximate)
Description: 9:30 p.m. Maj. Elmer
H. Hammer of the 28th Bombardment Wing at Rapid City Army Air Base
[now Ellsworth AFB] near Box Elder, South Dakota, sees 12 objects flying
at 6,000–10,000 feet in a tight diamond formation at 300–400 mph. The
objects level off at approximately 5,000 feet and make a gentle
large-radius turn of about 110° to the right about 4 miles away. They
start climbing at an angle of 30–40° and appear to accelerate rapidly in
the climb. The objects are approximately 100 feet long and have a
brilliant yellow-white luminous glow. (NICAP, “12
B-29-Sized Elliptical Objects Seen”; Hynek UFO Report, p. 40;
Sparks,
p. 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1115
Date: 8/15/1947
Description: In response to the August 13 San Francisco Examiner report,
FBI Director J.
Edgar Hoover asks the agency to look into whether Soviet spies are
looking into whether the flying discs are a secret US technology.
Assistant Director of the Domestic Intelligence Division D.
Milton “Mickey”
Ladd at FBI headquarters assures FBI Deputy Director Edward
Allen Tamm that he is unaware of any such effort. (Memo to
Assistant FBI Director E. A. Tamm from Agent D. M. Ladd, August 15,
1947)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1114
Date: 8/17/1947
Description: A forest ranger at a fire lookout tower on Mt. Josephine,
Skagit County, Washington, observes an object shaped like a huge clam
that appears to fall tipped at an angle northeast of the fire tower. It
slows to a stop, levels off, and floats “leisurely as if suspended by a
cord” for a few minutes and finally moves off to the southeast with ever
increasing speed. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 1, 1947, The Author, February 1991, p. 61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1116
Date: 8/19/1947
Description: 9:30 p.m. H. H. Hedstrom (executive director of the Twin
Falls Housing Authority) and three policemen (Richard A. Frazier, H. E.
Roundtree, and Richard Scott) in Twin Falls, Idaho, see a formation of
12 objects flying in diamond formation at terrific speed. (NICAP, “August
19, 1947, Twin Falls, Idaho”; Hynek UFO Report, p. 39;
Sparks,
p. 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1118
Date: 8/19/1947
Description: FBI memo to D.
M. Ladd from E. G. Fitch on “Flying Discs” mentions SAC Reynolds’s
conversation with Lt. Col. George
Garrett, who
strongly suspects the Army or Navy is testing some new technology,
condluding that “there were objects seen which somebody in the
Government knows all about.” However Gen. Stephen Chamberlin and
the War Department claim to have no involvement. (Memorandum from E. G.
Fitch, “Flying Discs,”
August 19, 1947)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1117
Date: 8/20/1947
Description: An Anglo-American intelligence team releases a report on
secret German weapons. Foo fighters are said to be caused by a
rocket-propelled plane launched straight up from the ground,
intercepting Allied bomber formations by firing a spray of rocket shells
from the nose. The pilot then parachutes back to the ground, a chute
opens on the rocket, and it is recovered for re-use. (New London (Conn.)
Day, August 20, 1947; Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1119
Date: late 8/1947
Description: Brig. Gen. George
F. Schulgen passes the updated Garrett Estimate on to Air Materiel
Command head Gen. Nathan
Twining with a request for a statement on the discs so an authorized
UFO project can be requested. Col. Howard
McCoy asks for a meeting between Alfred
Loedding (aeronautics engineer at T-3), Lt. Col. George Garrett (Collections),
and Charles Carroll (a math and missiles expert who has been correlating
UFO sightings with approaches of planetary bodies) “in order to set up a
system for evaluating the information being received.” These four will
later form the core of the ETH-friendly faction at Project Sign.
(RosRept, p. 13;
Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,”
JUFOS 7 (2000): 33–35; Letter to T-2 from Executive Air Intelligence
Requirement Division, September 3, 1947; Sparks, p. 13;
Swords 42, 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1125
Date: 8/22/1947
Description: Col. Robert
Taylor III, Collection
Branch of Army Air Force Intelligence, summarizes the findings of Lt.
Col. Garrett’s
investigations of UFOs in a letter to Gen. Curtis
LeMay, Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research and Development.
Taylor requests any information on AAF projects that might give rise to
such UFO reports. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 August
1st–December 31st, Supplemental
Notes, The Author, 2001, p. 27; Swords 39–40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1120
Date: 8/24/1947
Description: The name Joint Research and Development Board is changed to
simply Research and Development Board. (Michael Hall and Wendy Connors,
“The Research and Development Board: Unanswered Questions,” IUR 26, no.
2 (Summer 2001): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1121
Date: 8/25/1947
Description: USMC Maj. Marion
Eugene Carl attains a world airspeed record of 651 mph in a Douglas
Skystreak at Muroc AFB [now Edwards AFB], California. (Wikipedia, “Marion
Eugene Carl”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1122
Date: 8/28/1947
Description: Microwave Early Warning radar on Shika Island off Fukuoka,
Japan, picks up a target moving 450–478 mph at an altitude of 1,500
feet. It changes course, climbs, and is tracked to a distance of 62
miles. (NICAP, “Target
Tracked in a Climb”; Sparks,
p. 27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1123
Date: 8/29/1947
Description: Gen. LeMay answers
Col. Taylor’s
August 22 request stating that there is no such project as described.
(Swords 41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1124
Date: 9/1947
Description: Astronomer Lincoln
LaPaz arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, and rediscovers the area of
blackened ground earlier found by two of Wilcox’s
deputies. He speaks to some witnesses and determines there might have
been more than one object.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1126
Date: 9/3/1947
Time: 12:15 PM PDT
Description: Witness: housewife Mrs. Raymond Dupui. Watched for unknown
length of time as 12-15 round, silver objects flew an unstated
pattern.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Oswego, Oregon
ID: 7
Date: 9/3/1947
Description: Dale Edwards and three friends are camping out in the
Desolation Wilderness area west of Lake Tahoe, California, when one of
them spots a huge gray UFO accompanied by a rush of warm air. The next
day they encounter a circle, 40 feet in diameter, of recently burned
grass and skunk cabbage. (“True Mystic Experiences,” Fate 2, no. 3
(September 1949): 74–82)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1128
Date: 9/3/1947
Description: A memo from Col. R. H. Smith at Air Defense Command
headquarters at Mitchel Field on Long Island, New York, states that the
intent of USAF cooperation with the FBI was to “relieve the numbered Air
Forces of the task of tracking down all the many instances which turned
out to be ash-can covers, toilet seats, and whatnot.” (ClearIntent, p. 156;
Michael Hesemann and Philip Mantle, Beyond Roswell, Marlowe, 1997, p. 66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1127
Date: 9/5/1947
Description: In response to the Garrett Estimate, Gen. Curtis
LeMay states in a memo, copied to the FBI, that “a complete survey
of research activities discloses that the Army Air Force has no project
with the characteristics similar to those which have been associated
with the Flying Discs.” (Michael D. Hall and Wendy A. Connors, Alfred
Loedding and the Great Flying Saucer Wave of 1947, Rose Press, 1998, p. 83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1129
Date: 9/5/1947
Description: In Washington, D.C., Alfred
Loedding (as Wright Field T-2’s liaison with the Pentagon) meets
with Garrett and
Carroll. Flying disk reports at the Pentagon are transferred to Wright
Field, Ohio, shortly afterwards. (Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and
the Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1130
Date: 9/6/1947
Description: V-2 missile test from USS Midway reaches 1.5km (Operation
Sandy. Aircraft carrier launch successful. Exploded at 1524m)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 1.5km
Date: mid 9/1947
Description: Twining passes
the Garrett Estimate on to Col. Howard
McCoy, Maj.
Gen. Alden
Crawford (chief of T-3), Gen. Franklin
O. Carroll (director of research and development), Col. C. K. Moore
(aircraft laboratory chief), Col. Russell Minty (power-plant laboratory
chief), and Brig. Gen. Edgar
P. Sorenson (Air Institute of Technology commander). They each study
Garrett’s
report and hold a conference on the discs. (Michael D. Swords, “Project
Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1131
Date: 9/16/1947
Description: An incoming radar target is picked up at Itazuke Air Base
[now Fukuoka Airport], Fukuoka, Japan, moving 840–900 mph, then fading
out. (Col. James F. Olive Jr., “Radar
Pick-Ups of High-Speed Targets in the Far
East,” Memorandum for Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Washington,
D.C., September 26, 1947)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1132
Date: 9/17/1947
Description: The US Senate confirms James
Forrestal as the first Secretary of Defense.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1133
Date: 9/18/1947
Description: CIA officially begins, directed by Rear Adm. Roscoe H.
Hillenkoetter, USN
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Langley, Virginia
Date: 9/18/1947
Description: The reorganization of military and intelligence agencies
under the National Security Act takes effect. The US Army Air Forces is
disbanded and becomes the US Air Force.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1134
Date: 9/19/1947
Description: 5:30 p.m. A geophysicist employed by the Humble Oil and
Refining Company is testing a weather radar at Grand Isle, Louisiana,
when the radar detects an object moving in a southwesterly direction at
about 1,000 mph. It persists for about one minute, so he records it in
his notebook and discusses the sighting with other scientists. No visual
sighting is made. (Houston Press, March 24, 1950; Jan L. Aldrich, “Project
1947: A Progress Report,”
March/April 1996)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1137
Date: 9/19/47
Description: Dr. Bronk’s team determines the recovered saucer from NM is
a short range reconnaissance craft (from a mother ship)
Type: majestic document
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A)
Reference: link
Attributes: Majestic
See also: 11/30/47
Date: 9/19/1947
Description: FBI Special Agent Harry
M. Kimball in San Francisco passes Col. R. H. Smith’s memo up the
chain to Hoover. (ClearIntent,
p. 156)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1135
Date: 9/19/1947
Description: A dubious document, allegedly written on this date by DCI
Adm. Roscoe
Hillenkoetter and titled “Examination of Unidentified Disc-Like
Aircraft near Military Installations in the State of New Mexico: A
Preliminary Report,” has been circulated by Timothy
S. Cooper. It purports to verify the “recovery of unidentified
planform aircraft” in two locations on July 6. (Good Need, p. 95)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1136
Date: 9/21/1947
Description: Arrangements are made to transfer UFO files from Garrett’s
office in the Pentagon to Alfred
Loedding at AMC. (Swords 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1138
Date: 9/23/1947
Description: USAF project “SIGN” started
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 9/23/1947
Description: Confirmation sighting of Arnold’s discs by Fred
Johnson
Type: UFO sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 9/23/1947
Description: Head of Air Materiel Command Gen. Nathan
Twining responds to Schulgen’s
request for UFO information with a classified letter composed by Col. McCoy with
the assistance of Alfred
Loedding, “AMC Opinion Concerning ‘Flying Disks.’” Twining notes the
discs are “real and not visionary or fictitious.” Reports (based on the
cases in the Garrett Estimate) include “extreme rates of climb,
maneuverability (particularly in roll), and action which must be
considered evasive.” Twining gives three reasons to study the discs:
They might represent a deep-black domestic project; to pick up physical
evidence; and to find out if they are nuclear- propulsion devices from
Russia or elsewhere. The letter lists common descriptions of the objects
and recommends that USAF “issue a directive assigning a priority,
security classification, and code name for a detailed study of the
matter.” This will ultimately result in Project Sign. Henceforth all
disc reports are to be sent to the Army and Navy Research and
Development Board, the USAF Scientific Advisory Group, the Atomic Energy
Commission, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Project
RAND, and the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft project at
Oak Ridge. Twining promises a detailed “Essential Elements of
Information” (EEI) to be formulated immediately so that all agencies
will have guidance. (Lt. Gen. Nathan Twining, “AMC
Opinion Concerning
‘Flying Disks,’” September 23, 1947; RosRept, p. 14;
Swords 42, 476–478; Good Above, pp. 260–
262, 476–478)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1139
Date: fall 1947
Description: Claude
Degler, under
the pseudonym John Chrisman, publishes a single issue of the first
flying saucer fanzine, Weird Unsolved Mysteries. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 August
1st–December 31st, Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2001, pp. 56–69;
Curt Collins, “Claude
Degler, One of
the Ufologists That Time Forgot,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, July
15, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1148
Date: 9/23/47
Description: Secret Briefing Document to Brig. General George Schulgen,
AC/AS-2, from Lt. Gen. Nathan F. Twining (MJ-4), Commanding Officer,
AMC, stating: Flying Saucers are REAL! Concerning “Flying Discs” the
phenomenon reported is something real, not fictitious. These objects
approximate the shape of a disc and appear to be as large as man-made
aircraft. They have operating characteristics such as extreme rate
ofclimb and maneuverability. Under a Security Code Name copies of this
information will be sent to Army, Navy, AEC, JRDB, SAG, NACA, RAND and
NEPA Projects. (AAF Record, U-39552)
Type: secret briefing
Reference: Pea
Research
See also: 7/47
See also: 9/15/50
See also: 8/54
Date: 9/24/1947
Description: Col. Miles
E. Goll, in
a memo signed for Col. McCoy,
asks about a radar case in Japan that Charles Carroll had mentioned to
Alfred
Loedding in their meeting of September 5. (Dr. Carroll’s UFO files;
Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1143
Date: 9/24/47
Description: A covert operation, MAJESTIC-12, is established and
classified Top Secret by President H.Truman. It consists of 12 persons
selected to control all branches of government, both military and
non-military. This ultimately led to silencing of UFO witnesses,
confiscating of UFO photos, harassing and debunking of witnesses (and
rumors of worse). (ref. “Black Budget”; JMP letter)
Type: majestic document
Reference: Pea
Research
Reference: link
Attributes: Majestic
See also: 2/15/87
See also: 9/4/87
See also: 7/47
Date: 9/24/1947
Description: President
Truman meets with Vannevar
Bush, chairman of the Research and Development Board, at the White
House. Secretary of Defense James
Forrestal is also present. (Stanton T. Friedman, Top Secret / MAJIC,
Marlowe, 1996, pp. 68–69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1141
Date: 9/24/1947
Description: DCI Hillenkoetter, in
a letter to AMC, designates T-2 and the Air Intelligence branch of the
US Navy Bureau of Aeronautics as National Assets. He indicates that he
does not plan to duplicate air technical intelligence assets within the
CIA. (Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1140
Date: 9/24/1947
Description: A fake memo from President Truman to
Secretary of Defense James
Forrestal allegedly establishes a top-secret control group,
Operation Majestic Twelve (MJ-12), to deal with the UFO problem. (Clark
III 360; Joe Nickell and John R. Fischer, “The Crashed-Saucer
Forgeries,” IUR 15, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1990): 4–20; Ted R. Spickler, “The
Truman MJ-12 Letter,” IUR 16, no. 3 (May/June 1991): 12–13; Good Above,
p. 551)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1142
Date: 9/25/1947
Description: A memorandum from Maj. Robert J. Thomas lists the names of
nine military personnel in charge of events in the aftermath of the
Roswell, New Mexico, recovery. However, it is now largely considered a
forgery by Frank
Kaufmann. (Kevin D. Randle, “Frank Kaufmann, Roswell Witness,” IUR
27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 8, 17–19; Mark Rodeghier, “Frank Kaufmann
Exposed,” IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 9–11, 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1144
Date: 9/26/1947
Description: A memorandum from Col. James F. Olive Jr., Chief of Air
Intelligence Division, to the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, A-2,
summarizes three radar trackings of high-speed targets in Japan (Chitose
Air Base, July 1; and MEW Radar Station, Fukuoka, August 28 and
September 16). It concludes that there is insufficient information to
state that they involved aircraft or missiles but supports the
conclusion that they were not natural phenomena. The report is forwarded
to T-2 on September 29. (Col. James F. Olive Jr., “Radar
Pick-Ups of High- Speed
Targets in the Far East,” Memorandum for Assistant Chief of Air
Staff, Washington, D.C., September 26, 1947).
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1145
Date: 9/27/1947
Description: Hoover notifies
USAF Maj. Gen. George
C. McDonald, assistant chief of air staff, that he is advising all
FBI agents to discontinue all flying disc investigations. (Letter, J.
Edgar Hoover to Gen. George C. McDonald, September 27, 1947;
ClearIntent, p. 158;
Michael Hesemann and Philip Mantle, Beyond Roswell, Marlowe, 1997, p. 67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1146
Date: 9/28/47
Description: Student and Einstein assistant Shirley J. Wright: Newspaper
college freshman photo
Type: scientist
Reference: link
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 9/30/1947
Description: Vannevar
Bush is appointed head of the new Research and Development Board in
the National Military Establishment. (Research
and Development Board: History and Functions, US
National Military Establishment, June 1, 1948)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1147
Date: 10/47
Description: Article on student and Einstein assistant Shirley J. Wright
receiving Barry Scholarship
Type: scientist
Reference: link
Attributes: Einstein
Date: 10/1947
Time: 11 PM CDT
Description: Witness: one unnamed civilian man. Watched for 1 hour while
an undescribed object flew counterclockwise circles.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Dodgeville, Wisconsin
ID: 8
Date: 10/1/1947
Description: A letter from Truman to
Vannevar
Bush appears to bear the original Truman signature used in the MJ-12
fake memo.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1151
Date: 10/1/47
Description: First flight of the prototype jet fighter XP-86 flies from
Muroc Dry Lake (now Edwards AFB), CA — led to the F-86 Sabre
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 10/1/1947
Description: Bureau Bulletin 59 ends all FBI cooperation with the Air
Force on UFO investigation, although the FBI continues its own
inquiries. (ClearIntent, p. 159)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1150
Date: early 10/1947
Description: Private pilot Selman E. Graves claims to have witnessed
part of the recovery of a crashed UFO in Paradise Valley, Arizona, on
property owned by his friend, Walt Salyer. (Good Above, pp. 394–397)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1149
Date: 10/7/1947
Description: Capt. R. V. A. Therien of the Royal Swedish Navy states at
USAF headquarters that some ghost rockets have been observed making 180°
turns, and about 33 of the incidents are considered factual. (Loren E.
Gross, The Fifth
Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 August 1st–December
31st, Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2001, p. 76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1152
Date: 10/9/1947
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 156.1km altitude
(Internal explosion at 83.5s)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 156.1km
Date: 10/14/1947
Description: Bernt
Balchen, Norwegian
Airline director and former USAF Colonel, gives USAF headquarters
information about two radar locations and a rocket firing incident
observed in the Petsamo region (Pechengsky District) of Finland,
recently ceded to Russia. Gen. Alfred
A. Kessler Jr., former US military attaché in Sweden, disputes
Therien’s information. He says only two ghost rocket sightings are
possibly factual, but there is no evidence to authenticate them. (Loren
E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1947 August
1st–December 31st, Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2001,
p. 76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1153
Date: 10/14/1947
Time: Noon MDT
Description: Witnesses: ex-AAF fighter pilot J.L. Clark, civilian pilot
Anderson, third man. Watched 45-60 seconds while one 3-foot “flying
wing”-shaped object, which looked black against the white clouds and red
against the blue sky, flew straight at an estimated 380 m.p.h., at
8-10,000 feet, from NW to SE.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 11 mi. NNE of Cave Creek, Arizona
ID: 9
Date: 10/14/1947
Description: Test pilot Chuck
Yeager unofficially breaks the sound barrier (670 mph) for the first
time in an experimental rocket-powered Bell X-1 at Muroc [now Edwards]
AFB, California. (Wikipedia, “Chuck
Yeager”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1154
Date: 10/18/1947
Description: First Russian V-2 missile test at Kapustin Yar, 207km
(Vehicle disintegrated at atmospheric reentry)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Yar
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket range: 207km
Date: 10/20/1947
Description: A farmer named Britton sees two cigar-shaped UFOs traveling
a straight course at high speed about one mile in height in trail
formation near Dayton, Ohio. They leave a slight vapor trail then
disappear suddenly. (NICAP, “Farmers
Observes Two Cigars”; Keyhoe, FSTS, p. 89; Sparks,
p. 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1155
Date: 10/20/1947
Description: Russian V-2 missile test at Kapustin Yar, 231km (Deviated
181 kilometres from intended flight path)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Yar
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket range: 231km
Date: 10/21/1947
Description: The jet-propelled Northrop YB-49 makes its first test
flight from Jack Northrop Field in Hawthorne, California, reaching Muroc
AFB in 32 minutes. (Wikipedia, “Northrop
YB-49”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1157
Date: 10/21/1947
Description: A preliminary EEI document, indicating that the radar
detection of UFOs near Fukuoka, Japan, on September 16 has played a role
in concerns about disc maneuverability, is circulated to the European
Command by Lieut. Col. Malcolm
D. Seashore, former
acting chief of the Analysis Section at AMC under McCoy.
It expresses concern about German/Russian technology and adds disc
characteristics of hovering, disappearance, quick grouping, and sudden
appearance. (“‘Flying
Disc’ Information Request to European Command, October 1947”;
Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,”
JUFOS 7 (2000): 35; Swords 43, 479–484)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1156
Date: 10/23/1947
Description: Russian V-2 missile test at Kapustin Yar, 29km (Observation
of vehicle was hampered by low cloud cover. Vehicle disintegrated,
possibly due to the warhead failure.)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Yar
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket range: 29km
Date: 10/28/1947
Description: Russian V-2 missile test at Kapustin Yar, 29km
(Success)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Yar
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket range: 29km
Date: 10/28/1947
Description: Brig. Gen. George
F. Schulgen, Chief
of USAF Intelligence Requirements Division, writes a five-page report
based on the characteristics listed in the September 23 Twining letter
(though in greater detail) and the preliminary EEI of October 21. Titled
“Intelligence Requirements on Flying Saucer Type Aircraft: Draft of
Collection Memorandum,” it lists things investigators should try to
determine about UFO propulsion, control, construction, arrangement,
landing gear, and power plant. It considers the objects “to be a manned
aircraft, of Russian origin, and based on the perspective thinking and
actual accomplishments of the Germans” (page 5, paragraph 4). [However,
a fake version of this document has the phrase “it is the considered
opinion of some elements that the object may in fact represent an
interplanetary craft of some kind…. The presence of an unconventional or
unusual type of propulsion system cannot be ruled out and should be
considered of great interest.” Other deletions and additions are present
in the fake document.] (George F. Schulgen, “Intelligence Requirements
on Flying Saucer Type Aircraft: Draft of Collection Memorandum,”
October 30, 1947 [PDF of
real memo, pp. 1–6, PDF of
fake memo, pp. 7–12]; RosRept, p. 35;
Good Above, p. 262;
Robert G. Todd, “Fake
Air Force
Memo Exposed,” The Roswell Files; Robert G. Todd, “Fake
Air Force Memo Exposed, Part 2,” The Roswell Files; Robert G. Todd,
“Fake
Air Force Memo Exposed, Part 3,” The Roswell Files; Michael D.
Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7
(2000): 35–36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1158
Date: 10/31/1947
Description: Russian V-2 missile test at Kapustin Yar, 2km (Started
rolling after lift-off and crashed)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Yar
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket range: 2km
Date: 11/1947
Description: Former Messerschmidt test pilot Fritz
Wendel tells US Army CIC that the Horten
brothers were working on an advanced aircraft in Heiligenbeil, East
Prussia [now Mamonovo, Russia] right after the war. The airplane is 33
feet long, shaped like a half-moon, and has no tail. It can fly to
12,000 feet. Wendel’s story is corroborated by a German informant named
Prof. George, who describes a later Horten craft as able to fly at 1,200
mph because it is propelled by rockets. (Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 41–42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1159
Date: 11/2/1947
Description: Russian V-2 missile test at Kapustin Yar, 260km
(Success)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Yar
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket range: 260km
Date: 11/2/1947
Description: Russian V-2 missile test at Kapustin Yar (2nd that day),
260km (Lost fins after launch)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Yar
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket range: 260km
Date: 11/4/1947
Description: Russian V-2 missile test at Kapustin Yar, 268km
(Success)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Yar
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket range: 268km
Date: 11/6/1947
Description: Chuck
Yeager again makes an unofficial airspeed record of 891 mph in a
Bell X-1 at Muroc AFB, California. (Wikipedia, “Chuck
Yeager”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1160
Date: 11/10/1947
Description: Russian V-2 missile test at Kapustin Yar, 24km (Control
failure)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Yar
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket range: 24km
Date: 11/10/1947
Description: Lt. Col. Walker sends a memo to his field commands in
Germany in response to the September 23 Twining letter.
It calls for a discreet canvass into finding German engineers who might
know of similar technology. (“The
Walker Memo,” The Roswell Files)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1161
Date: 11/12/1947
Description: Early morning. US Navy Second Officer Williamson on the USS
Ticonderoga 40 miles north or south of Cape Blanco, Oregon, sees two
fireballs with fiery tails heading northwest at 700–900 mps. Possible
meteors. (Sparks, p. 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1162
Date: 11/13/1947
Description: Russian V-2 missile test at Kapustin Yar, 270km (Broke up
upon re-entry. Landed within 180m of target.)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Yar
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket range: 270km
Date: 11/13/1947
Description: Russian V-2 missile test at Kapustin Yar, 270km (Launched 5
hours after previous rocket and landed within 700 m of target)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Yar
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket range: 270km
Date: 11/18/1947
Description: Boise Idaho Statesman Aviation Editor David
N. Johnson, having heard of the USS Ticonderoga sighting, writes to
Gen. George
E. Stratemeyer at Mitchel Field, New York, for information and
asking eight questions about the Army’s investigation. Stratemeyer
passes the query on to Garrett and
Taylor.
(Swords 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1163
Date: 11/20/1947
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 26.7km altitude (GE
technology proving flight)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 26.7km
Date: 11/30/47
Description: In a Top Secret Document, Dr. Bronk’s scientific team
classifies extraterrestrials as EBE’s (Extra Biological Entities).
Type: majestic document
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A)
Reference: link
Attributes: Majestic
Date: 12/1947
Description: By now, ATIC has received 156 UFO reports. Aerodynamicists
at ATIC and AMC agree that no German design can match UFO performance.
The USAF Aeromedical Laboratory says that even if such a craft can be
built, the human body cannot withstand the maneuvers, and USAF materials
specialists say that no known material can withstand them either, as
well as the heat of high speeds. Ruppelt later
writes, “Why couldn’t these people, whoever they might be, stand these
horrible maneuver forces? Why judge them by earthly standards? I found a
memo to this effect was in the old Project Sign files.” (Ruppelt, p. 28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1172
Date: 12/8/1947
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 104.6km altitude
(Stable flight but less than planned altitude)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 104.6km
Date: 12/8/1947
Description: Pilots observe a reddish light moving at moderate speed
over Las Vegas, Nevada. It emits a flash of green light and shoots
upwards at a “tremendous speed.” (UFOEv, p. 149)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1164
Date: 12/11/1947
Description: Garrett and
Taylor write
a memorandum to the USAF Public Relations Office outlining the proper
answers to questions such as Johnson has
asked. (Swords 44) Decembre 14 — 12:20 a.m. Six staff sergeants at Fort
Bragg, North Carolina, watch a domed disc with a glowing green corona
surrounding it moving slowly at a slightly tilted angle. It skims the
treeline (causing the tops of the trees to wave slightly) and takes off
to the northwest. They estimate it is 50–75 feet in diameter and flying
at 200 feet altitude. (Project
1947 case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1165
Date: 12/16/1947
Description: Army Lt. Col. Harry
H. Pretty in Berlin writes a memo to the Deputy Director of
Intelligence in Berlin stating that the Horten
brothers (Reimer and Walter) have been located in Göttingen,
Germany. He says they are eccentric and quarrelsome. Though they were
responsible for the Horten Ho 299 (a prototype fighter/bomber flying
wing design), his investigation concludes that no saucer design “ever
existed nor was projected by any of the German air research
institutions.” (Lt. Col. Harry H. Pretty, “Horten
Brothers (Flying Saucers),” December 16, 1947)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1166
Date: 12/17/1947
Description: US Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Carl
Spaatz tells the Idaho Statesman he does not rule out the
possibility of the flying disks being “foreign experimentation.” He adds
that the Air Force is still investigating and he still wants people to
report their sightings. (“Spaatz
Leaves Door open on Chance ‘Flying Discs’ Are of Foreign
Origin,” Boise Idaho Statesman, December 17, 1947, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1167
Date: 12/18/1947
Description: Pentagon Col. James F. Olive Jr. (chief of AFOAI) and
Lieut. Col. J. E. Thomas of the Offensive Air section (AFOAI-OA) respond
to a request by deputy chief of Air Staff for Research and Development
Gen. Curtis LeMay on
the status of flying disc analysis. They complete their reanalysis of
the earlier documents from the Pentagon and Wright-Patterson, rewrite a
new EEI indicating a potentially serious but puzzling phenomenon, and
turn this over to Chief of Air Force Intelligence McDonald for
his signature. (“Analysis
of ‘Flying Disc’ Reports,” December 18, 1947; Michael D. Swords,
“Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 36;
Swords 43, 485–491)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1168
Date: 12/19/1947
Description: The Research and Development Board has its first
meeting.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1169
Date: 12/22/1947
Description: The final EEI, called “Analysis of Flying Disc Reports,” is
issued by Chief of USAF Intelligence George
C.
McDonald, who
concurs with AMC’s recommendation of September 23 and forwards it to
director of USAF Research and Development Gen. Laurence
Cardee Craigie for a reply. Gen. Charles
Cabell, the new chief of AFOIR, signs off on this. (“Analysis
of ‘Flying Disc’ Reports,” December 18, 1947; Michael D. Swords,
“Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000):
36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1170
Date: 12/23/1947
Description: First transistor was successfully demonstrated at Bell
Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ. Bell Labs was the research arm of
American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T).
Type: scientific advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Muray Hill, NJ
Date: 12/26/1947
Description: At the American Association for the Advancement of Science
meeting in Chicago, Illinois, University of Iowa astronomer Charles
C. Wylie proposes a coast-to-coast sky patrol to report on rockets,
meteors, or flying saucers. He says that “mass hysteria” about saucers
could have been prevented with a sky patrol in place. (“Sky
Patrol
Recommended by Scientist,” Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch, December
27, 1947, p. 8; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 1, 1947, The Author, February 1991, p. 76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1171
Date: 12/30/1947
Description: USAF project “Saucer” started
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 12/30/1947
Description: Project SIGN formed to obtain information about saucer
performance characteristics and their purpose on earth (with “2A”
Security Classification at Wright-Patterson)
Type: ufological event
Reference: Wikipedia
link
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A, B1-G p23)
Location: Washington DC
Date: 12/30/1947
Description: Gen. Laurence
C. Craigie, director of USAF R&D and successor to Gen. Curtis
LeMay (who has returned to Europe), advises the AMC commanding
general that USAF policy is not to ignore UFO reports, but to collect,
evaluate, and act on the information. He establishes Project Sign
(Project HT-304 under USAF Technical Instruction no. TI-2185) in a memo
titled “Flying Discs.” Alfred
Loedding, who is convinced that the flying discs are
extraterrestrial, may have come up with the “Sign” designation. It
carries a 2A restricted classification. (Gen. Laurence C. Craigie,
“Flying Discs,” Memorandum to Commanding General, Air Materiel Command,
December 30, 1947; Sparks, p. 11;
Condon, p. 896;
“Report
by the Director of Intelligence, USAF, to the Joint Intelligence Committee
on Unidentified Aerial Objects,” April 28, 1949, p. 2; Michael David
Hall and Wendy Ann Connors, “Alfred Loedding: New Insight on the Man
behind Project Sign,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter 1998): 24). Craigie, after
his retirement from the Air Force in 1955, indicates that he believes
UFOs are a waste of time and only approved Project Sign because of
internal USAF politics. (Joel Carpenter)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1173
Date: 1948
Description: More Ghost Rockets seen in Europe
Type: UFO sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Europe
Date: 1948
Description: Mr. Galbraith twice saw an object land. The first time, it
was a disk-shaped craft with a humanoid figure-the second time, cigar
shape with three figures.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Swastika, Canada
ID: 64
Date: 1948
Description: British author and ex-MI5 operative Bernard
Newman publishes a novel titled The Flying Saucer, the first book to
use that phrase in its title. The story revolves around a group of
scientists who create a fake Martian threat in order to bring the world
together. Plot elements include a trio of staged saucer crashes (in New
Mexico, Russia, and the UK), propaganda, and even an alien autopsy.
(Bernard Newman, The Flying Saucer, Gollancz, 1948; Andrew May, “The
Flying Saucer,” Retro-Forteana, June 30, 2013; Kremlin 43–45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1176
Date: 1948
Description: An airman stationed in Arizona is called out with a
scientific team to examine a flying saucer that has crashed near Taos,
New Mexico. When he arrives, the area is roped off and under military
guard. The object is metallic with a flat circular airfoil. The cabin at
the top center is too small for a normal-sized human. He is told by
workers on the scene that bodies of “little men” have been removed from
the craft. They discover that the ship is constructed of interlocking
sections pinned together, but they cannot locate a power plant, except
possibly some electromagnets below the cabin. (L. J[ames] Lorenzen, “Aimé
Michel’s Orthotenic Lines,” APRO Bulletin, July 1958, pp. 6–7; Clark
III 325)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1175
Date: 1948
Description: Capt. Virgil Armstrong Postlethwaite Captain of G-2 Air,
received a Top Secret incoming TWX from 3rd Army Headquarters, Atlanta,
directed to the Commanding General (with a copy sent to G-2), White
Sands Proving Grounds. Message: Crash of a 100 ft. diam. saucer, 30 ft.
ht.; one portal window blown; 5 Aliens suffocated; each Alien approx. 4
ft. in ht., oversized heads; hull of craft paper-thin but impenetrable
by conventional tools. Private property purchased to facilitate movement
of recovered disc. (Armstrong’s book confusingly indicated the craft
landed inside the secure area of White Sands.)
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research (A5, B3-C, RECOVERY)
Reference: Twitter
Location: White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
See also: 3/25/48
See also: 2/13/1948
Date: 1948
Description: David T. Keating, an employee of the USAF Nuclear Energy
for the Propulsion of Aircraft group, is flying with the 166th Fighter
Squadron of the Ohio National Guard out of Lockbourne AFB [now
Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base] in Lockbourne, Ohio. While
executing a flip of his P-51 at 18,000 feet, he sees a silvery disc zoom
above his plane. He goes in pursuit of it at 325 mph and closes to
within 240 feet of it. It seems to be 40 feet in diameter and 6 feet
thick, with a vertical stabilizer rudder on the end. He keeps flying
after it even when he loses sight of it. “About 10 miles south of the
Ohio River,” he claims, “I spotted litter on a hillside and a path that
had obviously been ripped up by a crashing plane.” Short on fuel, he
returns to Lockbourne. He persuades his major to fly over the crash
scene, and they send a truck to retrieve the remains. (Helen Knox,
“Ridge Newcomer Tells of Game of Tag with ‘Saucer,’” The Oak Ridger,
September 18, 1950; Clark III 325)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1174
Date: 1948
Description: Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt stated: “With the Soviets
practically eliminated as a UFO source the idea of interplanetary
spaceships was becoming more popular.”
Type: ufological event
Reference: Wikipedia
link
Location: Washington DC
Date: 1948 (approximate)
Description: Sylvia Hall, 11, wakes up at her home on the corner of
Riggs Road and Lateral 1 Road south of Yakima, Washington, when her
bedroom fills with bluish-white light pouring in through the closed west
window. Some 100 feet above the ground is a huge bright cloud. Gliding
down from it in groups of four on something like a ramp are tall people
with bluish-silvery robes. She watches them for 10 minutes, then she has
an overpowering desire to go back to bed. She tells no one about the
experience until she is an adult. (Greg Long, “Strangeness at Yakima,”
IUR 19, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1994): 16–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1177
Date: 1/1948
Description: Fate Magazine 1948 Volume 1 #1 page 26 reports on the Maury
Island incident metallic fragments, described as a “lava oxide
metal”
Type: ufological event
Reference: Medium
Reference: link
Date: 1/6/1948
Description: 3:00 p.m. Bernice
Zaikowski, 61, of Chehalis, Washington, hears a “sizzling and
whizzing” sound and looks up to see a “birdman” hovering 200 feet above
her barn. She watches “a man equipped with long silver wings fastened
over the shoulders with a strap” ascend rapidly, hover, bank, then fly
away. “He flew in an upright position and appeared to be manipulating
controls strapped to his chest.” The wings do not flap; instead they
retract close to his body during ascent, and are extended to hover or
proceed in horizontal flight. Zaikowski says five other adult witnesses
and a number of children also see the birdman. (“‘Flying
Man’ Is Chehalis Report,” Coos Bay (Oreg.) World, January 21, 1948,
p. 2; Lyle Zapato, “The
Birdmen of Cascadia,” ZPi blog, March 24, 2007; Clark III 270)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1178
Date: 1/7/1948
Description: Capt. Mantell of USAF is killed while pursuing UFO
Type: UFO encounter
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Godman Air Base, Kentucky
Date: 1/7/1948
Description: Top Secret Report (100–203–79,p.12,sec. k.) Capt. Thomas
Mantell, a Nat. Guard pilot, was killed trying to chase an UFO up to
30,000 ft. His last message to the tower was, “it appears to be metallic
object….oftremendous size.directly ahead and slightly above….I am trying
to close for a better look.” The F-51 exploded in mid-air and
disintegrated before it struck the ground. The aircraft’s metal was hit
with fragments before it collided with the ground. State Police
estimated the saucer to be 250 ft. diam.
Type: ufological event
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p481)
Location: Maysville, KN
Date: 1/7/1948
Description: 7:35 p.m. Base personnel at Clinton County AFB [now
Wilmington Air Park] near Wilmington, Ohio, where Skyhooks are launched
a couple years later, watch a quickly maneuvering object. It dances up
and down and changes from red to green before speeding to the southwest.
Sgt. LeRoy Ziegler thinks he can detect a faint exhaust trail. Project
Sign calls it Venus, because it disappears about the time Venus does.
(NICAP, “Object Circles
Base at High Speed / Touches Down”; NICAP, “Part
2-11: ’…Was Not the Planet Venus,” June 4, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1184
Date: 1/7/1948
Description: Maysville, KN: The local Highway Patrol are notified that
an UFO has been sighted high up in the sky and they notify Godman AFB of
the sighting…At 1:45 pm T. Sgt. Quinton Blackwell visually scanned the
skiessouth of Godman AFB and picked out a dim light in the hazy sky. By
the time base commander Col. Guy Hixarrived at 2:20 pm the UFO looked
like “an ice cream cone” through binoculars. About 20 minutes later 4
National Guard aircraft flew into the vicinity with Capt. Thomas Mantell
in one of the F-51s.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Maysville, KN
Date: 1/7/1948
Description: 1:00 p.m. Kentucky State Police telephone Commanding
Officer Col. Guy F. Hix’s office at Godman Army Airfield in Fort Knox,
Kentucky, reporting an unidentified object near Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
Another call to Hix comes from state police at about 1:10 p.m. of an
observation by a civilian in Madisonville, Kentucky, through a Finch
telescope of a cone-shaped object about 100 feet tall by 43 feet wide,
at an altitude of 4 miles and moving at 10 mph. This is apparently
General Mills Skyhook balloon Flight B, which passes about 40 miles to
the southwest of Madisonville. Other reports come in from Lexington and
Mannsville, Kentucky. (Sparks,
p. 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1179
Date: 1/7/1948
Description: 1:20–2:10 p.m. Army Flight Service reports to Godman Army
Airfield control tower that the object is over Irvington then Owensboro,
Kentucky. Godman Tower Operator Tech/Sgt Quinton
A. Blackwell, Capt. James F. Duesler Jr., Base Air Inspector Lt.
Col. E. Garrison Wood, and other USAF personnel see a round or
ice-cream- cone-shaped white or silver object with a revolving red
streamer toward the south beginning at 1:50 p.m. Many others see it as
well after 2:07 p.m., such as Operations Officer Capt. Cary W. Carter
and Col. Guy F. Hix. (Sparks, p. 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1180
Date: 1/7/1948
Description: 2:50 p.m. Capt. Thomas
F. Mantell Jr., a
25-year-old Kentucky Air National Guard pilot, and three others are
flying F-51D fighters to Louisville, Kentucky. After Mantell reports his
position to Standiford Field in Louisville, Tech/Sgt. Quinton
A. Blackwell at Godman Army Airfield at Fort Knox breaks in over the
radio to request Mantell to intercept and identify the object. The
object maintains a constant angular position as seen from Godman as it
apparently moves away at about 240–300 mph at an altitude of
50,000–60,000 feet during most of Mantell’s pursuit. Flying at 300 mph
and gradually climbing to about 22,000–23,000 feet, Mantell gradually
overtakes the UFO from below, past Bowling Green, Kentucky, at about
3:10 p.m. In one of his last radio reports, Mantell says the UFO
“appears to be a metallic object or possibly reflection of sun from a
metallic object, and it is of tremendous size.” At 3:15 p.m., at 22,500
feet with oxygen running low, two other F-51Ds quit the chase. Mantell
continues to 25,000, blacks out, and crashes at 3:18 p.m. about 4 miles
south-southwest of Franklin, Kentucky. The UFO disappears from view
behind a cloud at Godman at 3:50 p.m. The Project Sign staff, still not
yet formally organized, are under pressure to come up with some kind of
answer, so they quickly float Venus (offhandedly suggested by Ohio State
University astronomer J.
Allen Hynek) as an explanation. This implausible explanation is not
even believed by the Air Force, but it remains unchallenged for several
years. In 1952, Ruppelt reopens
the case and identifies the object as a secret Skyhook balloon, although
he cannot confirm a launch that day. Army veteran Clifford
Stone finds later that there had been no Skyhook launches since late
December. However, Barry
J. Greenwood and Robert
Todd tentatively identify the balloon as one launched from Camp
Ripley near Little Falls, Minnesota, on January 6. (Wikipedia, “Mantell
UFO incident”; NICAP, “The
Mantell Case”;
Clark III 706–710; Ruppelt, p. 31;
Good Above, pp. 262–263;
Good Need, pp. 104–105;
Sparks,
pp. 30– 31; Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of the
Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 37; “The
Mantell UFO:
A Smoking Gun, Maybe!” Just Cause, no. 39 (March 1994): 9–10; “The
Mantell UFO: A Smoking Gun, Maybe!
Part Two” Just Cause, no. 40 (June 1994): 8–12; Christopher D.
Allan, “The Mantell Case—50 Years Later,” IUR 23, no. 1 (Spring 1998):
7–9, 31–32; Michael D. Swords, GrassRoots UFOs: Case Reports from the
Timmerman Files, Fund for UFO Research, 2005, pp. 137–138; Kevin D.
Randle, “The
Mantell Analyses,” A Different Perspective, September 21, 2017;
Center for UFO Studies, [clippings and
documents on
Mantell case]; Swords 51–52; Francis Ridge, The
Mantell Incident: An Anatomy of a Re-Investigation, The Author,
2010; Flight Handbook,
USAF Series F-51D Aircraft, January
20, 1954)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1181
Date: 1/7/1948
Description: 7:15 p.m. Air Traffic Controller and pilot Alex
A. Boudreaux and VHF Direction-Finding (DF) Operator and amateur
astronomer Frank
M. Eisele, 103rd
AACS Squadron, at Lockbourne AFB [now Rickenbacker Air National Guard
Base] in Lockbourne, Ohio, spot a bright object to the southwest of the
airfield that appears and disappears intermittently. Fighter pilot USAF
Capt. Charles
E. McGee sees the object on runway 23 landing approach when he is at
about 1,800 feet. The light seems to be at about 3,000 feet to the
southwest about 4–5 miles away, then later on the ground to the west
about 6–7 miles away. USAF VHF DF Operator and pilot Albert R.
Pickering, Detachment 733, 103rd AACS Squadron, is awakened by the
sudden emergence of a lighted amber- colored round or oval object about
the size of a C-47 or larger [60+ feet] dropping out of the overcast
bank 10,000 feet overhead. Lockbourne Control Tower at the same time
radios a report of the object, which then maneuvers over to Commercial
Point about 3–5 miles away to the west-southwest, then makes three full
360° circles over one spot in 30-40 seconds per turn over the runway, at
a speed of more than 500 mph, leaving a luminous, amber- colored trail
or exhaust about 5 times its length. Then the UFO goes to another
location and does more 360° turns. At one point, it disappears into the
overcast for one minute, then reappears. Just before departing, it
hovers or “appeared to touch down” on the grass extension past the end
of the Lockbourne AFB runway for 10 seconds then leaves at 120° (ESE)
heading into the overcast. It is also sighted by the pilot of a C-45 at
5,000 feet off the right wing at 7:53 p.m. (NICAP, “Object
Circles Base at High Speed / Touches Down”; Sparks, p. 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1183
Date: 1/7/1948
Description: 4:45–7:06 p.m. USAF 1Lt. Paul
I. Orner tracks an unidentified white light with red coloration in a
weather theodolite at Godman Army Airfield in Fort Knox, Kentucky, for
more than 2 hours. (Sparks, p. 31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1182
Date: 1/9/1948
Description: 11:30 p.m. Eastern Airlines pilot Hugh
DuBose, flying a DC-3 aircraft at 3,000 feet altitude near
Cartersville, Georgia, observes a circular object with a flat top cross
his flight path at the same altitude and then turn earthward. The object
is light sky-blue in color and is traveling at an estimated speed of 400
mph. (NICAP, “Object
Passes DC-3, Turns”; Sparks, p. 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1185
Date: 1/15/1948
Description: USAF officially a separate service
Type: history
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Washington DC
Date: 1/21/1948
Description: Col. Riley
F. Ennis,
chief of the Army Intelligence Division, in a memo reiterates the Schulgen Draft
of Collection Memorandum and stresses the need to investigate Soviet
development of a jet-propelled flying wing aircraft. (Department of the
Army, “Unconventional
Aircraft,” Intelligence Collection Memorandum number 7, January 21,
1948)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1186
Date: 1/22/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 159.3km altitude
(Payload separation failure)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 159.3km
Date: 1/22/1948
Description: Project Sign officially launches at Wright Field. The
primary investigators are Capt. Robert
R. Sneider (project chief), Alfred
Loedding (T-3 engineer), Lawrence
Truettner (T-2 engineer), and Col. Albert
Deyarmond (analyst in Intelligence Analysis Division). Also involved
are Maj. Raymond
Llewellyn (chief of special projects branch), Lt. Howard W. Smith,
George
W. Towles, and others as assigned. How much interest Col. Howard McCoy takes
in the project is unknown. Its task is to collect, collate, evaluate,
and distribute information on sightings in the atmosphere “which can be
considered of concern to national security.” Ruppelt later
says that to be considered an “unknown,” it has to come from a competent
observer and contain a reasonable amount of data. (Michael D. Swords,
“Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 36–37;
Sparks, p. 11;
Ruppelt, p. 10;
NICAP, “Project
Sign Begins, 22 Jan 1948”; Michael David Hall and Wendy Ann Connors,
“Alfred Loedding: New Insight on the Man behind Project Sign,” IUR 23,
no. 4 (Winter 1998): 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1187
Date: 1/23/1948
Description: Col. William
E. Clingerman, writing
for Col. Howard
McCoy at Wright Field, asks Lt. Col. George
Garrett of Air Force Intelligence for all files on “Swedish
incidents” in 1946 and 1947. He receives at least 44 documents, none of
which have been released. (Jan Aldrich, “Investigating the Ghost
Rockets,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter 1998): 13; Swords 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1188
Date: 1/26/1948
Description: Project Sign becomes formally operational as Project
HT-304. Lt. Col. James C. Beam becomes its first project director. (Sparks, p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1189
Date: 1/31/1948
Description: The Research and Development Board dismisses flying saucers
as “a mirage induced by mass self- hypnosis” in stories that appear in
newspapers of this day. (“‘Flying Discs’ Book Declared Closed,”
Pendleton East Oregonian, January 31, 1948; Project 1947, “UFO
Reports, 1948”; Swords 52–53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1190
Date: 2/1948
Description: 2:00 a.m. Glancing out his window while getting a drink of
water, farmer C. Bruce Stevenson notices a bight orange-amber glow near
his farm buildings a few miles from Circleville, Ohio. He expects to
find the buildings on fire, but instead there is a large, domed flying
saucer gliding silently over the roof of his pig house about 100 feet
away. The UFO, about 60 feet in diameter, maintains a slow speed and low
altitude until it disappears from sight. (“Bruce
Stevenson Reveals Close-Up
View of Saucer,” Circleville (Ohio) Herald, August 2, 1952, pp. 1–2;
“Bruce
Stevenson Certain Saucer Wasn’t Reflection,” Circleville (Ohio)
Herald, August 7, 1952, p. 1; Project 1947, “UFO
Reports, 1948”; Pete Hartinger, “America’s First Classic Close
Encounter,” Pickaway Quarterly, Fall 1996, pp. 11–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1191
Date: 2/4/1948
Description: Capt. Richard
W. Geuss, acting assistant adjutant general, writes a memo on behalf
of Lieut. Gen. George
E.
Stratemeyer, to
ADC and USAF commanding generals on “Investigation and Reporting of
‘Flying Disc’ Incidents.” It specifies that Air Force commanders are
charged with evaluating military UFO incidents, in cooperation with CIC
personnel and local FBI offices. Even hoaxes are to be passed on to the
FBI. (Capt. Richard W. Geuss, “Investigation
and Reporting of ‘Flying Disc’ Incidents,” February 4, 1948)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1192
Date: 2/6/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 111km altitude
(Successfully maneuvered by ground control for first 40s of
flight)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 111km
Date: 2/12/1948
Description: Brig. Gen. Charles
P. Cabell, chief
of the Air Intelligence Requirements Division, sends a secret memo to
Maj. Gen. Samuel
E. Anderson. director of Plans and Operations, stating that the
Commanding General of AMC feels that the responsibility for collecting
information on “flying disks” should be complemented by a requirement
that all USAF installations “provide a minimum of one each aircraft,
with necessary crews, on a continuous alert basis. These aircraft should
be equipped with gun camera, and such armament as deemed advisable, in
order to secure photographs necessary to the obtainment of all possible
data on any reported and sighted unusual phenomena, of the ‘flying disk’
type, in the atmosphere.” (Good Above, p. 263)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1193
Date: 2/13/1948
Description: Alternate date for Crash/Recovery at Aztec, N.M. 16 little
human-like beings were found dead aboard a crashed saucer in NM.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research, ALIENS
Location: Aztec, NM
See also: 3/25,1948
Date: 2/18/1948
Description: 5:00 p.m. A smoke trail begins over Nebraska and runs
south. A bolide explodes over Norcatur, Kansas, and the concussion from
the blast breaks windows and rocks buildings over a wide area of Kansas,
Nebraska, and Oklahoma. A huge shower of meteoritic stones fall over a
large area of Norton County, Kansas, and Furnas County, Nebraska. Two
Army B-29 bombers circle the area until nightfall. A farmer near
Stockton, Kansas, sees a hovering object that leaves a bare spot in the
ground. Kenneth
Arnold is persuaded that reports of the Norton County meteorite fall
might actually have been UFO-related. Astronomer Lincoln
LaPaz directs the recovery of the massive achondritic meteorite in
1948. More than 100 stones are recovered, including one weighing about
one ton. (Wikipedia, “Norton
County (meteorite)”; “Norton
County,” Meteorite Recon, October 8, 2015; Luna Meteorite Hunters,
“Norton
County, KS Fall 18FEB1948 More Than 60 Years Ago,” February 26,
2009; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1948, The
Author, 1988, pp. 15–16; Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the
Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 37–40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1194
Date: 2/20/1948
Description: 1:15 p.m. Six surveyors, including Idaho Power Company
surveyor E.
G. Hall, see a small flat, heart- shaped UFO flying in the sky at
Emmett, Idaho. Through his theodolite it looks fuzzy across its back
edge as if “dipped in cream.” He says it was about the size of a Piper
Cub airplane and flying point first below the cloud level at between
2,000 and 4,000 feet. (Emmett (Idaho) Messenger, February 26, 1948;
Kenneth Arnold, “Are Space Visitors Here?” Fate 1, no. 2 (Summer 1948):
13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1196
Date: 2/20/1948
Description: 2:00 a.m. In Palm Beach, Florida, lawyer and writer Charles
Francis Coe and his son Alan see a globe of light shooting across
the sky to the northeast at terrific speed. Coe calls it a “ray or blob
of light” and insists it is not a meteor. (“Mystery
‘Globe’ Seen by Editor,” Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, February 21, 1948,
p. 1; “True Mystic Experiences,” Fate 1, no. 3 (Fall 1948): 105–113;
Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer, The Coming of the Saucers, Palmer, 1952,
p. 139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1195
Date: 3/3/1948
Description: Maj. Gen. Samuel
E. Anderson, USAF Director of Plans and Operations at the Pentagon,
rejects a proposal by Col. Howard
McCoy and Brig. Gen. Charles
P. Cabell for stationing fighter aircraft at all bases on continuous
alert for UFOs. It costs too much and proper interceptions are unlikely.
He orders all bases to send UFO information to Wright-Patterson AFB in
Ohio. (Maj. Gen. S. E. Anderson, “Flying
Discs,” March 3, 1948; Good Above, pp. 263–264)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1197
Date: 3/12/1948
Description: Maj. Earl
S. Browning Jr., in a memo to the European command of the 970th CIC,
writes that the Horten brothers have
been located and interrogated by US officials. Walter Horten has
remained in Germany as an officer in the German Air Force. He thinks
that sufficient types of flying wing prototypes existed when the
Russians invaded Germany and may have served as models for flying discs.
Reimar Horten had emigrated to Argentina when the war ended. (Jacobsen,
Area 51, p. 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1198
Date: 3/17/1948
Description: Memo on “Flying Discs” from Maj. Gen. George
C. McDonald, director
of USAF intelligence, to the AMC commander, considers Col. McCoy’s
proposal to maintain fighters on alert for UFOs “unfeasible.” (Maj.
Gen. George C. McDonald, “Flying
Discs,” March 17, 1948)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1199
Date: 3/17/1948
End date: 3/18/1948
Description: The USAF Scientific Advisory Board meets in Room 3E-869 of
the Pentagon, with physicist Theodore von
Kármán presiding. Col. McCoy is
present and speaks briefly about Project Sign, saying it has over 300
reports, many of them from experienced observers: “I can’t even tell you
how much we would give to have one of those crash in an area so that we
could recover whatever they are.” (Howard McCoy, “Scientific
Advisory Board Conference
Held 17–18 March 1948, Room 3E-869, the Pentagon, Washington,
D.C.”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1200
Date: 3/19/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 5.5km altitude (Low
altitude flight prevented any data recovery)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 5.5km
Date: spring 1948
Description: Ray
Palmer and Flying magazine editor Curtis
Fuller publish the first issue of Fate magazine at Clark Publishing
Company in Chicago, Illinois. It features a first-hand story and a
30-page UFO roundup by Kenneth Arnold, as
well as a history of unconventional aircraft by Curtis Fuller. Palmer
and Fuller use the shared pseudonym “Robert N. Webster.” The issue sells
a healthy 50,000 copies. It is still being published in 2022. (Kenneth
Arnold, “I
Did
See
the Flying Disks!” Fate 1, no. 1 (Spring 1948): 4–10; Kenneth
Arnold, “The Mystery
of the Flying Disks,” Fate 1, no. 1 (Spring 1948): 18–48; Robert N.
Webster [Curtis Fuller], “What
Were the
‘Doughnuts’?” Fate 1, no. 1 (Spring 1948): 12–17; Clark III
872)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1203
Date: spring 1948
Description: Kenneth
Arnold visits the Landing Aids Experiment Station in Arcata,
California, and interviews Kenneth
W. Ehlers, a
radar technician (and later physicist) working on airport operational
systems, including radar. He has been accumulating information on
unidentified radar targets (he calls them “gizmos”) that cannot be seen
with the naked eye and sending reports on their flight paths to Navy
meteorologist Florence
Van Straten and Luis
Walter Alvarez, the
inventor of Ground Control Approach System radar. In many cases, the
target indicates a small solid target flying around 30 mph. The targets
always fly in the same path from northwest to southeast, along the
coast. Sometimes they come to a complete halt; at other times they split
into two objects, merging later. Ehlers notes that the targets have been
attributed to insects, but he is skeptical. Later, he suspects they
might be plasmas occurring at the inversion layer, but that does not
explain their behavior. (Wesley Price, “The
Sky Is Haunted,” Saturday Evening Post 220, no. 36 (March 6, 1948):
13; Ray Palmer, “New Report on the Flying Saucers,” Fate 4, no. 1
(January 1951): 63–81; “Landing
Aids Experiment Station,” Transocean Air Lines; Greg Long, “In
Search of Gizmos: A 1947 Radar Case,” IUR 19, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1994):
15–20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1204
Date: spring 1948 (approximate)
Description: President Truman asks
Col. Robert
B. Landry, his
USAF aide, to provide him with quarterly verbal reports on the state of
UFO information and research. He does so to the end of 1952, with
possibly 18 briefings in all. (James R. Fuchs, “Oral
History Interview with Robert B. Landry,” Harry S. Truman Library
and Museum, February 28, 1974)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1205
Date: 3/23/1948
Description: RAF pilot John
Cunningham reaches an altitude of 59,430 feet in a de Havilland
Vampire turbojet. (Wikipedia, “John
Cunningham (RAF officer)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1201
Date: 3/25/1948
Description: IPU Scout Team sights the object 12 miles NE of Aztec NM,
radios back to HQ in Camp Hale, which relayed the message to General
Marshall. Marshall orders head of IPU to conduct a recovery operation,
Marshall contacts Dr. Vannevar Bush (director of the Research and
Development Board) who organizes an impromptu scientific team. Team
meets at Durango Airfield in Durano CO.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research
Reference: link
Location: Aztec, NM
Date: 3/25/1948
Description: Aztec area NM landing and retrieval incident near Hart
Canyon. UFO detected by 3 strategically located radars in the southwest,
including a powerful experimental radar in the Four Corners region. The
Army OSI and the IPU put on Red Alert and the ADC activated the local
military units when a UFO crashed in the vicinity of Aztec, NM. When the
saucer got into range of a Special High-Powered radar at the Four
Corners Range (Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado) it began to flutter
and wobble from side-to-side and took a trajectory towards the ground.
It seems that the beam from this special radar had an ill-effect on the
control system of the saucer. The 100 ft. saucer crash-landed on
Mr. H.D.’s (initials) property. H.D. and family were sworn to secrecy.
Note: This may have been the White Sands 1948 incident mentioned by
Virgil Armstrong.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A p27, RECOVERY)
Reference: book
link
Reference: book
link
Reference: book
link
Reference: Robert
Spencer Carr
Reference: Robert
Spencer Carr
Location: Aztec, NM
See also: 2/13/1948
Date: 3/25/1948
Description: 5:00 a.m. According to writer Frank
Scully, who hears the tale from a scientist he refers to as
“Dr. Gee” and a Texas oilman, a UFO crashes on a rocky plateau off Hart
Canyon Road east of Aztec, New Mexico. When Air Force investigators and
government scientists arrive on the scene, they crawl through a broken
porthole and find the bodies of 16 small humanlike beings (3–3.5 feet
tall) dressed in the “style of 1890.” Their skin is charred a chocolate
color, apparently as a result of the rush of terrestrial air through the
shattered window. After a thorough study, the scientists conclude that
the “vehicle probably flew on magnetic lines of force.” Segments of the
craft, as well as the bodies, are supposedly transported to Wright Field
in Ohio. Dr. Gee, who claims to have been on the scene, said the UFO is
likely from Venus, as Martians “would probably be three or four times as
large as human beings.” Soon afterward, a crash occurs in Arizona and 16
bodies are taken from the wreckage. A third spaceship goes down near
Phoenix with 2 dead occupants. The story turns out to be a hoax dreamed
up by two con men named Silas
Newton and Leo
GeBauer (“Dr. Gee,” although Scully claims this was a composite
character incorporating 8 informants, one of whom is said to be
geophysicist Carl
A. Heiland). The hoax is loosely based on a 1949 science fiction
film titled The Flying Saucer. GeBauer and especially Newton are in
later years involved in various swindles and fraudulent mining claims.
In 1987, William
S. Steinman and Wendelle
C. Stevens release UFO Crash at Aztec, which draws on speculation,
rumor, unnamed informants, and paranoia to defend and embellish the
original story. The latest to champion the Aztec crash is a North
Carolina man named Scott Ramsey, who
with his wife Suzanne has spent thousands of dollars looking for and
interviewing witnesses and trying to prove it involves a real UFO crash
and coverup in his 2015 book The Aztec UFO Incident. Ramsey thinks the
object was tracked on radar by Air Force Station P-8 near El Vado Dam.
(Wikipedia, “Aztec,
New Mexico
UFO hoax”; Frank Scully, Behind
the Flying Saucers, Holt,
1950; J. P. Cahn, “Flying
Saucers and the Mysterious
Little Men,” True, September 1952, pp. 17–19, 102–112; J. P. Cahn,
“Flying
Saucer Swindlers,” True, August 1956, pp. 36–37, 69–72; William S.
Steinman and Wendelle C. Stevens, UFO Crash at Aztec, UFO Photo
Archives, 1987; Clark III 1044–1047; William E. Jones and Rebecca D.
Minshall, “Aztec, New Mexico—A Crash Story Reexamined,” IUR 16, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1991): 11–15, 23; Good Above, pp. 388–394;
Good Need, pp. 117–123;
Jerome Clark, review
of The
Aztec Incident, in
Journal of Scientific Exploration 26, no. 3 (2012): 709–716; Scott
Ramsey, Suzanne Ramsey, and Frank Thayer, The Aztec UFO Incident, New
Page, 2015; Curt Collins, “Flying
Saucer Swindlers: Silas Newton and the UFO Crash,” The Saucers That
Time Forgot, April 5, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1202
Date: 4/1948
Description: Morning. US Weather Bureau meteorologist Walter A.
Minozewski at the Richmond, Virginia, weather station and his staff
catch sight of a bright metallic, elliptical disc while they are
tracking a small ceiling balloon at 15,000 feet. He checks his
observation through a theodolite telescope. The disc flies just below
the balloon and remains in sight for 15 seconds, appearing much bigger
than the balloon. It has a flat, level bottom and a dome on top. It
remains on a westward heading at high speed, then vanishes off into the
distance. (Ruppelt, p. 41;
Bloecher, p. I-1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1206
Date: 4/1948 (estimated)
Description: Photographer Nicholas Van Poppen, an aerospace photography
expert, tells Dr. George C. Tyler on 11/49 he flew from Hollywood with
Dr. Wang to the Los Alamos complex and boards a bus with blacked-out
windows. He sees and photographs a huge disc-shaped object sitting on
the ground with military brass, intelligence guards and officers, and
scientific personnel all around it, also photographs small bodies.
Type: witness statement
Reference: link
Location: Los Alamos, NM
Date: 4/1/1948
Description: 9:55 a.m. USAF 1stLt. Robert W. Meyers is leading a flight
of four P-47s from the 67th Fighter Group about 9 miles southeast of
Sorsogon City, Luzon, Philippines. At 1,500 feet, he notices an unusual
silvery object about 3 miles to the east. Shaped like a flying wing or
half-moon with a “turtle back,” it resembles no military craft in use at
the time. The object flies below the squadron at 200 mph and an altitude
of about 1,000 feet. Meyers estimates it is about 30 feet wide and 20
feet long. When he attempts to contact the other three P-47s, he
realizes his radio is dead. As he makes a 270° left turn to get a closer
look, the object makes a 90° left turn and moves away at tremendous
speed. It is only visible for about 5 seconds. (NICAP, “P-47
Flight Encounters Half-Moon Object”; Sparks, p. 33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1207
Date: 4/2/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 144km altitude
(Three previous launch attempts failed in year prior. Excellent
performance)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 144km
Date: 4/5/1948
Description: Afternoon. At Holloman AFB, near Alamogordo, New Mexico,
three highly trained balloon observers (Joseph Olson, Johnson, and
Chance) are working on a secret project for the Air Force’s Watson
Laboratories. They see two objects. One observer follows one object, and
the others follow the second as they diverge. All are certain that the
objects aren’t balloons. They are large, whitish, roundish, very high,
faster than any aircraft, and perform rapid, erratic motions. One object
is lost at a low altitude. The other goes up quickly and seems to just
disappear. The observation lasts about 30 seconds. The case is deemed
important enough to send Alfred
Loedding and one of Clingerman’s
assistants, Lt. Col. James C. Beam (the head of Project Sign), to New
Mexico to interview Project Mogul scientist James W. Peoples and the
other witnesses. Unfortunately, they are gone when Sign arrives. (They
are later interviewed at the USAF Watson Laboratory complex in Red Bank,
New Jersey.) The witnesses are very sure of themselves and the case is
classed as “Unidentified.” While at Holloman, Loedding and Beam talk
with Lt. Herbert G. Markley, who has worked with the Watson team.
Markley remembers one of them speaking of unusual radar returns from
their equipment, but later the Watson personnel say that these were
probably just “angels” (spurious echoes due to atmospheric
microstructures, insects, equipment malfunction, or other stimuli).
Markley does report that UFOs are seen around Holloman often. He himself
has seen a disc in late August 1947 and flat, round aeroforms on at
least two further occasions. (NICAP, “Team
Watches 35-Meter Disc”; Ruppelt, p. 71;
Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,”
JUFOS 7 (2000): 40–41; Sparks, p. 33;
Project 1947, “Holloman
AFB UFO Sightings”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1208
Date: 4/5/1948
Time: Afternoon
Description: Witnesses: Geophysics Lab balloon observers Alsen, Johnson,
Chance. Two irregular, round, white or golden objects. One made three
loops then rose and disappeared rapidly; the other flew in a fast arc to
the west during the 3O^second sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Holloman AFB, New Mexico
ID: 10
Date: 4/5/1948
Description: Top Secret Report (100–203–79, p.12,Sec. L.): 3 trained
balloon observers from the Geophysics Lab, NJ spot UFO moving quickly
undergoing “violent” maneuvers at high speed near Holloman AFB
Type: top secret report
Reference: NICAP — Air
Intelligence Report — ONI
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p481)
Location: Holloman AFB
Date: 4/9/1948
Description: Viola Johnson of Longview, Washington, and another witness
see three “flying men” circling the town. She says they are “dressed in
khaki-colored flying suits with helmets over their faces.” (Clark III
777)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1209
Date: 4/15/1948
Description: 6:17 a.m. The X-Ray nuclear device is detonated near
Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. B-17 pilotless drone aircraft
are flown through the cloud, and a drone light tank is used to recover
soil samples from the crater. Unfortunately, it becomes bogged and must
be towed out 10 days later. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Sandstone”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1210
Date: 4/19/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 56km altitude
(Faulty steering led to high roll rate and then flight
termination)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 56km
Date: 4/23/1948
Description: A preliminary 25-page report, written by Project Sign’s
Col. Howard
McCoy and Lt. Col. James C. Beam, summarizes UFO reports received
through February 1, with attached memos and documents. It is addressed
to Chief of Staff Hoyt
Vandenberg and Director of Intelligence Charles
P. Cabell. The Rhodes photos and 99 other cases are listed. A
comment by chemist Irving
Langmuir is appended, noting his doubts about the reality of flying
discs. (Col. Howard M. McCoy, “Project
Sign,” April 23, 1948; Swords 54–55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1211
Date: 4/27/1948
End date: 4/28/1948
Description: Physicist Joseph
Kaplan, a member of the USAF Scientific Advisory Board, visits the
Kirtland AFB Office of Special Investigations, AEC’s Sandia Base, and
Los Alamos in New Mexico, under orders from Theodore
Von Kármán, chairman
of the USAF Scientific Advisory Board, to review UFO reports and
investigations from the area. Kaplan and Lincoln
LaPaz meet with security personnel at Los Alamos. Kaplan reports
that “these occurrences relate to the National Defense of the United
States” and should be investigated scientifically.” (Good Above, p. 266)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1212
Date: 4/30/1948
Description: Top Secret Report (100–203–79, p.12,Sec. M.): Lt. Comdr.
Marcus L. Lowe while on a flight observed a yellow or light colored
sphere 25 to 40 ft. diam. moving at a speed of approx. 100 mph against
wind
Type: top secret report
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p481)
Date: 5/1948
Description: An article on secret Skyhook balloons (without mentioning
the project name) by Devon
Francis is published in Popular Science. (Devon Francis, “New
Balloons Explore Roof of the Airways,” Popular Science, May 1948,
pp. 98–104)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1213
Date: 5/5/1948
Description: An Efficiency Rating report is written up for Alfred
Loedding from Miles
E. Goll, which mentions his work as a monitor for Project Sign.
(Miles E. Goll, “Efficiency
Rating of Mr. Alfred C. Loedding,” May 5, 1948)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1214
Date: 5/7/1948
Description: Afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Fordyce
J. Kaiser and their housekeeper Jean Bray, at 251 W. Waldorf Avenue,
Memphis, Tennessee, see 50–60 unusual objects, apparently moving very
high and fast, traveling in straight lines with slight zigzagging. They
are shiny like bright aluminum with silvery trails. Lt. Col. James C.
Beam of Project Sign goes to investigate. On the way back, he consults
with astronomer Paul
Herget of the Cincinnati Observatory in Ohio, who thinks the objects
are meteors and recommends Ohio State University astronomer J.
Allen Hynek in Columbus as a project consultant. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1948, The Author, 1988, pp. 28–29; Sparks,
p. 34; Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of the
Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 41; Swords 55–56) May 12 — European Command
HQ sends the director of intelligence at the US Forces in Austria a memo
alleging that Walter
Horten has admitted he has been in contact with the Russians.
(Jacobsen, Area 51, p. 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1215
Date: 5/13/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 127.3km altitude
(Bumper 1 Premature cut-off of WAC 2nd stage)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 127.3m
Date: 5/14/1948
Description: Douglas Aircraft Company creates the RAND Corporation, a
global think tank to offer research and analysis to the US military. It
is financed by the US government, endowments, corporations,
universities, and private individuals. (Wikipedia, “RAND
Corporation”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1216
Date: 5/15/1948
Description: A piston-driven YB-35 flying wing bomber makes its first
and only flight at Edwards AFB in California. (Wikipedia, “Northrop
YB-35”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1218
Date: 5/15/1948
Description: During the Zebra nuclear detonation at Enewetak Atoll in
the Marshall Islands, a manned aircraft accidentally flies through the
mushroom cloud. Because the pilot and crew “suffered no ill effects,”
the Air Force decides that piloted aircraft could collect samples. The
Los Alamos, New Mexico, personnel assigned to remove the filters from
the B-17 drones have apparently carried out the same procedure on X-Ray
and Yoke without problems, but this time three of them suffer radiation
burns on their hands serious enough to be hospitalized and need skin
grafting. One of the men who carries out the procedure for Yoke is then
also found to have burns on his hands and is also hospitalized but is
discharged on May 28. Once again, the drone tank gives trouble and bogs
in the crater, but the soil samples are retrieved by the backup drone
tank. Both tanks are subsequently dumped in the ocean. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Sandstone”; Jacobsen, Area 51, p. 224)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1217
Date: 5/17/1948
Description: Day. William A. Bonneville sees a bright white ball, three
times as bright as a locomotive headlight, sail over the hills to the
northwest between Plevna and Miles City, Montana. It moves south, then
west, repeating these maneuvers for 20 minutes until it flies into a
dark cloud. It is silent, and a long, bright light shoots out from
beneath. (Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of the
Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 41–44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1219
Date: late 5/1948
Description: 11:40 a.m. Sgt. T. G. Jones and three other officers and
two crew are aboard a York transport aircraft, accompanied by a
formation of six Meteor jets, cruising at 10,000 feet above the
Oxford/Bicester area in England, bound for RAF Acklington. Visiting US
Maj. Robin
Olds is in one of the jets. They encounter a 100-foot oval object
with three bumps or protrusions on the bottom, as Jones describes it
through binoculars. Ground radar tracks the object, which is stationary
and above 25,000 feet. Two jets go up to try to get a better look and
get within a few thousand feet. The object departs vertically at a speed
of 1,500 mph. (Jenny Randles, UFO Conspiracy, Cassell, 1987, pp. 92–93)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1220
Date: 5/27/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 139.7km altitude
(Steady flight with low roll rate)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 139.7
Date: 5/27/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 139.7km altitude
(Steady flight with low roll rate)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 139.7
Date: 5/28/1948
Description: 3:00 p.m. USAF Reserve 1st Lt. Alexander Kokolonis is
flying a C-47 at 6,000 feet six miles east of Monroe, Michigan, when he
sees out of the navigator’s window three discs 2 miles to the left. He
estimates they are 300– 400 feet in diameter, silvery-gold, and
traveling well over 500 mph. They are seen for only 10–15 seconds.
Shortly afterwards, Kokolonis sees two similar objects and he alerts
M/Sgt Ernest Davis Jr., who also sees them. (NICAP, “Air
Force Transport Buzzed by 3 UFOs”; Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign
and the Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1221
Date: 5/31/1948
Description: 1:20 p.m. A cigar-shaped object moves through the sky from
the northwest at terrific speed over Wilmington, North Carolina. Mrs. H.
D. Alspach, Mrs. Charles Colvin, and Mrs. Isabell
Hufham see the object emit smoke. It appears about 3 feet long. It
slows down over the Cape Fear River, veers off to the east, and then
speeds away at a high altitude. (NICAP, “Cigar
Slows Down Then Speeds Up”; Sparks,
p. 34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1222
Date: 6/1948 (approximate)
Description: “Cornet” or “Coronet” Magazine article on a saucer landing
and retrieval with dead occupants. Issue was near-instantly
censored/banned and almost all copies recalled, several copies still in
private hands. This would have been the first article revealing the
crash retrieval program.
Type: historical event
Reference: Amazon
Location: US
Date: 6/5/1948
Description: A jet-propelled Northrop YB-49 crashes north of Muroc [now
Edwards] AFB in California after completing a number of maximum forward
center-of-gravity tests, killing its pilot, Maj. Daniel
Forbes (for whom Forbes AFB in Topeka, Kansas, is named), copilot
Capt. Glen
Edwards (for whom Edwards AFB is named), and three other crew
members. The aircraft suffers structural failure, with both outer wing
sections becoming detached from the center section. (Wikipedia, “Northrop
YB-49”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1225
Date: 6/11/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 62.3km altitude
(Blossom 2 — Cut-off at 57.7s; payload separation at 96s)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 62.3
Date: 6/15/1948
Description: Top Secret Report (100–203–79,p.12,Sec.P-2): Mr. Booneville
observed a reddish glow with a jet exhaust in the vicinity of Miles
City, Montana. Made no sound, traveled at twice the speed of
conventional aircraft
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E, p481)
Location: Miles City, MT
Date: 6/16/1948
Description: Soviet test pilot Arkady Ivanovich Apraksin is flying at an
altitude of 6.5 miles above a solid layer of clouds south of the
Kapustin Yar site, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia. He sees an unconventional
aircraft in the shape of a cucumber with cones of light radiating from
it descending across his path. The base tells him it has tracked the
object on radar and given it instructions to land, but it does not
respond. Apraksin is ordered to intercept it and open fire if it refuses
to land. When he closes to within 6 miles, the light beams open up like
a fan and shine into his aircraft, blinding him. The plane’s electrical
systems malfunction. He glides the plane to a safe landing after the UFO
disappears. Apraksin is interrogated heavily. (Good Above, p. 221;
Joe Brill, “UFO’s behind the Iron Curtain,” Skylook, no. 87, February
1975, pp. 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1226
Date: 6/18/1948
Description: The National Security Council issues Directive 10/2,
calling for covert action against the USSR, and granting the authority
to carry out covert operations against “hostile foreign states or
groups” that could, if needed, be denied by the US government. To this
end, the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) is created inside the new
CIA. Frank
Wisner, the
head of the OPC, answers not to the CIA director, but to the secretaries
of defense, state, and the NSC, and the OPC’s actions are a secret even
from the head of the CIA. Most CIA stations have two station chiefs, one
working for the OSO, and one working for the OPC. (“Note
on U.S. Covert Actions,” from Foreign Relations of the United
States, 1964–1968, Volume XII, Western Europe, Office of the Historian,
Foreign Service Institute, US Department of State)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1227
Date: 6/19/1948
Description: A silver cigarette-like object appeared above the Soviet
Kapustin Yar secret atomic/missile test site. Several military planes
were sent to intercept the object. One of them likened the “flying
cigarette” to a rocket, but the UFO managed to emit a bright beam that
blinded the pilot. It is said that both the plane and the UFO crashed
and the wreckages were taken to the underground hangars before they
could attract attention.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Yar
Date: summer 1948
Description: USAF Maj. Edwin
A. Jerome reports that a high-speed radar target appears during an
inspection visit at Goose Bay AFB [now CFB Goose Bay], Labrador. It is
calculated at going 9,000 mph at an altitude of 60,000 feet. The
commanders assume that the US equipment is faulty, but the Canadians
have tracked the same target. The following day, an object hovers over
the base at 45,000 feet and moving only 10 mph. (NICAP, “Edwin Jerome
Radar Case”; UFOEv, pp. 83–84;
Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen,
1979, pp. 151–152; Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO
Report, Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 51–52; Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, p. 264) Summer [possibly 1958] — Early
afternoon. Aircraft instrumentation engineer Victor
G. Didelot watches an elliptical UFO moving rapidly west to east
roughly parallel to the shoreline of Lake Erie in Erie, Pennsylvania. It
suddenly and silently ascends vertically at three times its horizontal
speed and disappears. (UFOEv, pp. 55–56)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1223
Date: summer 1948
Description: Physicist Carl
A. Mitchell sees three luminescent greenish discs, one second apart,
passing across the sky above Easton, Pennsylvania, from north to south.
(UFOEv, p. 49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1224
Date: 6/29/1948
Description: ATIC’s chief of operations, C. A. Griffith, writes to a
military representative in Norway to send all UFO reports to
Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1948, The
Author, 1988, pp. 32–33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1228
Date: 6/30/1948
Description: A couple are driving near Hecla, South Dakota, when they
see an unusual star. They stop the car and get out, but it is not
moving. They drive on and stop again. A few pieces break off the
original star and arrange themselves in a triangle formation. They all
now look like polished aluminum; they rise to a great height and vanish.
(Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,”
JUFOS 7 (2000): 45–46; Sparks,
p. 35; Swords 57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1229
Date: 7/1948
Description: 1:00 p.m. Former Air Force pilot Don Newman and three
friends watch a disc-shaped, domed UFO, about 100 feet in diameter,
maneuvering over Pasco, Washington. “The exterior finish appears to be
spun or burnished aluminum.” The object slows, then accelerates rapidly,
dives, and climbs over the area. (UFOEv, p. 38;
NICAP, “Summary
of letter from Witness to Major Keyhoe, dated March 10, 1958”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1230
Date: 7/1948
Time: Shortly after sunset
Description: Or August, 1948. Witness: Max Abbott, flying a Bellanca
Cruisair four-passenger private airplane. A single bright white light
accelerated and turned up a valley.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: vicinity of Marion, Virginia
ID: 13
Date: 7/1/1948
Description: A Maj. Hammer is flying above Rapid City AFB [now Ellsworth
AFB], South Dakota, when he sees 21 brilliant, yellow-white, oval-shaped
objects. They are about 100 feet in diameter and flying in a tight
diamond formation. They make a high-speed dive, level, make a perfect
turn in formation, angle upwards at 30°–40°, and accelerate out of
sight. He estimates their cruising speed at 500 mph. (Swords 57–58; Sparks,
p. 35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1231
Date: 7/1/1948
Description: Top Secret Report (100–203–79, p.12,Sec. N.): Maj. Hammer,
Rapid City Air Base, reported seeing 12 discs over the base. These disks
were oval-shaped and about 100 ft. diam., speed in excess of 500 mph.
Made 30 and 40 degree climbing turn, accelerating very rapidly out of
sight
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p481)
Location: Ellsworth Air Force Base
Date: 7/4/1948
Description: Day. Edward E. Thompson watches a brilliant spherical UFO
for five minutes while sitting in Johnson Park in Camden, New Jersey,
across from the Cooper Free Public Library. (“Report
from the Readers,” Fate 1, no. 4 (Winter 1949): 93–94)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1232
Date: 7/7/1948
Description: A silver, disc-shaped object allegedly crashes some 30
miles south-southwest of Laredo, Texas. US servicemen are reportedly
dispatched from a nearby military base to cordon off the UFO crash site
until a special US retrieval team arrives to examine the wreckage and
carry it away to a military base in San Antonio, Texas. Supposedly the
badly burned body of a nonhuman entity is recovered from the crash site.
Ufologist Leonard
Stringfield hears rumors of the crash in 1977, but few further
details emerge. Early in 1978, Stringfield describes the humanoid found
at the crash site as “about 4 feet, 6 inches tall, completely hairless,
with hands that had no thumbs.” That description seems to fit the body
shown in two photographs that are mailed to Willard F. McIntyre in
December 1978. The body depicted in the photos sent to McIntyre has come
to be known as the “Tomato Man” due to its large, roundish head. Many
UFO researchers, including Ron
Schaffner and Kevin
Randle, believe the body is that of a human pilot who is badly
disfigured by intense heat following a plane crash. They argue that one
of the photos shows a pair of eyeglasses, such as a human pilot would
wear, near the body. (William S. Steinman and Wendelle C. Stevens, UFO
Crash at Aztec, UFO Photo Archives, 1986, pp. 402–422; Kevin D. Randle,
A History of UFO Crashes, Avon, 1995, p. 188;
Good Above, pp. 397–398;
“Laredo
1948,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library, March 8, 2009; Noe
Torres and Ruben Uriarte, The Other Roswell: UFO Crash on the Texas–
Mexico Border, Roswell Books, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1233
Date: 7/9/1948
Description: Caramia and Carpenter, two officers of the USAF 72nd
Reconnaissance Group, are fishing at Fielding Lake, Alaska, when they
hear a loud roar and notice about 20 gray discs or spheres moving at 500
mph in loose formation from west-northwest to east-southeast at about
5,000 feet. (Barry Greenwood, “The
Estimate of the Situation:
Well, Not Exactly!” UFO Historical Revue, no. 16 (July 2015):
5–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1234
Date: 7/9/1948
Description: 9:47 p.m. While on the ground in Osborn, Ohio, the USAF
Project Sign officer who had flown to investigate the Hecla case, sees a
self-luminous, yellow-white object flying at 500–600 mph. It seems to
pulse its lights at 3- second intervals as it moves away. (Swords 58; Sparks, p. 35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1235
Date: 7/14/1948
Description: Day. Charles
W. Shangle Jr. watches two groups of about 16 UFOs maneuvering at
300–600 mph over Boise, Idaho. Two of the objects exhibit a “falling
leaf” motion. (“True Mystic Experiences,” Fate 2, no. 1 (May 1949):
75–79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1236
Date: 7/17/1948
Description: 4:50 p.m. Two Kirtland AFB sergeants on a fishing trip with
their families five miles south of San Acacia Diversion Dam, New Mexico,
see a group of 7 aluminum-like, spherical objects approach from the
south at 20,000 feet pass overhead at 1,500 mph. They first appear like
snub-nosed jet fighters of an unknown type, shifting from V -ormation to
L-formation to circular formation to no regular formation. A regular
pulsating flashing light appears in the group at 30° from zenith to the
north, and at this oblique angle the objects do not appear circular.
There is no noise or trail. (NICAP, “Two
Military Families Report Seven Objects”; Swords 58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1237
Date: 7/17/1948
Description: Top Secret Report (100–203–79, p.12,Sec. O): Kirtland AFB
reported 7 UFOs flying a “J” formation in the vicinity of San Acacia,
N.M., at altitude of 20,000 ft. Formation varied from “J” to “L” to “O”
after passing zenith. Est. speed 1500 mph
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p481)
Location: Kirtland Air Force Base
Date: 7/20/1948
Description: The Netherlands government reports that a wingless,
cigar-shaped object with two decks of windows is seen flying rapidly on
four separate occasions by two Dutch citizens over The Hague (and/or
Arnhem). (NICAP, “High V-2-Like
Craft Observed”; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1948, The Author, 1988, p. 86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1238
Date: 7/20/1948
Description: Top Secret Report (100–203–79,p.12,Sec.Q): A.D. Otter and
his daughter Arnham, in the Netherlands, sight UFO similar to the UFO
sighted on July 25, 1948, by two Eastern Airlines pilots
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p481)
Location: Netherlands
See also: 7/25/48
Date: 7/21/1948
Description: The USAF Research and Development division sends a formal
letter to the RAND Corporation authorizing them to select scientists to
evaluate the possibility that the flying discs might be human-built
spaceships. RAND’s reply is not known. (Swords 58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1239
Date: 7/24/1948
Description: 1:45 a.m. A bright object is seen at Robins AFB in Houston
County, Georgia, by ground maintenance crewman Walter Massey, who sees a
“stream of fire” in the north. As it moves overhead, it seems more
cylindrical. It moves off to the west. (NICAP, “July
24, 1948, 0250E, Warner Robins AFB, Georgia”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1240
Date: 7/24/1948
Description: Chiles-Whitted UFO encounter: At roughly 2:45 AM on July
24, 1948, two commercial pilots, Clarence S. Chiles and John B. Whitted,
claimed to have observed a “glowing object” pass by their plane before
it appeared to pull up into a cloud and travel out of sight. The object
closed on their DC-3 in a matter of seconds, and both men later said
they saw the object fly past the right side of their plane at high speed
before it pulled “up with a tremendous burst of flame out of its rear
and zoomed up into the clouds.” They observed the object for a total of
ten to fifteen seconds. Chiles and Whitted stated that the object
“looked like a wingless aircraft…it seemed to have two rows of windows
through which glowed a very bright light, as brilliant as a magnesium
flare.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Montgomery, Alabama
Date: 7/24/1948
Description: 2:45 a.m. Capt. Clarence
S. Chiles and copilot John
B. Whitted are flying an Eastern Airlines DC-3 at 5,000 feet, 20
miles southwest of Montgomery, Alabama, when they see an object about
100 feet long moving rapidly toward them on their right. Torpedo-shaped
and wingless, the object has flames jetting 50 feet from its rear. There
are two rows of square windows through which a bright light is glowing.
They only see it for 5–10 seconds. It is half a mile away and moving at
about 700 mph. After it passes the plane it swoops into a cloud bank at
6,000 feet. One passenger, Clarence
L. McKelvie of
Columbus, Ohio, also sees it. (Wikipedia, “Chiles-Whitted
UFO Encounter”;
NICAP, “Chiles-Whitted
Case”; Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer, The Coming of the Saucers,
Palmer, 1952, pp. 90–91; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 42–43; Clark III 234–236; UFOEv, p. 48;
Sparks,
p. 36; Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of the
Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 46–47; Swords 58–60; Good Above, pp. 264, 479;
Joel Carpenter, “Watershed:
The Chiles-Whitted ‘Rocketship’ Sighting,” 2002; Martin Shough, “Analysis
of the Chiles-Whitted
Sightings, July 24, 1948,” February 2011; Kevin D. Randle, “Chiles/Whitted
and Skepticism,” A Different Perspective, January 21, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1241
Date: 7/24/1948
Description: Eastern Airlines pilots Chiles and Whitted see UFO
Type: UFO sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Montgomery, Alabama
Date: 7/25/1948
Description: Top Secret Report (100–203–79,p.12,sec.Q): Two Eastern
Airlines pilots reported seeing an object like a huge V-2 Rocket pass
their jet. Sighted 4 times through scattered clouds and unlimited
visibility, travelling at high speed and high altitude. Description:
Appeared wingless, had two decks, and made a sound similar to that of a
V-2.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p481)
Location: US
See also: 7/20/48
See also: 8/3/48
See also: 1/31/50
Date: 7/25/1948
Description: Chief of Air Force Intelligence Gen. Charles
Cabell phones McCoy’s
office at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. Sign is ordered to get into the
field immediately and investigate the Chiles-Whitted case. By that
afternoon, Loedding, Deyarmond, and
Llewellyn (now
apparently director of Project Sign) are flown by Capt. Clarence
Groseclose to Atlanta, Georgia. (Sparks, p. 13;
Swords 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1242
Date: 7/26/1948
Description: Aeronautical engineer Molt
Taylor speculates to the Associated Press that “If we can build such
craft, what is to prevent others from doing so, assuming that a similar
order of intelligence exists on other planets? You and I may see the day
when we will be united with Russia defending this planet against attack
from space.” (“It
May Be Men
from Mars, Expert Says of ‘Saucers,’” San Francisco Examiner, July
28, 1948, p. 32; Loren E. Gross, The Fifth
Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1948, Supplemental
Notes, The Author, 2000, p. 65)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1244
Date: 7/26/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 86.9km altitude
(Turbine overspeed led to premature propellant cut-off at 61s. 2rpm roll
began at 70s)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 86.9
Date: 7/26/1948
Description: Loedding, Deyarmond, and
Llewellyn interview
Chiles and
Whitted in
the Henry Grady Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia. They are impressed with their
account. Mulling the case through September, Project Sign is disturbed
even more than the Mantell incident,
according to Ruppelt. Capt. Sneider considers
the shape aerodynamically feasible; consultant J.
Allen Hynek says it might be a fireball but considers that
“far-fetched.” (Swords 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1243
Date: 7/27/1948
Description: Air Intelligence Memorandum on “Pattern of Flying Saucers”
requires that a study be made by the Air Intelligence Division to
examine the pattern of tactics of reported UFOs and develop conclusions
as to their probability. This leads to the EEI “Analysis of Flying
Object Incidents in the United States” (100-203-79) of December 10. The
JIC report gives the incorrect date as August 6. (Col. Brooke E. Allen,
“Analysis
of Flying Object
Incidents in the U.S.,” October 11, 1948; “Report
by the Director of Intelligence, USAF, to the Joint Intelligence
Committee on Unidentified Aerial Objects,” April 28, 1949, p. 2; Jan
L. Aldrich, “New
Top Secret Document
Revealed,” Project 1947)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1245
Date: 7/29/1948
Description: 9:18 a.m. James Toney and Robert Huggins, both employees of
an Indianapolis, Indiana, rug cleaning firm, are in a truck headed west
when they see a shiny, propeller-shaped, aluminum object with 10–12
small cups protruding from either blade. It is 6–8 feet long and flying
silently above the trees at 30 feet altitude some 300 feet away heading
south. It approaches to about 100 feet at its closest. The object glides
across the road at 25–30 mph in a slight descent then makes a 20° bank
to the east and goes down in a wooded area. Toney and Huggins stop the
truck and get out to look, but the object has disappeared behind trees.
A later search finds no traces. (NICAP, “Close
Encounter with ‘Propeller-Shaped’ Object”; Sparks,
p. 36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1246
Date: 7/29/1948
Time: 9:55 AM
Description: Witnesses: James Toney, Robert Huggins, both employees of a
rug cleaning firm. One shiny aluminum object, shaped something like an
airplane’s propeller, with 10-12 small cups protruding from either
blade. Estimated size 6-8’ long, 1.5-2’ wide. The object glided across
the road a few hundred feet in front of their vehicle and apparently
went down in a wooded area. Sighting lasted a few seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
ID: 11
Date: 7/29/1948
Description: An object swept over a road at 10 m altitude.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
ID: 65
Date: 7/31/1948
Description: 8:25 a.m. Mr. and Mrs. Vernon
Swigert of south-central Indianapolis, Indiana, see a cymbal-shaped
or domed- disc object to the west of their home. It is about 20 feet
across, 6–8 feet thick, white without any shine but shadowing on upper
right. It flies straight and level from horizon to horizon, west to east
heading 90°. They estimate its altitude as 2,000 feet covering a
distance of 5 miles in 10 seconds. It shimmers in the sun as if
spinning, is silent, and has no trail. (NICAP, “Cymbal-Shaped
Object Observed by Couple”; Sparks,
p. 37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1247
Date: 7/31/1948
Time: 8:25 AM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Swigert; he was an
electrician. Object was shaped like a cymbal, or domed disc; about 20’
across and 6-8’ thick, and was white without any shine. It flew straight
and level from horizon to horizon in about 10 seconds, shimmering in the
sun as if spinning.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
ID: 12
Date: 8/3/1948
Description: Top Secret Report (100–203–79,p.12,Sec.R): UFO sighted over
Moscow that is similar to the UFO sighted on July 25, 1948, by two
Eastern Airlines pilots.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Moscow
See also: 7/25/48
Date: 8/5/1948
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 165.7km
altitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 165.7km
Date: 8/5/1948
Description: This date given by Edward
Ruppelt for the lost “Estimate of the Situation,” in which Project
Sign concludes that UFOs are interplanetary, is probably too early. See
September 30.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1248
Date: 8/11/1948
Time: 1200
Description: Two boys were playing outside when a round dull gray object
70 cm in diameter, 30 cm thick, landed near them like a balloon with a
metallic noise. It spun, went up, hovered, maneuvered to avoid Phone
lines and trees, and flew away to the northeast. An FBI man from
St. Paul found an area 70 cm in diameter where the ground showed signs
of extreme pressure.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Hamel, Minnesota
ID: 66
Date: 8/15/1948
Description: Morning. Future ufologist Walter
H. Andrus Jr., his wife Genevieve, and son Donald see four UFOs
flying in formation east to west over downtown, Phoenix, Arizona. They
simply vanish in sequence, then the first three reappear one at a time
in the northwest where they pass out of sight to the west. (Story, pp. 17–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1249
Date: 8/19/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 13.4km altitude
(Bumper 2 First stage failed due to propellant flow interruption)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 13.4km
Date: 8/21/1948
Description: A possible Russian rocket trail is seen over Katrineholm,
Sweden, that remains visible for three hours “resembling a brilliant
star surrounded by streamers of fire like the tentacles of an octopus.”
However, there is no known record of a launch on this date of a V-2 or
R-1 missile from the Russian base at Kapustin Yar, Astrakhan Oblast,
Russia. It may be the same object viewed by Swedish Armed Forces Supreme
Commander Helge
Jung of an “aerial explosion considered to be some form of guided
missile originating from Estonian islands, possibly Dagö or Osel.” (“‘Sky
Octopus’ Seen above Swedish Town,” Richmond (Ind.) Palladium-Item,
August 23, 1948, p. 2; “Sky Octopus over Sweden,” Fate 2, no. 1 (May
1949): 35; Jan Aldrich, “Investigating the Ghost Rockets,” IUR 23, no. 4
(Winter 1998): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1250
Date: 8/29/1948
Time: 0503
Description: A farmer observed a silvery sphere of large dimension rise
from a wooded area and hover above his farm, dropping a silvery
substance that disintegrated before touching the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Maplewood, Ohio
ID: 67
Date: 9/1948
Description: About this time Capt. Robert
R. Sneider becomes a co-chief of Project Sign with Lt. Howard W.
Smith. (Sparks, pp. 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1251
Date: 9/1/1948
Description: The CIA Office of Policy Coordination is formally
established with the responsibility to engage in “propaganda, economic
warfare, preventive direct action, including sabotage, antisabotage,
demolition and evacuation procedures; subversion against hostile states,
including assistance to underground resistance groups, guerrillas and
refugee liberation groups, and support of indigenous anti-communist
elements in threatened countries of the free world.” (Wikipedia, “Office
of Policy Coordination”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1252
Date: 9/2/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 150.6km altitude
(Vehicle broke up at 370s at 84 km altitude.)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 150.6km
Date: 9/12/1948
Description: Top Secret Report (100–203–79,p.12,Sec.P-1) Pilot and
Co-pilot of a Pan Am aircraft en route from Midway to Honolulu, saw a
blue-white light approaching, changing to twin reddish glows upon
withdrawal. Est. speed: 1000 knots
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p481)
Location: Midway
Date: 9/15/1948
Description: USAF Maj. Dick
Johnson reaches an official airspeed record of 671 mph (slightly
more than Yeager’s
first record) in a North American F-86A-3 Sabre at Muroc [now Edwards]
AFB, California. (Wikipedia, “North American
F-86 Sabre”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1253
Date: 9/16/1948
Description: Before dawn. Fred Scott, 63, is walking around Grassy
Mountain, Malheur County, Oregon, when he looks up and sees two “flying
persons” to the south. They are 150–250 feet up, one following the other
at a distance of 8–10 feet. Their wings are narrow and rounded at the
tip and do not flap. Their legs are unusually short. They remain visible
while Scott walks for at least another mile. (Center for UFO Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1940–1949, p. 43;
Clark III 270)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1254
Date: 9/23/1948
Description: 9:40 a.m. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, a
group of people are waiting for an airplane at the landing strip when
one of them notices something glint in the sun. It is a flat, circular
object, high in the northern sky. The appearance and relative size is
the same as a dime held edgewise and slightly tipped, about 50 feet
away. (NICAP, “Flat
Dime On-Edge Observed by Lab Personnel”; Sparks,
p. 38)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1255
Date: 9/23/1948
Time: 12 noon
Description: Witnesses: Sylvester Bentham and retired U.S. Army Col.
Horace Eakins. Two objects: one, a buff or grey rectangle with vertical
lines; the other a translucent “amoeba” with a dark spot near the
center. The arms of the “amoeba” undulated. Both objects travelled very
fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: San Pablo, California
ID: 14
Date: 9/26/1948
Description: 2:00 p.m. P. L. Lewis sees a white object moving rapidly
across the sky at Port Hope, Ontario, then disappear when it is nearly
overhead. Other white objects follow at about 50 mph in a northeasterly
direction, accompanied by strands of spider web. Lewis speculates that
the objects are balls of spiders’ threads, held together by thistledown.
(P. R. Bishop, “Cobwebs or Flying Saucers?” Weather 4 (1949): 121–122;
Philip J. Imbrogno, Files from the Edge: A Paranormal Investigator’s
Explorations into High Strangeness, Llewellyn, 2010, p. 54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1256
Date: 9/30/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 150.3km altitude
(Bumper 3 WAC stage failed)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 150.3km
Date: 9/30/1948 (approximate)
Description: Project Sign officer Capt. Robert
R. Sneider has decided that the time has come to climax Project
Sign’s task and write the required “Estimate of the Situation.” Every
intelligence operation’s task is ultimately to present such a best-guess
summary, strongly backed with as much fact as possible. Using the
Chiles-Whitted case as the core and collecting around it many cases from
the summer of 1947 to September 1948, Sneider composes the document. The
most recent case known to have been listed in the document is the
September 23 Los Alamos National Laboratory sighting in New Mexico. Two
prominent USAF intelligence officers (Ruppelt and
Dewey
J. Fournet Jr.)
see the document in 1952. “It was a rather thick document with a black
cover and it was printed on legal-sized paper. Stamped across the front
were the words TOP SECRET.” Ruppelt says the Estimate concludes that the
best evidence indicated an extraterrestrial origin for UFOs. Sneider is
probably the primary author. Deyarmond,
Loedding, and
Truettner almost
certainly are part of the writing. Llewellyn certainly
looks in. All these people, as well as higher-ups in Clingerman’s
and McCoy’s
offices, must approve it, at least in some sense. And an Estimate of
UFOs as extraterrestrial is no small thing to assent to. The Estimate is
probably addressed to Chief of Staff Gen. Hoyt
Vandenberg, but it really is meant for Director of Intelligence
Gen. Charles
Cabell. It
is probably sent near the end of September, just before the George
Gorman “UFO dogfight” in Fargo, North Dakota, on October 1. It
probably lands in Garrett’s
Collections office and is hand-carried to Cabell. Cabell may or may not
be shocked. With a pro-ETH Wright-Patterson intelligence group on one
side, an anti-ETH Pentagon Intelligence Requirements Office on the
other, and open-minded collections officers and the powerful Research
and Development chief (Gen. Donald
L. Putt) in between, Cabell doesn’t want to decide this on his own.
He hands the Estimate further upstairs to Vandenberg himself, who
rejects it and bats it back to Cabell with a strong sense of
disapproval. Ruppelt adds that some months later the Estimate is
completely declassified and “all but a few copies” are destroyed.
(Ruppelt, p. 45;
Clark III 436–437; Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of
the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 48–51; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 13–14;
Michael D. Swords, “The Lost Words of Edward Ruppelt,” IUR 20, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1995): 14–15; Swords 62)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1257
Date: 10/1948
Description: Vannevar
Bush resigns as chairman of the Research and Development Board,
passing the job on to Karl Taylor
Compton. (Michael
Hall and Wendy Connors, “The Research and Development Board: Unanswered
Questions,” IUR 26, no. 2 (Summer 2001): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1258
Date: 10/1/1948
Description: Top Secret Report (100–203–79,p.12,Sec.S) 2nd Lt. George F.
Gorman (North Dakota Air Nat. Guard), sighted a UFO 3000 ft. below him
while he was flying his F-51 at 4500 ft. The pilot pursued the UFO which
took evasive tactics. The UFO out-turned, out-speeded and out-climbed
the F-51 in every attempt at intercept. The pilot lost contact with the
UFO.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p481, B1-F p234, B1-G p28)
Location: North Dakota
Date: 10/1/1948
Description: 8:30 p.m. 2d Lieut. George
F. Gorman of the North Dakota National Guard, flying an F-51 near
Fargo, North Dakota, spots an object traveling east to west. He
describes it as a light 6–8 inches in diameter displaying incredible
movements. He repeatedly gives chase beginning at 9:07 p.m., but each
time is outmaneuvered by the light, which moves up to 600 mph. On his
first pass he gets as close as 500 feet from the light at about 5,000
feet altitude. Gorman climbs to 14,000 feet but stalled out, unable to
intercept the light, which is at about 16,000 feet. The light makes
evasive and aggressive maneuvers, such as seeming to try to ram the
F-51. When it drops to 11,000 feet, Gorman attempts to dive at it, but
the light pulls up, rises vertically, and disappears at high speed. The
light is also seen by airport control tower operators Lloyd
D. Jensen and Manuel E. Johnson, as well as others on the ground and
pilot Arthur
E. Cannon flying a Piper Cub at 1,600 feet. Jensen watches the
dogfight through 6x30 binoculars, the UFO appearing perfectly round with
sharp edges and no fuzzy outline. Project Sign personnel arrive within
hours and interview the witnesses. Eventually they conclude the object
was a balloon, with evasive maneuvers the product of Gorman’s
imagination, since ground observers do not see anything comparable. Some
ufologists, among them Aimé
Michel and James
E. McDonald, have rejected the balloon explanation. (Wikipedia, “Gorman
dogfight”; NICAP, “Gorman
(Fargo) Case”; Ruppelt, pp. 41–43;
Sparks,
p. 39; Michael D. Swords, GrassRoots UFOs: Case Reports from the
Timmerman Files, Fund for UFO Research, 2005, p. 138; Clark III
536–537)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1260
Date: 10/1/1948
Description: The first Joint Army-Navy-Air Force Publication (JANAP)
146, based on Bernard Baruch Jr.’s CIRES system, is issued. It consists
of instructions for military and civilian personnel on how to report
sightings of enemy aircraft, missiles, submarines, and surface vessels.
This version does not include UFOs. It is tabled shortly afterward by
Maj. Gen. Cabell. (Antonio
F. Rullán, “Blue
Book UFO Reports at Sea by Ships: Analysis of the Blue
Book Ship Database,” December 10, 2002, pp. 8–9; Swords 122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1259
Date: 10/1/1948
Description: Lt. G. Gorman air duels with UFO for 25 minutes
Type: UFO sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Fargo, North Dakota
Date: 10/7/1948
Description: A set of letters, composed not by Sneider but
actually by Samuel
Z. Hunnicutt, a member of T-2 and the Sign team, and approved by MCI
heavyweights McCoy, Clingerman, and
Leland
Money, goes out to the CIA, US Army Intelligence, and the Office of
Naval Intelligence. The query: What domestic technological developments
do you know of that might explain UFOs and help us differentiate them
from inimical (Soviet) foreign developments? (Michael D. Swords,
“Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000):
50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1262
Date: 10/7/1948
Description: A document from Project Sign to Garrett and
Cabell is
an upbeat Sneider report
on the initial investigation of the Gorman dogfight,
making the object sound extremely unusual and intelligent in behavior.
This is almost like a supplement to the Estimate. (Michael D. Swords,
“Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000):
50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1261
Date: 10/12/1948
Alternate date: 10/22/1948
Description: Project Sign’s Col. William
R. Clingerman writes a letter to USAF Chiefs of Staff requesting a
study of UFOs by the RAND Corporation, similar to the one made by USAF
R&D in July, especially the possibility that “some of the
unidentified aerial objects that have been reported both in the United
States and in foreign lands may have been experimental
spaceships. it is believed more likely that they represent the
effort of a foreign nation, rather than a product from beyond the
Earth.” (Col. W. R. Clingerman, “Request
for Study by Rand
Project,” October 12(?), 1948; Swords 58, 492–493)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1263
Date: 10/15/1948
Description: An F-61 “Black Widow” fighter tracked UFO on radar and
tried to intercept it 6 times without success. It would speed up from
200 mph to 1200 mph, leaving the interceptor behind. Description: shaped
like a rifle bullet and apparently 20 to 30 feet long
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-F p235)
Location: Japan
Date: 10/15/1948
Time: 11:05 PM
Description: Witnesses: pilot Halter and radar operator Hemphill of a
P-61 “Black Widow” night fighter. Up to six objects tracked on radar,
only one seen visually. Dull or dark object shaped like a dirigible with
a flat bottom and clipped tail end. Six seen on radar separately Pilot
attempted to close on visual object, but it dove away fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Fusuoka, Japan
ID: 15
Date: 10/15/1948
Description: 11:05 p.m. On night patrol, 1st Lt. Oliver
“Bud” Hemphill Jr. of the 68th Fighter Squadron is flying a Northrup
F-61 Black Widow some 50 miles northwest of Fukuoka, Japan, when the
crew picks up an object on radar going 200 mph. As he closes to
intercept, the object speeds up to 1,200 mph then slows down again. The
plane tries closing in six times, but each time the object speeds away.
On one pass the crew sees the object’s silhouette, which looks like a
“rifle bullet” 20–30 feet long. The object “seems cognizant of the
whereabouts of the F-61 at all times.” Radar operator Barton Halter
thinks it is a “new type of aircraft.” (NICAP, “F-61
’Black Widow’
Radar Case”; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 69–70; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 134–137;
Sparks,
p. 40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1264
Date: late 1948
Description: The search for a suitable US location for nuclear testing,
codenamed “Project Nutmeg,” commences under the direction of expert
meteorologist and Navy Captain Howard B. Hutchinson. The government is
looking for a place where nuclear tests would have little impact on the
American people or the American economy. Five primary sites are
considered: Dugway Proving Ground, Utah; Alamogordo–White Sands Guided
Missile Range, New Mexico; an area in Nevada between Fallon and Eureka;
the Tonopah–Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range (the site finally chosen
in 1950, now part of Nellis Air Force Base); and the Pamlico Sound area
off the coast of North Carolina. (“Project
Nutmeg: The Birth of the Nevada Test Site,” National Nuclear
Security Administration, June 2004; Philip Howard, “Project
Nutmeg,” Village Craftsmen, April 21, 2012; Diane Tennant, “How
Outer Banks Almost Became a Nuclear Test Site,” Norfolk
Virginian-Pilot, January 27, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1267
Date: 10/20/1948
Description: The US Air Force Security Service is activated at Arlington
Hall in Washington, D.C., with the mission of cryptology and
communications security. (Wikipedia, “United
States Air Force Security Service”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1265
Date: 10/29/1948
Description: Five US Air Force pilots observe a silvery object over
Neubiberg Air Base [now closed] near Munich, Germany. The object
disappears at a terrific speed after having remained over the air base
more than 30 minutes. A similar object is seen days before by another
group of American pilots. (Jan Aldrich, “Early
Top Secret UFO Document
Discovered,” 2000)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1266
Date: 11/1948
Description: Green fireballs prominent in New Mexico
Type: anomalous phenomenon
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Los Alamos, NM
Date: 11/1/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 4.8km altitude
(Bumper 4 Explosion in tail of V-2)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 4.8km
Date: 11/1/1948
Description: Radar operator M/Sgt Francis H. Mills at Goose Bay AFB [now
CFB Goose Bay], Labrador, tracks an object too large for a bird, too
small for a plane, flying at 60 mph. Not confirmed visually. (NICAP, “600
MPH Track
at Goose Bay”; NICAP, “October
29, October 30, and November 1, 1948, Incident Nos. 188, 195, and
196: Goose
Bay, Labrador,” June 28, 2009; Sparks, p. 42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1268
Date: 11/3/1948
Description: Against most predictions, Harry
S. Truman wins the US presidential election against Republican Thomas
E.
Dewey. Secretary
of Defense James
Forrestal, like everyone else, expects to have a new boss in
January. His relationship with Air Force Secretary Stuart
Symington has deteriorated, and he has not obtained a budget
consensus from the Joint Chiefs. His mental health, physical condition,
and authority are deteriorating. He is convinced that “foreign-looking
men” are following him and that Symington is spying on him. Secret
Service Chief Urbanus
E. Baughman begins to think Forrestal is suffering from a “total
psychotic breakdown.”
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1269
Date: 11/3/1948
Description: Gen. Charles
Cabell writes a firm letter to Wright Field in Ohio, asking Project
Sign for another Estimate. It is possibly composed by Maj. Aaron
“Jere” Boggs or Col. Edward
H. Porter at the USAF Defensive Air Branch. While admitting that the
objects seem real, it also cautions that they are not identified. (Read:
You may not identify them as extraterrestrial craft.) (Maj. Gen. C. P.
Cabell, “Flying
Object Incidents in the United States,” November 3, 1948; Michael D.
Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7
(2000): 50– 51, 62; Swords 62, 64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1270
Date: 11/4/1948
Description: A USAF Europe document transmits some information on the
Swedish ghost rockets. “They have been reported by so many sources and
from such a variety of places that we are convinced that they cannot be
disregarded and must be explained on some basis which is perhaps
slightly beyond the scope of our present intelligence thinking.” One of
the objects was observed crashing into a lake by Swedish Gen. Helge
Jung and his party. A salvage operation was unsuccessful. USAF
officers visit Swedish Air Intelligence officials who have reached the
conclusion that “these phenomena are obviously the result of a high
technical skill which cannot be credited to any presently known culture
on earth.” The document is distributed to the CIA (which in response to
a FOIA request claims no record), Armament Intelligence Branch, and AMC.
(“USAFE
14, TT 1524, Top Secret,” November 4, 1948; Jan Aldrich, “Early
Top Secret UFO Document Discovered,” 2000; Swords 62–63; Good Need,
p. 115)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1271
Date: 11/6/1948
Description: Two UFOs, maneuvering like planes in a dogfight, are
tracked on USAF radar over Wakkanai, Japan. (NICAP, “Target
Circles Radar Site”; Keyhoe, FS from OS, p. 34;
Sparks, p. 42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1272
Date: 11/8/1948
Description: A letter is sent with Col. McCoy’s
signature to Gen. Cabell. Written
by Sign operative Albert
Deyarmond, it
is overtly submissive but covertly rebellious. It contains several
comments agreeing with Cabell that the UFO phenomenon is not
identifiable and that no concrete physical proof exists to identify it.
At the same time it drops all sorts of hints, doubtless the same
arguments used in the original Estimate, that the objects really are
extra- terrestrial whether the Pentagon thinks so or not: It mentions
the ETH; it mentions plotting waves against planetary approaches and
finding a correlation; it mentions the books of Charles
Fort as indicating that this has been going on for at least a
century; it mentions that odd shapes (like the Chiles-Whitted case) can
fly but require more advanced power plants than we have. (Col. H. M.
McCoy, “Flying
Object Incidents in the United States,” November 8, 1948; Michael D.
Swords, “The McCoy Letter,” IUR 22, no. 1 (Spring 1997): 12–17, 27;
Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,”
JUFOS 7 (2000): 51, 63–64; Swords 62, 65, 494– 496)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1273
Date: 11/12/1948
Description: Project Sign personnel travel to the National Bureau of
Standards in Washington, D.C., to attempt to convince Cabell and
Vandenberg on
the ETH. It includes Sneider,
and perhaps Deyarmond,
Loedding,
Truettner,
and McCoy. On
the Pentagon side, Boggs and
Cabell are
there and perhaps Vandenberg, and they are having none of the ETH. Back
at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio, Deyarmond and Truettner begin writing a
sanitized Project Sign report. More scientific oversight is requested
for Sign personnel. The Scientific Advisory Board and George Valley of
MIT are to be made aware of all cases. So too are Boggs’s office, ONI,
and maybe even the NBS. Hynek is
to be formally commissioned for an assessment, as well as Irving
Langmuir and Project Rand. (Col. H. M. McCoy, “Transmittal
of Project ‘SIGN’ Incident Summaries,” November 12, 1948; Swords 65;
Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of the Situation,”
JUFOS 7 (2000): 51–52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1274
Date: mid 11/1948
Description: Late afternoon. Clifford
DeWitt Fife hears a whirring in the air near Nevada, Missouri. He
looks up and sees a hovering, disc-like object. Two bright objects drop
down out of the disc about 200–300 feet, then speed off to the
southwest. The large object moves off to the northeast. (Nevada (Mo.)
Daily Mail, November 30, 1948; Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A
Further Look,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1275
Date: 11/18/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 145.3km altitude
(First Hermes B ‘Organ’ test of ramjet diffuser in place of payload
section. Nominal performance.)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 145.3km
Date: 11/18/1948
Description: Report from Project SIGN, incident ?207 in Blue Book files:
at approx. 2200 hours, Lt. Henry G. Combs (AFRes) spotted an oval shaped
UFO while flying in a T-6 plane. The UFO accelerated rapidly from 80mph
to 500 or 600 mph. It remained under observation for some 10 minutes.
The UFO displayed “evasive controlled tactics and an ability to perform
tight circles, quick variation of air speed, vertical ascents and
evasive movements.”
Type: report
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-G p28, B1-F p236)
Location: Andrews AFB
Date: 11/18/1948
Description: 10:00 p.m. USAF Reserve pilot Lt. Henry
G. Combs is flying a T-6 Texas combat trainer when he sees an object
flying west to east over Andrews AFB, Maryland. It has one continuously
glowing white light. He makes a pass to check on it, but it takes
evasive action and he duels with it for 10 minutes. The object performs
very tight curves and quick accelerations to 600 mph. (NICAP, “The
Lt. Combs / T-6 Encounter”; Sparks,
p. 42; Richard H. Hall, Uninvited Guests, Aurora, 1988,
pp. 236–237)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1276
Date: 11/23/1948
Description: Wire Report from Germany to Project SIGN: Capt. (blank) is
an experienced pilot and completely reliable. While flying an F-80 over
a US Air Base in the Fursten-Feldbruck area of Germany, he had radar and
visual contact with a circling red-lighted UFO at 2200 hours at 27,000
ft. Ground radar determined that it was going 900 mph and climbed
quickly to 50,000 ft. in a matter of minutes and disappeared
Type: report
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-F p237)
Location: Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany
Date: 11/23/1948
Description: 10:00 p.m. US Army Col. William P. Hayes sees a bright
white, round light “larger than a basketball” descend slowly as he is
driving 10 miles east of Vaughan, New Mexico. It explodes without a
sound some 400– 500 feet above the ground. (NICAP, “Another
Object in Vertical Descent Explodes near Colonel”; Sparks,
p. 43; Clark III 539)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1277
Date: 11/23/1948
Description: 10:20 p.m. The first [although see October 15] documented
radar-visual UFO case takes place at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base in
Bavaria, Germany. A UFO is seen circling at 27,000 feet. An F-80 pilot
sent to intercept it describes it as bright red. It climbs abruptly to
50,000 feet at 900 mph. A second F-80 pilot verifies the report. (NICAP,
“Grnd
Visual / Grnd Radar Track Object at 27,000ʹ”; Ruppelt, p. 46;
Sparks,
p. 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1278
Date: 11/24/1948
Description: Writer Sidney Shalett has asked for USAF cooperation in
writing an article on UFOs for the Saturday Evening Post. In a
“Memorandum for the Record,” the USAF Directorate of Intelligence
indicates that “publicity of this nature is undesirable but, if such
articles are written, they will be less harmful to the national interest
if a degree of guidance in their preparation is exercised.” Signed
November 24 by Cabell, Director
of Intelligence. ([Maj. Gen. Charles P. Cabell], “Memorandum
for Record,” November 24, 1948)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1279
Date: 11/30/1948
Description: Maj. Gen. Charles
P. Cabell, in
an Air Staff Summary Sheet, admits that he has tried to dissuade the
press from publishing articles like Shalett’s. Cabell has asked
Secretary Forrestal for
permission to feed Shalett some statistics, but the memo is apparently
never sent. (Maj. Gen. C. P. Cabell, “Publicity
on Flying Saucer Incidents,”
Air Staff Summary Sheet, November 30, 1948; “Memorandum
for Mr. Forrestal” [unsent])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1280
Date: 11/30/1948
Description: Letter from Howard
McCoy at AMC Dayton to Commanding General, Air Defense Command,
Mitchel AFB [now closed], Long Island, New York. “It is requested that
all reports of unusual sightings by radar stations of your command be
made directly to this Headquarters by the most expeditious means.”
(NICAP, “1948
UFO Chronology”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1281
Date: 11/30/1948
Description: An interim report by Project Sign, one that apparently
takes seriously the possibility that UFOs represent interplanetary
probes, is accidentally destroyed. USAF Intelligence later requests a
replacement copy from TID at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. A recent FOIA
to the National Archives answers that such a document would be in
Project Blue Book files, but it is not. (Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1282
Date: 12/1948
Description: A first-strike war plan (Sizzle) is developed to use 133
nuclear aerial bombs against 70 cities of the USSR. (“Nuclear
‘Pincher’: The START II Treaty, the American ‘Escalation of Superiority’
Strategy, and Russia’s Strategic
Nuclear Forces,” from Sovetskaya Rossiya, April 8, 1995)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1283
Date: 12/1948
Description: Project SIGN evolves into Project GRUDGE and is conducted
under the code name BLUE BOOK. The liaison between Project GRUDGE and
MJ-12 is the Air Force officer in head of BLUE BOOK.
(Capt. Ruppelt?)
Type: report
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A)
Location: Dayton, OH
See also: 3/52
Date: 12/3/1948
Time: 8:15 PM
Description: Witness: USAF Sgt., control tower operator. One round,
white light flew for 25 seconds with varying speed, bouncing motion, and
finally a rapid erratic climb.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Fairfield-Suisan AFB, California
ID: 16
Date: 12/3/1948
Description: 8:15 p.m. Sgt. Bruce
Earlin McFarland, control
tower operator at Fairfield-Suisun AFB [now Travis AFB] at Fairfield,
California, watches for 25 seconds a round, white light fly with
variable speed (200–400 mph) and a bouncing motion, finally disappearing
after a rapid, erratic climb to 20,000 feet. (NICAP, “Fairfield-Suisun
AFB, Dec. 3,
1948, UFO Report”; Sparks,
p. 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1284
Date: 12/5/1948
Description: 9:05 p.m. Pilot Capt. William
R. Goade is flying a USAF C-47 from Denver to Phoenix. Just west of
Las Vegas, New Mexico, he and his copilot Maj. Roger Carter spot a
bright green flash. Some 22 minutes later, an identical flash rises from
the east slope of Sandia Peak and follows a parabolic curve as the C-47
passes 20 miles northeast of Albuquerque. Capt. Ernest Van Lloyd and the
crew of Pioneer Airlines Flight 63 also see the second object, described
as first orange, then green. (NICAP, “AFOSI
Case 8: AF C-47 Pilot Observes UFO Similar to Green
Flare”; Clark III 539; Sparks,
p. 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1285
Date: 12/6/1948
Description: 10:55 p.m. Atomic Energy Security Service Officer Joseph
Toulouse sees a greenish flare one-third the apparent size of the
moon at Sandia Base outside Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is visible for 3
seconds before it arcs downward and vanishes. (NICAP, “AFOSI
Case 10: AESS Observed Green Flare Directly over Sandia Base”;
Clark III 539; Sparks, p. 44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1288
Date: 12/6/1948
Description: Project Sign is ordered to send copies of all its future
cases and analyses to Maj. Boggs of
the Office of Defensive Air, the ONI, and the USAF Scientific Advisory
Board. (Swords 65)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1287
Date: 12/6/1948
Description: Lt. Col. Doyle
Rees, commander
of the Seventeenth District AFOSI at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, orders an
investigation into the previous night’s green fireball. (Clark III
539)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1286
Date: 12/8/1948
Description: Two AFOSI officers, Capts. Melvin
E. Neef and John J. Stahl Jr., interview every agency that might
know something about green-flare operations but come up short. That
evening, they are flying a T-7 out of Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, New
Mexico, at 5,000 feet when they see a brilliant green light, larger and
more brilliant than a meteor or flare, traveling a flat trajectory 2,000
feet above them. They see it for 2 seconds before it burns out. (NICAP,
“AFOSI
Case 11: Agents in T-7 Observe Intense Green Fireball at 13,000ʹ”;
Clark III 539; Sparks, p. 44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1289
Date: 12/9/1948
Description: Capt. Neef informs
Lincoln
LaPaz, director
of meteoritics at the University of New Mexico, about the green fireball
sightings. He says they do not sound like any meteors he is familiar
with. (Clark III 539)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1290
Date: 12/9/1948
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 108.4km altitude
(Vane failure at 22s caused erratic flight)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 108.4km
Date: 12/10/1948
Description: Top Secret Air Intelligence Report 100–203–79 issued
Type: top secret report
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Dayton, OH
See also: 1/7/1948
See also: 11/1/1948
Date: 12/10/1948
Description: The revised Project Sign report is issued, Air Intelligence
Report Number 100-203-79, “Analysis of Fly- ing Object Incidents in the
U.S.” (AIR 203) [Some copies are confusingly dated April 28, 1949.] This
is the cul- mination of Sign’s work since early August, augmented by ONI
collaboration over the past two months. UFOs are not extraterrestrial
(the idea is hardly noticed). UFOs are probably real, but if so, there
is a small chance that they are Soviet and therefore dangerous. All in
all, the word “Soviet” dominates the commentary. (US Air Force,
Directorate of Intelligence, Analysis
of Flying Object Incidents in the U.S.: Summary and Conclusions, Air
Intelligence Report 100-203-79, December 10, 1948; copy, dated
April 28, 1949; Bruce Maccabee, “Hiding the Hardware,” IUR 16, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1991): 7–8; Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the
Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 52; Swords 65–66; Good
Above, pp. 265, 480–481)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1291
Date: 12/12/1948
Description: 9:02 p.m. Lincoln
LaPaz and two USAF officers (Sandia Base Intelligence Officer Lt.
Allan B. Clark and Sandia’s AF-Civil Air Patrol Liaison Officer Maj.
Charles L. Phillips) see a green fireball near Bernal, New Mexico. He
calculates that it is flying directly over Los Alamos National
Laboratory, and it maintains its horizontal flight at the low altitude
(for a meteor) of 8–10 miles. LaPaz arranges with the Atomic Energy
Security Service to set up a patrol with Speed Graphic cameras to try to
photograph the fireballs. (NICAP, “AFOSI
Case 13:
LaPaz, Captain, CAP Intel Officer Observed Green Fireball”; Clark
III 539–540; Good Above, p. 266;
Joel Carpenter, “Green
Fireball Chronology,” October 6, 2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1292
Date: 12/13/1948
Description: Project Sign files are sent to the Navy by Col. William
R. Clingerman. (NICAP, “Project
‘SIGN’ Files Sent
Directly to the Navy,” December 13, 1948)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1293
Date: 12/13/1948
Description: Aeronautical engineer James
E. Lipp writes an 8-page memo to Brig. Gen. Donald
Putt on “Special Design and Performance Characteristics That Are
Believed to Distinguish Spaceships.” Rejecting out of hand any links
between UFO sightings and space travelers, it later appears as an
appendix in the Project Grudge report. (James E. Lipp, “Special
Design and Performance Characteristics That Are Believed to Distinguish
Spaceships,” December 13, 1948)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1294
Date: 12/16/1948
Description: Astronomer J.
Allen Hynek is officially tasked by Project Sign with studying UFO
cases for astronomical explanations. (AMC contract W33-038-1118).
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1295
Date: 12/16/1948
Description: Brig. Gen. Donald
Putt, Director
of USAF Research and Development, orders that the code word Sign be
changed to Grudge (since the Air Force bears a grudge against UFO
reports, according to Ruppelt),
effective in February. Morale plummets. (“Report
by the Director of Intelligence, USAF, to the Joint Intelligence
Committee on
Unidentified Aerial Objects,”
April 28, 1949; Sparks, p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1296
Date: 12/20/1948
Description: 8:54 p.m. Shortly after they have packed up their Speed
Graphic cameras provided by LaPaz to
try to photograph the green fireballs, personnel (William D. Wilson, Buford
G. Truett, Clifford
E. Strang, and George S. Skipper) at an Atomic Energy Security
Service post west of Los Alamos, New Mexico, spot a blue-white fireball
moving in a nearly flat trajectory. Two objects separate from the main
body and trail behind it. Thanks to an independent observation at
another site, LaPaz is able to triangulate its flight path as 7–8 miles,
west to east toward Los Alamos. (NICAP, “AFOSI
Case 14: AESS OP Sighted Green Fireball with Triangulation”; Sparks, p. 46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1299
Date: 12/20/1948
Description: Sneider sends
his summary of the Chiles-Whitted case, Air Intelligence Report number
102-122-79, to Cabell. It
is later called “The Ghost of the Estimate” by some researchers.
(Capt. Robert R. Sneider, [untitled memorandum],
December 20, 1948; Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and the Estimate of
the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1297
Date: 12/20/1948
Description: In a confidential memo to Lt. Col. Doyle
Rees, LaPaz argues
that the green fireball he saw on December 12 was no meteor he has ever
studied. He writes that the object moved far too slowly to have been a
meteor and left no “trail of sparks or dust cloud” as would be typical
of meteors flying at low altitudes. Other anomalous characteristics were
the intense lime-green color, low altitude of only 8–10 miles yet
exhibiting no sound, flat rather than arced trajectory, and turning on
and off like a light switch. The interest in green fireballs inspires
the creation of an informal group, the Los Alamos Astrophysical
Association, whose members, all scientists and engineers with security
clearances, are permitted to examine some classified Project Sign
reports. This is essentially the beginning of Project Twinkle. (Clark
III 540; World History Project, “Project
Twinkle Established to
Monitor Green Fireball Sightings”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1298
Date: 12/29/1948
Description: The Fourth Army sums up the UFO situation in the southwest
in a statement. In December 5–28, there were 23 reports of “flares or
moving lights.” All but two are in New Mexico and are an intense white
or greenish- white light. (Clark III 540)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1300
Date: 1949
End date: 1990
Description: Soviet Union tests 969 nuclear devices — the more nuclear
testing than any nation in the planet. 214 nuclear devices were tested
in the open atmosphere between 1949–1962.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Soviet Union
Date: 1949
Description: Day. A student pilot is flying a two-seat Taylorcraft over
Los Angeles, California. Just as he turns to a westerly flight heading,
he sees an object speeding across the sky from north to south. Suddenly
it stops abruptly, and the pilot heads toward the object climbing to
within a few hundred feet. An intense flash of white comes from its tail
and in less than a minute it is completely out of sight. (“Recently
Reported,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 10 (October 1981):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1303
Date: 1949
Description: 1:00 a.m. A group of soldiers of the 2nd Armored Division
stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, are tasked with standing guard over a
plateau in a remote, fenced-off part of the base. After a few weeks,
they see bright lights in the sky. They approach the plateau and descend
slowly and silently. Suddenly, part of the plateau opens up and they can
see light coming from inside. The lights descend into the opening, which
closes over them. (Michael D. Swords, “Timmermania: A Step Too Far into
the Timmerman Files?” IUR 27, no. 4 (Winter 2002–2003): 9; Michael D.
Swords, GrassRoots UFOs: Case Reports from the Timmerman Files, Fund for
UFO Research, 2005, p. 146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1302
Date: 1949
Description: Soviet “Tomsk-7” atomic weapons project plant opens
(Uranium enrichment, component manufacturing)
Type: atomic plant
Reference: link
Location: Siberia
Date: 1949
Description: United States Air Force’s Strategic Air Command had F-86
Sabres in service from 1949 through 1950. The F-86 was the primary U.S.
air combat fighter during the Korean War, with significant numbers of
the first three production models seeing combat.
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Dayton, OH
Date: 1949
Description: Claude E. Steene Sr., Fullerton CA: While practicing in
Bishop CA in 1949, was called on by a member of a special military unit
to examine a living being reportedly taken from a crashed saucer. Kept
alive in a controlled environment, appeared reptilian.
Type: ufological event
Reference: link
Location: Bishop, CA
Date: 1949 (approximate)
Description: Evening. USAF Brig. Gen. William
M. Garland is stationed at Mather AFB [now Sacramento Mather
Airport] in Sacramento, California. He and a few other people, including
some command pilots, are sitting in their yard when they see a “bright,
silvery, round object” going too fast for an airplane. (Jan L. Aldrich,
“Brigadier
General William
Madison Garland, USAF”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1301
Date: Early 1949
Description: USAF General Orders the AF to stop investigating saucers
and Project GRUDGE is ordered to close at the end of 1949.
Type: ufological event
Reference: Leon
Davidson
Location: Dayton, OH
Date: 1/1949
Description: Early morning. Sarah
Elizabeth Lampe watches an odd, disc-like electrical discharge,
about 3 feet in diameter, that persists for “fully two minutes” during
the Big Snow, 8 miles from Beatty, Nevada. (“True Mystic Experiences,”
Fate 4, no. 2 (March 1951): 84–89)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1305
Date: 1/1949
Description: Project Sign personnel begin to be reassigned. Loedding disappears
from project records. Deyarmond’s
attention goes elsewhere. Truettner makes
one last serious attempt at interviewing about nuclear propulsion (at
Oak Ridge, Tennessee) and is given a negative opinion on UFOs by Col. Ralph
L. Wassell. He, too, disappears from the project. The civilian
members are relieved of their duties and reassigned to other
intelligence tasks within T-2. For Loedding in particular, his role and
prestige are never the same. After a few further years of intelligence
work, both he and Truettner leave AMC. For the higher military ranks (Llewelyn and
Sneider),
all we know is that they are soon no longer involved, perhaps not even
assigned to the same base. Even Clingerman and
McCoy become
less involved, perhaps because they have also heard that their tenures
will soon be up and they will be sent to school and then transferred.
The only persons left active on the project are two of the lower ranks:
Lieut. Howard W. Smith and civilian George
W. Towles. Their
job is reduced basically to collection and filing. In this condition, or
worse, the Air Force commitment to a UFO investigation project will
remain until the summer of 1951. (Michael D. Swords, “Project Sign and
the Estimate of the Situation,” JUFOS 7 (2000): 52–53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1304
Date: 1/1/1949
Description: 5:00 p.m. Pilot Thomas
A. Rush and his wife are in a private plane flying east of Jackson,
Mississippi. They see a cigar-shaped object, 60 feet long and 10 feet
wide, cross their path at an altitude of 1,500–1,600 feet. It is only
about 500 feet distant. The speed is approximately 200 mph, and it
accelerates to 400–500 mph. The object makes a 50° turn and is visible
for 10–12 seconds. (NICAP, “Cigar-Shaped
Object Encountered by Bush Pilot”; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1949, January–June, The
Author, 1988, pp. 1–2; Sparks,
p. 46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1307
Date: 1/1/1949
Description: The CIA Office of Scientific Intelligence is established.
Willard
Machle becomes assistant director for scientific intelligence.
Problems almost immediately involve recruitment and filling positions
with competent professionals. (Rear Adm. R. H. Hillenkoetter, “Scientific
Intelligence,” January 4, 1949)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1306
Date: 1/4/1949
Time: 2 PM
Description: Witness: USAF pilot Capt. Paul Stoney, on ground. one flat
white, elliptical object with a matte top circled while oscillating to
the right and left, and then sped away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Hickam Field, Hawaii
ID: 17
Date: 1/4/1949
Description: 2:00 p.m. USAF pilot Capt. Paul
R. Stoney, on
the ground at Hickam Field [now part of Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam]
near Honolulu, Hawaii, sees a flat, white, elliptical object about the
size of a T-6 aircraft, circle at about 3,000 feet while oscillating to
the right and left. It is apparently several miles off the base and
slowly circling. It is bright white on the underside and darker on top
and possesses no other structures. It proceeds for 15 minutes to make
“rhythmical undulation” maneuvers in a cyclical manner. The “object
seemed to maneuver under control at all times completing 360° turns and
90° turns.” The object then “departed climbing (into the northeast) at
accelerated speed out of sight.” (NICAP, “Disc
Circles, Maneuvers, Climbs into the NE”; Sparks, p. 47)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1308
Date: 1/5/1949
Description: The USAF Technical Information Division at Wright-Patterson
AFB near Dayton, Ohio, transmits Project Sign’s list of UFO incidents to
the Air Weather Service for analysis and recommendations. (Jan
Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1309
Date: 1/6/1949
Description: Rocket shaped UFO sighted near Los Alamos, NM
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Los Alamos, NM
See also: 1/31/49
See also: 7/25/48
Date: 1/6/1949
Description: 5:30 p.m. PFC Everitt sees a bright-white, diamond-shaped
light in horizontal flight from southeast to northwest above the
Ordnance section at Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is about
1,500–2,000 feet altitude and flying faster than a jet. Possible meteor.
(NICAP, “Diamond-Shaped
Light”; Sparks,
p. 47)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1310
Date: 1/7/1949
Description: The Research and Development Board writes a memo to USAF
Intelligence on the green fireballs. It is signed by David Z. Beckley,
chief of the R&DB Technical Intelligence Branch. (Michael Hall and
Wendy Connors, “The Research and Development Board: Unanswered
Questions,” IUR 26, no. 2 (Summer 2001): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1311
Date: 1/10/1949
Description: FBI special agent Charlton
C. McSwain sends a memo to J.
Edgar Hoover enumerating the views of an AMC resident engineer
(identified only as “Mr. E”) with the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion
of Aircraft project at Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee that
the flying discs are human-made nuclear missiles originating in Russia.
(Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1949, January–June, The Author, 1988, pp. 6–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1312
Date: 1/11/1949
Description: Angered over his opposition to defense economization
policies and meeting secretly with Thomas
Dewey’s Republicans, Truman tells
Forrestal that
Louis
A. Johnson will soon replace him as Secretary of Defense.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1313
Date: 1/13/1949
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33 (1st Hermes II
test)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Date: 1/13/1949
Description: CONFIDENTIAL 4th Army MESSAGE: Col. Eustis L. Poland
stated: “Unconventional Aircraft” have been sighted (see Report, Control
No. A-1917). Possible Radiological warfare tests are being made over
sensitive Bases in NM area. A foreign power may be making “sensing
shots” with some super-stratosphere devise designed to be
self-disintegrating.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p482)
Location: NM
Date: 1/13/1949
Description: Col. Eustis
L. Poland of US Army Intelligence (G-2) sends a memo on behalf of
the Commander of Fourth Army at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas,
to the Director of Army Intelligence concerning the green fireballs. It
recommends a scientific study because “these incidents are of such great
importance, especially as they are occurring in the vicinity of
sensitive installations.” (Col. Eustis L. Poland, “Unconventional
Aircraft,” January 13, 1949; Good Above, pp. 265, 482)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1314
Date: 1/24/1949
Description: An FBI memo from D.
M. Ladd to Hoover documents
speculation on a Soviet nuclear-powered disc by USAF Col. Clyde
D. Gasser of the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft
(NEPA) project at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Gasser reports rumors coming
from Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio that nuclear-powered disc-shaped
planes might be making incursions into US airspace and returning to the
USSR over the North Pole. (D. M. Ladd, “Flying
Discs,”
January 24, 1949)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1315
Date: 1/27/1949
Time: 10:20 PM
Description: Witnesses: Capt. Sames, acting chief of the Aircraft
Branch, Eglin AFB, and Mrs. Sames. They watched for 25 minutes while a
cigar-shaped object as long as two Pullman cars and having seven lighted
square windows and throwing sparks, descended and then climbed with a
bouncing motion at an estimated 400 m.p.h.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Cortez-Bradenton, Florida
ID: 18
Date: 1/27/1949
Description: 10:20–11:20 p.m. Capt. Eckerman
Sannes, acting chief of the Aircraft Branch at Eglin AFB near
Valparaiso, Florida, and his wife are driving slowly on Cortez Road
between Bradenton and Cortez, Florida, when they observe a
“cucumber-shaped” object. The object, seen through binoculars, seems as
long as two Pullman cars, with 7 lighted, square windows. It is throwing
sparks and approximately 8–10 miles away. In the first sighting at 10:20
p.m., the object approaches from the south going north, moving from an
altitude of 8,000 feet in a gradual descent until lost behind trees. In
the second sighting at 11:20 p.m., the object is seen in the north,
heading south and making a gradual turn to the west. It descends then
climbs with a bouncing motion (up 4,000 feet, down 2,000 feet) at about
400–500 mph, resulting in an overall climb and loss to view at an
altitude of around 40,000 feet. The bouncing appears to start after the
final 270° course change to the west. (NICAP, “Two Sightings
of Object with Lighted Windows”; Sparks,
p. 49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1316
Date: 1/28/1949
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches 59.9km
attitude (Defective performance)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 59.9km
Date: 1/30/1949
Description: 5:54 p.m. Hundreds of people see a green meteor come out of
the northwest and vanish southwest of Roswell, New Mexico. It is
completely silent. (NICAP, “AFOSI
Case 18: Green Fireball Event Witnessed in New Mexico”;
Commanding Officer, Kirtland AFB, “Nr.
OSI-1-90,” January 31, 1949; Clark III 540; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1949, January–June, The Author, 1988, pp. 15–16; Sparks, p. 49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1317
Date: 1/31/1949
Description: MEMO, Director of FBI: Flying Saucers have been discussed
by the OSI, FBI and the Fourth Army and is “considered TOP SECRET by
Intelligence Officers of both the Army and the Air Forces.” It was
thought that the first UFOs over Sweden were of Russian origin. Memo
also makes reference to the Eastern Airlines sighting of July 25, 1948.
Also, on 10 different days, between 12/05/48 and 01/06/49, sightings of
UFOs were concentrated over the A.E.C. plant at Los Alamos, N.M.
(Circulation of this Memo to: El Paso, Little Rock, Dallas, Oklahoma
City)
Type: memo
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p483, B1-G p30)
Location: NM
See also: 7/25/48
See also: 7/47
See also: 8/4/50
Date: 1/31/1949
Description: Confidential Army Staff Message: Approx. 30 people sighted
UFO’s on Jan. 30, 1949. Estimate at least 100 total sightings. Sightings
reported from El Paso, Albuquerque, Alamogordo, Roswell, Socorro, and
other locations. All sightings appear to be of the same object viewed
from different angles. Will attempt to locate the impact point, if any.
(Possible search teams in UFOs.)
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A p53, CRASH)
Location: NM
Date: 1/31/1949
Description: Kirtland AFB in New Mexico notifies the Pentagon that it
will launch an immediate investigation of the green fireballs, noting
that “local commanders [are] perturbed by implications of phenomena.” LaPaz speaks
to dozens of witnesses of the January 30 fireball and manages a rough
triangulation of the fireball’s 143-mile path from Amarillo to Lamesa,
Texas. He estimates its speed at 25,000–50,000 mph, with a beginning
altitude of 60,000 feet and a final altitude around 40,000 feet. LaPaz
accompanies search teams to bring back any fragments. They end up in the
area of Lamesa but give up after a few days of fruitless search. He
later tells AFOSI agent Paul Ryan that the fireballs are artificial,
perhaps radio-controlled missiles directed by enemy agents in the
Southwest. (Commanding Officer, Kirtland AFB, “Nr.
OSI-1-90,” January 31, 1949; Clark III 540)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1318
Date: 1/31/1949
Description: The FBI field office in San Antonio, Texas, issues a memo
on UFOs, “Protection of Vital Installations.” It is sent to Hoover, G-2,
ONI, OSI, and mentions a meeting among these groups on UFOs, “considered
top secret by intelligence officers of both the army and the air
forces.” (SAC, San Antonio, “Protection
of Vital Installations, Bureau
File #65-58300,” January 31, 1949; ClearIntent, p. 149;
Good Above, pp. 267, 483)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1319
Date: 2/1949
Time: 1630
Description: C. A. V. an oil company employee, 30, was driving to Lima
when he saw a shiny disk at ground level. He walked toward it for 10
min. Three figures came out as he was 20 m away. They looked like
mummies, had joined legs and one large foot. They “slid” along the
ground. They were covered with a strange “towely” skin, asked the
witness where they were, had a lengthy discussion with him, and took him
for a trip in their craft.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 122 (Vallee)
Location: Pucusana, Peru
ID: 68
Date: 2/1949
Alternate date: 3/1949
Description: 4:30 p.m. A representative of the International Petroleum
Company, a subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey, is driving noth
along the Pan-American Highway about 6 miles south of Lima, Peru, when
he sees a metallic disc hovering low above the desert on his right. He
walks over to it, and three mummy-like creatures about 5 feet tall
emerge. They speak to him in both English and Spanish, explaining to him
that they come from another star system, are concerned about our use of
atomic energy, use solar power, no longer have sex, and reproduce by
subdividing. They invite him inside the disc, which from the inside has
transparent walls. He sees no instruments, only a padded ledge.
(Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, pp. 122–148)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1335
Date: 2/1949
Description: Part of the Final Report of Project SIGN, written by
Prof. George Valley, of MIT stating: “If there is an extraterrestrial
civilization which can make objects as are reported, then it is most
probable that its development is far in advance of ours. Such a
civilization might observe that on earth we now have atomic bombs and
are fast developing rockets. In view of the past history of mankind,
they would be alarmed. We should, therefore, expect at this time above
all to behold such visitations.”
Type: final report
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Dayton, OH
Date: 2/1949
Description: Chemist H.
Marshall Chadwell, from the New York office of the Atomic Energy
Commission, is appointed assistant director of scientific intelligence
at the CIA. (Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1320
Date: 2/1/1949
Description: Col. Hanna (?), assistant chief of the Power Plant
Laboratory (at Wright-Patterson?) and project engineer for Project Sign,
meets with other Project Sign personnel and concludes that
nuclear-powered UFOs are improbable. (Project Status Report on Project
Sign, February 4, 1949; Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1322
Date: early 2/1949
Description: Writer Sidney Shalett is given a guided tour of AMC at
Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio, a glimpse of low-interest UFO cases, and a
few conservative opinions by Air Force personnel. (Swords 73)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1321
Date: 2/4/1949
Description: CONFIDENTIAL Army Staff MESSAGE dated Jan. 31, 1949 read by
OSI: “all out investigation of possible crashed saucer, OK’d.”
Type: confidential message
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A p53, RECOVERY)
Date: 2/8/1949
Description: UCLA geophysicist Joseph
Kaplan meets with LaPaz at
the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. He finds LaPaz’s
understanding of the green fireball reports unsettling. He discusses the
matter with Capt. Melvin Neef and
Maj. William
Godsoe (Fourth Army Intelligence liaison officer at Sandia Base). He
promises to alert Scientific Advisory Board chairman Von
Kármán and urge an investigation. (Clark III 540)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1323
Date: 2/11/1949
Description: USAF Project “GRUDGE” started
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, OH
Date: 2/11/1949
Description: Project Sign releases a final sanitized report,
“Unidentified Aerial Objects: Project ‘Sign,’” Technical Report
F-TR-2274-1A, authored by Lawrence
Truettner and Albert
B. Deyarmond and approved by Col. Clingerman (chief
of USAF Technical Intelligence Division) and Col. Howard
McCoy (chief of the Intelligence Department). 72 pages are visible
in the NICAP copy and 1,537 pages (some illegible) are available on the
Blue Book microfilm. Its conclusions are based on 273 reports (243 US
and 30 foreign) and it summarizes the characteristics of four types of
UFOs: flying discs, cigar-shaped objects, spherical objects, and balls
of light. It acknowledges the possibility that “these aerial objects are
visitors from another planet” and refers to commentary in Appendix D by
James
Lipp of the RAND project. “No definite and conclusive evidence is
yet available that would prove or disprove the existence of these
unidentified objects as real aircraft of unknown and unconventional
configuration. It is unlikely that positive proof of their existence
will be obtained without examination of the remains of crashed
objects. Evaluation of reports of unidentified objects is a
necessary activity of military intelligence agencies. Such sightings are
inevitable, and under wartime conditions rapid and convincing solutions
of such occurrences are necessary to maintain morale of military and
civilian personnel. In this respect, it is considered that the
establishment of procedures and training of personnel is in itself worth
the effort expended on this project.” Truettner and Deyarmond, in a
between-the-lines rebuke of Cabell’s
order not to consider the ETH, recommend that if enough cases are
examined and proven to have no security risks, then the project should
be terminated. The report is distributed to AMC, USAF Intelligence
Directorate, ONR, Cambridge Labs, Air Weather Services, Hynek at
Ohio State University, the RAND Project, and the USAF Scientific
Advisory Board. (L. H. Truettner and A. B. Deyarmond, Unidentified
Aerial Objects: Project “Sign,” Air Materiel Command Technical
Report no. F-TR-2274-IA, February 1949; Sparks,
p. 12; Swords 72)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1325
Date: 2/11/1949
Description: Kaplan meets
in Washington, D.C., with Von
Kármán, who
is impressed enough to write Gen. Charles
P. Cabell that
the green fireballs look like a serious issue that needs to be
addressed, perhaps by LaPaz. (Swords
79, 497)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1324
Date: 2/12/1949
Description: Another realistic Spanish-language radio version of The War
of the Worlds is broadcast in Quito, Ecuador, causing panic, a riot, and
a major fire. (John Gosling, Waging the War of the Worlds, McFarland,
2009, pp. 102– 113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1327
Date: 2/12/1949
Description: Project Sign officially becomes Project Grudge. (Sparks,
p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1326
Date: 2/15/1949
Description: Maj. Gen. Cabell sets
out a revised list of Air Intelligence reporting requirements for
“unconventional aircraft.” (Maj. Gen. C. P. Cabell, “Unconventional
Aircraft,” Air Intelligence Requirements Memorandum no. 5, February
15, 1949)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1328
Date: 2/16/1949
Description: A Conference on Aerial Phenomena is held at Los Alamos
Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico with military representatives Lincoln
LaPaz, Norris
E. Bradbury, Marshall
Holloway, Frederick
Reines, and Edward Teller in
attendance. Representatives from Project Grudge are noticeably absent.
LaPaz tells the attendees that while most meteors are blue-green, the
green fireballs are described as pale green or yellow-green. Normal
meteors rarely move in long, horizontal paths with nearly constant
velocities. He says there are 10 incidents that strongly fit the pattern
and 20 others that might. The scientists agree to set up a series of
instrument stations to photograph and analyze the fireballs. Teller
thinks the fireballs might be electrical-optical phenomena. Navy
Commander Richard
S. Mandelkorn, who
is in attendance, writes in his report that “there is cause for concern
of the continued occurrences of unexplainable phenomena of this nature
in the vicinity of sensitive installations.” (Cmdr. Richard S.
Mandelkorn, Report
of a Trip to Los Alamos, New Mexico, 16 February 1949, February 18,
1949; Lt. Col. Doyle Rees, [Minutes
of February 16 Conference on Aerial Phenomena, Los Alamos], March
29, 1949; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1949, January–June, The
Author, 1988, pp. 23–53; Swords 79–80; Good Above, pp. 265–266)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1329
Date: 2/17/1949
Time: night
Description: Alain Berard saw a large, bright object land near his farm
with a green lightning flash. It became dark. As he approached the
craft, the witness saw three figures with stocky short legs, apparently
without heads. Frightened, he fired at them three times. A moment later
the object took off vertically.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Oltre il Cielo, Vol. I (Vallee)
Location: France, exact location unknown
ID: 69
Date: 2/17/1949
Description: 5:57 p.m. University of New Mexico Professor of Civil
Engineering Marvin May sees a brilliant white object in the west at 6°
elevation for less than 6 minutes in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The object
is first round then shifts to an ellipse as it approaches, then it
appears to be elongated like a bent pipe with corners, one full moon in
length. It makes a slight climbing turn to the north, shifts to peach
color as it makes a rapid sharp turning climb to the south, disappearing
in cloudless sky by diminishing in size and brightness. At the same
time, 100 guards at Sandia Base, New Mexico, including the officer of
the guard, see a yellow-orange cigar-shaped object for seven minutes.
(NICAP, “AFOSI
Case 24: Vertical Climb, Then Leveled Off”; Sparks,
p. 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1330
Date: 2/17/1949
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches
100.6km attitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 100.6km
Date: 2/18/1949
Description: Cabell writes
Von
Kármán and says he has a transcript of the Los Alamos meeting and
that Hynek is
studying the green fireballs topic. He adds: “It seems unlikely that
domestic incidents can be attributed to the activity of a foreign power
or a science unknown to our specialists.” (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1949, January–June, The
Author, 1988, pp. 12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1331
Date: 2/18/1949
Description: A Fourth Air Force letter quotes Project Sign’s
requirements for radar reporting, as stated by the Continental Air
Command (NORAD’s predecessor) on February 4. The USAF Air Defense
Command is subordinate to ConAC at this time. The requirements admit
that a “large number of targets appearing on radar screens remain
unidentified.” It refers to McCoy’s
November 30, 1948, letter on Sign’s preference for radar tracks of
aerial objects that show extremely fast or slow speeds, vertical or near
vertical ascent or descent, extraordinary maneuverability, and extreme
altitudes. (Clark III 810)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1332
Date: 2/23/1949
Description: McCoy sends
Capt. Roger Groseclose and Lt. Howard Smith to Kirtland AFB’s Office of
Special Investigations to discuss the green fireballs with LaPaz and
Neef and
to mollify them for not showing up at the February 16 conference. (Clark
III 541)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1333
Date: 2/24/1949
Description: Groseclose and Smith have an unpleasant exchange with Neef, LaPaz, Agent
Jack Boling, and Army Maj. Godsoe, who
says it’s not worth AFOSI’s time to conduct investigations for AMC. The
AMC officers retort that the fireballs are not an Army concern.
Groseclose and Smith say they are concerned with all anomalous aerial
phenomena. Disgusted, Godsoe leaves the room. Groseclose and Smith then
turn on LaPaz, criticizing him for only sending AMC raw data and not
finished analyses. LaPaz says he is on leave as a volunteer and must go
back to the University of New Mexico, unless he sees a contract.
However, AMC agrees to set up a network of observation posts with
cameras, transits, and trained personnel. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1949, January–June, The
Author, 1988, pp. 11, 14–15; Clark III 541)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1334
Date: 2/24/1949
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches
129km attitude (Successful flight. Separation of stages at 32.2
km)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 129km
Date: 3/1949
Description: An analysis of the Maury Island incident metal fragments
appears in the BSRA’s “Round Robin” publication
Type: publication
Reference: link
Location: San Diego, CA
Date: 3/1949
Description: Strategic Air Command head Gen. Curtis
LeMay delivers the first SAC Emergency War Plan, which calls for
dropping 133 atomic bombs on 70 cities in the USSR within 30 days. LeMay
predicts that World War III will last no longer than 30 days.
(Wikipedia, “Curtis
LeMay”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1336
Date: 3/2/1949
Description: Sidney Shalett provides the USAF Directorate of
Intelligence a draft of his upcoming article for review. The Air Force
is not pleased, objecting to Shalett stating an “official” USAF
position, his claim that the Air Force is his sole source of information
(although it is), a quote by Irving
Langmuir criticizing Project Sign, and any inference that the Air
Force and Navy are not cooperating. (Swords 73)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1337
Date: 3/6/1949
End date: 3/7/1949
Description: 8:30 p.m. Army Pvts. Martin Fensterman and Frank Luisi, on
security patrol near Killeen Base [now West Fort Hood], Texas, a nuclear
weapons storage site, see a flash of pale blue light in the sky to the
northeast. At 8:55 p.m., a quarter mile away, Pvt. Harold Moore sees a
white light with an orange trail flash across the western horizon. At
9:00 p.m., from inside the base boundary, Sgt. Hubert Vickery and Pfc.
John Ransom notice a pale blue-white light streaking across the western
sky low over the horizon. Between 1:15 and 2:00 a.m., four more security
patrols report burst of lights like a flash bulb. (SAC, San Antonio, “Protection
of Vital Installations, Bureau
File 65-58300,” March 22, 1949; Clark III 541–542;
Sparks, pp. 50–51; “Fort
Hood Sightings, 1949,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library,
February 5, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1338
Date: 3/8/1949
Description: 1:03 a.m. Two infantrymen half a mile apart at Killeen
Base, Texas, see apparently separate streaking bright lights (one white,
the other yellowish red). The latter one covers 60° of sky, appearing
and disappearing at about the same angle above the horizon. Cpl. Luke
Sims is able to run 10 paces to a field telephone before it vanishes.
All observers insist these are not meteors and are more like flares.
(NICAP, “Killeen
Base, Camp Hood, Texas, OSI
Case 39”; SAC, San Antonio, “Protection
of Vital Installations, Bureau File 65-58300,” March 22, 1949; Clark
III 542; Sparks, p. 52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1339
Date: 3/13/1949
Description: 9:53 p.m. Two MPs guarding the Technical Area at Sandia
Base, New Mexico, see a silent, spherical object, bluish- or
greenish-white, with a flaming blue tail twice as long as the body,
which is apparently half the size of the full moon. (NICAP, “March
13, 1949, Sandia Base, NM, OSI Case 40”; Sparks, p. 52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1340
Date: 3/15/1949
Description: A memo on UFOs to Willard
Machle by a Dr. Stone from the CIA Office of Scientific
Investigation dismisses the idea of UFOs as foreign aircraft and
suggests they are misidentifications of other phenomena. (ClearIntent,
p. 113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1341
Date: 3/17/1949
Time: 7:52 PM
Description: Witnesses: guards of the 2nd Armored Division. While
awaiting the start of a flare firing, they watched, for an hour, while
eight large, green, red and white flare-like objects flew in generally
straight lines.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Camp Hood, Texas
ID: 19
Date: 3/17/1949
Description: Seven sightings of large, green, red, and white flares take
place at Killeen Base, Texas, including the previously skeptical
Capt. Horace
McCulloch, assistant G-2 of the Second Armored Division at Camp
Hood, who is driving between Camp Hood and Killeen Base to prepare a
test firing of some flares to prove that recent sightings are not
anomalous. McCulloch puts the entire base on alert. (Clark III 542; Sparks,
p. 52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1342
Date: 3/21/1949
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches 133.5km
attitude (Blossom 3 — Parachute not ejected)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 133.5km
Date: 3/22/1949
Description: SAC San Antonio, Texas, sends a memo to FBI headquarters
regarding the January 31 communication on Protection of Vital
Installations, emphasizing that USAF and the Army consider the matter
“secret.” Fourth Army Intelligence is now calling UFOs “unconventional
aircraft” and ATIC’s office is now Project Grudge. It also discusses
green fireball cases. (SAC, San Antonio, “Protection
of Vital Installations, Bureau File 65-58300,” March 22, 1949)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1343
Date: 3/25/1949
Description: J.
Edgar Hoover sends a memo to a large number of FBI offices
indicating that “flying discs are believed to be man-made missiles
rather than natural phenomenon,” probably made in Russia. (John Edgar
Hoover, “Flying Discs,”
March 25, 1949; ClearIntent, p. 161)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1344
Date: 3/28/1949
Description: James
Forrestal leaves office in a formal ceremony. He rides back to the
Pentagon with his opponent Stuart Symington, who
talks to him about something troubling. Forrestal appears traumatized.
Forrestal sits in his office, dazed and incoherent, repeating, “You are
a loyal fellow.”
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1345
Date: 3/31/1949
Description: Forrestal is
flown to Hobe Beach, Florida, to stay with his friend Under Secretary of
State Robert
A. Lovett, where his wife is vacationing. He meets with psychiatrist
William
C. Menninger (who diagnoses “severe depression” of the type “seen in
operational fatigue during the war”) and psychologist Capt. George N.
Raines from the Naval Hospital at Bethesda, Maryland. Forrestal has
several hysterical episodes when they are there, ranting about
Communists following him, and perhaps one suicide attempt.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1346
Date: 3/31/1949
Description: CIA’s H. L. Bowers writes a memo to Dr. Machle, “Notes
and Comments on Unidentified Aerial Objects– Project Sign,” stating that
Deyarmond thinks
UFOs will turn out to be another “sea serpent.” Nonetheless, they must
be investigated. (Document released to Brad
Sparks but not in subsequent CIA FOIA releases; Good Above, p. 330)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1347
Date: 3/31/1949
Description: 11:50 p.m. Lieut. Frederick Davis, on patrol east of
Killeen Base, Texas, sees a reddish-white ball of fire passing
horizontally above the base airstrip. After 10–15 seconds it disappears
without descending. He notes interference on the telephone line when he
calls the report in. (NICAP, “Field
Telephone Affected by BOL”; Clark III 542; Sparks, p. 53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1348
Date: 4/1949
Description: 2 UFO’s tracked by theodolite at White Sands, New
Mexico.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico
Date: 4/2/1949
Description: Menninger and
Raines fly Forrestal to
the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he can be
treated quietly. On the drive to the hospital from the airport,
Forrestal attempts to jump out of the car but is restrained. Forrestal
declares he does not expect to leave the hospital alive. He is admitted
under the care of Raines, who diagnoses him with involutional
melancholia and places him in a VIP suite on the 16th floor. Forrestal’s
personal diaries are removed from his old office and taken to the White
House, where they remain for a year.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1349
Date: 4/3/1949
Time: 11:55 AM
Description: Witnesses: construction company owner Gosta Miller and
three other unnamed persons. One object shaped like two plates attached
face-to-face; matte bottom, bright aluminum top; 20’ diameter, 4-5’
thickness. It rocked or rotated in six cycles, descended, rocked, flew,
rocked; all this was very fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Dillon, Montana
ID: 20
Date: 4/3/1949
Description: Broadcaster Walter
Winchell announces on his radio program that the “flying saucers,
never explained by anyone in authority are now definitely known to have
been guided missiles shot all the way from Russia.” (“Anatomy
of a Hoax, Part Two,” Saturday Night Uforia)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1350
Date: 4/4/1949
Time: 10:20 PM
Description: Witness: William Parrott, former Air Force pilot and major.
One generally round object with a curved bottom and dull coloring. The
object gave off a clicking sound until overhead. Parrott’s dog reacted.
35 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Merced, California
ID: 21
Date: 4/5/1949
Description: 10:00 p.m. A huge green fireball with a red afterglow is
seen streaking approximately 300 feet above the southern slope of
Fejarito Mountain, near Los Alamos, New Mexico. It disappears behind the
mountain. Another fireball is seen at 11:00 p.m., and the next two
nights. (NICAP, “1949
UFO Chronology”; Sparks, p. 54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1351
Date: 4/8/1949
Description: In response to Winchell’s
claim, the Air Force admits it is impossible to “deny categorically”
that the flying saucers originate in Russia. A spokesman says that some
unknown incidents are placed in a classified category, denied to
everyone except authorized military personnel. (“Air
Force Isn’t Committing Self on Flying Disks,” Cedar Rapids (Iowa)
Gazette, April 8, 1949, p. 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1352
Date: 4/9/1949
Description: Forrestal has
been treated for one week at the National Naval Medical Center in
Bethesda, Maryland,with narcosis through sodium amytal. For the next 30
days, he undergoes a regimen of insulin sub-shock combined with
psycho-therapeutic interviews. Raines says the treatment occasionally
throws Forrestal into a confused state with a great deal of agitation
and confusion.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1353
Date: 4/11/1949
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches 87.2km
attitude (Degraded performance from 43s)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 87.2km
Date: 4/14/1949
Description: Col. Reid
Lumsden, commander
of the AFOSI district office at Kelly AFB [now Kelly Field Annex] in San
Antonio, Texas, hands the Army reports of flares at Killeen Base to Col.
William Carpenter, deputy director of special investigations at the
Pentagon. Carpenter promises to investigate. (Clark III 542) April 16
and 18 — Mysterious flares are again observed at Killeen Base, Texas.
(Brad Sparks and Jerome Clark, “The Southwestern Lights, Part Three,”
IUR 10, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1985): 10; Clark III 542)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1354
Date: 4/18/1949
Description: The US Air Force Security Service moves its headquarters
from Arlington Hall in Washington, D.C., to Brooks Air Force Base in San
Antonio, Texas. (Wikipedia, “Air
Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance
Agency”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1355
Date: 4/19/1949
Description: AFOSI at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, sends to USAF
headquarters a list of all green fireball reports it has investigated
(39 in all) from December 5 to April 12. The common characteristics of
most of the incidents are: “a. Green color, sometimes described as
greenish-white, bright green, yellow-green, or blue green. b. Horizontal
path, sometimes with minor variations. c. Speed less than that of a
meteor, but more than any known type of aircraft. d. No sound associated
with observation. e. No persistent trail or dust cloud. f. Period of
visibility from one to five seconds.” (“The
Scientific Advisory Board to the Chief of Staff, United States Air
Force, Conference,” November 3, 1949; Clark III 541; Swords
133–135)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1356
Date: 4/21/1949
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches 49.9km
attitude (Premature V-2 cut-off; WAC stage failed to fire)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 49.9km
Date: 4/22/1949
Description: 9:05 a.m. A round, flat, thin, metallic disc is seen
traveling west to east, dropping slowly, over Cliff, New Mexico. (Sparks, p. 55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1357
Date: 4/24/1949
Description: Arrey, NM: Aerologist Charles B. Moore, Jr., while tracking
a weather balloon for General Mills Co. with a theodolite, suddenly
noticed a UFO rapidly crossing the sky. He and 4 other technicians
turned the 25 power theodolite to track the UFO. It was a featureless
ellipse, its length about 2–1/2 times its width. After about 60 seconds
the object disappeared in a sharp climb. Based on measurements with the
mountain range behind it, it was calculated to be going between 18,000
mph and 25,000 mph (in the atmosphere!).
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Arrey, NM
Date: 4/24/1949
Time: l0:30 AM
Description: Witnesses: General Mills meteorologist and balloon expert
C.B. Moore and others on a balloon launch crew. One white, round
ellipsoid, about 2.5 times as long as wide.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Arrey, New Mexico
ID: 22
Date: 4/24/1949
Description: 10:30 a.m. General Mills meteorologist Charles
B. Moore and four Navy Skyhook balloon launch crewmen (Navy Chief
Fire Controlman William Akers, Davidson, Fitzsimmons, Moorman) see a
white, round object, shadowed yellowish on one side, cross the sky from
the south to the east, three miles north of Arrey, New Mexico. Joseph
Gordon Vaeth is present as the Navy representative in charge of
ground handling. Moore tracks it for 60 seconds on a theodolite. The
distance is unknown, but assuming the object is 57 miles away, it would
have a velocity of 18,000 mph, a width of 40 feet, and a length of 100
feet; but this is speculative. (NICAP, “White Sands
Incident / C. B. Moore Case”; R. B. McLaughlin, [Letter
to J. A. VanAllen], May 12, 1949; J. Gordon Vaeth, 200 Miles Up: The
Conquest of the Upper Air, Ronald Press, 1951; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified
Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects,
Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong.,
2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 63–64; ClearIntent, pp. 114–115;
UFOEv, pp. 2–3;
Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 72–73;
Sparks, pp. 56–57;
Brad Sparks and Jerome Clark, “The Southwestern Lights, Part Three,” IUR
10, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1985): 8–9; Kevin D. Randle, “Charles Moore, New
Mexico UFOs, and the Air Force,” IUR 20, no. 5 (Winter 1995): 3–4;
Michael D. Swords, “1952: Ruppelt’s Big Year,” IUR 28, no. 4 (Winter
2003–2004): 10; Michael D. Swords, “Balloons, Missiles, and UFOs,” IUR
29, no. 1 (Spring 2004):16–17; Swords 84–85; Clark III 541)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1358
Date: 4/25/1949
Description: 6:30 a.m. A man named Abreu and a friend are fishing at
Springer Lake, northwest of Springer, New Mexico, when they hear a
high-pitched whistle and see a number of silvery-white balls passing
overhead quickly. They reappear repeatedly over the next hour. (NICAP,
“Various
Formations Observed”; Clark III 541; Sparks, p. 57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1359
Date: 4/25/1949
Description: Lt. Col. Doyle
Rees wires AFOSI headquarters to ask if he can send two of his men
to AMC to find out if Project Grudge plans to do anything about the
green fireballs. Before Rees has a response, Joseph
Kaplan arrives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, having been directed
there by AF Intelligence Director Maj. Gen. Charles
Cabell and Scientific Advisory Board Chairman Theodore
Von Kármán, who wants Kaplan to set up a field investigation. They
emphasize that Grudge is not to be informed. (Clark III 542; Loren E.
Gross, UFOs,
a History:
1949, January–June, The
Author, 1988, p. 52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1360
Date: 4/27/1949
Description: USAF press release admits that saucers may exist
Type: historical event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 4/27/1949
Description: Rees, Kaplan, and
LaPaz brief
Armed Forces Special Weapons Project personnel at Sandia Base, New
Mexico. LaPaz outlines plans for a network of visual, photographic,
spectrographic, and radar observations covering Los Alamos, Sandia, and
White Sands. Scientist William
D. Crozier of the New Mexico School of Mines offers to handle air
sampling. Rees urges that the Killeen Base in Texas be included. Kaplan,
who says the project is “of extreme importance” because “these
occurrences relate to the National Defense of the United States,”
recommends LaPaz to handle the project. (Lt. Col. Doyle Rees, “Unknown
(Aerial Phenomena),” May 12, 1949; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1949
January–June, Supplemental
Notes, The Author, 2000, pp. 60–62; Clark III 542)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1361
Date: 4/27/1949
Description: 9:20 p.m. Two Army patrolmen southeast of Killeen Base,
Texas, see a blinking violet light no more than 1.5 inches in diameter
and only 10–12 feet from them, 6–7 feet above the ground. During the
60-second observation, the light passes through the branches of a tree.
At 9:25 p.m., 2 miles away, four Army soldiers see a 4-inch light with a
2–4-inch metallic cone attached to the back. It silently approaches them
in a level flight at 60–70 mph. It disappears to the southwest at a
distance of 150 feet. At about 9:37 p.m., a 2-inch-wide white light
appears 100 feet away to the northwest, flying in a zig-zag fashion in a
level path 6 feet above the ground. It vanishes abruptly. A third light
shows up at 9:39 p.m. in the west-southwest. (NICAP, “Close
Encounters with Drones/Probes at Weapons
Storage Site”; Sparks, pp. 57–58;
Brad Sparks and Jerome Clark, “The Southwestern Lights, Part Three,” IUR
10, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1985): 10; Clark III 542)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1364
Date: 4/27/1949
Description: USAF Directorate of Intelligence briefs the USAF Deputy
Chief of Staff for Operations on UFOs. “Investigations continue in an
effort to find definite explanations for the many unidentified aerial
objects which have been reported during the past two years.” (“Unidentified
Aerial Objects,” Air Brief, Special Study Part Two, April 27,
1949)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1362
Date: 4/27/1949
Description: A 22-page memorandum for the press (629-49) on “Project
Saucer” is released by the Pentagon Office of Public Information,
scheduled deliberately to coincide with part one of Shalett’s article in
the Saturday Evening Post. The writer is unknown, but it is more pro-ETH
than the current Project Grudge mentality, listing several solid and
dramatic cases. It concludes: “The ‘saucers’ are not a joke. Neither are
they a cause for alarm to the population.” The discrepancy between
Shalett’s mostly dismissive tone and the positivity of the Project
Saucer statement causes Maj. Donald
E. Keyhoe to wonder if there is a major disagreement about UFOs
within the Air Force. (National Military Establishment, Office of Public
Information, “Project
‘Saucer,’” April 27, 1949; Swords 74–75)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1363
Date: 4/28/1949
Description: USAF Director of Intelligence Charles
Cabell sends a report on “Unidentified Aerial Objects” to the Joint
Intelligence Committee. It summarizes the history of Project Sign up to
its redesignation as Grudge and adds an appendix on “Unidentified Aerial
Objects: Fact and Discussion,” which is basically a short version of the
sanitized February 11 Sign report, with some green fireball information
added. It recommends sending reports of unidentified “light phenomena”
to the scientific community and reports of “atomic powered craft of
unusual design” to the AEC. It concludes that “There are numerous
reports from reliable and competent observers for which a conclusive
explanation has not been made” and that some “involve configurations and
described performance which might conceivably represent an advanced
aerodynamical development. A few unexplained incidents surpass these
limits of credulity. It is unlikely that a foreign power would expose a
superior aerial weapon by a prolonged ineffectual penetration of the
United States.” This essentially resurrects the ETH as a possibility,
without clearly stating it. (“Report
by the Director of Intelligence, USAF, to the Joint Intelligence Committee
on Unidentified Aerial Objects,” April 28, 1949; Jan Aldrich, “Top-Secret
1949 Document,” IUR 23, no. 1 (Spring 1998): 3–6, 31; Swords
76–77)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1365
Date: 4/28/1949
Description: Some printed copies of Air Intelligence Report 100-203-79,
“Analysis of Flying Object Incidents in the United States,” bear this
date, although it was originally released December 10, 1948. (US Air
Force, Directorate of Intelligence, Analysis
of Flying Object Incidents in the U.S.: Summary and Conclusions, Air
Intelligence Report 100-203-79, December 10, 1948; copy,
dated April 28, 1949)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1366
Date: 4/28/1949
Time: 5:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: Howard Hann, Mr. Hubert, Tex Keahey. One bright,
sausage-shaped object was observed for 40 minutes while it rolled and
flew fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tucson, Arizona
ID: 23
Date: 4/28/1949
Description: Kaplan, LaPaz, Rees, and
Neef meet
with security officers at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico
to discuss green fireball observations at that facility. (Loren E.
Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1949 January–June, Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2000, pp. 62–63)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1367
Date: 4/28/1949
Description: 8:00 a.m. Businessman and private pilot Leon A. Faber is
flying at 3,000 feet near the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City,
Indiana, when he sees a metallic disc moving east about 10,000 feet
away. He is chatting with some ham radio operators on the ground during
the 5 minutes the object is in sight before it disappears. (NICAP, “Flying
Saucer Observed from Aircraft”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1368
Date: 4/28/1949
Description: 5:45 p.m. Howard Hann [Hamm?], a Mr. Hubert [Huber?], and
Tex Keahey see a very large, bright, sausage- shaped object travel from
northeast to southwest over the rim of the Catalina Mountains near
Tucson, Arizona, over a period of 12 minutes. The object is shiny
metallic and reflects the sun, apparently revolving as it moves like the
“slow roll of an airplane.” There is no noise, nor is there exhaust or a
vapor trail. There are no wings or engines or “protuberances of any
sort.” It appears to be traveling at 300–600 mph. (NICAP, “Cigar-Shaped
Object Observed
in Daylight”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1369
Date: 4/28/1949
Description: 8:30 p.m. Several security patrols at Killeen Base, Texas,
report nine separate sightings of lights southeast of the base. Most
change color from white to red to green. On one occasion, four lights
appear together; on another, 8–10 show up in each other’s company. No
debris or evidence of flares are found. (Brad Sparks and Jerome Clark,
“The Southwestern Lights, Part Three,” IUR 10, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1985):
10; Clark III 543; Sparks,
p. 58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1370
Date: 4/29/1949
Description: The April 30 issue of the Saturday Evening Post with part
one of Sidney Shalett’s “What You Can Believe about Flying Saucers” hits
the newsstands. The USAF Public Relations Office has cooperated fully
with Shalett, who sets out a fairly even-handed introduction to the
phenomenon. (Sidney Shalett, “What
You Can Believe about
Flying Saucers, Part One,” Saturday Evening Post, April 30, 1949,
pp. 20–21, 136–139; Swords 73)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1371
Date: 4/30/1949
Description: Hynek turns
in his astronomical analysis of Sign’s 237 cases. His contract with Sign
is over. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 199–200;
Hynek UFO Report, p. 17;
O’Connell 45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1372
Date: 5/4/1949
Description: The US Fourth Army creates an operational plan for a green
fireball observation and tracking network at Killeen Base in Camp Hood,
Texas. Although it lacks cameras, it has four six-man observation posts
equipped with instruments to obtain directional bearings. One of the
posts serves as the plotting center to coordinate and triangulate UFO
sightings. Each day, a roving patrol gets new orders. (Brad Sparks and
Jerome Clark, “The Southwestern Lights, Part Three,” IUR 10, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1985): 10–12; Clark III 543; Thomas Tulien, ed., Proceedings
of the Sign Historical Group UFO History Workshop, Sign Historical
Group, November 2001, pp. 43–44).
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1373
Date: 5/5/1949
Time: 11:40 AM
Description: Witnesses: Army officers Maj. Day, Maj. Olhausen,
Capt. Vaughn. Two oblong white discs, flying at an estimated 200-250
m.p.h., made a shallow turn during the 30-50 second observation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ft. Bliss, Texas
ID: 24
Date: 5/5/1949
Description: 11:40 a.m. Army officers Maj. Charles D. May Jr., Maj.
James N. Olhausen, and Capt. Molloy
C. Vaughn on the Waco no. 4 firing range at Fort Bliss, Texas, watch
for 30–50 seconds two oblong white discs pass through a field of fire.
They are flying at about 200–250 mph at an altitude of 1,000 feet. The
objects make a shallow turn. (NICAP, “May
5, 1949, 1140 MST, Fort Bliss, Texas”; Sparks,
p. 59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1375
Date: 5/5/1949
Description: 10:00 a.m. The Fourth US Army has approached AFOSI in San
Antonio to offer assistance in investigating green fireballs and the
Killeen lights. They arrange a meeting with AFOSI, ONI, CIC, the FBI,
and the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project at Camp Hood, Killeen,
Texas, the first of several weekly meetings. Army and Navy officials
agree that the fireballs remain unexplained. AFSWP personnel believe
they are natural phenomena; AFOSI and FBI give no opinion. The Fourth
Army urges AFOSI to create an observation system, even though it had
just secretly created one of its own on May 4. (Brad Sparks and Jerome
Clark, “The Southwestern Lights, Part Three,” IUR 10, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1985): 10–11; Clark III 543)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1374
Date: 5/5/1949
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches 8.85km
attitude (Second Hermes II ‘Organ’ test of ramjet diffuser in place of
payload section)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 8.85km
Date: 5/6/1949
Description: Part two of Shalett’s article on UFOs appears in the May 7
issue of the Saturday Evening Post, which takes a more skeptical tone
than the first part, with the Gorman case receiving a particularly harsh
thrashing. However, he treats Chiles-Whitted favorably and ends with
some hints on how to make good observations. Within a few days, the
frequency of UFO reports hits an all-time high. USAF issues another long
press release completely debunking UFOs, but it has no effect. (Sidney
Shalett, “What
You Can Believe about Flying Saucers, Part Two,” Saturday Evening
Post, May 7, 1949, pp. 36, 184–186; Swords 74; Ruppelt, p. 63)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1378
Date: 5/6/1949
Description: Soviet test pilot Arkady Ivanovich Apraksin takes a new
airplane for a flight at the Kapustin Yar site, Astrakhan Oblast,
Russia. At its maximum ceiling of 9.3 miles, he encounters a
cucumber-shaped object, similar to the one he encountered on June 16,
1948, that directs cones of light at his aircraft from a distance of 6–7
miles. The lights cause his communications equipment to fail and damage
part of his plexiglass cockpit canopy that results in a loss of air
pressure. He manages to land on the banks of the Volga River 30 miles
from Saratov. He wakes up in a hospital in Saratov. He again undergoes
intense interrogation, psychotherapy, and medical procedures. (Good
Above, pp. 221–223;
Joe Brill, “UFO’s behind the Iron Curtain,” Skylook, no. 87, February
1975, p. 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1376
Date: 5/6/1949
Description: Col. Lumsden of
the San Antonio, Texas, AFOSI office informs headquarters that the
“matter has reached a fairly serious stage and some positive action is
necessary.” He does not send this message to Project Grudge.
Headquarters responds quickly and orders him to investigate all
sightings but reminds him to inform AMC. (Brad Sparks and Jerome Clark,
“The Southwestern Lights, Part Three,” IUR 10, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1985):
11; Clark III 543)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1377
Date: 5/6/1949
Time: 9:35 AM
Description: Witness: C. G. Green. Two shiny, disc-like objects rotated
around each other and banked. Then one shot upwards with a grey trail
and rejoined the other. The sighting lasted 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Livermore, California
ID: 25
Date: 5/9/1949
Time: 2:30 PM
Description: Witness: M/Sgt. Troy Putnam. Two round, flat silvery
objects, estimated to be 25’ in diameter, flew 750-1,000 m.p.h. in a
banked but steady manner.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tucson, Arizona
ID: 26
Date: 5/9/1949
Description: Naval Unit Commander Robert
B. McLaughlin, with several other officers, witnesses a white object
overhead during the launch of a WAC Corporal B rocket at White Sands
Proving Ground, New Mexico. It disappears “in a blinding burst of speed
to the west.” (R. B. McLaughlin, [Letter
to J. A. VanAllen], May 12, 1949; Sparks,
p. 61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1381
Date: 5/9/1949
Description: Editor Ken
Purdy asks Maj. Donald
E. Keyhoe to investigate the flying saucer mystery for True
magazine, warning him to watch out for “fake tips” from the Pentagon.
Keyhoe is initially skeptical, but after talking to his old friends Adm.
Delmer
S. Fahrney and Adm. Calvin
M. Bolster, his
opinion changes. (Keyhoe, The Flying Saucers Are Real, Gold Medal, 1950,
pp. 18–22,
44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1380
Date: 5/9/1949
Description: An article in Time magazine reports on the Air Force press
release, remarking that “Spinners of yarns about flying saucers,
including a score or so of Air Force pilots, stuck stoutly to their
stories.” (“Things
That Go Whiz,” Time, May 9, 1949; “Anatomy
of a Hoax, Part Six,” Saturday Night Uforia)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1379
Date: 5/11/1949
Description: Israel admitted to the UN
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: New York City
Date: 5/12/1949
Description: 9:30 p.m. Astronomer Donald
H. Menzel leaves Holloman AFB on Highway 70 for Alamogordo, New
Mexico. Shortly after noticing the star Antares, he sees another fuzzy
object in the sky nearer to the horizon. A second object appears three
degrees to the south. Determining that the objects are not Castor and
Pollux or reflections, Menzel watches them another 4 minutes. Both
objects vanish abruptly. (Donald H. Menzel, Flying Saucers, Harvard
University, 1953, pp. 3–4, 99–100;
Sparks, p. 62;
J. Allen Hynek, “Vignettes of UFO History: Dr. Menzel Reports a UFO!”
IUR 7, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1982): 11; Clark III 741–742)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1383
Date: 5/12/1949
Description: Commander McLaughlin writes
to his friend, atmospheric physicist James
Van Allen, describing the Moore theodolite
case and his own sighting a few days earlier. He thinks they must
involve technology because they have been seen accelerating and
maneuvering. (R. B. McLaughlin, [Letter
to J. A. VanAllen], May 12, 1949)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1382
Date: 5/13/1949
Description: Newspaper coverage of BSRA’s “second memorandum of
importance” on flying discs.
Type: publication
Reference: Newspapers.com
Reference: Medium
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Date: 5/18/1949
Description: Reply letter concerning BSRA’s “second memorandum of
importance”, concerning a solution to the flying saucer mystery, from
Air Materiel Command Wright-Patterson AFB Col. Clingerman, Chief
Analysis Division, Intelligence Department. Memorandum was forwarded to
analysts for review and study. Found in the private BSRA archives now at
the AFU in Sweden.
Type: memorandum
Reference: Twitter
Location: Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton OH
Date: 5/18/1949
Description: George N. Raines leaves Washington, D.C., for four days to
attend a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. He says Forrestal seems
“somewhat better,” having regained 12 pounds.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1384
Date: 5/18/1949
Description: Walter
Winchell, in
his “On Broadway” syndicated column, writes: “The N.Y. World-Telegram on
Saturday [May 14] confirmed this reporter’s exclusive report of several
weeks before—which newspapermen have denied—about the Flying Saucers . .
. Said the front-page piece in the W-T: ‘Air Force people are convinced
the flying disc is real. The clincher came when the air force got a
picture recently of three discs flying formation over Stephenville,
Newfoundland. [The July 10, 1947, hole-in-the-cloud case?] They
outdistanced our fastest ships. Some air force men believe the discs are
a new type flying machine utilizing gyroscopic principles’ . . . At the
time we added that the reality of the flying discs or saucers could not
be denied truthfully.” (“Anatomy
of a Hoax, Part
Two,” Saturday Night Uforia)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1385
Date: 5/19/1949
Description: Wright-Patterson Air Material Intelligence Commander Col.
Howard
McCoy forwards a copy of the Project Sign final report to the
Research and Development Board, along with some appendices that later
find their way into the Project Grudge final report. (Michael Hall and
Wendy Connors, “The Research and Development Board: Unanswered
Questions,” IUR 26, no. 2 (Summer 2001): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1386
Date: 5/19/1949
Description: The Fourth Army’s observation system near Killeen Base,
Texas (without cameras, but with four 6-man observation posts equipped
with instruments), is revealed to the intelligence community at one of
its weekly meetings. Two trucks serve as a roving Artillery Patrol
observation post linked to the Killeen plotting center by radio. AFOSI
Lt. Col. Doyle
Rees has meanwhile set up a 24-hour visual observation post in the
Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is equipped with a
wide-angle-lens camera fitted with a spectrographic grating. (Brad
Sparks and Jerome Clark, “The Southwestern Lights, Part Three,” IUR 10,
no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1985): 12; Thomas Tulien, ed., Proceedings
of the Sign Historical Group UFO History Workshop, Sign Historical
Group, November 2001, pp. 43–44; Clark III 543)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1387
Date: 5/21/1949
Description: 1:30 p.m. An F-82 is dispatched from Moses Lake AFB [now
Grant County International Airport] in Washington State to intercept a
UFO that is hovering in restricted air space over the Hanford Atomic
Works at an altitude of 17,000–20,000 feet. The silvery disc is seen
from the ground at Hanford and on radar. Before the F-82 can take off,
the disc speeds away faster than a jet fighter. It disappears from
ground radar and the F-82 cannot locate it. (NICAP, “Hanford
AEC Plant / F-82/RV Case”; Sparks, p. 63;
Hynek UFO Report, p. 141)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1388
Date: 5/22/1949
Description: 1:45 a.m. At the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda,
Maryland, Forrestal is
awake and refuses a sedative. Five minutes later, the Navy corpsman
guarding him finds the room empty. Forrestal’s body is found on a
third-floor roof below the 16th-floor kitchen, No suicide note is found
other than part of a translation of Sophocles’s
tragedy Ajax that he is copying. (Wikipedia, “James
Forrestal”; J. C. Hawkins, Betrayal at Bethesda: The Intertwined
Fates of James Forrestal, Joseph McCarthy, and John F. Kennedy, The
Author, 2017; David Martin, The Assassination of James Forrestal,
McCabe, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1389
Date: 5/22/1949
Description: Secretary Forrestal (MJ-3) found dead after falling 16
floors from an insane asylum window, supposedly shouting, “we’re being
invaded!” before he fell to his death. Some suspect he was murdered to
silence him.
Type: historical event
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A)
Location: Bethesda Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland
Date: 5/24/1949
Description: 5:00 p.m. Five witnesses (NACA Ames Research Lab employees
Don Heaphy, Gilbert Rivera and his wife, Mrs. Roy L. McBeth, and
Mrs. William McBeth) on a fishing boat on the Rogue River, Oregon, near
Elephant Rock, see a round, silvery object the size of a transport
aircraft. It comes from the east, then turns southwest and leaves no
exhaust trail. The disc appears flattened and has a wrinkled surface
with a vertical stabilizer fin. The time of observation is less than 3
minutes. (NICAP, “The
Rogue River Incident”; Sparks,
p. 64; Swords 83–84; Bruce Maccabee, “An
Assessment of the UFO Sighting at Rogue River, Oregon (May 24,
1949),” December 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1390
Date: 5/27/1949
Description: 2:25 p.m. Pilot and businessman Joseph
Shell, ferrying an SNJ trainer for North American Aviation from Red
Bluff, California, to Burns, Oregon, sees 5–8 oval objects, twice as
long as wide and one-fifth as thick, around Hart Mountain, Oregon. They
fly in trail formation, with an interval equal to 3–4 times their
length, except that the second and third are closer together. (NICAP,
“Pilot
Encounters 5–8 Egg-Shaped Metallic Objects”; Sparks,
p. 65)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1391
Date: 5/27/1949
Time: 2:25 PM
Description: Witness: Joseph Shell, ferrying SNJ trainer for North
American Aviation, from Red Bluff, California, to Burns, Oregon. Five to
eight oval objects, twice as long as wide, and 1/5 as thick. They flew
in trail formation, with an interval equal to 3-4 times their length,
except that the second and third were closer together.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: South-central Oregon
ID: 27
Date: 5/31/1949
Description: The Navy review board, convened by Adm. Morton
D. Willcutts, completes hearings on James
Forrestal’s death. The cause of death is remarkably inconclusive,
and the investigation leaves many questions unanswered.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1393
Date: 5/31/1949
Description: The Air Force Office of Special Investigations sends
Project Grudge a copy of Rees’s
report on Kaplan’s
visit on April 28, the trip that USAF Intelligence had arranged to
explore the possibility of a clandestine investigation separate from
Grudge. Thus AMC learns of the conspiracy to keep it in the dark, but
Rees fails to mention the involvement of USAF Intelligence. (Brad Sparks
and Jerome Clark, “The Southwestern Lights, Part Three,” IUR 10, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1985): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1392
Date: 6/6/1949
Description: 9:05 p.m. Two observation posts at Killeen Base, Fort Hood,
Texas, spot a hovering orange light. Lts. Virgil Williams and Marvin L.
Jones are at one site and Lts. Bernard G. Raferty and Alfred
H. Jones are at the other. When they triangulate its location, they
find it is 3 miles south of one observation post and 4.5 miles south of
the plotting center, hovering 5,280 feet in the air. It is 30–70 feet in
diameter. Suddenly it starts moving in level flight, then bursts into
small particles. The duration is less than 3 minutes. This observation
involves the first real- time triangulation of a UFO sighting. (Brad
Sparks and Jerome Clark, “The Southwestern Lights, Part Three,” IUR 10,
no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1985): 12; Clark III 543; Sparks, p. 66;
Thomas Tulien, ed., Proceedings
of the Sign Historical
Group UFO History Workshop, Sign Historical Group, November 2001,
p. 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1396
Date: 6/10/1949
Description: White Sands, NM: Scientists tracking a test missile at 2k
ft/second suddenly picked up two small circular UFOs that paced the
missile. One of the UFO’s passed thru the missiles exhaust and rejoined
the other UFO, and together they quickly accelerated upwards leaving the
missile behind. Cmdr. McLaughlin received reports from 5 observation
posts: ALL had witnessed the performance of the 2 circular UFOs.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-F p238)
Location: White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Date: 6/14/1949
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches 133.5km
attitude (Blossom 4 — Nominal performance.)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 133.5km
Date: 6/14/1949
Description: 3:35 p.m. A crew of Navy engineers under Capt. Robert
Bright McLaughlin is testing an Air Force V-2 rocket at White Sands
Missile Range, New Mexico. When the V-2 attains a speed of 2,000 feet
per second in its upward flight, it is joined by two smaller circular
objects that pace it, one on each side. One then passes through the
rocket’s exhaust, joins the other, and together accelerate upwards
leaving the V-2 behind. Five other missile observation crews also see
the objects. (NICAP, “Two
UFOs Pace V-2 Rocket”; Robert McLaughlin, “How Scientists
Tracked a Flying Saucer,” True, March 1950, pp. 25–27, 96–99; Sparks, p. 66;
Swords 92–93)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1397
Date: summer 1949
Description: The gouge is said to be still visible in the debris field
near Corona, New Mexico. Mack
Brazel, having found various scraps and bits for the past two years,
mentions to someone in a bar in Corona that he has some material. The
next day, a Capt. Armstrong and three others from Roswell Army Air Field
supposedly confiscate the pieces.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1394
Date: Summer 1949
Description: USAF Project “Twinkle” started
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: summer 1949
Description: 4:00 p.m. The French Navy patrol boat La
Rusé (formerly the USS PC-472) encounters a cigar-shaped bluish
object about one mile away off Casablanca, Morocco. The crew watches it
for 1 minute until it shoots toward the horizon and out of sight.
(Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p, 36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1395
Date: 6/22/1949
Description: Three women (one a schoolteacher, another a biologist
working at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and a third who is the wife of a member
of the Security Division, AEC, Oak Ridge) observe an odd trio of “flying
saucers” for about 15 minutes: “It was described as consisting of two
identical rectangular-shaped objects which appeared to be coordinated in
movement and which moved in wave-like motion. The third object was
circular in shape and appeared to be in level flight between and above
the two rectangular objects. The rectangular objects appeared to be
bright metal on top but dark underneath, while the color of the circular
object was the same as that of frosted glass. The ‘flying saucer,’ when
last sighted, was in level flight and was flying in a northwesterly
direction. The weather was clear with high cumulus clouds. The ‘flying
saucer’ flew at speed of from 10 to 15 mph over an area just about the
center of Oak Ridge.” (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1949, January–June, The Author, 1988, pp. 83–84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1398
Date: 6/29/1949
Description: 6:30 p.m. A former US Air Force tech sergeant observes
three separate flights of three V-shaped or triangular objects from his
front porch in Baltimore, Maryland. The objects veer sharply into a
cloud at 2,500 feet altitude and then fly around it repeatedly. They
have the ability to reverse their course 180° instantaneously. Through
binoculars, they look like black, open boomerangs. More objects join
them until there are 15–20, and he watches them for two hours. The
formation moves from southeast to northeast and disappears. Fifteen
other witness also see the display. (Marler 126–128)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1399
Date: 7/3/1949
Description: 10:40 a.m. Aeronautical engineer Molt
Taylor, airport manager at Longview, Washington, is preparing for an
air show when someone points out an object in the sky to the northwest.
He announces it over the PA system to the crowd of 150–200 observers,
including pilots, who watch a metallic disc cross to the southeast with
a falling-leaf motion. Estimated altitude is 30,000 feet at 300 mph,
with the approximate size of 100 feet. A second object is seen at 10:49
a.m. for 2 minutes. A third sighting takes place at 11:25 a.m. An object
approaches from the west at about the same altitude, oscillating at 48
per minute, and disappears into the sun. (NICAP, “Metallic
Discus Object
Observed by 150–200 Observers”; Sparks, p. 67;
Swords 82–83; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified
Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects,
Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong.,
2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 48–49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1400
Date: 7/13/1949
Description: Kaplan responds
to a July 1 letter from Gen. Charles
P. Cabell inquiring about his April visit to Los Alamos, New Mexico.
He explains that he has deliberately waited two months to report because
he wanted to have a cooling off period from the deep impression the New
Mexico witnesses had on him. Moreover, he wants to see if the green
fireballs are still reported (they are) before he recommends a
full-scale instrumented program. He says that Norris
Bradbury, the
Los Alamos lab director, has urged that a classified scientific
conference be held to discuss the phenomena. Kaplan suspects that the
fireballs are an auroral phenomenon, but concedes that their horizontal
motion and southern appearance are “difficult to explain.” He recommends
a photographic and spectrographic patrol that would stay on to look out
for the fireballs. (Brad Sparks and Jerome Clark, “The Southwestern
Lights, Part Three,” IUR 10, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1985): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1401
Date: 7/24/1949
Description: 12:03 p.m. Henry Clark, manager of a flying service, is
flying a Piper PA-16 Clipper at 19,000 feet 10 miles northwest of
Mountain Home, Idaho, when he sees a tight formation of 7 delta-shaped
objects, 35–55 feet in diameter near his plane. They make a perfect and
unbanked right turn 1,500 feet ahead of his plane, then they turn right
again, passing the aircraft at about 450–500 mph. Clark’s engine runs
rough during the sighting, which lasts 10 minutes. After he lands, he
finds all his spark plugs burned out. When Blue Book investigates the
case, they confiscate the spark plugs. (NICAP, “Piper
Clipper Encounters Seven Delta-Shaped Objects”; Sparks,
p. 68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1402
Date: 7/24/1949
Description: 8:30 p.m. An Air Force major and captain watch seven
bluish-white lights pass over Fort Worth, Texas, in a V formation,
moving rapidly from south to north. The distance between the lights does
not vary during the 4–5 seconds they are visible. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1949 July–December, The Author, 1988, p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1403
Date: 7/24/1949
Description: A green fireball is seen falling close to Socorro, New
Mexico. The next day, scientist William
D. Crozier collects dust samples from the School of Mines campus at
Socorro. The samples contain copper particles of unusually large size.
(Clark III 543–544; Sparks, p. 68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1404
Date: 7/24/1949
Time: 12 noon
Description: Witness: Henry Clark, manager of a flying service, flying a
Piper Clipper. Seven delta-shaped objects, 35-55’ in span, 20-30’ long,
2-5’ thick; light colored except for a 12’ diameter dark circle at the
rear of each. They flew in a tight formation of twos with one behind,
and made a perfect, but unbanked, turn. During the 10 minute sighting,
they displayed decreasing smooth oscillations. Clark’s engine ran rough
during the sighting, and upon landing was found to have all its spark
plugs burned out.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Mountain Home, Idaho
ID: 28
Date: 7/30/1949
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witnesses: Northwest Airlines Capt. Thrush, two Portland
control tower operators, and one flying instructor. One object with one
white light and two red lights, maneuvered and hovered.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Mt. Hood, Oregon
ID: 29
Date: 8/1949
Description: Actor, producer, and director Mikel
Conrad, in promoting his soon-to-be-released film The Flying Saucer,
claims that the movie contains actual footage of a spaceship recovered
in Alaska by government agents. He produces a bogus FBI agent to
“confirm” the story. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations
interviews Conrad, who admits to perpetrating a publicity hoax. (Jerome
Clark, “A Catalog of Early Crash Claims,” IUR 18, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1993): 16; Internet Movie Database, “The
Flying Saucer”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1406
Date: 8/1949
Description: George
Adamski publishes Pioneers of Space, detailing his out-of-body
visits to the Moon, Mars, and Venus. In private correspondence he later
explains “how one may venture from one place to another, while his
physical is in one place and he is in another. That is the way I have
written this book. I actually have gone to the places I speak of.”
(George Adamski [ghost-written by Lucy McGinnis], Pioneers of Space,
Leonard-Freefield, 1949; “Palomar
Mountain, 1940–1960: From Obscurity to World Fame,” The Adamski
Case, September 22, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1405
Date: 8/8/1949
Description: 11:30 p.m. Six airmen and tower operators at Medford
Municipal Airport [now the Rogue Valley International–Medford Airport]
in Oregon see 1–7 shiny objects traveling at variable speeds at an
estimated altitude of 30,000 feet. They fly in formation for a while,
then break off and return to formation again. Control tower operators
using binoculars seem to distinguish wings on the objects. They remain
visible until around 12:30 a.m. (NICAP, “Winged
Objects Cavort over Airport”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1407
Date: 8/10/1949
Description: The National Military Establishment is renamed the
Department of Defense to unify the Army, Navy, and Air Force under the
Secretary of Defense. It establishes the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
(Wikipedia, “United
States Department
of Defense”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1409
Date: 8/10/1949
Description: USAF’s AMC issues a final 600-page report, “Unidentified
Flying Objects—Project Grudge,” Technical Report 102-AC-49/15-100, or
“The Grudge Report,” authored by Lt. Howard W. Smith and George
W. Towles. Hynek’s
April analysis is included as an appendix. Based on 237 cases, Hynek
finds that 32% can be explained astronomically. Others say 12% are
balloons, 33% are other misidentifications, hoaxes, or insufficient
information. That leaves 23% (55) classed as unknowns. Despite this,
witnesses are mostly deluded, hysterical, lying, or crazy, and “further
study along present lines would only confirm the findings presented
herein.” The report concludes there is little evidence to prove UFOs are
real and do not represent a security threat. It recommends that press
releases be created to “aid in dispelling public apprehension.” On the
other hand, it suggests that military and government agencies interested
in “psychological warfare” be informed of the findings. Appendix D is
written by USAF Scientific Advisory Board member George
E. Valley, who writes that extraterrestrial civilizations “might
observe that on Earth we now have atomic bombs and are fast developing
rockets. In view of the past history of mankind, they should be alarmed.
We should, therefore, expect at this time above all to behold such
visitations.” Project Grudge enters a period of dormancy until July
1950. The report is classified Secret until August 1, 1952. (Lt. Howard
W. Smith and George W. Towles, “Unidentified
Flying Objects—Project
Grudge,” Air Materiel Command Technical Report 102-AC-49/15-100;
Hynek UFO Report, p. 18;
Sparks,
p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1408
Date: 8/16/1949
Description: A young girl in Wola Drzewiecka, Poland, sees a dark green
object nearby like two bowls put together and about 5 feet in diameter.
She walks right up to it and touches its metallic surface with her index
finger, getting a mild electric vibration and making her fingertip turn
red. The object begins rotating, then rises up and disappears to the
south at an altitude of 50 feet. In the distance she sees another object
that she says remained in the same spot for several days. (Poland
18–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1411
Date: 8/17/1949
Description: Lincoln
LaPaz submits the fifth of a series of reports on “anomalous
luminous phenomena.” He notes that “Many of the green fireballs now
appearing descend in nearly vertical paths, whereas, in earlier months
almost all of the green fireballs observed moved almost horizontally.
There appears to be a concentration of New Mexico incidents near
weekends, especially on Sunday and near the hour of 8:00.” (Loren E.
Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1949
July–December, The
Author, 1988, pp. 28–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1410
Date: 8/18/1949
Description: LaPaz and
USAF scientists meet with William
D. Crozier to find out about his July 25 dust collection in Socorro,
New Mexico. Crozier says he thinks the copper particles may have come
from a campus building, although samples from the open country contain
the same particles. LaPaz notes that copper is extremely rare in
meteorites, although it might explain the yellow-green color of the
fireballs. He suggests that further air and ground samples be taken in
areas where the fireballs are seen. (Clark III 543–544)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1412
Date: 8/19/1949
Description: 8:15–11:00 p.m. Rev. Gregory
Miller, pastor
of the St. Peter and Paul Church in Norwood, Ohio, has purchased from
Army surplus an 8-million-candlepower searchlight for his church
carnival. Sgt. Donald R. Berger of ROTC of the University of Cincinnati
is to operate it. During the festivities, Berger’s sweeping searchlight
suddenly flashes across a stationary circular object in the sky. Miller
and others join in and observe. When Berger moves the searchlight away,
the disc continues to glow. Hundreds of calls are received by Cincinnati
Post and Cincinnati Enquirer offices regarding fireballs and comet-like
objects all across the Cincinnati area this first night. The searchlight
picks up the same or similar objects on nine further occasions, the last
being on March 10, 1950. (“More
Proof That ‘Saucers’ Exist,” CRIFO Orbit 1, no. 5 (August 6, 1954):
1–2; NICAP, “The
Ohio Searchlight Incident”; Patrick Gross, “The
Norwood Searchlight Incident”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1414
Date: 8/19/1949
Description: Fitzgerald and Gamey see little men in desert.
Type: ce3 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 8/19/1949
Description: Two prospectors are said to have observed a disk-shaped
object land. Two dwarfs emerged but were lost in the sand dunes when
pursued. The object disappeared.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 52 (Vallee)
Location: Death Valley, California
ID: 70
Date: 8/19/1949
Description: Two prospectors, Buck Fitzgerald and Mase Garney, report
that a flying saucer crashed near them in Death Valley, California. Two
little men jump out and start running. The prospectors chase them over a
sand dune, but lose them. (“‘Little
Men’ in Flying Disc,” San Francisco Examiner, August 20, 1949, p. 2;
Clark III 269; Patrick Gross, URECAT, August
22, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1413
Date: 8/20/1949
Description: 10:45 p.m. Astronomer Clyde
Tombaugh, his wife,
and mother-in-law see
a formation of rectangular bluish- green lights at Las Cruces, New
Mexico, for about 3 seconds. (NICAP, “Tombaugh
Observes UFO Formation”; H. B. Darrach Jr. and Robert Ginna, “Have
We Visitors from Space?” Life, April 7, 1952, p. 89; “Dr. Clyde Tombaugh
Provides Details on His Own Famous Sighting,” CSI News Letter, no.
10 (December 15, 1957): 27; UFOEv, p. 53;
Sparks, p. 70;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 59–60; Clark III 1129–1130; Swords
81–82)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1415
Date: 8/29/1949
Description: First Soviet atomic bomb test RDS-1 “First Lightning” at
Semipalatinsk in Semipalatinsk Test Site, NE Kazakhstan (Joe 1)
Type: atomic
Reference: link
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Semipalatinsk Test Site
Atomic type: aboveground
Atomic KT: 22
Date: 8/29/1949
Description: 7:00 a.m. The Soviet Union secretly conducts its first
successful nuclear weapon test (First Lightning) at the Semipalatinsk
Test Site in Kazakhstan. The design is very similar to the first US “Fat
Man” plutonium bomb. The project is led by physicist Igor
Kurchatov. (Wikipedia, “RDS-1”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1416
Date: 9/1949
Alternate date: 10/1949
Description: A Swiss Air Force officer sees a silvery disc 20 feet in
diameter with jagged edges above Payerne, Vaud, Switzerland. He observes
it flying at about 700 mph for 12 seconds. (Center for UFO Studies, [Payerne
case file])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1422
Date: 9/1/1949
Description: Col. John W. Schweizer of AFOIN writes to the director of
USAF Intelligence: “reports that fall in the ‘fireball’ category will no
longer be included in HQ Air Materiel Command and Directorate of
Intelligence, HQ USAF, investigative activity on unidentified aerial
incidents.” AMC hands green fireball reports over to the USAF Cambridge
Research Laboratory at Hanscom AFB in Bedford, Massachusetts. AFOIN
rejects an Army request for further facilities to study the green
fireballs from field locations. (Clark III 543)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1417
Date: 9/3/1949
Description: USAF WB-29 lands at Eielson Air Force Base AL with filter
paper samples indicating a Soviet nuclear weapons test
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Eielson Air Force Base, AL
Date: 9/9/1949
Description: DCI Admiral Hillenkoetter hands Truman a carefully worded
report of “an abnormal radio-active contamination” indicating “An atomic
explosion on the continent of Asia.”
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Washington DC
Date: 9/14/1949
Description: 9:30–10:00 p.m. Two residents of Lubbock, Texas, see 9
clusters of objects “similar to ducks flying in formation,” bright
silver and roughly round in shape. There are as many as 50 objects in
all the formations except one. They seem to be traveling at 5,000 feet
altitude, going north to south. Each light is visible for about 10
seconds, but it takes 30 minutes for all the objects to pass overhead.
One witness is convinced the objects are ducks. (Clark III
692–693)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1419
Date: 9/14/1949
Description: The Geophysical Sciences Branch of the Air Force Research
and Development orders the new AMC commander Lt. Gen. Benjamin
Chidlaw to have the Cambridge Research Laboratory in Massachusetts
evaluate the New Mexico and Texas green fireball cases and consider the
creation of an instrumented network. AMC is directed to send
representatives from Boston to a meeting in New Mexico. (Lt. Col. John
McK. Tucker, “Light Phenomena,”
September 14, 1949; Brad Sparks and Jerome Clark, “The Southwestern
Lights, Part Three,” IUR 10, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1985): 16; Clark III
544)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1418
Date: 9/16/1949
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches 4.2km
attitude (Blossom 5 — payload. Explosions led to early
termination)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 4.2km
Date: fall 1949
Description: A radar-tracking UFO case takes place at a key atomic base
(probably Los Alamos, New Mexico). The base radar scope covers 200 miles
of sky up to 100,000 feet. A legitimate radar contact tracks five
apparently metallic objects at a great height moving south and crossing
the radar scope in less than 4 minutes (an average of about 4,500 mph).
(H. B. Darrach Jr. and Robert Ginna, “Have
We Visitors from Space?” Life, April 7, 1952, p. 89)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1423
Date: fall 1949
Description: Night. Donald Bushwell and his wife are traveling along a
straight highway in New Mexico. Suddenly a disc about 50–60 feet across
comes straight down the road toward them about 4 feet off the ground. It
raises up a little before reaching the car and passes overhead. As it
does so, his radio turns to static. (Tulsa (Okla.) Tribune, December 10,
1957; Schopick, p. 77)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1424
Date: 9/23/1949
Description: Truman made headlines with an announcement that the Soviet
Union had tested a nuclear device several weeks earlier
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Washington DC
Date: fall 1949
Description: Don Bushnell, plant superintendent with Southwestern
Porcelain Steel Corp., saw an object fall in front of his car as his
radio was blocked. He applied the brakes; object vanished.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: KeyhoeS (Vallee)
Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma
ID: 71
Date: 9/26/1949
Description: 6:30 p.m. Lester
Wolfe and five others 5 miles southeast of Lexington, Nebraska, are
threshing wheat when they see three objects coming from the general
direction of the sun (southwest). As the objects move, they give off a
dazzling brilliance. They maintain a level flight with two of the
objects changing positions as they fly. The power of the illumination
remains constant throughout the incident (no pulses or flashes). Once
the objects reach a direction northwest of the observers, they make a
smooth 90° turn straight upwards and climb rapidly out of sight. Dean
Wolfe is a recent graduate of a two-year course in aeronautical design
and thinks the objects look like domed discs when viewed face forward,
but are more like stubby, wingless, tailless fuselages when seen from
the side. About 5 miles away, Don, Minnie, Elmer and
Irene
Ballheim see two fast-moving objects flying in the distance at level
flight before abruptly turning straight up and flying upward. This group
of people does not know their distant neighbors. (NICAP, “90-Degree
Turn Straight Up”; Swords 83–84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1420
Date: 9/27/1949
Description: 1:30 and 3:00 a.m. At least five observers at Sandia Base,
New Mexico, see fireballs of various colors traveling either in an arc
or in tangent to the Earth. (Francis Ridge, “The
Nuclear Connection Project: The New Mexico
Sightings,” September 3, 2005; Sparks,
p. 71)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1421
Date: 9/29/1949
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches
150.8km attitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 150.8km
Date: 10/6/1949
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33 (2nd Hermes II
test)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Date: 10/10/1949
Description: 1:07 a.m. A bluish-green fireball is seen moving to the
northeast at 45° above the horizon at Sandia Base, New Mexico. Duration
is from 4 to 15 seconds. (Francis Ridge, “The
Nuclear Connection Project: The New Mexico
Sightings,” September 3, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1425
Date: 10/11/1949
Description: The Navy releases only a brief summary of its findings in
the death of James
Forrestal. The complete transcript is not released until 2004. (Ayn
Rand Institute Watch, “The
Willcutts Report on the Death of James Forrestal”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1426
Date: 10/12/1949
Description: Frank Scully’s Variety article “One Flying Saucer Lands In
New Mexico”
Type: publication
Reference: link
Location: Hollywood, CA
Date: 10/12/1949
Description: Columnist Frank
Scully writes an article in Variety alleging that the US government
has retrieved crashed spaceships in the southwestern desert. (Frank
Scully, “Scully’s
Scrapbook,” Variety, October 12, 1949; Clark III 595, 1044)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1427
Date: 10/14/1949
Description: At another conference in Los Alamos, New Mexico, attended
by 16 representatives of AFOSI, AMC (Joseph
Kaplan and Maj. Frederic
C. E. Oder), Fourth Army, the FBI, AFSWP, and Los Alamos scientists
(Edward
Teller, George
Gamow, and
Stanislaw
Ulam), the green fireballs are identified as probably atmospheric in
origin, but more observational data is needed. LaPaz and
Neef speak
at length. Oder’s Cambridge Research Laboratory at Hanscom AFB in
Bedford, Massachusetts, is selected for a field project, under LaPaz’s
supervision. (Brad Sparks and Jerome Clark, “The Southwestern Lights,
Part Three,” IUR 10, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1985): 16; Clark III 544; Swords
81; Good Above, pp. 266–267)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1428
Date: 10/14/1949
Description: 1:15 p.m. Harley
C. Marshall, manager
of public relations at Palomar Observatory in San Diego County,
California, is driving away from the observatory when he sees a perfect
“V of V’s” formation of about 16–18 silver objects without tails or
wings overhead traveling at high speed to the northwest and emitting a
sound like jets. He stops and watches them disappear behind the cloud
cover. Returning to the observatory, he phones electrician Benjamin
B. Traxler, who
at 1:20 p.m. sees one dark UFO traveling to the southwest. Marshall
checks the Navy Electronics Laboratory Geiger counter on site and sees
that the needle has jumped off the scale for several seconds. For the
next 10 days, another 21 incidents of off-scale cosmic-ray detector
incidents occur at scattered times, fitting a periodic 1.5-hour time
schedule, a phenomenon not seen before or after, and unexplainable by
equipment failure or radio interference from aircraft. Two
representatives of the Office of Naval Research and two from the Naval
Electronics Laboratory in Point Loma, California (Joseph
P. Maxfield and G. L. Bloom), visit the observatory to investigate
the readings, but not before they stop in at Alice Wells’s Palomar
Gardens Café on the way in. After George
Adamski claims he has seen increased UFO activity in the area
(including a sighting about the same time as another observation by
Traxler on October 21), they ask him if he would send them any photos he
might take with one of his telescopes. He gives them a copy of a
telescopic photo he took in February 1949 with his 15-inch reflector.
The Naval Electronics Lab later attributes the photo to “electric
discharge which frequently occurs in cameras during film pulling in dry
or cold climates.” Several Navy aircraft of differing prop and jet types
are flown near the observatory using radio, altimeter, and radars on
October 21 and November 2 in an unsuccessful effort to trigger the
Geiger counter. (NICAP, “Geiger
Counters Detect UFO
Presence”; Clark III 38, 949–950; Sparks, pp. 74–75;
Swords 86–87; Maurice Weekley and George Adamski, “Flying Saucers As
Astronomers See Them,” Fate 3, no. 6 (September 1950): 56–59; Colin
Bennett, Looking for Orthon, Paraview, 2001, pp. 29–30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1429
Date: 10/23/1949
Description: 7:15–10:45 p.m. Rev. Gregory
Miller has set up his searchlight once again at St. Peter and Paul
Church in Norwood, Ohio. Sgt. Berger turns on the light and picks up a
large object in the beam. At about 10:00 p.m., the searchlight picks up
two distinct groups of five triangular objects that seem to emerge from
the main disc. They descend on the beam then turn out of it. The same
performance is repeated 30 minutes later. About 50 persons, including
newspaper reporters observe the objects. Miller takes several
photographs and asks Sgt. Leo Davidson of the Norwood police department
to film the display. He uses three rolls, 25 feet each, and a Hugo-Meyer
F-19- 3” camera with telephoto lens. Davidson also takes 10 still
photographs of the large disc-shaped object that flies in and out of the
searchlight beam, using a Speed-Graphic camera with a 14-inch Wallensach
telephoto lens. Two of these are exceptional shots, showing both the
parent object and the smaller group. These two pictures are last seen by
Time-Life correspondent Harry Mayo, who has prepared a feature story for
Time, which was to include them. But Mayo’s story and Miller’s photos
were not used in Time or Life and, in spite of requests by Miller, these
two photos are never returned. (Harry Mayo, “What
Glows on Here? Norwood Muses,” Cincinnati Post, April 6, 1950, p. 1;
“More
Proof That ‘Saucers’ Exist,” CRIFO Orbit 1, no. 5 (August 6, 1954):
1–2; NICAP, “The
Ohio Searchlight
Incident”; Patrick Gross, “The
Norwood Searchlight Incident”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1430
Date: 11/1949
Description: Photographer Nicholas Van Poppen, an aerospace photography
expert, tells Dr. George C. Tyler on 11/49 he flew from Hollywood with
Dr. Wang to the Los Alamos complex and sees and makes detailed
photographs of a large disc-like object.
Type: witness statement
Reference: book
“The UFO Crash at Aztec” by Steinman and Stevens
See also: 3/25/48
See also: 4/48
Date: 11/3/1949
Description: Karl
Taylor Compton resigns as chairman of the Research and Development
Board around the same time that Lawrence
R. Hafstad succeeds Lloyd
Berkner as executive secretary. (Michael Hall and Wendy Connors,
“The Research and Development Board: Unanswered Questions,” IUR 26, no.
2 (Summer 2001): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1432
Date: 11/3/1949
Description: Joseph
Kaplan brings the green fireball plan to the USAF Scientific
Advisory Board at the Pentagon. By this time, he is convinced the
fireballs are a rare type of meteor. But others are puzzled by the
brightness, trajectories, and soundlessness, Kaplan says, “This high
selectivity of direction seems to indicate that some group was trying to
pinpoint Los Alamos with a new sort of weapon.” (Clark III 544)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1431
Date: 11/3/1949
Description: 11:00 a.m. USAF Capt. William H. Donnelly is driving south
about 2 miles north of Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico, with a friend
when he sees four objects to the east at a high altitude. All are oval
and a metallic white color. They are constantly changing formation,
moving up and down, back and forth. The objects continue to fly south
rapidly and move in a horizontal line and disappear from sight in 20–40
seconds. (Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1433
Date: 11/11/1949
Description: 6:30 p.m. USNR Commander J.
R. Bodler is in charge of a merchant vessel (possibly the USS Hemminger)
in the Strait of Hormuz between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
He observes a huge, pulsating submarine light wheel, some 1,000–1,500
feet in diameter, one mile from his ship. It is revolving around an
ill-defined center with streaks of light like searchlight beams moving
counterclockwise “like the spokes of a gigantic wheel.” He thinks it is
caused by natural phosphorescence, stimulated by some marine life. (J.
R. Bodler, “An
Unexplained Phenomenon of the Sea,” US Naval Institute Proceedings
72 (January 1952): 66–67; Carl Feindt, waterufo.net)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1434
Date: 11/18/1949
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches
123.9km attitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 123.9km
Date: 11/23/1949
Description: Frank Scully Variety article “Flying Saucers Dismantled,
Secrets May Be Lost”
Type: publication
Reference: link
Location: Hollywood, CA
Date: 11/27/1949
Description: 5:49 p.m. Civil Aeronautics Administration Chief Controller
W. W. Jones watches a blue-white fireball moving 5°–7° per second over
Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Francis Ridge, “The
Nuclear Connection
Project: The New Mexico Sightings,” September 3, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1435
Date: 11/27/1949
Description: 6:00 p.m. Kirtland AFB Deputy Base Commander Lt. Col.
Charles E. Lancaster Jr. is driving near McIntosh, New Mexico, when he
sees a green fireball descend near Albuquerque. (Sparks, p. 77)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1436
Date: 12/1949
Description: Donald Keyhoe publishes “The Flying Saucers are Real” in
True Magazine
Type: publication
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: WA
Date: 12/1949
Description: Capt. Bernard Baruch Jr. suggests to Gen. Hoyt
Vandenberg that UFOs be added to JANAP 146 as required reporting
subjects and that civilian pilots report UFO sightings according to
military chains of command. (Swords 122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1437
Date: 12/2/1949
End date: 12/3/1949
Description: The US government releases radioactive fission products at
the Hanford Site plutonium production facility in eastern Washington in
an operation called Green Run. The radioisotopes are supposed to be
detected by US Air Force reconnaissance. Sources cite 5,500–12,000
curies of iodine-131 are released and an even greater amount of
xenon-133. The radiation is distributed over 500,000 acres encompassing
three small towns and causes the cessation of intentional radioactive
releases at Hanford until 1962, when more experiments commence. There
are some indications that many other tests are conducted in the 1940s
prior to Green Run, although this is a particularly large test. Evidence
suggests that filters to remove the iodine are disabled during the test.
(Wikipedia, “Green
Run”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1438
Date: 12/4/1949
Description: 5:00 p.m. Mario Restier is returning home from his father’s
place in Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when he notices a disc
land about 32–50 feet from the road. He hears a voice telling him not to
be afraid and asking if he wants to know what it’s all about. Two beings
about 5 feet 5 inches emerge from the UFO wearing togas and helmets.
Restier asks them if they believe in God, and they answer, “God is one.”
Encouraged, he enters the craft where he is offered a trip, put in a tub
filled with liquid, and taken on a trip to a city on another world. He
is shown a screen that depicts human nature, ambitions, and violence.
After about 6 hours, he is returned to the spot where he was abducted.
Returning to his father’s house, he finds it is April 14, 1950, and has
lost nearly four months of earth time. (Brazil 23–24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1439
Date: 12/8/1949
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches
130.3km attitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 130.3km
Date: 12/20/1949
Description: Following consideration by the Defense Department’s
Research and Development Board, Joseph Kaplan’s
green fireball project is approved by AMC. (Col. B. G. Holzman, “Light
Phenomena,” December 20, 1949; Brad Sparks and Jerome Clark, “The
Southwestern Lights, Part Three,” IUR 10, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1985): 16;
Clark III 544)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1440
Date: 12/24/1949
Description: The January 1950 issue of True magazine is published, with
Donald
Keyhoe’s article, “The Flying Saucers Are Real.” Keyhoe argues that
the Air Force knows UFOs are real, alien, and covering up information
from the public in order to avoid panic: “For the past 175 years, the
planet Earth has been under systematic close- range examination by
living, intelligent observers from another planet.” The Air Force finds
itself buried in letters, telegrams, and phone calls demanding
information about flying saucers. (Donald E. Keyhoe, “The
Flying Saucers
Are Real,” True, January 1950, pp. 11–13, 83–87)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1441
Date: 12/27/1949
Description: USAF announces that Project Grudge is terminated. Its files
are put into storage. The Grudge report is released again, reiterating
that UFOs are the “result of (1) misinterpretations of various
conventional objects; (2) a mild form of mass hysteria; or (3) hoaxes.”
(Clark III 932–933)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1442
Date: 12/27/1949
Description: USAF Project “Saucer” closed
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 12/28/1949
Description: Richmond VA area: Radio play about a crashed saucer with 12
dead midget crewmen
Type: radio show
Reference: link
Location: Richmond, VA
Date: 12/31/1949
Description: Newspaper articles on a crash saucer “almost 3 years ago”,
research program, exotic metals defying analysis, small occupants, very
high technology, acclimation program references. There are 2 years, 5
months, 23 days between 7/8/47 and 12/31/49.
Type: newspaper articles
Reference: link
Reference: link
Date: 1950
Description: Aviator Kenneth Arnold publishes the pamphlet “The Flying
Saucer as I Saw It”
Type: publication
Reference: Archive.org
Location: WA
Date: 1950’s
Description: “Area 51” designation appears on several atomic fallout
maps.
Type: book reference
Reference: “Dreamland” by Lazar
Location: Area 51
Date: 1950
Description: Soviet “Krasnoyarsk-26” atomic weapons project plant opens
(Plutonium production)
Type: atomic plant
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Soviet Union
Date: 1950’s
Description: At least 11 nuclear explosions were carried out at the
Soviet Kapustin Yar test site, in addition to all other launches
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Kapustin Yar
Date: 1950
Description: N.
Meade Layne publishes The Ether-Ship Mystery and Its Solution, which
identifies UFOs as emanating from the etheric world, which coexists with
and interpenetrates ours. The etherians must lower their “vibrational”
rate in order to enter our realm. UFOs are “thought-constructs” that can
take many forms and densities. He considers the etherians benign. (Meade
Layne, The
Ether-Ship Mystery and Its Solution, Borderland
Sciences Research Associates, 1950)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1443
Date: 1950
Description: William Ortiz, a deaf-mute, claims to have the first of
three close encounters (the others in 1969 and 1975) with large-eyed
aliens in UFOs in Colombia. After the first two events, he finds his
hearing temporarily restored. The entities communicate to him using hand
signals. (“First
Reported CEIII Alien Communicating with Deaf-Mute,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 3, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1982): 1, 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1444
Date: Early 1950
Description: Author and military historian Fletcher Pratt initiated
rumor waves in the press by announcing that he had obtained through
confidential channels information that a flying saucer had crashed to
earth and that bodies of a vaguely human appearance and about 35 inches
tall had been found dead in the wreckage.
Type: rumors
Reference: Medium
Date: 1/1950
Description: TRUE magazine publishes first article on Flying
Saucers
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 1/1950
Description: The Ground Observer Corps, an organization of civilians who
watch the skies for enemy airplanes, is created by the US Air Defense
Command. (Wikipedia, “Ground
Observer Corps”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1445
Date: 1/1950
Description: Keyhoe meets
with Gen. Sory
Smith, director of public relations for the Air Force; Maj. Jesse
E. Stay and Jack T. Shea, press officers; and Maj. Jere
Boggs, Pentagon
liaison to Project Grudge. Most of the interview involves questions for
Boggs. Keyhoe is given two looseleaf notebooks with summaries of
“Project Saucer” cases. His request to visit Wright-Patterson AFB in
Ohio to look at the actual case files is turned down weeks later.
(Donald E. Keyhoe, The Flying Saucers Are Real, Gold Medal, 1950, pp. 147–154)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1447
Date: 1/1950
Description: On the Seattle, Washington, to Anchorage, Alaska, route, an
air freighter is paced for five minutes by a UFO. When the pilots try to
close in, the craft zooms away at terrific speed. Later, the airline
head reports that intelligence officers quizzed the pilots for hours.
“From their questions,” he said, “I could tell they had a good idea of
what the saucers are. One officer admitted they did, but he wouldn’t say
any more.” (Donald E. Keyhoe, The Flying Saucers Are Real, Gold Medal,
1950, p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1446
Date: 1/1/1950
Description: Donald Keyhoe publishes a condensed version of “The Flying
Saucers are Real” in Newspapers
Type: publication
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 1/6/1950
Description: Wyandotte Echo Kansas City newspaper: “Coulter” (George T.
Koehler) story on 2 recovered saucers, saucer near a radar installation,
exotic metals, acclimation program, etc.
Type: rumors
Reference: Amazon
Reference: Newspapers.com
Date: 1/7/1950
Description: 10:15 p.m. The assistant maintenance officer at Holloman
AFB is driving south of Corona, New Mexico, when he sees a green
fireball. It descends at a 60° angle, then levels out and travels 10°
east before dropping out of sight behind a mountain. When first seen, it
is yellowish-white, changes to orange as it descends, then turns bright
blue-green as it levels out and disappears. (NICAP, “January
7, 1950, Corona, NM, OSI Case 161”: Clark III 544; Sparks, p. 78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1448
Date: 1/9/1950
Description: Time magazine reports on rumors of crashed saucers and
small humanoids in New Mexico. (“Visitors
from Venus,”
Time, January 9, 1950)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1449
Date: 1/12/1950
Description: 11:25 p.m. A B-29 aircraft is flying over the Gulf of
Mexico (southwest of Florida) on a course of 260° when three objects are
noted on the radar scope orbiting the B-29 from all quadrants. The
objects are noticed by the radar operator, aircraft commander,
navigator, and bombardier. One object is first sighted on a bearing of
330° traveling south. The objects travel across the scope in
approximately 15–20 seconds on the 100-mile range setting. In a few
minutes this object is joined by two others, which disappear in a few
minutes. At short ranges the object is large and well-defined on the
radar scope. The object goes off for about 100 miles, turns and comes in
as if for an attack, passes through the center of the scope, and emerges
on the other side. The estimated speed of the object is 2,500–3,000 mph.
The one object remains on the radar scope for approximately 30 minutes,
following the B-29 all the time. The radar operator switches ranges on
the scope and picks up the object on the 20- and 50- mile settings.
Twice the object comes to within 20 miles of the aircraft and then
apparently has the ability to hover, because the movement on the radar
scope ceases for 5–15 seconds. After altering course the object no
longer appears, but the radar is jammed for approximately 10 minutes.
The crew makes no visual sighting. (NICAP, “B-29
Radar Tracks Objects”; Clark III 58; Sparks, p. 79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1451
Date: 1/12/1950
Description: The AF Directorate of Intelligence quietly cancels the
special intelligence collection directives to various government
agencies for reporting UFO incidents, though routine intelligence
channels still require UFO reporting, per AFCIR-CC7, “Reporting of
Information on Unconventional Aircraft.” Cancellation is a follow-up to
the widely announced closure of “Project Saucer.” AFOIN Director Gen. Charles
P. Cabell believes that in fact AMC is taking its UFO project
underground by announcing the closure. Months later Cabell discovers
that AMC Intelligence under Col. Harold
E. Watson is not running a secret UFO investigation, and Cabell is
forced to make up for AMC’s negligence by conducting his own UFO
investigations via his AF Intelligence staff. (Maj. Gen. C. P. Cabell,
“Reporting
of Information on Unconventional Aircraft,” January 12, 1950; Swords
498)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1450
Date: 1/16/1950
Description: CLASSIFIED USAF Staff Message: At a radar station near New
Mexico a person reported seeing 2 saucers. One was badly damaged the
other almost perfectly intact. Description: Each consisted of 2 parts, a
cockpit or cabin about 6 ft. diam.; a ring approx. 18 ft. across and 2
ft. thick surrounding cabin, resembling aluminum, but actual metal has
defied analysis by the Dearborn Plant. Two crew members in the damaged
ship were charred but in the undamaged ship the two crew members were
perfectly preserved.
Type: classified staff message
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A p27, RECOVERY)
See also: 1/6/50
See also: 1/30/50
Date: 1/16/1950
Description: Tsuneo
Saheki of the Osaka Planetarium in Japan sees an explosion on Mars,
60 miles high and 900 miles in diameter. Thomas Dobbins and William
Sheehan investigate and find that this and other Martian flashes are
likely caused by solar reflections on patches of ice crystals on the
surface of Mars. (“‘Terrific
Explosion’ on Mars Reported
by Japanese Observers,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 27, 1950,
p. 13; John J. O’Neill, “Mars
Blast Puzzles
Science,” Ottawa (Ont.) Citizen, July 16, 1952, p. 30; “Some
Curious Objects: Meteoritic Perhaps,” The Strolling Astronomer 4,
no. 5 (May 1, 1950): 8–9; Thomas Dobbins and William Sheehan, “Solving
the Martian Flares
Mystery,” 2002)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1453
Date: 1/16/1950
Description: The AFOSI office at Offutt AFB in Omaha, Nebraska, sends a
message that recounts stories from Denver, Colorado, about crashed
saucers in the southwest. The metal allegedly “defied analysis.” Bodies
are said to be 3 feet tall. (Richard H. Hall, Uninvited Guests, Aurora,
1988, p. 74)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1452
Date: late 1/1950
Description: Gen. Charles
Cabell, possibly inspired by the Kodiak, Alaska, case, sends a
letter to ATIC asking why Project Grudge has ended, because he never
disbanded it. ATIC responds that Grudge is no longer a special project
and that UFO reports will be processed through normal intelligence
channels. (Ruppelt, pp. 69–70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1456
Date: 1/22/1950
Description: 2:40 a.m. Navy patrol pilot Lieut. Smith makes a routine
security flight out of Naval Air Station Kodiak [now Coast Guard Base
Kodiak], Alaska. He obtains a radar reading on an object 20 miles north.
It quickly vanishes. At 2:48, he tracks a similar object 10 miles
southeast. Kodiak radar reports no known aircraft in the vicinity, but
they are seeing the same track. At 3:00 a.m., the tug USS
Tillamook is south of Kodiak when one of the men on deck sees a
“very fast-moving red glow light, which appeared to be of exhaust
nature.” The object comes from the southeast, moves clockwise around
Kodiak, and returns to the southeast. Another officer sees it for 30
seconds and describes it as a “large ball of orange fire.” At 4:40 a.m.,
Lieut. Smith picks up another blip moving so fast that it leaves a trail
on his screen. His crew sees the UFO close a five-mile gap in 10
seconds, an apparent speed of 1,800 mph. Witnesses report two orange
lights that rotate around a common center. The object makes a sharp turn
and heads directly towards Smith’s plane. Smith considers this a
threatening situation and turns off his lights; the UFO flies by and
disappears. At least 35 copies of Smith’s report are sent to FBI, CIA,
AFOSI, and the State Department. None are ever officially released or
published. (NICAP, “USN
P2V3 Patrol Plane
and USS Tillamook
Encounter”;
ClearIntent, pp. 165–166;
Clark III 58; Sparks,
p. 80; Swords 90–91)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1454
Date: 1/22/1950
Description: U.S. Navy patrol plane pilot, Lt. Smith, was on routine
security flight when he picked up a radar track on an UFO, two times.
Smith then radioed Kodiak radar station and was advised that no known
traffic was in his radar area. Moored south of Kodiak was the USS
Tillamook with Master Morgan standing on watch. Suddenly, at 3 a.m., “a
very fast moving red glow appeared to be of exhaust nature, seemed to
come from the south-east, moved clockwise in a large circle in the
direction of, and around Kodiak and returned out in a generally
south-east direction. The UFO was moving so fast that it was actually
leaving a streak on Smith’s radarscreen. It was estimated to be moving
at a speed of 1800 mph. Described as “two orange lights rotating about a
common center like two jet aircraft making slow rolls in tight
formation.” The UFO then made an abrupt turn and headed directly towards
Smiths’ aircraft in a threatening gesture so Smith quickly turned off
all of his lights turn make his plane less conspicuous in the inky
colored sky. The UFO flew by him and disappeared in the south-east in a
matter of minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Kodiak, Alaska
Date: 1/24/1950
Description: 4:50 p.m. USAF Capt. G. B. Edwards and copilot Theron C.
Fehrevach are flying a C-45 transport plane from Pope AFB [now Pope
Field], Fayetteville, North Carolina, to Bolling AFB [now Joint Base
Anacostia- Bolling], Washington, D.C. While at 5,000 feet near
Blacksburg, Virginia, Fehrevach notices a dark, 200–250 foot in
diameter, hemispherical parachute-shaped object above them about 5–10
miles away. A large black smoky region is below it, possibly obscuring
the lower portion of a sphere. The UFO is darker than the 50% cloud
cover and “easy to distinguish as not being cloud.” The object moves
smoothly without any noticeable turn radius. Edwards puts the C-45 into
a climb to 7,000 feet so they are at the same altitude as the UFO and
turns to head directly toward it. Army Courier Service passenger 1st Lt.
John
H. Van Santen is alerted by Fehrevach and also sees the object move
right then left again, then they all see the object recede at high speed
and disappear. About 90 seconds later the object reappears about 30°–45°
to the right of their heading, then oscillates right to left. It moves
horizontally to dead ahead again and disappears by receding in the
distance at high speed. (NICAP, “C-25 Transport
Crew Encounters Object”; Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht, “Blackstone,
Virginia, USA: January 24,
1950,” September 30, 2015; Swords 91)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1455
Date: 1/26/1950
Description: 4:00 p.m. Lt. Col. Lester
F. Mathison, commanding
officer of the 625th Aircraft and Warning Squadron at Elmendorf AFB [now
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson], Anchorage, Alaska, notices three
reddish objects above the cirrus cloud layer at 25,000–30,000 feet. They
are moving to the north in a sightly curled trail fashion and disappear
into some clouds. (“Extract:
History of the 57th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, January 1–March 31,
1950 (Elmendorf
AFB, Alaska),” UFO Historical Revue, no. 8 (February 2001):
7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1457
Date: 1/29/1950
Description: Mr. Quintana of Denver saw a silvery-green ovoid object
hovering about 15 m above a slope and landing slowly in a small ravine.
Then it shot upward at very high speed. Its diameter was about 20 m, and
it had a revolving middle band. A greenish light flashed under it, and
the witness felt a rush of air and a pungent smell.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Jul., 59 (Vallee)
Location: South Table Mountain, Colorado
ID: 72
Date: 1/30/1950
Description: The Knoxville Journal, Knoxville, Tennessee, prints article
referring to the Wyandotte Echo Kansas City newspaper article on
“Coulter” (George T. Koehler) story on 2 recovered saucers, acclimation
program.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: Newspapers.com
Location: Kodiak, Alaska
See also: 1/6/50
Date: 1/31/1950
Description: Office MEMO, Director FBI, SAC, San Antonio: A UFO
resembling a rocket ship without wings appeared out of a thunderhead of
clouds narrowly missing an Eastern Airlines flight and disappeared into
another cloud. It was traveling approx. 2700 mph and no sound or air
disturbance was noted with it. During the past two months the UFO
sightings appeared to be concentrated near Los Alamos, N.M. This UFO was
also sighted near Los Alamos on Jan. 6, 1949.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Los Alamos, NM
See also: 1/6/50
Date: 2/1/1950
Description: A meteor-like object spewing smoke is seen by many people
over Tucson, Arizona. The radio operator at Davis-Monthan AFB asks 1st
Lieut. Roy
L. Jones Jr. to investigate it in his B-29, but he cannot catch up
with it. Edwin
Francis Carpenter, head
of the University of Arizona astronomy department, says he is certain
the object is not a meteor. (Donald E. Keyhoe, The Flying Saucers Are
Real, Gold Medal, 1950, pp. 10–12;
Sparks,
p. 81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1459
Date: 2/1/1950
Description: Harry
S. Truman issues Executive Order 10104 and creates the “Top Secret
classification” designation. (US Office of the Federal Register, “Executive
Order 10104”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1458
Date: 2/2/1950
Description: Lincoln
LaPaz, citing
the press of academic duties, withdraws from Project Twinkle. (Clark III
544) February 5 — 5:10 p.m. Four people at Falmouth Airport [now part of
Frances Crane Wildlife Management Area north of Hatchville,
Massachusetts] see two illuminated cylindrical objects in the western
sky. The witnesses include Marvin
R. Odom, owner
of the airport, and Lt. Philip
Foushee Jr. of Otis AFB [now Otis Air National Guard Base] near
Mashpee. As the objects are maneuvering, a fireball drops from one. Five
minutes later they both climb at high speed and disappear from view.
(NICAP, “Feb. 5,
1950; Teaticket, Mass.”; Hyannis (Mass.) Cape Cod Standard Times,
February 6, 1950; Sparks,
p. 81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1460
Date: 2/5/1950
Time: 5:10 PM
Description: Witnesses: Marvin Odom, former U.S. Navy fighter pilot,
USAF Lt. Philip Foushee, pilot from Otis AFB, and two others. Two thin,
illuminated cylinders, one of which dropped a fireball, maneuvered
together and then disappeared high and fast after 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Teaticket, Massachusetts
ID: 30
Date: 2/8/1950
Description: AFOSI Letter #85 is issued, directing Air Force personnel
to relay UFO sightings to the Pentagon or AMC only if they are of
“priority Counterintelligence interest.” (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 5, January– March
1950, The Author, 1983, p. 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1461
Date: 2/17/1950
Description: Nominal V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches
148.7km attitude
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 148.7km
Date: 2/20/1950
Description: LaPaz writes
to Peter
H. Wyckoff of the USAF Cambridge Research Laboratories in
Massachusetts that a “fireball project” ought not be pursued because any
objects that are not meteors are probably US test missiles. But he
concedes he might be wrong and says in that case, “intensive, systematic
investigation of these objects should not be delayed.” (Clark III
544)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1462
Date: 2/21/1950
Description: Project Twinkle, with the assistance of Land-Air, Inc., has
set up its first operations post, manned by two observers who scan the
sky over Holloman AFB, New Mexico, with theodolite, telescope, and
camera. (Clark III 544; Thomas Tulien, ed., Proceedings
of the Sign Historical Group UFO History Workshop, Sign Historical
Group, November 2001, p. 45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1463
Date: 2/22/1950
Description: Navy pilots and others see two glowing UFOs, confirmed by
radar, above the Naval Air Station at Key West, Florida. A plane is sent
to investigate but it is “hopelessly outdistanced.” After hovering
momentarily at a high altitude (50 miles?), they speed away. (Donald E.
Keyhoe, The Flying Saucers Are Real, Gold Medal, 1950, p. 12;
Sparks, p. 81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1464
Date: 2/22/1950
Description: USAF denies existance of flying saucers
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 2/24/1950
Description: 7:30 p.m. USAF Cpl. Lertis
E. Stanfield and other Holloman AFB Photographic Branch project
staff at an observation post at Datil, New Mexico, take five photos
(using a Cineflex camera with 3-inch focal length lens) of a circular,
luminous white object that changes to red and green. Its angular
velocity is greater than 0.5°/min in azimuth calculated by Lincoln
LaPaz. The
object moves in a smooth straight-line motion from about 8:00–9:30 p.m.
to the west, blinking red and green. It disappears at high altitude.
(NICAP, “AFOSI
Case 175; Datil Observation
Post Photographs Object”; Sparks, p. 82)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1465
Date: 2/24/1950
Time: 1:55 PM
Description: Witnesses: Municipal Airport Weather Observers Luther
McDonald, Harrison Manson. One white, slightly elongated oval was
watched for 1.5 minutes through a theodolite while it flew straight and
level.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
ID: 31
Date: 2/25/1950
Time: 3:55 PM
Description: Witnesses: Twelve Atomic Energy Commission security
inspectors. One cylinder with tapered ends, silver and flashing, flew
slow and hen fast, fluttered and oscillated, and changed course.
observations by individuals varied from 3 seconds to 2 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
ID: 32
Date: 2/26/1950
Description: 2:45 p.m. Three witnesses observe a bronze-colored object
that looks like two cigarette ashtrays placed face to face over
Vancouver, British Columbia. It slows down as it passes overhead and
wobbles as it moves along. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, p. 64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1466
Date: 3/1950
Description: Naval Commander Robert
Bright McLaughlin, in charge of a team of Navy scientists at White
Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico, writes about the Charles
B. Moore sighting of April 24, 1949, in a True magazine article and
speculates on saucer propulsion systems. McLaughlin writes that the
saucers are indeed “spaceships from another planet, operated by animate,
intelligent beings.” The Navy, having gotten a preview of the article,
removes him from White Sands and gives him an assignment at sea aboard
the destroyer USS
Bristol. (Robert B. McLaughlin, “How
Scientists Tracked a Flying Saucer,” True, March 1950, pp. 25–27,
96–99; Ruppelt, pp. 70– 72;
Swords 94–95)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1468
Date: 3/1950
Description: James J. Rodgers is named a chief of Project Grudge. (Sparks,
p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1467
Date: 3/1950
Description: According to Karl
T. Pflock, two
CIA agents clandestinely visit Aztec, New Mexico, UFO crash storyteller
Silas
Newton and tell him that, although they know he is lying, they want
him to continue spreading the tale as disinformation. The two agents
later wind up involved in the Psychological Strategy Board created in
1951. (Kremlin 37–42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1469
Date: 3/3/1950
Description: At Selfridge AFB [now Selfridge Air National Guard Base]
near Mount Clemens, Michigan, a lone UFO causes multiple radar trackings
and is logged at speeds up to 1,500 mph. (NICAP, “Object
Descends Vertically, Levels
Out”; Patrick Gross, “Selfridge
AFB, Michigan, March 3, 1950”; Sparks,
p. 83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1470
Date: 3/3/1950
Time: 11:05 PM
Description: Witness: 1st Lt Frank Mattson. One intense, dull yellowish
light descended vertically, then flew straight and level very fast for 4
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Selfridge AFB, Michigan
ID: 33
Date: 3/8/1950
Description: Mid-morning. TWA pilot Capt. W. H. Kerr reports to the CAA
that he and two other TWA pilots (D. W. Miller and Malvern
H. Rabeneck) are watching a UFO hovering at high altitude near
Dayton, Ohio. The CAA has already received about 20 other reports about
it from Vandalia, Ohio. ATIC control tower operators at Wright-
Patterson AFB pick it up visually and on radar (“a good, solid target”).
Four F-51 interceptors are sent up. They see it as a huge, round,
metallic object, but clouds move in. The object climbs vertically out of
sight at high speed. ATIC calls it the planet Venus, with radar returns
from ice-laden clouds. (NICAP, “Three
Aircraft Spot UFO / Radar
Track at ATIC”; UFOEv, p. 84;
Ruppelt, pp. 72–75;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 5, January– March
1950, The Author, 1983, pp. 32–37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1471
Date: 3/8/1950
Description: Tape recorded University of Denver lecture on three crash
retrievals. Tape recently found at the AHC in Frank Scully’s papers in
Laramie WY. Was going to be given by a scientist involved in the
retrieval that knew or worked with Dr. Vannever Bush during WW2, but was
instead given by Silas Newton at the last minute.
Type: lecture
Reference: YouTube - Part
1
Reference: YouTube - Part
2
Location: University of Denver
Date: 3/8/1950
Description: Mysterious “Silas Newton” speaks at University of
Denver
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 3/9/1950
Description: 7:45 p.m. A crew of three radar controllers at Selfridge
Air Force Base [now Selfridge Air National Guard Base] near Mount
Clemens, Michigan, is busy monitoring the night flying units of the 56th
Fighter-Interceptor Group. 1st Lt. Francis
E. Parker, 1st
Lt. Frank
K. Mattson, Sgt. McCarthy,
and Cpl. Melton observe an intermittent target on the height range
indicator (HRI) scope of the CPS-4 radar at 47,000 feet altitude and
higher. Further indications of what Parker describes as a well-defined,
clear target like an aircraft are picked up with increasing regularity
over the next 45–60 minutes. During this time, the target seems to stay
in the area where the F-80s are flying, but 20,000 feet above them. The
radar operators are monitoring two different systems—a CPS-5 radar
operating on long-wave frequencies at 40,000 feet, and a CPS-4 radar
operating on short-wave frequencies—and the target appears on both
scopes simultaneously without fade. The speed varies from a hover in
low-density air to nearly 1,500 mph, well in excess of the fastest
operational jet at the time, and a climb rate of up to 7,000 feet per
minute. (NICAP, “The
Selfridge AFB Incident”; Sparks,
p. 84; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 123– 125, 295–297;
Clark III 1047–1049; Martin L. Shough, “Radar and the UFO,” UFOs
1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 215–217)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1472
Date: 3/10/1950
Description: A publisher and others see a bright disc hover over
Orangeburg, South Carolina, for 15 minutes. It speeds away, leaving a
trail. (UFOEv, p. 149)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1473
Date: 3/13/1950
Description: Early morning. Army Signal Corps (Reserve) Maj. Taylor in
Clarksburg, California, is sleeping when an odd droning noise wakes him
up. Going outside, he notices the noise is coming from a brilliant light
in the sky, one- half the size of the full moon. It sways for about 15
minutes, then moves away. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume
5, January–March 1950, The Author, 1983, p. 49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1474
Date: 3/13/1950
Description: Day. At the Central Airport in Mexico City, Mexico,
Santiago Smith (weather observer for Mexicana de Aviación), J. de la
Vega of the airport commander’s office, and others see a total of four
UFOs passing overhead. Smith observes one of them through a theodolite,
describing it as the shape of a “half-moon.” (UFOEv, p. 44;
“‘Saucers’
No Illusion: Hundreds See Shy Visitors,” Oakland (Calif.) Tribune,
March 14, 1950, p. 9; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 5, January–March 1950, The Author, 1983,
pp. 50–51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1475
Date: 3/15/1950
Description: An Air Force Captain Hall, flying in Guatemala, hears from
other pilots at La Aurora Airport in Guatemala City that large, fast,
and highly maneuverable objects have flown directly over the runway. The
stories also appear in the local press. When Hall returns to Brookley
Air Force Base [now Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley] in Mobile, Alabama, he
is interrogated by a USAF intelligence officer and told: “Listen, there
is no such thing as a flying saucer. You won’t discuss them.” (Swords
96)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1476
Date: 3/16/1950
End date: 3/18/1950
Description: 11 a.m.–noon. Former Army Engineer Capt. and Farmington
Times business manager Clayton
J. Boddy Jr. and
dozens of others watch 12–15 shiny “saucer-like discs” cavorting around
the sky over Farmington, New Mexico. They hover, then move in great
bursts of speed. The objects appear three days in a row. (NICAP, “The Farmington
Invasion”; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 5, January–March 1950, The Author, 1983,
pp. 56–64; Sparks, p. 84;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 47–48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1479
Date: 3/16/1950
End date: 3/18/1950
Description: Farmington Armada mass UFO sighting: 100’s of UFO’s spotted
over town, and from nearby Aztec. Some UFO’s appeared red colored. Seen
by thousands of witnesses over a period of several days. Local
newspapers reportedly censored.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: link
Location: Farmington, NM
Location: Aztec, NM
Date: 3/16/1950
Description: The efforts of Kaplan and
Maj. Oder to
start a fireball research project come to fruition when the AF
Geophysical Research Directorate headed by Oder issues a letter
directive authorizing Project Twinkle. A $20,000 half-year contract is
signed with Land-Air, Inc. which operates the phototheodolites at White
Sands, New Mexico. Land-Air is to set up a 24-hour watch at a location
in New Mexico to be specified by the Air Force, and the phototheodolite
operators at White Sands are to film any unusual objects that happen to
fly past. The official contract gives April 1 as the starting
date.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1477
Date: 3/16/1950
Description: Just before 12:00 noon. Chief Petty Officer Charles Lewis
sees a flying disc streak across the sky at Naval Air Station Dallas
[later Grand Prairie Armed Forces Reserve Complex] near Dallas, Texas.
It buzzes a high- flying B-36. It hovers under the bomber for a moment,
then flies off and disappears. NAS Commander Capt. Milton
Adolphus Nation vouches for Lewis and says that the base tower
operators had seen a UFO 10 days before. (NICAP, “Disc
Buzzes B-36”; “‘Flying Saucers’ Sighted by Two,” Dallas Morning
News, March 18, 1950; Ruppelt, p. 75)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1478
Date: 3/16/1950
Description: Swiss engineer Julian Gardiol reported he spotted a UFO
stop in the air stop for 5 minutes (Denver Post Special)
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Newspapers.com
Reference: “Behind
the Flying Saucers” by Frank Scully
Location: Lima, Peru
Date: 3/18/1950
Description: The USAF publicly denies that UFOs are secret missiles or
space-exploration devices. (Donald E. Keyhoe, The Flying Saucers Are
Real, Gold Medal, 1950, p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1481
Date: 3/18/1950
Description: 8:40 a.m. Private pilot Robert Fisher, flying a Beechcraft
Bonanza over Bradford, Illinois, encounters an oval object with a
metallic sheen. He can still see the object when it flies behind some
thin clouds. It moves away at an estimated speed of 600–1,000 mph.
(UFOEv, p. 38)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1480
Date: 3/18/1950
Time: 1830
Description: A rancher, Wilfredo H. Arevalo, saw two objects, one of
which landed. He walked within 150 m of the aluminum-looking craft which
gave off a greenish-blue vapor and “an intense smell of burning
benzine.” A large, flat section on top was revolving above a glass cabin
in which could be seen four tall men, dressed in something like
cellophane, working at various instruments. They saw him and shone a
light in his direction while a blue light illuminated the craft; the
vapor increased and flames (alternately reddish and greenish) shot out
of the base while the object rose with a faint hum. Both craft flew away
toward Chile, leaving bluish trails.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 32 (Vallee)
Location: Lago Argentino, Argentina
ID: 73
Date: 3/20/1950
Time: 9:26 PM
Description: Witnesses: Chicago & Southern Airlines Capt. Jack
Adams, First Officer G. W. Anderson, Jr. One 100’ circular disc with
9-12 portholes along the lower side emitting a soft purple light, and a
light at the top which flashed 3 times in 9 seconds, flew at not less
than 1,000 m.p.h. It was seen for 25-35 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Stuggart, Arkansas
ID: 34
Date: 3/20/1950
Description: 9:26 p.m. Chicago and Southern Airlines Capt. Jack
Adams and First Officer G. W. Anderson Jr., flying a DC-3 at 2,000
feet and heading west from Memphis, Tennessee, to Little Rock, Arkansas,
see a circular disc 100 feet in diameter approximately over Hazen,
Arkansas. In the top center of the object is an extremely bright light
blinking at an estimated 3 flashes per second. The bottom of the object
appears to have 9–12 symmetrical oval or circular portholes in a circle
approximately 75% of the distance from the center to the outer edge. The
object passes directly in front of the airliner at a distance of not
more than 2,640 feet and approximately 1,000 feet higher than the
airliner. They watch the object for 25–35 seconds. Adams estimates its
speed is greater than 1,000 mph. (NICAP, “DC-3
Encounters 100ʹ Disc”; Little Rock Arkansas Gazette, July 24, 1955;
Sparks,
p. 85; Swords 95–96; Tom Howell YouTube channel, “UFO
from the 1950s,” October 3, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1482
Date: spring 1950
Description: Commander Augusto Vars Ortega of the Chilean Navy takes
about 1,200 feet of color film of UFOs—one above the other, turning at
tremendous speeds—in Antarctica. When NICAP asks the Chilean Embassy
about the film in 1956, it tells Keyhoe that
the film is classified and not available. (Dan Lloyd, “Things
Are Hotting Up in the
Antarctic,” Flying Saucer Review 2, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1965):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1495
Date: 3/21/1950
Description: 1:00–1:30 p.m. Sergeant Woods at Sandia Base, New Mexico,
reports four round, silvery objects to the northeast. The objects appear
to be more maneuverable than any known aircraft. The maneuvers are
similar to those in dogfights involving two aircraft, but there seems to
be no similarity to a conventional plane. They make right-angle turns
and reverse direction instantaneously. The duration is about 30 minutes.
Other witnesses at Sandia and Kirtland AFB report similar observations.
(NICAP, “Base
Personnel Sight Strange Objects”; Sparks,
p. 85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1483
Date: 3/22/1950
Description: FBI agent Guy
L. Hottel writes to FBI headquarters about a rumor that three UFOs
have crashed and are recovered in New Mexico. They are 50 feet in
diameter and “each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but
only 3 feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each
body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by
speed flyers and test pilots.” It goes on, “According to Mr. [redacted],
informant, the saucers were found in New Mexico due to the fact that the
Government had a very high-powered radar set-up in that area and it is
believed the radar interferes with the controlling [sic] mechanism of
the saucers.” The informant is probably Silas
M. Newton or Leo
GeBauer. On March 25, 2013, the FBI issues a release saying that the
Hottel memo was simply a second- or third-hand claim “that we never
investigated. Some people believe the memo repeats a hoax that was
circulating at that time, but the Bureau’s files have no information to
verify that theory.” (Guy Hottel, “Flying
Saucers, Information Concerning,” March 22, 1950; Richard H. Hall,
Uninvited Guests, Aurora, 1988, pp. 326–327; Good Above, p. 527;
Federal Bureau of Investigation, “UFOs
and the Guy Hottel
Memo,” March 25, 2013; Robert L. Hastings, “The
March 22, 1950 FBI Memo on Crashed Flying Saucers,”
UFOs & Nukes, April 18, 2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1485
Date: 3/22/1950
Description: 11:00 a.m. Eleven sergeants in the 4925th Test Group watch
a UFO northwest of Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. The shape is “similar to a
flying wing air craft and tan in color, turning to brown around the
edges.” It first travels northwesterly at 25,000–30,000 feet, then turns
north and disappears with a tremendous burst of speed. (NICAP, “Atomic
Test Group Witnesses UFO in Broad Daylight”; Sparks,
p. 85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1484
Date: 3/22/1950
Description: FBI “Guy Hottel” Memo: 3 saucers recovered in NM
(corroborating Frank Scully’s later book on 8/50). Description: Circular
with raised centers, approx. 50 ft. diam. Each one occupied by 3 bodies,
only 3 ft. tall, dressed in metallic suite, taped like high-speed
flyers. It is believed that a very high powered Radar Station interfered
with their control mechanisms, causing them to crash.
Type: memo
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A p116, B1-F p326, B1-E p527, RECOVERY)
Location: Washington DC
See also: 3/25/48
Date: 3/22/1950
Description: Dept. Transportation, Ottawa Canada, announces plans to
build and test free energy geomagnetic engine. Also state that
“Dr. Vannevar Bush heads highest secret saucer research group in the
USA
Type: announcement
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A, B1-E p464)
Location: Ottawa, CA
Date: 3/26/1950
Description: Vice-Admiral Louis
Mountbatten, in
a letter to his friend Charles
Eade, editor
of the London Sunday Dispatch, rejects the idea that flying saucers are
secret weapons, admitting that “they do not come from our Earth…. Maybe
it is the Shackletons or Scotts of Venus or Mars who are making their
first exploration of our Earth.” (UFOFiles2, p. 37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1486
Date: 3/26/1950
Description: 4:00 p.m. Former First Lady Eleanor
Roosevelt interviews airline pilots Jack Adams and G. W. Anderson
about their March 20 UFO sighting on her NBC television program, Today
with Mrs. Roosevelt. (“Anatomy
of a Hoax,
Part Five,” Saturday Night Uforia)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1488
Date: 3/26/1950
Description: Day. Bertram
A. Totten, a
clerk at the Library of Congress, is flying his plane at 5,000 feet over
Fairfax County, Virginia, when he spots an aluminum-colored disc about
40 feet in diameter and 10 feet thick flying 1,000 feet below him. He
dives toward it, but it speeds up into the overcast. It glints when the
sun hits it, and he notices a vapor trail. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 5, January–March 1950, The Author, 1983,
pp. 79–80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1487
Date: 3/26/1950
Description: 8:50 p.m. CAA Tower operator Marie H. Matthews and United
Airlines employees Robert Higbee and Fred Hinkle see a brilliant light
northeast of Hubbard Field [now Reno–Tahoe International Airport]
outside Reno, Nevada. It hangs motionless for 5–6 minutes, then moves
slowly across the sky with a green light on either side of it. It
suddenly zooms upward into a cloud bank. (UFOEv, pp. 44–45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1489
Date: 3/27/1950
Time: 10:30 AM
Description: Witness: USAF radar operator Cpl. Bolfango. Tracked on
radar for 2 minutes while it was stationary and then moved at 500
m.p.h.. Visual observation not detailed, only mentioned in
summary.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Motobo, Okinawa
ID: 35
Date: 3/27/1950
Description: 10:30 a.m. USAF antiaircraft radar operator Cpl. Bolfango
tracks a stationary target on radar over the Motobu Peninsula, Okinawa,
Japan, at 18 miles range for 10 minutes at 13,000 feet. The object then
moves on a 220° heading for 16.9 miles in 2 minutes (about 500 mph) to a
point over a mountain, where it is lost. (NICAP, “Tracked
Stationary Target at 18 Miles”; Sparks, p. 85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1490
Date: 3/27/1950
Description: Radio broadcaster Henry
J. Taylor, on
his syndicated radio program Your Land and Mine, announces the
“wonderful news” that saucers are in fact US secret weapons, which will
reassure the nation when the US Air Force confirms it. Within days, the
story is twisted to specifically credit the Navy’s alleged “top secret”
project the Flying Flapjack Vought XF5U. The story is apparently
disinformation planted by ex-Hollywood writers in the CIA Office of
Policy Coordination’s Political and Psychological Warfare staff headed
by Joseph
Bryan III, a
future president and board chairman of NICAP. (“Radio
Man Certain U.S. Is Owner of ‘Flying Saucer’ Missile Secret,”
Miami (Fla.) News, March 29, 1950, p. 9; NICAP, “1950
UFO Chronology”; Swords 97; Curt Collins, “1950
Disclosure: UFOs Are Made in the USA,” November 9, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1491
Date: 3/28/1950
Description: Samuel
Eaton Thompson is on his way home to Centralia, Washington, from
Markham. He drives through a wooded area between Morton and Mineral and
decides to stop to take a break. On foot, he comes upon a large,
globe-shaped craft hovering above a clearing. Naked children with dark
tans and blond hair are playing on steps that lead from an open door to
the side of the UFO. Several naked adults—humanoid, attractive, and also
deeply tanned—then appear at the ship’s door. After realizing that
Thompson means them no harm, they beckon him closer. The crew consists
of 20 adults and 25 children, the latter from about 5–15 years of age.
Thompson claims to have spent the next 40 hours with the humanoids. They
are from Venus, he learns, and have stopped at Earth despite the fact
that other Venusian saucers have been shot at by Earth-based military
forces. The Venusians further claims that they are vegetarian and that
they never grow ill. Thompson also claims the Venusians are naïve and
childlike; they do not know who has built their flying saucers and seem
to possess little to no curiosity. He goes back to get a camera and
tries to take photos, but the object is too bright to appear on film.
Thompson returns home on March 30. (“Centralian Tells Strange Tale of
Visiting Venus Space Ship in Eastern Lewis County,” Centralia (Wash.)
Daily Chronicle, April 1, 1950; Clark III 1127–1129; Jerome Clark, “The
Coming of the Venusians,” Fate 34, no. 1 (January 1981): 49–55; Patrick
Gross, URECAT, November
16, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1493
Date: 3/28/1950
Description: In response to a request from J.
Edgar Hoover to his aide D.
Milton (“Mickey”) Ladd on “just what are the facts re ‘flying
saucers,’ agent S.
Wesley Reynolds interviews Maj. Boggs and
Lieut. Col. John
V. Hearn Jr. of Air Force Intelligence, who tell him that most UFOs
are misidentifications and weather balloons. (Swords 95; Loren E. Gross,
UFOs,
a History: Volume 5, January–March 1950, The Author, 1983,
pp. 84–85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1492
Date: 3/28/1950
Time: 3:15 PM
Description: Witness: M/Sgt. Patterson, of the office of the U.S. Air
Attache. One white object observed for 5-10 seconds through binoculars
while it flew high and fast, crossing 30 degree of sky.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Santiago, Chile
ID: 36
Date: 3/29/1950
Time: 7 AM
Description: Witnesses: real estate salesmen Whiteside and Williams.
Six-twelve dark objects shaped like 300-lb. bombs, estimated 5 feet
long. Flew 500 m.p.h. and descended, making a noise like wind blowing
through the trees.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Marrowbore Lake, Tennessee
ID: 37
Date: 3/31/1950
Description: Syndicated columnist Drew
Pearson publishes “Worried about Flying Saucers?” in which he
sympathizes with the Air Force, which has to reply to groundless public
excitement. His USAF contact has told him, “there ain’t no such animal.”
Pentagon Public Relations Officer Maj. DeWitt
Searles tells the press that all UFO cases are the result of
misinterpretations, mass hysteria, and hoaxes: “As far as the Air Force
goes, there’s no such thing as a flying saucer.” (Drew Pearson, “Worried
about Flying Saucers?” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, March 31, 1950, p. 5;
“Major
Debunker of Flying Saucers, Keeps Saying, ’No, No, 1,000 Times No,’”
Rock Island (Ill.) Argus, March 31, 1950, p. 18; Swords 96–99)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1494
Date: 3/31/1950
Description: Secret tape of an AFOSI interrogation of radio time
salesmen George Koehler (“Coulter” in newspaper articles), recorded at
station KMYR in Denver. The 2 federal agents were looking for “parts”
and “gadgets” from crashed flying saucers. Digitized from the Frank
Scully archive at the American Heritage Center (Box #34 Item #17).
Type: tape recording
Reference: YouTube
Location: Denver, CO
Date: 3/31/1950
Description: Memo to Director, FBI pertaining to flying saucers. Memo
names a person in Denver, Colorado that claims to possess a UFO radio
transmitter.
Type: memo
Reference: YouTube
Location: Washington DC
Date: 4/1950
Description: Daytime. While working on her lawn in Canby, Oregon, Ellen
Jonerson glances over at her neighbor’s yard and sees a 12-inch-tall man
with his back turned to her. When he turns around, she sees that he has
a heavily tanned face, is of stocky build, and wears overalls and a
plaid shirt. There is a skullcap on his head. She dashes inside to call
a friend, then runs outside again in time to see the figure “waddling”
away. He walks under a parked car and disappears. Kenneth
Arnold, who
interviews her, is convinced of her sincerity. (Center for UFO Studies,
HUMCAT
Index, 1950–1951, p. 2; Clark III 270)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1496
Date: 4/1950
Description: Mikel Konrad made a movie of eight disks he saw landing and
taking off 60 km north of Jun.au.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Juneau, Alaska
ID: 74
Date: 4/1/1950
Description: Project Twinkle officially begins.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1497
Date: 4/4/1950
Description: Presidential press secretary Charlie
Ross states that Truman has
conferred with his two top military advisers, Rear Adm. Robert
Dennison and Brig. Gen. Robert
B. Landry, and that they claim the US has no such technology.
Furthermore, the Air Force study has concluded there are no such things
as flying saucers. Caltech aeronautics professor Clark
Blanchard Millikan agrees, saying: “If anyone should know about such
a project, I should know—and I know of no development in the aircraft or
guided missile field.” (Swords 97–99)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1498
Date: 4/5/1950
Description: Sen. Richard
Russell Jr. (D-Ga.) states to the press that he is “completely
baffled” by flying saucer reports that are made by many pilots who would
not be fooled by hallucinations or clouds. Sen. Millard
Tydings (D-Md.), chair of the Armed Services Committee, says he
thinks saucers might be experimental US aircraft “in embryo stage.”
Rep. Albert
J. Engel (R-Mich.) thinks the same. Sen. Kenneth
S. Wherry (R-Neb.) says the saucers are “like our foreign policy. It
is in a state of confusion and no one seems to know what it is all
about.” (“Congress Split about
Saucers,” Miami (Fla.) News, April 5, 1950, pp. 1, 6; Loren E.
Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 6, April–July
1950, The
Author, 1990, pp. 9–10; Swords 98)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1499
Date: 4/6/1950
Description: 4:45 p.m. Lt. John
J. Sevila, a
pilot with the 131st Fighter Squadron, hears a sound like a flight of
jet airplanes and rushes out of his house in Springfield, Massachusetts,
to see them. Instead, he sees a perfectly circular object moving slowly
westward at an altitude of 25,000 feet. He watches it for 5 minutes as
it moves at a speed of 50– 100 mph. When the sun hits it directly, it
shines like a mirror. (The Thunderbolt 1, no. 12 (April 1950): 5; Jan
Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1500
Date: 4/7/1950
Description: Newsman Edward
R. Murrow produces the first extended TV commentary on UFOs, “The
Case of the Flying Saucer” on CBS. He begins with the Kenneth
Arnold case, mentions Muroc AFB cases and Mantell,
and quotes both True magazine and Donald
Menzel. Also
on the show are Henry
J. Taylor, engineer
Charles
H. Zimmerman, and Charlie
Ross, as
well as people on the street. (“Transcript
of Ed Murrow–Kenneth Arnold Telephone Conversation,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 1 (Feb./March 1984): 3; Edward R.
Murrow, “The
Case of the Flying
Saucer [audio only],” Bryce Zabel YouTube channel, February 24,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1502
Date: 4/7/1950
Description: US News and World Report comes out with a story on saucers
that hints they are top-secret, jet-propelled Navy aircraft “that can
outfly other planes.” (“Flying
Saucers—the Real Story: U.S. Built First One in 1942,” US News and
World Report 28, no. 14 (April 7, 1950): 13–15; Michael D. Swords,
“Balloons, Missiles, and UFOs,” IUR 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1503
Date: 4/7/1950
Description: The National Security Council presents President Truman with
Report 68 (NSC-68), a 56-page top secret policy paper that provides the
“blueprint for the militarization of the Cold War.” It advocates a large
expansion in the military budget, the development of a hydrogen bomb,
and increased military aid to US allies for the containment of Communist
expansion. It essentially warns Truman that the US is losing the Cold
War. Truman does not approve it until 1951. (Wikipedia, “NSC-68”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1504
Date: 4/7/1950
Description: Letter sent from BSRA to President
Type: letter
Reference: Twitter
Link
Location: San Diego, CA
See also: 5/16/1950
Date: 4/7/1950
Description: A CAA control tower operator at Logan Airport in Boston,
Massachusetts, watches a blue light split into two lights that revolve
around each other for 10 minutes. (Hynek UFO Report, pp. 65–68;
Sparks, p. 86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1501
Date: 4/8/1950
Time: 0200
Description: A metal worker was awakened by his dog and observed an
object 60 m away at low altitude. It was a gray metal disk, 5 m in
diameter, shaped like a top with a kind of turret. It was oscillating,
spinning slowly, and had three portholes shining with a blue-white
light. It hovered for about 2 min, left toward the north, very
fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Kokomo, Indiana
ID: 75
Date: 4/8/1950
Time: 2 AM
Description: Witness: Earl Baker. One grey metallic disc, 50’ in
diameter, 15’ thick; top-shaped with a “conning tower” at the top and
three ports on the rim giving off a blue light. It hovered for 2
minutes, then flew away. Baker aroused from sleep by his dog.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kokomo, Indiana
ID: 38
Date: 4/8/1950
Description: Paul
Limerick, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Shelby, North
Carolina, watches a round, aluminum-colored object with four other
people for 2 minutes. It follows a horizontal course toward the
southwest without making a sound, then shoots straight up and
disappears. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 6, April–July
1950, The
Author, 1990, p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1505
Date: 4/8/1950
Time: afternoon
Description: David, 12, and Charles, 9, Lightfoot saw a disk land behind
a hill and touched it. It was the size of a car tire, about 30 cm high,
with a rounded top that rotated and a pivot between the base and the
top. It took off very fast. The faces and arms of the boys later became
red.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 200 (Vallee)
Location: River Road near Amarillo, Texas
ID: 76
Date: 4/10/1950
Description: 7:00 p.m. Several University of California, Berkeley,
graduate students, including Garniss
H. Curtis, Robert Scott
Creely, and Louis
I. Briggs, watch
a bright light moving against the wind at about 10–15 mph at 1,500 feet
altitude about 3–4 miles away from Berkeley, California, for two hours.
It turns slowly to the south then turns around and heads slowly back.
Four high school students in Monterey, California, see a gleaming object
over San Francisco in the early afternoon. (NICAP case file; “Saucer
Visits San Francisco, Schoolboys Say,” Los Angeles Times, April 12,
1950, p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1506
Date: 4/14/1950
Description: RAND Corporation writer Jean M. Hungerford writes a 32-page
research memorandum for the US Air Force titled “The Exploitation of
Superstitions for Purposes of Psychological Warfare.” She uses recent
examples of religious miracles that were used in Western propaganda, as
well as horoscopes, chain letters, and folklore. (Jean M. Hungerford,
“The
Exploitation of Superstitions for Purposes of Psychological
Warfare,” USAF Project Rand Research Memorandum, RM-35, April 14,
1950)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1507
Date: 4/14/1950
Time: 2:30 PM
Description: Witness: Army M/Sgt. James. Four rectangular, amber
objects, about 3’ by 4’. changed speed and direction rapidly; the group
of objects rose and fell during the 3-4 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey
ID: 39
Date: 4/17/1950
Description: More than 15 people report seeing a UFO for 20 minutes at
2,000 feet on the eastern horizon at Los Alamos, New Mexico. One
scientist watches the object through a telescope and says it looks flat,
circular, metallic, and roughly 9 feet in diameter. It moves faster than
any conventional aircraft. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume
6, April–July 1950, The
Author, 1990, p. 26; Sparks,
p. 86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1509
Date: 4/17/1950
Description: Newsweek publishes an article, “Flying Saucers Again,” on
crashed saucers. (“Flying Saucers Again,” Newsweek, April 17, 1950,
p. 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1508
Date: 4/17/1950
Description: Variety author Frank Scully’s book “Behind the Flying
Sauces” announced coming soon.
Type: announcement
Reference: Newspapers.com
Location: Glens Falls, NY
Date: 4/20/1950
Time: night
Description: Jack Robertson was driviug about 13 km west of town when he
saw a round object about 3 m in diameter hovering about 7 m above him
with a dull red glow. It took off with a “swooshing roar” as sparks flew
from a slot under it. Minutes later the witness feIt a burning sensation
on his face.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Jul., 59 (Vallee)
Location: Lufkin, Texas
ID: 77
Date: 4/24/1950
Time: 2200
Description: Bruno Facchini heard and saw sparks coming from a dark,
hovering object, near which a man dressed in tight-fitting clothes and
wearing a helmet seemed to be making repairs. Three other men were seen
near the craft. When the work was finished, a trap through which light
had been shining was closed and the thing took off. The witness had the
time to note many details of the machine and its occupants.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 63, 2; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Abbiate Guazzone, Italy
ID: 78
Date: 4/24/1950
Description: 10:00 p.m. Bruno Facchini steps outside his house on the
outskirts of Abbiate Guazzone, Varese, Italy, and notices something
flashing near a power line. He goes to investigate and encounters a
landed disc with an open door and steps leading down. Three or four men
in diving suits and helmets are inside. One seems to be welding a pipe.
Facchini speaks to them, but they respond with growling sounds. One
points a small “camera” at him that emits a beam that knocks him over.
Facchini lies still while the repairs are completed, and the UFO takes
off. (Pino Carminati Ghidelli, “Un
Diaco è Atterrato,” Notiziario UFO, no. 37 (Jan./Feb. 1971): 19–22;
Antonio Giudici, “The
Case of Bruno Facchini,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 6 (April
1975): 30–32; Ezio Barnardini, “Facchini:
Un CE3 Rivisitato,” Notiziario UFO, no. 104 (March 1985/Jan. 1986):
4–7; Clark III 267; Marcus Lowth, “Bruno
Facchini’s Extraterrestrial Encounter in Varese, Italy,” UFO
Insight, September 5, 2020; 1Pinotti 30–40; Patrick Gross, “Abbiate
Guazzone, Italy, April 24, 1950”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1510
Date: 4/25/1950
Description: 3:00 p.m. Enrique Hausmann Muller takes a film of a bright,
circular UFO with rays of flame spinning off its edge in a pinwheel
fashion in Montuïri, Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain. Probable hoax.
(UFOEv, p. 88;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 6, April–July 1950, The Author, 1990, p. 32;
Matías Morey Ripoll, “El
Caso Hausmann:
Una Aproximación desde Ibiza,” UFO Fotocat Blog, September 20, 2019;
Centro Ufologico Nazionale, [Hausmann
photo])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1512
Date: 4/25/1950
Description: Early morning. Military security patrols at the deactivated
Dugway Proving Ground in western Utah view a series of unusual lights
and objects moving above an ammunition storage area. One object is
“surrounded by an aura of spears of light jutting diagonally from the
main body.” (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History, Volume 6: April–July
1950, The
Author, 1990, p. 34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1511
Date: 4/27/1950
Description: While preparing for an MX-776A Shrike air-to-ground missile
test at White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico, Charles Riggs, a member
of the Project Twinkle cinetheodolite camera crew supplied by Land-Air
Inc., sees, tracks, and manages to film four high-flying objects
streaking across the sky. Another station also tracks the objects. The
photos show only a smudgy dark object, but the triangulation results in
a calculation by mathematician Wilbur L. Mitchell and Capt. Perry Bryant
of the objects’ size as 30 feet in diameter and 150,000 feet in
altitude. (NICAP, “Cinetheodolite
Film Taken by Tracking Station”; Ruppelt, p. 88;
Clark III 544–545; Sparks, p. 88;
Thomas Tulien, ed., Proceedings
of the Sign Historical Group UFO History Workshop, Sign Historical
Group, November 2001, p. 44; Good Above, pp. 354–355;
Bruce Maccabee, “The White Sands Films,” IUR 21, no. 1 (Spring 1996):
22–25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1513
Date: 4/27/1950
Description: TWA flight 117 sights UFO
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 4/27/1950
Description: 8:25 p.m. TWA Flight 117 pilot Capt. Robert
Adickes and Flight Officer Robert F. Manning are flying near Goshen,
Indiana, when they see a bright-red disc-shaped UFO behind their DC-3.
It overtakes the plane in about 2 minutes. Stewardess Gloria Henshaw and
11 passengers (including Boeing engineers C. H. Jenkins and Dean
C. Bourland and
executives E. J. Fitzgerald and S. N. Miller) also see the object. It
veers off at 400 mph, drops down to 1,500 feet, and disappears. (NICAP,
“Adickes
TWA DC-3 Case”; Sparks,
p. 89; Donald E. Keyhoe, “Flight 117
and the Flying Saucer,” True, August 1950, pp. 24–25, 75–79; James
E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified
Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects,
Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong.,
2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 46–47)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1514
Date: 5/5/1950
Description: 11:30 p.m. Capt. Marcellus D. O’Sullivan, 1Lt. William
J. Reisinger, and three enlisted men of the 625th Aircraft and
Warning Squadron at Elmendorf AFB [now Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson],
Anchorage, Alaska, see a reddish-orange object hovering in the sky for 5
minuites. It puts on a burst of speed and disappears over the horizon.
(“From
History: 57th Fighter Interceptor Wing (Alaska), January–June 1950,”
UFO Historical Revue, no. 5 (July 1999): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1515
Date: 5/7/1950
Time: 1845
Description: A couple and their grandson were returning from a picnic
when, about 14 km south of Ely, they saw a silvery-white object at
treetop level. It hovered for 10 min, then oscillated “as if attempting
to rise” and suddenly flew out of sight at high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Ely, Nevada
ID: 79
Date: 5/7/1950
Time: 6:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. George Smith and their grandson.
One silvery white object hovered at 100’ altitude, moved back and forth
for 10 minutes and then flew up and away. Note in case file: “No
investigation.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Nine miles sough of Ely, Nevada
ID: 40
Date: 5/11/1950
Description: 7:30 p.m. Evelyn
Trent, who
lives on a farm nine miles from McMinnville, Oregon [near Sheridan,
Oregon], is walking back to her farmhouse after feeding rabbits. Before
reaching the house, she sees a slow-moving, metallic disk-shaped object
heading in her direction from the northeast. She yells for her husband
Paul,
who is inside the house; he comes out and also sees the object. After a
short time, he goes back inside to get a camera and manages to take two
photos of the object before it speeds away to the west. Paul Trent’s
father briefly sees the object before it flies away. The Trents assume
they have seen some exotic military aircraft. They do not develop the
film in the camera until they use it up and show the photos only to a
few friends. Eventually it reaches the cover of Life magazine, but the
Trents show no desire to make any money from the photos. Although the
Colorado project initially thinks the photos seem genuine, three
Interface Pilote pour l’Analyse de Clichés d’OVNIs researchers in
2013–2015 claim to find evidence of a model suspended from a string.
Researcher Brad
Sparks finds major mathematical and scientific errors in IPACO’s
work, which actually supports a UFO conclusion. (Wikipedia, “McMinnville
UFO Photographs”; “Farmer
Trent’s Flying Saucer,” Life, June 26, 1950, p. 29; NICAP, “Trent
/ McMinnville
Photos”; Story, pp. 223–226;
Sparks, p. 90;
Hynek UFO Report, pp. 244–245;
Condon, pp. 396– 407;
Bruce S. Maccabee, “On
the Possibility that the McMinnville Photos Show a Distant Unidentified
Object (UO),”
Proceedings of the 1976 CUFOS Conference, Center for UFO Studies, 1976,
pp. 152–163; Bruce S. Maccabee, “The
McMinnville Photos,” The Spectrum of UFO Research, CUFOS, 1988,
pp. 13–57; Bruce S. Maccabee, “The
Trent Farm Photos,” April 2000; Bruce S. Maccabee, “The
Trent Farm Photos Appendix,” April 2000; Bruce S. Maccabee, “The
McMinnville Photos,” May 2000; Michael D. Swords, “Can
We Learn Anything from
UFO Photos? Part Five,” The Big Study, July 15, 2012; Antoine
Cousyn, François Louange, and Geoff Quick, “The
McMinnville Pictures,” Interface Pilote pour l’Analyse de Clichés
d’OVNIs, May 2014; Clark III 702–704)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1516
Date: 5/11/1950
Description: McMinnville UFO photographs, also known as the Trent UFO
photos, were taken by a farming couple, Paul and Evelyn Trent near
McMinnville, Oregon.
Type: ufo photo
Reference: link
Reference: link
Location: McMinnville, OR
Date: 5/15/1950
Description: Afternoon. Architect Enrique Carotenuto Bossa is driving in
an isolated region in Bahía Blanca Partido (possibly between Macachín
and Estación Hidalgo Ferrocarril Sarmiento), La Pampa, Argentina, when
he sees a metallic disc resting on the ground to the left of the
highway. He stops the car to investigate, approaches it, and sees an
open door in its side. He goes inside and sees a “curved divan with
three seats, two of which were occupied by small beings covered from
head to foot (except for an opening for the face (in a kind of
tight-fitting overall of a brown color.” The bodies are about 4 feet
tall, and their faces seem charred or burnt. In front of them is a
screen with “rays playing on it,” and on top of the screen is a rotating
globe. The engineer runs out and drives back to his hotel. He returns
the next day with two companions and finds only an ash heap. But they
look up and see three UFOs—one a cigar-shaped object and two discs,
hovering above them at 1,800 feet. The discs merge with the cigar and
speed away. (El Universal (Caracas, Venezuela), May 7, 1955; “Man
Enters Grounded Disc,” APRO Bulletin, August 1955, pp. 1–3; Clark
III 327–328; Willy Smith, “The Curious Case of the Argentine Crashed
Saucer,” IUR 11, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1986): 18–19; Roberto E. Banchs and
Richard W. Heiden, “Crash Landing in the Pampas,” IUR 24, no. 2 (Summer
1999): 4–10, 30; Roberto Banchs, “General
Acha (LP): Un Accidentado
Aterrizaje (Priemra Parte),” Marcianitos Verdes, July 4, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1517
Date: 5/16/1950
Description: Reply letter from White House to BSRA
Type: letter
Reference: Twitter
Link
Location: Washington DC
See also: 4/7/1950
Date: 5/20/1950
Description: 12:15 p.m. Meteorologist Seymour
L. Hess is strolling the grounds of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff,
Arizona, when he notices a round, gray-colored object approaching from
the southeast at about 12,000 feet altitude. He follows it with a 4x
spyglass as it passes in front of a small cumulus cloud. Hess estimates
it is about 4 feet in diameter and moving about 100 mph. (UFOEv, p. 3;
Condon, pp. 245–248;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 61–62)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1518
Date: 5/21/1950
Description: 3:50 p.m. T/Sgt Edward Eles, Earl
DuQuoin, and
four other airmen of the 187th Fighter Squadron of the Wyoming National
Guard are on the airfield at the Municipal Airport in Cheyenne, Wyoming,
when they see a V- shaped formation of four round, pure-white discs
flying in a northerly direction. In a matter of seconds, the objects
change formation and make a sharp right-angle turn, flying single file,
and speed out of sight. (Cheyenne Wyoming State Tribune, May 22, 1950,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1520
Date: 5/21/1950
Description: A second Gallup poll on UFOs is released, showing that 5%
of respondents think “these flying saucers” are “comets, shooting stars,
something from another planet.” (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 6, April–July 1950, The
Author, 1990, pp. 48-49; Robert J. Durant, “Evolution of Public Opinion
on UFOs,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993): 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1519
Date: 5/24/1950
Description: During an MX-674 Tarzon controllable vertical bomb test at
Holloman AFB, New Mexico, Floyd Fannon and other USAF crew members see
eight unidentified objects. They separately track and film two of the
objects down the North American Aviation missile firing range. Project
Twinkle cinetheodolite station P-8 films one object to the northeast for
6 frames (1.0 sec) moving uniformly to the south. Cinetheodolite station
P-10, located 5.7 miles down range to the north from P-8 and 7 feet
higher, films another object, hence no triangulation is possible.
(NICAP, “Cinetheodolite
Film Taken by Tracking Station”; Sparks,
p. 91; Good Above, pp. 354–355;
Bruce Maccabee, “The White Sands Films,” IUR 21, no. 1 (Spring 1996):
22–25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1521
Date: 5/25/1950
Description: Lt. Col. Doyle
Rees of the USAF Office of Special Investigations writes a
confidential memo to Brig. Gen. Joseph
F. Carroll, Director
of Special Investigations. In part, it states: “In a liaison meeting
with other military and government intelligence and investigative
agencies in December 1948, it was determined that the frequency of
unexplained aerial phenomena in the New Mexico area was such that an
organized plan of reporting these observations should be undertaken. The
organization and physical location of units of this District were most
suitable for collecting these data, therefore, since December 1948, this
District has assumed the responsibility for collecting and reporting
basic information with respect to aerial phenomena in this general
area.” (NICAP, “Summary
of Observations of Aerial Phenomena, New Mexico Area, Dec 1949 to May
1950”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1522
Date: 5/29/1950
Description: 9:20 p.m. Capt. Willis
T. Sperry, copilot
Bill Gates, flight engineer Robert
Arnholt, a stewardess, and several passengers on an American
Airlines DC-6 airliner headed southwest out of Washington, D.C., en
route to Nashville, Tennessee, are flying at 7,500 feet at 250 mph.
About 7 miles west of Mount Vernon, Virginia, Gates alerts Sperry to a
bright blue or bluish light ahead of them and increasing in size. Sperry
makes an evasive 45° turn to the right and the object passes from 11
o’clock to 7 o’clock position to the left at a slightly higher altitude.
The light very briefly passes between the aircraft and the upper part of
the moon, revealing an object with a long silhouette (somewhat
reminiscent of a submarine) without visible wings or empennage. The blue
light is on the front of the object. Sperry turns left back onto his
original course to get the object back in view, but it apparently stays
stationary for about 30 seconds. Gates then notices the object circling
around to the right side. Sperry banks right again, while the object
paces the airliner about 20–30 seconds before it climbs to the east at a
30° angle at “fantastic” speed and disappears. (Wikipedia, “Sperry
UFO Case”; NICAP, “Capt. Willis
Sperry Sighting”; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 6, April–July 1950, The
Author, 1990, pp. 52–53; Project 1947, “UFO Reports
1950”; Sparks, p. 91)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1523
Date: 5/29/1950
Description: A shiny, bright object streaking across the sky is spotted
by two cine-theodolite stations at White Sands Missile Range, New
Mexico, just before firing a test missile. The object is tracked and
photographed by both stations. After the films are developed, it turns
out that the stations had photographed different objects. Analysts
estimate that the objects were higher than 40,000 feet, traveling more
than 2,000 mph, and over 300 feet in diameter. (Ruppelt, p. 89;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 6, April–July 1950, The Author, 1990, p. 36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1524
Date: 6/1950
Description: Many sightings
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 6/1/1950
Description: A pilot on patrol from RAF Tangmere in West Sussex,
England, sights a “bright circular metallic object” that speeds past his
Gloster Meteor jet fighter at 20,000 feet. As he undergoes a debriefing
by squadron intelligence, he finds out that four RAF controllers at the
radar station at RAF Wartling near Eastbourne have, at the same time,
tracked an “unusual response” that vanishes from their screens, moving
at terrific speed. (David Clarke, “Flying
Saucer Working Party,” Dr. David Clarke Folklore and Journalism,
January 3, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1527
Date: 6/8/1950
Description: Gen. Earle
E. Partridge of the Fifth Air Force, responsible for the Korean
Theatre, writes to Commanding Gen. George
E. Stratemeyer, asking
for an analysis of certain UFO cases. (Swords 100–101)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1528
Date: 6/12/1950
Description: 4:00 p.m. Working in a quarry somewhere in California,
geologist John Zimmerman and civil engineer Charles Fisher are watching
a jet aircraft speeding through the sky and leaving a vapor trail.
Suddenly Zimmerman notices that the vapor trail has been cut. Looking
more closely, he notices a metallic disc making vertical loops around
the jet. Two other discs come into view and perform the same aerobatics.
(Wells Alan Webb, Mars, the New Frontier, Fearon, 1956, p. 124; UFOEv,
p. 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1530
Date: 6/12/1950
Description: Eastern Airlines executive Eddie
Rickenbacker tells the press that if flying saucers “do exist, you
can rest assured that they are ours.” (Swords 100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1529
Date: 6/17/1950
Description: Oskar Linke and his 11-year-old daughter Gabriele are
walking toward Haselbach, Thuringia, East Germany, in the twilight when
she notices something about 420 feet away. It appears to be two men
dressed in shiny metallic clothing who are stooped over and looking at
something on the ground. Linke approaches to 30 feet away, looks over a
small fence, and sees a large object about 40 feet in diameter that
looks like a huge frying pan. It has two rows of holes in its periphery
and a black conical tower about 9 feet high. The two men suddenly jump
inside. The inside lights up, the object starts humming and rises slowly
from the ground, rotating like a top. It rises from the ground with the
aid of a central cylinder and is surrounded by flames, then takes off in
the direction of Stockheim. Later he finds a circular depression in the
ground at the spot. Linke resettles in West Berlin in 1951. He tells his
story to a notary there on July 1, 1952, which is how it turns up in the
Western press and explains a confusion in the date of the sighting.
(NICAP, “CE
III by Two Witnesses / Oskar Linke Case”; Central Intelligence
Agency, “’Flying
Saucers’ in East Germany,” July 9, 1952; Andreas Müller, “Das
Haselbach-UFO von
1950: Die Augenzeugin spricht,” grenzWissenschaft-aktuell.de,
January 26, 2016; Sparks, p. 92;
Good Above, pp. 513–514)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1531
Date: summer 1950
Description: Physicist Enrico
Fermi first formulates the “Fermi Paradox” during a casual
conversation (in Los Alamos, New Mexico?) with fellow physicists Edward
Teller, Herbert
York, and
Emil
Konopinski. While
walking to lunch, the men discuss recent UFO reports and the possibility
of faster-than-light travel. The conversation moves on to other topics,
until during lunch Fermi allegedly says suddenly, “But where is
everybody?” (although the exact quote is uncertain). (Wikipedia, “Enrico
Fermi”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1525
Date: summer 1950
Description: Evening. An 8- or 10-foot-disc lands in a field behind
Mrs. Mason Vaughan’s house in Beaverdam, Virginia. From an open cockpit
a “man with unusual goggles or headpiece” looks out. Surprised, the disc
takes off abruptly, breaking off a limb from an oak tree on the way up.
(Clark III 267; Center for UFO Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1950–1951, p. 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1526
Date: 6/21/1950
Description: 1:35 a.m. Control tower operators Cpl. Roger G. Pryor and
S/Sgt. Ellis
R. Lorimer and airways communications staffer S/Sgt. Virgil Cappuro
watch a flying disc speeding at 1,000–1,500 mph over Hamilton AFB [now
closed] in Novato, California. The object shoots blue flame and makes a
roar like thunder as it makes five passes over the base. They observe it
through binoculars for 25 minutes. (NICAP, “Disc
Makes Five Passes at
Control Tower”; Sparks, p. 92)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1532
Date: 6/24/1950
Description: A cigar-shaped UFO paces a United Airlines plane (Capt. E.
L. Remlin, First Officer David Stewart, and observer Capt. Samuel
B. Wiper) for 20 minutes near Daggett, California. The object is
also seen by the crew of another airliner and a navy transport plane.
The Navy pilot sees for 3 minutes a dark gray object with heat radiation
at the tail end. He estimates altitude as 50,000–100,000 feet and a
speed of 1,000–1,500 mph. The crews discuss the matter with two CAA
ground stations. (NICAP, “Three
Aircraft Crews Observe UFO”; UFOEv, p. 31;
Sparks, p. 93)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1533
Date: 6/25/1950
Description: Korean War
Type: war
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Korea
Date: 6/25/1950
Description: North Korea invades South Korea, beginning the Korean War.
(Wikipedia, “Korean
War”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1534
Date: 6/27/1950
Time: 7:50 AM
Description: Witnesses: Terrell and Yates, employees of Red River
Arsenal. One object, bright, shaped like two dishpans face-to-face, flew
straight and level, fast for 4-5 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Texarkana, Texas
ID: 41
Date: 6/27/1950
Description: President Truman orders
US air and sea forces to help South Korea. (Wikipedia, “Korean
War”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1535
Date: 6/27/1950
Description: 4:15 p.m. Al Hixenbaugh, a photographer for the Louisville
Times, is at the corner of Longest and Everett avenues in Louisville,
Kentucky, when he hears the sound of a DC-3 airplane overhead. He looks
up and sees the plane as well as a large disc with a slight corona
around it. He shoots 50 feet of film with his 16mm movie camera as the
object remains motionless for 10 seconds before it starts getting
smaller and disappears to the west. (Louisville (Ky.) Times, June 28,
1950, p. 1; “How
to Film UFO’s,” Saucers 6, no. 3 (August 1958): 3; Sparks, p. 93)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1536
Date: 6/30/1950
Description: Midnight. Rev. Ross Vermillion, a former bomber pilot, and
his wife are driving 9 miles west of Kingman, Kansas, when they see a
bright red light hovering over US Hwy 54 near Cunningham, Kansas. They
estimate it to be about 250 feet in diameter with a small canopy on top.
The family of druggist Dwayne Mulnix of Meade, Kansas, also sees the
object and they stop and watch it for about 20 minutes along the
highway. They begin to drive closer, but it speeds away. As seen in the
bright moonlight, the object looks made of bright metal and has an
elliptical body “as big as the cross-section of a B-29” with a rotor
turning counterclockwise around its body. (NICAP, “WWII
Pilot Tells of Seeing Flying Saucer”; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 6, April–July 1950, The
Author, 1990, pp. 66–69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1537
Date: 6/30/1950
Description: 11:15 p.m. Two navy men (Petty Officer Carter and Able
Seaman Connelly) at Royal Canadian Naval Air Station Shearwater,
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, are pulling duty on radar watch from dusk until
dawn. They report four separate radar contacts bearing 160° at 5 miles
over 90 minutes. Visual confirmation of two glowing objects is made by a
chief petty officer in North Dartmouth. (NICAP, “Navy
Men Report Radar Contact”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1538
Date: 7/1950
Description: Flying Magazine: “THE FLYING SAUCERS-FACT OR
FICTION?”
Type: publication
Reference: link
Date: 7/1950
Description: USAF Director of Intelligence Maj. Gen. Charles
P. Cabell orders secret UFO field investigations to be conducted by
his staff Technical Capabilities Branch in the Evaluation Division under
Maj. Milton
D. Willis. These begin this month and last until October 1951 when
Cabell is replaced by Gen. John
A. Samford. (Clark III 936)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1539
Date: 7/1950
Description: Editor Curtis
Fuller’s article, “The Flying Saucers: Fact or Fiction?” appears in
Flying magazine. (Curtis Fuller, “The
Flying Saucers: Fact or Fiction?” Flying 47 (July 1950): 16–17,
59–61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1540
Date: 7/1950
Description: Armed Forces Special Weapons Project concludes a top secret
study, named Project Nutmeg, to search for an atomic weapons site in the
continental US. AFSWP concludes that a site on the Air Force’s Las Vegas
Bombing and Gunnery Range in Nevada is the right place. President Truman approves
the location, known as Frenchman Flat. (Wikipedia, “Sandia
Base”; “Project
Nutmeg: The Birth of the Nevada Test Site,” National Nuclear
Security Administration, June 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1541
Date: 7/1950
Description: Mid-day. Electronics engineer Cliff Booth is having lunch
in his office at a private contractor’s building at Holloman AFB, New
Mexico, when he gets a call that a UFO has been reported by one of the
range stations. Booth and an Askania cinetheodolite operator are asked
to drive to another range station with a manually operated Askania and
look for the object. Through the finders on the theodolite the object
presents a side view to the observers and appears to be cigar-shaped and
metallic, with a straw-colored iridescent radiance or luster. It also
has fins one-third of the way back from the front of the fuselage and a
row of at least three oblong ports extending to the rear of the object
and located above the center line of the fuselage. The ports are a dark
smoky gray but not luminescent. The object hovers in an almost
horizontal position, elevation 20°–25°, azimuth northeast. Shortly after
the men focus the instrument on the object to take a film, it begins
maneuvering. Turning toward the camera, the object moves in, and the men
can see the front—a round shape with the fins extending out from the
sides. It then drops abruptly, as though beginning to fall, but stops.
It moves toward the camera, turns sideways, then drops as before, but
this time it exposes the side view again. The operator leaves to report
the coordinates to headquarters, and when he returns the object is gone.
The men turn over their exposed film to the Data Reduction Division for
development and analysis. A week or so later they are called in and
questioned by a young first lieutenant unknown to them who asks them
over and over again if they have taken pictures and to describe the
object they had seen. Then they are asked if they can identify the film
of the object they photographed. One of the men becomes angry about the
questioning, telling the officer he had seen what he reported, had
photographed the object, and is convinced it is some sort of a vehicle
from outer space. He is shown a film of 14 frames on a Recordak
projector. The black-and-white presentation shows a blurred ellipsoid
with a dark center, but no details. (Puzzled about the film, he later
talks to a mathematician-analyst employed by Land-Air, Inc.; she
conjectured the object had been oscillating in the air, preventing a
stable image.) The men are then told by their superiors to forget the
whole thing. (Lorenzen, FS Hoax, pp. 27–29;
Project 1947, “APRO
Files: Coral E. Lorenzen,
Holloman Air Force Base UFO Sighting, July, 1950”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1542
Date: 7/1950
Description: 1:45 p.m. A Civil Aviation Authority flight engineer
observes a “wingless, fuselage-shaped” object maneuvering over
Cincinnati, Ohio. The object climbs at a steep angle to 16,000–18,000
feet, hesitates, dives, and speeds away to the west. (UFOEv, p. 45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1543
Date: 7/2/1950
Description: Dusk. While picnicking on the shore of Sawbill Bay on
Marmion Lake, western Ontario, an anonymous employee of the Steep Rock
Iron Mine claims to have seen a UFO resting on the water’s surface. A
hatch opens and 10 figures, 3–4 feet tall, emerge, wearing shiny,
metallic clothing. They seem to be drawing in lake water with a hose.
The object soon rises and hovers, then swiftly takes off. The story
appears in the mine’s house newsletter, then gets picked up by some
Canadian newspapers and Fate magazine in its February/March 1952 issue.
However, Robert Badgley, a Scarborough, Ontario, member of APRO, finds
in 1974 that Steep Rock employee Gordon Edwards had written the
fictitious tale to entertain readers of the newsletter and to satirize
saucer stories. (“Steep
Rock Flying Saucer,” Fate 5, no. 2 (February–March 1952): 68–72; “1950
Steep Rock Lake,
Ontario Case Possible Hoax,” APRO Bulletin 26, no. 5 (November
1977): 5; John Robert Columbo, UFOs over Canada, Hounslow, 1991,
pp. 32–41; Patrick Gross, URECAT,
January 31, 2007; Hammerson Peters, “The Little Green Men of Steep Rock
Lake,” Mysteries of Canada, September 7, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1544
Date: 7/2/1950
Description: In a story strangely similar to that of Mr. Kiehl (Aug.,
1914) (Case 40) a man and his wife saw a double saucer with portholes
and a rotating antenna come to rest on the surface of the lake. Ten
figures, 1.20 m tall, dressed in shiny clothing, emerged and walked on
deck like robots “changing direction without turning their bodies.”
Their faces could not be seen. One of them wore a red cap, had darker
arms and legs and “seemed to be their chief.” They immersed a hose in
the lake, then took off. Fishermen later reported a green moss forming
on the lake.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins U (Vallee)
Location: Steep Rock Lake, Canada
ID: 80
Date: 7/4/1950
Description: Daniel Fry makes UFO contact and is taken to NYC and back
in 30 minutes
Type: ce4 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Date: 7/4/1950
Description: Evening. Aerojet engineer Daniel
Fry is alone during the holiday at White Sands Proving Ground, New
Mexico, when a flying saucer appears and hovers just above the ground.
Fry approaches and strokes its surface when a voice booms, “Better not
touch the hull, pal, it’s still hot.” After some conversation with the
disembodied extraterrestrial named Alan, he is invited on board the
craft, which flies him to New York and back in 30 minutes. Fry has
further encounters and becomes a celebrity on the contactee circuit. He
finally meets Alan in person in 1961. (Daniel Fry, The White Sands
Incident, New Age, 1954; Clark III 518–520)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1545
Date: 7/6/1950
Description: A memo by Lt. Col. F. D. McGarrachy, USAF chief of General
Investigations Division, expresses strong interest to acquire motion
pictures of UFOs taken by civilians, perhaps in cooperation with the
FBI, but not in a way to arouse public suspicion of USAF interest.
(Hynek UFO Report, pp. 54–56)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1546
Date: 7/7/1950
Description: Gen. Cabell, through
his aide Col. Barber, sends a notice to AMC Intelligence Chief Col. Harold
E. Watson, that despite the official closing of Project Grudge, the
Air Force still desires to receive UFO reports and take them seriously.
Project Grudge begins to be reactivated as Project 10073. (Sparks,
p. 12; Swords 101–102, 498–499)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1547
Date: 7/11/1950
Description: Two Navy aircraft crews from NAS Millington [now Naval
Support Activity Mid-South] in Tennessee, across the Mississippi River
from Osceola, Arkansas, see a domed disc pass in front of them. Airborne
radar confirms it. The object first appears as a round ball; after it
crosses their flight path, it appears like an upside-down shallow bowl.
(“Millington
Men Report Seeing ‘Flying Saucer’ and Tracing It,” Memphis (Tenn.)
Commercial Appeal, July 12, 1950, p. 1; NICAP, “Air,
Radar/Visual over Arkansas”; Sparks, p. 93)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1548
Date: 7/13/1950
Time: 5 PM
Description: Witnesses: two skilled Arsenal employees including
Mr. Washburn. one object, shaped like a bowtie, and like polished
aluminum. Flew straight and level, then one triangle rotated 1/4 turn in
the opposite direction and returned to its original position. The object
then made a right-angle turn and accelerated away after at least 30
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Redstone Arsenal, Alabama
ID: 42
Date: 7/18/1950
Description: Bruce
Bliven summarizes flying saucer news in a Look magazine article.
(Bruce Bliven, “Flying
Saucers: Myth or
Menace?” Look, July 18, 1950, pp. 12–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1549
Date: 7/19/1950
Description: A memo by Col. Bruno
W. Feiling, chief
of the USAF Technical Analysis Division, on “Investigation of Flying
Saucer Reports” says that UFO investigation takes up too much time.
(Hynek UFO Report, p. 57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1550
Date: 7/20/1950
Description: Mr. Campello and several others in a car saw two large,
silvery objects by the side of the road, one on a hillock, the other on
flat ground, about 50 m away from each other. They came within 600 m of
the objects, which went away at “an incredible speed,” causing a rush of
air that rocked the car.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: SBEDV 30 (Vallee)
Location: Porto Novo, Brazil
ID: 81
Date: 7/24/1950
Description: V-2 missile test at Cape Canaveral LC3, Reaches 16.1km
attitude (Low-angle atmospheric flight over 320 km range)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 16.1km
Rocket range: 320km
Date: 7/29/1950
Description: V-2 missile test at Cape Canaveral LC3, Reaches 16.1km
attitude (Low-angle atmospheric flight over 320 km range)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 16.1km
Rocket range: 320km
Date: 8/1950
Description: Author Frank Scully’s book “Behind the Flying Saucers”
published
Type: publication
Reference: Amazon
Location: US
Date: 8/1950
Description: Keyhoe’s
article on the Adickes case
of April 27, “Flight 117 and the Flying Saucer,” appears in True
magazine. (Donald E. Keyhoe, “Flight
117 and the Flying Saucer,” True, August 1950, pp. 24–25, 75–79)
August — 2:00 p.m. Hugh O’Neill views a cigar-shaped object hovering
silently about 2–5 miles off the Big Sur coast at Anderson Creek,
California, at an elevation of 500–1,000 feet. It moves swiftly away to
the south, then returns less than 2 minutes later and slowly circles
above the ocean twice for 90 seconds, disappearing again to the south.
(Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, New
Directions, 1957, p. 75;
Loren E. Gross, The Fifth
Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs a History: 1950 August–December,
Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2000, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1553
Date: 8/1950
Description: A CIA memo sent to FBI headquarters, “Summary of Aerial
Phenomena in New Mexico,” discusses the green fireballs and notes that
OSI is concerned with the phenomena seen over sensitive installations.
It reiterates that Lincoln
LaPaz does not think they are meteors. (ClearIntent, pp. 167–168)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1552
Date: 8/1950
Description: Engineer Eric
A. Walker becomes executive secretary of the Research and
Development Board. He later refers to a real group called MJ-12 and
admits attending meetings at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio concerning
“recovered UFOs.” (Michael Hall and Wendy Connors, “The Research and
Development Board: Unanswered Questions,” IUR 26, no. 2 (Summer 2001):
11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1551
Date: 8/1/1950
Description: Gen. Walter B. Smith fills the vacant MJ-3 position.
Type: ufological event
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A)
Location: Washington DC
Date: 8/4/1950
Description: The crew (Master Nils Lewring, Chief Mate Jacob Koelwyn) of
the M/V Marcala in the North Atlantic between Nova Scotia and the US
Eastern seaboard watch an aluminum-colored cylinder-shaped UFO,
apparently 10 feet in diameter, 50–100 feet above the surface. It
initially moves 25 mph, makes no noise, wobbles slightly, disappears
over the horizon, then reappears. The ship’s captain watches the object
through binoculars for 90 seconds. One of the other witnesses describes
the sighting as “one of the most frightening experiences I have ever
had.” (NICAP, “Object
100ʹ above Sea Observed by Ship MV Marcala”;
ClearIntent, pp. 115–116;
Good Above, pp. 340–341)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1555
Date: 8/4/1950
Description: A memo from Army Maj. Ulysses
Grant Carlan states that UFOs since July 30 have been seen at the
Hanford Site in Washington State. They are above 15,000 feet. Jets
attempting interception fail. The AEC says that the investigation is
continuing. (Maj. U. G. Carlan, “Flying
Discs,” August 4, 1950; Good Above, pp. 267,
485;
Nukes 46; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 6, April–July 1950, The Author, 1990, p. 71)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1554
Date: 8/4/1950
Time: 10 AM EDT
Description: Witnesses: Master Nils Lewring, Chief Mate Jacob Koelwyn,
Third Mate, of M/V Marcala. One 10’ cylindrical object at 50-100’
altitude, flying with a churning or rotary motion, accelerated at end of
15 second sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: approx. 100 mi. SE of New York City (39’ 35’ N, 72’ 24.5’
W)
ID: 43
Date: 8/4/1950
Description: CONFIDENTIAL MEMO: From Lt. Colonel Mildren (G-3) to Maj.
U.G. Carlan (GSC Survey Section): Since July 30, 1950, UFO’s have been
sighted over the Hanford AEC Plant. Air Force jets fails to intercept
them. FBI, anti-aircraft battalion, radar units and fighter squadrons
alerted for further observation. Atomic Energy Commission still
investigating.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p485)
Location: Hanford, WA
Date: 8/12/1950
Description: 1:30 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Bud Oliver are at the state forestry
lookout tower on Round Top Mountain north of Medford, Oregon, when they
see two UFOs, one disc-shaped, the other oblong. They are about 100 feet
apart, and the oblong one is tumbling in the air end over end. (“Lookouts
Report Seeing ‘Saucers’ North of Medford,” Medford (Oreg.)
Mail-Tribune, August 17, 1950, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1556
Date: 8/14/1950
Description: 11:27 a.m. Flight Lt. Stan
J. Hubbard and two other officers at Farnborough Airfield,
Hampshire, England, hear a humming noise. Hubbard looks up and sees a
flat gray disc, about 100 feet in diameter, at an altitude of 700–1,000
feet. He watches it for 30 seconds as it flies at a speed of 800–1,000
mph and makes a series of S- turns, oscillating as it moves. The other
two officers see nothing. (David Clarke, “Flying
Saucer Working Party,” Dr. David Clarke Folklore and Journalism,
January 3, 2015; Good Need, pp. 149–151;
David Clarke and Andy Roberts, Out of the Shadows, Piatkus, 2002,
pp. 87–93; UFOFiles2, pp. 40–42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1557
Date: 8/15/1950
Description: 11:30 a.m. Nicholas
Mariana and his secretary Virginia Raunig are inspecting the Great
Falls, Montana, baseball stadium in preparation for a game. He walks up
to the grandstand and notices two fast-moving bright lights “like two
new dimes in the sky.” He rushes to his car, parked 60 feet away, and
gets his 16mm movie camera from the glove compartment. He films the
objects passing behind a water tower, which provides a frame of
reference for measuring distance, size, altitude, azimuth, and speed. In
October he takes it to an Air Force officer for analysis. USAF notes
that two jet interceptors were in the area and might be the objects on
the film, but Mariana and Raunig had seen those too. Controversy soon
arises when Mariana claims that the first 35 frames of his film—which he
says most clearly show the UFOs as rotating disks—are missing. People in
the Great Falls area who view Mariana’s film support him. They claim
that the missing frames clearly show the UFOs as spinning, metallic
disks with a “notch or band” along their outer edges. USAF personnel
deny this accusation and insist that they have removed only a single
frame of film that was damaged in the analysis. In 1952, Blue Book
reviews the film; so does Robert
M. L. Baker Jr. in 1954, and the Colorado project in 1967. All
studies of the film agree that it was not faked and that the objects
appear to be disc-shaped. (Wikipedia, “Mariana
UFO incident”; NICAP, “Nick
Mariana / Montana UFO Color Film”; “Nick
Mariana UFO Footage 1950 Great Falls Montana,” parkerdonaldmusic
YouTube channel, September 29, 2012; “Air
Force Takes over Films of Flying Disks,” Spokane (Wash.) Chronicle,
October 5, 1950, p. 8; “Colored
Films on Saucers to Be Shown,” Twin Falls (Idaho) Times-News,
October 19, 1950, p. 17; Clark III 767–769; UFOs Yes, 81–108; Condon, pp. 407–415;
Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, pp. 127–128);
Barry Greenwood, “On
the Question of Tampering with
the 1950 Great Falls UFO Film,” UFO Historical Revue, no. 7
(September 2000): 1–8; Michael D. Swords, GrassRoots UFOs: Case Reports
from the Timmerman Files, Fund for UFO Research, 2005, pp. 138–139;
Michael D. Swords, “Can
You Learn Anything from UFO Photos? Part Three,” The Big Study, July
7, 2012; Patrick Gross, “The
Great Falls, Montana, UFO Color Film, August 15, 1950”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1558
Date: 8/15/1950
Description: A top secret meeting on UFOs takes place at the Metropole
Building on Northumberland Avenue in London, England. It is chaired by
Hugh Young, deputy director of intelligence, and attended by
representatives of the Secret Intelligence Service and Wing Commander Myles
Formby of the Air Ministry’s technical intelligence branch. Young
explains that Henry
Tizard, chief scientific advisor to the Ministry of Defence, feels
that reports of flying saucers should not be dismissed without
investigation and has asked that a working party be set up to look into
significant reports. RAF Fighter Command is advised that all future
reports of aerial phenomena should go to the Flying Saucer Working
Party. (David Clarke and Andy Roberts, Out of the Shadows, Piatkus,
2002, pp. 77– 78; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January 1,
1947–December 31, 1959,
Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2003, p. 35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1559
Date: 8/20/1950
Time: 1:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF MATS liaison officer Lt. William Ghormley,
Col. W. V. Brown, Lt. col. L.w. Brauer. One small, round, bright object
flew fast, straight and level for 15-20 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Nicosia, Cyprus
ID: 44
Date: 8/20/1950
Description: An FBI informant meets with George
Adamski at Alice Wells’s restaurant, the Palomar Gardens Café, south
of Mount Palomar, California. In addition to the standard flying saucer
tales, Adamski mentions that the Federal Communications Commission has
established contact with people from other planets who apparently have a
communist economic system. He also predicts that Russia will dominate
the world for the next 1,000 years. (Kremlin 63–71)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1560
Date: 8/23/1950
Description: FBI memo from Alan
H. Belmont to D.
Milton Ladd on green fireballs. (A. H. Belmont, “Summary
of Aerial
Phenomena in New Mexico, Miscellaneous—Information Concerning,”
August 23, 1950)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1561
Date: 8/25/1950
Time: 8 PM
Description: Witness: B-29 radarman S/Sgt. William Shaffer. Radar
observation, plus possible blue streak 3 minutes later. B-29 followed
unidentified target, then passed it at l/4-mile distance, target
followed for 5 minutes, then passed B-29 and sped away. Total time of
tracking: 20 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: approx. 250 mi. SW of Bermuda (29’ 40’ N, 67’ 28’ W)
ID: 45
Date: 8/30/1950
Description: 10:45 a.m. During a Bell Aircraft MX-776 Shrike missile
test (for the later Rascal air-to-ground strategic missile) a USAF M/Sgt
and eight Bell Aircraft employees at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, see two
glaringly bright circular or elliptical objects maintaining relative
position to each other following the B-50 Superfortress launch aircraft
from above on both the dry run and hot run prior to missile release. The
objects give a “strong glare at all times” (not reflected sunlight),
maneuver at high estimated speeds up to 10 times the B-50 (roughly 2,500
mph) for short distances, leave no vapor trails, hover, accelerate
rapidly, and make abrupt “square” turns with apparent size changing to
indicate ascent and descent. (NICAP, “Two
Objects Filmed during Shrike Missile Test”;
Sparks, p. 98;
Maj. R. G. Illing, “Aerial
Phenomena,” September 13, 1950; Swords 115)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1562
Date: 8/30/1950
Time: 1:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: three local employees, including Kaeel and
Alexander, of the Air Force Base. A dark, barrel-shaped object with a
pole down from it into the water, flew at 3-5 m.p.h. and 15-20’ altitude
for 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Sandy Point, Newfoundland, Canada
ID: 46
Date: 8/31/1950
Description: 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. After V-2 missile launch no. 51 at
Holloman AFB, New Mexico, Project Twinkle cinetheodolite crews track and
film multiple objects sporadically several times from different
directions at very high speeds over the course of 3 hours.
Cinetheodolite station P-5 films an object using a one-frame-per-second
60 cm focal length camera with 35 mm color film. Frames 593 and 595 (2
seconds of nearly 10 minutes of film) show its elevation angle changing.
An attempted interception by four F-86 jets from Kirtland AFB for one
hour fails to locate the objects, which apparently return after the jets
leave. Cinetheodolite observers note an object with definite shape and
3D depth but indistinct edges and no smoke or trail. The object seems to
“rock or oscillate.” It is lost when the observer looks away to get an
angle reading. (NICAP, “Objects
Filmed after V-2 Launch”;
Sparks, p. 99)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1563
Date: 8/31/1950
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches 136.4km
attitude (Blossom 7- Nominal performance)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 136.4km
Date: 9/1950
Description: George
Adamski first receives national exposure as coauthor of an article
in Fate on his fake UFO photographs. A follow-up article in July 1951
features even more dramatic photos. (Clark III 39; Maurice Weekley and
George Adamski, “Flying Saucers As Astronomers See Them,” Fate 3, no. 6
(September 1950): 56– 59; George Adamski, “I Photographed Space Ships,”
Fate 4, no. 5 (July 1951): 64–74; George Noory, “Fate Flashback:
‘Flying Saucers’ in the 1950’s,” Coast to Coast AM, August 18,
2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1566
Date: 9/1950
Description: The first US Army large-scale aerosol vulnerability test
occurs in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, using two types of
bacteria (Bacillus globigii and Serratia marcescens) and fluorescent
particles. Six simulated attacks are conducted, with the conclusion that
it is feasible to attack a seaport city with biological aerosol agents
from a ship offshore. The first open-air tests with biological simulants
are conducted in 1950 in various locales, one of which is off the coast
of Norfolk, Virginia. (Wikipedia, “United
States biological weapons program”; David R. Franz, Cheryl D.
Parrott, and Ernest T. Takafuji, “The U.S. Biological Warfare and
Biological Defense Programs,” in Medical Aspects of Chemical and
Biological Warfare, Office of the US Surgeon General, 1997,
chap. 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1565
Date: 9/1950
Description: 7:00 a.m. Three US Navy planes on a combat mission 100
miles south of the Yalu River in Korea are approached from below by two
huge discs, at least 600–700 feet in diameter, traveling at 1,000–1,200
mph. The radar shows them as 1.5 miles away. Suddenly the objects halt,
back up, and begin a jittering motion, keeping pace with them, circling
above and below. When one pilot readies his guns, the aircraft radar
goes haywire, apparently jammed. His radio transmitter is blocked by a
buzzing noise. The discs are silvery and shaped like a “coolie’s hat,
with oblong ports from which emanated a copper-green colored light which
gradually shifted to pale pastel-colored lights.” A shimmering red ring
circles the top portion of the disc. The objects soon speed away in the
direction from which they had come. (Haines, Korea, pp. 28–30;
Lorenzen, FS Hoax, pp. 30–32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1564
Date: 9/3/1950
Time: 2 PM
Description: Witnesses: Maj R.J. Gardiner, Mrs. Gardiner and neighbor
(former saw three objects, others saw one). Metallic bronze discs,
20-30’ long, 2-6’ thick. Moved independently and erratically for 5
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Spokane, Washington
ID: 47
Date: 9/5/1950
Description: 4:09 p.m. Flight Lt. Stan
J. Hubbard is standing on the watchtower at Farnborough Airfield,
Hampshire, England, with five other officers, one of whom is Wing
Commander Frank Jolliffe. They all see, at a range of 10– 15 miles, a
light gray disc following a rectangular flight path, consisting of a
“falling leaf, horizontal flight, an upward “falling leaf,” then another
horizontal stretch. The Working Party concludes they have imperfectly
viewed some conventional aircraft. (David Clarke, “Flying
Saucer Working Party,” Dr. David Clarke Folklore and Journalism,
January 3, 2015; Good Need, pp. 150–151;
David Clarke and Andy Roberts, Out of the Shadows, Piatkus, 2002,
pp. 87–93; UFOFiles2, p. 41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1567
Date: 9/8/1950
Description: Henry Holt publishes Frank
Scully’s Behind the Flying Saucers, the first book on UFOs. It
sensationally claims that the US government has retrieved a crashed
flying saucer and several dead pilots. Rep. Edward
H. Jenison (R-Ill.)
condemns the book as contributing to mass hysteria during a time of war
in Korea. USAF Public Information Officer Clare Welch estimates that 3–4
million people have heard about saucers, thanks to the book. (Frank
Scully, Behind
the Flying Saucers, Holt,
1950; John L. Cotton, et al., “Flying
Saucers and Frank Scully,” in KNW 2333: The Scientific Method,
Critical and Creative Thinking (Debunking Pseudoscience), Southern
Methodist University; Swords 103; Curt Collins, “Operation
Hush-Hush: The UFO Crash and ET Bodies Cover- Up,”
The Saucers That Time Forgot, February 9, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1568
Date: 9/8/1950
Description: Air Force Intelligence Collection Division’s Collection
Control Branch (AFOIN-CC-1) at the Pentagon issues a new intelligence
reporting directive requiring special handling and reporting of UFO
incidents, “Reporting of Information on Unconventional Aircraft,” thus
reversing the cancellation directive of January 12, 1950. The action
reflects the increasing interest by AFOIN Director Gen. Cabell and
his dissatisfaction with AMC inaction on UFO study at Wright-Patterson
AFB. (NICAP, “1950
UFO Chronology”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1569
Date: 9/13/1950
Description: The Air Force responds to producer Howard
Hawks’s request for the use of military locations, personnel, and
equipment for his upcoming film The Thing from Another World by refusing
to participate and objecting to any display of USAF personnel or
equipment on the grounds that “it is our policy not to participate in
any proposal that will perpetuate this hoax.” (Swords 103–104)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1570
Date: 9/15/1950
Description: In a conference between Canadian Wilbert Smith and
Dr. Sarbacher (a consultant to the US Research and Development Board),
scientist reveals Frank Scully’s 1950 “Behind the Flying Saucers” book
is true and substantially correct, Flying Saucers exist, we haven’t been
able to duplicate their performance, it’s pretty certain they didn’t
originate on the earth, the subject is classified more highly than the
H-bomb.
Type: conference
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p519)
Location: Washington DC
See also: 9/23/47
See also: 1/26/53
Date: 9/15/1950
Description: Canadian engineer Wilbert
B. Smith attends a classified briefing with physicist Robert
I. Sarbacher of the US Defense Dept.’s Research and Development
Board. Smith asks if there is any truth to the Scully crash-
and-retrieval story and Sarbacher replies,
“The facts reported in the book are substantially correct.” He says that
UFOs are “classified two points higher even than the H-bomb.” In 1983,
Sarbacher confirms the comment to Stanton
T. Friedman, although
he clarifies that he was speaking about crashed UFOs in general. He
tells UFO researcher William
Steinman in November 1983 that he “was invited to participate in
several discussions associated with the reported recoveries” of UFOs,
but is unable to attend the meetings. He claims Vannevar
Bush, Eric
A. Walker, and
John
von Neumann are “definitely involved” in the program and probably J.
Robert Oppenheimer as
well. (Clark III 1029–1031; Good Above, pp. 519–521;
Northern Ontario UFO Research and Study, “Dr. Robert
Sarbacher,” March 1, 2010; Wilbert B. Smith, [Sarbacher
interview notes], September 15, 1950; Dolan II 320; Robert I.
Sarbacher, [Letter
to William Steinman], November 29, 1983)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1571
Date: 9/20/1950
Time: 10:49 AM
Description: Witness identified only as a “reliable source”. Two large,
round, glowing objects and three smaller, internally lit objects. Two
hovered for 1 minute, moved, and three smaller ones came from behind or
within the two larger objects, and all sped upward and away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kit Carson, Colorado
ID: 48
Date: 9/21/1950
Description: MIT research associate and Air National Guard Maj. Myron
Herbert Ligda and Joseph
V. Connelly are testing radar near Provincetown, Massachusetts,
under contract to the US Signal Corps, when they track an unknown object
on a converging course with two F-86s. The clear target passes the
planes at a speed of at least 1,200 mph, makes a right turn, then passes
directly over or under the F-86s. (NICAP, “SCR-615B
Tracks UFO”; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 139–141;
Sparks, p. 100;
Swords 104)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1572
Date: 9/21/1950
Time: 9:52 AM
Description: Witness: M.I.T. research associate and Air National Guard
Maj. M.H. Ligda. Radar tracking of one object during M.I.T tracking of
USAF flight of F-84 or F-86 jet fighters. Object speed was 22
miles/minute (l,200 m.p.h.), made turn of 11-12 gs acceleration during 1
minute observation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Provincetown, Massachusetts
ID: 49
Date: 9/25/1950
Description: JANAP 146(A) is issued: “Communications Instructions for
Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings from Aircraft,” the start of
CIRVIS reporting for commercial and military pilots. This adds UFOs to
the list of sighting categories. All UFO reports are to be sent to the
Air Defense Command at the Pentagon and to the Secretary of Defense. AMC
at Wright-Patterson is not mentioned. (Swords 123)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1573
Date: 9/25/1950
Description: The Air Force Intelligence office, apparently at the
request of Gen. Hoyt
Vandenberg, orders all copies of the December 10, 1948, revised
Project Sign report destroyed. (Good Need, p. 114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1574
Date: 9/26/1950
Description: 10:00 p.m. Policemen John Collins and Joseph Keenan are
patrolling on Vare Avenue near 26th Street in South Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, when they see something like a parachute drifting down
ahead of them at treetop level. It is about 6 feet in diameter and
settles in an open field. After summoning Sgt. Joseph Cook and Patrolman
James Casper, they go into the field to investigate. When they turn
their flashlights on it, it gives off a purplish glow, “almost a mist,
that looked as though it contained crystals.” Collins touches it and it
dissolves in his hand, leaving an odorless, sticky residue. It
completely evaporates in 25 minutes. This event inspires producer Jack
H. Harris to ask his friend Irvine H. Millgate to come up with a
story for what eventually becomes the 1958 horror film The Blob. (Clark
III 1102; “Flying ‘Saucer’ Just Dissolves,” Philadelphia Inquirer,
September 27, 1950, pp. 1–2; Rebekah McKendry, “The Supposedly True
Story behind the Classic Film The Blob!” 13th Floor, October 21,
2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1575
Date: 10/1950
Description: Donald
Keyhoe’s True article is expanded into a paperback book, The Flying
Saucers Are Real, which sells 500,000 copies. It brings many interested
civilians and military people to accept UFO reality, government
withholding of information, and the extraterrestrial hypothesis. (Donald
E. Keyhoe, The
Flying Saucers Are Real, Gold Medal, 1950; Wikipedia, “The
Flying Saucers Are Real”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1576
Date: 10/1950
Description: J[ack?]
L. Rohn is named a chief of Project Grudge. (Sparks,
p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1577
Date: 10/1950
Description: The Flying Saucer Working Party is created in the UK by
Ministry of Defence Chief Science Adviser Henry Tizard, assisted
by Louis
Mountbatten and Air Chief Marshal Hugh
Dowding, both who have quietly concluded that flying saucers are
real. It has five members, representing UK intelligence branches. Its
charge is to study UFO reports. (Wikipedia, “Flying
Saucer Working Party”; Mark Rodeghier, “Britain’s Secret UFO Study,”
IUR 26, no. 4 (Winter 2001–2002): 21–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1578
Date: 10/3/1950
Description: Geochemist J. D. Laudermilk watches a disc moving with a
wobbling motion at 750 mph behind a mountain peak near Pomona,
California. (UFOEv, p. 49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1579
Date: 10/5/1950
Description: A California Central Airlines plane, piloted by Capt. Cecil
Hardin and Flight Officer Jack Conroy, is buzzed by a wing-like UFO with
8 bright lights between San Fernando and Van Nuys, California. Bands of
blue light are visible across its width. (“Now
Add This to Saucer Mysteries,” Los Angeles Daily News, October 6,
1950, p. 2; NICAP, “Mysterious
Object Buzzes Airliner”; UFOEv, p. 34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1580
Date: 10/6/1950
Description: Confidential Memo: Headquarters, 5th Army Division: John de
Reneaux photographed the saucer which crashed near Aztec, N.M. He said
that “army officials” had attempted to take the photographs away from
him but that he had given them another roll of film. In a further
interview with the 5th Headquarters, de Reneaux denied any knowledge of
the Aztec crash.
Type: confidental memo
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A p117, RECOVERY)
Location: Fort Sam Houston, TX
See also: 3/25/1948
Date: 10/7/1950
Description: Walter
Bedell Smith takes over as director of central intelligence.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1581
Date: 10/12/1950
End date: 11/5/1950
Description: Some 15 radar and visual sightings of UFOs take place over
restricted airspace at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. After the observation on
October 23, an unexplained increase in alpha-beta background radiation
is detected; after the November 29 sighting, an alpha and gamma ray
increase is correlated with unidentified radar targets in the area.
(ClearIntent, pp. 171–173;
Memo from Strategic Air Command Knoxville to Director of FBI, “‘Flying
Saucers’ Observed over Oak Ridge Area,” October 25, 1950; J. Edgar
Hoover, [teletype
in response], December 5, 1950; Bruce S. Maccabee, “NCP-14:
Saucers over Oak Ridge,” from UFO–FBI Connection, Llewellyn, 2000,
pp. 163–181; Francis Ridge, “The
Oak Ridge Sightings including All the Tennessee Blue Book Unknowns,”
September 22, 2005; Sparks, pp. 100–102;
Clark III 950; Swords 106–107; Hynek UFO Report, pp.
142–143)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1583
Date: 10/12/1950
Description: The Oak Ridger columnist Robert
Sharon Allen reports that the Atomic Energy Commission Security
Service has issued a questionnaire to be used when UFOs are reported at
its installations. (Robert S. Allen, “AEC Wants Info on Flying Saucers
Seen near A-Plants,” The Oak Ridger, October 12, 1950; Project 1947, “Robert
S. Allen
Introduction”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1582
Date: 10/13/1950
Description: J.
Edgar Hoover sends a teletype message to the Special Agent in Charge
in Los Angeles, California, asking him to determine whether Frank
Scully is the same man who has been active in communist activities
since the 1930s. (Anthony Bragalia, “J.
Edgar Hoover’s Saucer Crash Secrets,” UFO Explorations, April
2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1584
Date: 10/15/1950
Time: Time unknown
Description: Witness: Woodward. Same as previous observation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pope AFB, North Carolina
ID: 52
Date: 10/15/1950
Description: 4:20 p.m. After taking off from Raleigh, North Carolina,
Miami Airlines DC-4 pilot Capt. George A. Woodward and copilot William
Bardsley see four round, metallic objects descending slowly near Pope
AFB [now Pope Field] at Fort Bragg. They look like two saucers fitted
together and are about 100 feet in diameter, flying in a line about 25
feet apart. The pilots pursue the objects for about 3 minutes, but the
objects recede then shoot away at tremendous speed. Around the same
time, a similar object crosses the path of an Air Force jet near Pope
AFB. (NICAP, “Pilots
Report 100-Ft Round Objects”; NICAP, “Aluminum-Like
Object Crosses Path of Jet”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1585
Date: 10/15/1950
Time: 3:20 PM
Description: Atomic Energy Commission Trooper Rymer, J. Moneymaker,
Capt. Zarzecki. Two shiny silver objects shaped like bullet or bladder.
They dove with a smoke trail and one vanished. The other hovered at 5-6,
altitude, 50’ away, left and returned several times somewhat further
away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee
ID: 50
Date: 10/15/1950
Time: Time unknown
Description: Witness: Daniel. Listed as “unidentified” in folder index,
but no supporting data could be found.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pope AFB, North Carolina
ID: 51
Date: 10/18/1950
Description: USAF Brig. Gen. Ernest
Moore writes a memo to Col. Harold
E. Watson at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio, advising him of the
standing policy of releasing no details about UFO case investigations. A
form letter is to be used: “We have investigated and evaluated
incident and have found nothing of value and nothing which would
change our previous estimates on this subject.” (Swords 102–103,
500)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1586
Date: 10/23/1950
Time: 12:42 PM
Description: Witness: ex-USAF pilot Frank Risher. One aluminum object
shaped like a dirigible or Convair C-99 cargo plane, with 3 portholes,
arrived from southeast, hovered 3-5 seconds and flew away to the
south-south-east at end of 40 second sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Bonlee, North Carolina
ID: 53
Date: 10/26/1950
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, Reaches 8km
attitude (Explosion at 50s at Mach 3 terminated flight)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 8km
Date: 11/5/1950
Description: Four Pan American Airways employees (Fred Wilkinson,
Patrick Joseph Maloney, Fred Perrior, and E. Newman) see a bright object
fly east to west over Heathrow Airport, London, at 1,000 mph. (London
Sunday Dispatch, November 12, 1950; “Saucers over England,” Fate 4, no.
2 (March 1951): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1587
Date: 11/5/1950
Time: 11:55 AM
Description: Witness: Fairchild Aircraft illustrator Don Patrick. One
translucent object, light grey with dark core, shaped like a pear or
bean. Flew for 5-10 minutes with rapid, darting movements.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee
ID: 54
Date: 11/7/1950
Description: A military pilot flying a Douglas AD-4Q Skyraider near
Lakehurst, New Jersey, engages in a dogfight with a steady white light
that he at first mistakes for an aircraft. He gets on its tail, then the
light reverses suddenly and passes 100–200 feet above his plane at
incredible speed. He again tails it and the same thing happens. The
light continues to “turn about me in wide, climbing turns, making about
two orbits to my one.” He abandons chase at 11,500 feet. (NICAP, “Light
Makes 5–6 Head On Passes at Navy Plane”; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 68–70;
Sparks, p. 102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1588
Date: 11/10/1950
Description: Private letter from BSRA Director Meade Layne to Frank
Scully. Mentions increased volume of correspondence since the fall of
1946.
Type: letter
Reference: Twitter
Link
Location: San Diego, CA
Date: 11/11/1950
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33 (3rd and Final
Hermes II test)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Date: 11/16/1950
Description: Col. Harold
E. Watson at AMC brings in news columnist Bob
Considine for an in-depth interview on flying saucers. Watson says:
“I’ve seen lots of flying saucers…and every single saucer turned out to
be the sun shining off the wing or body of a distant DC-4, or jet, or a
weather balloon, or it was a reflection off a water-tank or something
else that is readily explainable.” He characterizes witnesses as
crackpots, religious fanatics, publicity hounds, or practical jokers.
Considine asks him about airline pilot witnesses. Watson accuses them of
being fooled by optical tricks and the power of suggestion. (Swords
107–108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1589
Date: 11/17/1950
Description: Telenews Productions releases a 9½-minute short film, The
Flying Saucer Mystery, apparently the first UFO documentary. The film’s
main focus is on the best new evidence of 1950, the alleged first
authentic photographs and motion picture film of flying saucers, the two
snapshots by farmer Paul
Trent, and
the film shot by Louisville (Ky.) Times photographer Al Hixenbaugh on
June 27, 1950. It also features UFO witness Arthur Weisberger of
Tucson, Arizona, describing his sighting, apparently the only record of
the event, as well as Donald
E.
Keyhoe and Admiral Calvin
M. Bolster. The
film is apparently only shown for a few months and rotates among the
Telenews Theaters across the nation. It is lost for decades until it
resurfaces in the 1990s. (“Flying Saucer
Mystery,” historycomestolife YouTube channel, July 3, 2010; Curt
Collins, “The
First UFO Documentary: The
Flying Saucer Mystery,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, January 9,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1590
Date: 11/21/1950
Description: Mr. Smith writes a “Top Secret” Memo on Canadian government
research into UFO’s and propulsion technology.
Type: top secret memo
Reference: link
Location: Canada
Date: 11/21/1950
Description: Wilbert
Smith writes a top secret memo to the Canadian Controller of
Telecommunications claiming that he has talked to Canadian embassy staff
in Washington, D.C., who tell him that the UFOs are the “most highly
classified subject in the US government” (what Sarbacher told
him) and that a “concerted effort is being made by a small group headed
by Dr. Vannevar
Bush.” Sarbacher later verifies the information, saying the small
group existed within the Research and Development Board. (W. B. Smith,
“Memorandum
to the Controller of Telecommunications,”
November 21, 1950; NICAP, “The
Smith Memo, November 21, 1950”; Good Above, pp. 183, 464–466;
Michael Hall and Wendy Connors, “The Research and Development Board:
Unanswered Questions,” IUR 26, no. 2 (Summer 2001): 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1591
Date: 11/26/1950
End date: 11/27/1950
Description: 11:50 p.m. A “mysterious lighted object” flashing red,
white, and green lights is seen above Huron (South Dakota) Regional
Airport. Weather Bureau observer Gene Fowler, Winfield
Henry of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, and Gordon Moore and
Chet Fuqua, ground personnel at Western Airlines, go up to the roof of
the airport administration building for a better look. Fowler is able to
watch it through a theodolite used for weather balloons for 8 minutes.
He says, “The azimuth reading changed from 147 degrees to 161 degrees
during that period and went up seven degrees vertically.” The Rapid City
weather bureau and Aberdeen CAA in South Dakota estimate the object is
40–50 miles northwest of Bismarck, North Dakota. The object reappears at
1:30 a.m. and is visible, sometimes hovering, until 3:00 a.m. when it
disappears to the northwest. In Aberdeen, CAA aircraft communicator
William B. Hiller sees a star-like object at 2:00 a.m. and watches it
for 90 minutes. It changes colors, glowing white, green, and red
alternately. (“Mysterious
Sight May Be ‘Saucer,’” Rapid City (S.Dak.) Journal, November 27,
1950, p. 3; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 7, August–December 1950, The Author, 1982,
pp. 59–60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1592
Date: 11/27/1950
Description: Bill
Blair, a
commercial pilot and flight instructor, watches six elliptical objects
in loose echelon formation over Evansville, Wisconsin. They are making
noises like a helicopter and are flying at 500 mph at 10,000 feet.
(UFOEv, p. 34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1593
Date: 12/1950
Description: Project “Magnet” authorized in Canada
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Canada
Date: 12/1950
Description: The US seaplane tender USS
Gardiners
Bay is steaming up the channel from Incheon, South Korea, when the
crew sees two mysterious, smoke-trailing objects that strike the water
at tremendous speed. Two columns of water rise to 100 feet in height. No
aircraft are sighted overhead. (Sanderson, InvRes, p. 43;
“Sighting
Flying Discs
Again?” Naval Aviation News 32, no. 2 (February 1951): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1594
Date: 12/1950
Description: Science writer Gerald
Heard publishes The Riddle of the Flying Saucers in the UK, in which
he speculates that with conditions on Mars being severe, the only
intelligent beings that can exist there would be advanced insects. A US
edition is published in April 1951 as Is Another World Watching? The
Riddle of the Flying Saucers. (Gerald Heard, The Riddle of the Flying
Saucers, Carroll and Nicholson, 1950; Lyle Zapato, “Of
Bees and Men: The
Riddle of the Flying Saucers,” ZPi blog, January 27, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1595
Date: 12/2/1950
Time: 10:50 AM
Description: Mr. and Mrs. L. Scott. One pearly, iridescent object with a
flattened top, spun while hovering and made a sound like bees buzzing.
Only data in files was from East African “Standard” newspaper.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Nanyika, Kenya
ID: 55
Date: 12/2/1950
Description: Cmdr. Charles
Peter Edwards, Canadian Deputy Minister of Transport for Air
Services, approves Wilbert
B.
Smith’s proposed plan to use the Department of Transport lab and
field facilities during off-hours to gather quality UFO data. It is
called Project Magnet. (“What
Was the Truth about Project Magnet?” Flying Saucer Review 10, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1964): 29; Clark III 1078; Good Above, pp. 183–184)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1596
Date: 12/3/1950
Description: Stanton Friedman used the Freedom of Information Act to
procure a previously classified communique from a field agent named
Auerbach (first name not given) in Richmond, Virginia, to FBI director
J. Edgar Hoover. According to Auerbach, of the Counter Intelligence
Corps, his office had been asked to stay attuned to “any data on flying
saucers.” Any information, the memo added, would be telephoned,
immediately, to Air Force Intelligence.
Type: classified communique
Reference: link
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Date: 12/5/1950
Description: Engineer Lt. Col. John R. Hood disperses radiation counters
around the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, National Laboratory’s restricted area.
The intent is to map the presence of any unusual radiation, in the wake
of numerous UFO reports over the facility. He also sets up a source of
radioactive material to see if its presence has an effect on the air
above it. If the air is unusually ionized, it might be the source of the
anomalous radar targets. He also mentions using a magnetometer array,
but there is no documentation of the result of this effort. (Loren E.
Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 7, August–December 1950, The
Author, 1982, pp. 64–65; Swords 107)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1597
Date: 12/6/1950
Description: A second flying saucer crashes in El Indio-Guerrero area.
The saucer is recovered and taken to the AEC facility at Sandia,
NM.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research
Reference: link
Location: Guerrero, Mexico
Date: 12/6/1950
Description: Dubious MJ-12 documents refer to a UFO crash on the Mexico
side of the US border in the area between El Indio, Texas, and Guerrero,
Coahuila, Mexico. (“El
Indio 1950,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library, February 5,
2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1601
Date: 12/6/1950
Description: The ConAC Air Defense Controller notified the Headquarters
USAF Command Post that at 1030 hours a number of unidentified aircraft
were approaching the northeast area of the United States and that there
was no reason to believe the aircraft were friendly. By 1040 hours, 40
aircraft at an altitude of 32,000 feet were confirmed by radar in the
vicinity of Limestone, Maine. President Truman had been notified and
interceptors scrambled. Truman even mentioned the incident in his
memoirs, not published until 1979. At the time, he noted in his diary,
“It looks like World War III is here. I hope not–but we must meet
whatever comes–and we will.”
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: link
Location: Limestone, Maine
Date: 12/6/1950
Description: While F-94s are being tested at Dyess AFB near Abilene,
Texas, radar catches a UFO on a high-speed intercept course with the
planes. Some personnel see the object shortly afterward. Col. Robert
B. Willingham claims it is not a missile. It makes 90° turns at high
speed. NORAD tracks it and the object is said to crash near the Mexican
border near Del Rio, Texas. Willingham and a copilot take a light
aircraft to the site but are escorted away. They do see part of the
crash field and pick up a small piece of metal from the ground.
Willingham takes it to a Marine Corps metallurgy lab in Hagerstown,
Maryland, for analysis but never sees it again. (Kevin D. Randle, A
History of UFO Crashes, Avon, 1995, pp. 192–193;
Clark III 338; “Del
Rio 1955,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library, March 22, 2010;
Kevin D. Randle, “Del
Rio UFO Crash and MJ-12,” A Different Perspective, July 21, 2010;
Kevin D. Randle, “MJ-12’s Fatal Flaw and Robert Willingham,” IUR 33, no.
4 (May 2011): 4–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1599
Date: 12/6/1950
Description: 10:30–11:04 a.m. The ConAC Air Defense Controller notifies
the HQ USAF that a number of unidentified aircraft are approaching the
northeast area of the United States and that there is no reason to
believe they are friendly. By radar contact it is determined that
approximately 40 aircraft are in the flight at 32,000 feet on a course
of 200° northeast of Limestone, Maine. The White House is notified at
10:31 a.m., and President Truman discusses
the reports in a meeting with UK Prime Minister Clement
Attlee. (NICAP, “Radar-Inspired
National Alert”;
Bruce Maccabee, “Immediate
Saucer Alert! The Mystery of December 6, 1950,” July 1999; Clark III
824; Sparks, p. 103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1598
Date: 12/6/1950
Description: 5:00 p.m. Former aircraft purchasing agent Harry
Lamp and four boys spot a 75-foot silver object hovering at 3,000
feet above the northern part of Fort Myers, Florida. Through 10x
binoculars Lamp sees it is 3–4 feet thick at the edges and 14 feet thick
in the center, which revolves as it hovers. The object has a red rim
with two white and two orange jets along it. It flies away at high
speed. (NICAP, “Large
Object with Bubble on Top”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1600
Date: 12/6/1950
Time: 5 PM
Description: Witnesses: former aircraft purchasing agent Harry Lamp and
four boys, using lO-power binoculars. One 75’ object, 3-4’ thick, bubble
on top, silver with a red rim having two white and two orange jets along
it. The center revolved when the object hovered; then it flew away very
fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ft. Myers, Florida
ID: 56
Date: 12/8/1950
Description: The FBI office in Richmond, Virginia, sends a telegram to
FBI headquarters saying that local Army Intelligence has been put “on
immediate high alert for any data whatsoever concerning flying saucers.”
It adds, “CIC advises data strictly confidential and should not be
disseminated.” (Auerbach, [teletype
memo], December 8, 1950; ClearIntent, p. 175)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1602
Date: 12/10/1950
Description: 7:30 p.m. RAF Group-Captain B. S. Cartmel and two friends
are at the Wilderness Golf Course near Sevenoaks, Kent, England, when
they see a bright light moving east to west in complete silence. It
maintains a steady height of 3,000 feet moving at 130–150 mph and is
visible for 5 minutes. (Good Above, pp. 28–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1603
Date: 12/11/1950
Time: 10:13 PM
Description: Witnesses: crew of Northwest Air Lines flight 802. Two
white flashes, followed by a dark cloud which rose and split in
two.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: l0 mi. NW of Gulcana, Alaska
ID: 57
Date: 12/12/1950
Description: The AFSWP’s Project Nutmeg officially selects the
Tonopah–Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range, Nevada, for domestic
nuclear testing. (Wikipedia, “Nevada
Test and Training Range”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1604
Date: 12/13/1950
Description: 4:55 p.m. J. G. F. Moult and his mother are sitting at
their home in Kimberley, South Africa, when they observe a bright object
“like a huge mirror in the sky,” hovering, and moving laterally and up
and down for about 3 minutes. It goes behind a cloud but can still be
seen, appearing like a “piece of magnesium wire burning with a bright,
purplish-white light.” It dives through the clouds, turns sharply, and
shoots out of sight. (David Marais, “The
Outspan Magazine, January 1, 1954”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1605
Date: late 12/1950
Description: USAF Capt. J.
E. Broyles sees an aluminum-like oval object with a conical tail
moving slowly in the sky near Cheyenne, Wyoming. (UFOEv, p. 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1606
Date: 12/26/1950
Description: Harvard University historian William
L. Langer, special
assistant for intelligence analysis to US Secretary of State James
F. Byrnes, organizes
the CIA Office of National Estimates, a forerunner of the National
Intelligence Council. (Central Intelligence Agency, “Staff
Conference: Minutes of Meeting Held in Director’s Conference
Room, Administration Building, Tuesday, 26 December 1950, at 1100
Hours”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1607
Date: 12/27/1950
Description: Sunset. A TWA flight, piloted by Capt. Art Shutts, is
enroute from Chicago to Kansas City. Near Bradford, Illinois, Shutts
notices a bright white light ahead of the plane, also flashing red and
green occasionally. It begins to “wobble and swerve unsteadily,” then
streaks back and forth in a north-south line through an arc of 10–30°,
changing direction abruptly. He notices that the horizon near the UFO
appears to vibrate as if light is distorted, especially after the object
puts on a burst of speed. It dims to a pinpoint and begins to slowly
move south. Suddenly it lurches, accelerates rapidly, zooms upward at a
45° angle, makes a nearly square turn, plunges downward, and disappears
below the horizon to the north. It is visible for 25 minutes. (UFOEv, p. 40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1608
Date: 1951
Description: Meade Layne, BSRA director, founds the “Borderland Sciences
Research Foundation” as a CA non-profit (C0254263) research and
educational organization for the purpose of studying parapsychology,
UFO’s and extended consciousness. Previously, the BSRA was a
loose/unofficial association.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Date: Early 1950’s
Description: Carson’s Field (speculated location), New Zealand: A New
Zealand investigator receives a letter from a respected US researcher
who spoke with a young American pilot. The pilot mentions he had just
been sent on a mission to Australia, where he landed at a vast airport.
A gigantic spacecraft was already there, where he meets a group of
friendly, intelligent and good-looking men. He was told they were
scientists from other planets, and he was to fly them to Scotland for a
meeting. He flew them to Scotland and remained with his plane during the
conference. He said that scientists from many of the world’s nations
were also present.
Type: book reference
Reference: “Alien Gene”, McGhee, page 69
Location: Carson’s Field, New Zealand
Date: 1951
Description: Marc
Thirouin founds the first UFO group in France, the Commission
Internationale d’Enquêtes sur les Soucoupes Volantes, in Paris. It
begins publishing Ouranos in June 1952 and issues 32 numbers through
1966, reviving in 1972 after Thirouin’s death with a new series that
lasts until 1980. (Ouranos, no.
1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1612
Date: 1951
Description: The Atomic Energy Commission uses its parallel system of
secret-keeping to conduct controversial research, development, and
engineering on aircraft and pilot-related projects, entirely without
oversight.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1611
Date: 1951
Description: Project Mercury Astronaut Gordon Cooper,
describes seeing 100’s of UFO’s flying in formation at very high
altitudes over Europe.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: link
Location: Europe
Date: 1951
Description: While flying an F-86 Sabrejet over West Germany, USAF pilot
Gordon
Cooper sees several metallic discs flying at a high altitude. He
claims to “have two days of observation of many flights of them, of
different sizes, flying in fighter formation, generally from east to
west over Europe.” (Gordon Cooper and Bruce Henderson, Leap of Faith: An
Astronaut’s Journey into the Unknown, HarperCollins, 2000, pp. 80–81;
“UFO
Sightings by Astronauts,”
Syti.net, January 30, 2001; “Astronaut
Gordon Cooper Talks about UFOs,” Elhardt YouTube channel, December
27, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1609
Date: 1951
Description: The intelligence unit of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing puts
out periodic intelligence reports through 1953 that cover ground and air
operations, unusual incidents, and UFO reports in Korea. The UFO reports
are in a different category from unidentified aircraft. Some of these
reports do not appear in Project Blue Book. (Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1610
Date: 1/1951
Description: Author and journalist Bob
Considine’s article appears in Cosmopolitan, debunking all UFO
stories as delusions and hoaxes, and quoting a weary Air Force Col. Harold
E. Watson, who has replaced McCoy in
Project Grudge. It offends people so badly that many pilots afterward
refuse to report UFO sightings to the Air Force. USAF Public Information
Officer Clare Welch, who has set this interview up, believes the Air
Force has better things to do and is out of step with Cabell’s renewed
interest. (Bob Considine, “The
Disgraceful Flying Saucer Hoax!”
Cosmopolitan, January 1951, pp. 32–33, 100–102, republished by
Project 1947; Swords 113–114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1613
Date: 1/1/1951
Description: The Air Defense Command, inactivated since July 1, 1950, is
reinstated as a major command at Mitchel AFB [now closed] in Long
Island, New York. The HQ is moved to Ent AFB [now the US Olympic
Training Center] in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a week later.
(Wikipedia, “Aerospace
Defense Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1615
Date: 1/1/1951
Description: 7:00 a.m. Katie Sowell watches an object about 30–50 feet
in diameter, like two “upside down saucers” revolving counterclockwise
and darting low over her farmhouse near Oak Grove, Louisiana. It has
rectangular, opaque windows. It is seen for 15–20 minutes at close
range. It banks and disappears, going straight up. (Huntsville (Ala.)
Times, February 5, 1974; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History:
1951, Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2000, pp. 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1614
Date: 1/8/1951
Time: 10:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Boggus, plus unidentified
drivers and passengers in other cars stopped to watch. Two groups of red
and green lights in triangular formations were stationary and then
moved.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: South of Ft. Worth, Texas
ID: 58
Date: 1/12/1951
Time: 10 PM
Description: Witness: U.S. Army 2nd Lt. A.C. Hale. One light with a
fan-shaped wake remained motionless like a star about 20 minutes and
then sped away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ft. Benning, Georgia
ID: 59
Date: 1/14/1951
Description: Einstein student and Roswell witness Shirley J. Wright
picked for “Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and
Universities”
Type: scientist
Reference: link
Date: 1/16/1951
Time: Time unknown
Description: Witnesses: Two members of a balloon project from the
General Mills Aeronautical Research Laboratory, the manager of the
Artesia Airport, and three pilots. The balloon crew was observing their
110’ balloon at an altitude of 112,000’ when a dull white, round object
was spotted. It appeared larger than the balloon, but made no movement.
Later, the balloon crew and the others saw two objects from the airport;
flying side-by-side, they circled the balloon and flew away to the
northeast. The second observation lasted about 40 seconds. Note: there
is confusion over the date of this case, with some USAF records showing
it as 1952; however, 1951 appears to be correct.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Artesia, New Mexico
ID: 60
Date: 1/16/1951
Description: Raymond Dugan and Raymond E. Stiles, members of the General
Mills Aeronautical Research Laboratory balloon project, observe a round
disc near their Skyhook balloon over Artesia, New Mexico. The balloon is
at a height of 112,000 feet. A short time later, Dugan, Stiles, and four
civilian pilots at Artesia Airport see two similar objects circling the
same balloon that then fly off to the northeast. (NICAP, “Two
Discs Approach Skyhook”; Project Blue Book, [Artesia
documents]; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed.,
1974, pp. 69–70;
Sparks, p. 104; Swords 166)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1616
Date: 1/18/1951
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 1.6km (Stalled on
pad for 13s then rose slowly for 38s before exploding)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 1.6km
Date: 1/20/1951
Description: 9:20 p.m. Sioux City, Iowa, CAA Control Tower operator John
M. Williams sees an odd light in the west. Capt. Lawrence
W. Vinther and copilot James
F. Bachmeier of Mid-Continent Airlines Flight 9 takes off and
Vinther is asked by the tower to look for the light. While still in a
climbing turn at about 1,000 feet, the pilots spot the object to the
north-northwest at about 8,000 feet and 4 miles away. It looks like a
B-29 fuselage with wings but no engines and blinks some lights like
running lights. The object comes towards the DC-3, flies across the nose
within 200 feet, then suddenly reappears on the other side, paralleling
them for 2–3 seconds. The object then flies under them and disappears to
the northwest. This is one of the first reports to make it into the
CIRVIS system specified by JANAP 146. (NICAP, “UFO
Buzzes DC-3”; Lawrence W. Vinther, “Another
Saucer Mystery,” Flying 48 (June 1951): 23, 56, reprinted by
Project 1947; Ruppelt, p. 84;
Jan Aldrich; Sparks,
p. 104; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 43–44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1617
Date: 1/21/1951
Description: 4:20 p.m. A UFO that appears to be over the restricted area
at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, is sighted on the
radarscope of an F-82 fighter. The GCI gives the go-ahead to intercept
the target. The radar set on the F-82 is locked on and the run begins.
The interception is unsuccessful, and the fighter returns to base. In
all, three passes are made at targets, all with radar indications, but
they cannot be completed since the target is over the restricted area
that includes the X-10 plant. (NICAP, “F-82
Attempts Intercept of UFO over AEC Plant / Radar”;
Sparks, p. 104)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1618
Date: 1/22/1951
Description: 11:00 a.m. USAF pilots Capt. Ernest
W. Spradley Jr. of Aerial Photo Lab and Capt. James E. Cocker of
All-Weather Flying Division (both based at Wright-Patterson AFB in
Ohio), a General Mills Aeronautical lab project engineer named McAleese,
and another airman are flying in a C-47 heading east about 50 miles
southeast of Holloman AFB, New Mexico, at about 10,000–12,000 feet,
tracking a Project Gopher plastic balloon at about 50,000–70,000 feet,
when they see a bright star-like object adjacent to the pear-shaped
balloon. As they approach and fly under the balloon, they notice the
object descend to the balloon’s level and grow larger in apparent size
until about one-quarter to one-half the size of the 70-foot balloon. It
appears to be round and flat like a dime, milky white or silvery in
color, with a clear outline. Cocker and McAleese leave the cockpit and
go to the astrodome to observe the object. After 3 minutes they see the
object separate from the balloon and head west at high speed. After
about 1 minute it emits a series of 3 bright photoflashes at one-second
intervals and disappears from sight. (NICAP, “C-47
Crew Encounter Object near ‘Gopher’”; NICAP, “White
Object Paces Balloon”; Sparks, p. 105;
Swords 114–115)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1619
Date: 1/27/1951
Description: An Air Force B-50D bomber drops the first atomic bomb, the
Able blast, for testing in the US onto a dry lake bed known as Frenchman
Flat, inside the Nevada Test Site. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Ranger”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1620
Date: 1/29/1951
Description: USAF Lt. Col. Milton
D. Willis replies to Robert
B. Sibley, president of the Aero Club of New England, who has
written Secretary of the Air Force Thomas
K. Finletter asking that the UFO project be reinstated because
pilots are indeed seeing something that could be extraterrestrial.
Willis writes that, although the UFO project is disbanded, the Air Force
still investigates incidents and sends them to AMC if necessary, and an
officer (Willis himself, who has replaced Boggs)
monitors all UFO reports. As an aside to his superiors, Willis in a memo
notes that “there have been several incidents, during the last six
months, which cannot be explained and further investigation may be
necessary.” (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1951,
Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2000, pp. 7 –8; Swords 113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1621
Date: 2/1/1951
Time: 5:10 PM
Description: Witnesses: pilot and radar operator of F-82 night fighter.
One amber light made three or four 360 degree turns to the right,
reversed toward the F-82 and then climbed out of sight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Johnson Air Base, Japan
ID: 61
Date: 2/9/1951
Description: 9:55 p.m. The crew (including Lt. Fred
W. Kingdon Jr. and US Naval Reserve Lt. Graham
E. Bethune) and passengers of a US Navy R5D transport flying west
from Keflavík, Iceland, at 10,000 feet about 212 miles northeast of
Gander, Newfoundland, observe a large orange-rimmed UFO with a dark
center. It is about 400 feet in diameter and first seen moving above the
surface of the ocean. As the plane approaches, the object changes
colors, executes a sudden 180° turn and disappears over the horizon.
Over time, several attempts to disguise the participants have resulted
in confusion over the date. (NICAP, “The
Bethune Encounter”; NICAP, “Huge
Object Rushes
up from Ocean Surface”; Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 9–26; “Casebook:
February 8, 1951,” UFO Investigator, no. 54 (September 1970): 3; “Casebook:
February 8, 1951,” UFO Investigator, no. 55 (October 1970): 3;
Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, pp. 78–79;
“Unidentified Flying Object: A Provocative Tale,” Naval Aviation News,
June 1973, pp. 18–19, reprinted by
Project 1947; Good Above, pp. 268, 486;
Good Need, pp.
137–139;
Graham E. Bethune, “Lights
on the Surface,” 1999; Kevin H. Knuth, Robert M. Powell, and Peter
A. Reali, “Estimating
Flight Characteristics of Anomalous Unidentified Aerial Vehicles,”
Entropy, September 25, 2019; Patrick Gross, “The
Bethune Flight 124 Airmiss in 1951”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1622
Date: 2/10/1951
Description: Confidential Memo to Air Transport Squadron One: Lt. Graham
E. Bethune, U.S. Naval Reserve reported seeing a circular,
reddish-orange UFO flying at a speed in excess of 1000 mph, approx. 300
ft. diam. approaching and reversing direction within 5 miles of his
plane (Flight 125 from Keflavik, Iceland.)
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E, p486)
Location: Keflavik, Iceland
Date: 2/13/1951
Description: William
Webster, chair of the Defense Department’s Research and Development
Board, convenes a press briefing at the Pentagon and announces that
“Careful studies have been made [referring to the upcoming article in
Look]. I don’t believe anyone who has the opportunity to be informed and
to look into this thing believes there is a flying saucer as such. As
far as I know there is nothing to the flying saucers.” (Loren E. Gross,
UFOs,
a History:
Volume 8, 1951, The
Author, 1983, pp. 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1623
Date: 2/19/1951
Description: Aviation Week praises the upcoming article in Look
identifying UFOs as balloons. (Robert H. Wood, “Saucers, Secrecy, and
Security,” Aviation Week 54 (February 19, 1951): 50, reprinted by
Project 1947)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1625
Date: 2/19/1951
Description: 7:20 a.m. Capt. Jack Bicknell and Radio Officer D. W.
Merrifield are flying a Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar aircraft out of
Nairobi, Kenya, when they see a bright object hanging motionless about
10,000 above Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanganyika [now Tanzania]. They watch
it for 3 minutes, then tell the passengers about it. Bicknell observes
it through binoculars and sees a “metallic, bullet-shaped object which
must have been over 200 feet long.” It has a vertical fin at one end,
and at regular intervals along the fuselage are vertical dark bands. It
remains completely stationary for 17 minutes. Two passengers take photos
of it. Then it begins rising and moving eastward, disappearing at 40,000
feet. It leaves no vapor trail. (NICAP, “Lodestar
Crew Sees Stationary Silver Elongated
Object”; “The
Flying Saucer: Captain Bicknell’s Own Story,” Nairobi (Kenya) Sunday
Post, February 25, 1951, p. 15; Center for UFO Studies, [case
documents]; UFOEv, p. 124;
Sparks, p. 105;
Patrick Gross. “February
19, 1951, Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa”; Barry Greenwood, “Mt.
Kilimanjaro, Tanganyika, February 19, 1951:
Photo Located,” UFO Historical Revue, no. 16 (July 2015): 1–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1624
Date: 2/20/1951
Description: The Air Intelligence Training Bulletin publishes a
facetious news item on how to recognize flying saucers, but implies they
are all reflections. (“Recognition
of Flying Saucers,” Air Intelligence Training Bulletin, February 20,
1951)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1626
Date: 2/21/1951
Time: 4:55 AM
Description: Witnesses: three men in a truck, several other persons,
none named. A dark red, torpedo-shaped object with darker center, flew
straight and level.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Durban, South Africa
ID: 62
Date: 2/25/1951
Description: BSRA’s “Gerald Light” associate reports that he was
attacked suffering injuries by a saucer, and his neighbor and his
neighbor’s dog were also affected.
Type: ufological event
Reference: link
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date: 2/25/1951
Description: Project Twinkle head and chemist Anthony O. Mirarchi at the
USAF Cambridge Research Laboratory in Massachusetts tells the Associated
Press that he thinks UFOs are not “just balloons” (in response to Liddel’s
upcoming article) and urges a full investigation of what could be
experiments by a “potential enemy of the United States.” He says that
UFO reports show “maneuvered motion” that are not characteristic of a
natural phenomenon. He says the “Navy report is erroneous. It lulls
people into a false sense of security.” He reminds the nation of the
critical installations in New Mexico, including Los Alamos, and argues
that they are a target of reconnaissance: “If they were launched by a
foreign power, then they could lead to a worse Pearl Harbor than we have
ever experienced.” He blasts the US government for a policy of “suicide
by secrecy.” The FBI and Air Force mull prosecuting Mirarchi for
violating AFR 205-1. (“A.F.
Scientist Warns Saucers Major Threat,” Dayton (Ohio) Daily News,
February 26, 1951, p. 1; “Scientist
Fears Flying Saucers Portend a Worse ‘Pearl Harbor,’” Oklahoma Daily
Oklahoman, February 26, 1951, p 1; Swords 119–120; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 8, 1951, The
Author, 1983, pp. 18–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1627
Date: 2/26/1951
Time: 7:10 AM
Description: Witness: USAF Sgt. J.B. Sells. One dull grey, metallic
object, estimated to be 120’ long and 10-12’ thick, hovered, puffed
smoke and sped away after 1-1.5 minutes. Note: may have been
Feb. 25.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ladd AFB, Alaska
ID: 63
Date: 2/27/1951
Description: Physicist Urner
Liddel, Office
of Naval Research, says in a Look magazine article that there is not a
single reliable UFO report that is not attributable to the cosmic
[Skyhook] balloons. The article is based on Liddel’s study in ONR’s
Research Reviews in March. He claims to have studied “hundreds” of
sightings in detail (probably from Project Grudge). As for UFOs sighted
by Skyhook scientists themselves, he discounts them because these
technicians are not aware of mirages and internal reflections in optical
devices. (Richard Wilson, “A Nuclear Physicist Exposes Flying Saucers,”
Look, February 27, 1951, pp. 60–64; Swords 117–118; Urner Liddel, “Bogies
at Angels 100,” Research Reviews, March 1951, pp. 1–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1628
Date: 3/1951
Description: 11:30 p.m. Operations Officer Robert Wood is aboard the USS
Dyess approximately 125 miles southeast of Cape May, New Jersey,
when he picks up a radar target coming in from due east at a speed of
98–104 mph and an altitude of 3,000–4,000 feet. It stops and hovers
about 30 miles away. Wood notifies the bridge, and the captain orders
the ship to change course toward the object. About 30 minutes later, the
UFO suddenly takes off toward the north at 3,000 mph, getting to within
35–40 miles south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, before it zooms
straight up. Altitude-determining radar tracks the object to 100 miles
altitude. (“March,
1951: Approximately 125 Miles
SE of Cape May, N.J.,” Project 1947)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1630
Date: 3/1951
Description: A ghost light is seen in Suffolk County, Virginia, and
investigated by Nansemond County Deputy Sheriff Hurley
Jones, who
sees the light three times. It looks like a car headlight 5 feet off the
ground, three times. Jeston Reid said his father had seen the light in
the 1870s. The location is apparently either Turlington Road or Jackson
Road [they intersect] south of Suffolk, since locals say the old
railroad along the Jackson and Whaleyville logging road used to run down
that way, and the light has also been compared to a locomotive
headlight. Some 200 people have been gathering along the road, hoping to
catch a glimpse. (“Mystery
Light Is a Puzzle in Nansemond,” Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch,
March 6, 1951, p. 2; “Nansemond’s
Mystery Light Is Nothing New to Old- Timers,”
Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, March 7, 1951, p. 2; “Mysterious
Suffolk Light Has Deputy Believing in
Ghosts,” Statesville (N.C.) Daily Record, March 8, 1951, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1629
Date: 3/8/1951
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 3.1km (Blossom 8 —
Three explosions at 15.5; 18.5 and 19.5s destroying tail section)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 3.1km
Date: 3/10/1951
Time: 9:51 AM
Description: Witnesses: crew of USAF B-29 bomber, including scanners and
tail gunner. A large red-yellow glow burst and became blue-white. No
further information in files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Chinnampo, Korea
ID: 64
Date: 3/13/1951
Time: 3:20 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF lst Lt. B.J. Hastie, Mrs. Rafferty. A
cylinder with twin tails, 200’ long and 90’ wide, turned north and flew
at incredible speed. Two minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: McClellan AFB, California
ID: 65
Date: 3/14/1951
Description: A group of nine Bell Aircraft engineers are flying at
15,000 feet in a B-50 Superfortress near Holloman AFB, New Mexico,
during a test of a secret Bell aircraft. They spot a group of unknown
objects flying in a confusing “swirl” that breaks into a V-formation and
back to a “swirl,” then a V again. The objects are slightly higher than
the aircraft and seem to be moving at high velocity. The engineers
insist the objects are not geese, which actually can fly this high.
(This may be the same incident as the August 30, 1950, case at
Holloman.) (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 8, 1951, The
Author, 1983, pp. 21–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1631
Date: 3/15/1951
Time: 10:20 AM
Description: Witnesses: 25 members of a flying club, including the chief
aerial engineer and his two assistants. One metallic cigar-shaped object
with white exhaust which turned black when it accelerated to an
estimated 1,000 m.p.h. and made a large loop. Seven minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: New Delhi, India
ID: 66
Date: 3/15/1951
Description: 10:20 a.m. George F. Floate, chief engineer of the Delhi
Flying Club, and two assistants observe a swirly white cloud moving from
north to south at about 4,000 feet altitude near the club’s hanger in
New Delhi, India. The cloud is about 700 feet in length. At the end of
it a bullet-shaped object appears, approximately 100 feet long and as
big around as a C-47 fuselage. The witnesses shout out, and 17–20 people
rush out of the hanger and see the object. It heads south for about 3
minutes where it makes an apparent loop, coming back over the field. At
the top of the loop it is out of sight, but it is seen again in its
dive. After recovering straight and level flight, the UFO proceeds to
the southwest until it is lost to sight. Its speed is estimated at three
times greater than the cruising speed of a British Vampire jet. The
total duration is about 7 minutes. (NICAP, “20+
Top Shelf Witnesses / Metallic
Cigar”; Sparks,
p. 106) Early spring — Dusk. US Army Pfc. Francis
P. Wall is on maneuvers with the 27th Infantry Regiment near
Cheorwon, South Korea, when he sees an orange light like a
jack-o-lantern coming down a mountain. Artillery airbursts do not seem
to harm it. As it approaches, it turns into a brilliant blue-green disc
pulsating with light. Wall asks permission to shoot and fires a round
from his M-1 rifle at it. The object starts moving erratically from side
to side, flashes on and off, and makes an engine-like noise. It sweeps
the soldiers with a beam of light, and they feel a burning and tingling
sensation. They retreat to their bunkers and continue to watch the
object, which is still lighting up the area, and then it shoots away at
a 45° angle. (Haines, Korea, pp. 18–27;
Richard F. Haines, “GI Fires on UFO in Korea,” IUR 15, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1990): 23–24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1632
Date: 4/4/1951
Description: The Truman administration forms the Psychological Strategy
Board to coordinate and plan for psychological operations. The board is
composed of the Under Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of
Defense, and the Director of Central Intelligence, or their designated
representatives. The board’s first director is Gordon
Gray, later
National Security Advisor during the Eisenhower administration. The
board is created in response to the growth of Office of Policy
Coordination covert activities during the Korean War. The PSB is tasked
with creating propaganda that will subconsciously turn people away from
communism and toward democracy. It is abolished in 1953. (Wikipedia, “Psychological
Strategy Board”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1633
Date: 4/7/1951
Description: Howard
Hawks’s film The Thing from Another World opens, starring Margaret
Sheridan, Kenneth
Tobey, and James
Arness, about
a crashed flying saucer found in the Arctic. It ends with the haunting
lines by Douglas Spencer:
“Watch the skies, everywhere! Keep looking. Watch the skies!” (Internet
Movie Database, “The
Thing from
Another World”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1634
Date: 4/11/1951
Description: Air Defense Command issues a memo on “Unconventional
Aircraft” to all USAF facilities, encouraging them to report sightings
in a timely manner. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 8, 1951, The Author, 1983, pp. 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1635
Date: 4/17/1951
Description: Project Grudge’s Col. Harold
E. Watson notes that JANAP 146 has no provision for UFO reports to
be sent to Wright-Patterson AFB under the CIRVIS system. (Jan
Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1636
Date: 4/21/1951
Description: Drones are again used in the series of thermonuclear tests
designated Operation Greenhouse at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall
Islands. During the Easy detonation, two T-33 drones are lost. One
receives heavy damage from the shock wave, loses control, and crashes;
the other refuses to respond to control signals and crashes on
uninhabited Bogullua Island. The Air Force concludes that unmanned
samplers are unreliable. (M/Sgt Leland B. Taylor, History
of Air Force Atomic Cloud Sampling, US
Special Weapons Center, January 1963, pp. 34–37; Jacobsen, Area 51, p. 225)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1637
Date: 4/23/1951
Description: Col. Harold
E. Watson writes a memo to the USAF Director of Intelligence,
explaining his view that “little if any results” have been obtained from
Project Grudge other than the objects are not from a foreign power. But
since there is still dome doubt, all reports should be forwarded to AMC
at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio . (Swords 121)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1638
Date: 4/27/1951
Description: Science fiction movie “The Thing from Another World” is
released
Type: movie
Reference: link
Location: US
Date: 5/21/1951
Description: Wright-Patterson’s Technical Intelligence Department (T-2)
becomes the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) and is assigned to
the Directorate of Intelligence in the Pentagon. Project Grudge goes
along with it. (Sparks, p. 12;
Clark III 936)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1639
Date: 5/22/1951
Description: 3:20 a.m. American Airlines pilot Capt. W. R. Hunt observes
a blue-white, star-like object gyrating around the airplane at 21,000
feet for 20 minutes about 100 miles southwest of Dodge City, Kansas. It
moves backward and forward, then up and down, then dives below the plane
and speeds away. (“Mysterious
Bright Light ‘Plays Tag’ with
Airliner over Kansas,” Iola (Kan.) Register, May 22, 1951, p. 1;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 8,
1951, The
Author, 1983, p. 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1640
Date: 6/1951
Description: The UK Flying Saucer Working Party produces its six-page
final report for the Ministry of Defence’s Directorate of Scientific
Intelligence, DSI/JTIC Report number 7, Unidentified Flying Objects,
classified Secret. The CIA’s chief scientist, H.
Marshall Chadwell, attends the meeting when the report is delivered.
The report admits that no systematic investigation has been undertaken,
but from the evidence examined, including reports by RAF pilots,
explanations can probably be found for most reports. Copies are also
submitted to Canada as well as US and UK officials. (Joe McGonagle, “Flying
Saucer Working Party: Commentary,” part 2, The Real UFO Project;
Good Need, pp. 149–152;
David Clarke, “Flying
Saucer Working Party,” Dr. David Clarke Folklore and Journalism,
January 3, 2015; UFOFiles2, pp. 38–40;
Mark Rodeghier, “Britain’s Secret UFO Study,” IUR 26, no. 4 (Winter
2001–2002): 21–23; Ian Ridpath, “Report
of the UK Government’s Flying Saucer Working Party (1951 June),” Ian
Ridpath’s UFO Skeptic Pages, January 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1642
Date: 6/1951
Description: Project Grudge only has one person on staff to investigate
UFO reports, Lt. Jerry
W. Cummings, who reorganizes the system and uses a more open-minded
approach. (Jacobs, UFO Controversy in America, Signet ed., 1976, pp. 56–57;
Sparks, p. 14;
Swords 121)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1641
Date: 6/1/1951
Time: 4:20 AM
Description: Witnesses: M/Sgt H.E. Sweeney, 2 enlisted men. One glowing
yellow-orange, saucer-shaped object with arc-shaped wings, flew straight
up. Seen for 30-40 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Niagara Falls, New York
ID: 67
Date: 6/1/1951
Description: 10:00 p.m. An ATIC official at Wright-Patterson AFB is
driving west near Dayton, Ohio, when he sees a large, bluish-white light
moving parallel to the car. It looks like a “stubby cigar.” After 15–20
seconds, it makes a right- angle turn, becomes circular, and rapidly
disappears. Its speed is “faster than an airplane, slower than a
meteor.” (UFOEv, p. 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1643
Date: 6/14/1951
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 0km (Exploded on
pad at start of main-stage thrust after rising 6-inches)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 0km
Date: 6/19/1951
Description: Day. Mechanic Joseph Matiszewski hears a whistling sound as
he is walking in Sønderborg, Denmark, and sees an object land in a
nearby meadow. Approaching to within 150 feet of it, he finds himself
paralyzed and notices that birds have stopped singing and cows seem
frozen in place. Four men with brown skin and wearing black shiny suits
and translucent helmets emerge from the object and send Matiszewski some
telepathic messages. Eight smaller objects are ejected from the large
one and float above it. Other figures inside the craft and on its deck
appear to be making repairs. The objects ascend to about 300 feet and
climb rapidly after that. The paralysis subsides. (Patrick Gross, URECAT, July
1, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1644
Date: 6/19/1951
Time: 1200
Description: Joseph Matiszewski, a mechanic, heard a whistling sound and
saw an object land in a meadow. Approaching within 50 m, he found
himself paralyzed and observed that birds had stopped singing and cows
seemed to be similarly unable to move. From the object emerged four
handsome men who had brown skin and wore black shiny suits and
translucent helmets. Eight objects also emerged from the craft and
hovered above it. Other men inside the craft and on its deck appeared to
be making repairs, then the objects flew to about 100 m altitude and
climbed rapidly out of sight. Only then did the paralysis subside.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Nachrichten May., 59 (Vallee)
Location: Sonderborg, Denmark
ID: 82
Date: summer 1951
Description: A dubious story surfaces in 1956 that three UFOs had
appeared above Mexico City International Airport at the same time as a
visit by US Secretary of Defense George
C. Marshall. (However,
there is no record of a visit by Marshall at this time; apparently his
first visit to Mexico was a vacation in Cuernavaca in February 1952.)
According to the story, Marshall tells a “highly placed American” and
“prominent medical scientist” that UFOs are interplanetary and friendly,
but they have crashed accidentally on three occasions. In 1965, the
American informant is revealed to be Rolf
Alexander, who is in fact Allan Alexander Stirling, a New Zealand
seaman who had jumped ship in 1920 and entered the US illegally. To
support himself he promoted various dubious health cures while
concocting a fictitious personal history. His activities were
interrupted by prison sentences for mail fraud and embezzlement, and in
1954–1960 he claimed the ability to break up clouds with his
psychokinetic abilities. (“Let’s
Talk Space: ‘Flying Saucers’ Are Real,” Flying Saucer Review 2, no.
1 (Jan./Feb. 1956): 2–4; “Rolf
Alexander, M.D.,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1965):
9; RosRept, p. 99)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1647
Date: Summer 1951
Description: USAF project “Bluebook” is started
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: US
Date: 6/22/1951
Description: Life magazine reporter Robert
Emmett Ginna Jr. visits Air Technical Intelligence Center at
Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio for the first time to gather information on
“Project Saucer” for an article. The visit is coordinated by Jack T.
Shea, special assistant to the director of public relations. (Jan
Aldrich; Michael D. Swords, “1952: Ruppelt’s Big Year,” IUR 28, no. 4
(Winter 2003–2004): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1645
Date: 6/25/1951
Description: The UK Flying Saucer Working Party is disbanded. (Good
Need, p. 152)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1646
Date: 6/28/1951
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 5.8km (Blossom 9 —
Tail explosion at 8s and then cut-off signal given at 22s.)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 5.8km
Date: 7/1951
Description: The radiation-counter network set up at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, Tennessee, in December 1950 by Lt. Col. John R. Hood hits
paydirt when a UFO appears, sighted both visually and on radar over the
facility. He finds that the radiation counters have detected a
significant rise in some kind of emission. Hood wants to expand the
equipment, adding a debris-catching pursuit plane. However, information
is lacking on this case and any follow- up. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 8, 1951, The
Author, 1983, p. 42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1648
Date: 7/1/1951
Description: 10:50 p.m. Four night pilots of the 1st Marine Aircraft
Wing in different areas around Seoul, Korea, simultaneously report a
large green ball, very bright and trailing streaks of red then blue,
passing overhead at 10,000–15,000 feet. (Haines, Korea, p. 31;
Sparks,
p. 106)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1649
Date: 7/4/1951 (approximate)
Description: 10:00 p.m. Future ufologist Irena
Scott and her sister Sue are sleeping at their home in Galena, Ohio,
when they wake to see a small glowing light circling their bedroom in a
meandering movement, but never bumping into anything. It circles the
room three times, maintaining the same shape, brightness, and size (less
than one inch). After a few minutes, it moves in tight circles around
the chandelier, then spirals downward, makes a noise, and emits tiny
lights. Terrified, they rush out of the room and tell their father, who
inspects the room but finds nothing. (Irena Scott, “Bedroom Light,” IUR
13, no. 2 (March/April 1988): 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1650
Date: 7/9/1951
Description: Day. USAF Lt. George
H. Kinmon II, stationed
at Lawson AFB [now Lawson Army Airfield] with the 117th Tactical
Reconnaissance Wing, is flying an F-51 over Dearing, Georgia, when he
sees a white disc “completely round and spinning in a clockwise
direction.” It makes a headlong pass at his aircraft. It travels at
“tremendous speed” and leaves no vapor trail. (NICAP, “Aerial
Encounter with Disc”; “Saucer Attacked Me, Pilot Declares,”
Cleveland Press, July 30, 1952, p. 1, reprinted in
Saucer Attack, April 1998; Sparks,
p. 107; UFOEv, p. 23;
Richard H. Hall, Uninvited Guests, Aurora, 1988, pp. 328–330)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1651
Date: 7/9/1951
Description: Pilot Lt. Kinmon sees and reports an UFO.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Reference: NICAP
Location: Columbus, GA
See also: 7/10/1951
Date: 7/10/1951
Description: Classified OSI Message from Robins AFB, Macon: UFO sighted
by Lt. George H. Kinmon Jr. on July 9, 1951. Description: Flat on top
and bottom and appeared from front view to have rounded edges, slightly
beveled. Color was white. When it dived from its position it appeared
circular with a clockwise spinning motion. Appeared to have a fractured
surface. No exhaust fumes or visible means of propulsion. At an approx.
distance from his plane the UFO appeared to be 10 to 15 feet in diam.
UFO caused air disturbance as it barrel-rolled under his plane. His nose
camera malfunctioned.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Reference: NICAP
Location: Macon, GA
Date: 7/14/1951
Description: Morning. During a guided missile launch, two radar
operators at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, catch a fast-moving
object on their scope. At the same time, a tracker watching a B-29 with
binoculars sees a large UFO near the bomber. Another observer sights the
UFO and, with a 35mm camera, shoots 200 feet of film. The UFO shows on
the film as a round, bright spot. The film has never been released.
(NICAP, “White Sands
Radar/Visual”; Sparks, p. 107;
Project 1947, “Radar
and Visual UFO Sighting, White Sands Missile Range,
New Mexico—July 14, 1951”; Good Above, pp. 354–355)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1652
Date: 7/22/1951
Description: The Soviet R-1V carrier rocket brought the dogs of Dezik
and Tsygan to the upper atmosphere and returned them to earth alive. It
was the first successful flight of animals into space, but for 40 years
the story was classified due to the numerous unsuccessful flights before
that.
Type: aerospace
Reference: link
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Soviet Union
Date: 7/24/1951
Time: 7:10 PM
Description: Witnesses: Hanscom AFB Operations Officer Capt. Cobb, Cpl.
Fein. One 100-200’ tubular object, 5 times long as it was wide, with
fins at one end, and colored greyish with many black spots. Flew
800-1,000 m.p.h. at 1-2,000’ altitude, leaving a faint swath. 20
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Portsmouth, New Hampshire
ID: 68
Date: 7/25/1951
Description: Personnel at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, write a report
compiling the results of an organized skywatch of UFOs at the base.
Several photos are taken. The report does not conclude what the objects
are, but it does establish that some kind of objects have been seen.
(“Status
of Project Blue Book,” T52-6888, [1952], p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1653
Date: 8/1951
Description: In an article in Popular Science, the editors ask UFO
witnesses what they think the objects are. About 70% believe they are
intelligently controlled devices, either man-made or extraterrestrial.
(“What
Were the Flying Saucers?
Eyewitnesses Believe They Saw Secret Aircraft,” Popular Science 159
(August 1951): 74–75, 228)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1654
Date: 8/3/1951
Description: 11:00 p.m. Walter
N. Webb, nature counselor at Camp Big Silver on the shore of Silver
Lake in southern Michigan, 3 miles south of Pinckney, is showing two boy
campers some celestial objects through a reflecting telescope. He sees a
glowing, yellowish light moving westward at a low elevation in an
undulating path over hills to the south. It disappears behind the hills
before he can train his telescope on it. (UFOEv, p. 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1655
Date: 8/11/1951
Description: Former USAF pilot Robert
O. Dodge watches three disc-like UFOs in formation over Portland,
Oregon. (UFOEv, p. 34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1656
Date: 8/15/1951
Description: US test pilot Bill
Bridgeman attains an unofficial altitude of 79,494 feet in a Douglas
D-558-2 Skyrocket, an air-launched rocket plane powered by the XLR-11
liquid fuel rocket engine. (Wikipedia, “Bill
Bridgeman”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1657
Date: mid 8/1951
Description: Midnight. A witness is on his porch in Waco, Texas, looking
at the sky when he sees a V-shaped formation of 10–20 round, luminous
objects silently pass over from west to east in a matter of seconds.
(Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 41–42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1659
Date: mid 8/1951
Description: 10:30 a.m. Mining engineer Alfred Roos hears a swishing
sound at his ranch 10 miles east of Silver City, New Mexico. He looks up
and sees two lens-shaped UFOs swooping at tremendous speed then
hovering. They go back and forth between his location and Fort Bayard,
two miles to the northwest, where they finally disappear into a cloud.
(UFOEv, p. 56)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1658
Date: 8/17/1951
Description: 11:30 a.m. Otto
Bock, a
German scientist with a specialty in optics who came to the US as part
of Operation Paperclip, observes a high-altitude, metallic object
through his 20x telescope for about 4 hours. He says the sighting is
confirmed by four other persons. (Project 1947, “Letter
to Donald Keyhoe: Otto Bock, August 22, 1951”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1660
Date: 8/20/1951
Description: The CIA, approved by DCI Roscoe
Hillenkoetter, starts
Project ARTICHOKE to study hypnosis, morphine addiction, and LSD to
produce amnesia and other vulnerable states in subjects, as a way of
exploring interrogation methods. (Wikipedia, “Project
ARTICHOKE”; [Central Intelligence Agency], “Project
Artichoke,” declassified(?), January 31, 1975)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1661
Date: 8/22/1951
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 213.4km (Army
training test — last 5 launches by “Broomstick Scientists”)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 213.4km
Date: 8/23/1951
Description: Frank
Wisner succeeds Allen
Dulles as CIA Deputy Director of Plans in the Office of Policy
Coordination, with Richard
Helms as chief of operations. In this position, Wisner is
instrumental in supporting pro-American forces that toppled Mohammed
Mossadegh in Iran in
1953 and Jacobo
Árbenz in Guatemala in
1954. Sometime this year he visits Richard
M. Bissell Jr. and asks him to finance OPC operations by diverting
some Marshall Plan funds, presumably for covert black ops. (Jacobsen,
Area 51, pp. 45–46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1662
Date: 8/25/1951
Description: Evening. Joseph Bryant and his wife, at 407 West Powell
Street, Brownfield, Texas, see a loose group of glowing lights heading
north to south. They are a “little bigger than a star.” A few minutes
later a second group flies over, and then a third, which circles around
the house. This time Bryant can hear them, and he identifies them as
plovers. When he hears about the Lubbock lights, he is sure the
professors are seeing plovers. (Clark III 691–692)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1663
Date: 8/25/1951
Description: 9:10 p.m. Three Texas Technical College professors
(geologist Wilbur
Irvin Robinson, chemist Aaron Gustav
“Gus” Oberg, and petroleum engineer William
Lyon Ducker Jr.) are sitting in a backyard at Lubbock, Texas, when
they see a fast-moving, semicircular formation of 20–30 lights, as
intense as bright stars but larger. Blue-green and silent, they move
across the sky in seconds. A second group appears and repeats the
performance. Others, including Carl Hemminger at Texas Tech, report
seeing the same objects the same night. J.
Russell Heitman,
head of the Texas Tech journalism department, says he had seen an
identical group of lights several days earlier. The professors watch
10–12 such flights through November 1 (including on September 1 and 5),
sometimes accompanied by colleagues Ellis
Richard Heineman, E.
F. George, Grayson
Mead, and John Brand. Some researchers, including Ruppelt and
Hynek,
think the witnesses are seeing migrating plovers attracted to Lubbock’s
new vapor street lights, although Ruppelt changes his mind later.
(Wikipedia, “Lubbock
Lights”; NICAP, “The
Lubbock Lights / Carl Hart Photos”; Clark III 688–690; Loren E.
Gross, UFOs,
a History: Volume 8,
1951, The
Author, 1983, pp. 45–55; Swords 130–132; “Lubbock
1951,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library, November 15,
1999)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1664
Date: 8/25/1951
Description: Around 9:58 p.m. Hugh Young, a security guard at Sandia
Base, and his wife Emily are in their trailer home in east Albuquerque,
New Mexico, and watch a large object like a flying wing, but 1.5 times
as large as a B-36, flying at 80 feet at about 300 mph. It has glowing
white lights on the trailing edge of the wing and is completely silent.
(NICAP, “Flying
Wing over Sandia Base”; Clark III 691; Sparks,
p. 108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1665
Date: 8/25/1951
Time: 9:58 PM
Description: Witnesses: Sandia Base Security Guard Hugh Young and wife.
A flying wing-shaped craft passed over their heads at an estimated
800-1,000’ altitude with no sound. Size estimated at 1.5 times wingspan
of B-36 bomber,or 350’. Dark, chordwise stripes on underside, and 6-8
pairs of soft, glowing lights on trailing edge of “wing”. Speed
estimated at 300-400 m.p.h., object seen for about 30 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
ID: 69
Date: 8/26/1951
Description: 8:28 p.m. A radar station at Larson AFB [now Grant County
International Airport], near Moses Lake, Washington, tracks a UFO at
13,000 feet going 950 mph on two different sets, AN/CPS-1 and AN/CPS-4,
for about 6 minutes. An F-86 is scrambled, but radar contact is lost
before the plane gets off the ground. An electronic signal is received
from this object that appears to be a mode-one IFF response from an
AN/APX-6 transponder. This response is received twice at approx.115
miles and 80 miles from the radar station. (NICAP, “Two
Radars Track
900 MPH Target; Clark III 692; Ruppelt, pp. 96–98,
108–109;
Sparks,
p. 108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1666
Date: 8/27/1951
Description: At a conference at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, on the green
fireballs, Project Twinkle’s Maj. Edward
A. Doty expresses
skepticism about the project. Meteorologist Bernard
“Duke” Gildenberg tells those assembled that he has never seen
anything out of the ordinary, nor has astronomer Clyde
Tombaugh. The commanding officer at Holloman wants to cease
allocating funds for the project. (Clark III 545)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1667
Date: 8/28/1951
Description: Project Twinkle personnel talk to LaPaz about
the green fireballs and he insists they are not meteors. (Clark III
545)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1668
Date: 8/30/1951
Description: 11:30 p.m. A Texas Tech freshman named Carl Hart Jr. sees
the same formation of 18–20 lights over Lubbock, Texas, and takes five
photos. He gets the roll of film developed the next day and takes it to
the Lubbock Morning Avalanche, which puts them out on the Associated
Press wire. ATIC examines the photos and notes that the “two rows of
spots behaved differently. One row only shows slight variation from a
precise V formation throughout, whereas the other now appears to pass
from above the first row, through it to a position below.” Biologist James
Cecil Cross looks
at the Lubbock photos under a microscope and rules out the bird
explanation. See also Life, Apr. 7, 1952. While investigating the
Lubbock Lights, Ruppelt also
learns that several people in and around Lubbock claim to have seen a
“flying wing” moving over the city. Among the witnesses is the wife of
Dr. Ducker, who
reports that in August 1951 she observed a “huge, soundless flying wing”
pass over her house. Ruppelt knows that USAF does possess a “flying
wing” jet bomber, and he feels that at least some of the sightings are
caused by the bomber, although he cannot explain why, according to the
witnesses, the wing makes no sound as it flies overhead. Ruppelt says
that in addition to Project Grudge investigators, another group of
people who, “because of their association with the government, had
complete access to our files” (scientists convinced of the ETH) were
also looking into the Lubbock cases. In March 1955, Ducker sends Ruppelt
a telegram indicating that he has figured out that the lights are a
“natural phenomenon” and requests no further publicity in his book.
However, Texas Tech mathematics professor Ralph
Sylvester Underwood has also observed three flights and estimates
the objects are at 2,000 feet altitude and flying at 700 mph—much too
fast for birds. (NICAP, “The Lubbock
Lights / Carl Hart Photos”; “‘Flying Whatsits’ Stir Dispute in
Area,” Lubbock (Tex.) Morning Avalanche, September 6, 1951; Clark III
690–693; Ruppelt, pp. 96–110;
Kevin D. Randle, “Carl Hart and the Lubbock Lights,” IUR 18, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1993): 17–19; Michael D. Swords, “Classic Cases from the
APRO Files,” IUR 24, no. 2 (Summer 1999): 22; “Lubbock
1951,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library, November 15, 1999;
Donald R. Burleson, “New Findings on the Lubbock Lights,” IUR 26, no. 2
(Summer 2001): 3–5; “Lubbock
Lights and Roswell,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library, December
7, 2005; Michael D. Swords, “Can
We Learn Anything from UFO Photos? Part Five,” The Big Study, July
15, 2012; Swords 131– 132)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1669
Date: 8/31/1951
Time: 12:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mrs. Tom Tilson, one or two other women, all
apparently of excellent reputations. One pear-shaped object with a
length of a B-29 fuselage (100’), aluminum or silver with a port or some
type of aperture on the side. It moved with smaller end forward,
drifting slowly at about 150’ altitude, then headed up in a circular
fashion and out of sight after a few seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Matador, Texas
ID: 70
Date: 8/31/1951
Description: 12:45 p.m. Mrs. Tom Tilson and one or two other women are
driving north on Hwy 70 near Matador, Texas, when they see to the west a
pear-shaped object the length of a B-29 fuselage (100 feet). It is
aluminum or silver-yellow with a port or some type of aperture on the
side, and it moves with its smaller end forward, drifting slowly at
about 150 feet altitude. It then shoots up in a circular fashion and out
of sight after a few seconds. (Clark III 692; Sparks, p. 109)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1670
Date: 9/1951
Description: A group of Unmatjera aborigines observed a shiny circular
object land near a similar craft, about 12 m in diameter. Several min
later, a dwarf dressed in a shiny suit and having “a round, shiny head”
came out of one craft and entered the other; both took off with a
buzzing sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Edwards 93 (Vallee)
Location: Central Australia
ID: 83
Date: 9/1951
Description: 9:00 p.m. Louise McDougall is sitting on the lawn outside
her trailer park in Bloomington, California, when she has the feeling
someone is watching her. She looks up and sees a flying saucer hovering
some 20 feet up. It is lenticular, perhaps 100 feet in diameter, and
dull silver metallic in appearance. There are tall, rectangular windows
in its lower half, in which can be seen against an amber glow four men,
in one-piece “jump suits,” with shoulder- length hair. She turns a
spotlight on the saucer, whereupon it shoots off silently at incredible
speed. About 15 minutes later it returns, hovering in the same spot, the
figures still visible at the windows. After 6 or 7 minutes, it takes off
again to the southeast. McDougall’s husband and three other people also
see it. (Clark III 267; Patrick Gross, URECAT, September
15, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1671
Date: 9/6/1951
Time: 7:20 PM (not really clear)
Description: Witnesses: S/Sgt W.T. Smith, M/Sgt L.L. Duel (?). Six
orange lights in an irregular formation, flew straight and level into a
coastal fog bank after 3-4 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Claremont, California
ID: 71
Date: 9/6/1951
Description: The Air Force issues JANAP 146(B), “Communications
Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings from Aircraft.”
All UFO reports are to go to the Air Defense Command in the Pentagon
(which presumably will send them to AMC at Wright-Patterson AFB in
Ohio), the Secretary of Defense, and to the nearest US military command.
(Swords 123)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1672
Date: 9/10/1951
Description: CONFIDENTIAL Air Intel REPORT: Maj. Ballard and Lt. Rogers
while flying at 20,000 ft. in a T-33 spotted a disc-shaped UFO the size
of an F-86 flying below them at 8000 ft. It was travelling much faster
than they were (900+ mph). It was steady in flight, with no visible
means of propulsion and shiny silver in color. The radar station at Ft.
Monmouth plotted the same UFO on radar at 1110 EDT flying above 700 mph.
(p127 of Ruppelt’s book)
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p487)
Reference: NICAP
Location: Asbury, NJ
Date: 9/10/1951
Description: 11:10 a.m. At the Army Signal Corps radar center at Fort
Monmouth [now closed], New Jersey, a student operator demonstrating
radar functions to a group of visiting officers picks up a target that
is moving too fast to be tracked automatically. The object seems to be
following the coastline. He follows it off and on for 3 minutes, after
which it disappears to the northeast, flying at 700 mph. About 25
minutes later, a T-33 jet trainer piloted by Lt. Wilbert
S. Rogers, with
Maj. Edward Ballard as passenger, spots a “silver-colored object about
the size of a fighter plane” flying at 900 mph at 5,000–8,000 feet over
Sandy Hook. It makes a 90° banking turn and disappears out to sea. At
3:15 p.m., a second radar tracking occurs, but this slower object turns
out to be a balloon. (NICAP, “The
Fort Monmouth Radar Incident”; NICAP, “The
Sandy Hook / T-33 Incident”; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 66; Clark III 513– 515; Sparks, p. 110;
Thomas Tulien, ed., Proceedings
of the Sign Historical Group UFO History Workshop, Sign Historical
Group, November 2001, pp. 45–46; Swords 124–127; Good Above, pp. 269,
487)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1673
Date: 9/11/1951
Description: 10:50 a.m. Two radars at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, pick up
another object moving at 1,000 mph. At 1:30 p.m., another radar target
appears, apparently hovering. Overcast conditions prevent a visual
sighting. The radar then shows it ascending at a rapid rate then
streaking to the south at 700+ mph. (Clark III 514)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1674
Date: 9/12/1951
Description: Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, officials send ATIC and USAF
headquarters a three-foot-long teletype describing the sightings. ATIC’s
new chief, Col. Frank
Dunn, gets a wire from Gen. Charles
Cabell, who wants somebody from ATIC to find out what’s going on.
Dunn sends Lt. Jerry
Cummings (head of Project Grudge) and Lt. Col. Nathan
R. Rosengarten (chief of the ATIC Aircraft Performance Section).
(Clark III 514–515; Ruppelt, pp. 93–94;
Swords 126; Good Need, pp. 164–165)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1675
Date: 9/13/1951
Description: 9:30 p.m. T/Sgt Warner B. Maupin and Cpl. John W. Green
track two objects on radar at Goose Bay AFB [now CFB Goose Bay],
Labrador, on a collision course. One of them tries to warn the supposed
aircraft of an imminent collision and is surprised to watch one avoid
danger by moving to the right. A third unidentified target joins the
other two. The incident lasts more than 15 minutes. (Chris Rutkowski and
Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006, p. 53; Sparks, p. 110;
Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
p. 261)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1676
Date: 9/14/1951
Time: 9:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: T/Sgt W.B. Maupin, Cpl. J.W. Green. Three
objects tracked on radar. Two were on a collision course, then one
evaded to the right upon the request, by radio, of one of the radar
operators! No aircraft were known to be in the area. A third
unidentified track then joined the first two. More than 15
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada
ID: 72
Date: 9/18/1951
Description: The Day the Earth Stood Still, directed by Robert
Wise and starring Michael
Rennie and Patricia
Neal, premieres in New York City. The ultimate flying saucer
science-fiction movie, the plot revolves around an alien who lands in a
UFO in Washington, D.C., and demands that atomic testing cease. Lock
Martin, who
is more than 7 feet tall, plays the robot Gort. (Internet Movie
Database, “The
Day the Earth Stood Still”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1677
Date: 9/18/1951
Description: Science fiction movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is
released
Type: movie
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: US
Date: 9/18/1951
Description: 10:20 p.m. USAF B-36 radar operator Maj. Paul E. Gerhart
and navigator Maj. Charles J. Cheever are flying northwest at 239 mph
over the Hudson Strait in northern Canada when they pick up radar
interference coming from an unidentified aircraft moving away from them
to the east about 32 miles away. The anti-jamming device on their radar
is turned on at 11:20 p.m. but does not affect the jamming on the radar
scope. At 11:35 p.m., a UFO is seen visually on the right side of the
B-36, which is flying at 18,000 feet over southwest Baffin Island,
Nunavut. The object has all-white “unconventional running lights” and
two white flashing tail lights, travels about 35 mph faster than the
B-36, crosses the front from right to left heading toward the
north-northwest, and is in view about 20 minutes. While the object is
still visible at 11:50 p.m., the B-36 autopilot and APQ-24 radar set
malfunction, the latter coming back a few minutes later when the object
disappears. ECM operators S/Sgt. Donald E. Jenkins and S/Sgt. Doty T.
Larimore on two B-36 flights over Labrador on September 19 detect
carrier wave signals at several frequencies and some radar-like pulses
at other frequencies, all below 1,000 MHz. (NICAP, “B- 36
Radar Picks up Object Seen Visually”; Sparks, p. 111)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1678
Date: 9/23/1951
Description: At March AFB [now March Air Reserve Base] near Long Beach,
California, two F-86 jets try to intercept an object in controlled orbit
at around 55,000 feet, but they run low on fuel and have to land. Two
more F-86s are scrambled, with the same results. Three of the pilots
report seeing a “silver airplane with highly swept- back wings,”
although one of them says the UFO looks round and silver. (NICAP, “Swept
Wing Aircraft at above 50,000ʹ
/ Tracked by GCI”; Ruppelt, pp. 94–95,
111, 113–114;
Sparks,
p. 112)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1679
Date: fall 1951
Description: Navy pilot Lt. Cmdr. Marvin
C. Davies is flying a plane off a CVE class aircraft carrier near
Korea when the crew tracks a radar target 3 miles astern. The object has
apparently been circling the fleet at an altitude of 5,000 feet and
speeds of “slow” to 1,000 mph. The UFO has been tracked on 14 ship
radars for 7 hours. It stops circling and takes up a position behind the
plane’s wingman, remaining there 5 minutes, then departing at high
speed. (Project 1937, “UFO
Reports, Korea”; UFOEv, p. 84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1680
Date: 9/24/1951
Description: Soviet atomic bomb test RDS-2 (Joe 2), 38.3kt
Type: atomic
Reference: link
Location: Semipalatinsk Test Site
Atomic type: aboveground
Atomic KT: 38.3
Date: 10/1951
Description: Per
Sundh is appointed head of a unit at the Swedish Defence Staff
responsible for investigating UFO reports. He remains in charge until
October 1954. During that time the department handles 6,000 reports, of
which 400 are investigated and 40 remain unexplained. Their astronomical
consultant is Bertil
Lindblad, an
astronomer at Stockholm University, Sweden. Sundh says that his
personnel always took even the weirdest observations seriously. (Swords
364–365)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1681
Date: 10/1951
Description: Project Grudge is on hold, Intelligence Officer
Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt has been assigned to reshape the study and field
mounting concern for the Pentagon.
Type: historical event
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Dayton, OH
See also: 12/48
See also: 3/52
Date: 10/1/1951
Description: 10:00 a.m. At the Pentagon, Cummings and
Rosengarten brief
Cabell,
his staff, and a representative from Republic Aircraft Corporation who
“supposedly represented a group of top US industrialists and
scientists.” The meeting is recorded with a wire recorder. Edward
Ruppelt, later
head of Project Blue Book, hears the recording before it is ordered
destroyed and keeps detailed notes about the meeting. Cabell supposedly
learns that Grudge is effectively dead and demands to know “who in hell
has been giving me these reports that every decent flying saucer report
is being investigated?” Cabell says there is a great deal of doubt in
his mind as to what the saucers are and that the Grudge report is the
“most poorly written, inconclusive piece of unscientific tripe” he had
ever read. He orders Grudge to reactivate itself, and Cummings and
Rosengarten go back to Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio to do just that.
(Clark III 514–515; Ruppelt, pp. 93–94;
Swords 127–128, 501–502; Michael Hall, “When UFOs Were Serious Business:
Then and Today,” IUR 28, no. 4 (Winter 2003–2004): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1682
Date: 10/2/1951
Time: 6 PM
Description: Witness: Battelle Memorial Institute graduate physicist
Howard Cross. One bright oval with a clipped tail flew straight and
level, fading into the distance after 1 minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Columbus, Ohio
ID: 73
Date: 10/3/1951
Time: 10:27 PM
Description: Witnesses: radar operators Sgt. M.W. Watson and Pvt.
Gonzales and one other Sergeant. One large, sausage-shaped blip tracked
at an estimated 4,800 m.p.h.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kadena, Okinawa
ID: 74
Date: 10/4/1951
Description: 2:00 a.m. Two French aviation officers are camped out
several miles northwest of the village of Tessalit, Mali. A luminous
dark-yellow disc approaches slowly from the east, loses altitude, makes
a 90° turn, accelerates, and ascends at high speed. (Patrick Gross, “Tessalit,
Mali, October 4, 1951”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1683
Date: 10/9/1951
Description: 1:42 p.m. A fast-moving, silvery UFO shaped like a
“flattened tennis ball” is sighted by a Civil Aviation Administration
Chief Aircraft Communicator Roy Messmore at Hulman Municipal Airport
[now Terre Haute Regional Airport], five miles east of Terre Haute,
Indiana. At 1:45 p.m., private pilot Charles Warren, flying at 5,000
feet east of Paris, Illinois, sees a silvery “flattened orange” object
that appears stationary to his left rear. It picks up speed and heads to
the northeast. Project Blue Book plots the sighting and concludes that
both cases involve the same object. (NICAP, “October
9, 1951, Hulman CAA / Pilot Case”; NICAP, “Pilot
Radios Terre Haute:
Observes ‘Flattened Orange’”; Sparks,
p. 114; Swords 129)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1684
Date: 10/9/1951
Time: 1:42 PM
Description: Witness: CAA Chief Aircraft Communicator Roy Messmore at
Hulman Municipal Airport. One round silver object flew directly
overhead, reaching the horizon in 15 seconds. Note: a very similar
incident happened 3 minutes later near Paris, Illinois (15 miles NW) and
was also listed as “unidentified” for several years, but was eventually
reclassified.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Terre Haute, Indiana
ID: 75
Date: 10/10/1951
Description: 10:10 a.m. Engineer and pilot Joseph
J. Kaliszewski, flying with copilot Jack Donaghue on a Skyhook
balloon tracking mission for General Mills 10 miles east of St. Croix
Falls, Wisconsin, notices a strange object crossing the sky from west to
east, much higher and behind the balloon, which is at 20,000 feet. The
UFO has a peculiar glow. It comes into sight at a slight dive, then
levels off and slows down, makes a sharp left turn, climbs at an angle
of 50–60° into the southeast with terrific acceleration, and disappears.
It is seen for about 2 minutes. (NICAP, “The
Kaliszewski Sightings”; UFOEv, p. 56;
Sparks, p. 114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1685
Date: 10/11/1951
Description: 6:30 a.m. Joseph
J. Kaliszewski and Dick Reilly are flying at 10,000 feet north of
Minneapolis, Minnesota, observing a balloon when they see a brightly
glowing object to the southeast of the University of Minnesota airport
moving at high speed from west to east. It has a halo around it with a
dark under surface. It crosses rapidly, slows down, and starts to climb
slowly in lazy circles. Observers Doug Smith and Dick Dorion at the
General Mills tracking station at the University of Minnesota watch the
object through a theodolite. They watch another object 2 hours later.
(NICAP, “The
Kaliszewski Sightings”; UFOEv, p. 56;
Sparks, p. 114;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 44–45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1686
Date: 10/11/1951
Time: 6:30 AM
Description: Witnesses: General Mills balloon researchers, including
aeronautical engineer J.J. Kaliszewski, aerologist C.B. Moore, pilot
Dick Reilly in the air, and Doug Smith on the ground. The flight crew
saw the first object, a brightly glowing one with a dark underside and a
halo around it. The object arrived high and fast, then slowed and made
slow climbing circles for about two minutes, and finally sped away to
the east. Soon they saw another one, confirmed by ground observers using
a theodolite, which sped across the sky. Total time first object was
seen was 5 minutes, second was a few seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
ID: 76
Date: 10/16/1951
Description: 11:01 a.m. Air Force pilots flying three F-94 fighters out
of McChord AFB [now Joint Base Lewis- McChord] and naval ground
personnel see a round, gray object flying soundlessly at high speed and
high altitude west of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Oak Harbor,
Washington. Photos taken from the F-94s show the object. After 50
minutes, the aircraft abandon the chase. The Air Force attributes the
sighting to Venus. (NICAP, “3
F-94’s Encounter Round Grey Object / Photos Taken”; Clark III
391–392; Sparks,
p. 115)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1687
Date: 10/18/1951
Description: Soviet atomic bomb test RDS-3 (Joe 3), 41.2kt, first air
dropped, released at 10km detonated at 400m
Type: atomic
Reference: link
Location: Semipalatinsk Test Site
Atomic type: aboveground
Atomic KT: 41.2
Date: 10/20/1951
Description: Frank
B. Jewett Jr., director
of the Aeronautical Research Laboratory at General Mills Corporation,
writes to Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Eugene
M. Zuckert about UFOs seen by his personnel. ((Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1951, Supplemental
Notes, The
Author, 2000, p. 51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1688
Date: 10/21/1951
Description: Air Intelligence Report: Mr. (name withheld), a civilian
pilot of 14 years experience sighted a disk-like, highly polished UFO
which closed head on with his Navy aircraft at an extremely high rate of
speed near Battle Creek, MI.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Battle Creek, MI
Date: 10/22/1951
Description: Capt. Edward
J. Ruppelt officially takes over a revitalized Project Grudge,
relieving Lt. Jerry
W. Cummings and
2d Lt. Henry Metscher. He learns from some scientists and engineers who
visit ATIC frequently that “UFOs were being freely and seriously
discussed in scientific circles.” (Ruppelt, p. 114;
Sparks,
p. 14; Clark III 933)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1689
Date: 10/22/1951
Description: The Directorate of Intelligence provides answers to the
problem that Col. Harold
Watson identified with the CIRVIS reporting system. (Michael Hall
and Wendy Connors, “Flying Saucers: Behind the Cold War Veil of Military
Intelligence (Part II),” European Journal of UFO and Abduction Studies
3, no. 1 (March 2002): 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1690
Date: 10/26/1951
Time: 0400
Description: The driver of a transcontinental train on the east-west
line saw an object that illuminated the countryside like the full moon.
It flew very fast, came close to the train, appeared ready to land in
the desert, then took off and disappeared.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins A 249 (Vallee)
Location: Australia
ID: 84
Date: 10/29/1951
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 140.9km (Army
training test. Payload released but damaged on impact.)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 140.9km
Date: 10/30/1951
Description: 6:40 a.m. A group of servicemen are preparing to observe
the Buster Charlie atomic test at Area 7 of the Nevada Test Site. Just
before the blast, they see at an altitude of a few thousand feet a
formation of 18 silvery, rotating, disc-shaped objects, each with a
dome, arranged in six groups of three stretched out in a horizontal row.
They fly low over the test site, hover for 30–60 seconds, and depart at
an angle, disappearing in seconds. (Nukes 68–71)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1691
Date: 11/1951
Description: Maj. Gen. Cabell is
promoted to staff director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is replaced
as director of Air Force Intelligence by Maj. Gen. John
A. Samford. (Clark
III 936)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1692
Date: 11/1/1951
Description: The Air Force issues a Ground Observer’s Guide for use by
members of the Ground Observer Corps, a WWII Civil Defense program
reinstated during the Korean War to protect against enemy attack. (US
Department of the Air Force, Ground
Observer’s Guide, AF Manual 50-12, November 1, 1951)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1693
Date: 11/2/1951
Time: 2300
Description: Two forest observers were in a canyon 50 km north of the
Mojave when they saw a disk-shaped flying object in the southwest; 10 m
estimated diameter, 3 m thick, blue-green, well-defined, surrounded with
a glow of same color. Stopping their jeep, they signaled to the object,
which approached within a few meters, flew away, seemed to play with
them. Eventually it vanished “like a magician’s trick.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Mojave, California
ID: 85
Date: 11/2/1951
Description: 7:15 a.m. The crew of an American Airlines DC-4 is flying
east of Abilene, Texas, at 4,500 feet. They see a bright-green,
projectile-shaped object, about the same size as their airliner, streak
past at about same altitude and same easterly heading. The object leaves
a trail then explodes, shooting red balls of fire in all directions.
(Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 92–93;
Nukes 74–75; Sparks, p. 115)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1694
Date: 11/3/1951
Description: 9:00 p.m. A green fireball is sighted in Arizona, New
Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. Capitol Airways pilot H. R. DeHoney is
flying at 11,000 feet about 20 miles south of Flagstaff, Arizona,
watches the object speed by as a bright blue-green ball that leaves a
streak of brilliant red fire. (Nukes 75–76; “Mystery
Meteor Startles NM,
Arizona,” Santa Fe New Mexican, November 4, 1951, p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1695
Date: 11/6/1951
Description: Ruppelt flies
to Reese AFB [now Reese Technology Center] in Lubbock, Texas, to begin
his investigation of the Lubbock lights, accompanied by OSI agent Howard
Bossert. (Clark III 691)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1696
Date: 11/7/1951
Description: Evening. A steamship captain and crew watch an elongated
orange object with six glowing “portholes” speed toward Ontario over
Lake Superior. (UFOEv, p. 146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1697
Date: 11/8/1951
Description: Ruppelt and
an officer from Reese AFB visit Brownfield, Texas, to investigate UFO
sightings there. (Clark III 691)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1698
Date: 11/9/1951
Description: Since October 30, seven green fireballs of exceptional size
have been seen over a seven-state area in the American Southwest. Lincoln
LaPaz, director
of the University of New Mexico Institute of Meteoritics, says that
frequency is exceptional: “In fact, there has never been a rate of
meteorite fall in history that has been one fifth as high as the present
fall. If that rate should continue, I would suspect the phenomenon is
not natural.” The fireballs travel in straight lines and are completely
silent. (“Southwest’s
7 Fireballs in 11 Days Called ’Without Parallel in History,’”
New York Times, November 10, 1951, pp. 1, 14; Nukes 76–79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1699
Date: 11/11/1951
Description: 8:45 p.m. Thomas Bartis and his older brother Francis are
driving through New Haven, Connecticut, when they see a huge yellow
fireball with a greenish-blue tail streak through the sky. Probable
bolide. (“Second Fireball Is
Sighted,” Meriden (Conn.) Record-Journal, November 12, 1951, pp. 1,
10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1700
Date: 11/18/1951
Time: 3:20 AM
Description: Witnesses: Crew of Capital Airlines DC-4 Fliqht 610,
Andrews AFB Senior air traffic controller Tom Selby. One object with
several lights, followed the DC-4 for about 20 minutes and then turned
back.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Washington, DC
ID: 77
Date: 11/20/1951
Description: 6:42 p.m. A vivid green fireball is reported from Dodge
City, Kansas, and Lubbock and Big Springs, Texas. Two Air Force pilots
landing at Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a Trans World
Airlines pilot also see the fireball. (Nukes 78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1701
Date: 11/24/1951
Description: 6:24 p.m. A Capital Airlines Flight 94 pilot and several
control tower and other ground observers in four different locations in
Michigan (Grand Rapids, Coopersville, Battle Creek, and Selfridge AFB
near Mount Clemens) see a large round object flying west at 500–1,000
feet at about 1,000 mph. (Sparks,
p. 116; Swords 130)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1703
Date: 11/24/1951
Time: 33:53 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF or ANG pilots W.H. Fairbrother and D.E.
Stewart in P-51 Mustangs. One milky white object shaped like Northrop
flying wing (broad, slightly swept-back wing with no fuselage or tail).
Estimated 8’ span. Flew straight and level for 5 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Mankato, Minnesota
ID: 78
Date: 11/24/1951
Description: 3:53 p.m. Air Force Capt. William Fairbrother is flying a
P-51 over Mankato, Minnesota, at 25,000 feet when he sees a white object
shaped like a flying wing. It hovers at first, then it passes 100 feet
above and to the left of his aircraft. He immediately turns to follow
but loses sight of it. (Sparks,
p. 115)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1702
Date: 11/27/1951
Description: Geophysicist Louis Elterman releases the final report on
Project Twinkle. Basically, it admits that the low frequency of
occurrence of the fireballs does not justify the $50,000 a year required
for a useful monitoring facility. It speculates that “the earth may be
passing through a region in space of high meteoric population. Also, the
sun-spot maxima in 1948 perhaps in some way may be a contributing
factor.” (Louis Elterman, Project Twinkle
Final Report, Atmospheric
Physics Laboratory, November 27, 1951; Clark III 544–545)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1704
Date: 11/30/1951
Description: Project Grudge issues its first Status Report, classified
“confidential.” (US Air Force, Projects
Grudge and
Blue Book Reports 1–12, NICAP, 1968, pp. 1–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1705
Date: 12/1951
Time: 0300
Description: A man from Lincoln was driving to Indiana when he saw a
blue light in the northwest sky. It vanished to the southeast. The
witness missed a turn, had to go back toward Auburn, and had reached a
point northwest of Peru when he saw an orange glow in the sky. Coming
near, he observed the glow came from a cauldron-shaped object on the
ground, about 12 m from the road. He stopped to examine the object,
which measured about 10 m diameter and seemed to be made of cast iron.
Thirty cm from the top was a row of windows, 25 cm in diameter, from
which the orange light was coming. On the other side was a blue
flamelike glow. There was no noise, no sign of life or activity, and no
antenna or protrusion. The witness drove away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Peru, Nebraska
ID: 86
Date: 12/1951
Description: Ed
J. Sullivan, a
technical writer for North American Aviation, holds a meeting of
engineers, scientists, and journalists in Los Angeles, California, who
have been following the UFO phenomenon. They form Civilian Saucer
Investigation to collect reports and forward them on to ATIC. Its most
prominent member is Walther Riedel, German
rocket scientist retrieved by Project Paperclip. (Michael D. Swords,
GrassRoots UFOs: Case Reports from the Timmerman Files, Fund for UFO
Research, 2005, pp. 139–140; Clark III 241–242)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1706
Date: 12/1951
Description: Sam Coley and his two children saw an object with a
human-looking occupant.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 52 (Vallee)
Location: Red Springs, North Carolina
ID: 87
Date: 12/5/1951
Description: Early morning. Swedish Prince
Carl Bernadotte and a friend, Berl
Gutenberg, are driving near Stockholm, Sweden, when they see a
bright flash of light illuminate the sky. Bernadotte stops the car and
opens the door to listen for sounds. They go immediately to the
Stockholm Criminal Investigation Department, who reports the incident to
the Security Police and the military UFO desk. The report is instantly
classified, even though the object is probably a meteor. (Swords
366)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1707
Date: 12/7/1951
Time: 4:30 PM
Description: Witness: amateur astronomer Carl Loar. One silvery sphere
seen through telescope. Two specks sighted at sides, object seemed to
explode and was replaced by a dark cloud and many specks. 30
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Sunbury, Ohio
ID: 79
Date: 12/7/1951
Time: 8:15 AM
Description: Witness: Atomic Energy Commission guard J.H. Collins. One
20’ square object, white-grey but not shiny flew above ridge to clouds
and back again twice, taking 30-40 seconds each time.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee
ID: 80
Date: 12/11/1951
Description: Project Twinkle closes down. (Clark III 545)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1708
Date: 12/12/1951
Description: 3:50 p.m. USAF Capt. Donald
“Deke” Slayton, flying a P-51 fighter at 10,000 feet, sees a whitish
or gray object off his left wing about one mile away and 1,000 feet
below his flight level about five miles southeast of Hastings,
Minnesota. It looks like a kite at first, then like a weather balloon,
then two rapidly revolving discs that overlap with centers about 1 foot
apart. He attempts an intercept, but the UFO increases speed and
disappears. (NICAP, “‘Deke’
Slayton / P-51 Encounter”; Sparks, p. 117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1709
Date: 12/19/1951
Description: Ruppelt travels
to the Pentagon with ATIC Chief Col. Frank
Dunn. They
visit with Maj. Gen. John
A. Samford,
who has replaced Cabell as
USAF director of intelligence and who seems “familiar with the general
aspects of the problem.” Samford’s aide, Gen. William
M. Garland,
tells them that ATIC has the sole authorization to carry out UFO
investigations for the entire US military (not exactly true), and they
discuss security problems posed by UFOs at sensitive installations.
Ruppelt reveals that his preliminary analysis of UFO sighting patterns
has uncovered a disturbing correlation of unexplained sightings around
nuclear weapons facilities and highly classified nuclear stockpile sites
and some SAC strategic air bases. Gen. Samford orders ATIC to conduct an
exhaustive statistical study to verify Ruppelt’s findings, using the
newly established ATIC Project WHITE STORK contract with the research
think tank Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio (which
eventually spends $100,000 on the study, Subproject PPS-100, confirming
Ruppelt’s pattern). (Ruppelt, pp. 115–116)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1710
Date: 12/26/1951
End date: 12/27/1951
Description: Ruppelt and
Col. Sanford
H. Kirkland Jr. of ATIC meet with members of the Battelle Memorial
Institute in Columbus, Ohio, and ask them to help out with the USAF
evaluation of UFO reports: first, a study of witness perception and
recall, then a statistical study of UFO reports. (“Seven
Status Reports for Project Stork,” CUFON; Clark III 929)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1711
Date: 12/28/1951
Description: Project Grudge issues Status Report #2 and a Special Report
three days later. (US Air Force, Projects Grudge
and Blue Book Reports 1–12, NICAP, 1968, pp. 21–53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1712
Date: 1952
Description: The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is established
in Livermore, California, as an offshoot of the UC Radiation Laboratory
at Berkeley. It is intended to spur innovation and provide competition
to the nuclear weapon design laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Edward
Teller and Ernest
Lawrence, director
of the Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley, are regarded as its cofounders.
Los Alamos and Livermore soon establish a rivalry, fighting for weapons
contracts and feasibility-study awards. (Wikipedia, “Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1713
Date: 1952 (approximate)
Description: An anonymous occupation soldier in Austria meets a diving
suit–clad being who paralyzes him, pulls him inside a UFO, and flies him
to an otherworldly place he takes to be Mars. He sees other humans who
do not acknowledge him. Then he is returned to his base. (Prince George
(B.C.) Citizen, December 11, 1957; Clark 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1717
Date: 1952
Description: Night. USAF Pvt. Sinclair Taylor is on guard duty at Camp
Okubo in Uji, on the southern outskirts of Kyoto, Japan, when he hears
flapping sounds and sees what seems to be an enormous bird. As it gets
closer to him, Taylor sees that it is a winged man well over 7 feet tall
with a wingspread of 7 feet. Taylor fires at it repeatedly with his
rifle and thinks he hit it, but he can’t find the body. (Clark III
778)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1719
Date: 1952
Description: Soviet “Zlatoust-36” nuclear weapons program plant opens
(Warhead assembly)
Type: atomic plant
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Soviet Union
Date: 1952
Description: 6:30 a.m. A carpool of people on their way to work at
United Airlines in San Mateo, California, observe five smaller objects
merging with a much larger, diamond-shaped object. The big one is about
150–200 feet long, charcoal or gunmetal in color, and is hovering 50–75
feet above some salt flats. The UFOs are directly in front of them to
the east, about 1,500–1,800 feet away. One of the witnesses, airplane
mechanic Leonard
L. Musel, said the smaller objects entered the large object through
a “transparent tail or sleeve.” After they were aboard, the bigger UFO
turned edgewise and zoomed off at a fantastic speed. (Herbert S. Taylor,
“Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer 2004):
7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1718
Date: 1952
Description: World War II air intelligence records are transferred from
the Pentagon to Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Alabama. This shift is
probably why Blue Book’s Capt. Edward
J. Ruppelt later cannot find anything about foo- fighters during his
trips to USAF intelligence to locate reports not forwarded to ATIC. (Jan
Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1715
Date: 1952?
Description: SECRET SECURITY INFORMATION: CIA, (not dated): Walter B.
Smith, (MJ-3 replacement), Director of CIA notifies the Psychological
Strategy Board that “Flying Saucers” have implications for psychological
warfare as well as for intelligence and operations. Suggests discussion
on the possible offensive or defensive utilization of these phenomena
for psychological warfare purposes.
Type: secret information
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p511)
Location: Langley, Virginia
See also: 10/2/52
Date: 1952
Description: José
Manuel Rodríguez Delgado, a
Spanish physiologist at Yale University, coauthors what he claims is the
first peer-reviewed paper describing deep-brain stimulation of humans.
Over the next two decades, he implants electrodes in some 25 subjects.
Most are schizophrenics and epileptics at the now-defunct State Hospital
for Mental Diseases in Howard, Rhode Island, where Delgado’s occasional
collaborator Hannibal
Hamlin is a staff psychiatrist. Delgado is reticent discussing his
experiments on humans. He is more enthusiastic recalling research on
monkeys, chimpanzees, and gibbons, which he kept both at Yale and in
open-air compounds in the Bahamas and New Mexico. He explores the
effects of stimulation not only on individuals but also on groups. In
one demonstration, he implants a stimoceiver (a tiny electrode able to
receive and transmit signals over FM radio waves) in a macaque who
terrorizes his cage-mates. Delgado installs a lever in the cage that,
when pressed, activates the stimoceiver in the bully and pacify him. A
female in the cage soon figures out the lever’s significance and yanks
it often and with gusto. (John Horgan, “Tribute
to Jose Delgado, Legendary and Slightly Scary
Pioneer of Mind Control,” Cross-Check, Scientific American blog,
September 25, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1714
Date: 1952
Description: The Argentine Navy establishes a temporary inquiry
commission dedicated to the UFO phenomenon at its Puerto Belgrano Naval
Base in Punta Alta, Argentina. (Milton Hourcade, “Argentina:
UFO Declassification,” U.A.P.S.G.–G.E.F.A.I., July 29, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1716
Date: early 1952
Time: 2242
Description: A fiery, spherical object made a right-angle turn during an
observation by a C-54 crew flying from Westover to Goose Bay. It was
also seen from the ground by the control tower and by two men who
plunged to the earth when the object made a low pass at them. It went
away at 2247.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Goose Bay, Labrador
ID: 89
Date: 1/1952
Description: Jim
and Coral Lorenzen found the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization
in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Soon, a man claiming to have an intelligence
background becomes an active supporter and tries to lead the Lorenzens
into “metaphysical areas of research.” Coral Lorenzen rebuffs these
attempts. She discovers what seem to be the impressions of an
intelligence report about her on one of his letters. In the summer, two
suspicious men posing as building contractors seem to be lurking around
her home as well as the homes of the APRO treasurer and secretary the
same day. (Lorenzen, Encounters with UFO Occupants, Berkley Medallion,
1976, pp. 1–2, 248– 251; Clark III 49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1720
Date: 1/1952
Description: Some 74% of the CIA’s money goes toward covert operations.
It has already infiltrated many US labor, business, church, university,
student, and cultural groups, usually channeling the money through
foundations. This year it begins HTLINGUAL, a secret project to
intercept mail destined for the USSR and China. It also targets domestic
peace and civil rights activists. It lasts until 1973, photographing 2
million envelopes and opening 215,000 letters. (Frank J. Donner, The
Age of Surveillance: The Aims and Methods of America’s Political Intelligence
System, Knopf,
1980; Jim Keith, Mind Control, World Control: The Encyclopedia of Mond
Control, Adventures Unlimited, 1997; David Wise, The
American Police State: The Government Against the People, Random
House, 1976)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1721
Date: 1/1952
Time: 2230
Description: A 38-year-old rancher saw a “shooting star” that suddenly
stopped in mid-air between him and a mountain. It was seen spinning in a
clockwise direction. It had one red window periodially facing the
observer. It went down toward the Little Powder River and came up again.
The witness turned his car to send light signals, to which the object
seemed to respond by stopping its red window facing the witness’s
location. Spinning resumed, the object rose and came down. A similar
craft arrived and both went into the deep valley, out of sight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Weston, Wyoming
ID: 88
Date: 1/1/1952
Description: 10:54 p.m. Warrant Officer W. J. Yeo (a master telecomm
specialist) and Sgt. D.
V. Crandell watch a silent, reddish-orange object circle and
maneuver for nearly 9 minutes at RCAF Station North Bay, Ontario. It
appears to be very large and travels at supersonic speed. (“‘Saucers’
Seen Here: 2
Sighted at RCAF Station,” North Bay (Ont.) Nugget, April 15, 1952,
pp. 1–2; Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions,
Methuen, 1979, p. 92)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1722
Date: 1/3/1952
Description: Brig. Gen. William
M. Garland, Assistant for the Production of Intelligence, writes a
secret memorandum for General John
A. Samford that lays down the investigative shortcomings of Project
Grudge and suggests policies and agendas for the immediate future.
Garland mentions that the aircraft inventions and models by the Horten
brothers had fallen into the hands of the Soviets at the end of
World War II. (Brig. Gen. William M. Garland, “(Secret)
Contemplated Action to Determine the Nature and Origin of the Phenomena
Connected with the
Reports of Unusual Flying Objects,” January 3, 1952; Swords 141–143;
Kremlin 34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1723
Date: 1/6/1952
Description: Contactee George
Van Tassel, living at Giant Rock in the Mojave Desert near Landers,
California, receives the first of many psychic messages from
extraterrestrial starship commanders. This one is from “Lutbunn, senior
in command of first wave, planet patrol, realms of Schare. We have your
contact aboard 80,000 feet above this place.” Other messages soon come
from Elcar, Clota, Totalmon, Latamarx, Noma, Leektow, Luu, Oblow,
Kerrull, Locktopar, Molca, Clatu, Hulda, Lata, Singba, and others. One
of his contacts, Ashtar, will become a metaphysical superstar, and in
the years ahead many contactees will channel communications from him.
These aliens seek to raise humanity’s “vibrationary attunement” so that
earthlings will not threaten the wise and peace- loving space people.
Van Tassel reprints many of these messages in a misleadingly titled
book, I Rode a Flying Saucer! (George W. Van Tassel, I
Rode a Flying Saucer! The Mysteries of the Flying Saucers Revealed,
New Age, 1952; Clark III 1218–1219)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1724
Date: 1/8/1952
Description: Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, agrees to
help out the Air Force with analyzing UFO reports. (Clark III 929)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1725
Date: 1/20/1952
Description: 7:20 p.m. Two master sergeants, both intelligence
specialists, are walking down a street at Fairchild AFB near Spokane,
Washington, when they notice a large, bluish-white, spherical object
approaching from the east. It passes north of their position, traveling
horizontally and silently, and disappears in the west. They notice it
has a long blue tail. It travels underneath low cloud cover at 4,700
feet at 1,400 mph. (NICAP, “Large
Sphere with Blue Tail
at 500ʹ,”; Ruppelt, p. 12;
Sparks,
p. 118)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1726
Date: 1/21/1952
Description: 9:50 a.m. A Navy pilot lieutenant commander in a TBM
Avenger chases a white, dome-shaped object over Mitchel AFB [now closed]
on Long Island, New York. It accelerates rapidly, makes a 180° turn, and
heads out to sea. He estimates it is traveling at least at 300 mph. It
looks like a parachute canopy and has a dark undersurface. Although
there is a balloon in the area, but its flight path is completely
different. NICAP, “TBM
Chases Climbing and
Accelerating Object”; Ruppelt, pp. 121–123;
Sparks, p. 118)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1727
Date: 1/22/1952
Description: 12:20 a.m. At a northern Alaska outpost, Murphy Dome Air
Force Station, radar captures a UFO traveling 1,500 mph at 23,000 feet.
When an F-94 is sent to intercept, the target stops, slows down,
reverses course, and heads directly for the radar station. It comes
within 30 miles, then disappears from the screen. The F-94 heads back to
refuel, and a second fighter is scrambled. This pilot gets a strong
radar return. At first, the object is almost stationary, but then it
dives suddenly, at which point ground radar picks it up again. A third
F-94 is sent up, also tracks the object on radar, and closes to within
900 feet. At this point, the pilot pulls away to avoid a collision, as
the UFO is nearly immobile. Since none of the pilots obtained a visual
sighting, the Air Force concludes that the radar returns are
weather-related, although the pilots strongly dispute this. (NICAP, “Alaskan
Radar Case”; Ruppelt, pp. 123–127;
Sparks, pp. 119–120)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1728
Date: 1/29/1952
Description: Evening. Violet M. Winstead and her husband are at an
open-air movie theater on Guam when they and others at the theater see
an orange light passing silently overhead. (Violet M. Winstead, Letter,
IUR 9, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1984): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1731
Date: 1/29/1952
Description: Brig. Gen. William
M. Garland, USAF Assistant for Production of Intelligence, and his
staff are briefed at the Pentagon on the status of Project Grudge by Edward
Ruppelt, who
with his colleagues at ATIC has prepared sighting maps that show a
concentration of cases at White Sands and Los Alamos, New Mexico;
Killeen Base, Texas; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Dayton, Ohio (where
Wright-Patterson AFB is situated). At this meeting, Garland introduces a
new intelligence policy that emphasizes the use of instrumentation for
intelligence collection, including the detection and tracking of UFOs
(the basis for terminating Project Blue Book as an intelligence
function). As an interim last-chance measure to prove whether anecdotal
sightings have any value, Garland approves Ruppelt’s publicity plan to
draw in UFO reports from the public so that triangulations might be
obtained. This leads to Garland secretly backing the Life magazine
article. Apparently on the same day, Garland gives the welcoming address
to the secret MIT Lincoln Laboratory (Ruppelt calls it the Beacon Hill
group) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he tells the assembled
scientists to study ways USAF intelligence methodology can be
revolutionized through the use of technology. (Later Garland sends
Ruppelt, Col. Sanford
H. Kirkland Jr. of ATIC, and Lt. Col. William A. Adams of AFOIN, to
brief the Lincoln Lab scientists on UFOs on March 26 and in April 1952,
respectively) (“Status
of Project Blue Book,” T52-6888, [1952]; NICAP, “The
1952 Sighting Wave”;
Swords 144; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, January–May, The Author, 1993, p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1730
Date: 1/29/1952
Description: On his trip to the Pentagon to brief Gen. William
M. Garland, Ruppelt visits
the AFOIN offices and discovers they have more complete files than ATIC
in Dayton, Ohio, does. He arranges to have copies made of the missing
files for him at Project Grudge (though multiple visits are required to
obtain the copies and Ruppelt probably does not succeed in getting
everything). The offices with UFO files include the Technical
Capabilities Branch (TCB) of the Evaluation Division and the Collection
Control Branch of the Collection Division. (NICAP, “The
1952 Sighting Wave”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1729
Date: 1/29/1952
Description: Night. A bright orange, disc-shaped object, also described
as a “huge ball of fire,” paces two B-29s on the same night, 80 miles
from each other over the towns of Wonsan and Sunchon, North Korea.
(NICAP, “Rotating
Light
Seen by B-29 Crew”; NICAP, “B-29
Crew Followed by UFO”; Haines, Korea, pp. 33–37;
Sparks,
p. 121; Patrick Gross, “UFO
US Military Reports, Korea, 1952”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1732
Date: 1/31/1952
Description: Ruppelt releases
Project Grudge Status Report #3, in which he reviews the geographic
distribution of UFO reports, states the project’s obstacle, and includes
a list of 15 cases reported to ATIC in January. (Swords 144; US Air
Force, Projects
Grudge and Blue Book Reports 1–12, NICAP, 1968, pp. 55–64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1733
Date: 2/2/1952
Description: 7:35 p.m. Radar operators aboard the aircraft carrier USS
Philippine Sea pick up an unidentified target off the east coast of
Korea. It is first detected at a distance of 25 miles; when it closes to
20 miles, it makes a wide turn to the east directly away from the
carrier, accelerating from 600 to 1,800 mph at 52,000 feet altitude. It
splits into two targets 5–12 miles apart on a slightly zigzag course to
the north. They disappear about 110 miles away. Observers on the carrier
see three exhaust flames. (NICAP, “USS
Philippine
Sea Tracks
Approaching Target”; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 126–127;
Sparks, p. 121)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1734
Date: 2/8/1952
Description: Dewey
Fournet, on
the Pentagon’s UFO desk, writes to Ruppelt at
ATIC for help in interpreting the Korean sightings. Ruppelt has brought
in an expert from Wright-Patterson AFB’s Engineering Division, Peter
A. Stranges of the Propulsion Branch Power Plant Group, to help with
the analysis, which he passes on to Fournet and Garland. Stranges
compares the Wonsan sighting to the foo fighters of World War II.
(Swords 144–145).
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1735
Date: 2/11/1952
Time: 3 AM
Description: Witnesses: Capt. G.P. Arns and Maj. R.J. Gedson flying a
Beech AT-ll trainer. One yellow-orange comet-shaped object pulsed flame
for 1-2 seconds of a 1 minute straight and level flight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
ID: 81
Date: 2/20/1952
Description: 3:00 p.m. Rev. Albert
Baller is sitting in a train at the station in Greenfield,
Massachusetts, when he sees a “sharp flash of light about 35° or more
above the horizon.” Looking upward, he sees three perfectly circular,
silver objects approaching in a V-formation. They are moving at about
the “speed of a second hand on a watch.” They stop and hover for 10
seconds. The lead object reverses and pulls into a line with the other
two between them. Then they depart in a direction at right angles to
their approach. (UFOEv, p. 69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1736
Date: 2/20/1952
Description: Joseph and
Stewart
Alsop examine the January 29 Korean incidents in their syndicated
column, “Problems of Scientific Development.” They suspect a Russian
origin. (Swords 145–146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1737
Date: 2/21/1952
Description: Far East Air Forces Commander Lieut. Gen. Otto
P. Weyland tells reporters that “no conclusive evaluation had been
made at the present time” on the Wonsan/Sunchon, Korea, sightings of
January 29–30. (“Nothing Conclusive on Globes: Weyland,” Stars and
Stripes, Pacific edition, February 22, 1952; Project 1947, “UFO
Documents, 1952, Korea”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1739
Date: 2/21/1952
Description: Sen. Richard
Russell Jr. (D-Ga.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, requests further information on the January 29 Korean UFO
incidents in a letter to Secretary of the Air Force Thomas
K. Finletter. (Project
1947, “UFO
Documents, 1952, Korea”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1738
Date: 2/22/1952
Description: The now-completed Site Able is renamed Manzano Base, New
Mexico, and turned over to the operational control of the Air Force.
What appear to be secure bunkers are visible to people (mostly military
personnel) who go to a recreational camping area nearby known as Coyote
Canyon. The military, however, never officially confirms the nature of
the activities at Manzano Base [now part of Kirtland Air Force Base]. At
one point, a military spokesman says that Manzano Base has nothing to do
with Sandia Base. Manzano has since been identified as the first of six
original National Stockpile Sites for nuclear weapons. The other
original NSS installations similar to Manzano are: Site Baker at Killeen
Base, adjacent to Gray AFB [now Robert Gray Army Airfield] at Fort Hood,
Texas; Site Charlie at Campbell AFB [now Campbell Army Airfield] near
Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and adjacent to Fort Campbell; Site Dog at
Bossier Base, adjacent to Barksdale AFB near Bossier City, Louisiana;
Lake Mead Base, adjacent to Nellis AFB, Nevada; and Medina Base,
adjacent to Lackland AFB [now Joint Base San Antonio], Texas.
(Wikipedia, “Sandia
Base”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1740
Date: 2/23/1952
Time: 11:15 PM
Description: Witness: Captain/B-29 navigator. One bluish cylinder, three
times long as wide, with a tail and rapid pulsations, came in high and
fast, made several turns and levelled out under B-29 which was evading
mild antiaircraft fire. 45 second sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: over North Korea
ID: 82
Date: 2/23/1952
Alternate date: 2/24/1952
Description: 11:15 p.m. The navigator on a B-29 bomber sees a pulsating
bluish cylinder while the aircraft is evading antiaircraft fire near
Sinuiju, North Korea. It arrives high and fast, makes several turns, and
levels out underneath the aircraft. (Sparks,
p. 122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1741
Date: 2/25/1952
End date: 2/27/1952
Description: Life magazine reporter Robert
Emmett Ginna Jr. visits USAF headquarters at the Pentagon to gather
information for his UFO article. He talks with Brig. Gen. Joseph
F. Carroll, Director of Special Investigations. Brig. Gen. William
M. Garland tells him that he has considered firing a guided missile
at a UFO to bring it down and requests that Ginna delay publishing an
article until the Air Force has come to a more definite conclusion.
Ginna also talks to Lt. Col. Doyle
Rees of OSI. (Jan L. Aldrich, “Have
We Visitors from Space?” Project 1947) February 29 — Project Grudge
issues a secret Status Report #4, classified “secret.” (US Air Force, Projects
Grudge and Blue
Book Reports 1–12, NICAP, 1968, pp. 65–78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1742
Date: 3/1952
Alternate date: 4/1952
Description: 5:00 a.m. Two women cryptographers in the US Naval Reserve
stationed at the US Naval Training Center at Port Deposit, Maryland, are
out taking a walk outside the base on a dirt road. They notice a red
light off to one side above the trees. It starts moving toward them and
stops about 100 feet above the road in front of them, about 300 feet
away. The object is a 250-foot black disc with two large red lights at
each side, an illuminated dome, and smaller lights along the rim. A hole
opens in the bottom and phosphorescent white sparks drop toward the
ground and disintegrate when they hit the road. The two reservists
sprint the quarter-mile back to the base. (NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1743
Date: 3/1952
Description: Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt recommends a new name for Project
Grudge, “Project Blue Book”.
Type: ufological event
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Dayton, OH
See also: 12/48
See also: 10/51
Date: 3/1/1952
Description: The 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron is activated
under ADC to collect air combat intelligence. (CUFON, “4602d
AISS Unit History Sampler”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1744
Date: 3/3/1952
Description: Robert
Emmett Ginna Jr. of Life visits ATIC at Wright-Patterson AFB in
Dayton, Ohio, to obtain material for his UFO article. Walther
Riedel, former German rocket scientist at Peenemünde, Germany, tells
Ginna he has kept notes on UFO sightings from all over the world: “I am
completely convinced that they have an out-of-world basis.” He also
meets with visits Air Force UFO spokesman Albert
M. Chop. AMC
claims it is investigating every serious UFO report, but it can’t find
the files he requests. Ginna becomes suspicious. (“Status
of Project Blue
Book,” T52-6888, [1952]; Jan L. Aldrich, “Have
We Visitors from Space?” Project 1947; Michael D. Swords, “1952:
Ruppelt’s Big Year,” IUR 28, no. 4 (Winter 2003–2004): 9; Swords
120–121)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1745
Date: 3/5/1952
Description: The Air Force sends a letter, signed by Lieut. Gen. Nathan
Twining, to Secretary Finletter in
response to Sen. Russell’s
February 21 inquiry. It offers two possible explanations: aircraft
exhaust from a Soviet Lavochkin La-9 or La-11 fighter aircraft, or
spotlights carried on enemy aircraft that have intercepted US bombers.
(Project 1947, “UFO
Documents, 1952, Korea”; Swords 145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1746
Date: 3/7/1952
Description: Physicist Joseph
Kaplan visits ATIC to discuss methods of obtaining more information
on green fireballs using a special diffraction grid to be placed on
patrol cameras that can be used as a field spectrometer. (“Status
of Project
Blue Book,” T52-6888, [1952])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1747
Date: 3/10/1952
Description: 6:45 a.m. Clarence
K. Greenwood, inspector
of engineering metals, sees two dark objects come from behind him at an
altitude of 5,000–7,500 feet while he is waiting for a bus in Oakland,
California. They pick up speed, one of them moving in a pendulum-like
motion. He thinks they are about 45 feet long. (UFOEv, pp. 56–57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1748
Date: 3/14/1952
Description: Evening. US Secretary of the Navy Dan
A. Kimball is flying to Hawaii when he sees two discs moving at
1,500 mph. The UFOs circle his plane twice, then move on 50 miles east
to another Navy plane carrying Adm. Arthur
W. Radford. The
UFOs circle Radford’s plane then zoom up out of sight. Kimball sends a
report to the Air Force, but hears nothing back, despite USAF demanding
reports from all Navy witnesses. Kimball threatens to initiate Naval
reports on UFOs through ONR to be kept separate from Blue Book. Keyhoe hears
about this from both Kimball and Chief of ONR Adm. Calvin
M. Bolster. The report is never made public. (NICAP, “Admiral Radford
& Navy Sec. Kimball Planes Buzzed”; NICAP, “Navy
Secy Dan Kimball’s Pilot’s Sighting, March 14, 1952”;
Swords 165)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1749
Date: 3/19/1952
Description: Ruppelt and
other representatives of ATIC meet with the commander of the Air Defense
Command, Gen. Benjamin
W. Chidlaw, and
Gen. Grandison
Gardner and his staff in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on getting
radar scope camera films as UFOs are being tracked. “They agreed with it
in principle and suggested that I work out the details with the Director
of Intelligence for the ADC, Brigadier Gen. Woodbury
M. Burgess.” Chidlaw promises to issue a directive to all units
explaining procedures in UFO situations, including the scrambling of
interceptors. This is issued, apparently in April. Burgess assigns Maj.
Vernon
L. Sadowski of his staff to be liaison to Project Grudge., and the
Ground Observer Corps is brought into the UFO reporting net. (Ruppelt,
pp. 128–129;
“Status
of Project
Blue Book,” T52-6888, [1952])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1750
Date: 3/20/1952
Time: 10:42 PM
Description: Witnesses: WWl/WW2 veteran A.D. Hutchinson and son. One
dull orange-yellow saucer-shaped light flew straight and level very fast
for 30 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Centreville, Maryland
ID: 83
Date: late 3/1952 (approximate)
Description: Ruppelt meets
with two RCAF officers and briefs them on the new procedures. (Ruppelt,
p. 130)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1755
Date: spring 1952
Description: Occultist George
Hunt Williamson and his wife Betty move to Prescott, Arizona, and
immerse themselves in UFO literature. (Michael D. Swords, “Strange
Days,” IUR 30, no. 4 (Aug. 2006): 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1763
Date: 3/23/1952
Time: 6:56 and 7 PM
Description: Witnesses: pilot and radar operator of F-94 jet
interceptor. On either occasion, a red fireball increased in brightness
and then faded over 45 second span. Stationary both times. Note: (May
31, 1952) says target was also tracked by ground radar at 78 knots (90
m.p.h.) at 22,500’ and 25,000’ altitude.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Yakima, Washington
ID: 84
Date: 3/24/1952
Time: 8:45 AM
Description: Witnesses: B-29 navigator and radar operator. One target
tracked for 20-30 seconds at estimated 3,000 m.p.h.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 60 miles west of Pt. Concepcion, California
ID: 85
Date: 3/25/1952
Description: Project Grudge becomes a separate organization under the
title Aerial Phenomena Group and is renamed Project Blue Book,
apparently by Lt. Col. Charles Cooke, which he thinks has “no
overtones.” Ruppelt says it is based on the books provided for taking
college tests at Iowa State University. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952,
January–May, The
Author, 1993, pp. 20–21; Sparks,
p. 12; Ruppelt, p. 131;
Clark III 916)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1751
Date: 3/26/1952
Description: Five trials are conducted through April 21 by the US Army
Chemical Corps under Operation Dew. The tests release zinc cadmium
sulfide along a 100-to-150-nautical-mile line approximately 5–10
nautical miles off the coast of Georgia, North Carolina, and South
Carolina. Two of the trials disperse clouds of zinc cadmium sulfide over
large areas of all three states. The tests affect over 60,000 square
miles of populated coastal region. The Dew I releases are from a Navy
minesweeper, the USS
Tercel. The
conclusion is that long-range aerosol clouds can obtain hundreds of
miles of travel and large-area coverage when disseminated from ground
level under certain meteorological conditions. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Dew”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1754
Date: 3/26/1952
Description: Day. Henry C. Davis is looking out at the ocean through his
second-floor window in Long Beach, California, and listening to the
radio. He spots two yellow discs in the sky about one mile high and 2
miles away. He thinks they are 1,000 feet apart and moving southeast to
northwest at 100 mph. As they pass, his radio goes to static twice. (Schopick, p. 78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1752
Date: 3/26/1952
Description: Ruppelt meets
with the MIT scientists he calls the Beacon Hill Group, which recommends
that Blue Book use “sound detection apparatus” in areas of UFO activity.
(Clark III 916)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1753
Date: 3/29/1952
Description: 10:45 p.m. Donald F. Stewart and George Tyler III are
driving northbound on the Governor Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie,
Maryland. A 50-foot silvery domed disc with two portholes and an
apparent hatch appears from the northeast and hovers above their car,
causing the engine to fail, magnetizing the wiring, and cracking the
paint. Stewart takes a sub-machine gun from the back of the car and
debates whether to fire it at the object, which remains in view for 3
minutes before turning n its edge and speeding away to the southwest.
Tyler changes his story later, denying he was involved. Possible hoax.
(NICAP, “E-M
Effects on Car from Domed Disc”;
Sparks, p. 124;
Hynek UFO Report, pp. 196–198);
Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 61–64, 229)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1759
Date: 3/29/1952
Description: 6:40 p.m. Carl
J. Henry, chairman
of the Industrial Commission of Missouri, along with several others,
watches a cylinder-shaped, silver UFO for 2 minutes almost directly
overhead in Butler, Missouri. It is moving silently in a northwesterly
direction leaving no trail or exhaust. He estimates its length at 100
feet. (UFOEv, p. 68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1758
Date: 3/29/1952
Description: Two fiery discs are sighted over the uranium mines in the
southern part of the Belgian Congo near Elisabethville [modern
Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo]. With a diameter of
approximately 36– 45 feet, they travel in a precise and light manner,
both vertically and horizontally. They emit hissing and buzzing sounds.
Changes in elevation from 2,400 to 3,000 feet are accomplished in a few
seconds. The discs often move down to within 60 feet of the treetops. A
Commander Pierre of the Belgian Air Force sets out in pursuit in a
fighter plane from the city airport. On his first approach he comes to
within about 260 feet of one of the discs. Suddenly they hover in one
spot then takes off in a unique zigzag flight to the northeast at an
estimated speed of 930 mph. Pierre gives up his pursuit after about 15
minutes. (NICAP, “Two
Discs over Uranium Mines / Jet in Pursuit”;
Sparks, p. 123;
Good Above, p. 512)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1757
Date: 3/29/1952
Description: 11:20 a.m. Near Misawa, Japan, USAF Lt. David
Conant Brigham is flying a T-6 target plane on a practice intercept
mission for two F-84s. The first F-84 overtakes him at 6,000 feet when
the T-6 pilot notices a small disc gaining on the interceptor. The UFO
curves toward the F-84, decelerates rapidly, then flips on edge in a 90°
bank. It flies between the two aircraft, pulls away, flips again, passes
the F-84, crosses in front, and accelerates out of sight in a near
vertical climb. Both pilots notice the object, which comes within 30–50
feet of the T-6. The pilot estimates it is only 8 inches in diameter.
There is a ripple around the edge. (NICAP, “Brigham/T6
Case: UFO Makes
Pass at F-84”; UFOEv, p. 5;
Keyhoe, FS from OS, p. 192;
Sparks, p. 123)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1756
Date: 3/29/1952
Description: Small, shiny disc made pass at Air Force plane
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Misawa, Japan
ID: 0
Date: 3/29/1952
Time: 11:20 AM
Description: Witness: Brigham, pilot of AT-6 trainer. One small, very
thin, shiny metallic disc flew alongside the AT-6, then made a pass at
an F-84 jet fighter, flipped on edge, fluttered 20’ from the F-84’s
fuselage and flipped in the slipstream…all in 10 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 20 miles north of Misawa AFB, Japan
ID: 86
Date: 3/31/1952
Description: Project Blue Book issues its Status Report #5. (US Air
Force, Projects
Grudge and Blue Book Reports 1–12, NICAP, 1968, pp. 81–94)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1762
Date: 3/31/1952
Description: ATIC Chief Frank
Dunn writes to Gen. Garland requesting
that Project Blue Book be entirely declassified in order to make it
easier to encourage civilian pilots to send in reports. That is a bit
too much openness for Garland, who compromises by reclassifying certain
case investigations as “Restricted,” a relatively low level. (Swords
146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1761
Date: 3/31/1952
Description: Battelle begins its UFO study (referred to as P-47S and
nicknamed Little Stork) under the supervision of William T. Reid,
folding it into Project Stork, an initiative to examine the Soviet
Union’s technological warfare capabilities. Almost all of the UFO
analysis involves compiling IBM punch cards based on data forwarded by
Project Blue Book files. (Clark III 929; Jennie Zeidman, “I Remember
Blue Book,” IUR 16, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1991): 7–8; Jennie Zeidman and Mark
Rodeghier, “The Pentacle Letter and the Battelle UFO Project,” IUR 18,
no. 3 (May/June 1993): 4–12, 19–21; Michael Hall, “Was There a Second
Estimate of the Situation?” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1760
Date: 4/1952
Description: Albert
K. Bender, a
factory worker in Bridgeport, Connecticut, announces the formation of
the International Flying Saucer Bureau. (Clark III 189, 623)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1767
Date: 4/1952
Description: Ruppelt again
meets with MIT Lincoln Laboratory scientists (the Beacon Hill group) in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, to brief them on Blue Book’s progress.
Afterward, he asks them about the flashes seen on Mars in 1951, and a
general discussion of life on other planets ensues. Michael
D. Swords suspects that some of those present are physicist George
Valley Jr., engineer
Julius
Adams Stratton, physicist
Albert
G. Hill, and chemical engineer Walter
G. Whitman. (Edward
J. Ruppelt, “Are There Men on Mars? Or Other Worlds?” IUR 23, no. 1
(Spring 1998): 10–12, 31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1766
Date: 4/1952
Description: Life Magazine article: “Have We Visitors from Space?”
Type: article
Reference: Medium
See also: 12/48
See also: 10/51
Date: 4/1952
Description: Secretary of the Navy Dan
Kimball, upset
with the way the Air Force has treated his UFO sighting, sets up an
independent Navy probe of UFOs under Lt. Commander Fred Lowell Thomas of
the Office of Naval Research. The project lasts through 1952, but
probably not much longer. (NICAP, “Navy
Secy Dan Kimball’s Pilot’s Sighting,
March 14, 1952”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1765
Date: 4/1952 (approximate)
Description: Amateur astronomer W.
Gordon Graham sees a UFO “like a smoke ring, elliptical in shape,
and having two bright pinpoints of light along its main axis” at London,
Ontario. It sails overhead from west to east. (London (Ont.) Free Press,
May 1, 1952; UFOEv, p. 49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1764
Date: 4/2/1952
Description: On the eve of the release of the bombshell Life magazine
article, Ruppelt and
his boss, ATIC Technical Analysis Division Chief Col. Sanford
H. Kirkland Jr., give
an extraordinary briefing, technically unclassified but in fact
quasi-classified, to a group of aerospace engineers and saucer buffs
organized as Civilian Saucer Investigation of Los Angeles. These include
aeronautical consultant Felix
W. A. Knoll, technical writer Ed
J. Sullivan,
and North American Aviation project engineer Walther
A. Riedel. The briefing takes place at the Mayfair Hotel in Los
Angeles, California, along with national media reporters and the Life
magazine reporters who give them advance copies of the Darrach/Ginna
article in exchange. (“Minutes
of Meeting of Civilian Saucer Investigations
Held Wednesday, April 2, 1952, 8:00 PM in the Mayfair Hotel, Los
Angeles, California,” April 2, 1952, transcribed by Sign Historical
Group; Willard D. Nelson, “When Blue Book Met the Ufologists,” IUR 12,
no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1987): 21–24; Ruppelt, p. 175)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1768
Date: 4/2/1952
Description: 9:00 a.m. While on a fishing trip to Lake Mead, Nevada,
with his wife and M/Sgt Lester Gossett, M/Sgt Sheldon Smith observes a
large silver UFO at a high altitude. It looks like a B-36 without wings.
Smith observes it right after a flight of F-86s overfly the area at
about 15,000 feet. After watching the hovering object for about an hour
at a much higher altitude than the vapor trails from the F-86s, it
suddenly disappears. (NICAP, “B-36 without
Wings”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1769
Date: 4/3/1952
Description: The Air Force publicly announces that it has not stopped
investigating and evaluating UFO reports.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1770
Date: 4/4/1952
Time: 7:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: two radar operators of the 147th AC&W
Squadron. One object was tracked for one minute by radar at an estimated
2,160 m.p.h.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Duncanville, Texas
ID: 87
Date: 4/5/1952
Time: 9:15 PM
Description: Witnesses: L.E. VanDercar and 9 year old son. Four dark
circular objects with mostly fuzzy edges, crossed face of Moon; each was
half the apparent diameter of Moon. 2:59 PM Witness: H.L. Russell.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Miami, Florida
ID: 89
Date: 4/5/1952
Time: l0:40 AM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. L.G. Ryan, R.L. Stokes, D. Schook.
One large, dull grey circular object, followed by two more, flew
straight and level at high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
ID: 88
Date: 4/6/1952
Time: 2:59 PM
Description: Witness: H.L. Russell. 50-75 grey-white discs changed
position within formation continually, tilted in unison every 12-15
seconds during 3.8 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Temple, Texas
ID: 90
Date: 4/7/1952
Description: Henry
B. Darrach Jr. and Robert
Ginna’s article, “Have We Visitors from Space?” appears in Life and
reports on the revitalized USAF project. It comes close to advocating
the ETH, and its primary sources are high-ranking Air Force officers.
(H. B. Darrach Jr. and Robert Ginna, “Have
We Visitors from Space?” Life, April 7, 1952, pp. 80–96; NICAP, “Scholarly
Commentary on LIFE Article of April 7, 1952”; Michael D. Swords,
“1952: Ruppelt’s Big Year,” IUR 28, no. 4 (Winter 2003–2004): 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1771
Date: 4/7/1952
Description: During war games taking place in the vicinity of Lampasas,
Texas, nicknamed Operation Longhorn, the Air Force announces that a new
“aerial light” attached to a B-26 aircraft is in use that makes an
“attacking bomber look like a ball of fire in the sky.” It is
essentially a bright magnesium searchlight (dubbed a “Hell Roarer”
flare) that can illuminate a battlefield for nighttime photography. USAF
Public Information Officer Capt. Irving Rappaport implies it could be
mistaken for a flying saucer. (“Light
Makes Bomber Resemble Ball of Fire,” Chambersburg (Pa.) Public
Opinion, April 7, 1952, p. 3; “It’s
No Saucer! Strange Objects in the Sky Are Nothing New
in Dayton,” Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, November 9, 1952, magazine
supplement, p. 7; Curt Collins, “UFOs:
Confusing the Public,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, January 27,
2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1772
Date: 4/12/1952
Description: 8:30 p.m. W/O E. H. Rossell and Flight Sgt. Reginald McRae
are driving on RCAF Station North Bay, Ontario, when they see a bright
amber disc arrive from the southwest, move across the airfield, stop,
and then take off in the opposite direction at an angle of 30° at
terrific speed. (NICAP, “Amber
Disc Stops, Reverses Direction”;
Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen,
1979, pp. 92–94)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1773
Date: 4/12/1952
Time: 9:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: Royal Canadian Air Force Warrant Officer E.H.
Rossell, Flight Sgt. R. McRae. One round amber object flew fast,
stopped, reversed direction, climbed away at 30’ angle during a 2 minute
observation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: North Bay, Ontario, Canada
ID: 91
Date: 4/14/1952
Time: 12:35 PM
Description: Witness: unidentified CAL airline pilot. Several light
colored objects flew in V-formation. No further details in files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: LaCrosse, Wisconsin
ID: 92
Date: 4/14/1952
Time: 6:34 PM
Description: Witnesses: U.S. Navy pilots Lt. jg. Blacky, Lt. jg. O’Neil.
One inverted bowl, 3’ long and 1’ high, with vertical slots, flew fast,
straight and level, 100 yards from observers’ aircraft for 45-60
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
ID: 93
Date: 4/15/1952
Time: 7:40 PM
Description: Witness: Mr. Hayes, brother of Master Sergeant. Two faint
objects observed flying fast along the horizon for 6-8 seconds, using
20x spotting telescope.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Santa Cruz, California
ID: 94
Date: 4/16/1952
Description: ADC becomes frantic about a possible Soviet attack. Air
Force Intelligence warns Brig. Gen. Woodbury Burgess, at
ADC Headquarters, Ent AFB [now the US Olympic Training Center] in
Colorado Springs, Colorado, that a classified source (possibly an
electronic intercept) has provided an “indication” of ominous Soviet
military activity. With the simultaneous appearance of two waves of
unidentified targets, there is no alternative. At 3:10 a.m., ADC
Commander Gen. Frederic
H. Smith Jr. orders America’s first nationwide Air Defense Readiness
alert. (NICAP, “UFOs
and Alert Scare, April 1952”; “Radar
Scare,” Miami (Fla.) Herald, April 19, 1952, p. 23; “3 Plane
Vapors Cause Alert at Alaska Stations,” Long Beach (Calif.)
Independent, April 18, 1952, p. 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1774
Date: 4/17/1952
Time: 3:05 PM
Description: Witnesses: group of Army weather observation students,
including several graduate engineers. One flat-white, circular object
flew with an irregular trajectory and a brief trail, for about 7
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Yuma, Arizona
ID: 96
Date: 4/17/1952
Description: 12:58 a.m. Four high-altitude contrails heading
east-southeast toward Alaska are seen by NORAD defense observers at
Nunivak Island, Alaska. (NICAP, “Another
Radar-Inspired National Alert”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1775
Date: 4/17/1952
Description: 5:10 a.m. Radar at Caswell Air Force Station [now closed]
in Limestone, Maine, tracks five unknown targets headed southwest into
the US. Three are later identified as off-course civilian airliners,
while two remain unidentified. A nationwide Air Defense Readiness Alert
is declared at 5:11 a.m. SAC is notified to prepare launch of nuclear
missiles. The alert is canceled at 7:40 a.m. (NICAP, “Another
Radar-Inspired National Alert”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1776
Date: 4/17/1952
Description: 12:05 p.m. Air Force T/S Orville Lawson, Rudy
Toncer (sheet metal shop foreman), and sheet metal shop workers R.
K. Van Houtin, Edward Gregory, and Charles
Ruliffson at Nellis Air Force Base, near Las Vegas, see 18 circular
objects flying an easterly course that carry them over or very close to
the Nevada Test Site. They watch the objects for about 30 seconds. (“Work
Crew Spots Flying Saucers over A-Test Site,” Salt Lake Tribune,
April 18, 1952, p. 1; NICAP, “April
17, 1952: Nellis AFB, Nevada Large Group of Circular UFOs”; Nukes
83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1777
Date: 4/17/1952
Description: Dewey
Fournet Jr. responds to a reporter from the Baltimore Sun who has
asked about details of the Blue Book investigation with a
two-and-a-half-page memo, vagued up a bit, but essentially saying that
“nothing detrimental to our national security has materialized from
these incidents.” (Swords 147)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1778
Date: 4/17/1952
Time: 8:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: S.B. Brooks, chemical engineer J.A. Eaton. One
round, deep orange object flew fast and erratic, occasionally emitting a
shaft of light to the rear during a 40 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Longmeadow, Massachusetts
ID: 95
Date: 4/18/1952
Time: l0:l0 PM
Description: Witness: reporter Chic Shave. One round, yellow-gold object
flew south and returned during 1.5 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada
ID: 99
Date: 4/18/1952
Time: 4 AM
Description: Witness: janitor C. Hamilton. One yellow-gold object made a
sharp turn and left a short, dark trail during l minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada
ID: 101
Date: 4/18/1952
Time: Time unknown
Description: Witness: one radar operator. Tracked unidentified target
for 1 minute at 2,700 m.p.h.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 50 miles northwest of Kyushu, Japan (129’ 51’ E, 34’ 19’
N)
ID: 100
Date: 4/18/1952
Description: 12:07 p.m. Detachment 21 of the 618th Aircraft and Warning
Squadron, Japan Air Self-Defense Force, picks up a radar target over the
Korea Strait north of Kyushu Island, Japan, moving at 2,700 mph. (NICAP,
“Object Tracked
at 2,700 MPH”; Sparks, p. 127)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1779
Date: 4/18/1952
Time: l1:30 AM
Description: Witnesses: R. Poerstal and three other men. Seven to nine
circular, orange-yellow lights in a V-formation flew overhead silently
for 4-8 seconds, from south to north.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
ID: 98
Date: 4/18/1952
Time: Time unknown
Description: Witnesses: two Army weather observation students. One
flat-white circular object flew for 5-10 seconds in a very erratic
manner.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Yuma, Arizona
ID: 97
Date: 4/19/1952
Description: 9:20 p.m. USAF Brig. Gen. Edwin
M. Day is reclining on a patio in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, when he
sees an object traveling parallel to the ground at a constant altitude
(between 10,000 and 20,000 feet) and moving in his direction. Its speed
is greater than a jet’s. It breaks into two parts at one point but
maintains its constant course. He follows it visually for 5–6 seconds
until it disappears to the north-northeast. (“When UFOs Were Serious
Business: Then and Today,” IUR 28, no. 4 (Winter 2003–2004): 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1780
Date: 4/20/1952
Description: 9:15 p.m. Naval aviation student Edmund Kogut and his wife
Shirley are at a drive-in movie theater in Flint, Michigan, when they
see several groups of UFOs fly over. There are 2–9 objects in a group
and about 20 groups, all flying in a straight line except for some
changes in direction accomplished unlike any known aircraft. They are
shaped like conventional aircraft but have an odd reddish glow
surrounding them. (NICAP, [Flint,
Michigan, case documents];
Sparks,
p. 128)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1781
Date: 4/22/1952
Description: The Canadian Defence Research Board establishes a UFO study
group that meets for the first time today. Project Second Storey, formed
by Omond
M. Solandt, DRB
chairman, meets at least five times. It is chaired by astrophysicist Peter
M. Millman and includes Wilbert
B. Smith and representatives from Naval Intelligence, Military
Operations and Planning, and the Defence Research Board. At its April 24
meeting, it decides to meet with the US government on UFO matters. (“Project
Second Storey Minutes, 1952.04.24”; Clark III 1078; Good Above, p. 186;
Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn
Press, 2006, p. 225– 226)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1782
Date: 4/22/1952
Time: 99 PM
Description: Witnesses: crew of B-29 bomber, on ground. One elliptical
object, followed by two and then another two, each with a white light
that blinked every 1-2 seconds as they performed erratic maneuvers for
10 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Naha AFB, Okinawa
ID: 102
Date: 4/23/1952
Description: 9:30 a.m. R. C. Munroe, engineering standards section head
for Raytheon Manufacturing Company, notices an object near an AT-6 Texan
trainer aircraft above Lexington, Massachusetts. He estimates its
altitude at 40,000 feet. It decelerates abruptly and goes into a flat
turn. He writes, “It is inconceivable to me that any human being could
have withstood the deceleration or acceleration displayed by this
aircraft.” (UFOEv, p. 57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1783
Date: 4/23/1952
Description: 10:45 a.m. Engineers Carl
Hawk and Marvin
Harvey are at Sandia Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, when they look
up to watch a jet fighter as it shoots to the north above the Sandia
Mountains. They also notice a soundless, flat, rectangular, wing-like
object streaking through the sky from east to west above Tijeras Canyon.
The object is completely black except for a distinct, bright yellow “V”
on its bottom. Two slight points extend from its rear corners. Hawk
estimates that it is passing overhead at 2,000 feet altitude at 200–400
mph and is roughly 60 feet wide by 20 feet long. They watch it for 10
seconds until it disappears in a cloud above downtown Albuquerque. (“What
Soared Against Duke City Sky That Day in April, 1952?”Albuquerque
(N.Mex.) Tribune, November 21, 1957, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1784
Date: 4/24/1952
Time: 2:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: three Cambridge Research Center electronics
engineers, one named Buruish. Two flat, red squares flew wobbly in level
flight, climbed, levelled out during 1.5 minute observation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Milton, Massachusetts
ID: 104
Date: 4/24/1952
Time: 5 AM
Description: Witnesses: crew of USAF C-124 transport plane. Three
circular, bluish objects in loose “fingertip” formation twice flew
parallel to airplane during 3-4 minute period.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Bellevue Hill, Vermont
ID: 103
Date: 4/24/1952
Description: An Air Force Intelligence memorandum to Col. Frank
Dunn, chief of ATIC, transmits nine reports (not released) of
unidentified submarine objects reported to the Office of Naval
Intelligence. (Good Need, pp. 141,
145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1785
Date: 4/24/1952
Time: 8:10 PM
Description: Witness: USAF light Surgeon Maj. E.L. Ellis. Many
orange-amber lights, sometimes separate, sometimes fused, behaved
erratically. Speed varied from motionless to very fast during 5 minute
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Clovis, New Mexico
ID: 105
Date: 4/25/1952
Description: Battelle releases its first status report on Project Stork,
noting that it has selected a panel of consultants, initiated a news
clipping service, and devised a coding scheme for UFO reports. (“Seven
Status Reports for Project
Stork,” CUFON)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1787
Date: 4/25/1952
Description: 11:00 a.m. A biochemist and a bacteriologist are driving to
their office in San Jose, California, when they see a metallic-looking
disc rotating around a vertical axis and wobbling. It is moving slowly
over the office and is about 4–5 feet in diameter. It flies in a slow
arc. Then they see a black object hovering at a high altitude under an
overcast. This one is about 100 feet in diameter. Two identical objects
come into view out of the clouds. The three objects “jittered about like
boats in a stream.” Then the small disc stops spinning, hovers, then
shoots upwards, followed by one of the black objects. The remaining two
objects linger another minute or so, then take off separately. The
episode lasts 15 minutes. The biochemist calls Moffett Field in Santa
Clara County, but hangs up before reporting the sighting, which they
describe as a “most disturbing experience.” The object “utilized some
propulsion method not in the physics books.” (NICAP, “Scientist
Sighting / Extraordinary Propulsion Implied”; Richard H. Hall,
Uninvited Guests, Aurora, 1988, pp. 241–242)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1786
Date: 4/25/1952
Description: UFO sighted flying over San Jose, CA, near Mt. Hamilton by
two scientists, Dr. W (biochemist; name withheld) and Dr. Y
(bacteriologist, name also withheld). Description of hovering disk: at
about 50 ft. it appeared to be 4 to 5 ft. in diam. The wobble of the
disk allowed them to estimate it’s thickness to be approx. 1.5ft. No
sound or means of propulsion observed. Later they observed a higher
flying silvery disc approx. 100 ft. in diam. Next to it more UFOs
appeared and bobbed around like boats in a stream. The objects
disappeared around 11:15 a.m. The two scientists decided not to report
the incident to Moffett Field for fear of ridicule.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-F p241)
Location: San Jose, CA
Date: 4/27/1952
Time: 4:15 PM
Description: Witnesses: H.A. Freytag and three male relatives, including
a minister. One silver oval rolled, descended and stopped. Two silver
cigar-shaped objects appeared, one departing to the east and one to the
west. A third silver cigar-shaped object flew by at high speed.
Sightings lasted 45 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Roseville, Michigan
ID: 106
Date: 4/27/1952
Time: 8:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: M/Sgt. and Mrs. G.S. Porter (he was off-duty
control tower operator). Bright red or flame-colored discs, appearing as
large as fighter planes. Seven sightings of one disc, one of two in
formation during 2 hours. All seen below 11,000’ overcast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Yuma, Arizona
ID: 107
Date: 4/29/1952
Time: 100 PM
Description: Witness: B-29 bombardier Lt. R.H. Bauer. One white
fan-shaped light pulsed 3-4 times per second for 2 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Goodland, Kansas
ID: 109
Date: 4/29/1952
Description: An Air Force memorandum written to justify a trip by Lt.
Col. E. Sterling and Stefan
Possony to Europe mentions that their work for USAF Intelligence’s
“Special Study Group” is to evaluate Soviet advanced aerial delivery
systems, as well as to shed “some much needed light” on the “vexing
‘flying saucer’ problem.” It adds that the “Air Force cannot assume that
flying saucers are of non-terrestrial origin, and hence, they could be
Soviet.” (Michael D. Swords, “1952: Ruppelt’s Big Year,” IUR 28, no. 4
(Winter 2003–2004): 10; Swords 151)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1789
Date: 4/29/1952
Description: Secretary of the Air Force Thomas
K. Finletter issues Air Force Letter 200-5, which directs
intelligence officers at every base to report UFOs immediately to ATIC
and all major USAF commands. It enables Project Blue Book staff to
communicate directly with any Air Force base without going through the
normal chain of command, and provides for wire transmission of reports
to ATIC, followed with details via air mail. AFL 200-5 is modified by
AFR 200-2 in 1953. (Department of the Air Force, “Unidentified
Flying Objects Reporting,” Air Force Letter 200-5, April 29, 1952;
Ruppelt, pp. 132–133)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1788
Date: 4/29/1952
Time: 3:30 PM
Description: Witness: private pilot R.R. Weidman. One round, white
object which flew straight, with a side-to-side oscillation for 1.5
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Marshall, Texas
ID: 108
Date: 4/30/1952
Description: Project Blue Book issues its Status Report #6. (US Air
Force, Projects
Grudge and Blue Book Reports 1–12, NICAP, 1968, pp. 95–112)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1790
Date: 4/30/1952
Description: 6:00 p.m. Six members of the 3rd Platoon, Heavy Mortar
Company, 180th Infantry Regiment at the front lines around Panmunjeom,
Korea, see two silvery wingless objects, one behind the other, flying in
a valley in a southeasterly direction. Pfc H. B. Webb thinks they are
flying at 900–1,000 mph. Some slower northbound F-86 Sabre jets pass
above them. They make a rumbling sound. (Haines, Korea, p. 63)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1791
Date: 5/1952
Description: Army radar specialist Jay Nogle is stationed near
Washington, D.C., when he picks up an unknown target on his M33 scope at
an altitude of 18,000 feet about 130 miles from the capital (which would
put it over eastern Pennsylvania). Two other Army units also detect the
object, which remains stationary for 30 minutes before moving. By the
time the object reaches the edge of the radar scope, it is traveling at
1,000 mph. The report goes all the way to the Pentagon, where orders are
given to fire on it if it returns. Nogle says that radar targets are
frequently seen in May or June, and units have their antiaircraft guns
loaded after the first incident. When fighters are scrambled from
McGuire AFB [now part of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst] in Burlington
County, New Jersey, the targets move speedily out of range. (Swords
153)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1792
Date: 5/1/1952
Time: 5:32 AM
Description: Witnesses: Two Atomic Energy Commission employees, Eggan
and Shipley. One silver object without wings flew straight and level for
1.5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Moses Lake, Washington
ID: 110
Date: 5/1/1952
Time: 10:50 AM
Description: Witnesses: three men on the arms range, plus one Lt.
Colonel 4 miles away. Five flat-white discs about the diameter of a
C-47’s wingspan (95’) flew fast, made a 90^ turn in a formation of three
in front and two behind, and darted around, for 15-30 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: George AFB, California
ID: 111
Date: 5/1/1952
Description: 9:10 a.m. Air intelligence officer Maj. Rudolph
Pestalozzi and an airman standing outside the Davis-Monthan AFB base
hospital, Tucson, Arizona, watch two shiny, round objects overtake a
B-36 flying above. The objects slow down to match the plane’s speed and
remain in formation with them for 20 seconds. Then they make a sharp,
no-radius turn away from the B-36, moving away a bit. Then one of the
objects stops and hovers. Both are silent, and the crew estimates they
have a diameter of 20–25 feet and a thickness of 10–12 feet. (NICAP, “The Case
of the Missing Report”; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 109–112, 292–294;
Sparks, p. 131;
Good Need, pp. 166– 167)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1795
Date: 5/1/1952
Description: 10:50 a.m. At George AFB [now Southern California Logistics
Airport] near Victorville, California, five independent witnesses in the
base control tower see a group of five white discs moving in formation
for about 30 seconds. The objects appear very maneuverable, seem to
almost collide, then break away in a right-angle turn. They are
traveling an estimated 900–1,200 mph and are 1,000–1,200 feet in
diameter. Four miles away at Apple Valley, California, the base’s wing
director of personnel, playing on a golf course, sees one of the UFOs at
the same time. (NICAP, “George
AFB / Apple Valley, CA Radar Case”; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 107–109;
Sparks, p. 131;
Swords 147–148; Good Need, p. 166;
Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March 2010):
10, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1796
Date: 5/1/1952
Description: 1:45 p.m. Albuquerque Journal composing room employee
Eugene Cline sees four silvery objects seemingly playing tag with a
formation of 12 Air Force bombers—either B-29s or B-50s—flying west over
Albuquerque, New Mexico. The round objects are keeping up with the
planes at the same altitude, moving in a “tumbling or pitching manner.”
One object shoots straight up and takes off in a southerly direction.
About the same time, workmen (one of them Howard Burgess) erecting an
antenna at nearby Sandia Base watch three UFOs pass directly overhead.
One comes from the west and moves south; another comes from the north
and moves south; and a third, tan-colored rather than silver like the
others, passes low overhead and looks like a “cylinder tumbling end over
end.” Burgess and the others are debriefed and sworn to secrecy about
what they have witnessed. (“Flying
Saucers Play Tag with Bombers over City,” Albuquerque (N.Mex.)
Journal, May 2, 1952, p. 2; Nukes 56–58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1797
Date: 5/1/1952
Description: Two disc-shaped UFOs approached close to B-36 bomber, also
seen from ground
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ
ID: 1
Date: early 5/1952
Description: A meeting is held in the Pentagon office of Stefan
Possony, acting chief of the Directorate of Intelligence Study Group
under Maj. Gen. John
A. Samford to hear Harvard University astronomer Donald
Menzel express his views. Present are Possony, Capt. Edward
J. Ruppelt, ATIC chief Col. Frank
Dunn, Brig.
Gen. William
M. Garland, Possony’s
assistant Leslie
Rosenzweig, and
one other officer. Menzel announces that he has solved all UFO reports
and claims to have helped out in the development of the cameras in
Project Twinkle. His attitude irks everyone in the meeting. When he asks
the Air Force to support his views in upcoming publications in Time and
Look, Gen. Garland gets angry. Col. Dunn says that Blue Book would have
put some money into more formal versions of his experiments, but he can
only offer a statement that Menzel has told them of his theory. Now
Menzel gets agitated, saying it is no theory. He refuses to leave them a
copy of his book to pass on to Joseph Kaplan and
J.
Allen Hynek. In
the evening, Possony speaks with astronomer Francis J. Heyden at
Georgetown University, who tells him that Menzel’s work is based on no
more than a “couple of meaningless high school physics experiments.”
(Clark III 743; Michael D. Swords, “Strange Days, Part 2,” IUR 32, no. 2
(December 2008): 9; Swords 152)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1794
Date: early 5/1952
Description: 10:00 p.m. A senior CIA official is having a lawn party at
his home near Alexandria, Virginia, for some VIPs. He and two others
notice a light approaching silently from the west. It stops then climbs
almost vertically, stops again, then levels out. Then it goes into a
nearly vertical dive, levels out, and streaks off to the east. (Ruppelt,
pp. 135–136;
Swords 148)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1793
Date: 5/5/1952
Time: 10:45 PM
Description: Witness: Mrs. M.M. Judson. Six or seven translucent,
cream-yellow objects. One moved in an ellipse, while the others moved in
and out.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tenafly, New Jersey
ID: 112
Date: 5/7/1952
Time: 12:15 PM
Description: Witnesses: Capt. Morris, a Master Sergeant, a Staff
Sergeant, and an Airman First Class. Ten times, an aluminum or silver
cylindrical object was seen to dart in and out of the clouds during a
5-10 minute period.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Keesler AFB, Mississippi
ID: 113
Date: 5/7/1952
Description: 12:22 a.m. Mrs. Hanley Marks sees a light-green,
ball-shaped object fall from the sky into the Sandia Mountains, New
Mexico, from her home in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Albuquerque. (“Fireball
Falls near Sandias
Early Today,” Albuquerque Journal, May 7, 1952, p. 1; “Green
Fireball Falls in Southwest, Three Here Report,”
Albuquerque Journal, May 7, 1952, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1798
Date: 5/7/1952
Description: 12:15 p.m. A Captain Morris and three enlisted men at
Keesler AFB, Biloxi, Mississippi, see one or two aluminum or silver
cylindrical objects darting in and out of the clouds 10 times. ([Blue
Book case report]”; Sparks, p. 131)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1799
Date: 5/7/1952
Description: 4:30 p.m. Magazine writer Ed Keffel, in the company of João
Martins, takes five photographs of a UFO over Barra da Tijuca, Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. In the first, the UFO resembles an airplane coming
directly toward them over a large group of trees. The second shows the
object as disc-shaped. The third photo is taken as the object tilts
slightly, showing both the top with a slight dome and the now obvious
disc shape. More trees, including a very tall palm, can be seen in the
photograph. The fourth picture, taken as the object tilts the other way,
shows a raised ring on the bottom. The final picture is taken as the
object is nearly vertical, seen over part of the ocean and some distant
hills. The UFO disappears shortly afterward. NICAP does not see any
negatives and is skeptical. The Colorado project finds a “glaring
internal inconsistency” in the illumination and dismisses the photos as
hoaxes. Today, the best evidence seems to suggest the case is a hoax,
perpetrated by two magazine writers who wanted an interesting story.
(NICAP, “Barra
da Tijuca Photos”; Olavo T. Fontes, “The
Barra da Tijuca Disc,” APRO Special Report no. 1 (October 1961):
1–6; Condon, pp. 83, 415–418;
Swords 460–461; Cláudio Tsuyoshi Suenaga, “Os 90 Anos do O Cruzeiro, a
Revista que Inaugurou a Era Moderna dos Discos Voadores no Brasil,”
October 11, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1800
Date: 5/8/1952
Description: Air Force Secretary Thomas
Finletter and his staff (including his special assistant, covert CIA
agent Joseph Bryan
III) receive a secret one-hour briefing on UFOs from Ruppelt and
Lt. Col. R. J. Taylor that covers USAF investigations over the previous
five years. Finletter asks questions about some specific sightings.
(Ruppelt, p. 138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1802
Date: 5/8/1952
Description: 2:27 a.m. Pan American Airways pilot Clayton C. Gallagher
and his copilot, flying a Lockheed Constellation aircraft at 8,000 feet
en route from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to New York, see a light, 10 times
the size of an airplane landing light, approach them over the Atlantic
Ocean east of South Carolina. It streaks past their left wing about a
quarter mile away, followed by two smaller orange balls of fire.
Probable meteor. (NICAP, “Three UAO
Sighted by Constellation Crew”; Sparks, p. 131)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1801
Date: 5/9/1952
Time: 5:20 PM
Description: Witness: A/lc G.C. Grindeland. One dull white,
arrowhead-shaped object flew straight and level for 10 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: George AFB, California
ID: 114
Date: 5/10/1952
Description: 8:30 p.m. A British scientist and others at Paphos, Cyprus,
see a luminous circular object rise from the sea and waver back and
forth before fading from sight directly overhead. (Sparks,
p. 132; Good Above, p. 540)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1804
Date: 5/10/1952
Description: 3:00 p.m. USAF Lt. Col. Maurice G. Bechtel and his wife are
in the yard of their home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when they see two
silvery disc-shaped objects flying straight and level, one after the
other, moving southwest to northeast at above 20,000 feet. The first
object seems to waver on its axis, the second object follows a similar
path but at a higher altitude. The first object is the size of a B-36 at
high altitude. Bechtel alerts the radar station but it is unable to
track the objects. (NICAP, “Two
Discs Observed by Lt. Colonel and Wife”; Sparks,
p. 132)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1803
Date: 5/10/1952
Time: 10:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: 4 duPont employees at the Savannah River nuclear
plant. Up to four yellow, disc-shaped objects were seen on five
occasions between 10:45 and shortly after 11:15.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ellenton, South Carolina
ID: 115
Date: 5/10/1952
Description: RESTRICTED USAF Intelligence Report signed by Col. William
L. Travis, Chief USAF Intelligence Division. stating: at 2030 hours, in
the city of Paphos, S.W. Cypress, a group of persons including a noted
British Scientist sighted an UFO which appeared to rise sharply from the
level of the sea and disappeared into the sky. It was of a circular
shape and emitted a luminous light. It appeared to waver back and forth
before fading out of sight directly overhead.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p540)
Location: Paphos, Cypress
Date: 5/10/1952
Description: 10:45 p.m. Four employees of DuPont Corporation at the
AEC’s Savannah River Laboratory near Jackson, South Carolina, see four
disc-shaped objects approach, then two other discs pass high overhead
from different directions. They are a luminous yellow-gold color and
move at a high rate of speed. One of the discs approaches at such a low
altitude that it must ascend to pass over some tall tanks at the
facility. One witness says that the objects are weaving from left to
right while continuing on a steady course. The case is investigated by
the FBI and passed on to the Pentagon and the Atomic Energy Commission.
(NICAP, “Objects
Sighted near Vital Installation”;
Sparks, p. 132;
Nukes 84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1805
Date: 5/12/1952
Description: 8:45 p.m. A UFO is seen by Walker AFB T/Sgt. Raymond Bare
in a car in downtown Roswell, New Mexico. The object is blue-green in
color, and its estimated altitude above the terrain is 20,000–30,000
feet. It appears to be about 40–50 miles distant over some low mountains
east of Ruidosa. The object travels three times over approximately the
same south-to-north / east-to-west, swaying, triangular course. Rate of
speed cannot be precisely estimated but is faster than that of jet
aircraft. Intensity of color brightness varies with the object’s
altitude. The Air Force explains it as the planet Venus, but Venus is on
the other side of the earth at the time. (NICAP, “High-Speed
Object Maneuvers over Mountains”; Clark III 390–391; Sparks, p. 132)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1806
Date: 5/12/1952
Description: “Blue Flash” phenomenon reported over Seattle on front page
of NY Times, reported as possible meteor but meteorologists were not
convinced as it did not follow the usual patterns
Type: anomalous phenomenon
Reference: Dr. Leon
Davidson
Reference: NY
Times
Location: Seattle, WA
Date: 5/13/1952
Description: 10:33 p.m. James Richardson and three other amateur
astronomers (among them Cyril
Thomas Wyche and Harry
B. Mooney), set up telescopes at Furman University in Greenville,
South Carolina, when they see a diamond formation of 4 oval,
reddish-yellow or reddish-brown luminous objects nearly overhead. They
disappear after 3 seconds moving through a 12° arc. The apparent size is
a half dollar at arms length. They wobble in flight. (NICAP, “Diamond
Formation of 4 Objects Observed by Astronomers”; Willy Smith, “Blue
Book Pearls: Greenville, S.C.,” IUR 20, no. 3 (May/June 1995): 8–9, 24;
Sparks, p. 133;
Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March 2010):
10, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1808
Date: 5/13/1952
Description: 8:55 p.m. Aeronautical engineer Donald R. Carr sees a
meteor-like object descend over National City, California, flying a
curving path to the northwest. At 9:25 p.m., Carr watches a similar
object, seemingly returning from the north. (UFOEv, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1807
Date: 5/14/1952
Time: 7 PM
Description: Witnesses: Attorney and ex-USAF pilot Mr. Stipes,
Sr. Garcia-Mendez. Two shining orange spheres: one was stationary, while
the other darted away and back for 30 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Mayaquez, Puerto Rico
ID: 116
Date: 5/15/1952
Description: 8:00 p.m. Two F-86E pilots of the 61st Fighter-Interceptor
Wing are on a mission in North Korea when they see a silvery disc larger
than a MiG aircraft 20 miles away and below them at 8,000–10,000 feet.
Seen for only 3– 5 seconds, the object is traveling at 1,200–1,500 mph
in a rolling maneuver. (Haines, Korea, p. 39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1811
Date: 5/15/1952
Description: 6:35 p.m. The pilot of an F-51 assigned to the 18th Fighter
Bomber Group flying at 9,000 feet over North Korea encounters a silver
object estimated to be 50 feet in diameter. It appears ahead of him to
the right and begins climbing at 1,000 mph to the east, pauses, then
descends into some haze. (Haines, Korea, pp. 39–40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1810
Date: 5/15/1952
Description: USAF Intelligence Special Study Group Chief Lieut. Col. E.
Sterling and Stefan
Possony begin a five-week temporary duty trip to Europe to study
Soviet missiles and aircraft. As a side project they study “flying
saucers” that might be of Soviet origin. No documents have yet been
found on this trip’s results. (Swords 151)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1809
Date: 5/20/1952
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 103.5km (Army
training test. Also designated TF-2)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 103.5km
Date: late 5/1952
Description: 1:00–3:00 a.m. Royal Canadian Navy Commander George R.
McFarlane is officer of the watch on the Canadian warship HMCS
Iroquois in
the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Guam en route to Korea. He sees
many different lights, some single, others in formations of 3, 5, or 6,
appearing and disappearing instantly. Suddenly one of the objects
appears off the port bow at close range and low elevation. McFarlane and
the signalman on watch see that the light is attached to a disc-shaped
object with two dozen black windows running along its side. It hovers
nearby for at least 15 minutes. (Good Need, pp. 142–143)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1812
Date: 5/20/1952
Time: l0:l0 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF pilots Capt. J. Spurgin and Capt. BB.
Stephan. One bright or white oval object moved from side-to-side while
making a gradual turn for 90 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Houston, Texas
ID: 117
Date: 5/23/1952
Description: After 11:00 p.m. Lockheed worker Orfeo
Angelucci is driving home on Victory Boulevard from his job in
Burbank, California, when he senses a force and sees a red, glowing UFO.
After a while he begins to follow it, and after he crosses the Los
Angeles River and turns onto Forest Lawn Drive, he gets to within 30
feet of it when it hovers. Just before it streaks away, two smaller
green globes, 3 feet in diameter, shoot out of it and approach him. He
hears a voice saying, “Don’t be afraid, Orfeo, we are friends.” This
begins his contact with benevolent beings from other planets. (Orfeo
Angelucci, The Secret of the Saucers, Amherst Press, 1955, pp. 1–15;
Bryant and Helen Reeve, Flying Saucer Pilgrimage, Amherst Press, 1957,
pp. 222–232;
Clark III 127–129)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1813
Date: 5/25/1952
Description: 9:27 a.m. An Air Force captain in charge of the navigation
section of Combat Crew Training School at Randolph AFB near San Antonio,
Texas, his wife, and another pilot see a group of about 12 orange-white,
tear- drop shaped lights in 3 groups of 4 moving from west to east at
2,000 mph and 10,000 feet altitude. They hear deep, soft intermittent
noise. (Ruppelt, p. 140;
Sparks,
p. 134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1814
Date: 5/25/1952
Time: 9:15 PM
Description: Witnesses: seven persons, including John Hoffman, his
family and friends. One large white circular object having dark sections
on its rim, flew straight and level for 30 minutes, appearing red when
behind a cloud.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Walnut Lake, Michigan
ID: 118
Date: 5/26/1952
Description: 3:20 a.m. Ground radar alerts the crew of an F-94 Starfire
interceptor jet over North Korea that an unidentified target is on its
tail. The jet turns, locks onto the object with onboard radar at 21,000
feet and begins to close. Both the pilot and radar operator see a
brilliant white light straight ahead. The UFO performs a steady climbing
turn and accelerates away at a tremendous speed. The jet loses the
object at a distance of 7,800 feet after 15 seconds of contact. (Haines,
Korea, pp. 40–44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1815
Date: 5/28/1952
Description: 8:30–8:40 p.m. A green fireball about one-third the size of
the full moon is seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from eight ground
points and five aircraft. Lincoln
LaPaz pinpoints the fall near Santa Fe. Around the same time, the
crew of a Flying Tiger Line C-46 near Otto, New Mexico, sees a green
fireball rise up and drop steeply down. (“2
Green Fireballs Seen by Many, LaPaz Reports,” Albuquerque Journal,
May 29, 1952, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1817
Date: 5/28/1952
Description: 1:45 p.m. Albuquerque, New Mexico, fire department
employees Martin Romero and Don Atteberry see two circular objects, one
shiny silver and the other orange or light brown, performing fast
maneuvers on three different occasions over the course of an hour above
the northeast part of the city. (NICAP, [Blue
Book case documents];
Sparks,
p. 135)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1816
Date: 5/28/1952
Time: 1:45-2:40 PM
Description: Witnesses: two city fire department employees. Two circular
objects–one shiny silver and the other orange or light brown–were seen
three times performing fast maneuvers.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
ID: 120
Date: 5/28/1952
Time: 10:30 AM
Description: Witnesses: many in crowd watching a ceremony. One
white-silver disc-shaped object flew straight and fast for 2
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Saigon, French Indo China
ID: 119
Date: 5/28/1952
End date: 5/29/1952
Description: During a night refueling mission at 8:10 p.m., the crews of
five USAF B-29 bombers see green spherical objects. The primary sighting
takes place near Albuquerque, New Mexico, and involves three B-29s
flying at 15,000 feet. Another sighting takes place around 11:30 p.m.
about 10 miles southwest of Tulsa, Oklahoma. That crew is flying at
25,000 feet. Three hours later the final sighting takes place near Enid,
Oklahoma, also with a B- 29 at 25,000 feet. The aircrews making these
reports do not think the objects are meteorites. (NICAP, “Five
B-29 Bomber
Crews Observe Green Objects”; Sparks,
p. 135)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1818
Date: 5/29/1952
Time: 7 PM
Description: Witness: USAF pilot Maj. D.W. Feuerstein, on ground. One
bright tubular object tilted from horizontal to vertical for 8 minutes,
then slowly returned to horizontal, again tilted vertical, accelerated,
appeared to lengthen and turned red. The entire sighting lasted 14
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: San Antonio, Texas
ID: 121
Date: 5/30/1952
Description: USAF Maj. William
D. Leet, copilot
on a C-54 transport mission at 8,500 feet near Oshima, Japan, sees a
dark object hovering in clouds for 7 minutes. It disappears, speeding
away in seconds. (NICAP, “C-54
Crew Encounters
Round Black Object”; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1952 January–May,
Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2000, pp. 82–83; Sparks, p. 136)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1819
Date: 5/31/1952
Description: 9:30 p.m. Mr. R. Baits is on the beach at Derna, Libya,
with three companions when he notices a soft orange- yellow light
traveling soundlessly toward them from inland at great speed and in a
straight line. Suddenly, as it reaches a point overhead, it swerves to
the east over the town, gaining height. After a few seconds it moves to
the south and begins zigzagging until it fades away into the background
of stars. (Newcastle (UK) Evening Standard, June 13, 1952; Jan
Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1822
Date: 5/31/1952
Description: Project Blue Book issues its Status Report #7. (US Air
Force, Projects
Grudge and Blue Book Reports 1–12, NICAP, 1968, pp. 113–130)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1821
Date: 5/31/1952
Description: About 4:00 a.m. Over Cheorwon, South Korea, several US
soldiers see a bright UFO that looks like a falling star, except that it
stops falling and begins to climb again. It then moves northeast at 150
mph, reverses course twice, then climbs at a 45° angle and fades from
sight. One guard hears a pulsating sound. An F-94 attempts to intercept
the brilliant white object, which takes clearly evasive maneuvers and
pulls away at 30,000 feet. (NICAP, “Jerky
Object Observed and Tracked on Radar”; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 87–90 ;
Haines, Korea, pp. 63–64;
Sparks, p. 136;
Patrick Gross, “UFO
US Military Reports, Korea, 1952”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1820
Date: 6/1952
Description: Sunset. In Tombstone, Arizona, Navy Lieut. Cmdr. John C.
Williams, his wife Josephine, and a guest see a “huge circular object”
flying toward them from the direction of Tucson. Suddenly it stops in
mid-flight, hovers, then reverses direction and retraces its course. A
few seconds later it returns, stops gain, and appears to oscillate and
tilt from one side to the other. Again it reverses its course, repeating
everything 2–3 more times. (UFOEv, p. 31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1826
Date: 6/1952
Description: Reports of UFO’s in Korean War
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: US
Date: 6/1952
Description: Big month for sightings
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: US
Date: 6/1952
Description: Truman Bethurum meets Aura Rhanes and visits saucer many
times
Type: ce4 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 6/1952
Description: Ruppelt has
four officers, two airmen, and two civilians on his permanent Blue Book
staff (including Lt. Anderson
G. Flues, Robert
M. Olsson, and Kerry Rothstien), as well as a number of scientific
consultants, including Hynek.
In the Pentagon, Maj. Dewey Fournet
Jr. is a full-time Blue Book liaison. (Ruppelt, p. 140)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1823
Date: 6/1952
Description: In the wake of mass public and governmental interest in
UFOs kindled by the provocative Life magazine article, CIA intelligence
experts Sidney
N. Graybeal (Chief, Guided Missiles Branch, Weapons and Equipment
Division, Office of Scientific Intelligence) and Irl
D’Arcy Brent (Chief, Ground Branch, W&E Division, OSI) prepare a
summary of the UFO subject for the CIA/OSI hierarchy based on the past
several years of OSI intelligence (and OSI predecessor documents going
back to ghost rockets of 1946) and mentioning sightings going back to
the Bible. The possibility of swamp gas in Michigan as an explanation
for UFOs is suggested by Brent (foreshadowing the Hynek swamp-gas
fiasco in Michigan in 1966). This report has never been acknowledged or
released by the CIA despite FOIA litigation. Its existence and contents
are revealed in Brad
Sparks’s interviews with Brent and Graybeal and other OSI officials
in 1975–1976. (NICAP, “The
1952 Sighting Wave”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1824
Date: 6/1952
Description: Jet pilots allegedly discover the wreck of a flying disc on
Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago, Norway. It is taken to Narvik,
where it is identified as either a Russian or extraterrestrial device.
Other variants of the legend claim it is a Nazi device or that it is
actually discovered on Heligoland, Germany, in the North Sea. Nick
Redfern suspects the story is planted by either Soviet or US
intelligence. (“Auf Spitzbergen landete Fliegende Untertasse,”
Saarbrücker Zeitung, June 28, 1952; Hessische Nachrichten, July 26,
1954; E. W. Grenfell, “First
Report on the Captured
Flying Saucer,” Sir! September 1954, pp. 16–17, 56–57; Le Lorrain,
October 15, 1954; Verdens Gang, December 19, 1954; Condon, pp. 90–91;
William Steinman and Wendelle C. Stevens, UFO Crash at Aztec, UFO Photo
Archives, 1987, pp. 353–366; Ole Jonny Brænne, “Legend of the
Spitsbergen Saucer,” IUR 17, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1992): 14–20; Kremlin
45–46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1825
Date: 6/1/1952
Time: 6 PM
Description: Witnesses: A/lc Beatty and two civilians. At least five
long silver objects flew in a neat box formation with a leader for 15-20
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Rapid City, South Dakota
ID: 122
Date: 6/1/1952
Time: 1 PM
Description: Witness: ex-military pilot Reserve Maj. W.C. Vollendorf.
One oval object with a “definite airfoil” performed a fast climb for 7
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Walla, Washington
ID: 123
Date: 6/1/1952
Time: 3+ PM
Description: Witness: Ray Lottman. Three glimmering objects flew
straight and level for 10 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Soap Lake, Washington
ID: 124
Date: 6/1/1952
Description: Morning. The chief of a radar test section for Hughes
Aircraft Company tracks an unidentified target coming across the San
Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles, California. It is moving at 180
mph toward Santa Monica at an altitude of 11,000 feet. The object
suddenly triples its speed to 550 mph, turns, and climbs over Los
Angeles at 35,000 feet per minute. The target then levels out for a few
seconds, goes into a high-speed dive, and levels out again at 55,000
feet. They lose the blip somewhere near Riverside. (NICAP, “Radar
Tracks Object Which Suddenly
Climbs to 55,000 Feet”; Ruppelt, pp. 141–143)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1829
Date: 6/1/1952
Description: 2:40 a.m. A cargo ship anchored at the wharf in
Port-Gentil, Gabon, observes a mysterious object fly from behind the
city, make a double loop, pass over the roadstead, and then dive toward
the sea. (ClearIntent, p. 119)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1828
Date: 6/2/1952
Time: Time unknown
Description: Witness: lst Lt. John Hendry, photo-navigator on an RB-26C
reconnaissance bomber. One porcelain-white object flew very fast for an
unknown length of time.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Fulda, West Germany
ID: 126
Date: 6/2/1952
Time: 5:02 PM
Description: Witness: Larry McWade. One purple object seen for unknown
length of time. No further information in files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Bayview, Washington
ID: 125
Date: early 6/1952
Description: 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. Violet M. Winstead and her husband are
driving in a narrow valley somewhere between Charleston and White
Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, when they see a number of lights on a
bridge crossing the valley. They begin blinking off, one by one. When
they get to the bridge, they see no street lights. (Violet M. Winstead,
Letter, IUR 9, no.1 (Jan./Feb. 1984): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1827
Date: 6/4/1952
Description: Air Force Secretary Finletter issues
a press release about his May UFO briefing, saying, “No concrete
evidence has yet reached us either to prove or disprove the existence of
the so-called flying saucers. There remain, however, a number of
sightings that the Air Force investigators have been unable to explain.
As long as this is true, the Air Force will continue to study flying
saucer reports.” (Keyhoe, FS from OS, p. 51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1830
Date: 6/4/1952
Description: RESTRICTED USAF Intelligence Report.
Type: intelligence report
Reference: Pea
Research
See also: 5/10/1952
Date: 6/5/1952
Time: 11 PM
Description: Witnesses: Dan Benson, Mr. Bacon. A total of eight yellow
circular objects, like large stars, were seen during 45 minutes. The
first two were in a trail formation, the others were seen singly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lubbock, Texas
ID: 127
Date: 6/5/1952
Time: 6:45 PM
Description: Witness: S/Sgt T.H. Shorey. One shiny round object flew 5-6
times as fast as an F-86 jet fighter for 6 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
ID: 128
Date: 6/5/1952
Time: 11 PM
Description: Witnesses: 2nd Lt. W.R. Soper, a Strategic Air Command top
secret control officer and former OSI agent; and two other persons. One
bright red object remained stationary for 4.5 minutes before speeding
away with a short tail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Offutt AFB, Omaha, Nebraska
ID: 129
Date: 6/6/1952
Time: Time unknown
Description: Case missing from official files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kimpo AFB, Korea
ID: 130
Date: 6/6/1952
Description: Battelle issues its second status report on Project Stork
to ATIC. It describes a “tentative” data sheet for observers to fill
out, a more detailed coding scheme, an example of an IBM punch card that
will be used, and plans for statistical studies. (“Seven
Status Reports for Project Stork,” CUFON; “Seven
Status Reports for Project Stork,
Part 2,” CUFON; Clark III 929)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1832
Date: 6/6/1952
Description: 8:42 a.m. Flight Sgt. Kenneth
Dudley Smith from the 77th RAAF Squadron at Kimpo Air Base [now
Gimpo International Airport] in Seoul, Korea, observes a dull silver
object in the shape of a coin performing spinning and tumbling maneuvers
for 4 minutes at 345 mph. Flight Sgt. Kenneth Fawner also sees the UFO
for 30 seconds. ([Blue
Book case documents]; Sparks, p. 137)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1831
Date: 6/7/1952
Time: 11:18 AM
Description: Witnesses: crew of B-25 bomber #8840 at 11,500’. One
rectangular aluminum object, about 6’x4’, flew 250-300’ below the
B-25.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
ID: 131
Date: 6/8/1952
Description: 10:50 a.m. Four flat, round, shiny objects in a diamond
formation are seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from the ground by
Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Markland. The objects are approximately 15,000 feet
in altitude and traveling 300 mph. There is no audible sound. They are
first seen at about 60° above the horizon to the north and are traveling
to the southwest at approximately 240°. (NICAP, “Diamond
Formation of Flat Objects Observed”; Sparks, p. 138;
Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March 2010):
10, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1833
Date: 6/8/1952
Time: 10:50 AM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Markland. Four shiny objects
flew straight and level in a diamond formation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
ID: 132
Date: 6/8/1952
Description: During a launch of a pibal balloon at Calgary, Alberta, a
silvery ellipse with a sharp outline reflecting sunlight and an aspect
ratio of 8:1 crosses the field of vision of the observer’s theodolite.
(Jan Aldrich; Project Magnet Case V)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1834
Date: 6/9/1952
Time: Time unknown
Description: Case missing from official files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
ID: 133
Date: 6/9/1952
Description: Astronomer Donald
H. Menzel writes in Time magazine that most UFOs are light
reflections caused by ice crystals, refractions, or temperature
inversions. (“An
Astronomer’s Explanation: Those Flying Saucers,” Time, June 9, 1952;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, June–July 20th, The Author, 1986, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1835
Date: 6/11/1952
Description: 6:44 p.m. Two round objects, dark blue with gray centers,
are seen moving southwest to northwest for 40 seconds at 500 mph and
6,000 feet altitude several miles east of O’Hare Airport in Chicago,
Illinois. One passes the other before disappearing. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, June–July 20th, The Author, 1986, pp. 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1836
Date: 6/12/1952
Time: 7:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: U.S. Army Major and Lt. Colonel, using
binoculars. One orange ball with a tail flew with a low angular
velocity.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ft. Smith, Arkansas
ID: 134
Date: 6/12/1952
Time: 11:26 AM
Description: Witness: T/Sgt. H.D. Adams, operating an SCR-584 radar set.
One unidentified blip tracked at 650 kts. (750 m.p.h.) at greater than
60,000’ altitude.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Marakesch, Morocco
ID: 135
Date: 6/13/1952
Time: 8:45 PM
Description: Witness: R.S. Thomas, Olmstead AFB employee and former
control tower operator. One round, orange object travelled south,
stopped for 1 second, turned east, stopped 1 second, and went
down.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Middletown, Pennsylvania
ID: 136
Date: 6/13/1952
Description: 1:00 a.m. M. Veillot and M. Damiens, air traffic control
operators at Paris–Le Bourget Airport, France, watch a prominent
orange-red light hover in the sky for about one hour. Eventually it
begins moving and crosses the sky southwest of the airport, accelerating
rapidly. The light is also seen by M. Navarri, the pilot of an
approaching Air France plane. (Michel, Truth About FS, 165–166)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1837
Date: 6/15/1952
Description: Men at work in the forest saw large, circular objects
similar to parachutes coming down. Half a dozen witnesses.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: France-Soir Jun. 18, 52 (Vallee)
Location: Magneville, France
ID: 92
Date: 6/15/1952
Description: 8:32 a.m. A meteorological assistant on reserve army
maneuvers sees a large silver disc in the sky southeast of Halifax, Nova
Scotia. It moves southwest for 30 seconds at an altitude of 5,000–8,000
feet and then rises and merges in 2–5 seconds with altocumulus clouds at
11,000–12,000 feet. Its diameter is about 100 feet and speed at least
800 mph. (Good Above, p. 184)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1838
Date: mid 6/1952
Description: Ruppelt briefs
Maj. Gen. John
A. Samford and his staff, two Navy captains from ONI, and “some
people I can’t name.” The meeting is contentious. One USAF colonel
argues that Blue Book’s investigation is biased against the ETH, which
launches an emotional debate. Ruppelt is directed to “take further steps
to obtain positive identification” of UFO reports. (Ruppelt, pp. 147–149)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1845
Date: 6/15/1952
Description: 11:50 p.m. Edward Duke, a former Navy radar technician,
sees an unidentified cigar-shaped object in the vicinity of Standiford
Field [now Louisville International Airport], Louisville, Kentucky. It
has a light on either side of the fuselage and a reddish hue on the
trailing end. The object appears to be moving at about 400–500 mph and
maneuvers around in several directions for 15 minutes, then descends and
flies away to the northeast. ([Blue Book
document]; Sparks, p. 138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1840
Date: 6/15/1952
Description: 4:20 p.m. A round shiny object is seen over Gordonsville,
Virginia. At 4:25 p.m., the crew of a commercial airliner reports a
silver sphere over Richmond, Virginia. At 4:33 p.m., a Marine fighter
jet is scrambled from Marine Corps Base Quantico in Prince William
County, Virginia, and attempts to intercept a target south of
Gordonsville but fails and returns to base. At 5:43 p.m., an Air Force
fighter attempts to intercept the same shiny sphere but after reaching
35,000 feet turns back. At 7:35 p.m., a UFO emitting a golden glow is
seen over Blackstone, Virginia. Fighter jets from Langley AFB in
Hampton, Virginia, are scrambled, but the object is gone by the time
they get there at 8:05 p.m. (Ruppelt, pp. 194–195)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1839
Date: 6/15/1952
Description: An intercept operation took place in Richmond, VA. An Air
Force T-33 jet tried to intercept a “shiny sphere” south of
Gordonsville. It was a “round, shiny object with a golden glow” above
35000 feet altitude. At 20:05 the jet lost sight of the UFO.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Gordonsville, VA
Date: 6/15/1952
Time: 11:50 PM
Description: Witness: Edward Duke, ex-U.S. Navy radar technician. One
large, cigar-shaped object with a blunt front, lit sides and a red
stern, maneuvered in a leisurely fashion for 15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
ID: 137
Date: 6/16/1952
Time: 8:30 PM
Description: Witness: USAF maintenance specialist S/Sgt. Sparks. Five or
six greyish discs, in a half-moon formation, flew at 500-600 m.p.h. for
l minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Walker AFB, New Mexico
ID: 138
Date: 6/17/1952
Description: Astronomer Donald
Menzel writes in an article in Look magazine about how he creates
temperature-inversion UFOs in his laboratory. (Donald H. Menzel, “The
Truth about Flying Saucers,” Look 16, no. 13 (June 17, 1952): 35–39;
NICAP, “The
Truth about Flying Saucers, Look
Magazine”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1842
Date: 6/17/1952
Time: Between 7:30 and 10:20 PM
Description: Witnesses: many and varied. From one to five large
silver-yellow objects flew erratically, stopped and started for about 15
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: McChord AFB, Washington
ID: 139
Date: 6/17/1952
Time: 1:28 AM
Description: Witness: pilot of USAF F-94 jet interceptor. A light like a
bright star crossed the nose of the airplane while being observed for 15
seconds. No further information in the files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Cape Cod, Massachusetts
ID: 140
Date: 6/17/1952
Description: 7:30–10:20 p.m. Many witnesses at McChord AFB [now Joint
Base Lewis-McChord] south of Tacoma, Washington, see 5–6 yellowish
discs, tracked by radar and theodolite. Several F-94s are scrambled.
(NICAP, “1– 5
Silver Yellow Objects Stop and Start”; Sparks,
p. 138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1843
Date: 6/17/1952
Description: 8:45 p.m.. Orville Foster, a US Weather Bureau observer at
the Pueblo (Colorado) Memorial Airport, watches a UFO through the
bureau’s theodolite. It circles leisurely for 10 minutes, then
disappears toward the northeast. (“‘Flying Saucer’ Sighted at Pueblo,”
Leadville (Colo.) Herald-Democrat, June 18, 1952; Project 1947, “UFO Reports,
1952”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1844
Date: 6/17/1952
Description: 1:28 a.m. A USAF F-94 pilot sees a light like a bright star
cross the nose of his jet at blinding speed over Cape Cod,
Massachusetts, for 15 seconds. (Sparks, p. 138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1841
Date: 6/18/1952
Description: EBE1 dies of unknown causes according to the Carter
Aquarius document
Type: majestic document
Reference: link
Attributes: Majestic
Date: 6/18/1952
Time: 9 AM
Description: Witness: R.A. Finger. One crescent-shaped object hovered
for several seconds and then sped away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Columbus, Wisconsin
ID: 141
Date: 6/18/1952
Time: 10 PM
Description: Witnesses: Marron Hoffman and four relatives, using 4x
binoculars. One orange light was observed zigzagging and then hovering
for an unspecified length of time.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Walnut Lake, Michigan
ID: 142
Date: 6/18/1952
Description: According to Sgt. Richard
Doty’s 1980s disinformation, the living alien retrieved in 1949
(EBE-1) and kept at Los Alamos, New Mexico, dies of unknown causes.
(Clark III 364)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1847
Date: 6/18/1952
Description: 5:00 p.m. USAF Capt. Erie P. Ashton and 2nd Lt. Clifton
Ashley, while flying a B-25 about 100 miles east of March AFB [now March
Air Reserve Base] in southern California, sight a silver object at
approximately 11,000 feet in altitude off their left wing. The object is
longer than it is wide and is in sight for about 39 minutes. (NICAP, “UFO
Paces B-25”; Sparks,
p. 138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1846
Date: 6/19/1952
Description: 9:50 p.m. A former Army Air Force ground crew member sees a
UFO flying in a swirling motion over the backyard of his home in
Trenton, New Jersey. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, June–July 20th, The Author, 1986, p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1851
Date: 6/19/1952
Description: 6:00 p.m. Army Capt. Harold Hermann and his wife see a
round, silver UFO speeding across the sky at Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania.
(“‘Flying
Saucers’ Sighted,” New York Times, June 24, 1952, p. 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1850
Date: 6/19/1952
Description: 1:30 p.m. Four silvery UFOs are seen by many witnesses in
Tacoma, Washington, flying silently at a high altitude. Unofficial
sources report that the objects are tracked on radar at McChord AFB [now
Joint Base Lewis- McChord] in Tacoma and jets are scrambled. (Tacoma
(Wash.) Reporter, June 20, 1952; Shoot 9; Michael D. Swords,
“Intelligent Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March 2010): 11, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1849
Date: 6/19/1952
Description: 2:37 a.m. At Goose Bay AFB [now CFB Goose Bay], Labrador,
radar men pick up a UFO track. 2nd Lt. A’Gostino and others outside see
a strange, red-lighted object come in over the field. The radar blip
suddenly enlarges, as if the device has banked, exposing a larger
surface to the radar beam. The watching airmen see the red light wobble
or flutter. After a moment the light turns white and quickly disappears.
Apparently, the unknown craft has gone into a steep climb. Keyhoe assumes
the radar and visual sightings are simultaneous, but Blue Book records
indicate they are separate. (NICAP, “Target
Suddenly Enlarges”; Keyhoe, FS from OS, p. 52;
Sparks,
p. 139; Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report,
Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 55–56)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1848
Date: 6/19/1952
Time: 2:37 AM
Description: Witness: 2nd Lt. A’Gostino and unidentified radar operator.
One red light turned white while wobbling. Radar tracked a stationary
target during the 1 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada
ID: 143
Date: 6/19/1952
Time: 2 PM
Description: Witness: USAF pilot John Lane. One round, white object flew
straight and level for 10 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Yuma, Arizona
ID: 144
Date: 6/20/1952
Description: 3:03 p.m. A flight of four US Marine Corps captains and
pilots (Bobbie
Foster, Richard
Francisco, Teddy
L. Pittman, and
Ronnie
A. McDonald) of F4U-4B Corsair fighters with the 7302nd Squadron
over central Korea see a silvery-white object passing below them,
banking into a left turn. As the object circles around, Foster dives
toward the object, which appears to be 10–20 feet in diameter. It flies
away at an estimated speed of 1,000 mph and disappears toward friendly
lines. (NICAP, “F4U-4B
Corsairs Encounter Circling UFO”; Sparks,
p. 139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1852
Date: 6/20/1952
Time: 3:03 PM
Description: Witnesses: four Marine Corps Captains and pilots of F4U-4B
Corsair fighter planes. One 10-20’ white or silver oval object made a
left-hand orbit at terrific speed for 60 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Central Korea
ID: 145
Date: summer 1952
Description: Mrs. Rogers saw an object descend slowly and pass across a
pasture at 7 m altitude. She stopped her car and observed it was
“wobbling” in mid-air, was shaped like a turtle, and showed three
oarlike protrusions that moved slowly. Estimated dimensions: 5 by 4 m, 1
m thick. It was greenish-gray in color, emitted a blue flame, but showed
no other light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Barker 78 (Vallee)
Location: Martin County, Texas
ID: 91
Date: summer 1952
Description: Denis Plunkett forms a British branch of Albert
K. Bender’s International Flying Saucer Bureau in Bristol, England.
When Bender closes down IFSB in late September 1953, the branch becomes
the British Flying Saucer Bureau, with his son E. L. Plunkett as
president. It publishes Flying Saucer News from Spring 1953 to Spring
1956 and Flying Saucer News Bulletin from February 1955 through 1957.
(Flying
Saucer News, no. 1 (Spring 1953); Flying
Saucer News Bulletin, no. 1 (February 1955))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1868
Date: summer 1952
Description: Night. Radar at MacDill AFB in Tampa, Florida, picks up a
target at 40,000 feet flying at 460 mph. A nearby B-29 volunteers to
investigate, searching until midnight. The pilot, a USAF colonel,
finally reports a visual sighting of the UFO, flying at 40,000 feet and
250 mph and appearing as a glowing white light shaped like a football.
The object changes course and disappears at high speed. (UFOEv, p. 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1869
Date: 6/21/1952
Description: 10:58 p.m. A Ground Observer Corps spotter at Oak Ridge,
Tennessee, sees a small (6–8 inches in diameter), slow-moving UFO near
the AEC plant. GCI radar obtains the target, but it fades from the
scope. An F-97 on combat air patrol engages in a “dogfight” with the
object, which makes “ramming attacks” at the aircraft. It blinks until
it speeds away. (NICAP, “Radar
Visual near AEC Plant”; Ruppelt, p. 43;
Sparks, p. 139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1854
Date: Summer 1952
Description: While Operation INTERCEPT was in effect, two North American
F-86 Operation INTERCEPT Sabre fighters were vectored onto a target UFO.
The pilots had a broad daylight view of the UFO and fired tracer bullets
at it before it accelerated out of range. The officer who fired the
bullets was debriefed by his Colonel (name withheld) and the base
commander told Capt. Ruppelt to destroy the report (according to Ruppelt
himself).
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
See also: 7/52
Date: summer 1952
Time: 0300
Description: A woman was awakened by a thunderclap and a strong bluish
light. As she got out, she saw a large number of hovering disk-shaped
machines resembling “inverted soup plates” 200 m away at an altitude of
about 1 m. She observed them for 30 min, saw two figures standing on one
of the craft and looking at the sky. They went back inside, and shortly
thereafter the “fleet” took off, one object at a time.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68,1 (Vallee)
Location: Itenhaem, Brazil
ID: 90
Date: 6/21/1952
Time: 12:30 PM
Description: Witness: T/Sgt. Howard Davis, flight engineer of B-29
bomber at 8,000’ altitude. One flat object with a sharply pointed front
and rounded rear; white with a dark blue center and red rim, trailed
sparks as it dove past the B-29 at a distance of 500’, in l
second.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kelly AFB, Texas
ID: 146
Date: 6/21/1952
Description: 12:30 p.m. T/Sgt. Howard Davis, flight engineer of a B-29
bomber flying at 8,000 feet altitude near Kelly AFB [now Kelly Field] in
San Antonio, Texas, sees a small, flat object with a sharply pointed
front and rounded rear. It is white with a dark blue center and red rim
and trails sparks as it dives past the B-29 at a distance of 500 feet in
one second. (NICAP, “B-29
Encounters Flat Object with Pointed Front”; Sparks,
p. 140)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1853
Date: 6/22/1952
Description: 10:45 p.m. Two US Marine sergeants see a 4-foot diameter
orange object dive at a runway from the north, dropping from 800 to 100
feet altitude over the west end of the runway at Pyeongtaek military
base, South Korea, shooting 2–5-foot red flames. It then heads west at
about 300–450 mph for 2–3 seconds, hovers briefly over a hill, turns
180° in 45–60 seconds, flashes, heads east a half mile, flashes again,
and blinks out. No sound. (Hynek UFO Report, pp. 82–83;
Sparks, p. 140)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1855
Date: 6/22/1952
Time: 10:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: Two Marine Corps Sergeants. One 4 ft. diameter
object dove at a runway shooting red flames, hovered briefly over a
hill, turned 180, flashed twice and was gone.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pyungthek, Korea
ID: 147
Date: 6/23/1952
Time: 6:08 AM
Description: Witness: USAF pilot of the l8th Fighter-Bomber Group. One
black coin-shaped object, 15-20’ in diameter, made an irregular
descent.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Location unknown, but information came via Japan Hq. “CV
4359”
ID: 153
Date: 6/23/1952
Time: 4:05 PM
Description: Witness: Airport weather observer Rex Thompson. One round
disc with a metallic shine flashed, and fluttered like a flipped coin
for 5-7 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Spokane, Washington
ID: 148
Date: 6/23/1952
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witness: 2nd Lt. K. Thompson. One very large light flew
straight and level for 10 minutes. No further information.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: McChord AFB, Washington
ID: 149
Date: 6/23/1952
Time: 10:00 AM
Description: Witness: National Guard Lt. Col. O. L. Depp. Two objects
looking like “giant soap bubbles”, reflecting yellow and lavender
colors, flew in trail for 5 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Owensboro, Kentucky
ID: 152
Date: 6/23/1952
Time: Time unknown
Description: Case missing from official files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kirksville, Missouri
ID: 150
Date: 6/23/1952
Description: 1:30 a.m. USAF ADC radar operators Lt. A. N. Robinson
Jr. and Airman Ray H. Foote, plus 5 other controllers, officers, and
maintenance technicians at Kirksville Air Force Station in Missouri,
track a hard target with a clear sharp return about the size of a B-29.
It suddenly appears 85 miles north-northwest of the station, moving at a
constant speed of about 3,600+ mph on a straight path for about 125
miles for 2 minutes. Then it vanishes. A second target appears at 1:35
a.m. (NICAP, “Seven
ADC Men Track 3,600 MPH Target”; Michael D. Swords, “Case Missing,”
IUR 19, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1994): 20; Sparks,
p. 141)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1856
Date: 6/23/1952
Description: 3:30 a.m. Secretary Martha Milligan sees a bullet-shaped
object emitting a burnt-orange exhaust fly straight and level over Oak
Ridge, Tennessee. (NICAP, “June
23, 1952: Oak Ridge, Tenn.”; Sparks,
p. 141)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1857
Date: 6/23/1952
Description: 10:00 a.m. National Guard Lt. Col. Oren
Laramore Depp [Johnny
Depp’s grandfather] sees two objects looking like giant soap bubbles
reflecting yellow and lavender colors flying in line over Owensboro,
Kentucky. (Sparks, p. 141)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1858
Date: 6/23/1952
Description: 4:05 pm. Airport weather observer Rex Thompson sees a round
disc with a metallic shine flash and flutter like a flipped coin for 5–7
minutes over Geiger Field [now Spokane International Airport], Spokane,
Washington. (NICAP, “June
23, 1952: Spokane, Wash.”; Sparks, p. 140)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1859
Date: 6/23/1952
Description: 9:00 p.m. 2d Lt. K. Thompson sees a very large light flying
straight and level for 10 minutes at McChord AFB [now Joint Base
Lews-McChord] near Tacoma, Washington. (Sparks,
p. 140; Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March
2010): 11, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1860
Date: 6/23/1952
Time: 3:30 AM
Description: Witness: secretary Martha Milligan. One bullet-shaped
object with burnt-orange exhaust flew straight and level for 30-60
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee
ID: 151
Date: 6/24/1952
Description: The first issue of Ouranos is published by the Commission
Internationale d’Enquêtes sur les Soucoupes Volantes, in Paris. (Ouranos, no.
1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1861
Date: 6/25/1952
Description: Wilbert
B. Smith writes an “Interim Report on Project Magnet,” in which he
states: “If, as appears evident, the flying saucers are emissaries from
some other civilization, and actually do operate no magnetic principles,
we have before us the fact that we have missed something in magnetic
theory but have a good indication of the direction in which to look for
the missing quantities.” (Good Above, p. 185)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1862
Date: 6/25/1952
Description: 8:30 p.m. Mrs. Daniel Norbury and Lawrence Matheis see a
bright yellow-white, egg-shaped object, sometimes with a red tail, make
seven circles over Chicago, Illinois. (NICAP, “June
25, 1952: Chicago, Illinois”; Sparks, p. 141)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1863
Date: 6/25/1952
Time: 8:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mrs. Norbury, Mr. Matheis. One bright
yellow-white, egg-shaped object which sometimes had a red tail, made
seven circles in 1 1/2 hours.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Chicago, Illinois
ID: 154
Date: 6/25/1952
Time: Time unknown
Description: Case missing from official files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Japan-Korea area
ID: 155
Date: 6/26/1952
Time: 2:45 AM
Description: Witness: USAF 2nd Lt. C. W. Povelites. Undescribed object
flew at 600 m.p.h. and then stopped. No further information in
files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Terre Haute, Indiana
ID: 156
Date: 6/26/1952
Time: 11:50 PM
Description: Witness: assistant manager of airport. Three sightings of
flashing lights: two lights separated by 2 miles, with the leader
flashing steadily and the other irregularly; two similarly flashing
lights, but with l mile separation; finally a single light. Speed
estimated at 150-250 m.p.h.. Total of 1/2 hour.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pottstown, Pennsylvania
ID: 157
Date: 6/27/1952
End date: 6/30/1952
Description: Ruppelt visits
McChord AFB in Tacoma, Washington, to look into recent sightings there.
Capt. Harnnagy of the 4704 Air Defense Wing Intelligence tells him that
the objects are always seen in the northern sky around 8:00 p.m. (Loren
E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, June–July 20th, The Author, 1986, pp. 23–24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1864
Date: 6/27/1952
Time: 6:50 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF pilot 2nd Lt. K. P. Kelly and wife. One
pulsating red object which changed shape from a circular to a vertical
oval as it pulsed. Was stationary for about 5 minutes, then went
out.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Topeka, Kansas
ID: 158
Date: 6/28/1952
Description: 1:20 p.m. Two observers at the Cargo Air Service hangar at
Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, New Mexico, see two silvery discs high in
the sky and moving to the south. They noiselessly climb nearly
vertically at high speed, one going south-southeast, the other heading
almost due east. The observation lasts 30 seconds. (J. Allen Hynek, THE
UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 68–69;
Sparks, p. 142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1865
Date: 6/28/1952
Time: 6 PM
Description: Witness: G. Metcalfe. One silver-white sphere became an
ellipse as it turned and climbed away very fast. 10 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lake Kishkanoug, Wisconsin
ID: 159
Date: 6/28/1952
Time: 4:10 PM
Description: Witness: Capt. T. W. Barger, USAF electronics
countermeasures officer. One dark blue elliptical-shaped object with a
pulsing border flew straight and level at 700-800 m.p.h..
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Nagoya, Japan
ID: 160
Date: 6/29/1952
Time: 5:45 PM
Description: witnesses: three USAF air policemen. One bright silver,
flat oval object surrounded by a blue haze, hovered, then moved very
fast to the right and to the left, and up and down for 45 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: O’Hare Airport, Chicago, Illinois
ID: 161
Date: 6/29/1952
Description: 5:45 p.m. Three Air Force police officers of the 83rd Air
Base Squadron at O’Hare Airport in Chicago spot a flat, oval object as
it hovers between two radio towers about 7 miles away. It is bright
silver in color, encircled by white haze, and appears about 30 feet in
diameter. During the next 45 minutes the object moves to the southwest
and then back north. It accelerates instantaneously to a speed faster
than a jet fighter. ([Blue
Book documents]; Sparks, p. 143)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1866
Date: 6/30/1952
Description: Ruppelt says
that by this time there is a split in opinion in the military about what
to do about UFOs. One group assumes that UFOs are interplanetary, and
information must be withheld at a top-secret level. “The enthusiasm of
this group took a firm hold in the Pentagon, at Air Defense Command
headquarters, on the Research and Development Board, and many other
agencies.” (Ruppelt, pp. 152–153)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1867
Date: 7/1952
Description: Pilots Nash and Fortenberry see 6 discs.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 7/1952
Description: Edgar
Jarrold begins the Australian Flying Saucer Bureau in Sydney, New
South Wales, Australia’s first civilian UFO organization, following his
personal observation of two fast-moving yellow lights in the sky over
Fairfield, New South Wales. (“Saucers
on His Mind,” Sydney (N.S.W.) Morning Gazette, February 2, 1954,
p. 7; Clark III 632)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1870
Date: 7/1952
Description: Ohio Northern University sets up Project “A” to investigate
the UFO’s.
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Ohio Northern University
Date: 7/1952
Description: Afternoon. A man driving a car near Schenectady, New York,
sees an oblong object hovering nearby. A gondola lowers from the object
and a bunch of “Navy officers in white hats” rush to the windows. All
are wearing huge dark glasses. The gondola goes back up, and three
smaller UFOs appear and go inside the bigger one. (Center for UFO
Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1952–1953, p. 10; Clark III 267)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1871
Date: 7/1952
Description: The administration and faculty of Ohio Northern University,
in Ada, Ohio, announce the formation of Project A: Investigation of
Phenomena, saying that members of the engineering, pharmacy, law, and
liberal arts colleges will examine the evidence for UFOs under the
direction of Dean Warren
L. Hickman. Project A personnel seek reports from the public and
collect newspaper clippings. The project receives a disappointing 54
completed questionnaires, far lower than the 200 they would like for a
scientific sampling. However, they do estimate that about 20% involve
“unnatural phenomena.” After unsuccessful attempts to obtain reports
from Civilian Saucer Investigation in Los Angeles and other groups, the
university closes the project down in mid-1954. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, August, The Author, 1986, p. 3; Clark III 916; Curt
Collins, “Project
A: The Short Life
of a UFO Study,” September 21, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1872
Date: 7/1/1952
Description: 8:40–9:15 a.m. Two silvery objects move south along the
East Coast and hover near Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, for about 5 minutes
at 50,000 feet. As radar at Fort Monmouth detects the objects, they put
on a burst of speed and head southwest toward Washington, D.C.,
confirmed visually. At about 12:00 noon, a physics professor at George
Washington University in D.C. sees a grayish UFO hovering and arcing
back and forth across the sky for about 8 minutes. He guesses about 500
people are watching the object. (NICAP, “Objects
Tracked at 50,000ʹ, G/V”;
Ruppelt, pp. 151–152;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, June–July 20th, The Author, 1986, pp. 36– 37; Sparks,
p. 144)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1875
Date: 7/1/1952
Description: 7:25 a.m. A Ground Observer Corps spotter sees a UFO headed
southwest across Boston, Massachusetts. Two F-94s are scrambled. Erwin
W. Nelson and his wife at Lynn, Massachusetts, notice two vapor trails
from the climbing jets, look around, and see in the west a bright silver
“cigar shaped object about six times as long as it was wide” heading
over Boston at a very high altitude. An identical UFO is following the
first some distance back. No vapor trails are visible. The witnesses
watch the F-94s search back and forth far below the UFOs. At 7:30, USAF
Capt. Robert
E. Metcalf, petroleum officer for the 6520th Test Support Wing, and
USAF air policemen M/Sgt James
Stiner and M/Sgt Joseph R. Bosh, 6520th Air Police Squadron, at
Hanscom Field, Bedford, Massachusetts, see the two jets, look for what
they are intercepting, and see to the east a 100-foot-long silvery
ellipse “fatter than a cigar” traveling southwest. At two points, the
object seems to hover, then continues at about 40,000 feet. The object’s
path intersects contrails of the two jets heading southeast. Metcalf
loses sight of the object on his way to the tower after a few minutes,
then sees it again at about 7:40 a.m., noting it has increased distance
“considerably,” but finally loses sight of it at the tower. ([Blue
Book document]; UFOEv, p. 160;
Ruppelt, pp. 150–151;
Sparks, p. 144)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1874
Date: 7/1/1952
Description: J.
Robert Moskin’s article appears in Look magazine. It features
Gen. Hoyt
Vandenberg’s declaration that “we cannot afford to be complacent”
about UFOs. Keyhoe says
that the article has upset the “silence group” in the Pentagon. (J.
Robert Moskin, “Hunt
for the Flying Saucer,” Look. July 1, 1952, pp. 37–41; Keyhoe, FS
from OS, pp. 52–53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1873
Date: 7/2/1952
Description: 11:10 a.m. As he is driving on a highway seven miles north
of Tremonton, Utah, US Navy Chief Petty Officer Delbert C. Newhouse and
his wife see a strange object in the sky. Newhouse pulls the car to the
side of the road, gets out, and watches 12–14 UFOs at about 10,000 feet.
Looking like “two pie pans, one inverted on top of the other,” they are
clustered in a loose formation, “milling around.” He takes about 75
seconds worth of film through the telephoto lens of his 16mm movie
camera, though the objects have receded a bit to shiny points of light.
At one point a single object leaves the pack, heading east, and Newhouse
holds the camera still so the UFO crosses the field of view. He repeats
the procedure 3-4 times. Blue Book obtains the film and sends it to the
USAF Photo- Reconnaissance Laboratory and the Navy’s Photo
Interpretation Laboratory. Both analyses eliminate the possibility of
aircraft or birds. (NICAP, “The
Tremonton, Utah / Newhouse Color Film”; “Delbert
Newhouse UFO
Footage, 1952, Tremonton, Utah,” parkerdonaldmusic YouTube channel,
September 29, 2012; Ruppelt, pp. 220–222;
UFOEv, pp. 88, 112;
Hynek UFO Report, pp. 235–239;
Condon, pp. 418–426;
“Turner on Tremonton,” IUR 3, no. 5 (May 1978): 6; Swords 149; Clark III
1203–1204; Kevin D. Randle, “Newhouse’s
Tremonton, Utah Movie
Revisited,” A Different Perspective, December 12, 2013; Patrick
Gross, “Tremonton,
Utah, UFO Color Film
of July 2, 1952”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1876
Date: 7/3/1952
Description: 4:15 a.m. A witness on the Manitou Beach Highway near Rome
Center, Michigan, watches two circular lights about 20 feet in diameter
flying horizontally at tremendous speed at only a few hundred feet
altitude. (NICAP, “July
3, 1952: Selfridge AFB, Mich.”; Sparks, p. 145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1877
Date: 7/3/1952
Description: 11:50 p.m. Mrs. J. D. Arbuckle sees two bright pastel-green
discs fly straight and level very fast for 6 seconds over Chicago,
Illinois. The next day the Air Force public information office at O’Hare
Airport says it has received 16 reports of UFOs over Chicago in the past
week. An Air Force spokesman says that jet patrols are on alert 24 hours
a day. (Sparks, p. 145;
“Deny
Reports of ‘Saucers’ Alerts,” Waterloo (Iowa) Courier, July 4, 1952,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1878
Date: 7/3/1952
Time: 4:15 AM
Description: Witnesses not identified. Two big lights, estimated at 20’
diameter, flew straight and level at tremendous speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Selfridge AFB, Michigan
ID: 162
Date: 7/3/1952
Time: 11:50 PM
Description: Witness: Mrs. J. D. Arbuckle. Two bright pastel green discs
flew straight and level very fast for 6 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Chicago, Illinois
ID: 163
Date: 7/5/1952
Description: 6:00 a.m. Four commercial pilots flying at 9,000 feet above
the Hanford atomic site in Washington State observe a disc just below a
deck of wispy clouds directly above their C-46. The witnesses are
Capt. John Baldwin, Capt. George Robertson, H. D. Shenkel, and Steven
Summers. Baldwin says that the disc stands still at first and then seems
to back away and change shape, becoming flat, gaining speed, and then
disappearing. Robertson says “we couldn’t pick it up on our radar. We
reversed our course and went back, but we couldn’t spot it again.”
(NICAP, “C-46
Crew Observe Disc over AEC Plant”; Hynek UFO Report, p. 53;
Sparks, p. 145;
Swords 149)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1879
Date: 7/5/1952
Description: 7:58 p.m. Oklahoma State Patrolman Arthur Myers Hamilton is
flying five miles south-southeast of Norman, Oklahoma, in a State Patrol
airplane when he sees three dark discs 4–8 miles away at 6,000 feet
hover for 15 seconds then fly away, silhouetted against a dark cloud.
(NICAP, “Three
Dark Discs Sighted from State Patrol Airplane”;
Sparks, p. 145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1880
Date: 7/5/1952
Time: 7:58 PM
Description: Witness: Oklahoma State Patrolman Hamilton in State Patrol
airplane. Three dark discs hovered and then flew away, silhouetted
against a dark cloud. 15 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
ID: 164
Date: 7/6/1952
Time: 11:00 PM
Description: July 6-12, 1952. Witness: Charles Muhr. Four pictures taken
of some indistinct light which was admittedly not seen visually, but
which appeared on the negatives.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Elizabeth, New Jersey
ID: 165
Date: 7/7/1952
Description: Battelle issues its third status report on Project Stork to
ATIC. It mentions that Hynek has been consulted on the observer’s data
sheet, suggested some changes, and is in the process of interviewing
astronomers about any potential sightings made by them. The group has
studied and coded UFO reports from 1948. (“Seven
Status Reports
for Project Stork,” CUFON)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1881
Date: 7/8/1952
Description: A commissionaire on duty at an army depot in Ottawa,
Ontario, sees a bright orange light about a quarter size of the full
moon travel from south to north, turn, and travel south again. (Jan
Aldrich; Project Magnet Case X)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1882
Date: 7/9/1952
Time: 3:35 PM
Description: Witnesses: S/Sgt. D.P. Foster and three other persons.
Three times, a single white, disc-shaped object sped by, straight and
level, in 5 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Rapid City AFB, South Dakota
ID: 168
Date: 7/9/1952
Description: 5:30 p.m. Farmer John Mittl watches an aluminum,
oval-shaped object silently change direction and attitude above his farm
2 miles east of Kutztown, Pennsylvania, finally tipping on end and
departing. He manages to take three photos. (Claude Falkstrom and Curt
Collins, “John
Mittl: From Unsolved UFOs to Astral Encounters,” The Saucers That
Time Forgot,” July 13, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1884
Date: 7/9/1952
Description: 12:45 p.m. USAF Maj. Claude
K. Griffin is driving one mile north of Colorado Springs, Colorado,
when he sees a luminous white object shaped like an airfoil moving
slowly and erratically like a corkscrew. He estimates its size at 100
feet, distance at 15–20 miles, and altitude at 30,000 feet, heading
northwest. Griffin stops the car to watch for 12 minutes. USAF Maj. E.
R. Hayden and his wife come out of their house and look at the object in
a 4x rifle scope. He describes it as rectangular, silver on one side,
and black on the other. It flutters as it moves slowly north-northwest
above 20,000 feet 20 miles away. It gains altitude and gradually
diminishes to a black dot, then accelerates to a high speed and
disappears. ([Blue
Book documents]; Sparks, p. 145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1883
Date: 7/9/1952
Time: 6:30 PM
Description: Witness: farmer John Mittl. One aluminum, oval-shaped
object changed direction and attitude, finally tipping on end and
departing after 20 seconds. Case file includes three vague
photographs.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kutztown, Pennsylvania
ID: 167
Date: 7/9/1952
Time: 12:45 PM
Description: Witness: USAF pilot Maj. C. K. Griffin. One object shaped
like an airfoil less its trailing edge, luminous white, moved slowly and
erratically for 12 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
ID: 166
Date: 7/10/1952
Description: Night. Forty crew members of the Canadian destroyer HMCS
Crusader off
Korea see two shiny discs and track them on radar. The radar fix places
them at 10,560 feet altitude and 7 miles distant. (NICAP, “Naval Destroyer
Observes Two Discs / Tracks on Radar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1887
Date: 7/10/1952
Description: Night. A Marine pilot on night maneuvers near Marine Corps
Base Quantico, Virginia, spots two green objects shoot straight across
the sky at terrific speed at a high altitude. (“Radar
Sees ‘Saucers,’ AF
Investigating,” July 22, 1952, pp. 1A, 6A)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1886
Date: 7/10/1952
Description: 8:18 p.m. Capt. James E. Lundy and First Officer Leon
Blanks are flying a National Airlines C-60 airplane 15 miles south of
Quantico, Virginia, when they see an object resembling an aircraft
landing light. The object becomes brighter as it approaches from the
north. It then performs a climbing turn away from the aircraft and its
appearance changes, resembling a light emitted by a red flare. Visible
for 10 minutes, it is flying too fast for any known aircraft. (NICAP,
“Light
Maneuvers near C-60 Airliner”; Sparks,
p. 146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1885
Date: 7/11/1952
Description: Oscar Linke, former Wehrmacht major, and his daughter
Gabrielle, 11, had to leave their motorcycle when they had a flat tire.
Inside the woods the girl noticed two men in silvery suits examining the
ground in a clearing near a pink disk-shaped object, 8 m in diameter,
showing a double row of openings around the rim and a black turret on
top. One of the men had a flashing box. Both men went inside, and the
disk vibrated, rose along the turretlike cylinder, then spun faster and
rose out of sight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Guieu 52 (Vallee)
Location: Hasselbach, Germany
ID: 93
Date: 7/11/1952
Description: The Air Technical Liaison Office, Directorate of
Intelligence for the Far East Air Force, prepares Intelligence Report
#29-52, detailing Air Force, Navy, and Marine radar UFO reports for
1950–1952 in Korea and Japan. (Capt. Charles J. Malven, “FLYOBRPT:
Japan/Korea Area,” IR-29-52, July 11, 1952)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1888
Date: 7/12/1952
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witnesses: many radar controllers who were military
officers. Several big blips tracked on radar at 1,500 kts. (1,700
m.p.h.). There was no visual sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kirksville, Missouri
ID: 170
Date: 7/12/1952
Time: 3:30 PM
Description: Witness: insurance company president William Washburn. Four
large, elliptical-shaped objects were seen to fly very fast, stop, turn
90 degrees and fly away in 7-8 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Annapolis, Maryland
ID: 169
Date: 7/12/1952
Description: 9:04 p.m. Two USAF F-86 Sabre jets with the 62nd Flight
Squadron are flying at 22,000 feet on a routine training mission (or on
a scramble mission) over Arlington Heights, Illinois. Capt. Robert W.
Casey Jr., after coming out of a right turn, sees an oblong yellowish
lighted object with an exhaust moving in a straight course about 15
miles away south of Elgin, Illinois, at 22,000 feet traveling at 800
mph. The F-86 pursues at maximum speed, but the object pulls away. Both
pilots hear a strange radio transmission on their restricted
communications channel during the pursuit saying the name of the pursuit
pilot, Casey, in an ethereal “ghost-like” monotone. Apparently, this is
a prank by Casey’s fighter pilot buddies at the 62nd who are monitoring
his channel, though this is later officially denied by the 62nd. (NICAP,
“F-86
on Scramble Mission / Strange Radio Transmission”; Sparks, p. 147)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1890
Date: 7/12/1952
Description: 8:42 p.m. O’Hare AFB weather observer Capt. W. J. Shea and
a civilian, Jane Morrison, watch three lights, one main red light with
smaller white lights on each side, traveling 500 mph at 40,000–50,000
feet over Montrose Beach, Chicago, Illinois, from the west-northwest.
They accelerate to the south and make a 180° turn heading
north-northwest, then disappear. The UFO is seen by 400+ people, with 14
others making reports to the 4706th Defense Wing located at O’Hare
Airport. (Ruppelt, p. 153;
Sparks,
pp. 146–147)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1889
Date: 7/13/1952
Description: 4:00 a.m. Capt. William Bruen, piloting National Airline
Flight 611 heading north from Jacksonville, Florida, sees a round ball
of bluish-white light about 60 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.,
hovering to the west then ascending to the airliner’s altitude of 11,000
feet, then parallel course off left wing at about 2 miles distance. It
takes off upwards at 1,000 mph when Bruen turns on all aircraft lights.
(NICAP, “Light
Ascends, Paces Aircraft, Takes
Off Vertically”; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 90–91;
Sparks, p. 148)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1891
Date: 7/14/1952
Time: 8:12 PM
Description: Witnesses: Pan American Airways First Officer William Nash,
Second Officer William Fortenberry. Eight large, round, glowing red
objects maneuvered below their airliner, in formation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Norfolk, Virginia
ID: 171
Date: 7/14/1952
Description: Pan American pilots see formation of UFO’s.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 7/14/1952
Description: The Ground Observer Corps expands into Operation Skywatch,
consisting of 750,000 volunteers aged 7 to 86 years old working around
the clock in shifts at more than 16,000 posts and 73 filter centers to
detect a sneak attack against the United States. The expansion follows
an Army announcement from a few weeks earlier that antiaircraft guns and
personnel are on continuous duty in key areas. (Radomes.org, “Ground
Observer Corps,” January 31, 2001; Shoot 21–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1892
Date: 7/14/1952
Description: 9:12 p.m. Some 8,000 feet above the Chesapeake Bay in
Maryland/Virginia, Capt. William
B. Nash and
copilot First Officer William
H. Fortenberry, flying
a Pan American Airways DC-4, see six crimson dots at 30°. The dots are
streaking in their direction like tracer bullets. As they get closer,
they resolve into reddish-orange circles, about 100 feet in diameter and
15 feet thick, with sharply defined edges. Nash says they are holding a
“narrow echelon formation.” When they are nearly underneath the
aircraft, “they flipped on edge, the sides to the left of us going up
and the glowing surfaces facing right. While all were in the edgewise
position, the last five slid over and past the leader so that the
echelon was now tail foremost.” Then they all flip over again into a
flat attitude. Two new, brighter UFOs join the formation, and the lights
of all eight objects blink out then come on again. They all speed
westward (Nash estimates 6,000–12,000 mph) and climb in a graceful 45°
arc. The entire sighting lasts only 15 seconds. Possible corroboration
comes from a sighting in Camden, New Jersey, although the date is
uncertain. (Wikipedia, “Nash-Fortenberry UFO sighting”; “Miami
Pilots Spot 8 Saucers Flying
in Formation,”
Miami (Fla.) Herald, July 16, 1952, pp. 1A, 8A; NICAP, “Nash
/ Fortenberry Case”; Sparks,
p. 150; William B. Nash and William H. Fortenberry, “We
Flew Above Flying Saucers,” True, October 1952, pp. 65, 110–112;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 47; Clark III 791; Good Above, pp. 269–270;
“The
Pilot’s Tale,” Saturday Night Uforia; Swords 149–150; Shoot 22–24;
Michael D. Swords, “Classic Cases from the APRO Files,” IUR 24, no. 2
(Summer 1999): 21–22; Thomas Tulien, “The 1952 Nash/Fortenberry Sighting
Revisited,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 20–23, 27–28, reprinted in
Project 1947; Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1
(March 2010): 11, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1893
Date: 7/15/1952
Time: 10:10 PM
Description: Witnesses: J. Antoneff and two other persons. One
discus-shaped object, greyish, except when hovering, when it appeared
muddy. Hovered over Palm Beach International Airport, then followed an
SA-l6 twin-engined amphibian and flew away after 40-60 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: West Palm Beach, Florida
ID: 172
Date: mid 7/1952
Description: Ruppelt says
that rumors persist that the Air Force is braced for an expected
invasion by UFOs. “Had these rumormongers been at ATIC in mid-July they
would have thought that the invasion was in full swing.” He talks to a
scientist “from an agency that I can’t name” about the build-up of UFO
reports. From his study of reports, the scientist predicts that “within
the next few days they’re going to blow up and you’re going to have the
granddaddy of all UFO sightings. The sighting will occur in Washington
or New York, probably Washington.” Brad
Sparks identifies the scientist as Stefan
T. Possony, acting
chief of the AFOIN Special Study Group and adviser to Gen. John
A. Samford. (Ruppelt,
pp. 154–155, 157;
NICAP, “The
1952 Sighting Wave”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1895
Date: 7/15/1952
Description: The Lorenzens publish
the first issue of the APRO Bulletin. (APRO
Bulletin 1, no. 1 (July 1952))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1894
Date: 7/16/1952
Time: 9:35 AM
Description: Witness: U.S. Coast Guard photographer Shell Alpert. Four
roughly elliptical blobs of light in formation photographed through
window of photo lab.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Beverly, Massachusetts
ID: 173
Date: 7/16/1952
Description: 9:35 a.m. US Coast Guard photographer Seaman Shell
R. Alpert sees several bright lights through a window screen (no
glass) from his position inside the photo lab at Coast Guard Air Station
Salem [now Winter Island Marine Park], Massachusetts, while cleaning a
camera. He watches them for 5–6 seconds, calls out to Hospitalman 1st
Class Thomas
E. Flaherty from sick bay to see them. The objects dim then brighten
suddenly. Alpert grabs a camera and films 4 roughly elliptical irregular
blobs of light in formation through the screen, on Super XX cut film
4-by-5-inch format. The lights disappear suddenly in a flash. The photo
is explained as showing reflections of light sources from inside the
building, but this ignores the fact that the window is open, and the
camera is not pointed through glass. (UFOEv, p. 88;
Sparks,
p. 151; Joe Nyman and Barry Greenwood, “The July 1952 Coast Guard Photo
Revisited,” IUR 26, no. 4 (Winter 2001–2002): 3–5, 25–30; Michael D.
Lampen, “Mystery Alpert Objects,” IUR 27, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 27; “The
Photographer’s Tale,” Saturday Night Uforia, December 3, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1896
Date: 7/16/1952
Description: German mayor states two human-like figures wearing shimmer
metallic clothing about 4 feet high come out of a landed 40ft diameter
saucer
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Newspapers.com
Location: Germany
Date: 7/16/1952
Description: 9:00 p.m. Paul
R. Hill, an aeronautical research engineer, is watching the sky with
his future wife, Frances Hoback, on Chesapeake Avenue (near LaSalle
Avenue) in Hampton, Virginia, when he notices two amber- colored lights
coming in over Hampton Roads from the south at 500 mph. They slow down
and make a U turn, moving side by side until they revolve around each
other at a high rate of speed in a tight circle 200–300 feet in
diameter. A third UFO comes racing up from the direction of Virginia
Beach and falls in several hundred feet below the other two, making a V
formation. A fourth UFO comes in from up the James River and joins the
group, which heads south at 500 mph. “Their ability to make tight
circling turns was amazing.” Around 9:03 p.m., the four UFOs have moved
out of sight to the south. (NICAP, “Two
Pairs of Objects Maneuver Overhead”; [Blue Book
documents]; UFOEv, p. 57;
Sparks, p. 150)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1897
Date: 7/17/1952
Time: 11 AM
Description: Witness: Air National Guard employees. One light like a big
star was seen for 3 hours, but disappeared when an aircraft approached.
Also seen the night of July 20, 22 and 23.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lockbourne, Ohio
ID: 175
Date: 7/17/1952
Time: 3:10 PM
Description: Witness: Mrs. Florence Daley. Two round objects,
bluish-white with brighter rims, flew in formation, making a sound like
bombers, only softer. Note: Later, the witness stated she heard many
feminine voices coming from the objects.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: White Plains, New York
ID: 174
Date: 7/17/1952
Description: 6:30 p.m. A woman leaving Yarmouth Harbour, Nova Scotia, on
the SS Yarmouth watches seven silvery objects in an inverted triangular
formation for 2 minutes. They hover momentarily, descend slowly, and
disappear. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night,
2022, pp. 268–269)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1898
Date: 7/17/1952
Alternate date: 7/18/1952
Description: 10:10 p.m. T/Sgt. Thurman C. Mahone and A/3c Gene
A. Jennings at Lockbourne AFB [now Rickenbacker Air National Guard
Base] in Lockbourne, Ohio, see an amber-colored, elliptical-shaped
object with a small flame at the rear, periodically increasing in
brightness. It moves swiftly, giving off a resonant beating sound.
(NICAP, “July
18, 1952: Lockbourne, Ohio”; Sparks, p. 151)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1899
Date: 7/18/1952
Time: 11 AM
Description: Witnesses: E. R. Raymer and daughter. One opaque, silvery
bubble flew very fast at a right-angle to the wind direction for 10
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Miami, Florida
ID: 177
Date: 7/18/1952
Time: 9:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: three USAF officers and four enlisted men. Over
an hour period, a series of hovering and maneuvering red-orange lights
were observed moving in a variety of directions.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Patrick AFB, Florida
ID: 178
Date: 7/18/1952
Time: 9:10 PM
Description: Witnesses: T/Sgt. Mahone, A/3c Jennings. One amber-colored,
elliptical-shaped object with a small flame at the rear, periodically
increased in brightness. It moved very fast for l 1/2 minutes, giving
off a resonant beat sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lockbourne, Ohio
ID: 176
Date: 7/18/1952
Description: 9:45 p.m. Three Air Force officers and four enlisted men at
Patrick AFB, near Cocoa Beach, Florida, see a series of hovering and
maneuvering red-orange lights moving in a variety of directions. (NICAP,
“Hovering
and Maneuvering
Lights”; Sparks, p. 151)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1903
Date: 7/18/1952
Description: 6:10 p.m. André Frégnale is hiking near Lac Chauvet,
Puy-de-Dôme, France, when he sees a disc flying west to east in a
straight line at constant speed. He immediately takes two photos when
the object is at its largest apparent size, then two others when it is
moving away to his left. It is in view for 50 seconds. (“Une
soucoupe volante,”
Le Méridional, July 25, 1952, pp. 1, 8; Pierre Guérin, “A
Scientific Analysis of Four Photographs of a Flying
Disk near Lac Chauvet (France),” Journal of Scientific Exploration
8, no. 4 (1994): 447–469; Alain Delmon, “Les
Cas Solides: Lac Chauvet, France, 1952,” Les OVNIs: Intelligences
non-humaines ou mythe moderne?, December 26, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1902
Date: 7/18/1952
Description: Early morning. American Airlines pilot Capt. Paul L.
Carpenter, First Officer George Fell, and Flight Engineer Quilici watch
several dull-red objects with a “yellowish tinge” speeding around in the
air at an altitude of 25,000– 30,000 feet near Denver, Colorado, during
a non-stop flight from Los Angeles to Chicago. A maximum of three
objects are seen at one time over a 2-minute period. Carpenter says they
seem to be about 100 miles away. The first object is moving south by
southeast. One minute after it disappears, two more come into view going
westward and another one eastward. “The two traveling westward
disappeared about two seconds then reappeared traveling eastward.”
(Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, June–July 20th, The
Author, 1986, p. 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1900
Date: 7/18/1952
Description: Capt. Edward
Ruppelt tells the press in Dayton, Ohio, that ground radar has
tracked UFOs at speeds of 1,500– 2,000 mph, that jet fighters scrambled
to intercept them have failed, and that “persons making these reports
actually see something in the sky,” but the Air Force does not know what
they are. (“‘Saucer’
Sightings Spur AF’s
Drive to
End Mystery,” Dayton (Ohio) Journal Herald, July 18, 1952, pp. 1,
10; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History:
1952, June–July 20th, The
Author, 1986, p. 66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1901
Date: 7/19/1952
Description: 10:00 a.m. Engineer John A. Anderson and other technicians
at the Savannah River Atomic Site near Aiken, South Carolina, watch a
greenish glowing object dart back and forth silently and erratically at
high speed above the plant. It is in view for 2 minutes, moving
constantly and changing direction at sharp angles. The object disappears
over the horizon at “tremendous velocity.” (NICAP, “Multiple
Witnesses Observe Strange Maneuvering
Object”; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 51; Nukes 47–48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1906
Date: 7/19/1952
Description: Lincoln
LaPaz tells newspapermen in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that UFOs “can
reverse directions and cruise back and forth; they travel at high speeds
in wide sweeping circles…. They travel at high altitudes and can be
followed as long as 3½ minutes.” (“Luminous
Objects Flooding Southwest Skies Not Shooting Stars or Meteorites,
Says LaPaz,” July 20, 1952, p. 1; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, June–July 20th, The Author, 1986, p. 67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1905
Date: 7/19/1952
Description: 2:55 a.m. An experienced civilian pilot watches an
elliptical-shaped object with a light fringe over Williston, North
Dakota, for 5 minutes. It descends fast and makes a 360° then a 180°
turn. (Sparks,
p. 151)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1904
Date: 7/19/1952
Description: Washington, D.C.: Long range “overfly” RADAR picked up a
formation of seven blips that were 15 miles south and not far from
Andrews AFB. Radar operator, Ed Nugent, thought that they were military
traffic until two of the targets suddenly accelerated at fantastic
speeds and disappeared off the radar scope. These strange UFOs were
monitored by Harry Barnes, Senior Controller, and controllers Howard
Cocklin and Joe Zacko. Also, Andrews AFB had also been tracking the UFOs
as they intruded over the White House which was Washington Air Space
restricted air space. The UFOs were traveling at speeds of up to 7000
mph before stopping abruptly and then cruising about in unconventional
patterns.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Washington DC
See also: 7/26/52
Date: 7/19/1952
Time: 11:35 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF pilot Capt. C.J. Powley and wife. Two
star-like lights maneuvered, hovered and sped for 5-7 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
ID: 180
Date: 7/19/1952
Description: 11:35 p.m. USAF pilot Capt. Charles
John Powley and his wife Janet see
two star-like lights maneuver, hover, and speed up for 5–7 minutes over
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. (NICAP, “Three
Groups of Witnesses See Strange Lights”;
Sparks, p. 151;
Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March 2010):
12, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1909
Date: 7/19/1952
Time: 2:55 AM
Description: Witness: one experienced civilian pilot. One
elliptical-shaped object with a light fringe, travelled down fast, made
a 360 degree and then a 180 degree turn in 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Williston, North Dakota
ID: 179
Date: 7/19/1952
Description: 12:00 midnight. A part-time farmer named Constantine and a
hired hand named Davis are curing tobacco when they see two cigar-shaped
objects—one hovering, the other moving to the east—for 3–4 minutes near
Centerville, Virginia. Both objects are translucent, lit from within,
and emit an exhaust from one end. They both ascend until they disappear.
(Sparks, p. 151)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1911
Date: 7/19/1952
End date: 7/26/1952
Description: UFO’s detected by radar over Washington., D.C.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Washington DC
Attributes: radar
Date: 7/19/1952
End date: 7/20/1952
Description: 11:40 p.m. Air traffic controller Edward Nugent at
Washington National [now Ronald Reagan National] Airport’s Air Route
Traffic Control (ARTC) in D.C. picks up a formation of seven objects on
his long-range radar. They are southeast of Andrews AFB [now Joint Base
Andrews] in Prince George’s County, Maryland, moving along at 100–130
mph. Two of the targets suddenly accelerate and vanish off the scope
within seconds. One apparently reaches a speed of 7,000 mph. A second,
shorter-range radar in the airport control tower (operated by Howard
Cocklin and Joseph
Zacko Jr.) and another at Andrews AFB has also tracked the objects.
For 6 hours, between 8 and 10 UFOs are tracked on radar. Senior Air
Traffic Controller Harry G. Barnes says that “They followed no set
course, were not in any formation, and we only seemed to be able to
track them for about three miles at a time…. I can safely deduce that
they performed gyrations which no known aircraft could perform.” Several
Capitol Airlines pilots (one of them Capt. S. C. “Casey” Pierman) see
the objects visually as white or orange lights in restricted air space
over the White House and Capitol. Ground observers at Andrews
(Capt. Harold C. May, Staff/Sgt Charles Davenport) watch red or orange
lights. Radar and visual sightings are also taking place at Bolling AFB
[now Joint Base Anaconda-Bolling] in Washington, D.C. By 3:00 a.m., the
UFOs are all gone, just as two F-94 interceptors arrive belatedly from
New Castle AFB [now New Castle Air National Guard Base] in Delaware. The
jets depart, and the UFOs return, observed by Capt. Howard Dermott, a
Capitol Airlines pilot, and Sgt. Davenport at Andrews. Radar trackings
continue, the last at 5:30 a.m. Civilian radio engineer E. W. Chambers
sees five huge discs circling in a loose formation; they tilt upward and
leave in a steep ascent. Blips appear on radar for at least another day,
until the evening of July 20. (Wikipedia, “1952
Washington, D.C.
UFO incident”; NICAP, “The
Washington National Sightings”; NICAP, “Andrews
Tower Radar Confirms Washington
Target”; “Washington’s Blips: ‘Somethings’ over the Capital Are
Traced on Radar,” Life, August 4, 1952, pp. 39–40; Ruppelt, pp. 158–161;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 71–72; Clark III 1250–1252; Swords
154–155; Sparks,
p. 151; Condon, pp. 153–157, 862–867;
Kevin D. Randle, Invasion Washington: UFOs over the Capitol,
HarperTorch, 2001, pp. 32– 58; Michael D. Swords, GrassRoots UFOs: Case
Reports from the Timmerman Files, Fund for UFO Research, 2005, p. 139;
Shoot 28–34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1910
Date: 7/19/1952
Description: 10:00 p.m. Six luminous round objects are seen by a
Chicago, Illinois, woman moving horizontally and vertically as they
cavort around in the sky. The same night, a UFO is seen by three
witnesses at the Ground Observer Corps post at the city hall in Elgin,
Illinois. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, June–July 20th, The Author, 1986, p. 68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1908
Date: 7/19/1952
Description: 4:30 p.m. Agricultural engineer Pedro Bardi and others on a
farm in the Madre de Dios region of Peru see a UFO flying at 325 feet
shortly after their short-wave radio goes dead. Bardi says it is a bit
smaller than a DC-3 and is making a buzzing sound. It shows up 4 minutes
later at Puerto Maldonado, 75 miles away, and Customs Administrator
Domingo Troncosco photographs it. The photo shows an elongated object
trailing smoke, passing over the top of a tree and in front of a cumulus
cloud. (Curt Collins, “The
Case of the Smoking Saucer,” In Honor of Jim Moseley, November 3,
2014; Curt Collins, “Jim
Moseley: The Case of the Smoking Saucer,” The Saucers That Time
Forgot, August 18, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1907
Date: 7/20/1952
Time: 0030
Description: Approximate date. R. Petijean saw a luminous object, 20 m
diameter, on the ground. It gave off bluish flashes as it took off,
leaving a smell of burning sulphur.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Dai-el-Aouagri, Morocco
ID: 94
Date: 7/20/1952
Description: Classified Spot Intelligence Report (dated 7/23/52): 3 UFO
spotted by 5 base personnel at Andrews AFB at 0030 hours EST. UFOs
reddish orange in color, moving erratically at an undetermined altitude.
Approach Control picked up another UFO at 0415 EST which was on the
radar scope for 30 seconds before fading. Lt. Hyatt, Operations Officer
during this period, said that he had been receiving “flying saucer”
reports that evening and the objects had been picked up by radar.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Andrews AFB
Date: 7/20/1952
Time: 12:20 AM
Description: Witness: Seton Hall Univ. chemistry professor Dr. A.B.
Spooner. Two large orange-yellow lights with some dull red coloring flew
in trail, turned and circled for 5-6 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lavalette, New Jersey
ID: 181
Date: 7/21/1952
Description: 6:30 p.m. USAF pilot Capt. Edward
E. Dougher and WAF Lt. Josephine
J. Stong, separated by one mile on the ground in Wiesbaden, Germany,
see 4 bright yellowish lights. Dougher watches them separate, with two
climbing and two flying away level in the opposite direction. His wife
Barbara joins
him as they fly away. Stong sees two reddish lights fly in opposite
directions for 10–15 minutes. (NICAP, “Separated
Witnesses Observe Maneuvering Lights”;
Sparks, p. 152;
Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March 2010):
12, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1914
Date: 7/21/1952
Time: 8:10 PM
Description: Witnesses: one military officer, two enlisted men. One
aluminum, delta-shaped object with a vertical fin, flew straight and
level, and then hovered during a 3 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Rockville, Indiana
ID: 185
Date: 7/21/1952
Time: 4:30 PM
Description: Witness: wife of USAF Capt. J. B. Neal. One elongated,
fuselage-shaped object flew straight and level, made a right-angle turn
and went out of sight at more than 300 m.p.h., all in 3-5 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Converse, Texas
ID: 184
Date: 7/21/1952
Time: 10:40 PM
Description: Witnesses: one Lieutenant, two Staff Sergeants, three
airmen. One blue circle with a blue trail was seen to hover and then
accelerate to near-sonic speed (700+ m.p.h.) after 1 minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: San Marcos AFB, Texas
ID: 183
Date: 7/21/1952
Time: 6:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF pilot Capt. E.E. Dougher, WAF Lt. J.J.
Stong, situated miles apart. Four bright yellowish lights were seen by
Dougher to separate, with two climbing and two flying away level in the
opposite direction. Stong watched two reddish lights fly in opposite
directions. Sightings lasted about 10-15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Weisbaden, West Germany
ID: 182
Date: 7/21/1952
Description: 10:30 a.m. Radar used to measure wind velocity in the upper
atmosphere at Dobbins Air Force Base, Marietta, Georgia, detects an
unusual object flying at 50,000 feet. Observing the blip are four radar
technicians who state that “it could have been an electromagnetic
phenomenon but they did not believe it was.” A second blip appears on
the radar moving toward the wind-finding weather balloon and passing
through it three separate times. USAF officials report “in private
conversations” that the object moves at 1,200 mph, slows considerably
for 3–5 minutes, then disappears. The Civilian Defense director in
Atlanta, George
M. “Pup” Phillips, receives a report of the object but has “no
details.” Col. Murray
C. Woodbury, commander
of the 35th Air Division at Dobbins, checks with “defense officials in
Washington” before telling the press that such reports are sent to the
Air Technical Intelligence Center (Project Blue Book) in Dayton, Ohio,
for evaluation. Surprisingly, he admits, “We try to intercept such
objects and identify them, but so far we have been unsuccessful.”
(NICAP, “Blip
Makes Passes
on Wind-Finding Target”; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1952 July
21st–31st, Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2001, p. 3; Sparks,
p. 152)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1913
Date: 7/21/1952
Description: 10:00 a.m. Ruppelt first
hears about the National Airport sightings in D.C. when he buys a
newspaper in the Washington National Airport terminal. He has been to
Andrews AFB in Maryland the day before with his boss Col. Donald
L. Bower, and
no one had said anything. At 1:00 p.m., Maj. Dewey
Fournet calls Ruppelt to come to a briefing with Capt. Berkow, a
USAF intelligence officer from Bolling AFB in D.C. Ruppelt hears that
President Truman is
personally interested and wants a full investigation, but Bower orders
Ruppelt to return to Wright- Patterson AFB in Ohio. (Ruppelt, pp. 158–159;
Thomas Tulien, ed., Proceedings
of the Sign Historical Group UFO
History Workshop, Sign
Historical Group, November 2001, pp. 46–47)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1912
Date: 7/22/1952
Time: 10:50 PM to 12:45 AM, July 23
Description: Witnesses: crews of several USAF F-94 jet interceptors from
Dover AFB, Del. Thirteen visual sightings and one radar tracking of
blue-white lights during two hours.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Trenton, New Jersey
ID: 190
Date: 7/22/1952
Time: 10:47 PM
Description: Witnesses: pilot and radar operator of USAF F-94 jet
interceptor. One round blue light passed F-94, spinning.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: between Boston and Provincetown, Massachusetts
ID: 189
Date: 7/22/1952
Time: 2:46 PM
Description: Witness: Don Epperly, Trans Texas Airlines station manager
and weather observer. One large, round, silver object flew at more than
1,000 m.p.h. for 45 seconds, while gyrating.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Uvalde, Texas
ID: 188
Date: 7/22/1952
Time: 10:50 AM
Description: Witnesses: control tower operator Don Weins, and two pilots
for Carco. Eight large, round, bright aluminum objects flew straight and
level, then darted around erratically during 25 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
ID: 187
Date: 7/22/1952
Time: After midnight
Description: Witness: Mrs. A. Burgess. One round, yellow, flashing light
went downward. No further information in files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Holyoke, Massachusetts
ID: 186
Date: 7/22/1952
Description: At Wright-Patterson AFB, Ruppelt meets
with ATIC electronics specialist Capt. Roy
L. James (who harbors a “personal dislike for UFOs”). He tells
Ruppelt that weather conditions caused the Washington radar
returns.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1915
Date: 7/22/1952
End date: 7/23/1952
Description: 10:50 p.m. Crews of several USAF F-94 jet interceptors from
Dover AFB, Delaware, make 13 visual sightings and one radar tracking of
blue-white lights around Trenton, New Jersey, continuing until 12:45
a.m. White, green, and blue lights are seen by ground observers and F-94
pilots moving in arcs and blinking out suddenly. One F-94 crew gets a
radar lock-on from 30,000 feet away of an object the size of an F-94. At
9,000 feet distance, the object makes a sharp right turn, suddenly drops
in height, and disappears. (Sparks, p. 156)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1920
Date: 7/22/1952
End date: 7/23/1952
Description: 10:30 p.m. An air traffic control tower operator at MacDill
AFB in Tampa, Florida, watches for 30 minutes a red-greenish-blue object
to the west-southwest at about 45° elevation with 2 other objects to the
north of it, smaller and lower in elevation. He sights another object to
the south-southeast about 30° elevation at 11:30 p.m. MacDill radar
tracks an object at 12:03 a.m. 37 miles away at 41,200 feet altitude
heading almost directly toward the base at 532 mph. It also tracks an
object to the south-southeast at an altitude of 41,000 feet (reportedly
Navy and CAA radars also track the object). At 12:08 a.m., the pilot and
copilot of a B-29 bomber on landing approach are vectored by MacDill
tower operator to investigate the UFO. They see a high-speed object at
40,000 feet heading towards MacDill and traveling faster than the B-29.
The B-29 fire control radar locks onto the object and prepares to fire
just as the UFO changes course and disappears at 4,600 mph. Four airmen
at the MacDill radar site see an object as it passes nearly overhead.
MacDill radar loses the object at about 12:15 a.m. Civilians in Tampa
also see two yellowish-orange discs maneuvering around the air base. (Sparks, p. 156;
Tampa (Fla.) Daily Times, July 23, 1952, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1919
Date: 7/22/1952
Description: 10:20 p.m. A bluish-green UFO is seen over Boston,
Massachusetts, and a few minutes later it is picked up by GCI radar.
When Ground Control vectors an F-94 toward the UFO, the pilot sees the
UFO near Braintree and locks on to it with his own radar. But the object
easily leaves the jet behind. (NICAP, “F-94B
Chases Object / With
Airborne Radar Tracking”; Keyhoe, FS from OS, p. 67;
Sparks,
pp. 154–155)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1918
Date: 7/22/1952
Description: 10:00 p.m. Eubert T. White and his wife see three silvery
objects whizzing across the sky above Worcester, Massachusetts, “like
planes in attack formation.” One of the objects has a bluish glow in the
front and a reddish tint behind it. (“Strange Objects in Worcester Sky,”
Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle, July 23, 1952; Loren E. Gross, The Fifth
Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1952 July 21st–31st,
Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2001, p. 14; Shoot 36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1917
Date: 7/22/1952
Description: Pikes Peak Broadcasting Company President Joseph H. Rohrer
gives a lecture (one of a series) on flying saucers at a chamber of
commerce meeting in Pueblo, Colorado. He mixes a few genuine cases with
some crashed saucer fiction, claiming that 7 discs have been retrieved
by the US government, three of them forced down in Montana. One occupant
has survived, he says, a little man 3 feet tall who is later kept alive
in a secret site in California. Rohrer claims he has been inside a
100-foot-diameter disc in 1942, but he has made up these stories for
entertainment purposes. (“Flying Saucer Talk Startles Chamber Membership
Meeting,” Pueblo (Colo.) Chieftain, July 23, 1952, p. 3; Keyhoe, FS from
OS, pp. 111–113;
James W. Moseley and Karl T. Pflock, Shockingly Close to the Truth!
Confessions of a Grave-Robbing Ufologist, Prometheus, 2002, pp. 90–92;
Patrick Gross, URECAT, August
6, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1916
Date: 7/23/1952
Time: 8:40 AM
Description: Witnesses: the two-man crews of three USAF F-94 jet
interceptors. One large silver object, shaped like a long pear with two
or three squares beneath it, flew at 150-180 kts. (170-210 m.p.h.),
while a smaller object, delta-shaped or swept back, flew around it at
1,000-1,500 kts. (1,150-1,700 m.p.h.). Seen by crews for 1-4
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pottstown, Pennsylvania
ID: 191
Date: 7/23/1952
Time: 12:50 PM
Description: Witnesses: two-man crews of two USAF F-94 jet interceptors
at 35-46,000’ altitude. Three cylindrical objects in a vertical stack
formation flew at an altitude of 50-80,000’. Seen for 20 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Altoona, Pennsylvania
ID: 192
Date: 7/23/1952
Description: Orfeo Angelucci takes ride in saucer
Type: ce4 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 7/23/1952
Description: Night. Contactee Orfeo
Angelucci feels compelled to walk over the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge
in Glendale, California. He feels an odd sensation and suddenly sees in
front of him a soap-bubble-like object that turns into a metallic craft.
He gets aboard and is taken on his first trip into outer space. (Orfeo
Angelucci, The Secret of the Saucers, Amherst Press, 1955, pp. 18–36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1927
Date: 7/23/1952
Description: In an Air Mail reply from Dr. Einstein to Mr. Louis A.
Gardner in LA, he said in regards to UFO’s “Those people have seen
something. What they saw I do not know, and I am not curious to
know”.
Type: letter
Reference: link
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A p128)
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date: 7/23/1952
Description: 8:40 a.m. The crews of three USAF F-94 jet interceptors see
a large silver object, shaped like a long pear with 2–3 squares beneath
it, flying at 170–210 mph over Pottstown, Pennsylvania. A smaller
object, delta-shaped or swept-back, flies around it at 1,150-1,720 mph.
([Blue
Book document]; Sparks, p. 157)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1923
Date: 7/23/1952
Description: 2:15 a.m. Seaman Henry
J. Arnpriester is on watch at Nahant (Massachusetts) Coast Guard
Station [now closed] when he sees two bluish lights approximately 5 feet
in diameter. They appear as flat, disc-shaped objects having no
aerodynamic features and move without sound or exhaust trail at a speed
faster than a four-engine airliner at an altitude of 1,100 to 2,000
feet. When they are approximately 1.5 miles from the point of
observation, they execute an extremely sharp turn similar to the path of
a ball bouncing off a wall. (Lt. Col. Robert S. Jones, “Spot
Intelligence Report,” July 29, 1952; Sparks, p. 156)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1921
Date: 7/23/1952
Description: 7:36 a.m. US Navy radar at Jamestown, Rhode Island, tracks
a high-speed target heading north at 42,000 feet. It is confirmed by ADC
radar at Camp Hero [now closed] at Montauk Point, New York. F-94s and
F-86s are scrambled unsuccessfully from Westover AFB [now Westover Air
National Guard Base] in Chicopee, Massachusetts. (NICAP, “Jets
Scrambled / High Speed Object at 45,000ʹ Feet”; Sparks, p. 156)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1922
Date: 7/23/1952
Description: 12:50 p.m. Crews of two USAF F-94 jet interceptors flying
at 35,000–46,000 feet altitude near Altoona, Pennsylvania, see three
cylindrical objects in a vertical-stack formation fly at an altitude of
50,000–80,000 feet for 20 minutes. (NICAP, “July
23, 1952: Altoona, Penna.”; Sparks,
p. 157)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1924
Date: 7/23/1952
Description: 7:00–8:00 p.m. Owner Edwin C. Johnston and more than 20
employees of Aircraft Hydroforming at Culver City, California, see a
bright silvery elliptical object that moves northwest over the Northrup
aircraft plant in nearby Hawthorne, then stops and hovers. Two small
discs emerge and circle around the area before rejoining the mother
ship. The object then climbs straight up out of sight at tremendous
speed. (“Aircraft
Co. Owner Sees ‘Discs’
Four Nights in Row,” Redlands (Calif.) Daily Facts, July 24, 1952,
p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1925
Date: 7/23/1952
Time: 11:35 PM
Description: Witness: USAF pilot Capt. H. W. Kloth. Two bright
blue-white objects flew together, then the rear one veered off after
about 9 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: South Bend, Indiana
ID: 193
Date: 7/23/1952
Description: 7:15 p.m. Many witnesses at Lockbourne AFB [now
Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base] in Lockbourne, Ohio, including
visiting Capt. Eugene E. McManus from Turner AFB [now Naval Air Station
Albany] in Albany, Georgia, observe four round, fluorescent white
objects hovering near the base at 75,000 feet. An Air force pilot named
Capt. Swartz in Flight Service at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio,
radios in the report that the objects are balloons. Two F-84 jets are
scrambled at 8:15 p.m. and identify them as a balloon cluster. The
objects, seen over many other areas of central Ohio (Capt. Edward
J. Ruppelt says he was called out to see it over Wright- Patterson),
are probably USAF reconnaissance balloons sent up from Clinton County
Airport in Wilmington, Ohio. (NICAP, “July
23, 1952, Lockbourne, Ohio, UFO Report”; Clark III 395–398)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1926
Date: 7/24/1952
Time: 3:40 PM
Description: Witnesses: two USAF Lt. Colonels McGinn and Barton in a
B-25 bomber. Three silver, delta-shaped objects, each with a ridge along
the top, crossed in front of and above the B-25 at high speed, in 3-4
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Carson Sink, Nevada
ID: 194
Date: 7/24/1952
Time: night
Description: A man who was fishing in the Serchio River saw a disk
hovering for 10 min. From it hung a hose that plunged into the water.
The object was 20 m in diameter, with five propellers in the rear and a
dome with something like blades on top. An orange glow could be seen
through slits along the deck. A man wearing a diving helmet looked at
the witness through a window, and he received a kind of electric shock
as a “green ray” hit him. He looked up with difficulty, in time to see
the object fly away toward the east. Six days later a stranger with a
foreign accent contacted the witness and intimidated him.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 69,1 (Vallee)
Location: Vico, Italy
ID: 95
Date: 7/24/1952
Description: 3:40 p.m. Two USAF pilots, Lt. Col. John L. McGinn and Lt.
Col. John
R. Barton, are flying a B-25 out of Hamilton AFB [now closed] in
Novato, California, for Colorado Springs. They are over Carson Sink,
Nevada, at 11,000 feet when they see three unknown objects make a left
bank and fly to within 400–600 yards of the plane. They are three bright
silver, delta-wing craft with no tails and no canopies. The pilots see a
clean upper triangular wing with a definite ridge that runs from the
nose to the tail. They estimate the speed as at least three times that
of any conventional jet. (Wikipedia, “Carson
Sink UFO incident”; NICAP, “B-26 Crew Encounters 3 Triangular UFOs”;
NICAP, “The
Carson Sink Case”; Sparks, p. 157; Ruppelt, pp. 10–12;
Michael Hall, “When UFOs Were Serious Business: Then and Today,” IUR 28,
no. 4 (Winter 2003–2004): 5; Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent Motions,”
IUR 33, no. 1 (March 2010): 12, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1928
Date: 7/24/1952
Description: BSRA sends a warning letter to the President, a large swath
the US military, US government, representatives, and press concerning
the recently announced USAF “Shoot Down” order. Warning found in
official FBI UFO files.
Type: letter
Reference: Twitter
Location: San Diego, CA
Date: 7/25/1952
Alternate date: 4/25/1952
Description: 3:00 a.m. Carlo Rossi is on his way to a fishing spot on
the Serchio river near San Pietro a Vico, Lucca, Italy. He notices an
odd light above the river and finds that it belongs to an enormous
disc-shaped object with a transparent dome. It is about 82 feet in
diameter and apparently taking up water through a long tube. The object
is standing in the river on three legs and has a ladder reaching down
next to the tube. Rossi thinks it is hovering by means of propellors.
Suddenly a porthole opens, and a human figure looks out and notices him.
Rossi begins to leave, but a green ray passes above his head and he
feels an electric shock. The object takes off and disappears to the
west. (“Le
Nostre Analisi: Precisazioni sul Caso di S. Pietro e Vico (1952),”
Notiziario UFO, no. 67 (July/Sept. 1975): 4–9; Patrick Gross, URECAT, September
12, 2006; 1Pinotti 42–46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1929
Date: 7/25/1952
Description: Capt. J. W. Titus of the 140th Wing Medical Group sees two
oval-shaped objects flying in formation at 400– 600 mph in Portales, New
Mexico. They are silent and leave no vapor trail. At one point, they
make an abrupt 80° turn and fly off to the north. (Nukes 85–86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1930
Date: 7/26/1952
Time: 12:15 AM
Description: Witnesses: USAF Capt. H. A. Stone, men in control towers at
Fairfax Field and Municipal Airport. One greenish light with red-orange
flashes was seen for 1 hour as it descended in the northwest from 40
degree elevation to 10 degree elevation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
ID: 196
Date: 7/26/1952
Time: 8 PM
Description: Event occurred until after midnight. Witnesses: radar
operators at several airports, airline pilots. Many unidentified blips
tracked by radar all over Washington area, at varying speeds. Pilots
spotted unidentified lights.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Washington, DC
ID: 195
Date: 7/26/1952
Description: Washington, DC: Long range “overfly” RADAR picks more
blips, just one week after the previous invasion of restricted air space
over Washington, D.C. Capt. Ruppelt told Maj. Dewey Fournet to get over
to the airport in Washington. Fournet was a radar specialist with
Project HOLCOMBE and arrived at the airport with Al Chop, AF Press
Officer, just in time to see the UFO blips on the radar sets and to hear
ground-to-air conversations of the pilots of two F-94s vectored towards
the UFOs.
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Washington DC
Date: 7/26/1952
Description: 5:15 p.m. Air Defense Command radar detects a UFO over
Williams, California. An F-94 jet interceptor is scrambled and locks
onto the object with its radar. The crew sees a yellow-orange light. As
confirmed by ground and airborne radar, the UFO plays tag with the F-94,
alternately accelerating away when it gets close, then slowing down
until it catches up again. (NICAP, “F-94
Intercept with ADC Detection”; Sparks,
p. 158)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1932
Date: 7/26/1952
End date: 7/27/1952
Description: 8:15 p.m. Flying saucers return to the nation’s capital,
only one week after a massive number of radar- visual UFO sightings
above restricted air space in Washington, D.C. At 8:15 p.m., pilot
Capt. Berkow and a stewardess of a National Airlines flight near
Washington National Airport [now Ronald Reagan National] see several
objects resembling the glow of a cigarette high above them. The lights
move at around 100 mph. Soon, the airport and Andrews AFB in Maryland
are tracking a dozen UFOs throughout much of the sky, all traveling 90–
100 mph. By midnight, two F-94s are scrambled from New Castle AFB in
Delaware to intercept them. National Airport staff hustle newspaper
reporters away from the air traffic control tower, saying that
interceptions are classified (but Project Blue Book chief Capt. Edward
J. Ruppelt suspects that the Air Force does not want the press
around when they finally get a good look at a saucer). The UFOs are seen
on radar for 2 hours, but when the jets approach, the blips disappear.
When the pilots return to base, they show up again. Reports are reaching
Langley AFB about rotating objects that give off alternating colors over
Newport News, Virginia. Another F-94 is scrambled, the pilot gets a
radar lock, and the target speeds away. At National Airport, the objects
reappear shortly before dawn, and two more F-94s are scrambled. The
pilots obtain radar locks; again, the objects speed away. USAF press
spokesman Albert
M. Chop is in the airport radar tower and notes that everyone there
believes the targets are “very probably caused by solid metallic
objects.” One F-94 pilot, Lieut. William Patterson, says, “I saw several
bright lights. I was at my maximum speed, but even then I had no closing
speed.” A USAF air intelligence report later states that the radar crew
is emphatic that the returns are solid and not temperature inversions.
In 1969, however, Colorado project physicist Gordon
David Thayer concludes that the radar events involved temperature
inversions. He believes the visual sightings were caused by meteors and
scintillating stars. University of Arizona atmospheric physicist James
McDonald disagreed, arguing that Thayer’s own data did not support
his conclusion. Colorado project psychologist Michael
Wertheimer interviews many of the radar operators; nearly all
disagree with the inversion explanation and maintain that all
experienced radar operators have no trouble identifying such phenomena.
(NICAP, “The
Washington National Sightings”; Richard Hall, “The Washington
Invasion, July 26/27, 1952”; Clark III 1252–1255; Ruppelt, pp. 163–167;
Condon, pp. 157–158, 862– 867;
Swords 156–159; Good Above, pp. 270–272;
Patrick Gross, “The
Washington D.C. UFO Flap of 1952”; Sparks, p. 158;
Kevin D. Randle, Invasion Washington: UFOs over the Capitol,
HarperTorch, 2001, pp. 68– 76,127–148, 253–260; Shoot 42–47)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1931
Date: 7/26/1952
Description: 11:00 p.m. Three women in Oran, Algeria, notice a large,
orange-red, luminous patch in the sky. It travels from east to west,
halts, then vanishes. It is one of many UFOs seen in the province of
Oran over several weeks. (ClearIntent, pp. 120–121)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1933
Date: 7/26/1952
Time: Time unknown
Description: Case missing from official files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Williams, California
ID: 199
Date: 7/26/1952
Time: 12:05 AM
Description: Witness: Airman lst Class J.M. Donaldson. Eight to ten
orange balls in a triangular or V-formation flew very fast for 3-4
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kirtland AFB, New Mexico
ID: 198
Date: 7/26/1952
Time: Time unknown
Description: This was a continuation of the extensive sightings and
radar tracking reports reported throughout the Washington, DC. area, all
night long.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Andrews AFB, Maryland
ID: 197
Date: 7/27/1952
Description: Truman Bethurum visits spaceship and meets crew. Many other
visits.
Type: ce4 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 7/27/1952
Time: 8:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Ellis. Two disc-shaped
objects, illuminated by a phosphorus light, flew at an estimated l,000
m.p.h. for 15 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Wichita Falls, Texas
ID: 201
Date: 7/27/1952
Description: 6:35 p.m. A group of eight pilots and engineers see a
large, silvery object moving rapidly at a high altitude over Manhattan
Beach, California. After it makes a turn, the UFO separates into 7 discs
that form into groups, circle, and speed out of sight. Former Navy pilot
and aircraft engineer J. E. Kempf says the formation looks like a “stack
of coins.” (NICAP, “Large
Object Separates into 7 Discs”; Sparks,
p. 159; Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March
2010): 13, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1935
Date: 7/27/1952
Description: 10:40 a.m. Bowling Green State University biologist Charles
H. Otis sees a “flotilla” of UFOs “seemingly floating along, making
no sound” at 3724 Dexter Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan. He grabs a pair of
5x binoculars and studies them until they disappear. He counts 15 of
them in a loose formation, moving slowly. One object leaves the
formation and disappears in a burst of speed. The body of each seems to
be elongated but split at the rear. A bright glow is visible in the
front, and they have a bifurcated tail streaming out horizontally, never
changing in length (UFOEv, pp. 50–51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1934
Date: 7/27/1952
Time: 10:05 AM
Description: Witnesses: three B-29 bomber crewmen on ground. Many round,
white objects flew straight and level, very fast. Two at 10:05, one at
10:10, one at 10:15, one at 10:20. Each was seen for about 30
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Selfridge AFB, Michigan
ID: 200
Date: 7/28/1952
Description: Personal Minute from Prime Minister W.S. Churchill to
Secretary of xxxxxxx Air Ministry stating: What does all this stuff
about Flying Saucers amount to? What can it mean? What is the truth? Let
me have a report at your convenience.
Type: secret memo
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p505, Churchhill)
Location: Britain
See also: 8/9/52
Date: 7/28/1952
Time: 2:15 AM
Description: Witnesses: T/Sgt. Walstead, S/Sgt. Calkins of the 635th
AC&W Squadron. One dull, glowing, blue-green ball,.the size of a
dime at arms’ length, flew very fast, straight and level.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: McChord AFB, Washington
ID: 204
Date: 7/28/1952
Description: USAF on 24 hour alert. Shoot Down order newspaper
articles
Type: letter
Reference: Newspapers.com
Location: Washington DC
Date: 7/28/1952
Time: 6 AM
Description: Witness: Ground Control Approach radar operator M/Sgt. W.F.
Dees, and persons in the base control tower. Radar tracked a large
cluster of very distinct blips. Visual observation was of oblong objects
having neither wings nor tail, which made a very fast turn and at one
time were in echelon formation. Entire episode lasted 55 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: McGuire AFB, New Jersey
ID: 203
Date: End of 7/1952
Description: SECRET MEMO to Director, CIA, from H. Marshall Chadwell,
Office of Scientific Intelligence stating: ATIC has set up a worldwide
reporting network for Flying Saucers and major Air Force bases have been
ordered to make INTERCEPTIONS of UFO’s. Battello Memorial Institute is
to handle machine indexing of all official reported sightings. From 1947
to date, there have been 1500 official sightings with 250 of them in
1952 alone. Of the 1500, 28% remain UNEXPLAINED. UFO’s are of such
importance that the matter should be brought before the National
Security Council.
Type: secret memo
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p31,506, war escalation)
Location: Dayton OH
See also: 9/19/76
See also: 5/10/80
See also: 5/19/86
See also: 9/4/87
Date: 7/28/1952
Description: President Truman, resting
in Kansas City, Missouri, after the Democratic Convention, calls CIA
Director Walter
Bedell Smith and asks him to investigate the Air Force’s mishandling
of the Washington National sightings. Smith later directs, through
Deputy Director for Intelligence Loftus
E. Becker, that a CIA/OSI group be put together to review the USAF
UFO intelligence program at ATIC. Truman’s involvement is meant to be
kept Top Secret and is not revealed until 1992. (Clark III 1012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1941
Date: 7/28/1952
Description: In charge of jet interceptions over Washington, D.C.,
during the big UFO flap, USAF Director of Operations Gen. Roger
M. Ramey issues an ambiguous public denial that the interceptors
have been ordered to shoot down any saucers. However, newspaper articles
and other documents say there was such an order. (David Rudiak, “Background
on Gen. Roger M. Ramey,” June 4, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1940
Date: 7/28/1952
Description: According to the United Press, the Air Defense Command has
alerted jet interceptor pilots to take off instantly in pursuit of any
flying saucers. The International News Service amplifies this by quoting
the Air Force that orders have been issued to shoot them down if they
refuse to land. The Air Force refuses to confirm this, but USAF Deputy
Press Officer Lt. Col. Moncel
A. Monts states that “jet pilots are, and have been, under orders to
investigate unidentified objects and to shoot them down if they can’t
talk them down.” (“Air
Force Alerted for ‘Discs’:
Sightings
over Washington Put Jets at Ready,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 28,
1952, p. 1; “Jets
on 24- Hour
Alert to Shoot Down ‘Saucers,’” San Francisco Examiner, July 29,
1952, p. 2; Shoot 49–50; David Rudiak, “1952
Flying Saucer ‘Shoot Down’ Stories,” Roswell Proof)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1939
Date: 7/28/1952
Description: Late afternoon. Ruppelt and
Maj. Ed Gregory arrive in Washington, D.C., dodging newspaper reporters
at the Roger Smith Hotel. Blue Book receives an astonishing total of 50
UFO reports in a single day. UFO inquiries are jamming the Pentagon
telephones. Air Force and CIA officials concede that the Soviet Union
might take advantage of the confusion. (Ruppelt, pp. 166–167)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1938
Date: 7/28/1952
Description: USAF Maj. Gen. John
A. Samford secretly orders a deemphasis on or elimination of human
anecdotal UFO reports. Instead, they would be “going on instruments,” as
worded in his briefing, so that he can close down Blue Book.
Technological hurdles and budget limits greatly delay the plan, but Blue
Book does transition into a propaganda debunking mission over the next 6
months. (Clark III 813)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1937
Date: 7/28/1952
Description: Early morning. While napping between shifts as a
heavy-equipment operator in the Nevada desert, Truman Bethurum is
awakened by 8 small men who “seem to be of Latin extraction.” They take
him to a nearby flying saucer where he meets the captain, a “gorgeous
woman, shorter than any of the men, neatly attired, and also having a
Latin appearance: coal black hair and olive complexion. She appeared to
be about 42 years old,” although Bethurum learns that she is hundreds of
years old. Her name is Aura Rhanes. Her ship is called a “scow,” and her
crew is from the planet Clarion, a world that is always on the other
side of the moon. He later tells this story and his later adventures in
his 1954 book Aboard a Flying Saucer, ghostwritten by Mary Kay Tennison.
(Truman Bethurum, Aboard a Flying Saucer, DeVorss, 1954; Clark III
192–194)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1936
Date: 7/28/1952
Time: 10:20 PM
Description: Witnesses: Sgt. B.C. Grassmoen, WAC Pfc. A.P. Turner. One
saucer-shaped object having an appearance of light metal and giving off
shafts of white light, flew slow, made a 90^ turn and climbed away fast
after 4-5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Heidelberg, West Germany
ID: 202
Date: 7/28/1952
Description: Canadian researcher Wilbert
B. Smith allegedly shows Rear Admiral Herbert
B. Knowles a metallic piece from a saucer that was shot down near
Washington, D.C. It is twice the size of a man’s thumb and has been
loaned to him by the Air Force, but he must return it to the CIA (or
another secret agency). (David Rudiak, “Wilbert
B. Smith,”
Roswell Proof; Frank Edwards, FS Serious Business, Bantam ed., 1966, pp. 48–49;
Good Above, p. 188)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1942
Date: 7/28/1952
Description: UK Prime Minister Winston
Churchill writes to William
Sidney, Secretary of State for Air, and scientific adviser and
friend Lord
Cherwell, saying, “What does all this stuff about flying saucers
amount to? What can it mean? What is the truth? Let me have a report at
your convenience.” The response, dated August 9, begins: “The various
reports about unidentified flying objects, described by the Press as
‘flying saucers,’ were the subject of a full Intelligence study in 1951”
[presumably the report by the Flying Saucer Working Party]. (“Records
Show Winston
Churchill’s Interest in UFOs,” The Cosmic Report, December 12, 2020;
Good Above, pp. 30,
448–449;
UFOFiles2, pp. 43–44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1943
Date: 7/29/1952
Alternate date: 7/28/1952
Description: 9:40 p.m. An Aircraft and Warning Station in Port Huron,
Michigan, tracks an unidentified return on radar for 20 minutes. GCI
asks Capt. Edward J. Slowinski flying an F-94B on a practice run to
investigate. The pilot sees a bright, flashing, colored light in the
location of the blip 29 miles west of Port Huron and follows it for 20
minutes. Slowinski is unable to close on the object. (NICAP, “Key
Radar Case (CCL #17)”; Sparks, p. 160; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 72–73; Center for UFO Studies, [documents
and case files])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1956
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: SECRET, EYES ONLY MEMO to Deputy Director/Intelligence from
Ralph L. Clark, Acting Assistant Director of Scientific Intelligence
stating: In the past several weeks numerous UFOs have been sighted
visually and on RADAR. This office (CIA) has maintained a continuing
review of reputed sightings for the past three years and a special group
has been formed to review the sightings to date. O/CI and O/SI will
participate in this study and prepare a report on UFOs by August 15,
1952.
Type: secret memo
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p505)
Location: Britain
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: Sidney Eubank went to the Enid police station and told
Sergeant Vern Bennell that an enormous disk had buzzed his car as he
drove between Bison and Waukonis on Highway 81. The rush of air made the
car leave the road while the object flew west very fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Anatomy 134 (Vallee)
Location: Enid, Oklahoma
ID: 96
Date: 7/29/1952
Time: 1:30 AM
Description: Witnesses: radar operators on ground, pilot of F-5l Mustang
in flight. Several clusters of up to 10 small radar targets and one
large target. Small targets moved from southwest to east at 50-60 kts.
(60-70 m.p.h.), following each other. The large one moved at 600 kts.
(700 m.p.h.). One hour total time. Pilot confirmed one target.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Osceola, Wisconsin
ID: 205
Date: 7/29/1952
Time: 2:30 PM
Description: Witness: USAF Capt D.G. Moore, of military air traffic
control system. One undescribed object flew at an estimated 2,600
m.p.h., below 5,000’ altitude, toward the air base for about 2
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Langley AFB, Virginia
ID: 206
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: USAF Gen. Samford holds UFO press conference
Type: historical event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Washington DC
Date: 7/29/1952
Time: 3:44 or 4:35 PM
Description: Witnesses: Herbert Mitchell and one employee. One dark,
discus-shaped object, trailed by a silvery light 2 lengths behind,
tipped on its side, dove, hesitated and then circled very fast during
the 2 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Merced, California
ID: 208
Date: 7/29/1952
Time: 12:35 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF shop employees Douglas and Hess at
Municipal Airport. One bright white circular object with a flat bottom
flew very fast, and then hovered 10-15 seconds over the Cessna Aircraft
Co. plant, during the 5 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Wichita, Kansas
ID: 209
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: USAF pilot pursues UFO over Michigan
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Michigan
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: An orange, oblong stationary object is observed at the
airport in Macdonald, Manitoba, in the south- southwestern sky for 2
minutes. It seems to change into a group of small round lights. They all
disappear together. (Jan Aldrich; Project Second Storey)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1952
Date: 7/29/1952
Time: 2:50 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. Moore, Gilfillan electronics representative
W. Yhope. One radar target tracked moving away, stopped for 2 minutes,
again moved very, very fast. Four minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Langley AFB, Virginia
ID: 207
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: 9:15 p.m. Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Robert
G. LeCompte sees a flight of at least 10 luminous objects pass over
Albuquerque, New Mexico. At first they appear overhead in no pattern,
heading north, then shift to a V formation. They then shift into two
rows. (NICAP, “AF
Reserve Colonel Observes Rapid Ellipse”; Sparks,
p. 163; Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March
2010): 13, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1954
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: 9:35 p.m. Marine Pfc Ralph C. Mayher, using 16 mm film
exposed at 24 frames per second, obtains footage of a high-speed UFO
over Miami Beach, Florida. Retaining a few frames for personal study,
Mayher submits the main portion of the film to the Air Force for
analysis. The film is never returned, and no analysis report is ever
released. Enlargements of a few frames show a fiery looking, roughly
circular object, symmetrical, with two small peaks or projection on
opposite sides of the disc. The CIA examines the film in 1957 and
returns it with no comment or analysis. The Mayher case features
prominently in the subsequent lawsuit by Ground Saucer Watch against the
CIA and is important because it is a confirmed case of direct
interaction of the CIA with a witness, clearly indicating that there was
CIA interest in the subject. (NICAP, “Ralph
Mayer / Miami Film”; Ralph Mayer, “I
Proved Flying Saucers Are Real,” Pic, June 1954; Good Above, pp. 355–356)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1955
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: 1:30 a.m. An Air Defense Command radar outside of Osceola,
Wisconsin, picks up some unidentified targets. Four F-51s from St. Paul,
Minnesota, are scrambled, but the targets are moving around so quickly
that it is impossible to vector in on a single target. The F-51 pilots
see many lights; one pilot at 25,000 feet sees an object blaze across
the nose of his airplane. Two other pilots vainly try to climb up to a
hovering light that is in the same position as the radar targets. ATIC’s
Robert M. Olsson and Wendell Swanson explain the radar incident as a
temperature inversion and the visual sighting as a meteor. (NICAP,
“Clusters of Small Targets and One Large Target”; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1952 July
21st–31st, Supplemental
Notes, The Author, 2001, pp. 80–85; Sparks, p. 161)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1944
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: Early morning. CAA radar tracks 8–12 UFOs at a time
traveling 100–120 mph in a 10-mile arc around Washington, D.C. When an
Eastern Airlines pilot tries to check on the radar targets at the
request of the CAA at 3:00 a.m., he sees nothing. The targets disappear
from CAA radar when the airliner approaches then come back in behind him
after he passes through the area. (“Air
Force Debunks ‘Saucers’ As Just ‘Natural Phenomena,’” New York
Times, July 30, 1952, pp. 1, 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1945
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: 10:00 a.m. President Truman tells
his air force liaison, Robert
B. Landry, to
find out what is going on with UFOs. Landry calls ATIC and eventually
reaches Ruppelt,
who tells him that weather may have caused the radar targets, but there
is no proof. He later learns that Truman is listening in. There is some
evidence that Truman or Landry soon contact the National Security
Council directly to find out how to proceed with the UFO problem.
(Ruppelt, p. 167;
Swords 170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1946
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: 10:00 a.m. Several employees of Los Alamos Scientific Labs,
New Mexico (including Robert B. Leachman, W. Schafer, E. T. Jurney), see
a white object moving east to west with a gyrating motion. Two jet
interceptors from Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque arrive 5 minutes later.
The object disappears but reappears in front of the jets, makes a 360°
turn, comes around in back, follows for 2 minutes, then disappears.
(NICAP, “Jets
Scrambled from Kirtland”;
Hynek UFO Report, pp. 61–64;
Sparks, p. 161)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1947
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: Four weather observers at Walker AFB [now closed] in
Roswell, New Mexico, watch several high-speed discs through a
theodolite. (Hynek UFO Report, pp. 114–115;
Sparks,
p. 161)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1948
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: An FBI memo from Victor P. Keay on “Flying Saucers”
discusses a classified briefing about UFOs by Cmdr. Randall
Boyd Jr. of the Air Intelligence Estimates Division to Norman
W. Philcox, an
FBI liaison to the Air Force. The Air Force has “failed to arrive at any
satisfactory conclusion” on UFOs. Reports are being received from all
parts of the US and distant parts of the world. Boyd explains that USAF
has made no progress in ascertaining the nature of UFOs, but it is
filing them into three classifications: reports by civilians on the
ground, reports by commercial or military pilots, and reports by pilots
that are confirmed by radar or ground observations. He concludes by
writing that it is “not entirely impossible that the objects sighted may
possibly be ships from another planet such as Mars,” but he adds that
“air intelligence is fairly certain that these objects are not ships or
missiles from another nation in this world.” (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History:
1952 July 21st–31st, Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2001,
pp. 55–56; ClearIntent, pp. 175–177)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1949
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: Ralph
L. Clark, acting
assistant director of the CIA Office of Scientific Intelligence, sends a
memo to OSI Deputy Director Robert
Amory Jr., indicating
that the agency will be looking into UFO matters a bit more thoroughly,
even though it has been collecting cases for the past three years (since
1949): “a special study group has been formed to review the subject to
date. D/CI [Walter
Bedell Smith] will participate in this study with D/SI [H.
Marshall Chadwell], and a report should be ready about 15 August.”
It alludes to his meeting with CIA rocket consultant Frederick
C. Durant and others the previous day. (Ralph L. Clark, “Recent
Sightings of Unexplained Objects,”
July 29, 1952, reprinted in
“The CUFON 1952 CIA UFO-Related Document Sampler”; Good Above, pp. 330, 505)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1950
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: Robert L. Farnsworth, president of the American Rocket
Society, urges President Truman and
defense officials to restrain the US armed forces from shooting at UFOs.
He says that hostile action might alienate us from “beings of far
superior powers.” (Robert L. Farnsworth, [Telegram
to President Truman], July 28, 1952; “A
Pro-Saucer Voice
Heard,” New York Daily News, July 29, 1952, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1951
Date: 7/29/1952
Time: 12:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF persons, alerted that UFOs were coming from
the direction of Seattle, Wash. Two to five flat disc-shaped objects:
one hovered 3-4 minutes, while the others circled it. Sighting length of
30 minutes not explained further.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ennis, Montana
ID: 210
Date: 7/29/1952
Description: 4:00 p.m. The Air Force holds its largest and longest press
conference since the end of World War II. Maj. Gen. John
A. Samford, director
of USAF intelligence, leads it. He is accompanied by Eighth Air Force
Maj. Gen. Roger
M. Ramey, director
of operations and commander of the Eighth Air Force; USAF Col. Donald
L. Bower, Technical Analysis Division, Air Technical Intelligence
Center (ATIC), Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio; Project Blue Book
head Capt. Edward
J. Ruppelt; USAF Capt. Roy
L. James, ATIC radar specialist; and Burgoyne
L. Griffing, electronics branch, ATIC. Samford says that the Air
Force has been monitoring US air space since 1947. Approximately 20% of
UFO reports come from “credible observers of relatively incredible
things,” which keeps the Air Force concerned. He explains that the
Washington, D.C., sightings earlier in July were caused by “weather
phenomena” that caused radar beams to bend and pick up objects on the
ground. James offers more technical explanations about temperature
inversions that cause radar echoes. Pro-UFO Maj. Dewey
J. Fournet
Jr., USAF
public relations officer Al
Chop, and
Navy radar specialist Lieut. John Holcomb are conspicuous by their
absence. (NICAP, “General
Samford’s Press Conference,” July 29, 1952; Ruppelt, pp. 168– 169;
“General
Samford’s UFO Press Conference, Pentagon, July 29, 1952,”
knightskross YouTube channel, August 3, 2010; “The
Air Force Makes a Pass at the Saucer Stories,” Life 33, no. 6
(August 11, 1952): 35; Swords 159–163; Don Berliner, with Marie
Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available
Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 60–63;
Kevin D. Randle, Invasion Washington: UFOs over the Capitol,
HarperTorch, 2001, pp. 77–126; Shoot 53–57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1953
Date: 7/30/1952
Description: Gen. Hoyt
Vandenberg tells the press that, although he does not believe there
are flying saucers, he dislikes the “mass hysteria” about them. He says
the Air Force has had experts investigating them since the end of World
War II and never found anything substantial. (“‘Double
Vision,’ Vandenberg,” Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press-Democrat, July 31,
1952, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1958
Date: 7/30/1952
Description: Flight Sgt. Roland Hughes of No. 20 Squadron RAF is on a
training flight in a de Havilland Vampire FB-9 jet fighter and returning
to base at RAF Oldenburg, Germany, when he sees a “gleaming silver,
metallic disc” drop down from above and fly alongside his aircraft for
several seconds before speeding off. The object is about 100 feet long.
Its surface is shiny “like tinfoil,” highly reflective, and “without a
single crease or crinkle in it.” On August 5, Hughes is ordered to fly
to RAF Faßberg for further questioning. He arrives and finds a number of
officers, including his commander and the UK Minister of Supply, Duncan
Sandys (Winston
Churchill’s son-in- law), who asks Hughes how many beers he had
before his saucer sighting. The Air Commanding Officer then reveals that
the object had also been tracked on radar going faster than any known
aircraft. This convinces Sandys that the case is a serious one, a view
that he communicates to Lord
Cherwell, the government’s chief scientific adviser, in a letter,
saying there is “ample evidence of some unfamiliar and unexplained
phenomenon.” (UFOFiles2, pp. 44–46;
“The
UFO Sighting That Convinced a Government Minister,” The Telegraph,
May 27, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1957
Date: 7/30/1952
Time: 11:02 PM
Description: Witness: USAF lst Lt. George Funk. One orange light
remained stationary for 10 minutes. No further details in files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
ID: 211
Date: 7/30/1952
Time: 10 AM
Description: Witnesses: E.E. Nye and one other person. One round, white
object flew slow and then sped away after 20-30 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: San Antonio, Texas
ID: 212
Date: 7/30/1952
Description: 1:10 p.m. Willie
Vaught of Alexandria, Indiana, sees a strange looking cloud and
calls her two teenage daughters (Laura and
Patsy)
and Laura
Oliver to see it. While looking at it, they see six flat,
aluminum-like objects streak across the cloud, merge, and disappear
within a minute. (“Alexandria
Family Reports Seeing ‘Flying
Saucers,’” Alexandria (Ind.) Times-Tribune, July 31, 1952, p. 1;
Herbert S. Taylor, “Mystery Clouds and the UFO Connection,” IUR 29, no.
4 (July 2005): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1959
Date: 7/31/1952
Description: Brig. Gen. Alfred
R. Maxwell of the Research and Development Board prepares a
memorandum that generally supports the official position that UFO
reports contain no information of value, he writes: “The Air Force has
made very little progress in learning what the phenomena or objects
are.” (Don Berliner and Stanton T. Friedman, Crash at Corona, Marlowe,
1994, pp. 30–31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1960
Date: 8/1952
Description: Hollywood producer Clarence
Greene and a friend see a “sphere of light” in the sky over Los
Angeles, California. Visible for 5 minutes, the object alternately
hovers and turns before speeding off over the horizon. The next morning,
Greene tells his business partner Russell
Rouse about the sighting. As he reflects on the experience, he grows
ever more irritated by the stigma attached to UFO sightings. (Clark III
1188)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1961
Date: 8/1/1952
Description: 9:50 p.m. Scripps-Howard reporter Howard
Doyle Kline sees a cluster of glowing white objects overhead in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. The objects shift around into various patterns,
including a perfect V at one point. Their shifts in position are
incredibly swift and fantastically violent, he says. “They made” a
flying saucer believer out of me.” He reports the incident to Lincoln
LaPaz, University of New Mexico meteoriticist, and Col. William
A. Matheny, commander
of the 34th Air Defense Division. The report, which is one probably used
in Maj. Dewey
Fournet’s Motion Study, is missing from the Project Blue Book files.
(New York World-Telegram, August 2, 1952; UFOEv, pp. 69–70;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1952
July 21st–31st, Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2001, p. 95)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1965
Date: 8/1/1952
Time: 1:14 AM
Description: Witnesses: sheriff’s deputies and other persons, one named
Mallette. Two brilliant red lights hovered and maneuvered for 5
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lancaster, California
ID: 213
Date: 8/1/1952
Description: 10:51 a.m. An Air Defense Command radar site on Campbell
Hill at Bellefontaine, Ohio, tracks a target 20 miles NNW of
Wright-Patterson AFB, traveling 500 mph against the wind. It vectors two
F-86s piloted by Maj. James B. Smith and Lt. Donald
J. Hemmer. They make visual contact but climb to 48,000 feet twice
without reaching it. Smith gets a weak return on his radar gun sight and
shoots a gun camera film of a white or silvery sphere estimated at
60,000 feet. They break off the intercept at 11:13 a.m. about 100 miles
west-southwest of Dayton. The film reportedly shows a UFO in the upper
right of the frames with noticeable motion to the lower left. Although
Blue Book Capt. Edward
J. Ruppelt’s assistants Lt. Anderson
G. Flues and Lt. Robert Olsson initially declare the case an
“unknown,” Ruppelt changes that evaluation a few weeks later after ATIC
Technical Analysis Division Chief Col. Donald
L. Bower transfers out, explaining it as two separate but
coincidental IFOs—a weather balloon and a jet. Ruppelt goes to great
lengths to debunk the case in his ADC briefings to the Robertson Panel.
(NICAP, “Gun
Camera R/V Case”; Condon, pp. 161–163;
Clark III 392–395; Hynek UFO Report, p. 21;
Sparks,
p. 165; Patrick Gross, “The
Bellefontaine, Ohio, Radar/Visual/Photographic Case, 1952”; Shoot
71–73; Center for UFO Studies, [Blue
Book documents and files])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1962
Date: End of 8/1/1952
Description: CIA Memo from acting Chief of Weapons and Equipment
Division: “It is strongly urged, however, that no indication of CIA
interest or concern reach the press or public.”
Type: secret memo
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Langley, Virginia
Date: 8/1/1952
Description: Edward
Tauss, acting
chief of the Weapons and Equipment Division of the CIA’s Office of
Scientific Intelligence, writes a letter to OSI Deputy Assistant
Director Ralph
L. Clark, saying
that less than 100 credible reports remain unexplainable.
“interplanetary aspects and alien origin not being thoroughly excluded
from consideration.” He recommends the CIA continue to cooperate with
ATIC, but “no indication of CIA interest or concern reach the press or
public.” (ClearIntent, p. 123)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1963
Date: 8/1/1952
Description: 8:30–9:00 p.m. We, the People, a 30-minute TV news show
produced by Life magazine, devotes its airtime to the recent UFO
sightings over Washington, D.C. WNBW-TV, which originates the program,
rents a DC-3 airliner, fills it with 20 newsmen, and has the plane
circle over Washington, just in case the saucers return. On the ground
in the radar room of Washington National Airport there are more newsmen
and TV cameras. The show features editors and journalists Frank
Blair, David
Brinkley, Clay
Blair, and
various UFO witnesses. (Curt Collins, “UFOs
on TV: The 1952 Washington, DC Saucer Flap,” The Saucers That Time
Forgot, July 5, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1964
Date: 8/2/1952
Time: 3 AM
Description: Witnesses: USAF lst Lt. W.A. Theil, one enlisted man. One
red ball with a blue flame tail flew straight and level for 3-4
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lake Charles, Louisiana
ID: 214
Date: 8/2/1952
Description: 3:00 a.m. USAF 1st Lt. W. A. Theil and enlisted man Edwards
see a red ball with a trail of blue flame fly straight and level over
Lake Charles, Louisiana. (Sparks, p. 165)
August 2 [or July 30] — George
Hunt Williamson and his wife Betty are visited in Prescott, Arizona,
by two other metaphysics enthusiasts, Alfred C. Bailey and his wife
Betty of Winslow, Arizona. This evening, in the course of an
automatic-writing experiment using a sort of Ouija board, they receive a
message from an extraterrestrial in a spacecraft. In the days and weeks
that follow, “Nah-9 of Solar X Group” and many other planetary and star
people communicate with them. The space people call earth “Saras.” Nah-9
says that the good men of Saras must unite with good space people to
avert a calamity. More Ouija sessions take place through August 17. A
message comes through that they will be contacted via radio with an
International Morse Code message on August 22. Bailey approaches a
coworker on the Santa Fe Railroad, a ham radio operator named Lyman
Streeter, and
asks for his help in picking up the space signals. (Clark III 1283;
George Hunt Williamson and Alfred C. Bailey, The Saucers Speak! New Age,
1954; Michael D. Swords, “Strange Days,” IUR 30, no. 4 (Aug. 2006):
21–22; Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt
Williamson, Verdechiari, 2016, pp. 178–181)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1966
Date: 8/3/1952
Description: 3:00 p.m. An Air Force master sergeant on the ship Santa
Luisa observes three round, flat, metallic objects hovering at
30,000–40,000 feet some 10 miles away from his position at the mouth of
the Rio Guayas near Isla Puná, Ecuador. After 5 seconds, one object
dives to the west then turns back northwest. They all disappear after
another 5 seconds. (Project 1947, [case
documents]; Project 1947, “UFO
Reports, 1952”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1967
Date: 8/3/1952
Description: 4:15 p.m. Two huge silvery discs are observed visually and
tracked on radar for 1 hour and 15 minutes over Hamilton AFB [now
closed] near Novato, California. The ground observers are pilots
Capt. Leslie
R. Hadley, Capt. Wayne
T. Perske, and
2d Lt. Duane
A. Swimley. They
dive at each other and maneuver as if in a dogfight. After F-86s are
dispatched to intercept, 6 more objects appear, take up a diamond
formation, and accelerate out of sight. (NICAP, “Eight
Huge Objects Observed by 8 Witnesses and Radar”; Sparks,
p. 165; Project 1947, “Hamilton
Air Force Base, Hamilton, California, August 3, 1952”; Project 1947,
[Blue
Book documents and files];
Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March 2010):
14, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1968
Date: 8/3/1952
Description: 10:20 p.m. Civilian engineer Paul L. Anderson sees 3
light-green cylindrical objects at Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
They are hovering at 45° elevation in an inverted-V formation, switching
to echelon when one object moves with a rolling motion along its long
axis. It disappears by rapidly rising vertically. The observation lasts
9 minutes. (NICAP, “Three
Cylindrical Objects Observed by Engineers”; Sparks,
p. 165; Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March
2010): 14, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1969
Date: 8/4/1952
Time: 11:37 AM
Description: Witnesses: one woman, two children. One object, shaped like
a lifesaver or donut, emitted black smoke from its top and made a 15’
arc in 1.5 minutes. Observed for 2 hours.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Mt. Vernon, New York
ID: 216
Date: 8/4/1952
Time: 2:20 AM
Description: Witness: USAF A/3c W.F. Vain. One yellow ball which
lengthened and narrowed to plate shape, flew straight and level for 5
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
ID: 215
Date: 8/5/1952
Description: Day. During a daylight observation of Venus, astronomer James
C. Bartlett Jr. watches two discs fly overhead in a southerly
direction at Baltimore, Maryland. They move away to the east, then two
more objects with dome-like protrusions in the center fly past. (“Two
Huge UFOs Sighted by Baltimore Astronomer,” UFO Investigator 1, no.
5 (Aug./Sept. 1958): 1, 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1971
Date: 8/5/1952
Time: 11:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF F-94 jet interceptor pilots lst Lt. W.R.
Holder and lst Lt. A.M. Jones, and Haneda control tower operators.
Airborne radar tracked a target for 90 seconds. Control tower operators
watched 50-60 minutes while a dark shape with a light flew as fast as
330 kts. (380 m.p.h.), hovered, flew curves and performed a variety of
maneuvers.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Haneda AFB, Japan
ID: 217
Date: 8/5/1952
Description: 12:25 a.m. A trio of brilliant white dots of indefinite
shape, at an altitude of an estimated 5,000 feet, passes over Westover
AFB [now Westover Reserve Air Base] in Chicopee, Massachusetts. The
second object is half the size of the first, and the third is half the
size of the second one. The first one resembles an automobile headlight.
The appearance of other two is not given. The three are in a triangular
formation. No jet activity is recorded over the airbase at the time and
witnesses say the objects are moving “faster than jets.” (Loren E.
Gross, UFOs,
a History:
1952, August, The
Author, 1986, p. 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1970
Date: 8/5/1952
Description: 9:46–12:00 midnight. A visual sighting is made at 9:46 p.m.
by an observer on the ground at Manassas, Virginia, who spots a
brilliant oval flying south. About 10:50 p.m., Andrews AFB in Maryland
picks up two unidentified blips moving slowly and steadily away from
Washington, D.C., on a course toward Mount Vernon, Virginia. Minutes
later the fluorescent screens at Andrews show two more UFOs to the east
of the field moving for a short distance, stopping, and then moving
again. The speed of the targets is a slow 60 mph. The height of the
targets is unknown. Planes from both Andrews AFB and Bolling AFB are
sent up to investigate but rainy weather forces them to turn back after
they reach 15,000 feet altitude. Around 12:00 midnight yet another
target appears on radar, and jets from New Castle AFB in Delaware are
scrambled. The jets see no UFOs when they arrived over Washington;
however, a spokesman for Andrews radar tells the press that “no radar
sightings were made while the planes were overhead.” (“Flock
of ‘Saucer’ Objects Again Puzzles Wash. DC,” Visalia (Calif.)
Times-Delta, August 6, 1952, p. 1; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, August, The
Author, 1986, pp. 23–24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1972
Date: 8/5/1952
Description: 10:45 p.m. Eight residents of Camden, New Jersey, report a
bright, round, orange object hovering or moving slowly in the western
sky. (“8
City Residents Report ‘Saucers’ on Nocturnal Sweep through Sky,”
Camden (N.J.) Courier-Post, August 6, 1952, p. 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1973
Date: 8/5/1952
Description: 11:45 p.m. A complex radar-visual sighting takes place at
Haneda AFB [later Tokyo International Airport], Japan. Control tower
operators watch a disc as it passes over Tokyo Bay at about 1,500 feet.
It is a dark round shape surrounded by a bright light with a curved
outer edge and smaller lights around it. While being tracked on radar, a
scramble alert is issued at 11:55 p.m., and an F-94 Starfire jet from
nearby Johnson Air Base [now Iruma Air Base] in Sayama, Saitama
Prefecture, goes after the object. The interceptor, piloted by 1Lt. Wesley
R. Holder and Radar Observer 1Lt. Aaron M. Jones Jr., chases the
object, which speeds away while being tracked by onboard radar. During
the next 30 minutes, the UFO disappears and reappears throughout the
sky, vanishes when the jet closes in, performs intricate maneuvers, and
at one point splits into three radar targets. The jet searches over
Tokyo Bay until 12:33 a.m. when it is recalled. (NICAP, “F-94
Pilots Tracked Object for 90 Seconds”; Ruppelt, pp. 187–189;
Condon, pp. 123–126;
Sparks,
p. 166; Martin L. Shough, “Radar and the UFO,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean
Tomes, 1987, pp. 217–219; Patrick Gross, “The
Haneda AFB Case, Japan, August 5, 1952”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1974
Date: 8/6/1952
Description: Hynek sends
Project Blue Book a report on his interviews with 45 astronomers about
their opinions on UFOs at a June meeting of the American Astronomical
Society and finds that five (11%) have seen a UFO, seven are indifferent
to the subject, more express at least some interest, and a few are very
interested but wary of publicity. (J. Allen Hynek, “Special
Report on Conferences with Astronomers on Unidentified Aerial
Objects,” August 6, 1952; “Seven
Status Reports for Project Stork, Part 2,” CUFON; “Seven
Status Reports for Project Stork, Part 3,” CUFON; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, August, The Author, 1986, pp. 83–85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1975
Date: 8/6/1952
Time: Time unknown
Description: This is a continuation of the Haneda AFB sightings.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tokyo, Japan
ID: 218
Date: 8/6/1952
Time: Time unknown
Description: Case missing from official files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Port Austin, Michigan
ID: 219
Date: 8/6/1952
Description: 9:00 p.m. James J. Allen sees a UFO 6 feet high, 8 feet
long, and lighted inside strike the chimney of his home in West
Lumberton, North Carolina. It crashes into his backyard. When he
approaches it, the lights go off and he sees a man about 30 inches tall
standing next to it. He asks if he is hurt, then the figure reenters the
vehicle and it zooms away. (“West
Lumberton Event Added to
Growing ‘Saucer’ Reports,” Lumberton (N.C.) Robesonian, August 7,
1952, pp. 1, 4; Clark III 326; Curt Collins, “James
J. Allen’s Alien Encounter Embarrassment:
Aug. 6, 1952,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, January 19. 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1976
Date: 8/7/1952
Description: 9:08 a.m. Mrs. Susan Pzuhl (or Pfuhl) observes over San
Antonio, Texas, four round UFOs that give off a color similar to
white-hot metal. The objects appear to be approximately 18 inches in
diameter and are observed one at a time at intervals of approximately 20
minutes. With the exception of one object that moves slowly, the speed
must have been 3 times as fast as a propeller-driven aircraft. No sound
can be heard. Their maneuvers consist of radical directional change by
the first object, straight and level flight by the second object, a
slight directional change by the third object, and a large circular
maneuver by the fourth object. An aircraft passes under the fourth
object with no apparent reaction by the plane or the object. It vanishes
suddenly like an extinguished light. Duration is 70 minutes. (NICAP,
“Four 18ʺ UFOs Observed”; Sparks, p. 166)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1978
Date: 8/7/1952
Description: 12:02 a.m. At Kerkrade, Netherlands, marine engineer Will
Jansen watches a domed object swoop down to a low altitude, hover,
zigzag, then speed away. He sees a similar object hovering further away.
It finally tilts up vertically and shoots out of sight. (UFOEv, p. 122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1977
Date: 8/7/1952
Time: 9:08 AM
Description: Witness: Mrs. Susan Pfuhl. Four glowing white discs: one
made a 180 degree turn, one flew straight and level, one veered off, and
one circled during the 70 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: San Antonio, Texas
ID: 220
Date: 8/7/1952
Description: 3:00 p.m. Two Ground Observer Corps skywatchers in
Silverton, Oregon, Ida
Pfeifer and Dorothy Sthamann, see an aluminum-colored object 3 miles
away that appears at first triangular, then more saucer shaped. Army and
air observers in Portland confirm that jet interceptors are at that
moment in pursuit of the object. Replacement skywatchers Sadie
Barkhurst and Mrs. Olaf Teglund also see the object at 5:00 p.m. All
agree that the UFO is headed east at a moderate speed, but darts
“fiercely” toward the interceptor when it approaches. (“Flying
Saucer at
Silverton,” Salem (Oreg.) Capital Journal, August 9, 1952,
p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1979
Date: 8/8/1952
Description: A special CIA/Office of Scientific Intelligence team
consisting of Philip
Grandin Strong, Ransom
L. Eng, and Frederick
C. Durant visits Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio for a comprehensive
briefing about UFOs from Blue Book staff. This classified visit is in
response to secret orders from President Truman to
the CIA to investigate the Air Force’s mishandling of UFOs during the
Washington National Airport cases. (CUFON, “The CUFON
1952 CIA UFO-Related Document Sampler, Part 1 of 2 Parts,” May 17,
1996; Clark III 397; Swords 172–173)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1980
Date: 8/9/1952
Description: Reply from Air Ministry, Whitehall, S.W. to W.S. Churchill
stating: All UFO sightings are either astronomical phenomena, mistaken
sightings of balloons, birds, etc., optical illusions or hoaxes. The
Americans have reached a similar conclusion.
Type: secret memo
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p449)
Location: Britain
See also: 7/28/52
Date: 8/9/1952
Description: 1:45 a.m. A/3C Joseph
F. Raley is walking to work at Lake Charles Air Force Station [now
closed] in Lake Charles, Louisiana, when he observes a disc-like object
from a distance away of 3,000–5,000 feet. The object is at an estimated
altitude of 5,000 feet. It moves several hundred mph faster than any
known jet aircraft. No sound is heard. The object is first seen moving
north to south until it crosses the air station, where it stops and
hovers for approximately 2 seconds, then takes off to the west. (NICAP,
“Faster-Than-Jet
Disc Stops, Hovers Two Seconds, Accelerates”;
Sparks, p. 167)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1981
Date: 8/9/1952
Time: 10:50 AM
Description: Witness: USAF A/3c J.P. Raley. One disc-shaped object flew
very fast and then hovered for 2 seconds during a 5-6 minute
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lake Charles, Louisiana
ID: 221
Date: 8/10/1952
Description: 5:38 p.m. Roy E. Munson is resting in his hammock at 1231
Widergren Drive, Rockford, Illinois, when he sees a disc-shaped object
moving west to east and streaking across the sky in 6 seconds. Within
minutes, another appears on the same flight path. Some family members
and neighbors join him to watch the objects, which keep appearing for
the next 90 minutes by which time a total of 54 have gone by. Munson
alerts the CAA operator at the Rockford airport, who calls O’Hare
Airport in Chicago, which sends two USAF jet interceptors to the area.
They appear just as the last of the discs, which seem surrounded by a
haze, disappears. Of the 54 objects, 36 appear larger that the others
and move faster. Fifty follow the straight west-to-east path out of
sight. Three deviate from the path to the north, and one deviates to the
south. (NICAP, “Rockford,
Illinois, Monday, August 11, 1952”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1982
Date: 8/11/1952
Description: A CIA memo refers to a meeting of the newly created study
group on UFOs attended by eight operatives. (Central Intelligence
Agency, “Minutes
of Branch Chief’s Meeting of 11 August 1952”; CUFON, “The
CUFON 1952
CIA UFO-Related Document Sampler, Part 1 of 2 Parts,” May 17, 1996;
Swords 173)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1983
Date: 8/12/1952
Description: 1:43 a.m. An Air Force F-94B jet fighter from Dover AFB in
Delaware is flying at 20,000 feet when both the pilot and his radar
crewman sight a glowing object 45° to their left and at a lower
altitude, with the waters of the Delaware Bay as a dark backdrop.
Curious, the jet pilot adjusts his course and heads directly at the
object, which is stationary. In an apparent reaction, the object loses
some of its brilliance and diminishes in size, apparently moving away.
The pilot determines that the object had halted above Cape May, New
Jersey, where it again hovers. Without success, the pilot tries to raise
the local CCI station on the radio on F channel to request a radar scan
of the Cape May area. Low on fuel, the pilot cannot pursue the UFO any
further, so he breaks off the chase and heads for home. The UFO follows
the jet, increasing in apparent size as it draws near and overtakes it.
Eventually, the UFO loses interest and flies away to the south. (Loren
E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, August, The Author, 1986, p. 36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1984
Date: 8/13/1952
Description: 11:10 p.m. USAF Reserve Capt. Stanley W. Thompson sees a
formation of lighted objects flying rapidly over Tucson, Arizona. (Loren
E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, August, The Author, 1986, p. 39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1989
Date: 8/13/1952
Description: 9:10 p.m. A witness in Oakland, California, calls Hamilton
AFB [now closed] in Novato to notify them he is watching “two balls of
fire” making a 10-mile circle and leaving in the direction of Hamilton.
When the report is made to Capt. Kenneth
Broden, Hamilton
AFB Airdrome Officer, he orders an F-94 jet scrambled to search the bay
between Oakland and the air base. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, August, The Author, 1986, p. 39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1987
Date: 8/13/1952
Description: Night. Pioneer Airlines pilot Capt. Max M. Jacoby sees a
mystery light while on a routine test flight out of Dallas Love Field,
Texas. He tries to intercept it, but the light evades him and
disappears. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs, a
History: 1952, August, The
Author, 1986, p. 39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1986
Date: 8/13/1952
Description: Around 7:00 p.m. Two civilians in the Tampa, Florida, area
watch three UFOs. One object changes its course abruptly to the west,
moving in excess of 600 mph. The same object hovers for about 5 minutes
then moves at an excessive rate back to the east and resumes its course
to the north and disappears. The two other objects do not alter course
but disappear to the north. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, August, The
Author, 1986, p. 39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1985
Date: 8/13/1952
Time: 9:45 PM
Description: Witness: USAF Marine Corps pilot Maj. D. McGough. One
orange light flew a left orbit at 8,000’ and 230 m.p.h., spiralled down
to no more than 1,500’, remained stationary for 2-3 minutes and went
out. An attempted interception was unsuccessful.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tokyo, Japan
ID: 222
Date: 8/13/1952
Description: 9:45 p.m. In Tokyo, Japan, US Marine Corps pilot Maj. James
D. McGough sees an orange light fly a left orbit at 8,000 feet and
230 mph, then spiral down to no more than 1,500 feet, remain stationary
for 2–3 minutes, and go out. An attempted interception is unsuccessful.
(NICAP, “Orange
Light Maneuvers Then Stops in Mid- Air”;
Sparks, p. 167)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1988
Date: 8/14/1952
Description: 10:30 p.m. A yellow ball of light undulates up and down and
from side to side over the Mathieson chemical plant in Lake Charles,
Louisiana. It is also seen to shoot ahead abruptly and come to a halt in
the same manner. Witnesses estimate that the ball passes over at 5,000
feet, growing fainter and fainter as it moves away. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, August, The Author, 1986, p. 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1993
Date: 8/14/1952
Description: The CIA’s special UFO study group meets for the first time
and is given a summary (probably written by A. Ray
Gordon, project
officer of the CIA’s Physics and Electronics Branch) of UFO history, an
analysis of Project Blue Book, and a discussion of explained sightings
and theories about unexplained sightings. (Central Intelligence Agency,
“Flying
Saucers,” August 14, 1952; Good Above, pp. 331–333)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1991
Date: 8/14/1952
Description: Australian Minister for Air William
McMahon states facetiously in Parliament that flying saucer reports
are “probably based on flights of imagination,” but indicates he will
“cause a thorough investigation to be made.” (Swords 376)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1990
Date: 8/14/1952
Description: 7:20 p.m. People on the docks of Phillippeville [modern
Skikda], Algeria, see an enormous red disc leaving behind a greenish
trail. At 9:15 p.m., two people in Constantine, Algeria, watch a
luminous object flying at high speed. It emits a bright light.
(ClearIntent, p. 122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1992
Date: mid 8/1952
Description: 10:30 p.m. John
D. Moorman, deputy sheriff of Starke County, is fishing in a boat
with Surphin
Casper on the Tippecanoe River about 3 miles northwest of Monterey,
Indiana. Moorman looks up and sees 7–8 objects hovering. They watch for
a few seconds until the objects move away to the west. About half of
them return east momentarily, and all of them disappear by blinking out.
(NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1994
Date: 8/15/1952
Description: 4:20 a.m. Ground Observer Corps observers in Davis,
California, see a rainbow-colored, round object hovering in the air.
Soon they notice eight more objects of a strange appearance. At 5:30
a.m., two more UFOs are seen, one moving west while the other moves
east. The Air Force scrambles a F-94 jet interceptor to search the area
at altitudes of 10,000–20,000 feet. The military claims the pilot can
see nothing unusual, although the GOC spotters say that the UFOs and the
jet are both visible in the sky at the same time and possibly at the
same altitude. At 5:00 a.m., in Napa, California, GOC post observer
Diane Robinson sights a “cigar-shaped silver thing” traveling at
tremendous speed at 10,000 feet toward the southwest. (Loren E. Gross,
UFOs,
a History: 1952,
August, The
Author, 1986, p. 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1995
Date: 8/15/1952
Description: CIA operative Frederick
C. Durant [and/or Ransom L. En] writes a top-secret draft memo for
DCI Walter Bedell
Smith on the OSI teams visit to Wright-Patterson AFB and a summary
of its findings. It offers an analytical description of UFOs going back
to the 1946 Scandinavian ghost rockets. It rules out the possibility of
Russian secret weapons and mentions the sightings at Los Alamos and Oak
Ridge at a time when the “background radiation count had risen
inexplicably. Here we run out of even ‘blue yonder’ explanations that
might be tenable, and, we still are left with numbers of incredible
reports from credible observers.” Yet “even though we might admit that
intelligent life may exist elsewhere and that space travel is possible,
there is no shred of evidence to support this theory at present.”
(Central Intelligence Agency, “Flying
Saucers,” August 15, 1952; CUFON, “The CUFON
1952 CIA UFO-Related Document Sampler, Part 1 of 2 Parts,” May 17,
1996; Clark III 397; Swords 172–173)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1996
Date: 8/15/1952
Description: RAAF Flight Lt. William H. Scott, chief test pilot of the
Government Aircraft Factories, is flying a de Havilland Vampire jet
between 35,000 and 36,000 feet near Rockhampton, Queensland. Looking
east toward the coast, he sees a large, circular light at a lower
elevation. It is the color of an ordinary incandescent light bulb. After
about 60 seconds, 6–10 smaller lights break off from the main light,
surrounding it for 2 minutes before disappearing. After another 2
minutes, the big light also disappears. (Swords 376)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1997
Date: 8/16/1952
Description: CIA analysis report of a Vienna news article of a UFO
report from the Belgian Congo: Commander Pierre of Elisabethville
Airfield was sent out to intercept two Flying Saucers. They had a diam.
of 12 to 15 meters with a stationary central hub with visible portholes
and an extremely fast rotating outer disk that glowed as if on fire.
Color similar to aluminum. They emitted a loud whistling sound which
could be heard over his own engines. He estimated their speed at over
1500 kilometers/hour.
Type: report
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p512)
Location: Langley, Virginia
Date: 8/18/1952
Time: 12:50 AM
Description: Witnesses: three policemen. One object changed color like a
diamond, and changed directions during the 30 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Fairfield, California
ID: 223
Date: 8/19/1952
Description: About 10:00 p.m. Scoutmaster D[unham] S[anborn] “Sonny”
DesVergers is driving with three scouts on the edge of the Everglades
south of West Palm Beach, Florida, when he sees a light in a wild
palmetto grove. The boys do not see it, so he drives on. Another boy
admits he has seen a light in that direction too, so DesVergers returns
to the spot and goes into the grove, telling the boys to stay in the car
unless he is delayed. Soon all three boys see red lights flashing in the
grove. This alarms them, and they go to a nearby house for help. They
return to see DesVergers staggering out of the grove, incoherently
saying he has been zapped into semiconsciousness by some kind of red
flare coming from a hatch in a red ball of light (and burns his cap as
well). An area of flattened and burned grass is found after the event.
DesVergers has a reputation as a prankster and hopes to monetize his
story somehow, but the scouts do corroborate his story and there are
physical traces. Grass samples from the site sent to the Air Force show
root damage extending 4 inches or more into the soil, suggesting
overheating, possibly by microwave radiation. Karl
Pflock thinks it is a hoax, but Jerry
Clark isn’t 100% sure. (NICAP, “Florida Scoutmaster
Case”; “Attack
by Flying Saucer Described
by Scoutmaster,” Miami (Fla.) Daily News, August 24, 1952, pp. 1A,
4A; “‘Line
Forms at Left’ for
That Saucer Yarn,” Miami (Fla.) Daily News, August 25, 1952, p. 1A;
“Boy
Scout Wants New Saucer Hunt,” Miami (Fla.) Daily News, August 26,
1952, p. 2A; “‘Saucer’ Witnesses Talking,”
Miami (Fla.) Daily News, August 27, 1952, pp. 1A, 8A; Clark III 496–498;
Ruppelt, p. 176;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1952 August,
Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2001, pp. 115–119; Story, pp. 128–131;
Jenny Randles, UFO Reality, p. 143; Karl T. Pflock, “The
Best Hoax
in UFO History?” 1997; “The
Scoutmaster’s Tale,” Saturday Night Uforia, March 27, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2001
Date: 8/19/1952
Description: 2:38 p.m. Ground Observer Corps observer Albert Lathrop
sees two objects shaped like fat bullets flying straight, level, and
fast over Red Bluff, California. (Sparks, p. 167)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1999
Date: 8/19/1952
Time: 2:38 PM
Description: Witness: Ground Observer Corps observer Albert Lathrop. Two
objects, shaped like fat bullets, flew straight and level, very fast for
25 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Red Bluff, California
ID: 224
Date: 8/19/1952
Description: 8:00 p.m. An oval disc is seen above Boron Air Force
Station [now closed] in Boron, California. Two jet fighters are guided
into the area by Capt. Ralph
J. Borgerson at the base, but the object speeds away to the east as
they close in. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, August, The Author, 1986, p. 49; Sparks,
p. 167)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2000
Date: 8/19/1952
Description: J. D. Desvergers (scoutmaster) has contact with saucer. Is
burned.
Type: ce3 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Attributes: injury
Date: 8/19/1952
Time: evening
Description: Ronny Desvergers saw a large, round, dark object above him
in a clearing. It had a turret on top. Red balls of light were emitted
by the object and burned him. He also observed a “hideous” creature
aboard the craft. Grass roots were scorched at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Ruppelt 222; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: West Palm Beach, Florida
ID: 97
Date: 8/19/1952
Description: The CIA/OSI study group prepares an internal 6-page
document of its findings. It has made a study of the Soviet press that
shows “not one report or comment” about UFOs, which indicates official
censorship. It perceives a danger that the Russians might try to
infiltrate civilian UFO groups (such as Civilian Saucer Investigation of
Los Angeles) or add UFO disinformation during a nuclear attack: “We give
Russia the capability of delivering an air attack against us, yet at any
given moment now, there may be a dozen official unidentified sightings
plus many unofficial.” It briefs CIA Director Walter
Bedell Smith on August 20. (Central Intelligence Agency, “Flying
Saucers,” August 19, 1952; CUFON, “The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO-Related Document Sampler, Part
1 of 2 Parts,” May 17, 1996; Clark III 1013; Swords 174)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 1998
Date: 8/20/1952
Description: The CIA/OSI UFO study group briefs CIA Director Walter
Bedell Smith, who
then orders the preparation of a National Security Council Intelligence
Directive for submission to the NSC stating the need for a UFO
investigation. (H. Marshall Chadwell, “Unidentified
Flying Objects,” December 2, 1952)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2002
Date: 8/20/1952
Description: Memorandom for Director CIA: the DCI, after a briefing by
OSI on the subject of UFOs, directed the preparation of an NSCID for
submission to the Council stating the need for investigation and
directing agencies concerned to cooperate in such investigations. It was
decided that Dr. Whitman, chairman of P&DB, would investigate
undertaking R&D studies through Air Force agencies. Signed: H.
Marshall Chadwell. (See continuation of this briefing.)
Type: memorandom
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Langley, Virginia
See also: 11/25/52
Date: 8/20/1952
Description: Air Defense Command radar at Congaree AFB [now McEntire
Joint National Guard Base], southeast of Columbia, South Carolina,
tracks a target traveling more than 4,000 mph some 60 miles from the
base. (NICAP, “ADC
Tracks Object at 4,000 MPH”; UFOEv, p. 78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2003
Date: 8/20/1952
Time: 3:10 AM
Description: Witnesses: Bill Ford and two others. An undescribed object
flew at 500’ altitude for several minutes. No further data in
files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Neffesville, Pennsylvania
ID: 225
Date: late 8/1952
Description: Albert and Betty Bailey go to the Palomar Gardens Café in
California to visit George
Adamski and tell him about their contacts and their friendship with
George
Hunt Williamson. (Michael
D. Swords, “Strange Days,” IUR 30, no. 4 (Aug. 2006): 22) Late summer —
As a Signal Corps employee working the night shift, Vivian Walton
handles decoded teletype messages inside a high-security building at the
Defense Supply Center near Columbus, Ohio. She walks into the photo lab,
where colleague Joe Sheehy is developing photos, one of which he says is
a UFO that had landed in the “hill country” somewhere near Columbus. He
says the object is 30 feet in diameter and unoccupied, with minimal
damage. A few days later, an alert is sounded, allegedly because of
danger of attack by UFOs. Walton claims the downed UFO has gone through
the depot on the way to Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton. (James W.
Moseley, “The
Wright Field Story, or Who’s Lying?” Nexus 3, no. 1 (September
1954): 11–15; James W. Moseley, The Wright Field Story, Saucerian, 1971;
Jerome Clark, “A Catalog of Early Crash Claims,” IUR 18, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1993): 18; Irena Scott and William E. Jones, “Crash Claims,”
IUR 18, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1993): 21; Good Need, p. 159;
Clark III 329)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2019
Date: 8/21/1952
Description: 10:10 p.m. Ground Observer Corps Supervisor D. C. Scott
spots a yellowish-white light flying in the sky at 2,000 feet northeast
of Elgin, Illinois. Several times it rises to 5,000 feet in three
minutes, hovers, then descends again. Scott alerts Capt. Everett A.
Turner at the Chicago Filter Center, who tells him to call again when
the light settles down. After one hour and 23 minutes the light begins
to hover, Scott calls Turner again, and Turner has at least one F-86
Sabre jet scrambled from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The pilot makes four
passes between 10,000 and 2,000 feet. On the fourth pass, it heads
directly toward the light, which blinks out. (“Jets
Pursue Mystery Light,”
Carbondale Southern Illinoisan, August 23, 1952, p. 1; UFOEv, p. 66;
Shoot 102–103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2004
Date: 8/21/1952
Time: 11:54 PM
Description: Witness: Jack Rossen, ex-artillery observer. Three
blue-white lights hovered then descended; 1.5 minutes later, one of them
descended more.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Dallas, Texas
ID: 226
Date: 8/22/1952
End date: 8/23/1952
Description: Evening. Lyman
Streeter sees unusual lights near Winslow, Arizona, and hears
strange signals on his ham radio. Not long afterward, Lyman, his wife,
and Alfred C. Bailey hear a mysterious code coming through the air
itself. Eventually, at 2:00 a.m., a Morse Code-like message comes
through the radio from Regga of Mars and Zo and Nah-9 from Neptune. Zo
refers to Affa from Uranus, who thinks earth is too evil. He also warns
them that the evil Orion Solar System is coming to earth in a “square
star body.” Williamson arrives
from Prescott on August 23. (George Hunt Williamson and Alfred C.
Bailey, The Saucers Speak! New Age, 1954; Michael D. Swords, “Strange
Days,” IUR 30, no. 4 (Aug. 2006): 22; Clark III 1283–1284)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2007
Date: 8/22/1952
Description: George G. Carey, CIA assistant director for operations,
writes a memo to Chadwell on
“USSR and Satellite Mentions of Flying Saucers” that reviews mentions of
UFOs in the Soviet press during the past two years. (“USSR
and Satellite Mentions of Flying Saucers,” August 22, 1952; CUFON,
“The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO- Related
Document Sampler, Part 1 of 2 Parts,” May 17, 1996)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2005
Date: 8/22/1952
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 78km (Army training
test. Thrust decreased after 53s. Tail separation at 217s.)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 78km
Date: 8/22/1952
Description: A.
Ray Gordon, project
officer of the CIA’s Physics and Electronics Branch, provides a briefing
document explaining the “Air Force Stand on ‘Flying Saucers’” to CIA
Director Walter
Bedell Smith, who then briefs President Truman on
the CIA UFO study group’s reports at his regular Friday intelligence
briefing. (“The Air Force Stand on ‘Flying Saucers’,” August 22, 1952;
CUFON, “The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO-Related Document Sampler,
Part 1 of 2 Parts,” May 17, 1996; Clark III 1013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2006
Date: 8/23/1952
Description: CIA analysis report of an Athens news article of an UFO
landing in Communist Berlin, Germany: Former Mayor of Gleimershausen,
Oscar Linke and his 11 year old daughter, Gabriella, spotted a landed
Flying Saucer near the town of Hasselbach. The huge “frying pan” was
approx. 13 to 15 meters in diameter and had two rows of holes on its
periphery, about 30 centimeters in circumference. The space between the
two rows was about 0.45 meters. On top was a black conical object about
3 meters high. Two men dressed in shiny metallic clothing were standing
outside the craft. Upon hearing my daughters voice the two men retreated
into the UFO which then began to rotate. As the UFO began to spin the
conical tower slid down into the UFO and the UFO began to rise and
rotate like a top. It seemed to be supported by the conical tower that
was now underneath it. (More details were included in report, see
02/23/55, See also the movie “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers”)
Type: report
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p513)
Location: Langley, Virginia
See also: 2/23/1955
Date: 8/23/1952
Description: Telenews Productions re-releases its 1950 UFO documentary
short, The Flying Saucer Mystery, edited and expanded to 12½ minutes
with new material. It features footage from the July 29, 1952, press
conference given by Air Force Maj. Gen. John
A. Samford, the UFO photo taken by Shell
Alpert, a photo taken by August
C. Roberts, German UFO occupant witnesses Oskar and Gabriele Linke,
Frank
Scully, and U.S. Army Engineers physicist Noel W. Scott. (“The
Flying Saucer Mystery (Full) (1952),” TheUFOVideoChannel YouTube
channel, September 1, 2010; Internet Movie Database, “The
Flying Saucer Mystery”; Curt Collins, “The
Flying Saucer Mystery
and
the 1952 UFO Flap,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, January 9,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2008
Date: 8/23/1952
Time: 4:10 AM
Description: Witnesses: USAF 2nd Lt. H.K. Funseth, a ground radar
observer, and two U.S. Navy men. One pulsing amber light was seen to fly
straight and level for 7 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Akron, Ohio
ID: 227
Date: 8/24/1952
Description: 10:15 a.m. USAF Col. Gerald
W. Johnson is flying an F-84G when he sees two silver balls in the
vicinity of Hermanas (a ghost town), New Mexico. They seem to be 6 feet
in diameter and 2 miles away. One seems to change into a long, gray
object as it is turning to the right. After 3 minutes they disappear,
then reappear 7 minutes later, by which time the F-84 is over El Paso,
Texas. One after the other, the objects climb straight up 2,000–3,000
feet. (NICAP, “F-84
Encounters Two Silver Balls”; Sparks,
p. 168; Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March
2010): 14, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2009
Date: 8/24/1952
Description: Williamson, Streeter,
and Bailey receive coded radio messages indicating the saucer
intelligences intend to land, inviting them to help. (George Hunt
Williamson and Alfred C. Bailey, The Saucers Speak! New Age, 1954
Michael D. Swords, “Strange Days,” IUR 30, no. 4 (Aug. 2006): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2010
Date: 8/24/1952
Time: 10:15 AM
Description: Witness: Georgia Air National Guard F-84G jet fighter pilot
Col. G.W. Johnson. Two 6’ silver balls in abreast formation, one turned
grey rapidly, the other slowly. One changed to long grey shape during a
turn. Sighting lasted about 10 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Hermanas, Mexico
ID: 228
Date: 8/24/1952
Time: 5:40 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. George White. One large round,
metallic, white light with a vague lower surface, flew slowly, then fast
With a dancing, wavering motion, for about 1 minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tucson, Arizona
ID: 229
Date: 8/24/1952
Time: 9:30 PM, 10:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Sharp. One object, shaped
like a spinning top, changing color from red to yellow to blue, and with
a fiery tail, hovered for 20 minutes, whistling, then flew away. It, or
another like it, returned an hour later.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Levelland, Texas
ID: 230
Date: 8/24/1952
Time: 0600
Description: A man driving through a wood encountred a strange object
and stopped to observe it. It looked like two turtle shells glued
together, about 25 m long, with a humanoid creature in what appeared to
be a control cabin in front. Windows lighted by an intense blue light
and a throbbing sound were also reported. The object was oscillating and
suddenly flew straight up with a strong humming noise. The middle
section supported what looked like propellers. The object hovered 3 m
above ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Frontenac, Kansas
ID: 98
Date: 8/25/1952
Description: 5:50 a.m. William
Squyres, a
radio station musician at KOAM [now KKOW-AM] is driving from his home
northeast of Frontenac, Kansas, to the station at Pittsburg. He is in
his 1952 Jeep station wagon on a rough gravel road about a quarter of a
mile from US Highway 160 when he sees a large, disc-shaped object
hovering 10 feet in the air on the right side of the road 750 feet away.
The UFO looks like two bowls placed together end to end, 75 feet long,
40 feet wide, and 15 feet high in the midsection. Through a window he
can see the head and shoulders of a motionless human figure. Along its
outer edge are a series of propellers 6–8 inches in diameter, spaced
closely together and mounted on a bracket so they revolve “in a
horizontal plane” along the edge of the object. He stops and gets out to
watch it. As he is walking toward the object, it rises into the air and
flies away at great speed. (Hynek UFO Report, pp. 200–203;
Patrick Gross, “Project
Blue Book Unexplained Cases”; Sparks, p. 168)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2012
Date: 8/25/1952
Description: 3:40 p.m. At Holloman AFB, New Mexico, plant supervisor
Fred Lee and foreman Lawrence
A. Aguilar watch a round silver object for 5 minutes. It flies
south, turns and flies north, makes a 360° turn, then flies away
vertically. (NICAP, “Silver
Sphere Maneuvers over Base”; Sparks, p. 168)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2011
Date: 8/25/1952
Description: 9:25 p.m. Affa of Uranus contacts the Baileys, the
Streeters, and the Williamsons (as well as two students named Ronald
Tucker and Betty Bowen) by radio, using 405 or 450 kilocycles. Zo and Um
of Neptune, Regga of Mars, and other aliens continue sending messages by
both radio and telepathy. Streeter sees
a dark spot in the sky that he claims is Affa. Williamson sees
a blue light that he thinks is Zo. Everyone signs an affidavit that the
events have truly taken place. (George Hunt Williamson and Alfred C.
Bailey, The Saucers Speak! New Age, 1954; Michael D. Swords, “Strange
Days,” IUR 30, no. 4 (August 2006): 22, 24; Clark III 1284)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2013
Date: 8/25/1952
Time: 3:40 PM
Description: Witnesses: civilian supervisor Fred Lee, foreman L.A.
Aquilar. One round silver object flew south, turned and flew north, made
a 360 turn and flew away vertically after 3-5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Holloman AFB, New Mexico
ID: 232
Date: 8/25/1952
Time: 5:35 AM
Description: Witness: radio station musician William Squyres. One dull
aluminum object, shaped like two meat platters, face to face, estimated
at 75’ long, 45’ wide, and 15’ thick. Through a window in the front
section shone a blue light; the head and shoulders of a man could be
seen. The mid section had numerous windows through which could be seen
some kind of regular movement. A series of small propellers were spaced
close together along the outer edge of the object, revolving at high
speed. The object was hovering about 10’ above the ground, 100 yards off
the road, with a slight rocking motion. It then ascended vertically with
a sound like a large covey of quail starting to fly at the same time.
Vegetation showed signs of having been disturbed under the object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pittsburg, Kansas
ID: 231
Date: 8/26/1952
Time: 12:10 AM
Description: Witness: USAF Capt. D.A. Woods. One large, round, very
bright object with a V-shaped contrail having a dark cone in the center,
flew very fast, hovered, made an instantaneous 90 turn, followed by a
gentle climb and finally sudden acceleration.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lathrop Wells, Nevada
ID: 233
Date: 8/27/1952
Description: 4:45 a.m. Two meteorological officers at Macdonald Airport
in Manitoba see a disc-shaped object with shadows on it. It makes two
turns around the airfield. When the rotating airport beacon light
strikes it, the object glints like shiny aluminum, speeds away to the
northeast, and vanishes. (Good Above, pp. 184–185)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2014
Date: 8/27/1952
Description: A saucer-shaped craft, 3 by 2 m, landed on the witness’s
property after hitting a chimney. A little man, about 70 cm tall,
emerged and was asked whether he was hurt, but he did not answer. The
craft took off with a whistling sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins A 268 (Vallee)
Location: Lamberton, North Carolina
ID: 99
Date: 8/28/1952
Description: A family on the ground in Le Roy, New York, sees a disc
making tight vertical circles around an airliner. (UFOEv, p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2015
Date: 8/28/1952
Time: 9:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF control tower operators, officer from USAF
Office of Special Investigations, and others. Six objects, varying from
fiery red to sparkling diamond appearance, hovered, flew erratically up
and down for 1 hour and l5minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Chickasaw and Brookley AFB, Alabama
ID: 234
Date: 8/28/1952
Description: 9:30 p.m. Three civilians in Chickasaw, Alabama, report to
Brookley AFB [now Mobile Downtown Airport] in Mobile, Alabama, their
observation of multiple red stationary and maneuvering objects to the
south, and another one moving from south to west, all in the direction
of Brookley. AFOSI agent Charles A. Robinson arrives in Chickasaw at
9:50 p.m. to investigate and sees the same four objects to the south and
southwest at an estimated 8–12 miles distance. One fiery red object is
stationary for 15 minutes then drifts 15°–20° to the right after which
it is stationary again. Radar operator A/2C Irl
A. Whitaker visually spots a red-green object over Chickasaw to the
north. USAF duty officer Capt. William A. Edwards and control tower
operators see one object to the southwest to the right and lower than
the moon, and another object to the west at 10°–20° elevation. The
latter is confirmed by radar as a stationary target at four miles range
and 4,000 feet altitude. Robinson and others see one object explode, and
another does a figure 8 maneuver. There are 4–6 objects larger than a
star or planet varying from fiery red, red-blue, red-green, and
sparkling diamond appearance. A civilian Air Force employee sees a flat
oval shape. (NICAP, “GCA
Paints Stationary Target”; Sparks,
p. 169)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2016
Date: 8/29/1952
Description: 10:50 a.m. Pilot LtJG William A. O’Flaherty and navigator
LtJG R. S. Moore are flying a P4Y-2 patrol plane west of Thule Air Base,
near Qaanaaq, Greenland. They are following an 85-foot-diameter Skyhook
balloon launched from an icebreaker, US Coast Guard Cutter Eastwind, when,
upon release of the parachute instrument package from the balloon, they
see 3 white discs or globes, about ½ to almost the full apparent size of
the balloon, in triangle formation clustered to the right of the Skyhook
instrument package at 74,000 feet for some 2–3 minutes. (NICAP, “Three
Objects Shake Up Air Crew”; Sparks,
p. 167)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2017
Date: 8/29/1952
Description: 8:35 p.m. Civil Air Patrol pilot Carlton
A. Magruder sees three aluminum-colored objects with a red-yellow
exhaust over Colorado Springs, Colorado. They are 50 feet in diameter
and 10 feet high, flying in line at about 1,500 mph. (NICAP, “Pilot
Reports Three Objects 50ʹ in Diameter”; Sparks, p. 169; Loren E.
Gross, UFOs,
a History:
1952, August, The
Author, 1986, p. 80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2018
Date: 8/29/1952
Time: 10:50 AM
Description: Witnesses: two U.S. Navy pilots flying a P4Y-2 patrol
plane. Three white disc-shaped or spherical objects hovered, then flew
very fast in a triangular formation, in 2-3 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: west of Thule, Greenland (77’ N, 75’ 15’ W)
ID: 236
Date: 8/29/1952
Time: 8:35 PM
Description: Witness: pilot C.A. Magruder. Three objects, 50’ in
diameter, 10’ high, aluminum with red-yellow exhaust, flew in trail at
estimated 1,500 m.p.h. for 4-5 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
ID: 235
Date: 8/31/1952
Description: Herbert Long saw an object land 15 m away from the road. He
made a drawing of it.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins A 257 (Vallee)
Location: Pennsylvania, exact location unknown
ID: 100
Date: 9/1952
Description: 10:00 a.m. A radar scope near Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque,
New Mexico, picks up an unknown target approaching at 700 mph then slows
down to 100 mph northeast of the airfield. Two F-86 Sabre jets are
scrambled but at first cannot locate the target. The second pilot
suddenly spots what seems to be a balloon but as he gets closer it looks
more like a “doughnut without a hole.” He gets as close as 1,500 feet
before the object accelerates. When it is again at a range of 3,000
feet, the pilot begins firing at the object, but it pulls up in a climb
and disappears in seconds. Capt. Ruppelt is
given this report by an intelligence officer (probably Lt. Glen Parrish)
at the base, who is about to forward the incident report to ATIC but the
commanding officer (Brig. Gen. William
A. Matheny)
orders it destroyed. Parrish shows the last copy of the report to Ruppelt during
a visit to Kirtland. (Ruppelt, pp. 1–5;
NICAP, “F-86
Shooting Incident / 700 MPH Target”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2020
Date: 9/1952
Description: UFO witness turned researcher Kenneth
Arnold releases The Coming of the Saucers, coauthored by his friend
and publisher, Raymond
A. Palmer. As
publicity, the story “Flying Saucer-y” is prepared by King Features
Syndicate and carried in many newspapers as a full-page story. (Kenneth
Arnold and Ray Palmer, The Coming of the Saucers, Palmer, 1952; Curt
Collins, “Kenneth
Arnold’s 1952 UFO Book Promotion,” The Saucers That Time Forgot,
September 28, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2021
Date: 9/1952
Description: Civilian Saucer Investigation in Los Angeles publishes the
first of only four issues of its CSI Quarterly Bulletin. The final issue
appears in early 1954. (CSI
Quarterly, no.
1 (Fall 1952))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2022
Date: 9/1952
Description: John
P. Cahn publishes an exposé of Frank
Scully’s Behind the Flying Saucers in True magazine. Scully’s
sources are an oil prospector named Silas
M. Newton and a mysterious “Dr. Gee,” later identified as Leo GeBauer, a
con man with a long arrest record. The tale is a ploy to gain the
attention of potential investors in a bogus oil detection scheme
allegedly linked to alien technology. Jerome
Clark writes that Scully was himself a victim, not a perpetrator.
(J. P. Cahn, “Flying
Saucers and the Mysterious Little Men,” True, September 1952,
pp. 17–19, 102–112; Clark III 1044–1045)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2023
Date: 9/1/1952
Time: 9:43 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mrs. William Davis and nine other persons. One
light, similar to the evening star, moved up and down for a long period
of time.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
ID: 239
Date: 9/1/1952
Time: 10:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. Bowman (ex-artillery officer) and 24 others.
A red, white, and blue-green object which spun and shot off sparks for
15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Marietta, Georgia
ID: 240
Date: 9/1/1952
Time: 4:45 AM
Description: Witnesses: Visual sighting by two USAF enlisted men, radar
tracking seen by three men using AN/FPS-3 radar set. Two small,
varicolored lights became black silhouettes at dawn; flew erratically.
One hour.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Yaak, Montana
ID: 241
Date: 9/1/1952
Description: 10:30 p.m. An ex-artillery officer named Bowman and 24
others at Marietta, Georgia, see a red, white, and blue-green object
that spins and shoots off sparks. An unidentified witness using
binoculars sees two large objects shaped like spinning tops with red,
blue, and green colors, flying side by side and leaving a sparkling
trail for 30 minutes. At 10:50 p.m., a former Army Air Force B-25 gunner
sees two large white disc-shaped objects with green vapor trails fly in
trail formation, merge, and fly away quickly. (NICAP, “Two
Discs in Trail Formation”;
Sparks, p. 170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2025
Date: 9/1/1952
Description: 8:23 p.m. Air Defense Command radar at Yaak Air Force
Station in Montana picks up UFOs exhibiting changes of direction as many
as five times a minute. Some course changes are 90° and speeds are
measured at 1,400–1,600 mph. Six blips at one time appear on the FPS-3
radar scopes and the strange targets come within 10 miles of the GCI
site. So close is the indicated range the radar personnel leave their
windowless operations room to check the sky. Six objects can be seen an
estimated 10 miles away. When first spotted, the UFOs are in an in-
trail formation, and shortly thereafter that changes to an in-line
abreast grouping. Finally, the UFOs switch to a vertical stack.
S/Sgt. William Kelly remembers tracking the UFOs on the radar executing
vertical climbs that exceed the limit of the site’s height-finding
equipment. (NICAP, “Radar/Visual
at Air Force Radar Site”; Sparks, p. 170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2024
Date: 9/1/1952
Time: 10:50 PM
Description: Witness: ex-AAF B-25 gunner. Two large white disc-shaped
objects with green vapor trails flew in trail formation, merged, flew
away very fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Marietta, Georgia
ID: 237
Date: 9/1/1952
Time: 10:30 PM
Description: Witness: one unidentified person using binoculars. Two
large objects shaped like spinning tops and displaying red, blue and
green colors, flew side by side, leaving a sparkling trail for 30
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Marietta, Georgia
ID: 238
Date: 9/2/1952
Description: 12:01 a.m. CAA radar controllers Robert
L. Terneuzen (GCA), Ralph L. Frick, Dale E. Warner, Warren J. Weber,
and Radar Maintenance Technician Gordon R. Copeland track as many as 30
targets simultaneously at Midway Airport in Chicago, flying in various
directions with an average speed of 175 mph at about 2,000 feet. The
755th Aircraft Control and Weapons radar station in Elkhorn, Wisconsin,
claims that the Midway Airport Tower supervisor has called them at 2:50
a.m., saying there are 40 targets plotted by airport radar flying from
3,000 to 6,000 feet at a speed of 120–150 mph. The targets are the size
of blips from light planes or larger (the best target quality is in the
6–10-mile range) and move in no particular pattern—sometimes erratically
and sometimes in straight lines up to 15 miles long. In at least one
instance, the targets fly in formation with an aircraft. At 5:14 a.m.,
the Air Defense Command is alerted and authorizes the scramble of two
jets from the 4706th Interceptor Wing at O’Hare Airport in Chicago. At
5:55 a.m., a pair of F-86 Sabre jets piloted by Capt. William
W. Maitland and Lt. Beverly L. Dunhill, lift off and are vectored
right through the targets as shown on radar, making passes at 800 and at
4,000 feet without making contact. The F-86s are evidently without
airborne radar because they only mention visual descriptions. Maitland
and Dunhill later tell the media: “We didn’t hit anything. We didn’t see
anything. We went through the target showing on the scope and there was
nothing there, not even a cloud.” The jets break off their aerial search
at 6:19 a.m. and return to base. By 7:00 a.m. all of the mysterious
targets disappear off the scopes toward the south. The Midway radar
crews are convinced the targets are returns from tangible bodies, but
CAA chief Bob Zeigler overrules them and blames “peculiar atmospheric
conditions.” (“Sabre
Jets Fly through ‘Object,’” Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review,
September 3, 1952, p. 1; NICAP, “40
Targets at Midway Airport”; Sparks,
p. 171)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2026
Date: 9/2/1952
Time: 3 AM
Description: Witness: radar tracker Turason (ground controlled approach)
at Midway Airport. 40 targets flew in miscellaneous directions, up to
175 m.p.h. Two seemed to fly in formation with DC-6 airliner. Total of 8
hours.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Chicago, Illinois
ID: 242
Date: 9/3/1952
Description: 12:30 p.m. Truman meets
in the Cabinet Room with Gen. William
M. Garland, Col.
John
Gordon Fowler, and three other USAF officers; Lawrence
J. Henderson Jr. and Walter
W. Niles from the RAND Corporation; and Robert
B. Landry and four others from the National Security Resources
Board. The topic is the Washington UFO incident. (Frank Stalter, “The
Real Majestic 12: Harry Truman’s 1952 DC UFO Meeting,” The UFO
Partisan, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2028
Date: 9/3/1952
Time: 99 AM
Description: Witnesses: civilian pilots McCraven and Thomas. One shiny,
dark ellipse made three broad, curving sweeps in 1.5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tucson, Arizona
ID: 243
Date: 9/3/1952
Description: 9:00 a.m. Instructor pilot Donald
L. McCraven and N. D. Thomas observe a dark elliptical object
reflecting sunlight 6 miles north of Tucson, Arizona. The object makes
three well-coordinated turns with no perceptible sound. It moves at
tremendous speed during a slight climb and is observed for approximately
90 seconds. (NICAP, “Dark
Ellipse Makes Three Coordinated Turns”; Sparks,
p. 172)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2027
Date: 9/6/1952
Description: 10:10 a.m. Walter Borys and George McCracken, two guards at
the Osborn Prison Farm [now Osborn Correctional Institute] in Somers,
Connecticut, are with 13 inmates in the yard when they hear an odd motor
noise and see a silvery object in the northern sky. It appears to be
descending in a zigzag motion but stops and shoots upward at a right
angle at terrific speed after releasing a puff of smoke. Other witnesses
in the area think it is a jet aircraft. (Hartford (Conn.) Courant,
September 7, 1952, p. 1; Audrey H. Hennis, “The
‘Flying Saucer’ Was from a
Jet After-Burner,” Hartford (Conn.) Courant, September 19, 1952,
p. 18; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952,
September–October, The
Author, 1986, pp. 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2029
Date: 9/6/1952
Time: 4:55 PM
Description: Witnesses: ex-Congresswoman Mrs. Isabella King and Bill
McClain. One orange teardrop-shaped object whirled on its vertical axis,
descended very fast, stopped, retraced its path upwards, while whirling
in the opposite direction. 1.5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tucson, Arizona
ID: 245
Date: 9/6/1952
Time: l:30 AM
Description: Witnesses: T/Sgt. J.E. Wilson and two enlisted men. One
bright star-like light moved about the sky for 2 hours.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lake Charles AFB, Louisiana
ID: 244
Date: 9/7/1952
Time: 10:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: chemist J.W. Gibson and others. One orange
object or light (the color of 2,000’ F.) exploded into view. Seen for
from 3-20 seconds by various observers.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: San Antonio, Texas
ID: 246
Date: 9/8/1952
Description: Wilbert
B. Smith and Department of Transport associates launch a large
weather balloon with a magnesium flare over Ottawa, Ontario, but it does
not inspire any UFO reports. (Clark III 1078; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, September–October, The Author, 1986,
pp. 17–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2030
Date: 9/9/1952
Description: 9:00 p.m. US Air Force civilian illustrator E. J. Colisimo
sees a disc with lights along part of its circumference over Rabat,
Morocco. It is flying twice as fast as a T-33 jet trainer in a slightly
curved path. (NICAP, “Disc
Twice As Fast As T-33”; Sparks, p. 172)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2031
Date: 9/9/1952
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witness: E.J. colisimo, a civilian illustrator with USAF
Intelligence. One disc with lights along part of its circumference, flew
twice as fast as a T-33 jet trainer, in a slightly curved path for 5
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Rabat, French Morocco
ID: 247
Date: 9/10/1952
Description: Battelle issues its fifth status report on Project Stork to
ATIC. It says that 800 copies of its revised report questionnaire have
been sent to the Air Force, many of which were passed on to military
witnesses as a trial test. The group has now examined UFO reports from
1947–1949 and 1951. It decided to discontinue the news clipping service.
(“Seven
Status Reports for Project Stork, Part 3,” CUFON)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2032
Date: 9/10/1952
Description: 2:30 p.m. The wife of a civilian employee at Andrews AFB
[now Joint Base Andrews] in Prince George’s County, Maryland, sees a
shiny, metallic, elliptical, silent object moving back and forth near
the base. It is visible for 2–3 minutes. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, September–October, The
Author, 1986, p. 25) September 11 [or 7 or 17] — CIA Office of
Scientific Intelligence Director H.
Marshall Chadwell writes a memorandum to Director of Central
Intelligence Walter
Bedell Smith that sets out two national security implications of
UFOs for the government of the United States: the potential for
psychological panic by citizens, and demonstrating the nation’s
vulnerability by air. It recommends that “A national policy should be
established as to what should be told the public regarding the
phenomena, in order to minimize risk of panic.” (H. Marshall Chadwell,
“Flying Saucers,”
September 11, 1952; CUFON, “The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO-Related Document Sampler, Part 1 of 2 Parts,”
May 17, 1996; Swords 175–181, 503–507; Good Above, p. 224)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2033
Date: 9/11/1952
Description: Williamson, Streeter, and
Bailey receive a radio message saying, “I hope we might have a landing
soon,” and later, “We must make landing contact soon… If you believe us,
you will act accordingly.” (George Hunt Williamson and Alfred C. Bailey,
The Saucers Speak! New Age, 1954; Michael D. Swords, “Strange Days,” IUR
30, no. 4 (Aug. 2006): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2034
Date: 9/12/1952
Time: sunset
Description: A group of young people saw a “meteor” land on top of a
hill and went to the site with Kathleen Hill and three men. They
observed a globe as large as a house making a throbbing or hissing sound
and a huge figure with glowing orange eyes nearby. About 4 m tall, the
figure had a red face and “floated” toward the witnesses, who fled in
terror. A lingering smell and skid marks were found.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 52 (Vallee)
Location: Flatwoods, West Virginia
ID: 101
Date: 9/12/1952
Description: Space “monster” appears from saucer near Sutton, West
VA
Type: ce3 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Sutton, West Virgina
Date: 9/12/1952
Time: 9:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. David Kolb, of the Ground Observer
Corps, using binoculars. One white light with a red trim and streamers
flew northeast for 35 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Allen, Maryland
ID: 248
Date: 9/12/1952
Description: Around 7:15 p.m., in Flatwoods, West Virginia, two
brothers, Edward and Fred May, and their friend Tommy Hyer (ages 13, 12,
and 10 respectively) witness a bright object cross the sky, coming to
rest on land belonging to local farmer G.
Bailey Fisher. The
boys go to the home of the May brothers’ mother, Kathleen
May, where
they tell the story of having seen a UFO crash land. From there,
Mrs. May, accompanied by the three boys, local children Neil Nunley, 14,
and Ronnie Shaver, 10, and West Virginia National Guardsman Eugene
Lemon, 17, walk to the Fisher farm. At the top of a hill, they
reportedly see a large pulsating “ball of fire” about 50 feet to their
right. They also detect a pungent mist that makes their eyes and noses
burn. Lemon then notices two small lights over to the left of the
object, underneath a nearby oak tree and directs his flashlight towards
them, revealing a creature, which May reports as bounding towards them.
Other sources describe it as emitting a shrill hissing noise before
gliding towards them, changing direction and then heading off towards
the red light. The group flees in panic. Sheriff Robert
L. Carr and his deputy Burnell
J. Long search the area separately, but find no trace of the
encounter other than the smell. Early the next morning, A.
Lee Stewart, co-owner
of the Braxton Democrat, visits the site of the encounter for a second
time and discovers two elongated tracks in the mud, as well as traces of
a thick black liquid. It is later revealed that the tracks are likely
those of a 1942 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by local Max
Lockard, who
had gone to the site to look for the creature some hours prior to
Stewert’s discovery. Ivan
T.
Sanderson interviews the witnesses several days later and concludes
that a flight of “intelligently controlled objects flew over West
Virginia.” The Air Force concludes that people have seen a meteor and
that the monster was only the glowing eyes of a barn owl. Joe
Nickell also concludes in 2000 that the bright light in the sky
reported by the witnesses on September 12 was most likely a meteor, that
the pulsating red light is likely an aircraft navigation/hazard beacon,
and that the creature described by witnesses closely resembles a barn
owl. Nickell claims that the experience was distorted by the heightened
state of anxiety felt by the witnesses after having observed the
original meteor. However, Frank
C. Feschino has done extensive research to support his hypothesis
that the Flatwoods incident was only one small part of a major UFO
display involving multiple objects (many of them reported as “meteors”
or “balls of fire” or “flaming planes”) passing in westerly and other
directions across the eastern and southern United States between 6:50
and 7:25 p.m. The trajectory of one of these objects (moving first
northwest then northeast then south) alone takes it over Baltimore,
Catonsville, Frederick, Hagerstown, Cumberland, and Garrett County,
Maryland; Preston County, Morgantown, Fairmont, Wheeling, Charleston,
Parkersburg, Nitro, Ward, and Chelyan, West Virginia; Selma, Columbus,
Zanesville, St. Clairsville, Ohio; it is last seen moving south around
Bluefield, West Virginia. Another object is seen over Washington, D.C.,
heading due west towards West Virginia, apparently landing in Flatwoods.
A third object travels southwest over Roanoke and Pulaski, Virginia,
possibly landing near Arcadia, Tennessee. Feschino thinks that these
three objects had been damaged by fire directed at them by Air Force
interceptors. Five other objects are observed in North Carolina in that
time period, and these Feschino suspects may have been attempting to
look for and assist the damaged objects. He also speculates that the
disappearance of an F-94 jet fighter out of Tyndall AFB in Panama City,
Florida, piloted by 2Lt John
A. Jones and radar operator 2Lt John
S. DelCurto, might
have involved a tragic UFO interception that began three hours earlier;
the last known contact with the fighter is at 5:43 p.m. over the Gulf of
Mexico 70 miles northwest of Tampa, the accident takes place under
unusual circumstances, and the wreckage has never been found. Feschino
thinks that a UFO damaged in dogfights with many interceptors over the
Gulf might have triggered the second battle over the Atlantic seaboard
around 7:00 p.m. Then a second wave of multiple objects is observed
8:00–8:10 p.m. in the Washington, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and West
Virginia region that, according to Feschino, involves a search for a
second downed UFO. Although Feschino jumps to many conclusions and his
documentation for specific incidents and conditions is somewhat
confusing, he may well have grasped more truth than the meteor-and-owl
explanation of the skeptics. (Wikipedia, “Flatwoods Monster”;
Gray Barker, “The Monster and the Saucer,” Fate 6, no. 1 (January 1953):
12–17; Gray Barker, They Knew Too Much about Flying Saucers, University
Books, 1956, pp. 11–35;
Keyhoe, FS from OS, pp. 116–120;
Clark III 494–495; Ivan T. Sanderson, Uninvited Visitors, Cowles, 1967,
pp. 39–51; Northern Ontario UFO Research and Study, “The
Braxton Democrat”; Shoot 112–313, 320–327; Joe Nickell, “The
Flatwoods UFO Monster,”
Skeptical Inquirer 24, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 2000): 15–19; Michael D. Swords,
“Peeking
at Ivan’s SITU Files:
The Flatwoods Monster,” The Big Study, April 11, 2011; Frank C.
Feschino, The Braxton County Monster: The Cover-Up of the Flatwoods
Monster Revealed, Quarrier Press, 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2036
Date: 9/12/1952
Description: 1:30 a.m. Two oil well drillers, William Darling and Donald
Davis, see a lighted object with windows on one side circling 150 feet
above the ground silently for nearly 30 minutes at Bladensburg, Ohio.
Suddenly it makes a noise like steam blowing and shoots out of sight.
(“Report from the Readers,” Fate 6, no. 2 (February 1953): 108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2035
Date: 9/13/1952
Time: 7:40 PM
Description: Witness: private pilot W.A. Hobler, flying a Beech Bonanza.
One object, shaped like a fat football, flaming orange-red color,
descended and then pulled up in front of the witness’ airplane. Seen for
2 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Allentown, Pennsylvania
ID: 249
Date: 9/13/1952
Description: Mr. and Mrs. George Snitowski and their little girl
suddenly found their car stalled, and an unpleasant smell (ether mixed
with sulphurous smoke) filled the air. Mr. Snitowski thought a chemical
plant might be burning in the area and walked toward a strong light
visible in the woods, in spite of the nauseous smell. Coming near it, he
felt pricklings throughout his body, had to stop, lost his balance
several times as he returned to the carwhere he found his wife
terrified, pointing to a giant creature (3 m tall), human-shaped, 10 m
away. They locked the car as “it” inspected the vehicle, glided away and
went into the woods. Soon afterward, the sphere of light was observed to
rise gradually, to swing like a pendulum, and to leave a luminous
trail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Paul Lieb (Vallee)
Location: Frametown, West Virginia
ID: 102
Date: 9/14/1952
Description: Exercise Mainbrace begins in the North Sea. It is the first
large-scale naval exercise undertaken by NATO and jointly commanded by
Admiral Lynde
D. McCormick and Gen. Matthew
B. Ridgway. It involves the US Navy and the navies of Great Britain,
France, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Netherlands, and Belgium. Its
objective is to convince Denmark and Norway that they can be defended
against an attack from the USSR, and involves 80,000 men, 200 ships, and
1,000 aircraft. The operation lasts through September 25. (Wikipedia,
“Exercise
Mainbrace”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2038
Date: 9/14/1952
Description: 10:13 p.m. The Danish destroyer Willemoes,
during the Exercise Mainbrace maneuvers, is north of Bornholm island,
Denmark, in the Baltic Sea. Lt.Cmdr. G. Schmidt-Jensen and several
members of the crew see an unidentified object, triangular in shape,
that moves at high speed toward the southeast. It emits a greenish glow
and jets three rays of fire from its rear. Jensen estimates the speed at
930 mph. (NICAP, “Operation
Mainbrace Sightings”;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, September–October, The Author, 1986, p. 28; Marler
128– 129, 265)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2039
Date: 9/14/1952
Description: Iceland, North Atlantic, between Ireland and Iceland.
Witnesses: military persons from several countries aboard ships in the
NATO “Operation Mainbrace” exercise. Among the sightings: one blue-green
triangle was observed flying 1,500 mph; three objects in a triangular
formation gave off white light exhaust at 1,500 mph
Type: report
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: North Atlantic
Date: 9/14/1952
Time: Time not known
Description: Witness: pilot of Flying Tiger Airlines airplane N67977.
One blue light flew very fast on a collision course with the airliner.
Note: the summary card attached to the file showed completely different
information.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Olmstead AFB, Pennsylvania
ID: 254
Date: 9/14/1952
Time: 11:30 PM
Description: Event occurred to 1:20 AM, Sept. 15. Witnesses: consulting
engineer R. J. Portis and three others. Six groups of 12-15 luminous
spheres or discs, which flew in formations varying from arcs to
inverted-Y’s, very fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ciudad Jaurez, Mexico
ID: 253
Date: 9/14/1952
Time: 7 PM
Description: Witness: Ground Observer Corps observer L.W. Barnes, using
binoculars. One red, cigar-shaped object, with three puffs behind it,
flew west, then south, and then was gone. Seen 30-40 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: White Lake, South Dakota
ID: 252
Date: 9/14/1952
Time: Time unknown
Description: Witnesses: military persons from several countries aboard
ships in the NATO “Operation Mainbrace” exercise. Among the sightings:
one blue-green triangle was observed flying 1,500 m.p.h; three objects
in a triangular formation gave off white light exhaust at 1,500
m.p.h.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: North Atlantic, between Ireland and Iceland
ID: 251
Date: 9/14/1952
Time: 8:40 PM
Description: Witness: USAF C-54 transport pilot Tarbutton. One
blue-white light travelled straight and level, then went up. Seen for 30
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Santa Barbara, California
ID: 250
Date: 9/14/1952
Description: 4:30 a.m. Fred J. Brown is preparing to milk the cows at
the Everglades Experiment Station [now the Everglades Research and
Education Center] in Belle Glade, Florida, when he spots a circular
object about 35 feet in diameter hovering about 100 feet above the
ground. It has a row of red and amber lights spaced around the outside
rim and the underside. As it descends to about 40 feet, the 13 cows bolt
as the object disappears to the west. As Brown is rounding up the cows,
the object appears again, moving from south to north at a speed of 30
mph, making a high-voltage buzzing noise, and emitting an odor “like
acid or ammonia” that makes Brown’s eyes smart. The cows stampede once
again. The object’s glow illuminates the ground as it passes, and it
gains altitude and disappears again. (“Cattle
Stampeded Twice by Mysterious ‘Object,’” Palm Beach (Fla.) Times,
September 16, 1952, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2037
Date: 9/16/1952
Time: 7:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: three USAF officers, two civilians. Two white
lights flew abreast, at 100 m.p.h., for 15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Warner-Robbins AFB, Georgia
ID: 256
Date: 9/16/1952
Time: 6:22 PM
Description: Witnesses: crew of U.S. Navy P2V Neptune patrol plane,
visually and via radar. A group of five lights was seen at the same time
a long, thin blip was being tracked on radar. Note: consideration was
given to this being USAF KC-97 airplanes involved in a refueling
operation. The sighting involved 20 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Portland, Maine
ID: 255
Date: 9/17/1952
Time: 11:40 AM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. Ted Hollingsworth. Two groups of
three large, flat, shiny objects flew in tight formations: the first
group slow, the second faster. Seen for 2 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tucson, Arizona
ID: 257
Date: 9/19/1952
Description: 10:53 a.m. During Exercise Mainbrace maneuvers, a silvery,
spherical UFO appears near RAF Topcliffe in North Yorkshire, England,
following an RAF Meteor jet (possibly piloted by Flight Lt. John W.
Kilburn and Flight Lt. Marian Cybulski) about to land. It has been
following about 5 miles behind the jet at15,000 feet, swinging like a
“falling sycamore leaf” and descending. As the jet turns toward
Dishforth, the object follows but begins rotating on its axis then
suddenly accelerates and disappears. Several ground crew members of RAF
269 Squadron (Master Signaller Albert Thomson, Sgt. Flight Engineer
Thomas Deweys, Flight Lt. R. Paris, and Leading Aircraftman George
Grime) and civilians also see it. Prince
Philip suggests to RAF Air Marshal Peter Horsley, who
is serving as equerry to the duke, that he investigate credible reports
of UFOs, especially those by fighter pilots who have seen them. He
arranges for RAF Fighter Command to send copies of any reports for
examination at Buckingham Palace and begins an informal study that lasts
until 1955. (NICAP, “Swaying
Silver Object
Follows Jet”; Richard Hall, “Operation Mainbrace Sightings”; Good
Above, pp. 31–32,
450;
Nick Redfern, “UFOs
and NATO: The Mainbrace Affair,” Mysterious Universe, April 22,
2014; David Clarke, “The Prince and the Saucers,” Fortean Times 406
(June 2021): 18–19; Sparks,
p. 173; Ruppelt, pp. 195–196;
UFOFiles2, p. 47)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2040
Date: 9/19/1952
Description: V-2 missile test at White Sands Pad 33, 27km (Army training
test. Tail explosion at 27s terminating thrust.)
Type: rocket launch
Reference: link
Location: White Sands Pad 33, White Sands Proving Grounds, NM
Rocket type: V-2
Rocket altitude: 27km
Date: 9/20/1952
Description: An UFO similar to the Topcliffe one (see 9/19/52) is
sighted over a U.S. Carrier ship out with the fleet between England and
Scandinavia. An American photographer doing a story of the fleet
exercise took pictures of the UFO which was ascertained not to have been
a balloon. The Navy never released the photos of the UFO.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Between England and Scandinavia
See also: 9/19/52
Date: 9/20/1952
Description: Air Ministry, London: A number of airmen and officers of
the R.A.F., Topcliffe, observed an UFO. As it descended it was swinging
in a pendular motion like a falling leaf. Pendulous motion ceased and
object began rotary motion about its own axis. Suddenly accelerated at
an incredible speed. (9/19/52, cont’d) It was not identifiable with any
known aircraft and acceleration was in excess of that of a shooting
star! Craft was silver in color and circular. (Operation
Mainbrace)
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p31,450, B1-G p43)
Location: North Yorkshire, England
See also: 9/20/1952
Date: 9/20/1952
Description: Naval personnel on the US aircraft carrier USS
Franklin
D. Roosevelt in the North Sea observe a silvery sphere moving across
the sky behind the fleet. Photographer Wallace Litwin takes three color
photos that are developed and examined by naval intelligence officers.
Ruppelt says
they “turned out to be excellent … judging by the size of the object in
each successive photo, one could see that it was moving rapidly.” No
balloon has been launched. (NICAP, “Object
Photographed during Operation Mainbrace”; Ruppelt, pp. 195–196;
UFOEv, p. 162;
“In
the News 1952,” Saturday Night Uforia, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2042
Date: 9/20/1952 (approximate)
Description: Sometime during Exercise Mainbrace, at the underground RAF
Ash, near Woodnesborough, Kent, England, Senior Aircraftman William
Maguire tracks on radar a huge UFO high above the English Channel for 18
minutes. Eventually it splits into three and speeds away, one object to
the north, another toward France, and the third toward Eastern Europe.
(Good Need, p. 152;
Nick Redfern, “UFOs,
NATO, and Military Encounters,” Interesting and Curiosities, October
28, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2041
Date: 9/20/1952
Description: 7:30 p.m. At Air Base Karup in Jutland, Denmark, three
Danish Air Force officers see a shiny, metallic UFO pass overhead and
disappear in clouds to the east. (Aimé Michel, The Truth about FS,
133)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2043
Date: late 9/1952
Description: Ruppelt visits
the headquarters of the Air Defense Command at Ent AFB [now the US
Olympic Training Center] in Colorado to brief Gen. Benjamin
W. Chidlaw and his staff on the past few months of UFO activity at a
lunch at the officer’s club. One of the attendees is Maj. Vernon
L. Sadowski, the ADC Intelligence liaison to Blue Book, who says
that “no one can understand why Intelligence is so hesitant to accept
the fact that something we just don’t know about is flying around in our
skies, unless you are trying to cover up something big.” (Ruppelt, pp. 194–197)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2047
Date: 9/21/1952
Description: Six RAF Meteor jets flying above the North Sea observe a
shiny sphere approaching from the direction of the Mainbrace fleet. It
eludes their pursuit and disappears. As they are returning, it reappears
following one of the jets, but when he turns to chase it, it speeds
away. Ruppelt says
the Mainbrace sightings forced the RAF to “officially recognize the
UFO.” (NICAP, “Six
RAF Jets Approached by Shiny Sphere”; Ruppelt, p. 196;
Sparks,
p. 173)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2044
Date: 9/21/1952
Description: Six RAF jets on maneuvers over the North Sea saw a “sphere”
heading towards them, coming from the direction of the English fleet. It
was tracked on radar then disappeared and reappeared behind them. One
Meteor pilot attempted an intercept but was completely outrun by the
UFO. Capt. Ruppelt was later told by RAF Intelligence that the incidents
of the past three days caused the RAF to officially recognize the UFO
situation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: North Sea
See also: 7/52
See also: 6/24/53
Date: 9/22/1952
Description: Night. A UFO hovers over the Army’s Camp Drum [now Fort
Drum] near Watertown, New York, for 30 minutes. Eight soldiers say the
object is 200 feet across, trailing red-orange sparks. (“Mysterious,
Gyratuing Object
Looks Down on Camp Drum,” Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle,
September 27, 1952, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2045
Date: fall 1952
Description: Evening. Paul
Solem has his first contact with a flying saucer around the Lost
River Sinks a few miles from his ranch in Howe, Idaho. After watching a
metallic object land, Solem sees a man with long blond hair and dressed
in a white uniform standing next to it. He tells Solem to call him “Paul
2.” He says he is from Venus and tells Solem to work with Indians in
North America in preparing for a postapocalyptic social order. This will
be the first of many contacts for Solem. Over the next 17 years he
wanders through the western states, speaking with Indians and
contactees, gathers a small group of followers, and generally avoids the
limelight. (Clark III 1094)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2055
Date: 9/23/1952
Time: No time shown
Description: Witnesses: Pepperell AFB operations officer and seven other
campers. One bright white light, which reflected on the lake, flew
straight and level at 100 m.p.h. for 10 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Gander Lake, Newfoundland, Canada
ID: 258
Date: 9/24/1952
Time: 3:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: crew of USAF B-29 bomber. A lot of bright,
metallic particles or flashes, up to 3’ in length, streamed past the
B-29 for 15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Charleston, West Virginia
ID: 259
Date: 9/24/1952
Description: CIA Assistant Director of Scientific Intelligence H.
Marshall Chadwell writes a 4-page memo to CIA Director Walter
Bedell Smith, summarizing his earlier memo and stating that since
1947 unexplained sightings were running at 20% and in 1952 they rose to
28%. “I consider this problem to be of such importance that it should be
brought to the attention of the National Security Council in order that
a community-wide coordinated effort toward its solution may be
initiated.” His CIA scientific consultants (Julius
Stratton, and
perhaps Lloyd Berkner and
Howard
P. Robertson) think the answer will be found “on the margins of just
beyond the frontiers of our present knowledge in the fields of
atmospheric, ionospheric, and extraterrestrial phenomena, with the added
possibility that the present dispersal of nuclear waste products might
also be a factor.” (H. Marshall Chadwell, “Flying
Saucers,” September 24, 1952; CUFON, “The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO-Related Document Sampler, Part 1
of 2 Parts,” May 17, 1996; Good Above, pp. 328–329, 506–507)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2046
Date: 9/26/1952
Description: 11:16 p.m. The pilot and crew of a USAF C-124 see two
distinct green lights to the right and slightly above the plane, about
400 miles north-northwest of the Azores Islands. At one point, they
appear to turn toward the plane. They remain visible until the plane
sights the islands. (NICAP, “Air
Crews Observe Green Lights”; Sparks, p. 174)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2049
Date: 9/26/1952
Description: Syndicated aviation columnist Robert
S. Allen writes in his column that the “Air Force has a breathtaking
report” ready on UFOs. The study expresses the belief that some reports
are genuine and originate from “sources outside of this planet.” The
supposed document also says that some sightings involve secret US
military devices. The study is allegedly based on more than 1,800
sightings in the past 5 years. (Robert S. Allen, “Report
on Flying Saucers,” Los Angeles Mirror News, September 26, 1952,
p. 43; Michael Hall, “Was There a Second Estimate of the Situation?” IUR
27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2048
Date: 9/26/1952
Time: 11:16 PM
Description: Witnesses: pilot, copilot, engineer and aircraft commander
of USAF C-124 transport plane. Two distinct green lights were seen to
the right and slightly above the C-124, and at one time seemed to turn
toward it. The lights alternated leading each other during more than 1
hour of observation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 400 miles NNW of Azores Islands
ID: 260
Date: 9/27/1952
Time: 10 PM
Description: Witnesses: two couples, using a 5x telescope. One large,
round object, which went through the color spectrum every 2 seconds, was
seen to fly straight and level for 15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Inyokern, California
ID: 261
Date: 9/27/1952
End date: 9/28/1952
Description: Throughout West Germany, Denmark, and southern Sweden,
there are widespread UFO reports. A luminous object with a comet-like
tail is seen moving irregularly near Hamburg and Kiel, Germany. Once,
three satellite objects are reported moving around a larger object. A
cigar-shaped UFO moving silently eastward is also seen. (UFOEv, p. 163)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2050
Date: 9/28/1952
Description: 8:35 p.m.–10:09 p.m. USAF radar operator A/3c Carlton L.
Hall, stationed on the southwest coast of Tsushima Island, Japan,
notices unusual targets on six separate occasions, each time for a
duration of 2–4 sweeps. On two separate outbound tracks from Itazuke Air
Base [now Fukuoka Airport], a series of targets appear directly behind
aircraft when entering an azimuth of 50°–70° from nearby Tsutsusaki
Lighthouse. The objects appear as normal aircraft but are rounder in
shape, trailing about 2–3 miles to the rear of the aircraft. A/2c Warren
D. Grovenstein also observes four of these anomalies with Hall. ([Blue
Book report])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2052
Date: 9/28/1952
Description: 2:00 p.m. Williamson,
Streeter,
and Bailey attempt to meet the saucer intelligences for a landing
somewhere in the Arizona desert, but apparently get lost. They return to
Streeter’s home, where the radio sends sinister-sounding messages about
the radio being dangerous, a man coming, and Streeter having a deep
secret (perhaps that Streeter has attempted psychic contact once before
in 1950). (George Hunt Williamson and Alfred C. Bailey, The Saucers
Speak! New Age, 1954; Michael D. Swords, “Strange Days,” IUR 30, no. 4
(Aug. 2006): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2051
Date: 9/29/1952
Time: 3:15 PM
Description: Witness: USAF T/Sgt. B.R. Hughes. Five or six circular
objects, bright white but not shiny, circled in trail formation for 5-6
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Aurora, Colorado
ID: 264
Date: 9/29/1952
Time: 3:55 PM
Description: Witnesses unknown, but report came via the Rochester Police
Dept. Two flat objects hovered for 3 minutes, and then sped away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Rochester, England
ID: 262
Date: 9/29/1952
Time: 8:15 PM
Description: Witnesses: U.S. Army Res. lst Lt. C.H. Stevens and two
others. One green ellipse with a long tail orbited for 15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Southern Pines, North Carolina
ID: 263
Date: 9/29/1952
Description: 6:30 p.m. Capt. Dursemaine, commanding officer of the
Gendarmerie Maritime en Allemagne, watches a luminous, egg-shaped object
with a black spot in its center flying at an altitude of 3.7 miles above
his home 1.2 miles south of Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It
emits a low-pitched hum and white exhaust. (Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2053
Date: 9/30/1952
Description: 10:30 a.m. A North American Aviation Company film crew,
headed by Dick Beemer, is at Edwards AFB in southern California to film
some tests. They are at Rogers Dry Lake when a B-29 passes overhead.
Cameraman Carlos Garcia sees an unusual object moving near the plane. A
second object appears. Soon the whole crew is looking up. Beemer says
the objects are silent, leave no vapor trail, take turns maneuvering
around each other, and look like “flattened spheres.” They have a color
motion picture camera with them, but the UFOs are too near the sun.
(UFOEv, pp. 57–58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2054
Date: 10/1952
Description: Andrija
Puharich, a
medical doctor interested in parapsychology, discovers that a person’s
ESP abilities are enhanced when they are placed inside a Faraday cage.
His experimental subject is none other than gifted psychic Eileen
J. Garrett, whom
he has tasked with clairvoyantly perceiving cosmic ray bursts of
sufficient magnitude to trigger a signal in a detector. (Michael D.
Swords, “Strange Days, Part 2,” IUR 32, no. 2 (December 2008): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2058
Date: 10/1952
Description: Evening. Aeronautical engineer and former Project Sign
liaison Alfred
Loedding and his wife Marion see an odd object while driving near
Plainsboro, New Jersey. At first, they think it is an aircraft crashing,
but the object levels off and flashes away at high speed, emitting a
bluish-green light. He estimates it is 100 feet in diameter and 500–600
feet high, and it gives off a “weird light like looking at a firefly”
while changing shape. Loedding says Rep. L.
Gary Clemente (D-N.Y.) is also a witness. (“Flying
Saucer Design Practical, WADC Aid Says; U.S. Interested,”
Dayton (Ohio) Journal Herald, August 9, 1957, p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2060
Date: 10/1952
Description: The first number of Albert
K. Bender’s Space Review is published. (Space
Review 1, no. 1 (October 1952); Clark III 189)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2056
Date: 10/1952
Description: Opal Church is driving with her nephew in a car between
Salem and Corvallis, Oregon, when they see an 8- foot, heavily built
figure walking with “fluid movements” along the road. It is wearing an
Arab-style headdress and a uniform, with gloves and boots, of fine
metallic mesh. A ribbed belt surrounds the waist. Its face is pale and
the huge round eyes, nearly 3 inches in diameter, glow. Inside them are
reticulations “resembling the filament in old electric light bulbs.”
Church turns around immediately, but the figure is gone, even though the
terrain is flat. (Center for UFO Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1952–1953, p. 28; Clark III 267)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2057
Date: 10/1952
Description: Stanley Glickman, an American artist living in Paris,
France, joins a group of fellow Americans at a café, one of whom is CIA
mind-control and poison specialist Sidney
Gottlieb. A
heated political debate ensues, and when Glickman decides to leave, he
is offered a drink to soothe ill feelings. Gottlieb surreptitiously
slips LSD into Glickman’s drink and it derails his life. Glickman
suffers a complete mental breakdown from which he never recovers. In
1977, he learns about Gottlieb and CIA’s LSD experiments on unwitting
involuntary subjects from the Kennedy congressional
hearings. Glickman sues in 1981, but the trial is delayed 17 years on
technical grounds, by which time Glickman has died in 1992. His sister,
Gloria Kronisch, pursues the case in the US Court of Appeals, Second
Circuit, as his executrix in 1998, but it is thrown out on July 9
because the statute of limitations has passed. (H. P. Albarelli Jr., A
Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Cold War
Experiments, Trine
Day, 2009; Kronisch
v. United States, US Court of Appeals, 2d Circuit, July 9,
1998)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2059
Date: 10/1/1952
Time: 7:40 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. C.C. McLean and one other person.
One round, milky-white object, shaped like a powder puff, hovered for
5-10 minutes then flew away very fast in an arc. A loud blast was heard
at the start of the 22 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pascagoula, Mississippi
ID: 266
Date: 10/1/1952
Time: 6:57 PM
Description: Witness: USAF lst Lt. T.J. Pointek, pilot of RF-8O
reconnaissance jet. One bright white light flew straight, then vertical,
then hovered, and then made an abrupt turn during a 23 minute attempted
intercept.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Shaw AFB, South Carolina
ID: 265
Date: 10/2/1952 (approximate)
Description: Shortly before 7:00 a.m. One Thursday this month, Johannes
Nordlien is waiting for coworkers when he hears a howling sound. A
white, saucer-shaped object, 13 feet in diameter, comes in from the west
at high speed and passes him only 325 feet away. It falls with a violent
splash into the river Lågen [Gudbrandsdalslågen?] in Norway. When his
colleagues show up, the water is still roiling. (Ole Jonny Brænne,
“Observations of Unidentified Submarine Objects in Norway,” IUR 20, no.
1 (Jan./Feb. 1995): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2061
Date: 10/2/1952
Description: CIA Office of Scientific Intelligence Director H.
Marshall Chadwell writes a memorandum to Director of Central
Intelligence Walter
Bedell Smith recommending he advise the National Security Council
that more research is needed on UFOs to investigate their national
security threat. (H. Marshall Chadwell, “Flying
Saucers,” October 2, 1952; CUFON, “The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO-Related Document Sampler, Part 1 of 2 Parts,” May
17, 1996; Good Above, pp. 509–510)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2062
Date: 10/2/1952
Description: SECRET MEMO to Director CIA from H. Marshall Chadwell,
Assistant Director of Scientific Intelligence: ATIC is the only group
devoting appreciable effort to the study of UFOs. Flying Saucers pose
two elements of danger to the United States. The first involves mass
psychological considerations and the second concerns vulnerability of
the U.S. to air attack. Recommend that the DCI discuss this subject with
the Psychological Strategy Board.
Type: secret memo
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p509)
Location: Langley, VA
See also: 11/25/1952
Date: 10/7/1952
Time: 8:30 PM
Description: Witness: USAF Lt. Bagnell. One pale blue oval, with its
long axis vertical, flew straight and level for 4-5 seconds, covering 30
in that time.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Alamagordo, New Mexico
ID: 267
Date: 10/9/1952
End date: 10/11/1952
Description: At the Optical Society of America meeting in Boston,
Massachusetts, J.
Allen Hynek presents a paper on “Unusual Aerial Phenomena,” in which
he expresses skepticism for most reports, except for nocturnal lights
that do “not appear to be readily explainable on an astronomical basis,
or by mirages, balloons, or by conventional aircraft.” Astronomer Donald
Menzel presents a dismissive paper on radar angels and mirages,
while Urner Liddel presents
“Phantasmagoria or Unusual Observations in the Atmosphere,” dismissing
UFO reports as mass hysteria, fear psychosis, and sensation-seeking. (J.
A. Hynek, “Unusual
Aerial Phenomena,” Journal of the Optical Society of America 43
(1953): 311–314; Urner Liddel, “Phantasmagoria
or Unusual Observations in the Atmosphere,”
Journal of the Optical Society of America 43 (1953): 314–317)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2063
Date: 10/10/1952
Description: Battelle issues its sixth status report on Project Stork.
UFO reports through 1951 have been coded and put on IBM punch cards.
About 60% of the reports have been evaluated. The panel has looked at
two films and soil and vegetation samples from cases in Florida and
Pittsburg, Kansas. The witness questionnaire is further refined and will
become the basis for Project Blue Book’s form. (“Seven
Status Reports for Project Stork, Part 3,” CUFON; “Seven
Status Reports for Project Stork, Part 4,” CUFON)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2064
Date: 10/10/1952
Time: 6:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF S/Sgt., two other enlisted men. One
blinking white light moved like a pendulum for 20 minutes, and then shot
straight up.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Otis AFB, Massachusetts
ID: 268
Date: 10/11/1952
Description: A Ground Observer Corps spotter sees a disc hovering in one
spot for 20 minutes over Newport News, Virginia. When two interceptors
arrive from Langley Air Force Base, the object tilts up, accelerates,
and shoots away. (UFOEv, p. 150)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2065
Date: 10/12/1952
Description: Harold H. Fulton founds Civilian Saucer Investigation (New
Zealand) in Auckland. It begins publishing a quarterly newsletter,
Flying Saucers, in May 1953, which continues until September 1959 with a
name change in 1958 to Space Probe. (Flying
Saucers 1, no. 1 (May 1953); Space
Probe, Christmas
1958)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2066
Date: 10/13/1952
Description: James
Q. Reber, assistant
director of CIA intelligence coordination, writes a memo to the CIA
deputy director of intelligence, arguing that fundamental research into
the question of positive identification is the responsibility of the
Defense Department and that while investigating Soviet knowledge of UFO
phenomena is a “primary concern” for the CIA, it “is far too early in
view of the present state of our knowledge regarding Flying Saucers for
psychological warfare planners to start planning how the United States
might use U.S. Flying Saucers against the enemy.” Reber goes on to
recommend that when “intelligence has submitted the National Estimate on
Flying Saucers there will be the time and basis for a public policy to
reduce or restrain mass hysteria.” (James Q. Reber, “Flying
Saucers,” October 13, 1952; CUFON, “The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO-Related Document Sampler, Part
1 of 2 Parts,” May 17, 1996)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2067
Date: 10/13/1952
Description: 7:08 p.m. USAF pilot Maj. William
D. Leet and his engineer, flying a C-54 troop carrier, watch an
elliptical UFO hovering in clouds near Oshima, Japan. It speeds away
after 7 minutes. (UFOEv, p. 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2068
Date: 10/14/1952
Description: OSI Deputy Assistant Director Ralph
L. Clark writes a memorandum for the record suggesting a meeting on
October 20 or 21 to work out a research and intelligence program on
UFOs. (Ralph J. Clark, “Flying
Saucers Problem,”
October 14, 1952)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2069
Date: 10/15/1952
Time: 1910
Description: Approximate date. Figures with helmets and masks were seen
through lighted windows inside a bright yellow, cigar-shaped object on
the ground. Length 30 m, diameter 6 m. Forward section was rounded, and
a sort of fog was noted at both ends of object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy; Anatomy 62 (Vallee)
Location: Le Vigan, France
ID: 103
Date: 10/16/1952
Description: George
Hunt Williamson is in a state of panic from the messages he and the
Baileys have received from space people. He writes an associate doing
missionary work in Guatemala that disaster will strike the earth before
December 1. He says radio contacts have stopped and that he has been
told there will be a direct contact with a spaceman: “Professor George
Adamski is in on this too.” The Baileys have already met with
Adamski (in August) and now the messages are urging another meeting with
him. (Y. N. ibn Aharon [Yonah Fortner], “Diagnosis: A Case of Chronic
Fright,” Saucer News 4, no. 5 (Aug./Sept. 1957): 3–6; Clark III
1284)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2070
Date: 10/17/1952
Time: 9:15 PM
Description: Witnesses: Four USAF officers One round, bright blue light
moved from north to northeast at an elevation of 45 degree for 2-3
seconds and then burned out.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Taos, New Mexico
ID: 269
Date: 10/17/1952
Time: 11 PM
Description: Witness: one military person (no detail). One white
streamer moved at an estimated 3,000 m.p.h. in an arc for 20 seconds. No
further details in files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico
ID: 271
Date: 10/17/1952
Time: 10:15 PM
Description: Witnesses: Ministers Greenwalt and Kluck. Ten lights, or a
rectangle of lights, moved more or less straight and level for 5
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Killeen, Texas
ID: 270
Date: 10/17/1952
Description: Early afternoon. Residents of Oloron-Sainte-Marie,
Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France, see a large cigar-shaped structure in the
blue sky, inclined at a 45° angle. The witnesses include the family of
Yves Prigent, general superintendent of the local high school. A plume
of white smoke is escaping from its upper end. At some distance in front
of the cylinder, about 30 round, puffy objects with a central red spot
are following the same trajectory. The smaller objects move in pairs
following a broken, zig-zag path. They leave an abundant trail of a
white substance (angel’s hair) behind them, which slowly falls to the
ground as it disperses. For several hours, clumps of it hang on the
trees, on the telephone wires, and on the roofs of houses. (“Les
Soucoupes Volantes vues à Oloron
le 17 Octobre,” France-Dimanche, October 26, 1952, in The Spectrum
of UFO Research, CUFOS, 1988, p. 114; Jimmy Guieu, Flying Saucers Come
from Another World, Hutchinson, 1956, pp. 87–92; Jacques Vallee and
Janine Vallee, Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma, Regnery, 1966, pp. 120–121;
Clark III 123; Patrick Gross, “Documents:
Found in the Attic”; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, September–October, The Author, 1986, pp. 73–74;
Lotharson, “Unidentified
Flying Spiders in Southern France?” Shards of Magonia, March 12,
2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2071
Date: 10/18/1952
Description: 9:44 p.m. Journalist Keith Hooper is returning home from an
assignment for the Adelaide Advrtiser when he sees a greenish-white,
cigar-shaped object about the size of a Boeing 707 some 10 miles away
over the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, moving southeast to northwest.
The object makes a sharp, right-angle turn upward, recedes, then
vanishes at tremendous speed. The duration is 5–7 seconds. (Keith
Hooper, “My
Flying Saucer,”
Sydney (N.S.W.) Morning Herald, March 13, 1965, p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2072
Date: 10/19/1952
Time: 6:58 PM
Description: Witnesses: crew of USAF C-50 transport plane. One round
yellow light, with a red glowing edge, estimated at 100’ in diameter,
flew at 300-400 kts. (350-450 m.p.h.) for 20 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 500 miles south of Hawaii
ID: 273
Date: 10/19/1952
Time: 1:30 PM
Description: Witness: one ex-USAF aircrewman Woolsey. Three circular
aluminum objects, one of which was olive-drab colored on the side, flew
in a rough V-formation. One object flipped slowly, another object
stopped, during the 3-4 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: San Antonio, Texas
ID: 272
Date: late 10/1952
Description: 3:45 a.m. Seaman Abelardo Marquez, posted on the USS
Fletcher near
Eniwetak Atoll for the upcoming Ivy Mike thermonuclear test, is going on
duty to the bridge when he notices that the ship is uncharacteristically
moving at full speed. Other crew members tell him it is because of a
round white light that has been moving above the ship. Marquez sees it
descending, then it stops and hovers about 40°–45° above the horizon and
perhaps one-half mile from the ship. Capt. Grover
L. Rawlings is talking with other officers on the bridge, saying
they do not know what the light is, and that is not tracked on radar.
After about 4–5 minutes, the light takes off straight up at the same
speed it had descended. (Nukes 101–105)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2077
Date: late 10/1952
Description: Night. Radioman Tom Kramer is serving aboard the USS
Curtiss,
the AEC flagship for Ivy Mike, the first detonation of a hydrogen bomb
at Elugelab Atoll in the Marshall Islands. After an onboard movie,
Kramer and other crewmen see a round, silent, bright white light that is
motionless at first, then starts zigzagging for less than 10 seconds and
takes off at high speed. (Nukes 100–101)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2076
Date: 10/21/1952
Time: No time given
Description: Witnesses: persons at airport weather station. Six white
lights flew in a loose formation for 1-2 minutes, and made a shallow
dive at a weather balloon.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
ID: 274
Date: 10/21/1952
Description: Afternoon. Flight Lt. Michael Swiney and a student pilot,
Royal Navy Lt. David Crofts, are flying a Meteor T.7 trainer out of RAF
Little Rissington, Gloucester, England, for a high-altitude navigation
exercise at 35,000 feet. Not long after breaking out of a cloud during a
climb at 13,000–14,000 feet, they see three circular, white objects in
front of them. As the aircraft get closer and turns to avoid them, the
objects become visible as discs. They disappear quickly when the pilot
looks away briefly. Two Meteor F.8 fighters are scrambled from RAF
Tangmere [now closed] in West Sussex to chase three unknown radar
targets moving at 3,000 mph but fail to intercept them. (Wikipedia, “Little
Rissington UFO incident”; David Clarke and Andy Roberts, Out of the
Shadows, Piatkus, 2002, pp. 98–102; UFOFiles2, pp. 47–49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2073
Date: 10/23/1952
Description: Ruppelt holds
a briefing on UFOs at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, New Mexico.
Afterward Assistant Director for Scientific Personnel William H. Crew
arranges a special meeting for Ruppelt and Col. Bower with
seven people from the laboratory. Several of them have evidence that
there is a possible correlation between sightings of UFOs and unusual
radiation detection. (Edward J. Ruppelt, [Message
referring to a December 1 telephone
call], December 2, 1952)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2074
Date: 10/24/1952
Time: 8:26 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF Lt. Rau, Capt. Marcinko, flying a Beech
T-ll trainer. One object, shaped like a plate, with a brilliant front
and vague trail, flew with its concave surface forward for 5
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Elberton, Alabama
ID: 275
Date: 10/24/1952
Description: President Truman signs
National Security Council Directive 6, a 7-page document that eliminates
the Armed Forces Security Agency formed in 1949 to unite all military
signal intelligence operations and creates the National Security Agency.
Since the memo is a classified document, the existence of the NSA is not
known to the public. Due to its ultra-secrecy the US intelligence
community refers to the NSA as “No Such Agency.” The NSA is responsible
for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and
data for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes. NSA
inherits Project Shamrock from the AFSA. It also inherits collection of
UFO data, at least by 1958, but probably in 1953. (ClearIntent, p. 189;
Thomas L. Burns, The Origins of the National Security Agency, 1940–1952,
National Security Agency, 1990, pp. 97–99)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2075
Date: 10/27/1952
Description: Air Intelligence Memo: “Some military officials are
seriously considering the possibility of (UFOs being) interplanetary
ships.”
Type: secret memo
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Dayton, OH
Date: 10/27/1952
Description: 4:00 p.m. Residents of Gaillac, Tarn, France, see a
formation of 16 disc-shaped UFOs ranged in twos. An elongated cylinder
is in the center of the objects, all of which are discharging angel’s
hair like glass wool. (Aimé Michel, The Truth about FS, p. 148; Loren E.
Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, September–October, The Author, 1986, pp. 84–85;
Lotharson, “Unidentified
Flying Spiders in Southern France?” Shards of Magonia, March 12,
2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2080
Date: 10/27/1952
Description: 2:03 a.m. Customs officer Gabriel Gachignard observes a
cigar-shaped object land briefly on a runway of the airport at
Marignane, Bouches-du-Rhône, France, 100 meters away, producing a dull
sound. The object is dark with four lighted windows. It takes off with a
“swish” and a shower of sparks when he runs toward it. (Clark III
243–244; Jimmy Guieu, Flying Saucers Come from Another World,
Hutchinson, 1956, p. 53; Michel, The Truth about FS, pp. 152–156;
Jacques Vallee and Janine Vallee, Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma,
Regnery, 1966, pp. 6–11;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, September–October, The
Author, 1986, pp. 82–84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2078
Date: 10/27/1952
Time: 0203
Description: Customs officer Gabriel Gachignard observed a cigar-shaped
object land briefly on the airfield 100 m away, producing a dull sound.
The object was dark with four lighted windows. It took off with a
“swish” and a shower of sparks when the witness ran toward it.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Challenge 6 (Vallee)
Location: Marignane Airport, France
ID: 104
Date: 10/27/1952
Description: An FBI memorandum to Alan
H. Belmont from Victor P. Keay reports that “Air Intelligence still
feels that the so-called flying saucers are either optical illusions or
atmospheric phenomena. He pointed out, however, that some Military
officials are seriously considering the possibility of interplanetary
ships.” (V. P. Keay, “Flying Saucers,”
October 27, 1952)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2079
Date: 10/29/1952
Time: 7:50 AM
Description: Witnesses: USAF S/Sgt. Anderson, A/2c Max Handy. One round
object, silhouetted against a cloud, flew straight and level and smooth
at 400 m.p.h. for 20 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Erding Air Depot, West Germany
ID: 276
Date: 10/29/1952
Description: 5:10 a.m. Two USAF F-94 crews see a white luminous object
maneuvering at high speed for 20 minutes above Hempstead, Long Island,
New York. Lt. William F. Hamilton and Lt. Norman W. Booth write: “Based
on my experience in fighter tactics, it is my opinion that the object
was controlled by something having visual contact with us. The power and
acceleration were beyond the capability of any known aircraft.” (NICAP,
“Two
F- 94’s
Encounter Controlled Object”; Sparks, p. 177)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2081
Date: 10/31/1952
Time: 7:40 PM
Description: Witness: USAF Lt. James Allen. One orange, blimp-shaped
object, 80’ long and 20’ high, flew at treetop level, crossed over
Allen’s car (at which time his radio stopped playing), then climbed out
at 45’ and tremendous speed at the end of a 1 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Fayetteville, Georgia
ID: 277
Date: 11/1952
Description: A child was burned when a strange disk, 25 cm in diameter,
landed near Dublin.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Dublin, Ireland
ID: 105
Date: 11/1952
Description: Aladino
Félix and a friend are climbing a hill near Angatuba, São Paulo,
Brazil. When they get to the top, Félix claims they see numerous UFOs
flying around. Félix comes back another day by himself; eventually a
saucer lands and he is invited inside to meet its crew and examine the
technology. Several months later, he is visited at his home in São Paulo
by the saucer captain, who claims to come from one or two of the
satellites of Jupiter. Félix, under the pseudonym of Dino Kraspedon,
writes about his various conversations with the spaceman in Meu Contato
com os discos voadores in 1957. He writes other mystical and religious
tracts under the names Dunatos Menorá and Sábado Dinotos. In 1967–1968,
Félix is operating a right-wing terrorism group that sets off bombs,
steals arms and explosives, and robs a bank. He serves three years in
prison. (Clark III 661–662; Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life
of George Hunt Williamson, Verdechiari, 2016, pp. 164–165)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2082
Date: 11/1/1952
Description: Nuclear test Ivy Mike is the first successful full-scale
test of a multi-megaton thermonuclear weapon (“hydrogen bomb”) using the
Teller-Ulam design the size of an airplane hangar. Unlike later
thermonuclear weapons, Mike uses deuterium as its fusion fuel,
maintained as a liquid by an expensive and cumbersome cryogenic system.
It is detonated on Elugelab in the Marshall Islands yielding 10.4
megatons, almost 500 times the yield of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
The fireball is 3 miles wide and completely destroys the atoll. USAF
Capt. Jimmy
Priestly Robinson of the 561st Fighter-Day Squadron, is lost near
the end of his mission to successfully pilot his F-84G through the
mushroom cloud’s stem to collect radiochemical air samples. After re-
emerging from the cloud, both he and his wingman, pilot Captain Bob
Hagan, encounter
difficulties picking up navigational beacons due to “electromagnetic
after effects” of the detonation. By the time they are successful in
finding the signal four hours later, they are dangerously low on fuel,
and before reaching the runway, both have depleted their reserves. While
Hagan is able to glide to the runway and achieve a hard landing,
Robinson is too far out to follow the same path and therefore attempts
to land on water. Neither his plane nor his body has ever been found;
his family only learned the truth in 2008 after repeated FOIA requests.
(Wikipedia, “Ivy
Mike”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2083
Date: 11/3/1952
Time: 66:29 PM
Description: Witnesses: two control tower operators, including Lemaster.
One long, elliptical, white-grey light flew very fast, paused, and then
increased speed during a 3-4 second observation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Laredo AFB, Texas
ID: 278
Date: 11/4/1952
End date: 11/6/1952
Description: The Baileys and Williamsons come up together for a visit to
the Palomar Gardens Café. Adamski tells
them he has been making special trips into the desert in hopes of
meeting a saucer. Soon Adamski begins channeling space messages in the
presence of the Williamsons and the Baileys. At one of these sessions, a
space being declares that a face-to-face meeting will take place soon.
Williamson and
Bailey ask Adamski to call them before he attempts his next contact.
(Michael D. Swords, “Strange Days,” IUR 30, no. 4 (Aug. 2006): 23;
Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamson,
Verdechiari, 2016, p. 357)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2086
Date: 11/4/1952
Time: 5:40 PM
Description: Witness: housewife Mrs. Sprague. Two groups of 2-3 whirling
discs of light flew toward the southeast over a period of 30
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Vineland, New Jersey
ID: 279
Date: 11/4/1952
Description: NSA is established
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Fort Meade, Maryland
Date: 11/4/1952
Description: Capt. Edward
J. Ruppelt and Lt. Robert M. Olsson visit Col. John
R. Hood Jr., AMC chief of the Nuclear Powered Aircraft Branch of
Wright Air Development Center. Hood had contacted ATIC in December 1950
in regard to certain sightings of UFOs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
Tennessee, in which he and a naval officer attempted to obtain
correlation between sightings and peaks in radiation backgrounds. Now
there are indications that there may be some correlation present between
unknown radar pickups and rises in radiation, and he suggests that ATIC
begin an instrumented radiation program. (“Visit
to WADC,” November 4, 1952; Patrick W. Hayes, “Unconventional
Aircraft,” Spot Intelligence Report, Dec. 1950)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2084
Date: 11/4/1952
Description: The National Security Agency is established in Fort Meade,
Maryland, in a memo by Secretary of Defense Robert
A. Lovett, making
the new agency responsible for all communications intelligence. The
existence of the NSA is not known to the public at this time.
(Wikipedia, “National
Security Agency”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2085
Date: 11/5/1952
Description: Dwight
D. Eisenhower is elected president.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2087
Date: 11/10/1952
Description: Battelle’s Project Stork notes in its seventh status report
that current UFO reports “are now in more detail and often consist of
sightings of one object by more than one individual.” 500 copies of a
final version of the sighting questionnaire were delivered to ATIC at
Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. It expects to have all UFO reports dated
before June 15, 1952, processed and evaluated by December 10, ready for
IBM analysis later. (Clark III 929; “Seven
Status Reports for Project Stork, Part 4,” CUFON)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2088
Date: 11/12/1952
Time: 10:23 PM
Description: Witness: security inspector. Four red-white-green lights
flew slowly over a prohibited area for 15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
ID: 280
Date: 11/13/1952
Time: 2:43 AM
Description: Witness: U.S. Weather Bureau observer Earl Oksendahl. Five
oval-shaped objects, with lights all around them, flew in a V-formation
for about 20 seconds. Each object seemed to be changing position
vertically by climbing or diving as if to hold formation. Formation came
from the northwest, made a 90 degree overhead, and flew away to the
southwest.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Glasgow, Montana
ID: 282
Date: 11/13/1952
Time: 2:20 AM
Description: Witness: radar tracking by USAF 779th AC&W station. An
unexplained track was followed for 1 hour, 28 minutes, at 158,000’
altitude (30 miles) and a speed of 240 m.p.h. Radar was FPS/3
(PPI).
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Opheim, Montana
ID: 281
Date: 11/15/1952
Time: 7:02 AM
Description: Witnesses: USAF Maj. R.L. Wallander, Capt. Belleman, A/3c
Phipps. One orange object (a blue streak?) varied in shape, as it made
jerky upward sweeps with 10-15 second pauses during a 3-5 minute
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Wichita, Kansas
ID: 283
Date: 11/16/1952
Description: Around 5:00 p.m. An air traffic controller at Florence
Airport, South Carolina, watches a huge, gleaming disc through
binoculars and sees it tilt up sharply before climbing out of sight.
About 6 minutes later, people see a group of round, glowing objects
north of Landrum, South Carolina. David
S. Bunch takes 40 minutes of film with an 8mm camera and telephoto
lens before the UFOs disappear to the west. Keyhoe reviews
the film along with some Air Force officers. It shows five glowing,
oval-shaped objects. (Keyhoe, FS from OS, pp. 4–5;
UFOEv, p.
89;
Sparks,
p. 180)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2089
Date: 11/18/1952
Description: Nello Ferrari, 41, a farmer, found himself flooded with a
reddish light and saw a large plate 10 m above him, between gold and
copper in color. At the center of the bottom surface, 20 m in diameter,
was a cylinder of 5 m diameter made of rapidly rotating parts, producing
a noise similar to that of an electric motor. On the upper surface was a
turret inside which three occupants were visible, looking directly at
the witness. They looked perfectly human, wore rubber coveralls and
transparent face masks. They spoke a few words, which were not
understood; a loud metallic noise was heard; and the top part of the
object lowered itself toward the lower plate. The sound gained
intensity, and the craft flew vertically at very high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 102 (Vallee)
Location: Castelfranco, Italy
ID: 106
Date: 11/18/1952
Description: Date of the fake four-page “Briefing Document: Operation
Majestic 12. Prepared for President-Elect Dwight
D. Eisenhower: Eyes Only.” It states that UFOs are the product of an
extraterrestrial civilization, that several had crashed and came into
the possession of the US government, and that the US had custody of an
alien for some time before it died. It says that Truman established
the MJ-12 group in 1947. Called Majestic-12, the group supposedly
consists of CIA Director Roscoe
Hillenkoetter, Vannevar
Bush, Secretary
of Defense James Forrestal (replaced
by Gen. Walter
Bedell Smith in 1950), Gen. Nathan
Twining, Gen. Hoyt
Vandenberg, Detlev
Bronk, Jerome
Clarke Hunsaker, Sidney
Souers, Gordon
Gray, Donald
Menzel, Gen. Robert
Miller Montague, and Lloyd
Berkner. (“Briefing
Document: Operation Majestic-12, Prepared for President-Elect Dwight
D. Eisenhower
(Eyes Only),” November 18, 1952; Stanton T. Friedman, “MJ 12: The
Evidence So Far,” IUR 12, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1987): 13–17; Joe Nickell
and John R. Fischer, “The Crashed-Saucer Forgeries,” IUR 15, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1990): 4–20; Good Above, pp. 257–260, 544–550)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2090
Date: 11/18/1952
Description: President-Elect Eisenhower receives
a 43-minute national security briefing on matters that are still
classified. Gen. Nathan
Twining, Gen. Omar
Bradley, Adm.
William
Fechteler, Gen. J.
Lawton Collins, Gen. Lemuel
C. Shepherd Jr., and
Secretary of Defense Robert
A. Lovett are present. (Stanton T. Friedman, “MJ 12: The Evidence So
Far,” IUR 12, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1987): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2091
Date: 11/18/1952
Description: George
Adamski telephones George
Hunt Williamson and tells him that the space people have informed
him a physical encounter will take place on November 20. (Clark III
1284; Michael D. Swords, “Strange Days,” IUR 30, no. 4 (Aug. 2006): 23;
Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamson,
Verdechiari, 2016, p. 358)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2092
Date: 11/18/1952
Description: MAJESTIC “Preliminary Briefing” document to President
(elect) Eisenhower from Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter (MJ-1)
Type: majestic document
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A)
Reference: link
Location: Washington DC
Attributes: Majestic
Date: 11/19/1952
Description: Pilot J. Slade Nash reaches 698.5 mph in a North American
F-86D Sabre over the Salton Sea, California. (Bryan R. Swopes, “19
November 1952,” This Day in Aviation, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2093
Date: 11/20/1952
Description: George Adamski contacts man from Venus.
Type: ce3 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: CA
Date: 11/20/1952
Description: 9:00 p.m. The Williamsons and the Baileys, with Adamski’s
permission, drive to Phoenix, Arizona, and tell the story of their
contact to reporters at the Phoenix Gazette. (Zirger and Martinelli, The
Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamson, Verdechiari, 2016,
pp. 363)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2098
Date: 11/20/1952
Description: 2:15 p.m. As he is packing up his telescope, Adamski sees
a man waving to him from about a quarter- mile away. He walks over to
him and meets an entity named Orthon as his 6 companions watch from a
distance. Five-and-a-half feet tall, Orthon [could Adamski have thought
of this name from Kodak Ortho film?] is a beautiful being with long
blond hair and an extremely high forehead. Through gestures, sign
language, a few words, and telepathy, Adamski learns that he is from
Venus and the Venusians are visiting earth out of concern for nuclear
weapons. The conversation lasts about 45 minutes. Orthon declines to be
photographed but asks Adamski to borrow one of his unexposed photos.
After Orthon leaves in his Scout ship around 3:04 p.m., Adamski finds
tracks in the desert floor. His companions rejoin him at the site.
Around 3:45 p.m., Williamson takes
casts with plaster of paris, which he just happens to carry with him in
case he runs into a stray bone. Each track contains within it a distinct
set of symbols. After several hours of assessing the situation and
waiting for the plaster to dry, the group returns to Desert Center,
California. (Desmond Leslie and George Adamski, Flying Saucers Have
Landed, British Book Centre, 1953, pp. 185–215;
Adamski Foundation, “The
Landing”; James W. Moseley, “Special
Adamski Exposé Issue,” Saucer News, no. 27 (October 1957); Curt
Collins, “Saucer
News Presents:
The George Adamski Exposé,” In Honor of James Moseley, May 30, 2014;
Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamson,
Verdechiari, 2016, pp. 41–89, 360–362; Clark III 39–40, 1284; Michael D.
Swords, “Strange Days,” IUR 30, no. 4 (August 2006): 23; Michael D.
Swords, “Adamski in the Desert,” IUR 31, no. 3 (October 2007): 22; Rene
Erik Olsen, [George
Adamski photo analysis], Adamski Foundation; Marc Hallet, A
Critical Appraisal of George Adamski: The Man Who Spoke to the Space
Brothers, The
Author, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2097
Date: 11/20/1952
Description: 1:57 p.m. Adamski stays
behind to set up his equipment as McGinnis and Bailey return to the rest
of the group. At 2:04 p.m., another UFO, this time a “Scout ship,”
appears near Adamski, who takes seven photos through his telescope. The
cigar-shaped UFO is still visible through binoculars. At 2:12 pm.,
Adamski takes three more photos of the Scout ship with a Kodak Brownie
before it disappears behind a hill. Air Force jets circle the area at
least twice. (Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt
Williamson, Verdechiari, 2016, pp. 359–360)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2096
Date: 11/20/1952
Description: 1:00 p.m. Adamski’s
group picnics along the roadside. At 1:30 p.m., they see a cigar-shaped
UFO that appears shortly after a US Air Force B-29 passes overhead going
in the direction of Parker, Arizona. Adamski asks Lucy McGinnis,
accompanied by Alfred Bailey, to drive him a bit more than half a mile
away to a flatter area near the foot of Coxcomb Mountain where he can
set up his telescope. The cigar-shaped UFO is allegedly following them.
(Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamson,
Verdechiari, 2016, pp. 54–56, 358–359)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2095
Date: 11/20/1952
Description: Morning. George
Adamski and two associates, Lucy McGinnis and Alice Wells, drive out
from the Palomar Gardens Café. They meet the Williamsons and the Baileys
at Blythe, California, at 8:00 a.m., and they drive to Desert Center,
California, taking Desert Center Rice Road 117 toward Coxcomb Mountain.
(Clark III 1284; Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George
Hunt Williamson, Verdechiari, 2016, p. 358)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2094
Date: 11/21/1952
Description: At a place alled “La Butte” a luminous sphere, which seemed
to spin, its color changing from orange to white, was seen at low
altitude. It oscillated left and right, then took off toward the
southwest, according to the witness, Mr. Gauci.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Challenge 56 (Vallee)
Location: Belle-Ile, France
ID: 107
Date: 11/21/1952
End date: 11/23/1952
Description: An Air Force review panel meets at ATIC for three days and
recommends that a “higher court” be formed to review UFOs. It schedules
this tentatively for late December or early January. (Ruppelt, pp. 200–201)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2099
Date: 11/22/1952
Description: 10:00 p.m. Fr. Carlos Maria, a Capuchin missionary, and
five others are driving along the road to Bocaranga, Ubangi-Shari [now
Central African Republic] when they notice a large disc speeding
overhead. Later, they see four others, motionless. They watch the UFOs
for 20 minutes, changing shape and color. (Aimé Michel, The Truth about
FS; Jimmy Guieu [pseudonym of Henri René Guieu], Les soucoupes volantes
viennent d’un autre monde, Fleuve Noir, 1954; ClearIntent, pp. 128–129)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2100
Date: 11/24/1952
Time: 6:30 PM
Description: Witness: L.L’ Brettner. One round, glowing object flew very
fast, made right angle turns and reversed course during a 1 hour
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Annandale, Virginia
ID: 284
Date: 11/24/1952
Description: The first printed account of the encounter with Orthon
appears in the Phoenix Gazette. The newspaper publishes one of Adamski’s
photos as well as a photo of the Williamsons and the Baileys. Adamski
becomes instantly famous, and Williamson moves
to Palomar Gardens for several days. When he tells Adamski he is
planning to write a book about his channelings and contacts, Adamski
warns him not to mention the contacts have been largely psychic. Adamski
discourages him and they have a falling out. Alfred C. Bailey later says
he has seen neither spaceship nor spaceman and doubts that anyone else
has either. (Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt
Williamson, Verdechiari, 2016, pp. 45–52, 99, 358–363; “Palomar
Mountain, 1940–1960: From
Obscurity to World Fame,” The Adamski Case, September 22,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2102
Date: 11/24/1952
Description: Andrija
Puharich, invited
by an Army colonel friend who is chief of the Research Section of the
Office of the Chief of Psychological Warfare, delivers a lecture on ESP
to high-ranking Pentagon officers in the Army’s Psychological Warfare
Research Section and the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations.
Col. Howard McCoy is
probably present. (Nick Redfern, The Pyramids and the Pentagon, New
Page, 2012; Michael D. Swords, “Strange Days, Part 2,” IUR 32, no. 2
(December 2008): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2101
Date: 11/25/1952
Description: ATIC Col. Donald
L. Bower and Maj. Dewey
Fournet brief CIA consultants Frederick
C. Durant and Edward
Tauss on Blue Book’s top three cases: the Tremonton UFO film of July
2; a dubious sighting of an object seen at Presque Isle and Limestone
AFB [now Loring International Airport], Maine, on the night of October
10– 11 (which Hynek has
already explained as a theodolite miscalibration causing Jupiter and its
4 prominent moons to be visible); and the problematic Florida
scoutmaster case of August 19. USAF wants the CIA to think these are
good cases until they unravel at the proposed Robertson Panel meeting.
(CUFON, “The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO- Related
Document Sampler, Part 1 of 2 Parts,” May 17, 1996; Clark III
1014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2103
Date: 11/25/1952
End date: 11/26/1952
Description: Two UFOs are tracked by defense radar in the Panama Canal
Zone. (NICAP, “Two
Objects Tracked by
A/A Gun Radar”; Condon, pp. 168–170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2104
Date: 11/25/1952
Description: (cont’d briefing from 8/20/52): Memorandum for Director
CIA: Another meeting by A-2 and ATIC personnel was held on this date.
UFOs must have immediate attention. UFOs have been sighted at great
altitudes and at high speeds in the vicinity of major U.S. defense
installations and can NOT be attributed to natural phenomena or KNOWN
types of aerial vehicles. OSI is proceeding to establish an immediate
PRIORITY research and development on UFOs under the aegis of CANIS.
Signed: H. Marshall Chadwell.
Type: memorandum
Reference: link
Location: Langley, VA
See also: 8/10/52
See also: 10/2/52
See also: 11/25/52
Date: 11/26/1952
Description: 5:56 p.m. An F-94B from the USAF 59th Fighter-Interceptor
Squadron at Goose Bay AFB [now CFB Goose Bay], Labrador, for 15 minutes
chases a maneuverable object that changes color from white to red,
heading south or southwest. The fighter gets a brief radar lock-on.
(Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1952, November– December,
The Author, 1986, p. 44; Sparks,
p. 181)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2105
Date: 11/27/1952
Time: 12:10 PM
Description: Witnesses: pilot and crew chief of UAAF B-26 bomber. A
series of black smoke bursts (4-3-3-4-3), similar to antiaircraft fire,
was seen over a 20 minute period.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
ID: 285
Date: 11/30/1952
Description: 12:30 a.m. Numerous slow-moving 90–100 mph radar targets
appear on the MEW VG-2 radar at Washington National Airport in
Washington, D.C. Suggestive of anomalous propagation, but they are
unlike the July 1952 cases since there is no visual confirmation, no
other radars confirming, and no fighters scrambled. A pilot at 6,000
feet sees nothing. CAA Senior Airways Specialist Austin M. Stapf claims
the same thing was observed at same time on November 29, and that the
Andrews AFB watch supervisor could not visually confirm targets over
Andrews displayed on the ARTCC radar scope. (Sparks,
p. 181)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2106
Date: 11/30/1952
Time: 12:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: radar operators at Washington National Airport.
Radar trackings similar to those of July 26, 1952.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Washington, DC
ID: 286
Date: 12/1952
Description: Maj. Dewey
Fournet completes a study of UFOs to assess whether their motions
are random or ordered. He concludes that their reported movements show
that UFOs are under intelligent control. (Ruppelt, pp. 189–190;
Michael D. Swords, “Intelligent
Motions,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March 2010): 8–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2107
Date: 12/2/1952
Description: CIA Office of Scientific Intelligence Director H.
Marshall Chadwell writes another secret memo to Director Walter
Bedell Smith on UFOs: “At this time, the reports of incidents
convince us that there is something going on that must have immediate
attention. The details of some of these incidents have been discussed by
AD/SI with DDCI. Sightings of unexplained objects at great altitudes and
traveling at high speeds in the vicinity of major U.S. defense
installations are of such nature that they are not attributable to
natural phenomena or known types of aerial vehicles.” Physicist Julius
Adams Stratton and economist Max
Millikan tell Chadwell that scientists at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory
would like to be a part of any scientific study of the UFO phenomenon,
perhaps through Millikan’s MIT Center for International Studies.
Stratton indicates that Lab Director Albert
G. Hill should
organize the study. Attached is a draft of an intelligence directive by
Chadwell on behalf of Smith to the National Security Council
recommending that the CIA “formulate and carry out a program of
intelligence and research activities required to solve the problem of
instant positive identification of unidentified flying objects.” But
Smith refuses to approve or sign the directive because he is briefing
the president directly. (H. Marshall Chadwell, “Unidentified
Flying Objects,” December 2, 1952; CUFON, “The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO-Related Document
Sampler, Part 1 of 2 Parts,” May 17, 1996; Swords 175; Clark III
1013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2108
Date: 12/2/1952
Description: Statement by H. Marshall Chadwell, Assistant Director of
Scientific Intelligence, CIA: “The reports of (UFO) incidents convince
us that there is something going on that must have immediate
attention.”
Type: statement
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Langley, VA
See also: 10/2/52
See also: 11/25/52
Date: 12/3/1952
Description: In another “Flying Saucer” memo, Chadwell admits
the Air Force would be suspicious of any MIT Lincoln Lab involvement,
and that Princeton or Cal Tech would do, and that “it will be necessary
to secure the full backing of the DCI in order that a scientific review
of the problem may be laid on.” However, he recommends that this
“External Research Project Concerned with Unidentified Flying Objects”
be administered by Max Millikan at the MIT Center for International
Studies. (P. G. Strong, “Flying
Saucers,” December 3, 1952; CUFON, “The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO-Related Document Sampler, Part 1 of 2 Parts,” May
17, 1996; Swords 185–186)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2109
Date: 12/4/1952
Description: The CIA Intelligence Advisory Committee recommends that
“the Director of Central Intelligence will ‘enlist the services of
selected scientists to review and appraise the available evidence in the
light of pertinent scientific theories.’” The meeting, chaired by Chadwell, is
attended by Robert
Amory Jr., Gen. John
Samford, Rear Admiral Carl
F. Espe, Gen. John
M. Willems, William
Park Armstrong, Walter
F. Colby, Col.
Edward
R. Porter, and
Col. Jere
Boggs. This
is to be done “immediately” through a National Security Council
Intelligence Directive and is essentially the go-ahead for what will be
the Robertson Panel. (Robert Amory Jr., “Intelligence Advisory
Committee: Minutes of Meeting Held in Director’s Conference Room,
Administration Building, Central Intelligence
Agency, on 4 December 1952,” December 4, 1952; CUFON, “The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO-Related Document
Sampler, Part 1 of 2 Parts,” May 17, 1996; Swords 184, 186–187;
Hynek UFO Report, p. 20;
Clark III 1013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2110
Date: 12/4/1952
Description: 8:46 p.m. USAF pilot Lt. Robert O. Arnold, 3640th Pilot
Training Wing, Laredo AFB [now Laredo International Airport], Texas, is
flying a T-28 trainer at 6,000 feet when he sees a bright bluish-white
glowing object below him at about 1,500–2,000 feet and rapidly climbing
to his level. It shows no navigation lights. He tightens his left turn
to keep the object in view, but it suddenly climbs to 9,000 feet in
several seconds and drops down to his altitude again, then stops and
hovers. Arnold pursues but after 2 seconds the object suddenly heads
towards him on a collision course at high speed at 8:53 p.m., wavering
slightly at about 300 feet. He sees the object as a blurred
reddish-bluish haze smaller than his T-28. It rapidly ascends to 15,000
feet then circles left as if positioning for another pass. In fear
Arnold turns off his running lights, spirals down to 1,500 feet while
keeping the object in sight as it continues to head towards him in a
dive, then pulls up and climbs out of sight. A lighted weather balloon
is launched at 8:53 p.m. from Laredo AFB but it is not observed near any
aircraft. (NICAP, “The
Laredo / ‘Earl Fogle’ Case”; Sparks,
p. 182)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2111
Date: 12/6/1952
Description: 5:24 a.m. The 3-man crew of a USAF B-29 (1st Lt. Norman
Karas and 1st Lt. William W. Naumann) over the Gulf of Mexico 100
miles south of Louisiana track five unidentified blips on the bomber’s
radar. They maneuver around the plane at a speed of 5,240 mph. The crew
sees some flashes of light, but the targets are 20 miles or more away.
The five UFOs merge with a huge blip that accelerates and vanishes at a
speed of 9,000 mph. Additional crewmen involved are 1st Lt. William W.
Naumann, Jr., Staff Sgt B. R. Purcell, Staff Sgt. William J. De Rause,
2nd Lt. Robert J. Eckert, and Staff Sgt. Harry D. Shogren. (NICAP, “B-29
Encounters High Speed Objects
over Gulf”; Keyhoe, FS from OS, pp. 161–166;
Sparks,
p. 183; Condon, pp. 148–150;
Patrick Gross, “B- 29
Radar and Visual Multiple Witnesses Observations, Dec. 6,
1952”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2112
Date: 12/6/1952
Description: Air Force bomber tracked “mother ship,” smaller high-speed
objects, on radar
Type: sighting
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Gulf of Mexico
ID: 2
Date: 12/8/1952
Time: 8:16 PM
Description: Witnesses: pilot lst Lt. D. Dickman and radar operator lst
Lt. T. Davies in USAF F-94 jet interceptor (s/n 49-2522). One white,
oval light which changed to red at higher altitude, flew straight and
level for 2 minutes, then climbed at phenomenal speed on an erratic
flight path. Sighting lasted 10 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ladd AFB, Alaska
ID: 287
Date: 12/9/1952
Time: 5:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: Capt. Bridges and lst Lt. Johneon in USAF T-33
jet trainer. Four bright lights, in diamond formation, flew at 400
m.p.h. and were passed by the T-33 at 450 m.p.h. during the 10 minute
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
ID: 288
Date: 12/9/1952
Description: Col. Donald
L. Bower forbids Ruppelt from
visiting the CIA to give its Office of Scientific Intelligence certain
UFO cases in preparation for the Robertson Panel in January. CIA
consultant Frederick C. Durant learns about this the same day in a phone
call to Ruppelt. (Frederick C. Durant, “Unidentified
Flying Objects,” December 9, 1952; CUFON, “The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO-Related Document Sampler, Part 1 of 2 Parts,” May
17, 1996; Thomas Tulien, ed., Proceedings
of the Sign Historical Group UFO History Workshop, Sign Historical
Group, November 2001, p. 47; Clark III 1014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2113
Date: 12/10/1952
Description: H.
Marshall Chadwell writes to Walter
Bedell Smith that OSI has been working with mathematician Howard
P. Robertson of Cal Tech to establish a panel of scientists
(including astronomer Thornton
Leigh Page) and engineers to review the status of UFOs in January.
Somewhere along the line, MIT’s Lincoln Labs and CIS have been
eliminated. (Thornton Page, [Letter],
December 12, 1952; CUFON, “The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO- Related
Document Sampler, Part 1 of 2 Parts,” May 17, 1996; Swords
187–188)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2114
Date: 12/10/1952
Description: 7:15 p.m. The pilot and radar observer of an F-94
patrolling from Moses Lake AFB [now the Grant County International
Airport] spots a light over the Hanford nuclear plant near Richland,
Washington, while flying at 26,000 feet. They contact the ground control
station, which reports that they know of no planes in the area and that
their ground radar shows nothing. They close in on the object, which is
large, white, and round and features a dim reddish light coming from two
windows. They lose visual contact then get a lock-on from their ARC-33
airborne radar. As they attempt to close in, the object reverses
direction and dives away. They attempt several more times to approach
the light and have to alter course to avoid a collision that seems
imminent. (NICAP, “F-94
R/V with Round Object”; Ruppelt, pp. 61–62;
Sparks, p. 185;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified
Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects,
Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong.,
2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 66; Center for UFO Studies, [case
file]; Patrick Gross, “Radar
Visual Aircraft UFO Encounter near Hanford Nuclear Plant, December 10,
1952”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2115
Date: 12/12/1952
Description: The CIA, having learned that ATIC is withholding
significant case reports for the upcoming Robertson Panel, sends a
three-man team to Wright-Patterson AFB in order to obtain relevant
documents. The team includes Robertson himself,
CIA Assistant Director H.
Marshall Chadwell, and
CIA rocket consultant Frederick
C. Durant, a
personal friend of Ruppelt who
urges him to comply. At ATIC they meet with personnel from Battelle
Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, which has been studying the UFO
data in great secrecy. Battelle requests the CIA to postpone the panel
until March so they can finish the study. Robertson agrees to postpone
the panel, but is later overruled by CIA Director Gen. Walter
Bedell Smith. (CUFON,
“The
CUFON 1952 CIA UFO- Related
Document Sampler, Part 1 of 2 Parts,” May 17, 1996; NICAP, “The
1952 Sighting Wave”; Thomas Tulien, ed., Proceedings
of the Sign Historical Group UFO History Workshop, Sign Historical
Group, November 2001, p. 47; Clark III 1014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2116
Date: 12/13/1952
Description: Morning. George
Adamski’s scout ship makes a second appearance, this time at the
Palomar Gardens Café in California, ostensibly so that Orthon can return
the photo he borrowed. The film holder is pushed out of a porthole to
the ground. One of the three Venusian photos taken by Adamski, though
credited to Jerrold
E. Baker, is
taken secretly the day before by Adamski, probably of a model. Bill
Moore claims in 1985 that the photos resemble the prototype space
vehicle described in Mason
Rose’s A Simplified Explanation of the Application of the
Biefeld-Brown Effect to the Solution of the Problems of Space
Navigation, published in February 1952 (Clark III 40; Desmond Leslie and
George Adamski, Flying Saucers Have Landed, British Book Centre, 1953,
pp. 217– 221;
Paul E. Potter, “The Flying Saucer”; “Some
New Facts about Flying
Saucers Have Landed,” Nexus 2, no. 1 (January 1955): 13–17; James W.
Moseley, “Special
Adamski Exposé Issue,” Saucer News, no. 27 (October 1957); Curt
Collins, “Saucer
News Presents: The George Adamski Exposé,” In Honor of James
Moseley, May 30, 2014; George M. Eberhart, “Postcards with a UFO Theme,”
IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 21; Rene Erik Olsen, “The
13th December 1952 Photos of George Adamski Analysis,” April 23,
2019; Rene Erik Olsen, [George Adamski
photo analysis], Adamski Foundation; Marc Hallet, A
Critical Appraisal of George Adamski: The Man Who
Spoke to the Space Brothers, The
Author, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2117
Date: 12/15/1952
Description: 7:15 p.m. Two Air Force pilots get a momentary lock on a
strange object above Goose Bay, Labrador. A T-33 and an F-94B (piloted
by Capt. E. T. Johnson and Radar Observer Lt. H. S. Norris) see a bright
red and white light. (NICAP, “Momentary
Lock On”; Condon, pp. 126–127;
Sparks,
p. 186)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2118
Date: 12/16/1952
Description: Chadwell tells
CIA Acting Deputy Director for Intelligence Robert
Amory Jr. that he is unimpressed with the three Blue Book cases,
especially since Presque Isle was identified as the planet Jupiter.
(Clark III 1014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2119
Date: 12/21/1952
Description: Lyman
Streeter and five other witnesses observe a large, cigar-shaped
object over Winslow, Arizona. (Michael D. Swords, “Strange Days,” IUR
30, no. 4 (Aug. 2006): 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2120
Date: 12/21/1952
Description: Evening. J. E. Hawkey, civil commissioner of Fort Victoria
[now Masvingo], Zimbabwe, is driving near Mvuma when he sees a bright
red light crossing the road about 30 feet in the air, then hovering.
Suddenly it shoots straight up and disappears. After a short while it
descends some distance away and travels straight down the road. Hawkey
follows it at about 80 mph, after which it speeds up and disappears at
three or more times the speed. He has the object in sight for about 20
minutes. (Southern Rhodesia Newsletter; Jan Aldrich)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2121
Date: 12/22/1952
Description: 7:30 p.m. An instrument technician driving toward Larson
AFB [now Grant County International Airport] near Moses Lake,
Washington, stops his car to watch a hat-shaped glowing object rising
vertically in odd spurts right and left, then level off at high speed.
The object glows white with a red side when it is rotated. Halfway
through a roll the light disappears, then it holds stationary in the sky
with jumpy movements. Duration is about 15 minutes. (NICAP, “Hat-Shaped
Object Observed by Technician”; Sparks,
p. 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2123
Date: 12/22/1952
Description: Ruppelt finds
out that the CIA Robertson Panel is back on again after being postponed
on December 12. Apparently under pressure from the Air Force, which is
setting a trap to embarrass the CIA with sensational IFO cases dressed
up as “best” unknown UFO cases, CIA Director Gen. Walter
Bedell Smith reverses the decision to postpone the panel meeting
till March 1953 or later. Smith orders the Robertson Panel to be carried
out immediately. A rush-to-judgment panel will have no time to reflect
on the USAF trickery involved in the IFOs-as- UFOs deception and will
just react in dismissive skepticism that there is no scientific evidence
for UFO reality, and hence no reason for the CIA to intrude into USAF
jurisdiction over air intelligence matters such as unidentified aerial
threats (UFOs). Ruppelt calls ADC to say that he will not be able to
conduct the ADC UFO briefing tour as previously scheduled due to the CIA
meeting now tentatively set in early January 1953 (he confirms the call
by teletype December 23). (Thomas Tulien, ed., Proceedings
of the Sign Historical Group UFO History
Workshop, Sign
Historical Group, November 2001, p. 48; Clark III 1014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2122
Date: 12/28/1952
Time: Time unknown
Description: Case missing from official files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Marysville, California
ID: 289
Date: 12/29/1952
Description: 7:48 p.m. Col. Donald
J. M. Blakeslee, 27th Fighter Escort Wing, while flying near Misawa,
northern Honshu, Japan, in an F-84G at 27,000 feet in altitude, observes
an object like a rotating cluster of lights colored white, green, and
red. Blakeslee climbs to 35,000 feet, at which point he is level with
the unknown object. He attempts a pursuit, but the UFO disappears in 30
seconds. (NICAP, “Col.
Blakeslee / F-84 Incident”; Sparks,
p. 187; Swords 212–213)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2124
Date: 12/29/1952
Description: 9:05 p.m. Capt. William
T. Bowley and Capt. Herbert
T. Lange, both of Perrin AFB [now North Texas Regional Airport] near
Denison, Texas, are piloting a B-26 on a training flight headed west at
6,000 feet altitude and 300 mph when they see a large, intense,
bluish-white light near Vega, Texas. It is about 350 feet long at their
11 o’clock position, paralleling their course at the same altitude and
closing slightly. After 5 minutes, the object suddenly climbs vertically
7,000 feet in 5 seconds (about 2,000 mph) to disappear in thin clouds at
13,000 feet and causing the clouds to glow as if lit by a searchlight.
Bowley radios the CAA controller in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Shortly
after, the object reappears under the clouds and the CAA controller is
told to look for it but he can’t see it (possibly because he is told to
look in the wring direction). After 2 minutes, it climbs to the west and
disappears. (NICAP, “Object
Closing on B-36 Suddenly Climbs”; Sparks,
p. 187)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2125
Date: 12/31/1952
Description: Project Blue Book issues its Status Report #8, classified
“confidential.” (US Air Force, Projects
Grudge and
Blue Book Reports 1–12, NICAP, 1968, pp. 131–154)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2126
Date: 1953
Description: Director of Project Blue Book, Capt. Ruppelt stated: “Two
RAF Intelligence Officers who were in the US on a classified mission
brought six single-spaced typed pages of questions they and their
friends wanted answered regarding UFOs.”
Type: classified mission
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Dayton, OH
See also: 9/21/52
Date: 1953?
Description: Pilot (name withheld) stated, “a saucer crashed in a desert
area”. He was sure that it was just inside the Arizona border. He also
saw the bodies first-hand at Wright-Patterson AFB. The crates arrived at
night by DC-7. Description of bodies: approx. 4 ft. high. Resting
un-shrouded on a special blanket on dry ice. Heads were hairless,
narrow, disproportionately large for their bodies. Skin had brown tint.
Open eyes, small mouth, indistinct nose, hands and feet. Wore tight
fitting, dark colored suites. One Alien appeared to be female. One Alien
had been alive at the crash site but attempts to save its’ life with
oxygen failed.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research (B3-B Case A-1 p2,3, RECOVERY, BODIES)
Location: Arizona
Location: Wright-Patterson AFB
Date: 1953
Description: Project xxxxxx (name censured) established by President
Eisenhower and renamed Project AQUARIUS (1960, 1968)
Type: majestic document
Reference: Pea
Research (AQUARIUS, B1-A)
Attributes: Majestic
Date: 1953
Description: During off-shore combat maneuvers, a squadron of
carrier-based Navy AD-3 attack planes is approached by a rocket-shaped
UFO that swoops down on the flight from above. The object levels off
about 1,000 feet overhead, slows, and paces the aircraft. When the
Squadron Commander leads his flight in pursuit of the UFO, it turns
sharply so that its tail is pointed away and shoots upward out of sight
in seconds. (Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 266–267).
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2127
Date: 1953
Description: Evening. An Air Force pilot and a student are flying an
F-84 Thunderjet on the home leg of a training flight over North Texas
when the student notes an out-of-place light. At first the pilot thinks
it’s Venus, but they realize it is moving. The student steers the plane
toward the light, but it zooms past them at high speed. The pilot takes
the stick and turns the aircraft to follow it. The light, which now
looks like a metallic domed disc with windows, passes them again. The
pilot accelerates to more than 500 mph and pursues it; the disc roars
past them again. The chase goes on for 10–15 minutes until a final pass
when the object shines a bright light into the cockpit. The pilot takes
an evasive measure and flies back to base. (CUFOS case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2129
Date: 1953
Description: Midday. A member of the crew of a Shell tanker in Hong Kong
harbor, China, watches, along with many others on shore and aboard the
ship, a silver-white disc hovering at 6,000–7,000 feet. Within a second
or so, it moves a full 45° arc to an area where there are some white
clouds at about 5,000 fee. It shines through the cloud cover like the
moon through a mist. (J. Allen Hynek, “A Daylight Disc in Hong Kong
Harbor,” IUR 2, no. 8 (August 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2128
Date: 1953
Description: Fred P. Stone founds the Australian Flying Saucer Club in
Adelaide, South Australia. It later becomes the Australian Flying Saucer
Research Society and publishes the Australian Saucer Record from 1955 to
1963. From 1962 to 1971, it publishes Panorama. (Australian
Saucer Record 1, no. 2 (2nd Quarter, 1955); Panorama 1,
no. 1 (1962))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2130
Date: 1/1953
Description: Beams of microwaves, varying between 2.5 and 4 gigahertz,
from Soviet sources aimed at the US embassy in Moscow are first
detected, increasing in intensity by 1975. Detected by routine
background radiation testing, the beams come from a source in a Soviet
apartment building about 325 feet west of the embassy, affecting the
west façade of the central building, with highest intensities between
the third and eighth floors. The microwave transmissions are only five
microwatts per
square centimeter, well below the power level of microwave ovens and
well below what would be needed to heat anything.
Shielding is put in place by 1964, but the discovery is kept secret.
(Wikipedia, “Moscow
Signal”; J. Mark Elwood, “Microwaves
in the Cold War: The Moscow Embassy Study
and Its Interpretation,” Environmental Health 11 (2012))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2131
Date: 1/1/1953
Time: 8:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: Warner Anderson and two women. A silver,
saucer-shaped object with a red glowing bottom, flew low over a river
and then climbed fast in a horizontal attitude. Ten second
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Craig, Montana
ID: 290
Date: 1/1/1953
Description: 8:45 p.m. While driving on Hwy 91 between Craig and Wolf
Creek, Montana, Warner
E. Anderson, manager
of a photo shop with wartime air spotter experience; Mrs. Greta C.
Wills, manager of women’s apparel store; and teenager Marlene Wills see
a saucer-shaped object above horizon about 5 miles away to the
southwest. The object is an estimated 25–40 feet long and 6–8 or 18–25
feet thick and looks like two soup bowls joined at the rims. It has a
red glowing bottom and portholes. The object dives low over the Missouri
River to within 150–300 feet away then climbs fast horizontally at an
estimated 3,600 mph to the northeast. (NICAP, “The
1953 UFO Chronology”; Sparks, p. 188)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2132
Date: 1/3/1953
Description: The 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron (AISS) is
created at Ent AFB [now the US Olympic Training Center] in Colorado
Springs, Colorado, by Air Defense Command Regulation AFR 24-4. One of
its missions is to collect physical UFO evidence. (Brian Skow and Terry
Endres, “The 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron and UFOs,” IUR 20,
no. 5 (Winter 1995): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2133
Date: 1/6/1953
Description: 1:05 a.m. The 147th AC&W Squadron at Duncanville,
Texas, is notified by the CAA at Meacham Field [now Fort Worth Meacham
International Airport] about a UFO northeast of Dallas. Tinker AFB in
Oklahoma City reports a radar target 20 miles southwest of Paris, Texas.
An arrowhead-shaped UFO with green and white lights is seen by some
witnesses in the Dallas area. (NICAP, “Arrow-Shaped
Object Tracked at 600 Knots”; “‘Flying
Arrowhead’ Seen over Dallas: ‘Not a Star or Plane,’” St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, January 6, 1953, p. 1; Sparks, p. 188)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2134
Date: 1/8/1953
Description: 7:15–7:30 a.m. USAF ADC 82nd Fighter Interceptor Squadron
personnel at Larson AFB [now Grant County International Airport], Moses
Lake, Washington, all on the ground, see a green, disc-shaped object
about the size of large weather balloon flying to the southwest. It has
a vertical bobbing motion and makes sideways movements at about 8,000
feet below scattered clouds. It moves away against the wind until it
disappears in the distance. The object is also observed by base
personnel at Ephrata, Washington. An F-94 is scrambled at 7:43 a.m. and
searches for 30 minutes, but the UFO is gone. (NICAP, “The
1953 UFO Chronology”; Sparks, p. 188;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 50–51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2135
Date: 1/8/1953
Description: 10:20 p.m. A triangular object with a brilliant reddish
glow is seen for 10 minutes at Mosgiel, New Zealand. It fades, then
reappears with a rising and falling motion, accompanied by a small white
light. (“The
New Zealand Sightings,”
Flying Saucer News, no. 1 (Spring 1953): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2136
Date: 1/8/1953
Time: 7:15 AM
Description: Witnesses: men from the 82nd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron,
including the squadron commander; all were on the ground. One green,
disc-shaped or round object flew southwest for 15 minutes, with a
vertically bobbing motion and sideways movements, below clouds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Larson AFB, Washington
ID: 291
Date: 1/9/1953
Description: Howard C. Cross, a senior staff member at Battelle, writes
a letter to Col. Miles
E. Goll of ATIC, arguing that “agreement between Project Stork
[Battelle’s study] and ATIC should be reached as to what can and what
cannot be discussed at the meeting in Washington on January 14–16.” He
suggests a “controlled experiment” be undertaken by USAF to obtain
physical data. This would consist of “observation posts with complete
visual skywatch, with radar and photographic coverage, plus all other
instruments necessary or helpful in obtaining positive and reliable data
on everything in the air over the area.” The suggestion is that “Many
different types of aerial activity should be secretly and purposefully
scheduled within the area,” meaning that the Air Force would release
balloons to generate spurious UFO phenomena. The memo is a desperate
effort to buy time for Battelle to finish its statistical analysis. Jacques
Vallée speculates that this letter by Cross (to whom Vallée assigns
the pseudonym “Pentacle”) could have led to the military setting up
artificial UFO waves and simulated cases in selected areas; however,
this is clearly not the case, as Jennie
Zeidman and Mark
Rodeghier elaborately demonstrate in IUR. (H.
C. Cross letter to Miles E. Goll, January
9, 1952; NICAP, “The
‘Pentacle Memorandum,’ Including
Text of Correspondence with Dr. Jacques Vallee,” August 17, 1993;
Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, p. 191;
The Hynek UFO Report, p. 21;
Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, Signet ed., 1976, p.
79;
Jacques Vallée, Forbidden Science, North Atlantic, 1992, p. 428;
Clark III 1214–1215; Thomas Tulien, ed., Proceedings
of the Sign Historical Group UFO History Workshop, Sign Historical
Group, November 2001, p. 48; Jennie Zeidman, “I Remember Blue Book,” IUR
16, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1991): 7–12, 23; Jennie Zeidman and Mark Rodeghier,
“The Pentacle Letter and the Battelle UFO Project,” IUR 18, no. 3
(May/June 1993): 4–12, 19–21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2137
Date: 1/9/1953
Description: The CIA/OSI attempts to get Walter
Bedell Smith’s approval for “two series” of scientific panels in
January and February, which would buy some time, but the suggestion is
rejected. (Clark III 1014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2138
Date: 1/9/1953
Description: Radio station KVET in Kerrville, Texas, blames a 75-second
interruption in its operation on a red-orange oval object seen by four
junior high school students over the city at the same time. Ivan Young,
13, and Edgar Rasmussen, 14, see the object fly in from the west,
circle, and disappear to the north. They see two fins on its end
shooting out red and green flames. It is making a buzzing noise. KVET
engineer Britt Lamb says the radio interference is the weirdest he has
ever seen—heavy static “with a roar that traveled up and down the
scale.” (“Fiery
Object Jams Radio at Kerrville,” Fort Worth (Tex.) Star-Telegram,
January 10, 1953, p. 2; Schopick,
pp. 78–79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2139
Date: 1/9/1953
Description: 6:50 p.m. An F-94 makes radar contact with a UFO at a range
of about 13.5 miles over Misawa Air Base, Honshu, Japan. The radar locks
on at 15,000 feet and contact is broken at a range of 600 feet. The
radar observer reports unusual interference on the set throughout the
mission, but the set appears to be operative both before and after. The
radar contact lasts approximately 2 minutes. (NICAP, “F-94
Radar/Visual of Rotating UFO”; Sparks, p. 189)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2140
Date: 1/9/1953
Description: 7:27 p.m. B-29 copilot 1st Lt. Charles C. Loveless sees a
V-formation of bluish-white lights approaching his aircraft over Santa
Ana, California. Pilot 1st Lt. Lowell D. Brandt turns to avoid them.
(NICAP, “B-29 Bomber Crew Watch V-Formation”; UFOEv, p. 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2141
Date: 1/10/1953
Time: 3:45 PM or 4 PM
Description: Witnesses: retired Col. Robert McNab, and Mr. Hunter of the
Federal Security Agency. One flat object, like a pinhead, made three 360
degree right turns in 9 seconds, made abrupt 90 degree turns to the
right and left, stopped, accelerated to original speed and finally flew
out of sight vertically after 60-75 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Sonoma, California
ID: 292
Date: 1/10/1953
Description: 4:45 p.m. Retired Air Force Col. Robert McNab and a
Mr. Hunter of the Federal Security Agency see a flat object to the
northwest of their location 8 miles west of Sonoma, California. It is
traveling about 2,400 mph and makes three 360° right turns in 2–3
seconds each in about 1/8 the radius required for jets (about 1/4 mile)
and two abrupt 90° turns to the right and left, each turn 5 seconds
apart. It almost stops, accelerates to its original high speed, almost
stops again, speeds up again, and finally flies out of sight vertically.
(NICAP, “Flat
Object at 2,400 MPH”;
Sparks, p. 189)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2142
Date: 1/12/1953
Description: 1:00 p.m. Maurício Ramos is driving on grassy terrain near
Santana dos Montes, Minas Gerais, Brazil, when he sees a luminous,
metallic disc smaller than a Volkswagen hovering 6 feet from the ground.
He approaches to within 6 feet of it, and a door opens. Two entitles
shorter than 5 feet tall, wearing lead-colored clothing with shiny balls
fitted to the shoes, jump out. Ramos thinks they invite him aboard, but
he does not answer because he is getting an increasingly severe headache
as he watches. When the headache goes away, the disc and creatures have
disappeared. (“Pesquisas
sobre Tripulantes de DV,” Boletim SBEDV, no. 55/59 (1967): 1– 2,
8–9; Brazil 25–26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2143
Date: 1/14/1953
Description: 9:30 a.m. The opening meeting of the Robertson Panel
convenes in the OSI conference room at CIA Building “M” in Washington,
D.C. Present are scientists Howard
P. Robertson, Samuel
A. Goudsmit, Luis
Walter Alvarez, and
Thornton
Leigh Page. CIA
members Philip
Grandin Strong, Lt.
Col. Frederick
C. E. Oder, David B. Stevenson, and Frederick
C. Durant are also present. All are skeptical, if not openly hostile
to UFO reports. Page later says that “H. P. Robertson told us in the
first private (no outsiders) session that our job was to reduce public
concern and show that UFO reports could be explained by conventional
reasoning.” The panel first reviews the CIA OSI study from August, the
ATIC November 21 meeting, the December 4 IAC decision, the visit to ATIC
by Chadwell and
Robertson, and CIA concern over potential national security dangers.
They watch the Montana and Utah films. Lt. Robert
S. Neasham and Harry Woo of the Navy Photo Interpretation Laboratory
report on their analyses of both films, which conclude that the objects
are unidentified. Ruppelt speaks
for 40 minutes on the Blue Book method of UFO investigation. It is
possibly here that he first suggests using 4602nd AISS field units to
conduct Blue Book field investigations. The meeting adjourns at 5:15
p.m. (Frederick C. Durant, “Report
of Meetings
of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects, January
14–18, 1953,” memorandum for Assistant Director for Scientific
Intelligence, February 16, 1953; Clark III 1014–1015; Michael D. Swords,
“Dr. Robertson Requests the Honor of Your Attendance,” IUR 20, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1995): 16–20; Good Above, pp. 335–339;
Swords 188–192)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2144
Date: 1/15/1953
Description: The second day of the Robertson Panel. Ruppelt completes
his presentation, then Hynek discusses
Battelle’s Project Stork. The CIA shows a film of seagulls in flight.
Lt. Col. Oder gives
a 40-minute presentation on Project Twinkle. In the afternoon, Gen. William
M. Garland states his desire to increase the use of thoroughly
briefed USAF intelligence officers to investigate UFO reports,
declassify as many reports as possible, and enlarge Blue Book. Other
USAF representatives discuss the difficulties of setting up instrument
watches to monitor sightings. (Frederick C. Durant, “Report
of Meetings of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying
Objects, January
14–18, 1953,” memorandum for Assistant Director for Scientific
Intelligence, February 16, 1953; O’Connell 87–89; Clark III 1015;
Michael D. Swords, “Dr. Robertson Requests the Honor of Your
Attendance,” IUR 20, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1995): 16–20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2145
Date: 1/16/1953
Description: The third day of the Robertson Panel. Hynek speaks
again, followed by Maj. Dewey
Fournet, who
talks about his motion studies of UFOs that indicate controlled flight.
Physicist Lloyd
Berkner joins the panel in the afternoon. In the afternoon, panel
members talk about conclusions they have reached, and Robertson agrees
to draft a report for review (although it has already been written by Durant prior
to the meetings, which Fournet has suspected). (Frederick C. Durant, “Report
of Meetings of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects,
January 14–18, 1953,” memorandum for Assistant Director for
Scientific Intelligence, February 16, 1953; O’Connell 87–89; Clark III
1015; Michael D. Swords, “Dr. Robertson Requests the Honor of Your
Attendance,” IUR 20, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1995): 16–20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2146
Date: 1/17/1953
Description: The final day of the Robertson Panel. The panel reviews Robertson’s
draft report (Berkner has
already seen it) and puts it into final form. (By 11:00 a.m., both CIA
Director Walter
Bedell Smith and Gen. John
A. Samford have seen and approved the draft.) The scientists agree
that since most sightings can be explained, the rest can be accounted
for with further investigation, which is a “great waste of effort.” They
reject Fournet’s
UFO reports as “raw” and “unevaluated.” The Montana film is said to
depict aircraft. They reject the Navy analysis of the Utah film, calling
the objects “high reflectivity of seagulls in bright sunlight.” Because
the “mass receipt of low-grade reports [tends] to overload channels of
communication with material quite irrelevant to hostile objects that
might some day appear” (a phony issue invented by Thornton
Page), the Air Force should embark on a debunking campaign that
would “result in reduction of public interest in flying saucers” with
the help of scientific pronouncements (suggested by Hynek)
and media, including Walt
Disney Inc. animated cartoons. Blue Book should be expanded to 18
staff members (it has 5) so that it can educate and debunk effectively,
but this never happens. Civilian UFO groups such as CSI and APRO should
be watched “because of their potentially great influence on mass
thinking if widespread sightings should occur. The apparent
irresponsibility and the possible use of such groups for subversive
purposes should be kept in mind.” The panel and report are kept
classified until a brief summary is declassified in 1958, and the CIA’s
involvement is kept secret until 1966. (Frederick C. Durant, “Report
of Meetings of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects,
January 14–18, 1953,” memorandum for Assistant Director for
Scientific Intelligence, February 16, 1953; Clark III 1014–1016 ;
Michael D. Swords, “Dr. Robertson Requests the Honor of Your
Attendance,” IUR 20, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1995): 16–20; Swords
192–200)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2147
Date: 1/17/1953
Description: 3:55 p.m. Geologist/salesman John Townsend Sackett is
riding in a bus with about a dozen passengers near Guatemala City,
Guatemala, when he observes a brilliant greenish-gold object, shaped
like the Goodyear blimp. It is later described as being about twice the
size of a DC-3. The object is traveling at about 400 mph straight and
level in a northwesterly direction at about 6,500 feet. It almost stops
in mid-flight then rises vertically about 1,500 feet, hovers for about 2
seconds, then immediately resumes flight at a new altitude. The object
is lost to view because of intervening terrain. (NICAP, “Blimp-Like
Object Sighted by Geologist”; Sparks,
p. 189)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2148
Date: 1/17/1953
Time: 3:55 PM
Description: Witness: geologist/salesman J.J. Sackett. One brilliant
green-gold object, shaped like the Goodyear blimp with its length twice
its height, flew 400 m.p.h. straight and level, stopped, then went
straight up with one stop. Sighting lasted 22 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: near Guatemala City, Guatemala
ID: 293
Date: 1/18/1953
Description: Upon Hynek’s
return to Ohio State University from the Robertson Panel, he and his new
research assistant Jennie
Zeidman come up with the name “Project Henry” to describe his
consultancy with the Air Force. It is based on the Flit bug-spray
advertisement that has a woman saying, “Quick, Henry, the Flit!” About
once a week, a courier from Battelle arrives at Hynek’s office with a
manila envelope stuffed with teletype UFO reports for him to examine.
Hynek travels to the Blue Book facility in Building 263 at
Wright-Patterson about 2–3 times a month, with Zeidman sometimes
accompanying him, (Jennie Zeidman, “I Remember Blue Book,” IUR 16, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1991): 7–12, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2149
Date: 1/20/1953
End date: 1/20/1961
Description: President Eisenhower in office
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 1/20/1953
Description: Robertson writes
a letter to Chadwell, saying
“perhaps that’ll take care of the Forteans for a while” and mentions an
upcoming meeting with the “NSA group” on February 5. (Swords 189)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2150
Date: 1/20/1953
Description: Dwight
D. Eisenhower is sworn in as president.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2151
Date: 1/24/1953
Description: Ruppelt travels
to Ent AFB [now the US Olympic Training Center] in Colorado Springs,
Colorado, to brief the 4602nd AISS on how they might help Blue Book
investigate UFOs. He also puts in for a transfer to Air Defense Command
here.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2152
Date: 1/26/1953
Description: The Dept. of Defense, Washington, D.C. states in a letter
to the Henry Holt & Co. that Maj. Donald Keyhoes’ book on “flying
saucers” is accurate and that if the reported controlled maneuvers of
the saucers are accurate then the saucers may be from another planet.
Signed, Albert M. Chop, Air Force Press Desk.
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research (A10, B1-E p542)
Location: Washington DC
See also: 9/15/50
Date: 1/26/1953
Description: The ROBERTSON PANEL convenes, headed by Prof. H.P.
Robertson. He was chosen because of being renowned as a nuclear
physicist. Some of the persons involved with this panel were
Capt. Ruppelt, Dr. Allen Hynek, Prof. S. GOUDSMIT, L. ALVAREZ, Sam
Goudsmit, Prof. Luis Alvarez, Dr. Lloyd Berkner and Prof. Thornton
Page.
Type: historical event
Reference: Pea
Research
Date: 1/26/1953
Description: Air Force Press Officer Albert
M. Chop writes a letter to Keyhoe’s
publisher Henry Holt & Co., declaring that all the sighting reports
he is using for his upcoming Flying Saucers from Outer Space were
cleared and made available to him from Air Technical Intelligence
records. (Albert E. Chop, Letter
to Henry Holt & Company, January 26, 1953; Good Above, p. 542)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2153
Date: 1/28/1953
Time: 6:05 PM
Description: Witness: USAF T/Sgt. George Beyer. Five 25’ green spheres
flew in V-formation, then changed to trail formation at which time the
end objects turned red. Sighting lasted 12 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Corona, California
ID: 295
Date: 1/28/1953
Time: 1 PM
Description: Witness: R.W. Love, owner of Love Diving Co., engaged in
retrieving radio-controlled drones. An 18-20’ white, flat disc flew
straight and level, overhead, for 6 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pt. Mugu, California
ID: 294
Date: 1/28/1953
Time: No time given
Description: Witnesses: radar maintenance personnel. Radar tracked one
stationary target for 20 minutes. A visual sighting about the same time
was explained. No further information in the files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Albany, Georgia
ID: 296
Date: 1/28/1953
Description: 1:06 p.m. R. W. Love and a Mr. Ferrenti, while engaged in
retrieving radio-controlled drones on a boat 1,100 yards offshore and
south of Naval Air Station Point Mugu [now Naval Base Ventura County]
near Oxnard, California, see a white, flat disc with fuzzy or shimmering
edges rapidly approach from the northwest flying straight and level,
overtake a jet aircraft, pass overhead, and disappear in the haze to the
east. (NICAP, “Flat
Disc Observed Overtaking Jet”;
Sparks, p. 190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2154
Date: 1/28/1953
Description: 2:20 p.m. Northrop Aircraft test pilot Rex Hardy Jr. is
flying over Malibu, California, when he and two other crew members see a
formation of four UFOs the size of a B-36. They are circular in shape,
aluminum- colored, and flying at 1,200 mph. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole
Story, Signet, 1969, p. 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2155
Date: 1/28/1953
Description: A Maj. Geyer at Mitchel AFB [now closed] near Uniondale,
New York, investigates reports of a UFO seen by both civilian and
military witnesses. The UFO is an oval object glowing with different
colors and having a tail or projection. He quickly concludes that it is
a meteor and submits a report to Blue Book. However, one of the
witnesses, author Marie Armstrong Essipoff (Ben
Hecht’s first wife), later writes to Keyhoe saying
that she had told Geyer that the object wobbled and it had a turret on
top. She draws a picture and Geyer says it looks like one of their
flight simulators. But it’s “still a meteor,” he says. (Swords
199–200)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2156
Date: 1/28/1953
Description: 9:00 p.m. The control tower at Marine Corps Air Station El
Toro [now closed], California, spots a large, luminous, red object and
asks Maj. Harvey N. Patton to give chase. He pursues it from Newport
Beach to Long Beach and has it in sight for 3–4 minutes but is unable to
gain on it. (NICAP, “Marine
Fighter Asked to Check on Amber
Object”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2157
Date: 1/28/1953
Description: 9:40 p.m. Maj. Hal W. Lamb, USAF senior pilot at Moody AFB
in Valdosta, Georgia, apparently sees the setting planet Venus (although
this is disputed) changing color and shape while flying a T-33 (or an
F-86). It is also seen by Turner AFB [now Naval Air Station Albany]
tower operators in Albany [not Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta],
Georgia (with time errors of about 10 minutes). About the same time, two
GCA radar maintenance men at Turner AFB radar track three moving targets
and a stationary target. At 10:10 p.m., the GCA reports two stationary
targets at 17 and 27 miles, both 300° azimuth. No visual confirmation,
though binoculars are used. (NICAP, “Several
Radar Contacts”; Sparks,
p. 191; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1953, January– March, The
Author, 1988, p. 66; Marler 129–130)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2158
Date: 1/29/1953
Description: Ruppelt still
thinks that the Robertson Panel has accepted Garland’s
recommendation to expand Blue Book (it hasn’t) and that its education
and debunking recommendation means that UFO information should be
released to the public (it didn’t). Fournet, Chop,
and Col. Teabert (Kenneth
E. Thiebaud?) of AFOIN-2 think the same. In Washington, Ruppelt
hears that the press has heard rumors about the Utah film, and he
decides to release it, focusing on the seagull explanation. (The Hynek
UFO Report, p. 236)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2159
Date: 1/29/1953
Description: A briefing of the Office of Naval Estimates Board by the
CIA on UFOs includes the showing of the Utah and Montana films.
(Frederick C. Durant, “Briefing
of ONE Board on Unidentified Flying Objects,” January 30,
1953)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2160
Date: 1/29/1953
Description: 9:55 a.m. A small gray oval-shaped object is seen between
Houlton and Chatham, Maine, by 2nd Lt. Fred T. Goetting Jr., pilot of an
F-94B. Goetting points out the object to his radar observer, Lt. Howard
C. Kelley. The object appears to be 10° above the F-94B, which is at
23,000 feet. Goetting attempts to intercept the object at a speed of 0.8
Mach. This chase continues for 8 minutes without the F-94 gaining, and
the chase is broken off because of low fuel. The object is seen by at
least two fighter aircraft from other squadrons. (NICAP, “Gray
Oval Sighted
by 3 Fighter Aircraft”; Sparks,
p. 191)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2161
Date: 1/29/1953
Description: 11:30 p.m. A farmer named Lloyd
C. Booth just north of Conway, South Carolina, hears a commotion of
animals, grabs his .22 revolver, and sees an oblong-shaped, lighted
object 10 feet above the trees moving slowly or hovering, with a low
humming sound. He shoots at the object twice. The first bullet bounces
off with a metallic sound; at the second shot the object tilts slightly
and ascends at a 65° angle to the west at 600–700 mph and disappears.
One of his cows had died the previous evening. (NICAP, “Man
Fires 0.22 at Hovering Object”; Sparks, p. 191;
“Conway
S.C. Man Shoots Saucer,” APRO Bulletin 1, no. 5 (March 15, 1953): 1,
4–5; Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 64–66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2162
Date: 1/29/1953
Description: 2:20 p.m. Northrup test pilot Rex
Hardy Jr., test pilot Chester Mathews, and Northrup photographer Jim
Wilkinson see four metallic, disc-shaped object the size of a B-36
flying in squadron formation over Malibu Beach, California. They
estimate their height as 20,000 feet and speed as 1,200 mph. They watch
for about 5 minutes. (NICAP, “Four
B-36-Sized Discs Observed by 3-Man Crew”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2163
Date: 1/29/1953
Description: Hearing a commotion in his barn, a farmer observed an
object about 7 m long and 4 m wide at treetop level. It was light gray
in color and lit up inside. It resembled a half egg. The witness fired
his gun at the object. Numerous livestock died “mysteriously” in the
area after the sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Conway, South Carolina
ID: 108
Date: 1/31/1953
Description: Project Blue Book issues its Status Report #9. (US Air
Force, Projects
Grudge and Blue Book Reports 1– 12, NICAP,
1968, pp. 155–174)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2164
Date: 2/1953
Description: Two strange men from another planet hired in San Francisco
- mysterious, then disappear.
Type: anomalous event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: San Francisco, CA
Date: 2/1953
Description: Albert
K. Bender appoints Gray
Barker as IFSB’s chief investigator. (“IFSB
Forms Dept. of Investigation,” Space Review 2, no. 2 (April 1953):
1; Clark III 189)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2165
Date: 2/1/1953
Description: 9:30 p.m. A T-33 flying 10 miles west of Terre Haute,
Indiana, sights a close group of moving lights changing color from red
to blue, to green to yellow. The pilot estimates their altitude to range
between 15,000 feet to 30,000 feet flying in a manner similar to
conventional aircraft. Searchlights from the St. Louis, Missouri, area
seem to be following the unidentified lights. (NICAP, “T-33
Pilot Observes Unidentified Lights”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2166
Date: 2/3/1953
Description: 8:00 p.m. George
Hunt Williamson and his wife Betty Jane watch two UFOs near the
ground from their home on Brookside Boulevard in Prescott, Arizona.
Another UFO passes over the house at 10:00 p.m. (Zirger and Martinelli,
The Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamson, Verdechiari, 2016,
pp. 363–364)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2167
Date: 2/3/1953
Time: 5:25 PM
Description: Witnesses: radar operators. Four unidentified targets were
tracked for 24 minutes. No further data.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Keflavik, Iceland
ID: 297
Date: 2/4/1953
Description: 1:50 p.m. US Weather Bureau observer Stanley H. Brown in
Yuma, Arizona, tracks with a theodolite a white, oblong object. It is
surrounded by a thin white mist and flies straight up and levels off.
After 20 seconds, the object is joined by a second one that flies away
twice and returns. Both are lost to sight behind clouds to the
south-southwest. The sighting lasts 5 minutes. (NICAP, “Theodolite
Tracking of Two Elliptical Objects”; Sparks, p. 191;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 62–63)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2168
Date: 2/4/1953
Time: 1:50 PM
Description: Witness: U.S. Weather Bureau observer Stanley Brown, using
a theodolite. One white, oblong object was tracked flying straight up,
leveling off and being joined by a second, similar, object. The second
twice flew away and returned to the first. After 5 minutes, both were
lost to sight behind clouds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Yuma, Arizona
ID: 298
Date: 2/6/1953
Description: 1:34 a.m. A B-36 aircraft piloted by Maj. Leo
J. Moffatt is over Rosalia, Washington, when he sees one round white
omnidirectional light at an altitude of approximately 7,000 feet on a
southeast course, circling and rising as it proceeds. It is visually
observed for a period of 3–5 minutes. The B-36 makes a 180° descending
turn toward the light, which is estimated to be moving at a speed of
170–230 mph. Blue Book explains it as a weather balloon launched from
Geiger Field [now Spokane International Airport]. (NICAP, “B-36
Encounters Light at 7,000ʹ”;
Sparks, p. 192;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 67–68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2169
Date: 2/7/1953
Description: 9:22 p.m. A USAF F-94 crew and other witnesses near Nemuro,
Hokkaido, Japan, see a bright orange object change color to red and
green at intervals and disappear behind a cloud. It is also tracked by
ground radar. (NICAP, “F-94
Crew in Air and Ground Radar Tracking”; Condon, p. 122;
Sparks, p. 192)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2170
Date: 2/9/1953
Description: CIA agent Hayden Channing writes a memo to the Domestic
Contact Division describing a recent [late January?] public meeting of
the Civilian Saucer Investigation group in Los Angeles, California.
North American Aviation project engineer Walther
A. Riedel is a member of the organization, and he describes the
analyses of the UFO reports it receives. Only about 25 sightings are
unidentified, and these they forward to Project Blue Book. Channing
writes: “Apparently, an eye and interest are also directed to the USSR
for reactions to sightings as reported in the PRAVDA.” (Hayden Channing,
“California
Committee for Saucer Investigation,” February 9, 1953)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2172
Date: 2/9/1953
Description: Al
Chop has written a press release on the Utah film with the approval
of Capt. Harry B. Smith of AFOIN. They decide to also release the USAF
(possible aircraft) and Navy (self-luminous or light sources) analyses,
otherwise the press might suspect a cover-up. The release would state
that, although no positive identification has been made, further
analysis will result in an identification. Gen. Garland approves
the release, which then goes on to the Pentagon, which “screamed ‘No!’”
Ruppelt is
ordered into silence. Chop says the CIA “killed the whole program. We’ve
been ordered to work up a national debunking campaign, planting articles
in magazines and arranging broadcasts to make UFO reports seem like
poppycock.” Ruppelt tells Keyhoe that
Blue Book must even discredit USAF pilots who report UFOs. “It’s a raw
deal, but we can’t buck the CIA.” (Ruppelt, p. 228;
Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, pp. 70–71;
The Hynek UFO Report, pp. 236–237)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2171
Date: 2/11/1953
Alternate date: 2/19/1953
Description: 10:00 p.m. At the Naval Auxiliary Air Station [now
Northeastern Regional Airport] in Edenton, North Carolina, Marine 1st
Lt. Edward Balocco is on intercept stand-by duty when the alert whistle
goes off. Minutes later he is in his F9F Panther jet heading north to
Virginia Beach, Virginia, while being vectored to an unknown target by
the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in
Havelock, North Carolina. By the time he gets close to the target, it
has disappeared from radar at Norfolk, Virginia. After searching the
area for 15 minutes, he heads back for fuel. Flying south at 20,000
feet, he notices a light below him on the port side on or near the
ocean. After turning his navigation lights back on, he notices that the
light has risen to his altitude and is only 2,000 feet away. Closing in
on it, he sees it is a disc with blinking red lights. At 350 feet away,
his cockpit is bathed in blue-white light and everything seems
motionless and silent. He looks at his gloved hand and he can see the
bones in his hand like an X-ray. Suddenly there is a flash, and the UFO
breaks away as sound and motion return. Balocco tries to pursue it again
unsuccessfully. Captain Thomas Riggs, whose F9F Panther has also been
scrambled, reports the UFO is moving south along the North Carolina
coast. He is debriefed and told not to mention the incident. (“Cherry
Point, N.C.,” APRO Bulletin 1, no. 5 (March 15, 1953): 9–10; Good
Need, pp. 183–184;
Shoot 60–61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2173
Date: mid 2/1953
Description: Weapons engineer Chester
W. Lytle Sr., deputy
director of operations for SAC’s Eighth Air Force Headquarters, is
visiting Eielson AFB near Moose Creek, Alaska, with Gen. William
H. Blanchard when he finds out his wife is about to give birth in
Chicago, Illinois. Blanchard offers to personally fly him in a bomber to
an air force base in Illinois so he can get home quickly. During the
long flight, their conversation turns to UFOs. Blanchard unexpectedly
mentions the 1947 Roswell incident and that a crashed alien spacecraft
had indeed been recovered. He tells Lytle that four dead humanoid beings
had been aboard. (Nukes 478–481)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2174
Date: 2/17/1953
Time: 10:04 PM
Description: Witnesses: two officers and three airmen of USAF AC&W
squadron, visually and by radar. Visual object appeared to larger and
brighter than a star and changed color; it was seen to move slowly for 5
minutes until 10:09 PM Radar picked up a target at 10:08 PM moving in a
similar direction for 17 minutes, at similar speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Port Austin. Michigan
ID: 299
Date: 2/20/1953
Time: #1 time unknown; #2, 10:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF B-25 bomber pilots. #1 was a bright yellow
light seen for 8 minutes. #2 was a bright light which flew on a
collision course, dimmed and climbed away fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pittsburg-Stockton, California
ID: 300
Date: late 2/1953
Description: ADC commander Benjamin
Chidlaw at Ent AFB [now US Olympic Training Center] near Colorado
Springs, Colorado, tells future UFO researcher Robert C. Gardner that he
has “stacks of reports about flying saucers. We take them seriously when
you consider we have lost many men and planes trying to intercept them.”
(Stringfield, 3-0
Blue, p. 91; Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest, 1977,
pp. 137–138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2178
Date: 2/23/1953
Description: Project Stork’s William T. Reid writes to Miles
E. Goll at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio, saying that UFO reports
have been processed through October 15, 1952, and evaluations completed
for reports through July 31, 1952. (“Seven
Status Reports for Project Stork, Part 4 of 4 Parts,” CUFON)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2175
Date: 2/24/1953
Time: 7:43 PM
Description: Witnesses: Warrant Officer and Mrs. Alden. Two bright red,
round objects with big halos flew in small circles, climbed and faded
during a 3-7 second sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Sherman, Texas
ID: 301
Date: 2/25/1953
Description: Project Second Storey meets for the last known time,
chaired by astrophysicist Peter
M. Millman of the Dominion Observatory in Ottawa, Ontario, and
consisting of military and intelligence officers, as well as Wilbert Smith. It
concludes that, because details of most sightings cannot be adequately
confirmed, UFO reports do not lend themselves to a “scientific method of
investigation.” It determines that UFOs do not require a Canadian armed
forces investigation, but reports should still be sent to the
Directorate of Scientific Intelligence. (“Wilbert
B.
Smith,” Northern Ontario UFO Research and Study; Chris Rutkowski and
Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006, p. 229;
Good Above, p. 182;
Story, p. 276)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2177
Date: 2/25/1953
Description: Pentagon press officer Albert
M. Chop writes to Maj. Donald
E. Keyhoe and verifies that the files on 41 cases investigated by
the Air Force for his upcoming book Flying Saucers from Outer Space were
indeed cleared for release by ATIC. (Albert M. Chop, Letter
to Donald E. Keyhoe, February 25, 1953; NICAP, “The
Chop Clearance
List”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2176
Date: 2/27/1953
Time: 11:58 AM
Description: Witness: USAF airman/private pilot. Five yellow discs made
circular turns, fluttered, three of them vanished, the other two flew
erratic square turns for a total of 4 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Shreveport, Louisiana
ID: 302
Date: 2/27/1953
Description: Project Blue Book issues its Status Report #10, classified
“secret.” (US Air Force, Projects
Grudge and Blue
Book Reports 1–12, NICAP, 1968, pp. 175–198)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2179
Date: 2/28/1953
Description: Capt. Edward
J. Ruppelt transfers out of Blue Book for a seven-month assignment
in Denver, Colorado. He is replaced by Lt. Robert M. Olsson, who has one
staff member. (Ruppelt, p. 228)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2180
Date: 3/1953
Description: 10:00 a.m. Pilot Howard
C. Strand is flying a routine patrol mission in a F-94B out of
Selfridge AFB [now Selfridge Air National Guard Base] near Mount
Clemens, Michigan, when he is asked to check out a radar target over
downtown Detroit. He and his radar operator see tiny specks that seem to
be a ragged formation of aircraft. As he approaches, he cannot see any
wings or tails. Ground radar has the UFOs as “good, strong targets.”
Strand looks at his instruments briefly and when he looks up the objects
are gone, though ground radar tracks them another 4 minutes. Gordon
Thayer calls it an inferior mirage. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1953 March–July, Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2002, pp. 24–26; Condon, pp. 151–153)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2181
Date: 3/1953
Description: Harvard University astronomer Donald
H. Menzel publishes Flying Saucers, in which he explains all UFO
sightings as known phenomena such as mirages and temperature inversions.
It is the first book-length argument against UFOs, one of the few
published by an academic institution, and the first UFO book by a
scientist. ATIC personnel are displeased that Menzel has used a few
classified reports supplied to him for an examination of patterns, which
he has never produced. However, he has an imaginative vision of what
Venus looks like, with “warm seas” in which life teems. (Donald H.
Menzel, Flying
Saucers, Harvard
University, 1953; Getty Images, “Dr. Donald
H. Menzel, Harvard Professor and Native Denverite, Refers to His
Book,” March 13, 1953; Clark III 742)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2182
Date: 3/1953
Description: Gen. John
A. Samford is interviewed in See magazine and provides
straightforward, factual answers about Project Blue Book, UFOs, and the
inadequacy of Menzel’s
theories. He claims the view of the Air Force is that “many credible
people have seen incredible things.” (Swords 210–211)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2183
Date: 3/3/1953
Description: 1:25 p.m. USAF Capt. Roderick
D. Thompson, 3600th
Fighter Training Group out of Luke AFB near Glendale, Arizona, is an
instructor pilot flying an F-84 at 25,000 feet over Blythe, California.
He spots am object 300–500 feet wide leaving a contrail crossing his
path from left to right at about 35,000–45,000 feet at about 400 mph. It
is visible only by condensation vapor emitted from its manta-ray shaped
flat surface. Student pilots flying two F-84s, Lt. Jack E. Brasher and
Lt. Thomas W. Hale, also see the object but do not follow in pursuit.
When Thompson turns to pursue it, the object makes a slight dipping turn
to the northwest and begins climbing at about 20°. It appears to be very
thin and immediately begins to form a heavy condensation trail behind it
for roughly 1,000 feet and splits in two. Thompson reaches 30,000 feet
and closes to within roughly 5–10 miles to a point over the Colorado
River north of Parker Dam on the Arizona border. He takes 151 frames of
gun camera film of object with a 16 mm N-9 camera, apparently at 16 fps
1/40 second exposure setting. (NICAP, “Three
F-94 Pilots Encounter Manta-Ray, Gun Camera Shots”;
Sparks, p. 194;
Swords 213–214)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2184
Date: 3/5/1953
Description: Brig. Gen. Woodbury
M. Burgess, commander
at Ent AFB [now the US Olympic Training Center] in Colorado Springs,
Colorado, sends a memo to Air Defense Command and the director of
intelligence at Ent suggesting that field teams of 4602nd personnel
interview UFO witnesses. (Maj. Robert C. Brown, “Utilisation
of 4602nd
AISS Personnel in Project Blue Book Field Investigations,” March 5,
1953; Kevin D. Randle, “UFO Coverup:
The Early Days,” A Different Perspective, June 20, 2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2185
Date: 3/8/1953
Description: Journalist Peter
H. Wyden’s interview with Ruppelt appears
in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Ruppelt tells him that Project Blue Book
“has no evidence of any of these objects being anything other than
misinterpretation of known objects…. We can’t say positively because our
data isn’t good enough. But we’re not worried.” The lengthy article
provides a good overview of Blue Book’s investigations and staff of
seven, including Ruppelt’s assistants Lt. Anderson
G. Flues and Max Futch. (Peter Wyden, “They’re Still Chasing Flying
Saucers,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 8, 1953, p. 1G)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2186
Date: 3/8/1953
Description: 9:02 p.m. Physics teacher Leigh
Van Etten, two other teachers, and 10 students at Kents Hill School,
Maine, watch a big red ball of fire moving west-northwest for 12 minutes
before it disappears beyond the horizon. He estimates it is about 40–60
miles away. (Jennie Zeidman, “I Remember Blue Book,” IUR 16, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1991): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2187
Date: 3/11/1953
Time: 4 AM
Description: Witness: Mrs. Nina Cook, an experienced private pilot and
wife of a Pan Am flight engineer. A large light, blinking at 10-15 times
per minute, moved up and down along a mountain range.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Hackettstown, New Jersey
ID: 303
Date: 3/14/1953
Time: 11:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: radar and visual observation by 10 crew members
of U.S. Navy P2V-5 patrol plane. Groups of 5-10 colored lights,
totalling 90-100, slowly moved aft off the left side of the airplane, as
detected visually and by airborne radar for 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: north of Hiroshima, Japan
ID: 304
Date: 3/14/1953
Description: 11:43 p.m. Lt. Robert J. Wooten is flying a Navy P2V-5
antisubmarine plane over the Sea of Japan northwest of Nishinoshima,
Japan, when he encounters an “electrifying display” of groups of 5–10
colored lights, totaling 90–100, slowly moving to the left side of the
aircraft at a range of 3–7 miles and maintaining an extremely precise
formation. Some of the objects are also tracked on radar. A 1955 RAND
report falsely attributes this to an armada of 100 MiG-15 fighter
aircraft (actually only 11) that menaced four US Navy Panther jets from
the carrier USS
Oriskany, but
this earlier incident took place on November 18, 1952, resulting in
damage to one of the MiGs. (NICAP, “Groups
of Lights / IFF Signals”; Clark III 53–59; Sparks,
p. 195; Swords 214)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2188
Date: 3/15/1953
Description: The International Flying Saucer Bureau declares today World
Contact Day and calls upon the UFO occupants to make a public appearance
on earth. (Albert K. Bender, FS and the Three Men, Saucerian,
1962)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2189
Date: 3/17/1953
Description: An FBI agent and two AFOSI officers interview George
Adamski and ask him to draft a statement saying that neither the FBI
nor Air Force has approved material used in his speeches. (Loren E.
Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1953,
March–July, The
Author, 1989, pp. 4–5; Clark III 44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2190
Date: 3/18/1953
Description: Ohio Northern University’s Project A reports that UFOs are
usually disc-shaped, silent, and fast-moving. “Our major conclusion to
date is that no one explanation fits all sightings, and about 20% of all
the sightings definitely fit the category of unnatural phenomena.”
(Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1953, March–July, The
Author, 1989, pp. 15, 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2191
Date: 3/19/1953
Description: Jack Clerk (Jack Charles Pryal Clerk, 1919–1996, US Marine
Corps Reserves), an Electrical Engineer attached to Army Ordinance as a
consultant, was giving public presentations at the Glendale CA Lions
Club area about three Crash Retrievals (“grounded saucers”) that
occurred in the southwest. His talks were “cleared by Security”, and it
says parts of his talk had to be “dummied up” at the request of the
government.
Type: public presentation
Reference: Medium
Location: Glendale, CA
Date: spring 1953
Description: After 12:00 noon. RAF Flight Lt. Cyril George
Townsend-Withers is asked to test some new ECM radar equipment using an
experimental English Electric Canberra aircraft. The jet has been
stripped of all removable parts to make it as light as possible. With
this modification, he is able to leave RAF Boscombe Down [now MoD
Boscombe Down] in Wiltshire, England, and soar to 55,000 feet, then a
record for the aircraft. Cruising over Salisbury Plain, Townsend-Withers
picks up a blip on his screen. It shows an object traveling 5 miles
behind him and maintaining a steady course. His immediate reaction is to
curse the “anomalous propagation” effects that they have gone to so much
trouble to avoid. However, he soon becomes aware that this was an image
of something flying right behind them. The science officer goes up to
the turret to take a look and sees, glinting in the sun or pouring out a
fantastic amount of its own light, a round shape trailing in their wake.
Townsend-Withers calls his pilot on the microphone and tells him that he
can see an unknown and suggests trying to outpace it. They reach 260 mph
but the thing cannot be shaken off, so the pilot executes a sweeping
radius turn. As the Canberra comes around from its turn, the object
comes into view dead ahead. For half a minute they are on a collision
course, swiftly trying to calculate what to do next. The object is round
like a thin disc, but with two small tailfins at the rear. It seems to
be metallic and enormous, and it is simply sitting there waiting for
them to fly right into it. Suddenly, it flips vertically into the air
and climbs upwards at an astonishing rate. Leaving no vapor trail, wake,
or detectable sound, the object vanishes within just a couple of
seconds. (NICAP, “Canberra
Crew Encounters UFO / Radar/Visual”;
Jenny Randles, “Collision Course,” IUR 27, no. 4 (Winter 2002–2003):
16–18; Jenny Randles, “Scramble, UFO! Part Three, The Team,” Fortean
Times 388 (January 2020): 31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2195
Date: 3/21/1953
Time: 3:05 PM
Description: Witness: Ground Observer Corps observation post. Six discs
in a group flew high and fast for a few seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Elmira, New York
ID: 305
Date: 3/22/1953
Description: 2:00 a.m. Sara Shaw and Jan Whitley, who share an isolated
one-bedroom cabin in the forest around Tujunga Canyon north of Burbank,
California, wake up when an odd light shines through the window. An
eerie silence falls over the cabin and neighboring forest. They get out
of bed but feel paralyzed. Then suddenly and inexplicably, it is 4:20
a.m. Shaw, who was originally kneeling on the bed, is now sitting on it
with her feet on the floor. The two women flee the cabin. As they run,
they pass an apparition or “vaporous something” with the “head and
shoulders of a long-haired” person. When they return to the cabin two
days later, they feel a sense of dread. Shaw can remember nothing more
and the two women move apart. In 1975 Shaw watches a UFO documentary
that evokes some memories, and she contacts ufologist Ann
Druffel. During three hypnotic regression sessions—December 5, 1975;
February 26, 1976; and October 22, 1978—Shaw recalls her abduction by
black-garbed aliens. She undergoes a physical examination and the aliens
show her a cure for cancer. (Ann Druffel and D. Scott Rogo, The Tujunga
Canyon Contacts, Prentice-Hall, 1980, updated in New American Library,
1989)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2192
Date: 3/23/1953
Description: Gen. Burgess’s
4602nd AISS plan is approved. It is seen as aiding ATIC and giving AISS
personnel valuable experience in field interrogations and cooperating
with other agencies (Kevin D. Randle, The Government UFO Files, Visible
Ink, 2014, p. 249)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2193
Date: 3/24/1953
Description: The Upshot-Knothole Nancy nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Area 4 sends radioactive fallout on livestock across the region,
including those grazing at Papoose Lake, Nevada. Sixteen horses and
numerous cows belonging to local farmers, the Stewart brothers, die from
acute radiation poisoning. The Army compensates them for the horses, but
claim the cows died from Vitamin A deficiency. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Upshot–Knothole”; Jacobsen, Area 51, p. 102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2194
Date: 3/25/1953
Time: 3:05 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF Capt. and Mrs. D.E. Cox. Several lights,
some of which moved straight, others which made 360 degree turns for 1.5
hours.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: San Antonio, Texas
ID: 306
Date: 3/27/1953
Time: 7:25 PM
Description: Witness: pilot of USAF F-86 jet fighter at 600 kts. (700
m.p.h.). One bright orange circle flew at 800 kts. (900 m.p.h.), and
executed three fast rolls. Pilot chased object for 4 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Mt. Taylor, New Mexico
ID: 307
Date: 3/29/1953
Time: 3:45 PM
Description: Witness: L.C. Gillette. One aluminum, circular object flew
high and fast, twice reversing its course. Note: Mr. Gillette saw a
similar object in 1938. Fifteen second sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Spooner, Wisconsin
ID: 308
Date: 4/1953
End date: 6/1953
Description: The US Army Chemical Corps’ Dew II project involves the
secret release of fluorescent particles (zinc cadmium sulfide) and plant
spores (Lycopodium) from an aircraft over St. Louis, Missouri.
(Minneapolis, Minnesota, was a previous target.) It only targets black
ghetto sections of St. Louis and arranges for local police surveillance
“to minimize the possibility of loss of equipment.” The Army reports
“much less curiosity and interference” than Minneapolis. Dew II is
described in a 1953 Army report that remains classified at the time of a
1997 report by the US National Research Council concerning the zinc
cadmium sulfide dispersion program. (Leonard A. Cole, Clouds of Secrecy:
The Army’s Germ Warfare Tests over Populated Areas, Rowman &
Littlefield, 1988, pp. 63–65)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2197
Date: 4/1953
Description: Wilbert
B. Smith is drafting a report on Project Magnet for the Canadian
Department of Transport. He writes Keyhoe that
their conclusion will probably be that UFOs are alien vehicles. (Clark
III 1078)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2196
Date: 4/8/1953
Time: 7:55 PM
Description: Witness: lst Lt. D.J. Pichon, pilot of USAF F-94B jet
interceptor. One bright blue light descended, accelerated, flew parallel
to the F-94, increased its speed and blinked out after 45 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Fukuoka, Japan
ID: 309
Date: 4/12/1953
Description: 4:10 p.m. Ten round, flat, metallic objects changing
formation are observed traveling at a high rate of speed at an estimated
altitude of 7,500 feet over Sweetwater, Nevada. No trail, sound, or
exhaust are noted. The objects pass under the right nacelle of the
observers’ C-47 aircraft, which is en route to Stead AFB [now Reno Stead
Airport]. The copilot takes control of the aircraft and turns to the
right in a tight 300° turn for a better view. The objects are then
picked up unassisted by two more members of the crew. The objects are
seen in a right turn of a greater radius than that of the C-47 and at a
lower altitude. They are observed for approximately 120° of their turn
and disappear on a heading of 300°. Observers are unable to estimate the
speed of the objects because of the distance and the large turn radius.
(NICAP, “Ten
Round Flat Objects Changing Formation”; Sparks,
p. 197)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2198
Date: 4/13/1953
Description: The MKUltra project is launched on the order of CIA
Director Allen
Dulles and under the direction of Sidney Gottlieb. Its
aim is to develop mind-controlling drugs for use against the Soviet
bloc, largely in response to alleged Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean
use of mind-control techniques on US prisoners of war in Korea. The
project attempts to produce a perfect truth drug for use in
interrogating suspected Soviet spies, and generally to explore any other
possibilities of mind control. Another MKUltra effort, Subproject 54, is
the Navy’s top secret “Perfect Concussion” program, which uses subaural
frequency blasts to erase memory. However, the program is never carried
out. Because most MKUltra records are deliberately destroyed in 1973 by
order of then–CIA director Richard
Helms, it
is difficult, if not impossible, for investigators to gain a complete
understanding of the more than 150 individually funded research
subprojects sponsored by MKUltra and related CIA programs. A cache of
some 20,000 documents survive Helms’s purge, as they are incorrectly
stored in a financial-records building and discovered following a FOIA
request in 1977. These documents are fully investigated during the
Senate Hearings of 1977. (Wikipedia, “Project
MKUltnra”; US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence,
Project MKUltra, the CIA’s Program of Research in Behavioral
Modification, 95th Congress, 1st Session, August 3, 1977; John D. Marks,
The
Search for the “Manchurian Candidate”: The CIA and Mind Control,
Times Books, 1978; Jon Ronson, The
Men Who Stare at Goats, Simon
& Schuster, 2004; “Project
MK-Ultra: The CIA’s Experiments
with Mind Control,” ZazenLife.com, December 2011; Stephen Kinzer,
Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control,
Henry Holt, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2199
Date: 4/14/1953
Description: 9:23–11:50 p.m. A Navy P2V Neptune spy plane on an
electronic intelligence (ELINT/ferret) mission over the Sea of Japan
(about 200 miles southeast of Vladivostok, Russia) is paced and attacked
by 10 agile and highly maneuverable UFOs. The encounter takes place with
only 400 feet of distance between the aircraft and the sea. The objects
make more than “70 aggressive non-firing passes” in “high-speed runs,”
many just a few hundred feet directly underneath the Navy aircraft for
just over an hour. The UFOs transmit Morse Code light signals (the
letter “D”), an unprecedented occurrence in UFO history. The objects are
tracked on radar and by the Navy’s ELINT systems (which pick up and
analyze radar beams emitted from the objects) for almost two and a half
hours. (NICAP, “Two
Lights Flashing Morse Code Letter ‘D’”; Sparks,
p. 198; Clark III 53–59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2200
Date: 4/15/1953
Time: 5:45 PM
Description: Witness: S/Sgt. V.A. Locey. Three orange lights were seen
for: 3 minutes, 30 seconds, and a few seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tucson, Arizona
ID: 310
Date: 4/16/1953
Description: 3:45 p.m. The crew of a commercial Maritime Central
airliner flying at 9,000 feet above Chatham, New Brunswick, watches a
metallic disc approach their plane and pass underneath. (Chris
Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
pp. 64–67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2201
Date: 4/19/1953
Description: 1:00 p.m. Four US Army reconnaissance observers (including
pilot Lt. Julius T. Morgan, Lt. James
O. Rymus, and
Lt. Jack E. Myers) in two aircraft see a white, rounded, delta-shaped
object 5–7 feet in diameter flying at 60–80 mph with a “vibrating”
motion over Communist territory in Korea. An official G-2 Intelligence
Report says the object is in the Old Baldy (Hill 266) and Pork Chop Hill
areas. Radar supposedly tracks them also moving faster than sound
(>767 mph). (NICAP, [news
clippings]; Sparks,
p. 199; Jennie Zeidman, “I Remember Blue Book,” IUR 16, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1991): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2202
Date: 4/23/1953
Description: Gen. Charles
P. Cabell becomes deputy director of the CIA.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2203
Date: 4/23/1953
Description: 3:00 p.m. Two witnesses in Iberville [now
Saint-Jean-de-Richelieu], Quebec, see a disc the size of a car approach
their house while they are eating dinner. It stops 250 feet above the
Richelieu River a bit more than a half-mile away. The man runs outside
for a better look and sees that it as a dome and is spinning as it
hovers. After 15 seconds it flies to the southwest and disappears.
(Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
pp. 65, 68–69, 151)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2204
Date: 5/1953
Description: A flawed CAA report states the July 1952 Washington
National Airport radar returns were weather targets. (Civil Aviation
Authority, A
Preliminary Study of Unidentified Targets Observed on Air Traffic
Control, Technical Development Report 180, May 1953)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2205
Date: 5/1953
Description: The Air Force publishes, under the signatures of Chief of
Staff Gen. Hoyt
S. Vandenberg and Air Adjutant General Col. Kenneth
E. Thiebaud, Air Force Manual 200-3, titled Handbook for Air
Intelligence Officers. It is classified Restricted. Intended as a
general guide for air intelligence officers conducting any type of
investigation, the 6-page manual’s only illustration is of an Air Force
plane accompanied by three flying saucers; the caption is “The Air
Technical Intelligence center is responsible for the prevention of
technological surprises.” It is discovered by Keyhoe in
1961 because someone forgot to reclassify the manual as Confidential in
November 1953 when the Restricted classification is retired. (Department
of the Air Force, Handbook for Air Intelligence Officers, Air Force
Manual 200-3, May 1953, chapter 9, pp. 9-1–9-6;
Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, p. 80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2207
Date: 5/1953
Description: CIA Assistant Director H.
Marshall Chadwell transfers chief responsibility for keeping abreast
of UFOs to OSI’s Physics and Electronic Division. Todos
M. Odarenko, chief
of the division, does not want to take on the problem, saying it
requires too much analytic and clerical time. Given the Robertson Panel
findings, he proposes to call the project “inactive” and devote only one
part-time analyst and a file clerk to maintain a reference file of
activities of USAF and other agencies on UFOs. (Gerald K. Haines, “CIA’s
Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90,” Studies in Intelligence, 1997,
p. 72)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2206
Date: 5/1/1953
Description: 11:35 p.m. USAF pilot Capt. R. L. Emberry and radar
operator 1Lt J. R. Morin are flying an F-94 interceptor at 24,000 feet
about 10 miles south of Goose Bay AFB [now CFB Goose Bay], Labrador.
Both men and a control tower operator see a white light with a visible
afterburner at 10,000 feet. The F-94 pursues it, both climbing to 40,000
feet, but the object climbs out of sight after 30 minutes. (NICAP, “Unidentified
Evades Interception by F- 94”;
Sparks, p. 199;
Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
p. 262)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2208
Date: 5/1/1953
Time: 11:35 PM
Description: Witnesses: pilot and radar operator of USAF F-94 jet
interceptor, and control tower operator. One white light evaded
interception attempt by F-94 during 30 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Goose AFB, Labrador, Canada
ID: 311
Date: 5/2/1953
Description: BOAC Flight 783, a de Havilland Comet 1, crashes in a
severe thundersquall six minutes after taking off from Calcutta-Dum Dum
[now Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport], India, killing
all 43 on board. Witnesses observe the wingless Comet on fire plunging
into the village of Jagalgori. A British aviation investigator, J. H.
Lett, announces that the plane “collided with a fairly heavy body” and
UFO rumors persist for about a year. However, leading investigators
suspect structural failure. (Wikipedia, “de
Havilland Comet”; Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest, 1977,
p, 141)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2209
Date: 5/4/1953
Description: 1:50 a.m. A witness sees a football-shaped, metallic object
caught in the glare of a rotating beacon near Goose Bay AFB [now CFB
Goose Bay], Labrador. It is traveling south at high speed and a low
altitude, and disappears into low-hanging stratus clouds. She hears a
sound “like tins striking together.” (Sparks, p. 199;
Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
p. 262)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2210
Date: 5/5/1953
Description: 9:45 a.m. Chemist Wells Alan Webb is standing in a field
near the Vacuum Cooling Company plant, not far from Spain Flying Field
and about a mile north of Yuma AFB [now Marine Corps Air Station Yuma]
near Yuma, Arizona, when he sees a fuzzy-white oblong object at an angle
of 45° in the north. He observes it both with the naked eye and with
Polaroid glasses with a greenish tint that he uses for cloud
observations. It is about one-half the diameter of the full moon. After
5 minutes, the object moves to a position 30° eastward and suddenly
becomes circular in appearance, becoming gradually smaller. Three
concentric dark rings appear around the object, the largest about six
times its diameter when viewed with Polaroid glasses. Webb thinks that
the rings are the result of the rotation of polarized light scattered
from the atmosphere (Faraday effect). (NICAP, “Polaroid
Glasses Expose Concentric
Circles around Disc”; Wells Alan Webb, Mars, the New Frontier:
Lowell’s Hypothesis, Fearon, 1956, pp, 126–127; UFOEv, p. 51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2211
Date: 5/10/1953
Description: 11:00 p.m. Capt. Bob Jackson is piloting an Australian
National Airways DC-3 near Woronora Dam, New South Wales, when he sees
an object with an orange-colored light at the tail flash past toward the
east near Wollongong. The radar tower at Mascot shows no traffic in the
area. About 2 minutes later, the object reappears, makes a complete
circle around the airliner, and speeds away toward the coast. (Swords
378)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2213
Date: 5/10/1953
Description: 6:08 p.m. Capt. B. L. Jones is flying an Australian
National Airways DC-3 just south of Mackay, Queensland. He radios the
local control tower that a “strange object like a lighted glass dome” is
maneuvering around his plane. He and his copilot watch the object for
about 5 minutes during which time it climbs and dives at a speed of
200–700 mph. Finally, it crosses the path of the aircraft and disappears
swiftly to the west. A Mr. W. Overell, the officer in charge at Mackay
tower, sees the light climbing from about 4,000–5,000 feet in the west
at great speed, although the radar shows no other aircraft in the
vicinity. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 52; Swords
377–378)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2212
Date: 5/11/1953
Description: A declassified MKUltra document indicates hypnosis is a
major focus. Experimental goals include: the creation of “hypnotically
induced anxieties,” “hypnotically increasing ability to learn and recall
complex written matter,” studying hypnosis and polygraph examinations,
“hypnotically increasing ability to observe and recall complex
arrangements of physical objects,” and studying “relationship of
personality to susceptibility to hypnosis.” Experiments are conducted
with drug-induced hypnosis and with anterograde and retrograde amnesia
while under the influence of such drugs. (Wikipedia, “Project
MKUltra”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2214
Date: 5/12/1953
Description: 3:20 a.m. USAF F-94 pilot Lt. D. C. Rogers and radar
operator Lt. J. A. Lane track a radar target about 39 miles northwest of
Goose Bay AFB [now CFB Goose Bay], Labrador. Rogers attempts to
intercept but cannot make visual contact. (Sparks, p. 199;
Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
p. 262)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2215
Date: 5/16/1953
Description: 8:15 p.m. Photographer Herman Charmanne is near Bouffioulx,
Belgium, when he hears a strange metallic vibration. Looking up, he sees
a long white trail in the wake of an object that shoots off at a great
speed. The object, a luminous sphere, stops and hovers, allowing him to
take two photos that depict a fried-egg-looking shape with a long tail.
Recent analyses indicate that the photos are likely the result of a
chemical reaction during the developing process, perhaps a flammable
fluid deliberately poured on the image carrier that is then ignited.
(Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos and Wim van Utrecht, Belgium
in UFO Photographs, Volume 1 (1950–1988), FOTOCAT
Report no. 7, 2017, pp. 12–30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2216
Date: 5/18/1953
Time: 10:30 PM
Description: Witness: C.S. Chapman, 15. One white, fuzzy, flashing light
hovered and darted around for 4 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: New Plymouth, New Zealand
ID: 484
Date: 5/18/1953
Description: 6:55 p.m. A bright, luminous object is seen over Abadan,
Iran. It travels very fast and is visible for 20 minutes. It is also
seen over oil fields in Khuzestan Province. (ClearIntent, pp. 129–130)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2217
Date: 5/20/1953
Description: At the junction of Jordan and Marble Creeks in Plumas
National Forest, northern California, titanium prospector John Q. Black
sees a silvery object, 8 feet in diameter, land on a nearby sand bar. On
June 20 the saucer returns, along with a barrel-chested “midget pilot”
wearing a “forest-green outfit” and a “peak-billed cap with a cord”
around it. The UFO is about 40 feet away, resting on a rock, and has
tripod-like landing gear. The pilot fills a rubber-like pail with creek
water and goes back inside the craft (which has one small window) after
hearing Black step on a stick. The craft takes off at a 45° angle with a
hissing sound. Black had seen the same object on March 20, for a total
of seven times. Black is alone for each sighting, so his partner John
Van Allen cannot corroborate the story. The UFO’s expected return on
July 20 does not occur, perhaps because scores of sightseers descend on
the Brush Creek area (snack bars are set up so that no one goes hungry
during the vigil). (Wallace Kunkel, “The Little Man Who Wasn’t There,”
Fate 7, no. 5 (May 1954): 48–52; Clark III 269; Patrick Gross, URECAT, December
15, 2006; Curt Collins, “Flying
Saucer Ambush: Brush Creek, CA, 1953,” The Saucers That Time Forgot,
November 17, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2218
Date: 5/20/1953
Description: Dr. Ed Doll orders Fritz Werner to report for special duty
the next day. (Indian Springs AFB.)
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Kingman, AZ
See also: 5/21/53
Date: 5/20/1953
Time: 1830
Description: Two miners, John Q. Black, 48, and John Van Allen, reported
that an object, silvery, 2.5 m in diameter, 2 m thick, with a tripod
landing gear, landed on a sand bar 50 m away from them. An occupant
described as a broadshouldered dwarf wearing clothing that covered the
head and the trunk was also seen. His arms and legs were covered with
tweedlike cloth fastened at the wrists and ankle. He filled a shiny pail
with water and handed it to someone inside the craft. He then appeared
to notice Black and jumped into the craft, which made a hissing sound
and departed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 53 (Vallee)
Location: Brush Creek, California
ID: 109
Date: 5/21/1953
Description: Fritz Werner (pseudonym), engineer at Wright-Patterson AFB,
assisted in the investigation of a crashed UFO. It was constructed of an
unfamiliar metal, similar to aluminum [magnesium?]. It had impacted 20
inches into the sand without any signs of structural damage. It was oval
and 30 ft. in diam. An opened hatchway was 3 1/2 ft. long and 1 1/2 ft.
wide. Inside the craft were 2 swivel seats, oval cabin and lots of
instrumentation and displays. A tent pitched nearby contained the corpse
of the pilot. It was approx. 4 ft. tall and had a brown complexion, two
eyes, a small round mouth, two nostrils [no nose?], and two ears. It
wore a silvery metallic-like suite and a skull cap of the same
material.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Kingman, AZ
See also: 5/20/53
Date: 5/21/1953
Description: 10:00 a.m. Eight disc-like objects are observed maneuvering
in the sky for an hour or so above Prescott, Arizona, by sportsmen’s
club president Bill Beers, post office employee Ray Temple, and O. Ed
Olson. Two of the discs are stationary, while the other six discs
participate in maneuvers similar to a dogfight. The six swoop around in
formation, peel off, and shoot directly up and down in a maneuver that
cannot be duplicated by a plane. When they move, they vary from very
slow to speeds faster than a jet plane. (Prescott (Ariz.) Evening
Courier, May 22, 1953; Nukes 87)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2219
Date: 5/21/1953
Description: Date of alleged UFO crash and retrieval near Kingman,
Arizona. “Fritz Werner” [pseudonym of Arthur
G. Stansel
Jr.] claims to have worked on the retrieval. An informant in 1977
tells Leonard
Stringield that he had seen three alien bodies in a crate at
Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio after a UFO crash in Arizona. (Leonard H.
Stringfield, “Retrievals
of the Third Kind: Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review 25, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1979): 6–7; Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest, 1977,
pp. 171–185; Clark III 335–338; Kevin D. Randle, A History of UFO
Crashes, Avon, 1995, pp. 57–68;
Good Above, pp. 398–400)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2220
Date: 5/23/1953
Description: Radar tracks a target over Cape Province, South Africa,
that makes six passes at more than 1,250 mph at 5,000–15,000 feet
altitude. (Aimé Michel, The Truth about FS, p. 123; James E. McDonald,
“Statement
on Unidentified
Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects,
Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong.,
2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 70–71)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2221
Date: 5/26/1953
Description: 5:10 a.m. D. Beyers, driving 80 miles south of Brandvlei in
Northern Cape Province, South Africa, sees a bright yellowish-green
light in the clouds, then emerges. The light has the appearance of
“burning hydrogen” and emits three streaks that maintain a fixed
position with regard to the main light. He watches it for 50 minutes.
(ClearIntent, p. 130)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2222
Date: 5/27/1953
Time: 8:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: many unidentified civilians, including Jacobson.
Nine separate meandering lights were seen during 15 minute
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: San Antonio, Texas
ID: 312
Date: 5/30/1953
Description: After a small, bright-blue object with a strange irregular
motion passes overhead at Palmerston North, New Zealand, numerous
filaments of a “substance resembling spider webs, white in color and
ashy in texture” float to earth. (“Palmerston
North, New Zealand,” APRO Bulletin 2, no. 2 (September 15, 1953): 8;
Clark III 124)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2223
Date: 5/31/1953
Description: Project Blue Book issues its Status Report #11. (US Air
Force, Projects
Grudge and Blue Book Reports 1–12, NICAP, 1968, pp. 199–214)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2224
Date: 6/1953
Description: Max
B. Miller publishes the first issue of Saucers, a digest-sized
quarterly of Flying Saucers International in Los Angeles, California. It
continues until the Fall 1959 issue. (Saucers 1,
no. 1 (1953); Clark III 1033)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2230
Date: 6/1953
Description: Night. An F-94C Starfire with classified electronic gear
takes off from Otis AFB [now Otis Air National Guard Base] in western
Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Piloted by Capt. Suggs and radar operator Lt.
Robert Markhoff, the jet takes off in a westerly direction. Shortly
after attaining 1,500 feet over the Base Rifle Range, the engine quits
functioning and the electrical system fails. The jet’s nose drops and
Suggs signals Barkhoff to bail out. Suggs bails out and he and his
parachute wind up in a homeowner’s backyard. The jet should have crashed
nearby, but neither Markhoff or the airplane can be located, despite
months of searching. Although this account comes from M/Sgt Clarence
O. Dargie, and
investigator Raymond
Fowler obtains the accident report from Norton AFB [now San
Bernardino International Airport], California, there appears to be no
open record of this incident. The F-94C models, especially at first,
have fire-control problems and electrical short circuiting. (Raymond
Fowler, UFOs: Interplanetary Visitors, Prentice-Hall, 1974, pp. 287–291;
Good Need, pp. 189–191;
Bob Pratt, “Conversations with
Major Donald Keyhoe,” Mutual UFO Network; Barry Greenwood, “Questions
on a 1953 Cape Cod Mystery,”
UFO Historical Revue, no. 8 (February 2001): 1–3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2227
Date: 6/1953
Description: Secretary of Defense Charles
Erwin Wilson abolishes the Research and Development Board for the
politically motivated reason that suspected communist sympathizer Robert
Oppenheimer is a sitting member. (Michael Hall and Wendy Connors,
“The Research and Development Board: Unanswered Questions,” IUR 26, no.
2 (Summer 2001): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2228
Date: 6/1953
Description: Lt. Robert M. Olsson and J.
Allen Hynek visit Coral
Lorenzen in Wisconsin and try to convince her that it is in the
national interest for her to reduce excitement about UFOs by publishing
cases. (Swords 197; Lorenzen, FS Hoax, pp. 82–83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2229
Date: 6/9/1953
Description: Sidney
Gottlieb approves Project MKUltra’s “Subproject 8” on LSD.
Experiments include administering LSD to mental patients, prisoners,
drug addicts, and prostitutes—“people who could not fight back,” as one
agency officer puts it.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2231
Date: 6/17/1953
Description: 7:30 a.m. Several witnesses in Galveston, Texas, see a
large, cigar-shaped object silently flying in from the Gulf of Mexico.
One estimates it to be about 300 feet long and no greater than 150 feet
in the air. The object makes a cloud and disappears. (Herbert S. Taylor,
“Mystery Clouds and the UFO Connection,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005):
19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2232
Date: 6/18/1953
Time: 0230
Description: Howard Phillips, Hilda Walker and Judy Meyers saw in a
garden at 118 East Third Street a strange “shadow” on the lawn which
resembled a “flying man,” and they watched it take off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins A 261 (Vallee)
Location: Houston, Texas
ID: 110
Date: 6/20/1953
Description: Engineer Norman S. Bean reports that two fisherman in CA
spot UFO’s
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Newspapers.com
Location: California Coast
Date: 6/20/1953
Time: 1830
Description: John Q. Black, witness of the May. 20 incident, observed an
exact repetition of the scene, including the “little man.” Van Allen saw
only the landing marks, about 30 cm wide and re sembling elephant
tracks.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 53 (Vallee)
Location: Brush Creek, California
ID: 111
Date: summer 1953
Description: Two F-94 jets are scrambled at Ernest Harmon Air Force Base
[now Stephenville International Airport], near Stephenville,
Newfoundland, after base radar picks up an unknown target. One of the
pilots gets radar and visual confirmation, then radios that he is going
into a steep climb to give chase. The jet crashes into a mountain. The
base is supposedly placed on red alert. (Stringfield, Situation Red,
Fawcett Crest, 1977, p. 142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2225
Date: summer 1953
Description: 10:00 p.m. A family is returning home on Scenic Avenue in
Central Point, Oregon, when they see three entities along the side of
the road only 6 feet away. They stop the car, and the beings glide
across the road and disappear into the woods. They are 4 feet high,
white, with satiny fur, and resemble very large geese, but with no beaks
or wings. (“No
UFO Seen: Just Creatures,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 2
(April/May 1984): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2226
Date: 6/21/1953
Time: 7 PM
Description: Witnesses: Nine Japanese and Okinawan weather observers.
One unidentified light moved slowly for 20 minutes. No further data in
files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Naha, Okinawa
ID: 313
Date: Summer 1953
Description: Saucer crash lands near Camp Polk, Louisiana. US Army Pvt.
H.J. (initials) under Sgt. R.S. (initials) in Company B ordered to stay
by the saucer until the ambulance and superior officers arrive. Three
Aliens walked away from the crash. One Alien was carried on a stretcher.
All aliens eventually died, taken to storage facility near Washington
D.C. Alien description: Large helmeted heads, tight fitting suits, legs
stiff when they walked, 3.5 to 4.0 feet tall, used Alien language.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research (B3-C, RECOVERY, ALIENS)
Location: Camp Polk, Louisiana
Date: 6/22/1953
Time: 2:10 AM
Description: Witnesses: pilot and radar operator of USAF F-94 jet
interceptor. One red light, flying at an estimated 1,000 kts. (1,100
m.p.h.) eluded the chasing F-94 after 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Goose AFB, Labrador, Canada
ID: 314
Date: 6/24/1953
Description: USAF EMERGENCY Intelligence Report: Two jets out of Quonset
Point have had mid-air collision at 2130E with UFO. American and Eastern
Airlines pilots reported UFO. Jets fell in flames 15 miles West of
Quonset Point.
Type: ufo collision
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p488)
Location: Quonset Point, Rhode Island
See also: 6/26/1953
Date: 6/24/1953
Description: 11:30 a.m. A weather observer stationed at remote Simiutaq
island, western Greenland, is tracking a weather balloon with a
theodolite. He notices a rotating red object flying from southeast to
northwest and approaching the balloon, which is at 18,000 feet. The
object collides with the balloon, disintegrating it. Afterward, it
hovers in a circular motion for 15 seconds and departs into the wind. He
watches it another 5 minutes until it is lost to view. (Chris Rutkowski,
Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 69–70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2233
Date: 6/24/1953
Time: 11:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: crew of USAF KB-29 aerial tanker plane. Radar
tracked an unidentified target which twice approached to within .5 miles
of the airplane, and once to within 6 miles, during a 2 minute
observation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands
ID: 315
Date: 6/24/1953
Description: Night. A flight of US Navy F2H Banshee jets out of NAS
Quonset Point [now Quonset Point Air National Guard Station] are on a
night training mission over southern Rhode Island when two aircraft in
the formation collide in mid-air. The crash occurs at 19,000 feet near
or over the Exeter/West Greenwich town lines, and debris is scattered
for several miles in all directions. The pilot of one Banshee, Lt. Jg.
Jack
Oliver Snipes, is killed. An emergency cable sent to the Director of
Air Force Intelligence in the Pentagon indicates that “flying objects”
are seen by the pilots prior to the accident. Its distribution list
includes the fledgling National Security Agency. (“Exeter/West
Greenwich, Rhode Island: June 24, 1953,” New England Aviation
History, October 2017; Good Above, pp. 272–273, 488)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2234
Date: 6/24/1953
Time: 11:30 AM
Description: Witness: weather observer A/2c R.A. Hill. One red triangle
hovered and rotated for 15 seconds, then climbed for 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Simiutak, Greenland
ID: 316
Date: 6/24/1953
Time: 0018
Description: A civilian woman saw something like “a large aircraft”
flying very slowly and low. It had a lighted red band around the middle
and was coming straight toward her house with an oscillating motion. She
still thought it was an aircraft of some new design when it stopped near
her, 25 m above ground. Then it flew backward over the water and
hovered, making the same noise as a swarm of bees. The top section
supported a series of red lights and a cabin with four portholes through
which a control panel was visible. No occupant was seen. The cabin rose
above the object, rotated, then glided back. The object tilted toward
the west and rose toward the southeast, disappearing within 3 sec at an
80 degree angle of climb after the 3-min sighting. Diameter: 30 m. Two
days later a yellowish moss was observed at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Hampton Bay, Long Island
ID: 112
Date: 6/26/1953
Description: USAF Intelligence Report, EMERGENCY JEDUP JEDEN JEDFF JEPHQ
JEPRS 555. Distribution: OOP, OOP-CP, OAC, ARMY, NAVY, JCS, CIA, NSA,
Tech Intelligence Center Wright Patterson AFB. (see 06/24/53 for details
of report)
Type: ufo collision
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p488)
Location: Dayton, OH
See also: 6/24/53
Date: 6/30/1953
Description: 11:45 p.m. An orange-colored, oval object is seen for a
period of 20 minutes in the northern sky moving to the southeast by at
least 10 personnel of the US 912th Air Control and Warning Squadron
stationed at Ramore Air Station radar site [now CFS Ramore], 3 miles
west of Ramore, Ontario. The first person to see it is A/2c Dean
McDonald who comes out of the maintenance room to inspect a power unit
that has caused a minor breakdown of the search radar set. He calls two
other airmen to witness it. One of the two thinks the object is the
moon. The first airman gets hysterical and calls the Charge of Quarters
at the Domestic Area three miles to the southwest. At least seven
witnesses in that area see the object, and two of them report that the
moon is visible and the UFO is distinct and separate. The object soon
fades away slowly to the north. ([Project
Blue Book file])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2235
Date: 7/1953
Description: The 4602nd AISS has taken over nearly all of Blue Book’s
field investigations. (Ruppelt, p. 232)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2236
Date: 7/1953
Description: Lt. Robert M. Olsson of Project Blue Book sends five
supposedly unsolved UFO cases of 1953 to Cal Tech physicist Howard
P. Robertson in an effort to see if any change in the Robertson
Panel’s conclusions is warranted. One of them is the Sea of Japan ELINT
case of April 14. Apparently, Robertson’s mind is not changed. He is now
heading up the Robertson Committee of the newly formed National Security
Agency, tasked with developing better use of intercepted communications
and radars in order to provide strategic warning of a military attack by
the Soviet Union. (Clark III 55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2237
Date: 7/1/1953
Description: 1:00 p.m. A cowherd, Maximo Munoz Olivares [or Hernáiz],
14, sees a “big balloon” on the ground behind him in Villares del Saz,
Cuenca, Spain, after a faint whistling attracts his attention. Shaped
like a water jug, the object is metallic. Through an opening come three
dwarfs 2 feet tall, with yellow faces, narrow eyes, and oriental
features. They speak in a language he cannot understand. They are
dressed in blue and have a sort of flat hat with a visor in front and a
metal sheet on their arms. One of them smacks the boy’s face, then they
reenter the machine, which glows very brightly, makes a soft whistling
sound, and goes off “like a rocket.” Footprints and four holes 2 inches
deep, forming a perfect square 13 inches in size, are found by police.
Possible hoax. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History:
1953, March–July, The
Author, 1989, pp. 92–93; Antonio Ribera, “The
Landing at Villares del Saz,” in Charles Bowen, ed., The Humanoids,
special issue of FSR, Oct./Dec. 1966, pp. 28–30; Clark III 270)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2238
Date: 7/2/1953
Time: 1300
Description: Approximate date. An illiterate boy cowherd, Maximo Munos
Olivares, 14, saw a “big balloon” on the ground behind him when a faint
whistling attracted his attention. Shaped like a water jug, it was
metallic. Through an opening came three dwarfs 60 cm tall, with yellow
faces, narrow eyes, and oriental features. They spoke in a language he
could not understand. They were dressed in blue, had a sort of flat hat
with a visor in front and a metal sheet on their arms. One of them
smacked the boy’s face, then they reentered the machine, which glowed
very brightly, made a soft whistling sound and went off “like a rocket.”
Footprints and four holes 5 cm deep forming a perfect square 36 cm in
side were found by police.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 29 (Vallee)
Location: Villares des Saz, Spain
ID: 113
Date: 7/7/1953
Description: Evening. An Atlanta, Georgia, barber named Edward Watters
buys a monkey from a pet shop, shaves and kills it, cuts off its tail,
then takes it with two friends, Tom Wilson and Arnold Payne, to US
Highway 78 near Leland, Georgia, and waits for the first car to stop.
They tell the driver, who turns out to be Cobb County policeman Sherley
Brown, that
they had seen a flying saucer and accidentally killed one of its
occupants. They bring the dead animal to the Atlanta Constitution
office, where reporter Thomas McRae notifies the FBI, which alerts the
Air Force at Dobbins AFB [now Dobbins Air Reserve Base] in Marietta. The
animal is taken to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where Anatomy
Professor Marion Hines identifies it properly as a shaved Capuchin
monkey. Watters admits the hoax and is fined $40 by a judge. (Wikipedia,
“Martian
Monkey”; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History:
1953, March–July, The
Author, 1989, pp. 96–102; Clark III 593)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2239
Date: 7/16/1953
Description: Lt. Col. William F. Barns attains an official world
airspeed record of 716 mph in a North American F-86D Sabre over the
Salton Sea, California. (Wikipedia, “North
American F-86D Sabre”; “16
July 1953,” This Day in Aviation History, July 16, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2240
Date: 7/19/1953
Description: Confidential Message to the Adjutant General, Wash. 25
D.C.: An F-86 aircraft was observed in flight over the Oak Ridge
residential area by a writer and his wife. While observing the F-86
through 6 power field glasses an UFO, black in color, moved out of a
high white cloud directly over the area where the F-86 had been
circling. The UFO began circling at a tremendous speed for at least 5
minutes. It appeared at times to be cigar shaped and at other times to
be round in shape. No sound or visible means of propulsion was observed
from the UFO. It flew away at tremendous speed for 3 miles where it was
joined by 2 other UFOs into a ‘V’ formation and sped away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Oak Ridge, TN
See also: 7/27/53
Date: 7/19/1953
Description: 3:00 p.m. After an F-86 has been circling over a particular
spot in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a black object emerges from a high white
cloud and takes up its position after the plane has left toward
Knoxville. “This object was extremely black in color, having an
appearance of a deep black metal exterior with a fine gloss. It did not
leave a vapor trail or were there any lights of shine noticed. No sound
was heard. The object flew east at a tremendous speed for what appeared
to be approximately three miles where it stopped. The object was then
joined by two more of these same objects. A formation similar to a
spread V was formed and the objects, at a tremendous speed flew in an
eastward direction.” The report is made by the Atomic Energy Commission
and addressed to Army Adjutant General William
Edward Bergin in Washington, D.C. (NICAP, “Black
Objects Maneuver
over Area nr F-86”; “Air
Space Violation at Oak Ridge, Tennessee,” July 27, 1953)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2241
Date: 7/20/1953
Description: Engineer Norman S. Bean reports that two fisherman in CA
spot UFO’s
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Newspapers.com
Location: California Coast
Date: 7/20/1953
Description: Ed
Ruppelt returns to Project Blue Book as either acting chief or
consultant until August 31. (Sparks, p. 14;
Clark III 55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2242
Date: 7/25/1953
Description: ATIC guide, How to Make FLYOBRPTS, a 68-page manual for
officials required to make UFO reports, is published. (Air Technical
Intelligence Center, How
to Make FLYOBRPTS, July 26, 1953)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2243
Date: 7/26/1953
Description: Emergency Message to Air Defence Command: CIRVIS 3346N
9632W sighted 7 UFOs hovering at altitude of 5 to 8 thousand feet near
Perrin Tower, TX. Visually observed by citizens of Denison and Sherman,
TX. The UFOs were grouped in a Z (Zebra) formation, then circled to
higher altitudes and faded from sight. Each UFO had one bright red light
on it.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-F p359)
Location: Perrin Tower, TX
Date: 7/26/1953
Description: 9:39 p.m. At Perrin AFB [now North Texas Regional Airport]
in Sherman, Texas, ground observers see 7 UFOs, each carrying a bright
red light, hovering at 5,000–8,000 feet. They are in a formation of two
groups of three, and one trailing, then come together to form the letter
“Z.” Then they circle, gain altitude, and fade from sight. Citizens in
Sherman and Denison also see the objects. Total duration is 16 minutes.
This is classified as a “Vital Intelligence Sighting” and sent to the
Air Defense Command, the Secretary of Defense, and the CIA. (CIRVIS
Report, July
26, 1953)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2244
Date: 7/27/1953
Description: Security Information, Confidential Message to Adjutant
General, Wash. 25 D.C.
Type: Confidential Message
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Washington DC
See also: 7/19/53
Date: 7/30/1953
Description: Science journalist John
Joseph O’Neill observes through a telescope a feature on the western
edge of the lunar Mare Crisium that he interprets as a giant natural
bridge. The observation is prematurely confirmed by amateur Welsh
astronomer Hugh
Percy Wilkins. Although
it turns out to be an illusion, the location is still known as O’Neill’s
bridge. When viewing conditions are poor or the telescope’s aperture is
small, the feature resembles a bridge joining the tips of the capes
Promontorium Lavinium and Promontorium Olivium. If viewing conditions
are good and the instrument is large enough, the feature is seen as two
small, eroded crater pits. (The Moon Wiki, “O’Neill’s
Bridge”; Andrew May, “The Lost Ruins of the Moon,” Fortean Times 358
(October 2017): 56–57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2245
Date: 7/30/1953
End date: 8/1/1953
Description: A large UFO is seen for three nights over Sequoia and Kings
Canyon National Parks in California. Park Superintendent Elvind
T. Scoyen and his staff observe it once at close range. On August 1,
a squadron of Air Force fighters sees the object streaking downward just
before midnight. It stops abruptly then shoots upward. (Keyhoe, Aliens
from Space, Signet ed., 1974, pp. 40–41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2246
Date: 7/31/1953
Time: 1900
Description: A metallic object 30 m in diameter was observed by five
Polish and two German workers as it landed in a field close to a
railway. It was shaped like a sphere with a flat disk around it, showing
numerous openings at the periphery.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Intelligence Digest Nov., 53 (Vallee)
Location: Wolin, Poland
ID: 114
Date: 7/31/1953
Description: Lt. Robert Olsson leaves Project Blue Book. He later tells
Ruppelt his
5-month tenure “was like being president of Antarctica on a
nonexpedition year.” He is replaced by Airman 1C Max G. Futch. (Ruppelt,
p. 228;
Clark III 55; Sparks,
p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2247
Date: 7/31/1953
Description: 7:00 p.m. Five Poles and two Germans see a disc-shaped
object about 16 feet in diameter land in a field near a railroad track
on Wolin Island, Poland. After several minutes it rises up and flies
away at great speed. (Bronislaw Rzepecki, “UFOs and Ufologists in
Poland,” IUR 11, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1986): 15; Vallée, Magonia, p. 203)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2248
Date: 8/1953
Description: Wilbert
B. Smith completes his classified report on Project Magnet for the
Canadian Department of Transport, writing that it can be deduced that
UFOs are 100 or more feet in diameter, they can travel at speeds of
several thousand miles per hour, and can reach high altitudes. “It is
difficult to reconcile this performance with the capabilities of our
technology [and] we are forced to the conclusion that the vehicles are
probably extraterrestrial, in spite of our prejudices to the contrary.”
The DOT agrees to his proposal to set up an electronic station for a
“24-hour watch for flying saucers” in a hut at Shirley’s Bay, off Lake
Manitou, Ontario. Equipment includes am ionospheric reactor, electronic
sound measurement devices, gamma-ray detector, gravimeter, magnetometer,
and radio set. (Clark III 1078–1079)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2249
Date: 8/1/1953
Description: The US Air Force Security Service moves its headquarters
from Brooks Air Force Base [now closed] to Kelly Air Force Base [now
Kelly Field Annex], both in San Antonio, Texas. (Wikipedia, “Air
Force Intelligence, Surveillance,
and Reconnaissance Agency”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2250
Date: 8/3/1953
Time: 12:04 PM
Description: Witness: Airport control tower chief C.S. Brown. One round
and reflective or translucent object flew straight, stopped for 7
seconds, sped along, stopped again, was joined by a similar object and
they flew off in different directions, after a total of 56
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Amarillo, Texas
ID: 317
Date: 8/5/1953
End date: 8/6/1953
Description: Around 8:00 p.m. Ground Observer Corps observer Phyllis
Killian spots a UFO in Black Hawk, South Dakota. Soon after, radar at
Ellsworth AFB near Rapid City tracks a “well-defined, solid, and bright”
object. The base scrambles an F-84 and the pilot sees the UFO. Many
witnesses see the object accelerate and climb. The F-84 pursues but can
reach no closer than 3 miles. Now low on fuel, the F-84 returns,
followed by the UFO. Immediately, another F-84 is sent up. Before long,
the pilot receives strong radar returns of a target right in front of
him. Fear prevails and he breaks off the chase. The UFO goes off the
scope, traveling northeast. Reports soon come from Brunswick of a
fast-moving, bright blue object, similar to the Rapid City object. It
hovers near an air filter center, performing more maneuvers and
disappearing after midnight. Before it leaves, three more UFOs are seen
at 10,000 feet for three hours. Ruppelt personally
investigates and calls it “the best” in the USAF files, Hynek writes
that the “entire incident…has too much of an Alice-in-Wonderland flavor
for comfort.” Menzel blames
the star Capella. The official file is several hundred pages long.
(NICAP, “The
Rapid City / Ellsworth AFB
Incident (RV)”; Condon, pp. 132–136;
Ruppelt, pp. 232–235;
Sparks, p. 203;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History:
1953, August–December, The Author, 1990, pp. 2–3; Swords 215; Jan
Aldrich; Patrick Gross, “The Ellsworth
AFB Radar Multiple Visual Case, 1953”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2251
Date: 8/6/1953
Description: 5:00 p.m.–12:00 midnight. An estimated 75 objects with
lights are seen by many witnesses on the ground around Naval Air Station
Barbers Point [now Kalaeloa Airport], Hawaii, from the airport control
tower and from the air. Many are also detected by radar. At 9:00 p.m.,
the crew of a Navy patrol aircraft reports three head-on passes. These
close calls alarm the pilot so much he lands immediately. Jet fighters
are scrambled and the same night an interceptor pilot sees a “glowing
blob” rising rapidly toward him. It comes to a sudden stop just behind
his aircraft then accelerates briefly until it is beside him for four
more seconds before accelerating away out of sight at several times his
own top speed. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, p. 63; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1953, August–December, The
Author, 1990, p. 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2252
Date: 8/9/1953
Description: 9:34 p.m. Supervisor Larry E. Towner and other Ground
Observer Corps personnel report a glowing disc about 200 feet in
diameter over Moscow, Idaho. At 10:10 p.m., the first of two F-86s is
scrambled. The object lingers, with other lights seen, until around 5:00
a.m. (NICAP, “Three
F-86’s Chase Disc Spotted by GOC”; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1953, August–December, The
Author, 1990, pp. 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2253
Date: 8/10/1953
Description: Wilbert
B. Smith issues another report on Project Magnet, in which he
concludes there is a “substantial probability of the real existence of
extraterrestrial vehicles” that use a “technology considerably in
advance of what we have.” The report is eventually sent to Prime
Minister Louis
St. Laurent. (Good Above, pp. 185, 187)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2254
Date: 8/12/1953
Description: The USSR tests its first thermonuclear device, RDS-6s or
Joe 4, at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan. A tenfold increase
in explosive power is achieved by a combination of fusion energy and
neutron- initiated fission. Scholars dispute the authenticity of RDS-6
as a true thermonuclear device, as it does not manage to produce a yield
consistent with a true hydrogen bomb. (Wikipedia, “Joe
4”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2255
Date: 8/12/1953
Description: First Soviet hydrogen bomb test (Joe 4), 400kt,
Semipalatinsk Test Site
Type: atomic
Reference: link
Location: Semipalatinsk Test Site
Atomic type: aboveground
Atomic KT: 400
Date: 8/13/1953
Description: Paramount Pictures’ The War of the Worlds premieres in New
York City. It is a modern retelling of H.
G. Wells’s
story of an invasion from Mars and features a Northrop YB-49 flying wing
dropping an atomic bomb on the invading Martians. The color footage
comes from a test flight. The film is produced by George
Pal, directed by Byron
Haskin, and
stars Gene
Barry and Ann
Robinson. (Wikipedia,
“The
War of the Worlds (1953
film)”; Internet Movie Database, “The
War of the Worlds”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2256
Date: 8/13/1953
Description: Science fiction movie “The War of the Worlds”
released
Type: movie
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: US
Date: 8/16/1953
Description: Flying Saucers International holds the first UFO conference
at the Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles, California, featuring contactee
speakers. However, George
Van Tassel’s first Giant Rock Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention
launches the same day near Landers, California, for three days with
speakers Frank
Scully, George Van Tassel, Orfeo
Angelucci, George
Adamski, and the Amazing
Criswell. (Story, p. 91 ;
Orfeo Angelucci, “A
Release: On Flying Saucers First Convention,” Interplanetary News
Digest 1, no. 2 (October 1953): 1; “Blast
from the Past: UFO Conventions from Giant Rock in Landers,” Palm
Springs (Calif.) Desert Sun, July 25, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2257
Date: 8/16/1953
Time: 2030
Description: Claude Pasquier saw two disks flying very low, quite
slowly, along a straight course, with a “hard” sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Anatomy 65, 141 (Vallee)
Location: Tours, France
ID: 115
Date: 8/17/1953 (approximate)
Description: Lina Ivanova Kravets is in her garden in Shtanivka,
Ukraine, when she sees a trio of intruders cutting branches off her
apple, plum, and cherry trees. Approaching closer, she sees they are
11-foot-tall entities wearing dark overalls, helmets, and gloves. They
claim to be extraterrestrials, converse with her about God and their
peaceful home world that is prone to natural disasters and somehow
affected by the earth’s wars, and insist they are on a mission to rescue
a missing scout team. They then point out a silvery sphere hovering just
above the ground with similar tall being standing next to it. Before the
lengthy encounter ends, the beings offer Kravets a piece of bread the
size of a small coin. Breaking it open, she sees something dark and
odorless inside, so she refuses it. The beings then walk to the sphere
in a peculiar waddling manner, wave as they enter, and take off in the
craft at terrific speed. (Peter Rogerson, “INTCAT
1953”; Joshua Cutchin, “The Great Alien Bake-Off,” Fortean Times 332
(November 2015): 44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2258
Date: 8/17/1953
Description: Engineer Norman S. Bean gives a lecture on saucers to the
Southern Cross Astronomical Society in the Miami area
Type: lecture
Reference: NICAP
Location: Miami, FL
Date: 8/18/1953
Time: evening
Description: Approximate date. Cab driver Salvador Villanueva, 40,
observed two creatures 1.2 m tall wearing coveralls with wide, shiny,
perforated belts, metal collars, and small, black, shiny boxes on their
backs. They had helmets under their arms. The witness thought they were
pilots of Indian race. One of them spoke to him in Spanish, “stringing
the words together” in a strange accent. Trivial matters were discussed
until dawn, when they returned to their craft, 13 m in diameter, through
a staircase under the lower disk. The witness ran away when invited to
follow them. The object rose with a pendulum motion and shot up
vertically.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 32; FSR 56, 2 (Vallee)
Location: Ciudad Valleys, Mexico
ID: 116
Date: 8/19/1953
Description: A small, fast-moving, ricocheting fireball rips a foot-wide
hole through a metal billboard at Middlestone Avenue and Front Street in
East New Haven, Connecticut. IFSB investigator August
C. Roberts and Joseph Barbieri steal a piece of the sign during an
investigation by Naval Ordnance personnel. IFSB sends the sample to Col.
Robert
B. Emerson, an
Army physicist at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, who
contacts friends at Oak Ridge Laboratory in Tennessee to have it
analyzed, but nothing else is heard of this sample. APRO arranges for a
separate analysis of the deposits on the sign performed by Anderson
Laboratories in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the Chicago Spectrographic
Service Laboratory. They determine that the fragments consist of copper
and copper oxide and are not meteoritic. Michael
D. Swords suggests that Roberts’s retrieval of the metal fragments
would have attracted the attention of federal officials. (NICAP, “New
Haven Signboard Case”; Michael D. Swords, “Tales from the Barker
Zone,” IUR 17, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1992): 5–7; Clark III 728–729)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2259
Date: 8/20/1953
Time: 9:05 PM
Description: Witnesses: crew of TB-29 bomber/trainer plane. One greyish
oval object made four passes at the airplane (three times at 10-20 miles
distance), then dived vertically as if two objects.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: near Castle AFB, California
ID: 318
Date: 8/20/1953
Description: 9:05 p.m. The crew of a TB-29 sees a grayish oval object
near Castle AFB [now Castle Airport Aviation and Development Center],
northeast of Atwater, California. The UFO makes four passes at the
plane, then dives vertically as if it consists of two objects. (NICAP,
“TB-29
Crew Files CIRVIS Report”; Sparks, p. 203)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2260
Date: 8/21/1953
Description: Test pilot Lt. Col. Marion
Eugene Carl reaches an unofficial altitude of 83,235 feet in a
Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket. (Wikipedia, “Marion
Eugene Carl”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2261
Date: 8/23/1953
Description: 12:00 noon. Tom P. Drury, deputy director of the Civilian
Aviation Department at Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, takes 24 frames
of 8mm color film of a silvery object that emerges from a cloud and
climbs quickly, leaving a vapor trail. The Royal Australian Air Force
and USAF intelligence are said to have studied the film, which has since
disappeared, with only a few third-generation stills of poor quality
remaining. Later researchers suspect a daytime meteor. (NICAP, “Drury
Film / Saucer-Like Object Climbing”; Norman Cruttwell, “The
New Guinea
Sightings,” APRO Bulletin, July 1961, p. 6; Clark III 416–417; Sparks,
p. 204; Good Above, pp. 162–163;
Bill Chalker, “The
Drury UFO Film Affair: A Study of a Celebrated Australian Case, Part
1,” 2001; Bill Chalker, “The
Drury UFO Film Affair: A Study of a Celebrated Australian Case, Part
2,” 2001; Herbert S. Taylor, “Mystery Clouds and the UFO
Connection,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005): 17–18; Keith Basterfield and
Paul Dean, “Cold
Case Review of the 23 August 1953, Port Moresby Visual Sighting and
Colour Movie Film,” April 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2262
Date: 8/23/1953
Description: Soviet tactical atomic bomb test RDS-4, 28kt
Type: atomic
Reference: link
Location: Semipalatinsk Test Site
Atomic type: aboveground
Atomic KT: 28
Date: 8/24/1953
Description: Contactee George
Van Tassel gets to step, for the first time, inside a flying saucer,
when an extraterrestrial named Solganda wakes him up and leads him to a
waiting ship, giving him a tour of the interior and a technique for
rejuvenating the human body before dropping him off and shooting back
into space. (Jody Rosen, “Welcome to
the Integratron,” New York Times Magazine, August 20, 2014; Lesla
Miller Schnur, “G.
W. Van Tassel’s Integraton,”
The Haunted Librarian, August 27, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2263
Date: 8/26/1953
Description: USAF issues Air Force Regulation 200-2, which tightens UFO
reporting and investigating procedures, further restricting the release
of UFO information and superseding Air Force Letter 200-5. It directs
that all confirmed UFO reports be sent electronically to air force
intelligence. Tangible evidence must go to ATIC in Dayton. It also
confines UFO investigations to three groups: USAF intelligence at the
Pentagon, the 4602nd AISS, and ATIC (although ATIC only gets reports
after they go to the 4602nd). Sightings are only to be discussed with
“authorized personnel.” Reports by USAF personnel no longer go to
Project Blue Book, which is now only a PR front. Some good cases still
go there, but far fewer unidentifieds. Only solved cases are to be
discussed publicly; those still unidentified are to remain classified at
the Restricted level. (“Unidentified
Flying Objects Reporting,”
Air Force Regulation 200-2, August 26, 1953; Clark III 918; Swords
198–199)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2264
Date: 8/26/1953
Description: Regulation AFR 200–2 issued to Air Force personnel for
reporting UFOs.
Type: regulation
Reference: Pea
Research
See also: 8/12/54
Date: 8/27/1953
Description: 9:45 p.m. A USAF pilot, M/Sgt, and others, all on the
ground, see a meandering light for 50 minutes at Greenville AFB [now
Mid-Delta Regional Airport], Mississippi. (Sparks,
p. 204)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2265
Date: 8/27/1953
Time: 9:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF pilot, M/Sgt., others, all on the ground.
One meandering light was observed for 50 minutes. No further details in
file.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Greenville, Mississippi
ID: 319
Date: 8/28/1953
Description: A Ground Observer Corps volunteer watches 14 cigar-shaped
UFOs silently moving over San Rafael, California. One appears to be
leading the formation at about 200 mph. They are first seen heading west
through breaks in the clouds, then turn north and disappear behind
clouds. (Good Above, p. 278)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2266
Date: 8/31/1953
Description: Edward
J. Ruppelt leaves Project Blue Book permanently, leaving Max Futch
in charge as acting chief through December. (Sparks, p. 14;
Clark III 55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2267
Date: 9/1953
Description: Genevieve A. Johnston begins publishing the contactee
newsletter Interplanetary News Digest in Joshua Tree, California. It
continues through spring 1955. (Interplanetary
News Digest 1, no. 1 (September 1953))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2270
Date: 9/1953
Description: Airline stewardess Gloria
Lee of Westchester, California, begins to hear a voice in her head
that identifies itself as “J.W.,” a resident of Jupiter. Lee insists on
a physical visit. Not long afterward, as she is hanging wash in her
backyard, she hears the voice say, “Well, you’ve been wanting to see
me.” She looks up and sees “a saucer, big as life, flying toward Santa
Monica.” She has other experiences and founds the Cosmon Research
Organization to publish and study J.W.’s teachings, much of which
resemble philosophy in the 1882 book Oahspe, produced by automatic
writing by John
Ballou Newbrough. She
goes on the contactee lecture circuit. (Clark III 682–683)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2269
Date: 9/1953
Description: George
Adamski’s account (ghostwritten by Clara
John) of his meeting in the desert with the Venusian named Orthon is
appended to an already completed manuscript on modern and historical UFO
reports by Irish occultist Desmond
Leslie and published as Flying Saucers Have Landed. Leslie asserts
that the first spaceman (a Venusian) arrived on earth in 18,617,841 B.C.
[in the early Miocene Epoch] and claims that early UFOs were called
vimanas in Sanskrit epics like the Ramayana. He also argues that the
Great Pyramid and megalithic structures were built with levitation
techniques derived from space people. (Desmond Leslie and George
Adamski, Flying
Saucers Have Landed, British
Book Centre, 1953; Clark III 40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2268
Date: 9/1953
Description: The book “Flying Saucers Have Landed” by Desmond Leslie and
George Adamski published.
Type: book
Reference: Amazon
Location: California
Date: 9/1953
Description: Gray
Barker starts publishing The Saucerian Bulletin in Clarksburg, West
Virginia, which covers UFO reports, monster yarns, contactee tales, and
the latest rumors about Albert
K. Bender. It continues through October 1962. (Saucerian
Bulletin 1, no. 1 (September 1953); Clark III 178)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2271
Date: 9/2/1953
Time: 9:14 PM
Description: Witnesses: Lt. Col. William Moore and lst Lt. J.H. McInnis,
flying a USAF C-47 transport plane. One very bright light was on a
collision course with the C-47, levelled out, made 180 degree turn
during 3 minute observation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Sidi Slimane AFB, French Morocco
ID: 320
Date: 9/3/1953
Time: Unknown time
Description: Two bright silver ovals moved very fast. Case missing from
files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Portland, Oregon
ID: 321
Date: 9/4/1953
Time: 2130
Description: A woman saw two objects on the ground and three 1.5-m-tall
men running toward the craft. They had oversized heads and wore helmets
and boots. One entered the elongated object, 5 m long, 1.5 m wide, which
spread “wings” that made it look like a butterfly. It then took a
vertical position, resting on a tripod, and took off with the spherical
object into which the other two creatures had gone. Traces were found at
the spot.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: GEPA 68, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Tonnerre, France
ID: 117
Date: 9/7/1953
Description: British pilot Neville
Duke reaches 728 mph in a Hawker Hunter Mk.3 at Littlehampton,
England. (Wikipedia, “Neville
Duke”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2272
Date: 9/7/1953
Description: 6:30 p.m. Don P. Hollister, a technical writer for Goodyear
Aircraft, notices a grayish-blue object heading north directly over his
backyard in Cleveland, Ohio, at less than 3,000 feet altitude. It is
shaped like an equilateral triangle, but rounded somewhat on the sides
and angles. It is rotating on a central axis. The object disappears
after 5 seconds. (UFOEv, p. 70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2273
Date: 9/12/1953
Description: Brovst was the scene of an attempted abduction of a girl by
two humanoids emitting a golden light. Their hands were rugged and cold
like a fish.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Guieu (Vallee)
Location: Brovst, Denmark
ID: 118
Date: 9/15/1953
End date: 9/19/1953
Description: Operation Top Hat, a “local field exercise,” takes place at
the Army Chemical School [now the US Army CBRN School] at Fort McClellan
[now closed], Alabama. The experiments use Chemical Corps personnel to
test decontamination methods for biological and chemical weapons,
including sulfur mustard and nerve agents. The personnel are
deliberately exposed to these contaminants, are not volunteers, and are
not informed of the tests. In a 1975 Pentagon Inspector General’s
report, the military maintain that Operation Top Hat is not subject to
the guidelines requiring approval because it is a line-of-duty exercise
in the Chemical Corps. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Top Hat”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2274
Date: 9/16/1953
Description: Engineer Norman S. Bean gives a lecture on saucers to the
USAF Air Reserve 9882nd Volunteer Air Reserve Squadron in the North
Miami area
Type: lecture
Reference: NICAP
Location: Miami, FL
Date: late 9/1953
Description: Night. Baltimore, Maryland, astronomer James
C. Bartlett Jr. is observing a transit of the star Fomalhaut when he
notices four large lights moving slowly in the sky. He looks at them
through binoculars and sees that they are on the noses of two enormous
cigar-shaped objects at about 3,000 feet altitude. He can also see an
apparent cabin and portholes and he hears a sound like a piston engine.
(“Two
Huge UFOs Sighted by Baltimore
Astronomer,” UFO Investigator 1, no. 5 (Aug./Sept. 1958): 1,
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2278
Date: 9/22/1953
Time: 11:45 AM
Description: Witness: civilian, Mr. Bray, using a small telescope. One
thin, yellow triangle moved slowly, made a rapid acceleration and a
vertical climb during the 5-8 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Hayward, California
ID: 322
Date: 9/26/1953
Description: British pilot Mike
Lithgow attains an official world airspeed record of 736 mph in a
Supermarine Swift F 4 at Castel Idris, Tripoli, Libya. (Wikipedia, “Mike
Lithgow”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2275
Date: 9/28/1953
Time: 7 PM
Description: Witness: radar observer of USAF F-94C jet interceptor.
Visual observation one orange ball travelling 500-600 kts. (600-700
m.p.h.) for 6 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Newhall, California
ID: 324
Date: 9/28/1953
Description: Albert
K. Bender confides to Gray
Barker and a few others that three menacing men dressed in black
suits have called on him, told him the answer to the UFO mystery, and
insisted that he will go to jail if he repeats it. The experience
allegedly terrifies him, and he decides to close the International
Flying Saucer Bureau. Barker immortalizes the episode in a 1956 book,
They Knew Too Much about Flying Saucers, and Bender breaks his long
silence in 1962 with Flying Saucers and the Three Men, in which he
claims that the visitors are not government agents but monsters from the
distant planet Kazik. Even Barker concedes privately that he cannot
swallow Bender’s fantastic tale of abduction to the South Pole by
monstrous space beings. Bender does little to promote the book and soon
moves to Los Angeles and secures an unlisted telephone number. However,
the book does reveal Bender’s long-time obsession with science fiction,
horror movies, and the occult. (Gray Barker, They
Knew Too
Much about Flying Saucers, University
Books, 1956; Albert K. Bender, Flying Saucers and the Three Men,
Saucerian, 1962; Clark III 189–192, 623; Story, pp. 50–51;
Michael D. Swords, “Tales from the Barker Zone,” IUR 17, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1992): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2276
Date: 9/28/1953
Description: 7:10 p.m. In Palmdale, California, a UFO appears on an
F-94C radarscope for a period of 15 seconds. The object is traveling on
a 60° course at an estimated speed of 2,300 mph. It is 4 miles away when
first seen and compares with a C-47 in size on the radarscope. The F-94
was moving at 345 mph at 21,000 feet. The same or another object is
observed visually from another F-94C for six seconds at 7:00 p.m. The
object is described as round, orange in color, and traveling on the same
course as the first object. (NICAP, “F-94C
Tracks UFO at 200 Knots”; Sparks, p. 204)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2277
Date: 9/28/1953
Time: 7 PM
Description: Witness: radar observer of USAF F-94C jet interceptor. One
object tracked at 2,000 kts. (2,300 m.p.h.) for 15 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Palmdale, California
ID: 323
Date: 9/30/1953
Description: Project Blue Book issues its Status Report #12. (US Air
Force, Projects
Grudge and Blue Book Reports 1–12, NICAP,
1968, pp. 215–235) Autumn — Dusk. Cecil Tenney is driving near Dutton,
Montana, when he sees a cigar-shaped object about 200 feet away.
Apparently in trouble, it belches fire and smoke, and after a few
minutes he hears an explosion. Balls of fire rain down from the sky. He
tells the story to a highway patrol officer at a nearby bar before
driving on to Conrad, Montana. That evening a colonel from Great Falls
AFB [now Malmstrom AFB] calls and tells him to show up at the base in
the morning. He is interrogated there for 30 minutes, and on the way out
sees soldiers carrying bags that he thinks might contain body parts.
(Leonard H. Stringfield, “Retrievals of the Third Kind: A Case Study of
Alleged UFOs and Occupants in Military Custody,” MUFON 1978 UFO
Symposium Proceedings, Mutual UFO Network, 1978, pp. 77–105; Clark III
342)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2279
Date: 10/1953
Description: The final issue of Space Review edited by Albert
K. Bender states that UFOs are “no longer a mystery. The source is
already known, but any information about this is being withheld by
orders from a higher source.” (“Statement
of Importance,” Space Review 2, no. 4 (October 1953): 1; Clark III
189)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2280
Date: 10/1/1953
Description: Donald
E. Keyhoe’s Flying Saucers from Outer Space is published by Henry
Holt. Excerpts appear in the October 20 issue of Look. His message is
that aliens are here, the military knows it, and they are covering it up
from the public to avoid panic. He has gotten clearance from Ruppelt and
Chop to
include 51 classified UFO reports from the Air Technical Intelligence
Center, which runs Project Blue Book. The Air Force states that Keyhoe
is misrepresenting their analyses, so he sends a telegram to USAF
Secretary Harold
E. Talbott and Gen. Sory
Smith, saying
that if he really misrepresented anything, as a Marine Corps officer he
should be disciplined. The Air Force offers no comment. In the book, he
takes note of a curious document (never published and now lost) prepared
by USAF Col. William
C. Odell titled “Planet Earth: Host to Extraterrestrial Life,” in
which he speculates on aliens crossing space in search of new planets to
live on once their own fails. (Donald E. Keyhoe, Flying
Saucers from Outer Space, Holt,
1953; Wikipedia, “Flying
Saucers from Outer Space”; Keyhoe, FS Conspiracy, p. 55;
Michael D. Swords, “Colonel Odell and the Invasion of Earth,” IUR 30,
no. 3 (May 2006): 3– 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2281
Date: 10/2/1953
Description: Industrial engineer Jack W. Grant gives a presentation
titled “Flying Saucers Have Landed” to the Federation of Women’s Clubs
at a hotel. He had travelled the country for the past 6 years and was
convinced the topic was of immense significance. He said the government
would eventually tell the public and his presentation would help soften
the blow.
Type: lecture
Reference: Newspapers.com
Reference: Newspapers.com
Location: Lancaster, Ohio
Date: 10/3/1953
Description: USN pilot James
B. Verdin reaches 753 mph in a Douglas F4D Skyray over the Salton
Sea, California. (Wikipedia, “Douglas
F4D Skyray”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2282
Date: 10/9/1953
Description: Engineer Norman S. Bean gives a lecture on flying saucers
at the Aerodex Management club
Type: lecture
Reference: NICAP
Location: Miami, FL
Date: 10/9/1953
Description: 4:30 p.m. Three unidentified objects are tracked on radar
at RAF Bawdsey [now Bawdsey Manor], Suffolk, England, at an altitude of
36,000 feet above the Netherlands. Soon they are tracked flying east to
west over the Harwich area. Some jets at RAF Waterbeach [now Waterbeach
Barracks], Cambridgeshire, are scrambled but can locate nothing. Airmen
at Bawdsey can see nothing but four contrails heading north. The objects
then reverse and move back across the English Channel at 32,000–34,000
feet. The apparent speed on the approach is 430 mph, increasing to 483
mph on the short leg over the UK and 564 mph on the return. (NICAP, “Three
UFOs Flew over Area,
Tracked on Radar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2284
Date: 10/9/1953
Description: 3:50 p.m. A UFO is seen at Caulfield, Melbourne, Victoria,
discharging a white trail described as “strange shiney filaments” that
cover wires and trees. A sample turns out to be a “nylon-like amorphous
mass with traces of magnesuim, calcium, boron, and silicon.” It shrinks
from 3 inches to one-half inch in an air-tight container. (“Wispy
Threads from Sky,” Australian Flying Saucer Review (UFOIC), no. 9
(November 1966): 12; Brian Boldman, “Angel Hair Physical Analyses: A
Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006): 101; Keith Basterfield, “Angel Hair: An
Australian Perspective,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2283
Date: 10/15/1953
Description: 10:10 a.m. During the tracking of a Project Grab Bag
balloon launch, a 40-foot object leaving a brief vapor trail is seen by
three General Mills Aeronautical Lab research engineers (James
A. Winker, Fletcher
L. Bartholomew, and
Richard
J. Reilly) near Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is traveling south in
horizontal flight at 1,100 mph, moving 10° in nine seconds at about
40,000 ft altitude and 25° elevation. The object goes into a vertical
dive for about 10-15 seconds, then glows or flashes in the sun two or
three times for 1 second each. It is seen in the theodolite as a gray
mass. It levels off and the vapor trail stops. (NICAP, “Project
GRAB BAG Sighting”; Sparks, p. 205;
Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine eds., 1974, pp. 71–72;
Hynek UFO Report, pp.
113–114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2285
Date: 10/15/1953
Time: 10:10 AM
Description: Witnesses: three General Mills research engineers including
Bartholomew. One glowing grey mass with a vapor trail dived for 10-15
seconds, levelled out and the trail stopped, leaving the grey mass
visible. Total of 40 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
ID: 325
Date: 10/16/1953
Description: Harvard astronomer Donald
Menzel writes to USAF Director of Intelligence Gen. John
A. Samford that he would like to meet with ATIC officers in
Washington, D.C. (Good Above, p. 278)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2286
Date: 10/16/1953
Time: 10 PM
Description: Witness: USAF Capt. H.W. Watson, Maj. G. Watson. Two white
or blue lights in trail formation, travelled very fast straight and
level, then made a turn. Ten second sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Nicosia, Cyprus
ID: 326
Date: 10/16/1953
Description: 4:00–4:30 p.m. Emerson “Slim” F. Morris watches a large,
cigar-shaped object as it approaches Brigantine, New Jersey, from over
the Atlantic. It releases several smaller objects from both ends. The
smaller discs are white, rotating counterclockwise, and rapidly speed
away. Before the large object disappears, it emits a blinding ray of
light toward the ground that hurts Morris’s eyes. (Herbert S. Taylor,
“Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer 2004):
7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2287
Date: 10/19/1953
Time: 9:35 PM
Description: Witnesses: T/Sgt. Rommanis, T/Sgt. Osiecki, two others. One
white white sphere with a white or red tail, ascended at 20 degree
angle, performed a loop and returned. Fifty second sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Washington, DC
ID: 327
Date: 10/19/1953
Description: 12:10 a.m. Capt. J. L. Kidd is flying an American Airlines
DC-6 between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., when over the Conowingo
Dam, Maryland, his copilot sees something gleaming in the moonlight dead
ahead and closing rapidly. Kidd blinks on his landing lights and the UFO
beams back a blinding light back at the DC-6. Kidd puts the plane into a
steep dive. Caught unaware, the passengers are tossed about the cabin,
many suffering injuries. Kidd radios Washington National Airport [now
Ronald Reagan International Airport] to report a near collision and
complain about air traffic. Air traffic control reports no known
aircraft in his vicinity. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 60–61;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1953, August–December, The Author, 1990, pp. 34, 38; Good
Above, p. 282)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2288
Date: 10/20/1953
Description: The NSA Robertson Committee report is completed and
classified top secret. It recommends better and faster use of electronic
intelligence in radar activity that might indicate an imminent attack,
noting that the Air Force is not cooperating with the Army or Navy on
these matters. (Clark III 55–56)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2289
Date: 10/22/1953
Description: Menzel meets
with USAF headquarters personnel (including Col. George
E. Perry) and ATIC at the Pentagon. (Good Above, p. 279)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2290
Date: 10/25/1953
Time: 2130
Description: Jim Milligan, 16, was driving through a park when he saw
something fall in front of his car and stopped as the object landed in
some bushes. He walked toward it, found a craft that looked like two
ship hulls, about 3 m long, 2 m wide glued together. When he tried to
touch it, the object flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins A 223 (Vallee)
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
ID: 119
Date: 10/25/1953
Description: 8:15–8:30 p.m. Air Force weather observers at Lubbock,
Texas, notice a V formation of 5–7 dull white lights sweep north to
south. In three seconds, the formation goes from a point overhead to 3°
above the horizon where they disappear. Other groups of two or more
lights follow at about 5-minute intervals. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1953, August–December, The
Author, 1990, pp. 35–36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2291
Date: 10/29/1953
Time: 8:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: two high school students, including Morrison.
One blue object with a flaming trail, and two dark green glowing objects
with white and blue-green fringe, flew from south to north with some
erratic motions for l hour.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Mapleton, Maine
ID: 328
Date: 10/29/1953
Description: USAF pilot Frank
Kendall Everest Jr. reaches 755 mph in a North American F-100 Super
Sabre over the Salton Sea, California. (Wikipedia, “Frank
Kendall Everest Jr.”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2292
Date: 11/1953
Description: Mr. Trygve, Mrs. Bufflot and a neighbor saw an object rise
from behind a hill, oscillate over a lake, follow their car, and stop
ahead of them just above the ground. They stopped, felt “pricklings”
until the craft took off vertically. A watch stopped working, and
numerous people vouch for the fact that the paint on the car changed
from dark beige to bright green.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Mar., 62; FSR 56, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Gjasjoen Bridge, Norway
ID: 120
Date: 11/1953
Description: Capt. Charles
A. Hardin takes charge of Project Blue Book. (Sparks, p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2293
Date: 11/1953
Description: 6:30 p.m. Trygve Jansen and two other witnesses are driving
north on the Gamle Mossevei road at the Gjersjøen bridge, Norway, when
they see an object rise from behind a hill, swing out over the lake, and
move back to the road, circling and following their car. Suddenly it
stops and hovers above the road 30 feet in front of them, emitting a
green light. Jansen stops, and all three witnesses experience mild
electrical shocks until the object rises and disappears. When he returns
home, Jansen’s wife points out that the car’s beige paint has turned a
bright green. (Carl Olsen, “Chased
by a Flying Saucer!” Flying Saucer Review 2, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1956): 16; K. Gösta Rehn, “Saucer
Blocked Road in Norway,” APRO Bulletin, March 1962, pp. 1, 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2294
Date: 11/2/1953
Description: Changes updated for UFO reporting. New Regulation AFR
200–2A.
Type: regulation
Reference: Pea
Research
Date: 11/3/1953
Description: 10:00 a.m. An RAF NF.10 Vampire pilot (Flight Lt. Terry S.
Johnson) and navigator (Flying Officer Geoffrey Smythe) flying at 30,000
feet near RAF West Malling [now closed], Kent, England, see a star-like
light far above them. Suddenly it moves toward them at tremendous speed.
They see it as circular and emitting a bright light around its
periphery. The duration is 30 seconds. Air Minister George
Ward calls it a “balloon”; when author Desmond
Leslie calls him up to suggest this is incorrect, Ward tells him: “I
know it wasn’t a balloon. You know it wasn’t a balloon. But until I’ve
got a saucer on the ground in Hyde Park and can charge the public
sixpence a go to enter, it must be balloons, otherwise the government
would fall and I’d lose my job.” It is possible that this object was a
Skyhook balloon launched from Holloman AFB in New Mexico on October 27
that failed to drop into the Atlantic after a 12-hour flight. (Desmond
Leslie, “Politicians
and the UFO,” Flying Saucer Review 9, no. 3 (May/June 1963): 8–9;
Good Above, pp. 35,
53;
Good Need, p. 154;
UFOFiles2, pp. 57, 62–63;
David Clarke, “The Prince and the Saucers,” Fortean Times 406 (June
2021): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2295
Date: 11/3/1953
Description: 2:45 p.m. In Lee, southeast London, a solid target is
tracked on radar by the 256th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment moving slowly
at a distance of 17 miles. Through a telescope it appears to be a
circular white object. The target is tracked for 25 minutes by four
aircraft technicians, including Sgt. H. Waller, who says it is about
350–450 feet in diameter and definitely not a balloon. The War Office
claims the object is a radiosonde balloon. (NICAP, “Heavy
Anti-Aircraft Regiment Tracks UFO”; Good Above, pp. 35–36;
Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, p. 79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2296
Date: 11/5/1953
Description: President Eisenhower issues
Executive Order 10501, abolishing the classification of “Restricted.”
UFO sightings are unaffected, as meaningful sightings are classified at
higher levels. There are now explicit guidelines for the remaining three
classification levels to prevent a systematic flood of classified
documents coming from the Pentagon and other agencies. The Pentagon
responds by creating its own “special access” labels to further insulate
classified information from outside influence. (“Executive
Order 10501”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2297
Date: 11/10/1953
Description: A. K. Bender UFO researcher silenced.
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 11/13/1953
Description: Miami Herald: Engineer Norman S. Bean gives a lecture on
flying saucers
Type: lecture
Reference: NICAP
Location: Miami, FL
Date: mid 11/1953
Description: Rumors a saucer and its occupant were in custody at Edwards
AFB, originally heard up by ex-Naval aviator and intelligence officer
George Williams. Recorded by author Frank Scully in his private notes
now at the AHC.
Type: private notes
Reference: Medium
Location: CA
Date: 11/16/1953
Description: A fluffy material streams out of a UFO over the San
Fernando Valley, California, and falls to the ground. A reporter who
examines it describes it as “dead-white, almost ephemeral in its
delicacy and apparently electrically charged.” A similar fall occurs in
the same area on February 1, 1954. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 227–228; Clark III 124)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2298
Date: 11/18/1953
Time: 12:45 PM
Description: Witness: R.J. Bassett, a pilot for 31 years. One silver
sphere or disc hovered several times during 45 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Manitowoc, Wisconsin
ID: 329
Date: 11/19/1953
Description: Bacteriologist Frank
Olson is a leading scientist at the army’s Chemical Corps, Special
Operations Division at Fort Detrick, Maryland. SOD supplies the CIA with
an array of deadly microbes and chemicals that cannot be detected in an
autopsy. It also supplies delivery methods for anthrax. The CIA pays SOD
$200,000 a year for these services until 1969. Olson is duped into a
meeting with MKUltra Director Sidney
Gottlieb at a secluded cabin. Olson has a very bad trip and still
hasn’t recovered after several days. (H. P. Albarelli Jr., A Terrible
Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Cold War
Experiments, Trine Day, 2009; Stephen Kinzer, “The
Secret History of Fort Detrick, the CIA’s Base for Mind Control
Experiments,” Politico Magazine, September 15, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2299
Date: 11/20/1953
Description: Australian Minister for Air William
McMahon tells Parliament that all UFO reports “are still being
investigated closely and recorded as an aid to further research,” but
the RAAF’s approach is a bit more ad hoc. (Swords 377)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2300
Date: 11/22/1953
Description: Navy Capt. Walter
Karig, author
of the 1947 novel Zotz!, writes “Operation UFO: The Official Truth about
Flying Saucers” for The American Weekly newspaper insert. He covers
Secretary of the Navy Kimball’s
1952 UFO sighting and the ONR saucer probe. He emphasizes the Air
Force’s 20% unexplained rate and does not rule out the extraterrestrial
hypothesis. (Walter Karig, “Operation
UFO: The
Official Truth about Flying Saucers,” American Weekly insert, San
Francisco Examiner, November 22, 1953, pp. 4–5; Swords 217)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2301
Date: 11/22/1953
Description: 10:00 p.m. A man who works in the supply transport office
of the RAAF Woomera Rocket Range near Woomera, South Australia, sees a
green object like a saucer fly to the north between Woocalla and
Birthday Siding. It is emitting blue exhaust. Another man driving the
same route around 2:00 a.m. about 50 miles from Woomera sees a
bluish-green circular object moving north. It is seen again by another
man in the same area around 2:30 a.m. A fourth party sees two orange
flares dropping from the sky near Pimba at 3:15 a.m. All of the objects
are at an altitude of more than 5,000 feet. (Keith Basterfield, “Listing
of Reports from Woomera, South Australia,”
2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2302
Date: 11/23/1953
Description: Evening. ADC radar detects an unknown object moving at 500
mph over Lake Superior. An F-89C Scorpion interceptor, piloted by Lt. Felix
Moncla Jr., with radar observer Lt. Robert
L. Wilson in the rear cockpit, is dispatched from Kinross AFB [now
Chippewa County International Airport], south of Sault Ste. Marie,
Michigan. The jet heads toward the target under radar guidance. At 8,000
feet, 160 miles northwest of the Soo Locks, the blips of the F-89 and
the UFO merge then fade from the screen. Nothing more is heard from the
plane and no trace of it is found. A Pentagon spokesman claims the UFO
was an RCAF C-47 that was never closer than 3-4 miles to the F-89, which
has crashed for unknown reasons. In 2006, a group of divers claimed to
have discovered the F-89 and taken photos on side-scan sonar, but the
claim is a hoax. (NICAP, “UFO
Intercept / Missing
F-89 Case”; Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 13–23;
UFOEv, pp. 114–115;
Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen,
1979, pp. 106–109; Good Above, p. 273;
Andrew Griffin, “Missing!
Avoyelles Parish Man’s Disappearance Still
a Mystery after 50 Years,” Alexandria (La.) Town Talk, July 20,
2003, pp. E1, E3; Clark III 654–656)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2303
Date: 11/24/1953
Description: The British Parliament discusses the November 3 Lee case
and others. Nigel
Birch, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, explains
the sightings as experimental weather balloons. MP George
Isaacs asks, “Will the Minister agree that this story of flying
saucers is all ballooney?” (Good Above, p. 36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2304
Date: 11/28/1953
Description: Frank
Olson is depressed, incoherent, and uncommunicative after his LSD
dose nine days earlier. His CIA contacts take him to a “doctor” in New
York City, who prescribes him alcohol. He then plunges to his death from
the 10th floor window of the Hotel Statler in New York City. The US
government calls it a suicide, the Olson family alleges murder because,
especially in the aftermath of his LSD experience, he has become a
security risk who might divulge state secrets associated with highly
classified CIA programs of which he has direct personal knowledge. A few
days before his death, Olson quits his position as acting chief of the
Special Operations Division at Camp Detrick [later Fort Detrick] in
Frederick, Maryland, because of a severe moral crisis concerning the
nature of his biological weapons research. Among Olson’s concerns are
the development of assassination materials used by the CIA. The CIA’s
use of biological warfare materials in covert operations,
experimentation with biological weapons in populated areas,
collaboration with former Nazi scientists under Operation Paperclip, LSD
mind-control research, and the use of psychoactive drugs during
“terminal” interrogations under a program code-named Project ARTICHOKE.
Later forensic evidence conflicts with the official version of events;
when Olson’s body is exhumed in 1994, cranial injuries indicate that
Olson was knocked unconscious before he exited the window. The medical
examiner terms Olson’s death a “homicide.” (Michael Ignatieff, “What
Did the C.I.A. Do to His Father?” New York Times Magazine, April 1,
2001, pp. 56– 61; H. P. Albarelli Jr., A
Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Cold War
Experiments, Trine Day, 2009; Stephen Kinzer, “The
Secret History of Fort Detrick, the CIA’s Base for Mind Control Experiments,”
Politico Magazine, September 15, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2305
Date: 12/1953
Description: Noall
Bryce Cornwell (who uses the pseudonyms Mel Noel and Guy Kirkwood)
claims to have been stationed at Lowry AFB [now Wings Over the Rockies
Air and Space Museum] in Denver, Colorado, and engaged in several
dogfight-type maneuvers with UFOs involving gun-camera film. His stories
are bogus, and later he runs phony investment scams and becomes a
contactee who describes meeting pink-haired, platinum- skinned,
fish-eating Martians said to be running a Mars-Earth transportation
system. (Mel Noel, The Mel Noel Story, Saucerian, 1960; Good Above, pp. 273–277;
Kevin D. Randle, “Mel
Noel / Guy Kirkwood in the 1960s,” A Different Perspective, December
20, 2010; Adam Gorightly, “Mel
Noel’s Phony Flying Saucer Trip to the Stars,”
Chasing UFOs, April 17, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2307
Date: 12/1953
Description: Wilbert
B. Smith sets up his Department of Transport observatory at
Shirley’s Bay, Ontario. His equipment includes an ionospheric reactor,
electronic sound measurement devices, gamma-ray detector, gravimeter,
magnetometer, and radio set. (Wikipedia, “Project
Magnet (UFO)”; Good Above, pp. 185–186)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2306
Date: 12/1953
Description: Mrs. Orfei heard a knock at the door in the middle of the
night and obtained no answer when she asked who it was. When more
furious knocks were heard, her Alsatian dog jumped toward the door, but
suddenly retreated, trembling as if terrified and retired to a corner.
Mrs. Orfei went to an upper door and saw two “indescribable” shadows go
away from the house. A while later a big, round object took off 100 m
away with a blue-green lightning. The police found broken bushes as
evidence of an enormous weight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Oltre il Cielo, Vol. I (Vallee)
Location: Sherbrook, Canada
ID: 121
Date: 12/1953
Description: Meeting of a private “industrial group” discussing matters
that “confront the country” concerning custody of several beings off a
saucer. Meeting was to be held at “Muroc Dry Lake” (Edwards AFB), but it
was held somewhere else.
Type: private notes
Reference: Medium
Location: CA
Date: 12/1953
Description: Australian UFO researcher Edgar
Jarrold is visited four times by a mysterious man who swears him to
secrecy. What the visitor tells him amazes him “beyond belief,” but he
never publicly reveals who the man is. However, it turns out that the
man is Gordon Deller, a minor figure in Australian ufology who has some
quaint and original theories about the saucers. He believes that UFOs
are piloted by etherians from another dimension. He tells Jarrold this,
along with some insights into a geological cataclysm and telepathic
communication. Harold Fulton, a
ufologist from New Zealand, suspects Deller is a nut. However, Jarrold’s
obsession with UFOs leads to the breakup of his family and the
disintegration of his personal life by 1955. (Clark III 632–633)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2308
Date: 12/7/1953
Description: Radio Moscow proclaims that saucers are “figments of the
imagination of western warmongers.” (Frank Edwards, FS Serious Business,
Bantam ed., 1966, p. 156)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2310
Date: 12/7/1953
Description: 9:30 p.m. Pfc Alfred V. De Bonise and Sgt1C James Conley of
the 89th Anti-Aircraft Battalion at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, spot
a white object, “shining like a star.” It makes a noise like an
artillery shell in flight. It moves erratically and eventually falls out
of sight. (Good Above, p. 280;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History:
1953, August–December, The Author, 1990, p. 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2309
Date: 12/8/1953
Description: CIA Evaluation of the UFO situation: It was pleased to note
that the number of sightings had decreased dramatically, due, it
believed, to the success of its’ implemented policies. Some sightings
still would have “possible scientific intelligence value”. The CIA
concluded that the panel’s (name?) recommendations might have been
interpreted by saucer believers as “debunking”.
Type: report
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Langley, VA
Date: 12/8/1953
Description: The CIA reports that UFO sightings have fallen dramatically
in 1953, though there are some of “possible scientific intelligence
value.” (Jenny Randles, UFO Conspiracy, Cassell, 1987, p. 45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2311
Date: 12/9/1953
Description: 3:45 p.m. Charles Huaut sees a luminous, golden, round
object poised motionless at a high altitude over Saint-Émilion, Gironde,
France. After 10 minutes it noiselessly changes position and assumes the
form of several horseshoes enveloped in smoke trails. Then it
disappears. (Central Intelligence Agency, “Sightings
of Unidentified
Flying Objects,” April 20, 1954, p. 2; ClearIntent, p. 130)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2312
Date: 12/15/1953
Description: 2:37 p.m. While flying a Transair Sweden DC-3 in the
vicinity of Hässleholm, Skåne, Sweden, pilot Ulf Christiernsson and
flight mechanic Olle Johansson encounter an “unorthodox, metallic,
symmetric, round object” closing in on their aircraft for about 10
seconds. It passes about 1,970 feet under the DC-3 at an altitude of
7,055 feet. Air Force Gen. Bengt
Nordenskiöld calls in reports from all relevant Swedish radar
stations to identify the object, and the Defence Research Institute
spends many hours reconstructing the event. However, the owner of a
local perfume company confessed in late December to releasing 300
hydrogen-filled balloons south of Hässleholm as an advertising promotion
around 12:30 p.m. that day. (Swords 365)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2313
Date: 12/16/1953
Description: 4:58 p.m. Lockheed Skunk Works chief Clarence
L. “Kelly” Johnson and his wife Althea (near Agoura, California) and
a Lockheed crew (Rudy Thoren, Roy
Wimmer, and 3 others) flying the WV-2 Warning Star aircraft near
Long Beach, California, independently of each other observe a black
flying-wing (or ellipse or crescent-shaped) object about 170–230 feet
wide flying at about 15,000 ±2,000 feet altitude to the west, hovering
about 30–60 miles away. At 5:04 p.m., after four minutes (to the
Johnsons) and six minutes (to WV-2 crew) the UFO suddenly takes off in a
shallow climb accelerating to approximately earth escape velocity
(25,000 mph) to the west over the Pacific. It disappears in 10–13
seconds (to WV-2 crew) or in 90 seconds (to Johnson using 8x binoculars)
after reaching 90+ miles altitude. (NICAP, “The
Lockheed UFO Case”; Joel Carpenter, “The Lockheed UFO Case, 1953,”
IUR 26, no. 3 (Fall 2001): 6–9, 33; Joel Carpenter, “The
Lockheed UFO Case,” 2001; Sparks,
p. 206)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2315
Date: 12/16/1953
Description: The British Air Ministry sends orders to all RAF stations
saying that UFO reports are to be classified “Restricted” and personnel
must not communicate any sighting information to unauthorized persons.
Reports must be sent to the air intelligence branch DDI (Tech) that is
now responsible for UFO investigations. (UFOFiles2, pp. 57–60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2314
Date: 12/17/1953
Description: A memo from Todos
M. Odarenko, chief
of the CIA/OSI physics and electronics division, condescendingly reviews
the status of various government UFO efforts. (Todos M. Odarenko, “Current
Status of Unidentified
Flying Objects (UFOB) Project,” December 17, 1953)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2317
Date: 12/17/1953
Description: After the crew of a Swedish airliner reports a wingless
circular UFO over Hässleholm, Sweden, the Swedish Armed Forces orders a
full-scale investigation. Capt. Ulf
Christiernsson says the object is an “entirely unorthodox, metallic,
symmetrical, and circular object.” Later reports claim it is a
radiosonde balloon. (UFOEv, p. 121;
Sparks, p. 206)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2316
Date: 12/17/1953
Time: 2:37 PM
Description: Witness: Capt. Ulf Christiernsson, chief pilot for
Transair, flying a DC-3. One shiny metal spherical ellipse, 2,000’ below
DC-3, flew at approximately 700 m.p.h. for 6-7 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Hasslehom, Sweden
ID: 330
Date: Winter 1953
Description: Salisbury Plain, England: Flight Lt. C.G. Townsend- Withers
was flying an experimental Canberra aircraft at 55,000 ft. when he
picked up on the new experimental radar an UFO following his plane. The
science officer went up to the turret for a visual and spotted a
circular craft five miles behind them. They tried to outpace the UFO by
accelerating to 225 knots but it kept up with their plane.
Townsend-Withers initiated a wide sweeping turn and lost radar contact
with the UFO but came into direct visual on a collision course with the
UFO. Then the UFO flipped vertically in the air and climbed from 50 to
70 thousand feet, as quickly as you could say it. Description: Round,
thin disc with two tail fins at the rear, appearing metallic and
enormous. Leaving no vapor trail, wake or detectable sound, it vanished
within a couple of seconds up into the blue sky.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Salisbury Plain, England
Date: 12/23/1953
Description: USAF Intelligence Col. George
E. Perry writes to Gen. Woodbury
M. Burgess, ADC
Deputy for Intelligence at Ent AFB [now the US Olympic Training Center]
in Colorado Springs, Colorado, recommending that when the 4602nd
investigates a UFO sighting and it is not a conventional object,
personnel should state “The information on this sighting will be
analyzed by the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Dayton, Ohio,” and
leave it at that. (Col. George E. Perry, Letter
to Brig. Gen. W. M. Burgess, December
23, 1953)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2318
Date: 12/24/1953
Time: 8:04 AM
Description: Witnesses: U.S. Navy Lts. J.B. Howard and L.D. Linhard,
flying F9F-2 jet fighters. Ten silver, oval objects flew at more than
400 kts. (450 m.p.h.), straight and level, for 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: El Cajon, California
ID: 331
Date: 12/24/1953
Description: 8:04 a.m. US Navy Lts. J. B. Howard and L. D. Linhard,
flying F9F-2 jet fighters, see 10 silver oval objects flying in
formation at 450+ mph, straight and level, over El Cajon, California.
(NICAP, “Navy
Lts. Encounter
10 Oval Objects”; Sparks, p. 206)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2319
Date: 12/26/1953
Description: The first of a series of articles in the Washington (D.C.)
Times-Herald by Richard Reilly questions the Air Force’s openness about
UFOs. (Dolan, p. 145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2320
Date: 12/28/1953
Time: 11:55 AM
Description: Witness: Yuba County Airport Manager Dick Brandt. One
saucer, with a brilliant blue light, reflecting on a nearby building,
hovered briefly during the 1.5 minute observation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Marysville, California
ID: 332
Date: 12/29/1953
Description: Keyhoe has
a confrontation with Delos
Smith, the science editor of the United Press wire service, and a UP
executive editor. Smith is preparing a three-part series debunking
Keyhoe’s claims because a “certain Air Force general swears your book is
a complete fraud.” Forewarned by Frank
Edwards, Keyhoe counters his arguments with documentation. (Keyhoe,
FS
Conspiracy, pp. 85–88)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2321
Date: 12/30/1953
Description: 9:05 p.m. Pfc Norman Viet, on guard duty at the tank park
in Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, watches a blinking red light
about 18 inches in diameter moving slowly over a tree line about 200
feet away. It soon drops down out of sight. Fifteen minutes later it is
seen again, rising up and floating toward the tank shed. Viet says it is
completely soundless. At 10:15 p.m. it returns, also witnessed by
Sgt. Francis R. Salinder, who alerts the base and a combat team searches
the area. At midnight, a red light appears above the search area,
spooking a guard. (Wilkins, FS Uncensored, Citadel, 1955, p. 202;
Washington (D.C.) Daily News, January 5, 1954; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1953, August–December, The
Author, 1990, p. 75)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2322
Date: 12/31/1953
Description: Marines observed the landing of an unknown round object
which throbbed and pulsated, emitting red lights.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins U 210 (Vallee)
Location: Quantico Marine Base, Virginia
ID: 122
Date: 1954
Description: The powerful Type 80 centimetric radars introduced in the
UK this year are plagued by radar “angels” that become a hazard for air
traffic controllers. A Fighter Command investigation concludes that most
of them are caused by migrating seabirds, and others are the result of
“anomalous propagation.” Later computers filter out smaller echoes and
increase the strength of those created by aircraft. (David Clarke,
“Gremlins and Black Projects,” Fortean Times 291 (August 2012):
26–27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2327
Date: 1954
Description: Jim
and Coral Lorenzen move from Wisconsin to Alamogordo, New Mexico, to
work as civilian employees at Holloman AFB. (Clark III 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2323
Date: 1954
Description: Contactee George
Van Tassel begins building the Integratron at Giant Rock,
California, based on the rejuvenation techniques imparted to him by
space aliens from Venus. (Wikipedia, “Integratron”;
Jody Rosen, “Welcome
to the Integratron,” New York Times Magazine, August 20, 2014; Lesla
Miller Schnur, “G.
W. Van Tassel’s
Integratron,” The Haunted Librarian, August 27, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2324
Date: 1954
Description: An official in the UK Deputy Directorate of Intelligence
(Technical) mentions to investigator Ronald N. Russell that the DDI has
15,000 reports on file since 1947 stored in nine drawers in three wooden
filing cabinets with Yale locks, doubly secured by a hinged plate locked
with a large padlock. (John Pitt, “’Tell
Us Please, Mr. Birch,’”
Flying Saucer Review 2, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1956): 10–13; Good Above, p. 33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2325
Date: 1954
Description: A promotional photo of a Martin B-57 Canberra bomber taken
near Edwards Air Force Base in California shows a saucer-like object in
the upper right portion of the frame. No one actually reports seeing the
object, which seems to be trailing the B-57 in flight. NICAP
photoanalyst Ralph Rankow points out that the object has dimension, does
not appear to be a scratch or rub on the film, and has a pattern of
light and shadow consistent with the rest of the photo. (Story, pp. 36–37;
Robert A. Schmidt, “The
Strange Case of the B-57 Photographs,” Flying Saucer Review Case
Histories, no. 6 (August 1971): 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2326
Date: 1954
Description: After RCAF pilots fail to intercept several UFOs in
Canadian air space, the Defence Research Board sets up a restricted
landing field near the Suffield Experimental Station [now CFB Suffield],
Alberta. All RCAF planes and commercial aircraft are restricted from the
area. However, the effort is abandoned after the government determines
that UFOs are not a national security risk. The project is kept secret
until July 1967 when it is revealed by Defence Minister Paul
Hellyer. (“UFO
Landing Site was 13-Year Secret,” Ottawa (Ont.) Journal, July 20,
1967, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2328
Date: 1954
Description: Project SIGMA established as part of Project xxxx (name
CENSURED). Top Secret project that looked into how to communicate with
aliens. That projects existence was revealed in the PROJECT AQUARIUS
Briefing Document and is said to have succeeded in 1964 when a USAF
intelligence officer met two other aliens at a prearranged location in a
desert in New Mexico. Became a separate project in 1976.
Type: majestic document
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A, SIGMA)
Location: US
Attributes: Majestic
Date: 1954
Description: US Satellite Program: “The U.S. Earth satellite program
began in 1954 as a joint U.S. Army and U.S. Navy proposal, called
Project Orbiter, to put a scientific satellite into orbit during the
International Geophysical Year. The proposal, using a military Redstone
missile, was rejected in 1955 by the Eisenhower administration in favor
of the Navy’s Project Vanguard, using a booster advertised as more
civilian in nature. Following the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik
1 on 4 October 1957, the initial Project Orbiter program was revived as
the Explorer program to catch up with the Soviet Union.”
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: US
Date: 1/1954
Description: Radio commentator Frank Edwards states that the US
government has an “object” under examination in California.
Type: radio
Reference: Medium
Location: California
Date: 1/1954
Description: Ed
J. Sullivan’s Civilian Saucer Investigation Los Angeles disbands.
(“CSI
Conclusions,” Civilian Saucer Investigation Quarterly Bulletin 1,
no. 4 (Winter 1954): 7–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2329
Date: 1/1954
Description: 5:00 a.m. A strange object streaks across the sky over
Harts Range, Northern Territory, Australia, seen and heard by four
Native Australians. On the same day, an anonymous photographer is taking
photos of Mount Gillen, Northern Territory, when suddenly an enormous
(150 feet) round object appears from behind it. It moves high, then
drops low. He takes a photo, then it shoots off at high speed to the
west. The photo, reproduced in the newspaper, shows a dubious-looking
round object on edge with six spokes. (Alice Springs Centralian
Advocate, January 15, 1954; Alice Springs Centralian Advocate, February
5, 1954; Keith Basterfield, “Cold
Case: The Mount
Gillen Photograph, Alice Springs, 1954,” Unidentified Aerial
Phenomena–Scientific Research, January 12, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2330
Date: 1/1954
Description: Giant UFO Over Baltimore and Washington.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 1/1/1954
Description: 10:15 a.m. Capt. Douglas Barker, a pilot with Australian
National Airways, is at his home in Doncaster East, Melbourne, Victoria.
He sees a “metallic, mushroom-shaped object” flying over the Yarra River
valley toward the Templestowe brickworks in the northwest. He estimates
it is traveling at 700 mph at a height of 2,000 feet. Its apparent size
is four times that of a DC-4 aircraft. It is oscillating rapidly in and
out of thick cloud. It is elliptical with a “long shaft about the same
length as its body hanging below it.” Total duration of the sighting is
12 seconds. (NICAP, “Mushroom
Flying over Yarra Valley”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2331
Date: 1/1/1954
End date: 1/2/1954
Description: 10:35 p.m.–12:05 a.m. Navy pilot Lt. JG George G. Morgan of
Naval Air Station Lakehurst [now Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst], Toms
River, New Jersey, police chief Richard
Clement, police officer Oliver
G. Osborne,
and other witnesses see 3–12 round white objects with fuzzy edges
slightly smaller than the full moon hovering in the south for 90 minutes
as 2 objects circled around another one. They then switch places. Some
witnesses attempt to drive toward the objects to investigate. The
objects suddenly depart to the southwest at extremely high speed,
growing smaller until they disappear in 1–2 seconds. Multiple
independent witnesses across a baseline of at least 12 miles allow for
triangulation that locates the objects near Beach Haven, New Jersey,
from distances of 15–40 miles. At least five witnesses use binoculars.
Hynek calculates
a departure speed of 90,000 mph, a hovering altitude of 4 miles, and a
diameter of 1,500 feet. (NICAP, “Multiple-Witness
Sightings Triangulate
Location”; Sparks,
p. 207; Swords 223–224)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2332
Date: 1/4/1954
Description: Shortly after 9:00 p.m. A round luminous machine, coming
from the south, lands at the Marignane Airfield [now Marseille Provence
Airport], Bouches-du-Rhône, France. There is only one witness present, a
fireman at the airport named Chesneau. The machine disappears while he
is telephoning the control tower. Careful scrutiny of the runway the
next morning turns up a few pieces of metallic debris. The story is
confirmed by a Marseille resident who is driving from Arles to Marseille
and sees a large, round, reddish fireball, but places the time at 10:45
p.m. (Jimmy Guieu, Les soucoupes volantes viennent d’un autre monde,
Fleuve Noir, 1954; ClearIntent, p. 132;
Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” March 15, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2333
Date: 1/4/1954
Time: 2100
Description: Mr. Chesneau, fireman, saw a round luminous object slowly
coming down and called the control tower to report it. When he came out
again, the object had disappeared.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Guieu (Vallee)
Location: Marignane Airport, France
ID: 123
Date: 1/6/1954
Description: The Cleveland Press runs the headline “Brass Curtain Hides
Flying Saucers” and reveals that ATIC will no longer allow reporters
seeking UFO information into Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. Its reporter
is given the runaround on the Utah film. (“Air
Force Closes Brass Curtain,” Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel,
January 14, 1954, p. 3; UFOEv, p. 134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2334
Date: 1/7/1954
Description: 4:27 a.m. A fiery disk, followed by a luminous trail, is
seen in Arras, Pas-de-Calais, France. The disc remains motionless in the
sky for an instant, after which it flies away and disappears over the
horizon. (ClearIntent, p. 133;
Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” December 4, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2335
Date: 1/9/1954
Description: Three residents of Lunéville, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France,
see a round object flying from north to south. The object flies more
slowly than a jet plane and leaves a luminous yellow trail. It flies
noiselessly, although it appears to be at a low altitude. Several
students of the College de Lunéville also see the object. (ClearIntent,
p. 132;
Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” December 28, 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2336
Date: 1/10/1954
Description: 5:25–5:40 p.m. James
E. McDonald, two other University of Chicago meteorologists, and
another passenger are driving on Hwy 83 north of Sonoita, Arizona, when
McDonald spots a brilliant white stationary object in the southwest
above the Santa Rita Mountains about 10 miles away. They lose sight of
it as the car moves on. McDonald searches carefully for alternate
explanations, but can find none, so he reports the sighting to the Air
Force in a 4-page letter. (Clark III 695; Sparks, p. 207)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2337
Date: 1/13/1954
End date: 1/16/1954
Description: Gen. Woodbury
M. Burgess chairs a conference at Ent AFB [now the US Olympic
Training Center] in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with 4602nd officers
Capt. Joseph A. Cybulski and Capt. Bellovin and emphasizes that it is
now the agency responsible to ATIC for investigating UFOs. Cybulski says
that “We here in Headquarters will keep a complete file on all the
sightings. That’s why we want the information copied. We will file them
under separate headings, such as the type of personnel involved,
military or civilian, or air-lines. We will record it under the type of
object it was eventually determined to be.” Capt. Cybulski leaves for
Dayton, Ohio, the next day to coordinate activities more closely. He
reports that Hynek is
“ready to quit” because he is “ridiculed by members of my profession for
chasing these imaginary objects.” But Burgess persuades him to stay.
(CUFON, “4602d
AISS Unit History Sampler, Part 3 of 7 Parts”; Brian Skow and Terry
Endres, “The 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron and UFOs,” IUR 20,
no. 5 (Winter 1995): 9–10; Capt. Joseph A. Cybulski, “How the Air Force
Investigated UFOs,” IUR 20, no. 5 (Winter 1995): 11, 30–32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2339
Date: 1/13/1954
Description: Mutual Radio broadcaster Frank
Edwards alleges on his show that the wreckage of a flying saucer is
being held in a “West Coast military field.” (Clark III 330–331)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2338
Date: 1/18/1954
Description: Cosette Weiss of Las Cruces, New Mexico, is visiting the
Kilbourne Hole, a maar volcanic crater in the Potrillo Volcanic Field of
southern New Mexico, to collect gemstones with a companion,
Mrs. Sanders. They discover 25–30 disc-shaped tracks in the sand. The
largest are about 2 feet in diameter, perfectly round, and consist of
four concentric rings. They find more fresh tracks on January 22.
Sanders reports this to White Sands Proving Grounds. Two Army security
agents, Capt. Ross
Orcutt and CID agent Henry Herman, spend the night of February 6 at
the location and report that the tracks are “nothing more than a
combination of wind, sand, and roots.” The mystery lights seen in the
area by Weiss are labeled “vehicular traffic.” (“Report from the
Readers,” Fate 7, no. 6 (June 1954): 109–129; Michael D. Swords, “Fun
and Games in the Desert near Las Cruces,” IUR 30, no. 3 (May 2006):
21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2340
Date: 1/18/1954
Description: 1:30 p.m. Many people in Saint-Arnaud [now El Eulma],
Algeria, observe an object that leaves a double trail of white smoke,
making an immense circle over the town. Several officers at Bordj de la
Remonte fort (southwest of Magra) hear the object make a strange sound.
It seems to arrive from the north. A meteorological station near Oued
Hmimim (southeast of Constantine) observes a double trail of smoke at
2:00 p.m., but it concludes that the smoke comes from a plane flying at
great altitude. At 2:30 p.m., inhabitants of Sétif see an object arrive
from the east, emitting bluish smoke trails and moving relatively
slowly. After circling above the town for several seconds, it suddenly
heads back in the direction of Saint-Arnaud at great speed. Witnesses
describe it as it being cigar-shaped and flying at high altitude.
Finally, at 4:45 p.m., a large, luminous, rectangular- shaped object is
seen over Ouled Djellal (125 miles southwest of Sétif) for over 30
minutes following a rectilinear course. The object comes from the east
and disappears toward the west. (ClearIntent, p. 133)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2341
Date: 1/24/1954
Description: Author Frank Scully records in his private notes 11/53
rumors of a saucer and its occupant in custody at Edwards AFB. He also
records that an “industrial group” discussing matters that “confront the
country” will be meeting at Muroc Dry Lake concerning the custody of
several beings off a saucer.
Type: private notes
Reference: Medium
Location: Edwards AFB
See also: 11/53
See also: 12/53
Date: 1/25/1954
Description: The British Air Ministry and the British War Office order
airmen and soldiers to tell the public nothing about UFOs. (Harold T.
Wilkins, Flying Saucers on the Attack, Citadel, 1954, p. 318)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2342
Date: 1/25/1954
Description: 10:00 p.m. A civilian employee and astronomer, Robert
D. Schaldach in the Technical Service Unit at White Sands Proving
Grounds, New Mexico, is setting up his ballistic camera to monitor a
missile test. As he looks at the stars to calibrate his instrument, he
notices a yellow-white light moving from northeast to southeast in a
shallow arc. It pulses in brightness at regular intervals. At the same
time, another observer 17 miles to the southeast also sees the object.
They perform some triangulation measurements and determine that the
object is about 12 miles distant and moving at 12,000 mph. Schaldach
says it is not a meteor. Blue Book, no doubt Hynek, labels
it as a meteor. (Michael D. Swords, “Fun and Games in the Desert near
Las Cruces,” IUR 30, no. 3 (May 2006): 20–21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2343
Date: 1/27/1954
Description: The US successfully launches a Redstone surface-to-surface
missile that flies 55 miles from Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Wikipedia,
“PGM-11
Redstone”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2344
Date: 1/28/1954
Description: Australian Minister for External Affairs Richard
Casey suggests there is a correlation between UFO sightings and
“periods of intense meteorite activity.” (Swords 374)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2345
Date: 1/28/1954
Time: 110-10:15 AM
Description: Witness: Wilhelm Reich. Two bright lights moved into
valley, and were seen against the mountain background, for 15
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Rangeley, Maine
ID: 333
Date: 1/29/1954
Description: Afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Whitaker are driving 6 miles
south of Santa Ana, California, when they see a round object emitting a
blurry light-blue light moving off a hilly field. It passes over their
car at an altitude of 25 feet. The radio goes blank and the motor coughs
and continues to act roughly after the UFO had gone. Whitaker estimates
it is 60 feet in diameter and traveling at 600 mph. It makes a vertical
ascent and disappears. (Schopick, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2346
Date: 2/1954
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Forster stated they saw a craft on the ground,
with a woman close by. She was wearing luminous clothing, a sort of
hood, and thick glasses and held a tube in one hand and a box in the
other. Mrs. Forster had to be taken to the hospital in a state of
shock.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Barker (Vallee)
Location: Peakskill, New York
ID: 125
Date: 2/1954
Description: A native was riding a horse over a low ridge when a
spherial object about 13 m in diameter “nearly skittled me off my
horse.” It went up suddenly with a heavy wind, rumbling and emitting
four columns of smoke.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins U 211 (Vallee)
Location: Todd River Downs, Australia
ID: 124
Date: 2/1954
Description: Civilian Saucer Intelligence of New York is founded by Ted
Bloecher, Isabel
Davis, and Alexander
Mebane. The group holds regular meetings, sponsors lecturers, and
begins publishing a CSI Newsletter in February 1955. It disbands in
1959. (Wikipedia, “Civilian
Saucer Intelligence”; CSI
Publication, no.
0 (April 23, 1954); Clark III 241)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2347
Date: 2/1954
Description: Clara
John begins publishing The Little Listening Post newsletter in
Washington, D.C. It continues through August 1965. (Little
Listening Post, February
9, 1954)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2348
Date: 2/1954
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Forster of Peekskill, New York, see a UFO on
the ground with a woman close by. She holds a tube in one hand and a box
in the other, wears luminous clothing and a hood over part of her head.
Mrs. Forster has to be taken to the hospital in a state of shock.
(Dominick C. Lucchesi, “They
Saw a Saucer Woman,” The Saucerian 2, no. 2 (September 1954): 12–17;
Vallée, Magonia, p. 205;
Clark III 267)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2349
Date: 2/1954
Description: Newlyweds Ernest
L. Norman and Ruth
E. Norman found a contactee group, the Unarius Academy of Science,
in Los Angeles, California. Ernest, a spiritualist medium, wants the
group to promote the interdimensional science of life expounded in the
books he has written, all of them channeled psychically from
extraterrestrial intelligences. Both claim impressive credentials from
past lives. Ruth styles herself the Archangel Uriel and after the death
of Ernest in 1971, she becomes the public face of Unarius. Before her
death in 1993, she predicts a mass landing of flying saucers in 2001 on
a piece of scrubland near the Unarius headquarters in El Cajon,
California. (Wikipedia, “Unarius
Academy of Science”; Clark III 1186–1187; Douglas Curran, In Advance
of the Landing: Folk Concepts of Outer Space, Abbeville, 1985, pp. 27–37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2350
Date: 2/1/1954
Description: 10:00 a.m. Mrs. W. J. Daily of La Puente, California, sees
a silvery, bright, round object through binoculars. It tilts, revealing
a fiery-red bottom. The UFO spins and drifts away with an odd-looking
vapor trail. A large amount of cobwebby substance falls on her property.
She takes three samples to the Mount Wilson Observatory. (San Fernando
(Calif.) Valley Times, February 15, 1954; James C. McNamara, “Angel’s
Hair,” Pageant 10 (November 1954): 52–56; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1954, January–May, The Author, 1990, pp. 24–25; Story, p. 19;
Michael D. Swords, “Angel Hair: Spindrift between Worlds,” IUR 32, no. 1
(August 2008): 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2351
Date: 2/4/1954
Description: 11:00 p.m. A target is detected by the Carswell AFB [now
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth] Ground Control Approach
radar, near Fort Worth, Texas, at a distance of 13–15 miles to the
southwest. A “mystery aircraft” passes over Carswell tower at just over
3,000 feet. Seen through binoculars, the UFO has a long fuselage,
elliptical wings, some kind of stabilizer, a bright light on its nose
and tail, two yellowish lights on the bottom, and possible lights on
each wing tip. It is silent. The report is sent directly to the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, CIA, and NSA. (NICAP, “Radar/Visual
with Two Radars”; Good Above, pp. 281–282, 495–496;
Sparks,
p. 208)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2352
Date: 2/6/1954
Description: CONFIDENTIAL Air Force Staff Message: (DTG 061800Z) From
Commander 19, A-Division, Carswell AFB, TX: UFO sighted over base. Had
long fuselage, elliptical wings, stabilizer and no visible means of
propulsion. It was larger than a B-36, had no tail, left no trail of
exhaust and emitted no sound. Passed directly over tower at an Alt. of
3000 to 4000 ft. and was visible to all persons on duty. The UFO, when
viewed on 10 mile scope gave a return of 1 inch. Copy of this report
sent to: CSAF, WASH DC; COMDR ADC, ENT AFB, COLO; COMDR ATINTEL, CRT
WPAFB, OHIO; COMDR 8TH AF, CARSWELL AFB, TEX.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p495)
Location: Carswell AFB, TX
Date: 2/13/1954
Description: Jim
G. Lucas of Scripps-Howard papers reports that representatives of
major US airlines will meet in Los Angeles with Military Air Transport
Service intelligence officers to discuss speeding up UFO reporting
procedures. “Airline pilots are asked not to discuss their sightings
publicly or give them to newspapers.” (“Airline Pilots
Sighting 5–10
‘Saucers’ Nightly,” Pittsburgh (Pa.) Press, February 13, 1954,
pp. 1, 3; UFOEv, p. 134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2353
Date: 2/13/1954
Description: Astronomer Clyde
Tombaugh gives a talk to the Astronomical Society of Las Cruces, New
Mexico. He predicts an increase in UFO sightings and tells the audience
to keep its eyes open and be ready to report sightings. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, p. 99)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2354
Date: 2/15/1954
Description: American syndicated columnist Dorothy
Kilgallen writes: “Flying saucers are regarded as of such vital
importance that they will be the subject of a special hush-hush meeting
of world military heads next summer.” (Dorothy Kilgallen, “Voice
of Broadway” column, Dover (Ohio) Daily Reporter, February 15, 1954,
p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2355
Date: 2/15/1954
Description: Two small boys see and take pic of UFO near Coniston,
England.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Coniston, England
Attributes: ufo photo
Date: 2/15/1954
Description: Morning. Stephen
Darbishire, 13, and his cousin Adrian Meyer, 8, set off for an
expedition to the Old Man of Coniston, a fell in the Lake District,
England, armed with a Kodak box camera. Meyer notices an object above
Dow Crag with a silvery, glassy appearance, shining like aluminum. It
glides toward them and approaches within 400 yards, travelling at
tremendous speed, and then stops suddenly and hovers noiselessly, in the
sky. Darbishire takes two photos, which resemble those of scoutships
taken by George
Adamski in the US. A probable hoax, although Darbishire still
refuses to say anything explicit about the photos, which no longer
exist. (Clark III 42; Leonard G. Cramp, Space, Gravity, and the Flying
Saucer, British Book Centre, 1955; Good Above, p. 377;
David Clarke and Andy Roberts, “UFO
Hoaxing and the Story of Stephen Darbishire,” Magonia, no. 75 (July
2001)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2357
Date: 2/15/1954
Description: Aviation Week publishes an article describing new Soviet
jet bombers capable of carrying a nuclear bomb to the US. The aircraft
is the Myasishchev M-4 Bison. The rumors are soon debated publicly in
the press and Congress. The Air Force begins promoting its unfounded
myth of a bomber gap, in which the Soviet Union has 500 bombers capable
of delivering nuclear weapons. (Wikipedia, “Myasishchev
M-4”; David A. Anderton, “Pictures
Reveal Reds’ New ‘Sunday Punch,’” Aviation Week, February 15, 1954,
pp. 12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2356
Date: 2/17/1954
Description: Commercial airline representatives meet with Military Air
Transport Service officers at the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles,
California, and are told that pilots are subject to JANAP 146 (CIRVIS)
and must radio reports to the nearest airport and make no public
statements or face a prison term of 10 years and/or a fine of $10,000.
(Good Above, pp. 146, 283)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2358
Date: 2/18/1954
Description: Cedric Allingham meets and takes a picture of a man from
Mars and saucer.
Type: ce4 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 2/19/1954
Description: CIA agent Morris
“Morse” Allen simulates the ultimate experiment in hypnosis: the
creation of a “Manchurian Candidate,” or programmed assassin. Allen’s
victim is a secretary whom he puts into a deep trance and tells to keep
sleeping until he orders otherwise. He then hypnotizes a second
secretary and tells her that if she cannot wake up her friend, “her rage
would be so great that she would not hesitate to ‘kill.’” Allen leaves a
pistol nearby, which the secretary has no way of knowing is unloaded.
Even though she has earlier expressed a fear of firearms of any kind,
she picks up the gun and pulls the trigger on her sleeping friend. After
Allen brings the “killer” out of her trance, she has apparent amnesia
for the event, denying she could ever shoot anyone. (John D. Marks, The
Search for the “Manchurian Candidate”: The CIA and Mind Control, Times
Books, 1978, pp. 182– 186)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2359
Date: 2/20/1954
Description: Rumors of President Eisenhower disappearing from reporters
at Palm Springs for a secret meeting at Edwards AFB to captured saucers
and perhaps have a meeting. One reporter issues and then immediately
retracts a wire story that the President was dead. Dentist visit a cover
story.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: book
link
Location: Edwards AFB, CA
See also: 4/2/54
Date: 2/20/1954
End date: 2/21/1954
Description: President Eisenhower is
on a golf vacation at Smoke Tree Ranch in Palm Springs, California, when
he breaks the porcelain cap of his “upper left central incisor” and has
it repaired by Dr. Francis
A. Purcell. However, the incident is not reported in the press, and
rumors start buzzing that he made a secret trip to Edwards Air Force
Base to view the remains of aliens who had crashed at Roswell, New
Mexico, in 1947. Later stories claim he actually visited with live
aliens and conducted a treaty with them. The lack of any dental record
from Purcell’s office has fueled the rumors, but Ike’s dental history is
thoroughly covered in the November 1995 issue of the Bulletin of the
History of Dentistry. (“‘Object’
Studied at Edwards Air Base as ‘Brass Curtain’ Falls around Saucer
Data,” Flying Saucer News-Service Research Bulletin 1, no. 9 (August
20, 1955): 3; Wilkins, FS Uncensored, Citadel, 1955, pp. 45–48;
Riley Crabb, Flying Saucers and the Coming Space Probes, The Author,
1959; Michael D. Swords, “Tales from the Barker Zone,” IUR 17, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1992): 4–10; Jerome Clark, “A Catalog of Early Crash Claims,”
IUR 18, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1993): 18, 24; James M. Mixson, “A
History of Dwight
D. Eisenhower’s Oral Health,” Journal of the History of Dentistry
43, no. 3 (November 1995): 93–103; Good Need, pp. 208–209;
Juan A. Lorenzo Rivas, “President
Eisenhower’s ‘E.T.’ Encounter: What Really Happened
at Muroc Base?” Flying Saucer Review 44, no. 3 (Autumn 1999): 2–6;
Gordon Creighton, “More
on the
‘Muroc’ Story,” Flying Saucer Review 44, no. 3 (Autumn 1999): 6–10;
Michael E. Salla, “Eisenhower’s 1954 Meeting with Extraterrestrials: The
Fiftieth Anniversary of First Contact?” Research Study No. 8,
Exopolitics, February 12, 2004; Peter Carlson, “Ike
and the Alien Ambassadors,” Washington Post, February 19, 2004; John
Joyce, “Ike’s
Space Alien Encounter,” The Ike Blog, November 10, 2011; Clark III
330–331)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2360
Date: 2/23/1954
Description: Scripps-Howard papers report that the “nation’s 8,500
commercial airline pilots have been seeing a lot of unusual objects
while flying at night, here and overseas.” They confirm that plans for a
detailed reporting system were agreed upon at the February 17 meeting in
Los Angeles, California, so that the Air Force can investigate quickly.
Each airline is to have an “internal security specialist” as a liaison
with the military. (“Flying
Saucers Reports
System to Be Organized,” Albuquerque (N.Mex.) Tribune, February 23,
1954, p. 10; UFOEv, p. 134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2361
Date: 2/24/1954
Description: Lecturer and engineer Norman S. Bean states that saucers
are already in “captivity”, one saucer was or still is in Dayton OH,
military is investigating the saucer, saucer people look like humans,
after the British atomic bomb tests in Australia saucer reports took off
there, claimed Air Force permission to talk.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: Newspapers.com
Location: Miami, FL
Date: 2/26/1954
Time: 2:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: architect R.M. Pierce, marine engineer George
Avery and one other person. One silver disc, with a white trail, made a
loud roar for 30-60 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Newburyport, Massachusetts
ID: 334
Date: 3/1954
Description: Sec. of Air Force Talbott’s aircraft paced by UFO over
Fresno, CA
Type: ufo encounter
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Fresno, CA
Date: 3/1954 (approximate)
Description: Two Native Australians, employees of Arthur Pope, see a UFO
at close range 100 miles south of Alice Springs, Northern Territory. One
named Sonny is riding up over a ridge when a spherical object flies
directly toward him then veers away. Sonny feels a heavy wind when the
UFO passes. Others see the object, which has a glassy appearance, with
four trails of smoke coming from each side. (Alice Springs Centralian
Advocate, April 2, 1954; Keith Basterfield, “Alice
Springs: 1954 Encounter,” Unidentified Aerial Phenomena—Scientific
Research, February 7, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2362
Date: 3/1954
Description: Cincinnati, Ohio, businessman Thomas B. Eickhoff informs Keyhoe that
Flying Saucers from Outer Space was “not submitted to the air force for
authentication prior to publication,” although it contains official UFO
reports. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, p. 108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2363
Date: 3/1954
Time: 1700
Description: Rubem Hellwig was driving when he saw a football-shaped
machine, the size of a Volkswagen, on the ground. He walked toward it
and met two men of slim build, normal height, their faces brownish,
wearing no helmets. One was inside the object while the other collected
grass samples. They spoke to Hellwig in a strange language, and yet he
said he understood they were asking for ammonia. He directed them to a
nearby town. The craft vanished silently and instantly with blue and
yellow flames.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 1; Humanoids 33 (Vallee)
Location: Santa Maria, Brazil
ID: 126
Date: 3/1954
Time: early
Description: Rubem Hellwig again saw a strange machine the next day. He
observed a tall, faircomplexioned man and two women, who had light brown
skin, long black hair, dark, slanted eyes. All three wore one-piece
garments of a fabric resembling suede, with zippers. They told Hellwig
that they were scientists, spoke of the natural riches of Brazil, and
expressed surprise that he did not run away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 1; Humanoids 33 (Vallee)
Location: Santa Maria, Brazil
ID: 127
Date: 3/1/1954
Description: 6:45 a.m. Castle Bravo is the most powerful nuclear device
detonated by the US and its first lithium deuteride–fueled thermonuclear
weapon. The test’s yield is 15 megatons of TNT, 2.5 times the predicted
6.0 megatons (due to unforeseen additional reactions involving
lithium-7), which leads to the unexpected radioactive contamination of
areas to the east of Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. At the time,
it is the most powerful artificial explosion in history. Fallout, the
heaviest of which in the form of pulverized surface coral from the
detonation, falls on residents of Rongelap and Utirik atolls, while the
more particulate and gaseous fallout spreads around the world. The
inhabitants of the islands are not evacuated until three days later and
suffer radiation sickness. Twenty-three crew members of the Japanese
fishing vessel Daigo
Fukuryū Maru are also contaminated by the heavy fallout,
experiencing acute radiation syndrome. The blast incites international
reaction over atmospheric thermonuclear testing. (Wikipedia, “Castle
Bravo”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2364
Date: 3/1/1954
Description: Morning. Airborne Radar Operator W/O Olin
H. Hasty is aboard an RB-36 controller aircraft monitoring the
Castle Bravo test at Bikini Atoll. Shortly after the detonation, the
RB-36 is flying at 40,000 feet and Hasty picks up two or three
unidentified targets operating above 60,000 feet. From the cockpit the
pilot and copilot can see the objects, which are flying in holding
patterns above the area of the blast. Task force headquarters advises
them that the objects are Canberra aircraft flown by the Royal
Australian Air Force on air-sampling missions. However, there is only
one British Canberra in the area at the time. (Nukes 110–113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2365
Date: 3/1/1954
Description: “Castle Bravo” hydrogen bomb test at the Bikini Atoll,
Marshall Islands, the most powerful nuclear device detonated by the
United States at 15mt.
Type: atomic
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands
Atomic type: aboveground
Atomic MT: 15
Date: 3/1/1954
Description: Numerous bathers at the beaches near Montevideo, Uruguay,
observe a metallic disc emitting yellowish reflections. It remains
stationary for 2 minutes at an altitude of several thousand feet.
(ClearIntent, p. 133;
Lorenzen, The Whole Story, Signet, 1969; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1954, January–May, The Author, 1990, p. 45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2367
Date: 3/1/1954
Description: 2:30 p.m. Employees at Carrasco International Airport in
Montevideo, Uruguay, watch a strange oval object above the northeast
horizon. It changes shape and ejects a smaller body that moves below and
behind. An operator named de Rizzardo in the control tower sees an oval
object with protuberances, accompanied by a pair of smaller bodies.
Chief Controller Pedro V. Ocamp is still fumbling with binoculars as the
objects speed away. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1954, January–May, The
Author, 1990, p. 45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2368
Date: 3/1/1954
Description: An article in American Aviation planted by the Air Force
attributes the latest wave of sightings to Keyhoe’s
1953 book Flying Saucers from Outer Space. (“The Saucers Again,”
American Aviation 17 (March 1, 1954): 3; Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, p. 104;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1954, January–May, The
Author, 1990, p. 49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2366
Date: 3/2/1954
Time: 10 PM
Description: Witness: research engineer R.C. Swengel. Three objects,
each with two lights, flew straight and level at medium speed for an
unknown length of time.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: vicinity of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
ID: 335
Date: 3/5/1954
Description: A photo supposedly taken near Rouen, France, by a fighter
pilot is actually a retouched photo showing the 1950 McMinnville,
Oregon, UFO photo taken by Paul
Trent. (NICAP, “RAF
Flying Review Photo”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2370
Date: 3/5/1954
Description: Evening. At Nouasseur Air Base [now closed] near
Casablanca, Morocco, crews of USAF KC-97 aerial tanker planes and a C-54
transport see one or two white or amber objects or lights make passes at
the aircraft on collision courses as they practice ground-controlled
approach landings. At 7:15 p.m., KC-97 pilots Capt. G. E. Brown, 1st Lt.
L. B. Gordon, and 1st Lt. J. P. Glover, 301st Air Refueling Squadron,
301st Bomb Wing, while flying a KC-97 to a practice landing at 1,500
feet about 5-8 miles southwest of the base, see two white lights to the
right on an apparent collision course. The KC-97 takes evasive action.
Later [at 8:20 p.m.? 9:20 p.m.?], after landing and takeoff, they see
the same or similar two white lights on the same course from the south
on a collision course and they made an evasive 360° turn. At 7:38 p.m.,
pilots Capt. Robert R. Zadnick, Lt. Paul R. Fisher, and Lt. George A.
Kerr flying another KC-97 at 1,500 feet about 5 miles southwest of
Nouasseur base see a light at about the same altitude and to the left,
apparently headed west on a collision course. As it crosses, they see 2
lights like jets but with no aircraft running lights. One light passes
over and one under the KC-97. At 9:55 p.m., senior pilot Capt. William
M. Pond, copilot
Lt. I. W. Gilchrist, and navigator Capt. James F. Pullen, while flying a
C-54 at 2,000 feet at Nouasseur base see a white or amber light like an
aircraft landing light at about the same altitude approaching on a
collision course heading west 2–3 miles away. It then turns onto a
direct head-on course, passing within 2 miles, then suddenly disappears
like turning off a light. It then reappears 10–15 seconds later, hovers,
descends to the ground, then rises and disappears behind the C-54 after
completing its turn onto final landing approach. No radar or other
visual contact is made. (NICAP, “Aircraft
(2) Encounter Lights on Collision Course”;
Sparks, p. 210)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2369
Date: 3/5/1954
Time: 8 PM
Description: Witnesses: crews of USAF KC-97 aerial tanker planes. One
object or light made passes at KC-97s, the other flew straight and
level. Sighting duration unknown.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Nouasseur, French Morocco
ID: 336
Date: 3/8/1954
Description: 11:07 p.m. A red disc-shaped UFO flies over Laredo AFB [now
Laredo International Airport], Texas. It tilts to a vertical orientation
and then shoots straight up into the sky. It is reported by a pilot. Ten
to twenty nocturnal lights in a crescent formation—possibly a single
crescent-shaped object—fly over San Antonio, Texas. They make no sound.
(Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, p. 110)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2371
Date: 3/10/1954
Description: JANAP 146 (C), “Communications Instructions for Reporting
Vital Intelligence Sightings from Aircraft and Waterborne Sources.” This
directive allows waterborne sources for CIRVIS and adds MERINT reports.
Civilian pilots must also report UFOs to the Air Force and refrain from
talking about it. (Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joint
Communications–Electronics Committee, “JANAP
146(C) Communications Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence
Sightings from Airborne and Waterborne Sources,” March 10, 1954;
Good Above, p. 283;
Antonio F. Rullán, “Blue
Book UFO Reports at Sea by Ships,” December 10, 2002)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2372
Date: 3/10/1954
Description: Leonard
H. Stringfield founds Civilian Research, Interplanetary Flying
Objects (CRIFO) in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Clark III 1114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2373
Date: 3/11/1954
Description: Miami News: Engineer Norman S. Bean gives a lecture on
flying saucers.
Type: lecture
Reference: NICAP
Location: Miami, FL
Date: 3/12/1954
Description: 9:35 a.m. USAF 1st Lt. Robert Johnson, flying an F-86 over
Nouasseur Air Base [now closed] near Casablanca, Morocco, chases an
object at more than 530 mph for 30 seconds, but is unable to catch it.
The object appears to be the size of a fighter plane but has neither
tanks nor vapor trails. (NICAP, “F-86
Chases Object at 500
MPH”; Sparks, p. 210)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2374
Date: 3/12/1954
Time: 9:35 AM
Description: Witness: USAF lst Lt. Robert Johnson, flying an F-86 jet
fighter. He chased an object at more than 530 m.p.h. for 30 seconds, but
was unable to catch it. It appeared to be the size of a fighter plane
but had neither tanks nor trails.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Nouasseur, French Morocco
ID: 337
Date: mid 3/1954
Description: Prince
Philip, Duke
of Edinburgh, invites probable UFO photo hoaxer Stephen
Darbishire to Buckingham Palace in London, England, to relate his
story to an aide. A full report of the interview is sent to the duke,
who is in Australia. (Good Above, p. 39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2376
Date: 3/15/1954
Description: A memo about a recent Project Second Storey meeting show
that experiments at Wilbert
B. Smith’s Shirley’s Bay detecting station is running experiments
correlating UFO reports with magnetic disturbances and gamma radiation.
It recommends looking into as yet undiscovered gravity waves. (Good
Above, pp. 187–188)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2375
Date: 3/18/1954
Description: 4:25 p.m. Two conservation officers stationed on Hecla
Island in Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba, are driving their snowmobile across
the frozen lake when they see a slim silver object 100 feet long and
only 8 feet thick. They watch the object as it changes orientation from
vertical to horizontal and back again. They estimate it is 15,000 feet
high and 10 miles away. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified,
August Night, 2022, p. 69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2377
Date: 3/23/1954
Description: Capt. William
B. Nash gives
a talk at a Greater Miami (Florida) Aviation Association luncheon at the
Seven Seas Restaurant and offers his assessment of the Air Force’s
handling of UFO investigations. He suspects that the Air Force has
concluded that UFOs are a real phenomenon, but they fear creating a
state of panic by admitting as much. (Michael Hall, “Was There a Second
Estimate of the Situation?” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2378
Date: 3/24/1954
Description: Night. Civil Defense Deputy Coordinator Adolph Wagner sees
13 sharply defined triangular objects moving west to east over
Baltimore, Maryland, in a V formation. They are glowing a fluorescent
blue. From the north, a larger object approaches and stations itself in
front of the V. When a commercial airliner appears, the objects split
formation. Six execute a sharp turn, the color shifts to purplish, and
they head toward the airplane in single file. The other 8 objects
continue flying east. (“Multiple
Object Sightings by Creditable Observers Continue,” CRIFO Orbit,
July 2, 1954, p. 3; UFOEv, p. 66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2379
Date: 3/25/1954
Description: 3:20 p.m. USMC Capt. Dan
C. Holland is flying one of three jets with the 3rd Marine Air Wing
on an easterly heading at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at about 26,000 feet
and 400+ mph. He sees a gleaming white, ball- shaped object with a gold
ring around the lower third, about 2 times size of his jet, descending
vertically on a collision course. He takes evasive action and radios the
other jet pilots to look. The object suddenly stops 3,000– 4,000 feet
above his jet. He banks toward it and activates the gun camera, but the
UFO accelerates and disappears to the east at tremendous speed in about
15 seconds. The other two pilots flying ahead of him do not see the
object. (NICAP, “Ball
with Golden Rings Stops near F-9F”; Sparks, p. 211; Loren E. Gross,
UFOs,
a History: 1954,
January–May, The
Author, 1990, pp. 61–62)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2380
Date: 3/28/1954
Description: 1:25 a.m. Capt. Willis
T. Sperry and his copilot on United Air Lines Flight 600, flying
east at 19,000 feet 12 miles east of Cherokee (near Creston), Wyoming,
spot a bright green glowing object at 12°–15° above the horizon coming
downward at an angle of 30° to the left of vertical and disappearing
behind a cloud bank. It is also seen by the pilot of a DC-3 west of
Sinclair, Wyoming, at 13,000 feet. (Good Above, pp. 283–284;
Sparks,
p. 211)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2381
Date: 3/28/1954
Description: Following the success of Flying Saucers Have Landed, George
Adamski gives a talk to the Detroit Flying Saucer Club at the
Masonic Temple in Detroit, Michigan, which draws 4,700 people. (“Palomar
Mountain, 1940– 1960:
From Obscurity to World Fame,” The Adamski Case, September 22, 2019)
Late spring — Noon. A family living in a cottage on the outskirts of
Norco, California, is sitting down for lunch when they hear a metallic
droning sound. The mother and daughter go outside and see an object like
a rowboat with a transparent dome, 20 feet long and 10 feet wide, pass
slowly overhead, then stop and hover over a nearby tree. Inside the dome
are five helmeted men staring at the witnesses. Their “rather long
faces” are olive-colored, and their eyes and hair are dark. After a
minute the droning sound resumes, and the object takes off slowly.
(Donald B. Hanlon, “Occupants
Observed at Norco,” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 3 (May/June 1968):
15–16; Clark III 267)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2382
Date: 4/1954
Description: The Royal Australian Air Force issues its first statement
of policy on UFOs, admitting that it does attempt to evaluate reports:
“There is no doubt that reliable observers have reported sightings which
today are inexplicable within the resources available to the RAAF.”
(Project 1947, “The
Former Air Board / Department of Air / Current RAAF”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2384
Date: 4/1954
Description: Oak Park, Illinois, contactee Dorothy
Martin has been channeling entities through automatic writing. One
introduces himself as Sananda, who lives on the utopian planet Clarion.
She begins typing up the messages in newsletters and distributing them
to readers, including Charles and Lilian Loughead from Detroit,
Michigan, whom she met in March. (Clark III 717)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2385
Date: 4/1954
Description: 2:00 p.m. Two male witnesses watch through binoculars a
vividly white object hovering high in the sky for 10 minutes above
Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. A cone-shaped mist appears on
its leeward side, then the object shoots straight up and disappears.
(Jessup, The UFO Annual, Citadel, 1956; Nukes 114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2383
Date: 4/1954
Description: SOM1–01 “MAJESTIC-12 Group Special Operations Manual”
document
Type: majestic document
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: US
See also: 12/1994
Date: 4/4/1954
Description: Keyhoe meets
with Ruppelt at
the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Anegels, California, and shares
recent UFO reports. Ruppelt agrees to write a letter supporting the
claim that Keyhoe has used genuine ATIC reports for his book. (Keyhoe,
FS
Conspiracy, pp. 116–120)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2386
Date: 4/4/1954
End date: 4/5/1954
Description: Contactee George
Van Tassel holds the first Giant Rock Interplanetary Spacecraft
Convention at Giant Rock, a huge boulder in the Mojave Desert near
Landers, California. Speakers include Orfeo
Angelucci, Truman Bethurum,
Daniel
Fry, and
George
Hunt Williamson. It draws a crowd variously estimated at
2,500–6,000. (“Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention Draws 6,000,” San
Bernardino County (Calif.) Sun, April 5, 1954, p. 9; Clark III 531,
717)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2387
Date: 4/5/1954
Description: Keyhoe appears
on The
Betty White Show and asserts that, contrary to what the Air Force
claims, some UFO reports are kept secret. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 117–118)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2388
Date: 4/7/1954
Description: 11:05 p.m. US Navy sailors and Marines, as well as nuclear
scientists from Los Alamos and Sandia Laboratories in New Mexico, are
aboard the AEC flagship USS
Curtiss cruising
between Bikini and Enewetak atolls in the Marshall Islands just hours
after the Castle Koon thermonuclear test on Bikini. An unidentified
oval- shaped luminous object, yellowish-orange in color, passes silently
over the ship from bow to stern, traveling at a high rate of speed and
low altitude. Once it is clear of the ship, the object performs some
zigzag maneuvers before racing away at high speed. (Nukes 107–109)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2390
Date: 4/7/1954
Description: Leonard
H. Stringfield publishes the first issue of CRIFO Newsletter. (CRIFO
Newsletter 1, no. 1 (April 7, 1954; Clark III 1114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2389
Date: 4/8/1954
Time: 4:30 PM
Description: Witness: Lelah Stoker. One white round-topped disc, with a
humanoid suspended beneath it, skimmed over the water, landed, and an
occupant in a green suit walked around. It then took off very, very
fast. Sighting lasted 30 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Chicago, Illinois
ID: 338
Date: 4/8/1954
Description: 4:30–5:00 p.m. Lelah H. Stoker of 3121 N. Sheridan Road,
Chicago, Illinois, sees a brilliant white round- topped disc,
parachute-shaped, with a humanoid suspended beneath it, skim back and
forth over the water of Lake Michigan. Stoker calls the Coast Guard. A
cutter appears after 10 minutes, then the UFO approaches the shore.
Stoker sees a short human-like occupant in a green, tight, one-piece
suit suspended below the object. It gets out in undergrowth along the
shore then walks around. When the cutter gives up searching, the
occupant returns to the object which moves back over the lake then takes
off at high speed to the east. (NICAP, “Lady
Observes Saucer / Small
Entity Gets Out”; Clark III 270; Sparks,
p. 211)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2391
Date: 4/11/1954
Description: Ruppelt’s
letter to Keyhoe states
that the request to clear classified UFO reports came from both AF
Intelligence and the Office of Public Information, after which his
superiors cleared them; Keyhoe has correctly quoted the ATIC material;
the Utah film analysis is classified; a 1953 letter from Al
Chop to Henry Holt & Co. attacking the “silence group” is quoted
accurately; and except in a very few cases, ATIC rejects Donald
Menzel’s explanations of halos, sundogs, and mirages for UFOs.
(Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 119–120,
307–308)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2392
Date: 4/12/1954
Description: Between 6:30 and 7:15 PM a saucer crashed in the desert,
NM. K.A. (initials) and Rescue Team 4 were sent from Roswell AFB to
investigate the crashed disc. The saucer was 40–50 ft. in diameter.
There were 4 dead Aliens scattered about the desert by the saucer. Alien
description (seen from helicopter at 30 ft. alt.): Height was between
4.0 to 4.5 ft. Large proportioned heads, no helmets. Tight fitting dark
blue suite. Faces, under ’copter spotlight, were light green with a
luminous tint. The saucer was stored in Hanger-18, Top Security.
Hanger-18 was later expanded to 9 stories high and 11 stories deep with
heavy refrigeration equipment, radar equip., and sophisticated computer
equip.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research (B3-C, A5, RECOVERY, desert - NM)
Location: NM
See also: 2/10/54
See also: 4/24/54
See also: 3/7/55
Date: 4/13/1954
Description: Approximate date of Eisenhower meeting with others at
Edwards AFB. Event witnessed by occultist, medium and author “Gerald
Light” (possibly R.G. McFarland, his “publisher”) and a detailed account
along with 3 other witness names is immediately published by the BSRA.
Einstein, Paperclip scientists, and government officials were present
according to witnesses.
Type: ce3 event
Reference: Medium
Location: Edwards AFB
See also: 4/15/1954
Date: 4/14/1954
Description: Night. Capt. John M. Schidel of United Air Lines Flight 193
is forced to make a sharp climbing turn in order to avoid colliding with
an unknown object over Long Beach, California. One passenger (Coles
Barber) is thrown to the floor and suffers a knee fracture, and
stewardess Naomi
J. Penaat breaks an ankle. The object is only in sight for 2
seconds. (“Two
Injured As Airliner Banks in Sudden Turn,” Los Angeles Times, April
16, 1954, p. II- 3; Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 130–132)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2393
Date: 4/15/1954
Description: Date of Gerald Light’s detailed bulletin of meeting with
others at Edwards AFB.
Type: public bulletin
Reference: Medium
Location: Edwards AFB
See also: 4/13/1954
Date: 4/18/1954
Description: Colin McCarthy and two other men are driving an Austin
sedan in the Australian outback near the border of Western Australia and
South Australia when a UFO begins pacing them. They snap some 200 photos
and take some ciné film of the object. Shortly after they report the
incident, a helicopter suddenly appears and lands in front of their car.
An RAAF officer gets out, walks over to their car, and confiscates the
photos and film. They are never returned. (Stan Seers and William
Lasich, “North
Queensland UFO Saga, 1966,” Flying Saucer Review 29, no. 1 (October
1983): 20–21; Good Above, p. 163)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2394
Date: 4/18/1954
Description: Airline pilot William
B. Nash writes
to his friend Capt. William
Joseph Hull about the emphatic denials of UFO reality issued by the
Air Force shortly after his March 23 speech. He reveals that in August
1952 he was participating in a TV panel in New York City when someone in
the WJZ-TV studio said he had just gotten back from Washington, D.C.,
where he has been given the “whole story” about the National Airport
sightings. He claims the Air Force had operated a radio found in a
retrieved saucer and that had caused the flurry of sightings. Nash also
admits hearing rumors, especially one from syndicated aviation columnist
Robert
S. Allen, about a pro- UFO report that USAF was going to release in
the fall of 1952 but never did. (Michael Hall, “Was There a Second
Estimate of the Situation?” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2395
Date: late 4/1954
Description: Afternoon. Roger Mougeolle and Gilbert Doridant are logging
in a clearing in a forest area near Bois-de- Champ, Vosges, France, when
they hear a noise above them “like the sound of a train passing over a
metal bridge.” They then see three metallic, cigar-shaped objects
silently approaching them from over a nearby hill. Two pass over them,
but the third slowly descends above their clearing and stops only a few
feet from the ground. It is over 600 feet long. Doridant flees, but
Mougeolle walks toward it and touches it. The object is smooth, cold,
and hard like steel. He touches it with his woodsman’s axe, and he is
instantly thrown about 18 feet away toward the base of a large rock. He
feels paralyzed for a few minutes, but the object ascends and
disappears, and he can move again. (Joël Mesnard, “The
‘Steel Airship’ at Bois-de-Champ (April 1954),” Flying Saucer Review
32, no. 5 (August 1987): 16–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2398
Date: 4/22/1954
Description: 2:00 p.m. USN Seaman Apprentice James B. Stephens Jr. and
Seaman Bernard G. Klein Jr., are driving a vehicle on the Naval Outlying
Field San Nicolas Island, California, when they see a 4–6-foot long,
gray, cigar- shaped object with a pointed nose traveling just above the
ground on a near-parallel course. The object suddenly hits the ground,
sends up a cloud of dirt, and disappears from sight. They stop and
search for 20+ minutes but find nothing. (NICAP, “April 22, 1954: San
Nicholas Island, Calif.”; Sparks, p. 212)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2396
Date: 4/22/1954
Description: 10:30 p.m. Six workers from the Reynolds Metals plant in
Jones Mills, Arkansas, are waiting on a carpool near Pearcy, Arkansas,
to go to work when they see a gleaming white ball about 10 feet in
diameter float 50 feet above a house. It appears alternately as a sphere
and an oblong, and sometimes circles and sometimes hovers above the
house for a total of 20 minutes. One man claims it approaches him to
within a few feet, causing him to duck behind a car. One of the vehicles
has a spotlight that they try to point at the object, but it always
avoids the beam. (Hot Springs (Ark.) Sentinel-Rhview, April 23, 1954,
pp. 1, 3; “Fire
Ball Sighted in Arkansas Skies,” Montgomery Alabama Journal, April
23, 1954, p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2397
Date: 4/22/1954
Time: 1400
Description: American military personnel saw a cigar-shaped object of a
gray color coming to the ground. Smoke was seen to rise where it landed,
but a search yielded no results.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: San Nicholas Island, California
ID: 128
Date: 4/23/1954
Time: 9:30 AM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. F.E. Robinson. One silver
dollar-shaped object with a dome and a flashing light made a sound like
a swarm of bees. It hovered and tilted, flew horizontally, then rose
vertically without tilting. Stones underneath it moved. Four minute
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pittsfield, Maine
ID: 339
Date: 4/24/1954
Description: A saucer crashed at Bandelier, NM, as reported by K.A.
(initials) of the Roswell, N.M. Rescue Team 4.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research (RECOVERY)
Location: Edwards AFB
See also: 4/12/54
Date: 4/24/1954
Description: Buck Nelson takes a trip to Venus, Moon, Mars in
saucer.
Type: ce4 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Mt. View, MO
Date: 4/24/1954
Time: 6:10 PM
Description: Witness: D. Robinson. One large, silver, oblong object with
a dome and a flashing light flew straight and level and then straight
up. Total of 15 minutes under observation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Hartland, Maine
ID: 340
Date: 4/26/1954
Time: 7:35 PM
Description: Witnesses: C. Cartey, Mr. and Mrs. H. Hopkins and their
daughter. Fifteen to twenty yellow objects in a V-formation, flew from
south to north for 10 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Athens, Georgia
ID: 341
Date: 4/29/1954
Description: 10:11 p.m. An unidentified illuminated object is seen above
the Second Army Radio Station, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, by the
supervisor radio operator and two coworkers, Cpl. Flath and Pfc. Hough.
Described as round, the color of the sun, and 3–4 times the size of a
star, the UFO appears in the southwest, blinking on and off. As it
reaches the station, it stops blinking and disappears by going straight
up. The sighting lasts 7 minutes. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1954, January–May, The
Author, 1990, p. 86; Good Above, p. 281)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2399
Date: 5/1954
Description: Ruppelt’s
article appears in True magazine. (Edward J. Ruppelt, “What
Our Air Force Found Out about Flying Saucers,”
True, May 1954, pp. 18–30, 124–134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2400
Date: 5/1/1954
Description: 11:55 p.m. A large explosion is heard, felt, and seen over
an 8-mile area near Logan, Utah. The blast nearly upsets cars, throws
open heavy doors, and sends an earthquake-like shock through the area.
Some people report seeing a glowing ball before the explosion; other
witnesses report a flash of light at ground level. Lincoln
LaPaz investigates, along with J.
Stewart Williams and Clyde T. Hardy at Utah State Agricultural
College [now Utah State University]. LaPaz says it is either a falling
object of an explosive nature or buried high explosives set off by
pranksters. A crater 16 feet in diameter and at least 6 feet deep is
found, but no debris, even though LaPaz digs down 25 feet for five days.
Nearly 50 years later, Theron Blazzard admits to the Logan
Herald-Journal that as a geology student at Utah State he had detonated
some dynamite at the spot because he had to dispose of it in order to
move out of state. (“Meteor
Sought in Crater after
Logan Explosion,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 3, 1954, p. 21; Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 138–139;
Wilkins, FS Uncensored, Citadel, 1955, pp. 223–224;
“Friday
Finishers: When
Meteor Mania Struck Cache Valley,” Logan (Utah) Herald-Journal,
November 30, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2401
Date: 5/5/1954
Description: 4:45 p.m. Sydney Baker is at a radar post in the RAAF
Woomera Range Complex in South Australia when he notices a gray,
circular object at 60,000 feet maneuvering around an English Electric
Canberra aircraft he is monitoring from about 35 miles away. It appears
to be traveling three times as fast as the Canberra. He watches it for
about 5 minutes before it shoots out of sight to the south at about
3,600 mph. The same object is apparently tracked on Woomera radar at
approximately the same time. (NICAP, [case
documents]; Bill Chalker, The Oz Files: The Australian UFO Story,
Duffy and Snellgrove, 1996, p. 85; Swords 381–383)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2402
Date: 5/7/1954
Description: Naval radar around Washington, D.C., tracks a huge object
maneuvering at 90,000 feet and moving down to 15 miles altitude.
(Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 144–145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2403
Date: 5/8/1954
Description: George
King is washing dishes in his flat in Maida Vale, London, England,
when he receives a psychic message telling him that he has been chosen
to be the voice of the Interplanetary Parliament. Several days later,
while he is in a meditative trance, an Indian yoga master enters his
flat and tells him he has been selected to act as the Primary
Terrestrial Channel for messages from cosmic intelligences who are
visiting Earth. (Douglas Curran, In Advance of the Landing: Folk
Concepts of Outer Space, Abbeville, 1985, p. 63)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2404
Date: 5/10/1954
Time: 12:40 PM
Description: Witness: U.S. Marine Corps Squadron Leader D.R. Higgin,
flying an F3D-2 jet fighter. One dark gunmetal delta-shaped object, 22’
long and 10’ wide, with a fin on the top, descended at a 25-30’ angle
under the lead airplane of a formation, and over the airplane of Higgin.
Sighting lasted a few seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Elsinore, California
ID: 342
Date: 5/11/1954
Time: 10:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: three USAF. air policemen at Washington National
Airport. Two bright lights were seen on three occasions to fly straight
and level, make 90 degree turns and fade. Each sighting lasted about 45
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Washington, DC
ID: 343
Date: 5/12/1954
Description: Multiple witnesses spot a disc hovering for 15 minutes over
Dayton, OH, close to Wright-Patterson AFB, jets intercept
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Leonard Stringfield’s CFIRO Newsletter 6/4/1954
Location: Dayton, OH
Date: 5/12/1954
Description: 4:45 a.m. Three USAF Air Policemen (A/1C Mason
W. Augst, A/1C
George F. Wright, and A/1C Elmer A. Cruver) are standing guard next to a
hangar at National Airport in Washington, D.C. They see a formation of
two UFOs fly over the Capitol building, and again at 5:15 a.m. and 6:10
a.m. The objects are glowing white. They appear just above the horizon
to the northeast in a straight line, make a 90° turn, then move away to
the south. Each pass takes 45 seconds. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1954, January–May, The
Author, 1990, p. 94; Sparks, p. 212;
Edwards, FS—Here and Now!, Lyle Stuart, 1967, pp. 84–85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2405
Date: 5/12/1954
Description: 4:00 p.m. White, silky filaments fall in strands averaging
30 feet in length over Shepparton, Victoria, Australia. A witness
gathers some and, although they become wrinkled, they do not
disintegrate. An analysis indicates in is a “pure white, silky,
odorless, warm on touch like cotton, and different from cobwebs.” The
threads are not sticky and stretch easily. It resembles raw silk or
nylon, is not water soluble, and burns rapidly. (Keith Basterfield,
“Angel Hair: An Australian Perspective,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002):
6–7; Brian Boldman, “Angel Hair Physical Analyses: A Review,” JUFOS 9
(2006): 101)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2406
Date: 5/14/1954
Description: Around 12 noon. A flight of Marine Reserve jets led by Maj.
Charles Scarborough is headed north near Dallas, Texas. At a point 6
miles west of the city, Scarborough sights 16 unidentified objects in
groups of four, dead ahead but at higher altitude, 15° above. He radios
Capt. Roy L. Jorgensen, whose jet he has in sight by its contrail.
Jorgensen, at a higher altitude, sees the UFOs below his left wing. Just
as the two pilots try to box in the UFOs, Scarborough sees them fade
from glowing white to orange and disappear, apparently speeding away due
north. Triangulation shows that the UFOs were at about 32,000 feet. (“4
Jet Fighters Report Race with ‘Saucers’ over Dallas,”
Dallas (Tex.) Times Herald, May 18, 1954; NICAP, “Four
Navy Fighters Encounter 16 UFOs”; UFOEv, p. 32;
Sparks, p. 213)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2407
Date: 5/15/1954
Description: Air Force Chief Nathan Twining tells audience in Amarillo
that best brains of Air Force are trying to solve the riddle of the
flying saucers: “If they come from Mars, there is nothing to be alarmed
about!”
Type: statement
Reference: “My
First 10,000,000 Sponsors” by Frank Edwards, page 123
Location: Amarillo, TX
Date: 5/15/1954
Description: Gen. Nathan
F. Twining, USAF
Chief of Staff, speaking at an Armed Forces Day dinner at Amarillo AFB
[now Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport], Texas, says that the
Air Force has the best brains in the country working on the “flying
saucer problem.” He adds that about 90% of the reports are pure
imagination, with the rest unexplained. (“Air
Force Looks into ‘Saucers,’” Miami (Fla.) Herald, May 17, 1954,
p. 38; Keyhoe, FS Conspiracy, pp. 145–146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2408
Date: 5/18/1954
Time: 1900
Description: Two persons witnessed the landing of a lens-shaped object
the size of a house. It came to the ground near the railroad tracks,
kicking up a small sand storm in the desert. One witness first decided
to approach it, then ran away in fear.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Binder (Vallee)
Location: Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico
ID: 129
Date: 5/18/1954
Description: Frank
Edwards mentions CRIFO on his radio program, and within a week Stringfield gets
6,000 letters. (Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest, 1977,
pp. 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2409
Date: 5/20/1954
Description: Private Frank Scully note at AHC: CIC officers told 3 weeks
ago by Maj. May that 30 diamond drill bits were destroyed attempting to
drill into a saucer with no effect (actual event could have been a long
time before).
Type: private notes
Reference: Medium
Location: California
Date: 5/20/1954
Description: FBI officials recommend that Attorney General Herbert
Brownell Jr. authorize FBI break-ins to install bugs during national
security investigations. The FBI would seek the Attorney General’s prior
approval, as with wiretaps. Brownell concurs, but concludes that he
“would be in a much better position to defend the Bureau in the event
there should be a technical trespass if he had not heretofore approved
it.” His directive empowers the FBI to break into homes and offices and
install surveillance microphones without having to notify him or obtain
advance approval in each case. The FBI has carte blanche on this until
1965. (Bernie Horowitz, “Wiretapping
and J. Edgar Hoover,”
Unredacted, December 20, 2010)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2410
Date: 5/20/1954
Time: 0200
Description: Nigel Frapple was cycling home from a dance in Wincanton.
At Redlynch crossroads, he saw an orange glow in a field and observed it
from a hedge. It came from a huge object 35 m away, less than 7 m above
the ground, which made a throbbing sound. After 1 min, it moved toward
the northwest, accelerating and climbing.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 2; Humanoids 3 (Vallee)
Location: Bruton, Great Britain
ID: 130
Date: 5/22/1954
Time: 9:15 PM
Description: Witnesses: highway engineer R.W. Dring, engineer Geert
Tibma. One bright light made a shallow climb for 45 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: LaPorte, Indiana
ID: 344
Date: 5/24/1954
Description: 12:25 p.m. While flying on a photographic mapping mission
10 miles west-northwest of Richmond, Indiana, in a B-17, USAF Maj. Leo
N. Brubaker observes and photographs a bright object below the plane
for 45 seconds. The aircraft is flying at an altitude of 18,500 feet at
253 mph. The speed of the object is estimated at 506 mph. The object
travels six miles at that speed. The photos are taken with a USAF T-11
mapping camera. Brubaker denies the object is a sundog. (NICAP, “B-17
Photographic Mission Case”; Sparks, p. 213)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2411
Date: 5/28/1954
Description: Test pilot Arthur
W. Murray reaches an unofficial record altitude of 90,440 feet in a
Bell X-1A. (Wikipedia, “Arthur
W. Murray”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2412
Date: 5/29/1954
End date: 5/31/1954
Description: The first conference of European and North American
political, business, finance, academic, and media leaders later to
become known as the Bilderberg group, meets at the Hotel de Bilderberg
in Oosterbeek, Netherlands. Its agenda, originally to prevent another
world war, is now defined as bolstering a consensus around free market
Western capitalism and its interests around the globe. The first meeting
is initiated by several people, including Polish politician-in-exile Józef
Retinger who, concerned about the growth of anti-Americanism in
Western Europe, proposes an international conference at which leaders
from European countries and the United States would be brought together
with the aim of promoting Atlanticism. Retinger approaches Prince
Bernhard of the Netherlands who agrees to promote the idea, together
with former Belgian prime minister Paul
van Zeeland and the then-head of Unilever, Paul
Rykens. (Wikipedia,
“Bilderberg
meeting”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2413
Date: 5/30/1954
Description: 12:25 a.m. David Reese, Christopher
Muir, and four others are at the doorstep of a house in East
Malvern, Victoria, Australia, when they see an orange, oval-shaped UFO
appear in the sky at close range. The UFO maneuvers in a downward curve
and then pulls up. A cloud of yellow smoke and flame is seen at the
rear. Three of the witnesses see shapes that look like human-shaped
shadows inside the craft. (Bill Chalker, The Oz Files: The Australian
UFO Story, Duffy and Snellgrove, 1996; UFO Evidence, “Human Figures Seen
in Saucer”; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954 January–May,
Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2002, pp. 46–50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2414
Date: 5/31/1954
Time: 10:15 AM
Description: Witness: Mrs. L.K. Stevens. One very white, elongated
object flew very, very fast, and then blinked out after 8-10
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Concord, New Hampshire
ID: 345
Date: 6/1/1954
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witnesses: crew of USAF B-47 jet bomber at 34,000’
altitude. One object with running lights flew at 24-44,000’ altitude for
1 hour.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: from 400 miles south to Minneapolis, Minnesota
ID: 346
Date: 6/1/1954
Description: 9:30–9:40 a.m. TWA pilot Capt. Charles
J. Kratovil, copilot
W. R. Davis, and flight engineer Harold Raney, on a Paris to New York
TWA Constellation heading southwest, spot near Boston, Massachusetts, “a
large, white- colored disc-like object” overhead, occasionally losing it
behind overlying clouds. Flying into west-southwest headwinds at 300
mph, they conclude it cannot be a balloon, and radio Boston airport
control tower, which tells them jets are scrambled. They then see the
object at about 10,000 feet higher than their 10,000 feet altitude but
cannot close with the object. (NICAP, “TWA
Crew Spot White Disc / Kratovil Case”; Sparks,
p. 214; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 68–69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2417
Date: 6/1/1954
Description: The Air Force announces that it only received 87 UFO
sightings in January–April. (“Most
‘Saucers’ Explainable,”
Traverse City (Mich.) Record-Eagle, June 1, 1954, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2418
Date: 6/4/1954
Description: From Leonard Stringfield’s CRIFO newsletter: “Mantle of
Mystery Shrouds Muroc”. A source in CA writes in a letter that the US
government has “captured discs”. “In the strictness secrecy these
objects are being examined by the top ‘brains’ in the
country…Information regarding the discs propulsion, metal and structure
would be sugar in the hands of the Russians.”
Type: letter
Reference: Medium
Location: Edwards AFB
Date: 6/5/1954
Description: 6:23 p.m. Janette Brown, 16, is standing on Princes Highway
(M1) at Dandenong, Victoria, Australia, when she hears a loud drumming
noise. A large, dark cylinder, about 30 feet long and 15 feet high with
a canopy and window on top and a window at each end, appears above a
nearby factory. She shines a flashlight on it, and it whirrs toward her.
It hovers about 60 feet away. Her friend, Jeanette Johnston, 13, arrives
and watches it before it disappears behind trees. Janette’s wristwatch
stops, although it starts running again when it is demagnetized. The
case is investigated for the RAAF by University of Melbourne physicist
O. H. “Harry” Turner. (UFO Evidence, “Teenage
Girls See Saucer”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2419
Date: 6/7/1954
End date: 6/8/1954
Description: PIO Capt. Robert White at the Pentagon repeats the 87
reports statistic from June 1 and counters that reports are at a
three-year-low because of less publicity. Stringfield’s
colleague, Cincinnati, Ohio, businessman Tom Eickhoff, storms into the
office of ATIC Deputy Commander of Intelligence Col. John
O’Mara and demands that ATIC press legal action against contactees
Truman
Bethurum, George
Adamski, and
George
Hunt Williamson. O’Mara
replies that these people are obvious hoaxers and need no special
action. But he lets slip that USAF fighters regularly carry movie
cameras to take photos of UFOs. Eickhoff says that is a big waste of
money if there is nothing to UFOs. O’Mara then states to Stringfield the
next day that the Air Force actually receives 700 UFO reports a week,
the 87 figure only applies to cases under “special analysis,” over 1,000
leading scientists are working on government UFO projects, the material
used by Keyhoe in
his book was not cleared through official channels, and the Utah film
exists but only shows conventional objects. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 157–160; “700
‘Saucer’ Sightings Weekly Reported to Air Force,” CRIFO Newsletter
1, no. 4 (July 2, 1954): 1; “Proof
of Air
Force Cover-Up,” CRIFO Newsletter 1, no. 4 (July 2, 1954): 1–2;
Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest, 1977, pp. 85, 167–168; Frank
Edwards, FS Serious Business, Bantam ed., 1966, pp. 137–138;
Frank Edwards, Flying Saucers—Here and Now! Lyle Stuart, 1967, p. 86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2420
Date: 6/8/1954
Description: Contactee Frances Swan of Eliot, Maine, has been in
telepathic contact with Affa, a spaceman from Uranus, since 1954. She
manages to impress her next-door neighbor, retired Adm. Herbert
B. Knowles,
sufficiently for him to write Rear Adm. Carl
F. Espe, head of the Office of Naval Intelligence. He encloses some
of Affa’s transcribed messages and suggests that ONI try to communicate
with Affa through Band CMM-306, repeating the signal M4M4 AFFA. Two ONI
officers, Captains John Bromley and Harry
Baltazzi, visit Swan and through her interview Affa, who agrees to
communicate with them by radio on June 10. When that does not happen,
Espe writes to Knowles saying that ONI will pursue the matter no
further. He turns the letters over to the Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics.
(Clark III 1118)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2421
Date: 6/8/1954
Time: 1 AM or 2:30 AM
Description: (file not clear). Witness: L.T. Prewitt, employee of Red
River Arsenal. One golden yellow light flew over his house, making a
“shhh” or buzzing sound for 2 minutes. 9:09 PM Witness: USAF pilot ht.
One white light descended at
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Texarkana, Texas
ID: 347
Date: 6/9/1954
Description: Col. Frank
Milani, director
of Civil Defense in Baltimore, Maryland, demands that the Air Force ease
its restrictions on UFO information and blasts its policy on Lou
Corbin’s radio show. (“A Lot of People Are Upset,” Washington (D.C.)
Daily News, June 10, 1954; Project 1947, “UFO
Reports, 1954”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2422
Date: 6/9/1954
Time: 1820
Description: Janet Brown, 16, and a 13-year-old friend heard a loud
noise and saw a large, dark object that “burst into light” hovering 20 m
away at the height of a factory gate. It was cylindrical, 10 m long, 5 m
high, with a canopy on top. It flew away and was lost to sight behind
some trees.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins U 216 (Vallee)
Location: East Dandenong, Australia
ID: 131
Date: 6/10/1954
Time: 9:09 PM
Description: Witness: USAF pilot Capt. Bill McDonald, in flight. One
white light descended at 45 degrees from great altitude, passed under
his aircraft, made two 360’ turns and went out after 30 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Estacado, Texas
ID: 348
Date: 6/12/1954 (approximate)
Description: Keyhoe and
Edwards find
out about the O’Mara interview,
and Edwards puts it on his radio broadcast, generating more press calls
to ATIC. Capt. Charles
A. Hardin, head
of Blue Book, states that “Colonel O’Mara’s words were misinterpreted.
What he meant to say was that if all the sightings were reported to the
Air Force, they would total about 700 a week.” (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 157–160;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1954, June–August, The
Author, 1990, pp. 11–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2423
Date: 6/12/1954
Description: 11:30 p.m. Walter
L. Tatspaugh of Hyattsville, Maryland, observes a large bluish-green
oval or round object circling and hovering in the sky for at least 45
minutes. The Baltimore GOC Filter Center allegedly tracks an object on
radar over Wilmington, Delaware, for an hour. Two F-86D fighters are
scrambled but cannot reach it. (NICAP, “Object
Tracked / Jets Scrambled”; Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 161–162)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2424
Date: 6/14/1954
Description: A UFO is again tracked over Wilmington, Delaware, flying in
a rectangular course at 75,000 feet for more than 2 hours. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 161–162; UFOEv, p. 66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2425
Date: 6/18/1954
Description: 7:35 p.m. Monsignor Émile
Élie Verhille, Apostolic Vicar of Fort-Rousset [modern Owando,
Republic of the Congo], reports in the Brazzaville newspaper La Semaine
de L’akf that he and others had seen a UFO over Laketi Mission in the
Mossaka District. A luminous globe arrives from the north and heads
towards Laketi. It suddenly stops, rises and falls, stops again,
gyrates, and seems to shake. A noise like that of an airplane engine is
heard until the moment when it also stops. Seen through binoculars, the
object has a dark mass in the center with light rays of unequal length
coming out of it alternately. It goes through its maneuvers for 15
minutes then shoots back over the northern horizon. (ClearIntent, p. 134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2426
Date: late 6/1954
Description: Some 300 people in West Berlin, Germany, see three silvery
UFOs on several occasions. Moving in a zigzag motion and accelerating at
high speed. Rudolf Hermes, a director at Tempelhof Airport [now closed],
says the witnesses describe the objects as “shiny.” (“Triangle
Saucers Reported Seen near Berlin,” Lancaster (Pa.) Sunday News,
July 4, 1954, p. 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2430
Date: summer 1954
Description: George
Hunt Williamson spends a few months in Noblesville, Indiana, working
at Soulcraft Publications, run by mystic and fascist William
Dudley Pelley. Mostly
he contributes UFO news for the magazine, but some of Pelley’s
anti-Semitic attitudes creep into Williamson’s later writings. (Clark
III 1285; Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt
Williamson, Verdechiari, 2016, pp. 100–103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2415
Date: summer 1954
Description: Late night. A young girl in Arbutus, Maryland, wakes up
when a bright light shines into her bedroom window. Looking outside, she
sees a triangle of brilliant white lights parallel to the ground,
illuminating everything, hanging in the air, and pointing directly at
her. All of a sudden they are gone. Fort the next two days, she has a
fever that forces her to stay home from school. (Michael D. Swords,
“Timmerman’s Triangles,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2416
Date: 6/21/1954
Description: 1:00 a.m. Near Ridgeway, Ontario, Guy and
Valeria
Baker see a hovering, domed disc about 40 feet in diameter with
several rotating, flashing lights around the rim. They drive to get a
closer look. The object crosses the road in front of them and lands in a
field. The car stalls, and they watch as the lights move around the
area. They find a large, brown, circular spot in the pasture where the
disc has been resting. (Schopick,
pp. 6–7; Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS,
1981, p. 2; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954 June–August, Supplemental
Notes, The Author, 2002, pp. 12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2427
Date: 6/21/1954
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Guy Baker saw a disk, about 14 m in diameter,
with a dome and several rotating lights. They had to push their car,
which could not be started until the object left the ground. They found
a large, brown, circular spot in the pasture where the disk had been
resting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 104 (Vallee)
Location: Ridgeway, Canada
ID: 132
Date: summer 1954
Alternate date: summer 1955
Description: Evening. Dianne Vezza and two other teen girls are sitting
in a backyard in Marietta, Ohio, when they see a star-like light moving
at great speed. Suddenly it comes to a dead stop and two other stars
speed in and come to an abrupt stop. The three objects form a perfect
triangle. An oval object then becomes visible as the starlike objects
disappear. Two other oval objects take up the same triangular position
with the first. They then begin a light display with wildly colored
lights that continues for a few seconds. The lights go out, and each of
the objects beams a bright white light to the center of the triangle.
The beams meet in the center for a few seconds and then go out. The oval
objects disappear and the starlike lights return, but they soon speed
off in different directions faster than a jet. The display is completely
soundless. (Michael D. Swords, “Another Type of UFO Display,” IUR 30,
no. 2 (January 2006): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2437
Date: 6/21/1954
Description: 8:14 p.m. An unidentified radar blip located over central
Vancouver Island, British Columbia, responds to coded IFF Mode 1 signals
from the Naselle Air Force Station radar site [now Fort Stevens Historic
Site] in southwestern Washington State, and instantly transmits back the
correct coded responses. The blip is tracked on 3 ground radars at both
Naselle and McChord AFB [now Joint Base Lewis-McChord] in Tacoma. The
UFO splits into two (or consists of two objects in close formation),
separates, and outmaneuvers one of two F-86D jet interceptors, both of
which also radar-tracked the UFOs. Possible visual sightings of the
radar target are called in to sheriff’s offices and news media. The case
is forwarded to Project Blue Book, but it does not appear in its files.
(NICAP, “Coded
IFF Signal from UFO”; Sparks, p. 215)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2428
Date: 6/22/1954
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witnesses: U.S. Marine Corps Maj. E. Buchser and Maj. J.V.
Wilkins. One meteor-like object descended, stopped, and became extremely
bright. Sighting lasted 7 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Miami Beach, Florida
ID: 349
Date: 6/23/1954
Description: 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. Pilot Capt. Harry
Roe Jr., flying
an Ohio Air National Guard F-51 Mustang fighter at 240 mph from Dayton
to Columbus, Ohio, sees a round white object with no exhaust trailing
him in the same position a little above and behind at close range,
possibly detected on airborne radar. Roe maneuvers to try to lose it or
collide with it, but the UFO remains in relatively the same position
until it departs to the southeast. S/Sgt Maynard Harris at
Wright-Patterson AFB picks up the plane and the UFO on radar. He
scrambles two F-86s in the Columbus area to check it out, but they see
nothing. At 10:00 p.m., Maj. Frank J. Gshwandtner and 2nd Lt. Robert P.
Lommori, flying in the Columbus area in an RB-47E aircraft, observe a
white object the size of a baseball at 25,000 feet. The object is
extremely fast and makes a gradual turn to begin a slight climb. It then
flies out of sight. The duration is 30 seconds. (NICAP, “F-51
Trailed by Object / Lt. Roe Sighting”; NICAP, “Something
Follows C-47 and Observed by RB-47 Crew”; Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 167–168; Sparks,
p. 216)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2429
Date: 6/24/1954
Time: 12:45 PM
Description: Witness: R.B. Tomer, director of commercial engineering for
CBS-Hytron. One white, elliptical-shaped object covered 45^ of sky in 30
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Danvers, Massachusetts
ID: 350
Date: 6/25/1954
Time: 5:05 PM
Description: Witnesses: experienced private pilot John Mark, flying
Navion lightplane; radar at Dayton, Ohio airport, tracked very fast
target at same location. One silver or aluminum round object with a flat
bottom, raised front edge, inverted cone on top, and a diameter of about
60’. Flew horizontally, hovered, made a high-G pull up and then a steep
climb into an overcast. Sighting lasted 3-5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Indian Lake, Ohio
ID: 351
Date: 6/26/1954
Description: 12:40 a.m. The Atomic Energy Commission’s National Reactor
Testing Station near Idaho Falls, Idaho, is suddenly lit up by a
blinding glow that explodes in the night sky. Kelly Brooks and A. L.
Taylor say the source of the light remains motionless for a few seconds,
then shoots upwards at a tremendous speed. (Keyhoe, FS Conspiracy, p. 168)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2431
Date: 6/26/1954
Description: Around 7:30 a.m. A metallic blob is seen high in the sky
near Columbus, Ohio. According to a newspaper article, a crew of an
airliner is asked to investigate; the crew circles under the object
while the 60 passengers take a look. Zanesville Radio says at 5:55 a.m.
a round, silvery object is detected on an azimuth of 80°. At 5:35 a.m.,
an Air Force charter flight, No. 46 AF 23-24 to Wilmington, Delaware,
flying at 3,000 feet observes an object in the Zanesville, Ohio, area at
approximately 18,000 to 20,000 feet. (NICAP, “Airliner
Investigates Strange Object”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2432
Date: 6/27/1954
Description: The Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, at the Institute of
Physics and Power Engineering in Obninsk, Kaluga Oblast, Russia, becomes
the first grid-connected nuclear power plant in the world. The plan
achieves criticality on May 6 and now is set up to provide electrical
power to Moscow. (Wikipedia, “Obninsk
Nuclear Power Plant”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2433
Date: 6/29/1954
Description: A BOAC Strato Cruiser (British Airways) on a trans Atlantic
flight with Capt. James Howard in command was traveling at 260 knots at
19,000 ft. when the crew saw a large CIGAR shaped UFO with six smaller
UFOs flying close to it. Among the others to witness these events were
First Officer Lee Boyd and Navigator Capt. H. McDonnell. After 15
minutes of observing the UFOs, Capt. Howard radioed Goose Bay, Canada,
for backup escort, upon which the smaller UFOs entered the bigger Cigar
shaped one which then shot away. Upon landing, Howard and Boyd were
debriefed by intelligence officers and their flight logs were
confiscated by USAF personnel.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Atlantic Ocean
Date: 6/29/1954
Description: 5:03 p.m. A BOAC Stratocruiser leaves New York City bound
for London, England. 30 minutes later, Capt. James R. Howard receives
directions from Boston Air Traffic Center to hold his position over the
Rhode Island coast. Howard circles for 10–12 minutes, after which Boston
tells him to detour over Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Around 11:30 p.m.
while crossing at 19,000 feet near Sept-Îles, Quebec, Howard, his
copilot Lee Boyd, and navigator H. McDonnell see a large cigar-shaped
object and six smaller black ovals moving the same speed as his
airliner, 265 mph, on a parallel course. The small objects are strung
out in a line, changing relative positions but always at the same level.
The large object slowly and continually changes shape, “in a way that a
swarm of bees might alter its appearance.” They appear opaque,
hard-edged, gray in color, with no lights or flames visible. Goose Bay
AFB [now CFB Goose Bay], Labrador, orders an F-94 to vector toward the
location. Just as Howard is giving the pilot his position, the small
objects disappear. McDonnell says they enter the large object. As the F-
94 approaches, the large object dwindles in size and disappears. Howard
lands at Goose Bay and is questioned by RCAF and USAF officials
(McConnell says they take the flight logs); when he lands in London, the
Air Ministry does the same, telling the pilots they viewed a solar
eclipse (which took place at 7:00 a.m. on June 30). Howard later hears
that there are UFO sightings in Massachusetts while he is in a holding
pattern, and he contests in the December 11 issue of Everybody’s
Magazine that what he saw was solid, not a mirage. Gordon
Thayer of the Colorado project identifies the objects as superior
mirages, reflections of the “dark terrain below seen against the bright,
‘silvery’ sky to the left of the setting sun,” a “phenomenon so rare
that it apparently has never been reported before or since.” James
McDonald disagrees. In 2010, ufologist Martin
Shough reexamines the case and concludes that the object might well
have been an unusual mirage. (NICAP, “BOAC
Stratocruiser Case”; Sparks,
p. 216; Clark III 195; Condon, pp. 139–140;
James Howard, “We Were Shadowed from Outer Space,” Everybody’s Weekly,
December 11, 1954; John Carnell, “BOAC’s
Flying Jellyfish,” Fate 7, no. 11 (November 1954): 16–23; Leonard
Cramp, “Mystery
over Labrador,” Flying Saucer Review 1, no. 1 (Spring 1955): 6–8;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 46; “Captain
James Howard Reflects on His Sighting of 1954 (BOAC),” nutsandbolts
ufo YouTube channel, March 7, 2009; Good Above, pp. 189–191;
Phillip Robertson, “Some
Considerations on the Seven Isles, Quebec, Canada,
Case of June 29, 1954,” May 31, 1991; Martin Shough, “Study
of an Unusual Phenomenon Observed by BOAC
Aircrew over Labrador, Newfoundland, June 29, 1954,” September 2009;
Martin Shough, “The
BOAC Labrador
Sighting of June 29, 1954,” Caelestia, October 31, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2434
Date: 6/30/1954
Description: 2:17 p.m. Johnny Björnulf and Raun Conradi are aboard one
of three Scandinavian Airlines planes flying above the Lifjell plateau,
Telemark, Norway, to observe a total solar eclipse. Conradi takes some
footage through a window on the north (port) side of one airplane. When
developed it shows two small light sources that are fairly obvious
window reflections, but media coverage causes much confusion about the
circumstances under which the film is shot. (E. Graham, “Scandinavian
Eclipse Expedition Films U.F.O.s,” Flying Saucer Review 2, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1956): 6–7; UFOEv, p. 5;
Clas Svahn, “The
Björnulf Solar Eclipse Film,” Clas Svahns Blogg, October 6,
2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2435
Date: 6/30/1954
Description: 6:50 p.m. Four civilians and several military personnel at
Brookley AFB [now Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley] in Mobile, Alabama, see a
brilliant silver or white object with short stubby wings approach from
the south, circle over Mobile, then depart to the northeast. A radar
contact at 6:30 p.m. with a stationary object is evidently unrelated
anomalous propagation. (NICAP, “Object
with Short Stubby Wings Tracked on Radar”; Sparks,
p. 216)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2436
Date: 7/1954
Description: A saucer-buff zine titled Nexus is first published by James
W. Moseley in New Jersey. (Nexus 1,
no. 1 (July 1954); Clark III 1032)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2438
Date: 7/2/1954
Description: 11:05 a.m. An F-94C Starfire takes off from Griffiss AFB
[now Griffiss Business and Technology Park] in Rome, New York, on an
operational training mission. It is only a few miles out when the
Griffiss control tower orders the plane diverted to intercept an
unidentified aircraft. When Pilot Lt. William E. Atkins cannot find the
aircraft, the controller tells him about a second unidentified aircraft,
which Atkins identifies as an Air Force C-47. The control tower vectors
him back to the first target. Atkins cannot see any aircraft above the
cloud cover, so he descends below the clouds. During the descent, a
furnace-like heat fills the cockpit and the engine plenum chamber fire
warning light goes on. Atkins shuts the engine off, but the light
remains on. Atkins and his radar man, Henry F. Coudon [or Condon],
eject, landing without injury. At 11:27 a.m., the plane crashes into the
town of Walesville, west of Utica, striking a building and an auto,
killing 4 people, and injuring 5 others. Atkins tells reporters about
the heat but clams up under Air Force pressure. The official
investigation confirms the fire was caused by a malfunction of the fire
detector circuit. There is no evidence of an in-flight fire. Kevin
Randle suspects a balloon is responsible for one of the radar
targets, because an apparent balloon is sighted later, from 6:00 to
10:00 p.m., in a 25-square-mile area from Rome to Frankfort, New York.
(“Abandoned
Jet Kills 3 in Car, 1
in House,” New York Times, July 3, 1954, pp. 1, 6; “Jet
Plane Crashes in Flames, Kills
3 in Auto, One in House,”
Syracuse (N.Y.) Post-Standard, July 3, 1954, pp. 1, 3; NICAP, “The
Walesville Incident / F-94 Crash”; Kevin D. Randle, “Walesville
Revisited,” IUR 25, no. 3 (Fall 2000): 3–5; Frank J. Reid, “Keyhoe’s
Context,” IUR 25, no. 3 (Fall 2000): 6–7, 28–29; Kevin D. Randle, “Walesville
UFO Jet Chase,” A Different Perspective, March 28, 2009; Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 174–177;
Condon, p. 161;
Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, pp. 22–23;
“‘Balloon’
Excites Utica,” New York Times, July 3, 1954, p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2439
Date: 7/3/1954
Description: Nine green spheres hover, speed away at 2,600 mph, and are
tracked on radar at 24,000 feet 20 miles north of Albuquerque, New
Mexico. (UFOEv, p. 85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2440
Date: 7/3/1954
Description: 8:15 a.m. The captain, officers, and 463 passengers of a
Dutch ocean liner watch a “greenish-colored, saucer- shaped object about
half the size of a full moon” speed across the sky and disappear in
clouds. (Ruppelt, p. 237)
[same as July 29 entry?]
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2441
Date: 7/7/1954
Description: A miner saw a landed object and a giant man with strange,
burning eyes. He fainted. When he regained consciousness, object and
entity had vanished. Investigated by the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Keyhoe C 184 (Vallee)
Location: Garson, Canada
ID: 133
Date: 7/8/1954
Description: 9:25 p.m. Amateur astronomer Harold
Hill is at his observatory in Orrell, Greater Manchester, England,
when he sees a bright star in the southern sky that he at first thinks
is a supernova. Soon it resolves itself into a bright, metallic globe
with a cluster of 15–20 smaller, dimmer objects moving around. Clouds
intervene and when they clear, he sees two bright objects, gyrating and
flashing and moving slowly around each other. The objects are at a great
altitude, because even through binoculars they have “shown no sensible
size.” (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January 1, 1947–December 31,
1959, The
Author, 2003, pp. 80– 81; “An Unusual Sky Phenomenon,” Strolling
Astronomer 9 (1955): 48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2442
Date: 7/9/1954
Description: Die Weltwoche in Zürich, Switzerland, publishes two letters
by psychologist Carl
Jung, who says he has been interested in UFOs since 1946, but he has
difficulty comprehending what they might be, since they seem to have
both subjective and objective properties. (Clark III 636–637)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2443
Date: 7/11/1954
Description: UK Air Chief Marshal Hugh
Dowding states in an article in the London Sunday Telegraph that “I
am convinced that these objects do exist and that they are not
manufactured by any nation on earth. I can therefore see no alternative
to accepting the theory that they come from some extraterrestrial
source.” (UFOEv, p. 122;
Good Above, pp. 47–48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2444
Date: 7/14/1954
Description: MJ-12 SSP briefing letter, briefing scheduled for July 16,
1954. MEMO to General Nathan F. Twining (MJ-4) requesting his presence
at an MAJESTIC-12 meeting with President Eisenhower on July 16. Note by
Stanton Friedman: Letter was discovered in the National Archives by Wm.
Moore and Jamie Shandera on 1985 in the 126th box of USAF files. Carbon
of the original form.
Type: majestic document
Reference: link
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A p84, majic)
Location: Washington DC
Attributes: Majestic
Date: 7/14/1954
Description: A fake memo, supposedly written by or for Robert
Cutler, special
assistant to President Eisenhower, to
Gen. Nathan
Twining, indicates
that an MJ-12 briefing should take place at the White House July 16.
Cutler is in Europe at the time of the memo, although the memo could
have been prepared by NSC Executive Secretary James
S.
Lay Jr. or his associate, J. Patrick Coyne. (Robert Cutler, “Memorandum
for General Twining: NSC/MJ-12 Special
Studies Project,” July 14, 1954; Northern Ontario UFO Research and
Study, “Majestic-12”;
Stanton T. Friedman, “MJ-12: The Evidence So Far,” IUR 12, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1987): 14–18; Stanton T. Friedman, Top Secret / MAJIC,
Marlowe, 1996, pp. 86–102;
“Majestic-12
or ‘MJ-12’ Reference Report,” US National Archives, September 29,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2445
Date: 7/16/1954
Description: Secret Meeting between Gen. Nathan Twining (MJ-4) and
President Eisenhower.
Type: secret meeting
Reference: Pea
Research (MJ-4)
Location: Washington DC
Date: 7/18/1954
Time: 8:40 PM
Description: Witness: A.T. Chamblin. One greenish-white disc was seen
for 30 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Normandy, Missouri
ID: 352
Date: 7/20/1954
Description: Two men are chased in their car by a UFO near Oslo, Norway,
and stop to observe it. Afterward, one of the witnesses’ watches stops
working and the car’s paint changes color. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 207)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2446
Date: 7/20/1954
End date: 7/21/1954
Description: Ruppelt visits
the Project Blue Book office at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio to gather
information for his upcoming book. He is told that all UFO publicity is
handled by a lieutenant colonel in Air Force intelligence. He writes in
an August 3 letter to Keyhoe:
“They claim to have gotten the unknowns down to about 10% but from what
I saw this was just due to a more skeptical attitude. The reports are
just as good as the ones we got and their analysis procedures are a hell
of a lot worse.” (Donald E. Keyhoe, “The
Captain Ruppelt Letters,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 2 (October 1961):
6; Clark III 1023)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2447
Date: 7/20/1954
Description: Near this city, two men were chased by an object and
stopped their car to observe it. After the sighting, a watch stopped
working and the paint on the car allegedly changed color.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Challenge 129; 3; cf. Case 120 (Vallee)
Location: Oslo, Norway
ID: 134
Date: 7/23/1954
Description: The US Navy issues a new directive that orders the
immediate reporting of UFO sightings (FLYOBRPTs) to the director of
AFOSI, ATIC, commanding officer of Eastern ADC, director of Naval
Intelligence, commanding officer of the Eastern Sea Frontier, and the
commandant of the Potomac River Naval Command. The directive cites JANAP
146, AFR 200-2, OPNAV 3820, and Directive 3820.2 and is intended to plug
leaks coming from navy and marine personnel. It is unpublicized but
unclassified, so it threatens disclosure of AFR 200-2, which is still
classified. USAF begins work on a new version of AFR 200-2 without the
“restricted” label. (Keyhoe, FS Conspiracy, pp. 188–189,
309–311)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2448
Date: 7/24/1954
End date: 7/25/1954
Description: A security officer at the Naval Bureau of Aeronautics
develops a personal interest in the Frances Swan contact case and
accepts Adm. Knowles’s
invitation to Eliot, Maine, to visit with Swan. On his return, he gives
the FBI a report on his visit. On July 29 an FBI agent interviews him,
and on August 9 J.
Edgar Hoover sends an account of the interview to Rear Adm. Carl
F. Espe and to the Army’s Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2. Hoover
writes, “No further action is being taken in this matter by this
Bureau.” (Clark III 1118)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2449
Date: 7/25/1954
Time: 7:12 PM
Description: Witness: attorney L.B. Tussing. One black cylinder, 12
times long as wide, moved fast along the surface of the lake.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Middle Sister Island, on U.S.-Canadian border in western Lake
Erie
ID: 353
Date: 7/25/1954
Description: Policeman J. H. Flanagan and friends see 6 UFOs over
Enkeldoorn [now Chivhu], Zimbabwe. Nearly stationary, they are visible
for about 20 minutes and disappear when night falls. (ClearIntent, p. 134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2450
Date: 7/28/1954
Description: Wilbert
Smith, at
the invitation of retired Navy Adm. Herbert
B. Knowles, visits
contactee Frances Swan in Eliot, Maine, his neighbor. Her two space
friends, Affa and Alomar, direct Swan’s hand to draw a series of circles
demonstrating the use of magnetic fields in spacecraft propulsion. Smith
asks the aliens to communicate by radio at an appointed time a few days
later, but the message does not come through. Nevertheless, Smith
attempts to decipher the alien charts in hopes of learning how to build
a saucer for Canada. (Clark III 1079–1080, 1118)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2451
Date: 7/29/1954
Description: Capt. Jan P. Bos and five officers of the Dutch ocean liner
Groote
Beer see a moon-like object rising out of the Atlantic Ocean 90
miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They watch it through a sextant,
allowing them to estimate its rate of ascent at a half degree in 2
minutes. (Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1954, June–August, The Author, 1990, p. 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2452
Date: 7/30/1954
Time: 10:15 AM
Description: Witness: Hughes Aircraft test pilots Englert and Peterson,
flying a B-25 bomber. One metallic, pencil-shaped object flew slowly or
hovered for an unstated length of time.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Los Angeles, California
ID: 354
Date: 8/1954
Description: Statement by Air Chief Marshall Lord Dowding, head of the
RAF during WWII: “Of course the flying saucers are real! And, they are
inter planetary!”
Type: public statement
Reference: Pea
Research
See also: 9/23/47
See also: 10/9/55
Date: 8/1954
Description: Frank Edwards, pro-saucer newscaster fired.
Type: historical event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 8/1954
Description: 10:30 p.m. An astronomer sees a bright white disc, 20 times
the apparent size of the moon, moving from west to northeast at a high
rate of speed over Park Hills, Kentucky. The seemingly solid object is
about 100 feet in diameter and flying at an altitude of 500 feet. It
disappears abruptly after 3–4 seconds. (“Astronomers and UFO’s: A
Survey, Part 2, Sightings,” IUR 2, no. 4 (April 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2453
Date: 8/1/1954
Description: 11:15 p.m. Desmond O’Reilly and others at Templeogue Tennis
Club in Dublin, Ireland, watch an object fly over the Dublin Mountains
in the direction of Howth. Initially he thinks he is looking at a meteor
because he can only see it when it passes by gaps in the clouds. He
watches it split into two pieces. (Irish Times, August 5, 1954; Shane
Cochrane, “Ireland vs. the Flying Saucers,” Fortean Times 317 (September
2014): 54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2454
Date: 8/1/1954
Description: 11:30 p.m. P. D. McCormack sees a bluish-white object
flying at 1,000 mph at an altitude of 5,000 feet above the Dublin
Mountains, Ireland, to the south. The trails seem to “fall away from the
object at each side.” Two men fishing in the River Dargle near
Powerscourt, County Wicklow, see a rocket-shaped object dropping balls
of fire. At 11:35 p.m., on the North Beach in Rush, County Dublin,
Mrs. W. Gray and others watch an object “like a bright electric bulb”
fly overhead from the mountains and out to sea. Possible meteor. (Irish
Times, August 3, 5, 1954; Shane Cochrane, “Ireland vs. the Flying
Saucers,” Fortean Times 317 (September 2014): 54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2455
Date: 8/2/1954
Time: 5:17 PM
Description: Witness: ex-AAF B-17 gunner (19 missions) N.E. Schroeder.
One thin, bright ellipse, like polished metal, hovered for 5-8 seconds,
dropped down 3,000’ in 3 seconds, hovered again and faded out after a
total of 20 seconds in view.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Westlake, Ohio
ID: 355
Date: 8/2/1954
Description: The US Joint Chiefs of Staff direct the establishment of a
Continental Air Defense Command. Secretary of Defense Charles
Erwin Wilson announces the command’s formation publicly later in the
month to integrate “the air defense capabilities of the three military
departments into an air defense system responsible to the control of one
military commander.” (Wikipedia, “Continental
Air Defense Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2456
Date: 8/4/1954
Description: 11:00 p.m.–12:00 midnight. Ten firemen and their chief
observe two flying saucers over The Hague, Netherlands. The objects are
seen in the clear night air at a high altitude. They move at incredible
speed, at times remaining motionless for as long as 30 seconds. They are
described as flat ovals with whitish-gray light. All agree that the
objects are neither aircraft or balloons. (ClearIntent, p. 134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2457
Date: 8/6/1954
Time: 6 PM
Description: Witness: mechanical engineer L.H. Hormer. One intensely
white elliptical light changed to yellow, then orange, then pink, four
or five times while flying straight and level for 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: San Antonio, Texas
ID: 356
Date: 8/6/1954
Description: A bright white ball shoots across the sky over Santa Fe,
New Mexico, leaving a luminous trail that persists for 15 minutes.
Meteorite expert Lincoln
LaPaz says it is not a meteor. It apparently disrupts TV signals and
aircraft transmissions, but not ham radio. (Wilkins, FS Uncensored,
Citadel, 1955, p. 226)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2458
Date: 8/7/1954
End date: 8/8/1954
Description: One of the first UFO meetings in California is held on the
slopes of Palomar Mountain, with lectures by George
Adamski, Daniel
Fry, Truman
Bethurum, and
Desmond
Leslie. (“Palomar
Mountain, 1940–1960: From Obscurity
to World Fame,” The Adamski Case, September 22, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2459
Date: 8/8/1954
Description: 3:01 p.m. Project Magnet’s only UFO incident of note occurs
when the Shirley’s Bay, Ontario, gravimeter indicates a greater
deflection in the gravitational field than a conventional object would
cause. Heavy clouds obstruct Wilbert
Smith’s view of the sky. (Clark III 1079; “Wilbert
B. Smith,” Northern Ontario UFO Research and Study; Good Above, p. 186)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2460
Date: 8/10/1954
Time: 2130
Description: The Coupal childrm said that a brightly lighted object
followed them to the farm. Mr. Coupal and his oldest son went to the
field where the children had been playing and saw an orange object rise
and speed off to the west. Grass was flattened over 15 m, with two
tracks about 5 m long.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins U 237 (Vallee)
Location: Hemmingford, Canada
ID: 135
Date: 8/10/1954
Description: The Canadian Department of Transport officially folds
Project Magnet but permits Wilbert
Smith to continue using its facility on his own time at no expense
to the government. Smith continues his work privately until his death in
December 1962. (Story, p. 276)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2461
Date: 8/11/1954
Time: 8:55 PM
Description: Witness: P.L. Percharde, electrical engineer and assistant
manager of Moeller Shipwrecker Co., of Okinawa. A line of blue lights,
underneath. a blue circle with a black center. Flew over ship and
climbed, illuminating and agitating the clouds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Yoron Jima, near Okinawa
ID: 357
Date: 8/11/1954
Description: 8:55 p.m. P. L. Percharde, electrical engineer and
assistant manager of the Moeller Shipwrecker Company, of Okinawa, sees a
line of blue lights underneath a blue circle with a black center fly
over the SS Docteur Angier off Yoron-Jima, Japan, and climb,
illuminating and agitating the clouds. (Patrick Gross, “Disk
Seen from SS Docteur
Angier, August 11, 1954”; Sparks, p. 219)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2464
Date: 8/11/1954
Description: 8:54 p.m. A1C Chase E. Lewis, tower operator at Lawson AFB
[now Lawson Army Airfield] in Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia, sees a
strange stationary object in the west. It varies in brightness, changing
color from white to red to orange to white again, with seemingly
high-speed motions. An Army helicopter piloted by WO R. T. Wade is sent
to investigate; he locates the object 20 miles west of Lawson at 2,000
feet. Wade abandons the chase due to low fuel after 2 minutes. At 9:05
p.m., two additional tower operators (including A1C William N. Watson)
view the object. A second Army helicopter, piloted by U. S. Tarma, is
diverted to the object at 9:27 p.m. He sees it, but it disappears at
9:29 p.m. (NICAP, “Two
Helicopters Encounter Venus (CIRVIS)”; Good Above, pp. 284–285;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1954, June–August, The Author, 1990, pp. 77–80; Sparks, p. 219)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2463
Date: 8/11/1954
Description: Frank
Edwards is fired by his sponsor at the Mutual Broadcasting Network,
the American Federation of Labor. He had offered to resign on August 7,
citing a conflict over the type of material he has been required to
report on, including AFL interests and George
Meany’s personal outlook. His UFO reportage may or may not be an
issue. (Clark III 435; Frank Edwards, “The
Plot to Silence Me,” Fate 10, no. 6 (June 1957): 17–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2462
Date: 8/12/1954
Description: 2:29 a.m. Four military men on US Army helicopters at
Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Alabama, see a glowing red disc soar around
the base tower. There are both ground and air witnesses, as well as
radar-visual confirmation. (Good Above, pp. 284–285, 493–494)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2465
Date: 8/12/1954
Description: EMERGENCY CIA MESSAGE: Sighted Saucer hovering at 2000 ft.
above Maxwell AFB, Alabama. Dispatched local helicopter NBR ARMY267 to
investigate. Definitely NOT a star. Helicopters fuel low, returned to
base. In coming helicopter ARMY294 proceeded toward UFO which then
completely disappeared. Pilot of ARMY294 lost sight of it, would be glad
to be called upon to verify saucer light. Pilots of Army helicopters
were: R.T. Wade, 506th helicopter Co., U.S. Tarma, also of the 506th,
Ft. Genning, GA.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p493)
Location: Maxwell AFB
Date: 8/12/1954
Description: New updated reporting of UFOs. Regulation AFR 200–2, (see
Aug. 26, 1953), by order of N.F. Twining (MJ-4), Chief of Staff,
USAF.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p489)
Location: Washington DC
See also: 8/26/1953
Date: 8/12/1954
Description: An updated version of AFR 200-2 is issued by the Department
of the Air Force and declassified by Air Force Chief of Staff Nathan
Twining. The
public can now know that the 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron
was brought in to assist ATIC (Blue Book) with preliminary and field UFO
investigations, and that USAF considers UFOs to be “any airborne object
which by performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features,
does not conform to any presently known aircraft or missile type, or
which cannot be positively identified as a familiar object.” It lists
the objectives of UFO reporting as: “First as a possible threat to the
security of the United States and its forces, and secondly, to determine
technical aspects involved.” (Department of the Air Force, “Unidentified
Flying Objects Reporting,” Air Force Regulation 200-2, August 12,
1954; Good Above, pp. 489–492)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2466
Date: 8/15/1954
Time: 10:20 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF Maj. W.J. Davis, Capt. R.D. Sauers, flying
a C-47 transport plane. One dark blue oblong object paced the C-47,
veered away, then crossed in front of it. Five minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: San Marcos, Texas
ID: 358
Date: 8/16/1954
Description: 5:00 p.m. A green ball is seen in the sky over Tananarive
[now Antananarivo], Madagascar, and disappears behind a hill. It
reappears a minute later and flies over the higher part of Tananarive.
When the object flies in front of them, some witnesses see a
lentil-shaped device with a silvery metallic aspect enveloped in
electric luminous gas. According to Jean-Luc Bruneau, inspector general
at the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique, Gen. Charles de
Gaulle is concerned about this sighting and quietly approves having
a French study group involved with investigating UFO cases. (“1954,
Tananarive, Madagascar: Multiple Witnesses to UFOs,” UFO Casebook,
July 30, 2008; Gildas Bourdais, “From GEPAN to SEPRA: Official UFO
Studies in France,” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001): 11; Patrick Gross,
“Tananarive,
Madagascar, August 1954”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2467
Date: 8/20/1954
Description: Morning. Edith Jacobsen, 2, and Åsta Solvang, 32, are on a
blueberry-picking trip to Øyfjellet, near Mosjøen, Norway, with their
uncle, Halvdan Jacobsen. The two sisters wander off to a fen when
suddenly they see a man in the distance. They approach him and he smiles
and stretches out his hand, but he only brushes Edith’s palm with it. He
has long hair with a natural wave, a dark complexion, and a
tight-fitting suit with a wide belt. He begins to talk but they can’t
understand him. It does not sound like Norwegian, English, German,
Spanish, French, or Russian. He takes out a “little mirror” from a
pocket and with something like a pencil draws circles, apparently
representing planets. He finally indicates he wants the women to
accompany him and he takes them to a landed disc in a clearing. It is
gray-blue and looks like two giant pot lids put together. He makes a
sign to not come too close, then he opens a hatch on the top, crawls in,
and shuts the door. The sisters hear a faint humming and the UFO rises
while rotating on its own axis. (Gordon Creighton, “Mosjøen:
An Early Norwegian CE-III
Case,” Flying Saucer Review 34, no. 2 (June 1989): 1–7; Clark III
267–268)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2469
Date: 8/20/1954
Description: Contactee Dorothy
Martin of Oak Park, Illinois, and Charles and Lilian Laughead of
Detroit, Michigan, send out a 7-page press release announcing that a
geological disaster will cause great environmental changes in North
America and Europe. It warns that December 20 will be the last available
date for evacuation, as a great flood will strike on December 21. Martin
and her followers hope to board a landed flying saucer before doom
falls. (Clark III 718)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2468
Date: 8/21/1954
Description: Cecil Sutton and family have run in with spacemen.
Type: ce3 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Date: 8/23/1954
Description: Approximate date. A strange object hovered low over the
house of Mr. Lucas and left straight up.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 4 (Vallee)
Location: Varennes, near Diges, France
ID: 136
Date: 8/23/1954
Description: Elise Blanc approached an object looking like an aluminum
trailer with two small beings in silvery dress, grunting like pigs,
standing close by. The craft took on a fiery color and flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Challenge 129 (Vallee)
Location: Lugrin, near Thonon, France
ID: 137
Date: 8/23/1954
Description: 1:00 a.m. Businessman Bernard
Miserey has just parked his car in a garage at Vernon, Eure, France,
when he notices a sudden illumination. He sees an object like an
enormous (300 feet long) cigar standing on end, hovering above the north
bank of the Seine River about 1,000 feet away. Suddenly from the bottom
of the object comes a horizontal disc that drops, slows, and suddenly
dives horizontally across the river at him. It vanishes at a high rate
of speed toward the southwest. Three other discs follow in sequence. A
fifth disc drops much lower than the earlier ones and remains still for
an instant, swaying slightly. During this time the cigar has faded and
sinks into darkness. The spectacle has lasted 45 minutes. Two police
officers and an Army engineer also see the display. (Clark III 293;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1954, June–August, The
Author, 1990, pp. 77–80; Sparks, pp. 85–86;
Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” February 2, 2007; Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite
Objects and Cloud Cigars,” IUR 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2470
Date: 8/24/1954
Time: 8:30 PM
Description: Witness: one unnamed farmer. A cylinder, 2-2.5’ long, 4-5’
in diameter, made a loud whizzing sound, flew straight and level fast,
then slow, then fell into sandbar.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Egilstadir, Iceland
ID: 359
Date: 8/25/1954
Description: Two girls in Norway meet spaceman.
Type: ce4 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Norway
Date: 8/26/1954
Time: 6:15 AM
Description: Witness: Rev. W.L. Shelton. Two domed ellipses, 20’ long,
8’ thick, 10’ at ends; glowing silver or orange. Hovered, then climbed
side-by-side while getting brighter. Observed for 2 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Danville, Virginia
ID: 360
Date: 8/26/1954
Description: 9:35 p.m. Crowds of people in Bray, County Wicklow,
Ireland. see an object traveling at great speed over Bray Head. It is a
brilliant blue light, traveling at “2,000 miles an hour” toward the sea
before changing direction and moving toward Wicklow. (Irish Times,
August 27, 1954; Shane Cochrane, “Ireland vs. the Flying Saucers,”
Fortean Times 317 (September 2014): 54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2471
Date: 8/27/1954
Time: 2030
Description: A wingless flying object was seen by Bill Supa, an employee
of the Caswell Construction Co. It landed about 2 km way from the
witness, who approached within 300 m before it took off and flew away.
Grass was flattened where it had landed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins U 227 (Vallee)
Location: Boston Creek, Canada
ID: 138
Date: 8/27/1954
Time: 1 PM
Description: Witness: E.A. Srazdes. Seven large, white, teardrop-shaped
objects turned blue. Flew in line formation and increased speed during
the 2 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Dorchester, Massachusetts
ID: 361
Date: 8/28/1954
Description: Two boys saw a craft land and two or three men come out. No
details given.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Constance 277 (Vallee)
Location: Quebec, Canada
ID: 139
Date: 8/28/1954
Description: 8:30 p.m. Several USAF fighter pilots pursue a triangular
formation of 15 objects near Tinker AFB, Oklahoma City, tracked by
ground radar. As the jets approach, the formation breaks, changes to a
semicircle, and the objects speed up and vanish to the west. (NICAP,
“USAF Fighters Report Formation Tracked by Radar”; Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 25–26;
Sparks,
p. 220)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2472
Date: 8/28/1954
Description: Two boys in Quebec, Canada see spaceship land. Two or three
men get out.
Type: ce3 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Quebec, Canada
Date: 8/29/1954
Description: A witness in Mérida, Venezuela, sees a large, intensely
yellow, glowing object moving at great speed from west to east. When it
reaches the Sierra Nevada de Mérida, it suddenly stops and two
disc-shaped blue objects emerge from it. All three continue to the east
and disappear behind buildings. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story,
Signet, 1969, p. 58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2473
Date: 8/29/1954
Time: 11:05 AM
Description: Witnesses: lst Officer H.G. Gardner, engineer J.V.D.
Whitisy, flying Royal Dutch Airlines DC-4 (PH-DBZ). Three or four dark,
lens-shaped objects veered north and changed position in formation
during the 10 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Prince Christian, Greenland
ID: 362
Date: 8/29/1954
Description: 11:05 p.m. First Officer H. G. Gardner and Engineer J. V.
D. Whitisy, flying on a Royal Dutch Airlines DC- 4, see 3–4 dark,
lens-shaped objects over Prins Christianssund radio and weather station,
Greenland. They veer north and change position in formation. (NICAP, “Lens-Shaped
Objects Veer North”; Sparks,
p. 220)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2474
Date: 8/30/1954
Time: 0525
Description: Sgt. Durdle saw a brilliant, circular object flying across
Lake Nipissing toward the Royal Canadian Air Force base. An oblong
canister was hanging down from a central section, which supported a long
cone with a spinning globe on top. When it tilted, the witness was able
to observe regulatorlike devices inside the machine through a vertical
lighted slit. Six brilliant appendages, which looked like necklaces,
were hanging from the craft. Durdle woke up four Air Force men, who
observed the object spiraling away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins U 227 (Vallee)
Location: North Bay, Canada
ID: 140
Date: 8/31/1954
Description: 7:10 p.m. RAN Lieutenant J. A. “Shamus” O’Farrell is
returning to HMAS Albatross Naval Air Station near Nowra, New South
Wales, after a night cross-country in a Hawker Sea Fury aircraft. After
contacting Nowra, O’Farrell sees a very bright light closing fast at one
o’clock. It crosses in front of his aircraft, taking up position on his
port beam, where it appears to orbit. A second and similar light is
observed at nine o’clock. It passes about a mile in front of the Sea
Fury and then turns in the position where the first light was observed.
According to O’Farrell, the apparent crossing speeds of the lights are
the fastest he has ever encountered. He has been flying at 250 mph.
O’Farrell contacts Albatross, which in turn confirms that it has two
radar “paints” in company with him. Radar operator Petty Officer Keith
Jessop confirms the presence of 2 objects near the Sea Fury on the GCI
remote display. The two lights reform at nine o’clock and then disappear
on a northeasterly heading. O’Farrell can only make out “a vague shape
with the white light situated centrally on top.” The Directorate of
Naval Intelligence at the time writes that O’Farrell is “an entirely
credible witness” and that he “was visibly shaken by his experience but
remains adamant that he saw these objects.” News of the incident leaks
out in December, but the official RAN file remains classified until
1982. (NICAP, “‘Sea
Fury’ Encounter”; Swords 379–380; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 70; Good Above, p. 162;
An Adelaide UFO Researcher, “The
‘Sea Fury’ Radar Incident Revisited,” 2017; “The
Sea Fury Incident,” Australian Disclosure Project, April 30, 2006;
Bill Chalker, “The Australian Government and UFOs,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall
1997): 18–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2475
Date: 8/31/1954
Description: Deputy Department of Transport Minister John
Baldwin closes the Shirley’s Bay, Ontario, UFO station to save
money, although he says Smith can
work on his own time. (“Saucer
Station Closes,” The Saucerian, no. 6 (Spring 1955): 12; Clark III
1079)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2476
Date: 9/1/1954
Description: The Continental Air Defense Command is established,
primarily to defend the continental United States against air attack. It
is also tasked to support US commanders in the Pacific, Atlantic,
Caribbean, Alaska, Northeast, and of Strategic Air Command in their
missions to the maximum extent consistent with its primary mission.
ADC’s commander, Gen. Benjamin
W. Chidlaw, becomes
the first CINCONAD, and USAF is designated as the executive agency.
(Wikipedia, “Continental
Air Defense Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2477
Date: 9/2/1954
Description: Dusk. John Jacob Swaim, 12, is working on a tractor at his
family’s farm in Coldwater, Kansas, when he sees a small man about 3
feet tall with long, pointed ears and a pointed nose standing in a
crouched position about 20 feet away. It is dressed in a shiny garment
and has two cylinders strapped on its back. The being floats to a nearby
UFO hovering 5 feet from the ground. The next day his father and Sheriff
Floyd Hadley find pear-shaped footprints, wide at the toes and tapering
to a narrow heel. (“Little
Man in Kansas Wheat Field,” The Saucerian, no. 6 (Spring 1955):
12–13; Clark III 270–271; Curt Collins, “A
Flying Cucumber Comes to Kansas, Sept. 1954,” The Saucers That Time
Forgot, February 23, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2478
Date: 9/3/1954
Description: Many workers in the fields 12 km south of the town saw an
object apparently made of transparent plastic fly over the houses, stop
on edge, and swing like a pendulum a few meters above the ground. It
made several erratic jumps, then resumed its horizontal position and
flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 5 (Vallee)
Location: Souk-el-Khemis, Tunisia
ID: 141
Date: 9/3/1954
Description: 4:30 p.m. USAF Maj. Robert
J. Waste and the 9-man crew of his B-47 bomber are flying at 25,000
feet in the vicinity of Dallas, Texas, on their way to Barksdale AFB in
Bossier City, Louisiana. Carswell AFB [now Naval Air Station Joint
Reserve Base Fort Worth] in Texas directs them to be on the lookout for
unusual objects. The crew discovers they are being paced by a
missile-shaped object only 100 feet overhead that is slightly larger and
longer than their own fuselage. It has two rows of oval-shaped portholes
along the sides and an orange exhaust. The bottom of the object seems to
be glowing. After pacing the B-47 a short time, it shoots ahead and
zooms upward at incredible speed. Carswell tells them to pursue, but
they can’t keep up. The UFO then descends to within 300 feet of the
bomber and begins circling it. The UFO stays with the plane, pacing it
above and below, and performing figure-eights and other maneuvers for
over an hour. Two other B-47s in the squadron are behind the lead bomber
and also view the object. The UFO finally shoots upward and disappears
again. Waste takes 32 frames of 35mm color film of the UFO with his
personal camera, but his film and that of his copilot is confiscated
during a 3-day debriefing at Barksdale. (Paul Cerny, “Close Encounter at
25,000 Feet: Government Coverup,”: IUR 8, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1983):
6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2479
Date: 9/4/1954
Time: 3 AM
Description: Witness: J. Faltemeier, CAA communications specialist.
Twenty-thirty lights, as if on a string, flew straight and level for 1.5
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Butler, Missouri
ID: 363
Date: 9/5/1954
Time: 12:23 AM
Description: Witness: J. Faltemeier, CAA communications specialist. One
silver or white object with a slightly swept-back leading edge and a
following exhaust, flew straight and level, then veered southwest to
south after 30 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Butler, Missouri
ID: 364
Date: 9/7/1954
Description: 7:15 a.m. Two bricklayers, Emile Renard, 27, and Yves
DeGillerboz, 23, see a bluish-gray object floating in midair over a
field as they are bicycling between Harponville and Contay, Somme,
France. It looks like an unfinished haystack “with a plate turned upside
down on top of it.” When they try to approach, it takes off. It has a
diameter of 33 feet, and they notice it has a kind of door. The
observation lasts more than 3 minutes, at which point the object
releases some smoke as it departs straight up. (Aimé Michel, Straight
Line, p. 35; Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” March 20, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2481
Date: 9/7/1954
Time: 0715
Description: Between Harponville and Contay, two bricklayers, Emile
Renard, 27, and Yves Degillerboz, 23 saw an object floating in mid-air
over a field: “It looked like an unfinished haystack, with a plate
turned upside down on top of it.” When they approached, it took off.
Diameter 10 m, height 3 m. A kind of door was noticed. The observation
lasted over 3 min. The object released smoke when it departed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 6; M 35 (Vallee)
Location: Harponville, France
ID: 142
Date: 9/7/1954
Description: 12:30 a.m. Robert Chovel and two others are driving home
from the theater in Hirson, Aisne, France, when they see a luminous
red-orange disc flying above the railroad tracks. It stops suddenly
across the road, 900– 1,200 feet from the ground. When the car reaches
the bridge at Buire, the object shoots away at great speed.
(ClearIntent, p. 134;
Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” May 12, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2480
Date: 9/8/1954
Description: 11:00 p.m. Thomas Farquhar sees a “large oval-shaped disc,”
crackling and hissing, fly over Derryhubbert, County Tyrone, Northern
Ireland. He thinks it is about 3 feet wide and flying at a height of
2,000 feet. Daniel McWilliam and James Bingham, in Carrickfergus, County
Antrim, see a rocket soar into the sky and explode silently. Mr. L.
Hauser is on a boat leaving Belfast when he sees a rocket come up out of
the sea and explode when it reaches about 15,000 feet. (Belfast
Telegraph, September 9–11, 1954; Shane Cochrane, “Ireland vs. the Flying
Saucers,” Fortean Times 317 (September 2014): 54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2482
Date: 9/9/1954
Description: 2:20 a.m. Mr. K. M. Gibbons of Nelson, New Zealand, gets
out of bed and sees through the window three discs hovering above a
mudflat 3 miles away in a V-formation. They radiate a blue-white light
from their edges. He grabs a camera with a telephoto lens and takes a
photo. After 5 minutes, the discs begin to wobble, tip on edge, then
shoot vertically out of sight. Other reports come from the area that
morning. The photo shows a blurry oval with a small dark area on top.
(UFOEv, pp. 89, 92;
Wilkins, FS Uncensored, Citadel, 1955, opp.
p. 96)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2483
Date: 9/10/1954
Description: Around 10:30 p.m. 34-year-old metal worker Marius Dewilde
comes out of his house at Quarouble, Nord, France, to see why his dog is
barking. He hears hurried footsteps on his right and with his flashlight
sees two creatures just beyond his fence walking in single file toward a
dark object sitting on the railroad tracks. The creatures are about 3.5
feet tall with wide shoulders, short legs, and helmets covering large
heads. No faces or arms are visible. When he tries to cut them off and
gets within 6 feet, he finds himself paralyzed as a powerful orange beam
of light is projected at him from a square opening in the dark object.
The creatures continue toward the railroad tracks, a door closes, the
dark object rises to 100 feet, hovers, and speeds away. Five imprints on
three wooden railroad ties are found, made by an object that an engineer
estimates must have weighed 30 tons. French police and the French Air
Force investigate the case. (Wikipedia, “Marius
Dewilde”; Aimé Michel, Straight Line, 44–46; Marc Thirouin, “Marius
Dewilde n’a pas menti,” Ouranos, no. 25 (1960): 20–25; Vallée,
Magonia, pp.
17–18, 209;
Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” July 22, 2004; Jean F. Gilles, “The
Bankruptcy of the French UFO
Research Body, GEPAN,” Flying Saucer Review 28, no. 5 (June 1983):
15–16; Mark Cashman, “Behavioral Classification System for UFO
Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2485
Date: 9/10/1954
Time: 2230
Description: A metal worker, Marius Dewilde, 34, came out of his house
as a dog was barking and saw a dark object on the railroad tracks, then
observed two dwarfs walking toward it. When he tried to stop them, he
found himself paralyzed as a strong orange light was projected at
him.The creatures were under 1 m tall, bulky, and wore dark diving
suits. No face or arms were visible. Traces made by an object of
estimated weight 30 tons were noted by French Air Force and police on
the ballast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 8; M 44; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Quarouble, France
ID: 144
Date: 9/10/1954
Time: 2030
Description: A farmer, Mr. Mazaud was walking home when he was suddenly
confronted with a helmeted being of average height who made friendly
gestures, then went back into the brush, entered a cigar-shaped object
about 4 m long, which took off toward Limoges. A few minutes later
witnesses in Limoges reported a disk-shaped, red object leaving a bluish
trail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 7; M 40 (Vallee)
Location: Mourieras, France
ID: 143
Date: 9/10/1954
Description: 8:30 p.m. Antoine Mazaud is walking home from his fields at
Mourieras, north of Bugeat, Corrèze, France, when he is confronted by a
helmeted being of average height who makes friendly gestures. It shakes
hands with him and embraces him while uttering unintelligible words.
Then it goes back into the brush, enters a cigar-shaped object about 13
feet long, which takes off to the northwest. A few minutes later,
witnesses in Limoges report a disc-shaped, red object leaving a bluish
trail. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” June 21, 2005; Mark Cashman, “Behavioral
Classification System for UFO Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999):
18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2484
Date: 9/12/1954
Alternate date: 9/13/1954
Description: Late afternoon. A witness is driving a van in the vicinity
of Quarouble, Nord, France, when he sees a domed disc descending
vertically into a small thicket about 160 feet off the road and land. He
can see a kind of gallery around the dome where human-like beings are
standing. He stops the car, gets out, and walks toward the object, but
when he gets closer the object shines a green ray at him. The disc
immediately ascends vertically, then moves gently away. His paralysis
ceases. A rush of air shakes him at the time it takes off. (Marc
Thirouin, “Marius
Dewilde n’a pas menti,” Ouranos, no. 25 (1960): 25; Patrick Gross,
“The
1954 French Flap,” March 23, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2486
Date: 9/14/1954
Time: 2200
Description: John J. Swain, 12, was driving a tractor back from the
fields when he saw a small man no bigger than a 5-year-old child a few
meters away from him. He had a long nose and long ears and seemed to
“fly” when he moved toward a saucershaped craft hovering less than 2 m
above ground. It “opened up” and the creature “popped inside.” The craft
became luminous and went out of sight. Strange traces were found by
police. The creature was dressed in shiny clothes, and his shoes seemed
to have “fins.” He carried two cylinders on his back and had long,
pointed ears.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 9; Humanoids 53; Wilkins U 239 (Vallee)
Location: Coldwater, Kansas
ID: 145
Date: 9/14/1954
Description: 5:00 p.m. Farm worker Georges Fortin, 34, and more than 200
other witnesses in Saint-Prouant, Vendée, France, watch a cigar or
carrot-shaped UFO as it emerges from a cloud, tilts toward the ground,
hovers, and then elevates its front end quickly into a vertical
position. It emits vapor from its lower end. Next, a metallic disc-
shaped object flies out, spins around the cigar, and then reenters the
vertical object. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French
Flap,” July 2, 2004; Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects and Cloud
Cigars,” IUR 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 5; Herbert S. Taylor, “Cloud
Cigars: A Further Look,” IUR 30, no. 3 (May 2006): 10–12; Clark III 293;
Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht, “‘Cloud
Cigar’ over Saint-Prouant, France,” June 13, 2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2487
Date: 9/14/1954
Description: Night. Several people see a circular UFO over Helsinki,
Finland. Flying at 2,600 feet, it gives off an intense light and leaves
a trail of reddish smoke about 3 times its diameter. It is visible 7
seconds. (ClearIntent, p. 134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2488
Date: 9/15/1954
Description: Ijapada Chatterjee, the manager of the Kadori mica mine,
and hundreds of others watch a disc descend to an altitude of 500 feet
over three adjoining villages (Kadori, Barshi, and Mangalda) in the
Manbhum district, West Bengal, India. It hovers, then soars upwards at
terrific speed, creating a tremendous gust of wind. The UFO is over a
mine that supplies beryllium for the US Atomic Energy Commission. (“800
Biharis See Flying Saucer,” Times of India (Bombay), October 3, 1954;
UFOEv, p. 124;
Project 1947, “UFO
Reports, 1954”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2489
Date: 9/15/1954
Time: 2320
Description: A white light suddenly swept the road in front of Roland
M., 19, who observed that it came from a large, dark object 10 m above
ground. It flew away with the noise of a wet firework, throwing
magnesiumlike sparks.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 10; M 49 (Vallee)
Location: Feyzin, France
ID: 146
Date: 9/16/1954
Description: 6:00 a.m. The radio transmitter for WMEV in Marion,
Virginia, fails as a round, shiny object, 10–15 feet in diameter, flies
over the tower toward the east. (“Flying
Saucers Are Sighted in Virginia,” Lancaster (Pa.)
Intelligencer-Journal, September 17, 1954, p. 44; Schopick,
p. 79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2490
Date: 9/17/1954
Time: 2230
Description: Between Cenon and Vouneuil, Yves David, 28, met a being in
a diving suit who made friendly gestures. He was very small and had a
voice “inhuman and incomprehensible.” The witness could not move
throughout the encounter. He saw the creature enter an object on the
road, about 3 m by 1 m in size; it took off “like lightning,” throwing a
greenish light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 11; M 58 (Vallee)
Location: Cenon, France
ID: 147
Date: 9/17/1954
Description: Around 4:45 p.m. Hundreds of people see a UFO over Rome,
Italy, making staccato thunder sounds as it hovers. It makes a brief
dive, returns to position, then zooms straight up, leaving a stream of
white smoke behind. Around 5:45 p.m., Lt. Bruno Giustiniani and other
personnel at a military unit at Ciampino Airport in Rome see it as a
“half cigar” moving at 179 mph at 3,500 feet. Blue Book receives a
teletype about the object, saying it is in the shape of a jellyfish when
stationary but in the shape of a cigar when in motion. At 6:49 p.m.,
radar at Pratica di Mare Air Base south of Rome picks up a target for
20–45 minutes, plotting a slow course along the coast. (Loren E. Gross,
UFOs,
a History: 1954 September, The Author, 1994, pp. 24–27; 1Pinotti
54–58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2491
Date: 9/17/1954
Description: 7:15 p.m. A widow named Mellé sees a luminous,
orange-yellow, cigar-shaped object near her villa in Gelles,
Puy-de-Dôme, France. Her neighbors also see it and watch for 5 minutes.
Possible contrail. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 11, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2492
Date: 9/18/1954
Time: 2015
Description: A small gray disk flew over a car at very high speed,
followed by cold air currents. This was reported by Mr. Guitta of
Casablana.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Ouranos (Vallee)
Location: Casablanca, Morocco
ID: 148
Date: 9/18/1954
Time: 5:55 AM
Description: Witnesses: two control tower operators, a weather
forecaster and a weather observer. One round object, like polished
aluminum, flew straight and level for 11-13 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kimpo Air Base, Japan
ID: 365
Date: 9/18/1954
Description: 8:30 p.m. A round glowing UFO is seen approaching then
hovering above Danané, Ivory Coast, by many people: a Catholic priest
named Fr. Myard, the local chief of police, a Dr. Mariani, a businessman
named Sory Diallo, and a group of women. The object moves again at 9:05
p.m., changes from a circle to an ellipse, then flies away. (Aimé
Michel, Straight Line, 61; Loren E. Gross, UFOs,
a History: 1954 September, The Author, 1994, pp. 28–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2493
Date: 9/18/1954
Description: 8:40 p.m. A huge green fireball streaks across Colorado and
New Mexico. It zooms above Santa Fe, New Mexico, giving off a blinding
glare and takes 30 seconds to cross the sky, disturbing TV and radio
signals. Lincoln
LaPaz remarks that it does not seem to be an ordinary meteor.
(Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 198–199; Ruppelt, p. 47;
Sparks, p. 220)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2494
Date: 9/19/1954
Time: 2115
Description: A bright light was seen in the east, came to the ground,
lost its brightness, remained on the spot about 40 sec. It was the size
of a small bus, and there was a figure in front of it. It rose and took
on the appearance of a red ball.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 12; M 63 (Vallee)
Location: Oberdorff, France
ID: 149
Date: 9/19/1954
Description: 10:00 p.m. Yves David, 28, is riding his moped on the D-1
road south of Cenon-sur-Vienne, France, when his headlight begins
malfunctioning and he feels a prickling sensation like electricity. He
sees a 9-foot-long UFO in the road ahead and a small man in a diving
suit coming toward him. It touches David on the shoulder, mutters
something incomprehensible, and returns to the object. The object emits
a green light that temporarily stuns David before it takes off. (Clark
III 269; Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” March 20, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2495
Date: 9/20/1954
Description: 9:00 p.m. Elie Cisterne, a farm worker in the hamlet of La
Chassagne, Ussac, Corrèze, France, is returning home on his tractor when
he sees a luminous object coming toward him. He jumps off the tractor
and lies down, fearful, as the object stops a short distance above the
road and hovers silently for several minutes. Cisterne runs away when
the UFO starts moving again, flying over his tractor and into the
distance. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” December 29, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2496
Date: 9/20/1954
Time: 2300
Description: A guard saw a craft, 3.5 m in diameter and 1.5 m thick,
land on the airfield. The witness, Vitorino Lourenco Monteiro, said a
figure emerged from the craft and said something he could not
understand, before taking off again. There were antennalike protrusions
on top of the object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Santa Maria Airport, Azores
ID: 150
Date: 9/21/1954
Description: Leonard
Stringfield has a private talk for 26 minutes with Lt. Col. John
O’Mara, USAF Deputy Commander for Intelligence, who tells him that
flying saucers do exist—three types, actually: a craft from outer space,
a secret US aircraft, and unexplained natural phenomena. (Leonard
Stringfield, “Private
Talk with Lt. Colonel
John O’Mara, Deputy Commander, Intelligence, Confirms the Existence of
‘Flying Saucers,’” CRIFO Newsletter 1, no. 7 (October 1, 1954):
1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2498
Date: 9/21/1954
Time: 9:45 PM
Description: Witness: airport guard. One 10’x5’ light metallic blue,
pecan-shaped object with a clear glass or plastic nose having a door,
and with poles or aerials on the nose. Humming or whining, it hovered,
landed vertically, 50’ away. A blond man, 5’ 10” tall appeared, spoke in
a strange language, patted the guard on the shoulder, got in the object,
hooked up his harness, pushed a button, took off with the object’s nose
pointed up, then levelled off and climbed vertically. Sighting lasted
2-3 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Santa Maria, Azores Islands
ID: 367
Date: 9/21/1954
Time: 1 AM
Description: Witnesses: two local policemen, four U.S. Marine Corps
police, one highway patrolman. One red-orange ball giving off sparks,
and a smaller light, made a zigzag descent and then hovered. Total of 20
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Barstow, California
ID: 366
Date: 9/21/1954
Description: 9:45 p.m. A guard at the Santa Maria Airport in Vila so
Porto, Azores, sees a 10 x 5-foot, light metallic blue, pecan-shaped
object with a clear glass or plastic nose and door, poles or aerials on
its nose. It hums or whines as it hovers, then lands vertically 50 feet
away. A blond man, 5 feet 10 inches tall, appears, speaks in a strange
language, pats the guard on the shoulder, gets in the object, hooks up
his harness, pushes a button, takes off with the object’s nose pointed
up, then levels off and climbs vertically. (NICAP, “Blond
Humanoid Reported by
Airport Guard”; Sparks, p. 220)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2497
Date: 9/22/1954
Time: 9 AM
Description: Witnesses: private pilot J.N. Williams, E.J. Ash. A thin,
translucent tan asymmetrical boomerang-shaped object revolved, then
tumbled down behind some trees. Marks were found in the dirt. Sighting
lasted 15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Marshfield, Missouri
ID: 368
Date: 9/22/1954
Description: Shortly after 8:00 p.m. Mme. Gamundi is driving on the N7
north of Fontainebleau, France, when she notices a light in the sky. She
stops and gets out and sees a huge luminous ball hanging motionless. It
is reddish and surrounded by a luminous, moving smoke. Suddenly, another
bright ball emerges from the bottom, falls, slows, turns, and disappears
at high speed. At least 4 other objects emerge. When an aircraft from
Orly Airport approaches, the ball rises at high speed and disappears.
(Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 9, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2499
Date: 9/22/1954
Description: 11:00 p.m. Jean Besse, a draftsman for a power company in
Tulle, Corrèze, France, watches a UFO through binoculars. It changes
color three times in a few seconds. Probably astronomical. (Patrick
Gross, “The 1954
French Flap,” March 23, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2500
Date: 9/23/1954
Time: 2100
Description: The Patient family witnessed the landing of a bright object
giving off a magnesiumlike light, a red glow, and a narrow beam of
light. It took off again a moment later and followed their car until
they reached Fontland. Policemen in Plombieres and several independent
witnesses observed the object as it flew erratically over the area for
60 min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 13; M 69 (Vallee)
Location: Le Jou, France
ID: 151
Date: 9/23/1954
Time: 2100
Description: Mrs. Vignolles saw a luminous object come down rapidly,
without noise, and land in a field near the church. It took off very
fast a few seconds later.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 15; M 77 (Vallee)
Location: Lencouacq, France
ID: 152
Date: 9/23/1954
Description: Afternoon. Several residents of Bayonne,
Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France, see three mysterious objects high in the
sky. One witness, policeman M. Corrions, says they are arranged in the
shape of a triangle. Possible helicopters. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 20, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2501
Date: 9/23/1954
Description: 9:00 p.m. Irene Vrignolles sees a “flying cigar” that lands
slowly in a meadow behind a rectory in Lencouacq, Landes, France.
(Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” December 16, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2502
Date: 9/23/1954
Time: 9:45 AM
Description: Witness: Dave Owenby. Two bright silver, wheel-shaped
objects flew from north to south in trail for 2 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Gatlinburg, Tennessee
ID: 369
Date: 9/24/1954
Time: 1000
Description: Cesar Cardoso and three others saw two individuals, 2.5 m
tall, dressed in shiny clothes, emerge from a landed craft and gather
flowers, shrubs, and twigs in a shiny box, then take off. They seemed to
be inviting the witnesses aboard, but their language was not
understood.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins U 55, 245; 24 (Vallee)
Location: Almaseda, near Castelibranco, Portugal
ID: 154
Date: 9/24/1954
Time: 0900
Description: Two women (Widow Geoffroy and Miss Gisele Fin) made
independent reports of a dark gray disk, 6 m in diameter, 1 m high, seen
in a clearing. A man of normal height was standing close to it. He wore
dark clothes and a kind of cap. Miss Fin came within 30 m of the craft
and stated the man was repairing it. Traces were found on the
grass.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 14; Carrouges 98 (Vallee)
Location: Becar, near Diges and “Les Michauts” or “Les Jolivets”,
France
ID: 153
Date: 9/24/1954
Time: 2300
Description: Mr. Cisterne, who was coming back with his tractor, saw a
luminous object fly very low over him. Two other witnesses.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 16;M 76 (Vallee)
Location: Farm Lachassagne, near Ussel, France
ID: 155
Date: 9/24/1954
Description: Hoaxed story of an alleged sighting by Cesar Cardoso at
Castelo Branco, Portugal, who sees two entities in shining metal suits
emerge from a landed UFO and pick up flowers, shrubs, and twigs.
(Patrick Gross, URECAT, December
8, 2006; Mark Cashman, “Behavioral Classification System for UFO
Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2503
Date: 9/26/1954
Description: 2:30 p.m. At Chabeuil, Drôme, France, Lucette Leboeuf is
walking her dog when she sees a short being wearing a translucent helmet
and diving suit. She can see large eyes looking at her through the
helmet. The creature approaches her, hopping. The dog barks at it and
she runs away and hides in a bush. About 15 feet away, she sees an
object about 16 feet in diameter resembling a top with a flat top. It
rises above the cornfield and takes off at tremendous speed. Other
people notice a circular area about 10 feet in diameter where the ground
and grass are tightly packed. Tree branches are broken from above.
Shocked, she stays in bed for two days. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2504
Date: 9/26/1954
Time: 1430
Description: Mrs. Leboeuf was suddenly confronted with a creature
resembling “a child in a plastic bag, with eyes larger than human eyes.”
This creature entered a flat, circular machine, which took off toward
the northeast with a soft whistling. Traces. Witnesses in state of
shock.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 17; Carrouges 116; Anatomy 70; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Chabeuil, France
ID: 156
Date: 9/27/1954
Time: 2030
Description: Four children came out of their home as dog barked
furiously. They found a large object on the ground and a small being
they thought was a “ghost” in the yard. Raymond Romand, 12, threw stones
at the intruder.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 20; Challenge 170 (Vallee)
Location: Premanon, France
ID: 160
Date: 9/27/1954
Time: 0230
Description: At “Revety,” people in a bus saw a reddish light coming
down. Later Mr. and Mrs. Roche noticed an object on the ground, softly
glowing, a short distance from their home, but were afraid to approach
it. It remained there for several hours. It was described as “a sort of
glowing tomato, with antennae on top.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 18; M 84; Anatomy 71 (Vallee)
Location: Foussignargues, France
ID: 157
Date: 9/27/1954
Time: 0840
Description: Children saw “a box” and “an unknown man” standing nearby.
The object took off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Figeac, France
ID: 158
Date: 9/27/1954
Time: afternoon
Description: A college student saw a circular object on the ground. Two
beings came out of it, then reentered the craft and left. Witness in a
state of shock.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 19;M 88 (Vallee)
Location: Perpignan, France
ID: 159
Date: 9/27/1954
Description: 8:30 p.m. 12-year-old Raymond Romand and two other children
on an isolated farm near Prémanon, Jura, France, see a brilliant
rectangular object. He sees two occupants and throws stones at them, but
he is thrown to the ground by an “ice-cold invisible force.” Raymond
confesses 6 weeks later that he made up the whole story, including
making some physical trace marks. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” March 7, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2505
Date: 9/28/1954
Description: Around 12:00 midnight. Two witnesses at Rixheim, Haut-Rhin,
France, watch an elongated luminous object through binoculars. Ten or
more smaller luminous points are circling it in all directions. (Patrick
Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 1, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2506
Date: 9/28/1954
Description: 10:30 p.m. Vintner M. Mercier of Saint-Armand-Montrond,
Cher, France, notices that someone has stolen grapes from his vineyard
and decides to stay up late and catch the thief. He sees a luminous
object descend and three figures emerge. He is then paralyzed and loses
consciousness. There is no sign of anything when he wakes up. Probable
hoax. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 5, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2507
Date: 9/28/1954
Time: 2130
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Alexis Lartillot and Georgette Mongot observed
a large, bright object oscillate, then land. It changed color and was
lost to sight behind some trees.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 21; M 94 (Vallee)
Location: Froncles, France
ID: 161
Date: 9/28/1954
Time: 2230
Description: At “Le Grand Tertre” Mr. Mercier observed that someone had
stolen grapes from his vineyard. He decided to stay late and catch the
“robbers.” He was amazed when he saw a luminous mass fall from the sky
about 50 m away, and found himself “paralyzed” as three figures emerged
from the light and moved about. He lost consciousness. When he came to
his senses, everything had vanished.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 22; M 97 (Vallee)
Location: Bouzais, France
ID: 162
Date: 9/28/1954
Time: 2310
Description: At “La Butte Rouge” two railroad engineers, Bernard and
Potraux, who were bringing a locomotive from Nantes to Auray, saw a dark
object take off with a purple glow and follow them for 15 sec before
veering off. Potraux had to see a doctor.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 23; M 95; Anatomy 70 (Vallee)
Location: Saint Nicolas de Redon, France
ID: 163
Date: 9/30/1954
Time: 2200
Description: As he was returning home near La Flotte-en-Re, Celeste
Simonutti saw a bright light and, fearing a fire, rushed to the scene.
There he observed a luminous sphere 12 m in diameter hovering at 1 m
altitude, turning red, blue, and taking off. Two other witnesses.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 28 (Vallee)
Location: Isle of Re, France
ID: 168
Date: 9/30/1954
Description: Gen. Jimmy
Doolittle submits a 69-page classified report on clandestine
operations directly to President Eisenhower. It
negates the Second Hoover Commission’s recommendation on intelligence
oversight. It says: “We must develop effective espionage and
counterespionage services and must learn to subvert, sabotage, and
destroy our enemies by more clever, more sophisticated, and more
effective methods than those used against us.” (Richard A. Best Jr. and
Herbert Andrew Boerstling, “Proposals
for Intelligence Reorganization, 1949–1996,” Report to the US House
Select Committee on Intelligence, Congressional Research Service,
February 28, 1996, p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2508
Date: 9/30/1954
Description: Aviation pioneer Eugène
Farnier watches an unknown object for 20 minutes above his property
at Jouy- sue-Morin, Seine-et-Marne, France. It is swinging back and
forth over an area of about 984 feet. Farnier thinks it looks similar to
the cigar-shaped object seen at Marignane in October 1952. (Patrick
Gross, “UFOs
in the Daily Press”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2509
Date: 9/30/1954
Time: 0445
Description: While driving to work, Lawrence Cardenas, 41, a laundry
employee, saw 15 strange men wearing dark green uniforms to his right.
They had cylinders on their shoulders, tight-fitting skull caps with
pointed peaks in front, and heavy goggles. They were of medium height,
and a taller man seemed to be giving them instructions. About 80 m away
was a craft 4 m high with colored lights flickering on and off. The
witness did not wait.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins U 230 (Vallee)
Location: Dearborn, Michigan
ID: 164
Date: 9/30/1954
Description: Around 4:30 p.m. Georges Gatay and his team of construction
workers at Marcilly-sur-Vienne, Indre-et- Loire, France, see a
disc-shaped object on the ground with a small, helmeted being standing
nearby. In his hand he holds an elongated object: “It could have been a
pistol, or it could have been a metal rod.” On his chest is a light
projector. Gatay tries to run, but he finds himself helplessly nailed to
the spot. He is thus “paralyzed” during the whole observation until the
object leaves. So are his seven coworkers, in a unique case of
collective physiological reaction. Almost certainly a hoax. (Patrick
Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” November 8, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2510
Date: 9/30/1954
Time: 1630
Description: Georges Gatay and seven construction workers saw a disk at
ground level, with a humanoid standing close by. Both vanished in a very
strange manner. Physiological effects in all witnesses.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 25; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Marcilly-sur-Vienne, France
ID: 165
Date: 9/30/1954
Time: dusk
Description: At sea between Brest and Roven, the crew of the tanker
“Port Lyautey” observed an object touch the surface of the sea, then
take off vertically and give off a red flame before being lost to
view.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 26 (Vallee)
Location: Brest, France
ID: 166
Date: 9/30/1954
Time: 2200
Description: Jean Andrieux, ferry operator, saw a large white sphere,
with a smaller green sphere below, hang motionless above the Seine for
20 min. Two witnesses. It eventually flew away to the southwest.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 27 (Vallee)
Location: Grand-Couronne, France
ID: 167
Date: 10/1954
Description: Project “Magnet” discontinued
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Canada
Date: 10/1954
Description: London publishing house Frederick Muller publishes a
contactee book, Flying Saucer from Mars, allegedly written by one Cedric
Allingham, who claims that while vacationing in Scotland in February
1954 he saw a saucer land and talked to its occupant, a human-looking
Martian. In 1969, science writer Robert Chapman concludes that no such
person as Allingham existed. Christopher Allan and Steuart
Campbell allege in 1986 that the book was written by arch-skeptical
astronomer Patrick
Moore using a pseudonym. His motive was to spoof Adamski and
embarrass ufologists, but Moore never admits to the hoax. The photo of
“Cedric Allingham” is really Peter Davies, who posed for the photograph
with Moore’s reflecting telescope. Davies also edited the book to
conceal Moore’s distinctive style of writing. (Cedric Allingham, Flying
Saucer from Mars, Frederick Muller, 1954; Clark III 98; Robert Chapman,
Unidentified Flying Objects, Barker, 1969; Christopher Allen and Steuart
Campbell, “Flying
Saucer from Moore’s?” Magonia 23 (July 1986): 15–18; Curt Collins,
“Contact!
A Close Encounter
of the Third Kind from 1954,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, October
13, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2511
Date: 10/1954
Description: Day. RAF pilot Michael Forrest, stationed at RAF Sek Kong
[now Shek Kong Airfield] near Hong Kong is scrambled in a de Haviland
Vampire ground attack fighter to intercept a target detected by ground
radar approaching from China. The target appears to be the size of an
aircraft and traveling at high speed with a continuous track. Ground
control tells him that at times it is stationary, but it has the ability
to change direction and height at fantastic speeds. Forrest and another
pilot are vectored into the blip at 30,000 feet, but they can see
nothing. Ground radar insists the blip is right there with them. After
15 minutes the aircraft break off and head home. On the base, he is told
that the blip was caused by “anomalous propagation.” (“‘Scrambled for
Bogies’: An Incident at RAF Sek Kong,” Fortean Times 403 (March 2021):
45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2512
Date: 10/1/1954
Time: 1815
Description: Approximate date. A farmer saw a white craft in a field.
Flattened grass was later found at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Ressons-sur-Matz, France
ID: 172
Date: 10/1/1954
Description: 9:20 a.m. An RCAF test pilot is flying at 30,000 feet over
Montreal, Quebec, in an F-86 Sabre Mk 5 jet fighter when he notices a
contrail high over the north end of Lake Champlain. He climbs to 51,000
feet at 540 mph but is unable to close on the object, which appears to
him as a black dot. He turns to a different heading and sees that the
contrail makes a similar turn abiut 10,000 feet above him. As he returns
to Montreal, the contrail climbs at a 45° angle and disppears to the
east. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2002,
pp. 91–92)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2515
Date: 10/1/1954
Description: Around 10:00 p.m. Jean Defiz, a factory worker in Bergerac,
Dordogne, France, is returning home on his bicycle when he sees a large
shooting star. Later, he sees an intense light in his yard and rushes
out to see a disc rise with a whistling sound. It becomes luminous and
flies off. A neighbor also sees it and estimates it is 10 feet wide.
(Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2519
Date: 10/1/1954
Description: 7:50 p.m. Mechanic Ernest Delattre, 19, is riding to his
home in Croix d’Épine, Oise, France, on his motor scooter when a bright
egg-shaped object lands on the left side of the road 45 feet away. He
sees short, dark shapes “like potato bags” moving around the object. He
speeds up and the UFO changes its color and takes off. (Patrick Gross,
“The
1954 French Flap,” March 27, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2518
Date: 10/1/1954
Time: 2200
Description: Coming home at night, Gilbert Prudent saw a lighted object
on the side of the road. It had a flat section and a sort of “mushroom”
on top. As he approached it, the object became dark and took off
vertically with a soft whistling sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Branges, near Louhans, France
ID: 175
Date: 10/1/1954
Time: 1600
Description: A man and his dog were “paralyzed” as a luminous white
object dived toward them and climbed again.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Bry, France
ID: 171
Date: 10/1/1954
Time: 1300
Description: Two bricklayers, Sebastiani and Buratto, approached a
cigar-shaped object 3 m long, 80 cm wide, which took off from the ground
with a whistling sound. The pointed section of the object was yellow,
the rest brown. From the fore part, two appendages extended to the
ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 30 (Vallee)
Location: Blanzy, France
ID: 170
Date: 10/1/1954
Description: A woman reported to police she had seen a luminous disk
leaving a long trail. It landed in a field, then took off again.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 29; Challenge 132 (Vallee)
Location: Dhubri, India
ID: 169
Date: 10/1/1954
Description: The Swedish Defense Ministry allegedly requests a secret
investigation into UFOs. (Keyhoe, FS Conspiracy, p. 27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2514
Date: 10/1/1954
Description: 4:00 p.m. An anonymous man and his dog are paralyzed as a
luminous white object dives toward them and climbs away again at
Bry-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne, France. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” March 25, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2516
Date: 10/1/1954
Description: 6:45 p.m. Bernard Devoisin and René Condette are bicycling
west of Ligescourt in the direction of Vron, Somme, France. They see a
glowing orange object shaped like a beehive in the middle of the road. A
small entity, about 3 feet tall and dressed in a “diving suit,” is
standing close to it. When they get to within 200 feet of it, the object
takes off at great speed. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” May 8, 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2517
Date: 10/1/1954
Time: 2200
Description: Returning home, fireman Jean Dufix, 26, saw an oval light
in the sky and thought it was a shooting star. Later he was alarmed when
his yard seemed to be ablaze. Rushing out again, he saw a disk rise from
the ground with a whistling sound. It flew off, became luminous again,
and took off at fantastic speed. A neighbor, Jean Labonne, 61, saw the
disk, 3 m in diameter, resting on three legs in the yard.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 31 (Vallee)
Location: Bergerac, France
ID: 176
Date: 10/1/1954
Time: 2000
Description: Near Saint Jan d’Angely, two businessmen, Messrs. Estier
and Phelippeau, who were driving back from Royan, saw a little man cross
ing the road in front of their car. Having stopped, they saw the figure
disappear into the woods.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 28 (Vallee)
Location: La Roulerie, France
ID: 174
Date: 10/1/1954
Time: 1900
Description: Two young men saw a luminous white disk moving in the sky.
It dived to the ground and two men, described as being very tall and
dressed in white, emerged from it and made gestures. The witnesses ran
away in fear.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Jussey, France
ID: 173
Date: 10/2/1954
Time: 0230
Description: In the immediate vicinity of case 175, Mr. Nicolas saw a
craft with a dome on top, on the ground between the road and the
railroad tracks. Through some openings a strong yellow light
shone.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 33;M 109 (Vallee)
Location: Louhans, France
ID: 179
Date: 10/2/1954
Description: Two creatures were seen on the ground, and two hours later
a luminous red object was observed at the same spot, at very low
altitude.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Jonches, France
ID: 178
Date: early 10/1954
Description: Maxime Pignatelli, 65, is hunting with his dog on the banks
of the Durance River near Corbières, Alpes- de-Hautes-Provence, France.
He sees a gray object about 12 feet long and 3 feet high on the ground
about 130 feet away. Two helmeted figures emerge from a dome. The man
flees. His dog also retreats a bit later, walking awkwardly as if partly
paralyzed. (Jacques Vallée, “Un
siècle d’atterrissages,” Lumières dans la Nuit, no. 103 (December
1969): 7; Francis Schaefer and Pierre Delval, “Un
recit d’atterrissage inedit à Corbières,” Phénomènes Inconnus 1, no.
14 (1971): 10–13; Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” May 20, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2513
Date: 10/2/1954
Description: At the Bourg du Cerisier, two women (Janiki and Lacotte)
independently reported to police that a luminous disk about 3 m in
diameter had flown very low over the village.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 32 (Vallee)
Location: Levroux, France
ID: 177
Date: 10/2/1954
Time: 2000
Description: A mechanic, Ernest Delattre, 19, was riding home on his
motor scooter when an egg-shaped object, brilliantly illuminated, landed
on the left side of the road 15 m away. He saw short, dark shapes “like
potato bags” moving about the object. He sped up, saw the object, the
size of a small bus, taking off while its color changed from orange to
blue and then to grayish-blue. The witness fainted while telling his
story. Two persons in neighboring villages independently reported
observing the object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Croix d’Epine, France
ID: 180
Date: 10/2/1954
Time: 2345
Description: A disk emitting a weak green glow landed in a field.
Witnesses: Messrs. Domant and Gilcher.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 105 (Vallee)
Location: Guebling, France
ID: 181
Date: 10/2/1954
Description: 3:45 p.m. A teacher, Mlle. Jaillet, along with 23
schoolchildren, see an elongated object in the sky to the southeast at
Les Rousses, Jura, France. It approaches rapidly and they see it is a
“cloud cigar.” It switches from horizontal to vertical and hovers. At
one point, a gleaming yellow disc emerges from it and moves away. The
long object switches to horizontal again and moves away to the
northwest. The incident lasts 4–5 minutes. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” March 25, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2521
Date: 10/2/1954
Description: The French Air Ministry allegedly launches a UFO
investigation after 267 citizens come forward to report UFOs. (Wilkins,
FS Uncensored, Citadel, 1955, pp. 60–61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2520
Date: 10/3/1954
Description: 11:15 p.m. Young farmer Jean Allary sees a circular object
near Ronsenac, Charente, France, that seems to be gliding on or near the
ground, has luminous spots, and lights up as it takes off. He finds
flattened and scorched grass over an area 25 feet across. (Patrick
Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” January 31, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2524
Date: 10/3/1954
Time: dawn
Description: Angelo Girardo, 55, a stockyard employee, was going to work
when he saw a circular craft 3 m diameter and a small figure wearing a
diving suit, standing close by. The object took off at a fantastic
speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 32; M 130 (Vallee)
Location: Bressuire, France
ID: 182
Date: 10/3/1954
Time: 1845
Description: Between Rue and Quend on Road D27, Rene Coudette and B.
Devoisin were riding bicycles with a third witness when they saw an
orange object, shaped like a honeycomb, on the road ahead of them. A
strange “man” wearing a diving suit was standing close to it. When they
got within 70 m of it, the object took off very fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 3Z; M 118 (Vallee)
Location: Vron, France
ID: 183
Date: 10/3/1954
Time: 1920
Description: The crowd at a fair saw a luminous object arrive very fast
in the sky, stop in flight, emit sparks, and come down to ground level.
As witnesses rushed to the spot, it took off again.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 113 (Vallee)
Location: Chereng, France
ID: 184
Date: 10/3/1954
Time: 2110
Description: Less than 3 hrs after case 183, an orange object chased a
car for 8 km, then flew away toward the sea. Witness: Georges Galant, a
butcher.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 35; M 116 (Vallee)
Location: Quend, France
ID: 185
Date: 10/3/1954
Time: 1245
Description: A circular craft was seen by Jean Allary between Montmoreau
and Villebois-Lavalette. It seemed to be gliding on the ground. It
showed luminous spots and became completely illuminated when it took
off. It was about 1.20 m high. Grass was found flattened and scorched
over an area 7 m across.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 36; M 130 (Vallee)
Location: Ronsenac, France
ID: 186
Date: 10/3/1954
Time: 1300
Description: Near La Rochelle. Mr. and Mrs. Guillemoteau saw an object,
2.5 m high, 5 m diameter, hover for several minutes 1 m above ground,
then rise vertically. Oily marks were found at the spot.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 34; M 131 (Vallee)
Location: Benet, France
ID: 187
Date: 10/3/1954
Description: 7:20 p.m. Villagers of Chereng, Nord, France, are having
their Ducasse festival meal when they see a fast, luminous object in the
sky suddenly stop, give off sparks, and descend to ground level. As
people run to the spot, it takes off again. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” January 9, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2523
Date: 10/3/1954
Description: Dawn. Stockyard employee Angelo Girardo is going to his job
in Bressuire, Deux-Sèvres, France, when he sees a small being wearing a
diving suit standing near a circular craft about 10 feet in diameter. It
swiftly takes off. Hoax. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” August 3, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2522
Date: 10/4/1954
Description: A farmer, Mr. Garreau, saw an object the size of a carriage
land in his field. Two men of normal height emerged through a sliding
door. They wore khaki overalls and were of European type. They shook
hands with the witness and said something like: “Paris? Nord?”
(According to another version they spoke indistinct words.) They gave a
pat on the back to Mr. Garreau’s dog and took off at an amazing
speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 37; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Chaleix, France
ID: 190
Date: 10/4/1954
Description: Andre Garcia and Andre Darzais were driving a truck betwem
Lagrasse and Villemagne when they saw a luminous object coming slowly to
the ground. It measured about 10 m diameter and took off with a burst of
light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 35 (Vallee)
Location: Lezignan, France
ID: 189
Date: 10/4/1954
Description: An object was said to have landed in the yard of
Mr. Montagne, a railroad employee.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 35 (Vallee)
Location: Limoges, France
ID: 188
Date: 10/4/1954
Description: 8:00 p.m. In Poncey-sur-l’Ignon, Côte-d’Or, France, Mme.
Yvette (or Thérèse) Fourneret sees a luminous orange object about 10
feet wide land in a meadow on her farm. She runs to tell some men, who
arrive at the spot with rifles but find nothing. Instead, they discover
a strange quadrilateral hole from which soil appears to be sucked up.
The roots of plants are not damaged. The French Air Force and local
police investigate and learn there are other witnesses. (Patrick Gross,
“The
1954 French Flap,” March 10, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2525
Date: 10/4/1954
Time: 2000
Description: Mrs. Fourneret, a housewife, ran away as an orange,
circular object 3 m in diameter swung in mid-air and landed near her
farm. When Messrs. Girardot and Vincent arrived with rifles, they found
that the earth had been “sucked up” over a quadrilateral area. Francois
Bouiller confirmed he had seen a luminous object in flight. Extensive
investigation by French Air Force and police.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 37; M 134; Anatomy 71 (Vallee)
Location: Poncey-sur-Lignon, France
ID: 194
Date: 10/4/1954
Time: 1840
Description: Ten-year-old Bertiaux saw an object “like a tent” and an
unknown man near it.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Villers-le-Tilleul, France
ID: 193
Date: 10/4/1954
Time: 1830
Description: At Les Chavannes, about 20 people, among them Remy
Gaudicourt of Sanvignes, saw a circular, luminous object rise from the
vicinity of the railroad tracks. It took off vertically.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 138 (Vallee)
Location: Montceau-les-Mines, France
ID: 192
Date: 10/4/1954
Time: evening
Description: Several people noticed an object hovering near a hilltop.
They drove to the site, but it flew away. What seems to be the same
object was seen at Megrit, 25 km to the southwest, hovering over a farm.
It was described as metallic, flat, emitting light
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 38;M 139 (Vallee)
Location: Tregon, France
ID: 191
Date: 10/5/1954
Description: A fisherman met with a red-clad being who spoke an unknown
language. No details.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Roverbello, Italy
ID: 195
Date: 10/5/1954
Time: 0400
Description: A baker, P. Lucas, was draining water from a well when he
noticed an object some distance away. It was circular, about 3 m
diameter. From it emerged a dwarf with an oval face covered with hair
and eyes “as large as raven eggs” who touched him on the shoulder and
spoke to him in an unknown language. The dwarf went away, and the object
took off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 34 (Vallee)
Location: Loctudy, France
ID: 196
Date: 10/5/1954
Time: 0630
Description: East of Le Mans on Route N23, Renault employees were going
to work when they saw near the road a luminous object on the ground and
felt “pricklings and a sort of paralysis.” The object emitted a burst of
green light and flew away very low over the fields.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 42; Vuillequez; M 143 (Vallee)
Location: Le Mans, France
ID: 197
Date: 10/5/1954
Time: 0715
Description: A roadmender, Mr. Narcy, saw an object near the road
between Voillecomte and La Neuville. In a report to police, he stated he
saw a hairy dwarf wearing an orange tight-fitting jacket climb aboard
the craft, which consisted of a cigarshaped section under a flat disk.
Between the two sections was a kind of porthole through which the entity
entered the object. Traces were found at the spot.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 38, 39 (Vallee)
Location: Mertrud, France
ID: 198
Date: 10/5/1954
Time: 1545
Description: Ten km from here, several persons saw an object coming
toward them and getting brighter. When it was about 150 m away, they
felt “a strange sensation” and found themselves unable to move. The
object left a smell compared to that of nitrobenzine.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 34; Challenge 53 (Vallee)
Location: Beaumont, France
ID: 199
Date: 10/5/1954
Description: A spindle-shaped UFO is seen for 20 minutes by hundreds of
people over El Mahalla El Kubra, Egypt. At Bahnay, aerial cylinders emit
dark smoke. One explodes, knocking a farmer to the ground, and kills two
cows, whose hides show burn marks. Lt. Tewrik takes a photo of a
rotating UFO that emits smoke above El-Qantara el- Sharqîya on the
western side of the Suez Canal. He sends it to the Egyptian Army and to
Khedivial Astronomical Observatory in Helwan. Adm. Youssef Hammad,
director of the Egyptian Ports and Lights Administration, alerts pilots
and astronomers to keep watch for UFOs over Cairo. (Wilkins, FS
Uncensored, Citadel, 1955, pp. 231–232;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954 October, The
Author, 1991, p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2526
Date: 10/5/1954
Description: 4:00 a.m. M. P. Lucas, a baker in Loctudy, Finistère,
France, is getting water from his well when he sees a UFO hovering
nearby. A small being comes out of the object; it has an oval head
covered with hair and large eyes. The creature touches Lucas’s shoulder
and speaks to him in an unknown language. He calls for his boss, and the
creature runs into the object and takes off. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” October 3, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2527
Date: 10/5/1954
Description: 7:15 a.m. A road worker named Narcy sees an object near a
road in Mertrud, Haute Marne, France. He also sees a hairy dwarf wearing
an orange, tight-fitting jacket climb through a porthole on the UFO,
which consists of a cigar-shaped section under a flat disc. Tracks are
found. Probable hoax. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” March 25, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2528
Date: 10/5/1954
Description: 3:45 p.m. In Beaumont, Puy-de-Dôme, France, witnesses Brun,
Marfaron, Douti, and Marplat see a luminous ball moving west to east
1,500 feet away from them. It approaches to within 450 feet, and they
feel paralyzed with faintness as a nitrobenzene odor spreads around
them. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” March 24, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2529
Date: 10/6/1954
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Laroche, from Paris, saw a fiery sphere
landing near Chantonnay.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 40 (Vallee)
Location: Monchamps, France
ID: 200
Date: 10/6/1954
Time: 2230
Description: Two women (Mrs. Salabrino and her daughter) saw a whitish
light in the western sky. It seemed slowly to come toward the ground,
and was later seen between the railroad station and the bridge 100 m
away from their house. When it moved, a very bright light was visible
under its dark mass. It gave off a flow of sparks and rose, hovered for
a moment and flew away rapidly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 138 (Vallee)
Location: Villers-le-Lac, France
ID: 202
Date: 10/6/1954
Time: 2130
Description: Near the military barracks, soldiers saw a strange object
on the ground 300 m away. As one of them approached the torpedo-shaped
object, which was about 80 cm high, he found himself paralyzed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: La Fere, France
ID: 201
Date: 10/6/1954
Description: Around 6:00 a.m. Mechanic Joseph Roy is riding to work on
his bicycle at Isles-sur-Suippe, Marne, France, and sees a dazzling
light at low altitude. It blinks out. When he gets to the spot where it
disappeared, he sees a large object like an artillery shell 9 feet long.
A small, dark form is standing in front of it. Roy becomes frightened
and races to the nearest gendarmerie. Probable confusion, helicopter,
and military personnel. (Patrick Gross, “The 1954
French Flap,” January 16, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2530
Date: 10/6/1954
Description: 9:30 p.m. Two soldiers at the military barracks in La Fère,
Aisne, France, watch a luminous craft in the shape of an artillery shell
landed on the ground less than a quarter-mile away. As one soldier
approaches it, he becomes paralyzed. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 9, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2531
Date: 10/7/1954
Time: 1930
Description: Etienne-sous-Barbuise (France). Marcel Guyot was coming
from work near this village, and his son Jacques followed the same road
10 min later. Both saw, at a railroad crossing, three objects on the
ground that gave a bright white light. One was circular, the others
cigar-shaped.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 42; M 146 (Vallee)
Location: St
ID: 209
Date: 10/7/1954
Time: 1430
Description: R. Margaillan saw an object that had landed in a field. It
was hemispherical, about 2.5 m in diameter. The witness gasped for air
and felt “paralyzed.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 145; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Monteux, France
ID: 208
Date: 10/7/1954
Time: dawn
Description: A railroad employee, Rene Ott, saw a mushroom-shaped object
3 m in diameter, in a field 3 m away from Route N16 and 1 m above
ground. A luminous rectangle, like a door, was seen on the side. It took
off and flew about 5 m above the witness, following him to the next
village.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 41; M 143 (Vallee)
Location: Jettingen, France
ID: 206
Date: 10/7/1954
Time: 0400
Description: A farmer, Mr. Thebault, saw a luminous object, 2 or 3 m in
diameter, emitting a beam of light which swept the countryside.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 41; M 142 (Vallee)
Location: Beruges, France
ID: 205
Date: 10/7/1954
Time: early
Description: The crew of several fishing boats saw a luminous,
orange-colored object over the coast, apparently surrounded by dense
smoke. Villagers saw the same object and stated independently that it
came within 10 m of the ground, then flew away to the southeast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 41; M 140 (Vallee)
Location: Plozevet, France
ID: 204
Date: 10/7/1954
Description: On Route N138, a truckdriver, Mr. Tremblay, saw an intense,
blue light coming toward him. The object producing it was cigarshaped,
red and blue. Engine and headlights died.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 41;M 143 (Vallee)
Location: Saint-Jean-d’Asse, France
ID: 207
Date: 10/7/1954
Description: The two Lanssellin children witnessed the landing of a
luminous, red object shaped like a half-egg, and saw two occupants who
looked like normal men.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 145 (Vallee)
Location: Hennezis, France
ID: 203
Date: 10/7/1954
Time: 2400
Description: Mr. Sebelli saw an object land in the village. He called
his neighbors, and they observed the departure of the craft.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 43; M 146 (Vallee)
Location: Bompas, France
ID: 210
Date: 10/7/1954
Description: 6:20 a.m. A group of workers at the Renault manufacturing
plant at Le Mans, Sarthe, France, are bicycling to work when they feel
an unpleasant tickling at the same moment an intense greenish light is
emitted from a luminous object hovering above the Route N23 road. They
are almost paralyzed, then the UFO leaves, flying low over the fields.
(Aimé Michel, Straight-Line, p. 143; Schopick, pp. 8–9;
Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” October 22, 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2532
Date: 10/7/1954
Description: The Italian Air Ministry allegedly sets up UFO detection
posts for 24/7 vigilance. (Wilkins, FS Uncensored, Citadel, 1955, p. 232)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2533
Date: 10/7/1954
Description: 2:30 p.m. Farmer René Margaillon goes to work and notices a
mysterious object about 300 feet away in a field between Monteux and
Althen-des-Paluds, Vauclude, France. He approaches the object, which is
about 8 feet tall and phosphorescent. Suddenly it disappears and he
feels suffocated. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 5, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2534
Date: 10/7/1954
Description: Night. Witnesses at Corbigny, Nièvre, France, see a
luminous cylinder that appears orange when vertical and motionless, and
white when moving forward horizontally. At one point, two small discs
emerge from its lower part. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” September 12, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2535
Date: 10/8/1954
Time: 0230
Description: Ghaseme Fili, of Amireah Street, was on the second floor of
his house when he saw a luminous, white flying object stop in mid-air 2O
m away. lights were shining from the rear and the sides of the craft,
inside which could be seen a small man dressed in black, wearing a mask
with a trunk like an elephant. “I was standing with both hands on the
bar of my balcony, looking with astonishment at this strange object,
when I suddenly felt as though I were being drawn up toward the object
by a magnet.” Mr. Fili cried out in terror and woke up his neighbors.
The object shot straight up, emitting sparks, and it was lost to sight
almost immediately.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 52, 58 (Vallee)
Location: Teheran, Iran
ID: 211
Date: 10/8/1954
Time: 2115
Description: On the road to Boulogne a bluish object, clearly seen with
a dome on top, dived toward the ground, became white and went
away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 44, 45;M 154 (Vallee)
Location: Calais,, France
ID: 212
Date: 10/8/1954
Description: 7:30 p.m. Four children—Gilbert Calda, 12, Daniel Hirsch,
9, J. P. Hirsch, 5, and Robert Maguin, 16—are roller skating at
Pournoy-la-Chétive, Moselle, France, when they see a luminous object
near the cemetery. It is round, about 8 feet in diameter, and standing
on three legs. A dwarf, about 4 feet tall, dressed in black, with a face
covered in hair and large eyes, emerges and shines a blinding light at
them. It says something in an unknown language. The children run away
but look back in time to see the object flying away high in the sky.
(Clark III 269; Aimé Michel, Straight-Line, 154; Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” March 7, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2536
Date: 10/9/1954
Time: evening
Description: Willi Hoge, a projectionist, saw four occupants of an
object that had come to ground level 70 m from the road. He was
returning home when he observed a blue light and thought an airplane had
made an emergency landing. The object was cigar-shaped, and four men
wearing rubber coveralls were working under it. They were about 1.2 m
tall and had very large chests and oversized heads; their legs were
short and thin.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 47 (Vallee)
Location: Rinkerode, Germany
ID: 217
Date: 10/9/1954
Time: 2215
Description: The local representative of a German firm, Max Favell, saw
an object give off a white light and land. It took off vertically, with
a spinning motion, and was lost to sight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 51 (Vallee)
Location: Beirut, Lebanon
ID: 223
Date: 10/9/1954
Description: Evening. As he is driving home from his job as a movie
projectionist in Rinkerode [now part of Drensteinfurt], North
Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany, Willi Hoge sees a blue light to one side
of the road. He looks closer and sees four small figures with big heads
and chests and small, thin legs, apparently doing repair work on a
spindle-shaped machine. All are dressed in one-piece elastic body suits.
(Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954 October, The Author, 1991,
p. 24; Wilkins, FS Uncensored, Citadel, 1955, p. 233)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2543
Date: 10/9/1954
Time: 2030
Description: On Route N631 at “La Caiffe,” a technician, J. P. Mitto,
was coming back from Toulouse with two other persons when they saw two
small figures, the height of 11-year-old children, cross the road about
5 m in front of the car and jump into a pasture. Stopping immediately,
the witnesess saw a large convex disk take off vertically. It was about
6 m in diameter, orange in color and was literally “sucked up” into the
sky. Brown oily spots were found at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 43, 50 (Vallee)
Location: Briatexte, France
ID: 222
Date: 10/9/1954
Time: 1900
Description: Mr. Barrault was riding his bicycle when he suddenly saw a
figure in a diving suit aiming a double beam of light at him. The
individual had boots without heels and very bright eyes, walked on the
road for one minute and went into the forest. The witness was
“paralyzed” throughout the incident. The entity had a hairy chest and
two lights, one above the other, in front of him.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 45, 48; M 153; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Lavoux, France
ID: 221
Date: 10/9/1954
Time: 1830
Description: Four children-Gilbert Calda, 12; Daniel Hirsch, 9; J. P.
Hirsch, 5; and Robed Maguin 16-were roller-skating when they saw a
luminous object near the cemetery. It was round, about 2.5 m in
diameter, standing on three legs. A dwarf, about 1.2 m tall, dressed in
black, having a face covered with hair and large eyes, came out and
shone a blinding light at them, and said something in an unknown
language. The children ran away, but looked back in time to see the
object flying away high in the sky.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 49; M 154; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Pournoy-la-Chetive, France
ID: 220
Date: 10/9/1954
Time: 1600
Description: As he was driving near Carcassonne, Jean Bertrand saw a
bright, metallic sphere on the road ahead. The top half seemed to be
made of transparent plastic, and two humanlike figures were standing
inside. It took off rapidly, flying east.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 48; M 145 (Vallee)
Location: Carcassonne, France
ID: 219
Date: 10/9/1954
Time: evening
Description: Near the Landeforet pool, Christain Carette saw for 10 sec
a fiery sphere flying at treetop level. Diameter: 4 m. Protuberance on
top.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 48;M 152 (Vallee)
Location: Beauvain, France
ID: 218
Date: 10/9/1954
Description: Several local people saw a luminous, spherical object land
in a pasture.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 46; M 154 (Vallee)
Location: Soubran, France
ID: 216
Date: 10/9/1954
Description: People out hunting saw a luminous sphere take off and fly
toward the southwest.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy; M 153 (Vallee)
Location: Dreux, France
ID: 215
Date: 10/9/1954
Description: Between Montaren and Serviers, 1 km from “Le Mas Blanc,”
Dr. Fabre, Mr. Court, and six others saw an orange oval object
oscillating in mid-air. It was very bright and “fiery,” and it came very
low.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Montaren, France
ID: 214
Date: 10/9/1954
Description: A mailman saw a cigar-shaped object land. Twn silhouettes
“approximately human” were seen aboard.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 45; M 154 (Vallee)
Location: Huy, Belgium
ID: 213
Date: 10/9/1954
Description: 4:00 p.m. Jean Bertrand is driving near Carcassonne, Aude,
France, when he comes upon a metallic sphere in the road ahead. The top
half seems to be transparent, and he sees two human-shaped figures
inside. As he approaches, the object takes off at high speed. Probable
helicopter. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” March 26, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2538
Date: 10/9/1954
Description: The US Air Force releases a press statement saying that
after studying 3,500 reports, it has found “no authentic physical
evidence” that UFOs are spaceships or weapons. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1954 October, The
Author, 1991, p. 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2537
Date: 10/9/1954
Description: Around 7:00 p.m. Roger Barrault, a worker in Lavoux,
Vienne, France, is riding a bicycle when he is stopped on the road by a
double beam of light coming from a 4-foot-tall figure that looks like a
diver. It wears boots without heels and has brilliant eyes and a large
moustache. Hoax. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” March 26, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2539
Date: 10/9/1954
Description: 8:30 p.m. Jean-Pierre Mitto and his two cousins are driving
on Road 631 from Toulouse to Briatexte, Tarn, France, at a crossroads
known as “La Caiffe” when they see two small figures about the size of
11-year-old children cross the road. They enter a pasture where a convex
disc rises vertically and shoots upwards rapidly. It is about 20 feet in
diameter and orange. Brown, oily residue is found at the site. (Patrick
Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,”
March 26, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2540
Date: 10/9/1954
Description: 9:20 p.m. Mechanics André Bartoli and Jean-Jacques Lalevée
see the sky light up with a yellow-orange glow in Cuisy, Seine-et-Marne,
France. Bartoli’s car motor and headlights fail, and they both see a
yellow-orange cigar-shaped object moving to the southwest. (Aimé Michel,
Straight-Line, pp. 150–152; Schopick,
pp. 9–11; Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” August 26, 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2541
Date: 10/9/1954
Description: 10:15 p.m. Max Favell, a representative of a German firm in
Beirut, Lebanon, sees a white flying object land. It takes off
vertically, spinning, and is lost to sight. (Vallée, Magonia, pp. 222–223)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2542
Date: 10/10/1954
Description: Approximate date. Many farmers observed the landing of a
“marvelous luminous object,” hemispherical in shape, emitting
multicolored beams. The central part appeared to be metallic. The object
shot straight up suddenly and vanished while the crowd watched.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Creighton; 52 (Vallee)
Location: Mahallat, Persia
ID: 224
Date: 10/10/1954
Description: Second landing here, seen by Marius Dewilde (cf. Case 144)
and his 4-year-old son. A disk, 6 m diameter, about 1 m high, landed
again on the tracks. Seven little men emerged and spoke in an unknown
language. The craft then vanished without noise or smoke. Traces larger
than the first, and symmetrical, were observed. Dewilde refused to
report the case.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Quarouble, France
ID: 226
Date: 10/10/1954
Description: 11:30 a.m. Marius Dewilde, along with his 14-year-old son,
allegedly has a second encounter with a UFO occupant at Quarouble, Nord,
France. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 3, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2546
Date: 10/10/1954
Time: 0630
Description: Roger Thiriet, jailer in Ecouvres detention center, was
riding his motorcycle when he suddenly saw an aluminum colored object
shaped like a plate, with a dome and two portholes. It was about 2 m in
diameter and 1 m high. It took off immediately.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 54 (Vallee)
Location: Charmes-la-Cote, France
ID: 227
Date: 10/10/1954
Time: 1400
Description: A math professor, Mr. Bon, observed a silvery disk about 7
m in diameter rise silently from a point about 250 m to the side of the
road. Spinning, it dived to the ground from an altitude of about 800 m,
then flew off horizontally at a dizzying speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 55, 57 (Vallee)
Location: Saint-Germain-de-Livet, France
ID: 228
Date: 10/10/1954
Time: nightfall
Description: Roger Gayout and family saw a very bright object come very
close to the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 56; M 162 (Vallee)
Location: Saillat-sur-Vienne, France
ID: 229
Date: 10/10/1954
Description: In a newspaper interview, Alfred
Loedding alludes to the 1948 Estimate of the Situation without
calling it that. Loedding shows a study of some 100+ UFO reports to one
of the “country’s leading scientists,” who glances at it briefly, then
declares that “flying saucers are a figment of the imagination.” Shortly
afterwards, the skeptics in Project Sign win out, and Loedding’s efforts
are ignored. (Trenton (N.J.) Sunday Times-Advertiser, October 10, 1954;
Michael Hall, “Was There a Second Estimate of the Situation?” IUR 27,
no. 1 (Spring 2002): 13, 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2547
Date: 10/10/1954
Description: Between Epoisses and Toutry, Daniel Grapin and Francois
Bolatre, topographers saw a luminous sphere 3.5 m diameter on the ground
near Route N454.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Epoisses, France
ID: 225
Date: 10/10/1954
Description: The Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle announces it will
act as a clearinghouse for UFO reports. (Wilkins, FS Uncensored,
Citadel, 1955, p. 233)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2544
Date: 10/10/1954
Description: A cylindrical UFO with red and green lights is seen over
Alexandria, Egypt. (Wilkins, FS Uncensored, Citadel, 1955, pp. 232–233)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2545
Date: 10/11/1954
Description: 4:30 a.m. Two merchants, Henri Gallois and Louis Vigneron,
are traveling to a fair in a van near Clamercy, Nièvre, France, when
they both feel electrical shocks. The van motor dies, and the headlights
go out. They become paralyzed and see on the ground, 150 feet away, a
round object with three small figures around it. The figures go inside
the object, which then leaves rapidly. The headlights come back on, the
paralysis ends, and the engine can be restarted. Hoax. (Aimé Michel,
Straight-Line, p. 158; Schopick, pp. 12–13;
Patrick Gross, “The 1954
French Flap,” April 7, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2549
Date: 10/11/1954
Description: 4:15 a.m. Baptiste Jourdy is delivering milk near Fonfrède,
Loire, France, when the truck engine dies and the headlights fail. He
gets out to investigate and sees a glowing, multicolored object, moving
at great speed, cross the road and disappear in the distance. The
headlights return and he starts the truck again. (Aimé Michel,
Straight-Line, p. 157; Schopick,
pp. 11–12; Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 6, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2548
Date: 10/11/1954
Time: 2200
Description: A round craft, 4 m diameter, landed in a pasture. It gave
off a powerful red light, took off with a formidable acceleration when
witnesses (garage owner Mr. Carriere and son; Mr. Gardelle, farmer;
Mr. Ginestre, shoemaker; and two others) came close to it. Mr. Gardelle
felt “an electric shock.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 60, 61; M 162 (Vallee)
Location: Montbazens, France
ID: 240
Date: 10/11/1954
Time: 2150
Description: Four persons, among them Julia Juste, Maria Barbeau, and
Marion Le Tanneur, of Jarnac, saw two luminous spheres flying in the
same direction. Having stopped and maneuvered in midair, the larger one
took on a deep red color, turned to an intense white light with a red
aura, and both landed. Witnesses did not wait.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy; M 160 (Vallee)
Location: Birac, France
ID: 239
Date: 10/11/1954
Time: 1930
Description: Three men driving near Taupignac got out of their car to
observe an intense red sphere in the sky. Then they discovered a round
machine with a dome, 6 m diameter, giving off a yellowred light, 200 m
away at 10 m altitude. It was motionless and silent. It suddenly moved
horizontally for a short distance and landed behind a woods. Two
witnesses went closer and saw four dwarfs, 1 m tall, who seemed busy
with the machine. The creatures rushed inside when the witnesses arrived
within 15 m. The witnesses wae blinded by a sudden burst of light, blue,
then orange, then red, and the object took off vertically at fantastic
speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Taupignac, France
ID: 238
Date: 10/11/1954
Time: 0500
Description: A large disk flying very low over a road scared two truck
drivers, Messrs. Gaston Breau and Amoura, who stopped their gasoline
truck and ran away into the fields while the object flew on toward Medea
in silence.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 59 (Vallee)
Location: Lavarande, Algeria
ID: 237
Date: 10/11/1954
Time: dawn
Description: A large red object was seen flying very fast at treetop
level while cattle panicked. Three witnesses.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy; M 162 (Vallee)
Location: Bauquay, France
ID: 236
Date: 10/11/1954
Time: dawn
Description: Anny Pracht, her sister Roselyne, and two other persons saw
a luminous object on the ground. It became fiery red in color and flew
away when they came near.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 56; M 162 (Vallee)
Location: Heimersdorf, France
ID: 235
Date: 10/11/1954
Time: 0430
Description: Messrs. Gallois and Vigneron who were driving from Clamecy
to Corbigny felt an “electric shock” as the car headlights died. They
then saw a craft in a pasture 50 m away. It was cylindrical, fairly
thick, and three dwarfs were standing close by. No light was seen,
except a small, reddish point. Both witnesses were “paralyzed” until the
craft left. A third witness, Mr. Chaumeau, had seen a lighted object fly
over the woods at La Carie.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 57; M 158 (Vallee)
Location: Sassier, near La Carie, France
ID: 234
Date: 10/11/1954
Time: 0420
Description: Mr. Labonde was driving at the intersection of D14 and D104
when he was followed by a sort of luminous globe surrounded with a
reddish glow, about 2 m in size. It stayed within 25 m of the car.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 58; M 158 (Vallee)
Location: Lacanche, France
ID: 233
Date: 10/11/1954
Time: 0415
Description: Baptiste Jourdy, who was making the daily collection of
milk, was suddenly stopped as the engine and headlights of his truck
died. He got out and saw a light above him. After it crossed the road,
the headlights came on again and he was able to restart his truck.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 57 (Vallee)
Location: Fonfrede, near Chambon Feugerolles, France
ID: 232
Date: 10/11/1954
Time: 0300
Description: Two men riding motorcycles saw a bell-shaped craft about
2.5 m high, hovered 1 m above the Evreux-Louviers railroad line. The
lower part was ringlike, and the object gave off reddish and greenish
sparks. A burst of orange light was seen as it jumped about 10 m high,
then it remained motionless for about 1 hr, during which time a third
witness joined the first two. It ultimately turned brighter and flew
away toward the east.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 55; M 162 (Vallee)
Location: Acquigny, France
ID: 231
Date: 10/11/1954
Time: 0130
Description: Farmers awakened by a whistling sound saw a flat object
land near the woods. It soon rose very fast, vertically, and flew away.
The ground was found calcined. Samples were taken by police officials
for analysis.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 56 (Vallee)
Location: Doncourt-Village, France
ID: 230
Date: 10/11/1954
Description: 6:00 a.m. Baptiste Potin of Méral, Mayenne, France, is
riding a bicycle to his workplace when he spots a huge orange ball in
the sky that seems to be above Saint-Poix. It apparently descends to the
ground as he approaches, barring the road. After watching it 8–10
minutes, it rises slowly and disappears in the northwest. He finds when
he arrives at a farm that he is covered in white fluff embedded in his
clothes. Probably an observation of the moon, accompanied by plant
seeds. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 14, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2550
Date: 10/11/1954
Description: 9:50 p.m. Julia Juste, Maria Barbereau, and Marion Tanneur
are driving along D14 about 1 mile from Chateauneuf-sur-Charente,
Charente, France. Two luminous globes, one smaller than the other,
appear in the sky ahead of them at low altitude, and their car stalls
and the headlights go out. The larger one becomes brilliant white with a
reddish halo. After 5 minutes, they move out of sight in the Charente
valley. (Aimé Michel, Straight-Line, p. 160; Schopick, p. 13;
Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 6, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2552
Date: 10/11/1954
Description: The Romanian magazine Contemporanul claims that UFOs are US
propaganda designed to “stir up against Moscow a flying-saucer
psychosis.” (“Saucers
Are Not!” Cincinnati Enquirer, Oct. 12, 1954, p. 4; Ruppelt, p.
238)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2551
Date: 10/12/1954
Description: Afternoon. A French engineer driving to Kenitra, Morocco,
sees a small figure in a metallic suit climbing abroad a UFO that
quickly lifts off and flies away. The location is said to be Mamora
Forest, which could be modern Mehdya, on the coast. (Lorenzen,
Occupants, Signet, 1967, p. 95)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2554
Date: 10/12/1954
Time: 2330
Description: Roger Ramond, a nightwatchman saw a great light and noticed
an oval object which landed 300 m away. It looked like a fieryorange
ball, illuminated the vinyard for nearly 3 hrs, then assumed a vertical
position, rose slowly, hovered 30 m above ground for a few seconds, and
took off at fantastic speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 64; M 168 (Vallee)
Location: Vielmur, France
ID: 247
Date: 10/12/1954
Time: afternoon
Description: A French engineer driving to Port Lyautey saw a dwarf about
1.2 m in height enter an object which soon took off. The little man was
wearing silver coveralls.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 62 (Vallee)
Location: Mamora Forest, Morocco
ID: 241
Date: 10/12/1954
Description: Around 2:00 p.m. A math professor at Lisieux named Bon is
in Saint-Germain-de-Livet, Calvados, France, when he sees a silvery disc
with a diameter of 21–24 feet hovering over a wooden area off the road.
It dives toward the ground, then rises suddenly and silently into the
sky at tremendous speed. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French
Flap,” October 24, 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2555
Date: 10/12/1954
Time: 2100
Description: A farmer, Mr. Beuc, saw a small pilot enter an object. It
glided over the road for 30 m, then rose rapidly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 167; Carrouges 98 (Vallee)
Location: Orchamps, France
ID: 242
Date: 10/12/1954
Time: evening
Description: A railroad employee, Mr. Laugere, saw a torpedo-shaped,
metallic craft on the ground near a gas-oil tank. An individual covered
with hair was standing nearby, emitting sounds that were not understood.
The witness went to get his friends, but the thing disappeared in the
meantime.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 63; M 167 (Vallee)
Location: Montlucon, France
ID: 243
Date: 10/12/1954
Time: 2230
Description: Jan Marty, 42, mechanic, was in his shop when he saw a
luminous disk about 6.5 m diameter and 2.5 m thick, land. He tried to
approach it, but the craft rose vertically and silently at an amazing
speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 62, 63 (Vallee)
Location: Leguevin, France
ID: 244
Date: 10/12/1954
Time: 2230
Description: Gilbert Lelay, 13, saw a phosphorescent cigar in a pasture
and a man near it, wearing a gray suit, boots, and a gray hat. He held a
flashing sphere and told Gilbert in French not to touch it. He went back
inside the craft, which flew in loops and vanished.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Carrouges 103; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Sainte-Marie d’Herblay, France
ID: 245
Date: 10/12/1954
Description: A businessman, Mr. Vielle, was on Route N471 between
Frasnes and Pontarlier when he saw a circular flying craft, which gave
off a yellowish and a purple light. Losing altitude, the craft came very
close to the ground, changed its course to southwest, and rose again in
the sky.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy; M 167 (Vallee)
Location: Dompierre-les-Tilleuls, France
ID: 246
Date: 10/12/1954
Description: Morning. A UFO supposedly lands in a populous district on
the south side of Tehran, Iran. It is said to have tried to kidnap a
terrified man, Ghasim Faili, who says that on waking up he sees the UFO
within 60 feet of him. It emits a magnetic force to capture him, but he
shouts and neighbors gather, forcing the apparatus to take off. Later
sources add some dubious details. (Patrick Gross, URECAT, July
20, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2553
Date: 10/13/1954
Time: 1935
Description: Messrs. Olivier and Perano and a third man saw a reddish
disk about 4 m diameter with a small being close by, about 1.2 rn tall,
wearing a diving suit: “His head was large with respect to the rest of
the body and he had two enormous eyes. The suit was bright and shiny
like glass.” The craft was surrounded by a sort of misty glow. One of
the men came within 2O m of it and found himself paralyzed. The craft
took off, throwing him to the ground, and rose very fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 62, 63 (Vallee)
Location: Bourrasole, France
ID: 249
Date: 10/13/1954
Description: 7:35 p.m. Three witnesses (Olivier, Perano, and a third
man) see a reddish disc about 12 feet in diameter near Bourrasol, a
suburb of Toulouse, France. A small being about 4 feet tall is standing
nearby wearing a diver’s suit. Its head is large, and it has enormous
eyes. One witness approaches to within 60–70 feet and is paralyzed. The
UFO soon takes off. Definite hoax. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 24, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2556
Date: 10/13/1954
Time: 10:05 AM
Description: Witness: weather observer, following a balloon with his
theodolite. One round, flat, silver object flew straight and level for
30 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Nouasseur, French Morocco
ID: 370
Date: 10/13/1954
Time: 1930
Description: At Donjon de Montlaur, five persons, among them J. Dubois,
saw a round craft maneuver, give off a blinding light. It had some
openings or portholes, and seemed to land far from them.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Crocq, France
ID: 248
Date: 10/14/1954
Description: Several witnesses saw seven small beings flee into a
phosphorescent object when they were approached. It took off
immediately. It is claimed that “unknown seeds” were found at the
site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 62 (Vallee)
Location: Saint-Ambroix, France
ID: 250
Date: 10/14/1954
Time: 0630
Description: A man coming out of his house saw a luminous object
resembling a bright star. Coming near, he observed it was an object 5 m
long, near which a “short young man” was standing on a circular piece of
metal, laughing at the witness’s terrified expression. The witness was
20 m away when the craft took off at unbelievable speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 52 (Vallee)
Location: Shamsabad, Iran
ID: 251
Date: 10/14/1954
Time: nightfall
Description: A farmer observed an orange sphere land and went near it.
He found it was shaped like a flattened dome, 5.5 m in diameter, and
gave off a blinding light, which illuminated the countryside for about
200 m. It was transparent, and a dark figure could be seen inside. After
remaining at ground level for 10 min it flew north, while a bright cloud
slowly fell to the ground at the site. When the witness arrived home he
found his clothes covered with a white film of adhesive substance, not
unlike paraffin wax.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 62; M 174 (Vallee)
Location: Meral, France
ID: 255
Date: 10/14/1954
Time: 1815
Description: A municipal employee, Jose Casella, was riding home when he
suddenly found in front of him on the road an oval-shaped aluminum
object about 5.5 m in diameter, 1 m high. As he applied the brakes, the
object took off at very high speed. Several persons confirmed the
sighting. The disk was gray, supported a dome, and emitted a soft
whistle. It took off when Casella was only 6 m away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 65 (Vallee)
Location: Biot, France
ID: 253
Date: 10/14/1954
Time: 2010
Description: On the road between Thieulloy-la-Ville and Beauvais,
Mr. Covemacker saw an object fly over his car as the headlights died. It
went on toward the north, seemingly following a train.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Thieulloy-la-Ville, France
ID: 260
Date: 10/14/1954
Time: nightfall
Description: Mr. Lonjarret observed a luminous orange object on the
ground near a corn field.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy; M 175 (Vallee)
Location: Saint-Germain-du-Bois, France
ID: 256
Date: 10/14/1954
Description: Twilight. A witness is riding a moped on the road between
Saint-Romain-sous-Gourdon and Les Brosses Tillots, Saône-et-Loire,
France. Suddenly his motor fails and, as he gets off the cycle, a bright
circular object bursts ahead of him. He walks back with his moped and is
able to start it again. (Aimé Michel, Straight- Line, p. 175; Schopick, p. 14;
Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” September 25, 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2564
Date: 10/14/1954
Description: 6:30 a.m. A resident of Shamsabad [which one?], Iran, sees
a star-like object about 300 feet away from his house. Approaching to 60
feet, he sees a “short young man” who is standing on a circular piece of
metal in the middle of the object and glancing around him. The man seems
to be “laughing” at the witness. The UFO shoots up into the air and
vanishes. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954 October, The
Author, 1991, p. 42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2557
Date: 10/14/1954
Description: Keyhoe hears
from an informant that the 4602nd AISS has a “crashed object” program.
His contact Lou Corbin thinks
the Air Force already has some recovered material. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 214–215)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2558
Date: 10/14/1954
Description: A farmer and his wife see a light green object traveling at
tremendous speed, possibly 3,000 mph, in Kenya. (Wilkins, FS Uncensored,
Citadel, 1955, p. 234)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2559
Date: 10/14/1954
Time: nightfall
Description: Mr. B. saw a circular craft shaped like an upside-down
plate. At the same time, the engine on his motorcycle stalled. In the
same area an engineer saw a luminous object coming down rapidly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Anatomy 130 (Vallee)
Location: Saint-Romain, France
ID: 259
Date: 10/14/1954
Time: nightfall
Description: Andre Cognard, coming from Gueugnon, was blinded by a light
as a diskshaped object flew low over his car.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Anatomy 130 (Vallee)
Location: Chazey Wood, France
ID: 258
Date: 10/14/1954
Time: 1930
Description: South of Gueugnon, Messrs. Jeannet and Garnier saw a
reddish fireball fly low over their car as their engine and headlights
died.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 175) Anatomy 130 (Vallee)
Location: Chazey Wood, France
ID: 257
Date: 10/14/1954
Description: Flight Lt. Jimmy Salandin took off in his Meteor jet at
4:15pm and climbed up to 16,000 ft. When he was over Southend, England,
two circular UFOs shot past him at 9o’clock high. One UFO was silvery
and the other gold in color. A third UFO appeared ahead of him on a
collision course. It had a bun-shaped top, a flange like two saucers in
the center and a bun shaped dome underneath and was silvery in color. It
flew close enough to his jet to overlap his windshield.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: North Weald Airfield, Essex, England
Date: 10/14/1954
Time: 1530
Description: In Erchin Wood, Casimir Starovski, a miner, met a strange
being of small height and bulky figure with large slanted eyes. Its body
was covered with fur.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Anatomy 143; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Lewarde, France
ID: 252
Date: 10/14/1954
Description: 12:00 noon. Farmer Antonio Crepaldi is leading his cows to
a pond near Ca’ Pisani, Rovigo, Italy, when an egg-shaped object
emitting intense heat swoop over his house at an altitude of 50 feet.
The cows panic and run away, apparently suffering burns. Some haystacks
catch fire. The sighting lats 2 minutes. (1Pinotti 59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2560
Date: 10/14/1954
Time: nightfall
Description: A farmer saw a bright object, which came almost to the
ground. When he tried to approach it the object produced an intense
“screen of light” and vanished without a noise. Several persons in
Angles observed the scene.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 62 (Vallee)
Location: Angles, France
ID: 254
Date: 10/14/1954
Description: 3:30 p.m. Casimir Starovski, a miner, meets a strange
figure in Erchin Forest, near Lewarde, Nord, France. It has large,
slanted, protruding eyes and a squat, furry body. Its nose is flat, it
has thick lips, and it wears a skullcap on its oversized head. (Clark
III 269; Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” December 21, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2561
Date: 10/14/1954
Description: 4:15 p.m. Flight Lt. James R. Salandin of the 604th Fighter
Squadron is flying a Gloster Meteor Mk.8 out of North Weald Airfield,
Essex, England, at 16,000 feet. He sees three objects heading towards
him. Two of them (one gold, one silver) veer off to his port side, while
the third closes to within a few hundred yards before veering to his
port side. It is saucer-shaped with “buns” on top and underneath,
silvery and metallic, with no portholes or flames. The report is sent to
the Air Ministry where it disappears. (NICAP, “Gloster
‘Meteor’ Encounters Disc / Salandin
Case”; “Week-end
Pilot in Near Collision with Flying Saucer,” Flying Saucer Review 1,
no. 1 (Spring 1955): 2; “The
Famous Salandin Sighting,” Flying Saucer Review 30, no. 2 (December
1984): 13–15; Good Above, pp. 36–38;
Good Need, pp. 154–155;
Patrick Gross, “October
14, 1954, North Weald, Essex, UFO Encounters
RAF Meteor Jet”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2562
Date: 10/14/1954
Description: 6:20 p.m. André Cognard is driving on the D60 road to the
east of Gueugnon, Saône-et-Loire, France, when a brilliant reddish
fireball passes near his car to the west at low altitude. It is so
bright that he stops his car. Probable meteor. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 20, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2563
Date: 10/15/1954
Description: In Boaria Pisani, Padua, Italy, a farmer is leading his
cows to a pond when he sees an object fly over his house. The cows panic
and run away, knocking a girl to the ground, while the object emits a
burst of light. The farmer runs to the house and then faints. Three
other persons see the craft depart. It is dark in color but surrounded
by short blue and yellow flames. The object is egg-shaped, flies at 50
feet above the ground, and emits intense heat. The little pond is found
desiccated, and haystacks catch fire as it flies over while the cattle
suffers burns. (Vallée, Magonia, pp. 229–230)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2566
Date: 10/15/1954
Description: Afternoon. Farmers near the Po della Donzella river
channel, Veneto, Italy, see a disc-shaped object land then take off
vertically. At the site is a deep crater about 18 feet in diameter.
Poplar trees are partially burned. (Aimé Michel, Straight Line,
p. 181)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2567
Date: 10/15/1954
Description: Evening. Veterinarian Henri Robert of Londinières in
Normandy, France, is driving on route RN 314, near Baillolet,
Seine-Maritime, France. He sees four orange objects flying one above the
other at 1,000 feet. One floats down like a leaf, landing about 350 feet
in front of his car. Robert feels an electric shock and his engine dies
for 20 seconds and the object disappears. Robert continues driving. As
he is going through the village of Bailleul- Neuville, he sees in his
headlights a four-foot-tall bluish-gray figure with arms and legs
spread. His headlights go off then on again. He then sees on his left a
27-foot-long cigar-shaped object at the edge of a slope. It takes off
vertically and quickly moves toward the north. Possible hoax. (Aimé
Michel, Straight-Line, pp. 184–185; Schopick, pp. 15–16;
Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 7, 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2568
Date: 10/15/1954
End date: 10/25/1954
Description: Thousands of witnesses in the former Yugoslavia report
low-flying UFOs and high-flying cigar-shaped objects, especially around
Ljubljana, Slovenia; Sarajevo, Bosnia; and Belgrade, Serbia. Yugoslavia
announces on October 27 that it intends to launch an official
investigation. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 61;
Hobana and Weverbergh 90–91)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2569
Date: 10/15/1954
Time: night
Description: Truck driver Rene Le Viol saw a flat craft, shaped like an
inverted plate, fly very low toward the sea. A second disk followed
shortly afterward. Both emitted a red glow.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 69; M 182 (Vallee)
Location: Fouesnant, France
ID: 269
Date: mid 10/1954
Description: A merchant and his deliveryman are driving a van northeast
of the village of Erquières, Pas-de-Calais, France, when they see a
blinding light in front of them. As it passes over the van, the engine
stalls and the headlights fail. Both men feel an electric shock. (Aimé
Michel, Straight-Line, pp. 204–205; Schopick,
p. 19; Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” March 12, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2582
Date: 10/15/1954
Description: Near the swimming pool in Saint-Assiscle, Damien Figueres,
56, was walking with his dogs when a reddish, luminous sphere landed 30
m away and an individual in a diving suit walked around it. The dogs
barked at him. He boarded the machine, and it flew away in
silence.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 65; Carrouges 120 (Vallee)
Location: Perpignan, France
ID: 261
Date: 10/15/1954
Description: A farmer leading cows to a pond suddenly saw an object fly
over his house. The cows panicked and ran away, throwing a girl to the
ground, while the object emitted a burst of light. The witness ran to
the house and fainted; three other persons saw the craft depart. Dark,
surrounded by short blue and yellow flames, the object was egg-shaped,
flew 15 m above the ground, and emitted intense heat. The little pond
was found desiccated, and haystacks caught fire as it flew over, while
the cattle suffered burns.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 67; Plantier 104 (Vallee)
Location: Boaria, Italy
ID: 262
Date: 10/15/1954
Description: Early in the morning. A large, luminous, red object streaks
across the sky above Hungary. A teacher from Györ-Moson-Sopron county
takes two photos of what is an apparent meteor. (Hobana and Weverbergh
199–201)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2565
Date: 10/15/1954
Time: night
Description: A steelworker observed a luminous sphere land in the
countryside; it then emitted lights of various colors.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 54, 68; M 181 (Vallee)
Location: Isbergues, France
ID: 268
Date: 10/15/1954
Time: night
Description: Pat Hennessey ran away when she saw an object land on the
road near Chalkwell Park. It had vanished silently when she looked
back.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 182; Humanoids 4; FSR 62, 12 (Vallee)
Location: Southend, Great Britain
ID: 267
Date: 10/15/1954
Time: 1950
Description: A yellow, cigarshaped object with brilliant portholes, 30 m
long, 6 m diameter, was seen on the ground. Figures with helmets
covering the head could be seen inside. A sort of haze was observed at
both ends of the craft.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Nimes-Courbessac Airfield, France
ID: 266
Date: 10/15/1954
Time: afternoon
Description: Farmers saw a disk-shaped object land, then take off
vertically. At the site was found a deep crater about 6 m in diameter.
Poplar trees were partially burned. Official investigation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 65; M 181 (Vallee)
Location: Po-di-Gnocca, Italy
ID: 265
Date: 10/15/1954
Time: 1300
Description: An ovoid object made a pass over a range of trees; two
caught fire.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 83 (Vallee)
Location: Luino, Italy
ID: 264
Date: 10/15/1954
Time: 0340
Description: A baker saw a brilliant yellow craft descend rapidly and
land on the railroad tracks. It was shaped like a mushroom, about 4 m
diameter, 2 m high.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 62; M 180 (Vallee)
Location: Saint-Pierre-Halte, France
ID: 263
Date: 10/15/1954
Time: 8:45 PM
Description: Oct. 15, 16 and 17, 1954. Fifty objects with illuminated
bottoms were seen flying in a V-formation, very fast, on successive
nights. Only data is on summary card.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kingfisher, Oklahoma
ID: 371
Date: 10/16/1954
Description: Two objects were seen, one of which made a pass at treetop
level. It top-shaped, and a small, gesticulating human figure was seen
under it. The witness was a bus driver, Mr. De Rossi.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 84 (Vallee)
Location: Quasso, Italy
ID: 270
Date: 10/16/1954
Time: 2400
Description: Several people saw a landed object in a meadow. It appeared
phosphorescent and of large size. It took off very suddenly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 83 (Vallee)
Location: Siena, Italy
ID: 276
Date: 10/16/1954
Time: 2145
Description: Messrs. Deschamp and Laclotre saw a craft, about 20 m
diameter, 2 m high, come within 4 m of the ground for 3 or 4 min. It
gave off a yellowish light and a glow extended for 4 m around.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Dompierre, France
ID: 275
Date: 10/16/1954
Time: nightfall
Description: Dr. Robert, while driving through this village, saw four
objects, at about 300 m altitude, flying slowly in echelon formation.
Suddenly one of them dropped to the ground with a dead-leaf motion, 100
m away. The witness felt an electric shock as engine and headlights
died, and the car stopped when the object touched the ground. Incapable
of moving, Dr. Robert saw a figure about 1.2 m tall moving in the light
of the object, then all went dark. Some time later the headlights
resumed operation by themselves, and Dr. Robert saw the craft take off
toward the north.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 71; M 185 (Vallee)
Location: Baillolet, France
ID: 274
Date: 10/16/1954
Time: 1730
Description: Mr. Bachelard was driving a light truck on road D52-E
between Chanat and Couhay when suddenly the engine seemed to slow down
and he felt “paralyzed.” He then saw in a field near the road a brown
object about 10 m long, 2.5 m high. Silent, it gave off no light and
showed no opening.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 70;M 198 (Vallee)
Location: Mazaye, France
ID: 273
Date: 10/16/1954
Description: Guy Puyfourcat, 22, who was coming back from the fields,
leading a mare by the bridle, was surprised when the animal became
restless. Rising from the side of the road, a gray object about 1.5 m in
diameter flew over them. The mare rose about 3 m in the air, and the
witness had to release the bridle. Then the animal fell like a mass and
for 10 min was unable to move. At last, it rose and attempted to walk,
but it was still trembling and stumbling with fear. The object had long
since flown away at high speed. The witness himself had felt absolutely
nothing.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Cier-de-Riviere, France
ID: 272
Date: 10/16/1954
Description: Approximate date. An object landed about 30 m away from a
woman, who fainted. The witness suffered from a skin disease following
the incident.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Challenge 53 (Vallee)
Location: Thin le Moutiers, France
ID: 271
Date: 10/17/1954
Time: night
Description: On Capri, an artist Raffael Castelle, saw a disk 5 m in
diameter land on the property of Curzio Malaparte. Upon approaching it,
he discovered it was not a helicopter and saw four dwarfs wearing
coveralIs emerge from it. After 30 min the craft made a soft whirring
sound and rose vertically, leaving blue sparks.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 72 (Vallee)
Location: Cape Massulo, Italy
ID: 281
Date: 10/17/1954
Description: Around 9:30 a.m. Guy Puyfourcat is returning from the
fields near Cier-de-Rivière, Haute-Garonne, France, with his mare on a
halter. The horse suddenly becomes restless and jumpy. A gray object
about 4 feet in diameter rises from one side of the road and passes over
them. The mare rises about 9 feet into the air and Puyfourcat releases
her, and the animal falls to the ground and is unable to move for 10
minutes. The UFO moves away at high speed. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” October 16, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2570
Date: 10/17/1954
Time: 2030
Description: Several witnesses, among them Mr. Beuclair a policeman, saw
a bright red domeshaped object descend to ground level 20 m away. The
underside showed red and white lights.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 188 (Vallee)
Location: Varigney, France
ID: 280
Date: 10/17/1954
Time: 2030
Description: A 65-year-old man was hunting with his dog, near the
junction of the Brillance Canal and the Durance River, when he saw a
gray object, about 4 m long and 1 m high on the ground and 40 m away. It
showed a dome from which two helmeted figures emerged. The witness fled,
but his dog started toward the object. The dog soon retreated, walking
awkwardly as if partialIy paralyzed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Cabasson, France
ID: 279
Date: 10/17/1954
Description: A hunter, Manuel Madeira, saw an object, which flew away as
he approached it, rose in the sky, and was lost to sight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: O Alvito, Portugal
ID: 278
Date: 10/17/1954
Description: Leon B., a city council member, saw a circular, orange
craft take off from the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer, France
ID: 277
Date: 10/18/1954
Description: Mr. Meunier, a construction supervisor, was terrified by a
strange craft, which rose vertically from the ground. He said he had
never been so afraid, even during the war.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 73; M 196 (Vallee)
Location: Pont l’Abbe d’Arnoult, France
ID: 283
Date: 10/18/1954
Description: 6:00 p.m. Two farmers near Saint-Cirgues, Haute-Loire,
France, watch two bright balls connected by a rod for 15 minutes. They
disappear at a fast pace. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” December 21, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2572
Date: 10/18/1954
Description: J. Augard and J. Chanzotte saw an oval object with a dome,
emitting a bright white light, resting in a field. When they approached
it, the object rose vertically, leaving a reddish trail, and flew to the
northeast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 70; M 198 (Vallee)
Location: Cisternes-la-Foret, France
ID: 282
Date: 10/18/1954
Description: 5:30 p.m. A M. Bachelard is driving a light truck southeast
of Gelles, Puy-de-Dôme, France. As he goes around a bend, he feels
paralyzed and his truck slows down to less than 20 mph. In a nearby
field he sees an elongated object about 5 feet high. A few minutes later
he reaches the village of Coheix, which is off his normal route, and
starts telling people about the event. Later ufologists suspect there
may be some missing time involved. (Aimé Michel, Straight-Line, p. 198;
Schopick, pp. 16–17;
Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” March 20, 2003; “The
Landing at Gelles,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories, no. 5 (June
1971): iii)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2571
Date: 10/18/1954
Description: 9:00 p.m. M. and Mme. Labussière are driving on the N150
southwest of Saintes, Charente-Maritime, France, when they see a
balance-shaped object in the sky. One side is red and the other orange,
while the rod connecting them is a luminous green. The object pauses
above a field near their car, which they pull over to watch more
closely. The green rod soon dissipates, and the two balls settle in the
field. In the dim light emitted by the objects, the Labussières see a
small creature emerge from each, walk toward each other, pass without
stopping, and enter the other object. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” December 29, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2573
Date: 10/18/1954
Time: 2245
Description: Miss Bourriot saw a bright red light on Route N437 near the
old factory. Near it were three beings: two, dwarfs, crossed the road
ahead of her; the third was a man of medium size. The craft took off,
flying over the lake at high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy; M 197; LDLN 97; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Saint-Point Lake, France
ID: 286
Date: 10/18/1954
Time: 2100
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Labassiere and other witnesses saw two disks
in the sky, one orange and the other red, with a sort of luminous
“bridge” between them. They landed, and one dwarf came out of each craft
and went into the other without any sign. After this exchange of pilots
both objects flew away with a tremendous flash.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 74 (Vallee)
Location: Royan, France
ID: 285
Date: 10/18/1954
Time: 2040
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Lherminier saw a cigar-shaped red object dive
toward them with a reddish trail and land near the road. Upon reaching
the top of the hill, they were confronted with a bulky human figure,
about 1 m tall. The creature wore a helmet and his eyes were glowing
with an orange light. One witness fainted on the spot. Four others saw
the object in flight from separate locations. The countryside was
illuminated over 2 or 3 km.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Fontenay-Torcy, France
ID: 284
Date: 10/19/1954
Time: 2230
Description: Two men saw a disk-shaped object, 6 m diameter, hovering
and emitting small violet flashes. On top of it was a very high antenna.
Two small robotlike beings, 1.2 m tall, descended from it on a long
ladder. Their eyes were “sharp” and dark red. They said something that
sounded like “Dbano da skigyay o dbano,” went back aboard their craft,
and flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 87 (Vallee)
Location: Fabriano, Italy
ID: 289
Date: 10/19/1954
Time: 1920
Description: Filippo Corridoni saw a half-empty balloon at ground level
near the Isonzo River. Near it, a disk 10 m in diameter was resting on a
strange frame. The upper part was white with a black domelike turret,
around which was a series of portholes, some illuminated with a very
bright, bluish-white light, which suddenly went out as the object took
off spinning and rising vertically, pulling the balloon with it.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 86 (Vallee)
Location: Gorizia, Italy
ID: 288
Date: 10/19/1954
Description: Bruno Senesi saw two shining objects emitting smoke land in
a field. Out of them came small, red, monstrous beings who chased him.
In a state of great excitement Senesi was brought to a hospital, where
he tried to hide under a bed, screaming and trembling in terror.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 85 (Vallee)
Location: Livorno, Italy
ID: 287
Date: 10/19/1954
Description: 8:00 p.m. A M. Fillonneau is driving in
Criteuil-la-Madeleine, Charente, France, when he sees a bright fireball.
His headlights go out and the engine stops, and he finds that his
battery is completely dead and the headlight bulbs burned out. (Patrick
Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” February 5, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2574
Date: 10/19/1954
Description: Around 12:00 midnight. Renzo Pugina has just put his car in
his garage at Parravicino, Como, Italy, when he sees a humanoid about 4
feet 3 inches tall in a scaly, luminous suit standing near a tree. The
lower part of its body is like a cone. It aims a light beam at Pugina
that paralyzes him briefly. He only manages to move some fingers, but
with some concentration makes a clenching motion with his fist on the
garage keys that he holds in his hand. Freed from the temporary
paralysis, he runs to attack the intruder, who flees with a soft
whirring sound. A police investigation finds a spot of oil at the
location. (Vallée, Magonia, pp. 235–236;
Loren E. Gross, The Fifth
Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954 October, The
Author, 1991, p. 74; 1Pinotti 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2575
Date: 10/20/1954
Time: 0230
Description: Forty-year-old Lazlo Ujvari was suddenly confronted by a
man wearing a jacket, boots, and cloth headgear (like a pilot’s) who
pointed a gun at him and said something he could not understand. When
Ujvari spoke to him in Russian, the man answered in the same language,
asked whether he was in Spain or Italy, and how far he was from Germany.
When he asked the time, Ujvari said: “2:30.” The man took his watch and
said “You lie; it’s 4:00.” Then he wanted to know how far and in what
direction Marseilles was. He made Ujvari walk on the road with him, and
they came close to a gray craft with an antenna on top. When he was
about 200 m away, he heard a soft whistling sound and saw it fly
straight up, then take an oblique trajectory.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Carrouges 99; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Raon-l’Etage, France
ID: 291
Date: 10/20/1954
Description: Roger Reveille saw an oval object, 6 m long, at treetop
level, and felt intense heat from it. It took off vertically at great
speed. Inside the woods, the heat had become intolerable and a cloud of
dense smoke was forming under the rain. After 15 min the witness was
able to approach the site, and he found the trees, grass, and ground
perfectly dry.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy; M 204 (Vallee)
Location: Lusigny Forest, France
ID: 292
Date: 10/20/1954
Description: Several unknown objects maneuvered for 2 hrs near this
village. One of them was very brilliant and landed in a pasture. Two
others were seen near the cliff in Mers, and seemed to be in
communication by means of light signals with objects in another
group.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 75 (Vallee)
Location: Saint-Valery, France
ID: 293
Date: 10/20/1954
Time: night
Description: Renzo Pugina, 37, bad just put his car in the garage when
he saw a strange being covered with a “scaly” luminous suit, about 1.3 m
tall, standing near a tree. The creature aimed the beam from a sort of
flashlight at him, and he felt paralyzed, until a motion he made when
clenching his fist on the garage keys seemed to free him. He attacked
the intruder, who rose and fled with a soft whirring sound. An oily spot
was found at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 77;Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Panavicino d’Erba, Italy
ID: 295
Date: late 10/1954
End date: early 11/1954
Description: The UK War Office receives six reports of 40–50
unidentified radar targets that appear from nowhere, usually at midday,
flying at a height of 12,000 feet. The targets first appear in a
U-formation, then converge into two parallel lines and take up a
Z-formation before disappearing. The location of the radar trackings is
not revealed. (Good Above, pp. 38–39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2598
Date: 10/20/1954
Time: 1830
Description: Mr. Schoubrenner, 25, a truck driver, saw a bright light in
the distance and soon found his road blocked by a strange object. The
engine died, and he felt paralyzed: “My hands were as though glued to
the wheel.” The craft looked like an inverted cone, the lower part
phosphorescent, the middle dull, the top luminous with a yellow or
orange point.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 76; M 204 (Vallee)
Location: Turquenstein, France
ID: 294
Date: 10/20/1954
Description: 6:30 p.m. Jean Schonbrenner is driving a truck southbound
near Turquestein-Blancrupt, Moselle, France, when he sees a bright glow
ahead on route N393. He continues to drive but feels paralyzed, his
hands glued to the wheel. At about 30 feet away, his engine stops and
the yellow-orange glow rises slowly and heads northwest. He feels a
sensation of warmth and sees that the glow contains a cone-shaped
object. (Aimé Michel, Straight-Line, p. 203; Schopick, pp. 17–18;
Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 21, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2576
Date: 10/20/1954
Description: Lucien Fisch saw an object land near Route N83. It was
luminous.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy; 75 (Vallee)
Location: Issenheim, France
ID: 290
Date: 10/20/1954
Description: 9:15 p.m. Jean Lalle (or Jean Lasse) is riding a motorcycle
between Biozat, Alliers, and Effiat, Puy-de- Dome, France, when his
engine dies suddenly. He sees an egg-shaped object with a bright trail
climbing in the sky. The motorcycle restarts once the object has left.
(Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” December 21, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2577
Date: 10/21/1954
Description: Evening. A motorist is driving on the D220 road with his
4-year-old son between Paillé and Pouzou, Charente-Maritime, France. He
feels a tingling like electric shocks all over his body. The child
cries, the engine stops, and the headlights go out as a luminous red
body with a tail flashes briefly in front of them. (Aimé Michel,
Straight-Line, p. 204; Schopick,
pp. 18–19; Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 21, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2580
Date: 10/21/1954
Description: 4:45 p.m. Jessie Roestenburg and her two children observe a
disc-shaped, aluminum object hovering above their house in Ranton,
Stafford, England. Through two transparent panels they see two men with
white skin, having shoulder-length hair and high foreheads. They wear
transparent helmets and turquoise-blue clothing resembling ski suits.
The object hovers at a tilted angle while the two occupants look at the
scene “sternly, not in an unkind fashion, but almost sadly,
compassionately.” (Clark III 268; Charles Bowen, “Few
and Far Between,” in Charles Bowen, ed., The Humanoids, special
issue of FSR, Oct./Dec. 1966, p. 4; Gordon Creighton, “The Roestenburg
Story (1954),” Flying Saucer Review 38, no. 1 (Spring 1993): 6–9;
Curt Collins, “Jessie Roestenburg’s
1954 UFO Encounter and Beyond,” Blue Blurry Lines, October 19,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2579
Date: 10/21/1954
Description: A young man hears a rustling sound and sees a landed UFO
outside Melito di Napoli, Italy. It gives off a powerful bronze-green
light. He then sees an occupant dressed in a diving suit emerge. A dog
begins barking and the entity retreats inside and takes off. (Loren E.
Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954
October, The
Author, 1991, p. 74; 1Pinotti 61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2578
Date: 10/21/1954
Description: A young man walking in a field heard a rustling noise and
saw a strange craft land nearby. Getting closer to investigate, he saw a
pilot with a diving suit coming out of the craft, which emitted
bronze-green rays of light, flooding the whole countryside. The witness
was paralyzed. A dog barking about 100 m away caused the rapid escape of
the pilot into the craft, which took off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 88 (Vallee)
Location: Melito, Italy
ID: 297
Date: 10/21/1954
Time: 1645
Description: Near Shrewsbury, Jennie Roestenberg and her two children
observed a diskshaped, aluminum object hovering above the house. Through
two transparent panels they saw two men with white skin, long hair to
their shoulders, and very high foreheads. They wore transparent helmets
and turquoise-blue clothing, resembling ski suits. The object hovered at
a tilted angle while the two occupants looked at the scene “sternly, not
in an unkind fashion, but almost sadly, compassionately.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 4 (Vallee)
Location: Ranton, Great Britain
ID: 298
Date: 10/21/1954
Time: 2000
Description: The car driven by a bricklayer, Mr. Fillonnau, stoped as a
large ball of fire flew near it. A violent air displacement was felt.
“The battery was dead and the headlights were burned out.” Thorough
police investigation failed to identify the cause of the
phenomenon.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 79 (Vallee)
Location: Criteuil-la-Madeleine, France
ID: 299
Date: 10/21/1954
Time: 2130
Description: Between Serifere and Paille, a man from Cherbonnieres
suddenly felt painful pricklings similar to electric shocks and his
4-year-old child started crying. They felt increasing pain as the car
went on, and suddenly the engine died and the lights went off. They were
blinded by a strong red light, which turned orange. It came from an
object hovering above the road, and everything returned to normal when
it went away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 80; M 341 (Vallee)
Location: Pouzou, France
ID: 300
Date: 10/21/1954
Description: An egg-shaped object, about 5.5 m diameter, hovered and
landed near the road. Two dwarfs, about 1.25 m tall, emerged from it,
and went back inside almost immediately. The craft took off vertically
leaving a red trail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 78 (Vallee)
Location: Pons, France
ID: 296
Date: 10/21/1954
Description: 9:25 p.m. Three observers at the Woomera Test Range in
South Australia see an erratic, dancing light adjacent to rocket
Launcher Apron 1, Range B, approximately 500 feet away. The light
alternates from deep orange to yellow and is egg-shaped. Its apparent
size is three times the magnitude of Venus. (NICAP, “Dancing Light
Adjacent to Rocket Launcher”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2581
Date: 10/22/1954
Description: Afternoon. Roger Reveillé is walking in the Fôret de
Lusigny, Aube, France, when he hears a rustling noise. He looks up and
sees an oval-shaped object about 20 feet long at treetop level. At the
same time he feels an intense heat that also seems to be creating a
thick fog. After a few minutes the object disappears upward, but the
heat continues. Although it is raining, the ground underneath where the
object had been is dry. (Aimé Michel, Straight-Line, p. 204; Schopick,
p. 18; Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” September 28, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2583
Date: 10/22/1954
Description: 3:00 p.m. Principal Rodney
Warrick and teacher Mrs. George Dittmar of Jerome, Ohio, Special
School watch a large, silvery, cigar-shaped object hanging motionless in
the sky. Soon it takes off, and in its wake it leaves a trail of
whitish, web-like substance that floats down and begins to hang from
wires along the road. It descends in both strands and balls for 45
minutes. Both adults get greenish stains on their hands from it. All of
it dissipates, but the substance placed in closed jars dissipates more
slowly. (“Strange
‘Flying Cigar’ Puzzles
Union Countians,”
Marion (Ohio) Star, November 2, 1954, pp. 1, 10; “Web-Spinning
Saucer Visits Marysville, Ohio,” CRIFO Newsletter, December 3, 1954,
p. 5; Michael D. Swords, “Angel Hair: Spindrift between Worlds,” IUR 32,
no. 1 (August 2008): 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2584
Date: 10/23/1954
Description: 1:30 a.m. A woman in Cincinnati, Ohio, has fallen asleep
listening to the radio. Suddenly it makes a harsh shrieking noise and
the volume increases. Dogs begin barking in the neighborhood, so she
looks outside and sees a large reddish-orange disc with a halo around it
moving in a circle overhead. After a minute it moves off to the south.
(“The
Fort Wayne and Cincinnati Tie-In,” CRIFO Newsletter 1, no. 9
(December 3, 1954): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2585
Date: 10/23/1954
Description: Mrs. Boeuf was coming out of her farmhouse when she saw a
luminous disk in the sky and alled her family. When everyone saw the
object come closer, they locked all doors and spent a sleepless night.
They did not observe the object’s departure.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 81 (Vallee)
Location: Saint-Hilaire-des-Loges, France
ID: 301
Date: 10/23/1954
Time: 0100
Description: Two persons in a car saw an object resting by fhe side of
the road. They stopped and walked toward the craft, 2 m diameter, which
suddenly changed its clear light into a red glow and took off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 89 (Vallee)
Location: San Giovanni Vesuviano, Italy
ID: 302
Date: 10/23/1954
Time: 0300
Description: A farmer saw a flying craft descend to ground level about
50 m away, with a sound like that of a compressor. It was an egg-shaped
machine with six wheels and complex machinery. The top half was
transparent, flooded with bright white light. Aboard were six men in
yellowish coveralls, having human faces and masks. When he touched part
of the craft, the witness felt a strong electric shock. One of the
occupants motioned for him to stay away. For the next 2O min, the
witness was able to observe the six men, apparently busy with
instruments. Reliable investigations were made.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Tripoli, Libya
ID: 303
Date: 10/23/1954
Description: 3:00 a.m. A farmer named Carmelo Papotto near Tripoli,
Verona, Italy, watches a UFO land 150 feet away with a sound like a
compressor. It seems to be an oval machine with six wheels and complex
machinery. The top half is transparent and flooded with bright light.
Aboard are six men in yellowish overalls with human faces. When he
touches part of the object, he gets an electric shock. One occupant
warns him to stay away. For the next 20 minutes he watches them fiddle
with instruments. The object then rises to 150 feet and takes off at a
dizzying speed. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 237;
1Pinotti 61–62; Mark Cashman, “Behavioral Classification System for UFO
Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 17–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2586
Date: 10/24/1954
Description: 1:00–6:00 p.m. Officers and men at the Canoas Air Force
Base near Porto Alegre, Brazil, watch a number of “circular
silver-colored” objects moving at high speed. They are also seen by
personnel of Varig airlines and some civilians. There are more than 100
witnesses. The chief military witness, jet pilot Lt. H. Ferraz de
Almeida, sees a dull silver object moving apparently slowly above the
base in a zigzag fashion. He estimates its altitude as 40,000–45,000
feet and suggests that its real speed must be tremendous. Maj. J.
Magalhaes Mota is watching the same object as another one rapidly
approaches the first and stops next to it. The second object then moves
rapidly, abruptly changes course, and flies off in an arc. When the
object is in motion, it is surrounded by a misty halo, and when it stops
the halo disappears. Their movements appear mechanical and intermittent.
The report is forwarded to the Air Ministry in Rio de Janeiro with a
request to investigate. Brazilian Air Force Chief of Intelligence Col.
João Adil de Oliviera heads the investigation, which concludes on
December 2 that the “saucers appear to be some kind of revolutionary
aircraft” that are not “conventional phenomena or illusions.” (UFOEv, p. 119;
Swords 461–462)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2589
Date: 10/24/1954
Description: A small man with strange glowing eyes is seen near Aïn El
Turk, Algeria, along the coast. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 237)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2588
Date: 10/24/1954
Description: Rocket expert Hermann
Oberth writes in the American Weekly: “It is my thesis that flying
saucers are real and that they are space ships from another solar
system. I think that they possibly are manned by intelligent observers
who are members of a race that may have been investigating our Earth for
centuries.” He thinks UFOs might fly by “distorting the gravitational
field.” (Hermann Oberth, “Flying
Saucers Come from
a Distant World,” American Weekly, October 24, 1954, in Cincinnati
Enquirer; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1954 October, The
Author, 1991, p. 83; Hermann Oberth, “Lecture
Notes for Lecture
about Flying Saucers, 1954,” Australian UFO Bulletin, September
1991, pp. 4–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2587
Date: 10/24/1954
Time: 2100
Description: Between Biozat and Effiat, on the road from Clermont to
Vichy, the engine of a motor scooter died as an egg-shaped object took
off from the side of the road and rose without noise, leaving a bright
trail behind.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Biozat, France
ID: 306
Date: 10/24/1954
Time: 1730
Description: Near Sainte Catherine, a child saw a man emerge from a
strange craft. He was “dressed in red, his clothes looked like iron. He
walked with his legs stiff, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes
were large, like those of the cows.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Les Egots, France
ID: 305
Date: 10/24/1954
Description: A small man with strange glowing eyes was seen on the
Mediterranean shore.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Ain-el-Turck, Algeria
ID: 304
Date: 10/25/1954
Description: Approximate date. A. Treussard and a friend were almost
blinded by a luminous disk, which landed in a pasture.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Plemet, France
ID: 307
Date: 10/25/1954
Time: 0600
Description: Ulderico Cardinali saw a disk-shaped craft among the reeds
of a swamp. It was 2 m in diameter, and near it was a small being, 1.40
m tall, clad in yellowish-brown coveralls. This creature went inside the
machine, which took off at very high speed, touching the tops of the
reeds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 90 (Vallee)
Location: Northern Italy, exact place unknown
ID: 308
Date: 10/25/1954
Time: 1830
Description: G. Mahou, municipal muncilor, 30, saw a phosphorescent
craft shaped like a brooder, about 2 m in diameter, 1 m high, rise
vertically from the road, leaving a luminous trail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 91 (Vallee)
Location: Arraye-et-Han, France
ID: 309
Date: 10/25/1954
Description: 7:30 p.m. Farmer Gilbert Hée is gathering pears on his farm
at Les-Jonquerets-de-Livet [now Mesnil-en- Ouche], Eure, France, when he
sees an elongated object about 7 feet long with a green and a red light
at both ends resting in the pasture. Some cows have gathered around it.
The object is moving slowly and stops at a barbed wire fence. Hée goes
inside. At 11:00 p.m., his son-in-law René Marais and a friend, Jean
Chéradame, arrive on a motorcycle. Chéradame agrees to ride into the
field and take a look, but he only goes 300 feet along the road before
the engine fails. He falls from the bike and sees two short creatures
walking stiffly and wearing bright clothes. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 11, 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2592
Date: 10/25/1954
Description: 6:15 a.m. Several UFOs, some described as spear-shaped and
others as egg-shaped, speed over Belgrade, Yugoslavia [now Serbia],
trailing bluish tails for about an hour. Witnesses include aeronautical
engineer Vladimir Ajvas, AF Capt. Stjepan Djitkol, and staff at the
nearby Zemun Polje Airport. The event is a culmination of UFO sightings
over Yugoslavia since October 15, few of which make the newspapers.
(UFOEv, p. 123;
Hobana and Weverbergh 90–91)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2590
Date: 10/25/1954
Description: Lucien Jeune, mayor of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Vaucluse,
France, following numerous UFO sightings, issues a police order
prohibiting “The overflight, landing, and take-off of aircraft,
so-called flying saucers or flying cigars, on the communal territory.”
The announcement, which also threatens the confiscation of any craft and
the arrest of occupants, is done as a publicity stunt. Claude Avril, the
city mayor in 2016, refuses to rescind it. (Louis de Gouyon Matignon,
“The
French Anti-UFO Municipal Law of 1954,” Space Legal Issues, May 29,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2591
Date: 10/26/1954
Description: 10:45 p.m. Aimé Bousard is returning on his bicycle from
the town hall at Alleyrat, Creuse, France, to his residence at La
Vaureille when he sees a figure crouching on the roadway. When he stops,
the figure stands up and points two powerful light-blue lights at him.
The entity is 5 feet 3 inches tall and dressed in a diver’s suit. It has
two green lights on either side of its head. Bousard is paralyzed for 10
minutes while the lights are aimed at him. Then the entity crosses the
road and disappears and Bousard can move again. Gendarmes investigate
and note that his right hand is swollen and he has difficulty writing.
They find a 27-inch circle of disturbed earth at the site. (Patrick
Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” September 6, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2593
Date: 10/26/1954
Description: Vincent Casamajou and his wife saw a large cauldron-shaped
craft, the size of a truck (about 7 m) at 50 m distance, near the road,
18 km from this town, going toward Paris. It took off without noise,
leaving a white trail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 9Z (Vallee)
Location: Angouleme, France
ID: 310
Date: 10/26/1954
Time: 2130
Description: Mrs. Spinner and another witness saw a flying object come
from the west and land 1 km away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Heiteren, France
ID: 313
Date: 10/26/1954
Time: 2030
Description: Approximate date. At this place situated near Saint Quirin,
Mrs. Louis and her sons Marc and Yvon observed an orange craft, 6 m
diameter and 3 m high, fly over them as their tractor engine died. The
lights also went out, and the battery was found dead after the
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Les Metairies, France
ID: 312
Date: 10/26/1954
Time: evening
Description: Aime Boussard, 47, a farmer, was suddenly confronted with
an individual of normal height (1.60 m) wearing a sort of diving suit
with a pale-green light on either side of the helmet. The individual
aimed at the witness the beam of two blue lights, and he was thrown
backward. No craft was observed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 92 (Vallee)
Location: La Madiere, France
ID: 311
Date: 10/27/1954
Description: A shop owner and his employee felt an electric shock as a
very bright object flying very low stopped the engine and turned off the
lights on their car.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 92; M 204 (Vallee)
Location: Linzeux, France
ID: 314
Date: 10/27/1954
Time: 2030
Description: An object was seen on the ground by a schoolboy and his
school director. Triangular traces were reported.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 53 (Vallee)
Location: Moussey, France
ID: 318
Date: 10/27/1954
Description: 1:30 p.m. More than 10,000 soccer fans witness two luminous
discs during a game at Florence, Italy. A large amount of “white
filaments” falls that clings to everything. Engineering student Alfredo
Jacopozzi collects samples in a jar and takes it to Prof. Cozzi at the
Institute of Chemistry at the University of Florence. The lab finds the
samples have a “fibrous structure, with mechanical resistance to
contraction and torsion, burns rapidly, leaving a transparent residue.”
It contains calcium, silicon, aluminum, magnesium, iron, and boron. (“Italy,
Too!” Flying Saucer News, no. 7 (Winter 1954–1955): 6; Brian
Boldman, “Angel Hair Physical Analyses: A Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006): 101;
Michael D. Swords, “Angel Hair: Spindrift between Worlds,” IUR 32, no. 1
(August 2008): 5–6; 1Pinotti 63–64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2594
Date: 10/27/1954
Time: 2330
Description: Near Grosseto, Ermellina Lanzillo, who was looking for her
cat, saw from her window a strange entity standing in the garden. The
being appeared fat and had narrow shoulders, apelike eyes, and a head
like a diving helmet. Paralyzed with terror, she regained self-control
when called by her niece and withdrew from the window.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 94 (Vallee)
Location: Grosseto, Italy
ID: 320
Date: 10/27/1954
Time: 2315
Description: On Route N40, the Mayor’s secretary saw for 15 min a
bright, cigar-shaped object, flying very low and following the turns of
the road at 20 m altitude. Suddenly it tumed at a right angle from the
road and flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Oye-Plage, France
ID: 319
Date: 10/27/1954
Time: 1930
Description: A farmer, Gilbert Hee, was gathering pears when he suddenly
saw an elongated object with a light at both ends resting in the
pasture. He dared not investigate, but he saw cows gathering around the
object. A minute later, the lights went out, and the witness lost
interest and went home. Two hours later, an 18-year-old man named
Cheradame fell from his motorcycle as it suddenly failed at the same
spot, and alerted neighbors saw the object again. It had moved only
slightly and two occupants were seen. They were about 1 m tall, walked
in stiff fashion, and had clothes resembling bright armor. They vanished
suddenly, and the craft took off without noise.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Les-Jonquerets-de-Livet, France
ID: 317
Date: 10/27/1954
Time: 1400
Description: A young man named Fabrizio Bruni heard a strange hissing
sound and saw an object in a field. It was stationary, 1 m above the
ground, seemed transparent and emitted a blinding glare. The witness
fell on the ground “because of his strong emotions” at the sight. The
object took off vertically and suddenly, leaving a trail. Very white,
glistening threads were found on the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 93 (Vallee)
Location: Ciolica Alta, Italy
ID: 316
Date: 10/27/1954
Description: Policemen saw a craft, which took off from the ground. No
details were given.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Mezieres, France
ID: 315
Date: 10/28/1954
Time: 5:32 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF pilots Lt. Col. O.C. Cook and Lt. J.W.
Brown, on ground using 7x50 binoculars. One brilliant white, round-oval
object climbed in front of clouds, brightened, turned 90 to the north.
Seen for 45 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Miho Air Base, Japan
ID: 372
Date: 10/28/1954
Description: Three luminous UFOs soar over Rome, Italy, seen by
Associated Press reporter Maurizio Andreolo and US Ambassador Clare
Booth Luce. Some witnesses report “fine cotton or wool particles”
falling from them. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 212–213;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954 October, The
Author, 1991, p. 91; 1Pinotti 64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2596
Date: 10/28/1954
Description: Hoaxed report of a landed UFO and occupants at Tradate,
Italy, near Milan. (Frank Edwards, FS Serious Business, Bantam ed.,
1966, pp. 108–109;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History:
1954 October, The
Author, 1991, p. 89; 1Pinotti 64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2595
Date: 10/29/1954
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witnesses: four Portuguese nationals. One object, shaped
like a stovepipe with a center bulge and short wings (10’ long, 3’ in
diameter, 3’ wings) having concave wingtips, and grey colored. Made a
gargling sound when hovering, then disappeared in the glare of airplane
landing lights. Sighting lasted 4-5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Terciera Islands, Azores
ID: 373
Date: 10/29/1954
Time: 0745
Description: A 14-year-old child sought asylum in the farmhouse owned by
Mrs. Gentil, crying that he had been chased by a saucer. A disk three
times as large as the sun, red and purple, spinning rapidly, was seen
descending swiftly toward the ground and then it vanished. Investigation
by local police.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Mesples, France
ID: 321
Date: 10/30/1954
Time: 0930
Description: Two objects were seen by hunters. One touched the ground 50
m away. It was rhomboidic, and from the bottom a cylinder was hanging. A
peculiar sound could be heard. The object shifted its position and the
cylinder hit trees, bouncing three times. Then the craft gained altitude
and flew away, leaving a bluish trail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 82 (Vallee)
Location: Muro Lucano, Italy
ID: 322
Date: 10/30/1954
Description: 1:00 p.m. UFO researcher Alberto
Perego is driving past the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome,
Italy, when he notices a crowd of about 100 people gazing up at the sky.
He sees two “white dots” moving toward the south then vanish in opposite
directions. Later, two other objects appear and move to the north at an
altitude of about 6,500 feet. (Alberto Perego, “The
Great ‘Cross’ above the Vatican,” Flying Saucer Review Case
Histories, no. 15 (June 1973): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2597
Date: 10/31/1954
Description: Near Long, P. Petit and his employee, Mr. Tillier, with a
shop owner, Mr. Pecquet, saw an oval object on the ground. When it took
off, the lights of a tractor went out. It measured about 4.5 m, emitted
a bright light similar to a welder’s torch. It came back, turned, and
flew to the southwest. It made the same noise as a swarm of bees.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Corrompu, France
ID: 323
Date: 11/1954
Description: The Hungarian government gets an “expert” to state that
UFOs do not exist because all reports “originate in bourgeois countries,
where they are invented by the capitalist warmongers.” (Ruppelt, p. 238)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2600
Date: 11/1954
Description: Gen. John
A. Samford summons Col. John
O’Mara from Dayton and directs him to clear up any confusion about
Keyhoe’s
use of USAF data. O’Mara writes Eickhoff and says he had misunderstood
and that Keyhoe’s book does contain officially released Air Force UFO
reports. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, p. 231)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2599
Date: 11/1/1954
Time: 0730
Description: A 40-year-old lady going to a cemetery suddenly observed an
object, shaped like two cones with a common base, resting on a grassy
space. Two small seats were visible inside the lower cone. From behind
the object appared two dwarfs, 1 m tall, wearing gray coveralls and
reddish helmets. Speaking words she could not understand, and with
smiles that showed fine white teeth, they took a pot of flowers from the
witness and flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Poggio d’Ambra, Italy
ID: 324
Date: 11/1/1954
Description: 6:30 a.m. Rosa Lotti Dainelli sets out for the church at
the castle of Cennina, Arezzo, Italy. As she passes through a wooded
area, she sees a spindle-shaped object standing upright next to a
cypress tree. It has two portholes and a little door, through which she
can see two chairs. Two little men come out from behind the object; they
are dressed in gray suits, cloaks that come down to their waists, and
red helmets. They speak in an unintelligible language and snatch flowers
from her hands and throw them inside the UFO. Dainelli flees, glancing
back only once. (Clark III 228–229; 1Pinotti 65–74; Northern Ontario UFO
Research and Study, “The 1954
Cennina Landing and Encounter with Humanoids”; Società Cooperativa
Dramatica Filarmonica di Ambra, “Incontro
con umanoidi di Rosa Dainelli nei Lotti”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2602
Date: 11/1/1954
Description: 6:00 a.m. Jack Holloway sees a large, round object that
leaves a vapor trail that sprays sparks and moves at high speed for a
few seconds to the south of Salem, Oregon. (NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2601
Date: 11/1/1954
Description: 10:40 p.m. Gonzalo Rubinos Ramos is driving at a spot
called Curva del Obispo 42 kilometers from A Coruña, Galicia, Spain,
when his engine stalls and the lights go out. He sees a large glowing
red object near the road. After a while it moves upwards with a “soft
explosion.” At the same time, the radio-telegraph station in A Coruña is
affected by severe interference and static. Probable meteor. (Antonio
Ribera, “A
UFO Survey of Spain: More
Evidence,” Flying Saucer Review 9, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1963): 16;
Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part
Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011): 18; Juan Carlos Victorio, “El
‘platillo volante’ de Órdenes
(A Coruña),” Misterios del Aire, April 17, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2603
Date: 11/2/1954
Description: 10:30 a.m. Taxi driver Maurilio Braga Godoi leaves the
streetcar trailer at Santo Amaro, a suburb of São Paulo, Brazil, and
starts to walk home. When he arrives at the corner of Rua Andaguara, he
is startled to find a glowing, circular object landed in an empty lot.
It is about 90–120 feet in diameter and surrounded in a violet glow. He
approaches it hesitantly from 60 feet away, feeling like running but he
is rooted to the spot and is unable to call for help. The anxiety
dissipates, and he walks toward it again, noticing a sliding door on the
object. He goes inside, entering a circular room illuminated by a soft
light. On a table he sees some maps, including one of South America with
mushroom-shaped marks on it. He looks up and sees three humanoids less
than 5 feet tall with dark brown skin and dressed in a light gray
coverall and a belt that holds what might be a weapon. They appear to be
conversing in an unknown language. He tries talking to them, but they
don’t understand. He backs out of the object, dragging his feet. He
jumps out of the door and runs away. Looking back at the object from 30
feet away, he sees it is hovering 30 feet above the ground then takes
off swiftly and silently. Godoi is examined by psychiatrists, who find
him neither neurotic nor psychotic. (Lorenzen, Occupants, Signet, 1967,
pp. 198–199)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2604
Date: 11/2/1954
Time: 1800
Description: Two students, Pietro Alberini and Pericle Sacchi, who were
hunting, saw a dwarf 1 m tall with a “rubber” head and a flexible tube
connecting his face to a cylindrial container on his back. When they
came close to it, the being wrapped itself in a bluish cloud. The
witnesses ran away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 90 (Vallee)
Location: Cremona, Italy
ID: 325
Date: 11/3/1954
Time: 0700
Description: Maroc-Presse reported that one of its employees, Mr. E.,
driver of a delivery truck, “a man of sane judgment and excellent
eyesight,” observed an object flying over the Beth River. “I am positive
it was not an aircraft or any known machine but a circular, flat craft
which had the appearance of copper. It flew normally for some time, then
it suddenly flipped over. Therefore, I was able to see the whole disk
and was amazed when it came down into a field where it landed on edge,
very gently. Almost immediately it rose into the sky at great speed,
resumed its horizontal position and was soon lost to sight.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 95 (Vallee)
Location: Oued Beth, Morocco
ID: 326
Date: 11/4/1954
Time: night
Description: Jose Alves was fishing in the Pardo River when he suddenly
saw a craft approach with a wobbling motion and landing near him. Shaped
like two washbowls placed together, it was about 4.5 m in diameter. Too
terrified to move, the witness saw three little men, dressed in white,
wearing tight-fitting skull caps, with dark skin, come out of the craft,
gather vegetables and water and fly away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 33; Lor. I 44 (Vallee)
Location: Pontal, Brazil
ID: 327
Date: 11/4/1954
Alternate date: 11/7/1954
Description: 3:15 p.m. A motorcyclist, Gianni Cambosu, sees a silvery,
disc-shaped object about 50 feet in diameter land near the road at Monte
Ortobene, Sardinia, Italy. He swerves sharply to avoid it and falls off
his cycle. A taxi driver, Francesco Tanca, stops to observe the object,
which is making a soft whirring sound before it takes off. (Wilkins, FS
Uncensored, Citadel, 1955, pp. 237–238;
1Pinotti 76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2606
Date: 11/4/1954
Description: A laborer named Jose Alves of Pontal, São Paulo, Brazil, is
night fishing in the Rio Pardo in a deserted spot. He sees a silvery,
glowing UFO like two washbowls placed on top of each other, closing in
from a westerly direction and wobbling. It lands near him and three
little men emerge from a window, 3 feet tall with dark brown skin. They
are dressed in white clothes with tightly fitting skullcaps, and collect
samples of grass, herbs, and leaves, as well as water, which they put
into a metal tube. They jump back into the object, which takes off
vertically. (Patrick Gross, URECAT, November
22, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2605
Date: 11/5/1954
Description: Gonzalo Rubinos Ramos, whose car had broken down, saw a
large, shining disk rise 150 m away with a slight noise like an
explosion and fly away at fantastic speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 96 (Vallee)
Location: La Coruna, Spain
ID: 328
Date: 11/5/1954
Description: 10:09 a.m. A witness in La Roche-en-Brénil, Côte d’Or,
France, sees an orange object making a noise like a generator land in a
nearby pasture. He notices three men standing near it. One is holding a
box that emits a beam of light and the other two hold objects that look
like weapons. Physical traces are found at the landing site: a white
substance and a circle 10 feet in diameter. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 16, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2607
Date: 11/5/1954
Time: 1010
Description: Raymond R. saw a craft, which made a noise like a large
transformer and gave off an orange light, land in a pasture. Three men
in dark coveralls were standing nearby. One was holding a sort of box,
“which emitted a beam of light three meters long.” The other two were
holding objects that looked like weapons. Another witness fled and felt
pricklings on his face as he ran. Four photographs of the scene were
taken. Traces: a whitish substance and a circle 3 m in diameter where
the ground had an ashlike appearance.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: La Roche-en-Brenil, France
ID: 329
Date: 11/6/1954
Description: 11:00 a.m. Alberto
Perego is in the Tuscolana district in Rome, Italy, when he sees
dozens of small, white objects in the sky at a height of 4–5 miles. They
are moving at variable speeds, as high as 750–850 mph. At first he
calculates that there are about 50 of them, but later realizes there are
100. Sometimes they are single, other times in pairs, threes, fours,
sevens, or twelves. Frequently they are in diamond formations of four or
V- formations of seven. At 12:00 noon, a formation of 20 objects appears
from the east, followed by another 20 moving from the west. The two
V-formations converge until their vertices form a St. Andrews cross,
with 10 objects to each bar. The convergence takes place over the
Trastevere–Monte Mario district above Vatican City. The cross then
performs a three-quarter turn on its axis, turning into an X-formation,
then breaks off into two separate curves that take off in opposite
directions. Another concentration of about 100 objects appears 10
minutes later and Perego notices shining filaments falling from the sky.
He grabs a handful of the glassy substance, which evaporates in a few
hours. (Alberto Perego, “The
Great ‘Cross’ above the Vatican,” Flying Saucer Review Case
Histories, no. 15 (June 1973): 4–5; 1Pinotti 76–80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2608
Date: 11/6/1954
Description: Ray Stanford contacts spacecraft with many witnesses
Type: ce3 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Padre Island, TX
Date: 11/7/1954
Time: 1515
Description: A motorcyclist saw a disk-shaped machine land near the
road. He tried to turn too sharply and fell 50 m away. A taxi driver
stopped to observe the object, which gave off a soft whirring sound and
soon took off. Farmers on the other side of the mountain saw it fly
away. The disk, about 15 m in diameter, was made of a silvery, rough
metal. It supported a dome and showed several portholes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 97; Wilkins U 237 (Vallee)
Location: Monte Ortobene, Sardinia
ID: 330
Date: 11/7/1954
Description: 11:30 a.m. Alberto
Perego is returning from the Tuscolana district of Rome, Italy, when
he sees more formations of about 50 white objects that remain for about
two-and-a-half hours. They arrive from different directions and always
in formation. More filamentous material falls from the sky. (Alberto
Perego, “The
Great ‘Cross’
above the Vatican,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories, no. 15
(June 1973): 5; 1Pinotti 80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2609
Date: 11/8/1954
Time: 1030
Description: A crowd of about 150 people, destroying barriers to come
closer, gathered to observe a luminous craft landed in a stadium. The
object rested on three legs and had a dome emitting a blinding white
light and supporting an antenna. Two small figures dressed in white and
gray, wearing transparent helmets, were seen. They spoke with guttural
sounds. One of them had a black face with sort of trunk. When a man
sicced a boxer dog onto the dwarfs, the animal turned around and bit
him. The object rose with a shrill sound and vanished rapidly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins U 238 (Vallee)
Location: Monza, Italy
ID: 331
Date: 11/8/1954
Description: 7:30 p.m. Blacksmith André Chaillou is riding a moped one
mile north of Loublande, Deux-Sèvres, France, when he notices a small
blue light in front of him. His engine fails and he nearly falls off the
bike. The blue dot is projecting a strong light and hovering about 6
feet in the air. He finds himself temporarily paralyzed with a tingling
in his hands. The blue light goes out and he is able to move again and
restart his moped, but the light reappears about 450 feet away,
seemingly 18 feet long and cone-shaped. It takes off vertically with a
whistling sound. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” October 22, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2611
Date: 11/8/1954
Time: dusk
Description: Andre Chaillou felt pricklings in his hands, “in spite of
his gloves,” when a blue disk came close to his motorcycle and his
electrical system failed. He was unable to move or articulate a word for
several minutes. As soon as the blue light was turned off, he started
again and went near the light when it reappeared 200 m away. He saw the
object, a cone 5.5 m in size, rise vertically with a soft whistling,
then fly horizonally to the north.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 98 (Vallee)
Location: La Tessoualle, France
ID: 333
Date: 11/8/1954
Time: 1800
Description: In the Vacheresse Forest, reliable persons reported seeing
a luminous sphere land at the edge of the forest and become dark. The
next morning, investigation disclosed that an area 4 or 5 m in diameter
had no leaves, while the ground elsewhere was covered with them. The
earth seemed to have been dug up.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Voussac, France
ID: 332
Date: 11/8/1954
Description: 6:00 p.m. Witnesses near Voussac, Allier, France, in the
Vacheresse Forest watch a luminous sphere land and then dim, fading to
black. Investigators find an area 12–15 feet in diameter where there are
no leaves and the ground seems excavated. (Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” April 18, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2610
Date: 11/9/1954
Description: Two villagers reported the landing of a 2-m-high “flying
egg” in a pasture. Screams seemed to emanate from it.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Wilkins U 251 (Vallee)
Location: Bois de Villers, Belgium
ID: 334
Date: 11/10/1954
Description: An agronomist and his family encounter a landed UFO along a
road in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Two men with long hair
and one-piece suits emerge and approach them with raised arms. The
witnesses speed away. (Clark III 268; Lorenzen, FS Hoax, pp. 48–49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2612
Date: 11/10/1954
Description: An agronomist and his family in their car saw a landed disk
from which two men, normal in height, with long hair and coverall-like
clothes, emerged and came toward the car with arms raised. As the
frightened witnesses sped away, they saw the men reenter the disk, which
rose and flew off at very great speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. I 42 (Vallee)
Location: Porto Alegre, Brazil
ID: 335
Date: 11/12/1954
Description: 3:00–6:00 p.m. A white, motionless object appears over
Louisville, Kentucky. A radar unit 30 miles southwest of Louisville
tracks the object but loses sight about 12 miles northwest of Godman
Army Airfield at Fort Knox. It is later sighted at Bedford, Indiana.
Kentucky National Guard pilot Lt. Col. Lee
J. Merkel notifies Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio, which
sends an F-86 to investigate. The pilot sees nothing and returns to the
base. Merkel and another National Guard pilot give chase in F-51
Mustangs, but they are also unsuccessful. Merkel says the object is
moving into the wind, which is not likely for a balloon. Henry
P. Julliard, deputy director of Standiford Field [now Louisville
International Airport] follows the object for 45 minutes on the weather
bureau’s theodolite; he says the object has no more motion than a star
and that after sundown the object turns amber. (“That
‘Thing’ in the Sky Still
‘Unidentified Object,’” Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal, November
13, 1954, pp. 1, 12; “Louisville
Stops Work to Watch Saucer,” CRIFO Newsletter 1, no. 9 (December 3,
1954): 3–4; NICAP, “Sphere
Startles Thousands”; UFOEv, p. 134;
Hynek UFO Report, pp. 51–52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2614
Date: 11/12/1954
Description: 11:30 a.m. Alberto
Perego watches even more formations of white objects over Rome. He
has contacted the Italian air defense office, which tells him that the
objects would be out of radar range. This time the objects are also
observed by Fr. Zilwes, a Brazilian priest at the Vatican Observatory in
Castel Gandolfo, Italy. (Alberto Perego, “The
Great ‘Cross’ above the Vatican,” Flying Saucer Review Case
Histories, no. 15 (June 1973): 5–6; 1Pinotti 81–82)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2613
Date: 11/13/1954
Description: 2:00 a.m. A witness is driving in Buchy, Seine-Maritime,
France, and sees a luminous object take off as he feels a mild electric
shock and is paralyzed. His car engine slows but does not stall. The
object leaves, the paralysis goes away, and the car returns to normal.
(Patrick Gross, “The
1954 French Flap,” October 22, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2615
Date: 11/13/1954
Time: 0330
Description: A lens-shaped object was seen on the railroad tracks. Near
it, three dwarfs wearing tight-fitting suits were looking at the tracks
with a light. When the witness approached, the machine took off very
fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 99; Humanoids 33 (Vallee)
Location: Curitiba, Brazil
ID: 338
Date: 11/13/1954
Description: At intersection of Routes N28 and N319, Mr. R. L., of
Rouen, saw a luminous craft take off while he feIt pricklings and was
paralyzed. The engine of the car slowed down but did not stall.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Buchy, France
ID: 337
Date: 11/13/1954
Time: 0330
Description: Near the local airport, Mr. Davril saw a craft like a round
hut 300 m away. It took off without noise.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Berck, France
ID: 336
Date: 11/14/1954
Alternate date: 11/11/1954
Description: 7:45 p.m. Near Isola, Spezia, Italy, Amerigo (or Americo)
Lorenzini sees a cigar-shaped UFO land and a trio of small creatures
wearing diving suits emerge. They walk over to Lorenzini’s rabbit cages
and stare at the animals, talking in a strange language. He runs inside
to grab his gun and tries to pull the trigger as they are taking some
rabbits to the UFO, but he becomes paralyzed. The UFO takes off, leaving
a bright trail. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954
November–December, The Author, 1991, pp. 20–21; 1Pinotti 88)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2618
Date: 11/14/1954
Description: Two or three tractor drivers in Forli, Italy, watch a
bright-red, luminous UFO approach them in a farm field. As it
approaches, the engine that works by internal combustion fail, but the
diesel engine still runs. The men run away; when they return, the UFO
has departed. The engine that failed still causes some trouble after the
sighting. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 62–63,
145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2617
Date: 11/14/1954
Description: 3:30 a.m. Railroad worker Jose Rodrigues comes across three
figures in tight-fitting suits inspecting the ground with the help of
luminous objects near railroad tracks near Urai, Paraná, Brazil. They
see him and run back into the UFO. (NICAP, “Railroad
Men See ‘Men’ Inspecting Tracks”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2616
Date: 11/14/1954
Time: night
Description: A shange beam of red light, apparently from some flying
source, was reported sweeping the countryside. As it illuminated two
tractors, one of them stalled, but the other, a diesel, continued. The
beam was seen for about one hour by a large number of persons.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 211 (Vallee)
Location: Forli, Italy
ID: 341
Date: 11/14/1954
Time: night
Description: Approximate date. Marcel Pipers a gardener saw a craft
resting near the road give off a very bright light. His clothing was
partially burned when he went close to it.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Wasmes, Belgium
ID: 340
Date: 11/14/1954
Time: afternoon
Description: Amerigo Lorenzini, a farmer, saw a bright, cigar-shaped
craft land near him and took cover. Out of it came three dwarfs dressed
in metallic diving suits. They centered their attention on rabbits in a
cage while speaking among themselves in an unknown language. Thinking
they were going to steal the animals, the farmer aimed a rifle at the
intruders, but it failed to fire and the witness suddenly felt so weak
that he had to drop the gun. The dwarfs took the rabbits, and their
craft departed, leaving a bright trail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 100 (Vallee)
Location: Isola, Italy
ID: 339
Date: 11/15/1954
Time: 44 PM
Description: Witness: N. Gallant, manager of radio station WFAV. Ten
gold, circular objects flew in vertical V-formation, straight and level
for 3 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Augusta, Maine
ID: 374
Date: 11/17/1954
End date: 11/18/1954
Description: Blue Book head Capt. Charles
Hardin and Allen
Hynek meet with Col. John M. White Jr., commander of the 4602nd AISS
at Ent AFB [now the US Olympic Training Center] in order to help out
with a guide for investigating and processing UFO reports. (Col. John M.
White Jr., “Report
of Visit of ATIC Representatives,”
November 23, 1954, in History of 4602d Air Intelligence Service
Squadron, vol. 1, January 1– June 30, 1955, pp. 55–57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2620
Date: 11/17/1954
Description: 4:10 p.m. Iden
K. Zimmerman is standing just under the roof of a shed by the
railing of gate number six of the Willamette Falls Locks in Oregon City,
Oregon. His gloved hands are resting on the railing. He feels something
like “icy rain” on his hands. The rain seems to penetrate his clothing
and gloves as if his arms are bare. He feels the same thing on his legs,
from the knees down. Looking up, he sees a bright orange object as large
as the full moon flying in a straight line from west to east. It
disappears over the Crown Zellerbach Paper Mill roof across the river.
He can find no trace of rain on the wooden deck or cement walks, and the
moisture disappears from his clothing. A few minutes later he begins to
feel dizzy and has trouble maintaining his balance. The effect wears off
in about one hour. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP, 1969, pp. 16–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2619
Date: 11/19/1954
Time: 4:15 PM
Description: Witness: P.J. Gunn, assistant professor of art at Oregon
State University and ex-U.S. Navy aviation cadet. One bright white light
hovered 8.5-9 minutes, then crossed 20 of sky in 3-3.5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Corvallis, Oregon
ID: 375
Date: 11/21/1954
Description: 11:30 a.m. Copilot Cmdr. Armando Braulino, pilot Cmdr.
Pedro Luiz Teixeira, steward, radio operator, and passengers of National
Airlines Douglas PP-ANM airliner at 9,000 feet over Paraíbo do Sul, Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil, see a UFO formation, described as disc-shaped with
cupola or dome on top, like aluminum with a polished surface. The
formation is coming from the northeast at 7,200 feet and passes below
the airliner at high speed. The duration is 40–50 seconds. (NICAP, “Shiny
Objects Encountered by Airliner”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2621
Date: 11/22/1954
Description: 9:45 p.m. At Santa Maria Air Force Base, Rio Grande do Sul,
Brazil, radio operator Arquimedes Fernandez sees a strange cloud above
the trees, like an upside-down washbowl. It is a solid body 160 feet
across, oscillating with a small light on top. Fernandez radios a report
to weather headquarters at Porto Alegre. The object remains in view
until his duty shift ends at 1:15 a.m. (Lorenzen, FS Hoax, pp. 51–52;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954 November–December, The
Author, 1991, pp. 28–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2624
Date: 11/22/1954
Description: Charles Laughead is forced to resign his position at
Michigan State College [now Michigan State University] in East Lansing,
Michigan, because of his flying saucer activities. (Clark III 718)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2622
Date: 11/22/1954
Time: 2145
Description: A radio operator at the local air base saw a huge, dark
object about 30 m in diameter hovering at treetop height. With four
other persons he saw it for several hours, sometimes softly glowing,
sometimes coming down almost to the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. I 4511 (Vallee)
Location: Santa Maria, Brazil
ID: 342
Date: 11/22/1954
Description: Engineer Norman S. Bean gives a talk on flying saucers in
Northwest Miami
Type: lecture
Reference: NICAP
Location: Northwest Miami, FL
Date: 11/22/1954
Description: Anor Ferreira da Silva, a bored telegraph operator in
Caratinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil, transmits a Morse code message to his
friend Geraldo Bastos in Belo Horizonte, claiming that a flying saucer
has crashed in a nearby quarry. His messages continue for an hour,
repeatedly asking the authorities to defend the city from Martian
invaders. Bastos takes the messages seriously, and a friend looking over
his shoulder runs out to the nearest newspaper office to relay the news.
The telephone system of Caratinga shuts down from all the press
inquiries, and soon the Brazilian military investigates, finding nothing
amiss in the city. (John Gosling, Waging the War of the Worlds,
McFarland, 2009, pp. 114–119)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2623
Date: 11/23/1954
Description: Afternoon. A UFO follows three 10-year-old girls (Anne
Storedal, Tora Storedal, and Tora Moy Haugo) returning home from school
in Torpo, Viken County, Norway. It descends and hovers only 3 or 4 feet
away from them. It is round, about 10 feet in diameter, and the bottom
is black, trimmed with yellow spots which could have been lights, with a
number of small “red jags.” The upper part is a transparent dome; a man
who is operating controls is visible inside. He wears black trousers, a
black jacket, and immense red goggles over his eyes. He stares at one of
the girls. When the craft ascends it collides with a high-tension power
line making a shower of sparks, and the girls run away. They notice a
smell “like fried sausages.” A “streak” is found in the snow, apparently
left by the craft having brushed the surface of the ground. (Clark III
268; Center for UFO Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1954, p. 160)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2625
Date: 11/25/1954
Time: 1700
Description: Two 12-year-old boys, G. Marziano and P. Santucci, suddenly
saw three figures who, as soon as they were discovered, entered a small
spherical craft concealed 10 m away behind some bushes. The beings were
small, about 35 cm tall, had very large heads and lead-gray skin. The
craft had two sharppointed propellers in front, which started spinning.
The craft took off suddenly with a hissing sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 90 (Vallee)
Location: Calcerosa, Italy
ID: 343
Date: 11/28/1954
Time: 0200
Description: G. Gonzales and Jose Ponce, truck drivers, found their road
blocked by a luminous sphere over 3 m diameter, hovering 2 m above
ground. A small creature with claws and glowing eyes came toward them.
Gonzales grabbed it, found it strangely light (less than 2O kg), and
observed its body was very hard and covered with fur. But the creature
pushed him back, while two other dwarfs emerged from the bushes and
leaped into the sphere, carrying stones and other samples. Gonzales was
blinded by a light from the craft and the strange beings flew
away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor I 52 (Vallee)
Location: Caracas, Venezuela
ID: 344
Date: 11/28/1954
Description: 2:00 a.m. Meat merchants José Ponce and Gustavo Gonzáles
are driving a panel truck along Calle Bella Vista in Petare, Caracas,
Venezuela. They find their way blocked by a 10-foot-wide, glowing ball
hovering 6 feet above the street. When they get out to investigate, they
are confronted by a dwarfish creature covered with stiff, bristly hair.
Gonzáles grabs it, but it tosses him to one side. Two more dwarfs,
gathering dirt and rocks nearby, approach. Ponce sees them and runs to
find a police station. Gonzáles recovers in time to see two of the
entities climb through an opening in the UFO. The third comes toward
him, claws extended, and Gonzáles tries to stab it in the shoulder with
his knife, but the blade glances off. One of the dwarfs inside the UFO
points a tube at Gonzáles that emits a brilliant beam of energy. He is
paralyzed and temporarily blinded but manages to stagger to the police
station. A doctor at the emergency room at Esquina de Sálas hospital
treats an abrasion on Gonzáles’s left side. Other witnesses to a UFO in
the area come forward. (Lorenzen, FS Hoax, pp. 57–58;
Lorenzen, Encounters with UFO Occupants, Berkley Medallion, 1976,
pp. 144–145; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the
Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954 November–December, The Author,
1991, pp. 32–33; Michael D. Swords, “Classic Cases from the APRO Files,”
IUR 24, no. 2 (Summer 1999): 31; Patrick Gross, URECAT, November
4, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2626
Date: 11/28/1954
Description: A group of peasants at Palmarito, Mérida, Venezuela, see a
strange craft land. Three small-statured beings emerge from it. (Patrick
Gross, URECAT, November
5, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2627
Date: 11/28/1954
Time: 10:50 AM
Description: Witness: one anonymous medical doctor. One flat-bottomed,
domed object (65-70’ across, 18-20’ high), bright orange with yellow
discs attached and an exhaust trail. Flew north, stopped, reversed its
course during 4 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Manilla, Phillipine Islands
ID: 376
Date: 11/30/1954
Description: Meteorite or something hurls thru roof of Mrs. H. Hodges in
Alabama.
Type: anomalous event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Alabama
Date: 12/1954
Description: Charles Laughead and his wife Lillian meet George
Hunt Williamson at a lecture he is giving in Detroit, Michigan.
(Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamson,
Verdechiari, 2016, p. 103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2631
Date: 12/1954
Description: Contactee Orfeo
Angelucci, now working in Twentynine Palms, California, is at Tiny’s
Café when he meets someone named Adam, who claims to have read his book
and gives him some kind of mind-altering pill. After taking the pill,
Angelucci finds himself in an “exalted state” and talks freely with Adam
about outer space and politics. Prior to this time, Angelucci has caught
the attention of the FBI because he has been approached several times by
a group of seeming left-wing agents. (Orfeo Angelucci, The
Son of the Sun, DeVorss,
1959; Kremlin 100–107)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2630
Date: 12/1954
Description: Early in December, the director of Barquisimeto College was
chased by a luminous disk as he was driving near Guanare. He fired at
the object with his revolver, without effect. He stopped another car in
which a lawyer and two policemen were traveling. All four saw the
machine fly away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. I 43 (Vallee)
Location: Guanare, Venezuela
ID: 345
Date: 12/1954
Description: The US Air Force acknowledges that it is contemplating a
“New type of jet aircraft, powered by a turbine larger than any now in
use, [that] is expected to take off, land vertically, and be able to
hover. It may cruise at 1,500 knots and have a range of 15,000 nautical
miles.” It speculates: “If the Soviets now have such an aircraft in
operational use, would the United States air defense system be able to
detect, identify, intercept and destroy a bomber or reconnaissance
aircraft moving at a 1,500 knot clip at an altitude of 65,000 feet?”
(“The
Flying Disc,” Air Intelligence Digest 7, no 12 (December 1954):
6+)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2629
Date: 12/1954
Description: Aviation inventor Bill
Lear sees a flying disc giving off greenish light near Palm Springs,
California. It hovers for 2 seconds then swiftly moves out of sight.
(Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: 1955 January–June, The Author, 1992, p, 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2628
Date: 12/1/1954
Time: 0430
Description: A 39-year-old civilian saw an oval light, very bright,
illuminating the countryside. After some maneuvers and oscillations in
mid-air, it landed for a couple of minutes less than 3 km away, then
flew off to the east.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Bassoues, France
ID: 346
Date: 12/1/1954
Description: President Eisenhower approves
the development of the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance plane as a CIA
project under the direction of Allen
Dulles. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
U-2”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2632
Date: 12/3/1954
Description: Morning. Victoriano Maeso, Luis Brugeda, and Francisco
Huertos are at Las Gastanas farm about 3 miles from Granja de
Torrehermosa, Badajoz, Spain, when they hear an unusual noise and notice
an object in the branches of an oak tree about 165 feet away. It is
pyramid-shaped and about 8 feet high and 2 feet in diameter, with four
fins and a box suspended from it by apparent ropes. They approach it,
but the object rises and disappears toward the west. This observation is
the first of about a dozen others reported over the next two weeks in
Badajoz, Zaragoza, Teruel, Guipúzcoa, and Huelva provinces that seem to
involve wayward balloons released in Germany by Radio Free Europe that
carry leaflets intended to be dropped in the Soviet bloc. (Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos and Juan Carlos Victorio Uranga, “Los
ovnis de diciembre de 1954,” Academia.edu)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2633
Date: 12/3/1954
Time: 12:12 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. S.P. Mellen. One translucent grey,
round, flat object rotated on its vertical axis at high r.PM for 30
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Gulfport, Mississippi
ID: 377
Date: 12/4/1954
Time: night
Description: For several minutes a waiter saw a circular object
stationary in a pasture 50 m away. It was blue with symmetrical
openings, from which a bright red light was emitted. The witness got a
rifle and fired twice at the very tall figure who came out of the turret
on the craft. Immediately a very strong wind was felt, and the craft
took off amidst a reddish glow.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 101 (Vallee)
Location: Caselle di Nogara, Italy
ID: 348
Date: 12/4/1954
Description: Twelve workers saw what they described as a square machine,
with a side of 10 m, land and take off at great speed, flying toward the
south.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Zuaga, Spain
ID: 347
Date: 12/5/1954
Description: 8:15 a.m. Miguel Sevil is hunting in the Montes de Zuera
north of Zaragoza, Spain, when he hears a prolonged whistle and sees a
luminous, transparent object landed about 165 feet away. It has several
rods protruding from it, each apparently with a propeller. Two men about
6 feet tall with blond hair and speaking an unintelligible language
enter the UFO through a door on the side. It rises vertically at
tremendous speed and disappears. Probable hoax. (Vicente-Juan Ballester
Olmos and Juan Carlos Victorio Uranga, “Los
ovnis de diciembre
de 1954,” Academia.edu)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2634
Date: 12/7/1954
Time: 1:15 PM
Description: Witness: weather officer, using a theodolite. One white,
semi-circular, flat object with a dome flew from west to east, then
turned north. Sighting lasted 7 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Cape Province, South Africa
ID: 378
Date: 12/7/1954
Description: A Project Blue Book memo acknowledges the many “Foreign
Sightings” in Europe, but attributes the cause to an increase in
“meteorite activity” and overseas translations of Keyhoe’s
book Flying Saucers from Outer Space. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954 November– December,
The Author, 1991, pp. 49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2635
Date: 12/7/1954
Description: 1:15 p.m. R. H. Kleyweg, officer-in-charge of the
meteorological station at Upington, Northern Cape, South Africa, is
looking for a red balloon he has just released. He sees an object just
east of the sun, moving slowly west, but when he begins tracking it with
a theodolite, he realizes it is white, not red. It looks like a half
circle with sunlight gleaming from its sloped top. He follows it for 3
minutes, but then it accelerates and he cannot keep it in sight. (James
E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 63)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2636
Date: 12/9/1954
Time: evening
Description: A farmer, O. da Costa e Rosa, observed a stranger standing
near a machine shaped like “a tropical helmet,” cream-colored,
surrounded with haze, making the same noise as a sewing machine. Another
man was looking at a fence, and the head and arms of a third one were
visible inside the craft. As the witness dropped his hoe, the man
smiled, picked it up, and gave it back to him, after which they motioned
him to stay away and took off. They were of average height, had broad
shoulders, long hair, very white skin, and slanted eyes. They wore brown
coveralls ending with shoes without heels.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. I 46; Humanoids 4 (Vallee)
Location: Linha Bela Vista, Brazil
ID: 349
Date: 12/9/1954
Description: Night. Lorenzo Flores and Jésus Gómez are hunting rabbits
near an unfindable town called Carera along the Transandean Highway in
Venezuela. They run across a huge red UFO like two washbowls put
together hovering above the road with flames spurting out. Four small
hairy figures, 3 feet tall, scramble out and grab Gómez and try to drag
him toward the craft. Flores strikes one with his gun butt, but it has
no effect and feels like striking rock. The wooden rifle butt cracks
from the impact. Gómez faints from fright, and both men are scratched
and bruised. A passing motorist takes them to a police station, their
clothes torn and skin abraded. When they tell their story to the police,
it is obvious that their shirts have been shredded into ribbons. (“Hunters
Clawed and Beaten,”
APRO Bulletin 3, no. 4 (January 15, 1955): 2; Lorenzen, FS Hoax, pp. 56–57;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954 November–December, The
Author, 1991, pp. 51–52; Mark Cashman, “Behavioral Classification System
for UFO Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2639
Date: 12/9/1954
Description: Evening. Farmer Olmiro de Costa e Rosa is feeding his
animals at Linha Bela Vista, said to be 2.5 miles from Venâncio Aires,
Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, when he hears a sound like a sewing machine
that causes some of his cows to run. An object shaped like an “enormous
polished brass kettle” with a rectangular structure on top is hovering
in the air with an oscillating motion. Two small humanoids “enveloped in
a kind of yellow sack from head to toe” are standing in a nearby field.
As he approaches, one runs toward him and the other raises its arm. The
first one kneels down and plucks a tobacco plant from the field, then
both jump into the craft, which vanishes within a few seconds. (Patrick
Gross, URECAT, December
27, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2638
Date: 12/9/1954
Time: 1930
Description: Ernst Jung and his wife saw an intense red, luminous object
descending toward them at great speed. It hovered 5 m above ground when
they stopped their motorcycle. It was cigarshaped, 5 m long, 2 m wide.
They saw it turn off its lights and fly toward the forest. Other people
in a bus saw the same thing.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Nachrichten Oct., 56 (Vallee)
Location: Dorf-Gull, Germany
ID: 350
Date: 12/9/1954
Description: Giovanni Aquilante, a farmer of Gricignano d’Aversa,
Caserta, Italy, disappears after leaving home to work in the fields. His
family and police fail to find him. On December 10, near 12:00 midnight,
two of Aquilante’s sons and a friend see two mysterious entities with
luminous eyes in a field. They quickly vanish. Aquilante returns home on
the morning of December 11, silent and shocked, and explains that he met
two “dwarfs” in the field wearing multicolored suits. They float him in
the air and take him to “unknown places.” They release him, but promise
to come back for him later. Aquilante is terrified of being abducted
again. (1Pinotti 89)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2637
Date: 12/10/1954
Description: An American petroleum engineer takes a photo of a formation
of UFOs over El Tigre, Venezuela. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954
November–December, The
Author, 1991, p. 52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2640
Date: 12/10/1954
Time: evening
Description: Having seen a bright object land near the Trans-Andean
Highway, two young men approached it, found it was shaped like two bowls
g]ued together, about 3 m diameter. The underside was a source of fiery
light. Four small beings emerged and attacked them, in an apparent
kidnapping attempt. The dwarfs were extremely strong, their bodies
covered with hair. They fled into the machine, and it took off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. I 51 (Vallee)
Location: Chico, Venezuela
ID: 352
Date: 12/10/1954
Time: 1830
Description: A doctor from Caracas who was driving with his father near
this town stopped his car as two little men were running into the
bushes. Soon thereafter, a luminous disk rose from the side of the road
with a sizzling sound and flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. I 43 (Vallee)
Location: Floresta, Venezuela
ID: 351
Date: 12/10/1954
Description: 6:30 p.m. A doctor is driving near Generalissimo Francisco
de Miranda Air Base in Caracas, Venezuela, when he and his father see
two little men running near the road and ducking into shrubbery. Moments
later a UFO rises up from the same spot and zooms away. (Loren E. Gross,
The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History:
1954 November–December, The
Author, 1991, p. 52; “Doctor
Sees Little Men, Disc,” APRO Bulletin 3, no. 4 (January 15, 1955):
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2641
Date: 12/11/1954
Time: 1700
Description: Near the site of Case 349, Pedro Morais saw two human
beings dressed in “yellow bags” take a tobacco plant and a chicken, then
go away. Their craft “had a bottom like an enormous polished brass
kettle,” hovered with an oscillating motion, and made a noise like a
sewing machine. Its upper part resembled a jeep hood.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. I 46; Humanoids 34 (Vallee)
Location: Linha Bela Vista, Brazil
ID: 353
Date: 12/14/1954
Description: 11:00 a.m. Three bright lights appear in the sky above
Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Around 12:00 noon, they descend to a lower
altitude, and witnesses see they are metallic discs. The Brazilian Air
Force scrambles some jets, but they fail to intercept any of the
objects. By 1:00 p.m., several groups of witnesses around the city are
watching when two of the objects take off to the south, while the third
comes closer and approaches some buildings in the city center. Chief of
Police Col. Carlos Assunção sees a “reddish and slightly bluish object”
moving at incredible speed. Maxim Cicaida, a professional photographer
for Foto Heisler, snaps a photo of the disc above a building. He sends
the negatives to the Brazilian Naval School in Rio de Janeiro, but they
are never returned, and no analysis is released. (Brazil 29–31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2642
Date: 12/15/1954
Description: A man is fishing in a river near Campo Grande, Mato Grosso
do Sul, Brazil, when he sees an unusual object landing a few hundred
feet away. His dog gets nervous and begins to howl. He uses his
telescopic gunsight to get a closer look. He sees two spheres of
different sizes, the smaller one revolving around the larger one, which
is about 6 feet above the ground and has three balls attached to its
underside. Soon he sees small beings come down from the large object,
moving rapidly. One is holding a phosphorescent bucket, and another has
a metallic tube that is cone-shaped at one end. They use these tools to
collect calcareous soil from the riverbank. They take two buckets’ worth
inside the craft, which then takes off. The witness later finds
square-shaped holes in the riverbank. Col. Adil de Oliveira of the
Brazilian Air Force has the soil analyzed and it yields a composition of
61% silica, 19% aluminum oxide, 11% magnesium and iron, with other trace
elements. (Lorenzen, Flying Saucer Occupants, Signet, 1967, pp. 195–196)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2643
Date: 12/15/1954
Description: Asked about UFOs at a press conference, Eisenhower says
that it is “completely inaccurate to believe that they came from any
outside planet or other place.” Immediately after the press conference,
Eisenhower asks for a full briefing on UFOs. (“President
Discounts ‘Saucer’ from Space,” New York Times, December 16, 1954,
pp. 1, 26; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954
November–December, The Author, 1991, p. 62; Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, p. 238)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2644
Date: 12/16/1954
Description: Three young men saw a dwarf, who attacked one of them,
Jesus Paz, before fleeing into a disk-shaped machine, which flew off
immediately. It was flat and shiny and had been hovering 1 m above
ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. I 50; Humanoids 35 (Vallee)
Location: San Carlos, Venezuela
ID: 354
Date: 12/16/1954
Description: Jésus Paz, Luis Mejia, and another young man are driving
home after dinner at a restaurant in San Carlos, Venezuela, when Paz
stops to relieve himself in a park. He claims he is jumped by a hairy
dwarf from a flying disc (both of which his friends see when he
screams). His friends rush the unconscious Paz to a hospital. (Loren E.
Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1954
November–December, The Author, 1991, p. 60; Mark Cashman,
“Behavioral Classification System for UFO Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1
(Spring 1999): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2645
Date: 12/17/1954
Time: 1700
Description: A woodsman from Poligny saw a very bright light on the
road, first thought it was an American car with its headlights on, but
soon observed it came from a dark craft about 80 m away. The light
turned brighter; the witness felt an intense heat wave and thought he
was going to die. Finally, the light went away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Bersaillin, France
ID: 355
Date: 12/19/1954
Time: 2300
Description: Jose Parra, an 18-year-old jockey, saw six small creatures
loading stones into a disk-shaped machine hovering about 3 m above
ground. He tried to run away but was paralyzed by a violet beam aimed at
him by one of the creatures. All the creatures entered the craft, and it
took off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. I 52 (Vallee)
Location: Valencia, Venezuela
ID: 356
Date: 12/19/1954
Description: 11:00 p.m. José Parra, an 18-year-old jockey, watches a
disc-shaped UFO land in Valencia, Venezuela. Six 3-foot-tall humanoids
disembark and set about collecting vegetation samples and loading stones
into the disc. When he tries to approach them, he is paralyzed by a
violet beam aimed at him by one of the creatures. All the short beings
enter the craft and it takes off. The UFO leaves behind ground traces.
(Clark III 270; “‘Little
Men’ Fail
in Kidnap Attempt!!” APRO Bulletin 3, no. 4 (January 15, 1955): 3;
Patrick Gross, URECAT,
November 24, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2646
Date: 12/20/1954
Time: 0000
Description: An employee of the Barbula sanatorium saw an object on the
ground but did not report it. Three hours later, another employee saw
the craft. It was luminous and took off soon afterward.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. I 52 (Vallee)
Location: Valencia, Venezuela
ID: 357
Date: 12/20/1954
End date: 12/21/1954
Description: A group of Dorothy
Martin’s followers has gathered at her Oak Park, Illinois, home to
await the midnight arrival of a flying saucer that is to rescue them
from planetary disaster. They have left jobs, college, and spouses, and
given away money and possessions to prepare for their departure. When no
spaceman arrives, the group sits in stunned silence. Martin begins to
cry, and at 4:45 a.m. she receives a message by automatic writing saying
that the God of Earth has decided to spare the planet from destruction.
The cataclysm has been called off: “The little group, sitting all night
long, had spread so much light that God had saved the world from
destruction.” The group begins an urgent campaign to spread its message
to a broader audience. (Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley
Schachter, When Prophecy Fails, Harper Torchbooks, 1956; Wikipedia, “When
Prophecy Fails”;
Clark III 718–719)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2647
Date: 12/22/1954
Description: World catastrophe predicted by Prof. Loughead via Dorothy
Martin.
Type: channelling
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 12/22/1954
Description: World catastrophe predicted by Prof. Loughead via Dorothy
Martin.
Type: channelling
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 12/26/1954
Description: Australian physicist O. H. “Harry” Turner has been tasked
with reviewing UFO reports in the RAAF files and writing an assessment
for the Australian Directorate of Air Force Intelligence. Now in
England, he sends the report to the Secretary, Department of Air, in
Melbourne, Victoria. He writes: “If one assumes these Intelligence
reports are authentic, then the evidence presented is such that it is
difficult to assume any interpretation other than that unidentified
flying objects are being observed…. Indeed, the superiority is such that
it is highly improbable that such objects have a terrestrial origin… the
evidence presented by the reports held by the RAAF tend to support the
above conclusion—namely that certain strange aircraft have been observed
to behave in a manner suggestive of an extra-terrestrial origin.” Turner
goes on to recommend appointing at least one full-time investigator;
publicity to encourage more people to report sightings; a liaison with
the USAF to exchange information and verify Keyhoe’s
claims; liaison with the RAF and the possibility of forming a panel to
assist in analyzing reports. The Director of RAAF Intelligence checks
with USAF on the reliability of Keyhoe’s work, and they ultimately
reject it as impractical and unjustified. (Project 1947, “The
Former Air Board / Department
of Air / Current RAAF”; Bill Chalker, “UFOs
Sub Rosa, Down Under: The Australian Military and Government
Role in the UFO Controversy,” 1996; “The
Project Interviews Harry Turner,” Disclosure Australia Newsletter,
no. 16, September 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2648
Date: 12/26/1954
Description: 8:30 p.m. Willis St.-Jean, a hoistman at the Agaunico Mine
on the shore of Lake Timiskaming northeast of Cobalt, Ontario, sees a
bright white light maneuvering in the sky. He calls John Hunt, a
reporter at the North Bay Nugget office in Cobalt, to drive 3 miles to
the mine to view it. The light is emanating from a large, rotating,
slightly wedge-shaped disc. They watch the object for an hour after he
arrives there. It circles, moves away, dances in the sky, disappears
(apparently when it banks), and returns repeatedly, and at one point it
flies over the lake, illuminating the surface. It disappears for good
shortly after 10:15 p.m. (John Hunt, “Reporter
Sees ‘Saucer’ over
Cobalt Mine,” North Bay (Ont.) Nugget, December 27, 1954,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2649
Date: 12/27/1954
Description: Elizabeth
Klarer, having
been alerted by her sister May that the local Zulu people are reporting
appearances of a mythical lightning bird in the sky, travels from
Johannesburg, South Africa, with her children to a hill southwest of
Rosetta, KwaZulu Natal, that she later calls Flying Saucer Hill. There
she claims to see a star ship descend and hover 8 feet above the ground,
emitting a soft hum. Its hull is spinning, though its central dome
remains stationary. The friendly extraterrestrial Akon, with whom she
has been in telepathic contact, is clearly visible through one of three
portholes, but a blast of heat emanating from the ship prevents her from
approaching. The UFO leaves by shooting high into the sky. (Clark III
657; Elizabeth Klarer, Beyond
the Light Barrier, Howard Timmins, 1980)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2650
Date: 12/28/1954
Description: The NSC 5412/2 Special Group, often referred simply as the
Special Group, is an initially secret, but later public, subcommittee of
the US National Security Council responsible for coordinating government
covert operations. Presidential Directive NSC 5412/2 assigns
responsibility for coordination of covert actions to representatives of
the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the President
respectively. All proposals pass through the Special Group on the way to
Richard
Helms at the CIA, who is responsible for covert operations. It
changes names several times to avoid public exposure. In 1964, it is
known as the 303 Committee, and in 1970 it is renamed the 40 Committee.
Within this organization—which includes such familiar names as Nelson Rockefeller, Robert
McNamara, McGeorge
Bundy, Gordon
Gray, and
Allen
Dulles—is a subcommittee dealing with science and technology. It is
here that the connection between the corporate and financial world and
government-held technological secrets can be found. (Wikipedia, “Oversight
of United States covert operations”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2651
Date: 12/29/1954
Time: 2100
Description: Near Gardonne, Mr. Gamba saw an oval red object 50 m away.
When he tried to approach it, he found he was unable to move. As soon as
this “paralysis” subsided, he ran to get his brothers and came back to
the craft, which turned white, then red. It rose and flew away toward
the east. It had been on the ground for at least 15 min. Strange traces
were found, as if the ground had been dug up. Small trees near the river
were found damaged, as if they had been cut with a knife.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 103 (Vallee)
Location: Bru, France
ID: 358
Date: 12/30/1954
Description: Fifty residents of Lima, Peru, watch a flight of 5
iridescent silver UFOs for at least 5 minutes. (La Nación, December 31,
1954)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2652
Date: 1955
Description: After selling his share of Fate magazine to Curtis and
Mary
Margaret Stiehm Fuller, Ray
Palmer founds a would- be competitor, Mystic (later Search) and
several short-lived SF titles. Other Worlds evolves in 1957 into Flying
Saucers, a more or less nonfiction magazine that features articles of
widely varying credibility and a column of saucer fan-club news. (Clark
III 873)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2657
Date: 1955
Description: According to researcher Yuri Stroganov, USSR’s Ministry of
Defence formed a UFO Research Committee. Stroganov claimed that Russian
intel chiefs met with counterparts from France, Britain, and the USA to
discuss the problem in 1956. The agreed upon the necessity to keep the
issue top secret and maintain a unified approach in handling witnesses,
the media and UFO research grounds.
Type: ufological event
Reference: “The
Alien Gene”, Moira McGhee, page 69
Location: Soviet Union
Date: 1955
Description: Soviet “Penza-19” nuclear weapons program plant opens
(Warhead assembly)
Type: atomic plant
Reference: link
Location: Soviet Union
Date: 1955
Description: Project Rover, a US project to develop a nuclear-thermal
rocket, is initiated at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, New
Mexico, and runs until January 1973. It begins as an Air Force project
to develop a nuclear- powered upper stage for an intercontinental
ballistic missile. The project is transferred to NASA in 1958 after the
Sputnik crisis. It is managed by the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office, a
joint agency of the Atomic Energy Commission and NASA. Project Rover
becomes part of NASA’s Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application
(NERVA) project and henceforth deals with the research into nuclear
rocket reactor design, while NERVA involves the overall development and
deployment of nuclear rocket engines and the planning for space
missions. (Wikipedia, “Project
Rover”; Wikipedia, “NERVA”;
Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 303–312)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2654
Date: 1955
Description: Otis
T. Carr founds OTC Enterprises in Baltimore, Maryland, to advance
and supply technology originating from ideas of Nikola
Tesla. Carr
claims he met Tesla while working as a night clerk in New York City’s
Hotel Pennsylvania, where Tesla was living in the late 1920s. Tesla
befriended Carr and revealed to him secrets he was not ready to make
public yet. Carr attracts the funding of local businessman Wilfred
C. Gosnell. Soon he hires a promotions man named Norman Evans Colton
and sends out regular information bulletins to investors. (Clark III
860)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2656
Date: 1955
Description: The US nuclear stockpile totals 2,422 bombs. (Ryan Crierie,
“U.S.
Nuclear Stockpile, 1945–2009”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2655
Date: 1955
Description: George
Adamski’s Inside the Space Ships, ghostwritten by Adamski follower
Charlotte Blodget, is published by Abelard Schuman in the United States
and Foster and Scott in Canada. Adamski claims that Orthon arranged for
him to be taken on a trip to see the Solar System, including the planet
Venus, the
location where Orthon said the late Mary Adamski had been reincarnated.
He claims that in another voyage he met the 1,000-year-old “elder
philosopher of the space people,” who is called “the Master.” Adamski
says he and the Master discussed philosophy, religion, and the “Earth’s
place in the universe.” Adamski learns that he has been selected by
Nordic aliens to bring their message of peace to Earth people and that
other humans throughout history have also served as their messengers,
including Jesus Christ. Adamski further claims that aliens are
peacefully living on Earth, and that he has met with them in bars and
restaurants in Southern California. (George Adamski, Inside
the Space Ships,
Abelard-Schuman, 1955; Clark III 40; Lou Zinsstag and Timothy Good,
George Adamski: The Untold Story, Ceti, 1983; David Stupple, “The Man
Who Talked with Venusians,” Fate 32, no. 1 (January 1979): 30–39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2658
Date: early 1955
Description: A secure test site is needed for the CIA Project Aquatone
(the Lockheed U-2 spy plane). Lockheed test pilot Kelly
Johnson sends project pilot Tony
LeVier and Skunk Works chief foreman Dorsey Kammerer on a two- week
survey mission to scout locations for a new base in an unmarked
Beechcraft V-35 Bonanza. CIA official Richard
M. Bissell Jr reviews 50 potential sites with USAF liaison Col. Osmond
J. Ritland. None seem to meet the stringent requirements of the
program. They reject Johnson’s proposed Site I (Mud Lake?) because it is
too close to populated areas. Ritland recalls a “little X-shaped field”
just off the eastern side of Groom Lake, Nevada, just outside the AEC
nuclear proving ground at Yucca Flat. (Peter W. Merlin, “Groom
Lake Timeline: The First Fifty
Years,” Secret Heroes, November 10, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2653
Date: 1/1955
Description: George
King gives the first public demonstration of his contacts with the
Cosmic Masters in Caxton Hall, London, England. After mounting the
platform, he enters a trance, and Aetherius (the Cosmic Master from
Venus) reveals a plan for human peace and enlightenment. (Douglas
Curran, In Advance of the Landing: Folk Concepts of Outer Space,
Abbeville, 1985, p. 63)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2659
Date: 1/1/1955
Time: 6:44 AM
Description: Witnesses: instructor and student pilot in USAF B-25
bomber/trainer. A metallic disc, shaped like two pie pans face-to-face,
and 120-130’ in diameter, paced the B-25, showing both its edge and its
face, for 5-7 minutes. Only item in case file was summary form.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Cochise, New Mexico
ID: 379
Date: early 1/1955
Description: Dorothy
Martin leaves the Chicago area for Prescott, Arizona, home of the
like-minded George
Hunt Williamson, after
being threatened with arrest and involuntary commitment. She later
founds the Association of Sananda and Sanat Kumara. Under the name
Sister Thedra, she continues to practice channeling and participate in
contactee groups until her death in 1992. (Clark III 719)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2660
Date: 1/3/1955
Description: 4:00 p.m. Félix Galarraga and Gerardo Izuesta see a red
balloon-like object about 7–10 feet in diameter land near Oiartzun,
Spain. Galarraga rushes towards it, but the UFO rises and speeds away.
From a separate location, brothers Miguel and Martín Arraspio also see
the object descend. Possibly another Radio Free Europe balloon with
leaflets. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1955
January–June, The
Author, 1992, p. 4; Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos and Juan Carlos
Vistorio Uranga, “Los
ovnis de diciembre de 1954,”
Academia.edu)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2661
Date: 1/3/1955
Time: 0725
Description: Two persons in a car saw a flying object come within 70 m
of them after their vehicle was stopped.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Melbourne, Australia
ID: 359
Date: 1/5/1955
Description: A red circular object 3 m in diameter was observed to land
and take off again.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: San Sebastian, Spain
ID: 360
Date: 1/7/1955
Description: The Air Force Information Services Letter warns that
service members are talking too much about UFOs. (Ruppelt, p. 228)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2662
Date: 1/14/1955
Description: 5:30 p.m. A luminous UFO drops from the sky near Idyllwild,
California. Immediately afterwards, a B-47 pilot reports to March AFB
[now March Air Reserve Base] near Riverside, California, that an
“unknown object just hit our wing.” The pilot guides the plane to a
landing. No trace of a crashed object can be found. (Keyhoe, FS Conspiracy, pp. 247–248)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2663
Date: 1/26/1955
Time: 6:15 PM
Description: Witness: J.M. Holland. A black smoke trail made a circle.
There was an explosion and some objects fell. No further information in
file.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lakeland, Florida
ID: 380
Date: 1/31/1955
Description: 2:00 a.m. Peruvian Air Force Commander Guillermo Serpa and
Col. Juan Rodriguez Cavero are returning to El Pata Air Force Base near
Talara, Peru, by car through the Sechura Desert on the Pan-American
Highway 1N when they see a bright light in the sky ahead. The object, a
deep red domed disc, draws nearer and Serpa stops the car to observe it.
It tilts slightly toward them, making occasional clicking sounds.
Several minutes later it accelerates quickly in their direction,
changing to a bright orange color then to a bright white as it shoots
past them at terrific speed. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs a History: 1955, January– June,
Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2002, pp. 14–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2664
Date: 2/1/1955
Description: 7:55 p.m. Instructor Capt. Delwyn
F. Ritzdorf and aviation cadet Frederick W. Miller are flying a
TB-25 bomber-trainer about 20 miles east of Cochise, Arizona, at 13,000
feet and 238 mph when they see a bright round object with red and white
hues. It approaches them then hovers off the left wing for 5 minutes
about 5° above the horizontal. Radio interference prevents Ritzdorf from
reporting the sighting. The object climbs rapidly on a parallel flight
track for 3 minutes before pulling away at 500–600 mph and disappearing.
(NICAP, “Huge Metallic
Disc Paces B-25”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2665
Date: 2/1/1955
Time: 7:55 PM
Description: Witnesses: Instructor Capt. D.F. Ritzdorf, aviation cadet
F.W. Miller in TB-25 bomber/trainer. One red and white ball hovered off
the left wing of the TB-25 for 5 minutes, then made a very fast climb.
Total time of sighting was 8 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 20 miles east of Cochise, New Mexico
ID: 381
Date: 2/2/1955
Description: 11:15 a.m. A Venezuelan Aeropostal airliner piloted by
Captain Dario Celis is flying between Barquisimeto and Valera,
Venezuela, at 7,500 feet. Celis and his copilot B. J. Cortes spot a
strange, round “apparatus” flying swiftly toward the plane. Rotating
counterclockwise, the object shines with a greenish light. Around its
center is a red ring or band that emits flashes of brilliant light.
Above and below this band are lighted portholes. Hurriedly the pilot
cuts in his mike to call the Barquisimeto radio station. After reporting
the UFO, he waits for an answer, but the receiver is dead. Later the
radio operators state that just as the pilot began his report,
communication is cut off. The copilot banks toward the rotating UFO.
Instantly the object whirls downward, then levels off, and races away at
tremendous speed. (NICAP, “Plane
Encounters Saucer and Radio Goes Dead”; Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 249–250)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2667
Date: 2/2/1955
Time: 11:50 AM
Description: Witness: USN Cmdr. J.L. Ingersoll. One highly polished
sphere, with reddish-brown coloring, fell, then instantly accelerated to
1,000-1,500 m.p.h.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Miramar Naval Air Station, California
ID: 382
Date: 2/2/1955
Description: Aviation inventor Bill
Lear, during a press conference in Bogotá, Colombia, states his
belief that “flying saucers came from outer space and are piloted by
beings of superior intelligence.” He suspects that they might use
gravitational fields as propulsion. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1955
January–June, The
Author, 1992, p. 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2666
Date: 2/6/1955
Description: Several witnesses in Greymouth, New Zealand, see a
dazzling, silvery, cigar-shaped object moving inland at a high speed.
Two observers see it consisting of two parts, with the leading part
larger than the other. A loud explosion like a thunderclap is heard,
causing the earth to tremble slightly. (“World
Roundup,” Flying Saucer Review 1, no. 2 (May/June 1955): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2668
Date: 2/10/1955
Time: 10:03 PM
Description: Witness: E.J. Stein, model maker at U.S. Navy ship design
facility. One object, shaped like a small portion of the bottom of the
Moon, with a radiant yellow color, hovered for 30 seconds. Its bottom
changed to a funnel shape. Total sighting lasted 1.5-2 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
ID: 383
Date: 2/10/1955
Description: 9:30 p.m. Many residents of Caracas, Venezuela, see a
strange object crossing the sky silently from northeast to southwest.
José Agustín Díaz in Altamira clocks its time as 6–8 minutes. It looks
like a disc with two bright, pulsating, bluish lights on the underside.
(Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2669
Date: 2/13/1955
Description: Midnight. A green fireball shoots across east Texas like a
“huge electric arc,” passing from Tyler towards Lufkin. (Loren E. Gross,
The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1955
January–June, The Author, 1992, p. 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2670
Date: 2/15/1955
Description: ATIC sends a memo to Maj. Joseph A. Cybulski, commander of
the 4602nd AISS at Ent AFB [now the US Olympic Training Center] in
Colorado Springs, Colorado, complaining about the high number of
unknowns. It suggests that AISS and ATIC “strive to reach as many case
solutions as possible, thereby reducing the percentage of the unknowns
to a bare minimum.” As long as there is sufficient information, most
cases “will fit to some extent one of the hypotheses.” The probable and
possible cases are merged into the “identified” category. (Maj. T. G.
Connair Jr., “Evaluation of Unidentified Flying Objects,” February 15,
1955, in CUFON, “4602d AISS
Unit History Sampler, Part 7 of 7 Parts”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2671
Date: 2/18/1955
Description: The nuclear Teapot Wasp test takes place at the Nevada Test
Site. Ground forces take part in Exercise Desert Rock VI, which includes
an armored task force Razor moving to within 3,000 feet of ground zero,
under the still-forming mushroom cloud. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Teapot”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2672
Date: 2/21/1955
Description: Early morning. “Cobwebby gray fibers” fall in Horseheads,
New York, covering one-half square mile. Some “ragged sheets” are many
feet in length. Chemist Charles
B. Rutenber of Elmira College in Elmira, New York, describes it as
“badly damaged, slightly radioactive cotton fiber” that might have come
from a Nevada atomic test. He concludes it is a “short-staple cotton,
possibly lint from waste cotton used in industrial plants.” John
B. Diffenderfer, a
chemist at a local Westinghouse laboratory, finds it is 30% carbon, with
calcium, silica, aluminum, iron, and 10 other trace elements. He thinks
it comes from powdered milk residue, perhaps from the Dairylea milk
processing plant in Elmira. But milk plant chemists Louis R. Hermani and
Robert L. Mix say the material is composed of “cotton and wool fibers
with pieces of fine copper wire mixed in” and looks like it comes from a
carpet sweeper bag. (“Further
Tests Made of Fibers Collected in Horseheads Area,” Elmira (N.Y.)
Star- Gazette, February 23, 1955, p. 13; Brian Boldman, “Angel Hair
Physical Analyses: A Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006): 101–102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2673
Date: 2/23/1955
Description: 8:30 a.m. Frederick S. Briggs, a bricklayer and former army
sergeant employed at Broadlands, Romsey, Hampshire, England, the manor
then owned by Lord
Mountbatten, Prince
Philip’s uncle, sees a large disc-shaped UFO over a nearby meadow as
he is bicycling to work. The object is shaped like a spinning top,
metallic, and about 20–30 feet in diameter with portholes around the
center. Watching from less than 100 yards away, Briggs estimates that
the object is 80 feet above the ground. He sees a humanoid figure
dressed in what look like overalls and a helmet descend from the craft
on some sort of column with a platform at the bottom. He is then dazzled
by a bright blue light from the craft and falls over, unable to move, as
if held by a strange force. The UFO then flies off at high speed.
Mountbatten takes a personal interest in this incident, interviews
Briggs, and searches the area of the meadow over which the UFO is seen.
He subsequently has a statement prepared, detailing Briggs’s claims.
This story is written up by Desmond
Leslie in Flying Saucer Review in 1981. Mountbatten’s signed
statement on the incident is held with many of his other private papers
at the Broadlands Archive. (Desmond Leslie, “Did Flying
Saucers Land at Broadlands?” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 5 (January
1981): 2–4; Good Above, pp. 40– 42, 451–454)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2674
Date: 2/23/1955
Description: Broadlands Archives Record: Sworn statement by Lord
Mountbatten and Frederick Briggs describing a Saucer that landed on Lord
Mountbattens property. It was shaped like a child’s humming top, between
10 to 30 ft. diameter. Looked like kitchen saucepan. Had cylindrical
column about the size of a man descending from the center. Had portholes
all around the middle, like a steamer boat. I noticed a man standing on
the end of the central column. He was dressed in a dark suit of
overalls, and wearing a close fitting hat or helmet. As the Saucer
powered up a bright blue light came from one of the portholes (like a
mercury-vapor lamp). A force knocked me over. The Flying Saucer
proceeded to rise and retract the central column. (See movie ”Earth
vs. the F.S.”)
Type: ce2 event
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p451-453, ALIEN)
Location: Britain
See also: 8/23/52
Date: 3/1955
Description: The CIA obtains quantities of Hemophilus pertussis,
whooping cough bacteria, from Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. The
agency field tests it covertly along Florida’s Gulf Coast. The incidence
of whooping cough triples this year, but the CIA’s role remains unknown
until 1979. (Bill Richards, “Report
Suggests CIA Involvement in Fla.
Illnesses,” Washington Post, December 17, 1979)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2677
Date: 3/1955
Description: James
S. Rigberg, owner
of the Flying Saucer Bookstore in New York City, begins publishing
Flying Saucer News as the official publication of the Flying Saucer News
Club of America, founded in 1953. It is published twice a year until at
least May 1982. (Flying
Saucer News 1, no. 1 (March 1955))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2676
Date: 3/1955
Description: Technician and businessman Morris
K. Jessup publishes
The Case for the UFO, the first book to use the relatively new US Air
Force term “UFO” instead of flying saucer. He engages in speculation
about Fortean phenomena, ancient astronauts, levitating forces to
explain megalithic structures, and experiments in ancient times with
flight and even space flight. He identifies 1877–1887 as an “Incredible
Decade,” in which astronomers observe strange space objects, and
meteorologists note strange falls from the sky. He speculates that
mysterious disappearances of ship crews might constitute a curiosity
among “our space friends” on “what has happened to us since they put us
down here.” (Morris K. Jessup, The Case for the UFO, Citadel, 1955;
Clark III 634; Story, p.
51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2675
Date: 3/1955
Time: 0400
Description: Robert Hunnicutt, a businessman, saw three men kneeling on
the side of the road. They were about 1 m tall, had gray skin, and wore
tight-fitting gray clothes. They had froglike face, long slender arms,
normal eyes, but no eyebrows. One of them held a dark object (emitting
blue flashes) between his raised arms. Hunnicutt tried to go near but
“must have lost consciousness,” because he found himself driving to the
police station without remembering what took place in the
meantime.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Stringfield; FS May., 61; Sanderson 147 (Vallee)
Location: Branch Hill, Ohio
ID: 361
Date: 3/1/1955
Description: The Douglas Aircraft Company is conducting a study of
“Unconventional Propulsion Schemes/Systems” for the USAF Air Technical
Information Center from 1954 to 1955, headed by Wolfgang
Klemperer, who
writes a memo to E. P. Wheaton that says: “Our studies of the possible
merit or significance of occasionally appearing publications concerning
Unconventional Propulsion Systems have been carefully continuing since
the first memo (MTM-622) about the progress to mid-December 1954.”
Apparently the project examined some UFO reports (including Willis
Sperry’s) and UFO books. (Douglas Aircraft Company, “Unconventional
Propulsion Schemes,” MTM-622, March 1, 1955; Keith Basterfield, “Documents
Located from that 1955 ‘Secret’ UAP Study by Douglas
Aircraft Company,” Unidentified Aerial Phenomena—Scientific
Research, January 11, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2678
Date: 3/2/1955
Time: 1700
Description: A car was followed for 10 min by three elongated
“balloons,” each showing eight red lights and about 7 m long.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Huntley, Illinois
ID: 362
Date: 3/7/1955
Description: K.A. (initials) from Rescue Team 4, Roswell AFB, N.M. given
a general discharge from the USAF because he told his Sergeant about the
Top Secret recovery of a UFO on April 12, 1954.
Type: personnel discharged
Reference: Pea
Research (A5, B3-C)
Location: Roswell, NM
See also: 4/12/54
Date: 3/11/1955
Description: 7:50 p.m. Lawrence Grab and his son see a brilliant flash
of light from their home at 714 West Lakeside Street in Madison,
Wisconsin, then watch a phosphorescent object speed over the city from
southwest to northeast. (“Season’s
First Saucer Flies in at High Speed,” Madison Wisconsin State
Journal, March 12, 1955, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2679
Date: 3/12/1955
End date: 3/13/1955
Description: George
Van Tassel’s second Giant Rock Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention
in the Mojave Desert near Landers, California, attracts a smaller crowd
than the first. This time George
Adamski is in attendance, along with Charles Laughead, Dorothy
Martin, George
Hunt Williamson, Dana
Howard, Daniel
Fry, Truman
Bethurum, and Dick Miller. Retired USAF Project Blue Book head Edward
J. Ruppelt is in the audience and writes up a report. (Edward J.
Ruppelt, “Among the Contactees,” IUR 19, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1994): 3–6,
23–24; Clark III 531; “Six Claim
Rides on Interplanetary Ships,”
Los Angeles Times, March 13, 1955, pp. 3, 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2680
Date: 3/15/1955
Description: The 4602nd AISS guide to investigating UFOs is complete and
gets distributed to appropriate personnel. (4602d AISS, “UFOB
Guide,” in History of 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron,
vol. 1, January 1–June 30, 1955, reprinted in CUFON, “4602d
AISS Unit History Sampler, Part 6 of 7 Parts”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2681
Date: spring 1955
Description: Flying Saucer Review is launched in London, England, as a
small-circulation quarterly, with aviation journalist and former RAF
pilot Derek
Dempster as its first editor. (Denis Montgomery, “How
It All Began: Founding the Flying
Saucer Review,” May 5, 2004; Flying
Saucer Review 1, no. 1 (Spring 1955); Clark III 498)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2684
Date: 3/24/1955
Description: 2:30 p.m. The pilot of a private Beechcraft plane is flying
at 1,500 feet with a student in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. They see a
domed disc with three windows about 900 feet on their left that appears
to change color from white to orange and back again. Over the next few
minutes, the object flies over, in front of, and under the airplane.
When the pilot puts the plane into a dive, the craft stays with it. The
plane’s instruments stop working. The pilot makes a steep right turn but
the object still paces the plane. When the Beechcraft’s engine begins to
stall, the pilot calls Naha Airport on Okinawa, which alerts the US
Kadena Air Base. Two jets are scrambled, but by the time they arrive the
object is long gone. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969,
pp. 65–66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2682
Date: 3/29/1955 (approximate)
Description: Early morning. A bus driving past Wright-Patterson AFB near
Dayton, Ohio, sees a silver, triangular object hovering above the base
for 15 minutes. (“Sightings,”
APRO Bulletin, August 1955, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2683
Date: 4/1955
Description: U-2 project director Richard
M. Bissell Jr. secures a presidential action adding the Groom Lake
area in Nevada to the AEC proving grounds for CIA use. Kelly
Johnson meets with CIA officials in Washington, D.C., and discusses
progress on Project Aquatone, proposing to use the name “Paradise Ranch”
for the new base. (Peter W. Merlin, “Groom
Lake Timeline: The First Fifty Years,” Secret Heroes, November 10,
2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2686
Date: early 4/1955
Description: Pentagon press officer Capt. Robert White writes to Claude
H. Marck Jr., an
interested citizen in Colorado, that Dewey Fournet’s motion studies
project was a personal endeavor, that the probability of UFOs being
spacecraft is “extremely remote,” and that the Air Force does not try to
influence public opinion on the matter. (Swords 209–210)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2685
Date: 4/5/1955
Description: Producer Ivan
Tors debuts Science Fiction Theatre, a science fiction anthology TV
series that presents scientifically plausible stories in an
unsensational manner. Many episodes deal with UFO or alien themes,
including the season opener, “Beyond,” in which a test pilot bails out
and loses his plane because he thinks he’s going to crash into a UFO.
The program runs 78 episodes through 1957 and is hosted by veteran
announcer Truman
Bradley. Each
episode opens with Bradley on a laboratory set, sometimes quoting from a
recent Scientific American article, and he discusses and demonstrates a
scientific principle that plays a role in the story he is introducing.
(Internet Movie Database, “Science
Fiction Theatre”; Curt Collins, “The
UFO Message of Science Fiction
Theatre,”
The Saucers That Time Forgot, January 18, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2688
Date: 4/5/1955
Description: 9:55–10:15 a.m. Three or four fireballs fall in various
places in southern New Mexico. Air Force Sgt. Camilla Saenz is stationed
on Sacramento Peak near Cloudcroft when she sees a yellow fireball with
a red tail traveling fast from east to west on the south side of the
peak. An airplane from Biggs Air Force Base [now Biggs Army Airfield] in
El Paso, Texas, sees an apparent meteor strike near Weed, New Mexico,
but USAF planes comb the area for 2 hours afterward without finding
anything. Bill Watson sees a dark object smash into the earth near Oil
Center, New Mexico, but he can find no fragments. Lincoln
LaPaz reports that heavy shortwave and TV interference accompany the
appearance of the fireballs. (“Fireballs
Shower on State,” Alamogordo (N.Mex.) Daily News, April 6, 1955,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2687
Date: 4/6/1955
Description: Night. Three unusual green fireballs pass over New Mexico.
Radio and TV interference are reported over a wide area. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, pp. 264–265)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2689
Date: 4/8/1955
Description: 9:25 p.m. Three residents of Albuquerque, New Mexico, watch
a blue-green fireball streak west over the city. It appears to have a
rose-orange tail. (“Fire
Balls Again Seen over City,” Albuquerque Journal, April 9, 1955,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2690
Date: 4/18/1955
Description: Albert Einstein dies
Type: scientist
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Princeton, NJ
Date: 4/21/1955
Description: Kelly–Hopkinsville encounter, 5 adult and 7 child
witnesses, UFO spotted, “twelve to fifteen” short, dark figures who
repeatedly popped up at the doorway or peered into the windows.
Type: ufological event
Reference: link
Location: Hopkinsville, KY
Date: 4/25/1955
Description: 1:00–1:30 a.m. Residents and motorists see a brilliant
fireball streak across the sky above Council Bluffs, Iowa. State Highway
Patrolman John Ebert says the light was as bright as an arc welder. One
resident sees the light burst into flame and drop to earth. Witnesses in
Nebraska think the fireball descends abut 3 miles southeast of Waverly,
Nebraska. (Council Bluffs (Iowa) Nonpareil, April 25, 1955; Nukes
93)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2691
Date: 4/30/1955
Description: A member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences tells a radio
audience that UFOs do not exist. (Ruppelt, pp.
238–239)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2692
Date: 4/30/1955
Time: 7:30 AM
Description: Witness USAF Wing Intelligence Officer Maj. L..J.
Pagozalski. Four black objects in a cluster made a whooshing sound like
a zephyr. Sighting lasted 2-3 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Travis County, Texas
ID: 384
Date: 5/1955
Description: The UK Air Ministry announces that the report in March on a
five-year investigation into UFOs by the RAF has been submitted to
high-ranking officers, but the results cannot be released publicly for
security reasons. MP Maj. Patrick
Wall asks the Under-Secretary of State for Air George
Ward to confirm whether or not he would publish a report. Ward
replies that only 10% of UFO reports are unidentified and that is
because of lack of data. (Derek Dempster, [Editorial],
Flying Saucer Review 1, no. 2 (May/June 1955): 1; Good Above, p. 43;
UFOFiles2, p. 60–
61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2693
Date: 5/1955
Description: 15-year-old Jacques Vallée and his mother see a “gray,
metallic disc with a clear bubble on top” hovering above a church in
Pontoise, France. (Jacques Vallée, Forbidden Science, North Atlantic,
1992, pp. 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2694
Date: 5/4/1955
Time: 12:38 PM
Description: Witnesses: Lt. Col. E.J. Stealy, lst Lt. J.W. Burt. About
10 round, white objects, one of which left a brief smoke trail, flew in
an irregular formation, some of them making erratic movements during the
5-8 second sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Keflavik, Iceland
ID: 385
Date: 5/4/1955
Description: A survey team arrives at Groom Lake, Nevada, and lays out a
5,000-foot north to south runway on the southwest corner of the lakebed
and designates a site for a base support facility. The “Ranch” initially
consists of little more than a few shelters, workshops, and trailer
homes in which to house its small team. In a little over three months,
the base consists of a single paved runway, three hangars, a control
tower, and rudimentary accommodations for test personnel. The few
amenities include a movie theater and volleyball court. There is also a
mess hall, several wells, and fuel storage tanks. (Wikipedia, “Area
51”; Peter W. Merlin, “Groom
Lake Timeline:
The First Fifty Years,” Secret Heroes, November 10, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2695
Date: 5/4/1955
Description: Afternoon. Lt. Col. Edward
J. Stealy, commander
of the 57th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Keflavík Airfield, Iceland,
and 1stLt. Joseph Burt see 10–15 flying objects, 60–70 feet in diameter,
at about 25,000 feet. They fly in loose formation for about 4–5 seconds
and are traveling at a tremendous rate of speed (perhaps 1,150 mph).
(Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1955
January–June, The Author, 1992, pp. 5–58; Sparks, p. 226;
Clark III 376)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2696
Date: 5/5/1955
Description: ATIC declassifies Battelle Memorial Institute’s 1951–1954
study of UFOs, completed in March 1954, as Project Blue Book Special
Report No. 14 but does not release it until October 25. (Special
Report No. 14: Analysis of Reports
of Unidentified Aerial Objects, US Air Force, 1955; Clark III
929–932)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2697
Date: 5/18/1955
Description: News release from AEC announcing “preliminary work” had
begun “on a small satellite installation” within the Las Vegas Bombing
and Gunnery Range. Contractor was adding “Limited additional facilities
and modifications” to a small installation near Groom Lake (now known as
Area 51).
Type: news release
Reference: “Dreamland”
by Bob Lazar
Location: Groom Lake
Date: 5/22/1955
Description: Journalist Dorothy
Kilgallen writes in the Los Angeles Examiner that “British
scientists and airmen” have examined the wreckage of a crashed flying
saucer. Her informant is a “British official of Cabinet rank,” who tells
her that the “saucers were staffed by small men—probably under four feet
tall.” Flying Saucer Review editor Gordon
Creighton later researches this story in detail and thinks
Kilgallen’s source is First Sea Lord Louis Mountbatten. Some
suggest that Kilgallen picked the story up at a cocktail party hosted by
Mountbatten. Her story is widely dismissed as a hoax, but other events
put her claims in a new light. (“U.F.O.
Crash in Britain?” Flying Saucer Review 1, no. 3 (July/Aug. 1955):
6; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: 1955 January–June, The Author, 1992, p. 69; Good Above,
pp. 43–44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2698
Date: 5/23/1955
Time: Midnight
Description: Witnesses: USAF Airman/Basic I.J. Shapiro and E.C. Ingber.
During a 5 minute period, two slender, vertical rectangles were seen low
on the horizon, and two ovals with tops (dark, with dark blue
illumination) flew higher.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Cheyenne, Wyoming
ID: 386
Date: 5/23/1955
End date: 5/26/1955
Description: At the Fifth AISS Commander’s Conference at Ent AFB [now
the US Olympic Training Center], Colorado Springs, Colorado, an analysis
of UFOs and science fiction is presented that notes: “General public not
qualified to evaluate material propounded in science fiction. Absurd and
fantastic theories given credence solely on the basis of ignorance.”
Also, “Abnormal predisposition to attach belief to the more fanciful
aspects of UFOBs, e.g. ‘Flying Saucers’ would tend to negate the
source’s reliability as a factual observer.” (“Report of Fifth
Commander’s Conference, 23 May to 26 May 1955,” in History of 4602d Air
Intelligence Service Squadron, vol. 2, January 1–June 30, 1955,
reprinted in CUFON, “4602d
AISS Unit History Sampler, Part 7 of 7 Parts”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2699
Date: 5/24/1955
Description: 7:48 p.m. GOC spotter Charlotte
Whitecotton and another woman at Loveland, Ohio, watch four UFOs in
formation pass low over their enclosure, then zoom to the north. They
report the incident to the Columbus Filter Center. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1955
January–June, The Author, 1992, p. 71; Isabel Davis and Ted
Bloecher, Close
Encounter at Kelly and Others of 1955, CUFOS, 1978,
pp. 145–146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2700
Date: 5/25/1955
Description: Around 3:30 a.m. Robert Hunnicut is driving along the
Loveland-Madeira Road in the Branch Hill area of Loveland, Ohio. At the
Hopewell Road intersection, his headlights illuminate three short
figures kneeling next to the road. They are grayish humanoids with a
wide slit for a mouth, an indistinct nose, and normal eyes without
eyebrows. The heads are hairless with prominent wrinkles on the
forehead. They are wearing one-piece grayish garments. One arm seems
longer than the other and the upper torso is lopsided. One of the
figures is holding a rod emitting blue-white sparks. Hunnicut gets out
of the car and walks towards them. They look towards him and there is a
3-minute standoff. Hunnicut goes to the police station and returns with
Police Chief John K. Fritz. No trace of anything is found. (Stringfield,
3-0
Blue, CRIFO,
1957, pp. 66–68; Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest, 1977,
pp. 115–116; Isabel Davis and Ted Bloecher, Close
Encounter at Kelly and Others of 1955, CUFOS, 1978, pp. 138–148;
Clark III 270; Rob Ryder, “On the Trail of the Loveland Frogman,”
Fortean Times 361 (Christmas 2017): 38–41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2701
Date: 5/29/1955
Time: 1920
Description: Approximate date. Three farmers, among them Thomas
Robinson, saw a light growing in size for 2 min and flying between them
and Mt. Williams. Looking like a “light airplane on fire,” it changed
course, losing altitude and trailing flames. It touched the ground,
lighting up the whole area, rose again, and began to “feel its way along
the crooked edge of the cane field and the swamp toward our house.” It
returned to earth four times. The dogs ran out barking as it landed
within 100 m of the witnesses before taking off again.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: UFO Bulletin Mar., 58 (Vallee)
Location: Smithfield, near Cairns, Australia
ID: 363
Date: 5/31/1955
Time: 1110
Description: A farmer, 74-year-old J. B. Collange, was watching his cows
on a clear, calm morning when he suddenly observed, in an easterly
direction, a vertical circular object about 3 m away, the bottom edge
about 30 cm from the ground. It measured about 1.10 m in diameter, was
very luminous, white, but not blinding. Many filaments of various colors
were radiating from the disk. Their length varied between 0.5 and 2 m.
The object rose over a hedge and was lost to sight behind some
woods.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Ouranos 14, 15, 22 (Vallee)
Location: Puy-Saint-Gulmier, France
ID: 364
Date: 6/1955
Description: James
W. Moseley renames Nexus as Saucer News and it becomes a popular
bimonthly UFO magazine. (Clark III 1032)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2703
Date: 6/1955
Description: Cincinnati, Ohio, businessman Thomas Eickhoff buys a copy
of George
Adamski’s Inside the Space Ships. Upset with Adamski’s statement
that his space contacts can be corroborated, he takes steps to take him
to federal court to make him prove his story or face fraud for using the
US mail system to sell his book. Eickhoff’s lawyer brings in a
government adviser who advises them to drop the lawsuit. Eickhoff’s
efforts eventually bring a reply from a lawyer for CIA Director Allen
Dulles, who
says the problem is that Adamski could “prevent anyone from testifying
in court concerning this book because maximum security exists concerning
the subject of UFOs.” The lawyer says he would be subject to a
countersuit. (Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest, 1977,
pp. 169–170; Good Above, pp. 341–342)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2704
Date: 6/4/1955
Description: A Boeing RB-47 reconnaissance aircraft of the Air Force
Special Security Service (air arm of NSA?) tracks an unknown object
visually and by radar for 9 minutes near Melville Sound, Nunavut,
Canada. The crew chief describes it as “glistening silver metallic.” The
crew obtains gun camera film, but of poor quality. The object speeds off
to the north. (Good Above, p. 285;
Sparks, p. 226)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2705
Date: 6/5/1955
Description: 7:30 p.m. François-Gilbert Muyldermans is cycling on a
deserted road near Saint-Marc, near Namur, Belgium, when he sees a
bright disc moving at a high speed at an altitude of around 4,900 feet.
He takes out his camera and snaps a photo. The object descends, then
rises again emitting a cloud of white smoke. He takes two more photos.
Anomalies in the blurred grain, inconsistencies in orientation, and the
circumstances by which the story entered UFO lore suggest a deliberate
hoax, perhaps with the help of a journalist. (“A
‘Classic’ from Belgium,” BUFORA Journal 4, no. 12 (March/April
1976): 12–13; Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos and Wim van Utrecht, Belgium
in UFO
Photographs, Volume 1 (1950–1988), FOTOCAT
Report no. 7, 2017, pp. 38–69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2706
Date: 6/7/1955
Description: An RB-47 en route to Eielson AFB, Fairbanks, Alaska,
registers an electronic contact southeast of Banks Island, Northwest
Territories, Canada, at 10,500 feet range. The radar return is small and
rectangular. (Good Above, p.
286;
Sparks, p. 227)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2707
Date: 6/10/1955
Description: Science fiction movie “This Island Earth” is released. A
group of scientists receive special materials that are technologically
more sophisticated than anything available at the time from a secret
research group.
Type: movie
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: US
Date: 6/13/1955
Description: Frank
Edwards travels with a TV film producer to the Navy Department at
the Pentagon and asks for some unclassified photos of rockets. When the
Navy learns that Edwards wants to show them on TV during a panel
discussion on UFOs, the office refuses to cooperate. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, p. 269)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2708
Date: late 6/1955
Alternate date: early 7/1955
Description: Early evening. A 19-year-old Civil Defense worker named
Carlos Flannigan is driving a truck across a bridge over the Little
Miami River near Loveland, Ohio, when he notices 4 small figures about 3
feet high on the riverbank. A terrible smell hangs over the area. He
only watches them for about 10 seconds then immediately drives to police
headquarters to report the incident. (Isabel Davis and Ted Bloecher, Close
Encounter at
Kelly and Others of 1955, CUFOS,
1978, pp. 129–132; Patrick Gross, URECAT, February
14, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2715
Date: summer 1955
Description: 12:30 a.m. Dumitru Coca watches a strange object emitting a
ring of white sparks at an altitude of 3,000 feet above Hârşeni,
Romania. It is blue with white stripes and flying noiselessly at high
speed. He watches it for 3 minutes. (Hobana and Weverberh 229–230;
Romania 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2702
Date: 6/23/1955
Description: 12:15 p.m. A Mohawk Airlines DC-3 is cruising at 3,000 feet
in good daylight visibility about 15 miles east of Utica, New York, on a
heading to Albany. Both pilot and copilot see an object come over the
top of the aircraft from behind, an estimated 500 feet above their
altitude. They estimate the length of the object at about 150 feet. It
is described as “light gray, almost round, with a center
line Beneath the line there were several (at least four) windows
which emitted a bright blue-green light. It was not rotating but went
straight. [The lights] seemed to change color slightly from greenish to
bluish or vice versa [as the object receded]. A few minutes after it
went out of sight, two other aircraft (one, a Colonial DC-3, the other I
did not catch the number) reported that they saw it and wondered if
anyone else had seen it. The Albany control tower also reported that
they had seen an object go by on Victor-2 [airway]. As we approached
Albany, we overheard that Boston radar had also tracked an object along
Victor-2, passing Boston.” (NICAP, “150ʹ
Object Passes over DC-3 Crew from Behind”; Condon, p. 143)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2709
Date: 6/25/1955
Description: 10:45 p.m. Two civilian and two military witnesses see a
yellow, shining sphere with a trail 4–5 times its length over Hillcrest
Heights, Maryland. It appears to oscillate in the air, stops, oscillates
again, then finally moves away at high speed. It travels nearly overhead
and then is lost in the sky at a 45° elevation. It is visible for 7
minutes. (Michael D. Swords, “Air Force UFO Investigations in the
Mid-1950s,” IUR 29, no. 3 (Fall 2004): 8– 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2710
Date: 6/26/1955
Description: 10:45 p.m. A brilliant round object with a trail 4–5 times
its own length approaches National Airport in Washington, D.C., stops,
oscillates, and moves off at high speed. Ceiling lights at the airport
go out when the object approaches and return to operation when the UFO
leaves. Searchlights are trained on the object, but when they catch it
in their beams, the searchlights go out. A check with the Silver Hill
Observatory in Hillcrest Heights, Maryland, determined that a small
weather balloon carrying a magnesium flare was released aboiut the same
time as the visual sighting. (Aimé Michel, Straight-Line, p. 236; Schopick,
p. 21; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of
the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1955, January–June, The
Author, 1992, pp. 84–85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2712
Date: 6/26/1955
Description: Several civilian and military witnesses in Holt, Florida,
see a disc with blinking lights. (Sparks,
p. 227; Michael D. Swords, “Air Force UFO Investigations in the
Mid-1950s,” IUR 29, no. 3 (Fall 2004): 10; Hynek UFO Report, p. 45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2711
Date: 6/29/1955
Description: The Second Hoover Commission presents its final report to
Congress on streamlining procedures in the executive branch. Gen. Mark
W. Clark, heading the commission’s task force on intelligence, notes
the CIA’s lack of accountability and recommends establishing an
intelligence oversight committee. (Wikipedia, “Hoover Commission”;
Richard A. Best Jr. and Herbert Andrew Boerstling, “Proposals
for Intelligence Reorganization, 1949–1996,”
Report to the US House Select Committee on Intelligence, Congressional
Research Service, February 28, 1996, pp. 9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2713
Date: 6/30/1955
Description: The 4602nd AISS reports that of its 194 preliminary UFO
reports for 1955, it has made 23 field investigations and has 25
unsolved reports, or an unknown rate of 13%. Going back to August 12,
1954, and removing cases of insufficient evidence, the percentage of
unknowns is lower: 23 unknowns from 306 reports, or about 7.5%. In
reality, however, none of these numbers mean much; they reflect the
creativity and audacity of the explainers at ADC and ATIC.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2714
Date: 7/1955
Description: 2:00 p.m. Col. William
T. Coleman is flying a B-25 out of Miami, Florida, with a copilot,
flight engineer, a Lockheed test engineer, and a General Motors jet
engine technician. As he is moving northward into southern Alabama, he
spots at 2 o’clock high what he calls a “craze” in the windshield. He
calls the others’ attention to it. He gives chase to it at low altitude
over farmland and sees its shadow on the ground, as well as two vortices
coming out of the shiny metallic disc that kicks up dust on the ground.
When he tries to cut it off at a maximum speed of 345 mph, the object is
gone, leaving behind the vortices on the ground. Duration of the
sighting is 10–11 minutes. (NICAP, “Col.
Coleman Case / Chases UFO at Low Altitude”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2717
Date: 7/1955
Description: Construction of the Groom Lake base in Nevada is completed
and the CIA begins utilizing it, along with the US Air Force, for
Project Aquatone, the development of the Lockheed U-2 strategic
reconnaissance aircraft, the nation’s first aerial espionage program. It
consists of one paved runway, three hangars, a control tower, a
makeshift mess hall, and rudimentary accommodations. A movie theater and
volleyball court are added. CIA officer Richard Newton is assigned as
base commander. Other key organizations are briefed on Area 51’s
existence—the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the US Navy,
the National Security Agency, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. A
small group of four Lockheed test pilots, two dozen Lockheed mechanics
and engineers, a handful of CIA officers who double as security guards,
and some of Col. Ritland’s
staff take up residence. (Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 5, 51–53;
Peter W. Merlin, “Groom
Lake Timeline: The First Fifty Years,” Secret Heroes, November 10,
2021; “Pilots
of the U-2,” Secret Heroes, November 10, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2716
Date: 7/1/1955
Description: CRIFO Newsletter becomes CRIFO Orbit. This issue reviews
several airplane crashes and disappearances that Stringfield thinks
might be related to UFO activity. (“World’s
Air Forces, in Joint Operations, Challenge Incursion
of UFO’s,” CRIFO Orbit 2, no. 4 (July 1, 1955): 1– 2; Clark III 460,
1114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2718
Date: 7/3/1955
Description: 3:30 a.m. Margaret
Symmonds is driving on US 129 seven miles south of Stockton,
Georgia, when four small humanoid figures with caps and huge eyes are
caught in the headlights. They seem to be digging a hole in the road
with some sticks. She yells and swerves the car, driving past them. The
figures seem oblivious. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1955 July–September
15th, The Author, 1992, pp. 2–3; Stringfield, 3-0
Blue, CRIFO,
1957, pp. 63–64; Clark III 270; Isabel Davis and Ted Bloecher, Close Encounter
at Kelly and Others of 1955, CUFOS,
1978, pp. 149–160; Patrick Gross, URECAT, February
16, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2719
Date: 7/3/1955
Description: Mrs. Wesley Symmonds was driving near this town when she
saw four “bug-eyed” creatures near the road. They were small beings with
thin arms, large eyes, and pointed chins. Two were turned away from the
witness; one was bending over with something like a stick in its hand;
and the fourth one was facing her with its right arm raised. It had
bulging eyes, a sort of cap, no visible mouth, a long pointed nose, a
chin which came to a sharp point, and long thin arms with claws.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Stringfield; Humanoids 54 (Vallee)
Location: Stockton, Georgia
ID: 365
Date: 7/5/1955
Description: 3:00 a.m. USAF pilot Lt. Homer
H. Speer Jr and copilot Lt. Paul
Daily, call sign Archie 29, and pilot Lt. Robert W. Schneck and
copilot Lt. David Cueldner, call sign Archie 91, are flying Boeing KC-97
Stratofreighters at 20,000 feet on a refueling mission off the coast of
Newfoundland. They see two bright objects at 20,000 feet, apparently
stationary. Ground radar picks up several objects, some in a distant
cluster flying erratically. Speer is able to maintain visual contact,
calling direction change of the object to the radar site by radio. The
objects are tracked on radar for 49 minutes. (NICAP, “Archie
29 KC-97 Radar Case”; Sparks, p. 228;
Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn
Press, 2006, pp. 296–297; Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified,
August Night, 2022, pp. 263–264)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2720
Date: 7/12/1955
Description: Unusual UFOB report from Pepperrel AFB, Newfoundland. UFO
sighted by a tanker aircraft (KC97) pilot and ground radar. “Unusual” in
that the pilot of the Archie 29 called direction changes of the UFO to
ground radar which correlated exactly with those painted by the radar
scope. This observation went on for 49 minutes. Signed: Todos M.
Odarenko.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Pepperrel AFB, Newfoundland
Date: 7/18/1955
Time: 0300
Description: Mr. Maupin and five other witnesses on the airfield were
blinded by a light from a disk-shaped object 150 m away. It left orange
glows in its trail. Silent, flying slowly, it hovered near the Metro
station, close to the ground, but did not actually land. It left toward
the northwest. A woodsman from Mareul-Caubert, Mr. Rolle, saw the object
half-an-hour earlier. It came from the direction of Amiens.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Plessiel Airfield, near Abbeville, France
ID: 366
Date: late 7/1955
Description: A man, a female companion, and two children are picnicking
on a Lake Ontario beach in St. Catharines, Ontario, when a silvery disc
approaches them rapidly across the water, then hovers above them before
heading to another family nearby. It swings back to the original group,
“moving like a clock pendulum.” The man flees to his car but finds it
will not start. Through the windows of the UFO, just a few feet above
the ground, the witnesses see the faces of four pale-faced men with
black hoods covering their ears and heads, sitting straight and rigid.
The object shoots over the lake, ascends rapidly, and disappears. (Clark
III 268)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2721
Date: 7/24/1955
Description: The Groom Lake “Ranch” in Nebada receives it first delivery
of U-2s from Burbank, California, in a C-124 Globemaster II cargo plane,
accompanied by Lockheed technicians on a Douglas DC-3. Regular Military
Air Transport Service flights are set up between Area 51 and Lockheed’s
offices in Burbank. To preserve secrecy, personnel fly to Nevada on
Monday mornings and return to California on Friday evenings. (Wikipedia,
“Area 51”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2722
Date: 7/26/1955
Description: A brilliant round object with a trail 4–5 times its own
length approaches National Airport [now Ronald Reagan Washington
National Airport] in Washington, D.C., stops, oscillates, and moves off
at high speed. Ceiling lights at the airport go out when the object
approaches and returns to operation when the UFO departs. (UFOEv, p. 135)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2723
Date: 7/29/1955
Time: 10:45 PM
Description: Witness: Morrice Raymond. Four orange flashing lights and
one whIte flashing light moved up and down like yo-yos for 5-6
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Columbus, Nebraska
ID: 387
Date: 7/29/1955
Description: President Eisenhower announces
a program to launch a scientific satellite during the International
Geophysical Year. The program will be run by the National Science
Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences, with advice coming from
the Department of Defense. (Amy Shira Teitel, “How
the Stage Was Set for the Satellite Race,”
Popular Science, January 3, 2016; Amy Shira Teitel, Breaking
the Chains of Gravity: The Story of Spaceflight
before NASA, Bloomsbury
Sigma, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2724
Date: 7/29/1955
Description: 8:30–9:30 p.m. An aircraft engineer and four others notice
a “2nd magnitude star” in the vicinity of Saturn at Lake Ronkonkoma on
Long Island, New York. The star moves in a perfect circle around Saturn,
heads east until it gets to the Moon, where it executes a half-circle
pass and disappears. The object then appears 120° away and moves
horizontally until it takes an abrupt turn vertically. It disappears
again at about 70° above the horizon. Then it reappears in a straight
dive-like descent until it reacquires its original 30° elevation. It
proceeds horizontally again, makes an abrupt angular shift again
downwards, and is lost in the trees. Through binoculars the object looks
spherical and yellowish. (Michael D. Swords, “We Know Where You Live,”
IUR 30, no. 2 (January 2006): 8–9; Swords 227)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2725
Date: 8/1955
Description: Hundreds of people gather each night at the Black Arch, on
the Antrim Coast Road near Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, to
watch a mysterious display of lights at sea. The light flashes three or
four times in quick succession, then flashes again about 6 minutes
later. The Larne police suspect that the lights are flares dropped from
aircraft. (Larne Times, August 18, 1955; Shane Cochrane, “Ireland
vs. the Flying Saucers,” Fortean Times 317 (September 2014):
54–55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2726
Date: 8/1955
Description: Police from Luzern, Switzerland, investigate a sighting of
a shiny metallic disc seen at Waldibrücke and Eschenbach. (“Forscher
findet verschollene UFO-Akten der Schweiz,”
Grenzwissenschaft-Aktuell, July 8, 2013; “The Swiss X-Files,” Fortean
Times 312 (April 2014): 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2727
Date: 8/1/1955
Time: 2100
Description: Mr. Sheneman, who was coming from Willoughby, came out of
his car and saw a circular object with a red light on it that came down
fast, hovered, and emitted two beams of light. The witness fled toward
his house, and the object appeared to chase him at less than 70 m
altitude. It measured about 30 m in diameter and supported a dome.
Mr. Sheneman, his wife, and their two children saw it fly away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Evidence 114 (Vallee)
Location: Chardon Road, Ohio
ID: 368
Date: 8/1/1955
Time: night
Description: Two persons in a car saw a lighted object dive toward them
and hover about 30 m above the road. A disk, 12 m in diameter, it flew
around the car and went away without noise. The witnesses were tourists,
who went straight to the Arles police.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 105 (Vallee)
Location: Salon, near Arles, France
ID: 367
Date: 8/1/1955
Description: The first test flight of the Lockheed U-2 takes place at
Groom Lake, Nevada. During a high-speed-taxi test in the first U-2,
Lockheed’s chief test pilot, Tony
LeVier, inadvertently
becomes airborne after accelerating the U-2 to 70 knots. He is unable to
land the U-2 on his first attempt, and it bounces back into the air, but
he manages to successfully bring it down on a second try. Damage to the
prototype U-2 is very minor. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
U-2”;
“Area
51 and the Accidental Test Flight,” Central Intelligence Agency,
August 6, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2728
Date: 8/1/1955
Description: 8:45 p.m. William M. Sheneman, the owner of a radio/TV
store in Willoughby, Ohio, pulls into his driveway and walks across the
street to check his mailbox. He sees a red light about 1,000 feet away
coming at him at a right angle. He thinks it is a plane about to crash.
Then the ground is illuminated with two brilliant lights aimed directly
from the object. He runs back into the house as the UFO moves over his
garage about 50–100 feet in the air. He sees a big red light at the
front and a green light at the rear. Then all the lights turn off and
the object moves away over the woods. He and his wife can now see the
outline of a dome lit up with tiny lights inside. It hovers there for 5
minutes then moves away. (UFOEv, p. 114;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1955 July–September 15th, The
Author, 1992, pp. 31–32; Isabel Davis and Ted Bloecher, Close
Encounter at Kelly and Others of 1955, CUFOS,
1978, p. 180; Clark III 244–245)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2729
Date: 8/2/1955
Description: Frederick
C. Durant informs the Sixth Congress of the International
Astronautical Federation in Copenhagen, Denmark, that President Eisenhower has
decided to back the launch of a US scientific satellite during the
upcoming International Geophysical Year. Not to be outdone, Soviet
delegate Leonid
I. Sedov calls a press conference and announces that Russia can
launch an artificial satellite within the next 2 years that will be more
sophisticated than the Americans’ efforts. (Amy Shira Teitel, “How
the Stage Was Set for the Satellite Race,” Popular Science, January
3, 2016; Amy Shira Teitel, Breaking
the Chains of Gravity: The Story of Spaceflight before
NASA, Bloomsbury
Sigma, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2730
Date: 8/5/1955
Time: 1430
Description: Messrs. Coisin and Mahieu saw five brown, disk-shaped
machines coming down and up again at great speed. One of them flew under
the others, then two disks appeared to land 300 m away near the German
cemetery. The others flew away toward the south at tremendous
speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Buzancy, Ardennes, France
ID: 369
Date: 8/8/1955
Description: The CIA’s Todos
Odarenko writes an office memorandum recommending that the CIA
should maintain a file of UFO sightings but deny that all investigations
are inactive, and separate explainable UFOs from unidentifiable reports.
(Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 75–76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2731
Date: 8/11/1955
Time: 11:45 AM
Description: Witness: 2nd Lt. E.J. Marlow. Twelve grey objects, from
cigar to egg-shaped, varied their formation from elliptical to wavy line
to scattered to straight line to trail formation. Speed varied from
hover to 1,000 m.p.h. Sighting lasted 3-4 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Iceland
ID: 388
Date: 8/11/1955
Description: 9:30 p.m. A witness in Cairo, Illinois, sees a
triangular-shaped UFO low on the horizon above the trees, heading
silently north and slightly west. Its front end is dark, its middle
section bluish green, and its end very bright. (“Sightings,”
APRO Bulletin, August 1955, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2732
Date: 8/16/1955
Time: 0400
Description: Mr. Ernest Suddard, 35, and his 13-year-old son were in a
lorry on Roundhill Street when they saw what seemed to be a human being
about 1.20 m tall, dressed in skin-tight black clothes. It held its arms
close to its sides, its feet close together, and walked by a series of
jumps. On its chest was a silver disk perforated with holes. It turned
off suddenly into a passageway and was lost to sight. The witnesses were
too amazed to follow it.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Constance 222 (Vallee)
Location: Bradford, England
ID: 370
Date: 8/16/1955
Description: Early morning. Truck driver Ernest Suddard and his
13-year-old son are returning home to Bradford, West Yorks, England,
when their headlights light up a small figure in the street. It is 4
feet tall, dressed in skin-tight black clothes, and is hopping forward
in a series of jerky movements. A circular, silvery object, perforated
with holes, appears on the figure’s chest just below its throat. It
approaches the truck then turns away abruptly into a passage. Suddard
alerts the police, but they find nothing. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: 1955 July–September 15th, The
Author, 1992, p. 50; Patrick Gross, URECAT, February
19, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2733
Date: 8/16/1955
Description: 3:55 p.m. Mechanic Hugh Saunders sees a silver object above
a white cloudbank above Cave Hill in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is
flat and moves swiftly. (Belfast Telegraph, August 17, 1955; Shane
Cochrane, “Ireland vs. the Flying Saucers,” Fortean Times 317 (September
2014): 55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2734
Date: 8/19/1955
Time: 2330
Description: About 700 m away from Roundhill street, Mr. Wood, a
warehouseman, saw a bright, bullet-shaped, silvery object behind a
hillock. It measured about 4 m in height, 1.5 m in diameter, had a
surface similar to chromium and made a highpitched buzzing sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Constance 222 (Vallee)
Location: Bradford, England
ID: 371
Date: 8/19/1955
Description: 2:00 p.m. A “shining, glittering ball” zigzags across the
sky over Lisburn, Northern Ireland. It is seen by many people for about
10 minutes. Jeffrey Moore, 17, says it looks like a steel ball at first,
then as it gets closer it appears “cross-shaped.” It moves in a variety
of directions before disappearing into the clouds. (Belfast Telegraph,
August 20, 1955; Shane Cochrane, “Ireland vs. the Flying Saucers,”
Fortean Times 317 (September 2014): 55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2735
Date: 8/20/1955
Description: 10:45 p.m. The president of a small Canadian air service
and his nightwatchman are checking their seaplanes in their dock at
Kenora, Ontario, when they see an object “shaped like two saucers with
their open tops touching, one above the other” streaking toward them
from the west. It is silvery-white in color and sending out rays from
its surface or sparkling “as if some electric force or very hot air was
flowing from all the surfaces.” It tilts on its side about 600 feet from
them, then straightens out with the flat side parallel with the ground
and hovers about 225 feet from them and 40 feet above the surface of the
lake. It is completely silent and looks to be only 4–5 feet across. (J.
Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 111–112)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2737
Date: 8/20/1955
Description: Pilot Horace
A. Hanes attains an airspeed record of 822 mph in a North American
F-100C Super Sabre at Palmdale, California. (Wikipedia, “North
American F-100 Super Sabre”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2736
Date: 8/21/1955
End date: 8/22/1955
Description: About 7:00 p.m. Billy Ray Taylor goes into the backyard of
the Elmer “Lucky” Sutton farmhouse 7 miles north of Hopkinsville,
Kentucky, and sees a bright object come from the south-southwest, pass
over, and descend into a gully about 500 feet north and about 35-40 feet
lower elevation. Glennie
Lankford and 6 other adults (Elmer Sutton, Vera Sutton, John Charley
Sutton, Alene Sutton, June Taylor, O. P. Baker) plus 3 children
(Charlton, Lonnie, and Mary Lankford), see several gremlin-like
creatures float down from trees and approach the house from the dark.
They are about 3 feet high with roundish heads, elephantine ears,
slit-like mouths extending ear to ear, huge and wide-set eyes, no
visible necks, and long arms ending in clawed hands. They wear glowing
silver clothing. When they run, they drop on all fours. When one of them
approaches the house, Sutton and Taylor fire shotguns through the window
screen, scoring a direct hit. The creature is knocked over, but gets up
and scuttles off. Taylor walks out the door and one of the creatures
grabs at his head. This activity continues the greater part of the night
and includes heavy gunfire at times. Sutton fires point blank at it,
knocking it from the roof, but it just “floats down.” At about 11:00
p.m. they run out of ammunition, and the entire group flees in terror in
two cars and drives at high speed into Hopkinsville to report the
incident to the police. A state patrolman leaves the Shady Oaks
restaurant 3 miles north of Hopkinsville in a car to respond to the call
and sees several meteor- like objects streaking over him sounding like
artillery fire. He sees two in a series looking like meteors coming from
the southwest, headed towards Kelly from the direction of Fort Campbell,
a US Army installation. City, county, state, and military police and
reporters drive out to the Sutton farm to investigate from 11:30 p.m. to
2:00 a.m. The UFO entities return at about 2:30 a.m. Glennie Lankford is
trying to get to sleep when she sees one outside her window stretching
its claw-like hands up to the screen. Elmer Sutton again shoots at them
without effect. The last one is seen at about 5:15 a.m. Clark writes
that investigations by “police, Air Force officers from nearby Fort
Campbell, and civilian ufologists found no evidence of a hoax”; however,
Brian
Dunning reports that “the claim that Air Force investigators showed
up the next day at Mrs. Lankford’s house has been published a number of
times by later authors, but I could find no corroborating evidence of
this.” Dunning also observes that “the four military police who
accompanied the police officers on the night of the event were from an
Army base, not an Air Force base.” Skeptic Joe
Nickell notes that the family could have misidentified great horned
owls, which are nocturnal, fly silently, have yellow eyes, and
aggressively defend their nests. He thinks Taylor and Sutton were
drinking heavily. Meteor sightings also occurred at the time that could
explain Billy Ray Taylor’s claim that he saw “a bright light streak
across the sky and disappear beyond a tree line some distance from the
house.” (Wikipedia, “Kelly–Hopkinsville
encounter”; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: 1955 July–September 15th, The
Author, 1992, pp. 54–75; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of
the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1955 July–September 15th, Supplemental
Notes, The
Author, 2002, pp. 18– 36; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine
ed., 1974, pp. 172–178;
Story, pp. 190–192;
Clark III 642– 643; Isabel Davis and Ted Bloecher, Close Encounter at
Kelly and Others of 1955, CUFOS, 1978; Sparks, p. 230;
“The Close Encounter of the Third Kind at Kelly Re-examined,” IUR 3, no.
5 (May 1978): 4–6; Kim Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean
Tomes, 1987, pp. 53–56; Joe Nickell, “Siege
of ‘Little Green Men’: The
1955 Kelly, Kentucky, Incident,” Skeptical Inquirer 30, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 2006); Brian Dunning, “The
Kelly- Hopkinsville
Encounter,” Skeptoid podcast no. 331, October 9, 2012; Patrick
Gross, “The
Kelly-Hopkinsville Case,
1955”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2738
Date: 8/21/1955
Time: 2030
Description: The Sutton family saw a light landing near their farmhouse,
then several nightmarish entities about 1 m tall, with glowing silver
clothing, an oversized round head, huge eyes and ears, and a slit-like
mouth harassed them for several hours, in spite of heavy gunfire. At one
point, one of the entities was knocked down from the roof by a bullet:
it “floated down.” Running out of ammunition, the Suttons got the
police, who observed a lighted object in the sky, flying very
fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic, Anatomy 173; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Hopkinsville, Kentucky
ID: 372
Date: 8/22/1955
Time: 1400
Description: A group of children was playing in the garden of Mr. and
Mrs. Douglas when they observed a hovering object which disappared and
reappeared as a spinning disk with curved lines radiating from it. Other
objects, silvery and semi-transparent, soon appeared and were seen by
all children. They made musical sounds as they vanished and reappeared.
One of them landed, and a creature the size of a 4-year-old child,
transparent, wearing a belt with a bright disk, was seen nearby. Another
creature appeared and spoke to one of the boys. All the children
experienced visions of the object and the creatures, as well as “arms”
which appeared to beckon to them.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: TSR 67, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Casa Blanca, near Riverside, California
ID: 373
Date: 8/23/1955
Time: 10:45 AM
Description: Witness: G.M. Park, using a 400x telescope. Several orange
lights moved singly or in groups, circling and stopping during 30 minute
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Arlington, Virginia
ID: 389
Date: 8/23/1955
End date: 8/24/1955
Description: 11:50 p.m. Personnel at the Ground Observer Corps tower in
Hamilton County, Ohio, notice three white spheres between Columbus and
Cincinnati. Tracking the UFOs on radar, they notify SAC at Lockbourne
AFB [now Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base], which scrambles jets to
investigate. The UFO approaches the tower and hovers in pendulum-like
motions directly above it. The interceptors give chase, but the UFO
disappears at an incredible speed. The Greater Cincinnati Airport also
tracks unidentified blips on radar. To his surprise, Stringfield obtains
clearance to write about these sightings in CRIFO Orbit. But when he
tries to interest the Cincinnati newspapers, they are not interested. A
Wright-Patterson AFB spokesperson denies the incident to the press and
claims to know nothing about Stringfield’s relationship with ADC.
(Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest, 1977, pp. 12–14; Sparks, p. 230;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1955
July–September 15th, The Author, 1992, p. 75)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2739
Date: 8/25/1955
Description: 8:30 p.m. Mrs. Lloyd Wright and Mrs. Lester Parsons of
Bedford, Indiana, see a huge white object with a black streak down the
center. The object seems to expand and contract regularly as it hovers
over Mrs. Parsons’s home. The houselights appear to dim and pulsate in
rhythm with the object. (Schopick,
p. 114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2740
Date: 8/25/1955
Description: Four adolescents in a car saw a creature with a luminous
body, standing near a fireplug.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Stringfield 64 (Vallee)
Location: Greenhills, Ohio
ID: 374
Date: 8/29/1955
Description: RAF pilot Walter
Gibb reaches an official record altitude of 65,876 feet in an
English Electric Canberra B.2 turbojet. (Wikipedia, “Walter
Gibb”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2741
Date: 8/30/1955
Description: 9:30 a.m. Pedro Navarro, 25, takes a photograph of some
swirling storm clouds over Dudignac, Buenos Aires province, Argentina.
When he develops them, he notes that the disturbance looks more like a
giant disc. The newspapers reproduce enhanced versions of the photo, but
it is never critically analyzed until several decades later. The best
guess is that the photo shows a round cloud. (Vicente-Juan
Ballester-Olmos, “Exigesis
of the Dudignac
Saucer of 1955,” UFO FOTOCAT Blog, December 26, 2021; Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos, “Exegesis of
the Dudignac Saucer of 1955,” January 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2742
Date: 9/1955
Description: Austrian Countess Zoe
Wassilko von Serecki writes an article for American Astrology in
which she conceives of UFOs as living animals that inhabit the
ionosphere and are attracted to electrical sources. (Zoë
Wassilko-Serecki, “Startling Theory on Flying Saucers,” American
Astrology 23 (September 1955): 2–5; Clark III 1099–1100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2743
Date: 9/1955
Description: Day. Several witnesses see four silver discs flying in
formation over Lima, Ohio. (Michael D. Swords, “The Timmerman Files,”
IUR 26, no. 4 (Winter 2001–2002): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2744
Date: 9/2/1955
End date: 9/4/1955
Description: 9:05 p.m. Eddy
Geddes notices a fireball as he is driving to Kalispell, Montana,
from Whitefish. He stops at a Ground Observer post and notifies the
women stationed there. Jets are scrambled from Malmstrom AFB in Great
Falls and arrive shortly after midnight, long after the object is gone,
but another fireball is apparently seen later. The same scenario occurs
on September 4 when five F-94C Starfire jets (as well as other aircraft
from Great Falls and Spokane, Washington, are sent to the Kalispell
area. (“Air
Force Jets Called in Search for ‘Fireball’
over Kalispell,” The Missoulian, September 5, 1955, p. 7; “Recent
Sightings,” APRO Bulletin, September 15, 1956, p. 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2745
Date: 9/3/1955
Time: Unknown time
Description: Witness: Observer Saunders for Ground Observer Corps. One
white pinhead moved slowly across 30 degrees of sky in 15 minutes. No
further information.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Bellingham, Washington
ID: 390
Date: 9/7/1955
Time: Unknown time
Description: Witnesses: Two photographers, one plate maker for the Army
Map Service (one named Smith). One glowing round object flew an arc for
1 minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Washington, DC
ID: 391
Date: 9/8/1955
Description: Test pilot Ray
J. Goudey reaches an altitude of 65,000 feet in a Lockheed U-2 at
Groom Lake, Nevada, a feat not revealed until declassification in 1998.
“From where I was up above Nevada I could see the Pacific Ocean, which
was 300 miles away.” (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
U-2”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2746
Date: 9/9/1955
Description: Capt. Hugh McKenzie of the Air Defense Command in Columbus,
Ohio, contacts UFO researcher Leonard
Stringfield in Cincinnati and asks for CRIFO’s cooperation in
providing them with new UFO reports. He also says that Ground Observer
Corps in southwestern Ohio is to report UFO activity to CRIFO for
screening. Screened reports are then to be forwarded to the ADC filter
center using the code “Fox Trot Kilo 3-0 Blue.” All expenses will be
reimbursed by the Air Force. (Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest,
1977, p. 11; Clark III 1114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2747
Date: 9/9/1955
Time: 12 noon
Description: Witness: M.N. Dawkins, using binoculars. One brown, almost
square object flew with a circular motion for 10-15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: near Alcoa, Tennessee
ID: 392
Date: 9/16/1955
Time: 1800
Description: A young shepherd heard a whistling sound as a dark mass
appeared to fall from the sky and a rush of air swept him from his feet.
The object looked like a machine with an opening where a stairway became
visible. Two occupants were seen. One was observed to have a reddish
face, a bald head and very fine teeth. The craft was round, about 3.5 m
diameter, 2 m high, lighted with neon-like light. The occupants gathered
some plants and flew away to the northwest.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Boisseuges, France
ID: 375
Date: 9/17/1955
Time: night
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Bordes, of New York City, were fishing when
they heard a loud splash and a “gurgling sound,” saw a pink, iridescent,
mushroom-shaped object rise about 70 cm above the water, and sink into
the reservoir. Later, they saw the object again, about 5 m long and
surrounded with turbulence. It reversed direction several times without
turning around and finally flew away very fast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Constance 226; FSR 55,5 (Vallee)
Location: Bush Pine, New York
ID: 376
Date: 9/20/1955
Description: In response to a September 13 letter from Rep. Gordon
H. Scherer (R-Ohio) about the contactee claims of George
Adamski, CIA
Director Allen
Dulles replies that the “CIA shall have no police, subpoena, law-
enforcement powers, or internal-security functions” over mail fraud
related to UFOs. (Allen W. Dulles, Letter
to Gordon
H. Scherer, September 20, 1955)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2748
Date: 9/21/1955
Description: Soviet underwater atomic bomb test, 3.5kt
Type: atomic
Reference: link
Location: Soviet Union
Atomic type: aboveground
Atomic KT: 3.5
Date: 10/1955
Description: President Eisenhower gives
the CIA control over the U-2 spy plane program and Area 51. (Jacobsen,
Area 51, p. 58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2749
Date: 10/1955
Description: 8:00 p.m. A student at St. Joseph’s Minor Seminary in
Peterborough, New Hampshire, sees four glowing, bluish-white objects to
the southwest. One appears to be on the ground with 3–4 figures beside
it. He goes into the recreation room to find more witnesses. When they
go outside, the objects are slowly moving above the school building
toward the northeast. (“New
Hampshire,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 6, no. 2 (April/May 1985):
4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2750
Date: 10/3/1955
Description: A B-47 from Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Arizona, crashes
northwest of Lovington, New Mexico. The lone survivor, 2nd Lt. William
Daniel Borggen, says the plane is flying at 15,000 feet when three
instruments go out after it breaks away from a refueling plane in a
pre-dawn flight. The crew drops 5,000 feet, then the bomber hits
something and crashes. (“B-47
Crash Is Probed,” Clovis (N.Mex.) News-Journal, October 3, 1955,
pp. 1-2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2751
Date: 10/4/1955
Description: 7:10 p.m. Senator Richard
B. Russell Jr. (D-Ga.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, on
a trip to the USSR, is on a Soviet train near Baku, Azerbaijan, when he
spots a disc-shaped craft taking off near the tracks. Russell sees the
“first flying disc ascend and pass over the train” and goes “rushing in
to get Mr. Efron [Reuben Efron, his interpreter] and Col. Hathaway [Col.
E. U. Hathaway, his aide] to see it,” the report says. “Col. Hathaway
stated that he got to the window with the Senator in time to see the
first [UFO], while Mr. Efron said that he got only a short glimpse of
the first. However, all three saw the second disc and all agreed that
they saw the same round, disc-shaped craft…as the first.” A fourth
witness is unidentified. “One disc ascended almost vertically, at a
relatively slow speed, with its outer surface revolving slowly to the
right, to an altitude of about 6,000 feet, where its speed then
increased sharply as it headed north,” the report states. “The second
flying disc was seen performing the same actions about one minute later.
The take-off area was about 1–2 miles south of the rail line.” The Air
Force report is written by Lieut. Col. Thomas Ryan, who interviews
Russell’s companions in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic], on
October 13, after they arrive there from Russia shortly after the
sighting. The report remains Top Secret until April 30, 1959, and Secret
until March 1985 when Stanton Friedman manages
to get it declassified following a FOIA request. (NICAP, “Senator
Russell Observes UFO from
Train”; Clark III 1049–1050; Sparks, p. 231;
Joel Carpenter, “The
Senator, the Saucer, and Special
Report 14,”
IUR 25, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 3–7; Swords 227–228; Good Above, pp. 224–226)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2752
Date: 10/5/1955
Description: Letter from US Navy Rear Admiral J. L. Herlihy at Pearl
Harbor to the future director of the BSRA, Riley Crabb. They gave him an
award of $200 in recognition of his superior performance in his
duties.
Type: letter
Reference: Twitter
Location: Pearl Harbor
Date: 10/7/1955
Description: Retired Gen. Douglas
MacArthur tells Achille
Lauro, the mayor of Naples, that he does not think there will be a
war with the Soviet bloc, but that “because of the developments of
science all countries on earth will have to survive and to make a common
front against attack by people from other planets.” The meeting takes
place in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. (“M’Arthur
Greets Mayor of Naples,” New York Times, October 8, 1955, p. 7; “Space
War Possible Is MacArthur Hint,” CRIFO Orbit 2, no. 8 (November 4,
1955): 1; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1955 September
15th–December 31st, The
Author, 1993, pp. 15–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2753
Date: 10/8/1955
Time: 4:38 PM
Description: Witnesses: R.D. Prather, H. Ahern. One round, silver or
white object flew straight and level at more than 1,000 m.p.h. for an
unstated length of time.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Loogootee, Indiana
ID: 393
Date: 10/10/1955
Description: The Air Force releases a statement from Fort Worth, Texas,
saying that anyone reporting flashing lights for the next two months
across the US is seeing wind-driven experimental plastic balloons that
might travel as fast as 110 mph. (Keyhoe, FS
Conspiracy, p. 206;
Keyhoe, FSTS, p. 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2754
Date: 10/11/1955
Time: 4 PM
Description: Witnesses: B. Hale, A. Ostrom. One round object which
looked white in the daylight and turned red with sparks toward the end
of the 2.5 hour sighting, made a deep roar, unlike an aircraft.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pt. Lookout, Maryland
ID: 394
Date: 10/18/1955
Description: CIA Director Allen
Dulles informs the joint Intelligence Advisory Committee about
Senator Russell’s
sighting. (Joel Carpenter, “The
Senator, the Saucer, and Special
Report 14,”
IUR 25, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2755
Date: 10/19/1955
Description: Wilton
E. Lexow, head
of the CIA Applied Science Division, notes the similarity of the objects
seen by Sen. Russell to
the Avro Canada Project Y-2 (Silver Bug), a proposed vertical take-off
gyroplane now under development by the US Air Force. (Wikipedia, “Avro
Canada”; Wikipedia, “Avro
Canada VZ-9 Avrocar”; Joel Carpenter, “The
Senator, the Saucer, and Special
Report 14,”
IUR 25, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2756
Date: 10/25/1955
Description: Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 is released, months
after it is completed by analysts at Battelle Memorial Institute in
Columbus, Ohio, using cases supplied by the Air Force and tabulated on
IBM punch cards. The original report by Battelle is about 300 pages, but
the Air Force distills this down to 100. It is accompanied by a press
release in which Secretary of the Air Force Donald
A. Quarles states: “On the basis of this study we believe that no
objects such as those popularly described as flying saucers have
overflown the United States.” (At the same time, Quarles states that the
Air Force is working on radical new aircraft that “are sure to be
mistaken for flying saucers.”) Only 100 copies are printed initially,
but scientist Leon
Davidson prints and sells copies of it beginning in 1956, along with
his analysis and commentary. The report includes 3,201 reported UFO
sightings. Battelle employs four scientific analysts, who divide cases
into knowns, unknowns, and a third category of insufficient information.
They also break down knowns and unknowns into four categories of
quality, from excellent to poor. For a case to be called identified, two
analysts must independently agree on a solution; for a case to be called
unidentified, all four analysts must agree. A report classified as
unidentified is defined as: “Those reports of sightings wherein the
description of the object and its maneuvers could not be fitted to the
pattern of any known object or phenomenon.” Out of 3,201 cases, 69% are
judged to be identified, 22% are unidentified, and 9% have insufficient
information to make a determination. The report further breaks these
results down based on whether the identification is considered certain
or merely doubtful. For example, in both the astronomical and aircraft
IFO categories, 12% are considered certain and 9% are doubtful. Overall,
of the 69% listed as IFOs, 42% are thought to be solved with certainty,
while 27% are still considered doubtful. In addition, if a case is
lacking in adequate data, it is placed in the insufficient information
category, separate from both IFOs and UFOs. A key feature is to
statistically compare IFOs and UFOs by six characteristics: color,
number of objects, shape, duration, speed, and brightness. If there are
no significant differences, the two classes are probably the same, the
UFOs then representing merely a failure to properly identify prosaic
phenomena that can already account for IFOs. On the other hand, if the
differences are statistically significant, this suggests IFOs and UFOs
are indeed distinctly different phenomena. In the initial results, all
characteristics except brightness test significant at less or much less
than 1% (brightness is greater than 5%). By removing astronomical
sightings from the knowns and redoing the test, just two categories,
number and speed, are significant at less than 1%, the remainder having
results between 3% and 5%. This indicates that there is a statistically
significant difference between the characteristics ascribed to UFOs and
IFOs, but perhaps not as significant as the initial results suggested.
For two characteristics, brightness and speed, the significance actually
increases with the revised test. Hynek later
calls the Battelle report a “shamefully biased interpretation of
statistics to support a preconceived notion.” Keyhoe asks
Ruppelt what
he thinks. Ruppelt says the report “was a shock to me. I was the one
that had the IBM system tried out. It didn’t prove a thing, and I had
written it off as worthless before I left the project… also this report
was drawn up in 1953, yet the Air Force released it as the latest hot
dope in October, 1955.” The Air Force releases a second edition, with a
new preface and an addendum that brings the subject up to date, in July
1957. In the 1990s, after interviewing three men (Art Westerman, Perry
Rieppel, and
William T. Reid) who had participated in the Battelle project, Mark
Rodeghier and Jennie
Zeidman of the Center for UFO Studies conclude that the engineering
mindset at Battelle had caused a disconnect between its data and its
conclusions. Because the project cannot reverse engineer a UFO from the
reports (because of faulty witness testimony, multicausal UFOs, etc.),
the engineers conclude that a structured craft does not exist.
(Wikipedia, “Identification
studies of UFOs”; Wikipedia, “Project
Blue Book”; US Air Force Air Technical Intelligence Center, Special
Report No. 14; Analysis of Reports of
Unidentified Flying Objects, May 5, 1955; Leon Davidson, Flying
Saucers: An Analysis of Project Blue Book Special
Report No. 14, [1956], 3d ed., Ramsey-Wallace, 1966; “Plan
Radical New Aircraft,” Franklin (Pa.) News-Herald, October 26, 1955,
p. 1; Clark III 929–932; Jacobs, UFO Controversy in America, Signet ed.,
1976, pp. 123–126;
Keyhoe, FSTS, p. 770; Jennie Zeidman, “I Remember Blue Book,” IUR 16,
no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1991): 7–8; Jennie Zeidman and Mark Rodeghier, “The
Pentacle Letter and the Battelle UFO Project,” IUR 18, no. 3 (May/June
1993): 4–12, 19–21; Joel Carpenter, “The
Senator, the Saucer, and Special
Report 14,”
IUR 25, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 3, 9; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1955 September 15th–December
31st, The
Author, 1993, pp. 30–63; Swords 220–224, 239–241)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2757
Date: 10/25/1955
Description: A mysterious object passes over Serbia and is seen
throughout the country. Milorad
B. Protić and other astronomers at Belgrade Observatory track the
object and determine that it is not a meteor. After the launch of
Sputnik in November 1957, Protić decides that the object must have been
an experimental Soviet satellite. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story,
Signet, 1969, p. 68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2758
Date: 10/27/1955
Description: Afternoon. Hosea
D. Lambeth, principal of Whitsett Elementary School, North Carolina,
and about 100 students watch 10 objects like “steel balls” dart through
the sky for 25 minutes. Light-colored wispy material in 2–3-inch strips
falls from the sky at the same time. Nearby Burlington Industries tests
a sample and declares it not a synthetic material. No spiders are found
in the strands. (Clark III 124; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the
Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1955 September 15th–December 31st, The
Author, 1993,pp. 72–75)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2759
Date: 10/28/1955
Description: A disk with a row of blue lights on the periphery slowly
maneuvered above a car on a deserted road.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Evidence 135, 146 (Vallee)
Location: Galloway, England
ID: 377
Date: 11/1955
End date: 4/1956
Description: Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s fifth Antarctic expedition
(Operation Deep Freeze). By 1955 Byrd was in charge of the United
States’ Antarctic program and supervised the U.S. Navy’s Operation Deep
Freeze, which was sent to support the International Geophysical Year
(1957–58). This was Byrd’s final visit to Antarctica and although he was
only there for a week, he also took his last flight over the South Pole
on January 8, 1956. This expedition also established permanent Antarctic
bases at McMurdo Sound (McMurdo Station) and the South Pole
(Amundsen-Scott Base).
Type: lecture
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: McMurdo Station
Date: 11/1955
Description: J. Heinrich Ragaz begins publishing Weltraumbote in Zürich,
Switzerland. It continues through June 1961. (Weltraumbote, no.
1 (November 1955))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2760
Date: 11/1/1955
Description: 8:06 p.m. A flying light paces New Zealand National Airways
DC-3 Flight 108 west of Waitara, New Zealand, at 8,000 feet for about 5
minutes. Capt. William
T. Rainbow and Copilot Stanley
G. Trounce spot the object behind them flying along the coast on a
parallel course. Changing color from white to yellow to gold to red, it
overtakes the aircraft and flies alongside it for 15 miles, then picks
up speed and disappears into the distance ahead. Rainbow estimates it is
traveling at 850 mph. (UFOEv, p. 125;
“1955:
‘Flying Light’ Seen by NAC
Captain and Crew,” Ufocus.nz, June 15, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2761
Date: 11/2/1955
Description: Deputy-sheriff A. H. Perkins, C. F. Bell, and a dozen other
witnesses saw six bellshaped objects moving by successive leaps. One
came close to a patrol car; the men inside felt that their arms and legs
“went dead” and that their clothes were burning them.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Evidence 64 (Vallee)
Location: Williston, Florida
ID: 378
Date: 11/17/1955
Time: 6:10 AM
Description: Witness: J.A. Mapes. Twelve round, flat objects, silver on
top and dark on the bottom, flew in 4-deep formation, tipping in pitch
and roll, for 45 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
ID: 395
Date: 11/20/1955
Description: 5:20 p.m. Operations Officer Capt. Edward
G. Denkler Jr. and 5 men of the USAF 663rd AC&W Squadron see two
oblong, bright orange, semi-transparent objects fly erratically at
terrific speed toward and away from each other, over Lake City [now
Rocky Top], Tennessee. (NICAP, “Seven
Witnesses Observe Maneuvering Objects
near Oak Ridge Plant”; Sparks, p. 232)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2762
Date: 11/20/1955
Time: 5:20 PM
Description: Witnesses: Operations Officer Capt. B.G. Denkler and five
men of the USAF 663rd AC&W Sqdn. Two oblong, bright orange,
semi-transparent objects flew at terrific speed and erratically, toward
and away from each other. Observed by various persons form 4 to 15
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lake City, Tennessee
ID: 396
Date: 11/22/1955
Description: The first Soviet test of a true thermonuclear bomb takes
place at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan. (Wikipedia, “RDS-37”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2763
Date: 11/22/1955
Description: First megaton-class Soviet hydrogen bomb test RDS-37 at the
Semipalatinsk Test Site
Type: atomic
Reference: link
Location: Semipalatinsk Test Site
Atomic type: aboveground
Atomic MT: 1.6
Date: 11/25/1955
Time: 10:30 AM
Description: Witness: State Senator S.T. Taylor. One dirigible-shaped
object (fat front, tapered toward the tail) object, which was luminous
green-blue and jellylike, appeared overhead diving at a 45’ angle, then
reduced angle to 30’. Object seen for 5 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: La Veta, Colorado
ID: 397
Date: 11/30/1955
End date: 12/2/1955
Description: The New York Herald Tribune and Miami Herald publish two
articles by aviation journalist Ansel
Talbert in which he lists the names of aerospace firms conducting
gravity-control propulsion research, including Glenn L. Martin Company,
Convair, Bell Aircraft, Lear Inc., Clarke Electronics, and Sperry
Gyroscope Division. The Gravity Research Group indicates these companies
have constructed “rigs” to improve the performance of Thomas
Townsend Brown’s gravitators through attempts to develop materials
with high dielectric constants. Articles about the gravity propulsion
research by the aerospace firms cease after 1974. Follow-up studies on
Brown’s work and other claims are conducted by R.
L. Talley in 1990 and 2013 US Air Force studies, NASA scientist Jonathan
W. Campbell in a 2003 experiment, and Martin
Tajmar in a 2004 paper. They find that no thrust can be observed in
a vacuum and that Brown’s and other ion-lifter devices
produce thrust along their axis regardless of the direction of
gravity—consistent with electrohydrodynamic effects. (Wikipedia, “United States
gravity control propulsion research”; Wikipedia, “Anti-gravity”;
Ansel E. Talbert, “Scientists
Taking First Steps in
Assault on Gravity Barrier,” Miami Herald, November 30, 1955,
pp. 1–2; Ansel E. Talbert, “Future Planes
May Defy Gravity and Air Lift in Space Travels,” Miami Herald,
December 2, 1955, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2764
Date: 12/11/1955
Description: 9:00 p.m. Near Jacksonville, Florida, two airline pilots
and ground observers see a fast-maneuvering, orange-red, round object,
with ground radar tracking. Two USN jets on a practice night-flying
mission are vectored to the object by a Naval Air Station Jacksonville
controller. On approach the object suddenly rises up to 30,000 feet then
dives back down in a circle, buzzing the jets. (Sparks,
p. 232)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2765
Date: 12/21/1955
Time: 111 PM
Description: Witness: Roberta V. Jacobs. One round, very bright gold,
domed disc made a short climb, rotated, hovered and then accelerated
during the 6-8 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Caribou, Maine
ID: 398
Date: 1956
Description: Morris
K. Jessup publishes The UFO Annual, an anthology of newspaper and
magazine articles about UFOs, and UFO and the Bible, the first
book-length attempt to connect biblical miracles with space visitors.
Jessup is the first writer to use the term “ufology” in his introduction
(dated December 31, 1955). (Morris K. Jessup, The UFO Annual, Citadel,
1956; Clark III 106, 634–635)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2768
Date: 1956
Description: Soviet “Krasnoyarsk-45” nuclear weapons program plant opens
(Uranium enrichment)
Type: atomic plant
Reference: link
Location: Soviet Union
Date: 1956
Description: Gray
Barker publishes They Knew Too Much about Flying Saucers, a
bestselling book about the supposed Albert
K.
Bender mystery and his encounter with three men in black. (Gray
Barker, They
Knew Too Much about Flying Saucers, University
Books, 1956; Clark III 178, 190; David Halperin, “‘They
Knew Too Much’: The Book That (Almost)
Scared Me under My Bed,” Ms.Horror.com, March 16, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2767
Date: 1956
Description: French ufologist Aimé
Michel publishes The Truth about Flying Saucers, one of the best
early books on UFOs, originally published in French in 1954. (Aimé
Michel, The Truth about Flying Saucers, Criterion, 1956; “First Read:
Aimé Michel’s ‘The Truth about Flying Saucers,’” Magonia, February
25, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2766
Date: 1956
Description: Much UFO activity in South America
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: South America
Date: 1956
Description: According to researcher Yuri Stroganov, Russian intel
chiefs met with counterparts from France, Britain, and the USA to
discuss the UFO problem. The agreed upon the necessity to keep the issue
top secret and maintain a unified approach in handling witnesses, the
media and UFO research groups.
Type: secret meeting
Reference: “The
Alien Gene”, Moira McGhee, page 69
See also: 1955
Date: 1956
Description: Soviet polar aviator Valentin
Akkuratov is flying a Tupolev Tu-4 aircraft near Cape Morris Jesup,
Greenland, performing strategic ice reconnaissance. Dropping down below
the clouds, he sees an unknown object moving on the port side parallel
to his course. It looks like a “large pearl-colored lens with wavy,
pulsating edges.” Thinking it is a US aircraft, Akkuratov heads back
into the clouds. After flying for 40 minutes to the southeast, the cloud
cover ends and Akkuratov encounters it again. He decides to approach the
object, which changes course and paces the airplane at the same speed.
After 15–18 minutes, the UFO sharply alters course, speeds ahead, and
rises quickly until it disappears. (Felix Ziegel, “Unidentified
Flying Objects,” Soviet Life, no. 137 (February 1968): 27– 29; Good
Above, pp. 226–227)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2769
Date: 1956
Description: E. R. Rayburn, Twin Falls, Idaho see saucer capture 400lbs
steer from farm
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Twin Falls, Idaho
Attributes: cattle mutilation
Date: 1956
Description: Much UFO activity and interest in Mexico.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Mexico
Date: 1956
Description: Fishermen at lake Ozero Blagodati, Primorsky Krai, Russia,
allegedly see an enormous silvery object with an apparent diameter of
4,900 feet rapidly flying above them at 1,960 feet. It resembles a hat
with red portholes around its rim and is accompanied by loud grinding
sounds and black smoke. The object emits numerous thin metal threads
resembling horse hairs that the fishermen pick up the next day. The
object crashes into the Sea of Japan. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s
USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, pp. 113–114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2770
Date: 1956
Alternate date: 1957
Description: 7:45 p.m. W. J. Kyncy is aboard the destroyer USS
Maddox in
the North Pacific between Midway Island and Japan. He and some 30 other
sailors on the stern see a steady orange light coming toward them at
about 50 mph. It stops for 2 minutes about 1,300 feet away at about 400
feet altitude. It begins moving again at 35 mph then blinks out after
5–10 seconds. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1982): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2771
Date: 1/1956
Description: The US Army Chemical Corps begins classified human
experiments at its Edgewood Arsenal facility at the Aberdeen Proving
Ground, Maryland. The Medical Research Volunteer Program (1956–1975) is
driven by intelligence requirements and the need for new and more
effective interrogation techniques. Overall, about 7,000 soldiers take
part in these experiments that involve exposure to more than 250
different chemicals. Some of the volunteers exhibit symptoms at the time
of exposure to these agents but long-term follow-up is not planned as
part of the Department of Defense studies. The experiments are abruptly
terminated by the Army in late 1975 amid an atmosphere of scandal and
recrimination as lawmakers accuse researchers of questionable ethics.
Many official government reports and civilian lawsuits follow in the
wake of the controversy. The chemical agents include VX, sarin, mustard
gas, atropine, scopolamine, 2-PAM chloride, LSD, PCP, cannabinoids, riot
control agents, alcohol, and caffeine. (Wikipedia, “Edgewood
Arsenal human experiments”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2772
Date: 1/1956
Description: Edward
J. Ruppelt’s Report on Unidentified Flying Objects is published. His
candid opinions about UFOs contradict many of the positions taken on
UFOs by the Air Force. He has personally seen the Estimate of the
Situation, he confirms the existence of Fournet’s
motion study, and he first describes the basic contours of the Robertson
Panel. (Edward J. Ruppelt, The
Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, Doubleday,
1956; Michael D. Swords, [Review], JUFOS 3 (1991): 179–183)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2773
Date: 1/9/1956
Description: The CIA’s Applied Science Division takes on the job of
holding UFO reports. (ClearIntent, p. 135)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2774
Date: 1/13/1956
Description: UFO researcher Morris
K. Jessup receives a letter from someone in New Kensington,
Pennsylvania, who calls himself Carlos
Miguel Allende [a pseudonym of Carl Allen], who alludes to a US Navy
experiment to make a destroyer invisible in October 1943 [the bogus
Philadelphia Experiment]. He writes another letter postmarked May 25
that suggests hypnosis or truth serum might bring out more details.
(Wikipedia, “Philadelphia Experiment”;
Clark III 95; Andrew H. Hochheimer, “The
Carl Allen Letters,” The Philadelphia Experiment from A–Z, January
31, 2001)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2775
Date: 1/15/1956
Description: An object the apparent size of a washtub is seen falling
into the sea 150 feet offshore Busan, South Korea, by large numbers of
townspeople. The glow continues for an hour and a half before the object
sinks. Korean and American military authorities are alerted. Military
Police Cpl. Ben Elliot observes the glow, which resembles burning
alcohol or benzene. (Samuel Norman, “Recent UFOs over Japan,” Fate 9,
no. 6 (June 1956): 22–24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2776
Date: 1/22/1956
Description: Jonathan
N. Leonard reviews Harold
T. Wilkins’s Flying Saucers Uncensored, Keyhoe’s
Flying Saucer Conspiracy, and Ruppelt’s
Report on UFOs in the New York Times. He calls Wilkins a mystic, Keyhoe
“repetitious and unconvincing,” and Ruppelt (most unfairly) “the longest
and dullest of the current crop of saucer books.” (Jonathan N. Leonard,
“Visitors
from Space,” New York Times Book Review, January 22, 1956,
p. 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2777
Date: 1/31/1956
Description: 3:24 p.m. Kentucky National Guard pilot Lt. Col. Lee
J. Merkel is flying an F-51 Mustang out of Standiford Field [now
Louisville International Airport] in Louisville, Kentucky, on a
maintenance test flight. His aircraft crashes 10 miles north of Bedford,
Indiana, following some confusing information from various sources about
an unknown radar target or visual observation in the vicinity.
(ClearIntent, pp. 62–63;
Good Need, pp. 215– 216)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2778
Date: 2/5/1956
Description: Soviet atomic bomb test R-5M. The RDS-4 comprised the
warhead of the R-5M, the first medium-range ballistic missile in the
world, which was tested with a live warhead for the first and only time
on February 5, 1956.
Type: atomic
Reference: Wikipedia
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Kapustin Yar
Atomic type: aboveground
Atomic KT: .3
Date: 2/7/1956
Description: Engineer Norman S. Bean gives a lecture to a discussion
group in Coral Gables, FL
Type: lecture
Reference: NICAP
Location: Coral Gables, FL
Date: 2/8/1956
Description: Miami News: Engineer Norman S. Bean gives a lecture on
flying saucers
Type: lecture
Reference: NICAP
Location: Miami, FL
Date: 2/9/1956
Description: In a memo, “Responsibility for Unidentified Flying
Objects,” the CIA’s Applied Science Division retains files for incoming
raw reports that might provide information on foreign weapons R&D.
Other (more significant?) reports are forwarded to the Fundamental
Sciences Area for review of information on foreign science developments.
Still others are to be destroyed. (ClearIntent, pp. 135–136)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2780
Date: 2/9/1956
Description: 1:30 a.m. Patrolmen Marvin Poer and John Freeland see a
ball of fire plunge behind the breakwater at Redondo Beach, California.
It bobs on the water’s surface before sinking into 15 feet of water some
300 feet off the shore. Five county lifeguards row out to look for it
and retrieve a US Army Signal Corps battery light that was dropped from
an airplane. (“Sea
Cools Mystery of Hot Disk,” Los Angeles (Calif.) Mirror-News,
February 9, 1956, p. 8; “Sea-Saucer
or Searchlight?” CRIFO Orbit 2, no. 12 (March 2, 1956): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2779
Date: 2/12/1956
Description: 10:55 p.m. Two F-89D fighters flying at 20,000 feet, one
crewed by pilot Bowen and radar observer Crawford, suddenly see a green
and red object 40 miles southeast of Goose Bay AFB [now CFB Goose Bay],
Labrador. It rapidly circles thir jet, and the other fighter tracks it
on radar but cannot see it visually. About 15 minutes later, operators
at Goose Bay paint a stationary target about 40 miles southwest of the
base. The two pilots vectot toward the object and obtain radar contact,
but it vanishes when they get within 8 miles. (Sparks,
p. 233; Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night,
2022, p. 262)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2781
Date: 2/12/1956
Time: 11:25 PM
Description: Witnesses: F-89 pilot Bowen, radar observer Crawford. One
green and red object rapidly circled the aircraft while being tracked on
radar during 1 minute sighting. No further details.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada
ID: 399
Date: 2/17/1956
Description: 10:50 p.m. Air traffic controllers at Orly Airport, Paris,
France, see a target appear on their radar screens that is twice the
size of a conventional aircraft. It cruises around, hovers, and
accelerates at fantastic speeds, and is tracked for a total of 4 hours.
When it first appears on radar it is directly above Gometz-le-Châtel,
Seine et Oise, and 30 seconds later it is 19 miles away, having moved at
nearly 2,500 mph. A second, smaller target appears, identified as an Air
France DC-3 airliner flying over the Les Mureaux military base,
Yvelines, at 4,500 feet (800 feet lower than the UFO). Orly radios the
pilot to alert him to the unidentified target. Radio Officer Beaupertuis
sees the object through a window on the starboard side of the
plane—enormous in size, indistinct in outline, and lit in some areas
with a red glow. Capt. Michel Desavoye confirms the sighting, saying he
and the crew watch the object for 30 seconds and are certain it is no
civil airliner. The sighting duration is nearly 3 hours. (NICAP, “Large
UFO Tracked on Ground Radar”; “A
Saucer Shows Up over Paris and Creates a Stir in a Radar Room and a
Cockpit,” Flying Saucer Review 2, no. 2 (March/April 1956): 3;
Patrick Gross, “Orly
Airport, France, February 1956”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2782
Date: 2/18/1956
Description: Stringfield receives
a letter from Lord
Hugh Dowding that says he doesn’t think there is an official
“British attitude to UFOs.” (Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest,
1977, p. 165)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2783
Date: 2/19/1956
Time: 6:07 AM
Description: Witnesses: crew of Eastern Airlines Super Constellation.
One intense white light, moving 4-5 times the speed of the airplane, was
evaded by the pilot.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Houston, Texas
ID: 400
Date: 3/1956
Description: Mechanix Illustrated publishes a story on the Avro Canada
MX-1794 (Y-2, or Silver Bug) vertical take-off gyroplane under
development by the US Air Force. The cover proclaims, “U.S. Air Force
Reveals Our Flying Saucer.” Through 1958, Avro spends $2.5 million and
the USAF $5.4 million funding the project. Numerous models are built,
and wind-tunnel testing is undertaken at MIT and Wright-Patterson AFB.
The design includes eight Armstrong Siddeley Viper turbojet engines, a
very large center rotor/impeller with Lundstrom compressor turbines,
with the cockpit mounted in the top center. Control is achieved through
eight small exhausts at the outer edge, directed either through the top
or bottom, in addition to the main turbine exhaust through the bottom
center of the craft. A multiengine test rig is built and tested in 1956,
resulting in powerful thrust, a great deal of noise, and vibrations. In
1957, the USAF provides additional funding to extend the project, by
then highly classified and designated as Weapon System 606A. The concept
developed is for a circular-winged, supersonic aircraft. Over 1,000
hours of wind-tunnel testing are performed. Drawings developed by Avro
show an aircraft that appears to be a merging of a flying saucer with
more conventional fuselage shapes—a tailless aircraft with circular
wings. (Wikipedia, “Avro
Canada”; Willy Ley, “How
the Flying Saucer Works,” Mechanix Illustrated 52 (March 1956):
78–81; Good Need, p. 215;
Charles Mandel, “A
Saucer from Mars? Nope, Canada,” Wired, July 5, 2001)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2784
Date: 3/3/1956
Description: Science fiction movie “Forbidden Planet” is released
Type: movie
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: US
Date: 3/10/1956
Description: British pilot Peter
Twiss reaches an official airspeed of 1,132 mph in a Fairey Delta 2
over Chichester, England. (Wikipedia, “Peter
Twiss”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2785
Date: 3/16/1956
Description: Stringfield receives
a letter from Gen. John
A. Samford that ends his affiliation with ADC. (Stringfield,
Situation Red, Fawcett Crest, 1977, p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2786
Date: spring 1956
Description: The Flying Saucer Discussion Group begins meeting on a
more-or-less monthly basis at the YWCA in Washington, D.C. It is begun
by Mrs. Walton
C. “Clara” John, the
publisher of a mimeographed zine called The Little Listening Post, which
often covers UFOs. (“‘Toward
a Broader Understanding…’: The Story of How NICAP
Began,” UFO Investigator, October 1971, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2787
Date: 4/1956
Description: An annotated copy of the paperback edition of Morris
K. Jessup’s The Case for the UFO (1955) is sent in a manila envelope
from Seminole, Texas, to Adm. Frederick
R. Furth, chief of the Office of Naval Research. The annotations are
written in three different colors of ink, apparently by three persons,
A, B, and Jemi, who claim to know a great deal about the UFO
intelligences. They mention space people, underwater cities, force
fields, and much more. The book falls into the possession of Maj. Darrell
L. Ritter, USMC
aeronautical project officer at ONR, who brings it to the attention of
ONR Capt. Sidney Sherby and ONR Projects Officer Cmdr. George
W. Hoover, who
become interested and get permission (as long as it does not involve
official naval personnel) to send the copy to the Varo Manufacturing
Company, in Garland, Texas, which has contracts with the military. Varo
publishes 25 spiral-bound copies of the book in black and red ink, which
shows the annotations. Meanwhile, Jessup has been receiving at least two
strange letters (January 13 and May 25, 1956) from someone calling
himself Carlos
Miguel Allende, which
claim that as a result of a strange experiment at sea utilizing
principles of Einstein’s Field Theory, a destroyer (identified by some
as the USS
Eldridge and others by the USS
Engstrom, which were not in the Philadelphia Navy Yard at the time)
and all its crew became invisible in October 1943, but the sailors
showed side effects. Allende says he has witnessed all of this. Sherby
talks to Jessup about the Varo edition; Jessup isn’t much interested but
tells him about the Allende letters, which talk about the same things as
the annotations and are obviously written by the same person. Gray
Barker’s Saucerian Press publishes the Varo edition in July 1972.
Sometime in the 1970s, Carlos Allende appears at APRO headquarters and
confesses that the whole annotations thing was a hoax, but he surfaces a
few years later saying that the CIA coerced him into saying it was a
hoax. In the late 1970s, Robert
A. Goerman identifies Allende as Carl Allen, who lives near him in
Pennsylvania. In the October 1980 issue of Fate, Goerman explains the
entire mess, saying that Allen had written all three of the annotation
types. Bill
Moore and Charles
Berlitz take the whole thing seriously enough to write The
Philadelphia Experiment in 1979, which links the force fields back to T.
Townsend Brown, later the founder of NICAP. (Morris K. Jessup, The
Case for the UFO, annotated
Varo ed., Saucerian, 1972; Wikipedia, “Philadelphia
Experiment”; Ivan T. Sanderson, “Jessup
and the Allende Case,” Pursuit 1, no. 4 (September 30, 1968): 8–10;
William L. Moore, with Charles Berlitz, The
Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility, Grosset and Dunlap,
1979; Robert A. Goerman, “Alias Carlos Allende,” Fate 33, no. 10
(October 1980): 69–75; Clark III 95–97; Kevin D. Randle, “The
Allende Letters,” A Different Perspective, July 5, 2009; Kevin D.
Randle, “Chasing
Sources: The Philadelphia Experiment,” A Different Perspective,
August 9, 2016; Andrew H. Hochheimer, “Carlos
Miguel Allende or Carl Meredith Allen or…,” The Philadelphia
Experiment from A–Z, August 13, 2016; Andrew H. Hochheimer, “The
Varo Edition,” The Philadelphia Experiment from A–Z, December 13,
2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2789
Date: 4/1956
Description: USAF Capt. George
T. Gregory succeeds Capt. Charles
Hardin as director of Project Blue Book. (Sparks,
p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2788
Date: 4/3/1956
Description: Keyhoe writes
a lengthy letter to Sen. Harry
F. Byrd (D-Va.), criticizing Air Force secrecy, deconstructing Blue
Book Special Report no. 14, and requesting a congressional hearing.
Keyhoe asks Byrd to forward his letter to the Air Force for a response,
but he forwards it himself anyway, as does Byrd. The Air Force’s Gen. Joe
W. Kelly responds,
dismissing both Keyhoe and UFOs. (Swords 222–223)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2791
Date: 4/3/1956
Description: CIA agent Joseph
Bryan III writes to Ruppelt,
saying that while he served as special assistant to Air Force Secretary
Thomas
Finletter, he
tried to “have him prepare a statement for release when communication
was established with a saucer.” Finletter declines to do so. (Michael
David Hall and Wendy Ann Connors, Captain Edward J. Ruppelt: Summer of
the Saucers, Rose Press International, 2000, p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2790
Date: 4/4/1956
Time: 3:15 PM
Description: Witnesses: Capt. Roy Hall, U.S. Army, ret.; Charles
Anderson and others; some observed through a 6” telescope, others
through a 55-200x telescope. One fat, oblong object with two lines
around its middle, remained stationary for 6 hours.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: McKinney, Texas
ID: 401
Date: 4/5/1956
End date: 5/10/1956
Description: Some 156 overflight missions into Soviet territory by RB-47
reconnaissance aircraft from Thule Air Base in Greenland begin in
Operation Home Run. They fly over the North Pole and into Siberia,
probing for electronic intelligence. (Wikipedia, “Project
HOMERUN”; R. Cargill Hall and Clayton D. Laurie, eds., Early Cold
War Overflights, 1950–1956: Symposium Proceedings Held at the Tighe
Auditorium, Defense Intelligence Agency, 22–23 February 2001, Volume 1,
US National Reconnaissance Office, 2003, pp. 259–313)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2792
Date: 4/6/1956
Description: Two men saw a silvery, balloonshaped craft about 2 m in
diameter land in a field 100 m away from them, about 8 km east of
McKinney. They stopped their car to investigate, but the object took off
at fantastic speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: McKinney, Texas
ID: 379
Date: 4/7/1956
Description: Elizabeth
Klarer returns to Flying Saucer Hill southwest of Rosetta,
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, drawn by a strange compulsion. The
spaceship is waiting for her, and Akon takes her in his hands and says,
“Not afraid this time?” He leads her on board the craft, which she
learns also carries a second alien, who looks much like Akon except he
is darker and more muscular. As the ship first rises into space, Akon
says he has been watching her for some time. He lets her look at the
earth below through a viewing lens that also has x-ray capability. The
saucer goes to a “mother ship” filled with friendly space people. At one
point a huge video image projected on the wall allows her to view scenes
from their home planet, Meton, in the Alpha Centauri system. They serve
her a vegetarian meal. Klarer and Akon begin a lifelong romantic
attachment that includes sexual activity. (“Landing
in South
Africa,” Flying Saucer Review 2, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1956): 2–5;
Elizabeth Klarer, Beyond
the Light Barrier, Howard Timmins, 1980; Clark III 657; Paul
Seaburn, “Woman
from Earth Claimed to Have Already Been to Proxima
b,” Mysterious Universe, August 31, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2793
Date: 4/7/1956
Description: Elizabeth Klarer, South Africa takes ride in saucer, talks
to Venusians.
Type: ce4 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: South Africa
Date: 4/8/1956
Description: 10:15 p.m. Capt. Raymond
E. Ryan, First
Officer William Neff, flight attendant Phyllis Reynolds, and many
passengers take off on American Airlines Flight 715 from Albany, New
York, heading north then nearly due west at 260 mph and 6,000 feet north
of Schenectady, when a brilliant white light about 2–3 miles away is
spotted about 90° to the left appearing like an airliner heading in to
land at Albany. The white light moves about 90° to dead ahead position
about 8–10 miles away at high speed, estimated at about 800–1,000 mph,
where it changes color to orange and seems to block the airliner’s path
or risk collision. It disappears briefly and reappears as an orange
light again but standing still ahead of the airliner to the west. The
Convair airliner contacts Griffiss AFB [now Griffiss International
Airport], Rome, New York, where controllers ask Ryan to turn his lights
off and on to help identify aircraft. He is told the airliner is seen
and the orange UFO are to the south. The airliner is ordered to maintain
course to follow the UFO to the west, skipping its scheduled landing at
Syracuse after nearly 30 minutes of following the object. The promised
fighter jet interception is never seen. The object disappears at high
speed to the northwest towards Oswego, New York. (NICAP, “Air
Force Requests Plane Loaded with Passengers to Chase UFO”; Sparks,
p. 236; “Cover-Up
Suspected in Reported Air–UFO Chase,” UFO Investigator 1, no. 3
(January 1958): 10–12; UFOEv, p. 117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2794
Date: 4/8/1956
Time: 2345
Description: Near Exauroux, two brothers, 18 and 20, saw a red ball to
their left coming down and hovering at tree height. It then left at
fantastic speed. Three additional witnesses reported it independently.
The object was a disk about 7.5 m in diameter, with a red dome, and
rotating fins under it. It emitted a yellow-orange glow.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Elboeuf, France
ID: 380
Date: 4/16/1956
Description: An interview with Ryan and
Neff is taped on the TV show Meet the Millers. They claim that Griffiss
AFB “asked us our next point of landing and to identify the aircraft. I
told them Syracuse and identified the flight number. Then they told us:
‘Abandon that next landiat-postcardat-postcardng temporarily. Maintain
your course and altitude. We’re sending two jets to intercept the
object.’” About the UFO, Ryan says, “This was absolutely real. I’m
convinced there was something fantastic up there.” Keyhoe obtains
a copy of the tape. (NICAP, [transcript
of Meet
the Millers program, April
16, 1956])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2795
Date: 4/16/1956
Time: 0500
Description: On Route 1, just before dawn, two government employees saw
for a few seconds a large, top-shaped object passing over their car. It
was as large as the road and made no sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Henderson, North Carolina
ID: 381
Date: 4/28/1956
Description: At the third Giant Rock Interplanetary Spacecraft
Convention near Landers, California, contactee Dick Miller plays tape
recordings allegedly made by Mon-Ka, a Martian, in which he asks Los
Angeles radio stations to shut down for two minutes at 10:30 p.m. on
November 7, 1956, so that Mon-Ka can speak from his spacecraft. As a
publicity gimmick, two radio stations (KATY [now KYNS] of San Luis
Obispo and KBIA of Los Angeles) go off the air at that time, and KTTV in
Los Angeles sends up an airplane to watch for the approaching
spacecraft. Nothing happens. (Clark III 531, 766–767)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2796
Date: 5/1/1956
Description: USAF Gen. Joe
W. Kelly writes to Sen. Harry
F. Byrd (D-Va.) that there is a “total lack of evidence that [UFOs]
are interplanetary vehicles.” (“How
about Those Three Secret Reports, General Kelly?” CSI News Letter,
no. 5 (September 21, 1956): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2797
Date: 5/1/1956
Description: Air Force Manual section 190-4 goes into effect. It affects
all USAF official press releases, statements to Congress and the public,
and publications about UFOs. It requires the Secretary of the Air Force
Office of Information to “delete all evidence of UFO reality and
intelligent control, which would, of course, contradict the Air Force
stand that UFOs do not exist.” NICAP is made aware of the regulation in
1962 when former USAF information spokesman Maj. William
T. Coleman admits to a NICAP member that Maj. Lawrence
J. Tacker’s book Flying Saucers and the US Air Force was reviewed
under AFM 190-4. (“Air
Force Reveals Censorship Controls,”
UFO Investigator 2, no. 4 (July 1962): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2798
Date: 5/1/1956
Description: 7:55 p.m. Koto Ward, a factory worker, along with many
others, see a large bright object flying low over the rooftops in Tokyo,
Japan. Turuko Kurihara, in a different location, sees a greenish object
at 7:59 p.m. The object makes no noise but causes severe distortion on
the TV sets in the area. (Schopick,
p. 103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2799
Date: 5/3/1956
Description: Hollywood producer Clarence
Greene releases a semi-documentary about the UFO phenomenon in the
US, U.F.O. Edward
J. Ruppelt, Dewey
Fournet, and Albert
M. Chop assist in the production. The principal character is Chop,
played by Los Angeles Examiner journalist Tom
Towers, and examines his career going from skeptical USAF public
information officer to Pentagon UFO press spokesman. The film uses only
one professional actor, Harry
Morgan, in
a voiceover part. UFO witnesses Delbert Newhouse, Nicholas
Mariana, and
Willis
Sperry play themselves, and Los Angeles policemen stand in for
Ruppelt, Fournet, and Gen William
Garland. The Air Force carefully monitors its reception and readies
itself to counter the film’s impact. The documentary analyzes two famous
pieces of UFO footage: the Montana film of 1950 and the 1952 UFO Utah
film (both shown for the first time in public). It concludes with the
famous 1952 Washington, D.C., UFO incident, in which Chop played a
central role, and recreates his experiences. At the end of the
documentary, Chop states his belief that UFOs are a real, physical
phenomenon of unknown origin. (Wikipedia, “UFO
(1956
film)”; Internet Movie Database, “Unidentified
Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers”; Robert Barrow,
“Unidentified Flying Objects, Accidental Epic,” IUR 30, no. 2 (January
2006): 3–6; Robert Barrow, “Tom Towers: The Other Al Chop,” IUR 30, no.
4 (August 2006): 17–19; Clark III 1188–1189; Swords 222; Curt Collins,
“Project
Blue Book: UFO,
the Motion
Picture,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, August 24, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2800
Date: 5/4/1956
Description: 9:30 p.m. Rev. Charles Burmeister, an amateur astronomer,
sees five “orange blobs” flying in a U-shape formation east to west at
high speed over Marinette, Wisconsin. His son joins him to watch. One
more object passes in the same flight path, then a group of six, then
one more, followed by another. Blue Book classes the sighting as meteors
without even consulting Hynek, who
later says that meteors do not fly in formation. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1955 May–July,
The Author, 1993, pp. 2–7; Swords 229–230)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2801
Date: 5/9/1956
Time: 2300
Description: Two girls, Joan Frost and Gertie Wynn, while waiting for a
bus, saw two pulsating lights flying horizontally and disappearing. 15
min later the lights were seen again, stopping at the zenith, merging,
and diving to 50 m altitude. As the bus arrived, it seemed that the
objects had separated and were about to abduct the witnesses, and they
ran to the vehicle in terror.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Mar., 59 (Vallee)
Location: Jacksonville, Florida
ID: 382
Date: 5/22/1956
Description: 11:05 p.m. USAF 1st Lt. Earl D. Holwadel and 1st Lt. Curtis
Carley are piloting a T-33 jet at 18,000 feet 58 miles northwest of
Monroe, Louisiana, when they see a bright light due east. They see it
again in the east at 11:15 p.m. Holwadel banks right to the southeast
somewhat behind the object, which is now a great distance away. The
object suddenly comes straight at them at high speed, passing in front
of the T-33 at about 225 feet away. It flashes an intensely bright white
light from a “greenhouse-shaped dome” or cockpit window at its front end
that lights up the canopy of the T-33. The object is about 30-40 feet
long, elliptical in shape, shorter than a C-47 but wider, a small steady
red running light in the center, with no wings, only stubby protrusions
extending 3-4 feet and 25 feet long on each side. The bottom surface is
like steel with ribs extending down 2–4 feet with a wave-like
appearance. It moves away then returns at high speed on a westerly
course with “fantastic” maneuverability. It never changes flight
attitude at any time. (NICAP, “Elliptical
Object Comes Straight at T-33”; Walter N. Webb, “Inside Building
263: A Visit to Blue Book, 1956,” IUR 17, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1992):
cover, 5; Sparks, p. 237)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2802
Date: 6/1956
Alternate date: 6/1957
Description: RNZAF Airman Derek Mansell is a passenger in a Bristol 170
Freighter Mk 31M near Wellington, New Zealand, when the aircraft
encounters severe turbulence and its compass and other instruments spin
wildly. All communications fail and the engine spurts intermittently for
25 minutes before everything returns to normal. When the Freighter lands
at RNZAF Base Ohakea near Bulls, the pilot of a Douglas C-47 Dakota
lands and asks them whether they had seen a huge metallic disc about 250
feet in diameter with a blue light on top and a red light on the bottom,
which he had observed just above the Freighter pacing it. The Dakota
crew apparently took photos, but these have not turned up. After a
two-hour debriefing, both crews are told never to discuss the matter.
(Good Above, pp. 432–433)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2805
Date: 6/1956
Description: 10:00 p.m. Two women are driving north toward New
Hampshire, Ohio, when a bright light approaches them from a small wooded
area. They stop their car to look at it. The light is attached to a
large rectangular object resembling a railroad box car that settles near
the ground at the edge of the highway opposite to them about 30 feet
away. Suddenly the side of the object facing them lights up from inside
with a pale green light and they can see three small entities. One is
standing next to a console “operating some kind of controls,” and the
two others are also active. For 5 minutes, they appear to be observing
the women. The entities have dark hair on their heads and arms and are
wearing short-sleeved smocks. The object moves up and away toward the
southwest and disappears. (“Unreported
1956 CEIII Discovered in Ohio,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 3
(June/July 1982): 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2806
Date: 6/6/1956
Time: 0430
Description: An object hovered about 30 m above and 100 m away from the
witness’s car. Showing something like a dome on top, it crossed the road
slowly, turned, and crossed the road again behind the car, then vanished
suddenly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Banning, California
ID: 383
Date: 6/6/1956
Time: 5:30 AM
Description: Witness: Mr. Bierman. One thin disc with a small dome,
shimmering silver, hovered about 100 yards away for 8-10 seconds, then
zoomed up.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Banning, California
ID: 402
Date: 6/13/1956
Description: Science fiction movie “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” is
released
Type: movie
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: US
Date: 6/13/1956
Description: Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, an American black-and-white
science fiction film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Charles
H. Schneer, directed
by Fred
F. Sears, starring Hugh
Marlowe and Joan
Taylor, and with special effects by Ray
Harryhausen, is
released in Los Angeles. The film’s storyline is suggested by Donald
E. Keyhoe’s
nonfiction Flying Saucers from Outer Space (1953), but bears little
resemblance to the content. Keyhoe has sold the rights to Clover
Productions in Hollywood. (Wikipedia, “Earth
vs. the Flying Saucers”; Internet Movie Database, “Earth
vs. the Flying Saucers”; Clark III 434)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2807
Date: 6/14/1956
Description: Walter
N. Webb visits and interviews Project Blue Book head Capt. George
T. Gregory at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohiob . (Walter N. Webb,
“Inside Building 263: A Visit to Blue Book, 1956,” IUR 17, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1992): 3–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2808
Date: summer 1956
Description: 11:30 p.m. A cigar-shaped UFO with lighted portholes is
seen by two witnesses in the southwest part of Springfield, Illinois.
The car driven by one of the witnesses quits, and the UFO seems to
affect the traffic lights as well. The object looks slightly smaller
than a blimp. After about 30 seconds it moves straight up and
disappears. (Michael D. Swords, “The Timmerman Files,” IUR 26, no. 4
(Winter 2001–2002): 14, 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2804
Date: summer 1956 (approximate)
Description: Morris
K. Jessup is invited to the Office of Naval Research to examine the
mysteriously annotated version of his The Case for the UFO. He becomes
convinced that his correspondent Carl
Allen has written all or most of it. Capt. Sidney Sherby and Cmdr.
Hoover ask
for the Allen letters and these are included in a special printing of
the annotated book by the Varo Publishing Company of Garland, Texas. In
1969, Allen confesses to APRO that he had written the annotations, but
he retracts the confession later. (Clark III 95–97; Andrew H.
Hochheimer, “The Varo
Edition,” The Philadelphia Experiment from A–Z, December 13,
2016).
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2803
Date: 6/25/1956
Description: ATIC’s Col. John
Eriksen, writing for Secretary of the Air Force Donald
A. Quarles, replies to a query from Rep. John
E. Moss (D-Calif.), explaining why USAF is not handing out multiple
copies of Blue Book Special Report no. 14 and that it does not intend to
withhold UFO information from the public. (Swords 223)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2809
Date: 7/1956
Description: US parapsychologist Andrija
Puharich and Dutch psychic Peter
Hurkos accidentally meet Charles Laughead and his wife Lillian in
Acámbaro, Guanajuato, Mexico, both groups in town to view the famous
figurines of Waldemar
Julsrud, during
the time that Hurkos is being studied by Puharich at his medical
facility in Glen Cove, Maine. The Laugheads are convinced that Puharich
and Hurkos are space people come to assist them, based on the
channelings of their associate George
Hunt Williamson (although they do not name him). (Andrija Puharich,
Uri: A Journal of the Mystery of Uri Geller, Bantam, 1975, pp. xviii–xxiv;
Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamson,
Verdechiari, 2016, p. 104)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2811
Date: 7/1956
Description: Brinsley
Le Poer Trench, 8th
Earl of Clancarty, takes over as editor of Flying Saucer Review from Derek Dempster. (Flying
Saucer Review 2, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1956); Clark III 498)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2810
Date: 7/4/1956
Description: Pilot Hervey
Stockman makes the first of eight U-2 flights over Soviet Russia,
Mission 2013. He flies from Wiesbaden over East Germany and Poland
before crossing the Soviet border near Grodno, Belarus, then over bomber
bases at Minsk, Belarus; Leningrad [now St. Petersburg], Russia; and the
Baltic states. The mission is tracked by Soviet radar; a number of MiG
fighters unsuccessfully try to intercept the U-2. (Spyflight,
“Lockheed U-2”; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 86–88)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2812
Date: 7/9/1956
Description: One early U-2 mission, Mission 2020, flown by Martin
Knutson, flies over Engels-2 airfield, near Saratov, Russia, and
photographs 20 M-4 Bison bombers on the ramp. Multiplying by the number
of Soviet bomber bases, the intelligence suggests the Soviets are
already well on their way to deploying hundreds of aircraft. Ironically,
the U-2 has actually photographed the entire Bison fleet; there is no
bomber at any of the other bases. Similar missions over the next year
finally prove that. At least in official circles, the bomber gap is
disproven. (Spyflight, “Lockheed U-2”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2813
Date: 7/10/1956
Description: The Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, coastline and suburbs
are draped with “angel hair” that hangs from utility lines and trees. It
vanishes within hours, but a sample is recovered for analysis by the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation. It cannot be
identified, although six scientists rule out wool, cotton, feathers,
cellulose, and synthetic fibers. (Brian Boldman, “Angel Hair Physical
Analyses: A Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006): 102; Keith Basterfield, “Angel
Hair: An Australian Perspective,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2814
Date: 7/16/1956
Description: 7:00 p.m. Lawyer (or law professor) João de Freitas
Guimarães is taking a walk on the beach at Caraguatatuba, São Paulo,
Brazil, when he observes a hat-shaped, luminous object leave the sea
between São Sebastião and Ilhabela and land only a few yards away from
him. A door opens, a metallic stairway emerges, and two tall,
human-looking men with long, fair hair emerge wearing green jumpsuits.
Through gestures, they encourage him to enter the craft. Inside, the
saucer takes off and the crew communicate with him telepathically,
telling him about a radiation protection system that exists around the
ship and that they have left the atmosphere. They are supposedly from
Venus. His alleged trip lasts an hour. When he returns, his watch no
longer works. (Luiz do Rosário Real, “Caso
Dr. Freitas Guimarães,” April 1976; Clark III 548–549; Vallée,
Magonia, pp. 257–258;
Equipe UFO, “João
de Freitas Guimarães, o advogado que passeou em um UFO,” Portal UFO,
October 1, 2013; Brazil 32–35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2815
Date: 7/17/1956
Description: Elizabeth
Klarer takes several photos of a silvery disc as it is hovering
around Flying Saucer Hill, southwest of Rosetta, KwaZulu-Natal, South
Africa. (Clark III 657–658)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2816
Date: 7/19/1956
Description: Michael Savage, Cal. takes pic of saucer.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: California
Attributes: ufo photo
Date: 7/19/1956
Description: President Eisenhower temporarily
halts U-2 overflights above eastern Europe. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
U-2”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2817
Date: 7/19/1956
Description: Naval Air Station Hutchinson [now Hutchinson Air Force
Station], Kansas, reports tracking “a moving unidentified object” on
radar, observed visually by state police as a “teardrop shaped” light
source. Witnesses report “noticeable maneuvers of UFO vertically and
horizontally over a wide area of the sky.” (NICAP, “NAS
Tracks UFO”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2818
Date: 7/20/1956
Description: Three witnesses independently claimed that they observed a
huge, ballshaped object from which emerged three beings. They were
nearly 2 m tall, had long, blond hair, and wore tight, green
suits.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Hanlon; Humanoids 64 (Vallee)
Location: Panorama City, California
ID: 384
Date: 7/20/1956
Description: In a lecture delivered at a meeting of Clara
John’s Flying Saucer Discussion Group, author Morris
K. Jessup declares that it is time for a new UFO organization. A
consensus is reached that a Washington, D.C.–based agency should
investigate UFOs, and T.
Townsend Brown offers to draft a preliminary proposal. (Clark III
792; “‘Toward
a Broader Understanding…’: The Story of How NICAP Began,” UFO
Investigator, October 1971, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2819
Date: 7/20/1956
Description: Three witnesses in the Panorama City neighborhood of Los
Angeles, California, independently observe a huge, ball-shaped object
from which emerge three beings. They are nearly 6 feet tall and have
long, blond hair, and wear tight, green suits. (Donald B. Hanlon, “Questions
on the Occupants,” in Charles Bowen, ed., The Humanoids, special
issue of FSR, Oct./Dec. 1966, p. 64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2820
Date: late 7/1956
Description: A group of US Navy pilots based at Naval Air Station Los
Alamitos [now Joint Forces Training Base–Los Alamitos], California, tell
news reporters from Orange County News Service that they have orders to
shoot down any UFOs that seem hostile. The pilots say this is a standard
command issued to pilots on the US to Hawaii run. (“Unanswered
Questions: No. 4, Have UFOs Been Fired Upon?” Flying Saucer Review
3, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1957): 18–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2823
Date: 7/22/1956
Description: 5:30 a.m. Mrs. Ray Brown sees an egg-shaped object giving
off a green-colored light from its rear end over Highway City,
California. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 72)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2821
Date: 7/22/1956
Description: 11:00 a.m. USAF Maj. Merwin
Stenvers is flying at 16,000 feet over Pixley, California, in a
Convair C-131D and is suddenly staggered and knocked to the right by a
terrific blow. He makes an emergency landing at Kern County Airport [now
closed] in Lost Hills. An examination shows that more than half of the
left elevator control surface is gone or smashed, leading to speculation
that the airplane had been hit by something. However, an accident
investigation team finds that a series of rivets had popped, jamming a
rod that controls the elevator servotab and causing the elevator to get
stuck. (“Plane’s
Dive Is Laid to Control Device Failure,” Fresno (Calif.) Bee, July
25, 1956, p. 4-B; Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969,
pp. 71–73; Frank Edwards, FS Serious Business, Bantam ed., 1966, pp. 39–40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2822
Date: 7/26/1956
Description: Two disc-shaped objects are suspended in mid-air, one above
the other, over the aircraft carrier USS
Franklin
D.
Roosevelt as it is berthed in the port of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
They are 75–100 feet in diameter and have two rows of counter-rotating
lights. The upper one releases a ball of fire that drops into the top of
the lower one. Within seconds they vanish with tremendous speed. One of
the witnesses is Petty Officer 3rd Class (OI) Leon Treadwell, who
signs papers agreeing he will tell no one for 20 years. Chief Warrant
Officer John C. Hau reports that the ship’s radar tracked a cigar-shaped
object the day before or after. (Good Need, p. 231)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2824
Date: 7/26/1956
Description: 8:20 p.m. Physician J. L. Bennet and his wife watch two
spinning, powder-blue lights for 10 minutes outside his home in Kilburn
Estate, in District 21 near King Albert Park, Singapore. They dart about
the sky “like fish in a tank,” come together, hover, and separate at
great speed, disappearing from sight. He manages to take several photos,
one of which shows two objects, one a nearly perfect oval, the other
blurred. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 73)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2825
Date: 7/28/1956
Description: 9:55 p.m. Seven witnesses in Brentwood, California, see a
sparkling green light flash through the sky and seemingly land in an
orchard. Television reception is briefly interrupted. Sheriff’s deputies
and reserve officers search a square-mile area for 3 hours but find
nothing. (“Mystery
Light Falls in Contra Costa Co.,” Oakland (Calif.) Tribune, July 29,
1956, p. 1; “Saucer
Sightings Mount As Mars Swings Close,” CRIFO Orbit 3, no. 6
(September 7, 1956): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2826
Date: 8/1956
Description: George
King forms the Aetherius Society in London, England, as the result
of what King claims are contacts with extraterrestrial intelligences,
whom he refers to as “Cosmic Masters.” The main goal of the believer is
to cooperate with these Cosmic Masters to help humanity solve its
current earthly problems and advance into the New Age. Life on other
planets is described as free from war, hatred, disease, want, and
ignorance. According to King, the civilizations of Atlantis and Lemuria
both vanished during an atomic war. (Wikipedia, “Aetherius Society”;
Clark III 52–53; Douglas Curran, In Advance of the Landing: Folk
Concepts of Outer Space, Abbeville, 1985, pp. 62–69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2829
Date: 8/1956
Description: John
P. Cahn publishes a second article in True on the Scully hoax.
(J. P. Cahn, “Flying
Saucer Swindlers,” True, August 1956, pp. 36–37, 69–72)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2828
Date: 8/1956
Description: FBI Director J.
Edgar Hoover launches COINTELPRO (counter-intelligence programs).
These are employed against American dissidents and their organizations;
the first one targets the American Communist Party. Typical methods are
anonymous or fictitious letters, false defamatory or threatening
information, forged signatures, and other disinformation. The FBI
blackmails insiders to spread false rumors or promote factionalism. It
creates bogus organizations to attack or disrupt a bona fide group, and
instigates hostile actions through third parties, such as employers,
elected officials, and the media. It enables the FBI to investigate any
political organization on the pretext of checking for Communists,
including the NAACP, women’s rights groups, and gay rights groups. These
programs prompt nearly 330,000 FBI investigations and create a Security
Index of over 200,000 dangerous Americans to be detained in the event of
war. Documents relating to these programs are marked “Do not file,”
offering no clues that they exist. (Wikipedia, “COINTELPRO”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2827
Date: 8/1956
Description: Late night. Two young men are camping near Newark, Ohio,
when they see five bright lights in a rigid V- formation. They fly in
erratic, sharp-turning patterns for about 5 minutes, including sharp 30°
turns. One man takes a photo. They report the sighting to the newspapers
and the Air Force, but a USAF officer confiscate both the print and the
negatives; the newspaper’s copies are also taken. (Michael D. Swords,
“Timmerman’s Triangles,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2830
Date: 8/3/1956
Description: A press leak from the Air Force Association reveals that
proposals for two types of UFO-detecting satellites are under
development. A television subsystem is cancelled as impractical, but an
infrared subsystem requires much lower data transmission rates. Lockheed
has signed an Air Force contract. The CIA’s Richard
M. Bissell later reveals that the CIA Office of Scientific
Intelligence Deputy Director Gen. Philip
G. Strong has been pushing the Air Force to develop an infrared
tracking satellite. The infrared system actually begins as planned in
1968, with initial operational status in 1970. (Clark III 813,
1032)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2831
Date: 8/8/1956
Time: 11 PM
Description: Witnesses: attorneys W.B. Buttermore and J.W. Smith. One
blue-white pulsating light flew fast, straight and level, for 5-7
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 20 miles south of Quartsite, Arizona
ID: 403
Date: 8/13/1956
End date: 8/14/1956
Description: 9:30 p.m. A radar-visual UFO sighting begins at RAF
Bentwaters [now Bentwaters Parks], Suffolk, England. A blip traveling
approximately 4,000–8,000 mph on an east-west course is picked up on
radar. It moves in a straight line to a position about 15 miles
northwest of Bentwaters. Within a few minutes, about a dozen normal
targets are spotted 8 miles southwest, moving northeast at about 100
mph. In front of the targets are three objects in a triangular
formation, about 1,000 feet apart. All the targets then appear to
converge into one extremely large target (several times the size of a
B-36), which continues moving to the northeast, then stops for a few
minutes, then resumes, and is lost to radar. The entire sighting up to
this point takes 25 minutes. Five minutes later, another solid target
appears, flying east to west at 4,000 mph or more, then vanishes when it
moves out of range. A T-33 trainer from the 512th Fighter Interceptor
Squadron crewed by 1st Lts. Charles Metz and Andrew Rowe is sent to
investigate the radar contacts, but sees nothing. No visual sightings of
the objects are made from Bentwaters in this period, with the exception
of a single amber star-like object which was subsequently identified as
probably being Mars. At 10:55 p.m., another target is picked up 30 miles
to the east, traveling west at 2,000–4,000 mph. It passes directly
overhead and is seen as a white light by both air (a C-47 at 4,000 feet
reports it passed underneath him) and ground observers. Bentwaters
notifies RAF Lakenheath, also in Suffolk, about what is going on, and
Lakenheath personnel see a luminous object stop, then zoom off to the
east. Also, two white lights are seen joining from different directions,
which are tracked on two screens at Lakenheath. According to
T/Sgt. Forrest Perkins, watch supervisor at the Lakenheath radar center,
at midnight Lakenheath notifies RAF Neatishead, Norfolk, that a strange
object is buzzing the base. A de Havilland Venom night fighter is
scrambled, directed by Neatishead radar controller Flight Lt. Freddie H.
C. Wimbledon. Perkins and Wimbledon claim the jets are sent up around
midnight, but the crews think it is at 2:00 a.m. The Venom, crewed by
Flight Officers David Chambers and John Brady from 23 Squadron at RAF
Waterbeach [now closed] in Cambridgeshire, finds the object on radar
north of Cambridge and sees it as a bright white light, which then
disappears. The navigator says it is the “clearest target I have ever
seen on radar.” The object, however, is behind the plane and stays there
for some time, despite climbs, dives, and circling. Ground radar
operators say that the object is glued right behind the fighter. After
10 minutes, the fighter heads back. The UFO follows briefly, then stops
and hovers. Another Venom, crewed by Flight Officers Ian Fraser-Ker and
Ivan Logan, is scrambled at 2:40 a.m. but experiences engine problems
and aborts. Ministry of Defence officer Ralph Noyes says that one of the
Venom pilots has taken a gun-camera film, which was later shown at a
briefing in Whitehall. The object is tracked on two radars, leaving the
area at 600 mph. The encounter is classified until 1969, when it is
analyzed by the Colorado project. Gordon
Thayer suggests that the “apparently rational, intelligent behavior
of the UFO suggests a mechanical device of unknown origin as the most
probable explanation of this sighting.” A later investigation is
conducted by David
Clarke, Andy
Roberts, and
Jenny
Randles. In
contrast to the reports given in the original classified teleprinter
message (from 3910th Air Base Group to ADC at Ent AFB, now the US
Olympic Training Center) three days after the event and in the accounts
of both Wimbledon and Perkins, the air crews now state that the radar
contacts were unimpressive and that no “tail-chase” or action on the
part of the target occurred. They also assert no visual contacts were
made. Chambers and Brady comment that “my feeling is that there was
nothing there, it was some sort of mistake,” while Ivan Logan, the
second Venom’s navigator, states that “all we saw was a blip which
rather indicated a stationary target.” At the time 23 Squadron decides
that the radar contact had, if anything, been with a weather balloon. Martin
Shough concludes that there are actually several incidents at
different times and places and that the relationship between each is
unclear. (Wikipedia, “Lakenheath-Bentwaters
incident”; NICAP, “Several
Incidents of R/V at Bentwaters”; Center for UFO Studies, [case
documents 1, case
documents 2, case
documents 3]; Condon, pp. 163–164, 248–256;
James E. McDonald, “UFOs
over Lakenheath in 1956,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1970): 9–17, 29; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience,
Ballantine ed., 1974, p. 91;
RAF Fighter Controller (Rtd.), “UFOs
over Lakenheath,”
Flying Saucer Review 24, no. 1 (June 1978): 31; Ian Ridpath, “New Light
on Lakenheath,” IUR 3, no. 8 (August 1978): 6–7; Martin L. Shough, “Background
& History”; Martin L. Shough, “Radar and the UFO,” UFOs
1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 219–226; Clark III 665–670; Good
Above, pp. 44–46;
Sparks, p. 238;
Ivan Logan, [Letter
to Dave Clarke], October 23, 2000; Don Berliner, with Marie
Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available
Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 64–66;
UFOFiles2, pp. 66–69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2832
Date: 8/15/1956
Description: The RAND Corporation releases a top-secret 1955 summary
detailing more than 143 aircraft incidents in the Far East. (Alexander
L. George, “Case
Studies of Actual and Alleged Overflights, 1930–1953,” Rand
Corporation, RM-1349, August 15, 1956; Clark III 56)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2833
Date: mid 8/1956
Description: 10:15 p.m. North American Aviation research technician Edison
F. Carpenter observes a formation of five flat, circular, pinkish
UFOs over Boulder City, Nevada. (Center for UFO Studies, [case
documents]; UFOEv, p.
58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2834
Date: 8/16/1956
Description: The CIA’s Richard
M. Bissell assembles a group of advisers to begin work on solving
the problem of Soviets tracking the U-2 flights. Among the group are Edwin
H. Land, Edward
Mills Purcell, and
Kelly
Johnson. They
look into radar-absorbing paint. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
A-12”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2835
Date: 8/22/1956
Description: 8:50–11:59 p.m. Radars on the island of Bornholm, Denmark,
first report 2–3 objects on an easterly heading at 800 mph.
Approximately 2 hours later, four objects appear and orbit over the
location. About 90 minutes later, the tracks fade. (NICAP, “Objects
Orbiting Location and Tracked on Radar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2837
Date: 8/22/1956
Description: 3:40 p.m. A man named Sheetz and another civilian in a car
chases a 50-foot, black, bell-shaped object bearing two bright, white
lights at the top several miles east of Naval Air Station Cecil Field,
near Jacksonville, Florida. Their engine stalls when the object hovers
10 feet away. The underside resembles a disc with fins. When a jet takes
off from the airfield, the object shoots out of sight almost instantly.
The car battery is completely dead. Noise from the object compares to a
helicopter, but there is no helicopter in the area. (NICAP, “Car
Chases Bell- Shaped
Object, Engine Stalls”; Sparks,
p. 246)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2836
Date: 8/27/1956
Time: 9:55 PM
Description: Witness: Mrs. R.S. Pope. One bright disc with a clear dome
flew vertically, then north. A very cold breeze seemed to have been
originated by the object during the 3 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Juniata, Pennsylvania
ID: 404
Date: 8/27/1956
Description: 7:20 p.m. Royal Canadian Air Force pilot Robert
James “Chick” Childerhose is flying nearly due west over the
Canadian Rockies near Fort Macleod, Alberta. He is flying at 36,000 feet
in the second position (far left side) of a formation of four F-86 Sabre
jet aircraft. While approaching a large thunderhead (cumulonimbus) at a
ground speed of about 460 mph, he sees at a much lower altitude a
“bright light which was sharply defined and disc- shaped” or “like a
shiny silver dollar sitting horizontal.” He takes a color photo. An
analysis suggests that it would have been radiating in excess of a
gigawatt of power within the spectral range of the film. (NICAP, “RCAF
Pilot Photographs
Object Radiating Power”; Jacques Vallée, “Estimates
of Power Optical Output in Six Cases of Unexplained
Aerial Objects with Defined Luminosity Characteristics,” Journal of
Scientific Exploration 12, no. 3 (1998): 346–348; Richard F. Haines,
“Analysis of Photograph of a High-Speed Ball of Light,” JUFOS 8 (2003):
27–48; Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report,
Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 68–69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2838
Date: 8/28/1956
Description: 11:30 p.m. León Febres, Miguel Talavera, Jesús Prada, and
Tomás Hernández are returning home in Calabozo, Venezuela, when the
ground around them is lit up by a bright white light. Looking up, they
see a large disc hovering silently. Several smaller objects emerge from
the large disc, leaving behind a wake of phosphorescent smoke that
dissipates quickly. The whole group flies off to the west in a V
formation with the large object in the lead. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole
Story, Signet, 1969, p. 74)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2839
Date: 8/29/1956
Description: National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena
organized in Washington DC
Type: historical event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Washington DC
Date: 8/29/1956
Description: T.
Townsend Brown files incorporation papers for a new UFO group, the
National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena in Washington,
D.C. (“‘Toward
a Broader Understanding…’: The Story of How NICAP
Began,” UFO Investigator, October 1971, pp. 2–3; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1956 August, The
Author, 1994, pp. 46–56, 82, 85; Clark III 792)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2840
Date: 8/30/1956
Description: Day. Two RAF Gloster Javelin interceptors, one piloted by
E. H. “Wilbur” Wright, are flying west over the English Channel south of
the Isle of Wight, England, when one of the navigators obtains a radar
return at 19 miles distance (later calculations indicate it has a
diameter of 600 feet). The pilots get permission to abandon their test
exercise and investigate the object. Wright turns north toward the
object on his right wing, but it has apparently slowed down and is
maintaining its position. The second Javelin pilot has caught up from
behind and confirms radar and visual sightings. The two aircraft bank
steeply so the object is at 15 miles dead ahead on the radar screen They
close the distance to 10 miles and see that the object has a metallic
gray appearance. At 8 miles distance, the object suddenly climbs
vertically too fast for radar to track (estimated at 18,000 mph) and
vanishes. After landing at RAF Odiham in Hampshire, the crews are told
that ground radar at RAF Sopley [now closed] has tracked the object.
They are ordered not to speak about the event. (Jenny Randles,
“Scramble, UFO!” Fortean Times 386 (December 2019): 26–27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2841
Date: 9/1956
Time: 2030
Description: O. Guarichi was walking on the beach with his dogs when he
saw an object come from the sea and land. Two men, 1.80 m tall, wearing
metallic-looking uniforms, emerged. One of them picked up objects from
the beach. There was an exchange of gestures with the witness. One of
the dogs turned away when the witness approached the craft, which was 20
m wide 3 m high and showed flashing lights as it left.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Nachrichten Mar., 61 (Vallee)
Location: Cabo Frio, Brazil
ID: 385
Date: 9/1956
Description: Just before 8:00 a.m. A domed, disc-shaped craft allegedly
lands within White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico, just 150 feet away
from US Highway 70. Radios and ignition systems of passing cars go dead,
as witnesses—including two USAF colonels, two sergeants, and dozens of
base personnel—observe the object as it takes off with a whirring sound.
All personnel at Holloman AFB are assembled in a hangar, debriefed, and
sworn to secrecy. (Ralph and Judy Blum, Beyond Earth: Man’s Contact with
UFOs, Bantam, 1974; Good Need, pp.
219–220)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2843
Date: 9/1956
Description: The General Physics Laboratory of the Aeronautical Research
Laboratories (ARL) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio,
launches an intense program to coordinate research into gravitational
and unified field theories with the hiring of Joshua
N. Goldberg. The precise rationale for creating the program and
justifying its budgets and personnel may never be determined. Neither
Goldberg nor USAF Deputy for Scientific and Technical Information Walter
Blados can locate the founding documents. Roy
Kerr, a
former ARL scientist, says the antigravity propulsion purpose of ARL was
“rubbish” and that “The only real use that the USAF made of us was when
some crackpot sent them a proposal for antigravity or for converting
rotary motion inside a spaceship to a translational driving system.”
(Wikipedia, “United
States gravity control propulsion research”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2842
Date: 9/4/1956
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witnesses: U.S. Marine Corps T/Sgt. R.D. Rogers and family.
One large star, changing to red color, remained stationary for 20
minutes, then went west at 200 kts. (230 m.p.h.). Sighting lasted 23
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Dallas, Texas
ID: 405
Date: 9/4/1956
Description: Several fireball-like objects fly over Copenhagen, Denmark,
tracked by radar at about 1,800 mph. (UFOEv, p. 79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2844
Date: 9/7/1956
Description: Hutchinson of Moneymore, Ireland wrestles with UFO. Disc
escapes.
Type: ufo encounter
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Moneymore, Ireland
Date: 9/7/1956
Description: 12:30 p.m. Thomas J. and Maud Hutchinson watch an object
drop out of low clouds and land in the middle of a bog at The Loup (near
Moneymore), County Derry, Northern Ireland. They wade 600 feet into the
bog until they come upon the small (3 feet high, 18 inches in diameter),
red, rubbery, motionless object. There are 3 white stripes around the
middle and it is pointed at both ends. Hutchinson kicks the object,
which rolls over then resumes its upright position. He picks it up and
is surprised at its lightness (estimated 2 pounds); the top is spinning
while the bottom (a small, saucer-shaped base) remains stationary. It
appears to be made of canvas-like material. They try to take it back
with them, but Thomas has to put it down to negotiate a hedge, and the
object takes off and disappears. (“Irishman
Caught a ‘Saucer,’” The Guardian (UK), September 8, 1956, p. 10;
Desmond Leslie, “The
Strangest UFO Case of All,” Flying Saucer Review 2, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1956): 2–4; Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969,
pp. 74–76; Clark III 328)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2845
Date: 9/7/1956
Description: Test pilot Iven
Carl Kincheloe Jr. reaches an altitude of 126,283 feet in the Bell
X-2. (Wikipedia, “Iven Carl
Kincheloe Jr.”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2846
Date: 9/8/1956
Description: 9:30 p.m. Frank C. Clark is observing Mars with a 12.5-inch
reflector in Las Cruces, New Mexico, when he sees a faint starlike
object passing in a direction opposite to the apparent drift of Mars. It
is visible for 10 seconds before passing out of the field. Clark moves
the telescope and is able to see it again for another 10 seconds. It is
a yellowish color. (Frank C. Clark, “An
Observation of an Unidentified Celestial Object,” The Strolling
Astronomer 10 (May/June 1956): 67–68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2847
Date: 9/11/1956
Description: The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory officially
launches Operation Moonwatch, an effort to enlist amateur astronomers in
tracking an artificial satellite that the US intends to launch during
the International Geophysical Year. The announcement is made at a news
conference by Armand
Spitz, coordinator of visual satellite observations. The program is
largely the brainchild of Harvard University’s Fred
Whipple, who recruits J. Allen
Hynek as assistant director to help with the central operation.
Until professionally manned optical tracking stations (using Baker-Nunn
camera-telescopes) come online in 1958, this network of amateur
scientists and other interested citizens plays a critical role in
providing crucial information on the world’s first satellites. The team
records some 36 UFO reports from 1957 to 1966. The program is
discontinued in 1975. (Wikipedia, “Operation Moonwatch”;
Walter N. Webb, “Allen Hynek As I Knew Him,” IUR 18, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1993): 4–5; Michael D. Swords, “Gazing at the Moons,” IUR 32,
no. 4 (October 2009): 9–16, 24; Center for UFO Studies, “Moonwatch Mystery
Satellites, 1958–1962”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2848
Date: 9/14/1956
Time: 1 AM
Description: Witness: Scaly, N. Car. policeman O.S. Gryman. Fourteen
yellow-to-red round objects with tremendous exhaust, flew in a Vague
formation from southwest to east to northeast and back again, while
swoooping up and down. Sighting lasted 1.5 hours.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Highland, North Carolina
ID: 406
Date: 9/15/1956
Description: About 6:30 a.m. A married couple is driving in Salem,
Indiana, when they notice a saucer hovering about 100 feet away in a
field by the road. They stop the car and get out for a better look. The
object is gunmetal gray in color and looks like two shallow bowls with a
dark gap between them. Wisps of smoke are coming from the gap. The
object looks as large as the town’s courthouse. It begins undulating as
it hovers. After 5 minutes, it tips over on its edge and vanishes.
(NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2849
Date: 9/22/1956
Description: 7:50 p.m. An amateur astronomer in Williston, North Dakota,
sees a dull-metallic, elliptical object the size of a small plane,
oscillating side to side as it moves at 150 mph above the Missouri
River. (Williston (N.Dak.) Plains Register, September 22, 1956; Richard
F. Haines and Franklin Carter, “A
1956 Military Aircraft–UFO Close
Encounter,” IUR 25, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2850
Date: fall 1956
Alternate date: winter 1956
Description: Shortly after 12:00 noon. An Air Force Convair RB-36H of
the 28th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing based at Ellsworth AFB, Rapid
City, South Dakota, captained by Lt. C. Lenny Marquis, is flying in
northern South Dakota at 423 mph when one of the crew sees a metallic
disc 100 feet in diameter fly toward the airplane from the left and take
up a fixed position on the left wing less than 300 feet away. Other crew
members rush to the portholes to take photos. The object has a low dome
at the top with three round openings or light sources. The bottom is
nearly flat. Its narrow vertical sides are populated by many separate
light sources, each a different color. The rest of the disc is a “light
golden” hue. After 5–8 minutes, the object suddenly accelerates in
parallel with the B-36 and then rises about 30° above the horizontal.
The peripheral lights become brighter and turn greenish as it speeds out
of sight in several seconds. Both inflight and ground radars detect the
object. Substitute navigator Lt. Jimmie Lloyd says the crew turned in
all photos, logs, and equipment to an intelligence unit after landing.
(Richard F. Haines and Franklin Carter, “A
1956 Military Aircraft–UFO Close Encounter,” IUR 25, no. 1 (Spring
2000): 22–25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2854
Date: fall 1956
Description: More than 30 pilots, navigators, and flight engineers are
on their way home from special duty in Europe on a US Navy Super
Constellation transport. When they are about 50 miles northeast of
Gander, Newfoundland, the pilot notices a cluster of lights beneath the
aircraft. Suddenly, the lights dim and spread out, the largest light
ascending on an apparent collision course with the transport. As it
reaches the plane’s altitude, it tilts, shoots to one side, and paces
them at a distance of 300 feet. It is a huge metallic disc, 30 feet
thick at the center and 350–400 feet wide, with a blurry glow around the
rim. Gradually it pulls ahead, tilts upward, accelerates, and zooms away
in 5–8 seconds. Gander Airport confirms that it had a radar target near
them. (Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 16–19; Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed.,
1974, pp. 78–84; Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and
Abductions, Methuen, 1979, pp. 104–106)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2852
Date: fall 1956
Description: A man in Falls City, Nebraska, sees a winged human with a
demonic face that approaches him from three blocks away. It is about 8–9
feet tall and approaches him closely, hovering in the air about 25 feet
away. As it passes over him, the man feels numb and paralyzed. The
episode haunts him for the next 23 years when he talks to an
investigator. (Clark III 778)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2853
Date: 9/25/1956
Description: Leonard
Stringfield’s wife Adelia observes
several white tufts of angel’s hair floating down in the front yard of
their home in Cincinnati, Ohio. She places it in an airtight jar. After
the Stringfields contact the Air Force, M/Sgt Oliver D. Hill retrieves
the sample on October 12. Analysis was done by C. G. Cocks and L.
Leatherland, who find that the fibers are “multifilament bundles” that
are characteristic of “regenerated cellulose fibers, either viscose or
cuprammonium rayon,” perhaps from a defective filter. (Brian Boldman,
“Angel Hair Physical Analyses: A Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006): 102–103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2851
Date: 10/1956
Description: Karl L. Veit founds the Deutsche
UFO/IFO-Studiengemeinschaft in Wiesbaden, Germany, which publishes the
newspaper-format UFO-Nachrichten. (“60
Jahre UFO-Nachrichten,”
2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2855
Date: 10/2/1956
Description: 3:45 a.m. Harry J. Sturdevant is on duty as a night
watchman at Herbert Elkin and Company, a construction firm in Trenton,
New Jersey. He sees a cigar-shaped object some 60–100 feet long and 15
feet in diameter swiftly descending toward him. Emitting a red glow, the
object is making a hissing noise like steam and generating a foul odor.
It swoops past him and vanishes. He loses his sense of taste and smell,
possibly permanently. His face is burned to the point where he cannot
shave for two weeks. He begins to lose hearing in his right ear. When he
returns to work the next day, he finds leaves on the ground that have
burned up like tissue paper. Sturdevant applies for workmen’s
compensation from the state for his medical expenses. An adjudicator
awards him the money based on the fact that he may have only thought he
saw something, but was injured when he went to investigate it, which his
job required. (Emil Sloboda, “He Collected on a Flying Saucer,” Fate 10,
no. 6 (June 1957): 66–69; Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2856
Date: 10/2/1956
Description: Harry Sturdevant, a night watchman of some 20 years, said,
“a red light in the sky shot at him. This UFO had no wings, fins or
propulsion sounds, except for the sound of “escaping steam”. It was
about 60 to 100 ft. in diam. and cigar shaped. The UFO gave him “the
greatest shock of my life”. There was a nauseating smell like sulfur and
brimstone. He lost the sense of taste and smell and couldn’t swallow
properly. He collapsed on the ground and was unable to move for half an
hour, after which he managed to drive to his home and call for aid. Six
weeks later, a New Jersey workmen’s compensation referee decided that
Sturdevant should be paid for medical expenses incurred for the injury
done by the UFO.
Type: ufo sighting with injury
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Trenton, NJ
Date: 10/7/1956
Description: 10:45 p.m. UFO reports by police and civilians around
Merced, California, reach Castle AFB [now Castle Airport Aviation and
Development Center] and a lighted elliptical object about 100–120 feet
in diameter is seen by the tower. Two interceptors are scrambled. The
object ducks under and above a narrow cloud bank. The pilots can see it
from various angles and as close as a few hundred yards. It appears to
be a flattened circular shape. The pilots decide to fly one above and
one below the overcast. Ground radar picks up the planes but not the
UFO. One pilot breaks off to return but sees that the UFO is now chasing
his buddy’s plane. Several officers arrive from another base to debrief
the pilots and they appear very knowledgeable about UFOs. They seek
“confirmation, not information” and tell the pilots not to discuss the
sighting at all. Citizen witnesses are told the pilots were chasing
ducks or geese. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1956 November– December,
The Author, 1994, pp. 52, 59; Richard H. Hall, Uninvited Guests, Aurora,
1988, pp. 242–244; Sparks,
p. 239)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2857
Date: Late 1956
Description: Castle AFB, California: A.A. and J.R. (names withheld) were
flying F-86’s near Modesto, CA, on alert duty due to civilian UFO
reports in a nearby town. Base instructed them to return because their
was an UFO near the control tower. With afterburners on they closed
rapidly on a luminous elliptical UFO that moved above and below cloud
cover at 10 to 12 thousand feet as if to elude them. The two pilots
played cat-and-mouse with the UFO until they ran low of fuel and
returned to base. Local citizens that witnessed these events were told
by the Air Force that the pilots had been chasing ducks or geese.
Type: movie
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Castle AFB, CA
Date: 10/19/1956
Description: NICAP’s initial board of governors includes T.
Townsend Brown (founder), Frank
Edwards, Leon C. LeVan, Albert
H. Baller, Charles
A. Maney, Talbot
T. Speer, Abraham
M. Sonnabend, Col.
Robert
B. Emerson, Rear
Adm. Delmer
S. Fahrney, Gen. William
E. Kepner, and
Brig. Gen. Thomas
B. Catron. Gladys Rose Hackett and Margaret Naylor are hired to do
secretarial work, and Martin
H. Heflin is hired as public relations specialist. The headquarters
are at 1536 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. Incorporation is
granted on October 24. (“‘Toward
a Broader Understanding…’: The Story of How NICAP Began,” UFO
Investigator, October 1971, p. 3; Clark III 792; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1956
September– October, The
Author, 1994, pp. 77–78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2858
Date: 10/24/1956
Description: NICAP established. One of its board of directors was
Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, former CIA director and rumored MJ-12
member. From this position Hillenkoetter and others could steeer NICAP
from the inside in any direction they wanted.
Type: historical event
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Washington DC
Date: 10/29/1956
Description: Howard
Menger, a sign painter from High Bridge, New Jersey, goes public on
the Long
John Nebel show on WOR-AM in New York City with a story of his
contacts with “Aryan-type” Venusians in spaceships. Menger reports that
his contacts started in childhood, when he experienced flashbacks of
life on another world and sightings of flying discs. In 1932 he met a
beautiful blonde woman who could read his mind, and in 1946 he again
sees her stepping out of a flying saucer. She is supposedly 500 years
old, although she looks 25. Many contacts follow. (Clark III 738)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2859
Date: 11/1/1956
Time: 5:30 PM
Description: Witness: USAF Capt. W..M. Lyons, Intelligence Division
Chief (Aerial Weather Reconnaissance Officer), flying a T-33 jet
trainer. One orange light with a blue tinge, flew across the sky for 2
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 60 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri, in Illinois
ID: 407
Date: 11/4/1956
Description: NICAP issues its first news release. T.
Townsend Brown emphasizes the group’s “growing membership of
responsible citizens from every walk of life and profession” and
stresses that “there does exist more than enough evidence of certain and
obvious aerial phenomena to justify independent evaluation.” (NICAP, “Project Skylight,”
November 4, 1956)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2860
Date: 11/11/1956
Description: 10:00 p.m. Stig Ekberg and Harry Sjöberg are building a
house on the island of Väddö, about 56 miles northwest of Stockholm,
Sweden. Ekberg is driving his Ford V8 pickup when they see a bright
flying object with the shape of a flattened sphere 24 feet wide and 9
feet high approaching from the east. It moves about a half mile in front
of them at an altitude of 300 feet. As it makes a sharp turn toward
them, the truck engine sputters and dies and the headlights go out. The
object starts “slowly gliding down,” rocks back and forth, and comes to
a stop in the middle of the road, about 300 feet in front of them, 3
feet above the ground. The object illuminates the surrounding landscape
with such a tremendous amount of light that a nearby barn is clearly
visible. The air smells of ozone and smoldering insulation. After about
10 minutes the object gets brighter, lifts off the ground, moves to the
left and up, makes a sudden turn, and speeds away in the direction it
had come. Ekberg restarts the truck and the headlights come back on.
Seeing that the grass at the landing site is flattened, they investigate
further and find a shiny rock that is hot to the touch. It is a heavy,
three-sided piece of metal about the size of a matchbox. After several
unsuccessful attempts to have the sample studied, it is taken to the
Saab aircraft company where Sven Schalin conducts a thorough analysis.
Other tests are later run in laboratories in Sweden, Denmark, and
Germany. The general conclusion is that the rock is composed of tungsten
carbide and cobalt, consistent with manufactured products. (Jacques
Vallée, “Physical
Analyses in Ten Cases of Unexplained Aerial Objects with Material Samples,”
Journal of Scientific Exploration 12, no. 3 (1998): 365–366)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2861
Date: 11/14/1956
Description: Luminous object descended, hovered in front of airliner,
then sped away at upward angle
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Mobile, AL
ID: 3
Date: 11/14/1956
Description: 10:10 p.m. Captain William
Joseph Hull and his copilot Peter H. Macintosh are flying Capital
Airlines Flight 77 from New York City to Mobile, Alabama. While
approximately above Jackson, Alabama, they see something like a
brilliant meteor flash by the aircraft. The object stops, hovers, and
engages in a range of acrobatics (crazy gyrations, lazy 8’s, square
chandeliers) for several minutes before shooting out over the Gulf of
Mexico at “fantastic speed.” (Sign Historical Group, “Captain
Joe Hull’s UFO Sighting”; Condon, pp. 127–129;
Sparks, p. 240;
Swords 230–231)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2862
Date: 11/16/1956
Description: Morning. Telephones and an automatic railroad block
mechanism in Lemmon, South Dakota, fail to operate as a glowing red
object about 3 feet in diameter flies over the railroad yards. (Mobridge
(S.Dak.) Tribune, November 22, 1956; Schopick, pp. 21–22;
Richard F. Haines and Franklin Carter, “A
1956 Military Aircraft– UFO
Close Encounter,” IUR 25, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2863
Date: 11/21/1956
Description: 8:23 p.m. A customs officer named Ueda and a maritime
safety officer named Kume are walking along Number 1 Pier, Kobe, Japan,
when they hear an explosion. They see something resembling fireworks on
the bay and watch as two whirling balls of fire submerge. (Sanderson, InvRes,
p. 46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2864
Date: 11/25/1956
Description: 4:30 a.m. Police radio at Hot Springs, South Dakota, picks
up transmissions made by a jet interceptor from the 54th Fighter
Interceptor Squadron at Ellsworth AFB in Rapid City that makes three
passes at a brilliantly lit UFO bobbing up and down in the sky. On the
third pass, the pilot reports that the object registers on his radar. It
is rumored that a blip is picked up on ground radar by the 740th
Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron. A sheriff and deputy at Rapid
City watch a green stationary UFO with a flashing red light for 30
minutes; an upward-shining white light appears at intervals. (NICAP, “Gnd/Air/Visual,
Jets Scrambled”; “‘Saucers’
Stir Speculation,”
Rapid City (S.Dak.) Daily Journal, November 26, 1956, p. 1; “Hills
Residents Tell
of Shining Objects,”
Rapid City (S.Dak.) Daily Journal, November 26, 1956, pp. 1, 7; Pierre
(S.Dak.) Capitol Journal, November 26, 1956; UFOEv, pp. 22, 79;
Richard F. Haines and Franklin Carter, “A
1956 Military Aircraft–UFO Close
Encounter,” IUR 25, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2865
Date: 11/30/1956
Time: 12:48 PM
Description: Witness: USAF aerial navigator Maj. D.D. Grimes. One
unspecified object flew at an estimated 100’ altitude over water for 10
minutes. No further details.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Charleston AFB, South Carolina
ID: 408
Date: 12/1956
Description: Chemical engineer Leon
Davidson begins to distribute privately printed copies of Project
Blue Book Special Report No. 14, together with his analysis and
commentary. He has become convinced that UFOs are secret devices
developed by the US government and that Special Report No. 14 is a
clever attempt to hide the fact. Mostly, however, he focuses on
discrepancies in the Air Force’s public announcements and the actual
data in the report. Davidson publishes further editions in October 1957,
July 1966, January 1971, and 1976. (Leon Davidson, Flying
Saucers: An Analysis of Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14,
[1956], 3d ed., Ramsey-Wallace, 1966; Clark III 930)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2866
Date: 12/1/1956
Description: 12:20 a.m. A round object, red to orange in color, is
observed moving at approximately 1,000 foot above Valley City, North
Dakota. It moves rapidly up, down, sideways, and hovers. A police car
approaches it, but the car loses radio contact with the station. Valley
City also loses contact with Jamestown, South Dakota. All radio contact
returns after the object leaves the area. (NICAP, [Blue
Book file])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2867
Date: 12/2/1956
Description: Dorothy
Martin sets off from Prescott, Arizona, with the Laugheads,
ufologist brothers Ray and
Rex
G. Stanford,
and George
Hunt Williamson, his wife Betty, and toddler son Mark. They are
acting in response to a series of Williamson channelings that had begun
April 18 when Lord Aramu-Muru announced that “those we have
commissioned” are to establish a priory of the Brotherhood of the Seven
Rays “in a remote area of another country to the south.” After spending
some time in Mexico, they head for Moyobamba, Peru, under the direction
of their spirit masters. The Laugheads (who apparently were in Mexico in
July) and Stanfords leave around this time. After a while, those
remaining move to the Valley of Pariahuanca east of Lima, Peru, and set
up the Outer Retreat of the Monastery of the Seven Rays, which has some
cult-like attributes. There they attract new members, including
Williamson’s later coauthor John McCoy. Williamson devotes himself for
several years to paranormally guided archaeological expeditions. (Clark
III 719–720, 1286; Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George
Hunt Williamson, Verdechiari, 2016, pp. 105–115)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2868
Date: 12/10/1956
Description: 2:00 p.m. A US Air Force pilot sees a silver object with a
“straight wing, having engine rods or large wing pods [or] intakes”
flying at 56,000–62,000 feet for 15 minutes at Victoria, Texas. The
pilot’s description is a dead ringer for a secret U-2 aircraft, which is
what Blue Book suspects. (Mark Rodeghier, “The U-2 Spy Plane and Blue
Book: Another Look,” IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 20–21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2869
Date: 12/13/1956
Description: Capt. Karl Hars Dersson and the crew of the Danish ship Dorthe
Maersk view an intensely bright fireball giving off weird flashes of
light for 2–3 minutes north of Isla La Orchila, Venezuela. It explodes
on hitting the water. Afterwards, the surface of the sea shimmers with
various colors and is disturbed for 5 minutes. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1956
November–December, Supplemental Notes, The
Author, 2003, pp. 39–40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2870
Date: 12/15/1956
Description: 11:00 a.m. While out gathering Christmas greens near Derry,
New Hampshire, A. G. Horne looks up and sees a 2-foot tall green dwarf
with a high-domed head, floppy ears, a face like a bloodhound, and
lidless eyes like a snake. His skin hangs in folds like an elephant’s.
After a few minutes, the being “started for me with a kind of screeching
sound,” and Horne flees. (Center for UFO Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1956, p. 23;
Clark III 271)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2871
Date: 12/17/1956
Description: Night. Marie Carow goes outside her home in Conashaugh,
Pennsylvania, with a flashlight and discovers two little men, 3.5 and 3
feet tall, standing motionless in her back lawn. Both wear helmets and
snug-fitting suits of silvery material. Carow shines the light on them
for 3 minutes, then runs back to tell her husband. 15 minutes later,
they are gone. (Berthold Eric Schwarz, “UFO
Occupants: Fact or Fantasy?” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 5
(Sept./Oct, 1969): 16–18; Clark III 269; Patrick Gross, URECAT, October
18, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2873
Date: 12/17/1956
Description: 4:20 p.m. Near Itazuke Air Base [now Fukuoka Airport] in
Fukuoka, Japan, a USAF pilot flying an F- 86D interceptor picks up a
large blip on airborne radar. The pilot sees a tan object, round on top,
at 9.2 miles and closes to within 5.7 miles. The object starts to pull
away from the fighter and at 13.8 miles all radar disappears. The pilot
estimates its speed as 1,700–2,000 mph. Both the pilot and his wingman
report interference resembling ECM (radar jamming). (NICAP, “Radar/Visual
from F-86”; Sparks,
p. 240; “Jet Planes Chased Big Flying Object,” Auckland (N.Z.) Star,
October 4, 1957; “Jet
Chase of Large Circular Object Investigated by Far East Air Force,”
UFO Investigator 1, no. 2 (Aug./Sept. 1957): 1–2; Richard Hall,
“Radar/Visual UFOs and Air Force Debunking,” IUR 18, no. 3 (May/June
1993): 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2872
Date: 12/31/1956
Time: 2:10 AM
Description: Witness: USAF lst Lt. Ted Brunson, flying an F-86D jet
interceptor. One round, white object flew under the F-86D, which was
unable to turn as sharply as the object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Guam
ID: 409
Date: 1957
Description: Metaphysical author George
Hunt Williamson writes Other Tongues—Other Flesh (although it bears
a copyright date of 1953), the first of three books that set forth an
alternative occult history shaped by Atlantis, Lemuria, reincarnation,
and space people—both benign and malevolent. He writes that space people
first arrived 1 billion years ago [prior to the earliest known
multicellular life on land], were 12 feet tall, and built an underground
city beneath Lake Titicaca, Peru. Migrants from the “Sirius system”
arrive during the Miocene Epoch [23–5 million years ago] looking for
terrestrial bodies to inhabit—they select the evolving apes. The next
visitation took place in Arizona in 10,000 B.C. [the beginning of the
Neolithic Revolution] when Venusians land and interact with the
Lemurians. Records documenting earth’s unknown history are hidden in
various inaccessible places (“secret places of the lion”) around the
globe. Williamson’s book Secret Places of the Lion follows in 1958 and
Road in the Sky in 1959. These are among the first ancient astronaut
books. In the latter book, Williamson claims that the Hopi’s ancestors
are Martians, while their neighbors the Navajo are from Maldek, the
planet whose destruction formed the asteroid belt. (George Hunt
Williamson, Other
Tongues—Other Flesh, Amherst, [1957]; George Hunt Williamson, Secret
Places of the Lion, Destiny
Books ed., 1996; Clark III 104–106, 1286; Jerome Clark, “Vimanas Have
Landed: Ancient Astronautics in Ufology,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997):
23–26; Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt
Williamson, Verdechiari, 2016, pp. 113–120, 235–243)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2875
Date: 1957
Description: Morris
K. Jessup publishes The Expanding Case for the UFO, which argues
that human “little people” (like the pygmy peoples of the Congo basin)
were “planted” from UFOs thousands of years ago. Citing reports of
anomalous lights on the moon, Jessup speculates that the pygmy races
either colonized the moon or came to the Earth from there. They are the
remnants of an advanced civilization that developed levitation,
teleportation, and space flight, but had to leave Earth when Atlantis
and Mu were sinking into the oceans. (Morris K. Jessup, The Expanding
Case for the UFO, Citadel,
1957; Clark III 106–107, 635; Jerome Clark, “Vimanas Have Landed:
Ancient Astronautics in Ufology,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2874
Date: 1957
Description: New Jersey contactee Howard
Menger releases an album of “Authentic Music from Another Planet,”
featuring a narrative by Menger and bland piano music written by his
wife Connie (under
her nom de plume Marla Baxter, sister of the blonde spacewoman he had
met in 1946). (Discogs, “Authentic
Music from Another Planet”; “Authentic
Music from Another Planet by Howard Menger,” Libertad450 YouTube
channel, February 22, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2876
Date: 1957
Description: Otis
T. Carr announces his invention of a fourth-dimensional space
vehicle, a Circular-Foil Spacecraft powered by an Utron Electric
Accumulator that makes use of the “free energy of the universe.” (Clark
III 860)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2877
Date: 1957
Description: Ground Saucer Watch is established in Phoenix, Arizona, by
Ted Starrett. William H. Spaulding is the Western Division Director,
with James A. Spaulding as the Eastern Division Director in Cleveland,
Ohio. It publishes Ground Saucer Watch Bulletin from 1976 to 1982. By
1979, GSW has analyzed nearly 700 UFO photographs and films, of which
they verify 38 as bona fide. (Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia,
Putnam, 1980, p,
132)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2878
Date: 1957
Description: George
Fawcett founds the New England UFO Study Group in Marlborough,
Massachusetts. It publishes the New England UFO Newsletter from 1976 to
1982.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2879
Date: 1957
Description: Hayden
C. Hewes founds the International UFO Bureau in Edmond, Oklahoma. It
publishes the Interplanetary Intelligence Report from 1965 to
1966.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2880
Date: 1957
Description: Engineer Pantelimon Mizof and others see an object in the
Bucegi Mountains, Romania, pass over them silently and land. Some of
them approach to get a better look, but when they are 150 feet away, it
takes off suddenly. (Hobana and Weverbergh 158–159)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2881
Date: 1957
Description: A radioactive waste containment sector near Ozyorsk failed
and exploded with a force between 70-100 tons of TNT. Radiation was
immediately spread throughout the region, affecting over 250,000 people.
The radioactivity released into the atmosphere was estimated to only be
one-fourth that of the later Chernobyl disaster. By 1959 every tree
within a 12-mile radius of the Chelyabinsk-40 complex was dead.
Type: radiological event
Reference: link
Location: Ozyorsk, Russia
Date: 1957
Description: Cynthia Appleton, Birmingham, England is visited by
spacemen
Type: ce3 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Birmingham, England
Date: 1957
Description: Soviet “Chelyabinsk-70” nuclear weapons program plant opens
(Weapons design and research)
Type: atomic plant
Reference: link
Date: 1957
Description: The Victorian branch of the Australian Flying Saucer
Research Society becomes a separate organization, the Victorian UFO
Research Society. It publishes the Australian UFO Bulletin from 1957 to
September 2007, edited by Les Bristol. (Keith Basterfield, Vladimir
Godic, and Pony Godic, “Australian Ufology: A Review,” JUFOS 2 (1990):
24; Australian
UFO Bulletin 1, no. 3 (December 1957))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2882
Date: 1957
Description: The Centro de Estudios Interplanetarios is founded in
Barcelona, Spain. From 1970 to 1981 it publishes a quarterly magazine
titled Stendek, and since then it has published occasional groups of
papers on UFOs. (Stendek 1,
no. 1 (June 1970); Papers
d’OVNIs, no.
1 (1994); Nous
Papers d’OVNIs, no. 1 (December 2014))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2883
Date: 1/1957
Description: Norbert
F. Gariety begins publishing S.P.A.C.E. (Saucer Phenomena and
Celestial Enigma), a monthly newsletter, in Coral Gables, Florida. It
continues until January 1963. (S.P.A.C.E.,
no. 1 (January 1957)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2885
Date: 1/1957
Description: Contactee Gabriel
Green establishes the Los Angeles Interplanetary Study Groups, which
in 1959 evolves into Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America in Los
Angeles, California. It assumes that UFOs are piloted by friendly
extraterrestrials. Around the same time, Green announces his meeting
with flying saucer crewmen from the hitherto unknown planet Korendor,
orbiting the triple star Alpha Centauri. At its peak, AFSCA has more
than 5,000 members. (Wikipedia, “Gabriel
Green”; Clark III 99; Thy
Kingdom Come, no. 4 (April/May 1957))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2884
Date: 1/1/1957
Description: Shortly before 12:00 midnight. Herbert Naderson and his
wife and sons are driving northeast to their home in Ashby, Minnesota,
when they see a triangular object traveling slowly at a high altitude.
They watch it for 45 minutes. (Fergus Falls (Minn.) Daily Journal,
January 3, 1957; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1957 January–March 22nd, The
Author, 1995, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2886
Date: 1/14/1957
End date: 1/16/1957
Description: T.
Townsend Brown has proven so financially inept that the NICAP board
asks him to step down. Delmer
S. Fahrney replaces him as board chairman, Keyhoe steps
in as director, and Fahrney convenes a press conference in which he
announces that UFOs are under intelligent control, but that they are not
American or Soviet aircraft. Stringfield is
made public relations adviser. (T. Townsend Brown, Letter
to NICAP Board of Governors, January
16, 1957; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957 January–March
22nd, The
Author, 1995, pp. 14–20; “High
Speed Objects Reported in the Sky,” New York Times, January 17,
1957, p. 31; Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest, 1977, p. 15;
Clark III 792)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2887
Date: 1/15/1957
Time: early
Description: William West and Wallace Liddell saw an object similar to a
shooting star coming close to them appearing then as an oval,
fluorescent craft, about 40 m in diameter, which almost touched the
grass. They rushed to catch it, but it jumped away, turning into a
bluish-white sphere with a dark red center. Each time they tried to
reach it, the craft jumped farther away. It cleared a high fence and
slowly vanished. The Invercargill Weather Bureau had no
explanation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 107 (Vallee)
Location: Balfour, New Zealand
ID: 386
Date: 1/16/1957
Description: 8:00 p.m. The crews of two Air Force B-25s are flying about
90 miles north of Sweetwater, Texas, when they see a round white object
make rapid maneuvers. Pilot Lt. Col. Howard
T. Wright notes that his radio compass starts pointing directly
toward the object, following its movements. The entire object begins
blinking on and off. When the aircraft gets within range of Lubbock,
Texas, the object flies off on a straight-line course in about 12
seconds. One of the B-25s refuels and is sent on a 4-hour search of the
vicinity with no results. (NICAP, “Object
Maneuvers near B-25’s / EME”; Sparks,
p. 241; Swords 244–245)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2888
Date: 1/21/1957
Description: 10:45 a.m. Near Kagnew Station [now closed], Asmara,
Eritrea, five enlisted men of the US Army’s 4th Detachment of the Second
Signal Service Battalion (M/Sgt Billy J. Woodruff, Sgt. Frank Haverly,
SP2 Robert O. Clewell, SP2 George R. Dean, and SP3 Gerald L. Fennell)
watch a large, shiny, metal sphere hovering at about 2,000 feet. It
suddenly disappears but reappears later for a few minutes, then
disappears again. Later in the day, Woodruff and Capt. Jesse M. Strong
see two brownish, disc-shaped objects maneuvering in formation at a high
altitude. One breaks away from the other, moving at high speed. (UFOEv,
p. 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2889
Date: 1/27/1957
Description: Former CIA director Rear Adm. Roscoe
H. Hillenkoetter joins NICAP’s board of directors. (Loren E. Gross,
The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957 January–March
22nd, The Author, 1995, p. 31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2890
Date: 1/31/1957
Description: US Army Order number 30-13, “Sightings of Unconventional
Aircraft,” stipulates that personnel involved in sightings must “not
discuss or disseminate such information to persons or agencies other
than their superior officer(s) and other personnel authorized by the
Acting Chief of Staff, G-2, this headquarters,” by order of Col. Charles
L. Olin. (“Air
Force Sees Plenty: Tells Nothing,” CSI News Letter, no. 8 (July 25,
1957): 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2891
Date: 2/1957
Description: Project MKUltra chief Sidney
Gottlieb organizes field trials of psilocybin for injection into 9
black inmates at the Addiction Center in Lexington, Kentucky. Allen
Dulles approves psychiatrist Donald
Ewen Cameron’s application for mind-control experiments to be
administered at the Allan Memorial Institute of McGill University in
Montreal, funded through the Society for the Investigation of Human
Ecology, a CIA cutout organization. Cameron does not know that the money
originates from the CIA. In addition to LSD, Cameron experiments with
various paralytic drugs, electroconvulsive therapy at 30–40 times the
normal power, and sensory deprivation in a “sleep room.” This is a dimly
lit dormitory of about 20 beds, which the nurses call “The Zombie Room.”
His “psychic driving” experiments consist of putting subjects into
drug-induced comas for weeks at a time (up to three months in one case)
while playing tape loops of noise or simple repetitive statements. His
experiments are typically carried out on patients who have entered the
institute for minor problems such as anxiety disorders and postpartum
depression, many of whom suffer permanently from his actions. His
treatments result in victims’ incontinence, amnesia, forgetting how to
talk, forgetting their parents, and thinking their interrogators are
their parents. The Canadian government is apparently unaware of these
activities. Naomi
Klein argues that Cameron’s research and his contribution to the
MKUltra project is actually not about mind control and brainwashing, but
about designing “a scientifically based system for extracting
information from ‘resistant sources.’ In other words, torture.” (Gordon
Thomas, Journey
into Madness: The True Story of Secret CIA Mind Control and
Medical Abuse, Bantam,
1989; Anne Collins, In the Sleep Room: The Story of the CIA Brainwashing
Experiments in Canada, Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1988; John D. Marks,
The
Search for the “Manchurian Candidate”: The CIA and
Mind Control, Times
Books, 1978; Naomi Klein, The
Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Picador,
2008; Jim Keith, Mind
Control, World Control: The Encyclopedia of Mind Control,
2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2892
Date: 2/9/1957
Time: 2200
Description: Approximate date. Ina Salter was driving on Route 53 in a
desolate area when she encountered a cigar-shaped objert about 5 m long,
showing several portholes, which was hovering close to the ground to the
left of the road. The portholes, about 50 cm in diameter, were
illuminated with a yellowish light, and there were shadows moving
behind. As she passed the object, it took off straight up, hovered for a
few seconds, then rose out of sight
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Mar., 62 (Vallee)
Location: Georgetown, Connecticut
ID: 387
Date: 2/13/1957
Description: 2:30 a.m. The USAF operations director and three tower
controllers at two radar sites within Lincoln AFB [now Lincoln Airport,
Nebraska], the GCA and NCOIC, track several targets flying behind an
airliner at a distance of 5–6 miles and traveling twice as fast. There
is no IFF response. The objects hover and move at high speed. One splits
into two objects, another executes an 180° turn. The radar blips are the
size of a B-47. (NICAP, “Radar/Visual
at Lincoln AFB”; Sparks,
p. 241; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 96–97)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2893
Date: 2/13/1957
Description: 9:40 p.m. Amateur astronomer Steve Papina is walking south
in Placerville, California, when he notices off to his left the ionized
track of what he takes to be a meteor. It is about 20° above the eastern
horizon, rising at a 70° angle. The trail begins widening at about 35°
above the horizon and veers in a westerly direction. Suddenly a black
disc appears directly in front of the trail, whose diameter is
approximately the width of the trail and the size of a nickel held at a
distance of 5 feet. Its surface is not smooth but crisscrossed with
grooves. It continues to move from east to west and acquires a white,
dusty appearance before speeding directly away from Papina at high
speed. (“ALPO
Refers Sighting to APRO,” APRO Bulletin, July 1957, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2894
Date: 2/15/1957
Description: 10:00 p.m. A large, circular object is seen by independent
witnesses in Wardle, Lancashire, England. Shortly afterward, a
commercial aircraft is seen following the same course as the UFO and
displaying unusually powerful lights. Later, at a point along the flight
path, a small radio transmitter like those attached to balloons is
found, then another piece of meteorological equipment in another spot.
In the House of Commons, MP Tony Leavey asks
the Secretary of State for Air for an explanation. On March 20,
Under-Secretary of State for Air Ian Orr-Ewing responds,
saying that the objects were toy balloons illuminated by a flashlight
bulb released by Neil Robinson, a laundry mechanic from Rochdale. But on
April 17, the Air Ministry sends an investigator to interview the
witnesses and tells them not to talk about the sighting. Robinson says
he has no idea how to launch a balloon, but there is some evidence that
he has considerable technical know-how and a penchant for pranks.
(Clifford Thornton, “The
Wardle Mystery,” Flying Saucer Review 3, no. 3 (May/June 1957): 4;
Geoffrey Norris, “Something
in the Sky,” Royal Air Force Flying Review, July 1957, pp. 14–16,
46; Good Above, pp. 46–47;
David Clarke, “The Wardle ‘Thing,’” Fortean Times 196 (June 2005):
40–41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2895
Date: 2/19/1957
Description: In testimony before the House Appropriations Committee,
National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics officials Hugh
Latimer Dryden and Jimmy
Doolittle are asked about UFOs. They “flatly denied the existence of
such space vehicles.” When asked why they don’t speak out more often,
they remark that they “cannot compete with the science-fiction people.”
(US House Appropriations Committee, Hearings, Independent Offices
Appropriations for 1958, National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics,
February 19, 1957, pp. 1417–1419)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2896
Date: 2/26/1957
Description: UK Air Chief Marshal Hugh
Dowding writes to retired Italian diplomat Alberto
Perego that he is most interested in “accounts of intelligible
contacts between human beings and the occupants of interplanetary
ships.” (Good Above, p. 48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2897
Date: 3/1/1957
Description: Leonard
H. Stringfield publishes the final issue of CRIFO Orbit. (CRIFO
Orbit 3, no. 12 (March 1, 1957); Clark III 1114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2898
Date: 3/6/1957
Description: 2:00 p.m. Hearing the family dogs barking in the backyard,
a Mrs. Martin who lives on Hope Road near Great Meadows, New Jersey,
looks outside and sees the dogs looking at a white hovering object that
looks like a “huge derby hat” about 50 feet in diameter. It is rocking
slightly in the air and makes a low, rumbling sound. Beneath it are
“streamers or lines” that “twinkle like the fragile strands” of
Christmas tinsel. (Hynek UFO Report, pp. 150– 154;
Sparks, p. 241)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2899
Date: 3/8/1957
Time: night
Description: A pilot saw a circular object flying against the wind. It
was luminous, about 5.5 m in diameter, and flew so low that it appeared
to suck up the snow.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Keyhoe S (Vallee)
Location: Baudette, Minnesota
ID: 388
Date: 3/8/1957
Description: A pilot watches a UFO from the ground at Baudette,
Minnesota. It is circular, 15–18 feet in diameter, and its odd glow
shines on the snow-covered ground. It is flying so low that it seems to
suck the loose snow up under it as it passes. (Keyhoe, FSTS, p. 56;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957
January–March 22nd, The
Author, 1995, p. 74)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2900
Date: 3/8/1957
Description: 9:45 p.m. Victor Hancock and Guy Miller are flying a DC-3
owned by the Tennessee Gas Transmission Company above Pasadena, Texas,
when they see a UFO bearing three brilliant white lights. After the UFO
speeds by the aircraft, it slows down. When the DC-3 catches up, it
speeds ahead. This cat-and-mouse chase continues for some 10 minutes.
(NICAP, “UFO
Maneuvers near DC-3”; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1957 January–March 22nd, The
Author, 1995, pp. 68–69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2901
Date: 3/9/1957
Description: 4:33 a.m. Capt. Matthew
A. Van Winkle, piloting
a Pan American World Airways DC-6A airliner at a point over the Atlantic
Ocean approximately 350 miles northeast of Jacksonville, Florida,
observes a “burning greenish white round object” to the right of the
aircraft that appears to be on a collision course. Van Winkle pulls the
plane upward in a climb to avoid the object. This sudden maneuver causes
four of the passengers to be thrown out of their seats, resulting in
injuries. Copilot Dion W. Taylor and Flight Engineer John Washuta also
observe the object. Washuta says the UFO is a high-intensity light that
appears to stand still for approximately four seconds until it is lost
to sight during the evasive action. Ed
Perry, piloting
Pan Am Flight 269 about 175 miles behind him, also sees it. Miami Air
Traffic Control sends a flash message to the Civil Aeronautics Board
describing the incident: “Pilot took evasive action, object appeared to
have a brilliant greenish-white center with an outer ring which
reflected the glow from the center. … Above description fits with what
seven other flights saw…. Miami reports no missile activity…. Original
reports of jet activity discounted.” The Air Force quickly explains the
sighting as a meteor, but the CAB declares it unexplained after a
thorough investigation. (NICAP, “DC6-A
Crew Take
Evasive Action”; Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 54–56; Swords 245–246; Frank
Edwards, FS Serious Business, Bantam ed., 1966, pp. 38–39;
Good Above, pp. 282–283)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2902
Date: 3/10/1957
Description: Pan American Airways Plane almost collides with UFO (NY to
San Juan, P.R. run)
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: New York
Attributes: aerospace
Date: 3/10/1957
Description: Pan American Airways Plane almost collides with UFO (NY to
San Juan, P.R. run)
Type: ufo encounter
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: New York
Attributes: aerospace
Date: 3/22/1957
End date: 3/23/1957
Description: Mrs. Robert Beaudoin, the wife of an Air
Force officer, along with her 17-year-old daughter Carol Litten,
sees a series of unusual lights at 11:15 p.m. northeast of Camarillo,
California. First they see a large, soundless, and pulsing light, with
something like a pole on top, making fast and erratic motions. She calls
a military friend and then 1st Lt. Leonard
E. Ott at nearby Oxnard AFB [now Camarillo Airport]. At 12:30 a.m.,
they see a green object accompanied by two smaller red lights below the
horizon of the Los Palos Hills. The green object seems to be hovering
over the North American Rocketdyne plant in the Simi Hills. At this time
both the green object and the red objects seem to jump around, and the
two red objects are zooming past the green object at tremendous
velocities. Ott inquires about radar and a Lt. Martin tells him that
radar is detecting a stationary object in the same area. The sheriff’s
office is contacted, and they send a patrol car. Deputy Sheriffs Segura
and Rausch confirm Beaudoin’s report, with the exception that by that
time there are five red objects flying well below the green one. All are
in motion and constantly changing altitude. Radar calls Ott back and
says they have a scramble underway and they will have the aircraft check
the area upon their return. Upon the arrival of the interceptors from
Oxnard the red objects join the green object and speed away up and to
the east. The aircraft are unsuccessful and return to base. At this time
two Navy aircraft are sent to the area. Somehow, between the time of
this report to Oxnard and the later Air Force investigation by the
4602nd, these red objects are changed, on the report, to stars and the
moon above. This happens despite the witness stating that the red lights
were below the hills on the horizon. To deal with that, the Air Force
adds the theory that a temperature inversion caused light to bend the
images of the stars, or, alternatively, the witness saw lights on a
barn. Beaudoin herself is judged hysterical due to her pregnancy. The
Air Force’s explanation is completed without anyone bothering to
interview the teenage daughter or taking anything associated with the
airbase into account (for example, the radar returns). (NICAP, “Objects
Seen, Radar Tracked, Jets Scrambled”; Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 58–61; Hynek
UFO Report, pp. 53–54;
Sparks, p. 242;
Swords 246–247)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2903
Date: 3/23/1957
Description: Agriculturist Luis Petriera, along with several others,
watches a glowing object plunge into Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. No
planes are missing. Officials drag the lake but find nothing. (“Report
from Venezuela,” APRO Bulletin, July 1957, p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2904
Date: 3/28/1957
Description: AEC physician and Navy Capt. Charles
Wesley Shilling releases a press statement saying that “excessively
hot baths can be as damaging to the human sex glands as radioactive
fallout in the amount received in the last five years from the testing
of atomic weapons.” It is intended to counter the antinuclear activism
of biochemist Linus Pauling. (“Says
Hot Baths As Bad for Sex Glands As Fallout,” Newport (R.I.) Daily
News, March 29, 1957, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2905
Date: 4/1957
Description: 7:30 a.m. An anonymous resident of Córdoba, Argentina, is
motorcycling to Rio Ceballos when his engine stops. He sees a large UFO
hovering nearby, from which a human-like occupant emerges. He entices
the man to enter the UFO with him. Inside, he sees 5–6 screens and
intricate equipment, at each of which a similar occupant is seated.
(Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957 March 23rd–May
25th, The
Author, 1995, pp. 63–64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2907
Date: early 4/1957
Description: USAF Brig. Gen. Arno H. Leuhman, director of Air Force
information, tells the press that “There’s no valid evidence that there
are flying saucers.” (“AF
Intelligence Chief Visits Here,” Miami (Fla.) News, April 14, 1957,
p. 12A)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2906
Date: 4/4/1957
Description: Five unusual radar contacts are detected simultaneously on
three tracking radars of the Bombing Trials Unit based at RAF West
Freugh [now MOD West Freugh], southeast of Stranraer, Scotland, and
followed for 36 minutes. The three radars are located at two different
sites near Luce Bay, Wigtownshire, Scotland. The object flashes across
the sky at 60,000 feet, dives to 14,000 feet, circles, and speeds away.
Wing Commander Walter Whitworth, in command at West Freugh, is ordered
to say nothing about the object. (NICAP, “Three
Radars Track
Maneuvering UFO”; Good Above, pp. 48–49;
UFOFiles2, pp. 51–53;
Martin Shough, “Study
of Unusual Radar
Observations near RAF West Freugh, Wigtownshire, SW Scotland, April 4,
1957,” March 2010; Patrick Gross, “The
West Freugh Incident, 1957”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2909
Date: 4/4/1957
Description: Pilot Robert
L. Sieker takes a U-2 covered in radar-deflecting paint for a test
run out of Area 51 and flies almost 90 miles without incident when
suddenly the paint causes the aircraft to overheat, spin out of control,
and crash near Pioche, Nevada. Sieker ejects but is killed when a piece
of metal hits him in the head. (Aviation Safety Network, “Wikibase
Occurrence #155905”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2908
Date: 4/8/1957
Description: USAF Maj. Gen. Joe
W. Kelly answers a question from Rep. Lee
Metcalf (D-Mont.) and denies that the Air Force has muzzled pilots.
“Answers are provided on any unidentified flying objects which have
attracted national attention.” He admits that interceptors are still
sent up “as a matter of security.” (Keyhoe, FSTS)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2910
Date: 4/10/1957
Description: Delmer
S. Fahrney leaves NICAP’s board of directors for urgent and personal
reasons, partially because his wife is
seriously ill, but also because of the ridicule generated by his peers
in the military. (Clark III 792–793)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2911
Date: 4/14/1957
Description: 3:00 p.m. Marie Garcin and Julia Rami are walking along
road D24 a half-mile east of Vins-sur-Caramy, Var, France, when they
hear a deafening noise and see a 5-foot-tall, 3-foot-wide, metallic,
top-shaped object covered with vibrating sharp spines that is landing
near a road sign. The sign starts to vibrate loudly, then the object
hops over the road at a height of about 15–30 feet. Another witness,
Jules Boglio, is about 1,000 feet away and sees the object land a second
time in the adjoining road, then jump over another road sign which then
vibrates loudly. Two other witnesses see the object at a much greater
distance. (NICAP, “Top-Shaped
Object Hovers at 300”; Jimmy Guieu, “Vins-sur-Caramy
(Var), 14 avril 1957,” Ouranos, no. 21 (1957): 50–52; Lorenzen,
UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 145–146; J. Allen Hynek, The
UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 154–156)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2912
Date: 4/14/1957
Time: 1500
Description: At an intersection, two women, Mrs. Garcin and Mrs. Rami,
suddenly heard a noise and saw behind them a top-shaped object, 1 m high
and 1 m wide, nearly touching the ground. It made a sudden jump and
landed again: There were a number of antennalike projections on top of
it. The noise did not come from the object, but from a metallic road
sign vibrating in its vicinity.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 207; Challenge 14 (Vallee)
Location: Vins-sur-Caramy, France
ID: 389
Date: 4/19/1957
Description: 11:52 a.m. Two metallic discs are seen entering the Pacific
Ocean about 300 miles southeast of Tokyo, Japan, by Japanese fisherman
aboard the Kitsukawa Maru. A violent turbulence disturbs the ocean after
they submerge. The objects are 30 feet long and wingless. (NICAP, “Two
Discs Enter Pacific”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2913
Date: 4/19/1957
Time: 1152
Description: Japanese fishermen aboard the “Kitsukawara Maru” saw two
metal disks come into the sky. This was followed by violent
turbulence.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Round-up 147 (Vallee)
Location: Pacific Ocean, near Japan
ID: 390
Date: 4/22/1957
Time: 1300
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Firmin Bason heard an unusual noise and saw a
whirlwind of flames 10 or 15 m above ground, coming down toward the
vineyard. It was red and blue, spinning wildly, flying slowly. It
hovered for 5 min over plants which moved violently, then it flew south
with a deafening roar, hovered again and departed to the southwest.
Diameter at the top: about 5 m.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Ouranos 21 (Vallee)
Location: Palalda, France
ID: 391
Date: 4/24/1957
Description: 6:27 a.m. Project 57 is an open-air nuclear “dirty-bomb”
test conducted in Area 13 at the Nellis Air Force Range, Nevada. The
high explosives of a nuclear weapon are detonated asymmetrically to
simulate an accidental detonation of an XW-25 warhead in an airplane
crash. The purpose of the test is to verify that no yield would result,
as well as study the extent of plutonium contamination. Some 4,000
galvanized steel pans sprayed with tacky resin are set up around a
10-by-16-square-mile block of land to capture plutonium samples. Some 68
air- sampler stations equipped with micropore paper are spread over 70
square miles. Mock-ups of sidewalks, curbs, and asphalt are set up in
the desert; cars and trucks are added; giant air-sampling balloons are
tethered in place; 9 burros, 109 beagles, 10 sheep, and 31 white rats
are put in cages. Afterward, the contaminated area is fenced off and the
contaminated equipment buried in place. Data from the test confirms that
plutonium has a 24,000-year half-life; many of the test animals are
killed, but security guard Richard
Mingus manages not to inhale any particles. A radiological survey
team detects alpha radiation, but no serious beta or gamma radiation. In
1981, the US Department of Energy decontaminates and decommissions the
site. Hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of soil and debris are
removed from Area 13 and disposed of in a waste facility at the Nevada
Test Site. (Wikipedia, “Project
57”; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 100–116)
Late spring — Between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. Airman 2nd Class Wallace Fowler
is sitting on the front steps of his barracks at Ellsworth AFB near
Rapid City, South Dakota, when a silver domed disc with portholes
appears directly above him. Shadows are moving behind the portholes. The
UFO is motionless and the size of a house. After about 2–3 minutes it
takes off straight up at high speed. Many others on the base have seen
the object as well, and jets are scrambled. The UFO maneuvers around the
jets as if toying with them. One of the pursuing jets allegedly goes
missing and the wreckage is never found. (Good Need, pp. 218–219)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2914
Date: 4/25/1957
Time: Unknown time
Description: Military witness Robertson. Case missing from official
files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ringgold, Louisiana
ID: 410
Date: 5/1957 (approximate)
Description: 3:45 p.m. Two men in Orlando, Florida, see an oval object
emerge from a larger cigar-shaped UFO about 75– 100 feet long. (Herbert
S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer
2004): 7, 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2918
Date: 5/1957
Description: Pilot Milton Torres flew a F-86 D Sabre from the Royal Air
Force base at Manston, Kent and ordered to shoot down a large “aircraft
carrier” sized UFO flying at more than 7600mph. Object disappeared,
ordered to stay silent and threatened with a national security breach if
he talked.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Reuters
Link
Location: Manston, Kent
Date: 5/1957
Description: Frances Stichler, who lived on a farm, was working in her
barn when she heard a whirring sound and saw a bowl-shaped object, 7 m
in diameter, with a rim over 1 m wide about 5 m above ground. It stopped
with one side tilted toward her. A man dressed in a loose, shiny, gray
suit, wearing a tight-fitting helmet, was facing her from inside the
object. He seemed of average height had deep-set eyes, tanned skin, and
a long face with a “quizzical” expression. Almost immediately the object
left toward the southeast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 108; Humanoids 57 (Vallee)
Location: Milford, Pennsylvania
ID: 392
Date: 5/1957
Description: NICAP is fed a phony UFO crash story in the Everglades,
Florida, by an Associated Press employee who is a “former Signal Corps
engineer” with possible ties to the NSA. He admits faking the story but
refuses to give any motive. (Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 64–68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2915
Date: 5/1957
Description: 4:50 a.m. A truck driver pulls over at the edge of the
disused RAF Winkleigh Airfield [now the site of the West of England
Transport Collection], Devon, England, to drink some coffee. He notices
an object like a metallic, fluorescent-blue submarine with tail fins
sitting at the end of the runway. It is about the size of an airliner.
He watches it a while, then gets out of the truck and approaches it. He
has the object in sight a total of 10–15 minutes and realizes it is
hovering just above the ground. When he is 600 feet away, he encounters
a type of force field that prevents him from approaching. The object
then rises straight up into the sky to about 1,200 feet and shoots off
to the north. The force field disappears. (Ron Toth, “UFO
Landing at War-time Aerodrome,” Pegasus 2, no. 3 (May-June 1970):
2–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2916
Date: 5/1957
Description: 6:00 a.m. Frances Stichler is working in her barn in
Milford, Pennsylvania, when she hears a whirring sound and sees a
bowl-shaped object approaching at a height of 15 feet. It is 15 feet in
diameter with a rim about 3 feet wide. It hovers with one side tilted
toward her 50 feet away. Its lone occupant, a helmeted figure with a
long, olive- colored face and a shiny, light gray suit, gazes at her
with a quizzical expression on his tanned face. It is sitting on the far
rim with feet and legs hidden by the lower part of the object. Inside
the open vehicle, she can see levers. After a minute, the object takes
off to the southwest making a spinning sound. Her chickens do not seem
disturbed by any of this. (Berthold Eric Schwarz, “UFO
Occupants: Fact or Fantasy?” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1969): 14–15; Clark III 268; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History:
1957 May 24th–July 31st, The Author, 1996, p. 10; Patrick Gross, URECAT, December
17, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2917
Date: 5/1/1957
Description: 7:00 a.m. A man driving a motorcycle about 9 miles from
Pajas Blancas International Airport in Córdoba, Argentina, sees a UFO
shortly after his engine fails. It is 65 feet in diameter and 16 feet
thick, hovering about 50 feet above the ground. He hides in a ditch and
sees the craft come down, making a sound similar to air escaping from a
valve. A lift descends from its base almost to the ground. In it is a
man of average height who makes friendly gestures. He is dressed in a
plastic diving suit. The witness enters the machine and sees several
people inside seated in front of instrument panels, lit by an
extraordinary light. He is then escorted out, and the disc rises to the
northwest. During the next hour, there are 6 other sightings made by
independent witnesses. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957 March 23rd–May
25th, The
Author, 1995, pp. 61–64; Mark Cashman, “Behavioral Classification System
for UFO Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2919
Date: 5/1/1957
Time: 0700
Description: When his motorcycle suddenly failed, the driver observed a
disk, 2O m in diameter and 5 m thick, hovering about 15 m above ground.
He hid in a ditch and saw the craft come down, making a sound similar to
air escaping from a valve. A sort of lift descended from its base almost
to the ground. In it was a man of average height, who made friendly
gestures to the witness. He was dressed in a plastic diving suit. The
witness entered the machine and saw inside several people seated before
instrument panels, lighted by an extraordinary light. He was then
escorted out, and the disk rose to the northwest. During the next hour,
six sightings were made along the same course by independent
witnesses.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 35; FSR 65, 1; FSR 65, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Pajasblancas Airport, Argentina
ID: 393
Date: 5/2/1957
Description: 6:55–7:20 a.m. Frank E. Baker, supervisor of civilian
camera operators at Edwards AFB, California, sends the standard two-man
crews out to their Askania tracking telescopes for their daily shifts.
Veterans James D. Bittick and John
R. Gettys Jr. are in their pickup expecting a normal day. As they
approach their station in the Mojave Desert, they see a bright object in
the sky. It is initially at about a 45° elevation and seems to be
hovering. They need to get permission from Baker to photograph anything,
so they call it in, begin readying the scope, load the film, and wait
for the okay. Gettys says the base of the object has a circular
appearance when high in the sky. Baker gives them his approval and they
begin filming, each viewing the object through spotting scopes while the
film rolls. They shoot about 100 feet then stop. During filming, the
object moves from 1 mile away to 5 miles. What they see is a disc-shaped
object with a low dome on top. They contact the base, which scrambles
two jets, but they are too late. After they turn the film in, three
officers show up and interrogate them. Future astronaut Gordon
Cooper claims he was there that day, involved with the tracking.
(NICAP, “Edwards
AFB Case”;
“Unidentified
Flying Object Filmed, Studied,” Miami (Fla.) News, May 12, 1957,
p. 2; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 75–76; Michael D. Swords, “As Great
an Enigma As the UFOs Themselves,” IUR 30, no. 1 (October 2005): 10–12;
Sparks,
p. 243; “Astronaut
Gordon Cooper Talks about UFOs,” Elhardt YouTube channel, December
27, 2007; Swords 247–248; Gordon Cooper and Bruce Henderson, Leap of
Faith: An Astronaut’s Journey into the Unknown, HarperTorch, 2000,
pp. 83–86; Good Need, pp. 220–222)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2920
Date: 5/3/1957
Description: Astronaut Gordon Cooper
spots a UFO landing at Edwards AFB.
Type: ce2 event
Reference: YouTube
Location: Edwards AFB
Date: 5/10/1957
Time: 2250
Description: A Hungarian refugee, Michel Fekete, was riding his bicycle
when he saw an object hovering 30 cm above ground and four little men
nearby. The police found lavalike fragments at the site. Six other
witnesses vouch for the sighting including Messrs. Iklef and Lepot and
their wives. The craft was luminous, pulsating between red and white
(remaining red longer). When white, it was more blinding than a powerful
searchlight. It was 50 m away from the group of witnesses. Occupants
were about 1.30 m tall with a beige-gray body, an abnormally large black
head, and a waddling gait. The object flew away when a car came into
view.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 109; M 211 (Vallee)
Location: Beaucourt-sur-Ancre, France
ID: 394
Date: 5/10/1957
Description: After 10:45 p.m. At Beaucourt-sur-l’Ancre, Somme, France, a
29-year-old Hungarian refugee named Fekete is cycling when he is
“dazzled by a strange projectile.” He sees four men 4–5 feet tall
approaching him in a threatening manner. One of them carries a bright
light which prevents him from seeing much detail. He flees on his cycle
to a nearby home, where others look out and see the occupants 300 feet
away. The UFO is emitting red and white (or yellow) rays of light
alternatively. They watch for about 20 minutes until 11:15 p.m. when the
UFO takes off at a 45° angle. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957 March 23rd–May
25th, The
Author, 1995, pp. 69–72)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2921
Date: 5/11/1957
Description: While attending the Giant Rock Interplanetary Spacecraft
Convention in the Mojave Desert near Landers, California, Wayne
Sulo Aho goes for a walk and sees a “majestic egg-shaped light.” He
directs a telepathic message to it, and the UFO lands 2 miles away. He
begins receiving subtle psychic messages on his earthly mission. That
night, Aho undergoes a “cosmic initiation.” (Clark III 59; Wayne S. Aho,
Mojave Desert Experience, May 11, 1957, New Age, 1972)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2922
Date: 5/20/1957
Description: OPERATION INTERCEPT: Two USAF fighters intercept a UFO. The
F-86D’s fired Mighty Mouse missiles at the UFO and missed it. The UFO
left their 30 mile range area and fell off the radar scope.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: link
Location: Manston, Kent
Date: 5/20/1957 (approximate)
Alternate date: 1956 (approximate)
Description: Near 12:00 midnight. USAF Lt. Milton Torres is flying F-86D
Sabre fighters with the 406th Bomber Wing based at RAF Manston [now
closed], Kent, England. He receives an order from an RAF controller, who
is tracking an unidentified target from Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear
Bunker [now closed] in Essex, to go up with a wingman to 32,000 feet
over East Anglia in pursuit. Over the radio he receives an order to fire
a salvo of rockets at the target; the order is so unusual that Torres
seeks authentication before firing. Torres locates the large target on
his aircraft radar, but when he closes in on it, it shoots away at
tremendous speed, disappearing from the radar screens. The target might
be explained by a secret CIA-MoD experiment, codenamed Palladium, to
simulate an aircraft blip on Soviet radar screens. On his return to
base, Torres is debriefed by a secret service agent and told his mission
is top secret. (NICAP, “Milton
Torres / Intercept Mission”; UFOFiles2, pp. 69–72;
David Clarke, “Intercept and Destroy,” Fortean Times 242 (December
2008): 34–35; Paul Crickmore, “Project Palladium:
Testing Soviet Radars,” Tails Through Time, January 3, 2011; Curt
Collins, “Area
51, the CIA, and Cold
War UFOS: T. D. Barnes,” Blue Blurry Lines, January 9, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2923
Date: 5/26/1957
Description: An article in the UK Empire News on “Flying Saucer Clubs
Probe: Peace Messages ‘from Outer Space’” reveals that George
King’s Aetherius Society has been publishing channeled messages in
its Cosmic Voice newsletter that are antiwar and anti-nuclear. It
attracts the attention of Scotland Yard’s Special Branch, thanks to an
informant on the newspaper. King writes to explain that his group is
religious and not political. A Special Branch officer visits King in his
home in London, England, on May 31, and the group’s writings and
activities are watched for at least the next two years. (Kremlin
121–126)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2924
Date: 5/28/1957
Description: Boltzmann, the first of 29 nuclear tests in Operation
Plumbbob, takes place at the Nevada Test Site. At 12 kilotons, it is
about the same size as the Hiroshima bomb and causes Area 51 personnel
11 miles away to be temporarily evacuated. Another test blast buckles
aircraft hangar doors in Area 51, shatters windows in the mess hall, and
breaks a dormitory ventilator panel. The Plumbbob tests continue until
October 7, 1957. While most tests contribute to the development of
warheads for intercontinental and intermediate range missiles, they also
test air defense and anti-submarine warheads with small yields.
(Wikipedia, “Operation
Plumbbob”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2925
Date: 5/31/1957
Description: 7:17 a.m. A British airliner is flying over Kent, two miles
south of Rochester, England, when both the captain and first officer see
a brilliant light approaching them. All radio communications cut out.
The UFO blinks out and the radio equipment goes back into operation. (Schopick, pp. 122–123;
Good Above, p. 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2926
Date: 6/2/1957
Description: Letter to BSRA about a recent nuclear test that was
postponed for 2 weeks because the winds would blow fallout in occupied
areas. The eventually conducted test blew the fallout over occupied
areas anyway.
Type: letter
Reference: Twitter
Location: Nevada
Date: 6/3/1957
Description: 9:35 p.m. Shortly after takeoff from Shreveport (Louisiana)
Airport, Capt. Lynn Kern and Flight Officer Abbey Zimmerman, flying
Trans-Texas Airlines Flight 103, are told by the control tower that a
small light is visible nearby. They see the star-like, blue-green object
at about 400 feet altitude. It then climbs rapidly to 1,000 feet and
parallels the airliner at a higher altitude and about a half-mile away.
Kern flashes his landing lights, and the object responds with a beam of
light. A second blue-green, pulsating object joins the first on the
opposite side of the airliner (then at 9,000 feet). A crew from the air
tower confirms that it has both objects on radar and visually through
binoculars. The objects head south, climbing to about 10,000 feet, and
follow the airliner to Converse, Louisiana, where the pilot queries ADC
radar site, England AFB [now Alexandria International Airport], which
confirms the two targets in the airliner’s vicinity. The objects
disappear from sight in a cloud deck to the southwest. (NICAP, “Flight
103 & 2 UFOs Tracked on Radar”; Sparks, p. 244;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 94–96)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2927
Date: 6/5/1957
Description: Undocumented report of a landing and of “bellicose
dwarfs.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Uriman, Venezuela
ID: 395
Date: 6/5/1957
Description: AEC Commissioner Willard
Libby tells Congress that nuclear weapons testing is a “small risk”
that must be measured against the “risk of annihilation.” (“Bomb
Testing Is Viewed As Risk to Be Compared with Annihilation,”
Spokane (Wash.) Chronicle, June 5, 1957, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2928
Date: 6/11/1957
Description: CIA operative Wallace
R. Lampshire sends a memo to CIA operative Richard
M. Bissell Jr., explaining that the agency’s involvement with UFOs
is passive, handing off reports to its geophysics or former weapons
units. Lampshire has talked with Gen. Philip
J. Strong, who
knows of no Soviet technology that might be responsible for UFOs.
(Swords 264–265)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2929
Date: 6/12/1957
Time: 7:30 PM
Description: Witness: G.U. Donadio, translator for export-import firm.
One object “big as a hen’s egg” flew very fast, zigzagged, hovered and
revolved, then shot up after 17 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Milan, Italy
ID: 411
Date: 6/15/1957
Description: 5:06 p.m. George Marsden watches a Saturn-shaped UFO with
portholes through a telescope at Mawdesley, Lancashire, England. (UFOEv,
p. 146;
Center for UFO Studies, [case
documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2931
Date: 6/15/1957
Description: A report in the UK weekly newspaper Reynold’s News claims
that the Air Ministry conducts top secret UFO research in Room 801 of
one of its offices on Northumberland Avenue, London, England. A ministry
spokesman is quoted as saying the room has “something like 10,000
sightings” on file and a large map of the British Isles with thousands
of colored pins representing sightings. Flying Saucer Review editor Gordon
Creighton says the office belongs to the Deputy Directorate of
Intelligence (Technical), which employs UFO researchers full-time. (Good
Above, p. 49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2930
Date: 6/18/1957
Description: 8:00 p.m. Captain C. G. Wertz and the crew of the Matson
freighter Hawaiian Fisherman see two brightly lit objects off the port
beam as they are steaming 150 miles off San Francisco, California. A
third object joins them at 8:15. They appear as small moons, giving off
a cold, white, unchanging light. The three move off in a V formation and
pace the ship for a short time. The lights continue their controlled
flight as dusk turns to night. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet,
1969, p. 78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2932
Date: 6/20/1957
Description: Mysterious radar echoes begin turning up on Bluff Hill,
near Invercargill, New Zealand, for several months. The targets are
visible from several minutes up to an hour and are located somewhere in
the ionosphere. Michael Gadsden of
the Imperial College in London is in New Zealand for the International
Geophysical Year and he says the targets’ movements are unusual and
suspects that ionized particles are the cause. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The
Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 81–82)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2933
Date: summer 1957
Description: Allan Haney and some friends “on a number of occasions”
climb onto someone’s roof in Levelland, Texas, to watch 3–4 objects
hovering over Reese AFB [now Reese Technology Center] in Lubbock, 26
miles to the east. (Donald R. Burleson, “Levelland, Texas, 1957: Case
Reopened,” IUR 28, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2936
Date: summer 1957
Description: Early morning. Contactee Trevor
Constable and an associate named James Woods take many infrared
photos of the desert sky over southern California. When developed, the
film reveals a variety of shapes from vague blobs and amoeba-like forms
to clearly defined discs. Constable calls them “critters” and thinks
they are some kind of life form invisible to the naked eye. (Clark III
1102; Trevor James [Constable], They Live in the Sky, New Age,
1958)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2935
Date: summer 1957
Description: P.
Craig Phillips, curator
of the Miami Seaquarium, and two other scientists witness a fall of
angel hair for two hours as they are sailing northward toward the
Florida Keys. Assuming them to be cobwebs from migrating airborne
spiders, Phillips takes some samples and puts them in a mason jar. But
when he uncaps the jar later in his office, no trace of the material is
found, which is uncharacteristic of spider web. (UFOEv, pp. 99–100;
Brian Boldman, “An Analysis of Angel Hair, 1947–2000,” IUR 26, no. 3
(Fall 2001): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2934
Date: 7/1957
Description: NICAP publishes the first issue of The UFO Investigator.
(UFO
Investigator 1, no. 1 (July 1957); Clark III 793)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2938
Date: 7/1957
Description: NICAP learns that the US Senate Subcommittee on
Investigations is considering hearings on UFOs and wants its assistance.
Hillenkoetter suggests
withholding the best cases, at least initially. Keyhoe asks
Ruppelt,
who is now an engineer with Northrup Aircraft, to join the NICAP board
at a rehearsal for the I’ve Got a Secret Show on which he is appearing.
Ruppelt considers it an honor. (Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 70–79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2939
Date: 7/1957
Description: The Air Defense Command disbands the 4602nd AISS and
reassigns UFO investigative duties to the 1127th Field Activities Group
of the 1006th AISS at Norton AFB [San Bernardino International Airport],
California. Soon afterwards, the Air Force reduces funds for the unit,
impairing its investigative ability. (Clark III 919)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2937
Date: 7/1/1957
Description: International Geophysical Year (IGY). It marked the end of
a long period during the Cold War when scientific interchange between
East and West had been seriously interrupted. Sixty-seven countries
participated in IGY projects. The IGY encompassed eleven Earth sciences:
aurora and airglow, cosmic rays, geomagnetism, gravity, ionospheric
physics, longitude and latitude determinations (precision mapping),
meteorology, oceanography, seismology, and solar activity. The timing of
the IGY was particularly suited for studying some of these phenomena,
since it covered the peak of solar cycle 19. Both the Soviet Union and
the U.S. launched artificial satellites for this event; the Soviet
Union’s Sputnik 1, launched on October 4, 1957, was the first
successful artificial satellite.[3] Other significant achievements of
the IGY included the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts by
Explorer 1 and the defining of mid-ocean submarine ridges, an important
confirmation of plate-tectonic theory.
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 7/5/1957
Description: During the 74-kiloton Plumbbob Hood nuclear test at the
Nevada Test Site, the Marine Corps conducts a tactical maneuver
involving the use of a helicopter airlift, tactical air support, and an
amphibian tractor called the LVTP5. Despite the AEC’s assurance that no
thermonuclear devices are being tested, Hood is thermonuclear and is the
largest atmospheric test in the continental US. All Area 51 personnel
are evacuated prior to the blast, but the military neglects to secure
the sensitive information in the buildings with security guards. Seventy
anesthetized Chester White pigs in military uniforms (as test fabrics)
are placed in cages a short distance from ground zero. Several types of
wood houses are constructed to see how each handles the blast. The
Mosler Safe Company sponsors the construction of a steel vault to
withstand the blast. Some 100 soldiers, lying in trenches, are stationed
to gauge the psychological impact of the bomb. The flash is visible from
Canada to Mexico and 800 miles out in the Pacific. The blast wave
reaches Los Angeles 25 minutes later. Afterwards, security guard Richard
Mingus has to drive through a highly radioactive ground zero to
reach the buildings at Area 51 ten miles away. Area 51 remains an
evacuated ghost town until the summer of 1959. (Wikipedia, “Desert
Rock exercises”; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 119–123)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2940
Date: 7/10/1957
Description: George
Hunt Williamson, exploring in Peru from his base at the Monastery of
the Seven Rays and spurred by his own channelings, rediscovers a wall of
petroglyphs [now known as the Petroglyphs of Pusharo, in the Manú
National Park] in an area northeast of Cuzco called Cadena del
Pantiacolla. (George Hunt Williamson, “Project Scroll,”
Flying Saucer Review 3, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1957): 18–19; George Hunt
Williamson, Road in the Sky, Neville Spearman, 1959; Brother Philip
[Williamson], Secret of the Andes, Neville Spearman, 1961; Zirger and
Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamson, Verdechiari,
2016, pp. 97–98, 109–115)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2941
Date: mid 7/1957
Description: Keyhoe meets
with US Rep. James
C. Healey (D-N.Y.) regarding USAF secrecy about UFOs. He shows
Healey the 1949 Grudge report and apparently convinces him that the Air
Force’s explanations for the 24 cases are “sheer speculation” or
“deliberately fitted.” He also presents him Gen. Joe
W. Kelly’s April 8 letter to Lee Metcalf, indicating
serious interest in UFOs. (Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 81–82, 91, 96)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2942
Date: 7/16/1957
Description: 1:56 p.m. 1st Lt. Clifford E. Pocock, scope operator A2C
Walter Lyons, and control technician A1C Armand Therrien at Las Vegas
Air Force Station [now closed] at Angel Peak, Nevada, are using the
FPS-3A L-band search radar and track an inbound target at about 6,200
mph when it “stopped abruptly” and “remained stationary” for 12 seconds
to the east-northeast 85 miles away to the north of Grand Canyon in
Arizona. Then it heads outbound at about 7,000 mph before disappearing
at the radar’s maximum range at 224 miles (near Marble Canyon, Arizona).
The target responds to encrypted military IFF transponder signals and
transmits encrypted responses. (NICAP, “6200
MPH Target Hovers near Grand Canyon”; Sparks, p. 244)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2943
Date: 7/17/1957
Description: Flight 655 en route from Dallas to Los Angeles, piloted by
Capt. Ed Bachner, has a near collision with an object “at least the size
of a B-47” over the salt flats some 100 miles east of El Paso, Texas.
Bachner puts the plane into a dive and the object passes only 50 feet
above them. Two passengers suffer slight injuries and are taken to the
hospital on landing. No known aircraft are in the vicinity. (Lorenzen,
UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 79; Good Above, p. 283)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2945
Date: 7/17/1957
Description: Before dawn. The crew of a USAF RB-47 reconnaissance
aircraft is flying out of Forbes Field [now Topeka Regional Airport],
Kansas, on an electronic warfare training flight over Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Texas. The RB-47 is carrying a 6-man crew, of whom three
are electronic warfare officers manning ECM gear in the aft portion of
the aircraft. Their names are Lewis Dormon Chase, pilot; James
H. McCoid, copilot; Thomas H. Hanley, navigator; John J. Provenzano,
No. 1 monitor; Frank B. McClure, No. 2 monitor; and Walter
A. Tuchscherer, No. 3
monitor. The crew detects on its Electronic Intelligence (ELINT)
equipment an airborne radar source that mimics some but not all of the
signal characteristics of a common air defense ground radar. Aircraft
normally do not carry such high-powered radars. As the key ELINT officer
on the RB-47 puts it, “an antenna bigger than the airplane” would be
required to emit as strong a signal as he detected from the UFO. Because
the UFO signal appears to have comparable or greater received signal
strength than the one-megawatt ground radar beam and the UFOs distance
is about 5 times closer than the ground radar, a crude estimate of the
UFO radar power output using the inverse-square law would be about 40
kilowatts. The maneuvering radar signal coincides in location with a
bright UFO. At times the signal moves ahead of the RB-47, then circles
around as if airborne, highly maneuverable, and flying faster than the
RB-47. The 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing Intelligence report states
that the Wing’s director of intelligence “has no doubt the electronic
D/F’s coincided exactly with visual observations by a/c numerous times
thus indicating positively the object being the signal source.” An air
defense radar station near Dallas, Texas, reportedly confirms tracking a
UFO at the same location reported by the RB-47 crew but later tries to
deny it in an unclassified message to ATIC. The UFO is reportedly
tracked by the RB-47’s airborne navigation radar as well, though the
crew has differing recollections on this point. Twice the UFO blinks out
visually when pursued by the RB-47. At the same time the strange signal
disappears, either that, or the ground radar site and the RB-47 onboard
radar loses the object from their scopes. At least once, the UFO
suddenly reappears visually at about the same time the ground radar
regains tracking of the object. The main part of the incident occupies
30 minutes over the Fort Worth, Texas, area from 5:30–6:00 a.m. Some
earlier ELINT and visual incidents are noted as early as about 4:30
a.m., but they catch the crew off guard, and consequently reports at the
time and later recollections have had to be carefully reconstructed. The
UFO may have trailed the RB-47 up to 6:40 a.m. following the main
events, for a total duration of possibly more than 126 minutes. The RB
-47 incident is the first conclusive instrumented proof for the
existence of UFOs. Calibrations of the RB-47’s electronic measurements
provide an irrefutable case. When the Colorado Project scientists asked
the Air Force for the Blue Book file on the RB-47 case, the file could
not be found. Ultimately, the case was put together by better file
searching at Blue Book, James
E. McDonald’s success at locating several crew members and
interviewing them, and FOIA searches that located more of the lost
documents. Particularly in the George
T. Gregory years at ATIC, this sort of rejection of the need to
clarify almost any significant aspect of a UFO case was constant. If we
did not know, from our earlier information, what Captain Gregory
understood to be his duty as chief of Blue Book, we would label this as
reckless and incompetent. Colorado project investigator Gordon
Thayer declares the case unexplained, and later describes the
official USAF explanation (airliner) as “literally ridiculous.” Brad Sparks sums
it up in 1998 (and in 2018): “This case certainly now ranks as among the
best documented unexplained UFO incidents in history, and it has the
potential for further revealing disclosures if records of an extremely
highly classified investigation can be found and released. All of the
UFO observations by multiple visual observers, multiple ELINT receivers,
and multiple radar sets, as well as the serendipitous calibrations of
the UFO signals against the separately identifiable Duncanville radar
signals, provide a unique, tight, interlocking web of intricately fitted
evidence.” (NICAP, “RB-47
Incident”; Sparks, p. 244;
Condon, pp. 56, 136–139, 260– 266;
James E. McDonald, “The
1957 Gulf Coast RB-47 Incident,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 3
(May/June 1970): 2–6; Gert Herb, “A Rebuttal to Philip J. Klass’s
Analysis of the RB-47 Incident of July 17, 1957,” CUFOS Bulletin, Summer
1977, pp. 3–10; Philip J. Klass, [response to Gert Herb], CUFOS
Bulletin, Fall 1977, pp. 7–10; Gert Herb, “Gert Herb Replies,” CUFOS
Bulletin, Fall 1977, pp. 9–10; Swords 248–249; Loren E. Gross, The Fifth
Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957 May 24th–July
31st, The
Author, 1996, pp. 64–71; Center for UFO Studies, [case
interviews]; Center for UFO Studies, [case
documents]; Center for UFO Studies, [more case documents]; UFOs Yes,
126–127; Clark III 953–999)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2944
Date: 7/18/1957
Description: 10:46 p.m. Capt. Claiborne F. Bickham and a radar crew at
Mount Lemmon Air Force Station [now closed] northeast of Tucson,
Arizona, using both MPS-7 L-band search and MPS-14 S-band height-finder
radars, track a stationary target at 42,000 feet to the northwest about
82 miles away south of Chandler. The target responds to encrypted
military IFF Mode 3 transponder signals and transmits encrypted
responses that result in “normal Mode 3 paint” on radar scopes. A very
slight strobe comes from the object that appears like ECM jamming.
(NICAP, “Ground
Radar Track Responds to IFF Mode 3”; Sparks, p. 245)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2946
Date: 7/19/1957
Description: The Plumbbob John nuclear test at Yucca Flats, Nevada, is
the only test of the Air Force’s AIR-2 Genie missile with a nuclear
warhead. On the ground, the Air Force carries out a public relations
event by having five Air Force officers and a videographer stand under
ground zero of the blast, which takes place at between 18,500 and 20,000
feet altitude, with the idea of demonstrating the possibility of the use
of the weapon over civilian populations without ill effects. (Wikipedia,
“Operation
Plumbbob”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2947
Date: 7/22/1957
Description: Night. Capt. G. M. Schemel, the pilot of a TWA
Constellation aircraft, is flying at 18,000 feet near Amarillo, Texas,
when a big red and green light bears down on his plane in a collision
course. He puts the aircraft into a dive and the object passes above
him. Schemel has to make an unscheduled landing at Amarillo to
hospitalize one passenger who is injured during the maneuver. (“Kenosha
Pilot Tells of Mysterious Object,” Kenosha (Wis.) News, July 24,
1957, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2948
Date: 7/24/1957
Description: Russian antiaircraft batteries on the Kuril Islands,
Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, in the Pacific Ocean open fire on luminous,
fast-moving UFOs. No hits are made. The US claims it has no aircraft in
the area. However, at 10:00 a.m., two USAF pilots flying F-86s are
scrambled to intercept a disc-shaped object over the Nemuro Strait,
north of Hokkaido, Japan, that is tracked by ground radar and seen by
ground witnesses. (Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, p. 42;
Sparks,
p. 245)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2949
Date: 7/24/1957
Description: White Sands Missile Flight Safety Director Nathan
Wagner is driving with his wife Alma south
of Las Cruces, New Mexico, when they see a large, fast object at high
altitude moving east toward the Organ Mountains. They watch it for 30
seconds until it disappears. (“Space
Vehicles Sighted?” El Paso (Tex.) Times, July 30, 1957, p. 1; NICAP,
“Missile
Safety Chief Says Object Unknown”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2950
Date: 7/25/1957
Time: 1910
Description: Mr. Joao Guimaraes, who is a professor at the Catholic
Faculty of Law in Santos, was sitting near the shore when he saw a
hat-shaped, luminous craft approach from the sea and land near him. From
it came a metallic stairway. Two normal men with long, fair hair hanging
to their shoulders, a youthful appearance and wearing one-piece suits,
came down, gave no verbal answers to his questions, but invited him
“telepathically” to come aboard the craft. Inside the illuminated
compartment, he sat on a circular seat with the crew. The machine rose
for a short flight. On his return, Guimaraes found that his watch no
longer worked. (Humanoids 36; FSR 57, 6
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: (Vallee)
Location: Sao Sebastiao, Brazil
ID: 396
Date: 7/25/1957
Description: 4:00 a.m. Several workers are taking a break at the Daye
Steel Plant in Huangshi, Hubei, China, when they hear a humming sound.
They notice a bright spot in the clear sky that is increasing in
apparent size. As it comes closer, it is seen as a circular plate giving
off a dazzling white light and leaving a white trail. It flies above the
observers at an altitude of 3,300 feet and produces a whistling sound
that is louder than a jet. As the object approaches the witnesses, the
low pitch changes to a high pitch. (Wendelle Stevens and Paul Dong, UFOs
over Modern China, UFO Photo Archives, 1983)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2951
Date: 7/27/1957
Time: Early morning
Description: Or July 29, 1957. Witness: J.L. Siverly. One thick disc,
ice blue, with a top like honeycomb (interconnected hexagons), hovered
and rocked below the hill tops for 10 minutes. Middle band was
scalloped, bottom had four kidney-shaped forms.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Longmont, Colorado
ID: 412
Date: 7/28/1957
Description: A Douglas Aircraft Company employee named Edward K. Current
Jr. makes an emergency landing on the former U-2 airstrip at Groom Lake,
Nevada. He claims he has been on a cross-country training flight when he
became lost and ran low on fuel. The area is still evacuated for nuclear
testing. (Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 125–126;
T. D. Barnes, “False
Emergency Landings at Groom Lake,” Roadrunners Internationale,
November 22, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2952
Date: 7/29/1957
Time: 10:31 PM
Description: Witnesses: Capital Airlines Capt. R.L. Stimley, First
Officer F.J. Downing. One large, round, yellow-white object dimmed once,
crossed the bow of the airliner, which then gave chase but was unable to
catch it. Sighting last 8 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
ID: 413
Date: 7/29/1957
Time: 11:45 AM
Description: Witness: E.E. Henkins. One pale yellow fireball glided into
the water and exploded. Viewed for 1 minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Oldsmar, Florida
ID: 414
Date: 7/30/1957
Description: 10:30 a.m. Jack Stephenson is walking his dog four miles
south of Galt, Ontario, when he sees an aluminum- colored object with a
dome. It circles, stops, and hovers, then lands in a gulley surrounded
by woods. He watches it for 45 minutes as it hovers about 2 feet off the
ground. It finally takes off at a 45° angle to avoid a power line, then
shoots away. Local residents examine the area and find burned patches on
the ground and small tree limbs that are broken. There are four burned
or charred areas, each about 1 foot 3 inches in diameter, forming a
four- sided figure with these measurements: 20 feet x 20 feet x 6.5 feet
x 11.5 feet. Two large three-toed prints are also found, but the
relationship of the prints to the object is unknown. (“Boy
Reports ‘Saucer,’” Brantford (Ont.) Expositor, August 3, 1957, p. 1;
“Says
He Saw Flying Saucer for 45 Minutes,” Milk River (Alberta) Review,
August 25, 1957; Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 51–53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2953
Date: 7/30/1957
Description: Jack Stephens, Galt, Ontario sees spaceship on ground for
45 minutes
Type: ce2 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Galt, Ontario
Date: 7/30/1957
Description: Jack Stephenson was walking about 7 km from Galt when he
saw a flash in the sky. A circular object making a whirring sound came
down and landed with a throw of flames. It took off again 30 min
later,leaving the ground blackened and branches broken. The craft had a
stationary dome, but the periphery was spinning.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Round-up 188 (Vallee)
Location: Galt, Ontario, Canada
ID: 397
Date: 8/1957
Description: Radar technician Edward
Lovick Jr. begins work at Lockheed’s secret Advanced Development
Projects facility (the Skunk Works) in Burbank, California. His first
assignment is to investigate radar-deflecting technology for the U-2
aircraft. (Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 126–127)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2954
Date: 8/1957
Description: Night. A young woman is driving home after work in Peru,
Indiana, and notices people standing along the road looking at the sky.
She stops, and they point to a large black object hovering above some
nearby trees at about 100 feet. It is about 1,000 feet long and has a
“soft delta” shape with rounded corners and window-like lighted areas
underneath. There seems to be movement within the lighted areas. In the
middle of the bottom is a round area that looks like it might be the
outline of an entryway. It moves slowly away, making a noise like a
quiet vacuum cleaner. (Michael D. Swords, “Timmerman’s Triangles,” IUR
29, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2955
Date: 8/1/1957
Description: The North American Air Defense Command is announced by the
US Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Wikipedia, “North
American Aerospace Defense Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2956
Date: 8/3/1957
Description: 7:45 p.m. 1st Lt. Robert J. Springer Jr., T/Sgt. Herman
L. Giles, and 16 other air crewmen, while on routine Airborne
Operations Center radar early warning patrol over the Pacific Ocean
about 175 miles southwest of San Francisco, California, aboard an
RC-121D aircraft, detect a radar target on IFF Mode 2 transponder only.
At 7:56 p.m., the IFF target becomes a direct radar “skinpaint.” At 8:02
p.m., the IFF equipment APX-6/APX-7 is turned off, but the target is
still tracked on airborne radar. At 8:15 p.m., the target is at a 2
o’clock position 10 miles away when the aircraft starts a right turn to
reverse course, putting the target dead ahead. It suddenly takes off to
the northwest at very high speed, disappearing 58 miles away. Radar
contact is regained at 8:18 p.m. as the target is tracked moving right
to left, crossing in front of the aircraft again, and closing distance
to 8 miles at 11 o’clock. At 8:20 p.m., the target turns to head on a
parallel path. The crew loses contact at 8:24 p.m., 15 miles behind the
plane. No visual confirmation. (NICAP, “RC-121D
Has IFF Radar Targets”; Sparks, p. 246)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2957
Date: 8/4/1957
Description: An Italian Air Force noncommissioned officer on duty in the
control tower at Naples International Airport, Italy, and about 30 other
witnesses see a number of luminous, disc-shaped objects passing above
them. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2958
Date: 8/5/1957
Description: 10:00 p.m. Policeman Ernst W. Akerberg and his wife Karin
are at their summer cottage on the island of Gotland, Sweden, in the
Baltic Sea when they see a disc-shaped object heading toward them from
the sea. When it reaches the shore about 600 feet away, the object
changes course and executes a sharp turn at less than 90° of arc and
turns on its edge, swaying briefly. The disc moves toward the southeast
and makes another sharp turn just over a half-mile away, again turning
on its edge and fluttering before passing out of view. A second, smaller
object approaches and goes through the same maneuvers. Air currents from
both objects make the water surface ripple and the treetops swing.
Estimated to be about 80 feet in diameter, the objects seem to be made
of shining metal, and the upper part rotates slowly over the lower part.
Both objects have a kind of tube with two red lights. They are silent
except for a hollow clicking sound. (Story, pp. 152–153;
Clas Svahn, “1957
Diskusarna svängde framför
polismannen,” Riksorganisationen UFO-Sverige)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2959
Date: 8/14/1957
Description: 8:55 p.m. Varig Airlines pilot Capt. Jorgé Campos Araujo
and First Officer Edgar Onofre Soares observe a domed disc pacing their
C-47 cargo plane at 6,300 feet over Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
The UFO speeds up and crosses just in front of them, hovers briefly,
then dives into the undercast at 5,700 feet. When the object hovers, it
affects the engines, which cough and wheeze, and dims the cabin lights.
(UFOEv, p. 120;
Olavo T. Fontes, “Top
Secret Report Unveiled,” APRO Bulletin, September 1959, pp. 1, 5; Schopick,
pp. 123–127; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957
August–September, Supplemental Notes,
The Author, 2003, pp. 11–13; Lorenzen, FS Hoax, pp. 153–155)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2960
Date: 8/20/1957
Alternate date: 8/22/1957
Description: A member of the Argentine Air Force guarding a downed
aircraft is in a tent near Quilinos, Córdoba, Argentina, when he hears a
high-pitched hum. Dashing out, he sees a disc slowly descending, making
the grass and plants flutter wildly. Reaching for his revolver, he feels
that something is preventing him from drawing his weapon, which seems
glued in his holster. A voice from the disc tells him in Spanish that
spacecraft have a base in the Salta region and that they are here to
warn about nuclear energy. The craft rises vertically and speeds off to
the north. Probable hoax. (“UFO
Bases in South America?” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1965): 30– 31; Patrick Gross, URECAT, December
8, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2962
Date: 8/20/1957
Description: 11:28 a.m. Shinichi Takeda takes a photo of a silvery disc
near Enoshima Beach, Kanagawa, Japan. The object is also seen by his
sister, who calls his attention to it. It gives off a brilliant glow at
an estimated altitude of 3,000–4,000 feet, traveling north to south. The
object makes a 90° left turn, speeds up, and disappears in the clouds.
The photo shows capsule-shaped image near bank of cumulus clouds. A few
minutes later, 15 people on the beach report a similar object that
passes over at high speed. (NICAP, “Capsule-Shaped
Object in Clouds / Takeda
Photo”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2961
Date: 8/20/1957
Description: An Air Force man inside a tent heard a loud, shrill sound
and saw a disk that came down as grass and plants fluttered wildly under
it. He found himself unable to draw his gun, which “seemed to be glued
in its holster.” A voice came from the craft, telling him in Spanish
that UFO’s had a base in the Salta area and would soon show themselves
to warn all people about the dangers of a nuclear catastrophe.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 36 (Vallee)
Location: Quilino, Argentina
ID: 398
Date: 8/22/1957
Time: 1540
Description: A black, bellshaped object bearing two bright, white lights
at the top and maeasuring 15 m in diameter was chased by a civilian in a
car until the engine stalled. The object was then hovering 3 m away. The
underside of the machine resembled a disk with fins. When a jet aircraft
took off from the airfield, the object went out of sight almost
instantaneously. The car battery was found completely dead. There was no
helicopter in the area, although the two witnesses compared the noise
made by the object to that of a helicopter.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Cecil Naval Air Station, Florida
ID: 399
Date: 8/22/1957
Description: 3:40 p.m. A couple named Sheetz in a car at Naval Air
Station Cecil [now Cecil Airport] in Jacksonville, Florida, chase a
50-foot, black, rotating, bell-shaped object bearing two bright white
lights at the top. Their engine stalls when object hovers 10 feet away.
Its underside resembles a disc with fins. When a jet takes off from the
airfield, the object goes out of sight almost instantly. The car battery
is completely dead. Noise from the object is compared to a helicopter,
although there are no helicopters in the area. (NICAP, “Car
Chases Bell-Shaped Object, Engine
Stalls”; Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS,
1981, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2963
Date: 8/27/1957
Description: Russia makes the first successful long flight of an ICBM,
the R-7 Semyorka, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The dummy
warhead lands in the Pacific Ocean. (Wikipedia, “R-7
Semyorka”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2964
Date: 8/30/1957
Description: Night. A Capital Airlines pilot is flying a Viscount at
12,000 feet approaching Norfolk, Virginia, with a Northeast Airlines
DC-6 directly above on the same heading at 20,000 feet. The Viscount
pilot sees a brilliant object that “flew fast and then abruptly halted
20 miles in front of us at 60,000 feet altitude.” The Northeast pilot
tries to acquire the object on radar. With the antenna at 0° elevation,
nothing is detected, but with the antenna elevated to 15° he acquires
“an excellent blip right where I told him to look for the object.”
According to the Viscount pilot, the object “dissolved right in front of
my eyes, and the crew above lost it from the scope at the same time.
They said it just faded away.” The entire incident lasts several
minutes. (NICAP, “Two
Aircraft Observe
Object / Excellent Blip on Radar”; Condon, pp. 128–129)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2965
Date: 8/31/1957
Description: Sen. Barry
Goldwater (R-Ariz.) sends a letter to a constituent about UFOs,
saying, “I, frankly, feel that there is a great deal to this.” (UFOEv,
p. 173)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2967
Date: 8/31/1957
Description: After nuclear test Plumbbob Smokey, Army troops conduct an
airlift assault. (Wikipedia, “Desert
Rock exercises”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2966
Date: 8/31/1957
Description: In a letter about UFOs to a constituent, Senator Barry
Goldwater said, “I, frankly, feel there is a great deal to this.”
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research
Date: 9/1957
Description: A man suddenly fell, as if paralyzed, and his two
companions then observed an object shaped like a disk with a dome on top
and another dome under it, 50 m away. A door opened and three men, 1.70
m tall, wearing close-fitting, iridescent clothing, and who walked as if
on skis, appeared to make a check of the craft and the surroundings.
They gathered samples in a large box. The witnesses saw small portholes
and a tripod landing gear. The craft took off after 20 min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Nachrichten Jul., 60 (Vallee)
Location: Campinas, Brazil
ID: 400
Date: 9/1957
Description: 3:00 p.m. Hélio Penteado and his foreman Zaca Sabiá are
repairing a fence on Penteado’s farm in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil,
when Sabiá’s dog begins growling at something in the mint field. They
hear a loud, irritating sound and see a disc about 50 feet wide landing
in the field and supported by three legs with spheres on the end that
pierce the ground. Penteado goes closer to investigate and sees two
beings about 4 feet tall leave the UFO wearing green coveralls. They
seem to float along the ground and take a vessel from under the craft.
One of them is carrying something like a gun or flamethrower. They pass
through a fence on the way to a river. After 10 minutes the beings
return with the vessel apparently full of river water. The entity with
the flamethrower shoots it at a jacaranda tree and a eucalyptus tree,
damaging their trunks. They reenter the object via the dome, which takes
off toward the city. Back at his barn, Penteado notices that all his
metallic tools are stacked in a cone, the birds are dead, his monkey is
agitated, and his watch has stopped working. The same day, people
observe a UFO over a hospital on the Avenida Julio Mesqita, where the
object dumps two drops of liquid metal that falls in the street. The UFO
goes so low that it hits the corner of a parked truck. An analysis of
the metal by an unnamed organization (possibly the Brazilian Air Force)
shows that the metal is high in magnesium. Penteado later goes to the
landing site and takes plaster casts of the footprints, which he sends
to the Agronomy Institute of Campinas. (“Caso
do disco proximo de Campinas,” Boletim SBEDV, no. 14 (March 1,
1960): 1–3; Brazil 35–37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2970
Date: 9/1957
Description: Soviet defector Nikolai
Khokhlov suffers a sudden and severe illness while attending an
anti-Communist meeting in Frankfurt, Germany. He is treated for thallium
poisoning and survives. This case is often claimed to be the first
radiological attack by the KGB, especially when compared to the
poisoning of Alexander
Litvinenko in 2006, although it remains unclear what isotope was
used, if any. Former KGB officer Stanislav Lekarev claims, however, that
Khokhlov is poisoned by radioactive polonium (not thallium), exactly as
Litvinenko is later. Litvinenko’s poisoning is also initially mistaken
for thallium. A unique mechanism for administering poison is described
by a knowledgeable source at the time as a pneumatically operated poison
ice “atomizer” that leaves no wound or other evidence of the cause of
death. (Wikipedia, “Nikolai
Khokhlov”; Andy Wright, “The
Russian Spy Who
Convinced America to Take ESP Seriously,” Atlas Obscura, January 13,
2017; Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The
Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of
the KGB, Basic
Books, 1999; David Kurlander, “Ending
in a Fall: America’s Response to the Poisoning of Soviet Defector Nikolai
Khokhlov,” Café, September 3, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2968
Date: 9/2/1957
Description: After the Plumbbob Galileo nuclear shot at the Nevada Test
Site, Army troops are tested to determine their psychological reactions
to witnessing the nuclear detonation. (Wikipedia, “Desert
Rock exercises”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2971
Date: early 9/1957
Description: Several people fishing near Ubatuba, São Paulo, Brazil,
watch a disc dive down from the sky and explode, showering the area with
flaming fragments. One of the witnesses writes an anonymous letter and
sends three pieces to O Globo, but no witnesses to the event have ever
come forward. APRO representative Olavo
T. Fontes examines
the fragments, which are dull gray, irregular, and strongly oxidized.
One sample is shot through with microscopic cracks and shows a fissure
running through two-thirds of its length. All three have whitish smears
of a powdery substance like cinders. Fontes takes one sample to the
Mineral Production Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture for
analysis, which shows it to be “magnesium of a high degree of purity.”
Chemist Luisa Maria A. Barbosa, who conducts a spectrographic analysis,
says that not even trace elements are apparent. Fontes also has it
analyzed by chemist Elson Teixeira and the Brazilian Army. The
Laboratory of Crystallography conducts some X-ray diffraction work. All
conclude that the material is pure magnesium, while one gives it a
density of 1.866 (normal magnesium is 1.741). APRO sends a second
fragment to the US Air Force, which accidentally destroys it. The third
sample is sent to the Colorado Project in February 1968. Roy
Craig runs tests on it at the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of
the IRS in Washington and Dow Chemical’s Metallurgical Laboratory. Both
determine that the level of purity is not as high as was determined in
1957 (although this is now seen as a major misrepresentation of the
actual results). APRO does two further tests with University of Arizona
metallurgical engineer Walter A. Walker and Robert W. Johnson of the
Materials Research Corporation at Orangeburg, New Jersey. Walker and
Johnson both find that the sample “had undergone a directional crystal
growth type of manufacture.” Walker concludes that the material was
likely exposed to the earth’s atmosphere at elevated temperatures.
Researchers Brad
Sparks and Michael
Swords examine Roy Craig’s archived
original notes from
the Colorado Project and find that the team had covered up the fact that
an abnormal concentration of magnesium isotope Mg-26 had indeed been
found and knowingly misrepresented the sample to APRO as “essentially
the same as terrestrial magnesium,” blaming them for cherry-picking the
Brazilian lab results. Peter
A.
Sturrock acquires the remnant of the samples from APRO and performs
further analysis on two of them in 1997. In 2018, Michael Swords and Robert
Powell borrow one Ubatuba sample from Sturrock and arrange for
further tests at an accredited lab, finding variations well outside the
normal range for magnesium, strontium, copper, and barium. (NICAP, “The
Ubatuba Incident”; “Physical
Evidence,” APRO Bulletin, March 1960, pp. 1, 3; Olavo T. Fontes, “A
Report on the Investigation of Magnesium Samples from a UFO Explosion
over the Sea in the
Ubatuba Region of Brazil,” 1962; Lorenzen, FS Hoax, pp. 104–145;
Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 212–216; Condon, pp. 94–97,
257–260;
Michael D. Swords, “Analysis of Alleged Fragments from an Exploding UFO
near Ubatuba, Brazil: An Introduction,” JUFOS 4 (1992): 1–5; Walter W.
Walker and Robert W. Johnson, “Further Studies on the Ubatuba UFO
Magnesium Samples,” JUFOS 4 (1992): 6–25; Walter W. Walker, “Scientific
Studies of the Ubatuba Magnesium Fragments: A 1992 Perspective,” JUFOS 4
(1992): 26–37; Peter A. Sturrock, “Letter: Ubatuba,” IUR 18, no. 2
(March/April 1993): 19; Paul R. Hill, Unconventional Flying Objects: A
Scientific Analysis, Hampton Roads, 1995, pp. 226–234; Peter A.
Sturrock, “Composition
Analysis
of the Brazil Magnesium,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 15, no.
1 (2001): 69–95; Pierre Kaufmann and Peter A. Sturrock, “On
Events Possibly Related to the ‘Brazil Magnesium,’” Journal of
Scientific Exploration 18, no. 2 (2004): 283–291; Clark III 1143–1155;
Brazil 510–517; Robert M. Powell, Michael D. Swords, Mark Rodeghier, and
Phyllis Budinger, “Isotope
Ratios and Chemical Analysis of the 1957 Brazilian Ubatuba Fragment,”
Journal of Scientific Exploration 36, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 39–48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2969
Date: 9/4/1957
Description: Four Portuguese jet fighter-bombers under the command of
Capt. José
Lemos Ferreira are flying at night at 24,600 feet between Ota,
Portugal, and Granada, Spain. Near Granada they turn to head to
Portalegre, Portugal. At this point, Ferreira notices a UFO like a
bright star with a scintillating, colored nucleus that changes from deep
green to blue. The object suddenly grows to 5 or 6 times its original
size, then shrinks to a barely visible yellow point. These changes
repeat several times, possibly due to changes in position. The UFO
maintains its position 90° to the left of the squadron. Suddenly a small
circle of yellow light emerges from the object and three smaller yellow
objects appear, maneuver, then disappear. (NICAP, “Portuguese
Air Force Jets Have 40-Min. Encounter / E-M”;
Marciano Alves, “Air
Force Pilots Spend 40 Minutes with Saucers,” Flying Saucer Review 4,
no. 3 (May/June 1958): 2–3; Good Above, pp. 147–148;
Kean, p. 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2972
Date: 9/10/1957
Description: Approximate date. Anonymous witnesses saw a disk dive down
and explode, showering the area with flaming fragments. Some samples
were gathered, sent to a Brazilian newsman, analyzed by friends of
Dr. Fontes, of Rio, and were found to consist of surprisingly pure
magnesium.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor.l 90; 110 (Vallee)
Location: Ubatuba, Brazil
ID: 401
Date: 9/12/1957
Description: NORAD’s command headquarters is established at Ent Air
Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Canada and the United States
agree that the NORAD commander will always be a US officer, with a
Canadian vice commander, and Canada “agreed the command’s primary
purpose would be…early warning and defense for SAC’s retaliatory
forces.” Every continental US military radar UFO case in the Blue Book
files from now on is a NORAD case because the subordinate USAF Air
Defense Command belongs to NORAD. (Clark III 801; Wikipedia, “North
American Aerospace Defense Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2973
Date: 9/16/1957
Time: 930
Description: Les McDonald, 17, and Gladys Smith, 14, saw a red light
changing to green, spreading around them like a mist and covering an
area about 100 m diameter. They became nearly paralyzed and “felt a warm
glow.” They had no fear, but were “merely cognizant of things as they
were without being able to react.” This sensation lasted two min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: UFO Bulletin Dec., 57 (Vallee)
Location: Smithfield, Australia
ID: 402
Date: 9/16/1957
Description: ATIC briefs Howard
P. Robertson, now
chairman of the Defense Science Board, on Project Blue Book, presumably
because he wants to find out how the Air Force is implementing the
recommendations of the 1953 Robertson Panel. The briefing book
(including Special Report no. 14 as well as reports on Keyhoe and
the UFO movie) is delivered by the Pentagon’s Maj. James F. Byrne.
(Swords 265–266)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2974
Date: 9/19/1957
Time: 1840
Description: A boomerang-shaped object bigger than a house was reported
to have landed. Grass flattened.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Point Pleasant, New Jersey
ID: 403
Date: 9/19/1957
Description: The Plumbbob Rainier nuclear shot at the Nevada Test Site
is the first fully contained underground nuclear test, meaning that no
fission products are vented into the atmosphere. This test of 1.7
kilotons can be detected around the world by seismologists using
ordinary seismic instruments. (Wikipedia, “Operation Plumbbob”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2975
Date: 9/20/1957
Description: 3:05 p.m. A national defense alert is called when the first
of two or three supersonic objects, varying in speed for the next 30
minutes from 800 to 12,000 mph and varying in altitude from 50,000 to
135,000 feet, is picked up over the Atlantic by NORAD radar at Montauk,
New York. A second (or same) UFO heads straight toward SAC headquarters
in Omaha, Nebraska, in what is perceived as a threat trajectory
potentially aiming for a nuclear knockout kill of the entire US nuclear
force. At 3:10 p.m., interception is attempted by two F-102 jets from
Kinross AFB [now Chippewa County International Airport] south of Sault
Ste. Marie, Michigan, and later from Truax AFB [now Truax Field Air
National Guard Base] northeast of Madison, Wisconsin. At 3:24 p.m.,
another UFO joins the first on a similar trajectory 150 miles behind. It
passes over Ontario, Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa. The UFO sends radio
replies to IFF interrogation signals, on different frequencies,
confirming its location on the radar plots and making it impossible to
explain as a malfunction or interference. Interception is impossible at
these speeds and altitudes. SAC goes on high alert and apparently
launches nuclear bombers toward Russia, but the alert is called off when
the UFOs disappear. NORAD triggers a White House alert. High-level
meetings of CIA and USAF intelligence, and the Intelligence Advisory
Committee meet in executive session. The CIA Director of the Office of
Scientific Intelligence, Herbert
Scoville Jr., suggests
that the object might be a maneuverable Soviet cruise missile, but that
is not yet in the Soviet inventory. President Eisenhower is
briefed multiple times. One year later, NORAD still cannot identify any
malfunction that could possibly make the radar targets agree with the
IFF signals. (NICAP, “Multiple
Radars Track 4,500 MPH Target”; Clark III 802–804, 814– 824; Sparks, pp. 249–250;
Swords 266–267)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2976
Date: 9/20/1957
Time: 8 PM
Description: Witnesses: S/Sgt. H.T. O’Connor, S/Sgt. H.D. Bridgeman. One
object, shaped like a coke bottle without the neck, translucent and
fluorescent. Made four 5-10 second passes from north to south, with 4-5
minutes between passes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kadena AFB, Okinawa
ID: 415
Date: 9/26/1957
Time: sunset
Description: Three hundred people were said to have seen three elongated
objects with a series of portholes, maneuvering at ground level in an
area with many empty oil wells. One of these objects, said to be 150 m
long and 20 m high, pearl-colored, glistening under the setting sun and
showing a series of circles painted on its surface, landed for 20 min.
An occupant emerged, observed the abandoned derricks and took off again.
Observed through binoculars, he appeared as a “monster,” 1 m tall,
moving with strange jumps. He picked up something from the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Perego (Vallee)
Location: Yellow Falls, Texas
ID: 404
Date: 9/29/1957
Time: 0500
Description: Undocumented report of a landing observed by missile
men.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Keyhoe S (Vallee)
Location: Deerwood Nike Base, Maryland
ID: 405
Date: 9/29/1957
Description: 4:20 p.m. A nuclear waste storage tank explodes
spontaneously at the Mayak plutonium production site (Chelyabinsk-40)
for nuclear weapons and fuel reprocessing at Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk
Oblast, Russia. It launches a kilometer-tall pillar of dust and smoke
into the sky. Gray radioactive ash and debris settles over the
industrial zone. There are no immediate fatalities, though up to 200+
additional cancer deaths perhaps ensue from the radioactive
contamination of some 20,000 square miles; 270,000 people are exposed to
dangerous radiation levels. Over 30 small communities are removed from
Soviet maps between 1958 and 1991. (Wikipedia, “Kyshtym
disaster”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2977
Date: 10/1957
Description: 10:00 p.m. Mrs. James Masterson and her sister Bernice
Childers while driving see a reddish-orange disc, 30 feet in diameter,
just above the treetops in Allen Park, Michigan. They chase it for a
block or two before it streaks off. One of the women sees two figures
wearing white Navy uniforms in a window on the lower section. (Center
for UFO Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1957, p. 17;
Clark III 268)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2979
Date: 10/1957
Description: At the Gabiroba farm, owners A. Santinoni and S. de
Oliveira were blinded by beam from a round object at ground level. The
light was green and yellow. When they came near, all went dark and the
object vanished.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Round-up 205 (Vallee)
Location: Niquelandia, Brazil
ID: 406
Date: 10/1957
Description: Leonard
H. Stringfield privately publishes Inside Saucer Post…3-0 Blue that
summarizes his early years as a UFO investigator and as director of
Civilian Research, Interplanetary Flying Objects. (Leonard H.
Stringfield, Inside
Saucer Post…3-0 Blue, The
Author, 1957)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2978
Date: 10/4/1957
Description: Sputnik 1 launched, transmits for 3 weeks, deorbits on
1/4/58
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
See also: 11/12/57
Date: 10/4/1957
Description: 10:00 a.m. A tadpole-like UFO is seen at Ichinoseki, Iwate
Prefecture, Japan. Afterwards, material like spider web falls in great
profusion around Saguramachi Middle School for about 2 hours. Chemical
analysis reveals that it is organic, dissolvable in hydrochloric acid,
and burns. The crystal structure is different from spider web. (“Angel
Hair,” Flying Saucer Review 4, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1958): 21; Robert N.
Webster, “Things That Fall from UFO’s,” Fate 11, no. 10 (October 1958):
26; George M. Eberhart, “Postcards with a UFO Theme,” IUR 29, no. 2
(Summer 2004): 21; Brian Boldman, “Angel Hair Physical Analyses: A
Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006): 103; Clark III 124–125)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2981
Date: 10/4/1957
Description: The USSR launches the first artificial earth satellite, Sputnik
1, which transmits radio pulses for 21 days. Some 4% of Americans
claim to have seen Sputnik in orbit. However, what most are actually
seeing is the 100- foot-long R-7 rocket core stage, outfitted with
reflective panels that make it a first magnitude object, trailing 600
miles behind the 22-inch satellite until October 26 when the batteries
run out. The satellite is barely visible at sixth magnitude. (Wikipedia,
“Sputnik
1”; Walter N. Webb, “Allen Hynek As I Knew Him,” IUR 18, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1993): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2980
Date: 10/5/1957
Description: 11:00 p.m. Antonio
Villas-Boas gets up from bed on his family’s farm near São Francisco
de Sales, Minas Gerais, Brazil, to open a window and notices a silvery
reflection over the corral. After a short time, it moves towards the
window. He and his brother watch as an object approaches and lights up
the room. It disappears. (Clark III 1226)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2982
Date: 10/5/1957
Time: 2300
Description: Antonio Villas-Boas who could not sleep because of the
heat, opened the shutters of his house and saw a silvery glow in the
yard, but no flying object. The light moved and was seen going over the
house.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 4; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Francisco de Sales, Brazil
ID: 407
Date: 10/6/1957
Description: 4:15 p.m. Amateur astronomer Earl
Sydow spots a bright object with the magnitude of the planet Venus
through his telescope over Tucson, Arizona. Six other observers also
watch the object, which measures approximately 3 minutes in diameter
along its major axis and 1 minute along its minor axis. Smaller
flat-white or silver-white objects, as many as 6–10, seem to emerge from
the primary object as observations continue. The smaller objects are
apparently short traces of light at some times and semi-wedge-shaped at
other times. The smaller objects disappear from the field of the
telescope until only the original object is visible, and it disappears
as if moving directly away. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet,
1969, p. 80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2983
Date: 10/8/1957
Time: 9:17 AM
Description: Witnesses: two U.S. Army sergeants. Two flat, round, white
objects flew in trail formation along an irregular path, frequently
banking during 25-30 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Seattle, Washington
ID: 416
Date: 10/8/1957
Description: Day. Four Fijians in a punt with an outboard motor off
Nabouwalu, Viti Levu, Fiji, see a white, circular object, which is
hovering about 20 feet above the ocean. They approach it. It appears to
be revolving, and they can see the figure of a man standing on the
outside. The figure shines a blinding light at their boat, which makes
them feel dazed and weak. As they draw closer, the figure disappears and
the object rises rapidly upward, disappearing straight up. R. O.
Aveling, an official of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, sees a similar
object at the same time but at a different location. It is hovering at
about 5,000 feet and swinging in a balloon-like fashion. Its color
varies from bright white to deep, flashing red. (“Fiji
Reports Sighting Object Like Texas Saucer,” Honolulu (Hawaii)
Advertiser, November 5, 1957, p. 1; “Strange
Object Seen in South Pacific Skies,” Long Beach (Calif.) Press-
Telegram, November 5, 1957, p. 3; Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story,
Signet, 1969, p. 81; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth
Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History, 1957, October 1st–November
2nd, The Author, 1997, p. 19; Patrick Gross, URECAT, February
16, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2984
Date: 10/8/1957
Time: 1500
Description: Two couples going from Nabouwalu to Nawaca in a motor boat
saw a white object come down from the sky, thought it was a plane in
trouble and went closer. They found the object hovering 7 m above the
water, and a figure on board the craft aimed at them a beam so bright
they “felt weak.” The figure disappeared suddenly, and the object took
off vertically at high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Round-up 202; Challenge 18 (Vallee)
Location: Nabouwalu, Fiji Islands
ID: 408
Date: 10/9/1957
Description: 7:24 p.m. The tower operator at Naval Air Station South
Weymouth [now the Shea Field Naval Aviation Historical Museum],
Massachusetts, sights a constant, conical, greenish-blue object with a
phosphorescent glow through binoculars. In sight approximately 90
seconds, the observer sees no navigation lights. It is traveling faster
than a jet plane on a track from northeast to south-southwest. The
object comes out of the horizon and toward the end of its path makes
three “crazy” gyrations then vanishes, possibly behind cloud cover. The
object has no trail like a meteor. (Walter N. Webb, “Allen Hynek As I
Knew Him,” IUR 18, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1993): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2987
Date: 10/9/1957
Description: Night. Radio station CKOV in Kelowna, British Columbia,
after reports on Sputnik, rebroadcasts Orson Welles’s
1938 War of the Worlds radio drama. Some 60 phone calls come in from
listeners who think that Russians have landed in North America. (“Welles,
‘Moon,’ Terrify Town,” Windsor (Ont.) Star, October 10, 1957,
p. 28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2986
Date: 10/9/1957
Description: Evening. Fire ignites Windscale Pile Number One, an
air-cooled, graphite-moderated, uranium-fueled reactor used for
plutonium and isotope production at the Windscale facility [now
Sellafield] in Cumbria, England. It burns for three days, and there is a
release of radioactive iodine that spreads across the UK, contaminating
surrounding dairy farms, as well as the rest of Europe. (Wikipedia, “Windscale
fire”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2985
Date: 10/10/1957
Description: Mrs. Edward Yeager who lived in a trailer on the
Duanesburg-Church Road near Mariaville, saw a circular object go down
behind the hill. Two min later it flew up again, very bright. The next
day she was feeding animals that ran away as the same or a similar
object came within 2 m of the ground. Two dark, little men came out of
the craft and went into the woods. The object remained there two min,
then left. A search for the occupants proved futile. A bus driver was
said to have seen two craft land in a nearby field at the same
hour.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 58, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Schenectady, New York
ID: 409
Date: 10/10/1957
Time: night
Description: Naval officer Miguel Espanhol and another man, traveling to
Ceres, saw a bright object that illuminated the countryside and came
down to ground level as the truck stalled. It was oval or saucer-shaped,
over 150 m in diameter and 40 m deep, with a dome supporting a long
“aerial” with a red light on top. The bright light went off and the
witnesses saw seven childlike beings, with long hair and luminous suits,
who looked down at them for about 3 min. The craft flew south and
released a smaller disk, which flew north.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 36 (Vallee)
Location: Quebracoco, Brazil
ID: 410
Date: 10/10/1957
Description: The coffee truck driven by Miguel Espanhol Navarrete and
his driver stalls northwest of Ceres near Quebra Coco, Goiás, Brazil, as
a UFO lands nearby. They see an intense light as they begin a steep
ascent, and then realize that the flying object appears to be more than
600 feet long. It lights up the entire area, even though it is gliding
at a great height. The driver panics and tries to speed away, but the
truck’s engine stalls as the object approaches and flies over the
vehicle about 130 feet away. The object is about 3 feet in diameter by
40 inches high and is unevenly oval, with the upper section greater than
the lower section. It looks like two superimposed plates separated by a
strip 65 feet thick. When it is at an altitude of 20 feet, the UFO stops
in the air and its light goes out. It lands, a door opens, and seven
apparently human people come out dressed in luminous suits. Then the
crew reenters the UFO and takes off, stopping at about 1,650 feet
altitude. At that moment a smaller object detaches itself from the
larger one and flies north. The larger object follows in a southeasterly
direction. Navarrete is interviewed by Judge Gabriel Barbosa de Andrade,
then-Secretary of the Interior and justice of the State of Goiás;
Joaquim Neves Pereira; and Antenor Gomes, then-Secretary of Public
Security for Goiás. (Lorenzen, Occupants, Signet, 1967, pp. 192–193;
Clark III 230; “Caso
Ceres,” Portal Fenomenum, June 15, 2016; Patrick Gross, URECAT, October
17, 2006; Brazil 40–41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2989
Date: 10/10/1957
Description: 4:00 a.m. A huge fireball plunges from the sky near Myton,
Utah, just missing a US Navy DC-6 transport plane out of NAS Alameda
[now closed], California, with 36 persons aboard. Pilot Lt. Cmdr. W. F.
Norris reports the incident to Salt Lake City Airport. (“Big
Fireball Perils Plane,” Oakland (Calif.) Tribune, October 10, 1957,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2988
Date: 10/11/1957
Time: 2000
Description: Two witnesses in a car saw something they described as “a
dark, transparent ball” about 50 cm in diameter rising from the side of
the road. It had appendages trailing behind.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 111 (Vallee)
Location: Roulon, France
ID: 411
Date: 10/12/1957
Description: 9:15 p.m. Many witnesses see a luminous oval object pass
over Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, at great speed. The same or a similar
object is seen at Coro at 9:25 p.m. and at Trujillo at 12:00 midnight.
(Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 82)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2990
Date: 10/14/1957
Time: 2145
Description: Second observation by A. Villas-Boas. He was plowing a
field with his brother when they saw a red light at the edge of the
field. He went toward it, but it shifted its position every time he went
close. It vanished on the spot.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 4; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Francisco de Sales, Brazil
ID: 412
Date: 10/14/1957
Description: 7:00 p.m. The Naval Air Station North Island tower in San
Diego, California, directs a Navy S2F-1Tracker anti-submarine aircraft
toward a bright light over Point Loma. The aircraft, piloted by Lt. Allen
L. Ries, tracks the UFO on airborne radar at some points suddenly
moving at 1,700 mph average speed (3,500 mph at peak) and 1,100 mph
average relative to the aircraft’s (peak 2,200 mph). Radar indicates the
object is about 12 miles ahead. After 3 minutes the aircraft loses the
object visually and on radar. Blue Book explains this as the star
Arcturus, which is in the wrong direction in the sky, then changes the
explanation to a balloon. (NICAP, [Blue
Book documents];
Clark III 389–390)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2991
Date: 10/14/1957
Description: Around 9:30 p.m. Antonio
Villas-Boas and another brother are plowing and see a bright object
hovering 300 feet in the air. He approaches it, but it evades him and
disappears. (Clark III 1226–1227)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2992
Date: 10/15/1957
Time: daylight
Description: Mr. Moudy, a farmer, observed a silvery disk which hovered
above his tractor; the engine failed when the object rose.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Covington, Indiana
ID: 413
Date: 10/15/1957
Description: Villas Boas abduction. Has intercourse with an
human-looking female.
Type: abduction
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Brazil
Date: 10/15/1957
Description: Afternoon. Robert Moudy sees a glowing object hovering
above his combine in Franklin County, Indiana, at about 1,500 feet. It
appears to be silver and platter-shaped, perhaps 12 feet in diameter,
with a pink flame coming from its base. It makes a loud whirring noise
as it hovers. When it starts ascending at a 22° angle, its color changes
from pink to light blue and the combine stops working. He notices two
stalled cars on a nearby road. (“Indiana
Farmer Says ‘Whatsit’ Was Overhead,” Indianapolis News, November 5,
1957, p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2993
Date: 10/15/1957
Description: Villas Boas abduction, sexual encounter case
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Minas Gerais State, Brazil
ID: 4
Date: 10/16/1957
Time: 0100
Description: Third observation by A. Villas-Boas. Alone in the fields on
a clear night, he saw a big, red star which took the appearance of a
luminous, egg-shaped object and stopped 50 m above his tractor. Its
light was brighter than that of the headlights as it landed 15 m away.
The top part was spinning. It became green as it slowed down, was then
seen as a flattened dome. Three legs emerged from the machine as it
settled down. The tractor engine stalled, and the witness was seized by
unknown individuals and carried aboard the craft, where he was medically
examined, then left with a woman of short stature with whom he had
sexual intercourse. Villas-Boas reported that crew members wore tight,
white clothes with a light on the belt, heelless white shoes, big
gloves, and opaque helmets with a slit at the level of the eyes. Their
language was shrill, and he could establish no verbal communication with
them.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 4 et seq. (Vallee)
Location: Francisco de Sales, Brazil
ID: 414
Date: 10/16/1957
Description: 1:00 a.m. Antonio
Villas-Boas is plowing alone near São Francisco de Sales, Minas
Gerais, Brazil, when a red, egg-shaped object appears above him. His
tractor motor and lights fail. It lands nearby and something grabs him
as he tries to run away. Three small figures bring him into the object,
where he is subjected to tests and made to have sex twice with an
odd-looking woman. Afterwards, she points to her belly then points to
the sky. Then he is given a tour of the craft and taken outside again
around 5:30 a.m. (“The
A.V.B. Contact Case,” Boletim SBEDV, no. 26/27 (Apr./July 1962):
7–9; Gordon Creighton, “The
Most Amazing Case of All, Part 1: A Brazilian Farmer’s
Story,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1965): 13–17;
Gordon Creighton, “The
Most Amazing
Case of All, Part 2: Analysis of the Brazilian Farmer’s Story,”
Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1965): 5–8; Gordon Creighton,
“Postscript
to the Most Amazing Case of All,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1965): 24–26; Gordon Creighton, “Even
More Amazing…: Further Light on the A.V.B. Case,”
Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1966): 23–27; Gordon
Creighton, “Even
More Amazing…Part 2:
The A.V.B. Case Continued,” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1966): 22–25; Gordon Creighton, “Even
More Amazing…Part III,” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1966): 14–16; Gordon Creighton, “Even
More Amazing…Part IV,” Flying Saucer Review 13, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1967): 25–27; Olavo T. Fontes, “Even
More Amazing…Part V,” Flying Saucer Review 13, no. 3 (May/June
1967): 22–25; Gordon Creighton, “Even
More Amazing…Part VI: The Medical Report,” Flying Saucer Review 14,
no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1968): 18–20; Lorenzen, Occupants, Signet, 1967, pp. 42–72;
“Brazil: New Light on a Sexual Abduction,” IUR/Probe, Sept. 1980, p. 79;
Kim Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987,
pp. 56–59; Brazil 41–47; Clark III 1227–1229; Mark Cashman, “Behavioral
Classification System for UFO Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999):
19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2994
Date: 10/16/1957
Description: Day. Nurse Ella Louise Fortune is driving north of
Tularosa, New Mexico, when she sees a brilliant-white, elliptical object
hovering in a deep-blue sky. It seems to have a faint exhaust trail at
one edge. She stops her car and snaps a 35mm Kodachrome photo. Analysts
generally agree this is a bright lenticular cloud with a trail of ice
crystals. (Walter N. Webb, “The Fortune Photo Revisited,” IUR 18, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1993): 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2995
Date: 10/16/1957
Description: Evening. Former Australian Air Marshal George
Jones and his wife see a round object like a “flying balloon” moving
silently at the speed of a jet over their home in Mentone, Victoria,
Australia. It moves from south to north at an altitude of 1,000–1,500
feet. (George Jones, “Former
Air Chief Sees Saucers,” Flying Saucer Review 4, no. 3 (May/June
1958): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2996
Date: late 10/1957
Description: Late one afternoon, a British RAF team is planning to
return home from the Maralinga, South Australia, nuclear test site where
the Operation Antler series of blasts have occurred (September 14, 25,
October 9). They go outside and see a silvery-blue, metallic UFO with a
flat base and a dome on top. Several squarish portholes are visible
around the center. The object tilts at 45° and hovers. After 15 minutes,
the UFO shoots up out of sight without a sound. One of the witnesses is
Derek Murray, later a Home Office photographer. (Bill Chalker, “The UFO
Connection: Startling Implications for Australia’s North West Cape, and
for Australia’s Security,” Flying Saucer Review 31, no. 5 (July
1986): 18–19; Jenny Randles, UFO Conspiracy, Cassell, 1987, pp. 94–95;
Good Above, p. 163)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3004
Date: 10/21/1957
Description: 9:18 p.m. Flying Officer D. W. Sweeney is flying a Meteor
jet at 28,000 feet on a training exercise from RAF North Luffenham [now
St. George’s Barracks] when he nearly collides with an unidentified
object over RAF Gaydon [now closed], North Warwickshire, England. After
taking evasive action, Sweeney tries to approach the object, whereupon
its six lights go out and it disappears. The UFO is tracked on radar at
RAF Langtoft [now closed] in South Kesteven. (“UFO
over British A-Bomber Base: Air Ministry Baffled,” Flying Saucer
Review 4, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1958): 6; Good Above, pp. 50–51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2997
Date: 10/22/1957
Description: The US Continental Army Command sends a memo to the Army
Chief of Research and Development indicating its interest in the flying
saucer concept and requesting initiation of a feasibility study of a
“manned flying saucer.” (Richard P. Weinert, History of Army Aviation,
1950–1962, US Army Training and Doctrine Command, November 1976, pp. 220–221)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2998
Date: 10/25/1957
Description: A girl suffering from cancer appeared about to die when the
house was suddenly illuminated by a strong light, as if a searchlight
had been aimed at the room. It came from an object whose top part was
reddish yellow. Two figures emerged from it and entered the house. They
were about 1.20 m tall, had long yellow-red hair, small green, slanted
eyes, and wore white gloves and glowing white clothes. Before the
astounded witnesses (the author of the report and the family of the
girl), they used a device producing a bluish-white light and another
instument, in what appeared to be radiation treatment of the patient.
After 30 min they went away, leaving her completely cured. The report
was anonymous.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 67, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Petropolis, Brazil
ID: 415
Date: 10/25/1957
Description: On a farm near Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a
housekeeper (pseudonym = Anazia Maria) is taking care of a family member
who is dying of stomach cancer. She claims that two diminutive,
long-haired beings emerge from a landed UFO, come inside the house,
examine the girl for an hour with a device that looks like a flashlight,
communicate telepathically to the family, cure the girl, and leave
behind some medication to give her. (Olavo T. Fontes, “Dying
Girl Saved by Humanoid Surgeons,” Flying Saucer Review 13, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1967): 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 2999
Date: 10/30/1957
Description: 9:00 p.m. Hugh Pulju and Shirley Moyer are driving 10 miles
north of Casper, Wyoming, when a round, shiny object appears in the road
about 250 feet ahead. Pulju tries to turn around, but the engine keeps
stalling. It works well once he reaches a main highway. (“‘Mystery
Object’ Is Reported Here,” Casper (Wyo.) Tribune- Herald, November
5, 1957, p. 1; Aimé Michel, Straight-Line, pp. 237–238; Schopick,
p. 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3000
Date: 10/31/1957
Time: 0000
Description: A businessman and his wife saw a large, lighted object with
openings, which hovered, came to ground level, and took off with a great
increase in brightness at very high speed, but without noise.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Longchaumois, France
ID: 416
Date: 10/31/1957
Description: A businessman and his wife at Longchaumois, Jura, France,
see a large lighted object with openings. It hovers close to the ground
and takes off with a great increase in brightness, silently, at high
speed. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957, October
1st–November 2nd, The Author, 1997, p. 83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3002
Date: 10/31/1957
Description: 8:00 p.m. Barbara Jean Stokes, her husband Paul, and
another couple are driving in Lumberton, North Carolina, when they spot
an object about 200 feet long in the sky. Suddenly the object rises
straight up and flames. As this happens, the car stalls until the object
disappears a few seconds later. (“Woman
Says She Saw Ball
of Fire on Road,” Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, November 5, 1957,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3003
Date: 10/31/1957
Description: Keyhoe meets
with Rep. James
C. Healey again, who tells him the Air Force has “made a strong
attempt to disprove your claims.” (Keyhoe, FSTS, p. 113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3001
Date: 11/1957
Time: 2300
Description: Haskell Raper, Jr., was driving home on a rainy night when
he saw a large, lighted object on the road ahead, which he thought was a
truck. Suddenly the object flashed a beam of light directly at the car,
apparently exerting a strong pressure and slowing it to a stop 5 m away.
The object was then described as oval, 5 m long, 3 m high, army green in
color. It bore lettering beginning with the letters UN, followed by some
numbers. A sort of heat wave filled the car, and the witness ran out in
panic as the vehicle caught fire. The object rose with the sound of a
diesel engine. Raper ran to the town, less than 2 km away; and reported
the incident. The car, a 1956 Ford, was completely destroyed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Oct., 58 (Vallee)
Location: Provencal, Louisiana
ID: 417
Date: 11/1957
Description: Lt. Gen. John
A. Samford succeeds Maj. Gen. Ralph
Canine as director of the National Security Agency.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3005
Date: 11/1957
Description: Gene
Duplantier launches the quarterly magazine Saucers, Space, and
Science in Willowdale, Ontario. It continues through 1972. (Saucers,
Space & Science, no. 1 (November 1957))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3006
Date: 11/1/1957
Description: 9:15 a.m. More than 50 workers at the Luipaardsvlei mine
near Krugersdorp, Gauteng, South Africa, watch two UFOs hanging
motionless in the air at a great height until the afternoon. A Sabre jet
from the South African Air Force is sent up to investigate. It climbs to
45,000 feet, but the objects are still above it. One of the witnesses is
Maj. G. Ogilvie-Watson, from an ACF squadron at Pretoria. They move off
at great speed. (“Jet Unable
to Reach UFO,” Flying Saucer Review 4, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1958): 2;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of
the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957, October 1st–November 2nd, The
Author, 1997, p. 85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3007
Date: 11/2/1957
Description: Multiple landings on roadways, E-M (electro-magnetic)
effects, etc. Sheriff Weir Clem was sent out to search the roads as a
result of earlier UFO reports and saw a reddish oval crossing the road
and illuminating the pavement. Ronald Martin saw an UFO land in front of
his truck and turn from red to bluish-green at which time the truck’s
electrical system failed. It then turned reddish again and took off.
Within the next few hours an Army Jeep Patrol at White Sands, N.M.,
reported an egg-shaped UFO that descended to about 50 yards above a
bunker used during the first A-bomb explosion. This wave of sightings
continued for 2–3 weeks. After retirement in 1975, Sheriff W. Clem gave
a more graphic description of the UFO he saw: “The object was shaped
like a huge football and had bright white lights. No living human could
believe how fast it traveled. The thing was as bright as day. It lit up
the whole area.” In an interview in 1977, Sheriff Clem said, “After the
publicity of UFOs over the next few days, the number of witnesses to
them rose to about a hundred people.”
Type: ce2 event
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Loveland, TX
See also: 11/5/57
Date: 11/2/1957
Time: 0330
Description: 5 km west of this town, military and civilian witnesses
reported a submarine-shaped object, red and white, two or three times as
long as a car and about 3 m high, at ground level. A figure was seen
near this object, also something compared to a white flag. When a car
stopped in the vicinity, a flash of light from the object coincided with
the sudden failure of the headlights.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Canadian, Texas
ID: 418
Date: 11/2/1957
Time: 2250
Description: A large number of reports from the Levelland area described
a low-flying object, over 60 m long, equipped with a bright light, and
which interfered with car ignition.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Anatomy 136; map (Vallee)
Location: Levelland, Texas
ID: 419
Date: 11/2/1957
Description: About midnight. Jim Wheeler sees a 200-foot-long,
egg-shaped, brightly lit object on Route 114 four miles east of
Levelland, Texas. As he gets close to it, his engine and lights cease
functioning. He gets out of his car as the light ascends; its lights
blink out, and his engine and lights resume functioning. (UFOEv, p. 168;
Schopick, p. 27;
Donald R. Burleson, “Levelland, Texas, 1957: Case Reopened,” IUR 28, no.
1 (Spring 2003): 4; Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 17–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3013
Date: 11/2/1957
End date: 11/3/1957
Description: Levelland, TX: many sightings, with numerous cars
stalled
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Levelland, TX
Date: 11/2/1957
Description: About midnight. José Alvarez is driving along Route 51 in
Whitharral, Texas, when he comes across a 200-foot-long object sitting
in the road. His car engine stops as he approaches, and the headlights
go out. At that point, the object rises quickly into the air. (UFOEv, p. 168;
Schopick,
pp. 27–28; Donald R. Burleson, “Levelland, Texas, 1957: Case Reopened,”
IUR 28, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 4; Randle, Levelland, 2021, p. 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3012
Date: 11/2/1957
Description: 11:55 p.m. Two married couples driving near Shallowater,
Texas, see a flash of orange light in the southwestern sky. The
headlights and radio of their car fail for three seconds as they see the
light. The car motor is not affected. (Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS, 1981, p. 9; Randle,
Levelland, 2021, pp. 16, 220–221)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3011
Date: 11/2/1957
Description: 8:30 p.m. A witness is driving between Seminole and
Seagraves, Texas, on US Highway 62 when he sees lights on the road
ahead. As he approaches them, his headlights go out and his engine dies.
A few seconds later, the lights rise into the air and disappear. (Hobbs
(N.Mex.) News-Sun, November 5, 1957; Schopick, p. 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3009
Date: 11/2/1957
Description: 3:30 a.m. Three miles west of Canadian, Texas, S/Sgt. Alfred
A. Calvin and a civilian witness see a submarine-shaped object, red
and white, about 40–60 feet long and about 10 feet high, at ground
level. A figure is near the object holding a white flag. When he stops
the car, a flash of light from the object coincides with the sudden
failure of the headlights. (NICAP, “Submarine-Shaped
UFO, Entity, E-M Case”; Sparks,
p. 253; Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3008
Date: 11/2/1957
Description: 10:50 p.m. Farmhand and veteran Pedro
Saucedo and Joe Salaz are driving four miles west of Levelland,
Texas, on Route 116 [now 114] south of Pettit (near its intersection
with Five Mile Road). They see a flash of light to the right of the
road. Then a 200-foot-long, 6-foot-wide blue rocket-shaped object, with
yellow flame and white smoke coming from the rear, rises up out of the
field, heads straight toward their truck, passes directly overhead at
about 200 feet with a loud thundering roar, a rush of wind, and great
heat. Their truck engine dies and the headlights to go out. The UFO
disappears in the east towards Levelland. The lights come back on
spontaneously and the engine restarts. A frightened Saucedo calls the
occurrence in to Patrolman A. J. Fowler of the Levelland sheriff’s
office. At Pettit, Texas, the same night, two grain combines, each with
two engines, fail as a UFO passes overhead. The Air Force calls the
Levelland sightings ball lightning or St. Elmo’s fire, even though there
are no electrical storms in the area. Donald
Menzel calls it a mirage. (Wikipedia, “Levelland
UFO case”; NICAP, “The
Levelland Sightings / Saucedo”; “Whatnik
Sidelines Sputnik, Woofnik,”
Fort Worth (Tex.) Star- Telegram, November 4, 1957, pp. 1–2; “The
Levelland Case,” APRO Bulletin, November 1957, p. 1; “Did
the Air Force
Deceive the Public about the November Sightings?” UFO Investigator
1, no. 3 (January 1958): 1, 3; Schopick, pp. 26–27,
32; Clark III 683–684; UFOEv, p. 168;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 141–142, 146–147;
Sparks, p. 253;
Walter N. Webb, “Allen Hynek As I Knew Him,” IUR 18, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1993): 8; Don Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio
Huneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000,
pp. 67–70;
“Levelland
1957,” Texas UFO Museum & Research Library, March 15, 2002;
Donald R. Burleson, “Levelland, Texas, 1957: Case Reopened,” IUR 28, no.
1 (Spring 2003): 4; Antonio F. Rullán, “The Southwestern UFO Wave of
1957,” IUR 31, no. 3 (October 2007): 8–15, 22; Randle, Levelland, 2021,
pp. 12–16, 43–55, 128–136, 150–152, 215–217, 234)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3010
Date: 11/3/1957
Time: 0300
Description: At Stallion Site, an army patrol in a jeep saw an orange,
“apparently controlled,” luminous object on the ground near the site of
the first A-bomb explosion. It was first seen as a sunlike source 50 m
above ground, descending to ground level after 3 min, and landing
several km away at the northern end of the testing grounds. Two
witnesses.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 238 (Vallee)
Location: White Sands, New Mexico
ID: 420
Date: 11/3/1957
Description: 12:15 a.m. Frank Williams, a farmer, is near Whitharral,
Texas, when he encounters an object described as an egg sitting on the
crossroads. The UFO pulsates steadily; each time it glows bright, the
car’s power goes on and off. The object leaves with a thunderous sound.
(UFOEv, p. 168;
Schopick,
pp. 29–30; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 143–144;
Donald R. Burleson, “Levelland, Texas, 1957: Case Reopened,” IUR 28, no.
1 (Spring 2003): 4; Randle, Levelland, 2021, p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3015
Date: 11/3/1957
Description: Around 1:00 a.m. Levelland (Texas) Fire Marshall Ray Jones,
while out driving around and looking for some explanation of the many
UFO reports, sees a “streak of light” north of the Oklahoma Flat. His
headlights dim and engine sputters as he sees the light. (UFOEv, p. 168;
Schopick,
p. 32; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 145–146);
Randle, Levelland, 2021, p. 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3017
Date: 11/3/1957
Description: 1:15 a.m. James Long is 5 miles northwest of Levelland,
Texas, on a farm-to-market road. He reports a bright object that is egg
or oval-shaped, about 200 feet long, 200 feet away, sitting in the road.
He hears a “thunderclap.” The car’s lights and motor quit. The object
rises quickly and speeds away. (UFOEv, p. 168;
Schopick, p. 31;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 144–145;
Randle, Levelland, 2021, p. 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3018
Date: 11/3/1957
Description: 12:05 a.m. Texas Tech college student Newell H. Wright is
driving west one mile west of Smyer, Texas, when the ammeter gauge on
his car dashboard starts fluctuating widely. The car motor gradually
goes out then the headlights and radio die. He gets out to check and
sees a white or aluminum-colored, oval-shaped object flat on the bottom
like a loaf of bread, with a bluish-green tint, about 75–125 feet long.
After a few minutes, the object suddenly rises up from the road ahead
and ascends almost vertically at great speed slightly to the north,
disappearing in seconds. Afterward the car can start again. (NICAP, “Oval-Shaped
Object & EME on Ammeter”; UFOEv, p. 168;
Schopick, pp. 28–29;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, p. 143;
Sparks,
p. 254; Donald R. Burleson, “Levelland, Texas, 1957: Case Reopened,” IUR
28, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 4; Swords 253–256; Randle, Levelland, 2021,
pp. 16–17, 212–214)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3014
Date: 11/3/1957
Description: 8:00 p.m. Army Specialist 3rd Class Henry
R. Barlow and Specialist 3rd Class Forest R. Oakes, Army Garrison
Detachment 5, are in a jeep patrol driving west near the site of the
first A-bomb explosion, Trinity Site, in White Sands Proving Ground, New
Mexico. They see a pulsating red light thar turns to white, possibly
200– 300 feet in size and 4–5 miles away. It brightens and dims then
sometimes goes out, rising in the sky from the ground or from about 50
feet over the bunker up to about 45° elevation until it looks like a
star or point source. They watch it for 25 minutes before it disappears.
Possibly Venus in the southwest, which sets at about 8:30 p.m. (Sparks, p. 254;
Schopick,
p. 38; Randle, Levelland, 2021,pp. 27–31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3022
Date: 11/3/1957
Description: 12:45 a.m. Ronald Martin is on Highway 116 near Smyer,
Texas, when he sees a glowing red UFO land ahead of his truck, then turn
to bluish-green. The truck’s electrical system fails. When the UFO takes
off, it turns reddish again. (UFOEv, p. 168;
Schopick, pp. 30–31;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, p. 144;
Donald R. Burleson, “Levelland, Texas, 1957: Case Reopened,” IUR 28, no.
1 (Spring 2003): 4; Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 18–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3016
Date: 11/3/1957
Description: 1:30 a.m. Near the same spot as James Long, Hockley County
(Texas) Sheriff Weir
Clem and Pat McCullough see a flash of light “like a brilliant red
sunset” 300–400 yards to the south of them, lighting up the pavement.
(UFOEv, p. 168;
Schopick, pp. 31–32;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 145–146;
Donald R. Burleson, “Levelland, Texas, 1957: Case Reopened,” IUR 28, no.
1 (Spring 2003): 4; Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 19–21, 170–181,
218–219)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3019
Date: 11/3/1957
Description: About 3:00 a.m. Two MPs at White Sands Missile Test Range,
New Mexico, Cpl. Glenn H. Toy and Pfc. James E. Wilbanks are making
rounds in their jeep when they notice a bright object high in the sky.
It drops down to about 150 feet and the light goes out. A few minutes
later the light goes on again and it drops to the ground in a bunker
area 3 miles away and goes out. The UFO is egg-shaped and about 225–300
feet in diameter. (NICAP, “Three
MPs Report Object over White Sands Base”; Schopick,
pp. 37–38; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the
Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957 November 3rd–5th, The Author,
1997, p. 6; UFOEv, p. 169;
Sparks,
p. 254; Swords 259; Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 23–27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3020
Date: 11/3/1957
Description: 7:00 p.m. Edna Ireland is driving with two friends near
Sibbald, Alberta, when a blinking light appears in the sky and passes
nearly above the car toward the northwest. Their engine coughs and the
headlights flicker. (Winnipeg (Man.) Tribune, November 7, 1957; Aimé
Michel, Straight-Line, p. 239; Schopick,
pp. 42–43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3021
Date: 11/3/1957
Description: The USSR launches Sputnik
2 carrying Laika the dog. (Wikipedia, “Sputnik
2”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3023
Date: 11/4/1957
Description: 1:30 a.m. Chief Pilot Captain Jean Vincent de Beyssac and
his copilot are flying a Varig Airlines C-46 cargo plane from Porto
Alegre to São Paulo, Brazil. They are near Araranguá, Santa Catarina,
when de Beyssac notices a red light on his left. It seems to be getting
bigger, so he banks towards it out of curiosity. The light gets much
bigger then begins to glow more brilliantly. The pilot and copilot smell
smoke and, as they are looking for the source, the light disappears. De
Beyssac returns to Porto Alegre. It turns out that the right engine’s
magneto (or generator), automatic direction finder, and the radio (both
receiver and transmitter) have burnt out, allegedly simultaneously.
(NICAP, “Aircraft
Encounters UFO / ADF, etc. Affected”; Olavo T. Fontes, “Top
Secret Report Unveiled,”
APRO Bulletin, September 1959, pp. 5–6; Lorenzen, FS Hoax, p. 155;
Schopick,
pp. 126–127; Patrick Gross, “UFO
/ Aircraft Close Encounter in Brazil, 1957”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3026
Date: 11/4/1957
Description: After 12:00 midnight. A young couple are returning to
Amarillo, Texas, from Palo Duro Canyon when they see a glowing object in
the middle of the road, surrounded by fog. As they drive closer and
enter the fog, the car engine and battery die. Another car has to push
them into town to get the battery recharged. (Amarillo (Tex.) Daily
News, November 4, 1957; Schopick, pp. 43–44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3025
Date: 11/4/1957
Description: Portuguese Air Force Capt. Lenos Ferreira is conducting a
training mission at the head of three jet fighters over Grenada, Spain,
when he observes a luminous object changing color from an intense green
to bright red. The object maintains a constant altitude while
oscillating. Ferreira orders a change of course toward Córdoba, but the
object follows his group for 40 minutes, dropping four smaller objects
that also accompany the jets. Suddenly the objects go into a dive and
disappear. (Patrick Gross, “UFO
Chasing Jet Fighter Squadron, Lisbon, 1957”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3024
Date: 11/4/1957
Time: 0315
Description: Two policemen, Joseph Lukasek and Clifford Schau, and a
third man named Daniel De Giovanni, while looking for the cause of a
headlight failure, observed a fluorescent object 50 to 100 m away from
them, coming down. The car hadlights functioned properly again and they
drove toward the object but had to stop at a cemetery wall. They turned
off all lights and watched the object for two min. It played “hide and
seek” with them as they tried to reach its location.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 240; 113 (Vallee)
Location: Elmwood Park, Illinois
ID: 421
Date: 11/4/1957
Description: 10:45 p.m. CAA air traffic controllers R. M. Kaser and E.
G. Brink see a highly maneuverable 15–20-foot egg-shaped object with a
white light at its base circle over one end of Kirtland AFB in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, at 150–200 mph. It comes down in a steep 30°
dive as if landing on Runway 26 to the north of the tower at about 1,500
feet. Radar tracks part of this maneuver. The object then crosses the
flight line, runways, and taxiways heading towards the tower at about 50
mph and 20–30 feet above ground, observed through 7x binoculars until it
reaches about 3,000 feet near the northeast corner of the flood-lit
restricted Manzano Nuclear Weapons Storage Area and a B-58 bomber
service site. It hovers for 20–60 seconds, then heads east again at
about 200–300 feet altitude. Suddenly it shoots up in a steep climb.
Controllers contact Radar Approach Control, which tracks the object on
CPN-18 radar traveling east, then turning south, circling the
Albuquerque Low Frequency Range Station. It then heads north,
disappearing at 10 miles and reappearing 20 minutes later to follow 1/2
mile behind a USAF C-46 that has just taken off to the south. It
continues for 14 miles until both go off the scope. A hovering radar
target then appears to the north over an outer marker for 90 seconds
before fading. (Wikipedia, “Kirtland
AFB UFO sighting”; NICAP, “Kirtland
UFO Incident / Radar Case”; Sparks,
p. 256; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 87–90;
Condon, pp. 141–143;
James E. McDonald, “The
Kirtland Airfield UFO,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1970): 6–8; Swords 259–260)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3032
Date: 11/4/1957
Description: 10:00 p.m. Jan Boucher, a policeman in Kodiak, Alaska, sees
a red ball of fire with a greenish-yellow trail as he is patrolling on
Mission Road. It apparently moves 50 feet above a nearby school. He
tries to radio in a report but his radio gets interference for 2 minutes
after the sighting. (Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News, November 7, 1957; Schopick,
pp. 89–90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3031
Date: 11/4/1957
Description: 7:30 p.m. A Texas state border inspector is driving 3 miles
southeast of El Paso Airport in Texas when his car engine stalls and the
headlights go dim then out. He gets out and notices an object
approaching that is making a whirring sound like an artillery shell. It
passes above his car at about 150 feet, heading west and changing
altitude occasionally. When it gets to the Franklin Mountains, it lifts
into the air vertically. (NICAP, “Egg-Shaped Object
Stalls Car”; Hynek UFO Report, p. 181)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3030
Date: 11/4/1957
Description: 1:10 p.m. James W. Stokes, electronics technician at
Holloman AFB, New Mexico, is driving on US 54 about 8 miles south of
Orogrande, New Mexico. The car radio fades, and the car slows as if the
battery is failing. Stokes notices 6–12 cars ahead of him have also
stopped and drivers are out looking at the sky (looking behind him to
the northeast), including a Mr. Duncan and Allan D. Baker. Stokes stops
and gets out, sees a pearl-white oval or egg-shaped object about 500
feet wide with a slight purplish tinge heading south at an estimated
speed of 1,500–2,000 mph. It is below the elevation angle of the
Sacramento Mountains ridgeline, descending from about 5,000 feet above
ground level in a shallow dive to about 1,500–2,500 feet altitude as it
swerves to pass to the south of Stokes and the other stopped cars. At
its closest it is about 2–5 miles away. It then circles around headed
west and disappears. The same or another object appears in the northeast
(as if the object has completely circled) and performs the same rounded
course but passing farther to the south of the parked cars and
disappears in the west. Duncan takes a 35mm film of the object. Stokes
notices a wave of heat from the object at closest approach. Later that
evening he is sunburned, but it clears up the next day. The Air Force
calls it a hoax based on the Levelland sightings. (NICAP, “Stokes
Incident”; “The
New Mexico Story,” APRO Bulletin, November 1957, pp. 1–2; L. J.
Lorenzen, “The
Stokes Case,” APRO Bulletin, January 1958, pp. 2, 6; UFOEv, p. 169;
Schopick,
pp. 39–42; Sparks, p. 255;
Swords 256–259; Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 32–42, 228)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3029
Date: 11/4/1957
Description: 3:12 a.m. At Elmwood Park, Illinois, three policemen
(Clifford Shaw, Joseph
Lukasek, and Dan Diglovanni) see a bright cigar-shaped object in the
sky. The headlights and spotlight on the squad car dim. The car chases
the UFO for a mile and a half, which dips and rises before speeding off.
Fireman Bob Volz also sees a reddish-orange UFO about the same time.
(NICAP, “Bright
Cylinder Chased by Police, E-M Effects”; Aimé Michel, Straight-Line,
p. 239; Keyhoe, FSTS, p. 117; Schopick,
pp. 90–91; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of
the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957 November 3rd–5th, The
Author, 1997, pp. 22–27; Sparks,
p. 255)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3028
Date: 11/4/1957
Description: 2:00 a.m. Two sentries at the Fortaleza de Itaipu in Praia
Grande, São Paulo, Brazil, watch an orange object approaching the fort.
It holds its course until it is directly above them. Its diameter is at
least as large as the wingspan of a DC-3 and scarcely 300 feet away.
Suddenly there is a strange buzzing noise and the men feel a wave of
glowing heat. One of them collapses on the spot, but the other succeeds
in reaching safety in the shadow of the gun emplacements. His shouts of
alarm rouse his comrades inside the fort, where the lights suddenly go
out. In the meantime, the emergency power is switched on but immediately
gives out. Only a few minutes after the alarm, two other men are out of
the fort and at their sides. They too see the UFO, which is now heading
out to sea. It leaves a luminous trail as it shoots away across the
Atlantic. The two sentries are taken to a hospital in Rio de Janeiro.
They suffer second and third-degree burns on large areas of their body,
chiefly in areas covered by clothing. Afterwards, Brazilian Army and
USAF personnel, along with investigators of the Brazilian Air Force, fly
to the fort to interview them. There is some reason to think that Olavo
T. Fontes made this case up, as no first- hand witnesses to the
event have come forward. (NICAP, “Fort
Itaipu Incident”; Wikipedia, “Caso
do Forte de Itaipu”;
Olavo T. Fontes, “Top
Secret Report Unveiled,” APRO Bulletin, September 1959, pp. 6–7;
Jules Lemaître, “A
Strange Story from Brazil,” Flying Saucer Review 6, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1960): 9–11; Schopick,
pp. 135–140; Kevin D. Randle, “Fort
Itaipu and Footnotes,” A Different Perspective, October 12, 2014;
Kevin D. Randle, “Fort
Itaipu and Olavo Fontes Revisited,” A Different Perspective, June
15, 2016; Clark 537)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3027
Date: 11/5/1957
Description: An object looking like “a big meat platter” was seen at
close range by Mrs. Jasper Barlow and her two children, who were inside
their car. It had a flickering light on the bottom. There was no
ignition interference noted.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 245 (Vallee)
Location: New Castle, Indiana
ID: 422
Date: 11/5/1957
Time: 0430
Description: In Van Cortland Park, Frank C. was talking with a bus
driver when they saw in the park, about 400 m away, a metallic object
shaped like a disk, spinning with a soft whirring. On top was a fixed
dome with portholes. The object was hovering at tree-height. A yellow
light from the craft suddenly illuminated the area, and it flew off
“like a shooting star.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 241 (Vallee)
Location: New York City, New York
ID: 423
Date: 11/5/1957
Time: 1730
Description: A man heard a noise similar to that of a helicopter and
perceived a “burning” odor. He saw a balloon-like, elongated object that
came to ground level, did not touch the ground, but rose again and
disappeared. The witness was “paralyzed” during the observation. The
object appeared to have generated thick smoke.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Scotia, Nebraska
ID: 424
Date: 11/5/1957
Description: 5:10 a.m. The US Coast Guard Cutter Sebago (WHEC-42),
Commander Clarence
H. Waring Jr., cruising in the Gulf of Mexico about 200 miles south
of Mobile, Alabama, tracks a radar target at a range of 22 miles moving
at 650 mph. It disappears at 55 miles range. Three other unusual radar
contacts are made in the next 10 minutes. A visual object like a
brilliant planet is seen at 5:21 a.m. speeding north to south for five
seconds by Ensign Wayne Schotley, Lt. Donald E. Shaffer, 1stClass
Quartermaster Kenneth Smith, and radio operator Thomas Kirk. The Air
Force ascribes it to confused radar operators who mistake ordinary plane
blips for a UFO. (NICAP, “The
Coast Guard Cutter Sebago
Case”;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a
History: 1957 November 3rd–5th, The
Author, 1997, pp. 50–51; Condon, pp. 165–167;
Sparks, p. 256;
Swords 260–262)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3033
Date: 11/5/57
Description: A single investigator from Project Blue Book headquarters
arrived at Loveland, TX. He interviewed only two persons who had stalled
cars and reported that all the UFO activity in Texas between Nov. 2–4
was the result of a “rather heavy electrical storm…All witnesses saw the
same streak of lightning…which stimulated the populace into a high level
of excitement….and resulted in an inflation of stories by some
witnesses.”
Type: investigation
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Loveland, TX
Date: 11/5/1957
Description: Reinhold Schmidt, Kearney, Nebr., goes aboard saucer, talks
to spacepeople
Type: ce4 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Kearney, NE
Date: 11/5/1957
Description: Late afternoon. Grain buyer Reinhold
O. Schmidt is driving through the countryside near Kearney,
Nebraska, when he notices a large, cigar-shaped object resting in a
field. He is soon escorted inside the spaceship, which turns out to be
crewed by completely human-looking space aliens, four males and two
females, who apparently speak perfect German and claim to be from the
planet Saturn. They also claim to be interested in the recently launched
Russian sputniks and the satellite-launching plans of the US. Later
Schmidt brings local police to view the landing site, where they find
deep imprints and some “mysterious green residue.” Schmidt also claims
subsequent visits to the spaceship and many friendly conversations with
its learned crew. Schmidt notices they drink MJB brand coffee, and also
carry in their cigar-shaped craft an ordinary terrestrial MG sports car,
which they use for running errands and buying groceries. (A schematic
drawing of the ship’s interior in Schmidt’s later booklet depicts a
Volkswagen Beetle.) Unlike most spaceships, the Saturnian ship has large
propellers at both ends. Eventually Schmidt gets a ride up to earth
orbit and a tour of the mother ship. On October 26, 1961, Schmidt is
convicted in Oakland, California, for grand theft after bilking a widow
out of $5,000 for a worthless mining venture in Tulare County, where he
claims to have seen huge quartz crystals from a spaceship. Judge Donald
K. Quayle sentences him to 1–10 years in prison. (Clark III
1038–1039; Swords 262; Curt Collins, “The Trial
of a UFO Gold Digger,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, August 27,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3034
Date: 11/5/1957
Description: The Department of Defense Office of Public Affairs issues a
new UFO fact sheet, emphasizing the high percentage of explained cases
and the lack of a threat to national security. (UFOEv, p. 107;
Swords 262)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3035
Date: 11/5/1957
Description: 6:30 p.m. Larry and Marilynn Beaman are driving near
Antioch, Illinois, when they notice a ball of fire fluctuating from
white to yellow pacing their car on the right side, about 1,000 feet up.
It goes out for a time then switches back on. At its largest, it seems
30 feet in diameter. It follows them all the way to Ringwood and then
lands in some trees behind a school building two blocks from where they
live. It glitters like a welder’s arc and makes a sound like water
swishing. Beaman rounds up some other witnesses and goes back to the
landing site, but the object takes off, changes to purple, and moves
away to the southwest. TV sets in town dim, finally losing both picture
and sound during the same time period. (Schopick, pp. 104–109)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3036
Date: 11/5/1957
Description: 8:43 p.m. A witness in Woodstock, Illinois, sees a large,
red, triangular object with a green light in the front and a yellow
light in the rear. It makes a low droning sound and moves west to east.
Woodstock police officers and another individual in Genoa City see the
same object. At 10:15 p.m., an amber or orange UFO 200 feet long is seen
for 5 minutes at Delavan, Wisconsin. Project Blue Book claims it is an
aurora or jet aircraft. (Marler 131–132)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3037
Date: 11/5/1957
Description: 9:30 p.m. Civil service employee Lon Yarborough is driving
along US Highway 81 about 1.5 miles southwest of San Antonio, Texas,
when he sees an extremely bright object settle down in a ravine about
600 feet from him. The egg-shaped object is approximately 60 foot long
and causes the lights and engine of his car to fail. The object rests a
few minutes and finally takes off to the northeast. (San Antonio (Tex.)
Light, November 6, 1957; NICAP, “60ʹ
Egg-Shaped Object Disables Auto”; Schopick, pp. 44–45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3038
Date: 11/5/1957
Description: 11:00 p.m. Two young men see a red light north of US
Highway 62 at a point 38 miles west of Hobbs, New Mexico. They watch for
9–10 minutes, thinking it is an oil flare, but the light suddenly rises
straight up. After pacing their car for a few minutes, the light turns
toward the car, passes over it, and hovers over the Permian Basin
Pipeline plant. As it passes overhead, the car engine sputters, then
dies, and the lights go out. After the men coast the car down the road,
the motor restarts and they drive away. The battery is found to be dead
the following morning and the dashboard clock is stopped. (Schopick, pp. 45–47;
Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle
Interference, CUFOS, 1981, p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3039
Date: 11/6/1957
Time: 0010
Description: J. Martinez and A. Gallegos saw an egg-shaped object coming
toward them at low altitude. It moved slowly, illuminating their car and
producing a humming sound. The car engine, the clock and a wristwatch
stopped. The object shot away toward the southwest.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 246 (Vallee)
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
ID: 425
Date: 11/6/1957
Time: morning
Description: North of Seoul a barrel-shaped object, bluish-white and
luminous, was seen close to the ground, reflected in a pool of water. It
rose and vanished “like a light switched off.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Seoul, Korea
ID: 426
Date: 11/6/1957
Time: 0540
Description: Richard Kehoe was driving near the beach when his engine
stopped, and so did three other cars. The man got out and observed an
egg-shaped object wrapped in “a blue haze” on the beach. Two men, below
average height got out of the craft and asked them questions about their
identity, what time it was, etc. They looked normal wore black leather
pants, white belts, light-colored jerseys, and seemed to have
yellowish-green skin. They went back inside the craft, which left
rapidly, and the cars could then be started.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 57 (Vallee)
Location: Playa del Rey, California
ID: 427
Date: 11/6/1957
Time: 0630
Description: A civilian source reported an object so bright that his
eyes could not sustain it. It appeared to land on a ridge, then took off
again. It was round and much larger than a plane, had an “odd color,”
left no trail and made no noise.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Lake County, Ohio
ID: 428
Date: 11/6/1957
Time: 0630
Description: 12-year-old Everett Clark saw a strange object on the
ground and four occupants, two men and two women who spoke a language he
thought was similar to German. They went back to the craft in a manner
the witness could not understand, for he saw no door.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 271;114; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
ID: 429
Date: 11/6/1957
Time: evening
Description: John Trasco saw a brilliant, egg-shaped object hovering in
front of a barn and was confronted with a being 1 m tall with a
putty-colored face and frog-like eyes. He thought the dwarf said in
broken English: “We are peaceful people; we only want your dog.” The
little man, who was dressed in a green suit with shiny buttons, a green
tam-o-shanter-like cap, and gloves with a shiny object at the tip of
each finger, fled when the witness denied his request.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 56; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Everittstown, New Jersey
ID: 430
Date: 11/6/1957
Time: 1800
Description: A civilian source reported an oval object, about 5 m long,
bright orange, similar to glowing coals, hovering 4 m above ground. The
witness went to call his family; the object had vanished when he
returned. Unidentified.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Boerne, Texas
ID: 431
Date: 11/6/1957
Time: 2100
Description: 180 km north of Ottawa Jacques Jacobson and three of his
friends saw a bright, yellowish-white sphere hovering over a hilltop
about 4 km away. From top and bottom issued light cones that illuminated
the countryside and the clouds. Radio reception was blocked throughout
the observation, except for a very powerful signal at one wavelength,
modulated, but not in Morse code. The object rose slowly toward the
south.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 249 (Vallee)
Location: Baskatong Lake, Canada
ID: 432
Date: 11/6/1957
Time: 2330
Description: Olden Moore, 28, a plasterer was driving home when he
suddenly saw an object looking like a bright meteor split into two
pieces, one of which went straight up. The other got larger while its
color changed from bright white to blue-green. It hovered 60 m above a
field and came to the ground with a soft whirring sound, 150 m away.
After observing it for 15 min, Moore then walked to the object, which he
found to be shaped like “a covered dish” 15 m in diameter, 5 m high,
with a cone on top about 3 m high, surrounded by haze or fog, pulsating
slowly. Holes, footprints and radioactivity were found at the site by
Civil Defense Director Kenneth Locke.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 252 (Vallee)
Location: Montville, Ohio
ID: 433
Date: 11/6/1957
Description: 9:43 p.m. Kenneth
J. Delano, who is participating in aurora and meteor watches for the
International Geophysical Year, is observing the sky at St. Mary’s
Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland, when he sees a brilliant white light in
the northwest. He watches it approach until it is nearly overhead. Then
a faint, silvery-gray, elliptical disc is visible for a few seconds
above the light. It is silent, except for a faint whirring sound. He
watches it for a total of 4 minutes until it passes behind some
buildings. (Kenneth J. Delano, “UFO over Baltimore,” IUR 32, no. 4
(October 2009): 17–18, 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3050
Date: 11/6/1957
Description: Just after 12:00 midnight. A taxicab company owner, Joe
Martinez, and one of his drivers, Alberto Gallegos, sees a UFO approach
them in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They hear a humming sound as it comes
close. The object is egg-shaped and multicolored. As it passes over
their car, the engine stalls and the dashboard clock stops. The UFO then
pulls up and moves rapidly into the southeast. One witness later
discovers that his wristwatch has also stopped at the time of sighting.
(Aimé Michel, Straight Line, pp. 246–247; Schopick,
pp. 47– 48; Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS, 1981, p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3040
Date: 11/6/1957
Description: 11:30 p.m. Olden J. Moore is driving home in Montville,
Ohio, when he sees an object like a bright meteor split into two pieces,
one of which heads straight up. The other becomes larger while its color
changes from bright white to blue green. It hovers about 200 feet above
a field and lands with a soft whirring sound, perhaps 500 feet away.
Moore watches cautiously for 15 minutes, then approaches it. The UFO is
shaped like a “covered dish,” and is about 50 feet in diameter, 15 feet
high, with a cone on top about 10 feet high. It is pulsating slowly, and
a haze surrounds it. Moore goes home to get another witness (his wife)
but when they return the UFO is gone. Mrs. Moore reports the sighting to
County Sheriff Louis
Robusky the next morning, and a civil defense director, Kenneth
Locke, visits the site. Locke finds high levels of radioactivity (a
maximum of 150 microroentgens/hour, suggestive of an approximately
one-hour radionuclide half-life or less) two perfectly formed holes six
inches in diameter, and unusual footprints that come from nowhere and go
nowhere. (NICAP, “Olden Moore
Case / Close Encounter”; UFOEv, pp. 169–170;
Center for UFO Studies, [case
files]; Clark III 772–773, 950; Sparks, p. 257)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3051
Date: 11/6/1957
Description: 9:00 p.m. Jacques Jacobsen and three others are in a
hunting lodge on the Baskatong Reservoir, Quebec, listening to a
battery-powered radio. Outside, they see a glowing, yellow-white sphere
2–3 miles away to the southwest. It remains in place for 15 minutes.
During this time the radio goes off, and one of the men’s shortwave
radios is working on only one frequency that emits a strong, rapidly
modulated tone that sounds like, but is not, Morse code. The UFO rises
into the clouds and the radios function normally again. (Aimé Michel,
Straight-Line, pp. 248–249; Schopick, pp. 79–80;
Randle, Levelland, 2021, p. 114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3049
Date: 11/6/1957
Description: Night. Two state policemen in Danville, Illinois, observe a
brilliant white light that changes color successively to amber and
orange. They chase it for 15 miles because the light appears to be low
in the sky. During the chase, their communications radio does not
function. The light eventually flies out of sight. (“2
State Troopers
See ‘Object,’” Hammond (Ind.) Times, November 7, 1957, p. 12; Schopick, pp. 91–92)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3048
Date: 11/6/1957
Description: 8:02 p.m. Six people in Toronto, Ontario, watch a
yellow-white light travel silently from south to north across the
eastern sky. One experiences static on his TV set as the object passes,
slower than a meteor. (Aimé Michel, Straight-Line, pp. 248–249; Schopick, pp. 80–81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3047
Date: 11/6/1957
Description: Early evening. Varine
“Rene” Gilham sees a brilliant object radiating a strong red light
as he is using an outhouse on his farm near Merom, Indiana. The whole
farm and surrounding area are bathed in the light for 10 minutes. A
small object joins the larger one and the light grows more intense. The
two objects fly away. The next day, Gilham has “sunburn” in many places.
Two days later he is admitted to a hospital for treatment. (NICAP, “Merom/Gilham
Incident”; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957 November
6th, The
Author, 1997, pp. 67, 72–73. Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a
History: 1957 November 6th, Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2003,
pp. 6–7; Michael D. Swords, “Messing Around with the Force,” IUR 31, no.
4 (March 2008): 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3046
Date: 11/6/1957
Description: 5:00 p.m. Two Malay fisherman are in a waterway near
Bagansiapiapi, Sumatra, Indonesia, when they see a black and red object
swiftly approaching their boat and trailing black and greenish smoke.
The top and bottom of the object are curved like discs. When it is 60
feet away it stops in mid-air about 35 feet above the water, and the
bottom part continues to rotate as the water foams below it. The object
is a triangular shape and white smoke is coming out from each point. The
object speeds up and disappears, leaving behind black and greenish smoke
lines. (Marler 133)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3045
Date: 11/6/1957
Description: 6:30 a.m. Everett
Orain Clark, 12 , of Dante, Knoxville, Tennessee, lets his dog
Frisky outside and sees an object like an elongated egg in a field 300
feet away from his house. 20 minutes later, he calls to bring the dog
back and sees Frisky with other dogs on the other side of the road close
to the object. Clark walks toward the UFO and sees two men and women,
apparently dressed in a normal manner. One of the men tries to catch
Frisky who grunts and moves away. They are speaking in a foreign
language that sounds like German to him. The four people go into the
craft by seemingly walking right through the wall. Journalist Carson
Brewer goes back to the site with Clark and finds an “oblong ring of
pressed grass” 24 feet by 4.5 feet. In the afternoon, two men from the
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (engineer Wallace
Russell Gambill and physicist N. D. Greene) collect soil samples and
check for radiation (they find none). (“Scientists
Check ‘Space
Ship’ Field,” Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel, November 7, 1957,
pp. 1, 12; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957 November
6th, The
Author, 1997, pp. 17–19; Clark III 672–673; Patrick Gross, URECAT, August
17, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3043
Date: 11/6/1957
Description: Richard Kehoe & others see landed saucer, stalled cars,
talk to spacepeople
Type: ce4 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 11/6/1957
Description: 5:40 a.m. Richard Kehoe is driving along Vista Del Mar in
Playa Del Rey, California, when his engine fails. Two other cars on the
highway are also affected, and the drivers (Ronald Burke and Joe Thomas)
all get out. They see an egg-shaped object that seems to be wrapped in a
blue haze. It is tan or cream-colored and has two metallic rings around
it. Two smallish men, about 5 feet 5 inches tall and wearing black
leather pants, a white belt, and a light-colored jersey, exit the
object. They ask Kehoe and the others where they are and what time it is
in something approaching English. They walk back to the object, which
takes off. After it leaves, Kehoe’s car starts with no problem.
(Lorenzen, Flying Saucer Occupants, Signet, 1967, pp. 126–127)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3042
Date: 11/6/1957
Description: 4:30 a.m. William Rush II is driving on Long Point Road in
Houston, Texas. A brilliant red, egg-shaped UFO kills his car engine and
causes static on his radio. (Houston (Tex.) Chronicle, November 6, 1957;
Schopick,
p. 48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3041
Date: 11/6/1957
Time: 10:50 PM
Description: Witnesses: one Las Cruces policeman, one Dona Ana County
Deputy Sheriff. One round object–changing from red to green to blue to
white–rose vertically from a mountain top. Sighting lasted 10
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Radium Springs, New Mexico
ID: 417
Date: 11/6/1957
Description: US scientists are “pretty shook up” about the recent UFO
sightings, according to astronomer Charles
F. “Chick”
Capen in the November 7 El Paso Times. However, Capen talks more
about missile launches and lunar photography than UFO sightings. (“Sighting
‘Shakes’ Scientists,” El Paso (Tex.) Times, November 7, 1957, p. 21;
“El
Pasoans Take Look at
Sputnik,” El Paso (Tex.) Times, November 7, 1957, pp. 1, 3; Swords
264)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3044
Date: 11/7/1957
Time: 0725
Description: Truck driver Malvin Stevens, 48, was driving to Memphis
when, about 23 km northwest of Meridian, he saw an object which appeared
to have two propellers at either end and a third one on top. Getting out
of his truck, he saw three little men about 1.30 m tall, in gray
clothes, with “pasty white faces” that seemed friendly and willing to
talk, but he was unable to understand their “chattering.” “I stood there
for what seemed like an eternity.” They got back into the machine and it
took off straight up. There was no ignition interference. An 8-year-old
girl from Honse independently reported a round object crossing the sky
toward the south.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 273; 115 (Vallee)
Location: Meridian, Mississippi
ID: 434
Date: 11/7/1957
Description: Night. Paul Rutledge, a packinghouse worker at Waterloo,
Iowa, sees an object hovering above his garage. He can see two figures
walking around inside. The object is about 30 feet long and has a shiny
bottom and a glass top. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969,
p. 84; Patrick Gross, URECAT, January
24, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3057
Date: 11/7/1957
Description: 7:46 p.m. Bright, flashing objects hover for 30 minutes
over the Atomic Energy Commission’s Pantex Plant 15 miles east of
Amarillo, Texas. The UFOs are reported to the State Highway Patrol
office by plant guards, and a patrolman dispatched to the plant arrives
at 8:15 p.m. and sees a strange light. Guards at the plant are “all
shook up” from watching three objects floating 50 feet above the ground.
One of the objects apparently lands on Farin Road 2373, three miles
north of Highway 60. Guards tell the patrolman they tried to approach
the objects by turning off their lights, “but the things would just slip
away from them when they got near.” They are unable to estimate the size
of the objects but seem positive “they saw more than just lights.”
(NICAP, “Lights
Shake Up Guards
at Nuclear Plant”; Sparks, p. 258)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3056
Date: 11/7/1957
Description: 9:38 a.m. Mysterious radio signals on the 108 megacycle
radio band are recorded by RCA Communications at Riverhead, Long Island,
New York. The signal is a continuous, tone-modulated hum at a low pitch
of 200 cycles per second. The FCC admits it is baffled, but suspects
that it comes from a radio amateur or equipment testing in the New York
City area. Another report claims that Vanguard and Federal
Communications Commission watchers at 18 monitoring stations throughout
the Western Hemisphere are picking up signals at 14.286 megacycles,
possibly connected with Sputnik 2. The signal is a long note of low
pitch followed after a few seconds by two short notes. (“Mystery
Signals Are Unconnected
with Satellites,” Fort Myers (Fla.) News-Press, November 8, 1957,
pp. 1–2; Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3055
Date: 11/7/1957
Description: 7:25 a.m. Truck driver Melvin Stevens stops one mile east
of House, Mississippi, because a silvery “blimp” about 5 feet high and 2
feet long is blocking the road. He walks toward it, a sliding door
opens, and three small, pasty-faced men about 4.5 feet tall emerge.
Stevens feels paralyzed. After a short time, the beings make a military
about-face and reenter the UFO, which takes off vertically. (Center for
UFO Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1957, p. 32;
Clark III 269)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3053
Date: 11/7/1957
Description: 1:45–1:55 a.m. Seven airmen at Holloman Air Force Base near
Alamogordo, New Mexico—Bradford Rickets, James Cole, Dennis Murphy,
Wayne Hurlburt, and Harry Uhlrich—see a UFO while on duty at a salvage
yard on the north side of the base. The object makes a whistling noise
and turns from white to orange to red. (Lorenzen, FSHoax, pp. 100–101)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3052
Date: 11/7/1957
Description: 9:20 a.m. Trent Lindsey and his wife and son Byron are
driving on US Highway 54 near Orogrande, New Mexico, when Byron notices
that the speedometer is jumping wildly back and forth from the top to
the bottom of its range. It then stops just as suddenly. The three
witnesses later see a metallic-appearing UFO high in the sky to the
southwest. It continues moving away for three minutes until it was lost
from view over the Organ Mountains. The speedometer functions normally
after the UFO is gone. (“Family
Reports Seeing Large Object over NM,” Albuquerque Tribune, November
8, 1957, p. 1; Lorenzen, FSHoax, pp. 99–100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3054
Date: 11/8/1957
Description: Fourteen people, including Mrs. Maty Home, reported to
police that a diskshaped object followed their truck, dived toward it,
came within 20 m of them, then left toward the sea, leaving a double
vapor trail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Round-up 217; 116 (Vallee)
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
ID: 435
Date: 11/8/1957
Time: 0200
Description: A cigar-shaped object 70 m long was observed less than 7 m
above ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 264; 117 (Vallee)
Location: Sloanville, New York
ID: 436
Date: 11/8/1957
Time: 1430
Description: Hank Mollohan and eight other persons saw an elongated
object, 12 m long, with several portholes from which fire and smoke
appeared to be coming. It swung at low altitude and dropped to the
ground. People seemed to be moving around it, but the witnesses were
driven away by a hard rain.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 265 (Vallee)
Location: Holly, West Virginia
ID: 437
Date: 11/8/1957
Time: night
Description: Paul Rutledge saw an object 16 m long flying over his
garage. The top part was bright, and there were two figures visible
inside.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 266 (Vallee)
Location: Waterloo, Iowa
ID: 438
Date: 11/8/1957
Description: 6:22 a.m. Connie Foster watches a lighted triangular object
flying from southeast to northwest over Camarillo, California. It is
moving with the base facing forward and has bright lights on the tips of
the triangle. She watches it for nearly 30 minutes before it disappears.
(Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1957, November 7th–12th, The
Author, 1998, p. 37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3059
Date: 11/8/1957
Description: Night. 12 female and 4 male farmworkers are in a truck on
the Newhailes Road returning to Edinburgh from picking Brussels sprouts
in a nursey at Musselburgh, Scotland. One of them spots a gray, round
object seemingly following the truck at a distance of 60 feet. Mary
Horne says it is domed on the top and bottom. It follows them for 5–10
minutes then moves off towards Portobello leaving a double vapor trail.
(Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957, November
7th–12th, The
Author, 1998, pp. 54– 55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3062
Date: 11/8/1957
Description: 6:00 p.m. Pan Am Flight 7, a Boeing Stratocruiser flying
across the Pacific mysteriously crashes midway between San Francisco and
Honolulu. One of the crew is UFO witness Capt. William
H. Fortenberry. The cause of the crash is never determined.
Fortenberry’s journalist son, Ken
H. Fortenberry, suspects that the bereaved and mentally unstable
purser Oliver Eugene Crosthwaite, has deliberately caused the crash,
killing himself and murdering 43 innocent people in the process.
(Wikipedia, “Pan
Am Flight 7”; Ken H. Fortenberry, Flight 7 Is Missing: The Search
for My Father’s Killer, Fayetteville Mafia, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3061
Date: 11/8/1957
Description: Spencer Whedon, chief of Air Intelligence at
Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio, tells the press that of 5,700
UFO reports received by his office since 1940, 97% have been identified
satisfactorily and the other 8% remain unidentified due to insufficient
information. (“Seeing
Things? No, Sky Really Red,” Cincinnati (Ohio) Post, November 7,
1957, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3060
Date: 11/8/1957
Time: l0:10 AM
Description: Witness: Mrs. L. Dinner. One bar-shaped object, 3.5’ long,
giving off blue flashes, made a swishing sound. No further data.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Merrick, Long Island, New York
ID: 418
Date: 11/8/1957
Description: 3:03 a.m. Polish-Australian astronomer Antoni
Przybylski and Dutch-American astronomer Bart
Bok see a vivid pink object moving slowly across the sky at Mount
Stromlo Observatory near Canberra, Australia. It is visible to the naked
eye for two minutes. Przybylski has just finished observing Sputnik 1
and 2, so it wasn’t a satellite or a meteor. Assistant Director Arthur
Robert Hogg thinks it might be circling the earth like a satellite.
(Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957, November
7th–12th, The Author, 1998, p. 36; Michael D. Swords, “Gazing at the
Moons,” IUR 32, no. 4 (October 2009): 10–11; Center for UFO Studies, “Moonwatch
Mystery Satellites, 1958–1962”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3058
Date: 11/9/1957
Time: 0100
Description: A civilian driving his car home from work observed a
hovering object 16 m long. His car engine died as he neared the object’s
position, and it started again only after the object’s departure.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Lake City, Missouri
ID: 439
Date: 11/9/1957
Description: 7:20 p.m. Several witnesses are driving 12 miles northeast
of Carrizozo, New Mexico, on US Highway 54 in the vicinity of White Oaks
when a large, rapidly moving light approaches their car from the south
and apparently causes the vehicle’s lighting system to fail. The light
changes course and speeds off to the southwest. Jim
and Coral Lorenzen are driving east on US Highway 380 about 10 miles
east of Carrizozo when they spot an anomalous light that might be the
same object. (Lorenzen, FSHoax, pp,
101–102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3065
Date: 11/9/1957
Description: 9:15 a.m. Eastern Airline pilot Capt. Truman
Gile Jr. is preparing to take off from Lafayette (Louisiana) Airport
when he sees a big silvery object about 20,000 feet in the air. Gile
watches it for 3 minutes and it doesn’t move. He alerts copilot James E.
Hall, the stewardess, and the ground agents, and they all watch it
another 5 minutes before it fades away. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957, November
7th–12th, The Author, 1998, pp. 61–62)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3064
Date: 11/9/1957
Description: 12:15 a.m. A man is driving in Sacramento, California, when
his car engine and headlights fail. He looks up and sees an elongated
egg-shaped object with delta-shaped wings, 150–200 feet long and 40–50
feet wide. The wings come back to about 30 feet from the rear of the
fuselage. It has a bright bluish hue and leaves a bluish fluorescent
trail. The sighting lasts 2–3 minutes. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on
Vehicle Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (September 2011):
19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3063
Date: 11/10/1957
Time: 0125
Description: Mrs. Leita Kuhn observed a very large, lighted object 20 m
above ground. It was so brilliant that she had to close her eyes. It was
over 10 m wide, 3 to 4 m thick, with a dome on top. The witness had to
consult a physician several days later because of serious eye and skin
irritation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: M 267; 118 (Vallee)
Location: Madison, Ohio
ID: 440
Date: 11/10/1957
Description: 1:25 a.m. Leita
Mae Kuhn is checking the stove in her Doberman dog kennel at
Madison, Ohio, when she notices a glowing, domed disc hovering 60 feet
above the rear of the kennel. It is about 40 feet in diameter and
emitting puffy clouds of smoke. Her eyes begin to burn after watching it
for 20–30 minutes, and she runs back into the house and locks the door.
She has rashes and her eyes hurt so badly she visits a doctor. (Donald
E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 11–12; Loren E. Gross, The Fifth
Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957, November
7th–12th, The Author, 1998, pp. 69–71; Michael D. Swords, “Messing
Around with the Force,” IUR 31, no. 4 (March 2008): 30–31; Michael D.
Swords, “Can UFOs Cause Physiological Effects? Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4
(May 2011): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3066
Date: 11/10/1957
Description: Residents of Skaryszew, Poland, watch a huge, radiant,
cigar-shaped object slowly moving west. (Poland 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3067
Date: 11/10/1957
Description: Night. French astronomer Jacques Chapuis at Toulouse
Observatory in France observes a maneuvering, yellow, star-like object
for 5 minutes. It ascends straight up out of sight. (UFOEv, p. 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3071
Date: 11/10/1957
Description: 7:00 p.m. Many people see a UFO at Hammond, Indiana. Two
policemen (Sgt. Charles
J. Mauder, Office Steve Betuslak) see a red and white light hovering
500–1,000 feet overhead. They hear a beeping sound and there is
interference on the police radio while the object is in view. Another
witness sees a green light on a basket-shaped object; his car radio
fails. The lights fly away when anyone tries to approach. (Aimé Michel,
Straight-Line, p. 268; Schopick,
pp. 92–95; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History:
1957, November 7th–12th, The
Author, 1998, pp. 73, 75)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3070
Date: 11/10/1957
Description: 5:55 p.m. Wilfred
S. Hardy, an assistant safety engineer at the Tokyo, Japan, Engineer
Supply Center, sees (along with his wife and a Japanese boat boy) a huge
cigar-shaped object with lighted portholes above Lake Imba-numa 10 miles
away. He estimates it is about 200–500 feet long. The object lights up
the entire lake, then disappears to the south 10 seconds later.
(Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3069
Date: 11/10/1957
Description: Evening. UFO witness Olden Moore of Montville, Ohio, is
visited by Sheriff Robusky,
a deputy, and a USAF officer who asks him to go with them to Youngstown
to be interviewed by military officers. They drive him to the field
where the encounter took place and put him aboard a military helicopter.
He is interviewed in Youngstown, then he is returned to the field at
11:00 p.m. (Clark III 773)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3068
Date: 11/11/1957
Description: A silvery elliptical UFO is seen flying below Western
Airlines Flight 61 over the desert east of Los Angeles, California.
Robert D. Hahn, a jewelry designer, is a passenger and describes it as a
large, elliptical, metallic object with dark patches zigzagging about
200 feet above the ground. (UFOEv, p. 67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3072
Date: 11/12/57
Description: FBI STATUS REPORT: “Ever since the Russians release
‘Sputnik’ there has been a great increase in the number of flying
saucers and other UFOs reportedly seen by people all over the U.S.”
[Angle: Artificial satellite spurs Alien interest in mankind. Other
Angle: Artificial satellite causes populace to go sky crazy.]
Type: status report
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Washington, DC
Date: 11/13/1957
Description: An object explodes over the State Hospital at Crownsville,
Maryland, and two or three burned pieces of metal fall on the hospital
grounds. It is recovered by employees William A. Zick and J. Caswell.
The pieces are checked for radiation and confiscated by army
intelligence officers at Fort George G. Meade. They are apparently sent
to the Air Research and Development Center in Baltimore. An ARD colonel
tells NICAP member and WFBR news director Lou
Corbin that he has no idea what the metal is. Some of the material
is perhaps sent to ATIC. (“Metal
Object from Skies Rushed to ATIC for Analysis,” UFO Investigator 1,
no. 3 (January 1958): 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3073
Date: 11/14/1957
Description: Afternoon. Evalyn
Riead hears a sputtering noise like someone is pulling into her
driveway in Tamaroa, Illinois. She looks outside and sees a bright,
moon-shaped object with a tail moving above the trees bordering US
Highway 51. It disappears after 5–6 booms and 3 flashes of light. As
soon as this happens, the lights in her home go out. Electrical power in
a 4-mile area between Tamaroa and Du Bois is interrupted for 10 minutes.
Power is restored when the company closes an open circuit breaker, but
they could find no cause. (“Current
Cut Off As Flying
‘Thing’ Appears in Illinois,” Lima (Ohio) Citizen, November 15,
1957, p. 10; Schopick, pp. 140–141)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3074
Date: mid 11/1957
Description: The US Senate Committee on Government Operations, chaired
by Sen. John
L. McClellan (D-Ark.), begins an inquiry into UFOs. Ruppelt is
called to give testimony. (Ruppelt, 1960 ed., p. 253)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3075
Date: 11/16/1957
Time: 2230
Description: A blinding object, red and yellow, twice landed-first near
the Jockey Club, then near the Rural Exhibition.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Bage City, Brazil
ID: 441
Date: 11/16/1957
Description: Afternoon. Cynthia
Appleton blacks out unexpectedly at her home in 87 Fentham Road in
Aston, a suburb of Birmingham, England. On November 19, she feels faint
again as the light outside dims, and a man with blond hair and wearing
coveralls materializes in the center of the room. She hears him speaking
to her telepathically. He tells her not to be afraid and that he is from
a world he calls Gharnasvarn (which we know as Venus) and he shows her
what seems to be a holographic image of two spaceships. She has other
visitations by entities on January 7 and February 7, 1958. In September
1958, the spaceman informs her that she is pregnant, which is apparently
true, as she gives birth on June 2, 1958, to a boy with blond hair that
she and her husband Ron name Matthew. Appleton says the Venusians
visited her a few more times, but the trail grows cold in July 1960.
(“Birmingham
Woman Meets Spacemen,” Flying Saucer Review 4, no. 2 (March/April
1958): 5–6; Jenny Randles, “A Visitor from Gharnasvarn,” IUR 13, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1988): 4–8; Birmingham Sunday Mercury, January 26, 2003; Andy
Roberts, “The Space Baby,” Fortean Times 191 (December 2004): 32–38;
Bill Chalker, “Flying
Saucery, Cosmic Bethlehem, and Midwich Cuckoos: The Cynthia Appleton
Contacts (1957–1959),” Australian UFO Researcher Bill Chalker,
2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3076
Date: 11/17/1957
Description: An Air Force car with two officers comes to UFO witness
Olden Moore’s house in Montville, Ohio. He is told they are taking him
to Washington, D.C., for extended questioning. They drive him to a
waiting airplane, which stops briefly at Wright-Patterson AFB to pick up
one officer and drop another off. In Washington, Moore is housed in a
building said to be a federal courthouse [US Court of Appeals for the
Armed Forces?]. He is kept there and interrogated for several days.
Officers watch him constantly, even when he is sleeping. Toward the end
of his stay, Moore is shown slides of UFO photos and a UFO film taken
from inside a military plane. Moore is asked to sign a document that
swears him to secrecy. (UFOEv, p. 114;
Clark III 773)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3077
Date: 11/18/1957
Time: 1500
Description: Mrs. Cynthia Appleton, 27, mother of two, saw the figure of
a man appear near her fireplace while a whistling sound was audible. He
was tall and fair, wore a tight-fitting plastic garment, and seemed to
communicate with her through telepathy, indicating he was looking for
titanium and was coming from a world of peace and harmony. Suddenly he
disappeared. Mrs. Appleton had subsequent contacts with similar
entities.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 4 (Vallee)
Location: Aston, Great Britain
ID: 443
Date: 11/18/1957
Time: 1030
Description: Farmers Joao Ernani and Pedro Zilli heard a strange humming
sound, then saw two aluminum-colored disks 200 m away. Near them were
six mm of average height, slim build, dressed in “dark gray suits glued
to their bodies.” The disks were about 3.5 m wide, hovering 1 m above
ground. They rose with a sharp whistling sound, while coconut trees
below them bent double. Three more disks rose from behind the trees, and
all five flew toward the Atlantic.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 36 (Vallee)
Location: Maracaja, Brazil
ID: 442
Date: 11/21/1957
Description: Merchant Hans
Haugaard Hansen is driving out of Gesten, Denmark, on the road to
Egholt when he sees a triangular UFO moving low over a field some
300–600 feet away. It is emitting a red or orange light and makes no
sound. The bottom of the object is solid, but the upper part is
transparent, and he can see two figures inside. He stops the car to
watch as it moves about 40 mph. Similar objects are seen at Jordrup and
Vorbasse. (“Flying Saucer
Reports Pour in from Denmark,” Flying Saucer Review 4, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1958): 2; Loren E. Gross, The Fifth
Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957, November
13th–30th, The
Author, 1998, p. 56; Willy Wegner, “UFO
bogen, Kapitel 19: Rumfolkene viser sig,” Skeptica, September 1,
2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3079
Date: 11/21/1957
Description: The Army Chief of Research and Development responds to
CONARC’s October 22 request on the feasibility of building a manned
“flying saucer,” stating that he had reviewed the Avrocar disc concept
and that it looked promising. (Richard P. Weinert, History of Army
Aviation, 1950–1962, US Army Training and Doctrine Command, November
1976, pp. 220–221;
Wikipedia, “Avro
Canada VZ-9 Avrocar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3078
Date: 11/21/1957
Description: Night. Frank Dickenson and two friends are driving up
Reasty Hill near the village of Silpho, North Yorkshire, England, when
their car stalls and they see a glowing object in the sky that appears
to fall to the ground on a ridge above Broxa Forest. Dickenson leaves
the car with a flashlight, climbs up a bank, and finds in a patch of
bracken a metallic saucer shaped like a “large flattish spinning top,”
18 inches in diameter and weighing 33 pounds. As he returns to tell his
friends, he passes a young couple walking toward the scene. When the
tree men return to search for it, the disc is gone. Dickenson places an
advertisement in a Scarborough newspaper about the disc, and he is able
to recover it for £10 from a man who claims he was the mystery man on
the moor. Photos taken by UFO researcher John Dale show that the copper
base of the object is inscribed with a mystery script. The top of the
disc is made from layers of laminated metal that has been painted with a
white substance. The two halves are stuck together with a grayish
substance resembling cellulose, and a pencil-thick iron rod runs through
a “white metal bearing” in the top. When the bearing is drilled out,
they find a heap of ash inside the cavity, as well as pieces of fused
glass and a tightly rolled cylinder of copper. Also inside is a tiny
booklet of 17 sheets of thin copper foil fastened at one edge. The
booklet is engraved with script similar to that found on the outside.
The coded script is translated by a café proprietor from Scarborough
named Philip Longbottom, who claims the 2,000- word inscription is from
an alien named Ulo, with later text added by an apparently female
companion named Tarngee. A metallurgist at the University of Manchester
analyzes the disc and finds the outer casing is made primarily from
lead, and the copper foil is triple laminated an unusually free from
impurities. In 2017, David Clarke discovers
that five specimens from the Silpho disc have been preserved in a tin
cigarette box housed in London’s Science Museum. The specimens were sent
to aviation historian Charles
Harvard Gibbs-Smith in 1963 by Essex ufologist C. C. Stevens for
analysis. Gibbs-Smith judged the items to be of terrestrial origin, and
they were donated to the Science Museum with his papers after his death
in 1981. Veteran Scarborough Evening News editor Mick Jefferson said in
2003 the newspaper had long ago exposed the object as a hoax made from a
“domestic hot-water cylinder.” However, the hoaxers have never surfaced.
(“The
Silpho Moor Mystery,” Flying Saucer Review 4, no. 2 (March/April
1958): 4; “Silpho
Moor Controversy,” Flying Saucer Review 4, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1958):
19; Philip Longbottom, “The
Silpho Moor Mystery,” Flying Saucer Review 4, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1958): 15–17; Jenny Randles, UFO Retrievals, Blandford, 1995,
pp. 77–82;
David Clarke, “The Return of the Silpho Moor Saucer,” Fortean Times 364
(March 2018): 42–46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3080
Date: 11/22/1957
Description: A shop owner saw a pyramidshaped, luminous, transparent
object fly fast across the road. As it was above 250 m away, he clearly
saw two figures who looked like human beings, sitting one behind the
other aboard the craft.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Gesten, Denmark
ID: 444
Date: 11/23/1957
Time: 0630
Description: Four disk-shaped objects on the ground were observed for 20
min from a distance of 15 m. When the witness tried to come closer, they
took off with an unbearable humming sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Tonopah, Nevada
ID: 445
Date: 11/23/1957
Description: 7:30 p.m. Six truck drivers watch a strange object with
three lights in a triangular pattern hovering above a field off State
Highway 8 just north of the Butler Valley Turnpike exit in Richland
Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It has a green light at the
bottom, a red light at the right corner, and a yellow light at the left
corner. They get out of their car and approach the object, but when they
are 75 feet away, it moves to the east, then south. They go back to the
car and shine their lights on the object, which is about 20 feet above
some trees. The lights go out and the object disappears. (“3-Lighted
‘Whatsit’ Floats over Field,” Pittsburgh (Pa.) Sun- Telegraph,
November 27, 1957, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3082
Date: 11/23/1957
Description: 6:10 p.m. Fighter pilot 1st Lt. Joseph F. Long’s car engine
stalls 30 miles west of Tonopah, Nevada. He hears a high-pitched whining
noise and sees four 50-foot, domed, saucer-shaped UFOs landed on the
right side of the road about 900–1,200 feet away. They are glowing
brightly and equipped with three landing gears. Long estimates they are
about 10–15 feet tall. When he approaches to within 50 feet of the
closest object, the hum increases in intensity and Long’s ears begin to
hurt. The objects take off abruptly, retracting the landing gears. The
rise about 50 feet into the air and proceed across the highway to the
north at about 10 mph. The total time of the sighting is 20 minutes.
Shallow, bowl-shaped ground impressions in the shape of a triangle are
found at the landing site. (NICAP, “Four
Huge Saucers Land near Car, Engine Stalls”; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 182–186;
Good Need, pp. 222–223, 228;
Sparks,
p. 259; Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 101–106)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3081
Date: 11/23/1957
Description: Air Force officer’s car failed, he saw disc-shaped objects
on ground
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Tonopah, NV
ID: 5
Date: 11/25/1957
Time: 1430
Description: Two engineers were driving about 200 m from the railroad
crossing in Faverges when they saw a nearly spherical object at ground
level, performing zig-zags on the road. They stopped and were amazed as
the object simply vanished, leaving no trace.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Ugines, France
ID: 446
Date: 11/25/1957
Description: 10:00 p.m. All the lights in the town of Mogi Mirim, São
Paulo, Brazil, suddenly dim and fail. Numerous people see a circular
light traveling directly overhead. Two similar lights follow a short
time later. The blackout only lasts 5 minutes, but the power station has
no explanation. (Schopick, pp. 141–142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3083
Date: 11/26/1957
Time: 10:07 AM
Description: Witnesses: three control tower operators, one weather
observer and four others. One silver, cigar-shaped object suddenly
vanished after 8 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Robins AFB, Georgia
ID: 419
Date: 11/27/1957
Description: The director of an engineering firm and four of his staff
members see five black, disc-shaped objects hovering in the French Alps
for 8 minutes. The group performs a series of maneuvers, after which a
parachute- shaped object emerges from one of them. Suddenly they all
shoot away at supersonic speed toward the Swiss border. (Lorenzen, UFOs:
The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 87)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3084
Date: 11/28/1957
Description: 8:30 p.m. Regino Lacuesta is driving on the Hawaii Belt
Road near Ninole, Hawaii, when his car engine begins missing. Suddenly
he sees a bright flash of light 20 feet above the highway in front of
him. The engine dies, the headlights go out, and the car rolls to a stop
at the point where the light had been. Lacuesta feels numb and cannot
move. Soon the headlights come on and the car starts up again, although
it is in high gear and he has not touched the starter. He drives
straight home. (Schopick,
pp. 49–51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3085
Date: 11/29/1957
Description: Two German expatriates, G. R. Miczaika and Eberhart W.
Wahl, form Project Space Track in Building 1535 of the Geophysics
Research Directorate at the Air Force Cambridge Research Center at
Hanscom AFB in Bedford, Massachusetts. Its mission is to track and
compute orbits for all artificial earth satellites and space probes,
including US and Soviet payloads, booster rockets, and debris.
(Wikipedia, “Project
Space Track”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3087
Date: 11/29/1957
Description: 2:30 a.m. Capt. Fred Sutton, skipper of the fishing trawler
Ella Hewett, is 4 miles off Port Jack, Douglas, Isle of Man, when an
orange ball of fire crosses the sky. As it passes over the hull of the
small boat, the vessel grows luminous, with firefly-like sparks of
luminescence everywhere. The fireball bursts like fireworks, seen by
others on the island as well as Scotland. The crew notices that the
white paint on the metal railings at the edge of the boat has
disappeared, leaving only the red undercoating. At daybreak, however,
the paintwork is perfectly normal again. (Jenny Randles, “Mysterious
Island: The UFO Legacy of the Isle of Man,” IUR 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004):
13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3086
Date: 11/30/1957
Time: 2:11 PM
Description: Witnesses: three U.S. Coast Guardsmen. One round object
turned white, then gold, then separated into three parts and turned red.
Sighting lasted 20 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
ID: 420
Date: 12/1957
Time: night
Description: Edmund Rucker was awakened by a roaring noise and saw a
strange object land near his house. “Its windows were lighted, and I saw
strange-looking heads there.” An opening became visible and four
creatures emerged. They had large heads, dome-like foreheads, and
bulging eyeballs. They delivered a message to the witness in English,
stating that they had philanthropic and scientific purposes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Jul., 58 (Vallee)
Location: El Cajon, California
ID: 447
Date: 12/1957
Description: Keyhoe is
invited to appear on the CBS Armstrong Circle Theater anthology drama TV
program hosted by Douglas
Edwards to talk about UFOs with Kenneth
Arnold and Clarence
S. Chiles. Others
invited are Edward
J. Ruppelt, Donald
Menzel, and
an Air Force representative. But Keyhoe finds out that it will not be a
panel discussion but a scripted conversation, and he will only have 7
minutes. He is promised he will have final say over his part of the
script, and he agrees. However, writer Irve
Tunick cuts out critical portions of Keyhoe’s material (including
references to the Estimate of the Situation and the Robertson Panel),
saying it is too long. Ruppelt, Chiles, and Arnold soon withdraw from
the program, expanding Keyhoe’s segment to 11 minutes. (Clark III
167–168)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3093
Date: 12/1957
Description: Night. Edmund Rucker is awakened by a roaring noise in El
Cajon, California, and watches a strange object land near his house. Its
windows are lighted and he can see some strange-looking heads inside. An
opening becomes visible, and four creatures emerge. They have large
heads, dome-like foreheads, and bulging eyeballs. They deliver a message
to Rucker in English, saying they have philanthropic and scientific
purposes. (Patrick Gross, URECAT, July
28, 2007; Mark Cashman, “Behavioral Classification System for UFO
Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3092
Date: 12/1957
Description: Walter K. Buhler launches the Sociedade Brasiliera de
Estudos sobre Discos Voadores in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It publishes
the Boletim SBEDV through 1988. (Boletim
SBEDV, no. 1 (December 1957))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3091
Date: 12/1957
Description: Several UFO sightings take place along the Finland-Russia
border. A cigar-shaped object is seen by two Finnish farmers moving
horizontally at a high altitude from west to east. (Good Above, pp. 307–308)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3090
Date: 12/1957
Description: A classified Canadian Department of National Defence
memorandum states that the “RCAF has no official policy concerning the
subject” of UFOs and “there has never been a serious investigation of
any report on file” at RCAF headquarters. (Gregory M. Kanon, “UFOs
and the Canadian Government, Part One,” no. 22 (1975): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3089
Date: 12/1957
Description: National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) 11-10-57 predicts that
the Soviets will “probably have a first operational capability with up
to 10 prototype ICBMs” at “sometime during the period from mid-1958 to
mid- 1959.” The numbers of the missile gap start to inflate. (Wikipedia,
“Missile
gap”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3088
Date: 12/1/1957
Description: 1:30 a.m. Swissair pilot Walter
Borner is flying a DC-6B at 18,000 feet over Ras El-Kanayis, Egypt,
when he sees a “giant, red, burning cylinder falling down vertically,
leaving a yellowish trail.” It is possible that this is the reentry of
the final stage of the rocket that launched Sputnik I. (Luis Schoenherr,
“Unknown Missiles,” IUR 19, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1994): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3094
Date: 12/3/1957
Description: 7:00 p.m. Many residents of the Menastash Ridge area of
Ellensburg, Washington, watch a “strange ball of fire” for 20 minutes. A
truck driver sees the light hovering above his truck, causing the motor
to cough and sputter. His engine does not stop completely, however, so
he drives away. The night is misty, but the object is so bright that it
lights up the sky as if it were daytime. (Schopick, pp. 51–52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3096
Date: 12/3/1957
Description: 2:30 p.m. Z.
Thad Fogl, radio officer of the SS Ramsey, claims to have taken a
photo of a saucer off the coast of San Pedro, California. The photo
appears in Flying Saucer Review in 1959 and Life in 1966. However, in
1967 Fogl admits that he had faked the photo using parts of plastic
airplane models. (NICAP, “Disc
with Landing Gear
Photo / Fogl Case”; “Radio
Officer’s Amazing Story: UFO Snapped from Ship,” Flying Saucer
Review 5, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1959): 6–7; “A
Hoax Exposed,” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1966):
7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3095
Date: 12/4/1957
Description: Blue Book Capt. George
T. Gregory complains that as a result of pressure from the press and
public, “Assistant Secretary of Defense requested that ATIC immediately
submit a preliminary analysis to the press” of the Levelland, Texas,
cases, even though he has “limited data.” (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO
Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, p. 147)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3097
Date: 12/5/57
Description: Engineer Norman S. Bean gives a talk titled “Satellites and
Saucers”
Type: status report
Reference: NICAP
Location: Washington, DC
Date: 12/5/1957
Description: Morning. An unidentified beeping sound is picked up for
three minutes on KBR Rural Public Power Radio in Ainsworth, Nebraska,
operating at 72.3 AM. (“Unidentified
Beeping Heard on KBR Power Radio on Thursday,”
Ainsworth (Neb.) Star-Journal, December 12, 1957, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3103
Date: 12/6/1957
Description: A letter written to contactee George
Adamski on State Department stationery from R. E. Straith, Cultural
Exchange Committee, is a hoax concocted by ufologists Gray
Barker and James
W. Moseley. The letter informs Adamski that the State Department
knows his claims are true and they encourage his activities. (James D.
Villard, “The
‘R. E. Straith’ Case,” Saucers 6, no. 4 (Winter 1958/1959): 2–6;
Clark III 44–45; Saucer Smear, January 10, 1985; Lou Zinsstag and
Timothy Good, George Adamski: The Untold Story, Ceti, 1983, pp. 148–153;
James W. Moseley and Karl T. Pflock, Shockingly Close to the Truth!
Confessions of a Grave-Robbing Ufologist, Prometheus, 2002, pp. 124–127,
381–402; Marc Hallet, A
Critical Appraisal of George Adamski: The Man Who Spoke
to the Space Brothers, The
Author, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3098
Date: 12/7/1957
Description: 10:00 p.m. In western Victoria and eastern South Australia,
witnesses see a moon-like object explode with a vivid flash. Unexpected
blackouts are reported in the area. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story,
Signet, 1969, p. 87)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3099
Date: 12/8/1957
Time: 1750
Description: Between Woodward and Seiling, 12 km from the latter, an
unknown flying object allegedly took complete control of a car with
three passengers. The driver, an employee of an aircraft company, had
turned the heater, windshield wiper, and radio on. He was nearing a hill
in this wooded area when a bright light appeared ahead. It reminded the
witness of the light from a mercury lamp. As a crash seemed imminent,
the car slowed down by itself and stopped, as if the entire electrical
circuit had failed. Over the vehicle was a disk 16 m in diameter with
portholes around the periphery, emitting a current of hot air and a
high-pitched sound. It had a dome on top and bottom. It rose as the car
started by itself. The car was a 1954 Dodge Coronet without automatic
transmission. The witness spent four hours with two Kirtland AFB
officers who told him of similar observations. The case was never
reported to Blue Book.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Woodward, Oklahoma
ID: 448
Date: 12/8/1957
Description: 5:30 p.m. A disc-shaped UFO with a dome and three pads on
the underside suddenly comes toward a car with three passengers at
Woodward, Oklahoma. The car heater, wipers, and radio fail and finally
the car stalls out as the UFO hovers overhead at 200 feet. It emits a
high-pitched whining sound. It is over 50 feet in diameter and has
portholes. The whine increases in pitch after about two minutes, and the
UFO rises vertically out of sight. The headlights come on and the engine
of the car starts by itself. The driver spends 4 hours with two officers
from Kirtland AFB in New Mexico who tell him of similar observations.
(Vallée, Magonia, pp. 267–268)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3100
Date: 12/8/1957
Description: 9:00 p.m. Eight people traveling together in two cars on
Highway 17 between Coulee City and Soap Lake, Washington, see a huge,
fiery object pass overhead from north to south. Both cars stall out and
their headlights also fail as the UFO passes overhead. In addition, the
inside dome lights come on, even though they aren’t turned on. The cars
remain stalled until the object passes out of sight. Police say the
object stalled as many as six cars along that sparsely traveled road.
(Schopick,
pp. 52–53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3101
Date: 12/11/1957
Description: Mary Louise Tobin, a schoolteacher, was driving on State
Highway 1 when she saw an object that she compared to the rising sun, in
the vicinity of a smoking car. The driver, an elderly lady, came out
with a child who seemed to have suffered burns. The unknown object went
away: The disabled car did not catch on fire.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Jul., 58 (Vallee)
Location: Chestnut, Louisiana
ID: 449
Date: 12/11/1957
Time: 1600
Description: Many cars stopped to observe a silent, reddish, glowing
disk, about 15 m in diameter, which flew 6 m above the ground at about
80 km/h. A small, windowless cabin was visible on the underside of the
object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Jul., 58 (Vallee)
Location: Ellsworth, Wisconsin
ID: 450
Date: 12/11/1957
Description: Night. Mexican pilot Gilberto Castillo del Valle is flying
at 10,000 feet near Mexico City when a brilliant light illuminates his
cockpit. He turns off the aircraft lights and sees a large luminous
object darting from left to right and back again ahead of him.
Passengers and crew also see the light, as do personnel at the Mexico
City control tower. (Lorenzen, UFOs; The Whole Story, Signet, 1969,
p. 88)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3102
Date: 12/12/1957
Description: 5:45 p.m. At least 13 witnesses see a bright light over the
Sea of Japan. The object is tracked on radar and seen through
binoculars. At 7:22 p.m., a scramble is ordered and two F-86D’s take off
from Misawa Air Base, Japan. Multiple radar and visual sightings take
place over the next three days. (NICAP, “Jets
Scrambled after
Radar/Visual UFO”; Sparks, p. 261)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3105
Date: 12/12/1957
Description: A USAF pilot attains 1,208 mph in a McDonnell F-101A Voodoo
at Edwards AFB, California. (Wikipedia, “McDonnell
F-101 Voodoo”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3104
Date: 12/13/1957
Time: 9:35 AM
Description: Witness: R.C. Cano. Fourteen-fifteen circular, tapered
discs, very bright, flew in a formation like a stack of coins, then
changed to an inverted-V formation. Sighting lasted 20 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Col Anahuac, Mexico
ID: 421
Date: 12/14/1957
Description: Night. Ed Waslashi sees a lighted green object fall into a
haystack on his farm at Langdon, North Dakota. He picks out a strange
metallic substance from the ashes of the burned hay. The material finds
its way to geologist Nicholas
N. Kohanowski at the University of North Dakota, who finds that it
is light, porous, and mostly magnesium dioxide. (“What
Is It?” Winona (Minn.) Daily News, December 17, 1957, p 1; Lorenzen,
UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 87)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3106
Date: 12/15/1957
Description: 1:00–2:00 a.m. Three young men see a huge light in the sky
at Almind, Denmark. It is oval-shaped, emits red or orange rays, and
appears to be descending. They watch it for 18–19 minutes as it hovers
at a 10° angle and quivers. Suddenly it becomes still and from its
center emerge two small objects that drift away in a northerly direction
and soon disappear. The large object lies on its side and quivers some
more. Later it ascends and a fan-shaped tail of light spreads after it.
The UFO is seen later along the coast and photographed. (“Flying Saucer
Reports Pour in from Denmark,” Flying Saucer Review 4, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1958): 2; Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further
Look,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3107
Date: 12/16/1957
Description: Between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. Mary M. Starr, a resident of Old
Saybrook, Connecticut, and a former teacher with a master’s degree from
Yale, is awakened by a bright light in her room. A cigar-shaped object,
brightly lit and with square portholes, hovers just above her
clothesline. She can see men inside. The object is approximately 20–30
feet long and dark gray or black in color, hovering motionless about 5
feet above the ground. Through its lighted windows Starr sees two
figures that pass each other, walking in opposite directions. (Donald E.
Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore, eds, UFOs: A New Look, NICAP, 1969, pp. 27–28;
Clark III 269)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3108
Date: 12/17/1957
Description: Skandinavisk UFO Information is founded in Denmark by Hans-Christian
Petersen under the name Sydjysk UFO Information. It publishes the
journal UFO-Nyt from 1958 to 2010. (Wikipedia, “Skandinavisk
UFO Information”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3109
Date: 12/17/1957
Description: The US conducts its first successful launch of an SM-65A
Atlas missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Wikipedia, “SM-65A
Atlas”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3110
Date: 12/17/1957
Time: 7:20 PM
Description: Witness: F.G. Hickman, 17. One round object changed from
yellow to white to green to red; red tail was twice as long as the body.
It stopped, started, backed up for 45 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: near Grand Junction, Colorado
ID: 422
Date: 12/18/1957
Time: night
Description: Mary Stan was awakened by a brilliant light and saw through
her east window the fuselage of a craft that hovered in midair. Aboard
were two men, each with his right hand raised, wearing yellowish
jackets. A third man joined the first two, then all lights went off
inside the craft while it glowed like brass. A spinning antennalike
device was noted. A few minutes later it flew off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 60,3 (Vallee)
Location: Old Saybrook, Connecticut
ID: 451
Date: 12/18/1957
Description: Luis E. Corrales of Caracas, Venezuela, finds an odd
luminous streak on a photographic plate recording the passage of Sputnik
2. It
is a luminous trail running parallel to the satellite’s trail, then
veering away. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957 December, The
Author, 1998, p. 57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3111
Date: 12/21/1957
Time: 1830
Description: Mrs. Mendonca and five other persons saw a light in the
south, which later appeared as two spherical objects coming closer to
the witnesses on an oscillating course. One of them hovered close to the
car while the other circled. They were shaped like a sphere surrounded
by a flat ring, and chased the car for two hours over the deserted road.
Estimated diameter: 5 m.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Mar., 59 (Vallee)
Location: Ponte Poran, Brazil
ID: 452
Date: 12/21/1957
Description: 6:30 p.m. Yvonne Torres de Mendonça, her three small
children, and a servant are traveling in a jeep driven by her mechanic,
Marcio Gonçalves, towards Ponta Porã, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, along
the Paraguayan border. They see a large ball of light about the size of
the full moon that starts moving toward them, and they realize that it
is two lights flying silently side by side. The lights straddle the
road, oscillating from one side to the other in a strange wobbling
motion and spinning on their axes. One of them stops in mid-air and
dives toward the ground in a falling-leaf motion 60 feet ahead of them,
while the other maneuvers in circles around the jeep. The lights are
spherical and encircled by a Saturn-like ring at the center. The upper
hemisphere and rim are fiery red, while the lower hemisphere is silvery
white. The two objects follow the jeep for 2 hours, all the way to town,
maneuvering intelligently around them, especially when the jeep stops
twice to evaluate the objects. (Olavo T. Fontes, “Shadow
of the Unknown, Part II: UAOs Chase Cars,” APRO Bulletin, March
1959, pp. 3–6; Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969,
pp. 148–150; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1957 December, The Author, 1998, pp. 60–63; Clark
III 245–246)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3112
Date: 12/28/57
Description: Japanese science fiction movie “The Mysterians” is
released
Type: movie
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Japan
Date: 12/30/1957
Time: night
Description: George Chowanski, an auto mechanic was alerted by the
barking of his dog and heard a whirring sound similar to that of an
electric shaver. A lighted object was observed by Chowanski and his wife
as it came within 60 cm of the ground. Two figures came out of the
bottom of the object, walked around a clearing, and one picked up
something before returning to the craft, which then took off. Total
duration: 2 min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Oct., 58 (Vallee)
Location: Drakestown, New Jersey
ID: 453
Date: 12/30/1957
Description: Night. George Chowanski is cutting wood at his home in
Schooley’s Mountain, New Jersey, when his two dogs begin to bark and
howl. He hears a whirring noise like an electric shaver that persists
for one minute. Then he sees a saucer-shaped object, 5 feet high and 15
feet wide, hovering about 2 feet above the ground in a grove of trees
100 feet from the back porch. Three individuals come out of the craft
and walk about in the clearing. One of them bends over to pick something
up and carries something heavy back to the object. After 2–3 minutes, it
slowly rises, spiraling through the tall trees, and flies off.
(Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 88–89)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3113
Date: 1958
Description: Night. A sergeant in charge of a fire truck crash crew at
an air base in South Korea is positioned near the runway awaiting an
emergency landing by an American jet fighter low on fuel. The men see a
bright light approaching from across the Yellow Sea. It grows bigger
and, within several hundred yards of the shore, stops and hovers. The
control tower operators, watching the object through binoculars, do not
know what it is. Suddenly the object shines a beam of light straight
down on the water. It soon goes out, but the water remains luminescent
for a while before fading out. The object again shines a light on the
water and turns it off a minute or so later. By this time, the jet that
is low on fuel is landing. A second jet is asked to check out the
object, which instantly shoots back toward China and disappears in
seconds. (Bob Pratt, UFO Danger Zone: Terror and Death in Brazil—Where
Next?, Horus House, 1996, online ed., p. 164;
Carl W. Feindt, “Beam of Light into a Body of Water,” IUR 33, no. 3
(December 2010): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3118
Date: Late 1950’s
Description: The Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit (IPU) was disestablished
and all records were transferred to the Air Force.
Type: historical event
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A p55)
See also: 5/16/84
Date: 1958
Description: The Atomic Energy Commission puts a barbed wire fence
around Area 13 at the Nellis Air Force Range, Nevada, where the Project
57 “dirty bomb” had been detonated in April 1957, with signs indicating
“do not enter / nuclear material.” (Jacobsen, Area 51, p. 297)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3114
Date: 1958
Description: Project Orion, an effort to build a nuclear-powered
spacecraft, begins at a maximum-security facility in Area 25 of the
Nevada Test Site. Led by Ted
Taylor of General Atomics and physicist Freeman
Dyson, its initial focus is to send astronauts to Mars and back. The
spaceship would be 16 stories tall and piloted by 150 men. Soon ARPA and
the Air Force take over the project and redesign it for a space-based
battleship that could launch nuclear missiles from space. But no one
builds Orion and it is effectively disbanded by the 1963 nuclear test
ban. (Wikipedia, “Project
Orion (nuclear propulsion)”; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 304–305)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3115
Date: 1958
Description: French ufologist Aimé
Michel publishes Flying Saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery, an
examination of the UFO wave of September–October 1954 in France. The
book’s preface is written by Gen. Lionel-Max
Chassin, in
which he expresses his opinion that UFOs are genuinely mysterious (“That
strange things have been seen is now beyond question, and the
‘psychological’ explanations seem to have misfired”). Michel contends
that each day’s sightings, when plotted on a map, occur along
straight-line paths, even though different objects seem to figure in
each sighting. The alignments, which he calls “orthotenic lines,” do not
necessarily correspond to a trajectory. However, Jacques
Vallée later concludes that the alignments can be explained by
chance alone. (Aimé Michel, Flying Saucers and the Straight-Line
Mystery, Criterion, 1958; “An
Evaluation of Aimé Michel’s Study of the Straight
Line Mystery,” in C. A. Maney and Richard Hall, The Challenge of
Unidentified Flying Objects, NICAP, 1961, pp. 90–98; Jacques Vallee and
Janine Vallee, Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma, Regnery, 1966, pp. 57–82;
Don Johnson, “New Lines in UFO Research: Orthoteny Revisited,” IUR 25,
no. 1 (Spring 2000): 18–19, 32; Claude Maugé, “Orthoteny: Lost Cause, or
a Redeemed One?” IUR 25, no. 3 (Fall 2000): 24–28; Clark III 747,
858–860)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3116
Date: 1958
Description: DoD kills “Project Horizon”, a military colony on the moon
program
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Reference: Lt. Col. Philip J. Corso’s Manuscript
Location: Washington, DC
Date: 1958
Description: Trevor
James Constable writes They Live in the Sky, which explains UFOs as
etheric (good) and astral (bad) entities that are engaged in a battle
for control of earthly minds. He bases this on his analysis of occult
texts and channeled communications from cosmic informant Ashtar. The
astral entities are based inside the earth, but they can leave it
through an opening in the South Pole and fly 125,000 miles into space.
Only the atomic bomb can penetrate the astral realm, which is why
astrals disguised as benevolent Space Brothers argue fervently for
nuclear disarmament. The men in black are reincarnated versions of Richard
Shaver’s deros. (Trevor James [Constable]. They Live in the Sky, New
Age, 1958; Trevor James [Constable], “Scientists,
Contactees, and Equilibrium,” Flying Saucer Review 6, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1960): 19–21; Clark III 1102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3117
Date: 1/1958
Time: 0130
Description: A lady who was driving on the New York State Thruway during
a snow storm saw a large shape with a tall, luminous pole on the side of
the road. Her car stalled, and the lights went off. Two figures, looking
like animals or huge insects were observed near the pole. They soon
disappared, and the object took off spinning. The witness was then able
to start her car. She noted that the snow at the site had been melted
and the grass was warm.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Binder; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Depew, New York
ID: 454
Date: 1/1958
Description: 1:30 a.m. A woman is driving along the New York State
Thruway near Niagara Falls, New York, when she sees an illuminated
50-foot pole in the center parkway ahead. It seems to be retracting and
getting shorter. As she closes in on it, her engine stops and the
headlights go out. The pole is attached to a saucer-shaped object, and
she sees shadowy figures floating around it. The UFO rises and moves
away, and she starts the car again. An area of snow a foot in diameter
has melted dry where the pole has been. (Michael D. Swords, “Messing
Around with the Force,” IUR 31, no. 4 (Mar. 2008): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3121
Date: 1/1958
Description: Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas, asks for Keyhoe’s
permission to use The Flying Saucer Conspiracy to develop a script for
closed-circuit broadcast at the base. Keyhoe agrees. (Keyhoe, FSTS,
p. 218)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3120
Date: 1/1958
Description: The US Senate Committee on Government Operations asks to
meet with representatives from the Secretary of the Air Force Office of
Legislative Action to discuss the possibility of holding open hearings
on the Air Force UFO program. USAF fears “uncontrolled publicity,” but
agrees to go along with it. Soon, however, Richard
E. Horner,
USAF assistant secretary for research and development, persuades the
committee’s chief counsel, Donald O’Donnell, that hearings are “not in
the best interest of the air force,” nor necessary for national
security. Horner says Project Blue Book has things well in hand, and he
tells Sen. Barry
Goldwater (R-Ariz.) that allegations about the Air Force withholding
information are “entirely in error.” People who report UFOs simply want
confidentiality, and the Air Force respects that. (Jacobs, UFO
Controversy in America, Signet ed., 1976, pp. 140– 141, 144)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3119
Date: 1/3/1958
Description: Cliff DeLacey, a 23-year-old college student from Vallejo,
California, shoots 90 seconds of film of UFOs at Diamond Head, Hawaii.
DeLacey sees nine UFOs flashing across the sky and immediately grabs his
camera. He is careful enough to shoot the tops of nearby trees, allowing
a reference to the height and relative speed of the unknown objects. The
objects appear to be about 3–4 miles away from the camera, flying at an
altitude of 7,000– 8,000 feet, and moving at a speed slightly greater
than that of a jet. The silvery globules appear to be no more than 20
feet in diameter. They are spherical, and no tail fins or protrusions of
any kind are visible. The film, in color, is said to be clear and to
show at least two of the nine UFOs in considerable detail. (NICAP, “’Genuine
Flying Saucer…Caught
on Movie Film’”; Max B. Miller and Norman S. Kossuth, “How
to Film Unidentified Flying Objects,”
Saucers 6, no. 3 (Autumn 1958): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3122
Date: 1/4/1958
Description: A woodcutter reported that he saw an object land, and a
very tall man with a tanned face, wearing a helmet, stepped from the
machine. He went back in after a few minutes; the craft took off “with a
noise like a flock of birds.” Air Force officers and policemen searched
the snowcovered hill for traces.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 58, 2 (Vallee)
Location: Stavanger, Norway
ID: 455
Date: 1/4/1958
Description: Sputnik deorbits
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Washington, DC
Date: 1/7/1958
Description: Two figures again appeared to Mrs. Appleton and spoke to
her in English (see Case 443).
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 4 (Vallee)
Location: Aston, Great Britain
ID: 456
Date: 1/10/1958
Description: Day. Capt. Chrysólogo Rocha is sitting with his wife on the
porch of a house in Guarujá, São Paulo, Brazil, overlooking the South
Atlantic. He is trying to focus with his binoculars on what appears to
be a small island. When he does get focused, he realizes the island is
getting bigger and is in two parts, both a clear, gray color. One part
is in the sea, while the other seems suspended above it. Without
warning, both parts suddenly sink out of sight. Shortly afterwards, a
steamer comes into view, on a course that will take it very close to the
object. About 15 minutes later, when the ship is out of sight, the
object again rises slowly out of the sea. He now sees clearly that the
two parts are joined by several narrow upright shafts or tubes that are
bright and visible to the naked eye. These shafts, “like beads on a
necklace” pass in a “disorderly and simultaneous movement.” Shortly
afterwards the two parts of the object close up again, and it disappears
below the waves. Probably an inferior mirage of an island in combination
with a towering effect. (Charles Bowen, “A
South American Trio,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1965): 20–21; Wim van Utrecht, “A
UFO Dives in and Out of the Ocean,” Caelestia)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3123
Date: 1/13/1958
Description: 11:45 p.m. Brian Crittenden sees a dome-shaped light with a
long narrow light underneath coming directly towards him as he is
leaving a friend’s house southwest of Casino, New South Wales,
Australia. He jumps into his car and heads home. The UFO chases his car
along Benns Road, practically touching the telephone poles. His car
radio develops interference when the UFO approaches him. It follows him
all the way to town, 7 miles away. (Schopick,
p. 81; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958 January– February, The
Author, 1998, p. 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3124
Date: 1/13/1958
Time: 2345
Description: Brian Crittendon, 21, was chased by a dome-shaped object
that emitted a narrow light beam toward the ground. He was so frightened
that he drove home on a half-flat tire, followed for 5 km by the object,
which was about 50 m away and 10 m above ground. It overtook his car at
a speed exceeding 100 km/h. Radio interference was noted, but no
noise.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: UFO Bulletin Mar., 58 (Vallee)
Location: Farm Hill, Australia
ID: 457
Date: 1/16/1958
Description: Around 12:00 noon. As the International Geophysical Year
research ship Almirante
Saldanha is anchored on the south side of Ilha da Trindade, Brazil,
730 miles off the coast in the Atlantic Ocean, the commander and many
crew members, including photographer Almiro Baraúna, see a Saturn-shaped
object maneuvering over the island. It reportedly comes toward the
island from the east, flies towards the Pico Desejado, makes a steep
turn, and goes away very quickly to the northwest. Baraúna takes four
photos with a Rolleiflex 2.8 model E. Commander Paulo
Moreira da Silva of the Brazilian Navy Hydrography and Navigation
Department (who technically outranks the ship’s captain, José
Santos de Saldanha da Gama), is apparently an eyewitness and states,
“the object was encircled by a greenish glow, our [meteorological]
balloon was of a red color.” Baraúna is officially there to take photos
of the island, underwater photos, photos of the IGY activities, and the
ship’s operations. The radar detection of an unexplained supersonic
target reportedly occurs the day before, at about 12:05 p.m. There is a
power failure on the ship when the object is seen; the power returns
upon the object’s departure. Instruments like radio transmitters and
apparatus with magnetic needles cease operating while the flying object
remains in the island’s proximity. Willy
Smith’s April 20, 1983, interview of Baraúna takes on more
significance: “I asked if the object had been detected by ship’s radar.
He [Baraúna] replied that it hadn’t because all the electrical power
aboard ship was out at the time. He was sure of the reality of the power
outage because just before the object appeared a launch was being hauled
up from the water by electric pulley, and it stopped midway just as the
UFO appeared!” The ship’s log is provably incomplete since it does not
even mention the UFO photo incident. A 1999 analysis by Martin
J. Powell seems to indicate that the object photographed is an
airplane, distorted by Baraúna through a double-exposure process. In
August 2010, a major TV show in Brazil airs information stating that the
original photographer had made hoax photographs in the past. (Wikipedia,
“Trindade
Island UFO hoax”; Wikipedia, “Caso
da Ilha da Trindade”; NICAP, “Trindade
Island Photo (E-M, Radar,
AR) Case”; Olavo T. Fontes, “The
UAO Sightings at the Island of Trindade, Part 1,” APRO Bulletin,
January 1960, pp. 5–9; Olavo T. Fontes, “UAO
Sightings over Trindade, Part II,” APRO Bulletin, March 1960,
pp. 5–8; Olavo T. Fontes, “UAO
Sightings at the Island of Trindade, Part III,” APRO Bulletin, May
1960, pp. 4– 9; John T. Hopf, “Exclusive
IGY Photo Analysis,” APRO Bulletin, May 1960, pp. 1, 4; “New
Evidence on IGY Photos,”
APRO Bulletin, January 1965, pp. 1, 3–8; Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole
Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 205– 210; Willy Smith, “Trindade
Revisited,” IUR 8, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1983): 3–5, 14; Willy Smith,
“UFOs in Latin America,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987,
pp. 109–111; Martin J. Powell, “The
Trindade Island UFO: A
Detailed Study of Photos 1 and 2,” Aenigmatis, Summer 1999; Don
Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing
Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 71–77;
Martin Shough, “The
Trindade Island Photographs, 16 Jan 1958,” Aerial Phenomena Studies
Index, 2004; Equipe UFO, “Documento
raro sobre o caso Trindade ressurge no exterior,” Portal UFO, August
31, 2010; Sparks,
p. 262; Story, pp. 366–369;
Swords 463–465; Brazil 49–57; Clark III 1132–1136; Patrick Gross, “The
Trindade Island Photographic
Case of 1958”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3125
Date: 1/22/1958
Description: Major D. Keyhoe cut off TV show dealing with UFO
discussion
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 1/22/1958
Description: The “UFO: The Enigma of the Skies” segment of Armstrong
Circle Theater airs on CBS. USAF Reserve Lt. Col. Spencer Whedon from
ATIC says all UFOs are explainable. Keyhoe comes
on and starts reading his script for a few minutes, then shocks everyone
by deviating from it, saying “And now, Mr. Edwards,
I would like to make a disclosure, something which has never been
revealed to the public. For the last six months our committee has been
working with a Senate committee which is investigating official secrecy
on UFOs. If the hearings are held, open hearings, I feel it would prove
beyond doubt that flying saucers are real—”. Then his microphone is cut
off, although the filming continues. Menzel then
appears, then USAF spokesman Richard
E. Horner comes
on afterward and says that the Air Force is not hiding anything about
UFOs. Keyhoe later claims this is not censorship by the show, although
he thinks it is the Air Force silence group at work. In April, CBS
director of editing Herbert A. Carlborg tells NICAP that Keyhoe’s
deviation “might lead to statements that neither this network nor the
individuals on the program were authorized to release. As a consequence,
public interest was served.” (Clark III 167–168; Keyhoe, FSTS,
pp. 22–23, 155–165; “UFO
Archives: Project Blue Book—Col. Spenser
Whedon, Dr. Donald Menzel, Major Donald Keyhoe” [audio only], UFO
Archives YouTube channel, May 22, 2014; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958 January– February, The
Author, 1998, pp. 23, 28–30, 35–39; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: 1958 March–April, The
Author, 1998, pp. 10–17; Swords 272; Good Above, pp. 286–287)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3126
Date: 1/23/1958
Description: Capt. G. H. Oldenburgh, public information officer at
Langley AFB, Virginia, writes to a NICAP member who has been denied a
request to place an ad in the base newspaper asking for UFO reports: “I
felt it would encourage Air Force personnel to violate present Air Force
policy and specifically AF Regulation 200-2.” (Frank Edwards, FS Serious
Business, Bantam ed., 1966, p. 51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3127
Date: 1/26/1958
Time: 1600
Description: A very bright object landed before numerous chemical
workers; they reported beings falling from the sky without parachutes.
They wore strange suits and spoke an unknown language.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 58, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Shimada City, Japan
ID: 458
Date: 1/26/1958
Description: 4:00 p.m. Some chemical workers at Shimada, Japan, see a
bright object land and claim that beings fell from the sky without
parachutes. They wear strange suits and speak an unknown language. (“They
Are Landing in Japan,
Too,” Flying Saucer Review 4, no. 3 (May/June 1958): 33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3128
Date: 1/28/1958
Description: Hillenkoetter announces
that “two committees on Capitol Hill” are investigating the UFO
controversy. Rep. William
Hanes Ayres (R-Ohio) writes a letter to constituent Melvin V. Knapp,
saying that “Congressional investigations have been held and are still
being held on the problem of unidentified flying objects (UFO’s). Since
most of the material presented to the committees is classified, the
hearings are never printed. When conclusions are reached, they will be
released if possible.” (“Flying
Saucer Proof Clouded by Air Force, Private Probers Say,” Rochester
(N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, August 3, 1958, p. 8; UFOEv, p. 173)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3129
Date: 1/30/1958
Description: 11:45 p.m. Attorney José Valencia Dongo, his wife, and
their nephew feel an electric shock as they are driving between Arequipa
and Lima, Peru, at a point (roughly around the Yauca District) along the
Pan American Highway 220 miles northwest of Arequipa. Several seconds
later the headlights and engine of their car fails. They then see an
inverted mushroom-shaped object, about 15 feet in diameter, descending
from the sky. It hovers for about 8 minutes at a 150-foot altitude,
glowing red. A truck and bus are also affected. (Civilian Saucer
Intelligence, “Shapes
in the Sky,” Fantastic Universe, 10, no. 4 (October 1958): 111;
Charles A. Maney and Richard Hall, The Challenge of Unidentified Flying
Objects, NICAP, 1961, p. 82;
Schopick,
pp. 58–59; Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS,
1981, p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3130
Date: 1/31/1958
Description: 10:48 p.m. The US launches its first satellite, Explorer 1,
from Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida. It is the first spacecraft
to detect the Van Allen radiation belt. (Wikipedia, “Explorer
1”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3132
Date: 1/31/1958
Description: A meeting is held in the office of Assistant Secretary of
the Air Force Richard
E. Horner under the auspices of the Subcommittee on Investigations
of the Senate Committee on Government Operations, even though Sen. John
L. McClellan (D-Ark.) and other senators are absent. The Air Force
is represented by Maj. James F. Byrne, Maj. Joseph
E. Boland, and Maj. Lawrence
J. Tacker who meet with the subcommittee’s FBI liaisons. Tacker
declares that USAF does not want a congressional investigation, and the
McClellan effort dies immediately. (Swords 275)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3131
Date: 2/1958
Description: Keyhoe meets
again with Rep. James
C. Healey and tells him that the Armstrong Circle Theater incident
was Air Force censorship. A few days later, Healey tells Keyhoe that the
Air Force is claiming that the program proves “there are no such things
as flying saucers.” Keyhoe gives Healey the facts about the 1956 Ryan case
pointing to USAF ordering a commercial flight to pursue UFOs, citing the
Meet the Millers tape from April 16, 1956, which he has obtained. He
offers to get the committee a transcript. (Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 166–167,
182–184)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3133
Date: 2/1958
Description: Ufologist Raymond Veillith launches the UFO journal
Lumières dans la Nuit in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, Haute-Loire, France. It
continues on under various editors until at least 2018. (Lumières
dans la Nuit, no.
1 (February 1958); Wikipedia, “Lumières
dans la Nuit”; Story, p. 218)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3134
Date: 2/1958
Description: Brazilian Navy releases authentic picture of UFO
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Date: 2/1/1958
Description: First US Satellite Explorer 1 launched into a geocentric
medium earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 26
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 26
Date: 2/2/1958
Description: An elliptical UFO with two porthole-like markings is seen
somewhere in New South Wales, Australia. (UFOEv, p. 137)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3135
Date: 2/2/1958
Time: 1530
Description: Farmer Yasukichi Nakaguchi and his son, and Kametaro
Takuma, saw an egg-shaped object that landed silently.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 58, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Hokkaido, Japan
ID: 459
Date: 2/3/1958
Description: OTC Enterprises runs a two-page ad in a Baltimore,
Maryland, newspaper and distributes a well-printed brochure announcing
that Otis
T. Carr has approached the US government and offered to build it a
working spacecraft called the OTC-X1—circular, 45 feet in diameter and
15 feet high—for $20 million. He sets a date of December 7, 1959, to
take a three-man crew on the spacecraft on a round trip to the Moon.
Some press accounts treat Carr as if he is a real scientist. (Clark III
860)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3136
Date: 2/5/1958
Description: The Air Force revises AFR 200-2 and recreates the system of
air base commanders conducting initial investigations of sightings in
their areas. It also continues ATIC’s responsibility to “reduce the
percentage of unidentifieds to the minimum.” (Department of the Air
Force, “Intelligence:
Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO),” Air Force Regulation 200-2,
February 5, 1958; Department of the Air Force, “Intelligence:
Unidentified Flying Objects
(UFO),” Air Force Regulation 200-2A, July 3, 1958)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3137
Date: 2/5/1958
Description: Reinhold Schmidt’s 2nd contact with saucers &
spacepeople, takes ride.
Type: ce4 event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Kearney, NE
Date: 2/7/1958
Description: In response to the launching of Sputnik, President Eisenhower creates
the Advanced Research Projects Agency and houses it in the Pentagon.
(Wikipedia, “DARPA”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3138
Date: 2/17/1958
Description: Evening. Flora
Evans and Bernice McIntosh twice encounter an intensely brilliant
orange light about 15 feet in diameter that sends out peculiar grid-like
or diamond-shaped patterns and lights up a canyon northeast of Alcalde,
New Mexico, along State Highway 68. The two women are temporarily
blinded. Their trip home to Albuquerque inexplicably takes 4 hours
instead of the normal 2 hours. Both witnesses are exhausted and have
burned or reddened areas on their skin, some on their kneecaps and the
back of their lower legs, even though they have not left the car. Evans
has a reddened area shaped like a triangle on her back. An acquaintance,
Paul Boyett, has a Geiger counter, with which he gets a high radiation
count from both women on February 19. The next day Evans, who is working
in some capacity in civil defense, goes to her doctor at the Lovelace
Clinic in Albuquerque, to see about possible radiation burns and
exposure. She overhears a comment about “178 roentgens” exposure, but
the doctor says there is nothing to worry about. McIntosh’s symptoms
(nausea, vomiting, rash) are initially more irritating but subside
substantially, although both women have swellings in their lower legs,
and both gain serious weight (some 50 pounds) over the next few months.
(Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958 January–February, The
Author, 1998, pp. 60–64 ; Michael D, Swords, “Can UFOs Cause
Physiological Effects? Part 2” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011): 4–5; Swords
280–281; Clark III 1–2, 950)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3139
Date: 2/19/1958
Description: 10:30 p.m. Cicero Claudino da Silva, Mustafa Esgaib,
Alegario Campos, and João Manuel Vasquez are investigating the Ponta
Porã case from December. They are at Porteiro Ortiz, Mato Grosso do Sul,
Brazil, along Highway 463 and shining their lights in the direction of
the Paraguayan frontier when a reddish light appears and becomes larger,
as if approaching them. The ground around their car is illuminated for a
few seconds, and they realize that another red light is nearing them on
the other side of the car. They head for Ponta Porã at breakneck speed.
(Olavo T. Fontes, “The
Shadow of the Unknown,” APRO Bulletin, March 1959, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3140
Date: 2/24/1958
Description: 3:05 a.m. Attorney Carlos José de Costa Pereira, Manoel
Mendes, and Antônio de Araujo are driving near Santo Antônio de Jesus,
Bahia, Brazil. The car engine sputters and fails. All attempts to detect
the trouble fail. The next inhabited place is far away, so the travelers
decide that the best thing to do is to sleep at that spot, beside the
road. Next morning they will try to do something about their situation,
getting help from some nearby village or farm. It was then that they
notice a large luminous Saturn-shaped object silently approaching to
about 240 feet from them and only 90 feet from the ground. It then
descends in a falling-leaf pattern to about 12 feet. They can see it is
about 60–75 feet in diameter with a rotating center section. Suddenly it
climbs vertically to 600 feet, makes a tight circle, then tilts to 45°
and makes a number of high-speed maneuvers, then descends again in a
falling-leaf motion before shooting up vertically at tremendous speed.
After this, the car starts easily and they proceed to Salvador. (Olavo
T. Fontes, “The
Shadow of the Unknown,” APRO Bulletin, May 1959, p. 7; Schopick, pp. 59–61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3141
Date: 2/24/1958
Time: 0305
Description: Three witnesses, among them Dr. C. da Costa, decided to
sleep in their car when the engine stalled and could not be started
again. Then a very large, blue silvery object appeared and came to
ground level with a swinging motion. was shaped like a sphere surrounded
by a flat ring. When they tried to approach it, the object maneuvered in
a strange “aerial dance.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. I 143 (Vallee)
Location: Conceicao Almeida, Brazil
ID: 460
Date: 2/28/1958
Description: Police detective Faustin
Gallegos and his wife Dorothy see something like a “large medicine
ball” descend and land in their back yard in Miami, Florida. Outside, he
sees a football-shaped object 20 inches long and 8 inches high, lined
with “thousands of minute cells resembling those of a honeycomb. It is
clear and pulsating. He touches it and his fingers leave marks. They put
it in a jar, but it evaporates on the way to the police station.
(Faustin Gallegos, “The Pulsing Honeycomb from Space,” Fate 11, no. 9
(September 1958): 40–43; Clark III 1102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3144
Date: 2/28/1958
Description: Brig. Gen. João
Adil Oliveira, chief
of the Brazilian Air Force’s General Staff information service, tells O
Globo that the UFO phenomenon is a “fact confirmed by material evidence.
There are thousands of documents, photos, and sighting evidence
demonstrating its existence.” (Good Need, p. 233)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3143
Date: 2/28/1958
Description: USAF Director of Information Gen. Arno
H. Luehman naively inquires of the McClellan Senate subcommittee
whether, based on its “preliminary informal investigation,” it would
state that the Air Force is investigating UFOs and not withholding
information. (Swords 275)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3142
Date: 3/1958
Description: A French Foreign Legionnaire on sentry duty at Bouamama,
near Sidi Chami, Algeria, hears a whistling noise and sees an enormous,
elliptical-shaped object descend and hover 115–131 feet above the ground
165 feet away. The object is surrounded by pale green light, and a
relaxing emerald-green beam of light is coming from its base to the
ground. Seemingly paralyzed, he stares at the object for 45–50 minutes.
The noise returns, the object rises gently, and flies off at tremendous
speed. (Joël Mesnard, “Tranquillizing
Visitation at Bouahmama: An Algerian Report
of 1958,” Flying Saucer Review 19, no. 3 (May/June 1973):
17–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3146
Date: 3/1958
Description: Big “flap” in Arizona. Much activity.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: Arizona
Date: 3/1958
Description: The Air Force releases parts of the 1953 Robertson Panel
report, a mere three paragraphs recommending that “the national security
agencies take immediate steps to strip the Unidentified Flying Objects
of the special status they have been given and the aura of mystery they
have unfortunately acquired.” (“CIA
Evades, Then Denies Charge
of Attempted UFO Censorship,” UFO Investigator 1, no. 4 (June 1958):
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3145
Date: 3/2/1958
Time: 1945
Description: A civilian source was said to have observed a
balloon-shaped object land on the airfield then take off slowly and
hover at 250 m altitude before disappearing. It showed a bright light
source.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Tampa, Florida
ID: 461
Date: 3/2/1958
Description: The Brazilian Navy, after an analysis of the January 16
Ilha da Trindade sighting and photos, offers an ambiguous conclusion:
“the existence of personal testimonies and of a photographer, of some
value given the circumstances involved permit the admission that there
are indications of the existence of the UFO.” (Brazil Department of the
Navy, “Clarification
of the Observation of Unidentified Flying Objects Sighted on the Island
of Trinidad,
in the Period of 12/5/57 to 1/16/58,” March 2, 1958)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3147
Date: 3/3/1958
Description: Gen. Joe
W. Kelly responds to Luehman,
falsely stating that the Air Force has done “considerable work” with the
McClellan subcommittee. (Swords 275–276)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3148
Date: 3/8/1958
Description: Keyhoe appears
on ABC’s The Mike Wallace Interview and mentions the Estimate of the
Situation, Fournet’s
motion study, and the CIA Robertson Panel. Wallace surprises
him by saying Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Richard
E. Horner told his producers that the Senate Committee “show no
interest in any hearings.” This is news to Keyhoe. Wallace also quotes
from the Robertson Panel summary that was just released. A few days
later, Keyhoe receives two letters from the Senate Committee confirming
that it “does not intend to investigate the United States Air Force.”
(“Major
Donald Keyhoe Interviewed by Mike Wallace (1958),” pfreal1 YouTube
channel, August 25, 2012; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958 March–April, The
Author, 1998, p. 9; Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 189–190; Swords 272–273; “Mike
Wallace Interview of
Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe: A Sequel to the Arnstrong Circle Theater,”
Journal of UFO History 2, no. 1 (March/April 2005): 8–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3150
Date: 3/8/1958
Description: A USAF radar site in Korea tracks a UFO slowly descending
from 77,000 to 25,000 feet. (UFOEv, p. 80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3149
Date: 3/14/1958
Time: 0845
Description: Two persons, in their backyard, saw a round object 1 m in
diameter come from the west and land 15 m away. It took off toward the
east, turned south, and was lost to sight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Healdsburg, California
ID: 462
Date: 3/14/1958
Time: 8:45 AM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. W.F. Cummings and one other. A 3’
round, black object touched the ground and then took off. Watched for 2
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Healdsburg, California
ID: 423
Date: 3/19/1958
Description: Near Moscow, a large, disk-shaped object was seen on the
ground. It rose in a spiral motion, then took off and was lost to
sight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Moscow, USSR
ID: 463
Date: late 3/1958
Description: NICAP begins a new campaign to open another government UFO
investigation. This time it approaches the Department of Justice, the
National Security Council, the CIA, and the US Army. It receives rebuffs
and denials. (Keyhoe, FSTS, p. 191)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3151
Date: 4/1958
Time: 0600
Description: Near Paripueira, jeweler Wilson Lustosa and numerous
fishermen saw an object hovering 15 m above the sea, 40 m away. It was
lens-shaped, about 12 m thick, and showed portholes with a glowing red
light. Below the object the water seemed to be “boiling” or attracted
upward, while a soft, whirring sound was heard. For one hour the object
kept going up and down.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: SBEDV (Vallee)
Location: Maceio, Brazil
ID: 464
Date: 4/1958
Description: 6:00 a.m. At some place along the Brazilian coast between
Maceió and Paripueira, Alagoas, Brazil, Wilson Lustosa stops to ask some
fishermen what they are looking at. He hears a humming sound and sees a
disc-shaped object hovering about 50 feet above the ocean and 120 feet
away. It has a small lighted dome on top and a band of square portholes
around its midsection through which a red light is shining. Under the
UFO the water seems disturbed. The object is visible for an hour.
(Gordon W. Creighton, “A
Brazilian Sighting,” Flying Saucer Review 10, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1964): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3153
Date: 4/1958
Description: Edgar Sievers begins publishing a pro-Adamski newsletter
titled Approach in Pretoria, South Africa. It folds in March 1960. (Approach 1,
no. 1 (April 1958))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3152
Date: 4/1958
Description: All UN members queried as to status of UFO activity in
respective countries
Type: ufological event
Reference: Keziah
Poster
Location: New York City, New York
Date: early 4/1958
Description: Night. A 2-foot red blinking light frightens children over
the Walnut housing area in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. Police officers
Joseph Scala and Emanuel Mavero investigate and watch the bright disc
for 10 minutes. Their police radio malfunctions. They try to get closer,
but it disappears when they get to the top of a hill. (C. W. Fitch, “Monitoring
and Scanning Discs,” APRO Bulletin, September 1964, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3154
Date: 4/9/1958
Description: A family in Cleveland, Ohio, sees a flight of nine UFOs
that suddenly separates into two groups of four and five objects.
(UFOEv, p. 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3155
Date: 4/9/1958
Description: 7:15 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. B. Mills are driving on St. Vincent
Street in Nelson, New Zealand, when they see a bright-red triangular
object with white lights around its perimeter. It is descending from the
northeast at a 45° angle and moving across Tasman Bay. They see the
object again, somewhat dimmer, around 8:00 p.m. from a friend’s house on
Matipo Terrace. (“Triangular
Object over New Zealand,” Flying Saucer Review 4, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1958): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3156
Date: 4/10/1958
Description: A Danish fighter pilot reports seeing a formation of UFOs.
They are also tracked on radar at Skrydstrup Airport in Vojens, Denmark.
The pilot attempts to overtake them, but they accelerate and disappear.
The commander of Fighter Wing Skrydstrup appeals to the public to report
any UFOs. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958 March–April, The Author,
1998, p. 69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3157
Date: 4/13/1958
Description: 9:40 p.m. Lester Billheimer and Carl Kern watch an object
shaped like a “solid right angle” glowing like a white neon light over
Allentown, Pennsylvania. It travels northwest at first, then turns west
and disappears after three seconds. (NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3158
Date: 4/14/1958
Time: 1 PM
Description: Witness: USAF Maj. D.G. Tilley, flying C-47 transport. One
grey-black rectangular object rotated very slowly on its horizontal axis
for 4 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lynchburg, Virginia
ID: 424
Date: 4/15/1958
Description: Approximate date. In the mountains, about 14 km from Abra
Pampa, a luminous object 30 m in diameter came to ground level.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Tabladitas, Argentina
ID: 465
Date: 4/15/1958
Description: Day. A witness in Broager, Denmark, sees a large, black,
low-flying, triangular object. As it flies over town, a number of
horseshoe-shaped objects emerge, emitting a strong light. Twenty other
witnesses see a triangular “spaceship” at the same time. (Loren E.
Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958 March–April, The
Author, 1998, p. 77)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3159
Date: 4/17/1958
Time: 1925
Description: All night long, three hovering disks were seen by several
witnesses in this area. A railroad employee, Mr. Cavalheiro, and the
station chief, J. Machado, wired the Tupancireta police, and all saw the
objects coming to ground level about 1 km away. At times they appeared
to exchange signals. One of the disks flew over the station itself,
leaving a luminous trail and considerable heat.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN (Vallee)
Location: Abaatu, Brazil
ID: 466
Date: 4/25/1958
Description: The officer for UFO investigation in Denmark, Lt. Col. Hans-Christian
Petersen, tells the magazine B-T that multiple-witness sightings are
commonplace and that the current Danish wave is comparable to that of
the US 1952 wave. “Nothing is gained by rejecting all the accounts as
fantasy,” he tells reporters. Petersen has founded the Skandinavisk UFO
Information group in December with five other Danish military jet
pilots. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958 March–April,
The Author, 1998, pp. 97–99)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3160
Date: 5/1958
Description: Maelstrom AFB, Montana: Just after midnight an UFO
approached the alert hanger where one guard was standing on duty. At
about 1000 ft. altitude. The UFO appeared as a round metallic looking
object (called a “Flying Saucer” by the guard). The base radar and FAA
radar picked up the UFO as it was apparently hovering over the alert
hanger and the atomic bomb storage nearby. The saucer then moved slowly
down the length of runway and then proceeded across town to the Muni
Airport at Great Falls and hovered over the National Guard parking ramp
for the F-89’s and then flew off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Maelstrom AFB, Montana
Date: 5/2/1958
Description: Eight people working in a wood saw a green creature with
scaly skin and very long arms. The pointed nails of its long fingers
nearly touched the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Dischi Volanti, by L. Bulgarini (Vallee)
Location: Bogota, Colombia
ID: 467
Date: 5/4/1958
Description: Dewey
Fournet confirms, in a statement to NICAP, the existence of the
Estimate of the Situation and his own motion study from 1952. (UFOEv, p. 110;
Swords 509)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3161
Date: 5/5/1958
Description: 3:40 p.m. Experienced pilot Carlos
Alejo Rodriguez is flying his Piper Cub in the vicinity of Capitán
de Corbeta Naval Air Base [now part of Capitán de Corbeta Carlos A.
Curbelo International Airport] near San Carlos, Uruguay, when a
brilliant top-like object (symmetrical above and below) suddenly
approaches his plane head-on. The UFO is about 45–60 feet in diameter,
stops about 6,500 feet away and “rocked twice, in a balancing motion.”
Rodriguez feels strong heat, so he removes his jacket and opens the
aircraft windows. The UFO takes off abruptly toward the sea “at a
fantastic speed,” leaving a thin vapor trail. (NICAP, “Top-Like
Object Heats Up Piper Cub”; UFOEv, p. 120;
Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, p. 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3162
Date: 5/6/1958
Description: In a letter to NICAP member George Stocking of
St. Petersburg, Florida, Ruppelt says
he is “now convinced that the reports of UFO’s are nothing more than
reports of balloons, aircraft, astronomical phenomena, etc. I don’t
believe they are anything from outer space.” (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History:
1958 May–July, The
Author, 1999, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3163
Date: 5/7/1958
Description: Keyhoe’s
friend Lou
Corbin has received from a military friend of Gen. Nathan
Twining news that Twining is still concerned about UFOs. Keyhoe
writes to him and receives a note from Twining’s executive officer, Col.
James
C. Sherrill: “No effective means have been developed for the
establishment of communication by radio or otherwise with unknown aerial
objects. The technical obstacles involved in such an endeavor, I am
sure, are quite obvious to you.” (Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 198–199)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3164
Date: 5/8/1958
Description: US Rep. John
E. Henderson (R-Ohio) writes to Secretary of Defense Neil
H. McElroy asking about the status of UFO reports and the USAF
investigation. ATIC decides to give Henderson a formal briefing. (Loren
E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958 May–July, The
Author, 1999, pp. 5–8, 42; Swords 276)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3165
Date: 5/9/1958
Time: 11:05 AM
Description: Witness: Phillipine Airlines pilot. One object with a
shiny, metallic surface was falling and spinning for 1.5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Bohol Island, Phillipine Islands
ID: 425
Date: 5/13/1958
Description: 12:15 p.m. A Royal Canadian Air Force Dakota DC-3 is flying
to RCAF Station Cold Lake, Alberta, from Victoria, British Columbia.
When it changes its heading about 25 miles southwest of Calgary,
Alberta, a large, thick, black cloud suddenly appears directly across
their flight path at the same altitude. Their VHF communications with
Cold Lake and Calgary suddenly cease working. The cloud has indistinct,
hazy edges, and it increases in size as they approach at about 155 mph.
The pilot unsuccessfully tries to radio Calgary to request a flight path
change to avoid the cloud, which is now about 10 miles away. Suddenly he
sees a brilliant white pinpoint of light materialize in the dark mass.
It grows in size, forming a brilliant ball that quickly approaches the
aircraft on a collision course. He braces himself, but the light
disappears, and the black cloud vanishes. (Don Ledger, “Two Spherical
UAP Cases Witnessed by Pilots in Canadian Airspace,” IUR 33, no. 2 (July
2010): 7–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3166
Date: 5/15/1958
Description: Lackland AFB’s chief of education planning for the officer
candidate school, Maj. Warren Akin, suggests, at a meeting of the Junior
Chamber of Commerce in San Antonio, Texas, that UFOs are spacecraft.
(“Visitors
from Outer
Space Already May Have Visited Us, Major Says,” San Antonio (Tex.)
Express, May 16, 1958, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3168
Date: 5/15/1958
Description: The Soviets launch Sputnik 3 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan. (Wikipedia, “Sputnik
3”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3167
Date: 5/16/1958
Description: USAF Capt. Walter
W. Irwin reaches 1,404 mph in a Lockheed YF-104A Starfighter at
Edwards AFB, California. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
F-104 Starfighter”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3169
Date: 5/23/1958
Description: Explorer 1 loses contact
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: medium earth orbit
Date: 5/27/1958
Time: late
Description: Remo dell’Armellina was driving a truck toward Santa Fe
when he saw a figure, 3 m tall, blocking the road. He went toward it
with an iron bar but could not approach because of the stench and the
blinding phosphorescent light emanating from it. It had very long arms,
a scaly body, and wore a flight coverall. The witness fainted; nothing
was left to be seen when he regained consciousness.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Perego; Bulgarini (Vallee)
Location: Boa del Tigre, Argentina
ID: 468
Date: 5/31/1958
End date: 6/1/1958
Description: The fifth Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention takes place
at Giant Rock, near Landers, California. Dana
Howard, Truman
Bethurum, John
McCoy, Wayne
Aho, Daniel
Fry, and Reinhold
O. Schmidt join host George
Van Tassel for two days of contactee conviviality. (Dana Howard, “Dana
Howard Reporting the Giant Rock
Convention, 1958,” Flying Saucer Review 4, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1958):
20–21, 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3170
Date: 6/1958
Description: 9:00 p.m. B. Muratov and his father are returning home to
Chimbay, Uzbekistan, after a fishing expedition to the Aral Sea. They
notice a disc-shaped object approaching them directly at low altitude
from the northeast. It flies over them and see that its diameter is
about 82 feet and it is traveling at 150–180 mph. Its hull is shiny and
one side shines with a red color. A pipe is attached to one side, and it
gives off a steady “zing zing zing” sound. (Stonehill and Mantle,
Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, p. 123)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3177
Date: 6/1958
Description: A USAF officer secretly meets with Keyhoe and
gives him three UFO reports and warns him that the Air Force will ask
him for “certain UFO information. Think it over carefully before you
decide.” NICAP could be in trouble, he says. Two days later, NICAP
receives a request from the Air Force requesting any cases that indicate
intelligent maneuvers by UFOs. Keyhoe refuses the request, sensing a
setup. (Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 199, 232–233)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3173
Date: 6/1958
Description: Richard
H. Hall joins NICAP as executive secretary and associate editor.
(Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 30, 208)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3174
Date: 6/1958
Description: Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas, has prepared a 17-page
TV script based on a straightforward interpretation of Keyhoe’s
The Flying Saucer Conspiracy, even including the 1953 Moncla case.
The script states that “the most logical explanation is that the saucers
are interplanetary.” It also says that USAF has “concealed information
which was thought to be of danger because of the impending possibility
of hysteria and panic.” Keyhoe approves the script, but Lackland
withdraws it from consideration by December. (Keyhoe, FSTS,
pp. 219–227)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3175
Date: 6/1958
Description: 4:00 a.m. A woman doctor at a resort at Sinaia, Romania,
sees a silvery domed disc traveling slowly and silently toward the
southeast at 1,500 feet. On its underside it has a bluish triangular
section with rounded points. It passes within 900 feet of her hotel.
(Hobana and Weverbergh 159–160)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3176
Date: 6/1/1958
Description: 11:15 a.m. Bjørn Taraldsen, Nils M. Turi, Kate Julsen, and
Rasmus Hykkerud watch a silent “unknown aircraft” like a twin-engine,
delta-wing jet with no identifying marks plunge into the Altafjord,
Troms og Finnmark, Norway. A column of water rises up, and dead fish
float to the surface. The frigate KNM
Arendal and the submarine KNM Sarpen, along with divers, search
fruitlessly for more than a week, although the Arendal does get a sonar
reading of a mobile object. (Ole Jonny Brænne, “Observations of
Unidentified Submarine Objects in Norway,” IUR 20, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1995): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3178
Date: 6/3/1958
Description: Physicist Freeman
Dyson in Princeton, New Jersey, writes a speculative paper on “The
Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation” in which he
discusses how an advanced civilization might be visible from Earth. He
suggests that the logical endpoint of the drive to capture as much
energy from a sun would be for engineers to completely enclose it in a
hollow sphere. Once the builders have completed it, the only light
visible from their star would be the muted infrared glow of radiation
heat. Such a structure, which becomes known as a “Dyson sphere,” would
be a sure sign of an advanced race. (Freeman J. Dyson, “Search
for Artificial Stellar Sources
of Infrared Radiation,” Science 131 (1960): 1667–1668; Wikipedia,
“Dyson
sphere”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3179
Date: 6/6/1958
Description: Keyhoe writes
to NICAP member George Stocking saying that Ruppelt has
a job at an aircraft company that contracts with the Air Force and thus
might be playing it safe about UFOs. (Clark III 1023)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3180
Date: 6/10/1958
Description: MP George
Chetwynd in the UK House of Commons asks the Air Ministry how many
instances of UFOs were reported in the past 12 months and what steps
were taken to look into them. Under-Secretary of State for Air Ian Orr-Ewing replies
that 54 reports were received and that most were meteors, balloons,
aircraft, and satellites. (“Unsatisfactory
Answer to M.P.’s Question on UFOs by Undersecretary for Air,” Flying
Saucer Review 4, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1958): 5; Good Above, p. 51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3181
Date: 6/14/1958
Time: 10:46 AM
Description: Witness: airport weather observer O.R. Foster, using a
theodolite. An object shaped like Saturn, less the bottom part; silver
with no metallic luster, flew overhead for 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pueblo, Colorado
ID: 426
Date: 6/20/1958
Description: USAF Maj. Joseph
E. Boland and Maj. Lawrence
J. Tacker brief Rep. John
E. Henderson (R-Ohio) for one hour on the status of Air Force UFO
investigations in the Capitol building in Columbus, Ohio. Also in
attendance are Rep. William
C. Cramer (R-Fla.), and Rep. Donald
H. Magnuson (D-Wash.). Afterward, the legislators express confidence
in the investigation and agree that publicity is unwise, “particularly
in an open or closed formal congressional hearing.” (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958 May–July, The
Author, 1999, pp. 48–50; Swords 276–277)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3182
Date: 6/20/1958
Time: 11:05 PM
Description: Witness: Battalion Communication Chief SFC A. Parsley. One
silver, circular object, its lower portion seen through a green haze,
hovered, then oscillated slightly, then moved at great speed. Watched
for 10 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ft. Bragg, North Carolina
ID: 427
Date: summer 1958
Description: At an unidentified Air Force base in the Southwest US, two
jets are vectored in on two UFOs flying together as seen on radar. As
the jets close in, one UFO disappears from the radarscope and quickly
reappears behind the first jet. The first pilot reverses his course and
again tries to close in. The UFO climbs out of range. The second pilot
has the same difficulty with the other UFO. (“UFO
Chase by AF Jets Revealed to NICAP,” UFO Investigator 1, no. 8 (June
1959): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3171
Date: summer 1958
Description: Evening. A mechanic at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, allegedly
sees a disc-like craft hovering silently above the tarmac. As the object
retracts its landing gear, he manages to alert another mechanic in time
for them both to see it take off at high speed. The Air Force officers
who interrogate them tell them the object was also seen by control tower
operators. (Good Need, p. 223)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3172
Date: 6/25/1958
Description: 8:05 p.m. Rádio Renascença in Lisbon, Portugal, broadcasts
a Portuguese-language version of The War of the Worlds with only the
names of characters and places changed. The Martians are supposedly
landing in Caracavelos, Portugal. A certain amount of confusion results.
(John Gosling, Waging the War of the Worlds, McFarland, 2009,
pp. 120–129)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3183
Date: 6/26/1958
Description: The New York sector becomes the first operational component
of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment, a system of large computers
that coordinates data from many radar sites and processes it to produce
a single unified image of airspace over a wide area. SAGE directs and
controls the NORAD response to a Soviet air attack, operating in this
role from the late 1950s into the 1980s. Its enormous computers and huge
displays remain a part of Cold War lore. (Wikipedia, “Semi-Automatic
Ground Environment”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3184
Date: 6/28/1958
Description: Otis
T. Carr and Norman Evans Colton appear on the Long
John Nebel show on WOR-AM in New York City. After Carr praises his
mentor, Nikola
Tesla, another guest asks Carr to enumerate one or two of his
discoveries. Carr feigns a memory lapse, then later is unable to recite
even one of Newton’s
three laws of motion. (Clark III 860)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3185
Date: 6/28/1958
End date: 6/29/1958
Description: Lee
Childers Jr., a baker from Detroit, Michigan, speaks at a flying
saucer convention near Mountain View, Missouri, in the Ozarks hosted by
contactee Buck
Nelson. He
claims that since April 1955 he has made 21 trips to other planets (and
even to “Wolf Star 359 in the Titanian system” that has 2 planets
revolving around it) on a saucer piloted by a spaceman named Commander
Marcosan. He also went to a space station 2,000 miles in diameter called
Trijanon. Other people tell their personal fantastic stories, among them
Wayne
Aho and Buck Nelson himself. (“Out-of-This-World
Ozark Convention,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 6, 1958, p. 71;
Clark III 915)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3186
Date: 6/29/1958
Description: Day. Former RAF Flight Engineer Peter Spencer is flying in
an Auster aircraft piloted by Dennis Jackson at 800 feet near the docks
at Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. A large black dumbbell appears below
them, flying against the wind. Suddenly it rises up to their height and
flies along with them for a while at their speed. Then it accelerates in
a terrific burst of speed to a position above them. They try to follow
it, but it speeds out over the docks at 1,000 feet and 800 mph. Spencer
manages to take three photos of it, but the images show a speed blur.
(Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958, May–July,
The Author, 1999, p. 59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3187
Date: 7/1958
Description: Night. A 509th Refueling Mission is returning to an Air
Force Base in New Hampshire [Pease AFB in Portsmouth?] from Goose Bay
[now CFB Goose Bay], Labrador. The crew is flying a KC-97 at about
17,000– 18,000 feet. A light like a “moving star” appears. It approaches
below the cloud cover and seems to be spherical and as bright as Venus.
It soon becomes the apparent size of the Moon, lighting up the clouds
above it. The light is a brilliant blue-white with two dark spots,
possibly indicating a structure. The object angles upwards and speeds
out of sight in 5 seconds. (Michael D. Swords, GrassRoots UFOs: Case
Reports from the Timmerman Files, Fund for UFO Research, 2005,
pp. 24–25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3190
Date: 7/1958
Description: President Dwight
Eisenhower requests permission from Pakistan to establish a secret
US intelligence facility at Badaber (Peshawar Air Station) to fly U-2
reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union. (Wikipedia, “1960
U-2 incident”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3188
Date: 7/1958
Description: Dusk. Michael
D. Swords and his brother Tom are at home in St. Albans, West
Virginia, and listening to WCHS- AM radio where someone is calling in a
UFO report. They rush to a window and see a domed disc with a revolving
top cruise quietly across the landscape. (Michael D. Swords, “We Know
Where You Live,” IUR 30, no. 2 (January 2006): 12; Michael D.
Swords)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3189
Date: 7/1958
End date: 9/1958
Description: A civilian in Washington, D.C., manages to repeatedly
photograph “geometrically shaped flying objects as they passed between
his telescope and the moon.” The photos are “remarkably clear and
certainly indicated a phenomenon for which he had no ready explanation.”
The writer of an October 1 memo, a CIA employee, requests advice on “how
we might get our hands on these materials to examine them firsthand and
to make a more complete analysis of them.” (ClearIntent, pp. 136–137)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3191
Date: 7/17/1958
Description: Keyhoe writes
to Ruppelt to
say he is puzzled about his current stance on UFOs, but understands that
he might be under pressure from the Air Force. (Michael Hall and Wendy
Connors, “The
Forgotten Correspondence of Edward
J. Ruppelt: The Story behind Report
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” pp. 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3192
Date: 7/18/1958
Description: 8:30 p.m. High-school student Chris Kauffman is gazing at
the night sky in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when he sees an object shaped
like an equilateral triangle pass directly overhead in a north to south
direction at 70–100 mph and 1,000 feet altitude for 10 seconds. It is
flying with one point of the triangle as a forward edge and has 12 small
orange lights along its edges. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958,
May–July, The Author, 1999, pp. 76–77)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3193
Date: 7/29/1958
Description: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration succeeds
the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics. The new agency is to
have a distinctly civilian orientation, encouraging peaceful
applications in space science. (Wikipedia, “NASA”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3194
Date: 7/29/1958
Description: An Associated Press writer in Alamogordo, New Mexico, sees
an abridged version of Carl
Jung’s 1954 letters on UFOs in the APRO Bulletin and jumps to the
conclusion that the psychologist believes them to be extraterrestrial in
origin. (Carl Jung, “On
Unconventional Aerial Objects,” APRO Bulletin, July 1958, pp. 1, 5;
“Dr. Jung
Says ‘Saucers’ Exist: Bars Psychological Explanations,” New York
Times, July 30, 1958, p. 13; Clark III 637)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3195
Date: 7/30/1958
Description: Ruppelt writes
Keyhoe back,
saying he has “always been convinced that UFO’s were nothing more than
reports of airplanes, balloons, astronomical phenomena, etc.” He says he
is not being intimidated, he is just not interested in UFOs anymore and
too busy. (Michael Hall and Wendy Connors, “The
Forgotten Correspondence of Edward
J. Ruppelt: The Story behind Report
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” p. 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3196
Date: 7/30/1958
Description: MP George
Chetwynd presses further questions in the UK House of Commons by
asking the Secretary of State for Air George
Ward what action is taken to identify unexplained UFOs. Ward replies
that the unidentified reports are “not sufficiently precise.” (“More
Questions in House of Commons,” Flying Saucer Review 4, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1958): iv; Good Above, pp. 51–52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3197
Date: 8/1958
Description: Polish Air Force pilot Apoloniusz Czernów of the 3rd
Fighter Regiment in Warsaw, is returning from an attempted balloon
interception in the area around Świdnica, Poland. Flying at 26,000 feet,
he sees another possible balloon 9 miles away at a height of 3,200 feet
and turns his MiG-17 toward it. But when he approaches it, he sees it is
a cigar-shaped object tilted at a 45° angle, silvery-orange in color,
and pulsating with a weird light. He gets closer and the object ascends
at high speed, heads north, changes to orange-red, and disappears. Base
radar has detected nothing. (Poland 63–64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3198
Date: 8/1/1958
Description: The Teak thermonuclear test, part of Operation Hardtack I,
is launched from Johnston Atoll in the North Pacific Ocean and carries a
payload of 3.8 megatons. The warhead is carried on a Redstone missile,
which has a “program failure,” causing it to go straight up and detonate
directly above the island. In a sanitized film record of the event, men
in flip-flops and shorts can be seen ducking for cover as a phenomenal
fireball consumes the sky overhead. During the Teak test, all crew on
and around Johnston Atoll are given protective eyewear to prevent flash
blindness from the explosion. Besides the hazard of blindness, thermal
radiation is another concern—even at an altitude of 50 miles. A crew
member on Johnston at the time is said to have received a slight sunburn
from the amount of thermal radiation that had reached the island. While
only slight to the crew member, it creates issues for the local fauna.
Many birds are seen in distress. Unsure if this is caused by blindness
or thermal radiation, the project members decide to take precautions to
protect local wildlife during the next test. The explosion can be seen
from Hawaii 806 miles away and is said to be visible for almost half an
hour. After the explosion, high- frequency, long-distance communication
is interrupted across the Pacific. Due to this failure, Johnston Atoll
personnel are unable to contact their superiors to advise of the test
results until about 8 hours after the detonation. The detonation
disturbs Wernher
Von Braun so greatly that he leaves the island shortly after comms
are restored. The explosion causes the blue sky to turn red, white, and
gray, and it creates an aurora 2,100 miles long along the geomagnetic
meridian. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Hardtack I”; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 170–171)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3199
Date: 8/3/1958
Description: 2:25 a.m. A sudden violet-orange brightness illuminates the
sky over Rome, Italy, for about 3 seconds. Lights in the city dim,
failing completely in some areas. Physician Angelo Corsi witnesses it 37
miles southeast of Rome in Sgurgola. After his car radio fails, and the
house and streetlights go out, he sees a long whitish trail like a fan
in the sky. At 2:22 a.m., in Rieti a sergeant and some guards see a
yellow-green cigar-shaped object moving rapidly toward the southeast. It
leaves a luminous trail that lights up roads, mountains, and houses for
several seconds. A similar sight is seen in Naples. (Schopick,
pp. 142–143; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: 1958 August–September, The Author, 1999, pp. 1, 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3200
Date: 8/8/1958
Description: An informal two-hour hearing on UFOs is held by the House
Subcommittee on Atmospheric Phenomena, chaired by Rep. William
Natcher (D-Ky.), which is part of the Select Committee on
Astronautics and Space Exploration, chaired by Rep. John
W. McCormack (D-Mass.). Although McCormack wants an extended hearing
in closed secret session, unrecorded, ATIC Capt. George
T. Gregory persuades him to allow the Air Force to give a briefing,
while allowing people like Menzel,
Ruppelt,
and Keyhoe to
offer their opinions later. NICAP as a whole should be excluded, he
emphasizes. The main witnesses turn out to be Gregory and Maj. Tacker.
The subcommittee, which also includes Kenneth
Keating (R-N.Y.) and Lee
Metcalf (D-Mont.), commends Gregory for his presentation on Project
Blue Book’s “improved” methods. The hearings were to have been extended
to the following week, but they decide to call no more witnesses at the
suggestion of scientific consultant Dr. Charles
S. Sheldon
II, who
thus maneuvers Keyhoe out of appearing. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1958 August–September, The
Author, 1999, pp. 5–27; Swords 277–279)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3201
Date: 8/9/1958
Description: Carl
Jung issues a denial to the Associated Press about his
“extraterrestrial” statement, saying that witnesses are “in need of
fantasy.” He thinks “something is being seen,” but his interest is more
in what they think they are seeing. (“Dr. Jung
Says Flying Saucers Are a New ‘Savior Myth,’” St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, August 9, 1958, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3202
Date: 8/11/1958
Description: The Orange thermonuclear test is launched by Redstone
missile from Johnston Atoll with a yield of 3.8 megatons. Although
Orange is visible from Hawaii, it is not the great spectacle Teak had
been. The light from the 28-mile-high blast is visible for about 5
minutes, but does not cause a large communication interruption; however,
some commercial flights to Hawaii are said to have lost contact with air
traffic controllers for a short period of time. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Hardtack I”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3203
Date: 8/11/1958
Description: Betty Jane Williamson dies in Lima, Peru, when her husband
George
Hunt Williamson is on a lecture tour in Europe. Her death is caused
by malnutrition generated by an alternative diet regimen. James
W. Moseley later circulates an outrageously false accusation that
Williamson killed Betty by pushing her off a cliff, but the charge is a
complete fabrication. (Clark III 1286; James W. Moseley and Karl T.
Pflock, Shockingly Close to the Truth! Confessions of a Grave-Robbing
Ufologist, Prometheus, 2002, pp. 137–138; Jerome Clark, “The
Trivialist,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 15–19, 29–30; Zirger and
Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamson, Verdechiari,
2016, pp. 117, 123–124)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3204
Date: 8/16/1958
Time: 1700
Description: A dozen people out on the lake in perfect weather saw a
bright light coming down. They stopped their boat as it came to hover
about 15 m above them. It was saucer-shaped, 10 m in diameter, with a
cabin showing several windows on top. The outer disk below the cabin was
spinning. As it came down toward the water, a noticeable current was
created. No noise or occupants were noticed. After several leaps in
mid-air, the craft flew off at “unbelievable” speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Leman Lake, Switzerland
ID: 469
Date: 8/16/1958
Description: Around 5:00 p.m. Several persons on Lake Geneva,
Switzerland, watch a bright light descending. It comes to hover about 45
feet above their boat. It is saucer-shaped, about 39 feet in diameter,
and has a cabin on top with several windows. It causes a noticeable
current in the water. After several leaps in the air, it flies off at
high speed. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 272)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3205
Date: 8/17/1958
Time: 7:05 PM
Description: Witness: A.D. Chisholm. One extremely bright object shaped
first like a bell, then like a saucer, hovered for 5 minutes, flipped
over and sped away to the west-south-west. Sighting lasted 6-10
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Warren, Michigan
ID: 428
Date: 8/18/1958
Description: 7:05 or 7:10 p.m. Typewriter repairman Alex Donald Chisholm
is at home at 21950 Cunningham Avenue in Warren, Michigan, with Walter
Moilanion and his wife and possibly a young daughter, when he sees a
light much brighter than Venus in the vicinity of a flight of four
military aircraft. He watches the object through 8x30 mm Japanese
artillery-observer field glasses. It looks to be a Saturn-shaped grayish
object like a “fried egg in pan.” Later it flips over, and another more
elongated ring can be seen surrounding it. The object is about 60 feet
long and is stationary for 5-8 minutes. However, the object is probably
a Skyhook balloon launched from the University of Minnesota on August
17. (Clark III 392; NICAP, [case
file])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3206
Date: 8/27/1958
End date: 9/6/1958
Description: In Operation Argus, three nuclear warheads are launched
from X-17 rockets from the deck of the USS
Norton Sound in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South
Africa. They explode approximately 300 miles into space. The tests are
proposed by Nicholas
Christofilos in an unpublished paper of the Livermore branch [now
the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory] of the Lawrence Radiation
Laboratory in Berkeley, California, as a means to verify the
Christofilos effect, which argues that high-altitude nuclear detonations
will create a radiation belt in the extreme upper regions of the Earth’s
atmosphere (they do create artificial electron belts that persist
several weeks), or an electronic pulse that could hypothetically damage
the arming devices on Soviet ICBM warheads (they do not). (Wikipedia,
“Operation
Argus”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3207
Date: 9/1958
Description: Around 9:00 p.m. The USS
Franklin
D. Roosevelt is on a shakedown cruise in the Caribbean Sea out of
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, when at least 25 of the 3,000 crew
members notice a light following the aircraft carrier. Fireman’s
apprentice Chester
C. Grusinski watches it as it comes close and sees a cigar-shaped
object with portholes and figures inside looking out. Grusinki can feel
heat coming from the object, and some of the ship’s power apparently
goes out. After a few minutes, the object turns red-orange and takes
off. (Chester C. Grusinski, “UFOs
Seen by Crew of an American Aircraft Carrier (1952–1958),” Flying
Saucer Review 40, no. 3 (Autumn 1995): 1–4; Gordon Creighton, “Confirmation
of an Important U.S. Naval Sighting,” Flying Saucer Review 46, no. 2
(Summer 2001): 17–20; Good Need, pp. 234–236)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3209
Date: 9/1958
Description: NICAP fires its office manager, treasurer, and typist Rose
Hackett Campbell after she gives membership cards to George
Adamski and other contactees. Richard
H. Hall begins work at NICAP as associate editor. (“Resignations,”
UFO Investigator 1, no. 5 (Aug./Sept. 1958): 2; “Richard
Hall Becomes Assoc. Editor,” UFO Investigator 1, no. 5
(Aug./Sept. 1958): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3208
Date: 9/1/1958
Time: 2130
Description: About 11 km before Laval, a businessman coming from Paris
suddenly saw a motionless object, 10 m above ground, to the left of the
road, 150 m away. It was shaped like two cones with a common base and
showed two rows of about ten openings in the middle section. It seemed
about 20 m wide, metallic, with a light similar to that of a red traffic
light shining through the windows. The witness had time to stop and
maneuvered to get the object in his headlight beams. Throughout the
observation a whistling sound such as that of a jet aircraft was heard.
The object rose very slowly, flew off faster climbing out of
sight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 119 (Vallee)
Location: Laval, France
ID: 470
Date: 9/1/1958
Time: 12:15 AM
Description: Witness: Philco technical representative A.M. Slaton. One
round, blue-white object flew at varying speeds. First sighting lasted 2
minutes, second lasted 1.5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Wheelus AFB, Libya
ID: 429
Date: 9/8/1958
Description: 6:40 p.m. At Offutt AFB, Omaha, Nebraska, SAC Operations
Officer Maj. Paul
A. Duich, plus
several officers from USAF Ballistic Missiles Division, Los Angeles AFB
in El Segundo, California; many other air base officers and airmen; and
Offutt air traffic control tower personnel see a brilliant-white,
elongated, cylindrical object hovering in the west just after sunset.
The object is oriented vertically with the blunter end highest. After
several minutes, the object turns dull orange-red and becomes sharper in
outline. A swarm of about 10 “black specks” appears to “cavort” around
the lower end of the object for about one minute before disappearing.
Then the cylindrical object begins to rotate counterclockwise and starts
drifting slowly to the south from due west and drops in elevation angle
over about 5 minutes. During the final 5-minute observation, the object
continues angular descent and gradually decreases in angular size, but
it begins rotating clockwise until it disappears by fading into the
slight atmospheric haze. A USAF colonel takes several color photos with
a 35mm camera on a tripod but later claims nothing came out. (Loren E.
Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958 August–September, The
Author, 1999, pp. 59–63; UFOEv, pp. 25,
27;
Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects and Cloud Cigars,” IUR 29, no. 1
(Spring 2004): 5–6; Sparks,
p. 265; Swords 280)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3210
Date: 9/12/1958
Description: The Operation Hardtack II series of 37 nuclear tests takes
place at the Nevada Test Site through October 30, all within 18 miles of
Area 51. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Hardtack II”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3211
Date: 9/21/1958
Time: 0300
Description: A circular, flat object, 7 m in diameter, 2 m thick,
hovering 1.5 m above ground, and making a jetlike sound was seen from a
house by a civilian woman. Its color was that of aluminum; it had a
wobbling motion and emitted gray smoke before rising again and taking
off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Sheffield Lake, Ohio
ID: 471
Date: 9/21/1958
Description: 3:00 a.m. Mrs. William H. Fitzgerald of Sheffield Lake,
Ohio, sees through her east-facing bedroom window a metallic domed disc,
12–22 feet in diameter and 6 feet thick. It sweeps in over the front
lawn heading north and descending in a falling-leaf oscillating motion
to about 6 feet altitude, then crosses over her driveway, and stops for
several seconds about 40 feet away. It then reverses course heading
south and hovers 5 feet above the lawn about 25 feet away, making a
jetlike sound. The object wobbles and emits gray smoke, makes two tight
clockwise turns, then rises and takes off straight up over the house
towards the east. Her 10-year-old son also observes the event from
another room. (NICAP, “12ʹ
Diameter 6ʹ Thick Disc within 40ʹ”; UFO Ev, p. 113;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958
August–September, The
Author, 1999, pp. 68–72)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3212
Date: 9/25/1958
Description: The Project Moonwatch team in Portland, Oregon, is looking
at the Moon when they see objects crossing the lunar disc. Occasionally
they recognize the transit as a bird, but there are “tiny dark objects”
that behave differently. All the object pass in the same direction and
in the same location for about one second. Supervisor Alex Geddes, who
was not present, sends a supportive letter to the observers, thanking
them for the data. (Michael D. Swords, “Gazing at the Moons,” IUR 32,
no. 4 (October 2009): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3213
Date: 9/29/1958
Description: 5:30 a.m. Pvt. Jerome A. Scanlon, stationed at Nike missile
base W-93 in Derwood, Maryland, is walking from his sentry post to the
barracks to sound reveille when he hears a humming sound above him. He
looks up and sees a teardrop-shaped object 300 feet up and coming in for
a landing at 30 mph. It moves over trees, breaking branches, and lands
about 1.5 miles away. Exhaust flames issue from its rear, and its
luminous green skin illuminates the terrain. It rises again and
disappears. Scanlon runs to inform Riney Farris, the sergeant of the
guard, who has also seen the object. They go to the landing site and
find broken branches and a scorched strip of earth and vegetation about
half a mile long. After the story appears in newspapers, the Air Force
explains it as repair trucks doing welding jobs. (“Brass to Hear GI’s
Account of Fiery ‘Saucer,’” New York Journal- American, October 7, 1958;
“‘Saucer’ Landed, Say Two Soldiers,” Goldsboro (N.C.) Record, October 9,
1958; Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 90–91; Loren E.
Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1958 August–September, The
Author, 1999, p. 79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3214
Date: 10/1958
Description: Maj. Robert
J. Friend takes over as head of Project Blue Book, relieving
Capt. George
T. Gregory. About
this time, a new USAF fact sheet states that investigative improvements
have reduced unsolved sightings to 1.8%. The “refinement” comes from
lumping “probable” and “possible” identifications into “identified.” At
the same time, a secret staff study by USAF intelligence officers
addresses the public relations problems caused by Keyhoe,
who is characterized as a “political adventurer” allied with Ruppelt, both
of whom are in the UFO “business” strictly for the money. Yet together
“they represent a formidable team from which plenty of trouble can be
expected.” The study recommends that 18–20 personnel be assigned to
temporary UFO investigation duty. They would solve reports that have not
been sent directly to Blue Book. Though ATIC urges implementation of the
plan, Air Force Headquarters kills it. (Jacobs, UFO Controversy in
America, Signet ed., 1976, pp. 146–151;
Clark III 920; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 25–27;
Sparks,
p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3215
Date: 10/1/1958
Description: NASA begins operations. It includes three major labs:
Langley Aeronautical Laboratory [now Langley Research Center] in
Hampton, Virginia; Ames Aeronautical Laboratory [now Ames Research
Center] in Mountain View, California; and Lewis Flight Propulsion
Laboratory [now Glenn Research Center] in Brook Park, Ohio. It
incorporates elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the US
Naval Research Laboratory. (Wikipedia, “NASA”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3216
Date: 10/2/1958
Time: 2:30 PM
Description: Witness: naturalist Ivan Sanderson. One dull-grey object,
shaped like a pickle with a flat bottom, flew erratically and made loops
for 15 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
ID: 430
Date: 10/2/1958
Description: Shortly after 5:00 p.m. Naturalist Ivan
T. Sanderson sees a dull-gray object, shaped like a pickle with a
flat bottom, fly erratically in loops over the Delaware Water Gap near
Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. (NICAP, “Nickel- Shaped
Object Flies Loops (Sanderson Case)”; UFOEv, p. 52;
Sparks, p. 266)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3217
Date: 10/3/1958
Description: 3:10 a.m. A Monon Railroad freight train is traveling
between Owasco and Kirklin, Indiana, when a formation of four odd white
lights crosses ahead of the train. The entire crew watch the UFOs turn
and traverse the full length of the train, front to back (about a half
mile). After passing the rear of the train, the objects swing east, turn
back, and follow the train. The bright glow conceals their exact shape,
but they appear flattened and sometimes fly on edge. The objects follow
the train until the conductor shines a bright light on them. Immediately
the objects speed away, but return quickly and continue to pace the
train. Total time of observation is about 1 hour 10 minutes. Finally the
UFOs move away to the northeast and disappear. (NICAP, “The
Monon RR UFO Incident”;
“They’re
Back Again—in Indiana,” APRO Bulletin, November 1958, 1, 3; Frank
Edwards, “UFO Buzzes Train,” Fate 12, no. 2 (February 1959):
25–30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3218
Date: 10/7/1958
Description: 2:55 p.m. Joseph Gwooz, master of the SS
Nantucket, sees a gray, oval object in the sky at an altitude of
8,000–10,000 feet at the entrance to the Nantucket Channel,
Massachusetts. It remains stationary for more than one minute, then
shoots up and away to the northeast. (UFOEv, p. 71)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3219
Date: 10/7/1958
Description: 6:02 p.m. Chemist John R. Townsend, special assistant for
research and engineering to the Assistant Secretary of Defense, sees a
large, stationary, sharply outlined Saturn-shaped silvery object (with a
“gossamer” surface appearance and a rim or girdle around its equator) in
a clear sky in Alexandria, Virginia. It rapidly rises at an estimated
speed of 1,000 mph and disappears to the south after 40 seconds. At one
point a passing Capitol Airlines Flight 407 flies directly between his
line of sight and the UFO at 2 miles distance, allowing him to estimate
the UFO’s size as about 500 feet. Townsend reenacts the timing by
walking the half block down Lee Street to get a better feeling for its
distance and size. (NICAP, “Saturn-Shaped
Object Observed, Object Confirmed
by Pilot”; Swords 282; Sparks,
p. 267)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3220
Date: 10/26/1958
Description: 10:30 p.m. Alvin Cohen and Phillip Small are rounding a
curve on Maryland Route 146 some 600–900 feet south of the bridge at
Loch Raven Reservoir, Maryland. They see a large (100 feet long)
egg-shaped object hanging 100–150 feet above the bridge. When they drive
to within 75 feet of it their car stalls and the dash lights turn off.
They get out of the car and watch the UFO from behind it for 30–45
seconds. The UFO flashes a beam of white light and they feel heat on
their faces. They also hear a dull explosion. The UFO rises vertically
and disappears in 5–10 seconds. They are able to start the car and drive
into Towson, Maryland, to make a phone call to the Ground Observer Corps
and the police. Police Cpl. Kenneth Hartmann and Patrolman Richard Fink
drive up and they tell them the story, then they go to St. Joseph’s
Hospital in Baltimore and are given a cursory examination for burns.
Other people in the neighborhood either see an object at the time or
hear the boom. (“Baltimore’s
Flying Saucer,” Baltimore (Md.) Evening Sun, December 15, 1958,
p. 21; NICAP, “Egg-Shaped Object
& E-M Effects over Bridge”; Schopick,
pp. 62–63; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1958 October, The
Author, 1999, pp, 73–86; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine
ed., 1974, pp. 132, 139–140;
Sparks,
p. 268; Clark III 686)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3221
Date: 10/27/1958
Description: An object resembling a large gray cigar with an assembly
tail flew at treetop height, making a strong “swishing” sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Union Dale, Pennsylvania
ID: 472
Date: 10/27/1958
Time: 10:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: Phillip Small, Alvin Cohen. One large, flat
egg-shaped object affected a car’s electrical system and caused a
burning sensation on one of its occupants. Sighting lasted 1
minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lock Raven Dam, Maryland
ID: 431
Date: 10/31/1958
Time: 1550
Description: A civilian reported an eliptical, aluminum-colored object
at 2 km altitude, coming down to 4 m, flying up and down by sudden
jumps, stopping at ground level less than 200 m away for five min. A red
light appeared at one end of the object, which gradually took a fiery
color, then exploded. The witness ran away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Caledon East, Canada
ID: 473
Date: 11/1958
Time: 0500
Description: Two soldiers of the Territorial Army on an exercise near
Ballater heard a “gurgling noise” and saw two figures, over 2 m tall,
dressed in peculiar suits. As they fled, they heard a “swishing” noise
and saw a large disk flying at ground level, which then swooped over
their heads and away, pulsating and leaving a sparkling trail. Witnesses
were in a state of shock.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 5 (Vallee)
Location: Braemar, Scotland
ID: 474
Date: 11/1958
Description: Skandinavisk UFO Information in Denmark begins publishing
UFO-Nyt. (UFO-Nyt, November
1958) November 3 — 2:01 p.m. At Minot, North Dakota, M/Sgt. William R.
Butler, a medic, sees one bright-green object, shaped like a 10-cent
piece, and one smaller, silver round object. The first object explodes,
then the second object moves toward the location of the first at high
speed. Sighting lasts 1 minute. (Sparks,
p. 268)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3222
Date: 11/3/1958
Time: 2:01 PM
Description: Witness: M/Sgt. William R. Butler, medic. One bright green
object, shaped like a 10 cent piece, and one smaller, silver round
object. First object exploded, then second object moved toward the
location of the first at high speed. Sighting lasted 1 minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Minot, North Dakota
ID: 432
Date: 11/4/1958
Description: 9:03 p.m. The pilot of a KB-50 USAF tanker is in the
downwind leg of the traffic pattern during a ground- controlled approach
to Pope AFB [now Pope Field] in Fayetteville, North Carolina, when he
notices an object on a collision course. He and his flight crew also
notice that “strange lights were observed in his cockpit while he was on
the final approach…” He executes a go-around maneuver and climbs in
altitude to await the disappearance of the object. Air Force tower
personnel also see the UFO hovering above the airport, watching it
through their binoculars for 20 minutes. They are convinced it is not an
atmospheric phenomenon. They say that “the UFO presented a hazard to
aircraft operating in the area.” (NICAP, “Object
on Collision Course with KB-50 Tanker, Circles”;
Richard F. Haines, “Aviation
Safety in America: A Previously Neglected Factor,” NARCAP, October
15, 2000, pp. 53–54; Sparks, p. 268)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3223
Date: 11/5/1958
Description: MP Roy
Mason asks the Air Minister in the UK House of Commons to what
extent official records are kept of UFO sightings and what departments
are involved. Air Minister George
Ward replies in writing that reports involving national security are
investigated but “nothing suggests that they are other than mundane.”
(“Come
Off It, Mr. Ward! ‘Nothing Suggests That They Are Other Than
Mundane,’” Flying Saucer Review 5, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1959): 2; Good
Above, p. 52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3224
Date: 11/9/1958
Description: Residents of Trinidad, Rio Dell, and other towns in
northern California report showers of cobweblike material, some in
strands 5–6 feet long. Two fishermen at sea, George
Korkan and Jack Curry, say the substance settles on their boat in
such quantity that it makes the boat appear “a million years old.” A
sample obtained at McKinleyville is examined by biologist Erwin Bielfuss
at Humboldt State College. He rules out mold or an animal product and
suggests it is plant material or plastic. (“Cobweb
Like Substance in Area Mystifies Zoologist,”
Eureka (Calif.) Humboldt Standard, November 10, 1958, p. 5; UFOEv, p. 99)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3225
Date: 11/9/1958
Description: 10:00 p.m. Two carpenters, Stig Ekberg and Harry Sjöberg,
are returning from Stockholm, Sweden, to their cabin on Väddö island,
about 20 miles to the northeast. About 6 miles north of Älmstä their car
engine begins to sputter and fail, and the headlights go out. They see a
huge, shining object descending toward them and making a turn above
Väddö Bay to the left of the road. It lands in the middle of the road
about 300 feet in front of their car, its neon glow illuminating the
landscape. They estimate it is 53 feet long and 20 feet high, with a
bright glow underneath the object and a dazzling mist surrounding it.
They watch the object for about 10 minutes, then it rises from the road
and shoots into the sky to their right. Afterward, the air is stifling
and hot, but the engine starts up right away. A few minutes later they
return to the landing site and find flattened grass and a still-hot,
smooth, triangular piece of metal the size of a matchbox, which they
retrieve. They submit the metal to several labs over the next few years,
apparently without ambiguous results, but in the process it is split
into three pieces. Finally, an engineer in Linköping named Schalin finds
the metal has the hardness of sapphire and a specific weight of 15.2. It
can take several thousand degrees C. heat without getting red hot. One
of the pieces is submitted to the US Air Force and not returned. In the
early 1970s, another piece is examined by James
Harder at the University of California, Berkeley, who establishes it
is composed of tungsten carbide, cobalt, and traces of titanium, and
that it has been manufactured. (Christer Nordin, “The
Väddö Case,” Nordic UFO Newsletter, no. 1 (1981): 2–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3226
Date: 11/11/1958
Description: 1:35 a.m. A Mrs. Kinney, who is a Lt. Col. in the Civil Air
Patrol in Topeka, Kansas, wakes up when her bedroom floods with an
amber-colored light and her three dogs begin barking. The source is a
25-foot diameter sphere that is sitting on the walkway in the yard about
30 feet away. Kinney opens a door to go out on a porch, but the light
zooms straight up and out of sight. She goes back to bed and the phone
rings; it is a neighbor who has seen the light going toward her house.
At 7:30 a.m., the phone rings again; this time it is the controllers at
the Philip Billard Municipal Airport, who know her well and tell her
about the light they saw. In the evening, she finds there is an
electrical failure on the east side of the house. Lights, radios, and
refrigerators are not working. Kinney replaces some fuses, but not
everything turns on again. An electrician comes and replaces some wiring
on November 12, but Kinney’s eyes develop subconjunctival hemorrhages
and sensitivity to bright light. She begins to wear sunglasses
regularly. Both of her male dogs develop cataracts. (Swords
287–288)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3227
Date: 11/17/1958
Description: 10:03 p.m. Somewhere in Russia a luminous object hovers and
lands. It is seen for 2 minutes. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 273)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3228
Date: 11/17/1958
Time: 2203
Description: A luminous object, with an apparent diameter greater than
that of the full moon, was seen coming down from a high altitude,
hovering at tree height, then landing. It was observed for two
min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Soviet Union, exact location not revealed
ID: 475
Date: 11/23/1958
Time: 2335
Description: An engineer, Julio M. Ladaleto, stopped when his car hit a
can rolling on the road, then observed an object about 35 m away. It was
shaped like a lamp shade with an upper transparent sphere emitting a
bluish, pulsating light, 12 m diameter, 7 m high, resting on three
half-spheres. An occupant 2.5 m tall was photographed by the witness as
he crossed the road and appeared to inspect the craft. He wore a blue
coverall and luminescent heelless boots, and had a bald head. The
observation lasted 10 min, after which the object took off with a
whining sound, sparks and smoke. The following day, before he had
revaled anything about the case, Ladeleto was contacted by strange
“newsmen” who appeared to know all the details of it.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Settimana Incom. Sep. 16, 62 (Vallee)
Location: Cojutepeque, San Salvador
ID: 476
Date: 11/30/1958
Description: Tom Gerber of the Boston Herald features interviews with
unnamed Air Force officers who proclaim an “undeclared war on phony
organizations that capitalize on the ‘mystery’ of flying saucers.”
Supposedly, the Air Force has evidence that “perhaps as many as 100,000
persons belong to these UFO organizations” and are “making a wad of
money.” As many as 16% of the UFO sightings investigated by USAF are
“hoaxes originated by members or officials of these organizations”—an
obvious swipe at NICAP. (Swords 282–283)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3229
Date: 12/1958
Description: Some 450 airline pilots have signed a petition protesting
the official policy of debunking UFO sightings. One pilot describes the
policy as a “lesson in lying, intrigue, and the ‘Big Brother’ attitude
carried to the ultimate extreme.” Of the signatories, more than 50
personally have reported UFO sightings but are told by the Air Force
that they are mistaken. USAF warns them that they face up to 10 years in
prison under JANAP 146 if they reveal details of their sighting to the
media. Because of situations like this, Maj. Friend unsuccessfully
requests that Blue Book be transferred from ATIC to Air Research and
Development Command on the grounds that UFOs are a scientific, not a
military problem. His staff complains that the work is time-consuming
and unproductive, and ARDC could speak to the public with authority and
persuasiveness. ARDC briefly considers, then declines, the offer. (Good
Above, p. 284;
Clark III 922)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3231
Date: 12/1958
Description: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is
transferred to NASA from the Army, becoming the agency’s primary
planetary spacecraft center. (Wikipedia, “Jet
Propulsion Laboratory”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3230
Date: early 12/1958
Description: Contactee Lee
Childers visits a New York City group called the Bureau of UFO
Research and Analysis to present a lecture. By now he is calling himself
Prince Neosom of Tythan, which is 8.5 light years from Earth. He also
answers to the name Dana. (Clark III 915)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3232
Date: 12/6/1958
Description: Between 6:38 and 6:40 p.m. Along the border of Russia and
India, an observer sees a bright UFO cross his field of vision through
his telescope from north to south as he is observing Mars. He thinks it
might be Sputnik 3, but the location and direction of the object do not
bear that out. (ClearIntent, pp. 137–138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3233
Date: 12/6/1958
Description: 5:44 a.m. The first launch of a Juno II, carrying Pioneer
3, at LC-5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, suffers a premature first-stage
cutoff, preventing the upper stages from achieving sufficient velocity.
Pioneer 3 cannot escape Earth orbit but transmits data for some 40 hours
before reentering the atmosphere. A malfunction in a propellant
depletion circuit is found to be the cause of the failure, although the
exact nature of it cannot be determined. The circuit is redesigned
afterwards. (Wikipedia, “Juno
II”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3234
Date: 12/19/1958
Description: John Lester, a writer for the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger,
has polled 1,000 US government radar operators over the past month and
found that 80% have observed UFOs traveling at fantastic speeds,
executing perfect 90° turns, steep vertical climbs, and hovering stops.
They fly in formation and manage to stay just ahead of USAF jets
scrambled to intercept them. Tacker responds
immediately that the UFOs are natural phenomena (“lightning, meteors,
and meteorites”). (Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger, December 19, 21,
1958)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3235
Date: 12/20/1958
Time: 1600
Description: Approximate date. A disk of 20 m diameter was observed and
caused damage on the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Quincy (Vallee)
Location: Clermont-Ferrand, France
ID: 478
Date: 12/20/1958
Description: Patrolmen Le Roy A. Arboreen and B. Talada while on patrol
suddenly spotted a glowing red object which came directly toward them at
a phenomenal rate of speed from the West, Increasing rapidly in size,
then coming to an abrupt stop, it was ellipsoid in shape and solid
bright red while giving off a pulsating glow. After hovering a few
seconds it went straight up like a shot and faded beyond the stars.
Visibility: unlimited.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Dunellen, NJ
Date: 12/20/1958
Time: 0255
Description: Near Domsten, Hans Gustavsson, 35, and Stig Rydberg, 30,
saw something in the woods and stopped their car to observe it. They
found a disk about 5 m wide set on a tripod. All of a sudden they were
attacked by four gray-colored creatures described as “fluid,” but one
witness reached the car and blew the horn for help. The beings fled and
the craft took off, emitting “paralyzing vibrations.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. II 56 (Vallee)
Location: Hoganas, Sweden
ID: 477
Date: 12/20/1958
Description: 2:55 a.m. Hans Gustafsson, a 24-year-old truck driver, and
Stig Rydberg, a 30-year-old student, claim that while driving home to
Helsingborg, Sweden, from a dance they see a strange light in a glade on
their right near Domsten. They leave the car and walk up to the object,
which turns out to be a disc-shaped vehicle 16 feet in diameter resting
on 3 legs. The two are suddenly attacked by four gray creatures about 4
feet tall who try to drag them to the UFO. In January 1959, a medical
doctor, Lars-Erik Essén, hypnotizes the men in what is perhaps the first
use of hypnosis of a UFO witness, but the two manage to fool Essén. In
the late 1980s, Gustafsson’s brother Artur reveals to ufologist Clas
Svahn that before he died his brother had told him the story was a
hoax. (Clark III 413–414; Rob Morphy, “Terrible
Flying Jelly Bags aka Domsten Blobs (Sweden),” Cryptopia, May 6,
2018; Swords 366–367; Clas Svahn and Anders Liljegren, Domstensfallet:
En svensk närkontakt 1958, AFU, 1989)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3236
Date: 12/21/1958
Description: A group of more than 50 commercial airline pilots, all of
whom have had at least one UFO sighting, tell reporter John Lester with
the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger that the Air Force policy of censorship
and denial regarding reports is the “Big Brother attitude carried to the
ultimate extreme.” Most express disgust with the USAF methods of
interrogating civilian pilots and complain about the gag order about
publicly talking about their sightings under penalty of 10 years in
prison or $10,000 in fines (JANAP 146). “Nuts to that. Who needs it?”
(Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger, December 22, 1958; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a
History: 1958 November–December, The
Author, 1999, p. 55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3237
Date: 12/22/1958
Description: 3:00 p.m. Stanislaw Kowalczewski, a physician, takes a
photograph of a dark, disc-shaped object over Muszyna, Poland. (Hobana
and Weverbergh 67–68; Wiki Meteoritica, “Muszyna
1958”; Poland 21–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3238
Date: 12/28/1958
Time: afternoon
Description: A black flying object, 2 m wide, cut a tree in two, 3 m
above ground, and did not stop. The tree in question is 70 cm wide and
13 m tall. This event was observed by a farmer named Bennett.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 59, 2 (Vallee)
Location: Portglenone, Ireland
ID: 479
Date: 12/30/1958
Description: 3:30 p.m. Joseph Bennett, a farmer in Portglenone, County
Antrim, Northern Ireland, is out walking and hears a noise like a rush
of wind. A black object 7 feet across comes hurtling through the air
about 20 feet above the ground. Moving from south to northwest, it
crashes into an oak tree, splitting it in two at a height of 10 feet,
then ascends and disappears in seconds. The tree has no burn or scorch
marks. (“UAOs
Collide with Tree, Roof,” APRO Bulletin, March 1959, p. 2; “We’re
Not Roswell, We’re Portglenone,” Fortean Ireland, March 17,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3239
Date: 1959
Description: George
Van Tassel claims the space people have taught him a method of
rejuvenating the human body. Using his new-found knowledge and funds
provided by Howard
Hughes, he
completes the outer structure of the Integraton at Giant Rock,
California, a four-story domed structure, 55 feet in diameter, built
mostly of wood without nails, screws, iron, or steel. Van Tassel claims
it will harness the EMF energy required for recharging the cells in our
bodies. In the course of its construction, Van Tassel discovers that the
Integraton functions as a time machine. (Wikipedia, “Integraton”;
Clark III 1219; Douglas Curran, In Advance of the Landing: Folk Concepts
of Outer Space, Abbeville, 1985, pp. 79–81;
David Clarke and Tom Clark, “Going ‘Out There’ in SoCal,” Fortean Times
388 (January 2020): 75–76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3247
Date: 1959 (approximate)
Description: According to weapons specialist David Middleton, sometime
in the late 1950s a few hours prior to a nuclear weapons test at the
Nevada Test Site, he and several other technicians watch two silver
discs race across then swoop down and maneuver near the detonation tower
where the atomic weapon is mounted. The two objects fly a tight circle
around the tower before zooming off at high velocity. The test is
immediately postponed by senior AEC personnel. Middleton is debriefed
and sworn to secrecy. (Nukes 58–59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3240
Date: 1959
Description: The original US Navy Space Surveillance System goes into
operation. From 1960 until the early 1990s the system is used in
conjunction with a network of Baker-Nunn cameras that can see an object
the size of a basketball at 25,000 miles. The system is operated by the
US Navy for NORAD from 1961 to October 2004. Initially independent, it
is run by Naval Space Command from 1993 to 2002, and then by Naval
Network and Space Operations Command from 2002 to 2004, when it is taken
over by the Air Force. (Wikipedia, “Air
Force Space
Surveillance System”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3241
Date: 1959
Description: The US Army and CIA at Edgewood Arsenal at Aberdeen Proving
Ground, Maryland, show significant interest in deploying a new drug,
3-quinuclidinyl benzilate (BZ), as a chemical warfare agent. The drug’s
effects last for three days, perhaps as long as six. Between 1959 and
1975, some 2,800 soldiers are given BZ at Edgewood. (Reid Kirby, “Paradise
Lost: The Psycho Agents,” The CBW Conventions Bulletin, no. 71 (May
2006): 1–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3242
Date: 1959
Description: Psychologist Carl
Jung publishes Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the
Skies in the UK, a translation of Ein moderner Mythus von Dingen, die am
Himmel gesehen werden, published in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1958, in
which he compares the discs to archetypes, dreams, visions, paintings,
and the metaphysical symbol of a mandala: “the rounded wholeness of the
mandala becomes a space ship controlled by an intelligent being.”
However, he remains puzzled by the physical evidence. (Carl Jung, Flying
Saucers: A Modern Myth
of Things Seen in the Skies, Routledge
& Kegan Paul, 1959; Clark III 637–638)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3243
Date: 1959
Description: Author Hugo
Correa founds UFO Chile in Santiago, Chile. Its newsletter appears
from August 1967 to May 1969. (Hugo Correa, “¿Que
es ‘UFO Chile’?” UFO Chile, no. 1 (August 1967): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3244
Date: 1959
Description: The Soviet KGB has created its own disinformation
Department D (Dezinformatsiya) in the First Chief Directorate, which
under Yuri
Andropov is later renamed Department A (for “active measures”). It
specializes in the fabrication and dissemination of forged documents,
tapes, letters, manuscripts, photos, rumors, and false intelligence.
(Wikipedia, “Active
measures”; John Barron, KGB:
The Secret Work of Soviet Secret Agents, Bantam, 1974; Richard H.
Shultz and Roy Godson, Dezinformatsia:
Active Measures in Soviet Strategy, Pergamon-Brassey’s,
1984)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3245
Date: 1959
Description: Project SIGMA meets with success and establishes contact
with Aliens.
Type: majestic document
Reference: Pea
Research
Attributes: Majestic
See also: 4/15/64
Date: 1959
Description: Contactee Howard
Menger publishes From Outer Space to You, an account of his meetings
with space people. (Howard Menger, From
Outer Space to You, Saucerian,
1959; Clark III 739)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3246
Date: 1/1959
Description: Leonard Hewins sees a fiery, round object come down near
Stratford-on-Avon, England, from the east and land 300 feet away. A blue
haze forms and three figures emerge and sit down with clumsy movements.
Hewins is unable to move until the UFO takes off. (John D. Llewellyn,
“Stratford-on-Avon
Landing with Occupants: January
1959,” Flying Saucer Review 13, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1967): 15; Patrick
Gross, URECAT,
March 9, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3248
Date: 1/1959
Time: 1715
Description: Leonard Hewins, of Tredington, saw a fiery, round object
come down from the east and land 100 m away. While a blue haze formed,
three figures emerged from the object and seemed to sit down with clumsy
movements. The witness was unable to move until the craft and its
occupants took off swiftly, leaving a trail of stars.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 67, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Stratford-on-Avon, Great Britain
ID: 480
Date: 1/1/1959
Description: Rocket scientist Wernher
von Braun, on
holiday in Germany, makes a cryptic statement about the failed launch of
Pioneer
3 by a Juno II rocket on December 6, 1958: “We find ourselves faced
by powers which are far stronger than we had hitherto assumed, and whose
base is at present unknown to us. More I cannot say at present. We are
now engaged in entering into closer contact with those powers, and in
six or nine months’ time it may be possible to speak with more precision
on the matter.” (Good Above, p. 370)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3249
Date: 1/1/1959
Description: 4:55 p.m. Deputy Fred Gunzelman of the Harbor Department in
Corona del Mar, California, spots a bright object outside department
headquarters. He summons Deputy Elmer Sandling and Sgt. Bruce Young and
the three watch the object through binoculars, where it appears to be a
disc-shaped object with a rotating tail. They notify the lifeguard
headquarters at Newport Beach, where Lt. Mike Henry, Guard Jack Bell,
and Lt. Jim Richards also see the UFO. The planet Venus is clearly
visible in the same section of sky. During the 15 minutes it is visible,
it starts moving to the southeast and then splits into four parts. Two
rise vertically at high speed, another heads southeast, and the last
remains stationary. (UFOEv, p. 137;
Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 95)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3250
Date: 1/11/1959
Description: Wilbert
Smith speaks on UFOs at the Illuminating Engineering Society’s
Canadian Regional Conference in Ottawa, Ontario. He claims that “Various
items of ‘hardware’ are known to exist, but are usually clapped into
security and are not available to the general public.” (Frank Edwards,
FS Serious Business, Bantam ed., 1966, p. 48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3251
Date: 1/13/1959
Description: 7:00 a.m. Robert Collins is driving a pickup truck south on
Hartstown Road across Pymatuning Lake, Pennsylvania, when he sees a
bright light approaching from the east and illuminating the ground. It
stops above his truck, hovering 200 feet above it for several minutes.
The truck’s electrical system fails, the engine dies, and the headlights
and radio go out. The object’s light illuminates an area about 300 feet
in front of him. It takes off and disappears in seconds, and the truck
begins working again. (“Area
Man’s Encounter with Unidentified Flying Object Called
Weirdest Experience,” Greenville (Pa.) Record-Argus, January 31,
1959, pp. 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3252
Date: 1/17/1959
Description: George
Adamski arrives in Auckland, New Zealand, on the first stop on his
world lecture tour where he is received by North Island Adamski
Correspondence Group leaders Henk and
Brenda Hinfelaar for a 6-week engagement starting with a talk in Kaikohe
on January 20. (“World
Lecture Tour,” The Adamski Case, October 5, 2019; Marc Hallet, A
Critical Appraisal of George Adamski: The Man Who Spoke to the Space
Brothers, The Author, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3253
Date: 1/18/1959 (approximate)
Description: Eight people see a UFO over Stigsjö, Sweden. The round
object, 18–24 feet in diameter, approaches slowly from the south over
Lake Länsjön at a height of 900 feet. It is surrounded by a luminous
ring 6 feet wide. It is visible for 3 minutes. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959 January–March,
The Author, 1999, p. 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3254
Date: 1/21/1959
Description: 6:00 a.m. A flying object is seen crashing into the waters
of the harbor at Gdynia, Poland. Rumors later claim that a rust-free
fragment is retrieved by divers and, after being examined by the Polish
navy, sent to Gdynia Polytechnic University [possibly the Polish Naval
Academy]. A few days later, an injured occupant of the craft is
allegedly found wandering in the area. He speaks no known language,
wears an odd uniform, and apparently has burns on the face. He is taken
to a hospital, but he dies when doctors attempt to remove an armband.
His remains are said to have been shipped to the Soviet Union. (Hobana
and Weverbergh 1–2; Poland 25–28, 115)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3255
Date: 1/21/1959
Description: MP Roy
Mason asks the Air Minister another question in the UK House of
Commons: What instructions have been sent to RAF stations about
collecting military UFO reports, and what collaboration is there with
Canada and the US? Air Minister George
Ward replies that RAF units have standing instructions for handling
reports, and there is no special collaboration with those countries.
(“Roy
Mason Asks Another,” Flying Saucer Review 5, no. 2 (March/April
1959): 2; Good Above, p. 52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3256
Date: 1/26/1959
Description: Area-51/S-4 whistleblower Bob Lazar is born in Coral
Gables, FL.
Type: whistleblower
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Coral Gables, FL
Date: 1/28/1959
Description: At a Symposium on Aerospace Technology by the Institute of
the Aeronautical Sciences at the Astor Hotel in New York City, USAF Maj.
Gen. Donald
J. Keirn, assistant deputy chief of staff on development for nuclear
systems, talks about nuclear aircraft propulsion. He mentions that if
intelligent extraterrestrials do exist, “it is entirely possible that
some of them may have passed through our stage of evolution, and may
have already achieved a higher level of social and technological culture
than our own.” He suggests using electromagnetic emissions to detect
them, as they may be doing with us. (US Congress, Joint Committee on
Atomic Energy, Hearings, Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program, July 23,
1959, p. 153)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3257
Date: 1/31/1959
Description: The US Ground Observer Corps is deactivated with the advent
of automated Army (Missile Master) and Air Force (SAGE) radar systems.
(Wikipedia, “Ground
Observer Corps”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3258
Date: 2/1959
Description: 350 km east of Umiat, trappers saw a red, disk-shaped
object less than 4 km away, going up and down, sometimes nearly touching
the ground. It circled and went away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 59, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Umiat, Alaska
ID: 481
Date: 2/1959
Description: 9:30 p.m. The people of Digeliotika, Greece, hear a humming
noise coming from the direction of the sea. Running out of their homes,
many people see a luminous disc circling the village for about 10
minutes. Radios fail to operate and the electrical current in one house
fails completely. When the disc flies low over the house of the priest,
Papa Costas, there is a loud noise and the whole house shakes. The
object moves off to the west. Inspection of the house the next day
reveals that many of the roof tiles have been displaced, and others are
on the ground. (“UAOs
Collide with Tree, Roof,” APRO Bulletin, March 1959, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3259
Date: 2/1/1959
Description: JANAP 146(D) integrates Canada into the CIRVIS reporting
instructions. The Canadian Department of National Defence launches a
series of Communications Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence
Sightings in line with the JANAP procedures. (Gregory M. Kanon, “UFOs
and the Canadian Government,” Canadian UFO Report 3, no. 7 (Spring
1976): 17–18; Antonio F. Rullán, “Blue
Book UFO Reports at Sea by Ships,” December 10, 2002)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3260
Date: 2/17/1959
Description: Hynek wants
to start bringing together ATIC and Blue Book personnel for monthly
meetings where scientific and PR problems are reviewed. To get it going,
he meets with Air Force Intelligence, Secretary of the Air Force
officials, and Blue Book staffers in the Pentagon. This meeting
includes, besides Hynek, Maj. Robert
J. Friend, Col.
Leonard T. Glaser, Alex
Francis Arcier, Maj.
James F. Byrne, Maj. Joseph
E. Boland, Maj. Lawrence
J.
Tacker, and
Burgoyne
Lee Griffing. The
group agrees that eventually the term “UFOs” should be jettisoned and
older unsolved cases reexamined in the light of “greater scientific
knowledge” that will move them from unknowns to knowns. (Jacobs, UFO
Controversy in America, Signet ed., 1976, pp. 148–149;
Clark III 919; Swords 286; “Saucer
Reading Fest,” Saturday Night Uforia, January 25, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3261
Date: 2/20/1959
Description: Pfc. Bernard G. “Gerry” Irwin, on leave from Fort Bliss in
El Paso, Texas, is driving near Cedar City, Utah, when he stops to
investigate what seems to be a crashing plane. He is later found
unconscious in the snow and treated at the Cedar City hospital. He
suffers from amnesia, continues to have fainting spells, and returns
more than once to the site in some kind of fugue. He soon deserts and
perhaps disappears, but not forever, as he is living in Idaho in 2013,
where David
Booher interviews him about his PTSD-like symptoms. (Coral Lorenzen,
“Soldier
Sees Flash; Unconscious 24 Hours,” APRO Bulletin, March 1959, pp. 1,
10; Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 97–99; Lorenzen,
Encounters with UFO Occupants, Berkley Medallion, 1976, pp. 347+; Loren
E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1961
July–December, The
Author, 2003, pp. 56–60; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1962 July– December,
The Author, 2005, pp. 68–70; Kevin D. Randle, The UFO Dossier, Visible
Ink, 2015, pp. 134–141;
David Booher, No Return: The Gerry Irwin Story, UFO Abduction or Covert
Operation?, Anomalist, 2017; Clark III 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3262
Date: 2/20/1959
Description: Just as the first working models of the Army’s VZ-9 Avrocar
are being manufactured, the Canadian government cancels the Avro CF-105
Arrow program. Almost all Avro Canada employees are laid off, including
those with the Special Projects Group. However, three days later, many
of the Special Projects employees are rehired, but it isn’t quite
business as usual. The USAF Project Office devoted to the Avro projects
recommends that the WS-606A and all related work (including the Avrocar)
be cancelled. However, in May the USAF authorizes Avro to continue its
“flying saucer” programs. (Wikipedia, “Avro
Canada VZ-9 Avrocar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3263
Date: late 2/1959
End date: 4/15/1959
Description: George
Adamski continues his world lecture tour in Sydney, Perth, Adelaide,
Melbourne, and Brisbane, Australia. (“World
Lecture Tour,” The Adamski Case, October 5, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3266
Date: 2/24/1959
Description: 8:20 p.m. Capt. Peter
W. Killian is flying an American Airlines flight from Newark to
Detroit when he encounters three bright lights flying in a precise line.
The initial detection takes place when the aircraft is flying at 8,500
feet and 50 mph about 13 miles west of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. At
first Killian thinks he is seeing Orion’s sword, but he can see those
stars elsewhere. One of the objects abruptly leaves formation and
approaches the plane, slows down before Killian takes evasive action,
then rejoins the other two. Killian alerts copilot James John Dee and
then announces on the intercom for the passengers to take a look. He
also puts out a call to nearby aircraft, and five other commercial
airline pilots indicate that they can see the objects. The lights remain
at about the 9 o’clock position for 40 minutes, providing an opportunity
for many of the 35 passengers to observe them. They are also seen by the
crews of two other planes flying much farther to the south, as well as
by the tower operators in Pittsburgh. The Air Force quickly identifies
the objects as the three Orion stars, changes that to an aerial
refueling operation, then accuses Killian of being drunk. But an
independent sighting of the UFOs by an Air Force transport plane 150
miles further south confirms Killian’s observation, and no refueling
routes exist in central Pennsylvania. Brad
Sparks uncovers new evidence in 2016 that supports the witnesses’
story. (NICAP, “The
Killian Case”; UFOEv, pp. 116–117;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History:
1959 January–March, The
Author, 1999, pp. 58–60; Clark III 385–387; Sparks,
p. 270; Willy Smith, “Over Pennsylvania,” IUR 23, no. 1 (Spring 1998):
13–14, 29–30; Swords 285; Patrick Gross, “The
Killian– Orion
Belt Sightings, 1958”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3264
Date: 2/24/1959
Description: 10:00 p.m. A 17-year-old male is home babysitting the
family pets and his younger brother in Victorville, California, when he
sees a bright light shining in his bedroom window. The dogs begin to
howl and run around. He goes outside and sees a luminous object like an
“elongated egg,” dull red with purple waves inside it, flying in a
descending path toward his house. It passes over the front yard at a
height of only 8–10 feet. As the object returns, he goes inside to get a
gun, but as he goes outside the object is making a third pass and he
goes back inside. When the parents return home, they find the dogs in a
terrified state. (Hynek UFO Report, pp. 167–170;
Swords 286–287)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3265
Date: 2/25/1959
Description: 8:30 a.m. Jim Dobbs Jr. is driving south on State Highway
18 south of Hobbs, New Mexico, when he sees an egg-shaped object glowing
like radium on a watch dial. He estimates it is 10° above the southern
horizon and traveling fast. His radio fades out and produces only a
steady succession of two dots and a dash. The object disappears in the
east after 30 seconds. (“Hobbs
Man Sees Glowing UFO, Hears Signals,” APRO Bulletin, March 1959,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3267
Date: 2/25/1959
Description: Lt. Col. Lee
B. James, chief of the Liaison Branch of the Army Ballistic Agency
in Huntsville, Alabama, gives a talk at the Detroit Chapter of the
Michigan Society of Professional Engineers on space flight. Because of
the recent Killian incident, he is asked about UFOs. Referring to the
witness on that aircraft, he says: “If they (35 passengers and several
crew members) saw what they really saw, it would have to come from outer
space—a civilization decades before ours.” (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959
January–March, The
Author, 1999, p. 68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3268
Date: 2/25/1959
Description: 7:25 p.m. A pale-yellow light is seen by officials above
one of the runways at London Airport [now Heathrow], England. Airport
and air defense radars do not pick up any target. RAF Fighter Command
Headquarters says the light fluctuates in intensity and is about 200
feet from the ground. It stays in one position for 20 minutes then
climbs away at high speed. (Charles H. Gibbs-Smith, “Venus
and the Nose-Cone Light: A Study
in the Lunacy of Explainistics,” Flying Saucer Review 5, no. 3
(May/June 1959): 10–11, 31; Good Above, p. 52;
UFOEv, p. 122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3269
Date: 2/28/1959
Description: Private Gerry Irwin stopped his car to investigate what he
thought was a crashing plane. He was later found unconscious. Sequels of
the incident (fainting, amnesia and his return to the site in a
trancelike state) are sometimes quoted as evidence of psychologial
experience correlated with the observation of the luminous object. Irwin
deserted, and his subsequent whereabouts are unknown.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 121; Lorenzen; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Cedar City, Iowa
ID: 482
Date: 2/28/1959
Description: The US Air Force launches Discoverer 1, the first of a
series of satellites that are part of the Corona spy program. The
mission is a failure due to problems with the Agena upper stage.
(Wikipedia, “Discoverer
1”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3270
Date: 3/1959
Description: On the Baltic Sea coast near Kołobrzeg, Poland, soldiers
watch the sea become turbulent as a triangular object, 12 feet in
diameter, emerges, circles the barracks, and flies away at high speed.
(Vallée, Magonia, p. 275)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3271
Date: 3/1959
Description: On the Polish coast, not far from Kolobreg, soldiers saw
the sea become turbulent as a triangular object, 4 m in size, emerged,
circled the barracks, and flew away at high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 122 (Vallee)
Location: Kolobreg, Poland
ID: 483
Date: 3/11/1959
Description: Rear Admiral George
J. Dufek, on
his way back from commanding Operation Deepfreeze in Antarctica, tells
reporters in Wellington, New Zealand, that he does not think the
existence of UFOs can be discounted: “I think it is very stupid for
human beings to think no one else in the universe is as intelligent as
we are.” Asked years later why he said this, he explains that it was
because of sightings related to him by people who worked with him at the
South Pole. (Swords 290)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3272
Date: 3/12/1959
Description: Several witnesses at Bergen, Norway, see a bright object
passing north to south, taking two minutes to move from horizon to
horizon. Several minutes later another appears, following the same
course. This is soon followed by three more in succession. (ClearIntent,
p. 138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3273
Date: 3/13/1959
Description: 2:00 a.m. Percy Briggs is driving from Purnong to Mannum,
South Australia, with a load of vegetables and Claypans Postmaster C.
Towill as passenger. They have just climbed Cournamont Hill near the
Purnong Ferry over the Murray River. They see to the left of the road a
huge dome-shaped object with 8–9 red and blue lights about 20 feet
apart. The UFO soon rises from the ground at a 15° angle and moves away
to the southwest. The separate lights merge into one big light. They
watch it recede for about 10 minutes. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959 January–March, The Author,
1999, pp. 79–80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3274
Date: 3/13/1959
Time: 1410
Description: Near Claypans, 150 km northeast of Adelaide, Carl Towill,
postmaster, and Percy Briggs, mail carrier, saw a dome-shaped object
take off from a field 400 m away. It resembled a huge, brilliant circus
tent, studded with lights that kept changing from red to blue. They
approached within 200 m, then saw it rise, hover, and shoot off at
immense speed toward the south. They had observed it for 10 min.
Mr. Briggs was questioned by investigators from Woomera Rocket
range.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 59,5 (Vallee)
Location: Pumong, Australia
ID: 484
Date: 3/18/1959
Description: 8:50 p.m. Jesse Wilson of Denville, New Jersey, is taking
photos of the Moon through a telescope and captures an image of two
groups of multiple objects. (Center for UFO Studies, [case
documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3275
Date: 3/19/1959
Description: USAF spokesman Maj. Lawrence
J. Tacker retracts the dubious Orion explanation for the Killian case
and says instead that the pilots saw B-47 bombers refueling in flight
from a KC-97 tanker. Killian tells the papers, “I don’t care what the
air force says,” he knows what refueling looks like and the UFOs were
“at least three times the size of any tanker or bomber we have. They
could travel at 2,000 mph. And they were not conventional aircraft.”
(Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959
January–March, The Author, 1999, pp. 82–84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3276
Date: spring 1959
Description: Keyhoe meets
with Hillenkoetter at
the New York Yacht Club to discuss NICAP strategy. USAF Public
Information Officer Lawrence
J. Tacker has sent the organization a letter asking it to stop
writing to Air Force personnel about UFOs. Keyhoe tells Hillenkoetter
that three scientists have contacted a certain congressman to report UFO
sightings. Hillenkoetter advises, “we’ll have to do something to speed
things up.” (Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 15, 247–248)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3281
Date: spring 1959
Description: Soviet radar and Air Defense personnel observe UFOs
circling and hovering for more than 24 hours above the headquarters of
the Tactical Missile Command at Sverdlovsk, Russia. Fighter aircraft
sent to intercept them report that the UFOs easily outmaneuver them and
zigzag to avoid machine gun fire. (Flying Saucers, no. 47, May 1966,
pp. 6–10; Good Above, p. 227)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3282
Date: spring 1959
Description: Early evening. A weather officer with the US Fifth Air
Force in Tokyo, Japan, is in the operations center when the staff tracks
a UFO near Misawa Air Base on the north end of Honshu. One of the
officers says this happens frequently, that the objects travel at 2,000
mph, and they often stop in one position and hover for 30 minutes to
several hours before taking off westward along the Tsugaru Strait and
disappearing in a burst of speed. The center commander orders the pilots
of two specially equipped F-106s based at Misawa to intercept the
target. One of the planes is having instrumentation problems, but the
other goes up. After 10 minutes he is being guided toward the target
through Misawa. The pilot says the object is circular and metallic with
a cockpit on top. The commander calls the Pentagon for authorization for
the pilot to fire on the UFO, and he gets permission for the pilot to
make a firing pass. The pilot fires two missiles, but they detonate just
at the edge of the object, as if it is protected. The UFO then turns
toward the terrified pilot, and the command center watches as the two
blips merge into one. The blip disappears. Crews search for wreckage for
4 days but find none. (Bruce Maccabee, “Hiding the Hardware,” IUR 16,
no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1991): 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3283
Date: 3/20/1959
Alternate date: 6/8/1959
Description: A group at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA)
produced for the Army a classified study report titled Project Horizon,
A U.S. Army Study for the Establishment of a Lunar Military Outpost by
1965.
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Redstone Arsenal
Date: 3/20/1959
Description: 5:30 p.m. Witold Sambrowski, an electronics engineer, sees
two noiseless cigar-shaped, reddish-pink objects flying over Ostroleka,
Poland. They are traveling horizontally at a speed greater than a jet.
When the two vanish, a third appears and follows the path the others
have taken. (Hobana and Weverbergh 211–212)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3277
Date: 3/22/1959
Description: 1:30 a.m. Mr. and Mrs. Gary Bond are driving near Ann
Arbor, Michigan, when they see an intensely lighted object hovering
about 2 miles to the southeast. It is about 200 feet in the air and just
south of a main road. Intense shafts of light are shining from two oval
ports at the bottom. As they drive closer, they can hear no sound and
find it is about 50–75 feet from the road. The UFO parallels their car
at first, then the light shafts go out, and a circle of 8–10 red lights
appear on the bottom. Then it rises rapidly and disappears in seconds. A
local radio astronomer, Allen Barrot, claims the couple saw the lights
of his telescope. But the Air Force finds that the couple were never
looking in the direction of Barrot’s observatory. (Swords 288–289; Loren
E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1959 January–March, The
Author, 1999, pp. 87–90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3278
Date: 3/26/1959
Time: 12:45 PM
Description: Or March 27, 1959. Witness: T.E. Clark. One dark red,
barrel-shaped object, 20’ long, 6-7’ high, descended below some trees
during the 3 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Corsica, Pennsylvania
ID: 433
Date: 3/27/1959
Description: Lou
Corbin has told Keyhoe that
Rep. Samuel
Friedel (D-Md.) is “all set to hop on this Killian business”
and begins to plan for Killian to meet with him. But Killian’s wife now
tells Keyhoe that he is under strict orders from the Air Force not to
talk to anyone about the sighting or risk losing his job. Soon
afterwards, the Air Force releases a statement from Killian that says,
“Having never seen night refueling of jets by a tanker, I suppose that
could be what we saw.” (Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 27–36; UFOEv, pp. 116–117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3279
Date: 3/31/1959
Time: 1330
Description: Barry Neale was driving home to Goolwa when he saw on the
ground a glowing, reddish-orange object with a row of portholes. It
illuminated the trees, was about 5 m wide. He got within 300 m of it,
and drove around the wooded area in time to see it take off. No
radioactivity was found at the spot.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 59,5 (Vallee)
Location: Port Elliot, Australia
ID: 485
Date: 3/31/1959
Description: 11:30 p.m. Barry Neale, operator of the Port Elliot movie
theater, is driving home to Goolwa, South Australia, and sees a
dome-shaped, reddish-orange object with a row of evenly spaced portholes
around it. He estimates it to be about 15 feet wide, and it is on the
ground about 900 feet from the road. He sees it disappear to the east.
(Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959
January–March, The Author, 1999, pp. 99–100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3280
Date: 4/1/1959
Description: An Air Force C-118 transport plane with four passengers
suddenly radioed in ”MAYDAY, we’ve been hit!” Col. R.E. Booth told
reporters that a mid-air collision had taken place at 8:19 p.m. APRG
(Aerial Phenomena Research Group) investigators determined that from
7:00 p.m. on through the early evening several mysterious aerial
explosions had shaken the Seattle, WA, area. Several residents had
reported seeing mysterious UFOs from 20 miles north of the crash scene
to about 8 miles southeast of it. These sightings were confirmed by the
Orting Chief of Police and by Public Information Officer at Mc Chord
AFB. Several persons told APRG investigator, R. Gribble, that as the
C-118 passed over their area it was followed by 2 parachute-shaped
objects and that the C-118 was missing its tail assembly. Mr. and
Mrs. Bill Jones reported 3 or 4 parachute-shaped UFOs following the
C-118 as it passed over their home. Chief of Police, Fred Emard, told R.
Gribble that he would be glad to furnish information on the UFOs to
APRG, but changed his mind the next day after an interview with an Air
Force Colonel. “The Chief and other officials of Orting had been
silenced,” Gribble reported.
Type: ufo midair collision
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Orting, WA
See also: 9/29/59
See also: 5/61
Date: 4/1/1959
Description: An Air Force C-118 plane with four on board crashes between
Sumner and Orting, Washington, about an hour after taking off from
McChord AFB [now Joint Base Lewis-McChord] in Tacoma. Their last radio
message indicates that they hit something or that something hit them. Bob
Gribble and other UFO investigators find witnesses who claim to have
seen two orange or yellow objects closing in on the plane. Best guess is
that the plane hit a tree and the UFO observations are unrelated. (Loren
E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: 1959 April–June, The Author, 1999, pp. 2–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3284
Date: 4/7/1959
Description: 8:00 p.m. Control tower operators at CFB St. Hubert [now
Montreal/Saint-Hubert Airport], Quebec, spot a red, glowing light
hanging in the sky for a few minutes at 3,000–7,000 feet altitude. It
suddenly darts to the north at supersonic speed. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The
Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3285
Date: 4/11/1959
Description: Two businessmen at Woodlands, New Zealand, watch a glowing
40-foot-long object with a balloon-like attachment on the underside
hovering just above the trees. As they approach it in their car, it
speeds off to the north. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969,
p. 100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3286
Date: 4/12/1959
Description: 8:00 p.m. Control tower personnel and airport officials at
St. Hubert Air Defence Command Base [now CFB St. Hubert], Quebec, as
well as local residents watch a red ball of light hovering above the
airfield at 3,000–7,000 feet. Descriptions vary from a black ball with a
red light to a long red cigar. Radar does not pick it up. Suddenly it
takes off toward Montreal to the north. (Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO
Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen, 1979, pp. 94–96)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3287
Date: 4/15/1959
Time: evening
Description: Between Svendborg and Nyborg, Ove Christensen, coming home
after work on his bicycle, was stopped on the road by a disk-shaped
object spinning at ground level. After five minutes it began chasing
him, flying 6 m above him for 5 m. The object was luminous and seemed
made of glass.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 59, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Svendborg, Denmark
ID: 486
Date: 4/17/1959
Description: George
Adamski meets with Sisir
Kumar Maitra, head
of the Department of Philosophy and dean of the Faculty of Arts of
Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi during a stopover in Kolkata,
India. (“World
Lecture Tour,”
The Adamski Case, October 5, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3288
Date: 4/18/1959
End date: 5/14/1959
Description: Adamski arrives
in London, England, and appears on the TV show In Town Tonight on April
18 and on the BBC program Panorama on April 20 where he debates with
astronomer Patrick
Moore, a show that is seen by 9 million viewers. Both Gen. Frederick
Browning and RAF Commander Peter
Horsley meet with Adamski and Desmond
Leslie during their visit to a private address in London. Adamski
gives further lectures in Tunbridge Wells, Weston-super-Mare,
Bournemouth, at Caxton Hall in London (on April 28), Birmingham
University (April 29), Manchester (May 1), and several more around the
British Isles. (“World
Lecture Tour,” The Adamski Case, October 5, 2019; David Clarke, “The
Prince and the Saucers,” Fortean Times 406 (June 2021): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3289
Date: 4/19/1959
Description: 3:00 p.m. Otis
T. Carr and Norman Colton, who have been in Oklahoma since February,
pretend to attempt the launch of their OTC-X1 spacecraft in a gravel pit
6 miles east of the Frontier City amusement park northeast of Oklahoma
City. Frontier City obligingly erects a model of the spacecraft as a
ride. However, Carr comes down with a mysterious throat ailment and goes
to Mercy Hospital on April 17. He invites Long
John Nebel to have a brief glimpse of the model, but Nebel thinks it
looks like a jumble of unconnected parts. As it turns out, the OTC- X1
develops a “mercury leak” and the launch is delayed then canceled. Those
who have come for the April 19 launch hear contactee Dana
Howard talk about her trip to Venus, and Margaret
Storm (Carr’s “publications editor” in Baltimore) declares that Carr
is inspired by the “Divine Master St. Germain.” (“Difficulties
Put Off Flying
Saucer Test,”
Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman, April 20, 1959, pp. 1–2, 13; Clark III
860–861)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3290
Date: 4/20/1959
Description: Ufologist Morris
K. Jessup commits suicide in a Dade County park, Florida, from
carbon monoxide poisoning. Some theorists connect his involvement with
the Allende letters and the Philadelphia
experiment to his death, but friends say Jessup has been discussing
suicide with them for several months. (Clark III 635; “Jessup and
the Allende Case,” Pursuit 1, no. 4 (September 30, 1968):
8–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3291
Date: 4/29/1959
Time: 2230
Description: Alex Gillis and Jerry Monkman saw from a hilltop an
egg-shaped object in the middle of the road. It was about 5 m long, the
top part emitting a bright light. The object went away silently. Fearing
ridicule, the witnesses reported the incident one month later.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 59, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Grassy Plains, Canada
ID: 487
Date: 5/1959
Description: The first Avrocar, #58-7055, rolls out of the Avro Malton
factory in Mississauga, Ontario. From June 9 to October 7 it is tested
in a static hover rig. A second Avrocar is completed in August.
(Wikipedia, “Avro
Canada VZ-9
Avrocar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3292
Date: 5/4/1959
Description: Otis
T. Carr and his attorney are summoned to the county courthouse in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to answer questions about stock sales by OTC
Enterprises, including a block of 21,000 shares to Frontier City
promoter Jimmy
Burge, oilman
Frank
Buttram, and
publisher Edward
K. Gaylord. Carr
pleads the Fifth Amendment. (Clark III 861)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3293
Date: 5/5/1959
Description: Hynek’s
newly formed UFO Advisory Panel holds its first meeting at
Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. The panel consists of Hynek, Lt.
Col. Richard
M. Graham (chaplain), Lt. Col. Theodore J. Hieatt (PR), Maj. Leroy
D. Pigg (psychologist), V. J. Handmacher (physicist), and L. V. Robinson
(astronomer). (“Saucer
Reading Fest,”
Saturday Night Uforia, January 25, 2019; Jacobs, UFO Controversy in
America, Signet ed., 1976, pp. 148– 149)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3294
Date: 5/18/1959
Description: George
Adamski has an audience with Queen Juliana and
Prince Bernhard of
the Netherlands at Soestdijk Palace in Baarn on his world lecture tour,
amid fiercely critical media coverage. The royal audience, scheduled to
last 45 minutes, goes on for two hours, making Adamski 20 minutes late
for his lecture in The Hague. The royal couple claim that the British
royal family, especially Prince
Philip, are also keen to meet Adamski. After the audience, Dutch
Aeronautical Association president Cornelis
Kolff says “The Queen showed an extraordinary interest in the whole
subject.” Royal Netherlands Air Force Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Haye
Schaper says, “The man’s a pathological case.” (“World
Lecture Tour,” The Adamski Case, October 5, 2019; David Clarke, “The
Prince and the Saucers,” Fortean Times 406 (June 2021): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3295
Date: 5/20/1959
Description: 5:30 p.m. Antonio Sanchez and Ernesto Fogliani are hunting
rabbits about 7 miles from Pehuelches station, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
They see a saucer-shaped, silvery machine resting on the ground about
980 feet away. They approach to about 490 feet when the object rises
into the sky and disappears. At the spot where it was, they find the
grass flattened in the shape of a large oval. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: 1959 April–June, The Author, 1999, p. 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3296
Date: late 5/1959
Description: Ruppelt tells
Keyhoe he
is revising his book to bring it more up to date and requests NICAP’s
most recent information. He says the Air Force is giving its full
cooperation and he is “middle of the road” on the UFO question. (Keyhoe,
FSTS, pp. 258–260) May 26, 29 — Adamski gives
two lectures in Zürich, Switzerland. At the second talk, he meets with
organized resistance by a group of 300 students (in an audience of 700)
who have been led to believe he will discredit Swiss astronomer Fritz
Zwicky. When
a reporter afterwards asks if he will accept an apology, Adamski replies
that it should not be given to him, but to the Swiss public. Due to
recurring heart problems, Adamski cancels his remaining lectures in
Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and Denmark. (“World
Lecture Tour,” The Adamski Case, October 5, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3298
Date: 5/20/1959
Time: 1730
Description: Two hunters saw a diskshaped object resting on the ground
150 m away. It looked like an aluminum craft about 2.5 m high, with a
dome on top. Grass flattened.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Challenge 53 (Vallee)
Location: Tres Lomas, Argentina
ID: 488
Date: 5/22/1959
Description: The UFO Advisory Panel meets to “determine the type of
information which should be used for correlation in bringing Special
Report #14 up to date.” (“Saucer
Reading Fest,” Saturday Night Uforia, January 25, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3297
Date: 5/28/1959
Description: Otis
T. Carr and two OTC Enterprises employees (Lari Kendrick and Charles
O. Rhoades) are barred by a federal court order from selling any further
stock in the company. The SEC contends that they have been selling
unregistered securities fraudulently since November 18, 1955, using the
US mail to do so. Contactee associate Wayne
Aho escapes arraignment, while Norman Colton has fled the state and
cannot be located. (Clark III 861)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3299
Date: 5/28/1959
Description: Night. Two observers on a Project Moonwatch team in San
Antonio, Texas, see two silvery objects through their telescopes that
shoot across the sky in less than one second, one curving away in a
parabolic path, the other executing a more gradual hyperbolic curve.
(Michael D. Swords, “Gazing at the Moons,” IUR 32, no. 4 (October 2009):
13–14; Center for UFO Studies, “Moonwatch
Mystery Satellites, 1958–1962”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3300
Date: 6/1959
Description: The Argentine Navy bottles up a fast, submarine-like object
in the Buenos Aires harbor, Argentina. It is shaped like a huge fish, is
silver in color, and sports a tail like the stabilizer on a B-17.
(Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, pp. 52–53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3301
Date: 6/1959
Description: The radiation effects reactor at Lockheed’s Georgia Nuclear
Aircraft Laboratory [now closed] in the Dawson Forest outside
Dawsonville, Georgia, is brought up to full power and unsheathed for the
first time. It is a water- cooled 10-megawatt nuclear reactor in a
shielded underground shaft with the purpose of irradiating military
aircraft as well as the forest itself to determine the effects of
nuclear war on wildlife. The experiment exposes everything within a
1,000-foot radius to a lethal dose of radiation. Bugs fall from the air,
and small animals and the bacteria living in and on them are
exterminated, in a phenomenon the technicians call “instant taxidermy.”
Oak trees turn brown, yet crabgrass is seemingly unaffected. Pine trees
are the hardest hit of all. Clear Coca-Cola bottles turn brown,
hydraulic fluid coagulates into chewing gum, transistorized equipment
stops working, and rubber tires become rock hard. Documents about the
reactor remain highly classified, and the entrance to the underground
portion of the facility has been buried. The area is closed in 1971, and
only objects left above ground were the concrete foundations on which
the buildings and reactors were placed. (Wikipedia, “Georgia
Nuclear Aircraft
Laboratory”; Adam Higginbotham, Midnight at Chernobyl, Simon &
Schuster, 2019, p. 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3302
Date: 6/12/1959
Description: Keyhoe writes
an open letter to Ruppelt that
lists his past statements on UFOs and urges him not to let the Air Force
intimidate him into retracting. (Donald E. Keyhoe, “Capt. Ruppelt
Revising His UFO Book: Air Force Rumored
to Be Pressuring Former Project Chief,” UFO Investigator 1, no. 8
(June 1959): 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3303
Date: 6/13/1959
Description: Charles
S. Sheldon II, technical
director of the House Science and Astronautics Committee, writes to Richard
H.
Hall at NICAP to say that while he thinks UFOs are “extremely
interesting,” they do not pose a national security threat.” (Swords
290)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3304
Date: 6/13/1959
Description: Adamski, along
with follower Lou Zinsstag, meets with diplomat Alberto
Perego and Mario Maioli at Ristorante La Cisterna in the Trastevere
area of Rome, Italy, then go on an all-night taxi ride around the city.
He returns to the United States via Copenhagen, Denmark, on June 17.
(“World
Lecture Tour,” The Adamski Case, October 5, 2019; 1Pinotti
106)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3305
Date: 6/18/1959
Time: 9:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: A. Cavelli and R. Blessin, using 7x binoculars.
One brown, cigar-shaped object came from below the horizon (close to the
witnesses) ascending to 40-50^ above the horizon in 4 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
ID: 434
Date: 6/21/1959
Time: 2000
Description: A civilian woman observed a saucer-shaped object hovering 5
m above ground. It was bathed in an orange glow, similar to that of a
dying fire. It flew away horizontally and was lost to sight behind a
hill.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 59, 6 (Vallee)
Location: The Willows, South Africa
ID: 489
Date: 6/22/1959
Description: 8:00 p.m. A large, luminous UFO passes over Salta,
Argentina, and blacks out all electrical power for several minutes.
(Bernardo Passíon, “Report
from Argentina,” APRO Bulletin, November 1959, p. 9; Loren E. Gross,
The Fifth
Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959 April–June, The
Author, 1999, p. 56)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3306
Date: 6/26/1959
Time: 1845
Description: Many witnesses, among them Fr. W. B. Gill, head of a local
mission, saw an orange object that hovered in mid-air. Four engines were
visible on its “deck” and a beam of blue light was emitted upward from
it. The object did not come to ground level, but its position above the
ocean was almost on a level with the observers standing on the
hill.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 123; Anatomy 145 (Vallee)
Location: Boianai, New Guinea
ID: 490
Date: 6/26/1959
End date: 6/28/1959
Description: 6:45 p.m. At Boianai Mission, Papua New Guinea, Rev. William
Booth Gill and 38 others watch a platform-shaped object with legs
that appears in the sky above Venus. It has an electric blue spotlight
and is hovering about 500 feet away at a height of 300–400 feet. On top
of the object, four humanlike figures, their bodies surrounded by
illumination, are busy with some unknown task. The men and spotlight
disappear at 7:20 p.m. and the object vanishes into the clouds. It
reappears at 8:28 without the men or spotlight but now joined by second,
third and fourth objects at 8:29, 8:35, and 8:35–8:50 p.m., coming and
going through the clouds. The main UFO, “large, clear, stationary,”
gives off a red light and disappears overhead into clouds at 9:10 p.m.,
reappears at 9:20, moves across the sea to Giwa appearing
white-red-blue, then disappears at 9:30. An overhead object reappears at
9:46, hovering, disappears behind a cloud at 10:10, reappears in a gap
between clouds at 10:30, then is gone at 10:50. The next day, the object
returns at 6:00–6:30 p.m. with two others, one to the west and one
overhead. “Two of the figures seemed to be doing something near the
center of the deck. They were occasionally bending over and raising
their arms as though adjusting or setting up something (not visible).
One figure seemed to be standing, looking down at us.” Father Gill and
another teacher wave their arms, and two of the figures on the main
object wave back. Gill waves a flashlight and the object moves back and
forth laterally. Gill goes in for dinner and a church service; when he
returns at 7:45 p.m., the UFO is gone. The next evening at 6:45 p.m.,
some eight objects align themselves across a section of the sky. No
occupants are visible. Martin
Kottmeyer suggests that Gill was watching a lighted squid-fishing
boat close to shore, but Gill has confirmed the object was over his
head. (“Saucer
Men Seen in Flight: Amazing Sighting from Papua,” Flying Saucer
Review 5, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1959): 7–8; Norman E. G. Cruttwell, “Flying
Saucers over Papua: A Report on Papuan Unidentified Flying Objects,”
March 1960; Norman E. G. Cruttwell, “What
Happened in Papua in 1959?” Flying Saucer Review 6, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1960): 3–7; “Father
Gill and the Rev. Lionel Browning,” Flying Saucer Review 7, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1961): 23–25; Norman E. G. Cruttwell, “Flying
Saucers over Papua,” in Charles Bowen, ed., UFOs in Two Worlds,
special issue of FSR, August 1971, pp. 3–38; Gordon Creighton, “The
New Guinea Sightings; A Note on Some Anthropological
Aspects,” in Charles Bowen, ed., UFOs in Two Worlds, special issue
of FSR, August 1971, p. 39; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience,
Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 167–
172, 271–273;
Hynek UFO Report, pp. 216–223;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959 April–June,
The Author, 1999, pp. 59–68, 69–71; “Papua/Father Gill Revisited,” IUR
2, no. 11 (November 1977): 4–7; “Papua/Father Gill Revisited, Part Two,”
IUR 2, no. 12 (December 1977): 4–8; Kim Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs
1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 59–62; Martin Kottmeyer, “Gill
Again: The Father Gill Case Reconsidered,” Magonia, no. 54 (November
1995): 11–14; Bill Chalker, “The
Boianai Visitants of 1959,” The Black Vault, May 16, 2016; Thomas E.
Bullard, “Defending UFOs,” IUR 34, no. 2 (Mar. 2012): 31–32; Swords
383–385; Clark III 533–536)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3307
Date: 6/30/1959
Time: 8:23 PM
Description: Witness: USN Cdr. D. Connolly. One gold, oblate-shaped
object, nine times as wide as it was thick, metallic and with sharp
edges, flew straight and level for 20-30 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Patuxent River NAS, Maryland
ID: 435
Date: 7/1959
Description: The Air Force reassigns UFO investigative duties to the
1127th Field Activities Group stationed at Fort Belvoir, Fairfax County,
Virginia, replacing the 1006th AISS. The unit will also be responsible
for Project Moon Dust and Operation Blue Fly. (Jacobs, UFO Controversy
in America, Signet ed., 1976, p. 134;
Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, “Secret Projects and Open Eyes: A
Response,” IUR 19, no. 3 (May/June 1994): 16–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3308
Date: 7/1959
Description: Contactee Gabriel
Green rebrands his group as the Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of
America and publishes the AFSCA World Report from 1959 to 1961, UFO
International from 1962 to 1965, and Flying Saucers International from
1966 to 1969. (AFSCA
Information Sheet, no.
1 (1959); AFSCA
UFO International, no. 17 (Sept./Oct. 1962); Flying
Saucers International, no.
24 (July 1966); Clark III 99)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3309
Date: 7/5/1959
End date: 7/6/1959
Description: US Navy Cmdr. Julius Larsen, an ONI liaison officer to the
CIA’s Photographic Intelligence Center in Washington, D.C., rediscovers
the Swan-Knowles-Affa correspondence from 1954 in a file and decides to
follow up on it. He goes to Eliot, Maine, to visit Adm. Knowles and
interview Frances Swan. Larsen tries his hand at automatic writing and
channels a message from Affa. Back in Washington on July 6, Larsen goes
to director of the Photographic Intelligence Office, Arthur
C. Lundahl, and tells the story to him and his assistant Lt. Robert
S. Neasham. They
urge Larsen to try to contact the extraterrestrials. Larsen goes into a
trance, asks Affa questions, and writes the answers down. When Neasham
challenges Affa to appear in person or let them see his spaceship,
Larsen stops writing and tells Neasham to go to the window. Lundahl sees
nothing unusual, but Neasham insists a spaceship is hiding behind some
fluffy clouds. He also insists that he later contacted Washington
National Airport and heard from the radar tower that the sector where
the UFO appeared had been “blocked out.” Neasham urges Project Blue
Book’s Maj. Robert
Friend to come over for a briefing. He shows up on July 9 and hears
Neasham’s version of the story, and Larsen even channels some messages.
Friend goes back to Dayton, Ohio, and prepares a memo for his boss.
(Jacobs, UFO Controversy in America, Signet ed., 1976, pp. 153–154;
Clark III 1118–1119; Robert Emenegger, UFOs: Past, Present, and Future,
Ballantine, 1974)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3310
Date: 7/8/1959
Description: Night. Mrs. Napau Abednego and other indigenous people on
Prince of Wales Island in the Torres Strait off Queensland, Australia,
see a huge, glowing red object land on top of a hill at Port Lihou. The
same night, residents of nearby Thursday Island see a green UFO flying
low, and a strange object is also reported at Mapoon Mission on the west
coast of Cape York. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History:
1959 July–September, The
Author, 2000, p. 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3311
Date: 7/11/1959
Description: 6:02 a.m. A Pan American Boeing Stratocruiser piloted by
Capt. George Wilson flying over the Pacific Ocean about 1,035 miles
northeast of Honolulu, Hawaii, encounters a large bright light with 3–4
satellite lights in a line below, behind, and to the left of the main
object. It makes a sharp right turn and disappears to the south. Copilot
Richard Lorenzen and Flight Engineer Bob Scott also see the UFOs.
Another Pan Am flight sees essentially the same phenomenon, as well as
an Air Force bomber crew, a Slick Airways plane, and a Canadian Pacific
airliner. (UFOEv, p. 125)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3312
Date: 7/13/1959
Description: 5:30 a.m. Eileen Moreland, a farmwoman in Blenheim, New
Zealand, goes to the barn to milk her cows and sees a huge object, about
20–30 feet in diameter, with two intense green lights on its underside
descend towards her and hover at rooftop height. It bathes her in green
light. Two rows of jets around the middle shoot out orange flames. She
can see two men inside, dressed in close-fitting suits of shiny material
and opaque helmets. The jets turn on again, the object tilts, and it
shoots up vertically at great speed, making a high-pitched sound. (Loren
E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959
July–September, The Author, 2000, pp. 25–28; Richard H. Hall, “Dyad
‘Scout Craft,’” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001): 23; Patrick Gross, URECAT, November
2, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3313
Date: 7/13/1959
Description: Disc with dome illuminated area in green light, two beings
visible in dome
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Blenheim, New Zealand
ID: 6
Date: 7/13/1959
Time: 0530
Description: Mrs. Moreland saw a diskshaped object as she was milking
cows. It was about 10 m diameter, had two intense, green lights and two
rows of jets around the rim, emitting orange flames. Inside a glass dome
on top were two men dressed in aluminumlike suits. The craft did not
land, but took off at great speed with a high-pitched sound. Heat
sensation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 124; Challenge 24 (Vallee)
Location: Blenheim, New Zealand
ID: 491
Date: 7/14/1959
Description: 8:22 p.m. TV sets in Salisbury, North Carolina,
mysteriously go dead as residents see a flash of light and hear a loud
vibrato noise. (Schopick, pp. 111–113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3314
Date: 7/14/1959
Description: Hunters reported the landing of a red object on the island.
Other hunters saw a similar object near Karumba Lodge.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 123 (Vallee)
Location: Prince of Wales Island, Australia
ID: 492
Date: 7/20/1959
Description: A shuttlecock-shaped UFO is seen over the RAAF Woomera
Range Complex in South Australia. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story,
Signet, 1969, p. 100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3315
Date: 7/25/1959
Time: 1 PM
Description: Witness: technical illustrator W.D. Neva. One thin,
crescent moon-shaped object with a small white dome in the center, flew
at tremendous speed for 5-10 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Irondequoit, New York
ID: 436
Date: 7/27/1959
Description: The UFO Advisory Panel meets at Wright-Patterson AFB in
Ohio to discuss trends and statistics and recent sightings. (“Saucer
Reading Fest,” Saturday Night Uforia, January 25, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3316
Date: 7/28/1959
Description: 2:10 p.m. Ray
Stanford and a friend simultaneously take 8mm and 16mm film footage
of three cigar-shaped objects maneuvering in the sky above his parents’
home at 2629 Lynch Street, Corpus Christi, Texas. A fourth UFO appears
about 5 minutes later. At one point a jet aircraft appears to alter its
course to fly closer to one of the objects. (Ray Stanford, “The
July 28 Movies,” Saucers 7, no. 3/4 (Fall/Winter 1959/1960): 20–23;
“Out
of the Past,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1984): 5–7; “Out
of the Past,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1984):
7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3317
Date: 8/1959
Description: Kathleen O’Rourke is asleep with her two children in her
bedroom in New Matamoras, Ohio, when her son yells her awake. There are
a dozen globes of yellow light circling about a foot above his bed. They
are about 3 inches in diameter. Then a second group enters the room,
passing through the screen. They split, half joining the first and half
sailing over Kathleen. They all then move to her bed and circle above
her. Not one of the lights goes to her daughter’s bed. She presses the
light switch, and the lights turn into straight-edged streaks of light
and disappear. There are no holes in the screens. (Michael D. Swords, “A
Trick of the Light,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3320
Date: 8/1959
Description: Stan Seers, president of the Queensland Flying Saucer
Research Bureau [now UFO Research Queensland], is contacted by a man who
requests a meeting with him in a Brisbane car park and offers him
important information on UFOs. At the meeting he finds out that the man
is an agent of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, who
indicates he knows quite a bit about the group and its officers. By
suggesting that ASIO could offer them significant information, the agent
subsequently infiltrates the group and causes dissension and confusion.
Some QFSRB members are pacifists, apparently, and are seeking to contact
Russian scientists about the UFO phenomenon through the Soviet cultural
organization VOKS. (Good Above, pp. 164–166;
Kremlin 137– 144)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3318
Date: 8/1959
Description: 2:00 p.m. A son and his father are driving near Skiatook,
Oklahoma. Upon nearing a bridge, the car engine dies. Another car is
stopped on the other side of the bridge with its hood up. They see a
metallic, domed disc with a flexible hose hovering less than a foot
above the water of a creek. They watch it for 5 minutes, then the hose
draws in and the disk rises to 10 feet, disturbing the water’s surface
into a foot-deep trench. It flies upward and the cars start again.
(Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959
July–September, The Author, 2000, pp. 59–61; Michael D. Swords,
“Messing Around with the Force,” IUR 31, no. 4 (March 2008):
16–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3319
Date: 8/9/1959
Time: 1954
Description: Mr. Uribe, a petroleum engineer, and two other witnesses
had to stop when they ran out of fuel; they observed a light swinging
like a pendulum, coming close to the ground. It appared as a large,
vertical, egg-shaped object which made a “whooshing” sound. Closest
approach was 120 m. Estimated height: 2 m; width, 1.5 m. When Uribe
aimed a rifle at the object, it went out of sight within seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. IlI 14 (Vallee)
Location: Sombrero, Tierra del Fuego
ID: 493
Date: 8/9/1959
Description: 7:30 p.m. Petroleum engineer Armando Uribe is returning
home from Cerro Sombrero, Tierra del Fuego, Chile, with his wife and an
11-year-old housemaid when their pickup runs out of fuel. As they are
waiting for another vehicle, the girl spots a bright blue light around
7:54 p.m. that is swinging in the air with a pendulum-like motion. As it
approaches, they see it is an object like a metallic egg standing on end
with two shafts of white light projecting from the bottom. A
rose-colored, rotating device is on top. The object makes a quick
movement when Uribe gets out of the truck, but then moves closer. Uribe
points a rifle at it, and it quickly recedes and disappears. (Lorenzen,
UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, pp. 14–16; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: 1959 July–September, The
Author, 2000, pp. 53–54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3321
Date: 8/10/1959
Time: 1:28 AM
Description: Witness: Royal Canadian Air Force pilot Flt. Lt. M.S.
Mowat, on ground. One large star-like light crossed 53 degree of sky in
25 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Goose AFB, Labrador, Canada
ID: 437
Date: 8/12/1959
Description: A 60-year-old farmer saw an eggshaped object come down at
high speed and land in a pasture near a river. Then it took off
vertically and flew away toward Santiago. Traces. Engine noise, not
similar to helicopter.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Brion, Spain
ID: 494
Date: 8/13/1959
Description: 4:00 p.m. Pilot Jack H. Goldsberry, flying a Cessna 170
from Hobbs to Albuquerque, New Mexico, at 8,000 feet, notices halfway
between Roswell and Corona, that his Magnesyn electric compass has
suddenly moved around a slow 360° rotation in about 4–5 seconds. His
other standard magnetic compass is spinning wildly. About this time, he
sees three small, gray, and slightly fuzzy elliptical objects in close
echelon formation passing in front from left to right and around his
plane at a distance about 450–600 feet at a speed of about 200 mph. The
Magnesyn compass follows the objects’ position as they circle the plane,
and after one full circle they disappear to the rear. Then both
compasses settle back to normal. The controller at Albuquerque cancels
his flight plan and orders him to land at Kirtland AFB, where he is
interrogated by a USAF major, who tells him that he might become ill
from the experience. (NICAP, “Former
Navy PBY Pilot Encounter / EME”; Clark III 950; Sparks, p. 278;
Swords 287; “AF
Secretly Warns Pilot of Danger,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 1
(March/April 1965): 5; Schopick, pp. 127–128)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3322
Date: 8/13/1959
Description: Around 9:45 p.m. Orville Shanks is driving with three
passengers on Highway 332 north of Freeport, Texas, when they see a
bright object with two satellite lights approach at low altitude. The
car motor stalls and the headlights go out. The two lights appear to
land, the main object follows them, continually changing colors and
varying the intensity of its light. The motor and lights come back on
when the UFOs cross the road, and Shanks drives on. About midnight they
return, and the object is still there. Shanks gets out and approaches,
but the UFO starts glowing brightly and making a noise, and they drive
off again. (“Object
Lands in Texas, U.S.,” APRO Bulletin, September 1959, p. 3; Loren E.
Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959 July–September, The
Author, 2000, pp. 55–60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3323
Date: 8/13/1959
Time: 2130
Description: A bright, flying object passed low over a car, whose engine
stalled, and landed in a wooded area. Six witnesses in two separate
groups observed the object, and the police were called. The dense
underbrush prevented investigation of the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Sep., 59 (Vallee)
Location: Freeport, Texas
ID: 495
Date: 8/17/1959
Description: The automatic keys at the power station in Uberlândia,
Minas Gerais, Brazil, suddenly disconnect power to all four trunk lines.
A technician at a substation 45 miles away reports that all the keys
disconnected as a UFO passes overhead, traveling toward the main station
along the power lines. The chief engineer resets all the keys but they
turn off again. Outside he sees a bright object approaching at high
speed. As soon as it passes, the entire system returns to normal.
(Lorenzen, FSHoax, pp. 179–180;
Schopick, pp. 143–145;
Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 152–153; McCampbell,
Ufology, 1976, pp. 66–67; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of
the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959 July–September, The Author,
2000, pp. 66–67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3324
Date: 8/25/1959
Time: 1100
Description: Near Hagen, Lutz Holtmann went toward a bright object in a
forest, and fainted when he got close to it. When he regained
consciousness, he saw it take off silently and vertically. It was round,
had a tripod landing gear, two rows of bright openings, and was about 30
m in diameter.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Nachrichten Oct., 59 (Vallee)
Location: Werdehl-Eveking, Germany
ID: 496
Date: 8/25/1959
Description: 11:00 a.m. At Eveking, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany,
Lutz Holtman walks towards a bright object in a forest and faints after
he gets close to it. When he regains consciousness, he sees the UFO take
off silently and vertically. The object is circular, has a tripod
landing gear and two rows of bright openings, and is about 90 feet in
diameter. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 277)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3325
Date: 9/1959
Description: Harvard University psychologist Henry
Murray begins what are widely considered unethical experiments, in
which he uses 22 Harvard undergraduates as research subjects in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Among other purposes, experiments focus on
measuring people’s reactions under extreme stress. The unwitting
undergraduates are submitted to what Murray calls “vehement, sweeping,
and personally abusive” attacks. Specific, tailored assaults on their
egos, cherished ideas, and beliefs are used to cause high levels of
stress and distress. The subjects then repeatedly view recorded footage
of their reactions to this verbal abuse. Among them is 17-year-old Ted Kaczynski, a
mathematician who goes on to become the Unabomber, a domestic terrorist
targeting academics and technologists for 18 years. Alston
Chase’s book Harvard and the Unabomber connects Kaczynski’s abusive
experiences under Murray to his later criminal career. His participation
in these experiments and his service in the OSS have led many to believe
that Murray was a part of the MK Ultra program. His experiments are not
so much for observing stress reactions, but for a study of brainwashing
and enhanced interrogation techniques. (Wikipedia, “Henry
Murray”; Alston Chase, Harvard
and the Unabomber: The Education of an American Terrorist, Norton,
2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3328
Date: 9/1959
Description: Employees of Lockheed’s Skunk Works are the first to return
to Area 51 in Nevada to develop an aircraft that will replace the U-2.
The Archangel-12 (A-12) spy plane will be designed to reduce its radar
cross section by 50%. Following tests with wooden models at Burbank,
California, proof-of-concept tests are to be carried out at Area 51 with
full-scale mockups elevated onto 50-foot pylons. The CIA program to
develop the follow-on aircraft to the U-2 is code-named Project Oxcart.
EG&G agrees to move its radar test facility here. (Jacobsen, Area
51, p. 131;
Peter W. Merlin, “Groom
Lake Timeline: The First Fifty Years,” Secret Heroes, November 10,
2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3326
Date: 9/1959
Description: Waveney
Girvan takes over the editorship of Flying Saucer Review from Brinsley
Le Poer Trench. (“Trench
Resigns,” Flying Saucer Review 5, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1959): 2; Clark
III 498)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3327
Date: 9/7/1959
Description: 2:00 a.m. Rural mail carrier Walter
E. Ogden sees a glowing, pumpkin-shaped object about 40 feet above
the trees in his pasture at Wallingford, Kentucky. After a minute, a
bluish blaze of fire comes from the bottom and it rises about 500 feet,
leaving a circular smoke ring. It then zooms away horizontally. Six days
later, a 12-foot depressed ring of scorched earth is discovered on the
spot, along with a kerosene smell. Air Force investigators show up and
declare it a hoax. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959 July–September, The
Author, 2000, pp. 74–75, 77–80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3329
Date: 9/7/1959
Description: A bluish, disk-shaped object was observed at ground level
by a mail carrier. It suddenly went away horizonally, leaving a stained
ring on the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Nov., 59 (Vallee)
Location: Wallingford, Kentucky
ID: 497
Date: 9/9/1959
Description: The first Atlas-D ICBM is successfully launched at
Vandenberg AFB [now Vandenberg Space Force Base] near Lompoc,
California, and Gen. Thomas
S. Power, CINCSAC,
declares the first ICBM to be operational. Shortly afterward, the first
operational Atlas-D ICBM squadron goes on alert at Francis E. Warren
AFB, west of Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is equipped with six SM-65D Atlas
missiles based in above-ground launchers. (Wikipedia, “Vandenberg
Space Force Base”; Wikipedia, “SM-65
Atlas”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3330
Date: 9/13/1959
Description: 9:58 p.m. A radar target is tracked at Kirtland AFB in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, moving at 2,300 mph at an altitude of 60,000
feet and heading northwest. A total of four radar stations track the
object. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3331
Date: 9/13/1959
Time: 4 PM
Description: Witnesses: at least two control tower operators and the
pilot of a Mooney private airplane. One pear-shaped object, colored
white, cream, and metallic, with a trail under it. Object showed little
movement during 3 hours. Attempted intercept by USAF T-33 jet trainer
failed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Bunker Hill AFB, Indiana
ID: 439
Date: 9/13/1959
Time: 1:05 AM
Description: Witness: R.H. Daubner. One round yellow light, with eight
blue lights within it, and then five larger red lights, flew very fast
vertically while making a pulsating jet noise. Sighting lasted 10
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Gills Rock, Wisconsin
ID: 438
Date: 9/14/1959
Description: The CIA emphasizes antiradar study, aerodynamic structural
tests, and engineering designs, selecting the Lockheed A-12 over rival
Convair’s Kingfish. Edward
Lovick’s suggestion for adding cesium to the A-12’s fuel in order to
ionize the exhaust and mask it from radar is also persuasive. Lockheed
has also added twin canted fins instead of a single right-angle one.
Project Oxcart is officially established. The A-12 design, a combination
of their A-7 and A-11 submissions, emphasizes low radar cross section,
extremely high altitude, and high-speed performance. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
A-12”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3333
Date: 9/14/1959
Description: Air Force Regulation 200-2 is revised, with additional
emphasis on reducing the number of unknowns. This version devotes five
full paragraphs to public release of information, which is now
restricted to the Secretary of the Air Force’s Office of Information
Services at the Pentagon. Local base commanders can release information
only if an object is positively identified. Air Force personnel are not
to contact private individuals on UFO cases or discuss their operations
unless ordered to. (“USAF
UFO Program,” September 28, 1959; Clark III 920–921)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3332
Date: 9/17/1959
Description: The first powered X-15 flight is piloted by Albert
Scott Crossfield out of the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards
AFB, California. (Wikipedia, “North
American X-15”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3334
Date: 9/21/1959
Description: The Air Technical Intelligence Center is renamed the
Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center. (NASIC, “National
Air and Space Intelligence Center Heritage”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3335
Date: 9/24/1959
Description: About 4:55 a.m. In Redmond, Oregon, police officer Robert
Dickerson sees a bright white light rapidly descending north of the
airport. It stops abruptly and hovers about 200 feet above ground for
several minutes, lighting up the juniper trees below. Dickerson drives
toward it on the Prineville Highway, then turns toward the airport. The
object turns reddish-orange and moves rapidly to about 10 miles
northeast of the airport to hover again. Dickerson arrives at the
airport to report his sighting in person to the FAA Air Traffic
Communication Station. Flight Service Specialist Laverne
Wertz, Dickerson,
and others view the object through binoculars as flat and round with
occasional flames extending from its edge. The FAA reports the UFO to
Seattle Air Route Control Center in Washington at 5:10 a.m., which in
turn reports it to Hamilton AFB [now closed], Novato, California, which
scrambles six F-102 jets from Portland to intercept the object. FAA
station observers see the object hover and emit long tongues of red,
yellow, and green light that extend and retract at irregular intervals.
As the jets approach the object from the southeast, it turns into a
mushroom shape, emits red and yellow flames from the lower side, and
ascends rapidly, disappearing above scattered clouds at about 14,000
feet. The object’s departure forces one F-102 to swerve to avoid
collision. Another nearly loses control from the UFO’s turbulent wake.
The UFO is tracked on one F-102 gunsight radar, but the jets cannot
intercept. The UFO reappears about 20 miles south of Redmond at about
25,000 feet. The Seattle Center reports at 6:20 a.m. radar contact with
the object about 25 miles south. The USAF Air Defense Center radar site
at Klamath Falls, Oregon, tracks a large target abruptly changing course
and vectors B-47 and F-89 aircraft to identify it. Redmond FAA
controllers lose sight of the object. Seattle FAA reports at 7:11 a.m.
that Klamath Falls radar still is tracking it at 25 miles south of
Redmond but varies in altitude from 6,000 to 52,000 feet. The Air Force
claims the UFOs are caused by false radar returns, with excitable
witnesses imagining the glow. But locals notice the FAA is checking for
abnormal radioactivity, so the Air Force changes its explanation to
weather balloon. And NICAP obtains FAA logs showing all the details. The
Air Force again changes its explanation to Venus. (NICAP, “Huge
Disc Sparks Scramble”; UFOEv, pp. 44, 48,
113–114, 138;
Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, pp. 33–36;
WFAA, Dallas, Texas, “Archive
1959: Fighter Jets Sent to Intercept Redmond UFO,” May 12, 2016;
Patrick Gross, “The
Redmond UFO Incident,
USA, September 24, 1959”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3336
Date: 9/28/1959
Description: ATIC issues a staff study by Col. Richard
R. Shoop reassessing its UFO investigating role. It recommends that
the UFO program be transferred to the Air Research and Development
Command, which has better scientific capabilities, and then implement an
effective public relations campaign with the goal of “the eventual
elimination of the program as a special project.” (“USAF
UFO Program,” September 28, 1959; “Saucer Reading
Fest,” Saturday Night Uforia, January 25, 2019; Jacobs, UFO
Controversy in America, Signet ed., p.
151)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3337
Date: 9/29/1959
Description: Maj. R.O. Braswell, while flying an C-47 at 6500 ft. alt.,
spotted an UFO. “It was colored like a large red fire and looked like an
atomic cloud”, he stated. At about 5 degrees above my plane it appeared
massive and was at about 13000 ft. alt. The UFO appeared to be about
1000 ft. thick (top to bottom). Billie Guyton of Centerville, TX, also
observed the UFO and said that he observed a smaller UFO emerge from it.
Another ground observer, Jackie J. Cox, schoolteacher, saw a “bright
light in the sky that spread to cover the entire sky.” W.S. Webb of
Buffalo, N.Y., glanced out his bedroom window and saw a ball of fire
shooting through the sky, after which he heard a noise, as if something
was falling from the sky. The next day Braniff Airways Flight 542,
carrying 28 passengers and 6 crew members, was found shredded in a
thousand pieces. Subsequent inquiry found that there had been no fire or
explosion aboard the jet before or after the crash and that scorch marks
found on the exterior windows, fuselage and parted tail section showed
signs of having been exposed to tremendous exterior heat. Also the force
causing the plane to come down did not come from within the plane. Radar
Operator, E.H. Tindale, later told investigators that he had plotted an
UFO twice on the night Flight 542 crashed. Both plots of the UFO were in
the area where the wreckage of the airliner was found. The UFO was
stationary both times it was tracked.
Type: ufo midair collision
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Buffalo, Texas
See also: 4/1/59
See also: 5/61
Date: 9/29/1959
Description: The first attempt to hover a tethered Avrocar is made.
After the vehicle becomes airborne, an uncontrollable roll and
pitch-coupled oscillation starts that forces each of the three wheels
into the ground in turn. The pilot, W. D. “Spud” Potocki, immediately
shuts down all engines. Changes are made to the stability system to
provide more control authority, while new tethers are investigated to
improve the ability to control the problem. (Wikipedia, “Avro
Canada VZ-9 Avrocar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3339
Date: 9/29/1959
Description: Maj. R. O. Braswell, flying an Air Force C-47 at 6,500 feet
over Texas, sees a “large red fire” that looks like a mushroom cloud. It
is 5° above his plane, with its base at 12,000–15,000 feet and its top
at 16,000 feet. (Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, pp. 160–161)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3338
Date: 9/30/1959
Description: Night. During a training flight with a student over Poznań,
Poland, a pilot named Leszczyński sees two large circles of light with
another pair some 12 miles away. He makes a close approach, but one of
the objects shoots off while the other grows dimmer. After a short
while, the dark object moves away. (Poland 63)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3340
Date: 10/1959
Description: 10:00 a.m. Fr. Raimundo Nascimento Teixeira, a professor at
Don Bosco College, is walking in the Núcleo Bandeirante region in
Brasília, Federal District, Brazil, when he sees a crowd watching a
strange object moving and stopping in the blue sky. He sees a student of
his with a box camera, and he takes six photos of what he calls a flying
saucer. A few days later, Teixeira meets with another witness, Israel
Pinheiro, president of the New Building Company, who takes the negatives
of his three best photos to forward to the Brazilian Navy for analysis.
A few months later, the Navy returns different photos and offers no
technical report. (Clark III 197; Roberto Affonso Beck, “Um
Fenômeno Desafiador,” September 2005, pp. 35–36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3342
Date: 10/1959
Description: NICAP continues collecting statements in preparation for
potential congressional hearings. It gets statements from USAF pilot and
UFO witness Lt. Col. Richard
T. Headrick, Sgt. James
H. Sawyer, and Sgt. Oliver Dean. (Keyhoe, FSTS, pp. 252–254; UFOEv, p. 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3341
Date: 10/1/1959
Description: 9:20 a.m. A radar target moving at 719 mph on a northwest
course is tracked at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At 10:29
a.m., another radar target is detected moving at 1,000 mph to the
northwest. Its altitude is 41,000 feet. Two F-89J Scorpion fighters are
scrambled to intercept it but they can see nothing. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The
Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 103–104)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3343
Date: 10/2/1959
Description: Approximate date. Miss G. Wilson, 14, was out riding a
horse when a luminous object dived toward her, and she rushed home in
fear. Her father came out and saw the object, which he described as
orange and making a “painful” sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 125 (Vallee)
Location: Glenora, Canada
ID: 498
Date: 10/2/1959
Description: 12:20 a.m. For three hours, a Hercules radar site (#13) at
McChord AFB [now Joint Base Lewis-McChord] near Tacoma, Washington,
tracks a total of five objects that usually appear in pairs. The radar
returns are said to be “weak.” Visually, at least one soundless, round.
“quarter sized,” blue-white light is seen in the sky. ARTC reports no
air traffic in the area of the radar site during the time of contact.
The first object on radar is seen at 10° elevation. The last object seen
on radar was at 20° elevation. The visual object is at 10° degrees
elevation. When last observed, the visual object is 20° elevation.
Flight patterns are erratic. Range changes from 12,000 feet to 24,000
feet, and azimuth from 190° to 170°. Objects seem to fade from the scope
and visual contact when finally lost. Visual contact is disrupted by
intermittent fog. (NICAP, “Hercules
Site Tracks Objects for Three Hours”; Condon, pp. 145–148;
Swords 287)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3344
Date: 10/4/1959
Time: 9:25 PM
Description: Witnesses: USN Lt. C.H. Pogson, CPO K.J. Moore. One large
round or oval object, changing from red to red-orange, flew straight and
level for 15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Quezon, Phillipine Islands
ID: 441
Date: 10/6/1959
Time: 8:15 PM
Description: Witnesses: Lt. Col. L. Liggett (Selective Service) and
wife. One round, white-yellow light made several abrupt turns and flew
very fast for 2 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska
ID: 442
Date: 10/8/1959
Description: Night. Two amateur astronomers in Mobile, Alabama, observe
an unknown object traverse the Moon’s disk from west to east directly
over the crater Copernicus. They watch the fast-moving shape “every
night the weather permitted for a period of 33 days.” They write to
Project Moonwatch about the observations, but they reply that no other
lunar observers have seen the phenomenon, so it must be closer to the
Mobile observers. (Michael D. Swords, “Gazing at the Moons,” IUR 32, no.
4 (October 2009): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3345
Date: 10/12/1959
Description: 1:00 p.m. Multiple witnesses at Washington, Sharon, and
Crawfordville, Georgia, watch “brown or black footballs” traveling
southeast to west, followed by angel hair covering a vast area. The
substance consists of “threads from 10ʹ to 50ʹ long connected at ¾ʺ
intervals by minute particles resembling snowflakes.” The material falls
for about 2 hours. Five samples are collected and sent to the Chemicals
and Materials Laboratory at Robins AFB, Georgia. No unusual elements are
discovered except for high amounts of silver in one and some silver in
three others. The conjecture is that “cloud seeding with a silver salt
could have caused the phenomenon.” (Brian Boldman, “Angel Hair Physical
Analyses: A Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006): 103–104)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3346
Date: 10/13/1959
Description: In his syndicated column, Joseph
Alsop goes so far as to describe “classified intelligence” as
placing the Soviet missile count as high as 1,500 by 1963, and the US
will have only 130 at that time. (Joseph Alsop, “True Missile
Gap Picture Belies Pentagon Response,” Eugene (Oreg.)
Register-Guard, October 13, 1959, p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3347
Date: 10/19/1959
Time: 9:25 PM
Description: Witness: Capt. F.A. Henney, engineering instructor at USAF
Academy, flying a T-33 jet trainer. One bright yellowish light came
head-on at the T-33, the pilot avoided it and the light dimmed. Sighting
lasted 30 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Plainville Kansas
ID: 443
Date: 10/19/1959
Time: 9:15 PM
Description: Witness: department store manager C.A. Cissman. One bright
light approached, hovered about 30 minutes, and then was up and gone in
2 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 3rd or 4th week. Telephone Ridge, Oregon
ID: 440
Date: late 10/1959
Description: 6:55 p.m. Electrician Gideon Johansson is at home in
Mariannelund, Småland, Sweden, when there is a power failure. He goes
outside to look at the power lines when he bumps into his son Rolf, who
points out a brilliant white object hovering above a three-story
building. The object descends slowly and appears to be heading toward
Johansson’s garden. The machine oscillates three times and smashes into
the top of a maple tree, descends through the branches and hovers about
18 inches above the ground. Only about 10 feet away, Johansson can see
the object has a large window, through which two entities are visible.
Their heads have high crown and they have big, friendly eyes. They have
mall mouths and pointed chins and are wearing white uniforms with broad
black belts. One seems to be working at an instrument panel. They are
only the size of a 14-year-old. Soon the object moves up and shoots away
in a flash. Glassy deposits are found on some power lines in addition to
the damaged tree, and Johansson gets prickly pains in his lower body.
(Anders Liljegren, “Mariannelund
UFO and Occupants,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1970):
14–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3349
Date: 10/22/1959
Description: Night. Three witnesses are driving through Cumberland,
Maryland, when they see a metallic disc emitting a bluish-green light
around its edge. The driver abruptly stops, but leaves the car running.
Suddenly the object drops down to 50 feet altitude and hovers 100 feet
away in front of the car, making a humming vibration. As two of the
witnesses open the door to get out, the car engine, lights, and radio
fail. Shortly afterward, the disc shoots straight up, then forward,
makes a 90° angle, then disappears in clouds. The car begins functioning
normally again. (Newark (Md.) Evening News, November 5, 1959; Schopick,
pp. 67–68; Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969,
pp. 104–105)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3348
Date: 10/25/1959
Description: On the Trans-Canada Highway west of this town, four hunters
(Douglas Robinson, Ray Disguiseppe, Victor Arnone and John Defilippo, of
Port-Arthur) saw an oval, luminous object follow their car about 13 m
above them. The object was spinning, stopped when they did, was white in
color and remained with them for nearly 50 km.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 60, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Fort William, Canada
ID: 499
Date: 10/31/1959
Description: Soviet Col. Georgy
Mosolov reaches an airspeed record of 1,484 mph in a
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 over the Soviet Union. (Wikipedia, “Georgy
Mosolov”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3350
Date: 11/1959
Description: A full-scale mockup of the A-12 is shipped to Area 51 in
Nevada for radar signature testing by EG&G. (Peter W. Merlin, “Groom
Lake Timeline: The First Fifty Years,” Secret Heroes, November 10,
2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3351
Date: 11/2/1959
Description: 12:00 noon. A substance described as angel hair falls from
two UFOs seen in Evora, Portugal, and is collected and analyzed under a
microscope by a school director, Dr. Amaral, and later by armed forces
technicians and scientists at the University of Lisbon. The scientists
conclude that the substance is produced by a small insect or some
strange kind of single-celled organism about 4 millimeters in length.
(Hayley Price, “Evora
Angel Hair,” UFO Weekly News; Nicole Guardiola, “An
Extraterrestrial Living Being, Captured and Studied Eighteen
Years Ago,”
translated from El País, October 13, 1978)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3352
Date: 11/8/1959
Description: A large, luminous object is seen moving at great speed over
Kandahar, Afghanistan, to the northwest. Shortly afterward it explodes
with a loud roar in nearby mountains, causing some slight earth tremors.
Possible Russian missile test. (Good Above, p. 308)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3353
Date: 11/10/1959
Description: Requests to transfer responsibility for UFO investigations
from ATIC to ARDC are sent to Maj. Gen. Charles
B. Dougher (ATIC commander), Col. Philip G. Evans (ATIC Deputy for
Sciences and Components), and Maj. Gen. James
H. Walsh (AF Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence). (“Saucer
Reading Fest,” Saturday Night Uforia, January 25, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3354
Date: 11/12/1959
Description: The first completely free flight of an Avrocar takes place.
This test proves the nozzle control system unacceptable. (Wikipedia, “Avro
Canada VZ-9 Avrocar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3355
Date: 11/16/1959
Description: 8:00 p.m. Czech Air Force officer Commander Duchoň is
driving with another officer named Bezák to a Czechoslovakian airfield
[now in the Czech Republic] to supervise night-flying exercises. At
about 6 miles from the airfield, the car engine begins to stall.
Suddenly they see a light sapphire-colored band moving at high speed at
an altitude of 1,600–2,600 feet. It is completely silent. Some minutes
later they are able to start the car again. Personnel at the airfield
tell them they had seen a flaming ball that rotated, made a 90° turn,
and passed over the airfield again. The tower tracks the object on radar
at an altitude of 3,000 feet during its second pass. The object is about
500 feet in diameter with a glowing ring around it. (“Saucers
and the Iron Curtain: A Report from Czechoslovakia,”
Flying Saucer Review 6, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1960): 31–32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3356
Date: 11/18/1959
Time: 6:25 PM
Description: Witness: J.M. Porter. A row of red lights flew slow, then
speeded up immensely. Sighting lasted 5-6 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Crystal Springs, Mississippi
ID: 444
Date: 11/19/1959
Description: Otis
T. Carr is convicted in federal court of selling unregistered
securities to Gurney
G. Warnberg, a
pilot and railroad man in Yukon, Oklahoma, and fined $5,000. Unable to
pay, Carr works off his fine in jail at a dollar a day. (Clark III
861)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3357
Date: 12/1959
Description: Project Space Track moves to a new building in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, the National Space Surveillance Control Center (NSSCC),
which is formally dedicated on February 9, 1960. The NSSCC is part of
the Air Force Command and Control Development Division, Air Research and
Development Command. Harold O. Curtis of Lincoln Laboratory is the
director of the NSSCC. (Wikipedia, “Project
Space Track”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3360
Date: 12/1959
Description: The new edition of Ruppelt’s
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects is published with three new
UFO debunking chapters, the last of which is completely different in
tone from the rest of the book. He claims there is no Air Force secrecy
on UFOs and NICAP is just a bunch of grandstanding nuts. (Clark III
1024; Michael Hall and Wendy Connors, “The Forgotten Letters of Edward
J. Ruppelt,” IUR 24, no. 4 (Winter 1999): 20–26, 30, 32; Swords
301)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3358
Date: 12/1959
Description: The London UFO Research Organisation is founded by Paul
Teugells, Nigel Stephenson, Susanne Stebbing, and Roy Stemman, and
begins publishing a monthly magazine, LUFORO Bulletin. (LUFORO
Newsletter, no.
1 (December 1959))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3359
Date: 12/1959
Description: 5:45 a.m. Larry Jensen is driving to work on US Highway 99
near Proberta, California, when his radio begins making “snapping”
noises, and his lights dim. He pulls over to the side of the road and
gets out to check his headlights, which he finds are shining feebly. He
notices a huge, bright, bluish-green, crescent-shaped object hovering
about 60 feet above the road a quarter of a mile behind him. It appears
to be 80–90 feet across and 15– 20 feet thick. Suddenly and
inexplicably, he finds his clothes are soaked and he feels an alarming
feeling as if he is getting crushed inside. He also feels as if he is
being sucked up into the object. He grabs for a car door, then collides
with a side mirror and staggers backward, but manages to get inside.
Looking out the right-door window, he sees the UFO a few miles away,
heading northeast and climbing at a shallow angle over the Sierra
foothills. It vanishes within 10 seconds. Jensen’s car lights come back
on. He resumes driving, but 600 feet away is forced to stop because he
smells burning rubber. The battery caps are blown out, and the battery
is swollen out of shape, the generator is not working, and the armature
and field wires have melted together. Later, he finds it odd that he has
not encountered another single car during or after the episode. (Clark
III 866; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959 October–December, The
Author, 2000, pp. 56–59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3361
Date: 12/1/1959
Description: At a NASA news conference in Washington, D.C., Cal Tech
geochemist Harrison
Brown suggests that boneless animals similar to jellyfish abound in
oceans on Venus. The speculation comes in the wake of the discovery that
the planet’s atmosphere contains water vapor. (“Scientist
Says Jellyfish May Live on Venus,” Wilmington (Del.) News Journal,
December 2, 1959, p. 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3362
Date: 12/2/1959
Description: A bright, circular object is seen in the sky heading
southwest over Ghazni, Afghanistan. It disappears after 2 minutes. (Good
Above, p. 308)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3363
Date: 12/5/1959
Description: After five flights, testing of the Avrocar is temporarily
halted, by which time it has logged 18.5 hours of test time in total.
(Wikipedia, “Avro
Canada VZ-9 Avrocar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3364
Date: 12/7/1959
Description: Maj. Gen. James
H. Walsh writes to Lt. Gen. Bernard
A. Schriever, commander
of ARDC, regarding transfer of UFO duties. (“Saucer
Reading Fest,” Saturday Night Uforia, January 25, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3365
Date: 12/11/1959
Description: A memo reaches CIA head Allen
Dulles’s desk recommending the removal of Fidel
Castro. He sets the wheels in motion.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3366
Date: 12/13/1959
Description: Karl Lars Dersson is walking on the deck of the Danish
tanker Dorthe Mærsk just north of La Orchila Island, Venezuela. He sees
a brilliant cone-shaped object descending from the sky and alerts the
crew. It gets brighter as it nears the surface of the Caribbean, and the
crew hear a loud concussion as it enters the water. The surface becomes
turbulent and brilliant with many colors. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the
Americas, Signet, 1968, pp. 50–51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3367
Date: 12/13/1959
Description: Early evening. A rocket project officer at Fort Bliss in El
Paso, Texas, is out looking at the Moon with binoculars when a lighted
object approaches the Moon very slowly in the six o’clock position. Once
nearly in line with the lunar edge, it begins a precision journey,
skirting the edge until it reaches three o’clock. It then leaves on a
straight track directly away. During the observation, the man calls his
wife and two neighbors to watch the performance. (Michael D. Swords,
“Gazing at the Moons,” IUR 32, no. 4 (October 2009): 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3368
Date: 12/15/1959
Description: USAF Maj. Joseph
Rogers attains an airspeed of 1,526 mph in a Convair F-106 Delta
Dart at Edwards AFB, California. (Wikipedia, “Convair
F-106 Delta Dart”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3369
Date: late 12/1959
Description: 10:00 p.m. Lorentz Johnsen sees a dark, silent object with
a row of windows fly slowly by at an altitude of 500 feet, headed in the
direction of Namsenfjorden, Trøndelag, Norway. It descends to about 160
feet, grows fiery red, then explodes with a crash and falls into the
water. He says that it looks like a cover is torn off in one piece like
a “curved sheet of metal.” (Ole Jonny Brænne, “Observations of
Unidentified Submarine Objects in Norway,” IUR 20, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1995): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3370
Date: 12/22/1959
Time: 2350
Description: Kenneth Lindsley and several other witnesses saw a bright,
orange object at ground level. It was bowl-shaped, as wide as the road,
and shadows that appeared to be moving could be seen.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 60, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Oakdale, California
ID: 500
Date: 12/24/1959
Description: Maj. Gen. Richard
E. O’Keefe, acting
inspector general of the Air Force, issues instructions pertaining to
“UFO business” to every air base commander in the US. The document is
not intended for public distribution, but NICAP obtains a copy. Across
the top are the words “UFOs Serious Business.” It says that UFOs “must
be rapidly and accurately identified as serious USAF business in the ZI
[Zone of Interior]” and specifies that UFO investigators “should be
equipped with binoculars, camera, Geiger counter, magnifying glass and
have a source for containers in which to store samples.” O’Keefe asks
that UFO explanations be “reasonable and knowledgeable.” (Loren E.
Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1959 October– December,
The Author, 2000, pp. 61, 65–66; Swords 286; Good Need, pp. 226,
229)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3371
Date: 1960
Description: The first planar monolithic integrated circuit (IC) chip
was demonstrated
Type: scientific advance
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 1960’s
End date: mid 1980’s
Description: ex-Navy worker Riley Hansard Crabb (April 2, 1912 — January
20, 1994) takes over as director of the BSRF. One of the first major
things he does is discredit “Gerald Light”
Type: research group
Reference: link
Date: 1960’s
Description: “Area 51” designation appears on several atomic fallout
maps
Type: secret location
Reference: “Dreamland” by Lazar
Date: 1960
Description: Contactee George
Hunt Williamson legally changes his name to Michel d’Obrenovic, said
to reflect an ancestral connection to the throne of Serbia. However,
John Griffin says the real reason is that Williamson’s sensational
claims have rendered his anthropological work (such as it is) completely
unacceptable. (Clark III 1287; Zirger and Martinelli, The Incredible
Life of George Hunt Williamson, Verdechiari, 2016, pp. 119–124)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3375
Date: 1960
Description: Night. During a pause in army maneuvers near Brno [now in
the Czech Republic], soldiers see a peculiarly colored light above the
city. After hovering a while, it vanishes but reappears in another part
of the sky. Their commanding officer tells them to look at it with
binoculars and check the radar. Headquarters sends up interceptors to
chase the object, but every time one of them gets near, the light
disappears from the radar screen, only to turn up elsewhere. The
incident goes on for an hour before the light disappears for good.
(Hobana and Weverbergh 90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3376
Date: 1960
Description: The invention of transponders that transmit an electronic
identification signal from aircraft to ground control helps to further
reduce clutter on air traffic control radars. This means that “aerial
phenomena” appear on radar only if they intrude on flight paths and
create a near miss of the type investigated by the Civil Aviation
Authority. (David Clarke, “Gremlins and Black Projects,” Fortean Times
291 (August 2012): 26–27; National Air Traffic Controllers Association,
A
History of Air Traffic Control, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3377
Date: 1960
Description: Jim
Lorenzen is hired as senior technical associate with the Kitt Peak
National Observatory, so he and Coral move
to Tucson, Arizona, from Alamogordo, New Mexico. On their third day in
Tucson, an “exterminator” visits them, offering to inspect their rented
premises for free. He fails to mention the name of his company, nor does
he seem interested in his occupation. He talks with Coral about their
reason for moving, where Jim is employed, and UFOs. (Clark III 50;
Lorenzen, Encounters with UFO Occupants, Berkley Medallion, 1976, pp. 3,
251)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3373
Date: 1960
Description: Brinsley
Le Poer Trench, 8th Earl of Clancarty, publishes The Sky People, in
which he claims that Adam
and Eve, Noah, and
many other characters in the Bible originally lived on Mars. Trench
believes that Adam and Eve were experimental creations of
extraterrestrials. The biblical description of the Garden of Eden is
inconsistent with what Earth is like, and because Mars contains canals,
the Garden of Eden must have been located on Mars. He further claims
that the north polar ice cap melted on Mars, causing the descendants of
Adam and Eve to move to Earth. The Book of Genesis is a symbolic version
of what actually happened to groups of people on Mars, he writes, with
the Great Deluge referring to the flooding of Atlantis and Lemuria,
which were populated with Adamic migrants. (Brinsley Le Poer Trench, The
Sky People, Spearman,
1960; Jerome Clark, “Vimanas Have Landed: Ancient Astronautics in
Ufology,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 26–27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3374
Date: early 1960
Description: Night. Vice Chief of Air Staff Gen. Curtis
LeMay is conducting an exercise to test his bombers’ capability to
penetrate US air space. An F-89J Scorpion jet instructor pilot and his
radar observer, 1Lt. Joe Meyer, have just successfully intercepted a
B-47 and are descending to land at James Connally AFB [now TSTC Waco
Airport] near Waco, Texas. They notice a pinpoint of light at their
level 12 miles away over Waco and decide to approach and attack it as if
they are armed. As they approach on a collision course, they see the
object has four bright blue- white lights on it and it is stationary.
They estimate it is 25–30 feet in diameter. But the object shoots
straight up at incredible speed before they reach it. They look up and
see the object is bright blue white on its underside. It disappears at
about 90,000 feet altitude. (“Pilot
Finally Reveals UFO Encounter,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 375 (July
1999): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3372
Date: 1/1960
Description: The first issue of the Australian Flying Saucer Review is
published jointly by the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society and
UFOIC, edited by Peter E. Norris and Andrew
P. Tomas. It
will continue until December 1972, various issues confusingly sponsored
by each group, plus the Queensland Flying Saucer Research Bureau and the
renamed Victorian UFO Research Society. (Australian
Flying Saucer Review 1, no. 1 (January 1960))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3378
Date: 1/1960
Description: Tests continue with a slightly modified Avrocar.
(Wikipedia, “Avro
Canada VZ-9 Avrocar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3379
Date: 1/18/1960
Description: 10:45 p.m. Leo Haley and Bert C. Baker are driving on US
Highway 2, some 9 miles west of Lakota, North Dakota, when the
headlights dim just as a brilliant green flash lights up the sky. In a
field to the north about 1 mile away they can see a 5–6 foot
crescent-shaped object with a 9-foot exhaust tail. (Schopick,
p. 69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3380
Date: 1/26/1960
Description: Richard
Bissell notifies Kelly
Johnson that the CIA is authorizing the delivery of 12 A-12 aircraft
that will be five times faster than the U-2 and fly three miles higher.
Skunk Works will move into production at Area 51 in Nevada to work on
Project Oxcart. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
A-12”; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 134–135)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3381
Date: 1/31/1960
Description: Telegram from Manhattan Project scientist Dr. Leon Davidson
to President Eisenhower over “inspection of secret aircraft” rumors of a
Feb. 1954 meeting at Edwards AFB.
Type: telegram
Reference: link
Date: 2/1960
Description: The US Navy reportedly detects a “dark satellite” thought
to be a Soviet spy satellite in orbit. However, a follow-up article
alleges that the object was “the remains of an Air Force Discoverer VIII
satellite that had gone astray.” (“Trackers
Spot Mystery Object Orbiting Earth,” Washington (D.C.) Evening Star,
February 11, 1960; Wikipedia, “Corona
(satellite)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3382
Date: 2/5/1960
Description: The office of the AF Chief of Intelligence is informed of
ARDC’s rejection (by Maj. Gen. James
Ferguson) of the ATIC proposal. (“Saucer
Reading Fest,” Saturday Night Uforia, January 25, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3383
Date: 2/5/1960
Description: 11:15 p.m. Many people see a distinctly round UFO hover and
maneuver slowly over or near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and La
Brea Avenue in Hollywood, California. Cars are stopped bumper-to-
bumper, according to employees of several businesses around the
intersection, with people gaping at the object overhead. Persons on
hotel and apartment rooftops go out to see a bright “cherry-red,
circular light.” Two service- station attendants at the intersection,
Jerry Darr and Charles Walker, say that “hundreds of people saw it—
everybody was looking” as the light hovers for at least 5 minutes over a
busy drive-in. Pen Meyer, another service station attendant a third of a
mile to the north, watches it hovering for about 10 minutes. Harold
Sherman, his wife, and two others watch it as it resumes motion very
slowly eastward. After proceeding east for a distance of a block or two,
it veers southeastward and passes out of sight. No sound is heard over
street-noise background. (Los Angeles NICAP Subcommittee case files;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 54–57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3384
Date: 2/6/1960
Description: 11:15 p.m. The red object reappears over Hollywood,
California, this time about one block further east, above Sunset
Boulevard and Sycamore Avenue. A number of witnesses observe it hovering
for about 10 minutes at an altitude of 500–600 feet. Then with a loud
explosion it emits a brilliant bluish-white flash that extends downward
and to the west, lighting up the ground all around La Brea Avenue. A
mushroom-shaped cloud appears and dissipates. As the red light is
extinguished, an object described by most witnesses as long, tubular,
and about 70 feet long shoots upwards. A few seconds later, the red
light appears about 1,000 feet above Sunset and La Brea for about 8
minutes. It then begins drifting slowly eastward, turns sharply toward
the north-northeast, accelerates and climbs steeply, not stopping again
until it is at a very high altitude well to the north. (Los Angeles
NICAP Subcommittee case file; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 54–57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3385
Date: 2/17/1960
Description: Hynek writes
to Brig. Gen. Benjamin
G. Holzman at ARDC in the hopes of interesting him in assessing UFO
reports. (“Saucer
Reading Fest,” Saturday Night Uforia, January 25, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3386
Date: 2/27/1960
Time: 6:27 PM
Description: Witnesses: control tower officer Capt. J. Huey and four
other tower operators. One light trailing a white fan shape, made a mild
descent for 3-4 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Rome AFB, New York
ID: 445
Date: 2/27/1960
Description: NICAP sends photocopies of O’Keefe’s
1959 “UFOs Serious Business” memo to the media and to committees in the
House and Senate, calling for congressional hearings. NICAP Board member
Rear Adm. Roscoe
Hillenkoetter adds a statement: “Behind the scenes, high-ranking AF
officers are soberly concerned about the UFOs. But through official
secrecy [AFR 200-2] and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the
unknown flying objects are nonsense.” NICAP board member Albert
Baller writes: “If the UFOs are believed a threat, it would seem
incumbent on the armed forces to waste no time in alerting the people.
Any sudden, hostile act against a nation left in relative ignorance
could have serious consequences.” (“UFO
Warning Issued: Flying Objects
‘Now Serious Business,’” Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star, February 27,
1960, p. 1; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January–June 1960, The Author,
2003, p. 37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3387
Date: 3/1960
Description: “Flying Saucer Review” article by Manhattan Project
scientist Dr. Leon Davidson
Type: article
Reference: link
Date: 3/1960
Description: The Ottawa Flying Saucer Club begins publishing Topside,
edited by Wilbert
B. Smith until 1962. It continues until winter 1971. (Topside, no.
1 (March 1960))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3388
Date: 3/4/1960
Time: 5:55 PM
Description: Witness: Charles Morris. Three elliptical-shaped objects
made a slight climb for 4 minutes. Film exposed during sighting showed
no images of the objects.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Dubuque, Iowa
ID: 446
Date: 3/6/1960
Description: 5:15–5:27 a.m. Photographer Esse Jansson of Norrtälje,
Sweden, goes out early in the morning to try to take a photo of an
unidentified satellite, termed 1960 Alpha [however, the designation of
1960 Alpha 1 is reserved for the Pioneer 5 space probe, which isn’t
launched until March 11], “which was expected to pass the Stockholm
latitude in a southerly direction about 0525 hours.” He sees two objects
that come from the north and move in a southeasterly direction. They are
similar to phenomena he has seen before, but these objects reverse
direction completely. One of his plates shows a third object. The CIA
takes note of this and another mystery satellite viewed by a Swedish
airplane and reported in Dagens Nyheter, March 8. (Central Intelligence
Agency, “UFO’s Sighted,
Photographed in Sweden; Unidentified Satellite Seen,” FDD Note 1107,
March 17, 1960)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3389
Date: 3/8/1960
Description: Holzman forwards
Hynek’s
letter up the chain of command. (“Saucer
Reading Fest,” Saturday Night Uforia, January 25, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3390
Date: 3/17/1960
Description: President Eisenhower signs
off on a CIA paper titled “A Program of Covert Action against the Castro
Regime.” The order gives the agency authorization to create an
organization of exiled Cubans to manage opposition programs, begin a
propaganda offensive to draw support for the movement, create an
intelligence gathering network inside Cuba, and develop a paramilitary
force to be introduced into Cuba to organize, train, and lead resistance
groups against the Castro regime. Its budget is $4.4 million. Under the
Cuban Project and under the direction of CIA Directorate for Plans Richard
M. Bissell, MKUltra’s Sidney
Gottlieb proposes spraying Fidel Castro’s
television studio with LSD and saturating his shoes with thallium to
make his beard fall out. Gottlieb also hatches schemes to assassinate
Castro, including the use of a poisoned cigar, a poisoned wetsuit, an
exploding conch shell, and a poisonous fountain pen. (Wikipedia, “Sidney
Gottlieb”; Kris Hollington, Wolves,
Jackals, and Foxes:
The Assassins Who Changed History, St. Martin’s,
2008; Wikipedia, “Operation
Mongoose”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3391
Date: spring 1960
Time: night
Description: An electronics engineer was fishing when he heard a shrill,
whirring sound and saw a round object, with a rotating light on top,
land on the shore. The sound gradually stopped, an opening became
visible, and two dwarfs with oversized heads came out with a hose and
pumped water from the river. Later they appeared to play like children.
Their bodies glowed with lights of changing colors.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Binder (Vallee)
Location: Syracuse, New York
ID: 501
Date: 3/23/1960
Time: 3:35 AM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. E.I. Larsen. A series of balls,
arranged like an “X” with one diagonal line, seen for 3/4 of a minute.
Note: little data on the case in the files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
ID: 447
Date: 3/24/1960
Description: Two policemen are in the vicinity of Lambert–St. Louis
International Airport in Missouri, one on the north side, the other on
the south side. A bright light illuminates the entire area. Three
objects in a V-formation whisk overhead. They are round, white, and 9
feet in diameter. (Swords 293)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3392
Date: 4/5/1960
Description: An orange disk landed with a hissing sound, then exploded,
while four dwarfish figures ran away into the brush.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 60, 5; 126 (Vallee)
Location: Beira, Mozambique
ID: 502
Date: 4/8/1960
Description: Project Ozma, set up only a few days earlier by Frank
Drake at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank,
West Virginia, seems to hit paydirt. As he slews his antenna off Tau
Ceti and onto Epsilon Eridani, Drake is greeted with a strong, periodic,
pulsed signal on 1420 MHz, the hyperfine transition emission line of
interstellar hydrogen atoms proposed for SETI by Giuseppe
Cocconi and Philip
Morrison, and still favored as a promising hailing frequency for
interstellar communications. Drake is ready with a second, low-gain
antenna. The pulses are there as well, sadly disproving their
extraterrestrial origin. But they are not exactly terrestrial
interference, either. The rate at which the phantom signal traverses the
sky suggests that it is emanating from an aircraft cruising at
unprecedented altitude—perhaps 80,000 feet. At the time, no known
aircraft can reach the stratosphere. Such an aircraft, as it happens,
doesn’t “come into existence” until the following month, when Francis
Gary Powers is shot down over the Soviet Union. (Drake wisely
decides to withhold publication of this positive result, so he never
does receive proper credit for “discovering” the U-2.) The project only
lasts through July. (Wikipedia, “Project
Ozma”; H. Paul Shuch, “Project
Ozma: The Birth of Observational SETI,” in Searching for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Springer, 2011, pp. 13–18; Seth Shostak,
“Project
Ozma,” SETI Institute, July 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3393
Date: 4/9/1960
Description: The U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis
Gary Powers crosses into the Soviet Union from Pakistan and flies
over the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan; the Dolon Air Base in
Semey, Kazakhstan; a SAM test site near Saryshagan, Kazakhstan; and the
Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, Kazakhstan. The plane is detected by
Soviet Air Defense Forces but avoids intercepts by a MiG-19 and a Su-9.
Powers lands at an Iranian airstrip at Zahedan. A 1994 CIA monograph by
Gerald K. Haines, “CIA’s Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90,” claims
that “According to later estimates from CIA officials who worked on the
U-2 project and the Oxcart (SR-71, or Blackbird) project, over half of
all UFO reports from the late 1950s through the 1960s were accounted for
by manned reconnaissance flights (namely the U-2) over the United
States.” (Wikipedia, “1960
U-2 incident”; Gerald K. Haines, “CIA’s
Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90,” Studies in Intelligence 40, no.
5 (1997): 67–84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3394
Date: 4/12/1960
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witness: Monroe Arnold. One fiery-red disc exploded four or
five times. Analysis of paint samples from explosion proved
inconclusive. Sighting lasted 2-3 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: LaCamp, Louisiana
ID: 448
Date: 4/13/1960
Description: State Police encounter with highly maneuverable elliptical
object, red light beams swept ground
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Red Bluff, CA
ID: 7
Date: 4/17/1960
Time: 8:29 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF Maj. J.G. Ford and Link representative A.
Chapdelaine, using a 48x telescope. One reddish glow made an odd orbit
for 2.5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Richards-Gebauer AFB, Missouri
ID: 449
Date: 4/18/1960
Time: 2100
Description: Mr. Arnold saw a round object, fiery red in color, arriving
at high speed from the south. It touched the ground about 300 m away
with a loud explosion heard by many people, and a flame. It bounced in
an easterly direction for about 300 m, then rose again, turned west and
disappeared. The ground was scarred in nine places, and a substance
resembling metallic paint was found.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Science & Mechanics Dec., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Lacamp, Louisiana
ID: 503
Date: 4/25/1960
Time: 7-10 PM
Description: Witness: Mrs. M. Clark. Five circular objects flew in trail
formation, hovered and accelerated and made sharp turns. Case file
includes other reports from Mrs. Clark for previous 3 years.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Shelby, Montana
ID: 450
Date: 4/30/1960
Description: George
Adamski appears on Long
John Nebel’s late-night TV show on WOR. (“Long
John Nebel, The Flying Saucer
Story (George Adamski interview),” ThriftStoreVinyl YouTube channel,
September 4, 2018; “Final Years,”
The Adamski Case, June 11, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3395
Date: 5/1960
Description: The CIA begins to recruit anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the
Miami, Florida, area. Infantry training is carried out at a CIA-run base
that is code-named JM Trax near Retalhuleu in the Sierra Madre mountains
of Guatemala. (Wikipedia, “Brigade
2506”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3396
Date: 5/1/1960
Description: 6:26 a.m. A US U-2 spy plane, flown by CIA pilot Francis
Gary Powers, takes
off from Peshawar, Pakistan, and performs photographic aerial
reconnaissance over Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and Chelyabinsk, Russia.
Powers has orders to continue across Siberia to get a look at the new
Plesetsk Cosmodrome, but at 8:53 a.m. local time he is hit by an S-75
Dvina (SA-2 Guideline) surface-to-air missile fired by a defense
battalion near Kyshtym, Russia. The U-2 crashes near Sverdlovsk [now
Yekaterinburg]. The Soviet Air Defense Forces have anticipated the
flight and give orders to “attack the violator.” Powers parachutes
safely and is captured. This is the first time in five years of
overflights that the US is caught. (Wikipedia, “1960
U-2 incident”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3397
Date: 5/4/1960
Time: 0915
Description: A yellow, elliptical object with four evenly spaced
windowlike openings was observed at ground level by an architect.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP May., 60 (Vallee)
Location: Sarasota, Florida
ID: 504
Date: 5/5/1960
Description: NASA issues a press release saying a weather research
aircraft has “gone missing” north of Turkey and speculates that the
pilot has fallen unconscious and the plane has crashed. Under the
impression that the pilot has died and that the plane has been
destroyed, a U-2 plane is quickly painted in NASA colors and a photo is
shown to the media at NASA Flight Research Center [now the Armstrong
Flight Research Center] at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Premier
Nikita
Khrushchev announces the shoot-down to the Soviet parliament but
does not reveal yet that the pilot has survived. (NASA, “U-2,”
September 4, 1997)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3398
Date: 5/7/1960
Description: Khrushchev now
reveals to the Soviet parliament that Powers is
alive and much of the U-2 technologies have survived the crash.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3399
Date: 5/9/1960
Description: Director of Central Intelligence Allen
Dulles tells Congress that all U-2 flights are used for aerial
espionage and are flown pursuant to “presidential directives.”
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3400
Date: 5/10/1960
Description: House Appropriations Chair Clarence
Cannon (D-Mo.) reveals to the press that the U-2 is a CIA plane
engaged in aerial espionage over the Soviet Union “under the aegis” of
the president. The press begins to suggest that Eisenhower has
lost control of the intelligence agencies. (Wikipedia, “1960
U-2 incident”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3401
Date: 5/13/1960
Description: 7:00 p.m. More than 100 people at Paracuru, Ceará, Brazil,
watch a disc-shaped UFO. Flying about 600 feet in the air at low speed,
the silent object maneuvers over the downtown area or a long time. About
60 feet in diameter, it hovers at an angle by a church. A strong bluish
light is on top of it. The same day, 20 cities and towns in Céara state,
four in Rio Grande do Norte, three in Pernambuco, two in Paraíba, two in
Bahia, and one each in the states of Piauí and Maranhão report UFO
sightings. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 220–221;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January–June
1960, The Author, 2003, pp. 92–93)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3402
Date: 5/14/1960
Description: 4:00 a.m. Fisherman Raimundo Ursulino dos Santos sees two
metallic discs landed on a sandy hill by the beach at Paracuru, Ceará,
Brazil. As he approaches, he sees two humanlike beings outside, talking
to each other. They are small and pallid. One is dressed in a blue suit
with a helmet. Dos Santos turns and runs away. Marks in the sand are
found later. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January–June 1960, The
Author, 2003, p. 93; Patrick Gross, URECAT, September
29, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3403
Date: 5/14/1960
Time: 0400
Description: Raimondo dos Santos saw two craft land on hill near a farm
called Capin Acu. He went near them and saw several small beings,
palelooking, making friendly gestures. He ran away. The creatures wore
blue uniforms and white helmets. The previous day at 1900, over 100
witnesses had observed a dark-gray, circular craft, 20 m in diameter
with a powerful light, maneuvering and hovering.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 37; LDLN 58 (Vallee)
Location: Paracuru, Brazil
ID: 505
Date: 5/19/1960
Description: A silver-colored round object, 20–25 feet wide with hanging
appendages, hovers 50–100 feet away from Indigenous observers in the
village of Ekuk, Alaska, south of Dillingham. It barely clears electric
wires 12 feet above the ground. It sucks up two empty five-gallon
trashcans and drags them swirling along the ground. It flies between two
houses and crosses to the other side of a ridge for 100 yards, drops the
trashcans and sucks up some swirling grass, makes a loud sucking sound,
then ascends rapidly. Thomas
M. Conrow, chief
of intelligence at a nearby Air Force Base, interviews the witnesses and
concludes that “there still appears to be no logical explanation of the
sighting.” At Wright Patterson AFB, Blue Book analysts classify it as a
“weather balloon with a radar reflector,” even though it is traveling
against the wind. (Hynek UFO Report, pp. 146–149;
Sparks,
p. 284; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January–June
1960, The Author, 2003, pp. 99–101)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3404
Date: 5/19/1960
Time: night
Description: Salvatore Cianci, jeweler, and his wife, were driving near
this Sicilian town when a creature about 1 m tall appeared in the
headlights. It wore a shining coverall and a diving helmet and had two
short wings. Mrs. Cianci suffered from shock.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 64, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Siracusa, Italy
ID: 506
Date: 5/22/1960
Description: 9:33 a.m. An observatory on Majorca, Balearic Islands,
Spain, sees a white, triangular object one-quarter the size of the moon
spinning on its own axis and maintaining a steady course. It cables a
report to NASA in Washington, D.C. (UFOEv, p. 123)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3405
Date: 5/25/1960
Description: Vera Bowden, 35, saw a gray, elliptical object hovering at
tree height over Broadwater Lake for 18 min. Then it left toward the
west.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 60, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Chinthurst Hill, Great Britain
ID: 507
Date: 5/28/1960
Description: Engineer Ronald
N. Bracewell, suggests
that extraterrestrials may already be in our neighborhood through an
autonomous interstellar space probe (now called a “Bracewell probe”)
sent for the express purpose of communicating with alien civilizations.
(Ronald N. Bracewell, “Communications
from Superior Galactic Communities,”
Nature 186 (1960): 670–671)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3406
Date: 6/1/1960
Description: Bulkley
Griffin, chief
of the Worcester (Mass.) Evening Gazette’s Washington, D.C., Bureau,
writes a well- reasoned story about the Air Force’s unilateral control
of UFO information and its national security implications. He quotes
Adm. Hillenkoetter’s
opinion that UFOs are intelligently controlled and are neither US nor
USSR devices, which is why he is pushing for a Congressional
investigation. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the
Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January–June 1960, The Author, 2003,
pp. 111–112)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3408
Date: 6/12/1960
Description: 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. Following a sonic boom above Quebec, a
fiery object falls from the sky from an altitude of 1,000–2,000 feet and
splits into two pieces that fall into the St. Lawrence River near Les
Écureuils, about 20 miles upriver from Quebec City, Quebec. A
beachcomber runs across the pieces, one closer to the shore and visible
at low tide, the other one further out and mostly submerged. He
retrieves a smaller piece (800 pounds) and sells it to a scrap-metal
dealer, who fails to recognize it as ferrous and possibly ships it to
Japan. The other piece is picked up by the Canadian Armament Research
and Development Establishment [now DRDC Valcartier] near Quebec City. Wilbert
Smith’s Ottawa Flying Saucer Club [later the Ottawa New Sciences
Club] tells its members that the material is high-strength metal that is
6 feet in diameter and 2 feet thick at the center with an embedded tube,
an “electronic potting can,” and a transistor. CARDE’s analysis is said
to have revealed an alloy with a high manganese content, although it was
identified as the “normal product of a foundry, consisting of slag with
semi- molten scrap embedded in it,” likely coming from Sorel Iron
Foundries in Sorel, Quebec. Smith rejects those findings and and
conducts his own tests (although he is an electrical engineer and not a
metallurgist) on a chunk the club retrieves from the river around July
1, supposedly engaging in a “tremendous amount of detective work on this
metal.” In November 1961, Smith tells Ohio UFO researchers C. W. Fitch
and George Popovitch: “We are speculating that what we have is a portion
of a very large device which came into this solar system…we don’t know
when…but it had been in space a long time before it came to Earth; we
can tell by the micrometeorites embedded in the surface. But we don’t
know whether it was a few years ago—or a few hundred years ago.” In June
1968, the Colorado project’s Roy
Craig is in Ottawa and offers to examine the club’s chunk of metal
because they had offered it to Condon a year earlier. Craig obligingly
takes a piece with him but does not analyze it since there is no
connection to a UFO and it looks like foundry slag anyway. Later, the
Montreal UFO Society’s Ronald Anstee has a piece of it analyzed by an
independent metallurgist, who finds that the composition “does not
correspond to any known commercial manganese steel.” In September 1967,
Eric Smith of the Canada Department of Energy, Mines, and Resources
visits the Ottawa club and examines their large artifact, but fails to
report back. In 1969, the National Research Council’s Peter
Millman takes a look and is convinced that it is ordinary manganese
steel from the Sorel plant. (“The
Mysterious Chunk of Hardware at Ottawa,” Topside, no. 20 (Spring
1966): 4–6; Frank Edwards, FS Serious Business, Bantam ed., 1966, pp. 48–49;
“The
Mystery of UFO Hardware,”
Topside, no. 24/25 (Spring/Summer 1967): 10–11; “Unidentified
Hardware Mystery Deepens,” Topside, no. 27 (Winter 1968): 4–9; “Latest
Report on the Mystery Metal,” Topside, no. 29 (Summer 1968): 11– 12;
Condon, pp. 133–135;
“Canada’s
Mysterious Chunk of Metal,” Spacelink 6, no. 2 (January 1970): 6–9;
“More Mystery
Added to Ottawa’s Mysterious Chunk of Hardware,” Topside, no. 33
(Winter/Spring 1970): 13–17; “Latest
Report on Ottawa’s Mystery Metal,” Topside, no. 34 (Summer/Fall
1970): 22–23; “New
Deveopments on Ottawa’s
Mystery Metal,” Topside, no. 35 (Winter 1971): 29–33; Story, pp. 208–209;
John Robert Colombo, UFOs over Canada, Hounslow, 1991, pp. 53–56; Roy
Craig, UFOs: An Insiders’ View of the Official Quest for Evidence,
University of North Texas, 1995, pp. 121–132; Good Above, pp. 188–189;
Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
pp. 166, 229–249)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3409
Date: 6/21/1960
Description: NICAP sends a confidential report to the US Congress on
“Dangers of Secrecy on UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) and Digest of
Documented Evidence” urging legislators to go on the record about the
reality of UFOs. (Donald E. Keyhoe, “Confidential
NICAP Report to Congress: Dangers of Secrecy on UFOs (Unidentified
Flying Objects)
and Digest of Documented Evidence,” June 21, 1960)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3410
Date: summer 1960
Description: 2:00 a.m. Two brothers are alerted by their journalist
brother about an elusive UFO that local police in Walkerton, Ontario,
have been pursuing for about an hour. They drive out along country roads
until they get within 300 feet of the object, which is hovering around a
large tree. The object is circular and apparently about 3 feet in
diameter. It is very bright and changes color repeated. It then circles
the tree purposefully for several minutes. The brothers climb a fence
and approach it, but the UFO suddenly accelerates and disappears to the
south. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 54–56)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3407
Date: 6/22/1960
Description: 6:20 p.m. John Person is setting up camp at Clan Lake,
Northwest Territories, on a prospecting expedition and is waiting for
his partner. He hears a noise like an aircraft approaching and something
bounces and hits the surface of the lake about 1,700 feet behind him.
Person sees an object 4–6 feet wide with arms or spokes is rotating
rapidly in the water, but gradually slows down and stops spinning. When
his partner arrives, they get into a canoe and travel to the impact
area. They find an area of burned grass and another area where grass it
cut up in small pieces. They use a pole to probe the lake bottom and
find a channel that is one foot deeper at one end and three feet deeper
at the other, RCMP Cpl. Matheson flies to the lake in a seaplane on July
19 and August 15 and finds the impact area as Person has described but
no submerged object. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police, “Report
of Strange
Object Striking Clan Lake, Clan Lake Dist., N.W.T.,” July 19, July
25, and August 25, 1960; Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified,
August Night, 2022, pp. 98–102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3411
Date: 7/1960
Description: Members of the US Senate Preparedness Committee and the
House Science and Astronautics Committee, as well as the CIA, ask for
hearings on USAF’s handling of UFOs. (Clark III 922)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3412
Date: 7/1/1960
Description: 10:30 a.m. Four witnesses at the Leefe Mine in Lincoln
County, Wyoming, see a shiny disc move in from the south and hover above
a slag heap. It has a diameter of at least 185 feet and is 14 feet
thick. Five transparent bubbles are visible on the bottom as it rocks
gently before moving off to the south at high speed. (Lorenzen, UFOs:
The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 221)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3413
Date: 7/2/1960
Description: Early morning. A couple driving in the vicinity of
Kankakee, Illinois, see the landscape light up with a bright blue light
as a ball of fire approaches out of the south. It passes above their car
dragging a trail of bluish light behind it. The inside of the car heats
up uncomfortably, waking up their daughter and her husband who are
asleep in the back. The light gradually fades and disappears in the
north. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969,
pp. 221–223)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3414
Date: 7/3/1960
Description: 4:30 p.m. Argentine Air Force Capt. Hugo F. Niotti is
driving north near Villa General Belgrano, Córdoba, Argentina, when he
notices a dark object hovering to the right of the road. He stops his
car, grabs his camera, and takes a photo of the object, which is moving
slowly over a field. As he is winding the film to take another shot, the
object accelerates and disappears into the clouds. The photo shows a
conical object low above the ground, as well as a horse whose attention
is attracted to the object. Analysis shows that the object is about 23
feet high, 20 feet in diameter, and 56 feet above the ground. (Guillermo
C. Roncoroni and Gustavo J. Alvarez, “Foto
de OVNI Avalada
por la Fuerza Aerea Argentina,” UFO Press 1, no. 3 (April 1977):
32–38; “Cone-Shaped
UFO Photographed
in Argentina,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 8 (December 1980):
1; Johannes Koch, “Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 2 (February 1981): 2; Willy Smith, “The
Yacanto, Cordoba,
Argentina, Photograph, 07-03-1960,” UFO Casebook; Willy Smith, “UFOs
in Latin America,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987,
pp. 104–106)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3415
Date: 7/6/1960
Description: Responding to NICAP’s “Dangers of Secrecy on UFOs” report,
Sen. Lyndon
B. Johnson (D-Tex.) states that he has ordered the staff of the
Senate Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee to keep a close watch on
UFO developments. (“NICAP
UFO Report: Extension of Remarks of Hon. Leonard G. Wolf of Iowa in the
House of Representatives,
Wednesday, August 31, 1960,” Congressional Record, Proceedings and
Debates of the 86th Congress, Second Session, vol. 106, Part 14,
pp. 18955–18956)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3416
Date: 7/13/1960
Description: The Air Force gives a preliminary briefing to associate
counsel Stuart French, staff member of the Senate Preparedness
Committee, who wants to know about USAF explanations for the Washington
National Airport and Levelland cases. (Jacobs, UFO Controversy in
America, Signet ed., 1976, p. 156)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3417
Date: 7/15/1960
Description: The Air Force gives a major briefing on UFOs for
congressional staffers: Chief Counsel Robert Smart (House Committee on
Armed Services); Spencer
Beresford, Richard Hines, and Frank Hammill (House Science and
Astronautics Committee). Charles
S. Sheldon II, technical
director of the House Science and Astronautics Committee, is also
present. The USAF reps are Robert
Friend, Lawrence
J. Tacker, Hynek, and
Maj. Gen. Arno
H.
Luehman. CIA
officers Richard Payne and John S. Warner are possibly there as well.
The staffers are skeptical; Smart accuses the Air Force of withholding
information and wants to be kept informed of sightings and
investigations. (Jacobs, UFO Controversy in America, Signet ed., 1976,
pp. 156–159;
Marcia S. Smith, The
UFO Enigma, Congressional
Research Service Report No. 83-205, June 20, 1983, pp. 65–66; Swords
291–292; “Saucer
Reading Fest,” Saturday Night Uforia, January 25, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3418
Date: 7/19/1960
Time: 8:30 PM
Description: Witness: T.L. Ochs. One round, bright red light flew
overhead, stopped and hovered, and then backed up. Sighting lasted 20
minutes. Note: Ochs reported similar sightings on three following
nights.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
ID: 451
Date: 7/26/1960
Description: Lt. Col. Lawrence
J. Tacker writes to Stringfield that
“There is absolutely no truth in the charge that the Air Force or any
other governmental agency is withholding information on the subject of
UFOs from the general public.” (Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett
Crest, 1977, p. 167)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3419
Date: 8/1960
Description: The US severs diplomatic relations with the Dominican
Republic. The CIA’s Special Group decides to arm Dominicans in hopes of
an assassination of generalissimo Rafael
Trujillo. The CIA disperses three rifles and three .38 revolvers,
but things pause in 1961 as John
F. Kennedy assumes office.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3420
Date: 8/1960
Time: 0920
Description: Mrs. K. St. Bereits was in her garden when she saw an
object coming down at great speed. Arriving at ground level, it came
toward her, appearing as a disk standing on edge, 7 m in diameter with a
pulsating halo of yellow light. Three beams of light came from a central
opening. A sort of haze and “gas stream” was also described.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Nachrichten Jan., 61; FSR 61, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Hamburg, Germany
ID: 508
Date: 8/9/1960
Description: Contactee Gabriel
Green announces his candidacy for the presidency of the United
States at a press conference at the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel. He
publishes his Space Age Platform at the second meeting of his
Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America convention in the Shrine
Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, on August 13–14, but soon drops
out and lends his support to John
F. Kennedy. (Wikipedia, “Gabriel
Green”; “Space
Age Platform of Gabriel Green: Candidate for the Office of President of
the United States,” AFSCA World Report, no. 16 (July/Aug. 1960):
4–7; Clark III 99; S. D. Tucker, False Economies: The Strangest, Least
Successful, and Most Audacious Financial Follies, Plans, and Crazes of
All Times, Amberly, 2018, chapter 3, excerpted in “Taxing Credulity,”
Fortean Times 367 (June 2018): 52–55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3421
Date: 8/10/1960
Description: The Discoverer 13 Corona KH-1 photoreconnaissance satellite
is launched from Vandenberg AFB [now Vandenberg Space Force Base],
California. The primary goal of this series of satellites is to replace
the U-2 spy plane in surveilling the Sino-Soviet Bloc, determining the
disposition and speed of production of Soviet missiles and long-range
bombers assess. The Corona program is also used to produce maps and
charts for the Department of Defense and other US government mapping
programs. On August 11, after 17 orbits, the satellite splashes down in
the North Pacific and its payload is recovered. It represents the
first-ever successful recovery of an object from orbit. (Wikipedia, “Discoverer
13”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3422
Date: 8/11/1960
Description: 3:10 p.m. Ray Hawks is operating a farm tractor at Left
Hand Canyon near Altona, Colorado, when he hears a muffled explosion.
Looking up, he watches a disc dropping vertically out of the cloud
cover. It stops in midair about 650 feet away from him and 200 feet
above the ground, wobbling a bit. When it stabilizes, he sees it looks
like two concave discs joined together at the rim and dull aluminum in
color. Bluish smoke is issuing from an apparent gap in its surface. An
electric hum seems to come from inside the object. The section where the
smoke is issuing is withdrawn inside, and a new section appears to
replace it, settling in with a click. The hum increases in intensity,
and the object appears to be surrounded by a heat haze. It then shoots
up into the clouds and vanishes. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story,
Signet, 1969, pp. 223–225)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3423
Date: 8/12/1960
Description: NASA’s Echo 1 balloon satellite is launched by a Thor-Delta
rocket and becomes the first passive communications satellite. Microwave
signals are bounced off the satellite from one point on earth to
another. (Wikipedia, “Project
Echo”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3424
Date: 8/13/1960
End date: 8/14/1960
Description: 11:50 p.m.–2:05 a.m. Highway Patrol officers Charles A.
Carson and Stanley
E. Scott, plus three others at Red Bluff, California, are on patrol
when see what they think at first is an airliner about to crash. It
turns out to be a maneuvering, silent red light with five white lights,
descending to 100–200 feet altitude. It suddenly reverses course, climbs
to 500 feet, hovers, sweeps the ground with a red beam, performs aerial
gymnastics, then heads east, chased by the police car. It is joined by a
similar object from the south, then it disappears in the east. A local
radar operator confirms the UFO at the time but denies it the next day.
Tehama County sheriff’s officers also see the UFO and another similar
one the same night. (NICAP, “Red
Bluff Incident”; “False
AF Answer in Red Bluff Case,”
NICAP Special Bulletin, October 1960, pp. 1, 4; Schopick, pp. 96–100;
Lorenzen, FSHoax, pp. 180–182;
Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 153–156, 225; Hynek
UFO Report, pp. 92–94;
Clark III 1002–1006; Sparks, p. 284;
UFOEv, pp. 61–62,
112;
Swords 295–297; “Red
Bluff: 1960,” Saturday Night Uforia, February 16, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3425
Date: 8/13/1960
Description: Red Bluff, CA: CHP Officers Charles A. Carson and Stanley
Scott were on patrol when they sighted what they thought was an airliner
about to crash. When the UFO had descended to about 100 or 200 feet
altitude it suddenly reversed direction and climbed to 500 ft.
Description: round or oblong surrounded by a glow (color not mentioned)
and having definite red lights at each end. They continued to watch the
UFO as it performed ”unbelievable” aerial feats. The local RADAR
operator confirmed the UFO at this time but denied it the next day.
Other Tehema County Sheriffs’ officers also saw this UFO and another
similar one that same night. (NICAP, 1964)
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Red Bluff, CA
Date: 8/15/1960
Description: Air Force Information Policy Letter for Commanders,
vol. 14, no. 12, is issued by Office of the Secretary of Air Force. In
“AF Keeping Watchful Eye on Aerospace,” it states, “There is a
relationship between the Air Force’s interest in space surveillance and
its continuous surveillance of the atmosphere near Earth for
unidentified flying objects—’UFOs.’” (UFOEv, p. 108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3426
Date: 8/16/1960
Description: Night. A woman in Charleston, South Carolina, takes a photo
of a mystery satellite that is in the same part of the sky as Echo I,
which is also in the photo. (Michael D. Swords, “Gazing at the Moons,”
IUR 32, no. 4 (October 2009): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3427
Date: 8/17/1960
Description: The trial for downed U-2 pilot Francis
Gary Powers begins in Moscow.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3428
Date: 8/18/1960
Description: The Discoverer 14 Corona KH-1 spy satellite is launched. It
is the first completely successful mission and returns images of the Mys
Schmidta airfield in Siberia. (Wikipedia, “Discoverer
14”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3429
Date: late 8/1960
Description: Two men in a car near Butte Falls, Oregon, see a pale-white
light hovering 300 feet ahead of them. They watch it for 15 minutes,
then decide to drive closer. The light then rises to 100 feet and
recedes, then changes to orange. No sound is heard. The light performs
geometrical maneuvers, creating rectangle paths and other zig- zags. It
then accelerates, changes back to white, and zooms off. (Swords
294)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3434
Date: late 8/1960
Alternate date: early 9/1960
Description: Evening. Rhodes
McCarroll and his grandfather, sitting on the upstairs back porch of
their home in Memphis, Tennessee, notice a glowing basketball-sized
globe in the soil by the hedge. They watch it for 5 minutes, then see a
figure standing behind the ball. It is a glowing nude, generally
humanlike figure, about 6 feet tall, holding a light at chest level. The
figure is square-shouldered and has disproportionately long legs that
are narrow and pointed between the knees and ankles. The witnesses watch
another 5 minutes, at which point the globe and the entity begin to fade
and are gone from sight in another 5 minutes. (Clark III 279–280)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3435
Date: 8/23/1960
Time: 3::24 AM
Description: Witness: Boeing aeronautical engineer C.A. Komiske. One
round object with yellow lights coming from what looked like three
triangular windows at bottom. Object was dull orange. Flew in an arc for
2 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Wichita, Kansas
ID: 452
Date: 8/25/1960
Description: The National Security Council recommends to President Eisenhower the
establishment of a top secret National Reconnaissance Office to
coordinate USAF and CIA reconnaissance satellite activities because of
management problems with the USAF satellite program. (Wikipedia, “National
Reconnaissance Office”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3431
Date: 8/25/1960
Description: The “dark satellite” is seen and photographed five times by
Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation at Bethpage, Long Island, New
York. It is supposed to be three times faster than the Echo 1 satellite
and travels east to west in a retrograde orbit, rather than west to
east. Its inclination to the equator is about 135°. The color of the
object varies from “carrot to straw.” The Grumman observers estimate
that the object is in an eccentric orbit with an apogee of as much as
4,200 miles and a perigee of about 300 miles. They immediately produce a
proposal to the US Air Force to share data in the hopes of plotting a
firm orbit for the mystery satellite. (NICAP, “Grumman Mystery
Satellite”; Gordon W. Creighton, “Unidentified
Satellites,” Flying Saucer Review 7, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1961): 3–6;
“The
Unidentified Satellite: Grumman Aircraft Writes to One of Our
Readers,” Flying Saucer Review 7, no. 2 (March/April 1961): 29; Blue
Book files, “Grumman
Proposal for Optical Surveillance of the Retrograde Satellite,”
1961; UFOEv, p. 138;
Michael D. Swords, “Gazing at the Moons,” IUR 32, no. 4 (October 2009):
13; Center for UFO Studies, “Moonwatch
Mystery Satellites, 1958–1962”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3430
Date: 8/26/1960
Description: 9:00 p.m. Director Robert I. Johnson and other staff at the
Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois, observe a faint reddish object
in the sky moving from east to west, apparently the same mystery
satellite seen and photographed by the Grumman observers. (Michael D.
Swords, “Gazing at the Moons,” IUR 32, no. 4 (October 2009): 13; Swords
294; Center for UFO Studies, “Moonwatch
Mystery Satellites, 1958–1962”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3432
Date: 8/29/1960
Time: 4:05 PM
Description: Witness: farmer Ed Schneeweis. One shiny, round, silver
object flew straight up very fast for 18 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Crete, Illinois
ID: 453
Date: 8/31/1960
Description: Rep. Leonard
G. Wolf (D-Iowa) makes a statement in the House on NICAP’s “Dangers
of Secrecy on UFOs” report, saying that it is “imperative to end the
risk of accidental war from defense forces’ confusion over UFOs.” He
mentions NICAP board member Adm. Roscoe
Hillenkoetter’s request that “Congress inform the public as to the
facts.” Based on a there-year NICAP study, Wolf states that all defense
personnel “should be told that the UFOs are real and should be trained
to distinguish them—by their characteristic speeds and maneuvers— from
conventional planes and missiles…. The American people must be
convinced, by documented facts, that the UFOs could not be Soviet
machines.” (“NICAP
UFO Report: Extension of Remarks of Hon. Leonard G. Wolf of Iowa
in the House of Representatives, Wednesday, August 31, 1960,”
Congressional Record, Proceedings and Debates of the 86th Congress,
Second Session, vol. 106, Part 14, pp. 18955–18956; Good Need, p. 261)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3433
Date: 9/1960
Description: CIA officer Richard
M. Bissell Jr. and DCI Allen
W. Dulles initiate talks with two leading figures of the Mafia, Johnny
Roselli and Sam
Giancana. Later,
other crime bosses such as Carlos
Marcello, Santo
Trafficante Jr., and
Meyer Lansky become involved in the first plot against Fidel
Castro. The
strategy is managed by Sheffield
Edwards. Robert
Maheu, a
veteran of CIA counterespionage activities, is instructed to hire the
Mafia to kill Castro. The advantage of employing the Mafia for this work
is that it provides the CIA with a credible cover story. The Mafia are
known to be angry with Castro for closing their profitable brothels and
casinos in Cuba. On September 14, Maheu meets with Roselli in a New York
City hotel and offers him $150,000 for the “removal” of Castro. James
O’Connell, who
identifies himself as Maheu’s associate but is really the chief of the
CIA’s operational support division, is present during the meeting.
Declassified documents do not reveal if Roselli, Giancana, or
Trafficante accept a down payment for the job. According to CIA files,
it is Giancana who suggests poison pills to add to Castro’s food or
drinks. Such pills, manufactured by the CIA’s Technical Services
Division, are given to Giancana’s nominee named Juan
Orta. Giancana recommends him as being an official in the Cuban
government with access to Castro. Allegedly, after several unsuccessful
attempts to introduce the poison into Castro’s food, Orta abruptly
demands to be let out of the mission, handing over the job to another
unnamed participant. Later, a second attempt is mounted through Giancana
and Trafficante using Tony
Varona, the leader of the Cuban Exile Junta, who has, according to
Trafficante, become “disaffected with the apparent ineffectual progress
of the Junta.” Varona requests $10,000 in expenses and $1,000 worth of
communications equipment. However, it is unknown how far the second
attempt goes, as it is canceled due to the launching of the Bay of Pigs
Invasion. (Wikipedia, “Sam
Giancana”; Wikipedia, “Assassination
attempts on Fidel Castro”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3437
Date: 9/1960
Description: The USAF Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence turns
down ATIC’s request for one additional staffer for Project Blue Book
(raising it to 3) and additional funding. (Clark III 922)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3439
Date: 9/1960
Description: MKUltra chief Sidney
Gottlieb brings a vial of poison concealed in toothpaste to the
Democratic Republic of the Congo with plans to place it on Prime
Minister Patrice
Lumumba’s toothbrush. The plot is abandoned, allegedly because CIA
station chief Larry
Devlin refuses permission. (Wikipedia, “Patrice
Lumumba”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3438
Date: 9/1960
Description: Groom Lake in Nevada receives the name “Area 51” when A-12
test facility construction begins, including a new 8,500-foot runway
(Runway 14/32) to replace the existing one built for the U-2.
(Wikipedia, “Area
51”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3436
Date: 9/2/1960
Description: 11:30 p.m. Richard Ireton and his wife are driving on US
Highway 1 in Westbrook, Connecticut, when they notice what seems to be
an aircraft about to crash. It veers close to the shore and the Iretons
drive to the beach to look for it. They see a triangular-shaped object
flying silently at the speed of a Piper Cub airplane, alternately
hovering and moving horizontally and vertically. When it reaches the
public beach, it takes off at great speed toward Long Island, New York.
They see a similar object the next evening around 9:30 p.m. at Chalker
Beach in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. (“‘Flying
Triangle’ Seen
in State,” Hartford (Conn.) Courant, September 17, 1960,
pp. 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3440
Date: 9/8/1960
Description: Night. Witnesses in Consett, South Shields, and Newcastle
upon Tyne, England, see a triangular formation of lights with a red
light in the center. (London Evening Chronicle, September 9, 1960;
Marler 76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3441
Date: 9/10/1960
Description: 9:50 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. M. G. Evans see 2 light-gray glowing
objects, saucer or boomerang-shaped, that swish when accelerating, over
Ridgecrest, California. (Swords 294; Sparks,
p. 285)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3443
Date: 9/10/1960
Time: 9:50 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. M.G. Evans. Two light gray glowing
objects, saucer or boomerang-shaped, which swished when accelerating.
Seen 1-2 seconds each.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ridgecrest, California
ID: 454
Date: 9/10/1960
Description: A married couple in Scituate, Massachusetts, sees a trio of
brilliant discs parked in a triangle formation in the sky. About 12° to
the objects’ left is a huge cylinder. One witness watches them through
binoculars, and the brilliance hurts his eyes for two hours. Two more
discs seem to be attached to the top of the cylinder. Small domes
sprinkle their surface. The large object disappears too quickly for the
eye to follow. (Swords 294)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3442
Date: 9/14/1960
Description: 2:50 a.m. A dispatcher in Lorain, Ohio, is taking a coffee
break when he sees a light that he thinks is the Echo 1 satellite. As he
watches it, knowing it is not the right time for Echo 1, he sees four
objects traveling in a perfectly spaced line of flight. It makes a
surprising right turn, after which the objects move on their way,
apparently at a great height. (Michael D. Swords, “I’ve Seen the
Light…But What Was It?” IUR 32, no. 3 (July 2009): 3; Swords
294–295)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3444
Date: 9/15/1960
Description: 7:30 a.m. A witness sees a UFO hovering 300–400 feet above
the Douglas Aircraft plant in Santa Monica, California, and calls it
into the West Los Angeles police station. Desk Officer Don Anderson goes
outside and sees a dark triangular object moving slowly to the northeast
at 3,000 feet. It disappears in the vicinity of Santa Monica Boulevard
and Beverly Glen Street. (“Officer
Reports Flying Triangle,” San Pedro (Calif.) News-Pilot, September
15, 1960, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3445
Date: 9/15/1960
Description: Ruppelt dies
of a heart attack in Long Beach, California, at age 37. (Clark III
1024)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3446
Date: 9/23/1960
Time: 2135
Description: A Canadian ship reported that a cylindrical object with
lighted portholes came down, hit the ocean, and sank off the northcoast
of Labrador.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Labrador
ID: 509
Date: 9/29/1960
Description: 9:25 p.m. Five people are out looking for the Echo 1
satellite in New Westminster, British Columbia. After they spot it, they
remain for a few minutes talking. One of them sees three objects come up
from the southeast, pass overhead, and disappear over the rooftops in 10
seconds. The objects are luminous, round- cornered triangles. (Michael
D. Swords, “Timmerman’s Triangles,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer 2004):
16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3447
Date: 9/30/1960
Description: Tiffany
Thayer’s widow Tanagra
Thayer formally disbands the Fortean Society. (Clark III 516)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3448
Date: 10/1960
Description: New apparitions of a monstrous “cyclops.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 129 (Vallee)
Location: Yariguarenda Jungle, Argentina
ID: 510
Date: 10/1960
Description: Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company begins
construction of “Project 51” at the Nellis AFB complex in Nevada with
double-shift personal schedules. They mark an Archimedean spiral on Area
51’s dry lake approximately two miles across so that an A-12 pilot
approaching the end of the overrun can abort instead of plunging into
the sagebrush. Area 51 pilots call it “The Hook.” For crosswind
landings, they mark two unpaved airstrips (runways 9/27 and 03/21) on
the dry lakebed. (Wikipedia, “Area
51”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3449
Date: 10/4/1960
Description: 6:10 p.m. Rev. Lionel Browning and his wife are looking at
a rainbow outside their rectory in Cressy, Tasmania, when they see a
gray, cigar-shaped object emerge from a raincloud. It has 4 or 5
vertical, dark bands around its circumference and an aerial array that
projects from the top. Browning estimates it to be 100 feet long and
about 4 miles distant. It moves north at about 60–70 mph at about 400
feet altitude. After one minute, it stops and is joined by 5–6 smaller
objects that emerge from a cloud. After another minute, all the UFOs
abruptly reverse back into the rain squall at the same speed. (“Mysterious
Ships in the Sky,” Australian Flying Saucer Review 1, no. 4
(February 1961): 1–2; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: July–December
1960, The
Author, 2003, pp. 104–107; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: January–June 1961, The
Author, 2003, pp. 35–36; Clark III 350–352; Bill Chalker, “The
Australian Government and UFOs,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 19–20;
Swords 385–388)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3450
Date: 10/5/1960
Description: A formation of UFOs is detected by the new Ballistic
Missile Early Warning System at Thule Site J in Greenland. The objects
appear to be heading directly toward North America from the direction of
Russia. Within seconds, Strategic Air Command headquarters in Omaha,
Nebraska, scrambles the crews of B-52 bombers armed with nuclear
warheads to prepare a retaliatory strike. But at the last moment checks
reveal that the objects are spurious radar echoes. Unusual atmospheric
conditions create phantoms on the BMEWS that cannot be seen by other
radars. (Eric Schlosser, Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the
Damascus Incident, and the Illusion of Safety, Penguin, 2013, pp. 253–254, 542)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3451
Date: 10/5/1960
Time: 7:37 PM
Description: Witness: E.G. Crossland. One bright, star-like light moved
across 120^ of sky in 20 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Mt. Kisko, New York
ID: 455
Date: 10/20/1960
Description: Australian MP Gil
Duthie asks Frederick
Osborne, Australian Minister for Air, whether he has read the
account of the UFO seen at Cressy, Tasmania. Osborne responds that he
has, and he admits that the Department of Air receives UFO reports and
shares them with the RAF and the US Air Force. However, all of them are
“explainable on a perfectly normal basis.” (Clark III 352; Swords
387)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3452
Date: 10/31/1960
Description: Most guerrilla infiltrations and supply drops directed by
the CIA into Cuba have failed; these are replaced by a plan to mount an
initial amphibious assault with a minimum of 1,500 men.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3453
Date: 11/3/1960
Description: 4:30 p.m. Two 8-year-old boys are walking over a small hill
in rural Price County, Wisconsin, when they hear an odd high-pitched,
humming noise. The air has become unusually warm. They look back and see
an aluminum-colored object on the hill behind them. They run back toward
it, but it lifts off and shoots away. They find the soil of the hill to
be warm to the touch. (“Small
Boys See Warm, Landed UAO,” APRO Bulletin, January 1961, pp. 1,
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3454
Date: 11/4/1960
Description: House Majority Leader John
W. McCormack (D-Mass.) writes to Keyhoe that
“it was pretty well established by some, in our minds, that there were
some objects flying around in space that were unexplainable.” (“Congressmen
Confirm AF Secrecy: Pressure for Investigation Increasing,” UFO
Investigator 1, no. 11 (Dec./Jan. 1960/1961): 1; UFOEv, p. 175)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3455
Date: 11/11/1960
Time: night
Description: Four witnesses, among them three military men, saw an
object that seemed about to land, then took off again toward the north,
leaving a trail of sparks and blinding them.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 130; FSR 61,1 (Vallee)
Location: Warminster, Great Britain
ID: 511
Date: 11/13/1960
Time: 0245
Description: Remi Carbonnier, 45, was awakened by a green light
illuminating his room. He went to the window and saw a bright, round
object, 6 m in diameter, resting on three legs on the railroad tracks
300 m away. It was emitting orange flashes. A dome on top of the object
started spinning, the legs disappeared, and the object rose vertically
above the trees, without noise. Less than 20 sec later, it had cleared
the hill and was lost to sight in the southwest. The next day the
witness went to the site and found no trace, but his dog turned around
and ran away,
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 131 (Vallee)
Location: La Londe, France
ID: 512
Date: 11/15/1960
Description: 10:40 a.m. A USAF B-57 Canberra reconnaissance aircraft
operating out of RAAF Base East Sale, Victoria, Australia, encounters a
UFO 15 miles north of Launceston, Tasmania. Capt. Douglas
G. Ludlam and Capt. Joseph
W. Ivins say it looks like a balloon about 70 feet in diameter and
is flying at 35,000 feet, just below the B-57, and traveling at about
920 mph. It is in sight for 5–7 seconds before it disappears under the
left wing. (Bill Chalker, “Australian
A.F. UFO Report Files,” APRO Bulletin 30, no. 11 (December 1982):4;
Clark III 352; Sparks, p. 285)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3456
Date: 11/18/1960
Description: Director of Central Intelligence Allen
Dulles and CIA Deputy Director for Plans Richard
Bissell brief President-elect John
F. Kennedy on the Cuban invasion. Dulles is confident that the CIA
can overthrow the Cuban government.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3457
Date: 11/27/1960
Time: 7:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. L.M. Hart. One orange-red point of
light made huge circles and stopped during the 20-30 minute
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Chula Vista, California
ID: 456
Date: 11/29/1960
Description: Eisenhower meets
with the chiefs of the CIA, Defense, State, and Treasury departments to
discuss the new concept of a Cuban invasion. No one expresses
objections, and Eisenhower approves the plans with the intention of
persuading John
F. Kennedy of their merit.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3458
Date: 11/29/1960
Time: 6:38 PM
Description: Witnesses: USAF Lt. Col. R.L. Blwlin (sp?) and Maj. F.B.
Brown, flying a T-33 jet trainer. One white light 8lowed and paralleled
the course of the T-33 for 10 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: south of Kyushu, Japan
ID: 457
Date: 12/5/1960
Description: Pentagon UFO spokesman Lt. Col. Lawrence
J. Tacker publishes Flying Saucers and the U.S. Air Force, in which
he blisteringly attacks critics of Project Blue Book, depicting them all
as charlatans and opportunists and gullible believers. (Lawrence J.
Tacker, Flying
Saucers and the U.S. Air Force, Van Nostrand, 1960; Clark III
922)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3459
Date: 12/5/1960
Description: Keyhoe debates
Lt. Col. Lawrence
J. Tacker on the Today show, hosted by Dave
Garroway. Tacker says he wrote the book Flying Saucers and the US
Air Force because “I felt the Air Force was being set upon by Maj.
Keyhoe, NICAP, and other hobby groups who believe in spaceships as an
act of pure faith.” Keyhoe repeatedly challenges Tacker, whose
statements ring hollow, and even Garroway asks Tacker pointed questions
and coolly notes Tacker’s apparent ignorance of basic physics. The show
generates numerous phone calls and letters to NBC, most of them critical
of the Air Force. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: July–December
1960, The
Author, 2003, pp. 129–135; “New
Debunking Campaign Backfires,” UFO Investigator 1, no. 11
(Dec.–Jan. 1960/1961): 1–2; “Dave
Garroway Show NBC-TV UFO Discussion: Tacker vs. Keyhoe, December
5, 1960,” Journal of UFO History 1, no. 4 (Sept./Oct. 2004):
3–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3460
Date: 12/8/1960
Description: Richard
Bissell presents an outline for the Cuban invasion to the Special
Group, while declining to commit details to written records.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3461
Date: 12/9/1960
Description: 8:30 p.m. Mme. Dhelens in the Château des Mailles (31 miles
south of Carignan-de-Bordeaux), Gironde, France, sees a luminous oval
object twice the size of an automobile hovering just above the ground in
the château’s park. It has two round portholes, behind which she sees
indistinct shadows moving. It takes off, leaving a 12-foot circle of
yellowed grass, which later dies. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: July–December 1960, The
Author, 2003, p. 138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3462
Date: 12/9/1960
Time: 2030
Description: A dog barking at a glowing object resting in a park. Three
witnesses observed it from separate locations. It appeared as an oval,
luminous craft, 4 m in diameter, inside which vague shadows were seen.
It took off toward the north. A circle of yellowed grass was found at
the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Ouranos 27 (Vallee)
Location: Carignan, France
ID: 513
Date: 12/14/1960
Description: The first Single Integrated Operational Plan, titled
SIOP-62, is completed. It describes a massive strike with the entire US
arsenal of 3,200 warheads, totaling 7847 megatons, against Russia,
China, and Soviet-aligned states with urban and other targets being hit
simultaneously. Nine weapons are to be “laid down” on four targets in
Leningrad [now St. Petersburg], 23 weapons on six target complexes in
Moscow, and 18 on seven target areas in Kaliningrad. Weapons scientist
George
W. Rathjens looks through SAC’s atlas of Soviet cities, searching
for the town that most closely resembles Hiroshima in size and
industrial concentration. When he finds one that roughly matches, he
asks how many bombs the SIOP “laid down” on that city. The reply: one
4.5 megaton bomb and three more 1.1 megaton weapons in case the big bomb
is a dud. The execution of SIOP-62 is estimated to result in 285 million
dead and 40 million casualties in the Soviet Union and China. Presented
with all the facts and figures, USAF Gen. Thomas
D. White finds the plan “splendid.” Disregarding the human aspect,
SIOP-62 represents an outstanding technological achievement. (Wikipedia,
“Single
Integrated Operational Plan”; Daniel Ellsberg, The Doomsday Machine,
Bloomsbury, 2017, pp. 90–103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3464
Date: 12/14/1960
Description: The Brookings Research Institute in Washington, D.C.,
releases a 186-page report prepared for NASA titled Proposed Studies on
the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs. It is
later published as a 272-page Committee Print for the House Committee on
Science and Astronautics on March 24, 1961. The report includes a
section on “Implications of a Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life.” It is
sent to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics for approval by
Rep. Overton
Brooks (D-La.) and discusses the effects of meeting extraterrestrial
life: “It is possible that if the intelligence of these creatures were
sufficiently superior to ours, they would choose to have little if any
contact with us.” It also speculates on the possibility of finding alien
artifacts on earth and the possibility that contact might result in
social disintegration. (Wikipedia, “Brookings Report”;
Proposed Studies on the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for
Human Affairs, committee print prepared for NASA by the Brookings
Institution, Report of the US House Committee on Science and
Astronautics, 87th Congress, First Session, March 24, 1961, pp. 215–216, 225–226 (note
34))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3463
Date: 12/27/1960
Description: Blue Book officer Maj. Robert
Friend and his boss at ATIC, Philip G. Evans, write a memo to Air
Force Intelligence in the Pentagon. Friend complains about civilian UFO
organizations supported by people for “financial gain, religious
reasons, pure emotional outlet, ignorance, or possibly to use the
organization as a ‘cold war’ tool.” He is upset by their accusations
that the Air Force is withholding UFO information. (Swords 292)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3465
Date: 1961
Description: The first American to publish on the microwave auditory
effect is biophysicist Allan
H. Frey. In
his experiments, the subjects are able to hear appropriately pulsed
microwave radiation from a distance of 328 feet from the transmitter.
This is accompanied by side effects such as dizziness, headaches, and a
pins-and-needles sensation. (Allen H. Frey, “Human
Auditory System Response to Modulated Electromagnetic Energy,”
Journal of Applied Physiology 17 (July 1, 1962): 689–692; Wikipedia, “Microwave
auditory effect”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3466
Date: 1961
Description: Russia: Vladimir Azhazha found an elliptical area where he
claimed that an alien craft had plummeted to Earth in 1961. A local
resident, Zoya Shubenkina, corroborated Azhazha’s story about the 1961
crash, claiming she had witnessed it for herself. She said a big, fiery,
red sphere flew over her house and crashed in the valley by the
river.
Type: ufo crash
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Russia
Date: 1961
End date: 1963
Description: Near Nellis AFB, NE: “Mat”, a radio maintenance engineer at
Nevada’s AEC between 1961–1963 provided evidence to the MUFON Journal
that Project REDLIGHT was secretly being conducted at nearby “Area 51”,
a 50-mile-square quadrant of land east of Nellis AFB. This Project
“involved flight-testing of an UFO which had been shipped there from
Edwards AFB.” The craft flew silently, was about 20 to 30 ft. in diam.,
and had no wings or tail.
Type: ufo testing
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Area 51
Date: 1961
Description: ex-Lt. Col Philip J. Corso said in 1961 he was given a file
cabinet from his superior General Trudeau which contained material
recovered from ET craft. He was instructed to use these items for
“utilization and exploitation,” farming the objects out to various
companies such as Bell Labs to reverse engineer and further develop.
Among the technologies he said arose from this were: night vision, fiber
optics, food irradiation, integrated circuits, and lasers.
Type: historical event
Reference: “The Day after Roswell”, by Philip J. Corso
Reference: Philip J. Corso’s Manuscript
Location: Washington DC
Date: 1961
Description: A UFO appears above the iron-ore mine of Catalina Huanca,
owned by the Marcona Mining Company, near Apongo, Peru. It hovers for
5–15 minutes, only about 300 feet away from a young mining engineer. It
is round and glowing, with windows on the upper part. The engineer gets
a look at it through his theodolite, but it still looks fuzzy. The
object reappears throughout the day, allowing all the mine workers
(about 70) to view it. The following day it follows a supply truck for
several hours as it exits the mine heading south over a dirt track. (S.
Parker Gay Jr., “Peru, 1961,” IUR 24, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3470
Date: 1961
Description: An Antonov AN-2P mail biplane takes off from an airfield at
or near Sverdlovsk, Russia, bound for Kurgan with seven people on board.
About 80–100 miles from Sverdlovsk, the aircraft disappears from the
radar screen. Ground control cannot regain contact, so a search is
launched with helicopters and troops. The aircraft is found in a small
clearing in a dense forest, completely intact. The authorities state
that it looks like it was placed there gently from above. All the mail
is intact, and there is no sign of anyone on board. No marks or
footprints are seen. A 100-foot wide, clearly defined circle of scorched
grass and depressed earth is found at a distance of 328 feet from the
plane. A report by the Moscow Aviation Institute claims that a UFO was
tracked on radar at the control tower and that strange radio signals
were hear at the time of the disappearance. (Good Above, pp. 228–229)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3469
Date: 1961
Description: George
Adamski publishes Flying Saucers Farewell, signaling his intention
to refocus his efforts on teaching about life and consciousness. (George
Adamski, Flying Saucers Farewell, Abelard-Schuman, 1961; “Final Years,”
The Adamski Case, June 11, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3468
Date: 1961
Description: Ray
Palmer begins publishing The Hidden World, a quarterly magazine in
trade-paperback format that runs through 1964. It consists of reprints
of Richard
Shaver stories and readers’ contributions. (Clark III 873)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3467
Date: 1/1961
Description: Day. Government topographer Adolfo Paolini Pisani is
driving a jeep along the highway between La Victoria and El Vigía,
Mérida, Venezuela, when a truck passes him. A few minutes later, a
brilliant metallic disc like polished blue steel swoops down and passes
dangerously close above the hood of the truck. The truck rises a few
feet into the air and overturns in the direction taken by the object,
falling in a sandbank with its wheels in the air. The object ascends and
is lost to view in a few seconds. Pisani stops his jeep to assist, but
fortunately the lone driver has only a few scratches. (Horacio Gonzales,
“Disc
Upsets Truck,” APRO Bulletin, September 1961, pp. 1, 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3471
Date: 1/1/1961
Description: A government topographer, Adolfo P. Pisani, was passed by a
truck as he was driving on the Andean Highway. A brilliant disk with the
appearance of blue steel swooped down very close to the hood of the
truck and then flew away. The truck was pulled up nearly 1 m above the
road and overturned in a sandbank. The driver escaped with minor
injuries.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor.I 250 (Vallee)
Location: La Victoria, Venezuela
ID: 514
Date: 1/3/1961
Description: President Eisenhower severs
diplomatic relations with Cuba.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3472
Date: 1/3/1961
Description: 9:01 p.m. An explosion at the US Army’s SL-1 nuclear power
reactor in Idaho Falls, Idaho, causes a meltdown, killing three
operators. The direct cause is the improper withdrawal of the central
control rod, responsible for absorbing neutrons in the reactor core. The
event is the only reactor accident in the US that results in immediate
fatalities. (Wikipedia, “SL-1”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3473
Date: 1/4/1961
Description: The CIA Deputy Director of Plans Richard
Bissell plans for a “lodgement” by 750 men at an undisclosed site in
Cuba, supported by considerable air power.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3474
Date: 1/8/1961
Description: Pravda asserts that “some regions” (including Uzbekistan
and Tajikistan) of the USSR are reporting UFOs. It quotes physicist Lev
Artsimovich saying that “it is about time that these tales be
stopped no matter how breathtaking they may be.” (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January– June
1961, The
Author, 2003, pp. 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3475
Date: 1/10/1961
Description: A US Navy A-1 Polaris missile is launched from a ground pad
at Cape Canaveral, Florida. A disc, whose diameter is close to the
length of the Polaris, alters its tracking, but does not block the
missile firing, since the tracking system continues to follow the object
and later returns to again to track the Polaris downrange. The diameter
of the disc is approximately 20–25 feet and it is about 6–8 feet thick
at its center. It is visually lost to ground observers and the primary
witness (Clark
C. McClelland, with 10x50 binoculars) as it continues downrange. The
original investigation is conducted by McClelland and his Florida NICAP
subcommittee. (NICAP, “UFO
‘Alters’ Tracking of Navy Polaris Test”; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: January–June 1961, The
Author, 2003, pp. 6–7; Sparks, p. 286)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3476
Date: 1/12/1961
Description: In a press conference in Moscow, Russia, Minister of
Merchant Marine Viktor
Bakaev charges that US military aircraft and ships are
systematically conducting “provocative actions” against Soviet vessels
around Cuba. He is probably referring to close approaches to Cuban
airspace by Fort Bliss–based reconnaissance aircraft that are testing
the responses of Soviet electronic countermeasures. (Jacobsen, Area 51,
pp. 155–157)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3477
Date: 1/17/1961
Description: Eisenhower delivers
a farewell address in a TV broadcast. Perhaps best known for advocating
that the nation guard against the potential influence of the
military–industrial complex, a term he is credited with coining, the
speech also expresses concerns about planning for the future and the
dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending, the prospect
of the domination of science through federal funding, and, conversely,
the domination of science-based public policy by what he calls a
“scientific-technological elite.” (Wikipedia, “Eisenhower’s
farewell address”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3479
Date: 1/17/1961
Description: 6:17 p.m. A former weather officer at Holloman AFB is
driving with some companions near Cimarron, New Mexico, when they see
three different groups of amber UFOs flying in V-formation about 15
miles away at 30,000 feet. There are six lights in the first group and
eight in the second and third. They fly away to the southwest and then
return to where they first appeared. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story,
Signet, 1969, pp. 226–227)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3480
Date: 1/17/1961
Description: DRC Prime Minister Patrice
Lumumba is executed by firing squad near Élisabethville [now
Lubumbashi], Democratic Republic of the Congo. CIA Station Chief Larry
Devlin has helped direct the search to capture Lumumba for his
transfer to his enemies in Katanga, he is involved in arranging
Lumumba’s transfer there, and he is in direct touch with the killers the
night Lumumba is killed. The Congolese leaders who kill Lumumba,
including Mobutu
Sese Seko and Joseph
Kasa-Vubu, receive money and weapons directly from the CIA. John Stockwell writes
in 1978 that a CIA agent had the body in the trunk of his car in order
to try to get rid of it. Stockwell, who knows Devlin well, feels Devlin
knows more than anyone else about the murder. However, documents
released in 2017 reveal that the US role in Lumumba’s murder was only
under consideration by the CIA and never carried out. (Wikipedia, “Patrice
Lumumba”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3478
Date: 1/19/1961
Description: A USAF press release proclaims that “not even a minute
fragment of a so-called ‘flying saucer’ has ever been found.” (Frank
Edwards, FS Serious Business, Bantam ed., 1966, p. 48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3481
Date: 1/20/1961
End date: 11/22/1963
Description: President John F. Kennedy in office
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Washington DC
Date: 1/22/1961
Time: 1830
Description: An electronics professor at Bordeaux University and three
school teachers observed an elongated, glowing, orange object.
Interference with car ignition was noted. One witness was said to have
felt a slight indisposition and to have heard or somehow perceived the
word “ZEMU” repeated twice.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Ouranos 26 (Vallee)
Location: Cestas-Gazinet, France
ID: 515
Date: 1/22/1961
Description: 4:45 p.m. An elliptical, metallic-looking UFO approaches
Eglin AFB near Valparaiso, Florida, from over the Gulf, makes a U-turn
and speeds back over the Gulf. Harry Caslar is filming his son on the
beach with 8mm movie film and captures the UFO. (UFOEv, p. 95)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3482
Date: 1/28/1961
Description: President Kennedy is
briefed, together with all the major departments, on the latest plan
(code-named Operation Pluto) that involves 1,000 men landed in a
ship-borne invasion at Trinidad, Cuba, about 170 miles southeast of
Havana at the foothills of the Escambray Mountains in Sancti Spiritus
province. Kennedy authorizes the active departments to report
progress.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3483
Date: 2/1961
Description: Forester Vasili Brodski finds a mysterious crater 100 feet
long, 50 feet wide, and 10 feet deep on the bank of a frozen lake in
Karelia, Russia. It had not been there two days earlier. The base is
remarkably smooth, and around the edge are lumps of grass and soil but
no trace of the excavated dirt. Six investigators from Leningrad [now
St. Petersburg] arrive and find odd, crumbling black pellets on the edge
of the lake. Divers discover a 330- foot strip where the soil has been
displaced along the floor of the lake, as if something slid along the
ground and submerged, ploughing up the soil. Geologist Vsevolod Charmov
examines ice, water, and soil samples but cannot explain a green
discoloration on some of the submerged pieces of broken ice. The pellets
seem to be an inorganic substance. (Hobana and Weverbergh 61–63)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3484
Date: 2/5/1961
End date: 2/7/1961
Description: Many people report strange lights flashing around in the
sky over Maine. Some blink and move up and down. A Portland Press Herald
editorial, February 9, says: “Mysterious objects ‘lit up like a ball of
fire and going fast’ zoom over Portland. Unidentified shapes with green,
yellow, and red lights hover over Brunswick, then dart away with
‘unbelievable quickness.’ Strange things are happening. . . The military
had us just about convinced that no such objects existed. The only
trouble was that many people—good, reliable observers— continued to see
these things.” (UFOEv, p. 138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3485
Date: 2/27/1961
Time: 10:15 PM
Description: Witness: Mrs. LaPalm. One fiery-red, round object, preceded
by light rays, slowed and descended, while her dog howled. Sighting
lasted 10 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Bark River, Michigan
ID: 458
Date: 2/28/1961
Description: US military advisors first accompany South Vietnamese
troops during operations in Vietnam
Type: war
Reference: link
Location: Vietnam
Date: 2/28/1961
Description: 3:20 a.m. Clarence Blackwood and his wife hear a roaring
sound in the sky at their home in Lakewood, Massachusetts. They look out
the bedroom window and see a fiery cigar-shaped object moving at low
altitude to the northeast. It is bright yellow in the middle with a
bright red edge and surrounded by thin clouds of black smoke. The object
rolls back and forth rapidly and travels slowly to the southwest. It
passes directly above their house, illuminating the bedroom. The lights
that they have left on in the kitchen dim three times and go out for 4–
5 minutes. The object returns at 3:40 and the kitchen lights repeat
their previous actions. (Schopick, pp. 115–117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3486
Date: 3/1961
Description: House Majority Leader John
W. McCormack tells Keyhoe privately
that he has urged the Science and Astronautics Committee, headed by
Rep. Overton
Brooks (D-La.), to investigate Air Force UFO secrecy. (Keyhoe,
Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, p. 76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3488
Date: 3/1961
Description: In an article in Argosy, Maj. Lawrence
Tacker says that critics of the Air Force investigation are
“absolutely erroneous,” “a hoax,” “sensational theories,” and the work
of “amateur hobby groups.” NICAP’s evidence is “drivel,” its claims
“ridiculous,” and it is making “senseless accusations.” (Lawrence J.
Tacker, “‘Flying Saucers Are Fakes!’ ‘—U.S. Air Force,’” Argosy, March
1961, pp. 58, 125–126; UFOEv, p. 108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3487
Date: 3/10/1961
Time: 2045
Description: F. Reynolds and his son were camping near the water. They
observed an object on the ground with four windows in it. There was a
fire nearby, and four figures could be seen between it and the object.
At 2130 it had disappeared. Witnesses in Wodonga, West Albury,
Wangaratta and Tallangatta independently observed an unknown object in
flight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Austr. FSR 5 (Vallee)
Location: Bowna, Australia
ID: 516
Date: 3/16/1961
Description: 6:15 p.m. Brazilian meteorologist Rubens J. Villela, on the
deck of the USS
Glacier, watches a tear-shaped fireball over Admiralty Bay, South
Shetland Islands, Antarctica, in slow, level flight. It leaves a long
orange trail like a tracer bullet, then abruptly divides in two as if
exploding. It disappears after 10 seconds. (UFOEv, pp. 53– 54;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 64–65)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3489
Date: 3/16/1961
Description: 8:45 p.m. Mr. F. Reynolds and his 15-year-old son Lloyd are
camped in their trailer 900 feet from the Murray River, at Bowna, New
South Wales, when they see what appears to be a huge trailer with four
windows and a red light at the end standing by the water. A fire is
visible to the right of the object, and they can see four figures moving
quickly between the object and the fire. Reynolds watches through
binoculars and sees the entire array moving sideways in a jerking
manner. After 45 minutes, it is all gone from sight. In the morning they
can find no traces on the soft mud flat. (“UFO
Landing?” Australian Flying Saucer Review, no. 5 (July 1961):
1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3490
Date: spring 1961
Description: Late evening. A couple parking in Millville, New Jersey,
watch a bright light silently moving northward. It hovers, reverses
direction, and maneuvers for 5 minutes. At one point it races directly
at a star, abruptly stops, draws a neat, right-angled, half-box around
it, and goes racing on. Finally it speeds out of sight in about 5
seconds. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, p. 44;
Michael D. Swords, “We Know Where You Live,” IUR 30, no. 2 (January
2006): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3491
Date: Spring 1961
Time: Time unknown
Description: Case missing from official files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kemah, Texas
ID: 459
Date: 4/1961
Description: Maj. Tacker is
removed from his job as Pentagon UFO spokesman and reassigned to Europe.
He is replaced by Maj. William
T. Coleman. (“Tacker
Replaced As Spokesman,” UFO Investigator 1, no. 12 (April/May 1961):
1– 2; UFOEv, p. 108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3492
Date: 4/4/1961
Description: President Kennedy approves
the Bay of Pigs plan (also known as Operation Zapata) for the invasion
of Cuba because it has an airfield that does not need extending to
handle bomber operations, it is farther away from large groups of
civilians than the Trinidad plan, and it is less noisy militarily, which
would make any future denial of direct US involvement more plausible.
(Wikipedia, “Bay
of Pigs invasion”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3493
Date: 4/12/1961
Description: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri
Gagarin becomes the first human to go into outer space when his
Vostok spacecraft completes an orbit of the earth. (Wikipedia, “Yuri
Gagarin”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3494
Date: 4/17/1961
Description: The Bay of Pigs invasion takes place in Cuba. A
counter-revolutionary military (made up of Cuban exiles), trained and
funded by the CIA, Brigade 2506 fronts the armed wing of the Democratic
Revolutionary Front (DRF) and intends to overthrow the increasingly
communist government of Fidel
Castro. Launched from bases in Guatemala and Nicaragua, the invading
force is defeated within three days by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed
Forces under the direct command of Castro. (Wikipedia, “Bay
of Pigs invasion”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3495
Date: 4/18/1961
Description: 11:00 a.m. Joe
Simonton hears a whining sound on his farm four miles from Eagle
River, Wisconsin, and sees a silvery object, 30 feet in diameter and 12
feet high, with exhaust pipes around the periphery, land nearby. A door
opens and a man appears, about 5 feet tall and wearing a black,
turtle-neck pullover with a white band at the belt, and black trousers
with a vertical white band along the side. Two other figures are visible
inside. The creature is holding a metallic jug and making gestures
suggesting he wants a drink. Simonton takes the jug into his basement,
fills it with water, and returns it to the man. Simonton notices one man
frying on a flameless grill and motions for some food. Simonton receives
four ordinary pancakes or cookies, 3 inches in diameter, perforated with
small holes. The object takes off after 5 minutes. Simonton gives one of
the pancakes to Judge Frank Wellington
Carter, who
then passes it on to the National Investigations Committee on Aerial
Phenomena; another he gives to J.
Allen Hynek for Project Blue Book; and the third he keeps for
himself. A thorough analysis is performed on one of the pancakes by the
US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and the food is found
to be made of terrestrial but tasteless ingredients, including
hydrogenated oil and buckwheat flour. The Air Force concludes that
Simonton is honest but has mistakenly conflated the reality of his
breakfast with a dream. (Sparks,
p. 287; Vallée, Magonia, pp. 23–25;
Clark III 421–426; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: January–June 1961, The
Author, 2003, pp. 32–34; Center for UFO Studies, [Hynek
case documents];
Center for UFO Studies, [case photos];
Center for UFO Studies, [Lex
Mebane case files]; Center for UFO Studies, [NICAP
case documents]; Jerome Clark, “The
Pancakes of Eagle River,” IUR 21, no. 1 (Spring 1996): 3–8, 27;
Joshua Cutchin, “The Great Alien Bake-Off,” Fortean Times 332 (November
2015): 42–44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3496
Date: 4/18/1961
Time: 1100
Description: J. Simonton heard a whining sound and saw an object, 10 m
in diameter, 4 m high, with exhaust pipes around the periphery, land
near his house. A door was opened and a man appeared. About 1.50 m tall,
he wore a black, turtle-neck pullover with a white band at the belt, and
black trousers with a vertical white band along the side. Two figures
were visible inside the object. Simonton filled a jug with water,
returned it to the man, who gave him three ordinary pancakes, and the
craft took off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Eagle River, Wisconsin
ID: 517
Date: 4/19/1961
Description: 7:40 p.m. Commanding Officer C. J. Peterson of the
minesweeper HMS Maxton sees a swiftly moving object as the ship is 33
miles off San Vito Lo Capo, Sicily, Italy. It is green and leaves an
orange trail as it moves higher and disappears to the northwest. The
ship’s crew sees a similar object on April 20 at 4:50 a.m. when it is 25
miles south of Capo Carbonara, Sardinia, Italy. (1Pinotti 112–113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3497
Date: 4/24/1961
Time: 3:34 AM
Description: Witnesses: aircraft commander Capt. H.J. Savoy and
navigator lst Lt. M.W. Rand, on USAF RC-l2lD patrol plane. One
reddish-white, round object or light, similar to satellite. Observed for
8 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 200 miles SW of San Francisco, California (35’ 50’ N, 125’ 40
W)
ID: 460
Date: 4/25/1961
Description: US Air Force Intelligence Collection Guidance Letter no. 4,
originally classified Confidential, describes and provides guidance for
Project Moon Dust reporting. Several items of interest appear in the
document: classification level of Moon Dust Alerts and reports, focus of
Moon Dust on “foreign earth satellite vehicles,” and destination
agencies for Moon Dust reports among them. Project Moon Dust is a covert
project to exploit the discovery of Soviet hardware when it temporarily
lands in American hands. (Department of the Air Force, “MOON
DUST Reporting,” Intelligence Collection Guidance Letter, no. 4,
April 25, 1961; Kevin D. Randle, A History of UFO Crashes, Avon, 1995,
pp. 157–169)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3498
Date: 4/28/1961
Description: Traces of a crashed UFO were found in this area.
Type: ufo crash
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Korb Lake, Leningrad, Russia
Date: 4/29/1961
Description: Around 4:00 p.m. Contractor John P. Gallagher is working at
a home adjacent to Bailey’s Beach, Newport, Rhode Island. He sees a red
spherical object bobbing on the ocean waves about 600 feet from the
shore. Suddenly the object rises into the air to 60 feet and moves out
to sea at about 100 mph. (“‘Head’
Floats—Flies,” APRO Bulletin, July 1961, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3499
Date: 5/1961
Description: In the May issue of “Fate” magazine, Master Sgt. O.D. Hill
admits that we are still losing Air Force planes to UFOs. The first case
was an F-86 jet fighter that was sent aloft to investigate an UFO that
had been plotted on the Radar scope of an Air Base (name and dates
classified). The Radar Operator spied the UFO heading straight for the
craft. The operator radioed for the F-86 to climb at once, but it was
too late. The two blips merged as one and the UFO was tracked moving
away. Classified as “mysterious” not a single shred of the F-86 was ever
found. (ref. Kinross AFB where an F-89 with crew of two merged with an
UFO and disappeared.-Donald Keyhoe) Second Case: A radar operator was
tracking a transport plane carrying 26 persons aboard when, suddenly,
another blip appeared on the screen closing at 2500 mph on the
transport. Before the operator could warn the transport the two blips
emerged as one. The remaining blip sped straight up at tremendous speed.
A surface search in the vicinity revealed no oil slicks on the water,
although a Generals’ briefcase was found floating around.
Type: publication
Reference: Fate Magazine, 5/1961
Location: US
See also: 4/1/59
See also: 9/29/59
Date: 5/1961
Description: Rep. Overton
Brooks (D-La.) appoints Rep. Joseph
Karth (DFL-Minn.) head of a Subcommittee on Space Problems and Life
Sciences. Karth and two other members plan for hearings in early 1962.
The plan calls for a statement by Roscoe
Hillenkoetter. NICAP
releases a joint statement by 21 American scientists that calls for an
open investigation by UFOs without secrecy. It says the Air Force should
have a more straightforward information policy that releases all facts
on major UFO sightings. (“Scientists
Urge Check on AF Investigation,” UFO Investigator 1, no. 12
(April/May 1961): 7; “UFO
Inquiry behind Closed Doors: NICAP Asks Right to Question
Air Force,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 1 (July/Aug. 1961): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3500
Date: 5/3/1961
Time: 2200
Description: Approximate date. A hemispherical craft with portholes,
resting on a road, took off when a car came near it. Estimated diameter
was 4 m, height 2.5 m, bearing “fluorescent lights.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Evidence 139, 147 (Vallee)
Location: Union Mills, Indiana
ID: 518
Date: 5/5/1961
Description: Astronaut Alan
Shepard becomes the first American in space (for 15 minutes and 22
seconds) when his Freedom
7 capsule is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, as the first
manned Project Mercury launch. (Wikipedia, “Mercury-Redstone
3”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3501
Date: 5/10/1961
Description: Late evening. Richard Vogt, driving on a rural road south
of Osakis, Minnesota, sees a “ball of fog approximately 3 feet in
diameter” swiftly descending toward him at a 45° angle from a clear sky.
Unable to take evasive action, Vogt can only stare as the object hits
the upper part of his hood and windshield. The noisy impact generates a
tremendous amount of heat; the windshield becomes extremely hot to the
touch. The object leaves pit marks burned in the windshield, circular
tracks on the glass, and burned specks in the finish of the hood. (C. W.
Fitch, “Monitoring
and Scanning UFOs,” APRO Bulletin, July 1963, p. 5; Clark III
716)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3502
Date: 5/15/1961
Description: An order approved by President Kennedy results
in the dispersal of four machine guns to insurgents in the Dominican
Republic. President Rafael
Trujillo dies from gunshot wounds on May 30. In the aftermath, Robert Kennedy writes
that the CIA has succeeded where it has failed many times in the past,
but in the face of that success, it is caught flatfooted, having failed
to plan what to do next. (Wikipedia, “Rafael
Trujillo”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3503
Date: 5/22/1961
Time: 4:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mrs. A.J. Jones and Mrs. R.F. Davis. One big
silver dollar disc hovered and revolved, then suddenly disappeared after
15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tyndall AFB, Florida
ID: 461
Date: 6/2/1961
Time: 10:17 PM
Description: Witnesses: lst Lt. R.N. Monahan and Hazeltine Electric
Co. technical representative D.W. Mattison. One blue-white light flew
erratic course at varying speed, in an arc-like path for 5
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Miyako Jima, Japan
ID: 462
Date: 6/3/1961
Description: 6:35 a.m. Giacomo Barra, Giuseppe Pordoi, Filippo Marin,
and Silvano Guardinfante are in a motorboat off Savona, Italy, when the
boat begins to roll badly. More than one-half mile away, they notice the
surface of the sea is “bulging like an enormous ball, with long billows
going out.” An object emerges from the sea and stops still for a few
seconds at a height of 30 feet and rocks slightly. A halo forms around
the base and it shoots away quickly across the sea and vanishes towards
the northwest. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: January–June 1961, The
Author, 2003, p. 50; 1Pinotti 117–118)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3507
Date: 6/3/1961
Description: A civilian weather observer sees an object through a
theodolite at Mercury, Nevada. It remains in sight for 2 hours at an
altitude of 80,000–120,000 feet. Project Blue Book evaluators correctly
identify the object as a probable U-2 aircraft flying out of Nellis AFB.
(Mark Rodeghier, “The U-2 Spy Plane and Blue Book: Another Look,” IUR
27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3508
Date: 6/3/1961
Time: 0635
Description: Off this town, four people in a boat were suddenly shaken
by growing waves and saw the sea swelling like an enormous bubble 1 km
away. An object emerged, hovering at 10 m altitude for a brief time, its
underside glowing, and it left obliquely at high speed toward the
northeast. Its shape was similar to a cone resting on a disk.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Settimana Incom. Jan. 6,63 (Vallee)
Location: Savona, Italy
ID: 519
Date: 6/4/1961
Description: Mrs. James W. Annis, a librarian, sees a large, narrow,
elliptical object hovering low in the sky to the north of Blue Ridge
Summit, Pennsylvania. Farther to the east, a cluster of smaller objects
is hovering. She then watches the smaller objects streak across the sky
to the larger one. All then move out of sight behind trees to the north-
northwest. (UFOEv, p. 71;
Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR 29, no. 2
(Summer 2004): 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3509
Date: 6/5/1961
Description: 2:30 a.m. Patrolman Jaime de Miranda and Astrogildo de
Medeiros are called to the scene of a sighting on the Rodovia Anchieta
highway 30 miles northwest of Santos, São Paulo, Brazil. When they
arrive, they find about 20 cars stopped along the road and people
watching a luminous disc-shaped object maneuvering in the area. The
patrolmen try to signal the object by shining a spotlight on it, but
they get no response. When they focus a red light on it, the object
moves toward the cars at high speed. They take cover. Another responder,
Marshal José Otavia Leite, is about to shoot at the object but other
police prevent him. After 3 hours, the object gets dimmer. At 5:30 a.m.,
it is still visible through binoculars when it lands on the ground some
distance from the highway. By daybreak it is no longer visible.
(Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 227–228)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3510
Date: 6/9/1961
Description: A second USAF/NASA flight evaluation of the Avrocar is
conducted on a modified second prototype at the Avro facility in
Mississisauga, Ontario. During these tests, the vehicle reaches a
maximum speed of 20 knots and shows the ability to traverse a ditch 6
feet across and 18 inches deep. Flight above the critical altitude
proves dangerous if not nearly impossible due to inherent instability.
The flight test report further identifies a range of control problems.
(Wikipedia, “Avro
Canada VZ-9 Avrocar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3511
Date: 6/11/1961
Description: 11:00 p.m. José-Gregorio Darnaude y Rojas Marcos, 28, is
lying in a hammock in the front of his house on the Fuenteluega Estate
in Sevilla, Spain, when he feels a peculiar pricking sensation
throughout his whole body but particularly in his head. His dogs are
cowering, the sheep go completely crazy, and the crickets and cicadas
become silent. Suddenly, a luminous disc about 15 feet in diameter
appears from behind the house, flying from northeast to southwest. It
makes an abrupt 90° turn and moves directly toward him, hovering about
400 feet away from him and 80 feet in the air, changing colors from
white to orange to red to purple several times. Darnaude runs inside,
but the disc turns bright white and shots away at enormous speed.
(Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, “Twelfh Night: And a UFO,” Flying Saucer
Review Case Histories, no. 18 (September 1974): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3512
Date: 6/19/1961
Description: A flying object hovers for more than an hour above an
airport at Exeter, Devon, England. Officials say: “We do not know what
it is. It was seen on the radar screen and we have had it under
observation for some time. We think it is pretty big. It appears to be
shining brightly and is about 50,000 feet up.” (UFOEv, pp. 80,
139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3513
Date: summer 1961
Description: Capt. Robert
Filler and Lt. Phil Lee, based with the 82d Fighter Interceptor
Squadron at Travis AFB in Fairfield, California, are scrambled in their
F-102 Delta Dagger jets to intercept a radar target that has been
hovering at 50,000 feet for 30 minutes. They get a radar lock-on 20
miles out above the Sacramento Valley. The target is still stationary
until they are 5 miles away, then the target moves quickly several times
to a higher altitude. Filler estimates it is moving at 36,000 mph. (Good
Need, pp. 245–246)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3505
Date: summer 1961
Description: Near Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, crews are setting
up new missile batteries as part of Moscow’s defensive network. A huge
disc-shaped object allegedly appears at an estimated altitude of 12.5
miles, surrounded by a number of smaller objects. A nervous battery
commander panics and gives unauthorized orders to fire a salvo at the
disc. All the missiles explode at an estimated distance of 1.2 miles
from the target. A third salvo is not fired, because at that point the
smaller objects stall the electrical apparatus of the entire missile
base. After the smaller disc rejoin the big UFO, the electrical systems
return. (Good Above, pp. 227–228;
Flying Saucers, no. 47, May 1966, pp. 6–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3504
Date: summer 1961
Description: Day. Glenn E. Bradley watches a group of six metallic discs
pass over his farm near Beloit, Ohio, at a low altitude. They are
traveling in single file at about 30 mph and are spaced 1–2 miles apart.
The objects are each about 60 feet in diameter at the bottom with a
30-foot dome on top. Within a transparent section in the center he can
see two figures on each side. The objects begin banking to the left
about 200–300 feet away. (“Soup
Bowls over
Ohio,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 6, no. 1 (Feb./March 1985): 4,
6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3506
Date: 6/30/1961
Description: 2:00 p.m. Residents of Warsaw, Poland, see a large,
luminous, roughly spherical, slowly moving object in the sky. It
supposedly remains visible for more than 8 hours. (Poland 29–31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3514
Date: 7/1961
Alternate date: 8/1961
Description: Dusk. Florin Gorănescu is staying at a villa in Lacul Roşu,
Romania. He and two colleagues notice on top of a nearby high cliff an
intensely red light that remains motionless until it begins moving
slowly northeast. (Romania 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3515
Date: 7/1/1961
Description: ATIC is removed from USAF Intelligence and added to the new
Air Force Systems Command. Its name is changed to the Foreign Technology
Division. Project Blue Book is included in the reorganization. (Sparks,
pp. 12–13; Wikipedia, “National
Air and Space Intelligence Center”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3516
Date: 7/1/1961
Description: A new squadron that will become the 1st Aerospace
Surveillance and Control Squadron becomes operational under the USAF Air
Defense Command at Ent AFB [now the US Olympic Training Center],
Colorado Springs, Colorado, part of NORAD’s Space Detection and Tracking
System. The first squadron commander is Col. Robert Miller. The Space
Track organization at Hanscom Field, Bedford, Massachusetts, assumes a
backup role for squadron operations. (Wikipedia, “1st
Space Operations Squadron”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3517
Date: 7/3/1961
Time: 0015
Description: An object resembling a hovercraft, having five windows
through which an orange light was shining, hovered about 20 m above the
trees. It left suddenly at high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 61, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Ryde, Great Britain
ID: 520
Date: 7/7/1961
Time: 11 PM
Description: Witness: waitress Nannette Hilley. One large ball flew
slow, split into four after 45 minutes. Four flew close formation,
descended and flew away to the west. Total sighting lasted 1 hour.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Copemish, Michigan
ID: 463
Date: 7/11/1961
Time: 7:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: ex-air navigator G. Scott, Mrs. Scott, and
neighbors. One round, bright light like shiny aluminum, passed overhead
in 20 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Springfield, Ohio
ID: 464
Date: 7/11/1961
Description: 10:35 p.m. Jacques Vallée and others at the Paris
Observatory in Meudon, France, see a mystery satellite as part of
Project Moonwatch. The following day the director of the project
confiscates all their data and destroys it, apparently in fear of being
laughed at by the press, scientific colleagues, and the Americans.
(Jacques Vallée, Forbidden Science, North Atlantic, 1992, pp. 41–42;
Michael D. Swords, “Gazing at the Moons,” IUR 32, no. 4 (October 2009):
11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3518
Date: 7/17/1961
Description: 2:00 a.m. Two people driving about one mile north of Bonnie
Springs Ranch [now the Ranch at Red Rock] in the Red Rock Canyon
National Conservation Area, Nevada, see in the rear-view mirror a
low-flying object that overtakes their car, followed by a rush of cold
air. It stops, circles the vehicle, flies off, and is lost to sight
behind the mountains, where it might have landed, but an investigation
by the military finds no trace. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 282;
Sparks, p. 288)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3519
Date: 7/17/1961
Time: 0200
Description: One mile north of Bonny Spring Ranch, on U.S. Highway 91,
two civilians in a car observed in the rear-view mirror a low-flying
object that overtook their car, followed by a rush of cold air. It
stopped, circled the vehicle, flew off and was lost to sight behind the
mountains, where it may have landed. In the course of an exceptionally
complete investigation by military authorities, however, no evidence of
a landing was discovered.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
ID: 521
Date: 7/20/1961
Time: 8 AM
Description: Witnesses: Trans-Texas Airlines Capt. A.V. Beather, flying
DC-3, plus vague report from ground radar. Two very bright white light
or objects flew in trail formation for 30 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Houston, Texas
ID: 465
Date: 7/21/1961
Description: Mercury program : Mercury-Redstone 4 Mission — Gus Grissom
piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in
a suborbital mission).
Type: aerospace
Reference: Fate Magazine, 5/1961
Location: US
See also: 1/27/67
Date: 8/1961
Description: Construction of essential facilities is completed at Area
51 in Nevada; three surplus Navy hangars are erected on the base’s north
side. The original U-2 hangars are converted to maintenance and machine
shops. Facilities in the main cantonment area include workshops and
buildings for storage and administration, a commissary, control tower,
fire station, and housing. The Navy also contributes more than 130
surplus Babbitt duplex housing units for long-term occupancy facilities.
Older buildings are repaired, and additional facilities are constructed
as necessary. A reservoir pond surrounded by trees serves as a
recreational area one mile north of the base. Other recreational
facilities included a gymnasium, a movie theater, and a baseball
diamond. (Wikipedia, “Area
51”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3520
Date: 8/4/1961
Description: Rep. Thomas
N. Downing (D-Va.) advises NICAP that the House Science and
Astronautics Committee is considering hearings on UFOs by a three-man
subcommittee headed by Rep. Joseph
Karth. Meanwhile, Rep. Overton
Brooks meets privately with Hillenkoetter and
Keyhoe,
asking them to prepare the best cases and proof of official censorship
for a meeting on August 24. (UFOEv, p. 139;
Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, pp. 77–78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3521
Date: 8/5/1961
Description: 8:20 a.m. John Lee-Steere sees a “snowy white meshlike
substance” float to the ground from 12 white metallic discs traveling in
pairs over the Mount Hale shearing station, 50 miles northwest of
Meekatharra, Western Australia. Sheep-shearing contractor Edwin C. Payne
picks up the material and it fades away in his hands. (“Discs
Trail White Fibrous Stuff,” APRO Bulletin, January 1962, p. 1; Loren
E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: July–December 1961, The Author,
2003, p. 23; Keith Basterfield, “Angel Hair: An Australian Perspective,”
IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 7; Clark III 324)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3522
Date: 8/12/1961
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witnesses: college seniors J.B. Furkenhoff and Tom Phipps.
One very large oval object with a fin extending from one edge to the
center; like a sled with lighted car running boards. Hovered at 50’
altitude for 3-5 minutes, then flew straight up and east.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kansas City, Kansas
ID: 466
Date: 8/12/1961
Time: 2100
Description: Two Drake University students saw a large object shaped
like an oval with “running boards” bearing a series of lights. It
hovered for about 4 min at tree-height, shot straight up, climbed away
toward the east, then disappeared from view in five sec or so.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Kansas City, Kansas
ID: 522
Date: 8/12/1961
Description: 9:00 p.m. College seniors J. B. Furkenhoff and Tom Phipps
see a large oval object with a fin extending from one edge to the
center, like a sled with lighted car running boards, near Old Mission
High School on 50th Street in Kansas City, Missouri. It hovers at 50
feet altitude for 3–5 minutes, then flies straight up, disappearing in
about 5 seconds. (Patrick Gross, “Kansas
City 1961, a Blue Book ‘Unknown’”; Sparks,
p. 289)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3523
Date: mid 8/1961
Description: House Committee staff consultant Richard P. Hines visits
ATIC in Dayton, where Col. Robert
Friend, Hynek, and
other officials give him a tour, tell him that Project Blue Book has the
UFO problem at hand, and that Rep. McCormack has
been pressured by NICAP to hold hearings. Hines leaves ATIC “favorably
impressed.” (Jacobs, UFO Controversy in America, Signet ed., 1976, pp. 160–161;
Swords 293)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3524
Date: 8/16/1961
Description: George
Hunt Williamson, now going by the name of Michel d’Obrenovic,
arrives in Japan at the invitation of the Cosmic Brotherhood Association
and its contactee leader Yusuke
Matsumara. (Zirger
and Martinelli, The Incredible Life of George Hunt Williamson,
Verdechiari, 2016, pp. 129–130)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3525
Date: 8/22/1961
Description: Adm. Roscoe
Hillenkoetter signs a NICAP letter to Congress urging “immediate
congressional action to reduce the dangers from secrecy about UFOs,
including accidental war and the Russians falsely claiming UFOs are
Soviet weapons. (Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, p. 85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3526
Date: 8/25/1961
Description: Approximate date. Five persons observed a luminous, yellow
sphere, 8 m in diameter, flying about 10 m above the road. Horizontal
and vertical bands of darker tone gave the impression of “windows.” The
object flew up very fast when the car reached town.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN (Vallee)
Location: Toulouse, France
ID: 523
Date: 8/25/1961 (approximate)
Description: Five people at Toulouse, France, see a luminous, yellow
object, 24 feet in diameter, flying about 30 feet above a road. The
object has horizontal and vertical bands of darker tone that give the
appearance of “windows.” The UFO flies upwards very quickly when the car
reaches town. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 282)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3527
Date: 8/28/1961
Description: Rep. Karth writes
a harsh letter to Keyhoe and
attacks him for trying to defame and ridicule the Air Force. He had
thought Keyhoe would be proving the existence of spaceships, but he
knows now he cannot do this. Therefore, he is no longer interested in
holding hearings. He tells a newspaper reporter that he will not be part
of Keyhoe’s “cheap scheme to discredit the Air Force.” (Jacobs, UFO
Controversy in America, Signet ed., 1976, pp. 161–162)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3528
Date: 9/1961
Description: A National Intelligence Estimate concludes that the USSR
has no more than 25 ICBMs and will not possess more in the near future,
effectively discrediting the missile gap myth. (Wikipedia, “Missile
gap”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3529
Date: 9/2/1961
Description: 4:40–4:50 p.m. A man named Ziegler is reclining outside his
home in the northeast section of Albuquerque, New Mexico, when he sees a
shiny round white object moving erratically to the west. At two
different times it emits several small silvery objects about one-sixth
the size of the main object. It fades out of sight to the south. (NICAP,
“Silver Object and Smaller Ones Emitted”; Sparks, p. 289;
Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR 29, no. 2
(Summer 2004): 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3530
Date: 9/6/1961
Description: The National Reconnaissance Office is officially launched
with headquarters in Chantilly, Virginia. It designs, builds, launches,
and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the federal government,
and provides satellite intelligence to several government agencies,
particularly signals intelligence (SIGINT) to the National Security
Agency, imagery intelligence (IMINT) to the National
Geospace-Intelligence Agency, and measurement and signature intelligence
(MASINT) to the Defense Intelligence Agency. Its existence remains top
secret until September 18, 1992. The move creates a protocol that
requires the CIA deputy director and the undersecretary of the Air Force
to co-manage all space reconnaissance and aerial espionage programs. The
public face of the NRO is the Office of Space Systems. (Wikipedia, “National
Reconnaissance Office”; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 168–169)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3531
Date: 9/16/1961
Description: Rep. Overton
Brooks dies of a heart attack; the August 24 meeting about UFO
evidence has not taken place. He is replaced on the House Science and
Astronautics Committee by Rep. George
Paul Miller (D-Calif.) who indicates he will not order UFO hearings.
(Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, p. 78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3532
Date: 9/18/1961
Description: Fourth Officer G. Gendall of the cargo ship Queensland
Star, in the Indian Ocean, sees a white UFO through a cloud
formation. It vanishes into the clouds and then reappears, dropping
toward the sea. The water in the surrounding area grows intensely
bright. Particles of white matter continue to fall into the sea after
the object disappears, and the sky and water are illuminated for several
minutes. (Sanderson, InvRes, pp. 47–48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3533
Date: 9/19/1961
End date: 9/20/1961
Description: Betty and Barney Hill abduction incident in Lincoln, New
Hampshire. Three miles south of the city of Lancaster, New Hampshire:
Barney noticed what appeared to be a bright star, or planet, which
seemed to move erratically. Barney pointed this out to Betty… As the
object moved to within a hundred feet of him, he could see occupants
inside. Frightened, he ran back to his car where Betty waited. They
climbed inside and sped away. Soon, two hours of their lives would
vanish into oblivion.
Type: abduction
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Lincoln, New Hampshire
Date: 9/19/1961
Description: 5:22 a.m. The North Concord Air Force Station [now closed]
at East Mountain, Vermont, picks up an unidentified radar target at
62,000 feet for 18 minutes. It moves at a slow speed on an erratic
course. (NICAP, “Radar
Tracks Object before and after Hill Abduction”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3534
Date: 9/19/1961
Description: Keyhoe has
smoothed things over with Rep. Karth, who
writes: “Now that we better understand each other, I would hope we could
properly proceed with a hearing early next year—providing the new
chairman [Miller]
authorizes hearings.” (“Majority
Leader Support Indicates Early Congressional Action: Chairman
Karth Backs
Open Hearings,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 2 (October 1961): 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3535
Date: 9/19/1961
End date: 9/20/1961
Description: 10:30 p.m. Barney
and Betty Hill are driving home to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from a
vacation in Quebec, going south on US Highway 3. Near Groveton, New
Hampshire, Betty sees a bright light moving upward and erratically,
growing larger. Later, Barney stops the car at a scenic picnic area
south of Twin Mountain. Through binoculars, Betty sees a solid object
against the moon that “appeared to be flashing thin pencils of different
colored lights.” Barney thinks it’s a plane, though it might be “playing
games” with them. Barney drives slowly through Franconia Notch, watching
the object. At one point it passes near the Old Man of the Mountain.
About one mile south of Indian Head (north of Lincoln), the object
rapidly descends toward their vehicle, causing Barney to stop in the
middle of the highway. The huge, silent craft hovers approximately
80–100 feet above the Hills’ 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air and fills the entire
field of view in the windshield. It reminds Barney of a huge pancake.
Carrying his pistol in his pocket, he steps away from the vehicle and
moves closer to the object. Using the binoculars, Barney claims see
about 8–11 humanoid figures who are peering out of the craft’s windows,
seeming to look at him. In unison, all but one figure move to what
appears to be a panel on the rear wall of the hallway that encircles the
front portion of the craft. The one remaining figure continues to look
at Barney and communicates a message telling him to “stay where you are
and keep looking.” Barney has a recollection of observing the humanoid
forms wearing glossy black uniforms and black caps. Red lights on what
appears to be bat-wing fins begin to telescope out of the sides of the
craft, and a long structure descends from the bottom of the craft. The
UFO approaches to within 50–80 feet overhead and 300 feet away from him.
Barney tears the binoculars away from his eyes and runs back to his car.
In a near hysterical state, he tells Betty, “They’re going to capture
us!” He sees the object again shift its location to directly above the
vehicle. He drives away at high speed, telling Betty to look for the
object. She rolls down the window and looks up. Almost immediately, the
Hills hear a rhythmic series of beeping or buzzing sounds which seem to
bounce off the trunk of their vehicle. The car vibrates and a tingling
sensation passes through them. At this point in time they experience the
onset of an altered state of consciousness that leaves their minds
dulled. A second series of beeping sounds return them to full
consciousness. They find that they have traveled nearly 35 miles south,
but have only vague, spotty memories of this section of road. They
recall making a sudden, unplanned turn, encountering a roadblock, and
observing a fiery orb in the road. At 5:00 a.m., they arrive home, about
two hours later than expected. Barney feels compelled to examine his
genitals, and they both take long showers. Betty notices a pinkish
powder and a tear in her dress. There are shiny, concentric circles on
their car’s trunk that were not there the previous day. Betty and Barney
experiment with a compass, noting that when they move it close to the
spots, the needle whirls rapidly. But when they move it a few inches
away from the shiny spots, it drops down. (Wikipedia, “Betty
and Barney Hill”; NICAP, “The
Betty and Barney Hill Case”; Clark III 577–581; Sparks,
p. 289; John G. Fuller, The
Interrupted Journey, Dial,
1966; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 178–184;
Mark Rodeghier, “Hypnosis and the Hill Abduction Case,” IUR 19, no. 2
(March/April 1994): 4–6, 23–24; Robert H. Coddington, “The Hill
Experience,” IUR 19, no. 3 (May/June 1994): 18–19; Michael D. Swords,
GrassRoots UFOs: Case Reports from the Timmerman Files, Fund for UFO
Research, 2005, p. 143; Greg Sandow, “The Hill Case and the Limits of
Ufology,” IUR 31, no. 4 (March 2008): 3–7, 19–28; Stanton Friedman and
Kathleen Marden, Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience,
Weiser, 2007; Mark Cashman, “Behavioral Classification System for UFO
Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3536
Date: 9/19/1961
Description: Barney and Betty Hill vehicle encounter, abduction
case
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: White Mountains, NH
ID: 8
Date: 9/19/1961
Time: 2200
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Hill saw a lenticular object with a double row
of portholes and half-a-dozen dark figures working at control panels
inside, when they stopped to investigate a light following their car.
They became afraid and drove away. A “beeping sound” enveloped the car,
and they felt a prickling sensation before losing consciousness. When
they came to, they were driving near Ashland. A series of nightmares and
medically controlled hypnosis brought back what apparently was the
memory of their abduction by the occupants of the object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fuller; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Indian Head, New Hampshire
ID: 524
Date: 9/20/1961
Description: 2:14 a.m. Pease AFB [now Pease Air National Guard Base] in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, picks up an unidentified radar blip 4 miles
away from the base, with no visual contact. (NICAP, “Radar
Tracks Object before and
after Hill Abduction”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3537
Date: 9/21/1961
End date: 9/22/1961
Description: Betty
Hill calls Pease AFB and reports her UFO incident (without
mentioning the figures). Maj. Paul W. Henderson of the 100th Bomb Wing
calls back with a few questions.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3538
Date: 9/26/1961
Description: Betty
Hill writes to Donald
E. Keyhoe (mentioning the figures Barney remembers seeing) and asks
for more information. She mentions that she and Barney are considering
hypnosis. (Mark Rodeghier, “Hypnosis and the Hill Abduction Case,” IUR
19, no. 2 (March/April 1994): 4–6, 23–24; Michael D. Swords, “Radio
Signals from Space, Alien Probes, and Betty Hill,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July
2005): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3539
Date: 9/27/1961
Description: Allen
Dulles resigns as director of central intelligence; John
A. McCone replaces him.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3540
Date: 9/27/1961
Description: 7:57 a.m. The radar operator on a USAF Airborne Early
Warning and Control aircraft off the California coast spots five targets
on his scope. Four of the objects are on a heading of 90°, and all of
them are moving at a high rate of speed. They soon disappear into sea
clutter. Three minutes later, two objects appear heading 70° then also
disappear into sea clutter. The speed of one of the objects is measured
at about 2,070 mph over a distance of 230 miles. While the two objects
are on the scope, a single stationary object also appears. After
remaining stationary for about two minutes, it moves on a heading of
265° at 70 mph and is lost in the sea clutter. The objects can only be
painted with the IFF on. The radar is an APS-95. (NICAP, “Uncorrelated
Targets on APS- 95”;
Sparks, p. 290)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3541
Date: 9/29/1961
End date: 10/3/1961
Description: Betty
Hill has a series of intensely vivid dreams in which she and Barney
encounter a strange roadblock and are approached by a group of men. She
loses consciousness and awakes on board a craft where they are given a
medical examination by “intelligent, humanoid beings.” (Clark III
581–583) Autumn — Evening. Emanoil Manoliu, son of the prominent
novelist Mihail
Sadoveanu, is at the Neamț Monastery west of Târgu Neamț, Romania,
when he sees a blinding, multicolored light. After a few seconds it
rises quickly and he can see it looks like a disc with a concave base
about 20–23 feet long and 10 feet broad. It vanishes “like a tornado in
the air” and he feels the rush of wind. The next day he goes to the site
with a priest and finds an area of singed grass and a light imprint in
the soil. (Hobana and Weverbergh 167–168)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3542
Date: 9/30/1961
Time: 2200
Description: Eight km south of La Porte, 16year-old Dennis Bealor saw a
large sphere of orange light rise ahead of him on the road. He was so
frightened that he lost control of his bike and left the road.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Hartle 158 (Vallee)
Location: La Porte, Indiana
ID: 525
Date: 10/1/1961
Description: The Defense Intelligence Agency, created at the request of
Defense Secretary Robert
S. McNamara to integrate all military intelligence operations,
begins work with a handful of employees in borrowed office space. Its
mission is the continuous task of collecting, processing, evaluating,
analyzing, integrating, producing, and disseminating military
intelligence for the Department of Defense and related national
stakeholders. Other objectives include more efficiently allocating
scarce intelligence resources, more effectively managing all DoD
intelligence activities, and eliminating redundancies in facilities,
organizations, and tasks. (Wikipedia, “Defense Intelligence
Agency”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3543
Date: 10/2/1961
Description: Around 12:00 noon. Waldo
J. Harris, private
pilot and real-estate broker, is getting ready to take off in a Mooney
M20A from Utah Central Airport [now closed] in Granger, Utah, when he
sees a bright spot in the sky. After he takes off, he notices that the
light is still in the same location. He flies toward the object to get a
better look, and sees that the UFO has no wings or tail and is hovering
with a slight rocking motion. He later estimates the diameter at 35–50
feet, with a thickness of about 4 feet, and the appearance of
sand-blasted aluminum. Harris estimates he has approached within 2 miles
of the object before it rises abruptly and zooms away for 10 miles
before it resumes a rocking hover. He approaches again, but it departs
in about 2–3 seconds. Several other people, including airport controller
Jay
Galbraith, also
see the UFO from the airport. Investigators from Hill AFB near Ogden
arrive quickly. Airport attendant Russell M. Woods tells them he thinks
the object was at 2,500 feet altitude. On October 9, Douglas
M. Crouch forwards the Hill AFB official report, including
transcripts of interviews, to Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio, saying “No
unusual meteorological or astronomical conditions were present to
account for the sighting.” Nonetheless, Blue Book wanders from Venus to
a research balloon to a sundog (an assessment James
E. McDonald calls “nonsensical”) as explanations. (Clark III
1025–1028; UFOEv, pp. 1–2 ;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 49–50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3544
Date: 10/3/1961
Description: Soviet “Tsar Bomba” hydrogen bomb test, the most powerful
thermonuclear weapon ever detonated, 50mt yield, Novaya Zemlya
archipelago, 10x the amount of all the explosives used in WW2 combined,
heat of explosion was estimated to potentially inflict 3rd degree burns
at 100km distance.
Type: atomic
Reference: Wikipedia
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Severny Island, Novaya Zemlya
Atomic type: aboveground
Atomic MT: 50
Date: 10/4/1961
End date: 10/5/1961
Description: Two IBM engineers, C. D. Jackson and Robert
E. Hohmann, have lunch in Washington, D.C., with Donald
Keyhoe, who
shows them the letter from Betty
Hill. (Michael
D. Swords, “Radio Signals from Space, Alien Probes, and Betty Hill,” IUR
29, no. 4 (July 2005): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3545
Date: 10/8/1961
Description: Privately circulated letter from Manhattan Project
scientist Dr. Leon Davidson to members of the UFO community over his
concerns that all UFO’s are actually CIA psychological warfare.
Type: letter
Reference: link
Location: US
Date: 10/14/1961
Description: 5:00 p.m. Mrs. Erwin Riley, a summer resident in Two
Harbors, Minnesota, sees a large object slide into the water of Lake
Superior about one mile from shore and bob about on the surface. She
summons a neighbor, Jack Ray, and they both watch through binoculars,
but they can’t make out what it is. At dusk, the Lake County Sheriff
responds to their call, but he can’t see much due to swells on the lake
surface. He calls the Air Force and Coast Guard to make sure it’s not
part of a training exercise. Shortly afterward, Riley sees the object
rise into the air and travel southeast at about the speed of a car. A
Coast Guard search the next day turns up only a floating log. (“Flying
Log?” APRO Bulletin, November 1961, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3546
Date: 10/14/1961
Description: 5:30 p.m. Mayor Michael Burson and his wife watch two pairs
of UFOs move to the east above Sunset, Utah. The first pair looks like
puffy cotton joined together by “stringy stuff,” and the second pair are
metallic discs. (“More
Discs in Utah,” APRO Bulletin, March 1962, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3547
Date: 10/15/1961
Description: 5:00 p.m. Mrs. John P. Vanicky and Norine Gribble are
driving from Marquette, Michigan, to Hurley, Wisconsin, when they see a
brown cigar-shaped object spouting fire from its rear and moving
southeast. They stop the car and watch for 20 minutes until it
disappears. (Duluth (Minn.) News-Tribune, October 19, 1961; “Flying
Log?” APRO Bulletin, November 1961, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3548
Date: 10/19/1961
Description: NICAP secretary Richard
H. Hall writes to Walter
N. Webb at Hayden Planetarium in Boston, Massachusetts, and asks him
to talk to Betty
and Barney Hill. (Clark III 578–579)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3549
Date: 10/21/1961
Description: 2:00 a.m. A brilliant fireball flashes in front of Richard
and Rhonda DuBois’s car on US Highway 60 as they are driving between
Datil and Pie Town, New Mexico. It then veers into the sky. Later, as
they approach a canyon they see that the light is traveling along in
front of them. It breaks into four lights that move along with the car,
even as DuBois drives at 100 mph, until they stop at a roadside motel.
The lights then zoom straight up and disappear. (“Woman Says Flying
Objects Chase Car,” Garden Grove (Calif.) News, October 23, 1961;
Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 231; Loren E. Gross,
The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History:
July–December 1961, The
Author, 2003, p. 97)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3550
Date: 10/21/1961
Description: Webb, initially
skeptical, winds up interviewing the Hills for
6 hours. He finds that their amnesia concerning some parts of the
episode has unsettled them, and Betty tells him she had vivid nightmares
for six straight nights a couple weeks after the incident. (Clark III
581)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3551
Date: 10/26/1961
Description: Walter
Webb’s report to NICAP concludes that the Hills are
telling the truth. (Walter N. Webb, “A Dramatic
UFO Encounter in the White Mountains, N.H., September 19–20, 1961,”
NICAP Massachusetts Subcommittee, October 26, 1961; Clark III 581; Mark
Rodeghier, “Hypnosis and the Hill Abduction Case,” IUR 19, no. 2
(March/April 1994): 4–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3552
Date: 10/30/1961
Description: The Soviet RDS-202 hydrogen bomb, the 50-megaton Tsar
Bomba, is supposedly the most powerful nuclear weapon ever tested. It is
detonated at the Sukhoy Nos Cape of Severny Island, Novaya Zemla,
Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It flattens entire villages in surrounding
areas and breaks windows in Finland 1,000 miles away. (Wikipedia, “Tsar
Bomba”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3553
Date: 11/1/1961
Description: At a small, informal conference on SETI at the National
Radio Astronomy Observatory’s facility in Green Bank, West Virginia,
astronomer Frank
Drake writes this equation on a chalkboard: N = R fp ne fl fi fc L.
The equation, the Green Bank Formula, summarizes the main concepts that
scientists must contemplate when considering the question of
extraterrestrial life capable of communicating by radio across space. It
is more properly thought of as an approximation rather than as a serious
attempt to determine a precise number. (Wikipedia, “Drake
equation”; Lee Billings, “The
Alien-Life Summit,” Slate, September 27, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3554
Date: 11/3/1961
Description: 4:30 p.m. Mr. E. Adkins observes a brilliant object with an
orange center flying south over Eyres Monsell, Leicester, England, at an
estimated 600 mph. It is triangular in shape and about 300 feet wide.
(“Triangular
Object over
Eyres Monsell,” Flying Saucer Review 8, no. 2 (March/April 1962):
24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3555
Date: 11/13/1961
Description: The AFCIN-1E-0 Draft Policy letter (Betz Memo) is prepared
by Lt. Col. Norman
M. Rosner for Col. Ward
Reid Betz. Among other things, it specifies three peacetime
functions of the 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron at Ent AFB [now
the US Olympic Training Center], Colorado Springs, Colorado: UFO
investigations, Project Moon Dust (an exploitation program to locate,
recover, and deliver descended foreign space vehicles), and Operation
Blue Fly (to facilitate delivery to the Foreign Technological Division
of Moon Dust and other items of great technical intelligence interest).
These three functions involve “employment of qualified field
intelligence personnel on a quick reaction basis to recover or perform
field exploitation of unidentified flying objects, or known Soviet/Bloc
aerospace vehicles, weapons systems, and/or residual components of such
equipment.” (Paul Dean, “The
Rejuvenated ‘Betz Memo,’” UFOs: Documenting the Evidence, May 8,
2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3556
Date: late 11/1961
Description: Evening. A group of four friends are hunting on a Sunday in
the area of Harvey, North Dakota. As they are returning in the car, the
two men in the front seat notice a descending glowing object in the sky
ahead of them. Assuming they are witnessing a plane crash, they rush to
the scene of its landing, where they find at 150 yards distance, a
“silo-appearing craft which was sticking in the ground with this glow
around it.” The men shine a hand spotlight and shine it on the object,
whereupon they see four human-looking individuals standing around it. At
this point they seem to hear an explosion and “everything went out.” The
principal witness wakes up from dozing in the back seat as the car is
negotiating soggy ground looking for the craft and crew. They return to
the spot where the landing takes place, and they see the figures again,
wearing white coveralls and standing 5 feet high. They get out of the
car and one figure waves them away. Eventually, the men agree to return
to a small town, possibly Martin, North Dakota, 11 miles away, where
they find a police officer, who listens to the story and agrees to
accompany them back to the site. They see red lights moving in the field
and both cars go in pursuit of them. The lights go out, the police
officer drives away, and the four men resume driving home. Two miles
down the highway, the silo-like object reappears, landing gently 150
yards away with two of the figures watching them. Two of the men get out
of the car again and shine the spotlight on the craft. One of the men is
carrying a rifle; he drops on the ground and shoots, apparently hitting
one of the figures in the right shoulder. The figure spins around, goes
down on his knees, gets help from the other figure, then yells, “Now
what the hell did you do that for?” Weirdly, as soon as the men return
to the car, the two who have remained inside insist the rifle had not
been removed and no shot was fired. The primary witness (who remains in
the car) has no recollection of what happened to the craft and figures.
By the time they get home, dawn is breaking, and their wives are waiting
for them. They all know it has taken longer than it should have to
return. A few hours later, around 12:00 noon, the principal witness is
at work when three well-groomed, official-looking men visit him. He
presumes they are Air Force intelligence officers who say they have a
“report” about the previous night’s event. They ask him what clothes he
was wearing and what the object looked like, but they never ask about
the shooting. Later, they show up at his house and ask to see his
hunting gear and boots. They tell him not to say anything more about the
incident. In January 1968, US Border Patrol agent [later BATF agent]
Donald E. Flickinger manages to interview the primary witness, who works
as a supervisor at Minot AFB hospital, and two of the others, one a
small-town high school superintendent and the other an active-duty Air
Force sergeant. They all are “extremely reliable and responsible,”
Flickinger says. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed.,
1974, pp. 164–165;
Clark III 825–827)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3557
Date: late 11/1961
Description: 9:30 p.m. Real estate agent Cavalheiro Mendes is walking
along the beach in Balneário Pinhal, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, when he
sees a huge light 900 feet away. As he walks toward it, he sees it is a
huge disc resting on the sand. He feels compelled to approach it and
sees two helmeted figures come from behind the object. They seem to be
telling him telepathically not to resist. Mendes finds he is completely
unable to move. He feels one of them scratching his forearm with an
instrument, then he blacks out. When he wakes up, he is nearly back to
his beach house and it is 11:30 p.m. After a few weeks he feels anxious
and sad for no apparent reason. He refuses to be hypnotized. (Lorenzen,
Flying Saucer Occupants, Signet, 1967, pp. 199–200)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3558
Date: 11/21/1961
Time: 7:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: C. Locklear and Helen Hatch. One round,
red-orange object flew straight up and faded after 3-4 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Oldtown, Florida
ID: 467
Date: 11/22/1961
Description: US Navy pilot Robert
G. Robinson reaches an airspeed of 1,606 mph in a McDonnell-Douglas
F4H-1F Phantom II over Edwards AFB, California. (Wikipedia, “Robert
G. Robinson”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3559
Date: 11/23/1961
Time: 9:30 PM
Description: Witness: F. Braunger. One bright red star flew straight and
level for 15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Sioux City, Iowa
ID: 468
Date: 11/25/1961
Description: IBM engineers C. D. Jackson and Robert
E. Hohmann interview the Hills.
One of them expresses surprise at how long the drive took. They are
mysteriously interested in whether nitrates or chemicals containing
nitrates are in their car. For the first time, Barney and Betty realize
that there are two hours they cannot account for. Also present is a
friend of the Hills, retired USAF Maj. James McDonald, a former
intelligence officer. He suggests that Betty and Barney consult a
hypnotist. (Clark III 583; Mark Rodeghier, “Hypnosis and the Hill
Abduction Case,” IUR 19, no. 2 (March/April 1994): 6, 23–24; Michael D.
Swords, “Radio Signals from Space, Alien Probes, and Betty Hill,” IUR
29, no. 4 (July 2005): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3560
Date: 11/28/1961
Description: President Kennedy presides
over the dedication of the new CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
(Wikipedia, “George
Bush Center for Intelligence”; CIA History Staff, 50
Years in Langley: Recollections of the Construction
of CIA’s Original Headquarters Building, 1961–2011, January
2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3561
Date: 11/30/1961
Description: Covert operations against Fidel
Castro are officially authorized by President Kennedy after
being given the name Operation Mongoose at a White House meeting on
November 3. The operation is led by USAF Gen. Edward
Lansdale and goes into effect after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion.
A document from the Department of State confirms that the project aims
to “help Cuba overthrow the Communist regime,” including Castro, and it
aims “for a revolt which can take place in Cuba by October 1962.” One of
Lansdale’s ideas is to project a huge image of the Second Coming of
Christ above the island, spread the word that Castro is the anti-Christ,
shoot starburst shells from a submarine into the air, and hope far an
uprising. US policymakers want to see “a new government with which the
United States can live in peace.” (Wikipedia, “Operation
Mongoose”; Kremlin 131– 133)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3562
Date: 12/1961
Description: Funding runs out for the Avrocar and it and related WS-606A
supersonic VTOL programs are officially cancelled by the US military.
(Wikipedia, “Avro
Canada VZ-9 Avrocar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3563
Date: 12/13/1961
Time: 5:05 PM
Description: Witnesses: C.F. Muncy, ex-U.S. Navy pilot W.J. Myers, and
G. Weber. One dark diamond-shaped object with a bright tip flew straight
and level for 1-3 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Washington, DC
ID: 469
Date: 12/21/1961
Time: 2145
Description: Jerry Hislope, 20, was driving to Kentland when he saw a
glowing white object, 3 m in diameter, 1 m thick, dive at him, flying 3
m above the ground. He stopped to observe it, but the object flew
away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Mar., 62 (Vallee)
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
ID: 526
Date: 1962
Description: The Argentine Navy creates a permanent commission for the
study of UFOs, and the Argentine Air Force establishes a division for
the same purpose. (Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, “Argentina:
UFO Declassification,” UAPSG–GEFAI, July 29, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3568
Date: 1962
Description: 12:00 midnight. Actor Jamie
Farr and his wife Joy Ann are driving through the desert near Yuma,
Arizona, when they notice a light moving erratically at the top of a
mountain. It zig-zags across the sky as it approaches them, moving to
within 150 feet, then 60 feet of their vehicle. They can see two lights,
red and blue, revolving beneath the silent object. It paces them for a
short time then moves away at incredible speed. (“Jamie
and Joy Farr Report UFO
Sighting,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 8 (December 1980): 3,
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3567
Date: 1962
Description: French composer Paul
Misraki writes Les Extraterrestres using the pseudonym Paul Thomas.
He links modern UFO sightings with biblical and mythological tales and
claims that angels are aliens, that the Bible and other ancient texts
are filled with many UFO flying saucer sightings, and that throughout
human history extraterrestrial visitors have intervened in human
affairs. Misraki is also one of the first authors to suggest that
apparitions may be UFO-related phenomena. (Paul Thomas [Paul Misraki],
Les Extraterrestres, Plon, 1962; Jerome Clark, “Vimanas Have Landed:
Ancient Astronautics in Ufology,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997):
28–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3570
Date: 1962
Description: Day. An Air Force pilot is flying a brand new B-52 with a
full crew out of Wichita, Kansas, headed for an air base in the
southwest. He notices a bright flash of sunlight in his left side and
turns to see a metallic object “like polished chrome.” It is pacing the
aircraft near its left wingtip. The object is 4–8 feet in diameter and
has no seams or markings. His First Officer is watching an identical
object off the right wing, and the crewman in the tail reports that
there is a round shiny metal ball following close behind the B-52. The
top and bottom gunners also see spheres above and below the plane. The
pilot goes into an evasive maneuver, but after 10–15 minutes the objects
are maintaining their positions. He returns to his previous assigned
altitude and heading. After a few minutes, the five objects leave, one
at a time, first the bottom one, then the top, then the tail. The two
objects on the wings shoot away at the same time and climb out of sight
parallel to each other. After landing, the crew is told not to talk
about the sighting at all. (Richard F. Haines, “NARCAP’s Project Sphere:
Are Spherical UAP a Threat to Aviation Safety?” IUR 33, no. 2 (July
2010): 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3566
Date: 1962
Description: The Air Force tries once again to get rid of the UFO
program, but its attempts to get NASA or the National Science Foundation
to handle the program prove futile. It finally gives up the entire idea.
The program remains at FTD as a special project and without expanded
resources. (Jacobs, UFO Controversy in America, Signet ed., 1976, p. 164)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3565
Date: 1962
Description: According to a “former Project Blue Book Chief” (probably
Maj. Friend)
gun-camera films obtained during jet interceptor UFO chases are
routinely referred to the CIA’s National Photographic Interpretation
Center (established in 1961) for analysis. Richard
H. Hall writes, “This cannot be documented at present, but I heard
him say so to a UFO researcher colleague. None of the photoanalysis data
in these cases has been released, nor has the existence of these films
ever been acknowledged.” (Richard H. Hall, Uninvited Guests, Aurora,
1988, p. 179)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3564
Date: 1962
Description: René and
Françine
Fouéré establish the Groupe d’Étude des Phénomènes Aériens in Paris,
France, with an initial group of 60 interested members. The following
year GEPA launches a magazine, Phénomènes Spatiaux, which is published
through 1978. In 1964, Lionel-Max
Chassin, now
retired from the army, takes over as president. (Wikipedia, “Group
d’Étude des Phénomènes Aériens”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3569
Date: 1/1962
Description: The IBM 7950 Harvest computer, designed to be used for
cryptanalysis, is delivered to the National Security Agency. It includes
Tractor, a large automated tape cartridge library. An NSA-conducted
evaluation finds that Harvest is more powerful than the best
commercially available machine by a factor of 50–200, depending on the
task. It remains in use until 1976. One purpose of the machine is to
search text for keywords from a watchlist. From a single foreign cipher
system, Harvest is able to scan more than 7 million decrypts for any
occurrences of some 7,000 key words in under four hours. The computer is
also used for codebreaking, and this is enhanced by a system codenamed
Rye, which allows remote access to Harvest. (Wikipedia, “IBM
7950 Harvest”; “Timeline
of the
IBM Stretch/Harvest Era (1956–1961),” computerhistory.org)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3572
Date: 1/1962
Description: The Federal Aviation Administration expands the restricted
airspace in the vicinity of Groom Lake, Nevada, and the lakebed becomes
the center of a 600-square-mile addition to restricted area R-4808N.
(Wikipedia, “Area 51”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3571
Date: 1/8/1962
Time: night
Description: A truck driver and two other men observed two powerful
lights lost sight of thern, but later saw a craft on the ground 150 m to
the side of the road. It took off at high speed when illuminated by the
headlights. Farther away, two objects maneuvered above the road leading
to La Bajada. As the police were driving to the scene, they saw one of
the craft on the ground near Loma Brava.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: CODOVNI 1962 (Vallee)
Location: Catamarca, Argentina
ID: 527
Date: 1/29/1962
Description: A Royal Dutch Air Force pilot flying an F-86 Sabrejet
sights a UFO over eastern Netherlands. The jet’s radar also picks up the
object and control tower radar (somewhere) is also tracking it. He
attempts to give the object an urgent warning by radio, but it goes
unheeded. He arms a Sidewinder rocket and tries to close in, but the UFO
pulls away swiftly before he can fire. (“New
Sightings by Navy, FAA, and Airline Observers: Dutch Jet Pilot
Tries to Down UFO,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 5 (Aug./Sept. 1962):
1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3573
Date: 2/1962
Description: Richard
M. Bissell Jr. leaves the CIA and is replaced as head of the
Directorate of Plans by Richard
Helms. February — Maj. William
T. Coleman is replaced as Pentagon UFO spokesman by Maj. Carl
R. Hart.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3574
Date: 2/1962
Description: Vice-Admiral Roscoe
Hillenkoetter resigns from NICAP, stating that NICAP has gone as far
as it can and should no longer criticize USAF investigations. (Keyhoe,
Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, pp. 85–86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3575
Date: 2/1962
Description: The Hills begin
making numerous trips over several months to try to find their encounter
site but are unsuccessful. (Clark III 583)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3576
Date: 2/1962
Description: Alec Birch, 14, snaps an out-of-focus photo of five domed
discs that he and two friends see hovering 500 feet above his backyard
in Mosborough, Sheffield, England. Alec and his father show the photo
later to the Air Ministry, which pronounces them “temperature
inversions” in October. However, in an interview on BBC-2 television on
October 6, 1972, Alec confesses that he had superimposed images painted
on glass over the backyard scenery, fooling even his father. (“Schoolboy
Snaps Saucer,” Flying Saucer Review 8, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1962): 4;
Gordon Creighton, “’No
Kidding This Time. My Flying Saucers Photo Is
Genuine!’
(–Alec Birch),” Flying Saucer Review 45, no. 2 (Summer 2000): 9–11;
Clark III 603)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3577
Date: 2/6/1962
Description: USAF issues the last of its UFO fact sheets (no. 179-62).
In the future it will issue press releases. (UFOEv, p. 108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3578
Date: 2/9/1962
Time: 0330
Description: Mr. Wildam, of Luton, noticed that his car was gradually
losing speed as he approached a bright, oval thing hovering 10 m above
the road. The object was surrounded by a glow, and left at high speed
very suddenly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 62, 2 (Vallee)
Location: Aston Clinton, Great Britain
ID: 528
Date: 2/10/1962
Description: CIA pilot Francis
Gary Powers is exchanged for Soviet spy Rudolf
Abel on the Glienicke Bridge that connects Potsdam to West Berlin,
Germany.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3579
Date: 2/20/1962
Description: Astronaut John
Glenn pilots the Friendship
7 Project Mercury capsule for three orbits and just short of 5 hours
flying time, becoming the first American to orbit the earth. (Wikipedia,
“Mercury-Atlas
6”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3580
Date: 2/24/1962
Description: NORAD Requirement 64-73 states that its radar coverage
“would provide warning from all directions, not just northern
approaches.” (Clark III 811)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3581
Date: 2/25/1962
Time: 7:20 PM
Description: Witnesses: one U.S. Army private, six anonymous civilians.
One red light, trailed 30 seconds later by a blue light. Sighting lasted
5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kotzbue, Alaska
ID: 470
Date: 2/28/1962
Description: The first A-12 test aircraft covertly arrives at Groom
Lake, Nevada, from Burbank, California. (Wikipedia, “Area
51”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3582
Date: 3/1962
Description: Chemical engineer Leon
Davidson writes a two-part article in Saucer News explaining how he
has become convinced that the CIA, especially under the influence of Allen
Dulles, has engineered disinformation about UFOs and even
manufactured some seemingly legitimate radar sightings as a tool in the
Cold War. Its aim is to cause the Soviet Union to waste time and effort
in preparing defenses against fictitious aircraft and weapons that the
US might be developing. Furthermore, UFOs can be used to capture
headlines, diverting attention from unwelcome news coverage of espionage
operations. Davidson writes that Dulles has resorted to using contactees
and UFO organizations as a propaganda vehicle. Messages supposedly from
spacemen calling for a halt in nuclear testing could influence public
opinion in a test ban treaty that, in effect, would benefit the US more
than the Russians, since the Soviets were seen as overtaking the
American lead in weapons development. Davidson attributes CIA
involvement in the claims of George
Adamski and Daniel
Fry. He also points out that electronic countermeasures (ECM)
equipment is capable of creating fake radar returns and goes so far as
to say that secret working models of saucers, perhaps piloted by
“midgets,” are responsible for some sightings. (Leon Davidson, “An Open
Letter to Saucer Researchers,” Saucer News, March 1962, April 1962; Leon
Davidson, “ECM
+ CIA = UFO:
Or, How to Cause Radar Sightings,” Flying Saucer Review 6, no. 2
(March/April 1960): 9–12; Gerald K. Haines, “CIA’s
Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90,” Studies in Intelligence 40, no.
5 (1997): 67–84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3583
Date: 3/1962
Description: Betty
and Barney Hill meet with Patrick J. Quirke, a psychiatrist at the
Baldpate Sanitarium in Georgetown, Massachusetts, but he is
unsympathetic and discourages them from undergoing hypnosis. (Clark III
583)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3584
Date: 3/1/1962
Time: 10:35 PM
Description: Witness: Mrs. L. Doxsey, 66. One gold-colored box,
12-14”x3-4”, flew straight and level across the horizon for 3-4
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Salem, New York
ID: 471
Date: spring 1962
Alternate date: summer 1962
Description: All base personnel on flying status attend a briefing in
the theater at the Clinton-Sherman AFB [now the Clinton-Sherman
Industrial Airpark] near Burns Flat, Oklahoma. The airmen are shown a
short 20–30-minute Air Force film showing, spliced together without
interpretation, five or six gun-camera clips apparently documenting
attempts by aircraft to intercept UFOs. Afterward, the commander of the
4213d Strategic Wing reads a statement (probably JANAP 146(D))
stipulating fines and jail sentences for anyone publicly reporting a UFO
sighting and hands out UFO sighting forms in the event of an incident.
One technician recalls there is a section on reporting any electronic
signature emitted from the UFO picked up by specific ECM devices. (Nukes
123–125)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3588
Date: 3/25/1962
Description: The Hills meet
with a psychiatrist (Duncan Stephens of the Exeter Clinic, New
Hampshire) who rules out simultaneous hallucination. Around this time,
Barney develops a series of warts in an almost geometrically perfect
circular ring in his groin but does not associate his malaise with the
UFO incident. (Clark III 583–584)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3585
Date: 3/25/1962
Description: Evening. Mrs. R. H. Chappell and her sister Janie Kidd
watch two triangular objects, one larger than the other, hovering 40–50
feet above the water at Saanich Inlet, British Columbia. They have
flashing ruby-red lights. After two minutes, the lights change to orange
and they move off silently and gracefully. Mrs. L. Austin Wright sees a
stationary flashing yellow light around the same time. (Dan Lloyd, “Are
They Really Seeing Things over Canada?”
Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1966): 27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3586
Date: 3/26/1962
Time: 11:40 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mrs. D. Wheeler, Claudine Milligan. Six or eight
red balls, arranged in a rectangular formation, became two objects with
lights by the end of the 15 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Naperville, Illinois
ID: 473
Date: 3/26/1962
Time: 10:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: many unidentified young people. One large red
ball flew or fell down, then went back up during 3-10 minute sighting.
Note: May 26?
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Westfield, Massachusette
ID: 474
Date: 3/26/1962
Time: 1:35 PM
Description: Witness: USAF Capt. J.M. Lowery, from an unspecified
aircraft. One thin, cylindrical object–l/3 snout, 2/3 tail fins–flew at
an estimated Mach 2.7 (2,000 m.p.h.) for 5-8 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ramstein Air Base, West Germany
ID: 472
Date: 3/27/1962
End date: 3/30/1962
Description: George
Adamski claims to attend a Twelve Counsellors Meeting on Saturn that
addresses the threat of nuclear war on Earth. In the report that he
publishes in June, Adamski writes that the “present explosions of atomic
energy are going in the wrong direction, and if these experiments do not
stop, the only results will be a lost civilization… This is even
affecting their planets.” Ridiculed by many, some of Adamski’s
descriptions in the report about his trip clearly show this was a deeply
spiritual experience for him, which may have unbalanced him for some
time. (George Adamski, George
Adamski’s Special Report: My Trip to the Twelve Counsellors
Meeting That
Took Place on Saturn, Mrach 27–30, 1962, Science of Life, 1962; “Final
Years,” The Adamski Case, June 11, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3587
Date: 4/1962
Description: Flight Commander P.J. (initials), attached to TAC Fighter
Wing was deployed at Wright-Patterson AFB and mistakenly entered into an
air hanger where he thought the gym was located. Upon entering the
hanger he was approached by an air police sentry with a sub-machine gun.
Behind the sentry was a saucer approx. 12–15 ft. diam. suspended off the
ground by two engine test stands. There were no markings or insignia on
the saucer. It had no rivet markings. The saucer was roped-off and 8
guards stood at parade rest around it. P.J. and his friend were
encouraged to leave the hanger. P.J. returned to Myrtle Beach AFB,
SC
Type: witness statement
Reference: Pea
Research (A5, B3-C, RECOVERY)
Location: Wright Patterson AFB
Date: 4/4/1962
Time: 0150Z
Description: Witnesses: G.R. Wells and J. Lewis, using 117x telescope.
One small object changing brightness, gave off smoke but remained
stationary like a comet for 6 minutes. Case missing from official
files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Wurtland, Kentucky
ID: 475
Date: 4/10/1962
Time: evening
Description: Mario Zuccula, 27, was walking home when he suddenly felt a
current of cold air. He was paralyzed with fear when he saw a white
object, 10 m in diameter, metallic in appearance which hovered close to
the ground. A metallic cylinder was lowered from the craft, and two
little men about 1.30 m tall, came out through a door lighted by a
source inside the cylinder. A low voice similar to the sound of an
electronic device told him they would return at the end of the fourth
moon, one hour before dawn, with a message. The beings had their heads
covered with a hood.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 62, 4 (Vallee)
Location: San Casciano, Italy
ID: 529
Date: 4/11/1962
Time: evening
Description: Between Saronno and Legnano, Benazzi and three other
witnesses saw a peculiar craft fly above them and land on the road. It
was intensely luminous.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Sep., 62 (Vallee)
Location: Sarouno, Italy
ID: 530
Date: 4/18/1962
Description: Evening. A red, glowing object is first seen at a great
height over Oneida, New York, heading west silently. There are reports
from Kansas and Colorado. NORAD radar picks up the object; ADC alerts
several bases, including Nellis AFB near Las Vegas, Nevada. Fighters are
scrambled from Luke AFB near Phoenix, Arizona, and the jets are possibly
heard over Nephi, Utah, after the object passes overhead. Capt. Herman
Gordon Shields, flying a C-119 two miles west of Levan, Utah, sees it as
a slender object. A man in Silver City, Utah, claims that the object is
a glowing ball of light about the size of a soccer ball. He says it is
white with a yellowish tint and a bright yellow jagged flame coming from
the rear: “As the object passed over Robinson [in Ogden, Utah?], it
slowed down in [the] air, and after, [a] gasping sound was heard, the
object spurted ahead again. After this procedure was repeated three or
four times, the object arched over and began descending to earth after
which the object turned bluish color and then burned out or went dark.
After the object began to slow down it began to wobble or fishtail in
its path.” Several people see the object over Eureka, Utah, apparently
crashing and interrupting electrical service from a power plant close to
the landing site. It is described as a “glowing, orange oval which
emitted a low, whirring sound.” It takes off a few minutes later,
continuing to the west. The object lights up the streets of Reno,
Nevada, and then turns to Las Vegas. It blares brightly like a
“tremendous, flaming sword” over Nellis AFB and then disappears from
their radar scopes at 10,000 feet. Witnesses say the object is traveling
almost horizontally northeast of Las Vegas until a final explosion
occurs from the direction of Mesquite, Nevada. Sheriff’s deputy Walter
Bun, who leads the search and rescue unit, moves the unit into the
Spring Mountain area in jeeps to search for wreckage. They search
through the night, and when the sun comes up they continue using
aircraft. They do not find anything of importance except some ashes that
might easily be the remains of a campfire started by a hunter some weeks
earlier. When no one reports a downed or missing aircraft, Bun and the
other deputies call off the search. The object seems to have changed
direction, because at Reno it passes west to east, in Utah it is seem
going southeast to northwest, and at Nephi it travels west. The duration
of the sighting, from New York to Nevada, is only 32 minutes, giving a
speed of 4,500 mph, below the speed of meteors. On May 8, the Air Force
sends Hynek and
Lt. Col. Robert
Friend to Utah with Douglas
M. Crouch, chief
of criminal investigation at Hill AFB, south of Ogden, Utah. They
determine it is a bolide. Blue Book lists it as two sightings: a
multiple radar sighting at Nellis on April 18 with no visual (despite
hundreds of observers in Las Vegas), and a bolide over Utah that it
claims occurs on April 19. In reality, the Utah and Nevada sightings are
only minutes apart (8:15 p.m. Mountain Time). However, there is quite a
bit of information from numerous sources concerning this major incident,
including Project Blue Book documents, and now possible confirmation by
a radar man at ATIC. The case is also not explained in a Blue Book
monthly sighting listing for April 1962. It is interesting that every
one of these states except Utah has or was in the process of obtaining
ICBM bases: New York (Plattsburg AFB); Kansas, (Forbes AFB and McConnell
AFB); Utah (Minuteman production at Air Force Plant 77 at Hill AFB);
Idaho (Mountain Home AFB); Montana (Malmstrom AFB); New Mexico (Walker
AFB); Wyoming (F. E. Warren AFB); Arizona (Davis Monthan AFB);
California (Beale AFB). (NICAP, “National Defense
Alert”; Frank Edwards, Strange World, Ace ed., 1964, pp. 38–41;
“Meteor
Lands in Utah, Lights Western
Skies,” Los Angeles Times, April 19, 1962, p. 15; “Brilliant
Fireball Flashes
in Skies,” Salt Lake City Deseret News, April 19, 1962, pp. 1, 5;
Las Vegas Sun, April 19, 1962; Kevin D. Randle, A History of UFO
Crashes, Avon, 1995, pp. 79–94;
Clark III 333–335; Sparks, p. 291;
Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 87–99)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3589
Date: 4/18/1962
Description: Object was first spotted over Oneida, New York and was
heading in a westerly direction. Object reported over Kansas, Colorado
and Eureka, Utah. The object was reported by over a thousand people. The
object appeared to land and then take off again from Eureka, CA. The
town of Eureka experienced a blackout when it landed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Oneida, NY
Location: Kansas
Location: Colorado
Location: Eureka, Utah
Date: late 4/1962
Alternate date: early 5/1962
Description: Three women and a 10-year-old boy are driving home to
Granby, Connecticut, when two bright yellow lights appear in the sky
ahead. The lights cross the road and disappear behind some shrubbery.
Driving nearer and stopping, the witnesses see the lights hovering above
a field, one above the other. The objects realign horizontally and move
toward the car. The driver starts the car up and speeds away, but the
lights are right behind her, only a few feet from the rear window and
matching the car’s speed. The yellow lights are only a few feet in
diameter and have a reddish patch that rotates. They follow the car for
four minutes then turn away. (Swords 299–300)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3595
Date: 4/24/1962
Description: 7:45 p.m. Alice
W. Gasslein and her mother are driving near their home in
Springfield, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, when they see a large domed
object emitting flashes of green light moving over the roofs of nearby
homes. A rotating band around the main body consists of a series of
square windows from which come shafts of bright white light. They drive
back home to alert her husband, Joseph
A. Gasslein, an aviation worker. By that time, the UFO is about a
half-mile distant, giving off colored lights. Around 8:10 p.m., the
object returns flying toward the Gassleins’ home (south of Walsh Park)
only 20 feet above ground level and passes over their backyard before
making a sharp left turn and moving away to the east. (“Out of the Past:
A Very Close CE-1,” IUR 10, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1985): 9–10, 14; Loren E.
Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January– June
1962, The
Author, 2005, pp, 56–57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3590
Date: 4/25/1962
Description: The A-12 is taken on its first (unofficial and unannounced)
flight with Lockheed test pilot Louis
Schalk at the controls. Intended as only a taxi run, the A-12
unexpectedly takes flight and Schalk lands it 2 miles past the runway.
(Wikipedia, “Lockheed
A-12”; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 177–178)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3591
Date: 4/26/1962
Description: Schalk makes
another unofficial low-altitude, 40-minute test flight with the A-12.
The takeoff is perfect, but after the A-12 gets to about 300 feet it
starts shedding all the “pie slice” fillets of titanium on the left side
of the aircraft and one fillet on the right. (On later aircraft, those
pieces are paired with triangular inserts made of radar- absorbing
composite material.) Technicians spend four days finding and reattaching
the pieces. Nonetheless, the flight pleases Kelly
Johnson. (Wikipedia,
“Lockheed
A-12”; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 178–179)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3592
Date: 4/30/1962
Time: night
Description: Eugenio Siragusa, 43, claimed to have met two men of normal
height, clad in diving suits, with belts emitting intermittent
yellow-green blue light, who delivered to him a peace message in
Italian. The voice had a metallic tone. Also observed was a very
dazzling object, 15 m in diameter.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 63, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Mount Eba, Italy
ID: 531
Date: 4/30/1962
Description: Just before 10:00 a.m. During a free-flight test (Flight
52) of the X-15 to a height of 246,700 feet (46.7 miles) by NASA pilot
Joseph
A. Walker from Edwards AFB, California, to Ely, Nevada, the
instruments photograph 5–6 cylindrical objects. No visual confirmation.
On May 11, at NASA’s Second National Conference on the Peaceful Uses of
Space in Seattle, Washington, Walker mentions the objects photographed
(and perhaps shows the slides; it is not mentioned in the proceedings).
NICAP is unable to obtain the photos. NASA claims the objects are ice
flaking off the aircraft (“fireflies”). They are described by a NASA
spokesman as “barbell shaped, bright-orange in color, and passing in
groups up to six behind the X-15.” Opinion ranges from “definitely
something up there,” to “film spots,” to “sun rays on the lens.” Jacobsen implies
it was the A-12 test the same day. (“AF
Criticizes NASA
Release of ‘Mystery Object’ Photo,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 5
(Aug./Sept. 1962): 8; UFOEv, p. 139;
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, May 11, 1962; MUFON UFO Journal, November
1989, pp. 6–7; Good Above, p. 366;
Proceedings
of the Second National Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Space,
Seattle, Washington, May 8–10, 1962, NASA
Office of Scientific and Technical Information, November 1962; Curtis
Peebles, “Fireflies:
The X- 15
‘UFO’ Sighting Controversy,” Magonia 78 (June 2002); Jacobsen, Area
51, p. 205)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3594
Date: 4/30/1962
Description: Schalk takes
the A-12 up to 30,000 feet on its first official flight at Area 51 for
59 minutes. His top speed is 400 mph. (Jacobsen, Area 51, p. 179)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3593
Date: 5/1962
Time: 0400
Description: Approximate date. Four people whose car had run out of gas,
were waiting in a drizzling rain when a bright light, first thought to
be from a car, approached them. It turned out to be a lowflying object
that landed. It was round with a blinking light, and stayed there about
one hour before taking off at high speed
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Jul., 63 (Vallee)
Location: Jujuy, Argentina
ID: 532
Date: 5/4/1962
Description: The A-12 achieves supersonic speed of Mach 1.1 at 40,000
feet during a test at Groom Lake, Nevada. May 11 — 7:40 p.m. Argentine
Rear Adm. Eladio
M. Vázquez and Capt. Aldo Molinari watch a UFO from the US Military
Mission at the Comandante Espora Air Naval Base in Bahía Blanca,
Argentina. (UFOEv, p. 170;
“In Argentina,”
APRO Bulletin, July 1963, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3596
Date: 5/12/1962
Time: 0410
Description: V. and G. Tomasini and H. Zenobi saw an object on the
ground 100 m away from the road. It looked like a railroad car and was
illuminated. As they came close to it, the object took off, crossed the
road at low altitude, rose with a flame, and separated into two sections
that flew away in different directions. It made a humming noise and was
seen on the ground for one min. Within a circle 60 m in radius, grass
was burned, insects were carbonized, and the ground was “petrified.”
Sample analysis was done by the Puerto Belgrano Naval Base.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: SBEDV 30; 132; CODOVNI 1962 (Vallee)
Location: Pampa Province, Argentina
ID: 533
Date: 5/12/1962
Description: General Douglas McArthur states, “of ultimate conflict
between a united human race and the sinister forces of some other
planetary galaxy”
Type: speach
Reference: link
Location: West Point Academy
Date: 5/12/1962
Description: 4:10 a.m. Three truckers (Valentino Tomassini, Guro
Tomassini, and Humberto Zenobi) are driving from Bahia Blanca to Jacinto
Aráuz, La Pampa, Argentina, when they see a lantern-like light resting
in a nearby field. It brightens and dims alternately. As they slow down,
a row of 20–30 lights come on. When they approach to within 210 feet of
the object, it rises up and crosses the road at a height of 12 feet. Its
lights go out, a reddish flame comes from the bottom, and it makes a
soft humming noise. The UFO then divides into two parts that fly off in
different directions. Navy Capt. Luis Sanchez Moreno, chief of
intelligence at the Puerto Belgrano Naval Base, interviews the
witnesses. At the landing site, grass is burned over an area 180 feet in
diameter, and there are damp, gray-colored patches. These are taken for
analysis to either or both the Puerto Belgrano Naval Base and
Universidad Nacional del Sur, both in or near Bahia Blanca. It consists
of calcium carbonate and potassium carbonate. (UFOEv, pp. 170–171;
“In
Argentina,” APRO Bulletin, July 1963, pp. 2–4; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January–June 1962, The Author,
2005, pp. 60–61; Oscar A. Uriondo, “Preliminary
Catalogue of Type 1 Cases in Argentina,” Flying Saucer Review Case
Histories, no. 12 (December 1972): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3597
Date: 5/13/1962
Time: 0400
Description: Dozens of witnesses in Uncativo, Cordoba, Carranza, and Los
Molinos Dam observed a very luminous, elongated object with a bright
trail. Soon thereafter, fog filled a wooded section near Uncativo, and a
landed object resembling a small house was observed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 133; CODOVNI 1962 (Vallee)
Location: Uncativo, Argentina
ID: 534
Date: 5/13/1962
Description: 4:00 a.m. Near Oncativo, Córdoba, Argentina, two women
driving from Rosario see a long object flying at moderate altitude and
emitting a powerful, multicolored light. They enter a fog and see
through the trees a sort of “little house” on the ground, with green,
red, and yellow lights set in an arrow-shaped arrangement. (Loren E.
Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January–June
1962, The
Author, 2005, p. 62; Oscar A. Uriondo, “Preliminary
Catalogue of Type 1 Cases in Argentina,” Flying Saucer Review Case
Histories, no. 12 (December 1972): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3598
Date: 5/21/1962
Description: Miguel Thomé, a reporter for La Nueva Provincia, takes
several photos of a luminous object above Bahia Blanca, Argentina, one
of which is exactly at a point when the object changes course. (UFOEv,
p. 170;
ClearIntent, pp. 138–139;
“Un
avistaje de OVNI en Bahía Blanca aparece en los archivos de la CIA de
Estados Unidos,”
La Nueva (Bahía Blanca), February 3, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3599
Date: 5/21/1962
Description: Day. Capt. Gordon Pendleton and First Officer J. P. Murphy
are flying an Aer Lingus Vickers Viscount airliner above southern
England at 17,000 feet when they see a brown globe-shaped object
approaching head-on. It speeds 3,000 feet below the aircraft at about
700 mph. The object has a number of antenna-like projections on its
surface. (Irish Times, May 22, 1962; UFOEv, p. 122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3600
Date: 5/22/1962
Description: A woman was hospitalized after her observation of a strange
object that landed, and of the “ugly” giant beings who emerged from it.
Approximate date.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 135 (Vallee)
Location: Winifreda, Argentina
ID: 535
Date: 5/22/1962
Description: 7:10–7:45 p.m. A formation of Navy planes, led by flight
instructor Lt. Rodolfo César Galdos, near Comandante Espora Air Naval
Base in Bahia Blanca, Argentina, observes several UFOs over a 35-minute
period. Witnesses at the control tower also see an object. Student pilot
Roberto Wilkinson sees a luminous object trailing his plane. It lights
up his cockpit and his radio transmission is disrupted as it passes
underneath. (UFOEv, pp. 119,
171;
Schopick, p. 129;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January–June 1962, The
Author, 2005, pp. 65–67; Scott Corrales, “Saucers
in My Backyard: Argentina’s Trancas Case,” Inexplicata, May 8,
2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3601
Date: 5/22/1962
Alternate date: 5/24/1962
Description: A woman is hospitalized after she and her husband see an
object land near Winifreda, Las Pampas, Argentina. Two large “robot-like
creatures” emerge. Argentine Air Force investigators find a circle of
scorched grass. (Lorenzen, Encounters with UFO Occupants, Berkley
Medallion, 1976, p. 152)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3602
Date: 5/25/1962
Description: USAF Pentagon spokesman Maj. Carl
R. Hart tells NICAP that Air Force investigations involve hundreds
of intelligence officers, as well as “the best scientific brains
available in the laboratories of all government agencies,” also
scientific investigators in commercial laboratories, wherever needed. He
adds that Hynek has
consulted with the “world’s leading scientists.” Around the same time,
Lt. Col. Spencer Whedon from ATIC informs NICAP that the Air Force
spends about $10,000 on each major sighting investigation. (“AF
Admits UFO Probe Still in Full Operation,”
UFO Investigator 2, no. 4 (March/July 1962): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3603
Date: 6/5/1962
Description: Contactee Gabriel
Green runs for the US Senate in California and claims to have
received 171,000 votes in the Democratic primary. (Wikipedia, “1962
United States Senate election in California”; S. D. Tucker, False
Economies: The Strangest, Least Successful, and Most Audacious Financial
Follies, Plans, and Crazes of All Times, Amberly, 2018, chapter 3,
excerpted in “Taxing Credulity,” Fortean Times 367 (June 2018):
52–55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3606
Date: 6/6/1962
Description: 11:20 a.m. Six silent objects are seen at intervals over
Caroda, New South Wales. A trail of shiny, web-like filaments falls and
gradually disintegrates as they drift through the air. Witnesses say
they are up to 5 feet long. (Keith Basterfield, “Angel Hair: An
Australian Perspective,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 7; Keith
Basterfield, “A
Catalogue and Analysis of Australasian ‘Angel Hair’ Cases,” March
2001)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3607
Date: 6/7/1962
Description: A brilliant white light, approximately 20 times brighter
than first magnitude stars, is seen at Hallett Station [now closed],
Cape Hallett, East Antarctica, at 250° (true) azimuth, and 30°
elevation. Over 5 minutes it remains stationary and is viewed both with
binoculars and the naked eye. It appears circular. It is a dazzling gold
color and observed between two mountain peaks. The sun at the time is
below the horizon. After 5 minutes it moves in a southerly direction and
is lost to view behind a peak. Project Blue Book concludes it is
Jupiter, even though that planet’s position is only at 5° elevation.
(NICAP, [Blue
Book documents]; Sparks,
p. 292; Swords 298)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3608
Date: 6/16/1962
Description: Four persons from Thursday Island, among them E. Thorpe,
were climbing a hill when they observed a silvery object on a nearby
hillside, less than 2 km away. It could not be located again when they
reached the other side of the hill.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 62,5 (Vallee)
Location: Prince of Wales Island, Australia
ID: 536
Date: summer 1962
Description: Around 9:00 p.m. Harvey Packard and five other men are
fishing near East Peru, Maine, when three orange globes show up across
the pond and begin dancing about. The globes move toward the witnesses,
who get scared and jump in their car and speed away. The globes follow
the car, one in the rear and the others on each side. The objects appear
to be transparent, 3-foot spheres that easily pace the speeding vehicle.
Occasionally they leave their positions and form into a triangle with
squarish bridges between them, then split up and continue the car chase.
The car radio is filled with static. Finally, they veer off and fly into
the woods. (NICAP case file; Swords 300) Summer — Donald MacKenzie, a
shepherd, discovers some strange wreckage in a remote moor near Ardgay,
Sutherland, Scotland, that he thinks is related to Sputnik. In October,
a team from RAF Kinloss [now Kinloss Barracks] on the Moray Firth
arrives to investigate. They find a strange box-shaped object, large
enough to have carried a person and containing spaces for cameras and a
brass panel that explains, in pictures, what the finder should do in the
event of discovery to claim a reward. Buried nearby are a number of
bottles of colorless fluid. The team is mystified and suspects something
Russian but can’t confirm it. The debris now seems likely to have come
from a secret spy balloon, one of many launched in 1955–1956 by the US
Air Force from RAF Evanton [now closed], to take reconnaissance photos
of Russian military and nuclear facilities. Once clear of Soviet
territory, the balloons were designed to drop into the Pacific Ocean
where its VHF beacon would guide recovery efforts. (David Clarke, “The
Scottish Roswell?” Dr. David Clarke: Folklore and Journalism, July
29, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3605
Date: summer 1962
Description: Col. Joseph
J. Bryan III, special
assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force and advisor to NATO, joins
the board of NICAP. In 1959 he had contacted Keyhoe and
asked to see some of his “really hot cases.” It is later revealed that
he was also founder of the CIA’s psychological warfare staff. Bryan
never discloses his CIA background to NICAP or Keyhoe. Although Bryan,
the father of later UFO author C.
D. B. Bryan, makes strong pro-UFO statements, he is later suspected
of helping to discredit Keyhoe and undermine NICAP; his son and Richard
H. Hall deny it. (“AF
Colonel, Noted Astronomer, Join Board,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 5
(Aug./Sept 1962): 2; “Col.
Joseph Bryan,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 8 (May/June 1966): 5; “NI-CIA-AP
or NICAP?” Just Cause 1, no. 7 (January 1979): 5–13; “CE4K
Author C. D. B. Bryan Dies,” Rigorous Intuition, December 18,
2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3604
Date: 6/21/1962
Time: 4 AM
Description: Witnesses: Lt. Col. H. King and tail gunner M/Sgt. Roberts,
aboard a B-52 heavy jet bomber. Three bright, star-like lights: one
seen; 10 seconds later, two more were seen. Total sighting took 3
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
ID: 476
Date: 6/25/1962
End date: 6/26/1962
Description: 9:00 p.m.–2:00 a.m. John, 14, and James Westmoreland, 12,
are camping out in their backyard at 7466 East 18th Street, Tucson,
Arizona, with a friend, Ronald Black, 11. About 9:00 p.m. John notices a
bright star in the west that moves occasionally, dips, and hovers.
Around 11:45, they notice that the star is brighter and has moved
closer, taking the shape of a triangle. At 12:15, the object noiselessly
emits three green flares that take on a speedy horizontal flight path.
They notice a second, ball-shaped object that races from west to east,
flips, and stops at a higher elevation than the first. A “flare-like”
light approaches the second and seems to be absorbed by it. The first
UFO spits out more green flares, two of which disappear into the second
object a few minutes later. The second object shoots out a rocket that
disappears in the sky. A third whitish object, larger and disc-shaped,
appears above Pontano Wash with a cone-shaped superstructure. Three
stiltlike protuberances appear briefly then are drawn back in. The third
object also drops something like a rope that extends to the ground for
3–5 minutes. The boys soon get sleepy and retire after a while, telling
the mother, Pansy
Westmoreland, about it in the morning. (“Saucers,
Rockets Inhabit Night Sky,” Tucson (Ariz.) Daily Citizen, June 26,
1962, p. 17; Coral E. Lorenzen, “Saucers
Shoot Rockets over Tucson, Arizona,” APRO Bulletin, July 1962,
pp. 1, 3–4; Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968,
pp. 114–118)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3609
Date: 6/26/1962
Time: evening
Description: For about one hour, 20-year-old Roberto Poregozzo, his
mother, Maria, and his 25year-old sister, Luisa, observed a silvery
disk, the apparent diameter of the moon, maneuvering in the sky near
Santa Anastasia church. They finally went home. About 0300, one of them
was awakened by a feeling of intense cold and perceived a greenish light
in the room. In the window a sharply defined human shape, delineating a
semi-transparent body, was visible. The apparition had a huge bald head.
The witness screamed, awakening the two others, and they saw the
apparition shrink and vanish “like a TV image when one turns off the
set.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 63, 2 (Vallee)
Location: Verona, Italy
ID: 537
Date: 6/30/1962
Time: 9 AM
Description: Witness: 13 year old Meadors. One red, star-like light seen
for an unspecified length of time. No further details in files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Richmond, Virginia
ID: 477
Date: 7/1962
Description: APRO refers to NICAP as merely a “lobbying” effort in APRO
Bulletin, while APRO is “gradually drawing the endorsements of the
scientific community.” (“Support
NICAP?” APRO Bulletin, July 1962, pp. 1–2; Clark III 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3610
Date: 7/7/1962
Description: 11:10 p.m. C. B. Taylor, chief scientist at Hallett Station
[now closed], Cape Hallett, East Antarctica, sees an intense light
followed by two smaller lights pass over the facility in a few seconds
leaving a clearly visible trail. Its passage is registered by an all-sky
camera used for the study of auroras. Probable bolide. (NICAP, [Blue
Book documents];
NICAP, “Object
Filmed by All Camera (IFO)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3612
Date: 7/7/1962
Description: Soviet Col. Georgy
Mosolov reaches 1,665 mph in a Mikoyan Gurevich Ye-166 (a modified
Ye-152) over Russia. (Wikipedia, “Georgi
Mosolov”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3611
Date: 7/17/1962
Description: Maj. Robert
Michael White is piloting Flight 62 of the X-15 at Edwards AFB,
California. He flies it to 314,750 feet (59 miles), qualifying him for
USAF astronaut wings. For this, he is featured on the cover of the
August 3 issue of Life. At the top of his climb he sees a small grayish
object “like a piece of paper” about 30–40 feet away. He exclaims,
“There are things out there. There absolutely is!” (“Space:
Inside the Sky,” Time, July 27, 1962; MUFON UFO Journal, November
1989, pp. 6–7; Good Above, p. 366)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3613
Date: 7/19/1962
Time: 9:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: C.T. Loftus, H. Wilbert. Four or five lights
darted about the sky for 7-10 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Bayhead, New Jersey
ID: 478
Date: 7/28/1962
Description: Before dawn. The skipper of a chartered fishing boat 6
miles southeast of Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, California, sees
several stationary lights low in the water dead ahead. Through
binoculars he sees a squat, lighted structure in which several men are
working, apparently the stern of a submarine with no markings and dacks
almost awash. He and another crew member see five men, “two in all-white
garb, two in dark trousers and white shirts, and one in a sky-blue
jumpsuit.” The craft swept in their direction toward the open sea, still
on the surface, and the skipper has to turn hard to keep clear. It makes
no noise and leaves no wake. (Marvin Miles, “Report Studied
on Soviet
Sub off Catalina,” Los Angeles Times, October 25, 1962, pp. 1,
10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3614
Date: 7/29/1962
Time: 11:20 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. M.O. Barton. One bright cherry-red,
diamond-shaped object flew slow, hovered, made fast 1/2 loops for l0
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Ocean Springs, Mississippi
ID: 479
Date: 7/30/1962
Description: A man driving near Pasnembi stopped when his engine failed
and observed a cylindrial object, described as “a bottle with two
necks,” about 40 m long, 15 m high, which had landed on the road. Two
men (one at either end of the craft), appeared to be changing some
luminous signals. This lasted 10 min and the craft took off at high
speed. In Alta, a number of people reported a bright object moving at
high altitude.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 136; FSR 62, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Pasnembi, Brazil
ID: 538
Date: 7/30/1962
Description: Roberto Mievres, 17, was riding his motorcycle when a tall
being, with a head like a watermelon and three eyes, appeared as the
engine stalled. The apparition snatched the boy’s scarf, but he ran away
and came back with a group of people, who found the scarf on the ground,
discovered some traces and observed an unknown craft flying away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: CODOVNI 1962 (Vallee)
Location: Bajeola Grande, Argentina
ID: 539
Date: 8/1962
Description: Night. Marilyn Chenarides, her younger brother Roger, and
their mother Mildred Anderson are vacationing in a cabin on Movil Lake,
Minnesota. The two women see a glowing red, domed disc with large
windows hovering above the boat dock 50 feet away. Silhouetted in the
windows are three entities who seem to be looking at them. The women
shut off the cabin lights for a better look, and the UFO switches off
its own lights. Anderson runs out of the cabin toward the object, which
lifts and disappears rapidly. (“The
1962 Occupants Case,” APRO Bulletin 21, no. 2 (Sept./Oct. 1972):
6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3616
Date: 8/1962
Description: 7:00 p.m. Three witnesses are driving south toward San José
de Métan, Salta, Argentina, when they see a light against the mountains
to the west. It approaches, growing as large as the full moon when it is
300 feet ahead of them. It has a bulge at the top and reddish-pink,
green, and white blinking lights. It continues to approach and passes
above a Fiat truck in the road ahead of them. The truck stops, and the
witnesses stop their car as well, two of them walking into some nearby
bushes to observe. The object now seems to be the diameter of a DC-3’s
wingspan and is 150 feet in the air. The truck’s lights go out, and the
object rocks back and forth, taking off to the north at a great rate of
speed. Five minutes later, they drive up to the stopped truck, whose
driver is scooping up dirt to cool its overheated engine down.
(Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 157–158)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3615
Date: 8/2/1962
Description: Around 12:00 midnight. Air traffic control operators at
Cambá Punta Airport [now Doctor Fernando Piragine Niveyro International
Airport], near Corrientes, Argentina, see an unidentified light
approaching the airport. They call the airport manager, Luís Harvey, who
arrives from home in a hurry and sees the light circling at high speed.
Harvey orders a landing strip freed up but the light, apparently a
spherical object, comes down, hovering and revolving a few feet above
the same spot on the runway for 3–4 minutes, emitting strong blue,
green, and orange flashes. Then it climbs and vanishes at staggering
speed. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: July–December 1962, The
Author, 2005, pp. 18–19; Patrick Gross, “Camba
Punta, Argentina, August
2, 1962”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3617
Date: 8/2/1962
Description: Luis Harvey, airport manager, and his staff thought that an
unannounced aircraft was about to land, as they saw a luminous object
circling at high speed. It came down to hover about 1 m above the runway
for some four min. It was spherical, spinning, and emitted flashes of
blue, green and orange. When approached, it took off at very high
speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 64, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Camba Punat Airport, Argentina
ID: 540
Date: 8/7/1962
Description: Midnight. A contract worker at the not-yet-operational
Titan II launch complex of the 570th Strategic Missile Squadron near
Oracle, Arizona, sees a brilliant light descending over the site. He is
joined by a colleague as the light gets larger. Both men go inside and
contact Davis-Monthan AFB outside Tucson, which sends out two jet
interceptors. When the aircraft arrive, the light takes off to the north
and disappears rapidly. After the jets circle and head back, the light
returns, descends toward the silo, and takes off vertically. (Lorenzen,
UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 235–236; Nukes 220–221)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3618
Date: 8/17/1962
End date: 8/19/1962
Description: Evening. Walking home, diamond prospector Rivalino Mafra da
Silva sees two small beings, about three feet tall, digging a hole near
Duas Pontes, 17 miles north of Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil. On
August 19, Mafra da Silva and his sons are in bed when they are awakened
by sounds and see a shadowy figure, apparently floating in the room. In
the morning, he and his son Raimundo see two humming balls floating
outside. They merge into one larger ball that moves toward Rivalino,
enveloping him in yellow smoke. Raimundo says: “Then the yellow smoke
dissolved. The balls were gone. The ground below was clean as if the
dust had been removed by a big broom.” He tells his story to Lt. Wilson
Lisbõa, chief of police at Diamantina, who conducts a search for 10
days. Only a few drops of blood are found. (“The
Brazilian Abduction: Boy’s Story Unshaken,” Flying Saucer Review 8,
no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1962): 10–12; Clark III 418–419; Brazil 123–127;
Patrick Gross, URECAT)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3619
Date: 8/17/1962
Time: evening
Description: Rivalino da Silva, a diamond prospector, told his
associates that he had seen two strange dwarfs digging a hole near his
house. They ran away as he came near them, and moments later an object
took off from behind the bushes. It was shaped like a hat and surrounded
with a red glow.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Sep.,62 (Vallee)
Location: Duas Pontes, Brazil
ID: 541
Date: 8/18/1962
Time: 5 PM
Description: Witnesses: Owner M. Sheppard and chief announcer A. Seymour
of radio station. Three dull-white, egg-shaped objects wavered as they
moved for 20 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Bermuda
ID: 480
Date: 8/19/1962
Time: night
Description: Raimundo, the son of Rivalino da Silva (see previous case),
was awakened by the sound of steps and saw “a weird shadow” in the room.
It was small and not human in shape. Voices were heard saying, “This one
looks like Rivalino,” and later that they would kill him. The family
stayed on the alert all night.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Sep., 62 (Vallee)
Location: Duas Pontes, Brazil
ID: 542
Date: 8/20/1962
Description: Raimundo da Silva (see previous cases) testified before the
police that while working in a field, he saw two spherical objects
hovering 2 m above ground, a few meters from the house. One was black
with an antenna-like protrusion and a small tail; the other was black
and white. Both emitted a humming sound and a flickering fire through an
opening. The boy’s father warned him to stay away as Rivalino walked
toward the objects, praying. When he was 2 m away, the two spheres
merged into one, raising dust from the ground and spreading a yellow
mist that enveloped the man. The boy ran after his father, noting that
the cloud had “an acrid smell.” As it dissolved, everything had
vanished. Police investigation, headed by Lieutenant Lisboa, failed to
reveal any clue. Many terrified people left the area.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Sep., 62 (Vallee)
Location: Duas Pontes, Brazil
ID: 543
Date: late 8/1962
Description: 7:00 p.m. Three witnesses are driving in a rural area about
87 miles from Salta, Argentina, when two of them (the third sleeps
through the event) see a light against the mountains to the west that
grows larger and moves about 300 feet above the road ahead of them. It
is a domed disc with flashing reddish-pink, green, and white lights
around its perimeter. The object illuminates a truck ahead of them. The
truck stops, and the two witnesses get out of their car and hide in some
bushes to see what happens next. The object appears to be nearly 100
feet wide and 150 feet above the truck. The truck’s lights go out and
the object takes off to the north at a high rate of speed, climbing out
of sight within seconds. They drive up to the truck, whose drivers are
throwing dirt into its smoking engine compartment and are more concerned
about an insurance claim than a UFO encounter. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the
Americas, Signet, 1968, pp. 12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3621
Date: late 8/1962
Description: 2:00 p.m. Ann
Druffel and Aileen Cummings are at Long Beach, California, when they
see a small rectangular cloud over the Santa Catalina Channel. Its vapor
appears to churn and it doubles in size, then elongates to 20–30 times
its original size. (Ann Druffel, “Santa
Catalina Island Recurring ‘Cloud Cigars,’” in Proceedings of the
1976 CUFOS Conference, Chicago, 1976, pp. 63–64; Ann Druffel, “Santa
Catalina Channel Cloud Cigars,” IUR 31, no. 1 (January 2007):
12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3620
Date: 8/26/1962
Description: 12:30 a.m. Walter T. Jones Jr. watches a triangular
formation of 6 white lights and one green light pass silently over
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for 3–5 minutes. (“Another
‘Mother’ Ship?” APRO Bulletin, July 1963, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3623
Date: 8/26/1962
Description: 12:05 a.m. Geraldo Bichara, 18, is standing guard at the
Escola de Sargentos das Armas in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil,
when an electrical blackout occurs in the city. Suddenly he is paralyzed
by a light beam from an unseen object, apparently for a few minutes. In
1980, Bichara undergoes hypnosis and discovers that the incident was an
abduction in which he is taken aboard a UFO by beings wearing
pumpkin-colored jumpsuits and subjected to a medical examination. He
attempts to flee at one point and grabs his rifle lying nearby, but he
is still paralyzed. After about 2 hours he is returned to the
guardhouse. (Brazil 60–66; “Caso
Giraldo Bichara,” Grupo de Amigos que Estudam Mistérios e Ufologia,
May 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3622
Date: 8/29/1962
Description: Afternoon. A U-2 spy plane flying over Cuba spots an SA-2
surface-to-air missile site under construction at La Coloma, eight
Komar-class guided missile patrol boats, and a cruise missile site at
Banes. (Kenneth Michael Absher, Mind-Sets and Missiles, US Army War
College, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3624
Date: 8/30/1962
Description: 7:35–7:55 p.m. While having supper at an outdoor restaurant
near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, three men, one of whom works for Techint
Engineering Company, watch a UFO that approaches and hovers for 20
minutes. The engineer has a portable theodolite with him, and they set
it up and track the object. It is a silvery-gray disc, like two rounded
hubcaps together, and is spinning on its axis. It has an antenna on the
top and exhaust ports all around its mid-line, and it is surrounded by
gaseous emissions that run through all the colors of the spectrum. The
object flips to a vertical alignment, showing its base, and then tips
over so that its original topside is on the bottom. The object silently
accelerates and disappears in 5 seconds. Project Blue Book concludes
that the men were watching the planet Venus. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: July– December
1962, The
Author, 2005, p. 33; Swords 298–299)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3625
Date: 9/1962
Time: 2145
Description: A. T. Gray, a dairy rancher, thought some lights in a field
were those of a car. When coming nearer, he realized the object was
oblong with blunt edges and hovered about 7 m above the ground, making
no noise. When Gray was 50 m away, the object came toward him, rose, and
took off toward the southwest.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Jul., 63 (Vallee)
Location: Orland, California
ID: 544
Date: 9/1962
Description: California contactee Gloria
Lee takes channeled blueprints for a spaceship to Washington, D.C.,
to show to government officials. She gets nowhere, but while in town she
gets messages from her space contact J.W. saying that the space people
are upset with human wars and nuclear weapons. J.W. orders her to go on
a fast for peace until he sends a “light elevator” to take her to
Jupiter. Her fast lasts from September 23 to November 28. No one pays
attention. After about 66 days without eating, Lee’s husband, aircraft
engineer William H. Byrd, summons an ambulance to take her to George
Washington University Hospital. She dies there on December 3. Lee
continues to channel post-mortem information through a medium named Nada-Yolanda (Pauline
Sharpe) in the Miami-based Mark-Age MetaCenter. (Clark III 682–683;
Tristan, “The
Airline Stewardess Who Starved Herself to
Death for Aliens,” Bizarre and Grotesque, December 18, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3626
Date: 9/1962
Description: Thomas M. Comella, writing under the pseudonym “Peter Kor,”
proposes that UFOs originate, not from space (as he apparently thought
when he favored the extraterrestrial hypothesis in the December 1955
issue of Fate), but from a reality “so strange that it cannot be
confined to our three-dimensional world.” (Clark III 877; Thomas M.
Comella, “Why
the Real Saucer Is Interplanetary,” Fate 8, no. 12 (December 1955):
17–23; Peter Kor [Thomas M. Comella], “The Solution to the Flying Saucer
Mystery,” Flying Saucers, September 1962, pp. 68–74)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3627
Date: 9/1/1962
Description: The USSR publicly announces an agreement to supply arms and
military technicians to Cuba. Construction begins on SS-5 IRBM sites in
Guanajay. (Wikipedia, “Cuban
Missile Crisis”) September 5 — U-2 photos reveal for the first time
the presence of MiG-21 jet fighters in Cuba.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3628
Date: 9/5/1962
Time: night
Description: Second observation by Mr. Siragusa (Case 531), who saw two
figures over 2.10 m tall. The light from their belts prevented him from
seeing them in detail. A large, spinning object, 25 m wide, top-shaped,
hovered nearby. “From the under part, a metallic cylinder over 3 m long
reached down almost to touch the road, with a small door, a sort of
lift.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 62, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Mount Manfre, Italy
ID: 545
Date: 9/13/1962
Time: 2320
Description: Myra Jones was driving between Overfield and Norris Hill
when she saw a luminous, gray object, larger than a car with a dome on
top. It was flying at the altitude of the Phone poles, slowly spinning.
Dark spots were visible on the underside. It nearly touched the car,
then gave a whistling sound and flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 137; FSR 62, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Overfield, Great Britain
ID: 546
Date: 9/15/1962
Time: 1700
Description: Two bright disks were first seen at 1700, then were seen
again at 1800, at the state line. Two witnesses saw one round object
with a fin on top and another under it at 1950, and reported that it was
going down toward the Oradell reservoir. Three young men saw and heard
the object as it touched the water. Another witness called police. The
luminous object took off a few minutes later. Official investigation
described it as bright, surrounded with a glow, the apparent size of a
small plane 1 km away. It left toward the south.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Oradell, New Jersey
ID: 547
Date: 9/15/1962
Description: Construction begins on Soviet SS-4 MRBM sites at San
Cristobal, Cuba.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3629
Date: 9/15/1962
Description: 5:00 p.m. Two bright discs are seen over Oradell, New
Jersey. At 6:00 p.m., former Navy flying officer J. J. McVickers sees
two discs just across the state line near Oradell. At 7:50 p.m., Victor
Cipolla sees a glowing object descend toward Oradell. Two other
witnesses see one round object with a fin on top and another under it at
darting back and forth near Oradell Reservoir. At 7:55 p.m., three teens
see and hear a bright, oval object land in the reservoir with a loud
splash. A moment later, it lifts off and climbs silently at high speed.
(“Disc
Landing Reported
in New Jersey,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 6 (Oct./Nov. 1962): 3–4;
UFOEv, p. 140;
Loren E. Gross, The Fifth
Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: July–December 1962, The
Author, 2005, pp. 48, 49; Sparks,
p. 292)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3630
Date: 9/18/1962
Description: Three men working in a rubber plantation saw a large,
disk-shaped object hover above the river. It emitted sparks, was of
silvery color, and very brilliant. It eventually rose straight up at
high speed. Disappearance of cattle was noticed in the area during that
period and blamed on the same cause.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Jan., 63 (Vallee)
Location: Barcelos, Brazil
ID: 548
Date: 9/20/1962
Description: Construction begins on Soviet SAM sites at Los Angeles,
Chaparra, and Juguani, Cuba.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3631
Date: 9/21/1962
Time: 7:37 PM
Description: Witness: fishing boat captain S.A. Guthrie. Two objects,
red and black with orange streaks, one as big as the Moon, and the other
smaller. Arced across the sky for 13 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: WSW of Biloxi, Mississippi, in the Gulf of Mexico
ID: 481
Date: fall 1962
Description: Patricia Ellingson is seeing “glowing, flame-like lights”
in her bedroom in Azusa, California, every evening. She thinks they
appear only when she is mentally calm. The lights are the size of a
quarter, sometimes switch off abruptly, and other times fade out slowly.
At times they do not appear for months, and she feels sad when they are
not there. (Michael D. Swords, “A Trick of the Light,” IUR 31, no. 2
(June 2007): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3634
Date: fall 1962
Description: Arlene Cook is awakened by her young, terrified son, at
their home in Anaheim, California. He says something is in his bedroom,
so they go to investigate and see a half-dollar-sized light on his bed.
The spot stays visible when she puts her hand on the bed or when she
removes the covers, but she can find no source for the light. It then
just switches off and does not return. (Michael D. Swords, “A Trick of
the Light,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3633
Date: 9/29/1962
Description: A CIA U-2 mission over the Isle of Pines and Bay of Pigs,
Cuba, reveals additional Soviet SA-2 and cruise missile sites.
(Jacobsen, Area 51, p. 183;
Kenneth Michael Absher, Mind-Sets and Missiles, US Army War College,
2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3632
Date: 10/1962
Description: The CIA and USAF instruct Lockheed to study a high-speed,
high-altitude drone concept. Kelly
Johnson specifies speeds of Mach 3.3–3.5, an operational altitude of
87,000–95,000 feet, and a range of 3,500 miles. It would make a one-way
trip, eject its camera payload at the end of the mission for recovery,
then self-destruct. It has a double-delta wing similar to the A-12’s
wing design. The Q-12 is to be air-launched from the back of an A- 12
and uses key technology from the A-12 project, including titanium
construction and radar cross-section reduction design features. Johnson
wants to power the Q-12 with a ramjet engine modified to operate at high
temperatures for at least 90 minutes at high altitude. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
D-21”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3635
Date: 10/2/1962
Description: Night. A Boeing security guard at an unidentified Minuteman
missile site near Moore, Montana [likely the M-01 launch site that is
part of Malmstrom AFB complex], sees a tear-shaped object with a blue
top and a red bottom. (“Flying
Objects Reported in Separated Areas,” Helena (Mont.)
Independent-Record, October 3, 1962, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3636
Date: 10/2/1962
Description: Night. Airmen on security patrol at Larson AFB [now Grant
County International Airport] near Moses Lake, Washington, see a white
light hovering a few hundred feet in the air near where the ICBM storage
bunkers are located. It silently shoots into the air as the guards
approach it. (“Flying
Objects Reported in Separated Areas,” Helena (Mont.)
Independent-Record, October 3, 1962, p. 7; Nukes 145–147)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3637
Date: 10/7/1962
Description: New U-2 flights show there are now 19 Soviet SA-2 missile
sites in Cuba.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3638
Date: 10/12/1962
Description: Dawn. An object like an orange or yellow meteor is observed
over Forbes AFB [now Topeka Regional Airport], Topeka, Kansas. Its
flight path is curved upward, with an occasional jerky motion; it moves
quickly at first but slows down as it reaches the zenith. It is visible
for 5 minutes before fading out. [Blue
Book documents]; Nukes 145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3639
Date: 10/14/1962
Description: A U-2 (loaned to the Air Force by the CIA because the CIA
U-2s have better surveillance capabilities) piloted by USAF Major Richard
S. Heyser out of Laughlin AFB, Del Rio, Texas, takes 928 pictures on
a path selected by DIA analysts, capturing images of what turn out to be
an SS-4 MRBM construction site at San Cristóbal, Pinar del Río Province
[now in Artemisa Province], in western Cuba. (Wikipedia, “Cuban
Missile Crisis”;
“U-2
Pilot’s Cuba Photos Made History,” Wilmington (N.C.) Star-News,
October 9, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3640
Date: 10/15/1962
Description: The CIA’s National Photographic Interpretation Center
reviews the U-2 photographs and identifies objects that they interpret
as medium-range ballistic missiles. The CIA notifies the Department of
State. National Security Advisor McGeorge
Bundy chooses to wait until the next morning to tell the President.
Secretary of Defense Robert
McNamara is briefed at midnight. (Wikipedia, “Cuban Missile
Crisis”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3641
Date: 10/16/1962
Description: 6:30 p.m. Kennedy gathers
a select group of advisors known as the ExComm (Executive Committee of
the National Security Council) to discuss a strategic response. McNamara presents
him with three basic options: a political option of approaching Castro and
Khrushchev;
a naval blockade to stop Soviet ships carrying weapons to Cuba; and
“military action directed against Cuba, starting with an air attack
against the missiles.” The ExComm’s initial discussions focus on a
massive US military assault on the nuclear installations and other bases
in Cuba, and whether the Soviets would counterattack in Berlin or
elsewhere. Kennedy rejects an attack, favoring a quarantine to buy time
to negotiate a missile withdrawal. (Wikipedia, “Cuban
Missile Crisis”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3642
Date: 10/17/1962
Description: A U-2 takes the first photo of an IRBM site under
construction in Cuba. (“The
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: The
Photographs,” National Security Archive)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3643
Date: late 10/1962
Description: Day. Two Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers are
returning to Loring AFB [now the Loring Commerce Centre] near Limestone,
Maine, following an Operation Chrome Dome mission. They are on final
approach to landing when a huge, metallic-gray, cigar-shaped UFO
descends over the flight line and hovers for a few minutes. It stretches
halfway across the aircraft ramp area, which would make it half a mile
wide. Jet engine mechanic Sgt. Christopher Smith is watching the
scenario from the ground and notes that the UFO is silent and has no
lights or visible openings. After the second B-52 lands, the UFO
silently zooms away toward the east and disappears. All the ground
witnesses and the flight crews do not talk about the incident afterward
and act as if nothing happened. (Nukes 132–136, 138–139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3651
Date: 10/22/1962
Description: 7:00 p.m. President Kennedy addresses
the American public for 18 minutes and announces his plan to implement a
naval blockade of Cuba. US military alert is set at DEFCON 3, and Castro mobilizes
all of Cuba’s military forces. US ambassador to the Soviet Union Foy
D. Kohler delivers to a letter from JFK to Khrushchev,
saying, “the one thing that has most concerned me has been the
possibility that your government would not correctly understand the will
and determination of the United States in any given situation, since I
have not assumed that you or any other sane man would, in this nuclear
age, deliberately plunge the world into war which it is crystal clear no
country could win and which could only result in catastrophic
consequences to the whole world, including the aggressor.” (Wikipedia,
“Cuban
Missile Crisis”; John F. Kennedy, Letter
to Chairman Nikita Khrushchev, October
22, 1962)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3644
Date: 10/23/1962
Time: 3 PM
Description: Witness: R.O. Christensen. One grey and silver ball,
trailing what looked like twine with two knots in it, swerved, and
climbed away at a 45’ angle, making a sound like a flock of ducks
(rushing air). Twenty seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Farmington, Utah
ID: 482
Date: 10/23/1962
Description: Khrushchev writes
to Kennedy, rebuffing
his demand that the Soviets remove the missiles, which the Soviet leader
insists “are intended solely for defensive purposes.” Kennedy writes
back, bluntly reminding Khrushchev that he started the crisis by
secretly sending missiles to Cuba. As US ambassador Adlai
Stevenson explains the matter to the United Nations Security
Council, US ships already are moving into position in the waters around
Cuba. Soviet submarines menacingly move into the Caribbean as well,
positioned as if they might try to break a blockade. But Soviet
freighters bearing military supplies headed for Cuba stop in their
tracks. (Nikita Khrushchev, Letter
to President John F. Kennedy, October
23, 1962; John F. Kennedy, Draft
letter to Chairman
Nikita Khrushchev, October
23, 1962)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3645
Date: 10/24/1962
Description: Khrushchev sends
an indignant letter to Kennedy,
accusing him of threatening the Soviet Union: “You are no longer
appealing to reason, but wish to intimidate us.” (Nikita Khrushchev, Letter
to President John F. Kennedy, October
24, 1962)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3646
Date: 10/24/1962
Description: Undocumented claim that a landing took place. No
traces.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Oct., 62 (Vallee)
Location: Horsetooth Reservoir, Colorado
ID: 549
Date: 10/25/1962
Description: The US raises the readiness level of SAC forces to DEFCON
2. For the only confirmed time in US history, B-52 bombers go on
continuous airborne alert, and B-47 medium bombers are dispersed to
various military and civilian airfields and made ready to take off,
fully equipped, on 15 minutes notice. The Soviet arms freighters turn
back toward Europe, but the oil tanker Bucharest approaches the US
quarantine zone, directly headed for Cuba. Two American warships, the USS
Essex and
the USS
Gearing,
prepare to intercept it, which could have led to war. Instead, Kennedy decides
to let the Bucharest through the quarantine because it isn’t carrying
any contraband. (Wikipedia, “Cuban
Missile Crisis”; McGeorge Bundy, “Record
of Action of the Fourth Meeting
of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council,”
October 25, 1962; Wikipedia, “Cuban Missile
Crisis”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3647
Date: 10/26/1962
Description: Castro sends
a letter to Khrushchev, urging
him to launch a nuclear first strike against the US, which the Soviet
leader disregards. Instead, Khrushchev sends a letter to Kennedy,
in which he offers to work with him to deescalate the conflict and
ensure that they do not “doom the world to the catastrophe of
thermonuclear war.” The CIA reports that the construction of Cuban
missile sites is continuing and accelerating. Robert
Kennedy meets secretly with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly
Dobrynin and agrees after a phone call to the president that the
removal of US missiles from Turkey is negotiable as part of a
comprehensive settlement. (Fidel Castro, Letter
to Chairman Nikita
Khrushchev, October
26, 1962; Nikita Khrushchev, Department
of State Telegram Transmitting Letter to President
John F. Kennedy, October
26, 1962; Wikipedia, “Cuban
Missile Crisis”; Daniel Ellsberg, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions
of a Nuclear War Planner, Bloomsbury, 2017, chapter 12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3648
Date: 10/26/1962
Description: 6:15 a.m. Mrs. Alvie Frank sees several flat, glowing
objects moving slowly about 11 miles south of Monte Vista, Colorado.
(“Variety
of Objects in Colorado,” APRO Bulletin, January 1963, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3649
Date: 10/26/1962
Description: 7:16 a.m. Bessie Rogers of Fort Collins, Colorado, spots a
large, black parachute-shaped object weaving back and forth over the
mountains somewhere between the south end of Horsetooth Reservoir and
Masonville. It flies around for about 10 minutes, disappears, and then
returns. (“Variety
of Objects in Colorado,” APRO Bulletin, January 1963, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3650
Date: 10/27/1962
Description: A U-2 piloted by Maj. Rudolf
Anderson is shot down over Cuba. However, Kennedy correctly
concludes that Khrushchev has
not himself given the order to shoot down Anderson’s plane. The incident
prompts both leaders to realize the situation is spiraling dangerously
out of control. Khrushchev sends another letter to Kennedy, in which he
demands that the United States withdraw missiles from Turkey as part of
the deal. JFK responds by offering to promise not to attack Cuba after
the Russians withdraw. In the evening, Robert Kennedy tells
Soviet ambassador Dobrynin,
“You have drawn first blood. The president had decided against
advice not to respond militarily to that attack, but he
[Dobrynin] should know that if another plane was shot at … we would take
out all the SAMs and antiaircraft And that would almost surely be
followed by an invasion.” However, he also says that the US already
plans to remove its missiles from Turkey but cannot say so publicly.
This is the moment when both nations step back from the brink of war.
(Wikipedia, “Cuban
Missile Crisis”; Nikita Khrushchev, Letter
to President John F. Kennedy, October
27, 1962; Anatoly Dobrynin, Cable
to the Soviet
Foreign Ministry, meeting with Robert Kennedy, October
27, 1962; John F. Kennedy, Letter
to Chairman Nikita
Khrushchev, October 27, 1962; Daniel Ellsberg, The Doomsday Machine:
Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner, Bloomsbury, 2017, chapter 12–13;
Christopher Klein, “How
the Death of a US Air Force Pilot Prevented
a Nuclear War,” History Stores, October 28, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3652
Date: 10/28/1962
Time: 1930
Description: Mrs. E. D. Silvester was driving with her three children
when an illuminated oval object landed near the road. She watched it for
40 min, and reported seeing a man wearing a helmet and gas mask in the
vicinity of the object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 63, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Norwood, Australia
ID: 550
Date: 10/28/1962
Description: In a speech aired on Radio Moscow, Nikita
Khrushchev announces the dismantling of Soviet missiles in Cuba and
does not insist on his demands concerning the removal of US missiles
from Turkey. (Wikipedia, “Cuban
Missile Crisis”; Nikita Khrushchev, Letter
to President John F. Kennedy, October 28, 1962)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3653
Date: 10/28/1962
Description: 7:30 p.m. Mrs. Ellen D. Sylvester is driving with her three
children in Norwood, South Australia, east of Adelaide, when they see an
orange glow on the ground about 2–3 miles away. It has three legs, round
windows, and the boy remarks that he can see people in it. One of the
“men” gets out and descends to the ground. He appears to be doing
something to one of the landing legs. He seems to have some trouble in
making it retract, which finally he overcomes. He is about 6 feet tall,
as his head reaches the outer fringe of the craft. He wears a helmet
like a gas mask. He returns to the UFO, which begins to move slowly
away, then very fast, and disappears in a northerly direction. Total
time of observation is 40 minutes. (Keith Basterfield, “’This
Is One of the Most Remarkable
Cases of a Flying Saucer…,’ Adelaide, 1962,” Unidentified Aerial
Phenomena—Scientific Research, September 22, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3654
Date: 10/29/1962
Description: Defense Department Assistant Secretary Arthur
Sylvester admits that withholding evidence on UFOs from the public
is necessary if the means justifies it. He cites USAF “administrative
practices” Air Force Regulation 11-30, where withholding information “in
the public interest” is allowed, and AFR 11-7, which states that
sometimes information requested by Congress may not be furnished “even
in confidence.” (Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, p. 86;
UFOEv, p. 106)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3655
Date: 10/29/1962
Description: Vera Rogers sees a round, shiny object flying low over Fort
Collins, Colorado. The object, heading south, makes a soft, whirring
sound followed by a popping noise. (“Variety
of Objects in Colorado,” APRO Bulletin, January 1963, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3656
Date: 11/1962
Time: evening
Description: A garage owner was driving through a rainstorm when he
suddenly saw a group of figures 80 m away. He slowed down as they went
away jerkily, and observed that they were bizarre, birdlike creatures.
As they rushed toward the car, he drove past them in terror and saw them
going back toward a luminous, blue object hovering in a field. They
entered it as if “sucked into it,” and a dull sound was heard before the
object flew off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Var, France
ID: 551
Date: 11/1962
Description: Evening. A French businessman is driving along a minor road
in Var department, southeastern France. It is raining heavily. Rounding
a bend, he sees a group of figures in the road 260 feet ahead. He slows
down to drive around them and sees that they are actually bizarre
animals with the heads of birds and covered in plumage. Terrified, he
speeds ahead and stops about 500 feet further ahead. Turing around, he
sees the entities heading toward a luminous, dark-blue object hanging in
the air over a field on the other side of the road. It resembles two
plates upside down. The entities are sucked into the bottom of the
object. He hears a “clack,” and the UFO takes off at “prodigious speed.”
(Lyonel Trigano, “Strange
Encounter in Var,” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1968):
18; Clark III 280)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3657
Date: 11/13/1962
Description: Two IBM engineers, C. D. Jackson and Robert
E. Hohmann, present
a paper at the American Rocket Society annual meeting in Los Angeles,
California, noting the alleged extraterrestrial signals detected by Nikola Tesla, Guglielmo
Marconi, and
David
Todd between 1899 and 1924. They speculate that the signal source
was 11 light years away, perhaps the Epsilon Eridani system. (C. D.
Jackson and Robert E. Hohmann, “An Historic Report on Life in Space:
Tesla, Marconi, Todd,” paper presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the
American Rocket Society, Los Angeles, November 13–18, 1962; Michael D.
Swords, “Radio Signals from Space, Alien Probes, and Betty Hill,” IUR
29, no. 4 (July 2005): 10–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3658
Date: 11/15/1962
Description: Stanford astronomer Carl
Sagan presents a paper at the American Rocket Society annual meeting
in Los Angeles, California, that explores models for the distribution of
technical civilizations in the galaxy. Using Frank
D.
Drake’s equation to suggest that 0.001% of stars in the sky have a
planet on them on which an advanced civilization resides, Sagan suggests
the nearest such advanced civilization is several hundred light years
away from earth. From there, he explores the feasibility of interstellar
spaceflight as a means for traversing such distances. The paper ends in
consideration of the possibility of extraterrestrial contact with Earth
in the past, including the ancient Mesopotamian myth of Oannes (Apkallu),
a mythical being who taught mankind wisdom. Berossus describes
Oannes as having the body of a fish but underneath the figure of a man.
(Carl Sagan, “Direct Contact
among Galactic Civilizations by Relativistic Interstellar
Spaceflight,” Planetary and Space Science 11 (May 1963): 485–498;
Wikipedia, “Adapa”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3659
Date: 11/17/1962
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witness: F.L. Swindale, college graduate and ex-USMC
Capt. Three bright star-like lights approached, hovered and bounced,
then faded after 11-15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tampa, Florida
ID: 483
Date: 11/17/1962
Description: 9:00 p.m. F. L. Swindale, ex-Marine captain, sees three
bright, star-like lights approach, hover, and bounce at Tampa, Florida,
for about 15 minutes, then fade. (UFOEv, p. 140;
Sparks, p. 293)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3660
Date: 11/23/1962
Description: The Hills attend
a meeting at the parsonage of their Unitarian church in Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, where the invited guest speaker is USAF Capt. Ben
H. Swett, who has recently published a book of his poetry. After he
reads selections of his poetry, the pastor asks him to discuss his
personal interest in hypnosis. After the meeting breaks up, the Hills
approach Swett privately and tell him what they can remember of their
strange encounter. He is particularly interested in the missing time of
the Hills’ account. The Hills ask Swett if he will hypnotize them to
recover their memories, but Swett says he is not qualified and cautions
them against going to an amateur hypnotist, such as himself. (Clark III
584)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3661
Date: 11/30/1962
Description: Two teenage boys in Lethbridge, Alberta, see an elliptical
object hovering near a school building and decide to throw rocks at it.
The object is about 8 feet in diameter and glowing blue. Their stones
seem to ricochet off the UFO and forcefully returned, landing on
structures behind the teens. (CUFOS case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3662
Date: 12/1962
Description: Kennedy closes
the Cuban Project, the CIA’s Operation Mongoose. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Mongoose”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3663
Date: 12/1/1962
Description: Evening. A husband and wife in East Point, Georgia, are
watching the first-quarter Moon through a 6-inch reflector. In the dark
area, well away from the terminator, the man sees a bright-red spot
light up. It gets so bright that he points it out to his wife. She
notices it starting to move across the illuminated portion of the Moon,
then continues passing in a straight line across the blue Georgia sky,
faster and faster until it is gone. (Michael D. Swords, “Gazing at the
Moons,” IUR 32, no. 4 (October 2009): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3664
Date: 12/7/1962
Description: A full-scale mockup of the Q-12 drone is ready at Groom
Lake, Nevada, and has already undergone preliminary tests to measure its
stealth quality. However, the CIA is not enthusiastic about the Q-12,
mostly because the agency is overextended at the time with U-2 missions,
getting the A-12 up to speed, and covert operations in Southeast Asia.
The USAF, however, is interested in the Q-12 as both a reconnaissance
platform and a cruise missile and the CIA finally decides to work with
the USAF to develop it. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
D- 21”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3665
Date: 12/9/1962
Time: 2200
Description: Antonio Candau saw a circular object land in Cadivilla, 9 m
away from him. It was about 5.5 m m diameter, and two men emerged from
it, approaching within 2 m, and spoke incomprehensible words. They wore
yellow coveralls and a wide belt. Noting that the witness was afraid,
one of them made a reassuring gesture with his hand, and the craft
departed with a strange sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Settimana Incom. Dec. 30, 62 (Vallee)
Location: Bologna, Italy
ID: 552
Date: 12/11/1962
Time: dawn
Description: G. L. Colodrero and the director of the Cordoba Historial
Museum were driving from Catamarca to Cordoba when, 7 km away from
Chumbicha, they saw seven objects on the ground of a mountain slope.
They were bright and spherical, rose straight up and flew away with a
very bright trail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: CODOVNI 1962 (Vallee)
Location: Chumbicha, Argentina
ID: 553
Date: 12/12/1962
Description: 4:30 p.m. Five schoolgirls in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture,
Japan, see a brightly glowing UFO. All five students independently
sketch a Saturn-shaped object. (UFOEv, p. 124)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3666
Date: 12/17/1962
Time: dawn
Description: Francesco Rizzi, night watchman, was crossing the factory
yard when he heard a whistling sound and observed an object hovering 1 m
above ground. It was a silvery disk, about 5 m in diameter, with lighted
windows. The noise stopped, a door became visible, and a small being
appeared and made a gesture. A second figure was also seen. The craft
took off with a puff of white smoke and a whistling sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 138 (Vallee)
Location: Milan, Italy
ID: 554
Date: 12/18/1962
Description: 2:20 p.m. Night watchman Francesco Rizzi is reporting for
work at a mill on Via Santa Valeria in Milan, Italy. In the center of
the mill’s courtyard he hears a swishing sound and turns to see a domed
metallic disc 12–15 feet in diameter with portholes hovering 3 feet
above the ground. A door opens at the bottom and a small man just over 3
feet tall and wearing a luminous overall emerges. The man motions Rizzi
to come nearer, but he is frozen with fear. Another small man comes out
of the disc, but they both return, the door closes behind them, and the
object takes off in a cloud of white smoke. Rizzi reports the sighting
to a colleague, the police, and the press, and soon loses his job.
(1Pinotti 130–131)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3667
Date: 12/19/1962
Description: Three sailors on a ship observed two gray, helmet-shaped
objects hovering 1 km away at 20 m altitude above Lake Major. Diameter:
about 15 m. After 5 min one object started moving rapidly, gaining
height with an undulating movement. It was soon joined by the second
object, and both disappered together at the horizon.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 139 (Vallee)
Location: Verbania, Italy
ID: 555
Date: 12/21/1962
Description: Ali R. Diaz is aboard a DC-3 tourist plane on a vacation
trip to Angel Falls, Venezuela. He obtains color film of a UFO rising
from the base of a mountain. The film shows a yellowish teardrop-shaped
object rising across the face of Auyán-tepui plateau. The UFO seems to
oscillate from side to side until it is lost in clouds. The falls and
mountain provide location points throughout. (“Angel
Falls UFO Film 1962,” UFO History Group You Tube channel, August 30,
2014; UFOEv, p. 96)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3668
Date: 12/21/1962
Time: 0215
Description: A large, fiery disk was observed on the runway by Horado
Alora and Mario Pezzuto, the two control tower operators, and by the
crews of two aircraft. It rose to 10 m altitude, hovered, and flew away
to the northeast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: CODOVNI 1962 (Vallee)
Location: Buenos Aires Airport, Argentina
ID: 556
Date: 12/22/1962
Description: About 3:00 a.m. At Ezeiza International Airport [now
Ministro Pistarini International Airport] at Ezeiza Partido in Greater
Buenos Aires, Argentina, tower operators Horacio Alora and Mario
Pezzutto are watching an Aereolíneas Argentinas plane that is about to
take off. It is also seen by an approaching DC-8 jet operated by
Panagra, whose captain asks what the object is at the end of the runway.
Alora sees a large, round, glowing object that has evidently descended
when he is watching the airliner. The UFO immediately rises about 30
feet, hovers, then accelerates on a northeast course. (UFOEv, p. 119;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: July–December 1962, The
Author, 2005, pp. 75–76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3669
Date: 1963
Description: Astronomer Donald
H. Menzel and science writer Lyle G. Boyd publish The World of
Flying Saucers, a skeptical overview of UFO sightings and a contemptuous
treatment of UFO groups. (Donald H. Menzel and Lyle G. Boyd, The World
of Flying Saucers, Doubleday, 1963)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3671
Date: 1963
Description: Russian astrophysicist Nikolai
Kardashev examines the radio source CTA-102, the first Soviet effort
in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). He comes up with
the idea that some galactic civilizations could be perhaps millions or
billions of years ahead of us, and creates the Kardashev scale to rank
such civilizations. Kardashev defines three levels of civilizations,
based on energy consumption: Type I (planetary civilization) with
“technological level close to the level presently attained on earth”;
Type II (stellar civilization), “a civilization capable of harnessing
the energy radiated by its own star”; and Type III (galactic
civilization), “a civilization in possession of energy on the scale of
its own galaxy.” Various extensions of the Kardashev scale have since
been proposed, including the use of metrics rather than pure power. The
idea that the CTA-102 emission is caused by a civilization is later
rejected when it is identified as one of the many varieties of quasar
(quasi-stellar radio source), a term coined by Hong-Yee
Chiu in May 1964 to describe these objects. (Wikipedia, “Kardashev
scale”; Wikipedia, “CTA-102”;
Nikolai Kardashev, “Transmission
of Information by Extraterrestrial Civilizations,” Soviet Astronomy
8 (1964): 217; Frank Edwards, FS Serious Business, Bantam ed., 1966, pp. 84–85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3670
Date: 1/1963
Description: The A-12 fleet at Groom Lake, Nevada, is now operating with
J58 engines built by Pratt and Whitney, allowing for speeds up to Mach
3.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3672
Date: 1/1963
Description: Night. Brothers Rosauro Antonio, Ricardo, and Victor
Domingo López discover a burned area of grass in a field just over a
mile from their house in Cañada de Alzogaray, near Burruyacú, Tucumán,
Argentina. The burn is in the shape of two rings (each a foot wide and
10.8 feet in diameter) where the grass is burned down to its roots to a
depth of 3–4 inches. They find a carbonized residue and whitish powder.
Some days previously, a neighbor named Juan Gerónimo Pera, his wife, and
children, had seen a luminous oval-shaped object that landed in the
field. (Oscar A. Uriondo, “Preliminary
Catalogue of Type 1 Cases in Argentina,” Flying Saucer Review Case
Histories, no. 12 (December 1972): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3673
Date: 1/4/1963
Time: 1900
Description: A well-known psychiatrist saw an object on the ground in a
deserted city park. Shape: a dome upon a cylinder, bearing a series of
round apertures and surrounded by a thick, roundish ring, set on a
tripod landing gear supporting the base of the cylinder 1 m above the
ground. Diameter: 5 m. Suddenly the ring started spinning rapidly, and a
gust of air was felt as the craft rose a few m above ground, then
disappeared in a split second.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 142 (Vallee)
Location: Rome, Italy
ID: 557
Date: 1/11/1963
Description: At 11:00 p.m., at San Pietro Vernotico, Italy, farmer
Antonio de Luca is awakened by restless animals and goes out to calm
them. Fifteen minutes later he sees a domed disc some 132 feet long land
in the village square. Dark figures are moving inside the transparent
dome. He tries to approach but is paralyzed at 30 feet away. It ascends
in the direction of Brindisi to the north, emitting a vertical beam of
green light. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 290;
Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January–June
1963, The Author, 2005, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3674
Date: 1/11/1963
Time: 2300
Description: A 43-year-old farmer was awakened by restless animals and
went out to calm them. Fifteen min later he saw an object land in a
small square in the village, went toward it, was “paralyzed” when 10 m
away. Two min later the craft, 4.5 m long, 1.5 m high, with a
translucent upper dome showing two dark, moving figures, ascended in the
direction of Brindisi, emitted a vertical beam of green light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 143 (Vallee)
Location: San Pietro, Italy
ID: 558
Date: 1/17/1963
Description: A formation of objects passes over Entre Ríos province,
Argentina, and discharges angel hair. Vitreous particles are recovered,
which consist of an “amalgam of silicon, boron, calcium, and magnesium.”
(Gordon Creighton, “Argentina,
1963–64,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1965): 15; Brian
Boldman, “Angel Hair Physical Analyses: A Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006):
104)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3675
Date: 1/28/1963
Time: 1720
Description: Mary Sharp and Mrs. E. L. Sharp saw an object on the
ground. It had four windows, emitted a yellow-orange light, and
eventually left toward Rugby.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Shilton, Great Britain
ID: 559
Date: 1/28/1963
Time: night
Description: A former Chilean Air Force officer, who was driving a
truck, observed two disk-shaped objects that followed him for over ten
min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Mamina, Chile
ID: 560
Date: 1/31/1963
Description: An object was reported to have landed. The Lopez brothers
found traces in the grass and evidence of intense heat. Police
investigation. A whitish powder was also found at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Ganada de Algosaray, Argentina
ID: 561
Date: 2/5/1963
Description: Approximate date. A student, Anastasio Lenven, saw an
object land on the school grounds. In a different observation, several
residents, including an official of the Ministry of the Interior, saw an
object flying at very high speed over Ascension.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Ascension, Paraguay
ID: 562
Date: 2/11/1963
Description: The CIA establishes a Domestic Operations Division for its
clandestine services, conducted within the US against “foreign
targets.”
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3676
Date: 2/15/1963
Time: 0710
Description: A civilian observed an object arriving from the east. It
stopped at 15 m altitude over his farmhouse. The object made a swishing
sound, and measured about 8 m in diameter, 3 m in height. The underside
was spinning in a counterclockwise direction, had a blue color and no
light. It took off faster than a jet, after hovering about five sec. The
witness suffered from a strong headache all day.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Willow Grove, Australia
ID: 563
Date: 2/15/1963
Description: 7:10 a.m. Farmer Charles Brew and his son Trevor are in a
shed, milking a herd of cows near Moe, Victoria, Australia. Charles sees
an object descend very steeply out of the east from a low cloud, at
about a 45° angle. The UFO is about 25 feet in diameter, and about 9–10
feet high. The lower portion, about 3 feet high, is rotating in an
anticlockwise direction and is bluish. The upper portion appears to be
stationary, battleship-gray in color, with a transparent dome on top.
Protruding out of the dome is something resembling a broom handle. A
sound, described as swishing or burbling, is heard by both Charles and
Trevor. (NICAP, “Rotating
Object and Animal
Reaction”; Bill Chalker, “Tully Saucer Nests of 1966, Part Two,” IUR
23, no. 1 (Spring 1998): 15–16; Sparks, p. 293;
Swords 388–390)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3677
Date: 2/20/1963
Time: 1730
Description: A young man saw from a window ,a slowly spinning object,
almost stationary, 500 m away. It appeared as a disk having a central
upper dome, with a total diameter of 3 m. The object had a brilliant
yellow red halo, but its dome was much more brilliant. The witness
observed it through binoculars, reported seeing a “particle” leave the
object, after which it stopped spinning, gained altitude with a vertical
shifting, and left toward the northeast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 144 (Vallee)
Location: Lecce, Italy
ID: 564
Date: 2/21/1963
Time: 0230
Description: A strange globe of fire hit a car driven by a civilian man.
Several people called authorities to report that they had been awakened
by a peculiar object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Belgrade, Montana
ID: 565
Date: 2/23/1963
Description: 9:45 p.m. An oval object is seen in the sky above
Highcliffe, Dorset, England. Emerald-green in color and surrounded by a
glow, it hangs in the sky for 10 minutes before witnesses see two
smaller objects emerge from it. These fly away and disappear over the
English Channel. (Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects and Cloud
Cigars,” IUR 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3678
Date: 3/1963
Description: Austrian ufologist Luis
Schoenherr offers a paranormal explanation for UFOs, saying that
they either emanate from an unobservable fourth dimension or are time
machines. (Luis Schoenherr, “UFOs
and the Fourth Dimension,”
Flying Saucer Review 9, no. 2 (March/April 1963): 10–12; Luis
Schoenherr, “UFOs
and the Fourth Dimension,
Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review 10, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1964): 16–20,
23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3679
Date: 3/3/1963
Description: The Hills are
invited by their Unitarian church to discuss their UFO experience. They
speak about it for the first time publicly. (Clark III 584)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3680
Date: 3/9/1963
Description: Amos Biggs observed a silver, saucer-shaped craft, with an
oval dome, which landed on the frozen lake for 10 min. A “door” was
opened and then shut, and the craft took off with a buzzing sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Jul., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Crystal Lake, Montana
ID: 566
Date: 3/12/1963
Time: 0532
Description: After an intense rainfall Pablo Michalowski and Roberto
Jorge Martinez observed and photographed a luminous object that rose
from a forest preserve about 2 km from Colonia Yerua.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: CODOVNI 1963 (Vallee)
Location: Colonia Yerua, Argentina
ID: 567
Date: 3/13/1963
Time: 2230
Description: Fred White was fishing when he heard a high-pitched whine
coming from the east and saw an object come in his direction and land 15
m away, scattering sand. It was at least 30 m in diameter, and was
shaped like two plates glued together. Through several oval portholes he
could see light inside. A man with a fair complexion, wearing a metallic
helmet, looked at the witness. He wore a sky-blue, one-piece coverall
with no visible buttons or fasteners, and gloves made of shiny mesh.
Warm air was felt as the craft took off about six min later, and radio
interference was noted.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 63, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Richards Bay, South Africa
ID: 568
Date: 4/1963
Description: An article by J.
Allen Hynek appears in the Yale Scientific Magazine. (J. Allen
Hynek, “Flying Saucers I Have Known,” Yale Scientific Magazine 37 (April
1963): 6–9; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: January–June 1963, The
Author, 2005, pp. 42–62)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3681
Date: 4/30/1963
Description: Adamski arrives
in Copenhagen for another scheduled lecture tour of Europe at the
invitation of Hans C. Petersen, He attends the Skandinavisk UFO
Information Congress in Frederica, Denmark. (“Final
Years,” The Adamski Case, June 11, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3682
Date: 5/7/1963
Time: evening
Description: Margaret McCutcheon and her 13-year-old son reported to the
police that, after the house lights blacked out while watching
television, they saw an object about 6 m in diameter, with two aerials
and a red light flashing, emitting a low buzz, near the house. After one
minute, it flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 63, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Kirkby, Great Britain
ID: 569
Date: 5/15/1963
Description: Sandia National Laboratories conducts the first of four
top-secret, dry-surface plutonium-dispersal tests at the Tonopah Test
Range in Nevada, as part of Operation Roller Coaster. The other tests
are on May 25, May 31, and June 9. The intent is to investigate exposure
of animals (dogs, sheep, and burros) to plutonium dispersal in a non-
nuclear scenario. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Roller Coaster”; Lt. Col. J. L. Dick, et al., “Operation
Roller Coaster: Interim
Summary Report (II),” Department of Defense, September 1963)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3683
Date: 5/15/1963
Description: Mr. and Mrs. D., of Carignan, saw an object on the ground
to the left of the road as they were driving between Bergerac and
Bordeaux, beyond the Yvrac intersection, 2.5 km from Maille. They
stopped to observe it, and the object then followed them for part of
their trip.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 71 (Vallee)
Location: Yvrac-Maille, France
ID: 570
Date: 5/20/1963
Time: evening
Description: A 17-year-old witness, who wishes anonymity for fear of
ridicule, saw what he first thought was a bulldozer by the side of the
road. He came within 20 m of it, then was blinded by a strong light as
his car suddenly stopped. The object crossed the road and flew away. The
light was as intense as that of a welder’s torch. The witness’s father
testified that his son came home white and visibly terrified.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Nov., 63 (Vallee)
Location: Glencoe, Australia
ID: 571
Date: 5/22/1963
Time: 10:45 PM
Description: Witness: Myra Jackson. Four pink wheels spun or rolled very
fast from east to west in succession, each taking about 1 second.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pequannock, New Jersey
ID: 485
Date: 5/24/1963
Description: An A-12 piloted by Kenneth
S. Collins crashes near Wendover, Utah. The CIA thinks it might have
been due to pilot error and contracts with a well-known Boston,
Massachusetts, psychiatrist with a specialty in hypnosis (unnamed, but
possibly Benjamin Simon, of Betty
and Barney Hill fame later). After a lengthy investigation it is
determined that a tiny, pencil-sized part called a pilot tube, a device
that controls the airspeed indicator, froze when the A-12 entered a
cloud, causing the aircraft to stall. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
A-12”; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 190–197)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3684
Date: 5/31/1963
Description: Adamski allegedly
has a private audience with Pope John
XXIII in Rome, Italy. The pontiff is seriously ill and dies three
days later. Adamski claims that he has received a “Golden Medal of
Honor” from the pope, but skeptics note that the medal is actually a
common tourist souvenir made by a company in Milan, and that Adamski
displays it to his friends in a cheap plastic box—which is how it is
sold in tourist shops in Rome. Adamski says his meeting is at the
request of the extraterrestrials he is in contact with in order to ask
for a “final agreement” from the pope because of his decision not to
communicate directly with them anymore and to offer John XXIII a liquid
substance in order to save him from the gastric enteritis that he
suffers from. (Lou Zinsstag and Timothy Good, George Adamski: The Untold
Story, Ceti, 1983; Colin Bennett, Looking for Orthon, Paraview, 2001;
“Vatican
Visit,” The Adamski Case, October 7, 2019; Marc Hallet, A
Critical Appraisal of George Adamski: The Man
Who Spoke to the Space Brothers, The
Author, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3685
Date: 6/4/1963
Description: A multicolored object, the size of a light truck, was
reported to have landed in the vicinity of Lyle. Police searched an area
over 3 km wide on both sides of the Iowa-Minnesota border, with no
results.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Lyle, Minnesota
ID: 572
Date: 6/15/1963
Time: 10:39 AM
Description: Witness: 3rd Mate R.C. Chamberlin, of S/S Thetis. One
luminous disc travelled at 1.5 times the speed of satellite for 3-4
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 200 miles north of Venezuela (14’ 27’ N, 69’ 57’ E)
ID: 486
Date: 6/15/1963
Description: 8:39 p.m. In the Indian Ocean southwest of India, 3rd Mate
R. C. Chamberlin of the SS Thetis sees in the northwest a luminous disc
travel at 1.5 times the angular speed of a satellite. (Sparks, p. 294)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3687
Date: Summer 1963
Time: 9:30 or 10 PM
Description: Witness: Grace Dutcher. Eight-ten lights moved at random,
then in an oval formation, then singly, during the 1 minute
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Middletown, New York
ID: 487
Date: summer 1963
Description: Allen
H. Greenfield and Rick
Hilberg start publishing Saucer Album in Cleveland, Ohio. It becomes
UFO Magazine in mid-1964 and continues through the summer of 1970. After
a few years’ hiatus, it returns as UFO Magazine News Bulletin in early
1974 and continues at least until February 1979. (Saucer
Album 1, no. 1 (Summer 1963))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3686
Date: 6/26/1963
Description: Around 1:00 a.m. Enrico A. Gilberti Jr. and his wife Janet
are awakened at their home on 344 Commercial Street, Weymouth,
Massachusetts, by a loud roar. They look out the window and see a
Saturn-shaped object moving slowly above the treetops 100 feet off the
ground and 300 feet away. Gilberti describes it as “two hamburger buns
one on top of another with a sandwiched piece of meat protruding
around.” It is about 30–40 feet across and has two brilliant lights. The
UFO follows some power lines across a field and disappears to the
northeast. “The roar was deafening.” Neighbors hear the noise but do not
see anything. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman
of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: January–June 1963, The Author,
2005, pp. 84–85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3688
Date: 6/26/1963
Description: Four glowing greenish objects with halos are seen by a
technician and many others at Pinecrest, California. Three objects
moving westerly are approached by a similar object from the west. The
fourth object stops and hovers as the three approach, split formation,
and continue west. Then the fourth object continues east. (UFOEv, p. 140)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3689
Date: 6/28/1963
Description: 9:30 p.m. A man is driving along the Lyndoch-Gawler Road
near Sandy Creek, South Australia, when he comes across a blood-red,
glowing object, 25 feet across and 12 feet high, in the road ahead. He
is within 12 feet of it when he hits the brakes. The object turns a
lighter reddish-yellow and rises up into the air several hundred feet.
It turns on its side and speeds away. This and other UFO incidents cause
Sen. Jim
Cavanagh to ask the federal government to make its UFO dossier
public, but Minister for Air David
Fairbairn refuses, saying that the vast majority of reports are
explainable. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History:
January–June 1963, The
Author, 2005, pp. 86–87)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3690
Date: 6/28/1963
Time: 2130
Description: A fiery red object, 8 m wide 4 m high, with a concave top
and flat bottom, was seen on the road by a Willaston resident who
stopped his car 4 m away. The object rose, tipped to one side and flew
away at fantastic speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 141; FSR 64, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Sandy Creek, Australia
ID: 573
Date: 7/1963
Description: The CIA has synthesized many of the findings from its
psychological research into what became known as the “KUBARK
Counterintelligence Interrogation” handbook, which cites the MKUltra
studies and other secret research programs as the scientific basis for
their interrogation methods. Donald
Ewen Cameron regularly travels around the US teaching military
personnel about his techniques (hooding of prisoners for sensory
deprivation, prolonged isolation, humiliation, etc.), and how they can
be used in interrogations. Latin American paramilitary groups working
for the CIA and US military personnel receive training in these
psychological techniques at places such as the School of the Americas in
Fort Benning, Georgia. (In the 21st century, many of these torture
techniques are used at US military and CIA prisons such as Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, and Abu Ghraib, Iraq.) In the aftermath of the 1975
congressional hearings, major news media mainly focus on sensational
stories related to LSD, mind-control, and brainwashing, and rarely use
the word “torture.” This suggests that the CIA researchers are, as one
author put it, “a bunch of bumbling sci-fi buffoons” rather than a
rational group of men who have run torture laboratories and medical
experiments in major US universities; they have arranged for torture,
rape, and psychological abuse of adults and young children, driving many
of them permanently insane. (Central Intelligence Agency, “KUBARK
Counterintelligence Interrogation,” July 1963; Wikipedia, “Unethical
human experimentation
in the United States”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3691
Date: 7/1/1963
Time: 8 PM
Description: Witness: R.B. Stiles, ll, using a theodolite. One light,
the size of a match head at arm’s length, flashed and moved around the
sky for 1.5 hours.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Glen Ellyn, Illinois
ID: 488
Date: 7/2/1963
Description: Nineteen-year-old NICAP member John
P. Speights of Raleigh, North Carolina, writes a letter questioning
the Air Force’s treatment of UFOs to Rep. Carl
Vinson (D-Ga.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
Vinson forwards it to USAF along with his own request for information on
Blue Book. The Air Force treats the request gingerly because of the
implication of a congressional hearing and prepares a reply to Vinson on
July 18, but there is no evidence that it is sent. USAF Maj. Maston
M. Jacks does reply to Speights on August 5. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: July–December
1963, The
Author, 2005, pp. 19–20; US Air Force, Foreign Technology Division, “Congressional
Correspondence on the U.S. Air Force UFO Program,
Congressman Carl Vinson”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3692
Date: 7/15/1963
Description: A farmer discovered strange crater 2.5 m wide and 2.5 m
deep. Vegetation around it was burned and there were four holes in the
ground around the crater itself.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 63, 5; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Charlton, Great Britain
ID: 574
Date: 7/16/1963
Description: Farmer Roy Blanchard of Charlton, Wiltshire, England,
discovers a strange crater on the ground overlapping his potato and
barley fields. It is about 8 feet wide and 4 inches deep. A hole in the
center is 3 feet deep and less than a foot in diameter. All vegetation
inside the circle is burned, leaving only bare earth, and there are four
slots in the ground around it, each about 4 feet long and a foot wide. A
small piece of metal is found. Astronomer Patrick
Moore states that a “shrimp-sized meteorite” has caused the crater.
But a military investigation shows no burn or scratch marks or any trace
of an explosion. (Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs,
a History: July–December 1963, The
Author, 2005, pp. 12–16; UFOFiles2, p. 116;
Nick Redfern, “The Curious
Caper of the Charlton Crater, Part 1,” Mysterious Universe,
September 28, 2015; Nick Redfern, “The Curious
Caper of the Charlton Crater, Part 2,” Mysterious Universe,
September 28, 2015; Matthew Richardson, “The
Charlton Crater”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3693
Date: 7/17/1963
Description: A passenger of a Convair-880 related to UFO investigator,
James Moseley, that the 4 engine jet airliner she had been flying in was
pursued by an UFO. The jet, traveling at 600 mph, made a sharp turn to
avoid the UFO, now rapidly closing in on the plane. Just as they were
about to collide, the UFO swerved away at fantastic speed and
disappeared in the night sky. When the (unnamed) woman confronted the
pilot about the incident, he said, “I wouldn’t dare risk telling the
airline of the incident. If I could tell you of some of the experiences
my buddies have had, you’d never fly again!”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: US
Date: 7/20/1963
Description: An A-1 piloted by Louis
Schalk briefly achieves a speed of Mach 3 for the first time.
(Jacobsen, Area 51, p.
201)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3694
Date: 7/22/1963
Time: 2030
Description: William Holland, 12, and two other persons saw a hovering,
silvery object with a flashing red light on top, at 20 m altitude. It
had three “legs” and a periscope underneath that pointed at the
witnesses. The object went up into a cloud of unusual color, which flew
against the wind.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 64, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Parr, Great Britain
ID: 575
Date: 8/1/1963
Description: Evening. A former RAF pilot and flight instructor sees a
triangular UFO that lingers for a long time over Garston, Hertfordshire,
England, then climbs out of sight. Thousands of other people in the
London area, including an air traffic controller four miles away and
future UFO researcher Timothy
Good in Bcckenham, London, also see the object, which has a
tetrahedral shape and glassy appearance when seen through binoculars. A
USAF F-100 Super Sabre from RAF Bentwaters [now Bentwaters Parks] in
Woodbridge, Suffolk, and another plane from the De Havilland Aircraft
Company are sent up to investigate but cannot get anywhere near the UFO,
which is at an estimated 90,000 feet. An amateur astronomer in Bushey,
Hertfordshire, takes a clear photo. The official explanation is a
balloon. (UFOEv, p. 141;
Good Above, p. 149)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3695
Date: 8/4/1963
Description: 11:30 p.m. Ronnie Austin and Phyllis Bruce are driving east
on State Highway 15 past the Mount Vernon, Illinois, airport when they
notice a bright white round object about 20° above the southwest
horizon. It seems to be keeping pace with them for several miles.
Suddenly it moves about 600 feet in front of them and to the left. When
Austin drops Phyllis off at home in Wayne City, it is hanging in the
southeast. They continue watching it about 15 minutes, then Austin
leaves for home. As he turns east on a gravel road, it shoots ahead of
him, taking on an orange hue. At one point it comes within 100 feet of
his car, swerves upward, and passes above him as the car radio makes a
whining noise and the car engine almost fails. The object then moves
behind him from west to east. When he arrives home, it is hovering about
900 feet to the southeast. Ronnie is so shaken, he is given a sedative.
His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Orville Austin, and brother and sister also
see the light, which finally becomes indistinguishable with a star by
1:10 a.m. (NICAP, “The
Wayne City Car Chase (EM RA Traces)”; Jeffrey Liss, “The Light That
Followed a Car,” Fate 16, no. 11 (November 1963): 26–35; Schopick,
pp. 81–88)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3696
Date: 8/5/1963
Description: Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT). At this point, 499 nuclear
tests were conducted
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Date: 8/5/1963
Description: The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is signed by the USSR,
UK, and US governments in Moscow, Russia, before being opened for
signature by other countries. The treaty formally goes into effect on
October 10. The treaty prohibits all above-ground tests of nuclear
weapons. (Wikipedia, “Partial
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3697
Date: 8/7/1963
Time: night
Description: Five persons observed a luminous source flying slowly over
the railroad tracks. Direction of travel: west, then north. It appeared
ready to land in a wooded area. Its luminosity was variable.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Centralia, Illinois
ID: 576
Date: 8/7/1963
Description: The first flight of the USAF version of the A-12, the
Lockheed YF-12 interceptor, takes place at Edwards AFB in California.
(Wikipedia, “Lockheed
YF-12”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3698
Date: 8/8/1963
Time: 2210
Description: An oval, luminous object coming from the north dived toward
Centralia Road, followed a car, flying around it. Then it went away
toward the west, disappeared like a bulb turned off, and was seen again
in the west flying very fast. It was observed by numerous people. Total
duration: 15 min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Mount Vernon, Illinois
ID: 577
Date: 8/10/1963
Description: 9:32 p.m. Several airmen of the 91st Bombardment Wing at
Glasgow Air Force Base [now closed] near Glasgow, Montana, are walking
in the parking lot when a bright light appears above them, bathing
everyone in an orange glow. It is coming from a disc-shaped object with
a dome that has some odd characters carved in it. The object moves up,
then to the right, then down and left. It makes a square, then an X
within the square, stopping at all points before moving again. The
underside of the object is a large panel of blue light. They watch it
for 3 minutes then it disappears. (“Out
of the Past,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 6, no. 2 (April/May 1985):
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3699
Date: 8/11/1963
Time: 10 PM
Description: Witness: R.M. Boersma. One light moved around the sky for
20 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Warrenville, Illinois
ID: 489
Date: 8/13/1963
Description: An elliptical object with lights on its entire length and
occasional flashes at both ends was seen at ground level for over one
hour by an entire family.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Evidence 141 (Vallee)
Location: Ellsworth, Maine
ID: 578
Date: 8/13/1963
Time: 8:04 PM
Description: Witness: A.F. Schelling. One fireball became a dark object
after 4 minutes, and then a bigger glow, a minute later, and finally
exploded. Note: same witness had another, undescribed, sighting on
Aug. 14
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: St. Gallen, Switzerland
ID: 490
Date: 8/20/1963
Time: 2132
Description: In a wooded area near Rome, a man in a car observed an
object resembling a plate turned upside down, with a central turret,
flying low over his vehicle.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Rome, Italy
ID: 579
Date: 8/20/1963
Description: 9:30 p.m. Italian President Antonio
Segni’s personal driver encounters a UFO near the entrance of the
Castel Porziano Presidential Estate in Rome, Italy. When he sees a
metallic domed disc with portholes moving in front of him in the
driveway ahead, the driver stops the Fiat 2300 immediately. The UFO,
about 65 feet diameter, passes a few feet above the car, making a
hissing noise and causing the body to vibrate and the instruments to go
crazy, then reverses course and passes over the car again with the same
effect. It then tilts 90° and darts away to the west. It leaves behind a
smell of heated metal. (1Pinotti 148–151; “Quando
gli UFO arrivarona anche in Italia,”
Oggi Notizie, November 26, 2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3700
Date: 8/22/1963
Description: Test pilot Joseph
A. Walker reaches an altitude of 353,200 feet (66.9 miles) in an
X-15 rocket plane. (Wikipedia, “Joseph
A. Walker”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3701
Date: 8/28/1963
Time: 1915
Description: Two brothers, F. and R. Eustagio, 11 and 9, saw a luminous
sphere at treetop level. Through an opening they observed “several rows
of people inside” and a thin, 3 m tall being, whho glided down to the
ground along two vertical beams of light. He walked with a strange,
swinging motion, then sat down. He wore a transparent helmet, had one
eye in the middle of his forehead, wore high boots that left a
triangular imprint, and carried a box emitting flashes. He made a
threatening gesture and flew up to the sphere, which left. The chlldren
somehow became convinced that the being was “good” and would
return.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 37; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Sagrada Famila, Brazil
ID: 580
Date: 8/28/1963
Description: 7:00 p.m. José Marcos Gomes Vidal, 7, and his friends
Fernando, 12, and Ronaldo Gualberto, 7, are in the Gualbertos’s backyard
in Sagrada Familia, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, to wash a coffee strainer in
a cistern. Suddenly, Fernando notices a glow coming from the top of an
avocado tree. When he looks up, he sees a UFO hovering above the tree’s
branches. The craft, which is spherical and has a pair of antennas on
top, is completely transparent. It holds four human-like passengers
sitting inside, one of whom sits in front of a machine that appears to
be a control panel. The passengers are about 6 feet tall and dressed in
spacesuits. They all have only one eye like a cyclops. Three of them are
thin and bald, while the other looks like an overweight woman with
blonde hair. The UFO shoots out two rays of yellow light. One of the
cyclops appears between the lights, slowly floating down onto the
ground. Once his boots touched the earth, the creature begins to walk
toward José, who is completely unaware of what is happening since he is
still collecting water. Fernando panics and tackles José, who falls to
the ground, and Fernando gets back up and faces the cyclops. Now all
three boys are aware of the visitor. The cyclops moves his head and
makes hand signals. It speaks a few sounds in a strange language. The
creature then turns around and stares back at the UFO. Fernando,
spotting a brick on the ground, picks it up and aims it at the cyclops,
who turns around and shoots Fernando’s hand with a yellow light from a
triangular crest on his chest. Fernando drops the brick, and all three
of the boys become calm and frozen. For a few more minutes, the cyclops
speaks to them, then it points one of his fingers at the moon and begins
to walk back toward the UFO. José asks if he will ever come back. The
cyclops shakes his head affirmatively, plucks a plant from the ground,
and then waves his hand at the UFO, which shoots out two rays of yellow
light again. The cyclops slowly floats back up into the vehicle, and the
UFO takes off eastward and disappears out of their sight. (Brazil 66–72;
Tristan, “The Alien
Cyclops of Sagrada Familia,” Bizarre and Grotesque, March 24,
2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3703
Date: 8/28/1963
Description: After the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, J.
Edgar Hoover singles out Rev. Martin
Luther King
Jr. as
a major target for COINTELPRO. Soon after, the FBI is systematically
bugging King’s home and his hotel rooms, as they are now aware that King
is growing in stature daily as the leader among leaders of the Civil
Rights Movement. (Wikipedia, “COINTELPRO”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3702
Date: 9/1963
Description: Lt. Col. Robert
J. Friend leaves Project Blue Book and is replaced by Maj. Hector
Quintanilla. (Hynek UFO Report, pp. 25–27;
Sparks, p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3704
Date: 9/7/1963
Description: Capt. Swett gives
a formal lecture on hypnosis to a meeting at the Unitarian Church in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire. After the lecture, the Hills tell
him that Barney was going to a psychiatrist, Duncan Stephens, whom he
likes and trusts. Swett suggests that Barney ask Stephens about the use
of hypnosis in his case. At his next therapy session, Barney mentions
his UFO encounter to Stephens, who recommends Dr. Benjamin Simon, a
well- known psychiatrist in Boston, Massachusetts, with much experience
in hypnosis.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3705
Date: 9/12/1963
Description: Patrick Loreno and 18 other men aboard Texas Tower 2, a
USAF radar station 110 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, spot an
object 3 miles from their location. They report the sighting to the
Coast Guard and request an investigation, but the object sinks before a
boat can get there. The object has a controlled light and smoke or steam
appears on its surface. The mn watch it for 20 minutes. There is no
record of a ship or a submarine in the area. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the
Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3706
Date: 9/14/1963
Time: 3:15 PM
Description: Witness: E.A. Grant, veteran of 37 years training forest
fire lookouts for the U.S. Forest Service. One round object intercepted
a long object and either attached itself to the latter or disappeared.
Sighting lasted l0 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Susanville, California
ID: 491
Date: 9/14/1963
Description: 3:15 p.m. US Forest Service instructor Edward
A. Grant and his son see a round object over Susanville, California,
that at first seems to be a balloon, but is moving erratically. The
movements are very fast and the direction changes very definite. They
watch it pass overhead for several minutes. Suddenly, a long cylindrical
object with fins along its sides appears from the north and passes
overhead toward the south. The round object moves very rapidly to
intercept the long object, ejecting a yellowish-brown trail, and merges
with it. (Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR
29, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 4; Sparks,
p. 295)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3707
Date: 9/15/1963
Time: 66 PM
Description: Witness: Mrs. F.E. Roush. Two very bright gold objects–one
shaped like a banana and the other like an ear of corn–one remained
stationary, the other moved from west to north during 10 minutes,
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Vandalia, Ohio
ID: 492
Date: 9/19/1963
Time: 2000
Description: Four children saw a bright oval object hover in a field and
drop something. Approaching the site, they were confronted with a 3 m
tall man, dressed in “a white monklike suit,” who held out his hands and
made unintelligible sounds. The children fled in panic, and one girl was
admitted to the hospital in shock.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Saskatoon, Canada
ID: 581
Date: 9/19/1963
Description: 6:50 p.m. More than 140 residents of Wonthaggi and South
Dudley, Victoria, Australia, observe a mystery object like an orange
beach ball maneuver in the sky for 25 minutes. At first it hovers, then
it begins moving slowly and silently, putting on sudden and intermittent
bursts of speed, before disappearing in an easterly direction into the
Bass Strait. During the 25 minutes that the object is visible, TV sets
malfunction in South Dudley, Wonthaggi, and lnverlock. TV sets variously
display white screens, gray screens, double images, or snow and lines.
Still other sets go completely blank. After the UFO leaves at 7:15, all
TV sets resume normal operation. (“UAO’s
Upset TV Reception,” APRO Bulletin, May 1964, pp. 1, 6; Schopick,
pp. 109–111)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3709
Date: 9/19/1963
Description: Adm. Roscoe
Hillenkoetter writes to astronomer Donald
H. Menzel, saying that his book The World of Flying Saucers has
“effectively put to rest all surmises about flying saucers being from
‘outer space.’” (Christopher D. Allan, “Admiral Hillenkoetter: From
Believer to Skeptic,” IUR 20, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1995): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3708
Date: 9/19/1963
Description: 8:00 p.m. Four children in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, see a
bright, oval object hover in a field and drop something. Approaching the
site, they are confronted by a man about 10 feet tall dressed in a white
“monk-like” suit who holds out his hands and makes unintelligible
sounds. The children flee, and one girl is admitted to the hospital in
shock. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 294;
Mark Cashman, “Behavioral Classification System for UFO Occupants,” IUR
24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3710
Date: 9/27/1963
Description: Blue Book releases a statement on the Hill case,
claiming insufficient information, although they strongly suspect the
UFO is the planet Jupiter. (Clark III 581)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3711
Date: 10/1963
Description: 9:30 p.m. Five members of a family in Millersport, Ohio,
see what seems to be an airplane on fire, but the house-sized object
approaches and hovers about 300 feet away. They see a dark disc with a
dome and antenna on top and three ball-shaped protrusions on the bottom.
Around the rim are evenly spaced openings that emit fiery beams. In the
dome, several large windows are visible in which a figure can be seen,
at least by the mother. The dome rotates as the object hovers, and it
makes a low humming noise. It finally rises slowly and makes a small
circle in the air before speeding away. (Michael Swords, “Close
Encounters of the First Kind: Do We Really Care?
Part Two,” The Big Study, February 15, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3714
Date: 10/1963
Description: A Lisunov Li-2 airliner on the Guangdong to Wuhan, China,
air route is chased by three luminous UFOs for 115 minutes. The pilots
provide a minute-by-minute report by radio to the Chinese Civil
Aeronautics Administration. After landing, the crew is debriefed by air
traffic control, and the passengers are told not to discuss the incident
with anyone. (Wendelle Stevens and Paul Dong, UFOs over Modern China,
UFO Photo Archives, 1983, pp. 44–45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3713
Date: 10/1963
Description: Maj. Hector
Quintanilla is appointed director of Project Blue Book. He is
assisted by Sgt. David Moody, who is particularly hostile to UFOs and
tends to label every report as “possible” this or that. (Sparks,
p. 14; Clark III 922–923)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3712
Date: 10/1963
Time: 0900
Description: A middle-aged woman, who had seen a strange craft hovering
near her house the previous Jul., observed a gray-colored object, 3.5 m
long, hovering less than 2 m above ground. Through the transparent front
part she could see three figures. Suddenly one of the occupants was
standing on the grass. He was clothed in “asbestostextured coveralls”
and neither the face, nor the hands, nor the feet was visible. When she
asked, “What do you want?” the answer, in English, was: “One of our
party knows you; we will return.” The object then decreased in size,
tilted, partially sank into the ground, grew to its previous size, and
departed to the east, producing steam, a flash, and a noise.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 64, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Whidbey Island, Washington
ID: 582
Date: 10/4/1963
Description: 1:00 p.m. Connecticut State Representative Luther
B. Martin sees a delta-shaped, silvery object leaving a flare-like
trail at Hartland, Connecticut. A row of black markings is visible along
the blunt forward edge as the object passes from south to north. He
estimates its speed at 2,000 mph. (“UFO
Sightings Centered in Western U.S.,”
UFO Investigator 2, no. 10 (Dec. 1963/Jan. 1964): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3715
Date: 10/4/1963
Time: 3:32 PM
Description: Witness: R.E. Carpenter, 15. One intense oblong light with
tapered ends and surrounded by an aqua haze, flashed and flickered while
stationary for 15 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Bedford, Ohio
ID: 493
Date: 10/12/1963
Description: 3:30 a.m. Driving in a blinding rainstorm on the road
between Monte Maíz and Isla Verde, Córdoba, Argentina, Eugenio Douglas
feels heat and a prickly sensation all over his body. He sees a
brilliant light in front of him. Temporarily blinded, he loses control
of his truck and ends up in the ditch. Shaken but not injured, he gets
out of the vehicle and looks up at the road, which he finds is blocked
by an oval-shaped object at least 30 feet high. A door opens on the side
and three huge “robots in human form” emerge. They wear helmets with
short antennas and are 12–15 feet tall. Douglas takes a few shots at
them with his revolver and runs away. The robots return to the UFO,
which chases him down the road and eventually flies away. The next day,
police find large footprints near the abandoned truck. (Gordon
Creighton, “Argentina,
1963–64,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1965): 16–17;
Clark III 280; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History:
July–December 1963, The
Author, 2005, pp. 64–65; Roberto Banchs, “Monte Maíz, Cordoba: La
Vision Fantasmagorica de E. Douglas (11 Oct 1963),” Visión OVNI,
November 10, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3716
Date: 10/12/1963
Time: 0330
Description: E. Douglas, while driving a truck through,a violent
rainstorm, had to stop when he encountered a large, blinding object, 35
m high, from which three giants, 3 m tall, wearing luminous clothes and
strange helmets, emerged. Douglas fired at them, as a red beam burned
him. He ran away and found shelter in Monte Maiz. He suffered burns
similar to ultraviolet exposure. Footprints of large dimension were
found at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: CODOVNI 1963; Austr; FSR 8; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Monte Maiz, Argentina
ID: 583
Date: 10/21/1963
Description: 9:30 p.m. Yolié del Valle Moreno and her family at Trancas,
Tucumán, Argentina, observe six strange objects for 40 minutes in the
back courtyard of their house. One UFO hovers at ground level above some
railroad tracks, while another with a dome and portholes is near another
house. They can see some 40 humanlike figures (silhouettes) moving
around within two bright lights linked by a prolongation or tube. When
witnesses flash a light at the object, the house is flooded with a
strong beam. The temperature rises inside the house and the inhabitants
smell a strong sulfurous odor. All six objects are about 24 feet in
diameter, have a white and a red beam of light, and leave a cloud of
white smoke that does not disperse for 4 hours. Beneath the space where
one of the objects has been rocking back and forth, the witnesses find
innumerable white balls one-quarter-inch in diameter piled into a cone 3
feet high and within a circle 28–30 feet in diameter. They consist
primarily of calcium carbonate. (Gordon Creighton, “Argentina
1963–64, Part II,” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1966):
23–24; Oscar A. Galindez, “Trancas,
after Seven Years,” Flying Saucer Review 17, no. 3 (May/June 1971):
14–20, 32; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: July–December 1963, The
Author, 2005, pp. 66–74; Carlos Iurchuk, “Los Asombrosos Fenomenos de
Trancas por el Dr. Oscar Galindez,” Visión OVNI, January 1, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3717
Date: 10/21/1963
Time: 2130
Description: Six strange objects were observed for 40 min causing a
local panic. One was hovering at ground level above some railroad
tracks, while another, showing a dome and portholes, was nea a house.
When witneses flashed a light, the house was flooded with a strong beam.
Temperature rose and a sulphurous odor was noted. Figures were seen in
the vicinity of the first disks. All six objects had a white and a red
light beam, measured 8 m in diameter, and left a cloud of white
smoke.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 145; LDLN 66 (Vallee)
Location: Trancas, Argentina
ID: 584
Date: 10/23/1963
Description: 11:00 p.m. Driving south of South River, New Jersey, on
State Route 18, a man glimpses something like a flashlight off to his
left, and three figures, 3–4 feet tall, cross the road in front of him.
They are dressed in “tight- fitting silver-gray one-piece suits” that
“seem to glow once they hit the headlights.” Their heads are found, but
the witness can see no other features. They begin quickly “fluttering”
across the road, faster than the “fastest sprinter.” (Center for UFO
Studies, [case
documents]; Clark III 278)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3718
Date: 10/23/1963
Time: 8:35 PM
Description: Witnesses: several unnamed students, including Gordon. One
object shaped like a circle from below and like a football from the
side, hovered low over the observers, making a deep, pulsating, loud,
extremely irritating sound, for 6 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Meridian, Idaho
ID: 494
Date: 10/24/1963
Time: No time given
Description: Witnesses: A. McLean (12) and G. McLean (8). One light
moved for an unspecified length of time. No further details in files.
Note: Project Blue Book chief Maj. H. Quintanilla told the youngsters,
in a letter, that this was “one of the most complete” of the unexplained
cases for the year.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Cupar Fife, Scotland
ID: 495
Date: 10/31/1963
Description: Eight-year-old Rute de Souza hears a strange roar and
watches a silvery object coming towards her house near Iguape, São
Paulo, Brazil. It soars above her, hits a palm tree, gyrates a bit in
the air, then falls into the Rio Peropava near the opposite shore. She
runs to get her mother and uncle, who also hear the sound. They see the
river boiling up in the spot, followed by an eruption of muddy water and
mud. Fishermen, including Tetsuo Ioshigawa, also view the event. The UFO
is estimated to be 25 feet in diameter. Divers, both equipped and
unequipped, fail to find any wreckage in the river, which is only 12
feet deep. (“Disc
Submerged in Brazilian River,”
APRO Bulletin, January 1964, pp. 1–2; Harry E. Rieseberg, “A
Submerged UFO?” Exploring the Unknown 6, no. 2 (December 1965):
64–67; Brazil 517)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3719
Date: 10/31/1963
Time: 1400
Description: A farmer, Issuo Oikiti, and two other witnesses saw a
luminous object, resembling a huge, aluminum ball, which hit the river,
changed direction while spinning, crossed to the other side and plunged
into the water, which appeared to boil.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Vuillequez (Vallee)
Location: Peropava River, Brazil
ID: 586
Date: 10/31/1963
Time: 0415
Description: Jim Davidson saw an object about 3 m long, bearing orange
and red lights, which came close to his light truck, flew ahead of him,
then departed and appeared to land behind a hill. Two witnesses
independently reported a maneuvering light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Austr. FSR May., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Daylston, Australia
ID: 585
Date: 11/1963
Description: 5:00 p.m. A man and his daughter are driving just north of
Andover, New Jersey, when they see three strange lights in the sky. They
are perfect ovals possibly a quarter mile high. The lights take off at a
great speed in “perfect unison” toward the north. (Center for UFO
Studies, [case
documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3720
Date: 11/1/1963
Description: A member of the CIA-trained 35th Black Cat Squadron,
Republic of China pilot Yeh
Changti is flying an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft to spy on
China’s nuclear program when he is shot down by an SA-2 missile over
Shangrao, Jiangxi, and held in mainland China until 1982. Yeh is
incarcerated for four years and undergoes numerous interrogations.
Although some claim he was tortured, Yeh later says he was treated
humanely. After the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, he is released
and sent to work on a farm, before being transferred to work at Hanyang
Arsenal in Wuhan. (Wikipedia, “Yeh
Changti”; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 216–218)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3721
Date: 11/3/1963
Description: The Hills give
a presentation at the Two State UFO Study Group in Quincy Center,
Massachusetts. One of the attendees tape-records the session. Another
speaker at the session is Capt. Ben
Swett of Pease AFB, himself a practicing hypnotist, who tells them
he thinks hypnotic regression is a good idea. (Clark III 584)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3722
Date: 11/12/1963
Description: The crew of the Argentine Naval auxiliary transport, ARA
Punta Médanos, sees a large UFO off its stern [in the Atlantic
Ocean?]. It is moving at high speed; when it appears, the needles of the
ship’s magnetic compass suddenly and simultaneously swing off course,
pointing towards the UFO, which is about 6,000 feet away. The compasses
return to normal after the object leaves. (“Argentine
Navy Discloses Important E-M Case,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 4
(Aug./Sept. 1965): 6; Schopick, pp. 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3723
Date: 11/15/1963
Description: Peter Valko and Jim Keosian ran toward a strange object
that appeared about to land, but it “vanished.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Binder (Vallee)
Location: Bloomingdale, New Jersey
ID: 587
Date: 11/16/1963
Time: evening
Description: Four teenagers, among them painter John Flaxton, while
walking on a country road, saw a moving star turn into a reddish glow
coming toward them, then disappearing behind some trees. Shortly
thereafter, a bright, golden light was seen 80 m away, floating 3 m
above ground, and a dark figure the size of a man, with wings like a
bat, came toward them. They fled in terror.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 64, 2; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Saltwood, Great Britain
ID: 588
Date: 11/16/1963
Description: Evening. Four teenagers—John Flaxton, Mervyn Hutchinson,
Jenny Holloway, and another youth—are in Sandling Park near Saltwood,
Kent, England, when they see a moving reddish-yellow “star” above the
woods. It comes down at an angle of 60°, then vanishes. Moments later,
they see a bright, golden light in a field about 240 feet away, floating
10 feet above the ground, and seemingly 15–20 feet across. It seems to
move along with the teens for a short while. It disappears behind trees,
then a dark figure shambles out of the woods. It is all black, about the
size of a human but without a head and has bat wings. The teenagers run
away. Other witnesses come forward to report strange lights and giant
footprints in the woods. (Charles A. Strickland, “Sightings
at Saltwood, near
Hythe, Kent,” LUFORO Bulletin 4, no. 5 (Nov./Dec./Jan. 1963–1964):
2–3; “The
Saltwood Mystery: Strange Happenings
in Kent,” Flying Saucer Review 10, no. 2(Mar./Apr. 1964): 11–12; A.
Cecil Harper, “A
Saltwood Sighting,”
BUFORA Journal and Bulletin 1, no. 1 (Summer 1964): 12; Nick Redfern,
“An
Update on a Sinister Winged
Monster,” Mysterious Universe, June 14, 2018; Theo Paijmans, “The
Headless Horrors of Sandling Road,” Fortean Times 374 (Christmas 2018):
30–31; Clark III 779)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3724
Date: 11/17/1963
Description: Jacques
Vallée meets J.
Allen Hynek for the first time at his residence in Evanston,
Illinois. He begins actively assisting Hynek in his UFO work and helping
him analyze Project Blue Book data. (Clark III 1213)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3725
Date: 11/20/1963
Description: 6:00 p.m. Capt. J. Murray and three members of the crew of
the Aberdeen collier Thrift see a flashing red light as they are
traveling south in the North Sea from Aberdeen to Blyth, Northumberland,
England. It passes within a mile of their port side, 15–30 feet above
sea level and suddenly disappears 3 miles astern, presumably into the
water. The collier, which puts about and makes for the object’s
vanishing point, has 2 radar contacts on its screens, but they disappear
as the ship approaches. They search for 3 hours but find no wreckage.
(“Mystery
at Sea,”
Flying Saucer Review 10, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1964): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3726
Date: 11/22/1963
Description: President John F. Kennedy Assassinated at Dealey Plaza in
Dallas, TX.
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 11/22/1963
End date: 1/20/69
Description: President Lyndon B. Johnson in office
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 11/22/1963
Description: President John
F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas, by Lee
Harvey Oswald. (Wikipedia, “Assassination
of John F. Kennedy”; Wikipedia, “John
F. Kennedy assassination conspiracies”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3727
Date: 12/1963
Description: A Japanese man reported the landing of an object, from
which emerged a being who spoke to him in a language he could not
understand, climbed aboard again, and flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN67 (Vallee)
Location: Japan, exact location unknown
ID: 589
Date: 12/10/1963
Description: 11:30 p.m. A large, bright, dome-shaped UFO lands at RAF
Cosford in Shropshire, England, seen by two student cadets returning
late from leave. It bathes the area in intense green light from a height
of 10 feet, then disappears behind a hangar. Scorch marks are later
found where the object had been. (“A
Landing at Cosford? More
Confusion at the Air Ministry,” Flying Saucer Review 10, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1964): 17, iv; “The
Cosford UFO:
The Mystery Deepens,” Flying Saucer Review 10, no. 3 (May/June
1964): 31–32; “The
Lesson of Cosford,”
Flying Saucer Review 10. No. 4 (July/Aug. 1964): 1–2; Loren E. Gross, The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse:
UFOs, a History: July–December 1963, The
Author, 2005, pp. 85–86; Good Above, pp. 56–58;
Nick Redfern, “UFO
Landing or Much Ado about Nothing?” Mysterious Universe, October 20,
2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3729
Date: 12/10/1963
Time: 2330
Description: At the RAF camp, two airmen observed a dome-shaped object
that landed behind a hangar. It gave out a bright glow, and the
witnesses fled when an opening became visible.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 64, 2 (Vallee)
Location: Cosford, Great Britain
ID: 590
Date: 12/11/1963
Time: 7 AM
Description: Witness: W.W. Dolan, professor of mathematics and
astronomy, and dean of the faculty of Linfield College. One bright,
star-like light hovered, slowed, dimmed and flashed in 1 minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: McMinnville, Oregon
ID: 496
Date: 12/14/1963
Description: The Hills have
an initial meeting with Benjamin Simon, a well-known hypnotist in
Boston, Massachusetts, recommended to them by Dr. Stephens. It is clear
to Simon that the Hills believe they have seen a UFO, but which may have
been an experimental aircraft. This has set in motion an
anxiety-provoking psychological experience whose sources it might be
possible to uncover through hypnosis. (Clark III 584)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3730
Date: 12/14/1963
Time: 0100
Description: Messrs. Muller and Immelman suddenly found the countryside
illuminated and saw an object, 15 m in diameter, with intense orange and
blue lights, emitting sparks, flying toward their car. They stopped and
jumped out as it dived five or six times, at one point hovering for two
min 15 m above them, making a humming sound, before flying away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 146; FSR 64, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Vereeniging, South Africa
ID: 591
Date: 12/16/1963
Time: 5:05 PM
Description: Witness: unspecified persons aboard a military aircraft.
One white light blinked 2-3 times per second as it moved very fast
across the sky for 15 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 800 miles north of Midway Island (40’ N, 175’ 54’ W)
ID: 497
Date: winter 1963
Description: A series of at least three incidents at Walker AFB [now
closed] at Roswell, New Mexico, involve unidentified aerial craft
maneuvering silently above an Atlas missile silo designated Site 9,
northeast of Sunset, New Mexico. Three former missile personnel at the
base—Jerry C. Nelson, Bob Caplan, and Gene Lamb—relay their experiences
to Florida Today reporter Billy Cox in June 2001. (Nukes 147–152)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3728
Date: 12/25/1963
Time: night
Description: A fisherman witnessed the landing of a craft, from which a
terrifying creature emerged. It was humanoid in shape, spoke sounds he
could not understand, left footprints on the sand, and went back to the
machine and flew off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 147;LDLN 70 (Vallee)
Location: Libreville, Gabon
ID: 592
Date: 12/27/1963
Description: At Bank’s Stables in Epping, Essex, England, trainee riding
instructor Pauline Abbott sees a shiny white UFO on the ground. It is
about 8 feet long, 3 feet high at the center, and has what looks like a
window on one side that is brighter than the rest of the object. It
takes off, flies horizontally for 100 feet, and disappears. Grass is
found flattened over a circular area. Marks “like three large
fingerprints pushed together into mud” are found, forming a square with
8-foot sides within an 11-foot circular depression that contains a
3-foot central circle. (G. G. Doel, “The
Epping Sightings,” BUFORA Journal and Bulletin 1, no. 1 (Summer
1964): 5–6; J. Cleary-Baker, “Evaluation
by BUFORA Evaluating Officer,” BUFORA Journal and Bulletin 1, no. 1
(Summer 1964): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3731
Date: 12/27/1963
Time: 1600
Description: A shiny white object was seen on the ground at Bank’s
Stables. It was about 3.5 m long, 1 m high, and had something like a
windshield more brilliant than the rest of the craft. It took off, flew
horizontally for 30 m, and was hidden from view. Grass was flattened
over a circular area, and four traces were found.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BUFORA 1 (Vallee)
Location: Epping, Great Britain
ID: 593
Date: 1964
Description: British writer W.
Raymond Drake writes Gods or Spacemen?, the first of a series of
books espousing his view that the world’s folklore, mythology, and
religion are replete with references to space beings who came to Earth
in several waves: the Uranids hundreds of thousands of years ago; the
Saturnians centuries later; and the Jupiterians who landed near Crete.
(W. Raymond Drake, Gods or Spacemen? Amherst, 1964; Wikipedia, “W.
Raymond Drake”;
Clark III 108; Jerome Clark, “Vimanas Have Landed: Ancient Astronautics
in Ufology,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 27–28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3734
Date: 1964
Description: MKSEARCH is the name given to the continuation of the
MKUltra program. The MKSEARCH program is divided into two projects
dubbed MKOFTEN / CHICKWIT. Funding for MKSEARCH commences in 1965 and
ends in 1971. The project is a joint project between the US Army
Chemical Corps and the CIA Office of Research and Development to find
new offensive-use agents with a focus on incapacitating agents. The
purpose of the project is to develop, test, and evaluate capabilities in
the covert use of biological, chemical, and radioactive material systems
and techniques for producing predictable human behavioral and/or
physiological changes in support of highly sensitive operational
requirements. (Wikipedia, “Project
MKUltra”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3732
Date: 1964
Description: Ray
Stanford founds Project Starlight International to document the
existence of UFOs. He establishes a Laboratory for Instrumented Research
on a 400-acre site northwest of Austin, Texas, that includes two
buildings. Equipment eventually includes radar, a laser system,
magnetometers, a gravimeter, microcomputer, microphones, video
equipment, and still cameras. In the event of UFO activity, the
Operation ARGUS (Automated Ring-up on Geolocated UFO Sightings) computer
kicks in and automatically telephones all volunteers within the computed
visibility radius of the UFO. Volunteers attempt to locate and
photograph the UFO visually. On June 8, 1977, the FCC licenses its
Raytheon Model 1700 radar system with the call sign K12XBJ. (Margaret
Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, pp. 259–260;
Ray Stanford, “A Technological Approach to UFOs: A Status Report on
Project Starlight International, June 30, 1977,” IUR 2, no. 8 (August
1977): 5–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3733
Date: 1/1964
Description: Lionel Beer begins publishing Spacelink, a newsletter of
the Isle of Wight UFO Investigation Society. It folds in April 1971. (Spacelink 1,
no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1964))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3735
Date: 1/1/1964
Description: Many witnesses in Shanghai, China, see a huge cigar-shaped
UFO flying toward the southwest. MiG fighters are scrambled in pursuit
but fail to intercept it. The official explanation is that it is a US
missile. (Wendelle Stevens and Paul Dong, UFOs over Modern China, UFO
Photo Archives, 1983, p. 45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3736
Date: 1/4/1964
Description: Barney
Hill has his first hypnosis session with Benjamin Simon. The
sessions will continue until June 6. The Hills undergo sessions
separately, and for the most part are instructed not to remember their
experiences afterwards. Barney’s sessions are particularly intense.
However, by the end of the sessions, although they disagree with Simon
on the nature of the experience, both the Hills and Simon agree that the
therapy is successful. The stress and anxiety are gone. Simon submits a
statement to the Hills’ insurance company, which initially declines to
pay, until Simon explains that he was treating them for what will later
be called PTSD. (Clark III 584–585)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3737
Date: 1/23/1964
Description: The landing craft Loellen M. is in the Gulf of Carpentaria
between Cape Grey and Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory, Australia,
when a crew member notices the compass is malfunctioning (“haywire”) and
the vessel is off course, He notices an odd phosphorescence in the water
on the starboard side about 6 feet away from the ship. It is a ghostly,
pulsating white light that is rotating in a clockwise direction. It
seems to be “miles across.” As the light wheel moves to the ship’s port
side, another rotating light approaches the ship’s starboard side. This
undoubtedly involves some unusual bioluminescence, but it is significant
that it is the first “unknown” in the RAAF’s UFO files. (Swords
390)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3738
Date: 1/25/1964
Description: The London UFO Research Organisation merges with the
British UFO Association (a consolidation of several UFO groups in the
UK) to form the British UFO Research Association. It begins publishing a
new magazine, BUFORA Journal, in the summer. (“Editorial:
The Problems Facing Us,” BUFORA Journal and Bulletin 1, no. 1
(Summer 1964): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3739
Date: 2/3/1964
Description: 2:00 a.m. Doris Player wakes up to see her bedroom
illuminated near Gum Creek, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Suddenly a
5-foot 3-inch being wearing blue-green coveralls, a brown balaclava, and
an open brown jacket appears. He wears elbow-length, black gloves with a
cord going from his helmet to his left shoulder. He has a red face and a
big nose and holds a black box that buzzes and clicks as he points it.
The witness goes back to sleep. (Mark Cashman, “Behavioral
Classification System for UFO Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999):
19– 20; Thomas Brisson, “UBO’s
(Unidentified Box-like Objects), Part 2,” Vomanomalous, July 15,
2014; “Documentary
on UFO’s, Adelaide, Australia, Part 1,” MaS7eRjEd3ye YouTube
channel, February 5, 2009, at 6:05)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3740
Date: 2/10/1964
Description: “The Bellero Shield” episode of Outer Limits airs on
ABC-TV. It features an alien with wraparound eyes. UFO skeptic Martin S.
Kottmeyer alleges that this episode influenced Barney
Hill’s hypnotic recounting of events, although Betty Hill says they
had never watched it. (Clark III 589; Internet Movie Database, “The
Bellero Shield”;
Martin Kottmeyer, “Entirely
Unpredisposed: The Cultural Background of UFO Reports,” Magonia 35
(January 1990))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3741
Date: 2/29/1964
Description: President Lyndon
B. Johnson holds a press conference to announce that the US has
repeatedly broken the Soviet’s world record for air speed by a secret
aircraft called the A-11—a fictitious name for the Air Force’s YF- 12, a
twin-seat version of the Lockheed A-12 built as an interceptor. He says
the A-11 can fly more than 2,000 mph at an altitude of 70,000 feet. The
YF-12A is announced in part to continue hiding the A-12, its
still-secret ancestor; any sightings of CIA/Air Force A-12s based at
Area 51 in Nevada can be attributed to the well- publicized Air Force
YF-12As based at Edwards Air Force Base in California. (Jacobsen, Area
51, pp. 232–233)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3742
Date: 3/1964
Description: Allen
H. Greenfield, Rick
Hilberg, and
Dale Rettig begin publishing the American UFO Committee Review in
preparation for their first Congress of Scientific Ufologists meeting in
Cleveland, Ohio. Greenfield publishes the journal in Atlanta, Georgia,
for seven issues, until fall 1966. (American
UFO Committee Review 1, no. 1 (March 1964))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3743
Date: 3/7/1964
Description: Betty
Hill has her first hypnosis session with Benjamin Simon. Betty’s
account closely matches her dreams from 2 years earlier, and her account
is consistent with Barney’s. Many abduction elements come to light:
telepathic commands, semen extraction, a rectal probe, skin scrapings, a
pregnancy test with a needle, the Star Map. The aliens are 5 feet tall
with gray skin, oddly shaped heads, and broad foreheads. Simon discounts
the possibility of an alien abduction and prefers to think that Betty’s
dream influenced Barney’s memories. The Hills do not agree. (Wikipedia,
“Barney
and Betty Hill”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3744
Date: 4/1/1964
Description: The UK Air Ministry, Admiralty, and War Office are
consolidated into a new Ministry of Defence. The Air Ministry becomes
the Air Force Department, within which is a secretariat called S4 (Air)
that deals with, among other things, UFO reports from the public.
Another office, Defense Secretariat 8, is created under the authority of
the Secretary of State and also has authority over UFO reporting.
(Wikipedia, “Ministry
of Defence (United Kingdom)”;
Good Above, pp. 58–59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3745
Date: 4/3/1964
Time: 2100
Description: Four people in a car observed a rigid configuration of
intense red and white lights, apparently attached to a large object that
came to ground level, hovered, and flew off very fast as they were
driving about 2 km west of Monticello.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic; Challenge 31 (Vallee)
Location: Monticello, Wisconsin
ID: 594
Date: 4/3/1964
Description: 9:00 p.m. R. Wold, a graduate student in anthropology, and
two others see four huge red lights in a rectangular formation, with a
white light above, near the ground about one mile west of Monticello,
Wisconsin. It tilts and flies away. (Sparks, p. 296)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3746
Date: 4/3/1964
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. R. Wold (he was a graduate student
in anthropology). Four huge red lights in a rectangular formation, with
a white light above, were near the ground, tilted and flew away after
3-4 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Monticello, Wisconsin
ID: 498
Date: 4/11/1964
Description: 6:30 p.m. Physiotherapist William B. Ochsner and his wife
and two children are having a picnic on a hill about 10 miles northwest
of Homer, New York. They see an unusually wide vapor trail in the sky
stretching from northeast to southwest. At the far end of the white
trail is a smoky, spiral portion about one mile long. The vapor trail
drifts off. After 10 minutes, Ochsner notices that the spiral portion is
still visible, having moved a bit to the west. With binoculars, he sees
wisps of smoke streaming out of it. It changes from a horizontal to a
vertical position with greater smoke activity. It stops and hangs there
for 2–3 minutes before sinking into the clouds. After another 3 minutes,
they see a horizontal pencil-shaped object moving from left to right on
the horizon. A flash of white light erupts from its end and shoots
forward a short distance then stops. It becomes thick in the middle, a
cloud of smoke emanates from it, and it shoots backward rapidly. Again
it hovers and changes to a saucer shape. It then divides into two parts,
one above the other. The top object slowly recedes into the distance,
while the bottom objects heads downward at a 45° angle, divides in two
again, with the top part fading away and the bottom part assuming a
vertical pencil shape, which fades away. The whole display takes 45
minutes. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 60–61;
Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects and Cloud Cigars,” IUR 29, no. 1
(Spring 2004): 7–9; Sparks, p. 297)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3747
Date: 4/11/1964
Time: 6:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: physiotherapist W.B. Ochsner and wife. Two
cloud-like objects darkened; one shot away and returned during the 30-45
minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Homer, New York
ID: 499
Date: 4/15/1964
Alternate date: 4/24/1964
Description: USAF Intelligence officer meets with 2 Aliens at
prearranged location in the desert of New Mexico near Holloman AFB.
Project SIGMA operates at AFB, New Mexico.
Type: alien meeting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A)
Location: Holloman AFB
Date: 4/20/1964
Description: Early morning, During Operation Deep Freeze VII, six
members of a US Coast Guard aircraft sight a V-formation of 9
glowing-white objects speeding at an estimated 35,000 feet altitude.
They are flying a in a C-130 turbo-prop transport from McMurdo Station,
Antarctica, with supplies. The right-side observer first sees the
objects approaching at about 460 mph from above and to their right side.
When they come abreast of the airplane, they slow to its speed. After a
short time, they fly above the airplane and take up position above and
to its left side. The pilot attempts to radio the ground but the radio
is dead, and their radar also stops working. When the pilot tries to
switch to auxiliary power, it too is not functioning. At one point the
airplane’s engines stop (the oil begins to congeal in the cold air).
Instead of losing altitude, it maintains “a steady altitude and course.”
The airplane allegedly continues flying in complete silence, then it
enters a “strange haze” (like a white-out) with the air filled with
static electricity. There is electrical arcing from one observer’s body
to metal inside the fuselage. The haze vanishes after about 20 minutes.
The power suddenly returns, and the crew can restart the engines in
sequence. The airplane has covered a distance of 305 miles during the
45–50 minutes at indicated airspeed of 184–218 knots. (NICAP, “C-130
Crew Encounters UFO / EME to Radio and Radar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3748
Date: 4/22/1964
Time: 2100
Description: Marie Morrow and two other persons were driving west, about
2O km east of Lordsbury when the entire area was illuminated by a bluish
light “as bright as day,” and a round object flew about 3 m above the
car, making a whining sound, then went north.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO May., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Lordsbury, New Mexico
ID: 595
Date: 4/22/1964
Description: 9:00 p.m. Marie Morrow, Ruth Ovelette, and Morrow’s son are
driving west about 10–15 miles east of Lordsburg, New Mexico, when a
brilliantly luminous object sweeps about 10 feet above their car from
behind, illuminating the interior and emitting a whirring, whining
sound. The UFO then rises but maintains its course along the highway
before veering toward the north and vanishes. (“Huge
Light Buzzed Car in New Mexico,” APRO Bulletin, May 1964, p. 10;
Clark III 1091–1092)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3749
Date: 4/24/1964
Time: 1745
Description: Policeman Lonnie Zamora observed the landing of a white
craft, resting on four legs, in a depression 4 km outside Socorro. Near
it were standing two figures, below average height, dressed in white.
Within 30 m of the object, he saw a red insignia on its aluminumlike
surface. It rose to 4 m with a strong roar, became silent, hovered and
flew away. Traces.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic; Challenge 34; Humanoids 47; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Socorro, New Mexico
ID: 597
Date: 4/24/1964
Time: 1000
Description: Dairy farmer Gary T. Wilcox saw a shiny, egg-shaped object,
about 8 m long and 6 m wide, in his field. He spoke in English to two
dwarfs, 1.2 m tall, wearing seamless clothing and hoods, and carrying
trays.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 59; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Tioga City, New York
ID: 596
Date: 4/24/1964
Time: 5:45 PM
Description: Witness: Socorro policeman Lonnie Zamora. Watched object
with flame underneath descend toward the desert. Two small humanoids
observed near vertical oval on ground. Later watched object take off
with a roar, go silent and fly away. Burning and charred brush found at
landing sight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Socorro, New Mexico
ID: 500
Date: 4/24/1964
Description: Whitish elliptical object with legs seen on ground by
police officer, left imprints and scorched foliage when it took
off
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Socorro, NM
ID: 9
Date: 4/24/1964
Description: Farmer found shiny elliptical object in field, confronted
by two small humanoids who spoke with him
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Newark Valley, NY
ID: 10
Date: 4/24/1964
Description: Around 5:50 p.m. Socorro, New Mexico, police officer Lonnie
Zamora, while
chasing a speeder, hears a continuous roaring sound and sees a brilliant
blue “cone of flame” in the sky to the south-southwest. The bottom of
the flame is out of sight behind a hill. Thinking there has been an
explosion, he tries to pursue it, turning off to the right on a rough
gravel road, but loses sight of it while trying to get the car up a
steep hill. By the time he reaches the top, the sound stops and the
flame is no longer visible. He then notices a metallic object in a
ravine about 450 feet away. At first, he thinks it is an overturned car,
but then he sees “two figures in what resembled white coveralls, pretty
close to the object on the northwest side, as if inspecting it.” One
seems to turn in a startled way as if he hears Zamora’s car approaching.
The figures are small, and the object is oval-shaped and positioned so
its long axis is horizontal. Zamora loses sight of object as he drives
through a dip in the road. He radios headquarters that he is
investigating a possible car accident. He stops a second time and gets
out, hearing 2–3 loud thumping noises like a door shutting hard. He
walks three steps to the front of the car to possibly 50 feet away from
the object when he hears a very load roar increasing in volume and sees
a smokeless blue-orange flame coming from beneath. He notes a red
insignia or lettering on the side of the object. Zamora thinks it is
going to explode and runs away, putting the car between him and the
object and dropping to the ground. He feels some slight heat from the
flame. The roaring noise stops, and Zamora looks up to see the UFO
flying away to the southwest at a level height, just clearing an 8-foot
dynamite shack. He runs back to the patrol car and radios headquarters,
just as the object climbs slowly and goes past Box Canyon or Six Mile
Canyon Mountain (about 6 miles away). The entire incident takes place in
less than 2 minutes. Police Sgt. M. S. Chavez arrives, and they find
burning brush (including a badly damaged creosote bush) where the UFO
has been, as well as four asymmetrically placed, trapezoidal imprints
12–16 inches long, 6–8 inches wide, and 4–6 inches deep. An FBI agent,
D.
Arthur Byrnes Jr., who
has heard about it on the police radio, speaks with Zamora in the
evening. He notifies army intelligence at White Sands Missile Range, who
sends Capt. Richard T. Holder. Military police arrive and collect
samples, working by flashlight. The next morning, Holder gets a call
from a colonel at the war room of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asking for
a report. T/Sgt. David Moody from ATIC and Maj. William Conner from
Kirtland AFB check the area for radioactivity on April 26. Hynek arrives
on April 28 and interviews Zamora and Chavez. Richard
H. Hall and Ray
Stanford arrive for NICAP and obtain some metal traces on a rock in
the landing area; they take the sample to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight
Center, where metallurgist Henry
E. Frankel agrees to analyze the material. His tentative analysis
suggests a zinc-iron alloy, perhaps from a zinc pail. In 1966, Blue Book
chief Maj. Hector
Quintanilla writes in a classified article in Studies in
Intelligence that “This is the best-documented case on record, and still
we have been unable, in spite of a thorough investigation, to find the
vehicle or other stimulus that scared Zamora to the point of panic.”
Some investigators think the case might involve a test of a Lunar
Surveyor module from White Sands. (Wikipedia, “Lonnie
Zamora incident”; NICAP, “Lonnie
Zamora / Socorro Landing Case”; Sparks,
p. 297; “UAO
Landing in New Mexico,” APRO Bulletin, May 1964, pp. 1, 3–10; “Physical
Evidence: Landing Reports,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 11
(July/Aug. 1964): 4–5; Coral Lorenzen, “UFO Lands in New Mexico,” Fate
17, no. 8 (August 1964): 27–38; Hector Quintanilla Jr., “The Investigation
of UFOs,” Studies in Intelligence 10, no. 4 (February 1966): 95–110;
Clark III 1083–1093; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed.,
1974, pp. 165–166;
Hynek UFO Report, pp. 223–229;
Good Above, pp. 343–345, 371–373;
Story, pp. 341–344;
Lorenzen, Encounters with UFO Occupants, Berkley Medallion, 1976,
pp. 8–11; Ray Stanford, Socorro ‘Saucer’ in a Pentagon Pantry,
Blueapple, 1976; “The Socorro, New Mexico, Landing: Additional
Witnesses?” IUR 3, no. 9 (September 1978): 15; ClearIntent, pp. 139–141;
Kenneth Eugene Firestone and Ronald L. Firestone, “Socorro,
New Mexico: Revisited,” Ground Saucer Watch, 1981; Kim Hansen, “UFO
Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 62–66; Don Berliner,
with Marie Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The
Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 78–80;
David E. Thomas, “A
Different Angle on the Socorro UFO of 1964,” New Mexicans for
Science and Reason, 2001; Paul Harden, “The
1964 Socorro UFO Incident,” El Defensor Chieftain, August 2, 2008;
Kevin D. Randle, “Socorro
UFO Landing Analysis,” A Different Perspective, November 22, 2009;
Kevin D. Randle, “The
Socorro Symbol:
Resolved?” A Different Perspective, October 15, 2016; Kevin D.
Randle, “No
Socorro Solution by Chief of
Project Blue Book,” A Different Perspective, November 7, 2017; Kevin
D. Randle, “Zamora
vs. People,” A Different Perspective, November 9, 2017; Kevin D.
Randle, Encounter in the Desert: The Case for Alien Contact at Socorro,
New Page, 2017; Justice Fodor, “Ray
Stanford and His NASA-Goddard UFO-Metal Cover-Up Claim,”
Alien Expanse, February 14, 2019; Center for UFO Studies, [correspondence];
Center for UFO Studies, [case files: Files
1 and 4R, Files
2, Files
3, MiscR, Zamora];
Center for UFO Studies, [Clippings1, Clippings2])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3751
Date: 4/24/1964
Description: 10:00 a.m. Dairy farmer Gary Wilcox of Newark Valley, New
York, is driving a tractor on his property when he sees a shiny object
on the inside edge of a nearby patch of woods. He gets off the tractor
and approaches the object, which is egg-shaped, 20 feet long, 16 feet
wide, and four feet high. It is hovering two feet above the ground and
making a sound like a car idling. He touches it and feels a hard metal.
Two figures suddenly appear from under the object. They are 4 feet tall
and 2 feet wide, dressed in seamless silvery garments. Each carries a
tray filled with alfalfa, roots, soil, leaves, and brush. Wilcox hears a
voice say, “Do not be alarmed. We have talked to people before.” They
ask him what he is doing, and Wilcox says he is spreading manure. One
humanoid asks if he can have some and converses some more about space
exploration. They claim they are from Mars. After a while, the UFO takes
off in a horizontal direction. Wilcox notices some small depressions
where the figures were standing, as well as a thin, red, jellylike
substance. (Olga M. Hotchkiss, “New York UFO and Its ‘Little People,’”
Fate 17, no. 9 (September 1964): 38–42; Berthold E. Schwarz, “Gary
Wilcox and the Ufonauts,” in Charles Bowen, ed., UFO Percipients,
special issue no. 3 of FSR, September 1969, pp. 20–27; Clark III
795–799; Marcus Lowth, “The
Gary Wilcox Occupant Encounter: The Fertilizer Case,” UFO Insight,
December 27, 2018; Story, pp. 246–249)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3750
Date: 4/25/1964
Description: Evening. Two motorists driving on US Hwy 84 between Abiquiu
and Espanola, New Mexico, see a strange object that is definitely not an
airplane fly straight toward their car before shooting away. All they
can see is a blue-flamed exhaust. (Clark III 1092)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3753
Date: 4/25/1964
Description: Morning. J. D. Hatch is driving on US Hwy 70 between
Mescalero and Tularosa, New Mexico, when a bright oval object descends
and seemingly lands on the other side of Round Mountain east of
Tularosa. (Clark III 1092)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3752
Date: 4/25/1964 (approximate)
Description: Night. Two Spanish-speaking people 9 miles away from
Golden, New Mexico, watch a light come down from the sky and leave three
“smelted” circles some 2 feet in diameter and separated from each other
by 20 feet. They mention this story to James Scartacinni, 15, and his
grandfather visit the site the next day and find the circles, which they
estimate must have been subjected to a temperature of 2,300° F. They
return to town and call the state police, who notify the military.
Almost immediately, men in uniform cordon off the area, dig up the
burned areas to a depth of one foot, and carry the material away.
(“Hunting Old and New UFOs in New Mexico,” IUR 7, no. 2 (March
1982):12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3754
Date: 4/26/1964
Time: 1230
Description: Orlando Gallegos observed a bright, metallic, egg-shaped
object about 70 m away, on the ground, north of La Madera. Blue flames
appeared to circle the base of the machine, which was silent and about
the length of a Phone pole. Scorch marks and four imprints were found,
according to Police Capt. Martin Vigil.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: La Madera, New Mexico
ID: 598
Date: 4/26/1964
Description: Around 1:00 a.m. Orlando
Gallegos steps outside his father’s ranch at La Madera, New Mexico,
to chase away some horses in the yard. He sees a peculiar structure in
the Rio Vallecitos creek bed some 900 feet away. It looks like a butane
tank “as long as a telephone pole” about 14 feet in diameter, metallic,
and shooting blue flames out of holes in the sides. As he watches over
the next minute, the flames subside. It is still there when he goes
inside, where no one else believes him. It is gone the next morning, but
state police (including Capt. Martin E.
Vigil, David
Kingsbury, and
Albert Vega) investigate and find the ground still smoldering and
scorched with four depressions, one of them 8 by 12 inches in size. The
charred area is in the shape of two overlapping circles and about 20
feet across. Hynek is
refused authorization to go visit the site. (“Mystery
Object Report Is Told,” Albuquerque Tribune, August 27, 1966, p. 1;
Lorenzen, FSHoax, pp. 222–223;
Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 54–55; “Hunting Old and New UFOs in New Mexico,” IUR 7, no. 2
(March 1982):12–13; Clark III 1092; Sparks, p. 298)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3755
Date: 4/28/1964
Time: morning
Description: Numerous witnesses, among them policeman Paul Arteche, saw
a reddish, round object hover at low level, then take off very rapidly
toward the west.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Jul., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Anthony, New Mexico
ID: 599
Date: 4/28/1964
Description: Early evening. A round, whitish object hovers then darts
away over Anthony, New Mexico. State policeman Raúl
Arteche sees it moving west over the Port of Entry near El Paso,
Texas. He says it looks like the object Lonnie
Zamora saw. (“Other
Recent Sightings,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 11 (July/Aug. 1964):
7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3756
Date: 4/28/1964
Description: Early morning. Don Adams is driving in Edgewood, New
Mexico, when his car stalls. He sees a glowing, greenish object 100 feet
overhead and fires six rounds from a .32 pistol at it with no effect. He
can hear the bullets bouncing off. It silently moves away to the north.
(“Other
Recent Sightings,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 11 (July/Aug. 1964): 7;
“Green
Object at Edgewood,” APRO Bulletin, September 1964, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3757
Date: 4/30/1964
Description: 10:30 p.m. Several children living in Canyon Ferry,
Montana, see a lighted, egg-shaped object the size of an automobile land
about 150 feet away, then take off. The witnesses are Linda Davis, 11,
and children of the Harold Rust family. It leaves four 8 x 10 inch
rectangular indentations in the ground, 4–8 inches deep, about 13 feet
apart, and a burned area. (“Kids
Called Hoaxers by U.S.A.F,” APRO Bulletin, July 1964, pp. 1, 5;
Lorenzen, FSHoax, pp. 223–224;
Sparks, p. 298)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3759
Date: 4/30/1964
Time: 2230
Description: Several anonymous adults observed an elongated, glowing
object. Two children saw a lighted craft land and take off, leaving four
rectangular indentations.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Jul., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Canyon Ferry, Montana
ID: 601
Date: 4/30/1964
Description: Gloria Biggs, her husband, and her mother observed a brown,
dome-shaped object on a hilltop about 17 km west of Baker on U.S.
Highway 91. They lost sight of it a moment, could not see it again, and
found only a depression in the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 64, 5; Anatomy 75 (Vallee)
Location: Baker, California
ID: 600
Date: 4/30/1964
Description: Glowing oval object landed, indentations and scorch marks
found at site
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Canyon Ferry, MT
ID: 11
Date: 4/30/1964
Description: A B-57 pilot at Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, New Mexico,
radios to the control tower that he is watching an egg-shaped, white UFO
with markings that match the Socorro object. He continues to watch it as
it lands at the base. Coral
and Jim Lorenzen insist they heard the story from a reliable source.
In addition, a ham radio operator claims to have heard the exchange
between the pilot and control tower. Holloman AFB denies the incident
occurred. Shortly afterward, an airman walks into a clothing store in
Alamogordo and spins an incredible story of a UFO parked in a hangar
under heavy guard at Holloman. A couple days later, he returns to the
store and denies everything. (Coral Lorenzen, “UAO
Landing at Air Force Base,” APRO Bulletin, July 1964, pp. 1, 3–4;
Coral Lorenzen, “UFO
Lands at Air Force Base,” Fate 17, no. 10 (October 1964): 45–52;
Clark III 332)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3758
Date: 5/1964
Description: NICAP publishes its special 184-page report, The UFO
Evidence, but due to a printing delay, copies are not actually available
until late June. Copies are sent to the media and to every member of
Congress on July 1. Edited by Richard
H. Hall, it
consists of a summary of hundreds of unexplained reports studied by
NICAP investigators through 1963. Sightings are systematically broken
down by witness category and special types of evidence. Individual
chapters are devoted to sightings by military personnel, pilots and
aviation experts, and scientists and engineers. Another chapter is
devoted to evidence of intelligent control and another to physical
evidence or interactions, such as electromagnetic effects, radar
tracking, photographs, sound, physiological effects. Another section
examines observed patterns, such as descriptions of shape, color,
maneuvers, flight behavior, and concentrations of sightings. House
Majority Leader John
W. McCormack (D-Mass.) requests two copies, one for his Capitol Hill
office and another for his state home office. (Richard H. Hall, ed., The
UFO Evidence, NICAP, 1964; Wikipedia, “National
Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena”; Richard Hall, “NICAP
and Lessons from the Past,” IUR 17, no. 3 (May/June 1992): 17, 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3760
Date: 5/5/1964
Time: 0830
Description: A farmer, Alfred Ernst, saw an object rise from a field and
fly rapidly into the cloud bank. It was described as oval, and it left a
depression and imprints in the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Jun., 65 (Vallee)
Location: Comstock, Minnesota
ID: 602
Date: 5/5/1964
Description: 8:30 a.m. Alfred Ernst, a farmer near Comstock, Minnesota,
sees a luminous UFO like a child’s top from about 1,500 feet away. It
rises straight up and disappears into the overcast sky after a few
seconds. Ernst and his brother find a crater-like depression, about 3
feet in diameter and 6 inches deep at the center, at the spot where the
object was sitting. A series of smaller holes form an X around the
larger depression. The earth seems burned on the perimeter of the hole
and a whitish substance is found. (“Physical
Evidence: Landing Reports,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 11
(July/Aug. 1964): 5; Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP, 1969, pp. 56–58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3761
Date: 5/5/1964
Description: Object landed in field, physical traces
Type: landing
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Comstock, MN
ID: 12
Date: 5/9/1964
Time: 1100
Description: Three children, John Owens, Cheryl Glunt, and Bernie
Montello, saw a silvery, dome-shaped object arrive from the south and
land in a field 150 m away. Estimated diameter: 3 m.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Jun., 65 (Vallee)
Location: Mogadore, Ohio
ID: 603
Date: 5/9/1964
Time: 10:20 PM
Description: Witness: J.R. Betz, U.S. District Court reporter. Three
light green crescent-shaped objects, about half the apparent size of the
Moon, flew very fast in tight formation from east to west, oscillating
in size and color for 3 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Chicago, Illinois
ID: 501
Date: 5/10/1964
Description: Domed disc rose from woods, electromagnetic (E-M) effects
on van, 10-meter (30-foot) burnt circle found next day
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: La Rioja, Argentina
ID: 13
Date: 5/13/1964
Description: 10:15 p.m. Mrs. M.
Walter McKarley and her children see a large round object that
appears in their headlights after they pull into a driveway at Rio
Vista, California. It seems to be resting on the ground about a quarter
of a mile away. Higher in the sky is a small star-like object (probably
Venus). As they drive away, the large object seems to pace their car for
a short time. It then moves swiftly to the left and disappears behind a
water tank. (“Physical
Evidence: Landing Reports,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 11
(July/Aug. 1964): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3762
Date: 5/13/1964
Description: A woman saw two objects, one of which landed in a field. It
was round and luminous.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Jul., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Rio Vista, California
ID: 604
Date: 5/15/1964
Description: Between 11:30 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. Two targets are
simultaneously tracked on surveillance and FPS-16 radars at Stallion
Site, the most northerly range of the Army-controlled Holloman–White
Sands complex a few miles east of San Antonio, New Mexico. The targets
are north of the radar site, performing “perfect, precise flight
maneuvers” in tandem, involving separations and rejoins and “up-and-down
‘pogo’ maneuvers.” One radar operator obtains a visual sighting of two
brown-colored, football-shaped objects that are flying at very low
altitude and are lost from view behind buildings at the site. The two
targets are displayed as skin paints. However, IFF transponder codes are
also received on two different frequencies alternately. (NICAP, “UFO
Auto-Tracked, Sends
Phony IFF”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3763
Date: 5/17/1964
Time: 2100
Description: A fiery object, maneuvering at low altitude, was seen from
Wooster and Smithville at 2110. then from Lawrence and Burbank between
2125 and 2130. It flew erratically with a whirring sound and changes of
color, apparently interfering with police radio. lt went down toward the
northwest, seemingly ready to land. Abnormal radioactivity allegedly was
found at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Akron UFO Res. Soc. (Vallee)
Location: Massillon, Ohio
ID: 605
Date: 5/18/1964
Description: A bright, silvery object, 3 m long, 1.5 m high, with a
cone-shaped front part, resting on four legs, was seen in a wheat field
by 10-year-old Mike Bizon. It made a beeping noise, rose first to the
altitude of the Phone poles, then took off vertically. Wheat was found
flattened in all directions.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Jul., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Hubbard, Oregon
ID: 606
Date: 5/18/1964
Time: 5:15 PM
Description: Witness: civil engineer F. Meyers. One small, glowing white
oval split twice after moving from the right of the Moon around to the
left. Sighting lasted 17 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Mt. Vernon, Virginia
ID: 502
Date: 5/19/1964
Description: 7:00 a.m. Mike Bizon, 10, sees a square or spindle-shaped,
bright-silver UFO on the ground in Hubbard, Oregon, while he is leading
a cow out to pasture. The cow, normally eager to be let out, acts very
reluctant and nervous. The object is resting on four legs in an adjacent
wheat field. It rises slowly off the ground to the height of a telephone
pole, then zooms straight up emitting a soft beeping sound. Bizon smells
an odor like gas fumes. Three imprints in the shape of an equilateral
triangle are found in an area of flattened wheat about 4 feet wide.
(Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 53–54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3764
Date: 5/19/1964
Description: Rectangular object with legs left flattened wheat and three
indentations on the edge of a circle
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Hubbard, OR
ID: 14
Date: 5/21/1964
Description: 4:30 a.m. At Altus AFB, Oklahoma, Missile Site 7, southeast
of Ranchland, Texas, a large bright light is seen directly over the
facility below 10,000 feet. The light is bright enough to light up the
silo cap. Its apparent size is as large as a basketball held at arm’s
length. The object is first noticed hovering over the south fence of
Site 7 for 8–10 minutes. (NICAP, “Light
Hovers over Missile Silo”; Nukes 159–160)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3765
Date: 5/24/1964
Time: 2100
Description: A man driving on Millinocket Lake Road saw a fiery,
spherical object to the side. He stopped and left his car with a friend
to observe it better. When they became afraid and walked back to the
car, the sphere followed them; the engine could not be started as long
as the sphere remained within 2 or 3 m of the car. It flew away after
five min. It was described as a ball of fire without structure, about 75
cm in diameter.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Millinocket, Maine
ID: 607
Date: 5/24/1964
Description: James
P. Templeton, using
a Pentacon camera with Kodacolor X stock, takes a photo of his
5-year-old daughter Elizabeth when his family is picnicking on the
marshes at Burgh by Sands, Cumbria, England. When the film is developed,
a man, encased in a white spacesuit and helmet, is clearly visible
behind Elizabeth’s head. Templeton and his family claim they had seen no
one when the photo was taken. He tells the Carlisle police, who are
puzzled. Kodak is intrigued enough to conduct an inquiry. They rule out
a double exposure. However, one possibility is that the image is an
overexposed view of the back of Templeton’s wife. After the photo
receives some local publicity, Templeton gets a call from someone
describing himself as an investigator. Templeton agrees to meet with him
and an associate and visit the marsh. Two men dressed in dark business
suits show up and drive him to the site. They refuse to give Templeton
their names, referring to themselves only as “9” and “11.” They are
mostly interested in finding out if any nearby animals had been
agitated. Then they insist that the figure was just a passerby, get
angry, and drive away, leaving Templeton stranded and having to walk
home 5 miles away. (Gordon W. Creighton, “The
Mysterious Templeton Photograph,” Flying Saucer Review 10, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1964): 11– 12; Jenny Randles, “The Riddle of the Templeton
Photograph,” IUR 20, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1995): 12–15; “The Templeton
photograph” [in color], Flying Saucer Review 46, no. 2 (Summer
2001): inside cover; Jenny Randles, “Casebook: The Solway Spaceman,”
Fortean Times 196 (May 2005): 29; Andy Roberts and David Clarke,
“Farewell to the Solway Spaceman?” Fortean Times 286 (April 2012):
28–29; Jenny Randles, “Moderations, Part One: Lost and Found Files,”
Fortean Times 292 (September 2012): 29; Clark III 1126–1127; Patrick
Gross, “The Solway
Firth Photograph, 1964”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3766
Date: 5/26/1964
Time: 7:43 PM
Description: Witness: P. Wankowicz, RAF pilot and ex-Smithsonian
satellite tracker. One thin, white ellipsoid (3.5 times as long as wide)
flew straight and level for 3-4 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
ID: 503
Date: 5/26/1964
Time: 11 PM
Description: Witness: Rev. H.C. Shaw. One yellow-orange light, shaped
like the bottom of a ball, was spotted in a field and chased down the
road for 2 miles.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Pleasantview, Pennsylvania
ID: 504
Date: 5/26/1964
Description: 11:00 p.m. Rev. H. C. Shaw sees a yellow-orange light
shaped like the bottom of a ball in a field at Pleasant View,
Pennsylvania, and chases it down the road for two miles. (Sparks, p. 299)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3769
Date: 5/26/1964
Description: 10:00 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Terry
Balliet, their family, and two neighbors see two UFOs in the
northwest sky near Palmerton, Pennsylvania. One is a large, stationary,
dome-like object emitting hazy whitish light from the underside. A
smaller disc-like object is intermittently visible maneuvering around
the larger one. It finally merges with the large object, which moves
away to the east. The large object is seen twice more in the evening,
moving back and forth from east to west. (“Other
Recent Sightings,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 11 (July/Aug. 1964):
7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3768
Date: 5/26/1964
Description: 7:43 p.m. Paul Wańkowicz, RAF pilot and ex-Smithsonian
satellite tracker, sees a thin, white ellipsoid, estimated at 15–20 feet
in length at 1,000 feet altitude, at Cambridge, Massachusetts. It flies
straight and level from nearly overhead to the east-northeast, where it
disappears behind the roof of a Sears Roebuck store as viewed from his
car in the parking lot to the south. He briefly loses sight of it as it
passes behind cumulus cloud cover. No noise or trail. The tops of
cumulus clouds are at least 3,500 feet altitude, thus the UFO’s speed is
at least 700 mph and length 50– 70 feet. (NICAP, [Blue
Book documents]; Sparks,
p. 299)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3767
Date: 6/1964
Description: 2:00 a.m. A young couple is driving home from a dance at a
small place north of Santa Barbara, California, when a circular, glowing
object silently appears above their car. They stop to watch. It is about
100 feet high and 40 feet in diameter and seemingly emits some heat. It
hovers for 2 minutes then speeds off ahead of them, lighting up the
valley as it goes and apparently traveling about 1,800–2,400 mph. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1982): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3771
Date: 6/1964
Description: 6:30 p.m. Bert Gammie, his mother, and his daughter Lynn
are driving along the northern shore of Green Lake, British Columbia,
when they see a light above a mountain across the lake to the south.
Soon they notice it is moving and is now almost directly overhead. He
stops the car and gets out for a closer look. The object is circular,
dull metallic, and has a series of vents in the tail trailing white,
blue, red, and orange exhaust. They watch it for 3 minutes moving slowly
to the north at about 50 mph and making a whistling noise. It makes a
sharp right-angle turn, proceeds west, and disappears from sight. Gammie
reports the sighting to the RCAF in Vancouver, and a senior air force
officer visits him later and shows him a bulky portfolio of glossy UFO
photos, many of them showing detailed features. Gammie tells him that
the UFO he had seen did not exactly resemble any of the photos, and the
officer tells him that the RCAF would not admit to interviewing him if
the case receives any publicity. (“‘That
Awful Looking Shooting Star,’” Canadian UFO Report 3, no. 5 (1975):
14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3772
Date: 6/1964
Description: BUFOI magazine (Belgian UFO Information) is launched by a
George Adamski group in Anvers, Belgium, and edited by May and Patrick
Morlet. It runs until 1979. (BUFOI
Magazine, no.
1 (June 1964))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3773
Date: 6/2/1964
Time: 1600
Description: A “black object with flames” is blamed for burns suffered
by an 8-year-old child, who said he saw the object coming from the sky.
His grandmother, Mrs. Frank Smith, who was standing nearby, heard a
sound similar to that of a bullet, but saw nothing. The child suffered
second-degree burns on his face, and lost part of his hair.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Saucer News Mar., 65 (Vallee)
Location: Hobbs, New Mexico
ID: 608
Date: 6/2/1964
Description: 4:00 p.m. Charles Keith Davis is outside his grandmother’s
home in Hobbs, New Mexico, when a small, tan, top-shaped object with a
soot-like trail appears and hovers above the boy’s head, enveloping him
in a cloud. He starts crying and screaming, and the object shoots
straight up and disappears. His hair is singed and his face and ears are
swollen and burned, although he does not feel any pain. They take him to
the hospital, where doctors notice the soot embedded in his flesh. The
burns respond well to treatment and he stays 5 nights in the hospital.
(Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 191–192)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3774
Date: 6/2/1964
Time: 1730
Description: David Wilson, 14, was going to get some straw for his
rabbits when he stopped with other children to observe half-a-dozen
dwarfs, about 80 cm tall, dressed in bright green, and having hands
lighted “like electric bulbs,” who seemed to be searching for something.
Another child later reported that she had seen a silvery disk-shaped
object, the size of a car, take off from the same location.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Dec.,64 (Vallee)
Location: Leam Lane, England
ID: 609
Date: 6/5/1964
Description: A 42-year-old doctor and his wife were 30 km away from the
airport when an intensely bright object appeared on the road ahead. They
drove very close to it and saw three men dressed in gray, one of whom
told him in Spanish that “they had a mission on Earth.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 39 (Vallee)
Location: Pajasblancas, Argentina
ID: 610
Date: 6/8/1964
Time: 2230
Description: Helen Reed observed a spinning object 5 m above ground,less
than 20 m away, coming and going with right-angle turns. It had a dome
from which colored light emanated (blue turning to red) and bands of
yellow light. The object was lost to sight behind trees in the
north.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Jul., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Lawrenceville, Illinois
ID: 611
Date: 6/13/1964
Time: 2100
Description: Karen Fahle saw a bright object coming to the ground about
200 m away. While approaching its lights blinked and turned to dark red.
Five min later it went away slowly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: AMUFO Sep., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Penberville, Ohio
ID: 612
Date: 6/13/1964
Time: 9:15 PM
Description: Witness: B.L. English, announcer for radio station WTOD.
Three glowing white spheres, glowing red on their sides, moved slow,
hovered and then moved in circles very fast, all the while making a low,
rumbling sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Toledo, Ohio
ID: 505
Date: 6/14/1964
Time: 2100
Description: Charles Englebrecht went outside when his TV set and all
house lights suddenly failed and saw a glowing blue-white object, about
30 nn in diameter, land about 18 m away in the field. He felt a mild
electric shock when he tried to approach it and was unable to move
forward.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Jul., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Dale, Indiana
ID: 613
Date: 6/14/1964
Description: 8:35 p.m. Charles Englebrecht, 18, is watching TV at home
in Dale, Indiana, when the house lights and TV suddenly go out. He
notices that a small, bright orange-colored, basketball-sized object has
landed in his back yard. As he goes out the side door and tries to
approach it, he feels a tingling sensation and has difficulty moving.
After a few seconds the sphere takes off and goes over the nearby barn.
Several items in the backyard have been moved (lawn mower, chicken
feeder). He smells sulfur or burning rubber and find three imprints in a
triangle with the dimensions of 2 feet by 4.5 feet by 4.5 feet. (NICAP,
“The
Dale Landing Case”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3775
Date: 6/15/1964
Description: A miner, R. A. Donoso, observed a strange machine land.
From it emerged two fairskinned men who asked for water in a language
which appeared to be a mixture of English and Spanish. Donoso took some
water from his car radiator for them and they left. Their craft was
about 3 m long and 1 m wide.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 65; 2 (Vallee)
Location: Aria, Chile
ID: 614
Date: summer 1964
Description: 10:00 p.m. A meteorologist at Westford, Massachusetts, sees
a bright lightning flash 5 miles to the south. At the same time, his car
headlights and the headlights of an approaching car go out, as well as
his radio. No thunderclap is heard. He notes that the sky is clear and
there are no thunderstorms in the entire Boston area. (“Astronomers and
UFO’s: A Survey, Part 2, Sightings,” IUR 2, no. 4 (April 1977): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3770
Date: 6/23/1964
Description: Author of “Behind the Flying Saucers” and journalist Frank
Scully dies in Palm Springs, CA. In 1988 his large archive of
1950’s-early 60’s material (personal notes, private correspondences,
newspaper clippings, etc.) is contributed by his wife Alice to the
American Heritage Center (University of Wyoming) in Laramie, WY.
Type: death
Reference: link
Location: Palm Springs, CA
Date: 6/27/1964
Description: Teenage UFO buffs Allen
H. Greenfield, Rick
Hilberg, and Dale Rettig hold the first Congress of Scientific
Ufologists in Cleveland, Ohio. It becomes an annual meeting and changes
its name to the National UFO Conference, which runs until 2005.
(Wikipedia, “National
UFO Conference”; “Ufologists
to Meet,” Lexington (Ky.) Herald, June 22, 1964, p. 20; Story, p. 91;
David Halperin, “Cleveland
2015: ’Congress of Scientific Ufologists’
50th Reunion,” davidhalperin.net, June 25, 2015; National UFO
Conference, “Congress
of Scientific UFOlogists”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3776
Date: 6/29/1964
Description: Brilliantly lit top-shaped object made head-on passes at
car, paced ahead of it, hovering and darting motions
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Lavonia, GA
ID: 15
Date: 6/30/1964
Description: 1:00 a.m. Beauford
E. Parham is driving near Lavonia, Georgia, on his way back from a
business trip when he notices a brilliant light in the sky. It is moving
towards his car at a 45° angle. In an instant it appears right in front
of his headlights, no more than 5 feet away and a foot above the ground.
Shaped like a giant top, it emits a “hissing sound like a million
snakes.” The amber-colored UFO has a sharp, steeple-like cone rising
from its top midsection. It moves above his car leaving a strong odor of
embalming fluid and a gaseous vapor that leaves an oily substance over
his car, even after repeated washings. After several passes over his
car, it starts spinning and takes off vertically. Parham now notices his
arms are beginning to burn. He immediately reports his sighting to the
mayor of Lavonia, then personnel at the Anderson Regional Airport in
South Carolina, where he meets local FAA officials who check his car for
radiation. They get readings from the oily stains, as well as both his
arms from the shoulder down. (“Man
Claims Car Buzzed by an Unknown Object,” Greenwood (S.C.)
Index-Journal, July 3, 1964, p. 5; NICAP, “Lavonia
/ Tallulah Case (Radiation)”; Schopick, pp. 71–72;
Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP, 1969, pp. 5–7; Clark III 678–680)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3777
Date: 7/1964
Description: NICAP report, The UFO Evidence, released to Congress and
news media.
Type: report
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 16
Date: 7/7/1964
Description: Around 9:00 p.m. Three members of the Henry
Ivester family in Turnerville, Georgia, are watching TV when sudden
interference prevents them from further viewing. They go out on the
front porch and see an object moving silently above the trees 300 feet
away. It stops to hover a few feet above a neighbor’s garden across the
highway. Its bottom side is fully visible; on the dark upper side are
three lights: red, clear, red. The red lights are blinking. As the
object ascends, the lights go out. A brilliant green light then shines
from the bottom, illuminating the trees. A foul odor “like embalming
fluid or brake fluid” hangs in the air after the object leaves. (“Unearthly
Objects Hovering
in Sky?” Atlanta (Ga.) Constitution, July 17, 1964, p. 23; Schopick, pp. 72–73;
Clark III 679; “An Interesting
UFO Story from Georgia,” The Paranormal Effect, October 3,
2010)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3778
Date: 7/7/1964
Time: 2100
Description: Nine persons from three different houses, including J.
Ivester, described an object like “a flying top.” TV interference was
associated with the object’s presence. It flew silently at tree height
and hovered over the vard of Mrs. Russell Mickinan’s house. The lower
part was bright red, with three lights on the upper part. As it left, a
green light illuminated the countryside. A powerful odor similar to
“embalming fluid” was noticeable when police arrived. The next day,
witnesses felt a burning sensation on their faces and arms.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Challenge 39 (Vallee)
Location: Tallulah Falls, Georgia
ID: 615
Date: 7/12/1964
Description: Assistant Professor Vyacheslav Zaitsev is aboard a Tupolev
Tu-104 airliner above Bologoye, Tver Oblast, Russia, when he sees a huge
disc with a domed cabin suddenly appear below the aircraft, fly a
parallel course for a while, then swerve abruptly and speed away. (Felix
Ziegel, “Unidentified
Flying Objects,” Soviet Life, no. 137 (February 1968): 28; “Russian
Scientist Confirms Important Cases,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 5
(March 1968): 6; Good Above, p. 220)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3779
Date: 7/14/1964
Description: After 11:00 p.m. Atlanta Constitution reporter Tom
Winfield sees a top-shaped, misty-orange object circling above the
southeast section of Gainesville, Georgia, at about 500 feet. It stops
and hovers a few moments then shoots up out of sight. He takes a photo,
but nothing registers on the film. (“Unearthly
Objects Hovering in Sky?” Atlanta (Ga.) Constitution, July 17, 1964,
p. 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3780
Date: 7/14/1964
Time: evening
Description: Miss P. Upton came running home nearly hysterical. While
riding bicycles, she and a friend saw a low-flying object that terrified
them. A strong unpleasant smell also was reported.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fate Nov., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Tallulah Falls, Georgia
ID: 616
Date: 7/15/1964
Description: MP Arthur
Henderson in the UK House of Commons asks the former Secretary of
State for Air Hugh
Fraser about cooperation between the RAF and USAF in UFO
investigations. Fraser says he is aware of the US Project Blue Book, and
that 10% of the cases are insufficient evidence. (Good Above, p. 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3781
Date: 7/16/1964
Time: 11:15 PM
Description: Witness: Northern Air Service pilot K. Jannereth. Four
white lights in a stepped-up echelon formation, were joined by two more.
They closed in on the airplane, then rapidly slowed nd flew along with
it for a total of 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 15 miles south of Houghton Lake, Michigan
ID: 506
Date: 7/16/1964
Description: Shortly after noon. Five boys (Edmund Travis, Randy Travis,
Floyd Moore, Billy Dunlap, and Gary Dunlap) are playing around an apple
tree at Conklin, New York, when they notice a shiny, dome-shaped object
in a field along the roadside. Looking for the source of a whistling
sound, the boys spot a 3-foot-tall humanoid figure crouching in a tree
about 150 feet away. It is dressed in a shiny black uniform,
short-sleeved shirt, and black helmet. The whistling appears to emanate
from his stomach. The boys throw stones and apples at it, but the figure
is too far away. After about 15 minutes, the figure, moving stiffly,
falls backwards out of the tree and floats slowly into the bushes. They
can see it crawling through the weeds back to the UFO. A round,
flattened area is found in the field where the grass is crushed and
bushes are broken. In the middle is dried, yellow moss that apparently
has been subjected to great heat. Three depressions are where the UFO
legs apparently were. (Clark III 296–297; Patrick Gross, URECAT, July
10, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3782
Date: 7/16/1964
Time: 1500
Description: Edmund Travis, 9, Randy Travis, 7 Floyd Moore, 10, and two
other boys, saw a dwarf dressed in a black suit and a helmet, with a
glass section in front of his face, which looked human. He appeared to
request some water in a strange tone, which sounded “as if it came from
a pipe.” He then walked to a shiny machine partially hidden in the
brush, as the boys ran home.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 59 (Vallee)
Location: Conklin, New York
ID: 617
Date: 7/16/1964
Description: Humanoid with dark suit and helmet, climbed on top of
craft. Physical traces found at site
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Conklin, NY
ID: 17
Date: 7/16/1964
Description: Pilot observed formation of four white lights joined by two
others, paced aircraft for five minutes
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Houghton Lake, MI
ID: 18
Date: 7/20/1964
Time: 4:45 AM
Description: Witness: J.J. Winkle. One 60’ diameter round-topped,
flat-bottomed object with a long acetylene-colored flame shooting
downward, flew straight and level, made a half loop, then rose up.
Sighting lasted l minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Littleton, Illinois
ID: 507
Date: late 7/1964
Description: 4:30 p.m. Richard H. VanPelt and his teenage son are
driving on Beeler Road south of Shawnee High School in Lima, Ohio, when
they see a Saturn-shaped metallic object hovering above Breese Road 600
feet away. It is about 1,200–1,500 feet in the air and has a revolving
ring around its center. It suddenly starts to move to the southwest,
then tips on end and with tremendous speed goes straight up and out of
sight. (Richard H. VanPelt, “Letter,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 3 (June/July 1984): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3783
Date: 7/27/1964
Time: 8:20 PM
Description: Witness: A. Borsa. One white ball of fire, the size of a
car, climbed slowly, then speeded up. Sighting lasted 2-3 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Denver, Colorado
ID: 509
Date: 7/27/1964
Time: 7:30 PM
Description: Witness: Duabert, engineering supervisor. One aluminum
sphere with a luminous ring, remained stationary for 4-5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Norwich, New York
ID: 508
Date: 7/27/1964
Time: 2100
Description: An engineer stopped his car when he saw an aluminum-looking
object, stationary, about 15 m above ground. The edge of the craft
seemed fluorescent, and three beams of very bright light were emitted
before it flew off at high speed. Total duration: 6 min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Sherburne, New York
ID: 618
Date: 7/27/1964
Description: Aluminum-colored sphere with luminous ring hovered for four
to five minutes. Air Force unidentified case
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Norwich, NY
ID: 19
Date: 7/28/1964
Time: 2230
Description: A former Navy pilot and another man, both regarded as
trustworthy, were at work in a field when they saw an intense light,
cone-shaped, emitted from the ground. A similar light was observed in
the sky when the one on ground was turned off, then the reverse took
place. A round, aluminum-looking object, about 10 m in diameter, with
one red and one white light, then appeared and descended to ground level
with a strong whistling sound similar to a small jet. Piercing and
high-pitched voices similar to those of children playing were heard.
After 40 min the craft took off. Before it did so, a jet aircraft flying
at low altitude circled its position. On Jul. 31 and August 1, the
densely wooded area was explored from a helicopter and on foot by
Sheriff Nickell and a U.S. Air Force officer, but nothing was
found.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Lake Chelan, Washington
ID: 619
Date: 7/29/1964
Description: Delta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 20
Date: 7/30/1964
Description: A whitish, elliptical object followed a car, then landed in
a field. The driver got out to observe it, but when the object started
in his direction he became afraid and drove off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Sep., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Flemington, New Jersey
ID: 620
Date: 8/1964
Description: 7:00 p.m. Raimo Blomqvist is visiting with his parents at
their summer cottage at Kallavesi lake, Finland, when he suddenly
notices a strange, colorful ball of light coming from the sky. The light
approaches and turns out to be an oval glowing object. While it is
hovering above the shallow water of an island he sees something fall
from the object and hears a sound resembling hot metal touching cold
water. The object shoots straight upward. Blomqvist recovers a
2–2.5-inch piece of stone. In 1975, Blomqvist contacts UFO investigators
and gives them the stone. The fragment is x-ray analyzed at Åbo Akademi
University in Turku, which states that it appears to be volcanic.
Analysts at the University of Turku look at it with a mass spectrometer
and conclude it is mostly iron, not a piece of ore, not volcanic, not a
meteorite, and not machined, although it has been subjected to a
temperature of around 650° C. (“Fragment
Fell from UFO,” APRO Bulletin 26, no. 6 (December 1977): 1, 3;
“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 3 (Mar. 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3784
Date: 8/1964
Description: Midnight. Air Policeman Arthur McEnaney and other guards
see a round UFO hovering above a four-silo Atlas complex near Francis E.
Warren AFB, Cheyenne, Wyoming. (Nukes 159)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3785
Date: 8/2/1964
Description: Gulf of Tonkin incident in Vietnam
Type: war
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Vietnam
Date: 8/7/1964
Description: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is passed, airstrikes against
Vietnam begin
Type: war
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Vietnam
Date: 8/9/1964
Description: 9:00 p.m. Baltazar Flores, Franciso Perez, Ruben Lozaya,
and Elpidio Salas are camping near the Cerro Viejo, Sonora, Mexico,
where they plan to explore for minerals. Suddenly a “dark, cloud-like
object” approaches at high speed. As it passes by, the trees shake and
they hear an explosion. They return the next day and less than 2 miles
from their campsite they find a compact, gelatinous mass of
green-turquoise color about 8 inches long. When they poke it with a
stick, the stick becomes covered with a sticky substance like chewing
gun. They report the incident to the authorities, but no one is
interested. One of the witnesses returns 3 days later and finds most of
the mass gone, with some residue on the rocks and grass. (“Strange
Gelatinous Fall in Mexico,” APRO Bulletin, November 1964, p. 1;
Clark III 1102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3786
Date: 8/10/1964
Time: 5:16 AM
Description: Witnesses: aircraft commander Capt. B.C. Jones and
navigator lst Lt. H.J. Cavender, in parked USAF C-124 transport plane.
One reddish, blinking light approached the runway, stopped and made
several reverses during 2 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Wake Island
ID: 510
Date: 8/10/1964
Description: Blinking red light approached air base runway, hovered,
reversed direction. Air Force unidentified case
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Wake Island
ID: 21
Date: 8/11/1964
Description: 5:30 p.m. John Dodson, 15, and Frankie Jimenez, 14, are
walking near the railroad tracks south of State Highway 281 east of
Defiance, Ohio, not too far from the General Motors foundry. They see a
slowly rotating whitish disc apparently hovering above a GM water tank.
The object has a lighted flange-like base, a dome on top, and is making
a whirring or hissing noise. It begins to move horizontally at a
moderate speed, then shoots up vertically and disappears. (“Maney
Reports Boys’ Sighting,” APRO Bulletin, November 1964, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3787
Date: 8/11/1964
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 22
Date: 8/12/1964
Time: 2200
Description: Witnesses got out of their car to watch an object
resembling a “burning haystack,” oval or crescent-shaped, which rose
from the ground, crossed the sky, and was lost to sight in the
south.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Brekkens Corner, Montana
ID: 621
Date: 8/15/1964
Time: 1:20 AM
Description: Witness: S.F. D’Alessandro. One 10’x5’ bullet-shaped object
with wavy lines on the rounded front part and six pipes along the
straight rear portion, made a “whishhh” sound. Witness’ dog growled
during sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: New York, New York
ID: 511
Date: 8/15/1964
Time: 8:15 AM
Description: Witnesses: E.J. Haug, of the San Francisco Orchestra and
the San Francisco Conservatory of Music; and C.R. Bubb, a high school
mathematics teacher. Three bright silver, round objects, in a stack
formation, flew very fast, changing positions within the formation. The
sound of rushing air was heard during the 3-4 second sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Yosemite National Park, California
ID: 512
Date: 8/18/1964
Description: 12:35 a.m. USAF Major D. W. Thompson and First Pilot 1st
Lt. J. F. Jonke are flying a C-124 transport with the 31st Air Transport
Squadron, 1607th Air Transport Wing, 200 miles east of Dover AFB in
Delaware at 9,000 feet over the North Atlantic. A blurred reddish-white
glare appears ahead and 500 feet below them on a collision course.
Thompson takes evasive action, and the light makes a right turn and
disappears. Air traffic control shows nothing on their radar in that
location. (NICAP, “Object
on Collision Course with C-124”; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience,
Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 50–51;
Sparks,
p. 300)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3788
Date: 8/18/1964
Time: 12:35 AM
Description: Witnesses: Maj. D.W. Thompson and First Pilot lst Lt. J.F.
Jonke, on a USAF C-124 transport plane. One round, blurred,
reddish-white object was on a collision course with the C-124 from ahead
and below. The airplane evaded the object. Sighting las ted 2
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Atlantic Ocean, 200 miles east of Dover, Delaware
ID: 513
Date: 8/22/1964
Description: 9:35 p.m. Robert
D. Briele, an
engineer for WFBR-AM radio, and a friend watch a lighted triangular
object pass directly overhead in Baltimore, Maryland. Through binoculars
he can see a steady white light at each corner. A small green light is
also on one corner and a red light in the center. The object moves
slowly and silently from northeast to southwest, disappearing in 10
minutes. (“UFO
Sighting Wave Persists,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 12
(Sept./Oct. 1964): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3789
Date: 8/25/1964
Time: 2230
Description: Richard Pratt, 17, heard a whistling noise and saw a
silvery, oval object surrounded with a soft white glow, supporting a
dome, which went down to ground level. A similar object had been
observed one hour earlier at Littleton, about 50 km west, by four boys.
It was described as silvery gray, with three blinking red lights and a
white light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Sep., 64 (Vallee)
Location: Lynn, Massachusetts
ID: 622
Date: 8/30/1964
Description: Night. Clifford Runyon and Connie Thies are driving from
Tipton to Bennett, Iowa, when they see a cigar- shaped object with two
bright lights hovering 500 feet up in the eastern sky. The UFO climbs as
they drive toward it, and their radio goes out and the car engine
sputters. (“UFO
Sighting Wave Persists,” UFO Investigator 2, no. 12
(Sept./Oct. 1964): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3790
Date: 9/4/1964
Description: Declassified documents show that from 1962 through 1964,
the CIA has spent a total of $2.6 million to finance the campaign of Eduardo
Frei Montalva for the presidency of Chile and spent $3 million in
anti–Salvador Allende propaganda
“to scare voters away from Allende’s FRAP coalition.” Richard
Helms coordinates the action. The CIA considers its role in the
victory of Frei a great success. They argue that “the financial and
organizational assistance given to Frei, the effort to keep [Julio]
Durán in the race, the propaganda campaign to denigrate Allende—were
‘indispensable ingredients of Frei’s success,’” and they think that his
chances of winning and the good progress of his campaign would have been
doubtful without the covert support of the US. Thus, in 1964 Allende
loses once more as the FRAP candidate for president. (Wikipedia, “Salvador
Allende”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3791
Date: 9/4/1964
Description: A bow-and-arrow hunter separated from his companions was
treed by humanoid and robot-like beings after a UFO was observed
descending
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Cisco Grove, CA
ID: 23
Date: 9/5/1964
Description: 10:00 p.m. Donald Schrum and his friends are bow-and-arrow
hunting in an isolated area of Placer County, California, near the Loch
Leven Lakes in the vicinity of Cisco Grove. Schrum becomes separated
from his companions. At sunset he decides to sleep in a tree for the
night. Later he sees a white light zigzagging at low altitude and,
thinking it is a helicopter, jumps out of the tree and lights fires to
attract its attention. The light turns toward him and stops about 50–60
yards away. The object’s strange appearance frightens Schrum, so he
climbs back up in the tree. After a while two humanoid beings and a
robot-like creature approach the tree. From then on, Schrum is in a
state of siege as the beings try to dislodge him from the tree. At one
point a white vapor emanates from the robot’s mouth and Schrum blacks
out, but wakes up again, nauseous, and begins lighting matches and
throwing them down to frighten the beings away; they back away. Finally,
he shoots an arrow at the robot; when it hits, there is an arc flash and
the robot is knocked backwards. This is repeated two more times, and the
humanoids scatter each time. A second robot appears and a vapor renders
Schrum unconscious. When he awakes, he discovers that the two humanoids
are climbing up the tree toward him, so he shakes the tree and throws
things down at them to ward them off. The same actions are repeated all
night. Near dawn, more beings approach and “large volumes of smoke”
drift up and he blacks out. He awakes hanging from his belt, and the
creatures are gone. Later, when reunited with his companions, Schrum
finds that one of the other hunters, who also have gotten lost and
separated from their camp, saw the UFO. (NICAP, “Cisco
Grove / Alien Encounter”; Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore
Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP, 1969, pp. 17–23; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 210–212;
Sparks, p. 301;
Clark III 236–240; Ted Bloecher and Paul Cerny, “The Cisco Grove Bow and
Arrow Case of 1964,” IUR 20, no. 5 (Winter 1995): 16–22, 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3792
Date: 9/5/1964
Time: 2200
Description: A hunter, who had lost his way in the mountains, observed
approaching lights that seemed to land. From a vantage point in a tree,
he saw a dome-shaped object at ground level, about 500 m away. Several
creatures, one of them a robotlike figure with “eyes” about 10 cm in
diameter, came near, apparently trying to dislodge the witness from his
tree. The creatures appeared to fear the light from flaming objects
thrown at them. The witness fell asleep after an exhausting series of
attempts to keep the creatures away. At dawn there was nothing to be
seen.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Cisco Grove, California
ID: 624
Date: 9/5/1964
Time: 2100
Description: Chafredo Dagota observed a circular object that came to the
ground briefly. It stood on a sort of pillar and emitted a blinding
light. He caught sight of two figures moving near it.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Cofico, Argentina
ID: 623
Date: 9/10/1964
Time: 7:09 PM
Description: Witness: chemist P.H. DePaolo. Four white lights, 3-4
apart, were seen to the north, going west for 45 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Cedar Grove, New Jersey
ID: 514
Date: 9/11/1964
Time: 0600
Description: Karen Campbell was scared by an oval, dull copper object
that flew low over her car. It measured about 1.2 m in height, had a
dome on top, made a “rushing” noise, and seemed to “float” over the
car.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 148 (Vallee)
Location: Ulysses, Oklahoma
ID: 625
Date: 9/14/1964
Description: 10:55 p.m. Astronomers Luis Ferro and Renato Matteassi at
the San Miguel Observatory, Buenos Aires, Argentina, watch an object
with the apparent size twice that of the Moon passing across the
constellation Lyra. The central portion is white and green, while the
rear looks like half-rings of blue. Its speed is estimated as three
times the speed of sound. They watch it for 3 minutes moving toward
Jupiter. (Gordon Creighton, “Argentina 1963/1964:
Part IV,” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 3 (May/June 1966): 28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3793
Date: 9/15/1964
Description: 8:27 a.m. USAF Lt. Robert Jacobs is officer-in-charge of
photo-optical instrumentation for the 1369th Photographic Squadron at
Vandenberg AFB [now Vandenberg Space Force Base] near Lompoc,
California. His crew films an SM-65F Atlas missile launch where a UFO
allegedly causes the ICBM’s warhead to malfunction over Big Sur,
California. At the time of the filming, apparently no one knows anything
about a UFO sighting. But the next morning, Jacobs is ordered to report
to the office of Maj. Florenz
J. Mansmann, First Strategic Aerospace Division, his commanding
officer, where he is shown the film and told to forget it ever happened.
Kingston George, the project engineer for the experiments and who
probably never saw the film, “identified” the object as “nothing to do
with UFOs” in an article in the Skeptical Enquirer. Before Mansmann’s
death, and 40 years after the actual event, the major confirms the UFO
incident in writing. The controversy centers on the opinions of some
researchers who suggest that the telescope imaging system is not
adequate enough to produce the results described by Jacobs and Mannsman.
However, several other researchers have shown that, with the viewing
conditions at the height of the equipment used, and the imaging systems
operating at that shoot, the incident could have occurred as described.
(NICAP, “The
Big Sur Filming / UFO Disables Dummy Warhead?”; Robert Jacobs, “How
a UFO Destroyed an American Rocket,” Flying Saucer Review 29, no. 1
(October 1983): 23–24; Kingston A. George, “The
Big Sur ‘UFO’: An Identified
Flying
Object,” Skeptical Inquirer 17 (Winter 1993): 180–187; Robert
Hastings, “A Shot across the Bow: Another Look at the Big Sur Incident,”
IUR 31, no. 1 (January 2007): 3–11, 20–24; Mark Rodeghier, “Image
Resolution of the Optical System at Big Sur,” IUR 31, no. 1 (January
2007): 20; Robert Hastings, “Answers on Big Sur,” IUR 31, no. 4
(Mar. 2008): 18; Robert L. Hastings, “UFOs Are
Stalking and Intercepting Dummy Nuclear Warheads during Test
Flights,” UFOs & Nukes, August 23, 2011; Nukes 187–217)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3794
Date: 9/15/1964
Description: James Warren was awakened by a noise, and saw an object
bearing blinking red and green lights fly over his house at treetop
level. He called the police, who also reported seeing the object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fate Jan., 65 (Vallee)
Location: Core Lane, Louisiana
ID: 626
Date: 9/16/1964
Description: 6:55 p.m. Several teenagers at Little Hulton, Greater
Manchester, England, watch a noiseless, pearly white triangular object
traveling with its base forward toward the north. (“Manchester
Disbeliever’s Testimony,” Flying Saucer Review 10, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1964): 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3795
Date: 9/18/1964
End date: 9/24/1964
Description: Numerous high-speed UFOs are reported and tracked on radar
in an area between Surabaya, Malang, and Bangkalan, Java, Indonesia.
Antiaircraft batteries and Air Force pilots reportedly open fire on
them, even though officials suspect they could be British aircraft from
the HMS
Victorious protecting Malaysia. (Good Above, p. 429;
Rahadian Rundjan, “Mencari
UFO di Langit Indonesia,” Historia, June 19, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3796
Date: 10/1964
Description: An engineer and three technicians at the Wallops Flight
Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, see a triangular- shaped object
speed in from the north, make a 90° turn, and disappear in under a
minute. They all agree that it moved faster than a jet. (Harold H.
Deneault Jr., “UFOs Return to Washington,” Fate 18, no. 7 (July 1965):
48– 49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3798
Date: 10/1964
Description: Air Force and Army radar stations tracked an UFO as it
hovered over and flew along the demilitarized zone between North and
South Korea. The UFO was visible for over an hour.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Korea
Date: 10/7/1964
Description: 11:10 p.m. R. Shannon and his wife see a blood-red triangle
in the sky above Dulwich, London, England. They watch it for 10 minutes
before it begins revolving swiftly, almost to a blur, then explodes
silently and disappears. (R. Shannon, “Dulwich
De-Materialisation?” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1965): 28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3799
Date: 10/11/1964
Description: Engineer, others, observed dome-shaped object following jet
fighters. UFO shot straight up and out of sight
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Brockton, MA
ID: 24
Date: late 1964
Description: Deputy Missile Combat Crew Commander 1Lt. Philip E. Moore
is on duty in Site 7 (east of Hagerman, New Mexico), one of the 579th
Strategic Missile Squadron’s underground Atlas missile launch facilities
at Walker AFB [now closed] in Roswell, New Mexico. He gets a call from
an adjacent missile silo around 10–15 miles away, saying that a UFO is
hovering and maneuvering over their site. Maj. Dan Gilbert sends three
enlisted crew members—T/Sgt. Jack Nevins, Airman1C Bob Garner, and
Airman 1C Mike Rundag—above ground to see what is going on. They see a
silent light that moves very quickly (instant stop and instant go) back
and forth between Site 6 and Site 8. Gilbert goes up and sees the same
activity. (Nukes 152–157)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3797
Date: 10/22/1964
Description: Flying Saucer Review editor Waveney
Girvan dies, and Charles
Bowen takes control and oversees the magazine until 1982, its most
influential period. (Charles Bowen, “Our
Friend Waveney Girvan,” Flying Saucer Review 10, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1964): 5; Clark III 498)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3800
Date: 10/29/1964
Description: 12:00 midnight–3:00 a.m. Irene Page watches a sparkling
ball of light that maneuvers around her yard, illuminating her property
in Brimfield, Massachusetts. When she first sees it, the TV set fades,
and lights in the room blink on and off several times. (“Flashing
UFO Seen Three Hours,” APRO Bulletin, July/Aug. 1965, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3801
Date: 11/1964
Time: 2300
Description: Mr. Lehel observed a lighted object at hilltop level, about
700 m away. At the site, a wide circle of crushed vegetation was found,
three branches were broken, and a pole was calcined.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 76 (Vallee)
Location: Saint-Alexis de Montcalm, Canada
ID: 627
Date: 11/3/1964
Description: 8:15 p.m. A barking dog alerts the caretaker of the Butano
Creek Girl Scout Camp near Pescadero, California. He goes outside and
sees a bright light maneuvering erratically in the northeast. He flashes
an SOS signal at it with a flashlight, and the light silently moves
toward him. He flashes more SOS signals and it moves even closer,
hovering above some trees a half mile away and moving back and forth. It
lights up the sky like a full moon. The caretaker and another employee
run into a cabin to get their wives. The four watch for a while longer,
then flash another SOS. The light approaches again, then retreats, dims,
and takes off. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969,
p. 242)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3802
Date: 11/5/1964
Description: J.
Allen Hynek writes to a citizen interested in the Socorro, New
Mexico, case and affirms his opinion that Lonnie
Zamora’s story was “told by a man who obviously was frightened badly
by what he did see.” He says he cannot dismiss it as a hoax or
hallucination. (Bill Murphy, “The Swamp Gas Aftermath: Some Notes from
the Gerald Ford Files,” IUR 33, no. 2 (July 2010): 12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3803
Date: 11/9/1964
Description: 8:00 p.m. Trevor Foss responds to his son’s call to watch a
light in the northern sky over Kailoa Station, Gisborne, New Zealand.
Through night binoculars he sees a ball of light traveling south toward
him. It takes 5 minutes to reach the southern horizon and has rotating
light beams that project downward and to the rear, as well as 6 jet-like
blue flames. (“Farmer
Observes Sphere,” APRO Bulletin, January 1965, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3804
Date: 11/14/1964
Description: Midnight. Astronomers at the San Miguel Observatory, Buenos
Aires, Argentina, see an elongated, flat, reddish-orange object crossing
the sky from east to west and then back again at a speed 4.5 times that
of a satellite. (“Mystery
Object over Argentina,” APRO Bulletin, January 1965, p. 2; Gordon
Creighton, “Argentina 1963/1964:
Part IV,” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 3 (May/June 1966): 28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3805
Date: 11/14/1964
Time: 9:40 PM
Description: Witnesses: Dr. G.R. Wagner, MD; and two girls. Three dim,
reddish lights flew through a 160^ arc in 5-6 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Menominee Falls, Wisconsin
ID: 515
Date: 11/19/1964
Description: 9:00 p.m. The USS
Gyatt destroyer is stationed in the Atlantic Ocean about 220 miles
northwest of Puerto Rico when its radar detects a bogey approaching the
island from the northeast at speeds exceeding Mach 1. The ship relays a
message to Roosevelt Roads Naval Station [now José Aponte de la Torre
Airport] in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, which then contacts Lt. Cmdr. K. H.
Woodsbury, pilot of an F-8C aircraft of Utility Squadron Eight that is
already flying in the neighborhood at an altitude of 30,000 feet. The
aircraft reports a stranger closing in very fast. The pilot describes
the object as delta-shaped and about the size of a fighter. Its color is
black or gray and it has no contrail or lights except for a light source
emitting from the tail during periods of acceleration. The pilot pursues
the object but cannot intercept. The target accelerates out of sight in
a wide starboard turn climbing through 50,000 feet at about an 18°–20°
angle in excess of Mach 1. Woodsbury says: “Its speed, acceleration,
ceiling and ability to decelerate exceed any aircraft I have ever seen
or heard of. There is no reasonable explanation for this target.” During
the encounter the SPS-49 radar is jammed for a short period of time.
Other radar encounters take place in the Caribbean November 16–18 and
24. (NICAP, “U.S.S.
Gyatt Tackles Bogey”; Sparks, p. 302)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3806
Date: 11/19/1964
Time: Unknown time
Description: Witnesses: unidentified military persons. One bright white
flashing light was travelling from horizon to horizon in 20
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 1,400 miles east of Tokyo, Japan (34’ 55’ N, 164’ 05’ E)
ID: 516
Date: 11/21/1964
Description: The FBI sends Martin
Luther King Jr. a “suicide package” note that contains audio
recordings of his sexual indiscretions and a letter telling him, “There
is only one way out for you.” The FBI’s COINTELPRO program is also
targeting Malcolm
X. (Wikipedia,
“COINTELPRO”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3807
Date: 11/22/1964
Description: 10:45 p.m. Private pilot George
Henry Lissauer is driving near Georgetown, South Carolina, when he
sees two large, silvery, oval-shaped UFOs, each accompanied by 6–8
smaller objects. The formations are moving slowly at about 3,000 feet
altitude. After 2–3 minutes, the smaller objects go into the larger
objects and disappear. Lissauer goes directly to Myrtle AFB [now Myrtle
Beach International Airport] and reports them. (“Increased Landings
Hint New UFO Phase,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 3 (June/July 1965): 2;
Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR 29, no. 2
(Summer 2004): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3808
Date: 11/25/1964
Description: 12:45 a.m. A 29-year-old woman sees two lighted objects
land on a hilltop near New Berlin, New York. Through binoculars she can
see some 9–11 humanoid beings apparently engaged in repair work on a
round object with landing struts for four hours. Some of them are
holding boxes filled with unusual gadgets. The next day, she and her
husband and father-in-law find two equilateral triangular imprints on
the site, as well as a cable with some thin aluminum strips and
insulation. Around 4:55 a.m., one UFO shoots straight up and abruptly
disappears, while the other rises straight up a minute later and follows
the other one. (Berthold E. Schwarz, “New
Berlin UFO Landing
and Repair by Crew,” Flying Saucer Review 21, no. 3–4 (November
1975): 22–28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3809
Date: 11/25/1964
Description: Two objects landed on hilltop, large group of humanoid
beings engaged in apparent repair operation for four hours
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: New Berlin, NY
ID: 25
Date: 11/26/1964
Description: 11:00 p.m. A family of five in Adams, Wisconsin, is
returning home from Thanksgiving dinner when an extremely bright light
appears over their car, completely shutting off its headlights and
radio. The father jumps out of the car and looks straight up into the
light, shading his eyes with his hands, but he is persuaded to come
back. Suddenly the light disappears and the electrical systems return.
No one talks about the incident for 16 years, when the father says the
light was “motionless like a floodlight of gigantic proportion.” (“Recently
Reported,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 10 (October 1981): 5;
“Out of the Not-Too-Distant Past.” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 6
(Jan./Feb. 1982): 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3810
Date: 12/1964
End date: 1/1965
Description: sighting concentration around Washington, DC, which led to
CIA contact with NICAP to obtain information.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Washington DC
ID: 27
Date: 12/10/1964
Description: Recovery of Saucer by A.K. (initials).
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Fort Riley, KA
See also: 11/65
Date: 12/19/1964
Description: Memo to Chief, Contact Division: NICAP case #(censured):
Subject: UFOs over Patuxent Naval Air Station between 1500 and 1530
hours. Two UFOs approached Air Base at 3800 mph. Another UFO approached
at 6000 mph. Radar operator, Chief Pinkerton had visual on Radar. US
Coast Guard had “visual” on the UFOs. Official statement to press: the
(single) blip was caused by faulty radar equipment!
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Patuxent Naval Air Station
See also: 1/25/65
Date: 12/19/1964
Description: 3:50 p.m. Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland
tracks two large targets on radar moving at 6,900 mph. (Harold H.
Deneault Jr., “UFOs Return to Washington,” Fate 18, no. 7 (July 1965):
46–47; Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, p. 87;
Sparks,
p. 303)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3811
Date: 12/21/1964
Description: 4:50 p.m. Kenneth Norton Jr., 14, is looking out his
bedroom window in Staunton, Virginia, when he sees a “fast-moving object
without wings or tail structure.” He describes it as cigar-shaped and
about 125 feet in diameter, in view for 5 seconds. (Richmond (Va.)
Times-Dispatch, January 15, 1965; “‘Saucer’
Reports Are Flying,”
Staunton (Va.) Daily News Leader, January 15, 1965, p. 2; Clark III
493)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3812
Date: 12/21/1964
Time: 1700
Description: Mr. Burns saw a huge object cross the road, hover at ground
level in a field for less than one min, then take off vertically. There
were other witnesses in the area.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Harrisonburg, Viginia
ID: 628
Date: 12/21/1964
Description: 5:00 p.m. Driving east on US Highway 250, Horace Burns is
approaching Fishersville, Virginia, when an enormous object appears from
the north and descends slowly in a gradual slant. Just before it crosses
the highway 200 feet in front of him, the UFO narrowly misses power
lines. It is so huge that when it passes nearly in front of him, it
fills his entire windshield. The UFO comes down gently and lands in a
field to Burns’s right. Meanwhile, Burns’s car engine has shut off. The
object appears to be at least 125 feet in diameter and 80–90 feet high.
After 60–90 seconds, it rises up several hundred feet, makes a sound
like rushing air, and shoots off to the northeast, vanishing from sight.
A high level of radioactivity is detected at the site December 30 by
investigators German professor Ernest
G. Gehman and engineer Harry M. Cook. They obtain a Geiger counter
reading of 16–18 milliR/hr. Two Blue Book investigators—T/Sgt. David N.
Moody and S/Sgt. Harold T. Jones—visit the site with Gehman on January
12 and take further readings (1.5 milliR/hr on Burns’s left rear car
door). They dispute Gehman’s earlier results, but a possible 11x–12x
drop in radiation level in 13 days possibly indicates a radionuclide
with a 3–4 day half-life. (“‘Saucer’
Reports Are
Flying,” Staunton (Va.) Daily News Leader, January 15, 1965,
pp. 1–2; NICAP, “Car
Engine Fails after Object Lands”; “Opposition
Flap 1965,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 3 (May/June 1965): 3–4;
Clark III 491–494, 950; Sparks,
p. 303)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3813
Date: 12/21/1964
Description: Cone-shaped object crossed highway, car engine failed,
object landed. Radioactive area found at landing site
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Staunton, VA
ID: 26
Date: 12/22/1964
Description: The first flight of an SR-71 Blackbird takes place at Air
Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, piloted by Robert J. Gilliland.
The SR-71 reaches a top speed of Mach 3.4 (~2,588 mph) during flight
testing. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
SR-71 Blackbird”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3815
Date: 12/22/1964
Description: A D-21 drone (renamed from Q-12 in its transition to
Project Tagboard) mounted on an M-21 begins captive flight-testing at
Area 51 in Nevada. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
D-21”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3814
Date: 12/28/1964
Description: Two young girls, R. Bender and J. Quinn, observed an object
flying 17 m above the ground. It was shaped like two plates glued
together, with two rows of intense lights, and a turret with a green
light on top. When an opening became visible, the witnesses thought the
thing was about to land, and they fled.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Spaceview (Vallee)
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
ID: 629
Date: 1965
Description: While visiting the Air Force Museum in Fairborn, Ohio, R.M.
(initials), a government employee of 23 yrs., went through a double-
door marked “Off Limits” and suddenly came face to face with an Alien in
a self contained space suite. Description: About 4.5 ft. tall with a
translucent dome over its’ large head; wasn’t human; large eyes under a
heavy brow; no noticeable nose; a slit for a mouth; bluish skin. When
the creature walked it didn’t bend its’ knees. R.M. later found out from
a retired Air Force Colonel from Wight-Patterson AFB, that 2 live Aliens
were held in captivity in an artificial environment. The Colonel also
said that a 2-man sized craft crashed near Whitewater Lake, Indiana, as
a result of an electrical disturbance in the atmosphere. (The Alien
would have to lock his knees in a high-gravity environment to avoid
falling down.)
Type: alien sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (A5, B3-C, WHITEWATER RECOVERY)
Location: Fairborn, Ohio
Date: 1965
Description: G. J. Kok and S. Sluis found the Werkgroep Nederlands
Onderzoek Bureau voor UFOs (later UFO-Workgroep Nederland) in
Uithuizermeeden, Netherlands. It publishes Tijdschrift voor Ufologie.
(Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, p. 215)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3822
Date: 1965
Description: Tomezo Hirata founds the Japan UFO Research Association in
Kobe, Japan. It publishes JUFORA from 1967 to 1991.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3823
Date: 1965
Description: Ross Liverton reports a ring of bare earth, 8 feet wide, in
the ground on Waiheke Island, New Zealand, where a UFO is seen. It
remains visible for 4 years. The site contains some unidentified whitish
material that resolves into fibers during a soil immersion test. Vallée
says the material is “vegetal in nature.” (Vallée, Invisible College,
pp. 36–37; Ted Phillips, “Landing
Report from Delphos,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories, no. 9
(February 1972): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3824
Date: 1965
Description: A couple is driving on a country road in Buenos Aires
province, Argentina, when their car engine begins to fail, so they pull
over in front of a tree. They notice an object behind the tree that
emits a luminous ray toward them that bends at three places, vertically
and horizontally, to avoid the tree. The woman’s cheek feels as if
something is probing her. (Jean Bastide, La Mémoire des OVNI, Mercure de
France, 1978; “Beam
of Light with Three Corners,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 6 (Dec, 1983/Jan. 1984): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3825
Date: 1965
Description: A short color film of a “huge, windowed, hovering craft”
with three smaller objects attached to it “as a kind of tail” is taken
by a converted RAAF aircraft during a photo-mapping flight over central
Australia. A door on the large object opens—two vertical panels and two
horizontally aligned panels slide apart—and the three smaller objects
fly inside. A US Air Force sergeant with a top-secret clearance is shown
this clip at a CIA screening in Texas in 1967. He says the filmed image
of the UFO is extraordinarily clear, filling the entire screen. (Budd
Hopkins, Missing Time, R. Marek, 1981, p. 253)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3826
Date: 1965 (approximate)
Description: A-12 pilot Ken
Collins continues to test A-12s at Groom Lake, Nevada. One night (in
1964 or 1965 maybe), he is awakened by base commander Col. Hugh
“Slip” Slater and asked to take an A-12 up to find a Russian
reconnaissance balloon that is floating in American airspace in a
westerly direction with the prevailing winds. Collins is tasked with
finding the balloon visually and using radar. In the air, he realizes it
is a wild goose chase because, flying at 2,200 mph, even if he sees the
balloon briefly it would be behind him in a second. He identifies an
object on radar 350 miles away. He circles it as closely as he can,
which is a circle with a radius of 400 miles. He never makes visual
contact and returns to Area 51. Jacobsen says
that this Soviet violation of US airspace has “never been declassified.”
(Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 195–196)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3816
Date: 1965
Description: USAF Gen. Curtis
LeMay writes in his autobiography that some UFOs are not explained
very easily: “There is no question about it. These were things which we
could not tie in with any natural phenomena known to our investigators.”
He expresses his dislike of NICAP’s position that USAF is trying to
muzzle the media. “There were some cases we could not explain,” he
writes. “Never could.” (Curtis E. LeMay, Mission with LeMay, Doubleday,
1965, pp. 541–543)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3817
Date: 1965
Description: Less than 20% of the public believes in UFOs, according to
polls and private Air Force and NICAP estimates. This soon rises to 33%
by July. (Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, p. 94)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3818
Date: 1965
Description: John Harney begins publication of the Merseyside UFO
Research Group Bulletin in Liverpool, England. (Merseyside
UFO Research Group Bulletin, no.
2 (June 1965))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3819
Date: 1965
Description: Jean-Pierre D’Hondt founds Groupement Nordiste d’Études des
OVNI in Lestrem, Pas-de-Calais, France. It publishes Recherches
Ufologiques from 1977 to 1983. (Recherches
Ufologiques, no.
1 (1977))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3820
Date: 1965
Description: Jacques Bonabot, Jean-Gérard Dohmen, and Roger Lorthioir
found Groupement pour l’Étude des Sciences d’Avant-Garde in Bruges,
Belgium. It publishes Bulletin du GESAG. (Margaret Sachs, The UFO
Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, p. 135)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3821
Date: 1/3/1965
Description: Quadrantid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 28
Date: 1/5/1965
Description: Aerospace engineer watched round glowing object move
rapidly from horizon to nearly overhead
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Wallops Island, VA
ID: 29
Date: 1/5/1965
Description: 5:56 p.m. NASA engineer Dempsey
Bruton, head of the Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island,
Virginia, observes a round, bright-yellow light rising from the horizon.
The apparent size of the object is that of a nickel held at arm’s
length. As the object reaches an overhead position, it disappears. The
length of observation is approximately 8–9 seconds. The witness claims
that his wife and brother-in-law also see the object. (NICAP, “Bright
Yellow Light Flies Ahead”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3827
Date: 1/11/1965
Description: 4:20 p.m. At least 12 persons, including six Army Signal
Corps communications system specialists, at the Munitions Building at
Nineteenth Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.,
observe 12–15 white oval objects maneuvering erratically at
12,000–15,000 feet altitude above the US Capitol Building. Two delta-
wing jets, apparently from Andrews AFB in Maryland, are seen in pursuit,
but the objects easily outmaneuver them. Among the witnesses are Paul M.
Dickey Jr., Edward Shad, Sam Webb, Jack McBride, and Sam Marrone. The
objects are also tracked on radar. The Defense Department denies the
incident, but the witnesses publicly maintain their story. The Pentagon
forces a TV crew about to interview the witnesses to shut down that
evening. (NICAP, “Over
a Dozen Ovals Chased by AF Jets”; Harold H. Deneault Jr., “UFOs
Return to Washington,” Fate 18, no. 7 (July 1965): 47–48; Frank Edwards,
FS Serious Business, Bantam ed., 1966, pp. 67–68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3829
Date: 1/11/1965
Description: Army Signal Corps communications system specialists
observed 12-15 white ovals maneuvering erratically, with jets seen in
pursuit
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Washington, DC
ID: 30
Date: 1/11/1965
Description: Mrs. Paul Zimmerman Gearhart and her two sons see a
triangular UFO that flies slowly out of the southeast and then “suddenly
plunged into the sea some miles offshore” at Tillamook Head, Oregon. It
leaves behind two trails of fire. (Sanderson, InvRes, p. 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3828
Date: 1/12/1965
Description: 10:58 a.m. The Kiwi Transient Nuclear Test is conducted at
Area 25 of the Nevada Test Site as part of Project NERVA. The nuclear
rocket engine code-named Kiwi is allowed to overheat until it bursts,
sending fuel hurtling skyward. Deadly radioactive fuel chunks as large
as 148 pounds shoot up into the sky and last as far away as a quarter
mile. A radioactive cloud rises up to 2,600 feet, then drifts out over
Los Angeles, California, and out to sea. The AEC calls it a “safety
test,” but the USSR says it violates the test ban. (Jacobsen, Area 51,
pp. 309– 310;
Wikipedia, “NERVA”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3831
Date: 1/12/1965
Description: 1:00 a.m. Department of Justice Inspector Robert E.
Kerringer [or is it Donald E. Flickinger, an agent of the US Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms?] is driving near Lynden, Washington,
when he sees a low-flying object, 30 feet in diameter, that avoids
collision with his car at the last moment. He gets out and sees it
hovering for one minute, then it flies off at high speed with a sound of
rushing air. He learns that nearby Blaine Air Force Station [now closed]
is tracking the UFO. (NICAP, “Driver
Avoids Collision with 30ʹ Object”; Sparks, p. 303;
“New
Sightings Put AF on Spot,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 1 (March/April
1965): 4; Frank Edwards, FS Serious Business, Bantam ed., 1966, pp. 54–55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3830
Date: 1/12/1965
Description: Border Patrol officer saw bright disc illuminating ground,
swoop down, hover near car, accelerate up into clouds with rushing air
sound
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Lynden, WA
ID: 31
Date: 1/12/1965
Time: night
Description: A member of a federal agency, who was driving toward the
base, saw a low-flying object, 10 m in diameter, which avoided collision
at the last moment. He got out of the car and observed it hovering for
one min, then it flew off. at high speed. The object was tracked on
radar. The same night, a round, glowing object with a dome on top landed
on a nearby farm, melting snow in a 10 m diameter urcle.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Mar., 65 (Vallee)
Location: Blaine Air Force Base, Washington
ID: 630
Date: 1/12/1965
Description: 8:20 p.m. A Mrs. Jubert in Custer, Washington, sees through
her window what seems to be the landing lights of an airplane apparently
coming into her yard. She herds her three teenage girls outside in the
opposite direction. The four lights merge into one intense white light,
which moves in a straight line toward the house, lifts several hundred
feet and clears a clump of evergreens, then dips down on the far side
and touches the ground. A border patrol officer also sees the object
after he is alerted by radio. He is buzzed by the UFO, which is low
enough that he stops his car, gets out, and watches it move out of
sight. Where the object lands in 16 inches of snow, they find a large
circular imprint about 10–12 feet in diameter. The ground beneath the
melted snow ring shows evidence of having been scorched. Oval-shaped
tracks 8 inches long and 8 inches apart, in a single file, are found
leading from the landing site to the evergreens, where they disappear.
One month later, the circular area still shows traces. (“New
Sightings Put AF on Spot,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 1 (March/April
1965): 4; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 152–153;
Ted Phillips, Physical
Traces Associated with UFO
Sightings, CUFOS, 1975, p. 34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3833
Date: 1/12/1965
Description: 6:30 p.m. A NASA public relations employee named Milliner
and her husband are walking toward their house when they see a bright
yellow object moving swiftly over the Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops
Island, Virginia. They watch it for 2 minutes. (Harold H. Deneault Jr.,
“UFOs Return to Washington,” Fate 18, no. 7 (July 1965): 48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3832
Date: 1/14/1965
Description: Around 12:00 midnight. Old Dominion college student James
Myers sees a diamond-shaped object rise from the ground to 1,500–2,000
feet near Norfolk, Virginia. He loses sight of it behind a church and
when it reappears it looks round, bright, and silvery. (Harold H.
Deneault Jr., “UFOs Return to Washington,” Fate 18, no. 7 (July 1965):
49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3834
Date: 1/14/1965
Time: 2400
Description: James Myers saw an object rise from the ground, appearing
as a bright, circular silvery craft.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fate Jul., 65 (Vallee)
Location: Norfolk, Virginia
ID: 631
Date: 1/15/1965
Description: 10:00 p.m. Charles Knee Jr., a former newsman, is driving
on State Highway 4A between Wilmot and Enfield, New Hampshire, when the
radio suddenly stops, the lights on the car go out, and the engine
quits. He loses control of the car and pulls to the side of the road and
then hears a loud humming sound like a high- frequency electrical whine.
He opens the car door, steps out, and sees a bright light below the
cloud cover at around 2,000–5,000 feet altitude. It seems to hover for a
moment and then takes off to the south. As the light leaves and the
whine dies away, the headlights and radio come on and the motor starts
by itself. The whole thing lasts about 15–20 seconds. (Manchester (N.H.)
Sunday News, January 16, 1965; Schopick,
pp. 148–150)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3836
Date: 1/15/1965
Description: Soviet subsurface nuclear explosion “Chagan”, crater had a
diameter of 408m, 100m deep
Type: atomic
Reference: link
Location: Kazakhstan
Atomic type: subsurface
Atomic KT: 140
Date: 1/15/1965
Description: 9:45 p.m. Mathew Rybczyk is watching TV at his home in
Manchester, New Hampshire, when the set goes blank. Going outside to see
if the antenna is damaged, he sees a flashing light moving across the
tree line to the east and making a humming noise. When the light
disappears, the TV set comes on again. (Manchester (N.H.) Sunday News,
January 17, 1965; Schopick,
p. 148)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3835
Date: 1/19/1965
Description: Hall also
meets for 90 minutes with retired Navy Capt. John
Lawrence Counihan who is on the staff of Sen. Thomas
J. Dodd (D-Conn.). Counihan says that the Committee on Astronautics
and Space Science would be considered “nutty” if it took up hearings,
but it might be willing to consider an informal briefing by NICAP.
(Swords 306)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3838
Date: 1/19/1965
Description: 6:15 p.m. William
Blackburn, a
draftsman at a General Electric plant, is chopping wood at an archery
range east of Staunton, Virginia, in an area known locally as Brands
Flats. He sees two saucer-like shapes in the sky at 2,000–4,000 feet
altitude. The larger one seems to be about 80 feet across. The smaller
one, 20 feet across, descends quickly and silently and lands 45–55 feet
away from Blackburn. A door opens, making a slight noise and revealing
an interior light. Three figures, each 3 feet tall and wearing
tight-fitting metallic-looking suits, emerge. They have reddish-orange
skin and piercing eyes. One has an extra-long finger on its left hand.
They speak in an unintelligible language, then return to the UFO. The
door closes so perfectly that an outline cannot be seen, and the object
takes off. The entire episode lasts only 5 minutes. Blackburn sees no
traces in the snow, but thinks the object and humanoids are hovering.
(NICAP, “Two
Humanoids Approach Witness”; Clark III 196)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3839
Date: 1/19/1965
Description: NICAP Acting Director Richard
H. Hall meets with a CIA agent and passes on some UFO case
information and other materials to OSI for preparation of a paper on
UFOs. Hall is given a direct phone number for the agent’s office. He
uses the phone line only once to “report some high-quality UFO sightings
to the CIA.” He is also given a CIA security clearance without his
consent or knowledge. A January 25 CIA memo confirming the meeting shows
an inordinate amount of interest in NICAP, given the CIA’s mandate for
acquiring foreign intelligence. (ClearIntent, pp. 231–234;
Richard H. Hall, Uninvited Guests, Aurora, 1988, pp. 11, 354–358; Good
Above, pp. 349–350)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3837
Date: 1/19/1965
Description: Humanoid beings emerged from landed object at archery
range, approached witness, who froze, apparently paralyzed
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Brand’s Flats, VA
ID: 32
Date: 1/19/1965
Time: 1815
Description: A workman cutting wood on the Augusta archery range saw two
saucer-shaped objects, 30 m and 6 m in diameter, hovering in the sky.
The smaller one landed, a door opened, and three pilots emerged. They
looked human, but had a reddish-orange skin and staring eyes. One of
them had “a long finger on his left hand.” Their clothes were the same
color as the craft, whose open door showed a strange light inside. The
object was so highly polished that “I would bet on a clear day you could
not see it at five thousand feet.” The occupants spoke sounds that were
not understood and reentered the object. The door outline could not be
seen when it was closed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Brands Flat, Virginia
ID: 632
Date: 1/23/1965
Description: 8:40 a.m. Two separate cars driving in different direction
stall out near the intersection of US Hwy 60 and State Route 614 in
Lightfoot, Virginia. One of the drivers, Thomas
F. Mains, sees a lightbulb- or mushroom- shaped object 75–80 feet
tall and 10–25 feet wide, hovering over nearby field about 4 feet off
the ground. It is metallic gray, with red-orange and blue lights and is
making a vacuum cleaner noise. It suddenly accelerates horizontally to
the west against the wind and disappears. (NICAP, “UFO
Hovering over Field Stalls Cars”; Sparks, p. 304)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3840
Date: 1/23/1965
Time: 8:40 AM
Description: Witness: Mr. T.F. Mains. One mushroom or lightbulb-shaped
object, 75-80’ high, 25’ diameter on top and l0’ bottom diameter;
metallic grey with a red-orange glow on the near side and a blue glow on
the far side. The object made a sound like a vacuum cleaner. The
witness’ car electrical system was affected as the object moved away at
an altitude of 4’. The sighting lasted 25 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Williamsburg, Virginia
ID: 517
Date: 1/23/1965
Time: 0840
Description: A 31-year-old man driving a ’64 Cadillac was at the
intersection of U.S. Highway 60 and State Route 14 when the engine
failed, and he had to stop by the side of the road. He then observed an
object about 1.2 m above ground. It was shaped like a mushroom or an
electric bulb, 25 m high, 8 m in diameter made noise similar to a vacuum
cleaner had a metallic gray coIor, a red-orange light on one side, and a
blue one on the other. It took off against the wind toward the west, at
high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Williamsburg, Virginia
ID: 633
Date: 1/23/1965
Description: Metallic-appearing, mushroom-shaped object, red-orange
glow, at low level. Sound like vacuum cleaner heard, E-M effects on
car
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Williamsburg, VA
ID: 33
Date: 1/25/1965
Description: Memo to Chief, Contact Division: NICAP Case
#(censured).
Type: memo
Reference: Pea
Research
See also: 12/19/64
Date: 1/25/1965
Description: Night. Policeman Woody Darnall, his family, and several
neighbors see a glowing object hovering on a mountainside near Marion,
Virginia. It seems to explode and take off in a shower of sparks. A
group of Marion residents and state forest officials climb to the area
and find several treetops bent over and one green tree on fire where the
UFO was seen. (Harold H. Deneault Jr., “UFOs Return to Washington,” Fate
18, no. 7 (July 1965): 52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3841
Date: 1/25/1965
Time: night
Description: Woody Darnell, policeman, his family, and several neighbors
saw a stationary object on the ground. It took off with a shower of
sparks. Several trees were found uprooted or calcined at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fate Jul., 65 (Vallee)
Location: Marion, Virginia
ID: 634
Date: 1/25/1965
Description: Night. Nine persons near Fredericksburg, Virginia, see a
UFO that resembles a “Christmas sparkler.” One witness says it looks
like a spinning top spitting sparks out of the bottom as it moves up the
Rappahannock Valley at treetop level. (Harold H. Deneault Jr., “UFOs
Return to Washington,” Fate 18, no. 7 (July 1965): 52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3842
Date: 1/26/1965
Description: Evening. Steven Houffer, 16, and six friends are driving on
US Highway 250 near Brands Flats, Virginia, when they see a small man
walking toward the road from a field. He sits down and peers intently at
passing cars. Houffer stops the car and he and his friends get out. When
they approach, the being runs up a hill. Two other entities appear and
run in the same direction. They are all about 3.5 feet tall, wear
silvery one-piece garments, and leave no footprints. Police officers
conduct a search with local photographer Charles Weaver, but find
nothing. Some time later, Houffer and Weaver see a “glowing aluminum
barn,” which they go down to investigate. Weaver is walking around
inside when something hits him on the head. The two turn to run after
Weaver snaps a photo. In the light of the flashbulb, they see a little
man standing by the barn. The photo is allegedly confiscated by
government agents. A local man, Donald Cash, 6 feet tall, confesses to
dressing up in overalls to pose as an alien, although his story does not
completely match the details of the account. (“UFO
Posses Hit,”
Staunton (Va.) Daily News Leader, January 28, 1965, pp. 1–2; Jerome
Clark, “Two
New Contact Claims,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 3 (May/June 1965):
20–21; “Fed
Up with Play: Green Man Confesses,” Staunton (Va.) Daily News
Leader, January 31, 1965, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3844
Date: 1/26/1965
Description: Evening. Rev. H. Preston Robinson and others in Marion,
Virginia, watch an object hovering 600 feet above the city. The object
makes a steady buzzing sound and has several lights on its round bottom.
Spinning clockwise, it shoots out of sight at fantastic speed. It emits
a ball of fire as it disappears. (Harold H. Deneault Jr., “UFOs Return
to Washington,” Fate 18, no. 7 (July 1965): 52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3843
Date: 1/27/1965
Description: 11:15 p.m. Donald
Keyhoe and NICAP board member Joseph
Bryan III appear on the Les Crane Show and are questioned
skeptically by Crane.
(Donald E. Keyhoe, “The
Crane Show Fiasco,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 1 (March/April 1965):
6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3846
Date: 1/27/1965
Description: NASA engineer saw V-shaped object with red-orange lights
zigzagging at low level. Object touched down briefly, took off, rapidly
climbed out of sight
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Hampton, VA
ID: 34
Date: 1/27/1965
Description: 6:00 p.m. NASA research engineer A. G. Crimmins
Jr. observes an object at Plum Tree Island Wildlife Refuge, near
Poquoson, Virginia, that is approximately 75 feet across and 10–15 feet
in height. The object has 3– 7 lights colored red and orange and appears
to rotate. It moves approximately a quarter mile west of its original
position on a zigzag course and then appears to land on the ocean shore.
It remains still for about 5 minutes, then takes off to the north and
turns right to depart to the east at a high rate of speed. Crimmins
watches it through 20x binoculars. The same object is apparently seen by
retired USAF Maj. John R. Nayadley, another NASA research engineer, who
observes a V-shaped object with blinking red-orange lights over Hampton,
Virginia. (NICAP, “Zig-Zagging
Object Lands / Takes Off”; “New
Sightings Put AF on Spot,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 1 (March/April
1965): 4; UFOEv II 156)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3845
Date: 1/29/1965
Description: In Monterey, California, Mayor George Clemens and his
family see a bright light performing acrobatics in the northern sky. It
hovers, then shoots straight up about 500 feet, fades, drops down, and
hovers again. Then it drops toward the water and disappears. The Coast
Guard finds nothing. (Sanderson, InvRes, p. 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3847
Date: 1/30/1965
Description: 2:00 a.m. TV repairman Sid
Padrick is walking along Manresa Beach near his home in Watsonville,
California. He hears a jet-like noise and sees a huge UFO moving slowly
towards him. He hears a voice saying, “We are not hostile,” and inviting
him aboard. He enters the craft and sees a human in a flying suit who
calls himself “Xeno” and gives Padrick a tour of the ship and other crew
members that culminates in a deeply spiritual experience. Padrick
reports his experience to Hamilton AFB [now closed] on February 4 and
receives a 3-hour visit from Maj. Damon
B. Reeder on February 8, and perhaps other officers after that.
(Jerome Clark, “Two
New Contact
Claims,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 3 (May/June 1965): 20–21;
Clark III 869–871; Good Above, pp. 293–298;
Good Need, pp. 247–251;
Lorenzen, Encounters with UFO Occupants, Berkley Medallion, 1976; “Contactee
Loses Court Case,” UFO Investigator, April 1971, p. 1; Patrick
Gross, URECAT, August
19, 2008; Marcus Lowth, “Sidney
Padrick’s California Beach Encounter with ‘Xeno,’” UFO Insight,
October 12, 2017; Curt Collins, “1965:
UFO Contact in California,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, December
30, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3848
Date: 2/1965
Description: George
Langelaan, ex-secret
service officer and author of the short story “The Fly,” gives a lecture
at Mourenx, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France, and declares that the Russian
and US secret services have collaborated on the UFO problem and
concluded that the objects are extraterrestrial. (Good Above, p. 133)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3849
Date: 2/3/1965
Time: 2045
Description: A man saw a light on the beach near Penguin Street and got
out of his car to observe it. He then heard a modulated whistling sound
and saw an object, 7 m wide, rise from the beach to an altitude of about
20 m. He came back to the site with other persons, and a dog that became
restless at a spot where grass was found flattened. Another witness,
driving near Humphrey Ave., saw the object as it rose over South
Brighton.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 149 (Vallee)
Location: South Brighton, New Zealand
ID: 635
Date: 2/3/1965
Description: 8:45 p.m. A man sees a light on the beach near Penguin
Street, South New Brighton, New Zealand, and gets out of his car to
observe it. He hears a modulated whistling sound and sees an object, 22
feet wide, rise from the beach to an altitude of 60 feet. He returns
with other witnesses and a dog that gets restless at a spot where grass
is flattened. Another witness sees the UFO as it is rising above the
suburb. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 305)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3850
Date: 2/4/1965
Description: Several persons observed five luminous objects in flight. A
transparent craft landed, and five creatures, about 2 m high, with one
eye on the forehead and flashing helmets, emerged and tried to abduct a
villager. Approximate date.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 39 (Vallee)
Location: Torrent, Argentina
ID: 636
Date: 2/11/1965
Description: Personal Interview report by Capt. D.M. (initials): Aerial
encounter of three UFOs with radar and visual sightings. Air Force
flight F-169 en route from Anchorage, AL, to Japan. Capt. R.W.
(initials) and Capt. W.(initial) observed 3 UFOs on radar 5 miles off
the wing. The UFOs paced the Flying Tiger freighter aircraft for 30
minutes then climbed away at a steep angle at about 1200 knots ground
speed. Estimated size (thumb and finger method) approx. 200 to 1000 ft.
diam., glowing red and oval shaped. The pilot remarked, “we often see
UFOs on the Alaskan run!”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Pacific Ocean
Date: 2/11/1965
Description: The Pentagon sends Blue Book chief Maj. Hector
Quintanilla to Richmond, Virginia, on a debunking tour. Stressing
delusions and hoaxes, he tells reporters that not a single UFO report is
genuine. His press conference display includes false UFO photos and fake
debris. “I am a facts man,” Quintanilla says. “I cannot explain why
people want to see UFOs.” (“AF
Misleads Senator,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 2 (May/June 1965):
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3852
Date: 2/11/1965
Alternate date: 2/15/1965
Description: Night. A Flying Tiger Line cargo aircraft (Flight F-169) en
route from Anchorage, Alaska, to Tachikawa Airfield, Tokyo, Japan,
encounters three gigantic, glowing, red UFOs, at least 200 feet in
diameter, about 4 hours out of Anchorage. The aircraft radar also picks
them up about 5 miles off the wing. They pace the plane for 30 minutes,
then speed away at 1,380 mph. (NICAP, “Radar/Visual
over Pacific Ocean”; Richard H. Hall, Uninvited Guests, Aurora,
1988, pp. 249–250; Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, pp. 128–129)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3851
Date: 2/11/1965
Description: Flying Tiger aircrew observed three red oval objects,
tracked on airborne radar. Paced aircraft for 30 minutes, departed
upward at high speed
Type: sighting
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Pacific Ocean
ID: 35
Date: 2/16/1965
End date: 2/18/1965
Description: Astronauts Neil
Armstrong, Richard
F. Gordon Jr., Buzz
Aldrin, David
Scott, and Rusty
Schweikart visit Sedan Crater and Buckboard Mesa at the Nevada Test
Site to practice carrying out geological observations in preparation for
a moon landing. (Nevada National Security Site, “Apollo
Astronauts Train at the Nevada Test Site,”
July 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3853
Date: 2/21/1965
Time: 2100
Description: About 50 Toba Indians, including policemen, saw three
little men with luminous glows emerge from an object that had made
several low passes over the village with other flying craft. A
photographer took several pictures and noted that the creatures feared
the light from his flash camera. The object increased in luminosity as
it took off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: CODOVNI; FSR 65, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Chalac, Argentina
ID: 637
Date: 2/26/1965
Description: 3:00 p.m. George
Adamski takes his last film of a spaceship at Madeleine
Rodeffer’s house in Silver Spring, Maryland. (Clark III 41; Good
Above, pp. 374–377;
Douglas Curran, In Advance of the Landing: Folk Concepts of Outer Space,
Abbeville, 1985, pp. 42–48;
Rene Erik Olsen, [George
Adamski photo analysis], Adamski Foundation; Marc Hallet, A
Critical Appraisal of George Adamski: The Man Who Spoke to the
Space Brothers, The
Author, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3854
Date: 2/27/1965
Description: The first conference of Australian UFO organizations takes
place in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. It is arranged by W. Howard
Sloane of the Ballarat Astronomical Society to share information and
remove some of the stigma of UFO research. The conference is held at the
Ballarat Municipal Observatory in Mount Pleasant. Representatives of the
Perth UFO Research Group, the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society,
the UFO Investigation Centre NSW, and the Flying Saucer Research Society
of South Australia are in attendance. Witnesses include Rev. William
Gill and Charles Brew. Former Air Marshal George
Jones attends, and the RAAF is represented by B. G. Roberts, senior
research scientist at the Operational Research Office, Department of
Air. Roberts says that the RAAF has determined that 90% of reports are
explainable, but that only those that might be a threat to national
security are worth investigating and “there are no documents, files, or
dossiers held by the Department which prove the existence of ‘flying
saucers.’” The researchers quiz him on the 1953 Drury photographic case,
but Roberts is unaware of that one. Jones insists on keeping an open
mind about reports like those by Gill and Brew. (Swords 391–392; “First
Australian Convention of UFO Groups,” Australian Flying Saucer
Review (UFOIC), no. 8 (June 1965): 13–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3855
Date: 3/2/1965
Time: 1355
Description: John F. Reeves, 65, retired, was walking in the woods when
he observed an object 10 m in diameter, 2m thick, saucer-shaped with an
outer rim and a stairway. After watching it for 10 min, he saw a
robotlike being, about 1.30m tall, wearing a silver uniform, glass
headgear, and then returned with a The being walked walked to the craft,
then returned with a box that emitted a flash when pointed at the
witness. The object subsequently took off with a whistling sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Brooksville, Florida
ID: 638
Date: 3/2/1965
Description: 1:55 p.m. John F. Reeves, 65, retired, while walking in the
woods east of Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida, sees a bluish-green and
reddish-purple object 20–30 feet in diameter, 6 feet thick,
saucer-shaped, and with an outer rim and a stairway, two 2-foot windows
on top, landed on the ground on four 4-foot legs about 2,000 feet away.
He approaches to 100 feet. After watching the object for 10 minutes, he
sees a robot-like being about 200– 300 feet away, about 5 feet tall,
wearing a gray-silver uniform, glass dome headgear, wide-spaced eyes,
and pointed chin. It walks to 15 feet away from Reeves, stares at him
for 1.5 minutes, points a box or 6–7-inch black object at Reeves that
emits a flash 3 times, then walks back to the landed vehicle and climbs
in. The object has Venetian blind–like blades on the rim that open and
close; the rim starts rotating counterclockwise, the landing gear
retract, then it takes off with a whooshing-rumbling sound and
disappears vertically in less than 10 seconds, dropping two sheets of
paper with indecipherable writing, and leaving indentations and
footprints in the ground. The case is investigated by MacDill AFB in
Tampa. Richard
Hall supervises the investigation for NICAP and concludes it is a
hoax. (NICAP, “Landed
Object and Entity Case / Hoax”; “The
Florida ‘Landing’ Incident,” APRO Bulletin, March/April 1965, pp. 1,
3; Joan Whritenour, “UFO
Lands?” Interplanetary Intelligence Report 1, no. 1 (May 1965): 4;
“Project
Blue Book,” Interplanetary Intelligence Report 1, no. 2 (July 1965):
8; Clark III 209–218; Jerome Clark, “Passport to Moniheya,” IUR 20, no.
3 (May/June 1995): 10–19; Sparks,
p. 304) March 5 — Two Air Force radar technicians are repairing the
height-finder antenna at Benton Air Force Station [now Ground Equipment
Facility QRC] in Ricketts Glen State Park near Red Rock, Pennsylvania,
when they see a small, saucer-shaped object land nearby. As they
approach it, a beam of light comes out and strikes both of them. That is
the last thing they remember, and they fail to report to the command
post. Their equipment is left behind at the antenna, but air police
cannot locate the men. Pennsylvania State Police assist in a search of
the area. About 16 hours later, a state trooper locates the two men
walking along State Route 487 south of Lopez, about 10 miles away. They
seem dazed, so they are taken to a hospital in Williamsport, where they
are found to be dehydrated and confused. No alcohol or drugs are found.
They are then taken to an Air Force hospital at Stewart AFB [now Stewart
Air National Guard Base] in Orange County, New York. Trace amounts of
alpha radiation are found on their clothing and strange marks are on
their necks. AFOSI special agents interview them, but the men cannot
remember anything. After 2 weeks in the hospital, they are released back
to their unit. (“Pennsylvania Abduction from Air Force Base,” Filer’s
Files, September 9, 1999; Good Need, pp. 251–252)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3856
Date: 3/4/1965
Time: 9:23 PM
Description: Witness: W.V. Harrison. Three lights rose from the ground,
several seconds apart. The next day, an oily spot was found at the
site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Corvallis, Oregon
ID: 518
Date: 3/4/1965
Time: 1830
Description: A farmer and his employee saw from their car three
yellow-orange spheres rapidly rising. Oily spots were found in the
field.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Corvallis, Oregon
ID: 639
Date: 3/8/1965
Time: 7:40 PM
Description: Witness: J.H. Martin, instrument maker for U.S. Bureau of
Standards. Six lights flew overhead slowly for 3 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Mt. Airy, Maryland
ID: 519
Date: 3/8/1965
Description: 7:40 p.m. J. H. Martin, an instrument maker for the
National Bureau of Standards, and his two sons observe in Mount Airy,
Maryland, six lights he estimates to be 1,000 feet away and moving at a
speed of 20 mph with no sound. They appear as three pair of lights, all
with the same intensity. They are comparable to a traffic signal. The
lights pass between the barn and the house at an estimated altitude of
100–500 feet, flying in a straight line toward the hills two miles away.
They are in view for approximately 3 minutes. (NICAP, “Six
Lights Just Miss House”; Sparks, p. 304)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3857
Date: 3/8/1965
Time: 1940
Description: Three persons saw a cigarshaped object with two fixed red
lights, which flew above them, avoided hitting the house at the last
moment, and was lost to sight in the northeast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Mount Airy, Maryland
ID: 640
Date: 3/15/1965
Description: Around 1:00 a.m. James W. Flynn is deep in the Everglades
in his swamp buggy, somewhere east of Immokalee, Florida, with his four
hunting dogs. He sees a hovering object like an upside-down cone about
200 feet above some cypress trees slightly over a mile away. It moves
back and forth from its original position. Through binoculars it looks
25 feet high and 50 feet in diameter, with square windows emitting a
yellowish glow. Around its base an orange-red glow extends downwards and
illuminates the ground some 75 feet around the rim. Some 40 minutes into
the sighting, Flynn decides to approach it in his buggy. A high-pitched
ringing sound bothers one of his dogs. He stops 600 feet away and walks,
waving his arms, toward the UFO, which is hovering 4 feet off the
ground. A blast of wind from the object nearly knocks him off his feet.
He continues, and at 75 feet from the UFO he waves his arms again. The
object beams a light like a “welder’s torch” that hits his forehead. He
blacks out twice. When he wakes up he is temporarily blinded. In the
morning he finds a symmetrical circle of burned ground. The tops of
trees are burned. Flynn makes his way to the home of Henry Osceola (or
Henry Billy) later in the day and arrives at his own home in East Fort
Myers on March 17 and spends 5 days in the hospital with damage to his
right eye, bruises, burns, deep muscle tissue damage, and loss of
hearing. His eye damage is permanent. The landing marks and burned trees
are verified by the Lee County sheriff’s office. (NICAP, “Everglades
/ James Flynn Case”; Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP, 1969, pp. 12–16; Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole
Story, Signet, 1969, pp. 192–195; Clark III 438–440; Patrick Gross, “UFO
in the Everglades, USA 1965”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3858
Date: 3/15/1965
Time: 0100
Description: In the Everglades, 30 km east of Big Cypress, James Flynn,
45, who was hunting, saw a huge, lighted object 1 m above the swamp
surface. He watched it for 40 min, observing that it was conical, twice
as wide as it was high, and seemed built from metal sections over one
square m each. It showed four rows of square windows, 70 cm wide.
Estimated diameter: 25 m. A yellow light shone through the windows, and
the object made a sound of a transformer and wind. Flynn got within 2 m
of it and made a gesture. A beam of light from the underside of the
object struck him between the eyes and he lost consciousness for 24
hours. He had lost vision in the right eye, saw poorly with the left,
went to a doctor in Fort Myers, and spent five days in the
hospital.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fate Sep.,65 (Vallee)
Location: Fort Myers, Florida
ID: 641
Date: 3/15/1965
Description: Hovering cone-shaped object, animal reaction. Witness
struck on forehead by light beam, unconscious, eye damage. Damaged
foliage found at site
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: medical
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Everglades, FL
ID: 36
Date: 3/17/1965
Description: 10:00 p.m. Walter Jacobs, steward on the freighter Iron
Duke, sees a bright orange object with a dent on top and a knot on the
bottom off Newcastle, New South Wales. He takes a photograph but it is
not published. (“UAO Photographed
Clearly in Australia,” APRO Bulletin, March/April 1965, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3859
Date: 3/18/1965
Alternate date: 3/21/1965
Description: 7:06 p.m. Capt. Yoshiharu Inaba is flying a TOA Airlines
Convair 240 from Osaka to Hiroshima, Japan, at an altitude of 6,500
feet. Just after the aircraft passes Himeji, Hyogo, an elliptical
luminous object appears and follows the plane. Inaba makes a 60° turn to
avoid a collision, but the object makes a similar maneuver then follows
along the plane’s left wing for about 56 miles. Emitting a greenish
light, the object affects the automatic direction finder and the radio.
As copilot Tetsu Majima radios the Matsuyama control tower, he hears
frantic calls from Joji Negishi, the pilot of a Tokyo Airlines Piper
Apache, who says he is being chased by a luminous object over Matsuyama.
The object shoots away and disappears. (NICAP, “Object
Paces Japanese Airliner”;
“UFO
Encounters over Japan,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 1 (March/April
1965): 6; Timothy Green Beckley, “Saucers Chase Japanese Airliner,” Fate
18, no. 8 (August 1965): 32–35; Schopick,
pp. 150–153; Good Need, p. 253;
Patrick Gross, “Aircraft–UFO
Encounters, Japan, March 18, 1965”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3860
Date: 4/1965
Description: Felipe Martinez, 37, reported that he was paralyzed during
the landing of a silent, large, egg-shaped object, from which emerged a
small man, about 1 m tall, wearing a helmet linked to the object by
three cables. The being spoke slowly and with difficulty in,
Spanish.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 40 (Vallee)
Location: Monte Grande, Argentina
ID: 642
Date: 4/4/1965
Time: 4:05 AM
Description: Witnesses: USAF A/2c Corum, a weather observer;
confirmation by college student R. Pittman not clear from available
data. One 40’ black, oval object with four lights along the bottom, flew
in and out of the clouds for 15 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Keesler AFB, Mississippi
ID: 520
Date: 4/4/1965
Description: USAF weather observer saw black oval with body lights
flying in and out of clouds
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Keesler AFB, MS
ID: 37
Date: 4/8/1965
Time: 2130
Description: A 60-year-old man saw an object 200 m away, in the
northwest at 30 m altitude. It turned east, then left toward the south.
First seen as a single, bright light, then two luminous sources were
visible through a “door” in the object, which appeared metallic. Radio
interference was noted.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Kindrae, Minnesota
ID: 643
Date: 4/20/1965
Description: John Carstairs Arnell, scientific advisor to the Canadian
Chief of Air Staff, prepares a four-page “Suggested Statement by the
Minister of National Defence,” Paul
Hellyer. It reiterates the US opinion that UFOs do not constitute a
national security threat because most sightings involve natural
phenomena seen by unreliable witnesses. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 16–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3861
Date: 4/23/1965
Time: 0800
Description: A woman observed an object land near her house while she
was working in her kitchen. It was shaped like a disk, showed portholes
and a cylinder about 1 m high, with a sliding door from which a small
creature, about 1 m tall, emerged and jumped to the ground. Its face was
not clearly visible but it had pointed ears, a sort of tail, and was
linked to the main object by a cable. It wore white clothing, appeared
to pick up something from the ground, and reentered the cylinder, which
then slid up into the larger white disk. The outside rim started
spinning in a counterclockwise motion with a soft whistling sound and
the object rose straight up, out of view. Estimated diameter of the
disk: 7m.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Rivesville, West Virginia
ID: 644
Date: 4/24/1965
Description: 5:30 p.m. Ernest
Arthur Bryant is walking toward Scoriton Down near Scoriton (or
Scorriton), Devon, England, when he sees a saucer-like object approach
him. It stops nearby and a door opens. Three beings appear and beckon to
him. He approaches the saucer. Two of the three beings appear to be
nonhuman, but the third seems to be a youth in his teens. The youth
speaks with an accent that Bryant thinks might be Russian and calls
himself Yamski. He says that he is from Venus, and then remarks that he
wished “Des” was there, as he would understand what is happening. At the
close of their conversation, he says that in a month he will return and
bring proof of “Mantell.” Ufologists who eventually hear the story
immediately associate Yamski with George
Adamski, the
controversial contactee who died on April 23. Adamski was of Polish
background and had a noticeable accent. If this were Adamski, he has
lost any signs of aging. Adamski’s friend Desmond
Leslie was a coauthor of his first book. Captain Thomas
F. Mantell, piloting
an F-51, had been killed in 1948 when he began chasing what he thought
was a UFO. According to Bryant, the saucer returns June 7 and leaves
some items, including several pieces of metal, allegedly from an F-51.
He reports the story to the British UFO Research Association, which
launches an investigation. The various items Bryant turns over to the
two investigators (a turbine fitting, metal parts, a broken bulb and
fitting, a phial containing silver sand, and a piece of paper on which
the words “Adelphos Adelpho” are written) prove to be mundane and
irrelevant to the F-51, according to aeronautical engineer Leonard
G.
Cramp. In
spite of problems with the story, one of the investigators, Eileen
Buckle, rushes into print with a book, The Scoriton Mystery. Shortly
afterward, Bryant unexpectedly takes ill and dies from a brain tumor on
June 24, 1967. The other investigator, Norman Oliver, visits his widow.
She says that she is familiar with the story in the book, as her husband
had presented it to her first as the script for a science fiction novel.
It is only after the investigation is well along that she realizes her
husband was trying to sell the story as a real event. She indicates that
the supposed items related to Mantell were purchased at a naval surplus
store. Alice Wells, head of the Adamski Foundation, dismisses the
Scoriton story from the beginning, as does Desmond Leslie. Between their
rejection and Oliver’s uncovering of the hoax, few remain to support
Bryant except Buckle. (Clark III 1040–1044; Story, pp. 324–326;
Eileen Buckle, The Scoriton Mystery, Spearman, 1967; Norman Oliver,
Sequel to Scoriton, The Author, 1968; Patrick Gross, URECAT, August
19, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3862
Date: 4/26/1965
Time: 1700
Description: Gary X., 9, saw an object which came down silently and
hovered at ground level 60 m away. A sort of periscope emerged from it,
and a strange noise (also heard by the boy’s father) was noted. After
1-2 min the “periscope” disappeared, the object rose, and then dashed up
at unbelievable speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: New London, Minnesota
ID: 645
Date: 5/1965
Description: Hayden
C. Hewes’s Interplanetary Intelligence of Unidentified Flying
Objects publishes the first issue of the Interplanetary Intelligence
Report, which lasts through September/October 1966. (Interplanetary
Intelligence Report 1,
no. 1 (May 1965))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3863
Date: 5/1/1965
Description: Pilots Robert
L. Stephens and fire control officer Daniel Andre reach a speed of
2,070 mph in a Lockheed YF- 12A at Edwards AFB, California. The YF-12A
also reaches an altitude record of 80,257 feet. (Wikipedia, “Robert L.
Stephens”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3864
Date: 5/6/1965
Description: 9:10 a.m. The crew of a US Navy ship in the Philippine Sea
notices an aircraft approaching. At 9:14 a.m., the SPS-6C air search
radar detects four targets at ranges up to 22 miles for the next 6
minutes at extremely high speed (3,500 mph), making various maneuvers.
As seen through binoculars, they appear as three lighted objects, one of
1st stellar magnitude the others 2nd magnitude. The objects hover
directly over the ship for 3 minutes. There is no IFF response. One
object to starboard appears larger on radar. The objects depart to the
southeast at extremely high speed. (NICAP, “Radar/Visual
by U.S. Flag Ship in the Philippines”; Sparks,
p. 305; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 93–94)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3865
Date: 5/7/1965
Time: 7:30 PM
Description: Witness: M.E. Marshall. One light, like a satellite, split
into two parts, one of which was copperish color, then two more joined
up. One object may have been tumbling. Sighting lasted 1 minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Oxford, Michigan
ID: 521
Date: 5/23/1965
Time: 2100
Description: About 70 km from Mackay, Jim Tilse, Eric Judin, and John
Burgess saw a circular object, 10 m in diameter, flying erratically,
making a buzzing sound. It had headlights, a tripod landing gear, and
supported another disk-shaped device. Police investigation disclosed
damaged trees and other landing traces.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 65, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Eton Range, Australia
ID: 646
Date: 5/24/1965
Time: 0130
Description: Mr. and Mrs. French observed an object in a field at 4 m
altitude. It had blinding white lights, caused radio interference, and
made a high-pitched sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Spaceview 44; LDLN 80 (Vallee)
Location: Geradton, Australia
ID: 647
Date: 5/24/1965
Time: 1840
Description: Hunters saw through binoculars an object resembling an
upside-down plate, very luminous, with a red light on top, flying in
circles and landing on a hilltop. The Lujan police sent a patrol, under
Comm. Osvaldo Pagella, which found a large, metallic object resting on
the hill, but they could not approach the object before it took off,
because of the difficult terrain.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Paso de las Carretas, Argentina
ID: 648
Date: 5/24/1965
Description: 12:05 a.m. John Burgess, James Tilse, and Eric Judin are
playing cards at the Epsom Retreat Hotel near Epsom, Queensland, when
their attention is drawn to something on or near the ground. It appears
to be a disc- shaped object with banks of lights underneath it to their
southeast. Tilse estimates its diameter to be 30 feet, Judin as 20 feet,
and Burgess as 6 feet. In the moonlight, its color seems to be charcoal.
At times, it seems to approach them, then recede. Finally, it rapidly
rises to about 300 feet, then it accelerates away to the northeast.
Burgess and Judin heard a buzzing sound. Total duration is 40 minutes.
Two days later, a circular depression is found nearby close to a
telephone line. Tilse says that “tops of trees appear to be burned.”
(“The
James Tilse Report,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1965): 13–14; Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from
UFOs, NICAP,
1969, p. 63; “UAO
Buzzes Hotel in Australia,” APRO Bulletin, Jan./Feb. 1966, p. 3;
Keith Basterfield, “Cold
Case Investigation: Eton Ridge, Queensland, 24 May 1965,”
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena— Scientific Research, June 13, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3866
Date: 5/24/1965
Description: Circular UFO with three legs on or near the ground, trees
illuminated. Departed rapidly with buzzing sound. Circular ring
impression found at site
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Mackay, Australia
ID: 38
Date: 5/28/1965
Description: 3:25 a.m. An Ansett-ANA DC-6b airliner piloted by
Capt. John Barker is flying over Bougainville Reef off the coast of
Queensland, Australia, when it is paced for 10–15 minutes by an oblate
UFO with exhaust gases coming from it. The copilot and a stewardess also
see the object. Barker takes photos of the UFO, but when he lands in
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, he is not allowed to have the film
processed until he returns to Australia. When he eventually arrives in
Brisbane, he is flown directly to Canberra where both the film and the
flight recorder are confiscated. The Directorate of Air Force
Intelligence in Canberra later denies that any such incident took place.
However, an official statement by Barker to the RAAF surfaces, in which
he says: “I had always scoffed at these reports, but I saw it. We all
saw it. It was under intelligent control, and it was certainly no known
aircraft.” (Good Above, pp. 168–170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3867
Date: 5/28/1965
Description: Police statement (interview); Bougainville Reef, Australia:
An Ansett-A.N.A. DC-6B airliner (VH-INH) en route to Port Moresby, New
Guinea, was buzzed by a UFO at about 3:25 a.m. The pilot radioed the
Townsville Ground Control Tower and talked to Mr. O. (initial).
Description: slightly spherical and oblate, flattened on top and bottom;
appeared to have exhaust gasses coming from it. Photos of the UFO were
taken by the pilot but were later confiscated at Canberra as was the
taped conversation to Mr. O., the Tower operator. Mr. O. was threatened
with dismissal if he talked about the incident.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Bougainville Reef, Australia
Date: 5/28/1965
Description: Elliptical object paced airliner, accelerated and sped
away, photographs taken
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Townsville, North Queensland, Australia
ID: 39
Date: 6/1965
Description: 6:30 p.m. Mrs. J. Whitehead is in the garden at her cottage
in Flasby, North Yorkshire, England, when a large disc-shaped object
passes over, making a slight swishing noise. On the underside are three
“windows” in a triangular formation. She feels a strange calming
sensation as the UFO passes by. (Jenny Randles, “Fake Photographs, Real
Sightings,” IUR 11, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1986): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3869
Date: 6/1965
Description: Systems analyst Jacques
Vallée publishes Anatomy of a Phenomenon, which generates particular
excitement for its sober, scientific treatment of the UFO phenomenon.
Well reviewed, it plays a significant role in the renaissance of
interest in UFOs as scientists express a willingness to examine the UFO
problem. It is the first book by a working scientist to argue for the
extraterrestrial hypothesis. (Jacques Vallée, Anatomy
of a Phenomenon,
Regnery, 1965; Clark III 1213)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3868
Date: 6/2/1965
Time: 2000
Description: Mr. D. Armstrong, a former airman, was called outside by
his sons and saw a spherical object with flashing lights that appeared
to land silently on a hillside situated on Mr. Watson’s property.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 65, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Kuranda, Australia
ID: 649
Date: 6/4/1965
Description: During the Gemini
4 mission, astronaut James
McDivitt spots an object that he describes as a “white cylindrical
shape with a white pole sticking out of one corner of it.” He takes two
photos of it. His partner, Ed
White, is asleep at the time. McDivitt maintains that it was some
unknown but man-made piece of debris, while James Oberg, flight
controller at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, argues that it
is most likely the Titan II second stage of the craft. (“‘Object’
Astronaut Sighted Still Unidentified,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 3
(June/July 1965): 3; Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, pp. 212–213;
“The
Gemini IV Photograph,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1965): 3; Condon, pp. 205–207;
Good Above, pp. 378–379;
“Gemini
4 Astronaut James
McDivitt UFO Sighting,” SpaceTimeForum YouTube channel, June 9,
2013; Center for UFO Studies, [case
documents]; Lee Speigel, “NASA
UFO Files Revealed on Science Channel Special,” HuffPost, March 27,
2012; Patrick Gross, “NASA
Photographs of Unidentified Objects”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3870
Date: 6/7/1965
End date: 6/8/1965
Description: 7:50 p.m. Meteorological officer Jorge Stanich is
performing a routine observation at the Argentinian Deception Station on
Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, when he
notices a stationary, bright, yellow light at an altitude of 25° above
the horizon. He estimates its distance at 1.2 miles. The object is
visible for 5 seconds. Six and a half hours later, at 2:20 a.m., he
again sees a stationary light in the northwest at an altitude of 40°
above the horizon for 4 seconds. (Daniel A. Perisse, “Deception
Island UFO Sightings,” MUFON 1987 International UFO Symposium
Proceedings, Mutual UFO Network, 1987, pp. 142–146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3871
Date: 6/18/1965
Alternate date: 6/20/1965
Description: 4:20 p.m. The Commander of the Chilean Aguirre Cerda
Research Station [destroyed in 1967] on Deception Island in the South
Shetland Islands, Antarctica, Mario
Jahn Barrera, together
with Chilean Air Force pilot Lt. Benavidez, a meteorologist, and seven
other witnesses, observe a UFO that maneuvers rapidly on an oscillating
course for 25 minutes. (Good Above, p. 309;
Daniel A. Perisse, “Deception
Island UFO Sightings,” MUFON 1987 International UFO Symposium
Proceedings, Mutual UFO Network, 1987, p. 146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3872
Date: 6/19/1965
Description: 4:00 a.m. Two farm boys are stacking hay near Rocky,
Oklahoma, when a bright white, circular, wingless craft appears and
descends at a 45° angle to the height of nearby telephone wires. The
apparent size of the full moon, it moves horizontally across the
farmyard. It has numerous lights around the outside and appears to be
rotating in a counterclockwise direction. Their dogs start barking at
it. They believe it is going to crash, so they run back into the barn
after 3 minutes. It is last seen over a small silo. (J. Allen Hynek, The
UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 104–106)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3873
Date: 6/25/1965
Description: Frank Stavano and 24 other witnesses hear a loud,
inexplicable explosion at his father Joseph’s farm near Carrollton,
Ohio. Two days later, Joseph Stavano is cutting hay when he discovers a
strange circular formation from which the wheat is completely missing in
the center for a diameter of 26 feet; at the edges the stubble is bent
or broken outward at an angle of 20–30° from the horizontal. No other
path leads into the circle but his own. Soil samples show no evidence of
explosives or other foreign matter. (“Photograph
of Carrollton, Ohio, Ground Mark Received
at CUFOS,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 6 (October 1980):
1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3875
Date: 6/25/1965
Description: The Phoebus 1A nuclear rocket engine is tested at Area 25
of the Nevada Test Site as part of Project Rover. It runs at full power
for 10.5 minutes. Unfortunately, the intense radiation environment
causes one of the capacitance gauges to produce erroneous readings. When
confronted by one gauge that says the hydrogen propellant tank is nearly
empty, and another that says it is a quarter full, and unsure which is
correct, the technicians in the control room choose to believe the one
that says it is a quarter full. But the tank is indeed nearly empty, and
the propellant runs dry. Without liquid hydrogen to cool it, the engine,
operating at 2,000° C., quickly overheats and explodes. About a fifth of
the fuel is ejected and most of the rest melts. The whole
decontamination effort takes 400 people two months to complete, and
costs $50,000. (Wikipedia, “Project
Rover”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3874
Date: 7/1965
Description: 11:30 p.m.–midnight. Talking on the phone in her
second-floor bedroom in Lake Forest, Illinois, Pat Harvey sees a flash
and hears a commotion or “rustle” outside. When she finishes the
conversation, she looks out the window toward her neighbor’s lawn and
sees a transparent bubble of light about 100 feet away. Inside the globe
are several individuals who look like normal human beings, though
slightly shorter (5 feet tall) and with skin that looks tanned. They are
lying down in a somewhat haphazard arrangement. There are no visible
instruments or seats. The object bobs up and down slightly, and the
beings’ arms are moving in a way that reminds Harvey of “rowing
motions.” (Clark III 277; Patrick Gross, URECAT, June
21, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3877
Date: 7/1965
Description: Hynek writes
a letter to the Air Force calling for a systematic study of UFOs. He
writes that “enough puzzling sightings have been reported by intelligent
and often technically competent people to warrant closer attention than
Project Blue Book can possibly encompass at the present time.” (J. Allen
Hynek, “Are
Flying Saucers Real?” Saturday Evening Post, December 17, 1966,
p. 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3876
Date: 7/1/1965
Description: 5:45 a.m. Maurice Masse is farming just north of Valensole,
Alps-de-Haute-Provence, France, when he is startled by a whistling sound
and sees an elliptical object resting on four legs some 200 feet away
from him in his lavender field. Squatting on the ground near the object
are two figures about the size of 8-year-old boys, apparently looking at
a lavender plant. Masse approaches them to about 20 feet and the figures
stand up. They are dressed in gray-green overalls and have smooth,
pumpkin-like heads. Their eyes are large and slanted, their mouths have
no lips and look like little holes. He hears some grunting sounds, and
Masse hints that there is a telepathic communication. One of the figures
points a pencil-like object at Masse and he is paralyzed. They enter the
UFO through a door and the object shoots off at enormous speed with a
whistling sound. It takes Masse another 20 minutes to regain control.
Tracks left by the landing gear are found later by Masse and confirmed
by gendarmes. (Wikipedia, “Rencontre
de Valensole”; NICAP, “Humanoids
near Elliptical Object with Legs on Ground”;
Clark 1205–1207; Good Above, pp. 133–134;
G.E.P.A. Investigation, “The
Significant Report from France,”
Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1965): 5–6; Aimé Michel, “The
Valensole Affair,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1965):
7–9; Luis Schönherr, “Luis
Schönherr’s Questionnaire,” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 3 (May/June
1966): 21; G.E.P.A. Representative, “A
Tentative Reply to Luis Schönherr’s Questionnaire,”
Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 3 (May/June 1966): 22–23; Aimé Michel, “Valensole—Further Details,”
Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 3 (May/June 1966): 24–25; Aimé Michel and
Charles Bowen, “A
Visit to Valensole,”
Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1967): 6–12; Kim Hansen, “UFO
Casebook,” UFOs 1947– 1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 66–69; Patrick
Gross, “Close
Encounters of the 3rd Kind: Valensole, France, 1965”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3878
Date: 7/1/1965
Time: 0500
Description: Farmer Maurice Masse, 41, heard a strange noise and saw an
egg-shaped object 30 m away in a lavender field. The craft was set on a
central pivot with six legs, was about 5 m long, and had a door showing
two seats back to back. Near it were two dwarfs the size of 8-year-old
children, with heads, normal human eyes, fine hands with five fingers,
and no hair. They seemed surprised when the witness came near, and
stopped their examination of a plant to aim a small device at him,
causing inhibition of movement. They spoke among themselves in shrill
sounds similar to a gargle. The craft took off and “vanished.”
Traces.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 65, 5; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Valensole, France
ID: 650
Date: 7/1/1965
Description: Elliptical object with legs observed on ground, two small
humanoids pointed pencil-like device at witness, paralyzing him. Strong
physical trace evidence at site
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: abduction
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Valensole, France
ID: 40
Date: 7/2/1965
End date: 7/3/1965
Description: Meteorological observers at scientific research bases
watched zigzagging and maneuvering objects, including a lens-shaped
disc. E-M effects
Type: sighting
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Antarctica
ID: 41
Date: 7/2/1965
Description: 7:15 p.m. Five garrison members of the British Antarctic
Station B [abandoned in 1969] on Deception Island in the South Shetland
Islands, Antarctica, have a UFO sighting while conducting routine
meteorological observations. The witnesses see a light in the north
quadrant, zigzagging, hovering, and accelerating at times, and
maintaining altitudes between 20° and 45° above the horizon. The light
is green and red, at times yellow, and is observed for perhaps 15–20
minutes. The edges of the light resemble those of a bright star. (Schopick,
pp. 153– 155; Frank Edwards, FS Serious Business, Bantam ed., 1966, p. 162;
Good Above, p. 309;
Daniel A. Perisse, “Deception
Island UFO Sightings,” MUFON 1987 International UFO Symposium
Proceedings, Mutual UFO Network, 1987, p. 146; Richard H. Hall, “UFO
Sightings at Scientific Stations in Antarctica, July 1965”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3879
Date: 7/3/1965
Description: Newspaper reports, Antartica: Argentine, British and
Chilean military and scientific personnel observed an UFO moving at a
frightening speed doing incredible maneuvers. It was something solid,
glowing blue-green and causing E/M interference with our equipment.
Lenticular shaped “flying saucer”. Tracked by theodolite, binoculars and
magnetograph tapes. Also, 10 color photographs were taken of the
UFO.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Antartica
Date: 7/3/1965
Description: 7:42 p.m. 17 people (including three visiting Chilean
personnel) observe a lens-shaped disc that maneuvers erratically across
the sky for about an hour at the Argentine Deception Station in the
South Orkney Islands, Antarctica. The object changes colors (red,
yellow, green, orange, blue, white) as it zigzags from a position about
30° above the horizon in the north-northwest. The object hovers,
accelerates, reverses direction, and changes its luminosity. At times it
goes behind some clouds, but it is also seen in front of some cirrus
clouds. Finally, it disappears to the northwest, decreasing in size and
gaining altitude. Cpl. Uladislao Duran Martinez takes 10 color photos
through theodolite and field glasses. (“Chile,
Argentina Confirm UFO Films,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 4
(Aug./Sept. 1965): 2; Dan Lloyd, “Things
Are Hotting Up in the Antarctic,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1965): 4–5; Schopick,
pp. 155–159; Daniel A. Perisse, “Deception
Island UFO Sightings,” MUFON 1987 International UFO Symposium
Proceedings, Mutual UFO Network, 1987, pp. 147, 154; Richard H. Hall,
“UFO
Sightings at Scientific Stations in Antarctica, July 1965”; Good
Above pp. 309–310;
Condon, pp. 99–100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3882
Date: 7/3/1965
Description: 7:20 p.m. The meteorologist and eight other witnesses at
the Chilean Aguirre Cerda Station [destroyed in 1967] on Deception
Island, Antarctica, watch for a total of 20 minutes a bright and
apparently solid object zigzagging from the east quadrant to the south
quadrant. It maintains an altitude above the horizon between 35 and 20
degrees. It is white and star-like with some orange hues. (Daniel A.
Perisse, “Deception
Island UFO Sightings,” MUFON 1987 International UFO Symposium
Proceedings, Mutual UFO Network, 1987, pp. 147, 153–154; Richard H.
Hall, “UFO
Sightings at Scientific Stations in Antarctica, July 1965”; Good
Above, p. 309)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3881
Date: 7/3/1965
Description: 5:03 p.m. Two meteorologists at the Argentine Orcadas Base
on Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands, Antarctica, observe for 15
seconds a round, bluish-white object moving east to west on a parabolic
path. Two variometers (magnetic field measuring instruments) register
sudden and strong disturbances. (Schopick,
pp. 153– 155; Daniel A. Perisse, “Deception
Island UFO Sightings,” MUFON 1987 International UFO Symposium
Proceedings, Mutual UFO Network, 1987, pp. 147, 153; Richard H. Hall,
“UFO
Sightings at Scientific Stations in Antarctica,
July 1965”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3880
Date: 7/6/1965
Time: 9:30 PM
Description: Witness: Mrs. E.R. Hayner. One flashing light, like a
satellite, was seen for less than 1 minute. No further data was in the
files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kiel, Wisconsin
ID: 522
Date: 7/6/1965
Time: night
Description: The commander and crew of the Norwegian tanker “Jawesta”
observed a lighted object flying out of the sea. First Officer Toronin
Lien first saw a large, blue, intense flame behind the ship at high
speed. He called the captain and tracked the object with binoculors as
its altitude reached about 300m. Its shape was that of a cigar, with a
row of lighted portholes showing a clear yellow glow, and it left a
bluish trail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 150 (Vallee)
Location: Puerto La Cruz, Portugal
ID: 651
Date: 7/6/1965
Description: 6:52 p.m. Chief Mate Torgrim Lien of the Norwegian ship TT
Jawesta watches a star-like UFO through binoculars in the North Atlantic
Ocean about 900 miles southwest of the Azores. He, the captain, and
other officers see an intense blue, fiery tongue of light approaching
the ship at tremendous speed. As it gets closer, he sees it is a
cigar-shaped UFO with a row of square windows. (“‘Cigar’
Passes a Few Hundred Feet above Norwegian
Ship,” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1966): 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3883
Date: 7/8/1965
Description: Police lieutenant and officer saw hovering white object
that undulated, darted here and there, zigzagged, and sped away
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
ID: 42
Date: 7/9/1965
Time: 1230
Description: At the Cote-de-Thermont, 30year-old Mrs. Zielonka saw a
metallic object rise at high speed and fly away toward Metz. Estimated
diameter: 3 m.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 152 (Vallee)
Location: Moyeuvre, France
ID: 652
Date: 7/9/1965
Description: 10:00 p.m. Connie Wolferd and other residents of Bunker
Hill, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, watch a clam- shaped object, about
10 feet in diameter, with red lights around its rim hover above some
nearby trees. Wolferd is sitting on the porch listening to the radio
when it suddenly stops functioning. The living room lights flicker
(although fluorescent lights in the kitchen and bathroom do not), and a
neighbor’s loud TV suddenly stops. She hears something making a
“bleep-bleep” sound, looks up, and sees the object. Neighbors find the
leaves of nearby trees are singed. (“Bunker
Hill Girl Tells of Seeing Unidentified Flying Objects in July,”
Lebanon (Pa.) Daily News, August 10, 1965, p. 20; Schopick,
pp. 177–178)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3885
Date: 7/9/1965
Description: 4:30 p.m. A white cylindrical object is seen flying over
Santa Maria Island in the Azores islands, Portugal. All electric clocks
at the Santa Maria Airport stop when the object passes overhead. Weather
personnel and other witnesses all agree that the UFO is at an altitude
of 24,000–30,000 feet. At no time does it make any sound. According to
witnesses, the clocks stop at the same time the UFO reaches the zenith
directly over the airport. Attempts to identify it are unsuccessful.
(NICAP, “Clocks
at Airport Stopped When UFO Passes Over”; “The Portuguese
UAOs,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1965, p. 7; “United Press
International Reports on Two UFOs,” Fate 18, no. 11 (November 1965):
59–61; Schopick,
pp. 160–162)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3884
Date: 7/12/1965
Description: Student Humberto Aranjo da Silva nearly hit a saucer-shaped
craft, 6 m in diameter, with two V-shaped landing pads and a dome, which
had landed on the road. It made a whirring noise.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 84; SBEDV 51, 53 (Vallee)
Location: Bairio Paraiso dos Barbeiros, Brazil
ID: 653
Date: 7/12/1965
Description: 4:30 a.m. Laura de Freitas Machado Fernandes gets up to go
to the well for some water at her home in Porto, Portugal, near the
Porto Airport. She notices a luminous red object shaped like a
cardinal’s hat coming from the west at high speed. It stops in mid-air
and hovers above some nearby woods, rocking back and forth. She rushes
back to warn her husband, Manuel Fernandes. They notice that their radio
set has started making a loud noise. They estimate the object is about a
quarter-mile away. Its top part is orange, and on its brim is a
flickering red light. They watch it for 3 minutes before it takes off to
the north at full speed. The radio goes back to normal. (“The
Portuguese UAOs,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1965, pp. 3, 7; “United
Press International Reports on Two UFOs,” Fate 18, no. 11 (November
1965): 59–61; Schopick,
pp. 162–167)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3886
Date: 7/15/1965
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Bosquets and their family observed a luminous
object, its color changing from blue to orange, about 12 m in diameter,
and showing several portholes. The object left traces on the
ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: CODOVNI 1965 (Vallee)
Location: Loretami Valley, Argentina
ID: 654
Date: 7/15/1965
Description: 11:00 a.m. An object descends near the Canberra Deep Space
Communication Complex in Tidbinbilla, Australian Capital Territory,
interfering with its tracking of Mariner 4. It is also observed by
control tower operators at Canberra Airport. (“Canberra
Incident,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1965): 18–19;
Schopick, pp. 167–169;
Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, p. 106;
Randall C. Hecker, “Did UFO Sabotage Mariner IV?” Fate 20, no. 5 (May
1967): 32–37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3887
Date: 7/17/1965
Description: A blinding object, smaller than an airplane and having
metallic legs, was seen on the bank of the Rio de la Plata River by two
workers and four young men. White smoke emerged from the craft, which
remained on the sand for two min, leaving X-shaped traces. It flew up to
about 10 m altitude, then went away. The craft showed a round central
section with two oval ends and looked somewhat similar to an egg.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 153 (Vallee)
Location: Colonia, Uruguay
ID: 655
Date: 7/19/1965
Time: 1930
Description: Maria Andres, teacher, Mr. Gomez, Mrs. Goicoecha, and
others saw a small object leave a larger one, land, and burn a spot on
the ground before going back to the main object. It emitted a blinding
light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Asi Jul. 30, 1965 (Vallee)
Location: Villas Rosas, Argentina
ID: 656
Date: 7/19/1965
Time: 2130
Description: Mr. Crowe was attracted by a strong light on the beach, and
walked within 20 m of the craft producing it, which took off with a
yelloworange light. Estimated diameter: 7 m, height, 3 m, with
blue-green edges.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Spaceview 44 (Vallee)
Location: Vancluse, Australia
ID: 657
Date: 7/19/1965
Time: night
Description: Carlos Videla Zamudio saw a “strange machine” land on an
isolated beach. It was shaped like a mushroom or a top, was lighted from
inside, rested on the ground silently, flew up to 30 m, and disappeared
at fantastic speed. This was the third landing on a beach reported in
Jul..
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 155; LDLN 78; APRO Jan., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Chanaral, Chile
ID: 658
Date: 7/19/1965
Description: 5:30 p.m. Denis
Crowe, an
aircraft artist, is strolling along a beach at Vaucluse, New South
Wales, when he encounters a glowing disc resting on legs. It is about 20
feet in diameter and 9 feet high. The top and bottom are silver gray and
the rim in between is glowing greenish-blue. A hollow area at the very
top seems to be a glass dome. There are no windows or antennae. Dogs in
the neighborhood all bark at it. When Crowe is 50–60 feet from the
object, it takes off with a sound like air forced from a balloon. He
watches it for about 10 seconds until it disappears into the clouds.
After the object takes off, the dogs are strangely silent. (NICAP, “Glowing
Disc on Legs
Freaks Dogs”; Bill Chalker, “Tully Saucer Nests of 1966, Part Two,”
IUR 23, no. 1 (Spring 1998): 16–17; Good Above, p. 531)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3888
Date: 7/19/1965
Description: Domed disc with legs on beach, dogs barked loudly. Object
took off with sound of rushing air, yellow-orange glow from
underside
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Vaucluse, N.S.W., Australia
ID: 43
Date: 7/20/1965
Description: Domed object paced car, climbed out of sight
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Chesterville, Ontario, Canada
ID: 44
Date: 7/20/1965
Time: 0800
Description: R. Pereyra was driving near Monte de los Curas when he saw
a parachutelike object land. Going near, he observed a chromiumlooking,
egg-shaped craft standing on metal legs, with a transparent upper part.
A blond-haired pilot, wearing plastic coveralls and small boots, seemed
to study a piece of paper. Inside the craft was another man seated
before an instrument panel. Shortly thereafter the object took
off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 40 (Vallee)
Location: Quilmes, Argentina
ID: 659
Date: 7/23/1965
Description: An object was observed to land on ranch 45 km north of this
town by a chemical engineer, his wife, and several farmers. It remained
on the ground for 45 min, leaving traces.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Saucer News 61 (Vallee)
Location: Lima, Peru
ID: 660
Date: 7/25/1965
Time: 9:15 PM
Description: Witness: amateur astronomer M.D. Harris, 16. One bright
blue star crossed 90 of sky in 10-15 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Castalia, Ohio
ID: 523
Date: 7/25/1965
Time: night
Description: Mr. Alva was awakened by a strange sound and saw an object
on the ground emitting green light flashes. He woke up other employees,
who had time to note that the object was about 3 m in diameter, had
small windows in its upper part, and a revolving telescopic appendage.
The investigating commission found dark, triangular traces on the
ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 67, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Chosica Power Plant, Peru
ID: 661
Date: 7/26/1965
Time: 2000
Description: A teenager, Adilon Azevedo, a others who fled, saw two
objects at ground level, about 3 m in diameter, 1.5 m high, with five
occupants, wearing luminous helmets, speaking among theselves, in
unfamiliar language. One of the beings had a bright object in his hand.
The witness experienced headaches for five days.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 41 (Vallee)
Location: Carazinho, Brazil
ID: 662
Date: 7/26/1965
Description: Night. Adilon Batista de Azevedo, 14, leaves home with two
friends to go to a movie theater on the outskirts of Carazinho, Rio
Grande do Sul, Brazil. When they pass a vacant lot on Rua David
Canaberra between the Rua 15 de Novembro and the Rua Alexandra de Motta,
they see a light beam coming from a cloud illuminating an area about 33
feet in diameter and hear a buzzing noise. The other boys run, but
Adilon remains and sees an oval- shaped object landing in the vacant lot
and hovering about 3 feet off the ground. Another smaller object
descends and hovers next to the first. Two beings about 5 feet tall
emerge from the larger object and walk around it. They are wearing dark
clothing and light helmets. After 5 minutes, 3 others emerge from the
smaller object and converse with the others. The beings reenter the
objects, which take off several minute apart. Adilon gets a headache
that remains with him for 5 days. Possible helicopters? (“Research
in Brazil,” SBEDV Boletim, no. 45– 47 (July/Dec. 1965): 7–9; Patrick
Gross, URECAT, April
6, 2008; Brazil 73–74)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3890
Date: 7/26/1965
Description: 9:35 p.m. Astronomers Robert Vitolniek, Ian Melderis, and
Esmeralda Vitolniek at the Baldone Astrophysical Observatory in Latvia
are observing noctilucent clouds when they see a star-like object
drifting slowly westwards. Through binoculars the light seems to be
sharply defined, and through a telescope it looks like an array of three
greenish lights around a larger, central sphere. After 20 minutes, the
three smaller lights move away from the central one, and they disappear
into the distance at 10:00 p.m. (Felix Ziegel, “Unidentified
Flying Objects,” Soviet Life, no. 137 (February 1968): 27; Hobana
and Weverbergh 286–287; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified
Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects,
Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong.,
2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 60–61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3889
Date: 7/28/1965
Description: 9:40 p.m. A USAF Reserve major and his wife observe a manta
ray–shaped object fly almost directly overhead at Carswell AFB [now
Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base], Fort Worth, Texas,
below 1,000 feet altitude. The object moves at a constant speed on the
same course. The object is approximately 40 feet long and has two
brilliant white lights pulsating off and on once every second. It is
completely silent and flies directly through the Carswell control zone
at low altitude. The sighting is verified by three other persons on
duty. The report states: “This sighting was a positive observation,
under ideal circumstances, of a definite object of an unconventional
nature—possibly of foreign origin, which could be a threat to national
security.” (NICAP, “RAPCON
Fails to Identify Low Flying Manta Ray”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3891
Date: 7/29/1965
Description: Delta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 45
Date: 7/29/1965
Time: 2300
Description: Alain Bressol observed a large, disk-shaped object in a
field near Monsempron-Libos. It flew at high speed toward the south.
Official report.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 156;LDLN 78 (Vallee)
Location: Grouzies, France
ID: 663
Date: 7/30/1965
Time: 0500
Description: Two children attracted by the barking of a dog saw a
luminous object resting on a tripod landing gear, and observed it for
one hour.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Goonumbla, Australia
ID: 665
Date: 7/30/1965
Description: Hundreds of people in two separate spots observed an object
that landed for five min. It emitted a blinding purple light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 157; LDLN 78 (Vallee)
Location: Puerto Monte, Chile
ID: 664
Date: 7/31/1965
Description: A woman in a car saw an object on the road. It took off,
then landed again in Belluco where it was seen by several people. The
object emitted a bright, purple light and a green beam.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Spaceview (Vallee)
Location: Belluco, Chile
ID: 666
Date: 7/31/1965
Description: 1:05 a.m. Wynnewood, Oklahoma, police officer Lewis Sikes,
29, reports a UFO to the northeast. A little later, simultaneous radar
fixes are obtained at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City and Carswell AFB [now
Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base], Fort Worth, Texas.
Both Tinker and Carswell track the object to a point 15 miles southwest
of Tinker when it disappears. A few minutes later, it is tracked to a
point 29 miles south of Tinker when it is lost again. (NICAP, “Gnd/Visual
and AF Radar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3892
Date: 7/31/1965
End date: 9/3/1965
Description: Summer 1965 sighting wave mostly in Southwestern U.S. and
northward through the central tier of states, later in eastern U.S. (See
separate chronology, section VIII.)
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 46
Date: 8/1/1965
Description: 8:08 p.m. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol starts receiving
25–30 visual sightings of UFOs, many by police and highway patrol
troopers from Purcell north to Norman to Chandler and back south through
Meeker and Shawnee, Oklahoma. The sightings continue through dawn and
vary from one to four objects that start and stop, often having a red
color and varying to a white and blue luster. (NICAP, [case
documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3894
Date: 8/1/1965
Description: 9:08 p.m. Four objects, bluish-white with a red haze, are
seen from the control tower at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
T/Sgt John
R. Lang, 34,
is the watch supervisor. All the objects appear at approximately 22,000
feet altitude. One is moving south, and another is moving north at
speeds of 150–200 mph. Two of the objects appear stationary. The 746th
Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron reports radar contact with one
object at 10,000 feet in the vicinity of Norman, Oklahoma, 20 miles
south of Tinker AFB. The duration is 90 minutes. An Air Force weather
observer, who wishes to remain anonymous, looks at a UFO through his
40x-telescope at Oklahoma City. It is tilted about 45° then straightens
out. “It looked like Saturn with a flat top and flat bottom.” (NICAP,
“Four
Lights Observed, Radar Contact on One”; “UFOs
Leave Local Radar
Tracks,” Wichita (Kan.) Beacon, August 2, 1965, pp. 1–2; “Radar
Didn’t Detect UFOs
Spotted in Area,” Minneapolis Star, August 3, 1965, pp. 1, 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3895
Date: 8/1/1965
Description: Night. A TWA Boeing 707 airliner flying west of Topeka,
Kansas, picks up 12–15 targets on Air Intercept Radar flying toward them
at high speed on a 50-mile scope. They change to a 20-mile scope and
observe the objects approaching in formation. The pilot, copilot, and
engineer all witness this clearly. The aircraft passes the objects but
cannot see them visually. Two films of the scopes are taken. (NICAP, “707
Picks Up 12–15 Targets”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3896
Date: 8/1/1965
Description: Night. Two rookie police officers in Caldwell, Kansas,
speed toward the airport to investigate local sightings when they see an
egg-shaped machine about 300 feet long hovering above the ground. They
try to get closer, but it disappears behind a hedgerow and shuts its
lights off. They return the next day, but find no traces. (“Caldwell Officers
Are ‘Believers’ Now,” Wichita (Kan.) Beacon, August 2, 1965, p. 1;
Jerome Clark, “The
Greatest Flap Yet?”
Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1966): 27–28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3897
Date: 8/1/1965
Description: 1:30–4:30 a.m. Various personnel from Francis E. Warren Air
Force Base west of Cheyenne, Wyoming, report more than 70 UFOs near the
base’s ICBM Minuteman I launch control facilities (LCFs) and launch
facilities (LFs, missile silos). A Lieut. Anspaugh logs the reports and
incoming telephone calls for three hours. The reports begin with a
“large circular object emitting several colors but no sound” seen by
civilians over Cheyenne itself at 1:30 a.m. This results in an alert at
the base for all personnel to be on the watch for anything suspicious.
Five objects are spotted over the Sioux Army Depot [now closed] in
Sydney, Nebraska, at 1:45 a.m. Two UFOs are seen over the Echo LCF
southeast of Pine Bluff at 1:48 a.m. Nine more objects are sighted at
2:50 a.m. The Echo LCF reports six UFOs stacked vertically. A Strategic
Air Command team at the H-2 LF northeast of Gurley reports a white UFO
directly overhead at 3:00 a.m. The Sioux Army Depot reports five objects
going east at 3:35 a.m. Reports of white, round- or oval-shaped objects
in various formations, continue solidly at the H- 2 LF for the next 40
minutes. At 4:05 a.m., the Warren base commander calls to say that the
Quebec LCF southwest of Chugwater has nine UFOs in sight: four to the
NW, three to the NE, and two over Cheyenne. Sightings continue to be
reported the next two nights at missile sites assigned to Warren AFB,
for a total of 148 objects seen by 143 combat defense force airmen,
missile maintenance men, and NCOs. The sheer scope and blatant
ostentation of the UFOs’ reported aerial displays over a sensitive
atomic missile base is remarkable. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience,
Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 209–211;
Robert L. Hastings, “Remarkable
Reports from
the Missile Field,” IUR 32, no. 1 (August 2008): 8–14, 23–27; Robert
L. Hastings, “Yet
Another Nuclear Missile
Launch Officer Talks about UFOs at F. E. Warren AFB,” UFOs &
Nukes, February 5, 2012; Nukes 223– 238)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3893
Date: 8/2/1965
Description: 2:30 a.m. Unidentified blips show up on the Weather Bureau
radar screen at the Wichita Municipal Airport [now Wichita Dwight D.
Eisenhower National Airport] in Kansas and continue intermittently until
after 6:00 a.m. Most of the sightings are in the vicinity of Wellington,
Kansas. The altitude ranges from 5,000–20,000 feet. Wichita
meteorologist John Shockley tracks several UFOs on the Weather Bureau
radar flying at altitudes of 6,000–9,000 feet. His assistant Ellis
Pike notes that they look just like airliner blips. They brighten
and dim on the screen, moving at 45 mph. At least four citizens see
colored glows in the southern sky during the early morning hours. One
says: “They were red and exploded in a shower of sparks and at other
times fluttered like a leaf in the clear sky.” (NICAP, “Weather
Radar Blips and Sky Glows”; Condon, pp. 158–160)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3900
Date: 8/2/1965
Description: The crew of the Russian steamship Raduga in the Red Sea
watch a fiery sphere emerge from the water 2 miles away, causing an
enormous pillar of water to rise and collapse. It hovers above the
surface at an altitude of 490 feet. A motorboat with six Arab fishermen
is in the area and also sees the object, which is apparently 200 feet in
diameter. The object shoots straight up, and the boat is hit by a strong
wave that overturns it. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets,
Flying Disk, 2020, pp. 59–60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3902
Date: 8/2/1965
Description: Five children saw a brilliant, round object without wings,
close to the ground, in the 600 block on Northwest 63.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
ID: 668
Date: 8/2/1965
Description: As they patrol near Eagle Mountain Lake, two Tarrant
County, Texas, deputy sheriffs see an object as bright as burning
magnesium land. An extensive investigation by police finds no traces.
(Sparks, p. 306)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3903
Date: 8/2/1965
Description: Project Blue Book puts out an official USAF press release
declaring the majority of the sightings on August 1 are “most likely”
due to the planet Jupiter and the stars Rigel, Capella, Betelgeuse, and
Aldebaran, “clearly visible in the eastern sky.” But astronomer Robert
Risser of the Kirkpatrick Planetarium in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,
counters that Jupiter and the four stars are “on the opposite side of
the earth” at the time of the sightings. (“Mystery
Flying Objects ‘Seen’
in Eight States,” Los Angeles Times, August 3, 1965, p. 1; Clark III
388)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3899
Date: 8/2/1965
Description: Two deputy sheriffs of Tarrant County saw an object as
bright as burning magnesium, which landed as they were on a patrol near
Wagle Mountain Lake. Extensive investigation by the police led to
negative results.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Justin, Texas
ID: 667
Date: 8/2/1965
Description: 3:00 a.m. KXWI-TV news photographer Robert Campbell hears
on his radio a conversation between Oklahoma and Texas highway patrolmen
that a UFO has been tracked on radar and is streaking towards the Texas
border. Campbell takes his 4-by-5 Speed Graphic camera and drives into
Sherman, Texas, where he locates Chief of Police Peter McCollum.
Together they search for the object and soon see it hanging stationary
one mile east of Bells on US Highway 82. The object has a “Mercury
capsule” shape at one end, possibly rounded at the other end. Several
distinct bands circle the cylinder, with disc-shaped embossments on the
surface. He takes four camera exposures, two minutes each at
three-minute intervals. The negatives are carefully examined by USAF
scientific advisers and astronomical experts. No acceptable explanation
can be found for the object recorded on the negatives. (NICAP, “The
Sherman, Texas, Photo Case”; “Sherman
1965,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library, February 5, 2014;
Patrick Gross, “The
Sherman Case, Texas, USA, 1965”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3901
Date: 8/2/1965
Alternate date: 8/3/1965
Description: 1:30 a.m. Mr. A. L. Smith, accompanied by his 14-year-old
son Alan and three other witnesses, watch an unusual, multicolored UFO
over Tulsa, Oklahoma. The UFO is slowly moving toward the witnesses.
Still several hundred yards away, it pauses briefly and hovers. At that
precise moment, Alan snaps a photograph with his inexpensive camera,
using ASA 64 film. Alan decides not to try for a second shot. He takes
his camera inside the house and runs back outside just in time to see
the object rapidly flying away into the night sky. The photo is a
probable fake of a color wheel for an aluminum Christmas tree. (NICAP,
“The
Smith / Tulsa Photo Case”; Michael D. Swords, GrassRoots UFOs: Case
Reports from the Timmerman Files, Fund for UFO Research, 2005, p.147;
Larry Robinson, “The
Tulsa Photo,” MidiMagic, October 25, 2016; Patrick Gross, “Project
Blue Book Case
9966”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3898
Date: 8/3/1965
Description: Denver Post editorial: “Maybe it’s time for more people to
get serious about the UFO question. . . . If we still choose to be
skeptical, we nevertheless are not nearly so ready as we once were to
dismiss all reports of variously shaped but elusive flying objects as
products of midsummer night dreams.”
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 47
Date: 8/3/1965
Description: Highway investigator Rex Heflin, three Polaroid photos of
domed-disc UFO (section VII). August 4, 1965. Fort Worth Star Telegram
(TX) editorial: “They can stop kidding us now about there being no such
thing as ‘flying saucers. . . .’ Too many people of obviously sound mind
saw and reported them independently. . . . Their descriptions of what
they saw were too similar to one another, and too unlike any familiar
object. . . .”
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Santa Ana, CA
ID: 48
Date: 8/3/1965
Description: A young man saw an object rise from the lake area.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Lake Hefner, Oklahoma
ID: 669
Date: 8/3/1965
Description: Before 12:00 midnight. Three young men watch a triangular
object with a light at each of its points move from north to south along
the Jura Mountains from Biel/Bienne to Vignelz, Canton Bern,
Switzerland. Suddenly it stops, changing color from yellow to dark red,
makes a 180° turn, then takes off “like lightning” toward the east where
it vanishes. (“Bright
Pointed Triangle Again,” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1966): iii)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3905
Date: 8/3/1965
Time: 2000
Description: Approximate date. Dr. Antonin Kukla and Mrs. Audrey
Lawrence saw an object dive toward them. They switched off the car
headlights and got out of the vehicle to observe the oval object, which
hovered at ground level, its color changing from orange to fluorescent
green, before it took off at high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP (Vallee)
Location: Carnarvon, Australia
ID: 670
Date: 8/3/1965
Description: 12:37 p.m. Los Angeles County Highway Accident Investigator
Rex
Heflin takes four clear Polaroid photos of a hat-shaped UFO on a
lonely stretch of road near Santa Ana, California. The object is silent,
and a beam of white light is rotating beneath it. He radios his
supervisor, but the radio goes dead. One of Heflin’s coworkers offers to
send the photos to Life magazine; he does, but Life declines to use
them. Soon, someone from NORAD shows up demanding the prints and Heflin
turns them over. They are not seen again. The photos are most likely a
prank hoax by Heflin using a hubcap, complicated by flawed photographic
analyses and investigations. (NICAP, “Santa
Ana / Rex Heflin Photos”; “Calif.
Man Snaps UAO Photo,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1965, pp. 4, 6; “Photo
‘Hoax’ Label Questioned,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 5
(Nov./Dec. 1965): 8; “The
Heflin Story,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 6 (Jan./Feb. 1966): 7–8; Schopick,
pp. 170–174; Ralph Rankow, “The
Heflin Photographs,” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1968): 21–24; UFOEv II 284–286; Condon, pp. 84–85, 437–455;
Robert J. Kirkpatrick, “The Heflin Case: Then and Now,” IUR 11, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1986): 10–13, 23; “Heflin’s 1965
Photos Finally Validated,” RR0; Ann Druffel, Robert M. Wood, and
Eric Kelson, “Reanalysis
of the 1965 Heflin
UFO Photos,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 14, no. 4 (2000):
583–622; Ann Druffel, “Goodbye,
Rex Heflin,”
UFO, August 2006, pp. 52–63; Mary Castner, unpublished document)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3904
Date: 8/4/1965
Description: A bright, silvery object landed on a hill for 45 min. There
were numerous witnesses, among them military men. Official
investigation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Nachrichten Oct., 65 (Vallee)
Location: Chena, Chile
ID: 671
Date: 8/4/1965
Description: E-M effects on truck, domed disc swooped overhead, hovered
just above road, blocked highway
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Abilene, KS
ID: 49
Date: 8/4/1965
Description: U.S. Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force radar tracked
formations of 7-10 UFOs over Lake Superior and Duluth, MN, moving at
about 9,000 mph, altitudes between 5,200 and 17,000 feet
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Michigan—Minnesota
ID: 50
Date: 8/4/1965
Time: 11:35 PM
Description: Witnesses: two unnamed 14 year olds. One light moved around
the sky for 16-17 seconds. No further data in files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Tinley Park, Illinois
ID: 525
Date: 8/4/1965
Description: 1:30 a.m. Don
Tenopir, 44, is driving a truck on State Highway 15 about 25 miles
south of Abilene (near Elmo, Kansas), when all his lights go out. They
come back on intermittently. A UFO passes just above his truck with a
wind-like sound and hovers about 100 feet in front of him. Tenopir stops
his rig, and the object slowly rises and takes off to the southwest. It
seems to be 14–15 feet in diameter, 2 feet thick with a 4-foot hump in
the middle, and orange-colored. It is shooting off rays in spurts. He
stops in Abilene to report his sighting to Abilene Reflector-Chronicle
reporter Ed
Corwin. (“Beatrice
Trucker Joins UFO Viewers,” Beatrice (Neb.) Daily Sun, August 5,
1965, p. 1; Jerome Clark, “The
Greatest Flap Yet?” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1966):
29–30; Schopick, pp. 175–177)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3906
Date: 8/4/1965
Description: Night. Radar operators at Calumet Air Force Station [now
operated by Keweenaw County] near Phoenix, Michigan, track 7–10 objects
in V-formation traveling from southwest to north-northeast at about
9,000 mph over Lake Superior. The same night, radar targets at Duluth,
Minnesota, are chased by USAF jets. (Sparks,
p. 306; Center for UFO Studies, [case
documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3907
Date: 8/4/1965
Time: 2200
Description: Joao Erondo dos Santos saw a disk 50 m in diameter land
with a distinct sound, although no traces were found afterward. The
object illuminated a wide area.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 84 (Vallee)
Location: Trapua, Brazil
ID: 674
Date: 8/4/1965
Time: 0130
Description: Truck driver Don Tenopir had reached a point 35 km from
Abilene, going toward Lincoln, when his headlights blinked and failed.
An object then dived toward the truck and stopped on the road 30 m ahead
causing a car coming in the opposite direction to leave the road in
order to avoid it. The object was orange, 5 m in diameter, 1.5 m high,
with a dome and a “black spot.” It took off toward the west, then turned
south.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 82 (Vallee)
Location: Abilene, Kansas
ID: 673
Date: 8/4/1965
Time: 0130
Description: A man in a car observed a red and blue light thought it
came from a police car, then was passed by a huge, orange object flying
at ground level.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Dallas, Texas
ID: 672
Date: 8/4/1965
Time: 9:30 PM
Description: Witness: J.A. Carter, 19. One light flew fast, straight and
level for 12 seconds. No further data in files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Dallas, Texas
ID: 524
Date: 8/5/1965
Time: 2030
Description: Several children saw an object shaped like two saucers
glued together come to ground level several times on the farm of William
Butcher. It was chromelike, measured about 16 m in diameter, took off
with green and yellow flames, and illuminated the clouds when it flew
into them. Capt. James Dorsey and four technicians from Niagara Falls
AFB investigated the case. They found no trace, concluding, however,
that the witnesses were not lying.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Cherry Creek, New York
ID: 675
Date: 8/6/1965
Description: Cascade (ID) News editorial: “An objective observer is
about forced to the conclusion that there are objects of some sort
appearing in the skies that cannot be explained by any conventional
circumstances. There is absolutely no reason to deny the UFOs’ existence
because we don’t understand them.”
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 51
Date: 8/8/1965
Description: 11:30 p.m. A luminous UFO is allegedly photographed in
Beaver, Pennsylvania, by James Lucci, 17. According to estimations by
witnesses, the diameter of the UFO is around 42 feet. Lucci is
photographing the full moon with his brother John, 23. According to
them, a shining object appears from behind a hill. James manages to take
two shots before the flying object leaves. His friends encourage him to
send the photos to the Beaver County Times, where they are analyzed and
declared authentic. However, both the Colorado project and UFO
researchers determine the photo is a hoax created by holding a plate up
next to the moon with a fist (probably John’s) and blurring it with
motion. (Condon, pp. 83–84,
455–457;
Mark Cashman, “The End of a Photographic Case,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter
1998): 21–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3908
Date: 8/9/1965
Description: 6:00 p.m. A professional astronomer and his wife, along
with three others, are driving eastward on Long Island, New York, when
then see a silvery disc heading slowly south. Its base has a ring of
bluish-white lights that make the object appear to rotate. It has a
white light on top. After accelerating, the object becomes a white,
starlike object far to the east. It moves up and down for another 5
minutes, then rapidly moves south and disappears over the Atlantic
Ocean. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 75–76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3909
Date: 8/9/1965
Time: 2330
Description: Three girls driving a car observed what they first thought
was the rising moon. It was a circular, pale-yellow object, with a
silhouette moving inside the glow. There were five other witnesses one
of whom stated that as he approached the object, it appeared to “blow
up” with a bang.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 2 (Vallee)
Location: Grand Forks, North Dakota
ID: 676
Date: 8/10/1965
Description: Boeing aerospace engineer saw two silvery, disc-shaped
objects that hovered for several minutes, departed upward at high speed
one after the other
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Seattle, WA
ID: 52
Date: 8/10/1965
Description: 9:40 P.M. Fireball meteor traveling easterly across
northeast sky.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Pacific Northwest
ID: 53
Date: 8/11/1965
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 54
Date: 8/11/1965 (approximate)
Description: 3:30 p.m. David Gibson is sitting in the front yard of his
house in Waverly, Iowa, with his father and sister. They hear a
high-pitched whine and see an object descending to the south. The
silvery UFO is about 15–20 feet in diameter and looks like two saucers
put together. It lands on a tree-lined hill out of view and the whining
sound fades away. Gibson walks about a half-mile to take a look and
briefly sees a “being,” about 3–3.5 feet tall, watching him from behind
a tree at the top of the hill. It quickly vanishes and he hears a rush
of air. He reaches the spot but sees no footprints. About 40 feet south
of the tree he finds a burned area about 15–20 feet in diameter and
three rectangular impressions in the shape of a triangle. (Jerome Clark,
“Iowa’s
Bashful Humanoid,” Flying Saucer Review 21, no. 3/4 (November 1975):
52–53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3910
Date: 8/12/1965
Description: 11:15 a.m. Maj. Jack D. Bond is sitting in a passenger seat
of a T-29 aircraft on a heading of 300° and descending from 4,000 feet
to 3,000 feet near Springfield, Ohio. He sees a UFO ascending and
descending that is slightly higher than the T-29. It appears to be 5–7
miles away and moving in a general direction of 90°. The object’s speed
is highly erratic during the 3 ascents and descents that the object
makes. On its third descent the object appears to level off and
accelerate at a speed of 690 mph or more. Project Blue Book evaluates
this sighting as a solar mirage, even though the position and time of
day rule that out. (NICAP, “Object
Has 3 Ascents and 2 Descents”;
Clark III 388–389)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3911
Date: 8/13/1965
Description: Portsmouth (NH) Herald editorial: “Perhaps we really do
have visitors from somewhere beyond our present ken.”
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Portsmouth, NH
ID: 55
Date: 8/13/1965
Description: 9:30 p.m.? Leonard Chalupiak has just put his car into his
garage at Baden, Pennsylvania, when he sees a disc-shaped object about
300 feet in diameter flying in front of the moon toward the north at
about 50 mph and 2,300 feet away. It is surrounded with orange lights
that weaken as a blue light comes on, which is intense for about 3
seconds. Then all the lights disappear and a sort of “shock wave” that
shakes the tree leaves commences. The witness goes into his house and
calls the Air Force. About 20 minutes later his vision becomes hazy, his
eyes grow painful, and he gradually loses vision in both eyes. He
notices his entire body is sunburned. A medical examination indicates
exposure to ultraviolet radiation. His vision returns gradually over
several days. The Air Force labels it a hoax, perhaps confusing it with
the Beaver, Pennsylvania, hoax photo of August 8. (NICAP, “Object
Crosses Moon / Medical Effects on Witness”; Vallée, Magonia, p. 313)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3912
Date: 8/13/1965
Description: A 37-year-old civilian had just put his car in the garage
when he saw an object about 100 m in diameter, shaped like a disk, which
flew in front of the moon in a northerly direction at about 80 km/h. It
was surrounded with orange lights that weakened as a blue source came
on, very intense for about 3 sec then all lights disappeared as the
object was about 700 m away. This was followed by a sort of “shock-wave”
effect, and tree leaves were shaken. The witness entered his house and
called the Air Force. Twenty minutes later his vision became hazy and
his eyes were painful. He gradually lost vision in both eyes, and his
entire body was “sunburned.” Medical examination compared the symptoms
to ultraviolet exposure. His vision came back gradually over a period of
several days.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Baden, Pennsylvania
ID: 677
Date: 8/13/1965
Time: 0700
Description: Ellen G. Ryerson, 16, and her sister, Laura, were going to
work in a bean field when they observed three creatures about 1.60 m
tall, with bulging eyes, expressionless faces, white craniums, large
pores, and a protrusion at the back of their heads. They wore purple
jerseys and white shirts. They had disappeared when the running girls
looked back.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 2 (Vallee)
Location: Renton, Washington
ID: 678
Date: 8/14/1965
Time: 0200
Description: Patrick Nash and his family were awaiting a ferry boat when
a brilliant, orange-red object shaped like a large soup plate appeared
50 m away, rose from the ground, flew low over the car, landed 20m away
on the other side, vanishing suddenly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 65,6 (Vallee)
Location: Stranraer, Scotland
ID: 679
Date: 8/15/1965
Time: 0200
Description: A guard saw a boatlike object flying at high speed, with
red flames on its sides. It circled and came low over a farm. In fear,
the man fired at it with his rifle.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Nablus, Jordan
ID: 680
Date: 8/15/1965
Time: 2300
Description: Five persons in a car heard a humming sound, and an object
with changing colored lights landed and blocked the road while the car
engine stalled. The object was as wide as the road, and 3 m high. Before
it took off, three human beings were seen inside.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 42 (Vallee)
Location: Salto, Uruguay
ID: 681
Date: 8/16/1965
Description: Christian Science Monitor editorial: “[UFOs] sighted early
this month over Texas may give scientists something to think about for a
long time. . . . They give the clearest evidence of all that something
strange actually was in the sky. . . . It makes the clearest case yet
for a thorough look at the saucer mystery.”
Type: sighting
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 56
Date: 8/16/1965
Description: 10:45 p.m.–12:20 a.m. A woman leaves her house on the
northwest edge of Sedalia, Missouri, to drive to a drug store. As she is
returning home, she sees an unusual figure in the ditch to her right. It
turns and waves at her, then stumbles as it climbs out of the ditch.
Something (a large bird?) flies up in the air a few feet from the car.
She steps on the gas and goes home, where her husband asks her where she
has been because it is now 12:25 a.m. In 1977, she undergoes hypnotic
regression with hypnotist Ron Owen and recalls an abduction experience
where she undergoes some type of examination. (Clark III 278–279;
Patrick Gross, URECAT, August
25, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3913
Date: 8/18/1965
Description: 9:50 p.m. Michael S. Henry and another college student are
driving 3 miles south of Noblesville, Indiana, when a large red lighted
object swoops down on their car. The radio and ignition go dead. The UFO
looks like a top, with a large, gray cone and a flat or slightly domed
top. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference Reports,
Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3914
Date: 8/19/1965
Description: E-M effects in barn, elliptical object landed nearby,
animals reacted, beeping sound. Object shot straight up into clouds.
Physical traces at site
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Cherry Creek, NY
ID: 57
Date: 8/19/1965
Description: 3:00 a.m. Thelma B. Schumaker and her mother, Mrs. W. H.
Blackburn, are awakened by an explosion in their backyard in Mount Airy,
North Carolina. The sound seems to rise and travel west. They see a
bright golden cigar hovering in the north. The object moves to the right
then to the left, then up and down, left again, then disappears behind
some high oak trees. The next morning, the witnesses find a 6-inch-wide
circle of depressed sod that is worn down to the soil. The circle is 12
feet in diameter. (Ted Phillips, Physical
Traces Associated with UFO
Sightings, CUFOS, 1975, p. 37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3915
Date: 8/19/1965
Description: 8:20–9:00 p.m. Harold Butcher, 16, is milking the cows in
his father’s barn in Cherry Creek, New York, and listening to radio
station WKBW. Just outside, a 3-year old bull is tied by its nose to a
metal pipe. Harold hears the bull make a noise “like I have never heard
come from an animal before.” Looking out the window, he sees the animal
is bending the pipe. Simultaneously, he sees a metallic-looking,
football-shaped UFO about 50 feet long and approximately 20 feet thick
hovering just above the trees an estimated 450 feet from the barn.
Slowly, the object descends behind a maple tree, emitting a red vapor
from around its edges and a “beep-beep” sound. Meanwhile, the radio is
emitting static, even though WKBW usually has a clear signal. Harold
calls the house on an intercom, then runs outside. As he approaches the
bull, the UFO rises and moves behind some clouds “as fast as a snap of
my fingers” emitting red vapor toward the ground, then bounces back to
the ship as it hovers about 10 feet in the air. The noise also increases
to a level approximating a sonic boom as it goes up. As the UFO
disappears, the clouds turn green. Inside, the boy’s mother,
Mrs. William Butcher, notes that there is “definite interference” in her
radio reception. Harold’s brother, Robert, also goes outside and the two
boys see that the UFO has reappeared, this time hovering over a pine
grove. It ascends again, emitting the red vapor and turning the clouds
green. Others in the house include William Butcher Jr. and Kathleen
Brougham, a friend. They do not see the object. It returns twice at 8:45
and 9:00 p.m., finally disappearing to the southwest. Trooper E. J. Haas
and a fellow officer arrive on the scene shortly thereafter. As they all
walk out to inspect the area of the initial sighting, they notice a
pungent odor. Harold and the young daughter suffer from upset stomachs.
Mrs. Butcher says the cows produce only one can of milk that evening, as
opposed to their usual two and a half cans. Harold discovers a purple,
oily-smelling liquid and gives a sample of it to the state police, who
turn it over to Capt. James A. Dorsey and five others from Niagara Falls
Air Force Base [now Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station], who come to
investigate the report the following afternoon. When NICAP investigator
Jeffrey Gow arrives on the scene, he notices the foot-tall grass in the
area “seemed to be bent over in long curved sweeps.” Radar targets are
picked up between 8:00–8:30 p.m. by an AN/FPS-6 Long Range Height Finder
Radar of the 763rd Radar Squadron at Lockport Air Force Station [now
closed] near Shawnee, New York. The target is sighted near the upper
limit of the radar. (NICAP, “Close
Encounter Has Radar Evidence”; NICAP, “Cherry
Creek (Butcher) Trace Case”; Center for UFO Studies, [case
documents]; “Landing
Probed by NICAP, AF,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1965): 7;
“The
Cherry Creek Incident,” APRO Bulletin, Nov./Dec. 1965, p. 7; Schopick,
pp. 178–184; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 170–172;
Robert A. Galganski, “Incident at Cherry Creek,” IUR 21, no. 3 (Fall
1996): 3– 12, 27–29; Sparks,
p. 307; Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 118–124)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3916
Date: 8/19/1965
Time: 8:20 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mrs. William Butcher, son Harold, 17, and
children. A large elliptical object, with a reddish vapor underneath,
came close to the ground, then shot straight up into the clouds a few
seconds later. Radio drowned out by static, a tractor engine stopped.
When the object was on the ground, a steady beeping sound could be
heard. Afterwards, a strange odor was noticed, and the next day, a
purplish liquid, 2”x2” marks and patches of singed grass were found at
the site. A bull bellowed and tried to break its bonds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Cherry Creek New York
ID: 526
Date: 8/20/1965
Time: 0300
Description: Mrs. T. E. Schumaker was awakened by a loud humming sound
and found she could not speak or move for a while. When she finally
reached her window, she saw a vertical, cigarshaped, luminous object. It
moved right and left, then back, etc. Ultimately it disappeared behind
some trees. The next morning a circle of crushed grass, 4 m in diameter,
was found in the yard.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66,2 (Vallee)
Location: Mount Airy, North Carolina
ID: 682
Date: 8/20/1965
Time: 1150
Description: Several tourists, including Alberto Ugarte and Elwin Voter,
observed a strange craft landing near the Inca ruins that they were
visiting. Two creatures described as luminous dwarfs, who seemed to have
“vertical mouths,” were seen briefly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 43 (Vallee)
Location: Cuzco, Peru
ID: 683
Date: 8/20/1965
Time: 1820
Description: Four students working on a farm noted radio interference
and a peculiar “beeping sound,” then saw an object at low altitude on
the farm of William Butcher. It was shaped like two saucers glued
together, had a shiny chromelike surface, diameter of 15 m, height of 6
m, and left a trail and smell of burned gasoline. It rose straight up
into the clouds, which were illuminated with green light. Five min later
it came down again over a woods, rose, and finally flew off to the
southwest. Effects were noted on animals: milk production decreased from
2 1/2 barrels to one; a dog barked, and other animals were
terrified.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Cherry Creek, New York
ID: 684
Date: 8/20/1965
Time: 2300
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Yacobi heard a loud humming sound and saw a
glowing, oval, flashing object land 200 m away. Figures moved around it,
as if examining the craft, which took off again.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 42 (Vallee)
Location: Mar del Plata, Argentina
ID: 685
Date: 8/21/1965
Description: Science editor, Christian Science Monitor: “Flying saucers
are all but literally knocking on the laboratory door. . . . Something
definitely is going on that cannot yet be explained.”
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 58
Date: 8/21/1965
Time: 1530
Description: A man was repairing the broken chain of his motorbike when
an object shaped like a top, gray, spinning, 1.8 m high, same diameter,
suddenly appeared 5 m away, 1.5 m above the road. It shot off toward the
northeast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 65,6 (Vallee)
Location: Bury’s Bridge, Eire
ID: 686
Date: 8/23/1965
Time: 0100
Description: Casimiro Zuk was riding his bicycle near a railroad
crossing when he saw a luminous object above him that circled, then
landed near the tracks. It was round, 5 m in diameter, and 2.5 m high. A
door opened, and a man dressed like a pilot emerged, walked around, and
reentered the object, which flew off in a spiral.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 158 (Vallee)
Location: Apostoles, Argentina
ID: 687
Date: 8/25/1965
Time: 0300
Description: Zoilo Campos Aguilar observed an object very close to the
ground for 38 min. It was semi-oval, with a powerful yellow-orange light
and left rapidly toward the south with a double trail. Apparent diameter
was that of the full moon. The witness was a night watchman.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Binder (Vallee)
Location: Terreon, Mexico
ID: 688
Date: 8/25/1965
Time: 1010
Description: A red object shaped like a plate, emittting fire and smoke
through two openings in its lower section, shook a school building as it
allegedly landed on the roof. Faculty and students at the Santa Leonor
College observed the craft, which had two antennae on top, rise spinning
and emitting red light beams It flew off to the northeast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 67, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Callao, Peru
ID: 689
Date: 8/30/1965
Time: 10:30 PM
Description: Witnesses: M.A. Lilly, N. Smith, T. Nastoff. One white
ball, 5-8’ in diameter and trailed by a 2-3’ light, hit the road 100’ in
front of the witness’ car, bounced and flew away. Sighting lasted 3-4
seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Urbana, Ohio
ID: 527
Date: 8/30/1965
Description: Hynek writes
to Lt. Col. John Spaulding in the Office of the Secretary of the Air
Force to suggest that the Pentagon work with the National Academy of
Sciences to establish a panel of physical and social scientists to study
the UFO phenomenon. (Center for UFO Studies, [Hynek
correspondence], p. 1; Swords 306)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3917
Date: 8/30/1965
Description: A spinning, top-shaped object with openings through which
an orange light was visible was observed taking off with a “foggy”
trail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Jan., 66 (Vallee)
Location: La Blanquilla, Venezuela
ID: 690
Date: 9/1/1965
Time: 0500
Description: A worker observed the landing of an oval object on an
airfield where he had gone “drawn by a strange feeling.” Four other
persons also saw the object, from which a dwarfish creature, 85 cm tall,
emerged. The entity had a head double the size of a normal human head,
and made gestures that were not understood. He reentered the machine,
which became illuminated and took off, first vertically, then toward the
west.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Huanuco, Peru
ID: 691
Date: 9/3/1965
Description: Project Blue Book File #(?): Damon/Angleton, TX. Deputy
Sheriffs Billy E. McCoy and Robert W. Goode were investigating an UFO in
the back-woods roads when the purplish UFO shot instantly towards them
to within 150 feet and hovered at 100 feet off the ground. The bright
glow illuminated the interior of the car and the surrounding fields
(11:30 p.m.). “Every blade of grass stood out clearly” in the field.
Officer Goode, who was driving with his arm out the window, felt heat on
his arm and later reported that a cut that was on his arm healed more
rapidly than normal [U/V effects].
Type: ufo encounter
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Angleton, TX
Date: 9/3/1965
Time: 0200
Description: A young man and two Police officers observed five lights in
a rigid configuration moving over a field, sometimes fluttering to low
altitude with a falling-leaf motion. The lights illuminated the
countryside and flashed in sequence.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Fuller (Vallee)
Location: Exeter, New Hampshire
ID: 693
Date: 9/3/1965
Time: 11 PM
Description: Witnesses: Brazoria County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Billy
McCoy and Deputy Robert Goode. One triangular object, 150-200’ long,
40-50’ thick at middle and dark grey, with a long, bright, pulsing,
purple light on the right side and a long blue light on the left side.
Came from distance to 150’ off highway and 100’ in the air. Purple light
illuminated ground beneath object and interior of police car. Driver
felt heat on his left arm. Initial sighting lasted 5-10 minutes. Second
sighting.occurred later that night.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Damon, Texas
ID: 529
Date: 9/3/1965
Time: 2 AM
Description: Witnesses: Exeter Patrolmen Eugene Bertrand, Jr. and David
Hunt, and Norman Muscarello. One large, dark, elliptical object with a
row of red lights around it, moved slowly and erratically around houses
and trees, while lights blinked in sequence. Farm animals were very
noisy. Sighting lasted about 1 hour.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Exeter, New Hampshire
ID: 528
Date: 9/3/1965
Description: Citizen reports of glowing red, elliptical object at low
level, verified by police, row of bright pulsating red lights, animal
reactions
Type: sighting
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Exeter, NH
ID: 59
Date: 9/3/1965
Time: evening
Description: Two Angleton sheriffs, McCoy and Robert Goode saw from
their car a huge object 70 m long, 15 m high, with a bright, violet
light at one end and a pale-blue light at the other. They stopped to
watch it and saw the craft fly within 30 m, casting a huge shadow when
it intercepted the moonlight. They felt a heat wave and drove away in
fear, but returned to the site a second time, only to turn around when
they found the object was still there. Goode had been bitten by an
animal before the sighting, and his left index finger swelled and bled
freely. After exposure to the light from the object, the pain was gone,
and the wound cured unnaturally. Later that evening, two men found him
at a restaurant and described the object in detail, adding he should
keep future encounters to himself.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Aug.,65 (Vallee)
Location: Damon, Texas
ID: 694
Date: 9/3/1965
Time: 0120
Description: J. Fernandez was awakened by a humming sound and saw a
luminous, oval object rising from the roof of his house. Its color
varied from white to red, and it left marks on the roof.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 41 (Vallee)
Location: San Justo, Argentina
ID: 692
Date: 9/3/1965
Description: Two sheriffs saw huge, brightly illuminated object speed
toward their patrol car, hover, illuminate them and the terrain in
purple light. Heat felt
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Damon, TX
ID: 60
Date: 9/3/1965
Description: Around 1:00 a.m. Exeter, New Hampshire, Police Officer Eugene
F. Bertrand Jr. comes across a woman parked on State Highway 101.
“She was real upset,” he says, “and told me that a red glowing object
had chased her.” Around 2:00 a.m., while walking home to Exeter on Route
150 (Amesbury Road) near Kensington, New Hampshire, teenager Norman
J. Muscarello is terrorized by a large object with four or five
bright red lights that approaches from nearby woods and hovers over a
field. Horses are spooked. Muscarello gets a ride to the Exeter police
station, pale and shaken, and reports the incident at 2:24 a.m. Officer
Bertrand drives him back to the field along Route 150 to investigate.
When he is called to investigate Muscarello’s report, the earlier
incident causes him to pay attention. At first Bertrand and Muscarello
see nothing, but when Bertrand flashes a light around the field around
3:00 a.m., a huge dark object with red flashing lights rises up over the
trees, moving back and forth, tilts, and comes toward them. They both
see pulsating red lights that dim from left to right then right to left
in a 5- 4-3-2-1 then 1-2-3-4-5 pattern. Each cycle takes about 2
seconds. The object hovers for several minutes, and everything is silent
except for the dogs and horses. Then it darts, turns sharply, slows
down, and begins to move away. Another patrolman, David
R. Hunt, pulls
up and sees the pulsating lights and the UFO. Bertrand says the lights
are always in a line and at a 60° angle; when the object moves, the
lower lights are always forward of the others. In the daytime, the
police station calls Pease AFB [now Pease Air National Guard Base] in
Portsmouth to reconfirm the incident. By 1:00 p.m., 2–4 police officers
arrive to interview the three witnesses at length. Journalist John
G. Fuller investigates the case during the next month. He finds a
huge gap between media coverage and local perceptions. Raymond
Fowler finds that the local advertising plane operated by Sky-Lite
Aerial Advertising Agency of Boston was not running between August 21
and September 10. (Wikipedia, “Exeter incident”;
“UFOs
Panic Police, Motorists,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 4
(Aug./Sept. 1965): 1, 3–4; “The
Exeter, N.H.
Case,” APRO Bulletin, Nov./Dec. 1965, pp. 7–8; John G. Fuller, “Outer-Space
Ghost Story,” Look, February 22, 1966, pp. 36–42; Clark III 440–444;
Hynek UFO Report, pp. 154–166;
John G. Fuller, Incident at Exeter, Putnam’s Sons, 1966; Schopick,
pp. 197–199; Sparks,
p. 307; Jean Fuller, “The
Exeter Incidents,” Flying Saucer Review 13, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1967):
25–27; “Tale of an ‘Exeter Terrestrial,’” IUR 8, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1983): 12– 14, excerpted from Exeter Area High School
newspaper, Talon 5, no. 1 (1981); Kim Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs
1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 69–72; Michael D. Swords, GrassRoots
UFOs: Case Reports from the Timmerman Files, Fund for UFO Research,
2005, pp. 143–145; Schuessler, “The
Exeter, N.H. UFO Case, September
3, 1965: Briefing Document,” October 2002; Martin Shough, “Exeunt
Exeter? Should This 1965 New Hampshire
Classic Finally Shuffle Off the Stage?” April 2012; Center for UFO
Studies, [case
documents]; Center for UFO Studies, [John G. Fuller tape-recorded
interview transcripts, part
one, part
two]; Patrick Gross, “The Exeter
Cases, 1965”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3918
Date: 9/3/1965
Description: 11:00 p.m. Brazoria County Sheriff’s Deputies Billy
E. McCoy and Robert Goode are patrolling Highway 36 between West
Columbia and Damon, Texas. They see a dark-gray triangular object,
150–200 feet long and 40–50 feet thick at the middle, with a long,
bright, pulsing, purple light on the right side and a long blue light on
the left side. It approaches to within 150 feet from the highway and 100
feet in the air. Purple light illuminates the ground beneath the object
and the interior of the police car, and the object casts a shadow in the
moonlight. Goode feels heat on his left arm; an alligator bite on his
left index finger is suddenly relieved of pain, later healing rapidly
but unnaturally. They drive away in fear but return later that night to
find the object still there. (NICAP, “Dark
Grey Disc Shadows Police Car”; “UAO
Pursues Police,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1965, pp. 1, 3; Clark III
355–357; Sparks, p. 308;
Michael D. Swords, “Damon,
Texas Comments, by Request from Kandinsky,” The Big Study, March 26,
2011; “Damon
1965,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library, February 5, 2014;
Patrick Gross, “Damon,
Texas, September 1965”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3919
Date: 9/5/1965
Time: 0500
Description: Governor Sebastian Macha saw two dwarfish creatures, 80 cm
tall, on the snow near Ceulacocha. They entered a craft, which left with
a thundering noise.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 2 (Vallee)
Location: Santa Barbara, Peru
ID: 695
Date: 9/6/1965
Description: 9:30 p.m. Capt. Marcelo Cisternas is piloting a DC-6b at
8,500 feet for LAN Chile Flight 904 in northern Chile when he sees a
zigzagging object change course and approach his airliner. The UFO
follows the aircraft for 13–14 minutes at a distance of 1.8 miles. It is
emitting a light of an intense color that shifts to radiant white.
Cisternas checks with control towers in Arica and Iquque, but no other
flights are expected in the area. (Good Above, p. 311)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3920
Date: 9/7/1965
Time: 2100
Description: More than 200 witnesses saw two objects come to ground
level, leaving crater-like depressions.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: San Joaquin, Peru
ID: 696
Date: 9/8/1965
Time: 2200
Description: A child reported the observation of a luminous object from
which seven creatures, 80 cm tall, with only one eye, emerged. The same
day a newsman was said to have seen an object land in the vicinity of
Puno, and to have made an unsuccesful attempt at communication.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Puno, Peru
ID: 698
Date: 9/8/1965
Time: evening
Description: After work, latex collectors saw an object resembling a
huge wheel, intensely bright, with two flaming openings in front, about
to land near them. They went into hiding, and observed the craft as it
flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 84 (Vallee)
Location: Alto Purus, Brazil
ID: 697
Date: 9/10/1965
Description: Three women were said to have observed a group of beings, 3
m tall, without noses or mouths with red, bright eyes, wearing gray
clothing and boots. No object was described. Approximate date.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 159 (Vallee)
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
ID: 700
Date: 9/10/1965
Description: Four persons saw a creature with glowing catlike eyes,
dressed in black, walking in a street. The entity was holding a metallic
tube, was pursued, and vanished suddenly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 159; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Jalapa, Mexico
ID: 699
Date: 9/10/1965
Description: 8:30 a.m. Farmer Antônio Pau Ferro is working on his farm
in São João, near Garanhuns, Pernambuco, Brazil, when he hears a noise
and sees two metallic objects descending from the sky about 26 feet
away. They touch the ground in a uniform motion, let two humanoids about
2.5 feet tall exit, then rise up again to 16 feet and hover. The beings
approach Ferro, then move back to the two UFOs. They pick up a tomato
and examine it. The objects descend and envelop them, then take off with
a whining and then a low sound. (Clark III 523; Brazil 76; Patrick
Gross, URECAT, May
17, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3921
Date: 9/11/1965
Time: 0800
Description: Antonio Pau Ferro saw two objects land. Two dwarfish beings
emerged, 70 cm tall, dressed like humans, with “ugly” skin. They
appeared to examine some tomato plants, reentered their craft, 6 m in
diameter, and flew off. They spoke in a language which was not
understood.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 84 (Vallee)
Location: Guarulhos, Brazil
ID: 701
Date: 9/14/1965
Description: Domed disc descended, humming sound, blue light. Motorbike
engine failed, witness paralyzed, shock, static electricity
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: medical
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Langenhoe, Essex, UK
ID: 61
Date: 9/14/1965
Description: 1:00 a.m. Engineer Paul Green is riding a motorcycle south
of Langenhoe, Essex, UK, near Langenhoe Hall Lane when he hears a
high-pitched humming to the east and notices a pinpoint of blue light
moving in his direction. The humming becomes a loud buzzing, and his
engine sputters and dies and the headlight goes out. The light resolves
into an enormous domed disc that tilts and slowly descends. The
underside of the disc has numerous round items. Green walks toward the
object, but he feels paralyzed as the flashing blue light becomes
intense, fluctuating in rhythm with his heartbeat. He feels a tingling
like an electric shock. The object seems to land in an area with
farmhouses. Green notes that another cyclist has had a similar problem,
but with some difficulty he gets his cycle started. The next day he
notices that his hair and clothes are imbued with static electricity.
(Bernard E. Finch, “The
Langenhoe Incident,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1965): 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3922
Date: 9/15/1965
Time: 2400
Description: Two policemen, John Lockem and Koos de Klerk, were on a
patrol of the Pretoria-Bronkhorstspruit Road when their headlights
illuminated a disk 10 m in diameter, copper-colored, resting on the
road. Ten sec later it took off in a pool of flames, at high speed. The
tar on the road kept burning for some time.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Humanoids 71 (Vallee)
Location: Silverton, South Africa
ID: 702
Date: 9/16/1965
Description: NICAP Report #(?): Pretoria, S. Africa: Constables John
Lockem and Koos de Klerk while on patrol (after midnight) suddenly had a
domed, disc shaped object come into their van headlights. It was sitting
on the road. The UFO was copper colored and about 30 ft. in diam.
Immediately the UFO lifted off, emitting tongues of flame from two tubes
or channels on the underside. The flames deflected about three feet off
the macadam road surface and were still visible after loosing sight of
the craft. Road damage: part of the road was caved-in, and in a 6 foot
area the gravel was separated from the tar. Samples of the road surface
were taken for analysis, report was never released. Lt. Col. J.B. Brits,
District Commandant of Pretoria North said the incident was “highly
secret”, and inquiry is being conducted in top circles.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Pretoria, South Africa
Date: 9/16/1965
Description: Just after 12:00 midnight. Constables John Lockem and Koos
de Klerk are patrolling on the Pretoria- Bronkhorstspruit highway in
South Africa when their police van headlights suddenly illuminate a
domed, disc- shaped object sitting on the road. The UFO is copper
colored and about 30 feet in diameter. Within seconds, the object lifts
off the road, emitting tongues of flame from two tubes or channels on
the underside. Flames from the macadam road surface shoot up in the air
about 3 feet as the UFO departs, blazing long after it is out of sight.
Later investigation shows that part of the road is caved in as if from a
heavy weight, and the gravel is separated from the tar in a severely
burned area about 6 feet in diameter. Lt. Col. J. B. Brits, district
commandant of Pretoria North, tells the media that the incident is
considered “as being of a highly secret nature and an inquiry is being
conducted in top circles.” Samples of the road surface are taken for
analysis by a leading scientific agency; the report is never made
public. (Philipp Human, “Two
Policemen See Saucer on Main Road,” Flying Saucer Review 11, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1965): 9–11; “Police
See UFO Blast Off from Highway,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 4
(Aug./Sept. 1965): 5; Schopick, pp. 187–192;
UFOEv II 183–184)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3923
Date: 9/16/1965
Description: Constables in police van encountered domed disc on highway,
object lifted off emitting flame. Tar and gravel road severely
damaged
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Pretoria, South Africa
ID: 62
Date: 9/17/1965
Description: A UFO is seen hovering above Medina del Campo, Valladolid,
Spain, for several hours. Heliodoro Carrión takes off in his light plane
and goes to 15,000 feet. An Iberia Airlines jet passes him on the way up
at 24,000 feet. Carrión estimates the UFO is at least 4 times larger
than the jet. (“More
Sightings over Spain,” APRO Bulletin, Jan./Feb. 1966, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3924
Date: late 9/1965
Description: 9:15 p.m. Two French submarines, the Junon (S648) and the
Daphné (S641), escorted by the logistic support vessel Rhône, are
anchored off Fort-de-France, Martinique, when a large luminous object
the color of a fluorescent tube arrives slowly and silently from the
west. Michel Figuet on the Junon goes into the coming tower and gets six
pairs of binoculars that he distributes to companions. There are 300
witnesses, including four officers on the Junon, three officers on the
Daphné, a dozen French sailors, and personnel of the weather
observatory. All witnesses aboard the Junon see the object as a large
ball of light or a disc on edge arriving from the west. It moves slowly,
horizontally, at a distance estimated at 6 miles south of the ships,
from west to east. It leaves a whitish trace similar to the glow of a TV
screen. When it was directly south of the ships the object drops toward
the earth, makes two complete loops, then hovers in the midst of a faint
halo. Figuet watches the object vanish in the center of its glow “like a
bulb turned off.” The trail and the halo remain visible in the sky for a
full minute. At 9:45 p.m. the halo reappears at the same place, and the
object switches on again. It rises, makes two more loops, and flies away
to the west, where it disappears at 9:50 p.m. (Jacques Vallée, “Estimates
of Power Optical Output in Six Cases
of Unexplained Aerial Objects with Defined Luminosity
Characteristics,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 12, no. 3
(1998): 348–350)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3925
Date: 9/20/1965
Time: 1630
Description: A farm woman saw an object land, and six dwarfs, 80 cm
tall, emerged from it. They wore very shiny white clothes and “walked
like ducks.” She hid during the observation, and noted that they spoke
in a language she could not understand. After their departure, a liquid
resembling vinegar was found on the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Pichaca, Peru
ID: 703
Date: fall 1965
Description: 10:30 a.m. A Chesapeake & Ohio train is moving 8 miles
south of Fostoria, Ohio, when the fireman and engineer see a large
cigar-shaped object in the sky a considerable distance away. It is dark
in color and positioned at a 45° angle from the horizon. It appears to
be creating its own cloud screen. Suddenly a small object falls out of
the tail and descends slowly in a fluttering fashion. Near the ground
the small object stabilizes, emits coal-black smoke from its top, and
then rises upward faster and faster. Three more objects leave the large
one, each taking 10–12 minutes. They go off in different directions.
After the last one leaves, a white cloud forms around the large object,
which remains in the sky with other normal white clouds. (Herbert S.
Taylor, “Satellite Objects and Cloud Cigars,” IUR 29, no. 1 (Spring
2004): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3929
Date: 9/23/1965
Description: A major blackout in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, coincides
with the appearance of a glowing, disc- shaped UFO hovering low over the
city. Witnesses include the governor of Morelos state, Emilio Riva
Palacio; Valentín
López González, the mayor of Cuernavaca; 24th military zone chief
Gen. Rafael Enrique Vega; Joaquín Díaz
González, president
of the Lion’s Club; founder of the Folkloric Ballet of Mexico, Amalia
Hernández; and future Mexican President Luis
Echeverría. The power only fails as long as the UFO is there. (Frank
Edwards, FS Serious Business, Bantam ed., 1966, p. 145;
Schopick, pp. 192–196;
Antonio Huneeus, “UFO
Sighting by Mexican
President Luis Echeverría,” OpenMinds, October 6, 2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3926
Date: 9/25/1965
Time: 9:55 AM
Description: Witness: Bett Diamon. Five orange lights in a row flew fast
and made an abrupt turn during the 1 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Chisholm, Minnesota
ID: 530
Date: 9/25/1965
Time: 10 PM
Description: Witnesses: Dr. George Walton, physical chemist, and wife.
Two round white objects flew side-by-side, at 30-50’ altitude, pacing
the witnesses’ car for 6 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Rodeo, New Mexico
ID: 531
Date: 9/26/1965
Description: The Centro Ufologico Nazionale is founded in Milan, Italy,
as a test of cooperation among several regional UFO groups. It begins
publishing Notiziario UFO, edited by Roberto
Pinotti, in
January 1966. (Story, p. 67;
1Pinotti 143–146; Notiziario
UFO 1 (1967)))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3927
Date: 9/27/1965
Time: 0815
Description: Addie Jones, 61, saw a silvery object, 10 m in diameter,
rise from a wooded area and hover silently before leaving toward the
west. Under the object was a boxlike device. Distance to witness: 400 m.
No light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 160 (Vallee)
Location: Fredonia, New York
ID: 704
Date: 9/27/1965
Description: At 5:15 P.M., scientist saw metallic-appearing,
cigar-shaped object that changed course
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Columbus, OH
ID: 63
Date: 9/27/1965
Description: Fireball meteor sighting at 7:56 P.M. American Meteor
Society No. 2389.
Type: sighting
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Northeastern United States
ID: 64
Date: 9/28/1965
Description: USAF Director of Information Gen. Eugene
B. LeBailly writes to the military director of the USAF Scientific
Advisory Board, saying that Gen. Arthur
C. Agan has found Project Blue Book to be a worthwhile program and
that the Air Force should continue to investigate UFOs “to assure that
such objects do not present a threat to our national security.” The
project will remain at the Foreign Technology Division (Wright-Patterson
AFB). He also requests that a “working scientific panel composed of both
physical and social scientists be organized to review Project Blue
Book—its resources, methods, and findings.” (Maj. Gen. E. B. LeBailly,
“Unidentified
Flying Objects (UFOs),” memorandum for military director, Scientific
Advisory Board, September 28, 1965)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3928
Date: 9/28/1965
Description: Memo from Maj. Gen. E. B. LeBailly, USAF director of
information, to USAF Scientific Advisory Board requesting a scientific
panel to review the methods and findings of Project Blue Book. LeBailly
noted: “Many of the reports that cannot be explained have come from
intelligent and technically well-qualified individuals whose integrity
cannot be doubted.”
Type: memo
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 65
Date: 9/29/1965
Description: Two men in a car, Julio L. de Romana and Antonio Chavez
Bedoya, saw a strange being, 80 cm tall, by the side of the road. The
creature had only one eye, and gold and silver stripes over its entire
body. Soon afterward a craft flew over their car. Several persons living
20 km away also reported an unidentified object within min of this
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Arequipa, Peru
ID: 705
Date: 10/1965
Description: The Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre is formed in Hobart,
Tasmania, by Robert Burge. It publishes the TUFOIC Newsletter for many
years, but the organization folds in December 2015. (TUFOIC
Newsletter, no. 7 (1971); Keith Basterfield, Vladimir Godic, and
Pony Godic, “Australian Ufology: A Review,” JUFOS 2 (1990): 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3930
Date: 10/1965
Description: Soviet N-1 super heavy rocket development is begun
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Soviet Kazakhstan
Date: 10/1/1965
Description: The Swedish Defense Staff transfers the responsibility for
UFO investigation to the Swedish National Defence Research Institute
[now the Swedish Defence Research Agency] in Sweden, where it remains.
Few civilian reports are classified as secret, but sensitive reports by
the military are restricted. (Swords 367–368)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3931
Date: 10/1/1965
Description: Three students, Santos Vallejos, Antonia Aparti, and Adela
Sanchez, who were walking to General San Martin School, were attacked by
small creatures with greenish skin. The children ran away, and arrived
at the school in a state of terror.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: CODOVNI (Vallee)
Location: Aguas Blancas, Argentina
ID: 706
Date: 10/2/1965
Description: John
G. Fuller summarizes the Exeter sighting in his “Trade Winds” column
in the Saturday Review. He writes to his editors beforehand that
“reliable, but off-the-record information from the Pease AFB indicates
frequent radar blips and fighters are constantly scrambled to pursue
these objects. This information is not official, but it comes from a
reliable source.” (John G. Fuller, “Trade
Winds,” Saturday Review 48, no. 40 (October 2, 1965): 10, 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3932
Date: 10/4/1965
Time: evening
Description: Betty Valine and her 12-yearold son Robbie observed a
large, plate-shaped machine with a dome on top, inside which three
creatures were clearly visible. The witnesses did not see the object
touch down.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Rio Vista, California
ID: 708
Date: 10/4/1965
Description: An object was said to have landed near Southington. No
details.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP (Vallee)
Location: Southington, Connecticut
ID: 707
Date: 10/4/1965
Time: Unknown time
Description: Witness: Tucker. Case missing from official files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Middletown, Ohio
ID: 532
Date: 10/7/1965
Description: Radar-visual sighting of 12 UFOs, jet interceptor
pursuit
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Edwards AFB, CA
ID: 66
Date: 10/13/1965
Description: Two adolescent girls, Marg Gudajtes and Judy Norlock, saw a
large, metallic, oval object with bluish lights land in a park at the
edge of town. It had left by the time they returned with help. An oval
area of crushed grass was observed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Minot, North Dakota
ID: 709
Date: mid 10/1965
Description: 9:30 a.m. Bill
Hertzke, a
ranch hand on the Circle J Ranch near Cochrane, Alberta, is on his horse
in a pasture when he sees an object like a small airplane parked on the
ground. It is silver-gray with swept-back wings, about 16 feet long, a
wingspan of about 12 feet, and its fuselage is about 4-5 feet deep. He
rides over and examines it. The exterior is irregular, “like a waffle.”
A transparent dome covers the cockpit. Through it he can see complicated
instruments (knobs, dials, and switches), a TV screen, and two
transparent (like Plexiglas) bucket seats. There are no visible motors,
propellers, jets, insignia, or identifying marks of any kind. It has an
exterior door about 2 feet wide and 3 feet high that is open about 2
inches. His horse is extremely skittish, so he ties it to a tree and
returns on foot. He spends 10–15 minutes examining it and can see no
landing gear (although it seems to be suspended 18–20 inches off the
ground) or seams of any kind. He realizes he can go inside the door but
is a bit too scared to even touch the object, and has to return to
chores anyway. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968,
pp. 87–102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3933
Date: 10/18/1965
Description: Thousands of persons saw a circular object that flew over
the beach, circling. Later two witnesses saw it land in an isolated spot
between Cuaranga and the Santos Air Base.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Ouranos 32; LDLN 84 (Vallee)
Location: Ponte Praia, Brazil
ID: 710
Date: 10/21/1965
Description: 6:10 p.m. Five witnesses are in a car near Saint George,
Minnesota, returning to their homes in Gibbon from a bow-hunting trip.
Arthur
A. Strauch, a Sibley County deputy sheriff, is the first to spot a
strange object that seems to be 2,000 feet above the ground and a
quarter of a mile distant in the northwest sky. After watching for about
10 minutes from the car, the group drives down the road about a half
mile and stops. Strauch observes it both with the naked eye and through
7x35 binoculars. At first they hear no sound, but as the object flies
over them, Donald Martin Grewe describes the sound as a “whistling
whine.” Strauch snaps a photograph just as the object begins to move.
The object then flies into the wind for several hundred feet, then stops
for a few seconds, at which time its lights change from bright white to
dull orange, alternating several times. It then moves toward the
southeast at a high rate of speed and disappears out of sight. (NICAP,
“The
St. George Multiple-Witness Photo
Case”; “Deputy
Snaps UAO Color Photo,” APRO Bulletin, Nov./Dec. 1965, pp. 1, 3;
Story, pp. 351–352;
Patrick Gross, “The
St. George Multiple-Witness Sighting and Photograph, USA,
1965”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3934
Date: 10/22/1965
Description: Afternoon. Geof Gray-Cobb, a Canadian technician working
with the Deep Space Instrumentation Facility [now the Hartebeesthoek
Radio Astronomy Observatory] in Gauteng, South Africa, in tracking Mariner
4, is
present when the spacecraft’s signal strength begins rising at a point
when it should not have. The team alerts the Jet Propulsion Lab. The
signal strength is now so high that the instruments are clicking as they
max out. Gray- Cobb says the “raw radio energy” is coming in
indecipherable “blips and dashes.” Nothing can be seen visually. Eight
minutes later, everything goes silent. JPL later asks them to point
their dish in the direction it was pointing when they picked up the
signal. They do, but forget to correct for the earth’s rotation.
Nonetheless, they get the signal again, which means it is a local
source. Nothing is visible in the sky, but a sound sweep reveals that
the source is a perfect circle 2° in diameter. The team directs a packet
of radio pulses at the source, but it falls silent. Two months later,
Gray-Cobb discovers that the pages for the event are gone from the log;
the tape recording of the event is also missing. The manager tells him
that two men with “authorization” had come three days after the event to
confiscate the tapes. (Michael D. Swords, “Gazing at the Moons,” IUR 32,
no. 4 (October 2009): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3935
Date: 10/22/1965
Description: Evening. José Camilo Filho is walking through a field near
the city cemetery in Canhotinho, Pernambuco, Brazil, when he runs across
two little men only 3 feet high with whitish hair sitting next to a tube
4 feet tall and resting on the ground. When they see Camilo, they jump
up in a disorganized fashion, colliding with each other. One picks up
the tube and the other points a straw at Camilo, who runs ahead. He
decides to return and take a closer look, but the men and tube are gone.
(Gordon Creighton, “The
Humanoids in Latin America,” in Charles Bowen, ed., The Humanoids,
special issue of FSR, Oct./Dec. 1966, p. 45; Patrick Gross, URECAT, July
27, 2008; Brazil 75)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3936
Date: 10/22/1965
Description: Approximate date. Jose Camilo Filho saw two creatures near
a landed object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 84 (Vallee)
Location: Canhotinho, Brazil
ID: 711
Date: 10/23/1965
Description: Night. KEYL-AM radio announcer James F. Townsend, 19, is
driving on State Highway 27 four miles east of Long Prairie, Minnesota,
when he slams on his brakes to avoid hitting a rocket-like device
resting on three legs or fins. As his car skids to a stop 20 feet from
the object, the vehicle’s motor and electrical system die. The object
looks like it is made of stainless steel, stands 30–40 feet high, and is
10 feet in diameter. In a circle of light under it, Townsend sees three
things that resemble beer cans with “tripod legs and three matchstick
arms.” They have no eyes, but Townsend feels as if they are looking at
him. He gets out of the car to try to knock one over, but they come over
to him and they stand there looking at him. Eventually they turn around
and “scoot under the ship,” disappearing into the light beneath it. An
ear-splitting humming sound emanates from the UFO, which assumes a
bright illumination and shoots off. The Todd County sheriff and UFO
investigators assume that Townsend, a deeply religious man, is sincere.
(“‘Space
Things’ Stop
His Car,” Minneapolis Star, October 25, 1965, pp. 1, 4; Sparks, p. 308;
“‘Little,
Little Men’ in Minn.,” APRO Bulletin, Nov./Dec. 1965, p. 8; Clare
John Jansen, “Little Tin Men in Minnesota,” Fate 19, no. 2 (February
1966): 36–40; Clark III 280; Patrick Gross, URECAT,
January 5, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3937
Date: 10/23/1965
Time: 1915
Description: James Townsend, 19, was driving on Highway 27 when his
engine, lights, and radio stopped operating. He then observed an object
10 m tall, about 3 m in diameter, shaped somewhat like a rocket, sitting
on fins on the road. Three creatures with “tripod legs and matchstick
arms,” brownish-black in color, having no eyes or facial features, stood
in a large, lighted circle under it, facing the witness for a few
moments before disappearing in the intense light. The object rose
straight up for 400 m, with a high-pitched humming sound, stopped and
vanished. The car then resumed normal operation by itself.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Long Prairie, Minnesota
ID: 712
Date: 10/25/1965
Description: The Betty
and Barney Hill story is publicly revealed in an article by reporter
John
H. Luttrell in the Boston Traveler newspaper. He has obtained a copy
of the tape recording at the Quincy Center UFO group, as well as a tape
of an interview the Hills gave to UFO investigators after they completed
their therapy. UPI picks up the story the same day. The Hills are caught
completely by surprise. (Clark III 585)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3938
Date: 10/27/1965
Description: The Air Force issues a press release that gives two basic
explanations for the Exeter, New Hampshire, sightings: Some stem from a
high-altitude SAC exercise out of Westover AFB [now Westover Air Reserve
Base] near Chicopee, Massachusetts; others are explained by temperature
inversion that causes the appearance of stars and planets to dance and
twinkle. Around the same time, John
Fuller hears from an Air Force pilot that pilots have been ordered
to shoot down UFOs when possible, but the objects appear to be
“invulnerable” and can outmaneuver any aircraft. (John G. Fuller,
Incident at Exeter, Putnam’s Sons, 1966, pp. 201–202, 205–206)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3939
Date: 10/30/1965
Time: night
Description: Witnesses in a Volkswagen encountered a strong light on the
road. A truck and another Volkswagen arrived and went near the object,
which took off suddenly and flew over them. It was also observed by
dozens of witnesses at the Pinhal Junction.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Sep., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Pinhal, Brazil
ID: 713
Date: 11/1965
Time: dusk
Description: Eric Williams saw a large object, 30 m in diameter, 15 m
high, about 75 m away. He reported seeing clearly a row of portholes
illuminated with a greenish light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Broken Hill, Zambia
ID: 714
Date: 11/1965
Description: 2:00 a.m. Aaron David Kaback is on duty at the motor pool
in the Army’s Fort Riley Military Reservation in Kansas when the duty
officer takes him to a remote area of the base where they see a landed
UFO with an Army helicopter flying above it. He contacts Leonard
Stringfield about his story. A subsequent investigation by Citizens
Against UFO Secrecy finds many discrepancies in Kaback’s account and
very little credibility. (“Ft.
Riley
Landing: Hoax or Delusion?” Just Cause 1, no. 6 (September 1978):
11–14; Clark III 603–604; Kevin D. Randle, A History of UFO Crashes,
Avon, 1995, p. 201)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3941
Date: 11/1965
Description: Fort Riley, KA: “AK” (Aaron Kaback) was on guard duty at 2
a.m. when the duty officer drove up and ordered him to hop into the
jeep. He and 3 other officers were driven out to a remote area where a
large oval object was resting. An army chopper was hovering above the
object and shining a bright light on it. The object was approx. 35–48
ft. in diam., had a fin on the end and an exhaust port or some kind of
hole below the fin. It had rows of squares around the rim and remained
completely dead for the 2 1/2 hours they guarded it. (Kaback seems to be
confused as to the actual date this incident occurred.)
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Fort Riley, KA
See also: 12/10/64
Date: early 11/1965
Description: The USAF Scientific Advisory Board meets in Houston, Texas,
to discuss the UFO investigation and the possibility of an independent
study. (USAF Scientific Advisory Board, Special
Report of the USAF Scientific Advisory
Board Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project “Blue Book,” Brian O’Brien,
chairman of the Advisory Board, March 1966)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3940
Date: 11/5/1965 (approximate)
Description: Day. Mauritz Löugren and a friend see a triangular-shaped
object moving back and forth for 20 minutes over Luleå, Sweden. It
disappears silently to the west at great speed. (“World
Round-Up,” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1966):
iii)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3942
Date: 11/9/1965
Description: 5:16 p.m. The Northeast power blackout, a significant
disruption in the supply of electricity, affects parts of Ontario,
Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode
Island, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Over 30 million people and 80,000
square miles are left without electricity for up to 13 hours. The cause
of the failure is the setting of a protective relay on one of the
transmission lines from the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power Station
No. 2 in Queenston, Ontario, near Niagara Falls. Prior to and coincident
with the blackout, there are a number of reports of unusual lights in
Syracuse and Niagara Falls, New York, and Holliston, Massachusetts, and
there is speculation that the blackout is related to UFO activity in
some way. But there is no evidence of a direct connection. (Wikipedia,
“Northeast
blackout of 1965”; “New
Clues to UFO Electrical Interference,”
UFO Investigator 3, no. 5 (Nov./Dec. 1965): 3–4; “The
Question of the Power Blackouts,” APRO Bulletin, Nov./Dec. 1965,
pp. 4–6; John G. Fuller, Incident at Exeter, Putnam’s Sons, 1966,
pp. 230–235; Schopick, pp. 201–203;
Condon, pp. 110–115;
Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen,
1979, pp. 130–137; Michael D. Swords, GrassRoots UFOs: Case Reports from
the Timmerman Files, Fund for UFO Research, 2005, p. 145; Chris
Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press,
2006, pp. 99–102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3943
Date: 11/9/1965
Time: dawn
Description: During the great power blackout, actor Stuart Whitman was
startled to hear a whistling sound outside his 12th floor window and to
observe two hovering objects, one orange and the other blue giving off a
luminescent light. He then heard an English message indicating that the
blackout was a “demonstration.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 6 (Vallee)
Location: New York City, New York
ID: 715
Date: 11/10/1965
Description: Massive power blackout in northeastern United States at
about 5:25 P.M. (EST). Some reports of UFOs coincided, with resulting
speculation about a possible relationship
Type: sighting
Type: newspaper article
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Northeastern US
ID: 67
Date: 11/10/1965
Description: Before dawn. Actor Stuart
Whitman is staying in a hotel in Manhattan, New York City, during
the Northeast power blackout. He hears a “sound, like a whippoorwill
whistling outside my twelfth-story window.” He steps to the window and
sees 2 luminous UFOs hovering nearby, one orange, the other blue. He
hears voices from the UFOs in his head, telling him they are fearful of
earth because humans are messing around with “unknown quantities” that
might disrupt the balance of the universe. They claim the blackout is a
small demonstration of their power and ask Whitman to do what he can to
fight malice, prejudice, and hate on earth. The objects disappear. (“El
Paso Blackout Recalls New York Experience to Actor,” El Paso (Tex.)
Herald-Post, December 24, 1965, p. 4; Jerome Clark, “The
Greatest Flap Yet? Part IV,” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1966): 10; Clark III 1280–1281; Patrick Gross, URECAT, July
25, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3944
Date: 11/13/1965
Description: Dario Filho, his wife, his grandson, and a bank director
saw an object land 100 m away, flashing a beam of light toward the sky.
Two policemen on the scene also observed the incident. Near the object
were two dwarfs. One of them wore coveralls, the other had a gray shirt
and brown trousers. By what seemed an optical effect, a third being with
a flat, squarish head, wearing something like a surgeon’s apron, was
also seen near them. The object and the creatures were very
bright.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Sep., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Mogi-Guassu, Brazil
ID: 716
Date: 11/16/1965
Description: T. Untiedt was driving on Highway 28 about 5 km west of
Cyprus when he saw a red flourescent, cylindrical object with a cone on
top, 4 km long and 2 m in diameter, surrounded with a white glow. The
car slowed down as the observer was 400 km away from the object, which
took off toward the northeast.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Cyrus, Minnesota
ID: 717
Date: 11/26/1965
Description: 8:00–9:00 p.m. Numerous power outages around St. Paul,
Minnesota, are accompanied by observations of white or blue lights in
the sky. (“Power
Outages Accompanied by Flashes,” APRO Bulletin, Jan./Feb. 1966,
pp. 3–4; Schopick, pp. 199–201)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3945
Date: 11/29/1965
Time: evening
Description: Kevin Davis, 12, and Gary Jardine, 10, saw an object with a
blinking red dome fly over the Cooper Creek area and come to ground
level. They observed portholes and a long bar with fingerlike devices
emerging from an opening. Snow was blown away and bushes were
flattened.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Jan., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Springhill, Nova Scotia
ID: 718
Date: 11/30/1965
Description: 3:30 a.m. Seaman Ian Kinsey is on watch at Canadian Forces
Base Cornwallis [now Cornwallis Park] in Nova Scotia. As he is passing a
window, he sees a lighted yellow oval object resting on the beach. Five
minutes later a sliding door on the object’s side opens, emitting a
white light. Then a smaller, cigarette-shaped UFO enters the larger
object through the dear. The bigger object rises, pushing rocks and logs
away from the center of the beach. It cruises slowly over a mountain and
disappears. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange Effects
from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 59–61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3946
Date: 12/5/1965
Description: During the Gemini
7 mission, the astronauts mention a “bogey.” James
Oberg, based
on his trajectory analysis of the mission, describes the astronauts’
comments as referring to booster-associated debris and not a reference
to some sort of UFO. Astronaut Frank
Borman later confirms that what he saw was not a UFO. When he offers
to go on the television show Unsolved Mysteries to clarify, the
producers tell him, “Well, I’m not sure we want you on the program.”
(Wikipedia, “UFO
sightings in outer space”; Condon, pp. 207–208;
Good Above, p. 378)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3947
Date: 12/9/1965
Description: A UFO crash-landed in the Kecksburgh, PA woods. It had
appeared as a fireball flying across several U.S. states and Canada.
Dozens of witnesses described military personnel cordoning off the
landing area. The object was transported away by military truck. In
Feb. 1969, the key witness (John Murphy ) to this incident was struck
and killed by a car on a highway near Ventura. Researcher, Stan Gordon
kept the research of this incident alive. The Blue Book report changed
the name of Kecksburg to “Acme” PA. After 20 yrs. Bill Bulebush came
forward with a description of the downed UFO.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Kecksburgh, PA
Date: 12/9/1965
Description: 4:47 p.m. A large, brilliant fireball is seen by thousands
in at least six states and Ontario, Canada. It streaks over the Detroit,
Michigan–Windsor, Ontario, area, reportedly drops hot metal debris over
Michigan and northern Ohio starting some grass fires and causes sonic
booms in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area. It is
generally assumed and reported by the press to be a meteor after
authorities discount other proposed explanations such as a plane crash,
errant missile test, or reentering satellite debris. However,
eyewitnesses in the small village of Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, claim
something has crashed in the woods. A boy sees the object land; his
mother Frances
Kalp sees a wisp of blue smoke rising from the woods and alerts
local radio station WHJB. Another observer reports feeling a vibration
and “a thump” about the time the object reportedly lands. Others from
Kecksburg, including local volunteer fire department members (Carl Metz
and Paul Shipco), report seeing an object in the shape of an acorn and
about as large as a Volkswagen Beetle. Writing resembling Egyptian
hieroglyphs is also said to be in a band around the base of the object.
A reporter and news director for WHJB, John
J. Murphy, arrives
on the scene of the event before authorities have arrived, in response
to several calls to the station from alarmed citizens. He takes several
photographs and conducts interviews with witnesses. His former wife
Bonnie Millslagle later reports that all but one roll of the film is
confiscated by military personnel. WHJB office manager Mabel Mazza
describes one of the pictures: “It was very dark and it was with a lot
of trees around and everything. And I don’t know how far away from the
site he was. But I did see a picture of a sort of a cone-like thing.
It’s the only time I ever saw it.” Witnesses further report that an
intense military presence, most notably the US Army, is secures the
area, orders civilians out, seals the area within 2 hours of the event,
and then removes an object on a flatbed truck. The military claims they
have searched the woods and can find “absolutely nothing.” The official
explanation of the widely seen fireball is that it is a mid-sized
meteor, as suggested, for example, by University of Michigan astronomer
William
P. Bidelman. However,
speculation as to the identity of the Kecksburg object (if there was
one—reports vary) include an alien craft; debris from Kosmos
96 (James Oberg),
a Soviet space probe intended for Venus that fails and never leaves the
Earth’s atmosphere (now seen as unlikely); a General Electric Mark 2
Reentry Vehicle launched from Johnson Atoll in the Pacific Ocean on
December 7 by the Air Force as a spy satellite (John Ventre and
Owen
Eichler); and a secret Corona spy satellite, KH-4A
1027, launched
from Vandenberg AFB [now Vandenberg Space Force Base] on December 9 (Bob Wenzel
Gross). (Wikipedia, “Kecksburg
UFO incident”; Stan Gordon, “The
Kecksburg UFO Crash: An Interim Report,”
Flying Saucer Review 37, no. 1 (Spring 1992): 2–5; Kevin D. Randle, A
History of UFO Crashes, Avon, 1995, pp. 95–120;
Leslie Kean, “Forty Years of Secrecy: NASA, the Military, and the 1965
Kecksburg Crash,” IUR 30, no. 1 (October 2005): 3–9, 28–32; Robert R.
Young and Leslie Kean, “Kecksburg Controversy,” IUR 30, no. 3 (May
2006): 25–28; Peter Brookesmith, “Rockets, Reptiles, and a
Resurrection,” Fortean Times 360 (December 2017): 28; Clark III 340;
Good Need, pp. 255–258;
“Five
Decades Later, the Kecksburg UFO Is Identified
(Probably),” Pittsburgh (Pa.) Post-Gazette, December 6, 2015;
Matthew Dinkel, “Acorn
from Space: The
Kecksburg Incident,” Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Fall 2010;
Center for UFO Studies, [case documents];
“Missile,
Reentry Vehicle, Mark 2,” Smithsonian National Air and Space
Museum)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3948
Date: 12/13/1965
Description: An amateur astronomer in Fort Worth, Texas, watches a UFO
through several different telescopes. It has a recessed ring with small
dark objects attached around its edge and a dark cross on its bottom. It
moves from directly beneath the Moon and past Arcturus, then suddenly
disappears. (Michael D. Swords, “Gazing at the Moons,” IUR 32, no. 4
(October 2009): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3949
Date: 12/15/1965
Description: 8:45 p.m. C. M. W. Martyn of Worcester Park, southwest
London, England, watches a “candle-wax white” triangular object, about
130 feet wide and completely silent, pass over his home toward the
northwest at about 1,200 mph. (“Surrey
Deltavolant?” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 2 (March/April 1966):
35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3950
Date: 12/16/1965
Description: A railroad worker, Cesar T. Gallardo, was surprised when
his carbide lamp and his radio stopped working. He saw strange lights
outside the sleeping coach where he was reading, and a luminous being
whose legs were clad in shiny dark cloth came in, tore up his newspaper,
poured the contents of an oil can into a small bottle and went away,
leaving the witness amazed. Other people saw “a luminous man” walking
along the tracks. Police report.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Sauce Viejo, Argentina
ID: 719
Date: 12/19/1965
Description: 11:45 p.m. Edward A. Bruns is driving his father’s 1962
Ford pickup truck, heading west just south of Herman, Minnesota. He sees
a bright, oval-shaped object hovering several feet above the road. It
covers the entire road and is shaped like two saucers with a dome on
top. A window-like structure surrounds the dome and emits a green light.
Suddenly the truck engine stops, the headlights go out, and the vehicle
lifts up, spins violently to the right, ending up in a ditch on the
other side of the road. Stunned, Bruns stares at the UFO, which makes a
whistling sound, emits sparks, shoots upward, and disappears. He runs
home, scared and nervous. His father goes to the site of the crash but
cannot get the truck out. A reporter later confirms seeing the truck in
the ditch with a complete “absence of skid marks in the snow to account
for how it got there.” (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, p. 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3951
Date: 12/20/1965
Description: Domed disc, E-M effects on engine and headlights, truck
spun off road into ditch. Object ascended with whistling sound, sparks
from underside
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Herman, MN
ID: 68
Date: 12/20/1965
Description: Edward Burnd, 15, was driving west in a farm truck when he
saw an object 2 m above the road about 30 m away. As the engine died,
the object glowed red and the witness lost consciousness. When he awoke,
the truck was facing east and rested in a ditch.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Herman, Minnesota
ID: 720
Date: 1966
Description: Envelope found with hand written notes in private BSRA/BSRF
archives containing the addresses of the 3 other named witnesses to the
4/54 Edwards AFB meeting.
Type: hand written note
Reference: Twitter
Location: San Diego, CA
Date: 1966
Description: Jacques and
Janine
Vallée publish Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma, a general
survey of the present state of the UFO problem. The first section gives
an analysis of UFO patterns by examining UFO features, the second part
deals with sighting frequencies, and the third part analyzes cases
according to type. (Jacques and Janine Vallée, Challenge
to Science: The UFO Enigma, Regnery,
1966; Clark III 1213)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3952
Date: 1966
Description: Cornell University astronomer Carl
Sagan coauthors a book with Russian astrophysicist Iosif
Shklovsky on Intelligent Life in the Universe (an expansion of
Shklovsky’s 1962 book) in which he speculates that Earth might have been
visited by aliens many times in the past few billion years, at least
once in “historical times.” Discussing the biological as well as
astronomical issues of the subject, its unique format—alternating
paragraphs written by Shklovsky and Sagan—allows them to express their
views without compromise. (I. S. Shklovskii and Carl Sagan, Intelligent
Life in the Universe, Holden-Day,
1966; Michael D. Swords, “SETI/ETI and UFOs,” JUFOS 5 (1994):
142–145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3953
Date: 1966
Description: Francis Schaefer founds the Cercle Français de Recherches
Ufologiques in Forbach, Moselle, France. From 1975 to 1984 it publishes
Ufologia. (Ufologia,
no. 1 (Nov./Dec. 1975))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3955
Date: 1966
Description: Roger A. MacGowan and Frederick
I. Ordway III publish Intelligence in the Universe, discussing
cosmology, biological origins and evolution, SETI within and outside the
solar system, and speculations on intelligence. (Roger A. MacGowan and
Frederick I. Ordway, Intelligence in the Universe, Prentice-Hall, 1966;
Michael D. Swords, “SETI/ETI and UFOs,” JUFOS 5 (1994): 145–146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3954
Date: 1/7/1966
Time: 15l7
Description: A civilian had to stop his car when an object he first
thought was a helicopter landed on the road about 5 km southwest of
Georgetown. The craft was about 8 m in diameter, supported a cone with a
flashing green light, made a loud whirring sound. It appeared to hover,
then left at high speed. The witness could then restart his engine,
which had died during the close approach. Sulphur or a “rotten egg”
smell was noted.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Wilmer, Alabama
ID: 721
Date: 1/7/1966
Description: 3:27 p.m. High school student Gary Finch is driving on the
Wilmer-Georgetown Road about 3 miles southwest of Georgetown, Alabama.
He sees a large silver ball about 15–20 feet in diameter that descends
then hovers about 5 feet above the road. On top of it is a cone with a
large green light, and it is making a whining sound. As he approaches
it, his car engine cuts out and his watch stops. After 1–2 minutes, it
disappears in a gradual climb. (“Mobile
Reports Flying Objects,” Selma (Ala.) Times-Journal, January 13,
1966, p. 10; NICAP, “E-M
Effects on Car and Watch”; Schopick, pp. 75–76;
Hynek UFO Report, p. 42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3957
Date: 1/7/1966
Description: 4:10 a.m. Police Constable Colin Perks is checking business
property along Alderley Road in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England, when he
hears a high-pitched whine. He sees a greenish-gray glow in the sky
about 300 feet away and 35 feet in the air. It comes from a glowing
elliptical object about 30 feet long and 20 feet wide that remains
stationary for 5 seconds before moving away quickly to the
east-southeast. (J. Cleary-Baker, “Police Constable
Observes a UFO,” BUFORA Journal and Bulletin 1, no. 9 (Summer 1966):
5; UFOFiles2, pp. 73–75;
Jenny Randles, “Perks of the Job,” Fortean Times 344 (October 2016):
29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3956
Date: 1/8/1966
Description: Night. A luminous, disc-shaped object cruises low from
north to southwest among the buildings of Valencia, Venezuela. At 10:00
p.m., two similar objects are seen flying at a higher altitude. (“More
S.A. Sightings,” APRO Bulletin, March/Apr. 1966, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3958
Date: 1/11/1966
Description: Engineer Norman S. Bean gives a lecture on flying saucers
at Palm Beach Towers, FL
Type: lecture
Reference: NICAP
Location: Miami, FL
Date: 1/11/1966
Description: 7:40 p.m. A nurse and others together in a car near
Myerstown, Pennsylvania, see a luminous disc, like one saucer inverted
on top of another, at relatively close range as it hovers above their
car. After about 5 minutes, the object suddenly accelerates and speeds
away. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp.
102–103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3959
Date: 1/12/1966
Description: Pilots Alvin
S. White and Carl
Cross reach a speed of 2,020 mph in a North American XB-70 Valkyrie
at Edwards AFB, California. (Wikipedia, “North
American XB-70 Valkyrie”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3960
Date: 1/14/1966
Description: 5:55 p.m. After his 11-year-old son runs into the house in
Weston, Massachusetts, and says a flying saucer is outside, an associate
laboratory director at Massachusetts Institute of Technology goes
outside with the rest of the family and sees an erratically moving
bright light. They observe it through binoculars for 5–10 minutes. (J.
Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 43,
52–53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3961
Date: 1/16/1966
Time: 0400
Description: On the Morlaix-Callac Road, 23year-old Eugene Coquil was
driving his Renault Dauphine when he saw headlights in a field and
observed an object come over his car and land on the other side of the
road. It was square with four vertical lights resembling lamps. The
witness drove away and did not see the object leave.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal; 161 (Vallee)
Location: Bolazec, France
ID: 722
Date: 1/17/1966
Description: A B-52G Strategic Air Command bomber collides with a KC-135
tanker during mid-air refueling at 31,000 feet over the Mediterranean
Sea off the coast of Spain. The tanker is completely destroyed and the
B-52G breaks apart, killing 3 of its 7 crew members. Of the four
Mk28-type hydrogen bombs the B-52G carries, three are found on land near
the small fishing village of Palomares, Spain. The non-nuclear
explosives in two of the weapons detonate upon impact with the ground,
resulting in the contamination of a 0.77-square-mile area by plutonium.
The fourth, which falls into the Mediterranean, is recovered intact
after a 2 1⁄2-month-long search. Some 800 individuals with no hands-on
expertise improvise search and decontamination procedures. More than
1,400 tons of radioactive soil and plant life are excavated and shipped
to the Savannah River plant in South Carolina for burial. (Wikipedia,
“1966
Palomares B-52 crash”; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 297–300)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3962
Date: 1/18/1966
Description: 4:55 p.m. Two surveyors are taking readings at China Lake
Naval Ordnance Test Station [now Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake]
in the western Mojave Desert, California. The surveyor using a
theodolite hears a hum, looks up, and sees a UFO flying nearly straight
at him from an angle of 35°–40° and from almost exact north. It passes
directly overhead at less than 150 feet, then dives smoothly, turns to
the east, then comes to within 10 feet of the sloping ground. The
surveyor observes the object through the theodolite until it is lost in
front of a lava flow about 2 miles away. Both observers (the other one
is in a truck) say it is moving at 150 mph and it is a dull black color
and very quiet. They attempt to report the sighting, but the radio is
garbled. Their truck has difficulty starting, and the theodolite
exhibits an odd change in the gravity reference indicator, requiring it
to be re-leveled. (“A Professional Observation,” IUR 7, no. 2 (March
1982): 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3963
Date: 1/19/1966
Description: Around 9:00 a.m. A banana grower, George Pedley, is driving
a tractor about one half mile from a farmhouse at Tully, Queensland,
Australia, owned by Albert Pennisi. Pedley’s attention is drawn by a
hissing sound, clearly heard over the noise from the tractor’s engine.
He looks about for the source of the noise and sees an unusual object
about 75 feet away. It is some 30 feet in the air, rising vertically,
and is shaped like “two saucers face to face.” It is light gray in
color, dull, and non-reflective. He estimates its size as 25 feet long
by 8–9 feet deep. The hissing diminishes as the object rises to a height
of 60 feet, then departs, climbing at about an angle of 45°, extremely
fast, to the southwest. The duration of his observation is only 5–6
seconds. The object appears to be always rotating. After its departure,
Pedley finds a clearly defined, nearly circular depression in swamp
grass, in a water-filled lagoon, at the point where he first saw it. The
marking is about 32 feet long by 25 feet wide. The grass on the surface
of the water is flattened in a clockwise direction. Royal Australian Air
Force intelligence officers find a variety of circles in the area,
ranging from 8 to 30 feet in diameter. Within each circle the plant
roots are pulled completely out of the soil, as if the ground has been
subjected to an intense rotary force. (“The
Tully ‘Nests’: How Freakish Can Whirlwinds Be?” Australian Flying
Saucer Review (Victorian Edition), no. 5 (July 1966): 3–7; “UFOs
No Strangers to Tully,” Australian Flying Saucer Review, no. 9
(November 1966): 15; “1966:
Tully…After Tully,” Australian Flying Saucer Review, no. 9 (November
1966): 16–21; Keith Basterfield, Vladimir Godic, and Pony Godic,
“Australian Ufology: A Review,” JUFOS 2 (1990): 26–27; Bill Chalker, “The
1966 Tully Saucer ‘Nest’: A Classic UFO Physical Trace Case,” 1997;
Bill Chalker, “Tully Saucer Nests of 1966—Part One,” IUR 22, no. 4
(Winter 1997–1998): 14–20; Bill Chalker, “Tully Saucer Nests of 1966,
Part Two,” IUR 23, no. 1 (Spring 1998): 17, 31; Clark III
1136–1138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3964
Date: 1/19/1966
Description: 7:55 p.m. Two luminous objects pass over Acarigua,
Venezuela, one from the north, the other from the east. When the paths
of the two objects cross, the lights go out in the entire city. (“More
S.A. Sightings,” APRO Bulletin, March/Apr. 1966, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3965
Date: 1/19/1966
Time: 0900
Description: George Pedley, 27, was driving his tractor when he heard a
high-pitched sound and saw a strange gray-blue craft, 8 m in diameter, 3
m high, rise from the lagoon 25 m away. It was spinning like a top, rose
to 20 m, and flew to the southwest on a fast, oblique course. Flattened
reeds were found in several places.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66,2; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Horseshoe Lagoon, near Tully, Australia
ID: 723
Date: 1/29/1966
Time: 0010
Description: Two civilians returning from a sporting event observed what
they first thought was the moon. After driving for about 1 km, they saw
that it was a flat, well-defined object, which had blocked the road. The
object was the size of a truck and cast an intense yellow-orange light
on the ground. The witnesses turned around and drove back to
Rexburg.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Rexburg, Idaho
ID: 724
Date: 2/2/1966
Time: 11:15 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. L.J. Wise. One silver,
diamond-shaped object with several balls constantly in very fast motion
around it, and much light. Object hovered over the trees for 3-4
minutes, while a dog barked, and then zipped out of sight. Sighting
lasted 1 hour.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Salisbury, North Carolina
ID: 533
Date: 2/3/1966
Description: USAF Scientific Advisory Board met to review Project Blue
Book. Issued report dated “March 1966” recommending contracts to
universities to study selected UFO sightings.
Type: official
Type: report or memo
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 69
Date: 2/3/1966
Description: A six-member Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue Book,
headed by University of Rochester optical physicist Brian
O’Brien, meets
at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. All but one (astronomer Carl
Sagan) are members of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board
(psychologist Launor
F. Carter, industrial
psychologist Jesse
Orlansky, rocket
scientist Richard
W. Porter, computer engineer Willis
Ware), and none have any sympathy with the idea that UFO reports
represent anything extraordinary. Also attending is Lt. Col. Harold
A. Steiner, assistant secretary to the Scientific Advisory Board.
They receive a briefing from Quintanilla, review
the Robertson Panel report, and examine a few UFO cases. The group
recommends that Blue Book “be strengthened to provide opportunity for
scientific investigation of selected sightings in more detail and depth
than has been possible to date.” Furthermore, USAF should negotiate
contracts “with a few selected universities to provide scientific teams
to investigate promptly and in depth certain selected sightings of
UFOs…. The universities should be chosen to provide good geographical
distribution.” They also conclude that “perhaps 100 sightings a year
might be subjected to this close study, and that possibly an average of
10 man-days might be required per sighting so studied. The information
provided by such a program might bring to light new facts of scientific
value.” The group recommends that Blue Book data be given “wide
unsolicited circulation among prominent members of the Congress and
other public persons.” The Air Force ignores their recommendations.
((USAF Scientific Advisory Board, Special
Report of the USAF Scientific Advisory Board Ad Hoc Committee to
Review Project
“Blue Book,” Brian O’Brien, chairman of the Advisory Board, March
1966; Clark III 1191)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3966
Date: 2/6/1966
Time: 2000
Description: Vicente Ortuno and another man observed a bright orange
disk, about 11 m in diameter, with three legs, which came down, landed,
and took off again at high speed on the “El Relajal” estate.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 63, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Aluche, Spain
ID: 725
Date: 2/6/1966
Time: 5:45 AM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. K.R. Gulley. One yellow, lighted
object at 500; altitude and a pulsating red glow on the lawn. The house
lights went out, and high frequency bothered the witnesses’ ears.
Sighting lasted 5-10 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Nederland, Texas
ID: 534
Date: 2/6/1966
Description: Around 8:00 p.m. Several persons in the barrio of Aluche,
Madrid, Spain, allegedly see an unusual flying object. Looking out a
window, Maria Ruiz Torres watches an object descending. She sees a
“gigantic eye” looking at her through a porthole. Another witness, Juan
Jiminez Dias, thinks he sees a door open in the craft. Other observers
include soldiers at a nearby ammunition dump. Motorist José
Luis Jordán Peña gets a close, extended view of the object, which he
characterizes as “enormous.” Jordán Peña sends Spanish ufologist Antonio Ribera a
sketch of the UFO, which has three legs and a curious symbol on its
underside—something like two reverse parentheses with a vertical bar
positioned between them. No other witness mentions anything like this.
In 1992, Jordán Peña confesses to hoaxing his sighting, including the
landing marks and physical traces, in order to prove his theory that
paranoia is much more widespread in Spain that psychiatrists are willing
to admit. (Antonio Ribera, “The
San José de Valderas Photographs,” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1969): 3–10; “Background of ‘Ummo’ and the Sightings,” CUFOS
Bulletin, Spring 1977, pp. 2–3; Clark III 1183; Scott Corrales, “The
UMMO Experience: Are You Experienced?” Strange Magazine, January 31,
2001; Alain Moreau, “UMMO:
Une imposture?” Les Cles de l’Inexplique)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3968
Date: 2/6/1966
Description: 6:05 a.m. Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth
R. Gulley see a tadpole-shaped object about 14 feet long and 2 feet
wide with eight yellow-and-red, neon-like lights at 250–500 feet
altitude in Nederland, Texas. It casts a pulsating red glow on the lawn.
Her house and street lights go out as high-frequency sound assaults the
witnesses’ ears. The object blinks out when aircraft pass overhead, then
comes on again afterward. It departed to the west about 1.5 miles to the
vicinity of the airport, where an aircraft’s landing lights light up the
UFO. Then it disappears in a slow climb. (NICAP, “House
Lights Go Out When ‘Tadpole’ Flies Over” ; Sparks. p. 309;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 103–104)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3967
Date: 2/6/1966
Description: Brightly lighted disc with legs seen landing and taking off
again. Imprints and scorch marks found at site
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Aluche, Madrid, Spain
ID: 70
Date: 2/11/1966
Description: Glowing orange object with domed top hovered, maneuvered
over area, seen by police and citizens. Tracked on Air Force and Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) radar
Type: sighting
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Skowhegan, ME
ID: 71
Date: 2/16/1966
Time: 2030
Description: A luminous object was said to have landed in the woods. It
showed flashing red, blue, and green lights. A second object was later
seen to join the first one.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Brunswick Naval Air Station, Maine
ID: 726
Date: 2/17/1966
Description: NICAP contacted by United Nations Secretary General U
Thant’s office requesting information and documents on UFOs.
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 72
Date: 2/22/1966
Description: Look Magazine reports UFO sightings near Exeter, NH. In one
sighting the witness went and got a policeman, who also witnessed the
UFO.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: NICAP
Location: Exeter, NH
Date: 2/22/1966
Description: Miami News: Engineer, inventor and lecturer Norman S. Bean
is interviewed. States that after enough reports are gathered flight
paths can be determined, craft can fly at 5000mph, wobble after stopping
and can turn on a dime, must use some sort of gravitational propulsion
to avoid destruction from high G-forces, occupant description,
Wright-Field has had wreckage of 4 crashed discs for years, many
sightings are related to water being pumped in or out of crafts. Reports
forwarded to the Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson
AFB.
Type: interview
Reference: NICAP
Location: Miami, FL
Date: 2/26/1966
Description: A civilian witness was driving 8 km east of Farmington when
a flying oval object, the size of a car, came within 3 m of him, then
circled twice and left toward the north. It emitted a bright red glow,
supported a sort of dome with a green light on top, produced radio
interference, and made a strange “signallike noise.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Hanna City, Illinois
ID: 727
Date: 2/27/1966
Description: A nationally broadcast public affairs interview program,
The Open Mind, presents a panel discussion titled “Are Flying Saucers
Only Science Fiction?” Princeton University history professor Eric
F. Goldman is moderator. Panelists include astronomer Donald
H. Menzel, plant
physiologist Frank
B. Salisbury, journalist
John
G. Fuller, psychologist R.
Leo Sprinkle, and
astronomer J.
Allen Hynek. Menzel
calls the Exeter police officers “hysterical subjects,” although he
cannot remember their names and is unfamiliar with the case. (“Notable
Broadcasts of the Past:
The
Open Mind NBC
Public Affairs Presentation, February 27, 1966,” Journal of UFO
History 1, no. 2 (May/June 2004): 3–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3969
Date: 3/1966
Description: Kathleen Reeves and a friend are walking on a rural road
near their homes in Toledo, Oregon, when they think they see a
neighbor’s field on fire. The fire seems oddly dome-shaped. They
continue walking and see another smaller, duller light. Kathleen thinks
it might be a prank, so she throws a rock at it. Suddenly, a group of
much larger lights come on all around the small one. Frightened, the
girls run home. Over the next few months, through October, the Reeves
home experiences such poltergeist phenomena as whirring or sawing
noises, rose-colored lights inside, small rings of light that crawl over
the bedroom walls, and light beams. (Michael D. Swords, “A Trick of the
Light,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3970
Date: 3/1966
Description: Midwestern and northeastern U.S. sighting wave (see
separate chronology, section VIII).
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 73
Date: 3/3/1966
Time: 1920
Description: Several civilians reported an object that flew slowly
toward the south, hovered, came within 15 m of them, and finally flew
off toward the southwest.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Oswego, New York
ID: 728
Date: 3/5/1966
Description: The D-21 is first launched from an M-21 off the coast of
California. The drone is released but stays close to the M-21’s back for
a few seconds, which seems like “two hours” to the M-21 crew.
(Wikipedia, “Lockheed
D- 21”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3971
Date: 3/6/1966
Description: 2:00 a.m. Ivan de Almeida and other medical staff at the
Lourenço Jorge Municipal Hospital in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, watch an oval object with a bright red-orange light that shines
on the ocean waters below. After 2 hours it climbs up slowly, dims, and
disappears. (Olavo T. Fontes, “Report
from Brazil: The First UAO
Sightings in 1966,” APRO Bulletin, March/April 1966, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3972
Date: 3/12/1966
Description: 10:40 a.m. A security guard at the Fábrica Nacional de
Motores in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, alerts 10 employees
to a mysterious light that is approaching the factory. It descends to
1,500–1,800 feet and hovers above the plant. The object is approximately
18 feet in diameter and emits a brilliant white light that makes it
difficult to look at directly. It periodically flashes even brighter.
Plant director Col. Jorge Alberto Silveira Martins calls the Army and
Air Force. After 30 minutes, the object dims and moves away at
tremendous speed before the Army trucks arrive. (Olavo T. Fontes, “Report
from Brazil: The First UAO Sightings in 1966,” APRO Bulletin,
March/April 1966, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3973
Date: 3/14/1966
End date: 3/20/1966
Description: Sheriffs reported disc-shaped objects moving at fantastic
speeds and making sharp turns, diving and climbing, hovering. Selfridge
AFB confirmed tracking UFOs over Lake Erie
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Dexter, Milan, and Ann Arbor, MI
ID: 74
Date: 3/14/1966
Description: 3:30 –5:30 a.m. Washtenaw County sheriff’s deputies Buford
Bushroe and John Foster see highly maneuverable disc-shaped UFOs with
flashing red and green lights over Dexter, Michigan. They call in a
report that sets off a two-and-a-half hour chase that stretches over
three counties and out over Lake Erie. Police from five jurisdictions
are involved. Selfridge AFB [now Selfridge Air National Guard Base],
near Mount Clemens, reports tracking UFOs on radar over Lake Erie.
(UFOEv II 184–185; O’Connell 177; Patrick Gross, “Michigan 1966:
Sheriffs Watch High-Performance Discs, Also Tracked on Radar”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3974
Date: 3/16/1966
Description: 5:45 p.m. Many people see a white, oval object crash into
the Atlantic Ocean close to the Ilha Cagarras off Ipanema, Brazil. Some
see a few smaller white parachute-shaped objects fall from it. A
thorough search turns up nothing in the sea or the island itself.
(Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3975
Date: 3/17/1966
Description: 4:25 a.m. Police Sgt. Neil Schneider and Deputy David
Fitzpatrick see top-shaped objects making sharp maneuvers over Milan,
Michigan. They alternatively hover, rise and fall quickly, dart around
at jet-like speed, dimming and brightening periodically. Two objects are
operating together, while a third UFO hovers at a lower altitude. (UFOEv
II 185; O’Connell 177; Sparks,
p. 310)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3976
Date: 3/17/1966
Description: Mr. Ward saw an object 12 m in diameter and 7 m high,
emitting a pulsating white light, in a field. It had a revolving section
with portholes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Aug., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Harrow, Canada
ID: 729
Date: 3/17/1966
Time: 0000
Description: A police officer observed an object in the southwest. He
thought it was a plane about to crash, although no sound was audible. He
tried to contact the police headquarters, but his radio transmitter did
not work properly. The object, which now colored lights spinning at the
periphery, and a diameter of 16 m, came within 25 m of the patrol car,
following it for 1 km, then flew off toward the northwest. The witness
had been a policeman for 10 years, and had never seen anything like that
object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Milan, Michigan
ID: 730
Date: 3/20/1966
Description: La Porte, IN: Patrolman Michael Spevak was on duty when 2
youths pulled over and pointed out an UFO that they said had been
following them from Michigan City to La Porte. According to the young
men, the object frequently burst into such a bright glare that it
blinded them, forcing them off the highway. It had been following them
at an altitude of about 60 ft. Both the young men and the patrolman
noticed a cross-shaped appendage protruding from the lower portion of
the UFO.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-F, p257)
Location: La Porte, IN
Date: 3/20/1966
Description: 7:30 p.m. After his dogs start making a racket, Frank
Mannor and his 26-year-old son Ronald see strange lights over a
swampy area in Dexter Township, Michigan. They walk over to the area for
a look, taking about 30 minutes, and see a pyramid-shaped object with a
rounded top, corrugated surface, and blue, red, and white lights.
Mannor’s son-in-law Bob Wagner, back at the house, sees the object light
up and rise to 500 feet, then come down again making some noise.
Washtenaw County sheriff’s deputies David Fitzpatrick and Stanley
McFadden arrive about 9:00 p.m. drive towards the swamp on Quigley
Road. They see a brilliant light that dims and then reappears. By this
time a crowd has gathered. One man reports that when two flashlights
appear in the distance, the object seems to react by flying away at high
speed. At another point the object passes directly over the Mannors with
a whistling sound like a rifle bullet ricocheting. It remains in the
swampy area for 30 minutes. (“Swamp
Gas Answer Disproved,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 7 (March/April 1966):
5; UFOEv II 185–186; O’Connell 175–177, 184–185; Sparks,
p. 310; Center for UFO Studies, [case
documents]; Patrick Gross, “Hillsdale,
Michigan, 1966: The Infamous ‘Swamp Gas’ Case”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3977
Date: 3/20/1966
Time: 12:15 AM
Description: Witness: USAF Res. Maj. K.C. Smith, employee of NASA at
Cape Kennedy. One pulsating light which varied from white to intense
blue made a jerky ascent and then rapidly accelerated away to the north
after 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Miami, Florida
ID: 535
Date: 3/20/1966
Time: 2000
Description: Frank Mannor and his son, Ronald, saw a luminous object
hovering over a swamp. It was described as brown, with a “scaly”
surface, coneshaped, and showing bluish lights that turned red. Then the
whole object lighted up with a yellowish glow and flew away at high
speed with a whistling sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Dexter, Michigan
ID: 731
Date: 3/20/1966
Description: Dexter, MI.: Frank Mannor, age 47, and Ronald Mannor, age
19, went out at night through swampy, hummocky terrain to investigate
flashing lights in the swamp. They saw a domed, elliptical object with
aquilted surface hovering about 8 ft. off the ground in a patch of
apparent mist. The object glowed “blood red” and the body lights
disappeared. They lost sight of the UFO and didn’t see it again.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Twitter
Location: Dexter, MI
See also: 3/21/66
See also: 4/1/66
Date: 3/20/1966
End date: 3/21/1966
Description: Egg-shaped object with flashing lights across the center
(red-white-blue-green-red) hovered over power lines, bobbed around, and
rocked in a pendulum motion
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Exeter, NH
ID: 75
Date: 3/21/1966
Description: Engineer, inventor, and lecturer Norman S. Bean is quoted
in the Miami News: “We have good reason to believe that the Air Force
has wreckage from at least four of these small vehicles and has been
conducting studies of such wreckage at Wright Field for years”. Also
mentions what is now known as the US Gravity Control Research
Program.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: Medium
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Miami, FL
Date: 3/21/1966
Description: Law enforcement officer F.B. (initials) at Dexter,
Michigan, and officer “C” (initial) on patrol sighted a landed saucer in
a swamp. Description: Large craft, like a pot; no windows; had a dull
glow and steam was coming up from the water. Sounded like a turbine, a
low whine or hum. He notified Selfridge AFB which immediately sent out
MP’s, well armed. All law officers were ordered back and their film was
confiscated. Later his report and other reports disappeared from police
headquarters. Then, everyone in the force, including he and “C”, were
transferred to other parts of the county. The UFO wasn’t disabled. F.B.
saw it take-off and climb straight up.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (A5, B3-C)
Location: Dexter, MI
See also: 3/1/67
Date: 3/21/1966
Description: 10:32 p.m. Cynthia “Pinky” Poffenberger and 16 other
Hillsdale (Michigan) College students see a football- shaped object with
red, green, and white pulsating lights descend from the sky and pass
close to their dorm. It settles in a hollow in the Slayton Arboretum
about 1,500 feet away. Some 87 students collect to watch the UFO, then
they notify Civil Defense Director William Van Horn, who arrives with
police. From the dormitory, the landed lights appear yellowish-white,
dimming and intensifying. Only student Barbara
Kohn stays most of the night, watching the lights vanish, reappear,
and recede. Around 5:10 a.m., Kohn sees a lighted object move away and
disappear from sight. Radiation is later detected at the landing area of
about 330–600 microroentgens/hr, roughly 10–20 times the background
level. (O’Connell 177–180, 185–188; Clark III 950; Sparks,
p. 311; Center for UFO Studies, [case
documents]; Jack Butler, “UFO:
In 1966, Hillsdale Had Its Own Close Encounter,” The Collegian
(Hillsdale College), March 19, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3978
Date: 3/21/1966
Description: Officials, college students saw UFO settle in a hollow,
emitting orange, red, and white lights
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Hillsdale, MI
ID: 76
Date: 3/21/1966
Description: William Van Horn, Civil Defense Director, and a group of
students observed a pattern of lights on the ground. The source of the
light appeared to manuever for about two hours.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Hillsdale, Michigan
ID: 732
Date: 3/22/1966
Description: Morning. Contactee George
Hunt Williamson sees three large UFOs with brilliant, flashing,
blue-white lights hover above him for one minute in Key West, Florida.
He hears a familiar buzzing in his head. (Michael D. Swords, “A Little
Walk in the Strange Life of George Hunt Williamson,” IUR 26, no. 2
(Summer 2001): 14, 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3979
Date: 3/22/1966
Time: 1:30 AM
Description: Witness: S.J. Musachia. White flashing lights, and the air
full of smoke. Lit up witness’ apartment. Sound of “yen” heard up close
during 4 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Houston, Texas
ID: 536
Date: 3/22/1966
Description: 10:00 p.m. Several people standing outside the Waterfront
Playhouse in Key West, Florida, during an intermission, see three UFOs
ringed with flashing blue-white lights hovering nearby. They zoom off
over the Gulf. (“Keys
Theatre-Goers Report ‘Flying Discs,’” Miami (Fla.) Herald, March 24,
1966, p. 3-C)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3980
Date: 3/23/1966
Time: 5:05 AM
Description: Witness: W.E. Laxson. One large object, like a wingless
C-124 transport plane; 75’ long, 8’ high and 12’ wide; with a bubble
canopy on top. Sat on highway, a man dressed in military work clothes
entered, and it rose after about 40 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Temple, Oklahoma
ID: 537
Date: 3/23/1966
Description: Two young men were walking through a wooded area when they
saw a bright object that they thought was a balloon covered with
fluorescent paint but it became so intensely bright that they could not
look directly at it. As they walked closer, it exploded, leaving no
trace.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Fort Pierce, Florida
ID: 733
Date: 3/23/1966
Time: 0505
Description: An electronics instructor, who was driving to work at a
local Air Force Base, observed an object blocking the road. It was
shaped like an airplane fuselage, 25 m long, with a “bubble” on top
resembling the canopy on a B-26, rested on legs, and had very bright aft
and forward lights. There was a door and a short stairway to the side of
the object, and a man in coveralls appeared to be examining the craft
which bore the identification “TL 4768” (see case 417). When the witness
approached, the “pilot” went back inside, a sound resembling that of a
highspeed drill was heard, and the object rose. No engine was observed.
The witness was familiar with all conventional military aircraft.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Temple, Oklahoma
ID: 734
Date: 3/23/1966
Description: Huge, elongated craft blocking high-way, flashing body
lights, port, door, antenna on top, spindly legs. Human-like figure
entered, craft took off, hovered, sped away
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Temple, OK
ID: 77
Date: 3/23/1966
End date: 3/25/1966
Description: Hynek spends
three days in Michigan, interviewing witnesses in Dexter and Hillsdale,
finding the reports contradictory and vague, and encountering a media
frenzy. He participates in a police UFO chase that turns out to be the
star Arcturus. A photograph taken by Deputy David Fitzpatrick on March
17 is obviously a time lapse of the Moon and Venus. He interviews two
Hillsdale students, Sara Robechek and Jo Wilson. William Van Horn tells
him that he at first thought the lights were marsh gas until they rose
into the air 150 feet and he seemed to perceive a “convex-shaped” solid
mass between two lights. (O’Connell 183–190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3984
Date: 3/23/1966
Description: 11:50 p.m. John T. King sees a yellowish, elliptical object
with a dome-like projection on top just off the ground near Bangor,
Maine. It has a yellow-orange light in the center, a bluish light on the
right, and a white light on the left. When the object moves toward his
car, the car lights dim and his radio stops playing. King says he can
hear the elderberry bushes scraping as it approaches and hovers 50 feet
away. Frightened, he takes his .22 magnum pistol and fires it four times
at the UFO, which glows brightly and takes off at high speed, making a
“zinging” sound like the recoil of a spring. (“Close-Range
Sightings Increase,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 7 (March/April 1966):
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3983
Date: 3/23/1966
Description: 5:00 p.m. At least a dozen adults and children in Trinidad,
Colorado, see two disc-shaped objects with domes flying in-line,
traveling with a bobbing motion over the terrain. (“Discs
at Trinidad, Colorado,” APRO Bulletin, March/April 1966, p. 1; James
E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 51–52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3982
Date: 3/23/1966
Description: 5:05 a.m. As Sheppard AFB (near Wichita Falls, Texas)
civilian instructor William E. “Eddie” Laxson is driving west on US
Highway 70 eight miles south of Temple, Oklahoma, he finds the road
blocked by a wingless aircraft, shaped like a fish, in the road. It is
about 75 feet long, nearly 8 feet high, 12 feet wide, with a Plexiglas
bubble on top, and bright lights forward and aft. Laxson stops his car
about 300 feet away and walks to within 50 feet, noticing a designation
on its side like “TLA138” or “TLA738” or “TL 4768.” He sees a “man”
wearing a baseball cap or mechanic’s hat climbing up steps or a ladder
on the object. Soon after it lifts off with a hissing or high-speed
drilling sound and heads off southeast at about 700 mph. There are no
landing traces. Laxson finds another witness, truck driver C. W.
Anderson, parked a mile down the road. Laxson thinks it is some kind of
military vehicle. (NICAP, “Wingless
Craft Blocks Road / ‘Man’ Observed”; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 208–210;
Clark III 681–682; Sparks, p. 312)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3981
Date: 3/24/1966
Time: 2215
Description: Two women saw a glowing object on the road. As they came
near it, they found that it hovered and showed two intense white lights,
as well as a green and red light. The object was bowlshaped, and they
lost sight of it when they drove away. They saw it again later, flying
low on a southnorth trajectory.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Sheboygan, Wisconsin
ID: 735
Date: 3/25/1966
Description: House Minority Leader Gerald
Ford (R-Mich.) issues a press release proposing that Congress
investigate the rash of UFO reports in southern Michigan and the rest of
the country: “I think the American people would feel better if there was
a full-blown investigation of these incidents, which some persons allege
have taken place.” (Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, [Ford
UFO news releases and other documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3986
Date: 3/25/1966
Description: John King, 22, working with the Bangor Police Department,
suddenly saw above him a very bright object with a dark underside. He
fired at it four times, hearing the bullets hit a metal surface as the
object flew off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 84 (Vallee)
Location: Bangor, Maine
ID: 736
Date: 3/25/1966
Description: Evening. Mrs. Robert Gorisek of LaSalle, Illinois, sees a
triangular object hover above her car for more than an hour as she is
driving home from work. The object keeps up with them as they drive
through several towns. It has red, orange, and white lights. (“UFO
Sightings Widespread over Country,” Great Bend (Kan.) Daily Tribune,
March 25, 1966, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3988
Date: 3/25/1966
Description: Mrs. R. H. Chappell and her sister Janie Kidd see two
triangular UFOs hovering 40–50 feet above Saanich Inlet, British
Columbia. Ruby-red lights flash back and forth between them, as if they
are signaling. The objects remain motionless for a couple of minutes
before moving off slowly and gracefully. (Marler 79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3987
Date: 3/25/1966
Description: Quintanilla needs
quick answers, so he schedules a press conference at Selfridge AFB [now
Selfridge Air National Guard Base] near Mount Clemens, Michigan, for Hynek to
make a statement. Hynek, disappointed with the quality of the sightings
and suspecting a mundane explanation, announces: “It would seem to me
that the association of the sightings with swamps, in these particular
cases, is more than coincidence. No group of witnesses observed any
craft coming to or going away from the swamps. The glow was localized
there…. It appears to me that all the major conditions for the
appearance of swamp lights were satisfied.” The swamp gas theory doesn’t
go over very well with the witnesses, the media, or the public. (“Termed
Marsh Gases by Air Force Expert,”
Lansing (Mich.) State Journal, March 25, 1966, p. 11; “Gas
Theory Belittled by Viewers of UFOs,” Lansing (Mich.) State Journal,
March 26, 1966, p. 1; “Swamp
Gas Answer Disproved,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 7 (March/April 1966):
5; O’Connell 190–198; Swords 307; Jennie Zeidman, “I Remember Blue
Book,” IUR 16, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1991): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3985
Date: 3/26/1966
Description: Jean Voilquin, 54, saw a strange “wheel” roll 15 m away at
a speed of about 30 km/h. It was about 80 cm in diameter, 25 cm thick;
it rolled away and vanished.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN; GEPA 8 (Vallee)
Location: Attigneville, France
ID: 737
Date: 3/26/1966
Time: Midnight
Description: Witnesses: Mrs. P.N. Beer and Mrs. E. Smith. One flashing
light buzzed their car from the front then hovered. Sighting lasted l0
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Texhoma, Oklahoma
ID: 538
Date: 3/26/1966
Time: 2400
Description: Two civilian women were driving back from Amarillo when
they saw an object aproaching from the north. The engine died and the
headlights failed. The object flew over the car and hovered 400 m away.
After 10 min, the witnesses were able to start their car and leave. They
reported the object had a wafflelike surface and glowed with an intense
red light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Texahoma, Oklahoma
ID: 738
Date: 3/27/1966
Description: Control tower personnel, police. Radar-visual sighting of
maneuvering object
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Columbus, GA
ID: 78
Date: 3/27/1966
Description: 5:30 a.m. Both Federal Aviation Administration operators at
Muscogee County Airport [now Columbus Metropolitan Airport] and military
operators at Fort Benning report a radar-visual sighting of a
maneuvering, oblong, green-white object over Columbus, Georgia. The
object appears to change shape from cigar to wedge to triangle. (“Glowing
Object in Sky Is Sighted in Georgia,” Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune,
March 28, 1966, p. 14; Center for UFO Studies, [case
documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3989
Date: 3/28/1966
Time: 2000
Description: A man driving at a speed of about 100 km/h suddenly
encountered a large lighted object 1 m above the road on a hilltop. It
flew off, as the car engine and headlights died. The light bulbs had to
be replaced. The object was oval, 7 m long, dark gray, and showed about
30 lights along its periphery.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Fayetteville, Tennessee
ID: 739
Date: 3/28/1966
Description: Rep. Gerald Ford (R-Mich.) issued call for UFO
hearings.
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 79
Date: 3/28/1966
Description: NICAP press conference at National Press Club.
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 80
Date: 3/28/1966
Description: Gerald
Ford writes to George
P. Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Science and Astronautics
Committee, and L.
Mendel Rivers (D-S.C.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee,
saying he is dissatisfied with Hynek’s
explanation of the Michigan sightings. He “strongly recommends” a House
committee investigation into the “UFO phenomena.” (Gerald R. Ford
Presidential Library, [Ford
UFO news releases and other documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3990
Date: 3/28/1966
Description: University of Arizona atmospheric physicist James
E. McDonald writes a 2-page letter to Thomas
F. Malone, chairman
of the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on the Atmospheric
Sciences, urging that a panel be set up by a scientific body to study
Blue Book’s UFO files. He also writes to his legislator Rep. Morris
K.
Udall (D-Ariz.) about the idea, asking him to pass the letter on in
confidence to Gerald
Ford (R-Mich.). (Bill Murphy, “The Swamp Gas Aftermath: Some Notes
from the Gerald Ford Files,” IUR 33, no. 2 (July 2010): 11, 13; Clark
III 696)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3991
Date: 3/28/1966
Description: 8:00 p.m. A man driving about 60 mph in Fayetteville,
Tennessee, encounters a large, lighted object only 3 feet above the road
on a hilltop. The object is oval-shaped, 23 feet long, dark gray, and
has about 30 lights around its perimeter. As it flies off, his car
engine and headlights die. The driver has to replace the light bulbs in
his headlights after the incident. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on
Vehicle Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (September 2011):
19; Sparks,
p. 312)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3992
Date: 3/29/1966
Description: 9:15 p.m. Charles Cozens, 13, is strolling in a field
behind the Hamilton Mountain Police Station in Hamilton, Ontario. He
sees two luminous oval objects about 8 feet in diameter descend and
land, making a buzzing sound. The objects have a row of multicolored
lights around their rims “flickering like a computer.” He approaches for
a closer look and touches the nearest object, which feels hard and
smooth like metal, but neither hot nor cold. He then touches an
antenna-like projection at the end of one of the objects and receives a
shock. Frightened, he runs home. His parents confirm a 3-inch burn mark
on his hand and question him thoroughly before reporting the incident to
authorities. His first-degree burn is treated at a hospital and heals
normally. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 4–5; Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and
Abductions, Methuen, 1979, pp. 45–46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3995
Date: 3/29/1966
Description: 4:15 p.m. A 10-year-old boy and his Dalmatian are walking
familiar paths in a wood lot behind their home near Hampton Falls, New
Hampshire. He notices something silver on a ridge and walks toward it.
He sees an “L” shaped box, long side parallel to the ground, sitting on
tripod legs. His dog runs ahead and sniffs the boxy structure, and then,
appearing uninterested, the dog goes off into the woods. The boy stops
about 24 feet away, not sure what he is seeing. The object makes
intermittent sounds and movements in the following minutes. Then a blast
of air from the object sends debris flying. A short high-pitched, then
low-pitched, sound is heard as the object lifts off the ground about one
foot, stops, swings in a clockwise motion, and settles back on the
ground. Intermittent electric-like humming sounds are heard until the
object again, with a blast of air stirring up debris and the same sounds
as earlier, ascends vertically, this time to about 10 feet, where it
pauses, moves horizontally, pauses and rotates clockwise again, then
accelerates straight up. On the final ascent, the sound increases in
pitch and loudness. The witness’s mother and sister who were at some
distance from him also hear the sound. When the object moved
horizontally, saplings directly under it swayed. Three elongated
imprints are found in the form of a triangle. Reportedly plants do not
grow in the area for the next 2 years. (NICAP, “Hampton
Area, New Hampshire:
March 29, 1966”; Raymond Fowler, “The Flying Box, and Other Cases,”
IUR 28, no. 2 (Summer 2003): 15–20, 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3994
Date: 3/29/1966
Description: NICAP board member Charles
A. Maney writes to Gerald
Ford, imploring him to contact NICAP for proof that the Air Force is
withholding evidence about UFOs. (Bill Murphy, “The Swamp Gas Aftermath:
Some Notes from the Gerald Ford Files,” IUR 33, no. 2 (July 2010):
12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3993
Date: 3/30/1966
Description: An elongated object about 30 m long and 9 m high was
reported to have landed near a highway for 5 min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Mar., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Pecos, Texas
ID: 740
Date: 3/30/1966
Description: The Christian Science Monitor editorialized that the
Michigan sightings had “deepened the mystery” and “it is time for the
scientific community to conduct a thorough and objective study of the
‘unexplainable.’”
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 81
Date: 3/30/1966
Description: 8:35 p.m. A woman and her four children watch an oval
object crossing the road as they are driving south about 9 miles north
of Lewisburg, Indiana. It comes close to the car and she hears a
pulsating sound, but it seems to come through the car radio, not
directly from the object. She drives away, but the UFO pursues her for 8
miles. It changes from reddish-orange to blue-white before it
accelerates away. (Sparks,
p. 313)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3996
Date: 3/30/1966
Time: 2200
Description: An anonymous witness saw a round object with two lights
land near the Ohio State University campus. A door opened and a very
thin, child-sized figure was seen. The object then began to move torward
the witness’s car and rose rapidly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Gribble Jun., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Mansfield, Ohio
ID: 742
Date: 3/30/1966
Time: 2035
Description: A civilian woman and her four children observed an oval
object crossing the road as they were driving south about 15 km north of
Lexisburg. It came close to the car, and a pulsating sound was heard,
increasing in frequency as the object came nearer, but it seemed to come
through the car radio rather than directly from the object. The witness
drove away in fear, but was followed for 13 km by the object, whose
color suddenly changed from reddishorange to bluish-white before
accelerating out of sight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Lexisburg, Indiana
ID: 741
Date: 3/31/1966
Description: JANAP 146(E), a joint Canadian–US instruction, adds that
photos should be sent to the US Director of Naval Intelligence and adds
special CIRVIS reporting instructions for unidentifiable objects. The
Canadian Air Defence Command ends its investigation of UFOs and
transfers the responsibility to the Directorate of Operations. (Joint
Chiefs of Staff, “JANAP
146(E) Canadian–United States Communications Instructions for Reporting
Vital Intelligence Sightings,” March 31, 1966; Antonio F. Rullán,
“Blue
Book UFO Reports at Sea by Ships,”
December 10, 2002; Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Canada, Signet, 1981,
pp. 171–172)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3998
Date: 3/31/1966
Description: Editorial, Indianapolis (IN) News: “What is needed,
obviously, is more public inquiry conducted under scrupulously objective
auspices. . . . Too many people have seen too many things for the
subject to be dismissed with mere off-hand explanations.”
Type: newspaper article
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Indianapolis, IN
ID: 83
Date: 3/31/1966
Time: 2115
Description: Charles Kozens, 13, saw two objects, 2.5 m long, 1.2 m
high, with flashing lights, land near Hamilton. When he tried to touch
an antenna on one of the objects, he received an electric shock.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Hamilton, Canada
ID: 745
Date: 3/31/1966
Description: 2:00 a.m. Jeno Udvardy is driving home from a late work
shift near Vicksburg, Michigan. He sees a cluster of lights on the
highway ahead and slows down. When he is within 10 feet, he realizes the
lights are on a disc hovering a few feet above the road. It has a
brilliant white light, and red, green, and purple blinking lights.
Udvardy backs up and his car is buffeted by gusts of wind as the object
lifts up. The car motor stalls. He rolls down the window and hears a
humming sound. Moments later, the UFO speeds off at a steep angle. (“Close- Range
Sightings Increase,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 7 (March/April 1966):
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3997
Date: 3/31/1966
Time: 0600
Description: Two women observed a large object with a pulsating bluish
light on top, an orange light below, windows, and antennae, resting in a
construction area. Silhouettes could be seen moving inside, one of them
gesturing as the craft took off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Gribble Jun., 6 (Vallee)
Location: San Francisco, California
ID: 744
Date: 3/31/1966
Description: Luminous object hovered, blocked roadway, bobbed up and
down, moved quickly. Car buffeted, humming sound. Object rose, sped off
at steep angle
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Vicksburg, MI
ID: 82
Date: 3/31/1966
Time: 0200
Description: A man driving home saw lights on the road and discovered a
gray,lens-shaped object hovering at 1 m altitude. It had one intense
white light and three colored flashing lights. Driving within 2 m of it,
he became afraid and backed up, but the object suddenly flew over and
behind him. A noise similar to that of a swarm of bees was audible. It
left at high speed toward the east.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Vicksburg, Michigan
ID: 743
Date: 4/1/1966
Description: From LIFE magazine: In a hastily called press conference,
the USAF spokesman J. Allen Hynek suggested that the Dextor, MI, UFO and
others seen in the swamps near Hillsdale may have been marsh (or swamp)
gas that had spontaneously ignited.
Type: magazine article
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Dextor, MI
See also: 3/20/66
See also: 3/21/66
Date: 4/1/1966 (approximate)
Description: Night. Students at Western Michigan University in
Kalamazoo, Michigan, see a star-like object that looks football-shaped
through binoculars. It moves in geometric angles around two bright stars
until it shoots straight up and disappears. (Michael D. Swords, “We Know
Where You Live,” IUR 30, no.2 (January 2006): 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4000
Date: 4/1/1966
Description: 10:40 p.m. A man driving 5 miles south of Tangier,
Oklahoma, reaches a hilltop and sees a green object wider than the road
flying north at very high speed, emitting a shrieking noise and a “heat
wave.” The car engine dies. (Sparks, p. 313)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 3999
Date: 4/1/1966
Time: 2240
Description: A civilian man, 34, was driving about 10 km south of
Tangier when he reached a hilltop and saw a green object flying north at
very high speed, emitting a shrieking noise and a “heat wave.” The car
engine died. The witness noted that the object was wider than the
road.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Tangier, Oklahoma
ID: 746
Date: 4/1/1966
Time: 2400
Description: Darlene Underwood and her mother saw two starlike objects
land in a field. One of them rose rapidly when a train came into view.
It went behind a hill, while the second one hovered at tree height with
its lights off. When the train had passed, both objects landed again and
two manlike shadows were seen. Voices shouting in a foreign language and
what sounded like a pig being butchered were heard. Light signals.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: IIR May., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Liberty, Missouri
ID: 747
Date: 4/2/1966
Description: 2:02 p.m. James Kibel, a Melbourne businessman who is a
member of the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society, sees a shiny,
hemispherical object above his garden in Balwyn, Victoria. It looks to
be 20–25 feet in diameter and 120 feet in the air. “It seemed to float
down towards me,” he says. “It resembled a big mushroom with a stalk
pointing towards the earth.” He snaps a Polaroid photo, after which the
object takes off and disappears to the north. However, when B.
Roy Frieden, professor
of optical sciences at the University of Arizona, examines the photo, he
finds a jagged line of discontinuity running across the center of the
image suggesting there are separate photos joined together and
rephotographed. In 2017, Canadian researcher François Beaulieu
reexamines the original and notices the reflection of the house below in
the shiny object, and he finds that the discontinuity is actually caused
by the Polaroid developing chemicals spreading unevenly across the
photo. (“V.F.S.R.S.
Member Snaps a UFO,” Australian Flying Saucer Review (Victorian
Edition), no. 5 (July 1966): 2; “Report
on UFO Photographed at Balwyn,” Australian Flying Saucer Review
(Victorian Edition), no. 6 (December 1966): 11–12; Story, p. 40;
Keith Basterfield and Paul Dean, “Stage
One Report on the 2nd April 1966,
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, UFO Observation and Photgograph by James
Johnson Kibel,” 2016; Keith Basterfield and Paul Dean, “Stage
Two Report on the 2nd April 1966, Balwyn, Melbourne, Victoria, Visual
and Photographic
UFO Sighting by James Johnson Kibel,” 2016; François Beaulieu, “A
Re-evaluation of the Balwyn UFO
Photograph,” February 23, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4001
Date: 4/4/1966
Time: 0605
Description: A civilian man, 40, saw an object resting on the ground as
he was going to work, less than 2 km southeast of Hague. It was an
elongated craft, 2 m long, 70 cm high. When he tried to touch it, the
craft left at great speed toward the west. It had six openings, 10 cm in
diameter, and made a “turbine” noise so loud that the witness had to put
his hands over his ears. After going away for a few meters, it vanished
suddenly. Rain was falling throughout the observation, which lasted four
min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Hague, Florida
ID: 748
Date: 4/4/1966
Description: 7:50 p.m. Businessman Ron Sullivan is driving about 60 mph
near Burkes Flat, Victoria, Australia. In the distance he sees a light
near the road. Suddenly, the headlights of his vehicle bend to the right
and light up a nearby fence. He brakes his car. In the middle of an
adjacent field, he sees a column of light some 25 feet high and shaped
like an inverted ice cream cone, 3 feet wide at the bottom and 10 feet
wide at the top. It then rises to a height of 20 feet, after which the
whole light complex disappears. There is no associated noise. Sullivan
drives on to Wycheproof, where he checks his lights but finds nothing
wrong. On the night of April 7, 19-year-old Gary Taylor is killed at the
same spot when the car he is driving leaves the road and hits a tree.
Police find a circular impression about 2–5 inches deep and 5 feet in
diameter in the freshly plowed field. (NICAP, “Bent
Headlights Case”;
Bill Chalker, “The
Bent Headlight Beam Case Revisited,” UFO Research Australia
Newsletter 5, no. 3 (May/June 1984): 17–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4002
Date: 4/5/1966
Time: 1900
Description: A landed object was observed through binoculars by four
persons. It took off, hovered for a while, and left.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Kittery, Maine
ID: 752
Date: 4/5/1966
Description: Congressman, Gerald Ford announces to Congress the need to
extensively examine UFOs. Brief Hearing, C. Sagan.
Type: announcement
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-G p64)
Location: Washington DC
Date: 4/5/1966
Time: 3 AM
Description: Witness: Lillian Louis. One vapor-like sphere hovered and
spun at low altitude, shooting its exhaust onto the ground below.
Sighting of 1 minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lycoming, New York
ID: 540
Date: 4/5/1966
Description: Midnight. W. Smith and another man in Alto, Tennessee, stop
to watch a 100-foot long UFO hovering 15 feet above a swamp. They try to
follow it, but it flies away, flying between a high-tension power line
and a row of trees. Cows, dogs, and horses are restless in all the areas
where the object passes over. (Sparks,
p. 313)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4006
Date: 4/5/1966
Time: 11:55 PM
Description: Witness: W. Smith. One oval object with a dark top,
appeared cone-shaped when moving. It made a high-frequency noise during
the 2.5 hour sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Alto, Tennessee
ID: 539
Date: 4/5/1966
Description: R. Sullivan was driving toward Maryborough when his
headlight beams appeared to “bend” to the right. He then observed a
vertical, conical beam of light in a nearby field, very white at ground
level and rainbowlike up to an altitude of 7 m. Top and bottom
diameters: 3 and 1 m respectively. The object producing the light flew
away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO May., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Wycheproof, Australia
ID: 749
Date: 4/5/1966
Description: The House Armed Services Committee conducts the first
public hearing by the US Congress on the topic of UFOs. Air Force
Secretary Harold
Brown testifies that while USAF has done an excellent job on UFOs,
perhaps there is room for “even stronger emphasis on the scientific
aspects.” Hynek recommends
that a “civilian panel of physical and social scientists … examine the
UFO problem critically for the express purpose of determining whether a
major problem exits.” Quintanilla is
the only other witness. After Committee Chairman L.
Mendel Rivers expresses
some enthusiasm for the idea, Brown suddenly realizes that maybe he has
found a way to get the Air Force out of UFO investigations. Shortly
after the hearing, Brown tells the USAF Office of Scientific Research to
accept the February 3 O’Brien recommendation
to seek a university that will accept a contract to study the 600
officially unidentified UFO sightings. (US House Committee on Armed
Services, Hearing, Unidentified
Flying Objects, 89th
Congress, 2nd Session, April 5, 1966; Clark III 1192)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4005
Date: 4/5/1966
Time: 0130
Description: A woman was awakened by a flash, thought her heater had
exploded, but found everything in order. The next day she was told that
a pulsating, luminous object had flown at very low altitude over her
trailer, circled and left. Three witnoises. Low buzzing sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Binder (Vallee)
Location: Durhamville, New York
ID: 750
Date: 4/5/1966
Time: 0300
Description: A civilian woman, 42, went to get a glass of water in her
kitchen and saw a spinning object, 3 m in diameter, 6 m above ground
near her house. It departed very suddenly, leaving a trail.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Lycoming, New York
ID: 751
Date: 4/5/1966
Description: 3:00 a.m. Lillian
Louis, in Lycoming, New York, sees a spinning object from her
kitchen window. It seems to be 10 feet in diameter and is shooting
exhaust 20 feet above the ground near her house. It departs suddenly,
leaving a trail. (Sparks, p. 313)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4004
Date: 4/5/1966
Time: 2400
Description: Two civilian men stopped to watch an object hovering above
a swamp, tried to follow it, but it flew awav. They observed that
animals (cows, dogs, horses) were restless in all the areas that the
object crossed. A photographic reconstitution by the U.S. Air Force
showed an oval object, 30 m long, flying at 5 m altitude, between a
high-tension line and a row of trees.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Alto, Tennessee
ID: 753
Date: 4/5/1966
Description: 1:30 a.m. A woman in Durhamville, New York, is awakened by
a flash. She thinks her trailer heater has exploded, but everything is
in order. The next day, three witnesses tell her a pulsating, luminous
object had flown directly above her trailer. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 327)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4003
Date: 4/5/1966
Description: House Armed Services Committee hearing on UFOs in U.S.
Congress. Only Air Force witnesses called to testify. Hearings used as
forum to announce that new independent scientific study would be
undertaken.
Type: official
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 84
Date: 4/6/1966
Description: NICAP Assistant Director Richard
Hall writes to Gerald
Ford, congratulating
him on his call for a congressional investigation, saying, “History will
record the important role you have played in helping to bring about a
rational study of UFOs and public enlightenment on the subject.” (Bill
Murphy, “The Swamp Gas Aftermath: Some Notes from the Gerald Ford
Files,” IUR 33, no. 2 (July 2010): 10, 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4008
Date: 4/6/1966
Description: Around 11:00 a.m. A class of students and a teacher from
Westall High School [now Westall Secondary College] in Clayton South,
Victoria, Australia, are just completing a sport activity on the main
oval when they see an object, described as a gray saucer-shaped craft
with a slight purple hue and about twice the size of a family car.
Witness descriptions are mixed: Andrew Greenwood, a science teacher,
tells The Dandenong Journal at the time that he saw a silvery-green
disc. According to witnesses, the object is descending and then crosses
and flies over the high school’s southwest corner, going in a
southeasterly direction before disappearing from sight as it descends
behind a stand of trees and into a paddock at The Grange in front of the
Westall State School (primary students). After about 20 minutes, the
object—with witnesses now numbering over 200—then climbs at speed and
departs towards the northwest. As the object gains altitude, some
accounts describe it as being pursued from the scene by five
unidentified aircraft that circle it. Some describe one disc, others
claim to see three. The Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society arrives
on the site on April 8, speaks to students, and views the ground
marking, originally described as a large patch of yellow, flattened
grass with a swirly pattern. (“Audio
Reveals Creepy Details
of Australian UFO Mystery,” Melbourne Herald Sun, August 7, 2018;
Wikipedia, “Westall
UFO”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4007
Date: 4/7/1966
Time: 2130
Description: Six teenagers reported strange lights following their car
as they left the site of a picnic in a state of extreme fear. An unknown
man, 2.20 m tall, wearing black clothes, had been seen passing in front
of the shelter entrance and walking on the roof.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Daniels Park, Colorado
ID: 754
Date: 4/8/1966
Time: 0805
Description: Mike Dorsey and Gary Hunt, 12 were walking to school when
they saw a circling object making the sound of humming bees. They ran
for cover, trying to stop a car. The craft resembled an upside-down
plate, very smooth, apparently metallic, with a black spot near the rim,
a red light and an antennalike projection, and red and white lights
spinning counterclockwise. Diameter2.5 m, height, 1.5 m. Minimum
altitude was 2 m, held for 5 min, with a slight rocking motion. The
object then took off at great speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 108 (Vallee)
Location: Norwalk, Connecticut
ID: 755
Date: 4/8/1966
Description: 8:05 a.m. Mike Dorsey and Gary Hunt, both 12, are walking
along Redcoat Road in Norwalk, Connecticut, when they see sunlight
reflecting off a distant object to the west and behind them. It zooms
toward them in a flash, passes overhead from west to east, turns, makes
a second pass from east to west, turns again, and makes a third pass. It
makes a low humming sound when it passes about 15 feet above them. The
boys run to the Holy Ghost Seminary nearby and hide under a nearby
bridge abutment as the object continues to maneuver. When it hovers, it
does so edge down and makes a fluttering motion. The disc looks
metallic, 8 feet in diameter, has a black spot on top near its rim, and
a red light on top of an antenna-like protrusion. Red and white lights
appear to rotate counterclockwise. Nearly 2 hours later, the object
takes off in a burst of speed. (“Boys
Chased by UAO,” APRO Bulletin, May/June 1966, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4009
Date: 4/11/1966
Time: 0000
Description: A civilian man, 43, saw a well-defined object 5 m above
ground, 100 m away. It showed a flashing red light, rose, was lost in
the fog, then came back at treetop level with a strong whistling sound.
Its shape was that of a cigar, 15 m long. It had no wings, tail
assembly, or wheels.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Greensburg, Pennsylvania
ID: 756
Date: 4/12/1966
Time: 1945
Description: During a power failure many residents, including Robert
Moses and Robert McCambly, saw an oval object with a dome on top and
lights (red to white to green) around the bottom, which appeared to land
on the roof of the Oliver Wendelle Holmes grammar school after a series
of maneuvers.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 66, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Dorchester, Massachusetts
ID: 757
Date: 4/17/1966
Description: 5:00 a.m. Portage County Deputy Sheriff Dale
F. Spaur and Deputy Wilbur Neff are 4 miles east of Randolph, Ohio,
when they see a moving light through some trees at the top of a small
hill along the road. The light is headed in their direction. They have
heard of a UFO reported over police radio that night and figure this
must be what was seen. The object hovers 50–100 feet in the air, bathing
the two officers in a bright light. Spaur’s eyes water up. They rush to
the cruiser and radio the station; the dispatcher says to wait there
until a car with a camera arrives. The object makes some sharp
maneuvers, and Spaur drives toward it cautiously. The UFO is 18–24 feet
thick and about 35–45 feet in diameter. The object is so bright he
hardly needs his headlights to drive. It speeds up whenever Spaur
accelerates, and soon he is driving at 80 mph. As the UFO reaches
Mahoning County, the pursuit is being broadcast over police radios in
three counties. As they reach East Palestine, Ohio, Patrolman H.
Wayne Huston sees
the UFO and follows Spaur and Neff, at times reaching 100 mph. Just
before 5:30 a.m., two police officers in Salem, Ohio, see the UFO as a
“bright ball” much larger than a jet. They also see three jets following
it, apparently Air Force Reserve planes from Youngstown, Ohio. Police
officer Frank Panzarella in Conway, Pennsylvania, sees the UFO, very
bright and in the “shape of a half of a football.” He hears on his radio
that a jet interception is in progress. Now in Pennsylvania, Spaur and
Neff are given orders to abandon the chase. For most of the event, the
object has remained at 1,000 feet, but now it rises to 3,500 feet and
hovers. Then it shoots even higher and disappears. In 30 minutes, many
police and civilians have seen the UFO. Panzarella alerts the Rochester,
Pennsylvania, police operator, John Beighey, and asks him to contact the
Greater Pittsburgh International Airport. Beighey calls Panzarella and
says the Air Force wants to talk to the police witnesses. Spaur, Neff,
and Huston go to the Rochester, Pennsylvania, police station and Spaur
phones the USAF station at Pittsburgh. Spaur speaks to some colonel who
tries to convince him he has seen something conventional. NICAP’s
William B. Weitzel, a philosophy professor, begins his own
investigation, tracking down witnesses. Within a few weeks, he or his
NICAP associates have interviewed all the police officers, as well as
several others who have figured in the UFO chase, either as dispatchers
or as those who overheard the radio communications. NICAP members also
interview some civilians who claim to have seen a UFO at the same time
of the chase and/or had monitored police scanners. (NICAP, “Portage
County UFO Chase”; Sparks,
p. 314; “Saucer
Chase Sets
Probers Humming,” Akron (Ohio) Beacon-Journal, April 18, pp. 1–2; J.
Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 113–124;
Patrick Gross, “1966
Portage County UFO Chase by Policemen”; William B. Weitzel, “The
P-13 UFO: Summary Report on April 17, 1966, UFO ‘Chase’ from Portage
County, Ohio, into Conway,
Pennsylvania,” June 28, 1966; William B. Weitzel, “The
Portage County Sighting,” April 8, 1967; NICAP, [case
photos and drawings]; Michael D. Swords, [case
files and clippings]; Center for UFO Studies, [Gerald
Buchert photo case file]; Center for UFO Studies, [clippings, part
one, part
two]; Clark III 906–914)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4010
Date: 4/17/1966
Description: A person in a car saw an oval object the size of a car
follow his vehicle, then cross the road behind it at 5 m altitude. The
object reflected sunlight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Millersville, Texas
ID: 758
Date: 4/17/1966
Description: Ravenna, OH, to Conway, Penn.: Deputy Sheriffs Dale Spaur
and Wilbur Neff of Portage Countywere on patrol when an UFO stopped
above them, illuminating them and the surroundings (it was just about
dawn). As the UFO moved away from them at about 300–500 ft. above the
road, it would alternately start and stop ahead of them playing cat and
mouse. At E. Palestine, OH, officer Wayne Huston joined in the pursuit.
At speeds of 100 mph in unfamiliar territory, they were soon low on gas
and had to give up the game with the UFO. Through local police dispatch
the officers alerted the Air Force, who sent out fighter planes to
investigate the UFO. As the officers saw the AF planes approaching the
UFO shot straight up and out of sight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-F p259)
Location: Ravenna, OH
See also: 6/24/66
Date: 4/17/1966
Description: Sheriffs confronted by glowing object, light beam
illuminated road, humming sound. Chased UFO across state line, other
police witnesses en route. Object shot straight up out of sight
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Ravenna, OH
ID: 85
Date: 4/18/1966
Time: 2210
Description: An egg-shaped object, 25 m long, 5 m high, gray-colored,
was observed from a distance of 25 m by a 42-year-old witness driving a
car. The object supported a cockpit with windows and three rows of
lights, emitted red flames, and made the same noise as a heavy truck on
wet pavement. The object followed the car for some time.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Battle Creek, Michigan
ID: 759
Date: 4/18/1966
Description: The Air Force begins a cursory investigation into the
Portage County, Ohio, police chase case. Initially they telephone local
news outlets, seeking information. However, local newspapers and radio
have only vague outlines of the case. Air Force investigators also
interviewed meteorologists and weather agency personnel, hoping to learn
that a weather balloon was launched in the area during the UFO chase.
They learn that there were no weather balloons launched that morning,
and also that the wind had been so mild that the police would have had
no difficulty catching up with any wind-borne object. Quintanilla calls
Spaur to
ask him about “this mirage you saw.” Spaur insists he has seen a clearly
defined metallic object maneuvering at very low altitudes. When
Quintanilla asks if they watched the object for more than a few minutes,
Spaur asserts that he and Neff chased it for over half an hour, and that
Huston saw
the object for much of that period, and that Panzanella too had seen it.
Quintanilla then, as Spaur said, “kind of lost interest.” (Clark III
910)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4011
Date: 4/18/1966
Description: An egg-shaped object, 80 feet in diameter and 15 feet high,
is observed from a distance of 80 feet by a 42- year-old witness driving
a car near Battle Creek, Michigan. The object supports a cockpit with
windows and three rows of lights, emits red flames, and makes the same
noise as a heavy truck on wet pavement. The object follows the car for
some time. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 329;
Sparks, p. 314)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4012
Date: 4/19/1966
Description: 10:45 p.m. In Peabody, Massachusetts, witnesses report an
oval object with red, green, and white body lights, oscillating up and
down when in motion. The object appears to land in a field off State
Highway 114. At 12:00 midnight, two men driving along that route see the
lighted disc rise and fly away. (Vallée, Magonia, p. 329)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4013
Date: 4/19/1966
Time: 2245
Description: A man saw what he thought was a crashing plane, then
observed it was oval, had white, red, and green lights, flew low over
him, circled, came down with pendulum motion, and appeared to land on
Route 114. At midnight, two men driving along that route saw a beam
sweep the road, stopped, and saw the object in a field. It was a disk
with a white, a green, and three red lights. The two reports were
independent.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Peabody, Massachusetts
ID: 761
Date: 4/19/1966
Time: 2200
Description: Two women saw a cigar-shaped object, with bright, red
lights at both ends, flying erratically. It made a whistling sound when
moving, was silent when hovering. Minimum distance: 100 m, length, 20 m.
The lights began flashing and the object went down behind some trees
when five planes and a helicopter came over the area. Two of the
aircraft circled the location, then flew on. The whistling sound was
again heard, but the object was not seen after the departure of the
planes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Bellingham, Massachusetts
ID: 760
Date: late 4/1966
Description: When he learns that Rep. J.
William Stanton (R-Ohio) has expressed an interest in the UFO chase,
NICAP investigator William B. Weitzel writes him a detailed letter,
outlining the inconsistencies and shortcomings of Quintanilla’s
explanations. Portage County (Ohio) Judge Robert
Eugene Cook (an acquaintance of Spaur and
Neff) also writes to Stanton, defending the police officers’ judgment
and characterizing the Air Force investigation as “grossly unfair” to
Spaur and Neff. Stanton fails to get an answer from the Air Force, so he
contacts USAF Chief of Community Relations Division Lt. Col. John
Spalding, who
promises to send an investigator. Stanton later writes to Defense
Secretary Robert
McNamara about Blue Book’s treatment of his constituents. (Clark III
911)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4021
Date: 4/21/1966
Description: Rep. Gerald Ford (R-Mich.) issued news release announcing
that USAF was arranging for a “study of UFOs by topflight scientists not
connected in any way with the Air Force.”
Type: official
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 87
Date: 4/21/1966
Description: Lyrid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 86
Date: 4/21/1966
Description: William
Dean Howe, MP
for Ottawa, Ontario, urges a serious investigation of UFOs in the
Canadian House of Commons. (“Canadian
Projects,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 10 (Feb./March 1969): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4014
Date: 4/22/1966
Time: 1530
Description: Several people were said to have observed an object fly at
low altitude and land outside Bagley. Four dwarfs seemed to make
repairs, then the craft flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Mar., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Bagley, Minnesota
ID: 762
Date: 4/22/1966
Description: Quintanilla announces
in a press release that the Portage County, Ohio, UFO is an Echo
satellite, with later observations (in Pennsylvania) of Venus.
Quintanilla calls Spaur’s
superior, Portage County Sheriff Ross Dustman, to
give him this explanation, and Dustman laughs out loud. (Clark III
910)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4015
Date: 4/22/1966
Description: Lt. Col. Robert
R. Hippler of the USAF Directorate of Science and Technology is
tasked with recruiting a university for the UFO project suggested by the
O’Brien committee in February. He assembles a panel of experts that
suggests he bring in H.
Guyford Stever, head of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.
Stever queries MIT, Harvard, the University of California, Northwestern
University, and the University of North Carolina, but all refuse to deal
with UFOs. (Swords 307–308)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4016
Date: 4/22/1966
Description: 9:00–9:45 p.m. Witnesses in Beverly, Massachusetts,
including two police officers, see a platter-shaped object the size of a
large automobile with 3 red-green-white lights hover silently over
Beverly High School then depart to the southwest. At one point,
witnesses see the object only 20–30 feet above the head of another
witness. (Condon, pp. 266–270;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 106–108;
Roy Craig, UFOs: An Insiders’ View of the Official Quest for Evidence,
University of North Texas, 1995; Sparks,
p. 314; Patrick Gross, “The
Case in Beverly, Massachusetts, USA, on April 22, 1966”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4017
Date: 4/22/1966
Time: 2100
Description: A child saw a blinding, multicolored source of light making
a buzzing sound as it flew over the road 15 m away from the house. It
seemed to land in a field near the school. Three adults came out to calm
the child and also saw the object circling and hovering. They called the
police. Two officers arrived and saw the object appearing to “dance”
with two other craft. All witnesses then observed the arrival of one
helicopter and two aircraft, as the remaining object flew away to the
southwest. Police described the object as plate-shaped when stationary
above the school building. TV reception was blurred throughout the
observation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Beverly, Massachusetts
ID: 763
Date: 4/23/1966
Description: 10:45 p.m. On hearing a listener call in a live UFO
sighting on WMEX radio, Jeanne Kalnicki of Dorchester, Massachusetts,
goes to the window with her two daughters and sees an oval, domed UFO
with a ring of blinking red lights bobbing up and down above a building
across the street. A yellow light is on top of the dome and alternately
flashes on when the red lights blink off. It moves across the street and
appears to be moving directly toward them at eye level. Humming, the
object moves between their apartment building and the one next door,
where it hovers for a few minutes. When the yellow light goes off,
Kalnicki can see a glow within the dome. The object then moves
erratically away to the east. The family goes to bed, but at 5:00 a.m.,
11-year-old Judy Kalnicki is too upset to sleep, She wakes up when she
sees a light coming in her window and realizes that the UFO is right
outside, bobbing up and down, looking about the size of their 1955
Lincoln automobile, and flashing its lights as before. Thinking it is
going to come inside her bedroom, Judy screams. Seemingly in response,
the object speeds up its bobbing motion, and she hears a heavy thudding
sound. The windows rattle, Judy’s bed rocks, and all the lights in the
house go off. Downstairs, their German shepherd is whining and
scratching at the door. The entire family rushes to the back porch,
where they watch the object for about 12 minutes moving to the north
toward Boston. The lights come back on. NICAP’s investigation shows that
the power failure affected 2,500 homes in the area and was caused by two
cables burning out a block away from the Kalnicki apartment. One
particle on the window sill registered a strong radiation reading of
.025 millimentgens per hour from a Geiger counter. (Donald E. Keyhoe and
Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 46–47)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4018
Date: 4/24/1966
Time: 0330
Description: Tom M. Lasseter, architect, was camping near the river when
he was awakened by a fluttering sound and observed a glowing white disk,
7 m in diameter, at treetop level 60 m away. It had a row of
lights.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP May., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Pedernales River, Texas
ID: 764
Date: 4/24/1966
Time: 1810
Description: Two men saw an object dive within 30 m of their car. It was
silent, had a bright blue light on top, suddenly accelerated, and was
lost to sight toward Mt. Watatic.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Ashby, Massachusetts
ID: 765
Date: 4/24/1966
Description: Night. Marvin and
Viola
Swartwood are driving in a rainstorm on State Highway 34B near
Fleming, New York, when a “brilliant, flashing ball of fire” appears
three feet above the front and slightly to the right of their car. The
fire ball lights up the surrounding area, falls onto the car with a loud
snap, and vanishes. As the ball lightning hits, Viola feels a shock in
her neck and an impulse in her right arm. They drive to the sheriff’s
office and then to a local hospital because the right side of Viola’s
body is partially paralyzed. She is in satisfactory condition 5 days
later. There is no damage to the car or any reports of normal lightning
in the area. (“‘Ball
of Fire’ Hits
Car; Woman Passenger Hurt,” Syracuse (N.Y.) Post-Standard, April 28,
1966, p. 38; “Ball-of-Fire
Victim’s Condition
Improving,” Binghamton (N.Y.) Press and Sun-Bulletin, April 29,
1966, p. 3C; Mark Rodeghier, “UFO/Vehicle Very Close Encounters,” IUR
27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4019
Date: 4/25/1966
Description: 8:52 p.m. Florida Gov. W.
Haydon Burns’s campaign airplane is paced by a UFO. Copilot Herb
Bates first notices the UFO when the Convair takes off from Orlando,
Florida, headed for Tallahassee. It appears as two bright yellow globes
side by side. In the vicinity of Ocala, at about 6,000 feet, everyone on
board is alerted and watches the object pacing the plane on the right
side. The lights fluctuate in brightness but are very distinct. Burns
orders the pilot to turn toward the UFO, and the lights quickly begin a
steep climb then disappear. (Bill Mansfield, “I
Was with Burns and Saw ‘Flying Saucer,’” Miami (Fla.) Herald, April
27, 1966, p. 1; “Florida
Governor Sights
UFO,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 8 (May/June 1966): 3; “Governor
Haydon Burns Sees a UFO,” Educating Humanity, April 26, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4020
Date: 4/26/1966
Time: 2330
Description: A young man saw a silent object shaped like two bowls glued
together, 30 m altitude, ahead of his car. Estimated diameter: 10 m. He
drove away without looking behind.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Follansbee, West Virginia
ID: 766
Date: 4/30/1966
Time: 3:15 AM
Description: Witness: Anita Miller. One light moved around the sky for
2.5 hours. No further detail in files.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Sacramento, California
ID: 541
Date: 5/4/1966
Description: 4:30 a.m. An FAA air traffic controller tracks an
unidentified non-transponding target for about 5 miles at Charleston,
West Virginia. The crew of Braniff Airline Flight 42, headed east at
33,000 feet, sees a white-blue object giving off brilliant, flaming
light of alternating white-green-red colors. The radar shows the object
veering 8–10 miles away at the 10 o’clock position, then approaching the
Braniff airliner to a distance of 3 miles. It then makes a 180° left
turn to the northwest within a diameter of 5 miles at 1,000 mph, which
the Braniff crew confirms as the object descends from 20° above the
horizon. (NICAP, “Charleston
R/V Case”; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974,
pp. 83–86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4022
Date: 5/7/1966
Time: 9:55 PM
Description: Witness: A/3c W.L. Whitehead. One short, cylindrical object
with pointed ends and a yellow light at one end and blue light at the
other, flew straight and level for 35 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Goodfellow AFB, Texas
ID: 542
Date: 5/8/1966
Description: Gallup Poll reported 96 percent public awareness of UFOs,
and that nearly half of the adult population believed UFOs were
real.
Type: newspaper article
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 88
Date: 5/8/1966
Description: Quintanilla calls
Spaur again
and tells him to be ready for an interview the next day.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4024
Date: 5/8/1966
Description: A Gallup Poll taken April 14–19 reveals that 46% of
Americans who have heard about UFOs think they are real, although only
7% think they are from outer space. 5% of US adults have seen a UFO.
(“Five
Million Say They’ve
Seen Saucers,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 8 (May/June 1966): 7; Robert
J. Durant, “Evolution of Public Opinion on UFOs,” IUR 18, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1993): 11–12; Lydia Saad, “Eyewitnesses
to Flying Saucers,” Gallup Vault, April 12, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4023
Date: 5/9/1966
Description: Weitzel is at Portage County police headquarters in
Ravenna, Ohio, to record Spaur’s
interview and has brought two reporters and UFO researcher David Webb.
Dustman is
there too. Quintanilla asks
Weitzel and Webb to leave, and the reporters leave as well. The
interview becomes heated at times. (“Interview with Deputy Sheriff Dale
Spaur, 1966,” SpaceTimeForum YouTube channel, March 28, 2013; Clark III
911–912)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4025
Date: 5/10/1966
Time: 1652
Description: A man observed the landing of an oval object and two
beings, who ame out of the object through a system of light beams. They
used strange instruments to examine a number of objects, especially
plants. They were 2 m tall, had oversized heads, appeared bright and
“transparent.” Their eyes were slanted, their shoulders very broad. They
wore no apparent weapon, but their belts were very wide and emitted
light rays. They did not touch anything without first illuminating it
with these beams. They went back aboard their craft “as if carried by
the light.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Marisela Caracas, Venezuela
ID: 767
Date: 5/10/1966
Description: CBS Reports “Flying Saucers: Friend, Foe or Fantasy?”
presented extremely negative Air Force and “scientific” views, primarily
those of Dr. Donald Menzel and Dr. Carl Sagan, both skeptics.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 89
Date: 5/10/1966
Time: 2200
Description: Approximate date. The crowd at a movie projection panicked,
thinking it was an earthquake, as an unknown object exploded. According
to police, a sulphurous odor and a trace 25 cm deep, 35 cm wide, were
noted at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 84 (Vallee)
Location: Atafona Campos, Brazil
ID: 768
Date: 5/10/1966
Description: The documentary “UFOs: Friend, Foe, or Fantasy?” appears on
CBS Reports, hosted by Walter
Cronkite and narrator Bill
Stout. Guests
include Carl
Sagan, Donald
Menzel, Harold
Brown, Lawrence
Tacker, Donald Keyhoe, and
J.
Allen Hynek. The
tenor of the show is to debunk UFOs, although Cronkite says the CIA has
been secretly tracking UFO sightings around the world, even as it denies
doing so. Air Force Capt. Gary Reese claims that NORAD’s
satellite-tracking radar covers altitudes from 100,000 feet to 2,000
miles up but never finds any UFOs. He neglects to mention that UFOs are
found in the atmosphere below 100,000 feet. (Even so, NORAD has been
detecting occasional Unidentified Satellites, USATs, for years.) Reese
makes a broad statement that the Air Force has never substantiated a
“flying saucer” despite NORAD’s covering “nearly every square foot of
the US” on its radar. USAF Maj. Albert Morse of NORAD spacetrack network
supports Reese. A handwritten letter by Robertson Panel member Thornton
Page, discovered in the Smithsonian’s archives by Michael
Swords, confirms the CIA’s long-suspected role in the CBS program.
In the September 10, 1966, letter, Page relates to Frederick
C. Durant that
he “helped organize the CBS TV show around the Robertson Panel’s
conclusions.” Quintanilla has
spent 3 days editing and censoring the TV program’s script to make sure
it conforms to USAF public relations policy. (“UFOs:
Friend, Foe or Fantasy? 1966” nutsandbolts ufo YouTube channel,
February 15, 2013; “Columnists
Hit NBC Documentary,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 8 (May/June 1966): 8;
Clark III 808; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 206–207;
Terry Hanson, “Close
Encounters of the Nuclear Kind,” Online Journal, March 31, 2009;
Swords 195–196, 308)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4026
Date: 5/16/1966
Description: Manuel Hernandez was coming back from the fields near
Cordoba when he saw a disk-shaped object land 100 m away. Small beings
resembling “green birds” came out for a few instants, then took off
again.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 162 (Vallee)
Location: Cordoba, Spain
ID: 769
Date: 5/17/1966
Description: Weitzel writes to Quintanilla with
another critique of the Blue Book explanation. Even Hynek urges
FTD to change the designation to “unknown.”
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4027
Date: 5/21/1966
Description: Experienced pilot in light plane encountered disc with dome
that made sharp turn, passed beneath his wing
Type: sighting
Type: encounter
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Willow Grove, PA
ID: 90
Date: 5/21/1966
Description: 3: 15 p.m. William C. Powell is flying a light Luscombe
aircraft over Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, with one passenger, Muriel
McCrave. He spots a bright-red circular disc with a dome on top as it is
apparently following an outbound flight of Navy jets from NAS Willow
Grove [now NAS Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove] at 4,500 feet. The
object makes a sharp turn without banking and approaches his plane on a
near-collision course, passing below the starboard wing about 300 feet
away and disappearing to the rear. They both get a good look at the
object, which has no wings or visible means of propulsion. (NICAP, “Domed
Disc Observed by Pilot and Passenger
(Powell Case)”; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 45–46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4028
Date: 5/22/1966
Description: A witness driving between Blue River, British Columbia, and
Jasper, Alberta, sees a gray object the size of a car and shaped like a
bowl land on the road and make a whining noise. After it silently takes
off, the object leaves three impressions of landing pads about 4 feet
square. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Nihgt,
2022, p. 184)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4029
Date: 6/1966
Description: Broadcaster Frank
Edwards publishes Flying Saucers—Serious Business, and it becomes
one of the best-selling UFO books of all time. (Frank Edwards, Flying
Saucers—Serious Business, Bantam, 1966; Clark III 435; Nick Redfern,
“Spying
on the Saucer Writers,” Mysterious Universe, February 20,
2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4030
Date: 6/1966
Description: 3:15 a.m. Edward Argerake is asleep at his home in
Chelmsford, Massachusetts, when his bedroom explodes in light. He hears
a pinging noise a light source begins pulsing with diffraction rings
outside his window shades. He begins to feel numb and weak, but the
sounds grows louder and he lapses into unconsciousness. He wakes up at
6:15 a.m. and the light and noise are gone. Because of this event he
becomes interested in UFOs and joins NICAP’s Massachusetts subcommittee.
(Michael D. Swords, “A Trick of the Light,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007):
10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4031
Date: 6/1/1966
Description: 10:30 p.m. On Lake Ontario, off Clarkson, Ontario, former
RCAF pilot Richard H. Plewman and Jack Grant are cruising on the lake
when they see lights on the water ahead. They can see a disc with a dome
on top casting an oval reflection on the lake surface. Around the dome
is a row of bright yellow lights; blue-green lights are visible around
the lower perimeter. After hovering briefly, the UFO takes off at high
speed and disappears. (“New Reports
by Space Experts Add to UFO Proof,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 9
(Aug./Sept. 1966): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4032
Date: 6/2/1966
Description: 7:30 p.m. Harold Harper is talking with neighbors in his
front yard in Massillon, Ohio, when they see a large lighted object
coming from the southwest. It is about 50–60 feet in diameter, smoky in
color, and cigar-shaped with a ball on one end. It stops and hovers at
about 1,000 feet altitude. Then three smaller objects appear to come
from it; they gain altitude, separate, and disappear at terrific speed
in different directions. The large object goes straight up at terrific
speed. (Massillon (Ohio) Evening Independent, June 3, 1966; Herbert S.
Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer
2004): 25–26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4033
Date: 6/3/1966
Time: 2145
Description: Two witnesses observed a stationary object 3 m above
ground. It had a diameter of 7 m, lights on top and bottom and smaller
lights at the rim. It flew away very fast to the east.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: West Point City, Pennsylvania
ID: 770
Date: 6/6/1966
Time: 9:30 PM
Description: Witness: Dorothy Gray. Two domed discs with sparkling upper
surfaces and square windows in their tops, revolved above a lake,
apparently causing strange behavior of the lake water during the 25
second sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Spooner, Wisconsin
ID: 543
Date: 6/6/1966
Description: James
McDonald has obtained a small amount of money from the Office of
Naval Research to travel to Wright- Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, and
examine the Blue Book files. On his first visit, he is steered to an
unedited copy of the Robertson Panel report. As it has not been
released, McDonald is disturbed, seeing it as evidence that the CIA is
directing a cover-up. (Clark III 1017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4034
Date: 6/6/1966
End date: 6/10/1966
Description: The US Army releases Bacillus globigii into the tunnels of
the New York City Subway system during peak travel hours as part of a
field experiment on the vulnerability of subway passengers in New York
City to covert attack with biological agents. (“How
the U.S. Government Exposed Thousands of Americans to Lethal
Bacteria to
Test Biological Warfare,” Democracy Now!, July 13, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4035
Date: 6/8/1966
Time: 6:45 AM
Description: Witness: Max Baker. One bright silver, cigar-shaped object,
as long as an airliner, buzzed the witness’ car. Sighting lasted 1
minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Kansas, Ohio
ID: 544
Date: 6/8/1966
Time: 0645
Description: A civilian man, 43, driving west between Kansas and Toledo,
saw an object appear out of nowhere. It was cigar-shaped, bright
metallic, and flew low to the northeast. Minimum distance: 30 m. The
object was completely silent, and the size of an airliner.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Sandusky Road, Ohio
ID: 771
Date: 6/8/1966
Description: McDonald visits
Hynek at
the Lindheimer Astrophysical Research Center in Evanston, Illinois,
saying heatedly that he should have spoken up about the CIA cover-up and
all the absurd explanations that he made up: “Allen, how could you have
sat on this data for 18 years and not let us know about it?” Hynek’s
then-associate Jacques Vallée has
to intervene. Hynek replies that if he did, the Air Force would just
replace him and he would lose access to all the files. McDonald says
Hynek should have spoken up in 1953 and cannot get Hynek to agree that
he is even a little bit timid. (O’Connell 201; Clark III 696)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4036
Date: 6/8/1966
Description: X-15 pilot Joseph
A. Walker is killed when his F-104 Starfighter chase aircraft
collides with a North American XB-70 Valkyrie. At an altitude of about
25,000 feet, Walker’s Starfighter is one of five aircraft in a tight
group formation for a General Electric publicity photo when his F-104
drifts into contact with the XB-70’s right wingtip. The F-104 flips
over, and, rolling inverted, passes over the top of the XB-70, striking
both its vertical stabilizers and its left wing in the process, and
explodes, killing Walker. The Valkyrie enters an uncontrollable spin and
crashes into the ground north of Barstow, California, killing copilot Carl
S. Cross. Its pilot, Alvin
S. White, ejects
and is the sole survivor. (Wikipedia, “Joseph
A. Walker”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4037
Date: 6/11/1966
Time: 0345
Description: A civilian who was going fishing saw an object dive toward
his car and hover at treetop level, stopped and observed it for two min.
It was shaped like two plates glued together, and had a smaller, oval
object on top. It took a 45 (degree) inclination, rose, made a
right-angle turn, and changed color (white to yellow to blue to green)
as it accelerated.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP (Vallee)
Location: Westport, Connecticut
ID: 772
Date: 6/11/1966
Description: Early morning. Several witnesses driving from Dabajuro to
Coro, Falcón State, Venezuela, stop to watch a triangular object that
stops and hovers in midair for short intervals. The object gives off a
beam of light in various directions. (“The
South American Scene,” APRO Bulletin, July/Aug. 1966, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4038
Date: 6/13/1966
Description: The policeman who had observed an object over Milan on
Mar. 17 saw an unidentified machine on the ground at a street
intersection. He drove toward it with his headlights illuminating the
object, which took off like an airplane, flying away to the southeast.
Investigation by Selfridge AFB.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Milan, Michigan
ID: 773
Date: mid 6/1966
Description: 1:30 a.m. Student pilot Joseph
Gambucci is flying near Hibbing, Minnesota, when he sees a bright,
elliptical light making three 360° turns to the left at approximately
3,000 mph. The light is white, mixed with green and red. It climbs to
40° above the horizon then disappears at a height of 31,000 feet.
Gambucci checks with Duluth Air National Guard Base, which reports
having a UFO on radar at the same position as his aircraft. Other radar
units in northern Minnesota and southern Canada are said to track the
object. (NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4039
Date: 6/16/1966
Description: Dusk. Several witnesses in Uniopolis, Ohio, watch a domed
black disc with lights and a powerful light beam shining from its
bottom. One of the observers is alerted by his dog barking persistently
and looking to the south. The object flies directly over the house,
heading north, and is also seen by his wife, a neighbor, and the
neighbor’s children. The light beam shines into a nearby wood, lighting
up the trees. (Michael D. Swords, “The Timmerman Files,” IUR 26, no. 4
(Winter 2001–2002): 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4040
Date: 6/18/1966
Time: 12:30 AM
Description: Witnesses: members of a Boy Scout group, including
Sterrett. One bell-shaped object with three flashing red lights hovered
for 5 hours and was then joined by six others.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Burnsville, North Carolina
ID: 545
Date: 6/18/1966
Time: 0400
Description: A truck driver, Mr. Dugelay, saw a disk-shaped object over
Le Rouret. It remained motionless for five min, then disappeared. Its
lights were alternately red and bluish-green.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 84; 163 (Vallee)
Location: Le Rouret, France
ID: 775
Date: 6/18/1966
Time: 0345
Description: The Mayor of Bar-sur-Loup, Leon Barbier, saw a large, round
object with yellow and green lights on a hilltop.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 89 (Vallee)
Location: Bar-sur-Loup, France
ID: 774
Date: 6/18/1966
Time: 2400
Description: Four campers saw an object with three flashing red lights
land on the ground 200 m away. It remained there all night, rose at
dawn, was then observed through binoculars as a red-colored, bell-shaped
craft. Broken trees and other traces were found.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Mount Mitchell, North Carolina
ID: 776
Date: 6/19/1966
Description: Brilliantly lighted object illuminated terrain at Army
base, widespread E-M effects on vehicles and machinery. Object shot
straight up out of sight within seconds
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Nha Trang, Vietnam
ID: 91
Date: 6/19/1966
Description: 12:05 a.m. A group of Boy Scouts camping out at Mount
Mitchell State Park, North Carolina, sees three red pulsating lights in
a triangular pattern approach, then hover until about 5:00 a.m. The
lights blink at different speeds, with the center one turning white
every fifth pulsation. At sunrise, the object lifts up, appearing red
and bell-shaped through binoculars. Six smaller objects are hovering
nearby on either side of the larger object, changing formation. The
group then disappears behind a mountain. When the Scouts start to
explore in the direction of the objects, about 60 feet from their camp
they discover trees with broken branches and some crushed undergrowth,
plus three holes in the ground forming an equilateral triangle. (Fred
Merritt, “A Preliminary Classification of Some Reports of UFOs,” IUR 28,
no. 3 (Fall 2003): 10; Sparks,
p. 315)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4041
Date: Summer 1966
Description: Nha Trang, Vietnam: At this active Army Base at about 9:45
p.m., what was thought to be a flare lit up the north sky. The bright
UFO approached the base alternately moving at low to high speeds. Upon
descending toward the soldiers it hovered at an altitude of 300–500 ft.
All of a sudden the 6 generators failed along with the engines of the
idling Skyraiders, bulldozers and trucks. The entire valley and
surrounding mountains were illuminated by the hovering UFO for about 4
min. after which it went straight up and disappeared in about 3
sec. After the incident a plane load of officials from Washington
arrived to investigate.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Nha Trang, Vietnam
See also: 3/4/69
Date: Summer 1966
Description: Results of an Iowa Poll, Iowa: 45% Iowans queried believe
UFOs to be real objects. Of the 45%, 21% were of the opinion that the
UFOs were of extraterrestrial origin.
Type: poll
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Iowa
Date: 6/23/1966
Time: 2130
Description: A 61-year-old civilian woman was reading when an intense
red light illuminated the ground near her house. She went outside and
saw a lighted object 20 m away 1 m in diameter, which backed up and flew
away “like a bullet.” Three other persons saw it from the next house.
(Atic) <*>
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: (Vallee)
Location: Hamburg, New York
ID: 777
Date: 6/23/1966
Description: 3:42 a.m. NASA contract flight engineer Julian Sandoval and
two independent witnesses see a glowing elongated object with a blunt
end. It has a series of four body lights varying from brilliant green to
a bluish tinge, and is hovering at an estimated 12,000 feet near
Placitas, New Mexico. When the object moves its glow brightens, and it
appears to be a powered craft. The witnesses watch the object for an
hour and a half, after which it climbs vertically, accelerates to a high
velocity, and disappears to the northeast in about 12 seconds. In a
report to NICAP, Sandoval estimates the departure speed at “Mach 6 or
better.” (“New
Reports by Space Experts Add to UFO
Proof,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 9 (Aug./Sept. 1966): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4042
Date: 6/24/1966
Description: Elliptical object with body lights, surrounded by mist or
vapor, observed by police officer, led him on cat-and-mouse chase.
Object accelerated and sped away
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Richmond, VA
ID: 92
Date: 6/24/1966
Description: Officer William L. Stevens, Jr., observed a
dirigible-shaped UFO at 3:30 in the morning near the fairgrounds. It was
about 100 ft. long and 30 ft. thick with greenish-yellow lights on its
perimeter. Stevens attempted to chase the UFO but it maintained an even
distance from him even though he sped up and slowed down. “The object
seemed to be playing cat & mouse with me,” he later said. After
10–15 min. the UFO accelerated and sped away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Richmond, VA
See also: 4/17/66
Date: 6/25/1966
Description: 9:30 p.m. Several objects violate the air space over the
Ellsworth AFB H-01 missile launch facility southwest of Union Center,
South Dakota, setting off the vibration sensors. Helicopters attempt to
chase the objects, but they fly away quickly to the north-northeast.
Other sightings take place over the next week. (National UFO Reporting
Center, [case
report]; Nukes 241–245)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4043
Date: 6/27/1966
Time: 4 AM
Description: Witness: Radio Officer Steffen Soresen, of the S/ Mt.
Vernon Victory. One “cloud” expanded with a light inside, and then
accelerated away after several minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: 400 miles east of Wake Island (19’ N, 172’ E)
ID: 546
Date: 6/30/1966
Description: Richard
Helms becomes director of central intelligence. He is the first DCI
since Dulles to
push hard for results in the mind-control field. Operation MKSearch goes
into overdrive. Old projects are resurrected, abandoned projects
reactivated. The safe houses are told to expect a steady supply of Viet
Cong expendables to experiment on. One of the projects to be revived is
the less than successful Operation Mindbender. Renamed Operation
Spellbinder, the assignment is to create a sleeper killer, a real-life
Manchurian Candidate. A hypnotist is recruited from the American Society
of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. He becomes known to the CIA staff
as “Dr. Fingers” and is selected because his file states that he has no
qualms about conducting potentially terminal experiments. The intended
victim of the experiment is Fidel
Castro. After
attempts to program several would-be assassins, the operation is
discontinued and written off as a complete failure. (Sid Taylor, “A
History of Secret
CIA Mind Control Research,” Nexus, April/May 1992; “Project
Spellbinder,” in Brad Steiger and Sherry Steiger, Conspiracies and
Secret Societies: The Complete Dossier, 2nd ed., Visible Ink,
2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4045
Date: 6/30/1966
Description: On James
E. McDonald’s second visit to Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio,
his request for a photocopy of the Robertson Panel report is denied.
(Clark III 696)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4044
Date: 7/1966
Description: 11:00 a.m. An Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain is flying 25
miles southwest of Provo, Utah, when the pilot snaps two color-slide
photos of a reddish disc-shaped object that briefly comes into view
before speeding away. The Condon commission declines to examine the
photos in detail, noting some discrepancies. (Condon, pp. 270–273;
Patrick Gross, “UFOs
Photographed”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4046
Date: 7/4/1966
Description: The Freedom of Information Act, requiring the full or
partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents
controlled by the US government, is signed into law by President Lyndon
B. Johnson. (Wikipedia, “Freedom
of Information Act (United States)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4047
Date: 7/5/1966
Description: Several persons reported seeing a very small creature
leaving a luminous trail, quietly walking along the streets, while
children and adults panicked.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 164 (Vallee)
Location: Chaclacayo, Peru
ID: 778
Date: 7/7/1966
Description: In a Blue Book briefing, Brig. Gen. William
C. Garland, deputy
chief of USAF Public Information at the Pentagon, again denies that
NORAD radars have picked up any “spaceships,” interplanetary
“interlopers,” or “extraterrestrial vehicles.” (Clark III 808)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4048
Date: 7/9/1966
Description: 2:00 p.m. Kenneth
Arnold takes a 16mm film of a UFO over Idaho Falls, Idaho. The
object looks like a weather balloon, but it is flying at a speed of
45–75 mph into a north-northwest wind. (Kim Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs
1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, p. 53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4049
Date: 7/11/1966
Time: 7:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: Carl Wood and Charles Hawthorne. One large (100’
wide, 20’ high) bright red object with small windows and yellow lights.
The object emitted a humming noise, seemingly from the outside, and a
qrinding noise which seemed to come from inside. Observed for 1
hour.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Union, Pennsylvania
ID: 547
Date: 7/11/1966
Description: Two civilian women saw a red, luminous object 30 m away in
a field. It had small openings and made a whirring sound. Length, 30 m;
height, 6 m; duration, 90 min.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Union-Kirkwood, Pennsylvania
ID: 779
Date: 7/13/1966
Description: 2:00 a.m. Railway linesman Camillo Faieta is on duty at the
crossing in Fornacette, Pisa, Italy, when he is dazzled by a powerful
light coming from the Emissario Canal. The light goes out and he sees an
object hovering above a small islet in the canal. Two little men emerge,
but the bright light comes on again and the object takes off. Police
turn up other witnesses, but Italian and US air force officers from the
nearby Camp Darby military complex tell Faieta not to speak about the
incident any further. (1Pinotti 147–148)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4050
Date: 7/13/1966
Description: Camillo Faieta, 35, a lineman, was on duty when a light
dazzled him, and he observed that it came from an object on a small
island on the Emissario Canal. Two little men were seen briefly on the
ground before the departure of the object. There are four other
witnesses.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 86; FSR 67, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Pontedera, Italy
ID: 780
Date: 7/17/1966
Time: 0345
Description: Rene Pebre and two others were driving back from Draguignan
when they saw a gray oval, metallic object, about 5 m long, hovering at
low altitude, about 300 m from them. They noticed several window-like
openings on the craft, which emitted a light beam. All the dogs in the
vicinity were barking.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: GEPA Sep., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Rebouillon, France
ID: 781
Date: 7/18/1966
Description: 9:00 a.m. Service station personnel in Baytown, Texas, see
a white object shaped like two saucers face-to-face with a row of square
windows in between. The object is hovering above a store about 300 feet
away, then it begins moving, rapidly accelerates, and speeds away.
(James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,”
in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Hearings, US House
Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29,
1968, pp. 57–58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4051
Date: 7/19/1966
Description: MP John
Langford-Holt asks UK Prime Minister Harold
Wilson in the House of Commons whether, since the Defence Secretary
is responsible only for air defense implications of UFOs, he would
allocate the assessment of their wider implications to another
department. Wilson says he will not, but that reports are taken
seriously when there is adequate information. (Good Above, p. 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4052
Date: 7/20/1966
Description: James
E. McDonald’s third visit to Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. He is
again denied a copy of the Robertson Panel report because it has been
“reclassified.” He is convinced that USAF has done a lousy job of
investigating UFOs and that UFOs are actually good evidence for the ETH.
(Clark III 696)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4053
Date: late 7/1966
Description: Col. J.
Thomas Ratchford, an AFOSR scientist, approaches the National Center
for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, about contracting with
the Air Force for a UFO study. Its director, Walter
Orr Roberts is interested, but William
W. Kellogg, associate
director of the Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics, is not. Roberts
suggests the University of Colorado. Ratchford talks to prominent
University of Colorado physicist Edward
U. Condon, who
hesitates but finds the $300,000 offered by the Air Force (plus $13,000
in operating expenses) attractive. (Clark III 1192)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4056
Date: late 7/1966
Description: 7:00 p.m. Raquel Jodorowsky is in a traffic jam in Mexico
City, Mexico, as people are getting out of their cars and looking to the
sky. A large glowing object is hanging at 45° above the horizon to the
east. The object ejects smaller bright objects that fly away. After 30
minutes the large object dims, becomes smaller, and disappears.
(Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4057
Date: 7/22/1966
Description: 9:00 p.m. W. J. Norton, curator of the Ludlow Museum, and
his family see a UFO shaped like a silver isosceles triangle to the east
of Llandrindod Wells, Powys, Wales. It hovers for 30–40 seconds and
emits a low hum. (“Llandrindod
Triangle,” Flying Saucer Review 12, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1966):
32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4054
Date: 7/22/1966
Description: 11:25 p.m. While driving his son home from the railway
station in Fremont, Indiana, a realtor and retired WWII Navy officer see
an illuminated, 25-foot diameter disc with portholes on its lower convex
surface. The object descends low over the car and hovers above it. They
have it in view about 5–8 minutes. When two other cars approach, the
object extinguishes its lights, then shoots straight up into the sky,
leaving a trail of bluish light. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience,
Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 108–109)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4055
Date: 7/25/1966
Time: 1 AM
Description: Witness: college student James Clark. One object which
changed color from orange to red to blue to green and back to orange.
Followed witness’ car at high speed, then stopped and hovered over the
car. Rose and flew up and out of sight in less than 5 seconds. Entire
sighting involved about 1 hour.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Vanceboro, North Carolina
ID: 548
Date: 7/25/1966
Time: 0200
Description: A man driving between Greenville and Vancehars saw a glow
in the woods and was followed by the light even at speeds of 170 km/hr.
He finally stopped to observe it, but became afraid when he saw that it
came from a pulsating object that flew within 100 m of the car, 15 m
above ground. The color changed in sequence, orange to red to blue to
green, and the object wobbled on its axis. It came within 30 m, then
suddenly left straight up.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Vancehars, North Carolina
ID: 782
Date: 7/26/1966
Description: Six FAA personnel observed oval UFOs, radar-visual
sighting. One object accelerated rapidly
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Atlanta, GA
ID: 93
Date: 7/28/1966
Time: evening
Description: A photographer, Mr. Lacoste, and his wife, saw a red,
lighted object cross the sky and appear to touch the ground. It then
rose, hovered, and disappeared. The next day a wheat field was found
flattened over an area 3 m in diameter, and covered with an oily
substance.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 166; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Montsoreau, France
ID: 783
Date: 7/29/1966
Description: J.
Allen Hynek writes to a citizen interested in UFOs and says that he
thinks the Portage County, Ohio, case should be labeled unidentified and
has told the Air Force as much. Its evaluation as a satellite or Venus
has not originated with him as a mere consultant. (Bill Murphy, “The
Swamp Gas Aftermath: Some Notes from the Gerald Ford Files,” IUR 33, no.
2 (July 2010): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4058
Date: 7/30/1966
Description: The fourth and final launch of a D-21 drone from an M-21
ends in disaster 150 miles off the coast of California. Unlike the three
previous launches, this one is performed straight and level, not in an
outside loop to assist in the separation of the drone from the aircraft.
The D-21 suffers engine problems and strikes the M-21’s tail after
separation, leading to the destruction of both aircraft. The two crew
members eject and land at sea. The pilot, Bill
Park, survives,
but the launch control officer, Ray Torrick, drowns. Johnson decides
to refit the D-21 to launch from a B-52 bomber in order to not endanger
any more M-21s. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
D-21”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4059
Date: 7/31/1966
Time: 2025
Description: Young witnesses reported an object flying erratically and
landing 300 m away. It had the shape of a mushroom and swept the area
with a light beam. A strange being, 1.80 m tall, was seen. Police
report.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 167; FSR 66, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Erie, Preque-Ile Park, Pennsylvania
ID: 784
Date: 7/31/1966
Time: 7:25 PM
Description: Witnesses: Douglas Tibbetts, 16; Betty Klem, 16; Anita
Haifley, 22; and Gerald Labelle, 29. Square or hexagonal object with
edges lit or reflecting light, came tumbling down from right to left.
Stopped 5-10’ above the beach and settled heavily down; circle of
spotlights at top were visible when it was on the ground. Sighting
lasted 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Presque Isle State Park, Pennsylvania
ID: 549
Date: 8/1966
Alternate date: 9/1966
Description: Mid-afternoon. Two men are returning home from bowling in
Norwood, Massachusetts. The Moon is visible in about three-quarter phase
in the sky. Both glance up and see a group of 6–7 disc-shaped objects
moving horizontally toward the Moon. When they reach a position just
below the Moon, they loop around it in an upward, back, and onward
motion, then continue on their way. (Michael D. Swords, “We Know Where
You Live,” IUR 30, no. 2 (January 2006): 9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4074
Date: 8/1/1966
Description: Jacques
Vallée meets, through his friend Aimé
Michel, with
physicist Yves
Rocard and gives him a copy of outstanding Blue Book UFO reports,
but the contact goes no further. (Jacques Vallée, Forbidden Science,
North Atlantic, 1992, pp. 55, 198, 201–202)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4060
Date: 8/1/1966
Time: 1945
Description: Several young witnesses reported seeing an unidentified
object at low altitude.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 109 (Vallee)
Location: Rushville, Indiana
ID: 785
Date: 8/1/1966
Description: 7:45 p.m. Several children are playing outside in
Rushville, Indiana, when they see an object hovering above a tree near
them. Its altitude is about 75 feet. They describe it as round, brighter
than the moon, silver, and about 4 times larger than the full moon. It
has a fuzzy edge and rocks slightly as it hovers. One girl, Donna
Glosser, calls it to the attention of others who are about a half-block
away. When she does, the object changes to reddish- orange, seems to
revolve, and moves across a road so fast it seems to jump. It stops
abruptly over some trees on a hill about one block away. At least one
adult watches the object for 5 minutes. The same object is apparently
seen by a group of teens at the Dairy Delight Drive-In about a mile and
a half away. It becomes brighter after 45 seconds and speeds away. (“Children
Watch Object in Central Indiana,” APRO Bulletin, July/Aug. 1966,
p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4061
Date: 8/6/1966
Time: 1400
Description: A civilian man and his family observed a dark object
hovering near their isolated house. It had a square “door” emitting a
yellow light. Three children saw a dwarf through the opening. He was
dressed in shiny black coveralls. The object left slowly with a soft
humming sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Texas
ID: 786
Date: 8/7/1966
Description: The Washington Star runs an article on UFOs by retired USAF
Lt. Col. Charles
Cooke saying that he has analyzed first-hand UFO encounters by Air
Force pilots that show strong support for the ETH.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4062
Date: 8/9/1966
Description: Robert
J. Low, assistant
dean in the University of Colorado Graduate School, is also interested
in the UFO project. He consults with several scientists and reports on
what they tell him in a memo to E. James Archer, dean of the graduate
school, and Thurston
E. Manning, university vice president. The memo, which is not sent
to Condon and
is intended to show university officials that the project will not
embarrass them, says: “Our study would be conducted almost exclusively
by nonbelievers who, although they couldn’t possibly prove a negative
result, could and probably would add an impressive body of evidence that
there is no reality to the observations. The trick would be, I think, to
describe the project so that, to the public, it would appear a totally
objective study but to the scientific community, would present the image
of a group of nonbelievers trying their best to be objective but having
an almost zero expectation of finding a saucer.” He recommends stressing
the psychology and sociology of the witnesses rather than physical
evidence. The memo stays under wraps for a year and a half. (Robert J.
Low, “Some
Thoughts on the UFO Project,” memo to E. James Archer and Thurston
E. Manning, August 9, 1966; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience,
Ballantine ed., 1974, p. 239;
Clark III 1192)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4063
Date: 8/9/1966
Description: Robert J. Low, later coordinator of the Colorado UFO
project, sent a memo to University of Colorado officials suggesting how
they could deal with scientific disdain of UFO sightings. “The trick
would be” to make it “appear a totally objective study”
Type: memo
Type: official
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 94
Date: 8/15/1966
Description: Office of Scientific Intelligence Deputy Director Karl H.
Weber writes to Col. Gerald E. Jorgensen, chief of the USAF Community
Relations Division, that “We are most anxious that further publicity not
be given to the information that the [Robertson] panel was sponsored by
the CIA.” Weber notes that there is already a sanitized version
available to the public. (Gerald K. Haines, “CIA’s
Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90,” Studies in Intelligence 40, no.
5 (1997): 67–84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4064
Date: mid 8/1966
Description: Rep. J.
Edward Hutchinson (R-Mich.) introduces HR 866 for an investigation
into Project Blue Book’s methods.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4065
Date: 8/16/1966
Description: The chief of the Australian Directorate of Public Relations
writes to the Directorate of Air Force Intelligence requesting
reconsideration of its decision to stop making summaries of UFO
sightings reported to the Department of Air available to the public. DPR
hopes the summaries will be useful in responding to public inquiries and
thinks that restricting them will reinforce the theory that the
government has something to hide. The summaries continue to be published
erratically through the end of the 1970s. (Swords 393–394)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4067
Date: 8/16/1966
Description: Iraqi Air Force Col. Munir
Redfa defects by flying a MiG-21 to Israel. In what is considered
one of Mossad’s most successful operations, Redfa’s entire extended
family is smuggled safely out of Iraq to Israel. The MiG-21 fighter is
evaluated by the Israeli Air Force and later loaned to the US for
testing and intelligence analysis at Area 51. Knowledge obtained from
analysis of the aircraft is instrumental to the successes achieved by
the Israeli Air Force in the Six-Day War. (Wikipedia, “Munir
Redfa”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4066
Date: 8/18/1966
Description: Three hunters, E. Beucomo, J. Zapata and J. Ramos, observed
a strange glow in the forest and discovered a very large, egg-shaped
object, stationary 2 m above ground. It had large, circular openings
emitting a multicolored light, and it made a whistling sound. The
hunters ran away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Sep., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Barinas, Venezuela
ID: 787
Date: 8/19/1966
Time: 1650
Description: A border patrolman saw a bright, shiny disk on its edge, 10
m in diameter, 5 m high, floating down the side of a hill, wobbling from
side to side 3 m above ground. It reached the valley floor, climbed to
about 30 m, and moved across to a small reservoir where it assumed a
horizontal position. A dome then became visible on top of the disk. It
hovered for one min and seemed about to land less than 80 m away, but
tilted back on edge and flew into the clouds at high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Donnybrook, North Dakota
ID: 788
Date: 8/19/1966
Time: 4:50 PM
Description: Witness: U.S. Border Patrolman Don Flickenger. Round disc
with domed top, 30’ in diameter and 15’ high, colored white, silvery or
aluminum. Moved across a valley from the southeast, hovered over a
reservoir, appeared to land in a small field, then rose up into clouds
very rapidly. Sighting lasted 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Donnybrook, North Dakota
ID: 550
Date: 8/19/1966
Description: 4:50 p.m. US Border Patrolman Donald E. Flickinger, in the
process of taking two prisoners back to Canada, sees a silvery domed
disc floating down the side of a hill near Donnybrook, North Dakota,
about 10 feet off the ground. It moves across a valley and climbs to 100
feet, hovers over a reservoir, then appears to land in a field 250 feet
away. It tilts on edge and rises into the clouds at high speed.
Flickinger finds three odd indentations in the field in the form of a
triangle with sides of 10–12 feet. Some stones alo seem to have been
moved recently. (Hynek UFO Report, photo betw.
pp. 152–153; Condon, pp. 273–274;
Sparks,
p. 317)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4068
Date: 8/20/1966
Description: A woman called police to report a luminous object rising
and descending on top of a high hill. When policemen climbed to the site
they found the bodies of two men, electronics technicians Pereira da
Cruz and Viana. The bodies had lead masks on the upper part of the face.
An autopsy failed to disclose the cause of death. Investigation
disclosed several earlier incidents and an organization to which these
men belonged.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Niteroi, Brazil
ID: 790
Date: 8/20/1966
Time: early
Description: Otto Becker, his son, and daughter-in-law woke up to find
the whole house bathed in bright light, and they observed a “six-story”
object at treetop level 60 m away. It gave off rainbow colors which
appeared to pour off its edges “like water” in a fantastic display.
Distinct engine noise was heard before it took off vertically. Domestic
animals had been greatly disturbed, and the witness had inflamed eyes
for several days.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Gribble Jan., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Heraldsburg, California
ID: 789
Date: 8/20/1966
Description: Afternoon. Some boys looking for a lost kite on the Morro
do Vintém in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, discover the bodies of two
dead males and report them to the authorities. The Morro do Vintém is a
hill with difficult terrain, and the police are unable to reach the
bodies until August 21. When a small team of police and firefighters
arrive, they encounter an odd scene: the bodies are resting next to each
other, partly covered by grass. Each one is wearing a formal suit, a
lead eye mask, and a waterproof coat. There are no signs of trauma or
struggle. Next to the corpses, police find an empty water bottle and a
packet containing two wet towels. A small notebook is also identified,
on which were written the cryptic instructions, “16:30 be at the
specified location. 18:30 ingest capsules, after the effect protect
metals await signal mask.” The two men are identified as Manoel Pereira
da Cruz and Miguel José Viana, two electronic technicians from Campos
dos Goytacazes. Following an investigation, police reconstruct a
plausible narrative of the men’s last days. On August 17, Cruz and Viana
leave Campos dos Goytacazes saying that they needed to purchase some
materials for work (although they tell others they are on a secret
mission). The two men then board a bus to Niterói and arrive at 2:30
p.m. Evidence shows that the waterproof coats were purchased at a shop
there, and one bottle of water from a local bar. Upon being interviewed,
the waitress from the bar described Miguel as “very nervous,” and
noticed he frequently checked his watch. That is the last time they are
known to have been seen alive; it is presumed they go directly from the
bar to the spot where they were discovered. One theory revolves around
the testimony of a friend of the two men, who claims that they are
members of a group of “scientific spiritualists” who are apparently
attempting to contact extraterrestrials or spirits using psychedelic
drugs. Believing that such an encounter would be accompanied by blinding
light, the men cut metal masks to shield their eyes and may have died of
drug overdoses. This account is corroborated by the esoteric diary entry
found at the scene and by mask-making materials and literature
concerning spirits found at the men’s homes. In April 1980, Jacques
Vallée locates the exact spot where the bodies were found and notes
that no vegetation is growing there. (Wikipedia, “Lead
Masks Case”; Charles Bowen, “The
Mystery of the Morro do Vintem,” Flying Saucer Review 13, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1967): 11–14; Clark III 774–775; Jacques Vallée,
Confrontations: A Scientist’s Search for Alien Contact, Ballantine,
1990, pp. 3–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4069
Date: 8/22/1966
Description: Phil
Klass asserts in Aviation Week that the Exeter UFO was a plasma
discharge from high-voltage power lines. (Philip J. Klass, “Plasma
Theory May Explain Many UFOs,” Aviation Week and Space Technology 85
(August 22, 1966): 48–61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4070
Date: 8/22/1966
Description: “Plasma Theory May Explain Many UFOs,” by Philip J. Klass,
Aviation Week.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 95
Date: 8/23/1966
Time: 77 PM
Description: Witnesses: Broomall and Gilpin. One circular, luminous
white object split into five objects and all streaked away toward the
west. Sighting lasted 15 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Columbus, Ohio
ID: 551
Date: 8/24/1966
Time: 2200
Description: An airman observed and reported by radio a multi-colored
light high in the sky. A strike team was sent to his location and
confirmed the unknown. A second object, white, was seen to pass in front
of clouds. At the radar base, an object was detected and tracked. The
observations lasted nearly 4 hours and were confirmed by three different
missile sites. Radio interference was noted by teams sent to locations
where the object was sometimes described as hovering at ground
level.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota
ID: 791
Date: 8/24/1966
Description: 10:00 p.m. Airman 3d Class Michael D. Mueller reports by
base radio seeing a multicolored light high in the sky above the Minot
AFB M-6 Minuteman launch site southeast of Norma, North Dakota. A team
goes to his location and confirms the object and sees a second white
object passing in front of clouds. The base radar detects the object,
which is tracked at about 100,000 feet (20 miles). The object rises and
descends a number of times, and each time Maj. Chester A. Shaw Jr., in
charge of the M-6 missile crew, finds his radio transmission interrupted
by static, even though he is 60 feet underground. The UFO gradually
descends to ground level 10–15 miles south of the base. The Air Force
sends a strike team to check on it. When they are within 10 miles of the
site, static disrupts their radio contact. Five to eight minutes later,
the glow diminishes and the UFO takes off. Another UFO is sighted and
tracked on radar; the first object flies underneath this second one. The
two objects disappear separately. The entire episode lasts about 4 hours
and is confirmed by two other missile launch sites, M- 4 and N-7 (near
Mohall). Another report from the same time period mentions that some
missiles went off alert for 24 hours after a UFO sighting at the N-1
missile alert facility. (NICAP, “Minuteman
Site Jammed by UFO”; Condon, pp. 274–277;
Sparks, p. 317;
Robert L. Salas and James Klotz, Faded Giant, BookSurge, 2005, p. 5–6;
Nukes 238–240, 248–251)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4071
Date: 8/26/1966
Time: 8:50 PM
Description: Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. Funk and their three children. A
cluster of four small, glowing, orange-yellow lights in a triangular
formation, moved from east to west for 4.5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Gaylesville, Alabama
ID: 552
Date: 8/27/1966
Description: Hynek releases
to the press a letter rejected by Science magazine in which he reports a
pattern to UFO sightings that “suggests that something is going on” and
disputing seven misconceptions about UFOs. (“Expert Criticizes
Scientists for Dismissing UFOs,” Miami (Fla.) Herald, August 28,
1966, p. 5-C)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4072
Date: 8/27/1966
Description: Dr. J. A. Hynek released to the press a letter rejected by
Science magazine reporting a “pattern” to UFO sightings that “suggests
that something is going on” and disputing seven misconceptions about
UFOs. Science had a belated change of heart and published the letter on
October 21, with the headline, “UFOs Merit Scientific Study.”
Type: report or memo
Type: newspaper article
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 96
Date: 8/31/1966
Description: Col. Ivan
C. Atkinson, deputy
executive director of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research,
formally approaches the University of Colorado with a request to conduct
a comprehensive and independent examination of the UFO problem.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4073
Date: 9/1966
Description: 1:30 a.m. Airman 1C Patrick McDonough is working on an
astro-azimuth observation at one of the Malmstrom AFB missile launch
facilities near Conrad, Montana, when a UFO comes in from the north and
stops directly overhead at 300 feet. It is about 30–50 feet in diameter
and disc-shaped, with dim lights outlining it and a white light
emanating from the center. It remains about 20–30 seconds, then shoots
away noiselessly to the east at tremendous speed. Montana Highway Patrol
dispatchers in Pondera County receive more than 20 UFO reports that
morning. (Nukes 247–248)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4077
Date: 9/1966
End date: 12/1966
Description: Local concentration peaking in late 1966 and 1967
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Uintah Basin, UT
ID: 97
Date: 9/1966
Description: Early morning. A UFO is seen hovering at low altitude by
all personnel at Heathrow Airport Air Traffic Control in London,
England, at a time when no aircraft are in motion. The UFO is tracked on
radar and its speed at departure is clocked at 3,000 mph. The Ministry
of Defence is notified, and investigators arrive on the scene and tell
the witnesses that they have seen nothing, threatening to charge them
under the Official Secrets Act if they reveal the sighting publicly.
(Good Above, pp. 71–72)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4076
Date: 9/1966
Time: 0330
Description: A police officer was driving at nearly 200 km/h toward the
north on Route 71 when he suddenly saw an object on the road ahead and
another one following his car. The first one looked like a flaming car
and was the size of a 3-story house. It flew away as the policeman was
about to hit it.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 168 (Vallee)
Location: El Campo, Texas
ID: 792
Date: 9/1966
Description: 4:00 a.m. Deputy Sheriff Ed Korenek is driving north of El
Campo, Texas, on State Highway 71 when he sees something like a car on
fire ahead of him. Suddenly he notices that another object is pacing
him, He hits his brakes and reaches for the radio, but it is dead. He
sees another flaming object above Wharton Regional Airport to the east.
He accelerates toward the object ahead of him, which slides off the
highway to the right, sucking its flame up behind it as it moves away.
The object above the airfield disappears, and when Korenek turns his car
around, his radio begins working again. (“The
Texas Flap,” APRO Bulletin, Jan./Feb. 1967, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4078
Date: 9/1/1966
Time: 2:45 PM
Description: Witness: T.H. Ridman. One oval object with lights that
flashed red and white and occasionally blue, travelled west, then
disappeared downward. It returned, several minutes later, at which time
a loud noise was heard. The entire sighting lasted 30 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Willsboro, New York
ID: 553
Date: early 9/1966
Description: Night. Bank official Gerardo Bagnulo is on a pleasure
outing with members of his family when he sees two objects moving across
the sky on the coast of the Gargano promontory in southern Italy. He
manages to take one color photo before the objects disappear near the
northwest horizon. The photo shows both a round object and a cylindrical
object. (Roberto Pinotti, “The Gargano Peninsula Cigar,” IUR 9, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1984): 6; “As
is often the case,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 6
(Dec. 1984/Jan. 1985): 8; Roberto Pinotti, “Evidence
for UFOs in the Italian Past,” The Spectrum of UFO Research, CUFOS,
1988, pp. 115–116; 1Pinotti 154–156)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4075
Date: 9/3/1966
Description: Science columnist John Lear receives a declassified
(sanitized) copy of the Robertson Panel report and publishes a version
of it in the Saturday Review. He calls for the release of the full
document. (John Lear, “The Disputed
CIA Document on UFOs,” Saturday Review, September 3, 1966,
pp. 45–50; Clark III 1017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4079
Date: 9/3/1966
Time: 1400
Description: Two young witnesses went outside when the TV set became
blurred. They observed a fantastic spinning light illuminating the
house. It came from an object hovering at the same location as an
earlier sighting (see Case 786).
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Texas
ID: 793
Date: 9/3/1966
Description: “The Disputed CIA Documents on UFOs,” by John Lear in
Saturday Review discusses oddities about the January 1953 Robertson
Panel report before it was declassified.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 98
Date: 9/5/1966
Time: evening
Description: A civilian man observed a peculiar light phenomenon and a
small figure that appeared to enter a bedroom. The figure was not seen
again.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Texas
ID: 794
Date: 9/5/1966
Description: 2:00 p.m. Franz Trautsamwieser takes a photo of the Church
of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, Italy, from the other side of the
canal. He does not see anything, but the developed photo shows a
UFO-shaped whitish object next to the tower. (“UFO
over Venice?” Flying Saucer Review 13, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1967, cover,
17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4080
Date: 9/6/1966
Time: 6:50 PM
Description: Witnesses: Stahl and Ladesic. One white cylinder of light
came from the east at high speed, stopped and hovered for 3 minutes, and
then turned and slowly disappeared. Sighting lasted 8 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Suffolk County AFB, New York
ID: 554
Date: 9/7/1966
Time: 2000
Description: About 15 km east of Durand, Mrs. E. Bruns and her two
children observed an elongated object, about 10 m long, with revolving
lights, hovering 1 m above ground and making a deafening noise. After 30
sec, it tilted and took off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Sep., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Durand, Wisconsin
ID: 795
Date: 9/9/1966
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witness: Jacobson. One solid object, larger than an army
tank, with lights all around it, made a low humming sound and
disappeared into woods at the end of the 30 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Franklin Springs, New York
ID: 555
Date: 9/9/1966
Time: 2100
Description: A man saw an object descend from a cloud bank, slow down,
and land with a soft whirring sound. It showed three horizontal bands of
light-blue, red and green.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Franklin Springs, New York
ID: 796
Date: 9/12/1966
Description: The Air Force turns down a proposal Hynek has
made for them to create a computer program to put Blue Book’s UFO
reports into a machine-readable format, ostensibly because it is too
preoccupied with the Vietnam War. (Center for UFO Studies, [Hynek
correspondence], p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4081
Date: 9/13/1966
Time: 7:30 AM
Description: Witness: Rotenberger. One silvery-grey ellipse with a clear
bubble protruding from its top, hovered about a mile away, then landed
within 300 yards and took off very fast. It made a low-pitched whine
during the 5 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Gwinner, North Dakota
ID: 556
Date: 9/13/1966
Description: 7:30 a.m. 11-year-old Randy
Rotenberger, near Stirum, North Dakota, sees a silvery domed disc
hover about one mile away, approach, then land within 900 feet, making a
low-pitched whine. It takes off so fast it just vanishes.” An Air Force
investigator finds landing indentations 7 inches deep and [possibly]
radiation level of 100 microroentgens/hour. Electrical power is off in
the area for about 4 hours. (NICAP, “Domed
Object Leaves Traces”;
Sparks, p. 319;
Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 58–59; Clark III 950)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4082
Date: 9/13/1966
Time: 0730
Description: A child of 11 years saw a disk-shaped object land near a
farm. It had a tripod landing gear, two red lights, two white and one
green light, and a transparent dome. A businessman from Gwinner and an
Air Force Lt. Col. went to the site and discovered three traces,
apparently left by spherical objects, 18 cm deep, very compact.
Radiation measured at 0.1 milliroentgen (normal). The child reported
that the object “went away so fast that it vanished.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Stirum, North Dakota
ID: 797
Date: 9/17/1966
Description: 4:45 a.m. Mr. and Mrs. Ronald MacGilvary see a glowing
cigar-shaped object oriented vertically, tilted at times, for about an
hour near the edge of the water at Crane Beach, Ipswich, Massachusetts.
Two smaller glowing objects approach the larger object, moving around
erratically, with an up-and-down skipping motion. The two rendezvous
with the larger object, then a third smaller object is seen. The smaller
objects periodically leave the larger object and flies around the area.
One flies low over Ipswich Bay toward the witnesses’ home. At closer
range it shows an elliptical shape illuminated by a faint glow. (“‘Satellite’
UFO Landing Case in Massachusetts,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 10
(Oct./Nov. 1966): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4083
Date: 9/17/1966
Time: 0445
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Ronald MacGilvary saw a golden-white, luminous
object resting on the beach, with two bright lights flying in and out of
the craft. It went away after one hour.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 88; NICAP Oct., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Cranes Beach, Massachusetts
ID: 798
Date: 9/19/1966
Description: Air Force Regulation (AFR) 80-17 promulgated to replace AFR
200-2, placing UFOs under the Research and Development command and
reflecting the University of Colorado Project study in progress.
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 99
Date: 9/19/1966
Description: Air Force Regulation 200-2 is replaced by AFR 80-17, which
orders members of the military who investigate UFO reports to release
information if there is an explanation, but if there is none to withhold
the information, even from the Colorado project (explicitly modified
November 9). Radarscope photos are automatically classified. However, it
does require that every Air Force base have an official with scientific
background responsible for investigating UFOs. (US Department of the Air
Force, “Research
and Development: Unidentified
Flying Objects,” Air Force Regulation 80-17, September 19,
1966)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4084
Date: 9/20/1966
Description: Private pilot encountered coneshaped object, “singing”
noise. Object descended, followed aircraft, accelerated up and
away
Type: sighting
Type: encounter
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Sebring, FL
ID: 100
Date: 9/21/1966
Time: 0630
Description: Eight members of the Royal Canadian Air Force saw a bright
object that flew down at high speed, stopped abruptly, remained at
ground level for 20 min, and flew away straight up.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Oct., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Summerside, Canada
ID: 799
Date: 9/21/1966
Description: At a meeting of the University of Colorado psychology
department, Stuart
W. Cook announces that the university is considering taking on the
UFO project, with Condon directing.
Cook says it will need the help of psychologists. William
A. Scott and David
R. Saunders are interested. Around this time, Condon agrees to an
informal question-and-answer session about the project. George
Gamow and Richard Sigismond are in attendance. Gamow is surprised
that Condon has never heard of the Trindade Island UFO photos. Sigismond
applies for an opening on the committee and is accepted, but he declines
the offer after a 20-minute interview with Condon, whose negative bias
on the subject is unyielding. (Richard Sigismond, “A Confrontation with
Dr. Condon: Prelude and Aftermath,” IUR 8, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1983): 3–5,
16; “Condon Confrontation Continues,” IUR 9, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1984): 9;
Clark III 1192)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4086
Date: 9/21/1966
Description: 6:30 a.m. Eight RCAF airmen are refueling an aircraft in
Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada, when they see an object in the
east moving at great speed. It comes to a complete stop, descends, and
hovers for 20 minutes. It then shoots up and disappears quickly. At
about the same time, fishermen Ivan Collicut and Patrick O’Halloran are
out for an early morning catch at Burton, Prince Edward Island, when
they see a rapidly moving light. (“Near-Landing
Observed by RCAF,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 10 (Oct./Nov. 1966):
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4085
Date: 9/22/1966
Description: Hovering object with smaller satellite objects operating
independently, emitted light beams, finally sped away
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Deadwood, SD
ID: 101
Date: 9/22/1966
Description: 3:00 a.m. Police from several vantage points in Deadwood,
South Dakota, see a large white hovering object, changing color to green
to red then back to white. It hangs motionless for 15 minutes. When a
spotlight is shone on it, the object blacks out. Two smaller white
objects operating independently approach and hover nearby. The large
object bobs around and emits blue light beams toward the ground, and
finally speeds away in 3 seconds. (NICAP, “Satellite
Objects, Sept. 22, 1966, Deadwood, SD”; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO
Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 49–50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4087
Date: 9/22/1966
Description: Psychologist Michael Wertheimer tells Cook he
will participate in the Colorado project. (Clark III 1193) September 22
— Hynek appeals
to Secretary of the Air Force Harold
Brown to create a program to put UFO reports into a machine-readable
database. He also recommends a more scientific approach to data
acquisition that will make the Air Force look better to the public and
the scientific community. (Center for UFO Studies, [Hynek correspondence],
pp. 3–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4088
Date: 9/24/1966
Description: 3:30 a.m. A man named Gaines is driving his girlfriend home
in Peoria, Illinois, when they see a large, luminous, blue sphere
hovering low in the sky. It shoots off, so he drops the girlfriend off.
On the way home the blue ball returns; his car begins to pick up speed,
the brakes won’t work, and the doors won’t open. He races on this way
for a few blocks, then the UFO takes off. (Michael D. Swords, “Messing
Around with the Force,” IUR 31, no. 4 (Mar. 2008): 17) Autumn — Night. A
young couple parking in a rural area near Rockford, Illinois, see a
bright light that appears over some nearby trees. It is so intense that
it hurts their eyes, so they start the car up and drive down a gravel
road. The light is gone, but near where it had been they can now see two
gray figures with large slanted eyes and wearing clothing with a square
insignia on the torso. As they leave the area, they smell a pungent,
metallic odor. (“Letter,” IUR 9, no. 2 (March/April 1984): 6, 9; “Out of
the Past,” IUR 9, no. 2 (March/April 1984): 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4089
Date: 9/28/1966
Time: 3:38 PM
Description: Witness: Clarke. Three round, oval-shaped, aluminum-colored
objects with rotating rings around them. Two remained stationary, while
the third varied its altitude during the 90 second sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Wilmington, Ohio
ID: 557
Date: 10/1966
Description: Hynek’s
lengthy letter about UFOs and Project Blue Book is published in Science
magazine. It addresses seven misconceptions about UFOs. “I cannot
dismiss the UFO phenomenon with a shrug,” he concludes. (O’Connell
201–204)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4090
Date: 10/1966
Description: The Canadian Directorate of Operations issues Canadian
Forces Administrative Order 71-6, “Reporting of Unidentified Flying
Objects,” to make it easier to obtain UFO reports from military bases
and police forces. (Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Canada, Signet, 1981,
p. 173)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4091
Date: 10/1/1966
Description: James
E. McDonald writes to Thomas
Ratchford of the USAF Office of Scientific Research to tell him that
he will soon speak out for radical changes in the handling of UFO
reports. (Clark III 697)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4092
Date: 10/2/1966
Description: 8:20 p.m. Mrs. Everett Steward is talking on the telephone
at her home in Cincinnati, Ohio, when she smells a foul odor in the
room. She goes to her bedroom, but she has a feeling of being watched.
Looking out the window, she sees an oval-shaped object with portholes
and red, green, and white lights revolving around it. It is 75 feet in
diameter and hovering at 100 feet. She wakes up her husband, who also
sees it, and calls her married daughter, Mrs. Janet Emery, a mile away;
the Emerys also see it, and a neighbor with binoculars can see that it
has square windows glowing yellow. Janet goes outdoors and sees the UFO
eject a red ball, which maneuvers while the first UFO takes off
southward. The red ball flies 75–100 feet over Janet’s head; its
underside is shiny like aluminum foil. Mrs. Steward goes to bed, but the
odor is still in the house. After some time, the room is filled for an
instant with brilliant white light; then this vanishes and a globe of
light about 21 inches in diameter appears at the foot of her bed. Inside
are 5 “non-human, hairless heads” with oval, sunken eyes. Instead of
noses, there are slits, and they have no mouths. Telepathically, they
repeat several times: “We have made contact.” Mrs. Steward screams and
the globe disappears. She is so disquieted by the experience that she
goes under psychiatric care for the next 2 years. (Stringfield,
Situation Red, Doubleday, 1977, pp. 33–36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4093
Date: 10/3/1966
Description: “Many UFOs Are Identified as Plasmas,” by Philip J. Klass
in Aviation Week.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 102
Date: 10/3/1966
Description: Phil
Klass has another article in Aviation Week on plasmas as an
explanation for UFOs. (Philip J. Klass, “Many UFOs Are Identified as
Plasmas,” Aviation Week and Space Technology 85 (October 3, 1966):
54–73) October 4, 18 — Excerpts of John
G. Fuller’s book about the Betty
and Barney Hill abduction case, Interrupted Journey, appear in a
two-part article of Look magazine. (Wikipedia, “Barney
and Betty Hill”; John G. Fuller, “Aboard
a Flying
Saucer, Part I,” Look 30, no. 20 (October 4, 1966): 44–48, 53–56;
John G. Fuller, “Aboard
a Flying Saucer,
Part II,” Look 30, no. 21 (October 18, 1966): 111–121; Clark III
585)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4094
Date: 10/4/1966
End date: 10/5/1966
Description: 5:00 a.m. Jack Jones is delivering newspapers on John
Street in Connersville, Indiana. He notices a group of lights in a field
to the west past the dead end. He thinks it might be a new light
installation and moves on. The next day, Jones is with another paper
carrier, Don Doe, and he suggests they go see the new lights. Jack sees
the lights, but they are in a different position somewhat to the north.
Both boys sit on their bicycles and watch a dark disc-shaped object with
flashing red, green, and white lights on it that is apparently on the
ground some 840 feet into the field. They estimate it is 27 feet in
diameter and 10 feet high. They hear a high-pitched whirring sound and
smell a faint odor of sulfur and tannic acid. After watching it a few
minutes, they hear a new sound as if someone is walking slowly toward
them through some thick weeds. They take off on their bicycles and don’t
look back. Some days later, investigators find three holes, 8 feet apart
in an equilateral triangle, where the object was seen. The holes measure
7 inches at the top and 1 inch at the bottom. (“UAO
Landing in Indiana,” APRO Bulletin, Nov./Dec. 1966, pp. 1, 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4095
Date: 10/5/1966
Description: At a University of Arizona Department of Meteorology
colloquium, James
E. McDonald gives his views on the reality of UFOs and the Air
Force’s concealment of information. His colleagues respond negatively,
and McDonald acknowledges to Gerard
Kuiper that what he is doing is professionally risky. Nevertheless,
the university’s Space Sciences Committee gives him a $1,300 grant
toward his research expenses. (“UFOs
Are ‘Real,’
Physicist Asserts,” Arizona Daily Star, October 6, 1966, p. B-1;
Clark III 697)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4096
Date: 10/5/1966
Description: A boy saw a disk-shaped object with a transparent dome and
a row of lights, at ground level. It rose at high speed, emitting a
“heat wave,” and was lost in the clouds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Oct., 66 (Vallee)
Location: Potomac, Maryland
ID: 800
Date: 10/5/1966
Time: Time unknown
Description: Witnesses: several members of one family. One small, bright
orange, moon-shaped object remained stationary in the northeast for
about 20 minutes, then suddenly took off very fast to the WNW.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Osceola, Wisconsin
ID: 558
Date: 10/6/1966
Description: Thurston
Manning signs the University of Colorado contract with the Air
Force. The project is to run from November 15, 1966, to January 1968.
(Clark III 1193)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4097
Date: 10/7/1966
Description: USAF public announcement of grant to University of Colorado
for a UFO study to be headed by Dr. E. U. Condon.
Type: official
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 103
Date: 10/7/1966
Description: The Air Force publicly announces the creation of the
University of Colorado UFO project. Low is
made project coordinator. The primary team will be Saunders, ESSA
astronomer Franklin
Roach, Wertheimer, chemist Roy
Craig, University
of Arizona electrical engineer Norman Levine, administrative assistant
Mary Lou Armstrong, University of Arizona astronomer William
K. Hartmann, physicist Frederick
Ayer, and psychologists Dan
Culberson and James Wadsworth. (Office of Assistant Secretary of
Defense (Public Affairs), “Air Force Selects University of Colorado to
Investigate Unidentified Flying Object Reports,” October 7, 1966,
release no. 847-66, in Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968,
pp. 222–224; “UFO
Probe Given to Colorado U.,” San Francisco Examiner, October 7,
1966, p. 42; Clark III 697, 1193)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4098
Date: 10/7/1966
Description: McDonald speaks
to the media about the secret Robertson Panel report. The CIA has
ordered the Air Force to debunk UFOs, he says. (“UFO
Hush Blamed
on CIA Men,” Phoenix Arizona Republic, October 7, 1966,
pp. 21–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4099
Date: 10/8/1966
Description: 7:00 p.m. Loch Ness monster researcher Frederick
William “Ted” Holiday is fishing on the lifeboat slipway at Tenby
harbor, Pembrokeshire, Wales, when he and other fishermen notice a
small, bluish, luminous cloud moving in a circle about three times its
own diameter above them. After a short time, he resumes his fishing, but
10 minutes later a dark object emerges from the cloud and beams down a
brilliant ruby light on them. The cloud moves west and the object moves
southwest. By the time he retrieves binoculars from his car, both
objects are gone. (F. W. Holiday, “Was
God at Aberfan?” Flying Saucer Review 18, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1972):
3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4101
Date: 10/8/1966
Description: Condon is
widely quoted in the media as saying it is “highly improbable” that UFOs
exist. “The view that UFOs are hallucinatory will be a subject of our
investigation, to discover what it is that makes people imagine they see
things.” (Chesly Manly, “UFOs
Prober Keeps
Open Mind and Door,” Chicago Tribune, October 16, 1966, pp. 1,
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4100
Date: 10/10/1966
Description: Hynek discusses
UFOs in Newsweek. (“UFO’s for Real?” Newsweek, October 10, 1966,
p. 70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4102
Date: 10/10/1966
Description: 9:15 p.m. Police Sgt. Benjamin Thompson of the Wanaque (New
Jersey) Reservoir Police watches a bright light performing fantastic
maneuvers over the reservoir. He notices a slight mist in the wake of
its movements. It descends to 150 feet above the water, then shoots up.
Thompson has also seen UFOs at the reservoir in January and March. Some
teenagers see a UFO in the area 2 nights later. (“UFOs
Return to Wanaque Reservoir,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 10
(Oct./Nov. 1966): 6; Sanderson, InvRes, pp. 58–62;
Center for UFO Studies, [case
files])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4103
Date: 10/11/1966
Description: 9:45 p.m. Two boys in Elizabeth, New Jersey—Martin Munov
and James Yanchitis—are walking home on 4th Street near East Jersey
Street, adjacent to the elevated New Jersey Turnpike. Yanchitis tells
his friend that there is someone following them. They turn and see a man
standing behind a high wire fence separating them from the turnpike 30
feet above them. The fence is 8 feet high and the embankment running up
to it is steep. John Keel interviews the two boys three days after the
incident. They tell him that the man is 7 feet tall, has a dark
complexion, and is wearing a green work suit. He has a bald head, large
eyes, and a huge grinning mouth full of white teeth. (John Keel, Strange
Creatures from Time and Space, Fawcett, 1970, p. 176)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4104
Date: 10/11/1966
Description: Project Sign (“Saucer”) report of February 1949
declassified from its formerly SECRET status.
Type: official
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 104
Date: 10/14/1966
Time: 1845
Description: A adolescent first saw a bright light, then a plate-shaped
object hovering near the house. It took off at high speed, causing
static on the phone as the boy was calling his mother to describe it.
When she came home, she found her son in a state of shock and the dog
hiding in a corner.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Newton, Illinois
ID: 801
Date: 10/14/1966
Time: 2230
Description: James Roberts saw two round pinkish-red objects on a
hillside near his home. He fled when they took off with a hissing sound
emitting streams of fire.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Gribble Jan., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Fork, West Virginia
ID: 802
Date: 10/15/1966
Description: Red-orange disc-shaped object followed car, ground brightly
illuminated, engine, headlights failed. Physiological effects
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Split Rock Pond, NJ
ID: 105
Date: mid 10/1966
Description: Keyhoe is
stressed by Condon’s
statements, so he calls both Condon and Low. Both
assure him they were misquoted and ask for NICAP’s support. He expresses
his doubts to Saunders, who
with Richard
Hall convinces him to lend his support to the project, for now.
(UFOs Yes, 117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4106
Date: 10/15/1966
Description: 4:45 a.m. Forester Jerry H. Simons is driving home from a
camping expedition, notices a reddish glow behind him, and stops his car
near Split Rock Pond, south of Newfoundland, New Jersey, to investigate.
A flat- bottom, red-orange disc with a dome on top is hovering above and
behind his car. Near panic, he flees the area with the object following
him. When the light from the object illuminates the ground around him,
his car engine, dashlights, and headlights all fail. When the object
recedes, his lights and engine function normally. This sequence is
repeated three times, strongly demonstrating a direct correlation
between the light from the UFO and the failure of his car’s electrical
system. Shortly after the sighting, Simons begins experiencing a
recurring illness (the reason for his story appearing in a medical
journal); it is characterized by fatigue, anorexia, soreness, muscle
weakness, chills, and significant weight loss. After about 6 months he
has fully recovered. (Berthold Eric Schwarz, “UFOs:
Delusion or Dilemma,” Medical Times 96 (October 1968): 967–981;
UFOEv II 37; Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference
Reports, Part 2,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4105
Date: 10/19/1966
Description: James
E. McDonald speaks to the Washington, D.C., Chapter of the American
Meteorological Society on the inadequacy of military UFO investigations
and the need to take seriously the “possibility that these aerial
objects may be some type of extraterrestrial probes.” (James E.
McDonald, “The
Problem of the Unidentified Flying
Objects,” October 19, 1966; Clark III 697)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4107
Date: 10/20/1966
Description: 11:50 p.m. A telecommunications technician in Moose Jaw,
Saskatchewan, sees a strangely behaving nocturnal light. (J. Allen
Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, p. 45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4109
Date: 10/20/1966
Description: Hynek visits
Franklin
Roach in Boulder, Colorado, to meet Condon and
other Colorado project members. He notes that Condon has a “basically
negative attitude.” (Clark III 1193)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4108
Date: 10/21/1966
Description: Night. Three junior high school students are standing at
one end of their street in Amsterdam, New York, when they notice a
star-like light to the right of the Moon. The star proceeds to draw
aright-angle step around the Moon and continues northward, where it
joins two other objects. The three objects then form 90° angles,
equilateral triangles, and other geometrical figures. Two of the
students go home for binoculars, and while they are away the sky show
stops. They remain in the sky, but stationary. The objects look
spherical through binoculars with some sort of lighted, colored areas
that rotate. (Michael D. Swords, “We Know Where You Live,” IUR 30, no. 2
(January 2006): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4111
Date: 10/21/1966
Description: Hynek’s
letter on misconceptions about UFOs is belatedly published in Science.
(J. Allen Hynek, “UFO’s Merit
Scientific Study,” Science 154 (1966): 329)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4110
Date: 10/23/1966
Time: 6 PM
Description: Witness: Mr Acquino. One object with arms in front of it
which sparkled like an arc-light. Traveled south along some power lines,
then turned southwest. Made a slight humming sound during the 4 minute
sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Southhampton, Long Island, New York
ID: 559
Date: 10/26/1966
Description: 11:50 p.m. A man is driving in a rural, wooded area near
Takoma Park, Maryland, when he sees a disc that seems about to land in a
clearing. It puts on a red-and-green light show as it hovers. A large
central beam of light shines onto the field below. The car radio bursts
with static, and he hears a whirring sound coming from the object. He
tries to accelerate the car, but it won’t move. Radio and drive
functions resume when the UFO moves away. (Michael D. Swords, “Messing
Around with the Force,” IUR 31, no, 4 (March 2008): 17, 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4112
Date: 10/26/1966
Time: No time given
Description: Witness: civilian control tower operator Ralston. One white
object approached runway at 50’ altitude. Runway lights were then turned
on, and object accelerated and climbed away so fast that witness was
unable to use binoculars. Sighting lasted 3 seconds.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Cold Bay Air Force Station, Alaska
ID: 560
Date: 10/28/1966
Description: The Space Defense Center’s satellite-tracking Delta I
computer system at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, becomes operational.
(Wikipedia, “Space
Defense Center”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4113
Date: 10/31/1966
Description: Night. An observer in Gloucester, Massachusetts, notices a
particularly bright star in the southwestern sky that is moving in a
wide arc. When it reaches Ursa Major, it paces along the Big Dipper,
then turns and takes an approximately parallel course to the front of
the constellation. (Michael D. Swords, “We Know Where You Live,” IUR 30,
no. 2 (January 2006): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4114
Date: 11/1/1966
Description: 8:00 p.m. Mrs. Ray Tibbetts is talking on the phone in her
home at Newfields, New Hampshire, when her son, Dale, yells that there
is a strange light outside. Her foster daughter, Anita Purrington, joins
Dale and they both get excited. Mrs. Tibbetts runs to a window when the
house lights begin blinking on and off. She goes to her son’s room and
sees a huge object with two tiers of four windows from which a strange,
yellow-green light is shining. The size of one of the windows is as big
as her living room wall. An apparent ceiling line is visible in the
bottom tier. Suddenly an intense white light shoots out from the object
at Mrs. Tibbetts, who is knocked backward and gets spots before her
eyes. When her vision clears, the UFO is gone. She has pains in her eyes
the next two days and they are extremely sensitive to light. She drives
to a clinic in Exeter, New Hampshire, which finds a spasm in the eyelid
and tearing, but it attributes this to the cobalt therapy she has been
getting. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4116
Date: 11/1/1966
Description: Official contract starting date of Colorado UFO
Project.
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 106
Date: 11/1/1966
Description: The University of Colorado UFO project officially launches.
Michael
D. Swords writes: “It was one of the most peculiar scientific grants
of all time. Normally a governmental grant goes to a scientist who has
initiated it or is at least vitally interested and experienced in the
field, and essentially knows exactly what he is going to do. This grant
was to a scientist who was pushed into it, had little interest and
apparently no experience, and, despite his brilliance, ‘didn’t have a
clue.’ Because the reports of the UFO phenomenon are so complex and
multidimensional, this short-term ‘backwards grant’ was doomed to fail
before it was even signed.” (Swords 309– 312)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4115
Date: early 11/1966
Description: Low and
Hynek make
the Colorado project’s first field trip, to Minot and Donnybrook, North
Dakota. November 2 — 7:25 p.m. Woodrow
Derenberger is driving his panel truck home to Parkersburg, West
Virginia, on Interstate 77 when a low-flying dark object about 35 feet
wide cuts in front of him and forces him to stop. It hovers a foot above
the ground, only 20 feet ahead. The object has a profile similar to a
kerosene lamp chimney flattened on the bottom side. A door opens and a
smiling man of dark complexion descends, wearing a topcoat (“blue and
quite shiny, having a glistening effect”) over shiny blue trousers.
Without opening his mouth, which bears a fixed grin, he addresses
Derenberger telepathically, asking him to open his window. For the next
10 minutes he conducts a telepathic conversation, first asking
Derenberger’s name and saying that his own is “Indrid Cold” from a
planet called Lanulos in the “Ganymede galaxy.” He tells Derenberger not
to think of him as an alien and concludes by saying, “We will see you
again.” After admitting Mr. Cold, the UFO rises vertically and
disappears. A truck driver named Walter
Vanscoy is going north on I-77 and sees, in apparent confirmation of
the encounter, a truck parked on the berm of the southbound I-77 lanes
with a man wearing a knee-length coat standing by the passenger side.
Derenberger’s space adventures are only beginning. (“The
Woodrow Derenberger Interview,
November 3, 1966,” The MothMan Wikia; “Parkersburg
Salesman Speaks
with Spaceman,” Beckley (W.Va.) Raleigh Register, November 4, 1966,
pp. 1–2; John A. Keel, The Mothman Prophecies, Tor ed., 1991, pp. 50–52;
Woodrow W. Derenberger and Harold W. Hubbard, Visitors from Lanulos,
Vantage, 1971; Clark III 402–403; Jerome Clark, “The Adventures of Woody
Derenberger,” IUR 20, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1995): 7–8; Taunia
Derenberger-Bowman, Beyond Lanulos: Our Fifty Years with Indrid Cold,
The Author, 2016; Theo Paijmans, “The Terrible Grinning Men,” Fortean
Times 397 (October 2020): 32–34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4117
Date: 11/2/1966
Time: evening
Description: Mrs. Mark deFriend, 32, saw an object at ground level in
front of her car on a rainy night. It would leave the road and fly over
the fields from time to time. The greenish-blue object flew back in
front of the car, then was lost to sight behind some trees.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 168 (Vallee)
Location: El Campo, Texas
ID: 803
Date: 11/2/1966
Time: 1925
Description: W. Derenberger, salesman, saw a dark object ahead of him on
the road. It was flat on the bottom and rounded on top. As he stopped,
the object came within 20 cm of the road surface, and a man of dark
complexion, dressed with a shirt and ordinary trousers, both a shiny
blue color, came out, smiled at the witness who then thought that he
received a message, although no word was spoken. The message described a
hypothetical “other world” and suggested that the observation be
reported to authorities. The man also promised to return. Several people
who drove by the witness did report seeing a man speaking to him, as
well as a strange vehicle nearby.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 169; FSR 67, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Parkersburg, West Virginia
ID: 804
Date: 11/4/1966
Description: Derenberger has
another encounter when he lapses into a trance while driving a truck
with a colleague along US Highway 50 near Parkersburg, West Virginia. He
starts speaking, sometimes mumbling, other times conveying messages
about “ships.” Derenberger later says that Cold was sending him a
telepathic message that his ship was directly above the truck. A
sighting of a UFO “like two glass chimneys from a kerosene lamp welded
together at their widest or bulging ends” at 6:45 p.m. by Irma
Hudgins and her daughter Pamela
Sue near the intersection of I-77 and State Highway 47 seems to
confirm some UFO activity. Derenberger has further meetings with Indrid
Cold and his companion Carl Ardo, who often pass undetected among
earthlings, through the early 1970s and in 1984. (John A. Keel, The
Mothman Prophecies, Tor ed., 1991, pp. 54–55;
Clark III 404–410; Jerome Clark, “The Adventures of Woody Derenberger,”
IUR 20, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1995): 8–11, 20–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4118
Date: 11/5/1966
Description: Condon tells
the press that he knows “some people [McDonald]
who believe the air force is misleading us, but I don’t think so. Maybe
they are. I don’t care much.” (Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed.,
1974, p. 113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4119
Date: 11/6/1966
Description: 6:30 p.m. A driver on State Highway 47 near Parkersburg,
West Virginia, sees a UFO and gets out to watch it. At first it looks
like two lights near the American Viscose plant across the Little
Kanawha River. The object crosses the river and the highway then turns
off its lights at about 100–150 feet altitude. The lights come back on
and it starts moving toward the witness, stopping right over his car and
focusing a bright beam of light on him for 10 seconds. It shuts off and
the object moves leisurely away to the south. (Clark III 405)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4120
Date: 11/8/1966
Time: At night
Description: Witness: college graduate Annis. A group of lights that
flashed and changed color hung stationary, almost touching the road, and
would abruptly vanish during the 5 minute sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Saginaw, Michigan
ID: 561
Date: 11/11/1966
Description: Hynek and
Vallée give
an extended briefing to Condon and
his staff. Hynek urges the project to adopt a rating system, by which if
a sighting emerges as both strange and credible, it will be deemed
worthy of further investigation. Vallée recommends standardized report
forms that ask all the right questions. They both sense that Low, not
Condon, is “clearly the decision-maker.” Hynek tells Craig that
the project must recommend that scientific investigation of UFOs be
continued. (Clark III 1193; UFOs Yes, 50–61; Sparks,
p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4121
Date: 11/13/1966
Description: Barber and amateur astronomer Ralph
Ditter Jr. of Roseville, Ohio, takes several “spectacular” photos of
a daylight disc. Later, Raytheon deals with the photographic analysis of
the photos. The report states that the object in the photos is 3–4
inches in diameter, not 30 feet as claimed by Ditter; the object is not
at a considerable distance, but a mere 3–4 feet from the camera lens;
and the photos are not taken in rapid succession, but approximately 70
minutes has elapsed between photos. Also, the numbers on the backs of
the photographs are out of sequence with Ditter’s story. (NICAP, “The
Ditter Photo Hoax”; Center for UFO Studies, [Ditter
photos]; Center for UFO Studies, [case documents, part
one, part
two]; E. L. Merritt, “Photogrammetric
Analysis of a Non-Synchronous
Pair of U.F.O. Exposures,” June 1967)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4122
Date: 11/14/1966
Description: Quintanilla, Lt.
William
Marley, and Col. Robert
Hippler of AFOSR brief the Colorado project staff. Quintanilla
contradicts Hynek’s
account of the swamp gas explanation. (UFOs Yes, 61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4123
Date: 11/15/1966
Description: 11:30 p.m. Two young couples from Point Pleasant, West
Virginia—Roger and Linda
Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette—are joyriding in an area
outside of town known as the “TNT area” [the site of a former World War
II munitions plant and now part of the McClintic Wildlife Management
Area] when they encounter a large gray creature whose eyes glow red when
the car’s headlights pick it up. Scarberry describes it as shaped like a
man but nearly 7 feet tall. They describe it as a “large flying man with
10-foot wings” that are folded against its back. Terrified, they drive
away but pass a similar creature on a hill by the road. As they pass it,
it spreads its wings, rises into the air, and pursues their car, keeping
pace at even 100 mph. The entity does not pursue them into town, but
they drive directly to the Mason County Courthouse, where they tell
their story to Deputy Millard
Halstead, who
accompanies the witnesses back to the site. He hears strange static
disturbances coming from his radio, but they find no evidence of the
encounter. On November 16, Sheriff George
E. Johnson holds a press conference to discuss the sighting, the
press begins calling the creature “Mothman” based on a comic book
character. The Scarberrys and Mallettes go back to the site in the
daylight and find odd-looking tracks like “two horseshoes put together.”
After this sighting, more people begin reporting encounters, and
hundreds of cars swarm out to the TNT area at night in search of a
Mothman sighting. In May 1976, representatives of the Ohio UFO
Investigators League reinterview several witnesses, all of whom stick to
their stories and sometimes add interesting details. (John A. Keel, The
Mothman Prophecies, Tor ed., 1991, pp. 59–61;
Clark III 779–781; “Scarberry
and Mallette’s Mothman Sighting,” The MothMan Wikia)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4124
Date: 11/17/1966
Description: 4:00 a.m. Two police officers see a round, glowing object
with a wide, flat rim around the center resting on the ground near
Gaffney, South Carolina. They estimate the diameter to be about 20 feet.
As they watch from less than 50 feet away, a door opens and a small
humanoid being descends. The observation lasts several minutes.
Footprints are found at the site. (John A. Keel, “The
Little Man of Gaffney,” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 2 (March/April
1968): 17–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4125
Date: 11/17/1966
Time: 0400
Description: Patrolmen A. G. Huskey and C. Hutchins saw a dark,
spherical machine with a flat rim land near them. Estimated diameter: 7
m. An opening and a short ladder became visible, and a small man,
dressed in a shiny gold suit, emerged, came within 6 m of them, and
spoke in perfect English before taking off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 2 (Vallee)
Location: Gaffney, South Carolina
ID: 805
Date: 11/19/1966
Time: 0750
Description: Two local businessmen observed a dark, gray, metallic
sphere, from the top of which projected a dozen “tentacles” over 2 m
long, flying at about 40 m altitude and then coming down behind a house.
It was assumed that it plunged into the bay, but a search by patrol
boats was unsuccessful.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: Bavonne, New Jersey
ID: 806
Date: 11/22/1966
Description: 4:20 p.m. At least eight employees of the American
Newspaper Publishers Association in New York City watch a UFO from their
offices on the 17th floor at 750 Third Avenue. The UFO is a rectangular,
“cushion- shaped” object whose bright, reflective surface first catches
the eye of Assistant General Manager Donald R. McVay. They go outside
onto the terrace and watch the object move southward over the East
River, then hover above the United Nations building. It flutters and
bobs “like a ship on agitated water.” It rises slowly and moves south
then west. One of the other witnesses is the manager of the Publications
Department, William H. Leick. (“Major
Sighting Wave,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 11 (Jan,/Feb. 1967): 4;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified
Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects,
Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong.,
2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4129
Date: 11/22/1966
Description: 10:00 a.m. A deer hunter searching for game near Roaring
River State Park, Missouri, returns to his group’s camp and becomes
alarmed when he sees smoke rising from it. He finds their tent and other
camping equipment destroyed. The tent is still smoldering, one of the
aluminum tent poles is singed, and the aluminum cots are melted. The
tent is set up under two trees, but their leaves show no traces of
damage at all. About 15 feet away is a dead tree with its top still
burning. The witness then heasr a low humming sound and sees an object
rising from the valley about 300 feet away. He is able to take a
photograph of it as it ascends and manages a second photo a few seconds
later. It is an aluminum-colored disc, about 25 feet in diameter and 8
feet thick, with a band around its center and some kind of projection at
its rear. The humming sound intensifies as the object picks up speed and
disappears in 20 seconds. (CUFOS case file; Ted Phillips, Physical
Traces Associated with UFO Sightings, Center
for UFO Studies, 1978, p. 44; B. J. Booth, “UFO
Encountered, Photographed, Roaring River, Missouri,
1966,” UFO Casebook)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4128
Date: 11/22/1966
Description: 9:00–10:00 a.m. A biochemist and consultant to a logging
company and his wife are traveling on State Highway 58 through the
Willamette Pass, Oregon, when he decides to stop and take photos of some
scenery. He stops at the Diamond Peak overlook, takes 2 photos, then
pauses to take a third. Suddenly, he claims, a disc- shaped object with
a domed top ascends into his field of view. After stopping for 3
seconds, it shoots off toward the right and disappears into a cloud
bank. When he develops the roll of film, the photos show a blurred disc-
shaped object with two black bands beneath and sitting atop a seeming
column of vapor. NICAP is given the photo but is not impressed. In 1989,
physicist Irwin
Wieder performs a detailed analysis of the photo and determines that
it is a blurred photo of the “Diamond Peak” sign taken from a passing
car. (Clark III 1281–1283; Irwin Wieder, “The
Willamette Pass Oregon UFO Photo Revisited: An Explanation,” Journal
of Scientific Exploration 7, no. 2 (1993): 173–198; Irwin Wieder, “The
Willamette Pass Photo Explained,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993):
18–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4127
Date: 11/22/1966
Description: McDonald informally
visits several Colorado project members. He explains radar complexities
and mirage effects and tells them that they will soon be “confronting
astonishing evidence of mishandling of the UFO problems by your
sponsoring agency.” (UFOs Yes, 64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4126
Date: 11/28/1966
Description: Two witnesses observed a dark, red object land by the side
of the road, later following their car.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 168 (Vallee)
Location: El Campo, Texas
ID: 807
Date: 11/28/1966
Description: 12:10 a.m. Spanish contactee Enrique
Villagrasa receives by telephone his first message from inhabitants
of the planet Ummo. The caller speaks in a slow monotone and with a
foreign accent, answering questions about history and science.
Villagrasa has the impression he is talking to an “electronic brain.”
Other messages follow, and Villagrasa passes them on to Fernando
Sesma, an employee of the Spanish telegraph service and head of
Amigos de los Visitantes del Espacio. (Clark III 1184)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4131
Date: 11/28/1966
Description: At Saunders’s
invitation, Hall and
Keyhoe brief
the Colorado project members. They meet with Low and
show him some strong NICAP reports like the 1959 Redmond, Oregon, case.
Low dismisses it as too old because the witnesses “wouldn’t remember the
details.” Keyhoe focuses on the cover-up, while Hall argues that the
best way to assess UFO evidence is to look at the aggregated evidence.
(Clark III 1193; UFO Yes, 62–63; Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed.,
1974, pp. 108–110)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4130
Date: 11/28/1966
Description: Night. Janis Bodungen, 17, is on her way home on Farm Road
1300 northwest of El Campo, Texas, when she sees teo bright lights
coming toward her. As they approach, the two lights turn into one large
golden light as tall as the trees. She turns the car around and speeds
away. (“The
Texas Flap,” APRO Bulletin, Jan./Feb. 1967, pp. 3, 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4132
Date: 11/30/1966
Description: 4:35 p.m. J. G. Hockenberry is flying a Cessna 150 near New
Kingstown, Pennsylvania, when he sees a saucer-shaped object, about 30
feet in diameter, approach and hover beside the aircraft. It has a dull,
gray-white finish and one blinking red light. When the pilot flies into
a cloud layer, the object rises straight up and out of sight. (NICAP
case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4133
Date: 12/1966
Description: Low visits
NICAP headquarters in Washington, D.C. He admits that Condon thinks
the early reports are worthless. Keyhoe tells
Low that before he wastes any time supplying them with reports, he wants
to know what Condon thinks of the 1965 cases they already provided.
Otherwise, NICAP might pull out. (Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed.,
1974, p. 112)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4134
Date: 12/1966
Description: Colorado project member and psychologist William
A. Scott devises a witness questionnaire. One page is devoted to the
UFO, the other 20 are about the psychological profile of the witness.
When he discovers that the witness is not the project’s main focus, he
goes home. (UFOs Yes, 67–69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4135
Date: 12/2/1966
Description: Wertheimer goes to Washington, D.C., to interview witnesses
of the National Airport radar-visual sightings of 1952. Virtually every
witness disputes Gen. John
A. Samford’s explanation of temperature inversions. (UFOs Yes,
72–74)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4136
Date: 12/7/1966
Description: A TAP Air Portugal airliner piloted by Capt. Henrique Maia
is paced by two luminous objects near Luanda, Angola. (Lorenzen, UFOs
over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4137
Date: 12/15/1966
Description: 5:30 p.m. Four witnesses driving northwest toward
Woodstown, New Jersey, see a triangular object with rounded corners and
three blinking lights. It is moving slowly in the opposite direction.
When they leave Woodstown to the southeast at 6:15 p.m., it reappears
and passes over the car. (Marler 134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4138
Date: 12/17/1966
Description: Hynek’s
article, in which he states that hundreds of puzzling UFO cases exit and
urges a serious inquiry, appears in the Saturday Evening Post. (J. Allen
Hynek, “Are
Flying Saucers Real?” Saturday Evening Post, December 17, 1966,
pp. 17–21, transcribed by
NICAP)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4139
Date: 12/17/1966
Description: “Are Flying Saucers Real?” by Dr. J. A. Hynek in Saturday
Evening Post, stating that hundreds of puzzling UFO cases exist and
urging a serious inquiry
Type: newspaper article
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 107
Date: 12/21/1966
Description: Lockheed test pilot William
C. Park flies an A-12 for 10,198 statute miles in only 6 hours, at
an average speed of 1,660 mph. (“William
C. Park Jr.,” Roadrunners Internationale)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4140
Date: 12/25/1966
Time: 3 AM
Description: Witnesses: civilians and military persons. Three round
objects, as large as cars, gave off vapor, then became three bright
reddish-orange lights. Blast at beginning of 90 minute sighting pushed
one witness against a car.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Monroe, Oregon
ID: 562
Date: 12/28/1966
Description: The Defense Department makes a recommendation to President
Johnson to
terminate the A-12 program due to budget concerns and because of the
development of the SR-71 Blackbird. It is to be phased out by June 1968.
(Wikipedia, “Lockheed
A-12”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4141
Date: 12/30/1966
Description: 8:15 p.m. A physics professor named Galloway [possibly Louie
A. Galloway III] is driving through a wooded area near Haynesville,
Louisiana, and sees a bright, pulsating glow, changing from orange to
white, in the woods about one mile away. He estimates its visible light
power output at about one megawatt. Coming back the next day, he locates
traces of burns and calls the USAF and University of Colorado UFO
project. (Condon, pp.
61, 277–280;
Sparks, p. 320;
Jacques Vallée, “Estimates
of Power Optical Output in Six Cases of Unexplained Aerial
Objects with Defined Luminosity Characteristics,” Journal of
Scientific Exploration 12, no. 3 (1998): 350– 352)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4142
Date: 12/30/1966
Time: 2015
Description: A physics professor driving through a wooded area saw a
bright, pulsating glow, changing from orange to white, in the woods
about 1.7 km away. Coming back the next day, he located traces of burns,
and called the Air Force and the University of Colorado.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Haynesville, Louisiana
ID: 808
Date: 12/30/1966
Description: Two luminous objects paced Canadian Pacific Airlines plane
at 35,000 feet for seven minutes, emitted light beams up, then down,
accelerated away
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Peru
ID: 108
Date: 1967
Description: Robert
M. Wood, physicist and aerospace manager for McDonnell Douglas
Corporation, is assigned the task of exploring breakthroughs in gravity
propulsion. The project includes laboratory evaluation of hypotheses,
field observations, and examination of UFO literature. At one point
there are 4 full-time and 3 part-time employees involved in the effort,
code-named BITBR (“Boys in the Back Room”). Wood networks with James
E. McDonald, J.
Allen Hynek, Carl
Sagan, and
the Colorado project. The initiative is terminated in 1969 at Wood’s
recommendation due to its inability to project a technological payoff.
(Robert M. Wood, “A Little Physics…A Little Friction: A Close Encounter
with the Condon Committee,” IUR 18, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1993): 6–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4145
Date: 1967
Description: A French government UFO project, to be led by former
inspector general at the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique Jean-Luc
Bruneau, is
approved. Bruneau recommends that the study first become a project of
the Centre Nationale d’Études Spatiales, and later a European
initiative. But the project is postponed because of the political crisis
in France in May 1968. (Gildas Bourdais, “From GEPAN to SEPRA: Official
UFO Studies in France,” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4144
Date: 1967
Description: The US nuclear stockpile reaches its peak at 31,255 bombs.
(Ryan Crierie, “U.S.
Nuclear Stockpile, 1945–2009”) 1967 — Night. Miss E. R. East, of
Gibsons, British Columbia, is awakened by a banging noise and sees a
brilliant orange-red light soaring above hills behind the town. As she
watches, its color changes to glowing white and the object moves toward
the Strait of Georgia. Suddenly, a 10-foot-wide beam of light shoots
down to the water. As it strikes the surface, it bends and lies flat on
the surface, lighting up the wharf on Keats Island. As she stares at it,
her eyes begin to sting. (John Magor, Our UFO Visitors, Hancock House,
1977, pp. 37–38)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4143
Date: 1967
Description: In 1967 a drought reduced water levels in Lake Karachay
where nuclear waste was being dumped, exposing radioactive dust. The
dust was spread by gale-force winds in the area, spread over 25,000
square kilometers and exposing another 500,000 residents to nuclear
fallout. The lake would eventually accumulate over 120 million curies of
radionuclides. To put that in perspective, the Chernobyl incident
released 1 million.
Type: radiological event
Reference: link
Location: Lake Karachay, Russia
Date: 1/1967
End date: 5/1967
Description: Intensive U.S. and international UFO sighting wave (see
separate chronology, section VIII).
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 109
Date: 1/1967
Description: Night. French rocket scientist Jean-Pierre
Morin is driving three members of a launch team to the tower at
Interarmy Special Vehicles Test Center at Hammaguir, Algeria. When they
arrive at a row of buildings, they notice a light in the sky silently
coming toward them. Their car engine sputters and fails. It stops and
hovers at an elevation of 45° about 1,600 feet away. Morin thinks it is
attached to a black, cylindrical object 980–1,300 feet in length and 100
feet in diameter with “flames” of different colors along its side. The
light begins moving slowly again, and a car with astrophysicists stops
and watches it for another 20–30 minutes before it ascends and
disappears. (Good Need, pp. 296–297)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4146
Date: early 1/1967
Description: 7:30 p.m. Robert Blaine is driving with five other
witnesses on State Highway 55 two miles southeast of Farwell, Minnesota,
when his headlights and engine suddenly go out. He sees an orange flash
to his left at the level of his hood and tiny beads of light cross in
front of the windshield. A passenger sees an orange-and-red flash go by
on the driver’s side at window level. The car coasts to a stop, then the
engine and headlights go back on again by themselves. (“Car
Buzzing Incidents on Increase,” APRO Bulletin, May/June 1967,
p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4147
Date: 1/3/1967
Description: Dome-shaped object hovered over car, roadway brightly
illuminated. Forward motion slowed, unable to accelerate, loss of
steering control
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: New Richmond, IN
ID: 110
Date: 1/3/1967
Description: Quadrantid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 111
Date: 1/3/1967
Description: 2:00 a.m. A dome-shaped object hovers for several miles and
10–15 minutes above a car in New Richmond, Michigan. It illuminates the
road, and the car draws to a stop with loss of steering control and the
radio failing. Examination of the car by Fred Hooven and David Moyer,
engineers at the Ford Motor Company, two months later shows no faults
unexplainable by ordinary causes. (Condon, pp. 102–106, 282–285;
Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 65–66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4148
Date: 1/5/1967
Description: An A-12 flown by pilot Walter
Ray is lost during a training flight near Leith Canyon, Nevada. Due
to a faulty fuel gauge, the aircraft runs out of fuel 70 miles from
Groom Dry Lake. Ray glides to a lower altitude to perform a controlled
bailout but cannot separate his parachute from his ejection seat. He is
the first pilot to be killed in an A-12 accident. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
A-12”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4150
Date: 1/5/1967
Description: Hynek writes
to Condon, telling
him that he, Jacques
Vallée, and William T. Powers are devoting more personal time to the
UFO problem and are setting up a file area in the Lindheimer Observatory
at Northwestern University in Evansto, Illinois. He mentions that there
is enough underground interest in UFOs among his scientific colleagues
that he is thinking of creating an informal “invisible college” to
discuss the subject quietly. He mentions that he sat in on a hypnosis
session a few weeks previously with Benjamin Simon and was allowed to
question Betty
and Barney Hill. He
also suggests that the Colorado project recommend that police squad cars
carry cameras that can document ongoing UFO reports. (Center for UFO
Studies, [Hynek
correspondence], pp. 6– 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4149
Date: 1/5/1967
Time: 0430
Description: A civilian man, 32, driving to work in his 1964 Chevy
truck, had to stop and inspect the vehicle when its engine stalled. Only
then did he observe an intense light to his right, coming closer. He saw
it land on the road, and locked himself inside the cabin. The craft
settled on a tripod landing gear; it measured 25 m in diameter and was
10 m high. Something similar to an elevator came down from it, and a man
dressed in blue coveralls “with something like a glass fishbowl on his
head,” of medium height, seemed to check something and left.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Winsted, Minnesota
ID: 812
Date: 1/6/1967
Description: Hynek speaks
to an overflow crowd at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Maryland. He says he has had to revise his thinking on UFOs, urges
scientists to take an active role in investigations, and confirms
reports that NORAD and SAC radar has tracked UFOs, citing a case in
which SAC radar tracked a UFO at 4,000 mph on an erratic flight path.
(Story, p. 413)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4151
Date: 1/9/1967
Description: Two teenage brothers of Mount Clemens, Michigan, Daniel A.
and Grant
P. Jaroslaw, take some Polaroid photos from the backyard of their
home of a domed object moving slowly above Lake St. Clair. After they
release the images to a wire service, the Air Force requests the
originals for analysis. They refuse to relinquish them but give an
officer at Selfridge AFB [now Selfridge Air National Guard Base] some
copies. Maj. Raymond
Nyls attempts to recreate the photos at the original site using a
block of wood hanging from a string on a children’s swing set. USAF
turns the copies and Nyls’s recreations over to the National
Photographic Interpretation Center, which takes a serious look and
suspects a hoax but cannot prove it conclusively. (“Two
Brothers Photograph Circular
Object in Michigan,” Northern Ontario UFO Research and Study; Joey
Del Ponte, “Formerly
Secret Memo
Shows How the Air Force Investigated UFO Sightings,” Muckrock,
February 14, 2018; Curt Collins, “Dr. Hynek
and the UFO Photo Investigation of 1967,” The Saucers That Time
Forgot, October 21, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4152
Date: 1/12/1967
Description: 7:30 p.m. A luminous object crosses the sky off Agadir,
Morocco. It leaves a white trail that turns into a rainbow and falls
into the sea with a deafening sound. The US Defense attaché in Rabat,
Naval Capt. C. G. Strum, says the sighting “could be valuable in pursuit
of Project Moon Dust.” (US Department of Defense, “UFO Sighting
over Agadir, Morocco,” January 18, 1967)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4154
Date: 1/12/1967
Description: The USAF advisory committee holds a special briefing in
Boulder, Colorado. Condon discusses
project plans and asks the Air Force where the project should place its
emphasis. Lt. Col. Hippler,
along with Col. Raymond
Sleeper, Blue
Book’s boss as Foreign Technology Division Commander, says the project
is not required to prove or disprove anything, but that “we don’t want
any recommendation from you unless you feel strongly about it.” He
rejects Wertheimer’s suggestion that the project should concentrate on
witnesses, not sightings. Hippler and Ratchford do
not adequately respond to Low’s
question about what USAF wants from the project. (“Air
Force Advisory Panel Briefing,” January 12, 1967; Roy Craig, UFOs:
An Insiders’ View of the Official Quest for Evidence, University of
North Texas, 1995, p. 235; Michael D. Swords, “The
USAF-Sponsored Colorado
Project for the Scientific Study of UFOs,” 1995 MUFON Symposium
Proceedings, MUFON, 1995; Clark III 1194; Swords 314–315)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4153
Date: 1/13/1967
Description: Condon and
Low visit
Cheyenne Mountain, NORAD’s underground Space Defense Center complex in
Colorado, for a “classified briefing” by orbital analysts 1Lt. Henry
B. Eckert Jr. and Capt. Dick A. Cable of the 9th Aerospace Defense
Division’s 1st Aerospace Control Squadron about NORAD’s radar network,
hours after another classified briefing for Condon and staff at Boulder
concludes. The Cheyenne Mountain briefing is the first in a series of
tactical moves designed to discourage Condon’s project staff, Hynek, and
McDonald from
using NORAD as a source of UFO data or resource for future
investigations or instrumentation. (Clark III 804–805; UFOs Yes,
66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4155
Date: 1/13/1967
Description: 10:00 p.m. The crew of a Lear Jet flying at 41,000 feet
over southwestern New Mexico sees a flashing red luminous object in
their 10 o’clock position. The object splits into four smaller red
objects vertically several times, each separated by about 2,000 feet and
each emitting a “red ray.” It then retracts the lowest objects into the
top object. Albuquerque radar tracks a target 39 miles ahead of the Lear
Jet moving on the same heading, with no transponder signal. At that
moment the object blinks off visually for 30 seconds then blinks back
on. The UFO floods the jet with an intense red light so bright that the
pilot has difficulty seeing his instrument panel. It maintains its
position in front for a few minutes then blinks out, comes on again, and
falls back behind the left wing. It then pulls forward again.
Albuquerque radar reports that it looks like the target had merged with
the jet. Both the UFO and the jet make left turns over Winslow, Arizona,
after which Los Angeles Center radar picks up both targets. Past
Flagstaff, the object climbs at a 30° angle and disappears to the west
in less than 10 seconds. (NICAP, “R/V”;
Sparks, p. 321;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 82–83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4157
Date: 1/13/1967
Description: Early morning. Sgt. Norman Finley of the Joplin, Missouri,
police alerts fellow officers about an unexplained object overhead.
Pittsburg, Kansas, police dispatcher James Cunningham notifies the
Joplin police that a UFO has been seen over Pittsburg. He describes it
as an object with bright colors of “vivid blue-green with flashing
lights.” Cunningham alerts the Joplin station because the object seems
to be leaving Kansas and heading for Missouri. After receiving that
call, Joplin’s Lt. Charles
Hickman drives to Stone’s Corner near the Joplin airport. He waits
for nearly an hour before spotting a UFO in the sky, which he watches
for more than an hour. It is about 1,000 feet high and seems about as
big as two houses. It makes turns and maneuvers “as if it were being
controlled.” For the next three days, there are more sightings in the
early morning hours at Coffeyville, Kansas; Joplin, Springfield, and
Newton County, Missouri; and northeast Oklahoma. (UFOs Yes, 109–110;
Condon, pp. 286–290)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4156
Date: 1/15/1967
Description: 5:45 p.m. Helen Godard and her two nieces see a domed disc
with white light emanating from portholes in its base in Granville,
Massachusetts. They hear a humming sound, and the sky and ground are
illuminated by white light. Red flame jets appear at one end when the
object moves. Speed is variable. At one point, all the lights go out,
and when they come back on the portholes are showing red light. The
object is seen three times within 20 minutes before it disappears over a
mountain to the east. (“Major
Sighting Wave,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 11 (Jan./Feb. 1967): 4;
Condon, pp. 285–286)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4158
Date: 1/16/1967
Description: Hippler writes
to Condon,
saying that “No one knows of a visitation. It should therefore follow
there has been no [extraterrestrial] visitation to date.” Moreover,
Condon should “consider the cost of the Air Force program on UFOs, and
determine if the taxpayer should support this for the next decade.” (Lt.
Col. Robert H. Hippler, Letter
to Edward U. Condon, January
16, 1967; Kevin D. Randle, “The
Hippler Letter,” A Different Perspective, March 21, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4159
Date: 1/16/1967
Description: Approximately 4:30-6:30 A.M. Sodium vapor clouds from
rocket launched at Eglin AFB, FL, blue-green color, visible over wide
area.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Southeastern United States
ID: 112
Date: 1/17/1967
Time: 1845
Description: A woman walking home saw a beam of light about 1 m in
section sweep the ground in her direction. It came from a circular,
white object that turned off its main light. She then saw reddish spots
before it vanished entirely. Another witness saw the phenomenon from a
separate location, 2 km away (LDLN).
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: (Vallee)
Location: Romieres, France
ID: 809
Date: 1/17/1967
Time: night
Description: F. Bedel, 23, driving on Route 135 about 8 km north of
Freetown saw a plate-shaped object with red, yellow, blue, and white
blinking lights, lost control of his car, and ran off the road. Less
than 2 km away, Phil Patton saw an identical object that came within 30
m of his car.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 22 (Vallee)
Location: Freetown, Indiana
ID: 810
Date: 1/17/1967
Description: Night. Francis Bedel Jr. is driving on State Highway 135
five miles north of Freetown, Indiana, when a glowing white light darts
into his field of vision. It hovers above the road for a few seconds,
then slowly reverses its course. Bedel is so busy staring at the
spectacle that he loses control of his car, which goes off the road and
is badly damaged. Phil Patton and his wife apparently see the same
object, about 30 feet in diameter, that comes within 100 feet of their
car on the same road. It has a brilliant red light and flashing ywllow
and white lights on its perimeter. (NICAP, “The
1967 UFO Chronology”; “UFO
Caused Car Wreck?” APRO Bulletin, Jan./Feb. 1967, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4160
Date: 1/18/1967
Description: 6:00 p.m. A family in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, watches
through binoculars a disc with a red light on a projection at the rear
approach them at about 400–500 feet altitude. As it nears, the object
emits two pinkish-white light beams downward at about a 45° angle from
its forward edge. It then turns, rises suddenly, joins a second object,
and both speed away. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., UFOs:
A New Look, NICAP, 1969, Appendix
D)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4161
Date: 1/19/1967
Time: 0905
Description: Two min later it flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 67, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Charleston (West Virginia) Tad Jones, 38, was driving near
Charleston when he saw a large, metal sphere, about 6 m in diameter,
having four legs equipped with wheels and a very small propeller
underneath
ID: 811
Date: 1/19/1967
Description: 9:05 a.m. Tad Jones is driving a truck in Dunbar, West
Virginia, when he sees a dull, aluminum sphere about 20–25 feet in
diameter hovering about 4 feet above the road some 500 feet ahead of
him. It has two antennae protruding from the top and two legs beneath
it, with a propellor between them that rotates slowly when hovering (but
faster when flying). There is a window at the top and a flange in the
middle. When he gets to about 10 feet of it, the object ascends swiftly.
(“Major
Sighting Wave,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 11 (Jan./Feb. 1967):
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4162
Date: late 1/1967
Description: McDonald is
lobbying Frederick
Seitz, president
of the National Academy of Sciences, with some mild criticisms of the
Colorado project and the establishment of a UFO research panel. Seitz is
not convinced. (Clark III 698)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4164
Date: 1/20/1967
Description: 6:30 p.m. Three girls (Kimberly Lodge, Ellen Kenney, and
Janice Shafer), 16–17 years old, are driving near Methuen,
Massachusetts, when they see a string of 9–10 bright red lights on a
dark object that is moving over a field. The object hovers and swings
around, revealing lights of a different color and configuration. When
the girls stop to watch, their car stalls and the radio and lights go
off. It has four glowing lights in the shape of a trapezoid, with red
lights on top and white lights forming the base. The lights appear to be
reflecting off a metal surface. The object starts moving slowly and then
shoots away at high speed. A second car about 3 miles away also sees 7–8
bright lights flying low. (NICAP, “Car
Stalls after Girls See UFO over Field”; “Major
Sighting Wave,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 11 (Jan./Feb. 1967): 3–4;
Raymond Fowler, UFOs: Interplanetary Visitors, Prentice-Hall, 1974,
pp. 138–143)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4163
Date: 1/24/1967
Description: 5:25 p.m. A 14-year-old boy in Yorba Linda, California,
sees an object shaped like a top hat apparently hovering above houses
across the street. It seems large and cylindrical, dull metallic, and
has four legs. He grabs a camera and snaps a photo of the object, which
has started moving away. (Ann Druffel, “The
Yorba Linda Photograph,”
in Charles Bowen, ed., UFO Encounters, special issue no. 5 of FSR,
November 1973, pp. 26–35; UFOEv II 286–287; Patrick Gross, “Yorba
Linda, California, January 24, 1967”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4165
Date: 1/25/1967
Description: Betty Andreasson abduction
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: South Ashburnham, MA
ID: 114
Date: 1/25/1967
Description: Dr. E. U. Condon, scientific director of the Colorado UFO
Project, spoke to the Corning, NY, section of the American Chemical
Society, stating that the government should get out of the UFO business,
since there was apparently nothing to it.
Type: official
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 113
Date: 1/25/1967
Description: Condon gives
a talk in Corning, New York, and says: “It is my inclination right now
to recommend that the government get out of this business. My attitude
right now is that there’s nothing to it … but I’m not supposed to reach
a conclusion for another year.” Keyhoe is
astonished by Condon’s remarks. (“Most
UFOs Explainable, Says Scientist,”
Elmira (N.Y.) Star-Gazette, January 26, 1967, p. 19; UFOs Yes,
117–119)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4166
Date: 1/25/1967
Description: 6:35 p.m. Betty
Andreasson has her first abduction experience in South Ashburnham,
Massachusetts. Placed under hypnosis on several occasions in 1977,
Andreasson relates that following the appearance of the creatures every
member of the family except her enters a state of paralysis “as if time
had stopped for them.” A Christian evangelical, Andreasson thinks they
must be angels. The culminating event is when Andreasson witnesses a
giant phoenix-like bird burn up and reappear from the ashes as a giant
worm. Further hypnotic probing brings forth apparent memories of
lifelong interactions with extraterrestrials. Raymond
E. Fowler’s 1979 book about the case contains the first reference to
an implant in abduction literature, a motif that later becomes much more
common. (Clark III 114–122; Raymond E. Fowler, The Andreasson Affair,
Prentice-Hall, 1979; Raymond E. Fowler, The
Andreasson Affair: Phase Two, Prentice-Hall,
1982; Raymond E. Fowler, The Watchers, Bantam,
1990; Raymond E. Fowler, The
Watchers II, Wild Flower, 1995; Raymond E. Fowler, The Andreasson
Legacy, Marlowe, 1997; Betty Andreasson Luca and Bob Luca, A Lifting of
the Veil, The Authors, 2017; Mark Cashman, “Behavioral Classification
System for UFO Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 19; Marcus
Lowth, “The
Extraordinary Claims of Betty Andreasson,” UFO Insight, March 24,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4167
Date: 1/26/1967
Time: 2100
Description: A Methodist minister was driving on Route 185 near Coffeen
when he saw an object, flat on the bottom, rounded on top, cross the
road silently 100 m away, at low speed. Length, 20 m; height, 3 m.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Coffeen, Illinois
ID: 813
Date: 1/26/1967
Description: 8:30 p.m. The teenage daughter of a lieutenant colonel
residing on a US Army base in Heidelberg, Germany, hears a strange
pulsating sound. She tells her father, and they look out the window to
see a dirigible- shaped object about 50–60 feet long hovering about 150
feet off the ground above a motor vehicle shed. Before long, a crowd of
50–60 people gather around their apartment building to watch the object,
which is only 100 feet away. Some observers with binoculars say it is
metallic and has lights that alternate in red, blue, and green colors.
After about 20 minutes, US Air Force jets approach in response to a call
from the base, and the UFO’s lights increase in intensity and it speeds
away. (“Around
the Globe,” APRO Bulletin, May/June 1967, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4168
Date: 1/28/1967
Time: 1345
Description: Children observed “a little blue man with a tall hat and a
beard” that disappeared in a puff of smoke; they later saw him again,
and heard “foreign-sounding” voices.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 67, 4; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Studham, Great Britain
ID: 814
Date: 1/28/1967
Description: 1:45 p.m. Alex Butler, 10, and five young friends are
playing on Studham Common as they are making their way to Studham Lower
School, Bedfordshire, England. Suddenly a flash of lightning strikes
nearby, and Alex sees a little blue man about 3 feet tall with a high
bowler hat and beard standing motionless on the opposite bank. It is
clothed in a one-piece garment with a broad black belt and black box in
front. A dim glow envelops him, giving him a blue color. The other boys
see it too. They begin to run toward the creature, but it disappears in
a puff of smoke. The little man appears in a different spot, and the
boys start running there, but again he disappears. As the vanishing act
repeats again, the boys hear a deep-toned sound emanating from two spots
nearby. At that point the school bell sounds, and the boys rush off to
class. Miss Newcomb, the school headmistress, interviews the boys and
collects their written reports in a scrapbook (now lost). (R. H. B.
Winder, “The
Little Blue Man on Studham Common,” Flying Saucer Review 13, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1967): 3–4; Theo Paijmans, “In Search of the Little Blue
Man,” Fortean Times 339 (May 2016): 56–57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4169
Date: 1/30/1967
Description: 6:45 p.m. Reinhardt
N. Ausmus and his wife Ruth are
driving north on State Highway 99 in Sandusky, Ohio, when they spot a
bright light in the sky. Stopping their car, they watch it hover for
several minutes before it is suddenly extinguished. (“UFO
over NASA Station,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 12 (March/April 1967):
6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4171
Date: 1/30/1967
Description: 8:04 a.m. Commercial pilot Delton
Schwanz is with his wife Della and
three children 5 miles southwest of Crosby, North Dakota, when they see
a bright-white, sharply outlined, lozenge-shaped object to the west. It
momentarily hovers, then moves in level flight to the left, with a
smooth climb in the southwest. It drops white “strips” of light that
descend vertically and disappears to the south by ascending to about
30°–45° elevation. At around the same time, George Larsen (Larson?) and
Larry Pateof (Pace?) are driving by car 20 miles west of Crosby near the
intersection of Highways 5 and 85 and see a large white light moving
rapidly from west to south dropping something and disappearing suddenly.
(Sparks, p. 321;
Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 73–74)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4170
Date: 1/31/1967
Description: Saunders stops
in at NICAP in Washington, D.C., to pick up some case material. Keyhoe and
Hall show
him a clipping about Condon’s
statements in Corning, New York. Saunders suggests that Condon is
misquoted. But several NICAP members had been in the audience and one
has already resigned to protest NICAP’s support of a sham investigation.
(Clark III 1194)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4172
Date: 2/1967
Description: Soviet cosmologist Felix
Ziegel writes an article revealing that “UFOs have been seen all
over the USSR; the craft of every possible shape, small, large,
flattened, spherical. They are able to remain stationary in the
atmosphere or shoot along at 100,000 kilometers per hour. They move
without producing the slightest sound, by creating around themselves a
pneumatic vacuum that protects them from burning up in our stratosphere.
Their craft have the mysterious capacity to vanish and reappear at will.
Besides, they are able to affect our power resources, putting to a halt
our electricity-generating plants, our radio stations, and our engines,
without, however, leaving any permanent damage. So refined a technology
can only be the fruit of an intelligence that is indeed far superior to
ours.” The article is regarded in the West as the first-ever evidence
that the Soviets are aware of UFO phenomena too. (CIA translation of
Felix Ziegel, “UFOs:
What Are They?” Smena, no. 7 (February 1967): 27– 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4175
Date: 2/1967
Description: Although a UFO wave is in progress, practically no one at
the Colorado project has the knowledge or resources to perform a serious
investigation. Other than Low and
the junior staff, nearly everyone lacks basic equipment, questionnaires,
cameras, or tape measures. (UFOs Yes, 110)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4173
Date: 2/1967
Description: John
A. Keel speaks with USAF Col. George
P. Freeman, who
tells him that “Mysterious men dressed in Air Force uniforms or bearing
impressive credentials from government agencies have been silencing UFO
witnesses.” The Air Force is unable to find out anything about them
because this is a federal offense. (John A. Keel, The Mothman
Prophecies, Tor ed., 1991, p. 25;
Nick Redfern, “MIB
Are Not from the Government,” Mysterious Universe, June 23,
2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4174
Date: 2/1/1967
Description: In Boulder, Colorado, Saunders confronts
Condon, who
confirms the Corning quote and wonders why Saunders is making a fuss.
After 30 minutes, Saunders persuades him that he is having a negative
effect. Finally, Condon writes Keyhoe saying
that his words were taken out of context and that he will look at the
NICAP case files. (Clark III 1194)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4176
Date: 2/1/1967
Time: 2100
Description: Three witnesses independently saw a craft emitting light
signals land a few meters away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 93 (Vallee)
Location: Boadilla del Monte, Spain
ID: 815
Date: 2/2/1967
Description: 6:30 p.m. Capt. Oswaldo Sanvitti is flying a Faucett Perú
DC-4 airliner from Chiclayo to Lima, Peru, when the crew and passengers
notice a bright light coming toward them from the west. Sanvitti
estimates it is about 9 miles away, but it soon reaches the aircraft and
hovers above it. The cabin lights dim, the plane’s compass fluctuates,
and the radio gives off static. The UFO speeds away to the east,
increasing its luminosity by 50%, but reappears 5 minutes later with
another object. Both UFOs trail the aircraft until 5 minutes before it
lands at Jorge Chávez International Airport in Callao. (Lorenzen, UFOs
over the Americas, Signet, 1968, pp. 24–25; Good Above, p. 533;
Patrick Gross, “Aircraft
Encounters with UFOs”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4177
Date: 2/2/1967
Description: Airliner buzzed by maneuvering coneshaped object, took
position above tail. Lights in plane dimmed, radio interference, radio
compass oscillated
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Lima, Peru
ID: 115
Date: 2/5/1967
Description: Evening. A young man in Hilliard, Ohio, hears a strange
noise and a barking dog. He looks up and sees an object approaching at a
low altitude over a road shoulder. It lands on three legs in a field.
The object is egg- shaped and about 75 feet long and 45 feet high. An
“elevator-like” shaft opens and beings emerge carrying small, circular
balls that they place on the ground around the UFO. The human-like
creatures appear to be waiting for something. Then a man approaches from
across the field and talks to them, apparently by telepathy. The witness
accidentally steps on a twig, and the beings hear it. One runs toward
him and catches him by the back of the neck, leaving a burned wound.
Another being comes and both drag him toward the object. As they get
close, the beings look at each other, seemingly panic-stricken. They
drop the witness, collect the balls, and run inside the UFO, which takes
off. (“Startling
Cases Investigated,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 1 (May/June 1967):
6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4178
Date: 2/5/1967
Time: evening
Description: A young man heard a strange noise and a barking dog, and
saw an egg-shaped object land. From an elevatorlike shaft came human
figures that placed small spheres around the craft. A man walked to them
and appeared to speak with the entities. The witness was seen, the
creatures tried to abduct him, and then took off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP May., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Hilliards, Ohio
ID: 816
Date: 2/6/1967
Description: The mission of the Space Defense Center’s
satellite-tracking radar (useless for UFOs) moves from Ent AFB [now the
US Olympic Training Center] in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to “adjacent
to the NORAD command center” (air defense UFO trackers) in Cheyenne
Mountain, Colorado. However, they are separated from each other by
partitions and use separate computers. (Wikipedia, “Space
Defense Center”; Clark III 808)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4179
Date: 2/6/1967
Time: 8:45 PM
Description: Witnesses: Donald and Marie Guseman. One large,
Saturn-shaped object–5O’ in diameter and 20’ high–with two bright
lights, a green light on one side and a red light on the other. Hovered
motionless over the trees, then slowly moved north and suddenly
disappeared after 2 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Odessa, Delaware
ID: 563
Date: 2/8/1967
Description: 6:43 p.m. Mary McCarthy and five of her young nieces and
nephews see a glowing object as they are eating dinner at their farm 3
miles south of Deep River, Ontario. The television immediately stops
working properly. About a quarter of a mile away on a hill is a circular
“craft” with a large core of dazzling, pulsating yellow lights in its
center. From this core, red lights pulsate outward toward the rim,
somewhat like neon lights. They have it in view for 40 minutes. After
the object leaves, the TV starts working again. A Canadian Forces
spokesperson says the lights were airplanes shooting flares in the area.
(Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen,
1979, pp. 124–126)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4180
Date: 2/9/1967
Description: Condon recommends
NICAP’s UFO Evidence to geophysicist Merle
Tuve. (Swords 319)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4181
Date: 2/9/1967
Description: 6:30 p.m. George Kawalski, a section foreman for the Great
Northern railroad, sees an object hovering above the depot in Chester,
Montana, from his home two blocks away. The object disappears straight
up after bathing the depot in light. (“Third
Report of UFOs Heard from Chester Area,” Great Falls (Mont.)
Tribune, February 11, 1967, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4182
Date: 2/10/1967
Description: 7:30 p.m. A couple in Alton, Illinois, sees a round,
rotating, 25-foot diameter luminous object that changes color from red
to white with occasional flashes of green. The object also has white
lights in a triangle on the bottom. It flies, hovers, and passes over
the witnesses. While hovering, a humming or droning sound is heard.
(St. Louis Globe-Democrat, February 11, 1967)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4185
Date: 2/10/1967
Description: 5:30 p.m. Two separate groups of four and three people in
Woodstock, Connecticut, see a triangular object with a white light at
each apex. It is moving with its blunt end forward from northeast to
southwest at 1,000 feet altitude. The object is silent when hovering but
makes a rumbling or roaring sound when it moves. The family TV set
reception is disrupted when it passes by. (Marler 135–136)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4184
Date: 2/10/1967
Description: 3:42 a.m. Erie County Constable Gary Butler is patrolling
in the area of NASA’s Plum Brook Station [now the Neil A. Armstrong Test
Facility] in Sandusky, Ohio, when he sees a bright, bluish disc moving
toward the southwest some 2 miles away. As it was disappearing behind
some trees, he tries to radio in a report, but experiences some
interference. (“UFO
over NASA Station,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 12 (March/April 1967):
6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4183
Date: 2/11/1967
Time: 0145
Description: Miss Hildebrand, 19, and Michael McKee fled when they saw a
large shiny object off the road. Returning to the scene with a
policeman, the found broken branches at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Jan., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Milford, Ohio
ID: 817
Date: 2/12/1967
Time: 3:40 AM
Description: Witness: Mr. Lou Atkinson. Four fluorescent,
football-shaped objects, a dull, almost grey luminous color; flew
northeast in a very rigid formation for 4-10 seconds. Made a chirping
noise.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan
ID: 564
Date: 2/12/1967
Description: Domed disc with revolving lights at bottom edge flew over
car just above phone lines. Later at treetop level, stopped, banked, and
took off
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Wharton, TX
ID: 116
Date: 2/13/1967
Description: 5:58 p.m. Sachio Sakuma is taking photographs of the Moon
with a Petri V6 camera in Tokyo, Japan. On developing one image, he
finds a luminous, oval-shaped object with a slight trail a short
distance above the lunar crescent. (“Report
from Japan,” APRO Bulletin, May/June 1967, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4186
Date: 2/13/1967
Description: 10:00 p.m. Mrs. James Thompson is driving through Bigfork,
Montana, with her two children when her pickup’s engine fails and the
lights go out. Getting out, she sees overhead an intense greenish-blue
light. She feels heat coming from the object. It changes direction
abruptly, veering to the right as it changes to reddish-orange. As it
moves away, the truck starts up on its own. (Brad Steiger and Joan
Whritenour, New UFO Breakthrough, Universal, 1968, p. 40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4187
Date: 2/14/1967
Description: 7:00 a.m. A farmer in Miller County, Missouri, notices that
his cows are all staring in one direction. He goes to investigate and
sees a landed object about 360 feet away. He sees several entities
moving around it, so he picks up some stones and approaches it. From
about 30 feet away, the object looks like a hovering parachute or a
grayish-green shell. The creatures, apparently wearing overalls, scurry
behind the craft and go inside. The farmer throws one stone, but it
stops in midair about 15 feet away and drops to the ground. He throws
the other stone to try to strike the top of the object, but it bounces
off something. When he gets to 15 feet away, he walks into an invisible
wall and can’t see the object at all. (CUFOS case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4188
Date: 2/14/1967
Description: Disc-shaped object in field, small beings moved around
beneath it. Beings disappeared behind shaft, object sped away
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Jefferson City, MO
ID: 117
Date: 2/15/1967
Description: Night. A Guatemalan Aviateca airliner piloted by Col.
Alfredo Castaneda and Col. Carlos Samyoa encounters an object like a
flying top as they are flying over Mexico at 10,000 feet. They put the
aircraft into a sharp turn in order to avoid a collision, just before
the object zooms out of sight. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas,
Signet, 1968, p. 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4189
Date: 2/16/1967
Description: 11:43 p.m. S/Sgt Max Recod and his wife are driving along
Route 66 south of Kingman, Arizona, when they see a formation of four
lights, three red and one green, approaching their car at low altitude.
The lights are attached to an object that emits a light beam from its
bottom center that moves around and illuminates the desert. The lights
disappear, but a few minutes later the UFO reappears from behind a hill
a mile away, followed by two white lights flying in step formation, one
of which lands or nearly lands. The remaining light merges with the
large object. (“Sighting
Evidence Grows,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 3 (Nov./Dec. 1967):
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4190
Date: 2/16/1967
Time: 9:11 PM
Description: Witness: Miss Lynn Marsh. One light with faded edges seemed
to follow observer in her car for 5-6 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Stoughton, Wisconsin
ID: 565
Date: 2/17/1967
Alternate date: 2/18/1967
Description: Around 10:00 p.m. Contactee Stella
V. Lansing takes motion picture footage on a borrowed Keystone 8mm
Capri camera of some yellow-orange lights on Ware Road near the
junctions of Old Warren Road and Flynt Street in Palmer, Massachusetts.
Suddenly a white light shoots upward in a zigzag motion and she is able
to film some of its maneuvers. Subsequent frames seem to show
low-contrast images of four human-like beings apparently conversing.
Lansing is later studied by New Jersey psychiatrist Berthold
E. Schwarz, who finds her repeat UFO sightings, further UFO films,
and photographs showing superimposed clock-like patterns a subject of
some interest. (Story, pp. 202–204;
Berthold Eric Schwarz, “Stella
Lansing’s UFO Motion Pictures,” Flying Saucer Review 18, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1972): 3–12, 20; Berthold Eric Schwarz, “Stella
Lansing’s Movies: Four
Entities and a Possible UFO,” in Charles Bowen, ed., UFO Encounters,
special issue no. 5 of FSR, November 1973, pp. 3–9; Berthold Eric
Schwarz, “Stella
Lansing’s Clocklike UFO Patterns,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 4
(January 1975): 3–9; Berthold Eric Schwarz, “Stella
Lansing’s Clocklike UFO Patterns—Part 2,”
Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 5 (March 1975): 20–27; Berthold Eric
Schwarz, “Stella
Lansing’s Clocklike UFO
Patterns—Part 3,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 6 (April 1975):
18–22; Berthold Eric Schwarz, “Stella Lansing’s
Clocklike UFO Patterns—Part 4,” Flying Saucer Review 21, no. 1 (June
1975): 14–17; Berthold Eric Schwarz, “UFO Contactee Stella Lansing:
Possible Medical Implications of Her Motion Picture Experiments,”
Journal of the American Society of Psychosomatic Dentistry and Medicine
23, no. 2 (1976): 60–68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4191
Date: 2/20/1967
Description: Condon, Saunders, Low, William
Price of AFRSTA(?), and Thomas
Ratchford, USAF senior scientist, visit the CIA’s National
Photographic Interpretation Center in Fort Belvoir, Fairfax County,
Virginia, to meet with its founder Arthur
C. Lundahl and acquaint themselves with the CIA’s analysis
capabilities. NPIC personnel will be available to perform work of a
“photogrammatic nature, such as attempting to measure objects imaged on
photographs,” but it will be strictly technical and no written comments
or documentation is to be made public. After lunch, the group meets in
the Pentagon with Brig. Gen. Edward
B. Giller, director of the AF Special Weapons Center at Kirtland
AFB, New Mexico. (Wikipedia, “Arthur
C. Lundahl”; ClearIntent, pp. 141–142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4192
Date: 2/20/1967
Time: 3:10 AM
Description: Witness: USAF veteran/truck driver Stanton Summer. One
orange-red object flew parallel to truck for 2 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Oxford, Wisconsin
ID: 566
Date: 2/21/1967
Description: 8:30 p.m. Sherry Kohler is driving east on Western Avenue
in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, when she sees a greenish spherical object
with a wispy white trail flying at airplane speed on her right side for
about 10 seconds. A second witness, Richard
R. Dern Sr., sees a similar object about 10 minutes later. (Center
for UFO Studies, [case
documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4193
Date: 2/22/1967
Description: 6:30 a.m. As Mrs. James A. Clevenger stands by her kitchen
sink in Milton, Indiana, her collie dog jumps against the window and
races around, barking and jumping. She notices an oval object with a row
of bright lights. She lets the frightened dog inside and it promptly
hides. She goes out to the end of her front walk and sees the UFO moving
slowly at 100–200 feet altitude, following the course of a creek. She
runs inside and calls her neighbor Mrs. Judd Alford, who can see a ring
of white lights at 200 feet. Her fox terrier runs inside at full speed
and hides under a chair. The object disappears behind trees a few
minutes later. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, p. 34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4194
Date: 2/22/1967
Time: night
Description: G. Grammond saw an object with flashing red and green
lights glide, circle, and land in a field. He saw it again spinning in
the northeast when he came out with two other witnesses 5 min
later.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 67, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Chippenham, Great Britain
ID: 818
Date: 2/23/1967
Time: 1030
Description: Mrs. Rice and Mrs. Weston were talking on the phone when
they were surprised to hear a very strong sound and saw an object flying
low over their area. A third person saw the object, and many heard it.
The snow was swirling under it. The object was mushroom-shaped,
supported a dome with a fin, was greenish, and left toward the Severn
River.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 170 (Vallee)
Location: Linstead, Maryland
ID: 819
Date: 2/23/1967
Description: Lt. Col. Robert
Hippler says that Secretary of the Air Force Harold
Brown has established the policy that all USAF information on UFOs
classified up to and including Secret is to be provided to the
University of Colorado project. (NICAP, “Declassification
of UFO Reports”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4195
Date: 2/24/1967
Description: Approximate date. An engineer from Osorno, well-known
locally, saw an object touch down and a strange being, 1.50 m tall,
emerge, wearing a transparent suit. He had a very white face and white
hands, a pronounced jawbone, and no apparent nose. Seeing the witness,
he got back inside the machine, which took off at great speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 59; Vuillequez (Vallee)
Location: Riachuelo, Chile
ID: 820
Date: 2/24/1967
Description: A well-known engineer in Osorno, Chile, sees a disc-shaped
object land near him. Seconds after touching down, a strange being,
about 4.5 feet tall and wearing a transparent outfit, emerges. It has a
white face and hands, a pronounced jawbone, and no neck. When it sees
the man looking, it gets back into the object and takes off. (Lorenzen,
UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4197
Date: 2/24/1967
Description: Paul
Santorinis, civil
engineer of the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, gives a
lecture to the Greek Astronautical Society, stating that a “world
blanket of secrecy” surrounds UFO reports and describes his experience
with ghost rockets over Greece in 1946. (Good Above, p. 23;
Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, p. 117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4196
Date: 2/25/1967
Description: 7:50 p.m. Two teenage boys in Fargo, North Dakota, see a
round or disc-shaped brightly illuminated object only a few feet in
diameter. It moves higher, accelerates, and flies away to the northeast.
(Fargo (N.Dak.) Forum, February 25, 1967; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO
Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, p. 56;
Center for UFO Studies, [Hynek
correspondence], pp. 27–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4198
Date: 2/26/1967
Description: and some other countries. 6:30-9:30 P.M. Objects with
streams of lights, erratic motions. No USAF unknowns or Colorado Project
cases for this date. Suspected extraordinary phenomenon (meteor train?)
or military maneuvers.
Type: sighting
Type: natural phenomenon
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Across U.S
ID: 118
Date: 2/27/1967
Time: 8:19 PM
Description: Witnesses: Sheriff Grysen, wife and others. Large white
light, with smaller red and green lights seen to the sides. Made almost
instantaneous 90^ turn to left, shot out over road and stopped, moving
too fast to follow. Sighting lasted 1 hour, 11 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Grand Haven, Michigan
ID: 567
Date: 3/1967
Description: 11:00 p.m. A luminous hemispherical object is seen over Dry
Creek Basin, San Miguel County, Colorado, moving slowly, then
accelerating. The witness’s car engine, radio, and lights experience
interference. (Condon, pp. 295–297)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4206
Date: 3/1967
Description: 11:00 a.m. A group of students at the Ramón Martín Middle
School in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, watch a triangle-shaped object above a
nearby mountain. It has a cupola on top and flies around silently before
vanishing. (Jorge Martín, “Triangular
UFOs over Puerto Rico,” Flying Saucer Review 44, no. 3 (Autumn
1999): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4205
Date: 3/1967
Description: Cuban air defense radar controllers report a UFO
approaching Cuba from the northwest, moving at 660 mph at an altitude of
33,000 feet. Two MiG-21s are scrambled and are guided to within 3 miles
of the object. The flight leader radios in that the UFO is a bright
metallic sphere with no visible markings. He is unable to establish
radio contact with it and Cuban air defense orders him to shoot it down.
The flight leader reports that his radar is locked and missiles ready.
Seconds later, a wingman screams into the radio that the flight leader’s
MiG has disintegrated. The UFO then accelerates and climbs above 90,000
feet, heading towards South America. The US 6947th Security Squadron
headquartered at Homestead AFB [now Homestead Air Reserve Base] in
Miami–Dade County, Florida, is monitoring the incident and sends a
report to the NSA at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland. NSA orders the
squadron to ship all tapes and data to them and list the airplane loss
as “equipment malfunction.” The details sound like it might be the CIA’s
Oxcart A-12, the Air Force version of which is the SR-71, which are
known to overfly Cuba. (NICAP, “The
1967 Cuban Jet Incident”; ClearIntent, pp. 195–201;
“1967: Two Cuban Jets Pursue a UFO, the UFO Destroys One Jet,” IUR 3,
no. 9 (September 1978): 11–13; Good Above, pp. 421– 422)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4204
Date: 3/1967
Description: Day. Augusto Arranda is taking photographs of the scenery
in the Huascarán mountains near Yungay, Peru. He takes three photos of a
disc-shaped object and one photo showing two objects. A Kodak employee
sends one to ufologist Richard Greenwell, and APRO obtains the other
three in 1969 from Eastman Kodak’s International Division. The
circumstances of the sighting remain unknown. (Patrick Gross, “The
Yungay Photographs, Peru, 1967”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4203
Date: 3/1967
Description: Michel M. Jaffe, a ham radio operator in Mountain View,
California, begins publishing Data-Net Report, a UFO newsletter for
radio enthusiasts that continues to 1973. (Data-Net
Report, no.
1 (March 1967))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4202
Date: 3/1967
Description: Members of the Colorado project visit APRO headquarters;
the Lorenzens give
them some case leads that are never followed up because they are old.
(Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 196)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4201
Date: 3/1967
Description: Low calls
Keyhoe and
reveals that none of the Blue Book cases have been spot-checked for
inaccuracies because “Condon hasn’t
found any AF explanations he considers untrue.” Low later visits NICAP
in Washington and Keyhoe asks him how many NICAP cases he has examined.
Low says, “Probably four or five.” Low says he ultimately hopes to
review 85–90 cases. (Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, p. 120)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4200
Date: 3/1/1967
Description: Lt. Gen. Hewitt T. Wheless, USAF, sends notice to all
branches of the military warning of persons imitating military officers
and harassing private citizens and confiscating UFO photos.
Type: notice
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Dayton, OH
See also: 3/21/66
Date: 3/1/1967
Description: Lt. Gen. Hewitt
T. Wheless, USAF
assistant vice chief of staff, circulates a memo on “Impersonations of
Air Force Officers,” which outlines Rex
Heflin’s accounts of the NORAD impostor and another case in which it
reports that “a person in an Air Force uniform approached local police
and other citizens who had sighted a UFO, assembled them in a school
room and told them that they did not see what they thought they saw and
that they should not talk to anyone about the sighting.” All USAF
personnel hearing about such incidents should report them to AFOSI.
(ClearIntent, p. 237)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4207
Date: 3/1/1967
Description: Many residents of Valparaiso, Chile, watch four bright
domed objects, flashing blue and red lights, move south to north above
the city. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4208
Date: early 3/1967
Description: Low writes
a position paper that expects the Colorado project will fail to support
the ETH. Before sharing his paper with project members, he shares his
views in talks with the Rand Corporation, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and
Boeing. Despite his attempts to “build the record,” the project’s
failure to move quickly has forced it to prepare a proposal to extend
its contract. (UFOs Yes, 130–133)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4199
Date: 3/2/1967
Description: 10:25 a.m.–1:30 p.m. Two radars at White Sands Missile
Range, New Mexico, plot 20 silver objects, radar blips at an altitude of
7 miles. A news blackout is invoked by the military. Twenty-nine people
report seeing one or more objects in groups, ranging in appearance from
silvery objects flying overhead to a saucer-shaped object. Intermittent
unexplained radar targets are seen during this time. (NICAP, “Two
Radars Plot 20 Objects”; Condon, pp. 150–151, 291–295;
Sparks,
p. 322)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4209
Date: 3/2/1967
Description: Radar-visual sightings of three to four silvery discs
traveling about 2,000 mph. News blackout invoked by military
Type: sighting
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: White Sands Missile Range, NM
ID: 119
Date: 3/3/1967
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Fellows were driving toward Sandwich when they
saw a lighted object going up and down, turning from white to greenish
blue, and following their car for 20 min until they reached Route 113.
It left to the northeast. They reported feeling an “electric discharge”
as it left, and their dog was very nervous during the observation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Mar., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Red Hill, New Hampshire
ID: 821
Date: 3/4/1967
Time: 2400
Description: The Sodestrom family obsered two plate-shaped objects, one
30 m in diameter, the other smaller and gray in color. They hovered at
20 111 altitude for 15 min. The object left with a hushed whistling
sound, illuminating the forest with intense light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 171 (Vallee)
Location: Vilhelmina, Swedish Laponia
ID: 822
Date: 3/5/1967
Description: Night. The Russell Carter Jr. family is traveling about 10
miles east of Hayes, South Dakota, on US Highway 14 when a bright light
follows their car. The V-shaped object approaches from far away and is
lower than the telephone wires, bathing the road and an area around the
car in a brilliant light. They hear a humming sound and experience a
feeling of numbness at its closest approach. (“Pierre
Family Sees UFO in Hayes Area,” Rapid City (S.Dak.) Journal, March
7, 1967, p. 1; “Car
Followed by Flying Object,” APRG Reporter, no. 56 (May 1967):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4213
Date: 3/5/1967
Description: ADC radar at Minot AFB, North Dakota, tracks an
unidentified target descending over the Minuteman ICBM missile silos of
the 91st Strategic Missile Wing. Base security teams see a metallic,
disc-shaped object ringed with bright flashing lights moving slowly,
maneuvering, then stopping and hovering about 500 feet above the ground.
The object circles directly over the launch control facility. F-106
fighters are scrambled, but at that moment the object climbs straight up
and disappears at high speed. (NICAP, “Disc
Hovers 500ʹ over Missile Silos / ADC Radar
Confirms”; Sparks,
p. 322; Donald E. Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet, 1974,
pp. 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4212
Date: 3/5/1967
Description: 5:30 p.m. John and Miriam Coyle take a series of six photos
of a silvery UFO at Hallam, Victoria, Australia. The object circles them
slowly. (“U.F.O.
Photographed over Hallam,” Australian Flying Saucer Review, no. 7
(September 1967): 15; Keith Basterfield, Vladimir Godic, and Pony Godic,
“Australian Ufology: A Review,” JUFOS 2 (1990): 25–26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4211
Date: 3/5/1967
Description: 1:25 a.m. Lenny and Tommy Söderström are returning home to
their farm in Lövåsen, Vilhelmina, Sweden, when they notice a
“spaceship” behind a barn. They rush inside and wake their parents and a
sibling. Looking through the kitchen window, they see a dark,
cigar-shaped object, 82–130 feet wide, silhouetted against the sky.
Wobbling slightly on its axis, it hovers 24 feet in the air. After
someone turns on the kitchen light, the UFO shoots off toward the north,
emitting a whistling sound, as a smaller object appears from behind it.
This UFO is a silvery globe about 20–40 feet in diameter; it turns and
approaches the farmhouse. When it passes above a power line, it stops
and hovers for 4 minutes. It takes off toward the northeast. (“Two
from Sweden,” APRO Bulletin, March/April 1967, p. 9; Clas Svahn, “Skräcknatten
i Vilhelmina,” Riksorganisationen UFO-Sverige; Clark III
246–247)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4210
Date: 3/5/1967
Description: Radar tracked object descending over missile sites,
security teams saw disc with flashing lights hover about 500 feet off
ground. Object departed straight up
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Minot AFB, ND
ID: 120
Date: 3/6/1967
Time: 4:25 AM
Description: Witness: Deputy Sheriff Frank Courson. One object shaped
like a rubber cup which is placed under furniture leg, with a dome set
in the cup. Bottom of object spun rapidly, rim pulsated red. Approached
witness and passed overhead at low altitude, making a hieeing
sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Galesburg-Moline, Illinois
ID: 569
Date: 3/6/1967
Time: 12:01 AM
Description: Witnesses: Jerome Wolanin, assistant news director of radio
station and former policeman, and wife. One round saucer or oval-shaped
object with red, green and yellow lights around bottom rim which
pulsated red. Flew level, east to west, and was joined by second object
from west. First object opened top, second came over and hovered for 30
seconds and disappeared. Sighting lasted more than 40 minutes. Objects
made hissing sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Benton Harbor, Michigan
ID: 568
Date: 3/7/1967
Description: 12:30 a.m. Lucille Drzonek and her daughters, ages 24 and
17, are driving northwest on US Highway 20 just past Keeneyville,
Illinois. Their beagle is with them. They see a solid object, estimated
at 15 feet in diameter, outlined in bright white lights and with two big
beams in front. As it nears the ground it takes on a disc shape and
begins flashing red and green lights. The beagle is so frightened that
its hair stands up straight on its back. As they turn off the highway
toward Bartlett, Illinois, the object descends into a woods, lighting
the trees with a red glare. It projects two white light beams into the
rear window of their car. As they pull into their home, the UFO is
hovering about 10 feet above a tree in their yard. A strange, localized
gray mist appears and when it dissipates the UFO is gone. The beagle is
visibly upset for the next two days. A veterinarian suggests he might
have heard a noise inaudible to humans. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I.
R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 34–35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4214
Date: 3/8/1967
Description: Many people in Comas, Peru, watch 15 discs circle
noiselessly low above town for 15 minutes. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the
Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4216
Date: 3/8/1967
End date: 3/9/1967
Description: Domed circular object with red body lights approached
witnesses, gave off burst of brilliant white light, hissing sound,
accelerated away
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Henderson and Galesburg, IL
ID: 121
Date: 3/8/1967
Time: 0105
Description: Two persons observed deep fog in the vicinity of a cemetery
and saw a light in the center, coming from an object hovering 100 m
above ground. Thinking it was a fire, the witnesses stopped. Paralysis
and ignition interference were then noted while the object, about 13 m
in diameter, oscillated and then departed with a whirring sound. It took
about 20 min for the witnesses to recover muscular coordination.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Mar., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Leominster, Massachusetts
ID: 823
Date: 3/8/1967
Description: 1:05 a.m. Mr. and Mrs. William L. Wallace are returning
home to Leominster, Massachusetts, when they pass through a dense fog
near St. Leo’s Cemetery and notice a bright light on the left. Wallace
turns the car around and heads back for a closer look. The glow is from
a light that is hovering 400–500 feet above the cemetery. Intrigued,
Wallace places the car in neutral, pulls the emergency brake, and steps
outside. As he points toward the light, something pulls his arm back and
drops it on the roof of the car, which then stalls and the electrical
system goes out. He remains immobile for more than 30 seconds even as
his wife is trying to pull him back. As the lights and radio come back
on, the UFO rocks back and forth, rises with a humming sound, and
disappears. Wallace goes back into the car, which now starts normally.
Wallace still feels “slow and sluggish” on the drive back, and he
collides with the garage door as he pulls into his driveway. They return
to the cemetery 10 minutes later, but the fog is gone. (“Driver
Shocked, Paralyzed,” UFO Investigator 3, no. 12 (March/April 1967):
7; Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 7–8; Michael D. Swords, “Can UFOs Cause Physiological Effects?
Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 10; Clark III 251; Randle, Levelland,
2021, pp. 139–142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4215
Date: 3/9/1967
Time: 9:05 PM
Description: Witness: Jack Lindley. One bright white, saucer-shaped
object, as big as a jet airliner, flew straight and fast to the east for
2 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Onawa, Iowa
ID: 571
Date: 3/9/1967
Time: 7:10 PM
Description: Witnesses: two housewives. One object shaped like a pancake
with a rounded top; object was pulsating red, with red lights around its
rim. Approached witnesses and seemed to explode with a brilliant white
light that lasted 10 seconds and almost blinded them. Then it
accelerated to the north and disappeared.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Galesburg, Illinois
ID: 570
Date: 3/9/1967
Description: 9:05 p.m. Jack Lindley sees a bright white saucer-shaped
light, as big as an airliner, fly straight and fast to the east over
Onawa, Iowa. (Sparks,
p. 323)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4217
Date: 3/9/1967
Time: 2100
Description: Three witnesses observed an object as they were driving on
Route 2. It was round, hovered at rooftop level, left suddenly at high
speed. Its size was that of a car, and the underside showed several
lights.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Follansbee, Virginia
ID: 824
Date: 3/11/1967
End date: 3/13/1967
Description: Night. Red, green, and white lights are observed in the air
by several witnesses at Tillamook, Oregon, including police and
sheriff’s deputies. Radar contact is made in the same area as the visual
sightings by the radar station at Mount Hebo Air Force Station [now
closed]. On March 11, objects are observed for one hour. On March 12,
they are again observed for one hour. On March 13, the objects are seen
for four hours and 35 minutes. The radar returns show hovering and rapid
movement of the targets. The visual sightings also show rapid movement
of the objects at times. One radar sighting shows a rapid distance
change from 39–48 miles within one minute. (NICAP, “Colored
Lights and Radar Returns”; Condon, pp. 122–123)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4218
Date: 3/12/1967
Description: 7:15 p.m. Larry Burke sees an object with red, green, and
white flashing lights southwest of McIntosh, South Dakota. He picks up
three friends—Dick Makens, Junior Edinger, and Charles Warren—to go
investigate. On a country road one mile west of town they see four
blinding, fluorescent-green lights low above the road ahead. As they are
driving up a hill, the car engine stops. Frightened, they let the car
coast back down the hill, and the engine starts again. The witnesses
disagree on the size, shape, and altitude of the lights. (“Car
Buzzing Incidents on
Increase,” APRO Bulletin, May/June 1967, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4219
Date: 3/12/1967
Description: A boy who had gone outside to buy a newspaper saw an object
resembling an inverted mushroom hovering 10 m above ground. It was not
larger than a car, took a 45 (degree) orientation, oscillated, and left
to the northwest. Three photographs were reportedly taken.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Rochester, Minnesota
ID: 825
Date: mid 3/1967
Description: Night. Future UFO researcher Robert
Hastings has a part-time job as a janitor in Malmstrom AFB near
Great Falls, Montana. One night as he is cleaning out the Radar Approach
Control center, one of the FAA controllers calls him over to look at 5
unidentified targets that two jet fighters have gone up to intercept.
Soon he is asked to leave and clean the room later. Later on, he hears
that the targets ascended vertically, leaving the jets far behind, and
that the incident takes place in the Judith Basin area many miles to the
south. (Nukes 6–7, 279, 282–286)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4220
Date: 3/16/1967
Description: 7:00 p.m. Beryl
Dux sees two white cloud-like objects over Belvedere, New Jersey.
She calls her sister Olive to watch, and suddenly a dull orange object
comes out of the cloud on the right. It is spinning rapidly and
descending quickly, but it goes into the white cloud on the right. The
two clouds merge and vanish gradually. (Herbert S. Taylor, “Mystery
Clouds and the UFO Connection,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4222
Date: 3/16/1967
Description: Security guards saw glowing red disc hover near missile
site, weapons shut down
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Malmstrom AFB, MT
ID: 122
Date: 3/16/1967
Description: 8:30 a.m. At the Malmstrom AFB Echo-Flight missile launch
facility between Winfred and Hilger, Montana, 1Lt Walter Figel, deputy
crew commander of the Missile Combat Crew, sees one of his Minuteman
missiles go into “no-go” status. He calls the missile site to see if
there is scheduled maintenance and is told no. The guard tells him of a
large, round object over the site. Within seconds, the nine other
missiles shut down. Strike teams are dispatched to the two Launch
Control Centers, where maintenance and security personnel tell them
about the UFOs. The missiles are offline for the greater part of the
day. (Robert Salas and James Klotz, Faded Giant, BookSurge, 2005; Robert
L. Hastings, “The
Echo and Oscar Flight Incidents,” UFOs & Nukes, November 12,
2012; Nukes 254–258, 265–268)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4221
Date: 3/20/1967
Time: 2245
Description: A man and his daughter saw two lights that they thought
were landing lights on aircraft, but they came to ground level, flew
straight toward the car, and suddenly vanished. At the same time, five
figures appeared about 3 m away. They had narrow, pointed noses, mouths
and eyes like slits, blond hair, rough skin, and were dressed in loose
“hunterlike” clothes. Witnesses drove away as fast as they could.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Butler, Pennsylvania
ID: 826
Date: 3/20/1967
Description: 11:00 p.m. A man and his daughter living in Butler,
Pennsylvania, take the car out to go looking for lights his wife had
seen in the sky earlier. After stopping with the car lights off for a
while, he sees two yellowish-white globes of light at 200 feet altitude,
which start moving toward the car in a parallel course. The objects
descend a quarter mile away, then shoot toward the witnesses at 70–80
mph. The daughter hears a “chorus of voices” in her head saying “don’t
move” repeatedly. The man switches on the headlights, the lights
disappear, and the voices stop. Moments later, 10 feet from the car,
they see five figures standing in an irregular semicircle. The man gets
into the car but the daughter continues staring at the figures, which
have slits for eyes and mouths. All have long blond hair and are wearing
something like baseball caps. They wear loose-fitting clothing. The
witnesses drive away quickly and go to their minister’s home. (Robert A.
Schmidt, “Humanoids
Seen at Butler,” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1968):
5–6; Clark III 277–278)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4223
Date: spring 1967
Description: Night. Centenary College Instructor John O. Williams has
taken his astronomy class to an open field on the Shreveport, Louisiana,
campus to observe the sky. The see a bright orange light precisely due
west of them at an elevation of about 30° approaching at a modest
angular rate of 1° per second. It remains silent even as it passes above
them. A second light, much fainter and blue in color, is following it.
The second light turns away and moves south into the distance. The
orange light continues eastward, then performs a tight 180° turn and
returns to their zenith. It accelerates west and disappears from view.
After about 20 minutes it disappears, followed by a thread of rippling
blue light. The thread breaks into 7–8 individual blue lights, which
exit in several directions. (John O. Williams, “Louisiana Lights in
1967,” IUR 22, no. 4 (Winter 1997–1998): 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4239
Date: spring 1967
Description: The United Aerial Phenomena Agency begins publishing Flying
Saucer Digest, edited by Allan J. Manak in Cleveland, Ohio. Rick
Hilberg takes over as chief editor in 2003. It continues until at
least fall 2017. (Flying Saucer
Digest 1, no. 1 (Spring 1967))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4238
Date: spring 1967
Description: Psychologist David
R. Saunders, a
principal investigator for the Colorado project, launches UFOCAT, a
computerized database of UFO cases, after researcher Jacques
Vallée gives the project 3,000 cases from his own collection.
Saunders codes the cases with such parameters as source, date, time,
location, state and county, country, witness names, age, gender, special
features, duration, and other elements. (Center for UFO Studies, “UFOCAT-2009”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4237
Date: 3/21/1967
Description: A Brazilian military aircraft with 14 passengers encounters
a glowing-red, oblong object over the state of Rio Grande do Sul,
Brazil, while on its way to Salgado Filho Airport near Gravataí. The
control tower operator there alerts pilots of a Cruzeiro do Sul aircraft
coming in from the southwest. Minutes later these pilots see apparently
the same object, which follows them for 25 minutes before zipping up
into the sky. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968,
pp. 58–59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4224
Date: 3/21/1967
Description: Night. Mary Beth Neufeld and three other teenagers are
driving on US Highway 56 one mile west of Hillsboro, Kansas, when they
see a bright object “like an upside-down cup on a saucer.” They start
driving toward it, but it approaches them and hovers above the car for a
few seconds. The car starts rocking and the engine quits. When the UFO
leaves, they are able to start it up again. (“Car
Buzzing Incidents on Increase,” APRO Bulletin, May/June 1967,
p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4225
Date: 3/22/1967
Time: 10:20 PM
Description: Witness: Douglas Eutsler, 15. Fluorescent, solid,
multicolored lights stood still, then flew away at high speed after 1
minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Wapello, Iowa
ID: 572
Date: 3/22/1967
Description: 11:00 p.m. Ann-Lis Danielsson is driving home to Tjuvkil,
Västra Götaland, Sweden, when she notices a greenish illumination
outside her car. Slowing down, she sees a disc about 15 feet in diameter
hovering 500 feet away at an altitude of 1,500 feet. It begins to circle
the area slowly, rising and sinking and giving off a whining noise.
After pacing her for 15 minutes, it climbs vertically with an
oscillating motion. (“Girl
Reconnoitred by Disc,”
APRO Bulletin, March/April 1967, p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4226
Date: 3/24/1967
Description: 9:00 p.m. Truck driver Ken Williams driving northwest on US
Highway 87/89 sees a dome-shaped object emitting a bright light land in
a ravine near Belt, Montana. As he approaches, it takes off and settles
back, hidden from the highway. Numerous other reports come in from this
area. At dawn, police and a helicopter from Malmstrom AFB conduct a
search without success. (NICAP, “Dome-Shaped
Object Lands in Ravine”; Sparks, p. 323;
Robert L. Hastings, “Remarkable Reports from the Missile Field,” IUR 32,
no. 1 (August 2008): 9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4231
Date: 3/24/1967
Description: Late evening. An airman with the Malmstrom AFB Oscar-Flight
Launch Control Center for the SAC USAF 341st Strategic Missile Wing
south of Roy, Montana, sees a star-like object zigzagging high above
him. Soon, a larger and closer light appears and behaves similarly. He
calls his NCO and the two men watch as the lights streak through the
sky, maneuvering in impossible ways. The NCO phones his commander, 1Lt.
Robert
Salas, who is below ground in the LCC. Salas is dubious and tells
them to let him know if they get any closer. A few minutes later the NCO
calls him again and shouts that a red, glowing UFO is hovering outside
the front gate. Salas tells him to make sure the site is secure while he
phones the command post. Meanwhile, one of the guards is injured when he
approaches the UFO and has to be evacuated by helicopter. As Salas
briefs Lt. Fred
Meiwald, an alarm rings through the small LCC and both men see a
“no-go” light turn on for one of the missiles. Within seconds, 4– 7 more
Minutemen nuclear ICBMs go offline in succession. The USAF investigation
includes full-scale tests on- site, as well as lab tests at Boeing’s
Seattle plant. No cause for the shutdown can be found. (“‘Echo
Flight’ Missile Incident”;
Sparks, pp. 4,
323; Jim Klotz and Robert Salas, “The
Malmstrom AFB UFO/Missile Incident,” November 27, 1996; Robert L.
Hastings, “Remarkable Reports from the Missile Field,” IUR 32, no. 1
(August 2008): 9–10; Robert Salas and James Klotz, Faded Giant,
BookSurge, 2005; Nukes 259–263, 268–277; Kevin D. Randle, “Robert
Salas and Me,” A Different Perspective, May 19, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4230
Date: 3/24/1967
Description: 10:45 a.m. An astronomer at the Catalina Station
observatory on Mount Bigelow 18 miles northeast of Tucson, Arizona, sees
a white oval disc the apparent size of the moon moving silently in a
straight line from northwest to northeast. It slowly changes from an
elongated shape to a more circular one. He estimates its speed as 600
mph, size as 230 feet, and distance as 6–12 miles. It disappears after
50 seconds. (“Astronomers and UFO’s: A Survey, Part 2, Sightings,” IUR
2, no. 4 (April 1977): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4229
Date: 3/24/1967
Description: Numerous reports came from this area, including one of a
landing observation. At dawn, police and a Malmstrom AFB helicopter made
a search, with negative results.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Belt, Montana
ID: 827
Date: 3/24/1967
Time: 99 PM
Description: Witness: truck driver Ken Williams. One dome-shaped object,
emitting a bright light, landed in a ravine. As the witness approached,
it took off and settled back, hidden from the highway. Sighting lasted
several minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Belt, Montana
ID: 573
Date: 3/24/1967
Description: 8:45 a.m. An airline pilot watches a small silvery-white
disc hovering for 10 minutes above Los Alamos, New Mexico. Then it moves
across the sky and disappears into clouds. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO
Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, p. 64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4228
Date: 3/24/1967
Description: 5:30 a.m. USAF S/Sgt Johnny Ferguson is traveling with his
wife and three children near Loco, Texas, where they are terrified by a
mysterious bright blue-neon light that chases them at high speed along
the road. It finally splits into two, changes to a reddish color, and
disappears behind a hill. Ferguson reports the incident to Deputy
Sheriff George
Hooten, then drives into nearby Wellington. (Curt Collins, “Contact
in Texas: The Lost UFO
Photos,” Blue Blurry Lines, November 18, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4227
Date: 3/25/1967
Time: dawn
Description: An intensely luminous object woke up several residents.
People in trains going toward Acapulco and people traveling by car saw
the same phenomenon. It came to ground level with a blinding light, then
took off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 177 (Vallee)
Location: Iguala, Mexico
ID: 828
Date: 3/26/1967
Time: 2045
Description: Mr. and Mrs. John Dick and Mrs. W. Buhr were driving toward
Gretna. Near three radio towers situated 3.5 km south of Altona, they
saw a very bright object at ground level, illuminating the countryside
with a pink glow. The object itself was dark, with a luminous band
around it, was motionless and pulsated, then suddenly disappeared.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 173 (Vallee)
Location: Altona, Canada
ID: 829
Date: 3/26/1967
Time: 4 PM
Description: Witnesses: man, woman, three boys. One oval object, which
looked like copper or brass with the sun shining on it, flew from
southeast to northwest with tumbling motion for 30 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: New Winchester, Ohio
ID: 574
Date: 3/26/1967
Description: 4:00 p.m. Five witnesses in New Winchester, Ohio, see an
oval object, like copper or brass with the sun shining on it, fly from
southeast to northwest with a tumbling motion. (Sparks,
p. 323; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, p. 74)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4232
Date: 3/27/1967
Description: Day. The crew of a Brazilian Air Force C-47 and the crew of
a Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul photo- mapping aircraft see a UFO in
the vicinity of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The BAF crew
describes it as a “reddish-colored full moon” that is flying in circles.
They report the sighting to the tower at Salgado Filho International
Airport, which asks the mapping aircraft to identify the object. The
Cruzeiro plane follows the UFO for 15 minutes before it disappears.
(Good Above, p. 311)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4233
Date: 3/28/1967
Description: 2:25 a.m. Electrical worker David
Morris, 20,
is driving home to Munroe Falls, Ohio, from nearby Kent when he sees a
glowing red-orange object shaped like an inverted cone hovering just
above the ground. The object is about 12 feet wide at the base and 25
feet high, with a ball-shaped object at its top. Looking at the road
ahead, Morris sees four or five large-headed humanoids moving rapidly
back and forth about 50 feet ahead. He slams on his brakes, but it is
too late. He feels a thump against the right front corner of his car and
sees an arm with a thumbless mitten fly up, then down. The car stops 10
feet later; Morris thinks about providing assistance, but the
otherworldliness of the situation causes him to get away quickly. In his
rearview mirror he sees a group of the entities position themselves
around something lying on the ground. In the morning, Morris finds three
dents in the front bumper and right headlight ring of his car. (“Youth’s
Car Strikes UAO Occupant,” APRO Bulletin, March/April 1967, pp. 1–4;
Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP, 1969, pp. 28–29; Clark III 782–783)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4234
Date: 3/28/1967
Description: A second briefing for Robert
Low by NORAD analysts effectively diverts researcher attention away
from NORAD’s 500 defense radars and onto its useless handful of space
defense satellite-tracking radars and cameras (referred to as
“spacetrack” and are the least likely to detect UFOs). Low tries to find
out if NORAD can help with identifying satellites that might be
misreported as UFOs and whether NORAD can’t track a UFO entering the
atmosphere from outer space (or just aren’t), but the analysts are
evasive. NORAD says its satellite-tracking radars (with non-ballistic
maneuvering and erratic flight paths) actually can “see” UFOs, but no
one will ever know because the data that does not fit satellite or
ballistic trajectories are thrown out automatically by system computers.
No mention is made of NORAD’s high priority for not ignoring
unpredictable, UFO-like maneuverable cruise missiles or hypersonic space
planes. This discussion is distributed as a briefing paper to all
Colorado project members on June 6, including Condon. (Clark
III 804–810)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4235
Date: 3/31/1967
Description: 10:30 p.m. Farmer Carroll Wayne Watts reportedly sees a
cylindrical object about 100 feet long that is hovering just off the
ground near Loco, Texas, and emitting a motor-like sound. A voice
addresses him from within the object requesting that he undergo a
physical examination so that he can go on a flight. When Watts refuses
to do so, the craft takes off. Watts has another encounter, an apparent
abduction, on April 11. In a series of other experiences and sightings,
on June 7, 11, and 13, he manages to take Polaroid photographs. In all,
he haw 10 photographs of the cylindrical UFO in flight, and another shot
of a little man from the ship. Most of Watts’s pictures are black and
white, but at least three of them are shot in color. He later admits the
observation is a hoax. (“Another
UFO Visit Reported from Loco,” Wellington (Tex.) Leader, April 6,
1967, p. 1; Curt Collins, “UFO Contact:
April 1, 1967, from Loco, TX,” Blue Blurry Lines, March 31, 2017;
Kevin D. Randle, “Carroll
Wayne Watts
Contact/Abduction,” A Different Perspective, April 25, 2020; Curt
Collins, “Contact
in Texas: The Lost UFO
Photos,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, November 18, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4236
Date: 3/31/1967
Description: Three strange objects, a bright, orange light emitting a
shower of green sparks, and two smaller sources, were seen in a field.
No details.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 67, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Hanley, Great Britain
ID: 830
Date: 3/31/1967
Description: Carroll Watts contactee case. Cylindrical craft hovering
just above ground, voice communicated with witness
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Wellington, TX
ID: 123
Date: 4/1967
Description: Brinsley
Le Poer Trench founds Contact (UK) in London, England, to promote
contact between ufologists internationally. It launches a newsletter
first called International Sky Scouts Newsletter, then retitled
Awareness, which continues through 2012. (International
Sky Scouts Newsletter, no.
1 (April 1967); Story, p. 89)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4240
Date: 4/1/1967
Time: 2000
Description: Two boys saw an orange disk, less than 1 m in diameter,
flying at high speed, stop and hover for three min, 20 m above ground.
Chief of Police Peter Mehan confirmed that the sighting was under
investigation.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 174 (Vallee)
Location: New Westminster, Canada
ID: 831
Date: 4/4/1967
Description: The Federal Aviation Agency issues N 7230.29, requiring air
traffic controllers to forward UFO reports to the Colorado project. (US
Federal Aviation Agency, “Reporting
of Unidentified Flying Objects,” FAA Notice N 7230.29, April 4,
1967)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4241
Date: 4/4/1967
Description: Carlo Cammarata watches a metallic object about 100 feet in
diameter hovering some 20 feet above the terrace of his house in San
Cataldo, Caltanissetta, Sicily, Italy. He also sees three humanoids
wearing silvery suits and green belts with lights on them. They seem
interested in the birds Cammarata is keeping caged on the terrace,
touching them occasionally. They ascend into the object on a luminous
beam and speed away. (1Pinotti 157)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4242
Date: 4/4/1967
Description: FAA Notice N7230.29 published, establishing procedures for
“Reporting of Unidentified Flying Objects” to the Colorado UFO
Project.
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 124
Date: 4/5/1967
Description: 7:45 p.m. Justice of the Peace John H. Demler is driving
north on State Highway 72 just south of Lickdale, Pennsylvania, when his
car’s engine sputters and stops and the lights go out. He sees an object
approaching about 20 feet above the road. It is about 30 feet across and
looks like “it had lights in back of a painted black glass.” It flies
over the car as Demler lowers his window and he notices a smell of
sulfur and oil. It emit a sound like an electric motor, which grows
louder as it leaves the area. The UFO shoots off sparks similar to that
of “grinding on an emory wheel.” The UFO comes to a stop alongside the
car, tilts, starts off slowly, then puts on such a terrific burst of
speed that Demler and his automobile seem to be pulled to it. The car
settles down so fast that he is moved all the way across the front seat.
When he looks up again, the object has “turned to a bluish tinge” and is
far in the distance. The next day, the skin on his hands and feet begin
to peel and Demler is a nervous wreck. His coworkers confirm he is in a
state of physical or psychological shock for many hours. (“Startling
Cases Investigated,”
UFO Investigator 4, no. 1 (May/June 1967): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4243
Date: 4/5/1967
Description: Jonestown/Lickdale, PA. Disc passed over car, gave off
sparks, car rocked, engine failed, humming sound heard. Sulphur-like
smell. Physiological effects
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: medical
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 125
Date: 4/5/1967
Time: 1945
Description: Justice of the Peace John H. Demler was driving north on
Route 72 when his car stalled and the lights went out. He then saw an
object, 10 m in diameter, which gave off a smell of sulphur and
camphorated oil, hovering low over the car, which was pulled and rocked
when the object took off. Physiological effects (perspiration and
peeling skin) were reported after 12 hours. The object gave off a sound
resembling an electric motor, and emitted sparks.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP May., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Jonestown, Pennsylvania
ID: 832
Date: 4/6/1967
Description: 9:45 p.m. A Pacific Western Airlines pilot and crew see a
dull orange-red object that flies erratically as it paces the aircraft,
then speeds away. Confirmed by radar at Edmonton, Alberta, International
Airport. (Condon, pp.
130–131)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4246
Date: 4/6/1967
Description: 12:45 p.m. Robert Apfal, a teacher at Crestview Elementary
School in Opa-locka, Florida, is in the schoolyard with six students,
facing northeast. They spot a metallic, slightly reflective, disc-shaped
object hovering about 60 feet above the ground over a telephone pole
about one mile away. The object disappears as they watch. (Lorenzen,
UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 112)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4245
Date: 4/6/1967
Description: The Arizona Daily Wildcat publishes an interview with James
E. McDonald, who says he has found “almost no correlation between
so-called ‘evaluations or explanations’ that are made by Blue Book and
the facts of the case.” He adds that the good cases have been “swept
under the rug in a most disturbing way by Project Blue Book
investigators and their consultants” and that “nobody there with any
strong scientific competence is looking into the problem.” (“The UFO
Phenomenon: A New Frontier Awaiting Serious Scientific Exploration,”
Arizona Daily Wildcat 58, no. 110 (April 6, 1967): 4–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4244
Date: 4/6/1967
Time: 1245
Description: An entire class at an elementary school observed an object
20 m above ground, 2 km away. It vanished suddenly as the children and
their teacher, 33-year-old Robert Apfel, were watching it.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 176 (Vallee)
Location: Crestview, Florida
ID: 833
Date: 4/7/1967
Description: 10:00 a.m. Some 200 children at morning recess at Crestview
Elementary School in Opa-locka, Florida, see an oval-shaped object
hovering above some trees to the north of the school. It seems to move
toward the school and then drop below a pine tree. Some of the kids
notice an antenna-like structure, while others think there are two
objects. The UFO is also seen by teachers Virginia Martin, Marian
Waters, and Robert Apfal, who has his students sketch what they had
seen. The drawings depict a turreted structure in the treetops. The Air
Force claims a helicopter is in the area practicing takeoffs and
landings. (“10
Chaotic Minutes, and the Kids Screamed,” Miami Herald, April 8,
1967, p. 1-B; “AF
Says ‘It’ Was Copter; People Who Saw It Say No,” Miami Herald, April
11, 1967, p. 1-B; NICAP, “Teachers,
200 Children See UFO in Broad Daylight”; “The
North Dade Affair,” APRO Bulletin, March/April 1967, p. 10;
Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 112)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4247
Date: 4/7/1967
Time: 0945
Description: More than two hundred children and three teachers saw an
oval object, with a light at each end, come to ground level. Several
other objects also were seen, moving up and down with a pendulum
motion.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 67, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Crestview, Florida
ID: 834
Date: 4/8/1967
Description: Four college students on a double date in Banner Elk, North
Carolina, notice a greenish fluorescent glow on the ground 180 feet
away. Their car engine fails and the radio is flooded with static. An
object passes near the car and disappears into the distance. The
witnesses panic then push the car to a main road where they are able to
restart it. They find three round imprints, about 6 inches in diameter
and 2 inches deep, in the shape of an equilateral triangle. (Fred
Merritt, “A Preliminary Classification of Some Reports of UFOs,” IUR 28,
no. 3 (Fall 2003): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4248
Date: 4/10/1967
End date: 4/11/1967
Description: A bright white object circles one Minuteman launch site
near Malmstrom AFB, Great Falls, Montana, for prolonged periods. It
eventually ascends to an altitude higher than the capabilities of Air
Force interceptors. The local radio station is told to keep quiet about
it. (Raymond Fowler, Casebook of a UFO Investigator, Prentice- Hall,
1981, p. 187)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4249
Date: 4/12/1967
Description: 8:59 p.m. In Phoenix, Arizona, a bell-shaped object
approaches a car from the left side, glowing red-orange with
yellow-orange pulsations. It hovers over a streetlight, then makes a
pass at the car. At that point, the car engine stops. The UFO banks
eastward, then westward, and flies away. The three witnesses continue
their trip and see the same object eight more times, plus another
whitish object. The car engine continues to operate normally throughout
the remaining sightings. (Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS, 1981, p. 34; Randle,
Levelland, 2021, p. 142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4250
Date: mid 4/1967
Description: Dusk. Gary Statenberg is working with a tractor on Jamie
Ediger’s farm in Dayton, Oregon, when he sees an object moving
toward him down the river basin at about 500 feet altitude. It stops,
descends to 100 feet, and hovers about 600–700 feet away. He shuts off
the tractor but can hear no sound coming from the object, which has red
flashing lights around its base. There is a small dome with portholes on
the top. Suddenly it takes off to the north, the lights changing to
green as it does so. Statenberg returns home badly shaken. (Robert Low
papers, American Philosophical Society, June 14, 1967)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4251
Date: 4/16/1967
Description: Businessman Guillermo Roldan and his daughter Chichita see
a glowing, egg-shaped object fly across the sky above Boraure,
Venezuela, at great speed. It stops abruptly then descends and lands.
Roldan rushes toward the spot, but the object takes off at high speed.
(Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4252
Date: 4/16/1967
Description: Guillermo Roldan, his daughter, and other persons saw a
glowing, egg-shaped object fly across the sky at high speed, stop
suddenly and descend to ground level. As the witnesses rushed toward the
area, the object took off at very high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 60 (Vallee)
Location: Boraure, Venezuela
ID: 835
Date: 4/17/1967
Description: 9:00 p.m. School principal John L. Metz and three teachers
in separate cars are driving home in Jefferson City, Missouri, and see a
350–400 foot, bluish-white, WWI-helmet–shaped object come over the
Missouri River bluff and move directly above their cars, bathing them in
intense light. Metz observes it through 8x binoculars. The object hovers
above power lines for about 10 minutes then heads toward the airport.
Two smaller objects emerge from its base; they are disc- or
helmet-shaped and the size of a DC-3. Metz drives to the airport on
Highway 94 and finds two more witnesses. Jefferson City Memorial Airport
employees watch a flat, circular, star- like orange light flashing an
intermittent red-blue through a 30x 40mm telescope around 9:40–10:08
p.m. The Ozark Airliner Flight 319 crew sees two large round objects
moving in various directions below their airplane during its final
landing approach. (Sparks, p. 324;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 110–111)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4254
Date: 4/17/1967
Description: 2:20 a.m. SP4 Robert M. Harkinson of the US Army’s 524th
Military Intelligence Detachment is stationed in Saigon [now Ho Chi Minh
City], Vietnam, when he sees five bright-white, oval-shaped objects
traveling in close formation at high speed across the sky. They flash by
in about 5 seconds and disappear behind a cloud. He estimates their
speed to be about five times that of any jet aircraft. About 5 minutes
later, he sees several jets flying on the same course as the objects.
(John J. Stahl Jr., “Unidentified
Flying Objects,” case report, April 17, 1967)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4253
Date: 4/21/1967
Description: 8:55 p.m. Clifton
N. Crowder, manager
of the Mobil Chemical Company warehouse in South Hill, Virginia, leaves
the warehouse and starts home. About 50–75 yards down a narrow asphalt
highway his headlights fall on an object 400 feet away on the road
ahead. It is pewter-colored, shaped like a storage tank, about 12 feet
in diameter, and 15–16 feet high. It is standing on legs about 3–3.5
feet long. He switches to his bright lights and the object belches a
white burst of flame from the bottom and ascends rapidly. Meanwhile, the
road is on fire. After it dies out, Crowder drives to South Hill and
contacts police. They return and find a kidney-shaped black spot on the
road, about 3 feet wide at the widest point. William T. Powers,
assistant to J.
Allen Hynek of Northwestern University, arrives on the scene to
examine the spot. Using kerosene, gasoline, and a blowtorch, he attempts
to simulate the black spot, but has no luck. Where each leg of the
machine rested he finds two spike holes, similar to those made by
football cleats. They are about 6 inches apart, 7/8 inch in diameter,
and about one inch deep. The four feet are about 11.5–12 feet apart and
the diagonals are 16 feet 1 inch and 16 feet 6 inches, respectively.
Powers concludes that the center of gravity is above the firepoint and
notes that the intersections of the diagonals deviate 2 degrees from
90°. (“South
Hill, Va. Landing,” APRO Bulletin, May/June 1967, p. 11; Sparks,
p. 324; Fred Merritt, “A Preliminary Classification of Some Reports of
UFOs,” IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 10; Gordon Lore, Flying Saucers from
beyond the Earth: A UFO Researcher’s Odyssey, BearManor, 2018,
pp. 60–64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4258
Date: 4/21/1967
Description: Coup d’état in Greece. Although there are persistent rumors
about an active support of the coup by the US government, there is no
evidence to support such claims. The timing of the coup apparently
catches the CIA by surprise. (Wikipedia, “Greek
military junta of 1967”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4257
Date: 4/21/1967
Description: Robert
J. Low issues a position paper that outlines, after months of
discussions and briefings, a framework for the Colorado project’s goals
and procedures. It includes acquiring data on new cases, contracted
reviews on such special topics as radar and mirages, a special section
on photo cases, and a statistical treatment of bulk data. He divides the
research question into three tiers: “Are there really sightings that are
unexplained?” “Are any of these external stimuli solid objects?” and
“Are any of these objects extraterrestrial spaceships?” He asks the
group to discuss criteria for answering those questions. (Swords
317–318)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4256
Date: 4/21/1967
Description: 1:30 a.m. Two couples see an unexplained light near
Ephrata, Washington, and chase it in their car. They came upon a UFO
sitting on the road and have to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting it.
The object takes off, moves behind the car, and follows it for 5
minutes, then disappears as traffic became heavier. The witnesses are
badly shaken by the experience. (NICAP, “The
1967 UFO Chronology”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4255
Date: 4/21/1967
Time: 2100
Description: Mr. Crowder was driving home when he saw an object on the
road 70 m away. Supported by four legs, it was a vertical cylinder, 5 m
in diameter, with a half-sphere on top. It was gray and its base was 1 m
above the pavement. When the witness turned his high beams on, the craft
gave off a vertical light and vanished. The road burned for 15 min.
Mr. Martin, who lived nearby, also observed the light. Holes, traces of
burns, and calcined matches were noted at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: South Hill, Virginia
ID: 836
Date: 4/21/1967
Description: Lyrid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 126
Date: 4/22/1967
Description: At the annual meeting of the American Society of Newspaper
Editors in Washington, D.C., James
E. McDonald says
of Donald
Menzel, “when he comes to analyzing UFO reports, he seems to calmly
cast aside well-known scientific principles almost with abandon, in an
all-out effort to be sure that no UFO report survives his attack.” He
also says, “I have learned from a number of unquotable sources that the
Air Force has long wished to get rid of the burden of the troublesome
UFO problem and has twice tried to ‘peddle’ it to NASA—without success.”
(James E. McDonald, “UFOs:
Greatest Scientific Problem of Our Times?” April 22, 1967; Clark III
699; “Our
Speaker(s) Tonight: James E. McDonald, Donald H. Menzel, Hector
Quintanilla,” Saturday Night Uforia)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4259
Date: 4/22/1967
Description: American Society of Newspaper Editors sponsors panel
discussion on UFOs at its annual meeting in Washington, DC. Panelists
included Dr. James E. McDonald, Dr. Donald Menzel, and Maj. Hector
Quintanilla.
Type: newspaper article
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 127
Date: 4/24/1967
Description: After reading a March 7 column by Drew
Pearson that alleges the US attempted to assassinate Fidel
Castro, President
Johnson directs
CIA Director Richard
Helms to conduct an investigation. The result is a 133-page report
by CIA Inspector General John
S. Earman, transmitted
on April 24 to Helms, that clearly shows the CIA was in contact with and
cooperated with Maj. Rolando
Cubela Secades of the Cuban military in plans to assassinate Castro.
The operation is known as Project AMLASH. After receiving the report,
Helms orally briefs the President about its contents. According to his
testimony before the Select Committee, when asked if he has told the
President “that efforts to assassinate Fidel Castro had continued into
Johnsonʼs presidency, Helms replied, ‘I just can’t answer that, I just
don’t know. I can’t recall having done so.’” (US Department of State,
Office of the Historian, “Document 315,” in Foreign Relations of the
United States, 1964-1968, Volume XXXII, Dominican Republic; Cuba; Haiti;
Guyana)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4260
Date: 4/26/1967
Time: 2100
Description: Brian Dorscht saw a dark object, measuring 1 m in diameter
and 1.5 m in height, with flashing green and white lights. When 1 m
above ground, six legs came out, and it landed on a lawn near the
National Grocers Company. The whirring sound the object was making
stopped, and the witness became afraid and ran away. Police found six
prints at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 177; SS&S; Summer, 67 (Vallee)
Location: Kitchener, Canada
ID: 837
Date: 4/27/1967
Time: 2200
Description: Four boys with binoculars observed an object come lower
with oscillating motions, illuminating the woods 1 km away. It was
concshaped, with a blue underside, and a top that changed from red to
orange to white.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Atic (Vallee)
Location: Green Lake, Wisconsin
ID: 838
Date: 4/28/1967
Description: 11:30 a.m. Brian F. Jenkins and seven other coast guards at
Brixham, Devon, England, watch a huge, cone- shaped object through 25x
binoculars mounted on a tripod. The object is hovering at 15,000 feet
and seems to be revolving. Jenkins says the cone is pointing down, and
the object seems made of glass or highly polished metal: “Near the
bottom there was a triangular-shaped opening or door with a white rim on
the top that reflected a lot of sunlight. The bottom was crinkled, very
white, and seemed to consist of strips of metal hanging down.” It drifts
to the northwest, rising to 22,000 feet and 8 miles away. At 12:40 p.m.,
a jet aircraft approaches it, flies above it, passes it, turns, and
approaches it from below before it disappears from sight. Possible
balloon. (“British Radar/Visual
Case,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 1 (May/June 1967): 8; Good Above, pp. 60–62)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4262
Date: 4/28/1967
Description: Condon recommends
J.
Allen Hynek and Richard
H. Hall to Encyclopedia Britannica as excellent persons to write UFO
entries. (Swords 319)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4261
Date: 4/29/1967
Description: 7:40 p.m. Ian McGregor and two other oil drillers drive out
to an airstrip near Mount Whaleback, Western Australia, to look for a
UFO that has been appearing in the area for several nights. Toward the
southeast a bright haze appears that turns into an inverted cone of
light that is followed by an orange disc that rises vertically, turns on
its edge, and approaches them. They flash their headlights and the
object stops moving. It then returns in the direction it came from and
lands in the same spot. Their compasses are not working accurately. They
wait iuntil 11:30 p.m., but do not see it again. (L. J. Locke, “UFOs
in Western Australia: From Mayanup to Mt, Newman,” Australian Flying
Saucer Review, no. 8 (1968): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4263
Date: 5/1967
Description: The CIA launches the Phoenix Program in Vietnam to gather
information on the Viet Cong, whose members would then be neutralized
(captured, converted, or killed). Emphasis for the enforcement of the
operation is placed on local government militia and police forces,
rather than the military. Heavy-handed operations—such as random cordons
and searches, large-scale and lengthy detentions of innocent civilians,
excessive use of firepower, torture, and targeted killings—have a
negative effect on the civilian population. Between 1968 and 1972,
Phoenix “neutralizes” 81,740 people (26,369 are killed) suspected of
belonging to the National Liberation Front. The reported torture is
carried out by South Vietnamese forces with the CIA and special forces
playing a supervisory role. (Wikipedia, “Richard
Helms”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4264
Date: 5/1967
Description: Evening. A farmer near Holbæk, Denmark, is working outside
when he sees a strange lilac-colored light. Approaching, he sees a domed
object with windows. Something is moving behind it. He goes home but
returns to the spot the next day and finds an odd substance. It looks
like “cotton wool,” but is finer than cotton. He leaves it in the same
spot, but it dissipates over the next three days. There is also a
depressed area where the object had been, and some wire is pulled away
from some pylons. (“Denmark:
Flying Saucer Landed in a Field outside ‘Holbak’?????”
Saucer Scoop 2, no. 4 (July 1967): 4; Michael D. Swords, “Angel Hair:
Spindrift between Worlds,” IUR 32, no. 1 (August 2008): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4268
Date: 5/1967
Description: Evening. A woman in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, sees a
light shining through her basement window. Across the street she notices
a large object beaming with three colored lights and rotating. She goes
outside with another woman and watch the slight slowly spin for 20
minutes above a neighbor’s house. When she tries to call the neighbors,
all she gets is a busy signal, and when she looks outside again, the
object is gone. The next day, the neighbor tells her that there was
nothing wrong with the phone and that all evening she had been playing
cards with friends and talking about UFOs. (Michael D. Swords,
“Timmermania: A Step Too Far into the Timmerman Files?” IUR 27, no. 4
(Winter 2002–2003): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4267
Date: 5/1967
Description: 12:30–3:15 p.m. During a reconnaissance exercise in
Madagascar, a detachment of 23 officers and men serving with the French
Foreign Legion watch a bright object landing in a “falling leaf” motion.
When it touches down on tripod legs, the glow dissipates. The egg-shaped
craft is 23–26 feet high and has no visible markings except for openings
at the base through which flames are visible. The witnesses seem
paralyzed or at least extremely distracted while the UFO is on the
ground. When they recover their senses, they find that 2.75 hours have
elapsed. For 2 days afterward, they all have violent headaches, a
buzzing in their ears, and a throbbing in their temples. (H. Julien, “A
1967 Landing in Madagascar,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 1 (June
1977): pp. 29–30; Good Need, pp. 297–298)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4266
Date: 5/1967
Description: A man identifying himself as Maj. Richard French visits a
woman in Owatonna, Minnesota, who has had a UFO encounter the previous
November. He is 5 feet 9 inches with an olive complexion and hair too
long for an Air Force officer. He is wearing a fashionable gray suit,
white shirt, and black tie. At one point, French complains of stomach
problems, and the woman recommends Jell-O. He says he will return if the
symptoms persist, so he shows up the following morning. The woman sits
him down with a bowl of Jell-O, which he tries to drink. “I had to show
him how to eat it with a spoon,” the woman tells John
A. Keel. (John
A. Keel, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse, Manor Books ed., 1976, pp. 171–173;
Clark III 734)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4265
Date: 5/1967
Alternate date: 6/1967
Description: A couple captures on an 8mm film camera 10 frames (2.5
seconds) of footage of an unusual object at Alberton, South Australia.
The UFO is enveloped in a striking blue light that gives the appearance
of a searchlight moving around its circumference. The developed film
appears to show a craft with portholes and a sweeping searchlight.
(David Reneke, “The
Australian UFO Photo File,” UFO Research Australia Newsletter 2, no.
4 (July/Aug. 1981): 10–15; Keith Basterfield, Vladimir Godic, and Pony
Godic, “Australian Ufology: A Review,” JUFOS 2 (1990): 26; Patrick
Gross, “The
Alberton UFO Footage, Australia, 1967”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4269
Date: 5/1/1967
Description: Night. A man’s car engine fails while he is driving near
Peeltree, West Virginia. He sees a 40-foot-long elliptical object emerge
from behind a shed and hover 15 feet from his car. It tilts toward the
car at a 30° angle. He hears static on the radio, and the dashboard
temperature gauge goes off the dial. He feels an intense wave of heat
when he puts his head out the window, and his hands burn when he touches
the horn rim and dashboard. He also reports headaches and a partial loss
of vision. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference
Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4271
Date: 5/1/1967
Description: The Colorado project issues a press release calling for
photos of UFOs taken by private citizens and provides recommendations to
the photographers and the information it should include. The release is
basically a rewrite of a document prepared by NPIC staff and approved by
Lundahl on
March 24. (Peter A. Sturrock, The UFO Enigma, Warner, 1999, p. 48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4270
Date: 5/4/1967
Description: Eta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 128
Date: 5/5/1967
Description: Indonesian Air Marshal Roesmin
Noerjadin admits that sometimes UFOs pose a problem for the
country’s air defense, and sometimes the military is forced to fire on
them. (Good Need, p. 254)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4273
Date: 5/5/1967
Description: Condon,
Low, Hartmann, Ratchford,
and Charles Reed of the National Research Council are briefed by an
unnamed specialist [probably Everitt L. Merritt of the Autometrics
Division of the Raytheon Company of Alexandria, Virginia] at the NPIC on
a photogrammetric analysis he had carried out on the November 1966 UFO
photo case from Roseville, Ohio. The analysis debunks the photo. The
committee is again impressed with the technical work performed, and
Condon remarks that for the first time a scientific analysis of a UFO
will stand up to investigation. (Wikipedia, “Arthur
Lundahl”; E. L. Merritt, “Photogrammatric
Analysis of a Non-Synchronous Pair
of U.F.O. Exposures,” June 1967; Peter A. Sturrock, The UFO Enigma,
Warner, 1999, pp. 48–49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4272
Date: 5/6/1967
Description: 11:00 a.m. A mechanical engineer and his daughter are
driving on the Durango–Mazatlán Highway in Mexico. They spot a
disc-shaped object landed on the ground off the highway. They stop the
car and he takes three photos as the object takes off. The first photo
shows the object at treetop level, partially hidden by a tree, with a
portion of its landing gear visible. The second object shows the object
in flight against a clear sky. The third photo shows nothing. (Lorenzen,
UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 65)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4274
Date: 5/6/1967
Time: 1100
Description: A mechanical engineer and his daughter saw a disk-shaped
object on the ground off a highway. They stopped the car and took three
photos of the object as it was taking off. The first one showed the
object at treetop level, the second showed it in flight, and the third
photo missed the object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 65 (Vallee)
Location: Durango, Mexico
ID: 839
Date: 5/7/1967
Time: 0200
Description: Ricky Banyard, 14, saw a strange object in the sky and
followed it with a friend, Glenn Coates, through binoculars. It hovered
near a cemetery, making a hushed whistling sound and illuminating the
ground with a vertical beam of light. The object left suddenly with a
roar similar to that of a jet, and a series of “bangs.” Stones were
found calcined at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 178 (Vallee)
Location: Edmonton, Canada
ID: 840
Date: 5/7/1967
Description: 2:00 a.m. Ricky Banyard, 17, and four others watch and
follow a spherical object with a spinning top and bottom and with red
and green lights for 4 hours in Edmonton, Alberta, in the Mount Pleasant
Cemetery. As it hovers at about 200 feet, a light beam comes from the
bottom of the object, illuminating the ground. They hear a muffled
whistling noise as the object hovers, then a screaming noise like a jet
engine starting up. All its lights go out, and the object takes off in a
flurry of explosive sounds. Black streaks are later found on the charred
road surface. (“A
UFO in Detail,” Edmonton (Alberta) Journal, May 8, 1967, p. 33; “Eerie
Object in Graveyard,” APRO Bulletin, May/June 1967, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4275
Date: 5/7/1967 (approximate)
Description: A couple are driving through the state of Tabasco, Mexico,
when they see a bright point of light in the sky. It descends to a spot
about 500 feet away and gives off an intense white-orange light from its
cone-shaped body. The couple stops and shuts off their headlights. When
the object approaches closer, the man turns the headlights on again. The
UFO stops in midair and blinks its light off and on twice. The couple
become frightened and drive to the nearest town. Several people return
with them to the spot and the object is still there. When they turn
their headlights off and on, it approaches them. Some of the men run to
the object with weapons raised, and it takes off into the sky within
seconds. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4276
Date: 5/9/1967
Description: In a field which belonged to the Mayor, Mr. Maillotte, a
depression was discovered, and blue powder was found in small trenches
radiating from that area. A formidable weight seemed to have rested at
the spot. No radioactivity.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 179 (Vallee)
Location: Marliens, France
ID: 841
Date: 5/10/1967
Description: Richard
Helms goes to the White House to give President Lyndon
Johnson the answers to the questions he’d been asked seven weeks
earlier. The only account of that meeting is Helms’s own. He says he
described the [inspector general’s] conclusions and that Johnson said:
“Then you were not responsible for Trujillo, ‘No.’
Correct answer. ‘Diem?’
‘No.’ Correct answer. ‘Castro, he’s
still alive, okay.’” At the same meeting Helms also tells Johnson about
the mail interception program “and some other things that were going
on.” Johnson’s response to that was equally laconic; he just nodded and
said something along the line of, ‘But be careful, don’t get caught.’”
(Thomas Powers, The Man Who Kept the Secrets: Richard Helms and the CIA,
Random House, 1979, pp. 156–157)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4277
Date: 5/11/1967
Time: 0200
Description: Michael Campeadore, 25, a hospital employee, was driving to
Salt Lake City when he heard a noise similar to that of a truck, but saw
nothing. Then a yellow light became visible to the left, and thinking
that it was a jet plane about to crash, he got out and saw it stop 30 m
away at 30 m altitude. It was shaped like an inverted bowl with a dome
on top and looked metallic. The witness became afraid and emptied his
.25 Beretta in the direction of the craft. He heard the bullets hit
metal and the object took off at great speed. When he told his story at
a nearby service station, the attendant replied that about 20 reports
had been made in the Saint George area recently.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 180 (Vallee)
Location: Saint George, Utah
ID: 842
Date: 5/13/1967
Description: 4:40 p.m. An object is picked up on radar at the Colorado
Springs, Colorado, airport. A Braniff flight is coming in for a landing
on runway 35. The track of the object behaves like a ghost echo, perhaps
a ground return being reflected from the Braniff aircraft. The blip
appears at about twice the range of the Braniff blip. When the Braniff
airliner touches down, however, the situation changes radically. The UFO
blip pulls to the right (east) and passes over the airport at an
estimated height of about 200 feet. The object track passes within 1.5
miles of the control tower. The object is not visible even through
binoculars by personnel in the control tower. The Colorado project finds
this to be one of the most puzzling radar cases on record. (NICAP, “Invisible
UFO Tracked on Radar”;
Condon, pp. 170–171, 310–316)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4279
Date: 5/13/1967
Description: 1:43 a.m. Michael Campeadore is driving in Arizona about 17
miles southwest of St. George, Utah, when he hears a loud humming sound.
After stopping the car and getting out, he notices a huge object, 45–50
feet in diameter, hovering 25–30 feet above him. He reaches into the car
and gets a .25 caliber pistol, loads it, and fires point blank at the
object. He hears the bullets hit and ricochet as they strike. Before he
has finished the clip, the object begins moving off and disappears in
seconds. (“Car
Buzzing Incidents on Increase,” APRO Bulletin, May/June 1967,
p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4278
Date: mid 5/1967
Description: 11:00 p.m. Patricio Hanessian and Alfredo Padilla are
driving in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, and see a flat-bottomed,
domed object in the sky. The central part is bright white and the edge
is bright pink or red. It holds its position for 2–3 minutes then moves
away, reappearing about 500 feet in front of their car, where it hovers
for 2 minutes before speeding off. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas,
Signet, 1968, pp. 60–61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4280
Date: 5/16/1967
Description: Roman and Jose Arribas observed an object land in a pine
forest north of Nieva-Segovia. They saw “people” enter the ashcolored
craft, which took off straight up, at high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 89 (Vallee)
Location: Nieva-Segovia, Spain
ID: 843
Date: 5/16/1967
Description: 10:10 p.m. Ship Master Donald W. Dee and 3rd Mate Homer
Hawthorne, seamen Earle Bradley and Eric Koster, all crew of the Pacific
Coast Transport ship SS Point Sur, see six red point-source lights that
seem to be pacing the ship over the Gulf of Mexico. One object is
confirmed by sporadic radar returns as at 12,000 feet, 11 miles away.
Through 7 x 50 binoculars, the objects appear brilliant yellow with red
lights across upper two-thirds, but to the naked eye, the colors blend
to reddish-orange point sources. They pulsate with a 4.5-second period
and an approximate 1:3 brightness ratio. The lower objects rise and fall
near the horizon. (NICAP, “SS
Point
Sur Case”;
Sparks, p. 325)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4282
Date: 5/16/1967
Description: CIA Director Richard
Helms makes one last pitch for the A-12 Oxcart program to President
Johnson,
saying the aircraft are essential for finding the SAM missile launch
sites responsible for shooting down pilots in North Vietnam. They can’t
want for the Air Force’s SR-71 to become operational. Johnson authorizes
A-12’s to deploy to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, before the
monsoons start. (Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 265–266)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4281
Date: 5/17/1967
Time: 8:30 PM
Description: Witness: Red Ledford. One round, orange-colored object,
similar in size to a small aircraft, zigzagged back and forth over a jet
that was heading northeast for 5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Rural Hall, North Carolina
ID: 575
Date: 5/17/1967
Description: The first official Soviet UFO Study Group is launched in a
preliminary meeting at the Moscow Aviation and Cosmonautics Center with
Maj. Gen. Porfiri Stolyarov at the helm and cosmologist Felix
Ziegel as his deputy. Also in attendance are Heinrich Ludwig, Nikolai
Zhirov, Igor
Bestuzhev-Lada, Valentin
Akkuratov, Leonid Reino, Georgi Uger, Georgi Zevalkin, Grigory
Sivkov, Yekaterina
Ryabova, and Natalia
Kravtsova. (Wikipedia,
“Felix
Ziegel”; Good Above, p. 570;
Felix Ziegel, “Unidentified
Flying Objects,” Soviet Life, no. 137 (February 1968): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4283
Date: 5/20/1967
Description: 12:15 p.m. Stefan
Michalak is quartz prospecting near Falcon Lake, Manitoba, when he
sees two red, glowing, cigar-shaped objects in the sky. One object
begins to hover then move away, while the other lands on a large, flat
rock 160 feet away. The landed object is more than 35 feet wide and 10
feet thick with a 3-foot high cupola. It goes through several color
changes then appears like hot stainless steel with blinding
purple-colored lights coming through slits in the cupola. It is making a
whirring sound and warm air seems to be coming from it. Michalak sits
and sketches the object for 30 minutes, then a small door opens on the
side, revealing a lighted interior. Michalak walks to 60 feet away and
hears voices inside. Thinking it is a US aircraft, he steps forward and
shouts. “Okay, Yankee boys, having trouble? Come on out and we’ll see
what we can do about it.” He says the same thing in five other
languages. There is no response, so he puts green lenses over his
glasses and looks inside, where he sees a series of flashing lights. He
pulls his head back, noting that the wall is 18 inches thick. Almost
immediately the opening closes. When his glove accidentally touches the
surface, it burns and melts. The UFO angles upwards and he sees a 9-by-6
inch gridlike vent with a uniform pattern of small holes. A blast of hot
gas erupts from the grid, searing his chest, sending him reeling
backwards, and burning his shirt and undershirt. He rips the flaming
clothing off just as the UFO ascends in a rush of air. It heads off to
the west, the same direction the other UFO has gone. Michalak now has a
headache and severe nausea, so he starts driving back to his motel. He
eventually gets to Misericordia Hospital in Winnipeg and receives a
sedative. His chest burn heals, but the gridlike burn lesions on his
abdomen persist. The symptoms continue well into 1968, when Michalak
visits the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, staying there 2 weeks
and undergoing outpatient treatment. He relocates the landing site on
June 30, 1967, and the RCAF visits it in July, noting a 15-foot circle
of cleared vegetation on the flat rock. Michalak obtains metal samples
of unknown provenance from the site in 1968. (Wikipedia, “Falcon
Lake Incident”;
NICAP, “Falcon
Lake / Michalak Encounter”; Stephen Michalak, My Encounter with the
UFO, Osnova, 1967; Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969,
pp. 195–198; Condon, pp. 316–324;
Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen,
1979, pp. 37–45; Chris Rutkowski, “The Falcon
Lake Incident, Part 1: Prologue 1967,” Flying Saucer Review 27, no.
1 (June 1981): 14–16; Chris Rutkowski, “The
Falcon Lake Incident, Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review 27, no. 2
(August 1981): 15–18; Chris Rutkowski, “The
Falcon Lake Incident, Part 3,” Flying Saucer Review 27, no. 3
(November 1981): 21–25; Chris Rutkowski, “Burned by a UFO? The Story of
a Bungled Investigation,” IUR 12, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1987): 21–24; Edward
M. Barker, “Letter,” IUR 13, no. 2 (March/April 1988): 21–22; Good
Above, pp. 195–200;
Chris Rutkowski, “The Falcon Lake Case: Too Close an Encounter,” JUFOS 5
(1994): 1–34; Don Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus,
UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 81–86;
Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn
Press, 2006, pp. 72–93; Chris Rutkowski, “The Cold, Hard Facts about
UFOs in Canada,” IUR 34, no. 1 (September 2011): 10, 22; Clark III
475–481; Chris Rutkowski and Stan Michalak, When They Appeared: Falcon
Lake 1967, August Night, 2019; Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 107–118, 154–157)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4284
Date: 5/20/1967
Description: Witness approached landed object, violet light, rushing air
sound, voices heard. Experienced severe burns on chest, weight loss, and
vomiting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: medical
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Falcon Lake, Manitoba, Canada
ID: 129
Date: 5/20/1967
Description: A bizarre announcement is published in the Spanish
newspaper Informaciones declaring that soon a spacecraft will land in
Madrid, Spain, and fly earthbound terrestrials back to their home planet
Ummo. (Clark III 1184)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4285
Date: 5/20/1967
Time: 1213
Description: Polish-born Steve Michalac, 52, industrial mechanic and
prospector, saw two redglowing objects flying at high speed. One of them
blew vegetation as it landed, surrounded by a glow, and it was observed
for 30 min before a door opened, showing a purple light. A high-pitched
sound and an odor resembling a burning electrical circuit were noted.
Approaching, the witness heard voices, and upon touching the craft, he
burned his rubber-coated glove, and was “blown out” by hot air when the
subject started spinning. The witness felt dizzy, suffered minor face
burns, second and third degree burns on his chest, vomited frequently
for 4 days, and lost over 10 kg. Diameter of craft, 11 m; height, 3 m,
with a 1-m-high superstructure.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 60; Condon 316 (Vallee)
Location: Falcon Lake, Canada
ID: 844
Date: 5/22/1967
Time: evening
Description: A teacher, 45-year-old Mr. Tyrode, saw a glow, then an
object shaped like an inverted plate emitting a greenish-blue light. It
flew less than 20 m above his car, at 40 km/h.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 94 (Vallee)
Location: Evillers, France
ID: 845
Date: 5/24/1967
Time: 2300
Description: Remy Deneuville and his family saw a white light to the
side of the road, but it was turned off when they drove within 150 m of
its location. Minutes later, they saw a luminous spherical object fly
away for several minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: GEPA Dec., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Arbonne, France
ID: 846
Date: 5/26/1967
Description: 10:15 p.m. Three teenagers (Bobby Grant, Joseph Romero, and
Johnny Sanchez) are driving along Atrisco Drive NW, north of Central
Avenue in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A white light seems to follow them,
weaving back and forth over the road. Finally it catches up with the car
and hovers silently above it. The engine quits and the headlights fail.
The teens leap from the car and the object suddenly flies off to the
southwest. They can start the car again. (“Car
Buzzing Incidents on Increase,” APRO Bulletin, May/June 1967,
p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4286
Date: 5/30/1967
Description: A-12 spy planes begin Operation Black Shield in North
Vietnam out of Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Japan, locating and
photographing surface-to-air missile sites that are shooting down US
pilots. The A-12s fly at 80,000 feet and at about Mach 3.1, carrying out
22 sorties in 1967. However, the Russians monitor the flights and the
Vietnamese move their SAM sites immediately after flyovers. (Wikipedia,
“Lockheed
A-12”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4287
Date: 5/31/1967
Description: 11:30 p.m. A woman at a farmhouse near Beausejour,
Manitoba, sees an intensely bright red light with a smaller blue light
on the bottom that approaches from the south and hovers about 375 feet
away. A white light on the bottom becomes brighter as the object hovers,
its glow illuminating the ground. The object lands and leaves a burning
area 90 feet by 150 feet in size with radioactive soil. The area is
still smoldering on June 15, despite several rains. (“Second
Landing in Canada,” APRO Bulletin, May/June 1967, p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4289
Date: 5/31/1967
Description: Fernando
Sesma, president
of the Amigos de los Visitantes del Espacio, speaks to an audience of 40
persons gathered at a café in Madrid, Spain. He says that the Ummites
(who have been supplying him with messages since 1965 describing in
excruciating detail life on the planet Ummo, which revolves around a
star 14.6 light years away) have given him a startling printed message
predicting that a spacecraft will appear on the evening of June 1. The
space people have supplied the exact geographical coordinates: the area
of San José de Valderas, Madrid. All the Ummite messages, passed on to
Sesma by his associates Enrique
Villagrasa and Alicia
Araujo, are usually postmarked in Madrid, but as time goes by, other
postmarks indicate mailings from London, Germany, Austria, New Zealand,
Yugoslavia, and Canada. (Clark III 1184–1185; Fernando Sesma, UMMO, otro
planeta habitado, Gráficas Espejo, 1967)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4288
Date: 6/1967
Description: Low says
he wants the Colorado project to compile a case book of its best UFO
reports. Richard
Hall is invited for 2 days of consulting and narrows the case list
to 100. A small team agrees to go over the list and decide which ones
deserve more intensive analysis. By August, Saunders becomes
the lone staffer selecting cases and he only has 12. (UFOs Yes,
81–83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4290
Date: 6/1967
Description: The newly formed Surrey Investigation Group on Aerial
Phenomena publishes the SIGAP Newsletter in Camberley, Surrey, England,
until June 1969. It revitalizes the newsletter as the New SIGAP Bulletin
from 1977 to 1979. (SIGAP
Newsletter, no.
1 (June 1, 1967); SIGAP
Bulletin, no. 15 (August 1, 1968); The
New SIGAP Bulletin, no.
1 (July 1977))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4291
Date: 6/1967
Description: Night. Giuseppe Aldini, 17, is with his family in
Montalcino, Siena, Italy, when he sees a round, luminous object from his
window. Later he notices a glowing red light on a nearby hill. The next
day he goes to the spot and finds a circular burned area 100 feet in
diameter with four imprints in its center. Inside are many black
minerals that are analyzed by the University of Florence’s Mineralogical
Institute and found to be quartz crystals. (1Pinotti 157)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4292
Date: 6/1/1967
Time: 2330
Description: John Norton, 7, had to be taken to a hospital after
observing a disk-shaped, buzzing object, the size of a Volkswagen, with
green and red lights, which landed in a clearing and took off “like
lightning.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP May., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Richmond, Virginia
ID: 847
Date: 6/1/1967
Description: The UFO seen by José
Luis Jordán Peña in Aluche, Madrid, Spain, allegedly reappears in
the neighborhood of San José de Valderas. This time, Jordán Peña plays
UFO investigator, taking statements from witnesses who describe a
low-flying disc-shaped object with the same strange symbol on the
underside. An anonymous man takes several photographs that he drops off
at a photo lab on June 2. He then calls newspaper photographer Antonio
San Antonio, telling him where to pick them up. All but one show an
edge-on view of what appears to be a large, squat disc with a rim
through its midsection. One photo shows the bottom of the UFO with the
Aluche symbol, this time with a horizontal bar crossing the verticals
and linking the two arms. In August, another photographer calling
himself Antonio Pardo produces two more photos of the edge-on disc taken
the same day, as well as some hard green-colored plastic strips bearing
the distinctive Aluche symbol supposedly found in a capsule that
leaflets by a “Henri Dagousset” predicted in June would be found. Jordán
Peña later confesses to hoaxing the plastic strips, which are made of
Tedlar (polyvinyl fluoride) produced by DuPont for the US space program.
Independent analyses by French space scientist Claude
Poher and the US group Ground Saucer Watch determine that the San
José de Valderas photo with the Ummo symbol is a small model—an 8-inch
plate suspended by a string or fishing line— held close to the camera.
The symbol apparently is drawn in ink. (Wikipedia, “Ummo”;
Antonio Ribera, “The
San José de Valderas Photographs,” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1969): 3–10; Oscar Rey Brea, “Algo
sobre las fotografias del sepuesto OVNI de San José de Valderas,”
Stendek 3, no. 9 (August 1972): 5–11; Antonio Ribera and Rafael
Farriols, Un caso perfecto, Plaza y Janés, 1976; Fred Adrian, “Ground
Saucer Watch Computer Photographic Analysis (Critique), San José de
Valderas, Spain, 1967,” CUFOS Bulletin, Spring 1977, pp. 11–13; Claude
Poher, “Remarks on Aluche, San José de Valderas, and the ‘Ummo’ Affair:
A Monstrous Hoax!” CUFOS Bulletin, Spring 1977, pp. 3–10; Scott
Corrales, “The
UMMO Experience: Are You Experienced?” Strange Magazine, January 31,
2001; Clark III 1183)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4293
Date: 6/3/1967
Description: The town of St. Paul, Alberta, officially dedicates a UFO
landing pad as a public park and as a safe place for aliens to land.
Minister of National Defence Paul
Hellyer flies in by helicopter to launch the pad. It consists of a
raised platform with a map of Canada embossed on the back stop,
consisting of stones provided by each province of Canada. (Wikipedia,
“St. Paul,
Alberta”; “World’s
First UFO Landing Pad,” Atlas Obscura, April 19, 2010; George M.
Eberhart, “Postcards with a UFO Theme,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 20;
Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn
Press, 2006, pp. 240–243)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4294
Date: 6/3/1967
Description: Two Spanish Air Force fighter pilots chased UFO, radios
failed. Cat and mouse pursuit. Object shot straight up and
disappeared
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Extremadura, Spain
ID: 130
Date: 6/7/1967
Time: 0130
Description: A vehicle stalled in the vicinity of a brilliant,
transparent, mushroom-shaped object, aboard which occupants with catlike
faces were seen. Under the object was a quadrangular protuberance.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Itajuba, Brazil
ID: 848
Date: 6/7/1967
Description: Dr. James E. McDonald, University of Arizona atmospheric
physicist, gave a presentation on UFOs to the Outer Space Affairs Group
of the United Nations. Secretary General U Thant expressed deep concern
over UFO situation.
Type: official
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 131
Date: 6/7/1967
Description: James
E. McDonald speaks before the United Nations Office for Outer Space
Affairs meeting in New York City on the “International scientific
aspects of the problem of the unidentified flying objects.” UN
Secretary-General U Thant has
arranged for the lecture, based on conversations he has had with John
G. Fuller and J.
Allen Hynek in early 1966. McDonald urges the UN to undertake a
systematic global study of the UFO problem, but it does not act on the
recommendation. (James E. McDonald, Letter
to UN Secretary-General U Thant, June 5, 1967, p. 1; James E.
McDonald, “Statement
on International Scientific Aspects of the Problem of the Unidentified
Flying Objects,”
presented to the UN Outer Space Affairs group, June 7, 1967, pp. 2–3;
Clark III 698, 1189; Patrick Gross, “Scientists
Taking Position”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4295
Date: 6/9/1967
Description: Day. Two Spanish Air Force pilots flying Lockheed T-33s at
4,000 feet encounter a UFO over the Extremadura region, Spain. Attempts
at radio contact fail, and when they fly above or below the object,
their radios cease to function and emit interference noises. The UFO
soon moves off, easily outstripping the jets, stopping and waiting for
them to approach, then moving on again, The two pilots notify the
Talavera la Real Air Base in Badajoz and Torrejón Air Base in Madrid,
from which two faster fighters are scrambled. The new fighters
experience the same radio interference and maneuvers until the object
shoots straight up at high speed. (Antonio Ribera, “Spanish
Jets Chase
UFO,” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 3 (May/June 1968): 26–27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4296
Date: 6/11/1967
Time: 2000
Description: Two children saw a disk-shaped object 1 m in diameter and
25 cm thick, making a metallic noise as it hovered 10 m above them. They
took a series of photos that show only a blur.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 181 (Vallee)
Location: Price Hill, Ohio
ID: 849
Date: 6/11/1967
Description: Silvery cylinder seen for several minutes, chased by two
F-102 interceptors
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Da Nang, Vietnam
ID: 132
Date: 6/12/1967
End date: 6/13/1967
Description: The Colorado project plays host to 34 Air Force officers
having UFO responsibility at various bases. Low and
Saunders try
to get them excited about reporting UFOs to the project, but aren’t very
successful. (NICAP, “UFO
Investigators Meeting 12 and 13 June 1967”; UFOs Yes, 125–126)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4297
Date: 6/13/1967
Description: An object hovering 4 m above ground, and three dwarfs, were
observed. Traces and an oily substance were found at the site.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Nov., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Caledonia, Canada
ID: 850
Date: 6/13/1967
Description: 2:30 a.m. Carmen Cuneo, a mine worker in Caledonia,
Ontario, steps out of the mine headquarters building and sees two
strange objects near a pond in the vicinity of the mine dump. One is
cigar-shaped and about 36 feet long with four windows along the side; a
boom-like aerial protrudes from one side. The other is disc-shaped and
about 15 feet across. Both are hovering 12 feet above the ground. Three
small men wearing what look like miners’ hats with four amber lights are
underneath the boom. After watching for 10 minutes, Cuneo goes back to
find another witness, but when he returns the men are gone. The two
objects, however, remain until 3:05 a.m. when they take off to the
southwest, flashing multicolored lights. (“June
Sighting of Occupants in Canada,” APRO Bulletin, Nov./Dec. 1967,
p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4298
Date: 6/18/1967
Description: Late evening. A family is returning home by boat near
Clearwater Bay on Shoal Lake, Ontario, when they notice a bright oval
object hovering 50 feet above the treetops about a half-mile away. As
they approach, the object turns an orange tinge and suddenly sweeps
toward their boat at great speed. They beat a hasty retreat to the other
shore, while the UFO returns to its original position. The same thing
happens when they approach the object again. After about 15 minutes, the
object takes off at an incredible speed to the northwest. One resident,
who is not aware of the UFO, reports later that the static on his radio
was so bad that he had to turn it off. Wilted leaves on the top of
birch, hazel, and chokecherry trees are discovered in the sighting area.
Leaf samples are analyzed by the Canadian Department of Forestry, which
cannot find an explanation for their condition other than heat. The
University of Manitoba finds evidence of fungus on one sample but not on
others. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 150–152;
Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen,
1979, pp. 31–34; Christ Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August
Night, 2022, pp. 55–56)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4300
Date: 6/18/1967
Description: Several people in Mulluri, [perhaps near Viña del Mar],
Chile, see three discs flying in a V formation above the town. They
flash orange and blue lights alternately and make no sound. They
maneuver for 10 minutes before disappearing at high speed. (Lorenzen,
UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4299
Date: 6/20/1967
Time: 1200
Description: Farmer Arvi Juntunen heard a loud humming sound and saw a
round, shiny gray object 50 cm above ground, 6 m away. It had a domed
top with a fin and measured 75 cm in diameter. As he was about to seize
it, the object rose with a blast, circled and flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Suomussalmi, Finland
ID: 851
Date: 6/22/1967
End date: 6/25/1967
Description: Condon attends,
at the invitation of James
W. Moseley and against the better judgment of the rest of the
Colorado project staff, the Congress of Scientific Ufologists at the
Hotel Commodore in New York City for the 20th anniversary of the Kenneth
Arnold sighting. Speakers include Gray
Barker, John
A. Keel, Moseley, Art Ford, Gordon Evans, actor Roy
Thinnes, and
Ivan
T Sanderson. Kenneth Arnold and Raymond
A. Palmer are originally scheduled but cancel. (Swords 316, 320;
James W. Moseley and Karl T. Pflock, Shockingly Close to the Truth!
Confessions of a Grave-Robbing Ufologist, Prometheus, 2002, pp. 209–218;
Karl Machtanz, “Saucer
News NYC
Convention Memories,” In Honor of Jim Moseley, February 3, 2014;
Rick Hilberg, “Jim
Moseley’s Giant UFO
Show,” In Honor of Jim Moseley; Curt Collins, “The
National UFO Conference,” In Honor of Jim Moseley, March 11, 2014;
Curt Collins, “The
UFO Anniversary and the Giant New York Convention of 1967,” The
Saucers That Time Forgot, June 22, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4301
Date: 6/23/1967
Description: Broadcaster Frank
Edwards dies of a heart attack. (“Death
of Frank Edwards,” UFO Investigator 4, no 2 (October 1967): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4302
Date: 6/24/1967
Description: 10:00 p.m. At Paso de los Libres, Corrientes, Argentina,
policemen see 8–10 bright lights that fly in formation over a military
post at an estimated 15,000 feet altitude. Other groups of UFOs are seen
the same night at Yapeyú and Santo Tomé in Corrientes; Oberá in
Misiones; and Resistencia and Barranqueras in Chaco, Argentina. All are
observed for at least 1–2 minutes. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas,
Signet, 1968, pp. 61–62)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4303
Date: 6/24/1967
Time: 3:12 AM
Description: Witness: artist Ray Stanford. One solid, blue-white,
elliptical object flew from northwest to northeast and stopped,
seemingly in response to flashlight signal, for 1.5 minutes. The object
then proceeded along its original path at high speed and disappeared
behind clouds. Sighting lasted 9 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Austin, Texas
ID: 576
Date: 6/24/1967
Description: In Asunción, Paraguay, many residents see six objects in
formation maneuvering over the city. Communications interference is
reported by the airport control tower director. (NICAP, “The
1967 UFO Chronology”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4304
Date: 6/24/1967
End date: 6/25/1967
Description: The Centro Ufologico Nazionale holds the first UFO
conference in Italy at Riccione, Rimini. (1Pinotti 143–146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4305
Date: 6/27/1967
Description: McDonald is
in Australia, financed by a small grant from the Office of Naval
Research, to do cloud-physics research. Earlier in June, in a memo to Low,
he said he planned to do some UFO investigating and lecturing. Low
forwards the letter to Philip
Klass in December. (Clark III 700)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4306
Date: 6/28/1967
Description: A NASA management instruction issued by Kurt
H. Debus, director of Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island,
Florida, on “Processing Reports of Sightings of Space Vehicle Fragments”
notes that “Under no circumstances will the origin of the object be
discussed with the observer or person making the call,” including
“reports of sightings of objects not related to space vehicles.” (John
F. Kennedy Space Center, “Processing Reports
of Sightings of Space Vehicle Fragments,” NASA Management
Instruction KMI 8610.4, June 28, 1967)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4307
Date: 6/29/1967
Time: 1:30 AM
Description: Witness: truck driver Damon Brown. One oyster-shaped
object–2OO’ wide, and 25-30’ thick–with a huge red light at each end and
one on the bottom, and a row of blue lights along the bottom. Circled
m.n aircraft, hovering then moving rapidly, and then followed the
witness’ car for about 500’, veered south and departed at great speed
after 8-10 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Scotch Plains, New Jersey
ID: 577
Date: 6/30/1967
Description: Condon, David
Saunders, Norm
Levine, Franklin
Roach, Mary Lou Armstrong, and visiting journalism grad student
Herbert Strentz hold a meeting about a “case book” of significant cases.
Condon tries to dissuade Saunders and Levine from pursuing this, but
they prevail. (Swords 320)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4308
Date: 7/1967
Description: Even though the Colorado project is requesting UFO reports
from NICAP, Keyhoe is
withholding them. Roy Craig discovers
the Low memorandum
while searching for unrelated information in the files. He shares it
with Norm Levine and David
Saunders, who
realize that it clearly implies that the project is a “whitewash
noninvestigation.” The memo makes the rounds of project personnel, then
gets refiled. (Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, p. 121;
UFOs Yes, 135)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4309
Date: 7/1967
Description: 10:00 p.m. A witness sees an intense orange light through
the window of her home in the Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia. She
calls her mother and they go outside to watch a cigar-shaped light
hovering, moving up and down slightly, and turning over on its side. It
has portholes around its lower edge. After 20 minutes, it moves off to
the western horizon at a high rate of speed. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3,
no. 6 (June 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4310
Date: 7/1967
End date: 12/1967
Description: Intensive U.S. and international sighting wave. (See
separate chronology, Section VIII.)
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 133
Date: 7/1/1967
Description: The Denver Post reveals that the Colorado project has
requested an additional $280,000 to extend it into September. Condon is
upset. USAF ultimately approves an additional $183,155, plus $29,750 for
expenses, bringing the total to $525,905. (UFOs Yes, 182)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4311
Date: 7/3/1967
Description: R. T. (initials), with ALPHA RED TOP SECRET CRYPTO
Clearance, rank PFC, assigned to Canine Corps at Camp Pendleton, San
Diego, CA., states that he and his dogs were air transported 2.5 hrs. to
a sight in a desert (unknown location) UFO crash-sight. Saucer:
Metallic, 30 ft. diameter, domed top, no windows. He also observed:
Large walk-in refrigerator, empty body bags, men at work with technical
instruments.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Camp Pendleton, San Diego, CA
Date: 7/3/1967
Description: 5:30 p.m. Warren Smith and two friends hiking in the
mountains near Highwood Ranger Station, 50 miles southwest of Calgary,
Alberta, take two color photos of a daylight disc that appears to be
about 25 feet in diameter. The disc appears from less than 2 miles away
and at an altitude of approximately 2,000 feet. It travels toward the
hikers, gradually losing altitude, then at a distance of about one-half
mile it hovers for a moment and an object appears to fall from it. It
disappears from sight at treetop level at great speed. The photos are
examined by both Canadian and American authorities; Hynek describes
them as some of the best photos on record at the time. An analysis by
Canadian National Defence finds the object is an oblate ellipsoid with a
diameter of 40–50 feet and a thickness of 11–14 feet. The witnesses sign
statutory declarations to the effect that the photos are not a hoax; if
proven false, they would be subject to prosecution under the Canada
Evidence Act. Nevertheless, the Colorado Committee thinks the object
could be a hoaxed hand-thrown model. Ground Saucer Watch declares it
genuine. (Canada, National Research Council, [case
documents], 1967, pp. 13–33; Condon, pp. 469–475;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 67–68;
Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen,
1979, pp. 9–13; Wendelle C. Stevens, “Hikers
near Calgary Photograph a UFO in 1967,” OpenMinds, November 24,
2010; Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
pp. 119– 125, 158–159)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4312
Date: 7/3/1967
Description: 9:15 p.m. Thomas
H. Nicholl, his family, and another couple, Mr. and Mrs. John Dowd,
are sitting on the Nicholls’s porch in Leawood, Kansas, when they see an
unusual orange-red light approach from the north- northeast. It is
bright metallic in color, about 50 feet in diameter, and traveling 100
mph at an altitude of 2,000– 3,000 feet. The red-orange color emanates
from three lights on the rear side. After 5 minutes, the object blows
up, leaving in its wake a “nearly pure white” cloud that dissipates. The
witnesses see fragments falling to earth. (“Exploding
Disc,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 11 (May 1969): 7–8; Clark III
340–341)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4314
Date: 7/3/1967
Description: 7:15 p.m. Joe Ferriere sees a large, cigar-shaped object
about 75–100 feet long hanging low in the sky above Woonsocket, Rhode
Island. A peculiar piston-like apparatus appears to be pumping in and
out of its left end. It is moving right to left in the manner of a
pendulum. Before it moves off to the east, it releases a glowing disc-
shaped object, about 12–15 feet in diameter. He takes a total of 6
photos of the objects. (“Long
Rectangular UFOs:
Five Different Cases of Similarly Shaped Objects,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 2, no. 9 (September 1981): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4313
Date: 7/4/1967
Description: 5:15 a.m. At least five witnesses from two independent
locations about 5 miles west of Corning, California, see an oblong,
metallic-appearing object with a brilliant light on top and a smaller
light on the bottom near the front. Jay Munger, proprietor of an
all-night bowling alley, and two police officers, Frank Rakes and James
Overton, describe it as a dark-gray flattened sphere with a brilliant
light beam on top directed upward, and a smaller and dimmer light on the
bottom directed downward. A dark band circles the midsection. Two men
north of Corning independently see the object. The witnesses estimate a
diameter of 50–100 feet. At first the object appears to be hovering,
then it moves slowly a few hundred feet above the ground, finally
picking up speed and disappearing from view to the south after being
visible for about 10 minutes. (James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying
Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Hearings, US
House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong., 2nd Sess., July
29, 1968, p. 74)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4315
Date: 7/5/1967
Description: Night. A witness is driving five miles north-northeast of
Murray Bridge, South Australia, on the Karoonda Highway when he notices
interference on the car radio, which becomes a high-pitched whine. He
turns the radio off. Within 300–450 feet, his car engine stops by
itself. The ignition is on but the warning lights on the dash come on.
Looking up, he sees a distinct break in the fog with stars visible and a
“large dark shadow” at a height of 20 feet. The shadow seems 120 feet
thick. Above it is a grayish-blue glow. The top of the shadow appears
convex. He stops the vehicle and gets out to look, but the shadow and
light are gone. There is no sound, and the object has vanished. The
witness returns to the vehicle, tries the ignition, and the motor works.
There is no longer radio interference. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on
Vehicle Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (September 2011):
19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4317
Date: 7/5/1967
Description: 4:20 a.m. A motorist on State Highway 31, near the Depot
Road area of Coventry, Connecticut, sees an orange ball of light that
appears to be hanging from a tree. He drives into Coventry and reports
the matter to the police but the object is gone when they arrive on the
scene. Investigators from the University of Colorado and APRO find an
area of grass some yards from the location that appears to have been
swirled flat as if subject to a rotating force. A photograph taken of
the scene turns out black. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet,
1968, p. 63; Condon, pp. 329–331)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4316
Date: 7/5/1967
Description: One hundred persons claimed to have seen a silvery
disk-shaped object, about 10 m long, land in the area.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 67, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Clifton, Great Britain
ID: 852
Date: 7/6/1967
Description: 6:00 p.m. An Air Canada DC-9 Vanguard has just taken off
from its stop in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is heading east. Air traffic
controllers notice an unexpected radar return, also heading east, near
the aircraft. In the space of 70 seconds, they watch the target
accelerate from 800 to more than 4,000 mph before it zips off the scope
near the town of Vivian. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified,
August Night, 2022, p. 126)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4319
Date: 7/6/1967
Description: The Colorado project staff meet again to nominate the first
set of UFO reports for its “case book.” Condon refuses
to nominate a case, but Low proposes
the Red Bluff police report of August 1960, which is far outside
Condon’s concept of limiting cases to no more than a year old. (Swords
120)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4318
Date: 7/6/1967
Description: 9:24 p.m. A radar operator in the airport at Kenora,
Ontario, notes an unidentified target heading northeast. It approaches
to about 40 miles, then turns and retreats to 50 miles away. At 9:35
p.m. another target appears, following an Air Canada flight; it turns
northeast and disappears from the scope. At 9:53 p.m., an additional
blip follows another Air Canada airliner before veering away to the
northeast. None of the pilots see anything unusual. (Chris Rutkowski,
Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 127–128)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4320
Date: 7/7/1967
Time: 2330
Description: Antonio Brambila and another man saw a glow coming from a
disk, 6.5 m in diameter and 2.5 m high, with a dome on top and four
telescopic legs, which emitted a strange vibration.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 91 (Vallee)
Location: Milan, Italy
ID: 853
Date: 7/7/1967
Description: 11:30 p.m. Antonio Brambilla and another man watch a UFO
land on some grass in a deserted part of the Rondò-Torretta quarter in
Milan, Italy. A glow comes from the object, which is about 21 feet in
diameter and 8 feet high. It has a dome on top and four telescopic legs
with spheres on their tips. They feel a strange vibration that makes
them weak, but the feeling dissipates as the legs of the UFO retract and
it takes off. (1Pinotti 157)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4322
Date: 7/7/1967
Description: 7:00 p.m. Air traffic controllers at Winnipeg International
Airport in Manitoba, while monitoring an eastbound Air Canada flight on
radar, notice a target moving at high speed toward Kenora, Ontario. At
9:24 p.m., the same or a similar object is detected on the Kenora
Airport radar headed northeast. For three hours the object executes
various maneuvers, including 180° turns and twice follows Air Canada
flights before resuming its northeast course and disappearing off the
scope. (Gregory M. Kanon, “UFOs
and the Canadian Government,” Canadian UFO Report 3, no. 6 (1975):
21; Good Above, p. 200;
Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
p. 57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4321
Date: 7/10/1967
Time: 5:50 PM
Description: Witness: golf pro Harold Washington (Capt, USMC, ret.). One
object with a dome, the top colored gunmetal blue, the bottom the color
of old lead. Moved east, crossed the highway tilted upward, moved to the
right, accelerated and disappeared into the clouds after 3-5 seconds.
Object made a swishing sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lizelia, Mississippi
ID: 578
Date: 7/11/1967
Time: evening
Description: Two persons saw a cigar-shaped object on the ground, 400 m
away from the road, which took off, rising rapidly. It had windowlike
openings emitting a bright light.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 183 (Vallee)
Location: Santa Clara del Mar, Argentina
ID: 854
Date: 7/13/1967
Description: 11:26 p.m. Robert Richardson and Jerry Quay are driving
near Whitehouse, Ohio. When rounding a bend, they encounter a brilliant
blue-white light blocking the road. It appears to be a triangle 8 feet
tall and 21 feet wide. Richardson brakes and close their eyes. They feel
a bump but can see nothing. The local police do not take the incident
seriously. However, the accident is investigated by the state police and
highway patrol, who find only skid marks at the scene. The next day
Richardson returns to the site and finds a piece of metal in the road.
Marks on his car hood and bumper suggest a collision with an object
taking off. On July 18 and 23, Richardson is visited by mysterious men,
those on the second occasion being foreign-looking, who make a threat
against his wife. Roy Craig of
the Colorado project conducts a test on the metal and finds it consists
of iron and chromium, with traces of nickel and manganese. Fibrous
material from the front bumper is 92% magnesium, 5% aluminum, 2% zinc,
and 1% manganese. (“UAO
Struck by Automobile in Ohio,” APRO Bulletin, July/Aug. 1967, pp. 1,
3; Condon, p. 93;
Mark Rodeghier, “UFO/Vehicle Very Close Encounters,” IUR 27, no. 1
(Spring 2002): 25–26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4323
Date: 7/17/1967
Time: 1600
Description: Children were terrified by four dwarfish creatures dressed
in black clothing, about 1 m tall, who moved very rapidly among the
bushes. They were dark-skinned, had bulging eyes, and spoke among
themselves in a strange, musical dialect.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 182 (Vallee)
Location: Arc-sous-Cicon, France
ID: 855
Date: 7/17/1967
Time: evening
Description: E. Browne, walking in a wood, saw a disklike, dull,
blue-gray object with a rough surface, hovering about 2 m above ground.
An opening became visible in the middle section and two men dressed in
silvery clothes emerged, walked in the woods, then reentered the craft,
which rose and vanished from sight.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 67, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland
ID: 856
Date: 7/17/1967
Description: 11:25 p.m. Emma Funk is driving on State Highway 22 north
of Millerton, New York, when a black, shiny object the size of a
baseball flies into her headlight beams. It heads toward the windshield,
brushes against it, then veers off to the left. As it brushes, her car
lights up “like a great electric light bulb,” her engine quits, and the
headlights go out. Funk is stunned, and when she regains her senses, the
car is facing the opposite direction, toward the south. The engine
starts up normally, but there is a cracked area in the windshield the
size of a fist. She can’t account for about 15 minutes. (“Object
Hit Car in Millerton; Engine Stalled, Lights Went Out,” Poughkeepsie
(N.Y.) Journal, July 19, 1967, p. 6; Mark Rodeghier, “UFO/Vehicle Very
Close Encounters,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 24–25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4324
Date: 7/18/1967
Time: 0130
Description: A minister was awakened by a strange sound and had the
“impulse” to go downstairs and look outside. Between his house and the
next one, he saw a silhouette wearing a luminous suit. He thought
someone was playing a prank, but the apparition was well-defined and
looked real. It turned into a shapeless glow and vanished.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Keel; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Boardman, Ohio
ID: 857
Date: 7/20/1967
End date: 7/21/1967
Description: 11:30 p.m. Barbara Fawcett is driving alone on North Key
Largo, Florida, near Jewfish Creek. She sees a large light in her
rear-view mirror apparently following the car. The burning yellow light
seems to be floating 6–8 feet off the ground, and it stays over the
road. She accelerates to 100 mph as the light overtakes her car and
seems to be about to land on top of it. As a car approaches in the
opposite direction, the object emits a bright yellow glow that lights up
the road and then disappears. She decides to return home to Pompano
Beach with her sister the same morning, and at 2:30 a.m. they are on US
Highway 1 near the same spot when she sees the light again, rising from
a swamp and moving toward them 15 feet above the ground. Her sister’s
toy poodle is terrified. The light veers away from the road and appears
to land on a sand dune. (“Landing
in Florida,” APRO Bulletin, July/Aug. 1967, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4325
Date: 7/21/1967
Time: 0230
Description: Barbara Fawcett, 18, and her sister saw a yellow “jagged”
object rise above a swamp and land on a hill. Air Force investigators
found a very large scorched area at the spot.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Jul., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Jewish Creek, Florida
ID: 858
Date: 7/21/1967
Description: Ronnie Hill, 14, of Pamlico County, North Carolina, sends a
color photo of what looks like a little man in a spacesuit standing in
front of a spherical UFO to a New York magazine editor. It winds up in
the hands of John
A. Keel. Hill
tells him the UFO landed in his backyard. Keel gathers affidavits from
Ronnie’s teachers, parents, and the local 4-H club, and submits the
photo to “several professional photographers” in New York, who cannot
find evidence of a hoax. Soon, however, Keel has doubts and the photo is
revealed to be that of a small model positioned in front of an egg.
(John A. Keel, “The
‘Little Man’ of North Carolina,” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1969): 15–16; Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam,
1980, p. 230;
Clark III 603; Aaron Sakulich, “The
Strange Tale of Ronnie Hill,” The Iron Skeptic, January 13,
2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4326
Date: 7/24/1967
Time: 2200
Description: Between Mareuil and Ste-Hermine, Daniel Bonifait and his
family saw a red disk, the size of a building, fall 300 m away behind a
hill. Dark forms were observed on the disks surface, and the forest
seemed to be ablaze as the witnesses drove away in fear.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: GEPA Dec., 68 (Vallee)
Location: Mareuil, France
ID: 859
Date: 7/25/1967
Description: Round, blue-white object hovered near missile site, animals
reacted. Object started, stopped, moved up and down. changed color to
red when accelerating
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Garrison, ND
ID: 134
Date: 7/26/1967
Description: 8:38 p.m. Capt. Shindler is piloting Pacific Western
Airlines Flight 748 westbound near the Westfall River in the Rocky
Mountains of British Columbia. He notices a small pink light moving
erratically at about 16,000 feet. It zips away after 18 minutes. Radar
operators in Kamloops also observe the object. (Chris Rutkowski,
Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, p. 128)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4327
Date: 7/28/1967
Description: Oval object approached fire lookout tower, hovered,
illuminated ground
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Gilroy, CA
ID: 135
Date: 7/29/1967
Description: Delta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 136
Date: 7/30/1967
Description: 6:15 p.m. The Naviero, a ship of the Argentine Shipping
Lines Company, is 120 miles off the coast of Garopaba, Santa Catarina,
Brazil, when Office Jorge Montoya notices a strange object in the ocean
about 50 feet away on the starboard side. Capt. Julián Lucas Ardanza
comes to the deck and sees a cigar-shaped UFO about 110 feet long,
glowing blue and white. It paces the ship for 15 minutes, then suddenly
dives and passes underneath the ship, vanishing in the depths. Chief
Officer Carlos Lasca describes the object as a “submergible UFO with its
own illumination.” (Oscar A. Galíndez, “Crew
of Argentine Ship See Submarine UFO,” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 2
(March/April 1968): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4328
Date: 7/30/1967
Description: 10:17 p.m. George and
Brownie
Petyak see a bright yellow star-like light at about 65° elevation to
the east of Kernville, California. It is later joined by a second
similar object appearing to try to “steer” the first onto a “definite
course.” Through binoculars the first object appears bright blue. A
second independent observation from Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake
in the Mojave Desert locates an object visually and/or on radar to the
west over Walker Pass (about 20 miles) and is reported to Edwards AFB.
Thus the visual sighting lines intersect from opposite directions. A
controller at Edwards uses RAPCON (Radar Approach Control) radar (or
Boron AFS FPS-35 search radar) and confirms the visual report at China
Lake but tries to dismiss the 115 mph target as merely civil aircraft
that “frequently” fly over the area. The Kernville witnesses report by
phone during their sighting to the Boron AFS ADC radar site. Blue Book
claims the date of the sighting is in question because the questionnaire
sent to the Petyaks uses the military time (Greenwich Meridian Time or
Zulu time) instead of local time. (NICAP, “Radar/Visual
and Sighting Lines Intersect”; Sparks, p. 326;
Condon, p. 122;
Clark III 392)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4329
Date: 7/31/1967
Time: 2215
Description: A guard, Sidney Zipkin, 50, was driving through a large
parking lot when he observed a cigar-shaped object, 16 m long, with
green lights under it, land on the pavement. He stopped his truck within
30 m of the object, with the headlights aimed on it, and was surprised
to see two dwarfs dressed in shiny black uniforms rush by the vehicle
and enter the craft, which took off straight up.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 184 (Vallee)
Location: Churchville, New York
ID: 860
Date: 7/31/1967
Description: 10:15 p.m. Sidney Zipkin is driving a truck on Main Street
in Churchville, New York, when he sees a cigar- shaped object about 50
feet long in a parking lot. It has greenish blinking lights underneath
it, on or near the ground. He shines the truck headlights on the object
and sees two small men in shiny black uniforms board the object, which
takes off straight up. (“UFOs
in Churchville?”
Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, August 3, 1967,
pp. 1B–2B)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4330
Date: 8/1967
Description: 2:00 a.m. A man is returning to his mother’s home in
Wapakoneta, Ohio, when he sees a strangely bright star to the left of
Polaris. As he watches, it grows a bit brighter and begins to move
directly beneath Polaris and then continues to the right. It repeats
this in reverse and then goes under Polaris and stops. The star then
migrates north and south, tracing out the elements of a large cross. It
does this several times rapidly. Then it comes back below Polaris and
just sits there. After nearly 3 hours, the witness decides to stop
watching. At that, the star goes up to Polaris and shoots away to the
left. (Michael D. Swords, “We Know Where You Live,” IUR 30, no. 2
(January 2006): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4332
Date: 8/1967
Description: At the request of President Johnson, the
CIA sets up Operation CHAOS to gather intelligence about foreign
influence on American dissent. Its mission is to gather and evaluate all
information about foreign links to racial, antiwar, and other protest
activity. The operation is launched under DCI Richard
Helms and counter-intelligence chief James
Jesus Angleton, and
headed by Richard
Ober. The
program runs through 1973, amassing 10,000 files on more than 300,000
individuals and 100 domestic groups. The operation also infiltrates
foreign intelligence targets and domestic radical organizations. The NSA
assists in the surveillance with its own Project MINARET. Operating
between 1967 and 1973, over 5,925 foreigners and 1,690 organizations and
US citizens are included on the Project MINARET watch lists. NSA
Director Lew
Allen testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee in 1975
that the NSA has issued over 3,900 reports on the watch-listed
Americans. At some point, the NSA is tasked with monitoring the overseas
telephone calls and cable traffic of two prominent members of Congress,
Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho)
and Sen. Howard
Baker (R-Tenn.). The FBI begins COINTELPRO–BLACK HATE, which focuses
on Martin
Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as
well as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Revolutionary
Action Movement, the Deacons for Defense and Justice, Congress of Racial
Equality, and the Nation of Islam. BLACK HATE establishes the Ghetto
Informant Program and instructs 23 FBI offices to “disrupt, misdirect,
discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of black nationalist
hate type organizations.” (Wikipedia, “Operation
CHAOS”; Wikipedia, “Project
MINARET”; Wikipedia, “COINTELPRO”;
Matthew M. Ald and William Burr, “Secret
Cold War Documents Reveal NSA Spied
on Senators,” Foreign Policy, September 25, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4331
Date: 8/1967
End date: 11/1967
Description: Hundreds of sightings in wave that peaked in October. House
of Commons took interest in November.
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: UK
ID: 142
Date: 8/3/1967
Time: 2000
Description: J. Vieira, a lawyer, and his driver, Amauri, at km 15 on
the Miguel Peraira Highway saw two yellowish lights, then many others,
about 500 m away to the left. They blinked and faded. Similar lights
were seen again at Conrado. When the driver blinked the car’s
headlights, the objects seemed to respond. An object which illuminated
the whole area was seen resting in a woods.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 17 (Vallee)
Location: Conrado, Brazil
ID: 861
Date: 8/3/1967
Time: 2330
Description: Two persons saw a luminous, whitish object, 10 m in
diameter, resembling two plates glued together. The whole yard was
illuminated and a humming sound was heard. A door opened in the base of
the craft, and something similar to a light bulb lowered itself to
ground level. This, too, had an opening, from which stepped a small man
in silvery, luminous clothes, his head surrounded with vapor. He was
about 5 m away from the witnesses, and was observed to pick up stones,
examine them, look up and seem to communicate with the main object. He
then dropped the stones and stepped into the “bulb” that reentered the
craft, which took off.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 44 (Vallee)
Location: Caracas, Venezuela
ID: 862
Date: 8/3/1967
Description: 11:30 p.m. A married couple and their teenage son are
sleeping in their car outside their home in Caracas, Venezuela. They
wake up and see a white, disc-shaped object hovering 100 feet above a
nearby palm tree. Within a few minutes, an opening appears in the UFO,
and a smaller lightbulb-shaped object emerges and drifts downward,
stopping just inches from the ground near their front porch. A door
slides open and a small, glowing figure steps out, who bends over, picks
up some stones, examines them, and looks up at the larger object,
apparently communicating with someone. He looks toward their car
frequently. After a few minutes, the figure reenters the small object,
which returns to the large disc and enters it. The disc speeds away and
disappears in seconds. (“Occupants
Seen at Caracas,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967, p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4334
Date: 8/3/1967
Description: 8:00 p.m. Amauri Barbosa da Silva and Jonil Faydit Vieira
are driving on the road to Japeri from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when they
see several yellowish lights that eventually extinguish themselves, one
at a time. Later, they see similar lights positioned directly in front
of them. Da Silva blinks his headlights, and the lights respond
similarly. The lights maintain their position in front of them, moving
from one side of the road to the other. When they are approaching Miguel
Pereira on a mud road between Arcádia and La Chaumiere, they see two
bright beams of light, one yellow and one blue, about 1,000 feet away
from them on the right, apparently attached to the dome of a disc. The
object follows them for at least 40 minutes and is seen by Nelson
Gonçalves Ferreira at their destination in Miguel Pereira. (Lorenzen,
UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, pp. 16–21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4333
Date: 8/4/1967
Time: early
Description: Engineer Hugo S. Yepes was on a beach 25 km north of Recife
when he saw a disk, 6 m in diameter, come out of the water. It was gray,
looked metallic, hovered for a few sec at 1 m altitude, then rose slowly
to the east and disappeared.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Mar., 68 (Vallee)
Location: Recife, Venezuela
ID: 863
Date: 8/4/1967
Description: Night. A bright object appears in the sky in the area of
Morro do Policia in Porto Alegre, Brazil, for 30 minutes and is
photographed by Brazilian Air Force technician Otacilio Freitas Dias. It
flies in an erratic zigzag path, sometimes slowly, at other times at
high speed, and sometimes hovering. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas,
Signet, 1968, pp. 67–68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4336
Date: 8/4/1967
Description: Early morning. An engineer, Hugo Sierra Yepez [or Yepes],
is fishing from his boat in the sea about 15 miles north of Arrecife [or
La Guaira], Vargas, Venezuela, when he feels a vibration and the water
begins to boil “in big bubbles, in a circle about six meters in
diameter.” A gray-blue, flat globe emerges. As it hovers close to the
surface, dripping water, he notices a revolving rim with triangular
windows of blue and red. It ascends in a curve then shoots upward. (“The
Question of Submerging UFO’s,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 5 (March
1968): 5; Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4335
Date: 8/4/1967
Description: Saturn-shaped object with rotating ring emerged from sea,
hovered, ascended slowly, accelerated into sky and out of sight
Type: sighting
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: La Guaira, Federal District, Venezuela
ID: 137
Date: 8/5/1967
Time: 2330
Description: Ronald Sherven and Robert Bodine saw a glowing, white
object on a west-east trajectory north of Sawyer. The object was hidden
by a hill at first but all of a sudden it appeared again over a
cemetery, came to ground level, and sped away to the north.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Oct., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Sawyer, North Dakota
ID: 864
Date: 8/5/1967
Description: Morning. After a night of heavy rain, Edgar Schielke finds
a circular mark more than 30 feet in diameter in his cow pasture near
Duhamel, Alberta. A UFO group from Edmonton visits the field and finds
three additional rings. An RCAF team from CFB Namao [now CFB Edmonton],
along with Gareth
H. S. Jones of the Defense Research Establishment Suffield [now DRDC
Suffield], visits the farm on August 11 after much of the evidence has
been trampled. Jones finds two more rings. The marks vary from 5 to 7
inches wide and from 31 feet 9 inches to 36 feet 3 inches, and each is
incomplete on its western side. He is puzzled as to what made the marks,
can find no evidence of a hoax, and seriously considers whether an
aerial object could have made them. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 162–165, 197–205)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4337
Date: 8/6/1967
Description: Antonio Neri Perez and several other people saw three
glowing, red disks take off from a field near the house.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 65 (Vallee)
Location: Hidalgo, Mexico
ID: 865
Date: 8/6/1967
Description: 7:55–8:20 p.m. Formations of lights in groups of 3–5 are
seen in many states of Mexico, including Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo,
Veracruz, and Lake Pátzcuaro in Michoacán. Most are generally moving
west to east. Many people at the Mexico City International Airport watch
a group between 8:10 and 8:20 p.m. Technicians in the control tower can
make out 9–10 objects through binoculars. Capt. Angel Fojo Ceballos and
Capt. José Luis Espejo are flying an Aeronaves de México [now
Aeroméxico] DC-9 at 23,000 feet over Salamanca, Guanajuato, Mexico. They
see three bright points flying in formation from northwest to southeast
an estimated 30–40 miles away. They cross the horizon at 55,000–60,000
feet in 40–45 seconds. One of the objects appears to break formation and
approach the aircraft, showing a round shape and metallic composition,
but then it veers away and out of sight. The events are thought to be
the reentry of the Pioneer 7 rocket body that had launched from Cape
Canaveral on August 15, 1966. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet,
1968, pp. 65– 67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4339
Date: 8/6/1967
Description: 8:00 p.m. A Peruvian airliner piloted by Capt. Samuel
Sanguaza, copilot César Jordan, and subofficers Oscar Guevara and Jorge
Sarguaza encounters a globe of light while flying between Lima, and
Pisco, Peru. The light changes color from red to orange and blue as it
paces the aircraft for 15 minutes, bobbing up and down, moving closer
and receding, before it zooms away as the airplane nears Pisco.
(Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, pp. 21–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4340
Date: 8/6/1967
Description: Office worker Antonio Neri Perez and several others watch
three glowing red discs take off in V formation from a field near their
house in Tetepango, Hidalgo, Mexico. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas,
Signet, 1968, p. 65)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4338
Date: 8/7/1967
Time: 0200
Description: In the San Bernardino section, Pedro Riera, of Avila Ave.,
was awakened by the shaking of his bed and saw a creature in his room,
which “flew” out through the open window. Lights on the ground blinded
the witness when he rushed to the balcony. Other people had seen a
strange vehicle parked in the street. That afternoon, a strange dwarf
entered the office of Dr. S. Vegas, who examined him. The being spoke
perfect Spanish, had peculiar heart sounds, and did not understand the
notion of “age.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 74 (Vallee)
Location: Caracas, Venezuela
ID: 866
Date: 8/8/1967
Description: Evangelical pastor Estanislao Lugo Contreras is on the
shore at Catia La Mar, Vargas, Venezuela, when he sees the water
stirring up in a vast round area. The water begins to turn light blue,
then whitish, yellowish, then brilliant orange. An orange disc rises out
of the sea about 1,650 feet from shore, hovers, then rises obliquely and
disappears. It makes an intense buzzing sound. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the
Americas, Signet, 1968, pp. 54–55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4341
Date: 8/8/1967
Description: 8:40 p.m. An object shaped like a sharply outlined
asymmetrical crescent flies over the Kislovodsk Mountain Astronomical
Station near Kislovodsk, North Caucasus, Russia. The object is slightly
smaller than the moon with a color described as reddish by some
observers, yellow by others. It flies from west to east about 20° above
the horizon, moving from the Big Dipper to Cassiopeia in about 30
seconds at a uniform speed. The witnesses are Anatoli Sazanov, a
specialist in the ionosphere; V. A. Tsion of the Leningrad Polytechnical
Institute; and seven members of a biological expedition. (Felix Ziegel,
“Unidentified
Flying Objects,” Soviet Life, no. 137 (February 1968): 28; James E.
McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 61; Hobana and Weverbergh 288–289;
Jacques Vallée, UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union: A Cosmic Samizdat,
Ballantine, 1992, p. 192)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4342
Date: 8/8/1967
Time: evening
Description: Evangelic Pastor Estanislao Lugo Contreras was at the shore
when he saw a diskshaped object with a very bright orange glow emitting
a buzzing sound, rise out of the sea, hover a few seconds then rise
obliquely.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 55 (Vallee)
Location: Salina, Venezuela
ID: 867
Date: 8/10/1967
Description: 9:30 p.m. Harry E. King and Michael Swartz see a bright
round ball, about 50–60 feet in diameter, in the air about 1,300 feet
away near Winter Haven, Florida. It hovers for 3–4 minutes, then moves
slowly for a quarter mile, rises, shoots away, and disappears in one
second. At 10:00 p.m., they watch a bright light descend for 5 minutes,
move back and forth for one minute, then suddenly disappear. (NICAP case
file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4343
Date: 8/11/1967
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 138
Date: 8/12/1967
Description: 2:30 a.m. Robert
P. Miedtke and his wife are sleeping in a camper on property
belonging to some relatives on County Highway I some 11 miles west of
Ogema, Wisconsin. They are awakened by their dog barking outside. They
look out the window and see a large, fluorescent, half-moon-shaped
object in a neighboring pasture about 450 feet away. It is shining a
beam of light at a milk house only 25 feet from their camper. The dog
has stopped barking and they can hear none of the usual night sounds.
After about one hour, they hear the sound of someone walking in the
gravel and sand outside. Three times the footsteps are heard going from
north to south. The Miedtkes remain in bed, hoping no one would know
they are in the camper. After another hour, just before dawn, they hear
the dog whimpering and barking, followed by the muffled noise like a
huge generator that fades away after 6–8 seconds. (“Possible
Landing in Wisconsin,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967, p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4344
Date: 8/12/1967
Time: 0230
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Miedtke, awakened by the barking of their dog,
saw a large hemispherical object with a fluorescent glow and a short
flash of light. Too terrified to go outside, they heard heavy footsteps
around their trailer. At dawn there was a sound like that of a
generator, and seconds later the object was gone.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 27 (Vallee)
Location: Ogema, Wisconsin
ID: 868
Date: 8/13/1967
Description: 8:00 p.m. Between Pilar de Goiás and Crixás, Goiás, Brazil,
a plantation worker at the Estancia de Santa Maria, Ignácio da Souza, is
returning home from work when he and his wife see an object in the form
of an upside-down basin 115 feet in diameter sitting on the landing
strip of the ranch. They initially think it is some flying machine
tested by the ranch owner, Ibiracy de Moraes, a wealthy man and former
president of the Bank of Brazil. Between the object and the couple,
there are three humanoid, child-size beings that they initially think
are naked children before realizing that they are hairless creatures
wearing a tight suit of yellow. The beings seem to be playing around
silently, but then move quickly towards them. Da Souza tells his wife to
lock herself up in their house. He is armed with a rifle and frightened,
so da Souza shoots the closest of the beings. At the same time, the UFO
emits a ray of green light that hits him, throwing him to the ground
unconscious. Seeing her husband fall from the kitchen window, his wife
runs onto the scene shouting, interposes herself between the beings and
the body of her husband, and picks up his rifle. But during this time
the beings have retrieved the one that had fallen to ground and quickly
flee to enter the craft. After a short time, it slowly rises vertically
while emitting a buzz similar to that of a swarm of bees. Taken to the
hospital of Goiânia, the state capital, de Souza suffers from nausea and
a general numbness. Burns are noted, initially attributed to a toxic
plant, but when de Souza and de Moraes hear the erroneous diagnosis and
are told what had happened, doctors perform a blood analysis that
returns with a diagnosis of advanced leukemia with life expectancy of
two months. Da Souza quickly deteriorates, suffers, develops yellowish
spots, and dies on October 11. In accordance with his instructions, his
wife burns the bed, the mattress, and the clothing that he has used.
(Clark III 353–354; Brazil 85–88; Patrick Gross, URECAT, August
15, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4345
Date: mid 8/1967
Description: About 12:00 noon. Electrical engineer Albert Fulton and
superintendent Sherman Anderson are making rounds at the Nova Scotia
Light and Power substation in Caledonia, Nova Scotia. They notice steam
rising from one of three large transformers, then Fulton spots two
silvery disc-shaped objects maneuvering around the sky some distance
away. The pair watches them a they zip back and forth in different
directions from horizon to horizon in 3–4 seconds. Each time they leave
a silvery line about 10 times their length behind them, which disappears
when the objects stop. They watch this spectacle for about one minute,
then both discs come to a common point in front of a suddenly visible
gray, cigar-shaped object. After stopping briefly the two smaller
objects merge into the cigar, taking 12–15 seconds. The large object
disappears. (Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR
29, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4346
Date: 8/18/1967
Description: A CIA report summarizes interviews with unnamed Russian
astronomers that may possibly have been conducted by members of the
Condon commission. (Central Intelligence Agency, “Report
on Conversations with Soviet
Scientists on Subject of Unidentified Flying Objects in the USSR,”
August 18, 1967; Good Above, pp.
230–231)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4347
Date: 8/22/1967
End date: 8/31/1967
Description: Low, Roach, and
Hynek attend
the XIIIth General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in
Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. Low wastes an opportunity
to meet with Charles
Bowen in London, England, and instead goes to Loch Ness, Scotland,
“because neither the Loch Ness monster nor UFOs exist.” (Michael D.
Swords, “The
USAF-Sponsored Colorado Project for the Scientific Study of UFOs,”
1995 MUFON Symposium Proceedings, MUFON, 1995; Swords 321; Good Above,
p. 230)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4348
Date: 8/23/1967
Time: 2000
Description: A boy and a girl, both 15, noticed a red glow coming down
in the woods. Later they saw a large source of light in mid-air and
heard piercing whistling sounds, then footsteps, and saw a jumping
creature, 10 m away. It was about 1.30 m tall, had an oversized head,
made jerky motions, raised a tube in its arms, and had a “shimmering”
appearance.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Sep., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Kolmarden, Sweden
ID: 870
Date: 8/23/1967
Time: early
Description: Stanley Moxon, of Toronto, driving to Montreal, was between
Joyceville and the Glen Grove Rd. when he encountered a large,
diskshaped craft and two creatures, 1.20 m tall, dressed in white suits
and helmets. They “flew back” into the object at once and it left
silently at high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 32 (Vallee)
Location: Joycevi]le, Canada
ID: 869
Date: 8/23/1967
Description: Huge disc on or just above ground in field, three small
humanoid beings emerged, apparently gathered specimens. Physical
traces
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Joyceville, Ontario, Canada
ID: 139
Date: 8/23/1967
Description: 4:00 a.m. Stanley Moxon is driving on Ontario Highway 15
between Joyceville, Ontario, and Pine Grove Road when he sees a green
light in a field to the south. He turns off his lights and drives down a
side road to get closer. Minutes later, he turns on his lights again and
they shine on a huge metallic disc hovering just above the ground. Two
entities, 4 feet tall and dressed in white suits and helmets, appear to
be startled and hurry back into the craft, which takes off at tremendous
speed. (“Occupant
in Ontario,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967, p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4349
Date: 8/23/1967
Description: 8:00 p.m. Two 15-year-olds are strolling around the
Kolmården ridge area in Östergötland, Sweden, when they see a reddish
glow moving back and forth in the nearby woods. Continuing home, they
run across a locked, deserted shack that seems to have some yellowish
lights moving around in one room and noises like muted thuds. The red
glow reappears moving close to the ground from the west. Suddenly it
turns brilliant white and appears to land on the other side of a brook.
They run home and see a huge light like a flashlight hovering 13 feet
above the ground near the house. They hear a whistling sound coming from
the brook and what seem to be footsteps coming toward them. They run to
a ravine where they see, about 35 feet away, a small being with a
disproportionately large head and wearing dark clothing. It lifts its
arms and seems to be holding a box-like apparatus with a tube. Two thin,
wire-like bands appear around the creature’s ankles and give off an
intense white light. They run home again. The next day they return to
where the being was and find some odd three-toed footprints about 6
inches long. (“‘Monster’
Report from Sweden,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967, pp. 1, 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4350
Date: 8/24/1967
Description: Two humanoid beings in silvery suits, round helmets,
emerged from disc with dome
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Wodonga, Victoria, Australia
ID: 140
Date: 8/24/1967
Time: 1700
Description: A motorcyclist was suddenly engulfed in a bluish-white
light so dazzling that he had to stop. He then saw a metallic object, 30
m away, its shape that of two saucers one on top of the other, with a
dome on top, silvery, the lower half dark gray, about 10 m in diameter,
and bearing a black mark or insignia. Near it appeared two figures about
1.5 m tall, wearing silvery coveralls and opaque helmets. A gesture from
them scared the witness, who drove away but was followed by the
object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 2 (Vallee)
Location: Sydney-Melbourne Road, Australia
ID: 871
Date: 8/24/1967
Description: 5:00 p.m. Ron Hydes is riding his motorcycle near Wodonga,
Victoria, Australia, when he is surrounded by a blinding blue-white
light that illuminates the road. As he stops, a bright lens-shaped domed
disc, estimated to be 25–30 feet in diameter, descends within a few feet
of the ground about 100 feet away. Two humanoids about 5– 5.5 feet tall
with round helmets and silver coveralls emerge. One steps nearer to the
witness, who flees. The object, surrounded by a pinkish glow, follows
the motorcycle at about 100 feet off the ground. Hydes can hear a
humming sound above the motorcycle’s engine. He stops again and the
object hovers, the hum subsiding. After 30 seconds, the color around the
object changes from pink to brilliant red, and it tilts up at a 45°
angle, then shoots away. (“Occupants
Attempt to Lure Motorcyclist,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967,
pp. 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4351
Date: 8/25/1967
Time: 1700
Description: Three disks of large dimension were seen to emerge from the
sea by Ruben Norato, after he observed a “precipitous movement of the
water.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: NICAP Mar., 68 (Vallee)
Location: Catia la Mar, Venezuela
ID: 872
Date: 8/25/1967
Description: 5:00 p.m. Ruben Norato sees a “precipitous movement of the
water” from the beach at Catia La Mar, Vargas, Venezuela, from which
arise “three huge plate-shaped discs” that streak out of sight. (“The
Question of Submerging
UFO’s,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 5 (March 1968): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4352
Date: 8/26/1967
Description: Campers saw glowing oval that beamed light down, engulfed
canoe. Memory loss and abduction. (See section XIII bibliography,
Fowler, 1990a.)
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: abduction
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Eagle Lake, Allagash Waterway, ME
ID: 141
Date: 8/26/1967
Time: 0200
Description: Esteban D. Cova, a private in the Marines, was relieved of
duty at the airport and returned to his quarters. Then he met an ugly
dwarf, 1 m tall, with a huge head, bulgy eyes, and a body covered with
“hairy stuff or wiry metal.” It made a deep whistling sound, and Cova
felt a prickling sensation in his body. In perfect Spanish the creature
said: “Won’t you come with me? We need one human being.” Cova
fainted.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 79 (Vallee)
Location: Maiquetia Airport, Venezuela
ID: 873
Date: 8/26/1967
Description: Saki Macharechi spotted an object in flight, which he
thought was a heron, land near a bridge. He then saw that it was a
dwarf, about 1 m tall, with huge eyes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 78 (Vallee)
Location: Maturin, Venezuela
ID: 874
Date: 8/27/1967
Description: David
Saunders proposes to the Colorado project team that they issue
technical reports on whatever phase or case they have concentrated on.
These will be circulated among the staff for review but not for veto.
They would stand as the author’s own work without censure. Appropriate
disclaimers would be attached before they are issued to the public. A
final report might be cobbled together from these technical reports. Condon and
Low apparently
disapprove of this immediately. (Swords 323)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4353
Date: 8/27/1967
Description: 11:20 p.m. Kenneth Flack is passing a car near Texas Creek,
Colorado, when his engine and car lights fail. He pulls to the side of
the road, along with the car he is passing and a camper-trailer. He sees
a large object in a field some 900–1,200 feet away. It is
football-shaped and silvery. He approaches it on foot and is hit by a
bright light coming from the object that knocks him out. Bystanders from
other cars carry him back to the roadside and tell him that he had been
frozen in a standing position for 5 minutes. Flack is intensely cold and
sleepy, so another unidentified driver gives him a ride back to Pueblo
in a camper (“1967
Landing in Colorado,” APRO Bulletin, March/April 1969, pp. 3–4;
Lorenzen, The Shadow of the Unknown, New American Library, 1970,
pp. 138–139; Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference
Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (September 2011): 21; Randle,
Levelland, 2021, pp. 143–144; CUFOS case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4354
Date: 8/28/1967
End date: 8/29/1967
Description: 11:30 p.m.–1:10 a.m. Leslie and Jacqueline Dowdell see a
3–4 dancing lights zigzagging to the northeast over Rivers, Manitoba.
The lights resolve into one object the color of a mandarin orange that
hovers for 2–3 minutes, changing colors, before zooming away to the
north. At 12:30 a.m., Cpl. A. Fedun of CFB Rivers [now closed] sees a
round ball of orange light moving northwest. At 12:45 a.m.,
Commissionaire G. Stefanson hears a loud noise, and LAC J. Hebert and
Judy Ross, driving one mile east of Rivers, watch a white flashing light
that remains stationary for 30–50 seconds. They later find some odd dust
on their car and some bubbling of the paint on the top. At 1:00 a.m.,
Cpl. K. McArthur hears another loud blast that rattles windows on the
base. At 1:10 a.m., LAC K. Taylor, 8 miles east of Rivers, sees a red
ball of flame trailed by a blue light at 3,000–4,000 feet. An
investigating team from RCAF Trainiong Command Headquarters in Winnipeg
immediately comes out to investigate. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 251–260)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4355
Date: 8/29/1967
Description: 10:30 a.m. François Delpeuch, 13, and his sister
Anne-Marie, 9, are herding cows at Cussac, Cantal, France. They see four
small black beings about 47 inches tall with large heads and pointed
chins around a landed sphere 15 feet in diameter. As the UFO begins to
take off, the beings are sucked into it head-first, and it leaves very
quickly in a blinding light. The police note “sulfur odor and the dried
grass” at the landing spot. The case is reopened and studied in depth by
Claude
Poher. (Wikipedia, “Close
encounter of Cussac”; Jöel Mesnard and Claude Pavy, “Encounter
with Devils,” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1968): 7–9;
Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story. Signet, 1969, pp. 280–282; [Claude
Poher], “Enquête
sur l’Observation du 29.08.67 de Cussac (Cantal),”
Groupe d’Étude des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés, Centre
Nationale d’Étude Spatiales, 1978; Gildas Bourdais, “The Death and
Rebirth of Official French UFO Studies,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007):
16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4356
Date: 8/29/1967
Time: 1030
Description: Two children saw a sphere, 2 m in diameter, and “four
little devils.” One of them was bending over, apparently busy with
something on the ground, and another held a mirrorlike object. They
hovered and flew around the sphere, then dived into it as it rose with a
soft whistling sound. A smell of sulphur began to spread, and the object
flew away.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 5; LDLN 90 (Vallee)
Location: Cussac, France
ID: 875
Date: 9/1967
Description: Afternoon. Paul
Stehlin, military aviator and vice-president of Bugatti, is flying
his own plane near Vélizy- Villacoublay, Yvelines, France, when he sees
a silver, cigar-shaped object beside him. The object accompanies the
aircraft for a few minutes, then it accelerates and leaves the plane
behind at terrific speed. (NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4362
Date: 9/1967
Description: The CIA staff’s frank opinions on Vietnam are sometimes
modified before reaching President Johnson.
At one point the CIA analysts estimate enemy strength at 500,000, while
the military insists it is only 270,000. No amount of discussion
resolves the difference. In September 1967, the CIA under DCI Richard
Helms goes along with the military’s lower number for the combat
strength of the Vietnamese Communist forces. This leads a CIA analyst
directly involved in this work to file a formal complaint against Helms,
which is accorded due process within the agency. (Wikipedia, “Richard
Helms”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4361
Date: 9/1967
Description: 1:30 a.m. Capt. Grigory Demyanovich Oleynikov of the
Russian fishing boat Kama is in Vyborg Bay in western Russia when he
notices a luminescent, milky-white disc descending through the cloud
layer. It stops and hovers at an altitude of 1,300 feet and seems to
have a diameter of about 50 feet. The bottom portion contains nozzles
that emit flames. Athen in complete silence it takes off straight up.
(Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020,
p. 153)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4359
Date: 9/1967
Alternate date: 10/1967
Description: 4:45 p.m. Some 40 soldiers and officers at an antiaircraft
artillery unit stationed at Floreşti, Romania, watch an aluminum-colored
object hovering about 2,400 feet in the sky. The unit commander reports
it to the General Command in Bucharest, who order him to shoot it down
if it makes any hostile maneuvers. The object stays in position for more
than two hours, but disappears after a white cloud passes in front of
it. (Romania 16–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4358
Date: 9/1967 (approximate)
Description: Saunders and
Levine visit Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio to look at the Project Blue
Book files. They find cases stored adjacent to the official files, and
some in a classified safe. Saunders also finds problems when he examines
the statistics in Blue Book Special Report no. 14. Plus all of
Battelle’s original IBM cards have been thrown away. (UFOs Yes,
115–116)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4357
Date: 9/1967
Description: The Midwest UFO Network publishes its first issue of
Skylook.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4360
Date: 9/1/1967 (approximate)
Description: The Colorado project obtains a third-hand report of a UFO
sighting at Edwards AFB, California, on or around this date. A civilian
employee at the base has seen the report, mentions it to a relative, who
then discusses it with a scientist cooperating with the project.
According to the story, 6 UFOs follow an X-15 as it lands. When project
members call Edwards, they get a runaround. After 2 weeks of phone
calls, they find that no X-15 flew on September 1. (There are flights on
August 21, 25, and October 3 and 4, however.) But no one denies that a
UFO sighting took place. (UFOs Yes, 124–125; Condon, pp. 341–342)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4364
Date: early 9/1967
Description: Evan Evanson, 18, is returning home in a pickup truck on
Highway 36 south of Taber, Alberta, when his engine heats up and he
pulls to the side of the road to let it cool off. Through the driver’s
window he sees a soundless, green, glowing object like two plates put
together. It seems near enough to touch. The music on the truck radio is
replaced with a beeping sound. Suddenly the object disappears, and
Evanson notices that the truck engine has stopped. (“First
Sighting of UFO Reported at Taber,” Calgary (Alberta) Herald,
September 5, 1967, p. 49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4363
Date: 9/2/1967
Time: night
Description: Nelson Gutierrez, a salesman, saw an object on the Plains
Highway, and a creature, of which he took several photographs.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 78 (Vallee)
Location: Hato Viejo Farm, Venezuela
ID: 876
Date: 9/3/1967
Description: Paula Valdez, suffering from a headache, was suddenly
aroused by a whistling sound and saw a small man, with a large head and
prominent eyes, who said: “I want you to come with us, so that you’ll
know other worlds, and you’ll realize how small your world is.” The
witness screamed wildly, and the apparition ran.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 80 (Vallee)
Location: Caracas, Venezuela
ID: 877
Date: 9/4/1967
Description: 5:10 a.m. Police officer P. A. Andrade is on duty at city
hall in Valencia, Venezuela, when he hears a humming noise and footsteps
in a nearby garage. He meets a dwarf, 3 feet tall, with a big head and
bulging, reddish, glowing eyes, wearing a silver-colored,
metallic-looking coverall. Andrade points his automatic weapon at the
creature, but a voice from a hovering disc says in Spanish that he
should not harm the creature. The dwarf then tries to convince Andrade
to “come to their world,” adding it is “very distant and much larger
than the Earth, and with many advantages for Earthlings.” When Andrade
declines, the creature flies back into the object, which takes off.
(Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 82; Vallée, Magonia,
pp. 351–352;
Mark Cashman, “Behavioral Classification System for UFO Occupants,” IUR
24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4365
Date: 9/4/1967
Time: 0510
Description: Police Officer P. A. Andrade was on duty at City Hall when
he heard a humming noise and footsteps in a garage. He met a dwarf, 1 m
tall, with a big head and bulging, reddish glowing eyes, wearing a
silver-colored, metallic-looking coverall. Andrade pointed his machine
gun at the creature, but a voice from a hovering disk said in Spanish
that he should not harm the creature. The dwarf then tried to convince
Andrade to come to “their world,” adding it was “very distant and much
larger than the Earth, and with many advantages for Earthlings.” When
Andrade declined, the creature flew back into the object, which
left.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 82 (Vallee)
Location: Valencia, Venezuela
ID: 878
Date: 9/4/1967
Description: The Industrial Psychologists’ section of the American
Psychological Association sponsors a program on “Problems and Methods of
Gathering Data on UFOs.” Participants include Harold
Greenwald, Richard
H. Hall, Gustave
J. Rath, R.
Leo Sprinkle, and David
Saunders. (Story,
p. 413)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4367
Date: 9/4/1967
Description: Dawn. A paperboy in Clevedon, England, discovers a
5-foot-wide, saucer-shaped, metallic object in a field. He calls the
police, who send it to the guided weapons division of British Aerospace,
whose chief design engineer declares it an expensive hoax. Soon five
identical objects are found in fields and golf courses in the southern
part of England. The sites lie on a straight path 220 miles long that
spans 1° of latitude, running west to east from Clevedon to the Isle of
Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. A USAF intelligence officer takes photos
of one in Welford, Berkshire, and chemists with Britain’s Home Office
analyze samples of a foul liquid that is seeping from one of the
objects. But the objects are a prank involving 15 engineering
apprentices, primarily Christopher
Southall and Roger
Palmer, at
the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough. The objects are made of
fiberglass, and the smelly liquid is a fermented mixture of flour and
water. (Wikipedia, “1967
British flying
saucer hoax”; Clark III 604–605; Jenny Randles, UFO Retrievals,
Blandford, 1995, pp. 108–111;
John Keeling, “Invasion 1967,” Fortean Times 228 (November 2007): 32–41;
“The
Great Saucer Invasion: The Day Six
‘Spaceships’ Landed in England,” BBC News, September 3, 2017; Curt
Collins, “The
UK Saucer Invasion of 1967,”
The Saucers That Time Forgot, August 30, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4366
Date: 9/5/1967
Description: Saunders suggests
to Low that
his academic commitments might require a reorganization of project
duties, namely that Low, Roach, and
himself report directly to Condon,
with others reporting to them. Low blows up. Low ultimately agrees but
replaces Roach with Norm Levine. (UFOs Yes, 139–140)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4368
Date: 9/6/1967
Description: 9:50 p.m. Several witnesses at Meir, Stoke-in-Trent,
England, see a vertically oriented “sausage-shaped cloud” in the eastern
sky, behind which a light flashes for about 20 seconds at irregular
intervals. A bright, glowing orange oval then emerges from the cloud and
heads southeast at “fantastic speed.” A light again flashes in the cloud
for about 10 seconds, then stops. The mode of disappearance of the cloud
is not reported. (Roger Stanway and Anthony R. Pace, Flying Saucer
Report, UFOs: Unidentified, Undeniable, Newchapel Observatory, 1968,
pp. 14–15; Herbert S. Taylor, “Cloud Cigars: A Further Look,” IUR 30,
no. 3 (May 2006): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4369
Date: 9/8/1967
Time: 0230
Description: A. Aguilar, 23, saw a creature outside her bedroom window
and screamed. Her parents ran into the room in time to see it soaring
over rooftops, surrounded by a bluish-yellow glow. It moved as if
suspended from a balloon. A strong smell of “melted iron” was detected
by all.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 81 (Vallee)
Location: Caracas, Venezuela
ID: 879
Date: 9/9/1967
Description: A 3-year-old saddle horse named Lady [not Snippy] belonging
to Nellie
Lewis of the Harry
King Ranch in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, just south of Great
Sand Dunes National Monument, is found dead a couple days after it has
gone missing. The animal appears to have been skinned from the neck to
the shoulders, which are nothing but bleached bones. The cut in the neck
looks smooth and surgical. The soil beneath the horse is damp, and there
is a medicine-like smell. A nearby bush is flattened oddly. Alamosa
County Sheriff Ben Phillips blames Lady’s death on lightning. A few days
later, rangers at Great Sand Dunes arrest John
Henry Altshuler, a pathologist at Ross Medical Center in Denver, for
trespassing after dark; he has actually gone to the area to look for
UFOs. When they find out he is a specialist in blood coagulation, they
say they will drop the arrest record if he takes a look at the dead
horse. He finds that Lady’s lungs, heart, and thyroid are completely
missing and finds the complete absence of blood distressing. Altshuler
begins to think the dead horse has something to do with the UFOs he had
seen when he was in the Great Sand Dunes. Nellie Lewis also admits she
has been watching something in the sky every night. Duane
Martin, a US Forest Service ranger, records a pulse of unusually
high radioactivity near Lady’s carcass, although others think it is only
background radiation. The Pueblo Chieftain reports on the case in its
October 5 edition and it gets picked up by the AP. Pathologist Robert O.
Adams, chief of surgery at Colorado State University’s College of
Veterinary Medicine, investigates Lady for the Colorado project and
concludes that bacteria, birds, and coyotes are responsible for the lack
of blood and organs. He finds an infection in the horse’s right flank
that could have killed it; the cut at the neck might have been someone’s
mercy killing. “Exhaust marks” found are probably fungal infestations,
and indentations are probably weathered hoofprints. Alamosa veterinarian
Wallace Leary later finds evidence of two bullet holes in Lady’s rump.
(“The Snippy
Case,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967, pp. 1, 6; “Colorado
Horse Death Ruled No UFO Case,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 2 (October
1967): 4; Donald Merker, “The Appaloosa from Alamosa,” Fate 21, no. 3
(March 1968): 35, 45–52; Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968,
pp. 148–158; Condon, pp. 344–347;
UFOs Yes, 155–169; “Town
Gets Snippy about Skeleton of Mutilated Horse,” Denver Post,
December 8, 2006; Greg Newkirk, “Death
on the Great Sand Dunes: The Strange Case of Snippy the Horse, the First
Cattle Mutilation,” Week in Weird, January 8, 2013; Sylvia Lobato,
“After
50 Years, Snippy Still a Mystery,” Alamosa (Colo.) Valley Courier,
September 29, 2017; Clark III 130–132)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4370
Date: 9/10/1967
Description: Cone-shaped object, haze or mist around lower portion,
approached airliner from west, passed under starboard wing, turning and
maneuvering
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Barcelona, Spain
ID: 143
Date: 9/10/1967
Description: Several residents of Bruzual, Apure, Venezuela, watch a
white, luminous disc following the course of the Apure River from west
to east at low altitude. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet,
1968, p. 69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4371
Date: 9/11/1967
Description: Richard
H. Hall resigns as assistant director of NICAP for personal reasons
and is replaced by Gordon
I. R.
Lore. (“Assistant
Director Hall Resigns, Is Replaced by Gordon Lore,” UFO Investigator
4, no. 2 (October 1967): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4372
Date: 9/11/1967
Description: 3:30 p.m. About a dozen employees of the Douglas Point
Nuclear Generating Station near Kincardine, Ontario, watch a UFO pass
over the plant in an easterly direction. At one point it hovers above
Lake Huron about a mile and a half offshore and drops something into the
water. Other plant workers see similar objects over the lake or above
the plant on five succeeding nights. The plant isn’t operational for
another year. (Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and
Abductions, Methuen, 1979, pp. 122–123)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4373
Date: 9/11/1967
Description: 10:42 p.m. According to radar operators at Kincheloe AFB
[now Chippewa County International Airport] south of Sault Ste. Marie,
Michigan, more than 20 radar targets appear and disappear over the
middle of Lake Superior over an 80-minute period, tracked at speeds of
up to 2,000 mph, sometimes turning at sharp right angles and involving
separation and merging of distinct targets. Radar at Duluth, Minnesota,
has also picked up the targets. The Colorado project sends John
Ahrens and Norm Levine to investigate. They check out rumors of
visual sightings at Sault Ste. Marie, but these do not conform to the
radar trackings. At Duluth, they draw a complete blank with denials all
around. (NICAP, “17
Unknowns in 80 Minute Period”; UFOs Yes, 123–124; Condon, pp. 164–165;
Sparks, p. 326)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4375
Date: 9/11/1967
Description: 9:30 p.m. During a raging storm near Rosario, Santa Fe,
Argentina, a family watches a huge, glowing orange object hovering in a
field about 1,000 feet away from the farmhouse. The object emits
brilliant beams of light. After 4 hours it ascends and is lost to sight
in seconds. The next day, the witnesses find a sootlike material on the
ground and tracks about 2 inches wide in the flattened grass. (Lorenzen,
UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4374
Date: 9/11/1967
Time: 2130
Description: During a raging storm, an entire family watched a large,
glowing object in a field 300 m away, giving off brilliant beams of
light for 4 hours, after which it took off in seconds. Sootlike material
with an unpleasant smell and tracks on flattened grass were noted.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Villa Constitucion, Argentina
ID: 880
Date: 9/13/1967
Description: Condon gives
a dinner speech at a spectroscopy symposium at the National Bureau of
Standards in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and talks primarily about
contactees and crackpots. (UFOs Yes, 247–248)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4376
Date: 9/14/1967
Time: 1100
Description: Fabio J. Diniz, 16, was walking near a hospital when he saw
a mushroom-shaped craft on a playing field. It had a cupola on top, and
a guillotinelike door that slid up. The boy fled, but a voice told him
in Portuguese: “Don’t run away.” He saw two men, 2 m tall, dressed in
green tight-fitting clothes. They told him not to be afraid and to
return the next day, “otherwise we will take your family.” They had
greenish skin, and round eyes set wide apart.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 6 (Vallee)
Location: La Baleia, Brazil
ID: 881
Date: 9/14/1967
Alternate date: 9/17/1967
Description: 10:50 a.m. “Fábio Jose Diniz,” 16, is walking along an
asphalt path near the deserted grounds of an isolation unit at Hospital
da Baleia on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He notices an
object in an adjacent football field. It is shaped like a mushroom with
a domed top and surrounded by a row of portholes and a thick central
“stalk” in contact with the soil. A hazy screen like a force field drops
around the object, and a door appears out of nowhere and slides upward
along the column. Two humanlike figures, 6 feet tall, emerge, dressed in
one-piece diving suits of greenish material and helmets. One of them
carries a tube-like implement, and the other has a probe sticking up
from his helmet and talks to Diniz in Portuguese, telling him not to run
away. He starts running anyway, but the figure tells him to come back
the next day or they will take his family. The figure reenters the UFO,
which takes off vertically. He sees psychologist and UFO researcher Hulvio
Aleixo, who says he is in severe shock. At the landing site, police
find some foul-smelling black material that crumbles easily. This is
examined by geophysicist Roberto Murto, who finds it is made of iron,
magnesium, and silica. An impression like a large footprint is also
found. Aleixo subjects the boy to psychological testing and he finds no
disorder. The UFO fails to return the next day. (“Flying
Saucer Is Reported,” Baltimore (Md.) Sun, September 25, 1967, p. 3;
Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 85; Jenny Randles,
UFO Conspiracy, Cassell, 1987, pp. 97– 99;
Clark III 177–178; Brazil 88–91; Mark Cashman, “Behavioral
Classification System for UFO Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999):
18–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4377
Date: 9/15/1967
Description: The carcass of a horse named Snippy was discovered. Unusual
radioactivity and strange traces were claimed to have been found at the
spot.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Condon 344; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Alamosa, Colorado
ID: 882
Date: 9/15/1967
Description: 8:50 p.m. Separate witnesses in Winsted, Connecticut, see a
large glowing, pulsating object hovering nearby and several small beings
with large heads moving around it. The object’s light dims when cars
approach. (“Flap
Continues in the States,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967, p. 9;
Condon, pp. 347–351)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4379
Date: 9/15/1967
Description: Astronomer William
Markowitz publishes an article in Science magazine that declares
extraterrestrial UFOs to be a priori impossible because they do not
follow the laws of physics. (William Markowitz, “The Physics
and Metaphysics of Unidentified Flying Objects,” Science 157 (1967):
1274–1279)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4378
Date: 9/15/1967
Time: 2045
Description: Two teenage girls observed a large, glowing object, and
three small figures, about 1.25 m tall, witll oversized heads, running
near a barn. From the object came a noise similar to that of “a power
mower when it fires but fails to start.” The object blacked out, and the
figures hid while a car passed, after which the object pulsated between
very bright white and dull red, and moved diagonally several
times.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 166; Condon 347 (Vallee)
Location: Winsted, Connecticut
ID: 883
Date: 9/17/1967
Description: Roach resigns
from the Colorado project in order to pursue academic interests. (UFOs
Yes, 140)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4380
Date: 9/18/1967
Time: 0100
Description: Forestry employee Russell Hill heard a strange pulsating
sound and saw an object giving off a green glow hover near his cabin.
Radio interference.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 34 (Vallee)
Location: Nanton, Canada
ID: 884
Date: 9/18/1967
Description: 1:00 a.m. Russell Hill is stationed as a forestry lookout
at the Raspberry Ridge station near Mount Burke, Alberta. He hears a
strange pulsating sound as a green light sweeps the walls of the lookout
cabin. He sees an object hovering to the southwest and giving off a
greenish glow. He attempts to radio the nearby Highwood Ranger Station,
but the radio ane lights do not work. The object turns white and shoots
up straight into the sky. (“Object
Photographed in Canada,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967,
p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4382
Date: 9/18/1967
Description: Saunders, Low, and
Condon meet
for 3 hours to discuss Saunders’s suggestions for improving the public
image. Saunders argues that the public can tell the project is headed
toward a negative conclusion. Condon says that if they find
extraterrestrial evidence, he would not disclose it to the public. (UFOs
Yes, 140–141; Swords 324)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4381
Date: 9/20/1967
Description: 10:30 p.m. Mrs. Charles Pasko notices a peach-pink glow in
the woods outside her home near Winsted, Connecticut. Thinking it is a
fire, she wakes up her son Jack and they watch it for a while. Three
days later her husband and a forest ranger try to find the burned spot.
They locate a burned and depressed teardrop-shaped area about 35 feet in
diameter. They also find three triangular imprints forming an
equilateral triangle with sides 10 feet long, and a fourth depression in
the center. Other witnesses had seen a UFO coming in at a slant,
breaking and burning tree leaves. Several tall trees in the area are
broken off at the top. (“September
Landing in Conn.,” APRO Bulletin, Nov./Dec. 1967, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4385
Date: 9/20/1967
Description: 8:30–9:30 p.m. Seven people in Stoke-on-Trent, England, see
a large, bright, silver-colored, oval-shaped object almost overhead and
moving slowly to the northeast. It stops and hovers, then 2–3 smaller
silvery objects emerge from the larger one and move rapidly away in
different directions. The large UFO moves off to the northeast and
slowly disappears. (Roger H. Stanway and Anthony R. Pace, Flying Saucer
Report, UFOs: Unidentified, Undeniable, Newchapel Observatory, 1968,
p. 16; Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR 29,
no. 2 (Summer 2004): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4384
Date: 9/20/1967
Description: NICAP provisionally withdraws its support from the Colorado
project. Saunders tells
Low about
it. (UFOs Yes, 141–142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4383
Date: 9/22/1967
Time: night
Description: Near Caracas, a race track employee was attacked by a very
strong creature that choked him, but ran away when a horse was heard
neighing frantically in the stable. Thirty min later, a horse was
attacked, and an employee saw a dwarf, 1 m tall, “zoom” out of the
building.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 84 (Vallee)
Location: Caracas, Venezuela
ID: 885
Date: 9/22/1967
Description: 8:00 p.m. Simon Williams and his son Eugene, 14, are
starting a pickup truck with jumper cables in Allen [or Fittstown],
Oklahoma, when they see a disc with a brilliant silvery light and
smaller flashing lights around the rim heading west. It seems to come
closer and hover above a highway. Eugene thinks he can see the
headlights of passing cars reflected on its bottom surface. It then
proceeds slowly west. (“Flap
Continues in the States,”
APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967, p. 9; Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas,
Signet, 1968, p. 168)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4386
Date: 9/23/1967
Description: Geology professor watched flight of two silvery
cigar-shaped objects
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Amherst, MA
ID: 144
Date: 9/25/1967
Description: Saunders, Low, and
Condon have
another meeting at Condon’s home. Saunders tells Condon that the
problems with NICAP would not have arisen if Condon had been more
circumspect with his negative remarks. Condon says he understands but
offers no change. (UFOs Yes, 142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4387
Date: 9/27/1967
End date: 9/29/1967
Description: The Rocky Mountain News publishes a commentary by Condon wherein
he debunks UFOs and disparages NICAP’s contributions. It quotes Low in
a similar vein. Condon talks to the project staff and retracts nothing,
only saying that he was misquoted about being disenchanted about the
project. Project members hold a meeting without Low and Condon to decide
what to do. Levine pushes for mass resignation. Craig is
the sole dissenter. Saunders sides
with Levine but wants to explore other strategies. Ultimately, they
decide to prepare their own report, one “so compelling that Condon would
be forced to accept it on its merits.” (UFOs Yes, 142– 146; Swords
325)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4389
Date: 9/27/1967
Description: BUFORA researchers Anthony R. Pace and Roger H. Stanway
visit the S4 UFO desk at the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall, London,
England. They talk to a Mr. Cassells, who assures them that all UFO
reports are treated seriously but the Ministry’s interest is solely in
national defense. He adds that no person from the Ministry ever makes
on-the-spot inquiries or field investigations. (Roger H. Stanway and
Antony R. Pace, Flying Saucer Report: UFOs Unidentified, Unidentifiable,
1972; Good Above, pp. 67–68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4388
Date: 9/28/1967
Description: 1:30 a.m. Omar Amaya T., chief dispatcher at the Maiquetia
International Airport [now the Simón Bolívar International Airport],
Venezuela, watches three luminous disc pass across the sky from north to
south. Suddenly one lags behind and dives toward the sea but veers up
just before contact. Resuming its position in the formation, it joins
the other objects as they disappear to the east. (Lorenzen, UFOs over
the Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4390
Date: 9/28/1967
Description: 4:00 p.m. Many people in Caracas, Venezuela, watch a
luminous metallic disc cross the sky with an oscillating motion and
appear to land on Cerro El Ávila. A Similar object is seen taking off
from the same spot about 2 hours later. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the
Americas, Signet, 1968, p. 70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4391
Date: 9/29/1967
Description: 8:30 p.m. Four workers in a restaurant at Wernersville,
Pennsylvania, are alerted by a neighbor to go outside and watch nine
red, pulsating, cigar-shaped objects flying northeastward. A large
triangle-shaped object, also pulsating red, flies into view. The
triangle stops and changes colors to white, green, then back to red. It
takes off in a zigzag motion to the northeast. (R. G. Shunk, “Letter,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 6, no. 1 (Feb./March 1985): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4392
Date: 10/1967
Description: The DOSAAF Cosmonautics Committee invites the Soviet UFO
Study Group to function under its auspices. (Wikipedia, “Felix
Ziegel”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4393
Date: 10/1967
Description: 8:30 p.m. David R. Smith watches a diffuse object with a
series of 5–6 lighted square and oval windows about 450–600 feet away at
treetop level near Homer, Louisiana. It rises and heads south. After 50
seconds, the lights blink out. (NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4394
Date: 10/2/1967
Description: Aircraft engineer sighted disc-shaped object with windows,
blinking lights, light beam illuminating ground
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Melville, NY
ID: 145
Date: 10/3/1967
Description: Pilot William
“Pete” Knight reaches a speed of 4,519 mph (Mach 6.72) in a North
American X-15 rocket plane, a record that stands today. (Wikipedia, “William
J. Knight”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4395
Date: 10/4/1967
Description: From early evening until 11:30 p.m., numerous independent
witnesses observe unexplained aerial activity in Nova Scotia. Near
Sambro at 9:00 pm, Capt. Leo Howard Mersey and 20 crewmembers of the MV
Nickerson see four brilliant red lights in a rectangular formation that
appear to be on or just above the water. Occasionally one flares up so
brightly that it causes an afterimage in their eves. The objects are
also tracked on ship’s radar. They file a report with the Lunenburg CMP
office. Between 11:00 and 11:30 pm, northwest of Brier Island, the
captain and crew of a fishing vessel see a brilliant white light the
size of the moon. As they watch, three brilliant yellow lights emerge
and form a triangle around the larger light. The satellite objects then
move across the sky and back at high speed. Observations are also made
by other vessels. Five miles southwest of Weymouth, a policeman and
three game wardens see an orange-colored light just above the tree line
moving silently and slowly with spark-like objects emanating. At about
11:20 p.m., just west of Shag Harbour, Laurie
Wickens and four other teenagers driving in a car along Highway 3
see an object flying low, flashing four lights one after the other, in a
straight line. It appears to be slowly descending at a 45° angle.
Multiple witnesses hear a whistling sound “like a bomb,” then a
“whoosh,” and finally a loud bang. When next seen by the teens, the
object has hit the water’s surface 820– 980 feet offshore. It drifts on
the surface, showing a pale-yellow light. Wickens contacts the RCMP
detachment in Barrington Passage and reports he has seen a large
airplane or small airliner crash into the waters off Shag Harbour.
Within about 15 minutes, 10 RCMP officers arrive at the scene. Concerned
for survivors, the RCMP detachment contacts the Rescue Coordination
Centre in Halifax to advise them of the situation and ask if any
aircraft were missing. Before any attempt at rescue can be made, the
object starts to sink and disappears from view. A rescue mission is
quickly assembled. Within half an hour of the crash, local fishing boats
go out to the crash site in the waters of the Gulf of Maine off Shag
Harbour to look for survivors. No survivors, bodies, or debris are
found, either by the fishermen or by a Canadian Coast Guard search and
rescue cutter, which arrives about an hour later from nearby Clark’s
Harbour. By the next morning, RCC Halifax has determined that no
aircraft are missing. The same morning, RCC Halifax also sends a
priority telex to the Air Desk at Royal Canadian Air Force headquarters
in Ottawa, which handles all civilian and military UFO sightings,
informing them of the crash and that all conventional explanations such
as aircraft or flares have been dismissed. The head of the Air Desk,
Squadron Leader William Bain sends another priority telex to the Royal
Canadian Navy headquarters concerning the “UFO report” and recommends an
underwater search be mounted. The RCN in turn sends another priority
telex tasking Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic with carrying out the search. A
detachment of RCN divers from Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic is assembled on
the HMCS
Granby on
October 6 and for the next three days they comb the seafloor looking for
an object. The final report says no trace of an object is found. In the
1990s, researcher Chris
Styles finds evidence that there is a second crash the same night.
Witnesses see American naval exercises in Shelburne Harbour 30 miles to
the northeast. Speculation is that the original object may have traveled
underwater from Shag Harbour to Shelburne. (Wikipedia, “Shag
Harbour UFO incident”; Sanderson, InvRes, pp. 38–39;
Condon, pp. 351–353;
Good Need, pp. 279–282;
Don Ledger, “UFO Crash at Shag Harbour,” IUR 22, no. 4 (Winter
1997–1998): 8–9, 20; Don Ledger and Chris Styles, Dark Object, Dell,
2001; Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report,
Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 94–98; Chris Rutkowski, “The Cold, Hard Facts
about UFOs in Canada,” IUR 34, no. 1 (September 2011): 9–10; “The
1967 Shag Harbour UFO
Crash: Documents Related to Crash,” Roswell Proof; “Shag
Harbour News Articles,” Roswell Proof; Clark 284–285; Chris
Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
pp. 129–137)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4396
Date: 10/5/1967
Description: 9:30 p.m. Colorado Superior Court Judge Charles
E. Bennett and his wife Christina spot
three circular, red- orange objects traveling from the east to the
southeast in a triangular formation over Denver, Colorado. They can hear
a distinct humming or whirring sound. They move out of sight in 6
seconds. (“Flap
Continues in the States,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967,
p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4397
Date: 10/6/1967
Description: 7:00 p.m. Radar at Vandenberg AFB, near Lompoc, California,
detects a very large stationary object some miles over the Pacific Ocean
off the Northern California coast. Later, radar detects numerous small
but strong targets traveling eastward in irregular flight. (NICAP, “Condon
Case 35”; Condon, pp. 171–172, 353–365)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4398
Date: 10/7/1967
End date: 10/9/1967
Description: Capture and death of Che
Guevara in Bolivia. Félix
Rodríguez, a Cuban exile turned CIA Special Activities Division
operative, advised Bolivian troops during the hunt for Guevara in
Bolivia. In addition, the 2007 documentary My Enemy’s Enemy alleges that
Nazi war criminal Klaus
Barbie advised and possibly helped the CIA orchestrate Guevara’s
capture. (Wikipedia, “Che
Guevara”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4400
Date: 10/7/1967
Description: 8:00 p.m. Russell Hill is sitting down to dinner at the
Raspberry Ridge Lookout Station in Alberta when the cabin lights begin
to flicker. He goes out to check the generator and sees an odd green
light moving slowly up the valley from south to north. It approaches to
within 500 feet of the cabin. The object is about 75 feet in diameter
and looks like two bowls clamped together. Around the rim is a pulsating
green light that seems to come from a neon tube. Another green light is
rotating slowly inside the top portion, and there are porthole-shaped
indentations in the side. Suddenly the light on the rim is extinguished,
the upper gfreen light turns white, and the object ascends at a terrific
speed, trailing jets of flame. (“Object
Photographed in Canada,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967,
p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4399
Date: 10/9/1967
Description: 5:40 p.m. The 13-year-old son of a prominent businessman is
riding a bicycle along a wash in the back of his home in the area of the
Tucson Speedway in Arizona. He comes across a cylindrical metallic
object standing on end and sitting on two legs about 44 feet away from
him. The legs end in circular pads and are joined by a curved bar. The
object, which is making a low-pitched hum, is about 8 feet tall and more
than 2 feet wide. The boy approaches it for a better view, but it takes
off vertically and disappears in 12 seconds. He finds two impressions in
the hard surface of the wash, 13.4 inches across and about 42 inches
apart (measuring from the outer edges). (“Landing
at Tucson,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967, pp. 1, 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4401
Date: 10/9/1967
Time: 1740
Description: A boy riding his bicycle saw an aluminum cylinder standing
on end, 3 m high, 80 cm wide, supported by two legs ending in round pads
joined by a bar. He got within 12 m of the object before it rose
vertically with a deep, low-pitched hum, but no smoke, flame, or haze.
It left two impressions.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 119 (Vallee)
Location: East Tucson, Arizona
ID: 886
Date: 10/10/1967
Description: The Lorenzens visit
the Colorado project and find its investigatory procedures “sadly
lacking,” with no standard report form or methodology. They also meet
with Boulder Daily Camera journalist R. Roger Harkins, who has been
covering the Colorado project. They give him a 7-point rationale on why
the CIA might be interested in UFOs, just to see if it gets published.
Harkins dictates the story to the Associated Press, but it is never
published. The Lorenzens suspect the project has a CIA mole. (Low did
work for the CIA in 1949 when it was aiding Albanian resistance
fighters.) (UFOs Yes, 129, 175–176; Lorenzen, Encounters with UFO
Occupants, Berkley Medallion, 1976, p. 5; Robin W. Winks, Cloak and
Gown: Scholars in the Secret War, 1939–1961, Morrow, pp. 396–397)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4402
Date: 10/11/1967
Description: 8:00 p.m. Nora Tibbs is driving on Highway 2 near
Aldersyde, Alberta, when the headlights, radio, and car engine stop. She
notices an oval-shaped object with a turret on top that begins to circle
her car. It has two white lights and a lighted-up underside. It circles
the car four or five times at a height of 1,000 feet, then flies away.
The witness feels cold during the sighting. The car engine starts by
itself as the object leaves. (“Object
Photographed in
Canada,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967, p. 11; Ted Phillips, Physical
Traces Associated with UFO Sightings, Center for UFO Studies, 1978,
p. 37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4404
Date: 10/11/1967
Description: Rex
Heflin is visited by a strange group of men in air force uniforms.
He obtains their names. They ask him about his 1965 photos and topics
like the Bermuda Triangle. He notices a figure in the back seat of their
car and a violet glow. Heflin thinks he is being photographed or
recorded. The FM radio acts strangely.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4403
Date: 10/11/1967
Time: 0010
Description: Othmar Willi, 37, observed three cylinders, 10 m high, 5 m
in diameter, with two rows of square windows and a small cone on top,
hovering 50 m away and 5 m above a maize field, making a noise
resembling a swarm of bees. A small object was dropped briefly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Oberhrendingen, Switzerland
ID: 887
Date: 10/12/1967
Description: Night. Comedian Dick
Gregory is at a party with friends at Big Sur, California, when
three lights appear in the sky. One is fiery red, while the other two
are bright green. The objects dart about sideways, backwards, in
circles, in jagged lines, and in formation. When Gregory’s writer, Jim
Saunders, signals with a flashlight, the objects seem to respond by
moving in the same direction as the beam. The partygoers watch the
lights for about 40 minutes. Gregory takes two Polaroid photographs that
show a red object at the top and two green ones at the bottom. (Margaret
Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, p. 131)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4405
Date: 10/13/1967
Description: McDonnell Douglas aerospace engineer Robert
M. Wood briefs the Colorado project on UFOs. Subsequently, Wood
writes Condon a
critical but polite letter listing his concerns about the project’s
shortcomings. He later learns that Condon has contacted CEO James
Smith McDonnell and tried to get him fired. (Robert M. Wood, “A
Little Physics…A Little Friction: A Close Encounter with the Condon
Committee,” IUR 18, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1993): 6–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4406
Date: 10/14/1967
Description: 2:30 a.m. Physicist Lewis
E. Hollander Jr. and his wife and son are driving near Mendota,
California, when they see a reddish-orange light source hovering close
to the road. They then notice a triangular shape beneath the light.
Thirty seconds later it moves upward to the west, increasing its speed.
The triangular shape fades, and Hollander notices a white glow
(“definitely an ionization color”) behind it. It disappears at an
extreme altitude after 3 minutes. (NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4407
Date: 10/14/1967
Description: 7:45 p.m. A father and son are returning from a fishing
trip when they notice an odd orange object like a “haystack on fire”
landed in the desert near Ouray, Utah. They stop, get out of the car,
and watch. The object lifts off immediately, looking like a half-moon in
shape and size. It then goes over to the Moon and flies a loop around
it, keeping its flat side down. Then it flies across the Moon’s face and
leaves to the northwest. (Frank B. Salisbury, The Utah UFO Display,
Devin-Adair, 1974, pp. 53–55; Michael D. Swords, “We Know Where You
Live,” IUR 30, no. 2 (January 2006): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4408
Date: late 1967
Description: The Institute for Aerospace Studies at the University of
Toronto, Ontario, begins a UFO study. By October 1968, it is on the
verge of collapse for “lack of something to investigate.” The study
terminates in 1970, but no report on its findings is ever released.
(Arthur Bray, “Government
Cover-Up Exposed,” Canadian UFO Report 3, no. 2 (1975): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4442
Date: 10/17/1967
Description: Rep. Louis
C. Wyman (R-N.H.) submits House Resolution 946 for a full UFO
investigation by the House Committee on Science and Astronautics. (“Investigation
of Unidentified Flying Objects,” Congressional Record, House, 90th
Cong., 1st Sess., October 17, 1967, vol. 113, part 21, p. 28949)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4409
Date: 10/18/1967
Time: 9 PM
Description: Witness: John Herbert. One bright, fiery ball flashed four
times while moving east, just above the tree tops. Sighting lasted 1
minute.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Lake Charles, Louisiana
ID: 579
Date: 10/18/1967
Description: 400 individuals attend the first meeting of the UFO Study
Group of the All-Union Committee on Cosmonautics of the Russian DOSAAF.
Retired Soviet Air Force Maj. Gen. Porfiri Stolyarov is elected chairman
and Felix
Ziegel agrees to be deputy chairman. Members include author Alexander
Kazantsev, engineer Arkady Tikhonov, a cosmonaut, 18 scientists, and
200 qualified observers stationed throughout the country. (“Late
News: Official
Russian Move on UFOs,” Flying Saucer Review 13, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1967): 2; Hobana and Weverbergh 35; Good Above, p. 232)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4410
Date: 10/20/1967
Description: Orionid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 146
Date: 10/21/1967
Time: 2200
Description: Four boys were driving east on State Route 7 when they saw
three men on the road, who “almost flew off and disappeared.” They were
about 1.20 m tall and wore shiny blue-green clothing. Their faces looked
human, but they had very large ears. The next day a small footprint
showing four toes was found in the mud.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III 84 (Vallee)
Location: Duncan, Oklahoma
ID: 888
Date: 10/21/1967
Description: 10:00 p.m. Ivan Ritter, Jerry Bennet, and two other teens
are driving east out of Duncan, Oklahoma, on the new State Highway 7.
They see something in the road ahead, far out of the range of their
headlights. When the driver turns on his high-beam lights, they see
three men who seem to fly off the road and disappear. They are about 4
feet tall and wearing tight-fitting blue-green clothing. Their faces
appear human, but with large ears. The next morning, Ritter and Bennet
look around for evidence at the landing site, but all they find is a
small, four-toes footprint in the muddy bottom of a creek bed about 300
feet from the road. (Lorenzen, UFOs over the Americas, Signet, 1968,
pp. 84–85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4412
Date: 10/21/1967
Description: 6:16 a.m. Two control tower operators and an observer at
the south end of the runway at Blytheville Air Force Base [now Arkansas
International Airport] in Blytheville, Arkansas, see two dark oblong
objects flying east to west at about 1,200–1,500 feet. They are tracked
by RAPCON radar for 2 miles. They make a turn to the southwest and
disappear. (NICAP, “RAPCON
Tracks Object, Two Objects Observed from the Ground”; J. Allen
Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 60, 75)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4411
Date: 10/22/1967
Description: Night. Edward Fortney and another real-estate agent are
locking up for the night in Charleswood, a suburb of Winnipeg, Manitoba,
when they notice a formation of brilliant red, pulsating lights above an
adjacent field. They are joined by six other people who have stopped
their car to look at the lights. Two similar lights appear and take up a
position near the formation. The objects then rise and move away
noiselessly in formation. Floating above Canada Highway 100, they appear
to change positions, forming a perfect triangle. Fortney looks at them
through binoculars and sees dark rectangular objects that the lights are
attached to. The formation dips and bobs toward a line of high-voltage
towers half a mile away. The three lights in triangular formation break
up and form a single file, the wires and towers lighting up with a red
glow as they speed over them. They are last seen traveling northwest. On
his way home, Fortney experiences a “skullbuster” headache that lasts
until midnight. The next day, he visits the site in the field and finds
child-like footprints in the moist soil, 7 inches long and under 3
inches wide, leading to and from a peculiar circular pile of fist-sized
stones. The heel marks seem deeply impressed in the soil. Fortney also
experiences leg and back pain, sunburn on his face and hands, and a
yellow- green coating on his tongue. (Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings,
Landings, and Abductions, Methuen, 1979, pp. 47–50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4413
Date: 10/24/1967
Time: 2130
Description: Donald Chiszar, 13, and Pat Crozier, 10, saw a bright
object hovcrillg in mid-air. It tilted toward them, and they could see
two big, square windows separated by a bar, and strange lettering under
them. Two aliens, and control panels with lights and knobs, could be
seen inside. It vanished on the spot.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Lor. III, 180 (Vallee)
Location: Newfield, New York
ID: 889
Date: 10/24/1967
Description: 9:30 p.m. Donald
Chiszar, 13, and Pat Crosier, 10, are sitting on the Crosier front
porch in Newfield, New York, when they see a bright disc-like object
approach them with its leading edge tilted toward them. On top is a
knob-like protuberance with an antenna and hanging beneath the object is
a “square box” full of red, green, and white lights. Two humanoid
figures and control panels are visible through windows. The object then
tilts back and shoots out of sight. Their hand-held radios produce loud
static during the sighting. (“Flap
Continues in the States,”
APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1967, p. 10; Richard H. Hall, “Dyad ‘Scout
Craft,’” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001): 23–24; Condon, pp. 375–379)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4415
Date: 10/24/1967
Description: UFO with windows approached, tilted down. Two humanoid
figures and control panels visible. Object tilted back up, shot out of
sight in seconds
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Newfield, NY
ID: 147
Date: 10/24/1967
Description: 4:00 a.m. Two police constables, Roger Willey and Clifford
Waycott, chase a bright cross-shaped light in their patrol car at 90 mph
between Holsworthy and Hatherleigh on the A307 road, Devon, England. The
object appears to land behind some trees, but takes off before they can
reach the site, though they approach to within 120 feet of the object.
The UFO is later observed to rendezvous in the sky with a similar
object. Other policemen report a UFO on this day and the following day.
(Bernard Wignall, “The
Okehampton Incident,” Flying Saucer Review 13, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1967): 5; UFOFiles2, pp. 75–76;
Geoff Falla, “The
Flying Cross Episode,” BUFORA, 2012; Ian Ridpath, “Devon
‘Flying Cross’ of 1967 Revisited,” Ian Ridpath’s UFO Skeptic, March
2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4414
Date: 10/25/1967
Time: 2045
Description: Clive Robinson and Richard Corben, 14, and a third boy,
reported the landing of a dome-shaped object with a smaller hump on top,
200 m away. It took off diagonally, leaving some traces.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68 (Vallee)
Location: Malvern, Great Britain
ID: 890
Date: 10/25/1967
Description: 3:15 p.m. R. G. Putnam, a brakeman on a train running from
Truro, Nova Scotia, to Moncton, New Brunswick, when he sees a disc with
green vapor billowing from it pacing the train at treetop level near
Wentworth Station, Nova Scotia. Putnam feels an intense blast of
radiation, forcing him to cover his face with his hands to look at it.
The object soon drifts away from the train, tips to a 45° angle, then
turns to a vertical poistion. A jet arrives, seemingly in pursuit, and
the object levels out, taking on the appearance of a cigar-shaped cloud.
Both fly out of sight to the west after 35 minutes of observation. One
week later, the hair on the back of Putnam’s hands disappears, his hands
shrivel up, and his eyes are sore and swollen. Two weeks later, his
chest and throat get sore. He reports the sighting to the RCMP and the
Canadian Forces, but apparently gets no response. (Chris Rutkowski,
Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 104–105)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4416
Date: 10/26/1967
Time: 0430
Description: A businessman driving north between Hook and Reading was
puzzled when the electrical system of his car broke down. He then
observed a dull object, 20 m in diameter, 100 m away, at about 15 m
altitude. He made the rest of his journey in a trancelike state.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 67, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Reading, Great Britain
ID: 891
Date: 10/26/1967
Description: 11:25 a.m. J. B. W. “Angus” Brooks, a former BOAC pilot and
photo interpreter, is walking his Dalmatian and German shepherd at
Moigne Downs near Ringstead Bay, Dorset, England. An odd-looking craft
descends and hovers at an altitude of 200–300 feet at a distance of
about a quarter mile from them for 22 minutes. The German shepherd has
been foraging for game; when she returns she seems “distraught” as she
stands beside Brooks. Her ears are pricked, indicating she is worried
about the sounds she is hearing, although Brooks can detect no sound
from the object. The odd-shaped craft has a central round chamber
estimated to be 25 feet in diameter and 12 feet thick. Four long slender
fuselages (estimated 75 feet long and 8 feet wide) extend from the
central chamber. In flight, one of the 4 fuselages leads, while the
other three are together in the rear. As the object slows to hover, the
fuselages move to form a cross. The object rotates 90°, then remains
motionless for 22 minutes despite strong winds. Upon departure, the
leading fuselage is not the one that led on approach. The remaining 3
fuselages come together in the rear as on the approach, and the object
climbs away with increasing speed. The craft appears translucent, taking
on the color of the sky above it. There are dark shadows along the bases
of the fuselages and the center chamber. On future visits to this area,
the German shepherd appears nervous. (Angus Brooks, “Remarkable
Sighting near Dorset,” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1968): 3–4; R. H. B. Winder, “Comment
on the Angus Brooks Sighting,” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1968): 4–5; “‘Flying
Cross’ UFOs
over Britain,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 3 (Nov./Dec. 1967): 3; “Important
New Details on Flying Cross,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 4
(Jan./Feb. 1968): 4–5; Good Above, pp. 63–64,
455;
UFOFiles2, pp. 77–79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4417
Date: 10/27/1967
Description: A spinning object, 7.5 m in diameter, emitting red and
green lights, came down to a river, causing thunderous agitation of the
water, and took off over a forest, with a heat wave.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 92 (Vallee)
Location: Dympep, India
ID: 892
Date: 10/27/1967
Description: 2:20 p.m. Timothy Robinson, 13, and his family are startled
by the roar of a jet aircraft overhead at Winchester, Hampshire,
England. He dashes out into the garden and sees two English Electric
Lightning fighters fly low overhead. Ahead of the aircraft is a black,
mushroom-shaped object streaking away to the west. It changes direction
abruptly to the northwest and disappears into a cloud, climbing steeply
and outmaneuvering the Lightnings. (Good Above, p. 62)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4421
Date: 10/27/1967
Description: 3:30 a.m. Truck driver Chris
R. Helgesen observes a spinning, reddish, round object, about 100
feet in diameter, pace his truck for about half a mile on US Highway 83
north of Max, North Dakota. The object then hovers above a field, paces
the truck again, hovers, paces the truck again (stopping when it stops),
turns blue, picks up speed, turns green, then shoots away to the
southeast, turns yellow, and vanishes. Helgesen has it in view for about
one hour. (“New
Close-Ups, Pacings,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 5 (March 1968):
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4420
Date: 10/27/1967
Description: 3:00 a.m. Charlie Little, the pilot of a Piper-Twin
Comanche, with two other pilots and a passenger on board, is flying over
the Atlantic northeast of Jacksonville, Florida. They see a bright
light, which becomes visible as six huge, round, bright-white lights in
a horizontal row on a darker object. It approaches on a collision course
and is seen to be a gray equilateral triangle with a triangular opening
at its center. The object makes an unbanked 180° turn, then takes off
and disappears in a flash. (Willy Smith, “A Huge ‘Open’ Triangular UFO,”
IUR 9, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1984): 4–6; Philip J. Klass, “Letter,” IUR 10,
no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1985): 13; “Charles Little Responds,” IUR 10, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1095): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4418
Date: 10/27/1967
Description: 3:00 a.m. A waitress driving home in Parshall, North
Dakota, sees a large, round, revolving object with alternating
triangular areas of coloration. The object is low and moving
horizontally an estimated two blocks away. As it paces her car, she sees
2–3 white light beams coming down vertically from the object. Her car
drives like it has flat tires or rocks that are hitting the bottom of
the chassis. A second witness, police Lt. Glen G. Brunsell, sees a
low-altitude, bright round light like a welding-torch that illuminates
the ground. The object moves slowly with vertical oscillations and
changes color from blue to green-white. It departs vertically,
disappearing in 5 seconds. (“AF
Log Reveals Wave,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 7 (July/Aug. 1968): 6–7;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 101–102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4419
Date: 10/27/1967
Description: Sphere rose, paced car, which began steering hard. Object
hovered near missile base, shot straight up out of sight in
seconds
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Parshall, ND
ID: 148
Date: 10/30/1967
Time: 2100
Description: A businessman was driving toward Boyup Brook when his car
failed completely and stopped, although he did not recall feeling
deceleration. He found a strong light beam aimed at him from a
mushroom-shaped craft, 10 m in diameter. He had no recollection of
starting the car again after the departure of the object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Boyup Brook, Australia
ID: 893
Date: 10/30/1967
Description: 9:30 p.m. Alexander
Spargo is traveling alone in his car on the Mayanup–Kojonup road
about 10 miles east of Mayanup in Western Australia at a speed of about
60–65 miles per hour. He is approached by a lighted object from the sky.
A beam of light comes from a “tube” on the object and immerses the car.
Almost immediately, the car stops dead. However, there is no feeling of
deceleration. The vehicle’s motor, lights, and radio go off. Spargo
hears no noise. The tube seems 2–3 feet in diameter. It is not
uncomfortable to the eyes. After about 5 minutes, the tube closes off
and the object disappears. His vehicle is suddenly going at 60–65 miles
per hour again, with no feeling of acceleration. The object is only seen
from underneath, but he estimates its diameter as 30 feet and about 100
feet up in the air. It glows an iridescent blue. (Keith Basterfield,
Vladimir Godic, and Pony Godic, “Australian Ufology: A Review,” JUFOS 2
(1990): 27–28; Keith Basterfield, “Cold
Case Investigation: Boyup Brook
WA, 30 Oct 1967,” Unidentified Aerial Phenomena—Scientific
Investigation, September 23, 2012; Keith Basterfield, “Police
Report on the Boyup Brook Encounter, Uncovered,” Unidentified Aerial
Phenomena— Scientific Investigation, August 29, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4422
Date: 11/1967
Description: Ufologist Ted
Bloecher privately publishes a massive Report on the UFO Wave of
1947, detailing 853 reports gleaned from his years of research into
newspaper archives in June–July 1947. The preface is written by James
E. Mcdonald. (Ted Bloecher, Report
on the UFO Wave of 1947, The
Author, 1967)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4423
Date: 11/2/1967
Description: 9:30 p.m. Navajo ranch hands Willie Begay and Guy Tossie,
both 23, are driving south of Ririe, Idaho, on US Highway 26 when they
are blinded by a flash of light. Their car comes to a stop, and
immediately in front of them they see an object 6–8 feet in diameter and
3 feet thick, hovering 5 feet off the ground and shaped like two saucers
joined together. Around the rim is a row of alternately flashing orange
and green lights. On top is a transparent dome, where two small entities
are visible. The dome flips open, and one occupant floats out and
approaches the car. It is 3 feet tall, bald, with ears set high on its
head, round eyes, and a mouth like a slit. It is wearing tight-fitting
coveralls and carries a pack on its back. It opens the car door and sits
behind the wheel as Begay and Tossie move in horror to the right. The
car begins to move as if fastened to the craft into a field of wheat
stubble where Tossie gets out and runs toward the farmhouse of Willard
Hammon for help, followed by another entity apparently holding a
light. Begay stays in the front seat of the car with the first entity,
who tries to communicate with him, twice saying something in a high,
chirruping voice. The second entity returns, and the two float back to
the craft, which rises and departs, a yellow flame-like light coming
from the bottom. Hammon lets Tossie inside his farmhouse, where he
eventually calms down and tells his story. They go back to the site,
where they find Begay in a state of shock in the car. At 11:30 p.m., an
anonymous witness driving between Ririe and Rigby, Idaho, sees a landed
UFO with a small occupant who stops the car and taps on the side window.
(“NICAP Panel
Studies Occupant Reports,” UFO Investigator 5, no. 1
(Sept./Oct. 1969): 5–6; Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP, 1969, pp. 23–27; Clark III 1009–1010;
Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 145–147)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4424
Date: 11/2/1967
Description: Domed disc, lights along rim, two beings visible in clear
dome, hovered above car. Car drawn into adjacent field, witnesses
confronted by beings
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Ririe, ID
ID: 149
Date: 11/2/1967
Time: night
Description: Will Begay and Clyde Soccie, in their early 20’s, said that
an object landed on top of their car, forcing them to stop. Two dwarfs
spoke to them, but were not understood. The object left.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Ririe, Idaho
ID: 894
Date: 11/3/1967
Description: Carlos Spini and another man saw a luminous, blue, circular
object land nearby, as they were examining some cows. It took off when
they came near.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Personal (Vallee)
Location: San Jeronimo, Argentina
ID: 895
Date: 11/5/1967
Time: 2330
Description: Lorry driver Karl Farlow told police that as his lights and
radio blacked out, although his diesel engine continued to work, he saw
an egg-shaped object, 3 m long, 15 m away. Moments later, a white Jaguar
coming in the opposite direction also stopped. The object, emitting a
green light and showing a whitish dome under its lower surface, hovered
between the two vehicles for 2 min and left at high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 67, 6; 68, 3 (Vallee)
Location: Fordingbridge, Great Britain
ID: 896
Date: 11/6/1967
Description: 1:30 a.m. On a section of the A338 road [now B3347] south
of Sopley, Hampshire, England, truck driver Karl Farlow (or Barlow)
finds that the lights on his diesel truck have failed. As he pulls over,
he sees a glowing, 15-foot-wide, egg-shaped UFO that moves slowly across
the road from the right, passes slowly to the left, then speeds up and
disappears. The object makes a sound like a refrigerator and gives off a
smell like a drill boring through wood. Before it goes away, a Jaguar
sports car comes from the opposite direction, and its engine stalls and
lights fail. The UFO glows a vivid green color. The diesel engine is not
affected. The driver of the Jaguar is a veterinary surgeon, and he and
Farlow call the police from a nearby call box. The witnesses note that
there are marks on the ground and the road surface seems to have melted.
The veterinarian’s girl passenger is taken to a hospital suffering from
shock. A week later, Farlow notices that a 200-foot stretch of the road
at the encounter site has been completely resurfaced and the call box
has been repainted. (NICAP, “Disabled
Engine Continues to Run”;
Roy Winstanley, “Now
the UFOs Are Stopping the Traffic,” Spacelink 5, no. 1 (December
1967): wrap; “Landings
on Increase,” APRO Bulletin, Nov./Dec. 1967, pp. 1, 3; Good Above,
pp. 64–65)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4425
Date: 11/8/1967
Description: 3:30–4:00 a.m. A business executive is driving near Lake
Elsinore, California, when his lights go out, the car stops, and the
radio goes out. He feels a strong pressure on his head and shoulders. He
then notices a red- orange object 30 feet in diameter hovering in the
road ahead at about 160 feet in altitude. The object hovers about 90
seconds before it takes off into the fog. (Condon, pp. 380–385;
Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 66–67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4426
Date: 11/8/1967
Description: Through unrelenting pressure by British ufologist Julian
J. A. Hennessey, the
Ministry of Defence and RAF UFO files are no longer discarded every five
years as of transitory interest. The MoD confirms that it will retain
its remaining UFO documents. Further pressure to retain files comes in
1970 from MP John
Langford-Holt. (UFOFiles2,
pp. 114–115;
David Clarke, “Briefing
Document: Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs),” August 2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4428
Date: 11/8/1967
Description: MP Peter
Mills asks about UFO sightings in Devon, England, in the UK House of
Commons and receives assurances from Under-Secretary of State for
Defence Merlyn
Rees, who says that the October 24 police chase involved either
aircraft or the planet Venus. Mills asks if the ministry consulted
scientists about the sightings, and Rees replies that both scientists
and psychologists have been consulted. (Good Above, pp. 65–66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4427
Date: 11/10/1967
Description: Stolyarov and Ziegel, speaking
on Russian Central TV, encourage viewers to send their first-hand
accounts in to the newly formed Soviet UFO Study Group. The response is
overwhelming and embarrassing to the DOSAAF All-Union Committee of
Cosmonautics. Army Gen. A. L. Getman dissolves the UFO Study Group by
the end of November. (Wikipedia, “Felix
Ziegel”; Good Above, p. 233;
Joe Brill, “UFOs
behind the Iron Curtain,”
Skylook, no. 86, January 1975, p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4429
Date: 11/13/1967
Description: Condon, Low, and
editor Harriet Hunter meet to discuss the final University of Colorado
report. Condon deliberately excludes the other senior staff because he
is now insisting on no old cases and no “case book.” He insists on
including everything in which the Colorado project participated in, even
phone calls. He wants to write a section on the harm done by
irresponsible UFO authors. The meeting ends with a roughed-out list of
subject sections and authors. Condon reserves writing the summary and
methodology sections himself. He assigns to Hunter the job of selecting
which cases are included and how they are written up (perhaps he no
longer trusts Low to do this). (Swords 326–328)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4430
Date: 11/14/1967
Description: Keyhoe writes
separate letters to Condon and
Low,
asking if they will agree to examine NICAP’s cases. November 15 —
Canadian Forces Wing Commander Douglas
F. Robertson prepares a 28-page briefing document, CDS Briefing on
Unidentified Flying Objects, on the status of UFO sightings in Canada to
Gen. Jean
Victor Allard, Chief of the Defence Staff. It reviews facts and
procedures and describes cases that have been handled within the
ministry, including the Falcon Lake and Shag Harbour cases, as well as
the Warren Smith photo. Robertson advises that UFO sightings are taking
up too much of the military’s time, but that the scientific community,
specifically the University of Toronto Institute of Aerospace Studies,
might find them interesting. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 24–59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4431
Date: 11/14/1967
Description: Orlando Gonzales and two other persons saw an oval object,
1.5 m high, resting in the middle of a highway 80 m away. It left
straight up.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Nov., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Barinas, Venezuela
ID: 897
Date: 11/15/1967
Description: The crew of Quebecair Flight 650 sees a bright object at
the end of the runway at Sept-Îles Airport, Quebec. It is as large as a
star and stationary. (Good Above, p. 200)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4432
Date: 11/16/1967
Time: 1830
Description: Farm manager Alan Pool, 43, saw an object, 6 m in diameter
and 1.5 m high, with round and square windows, land in a field with a
whining noise. It took off and vanished, leaving no trace.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Yerecoin, Australia
ID: 899
Date: 11/16/1967
Time: 1700
Description: Mrs. Quick and another woman saw a flickering light and a
deep-red, glowing object at ground level, with a dark figure, slightly
larger than a normal human, approaching it. The object disappeared
suddenly.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 2 (Vallee)
Location: Storrington, Great Britain
ID: 898
Date: 11/17/1967
Description: 6:00 p.m. David Seewaldt, 13, is crossing a vacant lot in
Calgary, Alberta. He hears a high-pitched sound and sees a slivery gray
UFO the size of a house about to land. A beam of light shoots from it,
putting him in a “trance” and pulling him into the craft, where he meets
two hideous-looking entities with brown crocodile skin, slits for
mouths, and holes for noses and ears. They wear no clothes and have
hands with only four fingers. They take Seewaldt’s clothes off and lead
him into another room where one studies his hair, eyes, and nose. An
orange ceiling light is directed on him and he is given a shot with a
small needle. The entities dress him again and beam him back to the
field. He runs home in a state of terror and hides under the bed. All
conscious memory of the event vanishes until 5 months later, when it
returns in a dream. In 1968 he is hypnotically regressed by a Dr. Masson
of the University of Alberta. (W. K. Allan, “Crocodile-Skinned
Entities at Calgary,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 6 (April 1975):
25–26; Clark III 280; “David Seewaldt,” etcetrasetcetras, June 13,
2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4433
Date: late 11/1967
Description: Night. A large, illuminated hemispherical object appears
low over the shore of the Baltic Sea near Liepāja, Latvia. Its light is
difficult to look at with the naked eye. Later it begins to move and
quickly vanishes over the horizon. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO
Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, p. 171)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4434
Date: 11/21/1967
Description: 4:30 p.m. David V. Marin sees an object that looks like an
upside-down candle from his backyard at the edge of Poienarii Burchii,
Romania. He watches it for 10 minutes as it hovers at about 90 feet. It
starts moving slowly northwest and its tail elongates. (Romania
15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4435
Date: 11/22/1967
Description: Saunders pays
Keyhoe a
surprise visit in Washington, D.C., and allows him to photocopy the Low memorandum,
saying it should be shared with the NICAP board. Roger Harkins hears
about the memo about the same time. (UFOs Yes, 179, 193–194)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4436
Date: 11/22/1967
Description: MP Patrick
Wall asks the UK Secretary of State for Defence Merlyn
Rees what exchange of UFO information between the UK, US, and
Russian governments is taking place. Rees replies that the ministry is
in touch with the Americans but not the Russians. (Good Above, p. 66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4437
Date: 11/22/1967
Description: 12:30 p.m. Ladislau Schmidt is sitting in his kitchen in
Petrila, Romania, with the outside door open. Suddenly his chickens run
inside the house, terrified. Looking up, he sees a silvery disc-shaped
object with a dome and antennas hovering at 15,000 feet. It rotates and
moves away at high speed to the northwest until it is out of sight.
(Hobana and Weverbergh 166–167)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4438
Date: 11/22/1967
Description: 4:25 p.m. US Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. John
Rich Butler and copilot Lt. John H. Gould are flying 10 miles off
the New Hampshire coastline when they see an object like a white rocket
flying with a lateral motion. It first moves upward for 2 seconds at the
rear of the aircraft. It reappears and disappears twice, then another
object that looks like a light aircraft with an unusual white, flashing
light passes above them at a distance of 100–200 feet. Gould has the
impression it has swept wings. (NICAP case file; Jan L. Aldrich, “Updated
Draft Catalogue of UFOs/USOs
Reported by Seagoing Services, NavCat 2,0, 1964–2007,” 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4439
Date: 11/24/1967
Time: 1430
Description: Technician Ugo Battaglia, 39, and a boy, heard a
high-pitched sound and saw a bright, metallic, disk-shaped object come
down, hit a tree and hover, while three tall men in white coveralls
walked around. The boy later suffered severe headaches. Traces.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Nov., 67 (Vallee)
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
ID: 900
Date: 11/24/1967
Description: Canadian Wing Commander D. F. Robertson, after advocating
that the RCAF transfer its UFO files to the National Research Council,
writes a memo urging the NRC to work with the University of Toronto and
the Department of National Defence in investigating Canadian UFO
reports. (Good Above, p. 192)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4440
Date: 11/29/1967
Time: 0200
Description: Percy McBride saw a flashing object, the size of a station
wagon, with two aerials, arrive from the east and land in a woods for 15
min. It made a clicking sound and a noise similar to six radio receivers
tuned on different stations. It had a square, boxlike protuberance
supported by a pole underneath.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRO Jan., 68 (Vallee)
Location: Yarmouth, Canada
ID: 901
Date: 11/30/1967
Description: Allen R. Utke, Wisconsin State University–Oshkosh assistant
professor of chemistry, writes Gerald
Ford in support of House Resolution 946 sponsored by Rep. Louis
C. Wyman, remarking that the UFO “phenomenon could be of great
importance and concern to this country.” (Bill Murphy, “The Swamp Gas
Aftermath: Some Notes from the Gerald Ford Files,” IUR 33, no. 2 (July
2010): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4441
Date: 12/1967
Description: The Soviet Academy of Sciences’ Physics Department, led by
Lev
Artsimovich, passes
a resolution denouncing studying of UFOs as such. The Soviet UFO Study
Group is effectively neutered. (Wikipedia, “Felix Ziegel”;
Hobana and Weverbergh 36–37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4443
Date: 12/1/1967
Description: Condon and
Low write
Keyhoe back
separately and do not commit to looking at his reports, although they
praise NICAP’s assistance. (“The
Colorado Project Report,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 4
(Jan./Feb. 1968): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4444
Date: 12/2/1967
Description: 9:30 p.m. A lieutenant-major in the Romanian army is on
duty in the radar station at Băneasa Airfield [now Aurel Vlaicu
International Airport] near Bucharest, Romania, when he goes outside to
observe an airplane. But the supposed aircraft is a strong, stationary
light 30–40° in the north that descends rapidly, ascends again, moves
left to right, then descends again. Through binoculars it looks conical
or bullet shaped. Dozens of other personnel watch it until it disappears
around 11:30 p.m. (Hobana and Weverbergh 176–177)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4445
Date: 12/3/1967
Description: Officer Herbert Schirmer vehicle encounter and abduction
case
Type: abduction
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Ashland, NE
ID: 150
Date: 12/3/1967
Time: 0230
Description: Police Officer Schirmer observed a bright, aluminum-colored
object just above the road and approached within 14 m, when the object
rose, emitting a shrill beeping noise and a red-orange beam. Under
hypnosis at the University of Colorado, the witness reported that a
small human form, about 1.30 m tall, came from under the craft and
approached him to communicate a message stating that “they” came from
space and would meet him again.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 4 (Vallee)
Location: Ashland, Nebraska
ID: 902
Date: 12/3/1967
Description: Abduction of Herbert Schirmer, a Nebraska patrolmen. Was
told there were alien bases off the Florida coast, the polar region, and
off the coast of Argentina. Motherships were cigar shaped, 6ft diameters
discs for recon surveillance.
Type: abduction
Reference: Matrix 1, Valerian
Location: Nebraska
Date: 12/3/1967
Description: Early a.m. Police Sgt. Herbert
Schirmer checks on restless cattle twice at a barn near Ashland,
Nebraska. At 2:30 a.m. he is driving on US Highway 6 when he notices
some red lights along State Route 63 that might be a stalled truck. He
drives a short distance up that road and stops with his headlights
shining on the object. The red lights are blinking through the windows
of a disc hovering at a tilt 150 feet away and 6–8 feet above the road.
It looks made of shiny, polished aluminum. It ascends slowly with a sort
of siren sound and emits a flamelike substance from the bottom. His head
sticking out the window, Schirmer watches it pass overhead then shoot up
out of sight. He drives back to the police station and writes in the log
book, “Saw a flying saucer at the junction of highways 6 and 63. Believe
it or not!” He is puzzled to see it is 3:00 a.m. He gets a headache and
a buzzing noise in his head. He also has a red welt below one of his
ears. In the morning, Chief Bill Wlaskin goes to the site and finds a
piece of metal that he shows to Colorado project investigators. It turns
out to be composed of iron and silicon. On February 13, 1968, Schirmer
is hypnotized in Boulder, Colorado, by R.
Leo Sprinkle. During the session he remembers that his car engine
and radio failed, and a blurry white object came out of the UFO and
communicated with him telepathically. He is taken on board by aliens
(who first ask him, “Are you the watchman over this place?”). They are
humanoids, 4–5 feet tall with long heads, gray-white skin, and cat-like
eyes. They wear silver-gray helmets with small antennas on the left side
of the ear area. Their uniforms and gloves are the same color. An
unusual feature of this case is the emblem of a winged serpent on the
left breast of each entity’s uniform. The Colorado project comes to a
predictable conclusion: “Evaluation of psychological assessment tests,
the lack of any evidence, and interviews with the patrolmen left project
staff with no confidence that the trooper’s reported UFO experience was
physically real.” Schirmer undergoes hypnosis again on June 8, 1968, and
more details emerge. (Clark III 1034–1038; Condon, pp. 389–391;
Michael D. Swords, “Too Close for Condon: Close Encounters of the 4th
Kind,” IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 3–4; Story, pp. 318–319;
Kevin D. Randle, “The Schirmer
Abduction,” A Different Perspective, October 13, 2008; Randle,
Levelland, 2021, pp. 147–149)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4446
Date: 12/5/1967
Description: 10:30 p.m. Six teenagers returning from a basketball game
in Concordia, Kansas, detour to drive by a cemetery. They see a light
blinking in the sky ahead, moving in an up-and-down motion to the north.
It appears to be flashing different colors or rotating. They follow it
for about two miles, hoping for a better look. (Condon, pp. 391–394)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4447
Date: 12/8/1967
Description: Bright illumination from domed disc, object tipped forward,
two humanoid figures visible inside. Object rotated, moved away
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Idaho Falls, ID
ID: 151
Date: 12/8/1967
Description: 7:40 p.m. Marilyn Wilding, 15, goes out on her front step
in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to look for a friend. A light reflecting on the
snow on the ground causes her to look up, and she sees a brightly lit
circular object “about as big as a car” hovering above the house. The
object then tips and rotates so she can see it has a transparent dome on
top. Inside the dome are two indistinct figures. The object rotates
clockwise, maintaining its inclination. It begins moving away; as it
recedes into the distance, its light dims and turns orange. (UFOEv II
459; Northern Ontario UFO Research and Study, “Circular
Object with Dome and Two ‘Figures’ Inside”; Patrick Gross, “Falls, Idaho,
December 8, 1967”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4448
Date: 12/10/1967
Description: 7:30 a.m. Psychologist Adina Păun is walking past the
Republic Factories in Bucharest, Romania, when she sees a bluish-green
object above the plant at about 45°. It has projecting, tapered spines
that are as long as half its diameter. It is higher than rain clouds
that sometimes obscure it, but lower than high-altitude, fast-moving
white clouds. She continues watching it for 15 minutes as she walks
along, but it drifts out of sight when she gets home on Magnet Strada.
(Hobana and Weverbergh 180)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4449
Date: 12/12/1967
Description: 7:00 p.m. Rita Malley is driving home from work on Route 34
in Newfield, New York, with her young son. She notices a red light
behind her. As it draws closer, she sees it is a disc-shaped object as
large as a boxcar moving at about 90 feet above the road. Then it passes
overhead and causes the car to go off the road into a ditch, and Malley
became terrified. Her son in the back seat looks immobilized with his
eyes “bugged out.” A white beam emanates from the humming object above
her and she hears voices in her head saying that her son would not
remember this and that a friend of hers has been killed in a car
accident. (This turns out to be true.) The car then moves out of the
ditch and back onto the road facing the wrong way. She finds that she
can control the car again and speeds home. (Lloyd Mallan, “Ithaca’s
Terrifying Flying Saucer Epidemic,” Science and Mechanics 39 (July
1968): 30–33, 96–97; T. M. Wright, “UFO’s over Ithaca,” Fate 22, no. 2
(February 1969): 44–52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4452
Date: 12/12/1967
Description: The British Embassy in Moscow, Russia, is directed by
London to look into British-Russian cooperation in the investigation of
UFO reports with Stolyarov’s Soviet UFO Study Group. The embassy does
not hear back and does not pursue the subject. (Good Above, pp. 234–235)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4451
Date: 12/12/1967
Description: Levine, Saunders, and
Mary Lou Armstrong bring Hynek together
with James
McDonald to discuss forming a new group after the project ends, no
matter what its conclusion is. The meeting goes fairly well. After Hynek
leaves, McDonald brings up the Low memorandum.
He has apparently heard about it from Keyhoe.
Saunders gives him an official copy. Levine approaches Craig about
a separate report, but Craig considers it mutiny. (UFOs Yes,
179–180)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4450
Date: 12/13/1967
Description: Geminid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 152
Date: 12/13/1967
Description: 2:00 a.m. As a man is driving near Edmonton, Alberta, his
car lights dim and engine sputters. He pulls to the side of the road and
opens the hood, when he notices a dome-shaped object hovering 450 feet
away. It is metallic, has lights around the edge, and is about 50 feet
high. The object rocks back and forth within a range of 10–15 feet but
remains above the road. Over the next hour, the car body heats up and
the witness’s hair gets hot. His flashlight fails to work. Finally, the
object shoots straight up and vanishes in 2–3 seconds. His headlights
come back on, but he starts the motor only with difficulty. (Mark
Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS,
1981, p. 39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4453
Date: 12/15/1967
Description: The Silver Bridge over the Ohio River between Point
Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio, collapses under the
weight of rush-hour traffic, resulting in the deaths of 46 people.
(Wikipedia, “Silver
Bridge”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4454
Date: 12/16/1967
Description: Philip
Klass, who
has heard of McDonald’s
UFO activity in Australia from Low,
starts a letter-writing campaign directed at the Office of Naval
Research, wanting to know who approved his funding and whether they are
funding his forthcoming trip to Europe and Russia. His campaign
continues for the next 18 months, bluntly attacking McDonald’s integrity
and calling him a habitual liar. (Clark III 700)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4455
Date: 12/19/1967
Description: 10:30 p.m. A witness is driving westbound on the east edge
of Belleville, Illinois, when he sees a triangular object with a row of
square lights on one side. He tries following it and manages to stay
roughly beneath it until he loses track of it near Southwestern Illinois
College. Because it appears to be heading toward nearby Scott AFB and
the witness is familiar with the base, he goes to the control tower
there to see if they have tracked anything unusual but they have not.
(Marler 204–208, 270)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4456
Date: 12/22/1967
Description: Six teenagers observed a silvery, disk-shaped object with a
pointed projection on top and multicolored lights, 100 m away, and felt
a heat wave when it hovered above them.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FS Jun., 68 (Vallee)
Location: Holmes County, Ohio
ID: 903
Date: 12/24/1967
Description: Evening. A couple driving near Tucson, Arizona, see a
star-like object fall to earth. Two minutes later, they spot a blob of
red light. Their engine and headlights fail. The object approaches the
car, passes overhead, then moves away to the south. The engine and
lights come back on as it departs. (Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving
Vehicle Interference, CUFOS, 1981, p. 39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4457
Date: 12/24/1967
Description: 8:30 p.m. A faculty member of the Harvard Medical School
and several members of his family in Belmont, Massachusetts, see a
silently moving, bright orange light. It is joined by a second light one
minute later, and a third about 30 seconds after that. He retrieves some
binoculars and watches all three. The first two stop about 15°–25° above
the horizon and remain still; the third is still moving. Three or four
more lights arrive, some hovering, others moving. Two or three of the
hovering lights appear to drop smaller lights that flash as they fall.
All are orange in color. After about 20 minutes, they have all
disappeared. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974,
pp. 45–48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4458
Date: 12/27/1967
Description: 9:00 p.m. Two people are traveling along a back road in
Wells Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, when they see three
lights on the horizon. They stop the car as the lights approach. They
are attached to a domed disc that is following the road at a height of
300–400 feet. As it approaches to within about 3,000 feet, it makes a
banking movement that reveals square, fluorescent panels on the bottom.
The dome light in their car turns on spontaneously as the whole bottom
of the UFO flashes. The two witnesses get back in their truck and drive
on, but the object follows them for a while, then moves off toward
Elmira, New York. About 20 minutes later, the parents of one witness
experience a power failure in their home on Elmira’s south side.
(Michael D. Swords, “Unusual Experiences from the Timmerman Files,” IUR
27, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4459
Date: 12/29/1967
Description: 10:35 p.m. C. J. McCready, his wife, and daughter see a
round, glowing, sparkling, red object above their home on Briarcliff
Road, Atlanta, Georgia. It hovers and drops several trails of a white
substance that appear to fall like a liquid as the object moves slowly
northwest. It is visible for 5 minutes. (NICAP case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4460
Date: 1968
Description: Presbyterian religious scholar Barry
Downing publishes The Bible and Flying Saucers, in which he equates
Jesus and angels with space visitors and burning bushes, clouds, and Ezekiel’s
chariot with spacecraft. Downing also believes that Jesus left earth in
a flying saucer to another planet, or perhaps another spatial dimension,
and that a flying vehicle operated by intelligent alien beings was
responsible for the parting of the Red Sea. (Barry Downing. The Bible
and Flying Saucers, Lippincott, 1968; Clark III 109; Jerome Clark,
“Vimanas Have Landed: Ancient Astronautics in Ufology,” IUR 22, no. 3
(Fall 1997): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4462
Date: 1968
Alternate date: 1969
Description: 9:00 p.m. A Polish Air Force pilot takes off from Warsaw
Modlin Airport, Poland, in a MiG-21 for a short, routine mission. Soon
he sees two identical white discs, about 6–10 feet in diameter, moving
at the same altitude and speed as his MiG. His wingman also sees them.
He approaches to within 50 feet of them. During the 5-minute encounter,
radio contact with the controller is lost and contact between the two
pilots deteriorates. Four UFOs follow the two MiGs for another 3–6
miles, then they accelerate and overtake them, disappearing ahead.
(Poland 65)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4470
Date: 1968
Description: Fabio
Zerpa founds the Organizacion Nacional Investigadora de Fénomenos
Espaciales in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It publishes a monthly magazine,
Cuarta Dimension. (Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980,
p. 233)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4469
Date: 1968
Description: Project xxxxxxxx (name censured) established to evaluate
all UFO information pertinent to space technology.
Type: majestic document
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A)
Attributes: Majestic
See also: 1953
See also: 12/69
See also: 1976
Date: 1968
Description: An Australian nuclear physicist attached to the Directorate
of Scientific and Technical Intelligence (part of the Joint Intelligence
Bureau) cooperates with other defense intelligence scientists to form a
“rapid intervention team” to investigate UFO incidents involving
physical evidence. The effort lasts until a wave of UFO reports takes
place in Western Australia and he is denied further access to RAAF
files. (Bill Chalker, “The
UFO Connection: Addendum,”
Flying Saucer Review 31, no. 5 (July 1986): 20; Good Above, p. 166)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4467
Date: 1968
Description: Vladimir Godic and Crystal Walsh found UFO Research South
Australia, a group committed to use scientific methodology in
investigation and research. (Keith Basterfield, Vladimir Godic, and Pony
Godic, “Australian Ufology: A Review,” JUFOS 2 (1990): 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4466
Date: 1968
Description: UFO skeptic and electrical engineer Philip
J. Klass publishes his first UFO book, UFOs—Identified, in which he
theorizes that sightings are caused by ball lightning and anomalous
free-floating plasmas. Klass’s plasma hypothesis is not well received by
anyone on either side of the UFO debate, who note that Klass is using
one unverified phenomenon (his hypothetical plasmas) to explain another
unverified phenomenon (UFOs). Klass and physicist James
E. McDonald engage in a bitter, 18-month-long debate, leveling a
variety of charges and accusations at one another. In September 1968,
Klass writes to McDonald’s superiors at the US Navy (McDonald is
formally retired from the Navy, but often works with the Office of Naval
Research), questioning how McDonald could spend so much time on UFO
research and still fulfill the requirements for his atmospheric research
grant. This does not result in McDonald losing ONR funding, but it does
draw some criticism of Klass from members of the UFO community. (Philip
J. Klass, UFOs—Identified, Random House, 1968; Clark III 659)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4465
Date: 1968
Description: Italian author Renato
Vesco writes Intercettatelli Senza Sparare, making a case that the
Germans had developed anti-gravity devices at the end of World War II,
testing disc-shaped and tubular craft that were responsible for foo
fighters. After the war, these concepts were acquired by the US and
Russia, leading directly to functional flying saucers. (Renato Vesco,
Intercept—But Don’t Shoot, Zebra/Grove, 1971; Marcello Pupilli and
Giuseppe Stilo, “Solitudine
di un uomo: Le teorie ufologiche e la vita di Renato Vesco
(1924–1999),” UFO Forum, no. 18 (August 2001): 33–39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4464
Date: 1968
Description: Science-fiction author Otto
Binder publishes Flying Saucers Are Watching Us, which borrows
liberally from the theories of engineer Max
W. Flindt (cofounder of the Ancient Astronaut Society), who contends
that extraterrestrials had conducted genetic engineering on our apelike
ancestors to create modern mankind. Binder writes that space people
return every few centuries to interbreed with humans to improve the
stock. He follows this up with Mankind—Child of the Stars in 1974,
coauthored with Flindt. (Otto O. Binder, Flying Saucers Are Watching Us,
1968; Clark III 109; Jerome Clark, “Vimanas Have Landed: Ancient
Astronautics in Ufology,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4463
Date: 1968
Description: The Canadian National Research Council, from its base at
the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Ottawa, Ontario, takes over
the collection of UFO reports from the Department of National Defence.
It partners with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to do the actual
investigations. The NRC’s primary interest is in tracking meteors and
meteorite falls. Non-meteoric sightings are kept in a separate file but
transferred to the Public Archives of Canada [now Library and Archives
of Canada] at the end of every year. (Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Canada,
Signet, 1981, p. 175; Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified,
August Night, 2022, pp. 9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4468
Date: 1968
Description: NORAD has control of continental-scale Over the Horizon
radars that cover virtually the entire Eurasian continent looking for
Russian and Chinese missile launches. (Clark III 807)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4461
Date: early 1968
Description: Four artillerymen stationed at the naval garrison at Lüda
[now Dalian], Liaoning, China, see a luminous, gold, oval-shaped object
that leaves a thin trail in the air. It climbs steeply at high speed and
disappears. When it begins to climb, all communications and radar
systems fail, nearly causing an accident in the fleet. The naval patrol
goes on alert, and the fleet commander orders his men to prepare for
combat. After 30 minutes, comms and radar return to normal. A two-man
coast guard patrol allegedly sees the UFO land on the south coast and
fires at it with automatic weapons. (Wendelle Stevens and Paul Dong,
UFOs over Modern China, UFO Photo Archive, 1983, pp. 48–49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4471
Date: 1/1968
Description: John Harney and Alan W. Sharp launch a new publication,
Merseyside UFO Bulletin (MUFOB), in Liverpool, England, as an
independent publication from the openly skeptical newsletter begun by
the Merseyside UFO Research Group. John Rimmer assumes the post of
associate editor with the third issue. (Merseyside
UFO Bulletin 1,
No. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1968); Clark III 706; “History
of Magonia,”
Magonia Archive)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4472
Date: 1/15/1968
Description: The USAF Air Defense Command is renamed the Aerospace
Defense Command. (Wikipedia, “Aerospace Defense
Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4473
Date: 1/15/1968
Description: 7:25 a.m. Two farmers driving a truck near Three Hills,
Alberta, see an object that looks “like a stunted dill pickle,”
greenish-blue in color and silent. Another truck stops and they point
out the object to the others, who say it looks like a flying saucer.
They contact the Calgary Airport, but officials there have had no
reports. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 60–62,
63–64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4474
Date: 1/15/1968
Description: 9:00 p.m. Janice, Denise, and Lori Achzehner are playing
records in Villa Park, Illinois, when their father’s “Saucer Seeker” UFO
detector goes off. They run outside and see a large orange light
hovering near the house. For 45 minutes they watch as a series of 6
objects fly in and out of the area. Through binoculars they can see that
the objects are triangular or cone-shaped, no more than a mile away, and
500–1,500 feet high. As they watch, one of the objects approaches a
commercial airliner, makes a 180° turn without slowing, then follows the
aircraft until they are out of sight. (“Use
of Detectors in Spotting UFO,” APRO Bulletin, March/April 1968,
p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4475
Date: 1/19/1968
Description: DIA Intelligence Report from Liaison in Moscow, Russia
mentioning an attempt by the British Government in 1967 to collaborate
with the Soviets in UFO research.
Type: intelligence report (B1-E p543)
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Moscow, Russia
See also: 2/22/68
Date: 1/19/1968
Description: McDonald calls
Low on
the phone and expresses his concerns about the project. The two reach an
impasse. (UFOs Yes, 185; Swords 328)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4476
Date: 1/20/1968
Description: Round orange-red object hovered near ground, moved abruptly
to position behind car, road illuminated. Made repeated passes at
car
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Vermillion, SD
ID: 153
Date: 1/20/1968
Description: 11:00 p.m. Robert Ballard and his wife Lynn are visiting
his parents near Vermillion, South Dakota. Robert goes outside to warm
up his car for the trip home. He sees a large object and calls to his
father to come outside. They watch a big ball of red and orange fire to
the east. At first they think it is the moon and go inside, but as
Robert and Lynn are leaving, the object gives off a flash, and one of
the dogs begins barking vigorously. They drive toward the object, which
seems to be flickering in a field. It seems to be spinning and is 20
feet above the ground, sometimes less. When Ballard turns onto State
Highway 50, the UFO, about 30 feet in diameter, starts following them.
He accelerates to 60 mph and the object jumps to just behind their car.
At one point it is hovering only 3 feet above an intersection. It keeps
following them at telephone height, even though Ballard speeds up to 110
mph. After another car goes by them, the object speeds up and heads
straight toward them from behind. Soon it rises and disappears to the
east. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 37–38)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4478
Date: 1/20/1968
Description: 6:00 p.m. Police deputies Bias Fortes and Pinheiro Chagas
are driving 9 miles outside of Brasília, Brazil, when they see a
triangular UFO. They stop and get out to observe it better and watch it
hover for 5 minutes. It accelerates suddenly and speeds to the
southwest, (“First
Sightings of 1968 in Brazil,” APRO Bulletin, Jan./Feb. 1968,
p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4477
Date: 1/21/1968
Description: A fire breaks out in the navigator’s compartment of a USAF
B-52 near Thule Air Base, Greenland. The bomber crashes 7 miles from the
air base, causing the non-nuclear explosives aboard to detonate and
rupturing and dispersing its nuclear payload of four hydrogen bombs
carried on an ongoing (since 1960) Operation Chrome Dome alert mission
to deter a Soviet nuclear first strike. The recovery and decontamination
effort is complicated by Greenland’s harsh weather. Contaminated ice and
debris are buried at the Savannah River plant in South Carolina. Bomb
fragments are recycled by Pantex, in Amarillo, Texas. The incident
causes outrage and protests in Denmark. USAF Strategic Air Command
Chrome Dome operations are discontinued immediately after the accident,
which highlights the safety and political risks of the missions. Safety
procedures are reviewed and more stable explosives are developed for use
in nuclear weapons. A BBC News report in 2008 seems to confirm through
declassified documents and interviews with those involved that one
nuclear bomb was lost. However, the Danish Institute for International
Studies concludes in August 2009 that there is no missing bomb and that
the US underwater operation was a search for the uranium-235 of the
fissile core of a secondary, a small object one half meter long. For the
first time, the report is able to present an estimate of the amount of
plutonium contained in the pits of the primaries. (Wikipedia, “1968
Thule Air Base B-52 crash”; Wikipedia, “Operation
Chrome Dome”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4479
Date: 1/22/1968
Description: In response to a question by MP Teddy
Taylor, UKSecretary of State for Defence Merlyn
Rees writes that the total number of reports for 1967 “reflects a
wave of public interest in UFOs, reaching a peak toward the end of the
year,” and that unexplained sightings (only 46 out of 362) are due to
lack of sufficient information. (Good Above, p. 66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4480
Date: 1/26/1968
Description: A-12 pilot Jack
Weeks is dispatched from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, on a
sortie to locate the USS
Pueblo, which has been captured by North Korean forces on January
23. His photographs pinpoint the Pueblo’s exact location in the harbor
of Changjahwan Bay near Wonsan, North Korea. Instead of war plans, the
US proceeds with negotiations for the return of the crew. (Jacobsen,
Area 51, pp. 271–274)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4481
Date: 1/31/1968
Description: Morning. At Lajes Air Base on Terceira in the Azores, a
Portuguese military watchman, Serafim Vieira Sebastião, notices a
strange interference on his transistor radio. Looking around, he sees an
oval metallic object surmounted by a transparent tower on top of which
is a small balustrade on which two beings are leaning. The silhouettes
of two more beings are visible in the tower. The object is hovering
above a munitions dump. Serafim phones one of the other sentries then
shines his flashlight on the machine. As he does so, the men on the
tower see him. The object emits a cloud of gaseous dust that overpowers
him. When his colleague finds him a few minutes later, the object has
vanished. (“OVNI
com quatro seres ataca guarda açoriano,” Insólito, no. 13 (June
1976); Nuno Alves, “O
Caso Ilha Terceira (31 de Janeiro de 1968) Serafim Vieira
Sebastião,” UFO Portugal, October 28, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4483
Date: 1/31/1968
Description: McDonald sends
Low a
7-page, single-spaced letter, citing Condon’s
negative statements, his preoccupation with crackpot elements, Condon’s
failure to conduct any investigations himself, the lack of communication
between Low and Condon and the active investigators, and the failure of
the project to take seriously any assertions of cover-up. He mentions
Low’s memorandum, saying “I am rather puzzled by the viewpoints
expressed there.” He concludes: “I am not opposed to negative
findings—on UFOs or other scientific questions; what bothers me is that
it appears that these negative findings were being adumbrated as early
as January 1966, and perhaps even earlier.” He sends a copy to the
project’s open files. (UFOs Yes, 185–187)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4482
Date: 2/1968
Description: Felix
Ziegel, Soviet
cosmologist and assistant professor at the Moscow Aviation Institute,
Russia, writes an article on UFOs for Soviet Life with reports supplied
by Novosti. He mentions four UFO reports and concludes that they could
be extraterrestrial in origin. He thinks the 1908 Tunguska event is a
remarkable UFO case and reveals that the USSR established a “UFO Section
of the All-Union Cosmonautics Committee” in October 1967. Ziegel soon
afterwards receives a letter from Edward
Condon, the director of the University of Colorado UFO Project,
suggesting that the Soviet and the American groups should cooperate,
starting with an information exchange. Ziegel and 12 other members of
his group sign a letter requesting the Soviet government to create a
state-sponsored organization that would coordinate all the UFO research
in the country. Next month he receives an official negative response.
(Wikipedia, “Felix
Ziegel”; Felix Ziegel, “Unidentified
Flying Objects,” Soviet Life, no. 137 (February 1968): 27–29;
Central Intelligence Agency, “Nothing
But the Facts on UFOs, or Which Novosti Writer
Do You Read?” April 9, 1968)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4485
Date: 2/1968
Description: Canada’s National Research Council agrees to become the
official government archive for existing and future UFO reports. The
files are kept in an office of the Council’s Upper Atmosphere Section
(Astrophysics Branch) in Ottawa, Ontario. But the NRC does not
investigate reports. (Good Above, p. 192;
Gregory M. Kanon, “UFOs
and the
Canadian Government,” Canadian UFO Report 3, no. 7 (Spring 1976):
18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4484
Date: 2/1/1968
Description: Serafim Vieira Sebastiao, a watchman at the Azores Air
Station, saw “an oval object with a metallic gleam, topped by a glass
tower with a small balustrade on which two beings were standing.” There
were two other figures inside the tower. When he shone a light toward
it, a cloud of dust surrounded the witness, the craft vanished, and he
fainted. Investigation by American military authorities.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Criacao do Cabrito, Azores
ID: 904
Date: 2/4/1968
Description: Barking dogs, unusual sound, attracted attention to round
object with ports, flames from underside. Object moved jerkily, rising
and falling, hovered briefly, sped away
Type: sighting
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Redlands, CA
ID: 154
Date: 2/4/1968
Description: 7:20 p.m. About 200 residents of Redlands, California, see
or hear a huge, low-flying, disc-shaped object as it passes overhead.
The UFO is about 50 feet in diameter, with seven lights on its base
emitting bright orange flame. Some 8–10 other lights on its rim
alternate red and green, giving the impression that the object is
rotating. A minister recording his sermon captures a high-pitched,
modulated, whining sound from the UFO on tape. The UFO apparently
descends just west of Columbia Street and north of Colton Avenue, then
proceeds to the northwest for about a mile at an altitude of 300 feet.
Coming to a stop, it hovers briefly, jerks forward, hovers again, then
shoots straight up in a burst of speed. The object is not detected on
radar at Norton AFB [now closed] near San Bernardino or March AFB [now
March Air Reserve Base] in Riverside County. An investigation is
conducted for APRO by four University of Redlands faculty: Philip
Seff (geology), Judson Sanderson (math), Reinhold Krantz (math), and
John
Brownfield (art). They conclude that the object is not attributable
to any known phenomenon or aircraft, but that the recorded sound comes
from an emergency vehicle. (Sparks,
p. 327; James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 52–53; Story, pp.
299–300;
William F. Krupke, “Sonic
Analysis of the Redlands UFO Tape Recording,” Journal of Scientific
Exploration 30, no. 2 (2016): 175–198)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4486
Date: 2/5/1968
Description: McDonald’s
letter arrives in Boulder, Colorado. Low is
out of town and the staff read it first. Low does not see it until 4:00
p.m. the following day when Mary Lou Armstrong shows it to him. He
explodes, saying whoever gave the memo to McDonald should be fired. Condon is
also furious. (UFOs Yes, 188)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4487
Date: 2/7/1968
Description: Low summons
Saunders to
Condon’s
office, asking him if he knew McDonald had
a copy of the memo. Saunders said yes, and didn’t think he needed to
alert anyone, since McDonald is a friend of the project. Condon says,
“For an act like that, you deserve to be ruined professionally!”
Saunders avoids admitting he was responsible (indirectly) for McDonald’s
having the memo. When Norm Levine arrives, Saunders is ordered to leave.
Levine tells him the memo’s release is a group effort. Condon tells
Levine not to discuss this meeting or communicate further with McDonald.
Levine says he can’t do that, Condon tells him he is no longer useful,
and Levine walks out. Condon and Low meet with other staff members the
rest of the day. (UFOs Yes, 188–192)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4488
Date: 2/8/1968
Description: Condon and
Low meet
with Thurston
Manning and Stuart W. Cook from the University of Colorado’s
Psychology Department. Condon tells Mary Lou Armstrong that Saunders and
Norm Levine will be fired. Low types the letters himself and Condon
signs them. Condon also writes a letter to Hynek asking
him to provide 10– 15 of the best cases from his files. (UFOs Yes,
192–193; Center for UFO Studies, [Hynek
correspondence], p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4489
Date: 2/9/1968
Description: Dr. David Saunders and Dr. Norman Levine, members of Air
Force-sponsored Colorado UFO project, fired by Dr. E. U. Condon for
alleged “incompetence” in controversy over project management
Type: official
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 155
Date: 2/9/1968
Description: Condon and
Low meet
with Craig,
who admits knowing about the memo and says he was concerned about it. He
leaves the meeting “deeply concerned” about the project’s viability.
Roger Harkins writes up the events at the project for the Boulder Daily
Camera; when he interviews Condon, he realizes that Condon “honestly
didn’t know anything about that memo until a couple of days ago.” Condon
admits, in contrast to his statements earlier, that Saunders and
Levine were fired for insubordination, not incompetence. (UFOs Yes,
194–195)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4490
Date: 2/9/1968
Time: 4:20 AM
Description: Witness: Mr. R.W. Bland. One object, 100’ in diameter, with
concave sides having “portholes” in the center of each gave off
yellow-green light. Hovered 25’ above ground, then moved rapidly toward
the southwest. Gave off pulsating sound, like a length of wire whirled
at high speed above the head. Sighting lasted 1-5 minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Groveton, Missouri
ID: 580
Date: 2/13/1968
Description: Luminous elliptical object followed car for 30 minutes,
moved back and forth across road, made sharp turns and unusual
maneuvers, suddenly disappeared
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Missoula, MT
ID: 156
Date: 2/14/1968
Description: F.
Robert Naka, USAF
chief reconnaissance scientist at MITRE Corporation, tells Robert
Low that, contrary to what NORAD had briefed him on in 1967, NORAD
radars can and do track UFOs “coming in from outer space.” He does not
deny that NORAD has already tracked such objects on occasion. (Clark III
804)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4492
Date: 2/14/1968
Description: Hynek replies
to Condon, saying
that he will send him some of his best cases over the next few weeks,
but requests that in return they be given a “thorough investigation.” He
even offers to go to Wright-Patterson AFB and send him copies of good
Blue Book cases, since Quintanilla has
scrupulously been sending him copies of only those he asks for. (Center
for UFO Studies, [Hynek
correspondence], pp. 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4491
Date: 2/16/1968
Description: Novosti Science Commentator Villen Lyustiberg writes
“Flying Saucers? They’re a Myth” in the newspaper Moskovskij
Komsomolets. Novosti releases an English translation on March 12. It
explains US reports as either misobservations or misreporting by the
media. (Central Intelligence Agency, “Nothing
But the Facts on UFOs,
or Which Novosti
Writer
Do You Read?” April 9, 1968)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4493
Date: 2/18/1968
Description: 12:00 midnight. Teenagers Richard Frombach, Boone Powers,
and Chris Beachner are parked next to a pond in a gravel pit near
Vashon, Washington, when they notice a glowing oval object resting on a
hill to the east. They drive into town to pick up an additional witness,
Joseph Frabush, and return to the area, park on the main road, and walk
into the pond area. The object has moved to the east. Frabush thinks it
is metallic and about 30 feet long. They drive back into town for more
witnesses, but when they return the light is gone and the 100-foot pond
is completely frozen over. Temperatures in the area have been above
freezing for several days. Small puddles and mud patches surrounding the
pond are not frozen at all. The pond ice is dry, even though it has been
raining all night. Investigators find that the ice is 3 inches thick in
some spots, composed of 2–5 layers, and riddled with bubbles filled with
air and dirt. (“The
Strange Case of the Frozen Pond,” APRO Bulletin, March/April 1968,
pp. 1–3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4494
Date: 2/19/1968
Description: 11:55 a.m. Martha Heggs is in her farmhouse kitchen about
10 miles west of Bengough, Saskatchewan. She hears a high-pitched whine
that has such a penetrating intensity it is similar to a mild electric
shock, causing a tingling sensation throughout her body. Looking out,
she sees an object 300 feet away circling around a pole with an electric
transformer on it. The object is shaped like two saucers edge-to-edge,
surmounted by a dome with 6–7 ports, rounded at the top and extending
straight down to the base of the dome. These ports are indented and
white in color, resembling frosted glass. The saucers are about 8 feet
wide and the dome about 4 feet wide. The body of the object looks like
dull aluminum. There is a smaller, vented structure on top of the dome
and an antenna on top of that. When the object first appears, a dog is
seen cowering and lying in the snow, trying to cover its ears with its
paws. Sixteen head of cattle, loose in the farmyard, bolt when the
object moves into the area. They enter the cattle sheds and do not
emerge until at least 30 minutes after the object disappears. The object
moves about the farmyard, sometimes hovering, its altitude ranging from
3 feet to 20 feet. After 20 minutes, still 9–12 feet above the ground,
the object leaves the farm through a windbreak and moves north until
lost to view. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., UFOs: A New
Look, NICAP, 1969, Section IV, pp. 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4495
Date: 2/19/1968
Description: Witness felt “tingling sensations”, domed disc with ports
maneuvered around farm, emitting high-pitched whine. Dog cowered in
snow, tattle bolted
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Bengough, Saskatchewan, Canada
ID: 157
Date: 2/20/1968
Description: The US Embassy in Moscow sends an unclassified airgram to
the US Department of State drawing attention to Felix
Ziegel’s article in the February 1968 issue of Soviet Life, which
refers to the Soviet UFO Study Group and concludes that international
cooperation in studying UFOs is vital. (Felix Ziegel, “Unidentified
Flying Objects,”
Soviet Life, no. 137 (February 1968): 27–29; Good Above, pp. 235,
473–474)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4496
Date: 2/22/1968
Description: UNCLASSIFIED AIR GRAM, U.S. Dept. of the State regarding
UFOs in the Soviet Union: Feb. 1968, Soviet Life published three pages
pertinent to UFOs, by Felix Zigel. He also published a UFO article in
1966. Until recently no study of UFOs had been made in the Soviet
Union.
Type: unclassified air gram
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p473)
Location: Soviet Union
See also: 1/19/68
Date: 2/22/1968
Description: Mary Lou Armstrong tells Condon that
the staff has no confidence in Low as
project coordinator, that Low has no interest in UFO sightings or
reports, and that the staff has come to a radically different
conclusion. (UFOs Yes, 199)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4497
Date: 2/23/1968
Description: Hynek writes
another letter to Condon,
saying that he has reconsidered his decision to send him his best cases,
as he thinks the Colorado project will be unable to investigate them
adequately before its contractual period is up. He does send him a
catalog of recent Blue Book cases and offers to help him obtain from
Wright-Patterson any of the unidentified or insufficient evidence cases
that he wants to see. (Center for UFO Studies, [Hynek correspondence],
pp. 14–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4498
Date: 2/24/1968
Description: Armstrong resigns from the Colorado project, citing an
“almost unanimous lack of confidence” among senior staffers in Low’s
competence. She also complains that Low has been less than honest about
the radical difference between staff views of UFOs and the views Low and
Condon are
expressing. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974,
pp. 239–241,
274–282;
Clark III 698, 1197).
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4499
Date: 2/27/1968
Description: 6:55 p.m. Truck driver Andrew Perry is driving from
Bideford to Cullompton, Devon, England, when he sees a bright light
appear at the crest of a hill. As he gets closer, he sees the light is
coming from a mushroom- shaped object. As he reaches about 900 feet away
from the object, he stops the truck and climbs to the top of the cab to
get a better view. He sees about 4–5 figures about 4 feet tall spread
out around the object. Suddenly they scramble toward the UFO and
disappear inside. The object emits a high-pitched whirring sound that
causes his truck to vibrate. Perry gets upset and climbs back into the
truck, driving it fast down the road. Meanwhile, the UFO has risen about
200 feet into the air and is passing above his truck, making a noise so
loud he can’t hear the engine running. Suddenly the truck engine cuts
out. A few seconds later, the noise stops and Perry sees the UFO moving
away in the distance. He drives to the nearest police station to report
the incident. (UFOFiles2, pp. 126– 127)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4501
Date: 2/27/1968
Description: 4:30 a.m. A brilliant flood of light from her window
abruptly awakens a woman named Bernor in Templeton, Massachusetts. She
becomes paralyzed, her face is immobile, and her hands and feet ache.
The light goes on and off about 7–8 times, ending around 5:00 a.m. She
slowly recovers over the next few days. (Michael D. Swords, “A Trick of
the Light,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4500
Date: 2/28/1968
Description: Condon has
a slight heart attack. (Center for UFO Studies, [Hynek
correspondence], p. 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4502
Date: 2/29/1968
Description: Chairman of the Soviet Astronomical Services Evald
Rudolfovich Mustel, president
of the All-Union Astronomical and Geodetic Society D. Marynov, and
Secretary of the National Committee of Soviet Physicists V. A.
Leshkovtsev write an article in Pravda claiming that there have been no
unexplainable sightings of UFOs on Russian soil. UFOs are “anti-Soviet
products of decadent capitalistic warmongering.” (Good Above, pp. 235–236)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4503
Date: 3/1968
Description: Swiss author Erich
von Däniken writes Erinnerungen an die Zukunft, translated into
English as Chariots of the Gods?, the first of several books setting out
the “ancient astronaut” hypothesis in which ancient gods are space
visitors, Homo sapiens was created by cross-breeding or genetic
engineering, nuclear wars were fought in the ancient world, and
monuments were built by levitation. (Erich von Däniken, Chariots
of the Gods? Bantam, 1973; Wikipedia, “Chariots
of the Gods?”; Clark III 110; Jerome Clark, “Vimanas Have Landed:
Ancient Astronautics in Ufology,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997):
29–30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4505
Date: 3/1968
Description: EG&G technician Thornton
D. Barnes arrives in Area 51 in Nevada to reverse-engineer the
Soviet MiG-21 acquired through defecting Iraqi fighter pilot Munir
Redfa. Soviet-built radar systems acquired in the Middle East are
installed around Groom Lake (to aid stealth testing of the SR-71), and
Barnes is also assigned to evaluate them as well as the ECM capabilities
of the MiG. (Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 290–293)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4504
Date: 3/1/1968
Description: An Over the Horizon Forward Scatter Radar System
440L/Program 673A is turned over to NORAD’s Cheyenne Mountain facility
in Colorado by Air Force Intelligence. It has been previously used to
collect intelligence on Soviet missile launches since it was built in
1960–1962. It soon picks up unidentified radar returns. (Clark III
811)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4507
Date: 3/1/1968
Description: Boulder, Colorado, police arrest Colorado project officer
Jim Wadsworth for possession of marijuana. He pleads no contest and
resigns. (UFOs Yes, 200)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4506
Date: 3/2/1968
Description: A magnetic monitoring device with a film camera set up by
the Queensland Flying Saucer Research Bureau at Horseshoe Lagoon, Tully,
Queensland, is triggered around the time that an airliner flying at
6,000 feet from Cairns to Iron Range is paced by a UFO. About 50 feet of
film is exposed. On March 4, another 16 feet is exposed during a local
UFO sighting. The film is apparently intercepted by the RAAF after
Victor Mele, the owner of the film, sends it to a Kodak processing
facility in Melbourne, Victoria. (Good Above, pp. 170–172)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4508
Date: 3/3/1968
Description: 8:30 p.m. Several witnesses are traveling east on Knud
Drive in Columbia, Tennessee, when they notice a large rectangular
object approaching them silently from behind. When they stop the car,
the object is directly overhead and moving east. It has hundreds of
small, dimly lit points of light in 5–6 rows on its base. Witness Norman
E. Bryant thinks it is 1,000 feet long, 250 feet wide, and flying at an
altitude of 2,000 feet. It passes them in a matter of seconds. (“Out
of the Past,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1983):
4–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4509
Date: 3/3/1968
Description: About 9:50 P.M. (CST). Hundreds of people reported fiery
objects streaking across the sky, some showering sparks, leaving bright
trails. Zond IV Soviet satellite reentry and decay (Sagan and Page,
1972, 155-161).
Type: sighting
Type: natural phenomenon
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Northeastern and Central United States
ID: 158
Date: 3/3/1968
Time: 0615
Description: Nick Sgouris, while driving to work, observed a luminous,
cigar-shaped object, about 20 m long, showing numerous multi-colored
lights. The car almost stopped as the object flew low overhead, and the
witness was briefly paralyzed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: APRG Bulletin 67 (Vallee)
Location: Syracuse, New York
ID: 905
Date: 3/4/1968
Description: 9:00 p.m. A man is driving his new Triumph Spitfire up a
country lane near Glossop, Derbyshire, England, when two golden objects
shoot over the top of his car, killing his headlights, radio, and
engine. Moments after the objects pass to the north, the headlights come
back on, but the radio still fails. He is able to restart his car engine
after the lights come on. A BUFORA investigator takes the radio to his
workplace at British Aerospace and finds that two key transistors have
burned out, seemingly due to a power surge. Once the transistors are
replaced, the radio works again. (Jenny Randles, “Flappy Valley, Part
4,” Fortean Times 328 (July 2015): 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4511
Date: 3/4/1968
Description: 6:15 p.m. A cigar-shaped object approaches a car in West
Seneca, New York, and passes in front of it. The object is 50–60 feet
long with blinking yellow lights. The witness tries to speed up, but the
accelerator does not respond. The object disappears instantly. (Mark
Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS,
1981, p. 40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4510
Date: 3/8/1968
Description: The first SR-71s arrive at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan,
to replace the Oxcart A-12s. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
SR-71 Blackbird”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4512
Date: 3/10/1968
Description: 6:00 p.m. Valentina Flores is bringing in her llamas on her
farm between Opoco and Uyuni, Bolivia, when she discovers that her sheep
pen is covered with a net made of some plastic-like material, and that
inside the pen is a helmeted being, 3.5 ft tall, who is engaged in
killing her sheep using a tubular instrument with a hook on the end.
Flores throws stones at the being, whereupon he walks over to an
instrument resembling a radio and, moving a wheel on it, quickly absorbs
all the netting. The woman approaches the pen with a cudgel, upon which
the being throws its instrument at her several times; it returns to him
like a boomerang, after it inflicts superficial cuts on her arms. The
entity picks up the machine, which has absorbed the net as well as a bag
containing sheep entrails, and puts them into a rucksack on his back.
Two legs emerge from the rucksack and extend down to the ground, at
which time the entity rises straight up into the air with an
extraordinary sound and vanishes. 34 sheep are found dead; from every
one, “certain small portions of the digestive organs were missing.”
(Oscar A. Galíndez, “Violent Humanoid
Encountered in Bolivia,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1970): 15–16; Clark III 138–139; Patrick Gross, URECAT, November
9, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4513
Date: 3/12/1968
Description: James
E. McDonald presents a paper, “UFOs: An International Scientific
Problem,” at an astronautics symposium of the Canadian Aeronautics and
Space Institute, analyzing in depth Philip
Klass’s plasma theory of UFOs and rejecting it as “superficial.”
(James E. McDonald, “UFOs:
An International Scientific Problem,” March 12, 1968; Story, p. 414)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4514
Date: 3/19/1968
Description: 8:30 p.m. 12-year-old Gregory L. Wells is walking toward
the trailer home of his parents in Beallsville, Ohio, when he sees an
oval-shaped, bright red object hovering above some nearby trees and
illuminating the road. It has a band of dimmer red lights around its
midsection. Suddenly a big tube emerges from the object and moves around
until it is pointed at him. A light beam shoots out and hits the upper
part of his arm, knocking him down. His jacket catches fire and he rolls
around, screaming with fright. His mother and grandmother come out to
help, and they both see the red UFO, which just fades away after 10
minutes. The boy is taken to a hospital and treated for second-degree
burns. His scars are still visible three months later. (“Boy
Burned by UAO in Ohio,” APRO Bulletin, March/April 1968, pp. 1, 3;
James E. McDonald, “Statement
on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th
Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4515
Date: spring 1968
Description: Two prospectors, Ed Sampson and Bill Johnson, are sleeping
in the Anza Borrego Desert, California, when they wake up at the sound
of an explosion. The sky above is filled with a fading red light, and
they see flashes on the western horizon. The two climb to the crest of a
hill and look down. Sampson sees a “red, circular flying saucer”
hovering over the valley, while entities with glowing red eyes march in
single file close to the ridge of an adjacent canyon. Something like a
church bell rings out at intervals, and mechanical clanking is also
audible. After noticing two glowing-eyed creatures standing behind them,
they take off running. (Clark III 557)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4522
Date: 3/26/1968
Description: McDonald addresses
the question, “Are UFOs Extraterrestrial Surveillance Craft?” in a talk
at the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Institute for Aeronautics and
Astronautics. (James E. McDonald, “Are
UFOs Extraterrestrial
Surveillance Craft?” March 26, 1968; Story, p. 414)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4516
Date: 3/29/1968
Description: 4:00 p.m. Meteorologist Ştefan Bălaşa and a group of skiers
watch a shiny object 75°–80° in the sky near the weather station on
Semenic Mountain, Romania. Through binoculars it appears cone-shaped.
Bălaşa continues to watch it until 6:40 p.m. when it begins to dim and
move slowly to the east-northeast. The same or similar object appears in
the same area on the evening of March 30. (Romania 17–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4517
Date: 3/29/1968
Description: 6:50 p.m. Spectators at a football match in Tismana,
Romania, see a stationary, bright-blue-green conical object that changes
its color to red and disappears by 7:30 p.m. (Hobana and Weverbergh
237–238; Romania 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4518
Date: 3/29/1968
Description: 7:30 p.m. Two students and two teachers in Târgu-Jiu,
Romania, see a whitish-blue isosceles triangle in the southeast sky. It
changes color to orange then red and departs to the southwest. (Hobana
and Weverbergh 134– 135; Romania 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4519
Date: 3/30/1968
Description: 2:30 a.m. Teofil Iorga and 120 other construction workers
at the Banat Mine in Oraviţa, Romania, see a luminous globe in the sky.
At 6:10 a.m., a stationary yellowish-white object appears in the
northeast. Iorga takes a photo of it at 8:00 a.m. and looks at it
through a theodolite at 8:15 a.m. It is shaped like a truncated cone
with one side exposed to the sun. At 9:00 a.m., the object ascends and
moves to the south. (Hobana and Weverbergh 129– 130; Romania 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4520
Date: 3/30/1968
Description: 8:00 a.m. Meteorologist Vasile Coţoi and Ingeborg Vityi
observe a white conical object maneuvering slowly against the wind at
the weather station on Ţarcu Peak, Romania. They watch it for 2.5 hours
before it disappears. At 1:00 p.m. it is logged by the weather station
near Berzasca about 1 mile inland from the Danube River. At 4:00 p.m. it
reappears at the Semenic Mountain weather station and is also seen at
Caransebeş, Romania, and other places. (Hobana and Weverbergh 131–138;
Romania 19–20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4521
Date: 4/2/1968
Description: Science fiction movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” is
released
Type: movie
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: US
Date: 4/4/1968
Description: 8:15 p.m. Two young men in Cochrane, Wisconsin, see a UFO
hover above a car ahead of them; its headlights suddenly go out. The
object appears metallic and glows orange when standing still, but gets
redder and brighter when moving. The object then comes toward their car
and the engine conks out. It hovers overhead for a moment, during which
time the witnesses feel increased heat and weightlessness. The object
departs over a nearby field, emitting a cloudy haze all around its
periphery. (Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS,
1981, p. 40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4524
Date: mid 4/1968
Description: Evening. Engineer Gu Ying is sent to a military
construction regiment in the north Gobi Desert, China, when the entire
battalion notices a huge, luminous, red-orange disc with a flashing
light landing in the sand. It is about 9 feet in diameter. The commander
dispatches a team of motorcycle troops to approach it. As they get
closer, the object shoots up into the sky and disappears. The UFO leaves
ground traces like a “seared cross.” The soldiers assume it is a Russian
device. (Wendelle Stevens and Paul Dong, UFOs over Modern China, UFO
Photo Archive, 1983, pp. 49–50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4523
Date: 4/27/1968
Description: The May 14 issue of Look magazine contains an article by John
G. Fuller on the Low memorandum
and the near-mutiny at the Colorado project. (John G. Fuller, “Flying
Saucer Fiasco,” Look 32, no. 10 (May 14, 1968): 58–63)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4525
Date: 4/29/1968
Description: Low tells
the press Fuller has
quoted him out of context. Condon and
Low spend the morning talking to legal counsel.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4526
Date: 4/30/1968
Description: Rep. J.
Edward Roush (D-Ind.) denounces the Colorado project in Congress
based on the Look article and raises doubts about its scientific
integrity. He writes to Air Force Secretary Robert
Seamans to ask for his comments on “this deplorable situation” and
he writes to the Comptroller General Elmer
B. Staats to investigate the use of public funds for the project.
(UFOs Yes, 201–202; “Congressional UFOing,” Wall Street Journal, May 3,
1968)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4527
Date: 4/30/1968
Description: Keyhoe and
the NICAP Board of Directors write to President Lyndon
Johnson, enclosing the Low memo
and other evidence and urging that he create an entirely new commission.
Col. Bernhard M. Ettenson, from the Office of the Secretary of the Air
Force, writes back to say that “we expect that Dr. Condon will
fulfill the terms of the agreement.” (“The
Inside Story of the Colorado Project,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 6
(May/June 1968): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4528
Date: 5/1968
Time: 2400
Description: Gerardo Vidal and his wife were driving along Route 2 when
they were caught in “a dense fog” and lost consciousness for 48 hours.
When they came to, it was daytime, and the car, whose paint was badly
scorched, was parked in an unknown road. They spoke to local people and
found that they were in Mexico.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 5; Magonia (Vallee)
Location: Chascomus, Brazil
ID: 906
Date: early 5/1968
Description: Five UFOs are seen diving into the ocean off Arrecife,
Vargas, Venezuela. (“Current
South American Flap,”
APRO Bulletin, May/June 1968, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4529
Date: early 5/1968
Description: Night. Gerardo Vidal and his wife are driving home from
Chascomús to Maipú, Buenos Aires, Argentina. They are just outside
Chascomús when their car is enveloped in a thick green fog. The next
thing they know they are driving on a road near Mexico City in broad
daylight, 4,400 miles to the northwest. Their watches have stopped, and
they discover that two days have passed. They visit the Argentine
embassy in Mexico City, where Vidal calls a relative in Maipú to report
that they are well. However, a June 4, 1968, Reuters dispatch from
Mexico City contains a denial of the incident by the Argentine embassy,
and subsequent inquiries can find no one in Maipú that could be the
Vidals. Finally, in October 1998 Argentine film director Aníbal
Uset admits to researcher Roberto E. Banchs that he had invented the
Chascomús teleportation as a publicity stunt to spread a fantastic story
based on the plot of his upcoming film Ché OVNI. The movie’s poster even
shows a UFO carrying off an automobile. (La Razon (Buenos Aires), June
3, 1968; Oscar A. Galíndez, “Teleportation
from Chascomús to
Mexico,” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1968): 3–4; “Further
News on South America,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1968, pp. 7–8;
Internet Movie Database, “Ché
OVNI”; Jacques Vallée, Confrontations: A Scientist’s Search for
Alien Intelligence, Ballantine, 1990, p. 96;
Roberto E. Banchs, “The Chascomús Teleportation Hoax,” Fortean Times 351
(April 2017): 56–57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4530
Date: 5/10/1968
Description: 10:00 p.m. Grant Callison of Galesburg, Illinois, looks out
his kitchen window and sees a giant bird illuminated by a streetlight.
He and his wife Wilma rush outside for a better look and see three of
them flying in a V-formation at an altitude of 500 feet. They look like
they have metallic feathers or scales. They are flying with a graceful,
fluttering motion. They then see two objects to the south with pulsating
red lights moving in the same direction at the same speed (about 25–35
mph). On May 20, around 9:00 p.m., the Callisons have another odd
sighting of a single bird-like creature. (Grant Callison, “Winged
Creatures over Illinois,” UFOexperiences, February 6, 2006; Clark
III 655)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4531
Date: 5/11/1968
Description: A farmer in Brinkley, South Australia, notices strands of
material about 65 feet long falling on his property. He says it is like
asbestos rope and as wide as a pencil. On the same day, web-like “fine
woven cotton” is seen on a lawn and draped over wires and a fence in
Cheltenham, Adelaide, South Australia. (Keith Basterfield, “Angel Hair:
An Australian Perspective,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4532
Date: 5/13/1968
Description: George
H. Estabrooks, a
Canadian-American psychologist and former consultant for the FBI and
CIA, tells the Providence Evening Bulletin that the key to developing an
effective spy or assassin is by creating a multiple personality with the
aid of hypnosis, a procedure he describes as “child’s play.” Estabrooks
suggests that Lee Harvey
Oswald and Jack
Ruby could have been controlled in this manner. “This has and is
being done. I have done it. It is child’s play now to develop a multiple
personality through hypnotism.” (Providence (R.I.) Evening Bulletin, May
13, 1968; Colin A. Ross, Bluebird: Deliberate Creation of Multiple
Personality by Psychiatrists, Manitou, 2000, p. 162; Phil Kirby, “Event
/ TV Times: The
Prisoner:
Free for All,” The Culture Vulture, May 10, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4533
Date: 5/14/1968
Description: LOOK article, “Flying Saucer Fiasco” by John Fuller,
reporting internal controversy in the Colorado UFO Project and the Low
“trick” memo.
Type: newspaper article
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 159
Date: 5/15/1968
Description: Low is
relieved of 90% of his duties with the Colorado project, effective May
24 and will go back to his job as assistant to Thurston
Manning. (UFOs
Yes, 204)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4534
Date: 5/17/1968
Description: 5:00 a.m. Caetano Sergio dos Santos is returning home from
his job as a night watchman at Caconde, São Paulo, Brazil. In the
courtyard of his house he sees a cylinder-shaped object, about the size
of a powdered-milk can, stuck in the ground. At each end are dials, one
with a black band, the other with a red one. They are encased under a
glass or plastic lens with embossed figures arranged in a semicircle.
Above each figure is something like an Arabic numeral. Dos Santos takes
the object into the house and studies it for 90 minutes, then puts it on
a windowsill in the bathroom before going to bed. He goes back to work,
then at about 1:00 a.m., he returns home and notices that the object is
lighting up the house, with his wife and son, very agitated, standing
outside with neighbors. She tells him that a loud buzzing and intense
heat had wakened her, both emanating from the object. Dos Santos goes
inside and finds a hole in the roof, tile scattered over the floor, and
the object gone. (“Brazilian Object
Real Puzzler,” APRO Bulletin, July/Aug. 1968, pp. 1, 3; Walter
Buehler, “The
Mysterious Caconde Case,” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1969): 18–19; Clark III 339)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4535
Date: late 5/1968
Description: Condon hires
science writer Daniel
S. Gillmor to edit the final project report. Gillmor receives
editorial help from Joseph
H. Rush, a
physicist from the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Also
assisting is associate editor Harriet Hunter and several specialists
from the local lab of the Environmental Science Services Administration
(including Gordon
David Thayer). Franklin
Roach returns to work on astronaut sightings. By June 1, the date on
which the investigative phase ends, there is a substantially new
crew.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4537
Date: 5/21/1968
Description: Philip
J. Klass attempts to refute James
E. McDonald’s criticisms of his plasma theory of UFOs in a privately
circulated paper. (Phillip J. Klass, “Dr. James
E. McDonald’s ‘Mathematical Proof,’” The Author, May 21, 1968,
pp. 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4536
Date: 5/27/1968
Description: 9:45 p.m. A man is driving near Punta Gorda, Florida, when
his headlights and engine fail. As he gets out to check, he sees a light
slowly descending at treetop level. The object is shaped like a
Pilgrim’s hat with a green glow and bluish color surrounding it. A few
minutes after landing, it takes off at high speed, disappearing in the
northwest. The car starts once it is gone. The witness notices that his
watch has stopped. (Mark Rodeghier, UFO Reports
Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS, 1981, p. 41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4538
Date: 5/31/1968
Description: McDonald speaks
to the Chicago Chapter of the American Meteorological Society on UFOs.
(James E. McDonald, “UFOs: Atmospheric or Extraterrestrial?” May 31,
1968; Story, p. 414)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4539
Date: 6/1968
Time: 0050
Description: Pedro Pretzel, 39, motel owner, observed an object 50 m
away on road 20, showing two powerful red headlights. Arriving at his
room, the witness found his daughter unconscious. When she came to, she
said that a blond man, 2 m tall, wearing a blue, bright suit, and
holding a paleblue sphere in his hand, had appeared and spoken to
her.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 95 (Vallee)
Location: Carlos Paz, Argentina
ID: 907
Date: 6/3/1968
Description: McDonald addresses
the Burro Club (Democratic Congressional Administrative Assistants and
Aides) in the Rayburn Building in Washington, D.C., on the question
“Does Congress Have a Responsibility to Investigate the UFO Problem?”
(Story, p. 414)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4541
Date: 6/4/1968
Description: A-12 pilot Jack
W. Weeks is lost over the South China Sea near the Philippines
during a functional checkout flight after the replacement of one of its
engines. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
A-12”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4542
Date: 6/6/1968
Description: Capt. U. Tiviroli, commander of an Argentine Airlines Avro,
sees a UFO, along with his copilot and 18 passengers, for 5 minutes
during a night landing at Punta Arenas airport, Chile. An unusually
bright object, long and spindle-shaped, appears above the plane. It
moves in a course parallel to the plane and stops suddenly in midair.
Then it swerves in a right angle back to the plane. It is also seen by
airport observers. (“Argentinian
Pilot Reports
UAO,” APRO Bulletin, May/June 1968, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4543
Date: 6/11/1968
Description: MP John
Langford-Holt asks UK Prime Minister Harold
Wilson whether he is aware that some UFO reports are made to the
Ministry of Defence, while police reports are made to the Board of
Trade. Wilson replies that reports going to the Board of Trade are
passed on to the Ministry of Defence. (Good Above, p. 67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4545
Date: 6/11/1968
Description: Philip
J. Klass attempts to refute James
E. McDonald’s criticisms of his plasma theory of UFOs in another
unpublished paper. (Philip J. Klass, “Does
Dr. James E. McDonald Really Speak with Authority?” The Author, June
11, 1968, pp. 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4544
Date: 6/14/1968
Time: 0300
Description: Jorge Yaru, 35, saw a strange light outside and a bright
object, the size of a bus, 30 m away. It had yellow, green and red
lights at the bottom. As he approached, the object rose suddenly,
hovered for 40 min, and left at high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 95 (Vallee)
Location: Mendiozaca, Argentina
ID: 908
Date: 6/14/1968
Description: Shortly after 12:00 midnight. Isidro Puentes Ventura is on
guard duty in Cabañas, Artemisa, Cuba, when he sees on the ground a
brilliant domed UFO with several antennas on top. He approaches to
within 165 feet and fires about 40 machine gun rounds into it, convinced
it is American. The object turns orange and emits a whistling sound as
Puentes loses consciousness. At dawn, an Army patrol finds him still
unconscious and takes him to a hospital in Pinar del Rio, where he
remains in shock for 6 days, unable to speak. He is then taken to a
Naval hospital in Havana, where he remains in shock another week. At the
site, Cuban and Soviet intelligence specialists find 48 spent cartridges
and 14 bullets flattened by impact with something solid, as well as
equally spaced indentations on the ground. Tests reveal that the soil
has been exposed to a high temperature. (Jacques Vallée, UFO Chronicles
of the Soviet Union: A Cosmic Samizdat, Ballantine, 1992, pp. 82–85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4546
Date: 6/15/1968
End date: 6/17/1968
Description: Night. Allied forward spotters along the eastern part of
the Demilitarized Zone in Vietnam see about 30 strange slow-moving
lights. At the time they are interpreted as North Vietnamese
Russian-built M-14 Hound helicopters ferrying men and materiel over the
border. The lights appear the following evening, and several US 7th Air
Force Phantom fighter-bombers soon arrive on the scene and fire on the
intruders, supported by anti- aircraft ground fire. During the Allied
attack the presumed helicopters move down the east coast and out to sea.
The destroyers HMAS
Hobart,
USS
Edson,
and USS
Theodore
E. Chandler are ordered to undertake surveillance missions around
Cồn Cỏ (Tiger Island) along the north central coast. Around 3:14 a.m. on
June 17, the ships are involved in a friendly fire incident in which the
Hobart is hit by 3 missiles from one of the Phantoms, causing major
damage and killing two of the crew. (Jon Wyatt, “HMAS
Hobart Hit during Vietnam UFO Enciunter?” AUFORN Special Report, no.
34 (April 2003), reprinted in UFO Evidence) June 16 and 19 — Night.
Chief of Provincial Police German Rocha and Police Maj. Niceforo Léon
observe a round object with a vivid blue light near El Choro, Poopó,
Bolivia. It lands, leaves a strange, powerful odor, and burns grass and
shrubs. (Gordon Creighton, “A
New South American ‘Wave,’” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1968): 23–24; Oscar A. Galíndez, “South
America Revisited,” Australian UFO Review, no. 10 (December 1969):
41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4548
Date: 6/15/1968
Description: 1:05 a.m. María Elodia Pretzel, daughter of the owner of
the Motel La Cuesta on National Highway 20 east of Villa Carlos Paz,
Córdoba, Argentina, is locking up for the night when she encounters a
strange-looking man in the dining area. He is 6 feet tall and dressed in
a blue helmet and a suit that glows with an eerie light and seems made
up of scales. In his left hand he is holding a glassy sphere that is
radiating a coherent light that lights up the room. She feels somewhat
paralyzed and is getting a mental message not to be afraid. The entity
raises its other arm, which is emitting beams of light, and she feels
helpless, falling backward. The entity walks slowly toward the outside
door, putting one foot directly in front of the other, arm extended and
holding the now extinguished sphere, and passes outside. Still shaken,
María goes to the laundry room and drops on the floor, head and arms on
a divan. A few minutes later, her father, Pedro Jacobo Pretzel, arrives
and discovers her. Minutes earlier, he had seen two odd, stationary red
lights about 5–6 feet from the ground off Highway 20. Maria is conscious
but very disturbed, a condition that lasts for several days. (Oscar A.
Galíndez, “The
Anthropomorphic Entity at Villa Carlos
Paz—Part 1,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 5 (January 1981): 8–17,
29–31; Oscar A. Galíndez, “The Anthropomorphic
Entity at Villa Carlos Paz—Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 6
(March 1981): 15–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4547
Date: 6/16/1968
Time: night
Description: Chief of Provincial Police German Rocha and Police Major
Niceforo Leon observed a round object with a vivid blue light. It
landed, left a strange, powerful odor, and burned grass and
shrubs.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 5 (Vallee)
Location: El Choro, Argentina
ID: 909
Date: 6/18/1968
Description: Jorge Raul Scassa Sutter and Ruben Andrawos are flying a
Cessna 182 from Villa Dolores, Córdoba, Argentina, to La Guardia,
Catamarca, Argentina. They see an object looking like an overturned soup
plate with a cupola on top. The object is grayish-blue with no windows,
and its diameter is about 90 feet. The object is at the same altitude as
the aircraft, 7,500 feet, and at a distance of 330 feet. It disappears
by flying to the north at a fantastic speed. There is a possible VHF
interference (“frequency fading”) when the object approaches the
aircraft in front. (La Gaceta de Tucumán, June 19, 1968; NICAP, “Cessna
182 Encounters UFO / VHF I/FF”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4549
Date: 6/19/1968
Time: night
Description: A settler, Romulo Velasco, 25, saw a bright object land.
From it emerged a strange “tall, slim being” who came toward the
witness, who fainted.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Cabreria, Argentina
ID: 910
Date: 6/20/1968
Description: The US Seventh Air Force holds a “joint service conference
on the UFO problem” in Hawaii after a series of tragic incidents on June
15–17, including a missile attack on “unidentified helicopters” that hit
the Australian Navy destroyer HMAS
Hobart, killing two sailors. An investigation reveals that the Air
Force is in the midst of a wave of sightings of things that are not
enemy helicopters in central Vietnam, just south of and within the DMZ.
(Clark III 1051; Sparks, pp. 327–328)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4550
Date: 6/20/1968
Description: A husband and wife encounter an array of lights that hover
above their car near Roswell, New Mexico. Both have a feeling of great
peace. When the UFO vanishes, the wife finds that the arthritis in her
neck has been healed. (Michael D. Swords, “Can UFOs Cause Physiological
Effects? Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4552
Date: 6/20/1968
Description: Following the publication of their book Flying Saucer
Report: UFOs Unidentified, Unidentifiable, British researchers Anthony
R. Pace and Roger H. Stanway visit the UK S4 (Air) UFO desk in
Whitehall, London, again and meet with Leslie Akhurst, John Dickison,
and Alec Cassie. Their request to record the interview is denied, but
they are impressed with Cassie’s ability to recall UFO cases mentioned
in their book. (Good Above, p. 68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4551
Date: 6/21/1968
Description: A man riding his bicycle encountered a large object, 50 cm
above the ground. The top part was spinning, and it cast a vertical beam
of red light toward the ground. Calcination traces were found by
police.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 95 (Vallee)
Location: Miramar, Argentina
ID: 911
Date: summer 1968
Description: Three teenagers notice an irregular triangular object
flying to the west over housing in Stazic street in Rzeszów, Poland. It
is dark with some brighter bulges on the bottom and emits a buzzing
sound. (Poland 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4540
Date: 6/25/1968
Time: 105
Description: Jorge Ribles, electrician at the Carmal Chemical Plant,
noticed that the engines were at a standstill, while the countryside was
lit up with intensive reddish light. Another man, 52-yearold Jose J.
Rociski, fell unconscious as a vivid light enveloped him. He was unable
to move his left arm for three days, and suffered from pain and extreme
nervousness.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Bouchard, Argentina
ID: 912
Date: 6/26/1968
Description: An Argentine Trotskyist using the pseudonym J.
Posadas, who formed a movement in 1962 based on the inevitability of
nuclear war, has proclaimed an interest in UFOs as entities with the
ability to master sophisticated technologies that are compatible with
socialism. If UFOs exist, they might be helpful in addressing some of
the major problems in the earth. In his pamphlet, Les Soucoupes
Volantes: Le processus de la matière et de l’energie, la science et le
socialisme, Posadas pleads that “We must call upon beings from other
planets when they come to intervene, to collaborate with the inhabitants
of the Earth to overcome misery. We must launch a call on them to use
their resources to help us.” (J. Posadas, Flying
Saucers: The Process of Matter and Energy, Science, the Revolutionary
and Working-Class Struggle, and Socialism, June
26, 1968; A. M. Gittlitz, I Want to Believe: Posadism, UFOs, and
Apocalyptic Communism, Pluto, 2020; Ian Parker, “Believe
It or Not!” Socialist Resistance, May 1, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4553
Date: 7/1968
Description: A man is driving on Blacketts Lake Road southwest of
Sydney, Nova Scotia, when he sees a saucer-shaped object descending
below the tree line near the lake. He parks his car and runs along a
trail to get closer. He is about 75 feet from the object, which is only
6 feet above the ground in a clearing. The UFO suddenly rises and flies
away. The RCMP blocks access to the site during its investigation. (“Former
RCMP Officer Photographs UFO near Sydney,
N.S.,” Journal UFO 2, no. 4 (March 1981): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4556
Date: 7/1968
Description: A CIA team flies into Saigon [now Ho Chi Minh City] to
experiment on three Viet Cong prisoners at Biên Hòa Hospital. Working in
an enclosed compound, the team’s neurosurgeon and neurologist insert
tiny electrodes into their brains. Behaviorists then experiment on the
men, arming them with knives and trying to induce violent behavior in
them using direct electrical stimulation. After a week of
experimentation that fails to incite the men to attack each other, they
are shot dead and their bodies burned. (Sid Taylor, “A
History of Secret CIA Mind Control Research,”
Nexus, April/May 1992)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4555
Date: 7/1968
Description: 1:00 a.m. Walter Rizzi is taking a nap in his car by the
road just south of the Gardena Pass, South Tyrol, Italy, when he wakes
to the smell of something burning. He sees a light about 1,600 feet
further downhill shining through the mist. The mist parts, and he sees
an enormous object that suddenly reminds him of an encounter he had with
a strange hermit on the island of Rhodes in Greece when he was in the
Italian army in World War II. The hermit had predicted he would someday
meet with advanced beings from the cosmos who would provide him with the
assurance of life throughout the universe. Rizzi makes his way downhill
toward the object, which is silvery, some 260 feet in diameter, standing
on three legs, bathed in fleecy white light, and emitting a burning
odor. He gets within 10 feet and cannot go further. He sees two beings
inside a transparent cupola on the top who are looking down at him. To
the right of the object is a robot about 8 feet tall with three legs and
four arms. A beam of light comes from the center of the object, and
Rizzi sees another being dressed in a tight-fitting suit and glass
helmet descending. They communicate telepathically about other planets
and the universe. Eventually the entities reenter the object and take
off. Rizzi claims there are landing marks, effects on the grass, and his
watch starts losing time. (Gordon Creighton, “Introductory
Comments on the Rizzi Case,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 3
(September 1980): 21–22; Walter Rizzi, “Close
Encounter in the Dolomites,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 3
(September 1980): 22–27; 1Pinotti 158–169)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4557
Date: 7/1968
Description: British physicist Reginald
Victor Jones publishes a skeptical view of UFOs in Physics Bulletin,
but supports genuine scientific inquiry. (R. V. Jones, “The
Natural Philosophy of Flying Saucers,” Physics Bulletin, July 1968,
pp. 225–230)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4554
Date: 7/1/1968
Time: 0400
Description: Raul Calcedo met two giants, almost 3 m tall, in Ricardone.
He fled in terror, in spite of a strange power that tended to make him
stay.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Ricardone, Argentina
ID: 913
Date: 7/1/1968
Time: 1230
Description: Three boys saw an object, about 8 m wide, 350 m away. It
had a large tripod under carriage and a ladder reaching down to the
ground. These devices were retracted, and the object rose a few meters,
then flew off at high speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 6 (Vallee)
Location: Botucatu, Brazil
ID: 914
Date: 7/1/1968
Description: 12:30 a.m. Three boys are sitting on the main gate of the
UNESP Hospital das Clinicas of the Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu,
São Paulo, Brazil. Suddenly they see a large object “as big as a house”
sitting about 1,150 feet to the west of them. It has a large tripod
undercarriage and a ladder reaching down to the ground. The boys can
hear a weird “tinging sound on a high note.” They start to yell as the
UFO retracts its tripod and ladder and rise into the air and speed off
to the east, reaching a great altitude. Alerted by their shouts, other
witnesses see the object moving away. A student named Antônio Alegre
examines the landing site shortly afterward and finds marks forming an
isosceles triangle, two sides measuring 20 feet and one side 23 feet.
(Nigel Rimes, “Landing
at Botucatu,”
Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1968): 21–24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4559
Date: 7/1/1968
Description: NASA publishes a Chronological Catalog of Reported Lunar
Events, by Barbara
M. Middlehurst, Jaylee
M. Burley, Patrick
Moore, and
Barbara
L. Welther. Moore
invents the term “transient lunar phenomena” to describe short-lived
changes in brightness, color, or appearance on the surface of the moon.
(Wikipedia, “Transient
lunar phenomenon”;
Barbara M. Middlehurst, Jaylee M. Burley, Patrick Moore, and Barbara L.
Welther, Chronological Catalog
of Reported Lunar Events, NASA
Technical Report R-277, July 1, 1968)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4558
Date: 7/2/1968
Time: 0815
Description: A boy, Sola, saw, a few meters away, a strange being, about
2.10 m tall, hovering in the air, his body emitting a peculiar glow,
near a bright, unknown object.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Cofico, Argentina
ID: 915
Date: 7/2/1968
Time: 1125
Description: Oscar H. Iriart, 15, saw two men of normal height, with
short, white hair and red clothes, semi-transparent legs, motioning to
him. Near them was an elliptical, silvery machine, 2 m long, 60 cm high,
with three 50 cm legs. The men gave him an envelope with a childish
message and flew off. The witness’s horse and dog were paralyzed for
several minutes. The boy arrived home “like a madman.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 68, 5 (Vallee)
Location: Sierra Chica, Argentina
ID: 916
Date: 7/2/1968
Description: 10:00–10:30 p.m. Fred Coulthard Jr. and his brother Wayne
are at a family get-together in the backyard of their father’s home in
Wooler, Ontario, when they see an object with rotating red lights that
agitates the family’s horses and cats. Around 11:30 p.m.,
poltergeist-like disturbances (a shattered window, objects thrown
around, a strong odor of roses) begin in the house and continue for
several days. “Fairy rings” are discovered on the ground in a wooded
valley north of town. (Mrs. W. Greystone, “Canada’s
UFO Poltergeist,” in Charles Bowen, ed., Beyond Condon, special
issue no. 2 of FSR, June 1969, pp. 66–68, 70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4561
Date: 7/2/1968
Description: 11:25 a.m. Oscar Heriberto Iriart, 15, sees two men of
normal height motioning to him at Sierra Chica, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
They have short, white hair and red clothes. They also have
semi-transparent legs because he can see through them to the grass
behind. Near the men is an elliptical, silvery machine, 6.5 feet long, 2
feet high, with three legs 19 inches high. The men give him an envelope
they telepathically say contains an important message, telling him to
dip it in water before reading, then they fly off. Iriart dips the
envelope in a puddle and finds that both the envelope and his hands are
dry. The message is written in Spanish in a crude handwriting: “You are
going to know the world. F. Saucer.” The witness’s horse and dog are
paralyzed for several minutes. The boy arrives home terrified. The
family goes to the landing site and finds three holes, each about 5
inches deep and forming an isosceles triangle, the base side measuring
6.5 feet and the other 2 sides 5.2 feet wide. At 11:15 p.m., five
skeptical men (including Police Sgt. Raúl Coronel) from the Sierra Chica
Social Club visit the landing site and declare the holes to be fake.
However, they see a zigzagging light a few feet from the ground and
heading their way. They drop to the ground, it passes over them, and
then shoots away straight up. (Gordon Creighton, “A New
South American ‘Wave,’” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1968): 26–27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4560
Date: 7/9/1968
Description: 9:35 p.m. Witnesses at Long Beach, California, see a huge,
glowing, cloud-like mass over the Santa Catalina Channel for 90 minutes.
Five smaller objects are seen maneuvering around it. (Ann Druffel, “Santa
Catalina Island
Recurring ‘Cloud Cigars,’” in Proceedings of the 1976 CUFOS
Conference, Chicago, 1976, pp. 62–74; Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite
Objects and Cloud Cigars,” IUR 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 9–10; Ann
Druffel, “Santa Catalina Channel Cloud Cigars,” IUR 31, no. 1 (January
2007): 13–14; Wim van Utrecht, “‘Mother
Ship’ over California,”
Caelestia, August 5, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4562
Date: 7/13/1968
Description: 10:00 p.m. Irena
Scott and her sister Sue Postle are traveling west of Boston,
Massachusetts, on State Highway 9 when they see an unusual object to the
south. They watch it intermittently after turning south on State Highway
128 and I-95. It is moving in an erratic pattern and blinking. Then they
see a basketball-sized object 20–50 feet away, near the ground, and
constantly changing colors. Scott pulls over to the side of the road,
loads her camera, and takes five photos, only one of which shows the
light. (Irena Scott, “Fear and Ambiguity in Massachusetts,” IUR 13, no.
4 (July/Aug. 1988): 14–17; Irena Scott, “UFO Studies in the Scientific
Literature,” IUR 15, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1990): 18; Irena Scott, “A
Photograph and Its Aftermath,” IUR 15, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1990): 12–14,
23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4563
Date: 7/17/1968
Description: Late evening. A civil servant is allegedly snatched off the
São Paulo Highway in Brazil and taken into a UFO by four green entities
wearing devices that look like headphones. While he is in a state of
paralysis, they question him via telepathy about human customs,
physiology, and reproduction. The creatures depart abruptly as if in
response to instructions. (Gordon Creighton, “Physical
Examination by ‘Miniature Martians,’” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1969): 32, 34; Clark III 279)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4564
Date: 7/18/1968
Description: 1:05 a.m. RCMP Constable W. J. Whyte and his wife spot a
yellow circular object at high altitude moving west to east near Truro,
Nova Scotia. It looks like a satellite, but turns reddish before
disappearing in the distance. At 1:10 p.m., a couple near Onslow
Mountain a few miles to the north see a rosy red light in the southwest
hovering just above the trees. They watch it for 15 minutes before it
moves and accelerates out of sight. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 70–71)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4565
Date: 7/20/1968
Description: After 12:00 midnight. Three 14-year-old girls at a summer
camp at Kaarnajärv, near Otepää, Valga County, Estonia, see a swiftly
moving star and a cigar-shaped object in the distance that quickly
disappears. Somewhat disturbed, they decide to retire to bed. Through a
window they see a bright object about 165 feet away. It is surrounded by
reddish-orange and yellow beams of light. Soon it goes out, leaving only
a dark greenish nebula with a blue-green ring around it that illuminates
the surrounding woods. They watch it for about 5 minutes until it blinks
out. One of the girls goes outside and sees a female figure, less than 5
feet tall and wearing a silver ribbon, standing where the object had
been. It vanishes. The next morning, they find a circular burnt area
about 6 feet in diameter and four wedge-shaped prints in the soil. (Juri
Lina, “UFO
Landings in Estonia,” Flying Saucer Review 24, no. 1 (June 1978):
3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4566
Date: 7/22/1968
Description: 1:20 a.m. Adela Casalvieri de Panassiti, 45, night nurse at
the Dr. Carlos Pereyra Neuropsychiatric Hospital at Ituzaingó 2837,
Mendoza, Argentina, hears a loud, penetrating, humming noise outside in
the hospital courtyard. Going out to see what it is, she observes a
mushroom-shaped landed object only 65 feet away. It is luminous and
sitting in the middle of the courtyard. A bright red beam comes from the
object and strikes her, and she finds that her legs are paralyzed.
Putting her hands up to her face for protection, she discovers she is
completely unable to move. She remains immobilized for a number of
minutes until the red beam is extinguished. At this time, the object
ascends vertically then flies off rapidly to the south, barely clearing
the wall that surrounds the courtyard. Before it disappears, she is able
to observe several human-looking figures through square portholes that
encircle the craft. These beings move back and forth, passing each
other, and are visible from the waist up only. A lead- gray stain, 31 x
12 inches, that smells of sulfur is found at the landing site. It
persists for two days. Several small potted trees are burned. Casalvieri
de Panassiti has first-degree burns on her face and hands (an allergic
reaction?), and parts of her nurse’s cap and clothing are singed. In
addition, her watch, which has stopped at 1:30 a.m., is found to be
radioactive, as is her ring. The daughters of a garrison commander
witness a luminous, egg- shaped object at the same time from the
garrison casino. (“Argentina:
Hospital Landing at El Sauce,” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1968): 32; Roberto Banchs, “Mendoza: Agitacion por
Apariciones de OVNIs (22 Julio y 09 Ago 1968),” Visión OVNI, November
11, 2008; Scott Corrales, “1968:
A Nurse Burned by an Alleged
UFO (CE-2),” Inexplicata, July 25, 2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4568
Date: 7/22/1968
Description: Around 12:00 midnight. Off-duty police constable Martyn
Johnson is walking with his girlfriend in Sheffield, South Yorkshire,
England, when they see two lights approaching them from above a nearby
park. They are giving off many colored lights. As they hover above a
nearby house, the couple’s poodle becomes agitated and runs off. The two
lights then become four and arrange themselves in an oblong formation.
All at once they vanish at terrific speed, following a railway to the
northeast. A few hours later, Johnson is awakened and told to report to
police headquarters, where there are two “government men” waiting to
quiz him about the sighting. They desperately try to convince him that
he has seen an aircraft or helicopter. They tell him he is sworn to
secrecy for the next 25 years. When he asks what he has seen, they tell
him, “What you have seen is an unidentified flying object or UFO. Some
people call them spaceships, and if the people of the world knew how
many genuine sightings there were like yours, there would be total
panic.” (UFOFiles2, pp. 82–83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4567
Date: 7/23/1968
Description: 1:00 a.m. Daíldo de Oliveira, a night watchman for the CESP
electrical substation near Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil, confronts three
intruders who overpower him outside a control center building. A large
UFO 50 feet tall is resting nearby on the ground; it takes off in a
zigzag pattern towards the city of Lins. (Clark III 183–185; Brazil
93–98)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4569
Date: 7/25/1968
Description: 2:00 a.m. Juan Sivori, his wife, and a daughter see a
silver object shaped like a spinning top a they are driving along
Highway 226 near La Pastora, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is only 115
feet from them and the size of a truck. The engine of their car stops
running as the UFO hovers for about 5 minutes at a height of 33 feet.
When it rises into the air and vanishes, the car engine starts up again.
(Oscar A. Uriondo, “Preliminary
Catalogue of Type I
Cases in Argentina, Part 4,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories,
no. 16 (August 1973): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4570
Date: 7/26/1968
Description: “UFO Project: Trouble on the Ground” by Philip M. Boffey in
Science magazine, reporting on the internal problems of the Colorado UFO
Project.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 160
Date: 7/28/1968
Description: 12:00 midnight. A farmer, his wife, and two children near
Upton, Quebec, are awakened by the barking of their dog. When he gets up
to investigate, he sees a sparkling, rotating “cloud” in the yard. It
flies just over him and goes into a nearby field. About 12 feet in
diameter, it is dark on the bottom but luminous on top. The cows in the
field are being chased by 4 or 5 small entities, perhaps 3 feet tall
with heads shaped like bottles. As the UFO flies above them, they
disappear. The cattle seem ill for weeks afterwards. (John Brent
Musgrave, UFO Occupants and Critters, Global Communications, 1979; Clark
III 280)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4571
Date: 7/29/1968
Description: The hearings that Rep. J.
Edward Roush and NICAP have been calling for are held as a
“Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects” before the House Committee on
Science and Astronautics. Rep. George
P. Miller (D-Calif.) is chairman of the committee, but Roush directs
most of the proceedings. Hynek,
McDonald,
Sagan,
Robert
L. Hall (University of Illinois at Chicago), James
A. Harder (UC-Berkeley), and Robert
M. L. Baker Jr. (UCLA) give testimony. Hynek is introduced by
Rep. Donald
Rumsfeld (R-Ill.). Menzel,
R.
Leo Sprinkle, Garry
C.
Henderson, Stanton
T. Friedman, Roger
N. Shepard, and
Frank
B. Salisbury offer prepared papers. NICAP representatives are not
permitted to testify. Many witnesses parrot the NORAD party line that
its radars only look in certain directions (when indeed it looks for
many types of potential attacks in all directions). Harder states: “On
the basis of the data and ordinary rules of evidence, as would be
applied in civil or criminal courts, the physical reality of UFOs has
been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” McDonald makes the biggest
impression, presenting 30 pages of UFO reports. He states: “my own
present opinion, based on two years of careful study, is that UFOs are
probably extraterrestrial devices engaged in something that might very
tentatively be termed ‘surveillance.’” Menzel concludes that UFOs merit
no more scientific study than “the concept of ghosts, spirits, witches,
fairies, elves, hobgoblins, or the devil.” The symposium has no lasting
impact, as Congress does nothing about the problem. (Symposium
on Unidentified Flying Objects, Hearings,
US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong., 2nd Sess.,
July 29, 1968; “Congressional
Hearings on UFO Problems: Scientists Urge Unbiased
National Investigations,” UFO Investigator 4, no. 7
(July/Aug. 1968): 1–5; Clark III 811)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4572
Date: 7/29/1968
Description: Delta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 161
Date: 7/29/1968
Description: House Science and Astronautics Committee symposium on UFOs
chaired by Rep. Edward Roush (D-Ind.). Witnesses included Robert M.
Baker, Robert L. Hall, James A. Harder, J. Allen Hynek, James E.
McDonald, and Carl Sagan.
Type: official
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 162
Date: 7/30/1968
Description: 2:00 a.m. A land surveyor and his wife in Claremont, New
Hampshire, are preparing to retire when they see a dome-shaped object in
a field about 230 feet behind their house. It is about 20 feet wide and
moving slowly 10 feet above the ground, creating shadows on the freshly
cut hay. The UFO shines a 20-foot wide gray-colored beam of light onto
the ground. Their children moan and cry out in while they are sleeping
and their dogs are whining loudly. They hear a high-pitched humming
sound like a utility pole transformer. A few minutes later the object
moves 25 feet to the east, the humming growing louder. At one point, a
projection from the object descends to the ground. Around 4:30 a.m., the
object goes brighter and slowly moves off toward the west. (Donald E.
Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 38–40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4573
Date: 7/30/1968
Description: Dome-shaped object hovered low over ground, grayish light
beam cast sharp shadows. Humming sound, dogs reacted strongly
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Claremont, NH
ID: 163
Date: 7/31/1968
Time: 0900
Description: Luce Fontaine, 31, a farmer, was in a clearing when he
suddenly saw an oval object, 25 m away, less than 5 m above ground. It
had a clear center, dark-blue ends, two protrusions on top and bottom,
and measured 5 m in diameter, 2.5 m in height. In the object stood two
beings, 90 cm tall, wearing coveralls. A violent flash and a blast of
hot air were noted as the object vanished.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: LDLN 96 (Vallee)
Location: Plaine-des-Cafres, La Reunion Island
ID: 917
Date: 7/31/1968
Description: 9:00 a.m. Farmer Luce Fontaine is collecting grass for his
rabbits at La Plaine des Cafres on the island of Réunion (in the Indian
Ocean east of Madagascar), when he sees an oval-shaped object about 75
feet away. It is sitting about 15 feet from the ground on a flange of
metal; a similar structure protrudes from its top. The cylinder has two
blue ends and a transparent center through which he can see two
humanoids less than 3 feet tall in metallic helmets and dressed in puffy
suits like the Michelin Man (the tire company mascot). Seemingly sensing
Fontaine looking at them, they turn their backs and the object
disappears in a sudden flash of light and a burst of hot air. The
incident is investigated by Capt. Maljean of the local Gendarmerie and
Capt. Léopold Legros of the Civil Protection Service, who detect an
abnormal amount of radioactivity at the site and on Fontaine’s clothing
10 days afterward, as well as six apparent landing marks in the ground.
A country club called “La Soucoupe Volante” (Flying Saucer) is later
built on the site. (“Contact
Casualty on Réunion,” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1969): 8, 11; Jean-Claude Bourret, Le Nouveau Défi des
O.V.N.I., France-Empire, 1976; Antonio Huneeus, “The
‘Michelin Man’ Encounters on Réunion Island,” Open Minds, July 30,
2010; Patrick Gross, “Plaine
des Caffres, La Réunion, July 31, 1968”; La Soucoupe Volante Country
Club, Facebook
page)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4574
Date: 8/1968
Description: The US Air Force Weapons Laboratory begins to set up a
field instrumentation lab at Con Thien combat base near the
Demilitarized Zone, Quang Tri Province, Vietnam, specifically for the
purpose of investigating and tracking unidentified aircraft. The first
project name is HAVE FEAR. At least 500 UFO sensor trackings via
radar-visual, laser range-finder, video camera, infrared, nightscope,
and telescope are investigated through April 1969. The UFOs, often seen
as red lights, usually travel at speeds of 30–80 mph at altitudes of
1,200–1,600 feet. After several days of tracking, the red blinking
lights extinguish when under radar surveillance. They are only seen at
night and only in certain places. In mid-August, Project LETHAL CHASER
is added, using portable manpack radars. The findings involve 99% UFOs
and only 1% IFOs, primarily because the system does not include human
anecdotal accounts. Pacific Air Forces’ unit history clearly states the
investigation is about UFOs, not enemy helicopters. (Clark III
1050–1054; Sparks, p. 328)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4575
Date: 8/4/1968
Description: 4:15 a.m. Three witnesses in Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan,
watch a luminous object, about 25 feet in diameter, as it hovers for
several minutes. Later it circles above the house 300 feet away. A
4-foot circle of barren grass is found, although an 18-inch circle in
the center is undamaged. (Ted Phillips, Physical
Traces Associated with UFO Sightings, Center
for UFO Studies, 1978, p. 57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4576
Date: 8/7/1968
Description: 8:10 p.m. As a young man and woman watch from the end of a
dock at Buff Ledge Camp [now closed] along the shore of Lake Champlain
north of Burlington, Vermont, a bright light appears in the southwest
sky and swoops down in a long arc until it stops and assumes a
horizontal position. It now resembles a white, glowing, cigar-shaped
object, possibly as far away as the Adirondack Mountains more than 10
miles from the witnesses. According to the young man, three tiny white
lights emerge one at a time from the right-end bottom of the UFO. As
soon as the third is expelled, the object retreats along its original
path and vanishes seconds later. The three smaller objects perform a
series of spectacular maneuvers, all the while moving closer. After 5
minutes the objects assume a horizontal triangle formation, and two head
off in opposite directions, one to the north, the other to the south,
making a sound like “thousands of different tuning forks.” The remaining
object (40–50 feet across) moves toward the witnesses. It ascends and
vanishes in three seconds, only to reappear moments later as it descends
along the same trajectory and plunges broadside into the water. A sudden
wind blows waves across the heretofore placid surface. Animals up and
down the shore howl and shriek. A few minutes later the UFO surfaces and
moves toward the witnesses. It stops 60 feet from them, hovering about
15 feet above the water. The young man can see two figures with large
heads, oversized oval eyes, and small mouths. Visible to the waist, they
are short and clothed in skintight gray or silver uniforms. Thus begins
an abduction experience that was only uncovered through separate
hypnotic sessions with each of the witnesses by Walter
N. Webb years later. Webb’s background checks, buttressed by
psychological analyses, convinces him that there is no question of a
hoax. (Walter N. Webb, Encounter at Buff Ledge: A UFO Case History
CUFOS, 1994; Richard F. Haines, [Review], JUFOS 6 (1995/96): 248–251;
Clark III 220–222; B. J. Booth, “The
Buff Ledge Abduction,” UFO Casebook)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4578
Date: 8/7/1968
Description: McDonald addresses
the Boeing Management Association in Renton, Washington, on “UFO
Investigations: Past, Present, and Future.” (Story, p. 414)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4577
Date: 8/7/1968
Description: Dual abduction of male and female summer camp staff
members. Independent recall of event years later
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Buff Ledge, VT
ID: 164
Date: 8/15/1968
Description: 12:00 midnight. Dick Skewes is driving west with his wife
Anne and babysitter Gail Yemm about 20 minutes east of Springhill, Nova
Scotia, on the Trans-Canada Highway. After driving up a hill, he sees a
group of 5–6 lights hovering 50 feet above some trees on his left.
Another light is approaching at high speed to join the others. One of
the objects breaks away and descends silently over the highway in front
of them, its yellow lights flashing brilliantly, on an apparent
collision course. When it is 40–50 feet away it veers upward and
disappears to the east. Skewes continues down the highway and loses
sight of the objects when he rounds a bend. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s
UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 79–81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4579
Date: 8/16/1968
Description: 2:51 a.m. The crew of a Canadian Forces Hercules C-150E are
flying above Regina, Saskatchewan, when they see a cigar-shaped object
cross their flight path. It has 6 rectangular patches on its side. It is
visible with the naked eye for about 90 seconds, then it rapidly shrinks
and disappears to the southwest very rapidly. (Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO
Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen, 1979, p. 112)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4580
Date: 8/16/1968
Description: 6:00 a.m. A farmer doing barnyard chores at La Serra
d’Almos, Catalonia, Spain, glimpses a light more than half a mile away.
He thinks someone’s car has stalled, so he walks over with his dog
intending to help. But he finds a globe-shaped, glowing object hovering
3 feet above the ground. On the other side of it, he sees two creatures
of an octopus-like appearance. Light-colored, 3 feet tall, they are
running on “four or five legs” toward the UFO, which abruptly takes off.
Reporters and UFO investigators find a considerable area of burned grass
at the site. Those who visit the site shortly afterwards find their
watches stop mysteriously. (Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, A
Catalogue of 200 Type I UFO Events in Spain and Portugal, CUFOS,
1976, pp. 14–15; Clark III 280– 281)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4581
Date: 8/17/1968
Description: 8:21 p.m. Capt. Benjamin Gabrian is flying an Ilyushin
Il-18 airliner at 22,800 feet in the vicinity of Oradea, Romania, when
he sees an oval object on his right about a half-mile away and 900 feet
higher. It is moving at high speed and emitting a bright green light.
They watch it for 10–15 seconds before it accelerates and disappears to
the west. (Hobana and Weverbergh 180–182; Romania 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4582
Date: 8/18/1968
Description: 1:20 p.m. Technician Emil Barnea, his girlfriend Zamfira
Matea, and two other friends are picnicking in the Hoia Baciu forest
near Baciu, not far from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, when they see a round,
metallic, luminous object moving slowly through the sky. Its brilliance
increases and decreases as it maneuvers around for 2 minutes. Barnea
succeeds in taking four photos of the object before it suddenly
accelerates and shoots upwards. (Hobana and Weverbergh 99–107; UFOEv II
287; Adrian Pătruţ, “Phenomena
in the Hoia Baciu Wood near Cluj-Napoca,” Flying Saucer Review 53,
no. 1 (Spring 2008): 10; Chris Hill, “Hoia Baciu: Romania’s Haunted
Forest,” Fortean Times 382, August 2019, pp. 32–36; Patrick Gross, “Emil
Barnea’s Photographs, Cluj, Romania, 1968”; Romania 21–27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4583
Date: 8/18/1968
Description: Round silver object flew overhead, reversed direction,
three photos taken. Object finally shot upward out of sight
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Cluj, Romania
ID: 165
Date: 8/21/1968
Description: 6:58 a.m. The Canadian destroyer HMCS
Mackenzie is on a mission in the Pacific Ocean about 930 miles off
the coast of California. Four of the ship’s crew, including Maj. W. J.
Draper, see a group of starlike lights approaching from the northeast,
initially only 10° above the horizon. They are flying in a row, and one
in the middle of the line seems larger and has a white glow around it.
Within 5 minutes, the procession of 20 objects passes nearly overhead,
heading west. They maintain a steady course until they are lost to view
13 minutes later. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August
Night, 2022, pp. 73–74)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4584
Date: 8/22/1968
Description: 5:40 p.m. Capt. Walter Gardin and Capt. Gordon W. Smith are
flying over Zanthus, Western Australia, at 8,000 feet in a Piper Navajo
single-engine airplane when they see a large cigar-shaped object
surrounded by five smaller ones. The formation maintains a constant
angle from their own flight path for more than 10 minutes, while they
are flying at 224 mph. The large object then opens up its center and the
smaller objects fly to and from the larger object. Ground air control
reports no known air traffic in the area. At this point the radio fails
at all frequencies until the objects fly away. (“Pilots
See Formation over Australia,” APRO Bulletin, Jan./Feb. 1969, pp. 1,
4; Paul B. Norman, “‘Motherships’
over Australia,” Flying Saucer Review 24, no. 5 (March 1979): 9–10;
Paul B. Norman, “Countdown
to Reality,” Flying Saucer Review 31, no. 2 (January 1986): 19–20;
Good Above, pp. 172–173;
Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht, “The
BOAC Labrador Sighting of June 29, 1954: Similar Reports,”
Caelestia, October 31, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4585
Date: 8/22/1968
Description: Luminous white UFO emitted six smaller “satellite
objects”
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Kalgoorlie, Australia
ID: 166
Date: 8/25/1968
Description: 5:00 a.m. Hospital assistant Maria José Cintra of the
Serafim Ferrreira sanitarium in Lins, São Paulo, Brazil, hears a noise
like the braking of a car. Cintra readies herself to meet people needing
medical assistance. She opens a glass door and asks the visitor if she
is a patient. The visitor, just over 6 feet tall, answers in an unknown
language. The visitor is wearing a blue satiny cape, matching shoes, and
a dress with a high collar and long sleeves. She shows Cintra a vessel
with engraved ornaments, and Cintra fills it with water from a fountain
and offers her a doughnut. The visitor walks to the door of the
sanitorium and through some flowerbeds. At this point Cintra notices a
semicircular “pebble-like” light on the ground and a UFO floating 1–2
feet above the grass. She feels the force of an invisible rotating
movement and notices that the visitor is no longer there. The UFO rises
into the air, making soft sounds like those she heard when the visitor
arrived. Later, she and the sanitorium manager and his wife find
high-heeled footprints on the freshly waxed floor near the door. On the
lawn they discover a spot of scorched grass that persists for 4 months.
Subsequent investigation reveals a depression in the ground 5–7 inches
deep, apparently made by a vehicle with a diameter of about 6.5 feet.
From his bed, another patient has seen the UFO land some 260 feet from
the fence of the sanitorium and remain there for 15 minutes. (“Mulher Extraterrestre
Pede Água, em Lins, Est. de São Saulo,” SBEDV Boletim, no. 66/68
(Jan./June 1969): 72–74; Nigel Rimes, “Another
Hospital Visited,” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1969):
4–6; Gordon Creighton, “Confrontation
at Lins,” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1969): 22–23;
Clark III 684–685; “O Fantástico
Caso Lins,” Portal Fenomenum, June 15, 2016; “O
Fantástico Caso Lins,” Oarquiva; Brazil 99–104)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4586
Date: 8/26/1968
Description: 7:50 p.m. Pearl Christiansen is unchaining the driveway to
her ranch near Gleeson, Colorado, when she notices a round, silver disc.
She watches it for 5 minutes, then a second object appears, “very shiny
and gold.” Both are hovering above 7,200-foot high Brown’s Peak. They
remain for several hours, then just after midnight they back away behind
the mountain. Mr. and Mrs. Willard Mayfield also see the objects. Daily
Citizen reporter Cecil James and photographer Dan Tortorell visit the
apparent site and find erratic burned patches of Dasylirion plants
(charred at the base but not at the top) and grass. Rocks show evidence
of high heat and are still hot to the touch two days later. (Cecil
James, “Gleeson
UFO Leaves
Traces,” Tucson (Ariz.) Daily Citizen, October 19, 1968, Olé
magazine, pp. 10, 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4587
Date: 8/27/1968
Time: early
Description: Maria Josa Cintra, who worked at the Clemente Ferreira
Sanatorium, was awakened by a noise. At the front door was a
“foreign-looking” woman of normal height, wearing light-colored clothes,
and a headdress exposing only her face. She spoke in an unknown
language, and handed Marie a mug and a glass bottle covered with
beautiful engravings. Maria filled them. The woman said something such
as “Rempaua,” and went out to a pearlshaped, bright object that took off
with the sound of wings.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 69, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Lins, Brazil
ID: 918
Date: 8/31/1968
Time: early
Description: Three witnesses, among them two Casino employees, stated
that they observed five dwarfs, with oversized heads, who emerged from a
landed craft and traced undecipherable signs on the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Le Figaro Sep. 2, 1968 (Vallee)
Location: Mendoza, Argentina
ID: 919
Date: 9/1/1968
Description: 3:42 a.m. Juan Carlos Peccinetti and Fernando José Villegas
are driving home after getting off work at a casino in Mendoza,
Argentina. On the Calle Neuquén, their car stops and the lights go out.
They find themselves unable to move and several humanoid beings standing
near an enormous landed UFO. They receive telepathic messages from the
aliens who make marks on the windshield and one side of their car and
see a screen full of dystopian images. The beings prick their fingers
and take blood samples before gong back to the UFO. However, the two
later admit to making up the story. (Charles Bowen, “One
Day in Mendoza,” Flying Saucer Review 14, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1968):
2–5; Clark III 601)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4588
Date: 9/4/1968
Description: Two US Air Force pilots flying in the vicinity of Goose Bay
AFB [now CFB Goose Bay], Labrador, spot a spherical metallic object
flying in a southerly direction at 33,000–41,000 feet. It crosses behind
them, stops, performs two 360° turns and disappears after 5 minutes at
30° above the horizon. (Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and
Abductions, Methuen, 1979, p. 115)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4590
Date: 9/4/1968
Description: 10:30 p.m. A scoutmaster and 12 River Scouts are having a
camp-out by bonfire in the mountains near Caracas, Venezuela, when they
see two intensely glowing red discs, each about the size of the full
moon, as they rise one at a time from some low hills, hover momentarily,
and descend again. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969,
p. 299)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4591
Date: 9/4/1968
Description: Hynek receives
a letter from Col. Raymond
S. Sleeper, commander of the Air Force Foreign Technology Division.
Sleeper notes that Hynek has publicly accused Project Blue Book of
shoddy science, and further asks Hynek to offer advice on how Blue Book
could improve its scientific methods. Hynek later declares that
Sleeper’s letter is “the first time in my 20 year association with the
air force as scientific consultant that I had been officially asked for
criticism and advice [regarding] … the UFO problem.” (J. Allen Hynek,
The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., pp. 189–190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4589
Date: 9/5/1968
Description: Night. Thousands of people in Madrid, Spain, see a bright
object in the sky, causing a monumental traffic jam. The Spanish Air
Force scrambles an F-104 jet to intercept it. The pilot climbs to 50,000
feet but the object is still above him, and he has to return for fuel.
Air Force radar tracks the UFO moving slowly at 90,000 feet. A photo
taken through a telescope at the Royal Observatory of Madrid shows a
triangular object, apparently solid on one side and translucent in some
sections. The object disappears at great speed. The Madrid Weather
Bureau says it has no meteorological balloons aloft. (“Triangle-Shaped
Object over Madrid,” APRO Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1968, p. 4; Good
Above, pp. 149–151)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4592
Date: 9/6/1968
Description: 9:30 p.m. John Dow and Paul Franklin are driving on
Springfield Road in Taradale, New Zealand, when they notice 20–30 red
and green lights flying aimlessly above the city dump. They pull off the
road to watch, and a “thunderous explosion” rips through the air,
shaking the car. Immediately, the lights begin to group, take off
vertically, and disappear. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr.,
Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, p. 48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4593
Date: 9/10/1968
Description: Evening. John Dow and Paul Franklin are on the Omarunui
Road southwest of Taradale, New Zealand. They see a circular object with
a red and green light that is only a few feet in diameter and glowing
white. Heading toward the source, they watch as the UFO disappears
behind a cloud. After crossing a bridge, they see the object again,
hovering on the opposite side of the river. The object glows intensely
and speeds toward the automobile from the rear. Panicking, they try to
jump out of the car, which is traveling at 35 mph, but get tangled up
and the car veers out of control. Both of them fall out the left door as
the bright UFO hovers 2 feet above the car roof. The car crashes into
the store of a fruit dealer on Gloucester Street. A crowd gathers around
the two young men, still dazed and shocked. Nearly 24 hours later the
witnesses are treated for “bruises and abrasions” at the Napier Hospital
outpatient clinic because “their clothes were sticking to them.” Dow is
charged with reckless driving, but the circumstances convince the court
to drop the charge and the insurance company pays for the damages.
(Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 48–50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4594
Date: 9/13/1968
Description: Condon calls
together Craig, Gillmor, Roach, and
Rush to
discuss what the project’s recommendations should be. He writes the
recommendation section shortly afterwards. (Roy Craig, UFOs: An
Insiders’ View of the Official Quest for Evidence, University of North
Texas, 1995, p. 213)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4595
Date: 9/15/1968
Time: 9:30 PM
Description: Witness: missionary pilot Jay Cole, flying a Beech C-45
twin-engined utility plane. One light performed aerobatics for 15
minutes and then vanished. A second light appeared, heading toward them
on a collision course, made a 90 degree turn and disappeared. Later,
ground radar told them a target was following them. Sightings lasted 15
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: near Ocala, Florida
ID: 581
Date: 9/15/1968
Description: 10:00 p.m. Farmers in the area around Carora, Lara,
Venezuela, have a difficult time controlling their cattle and horses
when a saucer-shaped object with flickering yellow lights flies over the
area at high speed and low altitude. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story,
Signet, 1969, p. 299)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4596
Date: 9/15/1968
Description: 10:00 p.m. Mathematician Miron Oprea is driving with his
wife and two nephews northwest of Ploieşti, Romania, when they see a
cylindrical object emitting a bluish light and descending slowly to the
west near the Vega oil refinery. (Hobana and Wverbergh 183–184)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4597
Date: 9/16/1968
Description: A car-racing contest at Barquisimeto, Lara, Venezuela, is
disrupted when a low-flying disc flies above the grandstands. A
photographer gets a snapshot that shows a sausage-shaped object about
12–15 feet above the heads of the crowd on the uppermost tier of
bleachers. (Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole Story, Signet, 1969, p. 299)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4598
Date: 9/17/1968
Description: 1:00 a.m. Two air control tower operators at Nellis Air
Force Base, Nevada, watch a bright light moving in a way they cannot
explain. (J. Allen Hynek. The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, p. 44;
Sparks,
p. 329)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4599
Date: 9/18/1968
Description: Farmer Marius
Magnan sees three dull metallic, gray, football-shaped UFOs at an
altitude of 2,500 feet and 2 miles away at Ste. Anne, Manitoba. They are
traveling northwest to southeast in a vertical orientation at tremendous
speed. The UFOs are discharging white substance from the upper surface
just like popcorn. The white substance streams upward from two of the
objects and downward from the third. After they disappear, a white,
fibrous substance falls and settles on foliage, buildings, and power
lines. The University of Manitoba analyzes a sample and finds it to be
“cellulose-like and unstable,” with a uniform fiber diameter of 5
microns, and probably rayon coated with a gummy substance. (Brian
Boldman, “Angel Hair Physical Analyses: A Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006):
104–105)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4600
Date: 9/18/1968
Description: 4:15 a.m. Patrolman Arthur H. Byrd sees an object flashing
red, blue, and yellow lights on Hunter Road in San Marcos, Texas,
approaching at great speed. He follows it along Interstate 35 toward
Luling and San Antonio, and at Redwood Road it comes to a stop. It
slowly fades away by 7:15 a.m. (“UFO
Said Followed for Hours,”
Austin (Tex.) American, September 19, 1968, p. 68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4601
Date: 9/19/1968
Description: 3:15 p.m.–7:15 p.m. A lighted white object is seen by many
witnesses over Cluj-Napoca and other towns in northwestern Romania. Some
of the sightings are attributable to a balloon, but others seem to be
moving against the wind and internally lit. (Hobana and Weverbergh
139–149; Romania 27–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4602
Date: late 9/1968
Alternate date: late 9/1969
Description: Night. A teenager is putting hay in a rabbit pen at his
home in the East Linden neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. He hears a
clapping noise and sees an entity dressed in a black uniform with a
silver belt walking in the woods nearby. Its head has an eerie yellow
glow. Scared, he runs into the house to get his parents, but the entity
is gone when they go out to look for it. The next morning a neighbor
stops by to ask if they had seen any lights in a field the night before.
The families go to the field and find a large oval place where the
grass, weeds, and bushes have been pressed down. (Irena Scott,
“Observation of an Alien Figure,” IUR 12, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1987): 20,
25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4603
Date: 9/26/1968
End date: 9/27/1968
Description: 6:00 a.m. Industrial chemist Henrique Schneider Jr. gets up
and checks the fire in the kiln next to his house in Vila Baumer in the
northern part of Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil. He comes across a
strange object in the pottery yard about 16 feet away. It is a
cone-shaped device about 13 feet high sitting on a tripod under which a
bluish light illuminates the ground, and it has a rectangular opening
through which comes a treadmill. On the treadmill are two squared
cylinders standing on end, both motionless. Schneider feels paralyzed
and begins to converse telepathically with the nearest cylinder, which
answers his questions clearly and briefly about where they come from,
which is another star system, and they are investigating global warming
on earth. Soon the treadmill goes back up into the object, the entrance
closes, and it takes off with a hissing sound. The next day, Schneider
finds a burned circle of grass just over 2 feet in diameter at the
landing site. Inside this is a smaller circle of compressed grass and
three holes where the tripod stood. (Carlos Varassin, “O
Estranho Caso da Vila Baumer,”
SBEDV Boletim, no. 94/98 (September 1973/June 1974): 41–44; “Contato
Imediato em Joinville,” Portal Fenomenum, June 15, 2016; Brazil
141–145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4604
Date: 9/29/1968
Description: Night. Amateur astronomer Hermanus
Voorsluys and ex-police officer Reginald
Neal take several photographs of a UFO that they have seen for
several nights above Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt at the southern tip
of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. One photo shows a large object
surrounded by four smaller luminous objects that have emerged from it,
as well as a fifth object that has just appeared. After a zig-zagging
descent, the smaller objects return to the level of the parent object
and disappear. (“Mystery
over Naval Base,” Canadian UFO Report 1, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1969):
4–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4605
Date: 9/30/1968
Description: Philip
J. Klass writes a letter to Robert
A. Frosch, wanting
to know who has financed James
E. McDonald’s
visits to Australia to investigate UFOs and who would fund his upcoming
trip to Europe and the USSR. In late 1967, McDonald had secured a modest
grant from the Office of Naval Research in order to study cloud
formations in Australia. While there, McDonald conducts some UFO
research on his own time. Klass mounts an extended, concerted campaign
against McDonald, arguing that he has squandered government funds. The
ONR responds by announcing that they had known of McDonald’s UFO
interests and have no objections to his personal hobbies. The University
of Arizona comes to McDonald’s defense, announcing that his UFO research
was done on his own time, and has no adverse impact on his regular
teaching and research duties at the university. (Clark III 700)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4606
Date: 10/1968
Description: Brazil’s System of Investigation of Unidentified Aircraft,
created by the Fourth Air Zone Command of the Brazilian Air Force and
sponsored by Brig. Gen. José Vaz da Silva and coordinated by Maj.
Gilberto Zani de Mello, goes into operation to investigate UFO
sightings, especially physical trace cases. The operation lasts until
the end of 1972. (Wikipedia, “SIOANI”;
Clark III 1072–1073)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4608
Date: 10/1968 (approximate)
Description: A 7-page National Security Agency thought piece on UFOs is
written by an unnamed NSA analyst around this time. It is declassified
in 1984 with a disclaimer saying that it does not represent NSA policy.
It discusses various hypotheses for UFOs (hoaxes, hallucinations,
natural phenomena, secret earth projects, and extraterrestrial
intelligence) and speculates what each answer would mean for the human
species, placing credence in the ETH. ([US National Security Agency],
“U.F.O.
Hypothesis and Survival Questions,” [October 1968]; Good Above, pp. 423–424)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4607
Date: 10/2/1968
Description: 6:20 a.m. While oiling his tractor’s engine at the end of
Avenida da Saudade in Lins, São Paulo, Brazil, Turíbio Pereira sees only
a few feet away a golden cigar-shaped object hovering one foot above the
ground. It is about 16 feet long and 10 feet wide. There is a platform
around it and on the top a transparent dome is open. Inside there are
four stools and an instrument panel. Pereira sees four beings around it
wearing blue tunics and red skirts. One is on the platform with a weapon
in its hand, another is picking up earth samples, the third is looking
at his tractor’s engine, and the fourth is inside the object at the
instrument panel. The being with the weapon fires it and a luminous ball
hits Pereira in the stomach, paralyzing him. The entities go inside, and
a transparent dome encloses them. The object ascends and shoots off at
high speed. With difficulty, Pereira climbs off the tractor and stumbles
to the road where a friend takes him home. Later he is given a medical
examination by Antônio Geris and summoned to a Brazilian Air Force
facility where he is questioned and held for three days. (Gordon
Creighton, “Confrontation
at Lins,” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1969): 22–23;
Patrick Gross, URECAT, December
22, 2006; Brazil 105–107)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4609
Date: 10/5/1968
Description: 7:52 p.m. John D. Hickey and his family are driving near
West Morehead Street in Charlotte, North Carolina. While stopped at a
traffic light, he sees a black object like a short cigar moving on his
left, but it stops and hovers above a low building about 500 feet away.
Suddenly three large gray-white lights shaped like television picture
tubes turn on, each about 22 inches in diameter. A small black arm-like
device moves slowly out of one end, extends a few feet, then stops. A
blue light is at one end. The three large lights begin to blink slowly,
then rapidly for 25 seconds. The blue light goes out, the arm retracts,
the large lights blink more slowly until they stop. The lights go out
and the object moves to the east. (“Nocturnal
Light Becomes CE-I in Charlotte, NC,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1984): 1, 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4610
Date: 10/7/1968
Description: Hynek responds
to Col. Sleeper’s
request with an extended commentary prefaced by a succinct, eight-point
critique of everything Project Blue Book has done wrong: the project
suffers from (1) inadequate execution, (2) inadequate staff, (3) lack of
open consultation with scientists outside the Air Force, (4) laughable
statistical methods, (5) too much time spent on routine cases and not
exceptional cases, (6) inadequate data provided by local Air Force base
investigators, (7) biased evaluations, and (8) inadequate use of the
project’s own scientific consultant. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO
Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 202–206,
283–305;
Clark III 925)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4611
Date: 10/9/1968
Time: 0620
Description: Doribio Pereira, 41, municipal employee, suddenly observed
a golden, cigar-shaped object, and a figure armed with a flashing weapon
that immobilized him. Three beings were standing on a platform under the
craft, and another figure appeared to be using a keyboard inside the
transparent top part. The object took off rapidly, leaving the witness
in a state of shock.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 69, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Lins, Brazil
ID: 920
Date: 10/18/1968
Description: 5:00 p.m. Hundreds of witnesses view a conical object that
appears above Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, traveling from northwest
to southeast. The UFO at first appears bright blue then changes first to
a whitish-blue then to red. When it reaches a point just south of
Sarajevo and northeast of the city of Mostar, the object turns to the
east. It remains in view from 90 minutes to two hours. Members of the
Akademski Astronomsko-Astronautiki Klub take photos of the object and,
six months later, issue a report on their investigation of the incident.
It estimates that the UFO was flying at an altitude of 16 miles and a
speed of 20 mph, probably guided by air currents and not self-propelled,
and most likely was a military reconnaissance balloon. (Hobana and
Weverbergh 84–90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4612
Date: 10/24/1968
Description: 6:47 p.m. The Romanian oil tanker Argeş is steaming through
the Mozambique Channel when Third Officer Ştefan Anton and Commander
Nicolae Ştefanescu see a bright orange-yellow disc half the diameter of
the Moon moving swiftly and emitting blue-green rays from its center. At
one point it stops abruptly for a moment andchanges course to the east.
By sextant they estimate it is 15.5 miles away and 56 feet in diameter.
(Hobana and Weverbergh 250–251)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4614
Date: 10/24/1968
Description: 2:15–5:18 a.m. Sixteen military personnel stationed
throughout the Minuteman ICBM missile complex at Minot AFB, North
Dakota, report a very large, brightly illuminated aerial object,
alternating colors from brilliant white to orange-red and green, with
the ability to hover, accelerate rapidly, and abruptly change direction.
Ground radar tracks an unidentified target correlated with a visual
orange glow and radios it (saying, “Someone is seeing flying saucers
again”) to the attention of the USAF crew of a B-52H Stratofortress
bomber at 2,000 feet as a UFO target 24 miles to the northwest. It
shifts to 15 miles at 3:35 a.m. RAPCON alerts the pilots (instructor
pilot Maj. Bradford
Runyon and copilot Maj. James
Partin) to the location of the UFO near Bowbells, North Dakota,
which the B-52 navigator Capt. Patrick
D. McCaslin observes on the radarscope maintaining a three-mile
distance throughout a standard 180° turnaround. Radar navigator Maj.
Charles Richey captures the tracking on film. As the B-52 starts its
descent back to Minot AFB, the UFO appears to close distance to one mile
at a high rate of speed, pacing the aircraft for nearly 20 miles before
disappearing off the radarscope. Both B-52 UHF radios cannot transmit
during the close radar encounter with the UFO and when the radarscope
film is recorded. Shortly afterwards, RAPCON provides vectors for the
B-52 to overfly a stationary UFO on or near the ground. After turning
onto the downwind leg of the traffic pattern, the pilots observe a
large, illuminated UFO ahead of the aircraft for several minutes, before
turning onto the base leg over the UFO while observing it at close
range. After the B-52 lands, both outer and inner-zone intrusion alarms
are activated at the remote missile Launch Facility Oscar-7. The
duration of the reported observations is over three hours. Other
witnesses include Capt. Thomas Goduto, S/Sgt
James
F. Bond, S/Sgt
William
E. Smith, A1C
Robert
O’Connor, A1C
Joseph
P. Jablonski, and
A1C Gregory Adams. The chief of the 862nd Combat Support Group, Lt. Col.
Arthur
J. Werlich, is designated as Blue Book liaison and he calls the
report in at 4:30 p.m. after SAC investigations, an analysis of the
radarscope film, and the B-52 crew debriefing. Werlich provides Blue
Book with selected data through October 31. On November 13, Blue Book
chief Lt. Col. Hector
Quintanilla completes his evaluation and forwards the final report
to SAC headquarters. It is a single-page letter providing several
possible explanations for the various reports, along with 11 pages of
attachments cobbled together in support. He attributes the B-52 radar
contact and loss of UHF transmission to “a plasma similar to ball
lightning.” (NICAP, “Minot
Tracks Object, B-52 Sees and Tracks UFO”;
Sparks, p. 330;
Clark III 748–763; Thomas Tulien, “A
Narrative of Events at Minot Air Force Base,” Sign Oral History
Project; Hynek UFO Report, pp. 137–139;
Martin Shough, “Minot
Air Force Base, Oct 24 1968,” 2006; Nukes 319–323; Thomas E.
Bullard, “Defending UFOs,” IUR 34, no. 2 (Mar. 2012): 32–33; “The Minot
AFB B-52 UFO Incident,” Above Top Secret forum, February 24, 2010; “New
Witness to UFO Incursion at Nuke Missile
Complex,” The UFO Chronicles, October 17, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4613
Date: 10/31/1968
Description: The Colorado project delivers its report, Scientific Study
of Unidentified Flying Objects, to the Air Force. The first two
sections, conclusions and recommendations, are written by Condon himself.
He concludes that “further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be
justified in the expectation that science will be advanced thereby.” It
is a clear signal to shut down Project Blue Book. Yet 30% of its cases
are unexplained. Condon says a UFO cover-up is unthinkable because no
one could keep such a secret for so long. He refutes the claim that the
CIA has installed an agent within the project. He disapproves of UFO
“amateurists,” especially NICAP. The project ignored old cases because
they only offered witness testimony, are probably misidentifications,
and it makes little sense to reinterview witnesses. But this means
ignoring the most compelling cases of the past 20+ years. Condon rejects
the ETH because it is so unlikely that aliens can get here from there.
This attitude suggests that Condon’s approach is fundamentally
antiempirical. The report also includes summaries of field studies,
photographic evidence, direct and indirect physical evidence, optical
and radar cases, and astronaut sightings. In the field studies section,
Roy
Craig concedes that some of the older cases suggest something
extraordinary (Great Falls, RB-47). William
K. Hartmann divides photo cases into fabrications,
misidentifications, poor image quality, and clear images that lack
sufficient data. Great Falls and McMinnville are the only two that he
considers unusual. Gordon
Thayer discusses the predominance of anomalous propagation in radar
cases. In finding natural explanations, Thayer often disregards witness
testimony. The rest of the report is mostly padding. (Wikipedia, “Condon
Committee”; Michael D. Swords, “The University of Colorado UFO
Project: The ‘Scientific Study of UFOs,’” JUFOS 6 (1995/96): 149–184;
Swords 329–332)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4615
Date: 10/31/1968
Description: Colorado UFO Project final report submitted to secretary of
the Air Force for review by the National Academy of Sciences.
Type: official
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 167
Date: 11/1968
Description: Two children are playing in the garden of their father’s
hotel in Southampton, England, when they notice a “speck” come out of
the clouds. It grows in size and comes closer, moving above the hotel
roof. The shape is a large flattened disc with black square windows on
the side. It moves to a point about 10 feet directly above them and
hovers for 30 seconds, then it speeds up and disappears behind some
trees. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 6 (June 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4616
Date: 11/2/1968
Description: 3:55 a.m. A partially paralyzed Algerian veteran, Dr. X,
has suffered an injury to his leg while chopping at a stump on his
property in a village in the south of France on October 29. He is lying
in bed when he is awakened by his crying 14-month-old son. He sees two
luminous objects outside his house. They are coming close together and
merging about 590 feet away. A vertical beam of light is aimed at him
for a second as the object tilts, and then the display vanishes with a
sort of explosion, leaving behind a slowly dissolving cloud. Shortly
afterwards, the man’s leg heals and his war wound is better. He also
experiences nightmares, stomach pains, and a red pigmentation appears
around his navel, forming a triangle. He goes to a dermatologist but
does not mention the UFO; the doctor is stumped. The man’s son also
develops a red triangle. In November 1984, a French radio reporter
records the gradual reappearance of the triangle on X’s abdomen. (Aimé
Michel, “The Strange
Case of Dr. X,” in Charles Bowen, ed., UFO Percipients, special
issue no. 3 of FSR, September 1969, pp. 3–16; Aimé Michel, “The
Strange Case of Dr. ‘X,’ Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review 17, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1971): 3– 9; Clark III 410–413)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4617
Date: 11/2/1968
Time: 0355
Description: During a thunderstorm, a medical doctor was awakened by his
crying 14-month-old son. He saw two luminous objects outside his house,
and observed them coming close together and merging about 180 m away. A
vertical beam of light was aimed at him for a second as the object
tilted, and then the display vanished with a flash, leaving a slowly
dissolving cloud. Persistent nightmares and various physiological
phenomena were later recorded.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: 1 (Vallee)
Location: France
ID: 921
Date: 11/6/1968
Description: Two teenage boys see a disc-shaped UFO about 200 feet in
diameter discharging angel hair over the Spring Branch West area of
Houston, Texas. C.
E. “Gene” Senter investigates and recovers a twig with angel hair
that he puts in a plastic bag and freezes. A chemist analyzes the
substance in a petroleum-industry lab but finds out little other than it
is sticky and fibrous. (Brian Boldman, “Angel Hair Physical Analyses: A
Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006): 105)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4618
Date: 11/15/1968
Description: The Air Force sends the Colorado report to the National
Academy of Sciences for review by an 11- member panel, chaired by Yale
University astronomer Gerald
Maurice Clemence and charged with an independent assessment of its
scope, methodology, and findings. (Clark III 1197–1198)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4619
Date: 11/20/1968
Description: 5:45 p.m. Milan and Doris Milakovic and their son are
driving southwest out of Hanbury, Staffordshire, England, when several
rabbits run across the road from their left. Suddenly they see a
brilliant object. They stop the car and watch as it rises from a field
on their left, silently pass over the car, and move toward a solitary
house about 300 feet away on the right where it stops and hovers,
“quivering like jelly.” The air temperature seems to drop. For
approximately 5 minutes, they see what appear to be several humanoid
figures walking across the bright top of the UFO, which is as wide as
the house. Intermittently, some of the figures bend down as though
looking at something in the part of the object below the rim. Then the
UFO begins moving up in a pulsating or jerky movement. The intensity of
its light increases and Milakovic feels like his eyes are burning.
Thoroughly frightened, Milakovic pushes his wife and son back into the
car and speeds away from the scene. (W. Daniels and N. M. H. Turner, “The
Milakovic Report,” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1969):
2–3, 24; Patrick Gross, “UFO
with Humanoid Occupants, Hanbury, England, November 20, 1968”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4620
Date: 11/20/1968
Time: 1730
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Milakovic were driving to Hednesford when they
suddenly saw a brilliant object rising from a held to the left and
hovering above a house. It appeared to “quiver like a jelly.” Several
figures were seen on the deck of the craft for about five min, then it
left with a jerky motion.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: FSR 69, 1 (Vallee)
Location: Hanbury, Great Britain
ID: 922
Date: 11/22/1968
Description: Oval object beamed light down on car, electrical system
failed. After it departed rapidly straight up, electrical system resumed
functioning
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Albany, GA
ID: 170
Date: 11/22/1968
Description: Domed disc descended, flew over shrimp boat. Hovered
briefly, shone light down on boat, then took off straight up out of
sight
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Biloxi, MS
ID: 169
Date: 11/22/1968
End date: 11/27/1968
Description: Flurry of sightings primarily in the southeastern and
northwestern United States.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 168
Date: 11/22/1968
Time: 2100
Description: A dozen witnesses saw a lens-shaped object surrounded with
a blue glow, making a noise similar to that of a jet and emitting
flashes, which landed in a field briefly. It suddenly took off and was
lost to sight at the horizon.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: France-Soir Nov. 24, 1968 (Vallee)
Location: Fleury-d’Aude, France
ID: 923
Date: 11/23/1968
Description: 8:05 p.m. An accountant named Jones is driving his 1967
Ford Custom along the road between Newton and Albany, Georgia. When he
rounds a bend he sees a brilliant yellowish-white light about 200 feet
ahead of him and 50–75 feet above the road. As he approaches, the car
radio fades into static. Then the object emits a beam of well-defined
light about 5–6 feet across that illuminates the trees and causes his
engine and radio to cut out as it passes over his car. The object
changes color to orange-red and ascends at a high rate of speed,
disappearing in less than 15 seconds. The car engine starts
spontaneously afterward. (Hynek UFO Report, pp. 189–191)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4621
Date: 11/23/1968
Time: 8:05 PM
Description: Witness: Mr. Jones, accountant. One oblong light, 120-150’
wide. Hovering 75’ above the ground, it emitted a beam that lit the
ground. Radio gave off static, then car engine stopped. Light flew away
vertically and car engine restarted itself. Sighting lasted 3-4
minutes.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Newton, Georgia
ID: 582
Date: 11/25/1968
Description: 6:00 p.m. Elaine Pelchy is driving with her 2-year-old son
and dog on Highway 174 south of Marcellus, New York, when they see an
object with five red, blinking lights about 100 feet in front of her car
and heading southeast. The radio gets a lot of static and the English
setter begins to get nervous, clawing at the window and putting its head
over its eyes and ears. The boy starts crying, then the car engine
begins to sputter. The object executes a U-turn and moves to the
northwest as the lights change to blinking blue and white. Suddenly, the
UFO stops and changes to a white, dome-shaped object with a “fluorescent
star” next to it. The larger object merges into the star and disappears.
Pelchy drops her son off at her mother-in-law’s, then returns on the
same route. The dog starts to whine again as a light the size of a
basketball fluctuates in intensity and zigzags across the sky. She goes
home but returns to the scene with a neighbor and the light is still
visible and maneuvering. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, pp. 40–41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4622
Date: 11/26/1968
Description: 5:40 p.m. Three control tower operators (Jack Wilhelm, Jack
Reeves, and John Fischer) at Bismarck (North Dakota) Airport observe two
swiftly moving round objects traveling in opposite directions. They
reverse course and approach each other, hover together, then instantly
zoom off to the northeast. Air Force radar at Great Falls, Montana,
picks up “foreign objects” at the same time 85 miles northeast of
Bismarck. The objects are also seen by Robert Watts, who is flying a
Cessna 150. (NICAP, “Air
Force Radar Tracks Objects”; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience,
Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 43–44, 51–52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4623
Date: 11/26/1968
Description: Four bright, oval objects paced aircraft. Pilot turned
plane toward them, objects formed vertical stack, shot up and out of
sight
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Lake Cyprus, FL
ID: 172
Date: 11/26/1968
Description: Pilots saw two luminous objects join up, hover about 10
seconds, then speed out of sight in seconds. Confirmed by Air Force
radar
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Bismarck, ND
ID: 171
Date: 11/27/1968
Description: Round object with body lights hovered, shone red light beam
to ground. When officer shone flashlight at object, it immediately
blacked out
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Belcourt, ND
ID: 173
Date: 11/27/1968
Description: A 41-page paper by George Kocher of the RAND Corporation,
“UFOs: What to Do?” is produced as an internal document. It notes the
likelihood of intelligent life in the universe, speculates UFOs may well
have been around for a long time, looks at some compelling reports, and
assesses the difficulty of estimating the number of sightings worldwide
“because of the lack of suitable data collection means.” (George Kocher,
“UFOs:
What to Do?”
RAND Corporation, November 27, 1968)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4624
Date: 12/1968
Description: The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
announces that it has formed a UFO Subcommittee to study the UFO
phenomenon objectively. Joachim
P. Kuettner of ESSA Research Laboratories is the chairman; other
members include Jerald
M. Bidwell of Martin Marietta, Glenn A. Cato of TRW Systems Group,
Bernard N. Charles of Aerospace Corporation, Murray Dryer of ESSA
Research Laboratories, Howard D. Edwards of Georgia Institute of
Technology, Paul
MacCready of Meteorology Research, Andrew J. Masley of Douglas
Missile and Space Systems Division, Robert Rados of NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center, and Donald M. Swingle of the US Army Electronic Command.
It announces in Astronautics and Aeronautics that the UFO issue “cannot
be resolved without further study in a quantitative scientific manner
and that it deserves the attention of the engineering and scientific
community.” (“AIAA
Committee Looks at UFO Problem,” Astronautics and Aeronautics,
December 1968, p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4626
Date: 12/1968
Description: David
R. Saunders (along with journalist R. Roger Harkins) explains his
version of the Colorado project in UFOs? Yes! (David R. Saunders and R.
Roger Harkins, UFOs? Yes! Where the Condon Committee Went Wrong, Signet,
1968)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4625
Date: 12/8/1968
Description: Top-shaped object paced car, sped away
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Grey, South Australia
ID: 174
Date: late 12/1968
Description: 11:30 a.m. Traumatologist Sebastian José Tarda is on
vacation in Patagonia and leading a group of secondary school students
on a motorboat field trip on Nahuel Huapi Lake, Argentina. Tarda is
taking photos of the lake shore near Puerto Blest, but does not notice
anything unusual. When one slide is developed, it shows a blurry white
object against a mountainous background. An analysis by the Argentine
UFO group Circulo de Investigación Cientifico Espacial states that the
image is not caused by a lens flare, damaged emulsion, or a known
object. Another analysis suggests that the object moved while the
shutter was depressed. Ground Saucer Watch considers it a lens flare.
(“UFO
Appears in Photo over Nahuel Huapi Lake, Argentina,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 3, no. 1 (February 1982): 1–2; “Dr. Tarda
1968 Photograph Judged Lens Flare by GSW,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 3, no. 2 (April 1982): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4628
Date: 12/26/1968
Description: The Spanish Air Ministry’s press office issues a release
inviting citizens to report UFO cases to the air force. A few days
later, Second Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mariano
Cuadra Medina issues the first regulations in Spain on how to handle
UFO reports. The information is rated confidential. (Swords 423)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4627
Date: 1969
Description: Gérard Lebat founds Groupe d’Études des Objets Spatiaux,
which publishes GEOS International from July 1969 to July 1970, then Les
Extraterrestres from November 1970 to October 1979, then Hypothèses
Extraterrestres from January 1980 to July 1981, in Rebais,
Seine-et-Marne, France. (GEOS
International, no. 1 (July 1969)); Les Extraterrestres, no.
9 (Nov./Dec. 1970); Hypothèses
Extraterrestres, no.
13 (January 1980))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4630
Date: 1969
Description: Contactee Ted
Owens writes How to Contact Space People. Owens, who calls himself
the “PK Man,” attributes his psychic and precognitive abilities to UFO
occupants who operated on his brain when he was a child, a modification
that made him half-human, half-alien. He claims to be in two-way contact
with saucer intelligences. (Ted Owens, How to Contact the Space People,
Saucerian, 1969; Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, pp. 235–236)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4632
Date: 1969?
Description: A retired Colonel from Wright-Patterson AFB with Top Secret
Clearance states that a 2-man saucer crashed near Whitewater Lake,
Indiana as a result of an electrical disturbance in the
atmosphere.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research (A5, B3-C, WHITEWATER RECOVERY)
Location: Whitewater Lake, Indiana
See also: 1968
Date: 1969
Description: Night. During its extended deployment to Vietnam with the
7th Fleet, the destroyer USS
Leary is
navigating fishing waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. Ensign Will
Miller is alerted by the lookout about a possible light from a
fishing boat in the water ahead. But the light suddenly moves from above
the water to below the surface and heads rapidly toward the ship at 45°
to the bow, passing below the vessel. The sailors run to the starboard
side to see whether it will emerge, but it does not. Nothing is tracked
on radar or sonar or by the ECM system. (Good Need, pp. 284–285)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4634
Date: 1969
Description: Spanish ufologist Antonio
Ribera receives his first Ummo communication, a letter postmarked
from Paris, Franca. An Ummo cult has begun to form, and books—both
journalistic accounts and anthologies of Ummo writings—find an avid
readership. (Clark III 1185)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4633
Date: 1969
Description: The CIA’s Operation Often is initiated by the chief of the
CIA’s Technical Services Branch, Sidney
Gottlieb, to
“explore the world of black magic” and “harness the forces of darkness
and challenge the concept that the inner reaches of the mind are beyond
reach.” As part of the operation, Gottlieb and other CIA employees visit
with and recruit fortune-tellers, palm-readers, clairvoyants,
astrologers, mediums, psychics, specialists in demonology, witches and
warlocks, Satanists, and other occult practitioners. (Wikipedia, “Project
MKOFTEN”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4629
Date: 1969
Description: In Passport to Magonia, Jacques
Vallée proposes a radically revisionist argument that UFOs are
better understood when related to folk traditions about supernatural
creatures (elementals, fairies, angels, demons) than to astronomers’
speculations about life in outer space. He says science cannot
adequately deal with such matters, although he does not specifically
disavow the scientific method. It is the first book to question the ETH
and the first to lay the groundwork for the psychosocial hypothesis,
which sees UFOs as largely the product of unusual mental states and
perpetuated by social acceptance. He argues that ostensible otherworldly
manifestations are fantastic images propelled via psychic technology
from humanity’s future to generate myths and religions that will change
fate. In time the book leads to a new school of ufology whose advocates
hold that UFOs and other anomalous experiences are internally generated
and shaped entirely by cultural processes as opposed to nonhuman
intelligences. Jerry
Clark writes that the “genius of Passport, a genuinely brilliant
work, is its success in placing UFOs into not only cultural but
experiential context.” (Jacques Vallée, Passport
to Magonia, Regnery, 1969; Clark III 939–940, 1214)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4631
Date: 1/1969
Description: John Magor begins publishing the quarterly Canadian UFO
Report in Duncan, British Columbia. It persists through the summer issue
of 1979. (Canadian
UFO Report 1, no. 1 (January 1969))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4635
Date: 1/6/1969
Description: 7:15 p.m. Future president Jimmy
Carter is preparing to give a speech at a Lions Club meeting at
Leary, Georgia. One of the guests calls his attention to a strange
object visible about 30° above the horizon to the west of where he is
standing. Carter describes the object as being bright white and about as
bright as the moon. It appears to have closed in on where he is standing
but stops beyond a stand of pine trees some distance from him. The
object changes color, first to blue, then to red, then back to white,
before appearing to recede into the distance. Carter feels that the
object is self-illuminated and not solid in nature. Carter’s report
indicates that it is witnessed by about 10–12 other people and is in
view for 10–12 minutes before it passes out of sight. Skeptic Robert Sheaffer concludes
that the object is a misidentification of Venus. Ufologist Allan
Hendry does calculations and agrees with the assessment of the
object as Venus. A member of the Carter family thinks it might have been
a barium cloud produced by rockets launched from Eglin AFB near
Valparaiso, Florida. (Wikipedia, “Jimmy
Carter UFO
incident”; Clark III 225; Good Above, pp. 368, 516–517;
Robert Sheaffer, “President
Jimmy Carter’s Sighting
of a UFO”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4636
Date: 1/8/1969
Description: National Academy of Sciences letter by Dr. Frederick Seitz,
president, to secretary of the Air Force, stating that the NAS review
panel “unanimously approved” the Colorado University (Condon Committee)
report.
Type: official
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 175
Date: 1/8/1969
Description: Science reporter Walter
Sullivan writes that the soon-to-be-released Colorado project report
will debunk the extraterrestrial hypothesis and dismiss “demands of some
scientists and laymen for a large-scale effort to determine the nature
of such ‘flying saucers.’ Such a project, the report says in effect,
would be a waste of time and money.” Sullivan dismisses the project’s
critics as “UFO enthusiasts.” (Walter Sullivan, “U.F.O.
Finding: No Visits
from Afar,” New York Times, January 8, 1969, pp. 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4638
Date: 1/8/1969
Description: The National Academy of Sciences releases its review of the
Colorado project report, giving its enthusiastic approval. In a letter
to Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Alexander
H. Flax, Frederick
Seitz expresses the hope that the review would “be helpful to you
and other responsible officials in determining the nature and scope of
any research effort in this area.” (National Academy of Sciences, “Review
of the University of Colorado Report on
Unidentified Flying Objects by a Panel of the National Academy of
Sciences,” January 8, 1969; Story, pp.
244–245)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4637
Date: 1/9/1969
Description: University of Colorado “Condon Report” publicly
released.
Type: official
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 176
Date: 1/9/1969
Description: The Colorado project report is released to the public in a
965-page Bantam Books edition. (Edward U. Condon, scientific director,
Scientific
Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, Bantam, 1969; [HTML
version])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4639
Date: 1/11/1969
Description: Press conference at National Press Club. Donald Keyhoe,
NICAP director, Richard Hall, N1CAP assistant director, Dr. James E.
McDonald, and Dr. David R. Saunders disputing conclusions of the Condon
Report.
Type: official
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Washington US
ID: 177
Date: 1/11/1969
Description: Keyhoe, Saunders, and
McDonald hold
a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to
criticize the Condon report. (Jacobs, UFO Controversy in America, Signet
ed., 1976, pp. 216–217)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4640
Date: 1/17/1969
Time: 3:24 AM
Description: Witness: Mr. Roman Lupton, test facility mechanic. Several
amber lights–one of them blinking–in an elliptical formation, flew
forward slowly while moving up and down, then turned and disappeared
after 2 minutes. Made a humming sound.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: BlueBook
Unknowns PDF
Location: Crittenden, Virginia
ID: 583
Date: 1/20/1969
End date: 8/9/1974
Description: President Richard Nixon in office
Type: historical event
Reference: (Wikipedia)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon)
Date: 1/21/1969
Description: The Lucens reactor in Vaud, Switzerland, suffers a
loss-of-control accident that leads to a partial core meltdown and
massive radioactive contamination of its cavern, which is sealed.
(Wikipedia, “Lucens
reactor”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4641
Date: 1/22/1969
Description: Elements of the Ninth Marine Division go more than a mile
into Laos to protect the flanks of a major combat operation. The New
York Times reveals the operation on February 12. Though American combat
involvement in Laos is not officially acknowledged until 1969, the US is
known to have organized, trained, and equipped a clandestine army of
Laotian irregulars since the early 1950s, under the direction of the
CIA. (Seymour M. Hersh, “Secret
1969 Foray into Laos Reported,” New York Times, August 12, 1973,
p. 1, 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4642
Date: 1/25/1969
Description: 12:30 a.m. A young couple is driving near Plattville,
Illinois. The woman sees a bright object like an ice- cream cone low in
the sky ahead, traveling big end first. They get within a quarter mile
and the object turns point up and only 30 feet off the ground. Security
lights on a nearby farmhouse go off. The object spins and flashes, and
the car engine and lights go off. The front end of the car lifts 3 feet
off the ground. The UFO moves away and the car drops and regains its
power. (Michael D. Swords, “Messing Around with the Force,” IUR 31, no.
4 (March 2008): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4643
Date: 1/31/1969
Description: After a series of UFO sightings and radar trackings
beginning in October 1968, the US Air Force and Army set up another UFO
observation network in the West Central Highlands near Pleiku, Vietnam,
using pulse acquisition radar, continual wave acquisition radar, and
illumination radar. The system picks up 365 unidentified tracks through
April. (Clark III 1052–1054)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4644
Date: 2/1969
Description: 2d Lt. Carmon L. Morano replaces Lt. Col. Hector
Quintanilla as head of the moribund Project Blue Book. (Sparks, p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4645
Date: 2/1/1969
Description: Roscoe Drummond, syndicated columnist, in Christian Science
Monitor (response to University of Colorado report): “I find it hard to
escape the conclusion that there are too many unexplained and presently
unexplainable unidentified flying objects from too many credible and
responsible witnesses to banish the subject from public concern.”
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 178
Date: 2/7/1969
Description: 7:30 a.m. Tiago Machado, 19, wakes up at his home in
Pirassununga, São Paulo, Brazil, and hears a neighbor shouting about a
silvery-blue object landed on a hill on the grounds of the Zootecníca.
He watches it for a time, then goes in to get binoculars. He goes off to
the hill and approaches the object until he is about 33 feet away. It is
a disc made of silvery metal with a dome on top. It is about 13 feet in
diameter and stands on three legs. A door opens and two men come
floating down to the ground. Machado can see two other beings inside.
The men walk toward him, making signs. They are wearing silver diver’s
suits, have black teeth and thin-lipped mouths, and one eye is lower
than the other. Each has a kind of burn or cicatrice on each cheek.
Machado is nervous, so he lights a cigarette. The beings apparently
think this is funny, so he tosses the cigarette pack toward them. One of
them leans sideways and stretches out his hand. The pack floats 8 inches
up to his hand and disappears. Suddenly one of Machado’s friends calls
out to him, and the beings walk back to the UFO, still facing him, and
jump up to the door. The last one in pauses and pulls out a kind of
weapon, points it at Machado, and a flame like a welding arc comes out
of the barrel and floats toward him, hitting him in the thigh. He feels
faint and paralyzed as the UFO takes off. His friends carry him to a
neighbor’s house and find a red swelling on his leg. Later,
investigators find three imprints in an equilateral triangle at the
site, each about 5 inches in diameter. Soil samples taken show no
radioactivity. (Nigel Rimes, “The
Pirassununga Landing,” in Charles Bowen, ed., UFO Percipients,
special issue no. 3 of FSR, September 1969, pp. 39–45; Brazil 109–114;
“Caso
Tiago Machado,” Portal Fenomenum, June 15, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4646
Date: 2/12/1969
Description: McDonald presents
“A Dissenting View of the Condon Report” to the DuPont Chapter of the
Scientific Research Society of America in Wilmington, Delaware. (James
E. McDonald, “A Dissenting View of the Condon Report,” February 12,
1969; Patrick Gross, “Scientists
Take Position”; Story, p. 415)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4647
Date: 2/13/1969
Description: McDonald speaks
on “UFOs: A Challenge to Observation” at the American Meteorological
Society in Washington, D.C. (James E. McDonald, “UFOs:
A Challenge to Observation,” February 13, 1969; Story, p. 415)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4648
Date: 2/18/1969
Description: Morning. Barbara Smyth, a teacher in a small town in
Alberta, is driving to school when she sees on her right a “gigantic,
bright pinky-red coloured” object “about seven times the size of a steel
granary of 14ft. diameter.” It looks like two rounded layers divided by
a thin blue line. There are two flashing white lights on the top and a
tent-like structure that pulsates and changes color from silver to fiery
yellow. The UFO starts spinning counterclockwise and jumps over to the
next hill. Suddenly, her car is no longer under her control as it floats
down a very bumpy road. After three minutes the UFO disappears, and the
car returns to normal. (W. K. Allan, “A
UFO and the Car Which ‘Floated Along,’” Flying Saucer Review Case
Histories, no. 6 (August 1971): 8, iii; Clark III 250)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4649
Date: 2/19/1969
Description: 12:30 p.m. Two telephone linemen are working atop a pole
near Lebel-sur-Quévillon, Quebec, when the see a gray, metallic cylinder
with four fins at its end moving slowly west to east over the trees and
about 150 feet above the ground. The object is 100 feet long and only 15
feet in diameter. The men watch it for a few minutes as it glides slowly
out of sight. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August
Night, 2022, p. 72)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4650
Date: 2/21/1969
Description: Soviet super-heavy N-1 rocket fails its first attempt
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Baikonur Cosmodrome
Date: 3/1969
Description: Secretary of the Air Force Office of Information
representative Maj. David
J. Shea attends a meeting in the Pentagon in which “there was no
doubt that Project Blue Book was finished.” (Clark III 926)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4651
Date: 3/3/1969
Description: Hynek submits
a UFO research proposal to Col. George
R. Weinbrenner, FTD
Commander, in which he reveals that out of the approximately 10,000
reports in the Project Blue Book files, he estimates that 1,000–3,000
(10%–30%) are “interesting” unexplained cases (“unknowns”). (J. Allen
Hynek, “Preliminary
Proposal for Subject
Investigation,” March 3 and 19, 1969)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4653
Date: 3/3/1969
Description: The US Navy establishes its Fighter Weapons School (Top
Gun) to teach fighter and strike tactics to selected aviators and
officers at Naval Air Station Miramar [now Marine Corps Air Station
Miramar] in San Diego, California. Its focus is on combat training
against MiG fighters, now that MiG testing at Groom Lake, Nevada, has
been successful. (Wikipedia, “United
States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4652
Date: 3/4/1969
Description: Object emitting blinding light beam paced ahead of vehicle,
heat felt. Light beam associated with E-M effects. Object rose and fell,
veered off, flew out of sight
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Atlanta, MO
ID: 179
Date: 3/4/1969
Description: 10:00 p.m. RCMP Constable R. J. Shannahan is on foot patrol
near 24 Sussex Drive, the Prime Minister’s residence in Ottawa, Ontario.
He looks up and sees two bright flashing red lights above and slightly
inside the gates to Rideau Hall. One light moves east and is lost to
view in one minute, while the other moves west and is visible for 5–6
minutes. No jets are scrambled, and there is no indication that radar
installations are asked about unidentified targets. (Chris Rutkowski,
Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 75–77)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4655
Date: 3/4/1969
Description: 6:40 a.m. William
Overstreet, 50, is driving his truck on Missouri J between Elmer and
Atlanta, Missouri, when he sees a bright reddish-orange light about 100
feet in diameter and floating along at 40 mph. It begins to follow the
road and beams a strong, cone-shaped white light on to the road from a
height of 50 feet. Overstreet can feel the heat. The object changes from
red to a blue sphere surrounded by a red ring. He attempts to drive
through the beam, but his motor and radio die when he gets to within 6
feet. The beam moves away a bit, he tries again, and the same thing
happens. The UFO moves about a mile away, turns back to red, switches
off the beam, and cruises away. (NICAP, “100ʹ
Object Affects Radio and Truck Engine”; “E-M
Effect on Truck in Missouri,” APRO Bulletin, May/June 1969, p.4;
Michael D. Swords, “Messing Around with the Force,” IUR 31, no. 4 (March
2008): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4654
Date: 3/4/1969
Description: Near Atlanta, Missouri: The City Marshall and Mail Carrier
in Elmer, Missouri, William R. Overstreet observed an UFO at early dawn
over the road ahead of him. It was about 100 ft. in diam. apparently
rotating clockwise and emitting a strong white beam of light down to the
road which seemed to magnify the size of theroad it was shining on. He
felt intense heat from the direction of the UFO and his CB radio was
dead. As heneared the light beam from the UFO his truck motor and radio
quit. As the beam moved away from his truck he was able to start the
engine again. He followed the UFO for about 4 mi. staying away from the
beam. The UFO followed the contour of the land it was flying over. After
7–8 min. the UFO veered away and went out of sight. “I had never
believed in them too much until I saw this,” he said. “Now I know that
there is something to these UFOs!”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-F p265)
See also: 8/13/75
See also: 6/66
Date: 3/6/1969
Description: Light beam shone on road ahead of car, dog reacted. Witness
drove beneath domed disc, car motion slowed. Eye irritation
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Lancaster, MO
ID: 180
Date: 3/6/1969
Description: 10:30 a.m. A woman is driving with her St. Bernard dog
between Glenwood and Lancaster, Missouri. The dog becomes agitated and
she sees a bright blue-white beam of light illuminating the road and a
domed disc 1,000 feet in the air. The dog jumps into the front seat and
become quite panicked. She tries to drive through the beam, but the car
slows from 50 mph to 8 mph but manages to get to the other side when the
car picks up speed. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, p. 32; Ted Phillips, “UFO
Events in
Missouri, 1857–1971,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories, no. 8
(December 1971): 11; Michael D. Swords, “Messing Around with the Force,”
IUR 31, no. 4 (March 2008): 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4656
Date: 3/10/1969
Description: Disc with dome passed overhead, stopped, emitted light beam
onto road, illuminating police chief’s car. Finally ascended, flew away
to south
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Westhope, ND
ID: 181
Date: 3/14/1969
Description: Flight surgeon, crew of KC-135, observed huge black
cylinder hovering, inclined in vertical position. Fighter aircraft sent
to investigate, object disappeared
Type: sighting
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Thailand
ID: 182
Date: 3/17/1969
Description: Two pilots are flying a Cessna 150 between Phoenix and Lake
Havasu, Arizona, when the pilot in the right seat rises up and sees
maybe 2 dozen oval, white discs on the left side of the plane, flying
very low and in a rough formation. Each has the hint of a blister near
the front. The speed is 200–300 mph, and the only maneuver they make is
pitch and roll, all done simultaneously, in unison. For 20 seconds, both
pilots watch the objects pass below their aircraft and beyond. (Michael
D. Swords, “We Know Where You Live,” IUR 30, no. 2 (January 2006):
11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4657
Date: 3/18/1969
Description: The US begins a covert SAC bombing campaign, Operation
Menu, in eastern Cambodia that lasts until May 26, 1970. An official
USAF record of US bombing activity over Indochina from 1964 to 1973 is
declassified by President Bill
Clinton in 2000. The report gives details of the extent of the
bombing of Cambodia, as well as of Laos and Vietnam. The Menu bombings
are an escalation of what has previously been tactical air attacks.
Operation Freedom Deal immediately follows Operation Menu. Under Freedom
Deal, B-52 bombing is expanded to a much larger area of Cambodia and
continued until August 1973. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Menu”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4658
Date: 3/28/1969
Description: Dwight D. Eisenhower dies
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 4/1969
Description: “The Condon Report and UFOs” by Dr. J. Allen Hynek,
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, called the report: “a strange sort of
scientific paper [that] does not fulfill the promise of its title. . .
[It] leaves the same strange, inexplicable residue Of unknowns which has
plagued the U.S. Air Force investigation for 20 years.”
Type: report
Type: newspaper article
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 183
Date: 4/1969
Description: Hynek writes
a review of the Condon report
for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, calling it a “strange sort of
scientific paper [that] does not fulfill the promise of its title…. [It]
leaves the same strange, inexplicable residue of unknowns which has
plagued the U.S. Air Force investigation for 20 years.” (J. Allen Hynek,
“The
Condon Report
and UFOs,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 25 (April 1969):
39–42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4659
Date: 4/3/1969
Description: 7:38 P.M. Bright fireball meteor traveling south-southeast
to north-northwest, leaving long trail, sparks.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Southern UK
ID: 184
Date: 4/12/1969
Description: During a Fouga Magister aircraft training mission at Pori
Airport, Finland, a Finnish Defence Forces flight controller tells
pilot-in-training Tarmo
Tukeva to investigate seven air balloons that are floating at
approximately 5,000–9,800 feet above the airport. Tukeva reports that
the objects are ball or disc-shaped but cannot determine how far away
they are. Tukeva sees the objects accelerate away from him “at great
speed.” Indeterminate radar images are also later reported 125 miles
away in Vaasa. A second pilot-in-training, Jouko Kuronen, overhears the
radio communications between the flight controller and Tukeva and sees
the UFOs as well. According to the Finnish Armed Forces magazine
Ruotuväki, the reports are similar to other cases occurring over bodies
of water during ongoing military exercises and may have been due to
“transnational spy planes or aircraft.” (Wikipedia, “Finnish
Air Force UFO sighting”; “1969:
Pilots Report 7 Yellow Spheres at Pori Airport, Finland,” UFO
Casebook, August 13, 2013; “Ruotuväki:
Ilmavoimien lentäjät tekivät merkittävän ufo-havainnon 60-luvulla,”
Ilta-Sanomat, May 8, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4660
Date: 4/17/1969
Description: Morning. T. J. Hefferman of Bungawalban, New South Wales,
wakes up and notices that his dogs are “strangely subdued.” Outside, he
finds a flattened area in a sacaline (Reynoutria sachalinensis) forage
crop on his property. A roughly circular area is flattened in four
distinct patches, the largest 60 by 15 feet. All the stalks lie in one
direction, north to south. The previous night, two men working night
shift on a flood mitigation dredge a quarter mile north of the farm had
seen a glow in the sky, and a neighboring farmer had seen two “toplike
objects” moving about for a number of nights. G. Testa, an independent
investigator from Lismore, visits the site on April 20 and takes 25 feet
of 8mm color film to document the damage. (Bill Chalker, “1969:
The Great UFO Daze
of Oz,” The Oz Files, September 19, 2020; Clark III 1138–1139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4661
Date: 4/19/1969
Description: Evening. Two witnesses 5 miles east of Hill City, Kansas,
watch a multi-colored object approach to within 100 feet of their car.
The car engine fails. The object hovers at 75 feet above the ground for
3 minutes, then slowly moves away. The car then restarts without
trouble. (Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS,
1982, p. 46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4662
Date: 4/20/1969
Description: 7:30 p.m. A woman out walking at Harwood Island, New South
Wales, sees and hears a large patch of 2-year- old cane rustling and
waving on a still night. A powerful beam of light switches on across the
top of the cane path, and it slowly turns in a half circle before going
out and being replaced by a “low beam” and “cabin lights.” A UFO is
above the cane and she feels a powerful force lifting her up and pulling
her toward the object when the “high beam” is on. The helmet-shaped
object is 20–28 feet long and 22 feet wide. At its closest the UFO is
40–50 feet away. It disappears suddenly. (Bill Chalker, “1969:
The Great UFO Daze of Oz,” The Oz Files, September 19, 2020; Clark
III 1139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4663
Date: 4/22/1969
Description: 8:00 p.m. Three witnesses are driving in heavy rain near
Hammond, Ontario, when they see an object like a huge “drinking cup
turned upside down.” It has two bright lights directed horizontally and
appears to have a row of portholes with pink light coming from within.
They estimate it is 5 feet off the ground, 20 feet long, and 200 feet
away. They can hear a whining noise like a generator. After 15 minutes,
the object turns and zooms over some nearby power lines, over the trees,
and out of sight. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August
Night, 2022, p. 77)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4664
Date: 4/23/1969
Description: 2:00 a.m. Virginia A. Guinn and a boarder are awakened by
loud howlings and yowlings from the dogs and cats at her farm in Silver
Spring, Maryland. Going outside, the witnesses see a round UFO “as large
as two rooms” that is a bluish-white color like the glow around a
welder’s arc. The object is moving beyond the barn to the
north-northeast. They heard a humming noise and the object blinks out
and the animals quiet down. Guinn discovers later that morning that the
horses in the barn had broken free of their stalls and knocked harnesses
off the walls. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, p. 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4665
Date: 4/25/1969
Description: 7:30 p.m. A woman and her 11-year-old daughter are
travelling by taxi past Roberts Park in Greenacre, New South Wales, when
they spot a “Japanese lantern” above some trees. One minute later, as
the taxi turns a corner, they see it again, 100–130 feet away,
apparently in the same spot. The driver stops the taxi, and they can see
what looks like a metallic craft, approximately 33 feet in diameter,
with the appearance of “two soup bowls joined rim- to-rim.” There is a
steady red light on top. The object seems to be noiselessly rocking
backwards and forwards, at a frequency of 1–2 rocks per second. A
“depressing blue glow” can be seen through a window that takes up most
of the upper part. A humanoid figure is apparently operating controls
near the window. Another figure is pointing at the witnesses. A third
seems to be walking toward a back door. All three are apparently
human-sized and are either wearing tight black clothing, are black
skinned, or seen in silhouette. After 15 seconds or less, the driver
speeds off down the road, drops the couple off, and drives off quickly
without taking their fare. At 8:00 p.m., the woman and her daughter
return to the park. The UFO is not to be seen. (Bill Chalker, “1969:
The Great UFO Daze
of Oz,” The Oz Files, September 19, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4666
Date: 4/26/1969
Description: Condon speaks
publicly for the first time after the end of the Colorado project in an
address to the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, on “UFOs I Have Loved and Lost.” He concludes by saying,
“Let me say that where corruption of children’s minds is at stake, I do
not believe in freedom of the press or freedom of speech. In my view,
publishers who publish or teachers who teach any of the pseudosciences
as established truth should, on being found guilty, be publicly
horsewhipped, and forever banned from further activity in these usually
honorable professions.” (Henry W. Pierce, “Professors
Threaten Own Free Speech,” Pittsburgh (Pa.) Post-Gazette, May 10,
1969, p. 21; Jacobs, UFO Controversy in America, Signet eds., 1976, p. 224)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4667
Date: 5/1969
Description: Rod B. Dyke launches the monthly UFO Newsclipping Service
in Seattle, Washington, which soon becomes a primary source for media
reports on UFOs and related phenomena. The service is largely run by Lucius
Farish as co-editor in Plumerville, Arkansas, beginning in July
1977. Farish publishes it on his own from January 1991 until November
2007, when Dyke reacquires it and keeps it going again with co-editor
Chuck Flood until December 2008. The final editor is David
Marler, who
runs the service from January 2009 to August 2011, when it ceases
publication. (UFO
Newsclipping Service, no. 1 (May 1969))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4668
Date: 5/1969
Description: John
A. Keel begins publishing an unscheduled, free newsletter titled
Anomaly in New York City. It continues until April 1974. (Anomaly, no.
1 (May 1969))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4669
Date: 5/1/1969
Description: 5:30 p.m. An illuminated triangular object moves
soundlessly from south to north over Negru Vodă, Romania. After 20
minutes of hanging motionless it disappears swiftly to the east. (Hobana
and Weverbergh 161–162)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4670
Date: 5/4/1969
End date: 5/9/1969
Description: 3:00 p.m. A 24-year-old Brazilian soldier named José
Antônio da Silva is fishing by himself at Bebedouro (apparently a small
lagoon in the Área de Proteção Ambiental do Carste de Lagoa Santa) near
Matozinhos, Minas Gerais, Brazil, when he begins dozing off. He
perceives figures moving around him, and he feels himself shot with
something that paralyzes his legs. Two small humanoid beings, joined by
a third, drag him off into a strange machine shaped like two saucers
joined together by a thick, vertical cylinder. The machine lifts off,
and after a long interval it lands. Da Silva is carried by his armpits
into a large quadrangular room, where he finds himself with his original
three captors and a fourth being—also humanoid, with red hair and a
beard that comes down to his waist—who seems to be their leader. He
remembers afterward that all four have mouths that look like fishes’
mouths. The room is made of stone. Inside, on a low shelf seemingly
fashioned out of stone, da Silva sees the bodies of four human men lying
stretched out side by side. Naked, rigid, and positioned on their backs,
the bodies bear no visible wounds, but it is obvious that they are dead.
One is a well-built black man and another has light brown skin. Two
others, more slightly built, are Caucasian, one of them very blond “like
a foreigner.” The beings do not speak any Portuguese but, using
pictures, the leader manages to convey to da Silva that they want him to
be their guide and weapons provider for what he supposes is a subsequent
invasion of Earth. He refuses, fingering his crucifix, which the angry
leader rips from his hand. Out of nowhere, da Silva sees appear in front
of him a human figure who stands motionless, gazing at him in a friendly
fashion. The figure, about five and a half feet tall, is Caucasian,
slender, bearded with long fair hair, and dressed in a friar’s cassock.
Amazingly, the little men seem oblivious to his presence. Speaking in
Portuguese, the figure gives da Silva certain “revelations” that he
afterward insists on keeping secret. He apparently knows who the figure
is but he does not reveal that either, saying only that he wasn’t Jesus.
The figure vanishes, and the beings who have abducted him start
quarreling among themselves. They carry da Silva back to their machine;
there follows another flight, another landing. Da Silva awakens in the
dawn of what turns out to be May 9, four and a half days after his
abduction, some 300 miles to the east of the place where he had been
abducted. He supposedly bears the physical marks of his ordeal— wounds
on his neck, lameness in one leg—for days afterward. (Húlvio Brant
Aleixo, “O
Caso ‘Bebedouro,’” SBEDV Boletim, no. 94/98 (Sept. 1973/June 1974):
7–22; Húlvio Brant Aleixo, “Abduction
at Bebedouro,” Flying Saucer Review 19, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1973):
6–14; Húlvio Brant Aleixo, “Bebedouro
II: The Little Men Return
for the Soldier,” Flying Saucer Review 21, no. 3/4 (November 1975):
32–35; Walter Buhler, “Thoughts
on the
Bebedouro Case,” Flying Saucer Review 21, no. 3/4 (November 1975):
36–38; “O
Caso de Bebedouro,” Portal Fenomenum, June 15, 2016; David Halperin,
“Jerome
Clark and Loren Coleman: ‘Descent into Hell’ and the
Bebedouro Abduction,” davidhalperin.net, July 27, 2018; Clark III
185–189; Brazil 116–121)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4671
Date: 5/11/1969
Description: 2:00 a.m. Near the village of Chapeau, Quebec, on
L’Isle-aux-Allumettes in the Ottawa River, farmer Leo Paul Chaput is
awakened by his dog barking. He looks out the window and sees a
brilliant light close to the ground. The light source seems to be a
domed craft with a flat bottom (like a World War I helmet) about 500
feet away. He looks away briefly, and the object is gone, although he
can hear the diminishing sound of a motor. When Chaput gets up in the
morning, he finds a large circular indentation in the ground, 600 feet
from his house. The impression is 32 feet in diameter and is surrounded
by a ring of scorched grass 2.5 feet wide. Inside, the vegetation is not
damaged, but there are three holes that form a perfect equilateral
triangle, 15 feet on a side. The holes are 8 inches in diameter and 3
inches deep. He finds a second, slightly smaller circle to the
southwest, again with scorched grass and 3 indentations. A third ground
marking, a semicircle, is near the second. (Donald E. Keyhoe and Gordon
I. R. Lore Jr., Strange
Effects from UFOs, NICAP,
1969, p. 45; Brian C. Cannon, “UFO Alert
in Ontario,” Canadian UFO Report 1, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1969): 19–21;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 153–154;
Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn
Press, 2006, pp. 103–104)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4672
Date: 5/12/1969
Description: The DARPA Pandora Project committee discusses plans to move
forward with eight human subjects who will be exposed to microwaves
similar to the Moscow Signal and then given a full battery of medical
and psychological tests. The committee recommends “gonadal protection be
provided” to the male test subjects; however, human testing is not
pursued. The program is shut down later in 1969, with an effect of the
signal on behavior and/or biological functions deemed “too subtle or
insignificant to be evident.” (Wikipedia, “Moscow Signal”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4673
Date: 5/18/1969
End date: 5/20/1969
Description: Evening. A localized power blackout cuts off electricity at
the Lester Kaiser farm near Rising Sun, Indiana, for 2 hours. The next
night, George Kaiser watches a hairy, muscular, bipedal creature that
flees upon being seen. It leaves tracks showing three toes and a big
toe. On May 20, a neighbor sees a glowing, greenish-white UFO as it
hovers for several minutes. (John Keel, Strange Creatures from Time and
Space, 1970, pp. 94–95; Clark III 556; Patrick Gross, URECAT, May
29, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4674
Date: 5/22/1969
Description: 11:00 p.m. Graham Longey sees a large, brilliant, circular
white object hovering a few feet off the ground at Glenorchy, Tasmania.
Windows encircle its midsection. It begins to move rapidly upward, and
by the time he dashes out of his house it is gone. On the site, Longey
finds an elliptical area of burned grass 18 feet by 12 feet. A small
tree nearby is scorched and has limbs broken. He notices an oily smell.
(Clark III 1139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4675
Date: 5/23/1969
Description: 6:35 p.m. A 13-year-old boy in Cloverdale, Western
Australia, notices a moving light to the south and about 10° above the
horizon. He calls his mother, who sees a steady red light on top of a
more diffuse blue-white light darting haphazardly in a zigzag pattern
but in general moving to the north until it disappears behind their
house. The witnesses shift their position and can still see the light
hovering in the northwest. The light is now seen as circular with hazy
edges and about half the diameter of the full moon. At about 7:00 p.m.
it moves at high speed to the north. The mother calls the radar station
at Kalamunda, which simultaneously gets a request from Perth Airport to
check out an unidentified echo on their meteorological radar. The
Kalamunda operator sees a large echo some 9 miles away, which reappears
for short durations on 5 further occasions and is last seen at 7:42 p.m.
(Swords 397–398; Bill Chalker, “1969:
The Great UFO Daze of Oz,” The Oz Files, September 19, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4676
Date: 5/28/1969
Description: McDonald presents
a talk that is critical of the Colorado project at the Sacramento,
California, section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics. (James E. McDonald, “A Very Creditable Effort?” May 28,
1969; Story, p. 415)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4677
Date: 5/31/1969
Description: The Midwest UFO Network (later Mutual UFO Network) is
founded in Quincy, Illinois, by Walter
H. Andrus Jr., who
leaves APRO and takes many of its members with him. It is conceived as a
grassroots organization with state and local leaders overseeing
activities and investigations. Allen R. Utke, associate professor of
chemistry at Wisconsin State University, is selected as the first MUFON
Director (Clark III 784)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4678
Date: 6/1969
Description: Although President Richard
Nixon does not trust J.
Edgar Hoover, he
accepts the FBI’s help through an “intelligence letter” program,
codenamed INLET. This program is not only intended to provide the
president with domestic and international security issues, but also,
“items with an unusual twist or concerning prominent personalities which
may be of special interest to the President.” Nixon orders seven
wiretaps on his staffers. (John Greenewald, “INLET
(Intelligence Letters) Reports, 1960s and 1970s,” The Black Vault,
May 7, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4679
Date: 6/10/1969
Description: McDonald gives
a public talk sponsored by NICAP in Washington, D.C., on “UFOs Unsolved:
A Scientific Challenge.” (James E. McDonald, “UFOs:
Unsolved: A Scientific Challenge,” June 10, 1969; Story, p. 415)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4680
Date: 6/11/1969
Description: McDonald meets
privately with representatives on the Air Force Office of Scientific
Research in Arlington, Virginia, urging a new look at the UFO problem.
(Story, p. 415)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4681
Date: 6/17/1969
Description: Turkish Air Force pilot Süleyman Tekyildirim is ordered to
intercept a UFO above his base in Turkey in a US- built F-5A Freedom
Fighter. He flies above it, thinking it is a meteorological balloon
because it looks gray and like an upside-down light bulb. However, it
moves to his left and takes off at fantastic speed. He tries to reach
it, but it eludes him and speeds away. (Good Need, p. 299)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4683
Date: 6/17/1969
Description: 2:00 a.m. Kaneto and Kioko Nobutoshi witness a “brilliantly
illuminated window” hovering in the air in Ibiúna, São Paulo, Brazil. It
appears to be 30 feet in diameter, 10 feet high, and illuminates a small
part of the ground. The sighting lasts 45 minutes, with the object
stationary all the time. It then vanishes. Later examination of the
ground underneath reveals a circle of flattened grass, 25 feet in
diameter, swirled counterclockwise, with some small secondary swirls.
(Hans Bemelmans, “Reports
from Ibiuna,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1970):
15–19; Terry Wilson, “1969:
Ibiuna,” Old Crop Circles)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4682
Date: 6/19/1969
Description: 12:25 a.m. Radio/TV engineer Robin Peck is driving a van
just north of Bircham Newton, Norfolk, England, when his headlights and
motor fail. He looks under the hood, feels some “static electricity,”
and his hair stands on end. He looks up and sees a bluish,
upside-down-mushroom-shaped object hovering 100–150 feet over the trees
on a nearby farm. It has an orange glow around it. Peck feels that the
air is electrified. His luminous wristwatch glows intensely and
unnaturally. After about one minute the object takes off and disappears
rapidly. The van’s electrical system returns to normal. (Peter Johnson,
“Auto-Stop
near Docking,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories, no. 5 (June
1971): 1–2; UFOFiles2, p. 81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4684
Date: 6/19/1969
Description: 11:50 p.m. Arthur Hendry, 17, is getting ready to cycle
home near Docking, Norfolk, England, when he hears a strange whistling
noise above him that intensifies and becomes a powerful throbbing. His
muscles feel frozen or paralyzed as if he is receiving a severe electric
shock. After a few seconds the noise stops, and he feels normal again.
(UFOFiles2, p. 81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4685
Date: 6/19/1969
Description: E-M effects on car, static electricity. Bluish object
shaped like inverted mushroom hovered overhead. Took off at high
speed
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Docking/Bircham Newton, UK
ID: 185
Date: 6/26/1969
Description: 2:30 p.m. Sr. Benedito, a justice of the peace, is walking
along a trail about 4 miles northwest of Ibiúna, São Paulo, Brazil, when
he hears a humming noise like a swarm of bees. He sees an odd object
rocking from side to side that suddenly drops into the brush out of
sight. Thinking it is an accident, he approaches to within 20 feet and
sees the landed object, which then ascends, hovers a moment, and takes
off in a gentle climb. He hears the humming sound again and feels a
blast of air as it moves away. The Brazilian Air Force investigates the
landing, and UFO investigator Hans Bemelmans finds some scorched grass
in the thickly tangled brush. (Hans Bemelmans, “Reports
from Ibiuna,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1970):
15–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4686
Date: 7/1969
Alternate date: 8/1969
Description: 1:00 a.m. A US Marine private named Earl
Morrison is on guard duty with other soldiers in a bunker near Da
Nang, Vietnam, when they see a black, naked woman with bat-like, glowing
wings moving through the air toward them. It flies about 6–7 above their
heads. She soon starts flapping her wings and flies away. (“Don Worley,
“The
Winged Lady in Black,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories, no. 10
(June 1972): 14–16; Clark III 779)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4688
Date: 7/1969
Description: After a series of UFO sightings and landing traces are
reported in the area around Ibiúna, São Paulo, Brazil, the Brazilian Air
Force informs local officials who are investigating the reports that
they must not “under any circumstances give any information on UFO
activity to any press, radio, or television reporter or representative.
This is a matter of national security, and all press releases will be
made by the Brazilian Air Force Public Relations Department.” (Hans
Bemelmans, “Reports
from Ibiuna,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1970): 15;
“Brazil:
Censorship of UFO Reports,” Flying Saucer Review 19, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1973): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4687
Date: 7/3/1969
Description: Soviet super heavy N-1 rocket fails its second test
attempt
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Baikonur Cosmodrome
Date: 7/4/1969
Description: 8:00 p.m. Two children, Mauricio Gnecco and Enrique Osorio,
in Anolaima, Colombia, see a glowing object about 900 feet away. It
approaches to within 180 feet and the children run over the hill to tell
other children and adults. Thirteen people, including their father,
return to see the object. Arcesio Bermúdez takes a flashlight with him
and returns in terror after seeing a small person and a craft that
lights up and flies away. Within 2 days, Bermúdez loses all appetite,
his skin temperature drops, blue spots appear on his skin, and his
stools become bloody. Within a week, two Bogotá physicians, unaware of
his UFO experience, concludes he has gastroenteritis. Within hours of
his exam, Bermúdez dies. His doctor claims he has previously been in
good health. His injuries suggest a fatal whole-body ionizing radiation
dose of 300–500 rems. Likely only X-rays, gamma rays, or neutrons could
travel a distance of 45 feet through the air. (“UFO
Observed at Farmhouse in Colombia,” APRO Bulletin, July/Aug. 1969,
pp. 1, 4–5; Story, pp. 23–25;
Clark III 253, 950; “Colombia:
Arcesio Bermúdez, the Man Killed by
a UFO,” Inexplicata, December 14, 2015; Cristian Ávila Jimenez, “La
misteriosa muerte de columbiano 3 días después
de ver supuesto OVNI,” El Tiempo (Bogotá), August 20, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4689
Date: 7/11/1969
Alternate date: 7/18/1969
Description: 8:30 p.m. Economics student Tim Oliver is near a golf
course on the outskirts of Beaufort, Victoria, Australia, when he sees a
red “star” over a hill about a mile away. On closer inspection, it
proves to be a hovering UFO. He quickly goes home, and by the time he
returns with his mother in the family car, the UFO has been joined by
another identical object. They are moving about 20 mph to the southeast,
50 feet in the air, 200 feet apart, and nearly parallel to some
high-powered electrical lines. As they drive to right outside the golf
course, both UFOs apparently respond to their presence by turning toward
them but soon resumed their parallel course when Oliver turns the car
engine off. Oliver walks to within 50 feet of the leading object. Each
is about 30 feet in diameter, saucer-shaped, with an upper flat-topped
cupola and about 24 square windows through which comes the bright red
light. They are completely silent. Both he and his mother (who has
watched from the golf course fence) see the UFOs disappear to the
southeast, still flying parallel to the power lines. (Bill Chalker, “1969:
The Great UFO
Daze of Oz,” The Oz Files, September 19, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4690
Date: 7/12/1969
Description: 11:00 p.m. Patti Barr and Kathy Mahr, two teenage cousins,
hear a loud roaring noise at Van Horne, Iowa, while upstairs in their
house. They look out the window to see a reddish-orange ball of light
rotating and spinning counterclockwise above the adjacent soybean field.
The next morning, they tell Pat’s father, farmer Warren Barr, who then
discovers a 24-foot-diameter, nearly bare oval in the soybean field. The
plants’ leaves are severely dehydrated, dry, and brittle. This case was
investigated by several groups at the time; localized intense heat or
radiation is listed as most likely cause. (“Sight
UFO over Benton County Farm,” Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette, August 6,
1969, p. 4C; NICAP, “The
1969 UFO Chronology” and [photos];
“UFO
over Iowa Bean Field,” APRO Bulletin, July/Aug. 1969, pp. 1, 4; J.
Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 149–150;
Kevin D. Randle, “The
Iowa UFO Landings,” Official UFO, July 1976)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4692
Date: 7/12/1969
Description: Contactee Paul
Solem, who
has been speaking to Shoshone-Bannock Indians at Fort Hall Indian
Reservation in Idaho about a migration of Indian peoples and the coming
of a True White Brother, publicly calls for the appearance of the flying
saucer beings. Many people, including Idaho State Reporter Barbara
Boren, see two “star-like moving lights” high in the air. (Barbara
Boren, “Blast
Rocking North America to Start Indian Migration, Says
Self-Styled Seer,” Pocatello Idaho State Journal, July 16, 1969,
pp. 1, 8; Clark III 1094)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4691
Date: 7/13/1969
Description: Early morning. Edgar Paquette and Mrs. Leo Edwards are
driving near Petawawa, Ontario, when they see a bright star that lights
up the Ottawa River next to them. Convinced the light is following them,
Paquette turns off the headlights, which makes the object appear to
hesitate. But he gets out of the car, causing the interior light to go
on, and the object descends to within 60 feet of the ground. When he
starts signaling it with a flashlight, it comes even closer, and
Paquette sees that it is 8 feet in diameter with two legs beneath it.
Both of them panic and drive home, dragging their teenage children out
of bed to look at the light. Ontario police officers Jack McKay and
Grant Chaplin follow the light for 38 minutes as it travels at a high
altitude. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night,
2022, pp. 83–84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4693
Date: mid 7/1969
Description: Bernard O’Brien is cutting grass in a field with his
tractor near Manotick, Ontario, when a small cloud of smoke rises from
the ground as he passes over a particular spot. He notifies the field’s
owner, John Fox, who comes out for a look. Fox finds three near-perfect
circles in the field, two together and the third nearly 150 feet away.
Each of them are rings of affected grass 15–20 feet in diameter and
about a foot wide. Grass is flattened inside the circle, but the rings
themselves are dark and contain a crystalline substance. Peter
Millman of the National Research Council claims that the circles are
caused by the fairy ring mushroom (Marasmius oreades) because an
analysis of the crystalline substance shows no evidence of mineral
content or radioactivity. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified,
August Night, 2022, pp. 187–190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4694
Date: 7/16/1969
Description: 3:30 p.m. Sylvia Annola, 10, sees a large gray object with
blinding lights descending above a well on her family’s farm near Abee,
Alberta. She looks directly at the object, which is only about 10 feet
away, and experiences a temporary loss of vision. (Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO
Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen, 1979, pp. 50–53)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4695
Date: 7/21/1969
Description: The Apollo 11 Lunar Module lands the first astronauts on
the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz
Aldrin. (Wikipedia, “Apollo
11”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4696
Date: 8/1969
Description: 1:45 p.m. James D. Appleman is driving on the Pennsylvania
Turnpike when he notices a dome-shaped, metallic object hovering in the
clouds ahead. He stops the car and gets his camera out of the trunk, but
by that time the object is gone. (“Did
a Twin Photograph a Twin UFO?” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 1
(January 1981): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4697
Date: 8/22/1969
Description: The National Amateur Astronomers Association hosts an open
forum in Denver, Colorado, “Science and the UFO,” with presentations by
James
A. Harder, R.
Leo Sprinkle, J.
Allen Hynek, David
Saunders, James McDonald, and
Frank
Salisbury. When
asked how many of the 500 people assembled have had a UFO sighting,
about 75 hands go up. (“Scientists Urge New UFO Studies,” Fate 23, no. 4
(April 1970): 38–48; George W. Earley, “Astronomers Raise Their Hands,”
IUR 24, no. 4 (Winter 1999): 29–30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4698
Date: 8/29/1969
Description: 6:20 a.m. Norman Vedaa and a passenger are driving along
Interstate 80S [now Interstate 76] about 70 miles east of Denver
[putting them roughly near Fort Morgan, Colorado]. They notice a
brilliant, yellow-gold object hovering high in the air. They manage to
take two photographs before it speeds away. Ground Saucer Watch
concludes from its density profile in the photos that it is a solid
object. (William H. Spaulding, “Observational
Data of an Anomalistic Aerial Phenomenon,” Flying Saucer Review 22,
no. 1 (May 1976): 12–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4699
Date: 8/30/1969
Description: Afternoon. Future ufologist Bill
Chalker, 17,
is relaxing on a surfboard in the middle of the Clarence River in
Grafton, New South Wales. He notices streams of fine filament coming
down out of the sky over the river. He collects some samples, seeing no
spiders, but the material dissipates into nothing. He later learns that
other people, including his parents, watched an elongated white UFO
moving at right angles to the filament fall. (Keith Basterfield, “Angel
Hair: An Australian Perspective,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 7; Clark
III 124–126; Bill Chalker, “1969:
The Great UFO Daze of Oz,” The Oz Files, September 19, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4700
Date: 8/30/1969
Description: 7:30 p.m. Ion Hobana is at the North Railway Station in
Bucharest, Romania, when he sees a triangular object rise from behind
the station building. It is a dull orange color and moves with one of
its sides facing forward. Three smaller globes trail it in a straight
line. The object travels to the right and disappears after a few
seconds. (Hobana and Weverbergh 179–180)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4701
Date: 8/31/1969
Description: Day. An RAAF Canberra bomber chases but fails to catch a
UFO over northern New South Wales. The plane is dispatched from RAAF
Base Amberley near Ipswich, Queensland, after hundreds of people in
Kygole and along the Darling Downs report the object, which is shaped
like an aluminum Zeppelin. Some witnesses observe the object for 3 hours
as it hovers above towns and farms. The UFO speeds away when the
Canberra tries to close in on it. (“RAAF
Chase UFO over Darling Downs,” UFOIC Newsletter, no. 26 (December
1969): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4702
Date: 9/4/1969
Description: A farmer, Bert
O’Neil, discovers a circular patch of dead and silvery-white manuka
plants (Leptospermum scoparium, tea tree) in the midst of otherwise
green and lush growth on a remote section of his farm near Ngatea, New
Zealand. Near the center of the circle, he finds three ground
indentations, positioned so as to form the inside points of a triangle.
Off to one side is the taller stand of tea tree, also bleached and dead.
He remembers seeing this from afar three weeks earlier, arousing his
curiosity. The dead scrubweed within the circle is still standing and
undisturbed. It looks as if some large object has come down from the sky
and landed on three long stilts. At first, O’Neil only discusses his
find within the family, but the news quickly leaks to the local radio
and press. (Harold H. Fulton, “The
Ngatea Mystery Circle, 1,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1970): 27–28; Harold H. Fulton, “The
Ngatea Mystery Circle, 2,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 3 (May/June
1970): 32– 33; Harold H. Fulton, “The Ngatea Mystery Circle: Terrestrial
or Extraterrestrial?” UFOcus NZ, 2010)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4703
Date: 10/1969
Description: NICAP obtains a copy of a chapter of a textbook in use at
the US Air Force Academy, Introductory Space Science, for the academy’s
Physics 370 course. The last chapter is on “Unidentified Flying Objects”
and concludes that the “UFO phenomenon appears to have been global in
nature for almost 50,000 years” and considers the “unpleasant
possibility of alien visitors to our planet, or at least of alien
controlled UFO’s.” It recommends keeping an “open and skeptical mind.”
(“AF
Academy Teaches Students UFOs Real,” UFO Research Newsletter 1, no.
1 (April 1971): 1; ClearIntent, pp. 13–14;
Good Need, p. 230)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4704
Date: 10/1969
Description: Jimmy Carter sees and reports a UFO.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p516)
Location: Leary, Georgia
Date: 10/3/1969
Description: After 8:00 p.m. RCMP Constable S. B. Barrie and his wife
Vivian are driving 5 miles west of Rennie, Manitoba, on a poor highway
in bad weather. He stops to clean mud off the headlights and noticees a
light to the east hanging just off Highway 44 and over the trees. He
continues driving and he sees the light as a light-pink inverted saucer
moving with a jerky motion. Now only 500 feet away, it seems to be 20
feet in diameter with an odd white tail that snakes toward the ground.
Suddenly the car’s windshield wipers stop working, the headlights go
out, and the engine stalls. Barrie gets out of the car and the object
zooms silently to the southwest and is lost to sight. He senses the air
has a strange, heavy odor, but he is able to get the car started again.
(Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
pp. 81–82)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4705
Date: 10/8/1969
Description: A large area of St. Louis, Missouri, is blanketed by a
pure-white, sticky substance ranging from dime-size to 10-foot-long
streamers. The majority of it sublimates on ground contact. The
Smithsonian concludes it is caused by ballooning spiders, even though
only one spider specimen is found. When a sample is tested by Wayne E.
Black of the St. Louis County Health Department, he finds the samples
test negative for protein, the basic composition of spider web.
(Washington Post, March 28, 1970; “A
Classic Case of ‘Angel-Hair,’” Pursuit 3, no. 4 (October 1970):
72–73)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4706
Date: 10/20/1969
Description: Brig. Gen. Carroll
H. Bolender, USAF
Deputy Director of Development, writes a draft document saying that the
“continuation of Project Blue Book cannot be justified either on the
ground of national security or in the interest of science.” Bolender
adds that “reports of unidentified flying objects which could affect
national security are made in accordance with JANAP 146 or Air Force
Manual 55-1 and are not part of the Blue Book system.” This is a clear
indication that Blue Book is only a front for a classified UFO project.
(Brig. Gen. C. H. Bolender, “Unidentified
Flying Objects (UFO),” October 20, 1969; Swords 336)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4707
Date: 10/24/1969
Description: 12:43 a.m. A Chilean Navy destroyer is moving north at 20
knots in the South Pacific Ocean about 350 miles south of Valparaiso,
Chile. The radar officer reports a target rapidly approaching the ship,
apparently moving 213 miles in one minute, which would indicate a speed
of 12,780 mph. At 12:47 a.m., the target is only 12 miles away, and it
suddenly breaks into six targets. The officer in charge and five other
personnel can now see one massive and five smaller lighted objects
approaching the ship. The large UFO looks like a big box with
semicircles on the side, and it is bigger than the ship, which is 360
feet long. The five smaller objects are egg- shaped, bluish, and no more
than 8 feet long and 5–6 feet wide. At about 6,000 feet from the ship,
the smaller objects move away from the larger one, three to portside and
two to starboard, and begin flying in ellipses between the ship and the
large object. At 900 feet away, the officers can hear the object make a
humming noise. The ship’s power and instruments go dead as the large
object passes overhead. Bright red lights under the UFO seem to be
moving back and forth inside the craft, visible through a half-circle on
the bottom. “Corn cobs” with green or turquoise pulsating lights are on
the side. When the UFO is 600 feet away, the power comes back on. The
smaller objects, never coming closer than 1,500–3,000 feet, fly around
the ship and join up with the large object on the other side. All 6
objects vanish about 2 miles away. At least 8 minutes have passed, with
three radar technicians tracking the UFOs. The ship’s commander orders
everyone to keep silent about what they have seen. The sighting is
deleted from the ship’s log. The six witnesses are debriefed for two
days in Valparaiso by two Chilean Navy officers and four Americans who
are allegedly naval attachés with the US Embassy. (NICAP, “Six Objects
Observed and Tracked by Destroyer”; Bill Chalker, “EM
UFO Incident off Chile in 1969,” APRO Bulletin 33, no. 3 (January
1986): 7–8; Bill Chalker, “An Extraordinary Incident off Chile,” IUR 10,
no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1985): 4–6; Bill Chalker, “EM
UFO Incident off Chile in 1969 (Conclusion),” APRO Bulletin 33, no.
5 (April 1987): 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4708
Date: 10/24/1969
End date: 10/27/1969
Description: The Turkish Air Force is inundated with reports of UFOs
over Ankara, Turkey. Jet fighters are scrambled from Mürted Air Base
[now closed] northwest of the city and close to within 7.5 miles, but
the objects always pull away and climb higher. Even the base commander,
Ercüment Gökaydin, flies with the interceptors to 35,000 feet, but the
UFO is at a height of 50,000 feet. It is a silvery, oval disc. The jets
take gun-camera film, which has never been released. One pilot says the
object has three round portholes. (Good Need, p. 299)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4709
Date: 10/27/1969
Description: NICAP Assistant Director Gordon
I. R. Lore Jr. writes board member Joseph
B. Hartranft
Jr. an 11-page letter outlining the organization’s difficulties. He
alerts the board of directors to the growing financial crisis brought on
by Donald
E. Keyhoe’s failure to keep adequate books and records. He urges the
hiring of a business director. In the summer he had gotten permission
from Keyhoe to fire five of NICAP’s eight employees as a cost- saving
measure. (Clark III 794)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4710
Date: 10/30/1969
Description: 10:00 a.m. Mr. and Mrs. Chapin are driving at their mine
site near Redding, California, when they see a rattlesnake in the road.
As they get out to go to the mine and kill the snake, they find the area
oddly hot. They notice a disturbance in the brush some 60 feet away in a
flattened area of mine tailings. An egg-shaped object rises noiselessly
a few feet off the ground and takes off down the canyon, swaying but not
striking small trees. Soon it zooms upward at a sharp angle and is out
of sight in seconds. They find a shallow, oval, depressed spot less than
2 inches deep and 10 feet across in the mine tailings. A conical pile of
unusual-looking sand is also discovered, and two days later they find a
metallic glob about the size of a fist nearby. They have the material
analyzed in 1977. Scattered about in the unusual sand pile are irregular
bits of pale-green glass-like material made of nearly pure silicon. The
metal glob is completely black on the outside and 77% copper in the
interior, combined with tin and traces of silver, chromium, and other
metals. Both are considered foreign to the geology of the mine site.
(“The Redding, California CE II Case,” IUR 3, no. 3 (March 1978):
insert)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4711
Date: 10/30/1969
Description: Circular object with lights hovering over airport sped away
making high, whining sound when security guard shone spotlight on
it
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Waipukurau, New Zealand
ID: 186
Date: 11/8/1969
Description: Australian physicist O. H. “Harry” Turner has been working
with other scientists to set up a “rapid intervention team” for the RAAF
to investigate UFO physical evidence. In a memo to the director of the
Joint Intelligence Bureau, he indicates he is working with John Morton
of Australian National University, John Symonds from the Australian
Atomic Energy Commission, and Michael
Duggin of the National Standards Laboratory. The plan is soon
dropped by the JIB. (Bill Chalker, “The Australian Government and UFOs,”
IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 21; Swords 396–397)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4712
Date: 11/9/1969
Description: The D-21 drone makes its first reconnaissance mission over
China, launched from a B-52. It flies over the Lop Nur Nuclear Test Base
in Xinjiang but strays off course into Siberia and crashes. (Wikipedia,
“Lockheed
D- 21”;
Jacobsen, Area 51, p. 223)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4713
Date: 12/1969
Description: Project xxxxxx (name censured) continues after Project
BLUEBOOK is closed.
Type: majestic document
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A)
Attributes: Majestic
Date: 12/3/1969
Description: The NICAP board of governors demands Keyhoe’s
resignation. He retires, under protest, at age 72. Leading the effort is
board chairman Col. Joseph
Bryan III, who
takes over as acting president. (“Major
Keyhoe Retires,”
UFO Investigator, May 1970, pp. 1, 3; “NICAP
Redeploys,” UFO Investigator, May 1970, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4714
Date: 12/5/1969
Description: Bryan dismisses
NICAP Assistant Director Gordon
I. R. Lore Jr., replacing him with G. Stuart Nixon as
secretary-treasurer. (“Major
Keyhoe Retires,” UFO Investigator, May 1970, pp. 1, 3; Clark III
794)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4715
Date: 12/17/1969
Description: Air Force Secretary Robert
Seamans announces the termination of Project Blue Book, based on the
Condon report, the NAS endorsement, and “past UFO studies.” He repeats
the Bolender wording
that Blue Book “cannot be justified either on the ground of national
security or in the interest of science.” Technically, Blue Book does not
terminate until January 30, 1970. Blue Book records are moved to Maxwell
AFB in Montgomery, Alabama, in a building that requires security
clearance to enter. Eventually, the files, minus the witness names, are
consigned to the Modern Military Branch, Military Archives Division,
National Archives, Washington, D.C. (Office of Assistant Secretary of
Defense, “Air
Force to Terminate Project ‘Blue Book,’” December 17, 1969; “Air
Forces Closes Study of U.F.O.s,” New York Times, December 18, 1969,
pp. 1, 41; “The
Book Is Closed,” UFO Investigator, May 1970, p. 3; Sparks,
p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4716
Date: 12/17/1969
Description: Secretary of the Air Force Robert C. Seamans, Jr.,
announced termination of Project Blue Book UFO study.
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 187
Date: 12/18/1969
Description: Condon is
quoted in the New York Times that his investigation “was a bunch of damn
nonsense,” and he is sorry he “got involved in such foolishness.” (“Air
Forces Closes Study of U.F.O.s,” New York Times, December 18, 1969,
pp. 1, 41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4717
Date: 12/26/1969
End date: 12/27/1969
Description: The American Academy for the Advancement of Science holds a
special two-day segment on “Unidentified Flying Objects” at its annual
meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, at the Sheraton Hotel. The program is
arranged by Thornton
Page (NASA Manned Spacecraft Center), Philip
Morrison (MIT), Walter
Orr Roberts (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research), and
Carl
Sagan (Cornell). Rising to the occasion, James
E. McDonald presents
an excellent critique of the Air Force and Colorado project
investigations as well as an in- depth examination of the RB-47 and
Lakenheath-Bentwaters cases. Donald
Menzel attempts to show that all UFO sightings can be explained,
even though some of his “explanations” are complex. Morrison discusses
the nature of hard evidence and concludes that reliable UFO reports
would stand up both in a court of law and in the rigors of science.
Cornell University Press publishes the proceedings, UFOs—A Scientific
Debate, in 1972. (James E. McDonald, “Science
in Default: Twenty-Two Years of Inadequate UFO Investigations,”
December 27, 1969; Walter N. Webb, “Allen Hynek As I Knew Him,” IUR 18,
no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1993): 9–10; Clark III 100–101)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4718
Date: 12/26/1969
End date: 12/30/1969
Description: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
annual meeting, in Boston, MA, included panel discussion on UFOs.
Scientists joined in statement asking for preservation of Air Force UFO
files for future study.
Type: official
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Boston, MA
ID: 188
Date: 12/28/1969
Description: A man named Patric is driving from Midland to Windsor,
Ontario, on heavily snowed roads after an accident has blocked the main
highway. Suddenly, his car engine, headlights, and radio fails, and he
crawls to a halt in front of a star-like glow with a prismatic,
multi-colored aura 100 feet ahead. Inside the glow is a domed object. A
loud humming noise commences and the object shoots into the sky. The car
comes back to life, but Patric inexplicably reaches Windsor one hour
late. (Jenny Randles, “The Twelve UFOs of Christmas,” Fortean Times 374
(Christmas 2018): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4719
Date: 1970
Description: The crew of a US Air Force C-5A Galaxy transport, flying at
500 mph at 37,000 feet, encounters a UFO over Moula Idris, Saudi Arabia
[=Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, Morocco?]. An RAF officer on detachment is
flying the aircraft, and he describes the object as like two saucers
joined together, surrounded by red, green, and yellow and flying at
75,000 feet. (Good Need, pp. 298–299)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4724
Date: 1970
Description: UFO-Sverige is formed as the first nationwide UFO
organization in Sweden; it is essentially an association of 20 UFO
groups in different parts of the country. The secretary’s office is
located in Skånninge. It publishes the magazine UFO-Information from
1969 to 1980, then UFO-Aktuellt beginning in 1980. (Wikipedia, “UFO- Sverige”;
UFO-Information, no.
1 (October 26, 1969); C. Göran Norlén and Johan Gustavsson, “Tidskriften UFO-Aktuellt,”
Riksorganisationen UFO-Sverige)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4723
Date: 1970
Description: The CIA is testing a small drone aircraft in the shape of a
bird at Groom Lake, Nevada. Called Project Aquiline, the agency wants to
fly a reconnaissance UAV over key intelligence targets, such as ICBM
sites and nuclear test grounds in the Soviet Union and China, without
detection. At least one of the prototypes is flown from Area 51 more
than 20 times. The project is cancelled in 1971 before deployment and
has never been declassified. (Wikipedia, “Project
AQUILINE”; David Hambling, “Area
51’s Robotic Spy Bird,” Wired, November 6, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4722
Date: 1970
Description: Ivan
T. Sanderson publishes his last UFO book, Invisible Residents, which
compiles reports of unusual objects seen in or around bodies of water.
He speculates that such cases need not involve the presence of
extraterrestrials, but possibly an indigenous intelligence that evolved
independently in the oceans. (Ivan T. Sanderson, Invisible Residents, World,
1970; Clark III 1028)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4720
Date: 1970
Description: John
A. Keel publishes UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse, in which he presents
a theory that UFOs are produced by ultraterrestrials—beings who are able
to manipulate matter and our senses and who in the past manifested
themselves as fairies or demons. (John A. Keel, UFOs:
Operation Trojan Horse, Manor
Books ed., 1976; Wikipedia, “Operation
Trojan Horse (book)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4721
Date: 1970’s
Description: Private letter sent to BSRF from an active duty USAF pilot
asking for information.
Type: letter
Reference: BSRA archive
Location: San Diego, CA
Date: early 1970
Description: 10:00 p.m. A peasant in the Taijiang(?) District of Fujian
province, China, sees a metallic, pan-shaped object land behind a hill.
It radiates a brilliant green light, and a strange musical tone emanates
from it. After he reports it, the local army commander mobilizes
hundreds of soldiers who attempt to surround the object. After about one
hour, the object emits a bright white light and takes off vertically.
(Wendelle Stevens and Paul Dong, UFOs over Modern China, UFO Photo
Archive, 1983, p. 56) Early 1970s — 2:30–3:00 a.m. Two young men in
Furnace Creek, California, are followed by a red ball of light the size
of a beach ball. They get scared and run ahead to their house, slamming
and locking the door behind them. The ball stops at the edge of their
yard, hovering and oscillating in size. After 4–5 minutes, the ball
moves away and creates a vortex, causing stones to rise and circle in
the air. They can hear the sound of the stones hitting together. Then
the light blinks out, and the rocks crash down onto the road. (Michael
D. Swords, “Timmermania: A Step Too Far into the Timmerman Files?” IUR
27, no. 4 (Winter 2002–2003): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4725
Date: 1/1/1970
Description: 5:00 a.m. Registered nurse Doreen Kendall is looking out a
window at the Cowichan District Hospital in Duncan, British Columbia,
and sees a bright, Saturn-shaped object about 50 feet in diameter
hovering one story above her, about 60 feet off the ground and 40 feet
away. It has a row of lights around its middle. She can see two humanoid
figures in dark, tight-fitting clothing and wearing headgear in the
upper portion. One stands at an instrument panel, with the other behind
it. The second being looks directly at Kendall, then touches the first
being, who moves a lever, apparently causing the craft to tilt down and
provide a view of its interior. Kendall calls for other witnesses, who
arrive in time to see the UFO leave. (“Human-Like
Pair in
Saucer,” Victoria (B.C.) Daily Times, January 5, 1970, pp. 1–2; “UFO
Occupants Seen near Hospital,” Canadian UFO Report 1, no. 7 (Summer
1970): 3–12; UFOEv II 459–460; Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 139– 146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4726
Date: 1/1/1970
Description: Hospital nurse saw craftlike object hovering near building,
two humanoid figures visible in upper portion
Type: sighting
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Duncan, B.C., Canada
ID: 189
Date: 1/3/1970
Description: Quadrantid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 190
Date: 1/7/1970
Description: 4:45 p.m. Two skiers, lumberjack Aarno Heinonen and farmer
Esko Viljo, at Imjärvi, Finland, watch a disc- shaped, buzzing UFO
approach them and hover. It is so close to Heinonen that he could touch
it with his ski pole. From an opening in the center of the object’s
bottom, a bright light beam is emitted, creating an illuminated area of
3 feet in diameter on the snow beneath it, edged with black. A red gray
mist descends again; when it clears, both men can see, only 10 feet
away, a 3-foot tall humanoid creature standing in the illuminated area,
carrying in its hands a black box with a pulsating yellow light. Its
arms and legs are very thin, its face pale like wax, and its nose
hooked; it wears a light green coverall with darker green knee boots,
white gauntlets, and a conical metallic helmet. Then the mist again
descends, and long red, green, and purple sparks float out from the
lighted area. A sort of flame rises from this spot and enters the UFO;
then the mist and the UFO vanish. After this experience, Heinonen finds
his right leg numb, and he vomits and passes black urine; Viljo also
suffers severe physiological effects. Heinonen claims, two years later,
a series of contacts with a female spacewoman. (Sven-Olof Fredrickson,
“Finnish
Encounter in the Snow,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1970): 31–32; “Finns
Observe UFO Occupant,”
APRO Bulletin, July/Aug. 1970, pp. 6–7; Sven-Olof Fredrickson, “A
Humanoid Was Seen at Imjärvi,”
Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1970): 14–18; Sven-Olof
Fredrickson, “More
on the Imjärvi Case,”
Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1970): 22; Anders Liljegren,
“The
Continuing Story of the Imjärvi
Skiers, Part 1,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 3 (September 1980):
15–17; Anders Liljegren, “The Continuing
Story of the Imjärvi Skiers, Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 5
(January 1981): 18–20; Kim Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987,
Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 75–79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4727
Date: 1/7/1970
Description: Two skiers saw disc-shaped object approach, hover, humanoid
appeared in light beam from object. Memory loss, extensive physiological
effects
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: medical
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Imjarvi, Finland
ID: 191
Date: 1/21/1970
Description: The UFO Subcommittee of the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics sponsors a panel that meets in New York
City to discuss differing viewpoints on UFOs. Among the panel members
are Hynek, McDonald, Thornton
Page, Gordon
D. Thayer, and
Philip
Klass. The
subcommittee, led by Joachim
P. Kuettner, consists of scientists with no previous position on
UFOs and reaches several middle-of-the-road conclusions. It criticizes
the NAS position that the ETH is the least likely explanation and
rejects McDonald’s position that it is the “least unsatisfactory.” It
criticizes the Condon report, in which the conclusions do not match the
data, and recommends a moderate-level, ongoing study of UFOs. (“UFOs,
an Appraisal of the Problem: A Statement by the UFO
Subcommittee of the AIAA,” Aeronautics and Astronautics 8, no. 11
(November 1970): 49–51; Clark III 101–102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4728
Date: 1/29/1970
Description: A Uruguayan professor of socioeconomics takes a photo of a
cigar-shaped object in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Analysis shows that it
was probably a streetlamp. (“A
Street Lamp, or Sign, Or,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 3
(June/July 1983): 1; “Rio
de Janeiro 1970 Photograph Termed Streetlamp,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 4, no. 6 (Dec. 1983/Jan. 1984): 3, 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4729
Date: 1/30/1970
Description: 3:30 p.m. Project Blue Book’s doors close as its office is
staffed for the last time. The files have been packed in boxes and are
on their way to the Air Force Archives at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery,
Alabama. (“The Book
Is Closed,” UFO Investigator, May 1970, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4730
Date: 3/28/1970
Description: 11:00 p.m. About 30 UFO spotters gathered on Cradle Hill,
just outside Warminster, Wiltshire, England, see a flashing purple
light. One of their sensors buzzes, indicating a strong magnetic field,
and one observer (Norman Foxwell) takes photos that appear in the
July/August 1970 Flying Saucer Review. But the UFO is actually a light
beam from a high-intensity purple spot-lamp operated by a group of UFO
debunkers, among them physicist David I. Simpson. Foxwell himself is
part of the skeptical group (having pre-exposed a spurious UFO image),
as is the individual who operated the bogus magnetic-field sensor. The
hoax is revealed six years later. (John C. Ben, “Photographs
from Cradle Hill,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1970):
4–5; Percy Hennell, “The Warminster
Photographs Examined,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1970): 6–7; Charles Bowen, “What
the Eye Sees,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1970): 7;
Pierre Guérin, “Warminster Photographs:
A Tentative Interpretation,” Flying Saucer Review 15, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1970): 7–8; Charles Bowen, “Progress
at Cradle Hill,” Flying Saucer Review 17, no. 2 (March/April 1971):
11–12; S. E. Scammell, “A Surveyor’s
Criticism,” Flying Saucer Review 17, no. 2 (March/April 1971): 13;
John E. Ben, “Continued Investigations
at Warminster,” Flying Saucer Review 17, no. 2 (March/April 1971):
14–16; Terence Collins, “A Further
Examination of the Warminster Photographs,” Flying Saucer Review 17,
no. 2 (March/April 1971): 16– 18; Michael Samuels, “Unexpected
Photographic Effects at Warminster,” Flying Saucer Review 17, no. 2
(March/April 1971): 18–21; David I. Simpson, “Experimental
UFO Hoaxing,” MUFOB, new series 2 (March 1976): 3–6, 11–12; David I.
Simpson, “Controlled
UFO Hoax: Some Lessons,” Skeptical Inquirer 4, no 3 (Spring 1980):
32–39; David Clarke, “The Warminster Syndrome,” Fortean Times 331
(October 2015): 40–47; David Clarke, How UFOs Conquered the World,
Aurum, 2015; Steve Dewey and Kevin Goodman, History of a Mystery: Fifty
Years of the Warminster Thing, Swallowtail, 2015; Clark III
602–603)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4731
Date: 3/31/1970
Description: Explorer 1, the first US satellite, decays
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Link
See also: 2/1/58
Date: 4/15/1970
Description: Daylight disc photo similar to August 3, 1965, Santa Ana,
CA, photos
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Mar,del Plata, Argentina
ID: 192
Date: 4/29/1970
End date: 4/30/1970
Description: Around midnight. Several independent groups of witnesses to
the west of Lake Anten, Västra Götaland, Sweden, watch a red, glowing
sphere fly around the lake and neighboring areas. It occasionally sends
out a beam of light to the ground. Some of the observers get the
impression that the beams originate on the ground rather than from the
object. The next morning a few of the observers get into boats and sail
to the spot where the sphere was seen hovering. In one corner of the
garden of an isolated farmhouse named Enebacken, they find three round
marks, one foot in diameter and 1.5 inches deep, burned into the ground
in the shape of an equilateral triangle. A UFO group in Gothenburg,
Sweden, takes soil samples to a laboratory for gamma-ray testing and
finds significant non-background radiation at a peak that seems to
derive from cesium-137, a radioactive isotope. (Sven-Olof Fredrickson,
“A
Landing near Lake Anten?” Flying Saucer Review 17, no 1
(Jan./Feb. 1971): 13–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4732
Date: 5/5/1970
Description: Although the Air Force is no longer involved with UFOs, the
Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio continues to
contract Hynek’s
services as a “special consultant” on atmospheric phenomena. He reports
to Col. George
R. Weinbrenner, whom
he visits every once in a while in Dayton. He continues with the
contract through 1974. (Jennie Zeidman, “I Remember Blue Book,” IUR 16,
no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1991): 12, 23; Thomas J. Carey and Donald R. Schmitt,
Inside the Real Area 51, Tantor Media, 2013, pp. 203–213)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4733
Date: 5/14/1970
Description: 9:45 p.m. A graduate engineering student in Bangor, Maine,
notices two nocturnal lights in the Ursa Major constellation moving in a
counterclockwise circle around a common center at a constant velocity.
They abruptly stop moving, leaving them in a north-south position. After
a short time, they move away from each other, then the light moving
south suddenly halts. The other light is moving slower than a meteor but
faster than a jet aircraft. (J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience,
Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 48–49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4734
Date: 5/29/1970
Description: John L. Acuff, an experienced manager but not a UFO
researcher, becomes the new president of NICAP. He is the former
executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Society of Photographic
Scientists and Engineers [now the Society for Imaging Science and
Technology], which has cooperated with NICAP on photoanalysis but also
has military and CIA connections. Acuff and G. Stuart Nixon dismantle
the NICAP system of affiliates and state subcommittee system that have
promoted the organization for years. Regional members are told to
operate independently from one another; cooperation is discouraged.
Criticism of the government’s UFO policy is no longer permitted and
NICAP turns into a mere “sighting collection center.” Nixon is appointed
executive director. (“NI-CIA-AP
or NICAP?” Just CAUSE 1, no. 7 (January 1979): 5–13; Richard H.
Hall, “The
Quest for the Truth about
UFOs: A Personal Perspective on the Role of NICAP,” in 1994 MUFON
UFO Symposium Proceedings, MUFON, 1994, pp. 185–201; Clark III
794)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4735
Date: 6/1970
Description: Contact (UK) begins publishing The UFO Register, a journal
edited by J.
B. Delair that focuses on sightings and data. It continues
sporadically until 1995. (The
UFO Register 1, part 1 (June 1970))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4736
Date: 6/1970
Description: 12:45 a.m. A truck driver is approaching Emerald Beach, New
South Wales, when he sees a bright light on he ocean side of the
highway. A circular object rises from behind some woods 1,600 feet from
the road. It hovers for 30 seconds at an altitude of 66 feet. Relative
to the trees, the object appears to be about 33 feet in diameter, and
flames seem to shoot from its base. It slowly returns to the ground,
where it is partially obscured by trees, but it continues to emit beams
of light from its top and sides. Fearful, the driver leaves the area.
Ufologist Bill
Chalker accompanies the witness to the landing site, where they
discover six circles of dead grass of varying sizes and burned trees.
(Bill Chalker, “Physical Traces,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987,
p. 190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4737
Date: 6/13/1970
Description: MUFON holds its first annual conference in Peoria,
Illinois. Shortly afterwards, Walt
Andrus succeeds Utke as MUFON director. (John F. Schuessler, “A
Brief History of MUFON,” November 28, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4738
Date: 6/27/1970
Description: 11:40 a.m. Aristeu Machado, his wife and children, and João
Aguiar of the Brazilian Federal police, see a metallic, domed disc
resting on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean about a half-mile off the
coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Two humanoid figures are standing on
the rim. After a while the object skims the surface of the water and
takes off, lights flashing from the underside. Once airborne, the wife
can clearly see the two occupants sitting inside. (UFOEv II 460; Brazil
128–130)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4739
Date: 6/27/1970
Description: Domed disc on ocean surface, two humanoid figures visible,
took off in an arc, headed out to sea
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
ID: 193
Date: 7/1970
Description: Afternoon. John and
Mary
Pilichis see a huge cigar-shaped object over their home at Rome,
Ohio. At the same time, their daughter Bonnie and a friend are at a
swimming pool about one-half mile away when they see 3 silvery discs
flying end-to-end in the direction of their home. The parents then see
the discs as well. The cigar and the discs form a line and move into a
large, peculiar cloud. After 3–4 minutes, the cloud begins to break
apart, with no UFOs showing. (Ohio UFO Reporter, Sept./Nov. 1971;
Herbert S. Taylor, “Cloud Cigars: A Further Look,” IUR 30, no. 3 (May
2006): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4740
Date: 7/4/1970
Description: 3:00 a.m. A 33-year-old Port Monmouth, New Jersey,
housewife wakes up and sees a “big round ball” with an “eerie white
glow” hovering over the meadows across the street. She watches it
bouncing back and forth for 15 minutes as a series of red lights flash
in sequence across it. The size is about 25–30 feet wide. The
streetlight has gone out and comes back on when the object leaves. Her
son and brother-in-law later find three imprints 30–40 feet apart in the
shape of a triangle in the meadow. They also find circles impressed in
the grass, the largest 15–20 feet in diameter. Then they find tracks
“going to the creek like they had dragged some small round thing into
the ditch” as well as “two sets of a dozen imprints which were about two
feet apart. They were curved like raindrops. It was very visible, the
grass was all crushed down, there was mud on the banks of the creek, and
there were signs of the tracks in the mud.” One week later, the light
returns and crosses the field across the street. The family television,
the car ignition, and the telephone behave strangely for days afterward.
(Berthold E. Schwarz, “The Port
Monmouth Landing,” Flying Saucer Review 17, no. 3 (May/June 1971):
21–27; Clark III 251–252)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4741
Date: 7/23/1970
Description: President Nixon makes
it clear that he wants a major effort against domestic dissidents. At an
Oval Office meeting in June with the Inter Agency Committee on
Intelligence (H.
R. Haldeman, John
Ehrlichman, Tom Charles
Huston, J.
Edgar Hoover, Richard
Helms, Adm.
Noel Gaynor, and Lt. Gen. Donald
W. Bennett), Nixon hears suggestions for expanded mail openings,
resumption of illegal break-ins, electronic surveillance, and expanded
counterintelligence. He approves the plan in July but will not sign it;
neither will Haldeman or Ehrlichman. The plan was originally put
together by Huston. Hoover torpedoes it when he announces that he will
go along with it as soon as he gets written authorization from Nixon for
all those break-ins and wiretaps. (Wikipedia, “Huston
Plan”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4742
Date: 7/25/1970
Description: 5:30 p.m. A witness comes across a landed domed disc, about
20 feet in diameter and 10 feet high with windows in the dome and
portholes in its side, sitting on 4 legs near Jabreilles-les-Bordes,
Haute-Vienne, France. He is blinded by a yellow-orange light beam and
paralyzed by fright. As the object ascends with a whistling sound, he
feels a wave of heat. At 330 feet altitude, the object jumps vertically
and disappears behind a mountain. Four imprints are found forming an
irregular figure on the hillside. (MM. Gaille, J. Gorce, and J. F.
Gorce, “Atterrissage
près de Jabreilles-les-Bordes (Haute Vienne), part 1,” Lumières dans
la Nuit, no. 113 (August 1971): 11–14; MM. Gaille, J. Gorce, and J. F.
Gorce, “Atterrissage
près de Jabreilles-les-Bordes (Haute Vienne), part
2,” Lumières dans la Nuit, no. 114 (October 1971): 9–14; Ted
Phillips, Physical
Traces Associated with UFO Sightings, CUFOS,
1976, p. 71)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4743
Date: 8/1970
Description: Day. A group of Russian hydrologists are conducting
research on a motorboat on Kronotsky Lake, Kamchatka Krai, Russia.
Suddenly, about a half-mile away a dome of water rises up and a
gray-colored oval object rises up. It is roughly 165 feet in diameter,
rises to about 500 feet, and hovers nearly overhead. The engine of the
motorboat stalls. The team watches for another 90 seconds before they
row away, but the object moves away at reat speed and disappears. The
boat’s motor starts working again. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO
Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, pp .82–83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4744
Date: 8/7/1970
End date: 8/12/1970
Description: Evening. Contactee Paul
Solem, who
has managed to convince a number of Hopi Indian elders, among them Chief
Dan
Katchongva, that
he is a true prophet heralding the coming of a True White Brother,
publicly summons his space brother friends telepathically for 15 minutes
in Prescott, Arizona, where UFOs have been reported over the previous
few days. After Solem announces that “they’re here,” a “star” appears
that had not been there before and Solem receives a message from space
brother Paul 2, who tells him that the saucers are appearing because of
a Hopi prophecy. Others see zigzagging lights in the sky over the next
few nights, and Prescott Courier photographer Chuck
Roberts takes a time-lapse photo of one. (Jerome Clark, “Indian
Prophecy and
the Prescott UFOs,” Fate 24, no. 4 (April 1971): 54–61; John A.
Keel, “America’s First UFO Experts: The Hopi,” UFO Report, Summer 1974;
Armin W. Geertz, The Invention of Prophecy, University of California,
1994; Clark III 1094–1095)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4745
Date: 8/11/1970
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 194
Date: 8/13/1970
Description: 10:50 p.m. Police officer Evald Hansen Maarup is driving 5
miles south of Haderslev, Denmark, when he is surrounded by a
bluish-white light. His engine stops and the car lights and radio go
out. Heat inside the car increases. He sees a conical light coming from
the bottom of a large, silent, gray object. After a few seconds, the
light is drawn into the UFO, a process that takes about 5 minutes. It
speeds away vertically. (“UFO’et
ved Haderslev,”
UFO-Nyt, 1970 no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1970): 211–213; “Et
mærkeligt ‘Tysk Militærfly,’” UFO-Nyt, 1974 no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1974):
205–206; “The
Haderslev UFO,” BUFORA Journal 8, no. 4 (September 1979): 26–27; Kim
Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 72–75;
“Dansk
Politibetjent stoppet af
UFO,” UFO-Sandheden, February 1, 2007; Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update
on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (September
2011): 15–16; Lon Strickler, “The
Maarup Encounters,” Phantoms and Monsters, September 5, 2012;
Patrick Gross, “Close
Encounter in Denmark, August 13, 1970”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4746
Date: 8/13/1970
Description: Egg-shaped object approached police car, engine, lights,
and radio failed. Object took off at high speed
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Haderslev, Denmark
ID: 195
Date: 8/14/1970
Description: 8:45 p.m. Residents of Little Heart’s Ease and St. Jones
Within on the Southwest Arm in Newfoundland watch a blood-red fireball
8–10 feet long with a trail of lighter color for about 5 minutes as it
passes overhead to the northeast. It makes a rushing noise before it
crashes into the water near the mouth of the harbor at Little Heart’s
Ease. When the RCMP arrive to investigate, they go out in a boat but can
find no submerged object. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified,
August North, 2022, p. 102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4747
Date: 8/29/1970
Description: 11:15 p.m. Several witnesses in Enebacken, Sweden, see a
bright, round, red light maneuvering around the ground, emitting beams
of yellow-white light. Three round landing marks in a triangular
formation are found in the garden of Richard Johansson’s small farm near
Lake Anten. Soil samples are taken and analyzed, with the results
showing an increased level of gamma radiation in the test samples from
one of the landing marks. (Sven- Olof Fredrickson, “A
Landing near Lake Anten?” Flying Saucer Review 17, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1971): 13–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4748
Date: 8/30/1970
Description: 11:30 a.m. A 7-year-old girl in Vincennes, Indiana, sees a
metallic disc in the east-northeast hovering over Wheatland Road. She
tells her parents, and her father goes outside and sees it too. He
re-enters the house to get his 7x50 binoculars. The object is about a
quarter of a mile away and looks like a squared-off conning tower about
30 feet in diameter. They watch it for 90 seconds, after which it leaves
in a swooping dive to the north-northeast. (NICAP, “Domed
Disc Observed in Broad Daylight / MADAR Connection”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4749
Date: 9/1970
Description: 9:00 p.m. While walking home from a high school football
game in Jessup, Pennsylvania, Frank Scassellati, 16, observes a glowing
white, apparently metallic, silvery disc in the southeast sky moving
from left to right. Around the dome on top is a row of rectangular
windows; three spheres and a flat circle are visible on the underside.
The object moves out of sight behind local terrain. Though he does not
report the sighting to any authorities, Scassellati says that a few
nights later he notices a limousine parked outside of his house with
four men in black suits and hats sitting in it. They reappear for
several nights but he has no interaction with them. (Center for UFO
Studies, [case
documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4750
Date: 9/8/1970
Description: Dusk. A farmer near Zillah, Washington, is dismounting from
his tractor when he sees a triangular object hovering in the air. Steel
gray in color, it has a red light at each of its bottom corners and
white lights in its center. It eventually moves upward and out of sight.
(“Sighting
Advisory,” UFO Investigator, January 1971, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4751
Date: 10/24/1970
Description: 1:00 a.m. Gerald Adams and Donna Martin are parked on a
dirt road 3–4 miles north and a half-mile west of MacGregor, Manitoba.
They notice a bright light approaching from about a half-mile away. When
it lands 150 feet from them, they notice it is an oblong object 8 feet
in diameter with 9 “rods” and a red light on top. Adams takes Martin
home but returns to the site. The object has moved farther away and is
hovering above the ground. As he drives closer, he sees a humanoid
entity about 4 feet tall dressed in a helmet and a silver metallic
uniform crossing the road about 50 feet in front of him. He brakes, but
the entity has gone. The UFO slowly lifts vertically from the ground and
speeds away to the northwest. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 146–150, 160)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4752
Date: 10/29/1970
Description: Disc with dome descended, hovered over car, driver blinded
by strong blue-white light, physiological effects. Object departed
rapidly straight up
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Helleland, Norway
ID: 196
Date: 10/29/1970
Description: 5:40 p.m. Reidar Salvesen is driving about 2 miles east of
Helleland, Rogaland, Norway, when a dazzling light forces him to stop
the car. He looks up and sees a globe about 60 feet in diameter
approaching noiselessly. It stops about 18 feet in front of the car and
hovers for 50 seconds about 30 feet up. Suddenly the object shoots
straight up into the air, causing Salvesen to fall on the pavement. He
hears a sharp crack caused by his front windshield shattering. About
3,200 feet in the air the globe changes to a fireball, which quickly
disappears. After sweeping up the shards of windowpane glass, he drives
on, but feels a numbness in his tongue a few minutes later. He also has
an abrasion on his hand from falling down, but the skin sloughs off as
if burned, and he has a redness around his eyes when he returns home.
His travel clock starts keeping time badly. (“I
Met a ‘Flying Saucer,’” Scandinavian Newsletter, no. 1/2 (April
1971): 4–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4753
Date: 11/1970
Description: The UFO Subcommittee of the American Institute for
Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) published its report, UFO, An
Appraisal of the Problem, recommending continued investigation of UFO
sightings.
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 197
Date: 11/1970
Description: The UFO Subcommittee of the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics publishes a formal statement in its journal
Aeronautics and Astronautics. It recommends “a continuing,
moderate-level effort with emphasis on improved data collection by
objective means and on high-quality scientific analysis” as the “only
promising approach” to solving the UFO problem, and sharply criticizes
the Colorado project’s conclusion that studying the subject will not add
to scientific knowledge. (“UFOs,
an Appraisal of the Problem: A Statement by the
UFO Subcommittee of the AIAA,” Aeronautics and Astronautics 8, no.
11 (November 1970): 49–51; J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience,
Ballantine ed., 1974, pp. 249–251)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4754
Date: 11/1/1970
Description: 10:30 p.m. Stewart Wilkinson and his wife are driving on
the Trans-Canada Highway just west of Pense, Saskatchewan, when they see
an disc-shaped object with a beam of light extending down to the road.
It follows his car about 20 feet to the right at an altitude of 10–15
feet. At one point it moves ahead and hovers above a truck parked a
half-mile away. When he comes alongside the truck, the object moves to
the left side of his car about 30 feet away and almost on the ground.
Wilkinson slows down and comes to a stop, and the object follows suit,
hovering for another 10–15 seconds before disappearing into the lights
of Moose Jaw to the west. It has followed his car for 12 minutes and 10
miles. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night,
2022, pp. 85–86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4756
Date: 11/5/1970
Description: 9:00 p.m. Albert Formiller is fishing for bass in Cholla
Bay, Sonora, Mexico, when he sees a light in the sky coming from a
saucer-shaped object, which stops and hovers about 200–300 feet above
the surface. A light from a tube on the bottom illuminates a broad
stretch of water about one half-mile wide. It changes from a broad
floodlight to a sharp spot on the surface, apparently as it is raised or
lowered. After a few minutes, a cloud forms around the object. After 5
minutes, the searchlight is turned off and a similar light appears on
top of the UFO, illuminating the upper part of the cloud. The object
then moves west and is visible for 20 minutes in all. (Carl W. Feindt,
“Beam of Light into a Body of Water,” IUR 33, no. 3 (December 2010):
23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4755
Date: 11/16/1970
Description: Evening. One adult and four teenagers are leaving a
basketball game at Beckemeyer (Illinois) Elementary School when they
notice a triangular object with orange and white lights moving in an
erratic manner to the south. They watch it for 10 minutes, and a smaller
object emerges from the triangle. (“UFO
Sighted,” Breese (Ill.) Journal, November 19, 1970, via UFO
Newsclipping Service, no. 20 (December 1970): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4757
Date: 11/17/1970
End date: 11/20/1970
Description: At a Radar Meteorology Conference in Tucson, Arizona, McDonald presents
a paper on “Meteorological Factors in Unidentified Radar Returns.”
(James E. McDonald, “Meteorological
Factors in Unidentified
Radar Returns,” November 1970; Story, p. 416)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4758
Date: 11/29/1970
Description: 6:30 p.m. A 17-year-old student at Oizumi High School is
riding his bicycle home at Tatebayasi, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, when he
sees 5–6 objects flying in formation on a straight path from northeast
to southwest. Seconds later, a solitary object appears to the north and
approaches swiftly. The student parks his bicycle and runs up some steps
to a raised enclosure for a better view. The single UFO changes course
and circles several times, descending slowly. It then hovers, climbs,
and disappears. The student gets back on his bike and sees a bright
flash of white light to the southeast, which startles him and he pedals
home quickly. The student returns the next day to the enclosure, which
is actually a raised tombstone. He finds four circular patches of
flattened grass. (Takao Ikeda, “A
Close Encounter in Tatebayasi,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories,
no. 10 (June 1972): 10– 11, 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4759
Date: 12/14/1970
Description: 1:30 a.m. Belgian writer Julian Weverbergh and his wife are
awakened in Bucharest, Romania, by a bright red glow, which changes to
white. A spherical light is hovering above a bus before disappearing.
(Hobana and Weverbergh 271)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4760
Date: 1971
Description: A secret computer database of the NORAD Unknown Track
Reporting System (NUTR) that logs air defense unknowns is launched and
maintained for assessment of “airspace sovereignty.” (Clark III
801)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4762
Date: 1971
Description: Unhappy with NICAP leadership, Raymond
E. Fowler (and most of his Massachusetts Subcommittee) transfers his
allegiance to MUFON. (Clark III 517)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4761
Date: 1/3/1971
Description: 6:15 a.m. Maun and Matta Talana are drinking coffee when
they see a brilliant light approaching from the lake outside their home
at Saapunki, Kuusano, Finland. It is about 33 feet in diameter and
moving against the wind. Their electricity goes off briefly. Looking out
the window, the Talalas see their whole yard bathed in light caused by a
huge fireball about 60 feet away, which rises up and disappears after a
few seconds. Around 8:30 a.m., their son Timo asks them what the marks
are in the snow outside. He has noticed a spot of hard green ice that is
not covered with snow. Mauno takes some green ice and melts it into dark
green water. The melted area is about 20 feet long by 10 feet wide, in
the middle of which are ice needles as big as fingers with a ball of ice
on top and some soot. The following day, he tells the newspaper, which
sends a photographer to the site. UFO researchers from Oulu arrive on
January 6 and take samples from the melted area and measure radiation.
(Elis W. Grahn, “Saapunki
UFO and Green Ice,” Flying Saucer Review 17, no. 2 (March/April
1971): 2–3, 27; “Green Water
from Saapunki: Result of Water Sample Analysis,” Flying Saucer
Review 17, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1971): 26– 27; Ahti Karavieri, “The
Saapunki UFO: Results of Investigations,” Flying Saucer Review 17,
no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1971): 23–26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4763
Date: 1/7/1971
Description: Two boys independently observe a metallic object with an
orange glow flying over Dennis, Massachusetts. It descends and
disappears over some trees and looks as if it is about to fall into
Scargo Lake. One boy sees a hole in the ice on the lake; steam is rising
from it, and the water in the hole looks agitated. NICAP investigator Walter
N. Webb visits
the lake on January 10 and reports that the hole “was formed by a rather
sudden melting process.” (“NICAP
Probes Crashed Object Report,” UFO Investigator, February 1971,
p. 1; “NICAP
Probes Crashed Object
Report: Search Still Hampered by Bad Weather,” UFO Investigator,
March 1971, p. 3; Clark III 339)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4764
Date: 1/23/1971
Description: The Porto Alegre, Brazil, newspaper Correiro do Povo notes
UFO sightings are recurring in a rural location close to the federal
capital of Brasília. An unnamed local peasant is quoted as saying that
the “state governor” shows up regularly and looks for “little stones” in
the nearby woods. Always dressed in black, he arrives via an airplane
“made of two dishes, like, one atop the other, and when it goes up in
the air it changes color and then disappears quicker than a flash.”
(Gordon Creighton, “South
American Roundup, 1971, Part 1,” Flying Saucer Review Case
Histories, no. 10 (June 1972); 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4765
Date: 1/25/1971
Description: 9:30 a.m. Gunar Gruenzner is taking photos of the scenery
near Praia da Armação beach in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil,
when he claims to see an intense light beginning to descend. He snaps a
photo but can no longer see the light. The photo shows a circular light
with a dark aura. Probably a film defect. (“Observations diverses
à l’étranger: Photographie au Brésil,” Lumières dans la Nuit, no.
120 (October 1972): 13–14; Wim van Utrecht, “Shiny
Cigar Photographed over Brazilian Beach,” Caelestia)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4766
Date: 2/1971
Description: The Borderline Science Investigation Group is founded in
Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, by Ivan A. W. Bunn. It publishes Lantern, a
newsletter that continues for 40 issues through late 1982. (Lantern,
no. 3 (Autumn 1973))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4767
Date: 2/5/1971
Description: 3:00 p.m. Petter Aliranta and Esko Juhani Sneck are working
in the woods around Kangaskylä, near Kinnula, Finland, when they see a
15-foot object descend to a clearing 50 feet away. As it lands, a small
entity just under 3 feet tall glides to the ground from an opening on
the underside. Through 3 windows on the UFO, three more entities can be
seen. The entity approaches Aliranta, who turns on his chain saw.
Suddenly, the being turns around and heads back to the UFO. As the
humanoid is rising back up into the air, Aliranta grabs it by the heel
of its boot with his bare hand. It burns him like a hot iron, and he has
to let go. The burns are clearly visible 2 months later. The humanoid
gets back inside, and the UFO takes off with a hum. Before the two men
go back, they look at markings in the snow. At the end of each landing
foot there had ben a round plate. These plates have penetrated the full
depth of the snow (1.3 feet), leaving four round prints forming an even
square 6.5 feet on each side. Circular footprints left by the entity are
clearly visible, about 6 inches wide. Possible hoax. (Tapani Kuningas,
“The
Humanoid at Kinnula,” Flying Saucer Review 17, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1971): 18–19; Patrick Gross, URECAT, April
5, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4768
Date: 2/23/1971
Description: 7:00 p.m. Thousands of people in Turin and other places in
Piedmont, Italy, observe a conspicuous red cloud in the western sky,
just above the crest of the Alps, moving majestically and changing shape
slowly. Someone takes a photograph of it from Caluso. The following day,
the French Office National d’Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales
announces that the cloud was caused by a Tibere, an experimental
three-stage rocket for atmospheric reentry tests. (Sofia Lincos and
Giuseppe Stilo, “La
lunga notte della nube rossa,” CICAP, November 5, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4769
Date: 3/2/1971
Description: James
E. McDonald testifies as an expert in atmospheric physics at the
House Committee on Appropriations hearings on the Concorde supersonic
transport and its potentially harmful effects. His opponents question
his credentials and ridicule him as someone who believes in “little men
flying around in the sky.” (Clark III 701)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4770
Date: 3/8/1971
Description: The Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI burgles an
FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania, takes several dossiers, and
exposes the FBI COINTELPRO program by passing this material to news
agencies. (Wikipedia, “Citizens’
Commission to Investigate the FBI”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4771
Date: 3/14/1971
Description: 4:00 p.m. Five silver objects, four of them in a box
formation with a fifth leading, are seen over Christies Beach, Adelaide,
South Australia. Filaments fall. (Keith Basterfield, “Angel Hair: An
Australian Perspective,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4772
Date: 3/15/1971
Description: 3:10 p.m. Several silvery-white balls are seen in the air
over Maslin Beach, Adelaide, South Australia. White “fairy floss” is
found on the ground that tends to melt and disappear when picked up. It
is extremely light and tenuous. (Keith Basterfield, “Angel Hair: An
Australian Perspective,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4773
Date: 4/1971
Description: Hoover terminates
the COINTELPRO program, but the FBI continues to use similar tactics
from time to time. (Wikipedia, “COINTELPRO”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4776
Date: 4/1971
Description: James
McDonald shoots himself in the head, leaving him blind, and is
committed to the psychiatric ward of the V.A. Medical Center in Tucson,
Arizona. He has been depressed about his disintegrating marriage. He
signs himself out in June. (Clark III 701)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4777
Date: 4/1971
Description: UFO Research Associates in Washington, D.C., begins
publication of the UFO Research Newsletter, edited by Gordon
I. R. Lore Jr. It
runs until September 1980. (UFO
Research Newsletter 1, no. 1 (April 1971))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4775
Date: 4/1971
Description: Industrial Research magazine publishes the results of a
survey in which 80% of its members reject the Condon report, 76% believe
that the government is concealing UFO facts, and 32% accept the ETH.
(Keyhoe, Aliens from Space, Signet ed., 1974, pp. 234–235)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4774
Date: 4/2/1971
Description: After 10:00 p.m. Following several sightings of a bright
light in the sky at West Kempsey, New South Wales, an aboriginal man at
Greenhill sees a hairless face pressed up against his kitchen window.
Immediately he is “sucked out” through the window and falls 7 feet to
the steps below. Frightened but largely unhurt, he runs away and his
wife pursues him. She takes him to the hospital where a cut on his hand
is treated. (Eileen Buckle, “Defenestration
at Kempsey,” Flying Saucer Review 17, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1971):
20–21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4778
Date: 4/14/1971
Description: CIA Director Richard
Helms gives a rare public address in which he insists that the CIA
does not surveil domestic mail. However, the HTLINGUAL program, which is
still in effect until 1973, does so. The New York City component of the
program alone examines more than 2 million mailed items every year,
photographs 30,000 envelopes, and opens 8,000–9,000 letters. (Wikipedia,
“HTLINGUAL”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4779
Date: 4/14/1971
Description: Close-range sighting of disc with windows, two humanoid
figures visible inside, light beam upward from top
Type: sighting
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Callery, PA
ID: 198
Date: 5/1971
Description: 7:30 p.m. Alojz Krz comes across a UFO sitting on three
legs in a shallow hollow in a field near Stara Cerkev, Slovenia. He
approaches within 65 feet of it, and it frightens him considerably.
Around 8:00 p.m., 17-year-old Angela Rajhs is bicycling in the same area
and watches the landed object for 4–5 minutes. As she is cycling away,
the object takes off, turning in a wide spiral. Rajhs returns to the
scene with her parents the next day and finds several pointed holes in
the ground about 6–8 inches in diameter. The nearby grass seems burned.
(Milos Kremelj, “Close
View of Landed Craft,” Canadian UFO Report 4, no. 4 (Summer 1977):
9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4783
Date: 5/1971
Description: 6:00 a.m. A 16-mm film is allegedly taken of retrieved UFOs
at Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo, New Mexico. It supposedly
shows “three disc-shaped craft,” one of which lands and the other two
fly away. A door opens on the landed vehicle and three human-sized
beings emerge with an odd, gray complexion and pronounced noses. They
wear tight-fitting jump suits and thin headdresses that appear to be
communication devices. In their hands they hold a “translator.” A
Holloman base commander and other Air Force officials go out to meet
them. (Linda Moulton Howe, An Alien Harvest: Further Evidence Linking
Animal Mutilations and Human Abductions to Alien Life Forms, Howe
Productions, 1989; Clark III 357)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4782
Date: 5/1971
Description: The Société Belge d’Étude des Phénomènes Spatiaux is
established in Brussels, Belgium, by Lucien
Clarebaut. It
publishes the journal Inforespace from 1972 to 2007. (Comité Belge
d’Étude des Phénomènes Spatiaux, “Qui sommes-nous?”;
Inforespace, no.
1 (1972))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4781
Date: 5/1971
Description: Oswald
G. Villard Jr., Antony
C. Fraser-Smith, and
R. P. Cassam write an article at the request of the Office of Naval
Research and the Advanced Research Projects Agency that explores whether
long-delayed radio echoes could be attributable to an extraterrestrial
probe. They consider it possible but inefficient. (Oswald G. Villard, et
al., “Long-Delayed Echoes: Radio’s ‘Flying Saucer’ Effect,” QST 53 (May
1969): 38; Oswald G. Villard, Antony C. Fraser-Smith, and R. P. Cassam,
“LDEs, Hoaxes, and the Cosmic Repeater Hypothesis,” QST 55 (May 1971):
54–58; Michael D. Swords, “Radio Signals from Space, Alien Probes, and
Betty Hill,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005): 12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4780
Date: 5/23/1971
Description: 12:30 p.m. Rudi Nagora and his wife are driving near Sankt
Lorenzen ob Eibiswald, Styria, Austria, for a Sunday outing. Nagora gets
out of the car and hears a whizzing sound and sees a silver, metallic
object overhead moving in a zigzag pattern. He takes 11 consecutive
color photographs of it over a 10-minute period. (Richard F. Haines, “An
Analysis of Multiple UAP Photographic Images (May 23, 1971, Austrian
Alps),” JUFOS 9 (2006): 31–70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4784
Date: 5/24/1971
Description: 12:10 p.m. Retired artist Julio
Suárez Marzal is in the first-floor dental office of Walter Griehl
on the Avenida Pedro Molina in Mendoza, Argentina, when they see a
flattened, Saturn-shaped object about a half-mile away to the south.
Griehl goes to retrieve some binoculars and misses most of the sighting.
It is an incandescent dark orange in color and moving from east to west.
It begins floating down with a rocking movement and approaches to within
230 feet. Suárez Marzal sees that it is revolving because of a small
circular mark on its rim. A dense cloud issues from the object and
surrounds it, turning it pearly gray with a faintly bluish sheen. As it
gets closer, the circular mark seems to extend like a bronze-colored
cylinder and has a handle-like protuberance on top. At one point it
moves away to the northeast and disappears for 4 seconds but reappears
even closer, only 130 feet away. It remains stationary for 10 seconds,
and the cylinder seems deliberately pointed toward the short-wave
antenna on the nearby central post office. He estimates it is 18–20 feet
in diameter. It continues rocking and changes shape from a globe to a
hat to an oval. Then after being visible for 90 seconds it takes off
suddenly to the south, leaving a trail of vapor. (Antonio Baragiola, “A
Remarkable Case from Mendoza, Argentina,” Flying Saucer Review 18,
no. 2 (March/April 1972): 7–11; François Lagarde, “Note
on the Mendoza Report,” Flying Saucer Review 18, no. 2 (March/April
1972): 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4785
Date: 5/24/1971
Description: Saturn-shaped object darted around, rocked back and forth
while hovering, rapid acceleration upward at angle
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Mendoza, Argentina
ID: 199
Date: 5/25/1971
Description: 2:00 a.m. Mr. C. Archer is woken up in his home at
Lynchford, Tasmania, by his dogs barking and a strange humming noise
like a generator. He can’t see anything outside and after 30 minutes the
humming stops. The next day, a flattened area of grass and blackberries
is found about 600 feet from the house. It is about 30 by 15 feet with a
spiral pattern in the middle and 6 regularly placed indentations. Later,
another set of similar indentations is found, roughly in the shape of a
triangle. (W. K. Roberts, “Burst
of UFO Activity in Tasmania,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories,
no. 9 (October 1971): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4786
Date: 6/1971
Alternate date: 7/1971
Description: 8:30 p.m. The aircraft carrier USS
John
F. Kennedy is completing an Operational Readiness Exercise in the
Caribbean Sea when an incident occurs following an 18-hour period
simulating General Quarters. Yeoman Third Class James M. Kopf is in the
Communications Center monitoring messages on various teletypes. Suddenly
all the messages begin coming in garbled and he hears that all ship
communications are out, including the radar, compasses, and electrical
systems. A signalman from the deck tells them over the intercom that
something is hovering above the ship. Kopf and others rush topside and
see a huge, pulsating, orangish sphere stationed silently above the ship
at a 60°–70° angle. The object remains about 20 minutes, but Kopf sees
it only one minute before General Quarters sounds and he needs to return
to his battle stations. The two F-4 Phantom jets on high readiness alert
cannot take off. Soon the messaging returns to normal and the crew
stands down after 2 hours. Kopf thinks only about 18 men witnessed the
object out of the 5,000 on the carrier, because everyone is exhausted
from the exercise. He hears that commanding officer Capt. Ferdinand
B. Koch is frustrated by the event, but two days later Koch reminds
the crew that certain events are to be considered classified. (Good
Need, pp. 285–288)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4787
Date: 6/9/1971
Description: Evening. Esther Clappison sees a light through her windows
in Rosedale, Alberta, and goes out onto her porch and sees a rectangular
object on the ground. One end of it is open, revealing a diffused, white
light. Two human- like forms are moving about inside. A third figure is
outside in a crouched position, picking up rocks. They all appear to be
wearing drab-green coveralls. She goes inside briefly, but the object is
gone when she returns. (Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and
Abductions, Methuen, 1979, pp. 67–69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4788
Date: 6/13/1971
Description: 11:40 a.m. James
E. McDonald is found dead along a shallow creek in Tucson, Arizona,
of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A suicide note nearby notes his
domestic problems. (Ann Druffel, “Remembering James McDonald,” IUR 18,
no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1993): 4–6, 23–24; Clark III 701)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4789
Date: 6/13/1971
Description: The New York Times begins publishing excerpts of the
Pentagon papers, leaked by former military analyst Daniel
Ellsberg, which
detail the secret history of the US political-military involvement in
Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. (Wikipedia, “Pentagon
Papers”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4790
Date: 6/26/1971
Description: Soviet super heavy N-1 rocket fails its third test
attempt
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Baikonur Cosmodrome
Date: 6/29/1971
Description: 3:00 a.m. A man is hiking in Delamere Forest east of
Chester, England, when an “electric blue light” appears ahead and moves
toward him, dancing erratically in and out of the trees. He walks toward
it but before taking 20 steps he finds himself walking calmly back. The
object then moves along a mud track and disappears into a small “garage”
in the bushes. After wandering around in a disoriented state for some
time, he searches for the “garage” but cannot find it. (Jenny Randles,
“Much More Than Marsh Gas,” Fortean Times 311 (March 2014): 27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4791
Date: 7/7/1971
Description: 6:00 p.m. Spanish physician Guillermo Arguello de la Motta
is a guest of his friend Antonio Arocha at San Juan de los Morros,
Guárico, Venezuela. They suddenly see two men dressed in black, both
wearing red ties and black berets. They emerge from a brand-new red Ford
Mustang, at a distance of 1,600 feet from the house. They stand there
waiting for 5 minutes, then begin to put on orange belts, talking
together animatedly. Suddenly a shining object appears in the sky,
descends, and stops at a height of 2 feet from the ground. It is
circular, bell-shaped underneath, and has a “turret” on the top. The
object changes rapidly in color from orange to blue and to white.
Suddenly a small staircase is dropped from the object, enabling the two
men from the Mustang to enter the UFO. The staircase is drawn in, then
the object takes off at an impressive speed. (Gordon Creighton, “South
American Round-Up,
Part 1,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories, no. 10 (June 1972):
9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4792
Date: 7/8/1971
Description: 1:15 p.m. Miner Claude Girard is parked on the road near
the bridge over the Hurricana River in Joutel, Quebec, when he sees a
circle 15–20 feet in diameter on the surface of the water with a jet of
water in the center reaching a height of 20 feet. When the water jet
settles down, Girard can see a cylindrical object, 6–8 feet in length
and rusty black in color, beneath the surface. It slowly begins to lean
to one side and sinks in less than a minute. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s
UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, p. 103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4793
Date: 7/17/1971
Description: 10:45 p.m. Tea planter Parl Abeywickrema, his two
assistants Oswin de Alwis and Nimal Dunuwille, and the driver Sirisena
Wijesinghe are driving between the Hope Estate in Rikillagaskada, Sri
Lanka, and the Rockwood Estate in Hewaheta when they see a bright object
larger than the full moon above the hilly horizon. Soon it approaches
the, and Abeywickrema orders the driver to stop. They watch the object,
now hovering about one- quarter mile away at an altitude of 1,000 feet.
After 10 minutes it silently swoops toward them at high speed and stops
300 feet away at a height of 100 feet. The object is about 25 feet in
diameter with two “tapering wings” on either side and casts a
fluorescent yellow glow. After a few more minutes, the UFO moves toward
the southwest at a 45° angle after drawing its two wings inside the main
body. Some 50 witnesses report the same or similar objects in the same
area that night, and both Abeywickrema and Wijesinghe report seeing UFOs
around 2:00– 3:00 a.m. after returning home. (Story, pp. 169–170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4794
Date: 7/29/1971
Description: A CIA internal memo reports that a citizen named Vartorella
has expressed the opinion that the CIA used the Colorado project as
“whitewash to cover a CIA-initiated program begun prior to January
1953.” The writer runs through a brief history of the Robertson Panel
and suggests the following response: “We’re sorry, but we have had no
interest in the UFO matter for many years, have no files or persons
knowledgeable on the subject, and hence are unable to respond to his
charges and questions.” (ClearIntent, p. 142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4795
Date: 7/29/1971
Description: Night. A woman living on a farm outside Saint Hyacinthe,
Quebec, watches as two dark circular objects with red rotating lights
hovering above her potato field. It quickly disappears. The next
morning, her husband finds two 11-foot-wide circular patches of crushed
and burned potatos where the UFO had hovered. Investigators estimated
the object had burnes or irradiated the field from a height of 15 feet.
(Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen,
1979, p. 143)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4796
Date: 8/6/1971
Description: U.S. KH-9 “Big Bird” spy satellite incinerated on reentry
into atmosphere.
Type: official
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 200
Date: 8/9/1971
Description: Airline flight paced for 20 minutes by glowing orange disc
(“like two round basins, one on top of the other”)
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Minas Gerais region, Brazil
ID: 201
Date: 8/11/1971
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 202
Date: 8/16/1971
Description: Jan-Ove
Sundberg sees a landed UFO in a cleared area above Foyers,
Inverness, Scotland, on Loch Ness. Three human-shaped figures in gray
coveralls emerge from some bushes and enter the craft, which then takes
off. Sundberg snaps a photo, then contacts writer and monster researcher
Frederick
William “Ted” Holiday, who is looking for a UFO connection with the
loch. However, Sundberg eventually confesses that he made up the story.
(F. W. Holiday, “Exorcism
and UFO Landing at Loch Ness,” Flying Saucer Review 19, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1973): 3–7, 13; Roland Watson, “Ted
Holiday’s Final Days,” Loch Ness Monster, May 31, 2008; Clark III
600–601)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4797
Date: 9/3/1971
Description: G.
Gordon Liddy and E.
Howard Hunt break into the office of Lewis J. Fielding, Daniel
Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. (Wikipedia, “Daniel
Ellsberg”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4798
Date: 9/4/1971
Description: Aerial survey plane photo showing disc on edge
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Lago de Cote, Costa Rica
ID: 203
Date: 9/4/1971
Description: 8:25 a.m. Pilot Omar Arias is flying a twin-engine Canadian
Aero-Commander F680 at a height of 10,000 feet above Lago de Cote, Costa
Rica, taking aerial photos as part of a preliminary study for future
hydroelectric projects. On board are photographer Sergio Loaiza, a
specialist in aerial photography, plus geographer Juan Bravo and
topographer Francisco Reyes. Loaiza was using a R-M-K 15/23 camera,
specially made for cartography and using high-resolution black-and-white
film, strapped on the bottom of the aircraft and taking automatic photos
with an intervalometer. No one sees a thing while they are up in the
air, but when Loiaza reviews his images, he discovers in frame 300 what
seems to be a huge metallic disc against the dark background of the
lake. The object does not appear in the previous or following frames. Jacques
Vallée obtains a copy of the negative and examines it with Richard
Haines and concludes that the photo shows “an unidentified, opaque,
aerial object was captured on film at a maximum distance of 10,000 feet.
There are no visible means of lift or propulsion and no surface markings
other than darker regions that appear to be nonrandom.” (Richard F.
Haines and Jacques Vallée, “Photo Analysis
of an Aerial Disc over Costa Rica,” Journal of Scientific
Exploration 3, no. 2 (1989): 113–131; Richard F. Haines and Jacques
Vallée, “Photo
Analysis of an Aerial Disc over Costa Rica: New Evidence,” Journal
of Scientific Exploration 4, no. 1 (1990): 71–74; Mick West, “1971
Lake Cote / Lago de Cote UFO Aerial Photo,” Metabunk,org, May 10,
2021; Bryce Zabel, “The
Best UFO Photo Ever Taken?” Medium: The Trail of the Saucers, May
10, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4799
Date: 9/12/1971 (approximate)
Description: 7:00 p.m. Juan Rodríguez Domínguez, 82, who goes by the
nickname of Juan el de la Palmareña, is in his hut on the Los Lunarejos
farm just over a mile from Aznalcóllar, Seville, Spain, when he sees a
bus-sized object landing near an abandoned well 1,000 feet away. More
than 50 “soldiers” in blue “uniforms” emerge. They march in formation
into a hollow in the field and are lost to view. Juan can now see only
five or six “chiefs” standing on a slope and staring in his direction.
When they shine a light at him, he ducks behind the hut. A bit later he
looks out again and they shine the light once more. Frightened, he flees
to Aznalcóllar to inform his employers, who do not take him seriously.
He later insists that the object and the “soldiers” have left marks in
the ground, but police do not bother to follow up. (Ignacio Darnaude,
“An
‘Army of Humanoids’ Stated to Have Landed
in Spain,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 3 (December 1974): 19–21;
Ignacio Darnaude, [case
clippings]; Clark III 282)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4800
Date: 9/19/1971
Description: 3:30 a.m. Arthur Honke, Alec Honke, and Gordon Campbell are
driving north just outside Winnipeg, Manitoba, to do some hunting. They
see a bright flash as something passes overhead and in front of the car.
It now appears ahead of them on the right side of the road. Honke pulls
alongside it and steps out of the car. They can hear a low-pitched
humming from the object only about 150–225 feet away. It is shaped like
two saucers, one on top of the aother, and has flashing green and red
lights and one white statonary light. The object hovers for 30 seconds,
then starts moving slowly to the southeast. But as the men drive north
again, the object begins following them at a distance for about 45
minutes. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night,
2022, pp. 86–87, 152)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4801
Date: late 9/1971
Description: 7:30 p.m. Chen Chu, a member of a People’s Liberation Army
unit stationed in Dingzhou, Hebei, China, is on assignment in a small
valley north of the city when he and other soldiers notice a ball-like
object rising slowly to the north of their quarters. It is emitting
mist, and after a few seconds it spurts out a large jet of smoke and
rises in the air. It hovers a few more seconds then rises to a higher
level. Soon it drops down toward the ground and disappears. The unit
dispatches a motor vehicle to find the object, but due to the ruggedness
of the mountain roads, it turns back after more than 3 miles. (Wendelle
Stevens and Paul Dong, UFOs over Modern China, UFO Photo Archives, 1983,
p. 72) Autumn — Gene and Geneva Steinberg begin publishing Caveat
Emptor, a newsletter on UFOs and other anomalies, in Charleston, South
Carolina. It runs until October 1974, then goes on hiatus until late
1988 when it is again edited by the Steenberg’s, this time in New
Jersey. It persists until fall 1990. (Caveat
Emptor 1, no. 1 (Fall 1971))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4802
Date: 10/2/1971
Description: 6:30 a.m. An ex-Air Force man is driving from Caro to
Watrousville, Michigan, and spots a triangular UFO with a large white
light at the bottom and many smaller red lights around it. It makes
sharp turns at fantastic speed and moves quickly out of sight. (“Sighting
Advisory,” UFO Investigator, December 1971, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4803
Date: 10/2/1971
Description: 7:50 p.m. Two students, Vània, 9, and Vera, 21, are sitting
down outside their residence on a busy street in the populous
neighborhood of São Cristóvão in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when they see a
luminous, yellow, silent object above a building across the street some
260–300 feet away. They run out into the street to alert others, and the
object follows them above the roofs of houses. Another student, Nelson
Calmon Schubsky, 23, and his fiancée rush into the street along with
many others to see the object. Chbosky has a Leica camera and takes two
photos without having time to adjust the settings. The UFO has three
luminous appendages (white, yellow, and red) and is rose-colored in the
center with a red outline. It pulsates rapidly, changes color, and
disappears behind a nearby tower. Chbosky’s photos are blurry. (“UFO
é Fotografado no Rio de Janeiro (RJ),” Portal Fenomenum, June 15,
2016; Clark III 1007–1009; Brazil 146–149)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4804
Date: 10/5/1971
Description: Early morning. While on the downwind leg of the pattern to
runway 20L at the Santos Dumont Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, four
pilots on board a single-engine Cessna airplane watch as a “huge star”
approaches them on their starboard side. The object descends to their
altitude and slows rapidly to their air speed, smoothly changing its
direction to fly parallel with them at an estimated distance of 98 feet.
It looks like an “inverted dish” with a small rounded protrusion
centered on its upper surface that seems to contain oval windows. What
appears to be the head of a person is seen in one window looking at
them. The UFO is seen for about 85 seconds. The object descends at high
velocity toward the water’s surface, turns sharply left without any
hesitation and disappears from sight in several seconds. The reporting
witness is Chief Flight Instructor José Américo C. Medeiros, 23, pilot
of the Cessna. (Richard F. Haines, “Airplane Pacing in Rio,” IUR 34, no.
2 (Mar. 2012): 3–6, 26–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4805
Date: 10/11/1971
Description: Soviet Salyut 1 space station burned up during atmospheric
reentry.
Type: official
Type: landing
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 204
Date: 11/2/1971
Description: Brilliantly lighted, mushroomshaped object hovered just off
ground, sheep reacted, light beam, landing traces, physiological
effects
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Delphos, KS
ID: 205
Date: 11/2/1971
Description: 7:00 p.m. Ronald Johnson, 16, is tending sheep on his
family’s farm at Delphos, Kansas, when he hears a rumbling sound and
sees (75 feet away in a small grove of trees) an object become suddenly
illuminated with a mass of blue, red, and orange colors. Nine feet in
diameter and 10 feet high, the UFO is slightly domed at the top and is
hovering 2 feet above the ground. He and his dog stare at the object
while the sheep are bellowing. After several minutes, the glow at the
base becomes more intense and the object takes off at an angle, clearing
by no more than 4 feet a shed attached to the sheep pen. The rumbling is
replaced by a high-pitched wail. Johnson is temporarily blinded but
recovers his sight a few minutes later and sees the object still there.
He runs into the house to tell his parents, and they also see the light
in the southern sky moving off into the distance. At the site where the
UFO has been is a glowing, gray-white circle where the soil seems to be
crystallized. After the parents touch the soil, it turns their fingers
numb, persisting for several weeks. Johnson takes a photo of the circle.
Seven separate soil analyses are conducted. Soil samples taken from the
ring so not absorb water, have a higher acid content, and contain more
soluble salts and calcium. They also produce less seed growth than
control samples and are coated with a hydrocarbon of low molecular
weight that is difficult to remove. A second substance is also found
that is composed of white, crystalline fibers. (NICAP, “Delphos,
Kansas, November 2, 1971”; “Landing Case
in Kansas,” APRO Bulletin, Nov./Dec. 1971, pp. 1, 3; Ted Phillips,
“Landing
Report from Delphos,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories, no. 9
(February 1972): 4–10; Vallée, The Invisible College, Dutton, 1975,
p. 35; Clark III 400–402; Kim Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987,
Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 79–82; Erol A. Faruk, “The Delphos Landing: New
Evidence from the Laboratory,” IUR 12, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1987): 21–25;
Erol A. Faruk, “The Delphos Landing: New Evidence from the Laboratory,
Part Two,” IUR 12, no. 3 (May/June 1987): 19–21; Erol A. Faruk, “The
Delphos Case: Soil Analysis and Appraisal of a CE-2 Report,” JUFOS 1
(1989): 41–65; Michael D. Swords, “Research Note: Delphos, Kansas, Soil
Analysis,” JUFOS 3 (1991): 115; Michael D. Swords, comp., “Soil Analysis
Results,” JUFOS 3 (1991): 116–133; Erol A. Faruk, “Further Comment on
the Delphos Data,” JUFOS 3 (1991): 134–137; 8 (2003): 1–25; Ted Phillips
and Jennie Zeidman, Delphos: A Close Encounter of the Second Kind, UFO
Research Coalition, 2002; Phyllis A. Budinger, “New Analysis of Soil
Samples from the Delphos UFO Case,” JUFOS 8 (2003): 1–25; Erol Faruk,
“The
Delphos CE2 Case:
A New Appraisal of the Data,” Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies,
November 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4806
Date: 11/3/1971
Description: The Ugandan representative to the United Nations, Grace
Ibingira, asks the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to
encourage astronauts who encounter UFOs to treat them respectfully. He
wants to insert a clause to that effect into a UN statement on space
exploration, but his colleagues are unmoved. (Clark III 1189)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4807
Date: 12/1971
Description: At Tooligie Hill, South Australia, farmer Robert Habner
finds a single-ring crop circle 10 feet in diameter in a wheat paddock.
Another family had seen a red ball of light in the area the previous
night. (Allen Tiller, “Tooligie
Hill UFO Crop Circle,” Eidolon Paranormal, 2010)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4808
Date: 12/20/1971
Description: Prior to the launch of a Black Arrow rocket, an
unidentified aircraft is seen by a trained meteorological observer over
prohibited airspace at the RAAF Woomera Range Complex in South
Australia. The RAAF explains it as reentering space debris, although it
is impossible to confirm. (Swords 401) Last week of December — After
sunset. Norman W. Kasting is flying on a commercial airliner between
Dallas, Texas, and Denver, Colorado. He notices something approaching
the plane from behind on the west side. It passes within a few hundred
yards of the aircraft and 10–20 feet below its level, flying faster than
the plane. The object is metallic and shaped like an upside-down bowl
about 30–40 feet in diameter and 15 feet tall. It has orange or amber
lights around the edge. (“Out
of the Past,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1984):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4809
Date: 1972
Description: Betty
Hill begins making numerous trips to a rural area near Kingston, New
Hampshire, where she claims to see 6–7 UFOs every night, often at close
range. Saucer-seeking pilgrims join her on these vigils. CUFOS field
investigator John
Paul Oswald joins her occasionally and is convinced she is only
seeing airplanes and, on one occasion, a streetlight. She claims no
further abductions or CE3s, but many ufologists think her celebrity has
clouded her judgment. (Clark III 586)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4810
Date: 1972
Description: Project SNOWBIRD established to test fly a captured flying
saucer. This was an alleged ongoing 1972 Top Secret project that
researched, developed and implemented alien spacecraft technology and
test flown recovered UFOs. It is possible that the UFO involved in the
CASH/LANDRUM CASE was built by the Americans as part of this project,
however another “Project Snowbird” has been found described as a “Joint
Army/Air Force peacetime military exercise in the sub-arctic region in
1955” in the 1963 Gale Research’s Code Names Dictionary. Project
SNOWBIRD is another project that was revealed in the Project AQUARIUS
Briefing Document.
Type: majestic document
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A, SNOWBIRD)
Reference: archive.org
Date: 1972
Description: Kilbjørn Stenødegård founds the Norsk UFO Center in
Trondheim, Norway. It publishes UFO Forum from 1973 to 1978. The Norsk
UFO Center in Bergen publishes Rapportnytt from 1974 to 1981. (UFO
Forum, no.
1 (1973); Rapportnytt, no. 1 (1974))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4815
Date: 1972
Description: Luis do Rosário Real founds the Sociedade Pelotense de
Investigacão e Pesquiso de Discos Voadores in Pelotas, Rio Grande de
Sul, Brazil. It publishes a Boletim SPIPDV. (Margaret Sachs, The UFO
Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, p. 296)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4814
Date: 1972
Description: Alberto Romero founds Grupo de Pesquisas Aérospaciais
Zenith in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. It begins publishing Boletim G-PAZ
annually. (Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, pp. 136–137)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4813
Date: 1972
Description: The Centro de Estudos Astronomicos e de Fenómenos Insolitos
is founded in Porto, Portugal. It begins publishing a monthly journal,
Insolito, in 1975. (Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980,
p. 56)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4812
Date: 1972
Description: Oscar A. Uriondo and Roberto E. Banchs found the Centro de
Estudios de Fénomenos Aéreos Inusuales in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
(Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, p. 55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4811
Date: 1/1972
Description: Air Commodore Anthony
Norman Davis becomes the first head of the British UFO desk to
appear on TV to explain how the ministry investigates sightings. The
program is part of the BBC’s Man Alive series and includes the “man from
the ministry” engaging in debate with a panel of experts and taking
questions from the audience. The program is filmed in Banbury, England,
town hall following a wave of UFO sightings in Oxfordshire. Davis says
all reports received by the Ministry of Defence are “examined with an
open mind and without prejudice” but denies that the MoD possesses any
evidence that can prove the existence of extraterrestrial visitors.
(UFOFiles2, pp. 84–85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4816
Date: 1/1972
Description: Night. High school senior Donna Wilkins is driving in a
rural area near Bartelso, Illinois, with a boyfriend when they see
lights traveling back and forth in an odd pattern in the distance.
Suddenly a luminous triangular object appears right next to them and
they speed up. It maintains the same position above their car even
though they accelerate to 85 mph. The underside seems to be composed of
metal beams. It disappears beyond a tree line as they enter town, (“They
Still Keep Seeing UFOs in Carlyle,” East St. Louis (Ill.) Metro-East
Journal, May 31, 1972, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 38 (June 1972):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4817
Date: early 2/1972
Description: 7:00 p.m. Sarajevo International Airport in Bosnia picks up
an unidentified radar target traveling at about 37 mph. It appears
visually as a triangular object. When a Jat Airways Convair approaches
the target, it accelerates and vanishes. (Milos Krmelj, “Report
from Ljubljana, Slovenia,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories, no.
13 (February 1973): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4818
Date: 3/1972
Description: Victor
Marchetti, who
has worked as an analyst for the CIA from 1955 to 1969, announces his
plans to write a nonfiction book about the agency and completes a draft
of an article for Esquire which, according to a later CIA account,
includes “names of agents, relations with named governments, and
identifying details of ongoing operations.” The CIA receives a copy of
the article and decides to seek an injunction against its publication.
The basis for seeking an injunction against Marchetti is the secrecy
agreement which he signed when beginning employment at CIA. The agency
presents the agreement and the parts of the draft article it considers
in violation of the agreement, to Judge Albert
Vickers Bryan Jr. of the US District Court for Eastern Virginia, who
grants a temporary restraining order in April. The case proceeds to
trial, at which Bryan finds for the CIA and issues a permanent
injunction requiring Marchetti to submit his writings to CIA for review
prior to publication. Marchetti appeals the injunction to the Fourth
Circuit Court of Appeals, which upholds Bryan’s restraint but limits it
to classified material. The appeals court also finds that Marchetti is
entitled to timely review of materials he submits to the CIA. Marchetti
appeals again to the US Supreme Court, but SCOTUS rejects Marchetti’s
appeal in December. Marchetti continues work on his book with a
coauthor, John
D. Marks, and
signs a book contract with publisher Alfred A. Knopf. In August 1973,
they submit their manuscript to the CIA. After reviewing the manuscript,
the agency responds with a list of 339 passages that it claims are
classified information and demands their deletion. Marchetti and Marks
reject the demand and indicate they will go to court to print the
manuscript as written. The CIA then withdraws its objections to 171 of
the items but stands firm on the remaining 168. The trial is held again
before Judge Bryan. This time, however, he rejects all but 26 of the
deletions requested by the CIA on the grounds that the information in
them is not properly or provably classified. The CIA appeals Bryan’s
ruling, and ultimately the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds all
168 of the deletions. The book is published by Knopf in 1974 as The CIA
and the Cult of Intelligence. It is printed with blanks for deleted
passages and boldface type for the 171 deletions that CIA originally
requested and later withdrew. It is the first book the federal
government of the United States ever goes to court to censor before its
publication. (Wikipedia, “Victor Marchetti”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4819
Date: 3/8/1972
Description: President Nixon legitimizes
the use of special access controls and the “special access program” is
finally made official. These are security protocols that provide highly
classified information with safeguards and access restrictions that
exceed those for regular (collateral) classified information. SAPs can
range from black projects to routine but especially sensitive
operations, such as COMSEC maintenance or Presidential transportation
support. In addition to collateral controls, an SAP may impose more
stringent investigative or adjudicative requirements, specialized
nondisclosure agreements, special terminology or markings, exclusion
from standard contract investigations (carve-outs), and centralized
billet systems. (Wikipedia, “Special
access program”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4820
Date: 3/12/1972
Description: The tabloid newspaper The National Enquirer announces a
$50,000 reward to “the first person who can prove that an Unidentified
Flying Object (UFO) came from outer space and is not a natural
phenomenon.” It has appointed five experts to a blue-ribbon panel that
will evaluate all the entries: J.
Allen Hynek, R.
Leo Sprinkle, Frank
B. Salisbury, James
A. Harder, and
Robert
F. Creegan. The deadline for evidence is January 1, 1973. On May 23,
1973, the panel announces that none of the entries examined warranted
the full prize, but it has decided to award $5,000 to the Johnson family
of Delphos, Kansas, for submitting the 1971 landing trace evidence. The
panel awards seven other UFO cases with a portion of the reward, the
last going to Deputy Sheriff Val
Johnson in 1980. (Isaac Koi, “Concensus
Lists: National Enquirer Panel,” UFOs and Rationality, April 1,
2008; Curt Collins, “The
Blue Ribbon UFO Panel of the National
Enquirer,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, September 13, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4821
Date: 3/19/1972
Description: 10:00 p.m. A boy named Mario goes out onto his patio at
Santa Maria Acuexcomac, Puebla, Mexico, to look for a broom when he sees
a bluish light, which gets larger as if it is approaching the ground. He
sees that the thing is descending into a vacant lot and, thinking it is
a hot air balloon, runs towards it. When he reaches the lot, he sees the
thing is a kind of luminous sphere giving off a blue light like that of
a welding torch. Mario now becomes frightened and runs to call his
mother. As he goes in the house, two neighbors, Zacarian Mendoza and
Manuela Carlotta de Mendoza, also see the object. When Mario comes out
again accompanied by his mother Josefina, the object, which has been on
the ground for 7 minutes, begins to rise up, producing a hum and casting
off more blue sparks. Gradually the light and sound are lost in the sky.
The next day, Mario goes to the site and finds four deep tracks, about 8
inches deep, separated exactly from each other in the form of a square
of 8.2 feet. At an equidistant point in the center of the tracks there
is a black burnt mark on the ground. (Ted Phillips, “Landing Traces:
Physical Evidence for the UFO,” in MUFON Symposium 1973, Midwest UFO
Network, 1973, p. 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4822
Date: 4/1/1972
Description: 11:00 p.m. Two students are driving between Cacuso and
Lucala, Angola, when suddenly their vehicle’s engine and lights fail.
They check the batteries and fuses, which are all normal. Then they see
two bright lights. Shortly afterward, they hear a whistling noise coming
from an object about 130 feet away. It is about 130 feet across, partly
lit up, and has three legs hanging from it. It rise to a height of 40
feet, where it hovers briefly, retracts its legs, whistles again, and
turns on edge as it moves away. As soon as it leaves, the vehicle’s
lights come back on and the engine returns to normal. (Herbert S.
Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34,
no. 1 (Sept. 2011): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4823
Date: 4/14/1972
Description: Evening. At least four adults in various parts of
Waterbury, Connecticut, spot a triangular-shaped UFO moving silently.
The witnesses estimated its width at about 130–195 feet. (“Sighting
Advisory,” UFO Investigator, December 1972, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4824
Date: 4/24/1972
Description: Day. A man in Willow Point, British Columbia, on the Inside
Passage takes a photo of a disc-shaped object spinning “like a top” and
hovering in the sky above Quadra Island. The object has a dull sheen
like dirty chrome and lights flashing around its rim. The UFO wobbles,
tilts, and shudders, then shoots straight upward about 1,000 feet. It
then takes off to the north on a zigzag course. The photo is blurry, but
shows a disc. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August
Night, 2022, pp. 72–73, 152)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4825
Date: 5/26/1972
Description: President Richard
Nixon and Soviet General Secretary Leonid
Brezhnev sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty at the 1972 Moscow
Summit. Under the terms of the treaty, each party is limited to two ABM
complexes, each of which is to be limited to 100 anti-ballistic
missiles. Ratified by the US Senate on August 3, the treaty remains in
force until June 2002 when the US withdraws. (Wikipedia, “Anti-Ballistic
Missile Treaty”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4826
Date: 6/1972
Description: Edward Harris begins publishing Cosmology Newslink, a
monthly newsletter on UFO and contactee topics, in Dunmow, Essex,
England. It persists until the Summer 1994 issue. (Cosmology
Newslink, no.
1 (June 1972))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4828
Date: 6/6/1972
Description: New York City artist and psychic Ingo
Swann visits the Stanford Research Institute [now SRI International]
in Menlo Park, California, to begin remote viewing experiments. He is
brought by Harold
E. Puthoff and other scientists to a building where, several floors
below, is a heavily shielded magnetometer whose sole function is to
measure quarks. One scientist asks him to “perturb” the device. As Swann
sits there trying to visualize the magnetometer, a scientist monitoring
it tells the group that the needle is moving wildly and malfunctioning.
The scene is repeated several more times, each time when Swann is
imagining the device. Puthoff is intrigued. He writes up his findings
and a few weeks later he is visited by two CIA intelligence analysts who
want Puthoff and SRI to investigate remote viewing for espionage
purposes. (Wikipedia, “Ingo
Swann”; Jim Schnabel, Remote Viewers:
The Secret History of America’s Psychic Spies, Dell,
1997; Annie Jacobsen, Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S.
Government’s Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and
Psychokinesis, Little, Brown, 2017, pp. 130–136; Edwin C. May and Sonali
Bhatt Marwaha, eds., The Star Gate Archives, Volumes 1–4, Reports of the
United States Government Sponsored Psi Program, 1972–1995, McFarland, 4
vols., 2018–2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4829
Date: 6/9/1972
Description: Motorist experienced engine failure, pulsating yellow oval
object visible on road ahead. Object illuminated trees as it
departed
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Algodonales, Cadiz, Spain
ID: 206
Date: 6/17/1972
Description: 2:30 a.m. The White House Plumbers are arrested in the
process of burglarizing and planting surveillance bugs in the Democratic
National Committee offices at the Watergate Building Complex in
Washington, D.C. (Wikipedia, “Watergate
scandal”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4830
Date: summer 1972
Description: Early morning. The Musson, a Russian scientific ship, is in
the North Atlantic roughly 300 miles from Bermuda. The electrician,
radio operator, and one of the navigators see an elliptical object
moving slowly through the cloudless sky at high altitude from north to
south. It changes shape to a wheel and then to an elongated,
silvery-white ellipse, then it disappears from view. (Stonehill and
Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, p. 60)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4827
Date: 6/22/1972
Description: 2:00 a.m. Javier Bosque, a seminarist of the order of
St. Joseph Calasanz, is reading in bed at his room at the Colegio
Escolapios in Logroño, La Rioja, Spain, when he notices a bright light
outside through the half-closed shutters of his window. To his surprise,
the window begins opening by itself and a 2-foot-long, football-shaped,
metallic, luminous object enters his room and approaches the foot of his
bed. His radio begins to emit a loud, continuous sound. He reaches over
and turns on a cassette tape recorder. The object descends from about 6
feet above the floor to 15 inches above it. A beam of solid light
extends from the object, touching the radio twice, retracts, then
touches the cassette recorder. Bosque grabs the recorder and holds the
microphone in his lap. The object ascends to about 6 feet above the
floor and moves out the window and up. The radio sound weakens. The
8-minute sound recording is analyzed by laboratories in Spain, Brazil,
France, and the US. It contains some pure tones at first, followed by
modulations in amplitude. Robert H. Coddington finds, after an analysis
of the tape, that it most likely is a recording of the chance reception
of an ordinary test transmission from a terrestrial broadcast station
and does not match Bosque’s narrative. (Albert Adell and Pere Redón, “UFO
Enters and Inspects
a Room,” Flying Saucer Review 19, no. 2 (March/April 1973): 10–13,
iii; “Bosque
Spanish UFO Tapes Deemed
Non-Startling,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 8 (December 1980):
4; Willy Smith, “A Bizarre Event at Logroño: A Taped UFO Sound,” IUR 7,
no. 4 (July/Aug. 1982): 8–10; “Logroño
(Spain) Tape Recording Explained,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 2 (April/May 1983): 5–7; Robert H.
Coddington, “Further Analysis
of the Logroño Tape,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 2 (April/May
1983): 7–10; Michael D. Swords, “A Trick of the Light,” IUR 31, no. 2
(June 2007): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4831
Date: 6/26/1972
Description: 8:00 a.m. Bennie Smit, the new owner of Braeside Farm 9
miles from Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape, South Africa, is alerted to a
“fiery red ball hovering at tree-top level” by his hired hand Boer de
Klerk. Its color changes to bright green and then to whitish yellow,
with flames shooting out. Smit dashes home, grabs a rifle, and calls the
police. He shoots at the object, but the bullets have little effect. At
10:30 a.m., police sergeant Piet C. Kitching and warrant officer P. R.
van Rensburg arrive at the spot where the UFO is still hovering. As the
object moves away, Smit fires at it an eighth time; this time he hears a
thud, and the object moves up and down and stops changing colors. Smit
and Kitchin fire at it some more, after which it disappears and
reappears about 60 feet away looking gunmetal gray in color and somewhat
oval-shaped. After they fire two final shots, the object moves away
through the trees around noon. The next day, van Rensburg leads a team
of police officers to the site, looking for evidence. They find nine
circular imprints of its supposed landing gear found in damp clay soil.
On June 28, Brig. A. Vosloo, divisional commander of police for the
Eastern Cape, takes soil samples and plaster casts of the imprints.
(Wikipedia, “UFO
Sightings in South Africa”; Charles Bowen, “A
Hot Reception at Fort Beaufort,” Flying Saucer Review Case
Histories, no. 11 (August 1972): 1–7; Philipp Human, “Fort
Beaufort Tailpiece,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories, no. 11
(August 1972): 7; Clark III 510–511)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4832
Date: 6/29/1972
Description: 10:00 p.m. A dark, wedge-shaped UFO passes directly over
several witnesses at 200–500 feet altitude in Buffalo, South Dakota, at
a slow speed. About 100 feet long, it has two brilliant white lights at
the front and two orange-white lights in the rear. It moves with the
blunt edge forward and hovers intermittently for 40 minutes. It emits a
sound like rushing air. (Glenn McWane and David Graham, The New UFO
Sightings, Warner, 1974; Marler 85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4833
Date: 7/1972
Description: J.
Allen Hynek publishes The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry, in
which he charges the Air Force with indifference and incompetence in its
UFO investigations. He also critiques the Condon report and details
well- documented reports of six types of UFOs: nocturnal lights,
daylight discs, radar/visual observations, and close encounters of the
first, second, and third kind. It is an “articulate challenge to his
colleagues to tolerate the study of something they cannot understand,”
according to a reviewer in Science. (J. Allen Hynek, The
UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974; Clark III 620)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4834
Date: 7/3/1972
Description: 9:15 p.m. Maureen Puddy, 27, sees a disc-shaped object on
the Mooraduc Road near Frankston, Victoria, Australia. The object is a
huge blue disc that hovers above her car. (Keith Basterfield, “Present
at the Abduction,” IUR 17, no. 3 (May/June 1992): 13–14, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4835
Date: 7/4/1972
Alternate date: 7/4/1973
Description: 11:15 p.m. Capt. Erling Bakke and his wife see a peculiar
vessel on the water east of Sundsøya, Trøndelag, Norway. It is black,
about 25 feet long, 6 feet high, and traveling about 60 mph. It rises up
at a 45° angle, then disappears. (J. O. Sundberg, “Stor
Expedition till Nansenfjorden,” UFO Information, 1975, no. 3,
pp. 9–10; Ole Jonny Brænne, “Observations of Unidentified Submarine
Objects in Norway,” IUR 20, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1995): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4837
Date: 7/4/1972
Description: 10:10 p.m. Girl guide leader Claudine Dieupart alerts 43
other girl guides and Belgian missionary Rev. Fr. Quertemont, who are
sitting around a campfire at Lamonriville, Malmédy, Belgium, to a
triangle of white lights moving overhead. They watch the lights for 5
minutes. At 10:30 p.m., several witnesses at a bus stop in Liège view a
triangle of bright globes of light moving slowly from west to east. They
pass through a cloud bank, illuminating it. About the same time, other
witnesses in the western suburbs see a similar display. At 10:31 p.m., a
factory worker in Flawinne watches a triangle of three bright lights
ascending vertically. At 10:40 p.m., a couple in Spy observe a
triangular display of lights surrounded by bluish sparks. At 10:45 p.m.
a farmer in Ellezelles notices three bluish beams of light shining down
from a luminous cloud. (Marler 85–86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4836
Date: 7/5/1972
Description: 12:10 p.m. A witness in Belgium is parking his car when he
notices a dozen whitish objects flying about randomly at a low altitude.
A neighbor describes them as vaguely shaped, fleecy, and rotating
slowly. They seem to be moving around a dark triangular object. (Marler
87)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4838
Date: 7/10/1972
Description: Luminous object beamed light at car, engine lost
power
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Alcaracejos, Cordoba, Spain
ID: 207
Date: 7/19/1972
Description: 10:35 p.m. Herbert and Mady Mathar and their two children
are walking in Faymonville, Belgium, when they see a red-orange point of
light slowly moving toward them. Closer, they see that it is hat-shaped.
Mathar runs inside to get a camera and takes two photos before the
object disappears. Ballester Olmos and van Utrecht conclude that the
photos show the Moon setting in the southwest. (Vicente-Juan Ballester
Olmos and Wim van Utrecht, Belgium
in UFO Photographs, Volume 1 (1950–1988), FOTOCAT
Report no. 7, 2017, pp. 99–113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4839
Date: 7/25/1972
Description: 9:15 p.m. Maureen Puddy sees the same object she had seen
on July 3 at almost the same spot. This time it seems to drain power
from the car, causing it to stop, the car steering itself off the road.
A voice in her head tells her, “All your tests will be negative. Tell
media, do not panic. We mean no harm.” Several months later, she is
“mentally” abducted into a room where she sees an entity. This event
occurs while two other people are present with her, but they only report
that Puddy lapses into unconsciousness. On a later occasion, the entity
appears as she is driving the car. (Judith M. Magee, “The
Close Encounter of Maureen Puddy,” Australian Annual Flying Saucer
Review, 1983, pp. 4–9; Judith M. Magee, “The
Close Encounter of Maureen Puddy,” Victorian UFO Research Society,
1996; Keith Basterfield, “Present at the Abduction,” IUR 17, no. 3
(May/June 1992): 13–14, 23; Mark Cashman, “Behavioral Classification
System for UFO Occupants,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 20) July 27 —
The Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Oceans and International
Environment holds hearings on Senate Resolution 281, proposing an
international treaty to ban weather modification as a weapon of war.
Dartmouth environmental scientist Gordon
J. F. MacDonald opposes the bill, saying that research needs to be
unfettered, but he mentions weapons that might use electrical waves,
created by the differential between the ionosphere and the surface of
the earth, “that would be tuned to the brain waves…. About ten cycles
per second…. You can produce changes in behavioral patterns or in
responses.” (Prohibiting
Military Weather Modification,
Hearings before the Subcommittee on Oceans and International
Environment, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 92nd Cong., 2nd
Sess., on S. Res. 281, pp. 72–76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4840
Date: 8/1972
Description: The Archives for UFO Research (Arbetsgruppen för Ufologi)
is founded in Södertälje, Sweden, by Håkan Blomqvist, Kjell
Jonsson, and
Anders
Liljegren. Its
specialized research library for UFO literature is established in 1974,
and in 1979 AFU moves to Norrköping. It publishes Ufologen from 1972 to
1974 and the AFU Newsletter from March 1975 to October 2008. In April
2013 it changes its name to the Archives for the Unexplained. Its
holdings in 2020 include a reference library of more than 20,000 titles,
more than 50,000 magazine issues, some 500,000 clippings, and more than
50,000 European UFO cases. (Wikipedia, “Archives
for UFO
Research”; Archives for the Unexplained, “About
AFU”; Ufologen, no
1 (July 1972); AFU
Newsletter, no. 1 (March/April 1975); AFU
Annual Report, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4842
Date: 8/1972
End date: 10/1972
Description: Numerous UFO sightings are reported throughout rural areas
of Puerto Rico, as well as in San Juan and Ponce. People travel to the
small town of Adjuntas, where the objects are seen frequently. One
Friday night, the mayor of Adjuntas is traveling with a group of people
in three cars along a lonely stretch of road in Barrio Garzas when he
sees three bright discs moving through the sky. Their light changes in
color and intensity. Sightings also center on the town of Utuado, where
the Air National Guard has scrambled F-104s to chase the objects. A
teacher at Utuado High School is driving back from town with his brother
when they see a bright light off in the bush 300 feet from the road.
They get out of the car and approach the light, which is sitting in a
clearing. It is a flattened disc about the size of a small house and has
a set of small, dark rectangles evenly spaced around its edge. It is
brilliantly lit and its colors are constantly changing. They watch the
object for a few minutes until it vanishes like “someone turning off a
light.” (Salvador Freixedo, “UFOs
over the Caribbean,” Flying Saucer Review Case Histories, no. 14
(April 1973): 9–10; Henry Cordova, “Encounter in Puerto Rico,” IUR 25,
no. 1 (Spring 2000): 20–21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4846
Date: 8/1972
Description: Ingo
Swann returns to the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park,
California, as do the two CIA intelligence analysts. With Swann in a
Faraday cage, the SRI team conducts a series of what’s-in-the-box tests
in which office supplies hidden inside a box are presented to Swann, who
is asked to identify the objects inside. During a lunch break one of the
CIA agents walks outside and collects a small brown moth, capturing it
alive, and sealing it inside a box. When Swann looks at the box, he sees
“something small, brown, and irregular, sort of like a leaf…. Except
that it seems very much alive, like it’s even moving.” (Annie Jacobsen,
Phenomena, Little, Brown, 2017, p. 136)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4841
Date: 8/9/1972
Description: 2:30 a.m. A married couple, both college professors, are
camping out in a garden in the backyard of some friends’ home just off
the road to Nîmes at Saint-Jean-du-Gard, Gard, France. The woman is
walking outside and sees a shiny white ball the size of a small car
sitting in a nearby parking lot. She hears footsteps behind her and sees
a dark shape about 4 feet tall in the shape of a parallelepiped topped
by an oval where a head would be. It has 2 white circles for eyes, but
no visible arms or legs. It turns toward her and she feels an
extraordinary fear. After a few seconds, she runs back inside the tent.
(Patrick Gross, “Saint-Jean-du-Gard,
France, August 9, 1972”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4843
Date: 8/10/1972
Description: Bright daylight fireball meteor filmed lasting up to 45
seconds or more.
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Western United States
ID: 208
Date: 8/10/1972
Description: 2:29 p.m. An earth-grazing meteor passes 35 miles above the
Earth’s surface, entering the atmosphere above Utah at 9.3 miles/second
and passing northward, leaving the atmosphere over Alberta. It is seen
by many people and recorded on film and by space-borne sensors. An
eyewitness to the event, located in Missoula, Montana, sees the object
pass directly overhead and hears a double sonic boom. The smoke trail
lingers in the atmosphere for several minutes. (Wikipedia, “1972
Great Daylight Fireball”; “A
Meteor That Missed Mountain States
May Have Had Hiroshima Bomb Force,” New York Times, July 4, 1974,
p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4844
Date: 8/11/1972
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 209
Date: 8/12/1972
Description: 2:00 a.m.–5:00 a.m. About 30 young members of the Taizé
Community in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, France, are having a discussion in a
rustic theatre circle to the northwest of the community buildings.
Renata Faa is the first to see a star-like object come out of the sky in
the west. It lands on the ground on a ridge facing them. Eventually,
after more yellow lights appear on the object, they see it as
cigar-shaped and about 100 feet long. Five other white lights emit
luminous beams that extend progressively across the ground. Two cupolas
are visible on its left side. Three small white discs appear on the
right side, apparently emerging from the main object, and perform
complex maneuvers. Some of the witnesses feel a tingling in their
fingertips and knees. Faa and three of the other witnesses decide to
walk through the fields and approach the object. Around 3:00 a.m., a
multitude of red particles appear in the air around the approaching
witnesses and in the ground around them. The lights on the object
constantly change their patterns of display and movement. The four
witnesses see a dark mass like a haystack on their left about 30 feet
away. A small red light is moving haphazardly around it. When one of
them shines a flashlight on the haystack, the beam travels horizontally
for a bit then is directed perpendicularly upward. Finally, toward 5:00
a.m., the large object rises up and moves off to the south, following
the terrain. (J. Tyrode, “Taizé:
A Case Right out of the Ordinary,” Flying Saucer Review 19, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1973): 16–21; F. Lagarde, “A
Few Words about Taizé,” Flying Saucer Review 19, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1973): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4845
Date: 8/12/1972
Description: Elliptical object with bright lights hovered near ground
emitting light beams downward, satellite objects emerged. UFO reacted to
flashlight
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Taize, France
ID: 210
Date: 8/19/1972
Description: Luminous, bowl-shaped object hovered near ground. Blinding
white light brightly illuminated terrain. Object made “whooshing” noise,
shot straight up
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Colby, KS
ID: 211
Date: 9/1972
Description: 8:00 p.m. While commuting home by train from nearby
Debrecen, Hungary, workers see about 7 luminous, orange-colored ellipses
floating high above Nyírábrány. The phenomena are still there as they
are walking home from the train station. The lights are as bright as the
full moon and remain in position in a formation of three rows. The
spectacle lasts for 30 minutes. The display is seen for the next four
evenings in a row in the same part of the sky west of the village. On
the last night, one of the lights disappears but returns to the same
position in the formation. (Karoli Hargitai, “The UFO Phenomenon in
Hungary,” IUR 14, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1989): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4848
Date: early 9/1972
Description: Just after midnight. Vasile Cărăbuş, a night watchman at an
agricultural cooperative in Valea Plopului, Romania, sees a yellow star
with a trail crossing the sky. It then hovers and appears to land in an
orchard on the Odaia hill about 1 mile away. A couple days later,
Cărăbuş and other locals visit the orchard and find a circular area 15
feet in diameter where all the stems are broken off about 3 feet from
the ground. In the center of the circle is a mound of earth about 2 feet
in diameter and 15 inches high. In the middle of this is a round hole at
least 6 feet deep, around which are three identical impresions 4.5 feet
apart. Hundreds of curious onlookers visit the site, among them engineer
Justin
Capră, who
detects a substantial increase in gamma radiation in the center of the
circle. Ufologist Călin Turcu notes that the vegetation on the mound of
earth is completely absent for the next 4 years and frail after that.
(Hobana and Weverbergh 276–279; Romania 34–35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4847
Date: 9/10/1972
Description: 12:45 p.m. Greengrocer Allan James is checking a load on
his truck prior to descending from the top of a hill west of Georges
Creek, New South Wales. He notices a huge, cigar-shaped object with
smaller objects emerging from each end. They group into an arrowhead
formation before moving southeast. The large object then climbs at a
high rate of speed and disappears. The duration is about 10 minutes.
(Eileen Buckle, “Is
Kempsey a UFO
‘Window’?” Flying Saucer Review 21, no. 6 (April 1975): 3–4; Herbert
S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer
2004): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4849
Date: 9/14/1972
Description: 4:20 a.m. An unidentified target is detected on radar at
the Palm Beach (Florida) International Airport by FAA air traffic
controller C. J. Fox. Fox describes the contact as a “good clear
target.” The object is tracked for over an hour when at approximately
6:00 a.m., NORAD is alerted. Two F-106 jet fighters are dispatched from
Homestead AFB [now Homestead Air Reserve Base] in Miami–Dade County to
locate and identify the object. The UFO disappears from radar scopes
shortly before the jets arrive. At the airport, FAA watch supervisor
George Morales views the object through binoculars and describes it as
silver-white in color and cigar-shaped. Officials at Miami International
Airport, which also tracks the strange object, report no aircraft are
known to be in the area where the UFO was spotted. (NICAP, “Ground/Visual;
Two 106’s Scrambled”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4850
Date: 9/14/1972
Description: 4:00 p.m. David Owen is sitting on his patio in Bateau Bay,
New South Wales, when he notices a distinct “red arrowhead” moving from
southwest to northwest in a slow climb. After watching it for several
minutes, he takes a color photo with his Instamatic, which shows a disc
reflecting light. (“Australian
Arrowhead Photograph
Reveals Unseen Possible UFO,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 2
(February 1981): 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4851
Date: 9/14/1972
Description: 8:00 p.m. A married couple in Houston, Missouri, watches an
unusual bright object after their portable TV is disturbed by
interference. It is larger than a star and persists for several minutes
before it disappears in a burst of speed. At 3:00 a.m. they are awakened
by their dogs barking at something in a nearby woods. They see a bright
flash of light at ground level. The next morning, they find an evergreen
tree about 300 feet from the house that is yellow on one side and
normal-looking on the other. Next to it is a 20 feet x 14 feet oval area
of depressed grass. In the center are three small imprints, each sowing
an extension or “toe.” The imprints are about 2.5 inches long; one is
1.5 inches deep. A blackened area in the shape of a triangle is in the
center of the imprints. (Ted Phillips, Physical
Traces Associated with UFO Sightings, CUFOS,
1976, p. 86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4852
Date: 9/20/1972
Description: 12:45 a.m. A man is driving near Rougemont, Quebec, when he
sees a Saturn-shaped object about 100 feet in diameter moving with a
pendulum motion toward Mont Rougemont. It climbs to the top of the hill
and settles in for 4 minutes. He watches it increasingly brighten from a
row of windows at the upper dome and glow pink on the bottom side. He
flashes his lights at it, and it rises and dives at his car, passing
just 30 feet above it. The engine stalls, the radio goes off, and the
headlights dim. A wave of heat passes over him, then the UFO races away.
((Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen,
1979, pp. 144–146; Michael D. Swords, “Messing Around with the Force,”
IUR 31, no. 4 (Mar. 2008): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4853
Date: 9/25/1972
Description: 1:00–1:30 a.m. Near Anderstorp, Sweden, a witness is
driving his Opel at 25 mph when the car radio stops working. A couple
minutes later, a very bright blue-white light appears behind the car,
enveloping the entire vehicle in light at the same time as all
electrical equipment in the car ceases to work. The headlights go out
and the engine and wipers stop. The light persists for 5 minutes, and
the temperature inside the car rises. Suddenly the light is gone, and
the electrical system works again. The car starts at the same time as
the witness smells a strong odor of ammonia or ether. The witness drives
home quickly, terrified. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle
Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4854
Date: 9/27/1972
Description: 5:40 a.m. Teodoro Merlo, maintenance man for the
Ika-Renault factory in Santa Isabel, Córdoba, Argentina, is making early
rounds at the plant. He enters a previously locked washroom and sees a
man sitting on one of the basins who is nearly 8 feet tall and wearing a
close-fitting, dark-blue, one-piece garment tight at the wrists. It has
a bald head with high, pointed ears, and very white skin. As Merlo
approaches, the light by the janitor goes out and a light near the
entity goes on spontaneously. Merlo hears a noise like “a metal object
striking glass,” and the entity disappears. (Oscar A. Galíndez, “The
Anthropomorphic Phenomena at Santa Isabel, Part 3,” Flying Saucer
Review 21, no. 5 (February 1976): 14–16; Oscar A. Galíndez, “Argentina:
The Anthropomorphic Phenomena
of Santa Isabel,” Inexplicata, September 22, 2011; Patrick Gross, URECAT, February
23, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4855
Date: 10/1972
Description: Harry Belil begins publishing Beyond Reality, a newsstand
magazine devoted to parapsychology and (sometimes) UFOs, in New York
City. It continues through November 1980 and publishes several special
UFO issues. (Beyond
Reality, no.
1 (October 1972))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4856
Date: 10/1/1972
Description: The CIA awards the Stanford Research Institute [now SRI
International] in Menlo Park, California, a contract for $49,909 for an
eight-month research project on remote viewing. It is given the name
Biofield Measurements Program. (Annie Jacobsen, Phenomena, Little,
Brown, 2017, pp. 136–137)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4857
Date: 10/2/1972
Description: A letter from the Dept. of National Defense, Canada, Brig.
Gen. L.A. Bourgeois states: All UFOs reported to CFHQ are investigated
by the Director of Operations. It isn’t a practice to allow the public
to study these files. Since the beginning of 1968 these UFO reports have
been passed along to the NRC. Evidence suggests that UFOs present no
threat to the world. They exhibit a unique scientifically advanced
technology.
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p467)
See also: 9/19/26
Date: 10/2/1972
Description: A letter from the Canadian Department of National Defence
states that UFO reports received by the Canadian military are passed on
to the National Research Council to determine whether a scientific
investigation is warranted. It notes that “certain reports suggest that
they exhibit a unique scientific or advance technology that could
possibly contribute to scientific or technical research.” (Good Above,
pp. 193, 467)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4858
Date: 10/8/1972
Description: 12:00 midnight. Security guard John Byrne is patrolling
Cairo Mill, an old factory at Waterhead, Lancashire, England, that has
been converted to an electronics system testing facility for jet
aircraft. Near the bicycle shed he hears a deep humming noise like a
generator inside a closed room. The sound bores into his head. He looks
up and sees a huge object parked at a height of 300 feet adjacent to the
tower end of the mill. It resembles a glowing bell shape turned on end
with the flat base vertical to the sheer wall of the tower. The object
is giving off a blue, fluorescent glow that falls like a curtain of
solid light. Byrne watches for several minutes until the object turns
sharply on edge and moves straight up into the sky until it is only a
blob of light. (Jenny Randles, “Beam Me Up,” Fortean Times 381 (July
2019): 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4859
Date: 10/9/1972
Description: 7:30 p.m. Ralph and Grace Clapp are driving along Middle
Country Road near Selden, New York, when they see a bright white light.
It is joined by a red and a green light. They continue driving, and
around 7:55 p.m. at the top of a hill west of Coram, the white light
hovers into view above the treetops to heir left. Grace sees rectangular
windows and no wings on a triangular object that is at least 100 feet
across and moving slowly and continuously through the sky. (Ted Bloecher
and Sylvia Meagher, “The Seldon UFO,” IUR 32, no. 2 (December 2008):
11–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4860
Date: 10/23/1972
Description: 6:30 p.m. Capt. Daryle Brown and two copilots are flying a
Wardair airliner at 22,000 feet some 180 miles northwest of Churchill,
Manitoba, when they see a bright streak of light approaching from the
west. As it comes closer, it appears to be a bullet-shaped object larger
than a Boeing 727 and adorned with a cluster of multicolored pulsating
lights. Brown notifies the 15 passengers aboard and turns out the
interior lights so they can see the object better. Almost a dozen
portholes are visible, while red and yellow lights are flashing on the
top. At the rear of the object is a fog-like cloud and orange sparks. It
takes up a position about 2,500 feet in front of the jet and on the same
flight path. The object shines a beam of light at the airplane, bathing
it in light that is bright enough to read to, and stops in mid-air
directly in front of the jet. Before Brown can take evasive action, it
moves off to the right. A dense fog engulfs the object as it disappears
in the distance. (Jeff Holt, “Rencontre
avec un UFO dans le Grand
Nord Canadien,” UFO-Quebec, no. 9 (1977): 13–14; Yurko Bondarchuk,
UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen, 1979,
pp. 167–169)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4861
Date: 10/28/1972
Description: 10:15 p.m. Cpl. Juan Fuentes Figueroa and four other
Uruguayan Navy seamen are stationed at the lighthouse on Isla de Lobos,
off Punta del Este, Uruguay. Fuentes goes to inspect the electrical
generators and discovers some odd lights, which prompts him to retrieve
a handgun from his room. When he returns, he notices an object in the
shape of an inverted bowl with several white, yellow, and violet lights
on top of a 20-foot terrace. An entity is next to the object and two
others (one much taller) are descending from the UFO. They all notice
Fuentes and face him from about 89 feet away. He raises his gun to shoot
but feels strangely paralyzed and confused. The beings reenter the UFO,
which moves straight up emitting a humming noise. When it reaches a
height of 150 feet, it tilts, belches a bright fireball, and silently
disappears at tremendous speed to the southeast. (Willy Smith, “Alien
Encounter at Isla de Lobos, Uruguay, 10-28-1972,” UFO Casebook;
Willy Smith, “UFOs in Latin America,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes,
1987, pp. 106–109)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4862
Date: 11/7/1972
Description: Contactee Gabriel
Green runs for US President as a candidate of the Universal Party,
with Daniel
Fry as his running mate, on the ballot in Iowa. The party offers
solutions recommended by extraterrestrials for national and
international problems. He gets less than 200 votes and subsequently
retires from public life. (S. D. Tucker, False Economies: The Strangest,
Least Successful, and Most Audacious Financial Follies, Plans, and
Crazes of All Times, Amberly, 2018, chapter 3, excerpted in “Taxing
Credulity,” Fortean Times 367 (June 2018): 52–55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4863
Date: 11/10/1972
Description: 11:00 p.m. A 19-year-old is riding his Yamaha 250cc Twin
motorcycle near Heathfield, East Sussex, England, when suddenly the
headlights dim and go out and the engine fails, emitting an “electrical
arcing” odor. He looks up and sees a white blob about 100 feet away
hovering above some trees. It is about 60 feet high, 30–40 feet in
diameter, and glowing white but fuzzy in appearance. After a few seconds
it zooms away at about 100 mph in a straight line and is lost to sight.
The motorcycle starts by itself. (Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle
Interference, CUFOS, 1981, p. 55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4864
Date: 11/12/1972
Description: 8:00 p.m. Three soldiers (Petrus Nel, Fanie Rosseau, and
Gerrie Buitendag) are guarding a petrol dump at Rosmead, East Cape,
South Africa, when they see a red light moving in circles above the
tennis court adjacent to the primary school. At nearby Middelburg police
station, Sgt. John Goosen and Constable Koos Brazelle are looking
towards Rosmead with binoculars and see an odd light above the town.
School Principal Harold Truter sees the light moving vertically up from
his home near the tennis court. The court is churned up with huge chunks
of surface tar dug up, so he calls the Middelburg police about it.
Goosen and Brazelle respond. There are 5 holes in the court, the largest
10 feet in diameter. Two spike holes are also found. The only entrances
to the court are still locked up and there are no vehicle tracks inside
or outside. A eucalyptus tree at the end of the court has suddenly begun
to die and appears scorched. District Police Commandant Col. B. J. van
Heerden unsuccessfully tries to duplicate the damage with shovels.
(Jenny Randles, UFO Conspiracy, Cassell, 1987, pp. 100–101)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4865
Date: 11/13/1972
Description: Two witnesses watch an unknown aircraft maneuver along
Sognefjord, Vestland, Norway. Thirty Norwegian Navy vessels, plus NATO
forces, are already investigating a mystery submarine reported in the
fjord. The same night, four other witnesses observe a “bright object” on
the water. (Ole Jonny Brænne, “Observations of Unidentified Submarine
Objects in Norway,” IUR 20, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1995): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4866
Date: 11/17/1972
Description: 8:50 p.m. Two RCMP officers see an object 12 feet in length
heading northwest near McIvers on the Bay of Islands, Newfoundland. It
disappears in the water with a loud splash. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s
UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, p. 102)c
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4867
Date: 11/20/1972
Description: CIA chief Richard
Helms comes to Camp David to an interview with Nixon about
what he thinks is a “budgetary matter.” Nixon’s chief of staff, H.
R. Haldeman, also attends. Helms is informed by Nixon that his
services in the new administration will not be required. On Helms’s
dismissal William
Colby later comments that “Dick Helms paid the price for that ‘No’
[to the White House over Watergate],” distancing the CIA from the
scandal. Helms begins a CIA clean-up, closing down Operation Often and
other sensitive programs. (Wikipedia, “Richard
Helms”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4869
Date: 11/20/1972
Description: 1:00 p.m. An unidentified submerged object is seen near
Kyrkjebø, on Sognefjord, Norway, as it heads away from Mårenlandet
toward the fjord’s southern end. Around 1:15 p.m., it is seen by five
police officers on Kvamsøy. Norwegian Navy frigates drop mines on the
object. (Ole Jonny Brænne, “Observations of Unidentified Submarine
Objects in Norway,” IUR 20, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1995): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4868
Date: 11/21/1972
Description: Night. Four witnesses see four rockets shooting up from the
water at Hermansverk, Vestland, Norway. They are silent and resemble
small red balls of light. They are also seen the following day, and the
Norwegian Navy fires an antisubmarine missile at the intruders. (Ole
Jonny Brænne, “Observations of Unidentified Submarine Objects in
Norway,” IUR 20, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1995): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4870
Date: 11/23/1972
Description: Soviet super heavy N-1 rocket fails its fourth and final
test attempt
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Baikonur Cosmodrome
Date: 11/26/1972
Description: Judy Kendall abduction, three types of beings
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Between Bedoga Bay and Woodland, CA
ID: 212
Date: 11/28/1972
Description: 2:00 p.m. A witness at Glenelg, Adelaide, South Australia,
sees lengths of glistening material wrapped around a signpost and on
looking up sees that more is falling from the sky. He collects a small
sample of the thickest section, but the strands dissolve in his fingers.
(Keith Basterfield, “Angel Hair: An Australian Perspective,” IUR 27, no.
1 (Spring 2002): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4871
Date: 11/30/1972
Description: 11:15 p.m. A motor mechanic named Maxwell is out testing
his vehicle in Murray Bridge, South Australia, when the engine dies and
lights go out as he is coming over a rise in the road. The lights come
back on but vary in intensity several times. He decides to stop the car.
To his left he sees a “diamond shape with the top cut off” noiselessly
sitting on the ground 148 feet away in a paddock. His car radio starts
making a noise like a “computer on TV,” a constant rhythm. He tries the
ignition key but nothing happens, not even the oil light comes on. He
tries the wipers and the electric air horn but they do not work either.
He locks all the doors and winds up the windows and just sits there for
the next 45 minutes. After this time the object leaves, and he finds he
can restart the car. An inspection of the vehicle the next day reveals
no cause for the electrical problems. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on
Vehicle Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011):
19–20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4872
Date: 12/1972
Description: Night. Romanian Air Force pilot and writer Lt. Col. Doru
Davidovici is at an unnamed military base in Romania when he sees an
oval UFO flying parallel to the ridge of a roof. It traverses 50°–60° of
horizon in 45–50 seconds and disappears among some trees. It is
egg-shaped, a white-violet color as if wrapped in a cloud of bright
light, and leaves a long trail behind, but it changes to red-orange
before disappearing. Radar at the base tracks the object flying north to
south at 3,700 mph at a height of 43 miles. (Romania 103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4873
Date: 12/2/1972
Description: 11:30 p.m. Four witnesses in Hinojos, Huelva, Spain, see a
fiery, square-shaped object flying close to the ground, lighting up the
terrain. The headlights in two cars die. The car with a gasoline-powered
engine also stalls, but the car with the diesel engine keeps running.
(Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part
Two,” IUR 34, no. 11 (Sept. 2011): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4874
Date: 12/13/1972
Description: 7:04 p.m. Fritz Abbehusen is watching TV in Dias d’Ávila,
Bahia, Brazil, when his set experiences some interference. He goes out
on the porch and sees a huge, round luminous object descending to a hill
approximately 3 miles from his home. After a while, he goes to get
binoculars, and with these he can see that the luminous shape is
hovering a several feet above the ground. Its lower part is glowing like
a neon light, while the upper part has a row of orange-red portholes.
His wife Margarida and servant join him to look at the display.
Suddenly, three blinking lights emerge from the object. One of these
lights slowly moves in the direction of his house. After 15 minutes, the
moving light has arrived within 165 feet in back of the house. Three
small beings emerge from it, wearing what appears to be a one-piece suit
of whitish or light-gray color. The beings keep their elbows close to
the body when walking, as if on tiptoe, raising their knees
exaggeratedly at each step. They go away, but the big object remains on
the hill until around midnight. At one time it emits a beam that sets
the brush on fire. (Patrick Gross, “Dias
d’Ávila, Brazil, December 13, 1972”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4875
Date: 12/24/1972
Description: 9:40 a.m. L. J. Reeves is stationed at the PIN-1 Distant
Early Warning site at Clinton Point, Northwest Territories, on the
Amundsen Gulf. He sees an object like a bright star that moves west to
east, stops, then continues on and fades into the distance after 5
minutes. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night,
2022, p.73)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4877
Date: 12/24/1972
Description: 3:00 a.m. The Romanian ship Moldoveanu is in the Labrador
Sea off Labrador, Canada, when the crew notices a shiny object headed at
high speed straight toward their vessel and flying low over the waves.
It stops above the ship, changing its shape and color. After an hour, it
shoots into the sky and disappears. (Hobana and Weverbergh 279)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4876
Date: 12/30/1972
Description: A man driving on the A4155 from Henley to High Wycombe,
England, rounds a bend and sees an object resembling a vertical cone.
What seem to be fluorescent strip lights run down the side, and it emits
an intense, high-pitched whistle. The next thing he knows, he is driving
through Marlowe in total silence with no memory of how he got there.
Some 90 minutes have vanished from his memory. (Jenny Randles, “The
Twelve UFOs of Christmas,” Fortean Times 374 (Christmas 2018): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4878
Date: 1973
Description: Suomen Ufotutkijat ry, the Finnish UFO Research
Association, is founded in Tampere, Finland. Over the years it has
published a Quarterly Report, an Annual Report, and a member newsletter
Ufotutkija beginning in 1997 (now called Yhteydeksi). (Wikipedia, “Suomen
Ufotutkijat”; The
UFO Research of Finland Annual Report, 1981)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4884
Date: 1973
Description: David Duquesnoy founds the Association des Amis de Marc
Thirouin in Valence, France, named in honor of the founder of the first
UFO organization, Commission Internationale d’Enquêtes sur les Soucoupes
Volantes, in France in 1951. It begins publishing UFO Informations,
edited by Michel Dorier, in March 1974 and continues it through 1983.
(UFO
Informations, no.
1 (March 1974))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4883
Date: 1973
Description: The Midwest UFO Network changes its name to the Mutual UFO
Network and focuses on building a national grassroots UFO investigation
network.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4882
Date: 1973
Description: Dr. Joseph
C. Sharp of Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, while in a
soundproof room, allegedly hears spoken words broadcast by “pulsed
microwave audiogram.” Broadcast in a range between 300 MHz to 3GHz,
Sharp is able to identify words that are broadcast without any form of
electronic translation device—by direct transmission to the brain. (Jim
Keith, Mind
Control, World Control: The Encyclopedia of Mind Control, 2014,
p. 220)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4881
Date: 1973
Description: Most Project MKUltra records are deliberately destroyed by
order of CIA Director Richard
Helms. A cache of some 20,000 documents survives Helms’s purge, as
they are incorrectly stored in a financial-records building and
discovered following a FOIA request in 1977. These documents are fully
investigated during the Senate Hearings of 1977. HTLINGUAL and the NSA’s
Minaret programs are shut down to avoid exposure during the Weathermen
trial. (Wikipedia, “Project
MKUltra”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4880
Date: 1973
Description: NORAD now has infrared sensor satellites covering 100% of
the earth’s surface from geostationary orbits on a 24-hour basis. (Clark
III 807)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4879
Date: 1/1/1973 (approximate)
Description: After 12:00 midnight. A married couple is driving in
Osorno, Chile, when their car stalls just as a disc- shaped object with
flashing red and green lights flies overhead. The engine comes to life
again after the object disappears. (“Shape-Changing
UFO Stops Car,” Flying Saucer Review 19, no. 3 (May/June 1973):
29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4885
Date: 1/3/1973
Description: NASA announces that Project NERVA has been terminated, even
though the project to build a nuclear rocket has been proceeding well.
Annie
Jacobsen claims that some failed nuclear tests that have never been
declassified could have been responsible. (Wikipedia, “NERVA”;
Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 311–313)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4886
Date: 1/11/1973
Description: 9:00 a.m. Building surveyor Peter Day is driving near
Cuddington, Bucks, England, when he sees an orange light in the north,
moving eastwards. He finds a convenient place to stop, wind down the
window, and point his movie camera at the object. He captures 20 seconds
of the orange blob on color film as it pulsates and passes behind
distant trees before disappearing suddenly (in a single frame). (Jenny
Randles, UFO Conspiracy, Cassell, 1987, pp. 160–161;
Jenny Randles, Fire
in the Sky: Case History Number 2, The Buckinghamshire UFO Movie
Film, BUFORA,
1989)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4887
Date: 2/2/1973
Description: Intense blue-white light paced airliner for 20-25 seconds,
navigation instruments malfunctioned
Type: sighting
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
ID: 213
Date: 2/2/1973
Description: Richard
Helms is abruptly dismissed and James
R. Schlesinger is named director of central intelligence.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4888
Date: 2/8/1973
Description: Youths photographed disc-shaped object, analysis supported
authenticity
Type: sighting
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Conejo, CA
ID: 214
Date: 2/14/1973
Description: Disc with dome maneuvered around DC-8 aircraft, confirmed
by airborne radar. Shadowy figures seen in dome
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: McAlester, OK
ID: 215
Date: 2/19/1973
Description: President Richard
Nixon meets on the 18th green of the Inverness (Florida) Golf and
Country Club with entertainer Jackie
Gleason. Gleason
has long been a fan of UFOs. He later becomes a subscriber to the
newsletter Just Cause (Citizens Against UFO Secrecy). Gleason has a
collection of 1,700 books on parapsychology, UFOs, and the unknown.
Gleason’s second wife, Beverly
McKittrick, says
that Nixon took Gleason to a heavily secured area at Homestead AFB [now
Homestead Air Reserve Base] in Miami-Dade County where he views the
remains of small aliens in a top secret repository. McKittrick relates
this story in an unpublished manuscript of Gleason called “The Great
One.” Larry
Bryant, editor
of Just Cause, the newsletter Gleason had a subscription to, files a
Freedom of Information Act request with Homestead AFB. Bryant requests
documentation on the repository and Gleason’s visit there to see the
alien bodies. Homestead replies that “no such records existed.” Bryant
also sends an advertisement to the Homestead AFB newspaper soliciting
information. The public affairs officer at Homestead denounces the
Bryant advertisement and “forbade its publication.” At the same time
Bryant writes Gleason providing him with a draft affidavit. He asks
Gleason to execute the affidavit so it can be used as part of a growing
accumulation of evidence Bryant is collecting in preparation for taking
the government to court to release all information on alien crash
retrievals. Gleason does not reply. Shortly before his death in 1987,
one story says Gleason confirms the story about seeing the bodies at
Homestead. The person who Jackie Gleason tells the story to is Larry
Warren, who
is a member of the Air Force Security Police at RAF Bentwaters [now
closed] near Woodbridge, Suffolk, one of two bases in England where in
late December 1980, three days of bizarre UFO incidents take place.
Warren says that Gleason and Nixon enter a room with 6–8 glass-topped
freezers. Inside “were the mangled remains of what I took to be
children.” On closer inspection, he sees that some of the figures look
old and injured. Gleason cannot sleep or eat for three weeks after the
visit. The director of the Secret Service under President Clinton, Lewis
C. Merletti, claims
that the idea of a president escaping his secret service agents only
happens in the movies. In response to a question by reporter Joan London
about the possibility of the president escaping his protection to go out
and secretly do something, Merletti claims, “all Hollywood. There’s no
sneaking out. It has never happened.” Marty
Venker, a Secret Service agent who worked with Merletti under
Presidents Ford and
Carter, however,
tells a different story. In his book Confessions of an Ex-Secret Service
Agent he explains that not only can the president disappear, but it has
happened. Venker states that in the exact year of the Homestead incident
with Gleason, 1973, Nixon tries to cut his secret service protection.
Venker also states that it was not uncommon for Nixon to try to elude
his Secret Service detail. The agents working on the Nixon presidential
detail were warned about it. Nixon is familiar with Homestead AFB, which
is only minutes from his Biscayne Bay compound. There is no proof that
Nixon escorted Jackie Gleason to view alien bodies at Homestead, but
everything checked out indicates it could very well have happened. It
would have been very easy in terms of distance for the Gleason/Nixon
alien event to have occurred. (presidentialufo.com, “President
Nixon, 37th President, January 20, 1969–August 9, 1974”; Brian J. Robb,
“The Entertainer, the President, and the Aliens,” Fortean Times 366 (May
2018): 30–36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4889
Date: 2/21/1973
Description: Night. Clearwater High School basketball coach Reggie Bone
and five players on his team are driving back to Clearwater after a
game. On US Highway 60 near Ellsinore, Missouri, Bone notices a “bright
shaft of light beaming down out of the sky.” A few miles later, near
Brushy Creek, student Randal Holmes notices another light, and Bone
pulls over for a closer look. They see lights about 600 feet away from
the road hovering over an open field at about 400 feet altitude. The
lights seem to be portholes, each a different color: red, green, amber,
and white. According to student Cary Barks, they watch it for 10 minutes
before the lights rise up noiselessly and disappear over a hill. Around
10:00 p.m., Edith Boatwright of nearby Mill Spring sees a similar object
flying low near her farmhouse. (“Mysterious
Lights Keep Piedmont in the Dark,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March
23, 1973, p. 1; MUFON, “Piedmont Missouri Case, 1973”; Harley D.
Rutledge, Project Identification: The First Scientific Field Study of
UFO Phenomena, Prentice-Hall, 1981, pp. 6–7;
Marler 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4890
Date: 3/2/1973
Description: Schlesinger appoints
William
Colby head of the CIA’s clandestine branch.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4891
Date: 3/20/1973
Description: 7:15 p.m. Lucie Vandervoort is looking out a window of her
house in Tarcienne, Belgium, when she sees a bright light approaching.
It passes over the roof of a nearby house, then banks, makes a 90° turn,
and begins to blink as it disappears to the east. Similar objects appear
every 10 minutes, continuing until 9:15 p.m. The objects’ slow speed
allows her to take photos. At one point she looks through her late
husband’s World War I trench periscope and sees a humanoid figure
dressed in shiny, tight-fitting clothes and standing in the front of one
of the objects. Only one photo turns out and shows a squarish light
against a dark sky. Analysis suggests that the objects were probably
aircraft taking off from the military base at Florennes a few miles
away, the humanoid figure was imaginary, and the photo was a blurry
streetlight. (Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos and Wim van Utrecht, Belgium in
UFO Photographs, Volume 1 (1950–1988), FOTOCAT
Report no. 7, 2017, pp.172–183)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4892
Date: 3/24/1973
Description: 7:30 a.m. Arthur de Weerdt is watching a distant airliner
in Borgerhout, Belgium, when he notices another sunlit object pacing the
aircraft at a higher altitude. Suddenly the object stops and remains
motionless for about one minute, then moves at a greater speed, making
an angle of 70° before coming to another wobbling halt for about 8
minutes. De Weerdt manages to take a color photograph of the object,
which shows a whitish spot. Ballester Olmos and van Utrecht suspect the
witness saw a weather balloon and that the photo is the result of a
development flaw. (Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos and Wim van Utrecht, Belgium
in UFO Photographs, Volume 1 (1950–1988),
FOTOCAT Report no. 7, 2017, pp. 183–196)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4893
Date: 3/28/1973
Description: 7:00 p.m. Two witnesses see an object with a rough
triangular shape hovering at about 200 feet above trees on Stony Lane in
Exeter, Rhode Island. It glows with brilliant white lights and has
smaller green and red lights at the points of the triangle. The object
makes a slight buzzing sound as it moves away. (“Flap
over Rhode Island,” APRO Bulletin 21, no. 6 (May/June 1973):
9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4894
Date: 3/29/1973
Description: The last United States combat troops left Vietnam
Type: war
Reference: link
Location: Vietnam
Date: 4/1973
Description: Scottish author Duncan
Lunan claims he has identified and deciphered a hidden radio message
sent as long delayed echoes by an alien space probe that had been
detected in 1927. Published along with an accompanying editorial
disclaimer, Lunan maintains that the putative message comes from an
object at the L5 point in the same orbit as the Moon, sent by the
inhabitants of a planet orbiting Epsilon Boötis. He says the message
reads, “Start here. Our home is Epsilon Boötis, which is a double star.
We live on the sixth planet of seven, coming from the sun, which is the
larger of the two. Our sixth planet has one moon. Our fourth planet has
three. Our first and third planets each have one. Our probe is in the
position of Arcturus, known in our maps.” (“Spaceprobe from Epsilon
Boötis,” Spaceflight 15, no. 4 (April 1973); Duncan Lunan, Man
and the Stars: Contact and Communication
with Other Intelligence, Souvenir, 1974)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4895
Date: 4/1973
Description: Southeast Missouri State University physics professor Harley
Rutledge hears of numerous reports of unidentified lights in the sky
around Piedmont, Missouri, and decides to subject these reports to
scientific analysis. He puts together a team of 620 observers with
college training in the physical sciences, including a large array of
equipment at 158 different viewing stations: binoculars, RF spectrum
analyzers, Questar telescopes, low-high frequency audio detectors, an
electromagnetic frequency analyzer, cameras, sound recorders, Geiger
counters, and a galvanometer to measure variations in the Earth’s
gravitational field. The resulting Project Identification commences in
April, logging several hundred hours of observation time and 157
documented sightings over the next 7 years. This is the first UFO
scientific field study, able to monitor the phenomena in real-time,
enabling Rutledge to calculate the objects’ actual velocity, course,
position, distance, and size. Observation of the unclouded night sky
often reveals “pseudostars”—stationary lights camouflaged by familiar
constellations. Some objects appear to mimic the appearance of known
aircraft; others violate the laws of physics. The most startling
discovery is that on at least 32 recorded occasions, the movement of the
lights synchronize with actions of the observers. They appear to respond
to a light being switched on and off, and to verbal or radio messages.
Rutledge publishes a final report, Project Identification, on his field
research in 1981. (Harley D. Rutledge, Project Identification:
The First Scientific Field Study of UFO Phenomena, Prentice-Hall,
1981; Mark Rodeghier, “Book Review: Project Identification,” IUR 7, no.
1 (January 1982): 14–16; Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam,
1980, p. 249;
Greg Little, “Why
Do Ufologists Largely Ignore the Most Scientific Field Study of
UFOs Ever
Conducted?” Alternate Perceptions, no. 146 (March 2010))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4896
Date: 4/1/1973
End date: 4/8/1973
Description: At least 16 sightings of round or egg-shaped objects
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Los Angeles Basin, CA
ID: 216
Date: 4/6/1973
Description: Domed disc with ports and legs hovered in a grove of trees,
physical traces found
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Ellsinore, MO
ID: 217
Date: 4/9/1973
Description: Physicist Peter
A. Sturrock mails questionnaires to all 1,175 members of the San
Francisco, California, Chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics asking their opinions on the UFO phenomenon. He
receives 423 responses from scientists who have seen things they thought
could be UFOs. (Peter A. Sturrock, “UFO
Reports from AIAA Members,” Astronautics and Aeronautics 12 (May
1974): 60–64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4897
Date: 4/27/1973
Description: Ingo
Swann, in
a remote-viewing experiment at Stanford Research Institute, concentrates
on the Pioneer
10 space probe on its way to Jupiter. Monitored by Harold
Puthoff and Russell
Targ, Swann yields 13 specific factors about Jupiter, none of which
are scientifically anticipated—including the existence of a planetary
ring. (Wikipedia, “Ingo
Swann”; Ingo Swann, Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial
and Human Telepathy, Ingo Swann Books, 1998, pp. 18–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4898
Date: 5/1973
Description: A series of meetings takes place between USAF
representatives (Col. William
T. Coleman and Col. George Weinbrenner)
and two well-connected Hollywood figures: documentarist Robert
Emenegger and producer Allan Sandler. The
colonels encourage the pair to make a documentary on the UFO phenomenon
and the question of extraterrestrial life. Not only will they have the
military’s full cooperation, they will also have access to their files,
including those of the Department of Defense. Upon arriving at Norton
Air Force Base [now San Bernardino, California, International Airport]
the two men are immediately taken to a “clean room used by the CIA,”
designed so that “there was no way anyone could eavesdrop” on events
taking place inside. Here the proposal takes place, including the
promise of using 3,200 feet of a 1971 UFO landing footage at Holloman
AFB, New Mexico, that shows several of the “alien visitors” and their
meeting with the representatives from the US government. Paul Shartle,
chief of requirements for the Norton AFB audiovisual program, promises
to get the Holloman footage. Emenegger is told that the military is
monitoring signals from an alien group that their extraterrestrial
visitors know nothing about. At the last minute, permission to use the
film is withdrawn, though Emenegger and Sandler are encouraged to
describe the Holloman landing as something that might happen in the
future or could have happened. Emenegger goes to Wright-Patterson AFB in
Ohio to talk to Weinbrenner, who while haranguing about the need to find
out about Soviet Mig-25s, hands Emenegger a signed copy of Hynek’s
The UFO Experience. (presidentialufo.com, “Disclosure Pattern 1972–75”;
Clark III 357)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4899
Date: 5/9/1973
Description: Schlesinger orders
all CIA officials to report on any activities that “might be construed
to be outside the legislative charter of this Agency.” The CIA Office of
the Inspector General compiles these into a 693-page report on
“potential flap activities,” including surveillance of journalists,
Operation Chaos, MKUltra, and mail interception. These come to be known
as the Family Jewels. (Wikipedia, “Family
Jewels (Central Intelligence Agency”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4900
Date: 5/18/1973
Description: Two men at Miliscola Beach, Bacoli, Naples, Italy, see a
bright disc with a dome 165 feet away over the sea. It hovers at a
height of 10 feet and then moves closer. Their car engine and lights
fail. The dome is bright like a white neon light, and a red light is
rotating around it. After 3–4 minutes, the object lifts off and the car
can be restarted. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference
Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4901
Date: 5/19/1973
Description: Strange, nylon-like patterns are seen in the sky above
Gawler, South Australia. After falling, they vaporize when touched.
(Keith Basterfield, “Angel Hair: An Australian Perspective,” IUR 27, no.
1 (Spring 2002): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4902
Date: 5/22/1973
Description: 3:00 a.m. Onilson Pátero, an organizer of public libraries
for the State of São Paulo, Brazil, is just outside Catanduva, after
giving a ride to a stranger. First his car radio gets static and the
engine begins to fail. Suddenly he notices a blue circle of light about
8 inches in diameter moving around inside his car. It passes in front of
the dashboard and he sees it is transparent. Then a beam of blue light
shines on him from the top of the hill he is driving up. He pulls over
to avoid a collision, but the light keeps coming toward him. Overcome by
a sensation of heat and stuffiness, he steps out of the car and hears a
buzzing noise. The UFO is a gray structure about 25 feet thick and 36
feet wide, resembling two soup plates attached rim to rim. A tube
stretches out from its base toward the ground. Pátero panics and runs
about 100 feet when something holds him back. Turning, he sees that a
rod of blue light from the UFO is moving above his car. The light seems
to make the car transparent, allowing him to see the contents of the
trunk, the wheel gears, the engine, and the interior of the body. Pátero
faints. An hour later, two young men drive by and see him lying on the
ground in gushing rainwater. They speed on into Catanduva and return
with a policeman, Clóvis Queiros. Turning Pátero over, he regains
consciousness and they take him to the hospital, where he is soon
released. However, the next day he feels an itchiness on his back and
stomach. Irritated patches of his skin turn purplish blue. Later, these
spots turn yellow and eventually disappear. Subsequent medical
examinations show no cause for the discoloration, and Pátero seems in
good mental health. He experiences another encounter on April 26, which
some investigators think might be a fantasy. (“Close
Encounter in Brazil,” APRO Bulletin 21, no. 6 (May/June 1973): 1, 3;
“Caso
do Automovel que Ficou Transparente,” SBEDV Boletim, no. 94/98
(September 1973/June 1974): 30–40; “Caso
de Onilson Pátero,” SBEDV Boletim, no. 99/103 (July 1974/April
1975): 2–18; Gordon Creighton, “The
Car That Turned Transparent,” Flying Saucer Review 21, no. 3/4
(November 1975): 14–15; Brazil 154–163)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4903
Date: 5/24/1973
Description: 9:20 p.m. Harley Rutledge and three other members of his
Project Identification team at the municipal airport in Farmington,
Missouri, see a configuration of four lights (white, red, red, white)
flying silently overhead at an altitude of about 2,500 feet. Through
binoculars, Rutledge can see the white lights reflecting off a metallic
structure that could be anywhere from 368 to 2,600 feet across. The
array moved quickly out of sight. (Harley D. Rutledge, Project
Identification: The First Scientific Field Study of UFO Phenomena,
Prentice-Hall, 1981, pp.
77–99)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4904
Date: 5/27/1973
Description: 2:00 a.m. A Mrs. Geni, 57, is preparing some wedding cake
at her home in São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. Through her
balcony window she sees a reflection of some kind in her walled-in
backyard. When she goes to her porch door, she sees a flying object
hovering above the roof of one of the rented buildings on the ground
floor in the back some 50 feet away. The object is white-metallic and
luminous on the bottom, about 6.5–13 feet wide and 3–6 feet high, with a
kind of credenza behind which three entities can be seen. They are small
with large round heads, big eyes, protruding lips, dark brown skin,
small ears, long flat noses, small arms, and wearing a cap with a ball
in the center. Each holds a device like a flashlight that emits a beam
of different colors: green on the left, red in the middle, and orange on
the right. The object emits a noise like a motor as it sways above the
building, then after a few minutes it moves away beyond the horizon.
Mrs. Geni goes back to work, but she now has pains in her knees, legs,
and head. She screams in pain, and the young woman who rents the
building in the back arrives to help. She also has heard the motor noise
and confirms that Mrs. Geni’s face is swollen with bloodshot eyes that
last for 3 days. At about 5:00 a.m., Mrs. Geni suffers a prolapsed
uterus, for which she has to undergo surgery on June 8. She gradually
loses hearing in her right ear, her vision deteriorates, and spots
appear on her skin. A clock in the kitchen begins to behave erratically.
In the backyard, a dwarf coconut tree and a jabuticaba tree both lose
their leaves prematurely. (“Caso
dos Anões de São José do Rio Preto,” SBEDV Boletim, no. 121/125
(March/Dec. 1978): 15–19; Brazil 163–166)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4905
Date: 6/4/1973
Description: 2:00 a.m. Jill Cotmore wakes up in her home near Tyringham,
New South Wales, with an uneasy feeling. She lights a cigarette and the
room is immediately engulfed in a bright light, even though the windows
have heavy curtains. It is so bright that she can’t even see a cupboard
3 feet away from her. Outside, her horse is going berserk. Suddenly, the
light is gone. The next day, she finds the horse frothing, and it had
apparently been running around the house during the night. This takes
place in the middle of a concentration of UFO reports in the area. (Bill
Chalker, “An
Australian Chronicle, Part Two,” APRO Bulletin, June 1976,
p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4906
Date: 6/28/1973
Description: Mobile home park UFO landing, sound, E-M, animal reactions,
light beams, bright illumination, physical traces
Type: landing
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Columbia, MO
ID: 218
Date: 6/28/1973
Description: 12:30 a.m. University of Missouri animal care technician
James G. Richards, 41, and his daughter Vanea, 16, hear a loud,
persistent, thrashing sound outside their house trailer in Columbia,
Missouri. Richards moves to the window and sees two bright, silver-white
light beams about 5 feet apart from each other and 50 feet away from his
window. The beams disappear, and a glowing bright oval form appears,
about 12–15 feet in diameter, lighting up the area. The thrashing sound
is apparently made by trees moving as if blown by wind, and after the
oval form appears, this sound suddenly ceases. As Richards moves from
window to window, he notices his dogs lying very still near the corner
of the trailer that is nearest to the oval object. The dogs are large
security animals that are not easily frightened. Richards thinks it
strange they are not barking at all the noise and the bright lights. The
object moves away to 200 feet from the window and hovers, and now, less
bright to the eye, the witnesses can see a blue band of light and an
orange glow extending around the outer edge of the oval. The oval moves
back near its original position and disappears by growing smaller before
police arrive at 1:45 a.m. Later searches uncover broken tree limbs,
damaged foliage, scorched leaves up to a height of 35 feet, and
impressions on the ground as deep as 2 feet. (NICAP, “Columbia,
Missouri: June 28, 1973”; Ted Phillips, “Landing
at Columbia, Missouri,” Flying Saucer Review 19, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1973): 18–25; Richard H. Hall, Uninvited Guests, Aurora,
1988, pp. 268–270; UFOEv II 61–62)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4907
Date: 7/1973
Description: David
Rockefeller founds the Trilateral Commission in Tokyo, Japan, to
foster closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe, and North
America. It initiates its biannual meetings in October in Tokyo.
(Wikipedia, “Trilateral
Commission”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4908
Date: 7/7/1973
Description: 10:00 p.m. A Mrs. Good is closing the curtains of her house
at Porthcothan Bay, Cornwall, England, when she sees two dark
semi-cigar-shaped objects hovering over the bay. They are positioned on
either side of a glowing, symmetrical ring. After a few seconds, the
ring enters the left object and the two shoot off at terrific speed
upward. The remaining object follows the same path a short time
afterward. She reports the sighting to the nearby RAF St. Mawgan, which
explains the sighting as “sun dogs.” (UFOFiles2, pp. 86–87)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4909
Date: 7/12/1973
End date: 7/16/1973
Description: A fire destroys some 16–18 million official military
personnel records at the Military Personnel Records Center in Overland,
Missouri. The losses to federal military records collection include 80%
loss to records of US Army personnel discharged November 1, 1912, to
January 1, 1960; 75% loss to records of US Air Force personnel
discharged September 25, 1947, to January 1, 1964, with names
alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.; and some US Army Reserve
personnel who performed their initial active duty for training in the
late 1950s but who received final discharge as late as 1964. None of the
records have duplicate copies, nor are there microfilm copies. No index
of these records was made prior to the fire. (Wikipedia, “National
Personnel Records Center fire”;
Kevin D. Randle, “Military Records,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4910
Date: 7/25/1973
Description: 1:35 p.m. A Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC-8 is flying west
at 31,000 feet above the eastern coast of Baffin Island, Nunavut, when
the pilot sees a “large balloon in close proximity” and radios air
traffic control to report it. He says it is 200 feet in diameter and 3
miles away and has been paralleling their course for 5–6 minutes at a
speed of 575 mph. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August
Night, 2022, p. 89)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4911
Date: 7/26/1973
Description: A secret US State Department airgram on “Guidance for
Dealing with Space Objects Which Have Returned to Earth” refers to
Project Moon Dust: “the designator MOONDUST is used in cases of non-US
space objects or objects of unknown origin.” (Christopher D. Allen,
“Dubious Truth about the Roswell Crash,” IUR 19, no. 3 (May/June 1994):
14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4912
Date: 7/27/1973
Description: A 16-year-old UFO buff finds and photographs some strange
marks on the ground near Lago d’Idro, Brescia, Italy. In 1977 he
undergoes hypnotic regression and realizes he has been touched by a
human shape that makes him lose consciousness. When he wakes up he is
being sucked into an aerial object through an opening at its base. He
finds himself in a round room with four beings. Then a woman comes in
and the entities begin moving around and touching him. He is paralyzed
and can only move his eyes. He is then taken to another room and
directed to sit on a chair as the UFO lands in the spot where he had
been before. He then leaves the object and watches it take off. He picks
up his camera and photographs the ground traces. (Paolo Fiorino, Gian
Paolo Grassino, and Antonio Chiumiento, “Abductions in Italy,” IUR 14,
no. 4 (July/Aug. 1989): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4913
Date: 8/1973
Description: 10:30 p.m. Three people are sitting in their front yard in
West Seneca, New York, when they hear a low hum coming from an object
above their garage. It is a silvery half-egg with glowing
orange-and-blue overtones. It begins a slow descent toward the roof, and
when it is only 5 feet away, one of the witnesses yells for it to stop.
The object stops, hovers briefly, and shoots away straight upward. One
of the witnesses hears the same hum at about the same time two days
later, and the same object appears, moving down the street. The object
is only 3–4 feet above the pavement and covers the width of the road.
The witness approaches it, and it stops at the end of his driveway. He
walks toward it and gets only 4–5 feet from it without feeling any heat.
When his dog barks, he backs away. The object waits a moment, then
slowly moves 20 feet down the street, quickly rises, and vanishes
rapidly at a 45° angle. (Michael D. Swords, “Unusual Experiences from
the Timmerman Files,” IUR 27, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 23–24) Between August
3–6 — Night. A woman and her children are watching the stars in their
backyard in San Antonio, Texas. Two “very perfect” cumulus clouds move
into view low above them. A perfectly round sphere with a green glow
slowly emerges from the top of the cloud on the left. Soon they see
lightning going back and forth from the two clouds but never toward the
ground. One lightning bolt hits the sphere and red sparks fly out,
whereupon the sphere slowly reenters the cloud. The clouds remain
stationary for 35–40 minutes until the sphere disappears, then they
float on. (Herbert S. Taylor, “Mystery Clouds and the UFO Connection,”
IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4914
Date: 8/11/1973
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 219
Date: 8/28/1973
Description: 10:00 p.m. Journalists Titus Zăgrean and Ion Moise are
driving near Budacu de Jos, Romania, when they see a big milky-white
light in the sky approaching the road they are on. As it crosses the
road, they see it is rotating and about 3 feet in diameter. Moving to
the west, it veers sharply to the north, accelerates, changes color to
yellow-orange then red, and departs at fantastic speed. (Romania
40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4915
Date: 8/31/1973
End date: 12/1973
Description: Flurry of sightings in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Ohio. Fast-moving oblong objects with bright flashing
or revolving lights witnessed by local and state police. (See separate
chronology, section VIII.)
Type: sighting
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 220
Date: 9/1973
Description: Jenny
Randles and David Rees found the Manchester Aerial Phenomena
Investigation Team in the Greater Manchester area, England. It publishes
the Skywatch newsletter through early 1982. (Skywatch,
no. 1 (September 1973))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4916
Date: 9/1973
Description: At Great Lakes Naval Base, Instructor R. K., Gunnery School
Grade E-4, while delivering a sealed envelope to the Commandant in the
quonset hut, was surprised to see a saucer 30 ft. diam. and 10 ft. ht.
resting on a wooden platform. Description: Silvery blue and shimmering,
it tapered like a teardrop with a flange running along its topside from
one end to the other and there were no windows. R.K. believed this
saucer to be the one shot down on its third pass over a Navy vessel by a
missile. The saucer crashed in 350 ft. water between Hawaii and the
mainland. It was retrieved by a Glomar Explorer, shipped to Hawaii then
stateside to Chicago.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: Pea
Research (A5, B3-C, RECOVERY, HAWAII)
Location: Hawaii
Date: 9/4/1973
Description: William
Colby is named director of central intelligence to succeed James
R. Schlesinger, who leaves on July 2 to become Secretary of
Defense.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4917
Date: 9/11/1973
Description: Chilean President Salvador
Allende is overthrown by the armed forces and national police in a
coup d’état with the covert support of the CIA. (Wikipedia, “United
States intervention in Chile”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4918
Date: 9/17/1973
Description: 9:00 p.m. Anne Taylor is walking to her farm in Romford,
Essex, England, after walking her three dogs when she sees a green light
near the cowshed. She continues watching the light, which starts moving
toward her slowly. Her two terriers are whining and cringing. The light
approaches to within a few feet of her, about 12 feet above the ground.
It is completely silent. Her watch has stopped, and her spine begins to
tingle. She hears a jet plane in the distance, and the light goes out.
She hears an “electric whirring” and the green ball shoots straight up.
Her dogs return to normal behavior, and her watch starts up again when
she returns to the house. (UFOFiles2, p. 86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4919
Date: 9/23/1973
Description: 5:00 a.m. A truck driver is driving to work near Tyler,
Texas, when a small “cub airplane” seems to fly directly in front of
another car on the highway, nearly causing a wreck. The plane flies up
over the side of the road and hovers above some trees. Then it changes
into a cigar shape with lights. The driver gets out of his truck to
watch. The cigar moves off then returns with a new, round shape. It
lights up with many multicolored lights and moves above a nearby house.
It makes a low, “loop-loop-loop” thumping sound. Then a large, bright,
square light descends and swings from the other object. It approaches
the truck, then swings back and forth. He tries to jump back in the
truck but apparently passes out. He later notices he has some marks on
his hip and shoulder. He does remember seeing the UFO change from a
round shape into a triangle, and then move out of sight. (Michael D.
Swords, “Unusual Experiences from the Timmerman Files,” IUR 27, no. 2
(Summer 2002): 24; Michael D. Swords, “Timmerman’s Triangles,” IUR 29,
no. 2 (Summer 2004): 17) Autumn — Late night. 1st Lt. Walter F. Billings
is a deputy crew commander at the Francis E. Warren AFB Golf launch
control capsule missile site northwest of Sidney, Nebraska. Over UHF
radio, he hears the crew at LCC India, southwest of Sunol, Nebraska,
order its security guards to investigate an alarm at one of India’s 10
launch sites. The guards find that the inner security alarm has also
been triggered, meaning that something has penetrated the security fence
surrounding the site. They find a large, bright UFO hovering above the
site. One minute later, the UFO moves off slowly for several thousand
feet then zooms off at a high rate of speed. All crews on duty that
night are told not to say anything to the public or media about anything
they heard on UHF radio that night. (Nukes 338–339)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4920
Date: 10/1973
Description: Night. Sgt. Michael D. Jenkins of the 96th Security Police
Squadron is stationed at Dyess AFB southwest of Abilene, Texas, when a
major alert goes off at the base after a large ball of light is reported
hovering 100–150 feet above igloo bunkers housing nuclear weapons.
Twelve police with M-16s are sent to the Weapons Storage Area, and an
incoming C-130 is asked to do a fly-by of the area to get a look at the
object. Three K-9 teams that normally patrol the perimeter report that
their dogs are afraid and acting up. An order to fire on the object
comes from Strategic Air Command Headquarters Offutt AFB near Bellevue,
Nebraska. Jenkins hears gunfire and sees a bluish-white streak as the
object speeds off. As it leaves, it drops a trail of “angel hair” all
the way from the weapons area to the southwest perimeter of the base.
The angel hair hangs around on the area ropes and buildings for three
days. On the third day it rains and the material dissolves, completely
disappearing. (Robert L. Hastings, “UFO
Fired Upon As It Hovered over Nuclear Bomb Storage Facility, Says Former
USAF Security Policeman,” UFOs & Nukes, December 1, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4922
Date: 10/1973
Description: J.
Allen Hynek and Sherman J. Larsen establish what will become the
Center for UFO Studies in Evanston, Illinois, with Larsen’s existing
Public Education Group as a base. (Clark III 627; Sherman J. Larsen,
“The Founding of CUFOS,” IUR 11, no. 3 (May/June 1986): 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4921
Date: 10/4/1973
Description: Elliptical object with dome hovered about 10 feet off
ground, swaying back and forth. Humanoid being appeared, reptered craft
when observed
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Chatsworth, CA
ID: 221
Date: 10/6/1973
Description: 12:45 a.m. A couple strolling along a country road near
St.-Mathias-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, see a bright light like a projector
emanating from a nearby field. Later, at 11:30 a.m., the woman is
hanging clothes on a line in her backyard when she notices a column of
smoke rising from fields in the north. She calls over two workmen doing
repairs at her home, and they see a yellowish object like a tent near
the smoke. Soon a square, yellow object resembling a bulldozer emerges
from the tent and travels about 180 feet to a small spring. Between the
two objects, moving around in the field, are five “little people” about
4 feet tall performing various actions. Assuming them to be boy scouts,
the witnesses notice they are wearing some kind of helmets and clothing
that is the same color as the tent. The witnesses return to their work
and 20 minutes later someone notices that the objects and figures have
disappeared. The couple’s daughter returns in half an hour and goes to
check the location. She finds a large, circular patch of burned and
crushed grass about 45 feet in diameter, as well as two tracklike marks,
each about 6 inches wide. Returning, the daughter feels ill with
headache and nausea. A month later, UFO investigators arrive and find
additional marks in the shape of a triangle. (Wido Hoville, “Un
atterrissage á Saint-Mathias de Chambly,”
UFO-Quebec, no. 1 (1975): 6–9; Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The
Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 106–107; Patrick Gross, URECAT, November
7, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4923
Date: 10/8/1973
Description: Evening. A police officer near Laurel, Mississippi, chases
a yellow object shaped like a top and making “exhaust-like” noises for
several miles. As he approaches within 200 feet, his car stalls and the
radio and headlights die. When the object moves away, the lights and
radio come back, but the engine will not start for several minutes.
(Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS,
1981, p. 58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4924
Date: 10/10/1973
Description: 7:00 p.m. A family in Niantic, Connecticut, watches two
greenish discs and a white sphere maneuvering over a nearby lake. Odd
clouds seem to be accompanying the two discs. One disc and its cloud
disappear, while the other disc flies in and out of its cloud as if
playing “peekaboo.” (Herbert S. Taylor, “Mystery Clouds and the UFO
Connection,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4925
Date: 10/11/1973
Description: 9:00 p.m. Larry Booth of Pascagoula, Mississippi, finishes
watching TV and checks the front door. He sees a huge round object
hovering 5–8 feet above a nearby streetlight. It has red lights that are
moving in a clockwise motion around it. It slowly moves away. (Clark III
895)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4928
Date: 10/11/1973
Description: 7:40 p.m. Parole Officer Raymond
Broadus, Pascagoula City Councilor Emmanuel P. Sigalas, and an
unidentified woman are driving on US Highway 90 west of Gautier,
Mississippi, when they see a large, swiftly moving object that descends
and hovers a few hundred yards above the ground and meanders toward the
Pascagoula River. (Clark III 895)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4927
Date: 10/11/1973
Description: Around 7:00 p.m. Two men, 19-year-old Calvin Parker and
42-year old Charles
E. Hickson Sr., both
of Gautier, Mississippi, are fishing in the Pascagoula River when they
hear a buzzing noise behind them. Both turn and are terrified to see a
10-foot-wide, 8-foot-high, glowing egg-shaped object with blue lights at
its front hovering just above the ground about 40 feet from the
riverbank. As the men, frozen with fright, watch, a door appears in the
object and three strange beings float just above the river towards them.
The two become numb and paralyzed as the entities carry them into the
UFO. Some kind of “eye” device scans them before they are released 20
minutes later. They first contact Keesler AFB in Biloxi, but no one is
interested; then they drive to the offices of the Mississippi Press
Register a few blocks away, but it is closed. So they call the Jackson
County Sheriff’s Office to report their encounter, and they arrive there
at 10:30 p.m. At one point during 2 hours of intense grilling by Sheriff
Fred
R. Diamond, they
are left alone in an interrogation room where they are unknowingly tape
recorded while they continue to speak to each other about the abduction,
emotionally distressed. (Wikipedia, “Pascagoula
Abduction”; NICAO, “The
Hickson/Parker Incident”; “The
Pascagoula Affair,” APRO Bulletin 22, no. 2 (Sept./Oct. 1973): 1,
3–4; Clark III 893–898; Charles Hickson and William Mendez, UFO Contact
at Pascagoula, Wendelle C. Stevens, 1983; Calvin Parker, Pascagoula: The
Closest Encounter: My Story, Flying Disk, 2018; Calvin Parker,
Pascagoula: The Story Continues: New Evidence and New Witnesses, Flying
Disk, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4926
Date: 10/11/1973
Description: Charles Hickson and Charles Parker abduction case
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Pascagoula, MS
ID: 222
Date: 10/12/1973
Description: 4:00 a.m. A commercial pilot is flying a Piper PA-32
Cherokee Six near Mount Baldy, Arizona, at an altitude of 2,500 feet. He
notices a red flashing light on the ground in a remote area, and circles
around for a closer look. As he does so, the light begins moving too and
reaches a speed about the same as his plane, 170 mph. It is flashing
regularly at 2-second intervals. The object is skimming over the ground,
apparently following undulations in the landscape. He changes course
again to intercept the light, which accelerates instantaneously to 800
mph, moving up and over Mount Baldy, following its contours. The pilot
follows it for a few minutes, about 50–60 miles. After about 5 minutes
the light makes a right-angle turn and accelerates vertically. After
8–10 flashes, it disappears into the upper atmosphere. (Mark Rodeghier,
“Out of the Past: An Incredible Light,” IUR 9, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1984):
7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4929
Date: 10/15/1973
End date: 10/16/1973
Description: Sheriffs saw and chased pulsating orange objects that
alternately hovered, swinging like pendulum, darted around at high
speed
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Pine, LA
ID: 223
Date: 10/16/1973
Description: 7:30 p.m. Upon arriving home at Albany, Ohio, Mary Geddis
sees a “ghost-like” figure floating about 50 feet above the ground at
1,000 feet distance; it is about 4 feet tall and thin, “like a person
draped in a close-fitting sheet.” It is seen only briefly when she
notices a bright white object moving about, and approaches to within 200
feet before going away. The object is about 20 feet in diameter and
about 25–30 feet off the ground. Later, as she is making supper, she
sees a “little blue-green thing” about 2.5 feet tall and with a face
with “spiky things at the tops and the sides of the head” looking in an
open door; it has stumpy arms (she sees no legs) and quickly disappears
from sight. UFO sightings occur around the same time in nearby Athens,
Ohio. (George M. Eberhart, “The
Little ‘Electric’ Man,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 5 (March 1975):
10–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4931
Date: 10/16/1973
Description: 7:45 p.m. A 50-foot-wide bluish object hovers 2–3 feet
above US Highway 82, seemingly suspended on a beam of light, near
Eupora, Mississippi, 300 feet from a car. The engine and headlights fail
as the object lands. Another object hovers about 60 feet above the
first, illuminating it. A “catfish-like” creature emerges with flippers
for hands, a wide mouth, and feathers on its back. It holds onto a
handrail on the craft and never goes down to the ground. It gets back in
and the object rises into the air. The driver restarts the car.
(Columbus (Miss.) Triangle Advertiser, October 24, 1973; David Webb, 1973:
Year of the Humanoids, CUFOS, 1976, p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4932
Date: 10/16/1973
Description: Night. William and Donna Hatchett are driving down a
country road near Mannford, Oklahoma, when she sees a bright light
coming from the south. They first think it is a security light on a
pole, but then realize the object is pacing them and descending. When
the Hatchetts stop the truck, the light also stops in front of them. As
the object hovers, it gives off a blinding light and a penetrating
low-pitched hum. They have a feeling that there are occupants who know
everything they are thinking. Donna is so afraid that she twice leaves
the truck cab and goes into the back. William manages to persuade her to
return, and they set off, the object rising up in the opposite
direction. (Kevin D. Randle, The UFO Casebook, Warner, 1989,
pp. 143–144)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4933
Date: 10/16/1973
Description: Midnight. Single mother Pat Roach is dozing on the couch
with her 5-year-old son Kent in an isolated house on the outskirts of
Lehi, Utah. Suddenly, Kent wakes up screaming that he has seen a
“skeleton.” Roach has a vague memory an intruder and a bright light.
Suspecting a prowler, she phones a neighbor, who calls the police at
12:10 a.m. A few minutes later, officers arrive, talk to Roach, find
nothing amiss, and leave. Roach then checks on her other children. Two
of them, Bonnie and Debbie, tell her they had seen a spaceman who had
come into the house and taken them on a spaceship. Debbie remembers
being told not to tell anyone, as well as seeing a line of people
waiting to go on board. Disturbed, Roach takes her children and spends
the rest of the night at a friend’s house. In 1975, Roach sees an
article by Kevin
Randle on UFO abductions and contacts him. Randle arranges for an
interview and hypnosis sessions with APRO’s research director James
A. Harder. An
abduction tale slowly emerges that involves some elements that are
little known in 1975, among them the aliens’ clinical coldness, their
curiosity about human emotion, their interest in gynecology, and human
participants in the physical examination. However, Randle now believes
that Roach underwent sleep paralysis, was influenced by some abduction
accounts over the years, and was led into the narrative by Harder’s
leading questions during hypnosis. (Clark III 1011– 1012; Story, pp. 309–310;
Lorenzen, Abducted! Confrontations with Beings from Outer Space,
Berkley, 1977, pp. 9–24;
Kevin D. Randle, “Alien
Abduction and Leading the Witness,” A Different Perspective, March
28, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4934
Date: 10/16/1973
Description: At a press conference in Illinois, USAF Chief of Staff
Gen. George
Scratchley Brown states that sightings of what were presumed to be
enemy helicopters during the Vietnam War took place, always at night,
and prompted shooting by US ground forces. A Combat Air Activities file
of 16 such incidents between 1967 and 1969, especially around Pleiku in
February 1969, documents some of this activity. (Barry Greenwood, “Air
Force Vietnam
Era UFO Reports Surface,” UFO Historical Revue, no. 14 (May 2015):
3–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4930
Date: 10/17/1973
Description: Ohio Gov. John
J. Gilligan and his wife Mary are
driving near Ann Arbor, Michigan, when they see an amber-colored
vertical beam of light. When asked to confirm the sighting, he tells
reporters: “I saw this. It wasn’t a bird or a plane.” (“Gilligan
Spots Strange Object,” Hamilton (Ohio) Journal News, October 17,
1973, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4935
Date: 10/17/1973
Description: Pulsating object photographed during sighting wave
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Elkhorn, WV
ID: 224
Date: 10/17/1973
Description: After 10:00 p.m. Falkville, Alabama, Police Chief Jeffrey
Greenhaw responds to a phone call about a UFO on the outskirts of town.
On a gravel road, he sees a 5-and-a-half-foot-tall, silver-suited figure
in his headlights. He stops, gets out, and talks to the figure, all the
while taking Polaroid photos of it. It steps towards him and Greenhaw
turns on the red rotating police car light. The figure runs away and
although Greenhaw pursues it in his car, it eludes him. The photos
quickly become a national news story. NICAP investigator Marion Webb and
others strongly suspect this is a hoax. (NICAP, “Falkville,
Alabama, Entity / Jeff Greenhaw Case, Oct. 17, 1973”; “Police
Chief’s Nightmare: Real or Contrived?” UFO Investigator, October
1974, pp. 1–2; “Police
Chief Hoaxes UFO,”
UFO Investigator, January 1977, p. 4; Clark III 482; Good Above, pp. 301–302;)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4937
Date: 10/17/1973
Description: Paul Brown is driving on US Highway 29 near Danielsville,
Georgia, when his car radio suddenly goes wild with strange sounds. He
sees a silver, oval-shaped object about 300 feet ahead on the road. He
stops and sees two beings with red faces and white hair. Brown grabs a
pistol and steps halfway out of his car, but the beings return to the
object, which takes off with a whooshing sound. (Athens (Ga.)
Banner-Herald, October 18, 1973; “First
Flap in Six Years Resurrects UFOs As National Controversy,” UFO
Investigator, November 1973, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4936
Date: 10/18/1973
Description: Capt. Lawrence Coyne, while flying an Army helicopter with
three other crewmen were 45 minutes out over Mansfield when Staff
Sgt. Robert Yanacsek spotted a red glowing UFO headed toward their
helicopter at an estimated 600 mph. It stopped abruptly 500 ft. above
them. It had a big, gray, metallic looking hull about 60 ft. long,
shaped like an airfoil or streamlined cigar with a red light in front
and a green light in the rear, the lead edge glowed red a short distance
from the nose. There was a center dome. The ’copter radio wouldn’t
function and the copter was set for a 20 degree dive but gained altitude
from 1700 ft. to 3500 ft. with no power applied. After a slight “bounce”
the UFO took off to the N.E.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-F p319, 271)
Location: Mansfield, OH
Date: 10/18/1973
Description: 11:00 p.m. Army Reserve Capt. Lawrence
J. Coyne (with his crew 1st Lt. Arrigo Jezzi, Sgt. John Healey, and
Spec5 Robert Yanacsek) is flying an Army Reserve UH-1 Huey helicopter at
1,200 feet from Columbus to Cleveland, Ohio. Healey notices a steady,
southbound red light. It looks like the port-wing light of an aircraft
but seems brighter and carries none of the other FAA-required lights. He
watches it disappear behind the helicopter and doesn’t tell the others.
A couple minutes later, Yanacsek sees a bright red light on the eastern
horizon and watches it for 90 seconds, realizing it is pacing the
helicopter. He mentions it to Coyne, who tells Healey to watch it. Soon
the light turns and comes towards the helicopter. Coyne takes the
controls from Jezzi and puts the helicopter into a descent. He calls
Mansfield (Ohio) Approach Control but fails to get a response. The red
light is now closing on them at a dangerous rate of speed, possibly 684
mph. Coyne pushes the stick down, forcing the helicopter to descend
quickly. When he gets to an altitude of 650 feet above the treetops,
Coyne looks up and sees the object covering the entire front windshield.
The red light is on its nose and a white light is on the tail of this
cigar-shaped, metallic structure. Under the tail, a green beam sweeps a
90° arc and shines through the windshield. It hovers above them for
10–12 seconds before accelerating and heading northwest. The bright
white light just snaps out. Coyne looks at the altimeter and realizes
they have been ascending and are now at 3,500 feet, but the stick is
still down. He pulls the stick up and the helicopter levels out at 3,800
feet. Reviewing his instruments, Coyne notices that the magnetic compass
is rotating slowly, while the Radio Magnetic Indicator is functioning
normally. They make radio contact with Akron and fly on to Cleveland
without further incident. Other witnesses on the ground have seen the
incident. (NICAP, “Coyne
Helicopter, E-M / Magnetic Compass Encounter”; Jennie Zeidman, “UFO–Helicopter
Close Encounter over Ohio,” Flying Saucer Review 22, no, 4 (November
1976): 15– 19; Jennie Zeidman, “More
on the Coyne Helicopter Case,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 4
(January 1978): 16– 18; Jennie Zeidman, A Helicopter-UFO Encounter over
Ohio, CUFOS, 1979; Kim Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean
Tomes, 1987, pp. 82–85; Jennie Zeidman, “Green Light over Mansfield,”
IUR 13, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1988): 13–14; Jennie Zeidman, “The Coyne Case:
Correction and Update,” IUR 14, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1989): 17–18; Michael
D. Swords, GrassRoots UFOs: Case Reports from the Timmerman Files, Fund
for UFO Research, 2005, p. 145; Patrick Gross, “The
Coyne Incident, Mansfield, Ohio, USA, 1973”; Kevin D. Randle, “The
Coyne Helicopter UFO Case,” A Different Perspective, August 5, 2014;
Kevin D. Randle, “The Coyne
Helicopter Encounter–Explained?” A Different Perspective, May 1,
2018; Good Above, pp. 302–303;
Clark III 309–312; Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 159–161)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4939
Date: 10/18/1973
Description: Army Reserve helicopter encountered domed, craftlike object
that beamed green light into cockpit, lifted helicopter off course
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Mansfield, OH
ID: 225
Date: 10/18/1973
Description: 3:30 p.m. A witness in Hamilton, Illinois, sees a huge gray
oval or oblong UFO. A second object appears that resembles the first but
seems to be covered in “cobwebs” on its upper surface. About 15 minutes
later, “cotton-like” material is found that when handled becomes a
“small ball which melted as it was touched.” The next morning, a
collected sample has totally sublimated. (Brian Boldman, “An Analysis of
Angel Hair, 1947– 2000,” IUR 26, no. 3 (Fall 2001): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4938
Date: 10/18/1973
Description: 11:30 p.m. A group of people in Wooster, Ohio, notices a
bright, pulsing, triangular object with three colored lights at each
apex, pulsating at different rates. When the object moves, the red light
becomes brighter. It moves right, left, up, and down for 25 minutes. The
UFO then dips down and shoots straight up into the sky. (Michael D.
Swords, “Timmerman’s Triangles,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4940
Date: 10/20/1973
Description: Orionid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 226
Date: 10/20/1973
Description: 1:00 a.m. Two women driving in a Volkswagen near Fort
Smith, Arkansas, see a glowing object approach them from the south. It
descends within 6 feet of their car, at which point the headlights,
radio, and engine all fail. The object is about 8 feet in diameter,
shaped like a disc, and emits a “computer-like” sound. After about 5
minutes, it moves away quickly. (Fort Smith (Ark.) Southwest Times
Record, October 21, 1973; Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS,
1981, p. 59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4941
Date: 10/20/1973
Description: 2:00 a.m. Sam Richerson and his wife awaken in their home
in Campbellsville, Kentucky, when a barking dog disturbs his young son
from a deep sleep. When his wife attends to him, she notices a glowing
object across the street. They stand and watch the object for 15
minutes. It is a triangular-shaped object the size of two cars hovering
at treetop height 300 feet away. (Campbellsville
(Ky.) News-Journal, October 25, 1973; Marler 89–90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4942
Date: 10/20/1973
Description: 8:00 p.m. A witness sees a triangular-shaped object with
bright white lights hovering above Milton Road in Alton, Illinois. A
second triangle is above the first. (“Latest UFO over Milton (Road),”
Alton (Ill.) Telegraph, October 22, 1973; Marler 90, 209)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4945
Date: 10/20/1973
Description: 6:50 a.m. A conductor on a Louisville & Nashville
Railroad train moving northeast out of Mount Vernon, Indiana, sees a
bright white light coming out of the north and heading east. When they
reach Caborn, Indiana, he notifies the rear conductors, who can now see
a bright light (possibly another train) behind them. The train’s
automatic blocking system is showing a red light, indicating there is a
train to the rear. When the train reaches Belknap, the engine stops
because a rear diesel unit has apparently overheated. The yardmaster in
Evansville informs them that there never was any train behind them. The
conductor hits a reset button and the train starts with no trouble. The
light in the rear seems to be moving away, and the blocking system turns
to an amber signal. (NICAP, “UFO
Disables Train”; Randle, Levelland, 2021, pp. 161–162)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4943
Date: 10/20/1973
Description: A UFO passes over Round Valley Reservoir, Clinton Township,
New Jersey. Three people who are driving by and watching the object
experience car failure. (Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS, 1981, p. 59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4944
Date: 10/21/1973
Description: 2:30 a.m. Reafa
Heitfeld wakes up in her trailer on the west side of Cincinnati,
Ohio, and notices a bright light shining outside. The source is a row of
six lights forming an arc outside her window, as well as another bright
light over the parking lot. Outside the second light she can see a gray
“apelike creature” that seems to be fixing something. In the process of
calling the police, she hears a loud, deep, booming sound, and the
object and creature are gone. Investigator Leonard
Stringfield finds that a fire alarm had gone off at the same time in
a nearby warehouse only 150 feet away, although firemen can locate
nothing that set it off. (Clark III 554)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4946
Date: 10/22/1973
Description: 9:45 p.m.–after midnight. Dewayne and Debbie Donathan are
driving toward their home 9 miles east of Hartford City, Indiana, when
they see two strange-looking figures 30 feet ahead of them on the road.
Four feet tall, they are dressed in tight-fitting silver suits and wear
boxlike shoes. They move in a clumsy fashion, their arms flopping oddly
along their sides. Debbie accelerates and drives past the figures. The
witnesses alert the sheriff’s office, and two officers and a civilian
friend, Gary
Flatter, investigate.
They see no figures but hear an odd, high-frequency sound. Around
midnight, Flatter hears the sound again south of the original encounter
and notes wild animals leaving the area. His headlights pick up two
4-foot figures 20 feet off the side of the road. He can see a hose going
from their egg-shaped helmets down to their chests. Three times they
rise 3 feet into the air then float down. The fourth time, they fly
away, still standing erectly. (“Occupants
in Indiana,” APRO Bulletin 22, no. 2 (Sept./Oct. 1973): 1, 3; Clark
III 278)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4949
Date: 10/22/1973
Description: 6:50 p.m. A man is farming in Upton, Indiana, when he
notices an object that looks like it is going to land. He and his
daughter walk toward the other side of the field to investigate. They
can see an object with red, white, and green lights near the railroad
tracks. As a train passes through, the object dims and hovers near it
for one minute, then takes off to the southeast. An object is seen
flying above a train at Maunie, Illinois, the same evening. (NICAP, “The
1973 UFO Chronology”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4948
Date: 10/22/1973
Description: June Margolin sees a shiny globe dropping web-like
substance in large amounts over Sudbury, Massachusetts. It drapes over
trees and telephone lines. She collects a sample and puts it in the
refrigerator, but the substance still dissipates into strong white
threads. The University of Massachusetts field station examines a
sample. It is not spider web, but there is not enough of it for a
chemical analysis. X-ray fluorescence and diffraction analysis indicates
sodium, aluminum, silicon, sulfur, chorine, potassium, calcium, iron,
nickel. The substance is 95% organic. Two other analyses indicate
slightly different composition. (“UFO
‘Angel’s Hair’ Still Remains
a Mystery,” UFO Investigator, March 1974, pp. 1, 3; Brian Boldman,
“Angel Hair Physical Analyses: A Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006): 105–106; Brian
Boldman, “An Analysis of Angel Hair, 1947–2000,” IUR 26, no. 3 (Fall
2001): cover)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4947
Date: 10/23/1973
Description: Bonnie Collier observes two metallic cigar-shaped objects
over Midway, Texas. She photographs one of them. About 20 minutes later,
she notices monarch butterflies are getting entangled in “sheets of a
web-like substance” falling to earth. She retrieves a grapefruit-sized
sample from a mesquite tree and stores it in a box. Some 20 years later,
the sample is analyzed by two engineering students at the University of
Texas at Austin. A neutron activation survey indicates high
concentrations of sodium, potassium, zinc, and lanthanum. Other tests
indicate the sample is spider silk produced by a cribellate orb weaver
spider. (Brian Boldman, “An Analysis of Angel Hair, 1947–2000,” IUR 26,
no. 3 (Fall 2001): 14; Brian Boldman, “Angel Hair Physical Analyses: A
Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006): 106)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4950
Date: 10/24/1973
Description: 9:00 p.m. David Simpson’s car engine stops and the
headlights go out when an oval object, 12 feet wide by 8 feet high,
lands close by near Dobson, North Carolina. He sees a humanoid with
balls of fire for eyes looking into the car. After the creature leaves,
the car engine and lights come back on without his having to start the
ignition. (David Webb, 1973:
Year of the Humanoids, CUFOS,
1976, p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4951
Date: 10/25/1973
Description: Director of FBI, Clarence M. Kelley, states: UFOs are not
and never has been a matter that is within the investigative
jurisdiction of the FBI.
Type: statement
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p475)
Location: Washington DC
Date: 10/25/1973
Description: 9:00 p.m. A 22-year-old man and two 10-year-old boys
allegedly see a bright-white, dome-shaped UFO about 100 feet in diameter
land in a field near Uniontown, Pennsylvania. “Screaming sounds” emanate
from somewhere nearby. The UFO makes a lawnmower-like sound. Suddenly
they see two large apelike creatures with glowing green eyes walking
along a fence, one in front of the other. The older witness fires a
tracer slug with his rifle over the creatures’ heads, but they continue
moving forward, seemingly communicating by making whining sounds. The
tall and closer of the two, about 8 feet tall, is running its left hand
along the fence, while the smaller one is struggling to keep up. The
older witness fires three bullets into the larger creature’s chest. It
whines and reaches toward the smaller creature. The UFO vanishes and the
lawnmower sound ceases. The area where the UFO had been is now glowing
brilliant white. The hairy creatures head toward the woods. A policeman
arrives at 9:45 p.m. and finds the landing spot still glowing slightly.
They hear something moving in the woods nearby and smell a sulfur-like
odor. The officer and the witness panic and jump into the police car and
drive about 150 feet. Stan
Gordon shows up at 1:30 a.m. with four members of his Westmoreland
County UFO Study Group. In the company of the witness and his father,
they walk around the field until the witness undergoes a violent
emotional attack, during which he growls like an animal and throws his
father and an investigator to the ground. During his attack, he has an
apocalyptic vision in which he receives a dire warning from a man in a
black hat and cloak. The older witness undergoes hypnosis with
psychologist Berthold
Eric Schwarz, who says he has visions about the impending end of the
world and after the event he “felt like an animal.” (Berthold Eric
Schwarz, “Berserk:
A UFO-Creature
Encounter,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 1 (July 1974): 3–11; Clark
III 556)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4954
Date: 10/25/1973
Description: 7:15 p.m. Lt. Commander Moyer is traveling south from Naval
Communication Station Harold E. Holt, a restricted US National Security
Agency station along Murat Road on North West Cape, north of Exmouth,
Western Australia, when he sees a large, black object in the sky 5 miles
to his west at an altitude of 2,000 feet. After about 20–25 seconds, the
object accelerates at speed to the north. It is first seen at about 20°
elevation, to the west. Moore estimates its angular size as half a
degree. It is initially stationary and there is no associated noise at
any point, no trail or exhaust. It is last seen at 45°–50° elevation. At
about 7:20 p.m., William Gordon Lynn, an Australian civilian and US Navy
employee fire captain, notices a large, stationary, black object in the
clear sky. It has a halo around the center, which appears to be either
revolving or pulsating. He watches it for an estimated four minutes,
after which it takes off speedily in a northerly direction and
disappears after a few seconds. He thinks it is about 30 feet in
diameter and hovering at 1,000 feet over the hills west of the base. On
this same date, the base is communicating a DEFCON III alert to
conventional and nuclear forces in the region during the Yom Kippur War
(an NSA misreading of a Syrian message to the USSR had indicated a
Soviet build-up). (NICAP, “Black Sphere
Observed / DEFCON-3 Reached”; Bill Chalker, “The North West Cape
Incident: UFOs and Nuclear Alert in Australia,” IUR 11, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1986): 10–11; Bill Chalker, “The
UFO Connection: Startling Implications for
Australia’s North West Cape, and for Australia’s Security,” Flying
Saucer Review 31, no. 5 (July 1986): 16– 18; Good Above, pp. 174–175;
Bill Chalker, “UFOs
Sub Rosa Down Under, Part 4,” 1996; Swords 403–405)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4953
Date: 10/25/1973
Description: FBI Director Clarencc
M. Kelley explains in a letter to a resident of La Habra,
California, that the investigation of UFOs “is not and never has been a
matter that is within the investigative jurisdiction of the FBI.” (Good
Above, pp. 253, 475)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4952
Date: 10/28/1973
Description: 11:30 p.m. Karl Fichtinger watches an odd orange-yellow
light to the south of Bad Traunstein, Austria, that projects two beams
of light that creep slowly upward like a pair of snail feelers. After
moving up a short distance, they begin curving outward. After 7–10
seconds when they reach a certain height they stop moving, the two tips
turn green for 2–3 seconds, a green mist falls down sideways, and the
beams disappear. After 2–5 seconds the process repeats again and again.
Around 12:30 a.m. he wakes his friend Johann Pritz in another house and
they continue to watch the display for several hours. At 2:00 a.m. the
light emits a red “missile” that moves east, stops, turns yellow-orange,
and produces a similar pattern of signals. Then they notice a third
object in the west that looks more like a dark domed disc, and it is
also sending thin feelers up light upward. Three more smaller lights
join the one in the east. At 3:30 a.m., the missile in the east stops
and takes off to the south but the others remain. The witnesses go home
at 4:30, and all the objects are gone by 6:00 a.m. They estimate that
the first object has given off 1,200 signals, the domed disc some 550,
and the missile a minimum of 360. (Ernst Berger, “Luminous ‘Snails’
near Traunstein, Austria,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 2 (October
1974): 12–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4956
Date: 10/28/1973
Description: 1:15 a.m. Truck driver Dionisio Llanca is changing a tire
along Highway 3 some 11 miles from Bahía Blanca, Argentina, when a UFO
lands and three humanlike beings, two men and a woman, approach him.
Nearly paralyzed by the light from the UFO, Llanca lets one of the
beings take a blood sample and later remembers going on board the craft,
whose occupants warn him that humans are headed towards disaster. He
loses consciousness and wakes up in a railyard 5.5 miles away, then
finds himself in a hospital. However, Argentine UFO investigators find
major discrepancies and consider Llanca’s story an invention devised to
make some money. (“Occupant
Encounter in Argentina,” APRO Bulletin 22, no. 3 (Nov./Dec. 1973):
7–8; “Possible
Hoax,” APRO Bulletin 22, no. 4 (Jan./Feb. 1974): 11; Gordon
Creighton and Charles Bowen, “The
Extraordinary Case of Dionisio
Llanca and the Ufonauts,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 4 (November
1980): 2–10; Guillermo Roncoroni, “Dionisio
Llanca: El Informe Solari,” UFO Press, no. 19 (Jan./March 1984):
32–35; “The
Case of Dionisio
Llanca in Argentina,” Flying Saucer Review 30, no. 2 (December
1984): 25–26; “The
Abduction of Dionisio
Llanca,” Above Top Secret forum, February 4, 2016; Clark III
601–602)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4955
Date: 11/1973
Description: Numerous reported landings, humanoids, and E-M effects on
cars in province
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Quebec, Canada
ID: 227
Date: 11/1973
Description: 1:00 a.m. A witness in Sauk Village, Illinois, is sitting
in her dark living room when a light outside causes it to get brighter.
She sees a lighted domed disc hovering in the front yard. A central
section is filled with alternating blue and gold rectangular lights. It
appears to be revolving, except for the dome, which is stationary. Her
husband joins her and they continue watching it for 10 minutes. It
quickly takes off straight up in 10 seconds. (“Illinois,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 6, no. 2 (April/May 1985): 5, 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4957
Date: 11/2/1973
Description: Night. Police officers looking into reports of a “strange
animal” seen in the area of Midland, Pennsylvania, spot a large,
disc-shaped object in the sky overhead. At least 100 other people also
see the object. (Clark III 556)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4959
Date: 11/2/1973
Description: 2:45 a.m. Lyndia Morel, a masseuse in Manchester, New
Hampshire, leaves work and begins driving on State Highway 114 to her
home in nearby Goffstown. On the outskirts of Manchester, she sees an
odd light in the sky that is flashing different colors. The light
vanishes when she reaches Goffstown, but it reappears twice more,
seemingly brighter and closer. She sees that it is an orange-and-gold
globe covered with hexagons like a honeycomb, with an oval window on the
upper left. The red, green, and blue flashes come from somewhere near
the center of the object, and she hears a high-pitched sound. Suddenly
she is unable to remove her hands from the steering wheel. She feels
that the object is taking control of her and the car and pulling them
in. Her car speeds up against her will as she passes Westlawn Cemetery.
The object is now only a few hundred feet away, and through a window she
sees a smallish humanoid figure standing behind a console. The figure
has a round, grayish head, a wrinkled face, a downturned slit of a
mouth, and two large eyes with dark pupils. She feels that he is sending
her a telepathic message to be unafraid. Somehow, she slows the car and
turns into the driveway of a house just past the cemetery. She jumps out
and runs to the kitchen door of the house, ignoring a German shepherd
dog that growls and barks at her. She pounds on the door and rings the
bell and yells for help as the UFO moves to a position across the
street, hovering and watching her, still emitting a high-pitched sound.
The residents, Mr. and Mrs. Beaudoin, come to the door and find a
terrified woman who is covering her ears and claiming that a UFO is
after her. The Beaudoins cannot see or hear anything, but Mrs. Beaudoin
calls the police. Investigator Walter
N. Webb finds that the position of the UFO corresponds too closely
to the planet Mars, at least in the later stage of the sighting, to rule
that explanation out entirely. (“Occupant
Encounter in New Hampshire,” APRO Bulletin 22, no. 4
(Jan./Feb. 1974): 5–7; “The
1973 UFO Encounter of Lyndia Morel,” UFO Casebook)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4958
Date: 11/3/1973
Description: Day. At the bottom of a gully in an isolated section of the
woods near Midland, Pennsylvania, two hunters find a 42-foot ring
impressed in the grass. Investigator Stan
Gordon finds a trail of three-toed footprints—11 inches long and 5
inches wide—some 250 yards from the ring. (Clark III 556)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4960
Date: 11/6/1973
Description: 9:45 p.m. A USAF security policeman at the eastern portion
of Kirtland AFB near Albuquerque, New Mexico, sees a large, glowing
object hovering 100 feet above the Manzano Nuclear Weapons Storage
Facility. It is an oblate spheroid, 150 feet in diameter, gold in color,
and absolutely silent. Nine other air policemen are alerted, and four
F-101 Voodoo Air National Guard interceptors are scrambled from
Kirtland. The UFO begins moving east and passes out of sight at treetop
level in the Manzano Mountains. (R. C. Hecker, “New
Mexico Reports,”
APRO Bulletin 23, no. 2 (Sept./Oct. 1974): 5; Good Need, p. 321)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4962
Date: 11/6/1973
Description: 9:00 p.m. Off-duty patrolmen Gary Steinberg and Thomas
Brown are sitting in an unmarked patrol car in Freeport, New York,
facing east. They see a bright light in the sky that is not the
helicopter they think it is at first. They watch it for 5–10 minutes
before it moves away to the southeast. Steinberg tries to get closer in
the patrol car, while Brown stays behind and directs him by radio. He
gets to within 300–400 feet of it, as it is 700–800 feet in altitude. It
now appears football-shaped and 100 feet long. He watches it for 10–15
minutes as it glows silvery blue with an occasional yellow-red pulsating
tint. The object then moves off to the southwest, stopping occasionally.
A smaller object comes up on his right and drifts up to the larger
object and merges with it. The larger object dims in sections (about
16), one after the other, and it takes off to the southwest and
disappears in a couple seconds. (Dick Ruhl, “Merging
UFOs over Long Island,” APRO Bulletin 22, no. 4 (Jan./Feb. 1974): 1,
3– 4; Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR 29,
no. 2 (Summer 2004): 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4961
Date: 11/8/1973
Description: Top-shaped object with windows moved with “incredible
speed,” darted behind jet interceptor, shot straight up in sky
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: La Paz, Bolivia
ID: 228
Date: mid 11/1973
Description: Evening. Two sentries at a lookout post on the perimeter of
Istrana Air Base, Veneto province, Italy, see two beings, about 4 feet
11 inches tall, dressed in white. Further away they see an
unconventional craft. The beings run to the UFO and speed away. Marks
are found at the landing site. (“Italy:
Top Secret,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 5 (March 1975): iii; Good
Above, pp. 143–144)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4963
Date: 11/16/1973
Description: 7:00 p.m. Two 11-year old boys are outside in Lemon Grove,
California, intending to play in a vacant lot or field in the
neighborhood. When they arrive, there is a dark object hovering about 18
inches above the field. It seems inactive. One of the boys cautiously
approaches and raps it with his flashlight, making a sound like metal on
metal. Instantly, the object’s dome lights up in a brilliant red light
that illuminates the entire area. It rises three or four more feet off
the ground, and a row of green lights light up around its perimeter,
flashing in sequence. The thing begins rotating and making a “woooo
woooo woooo” sound. The object is easily visible now and appears as a
domed disc. The dome is large and tall (about equal to half or more of
the disc height) and glowing bright red, then flashing intermittent red.
The boys are now frightened and start to run away as the object takes
off toward the southwest. At the site are found three marks forming an
equilateral triangle within an area of grass swirled in a
counterclockwise pattern. A magnetometer at La Posta Astro-Geophysical
Observatory in Campo, California, allegedly registers a perturbation at
7:20 p.m. (NICAP, “Object
Hovers 18ʺ off Ground / Magnetometer Perturbation”;
“Boys
Encounter Landed Object,” APRO Bulletin 22, no. 4 (Jan./Feb. 1974):
7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4964
Date: 11/17/1973
Description: 6:00 p.m. Johann Pritz notices an oblong object emitting
lights upward (similar to those he had seen on October 29) as he is
driving near Ulltichschlag, Austria. He drives home to Bad Traunstein
and continues watching the display to the south. He gathers several
other witnesses in town, and they continue watching until the object
fades out after 7:00 p.m. (Ernst Berger, “Luminous
‘Snails’ near Traunstein, Austria,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 2
(October 1974): 16–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4965
Date: 11/18/1973
Description: About 6:00 p.m. Four women are driving south from Tracy,
Quebec, to Contrecoeur when they see a “watermelon-sized” ball of
yellowish light suddenly appear above a pylon a quarter of a mile ahead
of them. As they pass, it starts moving westward over the St. Lawrence
River. The object seems to change shape as it flies, becoming
alternately larger and smaller, dimming and growing in intensity. The
light follows them as they weave in and out through wooded areas.
Eventually the object is lost to sight as the women drive into Montreal.
At one point they encounter a large volume of traffic that seems to be
slowed by an odd pink cloud lying across the highway. They also see a
small human figure standing in the middle of the road. (Chris Rutkowski
and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006,
pp. 107–108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4966
Date: 11/22/1973
Description: 2:00 a.m. A woman living in an isolated area near Joliette,
Quebec, notices a white object outside her kitchen window. She moves
closer to the window and sees a 4-foot-tall being with huge glowing
eyes. Around its head or helmet there is a halo; its shoulders slope at
a 45° angle from the head. After 15 seconds, the figure withdraws. She
alerts her husband, who goes outside to investigate but only finds the
dog “scared to death.” The following night the cat is spooked. (Claude
Macduff, “The
November 1973 UFO-Invasion of Quebec,” The UFO Register 7, no. 1/2
(1976): 12–15; Clark III 496; Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The
Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 108–109)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4967
Date: 11/28/1973
Description: Gallup Poll showed that 51 percent of Americans believe
UFOs are “real,” 11 percent claim personal sightings, and 93 percent are
aware of the subject.
Type: newspaper article
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 229
Date: 11/28/1973
Description: A Gallup poll shows that 51% of Americans believe UFOs are
“real,” as opposed to 27% who think they are “imaginary.” And 11% claim
to have seen a UFO, extrapolating into 15 million Americans. (“51%
in Gallup Poll
Believe in U.F.O.’s: 11% Note Sightings,” New York Times, November
29, 1973, p. 45; Robert J. Durant, “Evolution of Public Opinion on
UFOs,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4968
Date: 11/30/1973
Description: UFO hovered and darted around near CaseIle Airport, seen by
pilots and tracked on airport radar
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Turin, Italy
ID: 230
Date: 11/30/1973
Description: 7:00 p.m. Pilot Riccardo Marano is about to land at Caselle
Airport, Turin, Italy, in a Piper Navajo, when the controller notifies
him that there is a UFO about 1,320 feet above the runway. He sees a
luminous, multicolored ball of light changing from violet to blue to
dark red. “When I got closer and had a better view, the object at once
made off, flying in a most irregular fashion, maneuvering in a way I
have seen no plane do, making fantastic lateral deviations, and sudden
vast jumps to and fro, as if it enjoyed playing hide-and-seek. Its speed
was as high as” 540 mph, Marano says. Col. Rustichelli, commandant of
the Caselle military airfield, sees the UFO on his own radar screen. “It
was something solid, lit up, like a plane on my radar.” Commander
Tranquillo, pilot of an Alitalia Air Line DC-9 en route from Turin to
Rome, calls to the control tower: “I see a shining thing giving out
intermittent flashes of light, four miles from me. I dare not approach.
I give way.” Commander Mezzalami in another Alitalia DC-9 reports: “I
was able to observe the object … notified by the control tower just as I
was about to touch down. I had a good view of it I can offer no
theories as to its significance and can only say that it was something
very strange indeed.” (NICAP, “UFO
Darts To and Fro, Observed from 3 Aircraft and Gnd Radar”;
Story, p. 373;
F. Lagarde, “Italie:
Turin 30 Novembre et Suza 24 Novembre 1973,” Lumières dans la Nuit,
no. 133 (March 1974): 5–6; Gordon Creighton, “The
Italian Scene Once More,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 2 (October
1974): 27; 1Pinotti 185–186)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4969
Date: 12/1973
Description: Kansas is quietly undergoing an epidemic of strange cattle
deaths. The incidents first receive wide publicity in the December 22
Kansas City Times, which takes note of the fact that most of the deaths
are Black Angus. They have died within a few miles of US 81 in a dozen
counties in north-central Kansas. Many show knife marks on the
carcasses, including the apparent butchering of sex organs. The lack of
blood and footprints is also puzzling. Sheriffs from the affected
counties meet and decide that cultists are responsible. But according to
the Kansas State University Veterinarian Laboratory in Manhattan, the
animals have died of bloat and coyotes have eaten the soft parts. Many
ranchers reject the explanation. Mystery helicopters are also linked to
the mutilations. (Clark III 133; “Cattle
Mutilations Baffle Kansas
Farmers, Officials,” Kansas City (Mo.) Times, December 22, 1973,
pp. 1–2, 16; Jerome Clark, “Strange Case of the Cattle Killings,” Fate
27, no. 8 (August 1974): 79–90; Roberta Donovan and Keith Wolverton, Mystery
Stalks the Prairie, THAR
Institute, 1976)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4970
Date: 12/1973
Description: Donald
E. Keyhoe publishes Aliens from Space, in which he continues to
ignore occupant cases but finally admits that the CIA, not the Air
Force, is the primary perpetrator of the UFO cover-up. (Donald E.
Keyhoe, Aliens from
Space: The Real Story of Unidentified Flying Objects, Doubleday,
1973; Clark III 649–650)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4971
Date: 12/1973
Description: The Société Varoise d’Étude des Phénomènes Spatiaux in
Toulon, France, begins publishing the journal Approche in conjunction
with the Société Vauclusienne d’Étude des Phénomènes Spatiaux in Vedene,
France. (Approche, no.
1 (December 1973))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4972
Date: 12/3/1973
Description: James Yorke and his family watch a triangular UFO with
colored lights on the bottom for 15 minutes two miles north of
Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. It is over Minas Basin and crossing the water
very slowly. (Don Ledger, “The Flying Triangle Phenomenon,” IUR 27, no.
3 (Fall 2002): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4973
Date: 12/6/1973
Description: 6:45 p.m. Witnesses at Fabrègues, Hérault, France, see a
landed domed disc on legs with a brightly lit “blister” on top, flashing
red and white lights around the rim and making a humming sound. A door
opens and a ladder unfolds, causing the witnesses to flee. The craft
changes to an orange glow and chases them. Later, four imprints in a
51-inch square are found, along with ladder marks. The area appears
“swept” as if by a blast. (Yves Herbo, “Décembre
1973: Atterrissages avec traces à Fabrègues,” Sciences Faits et
Histoires, November 21, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4974
Date: 12/8/1973
Description: While harvesting, farmer Kevin O’Connell finds seven
sections of his oat crop flattened into circles 3 miles west of
Bordertown, South Australia. They are spread over 20 acres and the
largest is 14 feet in diameter. The oats are flattened counterclockwise.
(Terry Wilson, “1973:
Bordertown,” Old Crop Circles)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4975
Date: 12/10/1973
Description: Egg-shaped object with body lights sped toward witnesses,
hovered. Reacted to light signals, sped off to south, departed upward at
steep angle
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Hochries, Germany
ID: 231
Date: 12/13/1973
Description: Patrick Thrush spots a hovering UFO above a river with a
tube leading from the craft to the water. Witness takes 2 photos with
his flash, the tube retracts and the UFO goes over his car and drops
warm dry “rocks” on it. UFO seen by another witness. Norman S. Bean
contacted.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: link
Location: Bradenton, FL
Date: 12/15/1973
Description: A single crop circle is found in a wheat field at Wokuma,
South Australia. The wheat has been flattened counterclockwise and there
are two bare patches. (Terry Wilson, “1973:
Wokuma,” Old Crop Circles)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4976
Date: 12/20/1973
Description: 2:15 a.m. Michael Wagner and Robert B. Klinn of Pacific
Palisades, California, see a yellow, glowing blob hovering in the
south-southeast. Through a telescope, the blob is seen to be a precise
arrangement of round, yellow-gold lights. It fades away after 75
minutes. (Ann Druffel, “Santa Catalina Island Recurring ‘Cloud-
Cigars,’” Proceedings
of the 1976 CUFOS Conference, Center
for UFO Studies, 1976, pp. 67–68; Ann Druffel, “Santa Catalina Channel
Cloud Cigars,” IUR 31, no. 1 (January 2007): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4977
Date: 1974
Description: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) renewed
Type: law
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Washington DC
Date: 1974
Description: Contact (UK) expands to Contact International, after
establishing many overseas branches in Turkey, Colombia, and elsewhere.
It has an international membership of 2,000. (Story, p. 89)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4980
Date: 1974
Description: Perry Petrakis founds the Association d’Étude sur les
Soucoupes Volantes in Aix-en-Provence, France, and soon establishes
branches in Vevey, Switzerland, and Kalmthout, Belgium. It begins
publishing the AESV bulletin through June 1981. AESV continues under the
name SOS-OVNI in 1990. (AESV,
no. 6 (April 1978))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4979
Date: 1974
Description: 12:30 a.m. Two women are driving along Hamilton Road,
Quakers Hill, New South Wales, when the car suddenly shakes violently
and stops. The radio will not turn on. The driver gets out of the car to
get her children out of the back seat when she looks up and sees a
massive disc-shaped object at an altitude no greater than the nearby
power pole. It is surrounded completely by lights and has a dome in the
middle on the top. The object is gun-metal gray and the size of half a
football field. It silently moves over the dairy farm next to the road.
Then it stops and shoots up into the air. The car starts up with no
problems afterward. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle
Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4985
Date: 1974
Description: John Hind establishes the Irish UFO Research Centre in
Belfast, Northern Ireland. It publishes the Irish UFO News from 1976 to
1980. (Irish
UFO News 1 no. 2 (July 1976))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4981
Date: 1974
Description: The French government decides to systematically gather UFO
reports from the gendarmerie and transmit them to the Centre National
d’Études Spatiales (CNES). At the time, the gendarmerie has about 300
reports and is getting 100 new ones each year. A committee of the
Institut des Hautes Études de Defense Nationale recommends the creation
of a special UFO investigation agency. (Gildas Bourdais, “From GEPAN to
SEPRA: Official UFO Studies in France,” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter
2000–2001): 11; Gildas Bourdais, “The Death and Rebirth of Official
French UFO Studies,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4978
Date: 1974
Description: John Rimmer has moved from Liverpool to London, England, in
1973, but John Harney moves there this year to work for the Kew
Observatory. MUFOB continues in London, with Rimmer taking over the bulk
of the editorial work. (“History
of Magonia,”
Magonia Archive)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4984
Date: 1974
Description: The UFO Subcommittee of the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics is disbanded. (Story, p. 8)
1974 — Bob
Gribble, a Seattle, Washington, fireman, establishes the National
UFO Reporting Center, with a hotline phone number that is shared with
Federal Aviation Administration offices. (“Profile,” IUR 7, no. 2 (March
1982): 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4983
Date: 1974
Description: UFO skeptic Philip
J. Klass publishes UFOs Explained, taking on some difficult UFO
cases but finding none worthy of attention. Ufologists take vigorous
issue with his representation of cases and publish numerous refutations
that are little noticed outside the UFO community. (Philip J. Klass,
UFOs Explained, Random House, 1974; Clark III 659)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4982
Date: 1/1974
Description: Don
Berliner of the Fund for UFO Research does an exhaustive review of
the then unreleased Project Blue Book files at Maxwell AFB, Alabama,
which include many witness names that are later redacted for public
release. (Sparks, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4986
Date: 1/1974
Description: Since 1968, Marjorie
E. Fish, a schoolteacher in Oak Harbor, Ohio, has been fascinated
with the star map drawn by Betty
Hill after her abduction. If she could figure out what stars are on
the map, she might be able to determine where the UFO came from. With
much difficulty and many failed attempts, Fish creates a 3D map that
indicates the relevant stars are the two in the Zeta Reticuli binary
system, 39.3 light years from earth. She first publishes her results in
Pursuit. Later observations reveal some interpretations in Fish’s map to
be inaccurate, and she rejects her hypothesis in 2011. (Wikipedia, “Betty
and Barney Hill”; Marjorie E. Fish, “Validation
of the Betty
Hill Map,” Pursuit 7, no. 1 (January 1974): 4–8; Terence Dickinson,
“The Zeta Reticuli Incident,” Astronomy 2, no. 12 (December 1974): 5–18;
“Update on the Betty Hill Star Map,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 2
(Jan./Feb. 1981): 16, 29; Allan Hendry, “UFO Road Map: or, Lost in the
Stars,” Fate 35, no. 2 (February 1982): 56–63; David J. Eicher, “The
Zeta Reticuli (or Ridiculi) Incident,” January 31, 2001; Brett
Holman, “Goodbye, Zeta Reticuli,” Fortean Times 242 (December 2008):
50–52; Colin Johnston, “The Truth about Betty Hill’s UFO Star Map,”
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, August 19, 2011; Clark III
586–487)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4987
Date: 1/3/1974
Description: 9:30 p.m. Two young student teachers are driving home near
Leek, Staffordshire, England, when a green mass appears to follow them.
The couple feels a presence. Despite being on a lonely road, they get
out of the car to watch a dark mass low above their heads, with arcs of
blue and green light encircling them. In terror, they head off over the
moors, but moments later they run over a cattle grid, inexplicably
finding themselves in Ilam 12 miles away. Seconds later there is another
bump and they reach a developed area that turns out to be a town 20
miles to the north. They find a police station to report the incident
and find that it is now 3:30 a.m. (Jenny Randles, “The Twelve UFOs of
Christmas,” Fortean Times 374 (Christmas 2018): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4989
Date: 1/7/1974
Description: UFO landed, humanoid encounter
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Warneton, Belgium
ID: 232
Date: 1/7/1974
Description: 8:40 p.m. A man’s car suddenly dies as he is driving near
Warneton, Belgium. He sees a landed domed disc with a flat bottom like a
WWI helmet, 23–33 feet in diameter and 7–10 feet wide. It has a flange
around its base and three legs. White and orange alternating bands are
on the glowing object. Two humanoid beings approach him. They have broad
shoulders, heads shaped like inverted pears, long arms, large eyes, and
no noses. One is about 4 feet tall, the other somewhat taller; a third
being remains near the craft. They wear internally lit cube- shaped
helmets with the face visible, gray jumpsuits, and gloves. The taller
being comes within 12–15 feet of the vehicle, then opens and closes its
mouth. The witness feels a shock to the back of his head and hears a
low- pitched sound. The two humanoids quickly return to the craft, which
now pulses with an electric blue color, and departs. (MM. Bazin,
Bigorne, and Bodin, “Atterrissage
à Warneton (Belgique): Contact avec les Ufonautes,” Lumières dans la
Nuit, no. 139 (November 1974): 3–6; “The
Robots at Warneton,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 5 (March 1975):
6–9; UFOEv II 493)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4990
Date: 1/8/1974
Description: 3:00 a.m. John
E. Justice leaves the Ohio Masonic Home in Springfield, Ohio, when
his headlights dim and the engine dies. He sees a display of aerial
lights descending a short distance in front of him. The blinking lights
are multicolored “like a rainbow.” Suddenly they blink out and are
replaced by a blinding steady white light about 6 feet ahead of and 3
feet above the car. The light is coming from the inside of the object,
where he can see a lighted room with a golden aisle and five occupants
seated on the left-hand side in a straight row. Each seat is a different
color, and the garments of the occupants match the color of the seat.
Each has long brown hair that reaches the floor. The object departs
suddenly, the interior blinking out and the colored lights reappearing.
The car engine starts without difficulty. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update
on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011):
16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4991
Date: 1/18/1974
Description: 4:30 p.m. Giuseppe Cardelli is driving between Milan and
Bologna, Italy, when he sees a “strange shining ball” in the sky. He
stops his car, gets out, and photographs it. He submits the photo to
NASA, which replies on June 18 that it has no explanation. A consultant
wonders whether the photo shows a reflection in the car window and finds
the “wiggly clouds to the right” interesting. (“Italian
Photo Unexplained,” APRO Bulletin 24, no. 3 (September 1975): 1,
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4992
Date: 1/23/1974
Description: 8:30 p.m. Witnesses at Llandrillo, northern Wales, see a
bright object followed by a luminous tail and (according to one witness)
a blinking blue light. The object is motionless for several minutes,
during which time it dims then becomes very bright. It appears to crash
around Cadair Bronwen mountain, east of the village. Many people hear a
terrific explosion and a violent shaking of the ground recorded up to 60
miles away. Astronomers at Leicester University, England, record at
least three fireball meteors this evening. The British Geological Survey
identifies the source of the explosion as an earthquake. Police and a
mountain rescue team from RAF Valley in Anglesey, Wales, are in the area
almost immediately and cordon off access to the supposed crash site on a
barren hilltop. They find no trace of a crash the next day, but a nurse
on the way to the crash site after being telephoned by police
headquarters is on her way up the mountain with her daughters when she
sees something sitting on the ground ahead of her. It seems to be intact
and is large, circular, and glowing orange. The nurse and her daughters
are within a few hundred feet when police and military forces show up
and clearly tell her to leave the area. Researcher Tony
Dodd is reportedly approached by a retired military man using the
name of “Robert Prescott” who tells him that he and some others were
assigned to transport two oblong crates from the crash site to a place
called Porton Down where the UK Ministry of Defence’s Defence Science
and Technology Laboratory is located. They are instructed not to stop
for anyone. Military personnel open the crates and Prescott sees two
humanoid figures, apparently dead, about 5–6 ft tall, very thin, almost
skeletal in nature with a covering skin. These are placed in
decontamination suits. Other units supposedly transport live aliens from
the crash site. At 10:00 p.m., a man watches a luminous sphere descend
into the sea near the Dee Estuary about 25 miles north. Nick
Redfern speculates that a UK version of Project Moon Dust might be
in activation, which could explain reports of mystery helicopters in the
area in prior weeks. Jenny
Randles hears later from a former UK government official that a
crashed UFO is being kept in a military base in South Wales. In May,
Welsh MP Dafydd
Elis-Thomas asks Defence Minister Brynmor
John if any official investigation was made; John says the only
official investigation was made by the RAF Valley team. National
Archives files released in 2005 show that the MoD consulted the
Meteorological Office and DI55, which says the meteor explanation is the
likeliest. (Wikipedia, “Berwyn Mountain
UFO incident”; Jenny Randles, “The Night the Mountain Exploded,” IUR
21, no. 4 (Winter 1996): 9– 11, 32; Nick Redfern, A Covert Agenda: UFO
Secrecy Exposed, Simon & Schuster, 1997, pp. 116–124; Andy Roberts,
“Fire on the Mountain: The Berwyn Mountain Incident,” IUR 24, no. 3
(Fall 1999): 16–23, 30; UFOFiles2, pp. 90–91;
“Files
Released on 1974 ‘Welsh Roswell,’” BBC News, August 5, 2010; Andy
Roberts, UFO Down? The Berwyn Mountain UFO Crash, CFZ Press, 2010; Clark
III 287–288)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4993
Date: 1/24/1974
Description: While the RAF rescue team is still operating around Cadair
Bronwen, three family members see a bright object in the sky near the
mountain. Through field glasses, they see a disc-shaped object divided
into red, green, yellow, and purple sections. After 10 minutes they call
the police and the object disappears behind a cloud.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4994
Date: 1/26/1974
Description: V-formation of luminous orange discs observed by airline
crew
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
ID: 233
Date: 1/26/1974
Description: 2:59 a.m. Capt. Lars Berglund and the crew of a Boeing 727
airliner flying near Lisbon, Portugal, see a V- formation of 10–15
luminous orange discs. Berglund rules out a satellite reentry because of
its precision. After the formation passes, another Portuguese aircraft
reports the same objects to ground control. A Norwegian and a British
aircraft also report the same phenomenon. (“Formation
Seen by Air Crews,” APRO Bulletin 22, no. 5 (March/April 1974): 7–8;
“Airliner
Met 15 UFOs over Lisbon,” UFO-Sweden Special Report, 1974 no. 4,
pp. 3– 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4995
Date: 2/1974
Description: Hynek visits
the APRO headquarters in Tucson, Arizona, asking for a contact list of
APRO investigators for the Center for UFO Studies to make use of in a
cooperative fashion. Coral
Lorenzen is suspicious of Hynek’s background and does not provide
him the list. (“Hynek:
UFO Movement Basically Amateurs,” APRO Bulletin 33, no. 2 (January
1986): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4996
Date: 2/6/1974
Description: Late evening. A woman watching TV in rural Fayette County
near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, hears a “rattling of tin cans” on her
porch. She grabs and loads a shotgun, turns on the porch light, and
steps into the doorway of the porch, where she encounters a 7-foot-tall
apelike creature with its hands raised in the air. She fires into his
midsection and it “just disappeared in a flash of light.” Her
son-in-law, who lives in a trailer 100 feet away, hears the shot, grabs
a revolver, and heads for her house. Along the way, he sees “shadows of
four or five hairy people” who approach him. They have “fire red eyes
that glowed in total darkness.” About 1,500 feet away, a red, flashing
light hovers above the trees. Investigating police arrive and find no
tracks but notice that the animals seem terrified. The son-in-law tells
investigator Stan
Gordon that he had encountered a similar apelike creature in
November 1973. (Clark III 556–557; Stan Gordon, “UFO’s, in Relation to
Creature Sightings in Pennsylvania,” MUFON 1974 UFO Symposium
Proceedings, MUFON, 1974, pp. 132–154)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4997
Date: 2/8/1974
Description: Sunset. Mullah Umar Siddiq, merchant Ibrahim Khaleb, and
physician Muhammad Watif are standing on the roof of the Al-Hud Mosque
in Al Mukalla, Yemen, when they see three large white discs gliding
slowly downward. They gather some provisions, hire three camels, and
head for the Wadi Jawlan 32 miles to the east, where they estimate the
objects have landed. At dawn, they dismount to say prayers, and a vivid
glow lights up the eastern sky above the Wadi Jawlan for a few seconds.
The light is yellowish-white and comes from three beams that are
stabbing upwards and fanning out into the sky. Although the light dies
down, the beams are still visible, eventually growing paler. They find
deep, clear-cut tracks of caterpillar-track vehicles all over the rugged
area. At three places, about 325 feet apart, they find numerous scoop
marks, about 33 inches wide, in an area in the form of a triangle with
sides 17 feet wide. The rock has been fused and melted and the grass and
thorn-scrub is burnt. (Gordon Creighton, “An
Arabian Landing?” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 3 (December 1974):
12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4999
Date: 2/8/1974
Description: 7:25 a.m. Ten girls from the orphanage school in Vălenii de
Munte, Romania, watch two yellow-orange spheres above a hill to the
southwest of town. After 10 seconds, they merge into one object and take
the form of an elongated oval with an orange dome. It begins moving
slowly toward the west-southwest, then accelerates and disappears behind
the treeline after 40 seconds. Fresh marks are found in a plowed field
at the site where the object was seen. (Romania 36–37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4998
Date: 2/14/1974
Description: 4:25 a.m. Two brothers are transporting their parents’
furniture in a U-Haul truck near Ely, Nevada, when they notice a round,
orange object that paces them, then approaches. They feel as though they
are “hit by a blast of wind or force field.” The engine and lights give
out, the steering goes, and the truck seems to momentarily float, come
back down, and coast to a stop. Ahead of them, just over a hill, they
see a large, round object with a domed top and wings. The other object
approaches again. One brother points a flashlight at it, whereupon they
both get an intense feeling of isolation that lasts about 20 minutes.
Since the truck appears to be damaged, they flag down a passing car and
call for a tow truck. When the tow truck hauls it away, the rear wheels
fall off. It needs new tires, a rear axle, outside housing, and gears.
(“Car
Disabled by UFO?” APRO Bulletin 22, no. 6 (May/June 1974): 4–5;
UFOEv II 218–219)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5000
Date: 2/14/1974
Description: Round orange object paced, approached truck, E-M effects on
lights and engine, truck lifted off road, steering control lost, feeling
of vacuum
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Ely, NV
ID: 234
Date: 2/21/1974
Description: French radio journalist Jean-Claude
Bourret interviews French Defense Minister Robert
Galley for his France Inter radio program, OVNIs: Pas de panique!
Galley says his department has been interested in UFO reports since the
French wave of 1954. Ministry records contain many baffling radar/visual
cases. He speaks of the strong quality of the evidence and that people
must regard UFOs with a “completely open mind.” The mass of UFO reports
“from the airborne gendarmerie, from the mobile gendarmerie, and from
the gendarmerie charged with conducting investigations,” all of which
are forwarded to CNES, would make people see that it is “pretty
disturbing.” (“French
Minister Speaks on UFOs,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 2 (October
1974): 3–4; Good Above, p. 129;
Gildas Bourdais, “From GEPAN to SEPRA: Official UFO Studies in France,”
IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001): 11; Yves Herbo, “OVNIs
et divulgation: Le Ministre des Armées françaises l’a fait en 1974,”
Sciences Faits et Histoire, February 2, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5001
Date: 3/1974
Description: About 9:00 p.m. A missile launch officer with the 564th
Strategic Missile Squadron is on watch at the Malmstrom AFB Romeo Flight
missile alert facility near Brady, Montana, when both the outer and
inner alarms go off. A security alert team arrives and sees a large,
brilliantly self-illuminated object hovering above the Romeo-29 launch
facility. Suddenly, the missile starts a countdown. The officer quickly
flips the inhibit switch, which puts the system offline. Then the system
spontaneously restarts and the missile goes into launch mode again,
followed by an inhibit order that does not work. But the launch code is
false and the missile remains in its pad. Meanwhile, the UFO moves away
straight up at high speed. An F-106 interceptor attempts unsuccessfully
to reach it, and Malmstrom AFB radar tracks the UFO. Later he learns
that the ground electronics in Romeo-29 are fried as if from a surge.
(Nukes 353–355; Robert L. Hastings, “Former
U.S. Air Force Missile Launch Officer Says
a UFO Activated One of His ICBMs—Twice!” December 7, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5002
Date: 3/1974
End date: 6/1974
Description: Concentration of UFO sightings, including vehicle
encounters
Type: sighting
Type: encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Spain
ID: 238
Date: 3/9/1974
Description: 9:58 p.m. Fiat Corporation pilot Alfonso Isaia chases a
luminous, saucer-shaped object with colored rings near Milan, Italy. The
UFO is confirmed by Milan radar. (MUFON UFO Journal, March 1989, p. 19;
Massimiliano Aiello, “L’avvistamento
del Pilota del Agnelli,” Massimiliano Aiello, January 17, 2013;
1Pinotti 188–189)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5003
Date: 3/9/1974
Description: Luminous saucer-shaped object with colored rings ahead of
plane confirmed by Milan radar, chased by pilot
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Milan, Italy
ID: 235
Date: 3/13/1974
Description: An Argentine Airlines plane en route from San Juan, Puerto
Rico, to Córdoba, Argentina, is flanked by two glowing objects that pace
it for several minutes, then speed away. (UFOEv II 121)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5004
Date: 3/13/1974
Description: Argentine Airlines plane flanked by two glowing objects
that paced it for several minutes, then sped away
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: En route San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Cordoba, Argentina
ID: 236
Date: 3/17/1974
Description: The crew of a TWA airliner over Taiwan sees a shiny oval or
cigar-shaped object and four smaller, spherical, satellite objects.
(UFOEv II 415; Richard F. Haines, “A Review of Selected Sightings from
Aircraft from 1973 to 1978,” in 1979 MUFON UFO Symposium Proceedings,
MUFON, 1979, p. 127)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5005
Date: 3/17/1974
Description: TWA airliner crew observed shiny oval or cigar-shaped
object, five smaller spherical-appearing satellite objects
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Taiwan
ID: 237
Date: 3/20/1974
Description: 11:00 p.m. Adrian Sánchez Sánchez, a salesman, is driving
near El Castillo de las Guardas, Seville, Spain, when he sees a large
metallic UFO, 450–600 feet long, with three smaller ships shaped like
yo-yos. It flies silently and has no windows but towers above and below.
One of the objects silently pursues Sánchez and disappears as he enters
a village. (Eileen Buckle, “Spanish
UFO Fiesta,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 3 (December 1974): 3;
UFOEv II 345)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5006
Date: 3/23/1974
Description: 3:00 a.m. The chauffeur of the president of the Cádiz
Provincial Commission is driving on the highway in Sanlúcar de
Barrameda, Spain, when he sees a “luminous, metal-like” object moving
upward with great brilliancy. As he approaches it, he feels a strange
sensation. His car comes to a near stop, wavering back and forth like a
feather. (UFOEv II 346)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5007
Date: 3/23/1974
Description: Night. A young man (pseudonym Harald Andersson) comes out
of the parish house in Markim, Stockholm County, Sweden, when he hears a
voice in his head telling him to follow a dark forest road. Just after
passing a small cottage, he sees two runestones by the side of the path.
Suddenly a blinding light knocks him to the ground where he lies
unconscious for a while, then wakes up on the doorstep of his villa in
Lindholmen, Vallentuna. His wife, disturbed by his condition (bleeding
from his forehead and a burn on his cheek), takes him to Danderyds
Hospital where hypnotherapist Ture
Arvidsson regresses him to the time of the incident (twice, on April
1 and May 20). He discovers that a beam of light has floated him up into
the air while tall, hooded figures touch his head with an unknown
device, saying they will meet again in the future. Extraordinary
abilities follow, including his ability to disrupt a compass needle, see
vibrant auras, and premonitions. The incident is apparently witnessed by
another man a short distance away. The Swedish Home Guard assigns 50 of
its personnel to work with 15 ufologists to examine the region. The
group reports a few odd lights in the sky. (Håkan Blomqvist, “An Abduction
in Sweden?” Flying Saucer Review 32, no. 5 (August 1987):
14–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5008
Date: 3/23/1974
Description: 11:30 p.m. A French doctor allegedly photographs an odd
object near Albiosc, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France. The color image
shows a red object like a domed disc and four bright, beamlike
extensions. UFO investigator Jean Bedet receives the slide anonymously
on April 14, with a note pinned to his car windshield when he is
visiting the town of Tavernes, Var. Bedet says his wife and others had
seen a similar object at 11:00 p.m. the same night. The consensus among
researchers in France is that the photo is a hoax perpetrated by Bedet
to confirm the visual sighting. (Michel Monnerie, “La
Veillée Nationale d’Observation à Barjols (Var),” Lumières dans la
Nuit, no. 138 (October 1974): 22–26; Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, “An
Approach to UFO Pictures in France,”
FOTOCAT Report no. 6, [2009], p. 33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5009
Date: 3/26/1974
Description: 2:00 a.m. Truck driver Maximiliano Iglesias sees a strange
object like a plate placed above another large, round object hovering
above the highway in Valdehijaderos, Salamanca, Spain, 650 feet away.
Another object is 60 feet away. Two beings come out of the first UFO,
point to the truck, then go in again. Both objects fly away. At 11:30
p.m., the same witness watches three silver ships parked on the highway
with a floodlight. He stops his engine as some figures approach. He runs
and they follow. They are about 6.5 feet tall, with arms and legs, but
he cannot see their faces. On March 27, the Guardia Civil investigate
and find a hole in the ground. (Pere Rédon, “Valdehijaderos,
de Nuevo,” Stendek 5, no. 18 (December 1974): 12–16; Eileen Buckle,
“Spanish
UFO Fiesta,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 3 (December 1974): 4–6;
UFOEv II 346)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5010
Date: 3/27/1974
Description: Antoine,
Jerri, and Terry Betz investigate a small brush fire near their
residence on Fort George Island, Florida, and come across a metal sphere
the size of a bowling ball and weighing 22 pounds. They think the sphere
could be a 16th-century cannonball and decide to take it home. Several
days later, while Terry is playing the guitar, the sphere seems to react
to the music and makes a throbbing noise. Later, the sphere rolls and
stops on its own and changes direction. The sphere makes a noise when
hit with a hammer, and Terry finds that it moves after being shaken and
placed on the ground. In 2012, an analysis by Skeptoid indicates that
the sphere is a ball check valve produced by the Bell & Howell
company. Its size, weight, and metallurgical composition match those of
the company’s check valves. The ball is almost perfectly balanced, and
it takes only a small stimulus to make it move or change direction. New
Mexico artist James Durling-Jones, who collects scrap metal for his
sculptures, remembers loading ball check valves into the rooftop luggage
rack of his Volkswagen van and driving through the Jacksonville,
Florida, area around Easter of 1971. A few of the balls rolled off the
luggage rack and were not retrieved. Skeptoid concludes that this is the
sphere’s origin. (Wikipedia, “Betz
mystery sphere”; Brian Dunning, “The
Betz Mystery Sphere,” Skeptoid podcast, no. 334, October 30,
2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5011
Date: 3/27/1974
Description: Night. A large, brightly shining, spindle-shaped object
that remains stationary in the air is seen by numerous witnesses in
Málaga, Spain, and photographed by Sr. Salas, picture editor of the Sur
newspaper. (Eileen Buckle, “Spanish
UFO Fiesta,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 3 (December 1974):
4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5012
Date: 3/29/1974
Description: 1:45 a.m. A French vacationer and a local female friend are
lying on a sloping beach near Lomé, Togo, when they hear a high-pitched
whine and see an unlighted cylindrical object above the ocean. It heads
toward them on a level flight path until it gets to 500 feet away. It
stops, and within moments a tidal wave washes over the two witnesses.
Wave after wave crash over them as they hold onto a nearby tree. The UFO
emits powerful beams of light, and the Frenchman can see the waters
parting in a deep trough. They remain paralyzed for 20 minutes until the
UFO turns off its lights and flies out to sea. The water surface returns
to normal. Over the next few days, the man feels strangely exhausted and
has a ringing in his ears. (Joël Mesnard, “UFO
over Sea Causes Surge of Tidal Waves,”
Flying Saucer Review 22, no. 6 (April 1977): 4–5, iv; Clark III
250–251)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5013
Date: 3/30/1974
Description: 9:30 p.m. Motorists are blinded by a bright yellow-green
object on or near the ground along a road near Ombreiro, Lugo, Spain.
Car engines fail, headlights go out. After 3–4 minutes, the UFO rises
silently and moves away horizontally. It makes a soft buzzing or
whistling sound. (UFOEv II 454)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5014
Date: 3/30/1974
Description: Blinding light from hovering object, car engine quit,
lights went out. Object flew away with whistling sound, car then
functioned normally
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Hombreiro, Lugo, Spain
ID: 239
Date: 4/1974
Description: A woman military staffer at the GEC-Marconi contracting
company in Frimley, Surrey, England, learns that a break-in has occurred
the previous night. A guard suffers a nervous breakdown, is taken to an
unnamed hospital, and is not seen again. Later, she hears a discussion
in her supervisor’s office and describes it to Nick
Redfern: “We have no way of keeping these beings out. We just don’t
know what to do next. If they can get in here, they can get in
anywhere.” She learns that the guard had seen an alien sifting through
files and papers. A blue light emanated from its helmet, and the being
dematerialized before the guard’s eyes. (Nick Redfern, A Covert Agenda:
UFO Secrecy Exposed, Simon & Schuster, 1997, p. 126; Nick Redfern,
“An
Extraterrestrial 007?” Mysterious Universe, December 9, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5015
Date: 4/1974
Description: 3:00 a.m. A staff sergeant assigned to the 355th Security
Police Squadron stationed at Incirlik Air Base, Adana, Turkey, witnesses
a white, glowing UFO hovering silently over the nuclear storage area
about 500 feet above the ground for one hour. It appears to be the size
of a Volkswagen. At 4:00 a.m., the UFO suddenly and silently accelerates
toward the city. The witness sees the object from the Security Police
dormitory about 2 miles away. The next day, other security personnel
tell him that the only measures taken are “to set up their M-60 machine
guns, and that they were not to fire on the object unless it initiated a
hostile act.” (Brian Vike, “Sgt. Reports Bizarre
Events at WY Missile Base,” Rense.com, July 7, 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5016
Date: early 4/1974
Description: A couple driving on a country road in east Hancock County,
Ohio, spot a low light in the northeastern sky. They drive toward it,
but it shoots up into the air so they can see its underside. As the man
alerts people to the object on his CB radio, he sees the object lower a
box, seemingly to take samples. Then the object approaches the couple
and they drive away quickly, but it follows them for 47 miles. At 2:15
a.m., they pull into a Wigwam restaurant, where a man rushes up to them
and asks them, “What did you see in the sky?” He denies having a CB
radio, and talks in a strangely slow and choppy manner. The man
continues to bother them, so they drive away from the Wigwam. Soon they
are followed by some strange lights and an orange ball. They stop the
car where the road ends and see a “little man on a little black object.”
The lights follow them all the way home to Findlay, Ohio. (Clark III
731–733)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5017
Date: 4/4/1974
Description: Two 12-year-old girls in A Estrada, Galicia, Spain, see a
noiseless metallic object that stops for a few seconds 30–40 feet from
the ground, then moves off. (Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, A
Catalogue of 200 Type I UFO Events
in Spain and Portugal, CUFOS,
1976, pp. 47–48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5018
Date: 4/13/1974
Description: 2:00 a.m. Julio Acosta Bertol (a teacher), his wife, and a
student at Herrera de Alcántara, Cáceres, Spain, observe a luminous
rhomboid object with a pink-yellowish semicircle on its upper left. The
student hears a prolonged, alarm-like noise. They watch the UFO for 5–6
minutes from a distance of 900 feet before it moves off. (Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos, A
Catalogue of 200 Type I UFO Events in Spain and Portugal, CUFOS,
1976, p. 49; Nick Redfern, “Spain’s
UFO Wave: 1973–1974,” Mysterious Universe, August 28, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5019
Date: 4/15/1974
Description: 4:30 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. George Torres observe a flat, round
object moving to the north over the low hills in back of their home in
Tijeras Canyon, New Mexico. It is in the apparent area of the Manzano
Nuclear Weapons Storage facility attached to Kirtland AFB. The object
changes course to the east at an altitude of 2,000 feet and appears to
be 50–75 feet in diameter. It is rotating silently on a central axis.
The object turns abruptly to the south, passes behind a small mountain
peak, turns east again, and vanishes over the Manzano Mountains. (R. C.
Hecker, “New
Mexico Reports,” APRO Bulletin 23, no. 2 (Sept./Oct. 1974):
5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5022
Date: 4/15/1974
Description: A photojournalist takes four photos of a round object over
A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. (Dolan II, 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5021
Date: 4/15/1974
Description: Passengers on a ferry on the Strait of Gibraltar between
Ceuta and Algeciras, Spain, see a round, intense torch-like light rise
out of the water near a huge rock, travel at low altitude, then fall
into the water again. This happens once again. (UFOEv II 346)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5020
Date: 4/16/1974
Description: 12:50 a.m. Mauro Bellingeri, 26, and his wife Carla Farè,
23, are returning to their villa in Santa Maria del Tempio,
Alessandrino, Italy, when they notice a bright object that dives
abruptly toward them, stopping at a height of 40 feet above the villa.
The Bellingeris get out of the car to look at the motionless object. It
has a transparent dome and a central ring of revolving red, green, and
yellow lights. Inside the dome are three human- like beings with large,
round, opaque, grayish helmets. At the base of the headgear is a
hoselike apparatus. One being turns in their direction, then moves back.
All three beings then rotate in unison. At this point, 3–4 jets of flame
appear beneath the craft, the central portion begins to revolve rapidly,
and they hear a whistling sound and feel a blast of air. The UFO speeds
away, continuing to whistle. (UFOEv II 460–461; 1Pinotti 189–191; Carlo
Pirola, UFOs: Reinvestigation in Italy, Lulu.com, 2019, pp. 68–76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5023
Date: 4/16/1974
Description: Disc with dome descended, three beings visible inside
transparent dome
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Casale Monferrato, Italy
ID: 240
Date: 4/19/1974
Description: About 9:30 p.m. Ruth Currie and her daughter Laurie see a
bright light that seems to be only several hundred feet from their house
in Altamont, New York. Curious, they walk toward it until they are
within about 200 feet. An oval object is resting on the roadway. It
appears to have large windows in the top half, from which comes a
brilliant golden glow. Changes of contrast in this light give them the
impression that something is moving around within. Currie sends her
daughter to get a neighbor, Rose Curtis, and they return shortly. Currie
then retreats to her home and phones her husband, who drops what he is
doing and hurries over. He can see an object rising up. It shifts speeds
and accelerates out of sight. During the bulk of this encounter, the
neighborhood dogs are putting up a continuous volley of barking. The
next morning, the witnesses get together and go to the site, where they
find an area of burned grass 50–75 feet in diameter. (Center for UFO
Studies, HUMCAT
Index 1974, p. 40; NICAP, “The
1974 UFO Chronology”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5024
Date: 4/29/1974
Description: Roy Hiltner discovers an odd imprint in his soybean field
near North Creek in northwestern Putnam County, Ohio. It is a depression
8 feet in diameter and 12 inches deep, with seven 4-foot-long grooves
radiating from it. In the center are two holes, each 12 inches in
diameter and 12 inches apart. Local and state officials examine the site
and cannot determine a cause. (“Two
Physical Trace Cases in Northwest Ohio Unexplained,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 6, no. 3 (June/July 1985): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5025
Date: 5/1974
Description: 3:30 a.m. US Army Pfc R. Jack Phillips is assigned to the
193rd Military Police Battalion guarding Area 3 of an Army Ordnance
Depot [now returned to Germany] where surface-to-surface Pershing
missiles are stored near Fischbach bei Dahn, Rhineland-Palatinate,
Germany. Suddenly waking up, he watches an extremely bright star above
him for about 15 seconds. Suddenly it approaches very quickly and hovers
just beyond the depot fence line about 300 feet away. The light now
looks like a domed disc about 60 feet in diameter with a concave
indentation on its underside. It is covered in a greenish glow and
completely silent. After 5 seconds the object gets much brighter for a
second then dims again. The security lights in the complex go out.
Phillips tries to report this, but his field phone is out. The backup
generators fail to turn on. Some 30 seconds later, the object takes off
so swiftly that he can’t tell in which direction it leaves. The lights
come back on and all the bunker alarms go off. A roving unit needs to
come by to reset all the alarms manually. Phillips admits that most of
the guards sleep on duty, and that is probably why no one else has seen
the object. (Nukes 343–346)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5027
Date: 5/1974
Description: 2:00 a.m. Iuliu Marian and his wife wake up abruptly in
their home in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Outside they see a bell-shaped
object or silhouette with a light tube in the center that seems to be
waiting for them. Marian grabs a sports sword he keeps under the bed and
goes outside, but the object is already moving away. He follows it
around a corner of the house and the object is nowhere to be seen.
Marian senses the object is still there somehow because he feels some
kind of force field. Against his will he returns to his bedroom, the
forcefield disappears, and he goes right back to sleep. (Romania
128–129)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5026
Date: 5/5/1974
Description: 5:30 p.m. David Dorn and Troy Warton, both 11, leave home
in Lincolnshire, Illinois, to play basketball. As they walk down the
street, they notice a dark object in the western sky. It comes closer,
drops to a height just above the treetops, hovers slightly, then rises
up and disappears. David has a new camera and he snaps six photos with
his Kodak X-15 camera. The color pictures reveal a distinct dark object
in the clouds and over the trees. Unfortunately, he discards the
negatives. (“Boy’s
New Camera Records UFO,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 5
(September 1980): 1) May 7 (possibly 1973) — 9:00 p.m. Margaret
K. Roffe, nurse’s
aide at the Coatesville (Pennsylvania) Veterans Administration Hospital,
hears tree branches swishing and swaying nearby and sees a UFO descend
and land on the roof of Building no. 1 about 150 feet away. Four
silver-colored legs emerge from the object, followed by a ramp with
steps. Three small figures climb down backwards. They are speaking to
each other in high, squeaky voices that sound like “so many birds.” She
says “The being nearest the edge of the roof had a very elongated head,
grayish=looking skin, arms that extended well below his knees, and what
looked like long claws instead of fingers. His legs appeared rather
short.” He is bald and looks old. The scene is well lit by an
illuminated dome on the roof of the building. When one of the entities
notices the witness, they reenter the object, which takes off slowly
over the trees, which are again violently agitated. The legs withdraw as
it takes off. (Clark III 277)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5028
Date: 5/7/1974
Alternate date: 5/9/1974
Description: 7:00 a.m. Businessman Amadeo Villar is driving with his
wife and daughter near Altos de Cabrejas, Cuenca, Spain, when they see a
bright orange object for 40–50 seconds. It darts behind the clouds,
where it is still dimly visible. (José Vicente Avila, “Spain:
A UFO over Cabrejas, Witnessed by Three (1974),” Inexplicata,
October 28, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5029
Date: 5/9/1974
Description: The documentary film UFOs: Past, Present, and Future is
released along with a paperback book of the same title by Robert
Emenegger. The
film shows stock footage of Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, New Mexico, and a
recreation of a landing at a hypothetical military base. (Wikipedia,
“UFOs: Past, Present, and Future”; Robert Emenegger, UFOs: Past,
Present, and Future, Ballantine, 1974; Internet Movie Database, “UFOs:
It Has Begun”; “UFOs
(It Has Begun) Past, Present, and Future documentary,” Jaded Truth
YouTube channel, September 29, 2017; Clark III 357)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5030
Date: 5/15/1974
Description: A businessman and a teacher in Pedroche, Córdoba, Spain,
see a round object the “size of a table” that chases their car and
obstructs their path on the road. They turn the car around rapidly and
flee. (UFOEv II 346)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5031
Date: 5/17/1974
Description: 10:10 p.m. Electronic scanning equipment at the Manzano
Nuclear Weapons Storage Facility attached to Kirtland AFB near
Albuquerque, New Mexico, registers a burst of energy in the upper
atmosphere in the 250–275 MHz range. The burst throws all the facility’s
instruments off. A trajectory of an apparent falling object is plotted,
and a recovery team is dispatched to an area southwest of Chilili, New
Mexico, that is cordoned off. A few hours later, a circular, metallic
object about 60 feet in diameter is dismantled and transported into a
hangar at Kirtland AFB. (R. C. Hecker, “New
Mexico Reports,” APRO Bulletin 23, no. 2 (Sept./Oct. 1974): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5032
Date: 5/20/1974
Description: 7:00 p.m. A baker named Le Meur, with his wife and two
children, is traveling on a small road toward Landévennec, Finistère,
France, when they notice a powerful light ahead at ground level. It
consists of a string of 7–8 spheres, each about one foot in diameter and
arranged horizontally, about 3 feet above the road. Le Meur turns around
and heads to the local Gendarmerie station in Telgruc-sur-Mer to report
it. The police examine the site the next day and find a patch of ferns
that appear abnormally wilted. They collect some plant and soil samples
and send them to a lab in Paris for analysis. The wilted, brown ferns
are found to be without chlorophyll and an unknown element (indicating
pheophytins associated with the degradation of chlorophyll) shows up in
the chromatography in ultraviolet light. (Joël Mesnard, “Landévennec,
May 20, 1974,” IUR 32, no. 4 (October 2009): 20–21; Jérôme Frasson, “An
Attempt to Learn about the Trauma Undergone by the Ferns,” IUR 32, no. 4
(October 2009): 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5033
Date: 5/22/1974
Description: The wife of a journalist on Ibiza, Balearic Islands, Spain,
photographs an object described in a US Defense Department report as
“somewhat like a top.” It remains stationary for a while, then rises and
disappears. (Dolan II 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5034
Date: 5/28/1974
Description: Day. A resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, sees a large
glowing object moving across the western face of the Sandia Mountains.
It is so bright that no structure is visible. The witness opens his
window to listen for noise coming from the object, but there is none. As
he watches, the object appears to land on a nearby hill where it remains
for an hour before it shoots into the air and vanishes. Three young men
are camping in the Sandia Mountains that day around noon. They notice a
silver-white UFO on the ground on the east side of Tramway Boulevard NE,
between Menaul Boulevard and Copper Avenue. Next to it is a silver,
triangular-shaped object with odd rune-like symbols on one of the
pointed ends. After reporting the sighting, they wind up being taken to
Kirtland AFB for interrogation by civilian intelligence agents. They are
told they have witnessed a “Soviet incident” and are to keep their
mouths shut, which they do for 34 years before talking to Linda
Moulton Howe in 2007. Around 9:00 p.m., a family sees a large,
glowing, football-shaped disc moving across Albuquerque toward the
Sandia foothills. They jump in their car and try to follow the object,
using dirt roads on the east side of Tramway. They are stopped by a
state police officer, beyond whom they can see the UFO hovering low next
to a rocky hill. It is surrounded by armed military personnel. (“Recent
Sightings Reported in New Mexico,” UFO Investigator, July 1974,
p. 3; Linda Moulton Howe, “Glowing
Disc Encounter with Military in Albuquerque, NM,”
Earthfiles, November 29, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5035
Date: 5/31/1974
Description: 2:30 a.m. A prolonged Peugeot-pacing case from Mvuma to
Beitbridge, Zimbabwe, takes place along the A4 highway, during which
motorists experience electromagnetic effects, loss of steering control
for their vehicle, abnormal cold and silence, translocation from one
place to another, altered appearance of the terrain, humanoid encounter,
and amnesia. (Carl Van Vlieden, “Escorted
by UFOs from Umvuma to Beit Bridge,” Flying Saucer Review 21, no. 2
(August 1975): 3–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5036
Date: 6/1974
Description: MUFON pledges its cooperation with CUFOS, offering its
network of investigators to secure raw data for analysis. (Skylook, June
1974)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5039
Date: 6/1974
Description: Astrophysicist Michael
H. Hart formulates the basic points of Enrico
Fermi’s “Fermi Paradox” for an article in the Quarterly Journal of
the Royal Astronomical Society. The paradox is the apparent
contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial
civilizations elsewhere in the Milky Way galaxy and various high
estimates for their probability (such as those that result from
optimistic parameters for the Drake equation). (Wikipedia, “Fermi
paradox”; Michael H. Hart, “Explanation
for the Absence of Extraterrestrials on Earth,” Quarterly Journal of
the Royal Astronomical Society 16 (June 1975): 128–135)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5041
Date: 6/1974
Description: The Circulo de Argentino de Investigaciones Ufológicas in
Córdoba, Argentina, publishes the first issue of OVNIs: Un Desafio a la
Ciencia, edited by Oscar A. Galíndez. It runs for 10 issues through
February 1976. (OVNIs:
Un Desafio a la Ciencia, No. 1 (July 1974))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5040
Date: 6/9/1974
Description: Night. Maj. Shiro Kubota and Lt. Col. Toshio Nakamura are
flying an F-4EJ Phantom II interceptor over the northern perimeter of
Japan, apparently to intercept a Soviet aircraft. Ground control
explains that they are to investigate a bright orange-red light reported
by ground witnesses and tracked on radar. Leveling off at 30,000 feet,
they see the light a few miles ahead. It appears to be about 33 feet in
diameter, with square-shaped marks around its side. The object dips in a
shallow turn as they approach. Suddenly the object reverses direction
and shoots straight toward them. Nakamura forces the aircraft into a
sudden dive to avoid it, missing the UFO by “inches.” The object then
makes high-speed passes at the plane, drawing closer. Then, allegedly,
the UFO strikes the F-4, forcing the two pilots to eject. Nakamura’s
parachute catches fire and he falls to his death. (Good Above, pp. 430–431)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5042
Date: 6/12/1974
Description: Alfred A. Knopf publishes The CIA and the Cult of
Intelligence by Victor
Marchetti and John
D. Marks, which discusses how the CIA works and how its original
purpose (collecting and analyzing information about foreign governments,
corporations, and persons in order to advise public policymakers) has,
according to the authors, been subverted by its obsession with
clandestine operations. Marchetti uses the expression “cult of
intelligence” to denounce what he views as a counterproductive mindset
and culture of secrecy, elitism, amorality, and lawlessness within and
surrounding the CIA in the service of American imperialism. (Wikipedia,
“The
CIA and the
Cult of Intelligence”; Victor Marchetti and John D. Marks, The
CIA and the Cult of Intelligence, Knopf,
1974)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5043
Date: 6/14/1974
Description: 5:30 a.m. Santiago Pulido Romero is driving in Medellín,
Badajoz, Spain, near the Castillo when he sees a pot- shaped object
rapidly approaching him 300 feet above the ground. He turns off his car
lights, but the object follows his car parallel to the road about 210
feet away to the right. When he switches his headlights back on, the
object begins approaching again, so he switches them off and the object
retreats. When he arrives at his father’s property, the object hovers
over the barn, moving up and down, so he runs into the house. Later
Pulido goes outside to check, and the object is still hovering, lighting
up the entire area like daytime. Three humanoid beings are visible
inside the object. Early the next morning at sunrise, the object
abruptly speeds away. Other witnesses in separate locations also see a
UFO. (Eileen Buckle, “Spanish
UFO Fiesta,” Flying Saucer Review 20, no. 3 (December 1974): 6–7;
“Un
OVNI repond à des signaux lumineux en Espagne,” Inforespace, no. 22,
August 1975, pp. 14–15; “1974:
UFO with Occupants Hover over Farm,” ThinkAboutIt, April 6,
2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5044
Date: 6/15/1974
Description: Mountain guide Keo Wha Unan is inspecting the outer
perimeter of a rock formation near Mount Dhajar (apparently in the Bayan
Har Mountains, Tibet) to make certain it is safe for the next day’s
climb. He emerges from a cave and sees a silvery disc hovering about 4
feet above the ground behind a crest of high rocks. It is windowless and
shiny with no protrusions. He sees three humanoid figures gathering snow
and rocks and putting them inside the UFO. After 5 minutes, they climb a
ladder into the craft. The object rises a few feet and shoots straight
up like a flash. (Harry Hill, “The
Bizarre Ancient Astronauts of Tibet,” UFO Update!, no. 5 (Winter
1980): 49, 64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5045
Date: 6/16/1974
Description: 5:00 a.m. A farmhand is driving near Cáceres, Extremadura,
Spain, when a bright object illuminates the highway. He sees three tall,
helmeted figures standing inside the craft. When the witness turns off
his headlights, the UFO moves away; when he turns them back on, the UFO
approaches and follows him home about 230 feet above his car. He turns
off his lights again, and the UFO slowly flies away. (UFOEv II
346)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5046
Date: summer 1974
Description: Late evening. A witness living southwest of Lodi,
Wisconsin, sees an intensely bright light that is illuminating a hill on
an adjacent golf course. It covers an area the size of a football field,
but he cannot see a beam or light source. A few hours later, a couple
driving on State Highway 113 south of Lodi observe a triangular object
with red and blue circular lights suspended beneath it. The object
passes silently less than 20 feet above their car, hovers momentarily,
and resumes its slow pass overhead. It is twice the size of their car.
They watch as the lights shut off and the object is gone. At 1:00 a.m.,
a man in Lodi sees what he thinks are headlights pulling into his
driveway. He sees three bright points of light fixed horizontally in the
black sky. He goes in to get his brother who has a telescope, and they
attempt to spot the lights (only two now) with the scope. It takes a
while, and when they look straight up they see a large, triangular
object right above them. No lights are visible, but its undersurface is
clearly defined and metallic. It moves over the house, tips upward at a
45° angle, and shoots away. (Don Schmitt, “The Belleville Sightings,
Part Two,” IUR 13, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1988): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5037
Date: summer 1974
Description: Between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. California Gov. Ronald
Reagan and his pilot Bill Paynter in his Cessna Citation see a
bright white light zigzagging through the sky near Bakersfield,
California. They follow the light for several minutes. Paynter says it
“was a fairly steady light until it began to accelerate, then it
appeared to elongate.” Then, “to our utter amazement, it went straight
up into the heavens. When I got off the plane I told Nancy all
about it…. And we read up on the long history of UFOs.”
(presidentialufo.com, “Ronald Reagan, 40th President, January
20, 1981–January 20, 1989”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5038
Date: 6/25/1974
Description: 1:15 a.m. A witness is up late in his trailer home at
St.-Cyrille-de-Wendover, Quebec, when he hears a “bumm, bumm, bumm”
sound, as if something very heavy has fallen onto the ground. He looks
out the living room window and sees a UFO hovering low above a near
field. It is a disc with a red domed area and an orangish lower area
punctuated by oval windows from which comes white light. He sees a
6-foot-tall robot that has apparently emerged from the object and is now
only 15 feet from his window. He and his wife see three more robots near
the trailer next door. The observation lasts 3 hours as the couple peek
out of the window periodically. At one point, they see 15 robots
standing in line together close to a creek for 5 minutes. As if on
command, they suddenly move together; when they look out again at 4:20
a.m., the craft and the robots are gone. (Marc Leduc, “Un
atterrissage et des humanoïdes á Drummondville,” UFO-Quebec 1, no. 1
(1975): 10–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5047
Date: 7/2/1974
Description: 3:30 p.m. Some fishermen at Praia dos Navegantes beach,
Santa Catarina, Brazil, see a disc with small thrusters on its sides
descend and fall into the ocean about 328 feet away. Thinking it is an
aircraft, the men head to the splashdown site to help survivors. As
Ubelino Severino gets closer, the object sinks, leaving only foam at the
surface. (Brazil 517–520)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5048
Date: 7/9/1974
Description: Psychic Pat
Price accurately remote views the Soviet URDF-3 facility adjacent to
the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan for the Stanford Research
Institute [now SRI International] in Menlo Park, California. In another
experiment, Puthoff and
a skeptical scientist named Earl Jones drive to 9 separate metropolitan
areas, all chosen by Jones. Back in the SRI lab, Targ monitors
Price, who describes 7 of the places accurately —in some cases before
Jones and Puthoff even reach the target or before Jones has decided on a
target. Price also claims to sense four underground alien bases,
volunteering the data outside the SRI experimental parameters. The bases
are located under Monte Perdido, Huesca, Spain; Mount Nyangani,
Zimbabwe; Mount Hayes, Alaska; and Mount Ziel in Australia’s Northern
Territory. (Jim Schnabel, Remote Viewers: The Secret History of
America’s Psychic Spies, Dell, 1997, pp. 113, 118, 148–151;
Annie Jacobsen, Phenomena, Little, Brown, 2017, pp. 166–171)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5050
Date: 7/9/1974
Description: Early morning. An elliptical object with rows of
alternating red and green lights hovers about 200 feet above a park in
Kingston, New York. A hazy white glow emanates from the underside. The
object moves to within 500 feet of a police car. When officers James
Wallace and Richard Ramsdell turn their spotlight on, a brilliant beam
lights up the cruiser. The beam switches off and the object races away
at high speed. (“Hovering
Object Shines Spotlight
on Police Car,” UFO Investigator, October 1974, p. 3; UFOEv II
45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5049
Date: 7/9/1974
Description: Elliptical object with body lights hovered low, moved
toward police car. Officer turned spotlight on it, brilliant white beam
from object illuminated patrol car
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Kingston, NY
ID: 241
Date: 7/14/1974
Description: 3:36 p.m. A Scandinavian Airlines flight en route to
Burlington, Vermont, is flying at 35,000 feet 35–40 miles southeast of
Quebec City, Quebec. Capt. Korsvold and the crew notice a triangular
object moving southwest and has it in sight for 7 minutes. Radio
interference is reported. At the same time, C. W. Bacon is flying a
private jet about 35 miles southeast of Quebec City and sees the same
triangular object, but it seems to be stationary. Air traffic control at
CFB Bagotville in Saguenay, Quebec, reports strong interference on a
frequency of 121.5 MHz, a frequency reserved for aircraft in distress.
The signal is also disrupting transmissions for 10 minutes at RCAF
Station Mont Apica [now the Lac Castor Canadian weather radar station].
All is quiet after both the UFO and interference are gone. (Good Above,
p. 200;
Arthur R. Bray, The UFO Connection, Jupiter, 1979, pp. 45–46; Patrick
Gross, “Files
Obtained from the National Archives of Canada”; Chris Rutkowski,
Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 89–90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5051
Date: 7/15/1974
Description: Two unregistered helicopters, a white helicopter, and a
black twin-engine aircraft open fire on Robert Smith Jr. while he is
driving his tractor on his farm in Honey Creek, Iowa. This attack
follows a rash of cattle mutilations in the area and across the nearby
border in Nebraska. (Wikipedia, “Cattle
mutilation”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5052
Date: 8/8/1974
Description: President Richard
Nixon resigns in the wake of the Watergate scandal.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5053
Date: 8/9/1974
Description: President Gerald Ford in office
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Washington DC
Date: 8/11/1974
Description: 3:23 a.m. Police officers Mark E. Paine and Michael Alden
watch three luminous UFOs in a triangle formation between Tilton and
Concord, New Hampshire. A fourth object, a domed ellipse, rises from the
trees and approaches their car. As the officers signal the object, it
signals back, then veers away. (UFOEv II 175)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5054
Date: 8/12/1974
Description: 11:30 a.m. A 15-year-old boy sees a disc maneuvering near a
hedgerow at La Brousse, Charente-Maritime, France. It is about the size
of a medium car, dull-lead in color, with a green reflective dome. One
of three windows open “exactly like the shutter of a vanishing headlight
on a sports car.” The lower part of the object rotates, but the dome
does not. Later, three sharply defined circles of burnt straw form an
isosceles triangle within an oval area of crushed straw. Within each
imprint are two small pieces of lead. (M. Chasseigne, “Atterrissage
à La
Brousse, près de Matha,” Lumières dans la Nuit, no. 140 (December
1974): 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5055
Date: 8/16/1974
Description: 8:00 p.m. David Bates, 8, Steven Stillie, 10, and Henry
Stillie, 7, are taking a shortcut past an abandoned sandpit close to
their homes in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. Suddenly they hear a
high-pitched whine and the cat Bates is carrying panics and escapes his
hold; it runs several yards and then stops abruptly. They then see an
object with a red light on top and flashing green and white lights on
either end. Moving slowly, the UFO reverses course and with an
undulating motion heads for the clearing where the sandpit lies and
lands there, about 150 feet away. The whine becomes intense. As the
object settles down, it releases a blast of hot air that blows dust on
he boys. It extends three short legs and blue sparks leap up from the
ground. The boys run home. Investigator Graham Conway finds residual
material present in three indentations at the site. Analysis shows that
it contains an abnormally high amount of zinc. (Graham Conway, “Close
Encounter,” Canadian UFO Report 3, no. 4 (1975): 8–11; Graham
Conway, “Close
Encounter,” UFO*BC; Graham Conway, “CE2 Secrets,” IUR 17, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1992): 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5056
Date: 8/23/1974
Description: 9:00 p.m. John
Lennon and May
Pang watch a rotating, oval-shaped disc with a red light on top from
the roof of his penthouse apartment on East 52nd Street in New York
City. It is flying less than 100 feet away and moves off soundlessly as
they watch it. Lennon mentions it in a liner note to his 1974 Walls and
Bridges album. (David Halperin, “John
Lennon, May Pang, and the UFO (1) Their Story,” davidhalperin.net,
February 11, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5057
Date: 8/25/1974
Description: After 10:00 p.m. A document is leaked to UFO researchers in
the US and UK in 1992 and is apparently composed by someone within the
US intelligence community who either personally knows about the case or
who has run across top-secret documents. Now known as the “Deneb
Report,” the document alleges that the following incident took place.
Military radar at Corpus Christi, Texas, detects an unknown target
moving toward the Texas Gulf coast. Traveling at a speed of 2,500 mph at
an altitude of 75,000 feet, the UFO is first spotted over the Gulf of
Mexico about 200 miles east of Corpus Christi. After going through
maneuvers suggesting intelligent control, the object quickly turns south
along the Texas coast, avoiding entry over land, and seems headed toward
Brownsville. As the disc continues to hug the Texas coastline, it
exhibits controlled descent, calculated turns, speed reductions, and
other clear indications of control. The object descends from 75,000 feet
to about 45,000 feet by the time it crosses over land into northern
Mexico, about 40 miles south of Brownsville. Its speed is down to 2,000
mph and it is slowing very gradually. Zigzagging around mountain peaks
that tower above 5,000 feet, the UFO continues to descend, although its
speed is still near 2,000 mph at the time that it encounters another
aircraft headed toward it on a collision course. Somewhere over a vast
desert plain known as El Llano near Coyame, Chihuahua, Mexico, a mid-air
collision occurs with a small aircraft flying from El Paso to Mexico
City. Debris from the crash rains down on the desert plain below, and
efforts are soon underway by both Mexico and the US to recover the
remains. Mexican spotter planes first locate the wreckage of the
aircraft, even as US electronic surveillance personnel listen in on the
rescue activities from across the Texas border. The Americans hear the
Mexican spotter planes say that the small craft is almost totally
destroyed and that they have found a second crash site nearby with the
remains of a nearly intact, shiny, silvery disc. The object is 16 feet,
5 inches in diameter, and equally convex on both upper and lower
surfaces. There is an outer rim around the central circumference. The
height is slightly less than 5 feet. They see no visible portholes,
doors, or markings. In addition, no lights of any kind are apparent.
There is also no obvious mechanism for propulsion. The external surface
of the disc is like silvery polished steel. Mexican troops recover the
crashed disc, winching it up onto the bed of a large military truck.
They also retrieve fragments of the crashed civilian aircraft, although
there is not much left of it. (“Presidio 1974,”
Texas UFO Museum and Research Library; Noe Torres and Ruben Uriarte, The
Coyame Incident, Roswell Books, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5058
Date: 9/1974
Description: Author Charles
Berlitz writes The Bermuda Triangle, in which he popularizes the
concept of the Bermuda Triangle as an area of ocean prone to
disappearing ships and airplanes. He quotes his friend J. Manson
Valentine, who has reported several UFO sightings in the area. He also
perpetuates a fake radio transmission from Lt. Charles Taylor of the
missing TBM Avenger bombers in December 1945 containing the warning,
“Don’t come after me… They look like they are from outer space.”
Berlitz’s claims of unusual EM effects occurring in the Triangle are
also fabrications. (Charles Berlitz, The
Bermuda Triangle, Avon,
1974; Story, p. 51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5059
Date: 9/1/1974
Description: 11:00 a.m. While he is driving a swather to harvest his
rapeseed crop near Langenburg, Saskatchewan, farmer Edwin Fuhr, 36,
notices a metallic-appearing dome-shaped object about 50 feet away and
stops to investigate. Walking to within 15 feet of it, Fuhr sees that it
is spinning and swirling the grass beneath it. This frightens him and he
backs away. Climbing back on the swather, he looks around and sees four
more identical domes “like brushed stainless steel” arranged in a rough
semicircle, all hovering and spinning about a foot above the ground.
Whether from fear or an EM effect, Fuhr cannot get the throttle and
steering wheel of the swather to respond. One object suddenly takes off,
quickly followed by the other four, ascending in a step formation. At
about 200 feet they stop, each emitting a puff of gray vapor from
exhaust-like extensions at the base. The vapor extends about 6 feet,
followed by a downward gust of wind which flattens the rapeseed in the
immediate area. The objects then form a straight line, hover for a
minute or two, then suddenly ascend into the low cloud cover and
disappear. Fuhr goes to the landing area and finds five rings of
depressed grass swirled in a clockwise fashion. There is no evidence of
heat or burning. Some additional circles are found in the area later
that month. Fuhr later learns that cattle in a nearby field bellowed and
broke through a fence about the time of the sighting. Royal Canadian
Mounted Police Constable Ron Morier, quoted by Canadian Press, says:
“Something was there and I doubt it was a hoax. There’s no indication
anything had been wheeled in or out and Mr. Fuhr seemed genuinely
scared.” Later Morier tells an investigator, “There is no way that this
is a hoax. Whatever was in there, it came out of the air and departed
the same way, as far as I could tell.” (Ted Phillips, Physical
Traces Associated with UFO Sightings, CUFOS,
1975, p. 104; Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions,
Methuen, 1979, pp. 22–24; Chris Rutkowski and John P. Timmerman,
“Langenburg, 1974: A Classic Historical CE2 and a Crop Circle
Progenitor?” IUR 17, no. 2 (March/April 1992): 4–11; Michael D. Swords,
GrassRoots UFOs: Case Reports from the Timmerman Files, Fund for UFO
Research, 2005, pp. 148–159; Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The
Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 110–113; “Interview
with Edwin Fuhr 37 Years Later:
The Langenburg UFO Case,” AboveTopSecret forum, January 20, 2017;
Mark Melnychuk, “The
Farmer Who
Saw and the Mountie Who Believed: Sask.’s Most Famous UFO Sighting,”
Regina (Sask.) Leader-Post, September 29, 2017; Clark III 673–675; Chris
Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, pp. 192–
196)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5060
Date: 9/1/1974
Description: Five dome-shaped objects in pasture, spinning and swirling
grass. Objects took off, aligned in formation, climbed into clouds
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Langenburg, Saskatchewan, Canada
ID: 242
Date: 9/9/1974
Description: 8:30 p.m. Professor Andrei Antalffy and his wife are in
their summer cottage near Târgu Mureş, Romania, when she notices a
silvery-white light behind the house. They go outside and see a
rectangular “wall of opaque light” about 82 feet long and 550 away from
them. In front of the wall on the ground are four orange spheres about
18 inhes in diameter and grouped two-by-two. They continue to watch the
display from inside the cottage until midnight when they retire for the
night. (Romania 41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5061
Date: 9/16/1974
Description: Around 9:30 p.m. Mrs. A. Richards is driving a 1968 Toyota
a few miles northwest of St. Helens, Tasmania, with her two children.
The car radio suddenly turns to static as she is passing over a bridge
and the sky ahead lights up. The car then loses power as it travels up
an incline, and everything goes dead—car lights, radio, heater, and
engine. The landscape is lit up by a bright area of light ahead. The
mother tries to start the car without success. A deafening vibrating
noise then seems to envelop the car. About the same time all three of
them feel electric shocks like vibrations for one minute, and a choking
smell fills the car so that they leap from the car and flee the scene,
leaving the car and the glow in the sky behind. After nearly 2 miles,
they reach a house whose resident gives them a ride back to the car to
see what is wrong. The hood is warm, but the car starts up and there is
no sign of a light. A check at the local garage finds water in the
radiator low, otherwise both radio and electrical systems are in working
order. The mother suffers from swollen arms and fingers the following
day. The right side of her face is numb and she has red marks above her
right eyebrow. (“Auto-Stop,”
TUFOIC Newsletter, no. 14 (1975): 10–11; “UFOs
and Auto-Stops,” TUFOIC Newsletter, no. 91 (February 2002): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5062
Date: 9/21/1974
Description: 10:00 p.m. A Swedish army officer is driving with his
family near Knutby, Uppsala County, Sweden, when a blinding light
approaches the car from the right at an altitude of about 30 feet. The
car stops and the radio and headlights go out. The UFO passes the road
ahead and then lands on the left side about 250 feet from the road. A
large area is lit up by the blinding, green-shimmering light from the
object. The witnesses hear a sound like a swarm of bees. Through
binoculars, the officer sees an egg-shaped structure some 33 feet long
and around 10 feet high. The car engine still does not work. He gets out
of the car, then hears a deafening roar. The UFO is taking off
vertically with a rocking motion. It flies off slowly at about 100 feet
altitude for a few hundred yards, then takes off and disappears in a
fraction of a second. He gets back in the car and the radio is playing
music and the car starts easily. (Boris Jungkvist, “Swedish
Army Officer Experiences Landing and EM Effects,” AFU Newsletter,
no. 17 (Oct./Dec. 1979): 11–13; Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle
Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (September 2011):
16–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5063
Date: 9/26/1974
Description: 9:30–10:00 p.m. More than 100 people in north Zealand,
Denmark, watch unusual objects and lights in the sky. One driver is
suddenly surrounded by a dazzling red light that illuminates the area.
The engine, lights, and radio fail. After several attempts, he restarts
the car and turns on the lights. A cone of white neon light descends
toward the car. A bumping noise and a sound like broken glass is heard
on the roof, and then a foot-long spurt of flame erupts from the car
radio. The engine and lights fail again. After about 6 seconds a
distinct “click” is heard, and everything works normally again. The car
engine and radio are undamaged. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on
Vehicle Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011):
20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5064
Date: 9/27/1974
Description: An 11-year-old boy and an older friend are on a farm near
Jindabyne, New South Wales, when they notice a bright white light about
one-half mile away for about 30 minutes. In 1983, the younger man begins
to have “vivid memories” of that evening and realizes that both
experienced about two hours of missing time. Soon the memory of an
abduction emerges in which both witnesses undergo an examination of some
kind. (Mark Moravec, “The
Jindabyne UFO Abduction Case,” UFO Research Australia Newsletter 5,
no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1984): 6–10; MUFON UFO Journal, February 1988,
pp. 13–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5065
Date: 9/30/1974
Description: Newsweek brings the issue of cattle mutilations to a
national audience. Noting that “more than 100 cattle have been found
dead and gruesomely mutilated in Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa,” it lists
possible culprits: witchcraft cultists, UFOs, helicopter-borne rustlers,
marijuana smugglers, and predators. In months and years to come, the
scare spreads from the Midwest to the West to the South. (Clark III 133)
Autumn — 10:00 a.m. A metallic disc some 300 feet across approaches a
South Korean antiaircraft shore battery. The commander launches an
MIM-23 Hawk guided missile which is immediately shot down by a “white
ray” from the UFO. The second ray is directed at the battery, melting
the remaining two Hawk missiles into an unrecognizable mass. (Soviet
Military Review, June 1989; Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest,
1977, pp. 135–136)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5066
Date: 10/10/1974
Description: 10:10 p.m. John Breen, a Canadian armed forces pilot, is
paced by a UFO over Grand Falls, Newfoundland, in his Cessna 172, en
route from Deer Lake to Gander. A passenger first notices a strange
light following the plane when they are 50 miles away from Gander. Every
time Breen looks at the light it seems to turn off, but finally he gets
a better view: “It seems to be sort of a triangle—or delta-shaped,
luminescent greenish light following us.” It stays on for 3–4 seconds,
then goes off for a bit, then on again. Gradually it remains steady.
About 25–30 miles from Gander, Breen radios the airport, which has no
traffic in the area. The object’s reflection is clearly visible in the
water of Gander Lake. Breen says: “I started a right turn and then cut
hard left. Gander then picked up the object for two or three sweeps,
which would have been about 10–12 seconds. When we turned around, I just
saw it going off the other way and then I lost it because of the back of
the airplane.” (Gregory M. Kanon, “’Something’s
Up Here with Us!” Canadian UFO Report 4, no. 6 (Winter/Spring 1978):
3–4; Good Above, pp. 200–201;
Patrick Gross, “Files
Obtained from the National Archives of Canada”; Chris Rutkowski,
Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 90–91)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5067
Date: 10/11/1974
Description: Robert Spencer Carr described in great detail on a local
radio show interview the Aztec crash, had anonymous military and
civilian witnesses, made international news.
Type: interview
Reference: link
Location: Tampa, Florida
See also: 3/25/48
Date: 10/11/1974
Description: 4:15 a.m. The captain and crew of a Capital Airlines DC-8
descending into Gander, Newfoundland, watches as a UFO flashing red and
white lights draws alongside the plane as it flies at 290 mph at 7,500
feet. It maintains a parallel course until it finally disappears in
cloud cover about 5 miles from Gander. Air traffic control at Gander
confirms there is no other aircraft in the vicinity. (Good Above, p. 201;
Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
p. 91)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5068
Date: 10/11/1974
Description: 4:10 p.m. An astronomer in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, is
driving a pickup truck when he sees a silver-gray domed disc behind him
to the west. It moves from southeast to northwest on a level, straight
course, but in the last 2–3 seconds it turns upward, accelerating
rapidly. The witness’s truck stalls out when he tries to accelerate, but
the tape deck keeps operating. (“Astronomers and UFO’s: A Survey, Part
2, Sightings,” IUR 2, no. 4 (April 1977): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5069
Date: 10/11/1974
Description: The Energy Reorganization Act dissolves the Atomic Energy
Commission and splits responsibility for its functions, assigning to the
Energy Research and Development Administration [now the US Department of
Energy] the responsibility for the development and production of nuclear
weapons, promotion of nuclear power, and other energy-related work, and
assigning to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission the regulatory work,
which does not include regulation of defense nuclear facilities.
(Wikipedia, “Energy
Reorganization Act of 1974”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5071
Date: 10/11/1974
Description: Robert
Spencer Carr is the guest on a local radio show to promote the
upcoming Flying Saucer Symposium by PSI Conferences in Tampa, Florida.
During the interview, Carr makes the shocking disclosure of the US
government’s cover-up of the UFO crash in Aztec, New Mexico, in 1948
with 12 dead aliens aboard. The Air Force allegedly is storing the
bodies at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, in Hangar 18. The
announcement creates a media sensation that lasts for months in print
and broadcast news. (Dave Casey, “UFOs
and 12 Little Men,”
Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) News, October 12, 1974, p. 1; Curt Collins, “Robert
Spencer Carr and Hangar 18,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, May 29,
2018; Curt Collins, “Inside
Hangar 18 with Dr. Robert Carr,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, June
1, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5070
Date: 10/14/1974
Description: 9:09 p.m. Air Force security personnel assigned to the
Bomber Alert Area of Grand Forks AFB near Emerado, North Dakota, see two
large, solid black, oval shapes hovering at 1,500 feet altitude in the
northwestern sky. Although each of the unlit objects has five small
lights arrayed across its surface, the UFOs approach to within
one-quarter mile of the alert area before they are noticed. Within a
3-minute period, 14 security police sentries, two military pilots, and a
B-52 maintenance supervisor independently report the objects to their
respective control locations. Static on radio and other communications
networks are noted. After hovering for 2 minutes, the UFOs slowly move
in tandem toward the south, making a faint humming sound as they fade
from view. (Nukes 347–348)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5072
Date: late 1974
Description: President Gerald
R. Ford creates the Nuclear Emergency Support Team, a group of
scientists, technicians, and engineers operating under the US Department
of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. Its task is to be
“prepared to respond immediately to any type of radiological accident or
incident anywhere in the world.” Since 1975, NEST has been warned of 125
nuclear terror threats and has responded to 30. All have been false
alarms. (Wikipedia, “Nuclear
Emergency Support Team”; Jeffrey T. Richelson, Defusing
Armageddon, Norton,
2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5087
Date: 10/15/1974
Description: Night. Five witnesses in Ramona, California, watch a
mysterious round object as it maneuvers over the Santa Maria Valley. It
lands on a hillside and turns ruby red before becoming a brilliant white
light. As it passes over, horses act up and a dog tries to grab one
witness by her sleeve back into the house. Another dog, chained, runs in
and out of the doghouse repeatedly, and the chickens and goats are
agitated as well. Radio and TV reception is disrupted, and a compass
points to the object as it is moving. The object hovers briefly, then
shoots away, emitting a noise like something between a hum and a
foghorn. (NICAP, “Object
Lands / Animal Reactions /
Compass Deviates”; Bob Gribble, “Looking Back,” MUFON UFO Journal,
no. 258 (October 1989): 24) October 25 — 4:15 p.m. Oil-well digger E.
Carl Higdon Jr. is hunting elk on the northern edge of Medicine Bow
National Forest southeast of Rawlins, Wyoming, when he sees five elk
standing motionless. He attempts to shoot one, but the bullet falls
about 50 feet from him as if hitting an invisible obstruction. He goes
to pick it up, then hears a twig snap and sees a humanoid being (more
than 6 feet tall) under a tree about 50 feet away. Its hair is sticking
up “like wheat straw,” it is bow-legged, and it is wearing a black
coverall suit and black shoes. Two belts cross its chest, and another is
wrapped around its waist. The being asks Higdon how he is doing and
whether he is hungry, after which it tosses him a package of pills. It
tells him to take one, saying it will last for four days. Higdon looks
up the hill and sees a transparent, lighted cubicle. Suddenly he finds
himself inside it, strapped to a seat with a helmet on his head. Two
humanoids are also inside, as well as four seats, a control panel, a
mirror, a map, and several elk, frozen in a cage. The craft takes him to
what seems to be another planet with a mushroom-shaped tower, 100 feet
tall. He and one of the humanoids float to the tower, go down an
elevator, pass down a corridor, and go into a room with a platform.
After being screened by a “glassy shield,” Higdon is told he is “not any
good for what we need” and is taken back to the original location, where
he rolls down a hill, hurting his head, neck, and shoulder. Around 6:30
p.m., Higdon radios his boss, Roy Fleming of the AM Well Service in
Rawlins, with his location and asks for assistance. At 11:40 p.m.,
Higdon is found by a rescue party, which includes Fleming, the Carbon
County sheriff, a deputy, and three other men in several
four-wheel-drive pickup trucks. He seems confused, so he is taken to
Carbon County Memorial Hospital, unable to remember his own name. He
does not recover his memory until the evening of October 27. Many
details emerge after Higdon is hypnotized by R.
Leo Sprinkle on November 2 and 17. (Clark III 573–576; Lorenzen,
Abducted! Confrontations with Beings from Outer Space, Berkley, 1977, pp. 25–37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5073
Date: 10/17/1974
Description: Dogs barked furiously, circular yellow-white object emitted
two light beams to ground, illuminated terrain brightly
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Maitland, N.S.W., Australia
ID: 243
Date: 10/20/1974
Description: Orionid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 244
Date: 10/25/1974
Description: Carl Higdon abduction
Type: abduction
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Rawlins, WY
ID: 245
Date: 10/27/1974
Description: Abduction case
Type: abduction
Type: case
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Aveley, UK
ID: 246
Date: 11/1974
Description: 8:00 p.m. Claire Haser, on an isolated ranch northeast of
Goldendale, Washington, sees a yellowish-white glow in the sky on the
ground to the north. At 11:00 p.m., as visitors are leaving, she steps
outside and sees it again, closer and more intense. Suspended in the air
only 10 feet away from the porch and 15 feet above the ground is a
“cylinder” about 3 feet long and 14 inches in diameter, standing with
its end pointed toward the ground. Projecting from the object is a long,
narrow, beam of light about 2 inches in diameter and 3 feet long. The
end of the beam is diffuse, and it is slowly rotating clockwise. She
watches it for 10 minutes. Not wanting to approach the object, everyone
goes back inside. The object is gone 30 minutes later. (Greg Long,
“Strangeness at Yakima,” IUR 19, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1994): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5075
Date: 11/1974
Description: Night. A witness is traveling in his 1971 Mitshubishi Colt
near the Sideling hill in northeastern Tasmania when he notices a huge
flame-colored glow lighting up the bush to the north. It looka larger
than a house. The headlights, radio, and motor of his car all cut out
and he is left watching the glow for several minutes. He notices his
luminous watch dial has become brighter and that the car’s clock is
running 2 minutes slower after the sighting. The mass of light moves
back and forth, rises up and away from the witness, and disappears. The
witness then able to start his car and continue on his journey.
Afterward, the front left mudguard changes color from red to more of an
orange. (“UFOs
and Auto-Stops,” TUFOIC Newsletter, no. 91 (February 2002): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5076
Date: 11/1974
Description: The Centre for UFO Studies–Australian Co-Ordination Section
is founded by Harry Griesberg and David Seargent in Gosford, New South
Wales, as a clearinghouse for UFO reports throughout Australia. It
publishes the ACOS Bulletin through December 1979. (ACOS
Bulletin, no.
1 (March 1975))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5074
Date: 11/2/1974
Description: Robert
Spencer Carr gives a lecture at the Flying Saucer Symposium at the
International Inn in Tampa, Florida, on the 1948 Aztec, New Mexico,
crash/retrieval and the aliens allegedly stored in Hangar 18, calling it
the “worst-kept secret in the world.” Carr’s hour-long lecture is short
on specifics, but in the question-and-answer session afterward, he is
asked about his sources for the information. Carr says there are three
witnesses, but they must remain unnamed. He says that the US government
will end the coverup, admit that UFOs are really spacecraft from other
worlds, and it will happen soon—before the end of the year. Curt Collins
writes, “Part of the reason Carr’s story took hold was that it was so
familiar, people wanted something like it to be true, and that it seemed
to come from an authority figure, a university professor with official
governments contacts and sources It also struck a chord with the public,
capitalizing on their distrust of the government following the Vietnam
war and Watergate scandal.” (“UFOs
and 12 Little Men,” Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) News, October 12, 1974,
p. 1; “Symposium
Hums with UFO Talk,” Tampa Bay Times, November 4, 1974, p. 1-D; Curt
Collins, “Ufology 1974: The Flying Saucer Symposium in Tampa,” The
Saucers That Time Forgot, May 25, 2018; Curt Collins, “Robert
Spencer
Carr and Hangar 18,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, May 29, 2018;
Curt Collins, “Inside
Hangar 18 with
Dr. Robert Carr,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, June 1, 2018; Curt
Collins, “The
Day after Saucergate,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, June 4,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5077
Date: 11/4/1974
Description: 11:00 p.m. A witness is driving near Scottsdale, Tasmania,
when he sees a large, silent UFO. His car engine and radio cut out and
his watch dial lights up brightly. The object moves away and abruptly
ascends vertically. The left-hand mudguard changes color permanently
from red to orange. (Ted Phillips, “Vehicle Effects,”
MUFON UFO Journal, no. 446 (June 2005): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5078
Date: 11/5/1974
Description: 8:30 p.m. Harold Verge is driving between Mahone Bay and
Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, in the pouring rain when he sees three bright
amber lights appear in his rear-view mirror. Suddenly they move to the
rigt side of his car and pace it for 30 seconds before disappearing
abruptly. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night,
2022, p. 83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5080
Date: 11/5/1974
Description: 7:30 p.m. Jesse and Johanna Chilton are driving south on
Provincial Highway 2 near Olds, Alberta, when they see a disc about 9
feet in diameter and 50 feet away on their right at a height of 25 feet.
It turns and passes them in the opposite direction and they note several
exhaust ports emitting yellow flame. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 226–227)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5079
Date: 11/7/1974
Description: 3:00 p.m. Two schoolgirls are biking home from school in
Waterford, Connecticut, when they see a ball of fire in the sky. They
ride to one of their homes and go out in a car, hoping to take a photo.
When they get to the shore of Niantic Bay, they see it again with
several other people who have stopped. The object is now shaped like a
triangular space capsule with rounded corners. Flames shoot from the
back as it performs elaborate rolls and maneuvers. Then it takes off.
(Michael D. Swords, “Timmerman’s Triangles,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer
2004): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5081
Date: 11/11/1974
Description: Night. Police officers Zachary Space and Lester Nagle watch
an object hovering level with high-tension wires east of Madison, Ohio.
It comes down above the wires for 15–20 seconds, rises up slowly out of
sight, then appears again. Along with a deputy sheriff, they watch the
object for 20 minutes. It leaves like a flash. (Fort Worth (Tex.) Cross
Country News, January 8, 1975; Marler 90–91)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5082
Date: mid 11/1974
Description: 5;30 p.m. Giovanna Sensoli is attending to her animals by
her farmhouse near Castelleale, Romagna, Italy, when she notices her
chickens and rabbits seem terrified. She notices a man seated on a box
that is suspended in the air above her house, rocking to and fro, and
only about 12 feet from her. He seems to be about 6 feet 6 inches tall
and dressed in a shiny, one-piece garment with green, red, and white
markings, and a pair of ski boots with square toes and heels. A helmet
covers his face, but he seems to be looking for something. The box has a
control rod with colored stripes. The man moves a bit further away to
the east on his box. Sensoli sees a bright light to the north and she is
overcome by heat. The house is lit up for a few seconds. Sensoli follows
the man, trying to understand his gesticulations, but he departs to the
east, followed by the light. The incident has lasted 15 minutes.
(Gianfranco Lollino, “The
‘Flying Man’ at Castelleale (Italy),” Flying Saucer Review 32, no. 4
(June 1987): 25–27; 1Pinotti 193–197)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5083
Date: 11/17/1974
Description: 9:00 a.m. A businessman is taking a walk along the shore of
Nørresø in Viborg, Denmark, when he notices an object above the eastern
bank of the lake. He snaps a photo of it as it hovers in the air about
1,600– 3,300 feet away. He looks around to see if there are other
witnesses, but when he looks back the object is gone. The photo shows a
circular object with an estimated diameter of about 65 feet with some
cloudy filaments hanging from its base. Investigators suspect it may be
a rare instance of a small cumulus cloud that has developed from a black
smoke ring. (Wim van Utrecht, “Jellyfish
UFO Photographed over
Denmark,” Caelestia, May 17, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5084
Date: 11/22/1974
Description: 7:30 p.m. At two-minute intervals, three bright red lights
are seen climbing very quickly from the horizon at Madeira, Canary
Islands, after which they create brilliant concentric circles. A
reporter in Funchal takes a few photos. The lights are probably Poseidon
missiles launched by the submarine USS
Mariano G. Vallejo several hundred kilometers to the west.
(Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos and Ricardo Campo Pérez, “Navy Missile
Tests and the Canary Islands UFOs,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5085
Date: 11/28/1974
Description: 11:43 a.m. Hugo W. Feugen is flying his own Aeronca
Champion aircraft on a bright day over Shabbona, Illinois, and he is
checking his position on the aeronautical map to determine if he was
still on course. When he looks up, he notices that the magnetic compass
is rotating counterclockwise at a rate of four revolutions per minute.
He looks to his right side and sees nothing but the town below him. When
he turns to his left, he sees a disc or ellipse flying parallel to his
aircraft at the same speed (75–80 mph) and altitude, pacing him at 120°
at an estimated one-quarter of a mile distance. He estimates its size as
120 feet long and 30 feet thick. After pacing him for 8–10 seconds, the
object tips slightly and he sees that it is not an ellipse but round in
shape. As it tips up at an angle, it accelerates to a fantastic speed
toward the east and is out of sight in less than one second. (NICAP, “Pilot Says
Compass Affected”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5086
Date: 12/1974
Description: Astronomy magazine editor Terence
Dickinson writes an open-minded article about Marjorie
E. Fish’s analysis of Betty
Hill’s star map and solicits comments from scientists about it.
Virtually every issue of the magazine in 1975 carries letters debating
the pros and cons of the map, including one by Cornell astronomer Carl Sagan. (Terence
Dickinson, “The Zeta Reticuli Incident,” Astronomy 2, no. 12 (December
1974): 5–18; David J. Eicher, “The
Zeta Reticuli (or Ridiculi) Incident,” January 31, 2001; Clark
587)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5088
Date: 12/1974
Description: Date given by Professor Carr on 10/11/74 predicting the
government will launch a carefully-engineered acclimation effort to
prepare American public for an announcement of the existence of
extraterrestrial life.
Type: interview
Reference: link
Location: Tampa, Florida
Date: 12/1974
Description: 7:30 a.m. A witness sees a vertical object floating above
Wemeth Low, a hill near Higher Chisworth, Derbyshire, England. It has a
flattened upper end and a tapered base. It changes shape from round to
oval and cigar and back to oval before it disappears and discharges
several small spheres from its blunt end “like soap bubbles.” (Herbert
S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects and Cloud Cigars,” IUR 29, no. 1 (Spring
2004): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5089
Date: 12/2/1974
Description: 10:30 p.m. Dairy farmer William
L. Bosak is driving back to his house southeast of Frederic,
Wisconsin, on County Road W when he sees an object reflected in his
headlights on the westbound side of the road in front of him. It is a
disc-shaped UFO, the bottom half obscured by the fog. But what holds his
attention is something inside the object’s “curved front of glass.”
Inside stands a figure with its arms raised above its head. He thinks
the figure is as scared as he is because its eyes are protruding. It is
generally human in shape, but its body is covered in dark tan fur except
on the face and chin. Its head hair seems to be swept back, and the
calf-like ears stretch out about 3 inches. The mouth and nose seem flat.
Bosak speeds past the object and his car lights suddenly go dim. He
hears a whooshing sound and the UFO is lost to view. (“Occupant
Case in Wisconsin,” APRO Bulletin 23, no. 4 (Jan./Feb. 1975): 1, 4;
Jerome Clark, “The
Frightened Creature on County Road W,” Flying Saucer Review 21, no.
1 (June 1975): 20–21; Clark III 557–558; Patrick Gross, URECAT,
October 20, 2006)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5090
Date: 12/9/1974
Description: 10:30 p.m. A married couple in Bad Traunstein, Austria,
watch for more than 30 minutes a triangular object that hovers above a
nearby pylon and sends out beams of green, blue, and red light. (Ernst
Berger, “The ‘Snails’
Are Still Around,” Flying Saucer Review 21, no. 5 (February 1976):
29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5091
Date: 12/11/1974
Description: 1:22 a.m. Teacher Călin Turcu hears his dog barking
insistently in the backyard of his home in Vălenii de Munte, Romania.
Beyond a river about a half-mile away he sees a pulsating, dazzling
white light like that coming from a welding machine that illuminates the
trees for miles around. In the next 3–4 minutes he takes 7–10 photos.
The light persists for 12 minutes until it ascends and fades slowly out.
(MUFON UFO Journal, no. 114 (May 1977); Augustin Moraru, “Phénomène
Lumineux Photographie au-dessus de Valenii de Munte,” UFO- Quebec,
no. 13 (March 1978): 18–19; Romania 38)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5092
Date: 12/17/1974
Description: 2:30 a.m. John Wagner is in his farmhouse near MacNutt,
Saskatchewan, when he notices a large, bright glow to the west that
lasts for 25 minutes. The next morning, he finds a circular ring in the
snow about 20 feet in diameter. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 190–191)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5093
Date: 12/18/1974
Description: 7:00 p.m. Executive Engineer Mohammad Riaz and others see a
circular light appear above the V-shaped mountain overlooking the
approach to Pattan, Pakistan, for about 25 minutes. It is also seen in
Chitral, Pakistan. An earthquake (Hunza Earthquake) centers on the area
on December 28, so this could be a type of earthquake light. (Col.
William S. Gilliland, “Balls
of Fire Memo,” US Department of Defense Intelligence Information
Report, December 18, 1974)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5094
Date: winter 1974
Description: 10:30 a.m. Harry Charlton and his wife have just driven
east through Melrose, New Mexico, when they see two objects moving on
their left at about 1,500 feet altitude. They have no wings, tail
sections, or engine nodules. Both are dull gray, like galvanized sheet
iron. The larger one is in front, with a slightly smaller one about 600
feet behind. Charlton thinks they are about a half-mile away, but he can
hear no noise or see any smoke. When the objects are about abreast of
the car, a sliding door opens on the larger one near the front end. A
large, shiny sphere (like polished aluminum) about 15–20 feet in
diameter emerges, moves toward the smaller object, and enters it after a
door opens near the rear end. After they move out of sight in a few
minutes, Charlton sees two F-111s take off in their direction from
Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis. (Harry Charlton, [Letter],
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 5 (May 1981): 3.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 4988
Date: 12/22/1974
Description: Investigative journalist Seymour
Hersh reveals some of the contents of the CIA “Family Jewels” in a
front-page New York Times article. Covert action programs involving
assassination attempts on foreign leaders and covert attempts to subvert
foreign governments are reported for the first time. In addition, the
article discusses efforts by intelligence agencies to collect
information on the political activities of US citizens. (Wikipedia, “Family
Jewels (Central Intelligence Agency)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5095
Date: 12/31/1974
Description: Night. Dave Percy and two other security guards at the
Pickering, Ontario, Nuclear Generating Station are preparing to greet
the new year when they see a cluster of bright red spheres over Lake
Ontario to the south. One of them moves closer and hovers over the
Number 3 and 4 reactor buildings. It is about 30 feet across. The object
hovers for 6–7 minutes, then after a bright flash it takes off. (Yurko
Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen, 1979,
p. 120)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5098
Date: 12/31/1974
Description: The CIA Family Jewels reports describe numerous activities
conducted by the CIA during the 1950s to 1970s that violate its charter.
According to a briefing provided by CIA Director William
Colby to the Justice Department, these include 18 issues that are of
legal concern. The documents are released on the CIA website on June 25,
2007. (Wikipedia, “Family
Jewels (Central Intelligence Agency)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5096
Date: 12/31/1974
Description: The Privacy Act, signed into law by President Gerald
R. Ford, establishes a Code of Fair Information Practice that
governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of
personally identifiable information about individuals maintained in
systems of records by federal agencies. The act also provides
individuals with a means by which to seek access to and amend their
records, and it sets forth various agency record-keeping requirements.
Each agency must file an annual report on its FOIA requests to Congress.
Citizens can also petition courts to render decisions on whether or not
to release documents from agencies. FOIA soon disproves the longstanding
denial of interest in UFOs by the CIA, FBI, and military agencies.
(Wikipedia, “Privacy
Act of 1974”;
ClearIntent, p. 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5097
Date: 1975
Description: MUFON moves its headquarters from Quincy, Illinois, to
Seguin, Texas.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5099
Date: 1975
Description: John
A. Keel publishes The Mothman Prophecies, an investigation into
sightings of a winged creature called Mothman in the area around Point
Pleasant, West Virginia, in 1966–1967. It combines these accounts with
his theories about UFOs and various paranormal phenomena, ultimately
connecting them to the collapse of the Silver Bridge across the Ohio
River on December 15, 1967. (Official investigations in 1971 determine
it was caused by stress corrosion cracking in an eye bar in a suspension
chain.) Other entities that Keel chronicles are not-quite- human
individuals (men in black) who intimidate witnesses and seem linked with
UFOs. Sometimes, he writes, they threaten witnesses who have not told
anyone else about their sightings. Usually they wear dark suits,
sometimes with turtle-neck sweaters, and have dark complexions and
Oriental features. Others are pale and bug- eyed. Their behavior is
frequently odd, as if they are operating in an environment alien to
them. In many cases they drive black Cadillacs or other limousine-like
vehicles. (John A. Keel, The
Mothman Prophecies, Saturday Review, 1975; Wikipedia, “The
Mothman Prophecies”; Clark III 640, 729–730)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5100
Date: 1975
Description: Night. Sgt. Eric Slater is flight security controller at
the Francis E. Warren AFB Tango-1 missile launch facility southeast of
Wheatland, Wyoming. He sees a bright white light coming over the
mountains from the Romeo-1 launch facility northwest of Meriden, hugging
the contour of the landscape. It stops about 3 miles away and hovers for
1–2 hours. At one point a light beam shoots down from the UFO into the
valley below. Then it comes straight for Tango-1. Slater sees it has a
dome on top and small, alternating red-and-blue lights on each side. It
only leaves when two F-4 Phantoms from Denver enter base airspace to
pursue it. (Nukes 336–337)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5110
Date: 1975
Description: Jacques
Vallée publishes The Invisible College, in which he speculates that
the UFO phenomenon is a “control system” in which UFOs have been
conditioning the human species throughout history using a
thermostat-like precision. He believes that it is producing a silent
change in human consciousness. (Jacques Vallée, The Invisible College,
Dutton, 1975; Story, p. 90;
Clark III 1214)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5102
Date: 1975
Description: Wido Hoville founds the UFO-Quebec organization in
Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, and begins publishing the journal
UFO-Quebec, edited by Norbert Spehner. It continues until December 1981.
(UFO-Quebec,
no. 1 (Jan./April 1975))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5103
Date: 1975
Description: Pierre Monnet founds the Groupement de Recherche et d’Étude
du Phénomène OVNI in Sorgues, Vaucluse, France. It publishes Vaucluse
Ufologie from 1977 to 1981. (Vaucluse
Ufologie: Bulletin d’Information du GREPO, no.
1 (Jan./Feb. 1977))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5104
Date: 1975
Description: Gilbert Peyret founds Groupement Langeadois de Recherches
Ufologiques in Le Puy, France. It publishes OVNI 43 from 1978 to 1980.
(OVNI
43, no.
1 (January 1978))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5105
Date: 1975
Description: Ex-CIA Pilot John Lear stated “The main Air Force sightings
were in 1975. And the UFOs descended on every Strategic Air Command base
guarding the perimeter of the northern United States. They hovered over
the nuclear weapons storage area and they stayed there with impunity for
up to two and three hours over a period of three days.”
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: link
Location: Loring AFB
Date: 1975
Description: ATF agent Donald E. Flickinger, acting on information
supplied to him by a writer who has been investigating animal
mutilations, launches an investigation into a supposed Satanist network
said to be behind the cattle mutilations. He determines the story is a
scheme hatched by a federal prisoner to get leverage to be transferred
to a county jail. (Daniel Kagan and Ian Summers, Mute Evidence, Bantam,
1984, p. 40; Clark III 133)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5109
Date: 1975
Description: Martial Robé founds Groupe Privé Ufologique Nancéien in
Nancy, France. It publishes Réalité ou Fiction from 1975 to 1987. (Réalité
ou Fiction, no.
0 (1975))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5106
Date: 1975
Description: The Centro Investigador de Objetos Volantes Extraterrestres
begins publishing Vimana, edited by Julio Arcas Gilardi, in Santander,
Cantabria, Spain. It continues through 1980. (Vimana,
no. 1 (1975))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5107
Date: 1975
Description: The German-speaking MUFON Central European Section begins
publishing a monographic series of reports on specific ufological
topics. Edited by Illobrand
von Ludwiger in Feldkirchen-Westerham, Bavaria, Germany, the first
is titled Die Erforschung unbekannter Flugobjekte. The 12th title is
published in 2009. Von Ludwiger publishes two further monographs under
the imprint of the Interdisziplinäre Gesellschaft zur Analyse anomaler
Phänomene in 2017 and 2019. (“Die
Erforschung unbekannter Flugobjekte,” Bericht, Mutual UFO Network–
Central European Section, no. 1 (1975); “Rätselhafte
Lichter und Objekte am Himmel,” IGAAP-Bericht, no. 1 (2017))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5108
Date: 1975
Description: Jerome
Clark and Loren
Coleman publish The Unidentified, one of the first books to reject
the notion of alien involvement in UFO experiences and maintain that UFO
visions and other paranormal experiences are the psyche’s attempt to
escape the stranglehold that rationalism has on human consciousness.
Clark later comes to believe his own conclusions are unverifiable,
ill-conceived, grandiose, and dismissive of physical evidence. (Jerome
Clark and Loren Coleman, The Unidentified: Notes toward Solving the UFO
Mystery, Warner, 1975; Clark III 942)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5101
Date: 1/1975 (approximate)
Description: Kevin
D. Randle and Robert C. Cornett prepare a catalog of “Unknown” cases
from the Project Blue Book files before they are withdrawn from public
access in April. About 40 of these cases are not in the Don
Berliner version. (Sparks, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5111
Date: 1/1/1975
Description: 6:25 a.m. Four Spanish Army soldiers (Manolo Aguera, Felipe
Sánchez, Ricardo Iglesias, and José Laso) are driving near
Quintanaortuño, Burgos, Spain, when Aguera sees a light fall from the
sky at great speed. He stops the car and all four get out and watch a
bright yellow object just above the ground some 1,300 feet away where
the light has fallen. It has the form of a truncated cone and emits
white jets of light toward the ground. The light goes out suddenly and
four others appear in a straight line, lighting up in succession.
Driving on toward Burgos, the soldiers stop two more times to watch the
lights. Investigator Malo Martínez later finds two parallel scorched
areas where there are numerous randomly spaced holes where the grass has
been burned all the way to the ground. (“Aqui
Vimos el OVNI,” Stendek, no. 18 (December 1974): cover; Pere Redon,
“Burgos:
Primer Caso de 1975,” Stendek, no. 19 (March 1975): 3–9;
Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, A
Catalogue of 200 Type I UFO Events in Spain
and Portugal, CUFOS,
1976, p. 53; Pere Redon, “The
Landing near Burgos,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 2 (August 1977):
22–24, 27; Swords 433)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5112
Date: 1/1/1975
Description: Just before sunrise. Actor Warren
Oates is with four friends (Lee
Clayton, Trina
Mitchum, Judy A. Jones, and Ted
Markland) in the desert about 20 miles northeast of Palm Springs,
California, when they see an object moving in a semicircle through the
night sky. They describe it as an oval, metallic object flashing yellow,
green, and white lights, with one large orange light in the center.
Clayton, watching it through binoculars, sees a bell shape on the top,
and estimates it is about 3–5 miles away at an altitude of 2,000 feet.
It stops and hovers momentarily before moving off behind the mountains.
(Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, p. 226)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5113
Date: 1/2/1975
Description: 2:45 p.m. Michael Lindstrom and his wife are relaxing on
the beach near the Kauai Sands Hotel on the east side of the island of
Maui, Hawaii. His wife notices a strange object moving southward over
the beach toward her, and she runs to tell her husband, who is walking
nearby. It is soundless, has a square shape, its center is white or
silver, and it has a black stripe along its perimeter. A row of lights
is visible along the lower edge. He estimates that it is flying at 5,000
feet altitude traveling diagonally to the direction of the wind, and is
about one mile away. Before it disappears to the southwest after two
minutes, Lindstrom takes three photographs (slides), which show a
spherical object bisected by a black square and topped by five bright
dots. (Bruce Maccabee, “A Rare Photo Coincidence,” IUR 15, no. 3
(May/June 1990): 4–9, 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5114
Date: 1/2/1975
Description: 11:00 p.m. An officer and several soldiers on a military
patrol at the Las Bardenas Reales firing range near Arguedas, Navarre,
Spain, see a group of intense lights moving slowly then remaining
stationary on the ground for 25 minutes. Through binoculars, they see an
object shaped like “half an orange” that rises and slowly disappears on
the horizon. Some 30 observers view the lights for 3–4 minutes.
(Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, A Catalogue
of 200 Type I UFO Events in Spain and Portugal, CUFOS, 1976, p. 53;
Gordon Creighton, “UFO Lands
on Spanish Air Force Target Range,” Flying Saucer Review 24, no. 5
(March 1979): 17–18; UFOEv II 87; Swords 433–434, 526; Good Above, pp. 151–152, 459)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5115
Date: 1/2/1975
Description: Dome-shaped object observed on ground by guard at Air Force
base. Body lights visible, ground illuminated as object took off
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Navarra, Spain
ID: 247
Date: 1/2/1975
Description: Photo of Saturn-shaped object with squarish ring, similar
to July 7, 1989, case
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Kauai, HI
ID: 248
Date: 1/3/1975
Description: Quadrantid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 249
Date: 1/4/1975
Description: 3:30 a.m. Carlos Alberto Diaz is walking home from a bus
stop along Daniel de Solier street, Ingeniero White, near Bahía Blanca,
Argentina, when he is blinded and paralyzed by a beam of light. He
revives inside a UFO where three greenish, 6-foot-tall creatures, are
plucking hair from his head and body. Diaz faints and wakes up in the
afternoon in Buenos Aires some 400 miles away, where someone takes him
to the Hospital Ferroviario. However, an extensive investigation by
ufologist Roberto Enrique Banchs uncovers numerous discrepancies that
strongly indicate a hoax. (Roberto Enrique Banchs and Richard W. Heiden,
“Carlos
Alberto Diaz Is a Hoaxer,” APRO Bulletin 26, no. 2 (August 1977): 8;
Lon Strickler, “The
Carlos Alberto Diaz Abduction,” Phantoms and Monsters, March 2,
2012; Clark III 602)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5116
Date: 1/8/1975
Description: Confidential Spanish Report, Spanish Air Force: UFO spotted
by military personnel at Las Bardenas Reales, near Zaragoza Air
Base
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p459)
Location: Las Bardenas Reales, Spain
Date: 1/12/1975
Description: 2:45 a.m. George O’Barski is driving home through North
Hudson Park, New Jersey, when he hears static on his CB radio. Through
the window he sees a dark, round object with brightly lit windows
hovering over the ground about 100 feet away. Ten small (3.5-feet tall),
helmeted figures dressed in coveralls emerge from the UFO, dig up soil,
and collect it in bags for about 3 minutes before returning to the
craft, which takes off with a humming sound. O’Barski returns to the
site the next day and finds holes that had been left. Hudson County
Police Officers Thomas Feldhan and John Mackanics investigate and file
reports. Months later, O’Barski relays the story to an acquaintance, Budd
Hopkins, who
is interested in UFOs. Hopkins and two others associated with the Center
for UFO Studies find independent witnesses, including a doorman at the
high-rise Stonehenge apartment building, Bill Pawlowski, who sees a UFO
with multiple lights in the park the same time. Hopkins, Ted Bloecher (then
the director of New York MUFON), and Jerry Stoehrer, also of MUFON,
investigate the incident and take soil samples. (Wikipedia, “Stonehenge
(building)”; Ted Bloecher, “The Stonehenge Incidents, January 1975,”
Proceedings
of the 1976 CUFOS Conference, Center
for UFO Studies, 1976, pp. 25–38; Ted Bloecher, “The
‘Stonehenge’ Incidents of January 1975,” Flying Saucer Review 22,
no. 3 (October 1976): 3–7; Ted Bloecher, “The
‘Stonehenge’ Incidents of January 1975, Part 2,” Flying Saucer
Review 22, no. 4 (November 1976): 5–11; Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS, 1981, p. 64; Budd
Hopkins, Missing Time, R. Marek, 1981, pp. 34–50; Clark III
1109–1112)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5117
Date: 1/20/1975
End date: 1/22/1975
Description: At the 13th Aerospace Sciences Meeting of the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Pasadena, California,
physicist Peter
A. Sturrock organizes a UFO symposium that features talks by
astronomer J. Allen
Hynek, ufologist
Jacques
Vallée, psychologist David
R. Saunders, Hynek associate Fred
Beckman, and ufologist Ted Phillips. (Clark
III 102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5118
Date: 1/27/1975
Description: A US Senate committee to investigate abuses by the CIA,
NSA, FBI, and IRS is created by a vote of 82–4. Chaired by Sen. Frank
Church (D-Idaho), the committee is part of a series of
investigations into intelligence abuses in 1975, dubbed the “Year of
Intelligence,” including its House counterpart, the Pike Committee, and
the presidential Rockefeller Commission. It conducts 800 interviews and
250 executive and 21 public hearings. The committee’s efforts lead to
the establishment of the permanent US Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence in 1976. (Wikipedia, “Church
Committee”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5119
Date: 1/28/1975
Description: Afternoon. Eccentric and contactee Billy
Meier sees a disc-shaped spacecraft in Switzerland and takes several
photographs of it. The ship lands in a nearby meadow, and a beautiful,
pale-skinned, amber-haired spacewoman steps out and approaches him and
talks to him for an hour and a half. Her name is Semjase from the planet
Erra in the constellation Lyra (although they have since emigrated to
the Pleiades), and she is the granddaughter of a being named Sfath, who
had contacted Meier in 1944. Many other contacts continue, and Meier
produces more photos so that he becomes a regional occult celebrity.
(Wendelle C. Stevens, UFO Contact from the Pleiades, The Author, 1982;
Gary Kinder, Light
Years: An Investigation into the Extraterrestrial Experiences
of Billy Meier, Atlantic
Monthly, 1987; George M. Eberhart, “Photographs and Red Faces,” IUR 12,
no. 4 (July/Aug. 1987): 19; Bruce Maccabee, “Pendulum from the
Pleiades,” IUR 14, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1989): 11– 12, 22; Derek
Bartholomaus, Billy
Meier UFO Case website)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5120
Date: 1/31/1975
Description: Night. Mike McKenna, security guard at the Pickering,
Ontario, Nuclear Generating Station, sees 6 balls of light from his
position at the east gate. They vary in color from bright red to almost
white and remain in the area for nearly 2 hours. Two move in from Lake
Ontario and hover above the plant’s service center. After remaining
motionless for 30 minutes, they take off straight up at a rocket-like
speed. (Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions,
Methuen, 1979, pp. 120–121)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5121
Date: 1/31/1975
Description: 10:20 p.m. Alan Lott is walking his dog in Caversham,
Berkshire, England, when he sees a group of bright lights to the east.
He calls his wife, Clarice, and they both view the lights through
binoculars. They are moving slowly and silently in a straight line from
east to west and are now directly above the Lotts’ house. The three
brightest lights are orange-yellow and arranged in an equilateral
triangle formation. There are two smaller lights, one red and another
white. After 5 minutes, the formation vanishes behind houses and trees.
(UFOFiles2, pp. 88– 90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5122
Date: 2/1975
Description: Domestic birds, ducks, goats, rabbits, geese, cattle, pigs,
and sheep are found dead throughout Puerto Rico with what one
veterinarian characterizes as “strange wounds.” The deaths typically
occur in the early morning hours and are caused by a sharp instrument
that can punch through flesh and bone, usually in the neck region.
Around this time and through July, some Puerto Ricans see large,
unidentified birds, as well as UFOs. (Sebastian Robiou Lamarche, “UFOs
and Mysterious Deaths of Animals, Part 1,” Flying Saucer Review 22,
no. 5 (February 1977): 15–18; Sebastian Robiou Lamarche, “UFOs
and Mysterious Deaths of Animals, Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review 22,
no. 6 (April 1977): 6–10; Clark III 139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5123
Date: 2/1975
Description: New York City psychic Ingo
Swann receives a phone call from a friend in a government agency who
tells him that he will be contacted by a “Mr. Axelrod.” One morning in
March at 3:00 a.m., Axelrod calls Swann and asks him to be in
Washington, D.C., at 12:00 noon. This leads to an unlikely adventure
involving Swann’s remote viewing of a secret extraterrestrial base on
the hidden side of the Moon and his “shocking” experience with a sexy,
scantily dressed female alien in a Los Angeles, California, supermarket.
He concludes that extraterrestrials are living on Earth in humanoid
bodies. Swann deduces that there are many extraterrestrials, that many
are “bio- androids,” and that they are aware their only foes on Earth
are psychics. Later, Swann and Mr. Axelrod take a flight to an unknown
northerly destination, deduced by Swann as possibly Alaska. Along with
two twin bodyguards, Swann and Axelrod attempt to secretly watch a
recurrent UFO appear and suck up the water of a lake. Axelrod discloses
that the silent, growing, oscillating triangle is simultaneously
scanning the area and eliminating any animals, and that the silent beams
emanating from the object are “blasting deer or porcupines from the
woods or something.” The bodyguards realize they are discovered and the
group is attacked by the UFO. Swann is thrown to safety by his
colleagues and sustains a minor injury. (Wikipedia, “Ingo
Swann”; Ingo Swann, Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial
and Human Telepathy, Ingo Swann Books, 1998, pp. 23–61,
85– 100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5124
Date: early 2/1975
Description: Night. A farmer is walking to his barn north of Lundar,
Manitoba, when a red ball of light, 14–16 inches in diameter, swoops low
over his head. As he gazes up at it, he feels as if hot plastic is being
poured on his head. He suffocates and cannot think clearly while it is
above him. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night,
2022, p. 172)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5125
Date: 2/4/1975
Description: Night. Three Pickering, Ontario, ambulance drivers, a
Durham regional police constable, and Andy Parks, music director of
radio station CHOO in Agincourt, watch pulsing, multicolored objects
maneuvering above the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. Parks says
they are “floating around, zipping this way and that.” (Yurko
Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen, 1979,
pp. 121–122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5126
Date: 2/10/1975
Description: 7:00 p.m. Two 15-year-old boys in Annadale, Staten Island,
New York, see a glowing ball, 20 feet in diameter, hovering about 400
feet away above some trees near a frozen pond. The brilliant orange mass
compresses itself from football-shaped to basketball-shaped over a
period of 10 minutes then suddenly disappears. Another witness who is
walking a German shepherd dog around the same time reports that the dog
reacted very nervously to something in the woods. The boys return early
the next morning and find that some trees, ranging 5– 20 feet in height,
have been sheared off and some are coated with a carbon-like substance.
NICAP investigators have dirt and wood samples analyzed at a scientific
laboratory and find that the trees are only superficially burned on
their bark but that the fire is oil-based. They suspect the glowing
object is a low-temperature fuel fire. (“Converging
Ball of Light Mystifies Witnesses,” UFO Investigator, April 1975,
p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5127
Date: 2/14/1975
Description: 12:05 p.m. Antoine Séverin, 21, is on the slope of Piton du
Calvaire, a hill outside Petite Île on the southern coast of Réunion in
the Indian Ocean, when he hears a deafening beeping sound, feels a blast
of heat, and sees a bright metallic object hovering about 5 feet above
the ground. A ladder with three steps appears on the underside, and a
small being like the “Michelin man” emerges. He is holding a shining
object. Two other beings emerge, all with antennae on their heads. A
fourth is visible through a porthole. Then Séverin is hurled onto his
back by a powerful flash of light. The beings run up the ladder and
withdraw it, then the UFO takes off, emitting a loud whistle. For
several days he has blurred vision, impaired speech, and a medical
diagnosis of shock. The Gendarmerie investigate the case and judge him
to be mentally sound. (Lt.-Col. Lobet, “Atterrissage
à Petit Île (Réunion)
le 14 Février 1975,” Lumières dans la Nuit, no. 147
(Aug./Sept. 1975): 4–10; Lt.-Col. Lobet, “Another Close
Contact on Réunion, Part 1,” Flying Saucer Review 25, no. 2 (July
1979): 6–10; Lt.-Col. Lobet, “Another Close
Contact on Réunion, Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review 25, no. 2
(September 1979): 7–10; Patrick Gross, “Petit-Île,
La Réunion, February 14, 1975”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5128
Date: 2/14/1975
Description: Three humanoid beings in protective gear emerged from domed
disc, witness injured, paralyzed, by flash of light
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: medical
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Petite-Ile, Reunion, France
ID: 250
Date: 2/17/1975
Description: Sheriff, county and state officials observed bright, round
object hovering near missile base. Object made rapid darting movements,
bobbed up and down
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Harlowton, MT
ID: 251
Date: 2/17/1975
Description: 9:00 p.m. Wheatland County Sheriff Richard Egebakken sees a
bright, round object hovering about 500 feet near the Malmstrom AFB K-01
Minuteman missile alert facility 1.7 miles east-northeast of Harlowton,
Montana. When Deputy Larry Clifford drives to a point about one mile
from the site, the object suddenly shoots up to 2,000 feet, stops, and
hovers again. State Game Warden Gene
Tierney says it is not an aircraft. Commissioner Edgar
Langston, also a pilot, sees the object through binoculars from his
ranch 15 miles south of Harlowton and sees an antenna-like protrusion on
the top. Deputy Herb Lynn stops his pickup truck a few miles out of town
to watch and sees it flitting around the sky in all sorts of crazy
directions. Deputy Russ Mill, within a mile of K-01, describes a blue
object bobbing up and down. Radar at Malmstrom AFB does not track
anything. (UFOEv II 45–46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5129
Date: 2/23/1975
Description: Night. Glenn E. Bradley sees two large cylindrical objects
like grain silos floating above Matachewan, Ontario. Both are shining
white floodlights downward to the ground and have bright lights at the
top. They are traveling to the west at about 30 mph. Bradley begins
following them in his pickup truck. Outside the lights of the town he
notices that the two silos are accompanied by smaller UFOs about 50 feet
in diameter, all darting about at high speed. They appear to be entering
and exit the larger silos. (“Silos
over Ontario,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 6, no. 1 (Feb./March
1985): 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5130
Date: 2/26/1975
Description: Intensely bright domed disc, orange glow, emitted conical
light beam down on lake, illuminated terrain, sped away at “colossal
speed”
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Lake Sorell, Tasmania
ID: 252
Date: 2/26/1975
Description: 8:45 p.m. A former RAAF crewman and a companion are on a
fishing trip to Lake Sorell, Tasmania, when they see three glowing
objects in the northeast sky, one smaller than the other two. Two of the
UFOs move closer and hover, then recede, intermittently obscured by
clouds. Each has a pulsing red light on its base. The main larger object
is an elongated disc with a row of twinkling red lights around the rim.
After a bank of clouds go through with a passing storm, the object
reappears, glows brightly, and suddenly zooms toward the witnesses at
“phenomenal speed.” It stops abruptly about 2,900 feet away at a height
of 490 feet, its lights dimming. It projects a brilliant, cone-shaped
light beam toward the lake and sweeps it toward the terrain,
illuminating the side of a mountain. Then it sweeps back across the lake
beneath the object and fades out. The lake’s surface glows a fluorescent
blue-white. The object then shoots away to the northeast. A second
object, which has been hovering to the north toward Mount Penny, speeds
off in the same direction. (“UFO
and Light in Tasmania,” Flying Saucer Review 22, no. 6 (April 1977):
30–31; Story, pp. 344–345;
UFOEv II 219–221; CUFOS
case files)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5131
Date: 3/1975
Description: Project Blue Book files transferred from Maxwell AFB,
Alabama, to Natignal Archives in Washington, DC.
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 253
Date: 3/2/1975
Description: 10:30 p.m. A couple and their daughter see a large,
yellowish, egg-shaped light moving erratically in short spurts outside
their home in the Great Swamp Management Area near West Kingston, Rhode
Island. It then stops and hovers for 5 minutes. They then see two
orange-white, ball-shaped objects drop from the large UFO and move
northward at the approximate speed of an aircraft, disappearing over the
horizon. The large object again moves erratically toward the southeast,
gradually picking up speed. (“Object
Ejects Small Spheres,” APRO Bulletin 24, no. 2 (August 1975):
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5133
Date: 3/2/1975
Description: A police officer in Phillips, Wisconsin, hears odd noises
on his patrol car radio, then he sees a disc-shaped object with a
rounded hump on its top and bottom, along with red and orange lights on
the bottom edge. He estimates the object is 30 feet in diameter. When he
directs his spotlight on it, the object rapidly ascends. (Richard F.
Haines, CE-5: Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind, Sourcebooks, 1998,
p. 109)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5132
Date: 3/7/1975
Description: The US Embassy in Algiers, Algeria, sends a report to US
Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger, stating that strange “machines” have been maneuvering
over Algerian airspace since January, some near military installations
and usually around 7:00–7:30 p.m., often by multiple witnesses. An
object with a bright light has been seen near Oran, Bechar, and off the
coast on March 6 (when it is also confirmed on radar). (ClearIntent, pp. 79–80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5134
Date: 3/18/1975
Description: 1:30 p.m. Pat McCarthy, 19, is in a quarry off Ontario
Highway 5 near Waterdown, Ontario, trying to take photos of hawks. He is
about to leave when he sees a dark object resembling a Frisbee. It is
moving swiftly, and he takes four photos of it, capturing the object 3
times. He estimates the object is twice as long as a DC-8. He takes the
camera to the Hamilton Spectator, which processes the film in its
darkroom. (Hamilton (Ont.) Spectator, March 18–19, 27, 1975; “Canadian
Photo Case,” APRO Bulletin 24, no. 4 (October 1975): 1, 3, 6; Yurko
Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen, 1979,
pp. 15–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5135
Date: 3/22/1975
Description: 10:30 p.m. Two young men and three girls are driving along
the Mount Flora to Dingo Beach Road about 50 miles from Nebo,
Queensland, when they see a strange light in a gravel storage area to
the left of the road. The object is a box-like mass, 8 feet high and 9
feet wide, with a row of flashing white-to-yellow lights about 3 feet
above the ground and a circular mass above it. As they stop the car, the
object emits a tremendous bang like a shotgun. They are startled and
drive on, feeling that the circular mass is watching them, then they
return to the original location, but the girls in the back seat are
terrified. They drive 9 miles further and find a road construction crew
and tell them about the UFO. The two men convince one of the workers to
return to the spot, but the object is gone and they find unusual ground
marks. On March 25, two investigating officers from RAAF Base Townsville
examine three oval-shaped areas, one roughly circular area, and one
rectangular area, all apparently recent and produced by a heavy weight
or pressure. (Swords 405–406; Bill Chalker, “Physical Traces,” UFOs
1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 190–192)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5136
Date: 3/28/1975
Description: Sen. Barry
Goldwater (R-Ariz.) writes, in response to an inquiry from UFO
researcher Shlomo Arnon: “The subject of UFOs is one that has interested
me for some long time. About ten or twelve years ago I made an effort to
find out what was in the building at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
where the information is stored that has been collected by the Air
Force, and I was understandably denied this request. It is still
classified above Top Secret. I have, however, heard that there is a plan
underway to release some, if not all, of this material in the near
future.” (Good Above, p. 2;
Nick Redfern, “UFOs
and Senator Barry Goldwater,” Mysterious Universe, May 1,
2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5137
Date: 3/28/1975
Description: Letter from Senator Barry Goldwater stating: Ten or twelve
years ago I tried to get access to the building at Wright-Patterson
(HANGER-18) where UFO artifacts were stored and I was understandably
denied access. It is still classified above TOP SECRET. I’ve heard they
plan to release some of the information in the near future and hope not
to have to wait too much longer.
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p2)
Reference: See Barry Goldwater’s “Blue Room” letters and released FOIA
Material 1975–1984, Burbank CA, asked General Curtis LeMay to see Blue
Room
Location: Washington DC
Date: 4/1975
Description: Blue Book files are withdrawn from public access by Air
Force Archives at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Alabama, as the security
classification and privacy review panel begins reviewing them,
sanitizing witness names, and destroying or removing certain documents
thought embarrassing. The redactions are made on the original paper
files. (Sparks, pp. 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5138
Date: 4/1/1975
Description: The Federal Aviation Administration approves cooperation
with the Center for UFO Studies, authorizing air traffic controllers and
other personnel to report UFO sightings as their workload permits.
(Story, p. 417)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5139
Date: 4/3/1975
End date: 4/9/1975
Description: Concentration of sightings of Vshaped objects,
hover-acceleration, bright illumination
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Lumberton, NC
ID: 254
Date: 4/3/1975
End date: 4/9/1975
Description: Some 57 separate UFO sightings involving triangular or
delta-shaped UFOs occur in the area around Lumberton, North Carolina.
Many cases involve an object hovering silently at low altitude,
accelerating instantly, and turning without banking. They are often seen
at treetop level and with a bright and maneuverable spotlight. Among the
witnesses are 48 police officers. (“Witnesses
Discount Theory That UFO Was Airplane,” Raleigh (N.C.) News and
Observer, April 5, 1975, p. 19; “UFO
‘Mystery’ Returns with
New N.C. Sightings,” Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, April 6,
1975, p. 1; Jennie Zeidman, The Lumberton UFO Report: UFO Activity in S.
North Carolina, April 3–9, 1975, CUFOS, 1976; “Landing
Reported in N. Carolina,” Skylook, May 1975, pp. 3–5; UFOEv II
347–348; Marler 91–94)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5140
Date: 4/14/1975
Description: Tage
Eriksson, head of UFO investigations at the Swedish National Defence
Research Institute, finds the work a waste of time and tries to get it
transferred back to the Defense Staff. His request is denied. (Swords
368)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5141
Date: 4/15/1975
Description: Disc-shaped object with dome, light beam, made right-angle
turn, approached, hovered. Began to oscillate, shot straight up out of
sight in seconds
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: San Jose, CA
ID: 255
Date: 4/20/1975
Description: Night. Stationary beams of light are seen at San José de
Jáchal, San Juan, Argentina. In a remote area, three imprints are found
forming a 12-foot equilateral triangle surrounding a large smoke blot.
Nearby plants are burned and stones are blackened. Some footprints are
noted. Seven mushrooms nearly 8 inches tall are found growing there the
following day. (Fred Merritt, “A Preliminary Classification of Some
Reports of UFOs,” IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5142
Date: 4/26/1975
Description: 2:00 a.m. Two young witnesses see a light descend briefly
behind a school in Chomedey, Laval, Quebec, for a few seconds. They find
a piece of metal and a hole in the ground. (Ted Phillips, Physical
Traces Associated with UFO
Sightings, CUFOS, 1975, p. 106)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5143
Date: 5/3/1975
Description: Saturn-shaped UFO, E-M effects on truck, two humanoids
visible through transparent dome
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: occupant encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: San Antonio, TX
ID: 257
Date: 5/3/1975
Description: 9:15 p.m. Alois Olenick, 48, is driving west on Mogford
Road south of San Antonio, Texas, when an amber- colored object rises up
from a grove of trees. The object approaches him quickly, the light on
its front changing from amber to red. When it hovers over his pickup for
10–20 seconds, the lights go out and the engine goes dead. He can see
two occupants through a clear dome on the top of the UFO. They are bald
with long prominent ears and long noses. The bottom of the object is
“highly polished metal” that casts a reddish glow. Olenick hears no
engine noise, only a shriek of wind. The object takes off straight up
and vanishes instantly. (Gary Graber, “Two Occupants in Craft,” Skylook,
no. 99 (February 1976): 3–4; Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle
Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (September 2011): 17;
UFOEv II 461–462)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5146
Date: 5/3/1975
Description: 1:34 p.m. Carlos Antonio de los Santos Montiel is flying a
Piper PA-24 Comanche from Zihuatenejo, Guerrero, Mexico, to Mexico City
at about 15,000 feet. While passing over Laguna de Tequesquitengo in
Jojutla, Morelos, he feels a strange vibration in his airplane. Then he
sees to the right, pacing alongside, a 10-to 12-foot-diameter disc with
a dome on top. Another appears to the left of the plane, and a third
disc approaches head-on, dropping beneath the plane. Carlos feels a jolt
as if the object has impacted. He pulls the landing gear lever, but it
fails to operate. The plane feels as if it is pulled or lifted, and the
controls refuse to respond. Although badly shaken, Carlos notifies
Mexico City by radio, describing what is happening. At the same time,
air control radar is showing unexplained objects near his plane that are
capable of sharp turns, unlike normal aircraft. Finally, their blips
merge on the radar screen and speed away toward Popocatépetl volcano.
After the objects leave, Montiel is able to lower his landing gear
manually and land safely. Aviation personnel who know him testify to his
sobriety and trustworthiness. A week later, de los Santos is invited to
discuss the sighting on a TV talk show. As he drives to the interview, a
large black Cadillac limousine pulls in front of him on the freeway. An
identical car appears behind, forcing him to the side of the road. Four
tall, broad-shouldered, pale-skinned men in dark suits jump out and
approach him, still in his car. Speaking Spanish in a mechanical tone,
one warns him to keep quiet about the sighting “if you value your life
and your family’s too.” He breaks his appointment, and does so a month
later after another visit by the men in black before an interview with
J.
Allen Hynek. (NICAP,
“UFOs
‘Escort’ Mexican Aircraft
/ Radar Confirmed”; “UFOs
‘Escort’ Mexican Aircraft,” APRO Bulletin 24, no. 2 (August 1975):
1, 3–4; Jerome Clark, “Carlos
de los Santos and the Men in Black,” Flying Saucer Review 24, no. 4
(January 1979): 8–9; Clark III 730; UFOEv II 133–134; Patrick Gross, “Piper
P24 Paced by Three Flying Discs, 1975”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5145
Date: 5/3/1975
Description: 8:00 a.m. A professional photographer is taking pictures of
the Irma kød company south of Copenhagen, Denmark, when he sees a bright
flash off to his right. When he develops one photo, the image shows an
odd object tilted at an angle and slightly out of focus. (Kim Møller
Hansen, “Danish
UFO-Photo?” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 6
(Dec. 1984/Jan. 1985): 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5144
Date: 5/3/1975
Description: Three domed discs paced small aircraft, one off each wing
and one behind, confirmed by radar. E-M effects on radio, aircraft
lifted
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Tequesquitengo Lake, Mexico
ID: 256
Date: 5/4/1975
Description: Eta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 258
Date: 5/4/1975
Description: Before midnight. Paul Dedieu, his brother, and a friend are
driving near Haywood, Manitoba, when they see an odd star. Red lightning
seems to light it up and it zooms away, dripping molten metal and
crashes in the vicinty of Lake Manitoba to the north. (Chris Rutkowski,
Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, p. 103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5147
Date: 5/6/1975
Description: Day. A pilot testing some new equipment in his airplane
southeast of Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio, sees three silvery
UFOs with portholes flying in formation ahead and closing in on his
aircraft. The pilot descends to 1,000 feet, but they keep pace, one on
each wingtip, the third above the plane. The pilot levels off and climbs
quickly to 3,000 feet, but the objects match his maneuvers for another
60 minutes. All the control panel instruments go haywire, and the pilot
loses all sense of time. The UFOs are confirmed by base radar.
(Stringfield, Situation Red, Fawcett Crest, 1977, pp. 145–146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5148
Date: 5/12/1975
Description: 11:30 p.m. Lyle Carson is in his farmhouse 2.5 miles east
of Peesane, Saskatchewan, when he and his wife observe a green light for
10–15 minutes. On May 14, Carson is checking some fences and he comes
across a perfectly round circle of burned grass, 5 feet in diameter and
6 inches thick on the outside edge. The RCMP take photos and samples.
(Ted Phillips, Physical
Traces Associated with UFO Sightings, CUFOS,
1975, p. 107; Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August
Night, 2022, p. 190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5149
Date: 5/13/1975
End date: 5/14/1975
Description: 11:30 p.m. Multiple witnesses see a bright light a few
miles north of Carman, Manitoba, where it has been appearing so
frequently since April 10 that it has been nicknamed “Charlie Redstar.”
CKY-TV station employees Bill Kendricks and Allen Kerr see a light on
the western horizon that rises up, moves slowly south, flashes
brilliantly, then shoots straight up. Newspaper editor Howard Bennett
and others see a smoky red light above some tall trees. Bennett leads
investigators to a potential landing site. Using a radiation survey
meter, they find a few radioactive hot spots about 255 feet apart, each
with a radius of 25 feet. (Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The
Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 124–126; Chris Rutkowski,
Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 161, 171–181)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5150
Date: 5/16/1975
Description: Three men wander away from a party on the shore of
Stephenfield Lake, Manitoba, when they see a “moon- shaped” object
hovering over a dam on the far shore. As they watch, a beam of light
shoots from the object to the surface of the lake. A glowing object
appears underneath the surface and begins moving toward the witnesses.
When it is about 20 feet away, one of them throws a rock at it. It
appears to break into pieces and return to its original location, and
the beam goes out. (Chris Rutkowski, Visitations? Manitoba UFO
Experiences, Winter Press, 1989, p. 18; Carl W. Feindt, “Beam of Light
into a Body of Water,” IUR 33, no. 3 (December 2010): 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5151
Date: 5/26/1975
Description: 7:45 p.m. Didier Burr, 17, photographs a dark, disc-shaped
object outside his second-story window in Nancy, France. The sighting
only lasts 10–15 seconds. The photo shows a slightly blurry disc above a
nearby building. (Patrick Gross, “Nancy,
France, May 26, 1975”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5152
Date: 5/30/1975
Description: Russell Worobetz is cultivating some stubble near Hazel
Dell, Saskatchewan, when he finds two burned areas in the center of his
field. They are 5 feet in diameter and 4 feet apart. (Chris Rutkowski,
Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, p. 190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5153
Date: 6/1975
Description: Historian David
M. Jacobs publishes The UFO Controversy in America, based on his
Ph.D. dissertation in history. It becomes a classic history of UFOs and
the investigations of the Air Force and other government agencies.
(David M. Jacobs, The
UFO Controversy in America, Indiana University, 1975; Clark III
629)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5155
Date: 6/20/1975
Description: 11:10 p.m. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police constable
patrolling on Grand Valley Road northwest of Brandon, Manitoba, notices
a bright white light to the northwest, apparently in the area of
Kirkham’s Bridge. Another RCMP in the bridge area sees the light 10
minutes later, apparently 220–300 feet above the ground. One officer
attempts to close with the light unsuccessfully until he is 3 miles
southeast of Hamiota. It flashes red and disappears at 12:15 a.m.
(Patrick Gross, “Files
Obtained from the National Archives of Canada”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5156
Date: summer 1975
Description: Around 12:00 midnight. An orange object appears several
times above two fishing trawlers one mile off the coast of Topsail
Beach, North Carolina. (Cordy Hieronymus, “Out
of the Past,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 1 (Feb./March 1984):
6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5154
Date: 6/23/1975
Description: 12:37 p.m. A British naval vessel is stationed off the west
coast of Ireland in a thick fog when the radar operator picks up an
echo, presumably a surface vessel closing in on the ship. However, the
blip accelerates to an “impossible” speed in one minute. The operator
notifies the captain, who files a report. The case is investigated by
the Ministry of Defence. (Peter Bottomley and Gordon Clegg, “MoD
Tracks UFO on Radar,” BUFORA Journal 4, no. 12 (March/April 1976):
8–10; Nick Redfern, A Covert Agenda: UFO Secrecy Exposed, Simon &
Schuster, 1997, pp. 128–129)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5157
Date: 6/30/1975
Description: The USAF Aerospace Defense Command becomes the US executive
agent in NORAD. Its Continental Air Defense Command, which it had taken
over in 1957, is disestablished and transferred to the Aerospace Defense
Command. (Wikipedia, “Aerospace
Defense Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5158
Date: 7/1975
Description: 2:00 a.m. Margareta Ivanciov is walking from the train
station in Teremia Mare, Romania, when she sees a bright yellow-orange
globe nearly 2 feet in diameter floating about 90 feet in front of her
and 7 feet above the pavement. It speeds up when she approaches it,
keeping the same distance. She notices that it is composed of thousands
of bright dots emanating the same color light. It disappears around a
corner, anticipating her route, and follows her home, where it hovers
briefly before moving into a neighbor’s yard. (Romania 41–42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5161
Date: 7/1975
End date: 11/1975
Description: Concentration of sightings
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Northern U.S. and Canada
ID: 259
Date: 7/1975
Description: 9:30 p.m. A family of four is driving home along the Tasman
Highway near Hobart Airport, Cambridge, Tasmania. The interior of the
car becomes hot, the engine stalls, and they roll to a stop. Although
there is no smell in the air, the family feels that they can taste
something like gasoline. Then they see an object hovering above the road
ahead of them. It seems 650–980 feet distant and 65 feet in the air. It
looks round, is colored a metallic grayish-white, and has its own
irridescence or glow. The diameter is close to the width of the road,
perhaps 16 feet. They stare at the object for 2 minutes. Suddenly, in a
spiraling take-off, the object speeds away to the south. The husband is
a car mechanic, and he finds nothing wrong with the car. He gets back
in, starts the car, and they go home without further incident, although
the object still is visible several more minutes as a diminishing light.
(“UFO
Reports from Around Australia,” ACOS Bulletin, no. 12 (December
1977): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5162
Date: 7/1975
Description: François Breuil begins publishing L’Insolite in Mâcon,
Saône-et-Loire, France. It continues until January 1982. (L’Insolite, no.
1 (July 1975))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5160
Date: 7/1/1975
Description: Day. A Dutch couple on vacation snap a photo of the
panoramic landscape of the Pyrenees mountains just after leaving El Pas
de la Casa, Andorra. They have the roll developed in Calafell,
Catalonia, Spain, and are surprised to see a strange, yellow-and-orange
object in motion in the foreground and casting a distinct shadow.
Investigators from the Netherlands UFO group NOBOVO determine that the
object is really a road sign photographed directly from their
slow-moving vehicle (the speed of the car was estimated to be no more
than 22 mph). (Wim van Utrecht, “Spinning
UFO Photographed during Take-Off,” Caelestia)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5163
Date: 7/2/1975
Description: Photos of Saturn-shaped object, very similar to Hamazaki
videotape of July 6-7, 1989
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Hawaii
ID: 260
Date: early 7/1975
Description: 3:00 a.m. Four young people camping out on the shore of the
Charvak Reservoir in Uzbekistan wake up in terror for no apparent
reason. They see a glowing sphere rise silently from under the water
about one-half mile from shore. Concentric circles of varying thickness
and brightness form around it. They watch it for 7 minutes, completely
terrified. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk,
2020, pp. 121–122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5159
Date: 7/6/1975
Description: 5:00 p.m. Joe Borda is doing farm chores at Mount Pleasant,
Ontario, when he sees a domed metallic cylinder landed in a tobacco
field. Thinking it is probably a tank truck, he continues and goes home.
On July 8, he comes across a circular crushed patch of tobacco plants
about 30–40 feet in diameter. Inside the circle are two spots of some
substance, reddish purple in color, that feels slippery and oily. The
provincial police remove some soil samples; they are not radioactive and
do not contain oil. (Graham Conway, “Strange
Voice Heard after UFO Landing,”
Canadian UFO Report 3, no. 8 (Summer 1976): 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5164
Date: 7/14/1975
Description: Ground Saucer Watch of Phoenix, Arizona, headed by William
Spaulding, files a FOIA request with the CIA for copies of all of its
UFO documents or investigations. (ClearIntent, p. 113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5165
Date: 7/15/1975
End date: 7/16/1975
Description: 8:15 p.m. David Burgess, an official at Khami Prison in
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and a friend see from their car an orange object,
almost circular with a flat bottom and a rounded top, hovering above the
prison about 1–2 miles away. At 8:45 p.m., another official sees an
object in the same place. The following night at 7:30 p.m., a bright
silvery object is seen hovering motionless 2–3 miles northeast of the
prison by a Mr. and Mrs. Rossiter and their three children. It then
moves rapidly to the east. (“Southern
Africa Reports Several UFO Sightings,” Skylook, October 1975,
pp. 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5166
Date: late 7/1975
Alternate date: early 8/1975
Description: 9:00 p.m. A married couple and their small son are driving
in the country near Pittsburg, Kansas, when the wife notices an object
moving quickly toward them. It comes across the highway at about
telephone pole height. The object is round and glowing intensely, with
even more intense, small panels inset all around it. It is as wide as
the highway and remains hovering. The man pulls the car over and the UFO
begins to pull away. They continue following it, but the object changes
its motion frequently. Finally it picks up speed and blinks out.
(Michael D. Swords, “Unusual Experiences from the Timmerman Files,” IUR
27, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 21–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5170
Date: 7/22/1975
Description: 5:00 p.m. A young boy on holiday with his family in Wales
wanders by himself to the top of Wylfa Hill, south of Machynlleth,
Powys, Wales. At the top he sees an apparently landed object. About 40
feet wide, it is comprised of a 7-foot round base and surmounted by a
clear plastic–like, hemispherical dome. Large round lights about 5 feet
in diameter are spaced evenly around the base, about 7 of which are
visible, shining in strange colors. Each seems to be recessed into the
silvery, metallic base. Clearly seen within the dome is a 7-foot-tall,
15-foot-wide, metallic unit, Two “jelly-like” entities are seen next to
it, one on each side. They are approximately 7 feet tall, a
whitish-translucent color, amorphous, and constantly changing shape.
Inside each entity are hundreds of 6-inch, white, disc-like forms,
similar to doughnuts. When another of these entities floats toward the
object, the boy flees the scene and unsuccessfully tries to persuade his
father to take a look. Returning alone, the boy sees the object carrying
the entities disappear by pulsing in and out and changing color rapidly
to match those of the surrounding sky and grass. It then “merges” into
them. Immediately afterward, the boy suffers acute shock and what a
doctor diagnoses as hysterical blindness in one eye that persists for
months. (Andrew Collins, “Jelly-like
Entities at Machynlleth,”
Flying Saucer Review 24, no. 4 (January 1979): 14–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5167
Date: 7/26/1975
Description: 3:00 p.m. Three Dutch hikers are about to take on the last
kilometers of a two-day mountain trip in the Swiss Alps when they
allegedly encounter a circular object hovering in the air in front of
them. It seems to be made of “some sort of metal, not unlike aluminum,”
is dull gray in color, and resembles an inverted soup plate. The strange
contraption is approximately 50 feet in diameter and appears to be
suspended over the small village of Zwischbergen, Valais, Switzerland,
some 328–1,640 feet away. One of them succeeds in taking a color slide
of the phenomenon. Immediately after the photo is taken, the object
starts to move and glides behind the trees, where it disappears from
view. Possible hoax. (“The Saas Fee Photo,” IUR 20, no. 3 (May/June
1995): 19; Wim van Utrecht, “The
Zwischbergen ‘Saas Fee’ Photo,” Caelestia, July 15, 2000)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5168
Date: 7/29/1975
Description: Delta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 261
Date: 7/31/1975
Description: 7:30 a.m. Farmer Danie van Graan goes to inspect his sheep
enclosure at Loxton, Northern Cape, South Africa, and sees a silvery
disc with prong-like legs. He approaches to within 15 feet of it.
Through a large window he can see 4 people, one standing near a panel of
flashing colored lights, the other three apparently looking at some
device. The entities are about 5 feet tall, thin and pale, and are
wearing whitish coveralls with hoods hanging down around their necks.
They have fair-colored hair, slanted eyes, and sharp, pointed chins.
They all suddenly look up at him, and van Graan hears a “tick” noise as
a light beam hits him in the face. Ill and confused, he tries to avoid
the beam. His nose bleeds and he starts vomiting. The humming increases
to a sharp whine, and the object takes off at a sharp angle. Later
investigation reveals 4 marks on the outside perimeter of a circle 30
feet in diameter impressed in the ground, with crisscrossed central
markings. A deposit of small, green granules is found near the center;
analysis shows this to be carbon dust, grit, shale with feldspar
inclusions, and thaumasite. Nothing grows in the affected area later.
(UFO EvII 493–494)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5169
Date: 7/31/1975
Description: Oval object, occupants visible; light struck witness in
face, nose bleed and vomiting. Physical traces at site
Type: sighting
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Type: medical
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Loxton, South Africa
ID: 262
Date: 8/1975
Description: The Aviation and Air Defense division of the Swiss Army
draws up a seven-page report on UFOs. (“Forscher findet
verschollene UFO-Akten der Schweiz,” Grenzwissenschaft-Aktuell, July
8, 2013; “The Swiss X-Files,” Fortean Times 312 (April 2014): 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5171
Date: 8/11/1975
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 263
Date: 8/13/1975
Description: Staff Sgt. Charles L. Moody, USAF, drove out to the
outskirts of town late one night to watch for meteors. As a disc-shaped
UFO descended toward him, he tried to start his car to get away but it
wouldn’t start. He heard a high pitched whining sound from the UFO and
saw shadowy figures in it and felt numbness, after which the UFO
departed. After driving home he found he couldn’t account for 1.5 hours.
The next day his back was inflamed and he discovered a small puncture
wound over his spine and a few days later he developed a body rash. As
months passed he regained memory of the missing 1.5 hours. He remembered
that he had been in the UFO and in telepathic communication with small
4’8” humanoids. They had whitish gray skin, large heads, large eyes,
small slit-like mouths and mask-like features. He had been in a
drug-like state on a table and they had poked a rod like device into his
back. After this they escorted him about the ship and later dropped him
off at his car.
Type: ce4 event
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-F p282)
Location: Alamogordo, NM
See also: 3/4/69
Date: 8/13/1975
Description: Near Haderslev, Denmark: Police Officer Evald Hansen Maarup
was driving home at 10:50 p.m. when all of a sudden his car was engulfed
by a bright blue light while at the same time his car lost all power.
The temperature in his car rose to that of a warm summer day and his
radio was dead so he couldn’t call for help. The bright beam from the
UFO was conical in shape with a bottom diam. of 4–5 meters and a top
diam. at the UFO of 10 meters. Two dome-like protrusions were visible on
the underside of the UFO that was hovering at about 20 meters altitude.
He activated a special camera on the patrol car which automatically took
3 pictures of the UFO. As the UFO sped away he regained power to his
car. The developed film which was later turned over to the Danish AF
showed the light source of the UFO on it. No report or analysis has been
available from the AF to date.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-F p281)
Location: Haderslev, Denmark
See also: 3/4/69
Date: 8/13/1975
Description: 1:15 a.m. Sgt. Charles L. Moody, stationed at Holloman AFB,
is out in the desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico, awaiting a meteor
shower. He sees a metallic disc drop from the sky some 300 feet in front
of him. It is about 50 feet long, 20 feet wide, and faintly luminous. It
stops descending at 20 feet altitude and begins approaching Moody.
Uneasy, he gets in his car and turns the ignition on, but the engine is
dead. Moody can see an oblong window in the UFO and shadow figures
moving within. He hears a high-pitched sound like a dental drill for a
short time, then he feels numb. The next thing he knows, the UFO is
ascending and disappears from sight within seconds. The car starts and
he drives home, where he notices the time is 3:00 a.m., representing
about 90 minutes he can’t account for. Moody gets a pain in his lower
back in the afternoon. Soon he is put in touch with APRO’s Jim
Lorenzen, who
calls him on August 21. Moody now has a heat rash on his lower body. His
memories about the incident eventually return, and the Lorenzens visit
him in 1976 at an overseas post where he narrates an abduction scenario
with shortish, human-like aliens with big heads and wearing coveralls.
(L. J. Lorenzen, “The
Moody Case,” APRO Bulletin 24, no. 12 (June 1976): 6; L. J.
Lorenzen, “The
Moody Case,” APRO Bulletin 25, no. 1 (July 1976): 2, 5–6; Lorenzen,
Abducted! Confrontations with Beings from Outer Space, Berkley, 1977, pp. 38–51;
Good Need, pp. 323–325;
Story, pp. 233–234;
Clark III 770–771)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5172
Date: 8/13/1975
Description: Sgt. Charles L. Moody abduction case
Type: abduction
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Alamogordo, NM
ID: 264
Date: 8/14/1975
Description: Pilots and air traffic controllers at airport observed
red-orange disc, gray mist formed, object shot out of sight
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Stockton, CA
ID: 265
Date: 8/14/1975
Description: 9:35 p.m. Maj. Claude Riddle is flying a helicopter at 900
feet while approaching Stockton (California) Metropolitan Airport.
Suddenly, air traffic controller Joe Savage sees flashing lights closing
in on him in a collision course. When he advises Riddle to take evasive
action, the object turns orange and shoots up to 5,000 feet, where it
hovers. Riddle looks behind him and sees another light trailing him a
mile or so away. When he swings around, he sees it shimmering like a
diamond and as big as a jetliner. Two blue beams come out from the
sides. Dan Long, another controller sees the object through field
glasses at an altitude of about 2,000 feet, then it moves upward while
emitting a glow of green-tinted smoke and flashing red lights. Gary
Duran and two friends also see the object while walking near the
airport. After 5 minutes of hovering near the airport, the object turns
bright red and shoots off. (“California
Pilot Encounters UFO,” Skylook, no. 99, February 1976, p. 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5173
Date: 8/20/1975
Description: Evening. Police stations in the area of Albany, New York,
receive numerous calls about UFO sightings. State Trooper Michael Morgan
is dispatched to the scene of one of the sightings, where a police
detective is observing a blimp-sized object hovering at 500 feet over
Lake Saratoga. As the reddish, glowing UFO flashes on and off, two
smaller objects approach and merge with it. Air traffic controllers at
Albany Airport locate the object on a radar scanner. After a few
minutes, the two smaller objects break away and leave in the direction
from which they had come. The first object moves toward the two
policemen who see a brilliant white light shining from the center of its
base as it passes over them. Silently, the craft turns and moves away
slowly. Suddenly, the UFO disappears. After tracking the target for 45
minutes, the radar operators lose contact with it. However, within a
short time, they receive a call from the pilot of a military airplane
who warns them that he has just seen a red fireball 1,000 feet above him
headed toward the airport. The controllers locate the object just as it
enters the 50- mile range of one of their radarscopes. The anti-clutter
device is thrown to ascertain whether or not the blip is a radar angel,
but the image still comes through clearly. The controllers estimate its
speed to be 3,000 mph. About five miles outside Albany, the target
vanishes. The controllers speculate that it has either accelerated to a
speed of 5,000 mph or has executed a seemingly impossible vertical
maneuver at high speed. During the same time as the Albany sightings,
large discs and bright lights are seen at low altitude less than 50
miles north over the South Glens Falls area and as far north as Lake
George. The case is investigated by Ernest
Jahn, who contacts the Smithsonian Institution in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. They are unable to give any explanation for the
sightings. (Margaret Sachs, UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, pp. 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5174
Date: 8/26/1975
Description: 3:15 a.m. Terry O’Leary, his girlfriend Jackie Larson, and
Jackie’s mother Sandy Larson leave Fargo, North Dakota for Bismarck,
which they plan to reach around 7:00 a.m. Forty-five miles into their
trip on Interstate 94, they see a brilliant flash of light and sounds
like thunder. About 50 yards away on their left, they watch 8–10 orange,
glowing objects heading south to east. One is distinctly larger than the
others. The lights descend in a straight line at a 30° angle until they
stop over a grove of trees. Suddenly one of the objects splits in half
and others shoot away. At this point, the witnesses feel peculiar
sensations of being unable to move. Jackie finds herself sitting in the
back seat (she had been in the front seat with the others) and the
lights are gone. The witnesses drive on to Tower City, North Dakota,
where Sandy notes the time is 5:23 a.m., an hour later than it should
have been. Through a mutual friend, Sandy eventually contacts ufologist
Jerome
Clark, who puts her in touch with psychologist R.
Leo Sprinkle, who has used hypnotic regression in abduction cases.
Sprinkle conducts three hypnotic sessions with Sandy and Jackie Larson
on December 4–6. Sandy remembers a 6-foot-tall entity that looks like a
mummy, various medical procedures, and a journey to a place with sand.
She has further regressions with Sprinkle in January and February 1976,
and she describes an otherworldly journey with three beings on a UFO.
Clark writes: “What makes the Larson story interesting, in retrospect,
however, is its anticipation of many abduction motifs which, though
barely noted or entirely unknown in 1975, had become repeatedly
demonstrated aspects of the experience by the late 1980s. (Clark III
675–678; Lorenzen, Abducted! Confrontations with Beings from Outer
Space, Berkley, 1977, pp. 52–69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5175
Date: 8/29/1975
Description: Gray, disc-shaped UFO, bright illumination, darted above
car, hovered, cast pulsating light beam down on it. Physiological
effects
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Muret, Haute-Garonne, France
ID: 266
Date: 9/1975 (approximate)
Description: 10:30 p.m. Lt. Rafael Muñoz Pastor is returning to Jerez
air base [now Jerez Airport], Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz, Spain,
piloting a Grumman AN-1 antisubmarine aircraft with four other crew
members. He is flying at 3,500 feet and is already on the landing
approach to Jerez, when he receives a call from the Seville air traffic
center asking him if he can see any aircraft over Sanlúcar de Barrameda,
Cádiz, where they have a radar target. The crew is seeing a “round
light, brilliant red in color and with yellowish edges” in the area, so
they are ordered to get closer. When they are 4–5 miles from Sanlúcar,
the red ball ascends vertically from 1,000 feet to some 10,000–20,000
feet. Numerous residents of Sanlúcar also see the object from cafes. An
F-5A fighter is scrambled from Morón Air Base in Seville province, which
also spotted the object, and the Grumman returns to Jerez after viewing
the light for an estimated 45 minutes. (Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos,
“Spanish Military UFO Encounter,” IUR 28, no. 1 (Spring 2003):
7–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5176
Date: 9/3/1975
Description: 8:00 p.m. Three witnesses in Tujunga, California, see two
helicopters following a UFO. The top of the object is a vibrant blue
green, the middle portion white, and the bottom part red. It appears to
change to a saucer shape and zigzags around the sky. Shortly before
11:00 p.m., the witnesses see the lights go on at a nearby Nike missile
base in the mountains. Afterward, the witnesses’ eyes turn red and
painful. (Ann Druffel, “California Report:
The Mystery Helicopters,” Skylook, no. 99, February 1976,
pp. 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5177
Date: 9/11/1975
Description: Sen. Floyd
K. Haskell (D-Colo.) contacts the FBI and relates his concern about
dead and mutilated cattle found in Colorado and other western states.
The mutilations involve loss of ears, eyes, and genitalia, with most of
the blood drained from the carcasses. Haskell estimates there have been
130 mutilations in 9 states during the past two years. He has also heard
that US Army helicopters have been seen near the sites of some of the
mutilations. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Animal
Mutilation Part 1 of 5,” FBI Records: The Vault, pp. 12–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5178
Date: 9/14/1975
Description: Calling themselves The Two (or Bo and Peep), Marshall
Applewhite and Bonnie
Nettles hold a meeting in a hotel in Waldport, Oregon. When 20 of
the 300 audience members disappear after the meeting, the Oregon State
Police launch an investigation. Other audience members think the topic
is vague but involves something about leaving in a UFO from a camp
somewhere in Colorado. (Clark III 565)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5179
Date: fall 1975
Description: A married couple and the husband’s business partner
purchase an abandoned ranch property in a remote rural area of western
Colorado, hoping to turn it into a working cattle ranch. Not long after
moving in, numerous weird events start taking place that last for a
two-year period: whirring noises, UFOs, strange footprints in the snow,
hairy bigfoot-like creatures, and UFO occupants. The witnesses
eventually move back to Denver, where they are interviewed by geologist
John S. Derr and psychologist R.
Leo Sprinkle, as well as R. Martin Wolf, Steven Mayne, and Jerome
Clark. (John
S. Derr and R. Leo Sprinkle, “Multiple
Phenomena on Colorado Ranch,” APRO Bulletin 27, no. 1 (July 1978):
5–8; John S. Derr and R. Leo Sprinkle, “Multiple
Phenomena on Colorado Ranch, Part
2,” APRO Bulletin 27, no. 2 (August 1978): 7–8; John S. Derr and R.
Leo Sprinkle, “Multiple
Phenomena on Colorado
Ranch, Part 3,” APRO Bulletin 27, no. 3 (September 1978): 6–8; John
S. Derr and R. Leo Sprinkle, “Multiple
Phenomena on Colorado Ranch, Part 4,” APRO Bulletin 27, no. 4
(October 1978): 5–8; John S. Derr and R. Leo Sprinkle, “Multiple
Phenomena on a Rocky Mountain Ranch, Part 5,” APRO Bulletin 27, no.
5 (November 1978): 5–8; John S. Derr and R. Leo Sprinkle, “Multiple
Phenomena on a Rocky Mountain Ranch, Part
6,” APRO Bulletin 27, no. 6 (December 1978): 7–8; John S. Derr and
R. Leo Sprinkle, “Multiple
Phenomena on
a Rocky Mountain Ranch, Conclusion,” APRO Bulletin 27, no. 7
(January 1979): 5–8; Clark III 558–559)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5181
Date: fall 1975
Description: Evening. Two soldiers of a Chinese People’s Liberation Army
unit stationed in Jianshui County, Yunnan, China, encounter a huge
saucer-shaped object circling above their heads and emitting beams of
soft orange-colored light. One of the men runs into the camp to sound an
alarm, while the other stays to watch it. A few minutes later, the camp
commandant and about a dozen armed men run up to the barracks entrance
and find no trace of the soldier who had stayed behind. The commandant
orders all officers and enlisted men to search, but they do not find
him. A few hours later, four soldiers taking over sentry duty suddenly
hear the sound of someone moaning behind them. They see the missing man,
who has reappeared. His eyebrows, beard, and hair have grown extremely
long. When he fully regains consciousness, his memory is completely
gone. His wristwatch shows that it had stopped long ago. His weapons and
watch are found to be slightly magnetized. (Paul Dong, “Extracts
from Paul Dong’s Feidie
Bai Wen Bai Da (Questions
and Answers on UFOs),” Flying Saucer Review 29, no. 6 (August 1984):
17; Clark III 653)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5182
Date: fall 1975
Description: 4:00 a.m. A couple driving east toward Toppenish,
Washington, see a bright white light that appears overhead and slightly
ahead of them. At first they think it might be a helicopter with a
searchlight, but then an area about one mile in diameter lights up
around their car, their radio becomes noisy, and their headlights dim.
The flood-lit area suddenly goes out and the light speeds up in the sky
and disappears. When they reach Ahtanum, Washington, about 25 miles from
the first incident, the bright light again appears overhead briefly,
then streaks away and disappears. (W. J. Vogel, “The Yakimas and
‘Earthlights,’” IUR 9, no. 3 (May/June 1984): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5183
Date: 9/27/1975
Description: The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
hosts a symposium, “Hypotheses Concerning the Origin of UFOs,” sponsored
by the Los Angeles, California, section. The proceedings are published
under the title Thesis and Antithesis. (Story, p. 417)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5180
Date: 9/30/1975
Description: Domed disc hovered, illuminated area “like daylight,” cows
fled. Emitted bright red light, humming sound, took off at high
speed
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Corning, CA
ID: 267
Date: 10/1975
End date: 12/1975
Description: Reliable military personnel saw unconventional and
unexplained aerial objects hovering around nuclear weapons storage
sites, aircraft alert areas and missile control complexes at
installations across the northern United States. In some instances, as
radar sightings of the objects were made, Air Force fighter planes were
sent aloft in unsuccessful pursuit, although the records gave no
indication that the fighters fired on the intruders.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Washington
Post
Location: US
Date: 10/1975
Description: University of Montana sociologists Robert
Balch and David Taylor locate the followers of Applewhite and
Nettles in
Arizona and join the group clandestinely. The Two make themselves
scarce, fearing an infiltration and possible assassination. Balch and
Taylor describe the cult in a Psychology Today article in October 1976
and articles in sociological journals. (Robert W. Balch and David
Taylor, “Salvation in a UFO,” Psychology Today 10, no. 5 (October 1976):
58–62, 66, 106; Robert W. Balch and David Taylor, “Seekers
and Saucers: The Role of the
Cultic Milieu in Joining a UFO Cult,” American Behavioral Scientist
20, no. 6 (July/Aug. 1977): 839–860; Robert W. Balch, “Waiting
for the Ships: Disillusionment and the Revitalization of Faith in Bo and
Beep’s UFO Cult,”
in James R. Lewis, ed., The Gods Have Landed: New Religions from Other
Worlds, State University of New York, 1995, pp. 137–166; Clark III
565–566)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5184
Date: 10/7/1975
Description: 8:00 p.m. After his sister calls and alerts him to a “fiery
glow” near his barn on Three Mile Lake Road north of Bracebridge,
Ontario, Robert Suffern, 27, drives to the spot and finds no fire.
However, when he starts going back to his sister’s house he finds a
large disc-shaped object resting in his path. The UFO quickly ascends
and is lost to sight. When he turns around and starts heading to his own
home, a small figure wearing a helmet and silver-gray walks in an
“ape-like fashion” in front of his car, causing him to hit the brakes.
It runs into a field. Suffern gets out and puts his hands on a post and
he seemingly becomes weightless, making it easy to jump over the fence.
Later that night he sees an “orange fluorescent light” in the pasture of
his property. Moments later, he receives two phone calls telling him not
to interfere. On October 12 at 3:00 a.m. Suffern receives a phone call
from a “Lt. Colin Hunter” from the White House and leaves a number to
call him back. He calls the number later and talks to a military officer
claiming to be Lt. Col. Waters. A month later, he and his wife are given
a thorough examination by Canadian military doctors. (Patrick Gross, URECAT,
September 13, 2006; “The
Robert Suffern UFO
Encounter,” Above Top Secret forum, September 26, 2009; John
Greenewald, “Suffern
Three Mile Lake Incident:
UFO Lands on Road, White House Reportedly Calls,” The Black Vault,
July 6, 2017; Clark III 358)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5185
Date: 10/17/1975
Description: Large object with green flashing lights passed over truck
from behind, hovered ahead, lights and engine failed, light beam
directed toward truck
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Helena, MT
ID: 268
Date: 10/17/1975
Description: Morning. Masaki Machida, a TV reporter for the Akita
Broadcasting Company, is at Akita Airport in Akita Prefecture, Japan,
when he sees a disc-shaped object descending in the east. Air traffic
controllers and passengers watch the golden disc with white lights hover
5,000 feet above the ground some 5 miles from the airport.
Telecommunications officer Kenichi Waga warns all pilots to watch out
for the UFO. Toa Domestic Airlines pilot Capt. Masarus Saito says the
object looks like two plates put together. After 5 minutes, it flies off
to the west. (Margaret Sachs, UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5186
Date: 10/18/1975
Description: 12:30 a.m. John Struble is driving his truck 25 miles
northwest of Helena, Montana, when he notices a large object, 50 feet in
diameter and 25–30 feet in the air. The object passes over his truck
from the rear and then stops and hovers about 300 feet ahead of him. It
directs a very bright light at him, causing the truck’s lights and
engine to go out. The UFO remains for about 5 minutes before it moves
away. The object makes a noise like a big jet and then rockets straight
up into the sky and moves away to the east at an incredible speed. When
the UFO disappears the truck’s lights and engine come back on. Struble
notices that his nonelectric watch has stopped for 5 minutes, the
duration of the sighting. (ClearIntent, p. 33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5187
Date: 10/20/1975
Description: Orionid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 269
Date: 10/20/1975
Description: An NBC-TV movie, The UFO Incident, on the Betty
and Barney Hill abduction case airs, starring James Earl
Jones and Estelle
Parsons. It
is based on the book The Interrupted Journey by John
G. Fuller. (Wikipedia, “The
UFO Incident”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5188
Date: late 10/1975
Description: 2:45 a.m. James D. Appleman of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, sees
two large condensation trails making a giant X just above the moon. For
several nights he has been noticing two unusual stars forming different
shapes, and he thinks this might be related. He grabs his camera and
takes three black-and-white photos. Two of the photos show two irregular
light blobs, which he does not remember seeing when he exposed the film.
In 1980, he sends a copy of the photos to the Center for UFO Studies
because they resemble the lights in two undated photos taken from an
airplane by J. Allen Hynek that appeared in his book The UFO Experience.
(“Did
a Twin Photograph
a Twin UFO?” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 1 (January 1981): 1;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine, 1974, opp.
p. 151)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5189
Date: late 10/1975
Description: Near 12:00 midnight. An incident occurs near Cheyenne
Mountain, Colorado, the home of the National Combat Operations Center,
that triggers a Security Option 5 Alert. According to an informant at
the center interviewed by Francis
Ridge, nobody
is allowed to enter the base, except cleared, high-ranking officers or
cleared security patrols. No one is to leave. Those personnel on base
who have just completed duty are rolled out of bed. Jet interceptors are
scrambled. Unidentified targets are tracked on radar for at least 20
minutes. In fact, everything they put in the air for an attack on the US
is airborne. The base stays on alert through 6:00 a.m. (NICAP, “Security
Option 5 Alert at NORAD”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5190
Date: 10/27/1975
Description: 3:00 a.m. Factory workers David Stephens and Glen Gray are
sitting in a trailer they share in Norway, Maine, when they hear
something explode outside. Briefly puzzled, they decide to go for a
drive to nearby Thompson Lake. A short distance down the road, their
vehicle abruptly turns onto a back road leading into Oxford, Maine. Gray
no longer has control of the steering. Two minutes later, they pass
through Oxford, a trip that normally takes 10 minutes, and down the
eastern side of Thompson Lake. A mile south of Oxford, they see a herd
of cows resting on the ground and shaking their heads from side to side.
A few seconds later, they see two white lights on their left in a
cornfield. The lights suddenly rise into the air. Gray stops the car,
rolls down the windows and listen for the sounds of an engine, but the
lights are soundless. Now they have a good view of a huge,
cylinder-shaped object 20–30 feet away. Around its body are green, blue,
and yellow lights that suddenly go out when the object ascends above a
row of trees. Gray starts the car and roars down the road, followed by
the UFO. The next thing they know, they are a mile farther down the
road, the car stopped. Their eyes feel like they are on fire and appear
orange. The UFO is visible in the eastern sky. They drive into West
Poland, Maine, turn around, and go back the way they came. After a few
minutes the UFO disappears, and they decide to go south again. For no
reason, Gray turns onto a gravel road leading to Tripp Pond, where the
engine stalls and the radio goes out. They can see the cylinder-shaped
UFO in the sky about 500 feet away, which moves farther away as soon as
they notice it. Some 45 minutes later, two disc-shaped objects with
colored lights appear, and a thick fog rises out of Tripp Pond,
engulfing the car. The radio abruptly turns on, and as they drive
further, they receive a mental impression indicating that “We’re not
done with you yet. We are coming back for you.” It is now 6:30 a.m. At
7:00 a.m., they arrive at Stephens’s parents’ house in Oxford, suffering
from burning eyes, sore throats, and aching teeth. They are not speaking
coherently. Gray has some hallucinations later in the day while watching
TV. Maine ufologists Shirley
Fickett and Brent
Raynes soon hear about the case and meet with the two on the evening
of October 28. Many unusual events take place that night and the next
day, so Fickett contacts hypnotist Herbert
Hopkins, 58,
in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. He conducts eight hypnosis sessions between
December 1975 and March 1976. Gray becomes upset early in the
investigation, so only Stephens’s testimony is complete. It indicates an
abduction scenario similar to other cases. (Brent M. Raynes, “The
Twilight Side of a UFO Encounter,”
Flying Saucer Review 22, no. 2 (July 1976): 11–14; Shirley M. Fickett,
“The
Maine UFO Encounter: Investigation
under Hypnosis,” Flying Saucer Review 22, no. 2 (July 1976): 14–17;
Berthold Eric Schwarz, “Comments
on the Psychiatric-Paranormal Aspects of the Maine Case,” Flying
Saucer Review 22, no. 2 (July 1976): 18–22; Lorenzen, Abducted!
Confrontations with Beings from Outer Space, Berkley, 1977, pp. 70–79;
Marcus Lowth, “The
Disturbing Alien Encounter of David Stephens,” UFO Insight, August
29, 2018; Clark III 861–865)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5191
Date: 10/27/1975
Description: 8:45 p.m. Sgt. Grover K. Eggleston of the 2192nd
Communications Squadron is on duty at the Loring AFB [now Loring
International Airport] tower near Limestone, Maine, when the call from
the Command Post comes in. He observes the unknown target. Six minutes
later, Eggleston notes that the target appears to be circling
approximately 10 miles east-northeast of the base. This action lasts for
40 minutes when, suddenly, it disappears from the screen. Either the
object has landed or it has dropped below the radar coverage. The Wing
Commander arrives at the weapons storage area 7 minutes after the
initial sighting. Immediately other units of the 42nd Police begin
pouring into the area. Security vehicles with blue flashing lights are
converging from all over the base. Through the Loring Command Post, the
Wing Commander requests fighter coverage from the 21st NORAD Region at
Hancock Field Air National Guard Base, Syracuse, New York, and the 22nd
NORAD Region at North Bay, Ontario. However, fighter support is denied
by both regions. The Wing Commander then increases local security
posture and requests assistance from the Maine State Police in trying to
identify the unknown craft, which they presume is a helicopter. They
make a call to local flight services for possible identification,
without results. The 42nd Security Police conduct a sweep of the weapons
storage perimeter inside and out. An additional sweep is made of the
areas that the craft has flown over. All actions produce no results. The
craft breaks the circling pattern and begins flying toward Grand Falls,
New Brunswick. Radar contact is lost in the vicinity of Grand Falls, 12
miles from Loring. Canadian authorities are not notified. (NICAP, “UFO
Circles Weapons Storage
Area”; ClearIntent, pp. 16–26;
Nukes 361–363, 369–371)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5193
Date: 10/27/1975
Description: The Loring AFB incidents are extremely well documented,
both in terms of personal testimonials and declassified CIA and National
Military Command Center (NMCC) documents. Retired Sgt. Stephen B.
Eichner was on duty when a strange object hovered over the Loring
ammunition dump. Eichner told how he and fellow airmen had seen a
football-shaped reddish orange object, three or four car-lengths long,
hovering over the Loring ammunition dump. He said the object suddenly
vanished, then reappeared some distance away at the end of a runway.
Numerous other visual and radar sightings were made at Loring. Air Force
planes were scrambled in a luckless attempt to track down the object.
Eichner said it made no noise and could not be mistaken for a
helicopter.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Washington
Post
Reference: Debrief
Location: Loring AFB
Date: 10/27/1975
Description: 7:45 p.m. S/Sgt. Danny
K. Lewis is patrolling the weapons dump at Loring AFB [now Loring
International Airport] near Limestone, Maine, when he sees an
unidentified aircraft approaching the north perimeter at an altitude of
about 300 feet. It has a red navigation light and a white strobe light.
The craft enters the perimeter of the base. In the control tower,
S/Sgt. James
P. Sampley of the 2192nd Communications Squadron is on radar duty
and gets a return from an unknown target 10–13 miles east-northeast of
Loring. Sampley makes numerous attempts by radio on all available
communications bands, civilian and military, to contact the craft, but
he gets no response. The unidentified craft circles and comes within 300
yards of the restricted nuclear storage area at a low altitude of 150
feet. Back at the weapons dump, Lewis notifies his Command Post at the
42 Bomb Wing that an unknown aircraft has penetrated the base perimeter.
The base is immediately put on major alert status, a Security Option 3,
and Security contacts the tower. (ClearIntent, pp. 16–26;
Nukes 361–363, 369–371)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5192
Date: 10/27/1975
Description: October 28, 1975; Objects with body lights penetrated
security areas on two consecutive nights, hovered near weapons storage
area, tracked on radar
Type: sighting
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Loring AFB, ME
ID: 270
Date: 10/28/1975
Description: Confidential CINC/NORAD Report: UFOs, suspicious objects
seen by ground personnel. Sounded like jet aircraft. Intermittent radar
contact made with object. Jets scrambled to intercept but objects lights
went out, interceptors passed and then came on again. Then the object
increased in speed and raised to a high altitude and could not be
discerned from the stars. Description: Through binoculars, looked like
100 ft. sphere and appeared to have craters around the outside. To date,
AF and SAC helicopters have failed to provide a positive I.D. of the
UFO.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p468)
Location: Loring AFB
See also: 11/11/75
See also: 7/52
Date: 10/28/1975
Description: 7:45 p.m. While patrolling the weapons storage area,
S/Sgt. Danny
K. Lewis, along with Sgt. Clifton W. Blakeslee and Sgt. William J.
Long, again spots the lights of an unidentified aircraft approaching
Loring AFB near Limestone, Maine, from the north at an altitude of about
3,000 feet. It approaches to within about 3 miles of the base perimeter
and is seen to have a flashing white light and an amber or orange light.
Lewis reports the sighting to his Command Post, and the Wing Commander
comes out to the weapons storage area to see for himself. He reports
seeing an object whose speed and motion are similar to that of a
helicopter. The craft is also observed on radar and observed over the
flight line by Sgt. Steven Eichner, Sgt. R. Jones, and others. They see
an orange and red object shaped like a stretched-out football hovering
in mid-air. It turns out its lights and then reappears making jerky
motions, then hovers about 150 feet over the end of the runway. It is
about four car- lengths long, solid, reddish-orange, with no doors or
windows, and with no visible propellers or engines. It is completely
silent. The base goes on full alert and a sweep is made by security, but
the object turns off its lights and is not seen again. Radar picks up a
target moving in the direction of Grand Falls, New Brunswick. SAC
Headquarters is again notified.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5194
Date: 10/29/1975
Description: NMCC Joint Staff Memo: Subject: AFB penetration. At 290200
EST, AFOC informed NMCC that an unidentified helicopter (UFO), possibly
two, had been sighted flying low over Loring AFB, Maine, in proximity to
a weapons storage area. Army Nat. Guard helos called in to assist in
locating UFO. NORAD informed of the incident by SAC. Received authority
to proceed into Canadian airspace, if necessary, to locate UFO. A
similar incident was reported the evening before.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p468)
Location: Loring AFB
Date: 10/29/1975
Description: 1:00 a.m. Another unidentified helicopter is seen near the
weapons storage area at Loring AFB, Maine. October 29 or 30 — 4:00 p.m.
A radar-visual UFO sighting takes place at Wurtsmith AFB [now
Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport] near Oscoda, Michigan. (NICAP, “Shiny
Disc Hovers over Restricted Area”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5195
Date: 10/30/1975
Description: Security police and others watched objects breach security
areas, hover low over weapons storage area
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Wurtsmith AFB, MI
ID: 271
Date: 10/30/1975
Description: 10:10–11:00 p.m. A series of unidentified helicopter
sightings take place in a secure area in Wurtsmith AFB [now
Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport], Michigan, by security police on the ground
and by the crew of a KC-135 tanker returning from a refueling mission
piloted by Maj. Frederick Pappas and 5 crew members. The tanker at 2,700
feet has visual and skin paint over Lake Huron for about 20 miles
heading southeast. The light hovers and moves up and down in an erratic
manner. The tanker follows the object for 1–2 hours, but never get close
enough to see anything other than a single, steady orange light. (NICAP,
“UFO
Chased by KC-135 Tanker”; Nukes 371– 372; Skinwalkers 124)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5196
Date: 10/31/1975
Description: 11:17 p.m. A visual sighting of an unidentified object is
reported 4 miles northwest of Loring AFB, Maine. The alert helicopter is
launched to identify the object but is unable to make contact and is
launched again at 1:46 a.m., in response to a slow-moving target picked
up by RAPCON radar. (NICAP, “RAPCON
Tracks Slow- Moving
Target during Loring Intrusions”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5197
Date: 11/2/1975
Description: Night. Witnesses in Medford, Minnesota, including Helen
Kay, see a brilliant orange-red light go behind a building, where they
suspect it has landed. At the location, they find a bare spot, 12 feet
square, of burned grass and ashy residue. At some distance away they see
a red ball of light above the trees and try to catch up with it by car
but it eludes them. Soil samples from the alleged landing site are
submitted to geologist Edward
J. Zeller at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, who subjects them
to an examination using thermoluminescence and finds the readouts normal
for the center of the trace but severely elevated at the edges. He
suspects that the edges have been subjected to hard ionizing radiation,
but this is not conclusive. (“UFO
Sighting Noted,” Fergus Falls (Minn.) Daily Journal, November 5,
1975, p. 22; Edward J. Zeller, “The
Use of Thermoluminescence for the Evaluation of
UFO Landing Site Effects,” Proceedings of the 1976 CUFOS Conference,
Center for UFO Studies, 1976, pp. 301–308, reprinted in IUR 28, no. 4
(Winter 2003–2004): 19–22, 28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5199
Date: early 11/1975
Description: 8:00–9:00 p.m. Bill Jackson, a reporter for the Sterling
(Colo.) Advocate, his wife Cheryl, and their young child are driving on
State Highway 61 halfway between Otis and Sterling, Colorado, when they
see a red light in the sky ahead of them. As it approaches, they see it
is a huge object (as big as a 747) with a dozen rows of multicolored
lights, perhaps hundreds of them. It passes slowly over their car, so
close that Jackson thinks he can hit it with a stone. They drive at high
speed the rest of the way to Sterling. (Richard Sigismond, “A CE-I, a
Lonely Road, a Black Night,” IUR 9, no. 3 (May/June 1984): 5, 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5198
Date: 11/3/1975
Description: Late night. Unknown individuals penetrate the flight line
at Grand Forks AFB north of Emerado, North Dakota. At least two KC-135
aircraft are hit by small arms fire. Security forces pursue the
intruders but apparently do not apprehend them. (ClearIntent, pp. 48–49)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5201
Date: 11/3/1975
Description: 5:45 a.m. Ontario Police constables in Haileybury, Ontario,
see a round object with fingers of white light emanating from it
hovering northeast of town. Another object to the north of it has red,
green, and white lights. After about 1 hour both objects begin moving
slowly south and gaining altitude. They are still visible at 7:00 a.m.
(Patrick Gross, “Files
Obtained from the National Archives of Canada”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5200
Date: 11/5/1975
Description: 12:30 a.m. Jim Divall is driving north of Redwater,
Alberta, when he comes upon a large, black, revolving object in the road
ahead. He has to drive his vehicle into a ditch to avoid hitting it. The
object is 40 feet in diameter. He gets out to watch it for a few minutes
as it makes a rushing sound, then it disappears. (Chris Rutkowski,
Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, p. 185)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5202
Date: 11/5/1975
Description: Travis Walton abduction case
Type: abduction
Type: official
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Heber, AZ
ID: 272
Date: 11/5/1975
Description: Just after 6:00 p.m. Travis
Walton and six fellow log cutters finish a long day of thinning
undergrowth in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest near Snowflake,
Arizona. Heading up Mogollon Rim Road, Walton soon notices something
shining among the branches off to the right. The others see it too. They
turn up Old Verde Road toward Turkey Springs. The spaces between the
trees flash by too quickly to make out what the object is, but a
clearing reveals a yellowish glow that washes across the road in front
of them. The driver speeds up to get a closer look. They reach the
clearing, and about 110 feet away a glowing disc hangs in the air,
making a high- pitched buzz and floating motionless between the trees,
only 15 feet off the ground. The truck slams to a halt and Walton opens
his door to get a better look. There is no sound. One of the cutters
shouts: “My God! It’s a flying saucer!” Walton then steps out of the cab
and walks toward the object. The others beg him to get back in the
truck, but he feels compelled to get a close-up look. He approaches the
craft cautiously, glancing back to the truck now and then as his friends
continue to plead with him. Coming within 6 feet, Walton stops and
stares up at its glowing underside. Suddenly, the silence gives way to
what Walton later describes as the thunderous swell of a turbine engine.
A narrow beam of light fires from the bottom of the disc and strikes
Walton in the chest. It lifts him up, then knocks him unconscious to the
ground like a thunderbolt. In a panic, the rest of the crew speeds away
toward the main road, terrified. When the men regain their senses, they
return to the clearing to rescue Walton, but the craft is gone and so is
Walton. Despite a thorough search of the area, they find no trace of him
and drive home. When they report what happened, the authorities discount
the men’s tale as a ridiculous attempt to cover up a murder and launch
an extensive search for Walton’s body. They search for several days and
find nothing. Walton reappears outside Heber, Arizona, on November 10
and corroborates their story, with the addition of what happened aboard
the spacecraft. Walton awakes in a hospital-like room, observed by three
short, bald creatures. He fights with them until a human wearing a
helmet leads him to another room, where he blacks out as three other
humans put a clear plastic mask over his face. He remembers nothing else
until he finds himself walking along a highway, with the UFO departing
above him. In the days following, The National Enquirer awards Walton
and his coworkers a $5,000 prize for “best UFO case of the year” after
they pass polygraph tests administered by Cy Gilson of the Arizona state
police (repeated in 1993), the Enquirer, and APRO. A private
investigator named John McCarthy tests Walton using an outdated
procedure with a polygraph in 1975 and finds him deceptive. (Wikipedia,
“Travis
Walton UFO Incident”; Lorenzen, Abducted! Confrontations with Beings
from Outer Space, Berkley, 1977, pp. 80–113,
161–190;
Travis Walton, Fire
in the Sky, Marlowe, 1996; Geoff Price, “Lie Detection in UFO
Controversies,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 15–16, 31; Kevin D. Randle,
“The Truth about Polygraphs,” IUR 22, no. 4 (Winter 1997–1998): 28;
Michael D. Swords, GrassRoots UFOs: Case Reports from the Timmerman
Files, Fund for UFO Research, 2005, p. 145; Clark III 1234–1249)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5203
Date: 11/6/1975
Description: US Attorney General Edward
H. Levi issues a set of guidelines to limit the activities of the
FBI. These guidelines require the FBI to show evidence of a crime before
using secret police techniques like wiretaps or entering someone’s home
without warning.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5204
Date: 11/7/1975
End date: 11/8/1975
Description: Base personnel saw orange disc that breached security area,
illuminated missile site, tracked on radar
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Malmstrom AFB, MT
ID: 273
Date: 11/7/1975
Description: 3:00 p.m.–November 8, 9:53 p.m. Remote electronic sensors
trigger an alarm at Malmstrom AFB, Great Falls, Montana, indicating that
something is violating security at several missile launch sites.
Underground, in the launch control facility, two officers note the
signal, but there is no TV surveillance topside. A missile security
helicopter checks the area and Sabotage Alert Teams consisting of 4–6
men are ordered to proceed to the areas. One SAT team drives down the
highway and onto a dirt road that leads to the K-7 area near Judith Gap,
Montana. About a mile away, the team sees an orange, glowing object. As
they close to within half a mile, they can see that the object is
tremendous in size. They radio to the launch control facility that, from
their location, they are viewing a brightly glowing, orange, football
field-sized disc that illuminates the missile site. The SAT team is
ordered to proceed into the K-7 site. However, they refuse to go any
farther, clearly fearful of the intimidating appearance of the object.
It begins to rise, and at about 1,000 feet, NORAD picks up the UFO on
radar. Two F- 106 jet interceptors are launched from Great Falls and
head toward the K-7 site. The UFO continues to rise. At about 200,000
feet, it disappears from NORAD’s radar. The F-106s are never able to get
a clear sighting of the several UFOs, which play cat-and-mouse with the
aircraft, extinguishing their illumination when they approach, and
re-illuminating after the fighters return to base. All members of the
SAT team are directed to the base hospital, where they are
psychologically tested. No one can identify the object, but the members
of the SAT team obviously have been through a traumatic experience.
Targeting teams, along with computer specialists, are brought to the
launch site to examine the missile and the computer in the warhead. When
the computer is checked, they find that the tape has mysteriously
changed target numbers. The reentry vehicle is then taken from the silo
and brought back to the base. Eventually the entire missile is changed
out. Radar and visual sightings continue for the next 31 hours. (NICAP,
“Malmstrom
AFB Incident (1975)”; ClearIntent, pp. 27–29;
Richard Sigismond, “Four Huge Orange Discs and the Case for the UFO,”
IUR 8, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1983): 7–8; Thomas E. Bullard, “Defending UFOs,”
IUR 34, no. 2 (Mar. 2012): 11–12; Nukes 358–361)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5205
Date: 11/10/1975
Description: 10:15–11:20 p.m. A bright light passes over Minot AFB,
North Dakota, moving west to east at 1,000– 2,000 feet. (ClearIntent, p. 48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5206
Date: 11/11/1975
Description: Evening. Capt. Keith
Wolverton of the Cascade County Sheriff’s Department and a deputy
are returning to Great Falls from Missoula, Montana. Suddenly a large
orange light descends out of the northern sky, lighting up both sides of
the road. It passes directly over the cruiser at about 200 feet. It goes
from horizon to horizon in 4 seconds. (ClearIntent, pp. 34–35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5210
Date: 11/11/1975
Description: A Montana Fish and Game Department employee at Freezeout
Lake, Montana, sees a light flying directly behind a B-52 bomber. Using
his rifle scope to get a better look, he notes that the strange object
seems to be pacing the aircraft. The object then briefly attaches itself
to the B-52, detaches, and climbs out of sight. The sighting is reported
to Sheriff Pete Howard of Choteau County. Howard conducts follow-up
interviews with military personnel and learns that as the object
attaches itself to the B-52, the plane’s radar equipment goes out.
(ClearIntent, p. 35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5208
Date: 11/11/1975
Description: Confidential CINC/NORAD Report
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p468)
Location: US
See also: 10/28/75
Date: 11/11/1975
Description: A confidential NORAD communication reveals that Air Guard
helicopters, Strategic Air Command helicopters, and NORAD F-106s are
scrambled during the recent UFO sightings over Northern Tier military
bases. They fail to produce positive identifications. In a priority
message sent from SAC headquarters in Offutt AFB near Bellevue,
Nebraska, to numerous Air Force bases during the same month, the Air
Force reveals its continuation of a policy to deny USAF interest in the
subject: “News media queries concerning such unidentified overflights
are properly the concern of the Air Defense Command, and queries should
be referred to CINC- NORAD/OI… Remarks should be confined to personal
experiences and care should be taken to avoid speculation or to imply
Air Force interest beyond security of the installation.” (Margaret
Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, p. 347;
Don Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing
Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 87–90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5209
Date: 11/11/1975
Description: Civilians, police officers, military officers, and NORAD
radar saw and tracked UFOs that alternately hovered and darted around at
high speed
Type: sighting
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Falconbridge, Ontario, Canada
ID: 274
Date: 11/11/1975
Description: 6:15 a.m. A spherical object is observed from Canadian
Forces Station Falconbridge [now closed] in Valley East, Ontario. The
object appears to be rotating and has a surface similar to the moon. The
object ascends and descends. The object is observed on height-finder
radar at altitudes from 42,000–72,000 feet intermittently for 6 hours.
Two F-106 jets are sent from Selfridge AFB [now Selfridge Air National
Guard Base] near Mount Clemens, Michigan, but report no visual or radar
contact. Other lights are seen periodically over the next few days,
including at least seven members of the Ontario Police in Sudbury.
(NICAP, “Spherical
Object Tracked on Height
Finder Radar”; ClearIntent, pp. 50–51;
Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen,
1979, pp. 152–156; Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO
Report, Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 114–121; Good Above, pp. 202–203;
Patrick Gross, “Files
Obtained from the National Archives of Canada”;
Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
pp. 207–219)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5207
Date: 11/17/1975
Description: 7:00 p.m. Suzanne Erenberger and Dave Vardeman are driving
on US Highway 30 about one-quarter mile west of Mount Vernon, Iowa, when
they see white lights in the southwestern sky. They stop the car and get
out to watch for a while. Frightened, they drive into town to notify the
police. The police chief describes Erenberger as “terrified, nearly
hysterical.” An officer accompanies the two students back to the
location but sees nothing unusual. Erenberger tells a reporter from the
Cedar Rapids Gazette that they were only 30 feet away from one of the
lights, which was only 25 feet off the ground. She makes a drawing of a
domed object for a high-school newspaper. UFO investigator Kevin
D. Randle interviews Erenberger on November 27, and she tells him
there is a bright light coming from a 30-foot-wide disc-shaped object
with a huge glass dome. She thinks she can see two humanoid shapes
behind it. But Vardeman separately tells Randle that he only sees lights
in the distance and nothing else. Randle also talks to an additional
witness, Richard
Manson, who has seen a red light about the same time. Randle
concludes that the lights come from aircraft landing at the Cedar Rapids
Municipal Airport and that Erenberger’s details are confabulations. (“Coed:
‘No Doubt about What I Saw,’” Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette, November
19, 1975, p. 3C; Kevin D. Randle, “UFOs on Memory Lane,” IUR 26, no. 1
(Spring 2001): 9–11, 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5211
Date: 11/20/1975
Description: Michel, Robert, and Claude Souris found the Centre d’Études
et de Recherches des Phénomènes Inexpliqués in Saintes, France. It
publishes a CERPI Circulaire newsletter from February 1976 to 1981. (CERPI,
no. 1 (February 1976))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5212
Date: 11/30/1975
Description: Unit One of the Leningrad [now St. Petersburg], Russia,
nuclear power plant is being brought back online after scheduled
maintenance when it begins to run out of control. A partial meltdown
occurs, destroying or damaging 32 fuel assemblies and releasing
radiation into the atmosphere over the Gulf of Finland. The official
line is that a manufacturing defect caused the destruction of only one
fuel channel, but the accident is really caused by an uncontrollable
increase in the steam void coefficient. (Adam Higginbotham, Midnight at
Chernobyl, Simon & Schuster, 2019, pp. 66–67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5213
Date: 12/1975
Description: The Air Force panel finishes reviewing the Blue Book files
and turns over the sanitized version to the National Archives,
apparently without yet physically moving the files to NARA facilities.
These files now include an added set of AFOSI files of UFO
investigations from 1948 to 1968 released by AFOSI in December 1975. (Sparks, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5214
Date: 12/12/1975
Description: Robert Suffern and his wife meet with two military
officers, one Canadian, the other American, at his home near
Bracebridge, Ontario. They tell him the October 7 incident was a
“mistake” caused by the malfunctioning of an extraterrestrial
spacecraft. The officers show him close-up photos of UFOs and say that
their governments have been cooperating with aliens since 1943. (Clark
III 358)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5215
Date: 12/14/1975
Description: Late evening. A man is driving his truck on a gravel road
along Toppenish Ridge in the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington
State when he sees a cow and two calves running toward him as if fleeing
from something. Moments later he sees three figures in the ditch. One
jumps up on the road, covering 15 feet in a single slow-motion leap, its
arms above its head. The witness describes it as a skinny, 7-foot-tall
man with a narrow, pale face and long, pointed nose. It is dressed in
close-fitting black clothing and boots. On its chest there is a white
trapezoid insignia. The entity is carrying something purple it its left
hand that has a wire on it that runs down its arm. The other two
creatures remain on the side of the road. The witness speeds up,
swerving around the figure. A few moments later, a bright, elongated UFO
appears behind him. The interior of the truck is flooded with light.
Suddenly he becomes aware of a “shadow” in the passenger seat. From the
shape of the head and coat, the man “knows” it is a friend of his. The
friend looks at him, leans forward and looks up at the light, falls
back, wipes his eyes, and vanishes. At that moment, the light
disappears. The next morning, he learns that his friend has been killed
in a shooting. (Greg Long, Examining the Earthlight Theory: The Yakima
UFO Microcosm, CUFOS, 1990, pp. 56–60; Clark III 281)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5216
Date: 12/15/1975
Description: Jacques
Vallée and J.
Allen Hynek publish The Edge of Reality, which discusses how the
extraterrestrial hypothesis does not seem to explain UFOs fully.
Although they acknowledge the UFO phenomenon is real, its reality skirts
the edges of accepted science, and they both lean toward an
interdimensional hypothesis. (J. Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallée, The
Edge of Reality: A Progress Report on Unidentified Flying Objects,
Regnery, 1975)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5217
Date: 1976
Description: In Worlds Beyond, Ian
Ridpath discusses ETI, life and human development, life in the Solar
System, the feasibility of interstellar travel, and the possibility that
alien probes have already visited Earth. (Ian Ridpath, Worlds
Beyond, Harper and Row, 1976; Michael D. Swords, “SETI/ETI and
UFOs,” JUFOS 5 (1994): 146–147)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5225
Date: 1976
Description: Project SIGMA becomes an independent project from Project
xxxxxxx.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A, SIGMA)
Location: US
Attributes: Majestic
See also: 1968
Date: 1976
Description: US writer Bill
Kaysing publishes a book claiming that NASA lacks the technical
expertise to land astronauts on the moon and that numerous optical
anomalies in the Apollo photos show that the moon landings are faked in
a studio or at Area 51. The book launches a host of similar moon landing
conspiracy theories. (Wikipedia, “Moon landing
conspiracy theories”; Bill Kaysing, We Never Went to the Moon:
America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle, Health Research, 1976)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5219
Date: 1976
Description: David
Saunders gives his UFOCAT computer file to the Center for UFO
Studies in Evanston, Illinois, where it is updated by Fred Merritt. The
database is kept on an IBM mainframe computer at a nearby computer
facility with a magnetic tape backup. In 1982 it proves too expensive
for CUFOS to maintain on a mainframe, so it is removed from active use
and stored on tape. (Fred Merritt, “UFOCAT: A Unique Tool for Research,”
IUR 1, no. 2 (December 1976): 14–15; Center for UFO Studies, “UFOCAT-2009”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5218
Date: 1976
Description: Meteorologist Sture
Wickerts replaces Tage
Eriksson as head of UFO investigations at the Swedish National
Defence Research Institute. (Swords 368)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5224
Date: 1976
Description: 9:30 p.m. A man who lives on a hill overlooking the Boeing
factory in Renton, Washington, notices lights hovering above the
building at the south end of the plant. Suddenly the lights shoot
straight up in the air and move to the north end of the plant, dropping
down and hovering again. It then makes a quick arc and hovers about 900
feet above the witness’s house. The object is circular with a curved low
top, sides that slope inward, silent, and a continuous row of windows
separated every 10–15 feet by thin vertical supports. A yellow or amber
light is at the top. It is about 50 feet in diameter and 12–15 feet
high. He can see 3–4 images moving back and forth inside the craft.
After about 3 minutes, the object moves toward Lake Washington and
disappears in 4 seconds. (“UFO
Seen Inspecting
Seattle Boeing Plant,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 6
(Dec. 1984/Jan. 1985): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5226
Date: 1976
Description: Ancient astronaut author Zecharia
Sitchin writes his first book of many, The 12th Planet, proposing an
explanation for human origins involving extraterrestrials. Sitchin
attributes the creation of the ancient Sumerian culture to the Anunnaki,
which he claims was a race of beings from a planet beyond Neptune called
Nibiru. He asserts that Sumerian mythology suggests that this
hypothetical planet of Nibiru is in an elongated, 3,600-year- long
elliptical orbit around the Sun. (Zecharia Sitchin, The
12th Planet, Avon, 1976)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5220
Date: 1976
Description: In his book Gods of Aquarius, author Brad
Steiger introduces the concept of “Star People,” human beings tied
by physiology, past lives, or both, to extraterrestrials who came to
earth long ago and are preparing them for a societal transformation.
(Brad Steiger, Gods of Aquarius: UFOs and the Transformation of Man,
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976; Clark III 90–91)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5221
Date: 1976
Description: Author Roberta
Donovan publishes Mystery Stalks the Prairie with Cascade County
Deputy Sheriff Keith Wolverton of
Great Falls, Montana, documenting his investigations of cattle
mutilations with a suspected cult involvement. They are not sure whether
mystery helicopters and UFO s are related to the mutilations, but either
way federal government officials seem to know what is going on. (Roberta
Donovan and Keith Wolverton, Mystery
Stalks the Prairie, THAR
Institute, 1976; Wikipedia, “Cattle
mutilation”; Nukes 365–369)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5222
Date: 1976
Description: Historian Nicolas Greslou launches the Comité Savoyard
d’Études et de Recherches Ufologiques in Chambery, France. It publishes
a quarterly newsletter, Le Phénomène OVNI, from 1977 to 1985. (Le
Phénomène OVNI, no. 1 (Oct./Dec. 1977))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5223
Date: 1/3/1976
Description: Quadrantid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 275
Date: 1/4/1976
Description: A technician driving home is stuck in rush hour traffic at
Sale, heading toward Altrincham, Cheshire, England. Suddenly his radio
begins to hiss and crackle, and flashes of light spark out, dancing
across the windshield. As he looks out through the steady rain, two
angular, ice-blue lights pass slowly across his field of view. Moments
later they are gone, the sparking stops, and the radio works again.
(Jenny Randles, “The Twelve UFOs of Christmas,” Fortean Times 374
(Christmas 2018): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5227
Date: 1/6/1976
Description: Domed disc with body lights descended, illuminated car
interior with blue light. Missing time, abduction, physiological
effects
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Stanford, KY
ID: 276
Date: 1/6/1976
Description: 11:15 p.m. Mona Stafford and two friends, Louise Smith and
Elaine Thomas, are driving southwest on Highway 78 between Stanford and
Hustonville, Kentucky, when they see an intense red glow in the east. It
grows larger, then descends rapidly to the right of the car at tree-top
level. As it hovers, they can see a disc shape with round windows with
rotating, blinking red lights around each of them; yellow lights stretch
below these, and a luminous blue dome is on top of the object. The UFO
moves closer, flips on its side, and shines three beams of bluish-white
light on the road, and another into their vehicle. Smith, apparently
dazed, gets out of the car, but Stafford pulls her back in. There is a
“dead silence,” their skin tingles, and they start getting severe
headaches. They find the car has started back up on its own and is
moving at 85 mph with no help from Smith. Stafford feels as if it is
being pulled. Moments later, they find themselves 8 miles away, just
outside Hustonville. When they get home to Smith’s trailer in Liberty,
Kentucky, around 1:25 a.m., they find they are missing about an hour and
a half of time. All three of them experience odd physical and
psychological symptoms. The women are hypnotized by ufologist R.
Leo Sprinkle, who
finds that they have generally compatible memories of an abduction
event. Over time, their memories of the missing time period grow more
elaborate, but their story contains elements and images echoed in other
accounts before and since. (“The
Kentucky Abduction,” APRO Bulletin 25, no. 4 (October 1976): 1, 3–6;
Lorenzen, Abducted! Confrontations with Beings from Outer Space,
Berkley, 1977, pp. 114–131;
“The Kentucky Abduction,” IUR 2, no. 3 (March 1977): 6–7; Story, pp. 192–195;
John Greenewald, “The
1976 Stanford,
Kentucky, Abductions,” The Black Vault, April 26, 2016; Clark III
643–648)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5228
Date: 1/21/1976
Description: MEMO from NMCC by Rear Adm. J. B. Morin stating: Two UFOs
reported near the flight line at Cannon AFB, N.M. Security Police report
the UFOs to be 25 yards (75 ft.) in diameter, gold/silver in color with
blue light on top, hole in the middle and red light on the bottom.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p524, B1-F p342)
Location: Cannon AFB, NM
Date: 1/21/1976
Description: Before 3:55 a.m. Security police see two UFOs near the
flight line at Cannon AFB, southwest of Clovis, New Mexico. The objects
are 75 feet in diameter, gold or silver in color, with a blue light on
top, a hole in the middle, and a red light on the bottom. An Air Force
officer calls the UFO Education Center in Wisconsin to report he “had a
very close sighting and was able to witness a type of vehicle that did
maneuver and that was unlike any type aircraft he has ever seen.” One
observer claims to see a dozen UFOs through a Starlight Scope from the
flight tower. A Clovis policeman sees a cigar-shaped object with
pulsating red, white, and blue lights. (“UFOs Continue
Clovis Visits,” Las Cruces (N.Mex.) Sun-News, January 25, 1976,
p. 1; Rear Adm. J. G. Morin, “Report of
UFO, Cannon AFB, NM,” January 21, 1976; “Cannon AFB: UFOs, Burned
Circles, and Cows Found Mutilated,” UFO Info; Good Above, p. 524;
Good Need, p. 349)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5229
Date: 1/23/1976
Description: 6:00–10:30 p.m. “Scores” of UFO sightings take place around
Clovis, New Mexico. Town Marshal Willie Ronquillo of
Texico follows a silent object with green, yellow, and blue lights 900
feet above his car before it speeds away to the north. A police
dispatcher in Artesia sees 6–7 flashing lights in the sky at 750–1,000
feet altitude. They hover for a while, then move away at high speed
toward Carlsbad. Members of the UFO Study Group, composed of employees
of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratories, arrive in Clovis at 11:30
p.m. to investigate. (“UFOs
Continue Clovis Visits,” Las Cruces (N.Mex.) Sun-News, January 25,
1976, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5230
Date: 1/31/1976
Description: 3:30–5:00 a.m. UFOs are spotted by security police over the
radar site at the Armament Development and Test Center at Eglin AFB,
southwest of Valparaiso, Florida. Photos are taken. (Brig. Gen. Fred A.
Treyz, “Unidentified
Flying Object Sighting,” January 31, 1976)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5231
Date: 2/1976
Description: Ufologist James
W. Moseley launches an eight-page newsletter of UFO information and
rumor. Its title varies, but by July 1981 Moseley has settled on Saucer
Smear. It is sent out for free every month or so to several hundred UFO
buffs whom Moseley calls “nonsubscribers.” (Clark III 776)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5232
Date: 2/1976
Description: 7:20 p.m. Ruby
Breslin is driving along Central Expressway in Dallas, Texas, when
her daughter sees an object just as she takes the exit ramp to the
Northwest Highway. It has windows and a flashing red light on top, and
hovers for 4–5 minutes before shooting straight up. (“Out
of the Past,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1984):
6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5233
Date: 2/1976
Description: Night. A married couple living near the Tasman Highway in
Tasmania have retired for the evening. The woman is already asleep and
the man has just turned off the light when he sees three 7–8 feet tall
entities passing through the closed door of the bedroom. One touches the
man’s leg and he goes numb to the waist. He lets them attach some kind
of glowing sack to his body, but when they start to approach his wife,
he lashes out with one arm that hasn’t gone numb. His wife wakes up and
starts struggling too. The entities exit through some kind of orange
portal outside the closed window and disappear. (Michael D. Swords, “A
Trick of the Light,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5234
Date: 2/19/1976
Description: The National Archives starts microfilming the redacted
Project Blue Book files through the commercial firm Fuller & Dees
Marketing Group in Montgomery, Alabama. (Sparks,
p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5235
Date: 2/20/1976
Description: In answer to a request by UFO researcher Robert
Todd, the
National Security Agency states that the NSA “does not have any interest
in UFOs in any manner.” (ClearIntent, p. 181)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5236
Date: late 2/1976
Description: 1:00 a.m. A man in Kettering, Tasmania, is awake tending to
a child when he looks outside to his east and sees what he thinks is an
aircraft descending at 45°. After watching for a couple of minutes, he
goes outside. The object comes down behind a small bank on the far side
of a sports field opposite his house. He crosses the field, climbs the
bank, and sees from about 82 feet away, a dome-shaped object emitting a
bright-white to yellow light from three or four windows. When he looks
through the object’s windows he can see a tall cylinder (that he likens
to a ship’s compass mounting), motionless gray shapes (like car seats
with headrests seen from the rear), and perhaps entities. He hears a
humming noise. The object takes off to the east with the noise
increasing in volume. It climbs away at 60° and recedes to a point
source and disappears. The total duration is 6–7 minutes. The next day
he returns to the spot and notes the rough grass beyond the sports field
has been scorched in a circular patch. This grass later dies. On October
24, 1977, the Tasmanian UFO Information Centre takes soil samples of
this area that are examined by Geoff Stevens using a thermoluminescence
test. His investigation reveals no significant, systematic differences
in the thermoluminescence content of soil and mineral particles taken
from within the affected area, and control samples taken from outside
this area. (Geoff Stevens, “Thermoluminescence Measurements of Soil
Samples Affected by a UFO,” CUFOS Bulletin, Spring 1978, pp. 1, 3–6;
Keith Roberts and Geoff Stevens, “The
Kettering, Tasmania, Landing: A Study,” Flying Saucer Review 24, no.
3 (November 1978): 18–21; “Tasmanian Landing in 1976,” IUR 31, no. 2
(June 2007): 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5237
Date: 3/1976
Description: Werner
Walter and Hansjürgen Köhler found Centrale Erforschungsnetz
Auβergewöhnlicher Phänomene [later Himmelsphänomene] in Mannheim,
Germany. The first issue of its somewhat skeptical, anti-ETH, monthly
CENAP-Report is published, continuing until May 2007. (Wikipedia, “Centrales
Erforschungsnetz Auβergewöhnlicher
Himmelsphänomene”; CENAP
Report, no.
1 (May 1976))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5238
Date: 3/3/1976
Description: Night. Claude Bosc, a student pilot flying a French Air
Force T-33 on a training mission at 19,500 feet, sees a rapidly
approaching bright light in the distance near Tours, Indre-et-Loire,
France. In 1–2 seconds, the object speeds toward him and his plane is
surrounded by a green phosphorescent light that illuminates the aircraft
for several seconds. The green sphere, only 3–6 feet in diameter, avoids
a collision at the last minute and passes over his right wing. The radar
shows nothing, but two other pilots see the encounter from a distance.
(Comité d’Études Approfondies, Les OVNI et la Defense: A Quoi doit-on se
Préparer? (UFOs
and Defense: What Should We Prepare
for?), July 16, 1999, pp. 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5239
Date: 3/11/1976
Description: An Iberian Airlines pilot flying above Palma de Mallorca,
Balearic Islands, Spain, watches an elongated object, shaped like a
dirigible gondola and lighted from within through several window-like
openings, pace his aircraft with occasional bursts of speed. (UFOEv II
122, 146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5240
Date: 3/15/1976
Description: 10:14 p.m. Two objects are tracked on radar flying over the
landing strips at Simón Bolívar Airport near Caracas, Venezuela, at
3,000 mph. Tower operators ask the unidentified craft to identify
themselves. Instead they take off and disappear over the Caribbean Sea.
(Richard H. Hall, “UFOs
Tracked on Radar at Venezuelan Airport,”
MUFON UFO Journal, no. 110 (January 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5241
Date: 3/22/1976
Description: 5:42 a.m. A couple are stopped in their car outside a hotel
in Nemingha, New South Wales, deciding on directions. Suddenly a bright,
greenish-yellow light descends and completely envelops a nearby white
car, which drifts to the wrong side of the road, wrapped in a thick ball
of white haze. Its headlights go out. After 2 minutes the haze
dissipates, and a woman gets out of the car and wipes a white substance
off the windshield with a yellow cloth. She is about to get back in when
its lights come back on by themselves. She throws the cloth on the
roadside, drives a short way, and the yellow cloth bursts into flame.
When the white car passes the couple, they notice it is covered in a
thick white substance, except for the windshield. (Bill Chalker, “Road
Hazard Down Under?”
Flying Saucer Review 22, no. 5 (February 1977): 28–32; Bill Chalker, “Postscript
to the Nemingha Case,”
Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 3 (October 1977): 22, 27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5242
Date: 3/26/1976
Description: The CIA responds to the Ground Saucer Watch FOIA request,
claiming that its only involvement with UFOs was with the 1953 Robertson
Panel. (ClearIntent, p. 113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5243
Date: 3/31/1976
Description: During a campaign stop in Appleton, Wisconsin, Georgia
Gov. Jimmy
Carter is asked by Thomas Heiman, associate director of the UFO
Education Center, whether he would make public all the UFO files if he
became president. Carter answers, “Yes, I would make these kinds of data
available to the public, as President, to help resolve the mystery about
it.” (Grant Cameron, “Jimmy Carter, the Nobel Prize, and
Extraterrestrials”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5244
Date: 4/1976
Description: DARPA names Lockheed the winner of a competition to build a
stealth bomber. Immediately it begins manufacturing two flying Have Blue
prototypes in Skunk Works Building 82 in Burbank, California.
(Wikipedia, “Lockheed
Have
Blue”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5245
Date: 4/1976
Description: Michel
Monnerie and Raymond Bonnaventure begin publishing Ufologie Contact,
a newsletter intending to reach all the UFO groups iaround Paris,
France. It soon falls under the auspices of the Société Parisienne
d’Étude des Phénomène Spatiaux et Étranges in Marly-le-Roi, Yvelines,
France, and continues through at least 1981. (Ufologie
Contact, ser.
1, no. 2 (May 1976))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5246
Date: 4/2/1976
Description: 1:50 a.m. Detective Sgt. Norman Collinson is driving home
along the M62 and M66 motorways near Bury, Greater Manchester, England.
As he turns north onto the M66 he observes a white disc of light moving
very fast, crossing the path he is traveling. The object is heading
toward Knoll Hill, east of Bury. The UFO makes a right- angle turn onto
a south-southeast heading. Puzzled, the officer stops his vehicle and
gets out to look at the light. As he does so, the light stops and hovers
nearby. It then begins to perform a series of spectacular right-angle
box turns, after which it moves off in the direction of Heywood, with
Collinson following it in his car. The object stops a second time and
again repeats the angular movements before streaking away at a
tremendous speed. The incident is reported to the MOD and Manchester
Airport. (Jenny Randles and Peter Warrington, “Police Encounter
at Bury,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 2 (August 1977): 13,
15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5247
Date: 4/3/1976
Description: 4:30 a.m. Several residents of Quixadá, Ceará, Brazil,
during an outdoor physical education session, see a large disc-shaped
object that glides silently a few feet from the ground emitting an
intense light. At about the same time in another part of the city, Luis
Barroso Fernandes is preparing to travel to a site a few kilometers away
on his donkey cart. He soon hears a buzzing sound, and a flying object
10 feet in diameter positions itself above him. It slowly descends in
front of his cart about 100 feet away. The device emits a beam of light
that strikes the donkey and Barroso, who immediately become paralyzed. A
door opens on the UFO and two small beings emerge. One holds something
like a flashlight and aims a beam that strikes Barroso in the face,
causing him to lose consciousness. He wakes up in a different spot,
dizzy and suffering from a burning sensation on his face, and a
headache. The left side of his body is reddish, and he has difficulty
getting into his cart and getting it moving. He asks his wife to take
him to Dr. Antônio Moreira Magalhães, who prescribes a tranquilizer. He
continues to feel sick, his eyes burn continuously, and the left side of
his body is red. A few days later, his hair turns gray and he suffers
memory lapses. After his symptoms worsen and other doctors fail to help,
his family checks him into a psychiatric hospital in Fortaleza. His
condition deteriorates, and he dies in April 1993. (Elias Bruno, “Brazil:
The Barroso
Case,” Inexplicata, April 29, 2012; Clark III 180–182; Brazil
179–184)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5248
Date: 4/9/1976
Description: CONFIDENTIAL CIA Message: Source (name Censored) seeks
guidance from CIA UFO experts as to material in his report that should
remain classified.
Type: confidential message
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p508)
Location: Langley, VA
Date: 4/14/1976
Description: A heavily redacted CIA memo shows a reference to someone’s
having sought “guidance from CIA UFO experts as to material in his
report that should remain classified.” (ClearIntent, p. 143)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5249
Date: 4/17/1976
Description: June and Vicky Melling, on vacation in Mawnan, Cornwall,
England, see a large winged creature hovering above the tower of
St. Mawnan and St. Stephen’s Church. They are so frightened by the sight
of a large “feathered bird-man” that their father Dan Melling cuts short
the vacation. Magician and showman Tony
“Doc” Shiels investigates
the case, and one of the girls provides him with a drawing of the
creature, which he dubs “Owlman.” Other sightings emerge over the next
few years. Occult historian Gareth J. Medway suggests that the whole
thing is a hoax by Shiels, who has a reputation for hoaxing. Medway
notes that witnesses claiming encounters with the legendary monster
“were either Doc Shiels, or friends of Doc Shiels, or relatives of Doc
Shiels, or reported their sightings to Doc Shiels (and to no one else),
or else wrote letters describing what they had seen to newspapers and
were never interviewed by anyone.” (Wikipedia, “Owlman”;
Robert J. M. Rickard, “Birdmen of the Apocalypse!” Fortean Times 17
(August 1976): 14–20; Doc Shiels, “To Wit! To Woo? Some Thoughts about
Owlman,” Fortean Times 27 (Autumn 1978): 44–46; Jonathan Downes, The
Owlman and Others, Domra, 1997; Clark III 602)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5250
Date: 4/22/1976
Description: 11:00 p.m. Police officer George Wheeler, on duty at
Elmwood, Wisconsin, notices a glow at the top of Tuttle Hill. He drives
closer and sees an object as high as a two-story house and 250 feet
across with an orange-white light at the top and six bluish-white lights
on the side. It is 500 feet away and about 100 feet off the ground. He
thinks he can see, though an open side panel, something moving inside
it. The object has several partially extended legs and a long, black,
hose-like appendage. Suddenly the object rises straight up. He sees some
kind of flash and his car lights go out, the motor stops, the radio goes
dead, and he becomes dazed. A second police car arrives, noticing that
the car door is open, and takes the witness to a hospital, from which he
is released four days later. Some people in the area have difficulty
with TV reception at the same time as the encounter. (“Sighting
Reports,” CUFOS News Bulletin, June 1976, pp. 5–6; Patrick Gross, “George
Wheeler’s Close Encounter, 1976”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5252
Date: 4/22/1976
Description: 1:45 a.m. RCMP Constable Bill Toffan sees an apparent
vehicle with its lights flashing ahead of him as he is driving on Canada
Highway 16 west of Terrace, British Columbia. As he rounds a curve, he
sees it is actually in the air 300 feet above the trees. Suddenly there
is a blinding flash and he nearly loses control of his car. After a
brief report appears in the press, the RCMP orders Toffan not to discuss
the incident. (“Mountie
‘Ordered’ into Silence,”
Vancouver (B.C.) Sun, April 26, 1976, p. 8; Good Above, pp. 194–195;
Patrick Gross, “Files
Obtained from
the National Archives of Canada”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5251
Date: 4/23/1976
Description: 2:40 a.m. A 1st Lt. is on communications duty aboard a US
Navy destroyer in the Atlantic southwest of Bermuda. The lookout calls
his attention to a green light dead ahead through light fog three miles
away at 10° above the horizon. Radar reports no target and the sonar
room hears no engines. The crew watches the green light dip to 30–40
feet above the surface and approach the ship. The lieutenant orders a
course change to starboard, and the green light becomes much larger,
making a comparable turn to port in order to pace the ship. The ship and
the object both make subsequent turns, with the light now only 50-60
feet away. Suddenly a large blip appears on the radar scope. The
destroyer returns to its original heading and the light stations itself
on the port beam. When the captain comes on deck, the light circles the
ship twice. Then once again off to port, it becomes a brighter green,
tilts at an angle, and submerges. The next day the captain tells the
crew not to discuss the incident. (Donald R. Todd, “Ship’s
Crew Sees UFO,” APRO Bulletin 26, no. 11 (May 1978): 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5253
Date: 4/30/1976
End date: 5/2/1976
Description: The Center for UFO Studies holds its first conference on
UFO research at the Hyatt House in Lincolnwood, Illinois. The
proceedings are published later in the year, featuring papers on
sighting waves, exosociology, and humanoid reports. Presenters include
Ted
Bloecher, Ann
Druffel, Loren
Gross, Richard
H. Hall, David
M. Jacobs, James
McCampbell, David
Saunders, R.
Leo Sprinkle, David
Webb, and Ray
Stanford. (Charles
Bowen, “The
Editor Goes West,” Flying Saucer Review 22, no. 2 (July 1976):
26–28; Richard F. Haines, “CUFOS
Holds Its First Technical Conference,” Flying Saucer Review 22, no.
3 (October 1976): 13–17; Proceedings
of the 1976 CUFOS Conference, Center for UFO Studies, 1976)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5255
Date: 4/30/1976
End date: 5/1/1976
Description: The Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the
Paranormal is launched at a specially convened conference of the
American Humanist Association. Paul
Kurtz, James
Randi, Martin
Gardner, and
Ray Hyman take
seats on the executive board. The committee will be funded with
donations and sales of their magazine, Skeptical Inquirer. (Wikipedia,
“Committee
for Skeptical Inquiry”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5254
Date: mid 5/1976
Description: The US National Archives publicly releases the redacted
Project Blue Book paper files at its College Park, Maryland, branch. (Sparks, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5256
Date: 6/1976
Description: Ground Saucer Watch issues its first newsletter, which is
published through December 1982. (Ground
Saucer Watch
Bulletin, no.
1 (June 1976))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5257
Date: 6/11/1976
Description: 1:15 a.m. Hélène Guiliana is driving through
Chatuzange-le-Goubet, Drôme, France, when her car engine misfires and
stalls and the headlights go out. Some 80 feet away near the Pont du
Martinet bridge she sees an orange light in the form of a “dome.” She
experiences fear and covers her face with her hands. After what seems a
few seconds, the light disappears. Driving home upset and afraid, she
misses a familiar sign and drives a mile out of her way. When she
arrives home, it is 4:00 a.m. Under hypnosis on July 22 (repeated on
August 18), she tells of meeting two waist-high dwarves with large eyes,
dressed in black overalls. They carry her toward the light, which she
enters through an iron door. Inside a high, round room, they place her
on a table, putting handcuffs on er hands and feet. After an
examination, she is returned outside and the craft departs straight up
noiselessly. (“L’Etrange
Rencontre d’Hélène Guiliana,” Ouranos, new ser. 18 (Jan./Mar. 1977):
5–7; “Foreign Forum,” IUR 1, no. 2 (December 1976): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5258
Date: 6/11/1976
Description: Dome-shaped object hovered above road, E-M effects on car.
Missing time, abduction
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Le Martinet, Drome, France
ID: 277
Date: 6/20/1976
Description: After 1:00 a.m. A young married couple and their
4-month-old child are detained and examined by entities as they are
traveling near Goodland, Kansas, en route to Colorado. UFO investigator
Richard
Sigismond meets repeatedly with them in July–October 1976 using
hypnotic regression techniques to enhance their memories. The experience
is traumatic for them, and they require counseling. (“Abduction in
Western Kansas,” IUR 1, no. 2 (December 1976): 12; “Abduction in Western
Kansas,” IUR 2, no. 10 (Oct. 1977): 4–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5259
Date: 6/21/1976
Description: 12:40 a.m. Police officer Th. Brandt-Jensen sees a bright,
blue-white light cross the road behind him in Ringsted, Zealand,
Denmark. He thinks it might be an airplane in trouble. He speeds up to
90 mph toward a crossroad where he can pull off the highway. The object
catches up to within 165–250 feet and its light strikes his car, the
engine and lights going out immediately. He guides the coasting vehicle
to the road shoulder, gets out, and catches a glimpse of the object as
it disappears behind the horizon. It resembles a glider with a ray of
light coming from it that swings back and forth as it passes his car. It
makes a slight whistling sound and appears to be about 50 feet long.
(“UFO
Rapporter Danmark,” UFO-Nyt, 1976 no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1976): 186–187;
Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part
Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5260
Date: 6/22/1976
Description: 10:30 p.m. A bright red light like a rocket emerging from
the sea at a distance climbs diagonally and turns into a brilliant
semicircular dome over the Canary Islands. It is transparent with a
bluish-white hue. The crew of the corvette Atrevida watches the object
for 40 minutes, during which time a foreign tourist takes a photo. 400
miles to the south, the crew of the ship Osaka Bay also sees the
luminous phenomena in the shape of a sphere. Maj. Antonio Munáiz
Ferro-Sastre investigates the sightings for the Spanish Air Force and
rejects the hypothesis that the light is from a naval missile launch.
However, two Poseidon missiles are launched in the area around the same
time by the submarine USS
Von Steuben. (J. M. Sanchez, “Canary
Islands Landing: Occupants Reported,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 3
(October 1977): 4–7; Don Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio
Huneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000,
pp. 91–97;
Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos and Ricardo Campo Pérez, “Navy Missile
Tests and the Canary Islands UFOs,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005):
3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5262
Date: 6/22/1976
Description: 9:27 p.m. Dr. Don Francisco-Julio Padrón León and Santiago
del Pino are traveling in a taxi when they see a gigantic ball of light
200 feet ahead of them between Gáldar and Agaete, Gran Canaria, Canary
Islands. The taxi radio cuts out. Inside the light, which is actually
like a transparent soap bubble, they see some panels and two enormous
beings on a platform. The humanoids are some 9–10 feet tall, wear black
diving helmets and red tight- fitting coveralls, and are moving levers
about. Their hands are enclosed in black cones. The backs of their heads
are disproportionately large, and their legs are short. The taxi driver
switches the headlights on, and the UFO rises as a bluish gas is emitted
from a tube and expands the size of the sphere to a 20-story building.
The driver turns the car around and goes to a nearby house. The
inhabitants say their TV set just blacked out. They continue watching
through a window. When the sphere stops expanding, they hear a
high-pitched whistle and the object speeds off to the northwest. (J. M.
Sanchez, “Canary
Islands Landing: Occupants Reported,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 3
(October 1977): 4–7; Good Above, pp. 153–154)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5261
Date: 6/23/1976
Description: 11:30 p.m. Paulo Coutinho, 18, is returning home from a
night class in Aricanduva, São Paulo, Brazil, when he sees a light in
the sky moving westward. Suddenly he feels paralyzed as the light
approaches and descends about 25 feet away. A short being emerges with a
big head, large eyes, pointed ears, small mouth, and an upturned nose
like a pig. It is bald, has no eyebrows, and wears a tight one-piece
bluish-gray suit with an emblem on its chest. Coutinho rises into the
air toward a huge cigar-shaped object, in which he undergoes an
abduction experience. Coutinho is still missing the next morning. A
friend finds his books and notebooks scattered on the street and brings
them to his parents. A police search fails to find him. In the evening
of June 24, Coutinho is discovered lying on the steps of the garden door
in a semiconscious state. He is cold as if he has been there some time.
He is later revived at a nearby hospital. The police officer who carries
him to the ambulance later feels a strong irritation in his arms.
Ballpoint pens in Coutinho’s pockets are radioactive. (“O
Caso dos Añoes Extraterrenos
de Vila Aricanduva São Paulo, Capital,” SBEDV Boletim, no. 116/120
(July 1977/Feb. 1978): 6–18; “Caso
Paulo Coutinho,” Portal Fenomenum, June 15, 2016; Brazil
185–194)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5263
Date: 6/26/1976
Description: Spanish journalist Juan
J. Benitez interviews Gen. Carlos Castro Cavero, commander of the
Canary Islands division, who tells him: “The nations of the world are
currently working together in the investigation of the UFO phenomenon.
There is an international exchange of data. Maybe when this group of
nations acquires more precise and definite information, it will be
possible to release the news to the world.” He says the Spanish Air
Ministry investigates UFO cases, including those involving pilots. He
admits that he has watched a UFO for more than an hour at his ranch. It
remains stationery for that length of time, then shoots off towards Ejea
de los Caballeros, Zaragoza, covering 12.5 miles in less than 2 seconds.
Cavero believes UFOs are “spaceships or extraterrestrial craft.” (Gordon
Creighton, “Important
Statement by Spanish Air Force Chief,” Flying Saucer Review 22, no.
3 (October 1976): 2; Patrick Gross, “Documents:
50 Years of UFO Disclosure”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5264
Date: 7/1976
Description: The New England UFO Study Group publishes its first
newsletter, which lasts through September 1982. (New England
UFO Newsletter, no.
1 (July 1976))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5265
Date: 7/11/1976
Description: Two Indian Air Force MiG 21 jets are scrambled near the
Pakistani border to intercept what appears initially on radar to be a
Pakistani jet. But the object is moving at 2,600 mph, and the two pilots
see the target is an amber- colored disc that pulls away before they can
catch up to it. (Good Need, p. 303)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5266
Date: 7/12/1976
Description: The National Archives makes available the 94 reels of 35mm
microfilm with redacted Project Blue Book files. (Sparks, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5267
Date: 7/14/1976
Description: Before dawn. For a period of two hours, two brightly
shining UFOs perform fantastic maneuvers at the Gobernador Edgardo
Castello Airport in Viedma, Rio Negro, Argentina. At dawn, the sunlight
neutralizes the bright lights of the UFOs, but the observers see them
leave the area at high speed. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 1, no. 1 (November
1976): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5268
Date: 7/23/1976
Description: J.
Allen Hynek arrives on the set of Steven
Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind in Mobile, Alabama,
and gives a lecture on UFOs to some of the actors who are interested (Bob
Balaban, Richard
Dreyfuss, Melinda
Dillon, and
30+ others. At some point his cameo is filmed. (Bob Balaban, Spielberg,
Truffaut and Me: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, an Actor’s Diary,
Titan, 2002)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5269
Date: 7/28/1976
Description: Capt. Eldon
W. Joersz and Maj. George T. Morgan Jr. attain a world airspeed
record of 2,193 mph in a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird over Beale AFB near
Marysville, California. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
SR-71 Blackbird”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5270
Date: 7/28/1976
Description: 3:45 p.m. Adult counselor Ira Leifer and 13 teenage boys
are resting from a hike in the woods at Camp Delaware [now Greenwood
Trails] west of Winsted, Connecticut, when they hear a high-pitched
whine. They see a silvery, flat-bottomed UFO 15–25 feet in diameter
through a clearing in the trees. A purple haze surrounds it and on top
they see a red glow. The object is hovering at a steep angle. After
15–25 seconds the whine returns, and the object takes off and is lost to
sight in a second or two. (“Daylight CE I Seen by 14 Witnesses in
Connecticut,” IUR 1, no. 1 (November 1976): 6–7; Clark III 247)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5271
Date: 7/29/1976
Description: Delta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 278
Date: 7/30/1976
Description: 9:00 p.m. A British Airways Trident 2E piloted by
Capt. Dennis Wood is flying at 29,000 feet over the North Atlantic about
40 miles south of Lisbon, Portugal, when air traffic control radios a
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar that is flying near them and asks for a
confirmation of a radar target. Wood and his crew look up and see a
stationary bright light. They announce the sighting to their passengers.
After several minutes watching the light, two cigar- shaped objects
appear below and to the right of the light. A Portuguese airliner in the
vicinity also observes the objects. Wood confirms the sighting, saying,
“There is no way this is a star or planet.” Fighters are immediately
scrambled from Lisbon. (NICAP, “Battleship-Sized
Object Tracked by 3 Airlines”; Jenny Randles, “Casebook: The
Portugal Sighting,” Fortean Times 199 (September 2005): 27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5273
Date: 7/30/1976
Description: NMCC Joint Staff Memo: Subject: Reports of UFOs. At approx.
0345, EDT, the ANMCC received several reports of UFOs near Fort Ritchie.
At 0130, civilians reported an UFO to the NAB. At 0255, two separate
patrols sighted three UFOs; oblong with a reddish tint. At 0300, the
Desk Sgt. (name with held) sighted an UFO over the ammo storage area at
100–200 yds. altitude. At 0345, an Army Police Sgt. sighted an UFO in
the vicinity of sight R. ANMCC was requested to have each individual
write a statement on the sightings. One person said the UFO was the size
of a 2.5 ton truck.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Fort Ritchie, Cascade, Maryland
Date: 7/30/1976
Description: 1:30–3:45 a.m. Patrols at different locations in the US
Army’s Fort Ritchie [now closed], in Cascade, Maryland, see objects over
the base. One crew sees three oblong objects with a reddish tint.
Another watches a UFO over the ammunition storage area at an altitude of
300–600 feet. In another spot, an Army police sergeant sees an aerial
object the size of a two-and-a-half-ton truck. (Brig. Gen. L. J. LeBlanc
Jr., “Reports
of Unidentified Flying
Objects (UFOs),” National Military Command Center, July 30,
1976)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5272
Date: 7/31/1976
Description: 11:45 p.m. Debbie Focken and other witnesses see an oblong
object with illuminated windows hovering about 100 feet above Eldon’s
Standard Service Station in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Apparently the UFO
causes extensive electrical damage to a CB radio, a burglar alarm, an
adding machine, a cash register, and a vending machine. The owner and
employees claim that lightning has caused the damage, and that is what
they report to the insurance agency, but there is no thunderstorm that
evening. (“Gas Station Damaged by UFO?” IUR 1, no. 2 (December 1977):
13; “Council Bluffs CE II,” IUR 2, no. 3 (March 1977): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5274
Date: 8/1976
Description: American SF novelist George
H. Leonard publishes Somebody Else Is on the Moon, which records his
observations, drawings, and NASA photos of lunar pipes, conduits, gears,
gas nozzles, flares, huge rigs for sifting through dust, hovering
vehicles, odd lights, and electromagnetic towers on the lunar
surface—all of it indicating alien mining operations. Leonard argues
that NASA secretly knows of alien activity on the Moon. It is possible
that Leonard has written the book as a spoof. (George H. Leonard, Somebody
Else Is on the Moon, McKay, 1976)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5275
Date: 8/1976
Description: A. Troitsky and six others observe a silvery disc over the
Pirogovskoye Reservoir north of Moscow, Russia. It is about 8 times the
apparent size of the full moon and is moving slowly at an altitude of
perhaps 120 feet. The object has two revolving stripes along its side
and a black hatch on its underside from which a small cylinder
protrudes, its lower portion rotating. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s
USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, pp. 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5278
Date: 8/1976
Description: Day. A man is working on his mobile home in the forested
hills near Medford, Oregon, when he sees two intensely bright lights
“like burning magnesium” silently move across the sky, side by side.
They appear to be discs, curved on the top and flat on the bottom, and
in between them is a third object, which seems to be a World War II–era
bomber. The tips of each wing appear to be resting on the discs, and its
propellors are not turning. The three objects pass overhead and move
beyond the hill behind him. (Michael D. Swords, “Timmermania: A Step Too
Far into the Timmerman Files?” IUR 27, no. 4 (Winter 2002–2003):
8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5277
Date: 8/1976
Description: 10:17 a.m. A Swedish J-5 jet pursues six delta-shaped
silver objects in formation until they accelerate out of sight over Lake
Bolmen, Sweden. (“Swedish
Air Force Colonel Reports Six Delta-UFOs,” AFU Newsletter, no. 18
(Jan./Mar. 1980): 9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5276
Date: 8/2/1976
Description: 3:30 a.m. A domed UFO is seen at an altitude of 15–18 feet
at St.-Pierre-sur-Mer, Hérault, France. It has orange lights that go on
and off slowly. (M. Grazioli, “Enquête
dans l’Hérault,” Lumières dans la Nuit, no. 166 (June/July 1977):
26–27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5279
Date: 8/3/1976
End date: 8/4/1976
Description: 11:25 p.m. The pilot of Tunisair Flight Tu8953, en route
from Monastir to Tunis, Tunisia, sees a flying object at 3,200–3,900
feet moving north to south. At 11:27 p.m., five objects showing red and
green lights are seen over Monastir and confirmed on radar. From 12:24
a.m. to 4:00 a.m., five separate radar returns are tracked and visually
confirmed. (ClearIntent, p. 80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5280
Date: 8/4/1976
End date: 8/5/1976
Description: 10:43–10:52 p.m. An Air France pilot en route to Monastir,
Tunisia, is followed by an unidentified object. (ClearIntent, pp. 80–81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5281
Date: 8/6/1976
Description: 10:00 a.m. A family is driving in Gaspésie National Park,
Quebec, when a beam of red light penetrates the fog and creates a
six-inch circle on the road ahead. The beam paces ahead of them for
several miles, then collapses and withdraws upwards. A dazzling white
light then approaches and stops ahead. Strong heat builds up in the car,
so the father stops the vehicle. The headlights and radio fail, and the
engine dies. All four get out and walk toward the object, which now
appears as a scallop-shaped craft on landing legs, stretching across the
road. The wife notices a massive “face” looking at them. Two 7-foot tall
beings are apparently floating near the UFO, dressed in close-fitting,
khaki-brown suits. The witnesses flee back into the car. The object
moves away in a flash of light and burst of heat. The car starts again.
All four suffer from itching for the next 10 hours. (Jean Ferguson, Les
Humanoides: Les Cerveaux qui Dirigent les Soucoupes Volantes, Leméac,
1977; NICAP, “Gaspesian
Park, Quebec:
Humanoids/E-M Case”; Michael D. Swords, “Messing Around with the
Force,” IUR 31, no. 4 (March 2008): 29–30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5283
Date: 8/6/1976
Description: 12:20 a.m. Police at La Soukra, Tunisia, see four lighted
objects that disappear one by one until 1:45 a.m. (ClearIntent, p. 81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5282
Date: 8/7/1976
Description: 11:48 p.m. The control tower at the Djerba-Zarzis
International Airport, Tunisia, tracks a UFO on radar to the northwest.
The sighting is confirmed by a Tunisair pilot, who says it is a lighted
object that seems to touch down near the airport then turn south after
climbing up. (ClearIntent, p. 81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5285
Date: 8/7/1976
Description: 10:00 p.m. Mark Ziegelbauer, 15, of Malone, Wisconsin, and
his father Orville see
multicolored lights fly past their new silo and land in a distant
hayfield. Mark drives over to the spot and shines his headlights into
the field. He sees an object the size of a “camper-trailer” and two
green men, one about 5 feet 7 inches, the other shorter. They put their
hands up and “disappeared somehow.” (“Youth
Claims Seeing 2 Green Men from UFO,” Fond du Lac (Wis.) Reporter,
August 10, 1976, p. 26; Clark III 279)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5284
Date: 8/8/1976
Description: 7:50 p.m. Radar at Sidi Ahmed Air Base at Bizerte Airport,
Tunisia, tracks a target going east to west. It turns south and
disappears. Tunisian authorities contact the US State Department asking
whether the US Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean can shed any light on
the incidents. (ClearIntent, p. 81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5286
Date: 8/10/1976
Description: 5:00 a.m. Teresa de Tejero wakes up suddenly in her room at
the Hotel Da Balaia in Albufeira, Portugal, and sees a vivid luminous
rectangle on the window curtains. She wakes up her husband Francisco,
who goes to the window and sees an object with six reddish lights that
appears to be on another wing of the hotel. One of its lights seems to
be directed straight into their bedroom. They go back to sleep. In the
morning, Francisco looks out the window and finds there is no hotel wing
where he thought the UFO was. He realizes that the object must have been
huge to masquerade as two floors of the hotel. (Ignacio Darnaude, “Spies
in the Supernumerary Attic?” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 3 (October
1977): 20–21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5287
Date: 8/11/1976
Description: 11:00 p.m. Two boys aged 13 and 14 are standing on the
beach in La Linea de Concepción, Spain, facing the Strait of Gibraltar
when they see a yellowish-white UFO approaching from over the
Mediterranean. It seems to have an axis that bisects it. The object
climbs rapidly, changing color to whitish and then a vivid yellow. It
approaches another, larger object and enters it. While they watch it,
the light of a nearby lighthouse goes out temporarily. The larger object
remains in place. (“UFO
Blacks Out Lighthouse,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 1 (June 1977):
iii)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5288
Date: 8/13/1976
Description: 8:30 a.m. The pilot of a Piper Arrow PA-28 is flying at
3,500 feet between Diepholz and Petershagen, Germany, when he notices a
strange light approaching from the northeast. After 3–5 minutes, the
object comes closer and takes a fixed position off the left wing. The
object is oval-shaped and very bright yellow in its center with an
indistinct flame-orange boundary. Suddenly the Piper goes into two rapid
360° clockwise rolls from which the pilot must recover manually. He
discovers that he has dropped about 500 feet during the roll-and-
recovery maneuver. When he next checks his instrument panel, he
discovers that his magnetic compass is spinning in a clockwise direction
so fast that he can’t read the number in its square window. Looking
outside again, he sees that the UFO is still behind him, suggesting that
he has lost the same amount of altitude. The pilot climbs back to his
cruise altitude and calls on the radio to flight control at Hannover
airport. The air traffic controller tells him that the radar shows both
his airplane and another object nearby. The controller says that an
aircraft will be sent to investigate. Little more than 4 minutes later,
two USAF F-4 Phantom jets arrive on either side of him travelling
400–500 mph. The jet on the right side is slightly lower, closer, and
ahead of the jet on the left. The pilot is certain they are American
planes. Just as the jets arrive, the UFO accelerates forward and then
upward at about a 30° angle above the horizontal and turns right,
passing in front of his aircraft. It quickly outdistances its pursuers
and is out of sight in a matter of seconds. The compass eventually
returns to normal operation after the UFO departs. The pilot is
interrogated after his landing by “military men.” (Richard F. Haines,
“An Aircraft/UFO Encounter over Germany in 1976,” IUR 24, no. 4 (Winter
1999): 3–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5289
Date: 8/14/1976
Description: 6:30 p.m. A couple out walking along a road on Cartmel Fell
in Lake District National Park, Cumbria, England, see a bright light in
the sky. Through binoculars, it looks like a silver disc reflecting
light from its top surface. After 30 seconds, it becomes smaller as if
it is moving away. Two other witnesses see a similar object at the same
time. (“Report
7670,” Northern UFO News, no. 28 (September 1976): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5290
Date: 8/15/1976
Description: 3:00 a.m. A distant bright light appears above El Real de
la Jara, Seville, Spain, as 20 automobiles stop on the highway to watch
it. Taxi driver Pablo Garcia García blinks his lights at it, and the
object appears to approach much closer. García stops signaling, but the
other drivers panic and drive away rapidly. (Gordon Creighton, “Some
Recent Spanish Reports,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 6 (April
1977): 28–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5291
Date: 8/20/1976
Description: Brothers Jim and Jack Weiner, with friends Charles Foltz
and Charles Rak, claim they are abducted by aliens during a camping trip
near Allagash, Maine. According to the four men, hypnotic regression
allows them to recall being taken aboard a circular UFO and being
“probed and tested by four-fingered beings with almond- shaped eyes and
languid limbs.” In a later interview by the St. John Valley Times,
Charles Rak changes his story, saying he did see strange lights during
the camping trip, but the abduction part of the story is a total
fabrication, and he went along with the narrative for financial gain.
The other three members of the group stand by the abduction story.
According to Jim Weiner, “Jack, Charlie, and I, after all these years,
are still in agreement with the Eagle Lake event as we (three) remember
it. We also accept the results of the hypnotic regression sessions and
subsequent polygraph tests as supportive of an abduction scenario.”
(Raymond E. Fowler, The Allagash Abductions, Wild Flower, 1993; Jessica
Potila, “Subject
of 1976 UFO Incident Casts Doubt on ’Allagash Abductions,’”
Fort Kent (Maine) Fiddlehead Focus, September 10, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5292
Date: 8/21/1976
Description: 10:30 p.m. A 90-foot-long cigar-shaped object descends from
4,000 feet over the Forêt de Molière to the east of Poitiers, France.
Witnesses hear a humming sound and smell an odor. It ascends and
disappears. (Michel Figuet and Jean-Louis Ruchon, OVNI: Le premier
dossier complet des rencontres rapprochées en France, Alain Lefeuvre,
1979, p. 627)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5293
Date: 8/22/1976
Description: Midnight–4:00 a.m. Eleven witnesses see a luminous orb,
9–21 feet in diameter, with antennae, flying over Dossenheim-sur-Zinsel,
Bas-Rhin, France. (Ph. Wiedenhoff, “Dans
le Bas-Rhin,” Lumières de la Nuit, no. 166 (June/July 1977):
17–20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5294
Date: 8/25/1976
Description: 12:30 p.m. Three children see beings in polished-silver
suits and a UFO rising upward from a schoolyard in North Reddish,
Stockport, Manchester, England. (David Rees, “‘Floating’
Entity at Reddish,” Flying Saucer Review 25, no. 2 (July 1979):
29–31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5295
Date: 9/1976
Description: The Cambridge UFO Research Group is founded by Bonnie
Wheeler in Cambridge, Ontario. She produces a bimonthly newsletter
through September 1994. (Cambridge
UFO Research Group Newsletter 2, no. 3 (September 1980))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5297
Date: 9/1/1976
Description: 10:35 a.m. A witness is walking with her dog in a field off
Larimer County Road 76H northwest of Larimer, Colorado. She looks up and
sees a large (100 feet long), silver-colored, silent cylinder flying at
about 50 mph to the south. It is only 200–250 feet in altitude and has
two rings around it towards each end. She watches it for several
minutes. (“More Letters,” IUR 8, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1983): 16; “More
Similarities Begin to Appear,” CUFOS Associate Bulletin 4, no. 6
(Dec. 1983/Jan. 1984): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5298
Date: 9/1/1976
Description: Day. A retired science teacher watches a circular glowing
object while walking on a beach near Aguada, Puerto Rico. The object
moves slowly, hovers, then falls abruptly, tumbling over and over, until
it nearly enters the ocean. It then rights itself and moves slowly
westward. It has a dull gray finish and appears to be quite distant.
(“Foreign Forum,” IUR 1, no. 1 (November 1976): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5299
Date: early 9/1976
Description: Three men watch a dense white cloud hover low above Rua
Cajati in São Paulo, Brazil. It dissipates, revealing a disc-shaped
object that emits light beams of various colors. When policemen arrive
and draw their weapons, they become paralyzed like statues. The smoke
cloud reappears and envelops the disc, which takes off. (O Dia (Rio de
Janeiro), September 8, 1976; “Foreign Forum,” IUR 1, no. 2 (December
1976): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5296
Date: 9/3/1976
Description: 9:00 p.m. Two women, one 63 and the other an 18-year-old
relative, are returning from a family visit in Fence Houses, Durham,
England, when they see a peculiar object resting on a mound of earth in
a section of mining wasteland. They walk toward it, feeling a sort of
attraction, and see that it is an oval object about 3 feet high and 5
feet long and standing on chrome or steel runners. The main compartment
is glasslike with an orange section on top. When they reach the object,
they sense the wind and traffic noise have stopped. The older woman
touches the glassy side, which feels warm. At this point two strange
entities are seen within the craft with long white hair parted down the
middle, large eyes, and claw-like hands. They are both the size of a
large doll, perhaps 1–1.5 feet tall. Frightened, the two women hurry
away, noting that the street noise has returned. The object then takes
off at great speed, making a humming noise. (William D. Muir, “UFO
Landing at Fencehouses, County Durham,”
Flying Saucer Review 22, no. 6 (April 1977): 2–3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5302
Date: 9/3/1976
Description: Early morning. A witness in Bethel, Alaska, hears a
high-pitched whine and looks out at the tundra where a small (2.5–3-inch
diameter) white beach ball seems to be moving just above the ground.
After a while it tilts so that she can see it is a disc with a rotating
“platinum-shiny” area in the middle. The object arcs upward, then back
down, and seems to disappear into the ground, whereupon the whine stops.
She can find no ground markings. (Michael D. Swords, “Unusual
Experiences from the Timmerman Files,” IUR 27, no. 2 (Summer 2002):
24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5300
Date: 9/3/1976
Description: 7:00 p.m. Farm laborer João Romeu Klein, 19, returns home
to Brusque, Santa Catarina, Brazil, after visiting a friend. As he
approaches the house, he spots a flying object in the shape of a deep
dish that rotates slowly counterclockwise. The upper part of the object
is flattened, and a luminous light on top varies according to the speed
of the craft’s movement and vacillates from red (high speed) to orange,
from yellow to light green, and finally to white. When the craft is
still, the intensity of the light diminishes. The object itself is gray
in color and nearly 10 feet in diameter. The UFO moves toward Klein,
passes 33 feet above his head, and then hovers in front of him about 16
feet from the ground. A bright, red light shines from the center of its
base, through which three small beings about 3 feet tall slowly descend.
The humanoids form a line across the entire width of the road and
prevent him from passing as the UFO moves behind him some 33 feet away
and 26 feet above the ground, close to some trees. The beings open their
arms in an apparent blocking gesture, communicating with each other in
an unfamiliar language. Klein draws his knife and tosses it toward the
beings; it whizzes through the air, but at one point appears to float
before falling to another spot. Each being wears a staff at its waist.
The crew member in the center reacts by waving his staff toward Klein.
The staff fires a beam of bluish-white light that hits Klein in the left
thigh. He faints on being struck and is later found by his neighbors.
His leg is paralyzed, so he goes to Azambuja hospital in Brusque, where
doctors find no sign of injury. He recovers after a few days. (“Os Tripulantes
da Serra do Moura, Novo Trento, Brusque, Estado de Santa Catarina,”
SBEDV Boletim, no. 136/145 (Sept. 1981/April 1982): 10–12; Clark III
218–220; Luis Lopez, “Quase
40 Anos Depois, Homem Relata Experiência
com Extraterrestres em Brusque, SC,” Novos Insólitos, May 12, 2016;
Brazil 194–198)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5301
Date: 9/8/1976
Description: Leoncio Torres and Elena Bedjara are driving a truck on the
road between Ollachea and Ayaviri, Peru, when a UFO lands 90 feet in
front of them. Two strange creatures about 6 feet tall approach the
blocked truck with flashlights. The creatures touch the couple’s backs
and they feel a burning sensation. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 1
(January 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5303
Date: 9/9/1976
End date: 9/10/1976
Description: Around 3:00 p.m. A worker at the Liangshan Cotton Mill
south of Longwangmiao, Shandong, China, sees a spherical object at 45°
elevation about 9,800–13,000 feet away. The upper part is bright silver,
and the lower part is dark gray. It moves in the direction of the sun.
It reappears on September 10, although it seems larger. It shrinks in
size toward 12:00 noon and finally appears like a twinkling star in the
daytime. It reverts to its former size in the afternoon, and then in
front of more than 1,000 witnesses it flies away and disappears around
5:00 p.m. (Wendelle Stevens and Paul Dong, UFOs over Modern China, UFO
Photo Archives, 1983, p. 88)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5305
Date: 9/9/1976
Description: About 2:00 a.m. Farmer Hermelindo da Silva is making his
way home from the bar he owns in Vargem Grande, Minas Gerais, Brazil,
when his dog grows agitated. A flash of light illuminates the area,
followed by a strange buzzing sound. He sees a bright object about 4
feet in diameter above him. The dog begins barking nonstop until it
receives some type of shock, apparently from the craft, and flees in
terror. The light goes out, and da Silva runs back to the bar and
flattens himself against the outside wall. The object lights up again,
scaring him, so he picks up a piece of wood and throws it at the object.
The light goes out again and the buzzing ceases, only to be replaced by
a hiss. He feels a blow to his shoulder and falls to the ground, then he
runs toward his house with the object 10 feet above him. Cables and
hooks descend from the UFO, accompanied by a small creature about 3 feet
tall. Da Silva hits its shoulder, causing it to jump and fall, then gets
into a fight with it for 15 minutes. Finally, the creature loops a cable
around da Silva’s ankle and hoists him screaming into an opening on the
craft. His brother-in-law hears him and sees him ascending. Da Silva
manages to get loose from the cable and falls 20 feet into a plant. He
runs to the house, bruised. (Clark III 1220–1221; Brazil 198–200)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5304
Date: 9/10/1976
Description: 6:00–7:00 p.m. British European Airways Flight 831 from
Moscow to London is cruising at 33,000 feet over Lithuania when a
blinding, stationary light is seen on the starboard side of the
airliner, apparently 10–15 miles away and 5,000–6,000 feet below. The
light resembles a yellowish sodium vapor lamp and is too intense to view
directly. It lights up the top of the cloud layer below. The pilot asks
the Soviet authorities to identify the source, but they come back with a
negative response, saying he should not ask questions. The light is
visible for 10–15 minutes. (“Aerial
Observation of Intense Source of Light,” CIA Foreign Intelligence
Information Report, November 18, 1976)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5307
Date: 9/10/1976
Description: 12:54 a.m. Bill Pecha Jr. is watching TV in his home 3
miles southwest of Colusa, California, when suddenly the picture
crackles, fades, and blacks out, and the air conditioner dies. He goes
outside to check on the circuit breaker and feels an electrical
sensation. He looks up and sees an object 85 feet in diameter hovering
above a TV antenna near the barn about 50 feet away. The main body of
the craft is a disc shape, which appears to be rotating in a clockwise
direction, with a large dome that remains stationary on top. The object
makes little or no sound, and is silver or gray in color, except for the
very bottom, which has a “porcelain” look about it. Two hook- like
cables are hanging down. Pecha approaches until he is just under one
edge. The UFO moves slowly away and retracts its cables. Two hatches
open on either end, revealing a “spotlight.” He goes inside and wakes up
his wife Lenda, who also sees the object. Pecha can now see two other
objects over high-tension power lines a mile to the west, emitting light
beams at the tops of the transmission towers. The first UFO is moving
closer and passes over a neighbor’s house, shining a light on it.
Frightened, Pecha grabs his two children and he and his wife speed away
in their pickup. They stop at a friends’ house and draw their attention
to the distant light. The encounter ends at 1:03 a.m. (Paul Cerny, “UFO
Hovers over California Farm,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 197 (October
1976): 3– 8; Center for UFO Studies, [case
files]; “The UFO Finalist,” IUR 2, no. 1 (January 1977): 6–8; Clark
III 294–296; Micah Hanks, “Tentacles
and Telephone Lines: The Colusa, California, UFO Incident of 1976,”
Mysterious Universe, February 22, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5306
Date: 9/10/1976
Description: Low-hovering disc with dome, rotating rim and bright
lights, power failure. Object moved away, shone beams of light
down
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Colusa, CA
ID: 279
Date: 9/11/1976
Description: 8:00 p.m. Herbert
Hopkins, the
hypnotist investigating the 1975 Oxford abduction case, is alone in his
home in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. The telephone rings, and the caller
identifies himself as vice president of the nonexistent New Jersey UFO
Research Association. He wants to come and discuss the Oxford case.
Hopkins consents, telling him to come right over. As soon as he switches
on the back light, he sees a man in dark clothing walking up the porch
stairs. Hopkins unthinkingly opens the door right away. The stranger is
wearing a black derby, black jacket, black tie, white shirt, gray
gloves, black trousers, and black shoes. The crease in his pants is
razor sharp. The man never introduces himself but sits down and removes
his hat. He is completely hairless, devoid of eyebrows and eyelashes,
but his lips are a vivid red. The stranger speaks in a monotone. After
Hopkins discusses what he knows about the David Stephens case, the man
remarks, “That’s just what I thought,” and abruptly changes the subject.
“You have two coins in your left pocket,” he says. Hopkins acknowledges
he has a dime and a penny. The stranger tells him to take one out and
hold it in his palm. He does and is shocked to find that its color has
changed to bright silver, then light blue. It grows blurry and fuzzy and
finally fades away in a vapor. The stranger says that no one else “on
this plane will ever see that coin again.” The stranger then asks if he
knew why Barney
Hill died, saying “He died because he knew too much. He died because
he had no heart, just as you have no coin.” He orders Hopkins to destroy
all the audiotapes of Stephens’s hypnosis sessions, as well as any other
UFO literature he has sitting around, or he will suffer the same fate as
Barney Hill. The stranger gets up, speaking slowly, and says his energy
is running low. He gets up slowly and walks down the porch steps one
foot at a time. Hopkins sees a bright light outside, rushes to the
kitchen window, and sees the light and the man are gone. About 90
minutes later, Mrs. Hopkins and two of their sons arrive home from a
movie. He tells them what happened, and one of the sons finds a series
of marks in the narrow driveway that look like a small tractor tread.
They are gone the next day. Hopkins burns all his tapes, correspondence,
and literature at the urging of his family. (Berthold Eric Schwartz, “The
Man-in-Black Syndrome, Part 1,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 4
(January 1978): 9–15; Berthold Eric Schwartz, “The
Man-in-Black Syndrome, Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 5
(February 1978): 22–25; Berthold Eric Schwartz, “The
Man-in-Black Syndrome, Part 3,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 6
(April 1978): 26–29; Clark III 863–864)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5308
Date: 9/11/1976
Description: Night. Three members of the Hood family are driving back
along a country road to their home in Little Britain, Ontario. Paul Hood
notices a flashing light in the treetops. When their car approaches, it
darts off. Days later, Paul and Don Hood find a 30-foot-diameter circle
of burned ground and grass swirled in a counterclockwise direction near
a split-rail fence in a swamp less than a quarter-mile from their home.
Six holes the size of grapefruits are also present. (“Foreign Forum,”
IUR 2, no. 1 (January 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5309
Date: 9/13/1976
Description: Ranch worker George Aguerre sees an object like an upturned
funnel with windows landing for 3–4 minutes near Tacuarembo, Uruguay. It
emits two brilliant beams of light from the top and is about 45 feet in
diameter. Police find landing marks and a burned area. (“Foreign Forum,”
IUR 2, no. 1 (January 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5310
Date: mid 9/1976
Description: 4:00 p.m. A copilot of a Boeing 727 for the Brazilian Varig
airline sees a disc-shaped object about 120 feet in diameter over the
Amazon forest between Manaus and Belém, Brazil. The aircraft’s radar
confirms the sighting. The pilot is carrying a camera and snaps a photo
of the UFO, which starts jumping from one side to the other in front of
the plane, causing the crew to panic. The sighting lasts about 5
minutes. (Clark III 198; Brazil 535–536)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5311
Date: 9/16/1976
Description: 9:45 p.m. A witness in Eureka, California, sees a large
orange light at treetop level that rushes overhead, then stops and
hovers for 5 minutes. (“Case 1-1-7,” IUR 1, no. 1 (November 1976):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5313
Date: 9/16/1976
Description: 9:15 p.m. Six witnesses in Modesto, California, see a
rolling orange ball of light heading slowly south. Possible balloon.
(“Case 1-1-6,” IUR 1, no. 1 (November 1976): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5312
Date: 9/18/1976
End date: 9/19/1976
Description: 10:30 p.m. Residents of the northeast portion of the city
of Tehran, Iran, watch a multicolored aircraft hovering a few thousand
feet in the air. Some of them call the nearby Mehrabad Airport, reaching
night supervisor Houssain Pirouzi, who goes outside at 11:15 p.m. to
look. With his binoculars, he sees a bright object flashing colored
lights and changing positions at an altitude of 6,000 feet. Around 12:30
a.m., Pirouzi alerts the Iranian Air Force command post. Deputy
Gen. Nader Yousefi also sees the object and scrambles an Air Force F-4
Phantom II interceptor piloted by Capt. Aziz Khani and 1stLt. Hossein
Shokri from Shahrokhi Airbase [now Hamadan Airbase] to the west at 1:30
a.m. They close in on the object, but the jet’s radio and instruments
give out. Only when Khani pulls away does functionality return. Squadron
Cmdr. Parviz Jafari takes off in a second jet with 1stLt. Jalal Damirian
in pursuit at 1:40 a.m. Some 27 miles from the UFO, Jafari picks the
object up on radar, the return indicating something the size of a Boeing
707. Visually, it is flashing like a strobe with intense red, green,
orange, and blue lights (in a diamond shape) so bright that Jafari
cannot see its body. He approaches within 70 miles, then the object
jumps 10° to the right, then twice again the same amount. Suddenly a
smaller round object comes out of the large object and heads straight
toward the interceptor at a high rate of speed. Jafari tries to fire an
AIM-9 heat-seeking missile at it, but his weapons control panel
malfunctions, as well as his radio and instruments. Jafari turns to the
left to avoid an impact with the small object, which approaches to 4
miles distance, then stops. It returns to the large object, which emits
another smaller object. Jafari is ordered back to the base, but the
light follows him. During final approach, another object (a thin
rectangle with three lights) appears at low altitude in front of his
plane. Gen. Yousefi then orders Jafari to approach the light and get a
look. When he is within 4 miles, the radio and instrument panel go out
again. The light disappears from view after Jafari lands. Base Commander
Gen. Abdulah Azerbarzin claims the complete investigation records are
turned over to the US Air Force, which insists it only has one memo from
USAF Lt. Col. Olin R. Mooy, who sat in on one of the pilot interviews. A
US Defense Intelligence Agency evaluation rates the case High (of major
significance). The sighting is apparently tracked by a US Defense
Support Program satellite. (Wikipedia, “1976
Tehran UFO incident”;
NICAP, “Iranian
F-4 Phantom Jet Chase, Radar/Visual/E-M/IAD Signal”; “Foreign
Forum,” IUR 1, no. 1 (November 1976): 2; “The U.S. Government and the
Iran Case,” IUR 3, no. 1 (January 1978): 6–7; “Review of Iranian UFO
Reports,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 2 (Jan./Feb. 1981): 14–15; “Now
You See It, Now You Don’t!”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 1 (February 1982): 3; Center for UFO
Studies, [case
documents]; Kim Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean
Tomes, 1987, pp. 85–88; Don Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio
Huneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000,
pp. 98–104;
Clark III 624–626; Kean, pp. 86–92, 149–150;
Swords 340–341; Good Above, pp. 318–321,
497–500;
Good Need, pp. 302–303,
315–317;
A. Meessen, “Deux
jets F-4 rencontrent un ovni à Téhéran,” April 30, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5314
Date: 9/19/1976
Description: Tehran, Iran: Civilians reported an UFO to the AFB. The
Iranian AF scrambled an American F-4 for intercept. As the F-4 was
vectored towards the brilliant UFO, all communications and
instrumentation were suddenly lost. As the pilot broke off pursuit, all
aircraft functions returned to normal. A second F-4 that was scrambled
began closing in on the UFO at greater than Mach 1 and was closing on
the UFO at 150 nautical mph., but the UFO accelerated and stayed ahead
of the F-4 (confirmed by Radar). Multi-colored flashing lights were
visible on the UFO. The moment the F-4 pilot tried to lock an AIM-9
missile at the UFO he lost all weapons panel and communication control.
The UFO launched two smaller UFOs, one of which began to follow the F-4.
After evasive action by the F-4, the smaller UFO returned and united
with the larger UFO. The other smaller UFO seemed to have landed on the
ground so the pilot flew down to investigate it. The landed UFO appeared
to be 12feet in diameter. As the pilot descended the light from the
landed UFO went out and he lost sight of it. The DIA termed this
sighting as “an outstanding report. This case is a classic which meets
all the criteria necessary for a study of a UFO phenomenon.” And, “an
inordinate amount of maneuverability was displayed by the UFOs.”
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p497, TEHRAN, B1-F p288, B1-G p72)
Location: Tehran, Iran
See also: 10/2/72
See also: 9/20/76
Date: 9/19/1976
Description: 1:00–2:00 a.m. A silvery, luminous circular object is seen
flying southwest to northwest (parallel to the coast) at an altitude of
3,200 feet in multiple locations in Morocco, including Agadir, El Kelaa
des Sraghna, Essaouira, Marrakesh, Casablanca, Rabat, Kenitra, Meknes,
and Fez. It gives off an intermittent trail and is completely silent.
The US Embassy in Rabat forwards a summary to the US State Department,
asking for more information. A reply comes in October from Secretary of
State Henry
Kissinger, who
cites the Condon study and natural causes, although he rules out meteors
and reflections from a polar-orbiting satellite. (ClearIntent, pp. 86– 88)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5315
Date: 9/19/1976
Description: F-4 fighter aircraft attempted intercept of radar-visual
UFO, E-M system failures, physiological effects
Type: sighting
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Tehran, Iran
ID: 280
Date: 9/19/1976
Description: A TAP Air Portugal Boeing 707 nearly collides with a UFO
shortly after takeoff at Lisbon, Portugal. The oval object is glowing
blue with a horizontal row of red and white lights. It is also seen by
an air traffic controller who says that the object does not show up on
radar. (“[Aerial
Emergency in Lisbon Due to a ’Flying Disc’]”
La Crónica (Buenos Aires), September 23, 1976; Good Above, p. 154)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5316
Date: 9/22/1976
Description: 10:30 p.m. A 10-year-old-boy in Regal, Minnesota, sees a
3.5-foot-tall creature with a large bald head, large red eyes, and green
skin floating outside his bedroom window. A couple minutes later, the
creature floats down to a cube-shaped craft, which he enters. (“Case
1-1-27,” IUR 1, no. 1 (November 1976): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5317
Date: 9/24/1976
Description: 7:30 p.m. John Hopkins, the son of hypnotist Herbert
Hopkins, and his wife Maureen, meet two odd individuals, “Bill” and
“Jane,” who have arranged a meeting at a fast-food restaurant near their
home in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. The conversation is uncomfortable and
strange but does not involve UFOs. (Clark III 864–865)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5319
Date: 9/24/1976
Description: 2:30 a.m. A conservation officer and his wife watch a dark
object fly over Lake Red Rock near Otley, Iowa. It moves noiselessly at
40 mph and about 600 feet altitude. Binoculars reveal a blinking red
light flanked by pairs of amber lights. (“Case 1-1-35,” IUR 1, no. 1
(November 1976): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5318
Date: 9/25/1976
Description: Night. Vera White and three others traveling by car between
farms in the Karawinna area to the west of Mildura, Victoria, Australia,
notice a strange object on the ground in a paddock. It takes off
vertically and hovers silently for about 5 minutes. They return to the
site in the daytime and find a circle of flattened, discolored grass
about 30 feet in diameter. (Melbourne Sun, September 29, 1976; “Foreign
Forum,” IUR 1, no. 2 (December 1976): 10) Autumn —2:00 a.m. Missile
Combat Crew Commander Bruce Fenstermacher is on alert duty at one of the
underground launch capsules at Francis E. Warren AFB near Cheyenne,
Wyoming, with another crewman, when the officer-in- charge at the launch
facility asks two security guards to report anything that seems unusual.
A few seconds later, one of them reports seeing a pulsating white object
in the sky. He can see flashing red and blue lights between the
pulsations. It is about 10 miles north of their position and close to
the launch control facility itself. The UFO is hovering about 100 feet
above the building and looks like a “fat cigar” about 50–60 feet long.
It begins to move away but stops close to one of the missile silos. Over
the next 2 hours or so, the UFO hovers near several more missile silos.
The security guards are terrified and refuse to approach any missile
site that has the UFO over it. Sometime around 4:30 a.m., the object
zooms away and disappears in seconds. (Nukes 340–343)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5320
Date: 10/1976
Description: George J. Myers and his wife are traveling 3 miles
southeast of Winnebago, Nebraska, on US Highway 73 [now US 75] when they
notice a large patch of cornfield with no corn growing. It is on sloping
ground and in the shape of a perfect circle 100 feet in diameter. They
learn from local farmers that it had appeared earlier in the year while
the corn was still quite short, killing off growth later in the summer.
A light “like lightning” was seen shortly before the damaged area was
noticed. Myers takes photographs of the circle and soil samples, which
are later taken to the University of Nebraska and show evidence of a
chemical spill. (“Large
Circular Physical Trace: Is
It Common?” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1982): 1;
“Large
Physical Trace Identified,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 1
(Feb./March 1983): 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5323
Date: 10/1976
Description: Guillermo Carlos Roncoroni begins publishing UFO Press in
Buenos Aires, Argentina, until November 1986. (UFO
Press, no.
1 (October 1976); Willy Smith, “UFOs in Latin America,” UFOs 1947–1987,
Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 99–100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5322
Date: 10/1976
Description: The head of the UFO desk at the Swedish National Defence
Research Institute, Sture
Wickerts, travels to Målilla, Kalmar County, Sweden, to conduct a
search for an unknown object thought to have crashed in the woods. He
supervises diving operations into a water-filled hole possibly connected
to the incident. Nothing is found but old logs. (Swords 369)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5321
Date: 10/7/1976
Description: Sir Eric Gairy, Prime Minister of Grenada, addressed the UN
General Assembly urging recognition of UFOs as a serious international
scientific problem.
Type: official
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: New York, NY
ID: 281
Date: 10/12/1976
Description: 7:30 p.m. Multiple independent witnesses in Sonora,
California, are drawn outside by a loud noise like “six jets.” They see
a large red oblong UFO hovering with a wobbling motion. After 5 minutes,
the UFO shoots upward and disappears. The next day, angel hair strands
are found and sent to David Miletich at the University of Chicago. They
are found to be “whitish, fibrous material of uniform composition being
quite fine with frequent branching.” The primary constituents are carbon
and nitrogen, but it is not spider web. A sample tested at the Michael
Reese Hospital Microbiology Lab shows it to be contaminated with a low
level of radioactive tritium. (“Angel Hair: Under Analysis,” IUR 2, no.
8 (August 1977): 4, 8; “Angel-Hair Analysis Complete,” IUR 3, no. 3
(March 1978): insert; Brian Boldman, “Angel Hair Physical Analyses: A
Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006): 106–107)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5324
Date: 10/17/1976
Description: Control tower and airline pilot on runway observed glowing
disc like “two plates placed together” hovering to south. Object then
flew away.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Akita Airport, Japan
ID: 282
Date: 10/17/1976
Description: 10:40 a.m. A brilliant golden disc hovers south of Akita
Airport, Japan, for 5 minutes. Kenichi Waga, telecommunications officer
in the control tower, says “It was disc-shaped, larger than a car, but
smaller than an airplane.” Capt. Masara Saito, 34, Toa Airlines [now
Japan Air System] pilot, is preparing to take off when he notices “a
strange looking disc-shaped object 5,000 feet from the ground.” Tazawa
Takumi, air traffic controller on duty, who observes the object through
binoculars, says it looks like “two plates placed together, with the top
one inverted.” The unidentified object finally flies away toward the
sea. (NICAP, “Disc
Hovers near Japanese Airport”;
UFOEv II 134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5325
Date: 10/19/1976
Description: 9:35 p.m. A group of people at the southwest end of Lake
Harriet in Minneapolis, Minnesota, watch a yellow cone of light with a
row of windows at the bottom hover below the cloud cover for 2 minutes,
disappear, and reappear in a new location. This repeats 4–5 times before
the object shoots up into the clouds. (“Case 1-2-20,” IUR 1, no. 2
(December 1976): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5327
Date: 10/19/1976
Description: An object like a silver, luminous mercury lamp is seen over
Paso de Los Toros, Durazno, Uruguay. The UFO allegedly causes the
deformation of a metal refrigerator, the discharge of three car
batteries, and the bursting of a refreshment bottle. (“Foreign Forum,”
IUR 2, no. 3 (March 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5326
Date: late 10/1976
Description: 7:30 p.m. Four physicians and a diplomat in an undeveloped
region of Algeria south of Algiers watch a bright oval light on the
horizon heading toward them. The object casts a faint beam downward,
sweeping the ground, as it darts around the sky silently. It is bright
when in motion, but faint when it stops. After an hour it fades, leaving
a glowing space in the dark sky. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 4 (April
1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5329
Date: 10/22/1976
Description: 1:20 a.m. Paul Thompson is driving home from his job on
Interstate 494 where the highway turns to the northeast in Woodbury,
Minnesota. He sees yellow and red lights about 2 miles ahead on the
north side of the road. As he moves closer, he finds that the lights are
actually two objects suspended in the air above a marshy area behind
some woods about 300–400 feet north of the interstate. They are soft
rounded triangles with red glows at the tip of the triangle and yellow
pulsating lights protruding from the blunter ends. The objects are
apparently metallic, about 20–25 feet in their longer dimension, and
hover without making a sound. Thompson gets out of his car to watch. A
truck approaches and one object rises vertically and zooms away. As the
truck is abreast of his position, the second object ascends and flies
directly over them. A CUFOS investigator examines the marshy area two
days later and finds an oblong area, 40 feet by 20 feet, devoid of
cattails and heavy grass. Inside the oblong is a smaller, irregular area
where he finds exposed soil is and a few round holes the size of a
quarter. He takes soil samples, which are sent to University of Kansas
geologist Edward
J. Zeller for thermoluminesce testing. The soil from the site center
shows essentially no thermoluminescence, indicating t had been subjected
to strong heat. (CUFOS
case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5328
Date: 10/23/1976
Description: 4:00 p.m. Three men—Nicholas Flaskas, Frank Zonaras, and
Bill Zonaras—waiting to film a solar eclipse at Taola Point in Ben Boyd
National Park, New South Wales, notice two unusual objects on the
horizon close to the ocean. The UFOs alternately move toward and away
from them. The men take both motion picture and still photos, showing
one bell-shaped object and another discoid in shape. They turn their
attention to the eclipse and when it is over, the objects are gone.
(David Reneke, “The
Benboyd UFO Movie: History and Evaluation,” UFO Research Australia
1, no. 2 (March/April 1980): 19–23; Keith Basterfield, Vladimir Godic,
and Pony Godic, “Australian Ufology: A Review,” JUFOS 2 (1990):
31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5330
Date: 10/30/1976
Description: Spanish journalist Juan
J. Benítez receives the first batch of some 300 pages of UFO reports
from the Spanish Air Ministry in Madrid, Spain. The documents include
photos and clips of gun-camera film taken by air force pilots. (Gordon
Creighton, “The
Spanish Government Opens Its Files,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 3
(October 1977): 3; J. J. Benítez, OVNIs: Documentos oficiales del
gobierno español, Plaza y Janés, 1977; Good Above, p. 152)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5331
Date: 11/1976
Description: The first issue of the International UFO Reporter (IUR) is
published by the Center for UFO Studies, with J. Allen
Hynek as editor-in-chief and Allan
Hendry as managing editor. (IUR 1, no. 1 (November 1976); Clark III
567–568, 627)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5332
Date: 11/1976
Description: Dominique Delille founds Groupe d’Études du Phénomène OVNI
in Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay, Loire, France. It publishes a quarterly
newsletter, Siècle Inconnu, which continues under the names GEPO
Informations and OVNI et Cie through 1983. (INFO
OVNI, no.
1 (November 1976))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5333
Date: 11/4/1976
Description: 8:30 p.m. A married couple in Martinsburg, Ohio, see two
irregularly shaped objects, rounded on the bottom, hovering low near
their car. One descends, flying over some woods, while the other is seen
above the telephone wires by the road. Both have a red light on top, a
whiter flashing light on the bottom, and a revolving red light. Around
9:30 p.m., three similar objects are seen by a woman 4 miles away,
slowly changing formation for 5 minutes in the east. (“Case 1-2-62,” IUR
1, no. 2 (December 1976): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5334
Date: 11/5/1976
Description: 8:08 p.m. A young woman is watching television at her home
in Rives, Isère, France. She sees a bright light outside and calls her
father. From their balcony they watch an intense white light speed
across the sky from northwest to southeast and disappear in the
mountains. The father thinks the light is spinning. At the same time a
French physicist is driving 7 miles away near Voreppe. He sees a
luminous disc brighter than the full moon and stops his car to watch it.
The object is white in the center, bluish-white at the periphery, and is
surrounded by an intense green halo. It is moving silently southeast but
stops for a few seconds before moving off 30° from its previous course
at a much greater speed. It passes in front of the Massif du Taillefer
before it disappears behind Mont Néron. The sighting lasts 20–25
seconds. (Jacques Vallée, “Estimates
of Power Optical Output in Six Cases of
Unexplained Aerial Objects with Defined Luminosity Characteristics,”
Journal of Scientific Exploration 12, no. 3 (1998): 352–354)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5335
Date: 11/8/1976
Description: 8:45 p.m. Two 14-year-old girls in the northern part of
Belmont, North Carolina, see a round gray object about 20–30 feet in
diameter “on edge.” It hovers several hundred feet in the air for 5
minutes, then moves east over the trees. It emits a beeping noise and is
covered in flashing white lights and red steady lights. More than 100
people report seeing UFOs in nearby Gastonia on November 10. (“Case
1-2-75,” IUR 1, no. 2 (December 1977): 11; “106
People ‘Saw UFOs,’” Gastonia (N.C.) Gazette, November 11, 1976,
p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5336
Date: 11/10/1976
Description: 8:20 p.m. A teenage girl driving alone near Putnam,
Connecticut, passes underneath two dark metallic objects about 50 feet
in diameter, one flying at an angle behind the other. Both objects have
a red light in front, two on the sides, and a blue light in the back,
all blinking. One banks slightly before it goes out of view, revealing a
row of illuminated windows around the circular edge and a smaller circle
like a “hatch” underneath. (“Case 1-2- 79,” IUR 1, no. 2 (December
1977): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5337
Date: 11/14/1976
Description: 9:00 p.m. Joyce Bowles and Ted Pratt are driving down the
A272 near Winchester, England, when their car starts to jolt and shake
and then veers off the road into a grass verge by the roadside. The car
is subject to electrical interference as the engine roars, and the
lights seem to shine brighter than usual. They spot what appears to be
an orange, cigar-shaped craft, 15 feet in length, with three entities
behind a window. As they watch, a bearded humanoid wearing a silver suit
comes out of the object, walks to the car, and looks in on the
witnesses. He then disappears and the couple are able to drive off.
(Leslie Harris, “UFO
and Silver-Suited Entity Seen near Winchester,”
Flying Saucer Review 22, no. 5 (February 1977): 3–6; Richard Nash, “UFO
and Occupants Reported
near Winchester,” Flying Saucer Review 22, no. 5 (February 1977):
7–8; Jenny Randles, “Questions
and Comments
on the Nash Interview,” Flying Saucer Review 22, no. 5 (February
1977): 8; Frank J. Wood, “Alleged CE-III
at Winchester: Vehicle Examination,” Flying Saucer Review 22, no. 5
(February 1977): 9–14; Good Above, pp. 70–71)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5338
Date: 11/15/1976
Description: 1:15 a.m. Six distant objects with brilliant white lights
are seen performing unusual patterns in the sky at Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
They seem to have a metallic texture and make an intermittent sound like
a “belt sander on metal.” (“Case 2-1-1,” IUR 2, no. 1 (January 1977):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5339
Date: 11/16/1976
Description: Lockheed’s first Have Blue demonstrator stealth aircraft,
HB1001, after going through numerous tests and getting a visual
camouflage makeover, is flown from Burbank, California, to Area 51 in
Nevada. After four taxi tests, HB1001 is ready for test flights.
(Wikipedia, “Lockheed
Have
Blue”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5340
Date: 11/19/1976
Description: President-Elect Jimmy
Carter meets with CIA Director George
H. W. Bush to discuss certain “exotic and very closely held items
relating to sources and methods.” At one point, Bush and his aide
Jennifer Fitzgerald take Carter and Vice President Walter
Mondale aside to describe particularly sensitive CIA programs.
Congressional Research Service Policy Analyst Marcia
S. Smith claims that part of the debriefing is about UFOs, which
Carter has asked about. But Bush explains that this “information was
information that existed on a need to know basis only. Simple curiosity
on the part of the President wasn’t adequate.” Carter determines to
replace Bush with his Naval Academy classmate Stansfield
Turner after the inauguration. (presidentialufo.com, “President
Carter, Daniel Sheehan, and Donald Menzel: The Congressional Research
Service UFO Studies for President Carter”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5341
Date: 11/19/1976
Description: Commandante Angel Parreno, the pilot of an Iberian Airlines
Boeing 727 on a flight from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid, Spain,
watches an unknown object accompany his aircraft for 20 minutes.
Possible barium cloud released by a rocket. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no.
4 (April 1977): 2; Good Above, p. 154)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5342
Date: 11/19/1976
Description: 7:15 p.m. Witnesses from aircraft and ships around the
Canary Islands watch a point of light climbing into the sky in a spiral
motion, expanding to a diameter 3–4 times that of the moon. It has a
semicircular shape and gives the impression that it is resting on the
horizon. Among the witnesses are Gen. Carlos Dolz de Espejo, chief of
staff of the Canary Islands Air Zone, and the crew of the Spanish Navy
school ship Juan
Sebastian Elcano. Maj.
Antonio Munáiz Ferro-Sastre again investigates, concluding that it was a
“craft of unknown origin endowed with an unknown propulsion energy.” The
time correlates with four Poseidon missile launches by the submarine USS
Alexander Hamilton. (Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos and Ricardo Campo Pérez, “Navy Missile Tests and the
Canary Islands UFOs,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005): 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5343
Date: 11/19/1976
Description: 8:00 p.m. Three women watch a large yellow-orange light
slowly and silently meander 150 feet above a church in St. Peter,
Minnesota. They drive to a police station, where officers also see the
now distant light head from west to east. (“Case 2-1-16,” IUR 2, no. 1
(January 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5344
Date: 11/23/1976
Description: 3:30 a.m. A lounge owner and an employee are frightened
when an object 3 times the size of a helicopter flies over their car
from the south in Kenner, Louisiana. It has flashing red, green, and
white lights. The object hovers above some trees in the distance for 2
minutes, then heads slowly east toward Moisant Airport [now Louis
Armstring New Orleans International Airport]. (“Case 2-1-25,” IUR 2, no.
1 (January 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5345
Date: 11/24/1976
Description: 10:30 p.m. An Indiana Gas serviceman sees a 12-foot white
cone of light with sparklers at its base diminish to a blinding point
source alongside his pickup truck outside New Albany, Indiana. It
follows him from the Kentucky border and moves silently ahead into the
eastern sky when he reaches town. Other witnesses see it as a distant
point of light; when they leave, the object rushes back over the
serviceman’s house and disappears into the northwest. (“Case 2-1-27,”
IUR 2, no. 1 (January 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5346
Date: 11/25/1976
Description: 9:00 p.m. A couple in Beecher, Illinois, watch an oblong,
glowing, orange object 45° in the western sky for 5–6 minutes. Holding
stationary, the object diminishes to a point source and returns to its
original shape, larger than the moon. (“Case 2-1-29,” IUR 2, no. 1
(January 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5347
Date: early 12/1976
Description: Afternoon. Eero Lammi is on his way home from school in
Oulu, Finland, when he sees a 15-foot ball of light move across toward
him from across the Gulf of Bothnia and land in a nearby field. When he
approaches it, the object shoots out a beam of light that hits him in
the chest. He feels a searing pain and blacks out. His parents think it
is a prank until a doctor finds slight burns on his chest and back. The
case is investigated by the Swedish Military High Command. (“Foreign
Forum,” IUR 2, no. 2 (February 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5348
Date: 12/5/1976
Description: 2:30 p.m. Several witnesses at Sollefteå, Västernorrland,
Sweden, observe an elongated object (an estimated 148 feet long) with
round openings along the fuselage. A blue-green light is shining from
the openings, a red light at the front, and a diffuse orange glow from
the underside. The object hovers above a military base built into the
mountainside at an elevation of about 165 feet. After a while, the
object moves on and hovers above a nearby power station. Then it moves
jerkily sideways, jumping rapidly between different positions. After
hovering for 15 minutes, it tilts up and rapidly speeds upwards and out
of sight, disappearing at 3:30 p.m. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 4
(April 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5349
Date: 12/14/1976
Description: 2:00 a.m. Panoramic radar at an air force base at
Contrexéville, Vosges, France, picks up unknown targets at 2:00 a.m.,
3:00 a.m., and 3:30 a.m. Seven air traffic controllers are the
witnesses. The radar paints the targets as 10–15 miles apart every 10
seconds, meaning their speed is estimated at 4,200–6,200 mph, a
supersonic speed of Mach 5 to 8, at an altitude of 6.5 miles. (Claude
Poher, “A Case of Radar Detection of UFOs in France,” IUR 29, no. 3
(Fall 2004): 13–14, 27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5350
Date: 12/15/1976
Description: 9:20 p.m. A driver in Holland, Massachusetts, sees a
cigar-shaped object twice the width of the moon hovering low in the east
about 500 feet away. Human-like forms are visible through a row of
windows on the side. It disappears in a bright red flash. (“Case 2-2-1,”
IUR 2, no. 2 (February 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5352
Date: 12/15/1976
Description: 7:00 a.m. Arnold Barker is driving south on Alberta Highway
46 [now Highway 63] nearly 3 miles south of Boyle, Alberta, when he sees
two bright flashing lights flying west to east. As the object passes
overhead, he realizes it is not an airplane. He jumps out of his truck
to get a better look and sees that the lights are now red, zigzaging,
and attached to each other by a faint connection. The object appears to
be landing silently in a field to the east of the road, but it stops
about 6–10 feet from the ground and 100–150 feet away. Barker takes a
few steps toward it, but it takes off and moves north. He gets in his
truck again to turn around and the object follows him, again as a white
light. He speeds up to 75 mph and outdistances it. (Chris Rutkowski,
Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August North, pp. 185–187)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5351
Date: 12/16/1976
Description: 12:15 p.m. Michael Winterborne, meteorological officer for
the Kalgoorlie Airport in Western Australia, sees a white,
football-shaped object, glowing and pulsating with fuzzy edges, rush
from the northeast horizon to the northwest horizon at great speed. At
2:45 p.m., he sees it again, arching overhead toward the west. Both
incidents are timed by stopwatch at 12 seconds. Dave Bower, at the
Scotia nickel mine about 50 miles to the north, sees a UFO drifting
slowly westward at about 1,000 feet altitude. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2,
no. 3 (March 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5353
Date: 12/18/1976
Description: 12:55 a.m. On Wood Canyon Road east of Soda Springs, Idaho,
police officer Dennis Abrams has a close encounter with a 30-foot
diameter, oval-shaped UFO. It lacks any seams or windows and has the
bulk of three to four cars. It emits a light green light and hovers only
60 feet away. It makes no sound when hovering but makes a whistling
“wind” sound when in motion. (“CE-I Seen by Independent Policemen in
Idaho,” IUR 2, no. 2 (February 1977): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5354
Date: 12/18/1976
Description: A Flugfélag Íslands [now Air Iceland Connect] airliner in
flight from Akureyi to Reykjavik, Iceland, picks up a clear radar target
at 18,000 feet over the Mælifell volcano. It tracks the object for one
minute as it rushes 2 miles below the aircraft at 3,600 mph. The object
is not seen visually. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 3 (March 1977):
2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5355
Date: 12/18/1976
Description: 5:20 p.m. Several children in Newfolden, Minnesota, see an
object speeding across the sky then stopping. It has 6–9 orange and
white lights flashing on and off around the perimeter. (“Case 2-2-9,”
IUR 2, no. 2 (February 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5356
Date: 12/18/1976
Description: 8:30 p.m. A group of witnesses see a red-orange oval light
pass overhead in Miami, Florida, about 250 feet up. It turns west in a
smooth, even motion. (“Case 2-2-12,” IUR 2, no. 2 (February 1977):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5357
Date: 12/19/1976
Description: The first KH-11 Kennen reconnaissance satellite (codenamed
Key Hole) is launched by the US National Reconnaissance Office. It is
the first American spy satellite to use electro-optical digital imaging
that offers real- time optical observations. The capabilities of the
KH-11 are highly classified, as are images they produce. The satellites
are believed to have been the source of some imagery of the Soviet Union
and China made public in 1997; images of Sudan and Afghanistan made
public in 1998 related to the response to the 1998 US embassy bombings;
and a 2019 photo, revealed by President Donald
Trump, of a failed Iranian rocket launch. (Wikipedia, “KH-11
KENNEN”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5358
Date: 12/19/1976
Description: 6:20 p.m. A witness in Concord, California, sees a silent,
star-like light moving northward in an erratic fashion: zigzagging, up
and down, in circles, backing up, speeding up for 1 minute. Then it
speeds up and moves downward in a curve, zooming out of sight in 1
second. (“Case 2-2-13,” IUR 2, no. 2 (February 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5359
Date: 12/19/1976
Description: Night. Neil Brennan and Dean Gibbs step outside when they
hear a whirring noise near Aquinas College, Salter Point, Western
Australia. Brennan sees a bright disc, 2 feet in diameter, hovering 30
feet in the air behind his house. It then disappears toward the west.
(Perth News (W.A.) News, December 20, 1976; “Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no.
2 (February 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5360
Date: 12/29/1976
Description: Mr. and Mrs. Chapin, who had the previous experience in
October 1969, again notice that their mine site near Redding,
California, is unseasonably warm. Chapin walks carefully down toward the
creek as his wife remains in the car. When he shouts and tells her to
bring the gun, she observes a similar object to the one they had seen
seven years earlier, except more pock-mocked on the surface, some
175–200 feet away from Mr. Chapin. It moves rapidly in the air and zaps
both of them, knocking them to the ground. Chapin hits his head against
the canyon wall and his wife falls to the road. They remain unconscious
for about 15 minutes. (“The Redding, California CE II Case,” IUR 3, no.
3 (March 1978): insert)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5361
Date: 1977
Description: Maj. Gen. Hideki Komura, an adviser to Japan’s Cabinet
Research Office, admits that UFO investigations are carried out at a top
level. He says that in the 1950s, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force
encouraged reports from the public, but they had too many reports to
analyze. Now he admits they cooperate closely with the US government’s
Foreign Technology Division. (Good Above, p. 431)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5370
Date: 1977
Description: Former USAF Sergeant, Mario Woods, claims that Richard Doty
was present at the debriefing of his 1977 UFO incident over a nuclear
silo at Ellsworth AFB.
Type: debriefing
Reference: link
Location: Ellsworth AFB
Date: 1977
Description: An Australian soldier is traveling on the Nullabor Plain in
South Australia when he and a companion, an American soldier, watch the
descent of a purple-green fireball. They drive to the impact site and
see a crashed UFO. The Australian goes inside and sees two aliens, one
dead and the other making a squealing sound. They are about 5 feet tall
and pot-bellied, with long, thin arms and large, black eyes. When he
comes out again, he finds that military personnel have arrived. They
arrest him and his friend and keep him in custody for two weeks. (Bill
Chalker, “UFO
Crash/Retrieval Stories: The Australian Experience,” 1998; Clark III
345)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5369
Date: 1977
Description: CAUS (Citizens Against UFO Secrecy), a non-profit freedom
of information activist group that advocates for the release of
classified information regarding UFOs, is founded.
Type: non-profit organization
Reference: Wikipeda
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Date: 1977
Description: V. Alexeyev said that at some “unnamed” weapons test ranges
when UFO’s appeared soldiers signaled, mostly in a physical way. The
UFO’s responded by “compressing” their visual shape.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: link
Location: Soviet Union
Attributes: communication
Date: 1977
Description: Roger Thome founds Groupe d’Étude et de Recherche sur les
OVNI Haute-Marne/Meuse in Chaumont, Haute- Merne, France, which
publishes five issues of Groupe 5255 in 1980–1982. (Groupe
5255, no. 1 (February 1980))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5367
Date: 1977
Description: Fernando António Milhano Patinha founds OVNIGrupo 7 in
Lisbon, Portugal. It publishes a quarterly magazine, OVNI. (Margaret
Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, p. 235)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5366
Date: 1977
Description: José Jean Pereira de Alencar founds the Centro de Estudos
Ufologicos in Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil, and publishes the journal
UFOnotas. (Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, p. 56)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5365
Date: 1977
Description: Lawrence J. Fenwick, Joseph Muskat, and Harry Tokarz found
the Canadian UFO Research Network in Willowdale, Ontario, to investigate
reports and inform the public. It begins publishing the CUFORN Bulletin
in late 1979, lasting until the summer of 1999. (CUFORN
Bulletin 1, no. 2 (January 1980))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5364
Date: 1977
Description: Constitutional attorney Daniel
P. Sheehan, at
the request of Congressional Research Service researcher Marcia
S. Smith, visits
the brand-new Madison Building at the Library of Congress to look at the
“classified sections of Project Blue Book.” He claims to have seen
photos of a flying saucer embedded in snow and surrounded by USAF
personnel wearing parkas. There are symbols on the side of the crashed
craft. (presidentialufo.com, “President Carter, Daniel Sheehan, and
Donald Menzel: The Congressional Research Service UFO Studies
for President Carter”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5363
Date: 1977
Description: J.
Allen Hynek publishes The Hynek UFO Report as a review of and
commentary on Project Blue Book records. It is largely ghostwritten by
Elaine M. Hendry, Allan
Hendry’s wife and a graduate student in astronomy at Northwestern
University. (J. Allen Hynek, The
Hynek UFO Report, Dell, 1977; Clark III 620)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5362
Date: 1977
Description: California State University, Long Beach, English professor
Alvin
H. Lawson, along with technical writer John DeHerrera and physician
William C. McCall, carries out a study in Anaheim (California) Memorial
Hospital to determine if the abduction stories told by “real” abductees
under hypnotic regression resemble the stories told by others who are
asked to imagine an abduction under hypnosis. After the experiment,
carried out by student volunteers, Lawson declares that the imaginary
accounts are all but identical to the real accounts. He then formulates
a Birth Memories Hypothesis, which argues that abductions are
nonphysical, archetypal fantasies in which the witness’s birth memories
play a central role. However, Lawson’s methodology and results are later
critiqued severely. (Alvin H. Lawson, “What
Can We Learn from Hypnosis of Imaginary ‘Abductees’?” MUFON UFO
Journal, no. 120 (November 1977): 7–9; Alvin H. Lawson, “What
Can We Learn from Hypnosis of Imaginary
‘Abductees’? Part 2,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 121 (December 1977);
Alvin H. Lawson, “What Can We Learn from Hypnosis of Imaginary
‘Abductees’? Part 3,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 122 (January 1978); Alvin
H. Lawson, “Hypnosis
of Imaginary ’Abductees,” in Curtis G. Fuller, ed., Proceedings of
the First International UFO Congress, Warner, 1980, pp. 195–213; D.
Scott Rogo, “Imaginary Facts: The Case of the Imaginary Abductions,” IUR
10, no. 2 (March/April 1985): 3–5; D. Scott Rogo, “Birth Traumas from
Outer Space,” IUR 10, no. 3 (May/June 1985): 4–5, 16; Clark III
944–945)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5368
Date: 1/1977
Description: Alfred
Webre joins the Center for the Study of Social Policy at the
Stanford Research Institute [now SRI International] in Menlo Park,
California, as a senior policy analyst. He intends to develop an
“extraterrestrial communication” project with White House backing. He
plans to establish a comprehensive UFO database, hire scientific
advisers to evaluate the data, and issue policy recommendations,
including one to end military and intelligence secrecy. He is referred
to an unnamed female staff member of the White House Domestic Policy
Staff, who is supportive of his proposal. He is promised approval of his
proposal, but never hears back from the White House again. The request
is terminated in September. (Steven M. Greer, Disclosure: Military and
Government Witnesses Reveal the Greatest Secrets in Modern History,
Crossing Point, 2001, pp. 441–446; Dolan II 142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5373
Date: 1/1977
Description: Peter
A. Sturrock of Stanford University releases the results of his
survey on UFO sightings and beliefs of professional American
astronomers. He has mailed out 2,611 questionnaires, with half (1,356)
completed and returned. Sixty-two respondents (nearly 5%) say they have
witnessed or obtained an instrumented record of an event they could not
identify and that might be related to UFOs. Some 53% prefer additional
scientific study of UFOs. (“Sturrock
Reports His UFO-Survey Results,” Physics Today 30 (May 1977): 112;
“Astronomers and UFO’s: A Survey,” IUR 2, no. 3 (March 1977): 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5372
Date: 1/1977
Description: The Roper Organization asks two questions about UFOs in a
survey: 44% “believe in” life elsewhere in the universe and 29% in UFOs
as extraterrestrial. (Robert J. Durant, “Evolution of Public Opinion on
UFOs,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5371
Date: 1/1977
End date: 5/1977
Description: Miniwave of UFO sightings, including round and triangular
objects
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: UK
ID: 283
Date: 1/1/1977
Description: 8:00 p.m. François Perez and his wife are chased in their
car by a 33-foot long oval object in Valence, Drôme, France. They
retrace their route one hour later after telling police. They see the
oval object again, about 1,200 feet from them in a field. It appears to
be 90–120 feet in diameter and surrounded by a halo of white light.
After 10 minutes, the object begins flashing and rises up into the air
at a 45° angle. They complain of eye pain and conjunctivitis for 48
hours afterward, and Perez’s watch stops working. (“French
Couple Report Being Chased by ‘Big
Glowing Star,’” Los Angeles Times, January 9, 1977, p. 28; “Foreign
Forum,” IUR 2, no. 2 (February 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5374
Date: 1/6/1977
Description: 1:15 a.m. Florida Malboeuf is sitting at her window at 6420
Casgrain Avenue in Montreal, Quebec, when she sees an oyster-shaped,
flat-bottomed metallic object with a row of white lights around its
base. It flies in from the north and lands on the rooftop of a
three-story apartment building across the street from her only 60 feet
away. Immediately two figures appear on the roof; they are over six feet
tall and thin, with long arms. They are wearing white one-piece uniforms
with their heads covered with tight “bath helmets.” They stand looking
at the street, then at the sky, then they apparently return to the
object. A moment later they disappear, and the UFO rises from the roof
about 20 feet and flies off to the east. Her son André goes over to the
rooftop in question and finds a large, elliptical-shaped crust of ice,
about 18 feet in diameter, on top of the snow. He also finds four small
footprints only 6.5 inches long. (Marc Leduc and Wido Hoville, “Un
UFO sur une maison,” UFO-Quebec, no. 9 (1977): 6–10; Yurko
Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen, 1979,
pp. 62–66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5375
Date: 1/10/1977
Description: 12:00 noon. Horse farmer William
McCarthy is looking out his window at the falling snow when he is
surprised to see a hole in his pond in the town of Wakefield, New
Hampshire. The pond, 105 by 75 feet, was frozen solid just the day
before. He goes outside for a closer look. The hole is perfectly round
and cuts smoothly through 14 inches of ice. Eight inches of slush
surrounds the hole. Peering into the hole, McCarthy sees something that
looks like a one-foot-square box. He races back to the house and brings
family members over for a look. Then he goes to the barn to pick up a
rake, hoe, and pole. Back at the pond, McCarthy sees that the box has
sunk three feet into the muck at the bottom. Frustrated in his attempt
to retrieve the object, he calls a friend, Bob Palmer, who arrives
around 2:30 p.m. Concerned that they might be dealing with radioactive
satellite or aircraft debris, Palmer notifies the police, who soon
arrive in the company of a local Civil Defense representative. The
Geiger counter indicates a reading alarmingly above normal (3 roentgens
per hour versus normal background radiation of .001 roentgen). The
McCarthys are warned to stay away from the water, and the CD man and the
police leave to inform their superiors. By 4:00 p.m. the circle of slush
has expanded to 10 feet. When McCarthy observes the pond in the morning,
he discovers a second hole, this one about 50 feet from the original.
Not long afterwards, someone from the attorney general’s office warns
McCarthy not to let his animals drink from the pond; he reappears later
in the day to express concern about possible water seepage. He also
directs McCarthy and his family not to discuss the affair with anyone
else until the official investigation is completed. The next day the
pond is frozen over again. Disregarding warnings, McCarthy walks out on
it and looks down through the clear ice where the hole has been and to
the pool bottom. A fresh 6-inch-wide trench stretches from beneath the
first hole all the way to the second. To all appearances, the object
that entered via the former has left via the latter. State police escort
all but the officially connected off the farm. Investigators try
unsuccessfully to drain the pond, then see a 6-by-3-foot opening where
the original hole had been. Distant observers think they see the
searchers retrieve a black object and place it inside a van, which
quickly leaves the area. By the end of the day, a statement from the
governor’s office declares that more sophisticated equipment has found
no abnormal radioactivity in the pond and the surrounding area. The
black object, the authorities contend, is a container filled with soil
and stone samples collected for analysis. (“What’s
Going On? N.H. Pond Mystery Called False Report,” Boston Globe,
January 14, 1977, p. 3; Allan Hendry, “The Wakefield Incident: Telling a
UFO from a Hole in the Ground,” IUR 2, no. 2 (February 1977): 8;
“Wakefield Wrap-Up,” IUR 2, no. 2 (February 1977): insert; Clark III
1233–1234)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5376
Date: 1/10/1977
Description: 4:00 p.m. A driver stopped at an intersection in Biloxi,
Mississippi, watches a disc on edge descend at an 80° angle, growing
larger. When it reaches treetop level, it banks in a curve into the
trees. As it leaves, it presents a round face as large as the full moon.
(“Case 2-2-48,” IUR 2, no, 2 (February 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5377
Date: 1/11/1977
Description: The crew of an Indian Air Force jet transport is flying 42
miles west of Varanasi, India, when it encounters three luminescent
discs that fly past, circle once, then continue east. Apparently,
thousands see the objects from the ground over a period of 45 minutes.
(Good Need, p. 303)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5378
Date: 1/13/1977
Description: 12:30 a.m. A driver is paced by a UFO shaped like a
flattened football with a dark equator in Plantation, Florida. The
noiseless object is glowing with a steady white light underneath. It
moves erratically in front of the car, and turns a corner as she pulls
into her home. As she jumps out, she sees a second object join it in the
northeast, and both speed toward the east in 5–6 seconds. (“Case
2-2-52,” IUR 2, no. 2 (February 1977): insert.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5379
Date: 1/15/1977
Description: 8:15 p.m. An unusually bright light is seen bobbing up and
down low in the southern sky of Charleston, Oregon, for 30 minutes. It
gradually drops below the horizon. (“Case 2-3-2,” IUR 2, no. 3 (March
1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5380
Date: mid 1/1977
Description: 3:00 a.m. Eino Maki is out grooming the ski slopes at the
Briar Mountain Lodge near Norway, Michigan. He notices that a nocturnal
light UFO (seen frequently in the area since November 1976) is keeping
pace with him as he moves up and down the slopes, edging closer. At
first it is about 2 miles away at treetop level; now he can see red
lights on the object. A bit unnerved, Maki goes back to the lodge and
positions himself behind it. The light moves out of sight, and Maki goes
back to work about 15 minutes later. Soon the light returns and it is
below him on the same ski run, shining brightly. He decides to go home
in his pickup truck. One week later, around 11:00 p.m., the same thing
starts happening again, but Maki decides to run home right away.
(Kenneth Schellhase, “UFOs on the Ski Slopes of Northern Michigan,” IUR
7, no. 2 (March 1982): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5381
Date: 1/20/1977
End date: 1/20/1981
Description: President Jimmy Carter in office
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipeda
Location: Washington DC
Date: 1/21/1977
Description: Night. Capt. Gustavo Ferreira and the crew of Avianca
flight HK-1273 see an extremely bright white light in front of his
plane. They are 7 minutes out of the El Dorado Airport in Bogotá,
Colombia, westbound at 20,000 feet. At the same time, airport radar
operator Jorge Jimenez watches a target moving at 27,340 mph in a zigzag
motion. Ferreira watches the light change color in response to his
turning on his landing lights and head south after 3 minutes. Jimenez
sees the target cut 90° to the south at the same time. (“Foreign Forum,”
IUR 2, no. 7 (July 1977): 2; UFOEv II 135)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5385
Date: 1/21/1977
Description: 8:45 p.m. Robert Melerine and Irwin Menesses are doing some
hunting along a dike canal about one mile northeast of Yscloskey,
St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, one in a boat and the other walking along
the shore. Melerine sees a bright red light in the sky. Suddenly the
light seems right around him as the boat is engulfed in the glow, which
extends to the surrounding landscape. There is no noise, and the light
flies away into the woods. Menesses is already back at camp and has not
seen the light. They both get into the boat and move down the dike
canal, using the outboard motor. The light reappears and moves closer to
them. Although the motor is running the boat is not moving, seemingly
held in place. Then the light quickly leaves and the boat lurches
forward with great force, causing both men to fall. The light again
flies at low level into the trees and continues on until they lose it.
They estimate that the light is about 15–25 feet in diameter, roughly
circular, faceted, and strikingly fast when it moves toward them. Both
men report nausea, stomach aches, and fever for 2 days after the
incident (it is flu season). (“Mysterious Hovering Light Observed by
Yscloskey Men,” St. Bernard (La.) News, January 26, 1977; “Mysterious
Hovering Light Still a Mystery,” St. Bernard (La.) News, February 9,
1977; Ted Peters, “Warm
Light Stops
Everything!” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 111 (February 1977): 3–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5384
Date: 1/21/1977
Description: 4:45 p.m. Three female factory workers in Bridlington,
Yorkshire, England, are walking to work on Bessingby Way when they see a
hazy oval object hovering above the Britax PMG factory roof just before
it begins moving to the right and stopping again. Almost immediately
they spot another hazy object hovering above the adjacent K. B. Dixon
woodyard. It begins moving forward at a slow pace then stops above a
ventilation pipe in the Dixon factory wall. As it hovers the haze
disappears, and the object’s features become more distinct. It is larger
than a double-decker bus and shaped like a rugby ball. All three are
able to see through a row of windows on the side that reveal a corridor
inside. On one end is a tube-like structure or pole. Soon it moves over
some community gardens and hovers briefly at about 6 feet altitude,
lowers its “pole,” and appears to suck up a polythene bag. Both objects
now move off to the west. The sighting duration is 5–10 minutes. The
witnesses are terrified during the event, experiencing a cold sensation
sweeping over them and a prickly irritation in their eyes. They develop
sore throats and colds. (Robert Morrell, “UFOs
over Bridlington Factories,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 3 (October
1977): 8–10, 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5383
Date: 1/21/1977
Description: Brilliant white light zigzagging erratically at high speed,
confirmed on ground and airborne radar. Responded to pilot flashing his
landing lights.
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Bogota, Colombia
ID: 285
Date: 1/21/1977
Description: Boat brightly illuminated by round glowing object, abnormal
silence, heat, boat held back as if by invisible force, light beam, time
loss
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: St. Bernard Parish, LA
ID: 284
Date: 1/21/1977
Description: 3:15 p.m. An observer in Aspen, Colorado, watches a
stationary object for more than an hour. Through binoculars it looks
like a 3:1 rectangle with rounded corners of blue-green light. It fades
from view in the same position. (“Case 2-3-12,” IUR 2, no. 3 (March
1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5382
Date: 1/27/1977
Description: 1:05 a.m. A 19-year-old trucker is driving on State Highway
329 southeast of Prospect, Kentucky, when he spots a rectangular,
orange-red object coming down near his jeep. His radio fails 15 seconds
into the sighting. He feels compelled to watch the object, which stays
in the vicinity only a short time. When he arrives home, he discovers
that it has taken 45 minutes to complete a 7-minute trip. Later under
hypnosis, he relates being taken inside the object and examined by three
strange creatures who are shaped like machines (looking like a giant
one- armed tombstone, a 7-foot teletype machine, and a man-sized Coke
machine). The electrical system on his jeep goes haywire the day after
the abduction. (“Single Witness Abduction in Kentucky,” IUR 2, no. 4
(April 1977): 6–7; Carla L. Rueckert, “Kentucky
Close Encounter,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 3 (October 1977):
15–16, 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5386
Date: 1/28/1977
Description: 10:05 p.m. Students in Platteville, Wisconsin, watch an
orange “fuzzy oval” object larger than a full moon descend from a low
angle above the southern horizon into distant trees. (“Case 2-3-22,” IUR
2, no. 3 (March 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5387
Date: 1/29/1977
Description: 9:30 p.m. A patrolman and an unnamed couple in East Haven,
Connecticut, see a horizontal row of 5–6 white lights, rotating left to
right. The object hovers for 6 minutes, rises from 45° in the east to
80°, drops lower, executes left and right 90° turns, and fades low in
the southern sky. (“Case 2-3-23,” IUR 2, no. 3 (March 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5388
Date: 2/1977
Description: 10:30 p.m. A Danish serviceman is walking to his quarters
at Naval Station Grønnedal [now Kangilinnguit] in Greenland pauses to
look at the Northern Lights. He retrieves a camera to take photos and
notices an elliptical dark object below the aurora. The object appears
on only one of his time-exposure photos. Possible altocumulus cloud.
(Kim Møller Hansen, “Elliptical
Object over Greenland Naval Station,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5,
no. 3 (June/July 1984): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5389
Date: 2/1977
Description: An Italian Air Force F-104 is followed for 23 minutes by a
UFO that is brighter than the moon. It remains about 2,400–2,700 feet
behind the plane. The base authorizes him to intercept it, but when he
climbs to 12,000 feet, the UFO paces him then disappears.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5390
Date: 2/1/1977
Description: 8:30 p.m. Two helicopter pilots flying south at 60 mph near
Carthage, Missouri, watch a northbound light pass beneath them and climb
to their altitude at 2,000 feet and 300–500 feet away. It appears to be
a dark, vertical cylinder 10–15 feet high, 5–8 feet wide, and with
struts and a light on the bottom. As the helicopter circles, the object
rises higher and heads southeast, disappearing in a second or two.
(“Case 2-3-33,” IUR 2, no. 3 (March 1977): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5391
Date: 2/1/1977
Description: 9:05 p.m. A police sergeant in Glendale, California, sees a
bright red light 45° in the west. He drives “within a block” of the
light and sees it as bigger than the full moon, perhaps 100–150 feet in
diameter, and hovering silently for 3–4 minutes. It moves at incredible
speed away to the west. (“Case 2-3-35,” IUR 2, no. 3 (March 1977):
8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5392
Date: 2/2/1977
Description: Farmer Zbigniew Tuszewski finds a strange disc 1.6 feet in
diameter and weighing 66 pounds in his field in Dalabuszki village,
north of Gostyń, Poland. Concave on one side, flat on the other, the
find does not appear to be from a satellite. A spectroscopic analysis
shows the presence of nickel, cobalt, niobium, molybdenum, vanadium, and
tellurium; however, another analysis shows no evidence of nickel.
(“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 9 (September 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5393
Date: 2/4/1977
Description: 6:30 a.m. A woman and her daughter step outside their house
in Senožeti, Slovenia, and see a glowing orange ellipse about four times
the size of the moon hovering about 10° above the forest. It is silent
and has 4–7 brighter spots on it. Walking along, they watch the object
disappear and see a glow arising from the woods as if there is a fire in
a nearby village. They run to the spot but find nothing there. (“Foreign
Forum,” IUR 2, no. 9 (September 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5394
Date: 2/4/1977
Description: Around 12:00 noon. Fifteen children, mostly 10-year-old
boys, at Broad Haven Primary School in Pembroke, Wales, are playing
football when they see a silvery cigar-shaped UFO in a field behind the
building, partially hidden by trees and shrubs. Two in the group say it
has a silver dome with a flashing light at the top. Six of them claim to
see a silver man with pointed ears next to the craft. The school’s
headteacher Ralph Llewellyn asks them to draw the UFO and is amazed at
how similar the drawings are. Local UFO enthusiast Randall Jones Pugh
brings the story to the attention of the national media and soon
sightings of UFOs and alien occupants spring up within a 20-mile radius
of Broad Haven, especially near RAF Brawdy [now Cawdor Barracks], east
of St. Davids. (Peter Paget, The Welsh Triangle, Granada, 1979; “Broad
Haven UFO Sightings Marked 40 Years On,” BBC News, February 4, 2017;
Peter Paget, The Welsh Triangle Revisited, The author, 2018; David
Clarke, “Close Encounters of the Playground Kind,” Fortean Times 357
(September 2017): 16–18; UFOFiles2, pp. 94–95)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5395
Date: 2/6/1977
Description: UFO researcher Larry
W. Bryant writes a letter to President Jimmy
Carter, suggesting that he look into the roles played by military
and civilian intelligence agencies in the UFO cover-up. He receives the
standard USAF brush-off letter, saying that UFOs are no longer being
investigated. (Larry W. Bryant, UFO Politics at the White House,
Invisible College, 2001)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5396
Date: 2/9/1977
Description: 8:45 p.m. A deputy sheriff and constable in Flora,
Mississippi, watch a UFO six times the size of their car hover 20–50
feet above them for 30 minutes. (“Case 2-3-48,” IUR 2, no. 3 (March
1977): 8; “Close Encounter in Mississippi,” IUR 2, no 4 (April 1977):
7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5398
Date: 2/9/1977
Description: 5:20 a.m. A high-altitude light is seen hovering for
several minutes above Bondi, New South Wales, Australia, before shooting
off to the east. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 5 (May 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5397
Date: 2/10/1977
Description: 12:45 a.m. Tom Thibault is alone on the road to Southville,
Nova Scotia, when his car is pushed back 250 feet by a 30-by-60 foot
object hovering silently 10–12 feet above the road. A blue light emerges
from the object that creates an electric shock and an unbearable noise.
Thibault suffers a memory loss and gets headaches when he drives by the
scene afterward. (Digby (N.S.) Courier, February 24, 1977; “Foreign
Forum,” IUR 2, no. 5 (May 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5399
Date: 2/11/1977
Description: 8:40 p.m. Health service cook Slavka Gorsek and her two
children see an intense beam of light come through a bedroom window in
their home in Gaberke, Slovenia. It illuminates the room briefly then
goes out. The light is coming from an egg-shaped object about 8–11 feet
wide that has landed only about 50 feet away behind a chicken coop. It
is bright white with a green or blue center. For 2–3 minutes they can
see and hear nothing, until the object flashes again and takes off.
Three days later Gorsek notices a “glimmering dust” at the landing site
and the marks of five landing gear. An analysis is performed but with
ambiguous results. (Milos Krmelj, “UFO Landing
in Yugoslavia,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 118 (September 1977):
6–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5400
Date: mid 2/1977
Description: 10:30 p.m. Another nocturnal light mimics Eino Maki’s
movements as he grooms the ski slopes at Brian Mountain Lodge near
Norway, Michigan. After going away once, it reappears right over him,
illuminating him and a large area around him. He races his tractor at
top speed (15 mph), maneuvering under struts and wires so it can’t get
at him. Assistant Manager Jake Malone hears the tractor gearing up
outside and sees a huge brilliantly lit object the “size of a boxcar”
following Maki up the slope. When he reaches the top, the UFO hovers,
silently bouncing up and down, about 500 feet from the lodge. Maki
estimates the object is about 60–80 feet long. Some 10–15 people exiting
the lodge begin to see the display as well. (Kenneth Schellhase, “UFOs
on the Ski Slopes of Northern Michigan,” IUR 7, no. 2 (March 1982):
10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5401
Date: 2/16/1977
Description: Morning. Four boys and one adult at Penlee Secondary School
in Plymouth, Devon, England, independently see a cigar-shaped object
flying horizontally above the school playground before it climbs into a
cloud and disappears. (David Clarke, “Close Encounters of the Playground
Kind,” Fortean Times 357 (September 2017): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5402
Date: 2/16/1977
Description: Afternoon. Nine children, age 8–11, are playing netball
with their teacher, Mair Williams, at Rhosybol School in Anglesey, North
Wales, when they see an object flying north. It has a black dome on top
and a silver, cigar-shaped base. It remains in sight for 3 minutes, goes
behind the only cloud in the sky, reappears for one minute, then
disappears. The teacher takes them back inside, separates them, and
tells them to draw what they have seen. The sighting is reported to RAF
Valley in Anglesey, which can offer no positive identification. (David
Clarke, “Close Encounters of the Playground Kind,” Fortean Times 357
(September 2017): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5403
Date: 2/16/1977
Description: 9:00 p.m. A commercial pilot standing outside his truck in
Canton, Mississippi, watches a cylindrical object about 40 feet long
pass alongside him a few hundred feet away at 30 mph. It has one steady
white light in front and makes a noise like a wheezing turbine. It
recedes into the west after 5 minutes. (“Case 2-4-6,” IUR 2, no. 4
(April 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5404
Date: 2/16/1977
Description: 9:15 p.m. A woman in Utica, Michigan, watches for 2 minutes
a vertical cylinder of white light that is pointed at the top. It is
stationary, silent, shrouded in white haze, and about 10 times as long
as the full moon. (“Case 2-4-7,” IUR 2, no. 4 (April 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5405
Date: 2/18/1977
Description: Disc hovered, illuminated barnyard, farm animals reacted,
watchdog later died. Witness felt electric shock, heat, paralysis.
Physiological and physical effects.
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: medical
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Salto, Uruguay
ID: 286
Date: 2/20/1977
Description: 10:15 p.m. A domed disc is seen for 1–2 minutes by a man
and his son in Victorville, California. It is silver in color with three
windows, three legs or wheels, and two hooks at both ends. It hovers
above houses 3–4 blocks away, then recedes toward the northwest after
attaching itself to the top of a second object to form a sphere. (“Case
2-4-15,” IUR 2, no. 4 (April 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5406
Date: 2/22/1977
Description: Severe corrosion of the KS 150 reactor in Jaslovské
Bohunice, Czech Republic, causes a release of radioactive material into
the plant area, requiring a complete decommission. (Wikipedia, “KS
150”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5407
Date: 2/22/1977
Description: 9:30 p.m. Antonio Serena, his wife Francesca Castellanos,
and their three children are followed by a bright light for one hour and
a distance of about 25 miles. The light is first spotted as they are
driving northwest of Llíria in Valencia province, Spain, and follows
them through the town of Vilamarxant. The car experiences some engine
and light problems and des not seem to be able to accelerate. When they
approach the village of Cheste, the light seems to move ahead of them,
get much closer, and extend some legs in preparation for landing. One of
the daughters gets sick from anxiety. The object moves away when a
second auto approaches from the opposite direction. Despite the seeming
drama of the incident, the light seems to have been Venus and the engine
problems are due to a drained battery, as Ian
Ridpath points out. (Story, pp. 327–330;
Ian Ridpath, “A
Spanish Close Encounter
Re-examined,” Ian Ridpath’s UFO Skeptic Pages, January 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5408
Date: 2/24/1977
Description: Humanoid encounter
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Langenargen, Lake Constance, Germany
ID: 287
Date: 2/25/1977
Description: 7:45 p.m. A 16-year-old bicycling near Cyprus College in
California is followed by a star-like object that appears in the west,
45° up. The light enlarges to a thin cigar-shape, 4–5 times the width of
the moon, after rushing toward him in 5 seconds. He cycles away,
frightened, and has to be driven home in tears by friends. His friends
and family see the object as a “star” that sets in the west in 25
minutes. Possibly Jupiter. (“Case 2-4-19,” IUR 2, no. 4 (April 1977):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5409
Date: 2/26/1977
Description: 9:00 p.m. An accident investigator in Ontario, California,
sees a white triangle with rounded sides as big as the full moon. It
moves silently and slowly from overhead toward the east, 45° up. It
changes course twice in the next 4–5 minutes before it disappears in the
distance. (“Case 2-4-21,” IUR 2, no. 4 (April 1977): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5410
Date: 3/4/1977
Description: 6:00 a.m. Ludwig Siegal is driving on Provincial Road 201
about 4 miles west of Sundown, Manitoba. He sees a shimmering oval
object ahead of him and silently hovering about 15 feet above the
highway. It is yellowish cream around the outer edge, darkening to more
yellowish in the middle. He passes directly underneath the object, which
does not appear to be solid. Two miles further, Siegal sees three
entities, 5 feet tall and shaped like bowling pins, in the glare of his
headlights. They are arranged in a row along the left side of the road
and have bulbous heads, narrow necks, and flared bodies. Unable to stop
in time, he crashes into the group but feels no impact. They simply
disappear as they touch the car’s bumper. Looking in his rear-view
mirror, he sees all three of them reappear behind his car, shrink to a
small size, and vanish. Siegal calls the RCMP from a nearby friend’s
house. They find skid marks, but no traces of blood or any impact marks
on Siegal’s car. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August
Night, 2022, pp. 166, 221–223)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5411
Date: 3/7/1977
Description: Radar-visual UFO approached Mirage bomber, sped away
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Chaumont, Haute-Marne, France
ID: 288
Date: 3/7/1977
Description: 8:34 p.m. French Air Force pilot Maj. René Giraud and
navigator Capt. Jean-Paul Abraham, flying a Dassault Mirage IV
supersonic bomber over Chaumont, Haute-Marne, France, see a huge UFO.
The light appears bigger and bigger as it approaches their aircraft from
the rear right. The pilot is flying at Mach 0.98 and makes a turn to the
right and then to the left to make sure the light is not a reflection of
some sort in the cockpit. As he does these maneuvers, both crew members
can distinguish that the light is on the front of a dark, solid object.
Despite the evasive maneuver, the unidentified object manages to stay
exactly behind them for a few seconds, a very dangerous situation if the
unknown object is hostile. Then the object makes a turn to the northwest
at an estimated speed of Mach 2, and flies away to the left of the
Mirage IV. (Kean, pp. 123–124;
Good Need, pp. 304–305;
Patrick Gross, “Mirage
IV Jet Bomber Encounters UFO, France, March 7, 1977”; “L’Observation
d’OVNI du Colonel
René Giraud (1977),” OVNI et Extraterrestre, November 10,
2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5412
Date: 3/8/1977
Description: 7:30 p.m. Eleven witnesses in six groups (including Thelma
Lowe, Harold Wilson, Sara Green, Mrs. Everett Miller, Mrs. W. E. Runge
II, and Robert Smyth) watch a red ball of fire the size of the full moon
drift over their houses and alight on the ground south of Gatchellville,
Pennsylvania. It leaves a large patch of burning grass (100 feet long by
30 feet wide), with a mysteriously unscathed area delineated by three
holes at the vertices. (“Case Number 2-4-44,” IUR 2, no. 5 (May 1977):
6–7; “Close-Out on the Gatchellville, PA CE II,” IUR 3, no. 3 (March
1978): insert)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5413
Date: 3/9/1977
Description: Brightly lighted ellipse hovered, car engine failed, lights
dimmed. Pressure, tingling sensation felt, physiological effects
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: medical
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Nelson, North Lancashire, UK
ID: 289
Date: 3/9/1977
Description: 12:34 a.m. Captain Assapa, Flight Officer Berehan, and
Flight Engineer Negassa of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET-701 are flying
near Qarun Lake, Egypt, when they see a formation of eight lights, with
two larger ones in the lead, flying southeast. They are the color of
“arc welding.” (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 5 (May 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5414
Date: 3/9/1977
Description: 3:10 a.m. Brian Grimshaw and his friend Jeff are driving to
a textile factory in Nelson, Lancashire, England, when they see a
cigar-shaped, metallic object in the sky. They stop the car for a better
look. The UFO has lights at either end that are changing color, and the
entire object is surrounded by a gray mist. The witnesses hear a sound
they describe as like the tide coming in and going out. As the object
comes closer, the car engine stops and the headlights dim. After five
minutes, the object flies off and the car restarts. Both witnesses come
down with headaches shortly afterward. (Tony Grimshaw and Jenny Randles,
“Frightening
Car-Stop near Nelson,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 2 (August 1977):
3–5, 12; UFOEv II 223–224; Jenny Randles, “Flappy Valley, Part 4,”
Fortean Times 328 (July 2015): 28–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5415
Date: 3/9/1977
Description: 7:20 p.m. Susanna and Maria Stratford watch a shiny saucer
with a red light on top and a rounded bottom descend to 30 feet above
the ground and hover for 20 minutes, veering left and right above the
trees in Saanich, British Columbia. It disappears toward the east. (“Night
UFO: It Came Back to See Us,” Victoria (B.C.) Times, March 11, 1977,
p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5416
Date: 3/9/1977
Description: 10:40 p.m. Four adult witnesses in Long Grove, Illinois,
are attracted outside by a loud crackling noise. Searching around with a
powerful spotlight, they see an object 60° up in the northern sky about
1,000 feet up. It is a white, tapered rectangle with a black silhouette
behind it about the size of the full moon. They watch it maneuver within
the spotlight beam and watch it sporadically for 30 minutes until it
vanishes within the beam; the noise stops immediately. (“Case 2-4-46,”
IUR 2, no. 5 (May 1975): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5417
Date: 3/10/1977
Description: 7:40 p.m. Ten crew members of two oil tankers anchored one
mile apart at the Arjuna Oil Field in the Java Sea, Indonesia, see an
object the apparent size of the full moon. It is primarily dark with a
red light in the middle and emits beams of yellowish-white light in two
directions. It is only about 1,000 feet above the surface of the water.
Coming from the west, it circles the offshore oil field twice and then
speeds off to the east after 5 minutes. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 2
(February 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5418
Date: 3/11/1977
Description: Rancher B. T. Bray discovers a 14-foot diameter, circular
ring in a paddock at Brayfield Station, southwest of Port Neill, South
Australia. No UFO is seen. The topsoil, soft everywhere else, is
surprisingly hard in the ring, with the grass in the center undisturbed.
(Adelaide (S.A.) Advertiser, March 12, 1977; “Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no.
8 (August 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5419
Date: 3/12/1977
Description: 9:05 p.m. United Airlines Flight 94 is flying south of
Syracuse, New York, on a course toward Boston’s Logan Airport in
Massachusetts. Suddenly the airplane starts a gradual, smooth (15° bank
angle) turn to the left by itself. Within 5–10 seconds both captain Neil
Daniels, 57, and the flight officer turn and look to their left side and
see an “extremely bright white light at about their own altitude.” It is
perfectly round and almost 3° arc in apparent diameter. Daniels
estimates its distance to be about 3,000 feet and probably as big or
bigger than a DC- 10 in size. Its intensity is like that of a flashbulb.
Boston Center calls them and asks, “United 94, where are you going?”
Daniels replies, “Well, let me figure this out. I’ll let you know.” Then
they notice that “the three compasses were all displaying different
readings. The FO’s compass was within 20° arc of the compass in front of
the captain and was not rotating. It was then that the FO uncoupled the
autopilot and flew the airplane manually.” Meanwhile, the UAP “followed
right along with us” for about 4–5 more minutes then “it took off and
picked up speed very rapidly and just disappeared, over about 15
seconds, back towards our 8:00 o’clock position and slightly upward.”
Daniels asked ATC if they have any radar traffic in the area and they
reply, “no.” Later, ATC tells Daniels, “So whatever it was, we don’t
know. But it did cause a disruption in the magnetic field around the
aircraft to the point where it did pull the aircraft off course.”
(Richard F. Haines, “Aviation
Safety in America: A Previously
Neglected Factor,” NARCAP, October 15, 2000, p. 80; “Air
Force Pilot Neil Daniels Sighting,” Riddlept YouTube channel,
October 8, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5420
Date: mid 3/1977
Description: Observers at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, Iran, see 20–25
UFOs flying from the desert toward the city. The pilots and passengers
of an Iranian airliner flying at more than 6 miles altitude about 87
miles from the city describe them as yellow in color. A Japanese pilot
the same distance south of Tehran switches on all his lights when he
sees a huge object in front of his plane. He claims 15–20 smaller
objects fly out of the large one directly toward the pilot, who changes
course and heads for Mehrabad. (“Review of Iranian UFO Reports,”
IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 2 (Jan./Feb. 1981): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5421
Date: mid 3/1977
Description: Around 11:00 p.m. James Ferguson and Tom Patton are in the
desert about 2 miles west of Tucson, Arizona, preparing to take night
photographs of saguaro cacti using flash-lighting effects. As they are
getting ready to take a photo, the floor of the desert around them
suddenly brightens. They see a large mass of light rise from behind a
distant range of hills and hover for many minutes just above the
horizon. Quickly, they turn the camera on its tripod toward the light
and take a time exposure. Several minutes pass and suddenly the light
moves rapidly to the north and disappears in the distance. The trail of
light on the photo shows the light’s departure. (“1977
Nocturnal Light Photograph Reported,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1,
no. 1 (May 1980): 1; “Tucson
1977
Nocturnal Light Remains Unidentified,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1,
no. 4 (August 1980): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5422
Date: 3/19/1977
Description: 8:00 p.m. Sylvia Laidler and her daughter Darlene are
driving eastbound on Highway 401 near Belleville, Ontario, when a red
streak appears in the north. The object stops abruptly over the highway
in front of her car, maintaining a red, pulsating glow, then approaches
them, flying on the south side of the road at tree-top level. It is
triangular with turquoise lights, red flashing lights, and a golden
light flashing at the bottom. It hovers silently above them briefly then
moves off to the south. (“UFO Hovered over Car,” Belleville (Ont.)
Intelligencer, May 6, 1977; Marler 96–97)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5423
Date: 3/22/1977
Description: 10:20 a.m. Tom Evison and his wife watch for 15 minutes a
bright stationary light an estimated 10 miles north of their location in
Seatoun, a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. Seen through a telescope,
it appears as elongated with black vertical lines. It slowly fades away
in place. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 5 (May 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5424
Date: 3/24/1977
Description: 8:50 p.m. Witnesses on La Palma and Tenerife, Canary
Islands, see a reddish light emerge from the sea, climb very fast, move
in a zigzag fashion, and leave behind a huge, bright halo that lasts 10
minutes. Several minutes later, a Scandinavian DC-8 passing over Ad
Dakhla on the coast of Western Sahara observes a luminous cloud to the
west. A South African Airways jumbo jet describes the same phenomenon.
310 miles to the south, Capt. M. Brackenridge and the crew of the
merchant ship Kinpurnie Castle witness a luminous semicircle on the
horizon, with a small bright arc inside. In only 3 minutes it has
reached colossal dimensions. Seven minutes later, it has completely
dispersed, after a second luminous spot appears above it. The sighting
correlates with the launch of two Poseidon missiles from the USS
Woodrow Wilson. (Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos and Ricardo Campo Pérez, “Navy Missile Tests and the
Canary Islands UFOs,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5425
Date: 3/29/1977
Description: 12:30 a.m. A witness in a rural area near West Decatur,
Pennsylvania, sees an “upside-down teardrop” object 100–200 feet long
and 60 feet wide drift in from the east at treetop level. With the point
of the teardrop pointing upward, the gray-brown object features a large
panel of fluorescent green light on the bottom. Drifting west into a
field, the object makes a sound like a “rope spinning in the air.”
Climbing at a 45° angle to a half-mile up in 15 seconds, it levels off
and accelerates to the southwest in 8 seconds. (“Case 2-5-43,” IUR 2,
no. 5 (May 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5426
Date: 4/1/1977
Description: 10:40 p.m. A woman is driving her three young children
south on the west side of DeRuyter, New York, when she finds herself
overtaking and driving underneath a 35–40-foot object hovering 30 feet
above the maple trees. The UFO has three outer red and blue lights and a
sequential series of red lights in two rows on the center bottom. One
mile away, two other witnesses go in search of a red glow without being
able to overtake it. (“Case 2-5-46,” IUR 2, no. 5 (May 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5427
Date: 4/5/1977
Description: 2:17 p.m. A pilot driving on I-94 northbound near
Deerfield, Illinois, sees an object coming toward him (southbound) first
in the distance then directly above him later on. It is a silver
mushroom three times the apparent size of the moon, and it moves
silently toward Chicago against the wind. (“Case 2-5-51,” IUR 2, no. 5
(May 1977): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5428
Date: 4/5/1977
Description: 9:00 p.m. A young couple and others in Lincolnton, North
Carolina, see 5–6 red-orange lights hovering 200 feet away. (“Case
2-5-52,” IUR 2, no. 6 (June 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5429
Date: 4/8/1977
Description: 2:00 a.m. A domed disc-shaped object flies around two
witnesses in Cedar Springs, Michigan, hovering and flashing over some
nearby trees. Ring ground marks are later found. (“Case 2-5-57,” IUR 2,
no. 5 (May 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5430
Date: 4/8/1977
Description: 8:08 p.m. A teenager and his mother in St. Louis, Missouri,
watch a flat disc four times the width of the moon silhouetted against
the clouds. It has three steady white lights around its edges and moves
silently from a high angle in the east to a low angle in the west.
(“Case 2-5-58,” IUR 2, no. 6 (June 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5431
Date: 4/8/1977
Description: 10:35 p.m. A cigar-shaped object glowing red at each end
darts north to south across Interstate 64 in Lexington, Kentucky,
several times. (“Case 2-5-80,” IUR 2, no. 6 (June 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5432
Date: 4/10/1977
Description: 2:30 a.m. Martha and Olof Eriksson watch a yellow light
with a red “textile-like” appendage hanging below it at Flykälen,
Jämtland, Sweden. It is 100 feet in diameter and moving from south to
north. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 8 (August 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5433
Date: 4/14/1977
Description: 2:00 a.m. Captain Scherrer, Senior First Officer Schmid,
and hostess Rothenhofer are on board Swissair Flight SR-798 near
Maastricht, Netherlands. Schmid notices the first of four
“lightning-like lights” in an otherwise clear sky. Ground radar calls
the plane’s attention to a target 15 miles away at their 1 o’clock
position. The crew sees two targets briefly at that position but only on
radar. Then all three of them see another flash. Maastricht radar
watches the target fall back east of the plane and rush at high speed
back to a 1 or 2 o’clock position only 3 miles away. There is still no
visual contact. A few minutes later, a third silent lightning-like flash
is seen just in front of the airliner. Maastricht radar watches the
target playing with the plane behind its tail and right wing, where the
fourth flash is seen. A military radar places the speed of the target
when moving fast at Mach 4 or 5. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 6 (June
1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5434
Date: 4/17/1977
Description: 4:00 p.m. A woman in La Louvière, Hainaut, Belgium, watches
a flat cylinder with faceted sides move from the southwest to northeast.
The object is dark, seems solid, and emits no smoke or trail. It moves
in a straight line with an oscillation in the same direction as the
wind. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 8 (August 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5435
Date: 4/17/1977
End date: 4/23/1977
Description: An International Congress on the UFO Phenomenon is held in
Acapulco, Mexico, organized by Mexico City businessman Guillermo Bravo.
Speakers include J.
Allen Hynek, Jacques
Vallée, John
A. Keel, William Spaulding, Walt
Andrus, and Dennis
Hauck. Prime Minister Eric
Gairy makes a strong plea for a United Nations program to
investigate UFOs. (J. Allen Hynek, “‘First’ International Congress on
the UFO Phenomenon,” IUR 2, no. 5 (May 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5436
Date: 4/18/1977
Description: About 12:05 a.m. George Thrupp and Margaret Mancour of the
weather office at Vancouver International Airport in British Columbia
have just gotten off their shift when they see a “blue flash” over the
airport. It appears in the south sky above Richmond. The light is coming
from a cigar-shaped object larger than a Boeing 747 jumbo jet that is
orange on the top half and blue on the bottom half with dark portholes
along the side. (“Pair
Sight UFO at
City Airport,” Vancouver (B.C.) Sun, April 19, 1977, p. 35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5437
Date: 4/18/1977
Description: White House Press Secretary Jody
Powell states in the “Washington Whispers” column of US News and
World Report that “before the year is out” there will be “unsettling
disclosures” about UFOs, “based on information from the CIA.” Later, the
White House claims the story is a “misunderstanding” by Powell. (Robert
Scheaffer, “‘UFO
Disclosure’ Happening Again This Year,” Skeptical Inquirer 40, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 2016): 16– 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5438
Date: 4/19/1977
Description: Early morning. Rosa Granville, proprietor of the Haven Fort
Hotel in Little Haven, Pembroke, Wales, is disturbed by a strange
humming noise. She looks out a window and sees an oval-shaped object
“like the moon falling down” land behind her home. Two tall humanoids
appear in front of the UFO, which is about the size of a minibus. They
have blank faces and pointed heads and are wearing white outfits like
boiler suits. They appear to “take measurements or gather things” and
climb a grassy bank in a field. When she returns to the window after
calling other family members, the object and the figures have vanished.
(UFOFiles2, p. 96)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5440
Date: 4/19/1977
Description: Santiago Laco Ozano, 32, is milking cows in Rocha, Uruguay,
when he hears a strange noise as the area around him is illuminated.
Looking up, he sees a small object giving off a powerful beam of light.
He faints, and on recovering about 5 minutes later, notices his hair is
slightly burned. He is admitted to a nearby hospital, whose personnel
verify the singeing and that his scalp has no lesions. (“Foreign Forum,”
IUR 3, no. 1 (January 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5439
Date: 4/21/1977
Description: 7:15 p.m. A couple in Towson, Maryland, sees a gray capsule
with short, stubby wings, two yellow headlights, and no windows. Several
times the full moon, the object flies silently from low in the east to
above their car in 4 minutes. (“Case 2-6-5,” IUR 2, no. 6 (June 1977):
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5441
Date: 4/22/1977
Description: 3:10 a.m. Three witnesses in Washburn, Wisconsin, see a
flat, round object with five white lights on its rim and two red lights
on its bottom. It pursues their car for three-quarters of a mile, even
around curves and driving at 90 mph. The object overshoots them, slows
down, and moves only 30 feet in front of them. After 4 minutes it
accelerates in a steep climb toward the southwest. (“Case 4-22-77,” IUR
2, no. 6 (June 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5442
Date: 4/23/1977
Description: 9:30 p.m. Pilot William Sorum and copilot Richard Drzal are
flying a DC-10, Northwest Orient Flight 27, from Seattle, Washington, to
Anchorage, Alaska. About 50 miles east of Middleton Island, Alaska, they
see a bright white star moving smoothly from the southern horizon across
their field of view to the northern horizon for about 40 seconds. It
passes in front of them at a 45° above them at their altitude of 39,000
feet. Radar Approach Controller Terry Siegrist and others at Anchorage
International Airport see a linear flight of four separate
unidentifiable blips suddenly appear on radar screens at 30 miles
distance from the city, covering 10 miles in 6–12 seconds (3,600 mph).
Correlation between the two observations is not established.
(“Radar/Visual in Alaska,” IUR 2, no. 7 (July 1977): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5443
Date: 4/25/1977
Description: 3:45 a.m. Eight soldiers camped on a military patrol 3
miles from Putre, Arica y Parinacota, Chile, suddenly see two bright
violet lights nearby. The soldiers’ dog and horses remain still while
the lights hover nearby. The leader of the group, Corporal Armando
Valdés Garrido, orders the other soldiers to put out their campfire. The
two large lights are about a half-mile away and hovering close to the
ground. Valdés approaches the lights, ordering them to identify
themselves. At this point a bright light envelops Valdés and he
apparently vanishes in a mist in plain view of the others. The soldiers
frantically begin searching for him but are unable to find him. At
around 4:15 a.m., Valdés suddenly reappears. He has a strange look on
his face and he gives out a sinister laugh, asking several times where
his mother is. Then he says, again in a very sinister sounding voice,
“You will never know who we are and where we come from.” The others
notice that he appears to have a week’s growth of beard, whereas he had
been clean-shaven just an hour ago, and his digital watch indicates the
impossible date of April 30. He is almost in hysterics and one of the
soldiers has to slap him, at which point Valdés faints. One of the other
soldiers, Raúl Salinas, who has been standing a few feet in back of the
others, notices a strange humanoid creature behind some nearby rocks. He
describes it as half animal and half human; no facial features are
visible, but it seems to be wearing a helmet and is carrying a red
light. Salinas is stunned to see the creature appear at several places
simultaneously. He thinks that there might be several humanoids. He does
not mention this to the others at the time, since they are already
scared, but the others do not see the humanoid or humanoids. When Valdés
wakes up he cannot remember where he has been. In 2013, Valdés, now an
evangelical pastor, admits that no one on the patrol saw aliens—only
that they saw something that frightened them. He claims he only left the
group to go urinate. Many ufologists now feel that the Chilean
government encouraged the abduction scenario to mask the presence of
troops and horses in northern Chile in the event of a war with Argentina
or a regional conflict. (Wikipedia, “Caso
Cabo Valdés”; “Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 7 (July 1977): 2; “The
Chilean Abduction,” APRO Bulletin 26, no. 1 (July 1977): 1, 3; “Cabo
Valdés se confiesa: ‘Nunca me abdujeron,’” La Cuarta, February 18,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5444
Date: 4/26/1977
Description: Pauline Coombes reports seeing a luminous silver figure 7–8
feet tall looking into her window at Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire,
Wales, for an hour. She doesn’t say anything until her son notices it
too. Humanoid in form, the figure’s face is black and featureless; it
vanishes when a neighbor drives up. Two weeks earlier, a yellow sphere
had chased her car; she accelerated to 80 mph to escape it. (“Foreign
Forum,” IUR 2, no. 8 (August 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5445
Date: 4/29/1977
Description: Manuel Lopez, the pilot of a single-engine plane, is
allegedly blinded in flight by a UFO near Bogotá, Colombia. Circling in
the air for 2 hours, Lopez’s calls for help are recorded and played on a
local radio station: “I’ve lost my sight; I don’t know what to do!” Four
aircraft surround him and talk him down to a safe landing at El Dorado
International Airport by radio. He is rushed to a military hospital
suffering from shock. (“Colombian Pilot
Says UFO Blinded Him,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 7, 1977,
p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5446
Date: 4/29/1977
Description: 11:45 p.m. A woman and her daughter are driving north of
Oxford, Ohio, when a white light begins pacing their car on the left
about 180 feet away. They speed up and pass it after 3 minutes. The
mother only sees a light, but the daughter perceives a “saucer with a
vertical cone.” (“Case 2-6-34,” IUR 2, no. 6 (June 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5447
Date: 5/1977
Description: Groupe d’Etude des Phenomenes Aerospatiaux Non-Identifies
(GEPAN) organized under the auspices of the French national space agency
for the study of UFOs.
Type: official
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: France
ID: 290
Date: 5/1977
Description: Leonard
H. Stringfield’s Situation Red: The UFO Siege! is published,
supporting the thesis that the US military has acquired extraterrestrial
hardware and possibly bodies. The book immediately prompts dozens of
alleged first- hand witnesses of crashed UFOs or alien bodies to contact
Stringfield with their stories. One of his informants is a medical
doctor (“Doctor X”) who says he has conducted medical tests on alien
cadavers at a major medical facility in the eastern US. Stringfield is
later able to visit Doctor X and a colleague of his, Doctor Y, who has
examined an alien tissue sample under a microscope. The aliens are said
to be 3.5–4.5 feet tall, weighing 40 pounds, with large heads. They have
slender torsos and long, thin arms. Their skin is tan or gray, elastic,
and reminiscent of reptilian skin. A colorless liquid is present in the
bodies; there are no red cells. The eyes are slanted without pupils, and
they have heavy brow ridges, apertures in place of ears, small noses,
and slitlike mouths. They have no teeth. Doctor X avoids Stringfield’s
later questions. (Leonard H. Stringfield, Situation Red: The UFO Siege!
Doubleday, 1977; UFOEv II 593)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5448
Date: 5/1977
Description: A young radio technician is lying in bed during a power
blackout in Gloggnitz, Austria. Suddenly a hollow globe about 1.6 feet
in diameter and made up of separate red bars of light appears over the
bedroom floor. It begins moving slowly and silently toward a glass door.
The witness jumps out of bed, bumping into the ball of light with his
leg. He feels nothing and there are no aftereffects. The bars of light
begin to shrink in diameter, causing the ball to dim and disappear. No
traces are left behind. (Michael D. Swords, “A Trick of the Light,” IUR
31, no. 2 (June 2007): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5449
Date: 5/1/1977
Description: 2:00 a.m. Amateur astronomer Lev Boethin sees a red-brown
oval object 10 times the size of the moon near Mudeng, Philippines. It
moves silently from the southeast to the northwest parallel to the
ground 20° above the horizon. He estimates it is only 300 feet away and
moving faster than an aircraft. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 6 (June
1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5450
Date: 5/1/1977
Description: The Groupe d’Etude des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non
Identifiés (GEPAN) is founded as a section of France’s Centre National
d’Études Spatiales on the initiative of CNES Director Yves
Sillard. Its purpose is to quiet public fears about a flurry of UFO
sightings, as well as to coordinate reports of the Gendarmerie, civil
aviation, the Air Force, and the meteorological service. Its first
director is aeronautical engineer Claude
Poher. GEPAN sets up a Scientific Council of astronomers and other
scientists and professionals to put in place data- collection systems
for UFO reports from official agencies and investigate cases already
reported. (Jean-Pierre Petit, “The
Truth about G.E.P.A.N.,” Flying Saucer Review 35, no. 4 (December
1990): 22–24; Mark Rodeghier, ed., “The 1999 French Report on UFOs and
Defense,” IUR 25, no. 2 (Summer 2000): 20–21; Gildas Bourdais, “From
GEPAN to SEPRA: Official UFO Studies in France,” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter
2000–2001): 11–13; Gildas Bourdais, “The Death and Rebirth of Official
French UFO Studies,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 12–13: Swords 440–442;
Good Above, pp. 135–136;
Clark III 546)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5451
Date: 5/3/1977
Description: 3:55 a.m. A caller tells police in Hainault, northeast
London, that a strange object is above the small lake in Hainault Forest
Country Park. Two policemen are dispatched, and they see a “large bright
red light” on the eastern shore. They exit their vehicle and notice an
object like a “bell tent” about 900 feet away that continuously pulsates
from dull to very bright red for the next 2–3 minutes. The UFO seems to
be hovering silently. Then the object appears to “dissolve on the spot.”
The officers decide somewhat reluctantly to go across the lake and
investigate. Then one of them looks up and briefly sees a thin, large,
white crescent hanging in the sky. This also dissolves on the spot.
Reaching the location of ground zero, they find nothing except a strong
burning smell. They make a report to the local UFO group, the Essex
Hotline, and investigator Barry M. King interviews one of the officers
that night. The next day, one large bush is found damaged: flattened in
the center and slightly burned. A gorse bush appears to have borne a
heavy weight, because almost all the limbs are snapped off the central
branch and displaced in an outward-radiating splay. No radiation or
magnetic anomalies are found. (Barry M. King, “Landing
at Hainault Seen by Police,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 2 (August
1977): 8–11; Andrew Collins, “Follow-Up
at Hainault,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 2 (August 1977):
11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5452
Date: 5/3/1977
Description: 6:35 p.m. Several people in the eastern part of Jakarta,
Indonesia, are watching the sky with binoculars when they see a round
UFO that traverses the sky in one minute. It carries flashing red,
green, white, and blue lights located in circles around the rim.
(“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 2 (February 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5453
Date: 5/3/1977
Description: 9:20 p.m. A woman in Wilcox, Pennsylvania, sees a large
silver sphere with many blue lights around its equator. The object
hovers close to the west side of her house, casting a spotlight on the
ground. It begins moving and disappears straight up in one second. Her
two dogs refuse to go near the spot afterward and are fussy about
eating. (“Case 2-6-53,” IUR 2, no. 6 (June 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5454
Date: 5/7/1977
Description: Night. Jenny Nordin and a companion in Undersåker,
Jamtland, Sweden, watch a triangular object with its apex pointing
downward shining and gleaming above a woods. A string of lights appears
around its base and the object changes to a rectangle with a pointed
top. The display continues for 2 hours until a spotlight shines down
from the right side, illuminating the trees. An enormous object with
three large windows rises up in the light; both objects hover and
gradually extinguish. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 11 (November 1977):
8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5455
Date: 5/8/1977
Description: 2:00 p.m. A couple driving west on Interstate 80 in Joliet,
Illinois, watch an object like a silver straw hat move silently
eastbound over their car. At 2:30 p.m., see a silver sphere with a
Saturn ring or halo around it. (“Case 2-6-64” and “Case 2-6-65,” IUR 2,
no. 6 (June 1977): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5456
Date: 5/10/1977
Description: 5:10 a.m. Phylis Barlow watches a triangular UFO circling
slowly in the sky above Rome, Georgia. It is flying at a tilt, and on
the bottom is a circle of foggy light surrounding a triangle of intense
bright light. She watches it with a friend for 10 minutes as it makes a
second pass over the area. It descends silently to 1,000 feet and they
can see it has a grayish-silver color and three creamy yellow,
honeycombed lights. It moves off to the southeast at great speed. (Rome
(Ga.) News-Tribune, May 10, 1977; Marler 97–98)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5457
Date: 5/11/1977
Description: 4:45 a.m. Three witnesses in Fresno, California, see a
bright yellow light rise erratically from the northern horizon to a
fixed position overhead in one minute. A second light, flashing white 3
times a second, rises from the west to a 50° position above the western
horizon. Both are stationary for 3 minutes. The yellow object sways back
and forth. The white light disappears and the yellow light fades into
the overcast. (“Case 2-6-79,” IUR 2, no. 6 (June 1977): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5459
Date: 5/11/1977
Description: 9:45 p.m. An adult couple near Bonner Springs, Kansas, see
a silent disc-shaped object with white windows hovering for 70–80
seconds, then fly away slowly. (“Case 2-6-84,” IUR 2, no. 6 (June 1977):
wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5460
Date: 5/11/1977
Description: 3:00 a.m. A woman and her son are awakened in their home in
Clearfield, Pennsylvania, by a loud humming sound. They see a green,
glowing sphere with a dark equator hovering for 30 minutes near the
house. It shoots straight up and away and the hum stops. The 11-year-old
boy stays home from school for several days because he is scared. (“Case
2-6-77,” IUR 2, no. 6 (June 1977): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5458
Date: 5/15/1977
Description: 4:30 a.m. A driver in Clarksville, Tennessee, sees a round
object with 7–8 blue-green lights flashing in its center. It appears to
drop 7–8 red flares as it is flying southbound in a straight path.
(“Case 2-7-1,” IUR 2, no. 7 (July 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5461
Date: 5/16/1977
End date: 5/17/1977
Description: 11:00 p.m. Officers M. L. Davidson and F. E. Bartlett of
the Memphis Police Tactical Squad spot a triangular UFO near Old Allen
Road and Frayser-Raleigh Road in Memphis, Tennessee. At 3:45 a.m.,
officers T. L. Todd and J. W. Jeter watch a similar object, 300 feet
long, near the Norris Road exit of Interstate 240. It is hovering about
200 feet above the ground near some power line towers and is in the
shape of a perfect triangle standing on edge. Later, Jeter watches it
through his rifle scope flying horizontally then taking off at great
speed. A Tennessee State Highway patrolman has also seen a triangular
object in Collierville. (“Triangular
Red, Green, Flying
Object Sighted,” Brownsville (Tex.) Herald, May 17, 1977, p. 1;
Marler 94–96)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5462
Date: 5/17/1977
Description: The Joint Chiefs of Staff re-release JANAP 146 (E),
specifying “unidentified flying objects” as something that must be
reported by military personnel. It distinguishes UFOs from other types
of known aircraft. (Joint Chiefs of Staff, “Change
No. 2 to JANAP 146 (E),” May 17, 1977)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5463
Date: 5/19/1977
Description: 10:45 p.m. A travel agent driving in Clayton, New Jersey,
watches a blindingly bright round object composed of many small white
lights packed together and three main lights in front. It hovers for
nearly a minute over telephone wires, then the lights begin flashing and
the object ascends in a steep climb. (“Case 2-7-15,” IUR 2, no. 7 (July
1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5464
Date: 5/20/1977
Description: 11:00 p.m. Three 14-year-old boys are in a field near
Bayview Avenue and Willow Pass Road, West Pittsburg [now Bay Point],
California, about a half mile from Suisun Bay. They see a saucer-shaped
object surrounded by a row of white, rectangular windows that flash on
and off. A blue light zigzags near the object. It is hovering near the
ground between railroad tracks and the bay, then it shoots across the
water in a matter of seconds and returns equally fast, moving silently
toward them and stopping about 150–300 feet away. One minute later, they
see three figures advancing toward them from near the lights. They are
dark human forms, about 5-foot-6 to 6 feet tall, surrounded by mist and
moving with a stiff, limping walk. The boys run across the street and
look back in time to see the figures fade from view. (“UFO with ‘Dark
Figures’ in California,” IUR 2, no. 7 (July 1977): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5465
Date: 5/21/1977
Description: 10:20 p.m. Three airmen stationed at RAF Waddington in
Lincolnshire, England, observe a triangular-shaped light moving
erratically in the sky. Within minutes the light is tracked on radar at
RAF Patrington [now closed], moving in a zigzag pattern. The target
registers on radarscopes for 4 minutes until the screens are “partially
obliterated by high-powered interference” that returns to normal once
the target disappears. (Good Need, p. 305)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5467
Date: 5/21/1977
Description: 9:30 p.m. A family in St. Louis, Missouri, sees a “comet”
with a long tail moving in the northeast. (“Case 2-7- 25,” IUR 2, no. 7
(July 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5466
Date: 5/26/1977
Description: 1:15 a.m. The crew of an RAF Avro Vulcan B.2 bomber piloted
by Flight Lt. David Edwards is flying at 28,000 feet over the Bay of
Biscay off the coast of France at a speed of Mach 0.86 when they observe
bright lights coming from the west. The lights resemble aircraft landing
lights, but they soon blink out leaving a large orange glow with a
bright-green fluorescent spot. An object emerges from the glow, moving
to the west, climbing at an angle of 45°, and leaving a thin contrail.
The radar operator reports jamming-type interference. Camera film from
the aircraft’s radar records a “strong response” from the direction of
the sighting, consisting of three separate radar returns at varying
distances, the third made up of three targets all 600 feet wide. On the
film the UFO appears as an “elongated shadow.” (Good Need, pp. 305–307;
UFOFiles2, pp. 92–94)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5468
Date: 5/26/1977
Description: 8:45 a.m. Two witnesses in Detroit, Michigan, see three
blue teardrop-shaped objects moving in a V- formation. They move from a
high angle in the north to a low angle in the northwest, hovering “like
helicopters” for one minute. They pull out of formation, swoop low,
regroup, and climb again in formation at a 40° angle, fading from view.
(“Case 2-7-35,” IUR 2, no. 7 (July 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5469
Date: 5/26/1977
Description: 4:10 p.m. A 39-year-old radio announcer and his wife are
watching an eastbound jet overhead at Dowagiac, Michigan. Suddenly a
brown, cigar-shaped object, distinctly outlined, rushes from the rear
left side of the plane to a position “one plane length” behind it. The
object is 1.5 times as long as the jet. It follows for about 30 seconds
and then rushes ahead of it and is gone in 3 seconds. (“Case 2-7-36,”
IUR 2, no. 7 (July 1977): 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5470
Date: 6/6/1977
Description: 11:30 p.m. Mark Henshall is riding his motorbike home at
Lartington, Teesdale, England, in the pouring rain when he sees two
purple lights to his side. He notices he is losing power as he rides up
a small hill. A car is just starting to pass him, and it too is slowing
down. Suddenly, both bike and car are enveloped in a nearly blinding,
fuzzy, ultraviolet light. Henshall feels his bike being pulled up the
incline and notices steam pouring off his back and legs, which are
getting unbearably hot. The motorcycle and car stop just as the misty
violet glow overhead vanishes. The car driver tells Henshall that he
lost all engine power for 30 seconds and yet was pulled forward. The
metal side of the motorbike is far hotter than normal and impossible to
touch without risking serious burns. The brakes are found to be so badly
worn that they need a complete resetting. When Henshall returns home,
his mother notices that his face is sunburned and hot to the touch. He
also experiences nausea for a few days. (Brian Straight, “Vehicle
Stop near Barnard Castle,” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 5 (February
1978): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5473
Date: 6/10/1977
Description: A woman in Deerfield, Illinois, watches a gray-white light
projecting “dots of color” that are drawn back to the source. It remains
stationary in the low southwestern sky for 15 minutes, then shoots off
in a slight climb in a matter of seconds. (“Case 2-7-87,” IUR 2, no. 7
(July 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5474
Date: 6/14/1977
Description: President Jimmy
Carter is allegedly given a UFO briefing at the White House and
bound to secrecy. According to former USAF Capt. Robert
M. Collins, an MJ-12 officer meets with Carter. A reconstruction of
the conversation is known as “Executive Briefing: Project Aquarius” and
later leaked to UFO researcher William Moore. However,
there is no hard evidence that such a briefing has taken place. (Robert
M. Collins, ed., “Executive
Briefing: Project Aquarius”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5475
Date: 6/14/1977
Description: Prime Minister Eric
Gairy of Grenada opens the Organization of American States General
Assembly with a call for a n international investigation of UFOs. He
says he was asked by participants at the UFO conference in Acapulco,
Mexico, to continue his efforts. He asks OAS members to support the
issue when it comes up at the United Nations. (“Caribbean Government
Calls for UFO Probe,” IUR 2, no. 7 (July 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5476
Date: 6/17/1977
Description: 12:00 noon. José Francisco Rodrigues is flying a Portuguese
Air Force Dornier Do 27 light plane over the Castelo de Bode dam in
central Portugal. When he emerges from the clouds, he sees a dark object
against a backdrop of white stratocumulus clouds, slightly to the right
of his plane. Thinking that the object is a cargo plane, he banks to the
left and immediately radios to ask if there is any traffic in the
vicinity. Air controller Sgt. Jose Vicente Saldanha replies in the
negative. As Rodrigues completes a turn to port, the object suddenly
appears at his 11 o’clock position no more than 20 feet away. It is
definitely not a cargo plane. The upper section, partially concealed by
cloud, is black, and on the lower section there are four or five panels.
The object is about 42–50 feet in diameter. Suddenly it accelerates and
vanishes from what the pilot believes is an initial stationary position.
The Dornier begins to vibrate violently and goes into an uncontrolled
dive. Struggling to regain control, Rodrigues pushes the control column
forward. Air speed increases to 160 mph then 207 mph as the ground comes
nearer. He regains control when almost “touching the tree tops” and the
plane lands in one piece with a badly shaken pilot. During the encounter
the directional electric gyroscope (connected to a magnetic compass)
rotates wildly, and by the time the plane lands it has deviated by 180°
relative to the magnetic compass. (Willy Smith, “Unknown Intruder over
Portugal,” IUR 10, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1985): 6–8; Good Above, pp. 154–156)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5477
Date: 6/17/1977
Description: Dusk. Five individuals—Dale Schexnaider and his wife, their
two daughters, Jena, 14, and Krissy, 11, and a close family friend—are
breaking camp and preparing to go home from the Cotile Lake Recreation
Area, Louisiana. Just before they reach the clearing that leads to the
road, the male friend begins feeling a “low frequency vibration” in his
bones. Looking upward, he sees the outline of a huge, disc-shaped UFO
hovering completely still, surrounded with points of light. The friend
estimates it is about 75 feet across and 50 feet tall. The two daughters
have been talking, but they too notice the humming noise and see the
UFO. The object then floats almost directly above them, and the middle
of the craft starts to glow. Several rays or beams of blue light shoot
from the UFO, striking them in the solar plexus. It is an intense,
electric, silver-blue, thin beam. They hear crackling sounds in the air
and they can’t move. Slowly they force their heads down to see their
arms glowing with electric blue light. Movement is difficult—as in a
dream, slow and heavy. After about 10 seconds, all the lights vanished
instantly, along with the force field. The craft begins to glide away
over the treetops. The children are frantic, and the male friend is
inwardly terrified. The parents are back at the camp and see none of
this. The case is reported to J.
Allen Hynek by a friend, and he later visits the witnesses and
speaks to all three. (“A CE-II As a Picnic Guest,” CUFOS Bulletin,
Summer 1980, pp. 1, 3; “An Electric-Blue Close Encounter,” CUFOS
Bulletin, Spring 1981, pp. 4–5, 10, 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5478
Date: 6/20/1977
Description: A committee of advanced workshop participants from the
Institut des Hautes Études de Défense Nationale has been tackling the
UFO situation for the French government since at least 1976. It produces
a report titled Rapport sur les “Phénomènes Aeriens Non Identifiés,
which is translated into English by Bonita Samuelson and published by
the Center for UFO Studies in 1980 under the title Report on
Unidentified Aerial Objects. The committee members are divided about the
existence of true UFOs, but they agree that the UFO theme can be used in
psychological warfare. (Claude Maugé, “GEPAN and COMETA,” IUR 27, no. 1
(Spring 2002): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5479
Date: summer 1977
Description: Around 2:00 a.m. Senior Airman James M. Dunn is on K-9
security patrol at the Weapons Storage Area at Loring AFB [now Loring
International Airport] near Limestone, Maine, when he gets a call from a
sergeant at Entry Control about a bright light above his truck. He sees
an intense light, which is directed onto the truck at a 45° angle. The
interior of the truck cab seems to glow with a greenish hue. About 5
seconds later the light goes out. Dunn talks to the sergeant, who seems
a bit stunned. A few minutes later, two F-106 interceptors shoot above
the WSA, apparently looking for a radar target. (Nukes 373–375)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5471
Date: summer 1977
Description: Physicist Bruce
Maccabee uses FOIA requests to obtain some 400 pages of UFO-related
documents, mostly from 1947–1955, from the FBI by the end of the year.
(Bruce S. Maccabee, “UFO
Related Information from the FBI
File, Part 1,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 119 (October 1977): 13–15, reprinted in
UFO Investigator, November 1977, pp. 1–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5472
Date: 6/24/1977
End date: 6/26/1977
Description: Fate magazine holds an International UFO Congress at the
Pick-Congress Hotel [now the Congress Plaza Hotel] across from Grant
Park in downtown Chicago, Illinois, in commemoration of the 30th
anniversary of the Kenneth
Arnold sighting. Some 1,500 people attend to hear speakers Ted
Bloecher, Jerome
Clark, Jacques
Vallée, Stanton
T. Friedman, Kenneth
Arnold, Jim
and Coral Lorenzen, David
M. Jacobs, Frank
Salisbury, J.
Allen Hynek, Ted
Phillips, Dennis
Hauck, Betty
Hill, and R.
Leo Sprinkle. Fate editor Curtis
G. Fuller publishes the presentations in paperback format in May
1980. (“Chicago UFO Conference,” IUR 2, no. 7 (July 1977): wrap; Curtis
G. Fuller, ed., Proceedings of the First International UFO Congress,
Warner, 1980)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5480
Date: 6/25/1977
Description: A man is driving on the A303 with his partially sighted
fiancée near Warminster, Wiltshire, England, when they see a triangle of
white lights ahead of them. When the lights get near to the car, they
break away, one to the side of the road, and the two others on either
side of the witnesses. They dance in the air for a while, then an orange
globe emerges from the center of each. All the lights move to the rear
of the car and disappear behind it. (UFOFiles2, p. 90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5481
Date: 6/25/1977
End date: 6/26/1977
Description: The Centro Ufologico Nazionale holds its Second National
Conference in Toscolano-Moderno, Brescia, Italy, to commemorate the 30th
anniversary of Kenneth
Arnold’s sighting. Speakers include Roberto
Pinotti, Antonio
Ribera, Ion
Hobana, Florin
Gheorghiţă, W.
Raymond Drake, Ernest
Ameglio, Roberto Farabone, Roberto Villamil, Gianni Settimo, Sergio
Conti, Francesco Izzo, Renzo Cabassi, Stelio Asso, and Mario Pagni. (“2o Congresso
Nazionale di Ufologia,” Notiziario UFO, no. 75/76 (July/Dec. 1977):
1–32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5482
Date: 6/26/1977
Description: 2:45 a.m. Two witnesses see a flashing light source pass
swiftly across the sky twice in about 10 minutes in Greece, New York.
(“Case 2-8-26,” IUR 2, no. 8 (August 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5483
Date: 6/27/1977
Description: 11:00 p.m. A woman and three children in Genesee,
Wisconsin, drive toward a structure composed of three parallel cylinders
until they are underneath it. The hovering object looks as big as the
full moon, with two steady white lights in front and a red light on top.
When she stops her car, the object moves off to the southeast. (“Case
2-8-36,” IUR 2, no. 8 (August 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5484
Date: 6/28/1977
Description: Night. A man with a flat tire is stopped on the highway
between Abadan and Ahvaz, Khuzestan, Iran, when he suddenly feels heat
from a nearby “huge, bright object” that changes from red to green to
purple to blue. Its lights go off, and as the witness sits in the car to
sleep, the light returns, even closer. When he turns off his car
headlights, the UFO extinguishes its lights. (“Review of Iranian UFO
Reports,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 2 (Jan./Feb. 1981): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5485
Date: 7/1977
End date: 12/1977
Description: Numerous UFOs are reported in Colares, Pará, Brazil.
Residents claim that scars on their bodies are caused by lights in the
sky that they call “Chupa Chupa” (literally “sucker-sucker”). Believing
it will keep the lights away, residents of Colares organize night
vigils, light fires, and ignite fireworks. Mayor José
Ildone Favacho
Soeiro officially requests help from the Brazilian Air Force. The
operation, a historic military operation in the Amazon basin, is
commanded by Capt. Uyrangê
Bolivar Soares Nogueira de Hollanda Lima. In late 1977, several
photos of the lights are recorded, but the military remains skeptical.
After approximately four months, the operation is closed after the Air
Force can identify no unusual phenomena. The official documents can be
seen in the Brazilian National Archives. According to ufologist Jacques
Vallée, a number of individuals are reportedly killed as a result of
the “lightning” fired at them by the UFOs, and injuries are consistent
with radiation effects from microwaves. Other ufologists claim that the
lights from UFOs have sucked blood from 400 people. In 1997, two decades
after the operation, Capt. Hollanda gives an interview to ufologists Ademar
José Gevaerd and Marco Antônio
Petit where he recounts his experiences living alongside his men.
Three months after the interview, he is found dead in his home “after he
seemingly hung himself using the belt of his bathrobe,” attracting the
interest of conspiracy theorists. (Wikipedia, “Operação
Prato”; Jacques Vallée, Confrontations, Ballantine, 1990, pp. 136– 139, 220–226;
Good Need, pp. 367–368;
Timothy Good, Unearthly Disclosure, Century, 2000, pp. 187–200; “Caso
Chupa-Chupa e Operação Prato: Entrevista com o Coronel Hollanda,”
Portal Fenomenum, June 15, 2016; Brazil 442–493; Clark III 838–857;
Patrick Gross, “Colares
1977”; Skinwalkers 117–118)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5486
Date: 7/1977
Description: Howard Gontovnick begins monthly publication of UFO Canada
in Laval, Quebec. It continues until April 1979. (UFO
Canada 1, no. 1 (July 1977))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5487
Date: 7/1977
Description: Flight Lieutenant A. M. Wood sees two luminous, round
objects, 4–5 times the size of the full moon, hovering 5,000 feet in the
air over the sea off RAF Boulmer near Alnwick, Northumberland, England.
Two other base personnel, a Cpl. Torrington and a Sgt. Graham, watch the
objects with Wood for almost 2 hours. They are tracked on base radar and
at RRH Staxton Wold. The objects separate, one moving west of the other
and “as it maneuvered it changed shape to become body-shaped with
projections like arms and legs.” (“RAF
Boulmer: Reports
of UFO Sightings Were Hushed Up,” Northumberland Today, January 28,
2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5488
Date: 7/1/1977
Description: Luminous round object with dome hovered above a NATO base
security zone, spinning. Changed color, emitted sound like swarm of
bees
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Aviano, Italy
ID: 291
Date: 7/1/1977
Description: 3:00 a.m. Electronic alarms suddenly sound at NATO’s Aviano
Air Base north of Pordenone, Italy. Something has set off the magnetic
and motion detectors in the high hurricane-type fence protecting the
compound. Simultaneously a power outage occurs at the Victor Alert
facility that houses fighter aircraft, and though a back- up system
immediately kicks in, minor power fluxes go on for the next 15 to 20
minutes. An American soldier named James Blake sees a large bright light
hovering at a low altitude above a soybean field about 600 feet beyond
the fence line of the compound. Many soldiers see the object, which
appears to be domed, spinning, and changing colors. It is 150 feet in
diameter and making a noise like a “swarm of bees.” USAF security and a
unit from the Italian National Police are dispatched, but the object
moves away before the units arrive. (Antonio Chiumiento, “UFO
Alert at a NATO Base in Italy,” Flying Saucer Review 30, no. 2
(December 1984): 2–5; Good Above, pp. 144–145;
Jerry Rowles, “The
Mystery of Aviano,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 334 (February 1996): 3–6;
John S. Derr, “Quake
Light?” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 336 (April 1996): 19–20; Gerald E.
Rowles, “Update
on Aviano,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 367 (November 1998): 19; 1Pinotti
199–204; Patrick Gross, “Aviano
AFB, Italy, July 1st, 1977”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5489
Date: 7/2/1977
Description: 12:45 p.m. A woman driving her car in Benton Harbor,
Michigan, sees a silent silver disc, edge on, with the apparent diameter
of the full moon. It is hovering motionless with its left side tilted
down. Trees obscure her vision for about one minute; when they clear,
the object is gone. (“Case 2-8-51,” IUR 2, no. 8 (August 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5490
Date: 7/3/1977
Description: 7:30 p.m. Jennifer F. Canfield and her husband are sitting
on their front porch in Pennsylvania across the Delaware River from
Callicoon, New York, when they notice a brilliant light coming slowly
and silently up the river from the southeast at 1,000–1,500 feet.
Through binoculars, it appears to be a domed elliptical object with two
headlights and apparent windows. The object suddenly blinks out. (“1977
Sketch/Sighting and 1981 Sketch Similarity:
Another One,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1983):
1, 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5491
Date: 7/3/1977
Description: 9:30 p.m. A man in Clarksburg, West Virginia, briefly
watches a silver rectangular object fly under a low cloud cover toward
the north. It climbs at a 30° angle and is lost in the clouds. (“Case
2-8-54,” IUR 2, no. 8 (August 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5492
Date: 7/4/1977
Description: 9:30 p.m. Ten witnesses in different parts of Rapid City,
South Dakota, observe three dark objects moving silently toward the
west. Each has a row of closely spaced red lights randomly flashing. Two
of them seem to merge in the distance, and the remaining pair disappears
into a cloud bank. (“Case 2-8-55,” IUR 2, no. 9 (September 1977):
wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5493
Date: 7/6/1977
Description: 6:30 p.m. At Bondowoso, East Java, Indonesia, a ham radio
operator reports a UFO that moves from west to east in about seven
minutes. The object is flat, but positioned directly overhead it appears
round in shape and yellowish-green in color. It hovers for about 5
seconds, then resumes its movement and disappears in the distance.
(“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 2 (February 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5494
Date: 7/7/1977
Description: 11:00 p.m. The Russian motor ship Nikolay Ostrovsky is
going north through the Strait of Tartary, off the east coast of Russia,
when the crew sees a cloud-like formation in the shape of a rectangle,
moving at the same speed as the ship, about 980–1,300 feet to the east.
Radio operator O. Dereza has an eerie feeling of being watched. It
disappears at 11:32 p.m. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets,
Flying Disk, 2020, p. 115)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5496
Date: 7/7/1977
Description: 8:30 p.m. As some 3,000 people are attending an outdoor
screening of a Romanian film in Zhangpu County, Fujian, China, two
objects appear in the sky, flying low. They emit an intense orange glow
and are only a few feet apart, traveling in complete silence for a few
seconds before speeding out of sight. A panic ensues, and allegedly 300
people are injured and two children killed. (Anthony Lee, “UFO
Reports from China (2),” Flying Saucer Review 28, no. 4 (March
1983): 24–25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5495
Date: 7/9/1977
Description: 2:30 a.m. A 38-year-old singer sees a dull-silver,
saucer-shaped UFO hovering on the left side of Telegraph Road in Flat
Rock, Michigan. It is only about 200 feet above the ground and 150 feet
from the road. It has many red and green lights around its rim, and a
beam of light illuminates the ground for 2 minutes. The object floats
away over the treetops, moving toward the southwest. (“Case 2-8-72,” IUR
2, no. 8 (August 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5497
Date: 7/12/1977
Description: Night. A man and his daughter in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico,
see a small humanoid in a green inflated suit with a pointed helmet that
has a light on top. When the daughter switches on an outside light, it
seems to be scared and activates a backpack that lets it climb upward
over a neighboring farm and trees. The cows react by making a racket.
Another person in the area reports an illuminated UFO. (Jenny Randles,
“Superman vs. Airbus,” Fortean Times 323 (February 2015): 31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5498
Date: 7/13/1977
Description: 12:30 a.m. A couple in Dinwiddie, Virginia, see a large
silvery star stationary in the sky as rolling storm clouds pass
overhead. It “skips” in position slightly once and increases in
brightness when lightning flashes. It disappears when another lightning
strike occurs. (“Case 2-8-84,” IUR 2, no. 8 (August 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5499
Date: 7/15/1977
Description: 11:45 p.m. Adult witnesses on a boat on the Colorado River
near Blythe, California, watch an oval light, 3–4 times the size of the
moon, darting silently above them in all directions and on both sides of
the river. It stops abruptly, comes close to the boat, then curves
around the river. (“Case 2-9-2,” IUR 2, no. 9 (September 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5500
Date: 7/16/1977
Description: 11:15 p.m. As Air India Flight 9, piloted by Capt. Dingra,
makes its final approach to Dum Dum Airport [now Netaji Subhas Chandra
Bose International Airport] in Kolkata, India, air traffic controllers
notice a second object closing in on the Boeing 747. Witnesses on the
ground report a saucer-shaped object rushing toward the airliner. When
it gets dangerously close, the passengers and crew can see it. It
departs 2 miles from the aircraft’s final touch-down. (Good Need, p. 304)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5501
Date: 7/16/1977
Description: Before 12:00 midnight. A bright light in the west above
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, moves 10°–15° from its original position and
back again. The object remains in the same position, even though the
stars have shifted by the time it is last seen at 1:15 a.m. (“Case
2-9-4,” IUR 2, no. 9 (September 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5502
Date: 7/17/1977
Description: Romanian ufologists Călin Turcu, Valeriu Niculescu, Adrian
Pătruţ, and Augustin Moraru establish an informal group called “Romanian
UFO Researchers” (RUFOR). It publishes 27 issues of a RUFOR newsletter
between 1979 and 1986 and 21 issues of a RUFOR magazine in 1994–1996.
(Romania 38–39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5503
Date: 7/18/1977
Description: 12:05 a.m. An intense blue-white glow hovers 200–300 feet
above a creek near Fairview, Pennsylvania. After 4 seconds, it jumps to
the north with a hum “like a hair dryer” and is lost to sight. (“Case
2-9-8,” IUR 2, no. 9 (September 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5504
Date: 7/21/1977
Description: 10:05 p.m. Witnesses in Glenview, Illinois, watch a light
move from the north to the southeast in about 3 seconds. It stops for 1
second, hooks backward, and stops again. When the witnesses look back,
it has disappeared. (“Case 2-9-19,” IUR 2, no. 9 (September 1977):
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5506
Date: 7/21/1977
Description: Frank
Press, director
of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, writes to Robert
A. Frosch, NASA
administrator, and explains that the White House is receiving numerous
inquiries about UFOs and wonders if NASA could form a small panel to
follow up on the Condon report to see if there are any new findings.
Press also suggests that NASA become the focal point for further UFO
inquiries. (Story, p. 242;
Clark III 787; Good Above, pp. 368–369)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5505
Date: 7/23/1977
Description: 12:45 a.m. A 26-year old woman and her 13-year-old niece
look out their bedroom window in Lindley, New York, before retiring and
see 11 or 12 white lights in a dipper-shaped formation that are moving
about in the sky. One bright light appears on a hill 900 feet away. They
hear a whooshing sound, then two lights rise into the air. They next
hear footsteps from Morgan Creek about 300 feet away and see two small
figures floating up and down in front of a tree. Then they see several
more figures at various spots carrying what seem to be flashlights. They
wear tight-fitting, “skin diver” suits with glowing green belts. One of
the witnesses sees a luminous red rectangular object that approaches the
creek and then backs away. At this point both witnesses develop severe
headaches. Then a figure on a distant hill on a neighbor’s farm shines a
light on a tombstone there, and the stone seems to rise up into the air
and move back and forth. A figure taller than the others, who are less
than four feet tall, stands near the light on the hill and calls out an
“ooh, ooh” signal. The others all approach him and, 5 minutes later,
deploy back into adjacent fields. One of them approaches the house. He
comes under the second-story window and drops to the ground, as if to
conceal himself, then approaches the door and rattles the handle. By
this time, 3:45 a.m., the older witness has called her mother, who
notifies the state police. All of the lights and figures disappear just
prior to the arrival of the police, the lights in the sky
indistinguishable from stars. Both witnesses believe only an hour has
passed but in fact more than three hours has elapsed. They complain of
burning eyes and headaches that last for two days. The witnesses find
three footprints in the powdery dust of their driveway. Further
incidents occur on July 25 and August 1. (Allan Hendry, “The Lindley
Episodes: CE III’s in New York State,” IUR 2, no. 9 (September 1977):
5–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5507
Date: 7/26/1977
Description: 10:10 p.m. Astronomer Zhang Zhousheng and others watch a
strange spiral object in the air above a northern suburb of Chengdu,
Sichuan, China. At its center is a yellowish light, with the arms of the
spiral blue and greenish. The object is 60° in the air and moving in a
straight line at a constant speed. It is visible for about 5 minutes
before it is covered up by clouds. The object is visible to other
witnesses in localities along a 110-mile, north-to-south line, for as
long as 10 minutes. (Wendelle Stevens and Paul Dong, UFOs over Modern
China, UFO Photo Archives, 1983, pp. 99–102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5508
Date: 7/29/1977
Description: Delta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 292
Date: 7/30/1977
Description: Early morning. Airmen on the night shift at RAF Boulmer in
Alnwick, Northumberland, England, are alerted by a call from a civilian
who is watching two bright objects hovering above the North Sea. Duty
controller Flight Lt. A. M. Wood and others on the base can also see
them, hovering close to the shore at about 4,000–5,000 feet. They move
apart slowly as they climb into the sky. The object on the west side is
conical with its apex at the top. It seems to be rotating and changes
its shape to an arrowhead. It is apparently 4–5 times the size of a
Whirlwind helicopter. After the objects move away out to sea, radar at
RAF Boulmer picks up two targets 20–30 miles out, corroborated by radar
at RAF Patrington in Yorkshire. (UFOFiles2, p. 92)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5509
Date: 7/31/1977
Description: 6:30 p.m. A university art professor in Normal, Illinois,
calls his wife and secretary to see a silver “stretched cigar” three
times its apparent diameter in length. The object flies in a slow,
straight path from southwest to northeast and is lost in the trees.
(“Case 2-9-68,” IUR 2, no. 9 (September 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5510
Date: 8/1977
Description: 9:30 p.m. Graham Niven sees two green objects in the
southern sky at Raeford, North Carolina. They are moving swiftly to the
north. (“One
Reporting Witness: Two Reported Sightings,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 2, no. 10 (October 1981): 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5511
Date: 8/1/1977
Description: 9:30 a.m. An 11-year-old boy playing baseball in
Springfield, Ohio, sees a white cigar-shaped object flying southbound
from low in the western sky for 15 seconds. (“Case 2-9-70,” IUR 2, no. 9
(September 1977): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5512
Date: 8/2/1977
Description: Marauding UFOs destroy the town of Chester, Illinois,
according to a hoax concocted by Official UFO magazine editor Myron
Fass. (Allan
Hendry, “Sleep Well, Chester, Illinois: It’s Ufology That’s Hurting,”
IUR 3, no. 1 (January 1978): wrap; Clark III 599)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5513
Date: 8/3/1977
End date: 8/18/1977
Description: Italian researchers Giovanni and Piero Mantero of the
Centro Internazionale Richerche e Studi sugli UFO in Genoa hold a 15-day
skywatch on Monte Verrugoli west of La Spezia, Italy. The mountain is
known for reports of strange phenomena. During the skywatch a total of
108 nocturnal lights are observed, 82 appearing as points of light, 7
oblong in shape, 7 spherical, one like a tilted plate, 3 discoid, one
like a half-moon, and 7 other miscellaneous forms. Most are yellow, but
some are reddish or blue. Occasionally the unidentified lights seem to
increase in luminosity in response to signals made with a flashlight.
During their presence, dogs in the neighborhood bark almost constantly.
The objects disappear when conventional aircraft appear in the sky.
Sounds of breaking tree branches are heard, unidentified voices are
registered on a tape recorder, wristwatches malfunction, and areas of
flattened grass are found. On one of the last nights of the project,
Giovanni Mantero claims to have seen a strange aerial entity with a
transparent face. (Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980,
pp. 232–233)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5515
Date: 8/3/1977
Description: Afternoon. NASA astrophysicist Richard
C. Henry is one of several persons asked to attend a meeting to
discuss what to do about Frank
Press’s recommendation. The group decides to turn the issue over to
Space Science Director Noel
W. Hinners. At
the end of the meeting, Henry lets Hinners know that he has some
relevant expertise on UFOs (as a consultant to APRO). (Richard C. Henry,
“UFOs
and NASA,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 2, no. 2 (1988):
93–142; Clark 787–788)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5514
Date: 8/3/1977
Description: Orange-red objects hovered nearby, car lost power
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Thaxted, North Essex, UK
ID: 293
Date: 8/4/1977
Description: The offices of the Energy Research and Development
Administration and the Federal Energy Administration are dissolved and
become the cabinet-level US Department of Energy, with the oversight of
policies on energy and safety in handling nuclear material. Its
responsibilities include the nation’s nuclear weapons program, nuclear
reactor production for the US Navy, energy conservation, energy-related
research, radioactive waste disposal, and domestic energy production. It
also directs research in genomics; the Human Genome Project originated
in a DOE initiative.(Wikipedia, “United
States Department of Energy”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5516
Date: 8/4/1977
Description: 9:10 p.m. A man in Teddington, southwest London, England,
is outside watching the sky when he sees a small light traveling fast to
the right of a well known Heathrow Airport flight path. Watching it
through binoculars, it looks like a metallic submarine shape with five
portholes. It hovers for 20 seconds almost on the flight path. It moves
away quickly when an aircraft approaches. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 6
(June 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5517
Date: 8/6/1977
Description: 8:55 p.m. A young woman close to Port Columbus Airport [now
John Glenn Columbus International Airport] in Columbus, Ohio, stops her
car to watch two cylindrical objects with bulbous ends approach her from
the southwest. They are dark gray or green and have bright white lights
on opposite ends. They appear to bank and twist for 10–15 seconds. One
ascends, stops, and vanishes; the other does the same maneuver one
second later, all “too fast for airplanes.” (“Case 2-9-81,” IUR 2, no. 9
(September 1977): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5518
Date: 8/7/1977
Description: A nearly perfect circular ring, 12 feet in diameter and 8
inches wide is discovered in someone’s backyard on an island in the
Mississippi River near Galena, Illinois. The ring is caused by a
substance composed of tiny beads that discolors the grass and leaves on
the ground. A similar ring is found near Chesterton, Indiana, on August
12. Analysis by the University of Chicago shows that the rings are
caused by slime mold. (Allan Hendry, “A Physical Trace Doth Not a CE II
Make,” IUR 2, no. 9 (September 1977): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5519
Date: 8/9/1977
Description: 2:00 p.m. A witness in Wheaton, Illinois, sees 8–16
pinpoints of light “like magnesium burning” silently maneuvering in and
out of the overcast clouds. They appear to be approaching very fast from
60° in the north. Looping and swooping, they move apart after about 15
seconds. (“Case 2-9-85,” IUR 2, no. 9 (September 1977): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5520
Date: 8/10/1977
Description: 8:50 p.m. Two adult couples in Bridgewater Township, New
Jersey, watch a bright, blue-green star silently loping from low in the
west toward the northeast for 30–45 seconds. (“Case 2-9-87,” IUR 2, no.
9 (September 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5521
Date: 8/11/1977
Description: 8:05 p.m. A 37-year-old police detective in South
Brunswick, New Jersey, watches a silent disc-shaped object come over the
horizon. Four other witnesses also see it. There is something that looks
like a rotating “radar mast” on the object. It rises into the clouds and
shoots off toward the north-northeast after 3.5 minutes. (“Case 2-
9-88,” IUR 2, no. 9 (September 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5522
Date: 8/11/1977
Description: 8:45 p.m. A couple are driving near Hayden, Alabama, when
they see an object hovering silently about 150 feet in the air. A
blue-gray light in its center turns on and they can see its disc-like
shape and size, which is about 65 feet in diameter. The object shoots
north like a bullet, then stops a short distance away. Keeping it in
view, they drive home and call the police. The woman sees the UFO circle
around them three times and land. A second object comes out of the hills
to the northeast and stops directly above the first object at about 400
feet. The lower object rises up to join the other briefly, and they can
see a blinking red light on top. The objects accelerate to the south and
vanish from sight. Total duration is 5 minutes. (“Case 2-9-89,” IUR 2,
no. 10 (October 1977): wrap) August 13 (approximately) — Night. At
Nocero Umbra, Perugia, Italy, several witnesses, including Bruno Vitali,
see a cone-shaped object “more than a meter high.” Vitali tries
unsuccessfully to hit the object with his car because as he speeds
forward, the object maintains the same distance. Students who
investigate the site later find a stone that is intensely hot 2 days
after the encounter. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 12 (November 1977): 2;
Mark Rodeghier, “UFO/Vehicle Very Close Encounters,” IUR 27, no. 1
(Spring 2002): 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5523
Date: mid 8/1977
Description: Between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. Canute Jensen, 13, and Kevin
Rurka, 12, are in a treehouse on the Chris Jensen farm 27 miles north of
Edmonton, Alberta. They are taking photos when they see a large, dark,
block- shaped object moving through the sky. Canute snaps three photos
before the object disappears upward in the clouds. (“UFO
Photographed from a Tree-House in Canada,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 7, no. 8 (August 1981): 1, 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5524
Date: 8/15/1977
Description: The Big Ear Radio Telescope in Delaware, Ohio, in searching
for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations, detects a strong,
intermittent signal lasting for 72 seconds that stands out distinctly
from the background noise. The team quickly rules out a terrestrial
origin or a broadcast from a satellite. Nevertheless, the signal is so
powerful and unusual that Jerry Ehman, the astronomer who analyzes the
data print out, annotates the signal with the word “Wow!” The Big Ear
team continued to observe the same part of the sky, as have others, but
the Wow! signal never returns. In 2020, using the Gaia 3D star database
developed by the European Space Agency, amateur astronomer Alberto
Caballero identifies a Sun-like star in the region of the sky where the
Wow! signal originated. (Wikipedia, “Wow!
Signal”; Daniela Breitman, “Wow!
Signal Explained after 40 Years?” EarthSky, June 7, 2017; “Sun-Like
Star Identified As the Potential Source of the Wow! Signal,” Physics
ArXiv Blog, November 19, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5525
Date: 8/17/1977
Description: 2:00 p.m. James R. Leming is driving on Interstate 70
westbound about 15 miles west of the Nebraska– Colorado state border. He
sees a strange object moving swiftly in the sky and pulls over to watch.
It moves to the north, then veers back to the highway and runs a
parallel course along the interstate. Directly over the road it remains
stationary for 3 minutes, and Leming is able to take three photographs,
only one of which is not blurry because the object began speeding away.
He estimates it was 600 feet away, its altitude at about 500 feet above
the road, positioned at a 40° angle above the horizon, and 40–45 feet
from tip to tip with a downward curve at each end. Ground Saucer Watch
explains the photo as a chip in the glass of Leming’s windshield, but
Leming contests that. (“1977
Photograph/Sighting and 1982 Sketch Similarity,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 4, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1983): 1; Fred Adrian, “Letter,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1983): 2–3; James R.
Leming, “Letter,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 6 (Dec. 1983/Jan. 1984): 2))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5526
Date: 8/28/1977
Description: 12:38 a.m. Two witnesses on a deserted rural boulevard near
Hayward, California, see an odd triangular object with red, blue, and
white lights. They drive toward it, overtake it, and pass underneath,
and they see that it is much larger than the full moon. Then it turns
abruptly and follows them, but they accelerate to 65 mph and evade it.
(“Case 2-10-35,” IUR 2, no. 10 (October 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5528
Date: 8/28/1977
Description: 8:40 p.m. The same couple in Hayden, Alabama, who saw a UFO
on August 11 see a similar bright object 2 miles away from the previous
site. It has several beige lights, and it darts toward their car in
seconds when they stop to look. All the lights go out and come back on
at the same time. (“Case 2-10-37,” IUR 2, no. 10 (October 1977):
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5529
Date: 8/28/1977
Description: 12:10 a.m. For more than 20 minutes, police (including PC
Ian MacKenzie, PS James Trohear, PC Alexander Inglis, and PC David Wild)
and citizens in Windermere, Cumbria, England, watch a large lighted
object in the shape of a “stingray fish” (triangular). It flies slowly
at 1,500 feet altitude, hovering occasionally. All witnesses describe it
as silent, except for one, who hears a “quiet hum.” (Nick Redfern, A
Covert Agenda: UFO Secrecy Exposed, Simon & Schuster, 1997,
pp. 131–133)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5527
Date: 8/31/1977
Description: 12:30–3:15 a.m. A total of seven witnesses see a lighted
cylindrical object at the top of a disused quarry on the road between
Sturno and Frigento, Avellino, Italy. Near the object is an entity about
7 feet 10 inches tall. It has two red-orange lights in a spot where its
eyes might be and is wearing metallic-looking coveralls, a possible
helmet, a metallic belt, and a black box on its arm. At one point the
entity shines a bright beam of light at them. The duration of the
sighting is due to the original two witnesses going back and forth to a
nearby village to collect additional observers. A triangle of
depressions is found that indicates something as heavy as 40 tons has
landed there. Some of the witnesses are regressed hypnotically and
recall the same narrative. (Maurizio Verga, “Seven Scared
Witnesses and a Humanoid,” Flying Saucer Review 25, no. 1 (May
1979): 17–19, 22; 1Pinotti 205–210)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5530
Date: 9/1977
Description: Lt. Gen. Akira Hirano, chief of Japan’s Air Self-Defense
Forces, admits that UFOs are seen frequently in Japan and that they are
quietly investigated. However, the following day his staff denies that
he intended to comment on official investigations. (Good Above, p. 430)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5532
Date: 9/1/1977
Description: Air Force Letter from Col. Charles H. Senn, Wash., D.C., to
Gen. Duward L. Crow (Ret.), NASA, Wash., D.C. stating: Enclosed are the
UFO Fact Sheet and standard response to UFO public inquiries you
requested. I sincerely hope you are successful in preventing a reopening
of UFO investigations.
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p581)
Location: Washington DC
Date: 9/4/1977
Description: 3:30 p.m. Farmer Luis Sandoval, 74, is resting in a hammock
near Corozal, Puerto Rico, when he decides to get up and move to another
spot. He hears some popping noises and sees an object like an elongated,
bright blue candle. It moves toward him, making an increasingly loud
roaring-engine noise, then drops down beside him. The object abruptly
turns into a 3-foot-high dwarf, dressed in jacket and tie, with an ugly
face. He speaks encouragingly, says he is an extraterrestrial, and gives
Sandoval a complete physical examination. The dwarf steps away to admire
the scenery and says, “How nice Puerto Rico is.” He then turns into a
flaming blue candle and vanishes upward in a flash. Other dwarf
sightings take place in the area. (Gordon Creighton, “A
New Medicare?”
Flying Saucer Review 24, no. 2 (August 1978): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5533
Date: 9/6/1977
Description: NASA administrator Robert
Frosch responds to Frank
Press, saying that he is “inclined to agree” with his recommendation
on a new UFO panel; however, NASA wants to be assured that an inquiry is
“justified,” and that if funding is provided, it could hire a project
officer to review reports from the past 10 years. (Clark III 787)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5534
Date: 9/7/1977
Description: 10:24 p.m. A white glow is seen rushing silently three
times over a 15-minute period in Tooele, Utah. It first travels to the
south but executes a 90° turn toward the west. Five minutes later it
returns, moving east. Ten minutes later it reappears, slower and lower,
moving to the northeast. (“Case 2-10-58,” IUR 2, no. 10 (October 1977):
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5535
Date: 9/8/1977
Description: 12:30 a.m. An ex-pilot sees a dark, bullet-shaped object
while walking his dog in New Orleans, Louisiana. It rushes silently to
the east and changes course slightly to the southeast. (“Case 2-10-60,”
IUR 2, no. 10 (October 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5536
Date: 9/9/1977
Description: Grenada Prime Minister Eric
Gairy meets with President Jimmy
Carter in the White House for 45 minutes. Carter gives Gairy a copy
of the Condon report. (Dolan II 143)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5537
Date: 9/14/1977
Description: Press again
asks Frosch for
help with Carter’s
UFO mail problem and repeats his suggestion for a scientific UFO panel
to investigate reports. (presidentialufo.com, “President Jimmy
Carter”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5538
Date: 9/15/1977
Description: 2:15 a.m. A 33-year-old bus driver named Antonio Bogado La
Rúbia leaves his home in Paciência, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to catch a
bus. As he is walking by a deserted field, he sees a UFO “like an
enormous hat.” He takes two steps back and is grabbed by two men.
Suddenly he is floating inside the UFO, surrounded by two rows of a
dozen men each, about 5 feet 5 inches tall. They are wearing
football-shaped helmets with a wide band running across the broad
portion and are cut into mirror-like sections from which blue flashes
are emitted. They seem like robots, but La Rúbia can hear them
breathing. A typical abduction scenario follows. (“Brazilian
CE4 Case,”
APRO Bulletin 26, no. 4 (October 1977): 1–4; “Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no.
11 (November 1977): 2, 8; “Ufonautas
Unipedais (Robôs) Seqüestram Motorista de Ônibus no Rio de Janeiro,”
SBEDV Boletim, no. 121/125 (March/Dec. 1978): 20–44; Brazil
211–224)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5539
Date: 9/17/1977
Description: 2:00 a.m. A couple driving near Kargowa, Poland, notice two
unusual lights in the sky. They drive a half mile further, then the
lights approach them at incredible speed and hover above the car. The
driver stops to look at them and notices that one light is bigger and
whiter than the smaller yellowish light. When he drives away, the lights
continue to pace them for 6 miles, keeping 10–30 feet away from the car
until they reach Wolsztyn, where they rise up and speed away. (Poland
32–33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5541
Date: late 9/1977
Description: 1:00 a.m. A witness working as a receptionist at the
Paralela 45 Motel on Highway 1 north of Ploieşti, Romania, sees a large
object 3–4 times as large as the Moon, which is visible in another part
of the sky. It has an orange-red core with a yellowish-red halo at the
edges. It stands motionless for 3–4 minutes, then descends slowly toward
the southwest before shooting away at an nicredible speed. (Romania
42–43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5540
Date: 9/20/1977
Description: 3:00 a.m. The watch officer of an Alfa-class nuclear
submarine in the White Sea off Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia,
notices an object moving swiftly to the southwest. It seems to stretch
out, turning into a long, glowing ribbon. As it flies over him, it looks
like a cylinder with one of the ends becoming asymmetrical. The cylinder
ejects small objects that fly off in different directions. (Stonehill
and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, pp. 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5542
Date: 9/20/1977
Description: 4:00 a.m. A large “star” sending out beams of light appears
moving slowly over Petrozavodsk, Karelia, Russia. It is last seen as a
semicircular glow, bright red in the middle and white on the sides. The
total duration is 10–12 minutes. Scientist Mikhail Dimitryev describes
it as a “giant jellyfish.” The phenomenon is seen over a vast territory,
from Copenhagen, Denmark, and Helsinki, Finland, in the west to
Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia, in the east. Government officials
from northern European countries send letters to Anatoly
Alexandrov, president
of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, expressing concern about whether
the observed phenomenon is caused by Soviet weapons testing and whether
it constitutes a threat to the region’s environment. Col. Boris Sokolov reveals
that the phenomenon is observed from 12:00 midnight by military men
along the Finnish border; when they try to report it, all their
communications fail. All communications are restored after the
phenomenon ceases. Since 1977, the phenomenon has often (though not
universally) been attributed to the launch of the Soviet satellite
Kosmos-955. In the same year, a preliminary report for the Academy of
Sciences of the USSR contains an immense body of visual observations,
radiolocation reports, physical measurements, and accompanying
meteorological data. It concludes that “based on the available data, it
is unfeasible to satisfactorily understand the observed phenomenon.”
(Wikipedia, “Petrozavodsk
phenomenon”; “Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 10 (October 1977): 2;
Gordon Creighton, “A
Russian ‘Jellyfish,’” Flying Saucer Review 23, no. 4 (January 1978):
19–20; Good Need, pp. 351;
Enrique Vicente, “UFOs in the Soviet Union,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean
Tomes, 1987, pp. 118–119)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5543
Date: late 9/1977
Description: 11:00 p.m. Ethel May Field is in her backyard in Parkstone,
Poole, Dorset, England, when she hears a humming nose and looks up. A
circular object with a dome on top is approaching from the
south-southwest. Its surfaces are gray, and a brilliant blue-yellow
light is streaming from the underside. It is about 20 feet in diameter,
and Field can see two humanoid figures visible almost to the waist
inside the dome. The object hovers above her garden, its light so
brilliant that she puts her hands up to shield her eyes. She can feel
the heat on her hands and a vibration in the ground for a second or two.
The occupants have silver suits and headgear. The figure on the right
appears to be operating controls, while the one on the left is looking
directly at her, making a gesture as if pointing downward. Alarmed, she
runs back to the house and the object speeds away to the northwest. In
the following week, she develops a skin irritation on the palms of her
hands. (Leslie Harris, “Parkstone
UFO and Occupants,”
Flying Saucer Review 24, no. 2 (August 1978): 6–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5549
Date: 9/21/1977
Description: Ground Saucer Watch files a complaint, spearheaded by
lawyers Peter Gersten and
Henry
Rothblatt, with the CIA for failure to produce materials on the 1952
Ralph Mayher incident and the Durant report
on the 1953 Robertson Panel. (“CIA Sued over UFO ‘Cover-Up,’” IUR 3, no.
1 (January 1978): wrap; “CAUS
Picking Up
Where GSW and NICAP Left Off,” Just Cause 1, no. 1 (April 1978):
1–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5544
Date: 9/21/1977
Description: 8:47 p.m. A student notices a flashing light in the
northern sky in Phoenix, Arizona. Suddenly, a formation of 8 triangles
with rounded edges appears, 7 of them in a straight line, equally
spaced. The eighth is slightly forward. They shoot noiselessly overhead
and are lost in the glare of the southern sky. One crosses the face of
the Moon. (“Case 2-11-9,” IUR 2, no. 11 (November 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5545
Date: 9/22/1977
Description: Three objects like aircraft tracked on FAA radar in
V-formation at almost 17,000 mph
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Omaha, NE
ID: 295
Date: 9/22/1977
Description: 5:25 a.m. Capt. George
Didlake, piloting Continental Airlines Flight 954, is climbing to
33,000 feet out of El Paso, Texas, when he sees an elongated object
rapidly overtaking his DC-10. It has a row of brightly illuminated
windows running front to rear and is blow the aircraft at roughly 12,000
feet. First Officer Jack Forsythe and Second Officer Russ
Goodenough see the object as well. It passes the aircraft at a speed
“beyond comprehension,” makes a 90° turn, and shoots up out of sight.
(Dave Kenney, “Airline
Crew Spots UFO,” APRO Bulletin 26, no. 3 (September 1977): 1,
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5546
Date: 9/22/1977
Description: Four FAA radar controllers in Omaha, Nebraska, track a
large formation of unidentified objects. They are gone from the scope in
less than a minute at an estimated speed of 17,000 mph. (MUFON UFO
Journal, March 1983, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5547
Date: 9/22/1977
Description: 10:25 p.m. A police detective in Ardmore, Oklahoma, watches
a pulsating star rush about erratically. (“Case 2-11-12,” IUR 2, no. 11
(November 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5548
Date: 9/22/1977
Description: Object with row of “windows” overtook airliner,
accelerated, made 90-degree turn, soared upward out of sight
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: El Paso, TX
ID: 294
Date: fall 1977
Description: 5:20 p.m. A female police constable in Isfield, Sussex,
England, sees a silent object flying at 300 feet altitude while waiting
for a bus. On an impulse, she waves at the object, which then approaches
her. It seems to be made of light greenish-gray metal with a moderately
reflective surface. On top of its dome is a blue-green light, and
underneath the object is a dense, black, circular section. At its
closest approach, it is no further than 50 feet away. Her memory is
unclear after this, but when the bus arrives, she feels numb and
uncoordinated and seems to have lost 20 minutes of time. (Good Above, pp. 115,
457)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5531
Date: 9/27/1977
Description: 12:15 p.m. A dredge master and four crew members see a UFO
that remains visible for one minute off the northwest coast of Wowoni
Island, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Consisting of a cone of translucent
material with dark spots, the object emits violet, white, and red light
from its top. It has a forward, undulating motion against the wind and
is spinning on its axis at about 9,000 feet altitude. (“Foreign Forum,”
IUR 3, no. 2 (February 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5551
Date: 9/27/1977
Description: 4:36 a.m. A witness is driving toward Kirksville, Missouri,
about 6 miles west of town when he notices a light behind him to the
left. It is a yellow-orange object with flashing red lights, as big as
the Moon, and is following him about 500 feet away at treetop level. He
increases his speed to 120 mph, but the UFO keeps the same pace. As he
reaches town the object climbs slightly and shoots off out of sight in 2
seconds. (“Case 2-11- 22,” IUR 2, no. 11 (November 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5550
Date: 9/28/1977
Description: 2:45 p.m. A grocery store clerk watches a distant bright
light moving west over Burlington, Iowa. A second point of light
appears, catches up to the first one, and both weave a figure 8 at least
6 times as they pass nearly overhead to the west. (“Case 2-11-24,” IUR
2, no. 11 (November 1977): 3) Early autumn — 5:20 p.m. A woman police
constable is waiting at a bus stop near Lewes, East Sussex, England,
when she notices a large, silent object at about 300 feet altitude. On
impulse, she waves at the object, which then comes closer. It seems to
be made of a light greenish-gray metal with a moderately reflective
surface. A blue-green light is coming out of its dome, and underneath
the object is a dense, black, circular section. At closest approach, the
UFO is no more than 50 feet away. She experiences a sense of
timelessness, and she later cannot account for about 20 minutes of time.
When the bus arrives, she feels a numbness as she fumbles for change.
When she gets to the top deck, the object is gone. She develops an acute
headache that lasts into the following day. Her eyes burn and water for
a week afterward, and she suffers recurring gastric discomfort. (Good
Above, pp. 115–116,
457)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5552
Date: 10/1977
Description: The Petrozavodsk phenomenon in Russia contributes to the
creation of the Setka program—Soviet research into anomalous atmospheric
phenomena, proposed by scientist Anatoly
Alexandrov. Two research commissions are set up: the Setka-MO, under
the orders of the Ministry of Defense and composed mainly of military
personnel, and the Setka-AN, under the orders of the Soviet Academy of
Sciences and composed of scientists. The first group has the task of
studying the military aspects of the problem, such as the possible
influences of the UFOs on the malfunctioning of military devices and
installations; the ministry names special officers in all military units
who are tasked with the responsibility of watching out for unusual
phenomena. The second group studies physical effects related to UFOs and
tries to understand the causes. The coordination of the first commission
is entrusted to Col. Boris
Sokolov, that
of the second commission to Prof. Vladimir
Migulin, supported by Dr. Yulii
Platov as deputy coordinator. According to one of his aides, Igor
Sinitsin, it is KGB Chairman Yuri
Andropov who initiates these programs. (Wikipedia, “Programma
Setka”; Good Above, p. 237;
Good Need, pp. 351–352;
Nick Paton Walsh, “KGB
Chief Ordered 4m Soldiers to Keep Watching the Skies for UFOs,” The
Guardian, March 23, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5553
Date: 10/1/1977
Description: 7:00 p.m. Leo and John Girardeau are hunting 3 miles west
of Libau, Manitoba, when they see an object approaching from the west at
an altitude of 500 feet. As it approaches, the witnesses go into their
truck and turn on the lights. The object, about 75–100 feet wide and
25–30 feet high, reverses direction and moves westward. One of the men
fires a shotgun to lure it back; when this fails, they pursue it in
their truck. Running out of road a few miles later, they stop and watch
it move out of sight. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 12 (December 1977):
2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5554
Date: 10/4/1977
Description: 2:45 p.m. A group of 10 children see a strange object
hovering between two trees while they are playing at Upton Primary
Junior School in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. Their teacher,
Mrs. Hindmarsh, immediately separates them and asks them to draw what
they have seen. Their drawings are consistent, so she passes them on to
the Cheshire police, who take the report seriously and check with the
Manchester Airport, which reports that nothing unusual was detected on
radar. (UFOFiles2, p. 97)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5555
Date: 10/5/1977
Description: 10:40 a.m. TV cameramen Manuel Juarez and Oscar Tobar are
videotaping a car commercial in Guatemala City, Guatemala, when a UFO
comes into view. Instead, they videotape the UFO, which is in view for
51 seconds moving at about 100 mph. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no. 11
(November 1977): 8; “First Photos of Guatemala Videotape,” IUR 3, no. 1
(January 1978): 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5556
Date: 10/7/1977
Description: Prime Minister of Grenada Eric
Gairy addresses the UN General Assembly urging the recognition of
UFOs as a serious international scientific problem. He says that he has
seen a UFO and was “totally overwhelmed” by the experience. (UFOEv II
20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5557
Date: 10/7/1977
Description: The Soviet submarine repair ship Volga is in the Barents
Sea when its radar picks up an unknown target approaching at a distance
of 60 miles. Captain Tarankin goes to the bridge and sees 9 bright discs
moving in from the northeast. They arrive and circle around the ship’s
masts for 18 minutes. During this time, all of the ship’s communications
links no longer work. Captain Tarankin tells his men to remember the
incident, so that no one will be able to say their captain is drunk or
crazy. After the discs depart, communications is restored. The incident
raises some concern in the Soviet Navy, and Fleet Admiral Nikolai
Ivanovich Smirnov issues a directive on mandatory reporting of UFO
sightings by Soviet hydrographic, scientific research, and
reconnaissance ships. The directive is written by naval officer and
ufologist Vladimir
G. Azhazha and signed by Naval Deputy Chief of Staff Petr
Nikolayevich Navoytsev. (Jacques Vallée, UFO Chronicles of the Soviet
Union: A Cosmic Samizdat, Ballantine, 1992, pp. 29–30;
Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020,
pp. 11–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5558
Date: 10/9/1977
Description: 8:30 p.m. Holly Prunchak is working as a security guard at
the French-Hecht plant east of Walcott, Iowa, when she sees flashing
lights rising straight up from distant trees in the northwest. They
level off and move toward her. They are blinding in intensity and flash
on and off like a beacon, apparently surrounded by a dark oval shape.
Her FM radio goes silent, and her walkie-talkie fails. All animal sounds
go quiet when the object is in view. The object looms about 300 feet
away, passing near a streetlight that extinguishes for at least one
minute. The object drops down onto trees of an adjacent farm. At this
point she hysterically calls for help on a telephone intercom system,
but no one takes her seriously. (“CE II in Iowa,” IUR 2, no. 12
(December 1977): 4, 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5559
Date: 10/11/1977
Description: 7:55 p.m. A farmer in Fairfield, Vermont, hears an odd
noise and looks out his window. He and his family watch a bright light
source (a bright red light flashing next to a dimmer white light)
hovering above a swamp. The object shines a light beam down into the
swamp as if searching for something. A second red light approaches from
over a nearby house and comes within several hundred feet of the first
object; both continue to hover and circle. One vanishes at 11;30 p.m.,
while the other persists until 1:30 a.m. when the sky becomes cloudy.
(“Case 2-11-53,” IUR 2, no. 11 (November 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5560
Date: 10/13/1977
Description: 3:55 p.m. A retired police officer and ex-pilot in Toledo,
Ohio, watches, along with other young men, a “star” in clear daylight
rush from south-southeast to north-northeast, passing east of overhead
in a straight path without sound or trail. The estimated speed is Mach
1, but it slows down and stops for the last 10–15 seconds before
vanishing. (“Case 2-11-60,” IUR 2, no. 11 (November 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5561
Date: 10/13/1977
Description: 10:15 p.m. S/Sgt Steven N. Haidinger is in his backyard at
Chanute AFB [now closed] near Rantoul, Illinois, where he is looking at
the moon through his telescope. He hears what sounds like wind passing
around a building and looks straight up. About 500 feet in the air is an
object slowly moving from the west-northwest. He trains his telescope on
it and tries to follow it. The object looks rectangular, about 150 feet
long, and 10 feet across. It has small, square indentations in patterns
along its sides and it rotates as it moves, about once every 2 seconds.
It moves out of sight in about 12 minutes. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 1 (January 1981): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5562
Date: 10/14/1977
Description: 7:00 p.m. A physician in Toledo, Ohio, watches a red-orange
object moving silently east, passing overhead, and disappearing in the
distance. Possible balloon. (“Case 2-11-63,” IUR 2, no. 11 (November
1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5563
Date: 10/15/1977
Description: 6:45 p.m. British diplomat Alan K. Rothnie is driving near
Rolvenden, Kent, England, when he sees a glowing bluish object in the
sky traveling fast from south to north and shaped “somewhat like a
flattened avocado pear.” The blunt leading end seems to be rimmed with a
shining metal, and the back end is trailing sparks. The object moves
away in 90 seconds. (UFOFiles2, pp. 87–88)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5564
Date: 10/17/1977
Description: A woman and her children watch a blindingly bright red
light from their first-floor porch in Uccle, Belgium. It is stationary
and silent for one hour in the southwest at an estimated 1,000 feet
altitude. Finally, the object moves toward the west, then north, and
disappears in the distance. An independent group of witnesses several
streets away also watch the light. A half-hour later, the daughter of
the original family sees another pair of similar objects in the south
about 400–500 feet off the ground. These circle for 30 minutes and then
disappear to the south. One hour later, the family watches another
bright light maneuvering in the southwest before disappearing. (“Foreign
Forum,” IUR 3, no. 3 (March 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5565
Date: 10/20/1977
Description: 8:15 p.m. Keith Kilford and Philip Staff watch a small
orange triangle over a house in Bromley, Kent, England, that grows to
twice its size, shrinks again, and moves rapidly away until it
disappears. It reappears about 10 minutes later and disappears again.
(“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no 12 (December 1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5567
Date: 10/20/1977
Description: Several witnesses in San José, Costa Rica, see lighted
objects around Pico Blanco, a mountain to the south of town. One
physician sees a “squat, orange object” for 20 minutes until it ascends
at great speed and disappears. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 2, no 12 (December
1977): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5566
Date: 10/22/1977
Description: 2:40 a.m. A half-moon-shaped orange cloud, 3 times the size
of the Moon, is seen hovering and descending at Irondequoit, New York.
Chunks “like teardrops” are seen falling off. (“Case 2-12-16,” IUR 2,
no. 12 (December 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5568
Date: 10/23/1977
Description: 3:30 a.m. A glowing triangular white cloud is seen in
Rochester, New York, receding to the southwest. (“Case 2-12-17,” IUR 2,
no. 12 (December 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5569
Date: 10/24/1977
Description: 2:00 a.m. A musician watches a saucer-shaped object at
Cerrillos, New Mexico, approaching at a low angle from the south. It
moves across his view for 15–30 seconds, stops for 15–20 seconds in the
southwest, and zooms away. (“Case 2-12-25,” IUR 2, no. 12 (December
1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5570
Date: 10/25/1977
Description: 5:30 p.m. Three witnesses, including two deaf 14-year-olds,
Johny Myhr and Frank Sverre Mandt, view a disc-shaped object some 33
feet in diameter that hovers and then descends behind some bushes at
Åsbygda, Ringerinke, Norway. After about 10 seconds it rises into the
air again. The boys run to the nearby Alm school. They notice the object
ascending at a 40° angle and see several windows in the craft. What
appears to be a human-looking person is behind one of the windows.
Tracks are later found in the newly plowed field. Each track is
rectangular with rounded corners, and measures 5.5 inches by 1.2 feet
with a depth of 4 inches. The tracks are arranged in a triangular shape.
(“Strange
Aircraft Spotted in Åsbygda,” Nordic UFO Newsletter 1, no. 1 (1981):
16–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5571
Date: 10/26/1977
Description: Red sphere ahead of airplane, navigation instruments and
radio E-M effects. UFO changed color to white, climbed vertically at
high speed
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Between Abilene and Dallas, TX
ID: 296
Date: 10/26/1977
Description: 12:45 p.m. En route from Dyess AFB near Abilene, Texas, to
Dallas, cruising at 15,000 feet in a T-38 jet trainer, 1st Lt Seth
Bryant (instructor pilot) and 1st Lt Choate (student pilot) overhear
transmissions from Fort Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center to
another pilot who has seen a red object he cannot identify. Choate then
sees the red object and informs the pilot of its position. The object is
flying at 10,000–12,000 feet and seems stationary. The distance is
estimated to be about 23 miles away. Initially, the light is brilliant
and appears to be closing rapidly. An evasive maneuver is considered but
deemed unnecessary. The pilot contacts Fort Worth Center, giving the
position of the object and asks if he is tracking anything on radar, but
he isn’t. The size of the red light decreases, similar to a very slowly
rotating beacon, and is lost to sight. The total duration is less than a
minute. Choate recalls static over his headset at the time. (NICAP, “Near
Collision with T-33 / Radio Static”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5572
Date: 10/27/1977
Description: 5:35 p.m. At Cagliari Elmas Airport on Sardinia, Italy,
three helicopters of the Italian Army’s Aviazione Leggera dell’Esercito
are followed for more than 5 minutes by an orange disc. It is seen and
tracked by both military and civilian witnesses and from the airport
control tower. Air Force Col. Giomaria orders a jet interceptor to take
off but it fails to catch up to the intruder. Maj. Francesco Zoppi and
copilot Lt. Riccardelli manage to approach to within 1,000 feet. The
sighting causes a feverish exchange of messages between airport
personnel, the NATO base at Decimomannu, Sardinia, the USS
Saratoga, and
several military planes in flight. Col. Mario d’Angelo, commander of the
airport’s Air Force base, sends a detailed report to Attilio
Ruffini, the Italian Minister of Defense, who orders an
investigation. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 4 (April 1978): 2; “Italian Government
Report,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 146 (April 1980): 15; Good Above, pp. 145–146;
1Pinotti 211– 213)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5573
Date: 10/29/1977
End date: 11/3/1977
Description: Police and citizens in the area of Erie, Pennsylvania,
report multiple sightings of star-like lights, some flashing. Some are
likely aircraft. (“Mini-’Flap’ in Northwestern Pennsylvania: But of
IFOs?” IUR 2, no 12 (December 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5577
Date: 10/29/1977
Description: 7:45 p.m. Two young teenagers in North East, Pennsylvania,
notice a light flashing different colors in the west. They think they
see a dark “pancake” body twice the Moon’s diameter attached to the
light. They go into their house where they are babysitting, and the
object shines a spotlight down to the spot where they were originally
standing. It hovers about 10 feet above some grapevines, then swoops
toward the house and moves into trees to the north. They call police,
but every time one visits the house, all they can see is a distant
light. (“Case 2- 12-39,” IUR 2, no. 12 (December 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5576
Date: 10/29/1977
Description: 7:30 a.m. A patrolman in North East, Pennsylvania, spots a
brown, cigar-shaped object moving towards him. He can see a tail fin. It
changes direction to the southwest and disappears, (“Case 2-12-37,” IUR
2, no 12 (December 1977): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5574
Date: 10/29/1977
Description: 4:00 p.m. Four men at a gas station in downtown Hagerstown,
Maryland, watch a round white object half the size of the Moon. It
silently orbits counterclockwise around a cloud, emerging from behind,
crossing in front, then disappearing behind. (“Case 2-12-38,” IUR 2, no.
12 (December 1977): 3–wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5575
Date: 10/31/1977
Description: David
Williamson Jr., a
NASA assistant administrator for special projects, drafts a memorandum
of a proposed letter to be signed by Noel
W. Hinners and sent to Robert
A. Frosch. The
letter mentions a revival of interest in UFOs and paranormal phenomena,
as well as new sightings. It mentions a lack of tangible evidence to
analyze and a lack of protocols for investigating UFOs as hindrances to
NASA setting up an investigatory panel: “All in all, undertaking a
formal study at this time appears to be fraught with peril.” Williamson
sees two choices: refuse the project, or have NASA review the best cases
from civilian UFO organizations and new cases. He foresees problems with
workload, peer pressure, and prejudgment—an enormous expenditure of
resources. However, he recommends examining the best cases from the
civilian groups. The inquiry will be handled by Hinners, Williamson, and
NASA administrator Kenneth
D. Chapman. (Clark III 788)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5579
Date: 10/31/1977
Description: The National Enquirer sends a series of questions to
Secretary of the Air Force John
C. Stetson about the 1975 Northern Tier UFO incidents. The Air Force
admits they do not know what the objects were. (ClearIntent, pp. 23–24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5578
Date: 10/31/1977
Description: 9:35 p.m. Several students in Placentia, California, watch
a disc with four lighted portholes hovering and eclipsing the moon for a
few seconds. It shoots away toward the north. (“Case 2-12-46,” IUR 2,
no. 12 (December 1977): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5580
Date: 11/1/1977
Description: Afternoon. Students Johnny Myrh and Frank Sverre see a
flying object approaching from the north as they are walking home from a
school bus station in Nybygda, Ringerike, Norway. The light-green object
lands about 300 feet away in a newly ploughed field. They see a
human-like figure inside the object behind one of its windows. After 10
seconds, the object lifts off, leaving three equally spaced marks in the
ground, 1.2 feet long and 3–7 inches wide. Each imprint is made by
something with a curved bottom. The sighting is partially corroborated
by one of the attendants at the school who sees a shining object at the
same time and place but at a much greater distance. (“Foreign Forum,”
IUR 3, no. 1 (January 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5581
Date: 11/2/1977
Description: Italian Air Force pilots and pilots of two German Air Force
F-101G Starfighters, as well as the tower personnel at Cagliari Elmas
Airport on Sardinia, Italy, see a circular or elliptical ball of fire
flying at tremendous speed. (Good Above, p. 146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5582
Date: 11/10/1977
Description: 4:31 p.m. UFO researcher Ray
Stanford sees a stationary metallic gray object in the southwestern
sky as he is walking his dog in Austin, Texas. Its smaller end is at the
top and there is a slight variance around the larger, lower end of the
object, which seems to be vibrating. After several seconds, it seems to
elongate and rotate. After another 10 seconds, it appears in the shape
of a Coke bottle, then disappears quickly. (Ray Stanford, “Letter,” IUR
7, no. 3 (May/June 1982): 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5583
Date: 11/12/1977
Description: Evening. William
J. Hermann sees a disc-shaped object chasing a Cessna aircraft over
Charleston, South Carolina. (Clark III 570)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5584
Date: 11/16/1977
Description: 10:59 p.m. An alarm sounds at the Ellsworth AFB L-09
missile site 7 miles southwest of Nisland, South Dakota. Two security
men, Airmen 1st Class Kenneth Jenkins and Wayne E. Raeke, are dispatched
to the scene from Ellsworth. As Raeke is inspecting the rear fence line,
he (allegedly) sees a helmeted figure in a glowing green metallic suit.
It points a weapon at Raeke’s rifle and causes it to disintegrate,
burning his hands and arms. Jenkins helps him back to their security
vehicle. When Jenkins goes back to the rear fence line, he sees two of
these beings. They ignore his command to halt, so he opens fire on them.
His bullets strike one on the shoulder and the other in the helmet. The
figures run over a hill and Jenkins pursues them. He sees them entering
a 20-foot- diameter saucer-shaped object that shoots away over the
horizon. As Raeke is air-evacuated from the scene, investigators
discover that the missile’s nuclear components have been stolen. A
follow-up investigation by Bob Pratt of
the National Enquirer determines that Jenkins and Raeke are real and on
active duty, but everything else about the incident is bogus. Raeke has
suffered no injuries and does not even know Jenkins. (“Incident/Complaint Report,”
November 16, 1977; Clark III 358–359)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5585
Date: 11/17/1977
Description: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, directed by Steven
Spielberg, premieres
in New York City. The plot involves benevolent aliens who make their
presence known to selected individuals and world governments through
escalating UFO waves. The film culminates in a spectacular landing and
contact hidden from the public by an ingenious cover-up. (Jennifer
Henderson and George M. Eberhart, “30 Years of Close Encounters,” IUR
31, no. 3 (October 2007): 16–18, 28; Clark III 259; Internet Movie
Database, “Close
Encounters of the Third Kind”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5586
Date: 11/18/1977
Description: 9:17 p.m. A bright white light moving at a high rate of
speed comes alongside a small aircraft flying at 13,000 feet between
Vichy and Troy, Missouri, and paces the airplane for 3 minutes. The
light then moves away at high speed. The pilot reports that while the
light is abreast of his aircraft, one of his transponders stops working.
After the UFO pulls away, the transponder resumes its normal operation.
The object paces the aircraft for 3–4 miles at a distance of 17 miles
and is fairly high above the aircraft. The pilot turns on his other
transponder and nothing happens, then the object takes off on a
120°–130° heading and shoots out of sight. The second transponder
recovers, but the pilot can never get the first one to work again. He
has no trouble with the other instruments. (NICAP, “UFO
KO’s Transponder”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5588
Date: 11/18/1977
Description: 5:30 a.m. A hunter sees an object 4–5 times the size of the
full moon ascending about 900 feet away in a wooded area near Richmond,
Virginia. It is smoky-gray and egg-shaped with one white light at the
top and two flashing lights on the bottom. Possible balloon. (“Case
3-1-12,” IUR 3, no. 1 (January 1978): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5587
Date: 11/24/1977
Description: 10:00 p.m. A polygraph examiner with experience as a pilot
and sailor is sitting on her porch in Smyrna, Georgia, when she notices
an object the size of a distant aircraft fly out ion front of the moon.
The object is white, intensely luminous, and shaped like a hemisphere.
It hovers for a few seconds, shoots straight up, hovers again, and then
tilts back (showing its bottom portion with two Saturn-like rings of
light) and flies back in front of the moon and disappears. (“Case
3-1-20,” IUR 3, no. 1 (January 1978): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5589
Date: 11/27/1977
Description: William
J. Hermann chases another disc-shaped UFO in Charleston, South
Carolina, in his car and takes four photographs. He has other sightings
on December 2 and 4 and on January 22, 1978, when he snaps eight photos.
(Clark III 570)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5590
Date: 11/28/1977
Description: Wellington Friday, UN ambassador at large for Grenada,
addresses the United Nations on the seriousness of the UFO phenomenon
and the need for global cooperation in investigating them. He is aided
in his statement by ufologist Leonard
Stringfield. Friday
appeals to UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim to convene UFO hearings.
The next two days are focused on preparation of a draft resolution to be
presented to the General Assembly on November 30. The United States says
that it can “sympathize” with Grenada’s efforts but cannot support the
draft resolution. On November 30, the US delegates, Coast Guard Cmdr.
John Feigle and John Krindler, meet with Grenada Prime Minister Eric
Gairy in a closed-door session to make the resolution more moderate.
(Leonard H. Stringfield, “Inside Look at Grenada’s UFO Mission at the
United Nations,” IUR 3, no. 2 (February 1978): 6–7; MUFON UFO Journal,
October 1978; Antonio Huneeus, “Rare
Footage of Famous 1978 UN
UFO Hearing Found,” Open Minds, May 13, 2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5591
Date: 11/29/1977
Description: Hovering dome-shaped object sped toward witness, stopped,
beamed blue light onto dead tree, which fluoresced in bright colors.
Sheep fled
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Waimata Valley, Gisborne, New Zealand
ID: 297
Date: 12/1977
Description: Jim
and Coral Lorenzen publish Abducted!, a collection of 20 years of
UFO abduction cases. Most of the aliens they describe are small with
large heads and eyes, no hair, and communicate by telepathy. They
suggest that abductions are the latest logical step in an alien
information-gathering process. Each abductee, they believe, has specific
information of value to the aliens. (Coral and Jim Lorenzen, Abducted!
Confrontations with Beings from
Outer Space, Berkley,
1977)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5593
Date: 12/1977
Description: GEPAN’s Scientific Council holds its first meeting. The
group is given a two-volume report of 290 pages, including three general
presentations, three detailed investigations, an analysis of two UFO
photos, and five statistical analyses of samples and cases. The council
reaches conclusions and recommendations for further study. (Gildas
Bourdais, “From GEPAN to SEPRA: Official UFO Studies in France,” IUR 25,
no. 4 (Winter 2000– 2001): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5592
Date: 12/1/1977
Description: The Have Blue HB1001 stealth aircraft is tested for the
first time at Area 52 in the Tonopah Test Range by pilot Bill
Park. (Wikipedia,
“Lockheed
Have
Blue”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5595
Date: 12/1/1977
Description: 8:28 p.m. An electrician is driving east out of Elm City,
North Carolina, when a large object drifts into view from the north. It
has one intense headlight in front, 4–6 blue lights around the edges,
and many red and white lights forming portholes along the sides. It is
shaped like a torpedo with four swept-back fins at the back with a round
band connecting them, and it is making a humming sound. (“Case 3-1-30,”
IUR 3, no. 1 (January 1978): 3, wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5596
Date: early 12/1977
Description: 5:15 p.m. A witness is driving from Falck to Brettnach,
Moselle, France, when he notices three lights on a triangular object
hovering silently. It disappears abruptly. (Marler 98)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5594
Date: 12/2/1977
Description: Night. A farmer in the Waimata Velley of New Zealand wakes
up when his dogs bark loudly in their kennels. He goes to the back door
and sees a landed saucer-shaped craft in a paddock about 100 feet away.
It is about 50 feet in diameter and bright red with two open doors in
the side. By the kennels he sees two humanoid beings about 4 feet 8
inches in height with slim builds. They are carrying one of the dogs,
which appears comatose. The farmer shoots and hits one of the creatures,
apparently startling them into dropping the animal. The being that is
hit runs off into the bushes, and the other runs into the UFO, which
then ascends vertically. The dog remains dazed for a few minutes and
then becomes agitated. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 6 (June 1978):
2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5597
Date: 12/6/1977
Description: 7:30 p.m. Three people in a car near Tatapouri Point, New
Zealand, see a red disc coming from the direction of the ocean. It seems
to follow their car for about one mile until the driver stops. At that
instant, the object veers off into the hills northwest toward the
Waimata Valley. They note their car lights are much dimmer than usual,
and on arriving at their destination discover that the car battery has
no water in it. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 6 (June 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5598
Date: 12/6/1977
Description: 9:05 p.m. A man in Big Sandy, Tennessee, sees an unusual
configuration of lights outside his bedroom window in the
east-northeast. They are oriented like a telephone pole with a red light
on top and many white and blue lights down both sides. He and his wife
watch the object for 10 minutes as it hovers, drops down, and glides to
another hovering position. Eventually it moves out of sight behind
trees. (“Case 3-1-40,” IUR 3, no. 1 (January 1978): wrap)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5599
Date: 12/7/1977
Description: The United Nations draft resolution on UFO investigations
is shelved until next year’s General Assembly. (“United Nations Shelves
UFO Involvement,” IUR 3, no. 1 (January 1978): wrap; Leonard H.
Stringfield, “Inside Look at Grenada’s UFO Mission at the United
Nations,” IUR 3, no. 2 (February 1978): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5600
Date: 12/8/1977
Description: Four UFOs tracked on radar; bright, circular objects
maneuvered around airliner
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Los Angeles, CA
ID: 298
Date: 12/8/1977
Description: 8:00 p.m. Air traffic controllers at Oxnard, California,
track 4 UFOs about 3–5 miles north of Laguna Peak. They watch the
targets for nearly 3 hours. Around 9:00 p.m., a Golden West commuter
aircraft reports two large bright lights maneuvering around it for 15
minutes. The pilot says the object approaches so close that it “scared
the hell out of me.” (MUFON UFO Journal, March 1983)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5601
Date: 12/13/1977
Description: Geminid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 299
Date: 12/13/1977
Description: The UN General Assembly adopts Decision 32/424, which
acknowledges Eric
Gairy’s resolution, forwards it to member states, and shelves the
matter until the next general assembly one year later. (Leonard H.
Stringfield, “My
Advisory Role for Grenada’s UFO Mission at the United Nations,”
MUFON UFO Journal, no. 120 (November 1977): 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5602
Date: 12/13/1977
Description: The National Enquirer publishes Bob
Pratt’s well-researched article, “UFOs Spotted at Nuclear Bases and
Missile Sites” about the Northern Tier cases. He lists names and dates
that can be used for a FOIA request, which UFO researcher Barry
Greenwood promptly files. (ClearIntent, pp. 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5603
Date: 12/17/1977
Description: Two UFOs tracked on radar giving “strong” returns, at
speeds in excess of 1,000 mph. One made head-on pass at an aircraft,
observed on radar
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Colorado and South Dakota
ID: 300
Date: 12/17/1977
Description: 7:45 p.m. A red, luminous object is seen by Kenny and Carol
Drake of Council Bluffs, Iowa, falling to earth near the northern city
limits. At the scene, they find an area covered by molten metal that is
glowing orange- red, igniting the grass. Police and firemen who arrive
15 minutes later all see the fallen mass, estimated at 35–55 pounds. An
investigation concludes that it is not space debris, a meteorite, or a
hoax. Two of the 11 witnesses to the fall describe a round object
hovering in the sky, edged by blinking red lights. The retrieved
material is composed of solid metal and slag with white ash inclusions.
(Jacques Vallée, “Physical
Analyses in Ten Cases of Unexplained
Aerial Objects with Material Samples,” Journal of Scientific
Exploration 12, no. 3 (1998): 367–372; Keith Basterfield, “Vallée–Nolan,
et al., Peer Reviewed Analysis of Unusual Materials Paper
Published,” Unidentified Aerial Phenomena—Scientific Research,
December 11, 2021; Garry P. Nolan, Jacques F. Vallée, Sizun Jiang, and
Larry G, Lemke, “Improved
Instrumental Techniques, Including Isotopic Analysis, Applicable
to the
Characterization of Unusual Materials with Potential Relevance to
Aerospace Forensics,” Progress in Aerospace Sciences 128 (January
2022))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5606
Date: 12/17/1977
Description: 4:00 p.m. Marguerite Camp is in her pickup truck on State
Highway 2 near Kenyon, Rhode Island, when she spots an “ovoid,
plate-like” object that is tilted slightly to the west. She stops and
gets out to watch the UFO, which is 3–4 times the size of a B-29 in
diameter and glowing blue-white. She sees 4–5 dark windows and its
bottom half is blurry. Another woman, driving an AMC Gremlin, pulls up
behind her. While they are watching the object, the engines of both
vehicles stall. The object turns up on its edge and climbs vertically,
and hovers for 10 more minutes. The second woman gets back in her car,
starts it up, and drives away. The object speeds off to the west, takes
on a pinkish glow, and fades in the distance. (Dan Todd, “Large
Objects Stalls Autos,” APRO Bulletin 27, no. 1 (July 1978):
4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5605
Date: 12/17/1977
Description: 3:34 a.m. Radar facilities in Colorado and South Dakota
track two UFOs that give strong returns, moving at more than 1,000 mph.
They are tracked for the next 30 minutes, during which time one of the
objects makes a close head-on pass at an aircraft. A third radar station
is unable to function while the unknowns are in the area. One of the
other facilities is put out of operation when the main shaft holding the
radar antenna is severely bent by an unknown force. (MUFON UFO Journal,
March 1983)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5604
Date: 12/21/1977
Description: NASA administrator Robert
A. Frosch sends a response to Frank Press at OSTP, saying that NASA
would be willing to continue to answer public inquiries and examine any
bona fide new physical evidence that comes in, but declines to set up a
panel to investigate cases. (Story, pp. 242–243;
Clark III 788–789; ClearIntent, p. 193;
presidentialufo.com, “President Jimmy Carter”; “NASA
Letter Declines UFO ‘Research Activity,’” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 120
(November 1977): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5607
Date: 12/22/1977
Description: White disc, red blinking lights top and bottom, paced
airliner for 20 minutes. Emitted green “smoke” from underside, sped out
of sight
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: North Atlantic
ID: 301
Date: 12/27/1977
Description: 10:54 p.m. Police officers Ron Arey and Howard Dellinger
are flying in a Bell Jetranger police helicopter at 1,100 feet in
Charlotte, North Carolina, when they see two lights approaching from the
northwest. They pass the chopper to the right at an estimated 200 feet.
Charlotte FAA air traffic controller Ray Bader confirms two unknown
targets on radar. Later on, the object circles the helicopter at an
estimated distance of 200 feet. The UFO looks like a globular white
light reflecting upward into a silver, parachute-like object with ribs
connecting the light to it. Possibly a prank balloon. (“Object
over N.C. on Dec. 27, 1977,” APRO Bulletin 26, no. 8 (February
1978): 1, 5); “A Radar-Visual in Charlotte: UFO or Prank Balloon?” IUR
3, no. 3 (March 1978): 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5609
Date: 12/27/1977
Description: A White House press release states that it accepts NASA’s
evaluation of the UFO situation and will not pursue its initiative any
further.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5608
Date: 12/30/1977
Description: Stanford astrophysicist Peter
A. Sturrock writes to Frosch,
offering to make available physical evidence “such as films, material
samples, etc.” obtained by his Study Group on Anomalous Phenomena.
(Clark III 789)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5610
Date: 12/30/1977
Description: A white, oval light about 27 feet in diameter paces a car
90 feet away near Keith, South Australia. The two witnesses, a brother
and sister, report that as they slowed their car to 5–10 kph, the engine
begins misfiring. They stop, and the light continues on its course.
After it is gone, the car can be started again and driven with no
difficulties. (Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS, 1981, p. 72)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5611
Date: Late 70’s
Description: In an interview, Colonel-General Gennady Reshetnikov, chief
of the Top Command Academy of the Air Defence Forces reported several
incidents where aircraft were scrambled to chase UFO’s. He also
investigated sightings of a cigar shaped object with portholes in the
late 70’s over Arctic region of Norilsk, alarming local military
units.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: link
Location: Norilsk, Soviet Union
Date: 1978
Description: A Gallup survey this year shows that 57% of Americans think
UFOs are real, 9% have reported a sighting, and 51% think there is
intelligent life on other planets. A Roper Organization survey finds
that 7% have seen a UFO. (“A New Gallup Poll on UFOs,” IUR 3, no. 6
(June 1978): insert; Robert J. Durant, “Evolution of Public Opinion on
UFOs,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5612
Date: 1978
Description: Gene
Duplantier publishes one issue of Ufolk in Willowdale, Ontario, a
compendium of photos of many ufologists active in the mid-1970s. (Ufolk,
no. 1 (1978))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5613
Date: 1978
Description: After many years of informal contacts with the Italian
military, Centro Ufologico Nazionale succeeds in obtaining from the
staff of the Italian Department of Defense the first official dossier of
UFO sightings reported by Italian military personnel during 1977.
(Story, p. 67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5614
Date: 1978
Description: Brazilian ufologist Irene
Granchi begins publishing a quarterly magazine titled OVNI Documento
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia,
Putnam, 1980, p. 235)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5615
Date: 1978
Description: Timothy
Green Beckley begins publishing a somewhat sensational UFO Review in
New York City. It runs at least until 1994. (UFO
Review, no.
1 (1978))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5616
Date: 1/1978
Description: Playboy publishes a “panel discussion” on UFOs that
features essays by J.
Allen Hynek, R.
Leo Sprinkle, James
A. Harder, Frank
Salisbury, Jacques
Vallée, Philip
J. Klass, and
Ernest
H. Taves. (“Playboy
Panel: UFOs,” Playboy, January 1978, pp. 67–98, 128, 249–250)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5617
Date: 1/1978
Description: The Russian Academy of Sciences releases a report,
translated by Richard
F. Haines and published by the Center for UFO Studies as
Observations of Anomalous Atmospheric Phenomena in the USSR: A
Statistical Analysis, written by Lev
M. Gindilis of the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute in Moscow.
Data processing and bookkeeping is performed by I. G. Petrovskaya and
most of the text is written by engineer-physicist D. A. Menkov.
Significantly, the report is approved for official publication by
Academician Nikolai
Kardashev, one of the USSR’s top experts in SETI. Its reports and
data come from a sample of 256 Russian cases compiled by Felix Ziegel. According
to space historian James
Oberg, many of the sightings in the report correspond to Soviet
tests and reentries of the Fractional Orbital Bombardment System, a
nuclear weapons delivery system developed in the 1960s. (Wikipedia, “Petrozavodsk
phenomenon”; L. M. Gindilis, D. A. Men’kov, and I. G. Petrovskaya,
Observations
of Anomalous Atmospheric Phenomena in the USSR: A Statistical
Analysis, CUFOS, June 1980; “Russian Report on UFOs,” IUR/Frontiers
of Science 2, no. 5 (July/Aug. 1980): 16–17; James E. Oberg, “The Great
Soviet UFO Cover-Up,” MUFON UFO Journal, October 1982; Swords
458–460)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5618
Date: 1/1978
Description: During the flight of a Yakolev Yak-40 airliner between the
Medvezhye gas field and Nadym, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia,
the crew notices a bright round object that approaches rapidly and
sometime later appears in front of the aircraft, apparently much larger.
A crash appears imminent, but the object soars up in front of the nose
of the airliner. (Paul Stonehill, “Pilot
and Cosmonaut Pavel Popovich and UFOs,” Open Minds, June 12,
2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5619
Date: 1/1978
Description: Night. Police Sgt. Tony Dodd and Constable Alan Dale are
driving near Cononley, North Yorkshire, England, when the road in front
of them lights up. They stop the patrol car, look up, and see an object
about 100 feet away and moving silently at 40 mph. It has three large
spheres below it, portholes around the perimeter, and a dome on top. The
object passes overhead and seems to land in a wood on a distant
hillside. (Good Above, pp. 116–117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5620
Date: 1/1/1978
Description: Veteran pilot observed domed disc with portholes
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Santa Monica, CA
ID: 302
Date: 1/1/1978
Description: 12:45–1:00 p.m. Pilots Floyd
P. Hallstrom (in a Cessna 170A) and Jim Victor (in a Mustang II
4954) are flying over Santa Monica, California, at 7,500 feet when they
see an object approaching at high speed. As the UFO passes about 6,000
feet to his left, Hallstrom is looking down on it an angle of about
30°–45° and its true form suddenly becomes clear to him. He is able to
make out the complete form of a saucer and can see the dome, also very
vividly clear, including all the windows, about 16–20 evenly spaced
around the circumference of the dome, located just above the base. The
dome appears to be a perfect hemisphere about 20 feet in diameter
resting on the base, which is about 30 feet in diameter. The UFO
continues on a course opposite to the pilot’s with no sign of rotation,
oscillation, pitch, roll, or yaw. Neither is there any sign of a
propulsion system. The sun reflects off the dome as a bright spot when
the UFO passes. After about a minute, the object disappears from view
behind the Cessna. (NICAP, “Cessna
Encounters Disc with Dome and Windows”: “An Air-Visual Sighting of a
Daylight Disc in California,” IUR 3, no. 4 (April 1978): insert; UFOEv
II 136–138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5621
Date: 1/2/1978
Description: 11:00 p.m. Four young men are driving through an isolated
area known as Simonswood Moss, between Rainsford and Kirkby, West
Lancashire, England, when they realize they have taken a wrong turn onto
a narrow dirt road bordering a ditch. They suddenly see a 7-foot tall
figure with red eyes appear in the glare of the headlights 26 feet
ahead. The being is wearing a white fluorescent one-piece suit with
boots, it has no discernible facial features, and it has short arms
ending in claws. On its chest is a box with two flashing red lights. The
figure takes two steps towards the witnesses and suddenly stops. The
witnesses panic and leave the area, driving to a nearby farm where they
notify the police. A later investigation suggests that they have seen a
cow wandering down the lane, the car’s headlights reflecting in its
eyes. (Peter Hough, “UFO Occupants,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes,
1987, pp. 129–130; Patrick Gross, URECAT, September
11, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5622
Date: 1/3/1978
Description: Quadrantid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 303
Date: 1/9/1978
End date: 1/10/1978
Description: Humanoid case
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: South Middleton, MA
ID: 304
Date: 1/10/1978
Description: 12:25 a.m. A 31-year-old paramedic is driving to pick up
her husband (a policeman) from work in Chicago, Illinois, when her
3-year-old son draws her attention to a “moving star” nearly overhead.
At her destination a few seconds later, she notes a silver disc-shaped
object (“with teacups on top and bottom of saucer”) as large as a full
moon moving forward with yellow-orange trail behind as it moved. The
object stops, reverses direction, moves forward again, and moves off
behind a building. The trail is only visible while the object is in
motion. Duration is 1–2 minutes. (“Case 3-2-39,” IUR 3, no. 2 (February
1978): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5623
Date: 1/14/1978
Description: 8:30 p.m. Four witnesses inside a house in Delavan,
Wisconsin, see an orange ball half the size of the full moon descend
into view through a window. They watch the sphere hover for one minute,
move 10° to the north, hover, and then move off quickly to the northern
horizon. (“Case 3-2-50,” IUR 3, no. 2 (February 1978): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5624
Date: 1/17/1978
Description: As a response to Sturrock’s
letter, NASA astrophysicist Richard
C. Henry writes to Noel
Hinners suggesting that examination of any UFO evidence could be
assigned to the Astrophysics Division at Goddard Space Flight Center
managed by Program Scientist Frank
Martin. He suggests as project scientist Stephen
P. Maran at
Goddard. Henry gets no response. (Clark III 789)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5625
Date: 1/18/1978
Description: MP at Ft. Dix shoots and kills an Alien. Incident report
sent to Col. Landon and Brig. Gen. Brown (AFOSI). The reporting officer
was S. W. (initials), Lt. 1st Class. Sgt. J.M. (initials), Security
Police Squad (PACAF) also witnessed and reported the incident (Sept. 16,
1980).
Type: alien encounter
Reference: link
Location: Ft. Dix, NJ
Date: 1/18/1978
Description: During the early morning hours of January 18, 1978, UFOs
were sighted flying over Fort Dix and McGuire AFB, adjacent military
bases. Shortly afterward, an Air Force security patrol was ordered to
the back gate of McGuire AFB to allow entry to New Jersey State Police
who were searching for something.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: link
Location: Ft. Dix, NJ
Date: 1/18/1978
Description: Formations of UFOs seen, MP at adjacent Fort Dix shot
humanoid being, AF security police found body on deserted runway
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: McGuire AFB, NJ
ID: 305
Date: 1/18/1978
Description: 3:00–5:00 a.m. A security policeman at McGuire AFB [now
Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst] in Burlington County, New Jersey, is
called to help investigate a low-flying UFO over the neighboring Fort
Dix army base. An Army MP pursues the object, but his radio transmission
is cut off just as a grayish, 4-foot-tall being with fat head, long
arms, and a slender body appears in front of his car. The MP fires five
rounds into the being and one round into the object above. The UFO
shoots upward and joins 11 others high in the sky, and the being runs
into the woods toward the Fort Dix fence line. A security patrol finds
its dead body near the McGuire AFB runaway, giving out a foul,
ammonia-like stench; then AFOSI arrives and ropes everything off.
Retired USAF Maj. George
Filer III, who
later serves as MUFON New Jersey director, asserts that he was stationed
on the base at the time and that the story is true, although he did not
see the alien. (UFOEv II 97–98; Leonard H. Stringfield, “The
Fatal Encounter at Ft. Dix–McGuire: A Case Study: Status Report IV,”
1985, in MUFON UFO Symposium Proceedings, 1985; Leonard Stringfield,
“The Chase for Proof in a Squirrel’s Cage,” UFOs 1947– 1987, Fortean
Tomes, 1987, pp. 153–155; MUFON UFO Journal, June 1987; John L. Guerra,
Strange Craft: The True Story of an Air Force Intelligence Officer’s
Life with UFOs, The Author, 2018; Erik Larsen, “In
New Book, Retired
Air Force Major Claims Alien Was Killed at Joint Base
McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst,” app, September 3, 2019; Clark III 511–513;
Keith Basterfield, “NIDS
Investigated the Reported Shooting of a Non-Human Entity: Fort
Dix/McGuire AFB, 18 January 1978; the NIDS Investigation,”
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena—Scientific Research, December 17,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5626
Date: 1/19/1978
Description: Citizens Against UFO Secrecy files a request with the US
State Department for classified UFO documents and includes the date and
time information, transmittal numbers, and message serial numbers, but
the department replies that it cannot locate the specified information.
(ClearIntent, pp. 193–194)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5627
Date: 1/23/1978
Description: 7:40 p.m. A carpenter is standing on his front porch in
Toledo, Ohio, when he notices a stationary saucer- shaped object about
30° above the horizon in the eastern sky. It is lit by the reflection of
the city lights and the Moon and is slightly larger than a distant
aircraft. It has dark, outlined windows and a small structure on top.
The object then moves off rapidly to the south and blinks out. (“Case
3-3-14,” IUR 3, no. 3 (March 1978): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5628
Date: 1/24/1978
Description: The Soviet reconnaissance satellite Kosmos 954 reenters the
Earth’s atmosphere while traveling on a northeastward track over western
Canada. At first the USSR claims that the satellite has been completely
destroyed during re-entry, but later searches show debris from the
satellite has been deposited on Canadian territory along a 370-mile path
from Great Slave Lake to Baker Lake. The effort to recover radioactive
material from the satellite is dubbed Operation Morning Light. Covering
a total area of 48,000 square miles, the joint Canadian–US team
(consisting of the emergency Nuclear Emergency Support Team) sweeps the
area on foot and by air through October 15. They are ultimately able to
recover 12 large pieces of the satellite, 10 of which are radioactive.
(Wikipedia, “Kosmos
954”; Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 314–316)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5629
Date: 1/26/1978
Description: 12:31 a.m. A policeman in Williamston, North Carolina,
watches a round light the size of the full Moon at 60° in the northwest.
The light moves quickly toward the south then hovers 10–15 seconds
before changing course. A windstorm is in progress and the object is
beneath the clouds. Another officer 3 miles away also watches the object
for 10–20 seconds before it disappears. (“Case 3-3-19,” IUR 3, no. 3
(March 1978): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5630
Date: 1/27/1978
Description: 12:00 midnight. A flight instructor is flying his Cessna
172 to Opalocka, Florida, when he sees a formation of six objects with
no lights over Key West. Each object is disc-shaped and reflects the
moonlight. They are flying in a ragged straight line, approximately
equidistant, at 7,000 feet, then disappear in the distance. (“Case
3-3-24,” IUR 3, no. 3 (March 1978): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5631
Date: 1/27/1978
Description: Early morning. Four men on the banks of the River Weaver
see a silver balloon-shaped object land in a meadow near Frodsham,
Cheshire, England. It emits a strong purplish glow that makes it hard to
look at. Two entities of normal height emerge. They wear silvery suits
and have miners’ lamps on their heads, and these glow purple. Cows on a
nearby field seem to become paralyzed, unable to move. Using a metal
cage, the entities pen in one cow and seem to measure it. The witnesses
become frightened and run from the area, and as they run they feel a
strange tingling sensation in their groins. One of the men develops
sunburn-like marks on his leg. (Jenny Randles, Alien Abductions: The
Mystery Solved, Inner Light, 1988, pp. 66–67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5632
Date: 1/27/1978
Description: Cheryl DeSanctis sees a blinking red and white light
hovering above some trees near Barry Drive in Vineland, New Jersey. She
watches it for 5 minutes, then a red ball moves from behind it,
descending to just a few feet above the rooftops where its light
reflects off the houses. After 10 minutes, the red ball moves to the
north and the first light departs to the south. (“Vineland
Is Beset by UFO Sitings,” Atlantic City (N.J.) Press, February 3,
1978, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 105 (April 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5633
Date: 1/28/1978
Description: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics held
symposium on Space and UFOs in Los Angeles, CA.
Type: official
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: US
ID: 306
Date: 1/31/1978
End date: 2/1/1978
Description: 6:15 p.m. Four boys are playing on the ice of the Montvale
(N.J.) Memorial Elementary School playing field. They notice an
“airplane” that passes slowly over the field; moments later, another
object arrives, shaped like a square with large yellow lights in each
corner, with a slight dome on top and a red light underneath. It emits a
red beam of light toward the ground but stops short before touching it.
They next notice several humanoid figures moving around the school park,
walking stiffly. They are about average height and bald-headed, dressed
in bright yellow outfits with boots and gloves. One of them looks
different, because he has a larger head that seems “creased” down the
middle and has on a brown cape over the yellow suit. As the boys watch,
they note an uncanny silence and an unpleasant sulfur-like odor. The
figures walk away toward the nearby Public Works Garage. The boys then
notice another figure, this one a woman standing in the parking lot. She
has medium long brown hair and wears a dark suit with blue fur around
her shoulders. She walks in slow motion and sits down on a low fence and
raises her arm very slowly, pointing to the sky at another hovering
square object. The woman then walks toward the Public Works building and
at one point seems to appear and disappear as a police vehicle drives by
near her. A similar scenario occurs the next evening. (Ted Bloecher,
“CE-III Report from Montvale, N.J.: Preliminary Report,” MUFON UFO
Journal, no. 123 (February 1978): 4–7; “A Possible Close Encounter of
the Third Kind in New Jersey,” IUR 3, no. 4 (April 1978): 3, 7; Patrick
Gross, URECAT, December
6, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5634
Date: 1/31/1978
Description: 11:00 p.m. Pat Martinelli is outside her home on North
Maple Drive in Vineland, New Jersey, when she sees an object silently
hovering above the nearby trees. It is a triangle with the point at the
back and many red and white lights. (“Vineland
Is Beset by UFO Sitings,” Atlantic City (N.J.) Press, February 3,
1978, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 105 (April 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5635
Date: 2/1978
Description: 2:00 a.m. A State Police officer is on foot patrol between
Ornontowice and Chudów, Poland, when he notices that his dog is acting
strangely. He looks up and sees a black cigar-shaped object with small
windows moving above him. He hears a slight humming noise like a vacuum
cleaner. It moves off to the northeast. (Poland 109– 110)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5636
Date: 2/1/1978
Description: NASA Information Sheet claims NASA is not involved in a
research program involving UFOs, nor is any other government agency. The
U.S. Air Force no longer investigates UFOs. (see NASA arrest laws re.
private citizens)
Type: information sheet
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p515)
Location: Washington DC
Date: 2/1/1978
Description: Night. Six teenagers are driving north on Hance Bridge Road
in Vineland, New Jersey. They see a series of four large lights low in
the sky approaching them. It swerves about 500–600 feet in altitude and
a mile distant, and they can see that the object is triangular with a
light in each corner. It returns the way it came, so they decide to
follow it for 6–7 miles before pulling over and stopping the car. When
they turn their headlights off, the object’s lights go out. When they
turn the headlights back on, the UFO lights up again. (“Vineland
Is Beset by UFO
Sitings,” Atlantic City (N.J.) Press, February 3, 1978, via UFO
Newsclipping Service, no. 105 (April 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5637
Date: 2/2/1978
Description: 9:30 p.m. Brian Mosychuk is walking in a neighborhood of
Edmonton, Alberta, when he sees a car-sized object with blue lights on
front and back approaching from the northwest. It hovers above him
making a rumbling sound, then a beam of light shoots toward him.
Mosychuk leans back to avoid the beam, but it shines on his feet in the
snow. He runs away, and when the looks back the object is flying away to
the northeast, leaving behind a red trail. He tells his father, who goes
out and finds a round circle in the snow. They call the police, who find
a melted hole about 28 inches in diameter. Samples of snow, including
some with carbon spots, are taken to CFB Edmonton for a contamionation
check. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night,
2022, p. 191)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5639
Date: 2/2/1978
Description: Citizens Against UFO Secrecy supplies the US State
Department with more information regarding UFO documents that it knows
exist, but are stonewalled for months until they are sent a photocopy of
an article in UFO Investigator that includes some of the documents. As
Barry
Greenwood writes, “the only way to get documents released was to
have them in the first place so that one could mail them back to the
agency as proof that they existed.” (ClearIntent, p. 194)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5638
Date: 2/4/1978
Description: 3:30–4:00 a.m. A weird humming sound awakens Claire Semaza
and her two children in Orange, California. The sound increases in
volume until it hurts her ears, and the family dog barks frantically,
punctuated by an odd pause for several seconds. Outside, they see an
oval or cigar-shaped object not far above the trees about one half-mile
away. Below and around it is a layer of gray haze. It begins slowly
rising, leaving the haze behind. The object has a bright red light at
each end that sends shafts of light toward the ground. Several
bluish-white lights are visible between the two red ones. It rises
higher, flashes a brilliant white light on and off for 3 seconds, then
quickly disappears. Meanwhile, the dog has been taking her 7 puppies one
by one and hiding them behind the drapes on the second floor. (Idabel
Epperson, “Canine Mother Hides Puppies from UFO,” MUFON UFO Journal, no.
122 (January 1978): 7; “Unusual Animal Reaction in California NL Case,”
IUR 3, no. 4 (April 1978): insert)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5640
Date: 2/5/1978
Description: 6:00 p.m. Two Bradley University security guards in Peoria,
Illinois, are making their rounds when their car lights up. An intensely
bright object is ahead of them and about 45° up in the east. They drive
another two blocks to an open areas and get out of the car to watch two
objects, the larger of which is as big as the full Moon. They are both
changing colors from green to red to white. The smaller one abruptly
disappears as the larger object is flying loops, dropping down behind
the houses, moving back up, and maneuvering abruptly. They discuss the
UFOs with some passing students. The object remains visible for at least
45 minutes. (“Case 3-3-62,” IUR 3, no. 3 (March 1978): insert)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5641
Date: 2/9/1978
Description: A carbon copy of an apparent USAF incident report is
received at the office of the National Enquirer in Lantana, Florida.
Accompanying the document is an unsigned letter dated January 29 and
“revealing” the Ellsworth AFB incident of November 16, 1977. (Bob Pratt,
“The
Truth about the ‘Ellsworth Case,’” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 191
(January 1984): 6–9; Clark III 358)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5642
Date: 2/10/1978
Description: WJR-AM radio personality Marc Avery is on his way to the
Detroit Metropolitan Airport on I-275 when he and his wife see two
lights hovering above their car for 30–50 seconds. He calls the radio
station and speaks on air, asking if anyone else has seen the lights.
Two men in the area of Merriman Road and Michigan Avenue in Wayne,
Michigan, call in to say that 5 minutes earlier they had seen a large
UFO traveling east to west at treetop level. (“Forty
Years Ago This Weekend, a WJR Radio Personality May Have Encountered a
UFO,” Michigan Radio, February 9, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5643
Date: 2/12/1978
Description: 11:00 p.m. David Mace and his wife are driving on Tennant
Way approaching Lake Sacajawea in Longview, Washington, when they see an
orange triangle with a hole in it silently hovering above the lake near
Washington Way. They watch it for 15 seconds before it takes off to the
west. (“Couple
Reports UFO above Lake Sacajawea,”
Longview (Wash.) News, February 13, 1978, via UFO Newsclipping Service,
no. 104 (March 1978): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5644
Date: 2/19/1978
Description: The television series Project U.F.O. debuts in the US on
NBC-TV. Running for two seasons of 13 episodes each, the show is based
loosely on the real-life Project Blue Book. The show is created by Jack
Webb, who pores through Air Force files looking for episode ideas.
The first season stars William
Jordan as Maj. Jake Gatlin alongside William
Caskey Swaim as Staff Sgt. Harry Fitz. Former USAF Col. William
T. Coleman is a producer. (Wikipedia, “Project
U.F.O.”; Internet Movie Database, “Project
U.F.O.”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5646
Date: 2/19/1978
Description: 1:20 p.m. Radar operators on two separate systems in
Minnesota track a large, solid object, which starts ascending rapidly as
soon as one operator switches his system to manual. It seems to take
evasive action by stopping, starting, and descending. The operator
tracks it traveling about one mile in one second (3,600 mph) and moves
vertically “instantaneously.” (MUFON UFO Journal, March 1983)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5645
Date: 2/22/1978
Description: 9:40 p.m. Brian Metcalfe, an FAA air traffic controller, is
driving northeast on Interstate 80, approaching Newcastle, California.
Seeing two intense lights moving slowly in the sky, he pulls over and
gets out to look. The only sound he can hear is a low hum. The object
moves southwest along the freeway at about 30–40 mph at an altitude of
2,000–3,000 feet. He notices it is delta-shaped. Other witnesses in the
area also see the object over Auburn, California, just before 10:00 p.m.
(“More
Reports Confirm Sighting Strange Craft in Placer Area,” Auburn
(Calif.) Journal, March 1, 1978, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 105
(April 1978): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5647
Date: 2/23/1978
Description: 11:45 p.m. A couple hears interference on their car radio
in Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy. When the man gets out to
investigate, a warm, violet light envelops him. He sees four shapes and
lights all around. After walking around the car, he goes back inside and
finds his girlfriend crying. Twenty minutes of missing time has passed.
(Paolo Fiorino, Gian Paolo Grassino, and Antonio Chiumiento, “Abductions
in Italy,” IUR 14, no. 4 (July/Aug.1989): 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5648
Date: 2/28/1978
Description: Stanton
Friedman has discovered retired Maj. Jesse
A. Marcel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and interviews him about the
1947 Roswell, New Mexico, incident. Marcel says the debris was like
nothing on earth. Friedman has also interviewed Lydia
Sleppy, who worked at Albuquerque radio station KOAT and remembers
the military intervention on the story. William
L. Moore and Friedman compare notes from two separate interviews
Friedman has conducted about the crash. By 1980, Friedman and Bill Moore
have interviewed at least 62 witnesses to the Roswell incident. (Charles
Berlitz and William L. Moore, The
Roswell Incident, Grosset & Dunlap, 1980; Kevin D. Randle and
Anthony Bragalia, “Two Roswell Witnesses, Reconsidered,” IUR 32, no. 3
(July 2009): 6–8, 24; Clark III 320)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5649
Date: 3/1978
Description: Widespread UFO sightings, including formations and
disc-shaped objects with windows
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Minnesota
ID: 307
Date: 3/9/1978
Description: Pilot Luciano Ascione is flying northbound at 2,600 feet 75
miles away from Vicenza, Italy, when a green, rocket-shaped object
appears on his right about 1 mile away. Other planes in the area report
a green flash. (ClearIntent, pp. 92–93;
1Pinotti 214–215)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5650
Date: 3/11/1978
Description: Sundown. Two men from L’Île-Perrot, Quebec, are camping
near the shore of Reservoir Baskatong when they see a comet-like, bright
blue object leaving a fiery trail plummeting toward the surface of the
lake. It disappears behind trees, and the men jump up, grab their
cameras, and run to the lake. The object is hovering silently above the
surface, where it remains stationary for 30 seconds before moving to the
other side of the lake. One of them starts snapping photos, but after 5
seconds the object rises swiftly and disappears like a flash into the
sky. (“UFO
Said Photographed,” Tampa (Fla.) Times, March 13, 1978, p. 1;
“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 4 (April 1978): 2; Wido Hoville and Don
Donderi, “RR2
au Lac Baskatong,” UFO-Quebec, no. 16 (December 1978): 8–10, 15–22;
Yurko Bondarchuk, UFO Sightings, Landings, and Abductions, Methuen,
1979, pp. 4–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5651
Date: 3/11/1978
Description: 10:40 p.m. Four witnesses in the Waimata Valley, New
Zealand, watch a red and green object shaped like a top hat. Two of them
approach in their car to about 100 feet, but the object shuts off all
its lights and disappears. The same object reappears twice more the same
evening. (Gisborne (N.Z.) Herald, March 16, 1978; “Foreign Forum,” IUR
3, no. 5 (May 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5652
Date: 3/12/1978
Description: Early morning. A mill worker at Kawerau, New Zealand, is
driving back to Gisborne when a brilliant orange light illuminates the
interior of his car. He sees a large oval object floating alongside
about 50 feet away. He thinks it is as large as a five-story building
and has thousands of small lights on the sides. Slowly it rises to 300–
400 feet and floats away. (Gisborne (N.Z.) Herald, March 16, 1978;
“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, np. 5 (May 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5653
Date: 3/16/1978
Description: 9:00 p.m. Mayor Mark
M. Millis of Arroyo Grande, California, and Mayor Al
Dutra of Grover City are leaving a meeting at Arroyo Grande City
Hall when they see a triangular-shaped lighted object the size of a
Boeing 747 moving slowly to the southwest about one mile in the air.
Capt. Antony Wood of the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Department also sees
the object at Oceano, and other witnesses as far north as Morro Bay
report the UFO, which has two bright lights in front and smaller ones in
the back. (“Mayors,
Police, Others See UFO in South
County,” Santa Maria (Calif.) Times, March 17, 1978, p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5654
Date: 3/17/1978
Description: 11:30 p.m. Service engineer Ken Edwards is driving back
from a union meeting in Sale, Greater Manchester, England, on Daten
Avenue, Risley, past the UK Atomic Energy Authority site. As he is
approaching the roundabout near the Universities Research Reactor
building and the UKAEA fire station, he notices a 7-foot-tall silver
figure coming down a steep embankment to his left. Stopping his van,
Edwards watches the figure descend with an unnatural stiff-legged gait.
The figure walks across the road only 15 feet from him. As he passes
Edwards, the figure looks at him and two beams of light shoot from its
eyes and dazzle him. It continues walking toward the security fence
surrounding the UKAEA site. The figure raises an arm (one of two that
seem to come out of its chest) and walks through the 10-foot-tall,
barbed wire-topped, chain link fence, disappearing into the darkness. He
later drives to the Pudgate police station to report the sighting.
Police accompany him to the site where they find a group of UKAEA
constabulary officers gathered at the spot, but since there is no hole
in the fence, they discount his story. However, years later investigator
Glen Vaudrey discovers that the tall figure was a 6 foot, 5 inch fireman
dressed in a high-temperature fire suit who was trying to scare some
students in an isolation building across the road. (Jenny Randles, “Man
on the Moss,” Fortean Times 305 (October 2013): 29; Glen Vaudrey, “Atom
Age Alien? Solving the Mystery of the Risley Silver Man,” Fortean Times
397 (October 2020): 36–41; Jenny Randles, “Silvery Ships from the
Stars,” Fortean Times 403 (March 2021): 30–31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5655
Date: 3/18/1978
Description: William J. Herrmann abduction case
Type: abduction
Type: official
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Summerville, SC
ID: 308
Date: 3/18/1978
Description: Around 4:00 p.m. Leo Giampietro and his wife are driving 15
miles west of Palm Springs, California. He pulls over when he sees a
brown-colored domed disc the size of a distant aircraft moving in a
straight path over the mountains in the southwest. It hovers for a few
seconds and he can hear a humming sound. He manages to snap tree photos.
The noise stops and the object shoots straight up and disappears. (“Case
3-5-18,” IUR 3, no. 5 (May 1978): 3; “Case Update,” IUR 3, no. 8 (August
1978): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5656
Date: 3/18/1978
Description: 9:15 p.m. William
J. Hermann is out looking for UFOs near Charleston, South Carolina,
when he sees apparently the same UFO he has photographed frequently
before. He starts running toward it when it suddenly swoops toward him
and directs a paralyzing blue-white beam at him. Hermann loses
consciousness. When he wakes up again, it is 12:05 a.m. and he is in a
field in Summerville, 15 miles from his home. He sees the UFO departing
in its characteristic zigzag pattern. He calls the police, who drive him
home. The next few nights he suffers from nervousness, headaches, and
insomnia. Not long afterward, he is hypnotized by James
A. Harder, an
engineering professor affiliated with APRO. He recalls an
abduction/contact experience on board a spacecraft with beings from Zeta
Reticuli. The leader tells him that if mankind persists in its warlike
ways, civilization will be destroyed. Hermann continues to experience
contacts and he begins to channel alien writings. (Wendelle C. Stevens
and William J. Hermann, UFO Contact from Reticulum, Wendelle C. Stevens,
1981; Patrick Gross, URECAT, April
18, 2012; Clark III 570–571)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5657
Date: 3/22/1978
Description: 7:00 and 8:45 p.m. Two waves of UFO sightings are reported
over a wide area between Cumberland, Wisconsin, and Newport, Minnesota.
UFO investigator Robert E. Engberg traces the first wave beginning
around Chisago City, Minnesota, and moving east between Dresser and
St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. The second wave originates near Cumberland
and follows an 85-mile course to St. Paul, Minnesota. Witnesses see
formations of red lights, single round objects with red body lights, and
orange globes in straight-line and oblique formations. Some disc-shaped
objects are also reported with rows of body lights. (“Valley
UFO Sightings of March 22, 1978, Described,”
Taylors Falls (Minn.) The Dalles Visitor, May 1979, via UFO Newsclipping
Service, no. 119, pp. 7– 9; “A Mini-Flap in Minnesota: UFO or
Helicopters?” IUR 3, no. 5 (May 1978): insert)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5658
Date: 3/22/1978
Description: 11:00 p.m. Gary Oickle, David Oickle, and two friends are
sitting around a campfire in Patapsco Valley State Park, Maryland, near
the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad tunnel. They see a strange object in
the southeastern sky that moves around for 10 minutes before it
disappears behind a ridge. Another object soon appears over their
campsite from behind a ridge to the north; this time it is a triangular
shape about 150–200 feet on each side with large windows, three white
lights at each corner, and a red light on top. Three of the witnesses
think they see the silhouette of a figure in the windows. It moves very
slowly, hovering at times, to the southeast. Another star-like object
appears in the south after the triangle moves away. It changes colors
repeatedly from blue to green to yellow to red. (Joe and Doris Graziano,
“Object
over State Park,” APRO Bulletin 26, no. 10 (April 1978): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5659
Date: 3/24/1978
Description: In one case documented by New Mexico police and the FBI, an
11-month-old cross Hereford-Charolais bull, belonging to Manuel Gomez of
Dulce, New Mexico, is found mutilated. It displays “classic” mutilation
signs, including the removal of the rectum and sex organs with what
appears to be “a sharp and precise instrument,” and its internal organs
are found to be inconsistent with a normal case of death followed by
predation. The animal’s heart, as well as bone and muscle samples, are
sent to the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory for microscopic and
bacteriological studies, while samples from the animal’s liver are sent
to two separate private laboratories. Los Alamos detects the presence of
naturally occurring Clostridium bacteria in the heart but is unable to
reach any conclusions because of the possibility that the bacteria
represent postmortem contamination. They do not directly investigate the
heart’s unusual color or texture. Samples from the animal’s liver are
found to be completely devoid of copper and to contain 4 times the
normal level of zinc, potassium, and phosphorus. The scientists
performing the analysis are unable to explain these anomalies. Blood
samples taken at the scene are reported to be “light pink in color” and
“did not clot after several days” while the animal’s hide is found to be
unusually brittle for a fresh death (the animal was estimated to have
been dead for 5 hours) and the flesh underneath is found to be
discolored. (Wikipedia, “Cattle
mutilation”; Amanda Push, “Underground
Aliens and Cattle Mutilations: Dulce, New
Mexico, Has Long Been the Site of Strange Activity and Conspiracy
Theories,” DGO, February 26, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5660
Date: 3/24/1978
Description: Just after 12:00 noon. Luis Carlos Serra, 16, is picking
guava in the forest just west of Penalva, Maranhão, Brazil, when he
hears a sharp noise like a car horn. He looks up and sees a bright white
light about 20 inches wide high above the palm trees. Suddenly he falls
flat on his back, paralyzed. After a short time, he starts rising in the
air toward a round UFO with four balls on the bottom, a dome on top, and
three windows. He floats through one of the windows head-first. Inside
he drops to the floor, still paralyzed, and sees three entities about 3
feet high and wearing “diving suits.” He is taken somewhere with no
trees and tall grass and subjected to an examination. Soon he loses
consciousness and wakes up three days later in a scrub forest. A nearby
fisherman, José Ribamar dos Santos, hears his cry, finds and recognizes
him, and takes him back to town. Serra is examined in the hospital by
Dr. Linda Macieira, who finds that he has four teeth missing and is
completely bald with his hair burned off. He has a general loss of motor
control and a lack of sensitivity to pain. He does not eat, so he is fed
intravenously for the 7 days he is hospitalized. On March 30 he is
transferred to the Serme Hospital in São Luis, where 6 doctors examine
him, including neurologist Antônio
Saldanha, who
finds that Serra still cannot speak and is generally unresponsive and in
shock. Two psychiatrists, Renato Barcelar and Barcelar Viana, examine
him after he recovers his ability to speak a few days later. He repeats
his story without variation every time. He is discharged on April 7.
(Clark III 899–901; “Caso
Luis Carlos Serra,” Galáxia Mundo GAEMU, April 2014; Brazil
251–255)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5661
Date: 3/27/1978
Description: Astronaut Gordon
Cooper appears on the Merv Griffin Show and discusses UFO stories
from government insiders. Merv
Griffin asks him about occupant reports, and Cooper thinks they are
credible. From what he has heard (although he has never been briefed on
the matter), the aliens look no different from ordinary humans. (Thomas
O’Toole, “Cooper:
UFO Stories from ‘Credible’ Sources,” Washington Post, April 7,
1978)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5662
Date: 3/27/1978
Description: During a 9-hour period near San Diego, California, an F-14
Tomcat aircraft loses control and makes touch- and-go landings; an A-4
Skyhawk crashes into the Pacific 50 miles to the west; and an S-3A
Viking anti- submarine aircraft from Naval Air Station North Island
explodes and crashes into the ocean 6 miles from the base. On March 28,
a college art instructor and a shipping company owner are talking on the
phone when they are interrupted by another conversation on the line.
Someone is apparently giving a briefing to a general about aircraft
losses, instruments going haywire, and something that crashed near Palm
Springs that the news media was told was a meteor. A “General Kelley”
[Lt. Gen. Robert
E. Kelley at Eglin AFB? Lt. Gen. John
R. Kelly Jr. at the Pentagon?] is said to be on his way to the site.
No agency admits to having such a conversation. (ClearIntent, pp. 194–195)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5663
Date: 3/28/1978
Description: 12:00 midnight–1:30 a.m. Irene Bigelow is outside her home
in Denver, Colorado, when she sees three bright-orange UFOs motionless
in the air for more than an hour. She estimates they are as large as her
garage’s double door. At 1:30, they break formation, with the light on
the right moving to the right. The other two remain stationary at first,
then all three ascend into the sky in different directions. (Richard
Sigismond, “Four Huge Orange Discs and the Case for the UFO,” IUR 8, no.
2 (March/April 1983): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5664
Date: 3/29/1978
Description: 7:30 a.m. Christopher Kloppenborg and Geoffrey Kloppenborg
are out mustering sheep near Albury, New South Wales, Australia. They
see a very bright, stationary, chrome-colored light that is casting a
shadow on a hillside. They use binoculars to watch it for 5–8 minutes.
It appears to have black shapes along its side and is shaped like a
short cigar. Geoffrey returns to the house to get a camera, and on his
return he sees a second, smaller object, traveling over the hills toward
the first object. It turns in front of the bigger object, and then both
depart over the hills to the east. (Melbourne Herald, April 8, 1978;
“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 7 (July 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5665
Date: 3/31/1978
Description: 8:30 p.m. A young man is walking his dog in a field in
Dublin, Ireland, when he spots a silver cigar-shaped object hovering
about 45° above the horizon. For the next 20 minutes, a doorway
repeatedly (about 20 times) opens, releasing a red light, the door
closes again, the red light returns to the object, and the door opens
and readmits it. The object remains motionless another 10 minutes, then
shoots upward at fantastic speed. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 7 (July
1989): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5666
Date: 4/1978
Description: Citizens Against UFO Secrecy is formed by W.
Todd Zechel, Brad
Sparks, and
Peter Gersten.
Its purpose is to uncover UFO data through the Freedom of Information
Act, lawsuits against government agencies, and investigation of
high-quality UFO reports. It launches a newsletter, Just Cause. The
group brings a lawsuit against the CIA using the Freedom of Information
Act for release of UFO documents. It receives more than 900 documents
from the CIA in 1979 but are refused 57 because of “national security
considerations.” Just Cause lingers on until January 1982 under the
title UFOrmant. (Wikipedia, “Citizens
Against UFO Secrecy”; “CAUS Picking
Up Where GSW and NICAP Left Off,” Just Cause 1, no. 1 (April 1978):
1–4; ClearIntent, p. 192;
Clark III 240)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5667
Date: 4/1978
Description: An Iranian airline pilot is flying between Ahvaz and
Tehran, Iran, when he sees a glittering flying object. He manages to
photograph it, but civil aviation authorities prohibit its release.
Radar controllers at Mehrabad Airport track a target 20 times the size
of a jumbo jet on their screens. (ClearIntent, p. 89)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5668
Date: 4/2/1978
Description: Round object with body lights hovered ahead of car, made
pulsating sound. Tilted down, beamed a bright light from the top onto
car.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Strinestown, PA
ID: 309
Date: 4/2/1978
Description: Morning. A loud explosion on Bell Island, Newfoundland,
causes damage to some houses and electrical wiring in the surrounding
area. A number of TV sets in Lance Cove and other communities explode at
the time of the blast. It is initially thought to be caused by ball
lightning. Meteorologists state that atmospheric conditions at the time
are not conducive to lightning,
although some witnesses report balls of fire and streaks of light in the
sky. The boom is heard 34 miles away in Cape
Broyle. The incident is investigated by John
Warren and Robert Freyman from Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, New
Mexico, as a possible a “superbolt”—an unusually large bolt of
lightning. A 2004 documentary on the History Channel about
electromagnetic pulse weapons, The Invisible Machine, investigates the
possibility that it may have been the result of top-secret experiments.
However, on April 23, 2019, hundreds of people on the island hear
another explosion, which is almost immediately determined to have been a
massive section of rock breaking away from the northern part of the
island and impacting the ground and sea with extreme force. Large cracks
almost two feet across were observed developing in the area in the years
prior to the collapse, and signs were placed to warn visitors to stay
away from the unstable features. (Wikipedia, “Bell
Island (Newfoundland and Labrador)”; ClearIntent, pp. 96–97;
Brian Dunning, “The
Bell Island Boom,” Skeptoid podcast no. 190 (January 26, 2010); B.
Jessee, “The
Bell Island Boom,”
Medium: The Mysterious Miscellany, December 23, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5669
Date: 4/2/1978
Description: 1:40 p.m. Warren Smith is 8–9 miles northwest of Calgary,
Alberta, when his border collie starts running in circles and looking
up. Smith looks out his window and sees a silent, grayish-silver disc
slightly larger than the full moon. It moves straight up and down, in
and out of the cloud layer three times for about 30 seconds. Each time
the object comes out of the clouds it remains visible for about 10
seconds. Smith notices a large number of “lightning rods” that move in
and out on its surface. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 5 (May 1978):
2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5670
Date: 4/2/1978
Description: 8:30 p.m. Lee Robinson is riding her motorcycle on Sunset
Road toward Henderson, New Zealand, when she stops to watch floating
lights approaching her from the distance. She makes out a wedge-shaped
form, broad at the front and narrow at the back, with two red lights, a
green light, and a glass front. It stops 600 feet away, hovering. Two
figures in dark robes can be seen from the waist up looking down at her.
She stares at it petrified for several minutes until a car approaches
and the object flies off. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 9 (September
1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5671
Date: 4/6/1978
Description: 7:30 p.m. Vicki Burns is standing outside the stable on her
farm near Prince George, British Columbia, when a narrow beam of light,
2 inches in diameter, comes from above some trees and shines into her
barn for 5 seconds. She hears her horses scream, and inside they seem
dazed and frightened. She and her mother notice a bright white light
moving in the sky, darting back and forth. Some neighbors come over for
3 hours to watch the light for and attend to the horses. An odd circle
is found on either side of the filly’s neck. A veterinarian, Dr. McKee,
examines the horses the next day, and they still appear to be in shock.
He explains the circle as ringworm, but cannot account for the animals’
fatigue or behavior. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified,
August Night, 2022, pp. 223–226)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5672
Date: 4/6/1978
End date: 6/24/1978
Description: Six cattle are found mutilated on farms near Elsberry,
Missouri. Orange lights and “flashing stars” are seen in the vicinity.
(“Background on the Elsberry Events: Are UFOs Linked with Cattle
Mutilations?” IUR 3, no. 8 (August 1978): 5–6; Marler 19–20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5673
Date: 4/9/1978
Description: 10:10 a.m. A single witness looking out his bedroom window
in Toronto, Ontario, watches a silver shiny cigar traveling eastbound
for 10 seconds. The object is brighter than the moon. (“Foreign Forum,”
IUR 3, no. 5 (May 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5674
Date: 4/11/1978
Description: The crew of the HMAS
Adroit, operating
out of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, in the Timor Sea, watches
a UFO hover and sink to the horizon several times before disappearing.
It is large and bathed in bright red lights. At one point it seems to be
close to the ship and at another point it flickers on and off. (Swords
406)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5675
Date: mid 4/1978
Description: Many residents of Mumbai, India, sight a bright white,
streak-like light moving at several hundred miles per hour from north to
south at an altitude of about 2,000 feet. A similar object is seen the
following day, moving south to north. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 6
(June 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5676
Date: 4/19/1978
Description: Day. Police officer Mark Coltrane is on patrol in Colfax,
Wisconsin, and stops by the side of the road to eat lunch. His radio has
some static. He then notices a metallic-looking disc rising into the sky
a short distance from the parking space. While the object seems to move
toward him, Coltrane picks up his Polaroid camera, comes out of the car,
and snaps some photographs. The object is so close in one of the images
that some details of its lower surface are visible. The total
observation lasts a few minutes, the object soon accelerating and fading
into the distance. (Patrick Gross, “Colfax,
Wisconsin, USA, April 9, 1978”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5677
Date: late 4/1978
Description: 10:00 p.m. A dog staying with a couple living on Michigan
Avenue in Dearborn, Michigan, near the Ford Motor plant lets out an
awful howl. The woman goes outside to see what the matter is and notices
a large round object, perfectly silent, about 500 feet above the garden.
It hovers a minute or two then moves toward the Ford plant. It is about
125 feet in diameter and has a row of windows circling the bottom that
emit colored light. It stops every 2–3 minutes and never travels more
than 25 mph. They watch it for a total of 15 minutes, and their landlady
sees it as well. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 1 (May 1980): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5680
Date: 4/26/1978
Description: 11:00 p.m. Debra Gairns, her husband, and a friend are
driving in Welland, Ontario, when a triangular object with red, blue,
and white blinking lights hovers briefly and silently above their car.
It moves away and stops above a grove of trees. (Marler 102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5678
Date: 4/27/1978
Description: Two witnesses near the Ciampino–G. B. Pastine International
Airport in Rome, Italy, watch a small green object shoot out of a larger
green object. The display moves smoothly from directly overhead to about
45° in 15 minutes. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 7 (July 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5679
Date: 4/29/1978
Description: Night. Ten persons call the Aurora, Illinois, police
department to report a UFO. One couple believes they have had a close
encounter with the object, which they describe as a domed disc the size
of a football field. The police alert the Center for UFO Studies and Allan
Hendry interviews some of the witnesses. He learns that some connect
TV interference and power failures with the UFO’s appearance. An
11-year-old boy is so frightened that he hides behind the back seat of
the family car. However, Hendry identifies the source of the sighting as
an advertising plane owned and operated by a Chicago firm. (Allan
Hendry, “The Case for IFO Study: A Recent Example,” IUR 3, no. 6 (June
1978): 6–7; Clark III 568)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5681
Date: 5/1978
Description: Red Army officer Anatoly Malishev is allegedly confronted
near Pirogovskoye Reservoir, Mytishchinsky District, north of Moscow,
Russia, by two entities wearing dark suits who communicate with him by
telepathy and take him on board their craft. He is given a salty-tasting
drink, but requests an alcoholic drink, only to find that the entities
do not imbibe. He asks why, and they reply, “Perhaps if we did, we would
not be such an advanced civilization.” They take him on a trip to the
dark side of the Moon (where they have a base) and to their home planet
3 light years away then back to Earth, all taking about 40 minutes.
Malishev reports his experience to his superior officers, who threaten a
court martial. However, he is subjected to hypnosis and passes a lie
detector test and apparently does not go through a trial. (Nikita A.
Schnee, “Contact
Reported near Pyrogovskoye Lake,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 6
(March 1981): 6–8; Heikki Vertanen, “Soviet
Contact Case near Pyrogovskoe Lake:
The Missing Pages,” Flying Saucer Review 28, no. 3 (January 1983):
20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5682
Date: 5/6/1978
Description: 4:15 p.m. An object crashes into the southern slope of El
Taire mountain on the Rio Bermejo along the border of Bolivia and
Argentina. It produces a sonic boom that is heard 120 miles away and
shatters windows in villages 30 miles away. Argentinian border police
search for wreckage, while reporters visit the town of Aguas Blancas,
Bolivia, to interview witnesses. Velez Orozco is one of the witnesses to
the fall, and he thinks the object was 15 feet in diameter and conical.
Border Patrol Cpl. Natalio Farfan Ruiz says the object “made the earth
tremble” as it passed over. The Bolivian Air Force dispatches three
airplanes and discovers the crash site on its side of the border. One of
the flights includes a Bolivian astronomer, who sees a rockslide that
may have been caused by the crash. On May 14, police from Tarija,
Bolivia, find the object, a dull metallic cylinder 12 feet long with a
few dents. A telex sent by US Ambassador Paul
H. Boeker to the State Department requesting an explanation. In a
secret telex on May 18, Secretary of State Cyrus
Vance replies that “appropriate government agencies” have been
consulted, but there is no correlation with known re-entries. He refers
Boeker to the 1973 Project Moondust order. The US military attaché in La
Paz sends a message to Wright-Patterson AFB and USAF headquarters at the
Pentagon, claiming that the Bolvian Army has found nothing, but would
send two USAF officers to Tarija to investigate. Col. Robert Simmons and
Maj. John Heise arrive with a Bolivian Air Force officer. On May 23,
three Bolivian Air Force officers and a guide set out on horseback to
the mountain, locating the rockslide on May 25. Parallel to the slide is
a 325-foot trench, 10–12 feet wide at the top. Some of the large rocks
appear burned, and the grass around it is brown and withered. (“Foreign
Forum,” IUR 3, no. 8 (August 1978): 2; ClearIntent, pp. 201– 205;
Kevin Randle, The Government UFO Files, Visible Ink, 2014, pp. 279–280;
Michael Hesemann, “UFO Crash
in Bolivia Witnessed by Thousands of People”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5683
Date: 5/7/1978
Description: A squadron of 40 UFOs circle dozens of times in formation
over San Luis province, Argentina, in the midst of a luminous
bluish-green light. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 8 (August 1978):
2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5684
Date: 5/10/1978
Description: Evening. Numerous people watch a moon-sized oval object
with clearly delineated edges, no trail, and an intense white light in
Clavarazza, Genoa, Italy. It remains stationary high in the sky for
three minutes, pulsates for 7 minutes, then blinks out. (“Foreign
Forum,” IUR 3, no. 9 (September 1989): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5686
Date: 5/10/1978
Description: Early morning. Farmer Jan
Wolski is out driving a horse-drawn cart in Emilcin, Poland, when he
is jumped by two “short, green-faced humanoid entities” about 5 feet
tall. They jump onto Wolski’s cart, sit next to him, and start to speak
in a strange language. At first, he mistakes them for foreigners because
of their “slanted eyes and prominent cheekbones.” Wolski drives his
cart, with the two beings aboard, to a clearing where a large white
object is hovering about 16 feet in the air. It is about 15–16 feet high
and as long as a bus. Four black objects on the surface generate a
humming sound. A platform descends to the ground, and he is taken on
board by the two entities, along with two additional ones. There are
about 8–10 benches situated around the craft, each for one person to sit
in. There are some rooks in front of the door, one of which is moving
its legs and wings but seems to be immobilized. Wolski is then examined
with a tool that resembles two dishes or “saucers.” After this, he is
ordered to get dressed again, and then he notices there are no lights or
windows on the craft, only the daylight coming through the door. The
entities eat and offer him something like icicles, but he refuses them.
The UFO’s interior is black with a grayish tint, similar to that of the
creatures’ outfits. Wolski returns home to his family and notifies them
of what has happened, urging them to come see the floating craft. He
tells his sons, who call to other neighbors, and together they go to
investigate the site. The grass where the craft had been shows signs of
usage, trodden down and “covered with dew and paths coming in all
directions.” Wolski goes home, leaving the rest of the neighbors and
family at the site. His sons claim there are footprints left behind by
the beings, though they do not describe them well. (Wikipedia, “Emilcin
Abduction”; “Story of a Polish CE-III,” IUR 8, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1983): 13–14; Poland 35–40; “The Jan Wolski Case: An Amazing
Close Encounter (Poland, 1978),” History Disclosure, May 25, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5685
Date: 5/13/1978
Description: 4:00 a.m. A 16-year-old student, Jamshid Saiadipour, is
staying up late studying for exams in Shiraz, Iran. He looks through his
window and sees a glowing, hat-shaped UFO, hovering motionless. He takes
a photo of it, which appears in the May 18 issue of Tehran Magazine. The
article winds up in US Defense Intelligence Agency files and is released
through FOIA in 1980. (“Matching
Photo from Iran Found in CUFOS Files,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2,
no. 8 (August 1981): 4; “Sheraz,
Iran, October 8, 1978,” Popular Mechanics, July 1998, p. 64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5688
Date: 5/13/1978
Description: 3:32 a.m. Police officer Manuel J. Amparano is on the
outskirts of Kerman, California, when he sees a reddish glow ahead.
Getting closer, he observes an oval-shaped object, smaller in apparent
size than the full moon, hanging silently in the sky. It is a very
bright crimson-red color, which despite its brightness does not hurt his
eyes. It shoots out a beam of blue light similar to a camera flash, then
recedes and is gone. Amparano feels “a tingling sensation” in his body
as he drives to the station, but he is not concerned. When he gets out,
the 6 witnesses at the station note that he is sunburned “as red as a
lobster.” His skin shows this condition for about 4 hours before
returning to normal, even in areas underneath his uniform. However, no
burn is present where the car door is between him and the flash. Also,
he has no burn on his back, which is away from the car window as he
peers out. Although the redness fades, there are areas where the skin is
actually burned (arms, face, neck). These are noted on a visit to Fresno
Community Hospital. These burns are visible for 2 days. The day
following the encounter, “fever blisters” break out on his face and in
places on his arms, and these last a week. Allegedly, doctors at the
hospital tell the officer that the burns look like they are caused by
microwave radiation. (“California Policeman Burned by UFO,” IUR 3, no. 9
(September 1978): 10–11; “A Classic CE2P: Kerman, California, 1978,” IUR
33, no. 4 (May 2011): 11–12; Jason Marzak, “1978 Kerman UFO Burning:
061401,” Fringe Republic, June 11, 2014; Kevin D. Randle, “May
13, 1978: Kerman, California,” A Different Perspective, June 15,
2015; Kevin D. Randle, “Kerman,
California UFO Case: An Update,” A Different Perspective, June 20,
2015; Kevin D. Randle, “Kerman
Police Officer Adds His Perspective,” A Different Perspective,
August 26, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5687
Date: 5/13/1978
Description: 10:45 p.m. A teen couple are sitting on a porch in
Northport, Alabama, when they see an intensely bright pale- yellow
light. It is oblong in shape and the size of the full moon. It hovers in
the east for about 15 minutes, rocking slightly black and forth. They
see three tripod legs on the underside. The girl’s mother comes out and
notices her daughter is pale and shaking with fear. The object falls a
short distance and remains stationary again for a few seconds before
moving slowly away beyond trees on the horizon. (“Case 3-6-29,” IUR 3,
no. 6 (June 1978): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5689
Date: 5/14/1978
Description: Navy radar tracked an oblong object with body lights,
illuminating the terrain, observed by citizens. Object alternately
hovered and accelerated
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Ocala, FL
ID: 310
Date: 5/14/1978
Description: 10:00 p.m. SK-1 Robert J. Clark, the duty officer at the US
Navy Pinecastle Electronic Warfare Range in Ocala National Forest,
Florida, receives a call from Rocky Morgan reporting an oblong-shaped
UFO with an intensely bright, flashing light near Silver Glen Springs.
Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center reports no aircraft in the
area. Clark and the base air controller, Gary Collison, climb an
observation tower and contact external security to alert radar
technician Timothy Collins. They watch a cluster of stationary lights at
an estimated altitude of 1,600 feet to the west-northwest perhaps 3
miles away. Collins activates the MSQ-102 Radar. After a 20-minute
warmup, the radar detects an unidentified blip fluttering over the
tower. The tracking computer is put on the target, which is showing very
little movement. At 11:20 p.m., his radar locks on to it at treetop
level. It seems to be as large as a jetliner. 10–15 minutes later it
vanishes from both sight and radar, but at 11:40 p.m. he sees a similar
object 15° to the north. Collins tries to train the radar on the object,
but it disappears suddenly. Around midnight, another object is seen 3
miles to the northwest. For 5 seconds it moves at 575 mph, then
accelerates for 2 seconds, and executes a hairpin turn in one second—a
radical reversal of direction. Now the UFO is shooting northward toward
the base, slowing to a mere 3 mph. Collins finally locks on this object.
Shortly afterward, the target vanishes. A dozen naval personnel visually
observe red, green, and white lights from the control tower for more
than an hour. The captain of the Lisa C on the Apalachicola River also
witnesses the lights at 10:30 p.m. (or 1:00 a.m.). (NICAP, “Radar
Confirms Unidentified Lights”; “Flying
Object Baffles Computer with
Maneuvers in Florida Sky,” International Herald Tribune, May 18,
1978; “Navy
Says Unusual Sighting Was Just
an Object Flying Unidentified,” Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel, May 18,
1978, p. 4-C; “Navy Radar-Visual in Florida, Part I,” IUR 3, no. 6 (June
1978): 4–5; “Case 3-7-1,” IUR 3, no. 7 (July 1978): 3; “UFO
Sighting at Pinecastle
Elecytronic Warfare Range,” UFO Investigator, September 1978,
pp. 1–2; Second Look, April, May, June, October 1979; Clark III
829–830)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5690
Date: 5/15/1978
Description: Evening. Ignacio Sanchez Munoz, 19, is walking along the
road between Cuajimalpa borough and Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City, Mexico,
after finishing work at a nearby restaurant. He observes a hovering,
multicolored, luminous, cube-shaped object that is making a buzzing
sound and emitting a yellow beam. He then receives telepathic thoughts
telling him that the cube is not occupied, but soon human-like beings
will arrive on Earth. After conversing with the voice for about an hour
he is told, “soon we shall return to chat with you.” (“Foreign Forum,”
IUR 3, no. 7 (July 1978): 2; Patrick Gross, URECAT, April
30, 2010)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5691
Date: 5/17/1978
Description: 8:00 a.m. A 71-year-old farmer is driving his horse-drawn
carriage through a wooded area about 37 miles outside Lublin, Poland. By
the roadside he sees 2–4 men about 5 feet tall wearing tightly fitting
black “diver suits.” The men have green faces, slanting eyes, and webbed
fingers; they move in a jumping motion and invite him into a
“bus-shaped” white rectangular vehicle hovering nearby. The interior
looks like a completely black room outfitted only in benches. He is
examined by an apparatus that looks like an X-ray machine, and the men
offer to share with him a transparent substance that they are eating,
but he declines. The farmer later returns to the site with some
villagers and finds rectangular footprints in the muddy road bank.
(“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 7 (July 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5692
Date: 5/30/1978
Description: 11:00 p.m. Two witnesses are stargazing with a telescope 5
miles west of Tulsa, Oklahoma, when they see four gray-white ovals in a
fixed sword-like formation pass silently overhead in a straight line
from the southwest. They are lost behind trees above the northeast
horizon. Each oval is about the size of the moon and flying in a 45°
angle to the direction of travel. (“Case 3-7-54,” IUR 3, no. 7 (July
1978): 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5693
Date: 6/1978
Description: Peter Gersten, on
behalf of Ground Saucer Watch, files a discovery motion requesting UFO
files from the CIA. His motion consists of 635 interrogatory questions,
nearly 300 requests for documents, and includes 60 CIA documents
attached as exhibits. (Richard Hall, “Lawsuit
Filed against CIA,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 126 (May 1978): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5695
Date: 6/1978
Description: GEPAN’s Scientific Council meets for the second time. This
time, a five-volume report totaling 670 pages is prepared. The first
volume is a synthesis written by Claude
Poher. Volumes 2–4 contain 10 detailed field investigations and the
fifth volume gathers other studies and less detailed cases. The reports
are never published. According to Jean-Jacques
Velasco, Poher’s assistant, the statistical study evaluates 678
reports and classifies them into four categories: perfectly or probably
identified (26%), insufficient information (36%), and unidentified
(38%). The council asks for a deeper study on statistical methodology,
models of propulsion, and the psychology of perception. (“First Summary
of the Work of the French Government’s ‘GEPAN’ UFO Organization,” IUR 3,
no. 10/11 (Oct./Nov. 1978): 22; Gildas Bourdais, “From GEPAN to SEPRA:
Official UFO Studies in France,” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001):
12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5696
Date: 6/1978
Alternate date: 7/1978
Description: 10:15 p.m. Graham Niven and friends are listening to the
radio in Raeford, North Carolina, when it picks up some strange
interference for about 10 minutes, They see a rectangular UFO with
rounded edges coming toward them from the south. (“One
Reporting Witness: Two Reported Sightings,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 2, no. 10 (October 1981): 2–3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5697
Date: 6/2/1978
Description: 10:00 p.m. A married couple driving toward Hameenlinna,
Finland, watch a formation of 7–9 bright lights in the eastern sky.
After 8 seconds, they disappear behind trees. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3,
no. 5 (May 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5698
Date: 6/10/1978
Description: 9:30 p.m. A dark, silent wedge-shaped object with a square
formation of white lights in the back and a triangular formation of red
and white lights in the front paces a car driven by two students, ages
21 and 19, as they travel east on State Highway 299 near New Paltz, New
York. The UFO turns south toward them and passes over their car. The
male student gets out and runs underneath it, noting it is as large as
his outstretched hand at arm’s length. It shoots off toward the
southwest horizon in a few seconds. (“Case 3-7-121,” IUR 3, no. 7 (July
1978): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5699
Date: 6/11/1978
Description: Cessna pilot observed small silvery oval that maneuvered
near his plane
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Los Angeles, CA
ID: 311
Date: 6/11/1978
Description: 10:30 p.m. Capt. Namdar, the pilot of a Boeing 707 flying
from Shiraz to Tehran, Iran, is descending to 25,000 feet over Isfahan.
He sees a huge, purple form passing below him at amazing speed. The
Tehran airport cannot confirm a radar tracking. Suddenly the plane’s
cabin is flooded with brilliant yellow light radiating from two sources.
It feels as hot as “a sunny day in summer in Spain.” The purple light
continues to follow the plane until a portion of the UFO separates from
it and moves toward the southeast side of the witnesses. Then the
original object vanishes. (“Review of Iranian UFO Reports,”
IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 2 (Jan./Feb. 1981): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5700
Date: 6/11/1978
Description: 11:28 p.m. After hearing reports of unidentified aircraft
from two previous sentries, Gunnery Sgt. Brininger and PFC Johnny
Johnson, go on sentry patrol at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Monmouth
County, New Jersey. Standing outside on an 80-foot tower, the two men
watch a distinctly outlined, illuminated white ball with a short conical
tail approach from the south. Within 5 seconds, the object moves west of
their position and 20°–30° up Briniger estimates that the ice-cream cone
shaped UFO is as close as 300 feet away and 200 feet in the air, flying
parallel to the fence line. He directs a spotlight at the object, which
abruptly makes a sharp turn to the west. It is in sight for 8–10
seconds. (“Case 3-7-130: Three UFOs over High Security Military Base?”
IUR 3, no. 7 (July 1978): 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5701
Date: 6/15/1978
Description: Before 3:00 a.m. The Russian motor ship Novokuznetsk is
departing from the Gulf of Guayaquil, Ecuador. The crew sees from the
bow four rapidly departing bright white trails about 66 feet in length.
At the same time, two other trails 33 feet long approach the vessel.
Later, straight ahead of the ship, a white luminescent sphere rises up
from the water, flies around the ship, hovers for a few seconds at an
altitude of 60 feet, flies higher, zigzags, and dives back into the
water, (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020,
pp. 66–67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5702
Date: 6/17/1978
Description: 4:30 a.m. Patrolmen Robert Fiorentino and Amthony Puglio of
the Maplewood (New Jersey) Police Department see a soundless triangular
UFO, twice the size of the full moon, while on patrol. It has a white
light on each tip and red lights in the center. The object circles them
twice and shines bright lights down on them. (“It’s Unidentified,
Flies, But Doesn’t Scare Cops,” New York Daily News, June 24, 1978,
p. 4JL)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5703
Date: 6/17/1978
Description: 1:20 p.m. Photographer Linda Arosemena is taking photos of
President Jimmy
Carter’s helicopter taking off from Fort Clayton [now closed] near
Balboa, Panama. Her final frame shows an oval object that she has not
visually noticed. Arosemena, who works for the Defense Mapping Agency at
Fort Clayton, sends the photo to Carter with an explanation of the
circumstances. Brenda Reilly and Sandra Chandler report seeing a similar
object on June 16 while fishing at nearby Fuerte Amador. (“UFOs
Breach Presidential Security!” UFO Update! no. 2 (Winter 1979): 15,
56; Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980, p. 50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5704
Date: 6/18/1978
Description: 10:45 p.m. Manford Hammond, a water superintendent in
Elsberry, Missouri, watches an object “like two hubcaps put together”
that alternately hovers and maneuvers slowly and silently from the
vantage point of his home on Black Street. (“Case 3-8-12,” IUR 3, no. 8
(August 1978): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5705
Date: 6/19/1978
Description: 1:30 a.m. Franck Pavia and Jean-Marc Guitard are stopped on
the side of a road in Gujan-Mestras, Gironde, France, to repair a turn
signal when suddenly all the lights in the town go out. A powerful
rumble startles them, and they notice an oval, red object surrounded by
white flames flying toward them at an altitude of 11,000 feet. Jean-Marc
is unable to breathe and faints. The object then changes direction and
shoots away. They knock on the door of a baker named Varisse to tell
their story, visibly terrified. At about the same time, a restaurant
manager named Bachère is driving toward Bordeaux when he sees a large
orange ball, very bright, hovering above La Réole at about 1,000 feet
before disappearing. It reappears at the same spot one minute later.
(Jacques Vallée, “Estimates
of Power Optical Output in Six Cases of Unexplained Aerial Objects with
Defined Luminosity Characteristics,”
Journal of Scientific Exploration 12, no. 3 (1998): 354–356)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5706
Date: summer 1978
Description: Day. Eligio Macchini is taking photos from the rail of a
river excursion boat on the Rhine River, Germany. When the film is
developed, he notices a dark spot on one print. Years later, he sends it
to the Center for UFO Studies, which determines it is not an emulsion
defect or processing flaw. (“Möglicher
UFO ist über dem Rhein photographieren,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 2 (April 1982): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5694
Date: 6/22/1978
Description: 1:30 a.m. A woman in Pacific Palisades, California, watches
an irregularly shaped oval glow with shifting green-yellow-gray colors
like a “TV glow.” Moving slowly eastward at first, it speeds up until it
recedes to a star size, then arcs back in two minutes and disappears in
the northwest. Two other witnesses also see the UFO. (“Case 3-18-18,”
IUR 3, no. 8 (August 1978):3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5707
Date: 6/24/1978
Description: 10:48 p.m. The pilot and passenger of a commercial charter
plane flying northwest between Madison and New Lisbon, Wisconsin, see a
distant bright light making extremely fast back-and-forth motions. At
one point it passes above the plane. The object is tracked on radar by
air traffic controllers Glen Wonnacott and Wayne Nurenberg at the Aurora
(Ill.) Air Route Traffic Control Center. (“Radar-Visual in Wisconsin,”
IUR 3, no. 8 (August 1978): 11–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5708
Date: 6/26/1978
Alternate date: 6/27/1978
Description: 11:00 p.m. The 77-year-old mother of a prominent TV
commentator is dazzled by a white, rotating globe of light on a rooftop
terrace across from her inner house court in Vienna, Austria. The light
appears to be breaking into pieces that fall down. Then a spotlight cone
moves along the gutter of the terrace from left to right toward the
light, and both lights go out. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 10/11
(Oct./Nov. 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5709
Date: 7/1978
End date: 12/1978
Description: Italian, South American, Middle Eastern, and Asian UFO
wave. (See separate chronology, section VIII.)
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 312
Date: 7/1978
Description: 7:30 a.m. Seamen on the Russian vessel Yargora in the
Mediterranean not far off the coast from Algiers, Algeria, observe a
pearly white flattened sphere moving to the west. On its underside it
has three antenna. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying
Disk, 2020, p. 52)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5710
Date: 7/1978
Description: 1:00 p.m. A witness and his father are driving a U-Haul
truck north on Interstate 65 near Ardmore, Alabama. Just after passing
the welcome center, they look up and see a large silver ball on the tree
line to the east. After disagreeing on whether it is a weather balloon,
they stop the truck and get out to look. A door slides open in the
bottom of the object and a smaller silver ball emerges and moves to
their right, and a second comes out and moves to the left. They both
hover for about 5 minutes, then return one at a time to the larger
object, which stands motionless a few more minutes before slowly moving
away to the northeast. Suddenly it shoots away at great speed. (Herbert
S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer
2004): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5711
Date: 7/2/1978
Description: 8:00 a.m. Verlee Carson is sitting in her house in Ely,
Nevada, and notices two jets flying overhead to the south. One is
followed closely by four white balls and the other is followed by three
balls. (Viril Staff, “Letter,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1983): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5712
Date: 7/3/1978
Description: 9:00 p.m. A Mrs. Jenkinson and a friend are playing tennis
in Louth, Lincolnshire, England, when they spot a flat, silver oval in
the sky reflecting sunlight and moving in a straight line northward in
the western sky. They watch it for 5 minutes. Another object is seen a
few minutes later in moving north in the eastern sky. (“Case 7887,”
Northern UFO News 52 (September 1978): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5713
Date: 7/4/1978
Description: 3:15 p.m. A small domed disc, about 3–4 feet in diameter
with rotating parts on top, makes a head-on pass at 800 mph toward Floyd
Hallstrom and Keith Sorensen, who are flying a Cessna at 120 mph and
3,500 feet altitude near Santa Paula, California. Its dome is a bright
chrome with two protrusions. Hallstrom turns the plane around and the
object makes a second pass before disappearing. (“Case 3-8-80,” IUR 3,
no. 8 (August 1978): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5714
Date: 7/4/1978
Description: 3:45 p.m. A 34-year old school principal in Schaumburg,
Illinois, watches a distinctly outlined metallic sphere the size of
airplane rush in from the east at a speed faster than an aircraft and
exceptionally high. The object stops dead over his house and remains
stationary for 2–3 minutes. Then it starts rising with a slight veer to
the south until it is out of sight. (“Case 3-8-81,” IUR 3, no. 8 (August
1978): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5715
Date: 7/4/1978
Description: Two Italian Air Force sergeants (Franco Padellero and
Attilio di Salvatore), an Italian Navy NCO (Maurizio Esposito), and
Antonina di Pietro are driving in the Parco dell’Etna, Sicily, Italy,
when they spot a triangular formation of three red pulsating lights
above Monte Sona. They stop the car for a better look. One of the lights
breaks away from the group and approaches as close as 980 feet before
disappearing. They drive in that direction and stop by a ravine to look
at a luminous disc that gives off a yellow light about 325 feet away.
Five or six very tall entities are standing next to it. Two of them walk
up the ravine to within 16 feet of the witnesses. They are dressed in
tight-fitting white coveralls and have shoulder-length hair. The two
smile, and one points to the disc, which is radiating multicolored
lights. The lights go out temporarily when another car drives by.
Duration is 35 minutes. All the witnesses feel a euphoria, even 36 hours
afterward. Richard
Hall notes that the witnesses have satisfied their curiosity and
drive away without more concern; he indicates that they have been
exposed to the lectures of contactee Eugenio
Siragusa, although
the witnesses seem to be responsible people. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3,
no. 8 (August 1978): 2; Good Above, pp. 146–147;
Maurizio Verga, “La
vague italienne de 1978,” Lumières dans la Nuit, no. 207
(Aug./Sept. 1981): 33; Richard H. Hall, “Italian UFO Wave of 1978,”
MUFON UFO Journal, no. 153 (November 1980): 12–13; Patrick Gross, URECAT, November
12, 2009; 1Pinotti 216– 217)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5716
Date: 7/5/1978
Description: Many cattle mutilations are occurring on the ranch owned by
Manuel Gomez near Dulce, New Mexico. State Police Officer Gabe
Valdez, having
heard that certain cows might be marked in some way before being
mutilated, pens 120 of Gomez’s cattle in a corral and moves them through
a squeeze chute under a series of ultraviolet lights. The examination
reveals that five of the animals have a “glittery substance on the right
side of the neck, the right ear, and the right leg.” Valdez and Gomez
remove the substance, along with control samples, and send them to Robert
Schoenfeld at the Schoenfeld Clinical Laboratories in Albuquerque.
Schoenfeld finds “highly suspicious” deposits of potassium (70 times
above normal), magnesium, calcium, and aluminum. (Tommy Roy Blann, “UFO
Connection in Dulce and Taos, New Mexico?” MUFON UFO Journal, no.
138 (August 1979): 14; Greg Valdez, Dulce Base: The Truth and Evidence
from the Case Files of Gabe Valdez, Levi-Cash, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5717
Date: 7/6/1978
Description: Car levitated, altered environment, memory loss,
translocation of vehicle
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Mendoza, Argentina
ID: 313
Date: 7/6/1978
Alternate date: 7/7/1978
Description: Between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. The fiancée of Robert Garbauskas
is in Sandwich, Massachusetts, taking photos of a ship in the Cape Cod
Canal when she sees a small, rust-colored, apparently solid object
hovering about 35° in the sky for 3–4 minutes. She snaps a photo of it,
which shows a dark object with a yellow arc of light above it. (“1978
Object with Arc of Light Photographed,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter
1, no. 4 (August 1980): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5718
Date: 7/7/1978
Description: At the urging of Grenada Prime Minister Eric
Gairy, the
Grenada delegation to the United Nations issues a statement calling for
“open discussions on the very important subject [of UFOs] … a matter of
great significance at this time for all mankind.” (“U.N. Background,”
IUR 3, no. 10/11 (Oct./Nov. 1978): 5; Clark III 1189)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5719
Date: 7/7/1978
Description: The CIA agrees to let Ground Saucer Watch amend its
complaint to include requests for virtually all CIA- related UFO
records. The lawsuit opens in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
(“Update on the Ground Saucer Watch (GSW) Lawsuit Against the CIA,” IUR
3, no. 7 (July 1978): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5720
Date: 7/11/1978
Description: 11:20 p.m. A man driving alone in a remote area on State
Highway 100 three miles south of Waterbury, Vermont, sees a beam of
light descend from the trees. It is about 1.5–2 feet in diameter but
spreads out into a cone that covers the entire street and moves toward
his car, illuminating the interior like “40 flash cameras.” The
reflection off the car hood is dazzling. Petrified for 45 seconds, he
finally sticks his head out the door and feels considerable heat. The
light shrinks and dims, revealing the silhouette of a saucer darker than
the sky and about 80–100 feet in diameter. The object is at treetop
level and has small steady white lights on each side and a rib-like
structure on the bottom. After hovering above the car a few seconds, it
moves southwest about 200 yards and then takes off almost
simultaneously. (“Case 3-8-129,” IUR 3, no. 8 (August 1978): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5721
Date: 7/13/1978
Description: Todd
Zechel, research director of Ground Saucer Watch and director of
Citizens Against UFO Secrecy, files a FOIA request with the CIA that
includes information about a crashed spacecraft. (“GSW + FOIA + CIA =
1,000 Pages of UFO Information,” IUR 3, no. 8 (August 1978): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5722
Date: 7/14/1978
Description: Dawn. A Spanish Army unit on an exercise in Mazarrón,
Murcia, Spain, watches an unfamiliar group of lights for two hours above
a road: a red light that vanishes occasionally, two greenish-white
lights that shine sporadically, and four white lights that appear
irregularly and fly without any specific formation. Their height over
the terrain is estimated at 13–100 feet. The lights oscillate and move
forward, leaving the road and moving around obstacles like houses and
hills, then coming back to the road in front of the group of soldiers. A
reconnaissance of the area the following night reveals nothing unusual,
except the antenna of a meteorological station that probably was not the
source of the lights. (Swords 434)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5723
Date: 7/14/1978
Description: Eric
Gairy, accompanied
by ufologists J.
Allen Hynek, Jacques
Vallée, David
R. Saunders, Leonard
H. Stringfield, and
Claude
Poher, meet
with UN Secretary General Kurt
Waldheim to organize a steering committee to develop plans for
possible UN involvement in UFO research. (Clark III 1189; “UFOs in the
U.N.,” IUR 3, no. 8 (August 1978): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5724
Date: 7/16/1978
Description: Residents sleeping on their terraces in the northern pat of
Tehran, Iran, spot a “strange glowing object” floating southwest toward
Saveh. One witness claims it is hovering directly above him. The control
tower at Mehrabad Airport confirms the existence of the light. An air
crew reports unusual readings on their instruments. (Tehran Journal,
July 18, 1978; “Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 9 (September 1978): 2; Good
Above, pp. 321–322,
501–
502)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5725
Date: 7/18/1978
Description: DoD Staff Message: UFO spotted over North Tehran,
Iran
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p501)
Location: Tehran, Iran
Date: 7/19/1978
Description: 9:30 p.m. A teacher is driving with his wife through
Hudson, New York, when they spot a motionless, amber- colored, curved
object in the sky as wide as a full moon. It remains behind them as they
drive to a friend’s house, where they join another couple to watch it.
The light suddenly goes out, and 30 seconds later they hear a roar that
moves off to the southeast. (“Case 3-9-19,” IUR 3, no. 9 (September
1978): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5726
Date: 7/20/1978
Description: 1:20 a.m. A soldier on duty at the main gate of the
military section of the Logroño-Agoncillo Airport in La Rioja, Spain,
sees a strange object in the air. A second lieutenant and a corporal get
to the gate in time to watch for 5 minutes an object moving slowly and
noiselessly east to west some 3,300 feet above the ground. Two of the
witnesses describe it as lozenge-shaped, while the other two say it has
the shape of a triangle. All agree that there is an intense white light
flashing at one-second intervals in the center, while other lights
appear in various parts of the dark object. It continues to fly steadily
until it disappears from sight. (Swords 434)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5727
Date: 7/21/1978
Description: 9:30 p.m. Chloene Bechdolt notices a bright red light near
the ground in the north field of her farm near Uniopolis, Ohio. She goes
inside and around 10:00 p.m. notices that the light is still there and
larger in size. She goes back outside and approaches the light, thinking
it might be poachers. She thinks she hears someone talking, so she
shouts a warning at it. The object makes a hum and shoots straight up.
On July 23, she and her nephew find a 100-foot circular area of cut
beans in the field, and the timothy stubble looks like it has been
scorched about one inch from the ground. (“Large
Circular Physical Trace: Is It Common?” CUFOS Associate Newsletter
3, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1982): 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5728
Date: 7/21/1978
Description: 10:15 p.m. A couple in Davyhulme, Greater Manchester,
England, observes a dark disc hovering in the twilight sky. It is
surrounded by an aura, from which 30–40 beautiful purple rays shoot out
at various angles like spokes from a wheel, extending to about 12 times
the diameter of the central disc. After about 90 seconds, the “rays”
collapse inward in sequence, and the object slowly extinguishes itself.
During the sighting, the couple notice with some puzzlement that the
normally busy street is strangely quiet and devoid of people and
traffic. (Clark III 866; Jenny Randles, UFO Reality, R. Hale,
1983)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5729
Date: 7/22/1978
Description: 1:15 p.m. A retired couple in Ventura, California, is
attracted outdoors by an odd noise and see a silver form moving
overhead. It has lines across its surface and is making a noise like a
card flapping against bicycle spokes. It flies straight away and
disappears in the northeast. (“Case 3-9-28,” IUR 3, no. 9 (September
1978): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5730
Date: 7/23/1978
Description: Several Coast Guard stations observed cigar-shaped object
with same pattern of body lights, moving at very high rate of
speed
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Lake Michigan
ID: 314
Date: 7/26/1978
Description: 9:40 p.m. Chinese Air Force flying instructor Sha Yongkao
is piloting a plane with a student at an airfield in Shangxi province,
China. They are flying at 9,800 feet when they see two glowing objects
circle the airport twice before moving off. Yongkao attempts to pursue
the objects unsuccessfully and is told no other aircraft are being
tracked in the vicinity. (Paul Dong, “Extracts
from Paul Dong’s Feidie
Bai Wen Bai Da (Questions
and Answers on
UFOs),” Flying Saucer Review 29, no. 6 (August 1984): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5731
Date: 7/27/1978
Description: 7:46 p.m. Three men are flying a radio-controlled model
airplane in a field in Marshall, Michigan, when they spot a silver
cylindrical object with black lines across its surface. It moves
eastward from directly overhead to a position 45° up in the east and
vanishes. (“Case 3-9-68,” IUR 3, no. 9 (September 1978): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5733
Date: 7/27/1978
Description: 10:45 p.m. Two witnesses in Sheffield, Ohio, watch a
“silver banana” with a red and blue flashing light about a half-mile
away, low in the east. They hear a wavering hum. It approaches their car
to within 600 feet; the car’s electrical system fails, and the engine
stops and cannot be restarted for another 90 minutes. After about 15
minutes the light shoots away to the west. (“Case 3-9-65,” IUR 3, no. 9
(September 1978): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5734
Date: 7/27/1978
Description: Woman reported brilliantly lighted object buzzed her car,
briefly lifted it off road
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Union, MO
ID: 315
Date: 7/27/1978
End date: 7/28/1978
Description: Rash of UFO sightings reported to police over two days,
probably including Delta Aquarid meteors
Type: sighting
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Union, MO
ID: 316
Date: 7/27/1978
Description: 12:45 a.m. Clora
E. Winscher is driving a 1974 Mercury Comet east on US Highway 50 on
the east side of Union, Missouri, at about 45 mph. She notices in her
rearview mirror a brilliant light approaching from behind at high speed.
She feels a “terrific shove” and the rear end of the car lifts up and
gets moved along the road for 300 feet, completely out of control. As
she approaches a bridge, the car drops down again, and she sees the
light rise over the roof and disappear upward to the left. Two dents, 22
inches apart, are found in the upper edge of the trunk, but the paint is
not fractured. About the same time, 12 miles west in Beaufort, Missouri,
Velma
Clines watches a dull red-orange, round UFO fly toward her house
before it speeds away. (UFOEv II p. 278; “Case 3-9- 59,” IUR 3, no. 9
(September 1978): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5732
Date: 7/28/1978
Description: 12:00 midnight. Personnel at the Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin,
Coast Guard station watch a similar light for 4 minutes moving swiftly
from west to northwest. (“Complete Details on the Michigan-Wisconsin
Coast Guard Sightings,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August 1979): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5738
Date: 7/28/1978
Description: 11:57 p.m. Six members of the Two Rivers, Wisconsin, Coast
Guard station, including Doug Wangen and Seaman Gary Randall, see a
lighted object with flashing white, red, green, orange, and blue lights
coming from Lake Michigan and moving toward Rawley Point. It stops
abruptly, and Randall snaps 10 photos. The object then “slingshots” to
the northwest in seconds. (“Complete Details on the Michigan-Wisconsin
Coast Guard Sightings,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August 1979): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5737
Date: 7/28/1978
Description: 11:45 p.m. The Ludington, Michigan, Coast Guard station
gets a phone call from a man whose daughter and boyfriend have seen a
strange object over Lake Michigan. Coast Guardsman Don Clark and others
see a cluster of white lights, one flashing, and one steady green light
near the shoreline. It is very bright, proceeds westerly past the Big
Sable Point Lighthouse, and then accelerates silently over the horizon
“faster than a plane.” Clark radios the Coast Guard station at Two
Rivers, Wisconsin, about the light. (“Complete Details on the Michigan-
Wisconsin Coast Guard Sightings,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August 1979): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5736
Date: 7/28/1978
Description: 8:28 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Gruss of Benton Harbor, Michigan,
see a long, brightly lit, silver cylinder at about 6,000 feet altitude.
It stays stationary for 30 minutes, then moves southwest. (“Complete
Details on the Michigan- Wisconsin Coast Guard Sightings,” IUR 4, no. 2
(August 1979): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5735
Date: 7/29/1978
Description: 12:01 a.m. A second westbound light is seen by Coast Guard
at the Ludington, Michigan, station. It has red lights and very bright
strobes flashing erratically. The Two Rivers, Wisconsin, station spots
an object 3 minutes later, but it is moving north. (“Complete Details on
the Michigan-Wisconsin Coast Guard Sightings,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August
1979): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5739
Date: 7/29/1978
Description: 12:25 a.m. Coast Guard observers at the Grassy Island Range
Lighthouse in Green Bay, Wisconsin, report to Two Rivers that they are
seeing a UFO heading to the west at high speed with white and red
flashing lights. (“Complete Details on the Michigan-Wisconsin Coast
Guard Sightings,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August 1979): 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5740
Date: 7/29/1978
Description: Delta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 317
Date: 7/29/1978
Description: 12:45 a.m. Seaman Gary Randall and another witness at the
Two Rivers Coast Guard station see another UFO closing in from the
southwest. It approaches for 40 seconds then stops for 1 minute. Then it
flies northeast and shoots straight up and out of sight in 20 seconds.
(“Complete Details on the Michigan-Wisconsin Coast Guard Sightings,” IUR
4, no. 2 (August 1979): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5741
Date: 7/29/1978
Description: 2:40 a.m. A Coast Guard vessel in Lake Superior among the
Apostle Islands, Wisconsin, sees a large, yellow- white, oblong object
that appears and reappears briefly in a slightly different position each
time. (“Complete Details on the Michigan-Wisconsin Coast Guard
Sightings,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August 1979): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5742
Date: 7/29/1978
End date: 7/30/1978
Description: The 1978 MUFON UFO Symposium takes place in Dayton, Ohio.
Ufologist Leonard
Stringfield announces that he has collected more than 50 sources
with “information relative to the subject of retrievals or storage of
alien craft, and/or deceased alien humanoids recovered from the craft.”
He presents 17 witness testimonies to the audience as evidence of some
9–10 possible retrievals of crashed or downed UFOs, although his refusal
to provide their names embroils him in controversy. This is the first of
his seven “status reports” on accounts and rumors about UFO
crash/retrievals. (Leonard H. Stringfield, “Retrievals
of the Third Kind,” 1978 MUFON UFO Symposium Proceedings, MUFON,
1978, pp. 77–105; Richard H. Hall, Uninvited Guests, Aurora, 1988,
pp. 75–76; Leonard Stringfield, “The Chase for Proof in a Squirrel’s
Cage,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 145–147)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5743
Date: 7/29/1978
Description: Ufologist Leonard Stringfield gives his first talk on Crash
Retrievals in Dayton, OH. He is threatened twice (by phone and then in
person), moved to a location not of his choosing by security men with
radios.
Type: public presentation
Reference: link
Location: Dayton, OH
Date: 8/1978
Description: Bank manager Serrano Silva and a Columbian Navy officer
suffer temporary paralysis when a flying object buzzes their car on a
highway between Tunja and Bogotá, Columbia. The car’s engine and
headlights die. (“South America:
Hotbed of Bizarre UFO Sightings,” Windsor (Ont.) Star, November 14,
1978, p. 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5744
Date: 8/3/1978
Description: 7:20 p.m. An engineer, his wife, and his daughter are
driving toward Nurmijärvi, Finland, when a 6-foot oval with clear black
contours and a light-colored center flies silently in front of them,
moving from right to left in 5– 10 seconds before vanishing. (“Foreign
Forum,” IUR 3, no. 10/11 (Oct./Nov. 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5745
Date: 8/3/1978
Description: 10:50 p.m. During a mini-flap of UFO sightings in Lowell,
Massachusetts, a couple watch an oval light that has rising bands of
shifting colors hovering above trees to the northwest. The man jumps in
the car to drive to it as the woman continues watching and sees a
smaller light appear to its right. A third light appears to the left,
which swings above the first light and joins the second one. All of the
lights vanish. (“Case 3-9-104,” IUR 3, no. 9 (September 1978): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5746
Date: 8/4/1978
Description: 9:30 p.m. A 12-year-old boy in East Leroy, Michigan, hears
a noise and looks out his window to watch a silver cigar drop vertically
downward to a position 100 feet away and 15 feet up. It snaps into a
horizontal position and hovers for 5–10 seconds. A white, steam-like
exhaust emits from a funnel at its rear and steams up the boy’s window.
After a few more seconds it zooms off into the sky. (“Case 3-9-107,” IUR
3, no. 9 (September 1978): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5747
Date: 8/5/1978
Description: 9:50 p.m. A family on the shore of Lake Sorell, Tasmania,
watch a glow behind a hill to the south. Within minutes, the whole area
lights up and a small white light appears, moving back and forth at tree
level. It remains visible 20–30 minutes, then disappears suddenly.
Earlier in the day, another group had reported a brown, cigar- shaped
object over nearby Lake Crescent. (Launceston Examiner, August 12, 1978;
“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 9 (September 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5748
Date: 8/5/1978
Description: 11:15 p.m. A TV director is driving northwest on State
Highway 5 about 2 miles southeast of Laurie, Missouri. He and his son
watch two red lights rise up about 25 feet off the road to their left to
an altitude of 30 feet. They are attached to a triangular object that
flies over their car to their right, cut back to the top of a hill, turn
around, and approach them again, only to descend behind trees. The rear
dimension of the triangle is about 10–15 feet across. (“Case 3-9-120,”
IUR 3, no. 9 (September 1978): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5749
Date: 8/7/1978
Description: 10:00 p.m. A couple is driving west on War Memorial Drive
to a First Assembly of God church in Peoria, Illinois when they see a
shooting star fly across their view. Five minutes later, they arrive at
church and, walking behind it, see a bright white light with flashing
red and blue lights hovering about 40 feet in the air for 5–7 minutes.
It shoots off to the east in a split second. (“Case 3-9-132,” IUR 3, no.
9 (September 1978): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5750
Date: 8/8/1978
Description: 9:40 p.m. Witnesses in Belton, Missouri, and several
military personnel at nearby Richards-Gebaur Air Reserve Station [now
closed] witness the flyover of a UFO that is also briefly tracked on
radar. Joseph Staudinger Jr. sees the object at about 2,800 feet in
altitude and looking like two white strobe lights in front and back with
three rows of red lights that are rotating around its middle. The
encounter lasts 45 minutes. A cattle mutilation has been discovered
earlier that day in Elsberry, Missouri. (“Heavily-Witnessed Radar-Visual
Case near Kansas City,” IUR 3, no. 9 (September 1978): 3–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5752
Date: 8/8/1978
Description: A group of tourists along the shore of the Sea of Azov near
Henichesk, Ukraine, see a flying disc three times larger than the moon.
It has protrusions on the top and bottom, two rows of portholes, and is
surrounded by a bright orange glow. Every 15 seconds, smaller discs (a
total of 15–20) fly out from the lower protrusion, accompanied by a
blinding explosion. They hover for a few seconds then depart rapidly to
the south. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk,
2020, p. 176)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5751
Date: 8/10/1978
Description: CIA Information and Privacy Coordinator Gene F. Wilson asks
Todd
Zechel of CAUS to suspend his FOIA request until he has a chance to
look at the 1,000 pages of documents that are currently under review for
release. Most of these files are from the Office of Scientific
Intelligence in the 1950s, leading CAUS to suspect that they will mostly
consist of Air Force and Navy UFO reports, plus some records of
unauthorized CIA investigations. ((“GSW + FOIA + CIA = 1,000 Pages of
UFO Information,” IUR 3, no. 8 (August 1978): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5753
Date: 8/11/1978
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 319
Date: 8/11/1978
Description: 11:59 p.m. A deputy sheriff and four youngsters are driving
on Chancellors Run Road in Great Mills, Maryland, when they see a
silvery, blimp-shaped light hovering at treetop level above some
trailers. It appears larger than a full moon. The deputy shines the
cruiser’s spotlight toward it and scans the length of the object, yet
the beam does not light up the large shape. She drives closer, but the
UFO begins to get cloudy on its underside and moves slowly behind the
trees. (“Case 3-9-184,” IUR 3, no. 9 (September 1978): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5754
Date: 8/11/1978
Description: Silver dome-shaped object, green glow, hovered overhead,
began circling. E-M effects, dogs whined. UFO finally took off at high
speed
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Roosevelt, UT
ID: 318
Date: 8/12/1978
Description: 9:25 p.m. A young couple in Niceville, Florida, are driving
on a dirt road when a lighted object that looks like an eye moves toward
them. The center part is like shiny black glass and the body is metallic
silver with two antennae on top. It fills half the windshield in angular
size as it moves over the roof of the car. They hear no noise and feel
no rush of wind. (“Case 3-9-187,” IUR 3, no. 8 (September 1978):
9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5755
Date: 8/16/1978
Description: Air traffic controllers at Gatwick Airport near Crawley,
West Sussex, England, see a UFO but decline to say exactly what it is.
(Good Above, p. 72)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5756
Date: 8/17/1978
Description: Assistant US Attorney for the District of Columbia William
Briggs asks Peter Gersten of
Ground Saucer Watch to identify broadly all categories of UFO documents
to enable the CIA to search for all its UFO records. Based on a draft by
Brad
Sparks, Gersten
prepares a stipulation that requests the CIA to conduct a reasonable
search of 22 CIA component branches. US District Court Judge John
H. Pratt makes the order a binding one, giving the CIA until
mid-December to complete the task. (“GSW + FOIA + CIA = 1,000 Pages of
UFO Information,” IUR 3, no. 8 (August 1978): 9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5757
Date: 8/17/1978
Description: 10:30 p.m. Radars of the Air Self-Defense Corps at Nemuro
Radar Site on Hokkaido, Japan, pick up a target flying from the north to
south-southwest at about 40 mph more than a half-mile above Nemuro
Channel south of Kunashir Island. It approaches the eastern end of
Hokkaido and is later picked up by radars at Cape Erimo. Two F-4EJ
Phantom jets are scrambled from Chitose Air Base about 10 minutes later
and are guided to the targets, now in the vicinity of Nakashibetsu. But
the pilots can see nothing on their airborne radars and return empty-
handed. The target persists on ground scopes, moving south toward
Kushiro. Twice more, jets are sent up but fail to detect a blip.
(“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 9 (September 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5758
Date: 8/18/1978
Description: 11:20 p.m. A relative staying at the home of UFO researcher
Douglas Dains in Port Crane, New York, notices the reception on the
television is disrupted shortly before a UFO detector (a magnetic field
instrument) starts buzzing. Dains himself is not at home. The relative
steps outside and sees a domed UFO with a red light on top of an antenna
approach from the northwest to a position 50 feet behind a tree and 45
feet in the air. It hovers there for 30 seconds. It then departs to the
southwest, disappearing behind a mountain. (“The Absent UFO Researcher,”
IUR 3, no. 12 (December 1978): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5759
Date: 8/20/1978
Description: 1:30 a.m. A nurse is sitting in her car on Oberlin Street
in Maplewood, New Jersey, when she sees an object shaped like a car
fender with four blue lights moving toward her from the east. She gets
out of her car as it flies overhead. Then it stays in place, rocking
silently back and forth, before taking off to the northeast, making a
machine-like noise. (“A Huge ‘Car Fender,’” IUR 3, no. 12 (December
1978): 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5760
Date: 8/20/1978
Description: 7:30 p.m. A 64-year old security guard is on patrol in
downtown Toledo, Ohio, looking at a “large plane” approaching from the
north. As it passes overhead at a uniform speed, about 1,500–2,000 feet
up, it is seen as a cigar with small brackets. It is dull silver,
distinctly outlined, and twice the angular size of the full moon. It
then continues its straight path southbound to the horizon. (“A Daylight
Urban ‘Cigar,’” IUR 3, no. 12 (December 1978): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5761
Date: 8/21/1978
Description: 5:00 p.m. A witness sketches an oblong UFO over an open
area near Banksville, New York. It is at least 150–200 feet long with
while and blue colors, two lights in front, and silent. It disappears
over a golf course t the northeast. (“Long
Rectangular UFOs: Five Different Cases of Similarly Shaped Objects,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 9 (September 1981): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5762
Date: 8/21/1978
Description: 5:30 p.m. A 33-year old housewife, in the company of her
children, 8 and 10, watches a silver Frisbee-like object from their
front porch 3 miles north of downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. Standing
outdoors, they see the saucer in the southeast, much larger than a full
moon would look, perhaps as large as a car. The Frisbee has a sharp
outline and metallic appearance. No sound can be heard over the heavy
traffic noise. According to the children, it then shoots over to the
southwest in two seconds. Finally, it moves straight up out of sight in
an instant. Duration is 5–8 minutes. (“A Daylight ‘Frisbee,’” IUR 3, no.
12 (December 1978): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5763
Date: 8/21/1978
Description: Night. The Madagascar Interior Ministry announces that a
UFO has crashed and exploded in the marketplace at Fort-Dauphin. Radio
Madagascar says that the cigar-shaped object had lit up the ground
before plunging downward. Locals rush out of bed to put out the flames.
(“Foreign Forum,” IUR 3, no. 10/11 (Oct./Nov. 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5764
Date: 8/22/1978
Description: 7:03 a.m. Four men are driving in a carpool from Moscow,
Pennsylvania, to work at the Tobyhanna Army Depot in Coolbaugh Township
on I-380. They watch a small circular “cloud” descend suddenly in the
south. It changes to a bright silver and hovers, rocking from side to
side. It now looks solid and metallic. It rises slightly and flies off
to the southeast at an estimated 800–900 mph. (“A Daylight ‘Cloud,’” IUR
3, no. 12 (December 1978): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5765
Date: 8/22/1978
Description: An oval-shaped translucent object ringed by a halo of light
flies silently over the Andes Mountains in Neuquen province, Argentina,
in a 300-mile path. (“Close
Encounters Thrill Latins,” Detroit (Mich.) Free Press, November 22,
1978, p. 6C)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5766
Date: 8/22/1978
Description: Object ahead of airliner, opening appeared, smaller objects
emerged, maneuvered around it, reentered and “departed at a tremendous
speed.”
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Adelaide to Perth, Australia
ID: 320
Date: 8/23/1978
Description: 8:04 p.m. P. A. Hadden is on board the tanker MV Ficus in
the Indian Ocean [or the South China Sea] 260 miles from the Malacca
Strait. He watches an elongated triangle formation of three lights
moving in from 60° above the northeast horizon. When they reach 75°,
nearly overhead, the lights suddenly stop. He estimates them to be 100
miles high. The light in the right rear continues moving in the opposite
direction of the ship and off to its left at great speed, disappearing
in the distance; the light in the left rear shifts over to occupy the
position in the formation it had occupied. After 5 seconds of remaining
still, it shoots back to the left again and departs at high speed. The
remaining light rushes forward, following the same path as the first
light. Total duration of the sighting is 1 minute 20 seconds. (“Foreign
Forum,” IUR 3, no. 10/11 (Oct./Nov. 1978): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5767
Date: 8/24/1978
Description: 11:40 p.m. Two 19-year old girls, driving west near tiny
Ginghamsburg, Ohio, watch two oddly colored orange lights twice the size
of aircraft landing lights. A humming sound can be heard both from the
lights and from the car radio. The driver can’t get the car to go faster
than about 20 mph. The lights are coming from the left, one directly
over the other. They look away momentarily and the lights are gone; they
look again, and the lights are moving above the car. From the south they
have moved to the northwest over a field. A rod or a light beam comes
down from one ball of light and shines a light at the witnesses for one
second. The driver tries to flash the car lights at it, to no avail.
They look away briefly and do not notice how the lights vanish. (“Car
Interference in Ohio?” IUR 3, no. 12 (December 1978): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5769
Date: 8/24/1978
Description: 10:00 p.m. A 54-year old cook is driving north from her
brother’s house about 10 miles south of Ottumwa, Iowa. She is on
Cliffland Road alongside the Des Moines River in a wooded, rural area. A
full-moon-sized red- orange light shoots silently from the east to the
west in several seconds. As it flies across the front of her car, her
windshield fogs up and the car stalls out to a stop. The interference
lasts only a few seconds, and the car restarts without her turning the
key; the window defogs as quickly as it had steamed up. She last sees
the light against a background of trees up ahead, lower than the
treetops. (“Car Interference in Iowa,” IUR 3, no. 12 (December 1978):
14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5768
Date: 8/27/1978
Description: 4:45 p.m. A Korean War veteran in Gloucester,
Massachusetts, watches a bright yellow cylinder approaching him from low
in the north. At an altitude of 2,000 feet, it appears smaller than an
F-100 fighter. It moves off to the south, flying faster than a jet.
(“And Then, 3 Hours Later,” IUR 3, no. 12 (December 1978): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5771
Date: 8/27/1978
Description: 1:40 p.m. Arthur Silva is flying a Cessna 150 about 10
miles north of Provincetown, Massachusetts, with Harold Johnson as
passenger. Johnson sees a bright reflective object at the same altitude
(2,500 feet) directly ahead about 4 miles away. It moves closer, picking
up speed and shooting by them at about 600 mph, apparently missing the
plane by 1,000 feet. It is a silvery-white, metallic sphere with no
wings and about 18 feet in diameter. (“Daylight Sphere over
Massachusetts,” IUR 3, no. 12 (December 1978): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5770
Date: 8/28/1978
Description: Six papers are presented at the American Psychological
Association Symposium in Toronto, Ontario, relating to the topic of
using hypnosis to investigate UFO experiences. The presenters are H.
Kent Newman, R. Leo
Sprinkle, James
Harder, Alvin
Lawson, W.
C. McCall, and Michael
Persinger. (“Ufologists
Meet the Social Scientists,” IUR 3, no. 10/11 (Oct./Nov. 1978):
19–21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5772
Date: 8/30/1978
Description: 8:45 p.m. A witness is standing outdoors at a suburban
shopping center in Nashua, New Hampshire, when she spots a formation of
6–8 white lights arranged in a circle and moving from southeast to
north. (“Meanwhile, a Little Ways North,” IUR 3, no. 12 (December 1978):
15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5773
Date: 8/30/1978
Description: Late night. Residents of Lisbon, Portugal, see a large
round object with bright red and white lights flying about 600 feet
above the ground. (“Portuguese
Welcome UFO,” Oshkosh (Wis.) Daily Northwestern, August 31, 1978,
p. 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5774
Date: 8/30/1978
Description: 11:00 p.m.–midnight. A 38-year-old man is driving a pickup
on State Highway 38 a half-mile west of Nisula, Michigan, when a
cone-shaped object flies toward him from the east. It has two steady red
lights at the ends and one steady white light in the middle. It flies
low and silently over the truck, which then stalls for one second. He
gets home and he and his wife watch the red lights in the distance,
still moving slowly up and down from east to south. (“Another Vehicle
Stalled,” IUR 3, no. 12 (December 1978): 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5775
Date: 8/30/1978
Description: 11:10 p.m. A man in Gloucester, Massachusetts, looks out
his window to see what is causing a loud sound in 5-second bursts. He
sees over Ipswich Bay an elongated, fiery red rectangle moving north to
south at around 100 mph. One end is dipped down 45°. It stops, hovers
for 10 seconds, and moves out of sight behind trees. (“Again, 3 Hours
Later,” IUR 3, no. 12 (December 1978): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5776
Date: 9/1978
Description: GEPAN organizes a large gathering of about 100 people from
more than 40 civilian UFO groups, but cooperation does not last.
Criticism comes from both skeptics and the conspiratorial-minded.
(Gildas Bourdais, “From GEPAN to SEPRA: Official UFO Studies in France,”
IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5777
Date: 9/1978
Description: Chris
Rutkowski begins publishing the Swamp Gas Journal newsletter in
Winnipeg, Manitoba. It continues until summer 1997, with six special
issues thrown in. (Swamp
Gas Journal, no.
1 (September 1978)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5778
Date: 9/1978
Description: UFOs are reported around Heathrow Airport in London,
England. A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority denies that any
are tracked on radar, but adds, “It’s in the interest of national
security that not too much fuss is made about this sort of thing.” (Good
Above, p. 72)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5779
Date: 9/1/1978
Description: After 8:00 p.m. Several villagers in Llanerchymedd,
Anglesey, Wales, including some teenagers and a man hunting rabbits,
watch a bright white light descend slowly behind a new housing estate.
An egg-shaped object is seen hovering and illuminating the trees. Other
independent witnesses see a large silvery sphere above a field and watch
the cows panic and hear neighborhood dogs start barking furiously. A
Mrs. Parry and her young daughter look out from an upstairs bedroom and
see three tall men in gray uniforms with caps or helmets attached to
their suits walking across a field. Some of the teens run to the village
to alert the police, who upon their arrival find the village in an
uproar, thinking it has been invaded. At 10:00 p.m., Vivienne Roberts
sees a purplish object with a mass of yellow lights above the vicarage.
Her horses begin to panic and sweat profusely. Later, UFO investigators
triangulate the position of the supposed landing site and find a
circular patch of flattened barley and a path leading up to it. (Martin
Keatman, “The
Llanerchymedd UFO,” Flying Saucer Review 25, no. 5 (March 1980):
16–23; Story, p. 211)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5780
Date: 9/2/1978
Description: 8:00–8:15 a.m. Roberto Pozzi, 14, hears a noise like ducks
and hissing combined in a western suburb of Alessandrio, Piedmont,
Italy. He sees an object over a nearby cornfield. It stops making noise,
swings laterally, and shoots up into the air. He finds a 22-by-10-foot
depressed area of cornstalks bent down halfway up the stalk. Two rows of
stalks are bent to the east, a third row to the west. Other sightings
take place in the same area around Alessandrio on September 3, 6, 7, and
13. (“UFO Flap 1978: Italian Style,” IUR 4, no. 3/4 (Sept./Oct. 1979):
14; 1Pinotti 217)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5781
Date: 9/3/1978
Description: David W. Swift of the University of Hawaii Department of
Sociology presents a paper prior to the American Sociological
Association meeting in San Francisco, California, on the disconnect
among scientists’ support for SETI research and their disdain for UFO
research. (“Scientists’ Selection of New Areas for Investigation: UFOs
or ETI?” IUR 3, no. 10/11 (Oct./Nov. 1978): 21–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5782
Date: 9/3/1978
Description: 10:00 p.m. Edilia Cresta Gallo and three other women see a
strip of white light descend between a road and a maize field in
Alessandrio, Piedmont, Italy. The strip morphs into a bright fireball
about 5 feet wide. It disappears and reappears twice more. The women
complain of a burning sensation in their eyes. (“UFO Flap 1978: Italian
Style,” IUR 4, no. 3/4 (Sept./Oct. 1979): 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5783
Date: 9/4/1978
Description: 12:15 a.m. A university professor in Gordon, Wisconsin,
sees a flashing, pale-yellow ball of light as he is driving north on US
Highway 53. It crosses the road in front of him only 50 feet away at an
estimated 160 mph. It makes a sharp 90° turn parallel to the road,
descending to about 15 feet, and travels parallel to his car at 60 mph
about 150 feet west of the road. As he slows down to 20 mph for a better
look, the light also slows down. When the light is 250 feet ahead, it
goes out. (“A Professorial Witness,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July 1979): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5784
Date: 9/6/1978
Description: Late evening. Two witnesses at the San Michele boarding
house in Sassello, Savona, Italy, see two round black objects close
enough to form a figure 8. The are making sounds like incomprehensible
radio chatter. They depart at great speed, leaving circular imprints
behind. (“UFO Flap 1978: Italian Style,” IUR 4, no. 3/4
(Sept./Oct. 1979): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5786
Date: 9/6/1978
Description: 6:45 a.m. Juan O. Perez, 12, goes to gather a herd of
horses near Venado Tuerto, Argentina. As he rides his horse, he senses
something flying overhead. Several objects appear and begin maneuvering
and shooting out beams of multicolored light. His horse panics, and
Perez manages to ride home. His father berates him and tells him to go
back. When he returns, he finds a large domed object with windows on the
ground. A door opens and a 7-foot-tall being wearing gloves and a
cylindrical helmet appears. It seems to be attached to the object by
some type of breathing apparatus. It invites Perez inside the craft, so
he ties his horse to a ladder protruding from the bottom of the object
and climbs in. His horse is panicked again and keeps kicking the object,
injuring its leg. Inside, he sees a panel with buttons and some tables.
A robot-like entity is cutting some animal bones into pieces. Perez
tries touching the tall being and objects inside but is prevented by an
invisible barrier. Perez jumps out the door and back to the ground. The
tall being follows him outside. Perez asks for one of the giant’s gloves
as proof of his experience. When it takes off the glove, Perez sees a
green, claw-like hand with blue metallic nails. The tall being then
pricks Perez’s right arm and apparently extracts some blood. As Perez
rides home with the glove, two flying objects catch up to him and emit a
small slab and sphere that descend and brush by the horse. They pull the
glove up with a magnetic force. The wound on Perez’s arm stays open for
many years and seeps a transparent liquid. A scar remains six years
later when Perez has a medical check-up for military service; he is
declared unfit because of the story he tells about its origin. After the
event, Perez begins having premonitory dreams about unfortunate events.
(Jacques Vallée, Confrontations: A Scientist’s Search for Alien Contact,
Ballantine, 1990, pp. 153–156;
“Jacques
Vallée: The Juan Perez UFO Case,” Above Top Secret, October 20,
2019; David Metcalfe, “Witness
of Another World: Exploring the Soul of a Phenomenon,” Exploring the
Outer Edges of Society and Mind, October 21, 2019; Mark Pilkington, “The
Gaucho Also Cries,” Fortean Times 391 (April 2020): 38–40; Internet
Movie Database, “Witness
of Another World”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5785
Date: 9/7/1978
Description: 1:00 a.m. A college student in Dayton, Ohio, sees two
bright orange lights, closely spaced horizontally. They remain
stationary for 2 minutes, then dim and begin to move for 2–3 minutes.
(“This One’s 50-50,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July 1979): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5787
Date: 9/7/1978
Description: 8:40 p.m. Many people in the San Michele boarding house in
Sassello, Savona, Italy, see a large luminous object hovering above La
Carta to the east. The boarding house owner, Piera Viacava, switches on
the TV, but the picture is distorted. The light moves south for a few
minutes. Franco Viacava drives off in a Fiat with two friends toward the
light, but their engine loses power and slows down. The radio and tape
player also malfunction briefly. A French woman driving in the area has
her car stopped as the object hovers suddenly above her. Her dog barks
until the light goes away and the car resumes working. (“UFO Flap 1978:
Italian Style,” IUR 4, no. 3/4 (Oct./Nov. 1979): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5788
Date: 9/9/1978
Description: 8:35 p.m. Airline pilots flying over the Mediterranean
about 88 miles east of Barcelona, Spain, watch some unidentified lights
for 35 minutes. Personnel from Barcelona Air Control Center maintain a
conversation with the pilots but detect no targets on their radar
screens. (Swords 434–435)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5789
Date: 9/10/1978
Description: 8:30 p.m. Richard Renne is flying his single-engine
Beechcraft Bonanza at 9,500 feet southeast at 170 mph near Bakersfield,
Missouri, when he sees a yellowish-white light descending from 15,000
feet. It follows him behind his right wing, then shoots up to 20,000
feet in a perfectly straight trajectory. It moves back to his 3 o’clock
position before it shoots off upward. (“But This One’s Good,” IUR 4, no.
1 (July 1979): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5790
Date: 9/10/1978
Description: 10:15 p.m. A stationary formation of several dozen lights
is seen at Dearborn Heights, Michigan, for 15 minutes before it
disappears. (“Michigan NL,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July 1979): 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5791
Date: 9/13/1978
Description: 9:30 p.m. Angelo Ciompi watches a reddish disc moving in
the eastern sky above Spinetta Marengo, Italy. It stops abruptly, drops
down, and is lost to sight behind some houses. A column of flames rises
up from the spot. Ciompi and others rush to the area and see a fire
burning in the brushwood-covered wasteland. Firemen put out the blaze,
but the area is overflown by lights in the evening that descend and
ascend at the site. (“UFO Flap 1978: Italian Style,” IUR 4, no. 3/4
(Oct./Nov. 1979): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5792
Date: 9/14/1978
Description: 6:00 a.m. Hundreds of witnesses all over Italy, from Sicily
to Florence, watch a luminous projectile moving northward. Italian
ufologists are calling it a UFO rather than a meteor because a few
accounts have it moving in a different direction or appearing to stop
briefly. Probable meteor. (“UFO Flap 1978: Italian Style,” IUR 4, no.
3/4 (Oct./Nov. 1979): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5793
Date: 9/15/1978
Description: 4:00 a.m. A 26-year-old secretary is awakened in
Carpentersville, Illinois, by a whirring sound. She goes to the bedroom
window to look outside. The noise stops, but then she sees the figure of
a 6-foot tall man. He is dressed in a silvery suit. Several feet away
from him she sees a small, silver, domed disc (about 3 feet wide by 2
feet tall) sitting on the edge of the grass. It is opaque and smooth and
the source of the whirring sound. The witness then screams at her
husband to wake up, and her dog starts barking furiously. They both try
to phone the police but the phone is not working. When the police arrive
15 minutes later, both the visitor and the UFO are gone. (“Stuffing a
6-Foot Ufonaut into a 2-Foot UFO,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July 1979): 12; Patrick
Gross, URECAT, October
27, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5795
Date: 9/15/1978
Description: 2:30 a.m. A 31-year-old woman is lying in bed awake for 30
minutes at her home in Delano, Tennessee, when a funny feeling makes her
look outside. She stands at the south window looking out at fields and
sees a bright moon and an object with lights in a long shape, red and
pink as if on fire, in the southwest. Two “normal” men dressed in white
suits can be seen about 300 feet from the window, but it is too dark for
details. They start moving toward the house, but then stop and turn
back. The UFO comes in fast at this point very close to the ground, then
leaves quickly, climbing to the west. (“Tennessee Humanoids?” IUR 4, no.
1 (July 1979): 12; Patrick Gross, URECAT, May
15, 2010)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5794
Date: 9/16/1978
Description: 1:30 a.m. Stephen Colclough and his girlfriend are driving
through Dilhorne, Staffordshire, England, when they notice a red and
white light moving across the sky. Suddenly an enormous black object
looms up in front of them, completely silent, and shoots a powerful
searchlight beam for at least 3 seconds. (“UFO Shot a Beam of Light at
Our Car: Claim,” Stoke-on-Trent (UK) Evening Sentinel, September 16,
1978; Marler 102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5796
Date: 9/17/1978
Description: Car engine and lights failed, domed disc descended onto
road. Two small humanoids emerged, examined car, reentered object, took
off
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Torrita di Siena, Italy
ID: 321
Date: 9/17/1978
Description: 8:00 p.m. Hairdresser Rivo Faralli hears an explosion like
a rifle shot at Torrita di Siena, Italy. He goes to visit his mother on
the other side of town, who has also heard the noise and seen a flash of
light that causes the lights and TV to go out. When Faralli is driving
home at 9:00 p.m. on the Via Pié agli Orti, the engine and lights of his
car die. He feels paralyzed as he watches a domed disc come near and
float inches from the ground. The dome opens up and two 3.5-foot-tall
beings emerge, floating 4 inches from the ground. They are wearing green
one-piece suits; their helmets have clear visors and two small spiraling
antennas. Their faces look like green- skinned skulls through the
visors. Faralli watches them make a full circle around the car without
noise or gesture, then return to the UFO, which rises up several yards,
seemingly propelled by three red, orange, and blue-colored beams, and
shoots off vertically. The car starts on its own. He returns to the site
the following day and finds three burn marks in the unpaved road.
Digging into the ground, he finds the earth carbonized to a depth of 8
inches. Soil samples are taken to the European Atomic Energy Community
labs at Ispra, which finds that the road material has been burned by a
temperature less than 500° Celsius, and not by a bonfire or hydrocarbon
fuels. (Roberto Pinotti, “Landing, E.M. Effects, and Entities at Torrita
di Siena,” Flying Saucer Review 25, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1979): 3–6;
Maurizio Verga, “Another
CEIII Report from Italy,” Flying Saucer Review 25, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1979): 6–7; “UFO Flap 1978: Italian Style,” IUR 4, no. 3/4
(Sept./Oct. 1979): 15–16; Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle
Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011): 18; UFOEv
II 495– 496; 1Pinotti 220–223; Patrick Gross, URECAT, January
15, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5797
Date: 9/18/1978
Description: 3:30 p.m. Giorgio Filiputti is fishing in the Corno river
at the point where the Zumiel irrigation canal runs into it south of San
Giorgio di Nogaro, Udine, Italy, when he hears a whistling sound, sees
vegetation rustling, and feels a blast of air. Climbing up the riverbank
to investigate, he sees a domed disc about 13–16 feet in diameter that
is resting on a mudflat 66 feet away. The object is brassy or yellowish
metallic with telescopic legs that terminate in flat pads. A figure
about 3.5 feet tall appears from behind the dome, walking around the
rim. It wears tight-fitting coveralls of scaly, silvery material that
sparkles in the sunlight. It wears boots, has two containers at waist
level, and white gloves. Its face is dark bronze with almond-shaped eyes
and large pupils. The entity stares at the shocked Filiputti. After a
few minutes it begins walking again, stoops down, and works on a
horseshoe-shaped protrusion on the dome. Finally, it continues walking
around to the other side. Filiputti hears a rumbling sound and a
piercing whistle as the object begins to rise, withdrawing its landing
gear. The underside looks like it has a grid pattern, and it emits a
bluish glow like a tongue of flame. When it reaches an altitude of 33
feet, it turns on edge and speeds out of sight to the southwest. He has
been watching it for about 6 minutes. Three circular imprints about 20
inches in diameter are found in the dry mud and sand. (Antonio
Chiumiento, “’The Little
Oriental Airman’: Another Remarkable C.E.III Case in Italy,” Flying
Saucer Review 28, no. 5 (June 1983): 3–8; UFOEv II 497–498; 1Pinotti
223–230)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5798
Date: 9/18/1978
Description: Whistling sound, disc-shaped object with dome on mudflat.
Small humanoid emerged, made repair to craft, took off with loud
explosive sound
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Melaria, Porto Nogaro district, Italy
ID: 322
Date: 9/20/1978
Description: 5:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m. Hundreds of people watch a white,
roughly triangular object over Tuscany, Italy. It moves northeast and
turns red. Probable balloon. (“UFO Flap 1978: Italian Style,” IUR 4, no.
3/4 (Oct./Nov. 1979): 16–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5800
Date: 9/20/1978
Description: 3:40 p.m. G. W. Schoen is spreading fertilizer on a farm
near Westminster, Maryland, when he notices a gray, pear-shaped object
tilted at an angle and flying above the edge of a wooded area. He can
see plates, girders, cylinders, and other structures on it. Schoen
senses that it is exerting a mild “pulling” force on him. It is visible
for 30–35 seconds before it passes behind a cloud. He estimates it is
340–350 feet long. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1982): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5799
Date: 9/21/1978
Description: 8:00 p.m. A young man walking near a yard in Cosenza,
Calabria, Italy, sees the area illuminated as if by daylight. The
surrounding blocks are lost to view. On a hill he sees an oval object
and a human shape with two antennae. Frightened, he runs away but falls
as four humanoids come closer to him by jumps. He faints, and when he
comes to he is surrounded by four entities wearing buttoned jackets, a
rucksack, and helmets with antennae. Their hands look like pincers. He
faints again and walks up at 8:30 p.m., but the UFO and entities are
gone. (Paolo Fiorino, Gian Paolo Grassino, and Antonio Chiumiento,
“Abductions in Italy,” IUR 14, no. 4 (July/Aug.1989): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5801
Date: 9/22/1978
End date: 9/23/1978
Description: Car participating in road rally brightly illuminated by
glowing object, lifted off road, driver and passenger blinded, steering
control lost
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
ID: 323
Date: 9/23/1978
Description: 4:30 a.m. Carlos Acevedo and Angel Moya are driving a
Citroën CG on the flat pampas south of Buenos Aires, Argentina,
stragglers on the final leg of a 39-day stock car race. They notice a
yellow and violet light shining in their rear-view mirror, approaching
fast. Suddenly, the engine and headlights quit, then the car is lifted
15 feet off the road and set down again one minute later 75 miles north.
The gasoline tank is also allegedly drained. (San Diego (Calif.) Union,
November 14, 1978; “Foreign Forum,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August 1979): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5802
Date: 9/23/1978
Description: 1:28 p.m. A man is driving past a cattle lot 2 miles north
of Dexter, Iowa, when he sees a silver cigar- shaped object 150 feet
above the ground. He jumps out of his truck and tries to get underneath
it as it hovers, but it moves off to the northeast and is gone in less
than a minute. (“Another Daylight Cigar,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July 1979):
12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5803
Date: 9/23/1978
End date: 9/24/1978
Description: Around 12:00 midnight. Two cable car technicians at the
Bâlea Lake resort, Romania, are awakened by a red light visible through
dense fog. It is apparently coming from an object some 30 feet outside
their window. The light disappears. At the same time, at a military
barracks on the site where soldiers have been assigne dwork duties, Cpl.
Ioan Dörr gets up and goes outside for a drink of water from a tap at
the corner of the building and sees a dark, motionless silhouette only a
few feet away. It persists for at least another 5 minutes. The next
evening at 11:45 p.m., Sgt. Ion Radu notices a dark figure about 8 feet
tall moving slowly on a mound some 65 feet away. Noticing that something
had broken open the shutters of their barracks windows, some of the
soldiers begin throwing stones at it. Radu approaches to within 4 feet
of the figure and raises a club to hit it, but he feels a hot blast and
falls backward into the snow. Two other soldiers with him remain
paralyzed for a few seconds. The entity moves away with kind of a
floating motion. Radu remains unconscious for about 10 minutes as the
soldiers try to resuscitate him. Five soldiers see a “wreath of lights”
at the spot where the figure had stood and others hear mysterious
scratching at the window shutters. The next morning they find four
parallel scratches on the shutters about 4 inches apart. The soldiers
all decide to spend the next night at a nearby resort. (Romania
130–132)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5804
Date: 9/24/1978
Description: 5:30 p.m. Two witnesses see a silver oval moving from east
to west in Vineland, New Jersey. (“Daylight Oval,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July
1979): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5805
Date: 9/26/1978
Description: 12:05 a.m. A 19-year-old grocery worker is driving on Lunn
Road in Strongsville, Ohio, when she sees on her left a flat-domed disc
edge on. She stops her car, and the object moves closer. When it is
right in front of her car over the road, her FM radio gets lost in
static for 10–15 seconds and her headlights flash off for one second.
Then the object slowly rises up and flies off out of sight to her right.
(“Another EM Story,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July 1979): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5806
Date: 9/27/1978
Description: 7:25 p.m. Two witnesses see a formation of lights above a
suburban forest preserve in Gurnee, Illinois. One steady red light is on
top, two steady yellow lights are below them, and one blue flashing
light is seen briefly. It suddenly drops halfway to the ground and back
up again in 5 seconds before moving off to the north. (“Illinois NL,”
IUR 4, no. 1 (July 1979): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5809
Date: 9/27/1978
Description: 8:00 a.m. Katarzyna Kolińska is on her way to school in
Przyrownica from Magnusy, Poland, when she sees a bright flash of light
near a mountain. The children who arrive at the school before classes go
to a small nearby grove of trees to play. There they encounter a strange
man, 5.5 feet tall with a green face and dark costume, who is walking
through the forest 30 feet away. He turns to face the children, and they
panic and run back to school, one child losing his shoe in the rush. The
teacher returns with some of the children to the spot, but student Anna
Jarocińska goes in the wrong direction and meets only 480 feet from the
school a being whose face is a “featureless mask.” (Poland 43–45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5807
Date: 9/27/1978
Description: 1:00 p.m. Henryk Marciniak is picking mushrooms in the
forest near Golina, Poland. He notices a strange landed object standing
on four legs about 330 feet away in a clearing. When he rides over to
investigate, a door opens and two small beings with unpleasant faces and
greenish skin emerge, walking down some steps that have appeared. They
approach him, one poking at the motorcycle and the other holding a
device like a camera. The first one takes his bag of mushrooms.
Marciniak shakes hands with them and tries to indicate the mushrooms are
edible and the bike is for riding. Suddenly a buzzing sound comes from
the object. The two entities go back inside and the object takes off and
disappears. Many years later Marciniak denies the story, possibly
because he wants to be left alone. (Poland 45–46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5808
Date: 9/28/1978
Description: 2:00 a.m. Two women driving south through a residential
area of Omaha, Nebraska, sees a dark cone- shaped object approaching her
from the right. It has three bright white lights on the bottom. The
object slows down, flying low, and the witnesses pass by it. A
pre-recorded tape in the car’s player gets completely erased as this
happens, even though other tapes in a box are not affected. (“A ‘Zapped’
Cassette,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July 1979): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5810
Date: 9/28/1978
Description: 7:20 p.m. A man in Kettering, Ohio, spots a grayish cigar
reflecting the light of the setting sun. Flying silently with its long
dimension in the direction of travel, it seems to be 10,000 feet or
lower. (“What’s Going on in Ohio? Another Daylight Cigar!” IUR 4, no. 1
(July 1979): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5811
Date: 9/29/1978
Description: A resident Indian woman sees a disc-shaped object take off
from the Groendal Nature Reserve near Uitenhage, Eastern Cape, South
Africa. (MUFON UFO Journal, October 1978)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5812
Date: 10/1978
Description: John Acuff’s mismanagement of NICAP (destruction of the
reporting network, loss of members, paying himself a $20,000
contractor’s fee) leads to his resignation as director. Acuff remains on
the board and keeps the case files in his personal possession. He is
replaced by Alan Hall, a retired CIA employee who accepts the position
after a number of other ex-CIA men are offered the job. Support for Hall
on the NICAP board comes from Charles Lombard, an aide to Sen. Barry
Goldwater and a former covert CIA employee. Lombard and John Fisher
are voted onto the board. (Richard H. Hall, “The
Quest for the Truth about UFOs: A Personal Perspective on
the Role of NICAP,” in 1994 MUFON UFO Symposium Proceedings, MUFON,
1994, pp. 185–201; ClearIntent, p. 207)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5813
Date: 10/1978 (approximate)
Description: 12:00 noon. Two Chilean F-5 aircraft piloted by Capts.
Hernán Gabrielli Rojas and Danilo Catalán Farias are on a training
mission near Mejillones, Chile. Both pilots see a radar target that
gives a return equal to 10 aircraft carriers. Ground radar at Cerro
Moreno airport [now Andrés Sabella Gálvez International Airport] in
Antofagasta picks up the object and confirms its large size. The pilots
continue to fly south between 30,000–35,000 feet. At a distance of 20
miles, they see an object “like a plantain banana” swathed in smoke.
They approach it cautiously with their gun cameras on, but the UFO
disappears at a huge speed to the west, heading toward Easter Island,
vanishing from all three radar screens. Duration is 5 minutes. (Martin
Shough and Wim van Utrecht, “Antofagasta,
Chile: October 1978,” Caelestia, October 31, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5814
Date: 10/2/1978
Description: 11:15 a.m. Four students, ages 12–16, from Despatch,
Eastern Cape, South Africa, are hiking in the Groendal Nature Reserve
when they see a silver object on the ground. About 900 feet to the west
of it are two beings in silver suits that seem to glide without walking.
A third being joins them, holding a silver “suitcase,” and they glide
along a fence along a steep incline a short way before vanishing. The
silver object disappears too. Later, three forest workers find 7-inch
oval footprints about one mile from the site. On October 18, three South
African police officers and two trackers visit the encounter site and
find a large area of depressed grass with 8 symmetrical marks around its
perimeter and 4 marks within the oval area. (“South African CE III,” IUR
5, no. 1a (January 1980): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5815
Date: 10/6/1978
Description: 3:00 a.m. Two witnesses driving west on US Highway 87
halfway between Capulin and Des Moines, New Mexico, see an octagonal
object several times larger than the moon with light shining through
sections of it. As it passes above their car, it seems to be metallic.
(“The Octagonal Tank,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July 1979): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5816
Date: 10/7/1978
Description: A woman is driving with her 13-year-old nephew near San
Cataldo, Sicily, Italy, when one of her tires has a blow-out. She
repairs the tire but cannot start the car again. Above at an altitude of
50 feet, she sees a silver object resembling a plate turned upside down,
about 65 feet in diameter. It emits a strong light, and the bottom has a
transparent door through which she can see three or four shadows passing
behind it. The UFO leaves quickly with a humming sound after 5–10
minutes. (Maurizio Verga, “La
vague italienne de 1978 (Deuxième Partie),” Lumières dans la Nuit,
no. 210 (December 1981): 32; Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle
Interference Reports, Part Two,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sept. 2011): 20; Patrick
Gross, URECAT, November
17, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5817
Date: 10/7/1978
Description: 6:30 p.m. Two truck drivers on US Highway 224 near Lodi,
Ohio, see a tight formation of pink/red lights flashing on and off
floating toward them to the north. They both stop to get out and look.
All four lights break formation and move off in different directions,
disappearing in seconds. (“Intriguing Ohio NL’s,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July
1979): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5818
Date: 10/8/1978
Description: 7:00–9:00 a.m. A very small object is seen resting in a
field 300 feet from the Marlett
Sturgell farmhouse near Jenkins, Missouri. For 2 hours it is watched
intermittently by his wife Dora,
son Norman, son-in-law, and two others, all members of the Sturgell
family. At 9:00 a.m., it ascends and moves off to the northwest. The
witnesses then notice a larger, more distant object, wingless, hovering
in the sky. The small object heads directly toward it and either flies
under it or enters into it. It moves away rapidly and disappears.
(“Physical Trace Case in Missouri,” IUR 3, no. 12 (December 1978):
11–13; Donald L. Seneker and George M. Koch, “Missouri
Landing- Trace
Case,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 135 (May 1979): 3–7; Herbert S.
Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further Look,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer
2004): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5819
Date: 10/8/1978
Description: 5:11 p.m. A couple in Huntington Park, California, watch a
huge black disc at a high altitude moving toward the Sierra Madre
Mountains in the northeast. (“Who Else Saw This Monstrous Disc?” IUR 4,
no. 1 (July 1979): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5821
Date: 10/8/1978
Description: 7:10 p.m. A student takes a photo of a distant daylight
disc from his home, 2 miles east of Anderson, South Carolina. (“UFO
Photo,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July 1979): 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5822
Date: 10/8/1978
Description: 10:40 p.m. Elfed Williams is driving south on the A5025
near Penysarn, Anglesey, Wales, when he sees an orange light that passes
overhead and hovers in the southwest. He stops at a friend’s house in
the village and they continue to watch the light, which increases in
size and is still hovering silently at about 200 feet. At first it looks
like two saucers joined at the rims by a black band, but when it begins
approaching the witnesses, it takes on the shape of an orange-hued
triangle. It moves away then shoots off at a fast speed, (Kevin Babbs,
“Expanding
UFO over
Anglesey,” Flying Saucer Review 25, no, 1 (Jan./Feb. 1979):
23–24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5823
Date: 10/8/1978
Description: 11:30 p.m. A Mr. and Mrs. Trantor are driving along the
A580 near Lowton, England, when their headlight beams catch a figure
standing in the grassy strip between the two lanes. It is well over 6
feet tall and dressed in a silver-foil reflective suit. It is immersed
in orange light. Stunned, they drive past it. (Jenny Randles, “Fake
Photographs, Real Sightings,” IUR 11, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1986): 8–9;
Patrick Gross, URECAT, April
26, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5824
Date: 10/8/1978
Description: 10:30 a.m. Teenager Franklin Youri takes a photo of an
unusual object behind his home near Lake Urmia, Iran. It appears just
above the line of the roof, and its shape is similar to the May 13
Iranian photo. (“Interesting Newly
Discovered Photo from Iran,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 7
(July 1981): 1, 3; “Sheraz,
Iran, October
8, 1978,” Popular Mechanics, July 1998, p. 64)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5820
Date: 10/10/1978
Description: 6:35 a.m. A chemistry professor in Agoura Hills,
California, goes outside to observe Jupiter and sees another bright
object to the south of it. It is moving slowly and soon splits into two
lights, one brighter than the other. They spread apart and move away at
different speeds. (“Another Nocturnal Light That Split Up,” IUR 4, no. 1
(July 1979): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5825
Date: 10/10/1978
Description: 9:30 p.m. A Mrs. Grime and her two sons, 15 and 21, see a
silvery disc ringed by flashing white lights near their home in Leigh,
England. They can see three bumps on its underside. It makes a faint
humming sound as it moves overhead. (Jenny Randles, “Fake Photographs,
Real Sightings,” IUR 11, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1986): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5826
Date: 10/20/1978
Description: Dusk. Kate Chmurny, an archaeologist at Plymouth State
College in New Hampshire, watches a triangular object flying at 30 mph
northward along Interstate 93 at a height of 100 feet above the
Pemigewasset River floodplain in Campton, New Hampshire. It is about 20
feet wide and completely silent, moving by raising and lowering one
side. The object has a single bright white light on the underside and
rows of red and greenish lights along the edges that reflect against a
metallic surface. (Joseph K. Long, “Letter,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 2 (April/May 1983): 5–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5827
Date: 10/20/1978
Description: Orionid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 324
Date: 10/21/1978
Description: Cessna pilot Frederick Valentich aerial encounter with
elongated object, plane and pilot disappeared
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Bass Strait, Australia
ID: 325
Date: 10/21/1978
Description: Aircraft Accident Investigation Summary Report: Fredrick
Valentich vanished while reporting a UFO playing cat and mouse with his
airplane which was a Cessna 182L. It’s hovering above me… it’s got a
greenlight and sort of metallic (like) it’s all shiny (on) the outside…
it’s hovering and it’s Airplane not an aircraft… (end of
transmission…pilot presumed dead).
Type: ufo encounter
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p461-463, B1-F p298)
Date: 10/21/1978
Description: 7:06 p.m. Australian pilot Frederick
Valentich, 20,
is on a 145-mile training flight in a Cessna 182L light aircraft over
Bass Strait between Moorabbin, Victoria, and King Island. He radios
Melbourne air traffic control to report that an unidentified aircraft is
following him at 4,500 feet. He is told there is no known traffic at
that level. Valentich can see a large, unknown aircraft that appears to
be illuminated by four bright landing lights. He is unable to confirm
its type but says it has passed about 1,000 feet overhead and is moving
at high speed. Then he says the aircraft is approaching him from the
east, thinking that the other pilot might be purposely toying with him.
The other aircraft is “orbiting” above him. It has a shiny metal surface
and a green light on it. Then he begins experiencing engine problems.
Asked to identify the aircraft, Valentich radios, “It’s not an
aircraft.” His transmission is then interrupted by unidentified noise
described as being “metallic, scraping sounds” before all contact is
lost. A sea and air search is undertaken that includes oceangoing ship
traffic, an RAAF Lockheed P-3 Orion aircraft, plus eight civilian
aircraft. The search encompasses more than 1,000 square miles. Search
efforts cease on October 25 without result. A Department of Transport
investigation into the disappearance is unable to determine the cause,
but it is “presumed fatal” for Valentich. In 1983, an engine cowl flap
is found washed ashore on Flinders Island. In July 1983, the Bureau of
Air Safety Investigation asks the Royal Australian Navy Research
Laboratory about the likelihood that the cowl flap might have traveled
to its final position from the area where the aircraft disappeared. The
bureau notes that “the part has been identified as having come from a
Cessna 182 aircraft between a certain range of serial numbers.” which
includes Valentich’s aircraft. At least 15 other UFOs are reported
between midday and 9:00 p.m., six in Victoria, one on King Island, and
others further away. Roy Manifold, vacationing at Crayfish Bay, Cape
Otway, Victoria, inadvertently takes two photos of peculiar black
objects just 20 minutes before Valentich reported his sighting.
(Wikipedia, “Disappearance
of Frederick Valentich”;
“Fred Valentich: The Missing Australian Pilot,” IUR 3, no. 12 (December
1978): 2–10; Bill Chalker, “The
Missing Cessna and the UFO,” Flying Saucer Review 24, no. 5 (March
1979): 3–5; Bill Chalker, “Vanished?
The Valentich Affair Re-examined,” Flying Saucer Review 30, no. 2
(December 1984): 6–12; Richard F. Haines, Melbourne
Episode: Case Study of a Missing Pilot, L.D.A.
Press, 1987; Keith Basterfield, Vladimir Godic, and Pony Godic,
“Australian Ufology: A Review,” JUFOS 2 (1990): 31–32; Good Above, pp.
175–182, 461–463;
ClearIntent, pp. 93–96;
UFOEv II 138–140; Kean, pp. 54–58;
Richard F. Haines and Paul Norman, “Valentich
Disappearance: New Evidence and a New Conclusion,” Journal of
Scientific Exploration 14, no. 1 (2000): 19–33; Clark III
1208–1212)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5828
Date: 10/23/1978
Description: 6:30–8:30 p.m. Some 200 people involved in 67 sighting
reports watch a lighted delta-shaped UFO over Leicestershire, England.
(“Throwing
a Light on UFO,” Leicester (UK) Mercury, December 2, 1985, via UFO
Newsclipping Service, no. 199 (February 1986): 12; Marler 103,
120)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5829
Date: 10/23/1978
Description: 10:04 p.m. Chinese Air Force pilots are attending an
outdoor film screening at Lintao Air Base, Gansu province, China, when
an elongated object with two searchlights and a glowing tail appears in
the sky moving to the west. Chinese Air Force pilot Zhou Qingtong says
it is large and close to the ground. They watch it for 2–3 minutes as it
circles above them. A report in the CIA files indicates it is flying at
20,000 feet, varying from witness reports. (“UFO
Report from China,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 2 (February
1981): 5; “A
Close Encounter
with Unpleasant Consequences,” Flying Saucer Review 28, no. 4 (March
1983): 25; Good Above, pp. 213–214;
Wendelle Stevens and Paul Dong, UFOs over Modern China, UFO Photo
Archives, 1983, pp. 119–120)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5830
Date: 10/25/1978
Description: The US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act creates a
“secret federal court” (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) for
issuing wiretap warrants in national security cases. This is in response
to findings from the Watergate break-in, which allegedly uncovers a
history of presidential operations that has used surveillance on
domestic and foreign political organizations. (Wikipedia, “Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5832
Date: 10/25/1978
Description: 5:00 a.m. Giuseppe di Giovanni, a 51-year-old farmer, is in
search of a stray cow in the hills of San Donato di Tagliacozzo,
Abruzzo, Italy, when he comes to an open field and spots a large
light-brown object shaped like a shoeshine box on the ground. Lighted
windows surround the craft. He approaches to within 3 feet and sees 6–7
humanoid beings inside. They are small and humanlike, both male and
female. The women are blonde and have beautiful pink skin. They smile at
him. The men are uglier, have darker skin, and appear elderly. They
ignore him. Frightened, he runs behind a bush. When he looks out again,
the object is gone. (“UFO Flap 1978: Italian Style,” IUR 4, no. 3/4
(Sept./Oct. 1979): 17–18; 1Pinotti 238–239)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5831
Date: 10/26/1978
Description: Night. RCMP Constable James Blackwood receives a report
about a UFO hovering above Random Island across from Clarenville,
Newfoundland. He heads down to the waterfront and sees an object about
200 feet above the sound. He observes it for nearly two hours with
binoculars and a high-powered scope. It is soundless, oval, and has a
fin on its tail. When Blackwood flashes the lightbar on his cruiser, the
object mimics it by flashing some lights of its own. (“ICYMI:
Story of UFO Sighting in Newfoundland Town Is in Mint Condition,”
Saltwire, October 8, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5833
Date: 10/28/1978
Description: 10:45 p.m. Joyce Blackburn is putting out milk bottles on
the step of her bungalow on the south side of Warrington, England. She
sees a strange light hovering above the Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station.
Her husband and two children also watch the UFO until it starts
pulsating and moving away. Its glow is so bright that their eyes hurt in
looking at it through binoculars. It vanishes, then reappears heading
toward them at an angle. They can see it is a disc with a dome on top,
tilted slightly toward them. As it passes over their heads, they hear a
faint humming noise and can see three orange bumps in a triangular
formation on its underside. It moves away to the northeast toward
another power station. Total duration is 7 minutes. (Jenny Randles,
“Fake Photographs, Real Sightings,” IUR 11, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1986):
10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5834
Date: 10/29/1978
Description: 11:15 p.m. Janet Fletcher is stopped at a traffic light in
Woolston, England, when she gets static on her radio for a few seconds.
She sees a bell-shaped object to the east hovering above a rail line. It
has a bright light on top and rings of light circling the base, which
has three glowing inset lights or bumps. After 30 seconds, it tilts at
an angle and begins to move away, apparently descending. She moves
forward when the light changes, but she does not see it again. (Jenny
Randles, “Fake Photographs, Real Sightings,” IUR 11, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1986): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5835
Date: 10/30/1978
Description: 6:30 p.m. Two teenagers see a triangular UFO over a field
in Sherman, Texas. The object shoots a blue light at the witnesses,
temporarily blinding them. (“Sherman
Youth ‘Sights’ UFO,” Denison (Tex.) Herald, October 31, 1978, via
UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 114 (January 1979): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5836
Date: 10/30/1978
Description: Pilots and air traffic controllers saw shiny objects, one
sped away, circled, maneuvered, descended in distance
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Tobalaba Airfield, Santiago, Chile
ID: 326
Date: 11/1978
Description: A new civilian UFO “initiative group” holds its inaugural
seminar at Moscow University in Russia. It is directed by former navy
officer and ufologist Vladimir
G. Azhazha with the assistance of Nikita A. Schnee. Launched under
the auspices of the A. S. Popov Scientific and Technical Society for
Radio, Electronics, and Television, the group calls itself BPVTS for
short. Members include Lev
M. Gindilis of the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute in Moscow,
Vice Admiral M. M. Krylov, space technician Y. G. Nazarov, and cosmonaut
Yevgeny
Khrunov. At
the seminar, some individuals storm into the auditorium and disrupt the
meeting; university officials ask the group to leave. Schnee claims that
Felix
Ziegel is responsible for the disruption in order to thwart the
activities of civilian researchers. (Nikita A. Schnee, “Ufology
in the USSR,” Flying Saucer Review 27, no. 1 (June 1981):
8–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5837
Date: 11/1/1978
Description: 7:45 p.m. Jenny
Randles’s father is getting static on his VHF radio channel at their
home in Irlam, Greater Manchester, England. Shortly afterward, they both
hear a loud roar. She looks out the window and sees a row of four white
lights that drift slowly past from west to east. An hour later, Randles
goes outside and talks to 9 children who have been playing outside. They
have seen the object too. It is diamond shaped and framed by lights that
do not flash. Some report three lights or bumps on the underside. (Jenny
Randles, “Fake Photographs, Real Sightings,” IUR 11, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1986): 9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5839
Date: 11/1/1978
Description: The Air Force decides to produce an F-117A stealth fighter
based on the mostly successful tests of Have Blue aircraft at Tonopah
Test Range in Nevada. The contract goes to Lockheed’s Skunk Works. (“Lockheed
F- 117
Nighthawk”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5838
Date: 11/7/1978
Description: 9:30 p.m. A witness traveling west on US Highway 20 near
South Bend, Indiana, notices a bright light in the sky, much larger than
a star. Suddenly it moves directly to the south of her location at a
fast rate of speed. As it approached, it disappears and she hears a
tremendous roar that shakes the ground. Suddenly, an object banks
directly in front of her car about 90 feet away and no more than 20 feet
above the ground, making a slow, deliberate turn, then hovering or
moving slowly and silently in front of her, then passing behind her car.
It is ringed with small windows and has alternating and flashing blue
and red lights near each window. She turns around but loses sight of it.
(“Recently
Received Sighting Reports,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 4
(April 1981): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5840
Date: 11/8/1978
Description: 5:30 p.m. While fishing in the Adriatic Sea off San
Benedetto del Tronto, Marche, Italy, on board the Exodus, three
fishermen—Flaviano Mattiucci, Gennaro Mattiucci, and Dino Focaracci—see,
at low altitude and for a few seconds, a red and yellow spherical light.
After emerging from the sea, it seems to return into it, after rising
and falling from the sky. About one hour later, the radar of another
fishing boat, the Andrea Padre, reports a moving submerged object, which
appears to follow the vessel. (NICAP, “Ship
Tracks Submerged Object / Boat Observes
Light”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5841
Date: 11/9/1978
Alternate date: 11/10/1978
Description: A cylinder-shaped UFO “bigger than a jumbo jet” with a
large dome and flashing lights appears over the northern oil fields of
the Kuwaiti Oil Company at Umm Al-Aish, Kuwait, causing the pumping
station to automatically shut down. It lands and remains on the ground
for seven minutes. When the UFO vanishes, the pump starts working again.
There are seven witnesses, one of them an American. This and other
sightings compel the government of Kuwait to appoint a committee of the
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research to investigate the reports.
(NICAP, “Major
UFO/E-M Incidents over Kuwait”; “UFOs
over Kuwait,” APRO Bulletin 27, no. 7 (January 1979): 1; “Kuwaiti
Landing,” IUR 5, no. 1a (January 1980): 6; ClearIntent, p. 90;
Clark III 662)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5843
Date: 11/9/1978
Description: The CIA contacts the NSA with a referral of 15 UFO
documents for review for possible declassification through the GSW
lawsuit. (ClearIntent, p. 181)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5842
Date: 11/9/1978
Description: Project Mercury Astronaut Gordon Cooper, in
a letter to the U.N., states that UFOs are interplanetary vehicles and
crewed by aliens. He also describes seeing 100’s of UFO’s over Europe
during 1951.
Type: letter
Reference: link
Location: New York City
Date: 11/9/1978
Description: Technicians observed landing of discshaped object in oil
field, E-M effects on oil pumps and communications
Type: landing
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Kuwait
ID: 327
Date: 11/13/1978
Description: 4:00 p.m. Elizabeth McKibben, a British nurse at the Inuit
settlement of Black Tickle, Labrador, sees a red-orange light to the
west hanging motionless at 1,000 feet above some houses for 30 minutes.
A second light appears suddenly and moves underneath the first, and both
begin a slow descent and disappear. Several young students also see the
object and make drawings of it. A fire had broken out 2 miles west on
the tundra about 3 hours before the sighting, apparently caused by
“fireballs” hitting the ground. Teacher Stephen MacDonald goes to help
put out the fires at Martins Pond, where the tundra is burning in
patches [methane outgassing?]. (“Canadian Trace?” IUR 5, no. 1a (January
1980): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5844
Date: 11/15/1978
Description: Four military aircraft are flying over eastern Washington
State when an unknown object is detected on radar at 13,000 feet some 40
miles away. One of the jets is ordered to approach the object. The pilot
gets a visual confirmation but cannot lock on with his in-flight radar.
The interceptor comes within 8 miles of the object but is forced to turn
away by low fuel. (MUFON UFO Journal, August 1983)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5845
Date: 11/20/1978
Description: 9:30 p.m. A female medical technician, her sister,
daughter, and two housemaids experience a power failure in their home in
a northern suburb of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. They see a
bright light in the sky that shoots out bright blue rays. It moves off
behind a hill, and two small lights, one yellow, the other reddish,
approach from the same hill. The witnesses run upstairs and watch from a
window. The lights stop next to a road, the Avenida de los Martires, as
a car comes along and illuminates them with its headlights. The women
now see that the lights are attached to the abdomens of two flying
entities, which appear to be cone-shaped, twice as tall as a
normal-sized man, and wearing white translucent sheets. Three
silhouettes cross the car’s headlights, and all the lights (including
the car’s) go out. The witnesses hear a metallic noise like a garage
door. Then the two lights turn on again and fly off. The power in the
house returns. The episode lasts 45 minutes. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 4,
no. 2 (August 1979): 2; Patrick Gross, URECAT, December
3, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5846
Date: 11/21/1978
Description: 5:30 a.m. A UFO appears over a Kuwaiti oilfield at
Al-Sabriyah near the Iraqi border. An employee of the company takes
photos of it as it passes a water tower and then hovers over the site
for 30 minutes. Long- distance communications cease functioning. The
internal phone system works, however, and workers are able to alert
their boss, who steps outside and sees the object. (“UFOs
over Kuwait,” APRO Bulletin 27, no. 7 (January 1979): 1, 3; “Kuwaiti
Landing,” IUR 5, no. 1a (January 1980): 6; Clark III 663)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5847
Date: 11/21/1978
Description: Two airliner crews encountered disc with dome, structural
features, emitting light beams
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Newfoundland
ID: 328
Date: 11/22/1978
Description: 5:30 p.m. Elsie Oakensen is driving home to Church Stowe,
Northamptonshire, England, on the A5 when she passes beneath a hovering
object shaped like a dumbbell with red and green lights. As she turns
onto Main Street, her foot is flat on the accelerator but there is no
sound from her engine and her car coasts to a halt. Her car lights fail
as circles of light dance around the road, illuminating a nearby
farmyard. The car restarts, but she only drives about 300 feet when it
stops again. She claims the “natural light” disappears and she is
enveloped in pure darkness. Then suddenly a white circle of light
approximately 3 feet in diameter shines on the road, as if someone has
pressed on a switch, the normal light returns, and she drives the car
normally. She estimates she has about 15 minutes of missing time. Later,
at 7:10 p.m., she feels a tightening sensation around her forehead, one
that she remembers having felt just prior to the encounter. At 7:20
p.m., four young women driving through the nearby village of Preston
Capes see red and green lights and beams shooting out from clouds as
their car engine temporarily loses power. After trying hypnosis with
minimal results, Oakensen tries creative visualization at the scene and
recovers some abduction memories. (Patrick Gross, URECAT, November
13, 2011; Jenny Randles, “Much More Than Marsh Gas,” Fortean Times 311
(March 2014): 27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5848
Date: 11/24/1978
Description: 11:45 a.m. Angelo d’Ambros, 61, is out gathering firewood
in a copse near Gallio, Vicenza, Italy, when he comes across two
entities just a few feet away from him. One is about 4 feet tall, the
other about 8 inches shorter. They are suspended in the air about a foot
off the ground. They are extremely thin and have a yellowish skin that
is stretched tightly over their bones. Their heads are bald, and at the
sides are enormous ears that rise vertically and end in points. Their
eyes are large and white, without eyelids. Their large noses extend down
to the lower lip of a sizable mouth from which extend two tusks. They
wear tight-fitting coveralls. The smaller one starts moving back and
forth from right to left in very quick jerks. Its motion causes a stir
in the air, and vegetation rustles as the tips of its ears touch the
lower branches of nearby trees. Incomprehensible grumblings come from
the mouth of the shorter entity. The taller being reaches one of its
long hands to take away d’Ambros’s pruning knife. D’Ambros holds on to
it tightly, but he feels a strong electric shock. He grabs a large
branch and takes a swipe at them as they take flight. D’Ambros runs
after them, and he watches them make for a domed UFO resting in a
clearing 100 feet away on four landing pods. The entities climb aboard,
and the object takes off horizontally at a dizzying speed in absolute
silence and disappears behind high fir trees. The next day he returns to
the clearing and finds a nearly circular area about 12 feet in diameter
in which the grass appears black, pressed, and whirled in a
counterclockwise direction. D’Ambros discovers two U-shaped traces about
8 inches long. (“Two Humanoids in Gallio,” IUR 8, no. 3 (May/June 1983):
8–11; Antonio Chiumiento, “Gallio:
Faccia a faccia con
due ufonauti,” Notiziario UFO 3, no. 4/5 (April/May 1980): 4–9;
Antonio Chiumiento, “Umanoidi
a Gallio, Seconda
Parte,” Notiziario UFO 16, no. 99 (May/Dec. 1981): 16–19; 1Pinotti
241–250)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5849
Date: 11/27/1978
Description: Also December 8, 1978. UN committee meetings on UFOs.
Speakers included J. Allen Hynek, Jacques Vallee, Stanton Friedman,
Lawrence J. Coyne.
Type: official
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: New York, NY
ID: 329
Date: 11/27/1978
Description: J.
Allen Hynek, Jacques
Vallée, Stanton
T. Friedman, Lawrence J. Coyne, and Grenada Ambassador at Large
Wellington Friday speak before the UN Special Political Committee.
Grenada seeks to interest the UN in a three-member panel to initiate a
formal UFO study program, but its efforts are unavailing. (Clark III
1190; J. Allen Hynek, “Ufologists and the United Nations: A Novel Moment
in the History of UFO Research,” IUR 3, no. 10/11 (Oct./Nov. 1978):
3–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5850
Date: 12/1978
Description: Alan N. Hall, a retired CIA employee, officially becomes
president of NICAP among baseless charges that a sinister CIA conspiracy
has undermined the organization. He operates out of his home without
access to the files. (“To
Our Readers,” UFO Investigator, April 1979, p. 3; Richard H. Hall,
“The
Quest for the Truth about UFOs: A Personal
Perspective on the Role of NICAP,” in 1994 MUFON UFO Symposium
Proceedings, MUFON, 1994, pp. 185–201)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5851
Date: End of 1978
Description: UFO research at the USSR Academy of Sciences came under the
umbrella of STEKA-AN. UFO acronym was banned until 1989, instead
“Anomalous Atmospheric Phenomena” was the sanctioned acronym.
Type: book reference
Reference: link
Location: Soviet Union
Date: 12/1/1978
Description: President Jimmy
Carter establishes the Information Security Oversight Office through
Executive Order 12065, “National Security Information.” The office is
under the jurisdiction of the National Archives and Records
Administration, and its mission is to provide for an informed American
public by ensuring that the minimum information necessary to the
interest of national security is classified and that information is
declassified as soon as it no longer requires protection. (Wikipedia,
“Information
Security Oversight Office”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5852
Date: 12/2/1978
Description: A civil servant takes a photo of a UFO as he is walking
along a beach in Kuwait. It shows a domed disc with a self-luminous tube
protruding from the bottom. Other witnesses also see the UFO. (“UFOs
over Kuwait,” APRO Bulletin 27, no. 7 (January 1979): 3; Clark III
663)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5853
Date: 12/4/1978
Description: The CIA passes on three other UFO documents to the NSA for
declassification review. (ClearIntent, p.
181)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5854
Date: 12/6/1978
Description: 11:30 p.m. While patrolling at Marzano, near Torriglia, a
village northeast of Genoa, Italy, 26-year-old night watchman Piero
Fortunato Zanfretta notices four lights moving in a courtyard. He gets
out of his car holding his pistol and flashlight, moving cautiously
along a house wall. Something pushes him forward and he falls. When he
gets up, his head hits something and he points his flashlight upward to
see a 6-foot-tall creature with an ugly face. Terrified, he runs to the
car and is blinded by a yellow, triangle-shaped object taking off from
behind the house. He calls for help on the radio. When his colleagues
arrive at 1:00 a.m., they find him lying in a nearby lawn in a confused
state of mind. On December 23, Zanfretta is hypnotized by a medical
doctor. An abduction scenario emerges in which he is taken to a bright
room by giant entities who put a hot and painful helmet on his head. The
humanoids are green-skinned and have yellow triangular eyes, red veins
on their heads, pointed ears, and rounded fingers. Further abductions
and memories emerge over time, finally ceasing in 1980. (“UFO Flap 1978:
Italian Style, Part Two, December,” IUR 4, no. 5 (November 1979): 13–15;
Paolo Fiorino, Gian Paolo Grassino, and Antonio Chiumiento, “Abductions
in Italy,” IUR 14, no. 4 (July/Aug.1989): 15–16; Rino Di Stefano, The
Zanfretta Case: Chronicle of an Incredible True Story, The Author,
2014; Jason Charbonneau, “Zanfretta
Abductions, 1978–1981,” Think Anomalous, May 6, 2017; 1Pinotti
253–258)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5855
Date: 12/8/1978
Description: 11:00 p.m. Two young men walking along a mountain slope
near Milanere, Torino, Italy, see a blue-white light among the trees.
One of them walks toward it, but he disappears. A few minutes later the
light takes off into the sky. The other man goes for help and a group of
people comes to search for the missing man. He is found in a different
direction, unconscious, cold, and weak. Both witnesses suffer from
conjunctivitis for several days. The one who vanished has a strange scar
on his leg. He only remembers approaching a pear-shaped light when he
sees 3–4 human shapes with pumpkinlike heads silhouetted against the
light. He becomes paralyzed and can vaguely remember being touched and
raised. (Paolo Fiorino, Gian Paolo Grassino, and Antonio Chiumiento,
“Abductions in Italy,” IUR 14, no. 4 (July/Aug.1989): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5857
Date: 12/8/1978
Description: The United Nations meetings on UFOs conclude, resulting in
UN Decision 33/426 relating to the “establishment of an agency or a
department of the United Nations for undertaking, coordinating, and
disseminating the results of research into unidentified flying objects
and related phenomena.” Beyond newspaper publicity, the meetings have no
impact and no other nation backs Grenada. (“Grenada
UFO Item,” WikiLeaks, [telegram], December 8, 1978)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5856
Date: 12/10/1978
Description: The weekly Parade magazine carries a story by Michael
Satchell summarizing the UFO events at Loring, Malmstrom, Wurtsmith, and
other Northern Tier bases. (Michael Satchell, “UFO’s vs. USAF:
Amazing (But True) Encounters,” Parade magazine, December 10, 1978,
pp. 8–11; ClearIntent, p. 54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5858
Date: 12/14/1978
Description: As a result of the Ground Saucer Watch lawsuit, the CIA
releases some 340 of its own UFO-related documents, 900 pages in all.
The letter, signed by CIA Information and Privacy Coordinator George
Owens, states that 57 documents are being withheld for national security
purposes. Also, 196 other documents originating from other agencies are
forwarded to them for response to GSW. The CIA had faced a deadline of
December 1977 to produce the documents but were granted an extension by
US District Court Judge John
H. Pratt. (“The
GSW vs. CIA Lawsuit,” IUR 4, no. 3/4 (Sept./Oct. 1979): 20–22; Good
Above, pp. 327–328)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5859
Date: 12/16/1978
Description: 8:00 p.m. Radar detects a UFO at 10,000 feet in the region
around Calama, Chile. Three F-5Es are sent from Antofagasta to intercept
it and they see a large triangular object some 50 times the size of
their planes. (“Select Triangular UFO Cases,” Bob Pratt Files)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5860
Date: 12/20/1978
Description: US Rep. Samuel
S. Stratton (D-N.Y.) expresses concern to his Armed Services
Investigations Subcommittee about the “alleged ability of unknown
aircraft to penetrate airspace and over above SAC bases, their weapons
storage areas, missile sites, and launch control facilities, and the
inability of Air Force equipment and personnel to intercept and identify
such aircraft.” Stratton sends a letter to USAF Maj. Gen. Charles
C. Blanton requesting
incident reports. (ClearIntent, p. 54)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5861
Date: 12/21/1978
Description: 12:30 a.m. Capt. John
B. Randle is flying an Argosy cargo plane from Blenheim to
Christchurch, New Zealand, when he notices white lights in the sky above
the mouth of the Clarence River at Waipapa Bay. He contacts Wellington
Air Traffic Control, which confirms that it has five oscillating objects
on its scopes. The lights are also seen on the ground. (“The New Zealand
UFO Films, Part I,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July 1979): 3; Clark III 799)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5862
Date: 12/21/1978
Description: Also December 22 and 31, 1978. New Zealand radar-visual and
photo cases.
Type: sighting
Type: official
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: New Zealand
ID: 330
Date: 12/21/1978
Description: 3:30 a.m. Wellington Air Traffic Control contacts
Capt. Vern Powell, pilot of a freight aircraft about to make the
Blenheim to Christchurch run, New Zealand, alerting him to the position
of the objects, which have stayed in position. He ascends to 7,500 feet
and sees one white light, tinged with red, through the clouds. It
follows Powell’s plane, and Wellington radar tracks it for 12 miles
before it disappears. As they near Christchurch Airport, Powell and his
copilot Ian Pirie notice a return on their onboard radar. By the next
sweep it has moved one mile closer, moving at about 8,000 mph. They
cannot confirm anything visually, but the radar indicates the object has
streaked off to the left and disappears. Then Powell and Pirie see a
flashing light in front of them. (“The New Zealand UFO Films, Part I,”
IUR 4, no. 1 (July 1979): 3–4; Clark III 799)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5863
Date: 12/22/1978
Description: Peter Gersten of
CAUS files a request with the NSA for copies of the 18 UFO-related
documents the CIA has referred to it. NSA’s Chief of Policy Roy R.
Banner later declines their release on the basis of national security.
(ClearIntent, p. 181)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5864
Date: 12/24/1978
Description: 6:50 p.m. Benito Franchi, 45, is working in the power
station at Pietracamela, Terama, Italy, in a room with two AC
generators, one connected to power and the other disconnected, when he
suddenly feels ill and faint. The working generator’s dial hands
register an overload on the network, and the dial hands on the
disconnected generator are also waving. This continues for about one
minute, leaving the dials badly out of calibration. Franchi feels
paralyzed and falls to the ground. Suddenly everything stops, and out of
the window he sees three or four bright flashes coming from a ball of
brilliant red light that hurts his eyes. The object takes off and
disappears to the southwest. Franchi suffers from severe conjunctivitis,
and the generator dials must be calibrated again. Shortly afterward, a
large luminous UFO is seen hovering above the Gran Sasso massif to the
southwest. (1Pinotti 259)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5865
Date: 12/30/1978
Description: 7:30 a.m. Erwin Vitelli sees a steely-blue object hovering
in the southern sky above Zuchwil, Solothurn, Switzerland. It appears in
the shape of three globes merging with one another, each one with a
light source directed downward. The object is visible for about one
minute. (“Early
Morning, Late December, Swiss Sighting,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 1 (Feb./March 1983): 1, 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5866
Date: 12/31/1978
Description: 7:00 p.m. Hundreds of people in the United Kingdom see a
bright light with a long trail behind it streak across the heavens from
northwest to southeast. RAF Fylingdales in the North York Moors,
England, quickly identifies it as the reentry of a booster rocket that
launched a Russian satellite, Kosmos 1068, into orbit on December 26.
Jenny Randles examines reports of the reentry, which in general
accurately reflect the event, and compares them to UFO reports,
concluding that it is unlikely that all UFOs are IFOs in various degrees
of exaggeration. (Jenny Randles, “The Case Against the IFO,” IUR 10, no.
1 (Jan./Feb. 1985): 4–6; Jenny Randles, “Jenny Randles Replies,” IUR 10,
no. 3 (May/June 1985): 8–9, 15; UFOFiles2, pp. 98–99;
Jenny Randles, “The Twelve UFOs of Christmas,” Fortean Times 374
(Christmas 2018): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5869
Date: 12/31/1978
Description: 4:00 a.m. Bobby Hines wakes up at her home in Demopolis,
Alabama, because her dogs are barking outside. She sees a large, bright
object hovering above the trees 1,800 feet from the house and wakes her
husband. The UFO is the size of a small house and triangular in shape.
It approaches the witnesses, moving in a zigzag pattern and hovering 50
feet off the ground for 30 minutes. Two police officers respond to their
call and watch the UFO as well, which finally moves off to the southeast
making a funny noise. (Marler 103–104)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5868
Date: 12/31/1978
Description: 12:10 a.m. Quentin
Fogarty, a
reporter for Melbourne’s 0/10 Network assigned to do a story on the Vern
Powell sighting 10 days earlier, has chartered an Argosy cargo plane,
piloted by Capt. William Startup and First Officer Robert Guard. While
flying from Wellington to Christchurch, New Zealand, with David Crockett
and his wife Ngaire as camera crew over the Cook Strait near the site of
the Powell sighting, Startup and Guard see 6–7 bright, pulsating lights
like Chinese lanterns above the sea off Kaikoura. They fade and
disappear, then return to view. Crockett starts filming. Wellington is
tracking a target a mile behind the aircraft that stays on the screen
for about one minute without moving. Another, stronger target appears to
the right of the plane. Fogarty manages to crack, “Let’s hope they’re
friendly!” Twice, Startup vainly attempts a 360° turn to get a glimpse
of the object. After landing at Christchurch, Startup invites the
passengers to accompany him back to Blenheim. Fogarty, Crockett, and
another journalist, Dennis Grant, agree to do so. The plane flies out at
2:15 a.m., and within 2 minutes aircraft radar picks up a target 37
miles away. Startup turns toward it, but it moves to the right and
vanishes almost immediately. Other radars pick up targets
intermittently. The object returns in view of the plane, moving toward
it, then drops out of sight to the right. Afterward, Fogarty notices a
strange light that seems to be coming from the cargo hold. Two pulsating
white lights soon appear on the port side of the plane. One settles into
a rolling, turning pattern and falls at an incredible speed. This
sequence Crockett captures on film. Bruce Maccabee spends
10 days in New Zealand and Australia interviewing witnesses and
analyzing the film, which he concludes does not have any mundane
explanation. (Wikipedia, “Kaikoura
lights”; “The New Zealand UFO Films, Part I,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July
1979): 4–8; “The New Zealand Film Analysis, Part II,” IUR 4, no. 2
(August 1979): 3–6); Story, pp. 392–395;
W. C. Chalker, “A
Re-Viewing of the Great Nocturnal Light,” Flying Saucer Review 26,
no. 1 (June 1980): 12–18 Quentin Fogarty, Let’s Hope They’re Friendly!
Angus and Robertson, 1983; Bruce Maccabee, “Analysis
and Discussion of the Images of a Cluster of Periodically Flashing
Lights off the Coast
of New Zealand,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 1, no. 2 (1987):
149–190, slightly revised in
January 2002; Bruce Maccabee, “Atmosphere
or UFO? A Response to the 1997 SSE Review Panel Report,” Journal of
Scientific Exploration 13, no. 3 (1999): 431–443; Clark III 799–801; “How
the 40-Year-Old Mystery of a UFO in New
Zealand Lives On,” News.com.au, December 19, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5867
Date: 1979
Description: The Argentine Air Force creates another group to study UFOs
within the Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales. It lasts until
1987. (Milton W. Hourcade, “Argentina:
UFO Declassification,” UAPSG–GEFAI, July 29, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5873
Date: 1979
Description: The Uruguayan Air Force creates CRIDOVNI, a special
commission to investigate all UFO sightings within the country. It
includes freelance ufologists but seems to have disbanded in the
mid-1980s. (Willy Smith, “UFOs in Latin America,” UFOs 1947–1987,
Fortean Tomes, 1987, p. 100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5874
Date: 1979
Description: The English-language Sri Lanka UFO Register begins
publication in Weligama, Sri Lanka, edited by Ananda L. Sirisena. It
continues through 1988. (Sri
Lanka UFO Register, no. 2 (Oct./Dec. 1979))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5875
Date: 1979
Description: Jacques Bonabot founds the Studiegroep voor Vreemde
Luchtverschijnselen in Antwerp, Belgium, as the Flemish counterpart to
the Groupement pour l’Étude des Sciences d’Avant-Garde in Bruges. It
publishes SVL Tijdschrift from January 1982 to October 1987. (SVL
Tijdschrift 1, no. 1 (January 1982))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5871
Date: 1979
Description: British science fiction author David
Langford publishes an allegedly nonfiction novelette, An Account of
a Meeting with Denizens of Another World, 1871. It is an account of a
UFO encounter, as experienced by a man in Buckinghamshire, England; in
its framing story Langford claims to have found the manuscript in an old
desk (the story’s narrator, William
Robert Loosley, is a genuine ancestor of Langford’s wife). But no
ufologists take it seriously. (David Langford, An Account of a Meeting
with Denizens of Another World, 1871, David and Charles, 1979; Clark III
599–600)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5870
Date: 1979
Description: Patrick Geoffroy founds the Association Dijonnaise de
Recherches Ufologiques et Parapsychologiques in Ruffey-lès-Echirey
(later in Quetigny), Côte-d’Or, France. It begins publishing Vimana 21,
a journal that continues until early 1989. (Vimana
21, no. 1 (1979))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5872
Date: 1979
Description: Ufologist Paul Bennewitz, President and owner of Thunder
Scientific Company in Albuquerque, NM, lives next to the Manzano Weapons
Storage Area, near Sandia Base. He’s also an investigator for APRO
(Aerial Phenomenon Research Organization), and others see strange lights
in the night sky over the Manzano Test Range outside Albuquerque.
Type: letter
Reference: link
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Date: 1/1979
Description: Axel
Ertelt begins publishing Mysteria, a journal of UFO and ancient
astronaut information, in Halver, North Rhine–Westphalia, Germany. It
continues through at least April 1987. (Mysteria,
no. 1 (1979))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5877
Date: 1/1979
Description: In an article in Just Cause, researcher Todd
Zechel claims that Keyhoe’s
National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena has long been
riddled with CIA-friendly or covert board members and staff, among them
Joseph
Bryan III, Karl
T. Pflock, Stuart
Nixon, John Acuff, and Roscoe
Hillenkoetter. Because
of NICAP’s current acute financial crisis, he concludes that if the CIA
had wanted to “destroy the leading anti-secrecy organization of the
1960s, they couldn’t have done a better job.” Richard
H. Hall disputes this analysis. (Todd Zechel, “NI-CIA-AP
or NICAP?” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 133 (Jan./Feb. 1979): 6–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5876
Date: 1/1/1979
Description: 5:00 a.m. Former USAF UFO spokesman Albert
M. Chop and his wife and daughter watch a triangular UFO moving
slowly eastward over the mountains southeast of Palm Desert, California.
It is about 10 times as bright as the background stars. It is in sight
for about 45 minutes, by which time it has become a small, distant light
in the eastern sky. (Margaret Sachs, The UFO Encyclopedia, Putnam, 1980,
p. 61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5879
Date: early 1/1979
Description: About 6:00 p.m. A1C John W. Mills III is with a second
lieutenant conducting a below-ground azimuth alignment procedure at the
Ellsworth AFB Delta-3 missile site southwest of Cottonwood, South
Dakota, when the security guard bangs on the ladder and tells them to
come up. Going topside, they hear a loud, low-frequency hum permeating
the launch facility. The guard leads them out of the gate where they see
a dark object with straight edges in the sky. It seems to be shaped like
a parallelogram, but they can’t tell how high it is. The guard is upset,
but the other two men are oddly calm, even though they are not supposed
to be outside the gate, and they return to the missile and descend the
ladder to continue the alignment. Then the lights go off, the truck
engine stops running, the radio goes out, and the missile site goes off
alert. The hum is gone, but they can still see the dark object. Some 10
minutes later the lights come back on and they notice the object is
gone. Targeting teams from two other launch sites report similar
experiences. (Nukes 377–387)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5878
Date: 1/3/1979
Description: Dog barked, mother and child saw craft on ground, humanoid
encounter
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Mindalore, South Africa
ID: 332
Date: 1/3/1979
Description: Quadrantid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 331
Date: 1/4/1979
Description: Just after 12:00 midnight. Meagen Quezet and her son André
go looking for their dog that has just run barking away from their home
in Krugersdorp, Gauteng, South Africa. Driving along a remote country
road, they find the dog standing 60 feet away from a lead-colored,
egg-shaped object with landing gear. Five or six dark- skinned entities
are standing in front, wearing white or pink suits and shoes. One with a
beard bows to Quezet and says something unintelligible. André runs to
get his father, whereupon the beings enter the craft, which takes off
making a purring sound. Quezet undergoes hypnotic regression by Bernard
Levinson on June 21, where she remembers the “leader” cajoling her
to come on board, which she does with her son, seeing lights, panels,
chairs, and a table. They jump out again, protesting that they can’t go.
(“Another South African CE III,” IUR 5, no. 1a (January 1980):
7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5880
Date: 1/5/1979
Description: Three glowing, red triangular objects confronted car,
forward motion impeded, physiological effects
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Auburn, MA
ID: 333
Date: 1/5/1979
Description: 6:20 p.m. Anmarie Emery is driving near Auburn,
Massachusetts, when she notices three, red-glowing, triangular objects
flying over woods to her left. As she rounds a corner, she sees them
hovering above the road directly in front of her. The radio goes dead,
the car slows to a stop (although the engine continues to run), and she
feels completely paralyzed. The closest object is only 30 feet away. She
feels heat on her face and smells an unpleasant odor. When another car
approaches, the three objects shoot straight up, one at a time, and
everything returns to normal. When she returns home to Cambridge,
Massachusetts, she notices her face is reddened. She develops a rash and
peeling skin the next day. (Richard H. Hall, Uninvited Guests, Aurora,
1988, pp. 302–303; Raymond E. Fowler, “Close
Encounters with E-M and Physical Effects,” MUFON UFO Journal, no.
134 (March/April 1979): 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5881
Date: 1/6/1979
Description: 10:30 a.m. A journalist aboard the Japanese icebreaker Fuji in
Antarctic waters sees an object resembling a bluish-white kite moving
silently at a high rate of speed. Witnesses guess the altitude as 2–3
miles, with differences of opinion on whether its course s straight or
zigzag. The crew reports further sightings of a similar object. (Asahi
Shinbun (Osaka), January 23, 1979; “Foreign Forum,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August
1979): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5882
Date: 1/16/1979
Description: Gen. Emiliano Alfaro Arregui, chief of staff of the Spanish
Air Force, writes to the Ministry of Defense to say that whenever a UFO
sighting is reported to the authorities, an Informing Judge is appointed
by the corresponding Air Region to proceed with a proper investigation.
Some reports are caused by natural phenomena, while others are
unidentified. (Swords 424, 513)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5883
Date: 1/18/1979
Description: 7:07 p.m. Brinsley
Le Poer Trench, Lord Clancarty, has put down a motion for debate in
the House of Lords on the official policy of the UK government on UFOs.
He begins the debate by launching into a history of UFOs and stresses
the international character of the phenomenon. He concludes with a
request for the Minister
of Defence to
be interviewed on national TV. Lord
Trefgarne rejects the proposal on the grounds that there are many
things that can masquerade as UFOs, plus the Bible has nothing to say
about extraterrestrials. Lord
Kimberley agrees that a parliamentary group should be set up. Lord
Oxfuird and Lord
Davies agree there should be future investigations to settle the
question. The Bishop
of Norwich expresses concern that a UFO cult could compete with
Christianity. Lord
Gladwyn deems the evidence inconclusive, but Lord
Kings Norton favors an investigation. Lord
Rankeillour states emphatically that UFOs exist, and they might be
dangerous. Lord
Gainford relates a personal sighting of a nocturnal light over
Argyll, Scotland, the previous December 31. The Earl
of Halsbury provides a list of natural causes for UFOs, and Lord
Hewlett paraphrases debunking arguments. The Earl
of Cork and
Orrery lashes out at Trefgarne’s skepticism. Lord
Strabolgi firmly rejects the request for an official investigation
on the grounds that all UFO reports can be explained conventionally.
Clancarty winds it up by saying, “Nothing is impossible in this world or
this universe. It is just that the seemingly impossible takes a little
time to come about.” (“Unidentified
Flying Objects,” Hansard Lords Debate, vol. 397, cc1246–1316,
January 18, 1979; Allan Hendry, [House of Lords UFO Debate], IUR 4, no.
2 (August 1979): 9–11; Good Above, pp. 73–75;
UFOFiles2, pp. 99–104;
Clark III 616–618)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5884
Date: 1/18/1979
Description: 11:30 p.m. A car driven by a 42-year-old woodcutter stops
abruptly in Lusiana, Vicenza, Italy. Its lights go out and the doors
open by themselves. An orange ball is sitting in the road ahead, and two
3-foot-tall, copper- colored humanoids emerge from a door. They are
wearing metallic-looking, scaled coveralls. Their hands are long and end
in pointed nails. They invite him on board by gestures and he follows
them into a small room with electronic-looking gadgets and a screen.
They begin undressing him, but he resists. The wall opens and an overall
garment is shown to him. He refuses to wear it and he implores them to
let him go. One of the beings gives him a small box with writing on it.
A door opens and the man leaves. Suddenly the orange light disappears
and his car lights come on again. (Paolo Fiorino, Gian Paolo Grassino,
and Antonio Chiumiento, “Abductions in Italy,” IUR 14, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1989): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5885
Date: 1/20/1979
Description: The Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research committee
releases its report on eight UFO sightings in Kuwait from November to
December 14, 1978. The report rejects the idea that the UFOs are
espionage devices, but it remains equivocal about whether they are
extraterrestrial. The committee recommends that the government take all
measures to protect the country and its oilfields. (“‘UFO’
Sightings Cause Security Concern in Kuwait,” WikiLeaks, [telegram],
January 29, 1979; ClearIntent, p. 90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5886
Date: late 1/1979
Description: The Setka-AN group of the USSR Academy of Sciences
publishes a skeptical article in the weekly publication Nedelya that
tries to show that all UFOs are natural phenomena that UFO enthusiasts
are popularizing through their inept investigations as anomalous.
Setka-AN hopes to have a solution to the UFO problem “in a few months.”
(Nikita A. Schnee, “Ufology
in the U.S.S.R.,” Flying Saucer Review 27, no. 1 (June 1981): 8;
Good Above, p. 237)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5888
Date: 1/21/1979
Description: Front-page stories of another UFO sighting in Kuwait appear
the day after the committee’s report. (ClearIntent, p. 90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5887
Date: 1/29/1979
Description: Peter Gersten appeals
the NSA’s decision to withhold the 18 UFO-related documents forwarded to
the NSA by the CIA but is again denied. (ClearIntent, p. 181)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5889
Date: 2/1979
Description: A woman and her aunt in Shelby, Ohio, are just sitting down
to watch television when a bright light shines outside their window. It
is hanging in the air behind their dog kennel. When the woman goes out
to investigate, two more lights appear and enter the original one. Then
that light disappears and is replaced by red and green lights that
resolve into a large number of lights of both colors on an object. As
she approaches, the UFO begins to move toward her and passes overhead.
It is as big as a jetliner, with bolts on its base as large as
volleyballs. Her dog begins whining and cowering, and she gets a severe
pain in her head that causes her to fall on her knees. As the object
moves away with a soft whirring noise, she gets back on her feet. She
estimates she was only outside for 5 minutes, but she and her aunt
cannot account for an additional 45–50 minutes. Her headache persists
for several weeks. (Michael D. Swords, “Unusual Experiences from the
Timmerman Files,” IUR 27, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5891
Date: 2/1979
Description: Mississippi House Resolution No. 14, proposed by Rep. Horace
Buckley of Jackson and calling for a complete US Senate
investigation of UFO sightings, dies in committee. (Allan Hendry, “UFOs
and Government: 1979,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August 1979): 7–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5890
Date: 2/5/1979
Description: Brilliant illumination of car, E-M effects. Driver shocked
and dazed, memory loss
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Lawitta, Tasmania
ID: 334
Date: 2/5/1979
Description: 9:50 p.m. A man is driving on the Lyell Highway near
Lawitta, Tasmania, when his car radio stops. Seconds later, an intense
white light envelops the car, and he cannot see beyond the hood. The
car’s lights and motor fail at the same time. The next thing he knows,
he is getting stopped in Hobart by police for driving his car without
headlights. The police find that he does not know his name, where he has
come from, or where he is going. He is taken to the hospital and
examined, where he is found to be in a state of shock. It is only at the
Royal Hobart Hospital that his memory of the preceding events returns.
His vehicle, a Ford Cortina 71TC, is inspected and found to have a dead
battery and low oil level. The cut-off switch on the alternator needs
replacing, as does some wiring, especially for the headlights. Radiator
water is also found to be low. (“Sightings,”
TUFOIC Newsletter, no. 27 (May 1979): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5892
Date: 2/9/1979
Description: 9:00 p.m. Peter Hathaway is driving on the Bruce Highway
north of the Liverpool Creek bridge near Cowley Beach, Queensland, when
he sees a “little white light” sitting on the edge of the asphalt. As he
approaches within 100 feet, he notices a dark beehive-shaped object
behind it, which now rises vertically off the surface about 3 feet.
Hathaway is momentarily blinded by a flash of light. Opening his eyes,
he sees that his car headlights and engine have stopped. He coasts to a
truck rest stop, where his lights come back on and the engine starts
perfectly. (“1979,”
Australian UFO Research Network; Richard H. Hall, Uninvited Guests,
Aurora, 1988, pp. 304–305)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5894
Date: 2/9/1979
Description: Joseph
J. F. Clark, associate director, Legislative Liaison for the Air
Force, responds to Rep. Samuel
S. Stratton (D-N.Y.)
saying that “permanent” UFO files are not maintained, but includes some
memos, messages, and log entries from the Northern Tier cases that have
already been released through FOIA requests. Stratton fails to follow
up. (ClearIntent, p. 55)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5893
Date: 2/16/1979
Description: Peter Gersten again
files a FOIA request with the NSA, this time requesting all documents in
its possession or under the control of the NSA relating to UFOs.
(ClearIntent, pp. 181–182)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5896
Date: 2/16/1979
Description: New Mexico State Police Officer Gabe
Valdez informs the FBI that cattle in New Mexico are “being shot
with some type of paralyzing drug and the blood is being drawn from the
animal after an injection of an anti- coagulant.” In some cases, the
animal’s legs have been broken, perhaps by clamps being placed on them.
Helicopters without any identifying numbers are seen in the area of
these mutilations. Valdez tells the FBI that he thinks it is a
clandestine operation either by the CIA or the Department of Energy
(although in 1980 he tells journalist Linda
Moulton Howe that he thinks aliens are responsible). (Federal Bureau
of Investigation, [cattle mutilation
documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5895
Date: late 2/1979
Description: 9:10 p.m. Chinese Air Force flight instructor Sha Yangkao
is flying a night fighter over Houma, Shanxi, China, when he sees a
bright luminous object shoot across the sky from south to north,
apparently flying supersonically at an altitude of 3,300 feet. (Paul
Dong, “Extracts
from Paul Dong’s Feidie
Bai Wen Bai Da (Questions
and Answers on UFOs),” Flying Saucer Review 29, no. 6 (August 1984):
14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5899
Date: 2/22/1979
Description: 4:00 p.m. Two 14-year-old girls, Lynsey Tebbs and Susan
Pearson, are tobogganing down the slopes that surround their housing
complex in Meanwood, Leeds, England. They are startled by a loud whining
noise coming from an object that is descending nearby. After it lands,
the noise changes to a hum, which then fades as it rests on the snow. It
is gray and egg-shaped, with two fins on either side, and is the size of
a small car. Frightened, the girls run up the hill but pause to take
another look. The object rests on the ground for about 3 minutes, then
starts humming and approaches the girls, landing again on the slope
about 80 feet away. After another few minutes, it wobbles and takes off.
Investigators from the Yorkshire UFO Society visit the site on February
25 and find odd indentations in the snow in two places. (Mark Birdsall
and Graham Birdsall, “Landing
and Possible Traces near Leeds,”
Northern Ufology, no. 62 (July 1979): 9–10; Good Above, pp. 72–73)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5897
Date: 2/25/1979
Description: 2:00 a.m. Both Circulación Aérea Militar Operativa (CAMO)
radar and radar at the W-8 military station detect an unidentified
target 52 miles to the southeast of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, flying
at an altitude of 14,400 feet. An Iberia airliner in the area is
alerted, and the pilot reports an intense, elongated light above his
position. The W-8 local radar detects a transponder signal. (Swords
435)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5898
Date: 3/1979
Description: 9:00 a.m. Two Republic of Korea Air Force F-4D Phantom II
jets, piloted by Lt. Col. Seungbae Lee and Col. Byungsun Lim, are flying
at 15,000 feet while returning from the annual Team Spirit military
exercise to Daegu Air Force Base, South Korea. Near Palgong Mountain in
the Taebaek Range, a star-like, stationary object appears in the
distance that grows in size as the jets approach. Neither the aircraft
nor the base can register the object on radar. When they reach within 15
miles of the light, it shoots away to the east and hovers again. The
disc is as big as a jumbo jet and radiates bright golden light from top
to bottom. Red and blue lights sparkle from its rim. After the jets
circle twice above the object, it speeds away to the east. (Good Need,
p. 310)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5900
Date: 3/2/1979
Description: Early morning. Witnesses in Rivera, Uruguay, see an
oval-shaped object with portholes. One witness, Ernesto Fagundez,
watches the UFO circle a transmitting tower he is working on then stop.
Through the portholes he can see entities with large heads that are
wearing transparent helmets. The object dives over a truck carrying farm
workers before it rises into the air, leaving a fiery trail and a column
of smoke. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 4, no. 2 (Aug. 1979): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5901
Date: 3/3/1979
Description: The Spanish Joint Chiefs of Staff meet and decide to
formally define UFO information as classified, rather than confidential.
The reason is that the civilian UFO group Centre d’Estudis
Interplanetaris in Barcelona had solicited King Juan
Carlos I in January to provide access to UFO information collected
by the Spanish armed forces. (Swords 424, 514)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5902
Date: 3/5/1979
Description: Dusk. Many residents of the Canary Islands are captivated
with the sight of a strange sunset. Multicolored concentric rings or
bright zigzag trails are seen on the horizon towards the west, forming
an enormous cloud. A few minutes after 8:00 p.m., a point of light is
seen to ascend, leaving a luminous jet that appears to expand,
developing into a huge, bright dome. Independent sets of clear photos
are obtained from distant points of view. The phenomenon is even seen
from Safi, Morocco. Maj. Pedro Ortega García and Capt. José Juan Abad
Cellini investigate for the Spanish Air Force and conclude that the
luminous cloud was 320 miles in diameter at an altitude of 40 miles.
They again reject the missile hypothesis, but the US Navy has launched
four Poseidon missiles from the USS
Kamehameha around the same time that probably account for the
phenomena. (Vicente- Juan Ballester Olmos and Ricardo Campo Pérez, “Navy
Missile Tests and the Canary Islands UFOs,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005):
4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5903
Date: 3/6/1979
Description: 7:30 p.m. Ben
Chastain watches a round, luminous object about 12 feet in diameter
skimming low over treetops in Westminster, South Carolina, arousing the
dogs. At one point the object comes within 150 feet, its glow
illuminating the area. Oconee County Deputy Sheriff Jimmy
Roach and his wife see the object from a distance. About 8:00 p.m.,
Bill Osborne watches a larger object (80 feet long and 25 feet wide)
that sweeps the area with a light beam. (Iris Harrelson Maack, “Press
Reports,” APRO Bulletin 27, no. 12 (June 1979): 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5904
Date: 3/6/1979
Description: Dome-shaped object skimmed treetops, moved up and down,
illuminated area. Similar object hovered over highway, swept area with
light beam
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Westminster, SC
ID: 335
Date: 3/13/1979
Description: While Grenada Prime Minister Eric
Gairy is at the United Nations, the New Jewel Movement led by Maurice
Bishop launches an armed revolution and overthrows the government.
Gairy stays in exile in the US until 1983.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5906
Date: 3/13/1979
Description: 11:00 a.m. An uncorrelated radar target is detected over
the Mediterranean Sea north of Algeria by radar in the Pegaso control
room at Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain. It is traveling at 970 mph
on a northwest course toward Spain. Three minutes later a scramble is
ordered, and a Dassault Mirage III fighter takes off from Manises Air
Base [now Valencia Airport] to identify the target, but the track soon
vanishes from the radar. It has moved about 71 miles in that time. Four
minutes later, the target reappears in another position, this time
motionless. The Mirage is vectored toward the new position. When the
fighter is about 9 miles from the target, it moves in a northwest
direction, accelerating to 840 mph and climbing to more than 15 miles.
Six minutes later, it changes course to the northeast, and in two
minutes it is gone. The Mirage never gets a visual contact. (Swords
435–436, 527)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5905
Date: spring 1979
Description: UFO investigator Raymond
E. Fowler publishes The Andreasson Affair, introducing the story of
Betty Andreasson, a
Massachusetts housewife who recounts a 1967 abduction encounter with
short humanoids having large heads and eyes. (Raymond E. Fowler, The
Andreasson Affair, Prentice-Hall, 1979)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5908
Date: 3/28/1979
Description: 4:00 p.m. Reactor number 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear
Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, suffers a partial
meltdown, resulting in a radiation leak. The accident begins with
failures in the non-nuclear secondary system, followed by a stuck-open
pilot-operated relief valve in the primary system, which allows large
amounts of nuclear reactor coolant to escape, contaminating the
containment building with thousands of gallons of radioactive water. The
staff has no choice but to vent radioactive gases directly into the
atmosphere. The mechanical failures are compounded by the initial
failure of plant operators to recognize the situation as a
loss-of-coolant accident due to inadequate training and computer
interface oversights relating to ambiguous control room indicators. In
particular, a hidden indicator light leads to an operator manually
overriding the automatic emergency cooling system of the reactor because
the operator mistakenly believes that there is too much coolant water
present in the reactor and causing the steam pressure release. No one is
harmed by the released radiation, which is contained entirely in a cloud
of short-lived isotopes of inert gases that drift out over the Atlantic
Ocean. (Wikipedia, “Three
Mile Island accident”; Mike Gray and Ira Rosen, The Warning:
Accident at Three Mile Island, Norton, 1982; Grace Halden, Three Mile
Island: The Meltdown Crisis and Nuclear Power in American Popular
Culture, Routledge, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5907
Date: 4/9/1979
Description: Two Apache tribal officers on patrol near Dulce, New
Mexico, see a round, silent craft hovering 50 feet above the ground,
with a searchlight aimed downward on cattle below. (Wikipedia, “Cattle
mutilation”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5909
Date: 4/12/1979
Description: Early evening. A family is driving home from the grocery
store at Brockton, Massachusetts. They see a piano- shaped object with
lights all over it. A spotlight is beaming down, and there is one red
light on top. They lose sight of the object, but suddenly all four car
windows go down and back up; then they go down halfway and back up. The
same thing happens when they stop at a red light. They see the object
again, which is now following them. They park near their house, and the
UFO hovers across the street. The man shuts off Michael D. Swords,
“Messing Around with the Force,” the engine and the windows act up again
as the UFO moves directly overhead. The father and son get out of the
car, and the UFO shoots a beam down at each of them in turn. It then
moves down the street and away. (Michael D. Swords, “Messing Around with
the Force,” IUR 31, no. 4 (March 2008): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5910
Date: 4/19/1979
Description: 11:30 p.m. John Milroy and his mother are driving from
Ardersier to Croy, Inverness, Scotland, when he sees headlights in the
distance. The lights get larger and rise above the road. Thinking it is
an airplane crash, they get out of the car and experience an abnormal
silence; they can no longer hear the car engine or the door slam when
they flee. Everything reverts to normal when they reach a ditch. The
mother is so excited she needs to be sedated the next day. (“Foreign
Forum,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August 1979): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5911
Date: 4/20/1979
Description: Former astronaut and US Sen. Harrison
Schmitt (R-N.Mex.) and US Attorney R.
E. Thompson convene an informal public hearing on cattle mutilations
in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Its goal is to show that criminal activity
is taking place involving many states and it requires federal action.
About 200 people attend, including Fort Worth (Tex.) Star-Telegram
reporter Jim
Marrs. Thompson
warns law enforcement officers not to reveal any evidence that might be
used at a later trial. (Thomas P. Deuley, “Mutilation
Hearings Held in New Mexico,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 137 (July
1979): 8–9; Christopher O’Brien, Stalking the Herd: Unraveling the
Cattle Mutilation Mystery, Adventures Unlimited, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5912
Date: 4/21/1979
Description: Late night. A helicopter pilot and a mechanic are returning
by car to their unit in the Blonie area, Poland. A light descends
rapidly and silently over the road, resolving itself into 4 large lights
attached to a solid object more than 100 feet long. It stops and hovers
at 300 feet and then shoots upward instantaneously. (Poland 68–69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5913
Date: 4/25/1979
Description: Retired FBI agent Kenneth
M. Rommel Jr. begins a major investigation of cattle mutilations.
Financed by grants from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration
and the Santa Fe, New Mexico, District Attorney’s office (which has been
designated as the coordinating state investigative agency for cattle
mutilations), the inquiry focuses on New Mexico cases, though it pays
some attention to incidents in other states. (Wikipedia, “Cattle mutilation”;
Clark III 133)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5914
Date: 5/1979
Description: Victor
Marchetti, former
special assistant to the Deputy Director of the CIA and author of the
1974 book The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence, writes an article in
Second Look on “How the CIA Views the UFO Phenomenon.” He asserts that
“we have, indeed, been contacted—perhaps even visited—by
extraterrestrial beings, and the US government, in collusion with other
national powers of the Earth, is determined to keep this information
from the general public.” He claims that the CIA does not discuss UFOs
openly because they are deemed “sensitive activities,” but he has heard
rumors of crashed UFOs and extraterrestrial signals picked up by the
National Security Agency. Attempts by the government to deny the reality
of UFOs have all the hallmarks of a classic coverup, he writes. (Victor
Marchetti, “How the CIA Views the UFO Phenomenon,” Second Look 1, no. 7
(May 1979): 2–7; Nukes 490–491)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5915
Date: 5/1/1979
Description: Oil field landing, reaction to light, landing traces
Type: landing
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Vizcacheras, Argentina
ID: 336
Date: 5/1/1979
Description: 4:00 a.m. YPF company engineers at the Vizcacheras oil
fields in a remote area of Argentina’s Mendoza province accessible only
to employees are awakened by goats bleating in a corral. When they go
outside to investigate, they see a UFO hovering silently about 230 feet
from the encampment and 65 feet above the ground. They wave a lantern
and the UFO seems to respond by blinking a light, then slowly lands
nearby. More light signals are exchanged, then the UFO takes off and
disappears toward the Andes mountains at 4:35 a.m. After the sighting,
the goats (about 1,500) refuse to return to their corral. The engineers
go to inspect the landing spot and find a large circle in which the sand
has been petrified or hardened into chunks. Soil samples are taken to a
Professor Corradi for analysis. Corradi, identified as director of the
Institute for Extrahuman Studies, says the samples are being analyzed by
the Office of Mining. Corradi remarks that that the “permanent presence
of the UFOs over the uranium mines of La Pintada and Cuesta de los
Terneros in San Rafael and now in Vizcacheras, is not a coincidence.”
(Richard H. Hall, “Extraterrestrial
Psychology,” 1988; “Argentine Oil Field Landing,” MUFON UFO Journal,
no. 139 (September 1979))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5916
Date: 5/4/1979
Description: Eta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 337
Date: 5/7/1979
Description: 10:00 a.m. Two witnesses on an airliner about one hour
south of Chicago, Illinois, notice two bright-white rectangular objects
slightly higher than the airplane. They gradually fade from view. (“Long
Rectangular UFOs: Five
Different Cases of Similarly Shaped Objects,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 2, no. 9 (September 1981): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5917
Date: 5/9/1979
Description: Early morning. A fleet of 10–15 UFOs alarms people in
Choconta, Colombia. Eight of the objects have lights that change from
red to blue to orange and yellow. An electrical blackout takes place,
and dogs, chicken, and cattle get disturbed and run away. The objects
examine the Telecom satellite tracking station before ascending rapidly
and disappearing in the clouds. (“Foreign Forum,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August
1979): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5918
Date: 5/16/1979
Description: 10:30 a.m. Arlindo Gabriel dos Santos is hunting with two
friends in a forest near Baependi, Minas Gerais, Brazil, when he becomes
separated from the others. He sees an object descend towards the ground
in a clearing. He approaches to within 600 feet and sees that the object
is shaped like a telephone booth about 3 feet tall. He takes a photo of
the object before it abruptly disappears in plain sight. He walks to the
clearing and sees another object shaped like a toy top and a little
larger than the previous object, descending swiftly. It has a small
propeller on top and a long, pointed protrusion on the bottom. As he
tries to photograph the second object, he hears a whooshing sound, and
the craft is quickly enveloped in smoke. He notices a third craft
descending overhead. This one is barrel-shaped and hovers for a bit
before landing. It also has a large propeller at one end and is covered
with red stripes. It vanishes when he tries to approach. Dos Santos
finally sees a huge, white, egg-shaped object descend. It has a pointed
top and fin-like protrusions on each side. Next to the fins are several
windows. As it descends it makes a horrific noise like a choking motor
and puts out four landing pods. He approaches and tries to take another
photograph, but there is a sudden flash that temporarily blinds him and
leaves his eyes irritated. Frightened, he drops the camera and runs, but
is only able to get about 30 feet before he is can no longer move.
Behind him he notices two men wearing helmets with transparent visors
and gloves. They grab him, each taking one arm. He begs them to let him
go in the name of God, but they answer, “In the name of God, we are all
brothers; we don’t harm anybody.” The voice comes from a box-like
apparatus on their backs. He is taken toward the landed UFO. As he gets
near, he can feel an intense cold surrounding it. Another helmeted
figure stands by a ladder extending from the craft, looking from side to
side. The man asks dos Santos if he has seen a “Zurca.” Dos Santos
thinks he is referring to one of the smaller objects. The man extends a
gloved hand and pulls dos Santos inside the craft through a square
doorway. The atmosphere inside the craft is pleasant and cool, and there
is a smell like “baby powder” in the air. Other men wearing dark,
tight-fitting outfits are sitting on seats. The men have large slanted
eyes, thin noses, and large mouths, and they are operating some type of
machinery. They stand up and begin conversing in an unknown language.
Suddenly, a heavyset woman emerges from another room. She wears a white
uniform, gloves, but no helmet. Dos Santos describes her as good
looking, tanned, with long light fine hair. The woman and one of the men
then take him into a corridor. He enters a room where he sees a square
object in the middle. The man pushes a button on the wall and the object
rises. It resembled a large piece of marble. The woman takes out a long
wand and points it at the object. On the object dos Santos sees an image
of the planet Earth and other planets. At this point, the man removes
his helmet revealing short, light-colored hair. When dos Santos leaves
the craft, he is told to cover his eyes and not look as the object
leaves. He follows these instructions and does not see the object
depart. (NICAP, “May
16, 1979: Near Baependi, Minas Gerais State, Brazil”;
“Grandes
Manobras Extraterrestres na Fazenda do Sobrado, Baependi, MG,” SBEDV
Boletim, no. 132– 135 (Jan./Aug. 1980): 28–71; Jackson Luiz Camargo, “O
Caso do Embornal,” Portal Fenomenum, June 15, 2016; Brazil
258–266)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5919
Date: 5/19/1979
Description: 2:27 a.m. Tailor Mike Sacks and his brother Ray are on the
moors near Stacksteads, Lancashire, England, looking for the UFO that
Mike had already seen twice the previous winter. They have staked out
the hills with a camera and suddenly hear a muted howling noise echoing
through the night. The noise is coming from a white, glowing light
falling toward them. The glowing mass slows down and the howling stops.
Now directly overhead, the object is hovering just feet above a stream.
They see a dome on top that emits electric blue sparks, a middle
section, and a rim with a translucent metallic glow. The object tilts to
reveal intricate detail on its underside, then accelerates and
disappears. The men take a dozen photos, but they only show black sky
when processed. (Jenny Randles, “The House on Haunted Moor,” Fortean
Times 322 (January 2015): 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5920
Date: 5/20/1979
Description: 8:00 a.m. A scientist, Ron Kruppa, sees a large UFO
emitting smaller objects in Davao City, Philippines. (“Stretching the
Truth in the Philippines,” IUR 5, no. 1a (January 1980): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5921
Date: 5/22/1979
Description: 10:00 p.m. A man walking in a park in Piastów, Poland, sees
two bright yellow beams of light coming from a dark object about 10 feet
wide floating just above the ground. Walking to within 10 feet of the
object, he can see a third beam of light below it. Green geometrical
shapes appear and vanish along the side of the UFO. A blinking red light
shines out on the upper surface, in between the vertical bars of an
H-shaped sign taking up almost the entire top. Suddenly the object
shines with a white-blue light, and the man’s face feels like it is
burning. Frightened, he runs away and does not look back. The next
morning, he feels as if something heavy is pressing on his head; two
weeks later, sores containing dried blood break out on his face.
(Bronislaw Rzepecki, “UFOs and Ufologists in Poland,” IUR 11, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1986): 15–16; Bronislaw Rzepecki, “UFOs in Poland,” UFOs
1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, p. 124)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5922
Date: 5/26/1979
Description: 12:05 a.m. The pilot of a private airplane flying near
Hailey, Idaho, spots five orange objects flying in a horizontal line.
They tilt, spread out, and regroup in a vertical formation. As they pass
to his left, his magnetic compass and direction finder begin spinning,
the radio is filled with static, and the engine sputters. One of the
objects approaches at high speed, and the pilot begins a climb and loses
sight of the UFOs. (NICAP, “Compasses, Radio,
Engine Affected on Aircraft”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5923
Date: 5/26/1979
Description: Private pilot and airline crew saw string of orange objects
maneuvering and changing formation, tracked on radar
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Hailey, ID
ID: 338
Date: 6/1979
Description: 3:00 a.m. A woman doctor is in the TV room of her parents’
home in Boardman, Ohio, suffering from insomnia. She sees something
flashing outside the window, illuminating the entire area outside. A
cylinder-shaped light comes through the closed window and passes three
feet from her face. It then comes to look more like a paperclip that
flashes on and off, meandering about, apparently not interested in her.
She runs into the bedroom and does not see it again. (Michael D. Swords,
“A Trick of the Light,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5925
Date: 6/1979
Description: In Messengers of Deception, Jacques
Vallée claims that a shadowy human group, some of whom have
infiltrated UFO organizations like NICAP and CUFOS, is manipulating UFO
myths for its own purposes, while the UFO phenomenon operates as a
control system—manifested in “intense activity followed by quiet
periods—intended to lead human consciousness into a new concept of
reality.” On the other hand, he argues that the UFO phenomenon is
ancient and that the message has changed with the times. He claims the
current concept of flying discs originated in Germany in the 1930s, with
the unknown private group gaining control of them after World War II.
Contactees are manipulated by human programmers. Many ufologists think
Vallée has gone too far in his anti- ETH approach and is conspiracy
mongering. (Jacques Vallée, Messengers
of Deception: UFO Contacts and Cults,
And/Or, 1979; Vincent White, “A
Critique,” APRO Bulletin 27, no. 12 (June 1979): 3–5; Clark III
1214)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5924
Date: 6/10/1979
Description: 4:40 p.m. A family in Milford, Connecticut, watches a disc
“like two plates put together” approach from the south. It is silver on
top and dark on the bottom and seems to have a band around the edge and
triangular markings. After it passes silently behind the trees to the
north of them after 1 minute, they jump into a car and drive after it.
It seems to be traveling at 20–25 mph, and they are able to overtake it
flying parallel to the road. It seems to be flying at an altitude of
1,000 feet, and disappears to the north. (“Case 4-1-40,” IUR 4, no. 1
(July 1979): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5926
Date: 6/12/1979
Description: 8:45 p.m. Members of a rock band practicing in a barn in
Pine Ridge, South Carolina, step outside to watch an unusual form
hovering low over the containment building and smokestack of the
Carolina Power and Light nuclear power plant one half mile away to the
northeast. An ovoid-shaped object, seen primarily by its lights, shines
two bright yellowish-white beams of light. After hovering motionless for
2–5 minutes, all the lights fade except a blue light. The UFO moves off
and is gone almost instantly. After about 5 minutes, a second object is
seen hovering for 2–5 minutes to the right of the nuclear power plant
and directing a beam of light at it. It flies off toward the northwest.
No one at the power plant reports seeing anything unusual. (“Case
4-1-47,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July 1979): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5927
Date: 6/14/1979
Description: 8:30 a.m. A woman in St. Petersburg, Florida, sees an
object with a long transparent trail. (“Case 4-1-51,” IUR 4, no. 1 (July
1979): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5928
Date: 6/17/1979
Description: 10:00 p.m. A witness in North Prairie, Wisconsin, watches a
star, slightly dimmer than Jupiter, move silently across the sky from
east to west, passing overhead. It suddenly makes a 90° turn to the
north and is lost in the cloud cover. Ten minutes later, he and his
family watch a similar light transit the sky, again from east to west,
in 10–15 seconds. (“Wisconsin NL,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August 1979): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5929
Date: 6/19/1979
Description: 10:02 p.m. A witness in Clarksville, Tennessee, is walking
his dog when he sees a metallic egg-shaped object, surrounded by a glow,
approaching from the west. It appears to be at 8,000 feet altitude. It
comes to a stop for 30 seconds, then picks up speed slowly for 7
seconds, and blasts off with a shower of sparks trailing behind it,
disappearing in the southeast. (“Rocketing ‘Egg’ over Tennessee,” IUR 4,
no. 2 (August 1979): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5930
Date: 6/26/1979
Description: 3:20 p.m. A sharply outlined “mushroom” is seen moving out
of the south by a group of eight neighbors in the northeast section of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is smaller than the full moon, but at one
point they can detect four “domes” on its rotating underside. The object
is illuminated with colors ranging from burgundy to silver. At one point
it makes a 90° turn and circles around completely, becoming a minty
green color. It continues slowly north and disappears. (“An ‘Adamski’
Mushroom?” IUR 4, no. 2 (August 1979): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5932
Date: 6/26/1979
Description: 3:00 a.m. A 77-year-old man in Wheeling, Illinois, is
awakened by his border collie and goes outside. When he opens the back
door he sees a uniformly glowing “balloon,” 6–7 feet in diameter and
sharply outlined. His dog steps forward and watches it as it hovers
rock-steady at 60 feet up and 100 feet away or less. After 4–5 minutes
it moves slowly behind the trees to the southwest. Running to the front
of his house, he sees an identical form 70 feet up and moving silently
to the northwest. It goes behind trees in 3–4 minutes. Duration is 10–13
minutes. (“Two Glowing Globes,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August 1979): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5931
Date: 6/28/1979
Description: Security guard Antonio Carlos Ferreira is allegedly
abducted from his workplace, a furniture factory in Mirassol, São Paulo,
Brazil. He is approached by three humanoid figures who tranquilize him
and take him aboard a small ship that ferries him to a larger craft
further away. There he is put in front of a large TV screen and
presented with a variety of images before being forced to mate with a
female alien. He is tranquilized again and returned to the ground. The
aliens are approximately 4 feet tall with pointed ears, slanted eyes,
and human-like mouths. They lack eyebrows or eyelashes and speak in a
language that superficially resembles Japanese. Some have dark skin and
red curly hair, while others have light skin and straight black hair.
The ship is spherical with three legs protruding from the bottom, and
the interior is lit by bright red and green lights. Ferreira states that
he encountered the aliens again in 1982, with the craft supposedly
landing close enough for him to see the female alien and a childlike
alien observing him from a distance. He experiences a third encounter
later in 1982 in which he is taken into the hangar of an alien craft by
a green beam of light before being injected with a yellow substance. He
is then taken to meet the two aliens once more, the younger of whom he
is led to believe is his own child. Other encounters follow, to a total
of 16 or 20 between 1979 and 1989. (Wikipedia, “Caso
Mirassol”; Ney Matiel Pires, “3-Sexto
Contato com Ufonautas de Antônio Carlos Ferreira,” SBEDV Boletim,
no. 158–161 (May/Dec. 1984): 14–54; Walter K. Buhler, Guilherme Pereira,
and Ney M. Pires, UFO Abduction at Mirassol, UFO Photo Archives, 1985;
Clark III 764–765; Aileen Garoutte, “Contact
at Mirassol,” UFOexperiences, May 22, 2005; Brazil 277–282)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5933
Date: 7/1979
End date: 12/1979
Description: Flurries of sightings
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley, CA
ID: 339
Date: 7/1/1979
Description: 3:40 p.m. A factory supervisor and his wife are driving in
Crystal Lake, Illinois, when they see an aluminum- colored ellipse
hovering in the north-northeast at an estimated 1,000 feet. It moves
with jerky movements to the east-southeast, drops down to 500 feet, and
remains stationary over a stand of trees about one mile away for 2–3
seconds. It ascends and descends about five times. (“Daylight Disc in
Illinois,” IUR 4, no. 2 (August 1979): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5934
Date: 7/4/1979
Description: 1:30 a.m. A Swedish man is walking along a dark road after
leaving a tavern not far from Monastiri Beach, Poros, Greece. He hears a
powerful buzzing or shushing noise overhead. Not more than 25 feet above
the trees on the uphill side of the road is a black, disc-shaped object,
about 25 feet wide, that is blocking out the light of the stars. Within
seconds a bright light beams down at him from the center of the object.
He feels an electrical sensation and a general lightness. The light
blinks out and the man begins running away, but the disc is descending
and following him. The beam of light blinks on again when it is 50–60
feet above him. Two backpackers witness this and come running to aid
him. The light blinks out again and four blinking red and green lights
appear at the edge of the disc, which moves ahead another 150–200 feet.
The UFO then rises to 400–500 feet and flies steadily until it
disappears behind a hill. (“High Adventure in Greece,” IUR/Frontiers of
Science 3, no. 6 (Jan./Feb. 1982): 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5935
Date: 7/17/1979
Description: 6:00 a.m. A couple in a rural area northeast of Des Moines,
Iowa, are fixing breakfast when through their window they see a small,
circular light source to the northeast. It hovers silently for 5
minutes. It starts moving slowly upward at a 70° angle, then breaks into
two smaller objects that shoot out of sight. (“Iowa UFO Splits in Two,”
IUR 4, no. 3/4 (Sept./Oct. 1979): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5936
Date: 7/25/1979
Description: 11:30 a.m. Farmer Federico Ibáñez Ibáñez, 54, leaves the
village of Turís, Valencia, Spain, to gather grapes from his vineyard.
He finds an egg-shaped, white, metallic object resting on two feet in
the access road to his field. Two small beings run from behind a carob
tree on his left and enter the craft. They are wearing white outfits
“puffed up with air” with protruding black tubes. The UFO suddenly
ascends at great speed, stirring up a whirlwind. The case is
investigated in depth in 1979 and reinvestigated in 2008. It features
unique shapes for both the landed craft and its occupants. The one
witness is apparently credible. Ground traces are found as
circumstantial evidence. Spanish investigator Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos concludes: “My considered impression is that the
witness sincerely believes in the tangible reality of his experience,
and I have not found any reasonable evidence of a lie or episode of
fantasy, nor any proof that he embellished his account.” Ballester
Olmos’s latest thought is, “Did the witness invent or hallucinate the
event under the influence of the current publicity for the Star Wars
movie?” (Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, “Imagination or Reality? The
Landing at Turís, Revisiting a 1979 Spanish CE3,” IUR 33, no. 1 (March
2010): 3–7, 22–24 ; Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, “Imagination
or Reality? The Landing at Turis,” Academia.edu, [2013])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5937
Date: 7/27/1979
Description: 11:10 p.m. Gary Hull is on the patio of his in-laws’ home
in Stamford, Connecticut, when he sees an orange light in the northwest.
He calls his wife Kathleen and others, and they watch it move silently
across the sky at treetop level. After 5 minutes, it stops and hovers.
Four or five white flashes erupt from its right side, followed by 4–5
faint sounds like firecrackers. At 11:19, a commercial jet flies
overhead and under the UFO, which accelerates almost straight up in 5–10
seconds, diminishing to a pinpoint. Other witnesses 3.5 miles to the
north and a few miles to the west watch similar objects. (“Independent
Witnesses in Connecticut,” IUR 4, no. 3/4 (Sept./Oct. 1979): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5938
Date: 7/29/1979
Description: Delta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 340
Date: 8/1979
Description: Evening. A resident of Człuchów, Poland, is rowing his boat
on a lake when he sees a “dark oblong object” moving rapidly and
soundlessly along the surface of the water without disturbing it. It
disappears behind some lakeside vegetation. Another witness on shore
sees it apparently land, so he calls his two dogs and heads toward the
spot. About 65 feet from the shore he can see two entities in dark suits
walking toward the forest. The dogs run toward them and they stop and
turn around. The dogs stop in their tracks, bark, and retreat in terror.
The witness watches the entities as they continue walking. They are
about 5 feet tall and sealed in diving outfits. At the level of their
eyes is a glass plate through which they can apparently see. Their hips
are unnaturally wide and each has a hump between the back of the neck
and the shoulders. The witness calls out to them, but they begin running
into the trees. A luminous rectangular object floats up from the
treetops about 325 feet away and hovers 100 feet from the ground. A
blue-green light is along its sides, shading away into white in the
middle. The UFO speeds away, leaving no findable landing traces. The
witness claims his dogs’ front legs become paralyzed 6 months later and
he has to put them to sleep. (Bronislaw Rzepecki, “UFOs and Ufologists
in Poland,” IUR 11, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1986): 16; ; Bronislaw Rzepecki,
“UFOs in Poland,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987,
pp. 124–125)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5941
Date: 8/1979
Description: Dusk. A witness in Halifax, Nova Scotia, watches through a
telescope a round object with 12–18 lights around its base approaching
from the southeast. It hovers for about 30 seconds. He calls to his wife
to verify the observation, which has now moved directly overhead. The
lights give off constant beams downward. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1982): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5940
Date: 8/1979
Description: Harry Griesberg and David Seargent form the Australian
Centre for UFO Studies from the CUFOS Australian Co-Ordination Section.
(Keith Basterfield, Vladimir Godic, and Pony Godic, “Australian Ufology:
A Review,” JUFOS 2 (1990): 28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5939
Date: 8/1/1979
Description: The Fund for UFO Research is established as a nonprofit
corporation in the District of Columbia to raise money to support
scientific UFO research and public information projects. It remains
active through 2011. (Fund for
UFO Research Quarterly Report, Oct./Dec. 1983; Clark III 520)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5944
Date: 8/1/1979
Description: 1:35 a.m. Westchester County police officer William
Shaughnessy sees apparently the same white ball of light at the Ward
Pound Ridge Reservation, New York, as that reported by several citizens
of Lewisboro the same night. It passes southeast directly over his car,
at 600–800 feet altitude. It stops above some treetops, makes a complete
right turn, and disappears to the west. 12 minutes later, it comes
flying back, hovers, shoots over his car again, and is gone quickly.
During this time, Shaughnessy cannot reach his station by either
low-band FM or portable radio. (“Cop Ridiculed for NL Sighting in New
York,” IUR 4, no. 3/4 (Sept./Oct. 1979): 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5942
Date: 8/1/1979
Description: US Air Force Intelligence is redesignated the Electronic
Security Command. (Wikipedia, “Air
Force Intelligence,
Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5943
Date: 8/1/1979
Description: Astronomer Allan
Hendry publishes The UFO Handbook, a harshly pessimistic assessment
of his investigative experience with the Center for UFO Studies in
Evanston, Illinois. The first part covers IFOs, showing how normal
objects can be misinterpreted as UFOs. The remainder of the book covers
techniques that can be used by UFO investigators. (Allan Hendry, The UFO
Handbook, Doubleday, 1979; Clark III 569)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5945
Date: 8/2/1979
Description: Morning. A teen who mows the lawn finds a strange design on
the lawn of an 8-acre estate about 8 miles north of Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
The owner waits a week before reporting it to the police, who alert the
Center for UFO Studies, which investigates the marking on August 22. The
trace is visible as flattened, yellowed grass in a semicircle between
two straight lines forming a 120° angle. An analysis of the soil sample
indicated nothing unusual in the chemistry, and no herbicides or
petroleum. (“1979
Ground Mark Remains Unidentified,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no.
2 (June 1980): 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5946
Date: 8/2/1979
Description: 11:30 p.m. Multiple witnesses watch a triangular object
flying from south to north over Herndon and Atwood, Kansas; and
Culbertson and McCook, Nebraska. (Marler 104–106)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5947
Date: 8/4/1979
Description: 10:35 p.m. Maria Artura and her grandson see a domed,
disc-shaped object approach from the west over Canoga Park, Los Angeles,
California. Two humanoid beings with oversize heads are inside. The
object stops and hovers above an apartment building on the other side of
the street. It tilts to one side, returns to horizontal, then flies
behind a tree, stops, and tilts the other way. Finally, it flies away to
the west. (“California Humanoids?” IUR 4, no. 3/4 (Sept./Oct. 1979): 11;
Richard H. Hall, “Dyad ‘Scout Craft,’” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001):
25; Patrick Gross, URECAT, December
25, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5948
Date: 8/4/1979
Description: Large, glowing disc with bubblelike dome on top, two
humanoid beings visible through transparent dome
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Canoga Park, CA
ID: 341
Date: 8/5/1979
Description: 7:00 p.m. A man driving 20 miles north of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, sees five large red lights suddenly appear in front of his
car. They are in a V-formation, four in one row, the fifth forming the
other. They move downward toward the horizon, where they vanish.
(“Strange Formation in Wisconsin,” IUR 4, no. 3/4, Sept./Oct, 1979):
11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5949
Date: 8/9/1979
Description: Pilot observed two disc-shaped objects below his plane,
contour flying “on the deck” through hills and valleys
Type: sighting
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Hayfork, CA
ID: 342
Date: 8/10/1979
Description: 9:00 p.m. Two witnesses are on the shore of a lake near
Czluchow, Poland, when they see an object gliding swiftly along the
surface and vanishing behind some vegetation on the bank. One witness
collects his dogs and approaches the spot, but before he gets there, he
encounters two entities dressed in black who are moving toward the
woods. The dogs run toward them barking, but the entities turn to face
them and the dogs stop barking and go back. The beings are dressed in
coveralls. They have wide hips, a lump at the base of their necks, and
curved forearms, and they are gliding rather than walking. They vanish,
and while searching for them the witness sees a rectangular object
hovering about 300 feet away and flashing beams of white and blue-green
light. It vanishes suddenly. (Bronislaw Rzepecki, “UFO
Reports from Poland,” Flying Saucer Review 33, no. 1 (March 1988):
5–6; Poland 46–48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5951
Date: 8/10/1979
Description: Two large metallic spheres are found in Bolivia, one near
Enconada and another near Buen Retiro, just hours after reports of a
fireball in Bolivia and northern Chile. Newspaper reports at the time
focus on the reentry of a satellite or rocket stage as the possible
cause, suggested by Col. Ariel
Coca, director of the Bolivian Air Force Academy. The Defense
Attaché of the US Embassy in La Paz promptly informs the US Defense
Intelligence Agency via telexed Moon Dust reports, which include
translations of two Bolivian newspaper reports. Moon Dust is the
unclassified name of a cold war USAF program to obtain Soviet space
hardware that survives reentry. In 2014, amateur satellite tracker Ted
Molczan presents strong circumstantial evidence that the spheres are
debris from the reentry of the Delta rocket second stage 1979-072B that
launched Westar
3 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the same day. (“Moon
Dust, Object Found near Santz Cruz *U*,” August 17, 1979; “Moon
Dust, Additional
Object Reportedly Found near Santa Cruz *U*,” August 21, 1979; Ted
Molczan, “Re-Entry
Sightings and
Debris Recovery of 1979-072B, Bolivia: 1979 August 10 UTC,” Visual
Satellite Observer, July 30, 2014; Ted Molczan, “Bolivia:
Spheres Found August 1979, La Prensa Article,” Visual Satellite
Observer; Good Above, pp. 322–323)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5950
Date: 8/11/1979
Description: 11:00 p.m. Two 18-year-olds, a male college student and a
female telephone company employee, are sitting in a car near Bergen
Park, Colorado, looking at the homes at the base of a small mountain on
Soda Creek Road off Interstate 70. They see a white light about
two-thirds of the way up the mountain. It grows bigger, four times the
brightness of the houselights at the base of the mountain. It seems to
become a cluster of four lights with a dark space in the middle. After 3
minutes, the light silently rises over the mountain, hovers for 3
seconds, and drops down behind it. A glow remains over the mountain.
(“Colorado Landing,” IUR 4, no. 3/4 (Sept./Oct. 1979): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5953
Date: 8/11/1979
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 343
Date: 8/11/1979
Description: 9:41 p.m. A graduate student and a friend are taking an
evening drive in a semi-rural area in Northfield Township, Michigan.
They notice two white stationary lights about 300 feet from the road and
500 feet in the air. They turn the car around and see another formation
of white lights and a flashing red light to the west. A total of three
sets of lights appear heading south. They follow one group, which hovers
above some power lines. The couple continues to pursue and be pursued by
the similar formations of lights for 30 minutes. At the intersection of
Joy and Whitmire Lake Road, one set of lights flies directly above them
at 1,000–1,500 feet altitude, making a noise like a jet or the wind.
(“Scientists Chase Michigan UFOs?” IUR 4, no. 3/4 (Sept./Oct. 1979):
11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5952
Date: 8/12/1979
Description: 2:00 a.m. Engineer Y. Podvyazniy and two companions are on
the shore of the Black Sea west of the microdistrict of Khosta near
Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia. They notice a brightly illuminated object
approaching erratically from the sea. Suddenly it skips to within one
mile of the witnesses, who take 9 photos, estimate its size as 165–330
feet, and notice four glowing lights that look like portholes. The
object is only 16–65 feet above the water when it slowly moves away to a
distance of 9 miles. A patrol boat uses its searchlight to illuminate
the object, which appears to be spherical. When the object lights up and
dims, the searchlight and the patrol boat’s lights also dim. (Stonehill
and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, pp. 133–134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5954
Date: 8/12/1979
Description: 10:00 p.m. Two teenage brothers are driving 9 miles west of
Rolla, Missouri, in an undeveloped area. A red light and a blue light
appear over the car, apparently circling each other. The two lights seem
to blend into one, forming a soft white color. Sparks shoot out, and the
single light source arcs upward and vanishes in the western sky. Both
feel strange sensations of both pressure and floating as this occurs.
These effects, along with involuntary body movements and trouble
speaking and breathing, last 10 minutes. (“Teens Claim Bizarre Effects,”
IUR 4, no 3/4 (Sept./Oct. 1979): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5955
Date: mid 8/1979
Description: Night. Hospital administrator Jon Linnell and his wife are
driving home from Northwood, North Dakota, to Warren, Minnesota, when
they see bright lights over a field to the left. 15 seconds later the
lights come toward them and hover above their car. Linnell slows the car
down and the object takes off to the north. It is silent and too bright
to look at. (“Deputy’s
UFO Story Evokes
Other Tales,” Minneapolis Star, September 11, 1979, pp. 1, 5; Clark
III 716)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5956
Date: 8/16/1979
Description: 4:30 p.m. A silver, pan-shaped object flies past an
eastbound truck near Providence, Kentucky, at 2,000– 3,000 feet
altitude. It tumbles in flight, turning over sideways before
disappearing behind a hill. (“Kentucky Daylight Saucer,” IUR 4, no. 6
(December 1979): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5958
Date: 8/16/1979
Description: 4:22 a.m. A male nurse is driving south on US Highway 19
seven miles south of Washington, Pennsylvania. Ahead of him on the left
is a large, luminous object that looks like a football. It appears to be
60 feet up as he drives underneath it. It remains stationary as he
drives away. (”Pennsylvania ‘Football,’” IUR 4, no. 6 (December 1979):
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5957
Date: 8/17/1979
Description: 9:00 p.m. Elma l’Abbe is flying above Saint-Jovite, Quebec,
in a Piper PA-28 Cherokee Warrior piloted by a friend. She looks out the
window and notices that both wings are turning red. The pilot says his
controls are jammed, but both feel the aircraft being pulled upward.
They then see a large red ball of energy nearly 300 feet in diameter and
50 feet thick close to the right wing. It speeds away rapidly and
appears to have a white light on its tail end. The aircraft falls about
1,000 feet and levels out at 4,000 feet. The object disappears into a
cloud, where it rotates, showing red on one side and white on the other.
The ball of light disappears into the orange sky of the sunset. (Chris
Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
pp. 92–95)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5959
Date: 8/19/1979
Description: 10:20 p.m. A witness at his home 16 miles southeast of
Dallas, Texas, sees a shimmering light with amber portholes silently
darting around near some radio towers. (“Texan NL,” IUR 4, no. 6
(December 1979): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5960
Date: late 8/1979
Description: 10:00 p.m. Mrs. H. M. Dickinson and another witness see a
small, transparent object shaped like a lightbulb moving west to east
just outside the window of her home in Surry, Maine. Inside it is an
entity sitting on a box and facing what seems to be a control panel. The
object is lighted from within and blinks out after 5 seconds. (“Seated
Occupant in Light-Bulb-Shaped 1979 Maine CE-III,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 5, no. 2 (April/May 1984): 1, 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5962
Date: 8/20/1979
Description: 7:30–9:00 p.m. Some 119 people in northern and eastern
Poland observe several different types of cylindrical or spherical UFOs.
Reports come from Sopot, Jurata, Gdańsk, Bydgoszcz, Malbork, Jastrzębie,
Olsztyn, Świecie, and Warsaw. Vacationers in Sopot and Jurata see a
cigar ejecting a smoky trail and flames. In Gdańsk, the objects are
cigar-shaped or oblong changing into a sphere. Bogdan Śmiech from
Malbork watches 9– 10 balls of light 3–4 miles above the ground. (Poland
72–73)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5961
Date: 8/23/1979
Description: 8:15 p.m. Two fishing boats belonging to the Szomborg
family, the Hel-125 and Hel-127, are in the Baltic Sea some 46 miles off
the Hel peninsula, Poland, when their radar malfunctions and the TV set
reception fails. Lucjan Szomborg on the Hel-127 notices two bright-red
lights in the air less than a mile away. Suddenly another larger,
pulsating light appears abut 1,500 feet in front of the boat and the
original two lights, which are apparently attached to a dark object,
move silently toward it. A white light emerges from the two smaller
lights, which then disappear in the distance. The pulsating light begins
flashing erratically, emitting strong vibrations, and Szomborg steers
his boat closer. The red light places itself directly in the Hel-127’s
path three times, matching the boat’s course changes. The crew members
begin to get nervous, some getting severe headaches, chest pains, and
nausea. The navigator, Henryk Elwardt, is gripped with pain, affected by
the pulsing vibrations. Szomborg, feeling symptoms of paralysis and
temporary blindness, manages to change course and warn his father on the
Hel-125 of danger. All the on-board equipment has suddenly stopped
working. After 20 minutes, Szomborg notices that the red sphere has
moved further away. The boats safely return to Hel by 4:00 a.m., and the
equipment is working again. Doctors, neurologists, and psychiatrists
examine the crew and find nothing physically wrong, but they are
prescribed sedatives and the Polish Navy prohibits them from going out
to sea for 3 weeks. (Poland 122–124; “UFO
nad Bałtykiem 23 sierpnia 1979 r.,” UFO-Relacje.pl, August 4,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5963
Date: 8/25/1979
Description: 3:30 p.m. Three witnesses in a boat at Balsam Lake,
Wisconsin, watch an object with a metallic surface move downward in an
oscillating manner and maneuver for 6–7 minutes. (“Wisconsin DD,” IUR 4,
no. 6 (December 1979): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5964
Date: 8/27/1979
Description: 2:30 p.m. Flying instructor Laurie Adlington has just left
Blackbushe Airport in Yateley, Hampshire, England, with Lt. James
Plastow from Sandhurst Military College for his pilot’s license test in
a Cessna 150. They are at 2,000 feet heading toward Basingstoke when
Adlington suddenly grabs the controls and throws the Cessna into a steep
bank and descent to avoid a collision. An object suddenly speeds past
the front of the aircraft, coming within a few feet of the windshield.
The rotating object is about 12 inches in diameter, shaped like a
doughnut, reflects light with a silvery glow “like a blob of mercury,”
and has a honeycombed surface. They can make out the hint of an aerial
on one side. The object begins flying around the plane for a short time
before it flies underneath it and then streaks upward and away to about
3,000 feet. Possible early use of a drone. (Omar Fowler, “Mini-Disc
over Blackbushe,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 1 (June 1980):
18–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5966
Date: 8/27/1979
Description: 1:40 a.m. Deputy Sheriff Val
Johnson is on duty in the west end of Marshall County, Minnesota,
driving on County Highway 5 west of Stephen when he sees a light through
his side window. The light is to his south, shining from a grove of
trees standing along State Highway 220 near the Red River. He thinks it
might be from a downed drug-smuggling airplane. He turns south on 220,
accelerates to 65 mph, and moves closer. The light moves toward him,
traveling so fast that it crosses the 1.5 miles separating them almost
instantaneously. It makes no sound and still looks just like a blinding
light. Johnson hears glass breaking and sees the inside of the patrol
car light up. After the light hits, he loses consciousness. When he
wakes up, his head is resting on the steering wheel and his eyes are
staring at the red “engine” light on the dashboard. He looks out the
window and sees the car has skidded sideways across the northbound lane
and now faces eastward. The front tires are touching the gravel on the
shoulder. He can see only with difficulty and feels like he is moving in
slow motion. At 2:19 a.m., he radios headquarters and asks for
assistance. Deputy Greg Winskowski arrives on the scene shortly. Johnson
is still inside the car with a red bump on his forehead, so he calls an
ambulance. At the hospital, Dr. W. A. Pinsonneault examines Johnson’s
eyes, but the probe light hurts so much that Johnson cannot stand it
more than a few seconds at a time. Pinsonneault suspects corneal flash
burns and covers his eyes with bandages. Sheriff Dennis Brekke drives
Johnson’s 1977 Ford LTD patrol car back to the garage. The inside light
on the driver’s side is smashed. On the hood, 4 feet 4 inches behind the
smashed light and close to the windshield, is a flat-bottomed, circular
dent, half an inch in diameter. A crack in the windshield on the
driver’s side about 18 inches behind the dent runs top to bottom, with
four apparent impacts; it looks as if a cluster of small objects, stones
perhaps, have done the damage. The car’s battery-powered clock, set
correctly at 7:00 p.m. when Johnson came on duty, is 14 minutes late. So
is Johnson’s wind-up wristwatch, set at the same time. The red plastic
lens covering the roof light on the driver’s side shows a triangular
puncture, and the lens is dislodged from the housing. A radio antenna
shaft is bent over at a 60° angle. The large “bubble” lamp just inches
in front of the antenna is unscathed. The trunk antenna for CB radio is
bent at 90°. Brekke, after calling the Center for UFO Studies in
Evanston, Illinois, takes Johnson to Grand Forks, North Dakota, at 11:00
a.m. for an eye examination by ophthalmologist Leonard Prochaska, who
finds that Johnson’s problems have cleared up. Allan
Hendry of CUFOS determines that the car damage is inconsistent with
anything an airplane could have caused. Meridan French, a windshield
expert with the Glass Division of Ford Motor Company, concludes that a
flat-ended object had made a forceful impact with the hood and then
tilted toward the windshield. A team of engineers at Honeywell’s
materials testing laboratory indicates that flying particles were
responsible for the damage to the headlight glass and lamp plastic.
(Wikipedia, “Val Johnson
incident”; NICAP, “Val
Johnson Case”; “Deputy’s
UFO Story Evokes
Other Tales,” Minneapolis Star, September 11, 1979, pp. 1, 5;
“Minnesota CEII: The Val Johnson Story,” IUR 4, no. 3/4
(Sept./Oct. 1979): 4–9; “Minnesota CEII: The Val Johnson Story, Part
Two, Laboratory Analyses and Conclusion,” IUR 4, no. 5 (November 1979):
4–11; Chris Rutkowski, “Special
Report: Stephen, Minnesota; Not Proof, But…” Swamp Gas Journal 1,
no. 6 (April 1980): 1–4; Mark Rodeghier, “UFO/Vehicle Very Close
Encounters,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 25; Clark III 713–716)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5965
Date: 8/27/1979
Description: 11:00 p.m. A family in Smithtown, New York, watches a round
object with a band around its equator and many small orange lights fly
toward them from the north. They remain outside after it disappears,
hoping it will return, and it does, flying from west to east and rising
up sharply and silently. (“New York NL Appears Twice,” IUR 4, no. 6
(December 1979): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5967
Date: 8/29/1979
Description: 10:00 p.m. A 47-year-old housewife sees the lower corner of
a gigantic “mothership” outside her living room window in a southwest
suburb of Chicago, Illinois. The blimp-like UFO is so huge she can’t see
the whole length or height. It extends the whole block of houses at
treetop level. She reports four different kinds of humanoid creatures (7
in all) visible through the hull, which is luminous and yellow in color.
She hears a loud humming sound. The duration is 45 minutes. (“Two That
Got Away,” IUR 5, no. 1 (January 1980): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5971
Date: 8/29/1979
Description: 7:30 p.m. A married couple is taking their dog on a duck
hunt between Dziki and Ernestowo, Poland, when they notice a “strange
orange ball” coming from behind a hill about 3 miles away. The husband
studies it through binoculars, estimating its speed as about 95 mph. The
ball proves to be the front of a huge steel-colored cigar- shaped
object, which stops 1,300 feet away and hovers above some buildings for
about 10 seconds. They can see five large, square windows with rounded
corners; the three in the front glow with orange light, while the other
two seem covered by a shade. The object moves forward about 40 feet and
stops. Half a minute later, sparks shoot from the rear and the UFO
vanishes over the horizon. An orange glow remains behind. Alojzy Pawlik
sees the same object in Laskowice at about the same time. (Bronislaw
Rzepecki, “Encounters in Poland,” IUR 12, no. 3 (May/June 1987):
17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5970
Date: 8/29/1979
Description: 8:00 a.m. A woman is in her alfalfa field 10 miles north of
Pasco, Washington, when she sees what appears to be a post sitting a
half-mile away. It is about 4–5 feet tall. About 10 minutes later she
sees that the object is now in the air, flying slowly in a horizontal
position, land bullet-shaped, looking black on its flat end and silver
on its rounded end. A neighbor also sees the object before it disappears
in the west. (“A Flying Fence Post in Washington State,” IUR 4, no. 6
(December 1979): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5969
Date: 8/29/1979
Description: 2:00 a.m. Russ Johnson is driving on Highway 50 on the
western outskirts of Vermillion, South Dakota, when he spots a blinding
headlight in front of him. It is stationary for 2 seconds, then it
streaks toward him and engulfs his car. Johnson closes his eyes and hits
the brakes, skidding the car to a stop, spinning sideways until it faces
east. He opens his eyes and sees the light heading away west. The next
day, the still-shaken Johnson goes to the site with Robert Adams at the
University of South Dakota, who sees the skid marks. (Clark III 716;
“Case 4-5- 2,” IUR 4, no. 5 (November 1979): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5968
Date: 8/29/1979
Description: Silvery cigar with orange light and square windows
approached, hovered, finally sped away over horizon
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Ernestowo, Poland
ID: 344
Date: 8/29/1979
Description: 11:15 p.m. Harry Joe Turner is driving a 1974 Kenworth
tractor-trailer loaded with mustard and ketchup on US Highway 17 two
miles from Warrenton, Virginia. His CB radio starts acting up, giving
out a noise that gets louder and louder. Something grabs him tightly on
his left shoulder. He sees a large object looming over his cab and hears
two thumps. Even though he is going 70 mph, he sees a figure standing
outside. When it throws open the door, Turner grabs his .32 automatic
pistol and fires 8 rounds at it with no effect. He then blacks out.
Turner wakes up in the passenger seat at 3:00 a.m. at his destination in
a Fredericksburg warehouse but can’t remember how he got there. The
odometer indicates he has only traveled 17 miles, not 80, yet he has
used 114 gallons of fuel. The top 2 inches of the CB antenna are melted
off, and 30 inches of the AM/FM antenna has broken off. A filmy
substance covers the truck. He drives back home but is confused and his
eyes are overly sensitive to light. Turner wakes up in a Winchester
hospital diagnosed with a broken blood vessel in his left eye. He begins
to remember more about the experience and recalls his truck being lifted
into a UFO piloted by two humanlike figures dressed in white shirts and
pants, one of whom is named Alpha La Zoo Loo. He seems to take a trip in
space to a planet beyond Alpha Centauri. On September 3, after taking
valium, Turner is arrested for speeding. He thinks aliens are chasing
him. Turner continues to undergo anxiety attacks. Allan
Hendry and Fred Whiting from the Center for UFO Studies are unable
to corroborate Turner’s story, and the two antennas appear to be
deliberately altered. (Iris Maack, “Truck,
Rig, Abducted (?),” APRO Bulletin 28, no. 6 (December 1979): 1–3;
Clark III 1139–1141)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5973
Date: 8/29/1979
Description: 10:30 p.m. Charles Weeden and his father see an orange
light moving erratically in the sky to the west over Sycamore, Illinois.
They call the police, and Deputy Berna Van Vlerah looks outside the
station 2.5 miles west of the Weedens and sees the orange light to her
southeast, low above the horizon. Using binoculars, she sees a flat-
bottomed orange dome shape within the light. She watches it for 5
minutes, then drives to the Weedens and watches it there to the west.
(“Orange NL in Illinois?” IUR 4, no. 6 (December 1979): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5972
Date: 8/30/1979
Description: 2:30 a.m. A student camping out at Slip Bluff County Park
near Lamoni, Iowa, is awakened by her dog barking. She sees a formation
of lights on an oval object about a city block away. It moves away
horizontally, still close to the ground. (“Landing in Iowa?” IUR 4, no.
6 (December 1979): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5974
Date: 8/30/1979
Description: 4:00 p.m. During a thunderstorm, three passengers and the
driver watch a 2-foot yellow and green ball of light rush down from the
north only 5 feet in front of a Metropolitan Transit Commission bus on
the southwest side of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It hits the pavement and
erupts into a shower of sparks and smoke with a loud explosion. The
shocked bus driver runs over the point of impact as the vehicle is
shaking. No lasting effects can be found in the pavement after the
storm. (“Case 4-5-3,” IUR 4, no. 5 (November 1979): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5975
Date: 9/1979
Description: Citizens Against UFO Secrecy is losing momentum due to lack
of money and public support. Search fees have become prohibitive: In
response to a CAUS request for data on UFO trackings, NORAD informs them
that it will require 18,383 hours and $294,157. (MUFON UFO Journal,
October 1979)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5976
Date: 9/3/1979
Description: 7:30 p.m. Two witnesses watch an “aluminum oil drum with
wings” flying silently above Oroville, California, in a straight line.
(“California Flying Drum,” IUR 4, no. 6 (December 1979): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5977
Date: 9/3/1979
Description: 9:30 p.m. Two couples in Balsam Lake, Wisconsin, see a red
disc hovering in the western sky as they are driving from their cottage.
The dashboard and engine lights fail, so the driver pulls over. The
lights come back on but go off again when the car moves forward again.
This happens again 5–6 times in less than a minute. Once their view of
the light is blocked, the lights come back on. The object moves on to
the southwest at incredible speed. (“Car Interference Case,” IUR 4, no.
6 (December 1979): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5978
Date: 9/3/1979
Description: 10:40 p.m. Two witnesses in Cape Charles, Virginia, see a
bright light zigzagging in an unusual manner for one minute in the
northeast. (“Virginia NL,” IUR 4, no. 6 (December 1979): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5979
Date: 9/4/1979
Description: 8:15 p.m. Two boys in Ashland, Wisconsin, watch a
cone-shaped object with a slightly curved bottom flopping around and
tumbling in the sky. They chase it on their bicycles but it outdistances
them. (“Tumbling Cone in Wisconsin,” IUR 4, no. 6 (December 1979):
7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5981
Date: 9/4/1979
Description: 7:45 p.m. Three men are driving north along Richmond
Township Road A near New Richmond, Wisconsin, when they see a silver
disc 500 feet to the west over some treetops. It moves toward the road
and crosses it at 10 mph behind their pickup, then pausing to hover
above a field 10 feet up. They jump out to watch the UFO wobbling about
300 feet away. Two more cars stop to watch. The object moves off to the
east, still wobbling. (“DD and Independent Witnesses,” IUR 4, no. 6
(December 1979): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5980
Date: 9/5/1979
Description: 3:40 a.m. Dr. Barbara Anaczkowska-Piazza, a driver, and a
stretcher bearer are taking a pregnant patient in an ambulance from
Żuławka Sztumska to the hospital at Sztum, Poland. As they are passing
through Tropy Sztumskie, they notice a large orange-red ball on their
left that seems to parallel them as they turn toward Kalwa. At one point
it looks so close that the driver fears it will block their way. It
seems to have two dark, horizontal bands across it. They turn back to a
railway crossing and alert the guards to the object, which is now less
bright and soon turns dark. The observation lasts 20 minutes. Although
there are some discrepancies in the accounts of its movement, Wim van
Utrecht and others are certain that it was the full moon setting. (Emma
Popik, “Under Intelligent Control?” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 6
(March 1981): 2–4; Poland 55–57; Wim van Utrecht, “Lunar Terror
in Poland: A Doctor’s Dilemma,” CENAP UFO-Forschung, October 31,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5982
Date: 9/5/1979
Description: 10 :45 a.m. Lawrence Hogan is driving on County Road MM one
mile east of Dresser, Wisconsin. A black dot moves over the trees ahead
of him about 50 feet up, slowing down 600 feet away and descending below
the tree line. He stops his truck to watch it move east. He sees that
the object is metallic and silent. He chases it, alternately moving and
hovering, for 5 minutes. (“Then, the Next Day,” IUR 4, no. 6 (December
1979): 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5983
Date: 9/9/1979
Description: 7:30 p.m. A salesman and some customers are outside in
Richfield, Minnesota, when they notice a silver form shaped like a truck
tire with a flat underside moving to the south. It hovers for 4–5
seconds before moving off only 80–90 feet away from them. (“Minnesota
Daylight CE I,” IUR 4, no. 6 (December 1979): 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5985
Date: 9/9/1979
Description: 4:30 a.m. A driver sees a bright amber light through her
windshield to the west in Streamwood, Illinois. It approaches, then
moves back to the west, dipping left and right. It approaches again,
floating downward and growing brighter. Red and yellow spikes of light
emanate from a bright white center. When she feels her face growing hot,
she pulls sharply onto another street. Looking through her rear-view
mirror, she sees the light make an abrupt turn to the left and disappear
in the north in a few seconds. By noon, her face is sunburned and sore;
the skin flakes off the next day and she quickly recovers. (“Case
4-5-4,” IUR 4, no. 5 (November 1979): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5984
Date: 9/11/1979
Description: 5:40 p.m. Donald Schultie watches a blue-gray object
approach him from the east in Millsboro, Delaware. His son and
councilwoman Dorothy Grey also see it. The UFO is an oblate sphere with
a flashing white light. He estimates it is 10 feet wide. It hovers
300–500 feet away in a nearby field for 5 minutes then moves up and away
to the northwest. (“Delaware DD,” IUR 4, no. 6 (December 1979): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5986
Date: 9/12/1979
Description: 11:00 p.m. A fire lookout at the Satus Peak tower on the
Yakama, Washington, Indian Reservation sees a large orange ball of light
between the Goat Rocks Wilderness Area and Mount Adams. It remains below
the skyline for the most part, slowly moving in a number of different
directions before fading from view. An hour and 15 minutes later, two
more orange balls appear in the area of Simon Butte. Moving erratically.
They are joined by a third light, and all fade away after 45 seconds.
The third ball apparently makes another appearance 5 minutes later and
is visible for 45 seconds. (“More NLs in Yakima,” IUR 4, no. 6 (December
1979): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5988
Date: 9/12/1979
Description: 8:45 p.m. A complete power failure takes place in Huaihua,
Hunan, China. At 9:00 p.m., a bright object appears overhead, emitting a
vertical stream of white rays. It flies upward at an angle and vanishes
soundlessly a minute later, leaving two masses of hemispherical luminous
clouds about 328 feet across. (Paul Dong and Wendelle C. Stevens, UFOs
over Modern China, UFO Photo Archives, 1983, p. 132)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5987
Date: 9/14/1979
Description: Disc with flamelike jets around perimeter hovered ahead of
car, darted from point to point. Took off at “very high speed”
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Canoga Park, CA
ID: 345
Date: mid 9/1979
Description: 4:30 a.m. Teenagers Holly Travis and Debbie LaRose wake up
at the Travis house in Sanford, Maine, and see through a window a huge,
orange, round object whose underside is clearly visible as it slowly
(10–15 mph) passes overhead, gently spinning on its axis, at about 500
feet elevation. It slowly descends behind the roof of the neighbor’s
house. (Richard Sigismond, “Four Huge Orange Discs and the Case for the
UFO,” IUR 8, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1983): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5989
Date: 9/16/1979
Description: Night. Curtis Olson is mowing hay on his farm near Lake
City, Minnesota, when he finds a circle of flattened corn 50 feet in
diameter. The stalks are flattened in a pattern radiating from the
center of the circle, and some are charred. He finds a path leading to
another circle 18 feet away. At first, he thinks lightning caused it,
but then he considers the possibility of a UFO. County Extension Agent
Matt
Metz thinks it might have been a combination of wind and decay. In
1987, Curtis’s uncle David Olson admits to creating the circles as a
practical joke, using his burlap-covered feet and a posthole tamper.
(“Farmer
Says UFO Caused
Field Damage,” Minneapolis Tribune, September 19, 1979, pp. 2B, 4B;
“Not
Everyone in Lake City Accepting
Prankster’s Confession
in UFO Mystery,” Minneapolis Star and Tribune, April 8, 1987,
pp. 1B, 6B; Clark III 602)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5990
Date: 9/17/1979
Description: 9:00 p.m. A witness driving in Portsmouth, Virginia, sees a
large star approaching her until it is only 30 feet up and less than a
block away. She says it seems as large as a three-story house and looks
like a gigantic faceted wedding cake with three layers. She hears a
muffled sound of a motor. One small green light is on the object’s side,
while the underside floods the ground with light. After 2 minutes, it
moves slowly off to the left. (“A Faceted Wedding Cake?” IUR 4. No. 6
(December 1979): 9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5991
Date: 9/19/1979
Description: Peter Gersten,
on behalf of Ground Saucer Watch, meets with CIA attorneys and Judge John
H. Pratt at US District Court for the District of Columbia. The CIA
has moved for summary judgment, asserting that the GSW requests for UFO
files are an “undue burden” and that the papers released so far are of
little importance. Pratt gives GSW 60 days to provide a written response
to the CIA motion. (MUFON UFO Journal, October 1979)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5992
Date: 9/20/1979
Description: 5:30 a.m. A woman is driving in Poplar Grove, Illinois,
when a pear-shaped blue light, surrounded by a white haze, engulfs her
van in blinding light. Her AM radio is racked with static. She floors
the accelerator to get away but can’t get past 40 mph. She recalls a
sense of lightness as if she and the van are floating. The next thing
she remembers is driving almost 6 miles further ahead at the
intersection of Beaverton and Poplar Grove Road. She stops a police car
for help, and her husband comes to pick her up. She sleeps abnormally
and exhibits bouts of hysteria for a while after the event. (“Case
4-5-5,” IUR 4, no. 5 (November 1979): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5993
Date: fall 1979
Description: MUFOB changes its name to Magonia, with a nod to Jacques
Vallée’s book Passport to Magonia. It continues until April 2009.
(Magonia, no.
1 (Autumn 1979); Clark III 706; “History
of Magonia,”
Magonia Archive)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5996
Date: 9/26/1979
Alternate date: 9/27/1979
Description: 8:45 p.m. Pat Gagliardo and another woman watch a single,
blinking white light moving above the treetops near Norwich,
Connecticut. They drive home to get two binoculars and another witness,
then see the light approaching them from the east, now visibly attached
to a boomerang-shaped object with the concave side toward them. It
stops, tumbles end over end, and moves toward them again, slowly passing
overhead, then shoots off to the east. (“Connecticut NL,” IUR 4, no. 6
(December 1979): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5994
Date: 9/29/1979
Description: 8:45 a.m. A screenwriter sees two bright silver spheres
moving above Hollywood, California. Each is somewhat smaller than a full
moon and are revolving counterclockwise around a common axis between
them. (“A Different Kind of Hollywood Spectacle,” IUR 4, no. 6 (December
1979): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5995
Date: 10/1979
Description: In a remote area near Melville, Saskatchewan, a CUFOS
investigator is looking into a cattle mutilation when his truck begins
swerving uncontrollably. He stops and gets out as he hears a low humming
noise in the nearby bush. Walking toward it, he feels sharp pains in his
back and his knees collapse. The hum becomes louder as he crawls back to
the truck and drives away. He loses his sense of direction and hears a
rapid clicking noise. The speedometer needle fluctuates wildly between
10 and 85 mph. Suddenly his disorientation leaves and he drives home.
(“Two
CE-IIs in Western Canada,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 4
(August 1980): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5998
Date: 10/1979
Description: Day. Cornel Alexandru Olteanu is gathering mushrooms in a
forest near Valea Berii near the source of the Teleajen River in the
Ciucaş Mountains, Romania. He notices a gray object like a car in a
clearing under a high cliff about 320 feet away. He walks toward it and
sees it looks more like a metallic disc with a turret and is sitting on
3–4 legs. Nearby are two little men about 4 feet tall who seem to be
working on something. They have large eyes, bald heads, and yellowish
skin, and they are dressed in a one-piece suit. Noticing him, they turn
toward Olteanu, who is suddenly unable to move. The men turn around and
climb up a ladder into the object. Flashing white lights come on and the
object takes off into the sky and over some trees, which bend over as if
they are going through a hurricane. After it is gone, Olteanu can move
again. He notices a yellowish stain at the landing site. (Romania
132–133)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5999
Date: 10/1979
Description: Construction for an F-117A Nighthawk support facility
begins at Tonopah Test Range inside Area 52, Nevada. The facility at
Area 51 serves as a model for the Tonopah project. (Jacobsen, Area 51,
p. 343)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 5997
Date: 10/4/1979
Description: 12:00 noon. A sales manager watches a silver, domed-shaped
object with a black flat bottom from a 38th- floor window on Madison
Avenue and 26th Street in New York City. It is seen by three others on
the same floor and two others on the floor immediately below. It moves
north and makes a sharp turn before apparently hitting the Empire State
Building. It clears the Pan Am building and flies off along the Hudson
River at a high altitude. (“The UFO That Almost Hit the Empire State
Building,” IUR 4, no. 6 (December 1979): 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6000
Date: 10/6/1979
Description: 7:30 p.m. A couple driving south on County Road 46 near
Amery, Wisconsin, see two red, luminous globes, each as large as the
full moon, hovering above the southeast horizon. They drive on another
2–3 miles watching them before the two objects join together and hovers
250 feet above the field to their left, bathing it in a pinkish glow.
(“Red Globes in Wisconsin,” IUR 4, no. 6 (December 1979): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6001
Date: 10/6/1979
Description: 9:30 p.m. A couple are driving on Interstate 35 east of
Barnum, Minnesota, when they see a ball of light 3–6 feet in diameter
approaching low over some trees. It rolls and bounces silently over the
top of the car in about 10 seconds. After driving another 500 feet, the
car’s engine dies and the headlights malfunction. The battery is so dead
that it can’t be jump-started. The alternator also has to be replaced.
The mechanic who does the repair work says that the interior looks like
a fire has gone through it (though not the exterior). (“Case 4-5-6,” IUR
4, no. 5 (November 1979): 12; Mark Rodeghier, “A
Summary of Vehicle Interference Reports and a Description of a Possible
Natural Phenomenon Causing Some Events,” The Spectrum of UFO
Research, CUFOS, 1988, p. 165)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6002
Date: 10/16/1979
Description: 6:10 p.m. Two witnesses on the east side of Saint Paul,
Minnesota, near Interstate 694 see a silvery domed disc with a flat
bottom traveling toward the southwest, moving up and down and drifting
about. (“Another Minnesota DD,” IUR 4, no. 6 (December 1979): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6003
Date: 10/20/1979
Description: 12:30 a.m. A 15-year-old boy in a farmhouse in Baldwin,
Wisconsin, sees two intese white lights circling counterclockwise over a
hayfield about 1,200 feet away. He goes outside for a closer look, but
the lights disappear. Three days later, the family finds a 30 foot-by-45
foot triangular area of brown and dried vegetation in the hayfield.
(“Wisconsin CE II?” IUR 4, no. 6 (December 1979): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6004
Date: 10/25/1979
Description: 5:56 p.m. A young man and his sister are driving through
Westmont, Illinois, and see a flat-bottomed object. Bright luminous
white in the middle, its outer edge is more yellow. It moves back and
forth, somersaults, and disappears. (“Illinois Flipping Disc?” IUR 4,
no. 6 (December 1979): 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6005
Date: 10/27/1979
Description: 6:15 a.m. Lou Blackburn takes three photographs of his
friends’ fishing boat coming out of the Motunau River on the South
Island of New Zealand. After it is developed, one of the slides shows a
cluster of about 19 blue-white lights in the sky. (Fred and Phyll
Dickeson, “The
Motunau, New Zealand, UFO Photograph,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2,
no. 6 (June 1981): 1, 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6006
Date: 10/27/1979
Description: Three Russian aircraft approaching Khatanga, Krasnoyarsk
Krai, Russia, encounter a large UFO about 850 feet long and only a
half-mile away with three spheres attached to it. Each sphere has three
portholes. The pilot of an Antonov An-26 transport cannot get his
compass to work properly unless it is directed at the object, which
paces the aircraft, flying over and around it. A similar object is seen
shortly afterward at Alykel Airport near Norilsk, and the Messoyakha Gas
Field. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020,
p. 95)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6007
Date: 10/29/1979
Description: In Hayden v. National Security Agency/Central Security
Service the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
rules that the records of the National Security Agency are so sensitive
to national security that they are afforded a “special dispensation”
from adversarial scrutiny through FOIA. (Hayden
v. National Security Agency
/ Central Security Service, US
Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, October 29, 1979)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6008
Date: 11/1979
Description: Colonel General Sapkov observes UFO changing colors and
hovering for 30 minutes over secret rocket test range (Kapustin Test
Range — where V-2 was tested)
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Test Range
Date: 11/1979
Description: During rocket tests at the Kapustin Yar site, Astrakhan
Oblast, Russia, a Col. Gen. Sapkov and other officers see a bright-green
elliptical object, occasionally changing hues, hover over the range for
30 minutes. Sapkov claims to see the same phenomenon in 1986 and is
assured by officers that this is a common occurrence. (Paul Stonehill
and Philip Mantle, The Soviet UFO Files: Paranormal Encounters behind
the Iron Curtain, Quadrillion, 1998, p. 51)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6009
Date: 11/4/1979
Description: Iran Hostage Crisis
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Iran
Date: 11/8/1979
Description: 7:00 p.m. Five teenage girls in West Palm Beach, Florida,
watch a round object with multiple lights, a door, and a bubble roof
descend to the east and hover there for 5 minutes. It rises again, flies
over a store near the witnesses and disappears over the southern
horizon. (“Palm Beach Puzzle,” IUR 4, no. 6 (December 1979): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6010
Date: 11/9/1979
Description: 10:30 a.m. Robert
Taylor, a 61-year-old forestry worker, is out one night working in
the Dechmont Woods near Livingston, Scotland. Taylor and his dog are on
duty when he spots a UFO hovering completely motionless and silent above
the ground. Described as approximately 20 feet across and 12 feet high,
the strange object is made of a “dark gray metallic material.” Taylor
thinks the UFO is possibly going transparent from time to time in order
to disguise itself. A ring or platform encircles the object with spikes
topped with propellers. Two more small spiky spheres come from the craft
and make a sound as their spikes move across the ground. Taylor is then
grabbed by these two smaller objects and dragged to the UFO. As this is
happening, he can smell a strong, sickening odor. Soon after this, he
loses consciousness and remains passed out about 20 minutes. He is woken
up by his dog, which is running around and barking in a panic. He hears
a kind of hissing sound and realizes that the craft is beginning to
leave. Seconds later the UFO disappears. Taylor is unable to walk or
talk properly after the event. He suffers from a headache, sickness, and
pain in his chin for some hours afterward. Authorities are appointed to
investigate the site and find tracks where Taylor says the smaller
spheres were dragging him. (Wikipedia, “Robert
Taylor incident”; NICAP, “Taylor Incident”; Steuart Campbell, “Close
Encounter in Scotland,”
Journal of Transient Aerial Phenomena 1, no. 2 (March 1980): 43–46;
Martin Keatman and Andrew Collins, “Physical
Assault by Unidentified Objects at Livingston, Part I,” Flying
Saucer Review 25, no. 6 (April 1980): 2–7; Martin Keatman and Andrew
Collins, “Physical
Assault by Unidentified Objects at Livingston, Part II,”
Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 1 (June 1980): 25–28; Martin Keatman and
Andrew Collins, “Physical
Assault by
Unidentified Objects at Livingston, Part III,” Flying Saucer Review
26, no. 3 (September 1980): 1–4; “A Scottish Abduction?” IUR/Frontiers
of Science 2, no. 5 (July/Aug. 1980): 15–16; Steuart Campbell, “Close Encounter
at Livingston,” ed., Charles F. Lockwood and Leslie W. Bayer, BUFORA
Case History No. 1, July 1982; Patrick Gross, “Dechmont
Woods, Scotland, November 9, 1979”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6011
Date: 11/11/1979
End date: 11/12/1979
Description: 11:00 p.m. Flight JK-297, a TAE Supercaravelle outbound
from Salzburg, Austria, has just made a refueling stop on Mallorca,
Balearic Islands, Spain, before setting course toward Las Palmas in the
Canary Islands. Pilot Francisco Javier Lerdo de Tejada and his crew
notice a set of red lights that are fast approaching the aircraft. They
appear to be on a collision course, alarming the crew. The captain
requests information about the lights, but neither the Pegaso Defense
Radar Center in Torrejón Air Base, Madrid, nor the flight control center
in Barcelona can provide any explanation. In order to avoid a possible
collision, the captain changes altitude. However, the lights mirror the
new course and stay about 1,600 feet away from the plane. Since the
object is violating all elementary safety rules and the crew considers
an evasive maneuver impossible, the captain decides to go off-course and
make an emergency landing at the Manises airport in Valencia. The lights
abandon the pursuit just before the aircraft lands. However, three new
UFO targets are detected by the radar, each one with an estimated
diameter of 650 feet. The objects are seen by several witnesses. One of
the UFOs passes very close to the airport runway, and emergency lights
are lit by the land crew in case the object happens to be an
unregistered flight experiencing difficulties. Because the object
answers no attempts to communicate, a Mirage F-1 takes off at 2:10 a.m.
from the nearby Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete to intercept the object.
The pilot, Spanish Air Force captain Fernando Cámara, has to increase
his speed to 920 mph just to achieve visual contact with what he sees as
a truncated cone-shaped object. Despite his initial efforts, the object
quickly disappears. Cámara is told of a new radar target, indicating
that another object might be near Sagunto. When he is close enough, the
object accelerates and disappears again. This time, though, the UFO
seems to respond, and the Mirage has its electronic flight systems
jammed. At last, and after a third intercept attempt, the UFO finally
disappears, heading for Africa. After 90 minutes of pursuit, the pilot
is forced to return to the base with no results. (Wikipedia, “Manises
UFO incident”;
NICAP, “Spanish
Radar Visual Case? Probably Not”; “Spanish Radar Visual Case,” IUR
4, no. 6 (December 1979): 14–15; Good Above, pp. 156–157;
Juan José Benitez, “Jetliner
‘Intercepted’ by UFO near Valencia,”
Flying Saucer Review 25, no. 5 (March 1980): 13–15; J. J. Benítez,
Incidente en Manises, Plaza y Janés, 1982; J. Plana Crivellén, “Encounters
in Spanish Air-Space between Aircraft and UFOs,” Flying Saucer
Review 34, no. 1 (March 1989): 22–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6012
Date: 11/14/1979
Description: 8:10 p.m. A witness near Killaly, Saskatchewan, sees a
white light land in a field about a quarter mile to the south of her
house and then go out. Her dogs keep snarling and barking all night
long. The next morning her husband passes the field and notices that it
is emitting a dense cloud of smoke. He finds a ring of smoldering grass
some 30 feet in diameter, but with snow still visible in the center. The
unburnt grass next to it is flattened. (“Two CE-IIs
in Western Canada,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 4 (August
1980): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6013
Date: 11/15/1979
Description: 5:00 p.m. A group of children playing in Chiraleș, Romania,
see a milky-white object that looks like a mace head with protuberances
moving silently from north to south about 50 feet from the ground. It
appears to be 3 feet in diameter and lands at a nearby mound. The
children run toward the mound but stop when they see two glowing objects
land on it with tripod legs. Two little men 2.5 feet tall, dressed in
metallic costumes with antennae, come out of one of the objects through
a door and walk around with a bouncing motion. The children keep
approaching, so the men run back into the craft, which takes off in a
burst of red-orange flames. Small circular impressions are found,
although they get disturbed by curious onlookers. (Romania
134–135)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6014
Date: 11/15/1979
Description: 9:00 p.m. Two teenage boys in Gadsden, Alabama, see a domed
disc the size of a house approach them from the south until it is 900
feet away and 750 feet in the air. The light underneath it is so bright
that it illuminates the entire object. It makes a U-turn and passes
overhead as it moves south with a jerky motion. (“Alabama Saucer,” IUR
5, no. 1 (January 1980): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6015
Date: 11/17/1979
Description: 2:30 p.m. A 13-year-old boy is walking home from school
through a clearing in the woods in Pound Ridge, New York, when he sees
what looks like a solid, 3-foot-tall maple tree surrounded by an
electric glow. It hovers for 3 seconds only 12 feet away from him, then
shoots straight up into the sky, changing color from green to red. (“A
Flying Tree in New York?” IUR 5, no. 1 (January 1980): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6016
Date: 11/17/1979
Description: 4:20 p.m. The underground Pegaso Defense Radar Center at
Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, detects an unknown target some 25
miles south of Motril, Grenada, and a Mirage F1 is scrambled from Los
Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Castilla–La Mancha. By the time the jet
arrives in the vicinity, the target has disappeared. At 6:16 p.m., the
pilot is heading back to Los Llanos when he sees three powerful
red-yellow lights in the shape of a triangle about 12 miles away. They
do not register on radar. In spite of chasing the lights at 720 mph, the
Mirage cannot close the gap. During his descent into Los Llanos, some
childish, laughing voices break into the UHF-1 channel linking him to
Pegaso: “Hello, how are you? Hello, hello,” they say in Spanish. The
interference lasts 30 seconds. (“El
OVNI que sobrevoló la ciudad de Motril,” OVNI: ¿Mitologia o
Realidad?, May 24, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6017
Date: 11/18/1979
Description: 1:15 a.m. A man in Antioch, California, watches a bright
red light flying from east to the northeast. It stops for 3–5 seconds
and changes to purple then pale blue and moves off. (“Fast NL in
California,” IUR 5, no. 1a (January 1980): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6018
Date: 11/26/1979
Description: 5:00 a.m. A phone call to police in Pontoise, Val d’Oise,
France, brings officers to the apartment of Jean-Pierre Prevost, 25, a
clothing seller, who has claimed that a colleague, Franck Fontaine, has
been abducted by a UFO. Fontaine reappears on December 3, claiming to
remember only that a luminous fog had descended on his car and he woke
up later in a cabbage field. GEPAN investigates and finds the story
problematic. On July 7, 1983, Prevost confesses that the story was a
hoax intended to promote a spiritual message. (Enquête
GEPAN 79/07:
A propos d’une disparition, Note Technique no. 6, Groupe d’Étude des
Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non- identifiés, Centre Nationale d’Étude
Spatiales, March 31, 1981; “French Abduction: ‘Travis Walton’ Style,”
IUR 5, no. 1 (January 1980): 3; Jacques Bonabot, “1979 Fontaine Case Now
Admitted to Be a Hoax,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 190 (December 1983): 10;
“Cergy-Pontoise
Hoax,” Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology; Clark III
230–232)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6019
Date: 11/27/1979
Description: 4:25 p.m. Yvette Godfrey is assistant manager of a spa in
the Barker Shopping Plaza off State Highway 82 near the Connecticut
Turnpike in Norwich, Connecticut. She sees a cigar-shaped object
hovering at an angle directly above the Norwich Sheraton Motor Inn about
30 feet above the Sheraton sign on the roof. Other women at the spa
observe it too. It moves a bit to the south and stops again for a minute
before turning west into the clouds. (“Connecticut Cigar,” IUR 5, no. 1
(January 1980): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6021
Date: 11/27/1979
Description: A 13-year-old girl (“Christelle”) in France is terrorized
by the landing of a UFO and the sight of one of its crew. GEPAN
investigates the landing traces. Grass is flattened for several days
after the incident, and samples are taken to Paul Sabatier University in
Toulouse for analysis. Prof. André Touzé of the university’s Center for
Plant Physiology says there is no “unequivocal evidence of chemical of
biological disturbance of the samples.” (Enquête
GEPAN no. 79/06, Note
Technique no. 8, Groupe d’Étude des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-
identifiés, Centre Nationale d’Étude Spatiales, October 26, 1981; Peter
A. Sturrock, The UFO Enigma, Warner, 1999, pp. 97–98)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6020
Date: 11/30/1979
Description: 8:00 p.m. At Playa el Combate beach outside Pole Ojea,
Puerto Rico, Ramonés Torres and his wife are watching television when
they see a bright light hanging at a height of 100 feet above the sea
about 900 feet from their house. After about 30 minutes it moves down
toward the sea, flares up, and goes out. Torres goes back to the TV set,
but after 15 minutes the light returns, this time shining brightly
through the window. The light is on a platform floating on the sea only
130–140 feet away, approaching at about 8 mph, and they can see a small
man on it about 4 feet high wearing silvery-white coveralls and a big
helmet. Suddenly the platform reverses and the light goes out. (Jorge
Martín, “A
Small Alien Being Seen in Puerto Rico,” Flying Saucer Review 44, no.
3 (Autumn 1999): 21–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6022
Date: 12/1979
Description: The Moscow City Committee of the Soviet Communist Party
forbids all activities of the BVPTS civilian UFO group, but it persists
into the 1980s. (Nikita A. Schnee, “Ufology
in the USSR,” Flying Saucer Review 27, no. 1 (June 1981): 8–10;
Nikita A. Schnee, “Comments,”
AFU Newsletter, no. 27 (Jan./Dec. 1984): 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6023
Date: 12/1/1979
Description: The US Strategic Air Command assumes control of the
ballistic missile warning system and all Space Surveillance Network
facilities from the deactivating Aerospace Defense Command, with data
streams continuing to flow to NORAD. NORAD retains the radar networks
and operates many radar sites jointly with the FAA as Semi-Automatic
Ground Environment. (Wikipedia, “Strategic
Air Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6024
Date: 12/3/1979
Description: 7:45 p.m. Chris and Ralph Smith of Shag Harbour, Nova
Scotia, see a shiny, semicircular object with red and yellow fire
beneath it hover for 5 minutes before it disappears into the sea. (Chris
Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022,
pp. 102–103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6025
Date: 12/3/1979
Description: 10:20 p.m. Former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer
John Pushie takes 7 photos (four of which turn out) of a bright light
from his home 7 miles west of Sydney, Nova Scotia. The light hovers in
one spot then moves quickly away at one point. He shows them to the
commanding officer of CFS Sydney Radar Base [now closed] in Lingan Road,
who says he wants to send them to the National Research Council. One
month later they are returned with a note saying that Pushie had
photographed the star Vega. (“Former
RCMP Officer Photographs UFO
near Sydney N.S.,” Journal UFO 2, no. 4 (March 1981): 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6026
Date: 12/4/1979
Description: 5:00 p.m. Two witnesses are driving on State Highway 32
near Mansfield Depot, Connecticut, when they see a bright,
football-shaped “cloud” hovering low over the trees to the north,
turning slowly. The driver stops just north of the intersection with US
Highway 44. The object is now seen to have a complex shape with multiple
lights as it hovers above some power poles to the west. It starts moving
slowly to the south. The witnesses try to follow it but lose sight of
it. (“Six Days Later in Connecticut,” IUR 5, no. 1 (January 1980):
4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6027
Date: 12/5/1979
Description: 5:55 p.m. Norma White watches a bright star from her
restaurant in Ansted, West Virginia. It remains stationary for 15
minutes at a height of 2,000 feet over the mountains to the north. Then
it approaches her, passing overhead at 100 mph. It hurts her eyes to
look at it. Then the light goes out, allowing her to see a Y-shaped
object emitting a dull green light. Clusters of red lights are at the
three points of the Y. It silently turns and flies off to the east.
Other lights appear in the sky (18 or so) and are observed by police
officers Charles Crosier and Dan Cohenour. (“The Mini-Flap of West
Virginia,” IUR 5, no. 1a (January 1980): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6028
Date: 12/6/1979
Description: 6:29 a.m. An Archuleta County deputy sheriff is driving
west on US Highway 160 in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, when he sees an
orange-gold light in the western sky. It quickly grows to the size of a
fuzzy full moon in 2–3 seconds. Holding its position, it vanishes
without a sound. (“Colorado UFO: Head On?” IUR 5, no. 1 (January 1980):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6029
Date: 12/7/1979
Description: 10:10 p.m. A couple sees a milky-white object while driving
through Madison, Connecticut. They pull over on Bishop Lane and watch it
make abrupt changes of direction for a few minutes before it fades from
sight. (“Connecticut Disc,” IUR 5, no. 1a (January 1980): 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6030
Date: 12/9/1979
Description: 9:45 p.m. US Coast Guard Storekeeper 1st Class Michal
Williams sees a stationary white light above the Mississippi River near
the dam in Keokuk, Iowa. It lights up the river below it. The light
moves straight up at high speed, changing from white to red and coming
to an abrupt stop. The light goes out. Williams and a radioman see it
again in the northeast and view it through binoculars. It has two red
lights and a white light flashing irregularly. It flies around the dam
and into the west-northwest in a matter of seconds. (“Coast Guard
Sighting in Iowa,” IUR 5, no. 1a (January 1980): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6032
Date: 12/9/1979
Description: 9:15 a.m. French Air Force Capt. Jean-Pierre Fartek and his
wife observe an oscillating UFO hovering near the ground in front of a
row of apple trees at his home in a village near Dijon, Côte d’Or,
France. It looks like two “reversed saucers pressed against each other,”
gray-metal above and dark blue below, with no lights or portholes. He
describes the sighting to Gen. Denis
Letty, who
includes the case in the 1999 COMETA report. (“1979:
Air Force Captain Jean-Pierre Fartek Spots UFO,” UFO Casebook,
September 14, 2010; Kean, pp. 124– 126)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6031
Date: 12/11/1979
Description: 11:45 a.m. Flight instructor Leslie Groves is tutoring a
pupil aboard a Cessna 150 flying at 4,500 feet south of Bolton, Greater
Manchester, England, when he spots something strange that appears to
come out of a cloud above Winter Hill. It is clearly a solid ball of
white light that is passing in and out of the clouds. He asks the
student to bank in order to minimize any risk of a collision. By now the
object is pulling away in an arc described as a “well-controlled
swooping motion” at about 2,500 feet. (Ron Sergeant and Jenny Randles,
“Aircraft
in Encounters
over Bolton,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 1 (June 1980):
19–21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6033
Date: 12/13/1979
Description: 4:00 a.m. Two truckers (Wang Dingyuan and Wang Jianming)
are driving separate vehicles on the Lanxi-Xin’angiang Highway near
Longwangmiao, Zhejiang, China, when they see a bright beam of light
ahead. When the lead driver sees two “unusual human beings” standing on
the highway, he stops. They are short, perhaps 4.5 feet tall, and wear
what look like spacesuits. The second driver also stops but does not see
the beings, which soon vanish. The drivers decide to switch vehicles. A
few miles down the road, the new lead driver sees the same entities, and
the men again stop the trucks. The drivers turn their lights off and on,
but the beings remain. When one of the drivers emerges with a crowbar,
they disappear. (Paul Dong and Wendelle C. Stevens, UFOs over Modern
China, UFO Photo Archives, 1983, pp. 140–141; Good Above, pp. 214–215)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6034
Date: 12/20/1979
Description: 4:30 a.m. A pilot and two other witnesses are driving near
Therien, Alberta, when they see an elongated object drop from 1,000 feet
to 200 feet, turning red as it descends, for about 5–10 minutes. It
crashes into the ground not too far away from their car. They can feel
the impact. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified, August Night,
2022, p. 103)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6035
Date: 12/23/1979
Description: 3:30 p.m. A salesman exiting the Orange Freeway at
Riverside in Northeast Anaheim, California, sees an object silently pass
over him at 300 feet up. The front part is octagonal and the rear is a
rectangle. (“A California ‘Whatsit.’” IUR 5, no. 1a (January 1980):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6036
Date: 12/27/1979
Description: 11:15 a.m. Two construction workers are driving south on
Knott Street in Coquille, Oregon, when they see a bright flash in the
southern sky. It is caused by a reflection off a thin, metallic, domed
object wobbling nearby. It is about 40–50 feet in diameter and 6–7 feet
thick. The object descends to about 1,000 feet. The witnesses try to
drive closer and look at it through inexpensive binoculars as it flies
down the valley before it disappears to the south. (“Daylight Disc in
Oregon,” IUR 5, no. 1a (January 1980): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6037
Date: 12/27/1979
Description: Night. A car factory worker at Halewood, Merseyside,
England, is walking home when he senses something behind him. Turning
around, he sees a floating white sphere, several feet in diameter,
heading silently toward him. He watches it pass, and the tingling at the
back of his neck intensifies. When it is about 20 feet ahead, it stops
and shoots to the southwest at a 45° angle. The man’s hair remains
charged with static for two days. (Jenny Randles, “The Twelve UFOs of
Christmas,” Fortean Times 374 (Christmas 2018): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6038
Date: 12/30/1979
Description: After presenting his findings to the GEPAN Scientific
Council, Claude
Poher resigns as director. His position is not made public, but it
meets with strong opposition from the media. Poher then takes a one-year
leave of absence from CNES to sail around the world with his family in a
boat he has built himself. Mathematician Alain
Esterle replaces Poher as GEPAN director, remaining until 1983.
Under his direction, GEPAN is productive, issuing a series of detailed
technical notes on cases. (J. Allen Hynek, “GEPAN: France’s Official UFO
Agency,” IUR 5, no. 1 (January 1980): 6–8; Gildas Bourdais, “From GEPAN
to SEPRA: Official UFO Studies in France,” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter
2000–2001): 12–13; Clark III 546)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6039
Date: 12/31/1979
Description: 4:00 a.m. A family in Demopolis, Alabama, wakes up to the
sound of their dogs barking wildly. When one witness goes outside to
quiet them, he sees a bright, triangular object the size of a house
hovering above trees about 1,200 feet away. It approaches in a zigzag
path. (Demopolis (Ala.) Times, January 4, 1979; Marler 172)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6040
Date: 1980’s
Description: Area-51 workers and widows said that throughout the 1980s
the Air Force and its contractors regularly filled 55-gallon drums with
toxic wastes, emptied them into football-field size trenches, doused
them with jet-fuel and burned them. They claimed that the U.S. Air Force
generated and mishandled hazardous substances, and that the
Environmental Protection Agency failed to take necessary action to
enforce the requirements of the resource conservation act against the
Air Force.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Area 51
Date: 1980
Description: Ann
Druffel and D.
Scott Rogo publish The Tujunga Canyon Contacts, a report on their
investigations into a series of abductions and UFO-related events in
California involving several women over a period of 25 years. (Ann
Druffel and D. Scott Rogo, The Tujunga Canyon Contacts, Prentice-Hall,
1980; Clark III 415)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6041
Date: 1980
Description: Richard
F. Haines, an
aerospace psychologist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View,
California, publishes Observing UFOs, a technical book on analyzing UFO
reports. (Richard F. Haines, Observing UFOs: An Investigative Handbook,
Nelson-Hall, 1980)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6042
Date: 1980
Description: Alejandro
Agostinelli and Juan Carlos Zabalgoitia establish the Centro de
Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos No Convencionales in Buenos Aires,
Argentina, and publish three issues of a boletín informativo. (CEFANC
Boletin Informativo, no.
1 (Jan./March 1980))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6043
Date: 1980
Description: An All-Russian Research Public Organization is launched
informally by Russian science-fiction writer Alexander Kazantsev, aerospace
engineer Vadim
Chernobrov, astronaut Georgy
Beregovoy, and other enthusiasts to explore the mysteries of the
universe and nature, research new ways of space technology development,
and collect information about UFOs and anomalous events in the Soviet
Union. (Wikipedia, “Kosmopoisk”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6044
Date: 1980
Description: Donald Goldsmith and Tobias Owen publish The Search for
Life in the Universe, an open-minded textbook on SETI. (Donald Goldsmith
and Tobias Owen, The
Search for Life in the Universe, Benjamin/Cummings,
1980; Michael D. Swords, “SETI/ETI and UFOs,” JUFOS 5 (1994):
147–151)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6045
Date: 1980
Description: During interception exercises, seven MiG-12s from the
Mierzęcice Air Base [now Katowice Airport], Poland, notice a
saucer-shaped object with flashing lights approaching them. It has a
blue-gray cupola on top and is three times bigger than any of the
aircraft. It flies to each of the MiGs and maneuvers around them.
(Poland 65)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6046
Date: 1/1980
Description: 11:00 p.m. A Brazilian electronics businessman and 9 others
see a disc-shaped object shine a light down on the water near the
eastern bank of the Rio Tapajós 30 miles south of Santarém, Brazil. The
man, his family, and some relatives are camping at a beach. Several
teenagers are still awake, lying in hammocks and talking, when they see
the UFO come across the river, stopping about 30 yards from the beach
and shining a light on the water 60 feet below. The UFO hovers briefly
then begins moving north, parallel to the shore. It travels more than
half a mile, with the spotlight shining straight down before it
disappears. The light beam leaves a trail of luminescence for several
hundred yards. (Bob Pratt, UFO Danger Zone: Terror and Death in
Brazil—Where Next?, Horus House, 1996, pp. 146–147;
Carl W. Feindt, “Beam of Light into a Body of Water,” IUR 33, no. 3
(December 2010): 22–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6048
Date: 1/1980
Description: The Gemeinschaft zur Erforschung unbekannter Phänomene
(later Gesellschaft zur Erforschung des UFO- Phänomens) publishes the
first issue of Journal für UFO-Forschung in Lüdenscheid, North
Rhine–Westphalia, Germany, which is still in operation in 2022. (Journal
für UFO-Forschung, no. 1 (January 1980); Journal für UFO-Forschung
website)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6047
Date: 1/10/1980
Description: The NSA’s Roy R. Banner releases two UFO-related documents
to Peter Gersten, but
states that the original 18 he has requested are exempt from release
because of national security, adding that the NSA is reviewing 79 other
documents originating with other federal agencies. (ClearIntent, pp. 182–187)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6049
Date: 1/13/1980
Description: 9:00 p.m. Brenda Simanski and Janine Mattson quit their
shift at the Seminary Nursing Home on Pioneer Road in Red Wing,
Minnesota. Standing in the parking lot, they see a star making a bizarre
zigzag pattern. It moves above them and they see it is a triangle 15
feet wide and 20 feet long with two white lights in front, blue lights
in two of the corners, and a red light between the blue ones. Three
other witnesses come out of the building and also watch the object,
which leaves slowly and silently to the north-northwest. (“5
Watch Tree-Hovering UFO
for 6 Minutes, ‘Won’t Say It’s from Space,’” Red Wing (Minn.)
Republican Eagle, January 15, 1980, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no.
128 (March 1980): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6050
Date: 1/14/1980
Description: 6:05 a.m. Truck driver William Barrett is on an early
delivery run from Burnley to Todmorden, West Yorkshire, England, when he
hears a deep humming sound. Looking ahead, he sees a machine with flames
underneath hovering at a lay-by off the roadside. He slows his truck to
a near crawl and moves past the object, which looks like a “toast rack”
with curved sides and three red glows emerging from the edge to create a
misty fuzziness obscuring the base. Now only 25 feet away, he sees that
it has a bell- or tortoiseshell shape with a metallic sheen and a tube
sticking up from the top. The red glows emerge from under a rim that
runs around the lower part of the object. He can now see two figures
standing in front of the object, one standing erect and wearing a
uniform with a peaked cap, and the other crouched forward, wearing a
silvery-gray jump suit. As he passes, the arc lights on the object start
flickering like a disco. His headlights go out, and his mind gets hazier
and he loses consciousness. He experiences missing time until he jerks
awake sometime around 8:30 a.m. (Jenny Randles, “Close Encounter in UFO
Alley,” IUR 26, no. 1 (Spring 2001): 3–8, 28–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6051
Date: 1/17/1980
Description: 10:30 p.m. Chilean astronomer Fernando
Noël is at his home in the eastern suburbs of Santiago, Chile, when
he sees a luminous point of light at 20° elevation moving from southwest
to west. It is silent and resembles a satellite. He calls two other
witnesses, during which time the object disappears. At 10:45 p.m., he
sees a bright light moving slowly toward the zenith. Looking more
closely, he sees it is actually a group of 30 objects in a V- formation.
Each individual light of the group is pale white with a slight tint of
yellow. The formation moves from 20° above the western horizon to about
20° above the eastern horizon before disappearing gradually. The
duration is approximately 2 minutes. (“Unidentified
Atmospheric Phenomena Observed by an Astronomer,” Journal of
Scientific Exploration 7, no. 4 (1993): 439–441)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6052
Date: 1/21/1980
Description: 11:40 p.m. Seven women are driving home in two cars from a
bridge game near Council Bluffs, Iowa. The first car with six witnesses,
including Marilyn Anderson, sees a cluster of lights in the western sky
as they are driving on Pioneer Trail. The lights are hovering about
200–300 feet above a bluff less than a city block away. When they stop
the car to get out for a closer look, the lights speed away to the
southwest. The seventh woman, in a separate car behind them, does not
see the lights, but Anderson tells her about them when she pulls up. She
continues driving home, but when she gets to Longview Drive, her car
stalls, and the radio and lights go out. She restarts the car, but it
stalls out another quarter-mile away. A bright orange light appears in a
cornfield about 900 feet away with an intensity that hurts her eyes.
Scared, she locks herself inside the car and passes out. When she wakes
up, her car is turned sideways across the road, but she is able to drive
it home. She can still see the orange light from her kitchen window, but
she has some blotches and redness on her skin that fades by 4:20 a.m.
(“Possible Abduction in Iowa,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 2, no. 5
(July/Aug. 1980): 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6053
Date: 1/23/1980
Description: Peter Gersten files
an appeal with the NSA to release more UFO material. (ClearIntent, p. 187)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6054
Date: 1/24/1980
Description: 1:00 p.m. A. Golotikin is working as a mechanic aboard the
Brilliant, a Russian fishing trawler operating 20–30 miles off the coast
of Western Sahara. He and the rest of the crew see a black, cigar-shaped
object moving slowly toward the ship in complete silence. They watch it
for 5–7 minutes through binoculars, then it disappears as it gets closer
to the ship. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk,
2020, pp. 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6055
Date: 2/1980
Description: The Australian Centre for UFO Studies begins publishing the
Journal of the Australian Centre for UFO Studies, edited by Harry
Griesberg and Keith
Basterfield, until
at least November 1985. (Journal
of the Australian Centre
for UFO Studies 1, no. 1 (February 1980))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6056
Date: 2/7/1980
Description: 9:50 p.m. Daryl Browne, a ranch hand at the Glenalta horse
ranch near Stirling, South Australia, is watching TV when he hears dogs
howling and timber crashing outside. His two guard dogs are howling in
fear. Outside he sees a yellow half-moon-shaped object about 25–30 feet
long. It is 100 feet up in the branches of a 230-foot-tall cypress tree,
branches bending under its weight. The trunk shows large gouges. Browne
calls the police, but the object is gone by the time they arrive. For 2
days, Browne’s dogs refuse to go near the tree. (“UFO Smashes Tree in
Australia,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 2, no. 5 (July/Aug. 1980):
16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6057
Date: 2/21/1980
Description: 11:15 a.m. An 11-year-old girl getting ready for bed in
Stamford, Connecticut, looks through a window and sees a large white
oval of light low in the west-northwest sky, apparently four times the
size of the moon. Her grandmother joins her and watches the object,
which is swinging with a pendulum motion. It is still visible about 30
minutes later. The family’s German shepherd dog barks continually at it
while it is visible and for 20 minutes after it is last viewed. (Allan
Hendry, “Unusual
Backyard Visitor,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 2 (June 1980):
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6058
Date: 2/25/1980
Description: 2:30 p.m. Oil worker Rusty Pennington is watching a pump a
quarter mile west of Youngsville, Pennsylvania. Suddenly he hears an
explosion that lasts only a split second and sees a domed disc to the
left of his truck. He estimates the object is 20 feet wide and 6–8 feet
high. Flying at treetop level, it streaks silently downward from
southwest to northeast and disappears in the distance. (“Daylight Disc
in Pennsylvania,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 2, no. 5 (July/Aug. 1980):
14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6059
Date: 2/28/1980
Description: The National Enquirer runs an article, “Former Intelligence
Officer Reveals ‘I picked up wreckage of UFO that exploded over U.S.’”
that includes a portion of a December 1979 interview by Bob
Pratt with Jesse Marcel
Sr. as a pre-publication teaser for Berlitz and
Moore’s
forthcoming book. (Patrick Gross, “Roswell
1947: First
Ufologists Investigations”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6060
Date: 3/1980
Description: Nanotechnologist Robert
A. Freitas Jr. advocates searching for alien probes or artifacts on
planets, satellites, and asteroids because it is more cost-effective
than looking for distant radio signals. (Robert A. Freitas Jr., “Interstellar
Probes: A New Approach to SETI,” Journal of the British
Interplanetary Society 33 (1980): 95–100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6061
Date: early 3/1980
Description: 9:45 p.m. Fred Wirth Jr. steps outside his home in
Bulverde, Texas, and sees a large orange glow 45° up in the northern sky
about 100 feet above his property, lighting it up with an orange glow.
After hovering silently, it shoots up in the air and stops, now
appearing as a red, blinking dot. His wife joins him but instantly
becomes nauseous and throws up. He starts sweating profusely. (“Strange
Reactions to Huge Glow,” IUR/Probe, September 1980, pp. 74–75)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6062
Date: 3/7/1980
Description: 12:10 a.m. Former Navy pilot Larry Crawford sees a
star-like light moving 700–800 mph at 30,000 feet above Memphis,
Tennessee. While he is watching it move for 10 seconds, it executes a
hairpin turn. (“Pilot: ‘No Human Could Have Survived Turns Like That!’”
IUR/Probe, September 1980, pp. 75, 78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6063
Date: 3/8/1980
Description: Object buzzed car, jetlike sound, bright illumination. Dog
howled as if his ears hurt
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Wilmington, NC
ID: 346
Date: 3/12/1980
Description: 12:45 a.m. At least 10 witnesses, including city police and
county sheriff deputies, watch an odd light maneuvering, climbing, and
descending in the sky above Gladstone, Michigan. (“Much Ado about
Little?” IUR/Probe, September 1980, p. 78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6064
Date: 3/13/1980
Description: 7:50 p.m. A subcontractor on a job is driving near Haselor,
Warwickshire, England, when he sees a white, cigar-shaped object with a
steady red glow on either end pass in front of his windshield. The
steering wheel instantly becomes hot, causing him to lift his hands off
the wheel. He maneuvers the car off the road until it cools enough to
steer. (Tony Green, “Witness
Burned by Passing UFO,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 5 (January
1981): 32–33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6065
Date: 3/15/1980
Description: 8:00 p.m. A couple in Bannock, Ohio, Spot a bright light in
the southwestern sky. They watch it for 20 minutes before it approaches
their home. The light is a spotlight attached to a large cigar-shaped
object with red and blue lights along its length. The spotlight switches
off as it passes overhead and moves to the northwest. (“Chief
Investigator Allan Hendry Reports: Huge Cigar UFO in Ohio,” CUFOS
Associate Newsletter 1, no. 4 (August 1980): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6066
Date: 3/22/1980
Description: Three smaller objects were observed on airport radar
joining a larger, brighter object, then separating again
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Burlington, VT
ID: 347
Date: 3/22/1980
Description: Stringfield meets
with two new sources in Erie, Pennsylvania, who show him three photos
allegedly showing an alien cadaver encased in glass in Wright-Patterson
AFB near Dayton, Ohio. He is suspicious and tries to verify them. (MUFON
UFO Journal, December 1980)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6067
Date: 3/22/1980
Description: 10:00–11:00 p.m. Burlington (Vermont) International Airport
radar tracks three small objects that join with a larger, brighter
object then separate again. They are apparently over Malletts Bay.
Speeds of up to 1,500 mph are recorded, and the objects quickly
disappear to the west. Traffic controller Donald Kernan says the lights
“did a kind of dance.” (NICAP, “Satellite
Objects on RADAR”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6068
Date: 3/24/1980
Description: 7:30 p.m. When his dog starts barking furiously, James
Balkcom notices a bright light moving along the railroad tracks in
James, Georgia, at treetop level. It comes to a stop and hovers above
the home of Benton Evans. The Evanses go outside to watch the light,
which has colored lights blinking inside it. After 5–10 minutes, it
begins moving along the tracks again with a pulsing “shh-shh” noise.
(“Low-Flying Georgian Globe,” IUR/Probe, September 1980,
pp. 78–79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6070
Date: 3/24/1980
Description: The NSA issues a general denial of releasing all of its UFO
materials to the public as requested by Peter Gersten. (ClearIntent,
p. 187)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6069
Date: 3/25/1980
Description: 10:15 p.m. Debbie Harris and Sheri Gustafson are driving on
the Dayton–Xenia Road three miles east of Dayton, Ohio, when Harris
notices bright, beaming lights in the sky. They assume it is an
illuminated tower, but when they pull over, it appears to be about 25
feet above the ground and 210 feet away. The lights seem to come from an
airplane-sized object with a green light, a red light, and crossed white
beams. After hovering to their north for about 2 minutes, it shoots off
rapidly to the northeast and disappears behind a hill. (“Ohio
Close Encounter,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 3 (July 1980): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6071
Date: 4/1980
Description: A farmer in central Texas is walking through his pasture to
check on a cow that is about to give birth. Instead, he sees two
nonhuman creatures carrying a calf between them, each holding one of its
limbs. They are about 4 feet high and light yellow-green in color. He
runs away and does not return to the location for two days, whereupon he
finds the carcass of the calf. It looks as though it has been turned
inside out, and only the head, feet, and hide remain. Researcher Tom
Adams says the farmer is extremely reluctant to discuss the incident
any further. (MUFON UFO Journal, July/August 1984)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6072
Date: 4/2/1980
Description: Car drove into “fog,” headlights deflected upwards, driver
abducted onto silvery domed object with portholes, examined on metallic
table
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Pudasjarvi, Finland
ID: 348
Date: 4/6/1980
Description: 9:00 p.m. William Meara and his wife Brenda are driving on
I-84 just south of its intersection with I-90 in Sturbridge,
Massachusetts, when they see a red blur above a road sign. The blur
resolves into a disc about 30 feet in diameter with smaller discs
surrounding it. The object passes silently above their car, moving
northeast. The duration is 3 minutes. When Meara tries to start his car
30 minutes later at home, it acts completely dead but works again
normally the next morning. (“Connecticut Close Encounter,” IUR/Frontiers
of Science 2, no. 6 (Sept./Oct. 1980): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6073
Date: 4/10/1980
Description: A businessman driving on the Philadelphia Church Road near
Lincolnton, North Carolina, sees a red, disc- shaped object approach and
hover above his car. It directs a light toward the ground. When he stops
his car and rolls down the window, he hears an intense humming sound. He
watches it for about 5 minutes until it takes off at a 30° angle and
heads south, leaving a thin exhaust trail. (“Those
Funny Lights in the Sky,” Hickory (N.C.) Focus, May 1, 1980, via UFO
Newsclipping Service, no. 130 (May 1980): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6074
Date: 4/10/1980
Description: Red disc-shaped object emitted light beam to ground. Took
off with intense humming sound leaving exhaust trail
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Lincolnton, NC
ID: 349
Date: 4/11/1980
Description: 7:15 a.m. Personnel at the La Joya Air Base [part of the
Mariano Melgar Airport], Arequipa, Peru, see a strange object flying in
the vicinity. The base commander orders a Sukhoi Su-22 fighter-bomber to
destroy the target, assumed to be a Chilean balloon. Lt. Oscar Santa
María Huertas commands the scrambled aircraft. As soon as the object is
in his sights some 1,800 feet above the ground, he fires 64 rounds from
his 30mm guns at it. The bullets seem to hit the object without causing
any damage. The UFO then hurls skyward at tremendous speed. Huertas
follows, putting the Sukhoi into Mach 1.2. As he approaches, the object
makes a sudden stop and the Sukhoi flies past it at 36,000 feet. Further
maneuvering takes place, and Huertas finds the object chasing him at one
point at 62,000 feet. He abandons the mission 52 miles away from the
base. After he lands 22 minutes later, the object reappears at the base
and remains visible nearly 2 hours. A Department of Defense information
release gives an erroneous date of May 9, 1980. (Kean, pp. 93–98, 150–151;
Dolan II 214; Good Above, pp. 324–325,
503–504;
Yohanan Díaz Vargas, “Peru:
La Joya AFB, the Perfect UFO Case (1980),” Inexplicata, November 14,
2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6075
Date: 4/13/1980
Description: A witness is driving on the eastern outskirts of Halifax,
Nova Scotia, when he sees an unusually bright light. As he drives 5–6
miles closer, it resolves into two lights side by side. After driving
another 20 miles closer, he sees the two lights are attached to one
object. When directly underneath, it appears to be 1,000–1,200 feet long
and cigar-shaped with lights on the front and back and one side. A truck
driver has also pulled over to watch the UFO. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1982): 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6076
Date: 4/17/1980
Description: Day. Michael Romanowski, 8, sees a white boomerang-shaped
object in Buffalo, New York. (“Crescent Reports
from New York and Illinois,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 4
(August 1980): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6077
Date: 4/20/1980
Description: 9:00 p.m. A group of nine family members are on their front
lawn in Hyderabad, India, and see a bell-shaped cloud forming at about
2,000–3,000 feet altitude. It remains stationary and they look away, but
soon they see three smaller bell-shaped clouds forming evenly spaced
below the first and forming an equilateral triangle. The smaller clouds
then merge with the larger one and form an orange ball bright enough to
throw a shadow on the roof near them. It shoots off at great speed
toward the airport, then disappears after breaking into four smaller
orange balls of light. The duration of the sighting is 15 minutes.
(Herbert S. Taylor, “Mystery Clouds and the UFO Connection,” IUR 29, no.
4 (July 2005): 18–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6080
Date: 4/20/1980
Description: Five apparently metallic Saturnshaped objects, Iligh-speed
flight in formation at low altitude, visible against local terrain
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: San Mateo, CA
ID: 350
Date: 4/20/1980
Description: 5:30 a.m. Richard
A. Jokinen, an
electrical engineer, is driving north on I-280 in San Mateo, California,
on a fishing trip with his 18-year-old son. They see five bright,
apparently metallic, Saturn-shaped objects flying very fast in formation
at low altitude. The objects are traveling about 500 feet above the
Crystal Springs Reservoir and are visible against trees of the coastal
mountains west of the reservoir. The sighting lasts about 5 seconds,
during which the objects cross 120° of viewing angle. (Allan Hendry, “Five
‘Saturns’ in California,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 5
(September 1980): 3; UFOEv II 164–165)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6078
Date: 4/20/1980
Description: 8:20 p.m. Sam Puccinelli is parking his car in his garage
in Palatine, Illinois, when he sees a crescent-shaped, gray-black object
with flashing white lights. He looks at it with his binoculars with his
13-year-old son for 7 minutes before it disappears. (“Crescent
Reports from New York and Illinois,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1,
no. 4 (August 1980): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6079
Date: 4/21/1980
Description: Lyrid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 351
Date: 4/22/1980
Description: 10:00 p.m. Police Officer Manuel Medina and dispatcher
Sedilla of Springer, New Mexico, are parked on a traffic watch when one
of them notices a bright star in the west at about 45° moving like a
balloon with a start- stop motion. Medina shines his car’s spotlight on
the object, which drops to a lower elevation. He turns the light off and
the object ascends again. He turns the red cruiser light on, and the
object seems to respond with a reddish hue. The light disappears over
the Cimarron Mountains 20 miles away at 11:10 p.m. (Allan Hendry, “Familiar Description,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 2 (June 1980): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6081
Date: 4/26/1980
Description: 11:00 p.m. Two witnesses in Holton, Indiana, watch a
luminous flashing form in the northwest sky. Golden- colored and
triangular in shape, it appears larger than the full moon. The object
hovers, then shoots straight up in seconds. It zigzags before vanishing
in the northwest. (“Golden
Triangle in Indiana,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 5 (September
1980): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6082
Date: 5/1980
Description: Citizens Against UFO Secrecy’s attorney Peter Gersten brings
a lawsuit against the National Security Agency to compel it to release
135 documents it has withheld from FOIA requests. The suit also includes
the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration
(which it claims conducted an inadequate search for its UFO records).
(Fred Whiting, “CAUS Goes to Court,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 2, no. 6
(Sept./Oct. 1980): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6083
Date: 5/1980
Description: Early afternoon. Thousands of base personnel and their
families are congregating at Ellsworth AFB in Rapid City, South Dakota,
to watch an SR-71 Blackbird take off after a refueling stop. A1C John W.
Mills III and a few other airmen are on top of the barracks for a view.
They see an odd, triangular object above the B-52 Alert Pad about half a
mile away. It begins to move down the flight line, and they see it is a
gray-black delta shape at an altitude of 500 feet. For some reason it is
not visible through the pair of binoculars they have. It makes a right
turn and suddenly disappears above a parachute-rigging building. The
SR-71 does not take off. Later in the day, an official “flash” message
goes out to base personnel telling them not to talk to the press in case
they had seen anything. (Nukes 387–392)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6084
Date: 5/1980
Description: The Chinese UFO Studies Association is established under
the auspices of Wuhan University, with branches in Beijing, Shanghai,
and the provinces of Guangdong, Sichuan, Shanxi, Hubei, and Guangxi. It
is headed by Cha Leping, a 26-year-old astrophysics student. The
association later is incorporated into the China UFO Research
Organization as an official branch of the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences. (Paul Dong, “Letters,” IUR 7, no. 2 (March 1982): 3; Good
Above, p. 206)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6085
Date: 5/1980
Description: Late afternoon. Two witnesses are driving through Manlius,
New York, when they catch a glimpse of a disc- shaped object the size of
a football field hovering above a patch of trees. The driver stops the
car and steps outside. Yellow, red, and green lights are rotating around
its perimeter. A commercial aircraft and news helicopter are also
visible in the sky. The object is still not moving and soundless. Then
two jet fighters, apparently scrambled from Griffiss AFB [now the
Griffiss Business and Technology Park] in Rome, New York, fly toward the
object, which takes off like a bullet and disappears. (Dolan II
211)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6086
Date: 5/2/1980
Description: Shiny sphere flying with rapid up and down motions observed
through binoculars. Stopped, spinning, over Lick Observatory,
accelerated rapidly and sped away
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: San Jose, California
ID: 352
Date: 5/2/1980
Description: 10:15 a.m. A Santa Clara County park ranger and another
county employee are in the hills east of San Jose, California, when they
see a shiny, mirror-like spherical object moving north to south. They
take turns studying it through binoculars. The object has a blue-green
band in the center and is orange at the bottom. It makes rapid up-
and-down motions as it moves forward and spins faster as its speed
diminishes. The object stops and spins toward Lick Observatory to the
east of their position for 10 seconds. Then it accelerates rapidly and
speeds away to the south. The sighting duration is 3–4 minutes. (UFOEv
II 226)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6087
Date: 5/4/1980
Description: Eta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 353
Date: 5/5/1980
Description: As she is driving home from Oklahoma to Eagle’s Nest, New
Mexico, Myrna Hansen and her 6-year-old son see several UFOs in a field
near Cimarron, New Mexico, after which they suffer confusion and a
4-hour loss of time. Paul
Bennewitz, an Albuquerque, New Mexico, owner of humidity equipment
company Thunder Scientific and a UFO investigator, on May 11 brings
psychologist R.
Leo Sprinkle in to meet Hansen. He hypnotizes them and gets a
detailed abduction story from the mother, who also remembers watching
the aliens mutilate a calf. Hansen also remembers being taken by the UFO
to an underground area in New Mexico (leading Bennewitz to suspect it is
the Manzano Weapons Storage Area at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque) where
she sees tanks of water with cattle body parts, as well as a human arm.
(Linda Moulton Howe, An Alien Harvest: Further Evidence Linking Animal
Mutilations and Human Abductions to Alien Life Forms, Howe Productions,
1989, pp. 112–116; Linda Moulton Howe, Facts and Eyewitnesses, The
Author, 1993, pp. 234–245; Greg Bishop, Project Beta, Paraview, 2005, pp. 15–28;
Marcus Lowth, “The
Chilling and Bizarre Abduction Encounter of Myrna Hansen,” UFO
Insight, May 19, 2018; Clark III 359–360)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6088
Date: 5/6/1980
Description: Leonard
Stringfield finds an article in UFO Sightings by David McCarthy
titled “Quest for Teleportation,” which features a photo of an alien
cadaver similar to the ones he was given in March. (David McCarthy, “The Quest
for Teleportation,” UFO Sightings 1, no. 1 (July 1980): 40–45; MUFON
UFO Journal, December 1980)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6089
Date: 5/7/1980
Description: Disc with dome maneuvered near car, E-M effects on
radio
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Valdese, NC
ID: 354
Date: 5/7/1980
Description: Day. X-ray technician Ruth Weaver experiences interference
on her car radio while driving near Valdese, North Carolina. It blacks
out completely and she sees a huge object move beneath the cloud cover
directly ahead of her car. It makes a U-turn, then it banks, revealing
the shape of an upside-down soup bowl with a dome on top. A red triangle
is on the underside. It looks like a Stetson hat as it moves away.
(UFOEv II 452; George D. Fawcett, Human Reactions to UFOs Worldwide
(1940–1983): What We Have Learned from UFO Repetitions, The Author,
1986, p. 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6090
Date: 5/7/1980
Description: 3:50 p.m. A Dutch KLM airliner is flying just over 30,000
feet above the Dachstein Mountains in the Austrian Alps. The pilot sees
a gray spherical object flying overhead, which he reports to the Air
Control Center in Vienna, which contacts the Austrian Air Force. Maj.
Karl Schwarz orders three Saab 105 aircraft to intercept. Once they make
visual contact, two of the jets attempt the intercept while the third
takes film footage. The UFO’s erratic movements, however, make it
impossible to follow, and the object is soon out of sight. At 5:50 p.m.,
a German Lufthansa airliner comes in close contact with a similar
object, Schwarz orders two more fighters to scramble. The Saab 105
pilots think the object’s variable speed means it is playing with them.
It is flying some 9,800 feet above them, but they cannot maneuver well
enough to catch it. (Terry Hooper, “UFO
Interceptions Attempted,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 4 (November
1980): 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6091
Date: 5/9/1980
Description: 9:00 p.m. A woman is driving home with her daughter in
Bargersville, Indiana, when bright red flashes of light illuminate the
inside of her truck and the surrounding area. The flashes are caused by
red balls of light about the size of lemons in the empty fields around
them. The balls blink on and off in succession, climbing up one
telephone pole. Moving down, and crossing the road to perform the same
motion on another pole. They approach the truck, forcing her to back up
the truck. Finally, the phenomenon ceases and she drives home. When they
get there, her German shepherd dog starts whining and barking. Her
husband steps outside to see what’s going on. Suddenly, their two
daughters start screaming as small red balls of light move across their
mother’s back and behind her hair. She does not feel anything, but the
dog runs to the barn and stays there all night. (“Allan
Hendry Reports:
A Spooky Experience in Indiana,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 6
(October 1980): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6092
Date: 5/10/1980
Description: DoD Report: The FAP (Peruvian Air Force) spotted a UFO
twice and tried to intercept and destroy the UFO without success.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p503)
Location: Area 51
See also: 7/1952
Date: 5/14/1980
Description: Glowing disc cast light beam onto road. Car entered beam,
headlights flickered off and on several times, afterwards worked
normally
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Simpson County, MS
ID: 355
Date: 5/14/1980
Description: 9:15 p.m. John Ray spots three dark discs while he is
driving in the rain through a rural area near Mars Hill, Maine. Each is
larger than the full moon and has numerous white lights on the bottom.
They pass silently above his car and hover ahead of him in close
formation about 500 feet up. Suddenly they take off and disappear. (“Close
Encounter in the Rain,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 7
(November 1980): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6094
Date: 5/14/1980
Description: 3:30 a.m. Howard and Julia Pickrel are driving on US
Highway 49 through Simpson County, Mississippi, when they see a glowing
disc high in the sky. A beam of light from the disc makes a spot of
light on the ground as wide as their car. As they drive through the
light beam, their lights go on and off 7–8 times. After they are out of
the beam’s path, the lights do not flicker again. (Richard H. Hall,
Uninvited Guests, Aurora, 1988, pp. 307–308)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6093
Date: 5/16/1980
Description: 3:00 p.m. A civilian pilot is flying a Pirat glider near a
cement mill in Działoszyn, Poland, when he notices an object maneuvering
across the fumes from factory chimneys below. Seconds later it moves in
front of the glider, and he takes evasive action. It is an isosceles
triangle shape with a side length of 30 feet and a dull brownish- green.
At one point it turns up one of its corners at an angle of 45° in an
apparent attempt to correct its flight. Then it changes orientation to
the horizontal, shrinks in size, and disappears. A similar object is
seen the same day near Wielún. (Poland 69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6095
Date: 5/22/1980
Description: 11:05 p.m. The Air Transit Control Center at Gran Canaria
Airport in the Canary Islands detects some unidentified traffic toward
the southwest moving at 685 mph. A few minutes later, an aero-taxi pilot
reports a bright object passing to his left and descending toward the
ocean. A Spanish Air Force officer investigates and concludes the object
is unknown, even though its position observed by the pilot matches that
of Venus. A false radar echo is also possible. (Swords 436,
528–529)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6096
Date: 5/23/1980
End date: 5/25/1980
Description: The first Rocky Mountain Conference on UFO Investigation,
organized by psychologist R.
Leo Sprinkle to bring contactees together, is held in Laramie on the
University of Wyoming campus. Barely 20 people show up, but Sprinkle
notes they are average, normal people, though highly susceptible to
hypnotic suggestion. Most claim some psychic abilities, and many report
a feeling of being monitored or experiencing continuing contact with UFO
entities. They feel anxiety about the state of the human race and worry
about a coming cataclysm. The conferences continue to at least 1996,
attracting as many as 200 attendees. (Clark III 300–301)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6097
Date: 5/28/1980
Description: Denver KMGH-TV investigative journalist Linda
Moulton Howe releases A Strange Harvest, a 2-hour documentary that
suggests unusual wounds found on cattle are the work of extraterrestrial
beings who harvest body parts required for their survival or research,
and that the US government is complicit. The documentary wins a Regional
Emmy award in 1981. She interviews Denver surgeon Arlen
Meyers on excising tissue with a laser; and Lou
Girodo, chief investigator for the District Attorney’s Office in
Trinidad, Colorado. The show also features a hypnotic regression session
by R.
Leo Sprinkle on Judy Dorarty, who says she witnessed a mutilation
outside Houston, Texas, in May 1973; under hypnosis, she describes
seeing a calf drawn up in a pale yellow beam of light into a UFO.
(Internet Movie Database, “A
Strange Harvest”; Clark III 363; “Alta
Loma 1973,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library, February 1,
2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6098
Date: 5/30/1980
Description: The CIA moves for summary judgment in Peter Gersten’s
lawsuit for UFO documents. The court grants it, despite the 57 remaining
UFO documents the CIA admits it is withholding. CAUS appeals on June 24.
(“CAUS Update,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 1 (Nov./Dec. 1980):
15–16) Early summer — Two women see a green, miniature airplane outside
a house in Matsbo, near Hedemora, in central Sweden. (Clas Svahn, “Green
Miniature Airplane Hovers in Front of a House,” IUR 29, no. 3 (Fall
2004): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6099
Date: 6/1980
Description: NICAP is disbanded after the last issue of the UFO
Investigator is published, and its files are eventually turned over to
the Center for UFO Studies in Evanston, Illinois. (UFO
Investigator 11, no. 6 (June 1980); Clark III 794)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6100
Date: 6/1980
Description: Citizens Against UFO Secrecy is reorganized after the
departure of W.
Todd Zechel, with Peter Gersten as
director and Lawrence Fawcett as assistant editor. (Clark III 240)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6101
Date: 6/1980
Description: Leonard
H. Stringfield publishes The UFO Crash/Retrieval Syndrome: Status
Report II, New Sources, New Data, presenting the accounts and rumors he
has heard of crashed UFOs retrieved by the military. He has contacted
four different military sources claiming to have seen a movie film
depicting a crashed saucer and small alien bodies. (Leonard Stringfield,
“The Chase for Proof in a Squirrel’s Cage,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean
Tomes, 1987, p. 147)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6103
Date: 6/1980
Description: Kenneth
Rommel releases Operation Animal Mutilation, a long report that
devastatingly debunks popular theories. The animals have died of natural
causes, he contends, and the mysterious aspects can be explained
prosaically. He cites ornithologist Kenneth Sager: “The larger the
animal, the more difficult it is for the scavenger to gain access to the
food supply below the tough surface. [Thus they attack the] softer
points of entry, namely the eyes, anal openings, and the soft underbelly
areas, especially the udders of female bovines.” L. D. Kuttner of the
University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine says that many
scavengers can make as clean a cut as “might be done by a surgeon with a
knife.” (Wikipedia, “Cattle
mutilation”; Kenneth M. Rommel Jr., Operation Animal
Mutilation, Report
of the District Attorney, First Judicial District, State of New Mexico,
prepared for the US Criminal Justice Department, 1980; Federal Bureau of
Investigation, Animal Mutilation documents, 1974– 1980, part
1, part
2, part
3, part
4, part
5; Clark III 133)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6102
Date: 6/2/1980
Description: Stringfield receives
eight more prints showing an alien cadaver encased under glass. One
photo shows a hand with four fingers and clawlike nails. His source
claims they were obtained from a secret study conducted at the
University of Pennsylvania. (MUFON UFO Journal, December 1980; Leonard
Stringfield, “The Chase for Proof in a Squirrel’s Cage,” UFOs 1947–1987,
Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 147–148)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6104
Date: 6/3/1980
Description: R.
Leo Sprinkle arrives at Paul
Bennewitz’s house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for another hypnotic
session with Myrna Hansen. Bennewitz, now very paranoid, meets him at
the door with a gun, saying he needs to protect himself from aliens. A
strained and brief hypnosis session follows, after which Sprinkle
returns to Wyoming. (Greg Bishop, Project Beta, Paraview, 2005, pp. 24–25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6105
Date: 6/11/1980
Description: An unknown cigar-shaped object passes close to a commercial
aircraft near Venice, Italy. (Nick Redfern, A Covert Agenda: UFO Secrecy
Exposed, Simon & Schuster, 1997, p. 162)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6106
Date: 6/14/1980
Description: Evening. Many residents of Moscow, Russia, see a huge,
reddish-orange, horseshoe-shaped object accompanied by swirling luminous
gases. Some 250 miles to the west, Lt. Col. Oleg Karyakin hears a low-
frequency booming noise and sees a bright object less than 500 feet
away. He runs toward it, feels some resistance, but continues until he
is about 150 feet away. It gives off a high-pitched sound and briefly
emits three white rays, then ascends rapidly, hovers for 2 seconds, then
moves to the northwest and vanishes. Shortly afterward, he sees a large,
reddish UFO above some treetops. Another bright object is accompanying
the first, flying horizontally and leaving a fiery trail. Some 30 others
witness this event. Soviet investigators conclude that the objects were
the launches of two communications satellites, a Gorizont and
Kosmos
1188. (Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle, The Soviet UFO Files:
Paranormal Encounters behind the Iron Curtain, Quadrillion, 1998, p. 59;
Good Above, pp. 238–241)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6107
Date: 6/14/1980
Description: 7:00–8:00 p.m. A flurry of UFO sightings by numerous
witnesses takes place in Córdoba, Jorge Newbery and Ezeiza airports in
Buenos Aires, and Rosario, Argentina, including airport personnel and
meteorologists, with extensive newspaper coverage. Objects appear singly
and in “fleets” and are described variously as “luminous
oval-spherical,” “spinning top,” spindle-shaped, and a sphere that emits
“an intense luminous ray that illuminated the surface of the river.” At
Pajas Blancas Airport in Córdoba, a UFO causes operations to be stopped
for several minutes after it follows the landing pattern of aircraft
into the airport. Sightings occur around the same time in Uruguay,
Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay. CUFOS suspects many of the observations
might be due to a high-altitude barium cloud produced by a rocket
launch. (“The UFO ‘Flap’ in South America,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 2,
no. 6 (Sept./Oct. 1980): 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6108
Date: 6/15/1980
Description: 2:00 a.m. A 70-year-old woman in Oak Park, Illinois, sees
an object like a white half-moon with a serrated edge. At first she
thinks it is the moon, but it begins moving to the east and disappears
in 5 minutes. (“Allan Hendry
Reports: A Lunar Impostor,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 4
(August 1980): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6109
Date: 6/15/1980
Description: 2:30 a.m. Security Policeman Charles P. Wagner and two
others at RAF Bentwaters [now closed], near Woodbridge, Suffolk,
England, watch a 2-foot diameter spherical object maneuver above several
A-10 aircraft parked at the base. Moments later, the orb suddenly splits
into three smaller spheres, all of which vanish in a flash of light.
(Robert L. Hastings, “New
Bentwaters UFO Witness Goes on the Record,” UFOs & Nukes,
November 22, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6110
Date: 6/15/1980
Description: 11:30 p.m. Students Kevin Smith and Jill Harper are walking
along Hidden Beach in Rio Del Mar, California, when a 4-foot-long,
10-inch-wide cigar-shaped object passes about 30 feet above them moving
southwest over the water and landing in the ocean without a splash. As
it bobs about, a light comes on in the interior. Smith yells at it and
the light goes out. (“Romance under a UFO,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 2,
no. 5 (July/Aug. 1980): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6111
Date: 6/17/1980
Description: 11:00 p.m. Two women driving with four young children north
on Interstate 75 near Grayling Army Airfield in Grayling, Michigan, when
they see two lights moving from right to left in front of their car. Two
minutes later, three more lights (two blinking, one steady) appear to
the right and pace the car at 85 mph, moving closer until they are about
100 feet directly above them. They are completely silent and possibly
attached to an oblong-shaped object. (“Michigan
Close Encounter,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 3 (July 1980):
2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6112
Date: 6/20/1980
Description: 9:00 p.m. While descending through 15,000 feet for a
landing, a senior Kuwait Airways pilot and crew observe a huge, brightly
illuminated hemispherical object with a flat base moving steadily
eastward over Kuwait City at a slightly lower speed than his aircraft.
“When I turned north at Wafra, the phenomenon was still clearly visible
and remained so until we descended below the haze layer and started to
approach the runway.” The crew of another airline flight 90 miles away
reports sighting the same phenomenon. Radar does not detect the object.
(American Embassy, Kuwait, “Investigation of Unusual ‘Light Phenomenon’
Seen in Kuwait’s Skies,” telex, July 1980, in “U.S.
State Department ‘UFO’ Documents, Reviewed and Released 7 Feb
2000”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6113
Date: Summer 1980
Description: Ex Soviet test pilot Lev Vyatkin plane collided with an
aircraft emitting a “hard beam”. The pilot managed to land successfully,
but the wing, touched by the beam, continued to glow for several more
hours.
Type: ufo encounter
Reference: link
Location: Soviet Union
Date: 6/21/1980
Description: 1:30 a.m. Janet McLeod notices two large, orange, domed
discs circling low about four blocks west of her home in Assumption,
Illinois. They stop and hover at treetop level. The top one gradually
fades out from top to bottom. The lower one turns on its side and shines
a beam toward the ground for 5 minutes. Then it goes back to the
horizontal and fades out in the same way. When she steps outside 5
minutes later, she notices it is dead quiet, the natural sounds resuming
after 2 minutes. (“Twin Domed Discs in Illinois,” IUR/Frontiers of
Science 2, no. 5 (July/Aug. 1980): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6114
Date: 6/28/1980
Description: Two civilian pilots, José L. Maldonaldo Torres and José A.
Pagán Santos, are flying an ERCO Ercoupe 415-D at 1,500 feet over the
Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. They send
out a mayday message saying they are looking at a “weird object” that
makes them change course three times. Their plane disappears and no
wreckage is found. (Good Need, pp. 312, 320)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6115
Date: 7/1980
Description: AFOSI special agent Sgt. Richard
Doty writes an anonymous letter to APRO claiming that a Civil Air
Patrol cadet named Craig R. Weitzel had seen and photographed a UFO
landing near Pecos, New Mexico. Weitzel takes photos and is debriefed at
Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque. An alien, a man in a dark suit from Sandia
Laboratories, and crashed UFOs stored at the Manzano Nuclear Weapons
Storage Facility are also mentioned. But the letter is disinformational
bait to see whether the Lorenzens might
prove to be “useful idiots.” Weitzel admits to investigator William
Moore and, later, Benton Jamison in 1985 that he had seen a UFO in
1980, but it was a classic daylight disc and took place in the
southeast, not New Mexico. Much later on, Doty admits to Moore that he
had composed the letter as disinformation. (Clark III 361–362; Greg
Bishop, Project Beta, Paraview, 2005, pp. 54–57, 64–66;
Good Above, pp. 406–408;
[Richard Doty], Craig
Wetzel letter, July 1980)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6116
Date: 7/12/1980
Description: 11:00 p.m. A professor and his wife are getting ready for
bed in Urbandale, Iowa, when they notice three round light spots in a
triangular formation high in the southern sky. The lower two are like
bright stars, while the upper ones seem larger. The smaller lights are
zig-zagging and coming together under the larger light for 20 minutes
until all three abruptly disappear. (“Meandering
Lights in Iowa,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 6 (October 1980):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6117
Date: 7/21/1980
Description: Farmer John Scull discovers a circular swathe of flattened
oats in his field near the Westbury White Horse in Wiltshire, England.
He discovers a second circle on July 31 and informs the media on August
13. (UFOFiles2, p. 117;
Terry Wilson, “Case
Study 1: Westbury 1980,” Men Who Conned the World, December 24,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6118
Date: 7/28/1980
Description: Author and researcher John Keel is interviewed by David
Letterman. Keel says that animal mutilation cases keep him up at
night.
Type: interview
Reference: link
Location: New York City
Date: 8/1980
Description: Three guards reported sighting an aerial light which
descended on the Sandia Military Reservation. Ernest Edwards reported
the sighting to AFOSI Special Agent Richard Doty, unaware that Doty had
already heard from Russ Curtis (the Sandia Security Chief) that a Sandia
Security guard had sighted a disc-shaped object near a structure just
minutes after the sighting by the three Manzano guards. Doty included
these reports and several others in his formal report, forwarding it to
AFOSI (Air Force Office of Special Investigations) Headquarters in
Washington DC.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: link
Location: Manzano Test Range
Date: 8/1980
Description: Another set of photos allegedly showing part of an alien
cadaver is released by Charles Wilhelm and Dennis Pilichis, who receive
them through UFO researcher Willard McIntyre, apparently from an
anonymous US Navy source. William Spaulding of Ground Saucer Watch
analyzes them and suggests they show a monkey used in early rocket
tests. (Leonard H. Stringfield, “Status Report on Alleged Alien Cadaver
Photos,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 154 (December 1980): 11–16; Leonard H.
Stringfield, “The
Puzzling Case of the Cadaver Photos,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 163
(September 1981): 15–19; Juan-Vicente Ballester-Olmos, “The
Tomato Man in Retrospective,”
UFO FOTOCAT Blog, March 13, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6119
Date: 8/1980
Description: 10:00 p.m. Two students at Tsinghua University in Beijing,
China, see a brilliant oval object in the sky near the Summer Palace. It
has several lights that flash on and off 2–3 times per second. The
object itself is shaped like “two straw hats placed brim to brim” with a
brilliant center line. It stops hovering and ascends vertically,
disappearing in 3–4 seconds. (“The Chinese Connection…and Some Wholesome
Chinese Philosophy,” IUR 7, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1982): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6121
Date: early 8/1980
Description: Thousands of witnesses see UFOs for several days in a row
over Tianjin, China, and the Bohai Sea. One large object keeps appearing
and vanishing like a will-o’-the-wisp. Occasionally objects are tracked
on radar. (Paul Dong, “Extracts
from Paul Dong’s Feidie
Bai Wen Bai Da (Questions
and Answers on UFOs),” Flying Saucer Review 29, no. 6 (August 1984):
18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6120
Date: 8/8/1980
End date: 8/9/1980
Description: Before 12:00 midnight. Three security policemen on the
eastern side of the Manzano Weapons Storage Area adjacent to Kirtland
AFB in Albuquerque, New Mexico, see a bright light descend in a
restricted area about 3 miles to the north-northeast. It travels quickly
and stops suddenly over Coyote Canyon. At 12:20 a.m., a Sandia guard
observes a disc-shaped object with a bright light hovering behind a
building. He approaches it with a shotgun and attempts to use his radio,
but it has stopped working. The object shoots straight up. These and
other incidents result in a report being filed with the Air Force Office
of Special Investigations at Kirtland. The incident is subsequently
investigated by agent Richard
Doty, who
files a preliminary report on the incident. The document is leaked to William
Moore in January 1982 and obtained in a subsequent FOIA request by
Barry
Greenwood. Moore and Bruce
Maccabee both interview Doty, who says there are most likely other
documents including a longer report that he had written up. However,
after Noah Lawrence at AFOSI Headquarters tells Maccabee there are no
other documents on file, Doty begins to backtrack. Maccabee also meets
Russ Curtis inside the Manzano area who says that the incident never
took place (which contradicts Curtis’s statement to Moore in 1982).
(Clark III 362; Good Above, pp. 405–406,
522–523;
Good Need, pp. 322,
329;
Bruce Maccabee, “UFO
Landing near Kirtland
AFB: Welcome to the Cosmic Watergate,” 2000; Robert L. Hastings, “UFOs
Filmed Hovering over U.S. Air
Force Nuclear Weapons Storage Area,” UFOs & Nukes, May 13,
2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6122
Date: 8/9/1980
End date: 9/3/1980
Description: AFOSI Complaint Form: At Kirtland AFB three persons report
seeing UFO over a Restricted Test Range. On Aug. 9th a Sandia Security
Guard drove down the Coyote Canyon access road to check out an alarmed
building and observed a landed UFO next to an alarmed building. The UFO
was around disk shaped object. As he approached the object on foot
equipped with a shotgun the object took off in a vertical direction at a
high rate of speed. His radio wasn’t working right at the time so he
couldn’t reach dispatch. The building contained HQ CR 44 material.
(Nature of material not known.)
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: link
Location: Kirtland AFB
Date: 8/15/1980
Description: UFO skeptic Philip
Klass sends a letter to A. G. McNamara of the Herzberg Institute of
Astrophysics in Ottawa, Canada, which serves as a repository for
Canadian UFO reports for the Canadian National Research Council. Klass
characterizes New Brunswick ufologist Stanton
Friedman as a snake oil salesman and UFO guru whose lectures are
filled with falsehoods, disparaging his credentials, his ego, and his
modus operandi. He warns McNamara that the astronomers at the institute
will soon be the targets of Friedman’s coverup accusations. (Dolan II
221–222)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6123
Date: 8/17/1980
Description: 1:15 a.m. Security guard Phil
Battle is driving his truck in the parking lot of the Teledyne-Ohio
Steel plant in Lima, Ohio, and sees an unusual bright light in the sky.
He steps out and watches a round, silvery form about 270 feet away. It
has little holes on the surface, a flashing yellow light, and white
floodlights all around it. It hovers for about 5 minutes, moving back
and forth. Battle’s CB radio does not work when he tries to alert
others. Suddenly a yellow light shoots out at Battle, knocking him back
against his truck, scarring his knee and hurting his back and kidneys.
The beam also reddens his left eye. The UFO then takes off. He and other
guard look for the object and see a light about 1,200 feet to the north,
slightly larger than the moon, which drifts westward after 15– 20
seconds. (“Knocked Back by a Light Beam,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 2,
no. 6 (Sept./Oct. 1980): 14; “Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 1 (January 1981): 2–3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6124
Date: 8/20/1980
Description: 10:30 p.m. A college student is driving on a rural road
about 5 minutes east of Mossy Head, Florida, when he becomes aware of an
array of lights hovering above a hill ahead of him. They move low over
the area from right to left, 300–600 feet ahead of him. It disappears,
but another cluster of lights rushes by him on his left side with a
quiet whoosh sound. Inadvertently he begins driving more slowly, slumped
over the steering wheel. He continues driving to Jacksonville, where he
notices his bare feet are red and inflamed. The redness fades away by
the evening of the following night, leaving only some apparent bites
marks that are sore to the touch. (“A
CE I— or
II—or III in Florida,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 7 (November
1980): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6125
Date: 8/21/1980
Description: Young woman and daughter driving home, E-M effects on car,
car lifted off road onto craft, humanoids examined them on tables in
room with “fog” on floor
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: East Texas
ID: 356
Date: 8/24/1980
Description: 4:08 a.m. Three tourists camping out in the Changping
District near the Juyong portion of the Great Wall of China take a photo
of an unusual object. The photo reportedly looks like three stars in an
inverted T shape with a surrounding halo of light. (“First
UFO Spotted in China,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 3 (March
1981): 4; “Chinese UFO Study,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 3
(March/April 1981): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6126
Date: 9/1980
Description: Charles
Berlitz and Bill
Moore publish The Roswell Incident, the first major review of the
1947 Roswell crash, based largely on Stanton
Friedman’s research. (Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore, The
Roswell Incident, Berkley,
1980; Clark III 320)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6127
Date: 9/1/1980
Description: The Roswell Incident by Charles Berlitz and William L.
Moore is published.
Type: book
Reference: Amazon
Location: US
Date: 9/1/1980
Description: NSA attorneys move for a summary judgment in the
CAUS-initiated lawsuit, asserting that the 135 documents are being
justifiably withheld. (“CAUS Update,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 1
(Nov./Dec. 1980): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6128
Date: 9/3/1980
Description: 3:00 p.m. Margaret Lambert and her family are parked at a
scenic overlook along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park in
Virginia when they notice a bright reflection. She is taking a photo of
her son and the reflection seems to be pulsating as she focuses her
camera. It appears as a small round light behind her son’s head in the
photo. (“‘Glowing Object’ Photographed on Virginia Hillside,” CUFOS
Associate Newsletter 1, no. 5 (May 1981): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6129
Date: 9/4/1980
Description: 1:15 p.m. Flight instructor Lloyd List is flying northbound
at 138 mph in a Cessna 172 at 6,500 feet about 5 miles south of the
airport in Red Bluff, California. His passenger, a school official,
calls his attention to a shiny object ahead of them. For the first 5–6
seconds, the object grows larger in angular size. Then it stops getting
larger, as if it has adopted the Cessna’s speed and direction. They
close in on the object and watch it shoot right by the airplane’s left
wingtip only 30 feet away. It looks like a metallic football no larger
than 3 feet in size. It is silent and the surface has a mirror finish.
It exhibits no wobble as it passes through the plane’s turbulence. List
descends to 6,000 feet and turns to the south to look for it but cannot
find the object. (“Plane’s Near Collision with Mini-UFO,” IUR/Frontiers
of Science 3, no. 1 (Nov./Dec. 1980): 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6130
Date: 9/6/1980
Description: 9:15 p.m. Ufologist Jenny
Randles and a friend are riding a motorcycle north on the M4 after
attending the Farnborough Airshow in Hampshire, England, when they see
three lights that appear one after another then line up in a triangular
formation hovering above a distant hilltop. As they drive past, one
light blinks out, leaving two side by side. (Jenny Randles, “Mass Market
Media Saucery,” Fortean Times 361 (Christmas 2017): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6132
Date: 9/6/1980
Description: UFO proponents and debunkers square off at the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, D.C., for a day- long debate on the merits of
UFO sightings. The proponents include Bruce
Maccabee, J.
Allen Hynek, and
Allan Hendry;
the debunkers are Philip
J. Klass, James
E. Oberg, and Robert
Sheaffer. The debate is moderated by Frederick
C. Durant. The most heated exchanges occur between Klass and Hendry
over the Val
Johnson close encounter case of 1979. (Stuart Rohrer, “Tempest
in a Saucer,” Washington Post, September 8, 1980, p. B-1; J. Allen
Hynek, “Encounter at the Smithsonian,” CUFOS Bulletin, Fall 1980,
pp. 6–10; Jerome Clark, “Phil Klass vs. the ‘UFO Promoters,’” Fate 34,
no. 2 (February 1981): 56–67; Clark III 1081–1082)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6131
Date: 9/8/1980
Description: After doing a radio show in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Bill
Moore is contacted by phone from someone at Kirtland Air Force Base.
He meets the man he calls “Falcon” (described as elderly and gaunt)
later at a restaurant, beginning a long-running relationship between
Moore and 10 members of a shadowy group connected with military
intelligence and supposedly opposed to the coverup of UFOs. The story
soon emerges that the Roswell incident involved alien bodies and that in
1949 another alien, this one still alive, was found and housed at Los
Alamos until its death in the early 1950s. It is called an
Extraterrestrial Biological Entity (EBE) and is the first of three that
the government would have in its custody. Moore decides to cooperate
with these AFOSI sources and provide them with information. They tell
him there is considerable interest in Paul
Bennewitz and that he is to spy on Bennewitz and APRO as well,
inundating them with disinformation that Doty and others will supply.
(Clark III 360; Greg Bishop, Project Beta, Paraview, 2005, pp. 59–63)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6133
Date: 9/8/1980
Description: Doty writes
and signs a fake two-page AFOSI complaint form, titled “Kirtland AFB,
NM, 8 Aug–3 Sept 1980, Alleged Sightings of Unidentified Aerial Lights
in Restricted Test Range,” which describes several UFO sightings at
Manzano and at the Coyote Canyon section of the Department of Defense
Restricted Test Range, as well as an alleged report of a UFO landing on
August 10 by a New Mexico state patrolman. (Clark III 362)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6134
Date: 9/9/1980
Description: 8:00 p.m. Barbara Kaisler is driving home with her daughter
in Portsmouth, Virginia, when they see a dark disc some 5–6 stories
higher than the rooftops in the north. When they stop at an
intersection, they can see the disc tumbling end over end, now climbing
at a 30° angle. It disappears in clouds to the northeast. (“Dark Disk in
Virginia,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 3 (March/April 1981):
14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6135
Date: 9/11/1980
Description: 4:20 a.m. Jerry McAlister is awakened in his bedroom in
Anderson, South Carolina, by a loud screech. He goes to the window and
sees a round object about 70 feet wide hovering above his backyard trees
110 feet away. Hundreds of steady bright white lights surround its
perimeter, rotating in a clockwise direction. A row of square white
windows is also visible. McAlister wakes up his wife Faye, who also
watches the object, which, after tilting on its side, is now receding to
the east-northeast at a good rate of speed. The UFO settles into place
as a distant white light source that persists until dawn at 7:05 a.m.
McAlister claims his ears ring for another 3 days from the initial
noise. (“South Carolina’s Giant UFOs,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 2, no. 6
(Sept./Oct. 1980): 11– 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6136
Date: 9/11/1980
Description: 8:05 a.m. Larry Garrett is working on his car in Easley,
South Carolina, when he hears a sound like a swarm of bees. Looking
north, he sees a large metallic UFO with black, square windows. He
guesses it is 80–100 feet in size. It hovers above a hill then drifts
off to the north behind some trees. (“South Carolina’s Giant UFOs,”
IUR/Frontiers of Science 2, no. 6 (Sept./Oct. 1980): 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6137
Date: 9/11/1980
Description: 9:25 p.m. Milton
Shippee and his family are driving south on State Highway 32 near
I-84 in West Willington, Connecticut, when they see a “pancake”-shaped
object in the southeast. It is tilted on one side as it moves about 50
mph. (“‘Domed Pancake’ over Connecticut,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3,
no. 1 (Nov./Dec. 1980): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6138
Date: 9/12/1980
Description: A bright, round object radiating red and white colors from
all sides is reported south of Bojnord, North Khorasan, Iran. It moves
very quickly for one hour above the city. (“Review of Iranian UFO
Reports,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 2 (Jan./Feb. 1981): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6139
Date: 9/13/1980
Description: Night. Some people camping near Hamilton, Texas, wake up
when their tent is lit up with a yellow glow. Outside is a loud humming
sound and above them at no more than 125 feet is a triangular object.
The underside is grayish or greenish, and two lights appear at each tip
in a combination of yellow-white, red-green, and blue-white. The object
is moving north very slowly but stops for about 10 seconds and begins to
pulsate, almost sounding as if it will stall. It starts up again, heads
north, and is soon gone. Thirty minutes later, the group hears a loud
explosion, and some people see sparks above the top of a hill. (MUFON
UFO Journal, January 1981)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6140
Date: 9/16/1980
Description: Sgt. J.M. (initials) of the PACAF writes to Len Stringfield
that he was stationed at McGuire AFB, NJ, when, on Jan. 18, 1978, an MP
shot and killed an alien at the Ft. Dix Army base next to the AFB.
Type: letter
Reference: (link
Location: McGuire AFB, NJ
See also: 1/18/78
Date: 9/21/1980
Description: 7:00 p.m. A witness is driving west on a county road near
Lima, Ohio. She looks up and sees a square opening in the clouds that
looks like a picture frame. A vivid orange or red object that looks like
the bottom of an Army tank with runners on two sides appears in the
opening, remaining stationary for a few seconds before disappearing back
into the opening, which then fills up with clouds. (“Army
Tank in the Clouds in Ohio,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 7
(November 1980): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6141
Date: 9/22/1980
Description: 3:43 a.m. Pan Am Flight 440, flying at 39,000 feet and
piloted by Capt. Dave Garber, nearly collides with an unidentified
blue-green cigar-shaped object over the Caribbean Sea south of Haiti.
The UFO has a horizontal row of 5–6 steady lights, which the flight crew
presumes are windows. The distance between the Pan Am flight and the UFO
at its closest approach is less than a mile. The estimated length of the
UFO is 50 feet. It changes course when the plane flashes its landing
lights. The event is witnessed independently by the crew of two other
airliners in the area. (“‘Chiles-Whitted’ Revisited: UFO Sighting
Confirmed by Three Flight Crews,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 1
(Nov./Dec. 1980): 12–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6142
Date: 9/26/1980
Description: 2:26 p.m. A woman watches a Saturn-shaped object approach
her home in Blythe, California, from the east and pass overhead for 2–3
minutes and shoot straight up out of sight. (“Daylight ‘Saturn’ over
California,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 1 (Nov./Dec. 1980):
14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6144
Date: 9/26/1980
Description: 4:30 a.m. Susan Southerland, Debbie Riley, and Kim Conolty
are driving in Washington, Indiana, when they see a streetlight-shaped
light source slightly above the treetops. It begins moving toward them.
Even after their car turns, the light stays on their left side. They
drive to the police station and ask officers Tim Roark and Don Grannon
to look at it through binoculars, and they are convinced it is something
unusual. (“UFO Mini-Flap in Southern Indiana,” IUR/Frontiers of Science
3, no. 3 (Mar./Apr. 1981): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6143
Date: 9/30/1980
Description: 1:00 a.m. George Blackwell, a farmer near Rosedale,
Victoria, Australia, is awakened by a noise and his disturbed livestock.
Getting up, he goes outside and sees a 24-by-15-foot sphere passing by,
some 6–9 feet off the ground and 450 feet distant. It stops above a
water tank, then settles to the ground. Blackwell rides a motorcycle to
the spot and stops 45 feet from the landed object. It is making a loud
whistling sound. After 3 minutes, the UFO emits a louder noise, gives
off a blast of air, and moves off to the east. A 30-foot doughnut-shaped
ring is found where the object rested, and Blackwell experiences health
problems the next week. The 10,000-gallon water tank is mysteriously
drained of water. (NICAP, “Rosedale,
Victoria, Australia: September 30, 1980”; Keith Basterfield and Bill
Chalker, “Rosedale,
Victoria: A Close Encounter,” UFO Research Australia Newsletter 2,
no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1981): 17–22; Bill Chalker and Keith Basterfield, “The
Rosedale Landing with Physical Traces,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no.
6 (March 1981): 4–5; “Physical Trace in Australia,” IUR/Frontiers of
Science 3, no. 3 (March/April 1981): 14–15; “From Foreign Lands,”
IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 5 (July/Aug. 1981): 17; Bill Chalker and
Keith Basterfield, “Landing
with Physical Traces near Rosedale, Victoria, Australia,” APRO
Bulletin 29, no. 12 (December 1981): 3–5; Keith Basterfield, Vladimir
Godic, and Pony Godic, “Australian Ufology: A Review,” JUFOS 2 (1990):
31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6145
Date: 9/30/1980
Description: UFO researcher William
Moore meets for the first time with AFOSI officer Richard
Doty (whom Moore refers to as “Sparrow”). Doty is the middleman for
an Air Force colonel (later called “Falcon” by Moore) who Moore first
contacted on September 5. (The identity of the colonel has not been
established, but it may possibly be Doty’s superior officer, Col. John
Barry Hennessey.) Doty claims that Stanton
T. Friedman and Brad
Sparks know him personally and will vouch for him (untrue). (Brad
Sparks and Barry Greenwood, “The Secret Pratt Tapes and the Origins of
MJ-12,” in MUFON 2007 International UFO Symposium Proceedings, MUFON,
2007, pp. 92–159)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6146
Date: 9/30/1980
Description: Spinning topshaped object with body lights, whistling
sound, landed near water tank, vibrations felt, uncomfortable sound,
livestock reacted. Physical traces
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Rosedale, Victoria, Australia
ID: 357
Date: 10/1980
Description: Leonard
Stringfield, who
now has about 20 first-hand informants to various crash/retrievals,
begins to encounter resistance and silence from some of them, who are
apparently under increased suspicion and surveillance. (MUFON UFO
Journal, December 1980)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6147
Date: 10/1980
Description: James W. Allen, 14, is photographing Ben Vrackie mountain
in Perthshire, Scotland. As he is walking home he hears a weird humming
noise, sees a disc-shaped object, and takes a photo of it. Analysis of
the photo points to a hoax photo of a helium-filled balloon. (“Young
Scottish Photographer Sends Photograph,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter
2, no. 10 (October 1981): 1, 6; Steuart Campbell, “Investigation
Report on 1980 Photograph at Pitlochry,
Scotland,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 6, no. 1 (Feb./March 1985):
1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6148
Date: 10/1980
Alternate date: 11/1980
Description: Ground-based radar at RAF Neatishead, near Norwich,
England, tracks an aerial object executing aerial maneuvers that “defied
all convention.” A very bright light is seen by the pilot of an RAF F-4
Phantom II aircraft. It vanishes as quickly as it has appeared. (Nick
Redfern, A Covert Agenda: UFO Secrecy Exposed, Simon & Schuster,
1997, p. 136)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6149
Date: 10/1/1980 (approximate)
Description: A group of people go to Lucky Point, east of Monroe City,
Indiana, to look for UFOs. High in the eastern sky they notice a dark
triangle, as large as the full moon and possibly surrounded by a light
glow. As it moves overhead, they hear a voice announce, “the time is
now.” It changes direction slightly and accelerates to the northwest.
The group reports a tingling sensation and a humming noise on their FM
scanner radios. (“UFO Mini- Flap in Southern Indiana,” IUR/Frontiers of
Science 3, no. 3 (Mar./Apr. 1981): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6150
Date: 10/5/1980
Description: 3:00 a.m. Five off-duty metalworkers at the Dagang
Oilfield, Tianjin, China, see a cone-shaped, red, glowing object that
lights the area below. Workers feel a scorching heat as it flies by and
disappears over Bohai Bay. (Paul Dong and Wendelle Stevens, UFOs over
Modern China, UFO Photo Archives, 1983, p. 190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6151
Date: 10/6/1980
Description: 5:50 p.m. A retired man is resting on his sundeck in
Ipswich, Massachusetts, when he sees a silver object tumbling
end-over-end. He grabs binoculars and watches as it passes overhead and
continues, appearing to descend as it disappears behind trees toward the
Sagamore Hill Solar Radar Observatory [now relocated to Millstone Hill,
Westford] in South Hamilton. (“Tumbling Daylight UFO,” IUR/Frontiers of
Science 3, no. 2 (Jan./Feb. 1981): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6152
Date: 10/7/1980
Description: 11:30 p.m. Witnesses near Yelm, Tenino, and Offutt Lake,
Washington, report a large object shaped like a triangle or diamond with
red and green lights. (“Thurston
County Logs Some Mysterious Night Sights,” Olympia (Wash.) Daily
Olympian, October 9, 1980, p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6153
Date: 10/15/1980
Description: 11:30 p.m. A Knox County, Indiana, deputy sheriff stops by
the side of a road to stretch his legs. Out of the east comes a black
triangular form, as big as a house and 10 times the angular size of the
full moon. He estimates it is 250 feet away and 200 feet up at its
closest. Five figures are visible from the waist up through a long
window on one side of the triangle. Large slanted unblinking eyes, white
skin, and a straight-line mouth are visible on their elongated heads. He
thinks they look afraid, so he tries to telepathically assure them not
to be afraid. They respond by asking him, “Why do you hate the
Iranians?” The object draws closer the speeds away to the northeast.
During the sighting, his police radio displays intermittent interference
and his patrol car’s engine and headlights pulsate. The deputy feels
light-headed and sluggish, and his eyes water. (“UFO Mini-Flap in
Southern Indiana,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 3 (Mar./Apr. 1981):
11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6154
Date: 10/15/1980
End date: 10/20/1980
Description: According to analyst Gary
Sick, meetings
are allegedly held in Paris, France, between emissaries of the
Reagan/Bush campaign, with future CIA Director William
J. Casey as a key participant, and “high-level Iranian and Israeli
representatives” to make a secret deal with Iran to delay the release of
the American hostages until after the election. In return for this, the
United States purportedly arranges for Israel to ship weapons to Iran.
Sick is never able to prove his claims, but the evidence suggests that
the Reagan administration
ships arms to Iran, both through Israel and directly, from 1981 to 1987
as payment for Iranian cooperation. (Wikipedia, “October
Surprise conspiracy
theory”; Gary Sick, October
Surprise: America’s Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald
Reagan, Times
Books, 1991)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6155
Date: 10/16/1980
Description: Evening. Operators at Tianjin Binhai International Airport,
China, are observing the movements of Flight 402 on radar when an
unexplained echo shows up. When the airliner is about 6,500 feet from
the runway, the plane’s blip disappears for 7 seconds. The mystery
target gives a strong, distinct return, and it seems to cause strong
radio interference as the airliner touches down. Other anomalous targets
show up later that night, but none are seen visually. (Good Above, pp. 215–216;
Paul Dong, “Extracts
from Paul Dong’s Feidie
Bai Wen Bai Da (Questions
and Answers on UFOs),” Flying Saucer Review 29, no. 6 (August 1984):
18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6156
Date: 10/19/1980
Description: 7:50 p.m. Donald Shive, his wife Star, and two children are
driving west near Albion, Michigan, when they see an object with two
white lights on the sides and a red and blue light on the front and
back. It is moving at about 25 mph at an altitude of 200–500 feet when
it moves over the car at an intersection. The car stalls and the lights
go out briefly. (“UFO Stalls Van in Michigan?” IUR/Frontiers of Science
3, no. 1 (Nov./Dec. 1980): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6157
Date: 10/20/1980
Description: Orionid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 358
Date: 10/21/1980
Description: 8:35 a.m. Betty Long and a friend see a formation of three
egg-shaped objects in the northern sky over San Diego, California. The
bright sun makes them seem uniformly white and featureless. After moving
to the right for three minutes, they turn 90° to the left and move away
from the witnesses. The formation retains its triangular shape
throughout the sighting. (“Daylight
‘Eggs’ over California,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 8
(December 1980): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6158
Date: 10/23/1980
Description: Boomerang-shaped object with body lights shone brilliant
light beam down smoke stacks, accelerated, made noninertial turn.
Satellite objects
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Morenci, AZ
ID: 359
Date: 10/23/1980
Description: 8:55 p.m. Randall Rogers and Larry Mortensen, employed at
the Phelps-Dodge Corporation’s copper smelting site at Morenci, Arizona,
go outside to pick up three other employees for an evening meal break.
They notice a boomerang-shaped object approaching the north smokestack
at 1,500–2,000 feet altitude and a very slow speed. It stops and hovers
briefly, then comes down to 700–1,000 feet, just above the stack. A
brilliant light erupts from the forward angle and shines directly down
into the interior of the stack. 10 seconds later it goes out and the
object moves south to hover above the south stack and shine the bright
light inside. It then moves off at 5–10 mph to the south, then suddenly
takes off at great speed to the southwest. A very short time later, it
returns and hovers above the slag dump. The object is seen as dull black
and perhaps 1,320 feet from wingtip to wingtip. Eight reddish lights are
on each wing about 75 feet apart and connected by a white tube of light.
Greenlee County Sheriff Ralph Gomez also observes the object, as do
about 100 members of the Morenci High School band. (“UFO
over Copper Smelter,” APRO Bulletin 29, no. 7 (1981): 1–3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6159
Date: 10/24/1980
Description: Investigator Paul Bennewitz contacts Major Ernest Edwards
of the Kirtland AFB Security Police who, over the period of the next few
months, became concerned and requested the guards on the Manzano Weapons
Storage Area to report to him any sightings of unusual aerial
lights.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: link
Location: Manzano Test Range
Date: 10/26/1980
Description: Paul
Bennewitz over a number of months has become convinced that he has
uncovered evidence of aliens controlling humans through electromagnetic
devices, and furthermore claims that UFOs are regularly flying near
Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque and the nearby Manzano Nuclear
Weapons Storage Facility and Coyote Canyon Test Area. He is also
convinced there is an alien base beneath Archuleta Peak northwest of
Dulce, New Mexico. After failing to convince APRO (who considers him
deluded), Bennewitz contacts AFOSI special agent Sgt. Richard
Doty at Kirtland Air Force Base, who meets with him at his home
today along with Jerry Miller, Kirtland’s scientific advisor for the Air
Force Test and Evaluation Center. (Clark III 359; Greg Bishop, Project
Beta, Paraview, 2005, pp. 34–35, 135–137;
Robert L. Hastings, “UFOs
Filmed Hovering over U.S. Air Force
Nuclear Weapons Storage Area,” UFOs & Nukes, May 13, 2012;
Alejandro T. Rojas, [Bennewitz/Kirtland AFB documents]; Alejandro T.
Rojas, “Ex–Air
Force Law Enforcement Agent Claims He Hoaxed Major UFO Mythologies,”
June 29, 2019; Dolan II 225–229)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6160
Date: 10/26/1980
Description: 7:00 p.m. An oddly shaped UFO is observed by a husband and
wife on their farm 2 miles southeast of Bloomfield, Indiana. The object
looks like two full moons spaced about 12 feet apart with a flashing red
light in back like a lopsided triangle. Each white light is about 3 feet
in diameter, and the white is intense but nothing around lights up. The
object is at treetop level and passes to the right of a security light.
There is no reflection of metal anywhere. The woman gets the impression
that the lights are connected to something huge, saying: “The object
passed about 20 feet above the barn making no sound and lights making no
light. When it was over the barn roof, the sows with baby pigs in the
barn jumped up and began wild grunting and knocking about in their pens.
They settled down immediately after the object cleared the roof. The
object is now coming very slowly towards the front of our house and
yard. My husband had gone back into the house to watch from the front
windows, my children are crying, and I am on the back porch having the
time of my life.” The UFO disappears behind the roof line of the house.
(“Tractor-Chasing Saucer,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 5
(July/Aug. 1981): 14–15; “October
UFO in Indiana Reported,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 8
(August 1981): 6; “Greene
County,
Indiana, 1980 CE II,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 6, no. 2 (April/May
1985): 1, 6, 8; John P. Timmerman, “Greene County Close Encounter,” IUR
28, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 10–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6161
Date: 10/31/1980
Description: Day. The airport control tower at Canoas, Rio Grande do
Sul, Brazil, detects a UFO on its radar. An F-5 squadron has just
landed, with the exception of one plane, whose pilot requests
authorization to pursue. He sees a bright gold object right in front of
him and accelerates to approach, but the object immediately speeds up.
The control tower loses the object on its radar. The pilot continues to
pursue for 2 minutes before the UFO speeds off over the ocean. (Clark
III 206–207; Brazil 555–556)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6162
Date: 11/2/1980
Description: 3:00 p.m. Mike Clampett and his wife are stepping out of a
Toyota showroom on Solano Avenue in Vallejo, California. They see a
group of people looking at the sky where a Piper Cub seems to be on a
collision course with a cigar-shaped object. The plane is moving north
to south while the UFO flies silently from high in the east to the west.
The object is rotating or spiraling about once every second. It takes
nearly 10 minutes for the object to reach nearly overhead, dropping in
altitude all the while. It remains stationary in the zenith about 5
minutes then moves to the south at a higher altitude. (“A Spiralling
Daylight Cigar,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 2 (Jan./Feb. 1981):
11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6164
Date: 11/2/1980
Description: 12:42 p.m. A couple driving westbound on US Highway 50 some
20 miles east of Montrose, Colorado, notice a silver, oblong object in
the distance. As the highway starts to curve, it is seen against a
background of mesa. They stop the car for a better look for another 10
seconds. It banks like an aircraft to the right and its shape changes to
an oval. It disappears by shooting up over the top of the mesa toward
the northeast. (“Daylight Disc in Colorado,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3,
no. 3 (March/April 1981): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6163
Date: 11/5/1980
Description: 8:45 p.m. A private pilot named Dennis is flying a Piper
PA-32R-301T Turbo Saratoga SP at 8,000 feet near Lake Berryessa,
California. He spots an orange, bullet-shaped light that is keeping even
with him at 212 mph. The light brightens and begins to pulse with an
increasing frequency, then shoots forward and makes a perfect
right-angle turn upward. Five minutes later, it reappears behind him and
performs a similar maneuver. The sighting is corroborated by a
commercial airliner. (“A Twin ‘Déjà vu’ Sighting?” IUR 7, no. 1 (January
1982): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6165
Date: 11/6/1980
Description: 7:55 a.m. Nancy Parker is a passenger on a Western Airlines
flight passing over Monterey Bay, California. She takes three photos of
the scenery below, but when she develops the film, a bright, disc-shaped
object appears on the second photo. Probable reflection or lens flare.
(“Reflection
or Object? Photo from Airliner Being
Studied,” CUFOS Associates Newsletter 2, no. 3 (March 1981):
1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6167
Date: 11/6/1980
Description: Peter Gersten files
a reply to the NSA’s September request for summary judgment. (“CAUS
Update,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 1 (Nov./Dec. 1980): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6166
Date: 11/10/1980
Description: Paul
Bennewitz visits with a small group of officials—including Brig.
Gen. William
Brooksher, base AFOSI head Maj. Thomas Cseh, and scientists from the
USAF Phillips Weapons Lab—at Kirtland AFB in New Mexico to present his
film, photos, and electromagnetic findings. (Clark III 359; Greg Bishop,
Project Beta, Paraview, 2005, pp. 41–44;
Alejandro T. Rojas, [Bennewitz/Kirtland AFB documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6168
Date: 11/10/1980
Description: 9:00 p.m. A man observes a stationary white light some 30°
up in the western sky near the intersection of State Highway 30 and
Interstate 270 in Sunset Hills, Missouri. A second object, orange in
color, silently circles it for several minutes before taking off to the
west. (“Orbiting
Lights near St. Louis,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 1, no. 8
(December 1980): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6169
Date: 11/10/1980
Description: Investigator Paul Bennewitz presented his evidence of
sightings near the Kirtland Air Force Base and the Manzano range to high
ranking Air Force personnel including Brigadier General William
Brooksher. In the report of this meeting, it is noted that Bennewitz was
advised to apply for an Air Force grant to study the phenomena.
Type: private presentation
Reference: link
Location: Manzano Test Range
Date: 11/11/1980
Description: 6:40 p.m. Seven commercial aircraft—four Iberia Boeing
727s, a British airliner, an air-taxi, and a Transeuropa
aircraft—encounter an unusual green object over Barcelona, Maella, Palma
de Mallorca, and other points in northeastern Spain. Spanish journalist
Juan
J. Benítez investigates and determines that either 7 identical UFOs
are involved or a single object is responsible, one capable of traveling
hundreds of miles within minutes. Comandante Ramos, one of the Iberia
pilots, says that the object is “like an enormous soap bubble” that is
coming straight for his aircraft. He puts it into an evasive dive. When
it passes close to the plane, they see a second smaller ball. (Juan J.
Benítez, “Anniversary
Aerial Encounters,” Flying Saucer Review 26, no. 6 (March 1981):
12–14; Good Above, pp. 157–159)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6170
Date: 11/16/1980
Description: Leonid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 360
Date: 11/17/1980
Description: SECRET USAF OSI Document: Analysis of photo of UFO
following C-5A aircraft inclusive. Photo analysis of Cylinder Shaped UFO
legitimate. Photo E. showed legitimate disc shaped UFO of 37 ft.
diameter with trilateral insignia on object. USAF still has an interest
in all UFO sightings over installations and test ranges. Several other
Government agencies, lead by NASA, actively investigate legitimate
sightings through COVERT COVER. One agency that deceives the public
which such covert cover is the UFO reporting center at U.S. Coast and
Geodetic Survey, Rockville, MD. 20852. (The results of PROJECT AQUARIUS
is still classified TOP SECRET with access limited to “MJ-12”.)
Type: secret document
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p528)
Location: US
Attributes: majestic
Date: 11/17/1980
Description: Sgt. Richard
Doty tells Bennewitz that
AFOSI has decided against any further investigation of his claims. The
same day, Doty forges a communication (later called the “Aquarius
document”) from AFOSI headquarters at Bolling AFB in Washington, D.C.,
to the Seventeenth District AFOSI office at Kirtland and gives it to Bill
Moore. It
mentions, briefly and cryptically, analyses of a UFO film apparently
taken in October. It also mentions MJ-12 and a government UFO
investigation “outside official intelligence channels” called the
Aquarius Project. Bill Moore calls it a retyped version of a real AFOSI
message with a few spurious additions. Doty tells Moore to pass it on to
Bennewitz, which he does eventually. In 2005, Doty tells radio host Art
Bell that AFOSI’s interest in Bennewitz has nothing to do with
aliens; rather, it is to protect the technologies and activities at
Kirtland AFB. (Good Above, p. 528;
Greg Bishop, Project Beta, Paraview, 2005, pp. 43, 120–129;
“Greg
Bishop and
Richard Doty, Coast to Coast AM with Host Art Bell, Interview
Transcript,” February 27, 2005; Clark III 362)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6171
Date: 11/18/1980
Description: For the resolution of the CAUS v. NSA, the National
Security Agency creates two affidavits to explain why UFO information is
to be withheld from the public. The affidavits are written by the chief
officer of policy for the NSA, Eugene F. Yeates. The first of the two is
the “unclassified, softened-down” version released to CAUS and the
public. The affidavit says that it is in the NSA’s direct interests not
to have the documents published, as they can compromise national
security because they contain sensitive intelligence regarding the
interception of foreign communication; and no meaningful amount of
information can be declassified without giving foreign intelligence
information regarding US time and methods of information interception.
The second affidavit is for Judge Gerhard
A. Gesell only, classified “top secret,” which the judge can read
with an “in camera” clearance. The judge sides with the NSA after
reviewing the affidavit (released to CAUS through an FOIA request with
95% redactions, later released in 1997 with only 25% redacted, and in
2014 with a bit less missing). Gesell states that “the public interest
in disclosure is far outweighed by the sensitive nature of the materials
and the obvious effect on national security their release may well
entail.” CAUS fashions an appeal to the US Supreme Court. (Wikipedia,
“Citizens
Against UFO Secrecy”; Eugene F. Yeates, In
Camera Affidavit, Citizens Against Unidentified Flying Objects
Secrecy v. National Security Agency, US District Court for the District
of Columbia, October 9, 1980; J. Allen Hynek, “A Cosmic Watergate?” IUR
9, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1984): 10–12; ClearIntent, pp. 187–188;
Good Above, pp. 417–419,
535–539);
John Greenewald, “UFOs:
The National Security
Agency (NSA) Collection,” The Black Vault, September 10, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6172
Date: 11/18/1980
Description: 7:30–11:00 p.m. Many people living in northern Missouri and
northeastern Kansas, from Edina, Missouri, to Fairview, Kansas, report a
formation of unusual lights traveling slowly and noiselessly. An airport
and the police department in Kirksville, Missouri, receive 25 calls or
so. The basic description is a triangular formation with two bright
headlights. Rick Hull, a 20-year-old photographer from Trenton,
Missouri, watches the lights pass overhead four different times; the
underside shows a diamond-shaped array of white lights with a steady red
beacon in the middle. There are also two bright headlights and an
apparent dome with seven green lights around it. He manages to
photograph the array only once out of several attempts. Most people
provide an estimated altitude for the lights as 300–400 feet, but a
Trenton witness puts it at 1,000–1,500 feet, and Missouri Highway
Patrolman Bob Lober guesses 1,500–1,800 feet in Edinburg, Missouri. The
lights change direction frequently. Radar technician Franklin West,
located at a remote radar station of the Kansas City Air Route Traffic
Control Center at Sublette, Missouri, finds a radar target in the same
direction and distance as visual reports that local witnesses alert him
to. It passes through the Kirksville area 4–5 times in a 2–3 hour
period. He estimates its speed at 45 mph. A pilot landing at the Olathe,
Kansas, Air Route Traffic Control Center says he recognizes the UFO as a
refueling tanker with jets following it, which matches an established
refueling track in the area. The Center for UFO Studies confirms that
Altus AFB in Oklahoma, flew a huge C-5A cargo aircraft behind a KC-135
tanker from Grissom AFB in Peru, Indiana, that evening. The two planes
flew in tandem at 20,000 feet at an indicated air speed of 250 knots
beginning at 8:00 p.m. and ending around 11:00 p.m. However, there are a
few discrepancies with the reports. (“North
Missourians Report Strange
Lights in Night Sky,” Chillicothe (Mo.) Constitution-Tribune,
November 19, 1980, pp. 1, 12; Joe and Doris Graziano, “Press
Reports,” APRO Bulletin 29, no. 5 (June 1981): 6; “Radar-Visual
Light Form Seen by Independent Witnesses,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3,
no. 3 (March/April 1981): 12–14; Marler 109–112)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6173
Date: 11/19/1980
Description: Light beamed onto car, lights and radio failed, car
levitated on board domed craft surrounded by dense cloud or mist, couple
examined. Car placed back on road
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Longmont, CO
ID: 361
Date: 11/19/1980
Description: 11:45 p.m. A couple is driving home to Longmont, Colorado,
from Denver when they hear a loud “whish” and a beam of blue light
strikes their car. Their headlights begin to dim and the radio emits
static before fading out. The back wheels of the car leave the pavement
and the car rises at an angle into the air. They lose consciousness and
wake up as the car is resuming its 50 mph journey down the road. More
than one hour of time is missing. The next day, the woman finds a
rectangular mark on her abdomen and soon has vivid dreams of a craft and
an entity. She develops a nearly fatal case of pneumonia and finds out
she is pregnant. The man discovers a melanoma on his legs, but it
improves. Under hypnosis they recall seeing a hovering domed craft, a
luminous entryway, and a humanoid with a large head, gray skin, thin
fingers, and shiny golden garb. (Richard Sigismond, “CE-IIIs: New
Dimensions in Investigations,” IUR 7, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1982):
9–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6174
Date: 11/24/1980
Description: Official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that an
association to study UFOs had been established in Peking.
Type: official
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: China
ID: 362
Date: 11/24/1980
Description: Around 10:00 p.m. A teenager in New Lenox, Illinois, sees
two green light sources from his bedroom window. They move back and
forth in the southern sky and disappear briefly when a plane flies below
them. (“UFOs—or IFOs over Joliet?” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 2
(Jan./Feb. 1981): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6175
Date: 11/25/1980
Description: Early morning. Policemen in New Lenox, Manhattan, Joliet,
and Ellwood, Illinois, watch a bright white light that fluctuates in
brightness and mostly remains stationary. Probable sightings of Venus.
(“UFOs—or IFOs over Joliet?” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 2
(Jan./Feb. 1981): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6176
Date: 11/25/1980
Description: 6:40 a.m. A glowing orange ball is seen maneuvering around
the Ninian Northern oil platform in the North Sea. It is large enough to
be seen by workers at the Brent oil platform 12–15 miles away. An RAF
Hawker Siddeley Nimrod aircraft is sent to the area, but no public
conclusions are reached about its nature. (Nick Redfern, A Covert
Agenda: UFO Secrecy Exposed, Simon & Schuster, 1997, p. 136)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6177
Date: 11/26/1980
Description: Doty receives
a call from former astronaut Sen. Harrison
Schmitt (R-N.Mex.) who asks him about AFOSI’s role in Bennewitz’s
claims. Doty tells him they are not investigating. But Doty later admits
what he tells Schmitt is not true. AFOSI has told him to make Bennewitz
believe there is an impending alien invasion because Bennewitz is
actually observing secret Air Force projects. According to Doty, the Air
Force wants to discredit Bennewitz so no one will figure that out.
However, Doty claims that in doing so, he created hoaxed documents that
are given to Bennewitz and other UFO researchers, and that he broke into
Bennewitz’s house and office. (Alejandro T. Rojas, “Ex–Air
Force Law Enforcement Agent Says He Hoaxed Major UFO Mythologies,”
Huffington Post, May 13, 2014; Clark III 359–362)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6178
Date: 11/28/1980
Description: Constable Alan Godfrey encountered craft on road, time
loss. Abduction scenario emerged under hypnosis
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: medical
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Todmorden, West Yorkshire, UK
ID: 363
Date: 11/29/1980
Description: 5:00 a.m. While checking reports of cattle wandering around
a local council estate in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, England, Police
Constable Alan
Godfrey allegedly sees a bright light ahead on Burnley Road that
appears to be a hovering, rotating object. He sees twigs and leaves
swirling around beneath it. He experiences missing time of approximately
25 minutes, during which he splits a boot and acquires an itchy, red
mark on his foot. Via hypnotic regression, he recalls being medically
examined by alien creatures. In May, Godfrey had investigated the death
of Zigmund
Adamski, who
had been missing for five days before his body was found on top of a
coal pile. According to the coroner, Adamski died of a heart attack.
Godfrey tells reporters at the time that he believes it possible that
Adamski was abducted by aliens and placed on the coal pile “by someone
or something.” Godfrey self-publishes Who or What Were They? in 2017, a
book that includes his speculations regarding the Adamski case,
abduction claims by Travis
Walton, and his own UFO sighting. In 2014, a partial witness to the
event surfaces, a bus driver on Burnley Road who around 4:55 a.m.
experiences one of the physical effects Godfrey describes—an oddly
localized whirlwind buffeting debris and leaving a swirled road surface
beneath. (Wikipedia, “Alan
Godfrey”; Jenny Randles, “The
Alan Godfrey Abduction, November 28, 1980,”
UFO Casebook; “Alan
Godfrey,” Northern Ontario UFO Research and Study; Jenny Randles,
The Pennine UFO Mystery, Granada, 1983, pp. 122–135, 147–168;
Good Above, pp. 118–119;
Jenny Randles, “Flappy Valley: Part One,” Fortean Times 325 (April
2015): 27; Jenny Randles, “Flappy Valley: Part Two,” Fortean Times 326
(May 2015): 27; Jenny Randles, “Flappy Valley, Part 3,” Fortean Times
327 (June 2015): 29; Jenny Randles, “Flappy Valley, Part 4,” Fortean
Times 328 (July 2015): 28–30; Alan Godfrey, Who or What Were They? The
Author, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6179
Date: 11/29/1980
Description: Mechanic Granger Taylor, 32, of Duncan, British Columbia, a
man obsessed with aliens and UFOs to the point of building his own
full-size model in his backyard, announces to his friends and parents
that he is going to board an alien spacecraft and take a 42-month
interstellar voyage. He is never seen again. In 1986, truck fragments
and bones are found at a blast site on Mount Prevost. Though DNA testing
is not in common use at the time, pathology work by the coroner
attributes the adult human bones to Taylor. Fragments of clothing found
amid the decayed material are from a shirt owned by Taylor, as confirmed
by his mother. Representatives from the auto division of the RCMP
confirm the truck is his. A report by the B.C. Coroners office
officially declares Taylor dead. A CBC-TV documentary about Taylor,
Spaceman, is released in 2019 but fails to come up with a likely
explanation. (Tyler Hooper, “The
Man Who Went to Space and Disappeared,” Vice, July 1, 2016; Mike
Taylor, “What
Happened to Granger Taylor?” Vancouver (B.C.) Times Colonist,
February 3, 2019; CBC-TV, “Spaceman,”
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6180
Date: 12/1980
Description: UFO landing between the Bentwaters and Woodbridge NATA
bases in England. Nearby animals driven into a frenzy, surrounding trees
damaged, left moderate levels of radiation, 17 firsthand witnesses,
event filmed.
Type: ufo landing
Reference: APCIC Vol 10 #4–1985
Location: between the Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge
See also: 3/3/1985
Date: 12/1980
Description: Army Lt. Col. John
B. Alexander discusses in Military Review how psychotronic weapons
could be developed by studying the paranormal. He discusses the
remote-viewing studies of Russell
Targ and Harold
E. Puthoff and
their potential military applications. As for psychotronic weapons, he
sees much potential, saying, “with development, these weapons would be
able to induce illness or death at little or no risk to the operator.
Range may be a present problem, but this will probably be overcome if it
has not been already.” As an example, he cites work by the Soviets, who
have “examined the effects of electromagnetic radiation on humans and
have applied those techniques against the US Embassy in Moscow.” (John
B. Alexander, “The
New Mental Battlefield: ’Beam
Me Up, Spock!’” Military Review 60, no. 12 (December 1980))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6181
Date: 12/3/1980
Description: 8:30 p.m. On State Highway 57 about 10 miles south of
McLain, Mississippi, Robert and Janice Lowrey [or Lawrey?] see a
luminous, blue-white ball of light to the east. The FM radio of their
car quits, the car’s headlights dim, and the car heater quits when light
comes briefly over the right side of the hood. They estimate the light
to be about a foot in diameter and only 3 feet away. The seat belt alarm
also comes on during the encounter. The light just vanishes. (“Vehicle
Affected by Mini-UFO?” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 2
(Jan./Feb. 1981): 12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6182
Date: 12/4/1980
Description: Radar-visual sighting of four objects at airport
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Perth, Western Australia
ID: 364
Date: 12/4/1980
Description: 8:38 a.m. Graham Moyle and other controllers at the Perth,
Western Australia, airport report watching “silver tumbling discs” two
or three times through 11:00 a.m. Danielle Russell, 12, sees four
objects with lights that change color from red to blue to green moving
quickly north to south at 11:00 a.m. There is a reported paint on the
radar 7 miles distant at a speed of 138 mph and a height of 5 miles. The
target is lost in the radar’s cone of silence. The RAAF scrambles a
Macchi jet, but it cannot find the objects. At 1:20 p.m., a target is
detected on the radar at 21 miles, due south. The tower tracks an object
high above one of the runways. Five minutes later, the radar returns
another target. (“Jet Hunt for Australian UFOs,” IUR/Frontiers of
Science 3, no. 2 (Jan./Feb. 1981): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6183
Date: 12/5/1980
Description: 10:00 p.m. Two teenagers parked next to a swimming pool in
a subdivision of Normal, Illinois, see a stationary bright white light
about half the size of the full moon in the western sky. Suddenly it
splits into two smaller halves that rejoin, growing small and fuzzy,
then brighten and enlarge. Three small lights shoot out and snap back in
again. They watch the display for about one hour. During the last 15
minutes, their ears begin to hurt simultaneously. The pain shifts from
their right ears to their temples, and they both feel a pea-shaped lump
under their skin. They return home. The next day the lumps are gone but
they have headaches. On December 8 at 8:45 p.m., the boy returns to the
same spot alone and sees another light for about one minute. When he
calls his girlfriend again to tell her, both regain the painful lumps in
their temples. (“Youths
Link Pain with UFO,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 2 (February
1981): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6184
Date: 12/6/1980
Description: 9:01 a.m. Jean Findley of Poole, Dorset, England, is
waiting for a bus and feels the urge to look up. She sees a disc-shaped,
domed UFO hovering above nearby trees. Feeling “spellbound” and
experiencing a sensation of “peace, calm, and warmth,” she watches the
object emit a beam of light, rotate once, and fly away at a great rate
of speed. She looks at her watch and sees that 4 minutes have elapsed,
seemingly in the space of a few seconds. Even though it is rush hour,
she sees no one else around. (Clark III 866; Jenny Randles, UFO Reality,
R. Hale, 1983)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6186
Date: 12/6/1980
Description: 12:45 a.m. A man is driving westbound a few miles north of
Edwardsville, Illinois, when a disc-like object cuts across his view
from the south about 100 feet away. It seems to be 40 feet in diameter
and 9–13 feet thick. Five intense, steady, blue-white lights illuminate
its dark shape. He sees windows at the center. The witness tries to
drive toward the object, but his car engine fails for 1–2 minutes. The
object zips off after a few minutes. (“Current
Sighting Reports,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 3 (March 1981):
6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6185
Date: 12/13/1980
Description: 5:47 p.m. James Garrigus sees an oblong, pulsating orange
glow descending at a 30° angle in the northeast as he is driving in
Lima, Ohio. Suddenly it curves back upward in a backwards “J,”
continuing to move in the same direction. The light increases speed,
still bobbing and spinning, and finally shoots upward. (“Nocturnal
Light in Ohio,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 2 (February 1981):
6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6187
Date: 12/15/1980
Description: 3:00 p.m. About 40 witnesses at the Orpington Hospital
redevelopment site in London, England, watch a UFO that alternately
hovers, moves slowly, shoots across the sky, and finally divides into
three and disappears straight up at 4:15 p.m. The object is an elongated
triangular shape with a reddish-orange nose, silvery body, and
diamond-blue rear section, with its nose pointing southeast. Peter
McSherry, clerk of works for Lovell (Southern) Ltd estimates its height
at 50,000 feet. A video of the object is taken in the presence of other
witnesses at Seal Chart near Sevenoaks, Kent, and although it shows only
a point of light in a cloudless sky, it does corroborate the sighting.
(Good Above, pp. 76–79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6188
Date: 12/25/1980
Description: 9:00 p.m. Soviet spy satellite Kosmos 749 re-enters the
Earth’s atmosphere, breaks into several pieces, and creates a
spectacular fireworks display over northwest Europe. Police stations,
coast guards, and the RAF receive hundreds of calls reporting four or
five “comet-like objects leaving bright trails.” Astronomers also record
three fireball meteors the same night, the largest and brightest
appearing at 3:00 a.m. (UFOFiles2, p. 105)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6189
Date: 12/26/1980
Description: 3:00 a.m. A series of reported sightings of unexplained
lights near Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, have become linked with
claims of UFO landings. The events occur just outside RAF Woodbridge
[now MOD Woodbridge], used at the time by the United States Air Force.
USAF personnel, including deputy base commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles
I. Halt, claim to experience a UFO event. A security patrol (A1C John Burroughs and
S/Sgt Budd Steffens) near the East Gate of RAF Woodbridge sees lights
apparently descending into nearby Rendlesham Forest. These lights are
attributed by astronomers to a piece of natural debris seen burning up
as a fireball over southern England at the time. The observers initially
think it is a downed aircraft but, when others (S/Sgt James
Penniston, Burroughs, and A1C Edward
Cabansag) enter the forest to investigate they see, according to
Halt’s memo, a glowing object, metallic in appearance, with colored
lights. As they attempt to approach the object, it appears to move
through the trees, and “the animals on a nearby farm went into a
frenzy.” Penniston later claims he and Burroughs encountered a “craft of
unknown origin” while in the forest, which he photographs and touches,
although there is no publicized mention of this at the time and no
corroboration from other witnesses. (Burroughs only reports a blinding
white light.) Shortly after 4:00 a.m., local police are called to the
scene, but they report that the only lights they can see are those from
the Orfordness Lighthouse, a few miles away on the coast. After
daybreak, Burroughs and Penniston return to a small clearing near the
eastern edge of the forest and find three small impressions on the
ground in a triangular pattern, as well as burn marks and broken
branches on nearby trees. At 10:30 a.m., the Suffolk Constabulary are
called out again, this time to see the impressions, which they think
could have been made by an animal. Georgina
Bruni, in
her book You Can’t Tell the People (2000), publishes a photo of the
supposed landing site taken on the morning after the first
sighting.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6190
Date: 12/27/1980
Description: USAF UFO report signed by Lt. Col. Charles I. Halt, Deputy
Base Commander, RAF Woodbridge stating: Two USAF security police
patrolmen saw a UFO either hovering or on legs outside the backgate,
Woodbridge. Being early morning, it illuminated the entire forest with a
white light. Description: Metallic in appearance and triangular in
shape, pulsing red light on top and banks of blue lights underneath.
Approx. 2–3 meters across and 2 meters high. It maneuvered through the
trees and disappeared.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p456)
Location: RAF Woodbridge
See also: 12/29/1980
Date: 12/27/1980
Description: 9:30 p.m. Construction workers skating in Yantan Park,
Lanzhou, Gansu province, China, notice a red triangular object moving
slowly in the eastern sky. It moves above them and they notice it has a
misty circle surrounding it and a dark red center. It also has a gray
protuberance that shines a brilliant light, and the outer edge emits
regular flashes of yellow light. They watch it for 7 minutes until it
disappears in the northwest. (“The Chinese Connection…and Some Wholesome
Chinese Philosophy,” IUR 7, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1982): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6191
Date: 12/27/1980
End date: 12/30/1980
Description: Air Force security police encounter with landed craft in
Rendlesham Forest, physical evidence
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Bentwaters AFB, UK
ID: 365
Date: 12/28/1980
Description: 1:48 a.m. RAF Woodbridge Deputy Base Commander Charles
Halt visits the alleged December 26 landing site with 20–30
servicemen (including John
Burroughs, Sgt. Adrian
Bustinza, Sgt. Bobby
Ball, and Sgt. Monroe
Nevels). They take radiation readings in the triangle of depressions
and in the surrounding area using an AN/PDR-27, a standard US military
radiation survey meter. Although they record 70–100 microR/hr at the
landing site, in other regions they detect only 30–40 microR/hr, around
the background level. Furthermore, they detect a similar small “burst”
over half a mile away from the landing site. Halt records the events on
a microcassette recorder, the “Halt tape,” released to UFO researchers
in 1984 by Col. Sam Morgan, who has succeeded Ted
Conrad as Halt’s superior. The tape chronicles Halt’s investigation
in the forest in real time. During this investigation, a flashing light
is seen across the field to the east, almost in line with a farmhouse,
as the witnesses had seen on the first night. The Orfordness Lighthouse
is visible further to the east in the same line of sight. Later, three
star-like lights are seen in the sky, two to the north and one to the
south, about 10° above the horizon. The brightest of these hovers for
2–3 hours and seems to beam down a stream of light from time to time.
Astronomers have explained these as merely bright stars. In June 2010,
retired Col. Charles Halt signs a notarized affidavit, in which he again
summarizes what happened, then states he believes the event to be
extraterrestrial and covered up by both the UK and US military.
Contradictions between this affidavit and the facts as recorded at the
time in Halt’s memo (dated January 13, 1981) and tape recording (made
December 28) have been pointed out. In 2010, base commander Col. Ted
Conrad provides a statement about the incident to UFO researcher David
Clarke. Conrad
states that “We saw nothing that resembled Lieutenant Colonel Halt’s
descriptions either in the sky or on the ground” and that “We had people
in position to validate Halt’s narrative, but none of them could.” In an
interview, Conrad criticizes Halt for the claims in his affidavit,
saying “he should be ashamed and embarrassed by his allegation that his
country and Britain both conspired to deceive their citizens over this
issue. He knows better.” Conrad also disputes the testimony of Sgt. James
Penniston, who
claims to have touched an alien spacecraft; he had interviewed Penniston
at the time and he had not mentioned any such occurrence. Conrad also
suggests that the entire incident was a hoax.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6192
Date: 12/28/1980
End date: 12/29/1980
Description: Around 12:00 midnight. USAF A1C Larry
Warren claims he is on patrol at RAF Woodbridge with other
servicemen who are bringing lighting equipment to a large clearing
called Capel Green. At 12:30 a.m., he is directed into the woods to
“investigate a disturbance.” They soon come to a large field where about
40 military personnel are gathered. They are ordered to surround what
appears to be a bright fog or mist. When his group enters the field,
Warren sees it is a glowing, yellow-green, circular object not more than
12 inches in height. Two officers walk around it with Geiger counters,
someone takes photos, and another operates a movie camera. He hears
shouts of “Here it comes!” and sees a small red light that quickly
approaches his group at 1:30 a.m. The basketball-sized object makes a
downward arc and hovers at 20 feet above the ground. It then explodes in
a blinding flash that gives off no heat. Instantly, about 25 away,
Warren claims he sees a large, pyramid-shaped object topped by a glowing
red light. Covering the entire surface are what look like boxes and
pipes. An officer orders Bustinza and
Warren (now feeling nauseous) to approach within 10–15 feet of the
object. Before long they are ordered further back. A staff car arrives,
carrying Col. Gordon
Williams and his staff. From far behind the object comes a bright
bluish ball of light. Warren claims he can see large-headed beings
inside. He sees Col. Williams approach the beings and stare at them.
Warren arrives back at Security Control at 4:30 a.m. Most ufologists
find Warren’s account unreliable, and the book he coauthored, Left at
East Gate, is withdrawn by the publisher, Cosimo, in 2017 after finding
“inaccurate or embellished” testimony. In 2010, Jenny
Randles, who first reported the Rendlesham case in the London
Evening Standard in 1981 and coauthored with local researchers the first
book on the case in 1984, Sky Crash: A Cosmic Conspiracy, emphasizes her
previously expressed doubts that the incident was caused by
extraterrestrial visitors. While suggesting that an unidentified
phenomenon might have caused parts of the case, she notes: “Whilst some
puzzles remain, we can probably say that no unearthly craft were seen in
Rendlesham Forest. We can also argue with confidence that the main focus
of the events was a series of misperceptions of everyday things
encountered in less than everyday circumstances.” The most plausible
skeptical explanation is that the sightings are due to a combination of
several factors. The initial sighting on December 26, when the airmen
saw something apparently descending into the forest, coincides with the
appearance of a bright fireball over southern England; such fireballs
are a common source of UFO reports. The supposed landing marks are
identified by police and foresters as rabbit diggings. According to the
witness statements from December 26, the flashing light seen from the
forest lay in the same direction as the Orfordness Lighthouse. When the
eyewitnesses attempted to approach the light, they realized it was
further off than they thought. Timings on Halt’s
tape recording indicate that the light he saw, which lay in the same
direction as the light seen two nights earlier, flashed every five
seconds, which was the flash rate of the Orfordness Lighthouse. The
star-like objects that Halt reported hovering low to the north and south
are thought by some skeptics to have been misinterpretations of bright
stars distorted by atmospheric and optical effects. No evidence has
emerged to confirm that anything came down in the forest. However, Nick
Redfern in The Rendlesham Forest UFO Conspiracy alleges that the
events were created by US and UK military as part of a series of
top-secret experiments involving ball lightning and the “use of
sophisticated holograms and hallucinogens” to test the reactions of the
personnel exposed to them. (Wikipedia, “Rendlesham
Forest incident”; NICAP, “Rendlesham Forest
Encounter / Halt Case”; Brenda Butler, Dot Street, and Jenny
Randles, Sky Crash, Grafton, 1984; Jenny Randles, “Mystery at
Rendlesham,” IUR 9, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1984): 10–11, 15; “A
Flashlight in the Forest,” The Guardian (UK), January 5, 1985, p. 9;
Robert H. Coddington, “An
Analysis of the Rendlesham Forest Incident Tape,”
IUR 10, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1985): 9–13; Jenny Randles, “The
Cover-Up in England,” IUR 12, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1987): 9–12, 20;
Jenny Randles, “A
Fire in the Forest: New Light on the Rendlesham Landing,” IUR 13,
no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1988): 4–17, 21; Jenny Randles, “Rendlescam,”
IUR 14, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1989): 16–18; Good Above, pp. 79–96, 456;
Nick Pope, Open Skies, Closed Minds, Simon & Schuster, 1996, pp. 141–165;
Larry Warren and Peter Robbins, Left
at East Gate: A First-Hand Account of the Bentwaters-Woodbridge
UFO Incident,
Its Cover-Up, and Investigation, Marlowe,
1996; Jenny Randles, UFO Crash Landing? Friend or Foe? The Full Story of
the Rendlesham Forest Close Encounter, Blandford, 1998; Jenny Randles,
“Seeing the Forest for the Trees: New Twists in the Bentwaters Case,”
IUR 23, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 16–19, 29–30; Don Berliner, with Marie
Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available
Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 105–111;
Georgina Bruni, You Can’t Tell the People, Sidgwick & Jackson, 2000;
Jenny Randles and Richard Hall, “The
Rendlesham Forest Case: Point/Counterpoint,” IUR 25, no. 3 (Fall
2000): 8–15, 30; Jenny Randles, “Rendlesham
Forest: The British MoD File,” IUR 26, no. 3 (Fall 2001): 21–25,
30–32; Ian Ridpath, “The Rendlesham
Forest UFO Case,” Ian Ridpath, February 28, 2003; “Rendlesham:
UFO Hoax,” Inside Out: BBC, June 30, 2003; Dave Cosnette, “The
Bentwaters Rendlesham Forest Incident,” January 2005; Michael D.
Swords, GrassRoots UFOs: Case Reports from the Timmerman Files, Fund for
UFO Research, 2005, pp. 145–146; Kean, pp. 169–173, 179–188;
UFOFiles2, pp. 105–115;
Nick Pope, with John Burroughs and Jim Penniston, Encounter in
Rendlesham Forest, Thistle,
2014; Jenny Randles, “Rendlesham Forest Genesis: Part One,” Fortean
Times 336 (February 2016): 24–25; Jenny Randles, “Rendlesham Forest
Genesis: Part Two,” Fortean Times 337 (March 2016): 28–29; Jenny
Randles, “Rendlesham Forest Genesis: Part Three,” Fortean Times 338
(April 2016): 26–27; Jenny Randles, “Rendlesham Forest Genesis: Part
Four,” Fortean Times 339 (May 2016): 26–27; Jenny Randles, “Rendlesham
Forest Genesis: Part Five,” Fortean Times 340 (June 2016): 28–29; Andrew
Pike, The Rendlesham File: Britain’s Roswell? Flying Disk Press, 2017;
Nukes 403–443; Clark III 950; Matt Salusbury, “Rendlesham Revisited,”
Fortean Times 387 (Christmas 2019): 28–29; Jim Penniston and Gary
Osborn, The Rendlesham Enigma: Book 1, Timeline, The Authors, 2019; “Colonel
Charles Halt Returns to Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK, Sept. 8th
2019,” David Young Paranormal Dimensions Radio Presenter YouTube
channel, October 6, 2019; Nick Redfern, The Rendlesham Forest UFO
Conspiracy, Lisa Hagan, 2020; Jim Penniston and Gary Osborn, “The
Full Report,” The Rendlesham Forest Incident Official Website; Jim
Penniston and Gary Osborn, “Witness Statements,” The Rendlesham Forest
Incident Official Website; Jim Penniston and Gary Osborn,
“Others Involved,” The Rendlesham Forest Incident Official Website;
Center for UFO Studies, [Rendlesham
case documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6193
Date: 12/29/1980
Description: Lt. Col. C. I. Halt, sees a UFO that separates into 5 UFOs
and later sees 3 other UFOs.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p456)
Location: RAF Woodbridge
See also: 12/27/1980
Date: 12/29/1980
Description: A low flying UFO was escorted by a large number of
helicopters (23) including some Chinooks and possibly Hueys, near
Dayton, Texas. It was probably escorted to the Top Secret underground
installation within Fort Hood, Texas. The secret air force base is NOT
listed in the Air Force Officer’s Guide or the Air Force Almanac (it is
an Army AFB). The name of the Secret base is Gray AAF, Texas. The
special group piloting the helicopters escort for UFO are known as the
“BLUE BOYS”. The Texas Department of Public Safety works closely with
Gray AAF on UFO cases.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Dayton, TX
See also: 6/6/88
Date: 12/29/1980
Description: Cash-Landrum incident. It was investigated by ex-Col. John
B. Alexander on behalf of the inspector General of the Pentagon.
Type: ufo encounter
Reference: link
Location: north of Houston, TX
Date: 12/29/1980
Description: 9:00 p.m. While driving through the Piney Woods of East
Texas near Huffman, about 40 miles northeast of Houston, Betty
J. Cash and her two passengers notice a bright light ahead. As they
draw within about 130 feet, they are confronted by a fiery
diamond-shaped object, emitting flames down toward the road. What
happens after that is mind-boggling. Betty Cash and Vickie and
Colby
Landrum suffer apparent radiation illness after watching a
flame-spewing UFO and mystery helicopters. Eventually, Cash and Landrum
contact their US Senators, Lloyd Bentsen and
John
Tower, who
suggest that the witnesses file a complaint with the Judge Advocate
Claims office at Bergstrom Air Force Base [now Austin-Bergstrom
International Airport]. In August 1981, Cash, Landrum, and Colby are
interviewed at length by personnel at Bergstrom and told that they
should hire a lawyer and seek financial compensation for their injuries.
With attorney Peter Gersten taking
on the case pro bono, the case winds its way through the US courts for
several years. Cash and Landrum sue the federal government for $20
million. On August 21, 1986, US District Court Judge Ross
N. Sterling dismisses their case, noting that the plaintiffs have
not proved that the helicopters are associated with the government and
that military officials have testified that US armed forces do not have
a large, diamond-shaped aircraft in their possession. Although there is
no doubt that the incident occurred, it is now considered by many to be
a non-UFO case. In December 2018, Brian
Dunning investigates the case and reports his findings on the
Skeptoid podcast. He finds that the notes taken by Cash’s cardiologist,
Vasudev
B. Shenoy, attribute
her hair loss to the autoimmune disease alopecia areata, that her other
symptoms could be caused by illnesses that started before the incident,
and that Landrum’s only documented illness is developing a cataract in
one eye. He suspects that “Cash and Landrum wrongly, but honestly,
placed the blame for their health problems onto whatever they saw; and
even pushed the truth a bit trying to get the Air Force to pay for it.”
(Wikipedia, “Cash-Landrum
incident”; NICAP, “Cash/Landrum
Case”; “Burns
Follow UFO Incident,”APRO Bulletin 29, no. 8 (1981): 1–4; “Physical
Effects, Helicopters, and a Fiery UFO,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no.
4 (May/June 1981): 13–14; John Schuessler, “Cash-Landrum Case Closed?”
MUFON UFO Journal, no. 222 (October 1986): 12, 17; John Schuessler, “Medical
Injuries Resulting from
a UFO Encounter,” The Spectrum of UFO Research, CUFOS, 1988,
pp. 58–69; John F. Schuessler, The Cash-Landrum
Radiation Case, Project VISIT, 1998; “Huffman
1980,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library, December 11, 2006;
Michael D. Swords, “Can UFOs Cause Physiological Effects? Part 2,” IUR
34, no. 1 (September 2011): 4–5; Good Above, pp. 303–305;
ClearIntent, pp. 106–108;
Good Need, pp. 335–337,
345–346;
Clark III 226–228; Curt Collins, “The
Cash-Landrum Case UFO Document Collection,” Blue Blurry Lines,
October 3, 2019; Project VISIT, [case
articles and clippings])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6194
Date: 12/29/1980
Description: Diamond- or spindle-shaped object blocked vehicle. Heat,
sound, strong physiological effects indicating radioactivity. Mystery
helicopters followed UFO
Type: sighting
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Huffman, TX
ID: 366
Date: 1981
Description: The “China Society of UFO Research” (CSUR) research
organization was established. More than 600 UFO’s have been reported
within the past 5 years in China. Studies will be done on UFO’s and
human body science relationships.
Type: research organization
Reference: “Above Top Secret” by Timothy Good page 219
Location: China
Date: 1981
Description: A husband and wife are sleeping in their farmhouse near
Newark, Ohio, when their dogs start barking loudly. They can hear people
talking outside their window in a “foreign” language. They do not
investigate, but in the morning they find three sets of footprint-like
traces outside. They look like elongated scratch marks about 12 inches
long, are uniform in shape, and go all the way to the fence line and
through it. The couple begins to see a “perfectly round white circle of
light,” about 1.5 inches in diameter, moving slowly around in their
bedroom each night. The light is seen for about a month, no matter how
the blinds and curtains are arranged. Sometimes it would stop moving for
hours. (Michael D. Swords, “A Trick of the Light,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June
2007): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6197
Date: 1981
Description: The Norsk Institutt for Vitenskapelig Forskning og
Opplysning in Trondheim, Norway, begins publishing the NIVFO Bulletin,
edited by Gunnar Bertelsen and Kilbjørn Stenødegård. It continues
through spring 1995. (NIVFO Bulletin, no.
1 (1981))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6198
Date: 1981
Description: Center for UFO Studies researcher Mark
Rodeghier publishes UFO Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, a
comprehensive catalog and analysis of 441 cases where UFOs seem to
affect cars or motorcycles. He finds that most of these cases occur in
the late evening or early morning hours, and that in 35% of the cases,
witness estimate they are within 100 feet of the object. Rodeghier also
notes a high concentration of four characteristics: the presence of a
light beam, loss of control of the vehicle, a physiological effect on
the witness, and the UFO chasing the vehicle. (Mark Rodeghier, UFO
Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, CUFOS,
1981)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6196
Date: 1981
Description: New York artist Budd
Hopkins publishes Missing Time, which first describes his research
into abductions that show they are far more plentiful than anyone
suspects, biological in purpose, and perhaps lifelong in scope. Hopkins
also shows that a period of unexplained missing time is a typical aspect
of the abduction experience. The information comes primarily from
hypnotic regression performed by licensed psychologist Aphrodite
Clamar, who also conducts psychological tests on the abductees.
(Budd Hopkins, Missing
Time: A Documented Study of UFO
Abductions, R.
Marek, 1981)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6195
Date: 1/1981
Description: A. Bindas observes a radiant object above the city of
Khatanga, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, during the polar night. It
disappears and reappears abruptly, hovers, and directs a wide beam of
light on the ground. After 5–7 minutes it zooms off in a spiral-shaped
trajectory. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk,
p. 97)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6199
Date: 1/3/1981
Description: Quadrantid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 367
Date: 1/6/1981
Description: Four silvery discs executed turns, maneuvers, in a diamond
formation. Objects flashed in sunlight as they turned, crossed western
sky
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Payson, AZ
ID: 368
Date: 1/8/1981
Description: 5:00 p.m. A well-documented case of physical effects from a
UFO takes place in Trans-en-Provence, Var, France. Renato Nicolaï, a
gardener, hears a strange whistling sound while doing agricultural work
on his property. He then sees an object in the shape of two saucers, one
inverted on top of the other, about 8 feet in diameter land about 150
feet away at a lower elevation. It has a thick band around the middle
section, two circles that look like trapdoors, and two feet that extend
about 8 inches below the body of the machine. The object takes off
almost immediately, rising above the tree line and departing to the
northeast. The case quickly comes to the attention of the police and is
soon investigated by GEPAN, the French government’s scientific team of
UFO investigators. The physical traces include evidence of vegetation
and soil heating, skid marks, and circular ground marks. The chemical
analysis reveals that the soil has been heated to 300°–600° C. Jean-Jacques
Velasco thinks that the object could have weighed between 4 and 5
tons. Trace amounts of phosphate and zinc are found in the sample
material, and an analysis of wild alfalfa near the landing site shows
chlorophyll levels 30%–50% lower than expected. The police report says
that the trace, which appears on an active road, looks like one made by
a car tire. This explanation is dismissed by GEPAN because of Nicolaï
saying otherwise. (Wikipedia, “Trans-en-Provence Case”;
NICAP, “Disc
Leaves Extensive Ground Traces”; Enquête
81/01: Analyse d’un Trace, Note
Technique no. 16, Groupe d’Étude des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux
Non-identifiés, Centre Nationale d’Étude Spatiales, March 1, 1983;
Michel Bounias, “Biochemical
Traumatology As a Potent Tool for Identifying Actual Stresses Elicited
by Unidentified
Sources,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 4, no. 1 (1990): 1–18;
Jean-Jacques Velasco, “Report
on the
Analysis of Anomalous Physical Traces: The 1981 Trans-en-Provence UFO
Case,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 4, no. 1 (1990): 27–48;
Jacques Vallée, “Return
to Trans-en-Provence,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 4, no. 1
(1990): 19–25; Michel Bounias, “Further Quantification of
Distance-Related Effects in the Trans-en-Provence Case,” JUFOS 5 (1994):
109–121; Peter Sturrock, The UFO Enigma, 1999, pp. 257–297;
Don Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing
Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 112–120;
Swords 443–445; 2Pinotti 53–56)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6200
Date: 1/8/1981
Description: Landing, physical trace case investigated by official
French agency
Type: landing
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Trans-en-Provence, France
ID: 369
Date: 1/9/1981
End date: 3/7/1981
Description: Local concentration of sightings
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Northern California
ID: 370
Date: 1/12/1981
Description: Citizens Against UFO Secrecy files an appeal against the
CAUS v. NSA decision. (ClearIntent, p. 188)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6201
Date: 1/13/1981
Description: Bentwaters AFB Air Force Memo from Lt. Col. Charles I.
Halt, Deputy Base Commander.
Type: memo
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Bentwaters AFB
See also: 12/27/80
See also: 12/29/80
Date: 1/15/1981
Description: 10:15 p.m. Three sets of witnesses in Prairieton, Indiana,
driving past two different fields on the same road, see 7–11
four-foot-tall humanoids that appear to be searching for something. Some
witnesses think they are naked; others report they are wearing
“tight-fitting suits.” Most witnesses are within 20 feet of the
creatures, usually watching for 15–20 seconds before racing off. At
10:30 p.m., two women in a different area of town get a fleeting glimpse
of a 6–7-foot tall creature with fur and luminous red eyes. (“UFO
Mini-Flap in Southern Indiana,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 3
(Mar./Apr. 1981): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6203
Date: 1/15/1981
Description: 9:30 p.m. People in Terre Haute, Indiana, begin reporting a
string of about a dozen lights in the sky to a local television station.
The lights are stationary then disappear by shooting straight up. (“UFO
Mini-Flap in Southern Indiana,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 3
(Mar./Apr. 1981): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6202
Date: 1/17/1981
Description: 10:00 a.m. A witness at a construction site near Virginia
Beach, Virginia, sees two silver cigars moving northbound in the eastern
sky. Each has distinct outlines, a surface like aluminum, and pointed
ends. They are flying with a slight up/down motion but horizontally at
about 1,000–2,000 feet. (“Current
Sighting Reports,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 3 (March 1981):
6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6204
Date: 1/20/1981
End date: 1/20/1989
Description: President Ronald Reagan in office.
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Washington DC
See also: 12/27/80
See also: 12/29/80
Date: 1/22/1981
Description: Many witnesses see a brilliant triangular object with
multiple red lights descending swiftly above the treetops just southeast
of Jesup, Georgia. It is only visible for a few seconds. (Marler
171–172)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6205
Date: 1/25/1981
Description: Hovering cigar- or spindle-shaped object, disc with dome,
darting motions, numerous photographs taken
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Chatsworth, CA
ID: 371
Date: 2/7/1981
Description: The Larry King Show carries a three-hour program on UFOs
with a panel consisting of Richard
H. Hall, Bruce
S. Maccabee, and
Don
Berliner. The
first hour consists of Larry
King interviewing the panelists; then he takes phone calls for two
hours. (MUFON UFO Journal, March 1981, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6206
Date: 2/9/1981
Description: Red-lighted object made pass at aircraft, instant
relocation. “Very tight turns,” hovered, accelerated away at “extremely
high rate of speed.”
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: San Jose, CA
ID: 372
Date: 2/12/1981
Description: Night. About 25–30 people on an interstate highway in
Flagstaff, Arizona, see a cigar-shaped object like a blimp, white in
color with dark veins. A small white object is at one end. After 2
minutes, the small object takes off at a high rate of speed and
disappears. Meanwhile, a fog surrounds the blimp and it drifts away.
(Herbert S. Taylor, “Cloud Cigars: A Further Look,” IUR 30, no. 3 (May
2006): 12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6207
Date: 2/28/1981
Description: The Center for UFO Studies can no longer afford to keep Allan
Hendry on as a full-time investigator, so his affiliation ends. It
closes its Evanston, Illinois, office and moves to Allen
Hynek’s home. (Clark III 569)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6208
Date: 3/1981
Description: 4:30 a.m. A witness is driving toward a pancake house in
Memphis, Tennessee, for a cup of coffee when she sees three shining
objects in the sky. She is so engrossed in watching that she passes by
the restaurant. Suddenly the objects disappear into what look like puffs
of smoke. A minute later, one reappears directly over the street in
front of her. She turns into the Admiral Benbow Inn parking lot and
alerts the night watchman, who sees the object hovering above her car
and then rise above the inn. (“UFOs in a Puff of Smoke,” IUR/Frontiers
of Science 3, no. 5 (July/Aug. 181): 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6211
Date: 3/1981
Description: The Centro Ufologico Nazionale begins a newsletter to
supplement its official journal, Notiziario UFO, edited by Roberto
Pinotti. Titled
Quaderni UFO, it is edited by Gianfranco Neri in Bologna, Italy, and
continues through at least May 1983. (Quaderni
UFO 1, no. 1 (Mar./Apr. 1981))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6209
Date: 3/1981
Description: The Journal of UFO Research is first published by China’s
UFO Research Organization. (Paul Dong, “Letters,” IUR 7, no. 2 (March
1982): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6210
Date: 3/6/1981
Description: 1:00 a.m. A registered nurse living on West Granville
Avenue on the north side of Chicago, Illinois, watches a triangular
array of three white lights outside her south-facing window. The lights
seem to be connected by “spokes.” The array is rotating in a clockwise
direction. (“Nocturnal
Triangle in Chicago Night Sky,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 6
(Dec. 1984/Jan. 1984): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6212
Date: 3/17/1981
Description: 4:03 a.m. Sgt. Russell Yokum of the St. Helens, Oregon,
police is on patrol on US Highway 30 on the edge of town when he sees a
bright light apparently above the Columbia River. He goes to the
Columbia County Courthouse for a better view, where he is joined by
other police, but the object is no longer visible. Meanwhile, they are
conversing via CB radio with Donald Atkins, who is in nearby Ridgefield,
Washington, and watching a stationary light over the river. Atkins
transmits a faint humming sound the object is making through his CB
radio to officer Ricky Cade, who captures it on a cassette recorder.
Yokum and Cade look to the south and see a bright orange-red light about
80–100 feet above the river, apparently the same one that Atkins is
watching. (“An Orange(!) Ball at St. Helens for St, Patrick,”
IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no 4 (May/June 1981): 11–13; Mark Rodeghier,
“St. Helens Revisited,” IUR 7, no. 3 (May/June 1982): 12–14; J. Allen
Hynek and Howard R. Schechter, “Narrow-Band
Acoustic Analysis of a Recorded UFO Sound,” The Spectrum of UFO
Research, CUFOS, 1988, pp. 1–12; Julie Thompson, “The
Strange Case of the St. Helens UFO,” St. Helens (Oreg.) Chronicle,
October 11, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6213
Date: 3/18/1981
Description: NORAD becomes the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
(Wikipedia, “North
American Aerospace
Defense Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6214
Date: 3/20/1981
Description: 9:30 p.m. Larry Tilman is on Neil Road southwest of London,
Ohio, hoping to get a UFO photo. He notices a small orange light over
the city moving in a zig-zag fashion. It moves closer to his location,
so he takes a time exposure photo as the light blinks out. (“Nocturnal
Lights, March 20–21, 1981, London, Ohio,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter
5, no. 2 (April/May 1984): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6215
Date: 3/21/1981
Description: 11:35 p.m. A friend is driving Alba Dunlap home northbound
on Runnymede Road in Toronto, Ontario. They see a disc-shaped object
directly ahead and above them that has a red light on a central dome and
white flashing lights around its perimeter. It seems to be 30–40 feet in
diameter. They watch it for 2 minutes, then it moves slowly west and
disappears. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 6 (June 1981): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6217
Date: 3/21/1981
Description: 7:00 p.m. Larry Tilman again takes time-exposure photos of
orange balls of light east of London, Ohio, near Madison Lake State
Park. One appears to be the size of a car. (“Nocturnal
Lights, March 20–21, 1981, London, Ohio,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 2 (April/May 1984): 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6216
Date: 3/30/1981
Description: 10:00 p.m. A huge bright light hovers over trees for 10
minutes in Alton, Illinois. The UFO moves towards two witnesses at about
10 mph. Frogs stop croaking and dogs begin barking excitedly. The object
appears oval and is black except for lights on the circumference. A
large circular opening is visible in the bottom of the black disc.
Inside the opening the witnesses see “this churning motion of bright
white light with yellow and orange colors in it…like gases rolling
around in there.” After about 20–30 minutes it takes off rapidly.
Shortly thereafter a jet flies over. Another UFO is seen coming across
the trees a good 5 minutes later with the same results. (“Another
World,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 5 (July/Aug. 1981): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6218
Date: 4/3/1981
Description: 9:30 p.m. Some 50 people driving on National Route 35 north
of Santa Rosa, La Pampa, Argentina, watch an object hovering about 300
feet directly over the Escuela Agrotécnica de Santa Rosa for several
minutes. It is a saucer-shaped craft about 100 feet in diameter that is
radiating light over its circumference due to an intense white light at
its center. It speeds away to the west and disappears. (“A New Radio
Link,” CUFOS Bulletin, Spring 1981, p. 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6219
Date: 4/8/1981
Description: 3:00 a.m. A private pilot named Dennis is flying a Piper
PA-28-181 Archer II near the San Luis Reservoir, California, when a
bullet-shaped object pulls alongside the airplane. Simultaneously,
Dennis’s distance-measuring equipment, navigation and communications
radios, and transponder go out. The object shoots ahead of the plane by
about 1,500 feet and executes some erratic motions. Then, slowly
drifting back, it paces him. The object is glowing orange and has a
whirling bluish ring around it. The object pulsates and shoots forward
about 4–5 miles ahead of the plane, and makes an instantaneous
right-angle turn upward, in somewhat of a repeat of his November 5,
1980, sighting. (“A Twin ‘Déjà vu’ Sighting?” IUR 7, no. 1 (January
1982): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6220
Date: 4/12/1981
Description: Two-foot diameter aluminum-like disc hovered a few feet off
road about 40 feet away. Climbed rapidly through sky and disappeared in
distance
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Goodhue, MN
ID: 373
Date: 4/15/1981
Description: 7:30 p.m. Walking through the parking lot of the P&C
grocery store in Windsor, Vermont, Linda Kingsbury and Lucy Slothower
notice two bright lights in the sky moving toward them. They are part of
a dark, triangular object with additional blue and yellow lights on the
underside. As it passes overhead, they hear a heavy humming. (“UFO
Cruises Windsor,” White River Junction (Vt.) Valley News, April 17,
1981, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 142 (May 1981): 4; Joe and Doris
Graziano, “Press
Reports,” APRO Bulletin 29, no. 8 (August 1981): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6221
Date: 4/16/1981
Description: 9:30 p.m. Engineer Eugene
A. Fucci is driving southeast on Interstate 89 in Grantham, New
Hampshire, when he notices two bright stars, one of which descends to
just above the horizon. Shortly afterward, a huge triangular- shaped
object with colored lights on the underside and a bright white light on
top flies over his car. He estimates the object is about the size of
five B-52s and moving at 2,000 feet altitude at 200 mph. It appears to
be all metal and black in color. It passes to the west-southwest. (“Mount
Sunapee UFO Supports Area Sightings,” West Lebanon (N.H.) Valley
News, April 22, 1981, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 143 (June 1981):
4; “Triangular UFO,
April 16, 1981, at Grantham, N.H.,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no
2 (April 1981): 2, 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6222
Date: 4/20/1981
Description: Small, shiny object below private plane. Object fluttered
or tilted, accelerated rapidly, sped away
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Reno, NV
ID: 374
Date: 4/21/1981
Description: Lyrid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 375
Date: 4/25/1981
Description: 7:00 a.m. Du Shengyuan notices a curious object circling in
the sky above Beijing, China. After unsuccessfully calling media
outlets, he goes back outside and finds the object is now directly
overhead at more than 6,500 feet. Through binoculars he can see it is
bullet-shaped and varies its speed, sometimes hovering. The middle part
is white, and the bottom is luminous green. It moves out of sight at
7:25 a.m. Some 20 other people also watch the UFO. (Paul Dong and
Wendelle Stevens, UFOs over Modern China, UFO Photo Archives, 1983,
pp. 216–218; Good Above, pp. 217,
470)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6223
Date: early 5/1981
Description: Merle Shane McDow is attached to the US Navy Atlantic
Command Support Facility in Norfolk, Virginia, when a UFO is tracked
moving at high speed on at least five radar scopes up and down the
Atlantic coast. The UFO sets off a Condition Zebra alert in the Naval
Command Center, and Adm. Harry
D. Train II gives the order to force down the object and recover it.
US jets chase the UFO for more than an hour as far north as Greenland,
sometimes confirming it visually, but it evades them. During the event,
KH-11 reconnaissance satellites take photos of the object. The object
moves from Nova Scotia to Norfolk in one sweep of the radar. Eventually
it moves off at tremendous speed. (Steven M. Greer, Disclosure: Military
and Government Witnesses Reveal the Greatest Secrets in Modern History,
Crossing Point, 2001, pp. 238–245; Stephen Erdmann, “Dr. Greer’s
Greatest UFO Query,” UFO Digest, June 1, 2018; Good Need, pp. 337–338;
“Condition
Zebra: UFOs Overhead, Merle Shane McDow,” Abundance of Energy
YouTube channel, October 7, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6224
Date: 5/4/1981
Description: 2 :00 p.m. As he is pulling up to his home in Danville,
Pennsylvania, on a motorcycle, William F. Hummer notices “cobwebs”
hanging over houses, telephone wires, and parked cars. Wispy material is
falling from the sky. He sees something moving around in the sky and
goes in to get binoculars. He and another man watch several flying discs
as they dart overhead in groups of twos and threes. One pauses and he
can see it is round and metallic with a dome and “kind of peak on it.”
His sister joins them and says they can see big masses of material
floating around for 30 minutes. (Clark III 126)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6225
Date: 5/5/1981
Description: 9:30 p.m. The Earl Richards family in Tewksbury, New
Jersey, notices lights moving outside after their television goes off
and the electric lights dim. Earl Jr. sees dozens of green, blue, and
red lights buzzing in the southern sky, apparently accompanying an
enormous flying object covered with hundreds of lights. It is elongated
and he can see an outline of wings. (“UFO
Reported in Tewksbury,” Hunterdon County (N.J.) Democrat, May 14,
1981, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 143 (June 1981): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6227
Date: 5/5/1981
Description: 6:00 p.m. Russian cosmonaut Vladimir
Kovalyonok is orbiting in the Salyut
6 space station over South Africa and moving toward the Indian
Ocean. After doing some gymnastic exercises, he notices through a
porthole an elliptical object resembling a “melon” with two clouds like
a “barbell,” moving in the same direction as the Salyut in a suborbital
path. Then a “kind of explosion happened, very beautiful to watch, of
golden light.” One or two seconds later, a second explosion follows, and
two golden spheres appear. Soon the Salyut enters the Earth’s terminator
and he cannot see them any longer. James
Oberg speculates that the object could have been a South African
test of an Israeli Jericho-class solid-fuel missile from the Denel
Overberg Test Range near Arniston, Western Cape. (Pegasus Research
Consortium, “Russian
Cosmonaut Sees UFO While in Orbit Aboard Salyut-6 Space
Station,” 2002; Mori, “The Amazing Story of the Salyut-6 UFO
Encounter,” forgetomori, April 16, 2011; James Oberg, “Have
Cosmonauts Seen Launches?” December 18, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6226
Date: 5/14/1981
Description: Cosmonauts Victor
Savinykh and Vladimir
Kovalyonok, aboard the Salyut
6 space station, supposedly observe a strange spherical object with
8 windows and well-lit inside. At first it is 1/2 mile away but it
eventually approaches to 300 feet. Inside, the cosmonauts see three
brown-skinned beings with slanted bright blue eyes, straight noses, and
bushy eyebrows. At a distance of 100 feet, they resemble mechanical
robots. Their facial expressions remain emotionless. They seem to be
requesting closer contact with the Soviet craft. The object shifts
around erratically and from time to time it vanishes, but then reappears
in an instant. It seems to be metallic, but it has no doors, no solar
batteries, no optical systems, no antennae, and no marks or writing of
any kind. The cosmonauts also notice normal-looking armchairs, some
devices, and walls inside the craft. Using a pair of powerful
binoculars, the cosmonauts see the beings showing them what appears to
be a star map. Allegedly the cosmonauts film the event and the film is
later shown to party leaders by cosmonaut Georgy
Beregovoy. (Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle, The Soviet UFO Files:
Paranormal Encounters behind the Iron Curtain, Quadrillion, 1998,
pp. 67–68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6228
Date: 5/16/1981
Description: 2:30 p.m. A man is fishing in the Thompson River near
Kamloops, British Columbia, when the water about 300–450 feet away
starts bubbling up. A 15–20-foot UFO rises out of the water and slowly
approaches the witness at a 45° angle, passes directly above him,
accelerates upward, and speeds away. Pellets from the UFO, apparently
from the object, fall around him. (“A Submarine UFO,” IUR/Frontiers of
Science 3, no. 5 (July/Aug. 1981): 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6229
Date: 5/20/1981
Description: 1:30 a.m. A witness is driving south on Shawnee Road
southwest of Lima, Ohio, when he notices lights on his left less than a
mile ahead. He sees an object hovering silently about 150–200 feet away
and 75–100 feet in the air. He watches it from his car for 3 minutes. It
has a glowing lavender-colored area around its outer edge and a dim
white light radiating from the center of its flat base. The object moves
to the northeast and accelerates. He loses interest and drives away, but
another object begins moving parallel to his car about 300 feet to his
left. He speeds up, but it maintains its pacing until it veers to the
southwest. (“Recent
Close Encounter with UFO in Ohio,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 7 (July 1981): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6230
Date: 5/22/1981
Description: Evening. Several hundred people in Florida, Uruguay, watch
a drum-like UFO with red lights on the rear and green and red lights on
each side. Its appearance coincides with an electrical blackout due to a
power overload in the area. (“A New Radio Link,” CUFOS Bulletin, Spring
1981, pp. 2–3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6231
Date: 6/5/1981
Description: 10:00 p.m. Ding Shiliang and other students at Xi’an
University, Shanxi, China, see a luminous flying object that splits into
two parts, then three, then four. Shortly afterward, two of the units on
either side vanish, leaving the other two segments still in position.
Another UFO appears and the objects merge into one, splitting into two
again later. It vanishes 20 minutes later. (Paul Dong and Wendelle
Stevens, UFOs over Modern China, UFO Photo Archives, 1983,
pp. 219–220)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6234
Date: 6/10/1981
Description: 5:19 p.m. A worker at Sandia Laboratories is in the back
yard of his home on the east side of Albuquerque, New Mexico, when he
sees an object flying west at a high altitude, 20,000–30,000 feet. It
begins to tumble erratically. A second object with a bright light
appears slightly above it, moving 2–3 times faster than a commercial
airliner. The witness can hear no sound. The duration is 5 minutes.
(“What the Bombardier Saw,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 6
(Jan./Feb. 1982): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6236
Date: 6/10/1981
Description: 12:15 a.m. An Indian couple on the Yakama Indian
Reservation in Washington State are driving west when the immediate area
around their vehicle is illuminated. Overhead they see a large
“badge-shaped” object about 35 feet in the air. Its periphery is marked
by small, multicolored flashing lights. There are three large
pale-yellow lights, one on each side and one centered between these. The
object follows them for about one mile and then ascends vertically at a
rapid speed and disappears into a cloud-like mist of its own making.
(“Yakima Reservation Report,” IUR 8, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1983): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6235
Date: 6/12/1981
Description: Disc with dome hovered over truck, forward motion impeded,
truck lifted off road
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Alice, TX
ID: 376
Date: 6/12/1981
Description: Farmer Chen Kang and his wife watch an object with
twinkling lights in southern Taiwan. After hearing a strange sound, they
look up and see a crystal object shaped like a reversed cone gliding
downward. It lands behind a tree and continues whirling like a top and
emitting fog. It flies off after about 10 minutes without leaving any
traces. (South China Morning Post, June 14, 1981; “UFO
Lands in Taiwan,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2, no. 7 (July 1981):
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6237
Date: 6/18/1981
Description: The first YF-117A stealth fighter makes its maiden flight
at Groom Lake, Nevada. The aircraft remains a tightly held secret for
much of the 1980s. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
F-117 Nighthawk”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6238
Date: summer 1981
Description: William
Moore gives Paul
Bennewitz an altered version of the Project Aquarius document from
1977. Moore had seen the original in November 1980 and has had his own
copy since February 1981. He gives Bennewitz this document on behalf of
Air Force Intelligence, knowing it has been altered, in order to retain
his access to inside information. The document is the first time that
the term MJ-1 makes its appearance. According to Moore, the original
said that the NSA had altered Bennewitz’s photos and incidentally found
them to be authentic. In the altered memo, NSA becomes NASA. (Greg
Bishop, Project Beta, Paraview, 2005, pp. 120–123)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6232
Date: summer 1981
Description: Chinese UFO researcher Paul Dong (Moon Wai), a resident of
California, becomes the editor of the China UFO Research Organization’s
Journal of UFO Research and goes on a month-long lecture tour all over
China. He collects hundreds of UFO cases from the period 1978–1981. In
the next few years, hundreds of other cases (some dating back to 1940)
are published in the journal. Many of them are published in UFOs over
Modern China, by Wendelle C. Stevens and Paul Dong, 1983. (Paul Dong,
“Letters,” IUR 7, no. 2 (March 1982): 3; Good Above, pp. 206–207)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6233
Date: 7/1981
Alternate date: 8/1981
Description: 11:00 p.m. A man is camping with the Red Cross in a small
town to the southeast of San José, Costa Rica. He sees a well-lit,
triangular object about 1,200 feet away and perhaps 1,000 feet above the
ground. It is completely silent. After hovering, the object turns,
moves, makes a sharp angular turn, and then another to draw a triangular
path in the sky. Then it moves rapidly high, then low, back to its
original location. A second triangle approaches, and they hover in close
proximity to each other for 30 minutes. Then they split up and disappear
rapidly. (Michael D. Swords, “Timmerman’s Triangles,” IUR 29, no. 2
(Summer 2004): 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6255
Date: 7/4/1981
Description: Major airline L-1011 jumbo jet en route from San Francisco
to New York City encountered silvery disc-shaped object
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Over Lake Michigan
ID: 377
Date: 7/4/1981
Description: 4:45 p.m. Captain Phil Schultz is flying TWA Flight 842, a
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar commercial airliner, east at 37,000 feet over
south-central Lake Michigan not far from Muskegon, Michigan, when a
silvery disc darts into view ahead and above it. Expecting a mid-air
collision, they brace themselves for impact. The object then moves
rapidly in an arc down to the left and rolls, presenting a side view
with six evenly spaced black portholes along the edge. It then
disappears to the north. Schultz estimates the disc is moving at 1,000
mph. (Richard F. Haines, “Commercial
Jet Crew Sights Unidentified Object: Part 1,” Flying Saucer Review
27, no. 4 (January 1982): 3–6; Richard F. Haines, “Commercial
Jet Crew Sights Unidentified Object: Part 2,” Flying Saucer Review
27, no. 5 (March 1982): 2–8; UFOEv II 141–142; Kean, pp. 59–61)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6239
Date: 7/11/1981
Description: 10:30 p.m. A camp director at Girl Scout camp headquarters
near Port Byron, Illinois, suddenly hears his dog barking in a warning
manner. Through the trees that screen the camp swimming pool, he sees
bright lights. He moves to an unobstructed view of the pool and notices
the pool lights are not on. Instead, directly above the pool, and higher
than the regular lights, is a brilliant light. Suddenly the lights go
out. He hears a whirring noise that rises in pitch as it apparently
rises into the sky. When he turns on the lights, he notices the pump is
not running and the water level is down three feet, meaning some 30,000
gallons of water are gone. (“Encounter at the Pool,” IUR/Frontiers of
Science 3, no. 6 (Jan./Feb. 1982): 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6240
Date: 7/12/1981
Description: Brightly lighted, dome-shaped object with windows
approached, turned, followed car, bright illumination. Object finally
shot away
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Temuka, New Zealand
ID: 378
Date: 7/12/1981
Description: 12:50 a.m. Mr. and Mrs. Ken Thew are driving east along a
back road from Pleasant Point to Temuka, New Zealand, with their three
young daughters when they are confronted by a brilliant, bright green,
gold, and red object coming from the opposite direction. It stops
abruptly about 600–900 feet away, then changes direction and begins
silently pacing the car. Mrs. Thew, who is driving, becomes frightened
and speeds up to 65 mph in an effort to reach a lighted area of town.
The UFO keeps pace and moves closer, allowing the witnesses to see more
details, such as two slots like vertically elongated rectangles and a
row of square portholes. After a while it shoots away to the east. When
they arrive home in Temuka at 1:20 a.m., they are surprised to see the
object about 1,000 feet overhead. It remains visible another 40 minutes.
(UFOEv II 49–50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6241
Date: 7/15/1981
Description: 2:30 p.m. Robert H. Nelson is flying a kite on the west
side of Westfield, Massachusetts, when he notices a white rectangular
object motionless in the southeast. After 20 seconds it emits swirls of
vapor along its entire length that gradually dissipate. Another similar
object appears in the north at the same altitude and also emitting vapor
or smoke. (Robert H. Nelson, “Letter,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1983): 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6243
Date: 7/15/1981
Description: 10:55 p.m. Four witnesses, three of them fire control
lookouts, on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington State, see a
large, bright-white object make two passes over the reservation. One
witness sees a rocketlike flame coming out of the object. On a second
pass, the object is moving south when it makes an almost right-angle
turn and disappears to the west. (“Yakima Reservation Report,” IUR 8,
no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1983): 11, 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6242
Date: 7/16/1981
Description: Before midnight. Two teenage boys are driving south on
Highway 2A past CFB Penhold [now Red Deer Regional Airport]. A
cube-shaped object 100 feet long with flashing lights approaches them
from the front, stops about 15 feet off the ground, circles their car,
and moves out of sight. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs: Declassified,
August Night, 2022, p. 227)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6244
Date: 7/19/1981
Description: 8:27 p.m. Malcolm Smith is traveling on a boat up the
Mahakam River in Borneo, Indonesia, when he sees an odd star that begins
to blink, move in an arc, fade, and go out. It reappears 2 minutes
later, moving and blinking more frequently, then it veers away and fades
out. (Malcolm Smith, “Enigmatic Objects,” IUR 20, no. 5 (Winter 1995):
30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6245
Date: 7/19/1981
Description: Around 11:45 p.m. Chrystal Jackson and her son Chris are
driving north on State Highway 17 near Sugar Camp, Wisconsin, when they
see a large, reddish-orange, elliptical object hovering near some pine
trees less than 500 feet away on their right. One minute later, their
car’s speed unaccountably reduces from 55 to 30 mph. The car seems to be
dragging, even with the accelerator pressed to the floor. The object
keeps the same distance from the car for 10–15 minutes and another 10
miles when they turn west on State Highway 70, although it appears to be
stationary. The car regains engine power after another 2 miles. A
mechanic later finds that the two fuses controlling the brake lights and
tail lights have blown, and the battery is leaking. A few days later,
they discover that the thermostat in the engine is broken. (Mark
Rodeghier, “Two People, a Car, and a Strange Object,” CUFOS Bulletin,
Summer 1981, pp. 9–10, 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6246
Date: 7/22/1981
Description: 3:10 a.m. Al Wagner, toll booth operator at the Mississippi
River bridge in Muscatine, Iowa, goes out to feed some wild rabbits that
hang around the bridge, when he notices six of them lying flat as though
paralyzed with fear. Wagner sees an orange, nearly spherical object
rising from behind the trees on the Illinois side of the river. It is
about 30 feet in diameter and is glowing with an internal yellow light,
which goes out as the object approaches. The object clears the highest
part of the bridge by about 10 feet, making a wheezing sound. At its
closest, it is 150 feet above the ground and 750 feet away from Wagner.
It disappears above a small hill to the west. (“The Case of the
Paralyzed Rabbits,” IUR/Frontiers of Science 3, no. 6 (Jan./Feb. 1982):
13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6247
Date: 7/23/1981
Description: 8:45 p.m. Louise
Betulius is fishing in a lake near Evansville, Indiana, when she
sees the reflection of a large object in the water. It is a large sphere
about 10–12 feet in diameter and moving silently west to east. Shortly
afterward, it returns over some trees to the east, moving slowly toward
the lake. It comes down about 3 feet off the ground and hovers 4–5 feet
from the edge of the water, then moves slowly back to the east. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1982): 2–3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6248
Date: 7/23/1981
Description: 10:30 p.m. James L. McCabe is sitting outside his home on
Highland Avenue in Dover, New Jersey, looking for satellites with
binoculars. Suddenly, two flashing white lights appear above the
southern horizon. Their flashes become more frequent when their speed
increases. One speeds away, but the other approaches, slipping in and
out of the clouds for 20 seconds. He estimates it is at 1,500 feet when
overhead, has a flat bottom, a strange raised center section, and a flat
metallic color. Its top has a rippled appearance. The upper section has
two windows. (“Cast
Metallic Object Reported over Dover, New Jersey,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 4, no. 2 (April/May 1983): 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6249
Date: 7/29/1981
Description: Delta Aquarid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 379
Date: 7/30/1981
Description: Sen. Pete
Domenici (R-N.Mex.) meets briefly with Sgt. Richard
Doty at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, New Mexico, about AFOSI
investigations into Paul
Bennewitz’s claims. He then dashes off to talk to Bennewitz.
However, he soon loses interest and drops the matter. (Clark III 359;
Alejandro T. Rojas, [Bennewitz/Kirtland AFB documents])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6250
Date: 7/30/1981
Description: 8:30 p.m. Jennifer Lindsey and her three children are
driving near Berwick, Mississippi, when they notice an object with
bright lights moving back and forth across the sky. As they arrive home,
the object is moving at a low altitude above the house. It is bigger
than an airplane, shaped like an arrowhead, and appears to be metallic.
Behind it is a red light traveling in tandem. It passes over the house
again 30 minutes later, moving west, without the trailing red light.
(Doris and Joe Graziano, “Press
Reports,” APRO Bulletin 30, no 1 (February 1982): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6251
Date: 7/31/1981
Description: An interview with Russian UFO expert Felix
Ziegel appears in the Italian weekly magazine Gente, followed by a
second part in the August 7 issue. Ziegel claims he has 50,000 UFO
reports on file in the Moscow Aviation Institute and has compiled eight
volumes of research material that are still unpublished. He believes
there are three basic types of UFO occupants: spacemen (tall beings),
humanoids (human-like), and aliens (short and like the “greys”). He says
that UFOs carry crews of androids that possess the ability to appear and
disappear at will and “seem to be deliberately constructed in order to
confound all our notions of space, matter, time, and dimension.” (Good
Above, pp. 240–241)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6252
Date: 7/31/1981
Description: Black sphere and satellite lights seen, two approached
motorboat, one surrounded by “fog.” Paralysis felt, missing time,
physiological effects
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: abduction
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Lieksa, Finland
ID: 380
Date: 7/31/1981
Description: 8:50 p.m. Two men in a motorboat on lake Mönninselkä near
Pielisjärvi, Finland, see a dark spot in the sky. Four lights suddenly
appear above them, and a fog forms in front of the boat. They lose the
ability to move and soon lose consciousness. When they wake up, they are
differently placed in the boat, the time is 4:10 a.m., and the boat is
drifting. They go back ashore to their cottage, their heads begin to
ache, and they feel very sleepy. Their hands tremble for nearly 2 weeks
afterward, and their sense of balance is disturbed. (“The
Pielinen Event,” UFO Research of Finland Annual Report, 1981,
p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6253
Date: 7/31/1981
Description: 9:15 p.m. A husband and wife are driving along a bumpy road
near Kinston, North Carolina, when their headlights and dash lights go
out and the engine stops. They open the doors and get out to push the
car to the side of the road (noticing later that it is odd that they can
see the road on a moonless night) and the lights suddenly come on again.
They start the car up again and drive the short way home. Mechanics tell
them they don’t know why a car would do that, so they assume there was a
UFO involved. (“Cars That Go Stop on the Night,” IUR 7, no. 1 (January
1982): 9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6254
Date: 8/1981
Description: Three mysterious flattened circles appear in a cornfield
within a natural amphitheater known as The Devil’s Punchbowl at
Cheesefoot Head near Winchester, Wiltshire, England. The central circle
is 55 feet in diameter; two smaller circles are arranged on either side.
Ufologist Pat
Delgado examines the field and is struck by the sharply defined
edges of the circles and the manner in which the cornstalks are
flattened in a clockwise swirl. He suspects UFO activity. (Pat Delgado,
“Cheesefoot
Head Mystery Rings,” Flying Saucer Review 27, no. 5 (March 1982):
13–15; Pat Delgado and Colin Andrews, Circular Evidence, Guild, 1989, pp. 20–21;
Pat Delgado, “1981: Cheesefoot
Head Triplet,” The Croppie, July 11, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6256
Date: 8/8/1981
Description: 6:15 p.m. A witness is on the beach with some friends at
Chalupy on the Hel peninsula, north of Gdynia, Poland. He leaves them
briefly to go back to a camping area and sees, 500 feet in front of him,
“two boys in dark suits” dashing into the bushes on his right. A moment
later they reappear, standing on the path in front of him. They are 5
feet tall, wear green suits, and have green faces with big,
almond-shaped eyes and slits for mouths. He can see dark boxes, violet
and yellow cables, and tapes and spirals hanging from belts on the
entities. He notices a silvery object and receives a telepathic message
to “not be afraid.” He walks closer to them and hears another message:
“Keep walking. Don’t stop.” The witness has the curious sensation of
“passing through the interior of a ball.” He walks past them, looks
back, and they have disappeared. On his right, the silvery disc, 6 feet
high and 16–20 feet long, is hovering only 3 feet above the ground.
Investigators later find seven odd oval marks where the object had been.
(Bronislaw Rzepecki, “Encounters in Poland,” IUR 12, no. 3 (May/June
1987): 18, 21; Bronislaw Rzepecki, “UFO
Reports from Poland,” Flying Saucer Review 33, no. 1 (March 1988):
6–7; Poland 48–50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6257
Date: 8/10/1981
Description: 3:30 a.m. Russell Matson is driving west on 150th Street in
Apple Valley, Minnesota, when just west of Pilot Knob Road he sees a
hexagonal object nearly overhead, at perhaps a distance of 500 feet. It
has two green, two red, and white lights on its corners. It is 60–90
feet across. The object pivots, making a 90° turn while stationary, then
descends and approaches the witness. It makes a soft whooshing sound as
it passes, like gas escaping from a propane tank. (“The Investigator’s
Dilemma,” IUR 7, no. 1 (January 1982): 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6258
Date: 8/12/1981
Description: 2:15 a.m. Rupert Pring is several miles outside of
Anderson, Indiana, taking time-exposure photographs of the Perseid
meteor shower with a camera attached to a tripod. He notices a distant
light flashing like a strobe far to the south; it is soon joined by a
second strobing light, and both move northeast in a straight line. The
lights are as bright as a “halogen automobile headlight at 50 feet.”
They stop moving briefly twice near the star Eta Tauri, then make a
sharp right turn to the southeast. When Pring first notices the lights,
he gets out of his car for a better sight, but freezes abruptly, “like
something heavy was pushing down on my head and shoulders.” He
experiences nausea for three days afterward and has a temporary,
day-long memory loss. Meanwhile, the camera has captured much of the
6-second flight path of the lights in an 8-minute time exposure. Further
investigation prompts Pring to reveal that he and his wife had an
abduction experience with missing time later that morning. As for the
photo, the lights were most likely caused by Pring failing to close the
shutter of his camera as he removed it from the tripod and thus picked
up two mercury-vapor lights at a farmhouse about a half-mile away. (“A
Nocturnal Light Close Encounter,” IUR 7, no. 2 (March 1982): 5–7; Mark
Rodeghier, “March-April Cover Photo Mystery Solved,” IUR 7, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1982): 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6259
Date: 8/15/1981
Description: 6:00 p.m. Twenty workers returning from the fields at the
Forestry Commission Station of La Rochelle, 5.5 miles northeast of
Mutare, Zimbabwe, see a ball of light moving around at a low level.
Clifford Muchena is in charge of the group, and he watches the 5-foot
fireball maneuver around the grounds then move up to an observation
tower, entering through the top window before it bursts into flame. As
Muchena is ringing a warning bell, he sees the fireball come back down
the tower, go past him, and burst into flame again at an outbuilding.
Muchena goes to douse the fire but stops when he sees three men wearing
silver coveralls. The light is too bright to see clearly, and after it
goes out the beings are gone. Women in the compound have seen the
fireball and the entities and run out into the bush, thinking they are
ghosts. (Cynthia Hind, “Entities
at New Rochelle,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 183 (May 1983): 6–10;
Cynthia Hind, “UFOs and the African Tribal System,” UFOs 1947– 1987,
Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 94–96)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6260
Date: 8/16/1981
Description: A huge object approaches the island of Cyprus. Radar at a
Sovereign British Base, either Akrotiri or Dhekelia, track it at 30,000
feet going 900 mph. It comes to a sudden stop and hovers above the base
for 45 minutes. Witnesses take many photos of a bright white triangle
more than 700 feet long. Allegedly, the Ministry of Defence had sent an
encrypted message to the base prior to the sighting, ordering a
“complete stand-down of aircraft in the event that any strange ‘aerial
phenomena’” are sighted. On August 17, a man and woman arrive at the
base, stay for 6 hours, then leave with all the photos and other
evidence. Shortly afterward, according to an informant, US and UK Air
Force personnel meet at RAF Lakenheath in England to discuss the case.
(Nick Redfern, A Covert Agenda: UFO Secrecy Exposed, Simon &
Schuster, 1997, pp. 157–158)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6261
Date: 8/30/1981
Description: UFO brightly illuminated car, witness badly frightened,
memory loss. Fired pistol at object circling the car, fled at high
speed. Red dots like puncture marks found on wrists
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: medical
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: El Cajon, CA
ID: 381
Date: 9/1981
Description: The Association d’Étude sur les Soucoupes Volantes renames
its AESV Bulletin as OVNI Présence and moves its publishing operation to
its Swiss office in Vevay, Switzerland. Yves Bosson takes over as chief
editor. The magazine continues until February 1995. (OVNI
Présence, no. 18 (September 1981))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6262
Date: 9/10/1981
Description: 11:15 p.m. Denise Bishop, 23, is returning to her home in
Weston Mill, Plymouth, England, when she sees some lights behind the
house. As she goes to the back of the bungalow, she sees an enormous
metallic-gray UFO hovering above houses on top of a hill. Six or seven
broad shafts of light are shining down on the rooftops beneath it. As
she grabs the doorknob to go inside, a lime-green pencil of light comes
from the object and hits the back of her hand and she cannot move. The
light remains for 30 seconds; when it switches off, she opens the door
and goes inside. The UFO then lifts into the sky and moves away. An hour
of so later, she notices a burn mark on her hand. The next day she
visits Bob Boyd, an investigator with the Plymouth UFO Research Group,
who takes photos of her hand, which has a patch of shiny dermis with
spots of blood and bruising. On September 12, Boyd visits her with a
nurse, who persuades her to see a doctor. Scab tissue forms on September
15, followed by a scar that is still visible in July 1982. (Good Above,
pp. 98–101)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6263
Date: 9/18/1981
Description: Triangular objects with body lights, humming sound,
observed three times over freeway and valley area
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Conejo Valley, CA
ID: 382
Date: 9/18/1981
Description: 8:45 p.m. Six members of a family in Simi Valley,
California, watch a light approach and see a triangular object with five
bright white lights on the front and sides. The unlit center portion
appears to be like brushed aluminum with a grid pattern. As it passes
overhead, they hear a low-pitched hum. A blinking, red-orange light is
at the rear. Two or three smaller lights are following in its path.
(UFOEv II 229)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6264
Date: 9/18/1981
Description: 9:15 p.m. John Sharwath and Randy Bandurant are driving
north on the Moorpark Freeway north of Thousand Oaks, California, when
they notice three bright lights like floodlights on the horizon to the
north. As they approach the end of the freeway in Moorpark, the light
resolves into five separate lights, three in a row above and two below.
When they pass nearly under the lights, they notice two triangular
bodies that the lights are associated with. At 9:25 p.m., Cherie
Thompson and Joyce Bandurant are driving on the Moorpark Freeway some
distance behind the other car, and they see two triangular lighted
objects. The lowest passes over their car at 50– 100 feet altitude near
the Olsen Road interchange. They stop along the freeway to watch, but
the objects are disappearing behind the hills. (MUFON UFO Journal,
January 1982; UFOEv II, 229–231)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6265
Date: 9/25/1981
End date: 9/27/1981
Description: The Center for UFO Studies holds a second conference in
Chicago, with talks by J.
Allen Hynek, Budd
Hopkins, Bruce
Maccabee, and
Mark
Rodeghier. Presented
papers are printed in The Spectrum of UFO Research. (“CUFOS
Symposium in Chicago Well-Attended,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2,
no. 11 (November 1981): 1, 6; Mimi Hynek, ed., The
Spectrum of UFO Research, CUFOS, 1988; Ron Westrum, [review], JUFOS
1 (1989): 172–174)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6266
Date: 9/26/1981
Description: Mountaineers Reinhold
Messner and Doug
Scott watch a UFO the size of the full moon for nearly 3 hours
during an unsuccessful attempt on the main peak of Mount Chamlang in the
Himalayas near Makalu in Nepal. The object at first is moving slowly
southward, then shifts to the east, northwest, and finally north, making
irregular movements before it disappears somewhere over Tibet. (“Top
Climber: I Spotted UFO,” Montreal (Quebec) Gazette, October 10,
1981, p. 26; “From the Heart of Asia: Two UFOs, a Half Century Apart,”
IUR 7, no. 1 (January 1982): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6267
Date: 9/28/1981
Description: Hungarian-American filmmaker and UFO hobbyist Colman
VonKeviczky, founder of the Intercontinental UFO Galactic Spacecraft
Research and Analytic Network, writes a five-page letter to President Ronald
Reagan, claiming that UFOs are an extraterrestrial task force that
will destroy earth unless world leaders collaborate. It is the third
time he has written, and it includes 17 documents that illustrate the
“potential threat of the UFO forces.” In response to VonKeviczky’s
letter to Reagan, Maj. Gen. Robert
L. Schweitzer, White House chief military advisor, writes: “The
President is well aware of the threat you document so clearly and is
doing all in his power to restore the national defense margin of safety
as quickly and prudently as possible.” VonKeviczky shows the letter to
the Associated Press, which contacts Schweitzer, who says the letter is
a mistake and thought the threat refers to the Soviets. Schweitzer is
fired on October 21 for making unauthorized belligerent statements about
Russia. (presidentialufo.com, “Ronald Reagan, 40th President, January
20, 1981–January 20, 1989”; “A Top
General Talks of War, Is
Reassigned,” Boston Globe, October 21, 1981, pp. 1, 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6268
Date: 10/1981
Description: Local concentration of sightings
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Texas Gulf Coast
ID: 383
Date: 10/1981
Description: NORAD refuses to waive fees for FOIA requests from Citizens
Against UFO Secrecy because of “cumulative and recurring” requests.
(ClearIntent, p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6269
Date: 10/1981
Description: USAF Airman Simone Mendez, 21, trained as a
telecommunications specialist, is working at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas,
Nevada, with a top-secret clearance. One of her coworkers gives her a
top-secret message with a copy of a classified document stating that
NORAD has been tracking UFOs entering the Earth’s atmosphere. She holds
on to it until January 1982 when she attempts to return the document to
Nellis. She is told that the document must be destroyed. One thing leads
to another, and Mendez finds herself under interrogation by the FBI and
AFOSI. This includes polygraph tests, which she fails because she finds
them very distressing. This leads to an emotional breakdown,
hospitalization, and medication. There are more interrogations over the
next few months, and another hospitalization. Eventually, the Air Force
clears her of criminal charges, but her security clearance is stripped,
and she is transferred to another base. (“The
Simone Mendez Case,” Alien Expanse, September 18, 2018; Paul
Carr, “Conversation
18: Simone Mendez,” Aerial Phenomena Investigations, September 23,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6270
Date: 10/2/1981
Description: Afternoon. Three days after a nighttime UFO sighting, Grant
Breiland goes down to the business district in Victoria, British
Columbia, to meet a friend. When the friend does not show, Breiland
calls him up from a pay phone. Immediately afterward, he sees two men
watching him. Dressed in dark suits, they have suntanned, expressionless
faces and unblinking eyes. When they speak, their lips do not move. The
first one asks his name, then the second asks for his address and phone
number. He does not respond, and after 5 seconds, the men leave through
the main door and walk in perfect synchronization to a nearby roadway.
Breiland follows them and sees them enter a muddy plowed field some
80–90 feet across. Three-quarters of the way across, the men vanish,
leaving no footprints behind. During the entire time the men are
visible, no other human beings are in view and no cars pass by. (P. M.
H. Edwards, “M.I.B.
Activity Reported from Victoria B.C.,” Flying Saucer Review 27, no.
4 (January 1982): 7–12; Clark III 733)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6271
Date: 10/8/1981
Description: Daylight disc photo
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada
ID: 384
Date: 10/8/1981
Description: 11:00 a.m. Hannah McRoberts is taking photos with her
family at a rest area some 30 miles north of Kelsey Bay, Vancouver
Island, British Columbia. She snaps a color photo of one of the
mountains to the west that has an interesting cumulus cloud above it.
When the photo is developed, it shows a silvery disc to the right of and
above the peak. UFO researcher Richard
F. Haines examines the original and determines that the image shows
an unknown three-dimensional object positioned at least 30 feet away
from the camera. (NICAP, “Daylight
Disc Photo”;
Richard F. Haines, “Analysis
of a UFO Photograph,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 1, no. 2
(1987): 129–147)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6272
Date: 10/15/1981
Description: 7:30 p.m. Many citizens of Hällefors, Sweden, observe a
huge cigar-shaped object “as large as a truck” that appears suddenly in
the north gliding along just above the treetops. Four oblong windows are
apparent, through which a blue-white light shines, and a red light is in
the rear. A clear and piercing engine noise is evident as it slowly
moves south for more than an hour. Former Chief Constable Björn Fagrell
describes it as like two connected railway cars. The object makes a slow
clockwise turn around the village, after which a flame comes out of the
rear of the object. (“‘Flying
Truck’ Seen over Hällefors for 75 Minutes!” Nordic UFO Newsletter,
1982, no. 1, pp. 6–8; Stig Aggestad, “The
Hällesfors Incident Continues to Grow: Giant UFO Still
Unidentified,” Nordic UFO Newsletter, 1983, no. 1, pp. 2–3; Christer
Nordin, “The
UFO over Hällefors: A Smuggled-In Airship,
Says ‘Magasinet,’ a Channel 2 TV Program,” Nordic UFO Newsletter,
1983, no. 1, pp. 3–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6273
Date: 10/19/1981
Description: Barry Goldwater, Senator, Arizona, in a letter to Lee
Graham, Aerojet Electric Systems, Azusa, CA, states that he has given up
trying to get into the BLUE ROOM at Wright-Patterson AFB where UFO
artifacts are stored by the Air Force.
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Washington DC
Date: 10/19/1981
Description: Sen. Barry
Goldwater (R-Ariz.) responds to constituent Lee M. Graham asking
about rumors of alien technology and bodies at Wright-Patterson AFB in
Ohio. He writes: “I have long ago given up acquiring access to the
so-called blue room at Wright-Patterson…. this thing has gotten so
highly classified, even though I will admit there is a lot of it that
has been released, it is just impossible to get anything on it.” (“The
Color Blue and UFO’s,” Above Top Secret forum, March 30, 2011; Nick
Redfern, “UFOs
and Senator Barry Goldwater,” Mysterious Universe, May 1,
2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6274
Date: 10/28/1981
Description: An appeal of the CAUS v. NSA case is heard by a three-judge
panel (J.
Skelly Wright, Roger
Robb, and Norma
Holloway Johnson) of the US Court of Appeals, District of Columbia.
In a brief decision issued barely a week after oral arguments, the
judges uphold the lower court’s decision without comment. (“Suit
Seeks to Lift Secrecy
Veil from Agency’s Documents,” Washington Post, December 3, 1981;
William A. Moore, “CAUS
vs. NSA
Lawsuit Goes to US Supreme Court,” APRO Bulletin 30, no. 1 (February
1982): 2–3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6275
Date: 11/1981
Description: Localized concentration began, continuing off and on for
several years. Many structured object cases, photographs (see
January—February 1984).
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Hessdalen, Norway
ID: 385
Date: 11/1981
Description: Residents of the Hessdalen valley, Norway, begin reporting
frequent sightings of unusual lights that hover (sometimes for as long
as an hour) and sometimes streak off at speeds that render them all but
invisible. On many occasions the lights are below the horizon, either
just beneath the tops of nearby mountains or not far from the ground or
the rooftops of nearby houses. The lights come in various shapes, but
three predominate: a bullet or cigar, a sphere, and an “upside-down
Christmas tree.” They are usually yellow or white. Sometimes a small red
light appears in front of the others, the various lights maintaining a
fixed position, leading observers to suspect they are all attached to a
single, dark object. More often than not, they are seen at night moving
from north to south; but daylight sightings also occur, usually during
the winter. Anomalous sounds are sometimes reported. Especially frequent
activity occurs between December 1981 and mid-1984, when the lights are
seen 15–20 times per week, attracting many tourists. (Wikipedia, “Hessdalen
lights”; “Project Hessdalen: The Colored Lights of Norway,” IUR 8,
no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1983): 6–8; “Project Hessdalen,” IUR 10, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1985): 14; J. Allen Hynek, “Tracking the Hessdalen Lights,”
IUR 10, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1985): 10–11; Clark III 571)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6276
Date: 11/3/1981
Description: Newspaper article on CAUS vs. NSA: “Suit Seeks to Lift
Secrecy Veil From Agency’s UFO Documents”.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: Washington
Post
Location: US
Date: 11/3/1981
Description: Civil Action, Case #80–1562, goes against the plaintiff and
for the defendant, the NSA. The NSA retains the right to withhold 156
Top Secret records containing communications intelligence (COMINT)
reports which were produced between 1958 and 1979. Only military
personnel with a Top Secret Clearance were allowed to view the documents
for the court hearing. NOT even the Judge was allowed to see them, even
though he ruled against the plaintiff (CAUS).
Type: court case
Reference: Pea Reseach (A3, B1-A)
Location: US
See also: 6/24/83
Date: 11/3/1981
Description: The US District Court for the District of Columbia issues a
per curiam judgment that denies an appeal of the CAUS case against the
NSA. (“Federal
Court Upholds Decision Against CAUS,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 2,
no. 12 (December 1981): 6; ClearIntent, p. 188)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6277
Date: 11/12/1981
Description: 6:00 p.m. Air traffic controllers at the Greek-American
NATO base in Chortiatis, Greece, pick up unidentified targets on their
radar screens. Six pursuit aircraft are scrambled, but the UFOs
disappear as soon as the planes approach. At 6:45 p.m., luminous objects
appear over Edessa, Greece, and maneuver for 30 minutes. Other objects
are spotted at Kalochori, Michaniona, Giannitsa, Larissa, Ptolemaida,
and Lagyna. (“The Hide-and- Seek of the UFOs and the Six Jets That Went
after Them,” IUR 7, no. 1 (January 1982): 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6278
Date: 11/24/1981
Description: Domed disc hovered nearby, beamed light down onto truck.
Driver fled, object followed and beamed light on truck a second time
before departing
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Marshall, TX
ID: 386
Date: 11/24/1981
Description: 9:30 p.m. Power company employee Dale
Spurlock sees a red pulsating domed disc at treetop level while
driving just north of Darco, Texas, on the Darco Cutoff Road near a
small lake and some power lines. It has four colored lights—a row of
red, blue, green, and amber lights—at the base of the dome. It makes no
sound as it passes left to right just above the tress, and then hovers.
The object tilts and two headlights from the front of the UFO shine
directly down on Spurlock’s pickup truck. The object is revolving
counterclockwise and moves off to the east. The truck’s electrical
system (alternator and battery) is damaged. (“Nocturnal Rural
Encounters,” IUR 7, no. 3 (May/June 1982): 5–8; “1977
Sketch/Sighting and 1981 Sketch Similarity: Another One,” CUFOS
Associate Newsletter 4, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1983): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6279
Date: 12/1981
Description: A triangular object appears between Royton and Oldham in
Greater Manchester, England. The UFO has a light on each corner; one of
the lights detaches and flies off. (Marler 137)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6280
Date: 12/4/1981
Description: President Ronald
Reagan issues Executive Order 12333 extending the powers of US
intelligence agencies. It is regarded by the American intelligence
community as a fundamental document authorizing the expansion of data
collection activities and later is employed by the National Security
Agency as legal authorization for its collection of unencrypted
information flowing through the data centers of internet communications
giants Google and Yahoo! It repeats a prohibition against state
assassinations. (Wikipedia, “Executive
Order 12333”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6281
Date: 12/8/1981
Description: 7:30 p.m. Alma Hobbs is driving with her two children on
State Highway 12 three miles southwest of Reserve, New Mexico. An
enormous UFO shaped like an orange ball, estimated to be 750 feet in
length, makes a number of turns in the sky. They arrive at a restaurant
near the intersection of State 12 and US Highway 180, where Dan Luscomb
and Rosie Tafoya also see the object, which executes a 90° turn near
Luna Mountain as a jet aircraft chases the UFO out of sight. (“Hunting
Old and New UFOs in New Mexico,” IUR 7, no. 2 (March 1982): 13–14;
“Update on the Reserve, N.M. ‘Tube-Like’ UFO,” IUR 7, no. 3 (May/June
1982): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6282
Date: 12/15/1981
Description: After sunset. Ali Ozel sees an extremely bright light
hovering at a distance of 650–980 feet above his car in Aksaray, central
Anatolia, Turkey. It performs some maneuvers and disappears to the
southwest. (“‘Mysteries of Turkey’: UFO Activity Revealed,” IUR 8, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1983): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6283
Date: 12/19/1981
Description: UFO swooped over vehicle, blocked road
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Areal, Brazil
ID: 387
Date: 12/20/1981
Description: 7:00 p.m. Journalists Nils
Kåre Nesvold and Per Holden see a shiny, spherical object at
Vongraven, Norway, the apparent size of a large star. It is steady and
intense with no halo. It is flying nearly 3 miles distant and about
3,300–6,500 feet above a mountain. Its speed is irregular, and it
changes both course and altitude. Suddenly it disappears as though it is
switched off. (Kim Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean
Tomes, 1987, pp. 89–90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6284
Date: 12/21/1981
Description: Captain O. Celen and other people in Aksaray, Turkey, see a
huge, glittering, silent, egg-shaped object shedding a greenish light
over the building site of the Aksaray Engine Factory. It is hovering at
800–1,000 feet and shoots away to the southwest. (“‘Mysteries of
Turkey’: UFO Activity Revealed,” IUR 8, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1983): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6285
Date: 12/28/1981
Description: 10:30 a.m. G. W. Schoen and two others are talking outside
a stable on a farm south of Westminster, Maryland, when they see a
grayish-black object flying east to west against the wind and below the
clouds at 1,000 feet. It is shaped like a lightbulb, with visible ribs
and dark black lines. It climbs slowly and gradually disappears from
sight. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1982): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6286
Date: 12/29/1981
End date: 12/30/1981
Description: William
Moore meets twice with AFOSI officer Richard
Doty in a restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Doty provides Moore
with copies of three documents, one of which is a “fake” to test Moore.
Another is the one-page Aquarius teletype. (Brad Sparks and Barry
Greenwood, “The Secret Pratt Tapes and the Origins of MJ-12,” in MUFON
2007 International UFO Symposium Proceedings, MUFON, 2007,
pp. 92–159)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6287
Date: 1982
Description: Investigator Paul Bennewitz was sending regular reports to
the APRO and contacted US Senator Harrison Schmidt and Senator Peter
Domenici, as well as other UFO investigators such as Linda Moulton Howe
and John Lear. By 1982, APRO had decided to investigate Bennewitz’s
claims. They sent William Moore, one of their directors and a former
schoolteacher turned writer and ufologist, to talk to Bennewitz. Bill
Moore later stated in a public confession that he was recruited by
someone with the code name Falcon to lead Paul Bennewitz astray by
giving him false information. He claimed that he was given his orders by
AFOSI agents (believed to be Richard Doty and Steve Atwater), and that
for four years, he was asked to feed disinformation, including the
forged “Aquarius Document” to Bennewitz. This disinformation included
“verification” of Bennewitz’s beliefs about the “grays” and the
underground base at Dulce. Bennewitz had to be hospitalized for
“exhaustion”. He later died on June 23, 2003.
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Date: 1982
Description: Richard
Mingus is coordinating security operations for Livermore in the Area
6 section of the Nevada Test Site when, just as an unsecured, live
nuclear weapon is being lowered into an 800-foot-deep shaft prior to
testing, an alert goes off that the facility is under attack. It turns
out that Wackenhut Security has decided to conduct a mock helicopter
attack on an access point to Area 51 to test the system for weaknesses
but neglects to inform the Department of Energy beforehand. (Jacobsen,
Area 51, pp. 333–338)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6288
Date: 1982
Description: The National Security Agency, through the Department of
Justice, covertly misappropriates a Prosecutors Management Information
System (PROMIS) developed by private firm Inslaw to aid prosecutors in
tracking cases. Inslaw claims that the feds withheld payments on the
software, then pirated it, making modifications to allow it to monitor
intelligence operations, then giving or selling it to Israel and 80
other countries through Earl
W.
Brian, a
man with close personal and business ties to President Ronald
Reagan and then-presidential counsel Edwin
Meese. The
NSA uses it to covertly conduct real-time electronic surveillance of the
flow of money to suspected terrorists and other perceived threats to US
national interests. Fabrizio
Calvi and Thierry Pfister in 1997 claim that NSA has been “seeding
computers abroad with PROMIS-embedded SMART (Systems Management
Automated Reasoning Tools) chips, code-named Petrie, a Trojan horse
capable of covertly downloading data and transmitting it, using
electrical wiring as an antenna, to US intelligence satellites” as part
of an espionage operation. (Wikipedia, “PROMIS
(software)”; Ryan Gallagher, “Dirtier
Than Watergate,” New Statesman, April 20, 2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6289
Date: 1982
Description: Audits and Surveys, in a report sponsored by Merit Report,
finds that 49% of Americans definitely or probably think
extraterrestrial UFOs have been here. (Robert J. Durant, “Evolution of
Public Opinion on UFOs,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6290
Date: 1982
Description: Brazilian ufologist Irene
Granchi founds the Centro de Investigação sobre a Natureza dos
Extraterrestres in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The group is eventually taken
over by her daughter Chica
Granchi. (Claudio
Tsuyoshi Suenaga, “Entrevista:
Irene Granchi, a Grande Pioneira da Pesquisa Ufológica no Brasil,”
Portal UFO, May 4, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6291
Date: 1982
Description: The Royal Australian Air Force grants permission to UFO
researcher Bill
Chalker to examine its UFO files. Chalker visits the archives in
Canberra, A.C.T., and reviews more than 1,000 reports in 53 RAAF files
through 1984, allowing him to compile a detailed summary covering the
years 1950 to 1980. He concludes that the existence of some interesting
cases in the files is not suggestive of an RAAF coverup. (Keith
Basterfield, Vladimir Godic, and Pony Godic, “Australian Ufology: A
Review,” JUFOS 2 (1990): 33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6292
Date: 1/2/1982
Description: Writer Bob
Pratt flies out to Arizona to meet William
Moore, who
has called him to propose a non-fiction book project about UFOs. Moore
tells him about MJ-12, Project Aquarius, and other alleged revelations.
Pratt secretly tapes his conversations with Moore, which reveal his
contacts with Richard
Doty and other agents of disinformation. (Brad Sparks and Barry
Greenwood, “The Secret Pratt Tapes and the Origins of MJ-12,” in MUFON
2007 International UFO Symposium Proceedings, MUFON, 2007,
pp. 92–159)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6293
Date: 1/3/1982
Description: Two Brazilian Air Force F-5 fighters flying at about 5,000
feet over Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, see a dark
metallic-looking object about 66 feet long, 55 feet high, and 3,000 feet
away. The control tower cannot see anything in the vicinity. The F-5s
get closer, but the object ascends and stays above them. They stay in
this position for 30 seconds and then the UFO accelerates and
disappears. (Clark III 205; Brazil 552)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6294
Date: 1/5/1982
Description: The Society for Scientific Exploration is founded by Peter
A. Sturrock at a meeting held at the National Academy of Sciences in
Washington, D.C., in order to study phenomena “generally regarded by the
scientific community as being outside their established fields of
inquiry.” (“Professors
Join in UFO Study Forum,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 4
(Aug./Sept. 1982): 1, 3; Clark III 1082–1083)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6295
Date: 1/9/1982
Description: 8:20 p.m. Carl (Eddie) Cox III steps outside his rural home
near Washington, North Carolina, to photograph the rising full moon with
a new 35mm camera using high-speed color film. He sees and takes 8
photographs of a strange, tubular object moving from the northeast. The
photos show a double tube with varying configurations of white and
red-orange lights. The final photo shows the tops of nearby trees and
distant condensation trails. Analysis suggests that the sighting is due
to a distant aircraft passing through a condensation trail. (“Tubular
UFO Photographed,
January 9, 1982,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 3 (June/July
1982): 1, 4; “January
UFO Photos
Become Identified FOs,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 6
(Dec. 1982/Jan. 1983): 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6296
Date: 1/15/1982
Description: 7:05–11:35 p.m. Three sightings occur one after the other
in Turkey. An object resembling a tray is seen at 7:05 p.m. over Niğde
in central Anatolia. At 9:35 p.m., two UFOs are reported at Havsa,
Edirne, accompanied by reported malfunctioning TV sets in the town.
Around 11:30 p.m., a reported UFO causes the citizens of İzmir, western
Anatolia, to panic. When the UFO hovers above the Buca forest it takes
on a flaming appearance, causing fire brigades to rush to the scene,
keeping watch over the object for 45 minutes until it vanishes.
(“‘Mysteries of Turkey’: UFO Activity Revealed,” IUR 8, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1983): 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6297
Date: 2/1982
Description: William
Moore receives a plain envelope from one of the intermediaries of
“Falcon.” Inside are Air Force documents signed by Richard
Doty regarding unexplained lights over Kirtland AFB and Manzano in
New Mexico from 1980. Moore and Bruce
Maccabee examine the documents and conduct a detailed on-site
investigation, finding no contradictions. (Greg Bishop, Project Beta,
Paraview, 2005, p. 209)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6298
Date: 2/2/1982
Description: 8:00 p.m. Susanne Anderson, 18, is jogging in Skövde,
Sweden, when she notices two intense blinking lights that seem to be
coming toward her. She hears no sound and gets frightened. After
speeding up to a full run, she turns around and sees a metal-blue,
saucer-shaped object with a blinking red light on the bottom. Terrified,
she hides in a school building. (“A Short Tale of a Swedish CE-1,” IUR
7, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1982): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6299
Date: 2/6/1982
Description: Prof. John Spencer Carr of Clearwater FL calls ufologist
Leonard Stringfield and revealed a key USAF officer’s witness name to
the 1948 Aztec C/R. Stringfield sat back dumbfounded, because in the
past this officer had spoken to Stringfield and told him about UFO’s.
The USAF officer saw the occupant bodies on location.
Type: telephone call
Reference: Twitter
Location: Clearwater FL
See also: 3/25/48
Date: 2/8/1982
Description: Capt. Gerson Maciel de Britto, piloting a Boeing 727 for
VASP Flight 169, notices an intense light source while flying over
Petrolina, Pernambuco, Brazil, on a southern course. It starts
accompanying the aircraft in a parallel course, keeping the same
distance. But the object soon begins changing its speed, moving ahead of
the plane and then allowing it to catch up. As it approaches Belo
Horizonte, the object approaches the plane, allowing crew and 150
passengers to view its lenticular form. At this point, the light
emanating from the UFO penetrates the interior of the cabin and
illuminates it with a bluish tint. The UFO is still in clear view as the
aircraft begins landing at Galeão Airport in Rio de Janeiro. Some
witnesses on the Rio-Niterói Bridge also see the object. (“The Climactic
UFO Case of the Winter 1982 Brazilian ‘Flap,’” IUR 7, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1982): 11–13; Luiz Augusto da Silva, “Unidentified
Aerial Phenomena: The VASP-169 Flight Brazilian Episode Revisited,”
Journal of Scientific Exploration 27, no. 4 (2013): 637–654; Patrick
Gross, “UFO-Aircraft
Encounters”; Clark III 198–200; Brazil 537–541)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6300
Date: 2/10/1982
Description: 11:35 p.m. Tammy Utt and two other 17-year-old girls are
driving in a car on I Road and 18th Road west of Escanaba, Michigan,
when they encounter a low-flying domed disc. The mist from the rear of
the object looks like “lit up snowflakes.” The rim around the bottom of
the UFO has red windows all the way around it, and a red light shines
through the windows. The sighting lasts seven minutes. (“Nocturnal Rural
Encounters,” IUR 7, no. 3 (May/June 1982): 8–11; Kenneth C. Schellhase,
“A Unique Triad of CE-I Sightings,” IUR 7, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1982):
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6301
Date: 2/12/1982
Description: 5:45 p.m. Civil engineer Robert A. Sproat is driving south
on Gouger Road just south of County Road 7 in Lockport, Illinois, when
he sees a light similar to an aircraft landing light over the Lockport
locks and dam. It begins a smooth banking turn to the left at about
1,000 feet, and he can make out a structure about 40 feet square.
(Robert A. Sproat, “Letter,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 3 (June/July 1983): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6302
Date: mid 2/1982
Description: 9:00 p.m. Aubre Brogden is driving along Vermont Highway 36
near Bakersfield, Vermont, when she sees a lighted triangular object in
the sky approaching her. As she pulls into her driveway, it hovers above
her backyard about 25 feet away then silently moves directly above her.
She estimates it is as large as a football field. The object moves away
noiselessly. (“Recurrent
Sightings on Vermont Highway,” APRO Bulletin 31, no. 7 (July 1983):
4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6303
Date: 2/19/1982
Description: 4:54 p.m. A strange radiance is noticed in the sky above
the frozen Lake Onega, from Petrozavodsk in the Republic of Karelia,
Russia. The glow is pale blue and is shaped like a cloud, inside of
which is an elliptical bright spot. After a few minutes, the bright spot
disappears behind the forest, but the luminescent cloud remains in the
sky for a time. Around 5:00 p.m., two more spots appear, moving
together. One of them resembles the first object but is smaller. The
other is a luminous sphere moving in a spiral. As it moves, it leaves a
hazy trail that quickly disappears. At 5:15 p.m., a bright arrow-shaped
object flies directly above the city a great speed, leaving a trail.
None of the objects make any sound. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO
Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, p. 152)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6304
Date: 2/19/1982
Description: E-M effects on car, dome-shaped object overhead, driver
blacked out, taken to hospital with memory loss, physiological
effects
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: medical
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Allen, Rio Negro Province, Argentina
ID: 388
Date: 2/24/1982
Description: 5:15 a.m. Neillsville, Wisconsin, police officer Chuck
Urban is patrolling 12 miles west of town when a bright light approaches
him on his left. He stops his squad car, turns off his headlights, grabs
a camera, and takes a picture that turns out poorly. He hears no sound
from the object. The light follows him as he returns to Neillsville. The
light is so bright he can see the road plainly. At one point the light
crosses the road ahead of him for a few miles, then recrosses to the
other side. He loses sight of it as he enters town. (“Nocturnal Rural
Encounters,” IUR 7, no. 3 (May/June 1982): 11; “Neillsville Revisited:
The Cop and the Light That Turned Night into Day,” IUR 7, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1982): 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6305
Date: 3/1/1982
End date: 3/5/1982
Description: A worldwide nuclear war game was directed from the White
House (source: House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on
International Security & Scientific Affairs hearing, April 2, 1982.
Rep. Larry Winn, Jr. ER-Kans.] presiding).
Type: official
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Washington DC
ID: 389
Date: 3/4/1982
Description: Brinsley
Le Poer Trench, the Earl of Clancarty, asks in the House of Lords
how many UFO reports the Ministry of Defence has received in the past 4
years, Viscount
Long replies that there were 750 sightings in 1978, 550 in 1979, 350
in 1980, and 600 in 1981. Clancarty thinks the totals must be higher,
but Long explains that not all reports reach the MoD. The Earl
of Kimberley asks how many of those remain unidentified, and Long
replies that he does not have those figures as they “disappeared into
the unknown before we got them.” Peter
Hill-Norton asks whether all UFO reports received by the MoD before
1962 were destroyed because they were of “no defense interest,” and if
so, who decided that. Long says that all reports have been preserved
since 1967. (Good Above, pp. 101–102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6306
Date: 3/6/1982
Description: Night. A cylindrical object passes above the Stadium
Morenão in Campo Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, during a soccer game
attended by more than 24,000 people. (Brazil 290–293)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6307
Date: 3/8/1982
Description: Peter Gersten’s
84-page petition (filed in early 1982) for the Supreme Court to hear an
appeal of CAUS v. NSA is dismissed by the US Supreme Court, which
declines to hear the case because releasing the files “could seriously
jeopardize the work of the agency and the security of the United
States.” (ClearIntent, pp. 188–189)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6308
Date: 3/8/1982
Description: 8:15 p.m. Two highly technically trained people separated
by more than a mile observe a silent object near Bethel, Connecticut.
(“The Case of the Rumbling Leviathan,” IUR 7, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1982):
8–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6309
Date: 3/17/1982
End date: 3/20/1982
Description: The Project Hessdalen team manages to take four photos of
oblong lights passing in front of Finnsåhøgda and Fjellbekkhøgda
mountains near Hessdalen, Norway. (“Project Hessdalen: The Colored
Lights of Norway,” IUR 8, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1983): 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6310
Date: 3/21/1982
Description: 8:30 p.m. Karl Stewart is driving eastbound on the Ohio
Turnpike in northwest Ohio when he sees what appears to be a jet
aircraft to the south at about 500 feet altitude. Its lights are much
brighter than normal landing lights, and there are no airports in the
vicinity. Pulling over to watch it, he sees it has three arms, small
windows, and red and green strings of running lights. It gains altitude
before banking north over the highway. (“A
New Model
UFO?” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 1 (Feb./March 1983):
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6311
Date: 3/23/1982
Description: 2:00 a.m. Tim Miron, 18, is driving north on I Road
northwest of Escanaba, Michigan, when he sees an orange-red light, which
gets bigger and begins flashing red beams from its underside after he
turns on I.5 Lane. The object keeps moving closer and he sees it
directly behind a telephone pole to his left 125 feet from the road,
hovering 10 feet above the ground. Miron arrives at his family’s farm,
jumps out, and sees the UFO moving directly toward him. He wakes up his
mother and the two of them watch the object for the next 30–45 minutes
as it maneuvers over a wide area around the farm, finally disappearing
behind some trees. (Kenneth C. Schellhase, “A Unique Triad of CE-I
Sightings,” IUR 7, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1982): 5–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6312
Date: 3/26/1982
Description: Leading investigators from UFO-Norge hold a town meeting in
Ålen, Norway, near Hessdalen. Of the 130 residents who attend, 17 say
they have seen a yellow spherical light, 12 a cigar-shaped object, and 6
an oblong object with one red and two yellow lights. Later in the week,
two officers from Værnes Air Station in Trondheim interview some
witnesses and conclude that Hessdalen residents have been seeing these
lights since 1944 and their accounts are credible. (Clark III 571; Kim
Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 89,
90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6313
Date: 3/30/1982
Description: 11:15 p.m. Nanette Morrison is driving home in
Charlottesville, Virginia, when she spots a large, brilliant light in
the sky hovering several hundred feet in the air and a quarter mile
away. It approaches as she makes a turn and flies right over her car,
later pacing her as she drives the remaining 15 blocks. She pulls up to
the curb, and the UFO stops and hovers above a house across the street
less than 400 feet away. The object reverses direction and moves away as
she runs up to her house. (J. Allen Hynek, “A Remarkable Double
Encounter,” IUR 8, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1983): 4–5; “Double Encounter
Questioned,” IUR 9, no. 2 (March/April 1984): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6314
Date: 4/1/1982
Description: 11:30 p.m. Nanette Morrison looks out her front window and
sees a bright, fluorescent object hovering a few hundred feet above the
tree line and a short distance away from her home in Charlottesville,
Virginia. She tells her mother to come and look. As she does, the object
flares up brightly and zips away at an incredible speed. (J. Allen
Hynek, “A Remarkable Double Encounter,” IUR 8, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1983):
5, 15; “Double Encounter Questioned,” IUR 9, no. 2 (March/April 1984):
15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6316
Date: 4/1/1982
Description: 7:15 p.m. Three men are repairing a jeep in Petrolia,
Pennsylvania, when one of them notices a bright object with a flashing
red light just above the trees. A few minutes later they see it has
risen much higher. After they turn on the jeep’s headlights, the bright
object moves toward them. When they turn the lights off again, the
object backs away. The lights go on again, and the UFO passes over their
heads at 250 feet. Its bright lights go out, and its triangular shape
becomes clear, as well as its gun-metal color and the luminescent mist
surrounding it. A red light is on the front, with white and amber lights
on the other angles. Two bright lights shoot away from the triangle, one
going north and the other south. When a jet approaches from the east,
the object stops and becomes bright. Then it rises straight up until it
is out of sight. For several days, the witnesses have severe headaches,
and one has diarrhea. Other triangular UFOs are seen in the Pittsburgh
area from March 22 to May 19. (Stan Gordon, “Pennsylvania
Low-Level UFO Sightings,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 172 (June 1982):
3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6315
Date: 4/2/1982
Description: President Reagan issues
Executive Order 12356, which eliminates response time limits on FOIA
requests. Searches for UFO documents show significantly more delays of 2
years or more, and search fees rise dramatically. (Wikisource, “Executive
Order 12356”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6317
Date: 4/3/1982
Description: 3:00 a.m. A woman schoolteacher in Bolingbrook, Illinois,
is awakened by a high-pitched sound “like a blender running in a box.”
She looks outside and sees a bright blue, domed, disc-shaped object land
next to some power lines. It lifts off and then lands a second time. The
UFO has blue lights around the rim and is only about 150 feet away. The
blue lights illuminate the area as bright as day. A streetlight goes
out. The police receive calls of power outages and blue flashes at the
same time. (Fred Merritt, “A Blue Domed-Disc for Bolingbrook,” IUR 7,
no. 4 (July/Aug. 1982): 6–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6318
Date: 4/7/1982
Description: The Earl
of Cork and Orrery asks in the House of Lords how many of the 2,250
sightings of UFOs reported to the MoD in 1978–1981 are still classified.
Viscount
Long says none are and there is no reason why anyone could not come
and look at the reports in the MoD archives. (Good Above, pp. 102–104)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6319
Date: 4/8/1982
Description: 11:50 p.m. Angie Parrotta and Nancy Hanson, both 18, are
driving south on County Road 533 west of Escanaba, Michigan. They notice
a bright star to the southwest, which soon becomes two huge
yellowish-white “headlights” attached to an object. It descends and
moves toward them. They speed up but the object keeps pacing them on
their right. They become frightened when they see a blinking red light
on the craft. They watch the UFO move swiftly toward Escanaba in the
east and quickly lose sight of it. (Kenneth C. Schellhase, “A Unique
Triad of CE-I Sightings,” IUR 7, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1982): 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6320
Date: 4/22/1982
End date: 4/23/1982
Description: Night. A group of Polish Air Force pilots during missions
over northwest Poland in the area from Elbląg to Ostróda and Olsztyn
encounter a weird light at 47,500 feet that does not appear on their
radar. It looks like a cloud with the central part a raised-up cupola
and is emanating beams of light from the underside. Around it is some
kind of vapor. (Poland 66)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6321
Date: 4/23/1982
Description: 5:15 a.m. Officials at the Head Office of Meteorology in
Ankara, Turkey, observe two UFOs that are maneuvering over the city for
an hour. They are elliptical and disappear in the direction of the
Eskisehir Highway around 6:15 a.m. (“‘Mysteries of Turkey’: UFO Activity
Revealed,” IUR 8, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1983): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6322
Date: 4/27/1982
Description: Citizens Against UFO Secrecy files a request with the
National Security Agency for all legal documents used to prepare its
case in CAUS v. NSA, especially any portion of the top-secret Yeates
affidavit of November 1980. (ClearIntent, p. 189)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6323
Date: 5/18/1982
Description: NSA Director of Policy Eugene Yeates releases a highly
redacted portion of his 21-page affidavit used in the CAUS v. NSA
lawsuit. An unredacted section reveals that the NSA holds 79 UFO
documents referred by other agencies as well as 160 documents
originating with the NSA, four of which have already been released.
(ClearIntent, pp. 189–190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6324
Date: 5/22/1982
Description: Diamond-shaped object with body lights, bright
“headlights,” flew overhead, seen clearly in police spotlight. Abnormal
silence
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Cleveland, TX
ID: 390
Date: 5/22/1982
Description: 11:00 p.m. Liberty County Deputy Sheriff John McDonald
notices two bright lights above tall pine trees near Cleveland, Texas.
He points his spotlight toward them as they sink out of sight, but they
reappear and pass over his head at about 1,000 feet. He shines his
spotlight again and sees a diamond shape with four rounded corners. The
object is large, silent, and grayish in color. Seconds later he hears a
high-pitched whine as it quickly departs. (John F. Schuessler, “Policeman
Encounters Diamond-Shaped UFO,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 182 (April
1983): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6325
Date: 5/24/1982
Description: 10:15 p.m. An orange-colored light is seen by many tourists
moving at a slow speed at an altitude of 4,900– 6,500 feet toward
Marmaris, Muğla, Turkey. It hovers for about 5 minutes over the sea,
moves to the south, speeds up, and ascends. (“‘Mysteries of Turkey’: UFO
Activity Revealed,” IUR 8, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1983): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6326
Date: 6/1982
Description: Leonard
H. Stringfield issues his third status report, UFO Crash/Retrievals:
Amassing the Evidence. (Leonard H. Stringfield, UFO Crash/Retrievals:
Amassing the Evidence, Status Report III, The Author, 1982)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6327
Date: 6/1/1982
Description: Two UFOs allegedly hover above the Baikonur cosmodrome,
Kazakhstan, for 14 seconds, one of them directly above launch pad number
1. On June 2, bolts and rivets are found that supposedly have been
sucked out of the support towers, and welded sections have come apart.
The other UFO hovers above the adjacent housing complex, knocking out
thousands of panes of glass or making fine holes in them. The cosmodrome
is said to be put out of action for two weeks. (Gordon Creighton, “Russia:
Naughty Henry Gris Says It Again! ’Soviet Space- Centre
Knocked Out by UFOs,” Flying Saucer Review 28, no. 6 (August 1983):
27–28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6328
Date: 6/3/1982
Description: Night. The examining magistrate and bailiff at Demirköy,
Kirklareli, Turkey, watch an object with orange lights at an altitude of
160–200 feet. It has two lighted hemispheres with a dark rectangular
mid-section. The poplar trees underneath it are shaking violently.
(“‘Mysteries of Turkey’: UFO Activity Revealed,” IUR 8, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1983): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6329
Date: 6/10/1982
Description: Three witnesses in Madbury, New Hampshire, see a
wedge-shaped object with bright white lights and smaller blue-green-red
body lights hovering about 50 feet above the Bellamy Reservoir, its
lights reflecting on the surface of the water. As they try to move to a
better viewing location, the object moves away, almost instantly. They
see it again hovering above a house with an oscillatory motion. A red
light beam shines down on the house and then on the car. After a while
the object approaches the car from behind and passes above it by about
30 feet. (UFOEv II 41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6330
Date: 6/10/1982
Description: Wedge-shaped object with body lights hovered low over
reservoir, lights reflecting in water. Instant relocation, red light
beam shone on house, then on car
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Madbury, NH
ID: 391
Date: 6/12/1982
Description: Everyone on board a British aircraft sees a large
translucent object 500 feet long flying at 41,000 feet altitude over
Dinkelsbühl, Bavaria, Germany. It has the form of a “double rectangle
surmounted by a globe (egg-shaped) crowned by a silver one.” (Nick
Redfern, A Covert Agenda: UFO Secrecy Exposed, Simon & Schuster,
1997, p. 162)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6331
Date: 6/18/1982
Description: 9:10–10:53 p.m. Five Chinese Air Force pilots are flying on
patrol over the northern military frontier in Hebei province, China. At
10:06 p.m., a large yellowish-green object appears in the northern sky,
whirling fast and creating rings of light. After 10 seconds, the center
of the ring explodes “like a hand grenade.” It grows larger than the
apparent size of the full moon, and black spots appear near its center.
The aircraft lose their communications and navigational systems and are
forced to return to their base. (NICAP, “Five
Chinese Pilots Encounter
Object / EME”; Good Above, pp. 217–218, 471;
Paul Dong and Wendelle Stevens, UFOs over Modern China, UFO Photo
Archives, 1983, pp. 243–245)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6332
Date: 6/25/1982
Description: 2:30 a.m. Kathy Freeman watches a bright star that makes
two right-angle turns near Libertyville, Illinois. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 3, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1982): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6333
Date: 6/27/1982
Description: Bob Lazar appears on the front Sunday page of the “Los
Alamos Monitor”
Type: newspaper article
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Location: Los Alamos, NM
Date: 6/27/1982
Description: Following a screening of E.T.: The Extraterrestrial at the
White House, President Reagan leans
over to director Steven
Spielberg and comments, “You know, there aren’t six people in this
room who know how true this really is.” (presidentialufo.com, “Ronald
Reagan, 40th President, January 20, 1981–January 20, 1989”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6334
Date: 7/1/1982
Description: The Center for UFO Studies discontinues its toll-free 1-800
number distributed to police offices across the country. (“Discontinue
800 #, Report Quality Low,” IUR 7, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1982): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6335
Date: 7/6/1982
Description: 7:30 p.m. A man driving alone near Hampshire, Tasmania,
finds that his car is gradually losing power and stops. He turns off the
ignition and the lights, then gets out of the vehicle when he notices a
stationary, noiseless object that looks like a large army helicopter
about the size of a bus. It is blue-black in color and seems to be
gradually moving to the west for about 90 seconds. He starts the car’s
engine and leaves the area. An inspection of the car finds nothing to
account for its behavior. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle
Interference Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6336
Date: 7/28/1982
Description: Area-51/S-4 worker Bob Lazar meets Dr. Edward Teller at a
presentation.
Type: meeting
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Location: Los Alamos, NM
Date: early 8/1982
Description: A man is in a meadow near a forest on the shore of the
Vistula River a few miles northwest of Warsaw, Poland. Suddenly he hears
a sound like an electric motor and sees a rectangular, black, domed
object above the treetops that rises and sails slowly beyond the river.
Windows in the dome cast a flickering light (Bronislaw Rzepecki,
“Encounters in Poland,” IUR 12, no. 3 (May/June 1987): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6337
Date: 8/21/1982
Description: Bob Lazar appears in the “Arizona Republic” newspaper in
Phoenix AZ and is said to be working in “Los Alamos, NM National
Laboratory”
Type: newspaper article
Reference: Newspapers.com
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Date: 9/1982
Description: Rosalind Reynolds-Parnham and her boyfriend Philip are
driving through the northwestern outskirts of Sudbury, Suffolk, England,
when they see an object with an oval mass of orange lights moving
through some pylons and causing sparks. They can smell a noxious odor.
They drive on, and when they are near Cavendish on the A1092 some lights
approach them from behind and the car loses power. When they arrive at
their destination, they realize they have lost four hours of time.
Rosalind begins to recall an abduction experience, aided by some
disturbing dreams and odd scars on her abdomen. (Jenny Randles,
“Abduction and Physiological Effects,” IUR 20, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1995):
4–6, 23; Carl Nagaitis and Philip Mantle, Without Consent: A
Comprehensive Study of Missing Time and Abduction Phenomena in the
United Kingdom, Ringpull, 1994; “Aliens
Cost Me My Boyfriend and
Kids,” London Express, August 24, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6338
Date: 9/2/1982
Description: 7:15 p.m. John T. Sery notices an object following a Cessna
aircraft at an altitude of 1,500 feet above Minneapolis, Minnesota. It
matches the pace of the airplane until it reaches a point about 4 miles
away when it descends. His two daughters also view the UFO. The bottom
and top of the object are jet black, and it has an equatorial band that
is silvery metallic with a hint of rainbow reflections. (“Minnesota
Flying Black Hamburger,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 6
(Dec. 1984/Jan. 1985): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6339
Date: 9/9/1982
Description: A partial meltdown occurs at Chernobyl nuclear power plant
Unit One in Pripyat, Ukraine. Officials deny that an accident has taken
place, but radioactive contamination reaches the town and spreads as far
as 9 miles from the plant. It includes iodine-131, fragments of uranium
dioxide fuel, and hot particles containing zinc-65 and
zirconium-niobium-95 consistent with partial destruction of the reactor
core. Contaminated areas around the plant are simply sluiced with water
and covered with soil and leaves. Lenin Square is discreetly covered
with a new layer of asphalt. (Adam Higginbotham, Midnight at Chernobyl,
Simon & Schuster, 2019, pp. 69–70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6340
Date: 9/17/1982
Description: 9:00 p.m. Capt. Stefan Freitag and the crew of the Romanian
cargo ship Bosca are steaming 200 miles off the coast of Brazil in the
South Atlantic when they see an object like a full moon, accompanied by
a smaller, star-light object, which grows brighter and larger in size.
Both objects disappear, leaving behind a shiny cloud. Then another
moon-like object appears, during which a silent explosion takes place
and an orange object is ejected. A fourth moon appears and approaches
the ship, causing the crew to panic and the ship’s dog to howl. A fifth
object appears briefly, leaving a glow that persists for 30 minutes. A
Geiger counter indicates a radiation level of 5–7 rads on the ship. A
similar phenomenon is seen by another ship in the general area at 11:03
p.m. and on the following night. (Gerhard Cordier, “Adventure
under the Equator,” UFO Research Australia Newsletter 4, no. 3
(Nov./Dec. 1983): 3; MUFON UFO Journal, May 1985; Marine Observer 53
(1983): 132)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6341
Date: 9/18/1982
Description: 3:00 p.m. Villagers in Suchowola, Poland, see a triangular
UFO with lights at its tips. (Poland 75–76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6342
Date: 9/30/1982
Description: 10:15 p.m. Four women, all management personnel of New
England Bell Company, are returning to Exeter, New Hampshire, after a
trip to a county fair to the north. They are riding in a Mercedes owned
by the driver, Mary Ann Poland. She and the passengers (Rose Messina,
Mary LaMontagne, and Nicky LeClair) see a low-flying bright light
approaching. Poland pulls the car over and they all jump out, as if the
object has a compelling influence on them. The object is egg-shaped with
swirling red lights around its equator and a white beam of light coming
down from the side. After a few minutes it sinks down behind the tree
line. (“Exeter Revisited,” IUR 8, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1983): 4–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6344
Date: 9/30/1982
Description: 1:30 a.m. A man and his son finish picking fruit in their
orchard on Wolicka street near Czerniaków Hill in Warsaw, Poland. It is
well after curfew, so they make their way toward home stealthily. Near
the Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych building they smell smoke and see a
strange object 20 feet in diameter hovering 3 feet above the ground. A
faint orange glow is emanating from its base, causing the grass to
smolder. Two thin beings are near the object. One has a device that
projects an orange glow. The witnesses leave the scene carefully.
(Poland 51; “Bliskie
spotkanie w Warszavie w 1982 roku,” UFO-Relacje.pl, February 12,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6343
Date: 10/1982
Description: A generator explodes at Reactor Number One of the Metsamor
Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia. The turbine hall burns down, and an
emergency team is airlifted from the Kola Peninsula in northwest Russia
to help save the core. (Adam Higginbotham, Midnight in Chernobyl, Simon
& Schuster, 2019, p. 70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6345
Date: 10/2/1982
Description: 8:00 p.m. The North Arkansas Community College volleyball
team (and their coach Sue McDonald) is returning from a game in Kansas
and are near Springfield, Missouri, when they see an object with two
brilliant white lights and a blinking red light. It hovers 100–150 feet
nearly above the bus. The underside is in full view and about 40–50
smaller lights are plainly visible. (“CE-I
for a Volleyball Team,” IUR 8, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1983): 12–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6346
Date: 10/4/1982
Description: 4:00–8:00 p.m. Russian Army Lt. Col. Vladimir Plantonev
witnesses an hours-long UFO sighting near an IRBM missile base outside
the village of Belokorovichi, Ukraine. It looks “just like a flying
saucer,” but with no portholes and a smooth surface. It soundlessly
makes a turn on its edge. Suddenly, an unspecified number of nuclear
missiles spontaneously go into an automated launch sequence by
themselves, proceeding to a countdown of 15 seconds before aborting and
returning to standby status. (NICAP, “Russian
Base Loses Control of Nuclear Missiles”;
Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle, The Soviet UFO Files: Paranormal
Encounters behind the Iron Curtain, Quadrillion, 1998, p. 81; Robert L.
Hastings, “Remarkable Reports from the Missile Field,” IUR 32, no. 1
(August 2008): 25–26; Antonio Huneeus, “Soviet
Nukes and UFOs,” Open Minds, January 26, 2010; Nukes 445–452)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6347
Date: 10/12/1982
Description: Nova presents the documentary The Case of the UFO’s, which
is criticized as a biased perspective. The participants on the US
version of this BBC production include skeptics Philip
Klass, James
Oberg, and
Michael Persinger, with
only brief appearances by Bruce
Maccabee and Allan
Hendry. (Nova:
The Case of the UFO’s, Time-Life, 1982; J. Allen Hynek, “Nova and
UFOs,” IUR 7, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1982): 3–5; J. Allen Hynek, “An Editorial
Apology,” IUR 8, no. 3 (May/June 1983): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6348
Date: 10/14/1982
Description: 2:00 a.m. Four residents of Alta, Troms og Finnmark,
Norway, see three points of light appear above the mountains to the
south-southeast. Each point of light is made up of several smaller
lights bunched close together. They move in a northerly direction at a
great speed, apparently about 43–50 miles in 5 seconds, or about 35,000
mph. Suddenly light rays flash down toward the ground simultaneously
from all three objects. The rays are made up cones with an opening angle
of about 15°. Their color is a powerful white with a bluish hue,
especially at the sides. After 20–25 seconds, the rays begin to widen
just as the light begins to diminish in strength. In 2–3 seconds the
cones became “an ocean” of light with an opening angle of some 180°.
Then they move off one by one with a separation time of one second. At
the same moment as the lights go out there appears an ellipsoid object
that gives off a faint light, but nevertheless is distinctly visible.
Its color is pink with a deeper color tone that becomes gray just
underneath the object. It is motionless, hanging in the sky for 30
minutes, then it suddenly disappears. All of the observers feel a
strange, dead silence during the entire observation. (Elbjørg Feldbjerg,
“Extraordinary Observation
from Alta,” Nordic UFO Newsletter, 1983, no. 2, pp. 15–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6349
Date: 10/15/1982
Description: 1:35 p.m. A witness at the Diamond Shamrock plant at Lamar
[now Botham Jean Boulevard] and Lenway Street in Dallas, Texas, sees a
domed, metallic disc that apparently has risen up from the Trinity River
bottom and is heading east. He estimates it is 60 feet wide and flying
at 3,000–4,000 feet. It has bright red lights on top. (“Letter,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1983): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6350
Date: Late 1982
End date: early 1983
Description: “Night Siege” boomerangs, continuing for a long period of
time
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: New York State and Connecticut
ID: 396
Date: 10/18/1982
Description: 7:50 p.m. A couple is driving along Quinpool Road near
Armview Avenue in Halifax, Nova Scotia, when they see an object about 8
times the size of the full moon traveling silently south to north at
about 50 mph and 300 feet altitude. It is cigar-shaped with a steady
green light in front and a flashing green light in back. They have it in
sight for 15 seconds. (“Correspondence,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 1 (Feb./March 1983): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6351
Date: 10/19/1982
Description: Night. A US Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft
monitoring Soviet military activity is buzzed by a huge object (larger
than the RC-135) over the eastern Mediterranean Sea. British personnel
at RAF Troödos on Cyprus listen to the radio calls of the American crew
for 90 minutes as the encounter unfolds at 35,000 feet. The UFO,
described as a multitude of lights flashing 20 at a time, is picked up
on the aircraft’s radar as it approaches from the south about 2 miles
away. It circles around the plane and closes in. Two US Navy F-14
fighters are scrambled from an aircraft carrier, and an RAF Phantom is
diverted from a night flying exercise to intercept the object south of
Cyprus. As the three interceptors approach, the RC-135 crew sees the
object depart to the south. The fighter pilots can see nothing.
Following the incident, British authorities launch a secret
investigation, the results of which (including a transcript of the
RC-135 crew’s conversation with ground controllers) are sent to the US
Department of Defense in November. One senior RAF official strongly
suspects that the object is a mirage effect from lights on the coast of
Israel or Lebanon. (David Clarke, “A Cold War Close Encounter,” Fortean
Times 357 (September 2017): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6352
Date: 10/21/1982
Description: 12:35 p.m. An oval object about 3 feet in diameter descends
into a garden in Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France, and hovers about 3
feet off the ground. After 20 minutes the object takes off silently. The
witness, a cellular biologist, reports that when the UFO rises up, the
grass under it stands up straight. In the afternoon, the witness notes
that two amaranth plants located near the UFO have desiccated, withered
leaves. The witness calls the Gendarmerie, who inspect the garden and
take some samples of the amaranth plants. The analysis of the samples
made by GEPAN finds that the plants are dehydrated, but there is no
evidence of radiation. (Enquête 86/06:
L’Amarante, Note
Technique no. 17, Groupe d’Étude des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux
Non-identifiés, Centre Nationale d’Étude Spatiales, March 21, 1983;
Swords 445–446)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6353
Date: 10/24/1982
Description: 9:20 a.m. Pilot Michael Davis and his father (a student
pilot) are flying a 1968 Piper PA-28 Cherokee 140 about 10 miles
southeast of Lowell, Indiana. Just after reaching their cruising
altitude of 2,300 feet, they encounter an object they at first think is
a malfunctioning parachute. At one point, the UFO flicks across their
nose, veering to its left and missing the aircraft’s right wingtip by no
more than 10 feet. It has no exhaust trail. At the instant that it
passes, the vortex hits them so hard that the plane’s airframe groans in
protest, and the altimeter goes “wacky.” It continues to curve to the
left, still accelerating and eventually beginning to climb until it
finally disappears into the distant haze. (NICAP, “Pilots
Encounter Object over Indiana / EME”; Mark R. Remaley, “An
Incredible Close Encounter from Credible Pilots,” IUR 8, no. 3 (May/June
1983): 4–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6354
Date: 10/27/1982
Description: Early evening. Bonnie McCrory and her father, Maurice
Smith, are driving south on the Richardson Highway near Summit Lake,
Alaska, when their pickup stops with a frozen gas line. After about 20
minutes, they notice a huge ball on the ridge to the east. It is
silver-colored and looks like a geodesic dome. Within the next hour it
changes color from silver to yellow to orange to fiery red-orange. It
slowly moves up the ridge until it moves out of sight. Possibly the full
moon. (Richard Sigismond, “Alaska Close Encounter,” IUR 9, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1984): 8–9; Hobart Gregory Baker, “Sail Along, Silvery Disc,”
IUR 10, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1985): 16, 20; Richard Sigismond, “Sail Along,
Silvery Disc: A Response,” IUR 11, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1986): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6355
Date: 11/1982
Description: After 12:00 midnight. A man and his wife are camping in
Davies Valley, Imperial County, California, when they are awakened by a
surge of static electricity. A huge object shaped like a manta ray 200
feet across is hovering above them. It makes a humming sound as it
slowly passes over them, heading east. (Doris and Joe Graziano, “Press
Reports,” APRO Bulletin 31, no. 8 (August 1983): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6356
Date: 11/2/1982
Description: 10:50 a.m. Capt. Júlio Miguel Guerra is flying a DHC-1
Chipmunk in the region of Serrea de Montejunto and Torres Vedras,
Portugal, near Ota Air Base [now Military and Technical Training Center
of the Air Force] in Ota, Alenquer, Portugal. He encounters a metallic
disc at 4,900 feet that engages in evasive maneuvers and circles his
plane. The object is 7 feet in diameter and its lower hemisphere is
reddish. A circular dark area is visible on the bottom and something
looking like a grid encircles its middle. The pilot of another Chipmunk
trainer sees the same object at 11:05 a.m. The object continues circling
between the two aircraft for 10 minutes, when it makes a pass at the
second plane and speeds off to the southwest. (José Sottomayor and
Antônio Rodrigues, “Close Sighting
by Portuguese Air Force Pilots (November 1982),” Flying Saucer
Review 32, no. 5 (August 1987): 12– 13; Júlio Miguel Guerra, “Circled by
a UFO,” IUR 33, no. 3 (December 2010): 3, 21; Kean, pp. 47–51;
UFOEv II 108–109)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6358
Date: early 11/1982
Description: 6:15 p.m. Rachel Morton is waiting for a bus in Whitby,
North Yorkshire, England, when a triangular-shaped object with a domed
covering passes noiselessly overhead. Two small white lights are at the
front and three lights at the top. (Whitby (UK) Gazette, November 12,
1982; Marler 114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6357
Date: 11/2/1982
Description: Shiny disc below two military aircraft darted up to their
altitude, rapidly circled one of them, sped out of sight
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Maxial, Estremadura Province, Portugal
ID: 392
Date: 11/16/1982
Description: Leonid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 393
Date: 11/19/1982
Description: Circular object with body lights shone light beam down into
field, three humanoid silhouettes visible inside. Object rose, flew
directly over car, humming sound
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Temperanceville, VA
ID: 394
Date: late 11/1982
Description: Senior Coastguard Bernard O’Reilly watches a lighted
triangular object hovering silently for several minutes over Skegness,
Lincolnshire, England. It moves away to the southeast. (Lincolnshire
(UK) Daily Echo, December 1, 1982; Marler 114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6359
Date: 11/25/1982
Description: Day. US Army Military Policeman Christopher Grooms is on
guard duty in Tower 5 at the Army Special Weapons Depot at Kriegsfeld, a
nuclear weapons storage and maintenance site in Rhineland-Palatinate,
Germany. He watches for over 10 minutes a dark triangular-shaped craft
fly slowly in a straight line from the southwest, over the valley, over
the town of Gerbach, and directly over his watchtower, flying toward the
northeast. After approaching for about 7 minutes, it flies directly
overhead and Grooms steps out onto the tower landing with M- 16 in hand
and looks straight up at the object. It is completely silent and has no
markings. As it passes over, the object rotates 360° nose down, pointing
directly at him, then rotates back into its original position. Grooms
has “the overwhelming feeling that it was acknowledging my presence with
this maneuver or was ‘checking me out’ as it did it.” (Robert L.
Hastings, “Triangular
UFO above a U.S. Army Nuclear Weapons Depot Performs a 360- Degree
Roll,” UFOs & Nukes, January 26, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6360
Date: 11/27/1982
Description: Police Commander Michael McDonald was on patrol at 5:00
a.m. when the area around his car was lighted, as if by a phosphorous
flare. Looking up he saw a large white UFO with tinges of red at an
altitude of 900–1000 ft. Two other officers, alerted by radio, also
observed the UFO. The other two cars gave pursuit to the UFO at speeds
of between 60–65 mph but the UFO outdistanced them. A few minutes later
another UFO was noted by the commander and then the other two officers.
It was a diffuse “domed disc” which was seen to emit a beam of light
towards the ground. The UFO then disappeared behind the tree line of a
forest preserve. The police report includes a tape recording of the
radio communications during the sighting.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Palatine, IL
Date: 11/27/1982
Description: Luminous object brightly illuminated police car, changed
direction when pursued. Domed disc shape seen to east, light beam toward
ground, descended behind tree line
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Palatine, IL
ID: 395
Date: 11/27/1982
Description: 5:00 a.m. A luminous object with brilliant lights brightly
illuminates a police patrol car driven by Cmdr. Michael McDonald near
the intersection of West Northwest Highway and Smith Street in Palatine,
Illinois. Two other officers (Ron Roszak and Dennis Somsel) in two other
patrol cars on Lincoln Avenue see a domed, disc- shaped object 30 feet
in diameter, which emits a light beam toward the ground, then changes
direction when pursued. The white disc is later seen to the east, with a
light beam extended toward the ground, as it descends behind the tree
line, seemingly landing in Busse Woods (Ned Brown Forest Preserve). The
entire episode lasts about 12 minutes. (Mark Rodeghier, “A Police
Puzzler from Palatine,” IUR 8, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1983): 10– 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6361
Date: 12/1982
Description: During naval exercises in the Black Sea near the port of
Sevastopol in the Crimea, Russia, an unidentified target is detected
over the Balaklava District at a low altutude. It has a sharp nose and
sparks coming from its tail section. The object does not respond to
attempts at communication, so jet interceptors are scrambled. The object
descends into the water when they approach. Soviet naval ships cannot
detect it underwater. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets,
Flying Disk, 2020, pp. 133–134)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6362
Date: 12/8/1982
End date: 12/12/1982
Description: The Third International Congress of Extraterrestrial
Science is held in Rosario, Argentina, with representatives from Spain,
Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and the US, as well as Argentina. (“Third
International Congress of Extraterrestrial Science,” IUR 8, no. 3
(May/June 1983): 3, 7, 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6363
Date: 12/10/1982
Description: 7:55 a.m. Stephen Eric Alexander is waiting for a school
bus with his daughter in Rosedale, Queens, New York City, when he sees
an object among a flock of birds. The birds disperse and leave the
object alone, drifting silently at 25 mph. After 15 seconds, it tilts
and veers to the southwest and disappears. He estimates the object is 11
feet wide and 5 feet tall, 150 feet away from him, and 210 feet above
the ground. Its ends pointed slightly downward. (“1977
Photograph/Sighting and 1982 Sketch Similarity,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 4, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1983): 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6364
Date: 12/21/1982
Description: A witness driving from Échallens to Orbe, Vaud,
Switzerland, notes a red globe 5–6 inches in diameter closely following
his car. The light spreads inside the car as the object apparently
settles down on the rear seat. He experiences about 8–10 minutes of
missing time. (“Newspaper
Item from Bern, Switzerland, January 12, 1983,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 4, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1983): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6365
Date: 12/31/1982
Description: Around 11:50 p.m. An off-duty police officer and his family
see a boomerang-shaped object drift slowly over their home near Kent
Cliffs, New York. They can see a solid structure with roughly 15 red,
green, and white lights anchored to its underside. It maintains a
constant altitude of about 490 feet, moves at a gentle walking pace, and
makes only a faint hum. As it passes over, he feels a deep vibration in
his chest. At one point, the lights go out and three blinding white
lights in the shape of a triangle appear in their place. About 5 seconds
later, the colored ones return, and the object drifts out of sight.
Warehouse foreman Edwin Hansen, 55, sees what appears to be the same
object as he is driving down Interstate 84, just moments later. Hansen,
among others, stops on the side of the road after spotting a
boomerang-shaped formation of lights that project a bright beam of light
to the ground. It is so large that it fills the sky in front of him, and
it makes slow, tight circles in the air. Just as he thinks he’d like to
get a closer look, the object moves in his direction. He panics as it
approaches, but then hears a voice in his head that tells him not to be
afraid. At the same time, the object turns away and the beam goes out.
Hansen says that he “felt thoughts that weren’t [his] own,” and believes
that he has received a telepathic communication from the UFO.
(NightSiege 5–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6366
Date: 1983
Description: Philip
J. Klass writes UFOs: The Public Deceived for Prometheus Press,
claiming that all significant government documentation has been released
and that UFO reports are nothing but hoaxes, misidentifications, and
distortions. He personally attacks Hynek, Maccabee,
Richard
Hall, and others. (Philip J. Klass, UFOs: The Public Deceived,
Prometheus, 1983)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6368
Date: 1983
Description: Since 1966, some 6,700 Ummo communications have been
received. The early ones are written in Spanish, but over time they are
composed in French, though certain grammar and punctuation oddities
indicate that Spanish, not French, is the writers’ first language. Other
analyses indicate a British origin. (Wikipedia, “Planetary
objects proposed
in religion, astrology, ufology, and pseudoscience”; Wikipedia, “Ummo”;
Jacques Vallée, Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception,
Ballantine, 1990, pp. 90–121;
Bob Rickard, “The Ummo Mystery,” Fortean Times, no. 149 (September
2001): 34–35; Reinaldo Manso, Ummo: Un Historia de un Obsesión,
Megustaesscribirlibros, 2015; Reinaldo Manso, “Were the Ummites
British?” Fortean Times 336 (February 2016): 58–59; Clark III
1185–1186)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6367
Date: 1/1983
Description: The first issue of Cuadernos de Ufologia, edited by José
Ruesga Montiel and featuring case investigations by many Spanish
ufologists, is published in Seville, Spain, by the Colectivo Cuadernos
(and beginning in 1997 by La Fundación Anomalía). It continues through
April 2012. (Cuadernos
de Ufologia, no.
1 (January 1983))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6369
Date: 1/10/1983
End date: 1/11/1983
Description: CAUS director and attorney Peter Gersten has
two meetings with Richard
Doty in New Mexico. During the first meeting, with Bill
Moore in attendance, Doty is guarded in his comments. At the second
meeting with Gersten alone, he speaks openly about the 1977 Ellsworth
AFB “incident” that he claims AFOSI and the FBI are investigating. He
tells Gersten that the US government knows why UFOs appear in certain
places and that “beyond a doubt they’re extraterrestrial” and come from
50 light years away. He mentions Project Aquarius, which he says is the
government’s top-secret involvement in communications with aliens. He
speaks of documents that tell of agreements between the US government
and extraterrestrials under which the aliens are free to conduct animal
mutilations and land at a certain base, in exchange for information
about advanced UFO technology. (Clark III 363)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6370
Date: 1/12/1983
Description: 4:30 p.m. A man and his two sons encounter a short entity
in a gray “wetsuit” uniform holding a glowing L-shaped object in a
swampy area near their house in Pine Township, Porter County, Indiana.
Both are floating 2– 3 feet above the ground. A second being is peering
over a fence at them. The encounter lasts about 5 minutes, and no UFO is
seen. (R. A. Busse, “An Indiana CE-III,” IUR 8, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1983):
6–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6371
Date: 1/14/1983
Description: 7:53 p.m. A bright object appears in the sky above Adana,
Turkey, and many people stop their cars to look at it. Soon the object
is joined by two US Air Force jets from Incirlik Air Base. One of the
jets flies in tight circles around the UFO, which dwarfs it in size and
is described as a disc with a dome on the underside. The object
accelerates and disappears over the Mediterranean Sea with the jets in
pursuit. Only one jet returns to base, although the other could have
been lost during an unrelated search-and-rescue mission. (Good Need, pp. 312– 313)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6373
Date: 1/14/1983
Description: 5:54 p.m. Amateur astronomer Todd
Lohvinenko in Winnipeg, Manitoba, observes a “perfectly black orb”
traversing the Sun in 3 seconds. (Todd Lohvinenko, “A
Mysterious Object,” National Newsletter of the Royal Astronomical
Society of Canada 77, no. 2 (April 1983): L19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6372
Date: 1/19/1983
Description: 6:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m. South Wales police begin to receive
reports of UFOs. Two detectives in Swansea observe a silent, triangular
object with three pulsating lights at 1,000 feet altitude. Carole
Griffiths and her husband are driving home in Cardiff when they see a
large triangular object in the sky and pull over to watch. It has 11
lights around it. Similar objects are seen in Porthcawl and other Welsh
localities. (Marler 114–117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6374
Date: 1/27/1983
Description: 7:00 p.m. Peggy Iery sees a large central white light with
two flanking lights over some power lines as she is returning home 2
miles north of Marquette, Michigan. Suddenly it appears over her car and
seems so huge that it blocks out the sky. Its shape is a perfect
pentagon with a small white light at each of the corners; the bottom is
silvery and flat. She drives home quickly, and she and her husband see
four lights nearby, which gradually recede beyond the trees. (Kenneth C.
Schellhase, “The Marquette Pentagon,” IUR 8, no. 3 (May/June 1983):
11–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6375
Date: 2/7/1983
Description: 8:19 p.m. A witness in Coffeen, Illinois, sees a triangular
object with bright lights. A similar object is seen by a police officer
10 miles southwest of Brighton, Illinois, around 8:27 p.m. (Marler
209)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6376
Date: 2/11/1983
Description: The Parisian newspaper Le Figaro cites unnamed specialists
who say that GEPAN exists only because it reflects the enthusiasm of
former President Valéry
Giscard d’Estaing and that it costs too much, even though it is only
a small percentage of the CNES budget. (Clark III 547)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6377
Date: 2/26/1983
Description: 8:30 p.m. Monique O’Driscoll and her 17-year-old daughter
are driving near the frozen White Pond in Putnam County, New York, when
they see a silent, multicolored, boomerang-shaped object about 200–300
feet wide. It has many lights, which seem to respond to their thoughts.
It has a crisscross lattice structure and tubes on its underside. Their
CB radio just has static. Another independent witness, Rita Rivera,
probably sees the same object, a V-shaped array of 50 lights with amber,
red, and blue colors. (NightSiege 8–14; Philip Imbrogno, George Lesnick,
and Chris Clark, “Boomerang Update,” IUR 8, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1983):
8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6378
Date: 3/8/1983
Description: President Ronald
Reagan delivers a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals
in which he refers to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire” and the
“focus of evil in the modern world.” He asserts that the Cold War is a
battle between good and evil. (Wikipedia, “Evil
Empire speech”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6380
Date: 3/11/1983
Description: Reagan authorizes
National Security Decision Directive 84, which substantially increases
governmental control over federal employees, particularly their
relationships with the media. It mandates that all employees with access
to sensitive information are now subject to lifetime censorship of their
writings and speeches on these topics. (“Safeguarding
National Security Information,” National Security Decision Directive
84, March 11, 1983; Frederick W. Whatley, “Reagan,
National Security, and the First Amendment: Plugging Leaks by Shutting
Off the
Main,” CATO Institute Policy Analysis no. 37, May 8, 1984)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6381
Date: 3/11/1983
Description: Richard Mull finds a large star-shaped hole in his bean
field west of Wauseon, Ohio, around which the dirt is mounded up. It has
six long points 19 feet long and four shorter points 9 feet long. In the
center is a depression 8 feet in diameter and 8 inches deep, and at the
center of this depression is a small hole 2 inches in diameter that goes
down to a depth of 6 feet. (“Two
Physical Trace Cases in Northwest Ohio Unexplained,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 6, no. 3 (June/July 1985): 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6382
Date: 3/15/1983
Description: 5:00 p.m. An unidentified target is tracked by USAF radar
at RAF Upper Heyford [now closed], Oxford, England, until 9:15 p.m.
Sgt. Byrd Cormier says they do not have radio contact with it. A slow,
brilliant white light is seen by some civilians in Berkshire. Cpl.
Candellin at RAF Brize Norton, Oxford, claims that RAF radar cannot pick
up the object. (“UFO
Alert As Mystery Light Passes over Berks,” Reading (UK) Evening
Post, March 16, 1983, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 165 (April
1983), p. 13; Good Above, pp. 104–105)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6383
Date: 3/17/1983
Description: 7:00–10:00 p.m. Hundreds of people see a boomerang-shaped
object moving slowly and hovering over I-84 near Brewster, New York.
(Philip Imbrogno, “Boomerang over Three Counties,” IUR 8, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1983): 11; Philip Imbrogno, George Lesnick, and Chris Clark,
“Boomerang Update,” IUR 8, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1983): 9– 10; NightSiege
18–25; Patrick Gross, “The
Hudson Valley UFO Flap”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6384
Date: spring 1983
Description: 10:00 p.m. A woman hospital employee is driving to work
near New London, Connecticut, when she sees a light flick by quickly in
the sky ahead. It stops above the treetops and shines a searchlight-like
beam down on the woods. She pulls over to watch. Abruptly the object
moves directly in front of her. There is no other traffic, although the
road is usually busy. The object is round and has blue, yellow, red, and
white lights flickering in a circle. She blacks out for a short time and
finds that the engine, lights, and radio have been shut off. The window
has been rolled down. The car stalls when she tries to start it, but the
engine finally catches and she drives to work, where she arrives
uncharacteristically late at 11:05. (Michael D. Swords, “Unusual
Experiences from the Timmerman Files,” IUR 27, no. 2 (Summer 2002):
23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6379
Date: 3/23/1983
Description: In what later becomes known as his “Star Wars” speech,
President Ronald
Reagan announces his plans to develop an anti-missile capability to
counter the threat of Soviet ballistic missiles and to make these
nuclear weapons “impotent and obsolete.” This paves the way for a
Strategic Defense Initiative as an alternative to a proliferation of
missiles under the concept of mutual assured destruction. SDI is
derisively nicknamed by Senator Ted
Kennedy (D-Mass.) as “Star Wars,” after the 1977 film by George
Lucas. By the early 1990s, with the Cold War ending and nuclear
arsenals rapidly reduced, political support for SDI collapses. SDI
officially ends in 1993, when the administration of President Bill
Clinton redirects the efforts towards theatre ballistic missiles and
renames the agency the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. BMDO is
renamed the Missile Defense Agency in 2002. (Wikipedia, “Strategic
Defense Initiative”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6385
Date: 3/23/1983
Description: Night. Russian Major V. Gorsky is stationed in the Altai
Mountains of Mongolia when he sees, along with two of his commanding
officers, a silvery disc at an altitude of 1,300 feet and 1–2 miles
away. Its colors seem to be changing constantly, and it is surrounded by
a blue halo. A narrow beam of light descends from it, illuminating the
area. More than 30 other soldiers witness the display. It studies the
area another 4 minutes, then the beam disappears, the halo vanishes, and
the object is gone instantly. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO
Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, pp. 127–128)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6386
Date: 3/24/1983
Description: Wing or V-shaped UFO hovered, emitted light beam
downward
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Bedford, NY, and vicinity
ID: 397
Date: 3/24/1983
Description: 8:45 p.m. Several dozen diners at a ski-resort restaurant
near Stormville, New York, see white lights in a boomerang shape
hovering over a utility pole 600 feet away. Three other people driving
near the pole stop by it. The driver, a corrections officer, gets out
and studies the object about 200 feet above him. It is silent, and the
structure that holds the lights is dark and nonreflective. After
watching it for 20 minutes, he heads back to his jeep, at which time the
UFO moves down the road. He follows it to Interstate 84 and all the
lights go out, allowing him to see the boomerang shape. The lights come
back on and he follows the object for more than an hour, clocking it
speed at 20 mph. (Chris Clark, “Boomerang!” IUR 9, no. 3 (May/June
1984): 10; Clark III 1278)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6390
Date: 3/24/1983
Description: 10:00 p.m. The last sighting of many this night is by an
IBM executive who sees a lighted object “larger than a 747” hovering
over pine trees near his home in Danbury, Connecticut. (Clark III
1278)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6391
Date: 3/24/1983
Description: 8:30 p.m. Police officers in Yorktown, New York, say that
their switchboard is flooded with calls reporting a large,
boomerang-shaped UFO with red, blue, and green lights. Police in the
nearby villages of Millwood and New Castle receive a flood of calls as
well, describing an object as large as a football field. William Hele, a
meteorologist for the National Weather Corporation, sees an asymmetrical
V-shaped object about 1,300 feet long, with 6–7 lights as he is driving
south on the Taconic Highway. The object descends from about 2,000 to
980 feet altitude and slows as it approaches. Hele realizes that the
lights are all changing colors at different times, as if lit by a
rotating prism within the structure. Suddenly, all the lights go out,
leaving nothing in their place, as if whatever object was supporting
them has simply disappeared. The lights reappear 30–40 seconds later,
and a few seconds after that, the object turns to the north and flies
away, as the lights change to a slime green. At the same time, people 15
miles north in Putnam County see a smaller object exhibiting similar
behavior. Ruth Holtsman describes a silent object that hangs motionless
in the sky. While it is in view, a driver pulls up and stops almost
directly underneath it. The lights start to flash in a wild sequence up
and down its “wings.” The driver jumps into his car and speeds away.
Then the UFO approaches Holtsman’s car, which is bathed in a blinding
white light as it speeds under the boomerang. John Miller sees the
object hovering above a pond near his home in Brewster, New York. It is
aiming two very bright searchlight beams over the surface of the water.
He hears a faint whooshing sound. (Philip Imbrogno, “Boomerang over
Three Counties,” IUR 8, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1983): 10–11; Philip J.
Imbrogno and Chris Clark, “Boomerang Saga Continues,” IUR 9, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1984): 4–6 ; Philip J. Imbrogno, “Westchester Boomerang:
March 24, 1983,” IUR 9, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1984): 9–12; NightSiege 15–16,
25, 30–35, 39, 41–42; Marler 117–119; Clark III 1277–1278)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6389
Date: 3/24/1983
Description: 8:00 p.m. Four persons in Carmel, New York, see a
half-circle of red and white lights and the vague outline of a larger
object to which they are attached. The lights are hovering above trees
several hundred yards away. They drift to the east and are lost to view,
but almost immediately a family living a quarter mile away sees them
drift into view. Through binoculars they can see a “huge object” with a
dull-green metallic color connecting the lights. When the UFO turns
slightly, they see it has a V shape. At that moment a brilliant beam of
white light shoots down from the center of the object, and in it a small
reddish object descends then shoots off “very, very fast toward the
north.” The beam is shut off and the object turns and heads slowly east.
(Clark III 1277)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6388
Date: 3/24/1983
Description: 7:30 p.m. A corporate executive in Bedford, New York, sees
a half-circle of lights hovering behind some trees near a commuter-bus
station. There is no sound. After watching for 5 minutes, he goes inside
his house to alert his family, but when they come outside, the lights
are gone. (Clark III 1277)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6387
Date: 3/27/1983
Description: A cigar-shaped UFO about the size of a Boeing 747 hovered
over Gorki Airport at low altitude for 40 minutes. No jets were
scrambled. The Soviet Government appointed a cosmonaut Pavel Popovich to
head the Commission on Abnormal Atmospheric Phenomena. Popovich declared
the incident definitely had taken place.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: “Extra-Terrestrials Amoung Us” by George C. Andrews
Location: Gorki, Mahilyow Voblast, Belarus
Date: 3/28/1983
Description: Radar at the airport at Gorky [now Nizhny Novgorod],
Russia, tracks an unidentified target flying at 110– 125 mph at an
altitude of 1,310–1,970 feet. Flight Controller A. Shushkin sees the
cigar-shaped object, which is similar to an aircraft in size but has no
wings and is metallic. It is in view for only 10 seconds. (Good Above,
p. 243);
Paul Stonehill, “Pilot
and Cosmonaut Pavel Popovich and UFOs,” Open Minds, June 12,
2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6392
Date: 4/9/1983
Description: Linda
Moulton Howe flies to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to interview Sgt. Richard
Doty for an HBO series she is working on, UFOs: The ET Factor, but
Doty does not show. She calls Jerry Miller, chief of reality weapons
testing at Kirtland AFB, whom she knows from an earlier conversation
about Paul
Bennewitz’s claims. Miller drives her to his home and calls Doty,
who arrives promptly. Doty’s attitude is defiant and nervous, but Howe
asks him about the alleged 1971 Holloman AFB landing. Doty says Robert
Emenegger got the date wrong and that it was actually April 25,
1964, shortly after the Socorro landing. Transferring to his office at
Kirtland, Doty is reluctant to talk about the 1977 Ellsworth landing. He
shows her a bogus, undated document, A Briefing Paper for the President
of the United States on the Subject of Unidentified Flying Vehicles. The
document lists UFO crash/retrievals and states that UFOs are piloted by
extraterrestrials from a nearby solar system and have been on earth for
many thousands of years. Through genetic manipulation, they have
influenced the course of human evolution and helped shape our religious
beliefs. Roswell and the 1949 living alien are mentioned, as well as
Projects Snowbird (retroengineering a crashed UFO), Aquarius (umbrella
project involving all ET contacts), Sigma (an ongoing electronic
communications effort with aliens), and the defunct Garnet
(investigation of ETs on human evolution). Doty promises Howe thousands
of feet of film of crashed discs, bodies, EBE-1, and the Holloman
landing for her documentary. He says that a similar release of data
through Emenegger and Allan Sandler was
halted because “political conditions were not right.” When she tells her
HBO contacts about this, they ask her to secure a letter of intent from
the US government with a legally binding commitment to secure the
promised film footage. HBO wants the film, but Doty now stalls. In June,
Doty tells her he is officially off the project. Further contacts up to
March 1984 are fewer. In 2008, Doty claims that the intelligence
community targeted Howe to find out who her inside sources were. (Linda
Moulton Howe, An Alien Harvest: Further Evidence Linking Animal
Mutilations and Human Abductions to Alien Life Forms, Howe Productions,
1989, pp. 143–156; Dolan II 299–307; Good Above, p. 425;
Clark III 363–365)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6393
Date: 4/10/1983
Description: Luminous object landed, E-M effects, animal reaction. UFO
rose from field illuminating area, body lights visible, accelerated
rapidly out of sight, physical traces
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Ross, OH
ID: 398
Date: 4/10/1983
Description: 8:30 p.m. Two drivers near Ross, Ohio, see a large, bright,
oval object that seems to land. The property owner at the location also
sees a white light on a hillside behind his home and watches the object
ascend slowly before moving away at speed. The drivers’ car lights
flicker, and the engines nearly stall. The landowner reports flickering
houselights and TV problems. Investigation of the landing site indicates
that a heavy circular object about 50 feet in diameter has landed,
producing a 3-foot burn mark in the center. (NICAP, “Ross,
Ohio: April 10, 1983”;
Charles J. Wilhelm, “Ross, Ohio, Landing Case,” MUFON UFO Journal, no.
186 (August 1983): 3–7; UFOEv II, p. 65)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6394
Date: 4/26/1983
End date: 4/27/1983
Description: Day. For two days, a UFO is seen above Nuremberg, Germany.
Amateur astronomer Walter Schwarz takes a photo that apparently shows a
balloon. A local radio station hires a Lear jet to approach it, reaching
12,300 feet, but it is still too far away to identify it. Eckard Pohl,
the astronomer at the Nuremberg Observatory, tracks it and says that it
looks like a deformed pyramid with a pointed top and estimates it is
flying at an altitude of 14.3 miles. The object is later identified as a
balloon launched from eastern Europe. (Hans-Werner Peiniger, “‘UFO’ bei
Nürnberg aufgeklärt,” Journal für UFO-Forschung, no. 27 (May/June
1983): 68–69; Hans-Werner Peiniger, “UFO
über Köln identifiert,” Journal für UFO-Forschung, no. 28
(July/Aug. 1983): 99–100; “Excitement Chasing
a Mysterious Flying Object,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 6
(Dec. 1983/Jan. 1984): 3; “Nurnberg UFO
Becomes IFO,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 1 (Feb./March 1984):
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6395
Date: 4/27/1983
End date: 5/2/1983
Description: Divers see an object like a submarine conning tower in
Husnesfjorden, Hordaland, Norway. By 1:00 p.m., a search team from
Norwegian Defense is at the site, consisting of the corvette KNM
Sleipner, two submarines, and one Orion aircraft equipped with
antisubmarine weapons. The next day the KNM
Oslo and two more frigates join the search. At 4:55 p.m., the Oslo
has a first sonar contact south of Leirvik on Stord island. At 5:21
p.m., it fires a Terne rocket as a warning. On April 29, a possible
sonar contact is recorded in Selbjørnfjord. On the afternoon of April
30, the Oslo, after another sonar contact, fires a Terne rocket and
drops a mine. Five minutes later it launches four more rockets, but then
the sonar contact is lost. Around 4:00 p.m., five Terne rockets are
fired at nearby Halsenøy. Near midnight, a sonar contact south of
Leirvik results in another rocket firing. On May 1, at 4:20 p.m.,
another sonar contact takes place and six Terne rockets are fired. They
hit the water and plunge deep before detonating. Immediately afterward,
an Orion aircraft drops a mine at the same spot in Skåneviksfjorden. At
5:20 p.m., the Oslo again attacks with six rockets. Five minutes later
it launches four more rockets, and the sonar contact is lost. At 8:30
p.m., an Orion aircraft has the last sonar contact. The aircraft drops
mines at the entrance to the Høylandssundet. On May 2, mines are dropped
in the Selbjørnfjord. (Ole Jonny Brænne, “Observations of Unidentified
Submarine Objects in Norway,” IUR 20, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1995): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6396
Date: 5/4/1983
Description: 3:50 a.m. Police officer James Philips sees a silent,
yellowish-orange ball of light over the outskirts of Lawrence, Kansas,
hovering 350 feet over a power line pole. It flies away toward the
northeast slowly at 30–40 mph. The sighting lasts three minutes. (“A
‘Yorg’ in Kansas,” IUR 8, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1983): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6397
Date: 5/12/1983
Description: 1:50 a.m. Three police officers on the Warrenville Heights,
Ohio, police force see four dim lights moving silently in a wedge
formation from south to north. They smoothly transition to a diamond
formation as they near the constellation of Ursa Major. They shift into
another formation again before speeding off in two different directions.
(“Multiple
Witness: Multiple UFO Sighting,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 4
(Aug./Sept. 1983): 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6398
Date: 5/20/1983
Description: Sam Meadows and another ranch hand discover a perfect
circle of disturbed grass in a pasture on the Teas Ranch in Hemphill
County near Canadian, Texas. The circle is 29 feet in diameter, with an
outer circle of much shorter and greener buffalo grass that is 4 inches
wide. This is a characteristic of new grass that comes up after a fire
has burned the old grass. A prickly pear cactus pad is found at the edge
of the ring; the side closest to the ring is devoid of spines, while all
the spines facing away from the ring are undamaged. No UFO is seen. (W.
Clark Ellzey, “A Ring on a Panhandle Ranch, and Others,” IUR 8, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1983): 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6399
Date: 5/23/1983
Description: Night. Farmer Alcineu Sousa is aboard his twin-engine
airplane returning from a visit to a farm near Corumbiara, Rondônia,
Brazil. As he is about to land on his farm near Porto Velho, Rondônia,
he sees an opaque light about 30 feet in diameter on his left that
begins to approach and shine more brightly. His airplane instruments
start to go haywire. He pulls the plane sharply to the right, but the
UFO does the same but more moderately. A few seconds later, the light
disappears over the horizon. (Clark III 200–201; Brazil 541)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6401
Date: 5/23/1983
Description: 7:30 p.m. A high school art teacher and his daughter watch
a disc-shaped object with a black top, blue sides, square windows, and a
reddish golden metallic bottom maneuvering over trees in McHenry,
Illinois. It then rocks violently, levels out, and flies off following
the contour of the land. (“’I
Know What I Saw…But I Don’t Know What
I Saw,’” IUR 10, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1985): 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6400
Date: 5/24/1983
Description: 6:00 p.m. A schoolboy is in his parents’ backyard in
Jüchen, Germany, when he sees a red ball shoot down and hover above a
nearby electric power line. It ejects a pyramid-shaped array of colored
lights toward the ground. A few minutes later, the array disappears from
the object downward to the ground. The object then speeds away into the
sky toward its point of origin. (Hans-Werner Peiniger, “CE
2–Fall in Jüchen,” Journal für UFO-Forschung, no. 30
(Nov./Dec. 1983): 161–168; “CEII
Case in Jüchen, West Germany,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 1
(Feb./March 1984): 1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6402
Date: 6/3/1983
Description: Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish ufologists launch Project
Hessdalen under the directorship of Leif
Havik, Odd-Gunnar Røed, Erling
Strand, Håken Ekstrand, and Jan Fjellander. They secure technical
assistance from the universities of Oslo and Bergen, as well as cameras
with grating filters, a seismograph, Geiger counter, radar, infrared
viewer, laser, magnetograph, and spectrum analyzer. (“Project Hessdalen:
The Colored Lights of Norway,” IUR 8, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1983): 6–8; Kim
Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, p. 90;
Clark III 572)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6404
Date: 6/5/1983
Description: 5:00 a.m. Retired restaurant manager Mario Claretto wakes
up because his dogs are barking outside his home at Varzi, Pavia, Italy.
He sees a shining object with an orange headlight on a hill across the
road from his house. It is hovering low above an alfalfa field. Its
upper portion is slowly rotating, showing a silver section, a dark
section, then the orange light. After finishing some work in the
kitchen, Claretto goes outside for a closer look. He sees another person
walking toward the object; after approaching very near, the person runs
away, escaping down the road. Claretto points the object out to a
neighbor, Bruno Stafforini, who has also woken up because of the dogs.
The UFO rises after skimming the grass for a few feet, its dome recedes,
and it emits a vapor. It seems to change its form to cigar-shaped.
Suddenly it speeds off to the south-southwest. (Antonio Chiumiento, “Un
U.F.O. a Varzi,”
Notiziario UFO, no. 101 (Sept./Oct. 1983): 4–10; Antonio Chiumiento,
“Close Encounter at Varzi,” IUR 9, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1984): 4–5, 13;
Antonio Chiumiento, “A
Landing at Varzi in Northern Italy,” Flying Saucer Review 30, no. 6
(August 1985): 2–9; Antonio Chiumiento and Paolo Toselli, “L’atterrissage
de Varzi (Italie),” Lumières dans la Nuit, no. 257/258 (Nov./Dec
1985): 32–37; 2Pinotti 61–68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6405
Date: 6/20/1983
Description: Sen. Barry
Goldwater (R-Ariz.) replies to UFO researcher William
S. Steinman regarding government knowledge of UFOs: “I have no idea
of who controls the flow of ‘need-to-know’ because, frankly, I was told
in such an emphatic way that it was none of my business that I’ve never
tried to make it my business since.” (Kean, p. 243)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6406
Date: summer 1983
Description: Richard
Haines founds the short-lived North American UFO Federation, an
effort to unite MUFON, CUFOS, and other groups (except APRO) to
standardize UFO investigations, educate the public, and resolve the UFO
mystery. Insufficient funding dooms the effort to failure. (MUFON UFO
Journal, September 1983)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6403
Date: 6/22/1983
End date: 6/27/1983
Description: At the International Symposium on Multiparticle Dynamics at
Lake Tahoe, Nevada, the Los Alamos National Laboratory puts forward a
proposal for a 3,500-square-foot (with plans for extending it to 6,000
square feet) National Underground Science Facility beneath the Nuclear
Test Site in Nevada. (Michael Martin Nieto, “Physics at the Proposed
National Underground Science Facility,” Los Alamos National Laboratory,
June 1983)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6407
Date: 6/24/1983
Description: Larry W. Bryant, Director of CAUS, filed a Civil Action,
Case #83–1932 (Judge Oliver Gasch) petitioning for a Writ of Habeas
Corpus Extraterrestrial, in the United States District Court for the
Dist. of Columbia, seeking to obtain the release from custody of “one or
more occupants of apparent extraterrestrial origin.” Mr. Bryant contends
that the Government action in maintaining secret custody, detention, and
prosecution of such extraterrestrials is unlawful and a violation of
their basic rights and is seeking to restore their civil rights.
Type: lawsuit
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Washington DC
See also: 11/3/81
Date: 7/1983
Description: Statistician Jean-Jacques
Velasco replaces Alain
Esterle as director of GEPAN. Esterle is dismissed, apparently
because of potential scandal about GEPAN’s apparent collaboration with
the French Army on magnetohydrodynamic propulsion experiments, done
without the knowledge of GEPAN’s resident expert, Jean- Pierre
Petit, who
has suggested such a project. (Wikipedia, “Groupe
d’études des phénomènes aérospatiaux non identifiés”;
Clark III 547; Gildas Bourdais, “From GEPAN to SEPRA: Official UFO
Studies in France,” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001): 12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6408
Date: early 7/1983
Description: Debbie
Jordan-Kauble (using the pseudonym of “Kathie Davis”) and her mother
see a light about 2 feet in diameter moving around the family pool house
in Indianapolis, Indiana. Some days later they notice a section of their
backyard has turned brown, a circular area about 8 feet in diameter. She
contacts Budd
Hopkins, who speaks with Debbie and her family and uncovers a
pattern of events that have affected them for years. It appears that
Debbie, her mother, and two of her children have been abducted at
different points of their lives. Debbie and her mother have identical
scars on their lower legs from apparent childhood abductions, and
Hopkins believes that Debbie and her son have implants inserted near
their brains, one through the nasal cavity and another through the ear.
Hopkins conducts numerous hypnotic regression sessions, revealing
apparent pregnancies induced by aliens. (Budd Hopkins, Intruders:
The Incredible Visitations at Copley Woods, Random
House, 1987)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6409
Date: 7/7/1983
Description: An unauthorized target appears on the radar screens at
Darłowo Airport, Poland, corresponding to a rotating, oblong object with
a steel-colored covering flying at 11,0000 feet. Polish Air Force
Captain Praszczałek and another pilot go up to intercept it and get
within 660 feet. He sees a solid hull, 50 feet long and 6 feet across.
Just after they are ordered to shoot it down, the object shoots up to
30,000 feet, too high to pursue. (Poland 64–65)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6410
Date: 7/12/1983
Description: 9:30 p.m. A police officer answers a call at a location
southeast of Danbury, Connecticut, where several people are standing
outside looking at a circular pattern of lights that are flashing red,
blue, and green. The lights appear to be attached to a silent object 300
feet in diameter and less than 500 feet in altitude. The officer shines
a spotlight on it, and the object projects a brilliant flash of white
light downward. It then moves quickly to the north and is lost behind
trees. At 10:55 p.m., Danbury Police Chief Nelson Macedo, his
brother-in-law Charles Yacuzzi, his son Michael, and retired policeman
Jim Lucksky are boating on Candlewood Lake north of Danbury. They notice
a circular gray object silently hovering high in the sky. 20–30 bright
blue, red, orange, and green lights moving in a circular pattern are
visible on the object. The men turn off the boat lights and the object
shuts off its own lights. After several minutes, Yacuzzi turns the
lights on again, and the UFO switches on bright lights and moves off
behind the mountains. (NightSiege 96; Richard Haines, CE-5: Close
Encounters of the Fifth Kind, Sourcebooks, 1998, pp. 132–133)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6411
Date: 7/22/1983
Description: 12:40 a.m. Police constables Raymond Ellens and Peter
Ferguson are on car patrol east of Melton, Melbourne, Victoria, when
they see a bright, stationary light over the center of the town. As they
approach, they discern that it is composed of two lights. The object
turns west and hovers about 200 feet above the Melton Regional Shopping
Centre. Soon the object flies off to the southeast, making a
high-pitched humming sound. After rising to about 500 feet, the UFO
moves off to the north and is lost to sight. The UFO is picked up on
radar at Tullamarine Air Traffic Control in Melbourne. The constables
see it again at 2:40 a.m. when it appears to be on the ground at the
rear of the Toolern Vale stables (they inspect the paddock but find no
traces), then it is lost to view until 4:30 a.m. when they are again at
the shopping mall. At some point police Sgt. Barry Harman and Chief
Inspector Hickman also see the UFO above the shopping center. The
constables follow the object, this time with more lights visible.
Between their position and the object is the Australian Army Rockbank
Receiving Station, and it seems to be headed directly toward the antenna
array. Before reaching it, the object turns and arcs again to the north.
Ellens and Ferguson lose sight of it at about 6:00 a.m. Their written
report states that over time the UFO flew in a triangular pattern
bounded by Melton, Rockbank, Sydenham, and Diggers Rest in a
counterclockwise path between 200 and 1,600 feet in altitude. The
Australian Signal Intelligence facility at Rockbank is alerted that its
security has been breached. (Bill Chalker, “The Australian Government
and UFOs,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 21–22; Keith Basterfield, UFOs: A
Report on Australian Encounters, Reed Books, 1997, pp. 84–86)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6412
Date: 7/25/1983
Description: 5:15 a.m. Tom Jackson is getting ready for work in Latrobe,
Pennsylvania, when he sees a bright light outside his bathroom window.
He opens it and sees a huge object hovering above pine trees about 750
feet away. It is metallic gray, possibly 300 feet long, and elongated
but with the front and back ends dropping down. It has two rows of
evenly spaced windows. After 5 minutes it moves toward the town’s sewage
plant. Other residents report a brilliant orange light over the sewage
plant. Still others hear a loud, high-pitched sound so intense that it
causes headaches and disturbs neighborhood dogs. (MUFON UFO Journal,
October 1983)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6413
Date: 8/1/1983
Description: 12:15 a.m. Terry Conner is at the intersection of West
County Line Road and South Ashland Avenue about 1.5 miles southwest of
Beecher, Illinois, when he sees a cluster of red flashing lights. They
are coming from an object in a farmer’s field about 450–600 feet away.
It appears to be 30 feet tall with 40–50 continuously flashing red
lights in the shape of a vertical U. After 2 minutes, two large steady
red lights appear to rise until they are even with the top of the U.
After 10 seconds, all the lights go out at once. (“Beecher,
Illinois, Nocturnal Lights Remain
Unexplained,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1984):
1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6414
Date: 8/12/1983
Description: 11:10 p.m. In the Maraponga neighborhood of Fortaleza,
Ceará, Brazil, João de Lira Pessoa Neto is riding his motorcycle with
his friend Plínio Couto de Alencar Júnior to a party. The cycle breaks
down, so they push it home and head back on foot to the party. They pass
the train tracks and the Cavan poles factory, where they notice that a
transformer that always buzzes is silent. Stray dogs do not bark, and
the lights on the poles are blinking intermittently. A strong light
blinks near them and they see a disc-shaped object about 325 feet above
the Lagoa da Maraponga, its shape reflected in the dark water. The
object moves, and the two witnesses run off. Party hosts Roberto de Lira
Pessoa Neto and his wife Rejane, Rejane’s sister, and a sailor named Cal
are intrigued and decide to return to the site together. They look
around and see the UFO landing on the lake shore. The disc has large
round windows and a brightly lit interior. Inside they see human-looking
beings moving about and looking out the windows. Roberto sees three
humanoid figures beside the UFO. They seem to be covered in a plastic
cloak and have a wobbling gait. Plínio thinks the object disappears and
reappears like a mirage. The witnesses begin running away when another
similar UFO appears above them and causes a gale. It disappears, and
everything returns to normal, with dogs barking and the transformer
buzzing. Later at home, João has a strong urge to return to the scene.
The object is still there, and he has a compulsion to meet the
occupants. He suddenly gets dizzy and nauseous and falls to the ground
unconscious. He revives 2 hours later and finds himself in a soccer
field and cannot remember how he got there. He goes home, but his
behavior changes, becoming ruder. On May 21, 1989, João drowns under
mysterious circumstances in a lagoon in Uruoca, Ceará, Brazil.
(Reginaldo de Athayde, “Seqüestro
por ETs no Nordesté e reavaliado,” Portal UFO, December 1, 1995;
Clark III 710–712; Brazil 297– 303)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6416
Date: 8/12/1983
Description: Around 1:00 a.m. Alfred Burtoo is fishing along the
Basingstoke Canal in Aldershot, Hampshire, England, when a disc-shaped
UFO lands nearby. Two humanoid beings approach him. They are 4 feet 6
inches tall, dressed in green overalls, and wear helmets with visors.
They gesture at Bertoo to follow them, and he goes up a stairway into
the craft. He is made to stand under an amber light. The beings speak to
him in broken English, telling him that he is too old and infirm for
their purposes. They then let him go. (Good Above, pp. 106–112;
Marcus Lowth, “The
Bizarre Ordeal of Alfred Burtoo: The Abduction That Wasn’t,” UFO
Insight, August 7, 2017; Solomier, “08-12-1983: The Alfred Burtoo
Incident,” dtube: Hive Blog, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6415
Date: 8/26/1983
Description: 4:00 a.m. A Mrs. Zurwaski is awakened by brilliant white
flashes of light reflecting off the trees to the east of her house in
Cedar Lake, Indiana. She gets up, thinking a thunderstorm is
approaching, and she sees the screen on the front door flooded with
intense light. Her husband is also awake by now, and he describes the
light as yellowish. Through a picture window, Mr. Zurwaski sees an
object hovering 4–5 feet off the ground in their yard. Mrs. Zurawski
hears a swoosh and a crackle and notices a ribbon of light moving
southeast. Five days later, they discover in their yard a ring of dead
grass in a perfect circle 13 feet in diameter. (Mark Remaley, “The Light
and the Ring,” IUR 9, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1984): 4–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6417
Date: 8/27/1983
End date: 8/29/1983
Description: The British UFO Research Association holds its Third
International UFO Congress in High Wycombe, London, England. (“3d
International UFO Congress, August 1983,” BUFORA Bulletin, no. 11
(November 1983): 8–21; “3d Bufora International UFO Congress,” IUR 8,
no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1983): 9, 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6418
Date: 9/1983
Description: British ufologist Jenny
Randles publishes UFO Reality, in which she defines the “Oz Factor,”
the “sensation of being isolated, or transported from the real world
into a different environmental framework.” She suggests that this
feeling, often reported by UFO witnesses, “is almost suggestive of the
witness being transported temporarily from our world into another, where
reality is but slightly different.” (Jenny Randles, UFO Reality: A
Critical Look at the Physical Evidence, R. Hale, 1983; Clark III
866)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6419
Date: 9/1/1983
Description: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet
interceptor over the Sea of Japan near Moneron Island (just west of
Sakhalin island) while flying over prohibited Soviet airspace. All 269
passengers and crew aboard are killed, including Rep. Larry
McDonald (D-Ga.) and president of the anticommunist John Birch
Society. (Wikipedia, “Korean
Air Lines Flight 007”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6421
Date: 9/1/1983
Description: GEPAN is reorganized by transferring it to a smaller
department in CNES. The seven members of its scientific council are
given different assignments, leaving Jean-Jacques
Velasco in sole charge with no scientific advisers. GEPAN’s
resources and personnel are drastically reduced. During the following
years, the scientific council no longer meets, despite repeated demands
by one of its members, Christian
Perrin de Brichambaut, general inspector of the National Meteorology
Office. A last meeting of the council takes places in 1987. (Gildas
Bourdais, “From GEPAN to SEPRA: Official UFO Studies in France,” IUR 25,
no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001): 12– 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6420
Date: 9/3/1983
Description: Day. Wiesław Machowski, his daughter, and a friend are
fishing in a coastal lake near Wicie, Poland. They notice an orange
sphere with another object below it and keep their eyes on it for 30
minutes or so. The larger light emits a smaller one that stops and
returns to the bigger one; the sequence keeps repeating. When they
return to their boarding house, they see it again but much closer to the
coast. Machowski grabs a camera and takes three photos that shows the
large object looking like a hat standing on its brim, and the object
disappears shortly afterward. (Poland 57–58)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6422
Date: 9/26/1983
Description: Midnight. The Soviet orbital missile early warning system
(SPRN), code-named Oko, reports a single intercontinental ballistic
missile launch from the US. Lt. Col. Stanislav
Petrov, who
is on duty during the incident, correctly dismisses the warning as a
computer error when ground early warning radars do not detect any
launches. Part of his reasoning is that the system is new and known to
have malfunctioned previously; also, a full-scale nuclear attack from
the US would involve thousands of simultaneous launches, not a single
missile. Later, the system reports four more ICBM launches headed to the
Soviet Union, but Petrov again dismisses the reports as false. The
investigation that follows reveals that the system indeed has
malfunctioned, and false alarms are caused by a rare alignment of
sunlight on high-altitude clouds underneath the satellites’ orbits.
(Wikipedia, “1983
Soviet nuclear
false alarm incident”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6423
Date: 10/1983
Description: 6:45 p.m. Paula E. Green, 12, undergoes her first abduction
experience as she is walking through Judy Woods in Bradford, England,
with a 14-year-old friend. It is the first of some 52 further incidents.
(Daily Star Sunday, May 9, 2021; Nigel Watson, “Fifty-two Shades of
Grey: Paula’s Story,” Fortean Times 407 (July 2021): 30–31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6426
Date: 10/1983
Description: Flying Saucer Review editor Gordon
Creighton writes an essay on his beliefs about UFOs, which he thinks
are piloted by Islamic jinns. (Gordon Creighton, “A
Brief Account of the True Nature of the ‘UFO Entities,’” Flying
Saucer Review 29, no. 1 (October 1983): 2–6; Clark III 499)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6425
Date: 10/1983
Description: Odd-Gunnar Røed begins publishing the Project Hessdalen
Bulletin in Duken, Norway, in English. It updates readers on the latest
sightings of nocturnal lights around Hessdalen, Norway. It continues
through April 1985. (Project
Hessdalen Bulletin 1, no. 1 (October 1983))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6424
Date: 10/13/1983
Description: 8:30 p.m. Catherine Burk is driving to her home in Altoona,
Pennsylvania, when she sees a large, silvery disc pass about 30 feet
above her car. The force of the UFO lifts the right side of her car
briefly off the road, causing her lights to blink out and the engine to
stall. She suffers hearing loss in her right ear, has severe headaches,
and develops problems with her shoulder, chest, and spine. Local police
investigate and find her “visibly shaking.” (UFOEv II 232; MUFON UFO
Journal, November 1983)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6427
Date: 10/15/1983
Description: Silvery disc passed over car, right wheels lifted off road,
car lights blinked off and on. Car dropped hard back onto road, engine
stalled. Severe physiological effects
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Altoona, PA
ID: 399
Date: 10/20/1983
Description: Orionid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 400
Date: late 10/1983
Description: Evening. Villagers in Hollesley, East Suffolk, England,
witness a triangular object with three powerful white lights on its base
that illuminate the ground below it. Ron Marco says the lights form a
triangle and remain perfectly still, until it moves above his head and
other witnesses. Debbie Foreman and Pauline Osborne report headlight and
engine trouble when the UFO appears. (Nick Redfern, A Covert Agenda: UFO
Secrecy Exposed, Simon & Schuster, 1997, pp. 160–161; Stacia Briggs
and Siofra Connor, “Weird
Suffolk: Hollesley, the UFO Hotspot,”
East Anglian Daily Times (Ipswich), April 13, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6428
Date: 10/23/1983
Description: 1983 Beirut Barracks Bombings
Type: terrorist attack
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Date: 10/25/1983
End date: 10/29/1983
Description: The US and a coalition of six Caribbean nations attack the
island nation of Grenada. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury, the
intervention results in an American victory in a matter of days. It is
triggered by the strife within the People’s Revolutionary Government
that results in the house arrest and execution of the previous leader
and second Prime Minister of Grenada Maurice
Bishop, and the establishment of the Revolutionary Military Council
with Hudson
Austin as chairman. The invasion results in the appointment of an
interim government, followed by democratic elections in 1984, and serves
as a tune-up for the US military, which has been out of action for 10
years. (Wikipedia, “United
States invasion of Grenada”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6429
Date: 10/26/1983
Description: 9:00 p.m. David Keener is driving on US Highway 321
northeast of Hickory, North Carolina, when a diamond-shaped object, red
in front, bright green in the rear, hovers low over his car and then
rises up again. The observation lasts about 5 minutes and the object is
silent throughout. He reports the incident to the sheriff’s department.
(MUFON UFO Journal, April 1984)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6430
Date: 10/28/1983
Description: 2:15 a.m. Biomedical engineer Jim Cooke is driving by the
Croton Falls Reservoir on his way back to Mahopac, New York, when he
sees “aircraft lights” approaching and dropping very fast. Oddly, they
seem to hover for a while, then blink out. Cooke gets out of his car,
walks toward the shoreline, and spots a triangular object hovering less
than 15 feet above the water and 200 feet away. After a few minutes, 9
red lights come on from its sides and a red beam of light from the
underside probes the water. The UFO moves to four locations above the
reservoir, each time shining the red light on the water and remaining at
a steady altitude. Each time a car drives by, its lights go out. Cooke
estimates the object is 100 feet long at the base and 30 feet at the
apex. After 10–15 minutes, it lifts upward at a 30° angle and
disappears. (NightSiege 2–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6431
Date: 10/28/1983
Description: 10:00 p.m. Two men are driving in the countryside near
Ithaca, New York, looking for signs of deer in order to plan their
hunting activities. They see a lighted area low in the sky ahead of
them. Through binoculars, they see that the light is cast by a round
object with three rows of lighted window panels and an illuminated
rotating dome that is bright enough to reflect off the low clouds. They
estimate it is 15–25 feet in diameter, It stays visible for about 5
minutes as it moves slowly and noiselessly over the ridge of a hill.
(CUFOS case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6432
Date: 11/1983
Description: The Project Hessdalen team goes to Hessdalen, Norway, and
explains their project to the locals. (Clark III 572)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6433
Date: 11/1983
Description: The captain and crew of the Russian diving support vessel
Sprut are in Kola Bay, northern Russia, when they observe an ellipsoid
object slowly moving over the surface at an altitude of 1,640–3,280 feet
for 90 minutes. The object separates into three parts, each of which
increases in speed and flies to the west. (Stonehill and Mantle,
Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, p. 145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6434
Date: 11/7/1983
End date: 11/11/1983
Description: NATO carries out a command post exercise code-named Able
Archer 83. Its purpose is to simulate a period of conflict escalation,
culminating in the US military attaining a simulated DEFCON 1
coordinated nuclear attack. Coordinated from the Supreme Headquarters
Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) headquarters in Casteau, Belgium, it
involves NATO forces throughout Western Europe. The Soviet leadership is
concerned that this could be a ruse for an actual US nuclear strike and
moves to a high alert. Historians such as Thomas
Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, and Tom
Nichols, a professor at the Naval War College, argue that Able
Archer 83 brought the world close to a nuclear war. (Wikipedia, “Able
Archer 83”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6435
Date: 11/18/1983
Description: The National Endowment for Democracy is founded in
Washington, D.C. It is managed by such individuals as Henry
Kissinger, Sally
Shelton-Colby, Barbara
Haig, and others. Although furnished with $80 million in funding
from Congress, its private status keeps it safe from FOIA requests.
Among its programs are: destabilizing Ferdinand
Marcos in the Philippines and Manuel
Noriega in Panama; supporting the Nazi PAN party in Mexico;
channeling money to the Contras; and supporting operatives in the
Medellin drug cartel. (Wikipedia, “National
Endowment for Democracy”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6436
Date: 11/28/1983
Description: 8:40 p.m. A woman in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, notices
a ball of light approaching her. She goes inside to get her boyfriend
and two children. They watch the light approach to within 400 feet,
where it hovers at treetop level. It appears to be half the size of the
house. Three smaller objects come from behind it and travel southeast,
apparently landing in a swampy area near a manufacturing plant. The
woman and children run toward the object on foot, while the boyfriend
jumps in a car to pursue it. At one point he sees the object hovering
above a small lake less than 200 feet away. But within seconds it
vanishes. All four witnesses later experience eye irritation, and the
boyfriend’s face and hands turn red and feel sore. (MUFON UFO Journal,
April 1984)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6437
Date: 11/29/1983
Description: Dr. Robert I Sarbacher, consultant US Research and
Development Board and President and Chairman of the Board, Washington
Institute of Technology, in a letter to Dr. William I. Steinman states
that Frank Scully’s book (“Behind the Flying Saucers”) story is true and
persons definitely involved in operations of recovered saucers were John
von Neuman and Dr. Vannever Bush. Also, Dr. Sarbacher thought that
Robert Oppenheimer was also involved. Dr. Sarbacher had been invited by
President Eisenhower to attend several discussions associated with the
reported recoveries, but was unable to attend them. He did receive
Special Reports on the recoveries at the Pentagon but was instructed NOT
to remove them from his office.
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research (A2, B1-E p525, B1-G p49)
Location: US
Date: 11/29/1983
Description: Robert
Sarbacher replies to a query by UFO researcher William
S. Steinman about crash-retrievals in the late 1940s. He confirms he
was “invited to participate in several discussions associated with the
reported recoveries” of UFOs, although he was unable to attend the
meetings. He described the retrieved saucer material as “extremely light
and very tough,” and he had heard that the aliens “were constructed like
certain insects we have on Earth.” (Dolan II 320; Good Above, pp. 525–526)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6438
Date: 12/1983
Description: A witness walking his dogs at Sherlocks Farm in
Groombridge, East Sussex, England, sees a triangular UFO with an orange
light at each apex. It makes a low droning sound as it passes by.
(Marler 137)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6439
Date: 12/7/1983
Description: 9:00 p.m. A woman and her son and daughter stop at the
Pioneer Road exit off I-43 near Cedarburg, Wisconsin, to watch a
brightly lit object silently descend and maneuver in front of them for
5–6 minutes. (Bob Gribble, “UFO
Hotline Reports,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 1 (Feb./March
1984): 5; Richard Heiden, Jeffrey Paul, and Donald Schmitt, “CE-I with
an ‘Orgy’ of Lights,” IUR 9, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1984): 8–9, 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6440
Date: 12/12/1983
Description: 6:30 p.m. Mike and Jeff Goodwin and Robert Blanchard are
driving in Byron, Illinois, when they see a triangular “falling star”
that starts moving horizontally at treetop level. At one point it seems
to nearly collide with a similar object. They both have blinking red and
white lights. (Doris and Joe Graziano, “Press
Reports,” APRO Bulletin 32, no. 6 (September 1984): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6441
Date: 12/14/1983
Description: 8:00 p.m. Realtor Antônio Nelso Tasca is driving about 4
miles north of Chapecó, Santa Catarina, Brazil, when he feels compelled
to turn onto a dirt road. After about 5 minutes he encounters a white
and green object like a bus about 33 feet long and 10 feet high in the
road ahead. He stops 100 feet from it, turns off the headlights and
engine, and walks toward it. It has 10 squarish windows and is floating
just above the ground. A few feet away he begins to feel heat and
decides to return to his car. Suddenly a beam of white-red light strikes
him and somehow pulls him toward the object. He wakes up inside the UFO
and an abduction scenario takes place, compete with sex with a
light-haired alien female who says her name is Cabala. She gives him a
message warning that continued deployment of nuclear weapons will lead
to bad things for Earth. Tasca wakes up around 6:00 a.m. at a different
spot from where he had the encounter. A medical examination reveals a
strange burn on his ribs and other odd marks on his backbone. (Brazil
303–311; Patrick Gross, URECAT, March
15, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6442
Date: 12/27/1983
Description: 10:30 p.m. A small disc-shaped object with eight green
lights lands in an open field across the street from the home of a
witness in Indianapolis, Indiana. After 10 seconds, the lights go out.
The witness continues to watch from her home for an hour before
retiring. (Bob Gribble, “UFO
Hotline Reports,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 1 (Feb./March
1984): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6443
Date: 12/30/1983
Description: 6:30 p.m. Four witnesses are driving along Illinois Highway
70 near Eddie Road about 8 miles northwest of Rockford, Illinois, when a
red domed-shaped object emerges from what looks like an explosion and
moves to the south. It vanishes when it reaches an unusual configuration
of parallel stars. (“Letter,”
CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1984): 2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6444
Date: 1984
Description: From the Air Traffic Controllers Manual: Controllers MUST
report UFOs immediately to AIS (Military), LATCC. A completed report
MUST be sent to MOD (AFOR). A list of phone numbers and locations is
shown in the directory at Appendix H.
Type: manual
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p458)
Location: US
Date: 1984
Description: USAF seizes 89,000 acres of public land adjacent to Groom
Lake
Type: land seizure
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Location: Area-51
Date: 1984
Description: Daniel Kagan and Ian
Summers publish a 500-page book titled Mute Evidence, arguing that
animal mutilations are a made-up mystery. Only veterinary pathologists,
not regular veterinarians, are truly qualified to determine the cause of
an animal’s death, they write. They do admit there are some real
mutilations of two kinds: copycat incidents where pranksters cut up the
bodies of already dead cattle, and ritualistic killings by cult members.
The latter incidents occur mostly in Idaho. (Daniel Kagan and Ian
Summers, Mute Evidence, Bantam, 1984; Clark III 140–141)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6445
Date: 1984
Description: UK researcher Hilary
Evans publishes Visions, Apparitions, Alien Visitors, which equates
a wide range of entity experiences, including UFO events, and explains
them all as psychosocial manifestations because percipients
psychologically need them for some reason. He follows up with a sequel
in 1987. (Hilary Evans, Visions, Apparitions, Alien Visitors, Aquarian,
1984; Hilary Evans, Gods, Spirits, Cosmic Guardians, Aquarian, 1987;
Clark III 943–945)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6446
Date: 1984
Description: UFO Research Australia is formed as an informal
information-exchanging network. (Keith Basterfield, Vladimir Godic, and
Pony Godic, “Australian Ufology: A Review,” JUFOS 2 (1990): 34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6447
Date: 1984
Description: A Hispanic male living in the Reseda neighborhood of Los
Angeles, California, encounters odd lights in his house and missing
time. Although not his first abduction experience, his memories are
uncovered through hypnosis sessions conducted by parapsychologist D.
Scott Rogo, who gives him the pseudonym of “Sammy Desmond.” The case
is significant for the marks on the witness’s body and the many sexual
elements of the story. (D. Scott Rogo, “The Abduction of Sammy Desmond,”
IUR 12, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1987): 4–13, reprinted by Aileen Garoutte, “The
Abduction of Sammy Desmond” and “The
Abduction of Sammy Desmond, Final,” UFOexperiences, July 5 and 7,
2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6448
Date: 1984
Description: The F-117 completes testing at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada
and begins formal operations under the 4450th Tactical Group. The 4450th
is absorbed by the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing in 1989. In 1992, the
entire fleet is transferred to Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico,
under the command of the 49th Fighter Wing. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
F-117 Nighthawk”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6449
Date: 1984
Description: 9:45 p.m. Brazilian Air Force Col. Marcelo Hecksher of the
1st Squadron of the 10th Aviation Group (Poker Squadron) is flying back
to Santa Maria Air Force Base from Rio de Janeiro. When he begins
descent preparations over the city of Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul,
Brazil, he notices a strong, slightly bluish light on his right. Radar
in Curitiba and Santa Maria do not have it on their scopes. The light
then accelerates forward, rises, and disappears. (Clark III 207–208;
Brazil 557–559)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6450
Date: 1984
Description: An antiaircraft defense system near Astrakhan, Russia,
tracks a spherical object flying along the Caspian Sea coast at 6,500
feet. It does not respond to radio contact. Two fighters are scrambled
but they fail to catch up with it. When the pilots fire at the UFO, it
descends to 325 feet. When it approaches Krasnovodsk [now Türkmenbaşy],
Turkmenistan, a helicopter gunship is scrambled to make another attempt
to shoot the object, which then ascends to a height beyond the copter’s
capabilities. The UFO then heads for the Caspian Sea and disappears from
sight. (Vadim K. Ilyin, “KGB’s
‘Blue Folder’ Reveals Shootings, Landings in USSR,” MUFON UFO
Journal, no. 403 (November 2001): 8; “KGB
Blue Folder,” Above Top Secret forum, November 1, 2005; Good Need,
pp. 353– 354)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6451
Date: 1/1984
Description: Project Hessdalen sends out a report form to 3,300
households in and around Hessdalen valley, Norway. January — Seven oil
field workers in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, see a silvery disc
flying at a high altitude. (Stars and Stripes, January 28, 1984; “U.S.
Armed Forces Publication Tells of Lebanon UFO,” CUFOS Associate
Newsletter 5, no. 2 (April/May 1984): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6452
Date: 1/1984
End date: 2/1984
Description: Numerous sightings, radar trackings, photographs by
scientific field team with instruments
Type: sighting
Type: radar tracking
Type: photograph
Type: scientific field team
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Hessdalen Valley, near Roros, Norway
ID: 401
Date: 1/1984
Description: A luminous triangle preceded by a flashing light passes
over Guildford, Surrey, England, silently moving to the east. (Marler
137)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6453
Date: 1/3/1984
Description: 4:14 a.m. A woman wakes up in her home near Port
Washington, Wisconsin, when a bright light shines through the bedroom
window. She sees a strange object with three circular lights in a fixed
position about 50 feet from the shore of Lake Michigan. The center
light, as bright as a searchlight, rotates north, casting an
illumination on the water, which is seen to be turbulent. All three
lights are rotating clockwise around a 30-foot body. She wakes up her
husband, who suggests that it is a Coast Guard helicopter. But the
object is completely silent. After a short time, a smaller object also
with three lights appears over the first one, hovers a few minutes, then
disappears. The searchlight periodically shines directly in the window.
The object moves about 20–30 feet then hovers there another 10–15
minutes. At 5:15 a.m., it moves away and disappears to the southeast.
The woman goes back to bed, but soon feels a powerful electric shock
penetrate her body with a buzzing sound. (Donald R. Schmitt and Richard
W. Heiden, “People Who Live in Glass Houses…See UFOs,” IUR 9, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1984): 3, 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6454
Date: 1/8/1984
Description: 3:15 a.m. Three people are traveling southeast in a van at
mile marker 236 on I-80 southeast of Cozad, Nebraska, when the highway
lights up and they see a huge disc as big as a baseball diamond 75–100
feet above and slightly to the right of the road. Bright lights are
evenly spaced around the rim, most of them white, but others pink or
blue. As the car passes it at a slow speed, they can detect no motion
and can hear no sound. They attempt to communicate by Citizens Band
radio, but the radio picks up strange interference like an “intermittent
bleeping.” (J. Allen Hynek, “Nebraska Close Encounter,” IUR 9, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1984): 10–12; “Addendum to Nebraska Encounter,” IUR 9, no. 3
(May/June 1984): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6455
Date: 1/9/1984
Description: 10:30 p.m. Two witnesses driving on State Highway 208 near
Hawthorne, New Jersey, see an object with lights descend then move away
from their car. After driving another 300 feet they spot another object
over the road. They drive directly under the object, which is moving
slowly at an altitude of 200 feet. The driver pulls over, and the object
moves toward the first UFO. (Bob Gribble, “UFO
Hotline Reports,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 1 (Feb./March
1984): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6456
Date: 1/13/1984
Description: New York Post: Soviet scientists are puzzled by the flight
of a mysterious bright sphere followed by seven small lights which flew
at great speed but low altitude across southern Russia and Ukraine. The
objects changed altitude and direction and were flying less than half a
mile above the ground.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Archive.org
Location: Soviet Union
Date: 1/20/1984
Description: 9:30 p.m. A mother and two children are driving near
Jasper, New York, when they see a large, gold, oval object that seems to
be pacing their car. It lands on a nearby ridge and after a few seconds
ascends into the sky. It repeats this maneuver several times, speeding
up and slowing down when she does the same. (Bob Gribble, “UFO Hotline
Reports,” IUR 9, no. 2 (March/April 1984): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6457
Date: 1/21/1984
End date: 2/26/1984
Description: Project Hessdalen sets up three fieldwork stations, the
primary one on Aspaskjolen mountain, and two smaller ones at Hersjøen
and Litlefjellet, Norway. This group secures technical assistance from
the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment, the University of Oslo,
and the University of Bergen. Over the course of one month,
investigators see numerous lights, take photos of many of them, and
track them instrumentally. On three occasions, lights are seen visually
and tracked on radar simultaneously, casting a reflection on the radar
screen so strong that a Norwegian defense expert later says that if that
is not a solid object, then it must be a “strongly ionized gas.” One of
the lights is tracked moving at 19,000 mph. On another occasion, a light
under constant visual observation shows up on radar only on every second
sweep. In most instances (33 in all), when radar shows something, the
eye or a camera sees nothing. On two occasions the researchers direct a
laser beam on passing lights. Out of a total of nine times, the lights
respond all but once in a curious way, changing from a regular flashing
light to a double-flashing light. The total number of sightings in this
period is 188, although some may be attributable to passing aircraft.
Only four of the photos taken through the special lens grating come out
well enough to show light spectra, and only two of these are useful for
analysis. Changes in the magnetic field are recorded in 40% of the
sightings, but the Geiger counter and infrared viewer prove unhelpful.
Researchers categorize the phenomenon into three different types: a
white or blue-white flashing light, high in the air; a yellow light with
a red light on the top, sometimes flashing; and a slow-moving, yellow or
white light that maneuvers, stops for an hour or more, and continues
maneuvering. (“Project
Hessdalen” website; “Description
of the
Phenomena,” Project Hessdalen; Erling Strand, “Project
Hessdalen 1984: Final Technical Report,” Project Hessdalen, January
5, 1985; “Hessdalen:
18 February 1984,” Project Hessdalen; “Project
Hessdalen: 1984,” Project Hessdalen; “Norway Lights Continue: Update
on Project Hessdalen,” IUR 9, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1984): 9, 12; Kim Hansen,
“UFO Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, p. 90; Clark III
572–573)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6458
Date: 1/22/1984
Description: 7:00 p.m. Two witnesses in a car in Arnold, Missouri, see a
circular object with three brilliant white lights and a corona of white
light surrounding it. As it approaches the car, the driver makes an
evasive turn, only to have the object pace them within 150 feet for 3
minutes. A vertical shaft of light comes from the top of the object.
(Bob Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR 9, no. 2 (March/April 1984):
7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6462
Date: 1/22/1984
Description: 7:09 a.m. A witness in Huntington, West Virginia, observes
a brilliant orange ball of light about 900 feet hovering above a
neighbor’s house. Its glow illuminates the ground. After a minute, it
speeds away to the west. (Bob Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR 9, no.
2 (March/April 1984): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6459
Date: 1/22/1984
Description: 7:25 a.m. The cabin crew of United Flight 729 is flying
westbound 30 miles east of Toledo, Ohio, at 43,000 feet. They see a
blurry, bright-red object the size of a DC-9 move from northeast to
southwest for a few seconds. It leaves a contrail that they pass
through. (Bob Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR 9, no. 2 (March/April
1984): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6460
Date: 1/22/1984
Description: 7:00 p.m. A young couple parking near Waycross, Georgia,
spot a large object approaching their car at treetop level. It crosses a
logging road near their car, goes across an open area to a stand of
trees, then turns around. The driver begins speeding away, but the
object moves directly over the car. It has an L-shaped light pattern on
its underside with two red lights and one green light. The glow from the
red light illuminates the car interior. The object follows them for
about 75 down a county road before it moves away at high speed. (Bob
Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR 9, no. 2 (March/April 1984):
7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6461
Date: 1/27/1984
Description: 5:40 a.m. Four witnesses at Valley Center, California, see
five stationary white lights in the northern sky about 2 miles away.
Four are in a diamond formation while the fifth is in the center. After
watching the display for several minutes, they notice smaller white
lights maneuvering around the larger ones. They seem to increase to as
many as 100. Suddenly the formation, small lights as well, moves away to
the northwest and the witnesses can hear a soft humming sound. (Bob
Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR 9, no. 2 (March/April 1984):
7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6463
Date: 1/27/1984
Description: 6:15 a.m. Two boys delivering papers in King of Prussia,
Pennsylvania, see a circular object with lights around its edge hovering
above houses about two blocks away. After a few seconds it ascends at a
45° angle. (Bob Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR 9, no. 2
(March/April 1984): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6464
Date: 1/28/1984
Description: 6:30 p.m. A young couple in Flemington, New Jersey, notice
an orange ball descending through the cloud layer and appear to land on
a ridge behind the tree line. At 6:50 a.m., the husband sees a bright
object ascend from the same ridge, pause in mid-air, then move away
horizontally in the distance. (Bob Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR
9, no. 2 (March/April 1984): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6465
Date: 1/30/1984
Description: 9:00 p.m. Nine men working on an oil platform in the Big
Cypress National Preserve about 40 miles west of Miami, Florida, see a
bright orange object descending at a high rate of speed about five miles
away. At about 10,000 feet, it comes to an instant stop. The orange glow
fades and they can see an object with a chrome dome and dozens of
flashing lights on the underside. All witness estimate it to be at least
200 feet in diameter. It remains stationary for 10 seconds, turns orange
again, and speeds away to the east. Witnesses in Jensen Beach and the
Miami area also see the object. (Bob Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR
9, no. 2 (March/April 1984): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6466
Date: 2/1984
Description: The Commission for the Investigation of Anomalous
Atmospheric Phenomena is established in Moscow, Russia, although its
announcement in the West is delayed until May. Affiliated with the
Committee for the Protection of Natural Environment of the All-Union
Council of Scientific Technical Societies, the commission is made up of
scientists and academicians and is headed by former cosmonaut Pavel
Popovich, who tells the trade union newspaper Trud that there have
been hundreds of reports in Russia each year, most of which can be
explained away. (Good Above, p. 243)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6467
Date: 2/1984
Description: The Centro Ufologico Nazionale begins a newsletter, Notizie
C.U.N., to replace Quaderni UFO. It is edited by Gian Paolo Grassino in
Turin, Italy, and continues until September 1985. (Notizie
C.U.N., no. 0 (February 1984))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6468
Date: 2/1984
Description: Night. The commander of a group of soldiers in the 103rd
Regiment guarding warehouses at Przasnysz Airfield, Poland, sees a light
silently coming in his direction. It is attached to a huge oval object
70–100 feet across that is moving soundlessly 150 feet above the ground.
He and his assistant feel unexplained terror and paralysis, remaining
rooted to the spot. Noticing a light at its rear end, he considers
taking an AK-47 and shooting it out, but receives a mental command not
to do so or he would be paralyzed. (Poland 67)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6469
Date: 2/7/1984
Description: 4:00 a.m. A witness in Atco, New Jersey, awakes to a loud
humming sound and finds his room illuminated by a bright light. He goes
to the window and sees a bright circular object with a hump on top in a
stationary position about four feet above his neighbor’s yard and 200
feet away. It is about the size of a small car. A human- like “image” is
standing next to it, but that vanishes and the object ascends in a
zigzag pattern, then moves away at a high rate of speed. (Bob Gribble,
“UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR 9, no. 2 (March/April 1984): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6470
Date: 2/20/1984
Description: 6:12 p.m. Leif
Havik is standing in the snow outside the Project Hessdalen
headquarters on Aspaskjolen, Norway, when a red light flies around his
feet and disappears. It is also witnessed by Age Moe. (Kim Hansen, “UFO
Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, p. 90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6471
Date: late 2/1984
Description: 3:30 a.m. A driver in Everett, Washington, sees a huge,
silvery green, egg-shaped object moving toward his car from a wooded
area. Within a few seconds it bounces from one side of the road to the
other, passing over his car. (MUFON UFO Journal, April 1984)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6474
Date: 2/22/1984
End date: 2/23/1984
Description: Night. Witnesses in Flushing, Michigan, see objects with
triangular lighting patterns that shine beams of light to the ground.
The lights approach the car of one witness who sees they are part of a
cigar-shaped object 100 feet above the ground. A jogger reports a light
so intense that it hurts his eyes. Another witness sees an object with
triangular-shaped lights hovering less than 200 feet above the ground,
illuminating the area behind her house and panicking her cats. Two more
objects pass above her house. Investigator Shirley
Coyne locates 12 people who have seen the lights, but only three
will fill out a report. (MUFON UFO Journal, April 1984)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6472
Date: 2/23/1984
Description: 4:00 p.m. Five witnesses, all with PhDs, report an
upside-down-ice-cream-cone-shaped object over the Ohio State University
campus in Columbus, Ohio. It seems to be surrounded with a fog, but it
changes its appearance about every 60 seconds, at one point looking
rectangular. It is seen for 20 minutes, heading in the direction of Port
Columbus Airport [now John Glenn Columbus International Airport]. (Irena
Scott, “Description of
an Aerial Anomaly Viewed over Columbus, Ohio,” Ohio Journal of
Science 88, no. 2 (1988): 23; Irena Scott, “UFO Studies in the
Scientific Literature,” IUR 15, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1990): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6473
Date: 2/29/1984
Description: 9:00 p.m. A woman in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, sees a
dark, diamond-shaped object approach her at no more than 50 feet above
the ground. White lights are at the front and back, blinking red lights
at the sides, and smaller lights between each of the four points. It is
“longer than a tractor trailer and wide as two tractor trailers.” It
wobbles and passes over trees to the southwest. (MUFON UFO Journal,
April 1984)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6475
Date: 3/4/1984
Description: The UK Ministry of Defence, for the first time ever,
releases UFO reports to the public. Sixteen reports, most of which are
severely redacted and missing key data, are sent to the British UFO
Research Association. When he is asked about possible landing cases,
such as the 1980 Rendlesham incident, Defence Undersecretary for
Procurement John
Lee replies that these are not distinguished from other reports of
aerial phenomena. In any event, he says, “none of these reports was of
any defence significance.” (Good Above, pp. 112–113;
Nick Pope, Open Skies, Closed Minds, Simon & Schuster, 1996, Appendix
1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6476
Date: 3/6/1984
Description: 10:00 p.m. Two police officers, Tom Jensen and Gary Myers,
watch a large boomerang or U-shaped UFO west of Norris, South Dakota,
after having been alerted by a citizen 10 minutes earlier. At its
closest approach, Myers sees it as a pattern of lights in an inverted L
pattern. As it passes, it blocks out the sky and stars. (J. Allen Hynek,
“A CE-I, a Lonely Road, a Starry Night,” IUR 9, no. 3 (May/June 1984):
6–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6477
Date: 3/9/1984
Description: MP Patrick
Wall asks in the UK House of Commons that the Secretary of State for
Defence provide statistics on UFO landings, unexplained cases, and radar
sightings for 1980–1983. John
Lee responds that there were 350 UFO reports in 1980 (dodging the
question of whether or not the MoD could identify them), 600 in 1981,
250 in 1982, and 390 in 1983. (Good Above, p. 113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6478
Date: 3/11/1984
Description: After 12:00 midnight. A mother and her daughter see a large
cylindrical object just a few feet away through the window of their home
in Wolcott, Connecticut. For 7 minutes it hovers about 7 feet above the
ground, then moves away silently. (MUFON UFO Journal. April 1984)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6479
Date: spring 1984
Description: A Soviet pilot in a MiG-23 is scrambled to intercept an
object flying at supersonic speed from north to south over the Mikha
Tskhakaya Airfield south of Senaki, Georgia. The MiG-23, flying at
16,400 feet in full afterburner at Mach 1.2, is unable to close in on
the object. By the time the interceptor is approaching the coastline of
the Black Sea, it is flying at Mach 1.6. The pilot activates his
infrared search and track system when he is 7.5 miles away from the
target and sees the largest “bloom” he has ever encountered. By the time
he reaches Mach 2, he has to break off due to lack of fuel, never having
acquired a visual target. (Good Need, pp. 352–353,
365)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6486
Date: 3/21/1984
Description: 7:45 p.m. A truck driver driving on Interstate 87 south of
Albany, New York, sees a boomerang-shaped UFO about 100 feet altitude
that looks larger than a Boeing 747. It has red, white, and green
lights. It paces his truck for five minutes then vanishes. (NightSiege
71–73)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6480
Date: 3/21/1984
Description: 8:00 p.m. A mother and daughter driving south on Perry Road
near Claxton, Georgia, notice an unusual light through the trees. As
they top a hill, they slow the car to a near stop when they see three
boomerang-shaped objects, with wings pointing downward, hovering above a
field. Each has two bright lights in the top center and a row of small,
multicolored lights that blink in rapid sequence. One object is larger
(at least 40 feet wide) than the others and moves over their car in
perfect silence. Its underside appears dark metallic. (“Local
Woman, Daughter Report
‘Close Encounter,’” Claxton (Ga.) Enterprise, March 29, 1984, via
UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 177 (April 1984): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6481
Date: 3/24/1984
Description: 5:50 a.m. Five nuns at the Sainte-Marie Cistercian Abbey in
Boulaur, Gers, France, see a bright oval object about 16 feet long and
6.5 feet tall from the first-floor balcony. It is hovering at first,
then starts moving up and down and right and left “at the speed of
lightning.” It stops about 100 feet above the cemetery and 325 feet away
from the witnesses. There is no sound. Then it takes off in the
direction it came from. (Groupe d’Études et d’Informations sur les
Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés, “Notes
d’Enquête, Boulaur (32) 24.03.1984,” June 30, 2014; Swords
447)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6482
Date: 3/25/1984
Description: Night. Hundreds of people see low-flying lights over the
Taconic State Parkway near Peekskill, New York. The lights seem to be
attached to a slow-moving, boomerang-shaped object with six intense
white lights and a green light in the center. A photographer estimates
the object is about 300 feet long and flying at 30 mph. It moves over
some water and the lights go out. He videotapes the incident, but
nothing shows up on the tape. (NightSiege 78–83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6484
Date: 3/25/1984
Description: 8:55 p.m. A driver in Santa Monica, California, sees a
bright red ball of light, about 10 inches in diameter, maneuvering
around her car with a bouncing motion. It approaches to within a foot of
her car, lighting up the hood and windows for one minute. (MUFON UFO
Journal, April 1984)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6483
Date: 3/28/1984
Description: 8:00 p.m. A triangular object passes above a car in West
Nottingham, New Hampshire, at an altitude of 50 feet. It has two bright
lights and is silent. (Bob Gribble, “UFO
Hotline Reports,” APRO Bulletin 32, no. 3 (May 1984): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6485
Date: 4/1984
Description: Reported in APRO Bulletin: D.M., who lives just south of
White Swan, WA went out to his rural mailbox just before dawn to get his
paper. He observed a large flying triangle passing overheard. It was
lighted completely around its perimeter with multicolored lights which
burned steadily. He estimated it was 8k-10k feet high, made no noise and
was in sight for several minutes as it wasn’t moving at high
speed.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: Archive.org
Location: White Swan, WA
Date: 4/10/1984
Description: Night. While driving down a country road near Rhinelander,
Wisconsin, two witnesses see a stationary, cigar- shaped object about
225 feet from the roadway. It has a row of lighted windows, and several
spokes protrude from the surface. Each spoke has a white light on the
tip. While hovering at treetop level, the object pivots 360° and then
stops. After observing it for 4 minutes, the witnesses drive past it and
go home. (Bob Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR 9, no. 3 (May/June
1984): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6487
Date: 4/12/1984
Description: 2:10 a.m. Air traffic control radar at Grantley Adams
International Airport in Barbados tracks a large group of unknown
targets moving at about 100 mph in “loose but distinct formation” 30
miles southeast of the island. Authorities notify Prime Minister Tom
Adams, the Barbados Defense Force, and the police commissioner. The
BDF is put on Red Alert. By 2:20 a.m., the formation is 14 miles off the
coast when two targets veer off to the island’s west side, two others
move to the east, while the remainder keep on moving north. Police are
deployed to the beaches. At 3:30 a.m., the BDF launches a patrol boat
and scrambles a Cessna but does not find anything. Radar is still
tracking objects at 4:00 a.m. over the northern part of the island. By
4:10 a.m., they disappear to the west. A temperature inversion is a
possible cause. (“1984:
UFOs Place Barbados Defence Force on Full Alert, This
Really Happened,” Notes from the Margin, March 13, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6488
Date: 4/13/1984
Description: 10:00 p.m. While boating on a lake near Gainesville,
Florida, two witnesses see a stationary oval-shaped object at an
altitude of 100 feet about 300 feet from their boat. The object shines a
cone of bright white light onto the surface of the water. After about 3
minutes, it hovers out of sight behind some trees. (Bob Gribble, “UFO
Hotline Reports,” IUR 9, no. 3 (May/June 1984): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6489
Date: 4/15/1984
Description: 12:00 midnight. Some 20 witnesses (farm workers, a police
officer, venture scouts) at Llangernyw, North Wales, see a pink-orange
ball that drifts to the ground and explodes in a shower of purple
sparks. Out of the shower emerges a white disc that appears to land out
of sight behind a ridge. A large army helicopter and two military trucks
apparently perform a search of the area beginning at daylight. (Jenny
Randles, “Anatomy of a UFO Wave,” IUR 11, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1986):
4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6490
Date: 4/18/1984
Description: 9:30 p.m. A married couple is driving on a road near RAF
Lakenheath in Suffolk, England, when they come upon a huge rectangular
object straddling the road ahead. It has at least 60 lights arrayed in
rows on its frame. Red and green lights are at its edges, but the
majority are white. The object remains absolutely still and silent about
100 feet in the air. They are anxious to get home, so they do not see
the object leave. (Jenny Randles, “Anatomy of a UFO Wave,” IUR 11, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1986): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6491
Date: 4/19/1984
Description: 8:05 p.m. A family in Llano, Texas, watches a huge
dome-shaped object pass over their house at an altitude of only 200
feet. It has red lights around it. A jet aircraft appears to be pursuing
it. The mother says she can hear a humming sound coming from it. (Bob
Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR 9, no. 3 (May/June 1984): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6492
Date: 4/20/1984
Description: 10:04 p.m. Four people in a car in Beaverton, Oregon, see a
large, pulsating, yellow light high in the sky. The driver stops, and a
small, bright-blue object comes into view, moving toward the yellow
object at high speed. Suddenly, a “fast red thing” shoots out of the
blue object and knocks the yellow object in half, one part
disintegrating and the other part falling to the ground. Two other
objects, yellow and blue, appear with the blue object chasing and
apparently shooting down the yellow object. The blue object then climbs
at a high speed vertically and vanishes in the clouds. The observation
lasts 20 minutes. (Bob Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR 9, no. 3
(May/June 1984): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6493
Date: 4/22/1984
Description: 10:10 p.m. A woman and her mother are watching TV at a
trailer park in Saltfleet, Lincolnshire, England, when they see a
dome-shaped object with circle of white lights, a small group of red
lights above, and a brilliant white light on top. It is hovering nearby
and about 500 feet in the air. More lights turn on and the object begins
to revolve. As its speed increases, the colors blend into one another.
The object moves away to the south, but over the next hour it circles
the trailer park in wide loops that take it several miles out to sea
before returning over their heads. It switches a searchlight beam off
and on. The woman’s two dogs are looking fearfully at the UFO. At one
point the object drops to 100 feet and hovers in absolute silence above
the witnesses. The searchlight comes from two headlight beams projecting
forward. The UFO has a “smoky glass” dome on top. Dogs are howling for
miles around. The object switches off all but four of its lights and
climbs vertically before heading out to sea to circle for a few more
minutes. (“The
Saltfleet Encounter,” Northern UFO News, no. 113 (May/June 1985):
10–11; Jenny Randles, “Anatomy of a UFO Wave,” IUR 11, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1986): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6494
Date: 4/25/1984
Description: 6:00 p.m. A woman is in her garden at Blairgowrie,
Scotland, working on a tapestry when her dog leaps up and runs indoors.
A ball of light appears in the air and seems to enter her body. She is
blinded for a few seconds but feels calm. A white cloud rises from her
head and hovers above some bushes. It blinks twice and climbs into the
sky toward a large silvery object shaped like a house key. The cloud
moves along the length of the key, flashing and lighting up bits in
turn. She calls her son, who arrives just as the UFO sways from side to
side and vanishes in a sudden pink flash. (Jenny Randles, “Anatomy of a
UFO Wave,” IUR 11, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1986): 7– 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6495
Date: 4/25/1984
Description: 9:55 p.m. Three witnesses driving on American Canyon Road
south of Napa, California, see a huge triangular object the size of a
football field hovering 100 feet above the road. They drive beneath it,
and after 5 minutes the object moves out of sight. (Bob Gribble, “UFO
Hotline Reports,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 195 (May/June 1984): 11;
Bob Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR 9, no. 3 (May/June 1984):
16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6496
Date: 4/26/1984
Description: On a visit to the 6513th Test Squadron, Red Hats at Groom
Lake, Nevada, USAF Lt. Gen. Robert
M. Bond requests to fly a MiG-23 BN fighter-bomber, a newly acquired
supersonic Soviet aircraft flown for testing. Instead of the usual 2
weeks of training, Bond is given a cursory briefing while sitting inside
the cockpit with an instructor. Just as he is flying at 40,000 feet and
over Mach 2 speed, a hydromechanical inhibitor activates, preventing him
from disengaging the afterburner. Bond loses control, makes a distress
call, and is killed while ejecting. The MiG-23 crashes on Jackass Flats
in Area 25, still contaminated from NERVA rocket testing. Bond’s body is
discovered by a USAF sergeant on his way to work, who removes the rank
insignia from Bond’s flight suit with a pocketknife before going to get
help. The USAF does not confirm or deny that Bond was flying a MiG when
he died and states that he was flying “an Air Force specially modified
test craft,” but it leaks the information on the MiG testing program to
journalist Fred Hoffman. There are fears that the publicity will also
lead to the exposure of the F-117 program, still secret and also based
at Tonopah, but this does not happen. (Wikipedia, “Robert
M. Bond”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6497
Date: 4/26/1984
Description: 9:45 p.m. Terri West spots an odd light in the sky from her
home on Belmont Lane, Stanmore, Greater London, England. At 10:15 p.m.,
she joins her neighbors Ruth and Bruno Novelli to watch the light, which
is moving back and forth and constantly changing colors from blue to
green to pink. Soon it emits a large ball of light that shoots toward
the ground. The witnesses call the police at 10:22 p.m. A team of police
arrives and watches the object for about 2 hours. Police Constable
Richard Milthorp says the light is originally at 45° but after 15
minutes it moves up and to the right. He draws a sketch of the object,
which is circular in the middle with a dome above and below. It has
different colored lights on the top and bottom. One of the officers
takes photos, but they do not come out well. Some others chase the UFO
by car, but it is already fading from view. (Good Above, pp. 114–115;
UFOFiles2, p. 130)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6498
Date: 4/27/1984
Description: 9:45 p.m. Linda Braga and her daughter Piper see a starlike
object that follows their car along West Ridge Road in Cornville, Maine.
About 35–45 feet in diameter, the red and yellow object comes almost
within touching distance. When they reach their driveway, it backs off
and hovers above a field, then moves around to the other side of the
house. It disappears in the distance. (“Recently
Received Sighting Reports,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 5, no. 5
(Oct./Nov. 1984): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6499
Date: 5/1/1984
Description: The book “Clear Intent”, later renamed to “The UFO
Cover-up: What the Government Won’t Say” in 1990, written by Lawrence
Fawcett and Barry J. Greenwood is published.
Type: book
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: US
Date: 5/2/1984
Description: Australian Minister of Defence Gordon
Scholes announces that the RAAF will fully investigate only those
UFO sightings that “suggest a defence or national security implication.”
(Bill Chalker, “The North West Cape Incident: UFOs and Nuclear Alert in
Australia,” IUR 11, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1986): 11; Good Above, p. 182;
Swords 408–409)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6500
Date: 5/4/1984
End date: 5/6/1984
Description: The Centro Ufologico Nazionale holds its Third
International Congress in Genoa, Italy. Speakers include J. Allen
Hynek, Roberto
Pinotti, and
Antonio
Ribera. (Roberto
Pinotti, “Italian Report,” IUR 9, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1984): 3, 16;
2Pinotti 70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6501
Date: 5/5/1984
Description: 9:45 p.m. Five workers on a garbage truck are near the Rio
Seco, Tucumán, Argentina, when they see a strange light like a fireball.
The truck stops, and later it is found that the fuses have burnt out.
The upper part of the object is giving off a red light and the lower
part a blue light, and it hovers above the truck for 20 seconds. It then
moves away silently and disappears. Residents of Rio Seco also see the
light, which illuminates the village. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on
Vehicle Interference Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011):
19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6504
Date: 5/5/1984
Description: 7:30 p.m. An ultrasensitive orbiting US Defense Support
Program spy satellite detects the entry of an unknown object that passes
15 miles in front of it only 1.8 miles away, and then flies below it
over the Indian Ocean. The encounter lasts 9 minutes. An alert is
triggered at NORAD. The object is moving at 22,000 mph, changes course,
and flies back into outer space. (NICAP, “DSP
Satellite Tracks Fast Walker”; Ronald S. Regehr, How to Build a $125
Million UFO Detector, 1998, pp. 27–28, 84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6503
Date: 5/5/1984
Description: 2:55 a.m. A witness in Piedmont, South Carolina, hears a
loud pulsating sound and looks out the window in time to see a large
metallic object passing above his house at about 750 feet. Described as
bigger than an Air Force C-5A transport, the object is shaped like a
flattened football. A car stops along the road, and the driver gets out
to watch it. All of the dogs in the neighborhood are howling as it is in
view for 2 minutes. (Bob Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR 9, no. 3
(May/June 1984): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6502
Date: 5/6/1984
Description: 10:30 p.m. A 13-year-old boy is washing out dog pens in
Williston, Florida, when he hears a humming sound behind him. The dogs
start whimpering and running around the pens. Suddenly, the area turns
red and looking up, the boy sees a bright red circular object that
hovers for about 5 seconds at only 20 feet altitude before it shoots
across a field and stops again. He goes inside to get his mother, who
sees the object moving across the field before vanishing. The dogs
remain agitated afterward. (Bob Gribble, “UFO Hotline Reports,” IUR 9,
no. 3 (May/June 1984): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6505
Date: 5/16/1984
Description: Dept. of the Army letter to W. S. Steinman stating that the
IPU was disestablished in the late 1950s and all records were
transferred to the Air Force. Therefore the Army isn’t aware of what
their function was even though it was a Secret unit of the Army. (FOIA
requests to USAF)
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-A p55)
Location: US
Date: 5/29/1984
Description: A huge disc with a flat base and two vast searchlights
passes silently over Fairy Cottage, near Laxey, Isle of Man. (Jenny
Randles, “Mysterious Island: The UFO Legacy of the Isle of Man,” IUR 29,
no. 1 (Spring 2004): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6507
Date: 5/29/1984
Description: J.
Allen Hynek gives a presentation on “Properties of the UFO
Phenomenon” at a special session on “The Edges of Science” of the annual
meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in
New York City. He presents a summary of 400 UFO cases by responsible
witnesses, “some of whom were independent of each other but observed the
same event (and sometimes in daylight) which defied both common sense
and common physical sense.” (J. Allen Hynek, “The UFO Phenomenon,” IUR
9, no. 4 (July/August 1984): 3–5, 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6506
Date: 5/31/1984
Description: 8:15 p.m. A V-shaped formatio60659gme n of 15 lights,
estimated to be the size of a Boeing 747 airliner if all are connected
to one object, passes directly over the home of John Burdett, an IBM
engineer in Hawthorne, New York. It makes no sound as it passes overhead
except for a faint humming. All lights simultaneously turn blue and then
it makes a tight 180-degree turn and flies off to the north. At 8:30
p.m., the object is seen from Route 117 in Pleasantville, New York, and
follows a car down the Taconic State Parkway. At 8:45 p.m., David Boyd
in Yorktown, New York, sees a V-shaped formation of lights turn and fly
away to the west. (Philip J. Imbrogno, “More Nocturnal Lights,” IUR 9,
no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1984): 6–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6508
Date: 6/14/1984
Description: 10:15 p.m. New York State Power Authority security police
at the Indian Point Nuclear Plant near Buchanan, New York, watch 10 or
more bright lights arranged in a boomerang pattern hovering for about 15
minutes a quarter mile away. Behind them is a dark mass about 300 feet
long that blocks out the lights of a plane that flies behind it. (Philip
J. Imbrogno, “Incident
at Indian Point,” UFO Evidence; Clark III 1278; NightSiege
162–164)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6510
Date: mid 6/1984
Description: 4:10 p.m. Seaman Alexander Globa and mate of the watch
Sergey Bolotov are beginning their watch on board the Russian tanker
Gori in the Mediterranean Sea 20 nautical miles east of Gibraltar. They
see what seems to be an airplane with its landing lights on and flying
toward them at an altitude of 4,920 feet about 2 miles away. It is
shaped like a “frying pan turned upside down” with a shiny, metallic
surface. It emits bright, irregular flashes of light. In two minutes it
reaches the ship’s position, turns south, and keeps pace with the ship,
gyrating for 3 minutes. The object is perfectly round and about 75 feet
in diameter. There is a round, black spot on the bottom, and a
cylindrical “tailpipe” is seen at the junction of two segments that are
rotating in opposite directions. At 4:20 p.m., another ship approaches
to the left, and the object flies quickly toward it and hovers above it.
Capt. Sokolovsky contacts the vessel, an Egyptian dry cargo ship enroute
to Greece, and it confirms the presence of the UFO. After 90 seconds it
quickly moves back to the Gori, ascends at an angle of 40°–45°, veers to
the right, and eventually disappears. Total duration of the sighting is
12 minutes. (Sergey Romanav, “Disk with Rotating Cupola Observed near
Straits of Gibraltar by Russian Ship in 1984,” IUR 18, no. 3 (May/June
1993): 17–18; Paul Stonehill, “Questions about a Russian Case,” IUR 18,
no. 4 (July/Aug. 1993): 21; Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets,
Flying Disk, 2020, pp. 69–70)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6511
Date: 6/21/1984
Description: 9:30 p.m. Investigators Dick Ruhl and Richie Petracca are
on Interstate 84 in Dutchess County, New York, when they see a brilliant
white wedge-shaped object floating and turning in the sky. The lights
suddenly turn red, and as the object continues to turn, they see red,
green-blue, and white lights. They stop and get binoculars out, then
notice another object on the left. Both objects glide slowly and
maneuver, constantly changing from white as they approach, and to red as
they turn away. They finally form up into a boomerang shape. Ruhl and
Petracca suspect they are seeing the “Stormville pilots,” so they drive
to the Stormville airport. After waiting in the snack bar a short time,
people see lights in the direction of the Green Haven Correctional
Facility. It turns out they are six Cessna Skyhawks, apparently with
mufflers on the engines, and they land one by one on a nearby runway.
Ruhl photographs the serial number of one of the planes, N76106. (Dick
Ruhl, Richie Petracca, Sal Giamusso, and Gerry Arena, “The
Westchester Sightings,” APRO Bulletin 32, no. 6 (September 1984):
5–6; Philip J. Imbrogno. “The Hudson Valley Sightings: A Reply to Dick
Ruhl and APRO,” IUR 10, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1985): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6512
Date: 6/21/1984
Description: 9:44 p.m. Witnesses see unidentified lights over the
Wanaque Reservoir in New Jersey for more than two hours. The manager of
a tavern on Ringwood Avenue in Haskell sees an egg-shaped object moving
faster than a blimp. (“E.T.
Circling Area?” Wayne (N.J.) Today, July 4, 1984, via UFO
Newsclipping Service, no. 181 (August 1984), p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6513
Date: summer 1984
Description: Day. A Mrs. Danuta takes her 2-year-old son to a playground
in the Podwisłocze district of Rzeszów, Poland. A green-metallic object
with a bright cupola 8 feet tall approaches, brushing a tree, and the
woman picks up her son and hides behind a tree. It is making a loud
noise and hovering 30–50 feet above the ground. It then moves toward
some nearby apartments, shoots up, and disappears. (Poland 59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6509
Date: 6/25/1984
Description: Night. A huge, slow-moving object with many lights is seen
near Bethel, Connecticut, for 20 minutes. It looks like a big Ferris
Wheel on its side. (NightSiege 98)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6514
Date: 7/1984
Description: Prentice-Hall publishes Clear Intent by Lawrence Fawcett
and Barry
J. Greenwood, a
history of Air Force, FBI, and CIA involvement in UFO investigations and
secrecy, including many FOIA-released recent reports and documents. The
book immediately sells out and is unavailable for most of the summer. A
second printing in late August also sells out immediately. (Lawrence
Fawcett and Barry J. Greenwood, Clear
Intent: The Government Coverup
of the UFO Experience, Prentice-Hall,
1984; George M. Eberhart, “‘Clear Intent’ Reviewed,” IUR 9, no. 4
(July/August 1984): 6–7, 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6515
Date: 7/10/1984
Description: Four members of the Italian Parliament—Giancarlo
Abete, Publio
Fiori, Alessandro
Scajola, and
Martino Scovacricchi—present
a question to the government on whether it would consider involving
private and civilian experts as future consultants on UFOs. Minister of
Defence Giovanni
Spadolini emphasizes the role of the Italian Air Force in UFO
investigations and denies the necessity to involve outsiders, although
it does not rule out cooperation with Italy’s National Research Council.
(2Pinotti 71)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6516
Date: 7/13/1984
Description: 4:30 p.m. A mysterious object comes into view above
Rzeszów, Poland, remaining stationary for a long time. A flight
controller from Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport estimates it is at 6,500 feet
and is slowly moving to the northwest. Mielec Airport air traffic
controller Kasimierz Lubertowicz scrambles an Iskra jet trainer on a
scouting mission. As pilot Henryk Bronowicki approaches the object at
24,600 feet, he realizes it is not a weather balloon and is moving away
from him. He gives up the chase, but the object descends and he
approaches it again, failing to reach it as it retreats. (Poland 74–75;
Arek Miazga, “Pilot
kontra UFO nad Mielcem 13.07.1984,” Spotkania z Nieznanym, June 1,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6517
Date: 7/19/1984
Description: 10:00–11:00 p.m. Police in Danbury, Bethel, Brookfield, and
New Fairfield, Connecticut, receive reports of a low-flying, slow-moving
object “as large as a football field.” It directs intense beams of light
toward the ground and gives off heat felt by those beneath it. It has
white lights in a circular pattern. (“Area
Police Get Reports of UFOs,”
Danbury (Conn.) News-Times, July 20, 1984, via UFO Newsclipping Service,
no. 181 (August 1984), p. 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6518
Date: 7/24/1984
Description: 9:00 p.m. Security police at Indian Point Nuclear Plant at
Buchanan, New York, again see a UFO with a semicircle of lights. The
lights first flash yellow, then white, then blue. Far to the rear is a
blinking red light. The dark mass behind the lights blocks out the stars
as it approaches steadily. The plant’s movement-detecting sensors and
alarm systems fail, as does the computer responsible for security and
communications. By the time it gets to 500 feet away, the police can see
an ice-cream-cone-shape and a solid body the length of three football
fields. As it passes over the Unit 3 reactor, at one point getting as
close as 30 feet, it is moving so slowly that the police can keep up
with it by walking. An officer inside the plant watching security
monitors is instructed to film the object using a camera atop a 95-foot
pole; the camera has to pan almost 180° to cover the entire length of
the object. One officer notices two hollow spheres or portals in the
bottom. The UFO takes 5 minutes to pass over them. By the time the
security police call Camp Smith, a National Guard base 10 miles away,
and ask for an armed helicopter, the UFO is gone. Many other people in
the area also report seeing the UFO over the plant. Police in Peekskill
receive quite a few calls that evening. Police Sgt. Hoffman goes out to
investigate and sees a giant UFO with more than a dozen white lights in
a V formation slowly move toward the power plant. On July 25, the
security guard supervisor tells them to forget what happened. Video and
audio records of the event are removed, and in the next two days
representatives of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversee a
shakeup of the plant’s security operations. (Philip J. Imbrogno, “Incident
at Indian Point,” UFO Evidence; Clark III 1278; NightSiege
159–168)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6519
Date: 7/24/1984
Description: 10:20 p.m. Electronics executive Bob
Pozzuoli shoots a videotape of a large object with a ring of 6
lights in the sky over Brewster, New York. It moves behind a pine tree
then emerges as a string of rotating multicolored lights and a flashing
red light in the rear. The video also shows airplanes flying in
formation. The tape is analyzed by Lew
Allen at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who is apparently unable to
explain it adequately. (NightSiege 117– 124)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6520
Date: 8/1984
Description: J.
Allen Hynek moves to Scottsdale, Arizona, from Evanston, Illinois,
under the influence of entrepreneurs Tina
Choate and Brian Myers, who
introduce him to wealthy Englishman Jeffrey (or Geoffrey) Kaye with the
promise of funding a new UFO organization (the International Center for
UFO Research in Phoenix), publications, and a TV series about Hynek’s
life. The CUFOS office moves to Glenview, Illinois, where Sherman J.
Larsen operates it. (“UFO
Expert Moving to Arizona,” Chicago Tribune, August 21, 1984, Sec. 2,
p. 1; Keith Basterfield, “Why
Did J. Allen Hynek Move to Scottsdale?” Unidentified Aerial
Phenomena—Scientific Research, October 8, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6521
Date: 8/20/1984
Description: 9:00 p.m. Irene Lunn and her daughter are driving near Deer
Trail Drive in Mahopac Falls, New York, when they notice triangle-shaped
UFO with an unusual L-shaped tailpiece. They stop to observe it more
carefully. The object has one red light, one green light, and eight
white lights, and is moving south when it makes a sudden 90° turn and
slowly moves toward them. They drive the short way home where they
retrieve some binoculars. She can clearly see a dark, metallic object,
which moves off to a neighbor’s yard and hovers. A rectangular object
with white lights in each corner comes into view and moves in front of
the first UFO for 5 seconds, then vanishes. The triangular object
continues to hover, then silently moves off out of sight. (“Multiple
Sightings in New York,” APRO Bulletin 32, no. 11 (May 1985):
1–2)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6522
Date: 8/23/1984
Description: Afternoon. Military radar at Otopeni Airport [now Henri
Coandă International Airport] near Bucharest, Romania, picks up a target
flying above Alexeni Air Force Base [now closed] east of Urziceni at
13,000–14,700 feet. The target, the size of a small plane or helicopter,
appears out of nowhere and is tracked by 4–5 different radars in
separate locations on different frequencies. After 15 minutes, the
object is spotted visually. Through a telescope it appears oval,
metallic and shiny, and about 9 feet long. During its appearance, the
base notices a strong interference on VHF and short wave radios. The
target climbs and descends about 7–8 times to altitudes ranging from
6,500 feet to 34 miles as it moves west at speeds up to 7,450 mph,
making zigzagging movements and turning at sharp angles. It is under
observation for 40 minutes and is lost at a height of 62 miles as it
disappears into space at 620 mph. (Romania 104–105)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6523
Date: 8/25/1984
Description: Philip
Imbrogno and Peter Gersten convene
a public meeting on the Hudson Valley sightings in a middle school in
Brewster, New York, and 1,500 people show up. Hynek attends,
as well as news media, various people from the FBI, Air Force officers
from Pease AFB [now Pease Air National Guard Base], and a mysterious man
who has met with Imbrogno and claims to be from the National Security
Agency. The Pozzuoli videotape
is shown and 900 people fill out UFO sighting reports. (“Strange
Sights Brighten the Night Skies Upstate,” New York Times, August 25,
1984, p. 25; NightSiege 135–147; MUFON UFO Journal, October 1984) Late
summer — 8:00 p.m. Kazimierz Lubertowicz, chief of air traffic control
at Mielec airfield, Poland, reports that a pilot and 30–40 airfield
workers and military personnel are watching a motionless red-orange
light for 2 hours. It is actually floating very slowly to the southeast
at an altitude of 1,300–1,600 feet. (Poland 68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6524
Date: 9/1984
Description: Lawrence Fawcett and Barry
Greenwood launch a new series of Just Cause newsletters to continue
their documentation of government involvement in UFOs discussed in Clear
Intent. The newsletter continues until November 1997. (Just
Cause, new
series, no. 1 (September 1984))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6525
Date: 9/1984
Description: Marc Leduc begins publishing Bulletin d’Information
Ufologique in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec, until June 1986. (Bulletin
d’Information Ufologique 1, no. 1 (September 1984))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6526
Date: 9/2/1984
Description: 7:28 p.m. Physicist Bruce
Maccabee is standing near the Light Street Pavilion in the Inner
Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland, when he sees a black spot in the air to
the southeast. It moves slowly north for 7 minutes at a steady rate
until it disappears. (Bruce Maccabee, “‘Black Hole’ over Baltimore,” IUR
10, no. 2 (March/April 1985): 6–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6527
Date: 9/7/1984
Description: 4:10 a.m. While approaching Minsk, Belarus, the pilots of a
Soviet Aeroflot Tu-134 airliner are startled to see a strange, brightly
glowing shape that appears to their right and follows their path closely
for several minutes. The glowing object changes shape repeatedly,
appearing first as rays, then concentric circles, then as a cloud, and
finally as an amorphous mass. While copilot Gennady Lazurin sketches the
object, Captain Igor Cherkashin contacts air traffic officials, who
report that radar shows a strange “double” object, believed to be the
airliner and the unidentified object. Years later, reports surface of a
second flight crew traveling in the opposite direction who also see the
glowing object. At the same time that the pilots in the first craft
notice the UFO, a Soviet missile is launched from the Plesetsk
Cosmodrome. Lazurin’s sketches of the object closely parallel sketches
made by other witnesses at rocket launches, including amateur observers
of the Soviet missile launch watching in Finland. (“Soviet
Airliner Given ‘Escort’ by UFO,” Houston (Tex.) Chronicle, January
31, 1985, pp. 1, 10; Richard H. Hall, “Soviet Sky Spectacular,” IUR 11,
no. 4 (July/Aug. 1986): 11–14; Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle, The
Soviet UFO Files: Paranormal Encounters behind the Iron Curtain,
Quadrillion, 1998, pp. 88–89; Good Above, pp
243–247; Dmitry Sudakov, “USSR’s Most Renowned UFO Sighting Linked
to Ballistic Missile Launch?” Pravda, August 9, 2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6528
Date: late 9/1984
Alternate date: early 10/1984
Description: 9:00 p.m. Militia Capt. Boris Ivanovich Vladimirov is
riding in the right seat of a patrol vehicle with another policeman in
Bayramgulovo, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, when they notice an unusual
triangular pattern of colored lights about 80 feet away on the right
side of the road in a freshly plowed field. There are 11 lights on the
left and right sides of the object and 13 lights up the center. The
lights on the edge flash sequentially like a theater marquee. After a
bit, all the lights turn off. The next day, Vladimirov returns to the
field and finds three round depressions in the soil about 10 inches deep
and 36 inches in diameter. They are at the corners of an equilateral
triangle 26 feet apart. (Richard F. Haines, “CE2 in the Eastern Urals,”
IUR 17, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1992): 11–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6529
Date: fall 1984
Description: The UK Ministry of Defence is reorganized, making the group
Sec. AS (2a) its main focal point for receiving public UFO reports. Its
mission is to “determine whether or not UFOs present a threat to the
security and defence of the United Kingdom.” It has no other budget than
minor staff costs and its records are unclassified. However, Timothy
Good uncovers evidence that the U.K Provost and Security Services at
RAF Rudloe Manor [now MOD Corsham] northeast of Bath, England, are
conducting more serious and secret UFO investigations. More recent
declassified files have revealed that RAF Rudloe Manor was a filter
center for UFO reports in the 1950s. The British Police Force’s elite
Special Branch in 1997 opens files on two UFO researchers in the UK who
are collecting data on the Rudloe Manor operations—Robin Cole and
Matthew Williams. (“Churchill
Ordered UFO Cover-up,
National Archives Show,” BBC News, August 5, 2010; Nick Redfern, A
Covert Agenda: UFO Secrecy Exposed, Simon & Schuster, 1997, pp. 193,
203, 210; Good Above, pp. 70,
121–126);
Nick Redfern, The Roswell UFO Conspiracy, Lisa Hagan, 2017,
pp. 35–37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6534
Date: 10/1984
Description: 11:45 p.m. Five witnesses, including missile technician
Shamil Yuaihmetov, see a metallic cigar-shaped object slowly descending
at a 45° angle near the Kattakurgan tactical nuclear missile base in
Uzbekistan. It emits a hissing sound. The next day, three apparent
landing-gear marks in an equilateral triangle pattern are found in a
nearby vineyard in an area of damaged vines measuring 100 by 260 feet.
Each depression is 20 inches deep. The case is investigated by S. P.
Kuzionov of the Russian Geographical Society. (Ted R. Phillips, “Physical
Traces Associated
with Unidentified Flying Objects,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 445 (May
2005): 5; Nukes 452–453)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6530
Date: 10/5/1984
Description: 1:00 a.m. Science teacher and UFO investigator Philip
J. Imbrogno and Fred Dennis are returning from an interview with
witnesses in Peekskill, New York, on US Highway 9 when they see, near
Ossining, New York, a large half-circle of 6 bluish-yellow lights
connected to a partially illuminated structure. Suddenly it flips on its
side and turns like a Ferris wheel. After 30 seconds, it is lost behind
some trees. (Philip J. Imbrogno, “Incident
at Indian
Point,” UFO Evidence; Clark III 1277)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6531
Date: 10/8/1984
Description: 7:40 a.m. Giuseppe Cocozza goes into his alfalfa field near
Prata di Principato Ultra, Avellino, Italy, to get some fodder for his
cow. On the beaten-earth path to the field he encounters an entity about
4 feet tall, wearing a blue helmet on its head and carrying a blue box
on its back that features tubes running into the helmet and the entity’s
back. Its body is covered with long, dark-brown hair, and it appears to
be using a T-shaped instrument to explore the ground. There is a wide,
aluminum-colored slit around its eyes. After noticing Cocozza, the
entity moves toward a clearing among some hazel bushes, emitting small
bluish flames from its sides. The witness backtracks and loses sight of
it, but sees a UFO ascend at an angle from the bushes, turn, and shoot
away toward a mountain range. Cocozza returns with a shotgun and finds
some hoof-like footprints and holes left by the strange instrument, as
well as landing marks apparently caused by the object. (Umberto
Telarico, “Close
Encounter at Prato
di Principato Ultra (Italy), October 1984,” Flying Saucer Review 32,
no. 1 (December 1986): 9–18; 2Pinotti 72–83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6532
Date: 10/9/1984
Description: 3:30 a.m. A beam of light coming in through a window wakes
up Isidoro Ferri in his residence on the Via della Tessaia in Polcanto,
northeast of Florence, Italy. He sees that it is coming from the
forehead of a dark figure on a nearby hill across the road. Suddenly the
figure and light vanish, and Ferri sees a stationary ink light with
three jets projecting downward. After several minutes, this light
disappears and an extremely bright white light approaches and floods the
area. Ferri gets up and approaches the window but finds himself
paralyzed for a few seconds. The light then withdraws, and he finds he
can move again. The white light is replaced by a red lens- shaped light
that hurts his eyes then moves on to the northwest. Ferri’s dog has not
barked through the entire encounter, refuses food for the next several
days, and stays in its doghouse for 2 weeks. Three circular holes 4
inches in diameter and 1 inch deep are found in an area of somewhat
flattened grass. (Edoardo Russo, “Italian Update
1984,” Flying Saucer Review 30, no. 4 (May 1985): 26; 2Pinotti
84–92; Patrick Gross, URECAT,
February 1, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6533
Date: 11/1984
Description: British UFO researcher Timothy
Good interviews astrophysicist Pierre
Guérin on the future of GEPAN. Because it is under the aegis of
CNES, which is ill-disposed toward UFOs, Guérin says, it is doomed.
(Good Above, pp. 136–139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6536
Date: 11/1984
Description: Discover magazine publishes a cover story on the
Westchester County sightings, which claims that the UFOs are actually a
group of pilots from Stormville, New York, who fly ultralight aircraft
in a tight formation and use their lights in such a way as to create
boomerang or circle patterns. The author, Glenn
Garelik, notes that single-engine planes, even when directly
overhead, are barely audible at ground level when they are flying above
3,000 feet. However, it fails to disclose that many witnesses are much
closer to the object than that, nor does it mention the hovering for
extended periods. In his 1987 book Night Siege, Philip
J. Imbrogno lists 12 reasons for rejecting the explanation of the
Stormville pilots. On those occasions when witnesses see both a plane
and a UFO, the plane is clearly audible and the UFO is not, even if it
is much closer. The UFO also appears on nights when the Stormville
pilots are not in the air. The UFO’s maneuvers simply are beyond the
capacity of most aircraft, and the power and intensity of the lights is
far beyond the power capacity of small planes. (Glenn Garelik, “The
Great Hudson Valley UFO Mystery,” Discover 5 (November 1984): 18–24;
NightSiege 1998; Clark III 1278–1279)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6535
Date: 11/14/1984
Description: As the space shuttle Discovery approaches the dysfunctional
satellite Westar VI on the STS-51-A mission,
its video camera records for 2 seconds a gray blob that seems to
materialize near the top center of the frame and move in a curved path
across the right side of the frame. Bruce
Maccabee says the blob could be a “reflection of something in a
window or a small nearby particle.” (“UFO
Appears during NASA STS-51-A Mission
November 1984,” Real UFO Files Disclosed YouTube channel, July 10,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6537
Date: 12/1984
Description: Bob
Gribble, who
operates the National UFO Reporting Center in Seattle, Washington,
discontinues sending UFO reports to MUFON and sends them to Michael
Hart’s Compufon for posting on the Usenet bulletin board. (MUFON UFO
Journal, October 1985)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6538
Date: 12/1984
Description: Night. A married couple are up late watching TV in
Trafford, Pennsylvania, when they hear a tapping on the window. They see
a red ball of light about as big as a basketball that moves away from
the window. They turn on the outside lights to watch the ball, which has
black marks among the red and gives off beams and sparks. It floats over
a neighbor’s house. They go back to watching TV, but the red light taps
on the window once more before going away. (Michael D. Swords, “A Trick
of the Light,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6539
Date: 12/11/1984
Description: North Hollywood, California, film producer Jaime
Shandera receives an unmarked package in the mail containing an
undeveloped roll of 35mm film with the faked 1952 Eisenhower briefing
document and the 1947 Truman MJ-12 memo. He tells researcher William
Moore, and they have the roll developed. Postmarked Albuquerque, New
Mexico, the package is most likely sent by individuals in AFOSI at
Kirtland AFB, including special agent Master Sgt. Richard
Doty, to plant disinformation in William Moore’s UFO research. They
wait until 1987 to release the document. (Michael Hesemann and Philip
Mantle, Beyond Roswell, Marlowe, 1997, p. 90;
Clark III 365–366)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6540
Date: 1985
Description: Scientific UFO Conference in Darlian, China. China Daily
reported that 20,000 people involved in UFO research. Professor Renglin
of Guangzhou Jinan University said more than 600 reports in China in
prev. 5 years.
Type: conference
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: China
Date: 1985
Description: Near the town of Krasnovodsk [now Türkmenbaşy],
Turkmenistan, a radar station under the command of Captain L. Valuev
tracks a disc-shaped object at an altitude of 60,000 feet and apparently
more than one-half mile in length. The object is stationary, and some
time later a small disc about 16 feet in diameter flies out of it and
then lands on a lengthy spit on the Caspian Sea. Patrol boats rush to
that area, but when they reach a distance of 325 feet from the object,
it takes off and flies more than one-half mile away. This happens five
times. Then the object ascends at a huge speed and reaches the larger
disc, which rises up and disappears. (Alexander Dremin, “Soviet Army
Fought UFOs,” Pravda, January 2004; Good Need, p. 354;
Vadim K. Ilyin, “KGB’s
‘Blue Folder’ Reveals Shootings,
Landings in USSR,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 403 (November 2001):
8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6541
Date: 1/1985
Description: Jerome
Clark begins to take over as editor of the International UFO
Reporter as Hynek distances
himself from operations at the Center for UFO Studies. (Clark III
628)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6542
Date: 1/1985
Description: A Roper Organization poll finds that 25% of Americans think
that UFOs come from somewhere else in the universe. (Robert J. Durant,
“Evolution of Public Opinion on UFOs,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993):
13, 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6543
Date: 1/10/1985
Description: US physicist Bernard
Eastlund files a patent on a “Method and apparatus for altering a
region in the earth’s atmosphere, ionosphere, and/or magnetosphere,”
that proposes a 40-square-mile radio transmitter using Alaskan natural
gas to generate current to create electromagnetic radiation to excite a
section of the ionosphere. The patent speculates on “possible
ramifications and potential future developments” including
magnetotelluric surveys, local weather modification, and missile
defense. Eastlund later claims that HAARP is built using his patents,
prompting Nick
Begich Jr. to charge in 1995 that HAARP is capable of secretly
controlling the weather. According to HAARP program manager John
L. Heckscher, “HAARP certainly does not have anything to do with
Eastlund’s thing, that is just crazy. What we have here is a premier
scientific research facility with military applications.” (US Patent,
“Method
and Apparatus for Altering a Region of the Earth’s Atmosphere,
Ionosphere, and/or Magnetosphere,”
granted August 11, 1987)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6544
Date: 1/13/1985
Description: Journalist James
Bamford reveals the existence of the still-secret National
Reconnaissance Office in a New York Times article. (James Bamford, “America’s
Supersecret Eyes in Space,” New York Times Magazine, January 13,
1985, Sec. 6, p. 39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6545
Date: 1/13/1985
End date: 1/27/1985
Description: Project Hessdalen II is launched to study the recurring
lights of Hessdalen, Norway, with the participation of J.
Allen Hynek, who
arrives on January 26, but little light activity is noted. The
phenomenon ceases in 1986. Investigators disagree on what the Hessdalen
lights are. Odd-Gunnar Røed thinks they have some complex natural cause.
Erling
Strand finds it odd that the lights are so localized in time and
space and must be an unknown phenomenon. Paul
Devereux is convinced that they are earthquake lights resulting from
seismic activity (even though the seismograph recorded no tremors).
University of Oslo physicist Elvand Thrane says the lights remain a
mystery. (J. Allen Hynek, “Tracking the Hessdalen Lights,” IUR 10, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1985): 10–11; “Projekt
Hessdalen, Teil II,” Journal für UFO-Forschung 48 (Nov./Dec. 1986):
164–170; Kim Hansen, “UFO Casebook,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes,
1987, pp. 90–92; Gerson S. Paiva and C. A. Taft, “Hessdalen Lights
and Piezoelectricity from Rock Strain,” Journal of Scientific
Exploration 25, no. 2 (2011): 265–271; Clark III 573; G. Pascoli, “Are
Hessdalen Lights a Reality, an Illusion, or a Mix of the Two?”
Journal of Scientific Exploration 35, no. 3 (2021): 590–622)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6546
Date: 2/1985
Description: 2:35 a.m. Freight train #1702, consisting of 70 empty cars
and a locomotive, is paced by a strange object for 31 miles from Essoyla
station through Suoyarvi, Karelia, Russia, for 1 hour and 20 minutes. It
comes from the side and crosses the railway about 100–160 feet ahead of
the train. The men feel as if hypnotized and stare at an object about 13
feet in diameter that moves silently above the ground as if drifting.
When the train is approaching the Novye Peski station, Engineer Sergei
Orlov switches on his portable radio and contacts a woman on duty who
goes out to meet the approaching train. She is surprised to see the
shining ball followed by the vibrating object looking like an “upturned
basin.” The train appears, moving at about 37 mph. She thinks the ball
might hit the station, but right before the switch, it suddenly
separates from the locomotive and passes around the building. When it
returns, the object moves again toward the train, which speeds up as if
the UFO is pulling it. The train manages to stop only near the Zastava
station and the ball disappears behind the forest. The crew has to wait
for a train coming from the opposite direction toward Petrozavodsk.
Conductor Mironov gets out of the cab to examine the wheels, and as soon
as he walks around the locomotive he feels a strange force press him
against the train. He cannot move, but eventually it lets up; he reaches
the cab and the train starts off as if it is waiting for him to take his
seat. The train keeps moving for some time until the ball disappears
behind trees. Automatic recorders on the locomotive and other official
documents corroborate the testimony. The shining ball is noticed earlier
at the Kutizhma station even before it is spotted by the train. (NICAP,
“Objects
Pull Train”; Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle, The Soviet UFO Files:
Paranormal Encounters behind the Iron Curtain, Quadrillion, 1998,
p. 95)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6547
Date: 3/1985
Description: Noon. At a military shooting range at Mălina, west of
Galaţi, Romania, Doru Voloşeniuc is sent to collect compasses from a
military vehicle when he sees a flat, silvery object hovering about 5
feet above the ground. It becomes shrouded with a blue-green mist as it
increases its rotation. He hears an unusually strong and penetrating
ringing sound and he is lifted off the ground more than 12 inches and
slams into the road face down. Looking up, he sees the object is no
longer there. (Romania 93–94)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6548
Date: 3/3/1985
Description: Meeting between researchers Ray Boeche and Scott Colborn
and US Senator J. J. Exon D-Neb concerning the 12/1980 Bentwaters and
other incidents. Exon is described as concerned that as a member of the
Armed Services Committee he has not been fully appraised of the
Bentwaters and other UFO events.
Type: meeting
Reference: APCIC Vol 10 #4 1985
Location: Washington DC
See also: 12/1980
Date: 3/7/1985
Description: 11:40 a.m. A witness is driving south on North Stevens
Street between 12th and 16th streets in Tacoma, Washington, when he sees
a long, glowing, oval object to his left less than 2 miles away. The
object, the width of four full moons, begins banking to the northeast.
At a traffic light, the witness is able to take three photographs of the
distant object, and he drives another mile toward the UFO, taking a
fourth photo before it shoots straight up and out of sight. The photos
only show a blur of distant light. A day later, the witness develops a
rash on his face. (“Sighting
Report from Tacoma,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 6, no. 3 (June/July
1985): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6549
Date: 3/21/1985
Description: Philip
J. Imbrogno and his team of investigators (Sheila Sabo and George
Lesnick) see a UFO immediately after leaving the University of
Bridgeport, Connecticut, where they took part in a call-in TV show about
the Hudson Valley sightings. They see a circular structure ringed in 7
brilliant lights hovering over a 15-story building, watch it turn in the
sky, and chase it down Interstate 95. The object glides effortlessly
across the sky. The FAA later tells them that the sighting involves
pilots flying in an illegal formation. (NightSiege 189–194)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6550
Date: 4/19/1985
Description: In a letter from Ministry of Defense, Lord Trefgarne
states, “There is no organization in the MOD appointed solely for the
purpose of studying UFOs, and no staff are employed on the subject full
time… the staff in the Department… examine the reports as part of their
normal duties… and we cannot inform observers of the probable identity
of the objects seen.”
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: London, England
Date: 5/20/1985
End date: 5/25/1985
Description: Army Col. John
B. Alexander (Howard
Blum gives him the pseudonym “Harold Phillips”), director of
advanced concepts at the US Army Laboratory, forms a UFO working group
titled Advanced Theoretical Physics Group made up of scientists and
officers throughout the defense and intelligence community. His intent
is to credibly gain access to actual deep-black military programs on
UFOs or provide consultants for them. It meets for the first time this
week, with only three other meetings: August 6–7, 1985; April 24, 1986;
and November 18, 1987. They meet at BDM McLean Secure Facility in
Virginia, and the last time at the Pentagon. This first meeting’s
attendees include Robert
M. Wood (McDonnell Douglas), Lt. Col. Ronald
F. Blackburn (Air Force), Milt Jansen (or Janzen), Don Keuble
(Lockheed), Harold
E. Puthoff (SRI), Ed Speakman (Army Intelligence), Howell
McConnell (NSA), William
S. Wilkinson (CIA), and others. The group’s effort appears to be
connected to an engineering project under retired Adm. Bobby
Ray Inman. Wood says the meetings are top secret, but he hears
“nothing that was truly classified.” Wood gives a presentation on UFO
propulsion. Other people supposedly connected to the group are Maj.
Gen. Albert
Stubblebine, Jack
Houck (Boeing), and remote viewer Ed
Dames. Alexander states that one of ATP’s goals is: “Study of the
UFO data could provide a potential for a leap in technology. This would
not require access to a craft, but could be derived from scientific
examination of the reports determining the theoretical physics required
to achieve such results.” The group dissolves in 1988, since no
government agency wants to openly fund it. (Howard Blum, Out
There: The Government’s Secret Quest for Extraterrestrials, Simon
& Schuster, 1990; John B. Alexander, UFOs:
Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities, Thomas Dunne, 2011; Good Need,
pp. 340–341;
Dolan II 382–384; Jacques Vallée, Forbidden Science 3, Anomalist,
2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6551
Date: 5/23/1985
Description: 10:35 p.m. A Soviet bomber regiment carrying out a
scheduled mission spots an oval, orange object over the Khabarovsk Krai,
Russia. Radar does not track it, but observers estimate it is traveling
close to 350 mph. A light halo surrounds it. The sighting lasts 13
minutes, during which time the object occasionally descends and remains
motionless. Two hours later, a similar object is seen at high altitude
for 10 minutes, emitting beams of light. (Paul Stonehill and Philip
Mantle, The Soviet UFO Files: Paranormal Encounters behind the Iron
Curtain, Quadrillion, 1998, p. 76)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6552
Date: 5/26/1985
Description: 9:30–10:15 p.m. More than 100 people around Newtown and
Southbury, Connecticut, see a low-flying, silent, circular formation of
lights that passes over Interstate 84, causing many cars to pull over
for a look and some to lose power. Commercial airline pilot Randy Etting
sees the lights as he is driving along I-94. He pulls off the road and
snaps a photo of the formation. He is sure there is a solid object
behind the lights. (Philip J. Imbrogno, “1985: Close
Encounter on Interstate 84, Connecticut,” UFO Casebook; NightSiege
200–201)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6553
Date: 6/11/1985
Description: 10:40 p.m. A Chinese Boeing 747 airliner encounters a UFO
on its flight from Beijing to Paris that almost forces the captain to
make an emergency landing. Flight CA 933 is over Lanzhou, Gansu
province, China, when Captain Wang Shuting and his crew first observe
the object. The UFO crosses the path of the airliner at an altitude of
33,000 feet at a very high speed. The object illuminates an area of
25–30 square miles and is huge, with an apparent diameter of 6 miles. It
is elliptical in shape and has an extremely bright spot in the center,
with three horizontal rows of bluish-white lights on the perimeter. The
sighting lasts for 2 minutes. Passengers do not see the object.
(“Translation from China of June 11th UFO over Dung Kou,” CUFOS
Associate Newsletter 6, no. 3 (June/July 1985): 6; Good Above, p. 218)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6555
Date: summer 1985
Description: Midnight. Biochemist Kary
Mullis (who in 1993 won a Nobel Prize for his work on the polymerase
chain reaction) is outside his cabin in Mendocino County, California,
when he sees a glow next to a fir tree. Pointing his flashlight in that
direction, he sees that the glow is coming from a raccoon with black
eyes. The raccoon speaks to him, saying, “Good evening, doctor.” He
gives a friendly reply, and a moment later it is suddenly morning and he
is walking on a road uphill from the cabin with no idea how he has
gotten there. His clothes are clean and dry. Mullis goes back to the
cabin for some sleep. Later, he returns to the area near the fir tree
and experiences an irrational panic. In 1987, he sees the cover of Whitley
Strieber’s Communion and feels a vague sense of recognition. His
adult daughter Louise, who has also experienced missing time at the
cabin, has the same reaction. Mullis has no memory of seeing a UFO or
having an abduction experience, but he insists the experience is real.
(Kary B. Mullis, Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, Pantheon, 1998, pp. 130–136;
Bill Chalker, “An
Interesting Aside,”
1999)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6554
Date: 6/27/1985
Description: During startup of the first reactor at the Balakovo Nuclear
Power Plant, Saratov Oblast, Russia, a relief valve bursts and
superheated steam at 572° F. escapes into the annular compartments
surrounding the reactor well. Fourteen men are possibly boiled alive.
The incident is covered up by Soviet authorities. (Adam Higginbotham,
Midnight at Chernobyl, Simon & Schuster, 2019, pp. 70–71)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6556
Date: 6/28/1985
Description: USAF ACCESS RESTRICTED NOTICE: Report TR-DE-3A, Oct. 15,
1955, from Air Tech. Intel. Ctr., file no. TS5–2862, has been WITHDRAWN
from the National Archives and is classified a TOP SECRET UFO
Report.
Type: report
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p529)
Location: National Archives, Washington DC
Date: 7/1985
Description: 3:00 p.m. As a pilot is flying a Grumman AA TR-2 toward the
Port Columbus International Airport [now the John Glenn Columbus
International Airport] in Ohio, the airport gives him authorization to
investigate a “second sun” about two-thirds the size of a football field
a few miles to the northwest. It is not tracked on ground radar. As he
approaches, he sees it is a huge bright light that switches off as he
gets closer, revealing a gray sphere. The object apparently consists of
“millions” of clearly visible, pentagon-shaped, partially translucent
crystals. The pilot estimates they are 6 inches in diameter, all spaced
identically about 12 inches apart. He decides to penetrate the mass with
his left wing, hoping he can knock some to the ground. As his wing
slices through, he hears what sounds like a hailstorm on a tin roof and
he sees hundreds of crystals breaking along the wing. The aircraft
turbulence does not disturb the small objects, but their impact on the
wing nearly destabilizes him. Later, he looks for fragments embedded in
the wing, but does not find any. (George Filer, “Filer’s Files,”
#12-2005, March 16, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6557
Date: 7/14/1985
Description: 12:56 a.m. Brian McMullan Sr., Brian McMullan Jr., and a
third member of the rock band C.E.IV (because of their interest in UFOs)
are in the garden outside the home of their bass player in a northern
suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, when they see an amber ball skipping along
the sky. It crosses the sky in 25 seconds, slowly changing color to red.
They estimate it is about 60 feet across and vanishes toward Fenwick
Moor. The band remembers being “paralyzed with awe” for several minutes
after the sighting. (Jenny Randles, “Cosmic Rock,” Fortean Times 397
(October 2020): 31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6558
Date: 7/18/1985
Description: Jaime
Shandera and William
Moore discover the unsigned, carbon-copy 1954 Cutler-Twining memo in
Box 189 of Record Group 341 in the National Archives in Washington,
D.C., between two file folders.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6559
Date: 7/22/1985
Description: 5:45 p.m. Two Hawk jets of the Zimbabwe Air Force piloted
by C. Cordy-Hedge and T. R. Van Rooyen are scrambled from Thornhill Air
Base in Gweru, Zimbabwe, following sightings in Bulawayo and five other
cities in Matabeleland South. The object is seen and tracked on radar at
Bulawayo Airport. It looks orange and round with a short cone on top.
When the jets arrive at Bulawayo, the object is hovering at 7,000 feet,
but it suddenly accelerates to a height of above 70,000 feet in less
than a minute. The Hawks level off at 31,000 feet and return to
Thornhill, where the object is seen for a few moments before
disappearing horizontally at high speed. Air Commodore David
Thorne states: “As far as my Air Staff is concerned, we believe
implicitly that the unexplained UFOs are from some civilization beyond
our planet.” UFO researcher Cynthia
Hind speaks to some Bulawayo witnesses who think the object is a
balloon coated with reflecting material, but radar operators say it is
clear it is no balloon. (Good Above, pp. 433–434;
MUFON UFO Journal, November 1985; Cynthia Hind, “Report
on the UFO
Sighting in Zimbabwe: July, 1985,” BUFORA Bulletin, no. 21 (May
1986): 5–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6560
Date: 8/1985
Description: Several dozen Chinese scientists gather in Dalian,
Liaoning, China, to exchange views on UFO research for the first time.
Some 40 papers are presented and 17 of them are selected to be published
in the proceedings. An article in China Daily reports that there is an
enormous interest in UFOs in China and that the China UFO Research
Organization has a membership of 20,000. The organization’s chairman,
Liang Renglin of Jinan University in Guangzhou, says that more than 600
reports were made in the past 5 years. (“UFO Conference Held in
Darlian,” China Daily, August 27, 1985; Good Above, pp. 219,
472)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6561
Date: 8/5/1985
Description: 8:15 p.m. Antiaircraft batteries open fire on a UFO that is
flying from west to east over northeastern Tehran, Iran. They apparently
miss. The batteries believe the object is an Iraqi warplane. (“Iran
Fires on Shining Object in Sky,”
Newport News (Va.) Daily Press, August 7, 1985, p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6562
Date: 8/10/1985
Description: The Russian nuclear submarine K-431 is refueling at the
Chazhma Bay naval facility near Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia. A
reactor tank lid is improperly replaced, which quickly results in a
thermal explosion. There are 10 fatalities, and 49 other people suffer
radiation injuries. The explosion releases a massive amount of
radioactivity and contaminates large areas of land and water. The
disaster is kept secret for many years. (Wikipedia, “Soviet
submarine K-431”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6563
Date: 8/15/1985
Description: 4:05 p.m. Greek Olympic Airways Flight OA 132, piloted by
Christos Stamulis, is flying from Zürich, Switzerland, to Athens and is
just passing the Swiss-Italian border at 25,000 feet when a wingless
projectile passes 200–500 feet below them from left to right. The object
is about 6 feet long, dark brown or black, and is coming from the
Italian side of the border. Italian and Swiss military deny any tests.
(Clas Svahn and Anders Liljegren, “Close Encounters with Unknown
Missiles,” IUR 19, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1994): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6564
Date: 8/17/1985
Description: Afternoon. For several hours, witnesses throughout central
Chile see distinct, luminous spots in the sky, sometimes motionless,
sometimes moving slowly. Television crews film the objects, astronomers
in Santiago photograph them, and the Arturo Merino Benítez International
Airport tracks them on radar. Early explanations by the Chilean Air
Force center on weather or research balloons, but a Chilean Civil
Aeronautics report states that the sightings remain an enigma. (J.
Antonio Huneeus, “A
Chilean Overview,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 218 (June 1986):
5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6565
Date: 8/18/1985
Description: Four civilian pilots are flying a Cessna on a southerly
course at 3,200 feet altitude near Söderhamn, Gävleborg, Sweden, when
they spot a missilelike object, some 20 feet long, going in the opposite
direction. They see it is a metallic missile with steering fins in the
back. It occasionally changes its course according to the terrain. The
pilot dives down a bit to follow it, but they can’t keep up. The Swedish
military spends 6 months trying to identify it. (Clas Svahn and Anders
Liljegren, “Close Encounters with Unknown Missiles,” IUR 19, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1994): 12; Swords 369–370)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6566
Date: 8/27/1985
Description: Darlian, China, the “China Daily” reports: 20,000 people
are involved in UFO research. The first recognized photo of a UFO in
China was taken in 1945.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p472)
Location: Darlian, China
Date: 9/9/1985
Description: 12:05 p.m. British pilot David J. Hastings is flying a
Cessna 337 Super Skymaster with his instructor, US pilot David
Patterson, south of Las Vegas, Nevada, with the Mojave Desert in
California just coming into view, when they nearly collide with an
oblong-shaped object that suddenly appears directly in front of them.
They duck beneath the instrument panel. When they get up, they sense
something moving on the port side of the plane, so Hastings takes two
photos in that direction. When the film is developed, one shot shows a
blurry image of a UFO. (David J. Hastings, “Across the USA in a Cessna
Skymaster,” Pilot, June 2000, pp. 56–59; UFOFiles2, pp. 132– 133;
Good Need, pp. 399–400)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6567
Date: 9/13/1985
Description: The US P78-1 Solwind solar observation satellite is
destroyed in orbit at an altitude of 326 miles by an ASM-135 ASAT
missile launched from a USAF F-15 Eagle fighter aircraft. The test
results in 285 cataloged pieces of orbital debris. (Wikipedia, “Solwind”;
Wikipedia, “ASM-135
ASAT”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6568
Date: 9/15/1985
Description: Disc-shaped object hovered ahead of car. Second object
paced alongside car, bright illumination of area
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Bagshot Heath, Surrey, UK
ID: 402
Date: 9/27/1985
Description: Two police officers in Long Clawson, England, are the
latest witnesses of a triangular-shaped object that has been seen
multiple times in the area around Leicester since August. (“Throwing
a Light on UFO,” Leicester (UK) Mercury, December 2, 1985, via UFO
Newsclipping Service, no. 199 (February 1986): 12) Autumn — 8:30 p.m. A
father and son are driving in Cannock Chase toward Rugeley,
Staffordshire, England. As they round a bend in the road, they see a
large, black, triangular object stationary 150 feet in the sky about 100
feet away. A bright light appears at each point of the triangle. After a
short time, it shoots away at incredible speed. (“Tale
of a Chase Hi-Tech Triangle,” Wolverhampton (UK) Cannock Chase Post,
December 21, 2000, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 383 (June 2001):
13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6569
Date: 10/1985
Description: The Russian motorship Baltiysky-35 is in the Baltic Sea
bound from Lübeck, Germany, to Riga, Latvia, when the crew observes a
bright dot in the sky emanating concentric circles of a light-green
color. Researcher Konstantin Khazanovich considers this to be the result
of a Soviet ballistic missile laiunch from the Murmansk area. (Stonehill
and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, p. 172)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6570
Date: 11/1985
Description: GEPAN has received 1,615 UFO reports from the Gendarmerie
in France dating as far back as 1974. (Clark III 546)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6571
Date: 11/3/1985
Description: 8:30 p.m. Two men in a small vessel in the waters off
Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia, notice a high- altitude object in
the north looking a bit larger than a star, rapidly moving toward them.
It sends a beam of light to earth at a sharp angle, although the beam
does not reach the ground. As the UFO approaches the boat its engine
stops. The captain restarts the engine, but it dies again when the
object is overhead. The UFO moves off toward the city and disappears.
The men use oars to return to shore. (Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle,
The Soviet UFO Files: Paranormal Encounters behind the Iron Curtain,
Quadrillion, 1998, pp. 77–78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6572
Date: 11/16/1985
Description: Leonid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 403
Date: 11/16/1985
Description: Mark
Rodeghier is named deputy scientific director of the Center for UFO
Studies. (“To Our Readers,” IUR 10, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1985): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6573
Date: 11/19/1985
Description: Silent, triangular object with body lights
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Madison, WI
ID: 404
Date: 11/19/1985
Description: 11:00 p.m. A woman is returning to her home near Madison,
Wisconsin. Suddenly she sees three lights above a row of trees
descending toward a house on the north side of the street. She pulls
over to the curb and sees the lights make a sharp, 90° turn toward her
car. Then it rises several feet in front of the car avoiding the power
lines. Triangular and black, the object is the size of a large car with
a light on each side. Sweeping to the north, the triangle stops and
hovers directly over a house. She leaves and calls the Madison police
department. (Don Schmitt, “The Belleville Sightings, Part Two,” IUR 13,
no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1988): 17–18; Marler 163)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6575
Date: 11/19/1985
Description: At the 1985 Geneva Summit between President Ronald
Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan
remarks during a toast that if the people of the world were to find out
that there was some alien life form that was going to attack the Earth
approaching on Halley’s Comet, then that knowledge would unite all the
peoples of the world. (presidentialufo.com, “Ronald Reagan, 40th
President, January 20, 1981– January 20, 1989”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6574
Date: 11/22/1985
Description: Silent triangular object
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: DeForest, WI
ID: 405
Date: 11/22/1985
Description: Hynek writes
a letter to International UFO Reporter Editor Jerome
Clark, effectively resigning as editor-in-chief, citing health
reasons. He also states that his connection with Tina
Choate, Brian Myers, and the ICUFOR operation in Phoenix, Arizona,
is “null and void.” Funding from the British investor Kaye has fallen
through, and Choate and Myers are more interested in the commercial
aspects than UFO research. (“Dr. Hynek Resigns,” IUR 10, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1985): 20; O’Connell, 2017, pp. 332–338)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6576
Date: 11/22/1985
Description: After 5:00 p.m. A Wisconsin state employee is driving north
on County Highway CV near DeForest, Wisconsin, when he notices three
white lights hovering 20–30 feet above a farmhouse. He exits the highway
for a closer look. The UFO is roughly triangular, dull gray, 40 feet
across, and its bottom is sloped into contours. It is hanging stationary
over a 60-foot-high tree as the witness pulls his car past it. He gets
out of his car about 200 feet away, and the object moves closer toward
him to about 100 feet over the road. Smoothly and quickly it moves away
to the west. (Don Schmitt, “The Belleville Sightings, Part Two,” IUR 13,
no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1988): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6577
Date: 12/1985
Description: Some members of the Centro Ufologico Nazionale, including
Paolo
Toselli, Gian Paolo Grassino, and Edoardo Russo, are dissatisfied
with its administration and priorities. They break off and form the
Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici. The newsletter Notizie C.U.N. becomes
Notizie UFO with the same editor, Gian Paolo Grassino, in Turin, Italy.
It changes the name in February 1998 to UFO Notizie and is now published
as Notizie CISU. (Notizie
UFO, no.
11 (December 1985); UFO
Notizie, no. 57 (February 1998); Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici,
“Notizie
CISU”; 2Pinotti 96–97)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6578
Date: 12/23/1985
Description: 3:10 a.m. The merchant ferry Manuel
Soto, owned
by Transmediterránea Company, is sailing from Las Palmas to Arrecife in
the Canary Islands when the third officer on duty sees a light on the
horizon ahead. Initially he identifies it as the star Antares but soon
realizes the position is wrong. He takes measurements of its height and
azimuth. It remains in the same spot for 15 minutes, after which it
begins moving quickly. Other crew members see the light approaching the
ship and reaching the zenith 2 minutes later. The object’s outline does
not resemble an airplane or helicopter, and it has an intense white
light at its center, a weaker red light near it, and another soft light
set apart. The object is flying low and silently. (Swords 436)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6579
Date: 12/26/1985
Description: Whitley Strieber alien encounter
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Ulster County, NY
ID: 406
Date: 12/26/1985
Description: Night. Novelist Whitley
Strieber undergoes a bizarre UFO abduction in his cabin in upstate
New York. After he is awakened by a peculiar noise, he opens his eyes to
see a small, inhuman creature rushing toward his bed. The next thing he
knows it is morning, and he is feeling disoriented and angry but can’t
tell why. Later, the full story of missing time, terrifying flashbacks,
and intrusive examinations by entities he calls the “visitors” unfolds
under the direction of Budd
Hopkins in hypnosis sessions by Donald
Klein of the New York Psychiatric Institute beginning in March 1986.
Strieber tells the story in his 1987 book Communion. (Whitley Strieber,
Communion:
A True Story, Avon,
1987; Clark III 1112–1113; Nick Redfern, “Whitley
Strieber’s Communion
at 30,”
Mysterious Universe, March 2, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6580
Date: 1986
Description: NORAD technical intelligence works on 813 initial Unknown
targets this year (whittled down quickly from an even greater number of
Uncorrelated Targets). Nearly two-thirds are pursued by fighter
interceptors and more than one-third of the scrambled cases are
successfully intercepted and identified. Almost half of the total are
identified by further Air Traffic Control correlation, leaving 123
Remaining Unknowns at the end of the year. This is reduced further in
early 1987 to 87 “Not Identified” REMs by additional intelligence
correlation analysis, leaving roughly 10% of the initial amount
unidentified. (Clark III 801)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6581
Date: 1986
Description: Night. Dissident Chinese writer Ma
Jian has escaped from custody and is making his way through
dangerous terrain in Lancang Lahu Autonomous County in southern Yunnan,
China. Suddenly, a ball of light the size of a cantaloupe appears in the
darkness. It rises from a stream and floats through the trees, then
stops by some branches 30 feet away. It drops to his eye level and he
follows it through the forest, guiding his way for 12 miles until dawn.
(Ma Jian, Red Dust: A Path through China, Pantheon, 2001, p. 279;
Clark III 652–653)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6582
Date: 1986
Description: Colonel General Sapkov observes UFO over Kapustin Test
Range
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: link
Location: Kapustin Test Range
See also: 11/79
Date: 1/1986
Description: Jimmy Goddard begins publishing Amskaya, a newsletter of
the contactee-oriented STAR Fellowship, in Weybridge, Surrey, England.
It continues through July 2018. (Amskaya,
no. 1 (January 1986))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6583
Date: 1/1/1986
Description: The Usenet bulletin board service ParaNet is launched,
managed by James J. Speiser in Arizona. It quickly develops into a
thriving community where a full range of researchers, skeptics, and
cranks can post articles. Dale Goudie takes over the online information
service Computer UFO Network. Operating out of Mercer Island,
Washington, it functions as a UFO bulletin board using a voice and data
line connected to an IBM personal computer. CUFON receives most of its
reports from Bob
Gribble of the National UFO Reporting Center. In Seattle. By late
1986, Goudie has more than 1,700 members and is receiving many calls per
day, mostly IFOs. (MUFON UFO Journal, February 1986; MUFON UFO Journal,
July 1986; Walt Andrus, “Director’s
Message,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 223, November 1986, pp. 19, 18;
Dolan II 380–381)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6584
Date: 1/3/1986
Description: Quadrantid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 407
Date: 1/7/1986
Description: UFO emitted six light beams toward ground. About n minutes
later in Pittsburgh, silver-gray disc with body lights hovered, mist
formed around it. Object tilted, moved out of sight
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Butler, PA
ID: 408
Date: 1/7/1986
Description: A UFO emitting beams of light toward the ground is seen in
Butler, Pennsylvania. In Pittsburgh, 20 minutes later, a silver-gray
disc is seen hovering. Mist forms around it, the object tilts, and it
moves out of sight. (MUFON UFO Journal, December 1986, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6585
Date: 1/9/1986
Description: 9:00 p.m. Multiple cars stop along Interstate 84 in
Hartford, Connecticut, to watch a silent boomerang- shaped object,
estimated to be the size of a Boeing 747, with white, red, blue, and
green lights. It moves low through the sky then hovers for 15 seconds
before heading off to the west. The boomerang is also seen by dozens of
witnesses in Torrington, Connecticut. A family sees the UFO, with 10
white lights, hover directly over their house, engulfing their home in a
brilliant white light. They are so frightened they flee to the basement.
The building inspector for Torrington sees a “cigar with square windows”
near Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks. The FAA claims the
object is a blimp, although there are no blimps flying in the area.
(NightSiege, 5–6, 194)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6586
Date: 1/29/1986
Description: 7:50 p.m. Inhabitants of Dalnegorsk, Primorsky Krai,
Russia, see a reddish ball about half the size of the full moon. The
ball is flying soundlessly parallel to the ground. It is later
determined that its speed is approximately 34 mph and that it is about
2,300–2,625 feet in altitude. When the object reaches Height 611 (also
known as Mount Izvestkovaya) it starts to descend and then crashes into
the hill. All witnesses but one agree there is no sound when the object
reaches the ground. Some say the object falls with a flash and is not
visible after that; others claim it oscillates at altitude above the
hill, radiating light of varying intensity as it goes up and down. The
light given off by the object is described by some as a forest fire,
which lasts for approximately one hour. A scientific team led by Valery
Dvuzhilny, head of the Far Eastern Commission for Anomalous
Phenomena, arrives on the site on February 3. Some rocks at the impact
site have drops of silvery metal, which are later determined to be lead.
The type of lead found on Height 611 is different from lead found in
local lead deposits. Also, black, glassy, drop-shaped beads and mesh
fragments are found at the site. In all, approximately 70 grams of lead,
5 grams of mesh fragments, and 40 grams of beads are discovered. The
radiation level of the landing ground is normal. Photos of the site
using two different cameras all develop as blank. Chemical analyses of
the beads show they are mostly composed of lead, silicon, and iron. Some
of the drops contain significant amounts of zinc, bismuth, and rare
earth elements. An analysis of the soil, rocks, and burned wood taken
from the landing ground shows that the chemical composition is similar
to the composition of samples taken from the site of the 1908 Tunguska
event. The mesh fragments are also analyzed; the material does not
dissolve in strong acids and organic solvents, even when exposed to high
temperatures for prolonged periods of time. One of the mesh fragments is
discovered to be composed of scandium, gold, lanthanum, sodium, and
samarium. An analysis of another mesh fragment shows gold, silver, and
nickel. After that fragment is heated in a vacuum, the analysis no
longer shows these elements; however, molybdenum and rhenium are
detected. The concentration of gold found in one of the mesh fragments
is equivalent to 1,100 grams per metric ton. This is much higher than
gold deposits in the region, which become economic to extract when the
concentration of gold reaches 4 grams per metric ton. There are no gold
deposits in Dalnegorsk that contain gold at concentrations high enough
to extract. (StealthSkater Archives, [Dalnegorsk
articles]; Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle, Russia’s Roswell
Incident, Flying Disk Press, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6587
Date: 2/4/1986
Description: 3:00 a.m. A woman in Reseda, California, wakes up with a
sinus headache. She hears animals in the neighborhood barking, growling,
and howling. Looking outside, she sees above a power line a black object
hovering with a peculiar vibrating motion. It is “like a black mirror
with a small, white fluorescent aura around it.” After 3–4 minutes, it
emits orange bands of light. She wakes her husband, who manages to see a
thin, white mist floating away. A strong wind comes up for 5 minutes
afterward. (Mark Rodeghier, “From the CUFOS Files: 1986 Reports,” IUR
11, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1986): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6588
Date: 2/6/1986
Description: 8:30 p.m. Valery
Dvuzhilny reports that two yellow globes appear in the north and
approach the Dalnegorsk crash site, circle it four times, and disappear
in a flash. (StealthSkater Archives, [Dalnegorsk
articles])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6589
Date: 2/8/1986
Description: 7:00 p.m. Matthew Woodard, 16, and Melinda Hays, 17, are
driving toward Lima, Ohio, from the west on State Route 117. As they are
crossing the bridge over the Ottawa River, they see a large, dark object
about 50–60 feet long hovering above some trees on the right side of the
road. It parallels them as they turn left on Seriff Road. It has a
rectangular upper section with a single steady white light on top and
sloping sides with a red and blue light on the lower left. The object
eventually disappears in the distance behind trees and houses. (John P.
Timmerman, “A Giant Triangle,” IUR 11, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1986): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6590
Date: 2/12/1986
Description: 12:33 a.m. A woman who lives on the northwest edge of Lima,
Ohio, is awakened by a loud sound. She looks out and sees a “strange
dark object” in the southeast sky. It is triangular in shape, has white
lights in the two lower corners and a red light in the top corner, and
is hovering about 250 feet away. She goes to wake her husband, but when
she returns the object is gone. (John P. Timmerman, “A Giant Triangle,”
IUR 11, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1986): 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6591
Date: 2/26/1986
Description: 7:30 p.m. Charles,
the Prince of Wales, is returning to London, England, after a tour
of Dallas, Texas. While flying over the Irish Sea, the pilot of his
Vickers VC10 observes a bright red flash in the sky. Charles does not
see it, but several other aircraft in the vicinity also report a reddish
ball of fire with a tail (undoubtedly a meteor or space debris reentry).
(Jenny Randles, “Nonencounter with a non-UFO,” IUR 11, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1986): 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6592
Date: 2/28/1986
Description: 11:30 p.m. Multiple witnesses in New Castle, Pennsylvania,
watch a 50-foot-long lighted object, with two apparent legs for landing,
hovering and moving up, down, and sideways. A dog becomes completely
agitated. (MUFON UFO Journal, December 1986, p. 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6593
Date: 2/28/1986
Description: Hovering oval object, body lights, brightly illuminated the
area, moved up, down, and sideways. Dog agitated during sighting
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: New Castle, PA
ID: 409
Date: 3/18/1986
Description: Two triangular objects flying one behind the other with
their points forward are seen near Newport, South Wales. The first is
covered with multicolored lights, while the second has three lights at
each point. Both are a few hundred yards long. (Marler 138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6594
Date: 3/19/1986
End date: 6/15/1986
Description: Concentration of sightings including many physiological
effects cases and traumatic effects
Type: sighting
Type: medical
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Brazil
ID: 410
Date: 3/26/1986
Description: Night. Some 500 witnesses in Kingston, New York, see an
object “like a giant Ferris wheel” the size of a football field. It
makes a humming sound and has intensely bright lights, mostly white but
also red, yellow, green, and blue. A dark mass behind the lights blots
out the sky. Suddenly the object flips on its side before moving away. A
police officer who sees the UFO says it cannot be “a bunch of guys
flying in planes.” (NightSiege 197– 198)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6595
Date: 4/22/1986
Description: 11:00 p.m. Two people are driving on the Via Flaminia near
Pesaro, Italy, when their car engine stops. After hearing a strange
sound, they see 3 discs 65 feet in diameter with domes and tripods
standing on the left of the road. They have white and blue lights. After
hovering for 20 seconds, the discs emit a strong whistle, accelerate,
and disappear. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference
Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6597
Date: 4/22/1986
Description: After 10:00 p.m. Medical technicians taking an injured man
in an ambulance to Debrecen, Hungary, see a huge, luminous, orange
sphere flying silently above the right side of the road at Hajdudorog
and moving along with them. It is about 325 feet away from them,
floating at 100–130 feet. The sphere is surrounded by a ring, and flames
appear on its surface from time to time. Two flames blaze on opposite
sides, while another moves to and fro along its middle. The sighting
lasts for 15 minutes for a distance of nearly 12 miles. When the
ambulance reaches Hajdúböszörmény, the object speeds up, stops above a
forest, and slowly descends while radiating a bright light that
illuminates the trees. It goes out shortly afterward. On the return from
Debrecen, the huge sphere returns over Józsa, this time with 6–7 flames
instead of 3. It speeds over the village and “waits” on the other side
for the ambulance, following it again to the north. The perplexed
technicians decide to stop the ambulance. The UFO slows down, but does
not stop, moving over a power line and illuminating the cables below.
The ambulance recommences its journey, with the object following for
another 10 minutes. A short time later, covering the same route, the
technicians notice that the forest where the sphere landed is on fire.
They find the grass all wet, with 5- foot flames (natural gas?)
emanating from the ground. (Karoli Hargitai, “The UFO Phenomenon in
Hungary,” IUR 14, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1989): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6596
Date: 4/25/1986
Description: 9:05 p.m. A private pilot sees a V-shaped configuration of
approximately 12 spherical nocturnal lights for about 15 seconds in
Memphis, Tennessee. He estimates they are moving at 300 knots at an
altitude of under 1,000 feet. (Mark Rodeghier, “From the CUFOS Files:
1986 Reports,” IUR 11, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1986): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6598
Date: 4/26/1986
Description: 1:23 a.m. The Number 4 nuclear reactor in the Chernobyl
Nuclear Power Plant at Pripyat, Ukraine, has a power surge during a
backup generator test. Flawed reactor design and inadequately trained
personnel lead to the fuel rods overheating, causing an explosion and
meltdown, necessitating the evacuation of 300,000 people from the area.
Around 5% of the core is released into the atmosphere, dispersing
radioactive material across Europe. The reactor explosion kills two of
the reactor operating staff. In the emergency response that follows, 134
firemen and station staff are hospitalized with acute radiation syndrome
due to absorbing high doses of ionizing radiation. Of these 134 people,
28 die in the days to months afterward, and approximately 14 suspected
radiation-induced cancer deaths follow within the next 10 years. Among
the wider population, an excess of 15 childhood thyroid cancer deaths
are documented as of 2011. The United Nations Scientific Committee on
the Effects of Atomic Radiation at multiple times reviews all the
published research on the incident and finds that at present, fewer than
100 documented deaths are likely attributable to increased exposure to
radiation. Determining the total eventual number of exposure-related
deaths is uncertain based on the linear no-threshold model, a contested
statistical model that is used in estimates of low-level radon and air
pollution exposure. (Wikipedia, “Chernobyl
disaster”; Adam Higginbotham, Midnight at Chernobyl, Simon &
Schuster, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6599
Date: 4/26/1986
Description: About 4:30 a.m. During the nuclear disaster at the
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, Mikhail Varitsky and other
technicians observe a fiery sphere, similar in color to brass, within
1,000 feet of the damaged Unit 4 reactor at the height of the fire. Two
bright rays shoot out from the object, directed at the reactor. It
hovers in the areas about 3 minutes, then the rays vanish as the UFO
moves slowly away to the northwest. Radiation levels taken just before
the UFO appears read 3,000 milliroentgens/hour; after the rays, the
readings show 800 milliroentgens/hour. (Paul Stonehill and Philip
Mantle, The Soviet UFO Files: Paranormal Encounters behind the Iron
Curtain, Quadrillion, 1998, pp. 68–69; “UFO
Prevents Blast at Chernobyl Nuclear Plant,” Pravda, September 16,
2002)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6600
Date: 4/27/1986
Description: J.
Allen Hynek dies in Scottsdale, Arizona, from a malignant brain
tumor. (Mark Rodeghier, “Good-bye, Allen,” IUR 11, no 3 (May/June 1986):
3, 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6601
Date: 5/6/1986
Description: Several witnesses are driving from Worthing to Billinghurst
in West Sussex, England, when they see a trapezium-shaped object with
two square lights in front, and two green and one red light in the rear.
Making a dull humming sound, it hovers above the road then zigzags
behind their car. After they step out of their vehicle, the object comes
straight at them, turns, and proceeds to the north. (Marler 138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6602
Date: 5/8/1986
Description: UFO researcher Lee M. Graham, who has met several times
with Bill
Moore and received documents about Project Snowbird and Project
Aquarius, writes to the Defense Investigative Service about Moore’s
contacts. Moore had sported an ID badge that is identical to other DIS
badges Graham has seen. Moore says his superior was named “Richard,”
which probably indicates USAF intelligence agent Richard
C. Doty. (MUFON UFO Journal, June 1989; Dolan II 406–407)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6603
Date: 5/11/1986
Description: Minister Robert H. Henderson and his wife, Nann, of
Phoenix, AR, were flying at an altitude of 8500 ft. at 4 p.m. when a
very bright UFO was seen approaching head-on to them. As he prepared to
take evasive action the UFO passed quickly to the left and below of his
plane. The UFO was seen to be wingless and resembling a “modified
half-sphere, with the flat side down.” The closure rate was estimated at
about 1200 mph.
Type: aerial ufo encounter
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: near Sedona, AR
Date: 5/11/1986
Description: Cessna pilot and wife saw dome-shaped object make head-on
pass at plane
Type: sighting
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Sedona, AZ
ID: 411
Date: 5/19/1986
Description: Near Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Between 9:00 to
12 midnight the Brazilian Air Defense and the Civil Air System were
swamped with Radar and pilot UFO sightings. As Ospires Silva, President
of Petrobras Oil Company were preparing to land, the control tower
informed him of UFO targets on their radar. He and his companion, Alcir
Pereira da Silva, saw bright red-orange UFOs, not at all like stars or
planes. They attempted to pursue the UFOs for 30 min. but gave up as the
UFOs seemed to be jumping from place to place. At this time three F-5E
fighter jets were scrambled from Santa Cruz AFB. Capt. Marcio Jordao was
able to approach within 12 miles of an UFO, visible to him as a bright
light changing from white to green. Lt. Kleber Caldas Marinho chased
another UFO which was a very intense light, changing from white to green
then red again. Both pilots broke off chase as they were running low on
fuel. Ground Radar picked up 10–13 more UFOs that surrounded another
plane with Capt. Armindo Souza Viriato de Marinho, K.C. Freitas piloting
it. Capt. Freitas tracked the UFOs on his radar, but only de Freitas,
A.S.V. saw them visually once as they climbed vertically past him. Brig.
Gen. Octavio Moreira Lima made these events public at a press conference
and allowed the pilots and radar operators to be questioned by the
media.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
See also: 7/52
Date: 5/19/1986
Description: 10:23 p.m. By this time, the Air Defense and Air Traffic
Control Center is on full alert, radar screens showing numerous
unidentified targets. Three F-5E fighter jets are scrambled from Santa
Cruz Air Force Base near São Paulo. One of the pilots, Capt. Marcio
Brisola Jordão, is able to approach within 12 miles of an unidentified
target, visible to him as a strong, constant light that is changing
colors continuously from white to green. He breaks off contact when the
object moves away out to sea. Another F-5E, piloted by Lt. Kleber Caldas
Marinho, chases a very intense red light that changes to white, then
green, then red again. Running low on fuel, he has to return to base.
Both ground and airborne radar are tracking the objects. After the F-5E
pilots make visual contact, more jets are scrambled from Anápolis Air
Force Base, Goiás, about 10:50 p.m. This second flight consists of three
Mirage III fighters equipped with Sidewinders and Martra missiles. One
of the pilots, Capt. Armindo Sousa Viriato de Freitas, is vectored
toward 10–13 unidentified targets at a distance of 20 miles. Radar
controllers see the objects surrounding his plane, 6 stationed on one
side and 7 on the other, and later following his plane at a distance of
two miles, but only see them visually once when they are climbing
vertically. During the night, a total of 21 luminous objects, apparently
spherical and ranging in size from 165 to 330 feet in diameter, are
seen, captured on radar, and pursued by jet fighters. Activity ceases
around 11:20 p.m. The Air Force Minister, Brig.Gen. Octávio
Júlio Moreira Lima, makes
the events public at a press conference and allows the pilots and radar
officers to submit to news media questioning in Brasilia. (NICAP, “Brazilian
Aircraft / UFO Encounter / Radar-Visual”;
Wikipedia, “Noite
dos discos voadores”; Willy Smith, “The Brazilian Incident,” IUR 11,
no. 4 (July/Aug. 1986): 4–6; MUFON UFO Journal, September 1986; J.
Antonio Huneeus, “UFO
Alert in Brazil,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 223 (November 1986): 6–7,
9, 15; Willy Smith, “UFO
Chase in Brazil (May 1986),” Flying Saucer Review 32, no. 1
(December 1986): 6–8; Willy Smith, “UFOs in Latin America,” UFOs 1947–
1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 111–113; Don Berliner, with Marie
Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available
Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 121–127;
Kean, pp. 199–202;
Good Above, pp. 427–428;
Clark III 830–835; Brazil 417–441; Patrick Gross, “Jets
Chase UFOs over Brazil in 1986”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6607
Date: 5/19/1986
Description: 9:00 p.m. A Xingu light airplane piloted by Col. Ozires
Silva, an aeronautical engineer and a manufacturing CEO for
Petrobras, is preparing for a landing at São José dos Campos. His
copilot Cmdr. Alcir Pereira da Silva receives a call from CINDACTA in
Brasilia asking them to confirm some unidentified targets. They look and
see bright red or red-orange lights “not at all like stars or planes.”
Aborting the landing, they attempt to pursue one of the objects, which
blinks on and off irregularly, appearing in a new location each time as
if changing position rapidly. After about 30 minutes, they give up the
chase and land. The Xingu makes three other attempts to land, but each
time is diverted toward looking at other unidentified lights and
targets.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6606
Date: 5/19/1986
Description: 7:40 p.m. Visual UFO sightings continue over São José dos
Campos, with objects remaining motionless for long periods of time. By
8:00 p.m., CINDACTA radars in Brasilia track 8 unidentified targets on
their screens.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6605
Date: 5/19/1986
Description: 6:30 p.m. 2ndSgt Sergio Mota da Silva, airport flight
controller for São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil, sees two luminous
objects about 6,500 feet above the city and 9 miles away. Through
binoculars, the objects have distinct borders and intense multicolored
flashing lights in the lower part. At 7:00 p.m., flight controllers at
Brasilia and São Paulo confirm three primary radar targets above São
José dos Campos. Around 7:30 p.m., da Silva sees more lights,
predominantly red, but changing to yellow, green, and orange.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6604
Date: 5/19/1986
Description: Radar-visual and pilot sightings, military jet interceptors
scrambled in pursuit
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
ID: 412
Date: 6/1986
Description: The Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici in Turin, Italy, begins
publishing its official journal UFO–Rivista di Informazione Ufologica
through autumn 2017. (UFO–Rivista
di Informazione Ufologica, no.
1 (June 1986))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6608
Date: 6/26/1986
Description: 9:49 p.m. A husband and wife see two objects traveling from
southwest to northeast, about as bright as Venus, in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. They move on parallel paths below a scattered cloud cover.
After a minute, they appear to begin rotating, then stop and move out of
sight. (Mark Rodeghier, “From the CUFOS Files: 1986 Reports,” IUR 11,
no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1986): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6609
Date: 7/11/1986
Description: A Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft crashes
in Sequoia National Forest, California, killing pilot Maj. Ross
E. Mulhare and starting a fire. The Air Force establishes restricted
airspace around the site. Armed guards prohibit entry, including
firefighters, and a helicopter gunship circles the area. All F-117
debris is replaced with remains of a F-101A Voodoo crash stored at Area
51. (Jeffrey T. Richelson, “When
Secrets Crash,” Air Force Magazine, July 1, 2001)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6610
Date: 7/15/1986
Description: 12:00 midnight. A single witness walking home from the bus
station in Watertown, Massachusetts, is watching airliners land at Logan
Airport when he sees a string of three bright-orange lights. They are
moving along the same glide path as the incoming jets but seem to slow
down, come to a dead stop, then vanish instantly. (Mark Rodeghier, “From
the CUFOS Files: 1986 Reports,” IUR 11, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1986):
13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6611
Date: 8/1986
Description: 2:00 a.m. Meteorologist Ion Lazeanu is making routine radar
observations at the National Meteorological Administration in Bucharest,
Romania, when he picks up a stationary target that appears to be above
the city of Sofia, Bulgaria, at an altitude of 18.6 miles. It suddenly
disappears and relocates 3 miles lower down. After a short while it
relocates to its original position. Over the next 3–4 weeks, he detects
the same target every night he is on duty for periods of 3–20 minutes.
He discovers another target above Cluj-Napoca, Romania. In February 1988
it reappears above Sofia, and in March 1988 he tracks it moving
horizontally toward Varna, Bulgaria. At one point he locks the radar
directly on the target and the system is temporarily disabled. He
estimates that the target has a length of at least 4,920 feet. (Ion
Lazeanu, “Unusual
Phenomenon Observed with Radar Device in Romania,”
European Journal of UFO and Abduction Studies 1 no. 1 (March 2000):
33–34) August 11 (approximately) — 6:00 p.m. A retired factory worker
and his wife are sitting in their driveway in Lima, Ohio, when they see
a rotating, diamond-shaped object about 20 feet in diameter pass nearby.
They watch it for less than 2 minutes. It is flying low, passing behind
several trees as it moves from west to northeast and out of view. (Mark
Rodeghier, “From the CUFOS Files: 1986 Reports,” IUR 11, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1986): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6612
Date: 8/11/1986
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 413
Date: 8/12/1986
Description: 9:50-10:10 P.M. Lighted object seen over wide area moving
SW to NE was Japanese satellite.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Eastern United States
ID: 414
Date: 8/12/1986
Description: 12:00 midnight. A single witness in Cridersville, Ohio,
sees two UFOs, one while watching the Perseid meteor shower, and the
other 7 hours later while driving to work. The first object is a white
ball of light seen for about 60 seconds; the second is a circular bluish
object in the western sky seen for 1–2 minutes. (Mark Rodeghier, “From
the CUFOS Files: 1986 Reports,” IUR 11, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1986):
13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6613
Date: 8/13/1986
Description: 7:50 p.m. A family of three observes a metallic,
hamburger-shaped object through a sixth-floor hospital window in
Indianapolis, Indiana, for 4–5 minutes. It passes above an airliner
going in the opposite direction. The object tips on its edge at one
point, and it has a haze of pale green along one side. (Mark Rodeghier,
“From the CUFOS Files: 1986 Reports,” IUR 11, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1986):
13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6614
Date: 8/15/1986
Description: UFO landed, witness had two-hour memory loss, strong
physical traces at site. Memory later returned of two humanoid beings,
views inside a craft
Type: landing
Type: abduction
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Type: medical
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Calalzo di Cadore (Bellino), Italy
ID: 415
Date: 8/15/1986
Description: 11:00 p.m. A married couple on vacation in Calalzo di
Cadore, Belluno, Italy, are sitting near a wood outside town when they
see a bright light descend. It soon becomes a disc-shaped, domed object,
blue in color and luminescent. They see it land, then their awareness
ceases until two hours later. By this time the object has disappeared,
and only a dark circular trace is left on the ground where grass is bent
and blackened for a diameter of 30 feet. Strange dreams and difficulty
sleeping, as well as the memory of two humanlike beings in coveralls,
persuade them to be hypnotized on August 23–24 by a physician in
Pordenone. They relate that a being had come out of the disc and took
them on board without touching them. Inside they are laid down and given
a medical examination of some kind. The entities have long, oval-shaped
heads with phosphorescent eyes, pointed ears, and narrow mouths. (Paolo
Fiorino, Gian Paolo Grassino, and Antonio Chiumiento, “Abductions in
Italy,” IUR 14, no. 4 (July/Aug.1989): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6615
Date: 8/31/1986
Description: 2:30 a.m. A man is driving home when his car engine stops
in Manzuno, Italy. He gets out to find out what happened, hears a sharp
whistle and dogs barking, and sees two bright lights. The objects
descend and remain visible for more than 15 minutes. He sees their shape
as rectangular with a luminous trail. The engine comes back on as the
objects disappear. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle
Interference Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6616
Date: 9/1986
Description: Vicki
Ecker and Sherie Stark launch a newsstand magazine, California UFO,
which becomes one of the most widely read periodicals in ufology. It
soon changes its name to just UFO, varying its frequency from quarterly
to bimonthly, to erratically with the final issue of 158 appearing in
2012. (Wikipedia, “UFO
Magazine”; Clark III 1155)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6617
Date: 9/1986
Description: George
M. Eberhart publishes UFOs and the Extraterrestrial Contact
Movement, a comprehensive, two- volume bibliography of all UFO
literature known up to this time. (George M. Eberhart, UFOs and the
Extraterrestrial Contact Movement: A Bibliography, Scarecrow, 1986, vol. 1 and
vol. 2;
Clark 358)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6618
Date: fall 1986
Description: USAF Lt. Col. Ernie Kellerstrass (Hawk), who works at the
Foreign Intelligence Division at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio,
invites several individuals—Harold
E. Puthoff (Partridge), John
B. Alexander (Chickadee), C.
B. Scott Jones (Hummingbird, an aide to Sen. Claiborne
Pell, D-R.I.),
USAF Capt. Robert
M. Collins (Condor), William
Moore, and Jaime
Shandera—to his home in Beavercreek, Ohio, to discuss UFOs,
extraterrestrials, and Area 51. Kellerstrass claims to know USAF Lt.
Col. Robert
R. Hippler (allegedly an officer in a top secret Air Force UFO
study), physiological studies of actual aliens, and the presence of an
alien base on Area 51. The group meets several times. Moore and Shandera
become concerned that their telephones are being monitored, so they
decide to assign a bird name to anyone they discuss UFO military
activities with. Others in the “Aviary” are forensic medical doctor and
CIA officer Christopher
(Kit) Green (Blue Jay), Defense Intelligence Agency officer Dale
E. Graff (Owl), CIA agent Harry
Rositzke (Falcon, according to Greg Bishop), and USAF OSI agent Richard
C. Doty (a Falcon substitute). Another, only known as Raven (alleged
to be DIA scientist Jack Verona, Richard
Helms, or
possibly Henry
Kissinger), appears to be the most connected. (Robert Collins and
Richard Doty, Exempt from Disclosure: The Disturbing Case about the UFO
Coverup, Peregrine, 2005, pp. 8, 86; Bruce Maccabee, “Hawk
Tales,” June 2005; Dolan II 384–386, 466)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6619
Date: fall 1986
Description: Night. A group of five lights maneuver at high speed above
the Malmstrom AFB Alpha-01 missile alert facility southeast of Belt,
Montana. Air Force Security Policeman Joseph C. Pscolka watches them
make sharp-angled turns and stop at the same time instantly. Other
launch control facilities in the same sector call in to report the
lights. Soon five more lights descend from the clouds to join the
others. They stop momentarily, then all 10 dart around “like crazy
fireflies” for a minute before moving close to the ground. They zip off
at high speed in all directions. (Nukes 396–397)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6620
Date: 10/10/1986
Description: 1:30–2:00 a.m. Witnesses see strong lightning-like flashes
in the sky northeast of Fürjes, near Békéscsaba, Hungary. The flashes do
not go lower than some 700 feet from the ground. The flashes are
vertical, yet 5 times “thicker” than lightning. The flashes stop and a
shining, metallic-blue, misty phenomenon appears and floats about for
5–6 minutes until it gradually fades away after breaking into several
parts, each about 30–80 feet long. The display is followed by an unusual
odor that persists for 20–30 minutes. (Karoli Hargitai, “The UFO
Phenomenon in Hungary,” IUR 14, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1989): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6621
Date: 10/14/1986
Description: 11:00 p.m. A couple driving north on US Hwy 45 near
Bristol, Wisconsin, sees red and white lights flickering on the road
ahead. They drive cautiously forward and see a large, triangular object
hovering 30 feet above the pavement. The lights are running along its
outer edges. They pull up almost directly underneath it, park, and step
out of the car. They see a grid structure on its lower surface. Two
minutes later the UFO drifts slowly toward the southeast and vanishes.
(Don Schmitt, “The Belleville Sightings, Part Two,” IUR 13, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1988): 18–19; Clark III 247)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6622
Date: 10/20/1986
Description: Blue-green oval ahead of car, forward motion impeded
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Edmonton, Queensland, Australia
ID: 417
Date: 10/20/1986
Description: Orionid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 416
Date: 10/28/1986
Description: UK researcher Jenny
Randles receives a call from a British military man who refuses to
give his name or phone number. He says his commanding officer has given
him her phone number and suggests she might want 600 pages of UFO
reports that have come into his possession. One document appears to be a
report from 1948 that uses the term “befabs” to describe “beings from
alien objects.” Another file, from Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio in 1977,
is titled “Elimination of Non-Military Sources.” Randles is suspicious
but intrigued. The two speak again on October 30 and agree to meet at a
local pub a couple hours later. She brings along a colleague, Peter A.
Hough. The informant (“John”) is in his late 20s and a former member of
the Royal Army Corps. In 1983, his commanding officer had befriended a
USAF computer technician at Wright-Patterson AFB who had accidentally
tapped into UFO files. The British officer copied many of the files but
is arrested for being in a secure area without permission. During
questioning, the technician withholds the fact that he still has copies
of the files and manages to tell the British officer where they are and
request he take them out of the US. For 2 years, his commanding officer
shows “John” some of these reports until he leaves active duty in 1985.
In August 1986, “John” returns for a reservist training camp, and his
former commander gives him a key to where the documents are stored and
tells him to take them, read them, and offer them to Randles. The pub
meeting ends with an agreement for “John” to deliver the files the next
time they meet on November 7. “John” never shows up but writes a letter
to Randles saying that he has been detained at a base and interrogated
about the documents, which he is informed was the “creation of an
educated prankster.” He apologizes for letting her down, and she never
hears from him again. (Jenny Randles, “The Cover-Up in England,” IUR 12,
no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1987): 9–12, 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6623
Date: 11/1986
Description: Brilliant Pebbles, a non-nuclear system of satellite-based
interceptors designed to use high-velocity, watermelon-sized,
teardrop-shaped projectiles made of tungsten as kinetic warheads, is
conceived by physicist Lowell
Wood at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Livermore Director
John
Nuckolls describes the system as “the crowning achievement of the
Strategic Defense Initiative.” Though regarded as one of the most
capable SDI systems, the Brilliant Pebbles program is canceled in 1994
by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. (Wikipedia, “Brilliant
Pebbles”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6624
Date: 11/16/1986
Description: 9:00 p.m. Between Nocera Umbra and Valtopina, Perugia,
Italy, two witnesses see a dark disc, 26 feet in diameter with a blue
dome, fly over their car. The car stops and restarts after the object
goes away. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference
Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6625
Date: 11/16/1986
Description: Leonid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 418
Date: 11/17/1986
Description: Japan Airlines flight #1628, a Boeing 747 freighter, was
cruising at 35000 ft. altitude and at 5:11 p.m. the pilots noticed
bright lights 30 degrees to the left and below them. The UFOs moved up
directly in front of the 747 and, said Capt. Kenju Terauchi, “most
unexpectedly, two spaceships stopped in front of our face, shooting off
lights (like numerous exhaust pipes). The inside cockpit shined brightly
and I felt warm in the face.” The UFOs appeared as two rectangular
clusters or arrays of light, one above the other. As the larger UFOs
moved away from the 747 Airlines Flight 1628 there remained two smaller
flat white UFOs. At about 5:30 p.m. Capt. Terauchi checked the pale
white light behind their craft visually. He saw a gigantic
“walnut-shaped” UFO (Saturn-shaped) following them. As an evasive action
the Capt. ordered the 747 to turn away from the giant UFO that was
following them, at which time the UFO “spaceship” disappeared.
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: Fort Yukon, Alaska
Date: 11/17/1986
Description: 5:10 p.m. Japan Air Lines Flight 1628, a Boeing 747 cargo
plane with a crew of three, is in the vicinity of Fort Yukon, Alaska, on
its way to Anchorage. The jet is carrying a cargo of French wine and is
flying at 35,000 feet through darkening skies, a red glow from the
setting sun lighting one horizon and a full moon rising above the other.
Capt. Kenju Terauchi and First Officer Takanori Tamefuji, along with
Flight Engineer Yoshio Tsukuda, see two small objects and one huge
Saturn-shaped object visually and on radar for more than 30 minutes. The
objects follow the airplane for about 350 miles. The pilot changes
course and altitude several times, with FAA permission, in an effort to
identify the objects. Two rectangular-appearing objects sparkling with
arrays of lights suddenly loom directly in front of them, one above the
other. After a few minutes they abruptly change position and appear side
by side. They move quickly, stop suddenly, and swing from side to side
in unison, as if linked together. VHF radio communications are
occasionally garbled at this time and cease when the two objects move
away to the left of the aircraft. Two flat white lights continue to pace
the airplane, then drop back and are lost from view both visually and on
radar. About 5:30 p.m., while in the vicinity of Fairbanks, Terauchi
checks a white light behind the plane and sees “a silhouette of a
gigantic spaceship.” It is walnut-shaped, symmetrical above and below,
with a central flange. He says, “It was a very big one—two times bigger
than an aircraft carrier.” At its closest point, the large object casts
such a bright light that it illuminates the cockpit, and Terauchi can
feel heat on his face. Radio communications again became garbled during
the close approach. The crew becomes frightened by the large object and
requests permission to change course. After the course change, they look
back and see the object still following them. Increasingly fearful, they
request a descent to get away from the UFO (“We had to get away from
that object”). After they descend and turn again, the object disappears.
The FAA at first confirms that several of its radar traffic controllers
had tracked both the 747 and the large object, and that USAF radar has
also done so. Later official statements back away from this and try to
ascribe the radar targets to weather effects. On December 29, the FAA
issues a report stating, “We are accepting the descriptions of the crew,
but are unable to support what they saw.” (Wikipedia, “Japan
Air Lines Cargo Flight 1628 incident”; NICAP, “Fantastic
Flight of JAL 1628”; Bruce Maccabee, “The Fantastic Flight of JAL
1628,” IUR 12, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1987): 4–23; Don Berliner, with Marie
Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available
Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 128–132;
Kean, pp. 218–229;
Swords 342; Good Above, pp. 432,
532;
Good Need, pp. 400–401);
“JAL
Flight 1628 over Alaska,” UFO Evidence; Clark III 630–632)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6626
Date: 11/17/1986
Description: Japan Airlines freighter aircraft encountered lighted
maneuvering objects. bright illumination, heat, radar-visual, E-M
effects, satellite objects
Type: sighting
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Fort Yukon, AK
ID: 419
Date: 11/24/1986
Description: 11:00 p.m. Dale Goretske is driving in Waukesha, Wisconsin,
when he notices some flashing red lights in the sky to the southeast
about 450 feet away. They are attached to a flattened triangle about 75
feet wide with pairs of flashing red lights at each corner. On the sides
are pairs of steady white and red lights. The object is rotating
silently. He tries to approach it in his car, but it moves away and is
lost to sight. (Joe and Dorie Graziano, “Press
Reports,” APRO Bulletin 33, no. 7 (September 1987): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6627
Date: 11/25/1986
Description: Afternoon. Civil and military personnel in Magadan Airport,
Russia, notice an unidentified radar target. Since there is another
aircraft in the vicinity, air traffic control asks the pilot to be aware
of an unknown object. The plane and UFO “pass clear of each other,”
although no details are given. Afterward, the object turns east and
speeds up to 1,800 mph over the water toward Kamchatka and disappears
from radar screens. (Vadim K. Ilyin, “KGB’s
‘Blue Folder’ Reveals Shootings, Landings in USSR,” MUFON UFO
Journal, no. 403 (November 2001): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6628
Date: mid 12/1986
Description: Navy Commander “Sheila Mondran” is on duty at the US Space
Command’s Surveillance Center inside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex near
Colorado Springs, Colorado. Sensors detect something tripping the US
Navy Space Surveillance System (the Space Fence), a multistatic radar
system built to detect orbital objects passing over the US. The
intrusion occurs above Lake Kickapoo, Texas. Mondran’s team tracks the
object’s maneuvers, including loops, backtracks, crash dives, and fast
climbs. She sends a flash alert to the Commander- in-Chief of NORAD, but
the object immediately disappears. Two searches are ordered: one by
NORAD’s Space Detection and Tracking System, the other by a network of
sophisticated telescopes. Nothing turns up. The flash alert is recalled
the following day. A summary of the incident is sent to the Joint Chiefs
of Staff and President Ronald
Reagan for his daily briefing. Reagan recommends a follow-up
investigation, but none is known to have occurred. The story has not
been verified. (Howard Blum, Out There: The Government’s Secret Quest
for Extraterrestrials, Simon & Schuster, 1990, pp. 25–32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6629
Date: late 12/1986
Description: 2:30 a.m. A road-maintenance engineer is driving on the
highway between Hajdúböszörmény and Debrecen, Hungary, when he sees a
“trailer with lit-up windows” landed in a field about 900 feet away. An
orange light is flooding through the windows. The object is in the same
spot where the sphere chasing the ambulance in April had passed above
power lines. (Karoli Hargitai, “The UFO Phenomenon in Hungary,” IUR 14,
no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1989): 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6630
Date: 1987
Description: Abduction researcher and folklorist Thomas
E. Bullard publishes UFO Abductions: The Measure of a Mystery, a
two-volume comparative analysis of nearly 300 alleged abduction cases up
through 1985, 103 of which offer both extensive information and reliable
investigation. Bullard’s study summarizes key episodes and descriptive
elements of the abduction narrative and attaches percentages to each to
indicate how often a given feature occurs. He finds that the classic
abduction story consists of eight possible episodes—capture,
examination, conference, tour of the ship, journey or otherworldly
journey, theophany, return, and aftermath. Few reports contain every
episode; only capture and return are universal. He also examines
features of the entities’ behavior and appearance, the UFO involved in
the abduction, and the methods of mental and physical control. Bullard
examines the literalist and reductionist hypotheses for abduction
events, critiquing each. (Thomas E. Bullard, UFO Abductions: The Measure
of a Mystery, Fund for UFO Research, 1987; Thomas E. Bullard,
“Abductions in Life and Lore,” IUR 12, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1987): 14–19;
Thomas E. Bullard, “Hypnosis and UFO Abductions: A Troubled
Relationship,” JUFOS 1 (1989): 3–40; Thomas Bullard, The
Myth and Mystery of UFOs, University
Press of Kansas, 2010; Clark III 13–33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6631
Date: 1987
Description: Fortean Tomes publishes UFOs 1947–1987, edited by Hilary
Evans and John
Spencer and sponsored by the British UFO Research Association, in an
attempt to place current knowledge about the UFO phenomenon in
perspective. (Hilary Evans and John Spencer, eds., UFOs 1947–1987: The
40-Year Search for an Explanation, Fortean Tomes, 1987; Mark Rodeghier,
[Review], JUFOS 1 (1989): 169–172)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6632
Date: 1987
Description: Thomas F. McDonough discusses the possibility of
extraterrestrial life in The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence,
addressing UFOs in a largely negative and uninformed chapter. (Thomas F.
McDonough, The
Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Listening for Life in the Cosmos,
John Wiley, 1987; Michael D. Swords, “SETI/ETI and UFOs,” JUFOS 5
(1994): 151–155)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6633
Date: 1/1987
End date: 3/1987
Description: Flurry of sightings including cigar-shaped objects, a radar
tracking, and other features
Type: sighting
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Belleville, WI
ID: 420
Date: 1/9/1987
Description: 2:30 a.m. A road-maintenance engineer is on a routine
checking tour between Hajdúböszörmény and Debrecen, Hungary, at the same
point where his colleague had seen a “trailer” in December. He sees a
“farmhouse” with the windows lit up, but knowing there is no farmhouse
in that location, he stops the truck. The object is sitting near the
overhead power lines between two stacks of straw. It is about 50 feet in
diameter, disc- shaped, and rounded off at the rim. Through the center
line runs a row of 8–10 portholes with warm, yellow light emanating from
them. Between each window is a grayish-white streak of light. He can see
an open door about 5– 6 feet high under the row of windows, through
which he can see light and a floor with transverse ribs. Then he notices
two entities wearing dark coveralls standing outside the object, while
another appears in the door opening. Yellowish flashes erupt every 2–4
seconds from the top of the object. The witness flees the scene. (Karoli
Hargitai, “The UFO Phenomenon in Hungary,” IUR 14, no. 2
(Mar./Apr. 1989): 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6634
Date: 1/15/1987
End date: 1/16/1987
Description: 8:00 p.m. Police officer Glen Kazmar and Jeff Furseth watch
a triangular configuration of red, white, and blue blinking lights that
remain stationary in the southwestern sky over Belleville, Wisconsin. At
2:50 a.m., they are driving along Quarry Road west of town and see a
“close-knit cluster of red, blue, and white lights.” After 15 minutes,
they alert the Dane County Sheriff and are soon joined by a deputy from
Verona and two Green County sheriff’s deputies, all of whom leave after
debating what to do about reporting the lights. At 3:20 a.m., Kazmar and
Furseth see the object move to the southwest. They call the FAA Center
in Aurora, Illinois, which admits it has a slow-moving target in the
area that won’t respond. Other witnesses near Monroe, New Glarus, and
Verona also see lights. (Don Schmitt, “The Belleville Sightings, Part
One,” IUR 12, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1987): 4–6; UFO Wisconsin, [Belleville
articles]; “The
Other UFO Days: Belleville, WI,” UFO Days, August 13, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6635
Date: 1/27/1987
Description: The National Security Agency responds to a letter from
Sen. John
Glenn (D-Ohio) stating that the NSA’s Project Aquarius does not deal
with UFOs, but that “Apparently there is or was an Air Force project by
that name which dealt with UFO’s.” (Dale Goudie and Christian Lambright,
“The
Ice Documents Press Conference,” June 25, 1987)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6636
Date: 2/1987
Description: Horror-fiction writer Whitley
Strieber publishes Communion, the first-person account of his
abductions and encounters recovered through hypnosis, as well as his
lifelong involvement with mysterious events. The book remains on the
bestseller list for a long time, and Ted
Seth Jacobs’s
cover illustration of an alien with large black eyes jars many people to
recall their own apparent encounters with similar creatures. Strieber
follows up on his experiences in seven subsequent books, in which he
elaborates on his belief that the human species is in the process of
being ushered into a higher level of understanding and existence.
(Whitley Strieber, Communion:
A True
Story, Avon, 1987; Wikipedia, “Communion
(book)”;
Clark III 5, 1112–1113; Whitley Strieber, Transformation: The
Breakthrough, William Morrow, 1988; Whitley Strieber, Breakthrough: The
Next Step, HarperCollins, 1995; Whitley Strieber, The Secret School:
Preparation for Contact, HarperCollins, 1997; Whitley Strieber and Anne
Strieber, eds. The
Communion Letters, HarperPrism,
1997; Whitley Strieber, Confirmation: The Hard Evidence of Aliens among
Us?, St. Martin’s, 1998; Whitley Strieber, The
Key: A True Encounter, Jeremy
Tarcher, 2001; Whitley Strieber, Solving the Communion Enigma, Jeremy
Tarcher, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6637
Date: 2/6/1987
Description: 7:30 p.m. Jeff Zweifel is walking home from work near
Belleville, Wisconsin. He sees an object nearby with a bright white
directional light aimed at a right angle to him. A red light is also
visible, then a blue light. As he continues to walk, the object
approaches him. When it is directly in front, a white light comes on.
From left to right, red, white, and blue lights flash. A short gray
trail of smoke is coming out the back. The object continues moving
slowly and silently east at the same altitude. (Don Schmitt, “The
Belleville Sightings, Part One,” IUR 12, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1987):
6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6638
Date: 2/7/1987
Description: Motorists encountered hovering large oval object, lights
around perimeter, terrain brightly illuminated
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Potters Mills, PA
ID: 421
Date: 2/15/1987
Description: The San Jose Mercury states that the Pentagon has a “Black
Budget” which has become a “Black Hole” for secret projects spending. It
is far bigger than the federal budget for education, transportation,
agriculture or the environment. These Projects are classified above TOP
SECRET, therefore very few federal investigators have the security
clearances necessary to audit black programs.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: Pea
Research (J4-B)
Location: San Jose, CA
Date: 2/16/1987
Description: At a conference in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow,
Russia, Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev discloses that President Reagan had
raised the possibility of an alien invasion during the Geneva Summit in
1986: “I shall not dispute the hypothesis, although I think it’s early
yet to worry about such an invasion. It is much more important to think
about the problems that have entered our common home.” (“Russians
Worried UFOs Could Trigger
Wars,” UFO Evidence)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6639
Date: 2/25/1987
Description: 4:10 p.m. Filmmaker Paul
Davids is at work in his home office in East Los Angeles,
California, when his children call him to see a “flying saucer.” Looking
outside, he sees a metallic, domed disc making its way silently and
smoothly across the sky over the valley in front of his house. They open
the window and go out on the roof for an unobstructed view and spend the
next 4–5 minutes watching it. At its closest point, about 500 feet away,
it hovers in one position for about 2 minutes, wobbling with an even,
slow oscillation. Its bottom seems to transform from silver to pitch
black and back to silver again. Then it flies away at a faster but
uniform speed. (Paul Davids, “Starry Night,” IUR 14, no. 3 (May/June
1989): 13–15, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6640
Date: 3/1987
Description: 3:00 a.m. A British Army communications officer is sleeping
alone on the moors near Bishop Monkton, North Yorkshire, England, during
a military exercise. He sees a strange red light in the sky circling
slowly and silently around him. He watches it for 20 minutes as it makes
three circuits that are precisely the same. Two F-4 Phantom II jets
appear and give chase to the light, which plays cat and mouse with them.
This continues for 5 minutes, then the light shoots away at great speed.
The jets remain a few more minutes before returning. (“Brief
Cases,” Northern UFO News, no. 157 (October 1992): 13; Nick Redfern,
A Covert Agenda: UFO Secrecy Exposed, Simon & Schuster, 1997,
pp. 163–164)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6643
Date: 3/1987
Description: The Society for Scientific Exploration publishes the first
issue of its Journal of Scientific Exploration, edited by astronomer Bernard
Haisch. (Journal
of Scientific Exploration 1, no. 1 (1987); Clark III
1082–1083)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6641
Date: 3/1987
Description: San Antonio, Texas, freelance journalist Ed Conroy begins
to find himself a target of an unmarked Bell 47 helicopter that hovers
around his apartment building. The instances increase as he researches
Whitley
Strieber’s abduction story for a possible article. Black helicopters
and CH-47 Chinooks also appear in his vicinity, and someone repeatedly
changes the outgoing message on his home answering machine. Several
people close to him begin to tell him about their nighttime experiences
with entities and balls of light. These occurrences continue through
1988. (Ed Conroy, Report
on Communion, Avon,
1989)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6642
Date: 3/6/1987
Description: 5:30 p.m. County surveyor Harvey
Funseth and Fred Gochenauer are driving north of Belleville,
Wisconsin, and spot four peculiar objects one above the other in the
western sky. They take a side road to get a better look and stop
alongside an open field. The main cigar-shaped object is silhouetted
against the sunset, standing vertically above three smaller sections.
The objects are all about a quarter mile away at low altitude. As they
watch, the top object moves away from the smaller ones toward their
right. It looks like an airplane fuselage without any markings, wings,
or tail. It has a flashing light on top and two red glowing areas on the
back, followed by a short vapor trail. Funseth estimates it is about
2,000 feet altitude. It picks up speed and streaks away to the
northeast. The remaining smaller objects are now obscured by a mist.
Witnesses in other parts of town also see a similar display. (Don
Schmitt, “The Belleville Sightings, Part One,” IUR 12, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1987): 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6644
Date: 3/7/1987
Description: A family of three in Pingwu county, Sichuan, China, is
awakened by a loud, high-pitched hum. They go outside and are blinded by
a beam of light coming from a huge reddish object shaped like a straw
hat that is hovering above them. They pass out and wake up later to find
themselves strapped to steel tables in a circular room occupied by
humanoid entities with 3 eyes and standing 3 feet tall. The aliens take
blood samples from them and probe them with needles, also making an
incision on the child’s thigh. The next thing they know, they are
walking down a road 7 miles from their home. (Chris Saunders, “UFOs over
China,” Fortean Times 331 (October 2015): 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6645
Date: 3/12/1987
Description: Gallup releases a report indicating that there are three
adult Americans who believe that “UFOs are real” for every two skeptics.
(“1
Person in 2 Now Believes in UFOs,” Santa Rosa (Calif.)
Press-Democrat, March 12, 1987, p. 13; Robert J. Durant, “Evolution of
Public Opinion on UFOs,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6646
Date: 3/12/1987
Description: US Army Intelligence letter: The IPU (Interplanetary
Phenomenon Unit) of the Scientific and Technical Branch, Counter
intelligence Directorate, Department of the Army was disestablished
during the 1950’s and never reactivated. All of its records were turned
over to the USAF (which can’t seem to locate them). This letter was sent
to Timothy Good.
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research (B1-E p484)
Location: US
See also: 5/16/84
Date: 3/12/1987
Description: 9:15 p.m. Cmdr. Alvaro de Camargo is flying a Transbrasil
Boeing 737-300 from Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil, to Manaus, Amazonas, when
his radar detects an object directly in front of him. The Rio Branco
tower says it has nothing on its radar. Suddenly the blip disappears
from the screen, just as three orange lights appear on the left side of
the airplane’s wing. Some passengers now can see the lights, flying
parallel to each other and to the plane for about 20 minutes. (Clark III
201; Brazil 542)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6647
Date: 3/20/1987
Description: 1:00 p.m. Police in Verona, Wisconsin, view a triangular
pattern of red, white, and blue flashing lights from the police station.
The on-duty officer takes a squad car to investigate as the object moves
behind a hill and hovers above a field. Within a minute, the lights move
to the southwest and soon are out of sight. (Don Schmitt, “The
Belleville Sightings, Part One,” IUR 12, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1987):
8).
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6648
Date: 3/23/1987
Description: Evening. A woman hears a crash outside her home in Concord,
North Carolina, and goes outside to investigate. She sees a domed disk
in her backyard about 75 feet away, partially obscured by a tree. The
dome is about 6 feet in diameter on top of an object about 25 feet high.
The dome is projecting an intensely bright orange light that creates
shooting pains in her eyes and lights up the entire yard. The lower part
of the object is blue-silver and an 18–20 foot wide ramp extends down
from it. Her eyes still hurt, so she does not see the UFO leave. No
ground markings are found the next day, although two days later she
discovers that a metal post on her dog lot has been magnetized. (Michael
D. Swords, “Unusual Experiences from the Timmerman Files,” IUR 27, no. 2
(Summer 2002): 22–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6649
Date: 4/1987
Description: UFO abduction researcher Budd
Hopkins publishes Intruders, an account of his investigation into
the abduction experiences of Debbie
Jordan-Kauble (using the pseudonym of “Kathie Davis”) an
Indianapolis woman whose long series of abductions include an instance
when the beings impregnate her by artificial insemination aboard a UFO,
then return a few months later to remove the fetus. During a subsequent
abduction several years later, the beings introduce her to a frail
little girl, half-human, half-alien, and tell her this girl is her
daughter. (Budd Hopkins, Intruders:
The Incredible Visitations at Copley Woods, Random House, 1987;
Jerome Clark, “A Conversation with Budd Hopkins,” IUR 13, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1988): 4–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6650
Date: 5/1987
Description: William
Moore announces that for the past six and a half years he and some
associates “succeeded in establishing a cooperative relationship with a
number of well-placed contacts within the American intelligence
community.” He provides a copy of one page of the MJ-12 briefing
document, with some text blacked out FOIA-style. (MUFON UFO Journal,
June 1987)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6651
Date: 5/1/1987
Description: The Center for UFO Studies moves from Glenview, Illinois,
to 2457 West Peterson Avenue in Chicago. (“CUFOS Is Moving,” IUR 12, no.
1 (Jan./Feb. 1987): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6652
Date: 5/16/1987
Description: Huge unidentified target on weather radar for four
minutes
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Airliner en route from Toronto to Winnipeg, Canada
ID: 422
Date: 5/31/1987
Description: British ufologist Timothy
Good has also received a copy of the MJ-12 briefing document (the
same one received by Moore and
Shandera)
in March and shares it with the press, adamantly refusing to say who
sent it to him. The first mention appears in the London Observer, and
soon it is the subject of pieces in the New York Times, Washington Post,
and ABC-TV’s Night Line. Many ufologists denounce the documents as a
forgery. Good admits to researcher Richard
Dolan in 2008 that the source was probably “connected to” Richard
Doty. (Good Above, p. 544;
Dolan II 398; Clark III 366)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6653
Date: 6/1987
Description: Moore provides
photocopies of all the pages of the Majestic-12 briefing document.
Certain areas that had been blacked out are now readable, although
redacted sections still exist. Moore has done his own redacting. He also
reveals the Cutler-Twining memo. (MUFON UFO Journal, July 1987)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6654
Date: 6/9/1987
Description: 7:00 p.m. At RAAF Base Learmonth, near Exmouth, Western
Australia, observers see a white light at 5,000 feet about 16 feet in
diameter moving silently in a zigzag fashion from east to west. It
hovers at the north end of the airstrip for 6–7 minutes, changes from
white to amber, moves up into a cloud, then speeds off to the northeast.
A Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport that takes off during the
observation has difficulty establishing VHF radio communication. (Swords
409–410)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6655
Date: 6/11/1987
Description: Bill
Moore, Jaime
Shandera, and Stanton
Friedman hold a press conference on the MJ-12 briefing document and
the Cutler-Twining memo, asserting that they appear to be genuine.
Friedman has found that Eisenhower did
attend a briefing in Washington on November 18, 1952. He has also
uncovered evidence that astronomer Donald Menzel was
also a leading cryptographer and an elite member of the intelligence
community. (Stanton T. Friedman, “MJ 12: The Evidence So Far,” IUR 12,
no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1987): 13–17; Dennis Stacy, “18th International
Symposium,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 232 (August 1987): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6656
Date: 6/19/1987
Description: 11:00 p.m. Brazilian Air Force Capt. Faria de Sousa is
landing his aircraft at Anápolis Air Base ALA 2, Goiás, Brazil, when the
control tower asks him to investigate “strange traffic” nearby. When he
arrives at the location, his onboard radar registers the presence of
another aircraft close by and his cockpit lights up. He sees a huge ball
of light about 10 feet in diameter above his plane, but the light does
not register on his radar. After 3 minutes he lands because he is
running out of fuel. (Clark III 206; Brazil 554–555)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6657
Date: summer 1987
Description: UK researcher Timothy
Good publishes Above Top Secret, containing clean copies of the
MJ-12 documents. The book is an international exposé of UFO
investigations and secrecy by the governments of the UK, US, France,
Italy, Portugal, Spain, Australia, Canada, China, and Russia. (Timothy
Good, Above
Top Secret: The Worldwide
UFO Cover-Up, Sidgwick
& Jackson, 1987)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6659
Date: 6/25/1987
Description: Capt. William
Cantrell and the crew of Delta Airlines Flight 1083 are near
Charleston, West Virginia, when they see a small missile heading
straight for the aircraft before it swerves to the side about 500–600
feet below. Cantrell describes the projectile as short, squatty, and
homemade looking, about 4–6 feet long with large fins. It appears to be
descending and unpowered. (Clas Svahn and Anders Liljegren, “Close
Encounters with Unknown Missiles,” IUR 19, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1994):
12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6658
Date: late 7/1987
Description: 9:00 p.m.–5:00 a.m. A married couple and their daughter are
riding in a horse cart, returning to their home near Będzienica, Poland.
They notice two huge red spheres, apparently attached to each other,
descending toward the northeast a few miles away and disappearing behind
the horizon. After arriving home a few minutes later, the area outside
their house becomes flooded in white light. The family rushes outside
and sees two groups of three white lights silently floating low above a
field less than one mile away to the northeast. The man alerts his
neighbor and they return to the road to watch the lights for several
minutes. Soon they notice a large red triangular light moving up and
down in the northeast less than 2 miles away. After 6 minutes they hear
a high-pitched sound like a car horn and the red light disappears. They
continue watching the white lights, but soon notice that another
neighbor’s barn about 1,000 feet away seems to be on fire. The man goes
home to get his motorcycle and two daughters, but when they get to the
barn there is no fire and the light is coming from another set of white
spheres to the south. By this time it is after 10:00 p.m., and they ride
the motorcycle to a nearby hill to watch the lights. Soon one of the
daughters sees a large object like a vertical white TV screen 10 feet
high approaching from the east about 60–100 feet above the ground. Two
humanoids with angular heads and in green coveralls are visible against
the screen, one large and one smaller. The man restarts the motorcycle
with difficulty and returns home. Some 300 feet from their farmhouse,
they see another object, a fireball with a tail descending in the area
where they had seen the red triangle. Tired, the daughters and his wife
go to sleep around 11:00 p.m., but the man stays up to watch the UFO
activity. Around 4:00 a.m. the original two sets of white objects
rearrange into a complex group of 7 lights and remain that way for
another hour. The next day, the man feels sick with heart problems and
is taken to a hospital for a short stay. (Arek Miazga, “Z
historii UFO na Podkarpaciu: Bliskie spotkanie w Będzienicy–Nockowej
(1987),” Spotkania z Nieznanym, July 3, 2011; Poland 77–80)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6662
Date: 7/22/1987
Description: The Military Archives Division of NARA issues a list of 10
problems with the Cutler-Twining memo: it was incorrectly filed; no
other researchers have found information on MJ-12; the classification
“Top Secret Restricted Information” was not in use until the Nixon administration;
the memo does not bear an official letterhead or watermark; it does not
match the paper Cutler used
at the time; no records are found of an NSC meeting on July 16, 1954;
another memo is found saying that NSC members were called to a civil
defense exercise on July 16; and there is no entry in Eisenhower’s
appointment books on a special meeting. (National Archives, “Majestic
12 or ‘MJ-12’
Reference Report”; “The
MJ-12 Fiasco,” Just Cause, new series, no. 13 (September 1987):
1–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6660
Date: 7/27/1987
Description: 12:00 midnight. Witnesses in Accra and the Volta Region of
Ghana see a large and apparently silent object over the Gulf of Guinea.
Some people report the sound of explosions associated with it. A Ghana
Air Force pilot views the missile-shaped object from the ground near
Accra, traveling south over the ocean. It displays a yellow light at its
trailing end, similar to a rocket. It appears to be at least twice as
large as a Boeing 747. It stops descending and begins to climb, gaining
altitude. Eight smaller, bluish lights appear in circular formation,
seemingly the result of the object’s propulsive power. (Dolan II
413–414)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6661
Date: early 8/1987
Description: A Soviet soldier serving with the military contingent in
Leningrad [now St. Petersburg] is dispatched with four others to
northern Karelia, where they join up with another unit. Their job is to
guard a UFO that soldiers had recently discovered near Vyborg. A
military plane had taken it to Monchegorsk, Murmansk Oblast, and
deposited it in a former fuel depot. The guards get a close look at the
object, which is more than 50 feet long, 16 feet wide, and 9 feet high,
grayish-tan in color, smooth, and seamless. It is tube-shaped, with fins
extending from the mid-section all the way to the rear. At the tip of
its nose are outward-pointing triangles in a triangular formation. One
week later, senior officers show up and attempt to enter the craft
unsuccessfully. The craft is moved to a hangar and all but one of the
soldiers are sent back to Leningrad. In September, a successful entry is
made, according to the remaining officer. Inside, they discover two
armchairs, two steering wheels, and a featureless control panel. The
cockpit is so small that two adults can hardly fit inside. Investigators
who collect “rod-like items” from inside experience mild burns on their
hands (though gloved). (Clark III 345; Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle,
The Soviet UFO Files: Paranormal Encounters behind the Iron Curtain,
Quadrillion, 1998, pp. 96–97)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6663
Date: 8/4/1987
Description: 10:00 p.m. Gordon Baker and two others watch two
cross-shaped objects pass slowly and silently over his home from
northeast to southwest in Exmouth, Devon, England. Describing it like a
“flying fairground” at 38,000 feet, he watches a jet aircraft fly
underneath it. They watch it for 15 minutes until it disappears on the
horizon. Observers in Lympstone and Budleigh Salterton also see the
object. Two huge, delta-shaped objects are seen making successive passes
over Plymouth, Devon, between 10:30 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. Observations were
also made in Bude, Cornwall, and Exeter, Devon, where they were
apparently tracked on radar. (“‘Flying
Fairground’ Is Seen
over Town,” Exmouth (UK) Herald, August 7, 1987; “Whitehall
Silent over Flying Fairground,” Exmouth (UK) Herald, August 14,
1987, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 222 (January 1988): 16; Marler
139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6664
Date: 8/11/1987
Description: A witness in Osbornville, New Jersey, sees a shiny, oval
object that hovers, becomes brighter, and takes off like a shot, leaving
a white trail. It then stops abruptly, maneuvers, flashes more lights,
and shoots straight up out of sight. (UFOEv II 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6665
Date: 8/11/1987
Description: Several people see a triangular object with three lights
over Sevastopol, Crimea, Russia. A yellow light surriounds the
perimeter, and a bright white light is seen inside. The object hovers
and maneuvers for 3 hours with a trajectory that changes unpredictably.
It disappears, reappears, and smaller objects separate rom it and take
off at great speed. It finally takes off quickly away from the shoe.
(Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020,
p. 136)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6666
Date: 8/11/1987
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 424
Date: 8/11/1987
Description: Shiny oval, hovered; brightened, took off like a shot, left
white trail. Stopped abruptly, maneuvered, lights flashed, shot straight
up out of sight
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Osbornville, NJ
ID: 423
Date: 8/23/1987
Description: 2:00–3:00 a.m. A witness sees a circular, white object west
of Hajdúböszörmény, Hungary, flying slowly to the north. A thin,
orange-colored light beam sweeps from it several times from west to
east. Suddenly it “jumps” with tremendous speed from one place to
another and remains stationary, still sweeping its light beam for at
least 30 minutes. Then it suddenly disappears. (Karoli Hargitai, “The
UFO Phenomenon in Hungary,” IUR 14, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1989): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6667
Date: 8/30/1987
Description: William
S. Steinman makes another attempt to contact possible crashed-saucer
insider Eric
A. Walker, whom Robert
Sarbacher has indicated was a behind-the-scenes participant.
Steinman calls Walker, saying he is inquiring about “meetings that you
attended at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in/around 1949–1950,
concerning the military recovery of flying saucers, and bodies of
occupants.” Walker replies: “Yes, I attended meetings concerning that
subject matter.” Walker agrees they are talking about recovered aliens
and seems nonchalant about the subject. Walker adds: “Yes, I know of
MJ-12. I have known of them for 40 years… You are delving into an area
that you can do absolutely nothing about… Forget about it!” Walker tells
Steinman that he would consult his notes on the topic and hints he might
cooperate further. Steinman writes Walker on August 31, sending him the
MJ-12 briefing document and asking about Project Aquarius. Three weeks
later, Walker replies, saying, “Some things you have right and some
things you have very wrong.” He admits a machine was recovered and is
still stored near “Wright Field.” Four normal looking males were found
at the site, very much alive. “They learned the English language within
a few hours and it was our decision not to make public spectacles of
them, but to allow them to be absorbed into American culture.” Each of
the four, Walker alleges, became highly successful in technology,
sports, and finance. (Grant Cameron and T. Scott Crain Jr., UFOs, MJ-12,
and the Government: A Report on Government Involvement in UFO Crash
Retrievals, Mutual UFO Network, 1991, pp. 7–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6668
Date: 8/31/1987
Description: 10:55 p.m. A dark, domed, disc-shaped UFO with a mast or
antenna on top comes down quickly over the high-security Naval Submarine
Base Bangor [now Naval Base Kitsap] on the Kitsap Peninsula, Washington,
which houses the Trident nuclear ballistic submarine fleet. It hovers
over a playground. Randy Springsteen, 8, and Dennis Mauer, 10, sons of
military personnel, are sitting on the swings and see an entity with a
big head, big pointed “cat” ears, wrinkled skin, and a greenish
complexion in an open hatch. It has a thin, spindly body, long webbed
fingers and toes, and tabs or suction cups on the ends of its fingers
and toes. It also has a wrinkled mouth “like an old grandma’s.” The boys
estimate the being is about 6 feet tall. It points a device that directs
a beam of energy at the two boys on the swings, causing the levitation
of the metal swings. The boys flee quickly into the Springsteen home and
get Charlene Springsteen, who sees a row of lights in the sky as the UFO
takes off and flies away. Charlene then has the boys draw separate
sketches of both the UFO and the alien, which are remarkably similar.
(Donald A. Johnson, “The
Bangor CE3,” IUR 14, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1989): 4–6, 23) Early autumn —
Evening. Rich and
Kathy Dicenzo, their children, and a family friend are sitting outside
their weekend residence in the southern Ohio hills in front of a
campfire. Suddenly a dark shape appears passing from in back of them
from the north over the roof of the house and blotting out the stars in
a precise boomerang shape. The perimeter of the shape is covered with
12–20 individual lights. All sounds from insects, tree frogs, and
distant dogs stops. The campfire flame rises straight up, frozen. The
aspen tree in the front yard stops “quaking” and the children gasp. The
soundless object is low, and it extends beyond the 72-foot length of the
house. After one minute, the light configuration wobbles, the lights
change from amber to red, and the object splits into three sections,
spreads out, and dissipates. (Jennie Zeidman, “Strangeness in the
Night,” IUR 14, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1989): 5, 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6669
Date: 9/1987
End date: 12/1987
Description: Sighting concentration, including 60 reports to sheriff’s
office in Little River County.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Foreman and Ashdown, AR
ID: 426
Date: 9/1987
Description: Three witnesses in Taunton, Somerset, England, observe a
triangular object with bright white lights at each point and red lights
underneath, rotating to the left. Its size is estimated to be comparable
to three C-130 aircraft. (Marler 139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6671
Date: 9/1987
Description: The final issue of the APRO Bulletin is published by Jim
and Coral Lorenzen. (APRO
Bulletin 33, no. 7 (September 1987))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6670
Date: 9/1/1987
Description: Ellipse with windows beamed light down on children in
playground, two humanoids visible in object
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Bangor, WA
ID: 425
Date: 9/4/1987
Description: JMP (Justice for Military Personnel) letter sent to
President Ronald Reagan. This letter, verified by: Astronaut Gordon Cooper,
Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe (USMC, Ret.) (now deceased), MUFON (Sequin, TX),
APRO (Tucson, AZ) and Just Cause (Coventry, CT) states that: “WE
(military personnel) have been ordered by the CIA to shoot at UFOs,
silence pilots who have seen UFOs, intimidate, harass, jail, confine to
institutions, and destroy military careers of witnesses to UFO
sightings. We VIOLATED the Freedom of Information Act by hiding
Government documents.” Maj. Keyhoe sent this letter to PEA Research in
1987.
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research (JMP)
Location: Washington DC
See also: 7/52
See also: 9/24/47
Date: 9/11/1987
Description: 8:15 p.m. Lydia B. Lövendal-Papae and her husband are
walking between Herăstrău Park [now King Michael I Park] and Aviators
Square in Bucharest, Romania, when they see a large, reddish-orange star
hovering above the nearby Arcul de Triumf. After a minute, it moves to
right above them and stops for a couple minutes before it sways back and
forth. Suddenly it makes large zigzag movements toward the Romanian
National Television building and disappears to the northeast. After 5
minutes, her husband sees a white beam shooting briefly from the
direction it has gone. (Romania 45–46)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6672
Date: 9/13/1987
Description: A radioactive contamination accident takes place in
Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil, after a forgotten radiotherapy source is taken
from an abandoned hospital site in the city. It is subsequently handled
by many people, resulting in four deaths. About 112,000 people are
examined for radioactive contamination and 249 of them are found to be
contaminated. In the cleanup operation, topsoil has to be removed from
several sites, and several hundred houses are demolished. All the
objects from within those houses, including personal possessions, are
seized and incinerated. (Wikipedia, “Goiânia
accident”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6673
Date: 9/14/1987
Description: 6:05 p.m. A man and his daughter are walking in Debrecen,
Hungary, when she sees a “flying log.” The man looks up and sees a
cylindrical object flying very slowly to the north. After 3 minutes it
disappears without a trace. (Karoli Hargitai, “The UFO Phenomenon in
Hungary,” IUR 14, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1989): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6674
Date: 9/21/1987
Description: President Reagan states to the UN General Assembly “Perhaps
we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common
bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would
vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.”
Type: statement
Reference: link
Location: New York City
Date: 9/22/1987
Description: 9:00 p.m. A young couple is sitting outside in Bossier
City, Louisiana, when they see a large, conical or triangular object
pass silently in the sky. It has sparsely distributed lighting on its
base and seems metallic and solid. They estimate it is several football
fields in length. On October 6, the man sees the object again, moving in
the same direction toward Barksdale Air Force Base. (Michael D. Swords,
“Timmerman’s Triangles,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6675
Date: 9/25/1987
Description: Contactee spy comedy “Real Men” movie is released
Type: movie
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: DC
Date: mid 10/1987
Description: 6:00 p.m. A man is driving up Candlewood Lake Road, near
Brookfield, Connecticut, when he sees a low-flying aerial object that
passes over the trees to the left. After making a turn, he notices four
cars stopped with no lights on off the side of the road. He flashes his
headlights and his car’s radio and electrical power dies. All the other
drivers—three men and a woman—are out of their cars. They tell him that
their vehicles stopped as a large, bright aircraft flew over and passed
silently over a hill in the west. It had all white and amber lights and
was triangular in shape. Two other cars drive by at that time and their
engines sputter but they do not stop. He notices a glow in the woods. He
wants to investigate it, but no one will accompany him. Grabbing a
flashlight, he walks into the woods for about a quarter of a mile,
watching the glow get brighter. As he climbs a hill, the glow turns deep
red and then off-white. As he reaches the top of the hill, he sees a
lighted object, but trees block his view. He climbs down the hill to a
clearing and sees an object like a dark triangle hovering silently in
(not above) the trees. He hears a noise and sees a figure wearing a
helmet and a dark suit with glowing metallic stripes around the arms and
waist approaching the object. It reaches the UFO and looks in the
witness’s direction. He hears thoughts in his head saying that he
shouldn’t come closer. As he watches, the figure raises its hand as if
to say goodbye and vanishes in a flash of red light. The object then
blinks out as if someone has just turned it off. (NightSiege 201–
203)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6676
Date: 11/1987
End date: 12/1987
Description: Flurry of sightings including oval objects with flashing
body lights.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Central North Dakota
ID: 427
Date: 11/11/1987
Description: First five photos reported taken by builder Ed
Walters
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Gulf Breeze, FL
ID: 428
Date: 11/11/1987
Description: 5:00 p.m. Edward Walters, president of a construction
company in Gulf Breeze, Florida, has his first alleged encounter with a
UFO. He sees a glowing, top-shaped craft with a row of portholes across
the midsection and a luminous ring on the bottom. He rushes in and grabs
a Polaroid camera and snaps a photo just as the UFO is moving from
behind a tree. He takes three more photos as the object, 150 feet away,
drifts in a northeasterly direction. As he is taking more photos, the
object moves above him, and Walters is hit by a blue beam that paralyzes
him and lifts him several feet off the ground. After hearing a
computerlike voice and a female voice, he sees images of dogs. Then he
falls hard on the pavement and the UFO is gone. Over the next few
months, Walters (initially concealing his identity as “Mr. X”) and his
family claim a bewildering variety of close encounters, including
abduction incidents, and Walters continues to produce more photos of the
UFOs plaguing him. The veracity of his claims causes a rift in ufology,
with MUFON championing the case and CUFOS very skeptical. California
ufologist and songwriter Zan
Overall produces evidence that Walters knew how to double-expose
photos well before his UFO pictures. In June 1990, a model UFO,
seemingly a prototype for a fake UFO in his photos, is found in the wall
of the house formerly occupied by Walters. One week later, Tom Smith
Jr., 22, comes forward claiming he has seen Walters fake some of the
photos. Photoanalyst Bruce
Maccabee continues to support Walters’s claims, coauthoring a book
with him in 1997. (Wikipedia, “Gulf
Breeze UFO incident”; MUFON UFO Journal, March 1988; Donald M. Ware,
Charles D. Flannigan, and Walter H. Andrus Jr., “The Gulf
Breeze, Florida, Photographic Case: Supplement to Part I,” MUFON UFO
Journal, no. 240 (April 1988): 13–14, 21; Jerome Clark, “Editorial: Ill
Breeze,” IUR 13, no. 2 (March/April 1988): 3, 23; Dennis Stacy, “Gulf
Breeze: A Note to the Skeptical,” IUR 13, no. 2 (March/April 1988):
10–11; Mark Rodeghier, “Gulf Breeze: A Note to the Committed,” IUR 13,
no. 2 (March/April 1988): 12–13, 23; Mark Rodeghier and Robert D. Boyd,
“Gulf Breeze, Florida: The Other Side of the Coin,” CUFOS Bulletin,
April 1988, pp. 1–4; Jerome Clark, “Editorial: Breeze from the Gulf,”
IUR 13, no. 3 (May/June 1988): 3; MUFON UFO Journal, June 1988; MUFON
UFO Journal, July 1988; MUFON UFO Journal, August 1988; Bruce Maccabee,
“A History of the Gulf Breeze, Florida, Sighting Events,” in MUFON 1988
International UFO Symposium, MUFON, 1988, pp. 113– 204; Richard H. Hall
and Willy Smith, “Balancing the Scale: Unanswered Questions about Gulf
Breeze,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 248 (December 1988): 3–7; Dan C.
Overlade, “Psychological Evaluation of Mr. Ed,” MUFON UFO Journal, no.
248 (December 1988): 7–8; Bruce Maccabee, “The
Scale Remains Unbalanced,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 252 (April 1989):
3–24; MUFON UFO Journal, May 1989; Bruce Maccabee, “Billy, No; Ed, Yes,”
IUR 14, no. 3 (May/June 1989): 16–19, 24; Wim van Utrecht, “How to Take
Your Own Gulf Breeze Photos,” IUR 14, no. 3 (May/June 1989): 20–21, 24;
MUFON UFO Journal, May 1990; Ed Walters and Frances Walters, The
Gulf Breeze Sightings, Morrow, 1990; Zan Overall, Gulf Breeze Double
Exposed: The ‘Ghost-Demon’ Photo Controversy, CUFOS, 1990; Craig Myers,
“Gulf
Breeze UFO
Model Found,” Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal, June 10, 1990, pp. 1,
8; Craig Myers, “I
Saw UFO Photos Faked, Witness
Says,” Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal, June 17, 1990, pp. 1, 4; Bruce
Maccabee, “The Gulf Breeze Lights,” IUR 17, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1992):
4–12; Art Hufford, “The Gulf Breeze Lights, Continued,” IUR 17, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1992): 11– 12; Zan Overall, “The Gulf Breeze RUFOs,” IUR 17,
no. 2 (March/April 1992): 14–18; Barbara Becker, “The Invention of a
Gulf Breeze UFO,” IUR 17, no. 2 (March/April 1992): 19–21, 23; Bruce
Maccabee and Ed Walters, UFOs Are Real: Here’s the Proof, Avon, 1997;
James W. Moseley and Karl T. Pflock, Shockingly Close to the Truth!
Confessions of a Grave-Robbing Ufologist, Prometheus, 2002, pp. 287–297;
Clark III 550–552)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6677
Date: mid 11/1987
Description: 7:00 p.m. Jim Dawes is one of the witnesses of an object in
the shape of the supersonic airplane Concorde at Wolverhampton, England.
When it reaches overhead, he sees it is composed of many different
lights in a triangle shape. (“Mystery of ‘Concorde shape UFO,’”
Wolverhampton (UK) Express-Star, December 2, 1987; Marler 120)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6679
Date: 11/18/1987
Description: The US Congress issues its investigative report on the
Iran–Contra Affair. It concludes that “the central remaining question is
the role of the President in the Iran–Contra affair. On this critical
point, the shredding of documents by Poindexter, North,
and others, and the death of Casey,
leave the record incomplete.” (Wikipedia, “Iran–Contra
affair”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6678
Date: 11/23/1987
Description: 8:25 p.m. Rick Devine goes out the back door of his home in
Shreve, Ohio, to round up the family dogs and cats. He glances up and
sees four blobs of cool-white light maneuvering in a cloverleaf pattern
(elliptical orbits with a common center of flight, meeting at the
center) in an area of sky a few hundred feet in diameter. The objects
move slower at the outer edges of the orbit and faster as they near the
center. Devine shoos the animals inside (no reaction to the display) and
calls to his wife Janet. She joins him and they continue to watch the
objects. She describes the lights as rectangular. They cross the street
into a schoolyard to get closer to the lights, which move away as if in
response. At no time does the brightness or color or altitude of the
lights change. Seemingly, the display covers an area equivalent to a
baseball diamond. It moves back across the road, and the Devines follow.
As they watch, the four blobs of light come together in the center, move
outward and continue onward, disappearing 90° from each other. The
sighting lasts 35 minutes. (Jennie Zeidman, “Strangeness in the Night,”
IUR 14, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1989): 4–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6680
Date: 11/28/1987
Description: 9:10 p.m.–12:00 midnight. 33 unknown objects fly at low
altitude over the coast of Primorsky Krai, Far Eastern district, Russia,
on the Sea of Japan. Witnesses describe various shapes—cylinders,
cigars, globes—all moving silently. Thirteen UFOs are seen above
Dalnegorsk. The objects cause a 2-minute disruption of electrical
circuits, including TVs and computers. More than 100 witnesses are
questioned by the Far Eastern Commission. (Paul Stonehill and Philip
Mantle, The Soviet UFO Files: Paranormal Encounters behind the Iron
Curtain, Quadrillion, 1998, p. 94)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6681
Date: 12/1987
Description: John Grace founds the Leading Edge International research
group after receiving the “Dulce Papers,” a set of documents allegedly
disclosing unethical experiments on humans—such as breeding techniques,
DNA manipulation, and genetic modification—at an underground base in
Dulce, New Mexico. The papers inspired and are included in The Matrix
series of six books published from 1988 to 2007 by Grace under the
pseudonym Valdamar Valerian. These huge compilations of supposed
documents and insider information discuss the alien visitors and
treaties with earthly governments, harvests of human body parts,
friendly and unfriendly alien species, the creation of humans and
culture by aliens, acquisition of alien technology, and the dangers of
an alien takeover. (Darryl Smith, “The
Dulce Papers,” Crowded Skyes; “Leading Edge International,”
UFO-Alien Database; Clark III 9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6684
Date: 12/1987
Description: Barry
Greenwood calls the MJ-12 documents hoaxes, most likely contrived by
Richard
C. Doty, who has apparently been Moore’s source for much of his UFO
information. He cites the disparity between the briefing document’s
extensive discussion of the Roswell crash and the mere 7 lines of text
on the 1950 Texas crash. Greenwood also charges that the Cutler-Twining
memo had been planted, as it had been found in a virtually empty box in
the National Archives containing a small number of non-UFO documents. Bruce
Maccabee thinks the Cutler-Twining memo is genuine. (MUFON UFO
Journal, December 1987; MUFON UFO Journal, July 1988)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6683
Date: 12/1/1987
Description: 7:15 a.m. A former London policeman (pseudonym Philip
Spencer) is walking across Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire, England, to
visit his father-in-law in East Morton. He was walking up a small hill
when he notices an odd-looking figure in the trail ahead of him. It is
dark green and about 4 feet tall with an oversized head and long, thin
arms. The creature makes a gesture at Spencer, which he takes to be a
warning telling him to stay away, but he takes out his camera and snaps
a picture. The creature then runs away and Spencer follows it. He loses
the creature in the fog but then sees an object rise from the moor and
disappear into the sky. It is a whitish color and consists of two
saucer-shaped parts on top of each other. He hears a loud hum. He fails
to take a photo of the object. Rather than continue with his planned
route, Spencer heads to another town that was about 30 minutes away.
When he arrives, he finds that it is about two hours later than he
expects it to be. Additionally, the compass he has taken with him is
pointed in the opposite direction than it should be. While the photo is
getting examined by experts, Spencer has strange dreams. Following
ufologist Peter Hough’s advice, he attends a session of regressive
hypnotherapy carried out by Jim Singleton on March 16, 1988. Under
hypnosis, Spencer’s original account of the incident changes. Singleton
calls it a genuine recall. Spencer now remembers that when he saw the
creature on the hill he was instantly paralyzed, lifted up a few feet,
and pulled into the craft. When he enters, a voice tells him to be calm.
A group of green aliens then performs medical experiments on him,
inserting items into his nose and mouth. He is given a tour of the craft
and shown a film with apocalyptic imagery, including nuclear explosions,
famines, and floods. He is then shown a second film, but he never
reveals the contents of this film, saying that the aliens who abducted
him do not want humanity to know. Following this, Spencer is returned to
Ilkley Moor, where he then takes his photograph. He claims that the
alien is actually waving goodbye to him, not telling him to stay away,
as in his original account. (Wikipedia, “Ilkley
Moor UFO incident”; Peter Hough, “The
Green Alien of Ilkley Moor,” Fate, March 1999, pp. 35–41; Matty
Sweeney, “Ilkley
Moor Alien Photograph,”
The Paranormal Guide, October 7, 2014; “Picture
Post: When Ilkley Moore Became an Alien Landing
Site,” Yorkshire Post, October 13, 2014; Nick Redfern, Top Secret
Alien Abduction Files, Red Wheel/Weiser, 2018; Patrick Gross, “The
Ilkley Moor Encounter of the 3rd Kind, 1987”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6685
Date: 12/9/1987
Description: Night. Oddly moving lights in the sky appear over
Nottingham, England, traveling quickly and emitting a deep hum. A
triangular object about 250 feet long covered in 150 red and white
lights is observed over a farm near Hull around the same date. Similar
UFOs are seen in Staffordshire and Long Eaton, Derbyshire. (“Mystery of
City UFO Sightings,” Nottingham (UK) Evening Post, December 10, 1987;
Hull (UK) Daily Mail, December 11, 1987; Long Eaton (UK) Trader,
December 23, 1987; Marler 121)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6686
Date: 12/12/1987
Description: About 8:50 P.M. (CST). Soviet rocket casing orbital decay
and atmospheric re-entry, multiple fiery objects from NW to SE.
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 429
Date: 12/13/1987
Description: Geminid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 430
Date: 12/13/1987
Description: Ufologist John Lear claims Dr. Edward Teller is MJ-12
Type: statement
Reference: Article by John Lear (TODO)
Location: Nevada
Date: 12/14/1987
Description: 9:30 p.m. A gray, oval-shaped object lands on the road
ahead of a Mercedes car near Launceston, Tasmania. The engine and lights
fail instantly, and the driver brakes to a stop. Intense light comes
from the base of the object that is painful to the driver’s eyes. He
leaves the car and gets sick, hiding behind a tree from where he watches
his car being dragged about 33 feet, as if attracted by a magnet, and
leaving tire marks on the road. A Land Cruiser approaches the scene and
its lights fail, but the diesel engine continues to operate. The object
takes off with a whirring sound. The car is covered with melted specks
of asphalt, and serious electrical problems must be fixed after the
incident. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference
Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6687
Date: 12/14/1987
Description: Elliptical object landed ahead of car, blocked road.
Headlights and engine failed, blinding light from underside. Car dragged
toward object
Type: landing
Type: abduction
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Launceston, Northern Tasmania
ID: 431
Date: 12/21/1987
Description: CIA letter to former assistant director of NICAP
Mr. Richard H. Hall stating the CIA’s reasons for denying certain FOIA
requests about himself on the basis of national defense reasons and must
be kept secret. Mr. Hall is an UFO investigator and book author.
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Langley, VA
Date: winter 1987
Description: Night. Air Force Security Policeman Joseph C. Pscolka is
awakened by the night shift flight security controller at the Malmstrom
AFB N-01 missile alert facility northwest of Grassrange, Montana, who
tells him that an alarm response team responded to a security alert at
the N-06 launch site and had not been heard from for nearly an hour.
Pscolka assembles a security response team and joins them to drive to
the site. The security lights are out and the alarm team’s vehicle
parked 50 feet from the wide-open gate with its lights out and engine
off. Pscolka drives up to the vehicle when his own Peacekeeper APC loses
power. At that moment, the alert team bursts from its vehicle and runs
to the APC, begging to be let in. Their vehicle had shut down entirely,
even the flashlights. The entire launch facility, up to 20 feet outside
the gate, is devoid of snow, even though the snow outside is knee- deep.
Pscolka goes up to the facility alone after posting guards. When he gets
to the snow-free zone, he notes the temperature is warmer, even hot.
Everything within the facility is warm to the touch, including the soil.
But there are no intruders. A few more APCs approach down the access
road, and suddenly all the facility and vehicle lights come on again.
After the incident, the teams are debriefed and ordered not to tell
anyone about it. (Nukes 397– 401)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6682
Date: 12/29/1987
Description: Lear Jet heir John
Lear, based on stories by Albuquerque businessman Paul
Bennewitz, claims
in a statement on ParaNet that he has independent confirmation of a
secret underground base near Dulce, New Mexico, populated by gray aliens
and humans. Direct communication between one alien group and the US
government took place at Holloman AFB in April 1964. Lear alleges that
the MJ-12 group entered into a relationship with possible ET
intelligences between 1969 and 1971 and in exchange for super
technology, gave carte blanche to the ETs to conduct experiments and
abductions on unsuspecting human beings. Lear also claims that the ETs,
with our government’s knowledge, are mutilating domestic cattle and
sheep, and in some cases even humans are the victims. In 1972–1973, a
secret underground facility at Groom Lake, Nevada, was built “for and
with the help of” the ETs. Lear claims that William
Moore is being used as a conduit by MJ-12 (which includes Edward
Teller, Henry
Kissinger, Bobby
Ray Inman, and
possibly John
Poindexter) to release information about the alien presence on
earth. Many ParaNet members question his assertions. (Wikipedia, “Dulce
Base”; “Statement
Released by John Lear,” December 29, 1987; Don Ecker, “Driven to
Destruction,” Fortean Times 121 (April 1999): 40–43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6688
Date: 1988
Description: College instructor Karla
Turner and her husband are in counseling to learn why they are
feeling physical symptoms of stress. She reads Missing Time by Budd
Hopkins and Communion by Whitley
Strieber and soon recalls having seen an odd light in the sky as a
girl and begins to dream about UFOs. Having learned hypnotic regression
techniques from her therapist, she regresses her husband, whereupon he
remembers several childhood experiences with gray aliens. Several nights
later, Karla awakens to sounds of clicks and bumps in the house,
followed by disembodied voices in her bedroom. She later remembers a
nightmare from her childhood in which an insect-like being holds her
hand and tells her it is her mother. Soon she and her husband undergo
regression by an Oklahoma UFO researcher, which produces accounts of
repeated abductions since childhood and evidence that her whole family
was involved. After one session, Karla, her husband, and a third person
see a lighted, disc- shaped craft hovering above them. Two weeks later,
she again hears voices in the night and loud knocking sounds. She wakes
to find small punctures on her inner wrist and three white circles on
her abdomen. Into 1989, more body marks appear, including a solid red
triangle on her arm, puncture wounds, scratches, and bruises.
Poltergeist phenomena occur. The Turners begin to notice a white car
parked near their house, and unmarked helicopters seem to follow them.
They begin to suspect the US military is monitoring them. (Karla Turner,
Into the
Fringe: A True Story of Alien Abduction, Berkley, 1992)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6690
Date: 1988
Description: Area-51/S-4 worker Bob Lazar meets ufologist John
Lear
Type: meeting
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Location: NV
Date: 1988
Description: Michael
Corbin becomes administrator of ParaNet, which runs through the
mid-1990s.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6689
Date: 1/1988
Description: A family in the vicinity of Pasadena, California, notices a
large, perfectly circular brown spot, 13 feet in diameter, in their
backyard in the midst of their lush, well-cared for St. Augustine grass.
It seems to have appeared the morning after the wife awakens to see a
small, gray-skinned entity standing beside her and probing her torso
with medical instruments. She had seen a strange light beam one month
earlier. The brown area slowly fills in with Bermuda grass after 6
months. The Los Angeles County agricultural pathologist who examines a
soil sample finds four southern chinch bugs (Blissus insularis) that he
says can cause similar damage, although the progression is much slower
and requires many more insects than four. (Ann Druffel, “CE3—and CE2?”
IUR 14, no. 3 (May/June 1989): 10–12, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6691
Date: 1/5/1988
Alternate date: 1/15/1988
Description: 5:00 a.m. Cristian Tuţă is doing mandatory military service
in a unit at Roşu, Romania, on the shore of Lacul Morii. While on guard
duty, he notices an oval light positioned vertically 30 feet above the
bridge to the only island on the lake. He estimates it is 45 feet high
and 15 feet wide. Inside are four much brighter lights in the shape of a
cross. At first it remains motionless, but begins quickly moving up and
down along the bridge like a sine wave for 30 minutes. It stops abruptly
and moves slowly to the southwest at an altitude of 60 feet. When it
comes to a clump of trees, it changes its shape to two discs put
together. In a split second it zooms away to the west. (Romania
46–48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6692
Date: 1/12/1988
Description: Ed Walters produces his most famous photo—a brightly lit
structured craft hovering above a road near his home in Gulf Breeze,
Florida. (Ed Walters and Frances Walters, The
Gulf Breeze Sightings, Morrow,
1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6693
Date: 1/19/1988
Description: 5:00 p.m. A father and daughter are driving to pick the
mother up from work in Benton, Louisiana. When they pull into the mall
parking lot, the daughter notices a streak of light in the sky that
suddenly moves right in front of them about 150 feet away and 50 feet
above the ground. It is a dull silver disc with “turbines” or openings
around its perimeter that are spinning like a slowly moving fan. From
the top of the object emerges a sheath with rotary blades, although the
blades do not rotate. The disc is about the size of an automobile,
around 5 feet tall, and completely silent. For 90 seconds, all the noise
of the mall seems muted. Then the device begins to move and zips away
quickly. (Michael D. Swords, “Unusual Experiences from the Timmerman
Files,” IUR 27, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6694
Date: 1/19/1988
Description: Glowing red object followed car, moved up and down as if
following contours of local terrain
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Foreman, AR
ID: 432
Date: 1/20/1988
Description: 4:10 a.m. Faye Knowles and her three sons Patrick, Sean,
and Wayne are en route along the Eyre Highway from Perth, Western
Australia, to Melbourne, Victoria, by car, when they observe a bright,
egg-shaped object ahead of them on the road near Mundrabilla, Western
Australia. Sean is driving and has to swerve to miss the object. The
egg-shaped object then begins to follow their station wagon. At some
point, Sean does a U-turn to approach the object, but soon goes back to
driving eastward. The family becomes disoriented, and the sequence of
events is difficult to reconstruct. They roll down the windows and a
“grayish-black mist” enters into the car. Faye reaches out the window to
touch the roof and feels something warm, soft, and rubbery that covers
her hand in black dust. They hear a thud on the roof and come to believe
that the object has lifted their car off the road. They are let down
suddenly and the right rear tire blows out. A truck driver named Graham
Henley is driving ahead of the Knowles’s car; he sees a bright light in
his rearview mirror for about 5 minutes. Shortly after Henley pulls into
Mundrabilla, the Knowles family arrives in a state of disorientation. He
inspects the damaged tire, sees dents in the roof, and smells something
burnt. Henley and another trucker drive back to the scene and find skid
marks and footprints. In the afternoon, the family report to police in
Ceduna, South Australia, who note their distress and the dents in the
roof. Samples of the black dust are collected for forensic analysis. The
police tests are never done, but at least half of the material is
obtained by ufologists Keith
Basterfield and Ray
Brooke, who take it to a laboratory. The analysis reveals ordinary
materials: sodium chloride, sodium, aluminum, magnesium, sulfur,
potassium, silicon, chlorine, clay particles, and calcium. The Seven
Network pays the Australian Mineral Development Laboratories to test the
vehicle for radioactivity, but there is none above background. AMDEL
states that the car tire has failed due to being underinflated, and the
dust, smell, and smoke is due to the blowout. Another set of samples is
taken from the car by the Victorian UFO Research Society and sent to two
different labs, again with commonplace results. However, one analysis by
Richard
Haines in the US concludes that the interior dust is different from
the exterior dust, which contains a possible trace of astatine, a
radioactive chemical element. Faye’s hand became red and swollen in the
days after the event. (Keith Basterfield and Ray Brooke, “The
Mundrabilla Incident,” UFO Research Australia Newsletter 6, no. 1
(April 1988): 3–20; Keith Basterfield and Ray Brooke, “The
Mundrabilla Incident: An Update,” UFO Research Australia Newsletter
7, no. 1 (May 1989): 3–9; Keith Basterfield, Vladimir Godic, and Pony
Godic, “Australian Ufology: A Review,” JUFOS 2 (1990): 36-37; Keith
Basterfield, “Samples from the Mundrabilla CE2,” IUR 15, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1990): 12–13; UFOEv II 232–237; Siani, “UFOs on the Nullarbor
Plain (Part 1),” Strange Days, September 27, 2007; Siani, “UFOs on the
Nullarbor Plain (Part 2),” Strange Days, September 27, 2007; Brian
Dunning, “The
Knowles Family
UFO Incident,” Skeptoid podcast, no. 715, February 18, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6695
Date: 1/20/1988
Description: Knowles family encounter with oval object that buzzed car,
car lifted off road, physical traces
Type: encounter
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Mundrabilla, Western Australia
ID: 433
Date: 1/21/1988
Description: 8:00 p.m. Ex-Navy Lt. Dan McIndoe and his family are at
their home 5 miles north of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island,
Washington, when they see a white light with red and blue flashes. They
watch it maneuvering for 2 hours. (Donald A. Johnson, “UFOs in
Washington Skies,” IUR 13, no. 2 (March/April 1988): 4–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6696
Date: 1/28/1988
Description: Ex-CIA Pilot Claimed To Receive 25 Secret CIA Memos About
Aliens On Earth
Type: interview
Reference: link
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Date: 2/4/1988
Description: 8:10 p.m. A woman is driving between Bacup, Lancashire, and
Todmorden, Yorkshire, England, when she sees an intense orange,
egg-shaped light to the south-southeast above Tooler Hill when she is
crossing the border between the two counties. Its interior is like a
“swirling liquid (or fire embers) with constantly changing patterns.”
She stops to watch it as it hovers for another 2–3 minutes. As she
drives away it starts to move, so she pulls over again and watches it
(now dimmer) move away to the southwest. It speeds up as it descends
below the level of the hillside. (Jenny Randles, “Another
Pennine Earthlight?” Northern UFO News, no. 137 (June 1989):
15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6697
Date: 2/9/1988
Description: 8:00 a.m. A man looking for farm work near Oswestry,
Shropshire, England, sees a dog run from a parked car he is passing. The
dog crosses the road and runs barking straight int a swirling,
yellowish, glowing mist about 45 feet in diameter that straddles a
hedgerow. The mist is making a noise like rushing air. The dog owner
gets out of the car, and the witness follows her toward the glow and
tries to calm her down. As they approach, their hair stands on end,
their skin begins tingling, and they smell sulfur as an eerie stillness
envelops them. Moments later, the glow disappears as if it is melting
away. The dog is lying on the ground looking ill. Its eyes are red and
its coat is soaking wet, yet the moisture is evaporating rapidly with
steam visibly rising. The man carries the dog back to the car and the
woman drives off with it. He later finds out that the dog recovered
after an hour or so but died a few weeks later. (Jenny Randles, Time
Storms: Amazing Evidence for Time Warps, Space Rifts, and Time Travel,
Piatkus, 2001, p. 11; Jenny Randles, “UFOs Can Damage Your Health, Part
Two,” Fortean Times 365 (April 2018): 27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6698
Date: 2/10/1988
Description: 7:45–8:30 p.m. Numerous independent observers on the border
of Cambria and Somerset counties near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, see a
60-foot object with several rows of lights that make it look like a
“cruise ship in the sky.” The object passes over cars and trees at an
altitude of 50–100 feet. It emits a slight humming sound and projects
multiple beams of light toward the ground. (“Number
of UFO Reports in State Unprecedented in ’88,” Latrobe (Pa.)
Bulletin, January 9, 1989, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 235
(February 1989): 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6699
Date: 2/11/1988
Description: Pilot saw hovering object, intense lights like searchlights
in a triangle. Climbed vertically out of sight
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Beira, Mozambique
ID: 434
Date: 3/3/1988
Description: 8:30 p.m. The brothers Farisano are returning home from a
soccer championship near General Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina, when
they notice some strange lights above a nearby bridge. As they approach
the lights, their vehicle engine suddenly stalls. They try to restart it
but cannot, so they remain in their truck watching the lights. They now
see that the lights are on a spherical object with a large red light on
the top and several white lights in a row on the bottom section. The
object hovers close to the ground. Inside the transparent midsection the
witnesses can see a shadow-like figure moving about. The object suddenly
moves slowly out of sight, after which the truck engine restarts and
they drive home. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference
Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6700
Date: 3/4/1988
Description: Coast Guard witnesses, large illuminated ellipse hovering
over Lake Erie, landing on ice. Smaller triangular objects emerged,
zipped around independently
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Eastlake, OH
ID: 435
Date: 3/4/1988
Description: 8:35 p.m. Sheila and Henry Baker and their three children
are driving home to Eastlake, Ohio, after going to dinner. As they near
the waterfront, Sheila notices something hovering above Lake Erie, so
they drive down to the beach to investigate. A huge, metallic-gray,
football-shaped object like a blimp is silently rocking back and forth,
blinding white light emanating from both ends. It begins circling,
moving overhead at about 1,300 feet. Somehow it causes the lake ice to
rumble and crack. The Bakers get nervous and drive home, where they can
still see the UFO with red and blue blinking lights along the bottom
edge. 5–6 bright triangular lights detach from the side, hovering at
first, then darting and zigzagging around at high speeds. Each is
smaller than a Cessna and cross 50- mile stretches low over the ice “in
the snap of a finger.” They make several passes toward the Perry Nuclear
Power Plant about 20 miles away. The Bakers alert the Coast Guard, and
Seaman James Powers and Petty Officer John Knaub drive to the beach,
where the triangular objects approach them. They give a blow-by-blow
radio report to the Coast Guard base in Detroit. Other witnesses in
different locations also see the triangles. Suddenly the smaller objects
return to the large one, which seems to be landing on the ice. They
reenter it, the ellipse flashes a series of red, blue, and yellow
lights, and the light at the end turns from white to red. Suddenly the
lights go out and the ice booming stops. The witnesses assume the object
has gone beneath the surface. The Coast Guard report the next day
suggests that the lights were Venus and Jupiter. (NICAP, “Eastlake
Close Encounter”; Richard P. Dell’Aquila, “Ohio
Flap,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 249 (January 1989): 15–17; Dolan II
428–431; John Lasker, Technoir: 13 Investigations from the Dark Side of
Technology, the US Military, and UFOs, The Author, 2010, pp. 23–28;
Marcus Lowth, “The
Baker Family UFO Encounter over Lake Erie,” UFO Insight, August 2,
2018; Michael Lee Hill, “Never
Before Heard! Famous 1988 Lake Erie Coast Guard UFO Event Update:
Audio Witness
Testimony!” Michael Lee Hill blog, August 18, 2018; Patrick Gross,
“Lake
Erie, USA 1988”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6701
Date: 3/5/1988
Description: Richard
Doty writes to ufologist Larry
W. Bryant that he had never promised film footage to Linda
Moulton Howe. (Clark
III 365)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6702
Date: 3/7/1988
Description: During a campaign rally in Rogers, Arkansas, vice president
and presidential candidate George
H. W. Bush is approached by a UFO buff named Charles
Huffer, who
asks him if he will tell the truth about UFOs. He sort of promises to
declassify the information. Later, Huffer declines to send him any UFO
cases because “you’re a CIA man. You know all that stuff.” “I know
some,” Bush replies, “I know a fair amount.” (presidentialufo.com,
“George Bush, 41st President”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6703
Date: 3/20/1988
Description: John Salter, Jr., and John, III, abduction
Type: abduction
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Wisconsin
ID: 436
Date: 3/23/1988
Description: Motorists saw bright light ahead, engine lost power, radio
failed. Four square yellow lights and light beam visible. Car returned
to normal after lights disappeared (Basterfield, 1997a).
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: East Tamar Highway, Tasmania
ID: 437
Date: 4/1988
Description: William
Steinman again contacts Eric
A. Walker at his Florida residence and asks about the current
members of MJ-12. Within a week, Walker mails Steinman’s handwritten
note back to him from Penn State, not Florida. At the top of the letter,
Walker has written, “Must reply, did code (–1),” and placed numbers from
1 to 26 above certain words in Steinman’s letter. Later in the month, T.
Scott Crain calls Walker, who says he cannot talk about the UFO subject.
(Grant Cameron and T. Scott Crain Jr., UFOs, MJ-12, and the Government:
A Report on Government Involvement in UFO Crash Retrievals, Mutual UFO
Network, 1991, pp. 16–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6704
Date: 4/12/1988
Description: Coral
Lorenzen, founder
of APRO, dies in
Tucson, Arizona. CUFOS had been attempting to purchase the APRO
archives, but is thwarted by someone who convinces Coral’s son, Larry
Lorenzen, that this is a bad move and that the APRO board should
reconsider. He wants the archive to stay in Arizona. Tina
Choate and Brian Myers, with
their dubious International Center for UFO Research, convince the APRO
board that they are the most logical recipients. In 1989, the board
gives them the archives free of charge. Former APRO board member Robert
Dean later realizes Choate and Myers are scam artists. They
immediately bar anyone from using the files and move them to a garage at
an undisclosed location in Scottsdale or Sedona, Arizona. It is not
known if the paper archives still exist, although fortunately APRO case
files prior to 1957 have been preserved digitally. In 2010–2012, Choate
and Myers are involved in a fraudulent scheme to acquire and illegally
sell a valuable collection of fossils. (“Obituary:
Coral Lorenzen,” Flying Saucer Review 33, no. 3 (September 1988):
15; Clas Svahn, “Unique
UFO Archive Hidden in Warehouse (APRO Archives and Files),” UFO
Evidence; Jamie Ross, “Collector
Sues over $25M in Fossils,” Courthouse News Service, May 17, 2010;
Isaac Koi, “Rare Microfilms of UFO Documents Now Online: APRO, US Air
Force, etc. (PDF archives),” Above Top Secret forum, December 15,
2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6705
Date: 5/4/1988
Description: MUFON Director of Investigations Dan
Wright poses a set of open questions for John
Lear, nearly
all of which concern Lear’s sources. Lear claims that most of his
information comes from confidential sources within the intelligence
community, while a lesser portion comes from open sources and his own
“informed speculation.” (Richard P. Dell’Aquila, “Who
Is John Lear?” UFONet.it, 1988)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6706
Date: 5/4/1988
Description: During a question-and-answer session following a speech to
the National Strategy Forum in Chicago’s Palmer House Hotel, President
Reagan is
asked about the most important “need” in international relations. He
replies: “I’ve often wondered, what if all of us in the world discovered
that we were threatened by an outer– a power from outer space, from
another planet. Wouldn’t we all of a sudden find that we didn’t have any
differences between us at all, we were all human beings, citizens of the
world, and wouldn’t we come together to fight that particular threat?”
(presidentialufo.com, “Ronald Reagan, 40th President, January 20,
1981–January 20, 1989”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6707
Date: 5/5/1988
Description: For the third time, publicly, President Ronald Reagan
states that the nations of the earth would unite if we were threatened
by an Alien race from a hostile planet.
Type: statement
Reference: Pea
Research (J4-A)
Location: Washington DC
Date: 5/16/1988
Description: 9:30–10:00 p.m. Eileen Ballard and four friends are outside
in Stafford, England, when they notice two spotlights in the sky. The
objects they are attached to position themselves side by side, one above
the other, and fly slowly and silently across the sky. Red and green
lights are visible on the undersides. BUFORA initially attributes the
sighting to two US Air Force F-117 stealth fighters, an aircraft that
had not yet been acknowledged, but this is considered unlikely as other
witnesses come forward. (“Did
Mystery Lights Reflect Secret Flights of F- 19?”
Stafford (UK) Newsletter, May 20, 1988, p. 3; “After
MP’s Plea, More Tell of UFO Mystery,” Stafford (UK) Newsletter, July
1, 1988; Marler 121–123, 139–140)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6708
Date: 6/1/1988
Description: 8:10 p.m. A Boeing 737 pilot, on a final approach to the
runway at El Tepual Airport in Puerto Montt, Chile, suddenly encounters
a large white light surrounded by green and red. The light is coming
straight toward the airplane, and the pilot makes a steep turn to the
left to avoid a collision. The object is also seen by air traffic
control personnel. (Kean, pp. 194–195;
“1988:
La historia del Ovni de El Tepual, Puerto Montt,” Prensa Vértice TV
YouTube channel, August 17, 2012; Rodrigo Bravo Garrido and Juan
Castillo Cornejo, “Incidente
del Boeing 737
del Vuelo Lan Chile 045 con un F.A.N.I. el 01 de Junio de 1988,”
Parinacota UFO Arica, October 10, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6709
Date: 6/6/1988
Description: Letter received from ufologist Paul F. Bennewitz describing
Project Beta: Alien base located in New Mexico consisting of type “Grey”
Aliens. NASA CIR film has aided in locating this base and revealing US
Military involvement with the “Greys”. Aliens helped US Military to
build a working saucer, Atomic Powered. Two women and a boy exposed to
radiation burns by this saucer. Government is not picking up the medical
bills. “Grey” base is currently abandoned. Another group called “Orange”
is based on the west slope of Mt. Archeleta near “the Diamond”. Goal of
Project Beta: to locate, inventory and propose ways of destroying Alien
bases.
Type: letter
Reference: Pea
Research
Location: New Mexico
See also: 12/29/80
Date: 7/1988
Description: The Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici launches another
newsletter, Rassegna Casistica, edited by Alessandro Cortellazi in
Turin, Italy. It continues through December 1991. (Rassegna
Casistica, no. 1 (July 1988))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6712
Date: 7/1988
Description: Walter Corrêa do Prado of Boqueirâo, Paraiba, Brazil,
undergoes about one hour of missing time after seeing a strong light
illuminating three blocks in his neighborhood. After witnessing other
UFOs over the next month or so (one with his wife that leaves traces of
burned grass), he begins reading UFO literature. In April 2000, do Prado
is hypnotically regressed by Mario Rangel, and an abduction narrative
surfaces. (Clark III 308–309; Brazil 329– 333)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6711
Date: 7/1988
Description: Cynthia
Hind begins publishing UFO Afrinews in Harare, Zimbabwe. It
continues until July 2000. (UFO Afrinews, no.
1 (July 1988))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6710
Date: 7/17/1988
Description: Night. Several witnesses see two objects with red and green
flashing lights make two crisscross passes near the generating station
in Homer City, Pennsylvania. Later one object drops from the sky and
makes two passes about 200 feet from the ground. It is circular in shape
and about the size of a large car. It has four leg-like structures with
lights on them that protrude from the bottom. A hissing noise can be
heard as the object passes close by. (“Number
of UFO Reports in State Unprecedented in ’88,” Latrobe (Pa.)
Bulletin, January 9, 1989, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 235
(February 1989): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6713
Date: 8/1988
Description: José Semitiel Martínez begins publishing the newsletter
Búsqueda in Gerona, Spain. It folds in March 1995. (Búsqueda, no.
1 (August 1988))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6715
Date: 8/1988
Description: After eight years of stress, fear, and paranoia, Paul
Bennewitz has turned over his business to his sons and barricaded
himself in his house. His family, convinced his sanity and health are in
danger, commits him to the Anna Kaseman Hospital in Albuquerque, where
he stays for a month. After his release, his family keeps him away from
ufology and ufologists. (Greg Bishop, Project Beta, Paraview, 2005, pp. 217–218)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6714
Date: 8/3/1988
Description: 11:15 a.m. Kaye Stricker is stopped at a traffic light at
the corner of Gadsden Avenue and West Avenue K in Lancaster, California,
when she sees a shiny object in the sky coming from the northwest. It
hovers briefly over the Sierra Highway before “evaporating.” (“Van
Driver Reports Sighting UFO in Sky over Lancaster,” Palmdale
(Calif.) Antelope Valley Press, August 4, 1988, via UFO Newsclipping
Service, no. 232 (November 1988): 1)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6716
Date: 9/2/1988
Description: Afternoon. A man sitting by a pond on his rural residence
near Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, is startled to see an object come out of
the sky from the north and hover 50 feet away from him about 30 feet
above the ground. It is spherical and about 15–20 feet in diameter. The
upper section is red and the underside orange-red. The center is divided
by a glass-like, amber-colored window, and lights can be seen flashing
inside. The object emits a mist toward the ground. It silently hovers
for about 2 minutes before moving off to the north. Later, the man finds
a depressed area in the tall grass about 12 feet in diameter where the
grass is swirled counterclockwise. (“Number of
UFO Reports in State Unprecedented in ’88,” Latrobe (Pa.) Bulletin,
January 9, 1989, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 235 (February 1989):
12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6717
Date: 9/15/1988
Description: An agent of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations
contacts the Dallas, Texas, office of the FBI and supplies the Bureau
with a copy of the MJ-12 documents. The set is obtained from a source
whose identity AFOSI has decided must remain classified. (Kremlin
181–182)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6718
Date: 9/19/1988
Description: The Fund for UFO Research Inc. provides $500 in funding to
Elaine Douglas and Mr. Richard Hall for Washington DC area Abduction
research.
Type: funding
Reference: link
Location: Washington DC
Date: 9/25/1988
Description: 10:30 p.m. A man is driving along State Highway 113 in
Lorain County, Ohio, when his car stalls. He sees two other stalled cars
on the side of the road, so he gets out and talks to the four people
from the other cars for a few minutes. They realize there are lights
nearby in the woods that come from a silvery triangular object with a
rim and rounded base. The treetops above it seem to be moving, although
it is a calm night. After 15–20 minutes the object rises at an angle and
moves away slowly and silently, passing overhead. It seems wider than
the road. From the center of the base there is a white light like a
fluorescent lamp. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference
Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6719
Date: 10/1988
Alternate date: 11/1988
Description: Pilot Robert
Hopkins is flying a USAF RC-135S Cobra Ball reconnaissance aircraft
east of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia when he is notified that the
USSR has launched an RSD-10 Pioneer IRBM toward the Kura Missile Test
Range at Klyuchi, Kamchatka Krai. The 1988 Intermediate-Range Nuclear
Forces Treaty allows the Soviets to test-fire IRBMs into the sea, rather
than breaking them up. Moving into position to collect telemetry
information from the launch, Hopkins observes a “translucent, milky
white wall moving from the left, over the USSR, to the right, over the
Northern Pacific Ocean. It covered the entire sky from ground level to
as far up as we could see looking out the front windows of the
airplane.” The wall of light passes at an estimated 6,200 mph,
disappearing eastward and leaving darkness behind it. Some analysts at
the USAF Foreign Technology Division think it is caused by something in
the first-stage fuel of the RSD-10; others suggest it is produced
deliberately to dazzle US observation satellites. Some speculate that
Russia has a secret Dome of Light weapon that has been observed several
times since and that might involve a plasma that can temporarily disrupt
electronics and blind a satellite. (Tyler Rogoway, “U.S.
Spyplane Pilot’s Account Indicates Soviet Russia Tested a
‘Dome of Light’ Superweapon,” The Drive: The War Zone, February 6,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6727
Date: 10/8/1988
Description: After speaking to John
Lear by phone for the first time on October 4, conspiracy theorist
Milton
William Cooper receives
in the mail a number of Lear’s writings, as well as the dubious “O.H.
Krill” document, allegedly written by a USAF NCO named John Grace,
claiming that the US government has a long-standing relationship with an
alien civilization; a version of Abraham
Zapruder’s John
F. Kennedy assassination film enhanced to show Secret Service Agent
William
Greer shooting a pistol at Kennedy; Lear’s transcription of
statements by a former Green Beret captain named William English
regarding a nonexistent Project Grudge Report number 13 that refers to
alien bodies; and a paper on Project Excalibur regarding underground
facilities that was supposedly written by Bob
Lazar while working at Los Alamos. (O. H. Krill [John Grace], “A
Situation Report on Our Acquisition of Advanced
Technology and Interaction with Alien Cultures,” IllumiNet BBS, June
1988; Don Ecker, “Freedom of Disinformation,” Fortean Times 122 (May
1999): 28–31; Dolan II 443–447)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6720
Date: 10/13/1988
Description: Former Sen. Barry
Goldwater appears on Larry
King’s syndicated radio show and responds to a caller who asks him
whether the story about a secret Blue Room at Wright-Patterson AFB is
true. He says his friend Gen. Curtis
LeMay got quite angry at him when he tried to gain access to the
room, which is said to hold evidence related to UFOs. (Nukes
488–489)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6721
Date: 10/14/1988
Description: “UFO Cover-Up?: Live!” Broadcast from Washington DC on 130
syndicated stations throughout the US. Soviet ufologists appeared live
by satellite. AFOSI officer Rick Doty played the part of ‘Falcon’ in the
Kodak-produced documentary, but it is generally accepted he wasn’t the
‘real’ Falcon of the Aviary.
Type: TV broadcast
Reference: link
Reference: link
Location: Washington DC
Date: 10/14/1988
Description: Bill
Moore and his associates cooperate with “Falcon” and others in the
“Aviary” to present a nationally televised two-hour special titled UFO
Cover-Up? Live! Host Mike
Ferrell interviews Betty
Cash and Vickie Landrum, and
finally “Falcon” (or someone pretending to be him) and “Condor”
(identified by some as DIA employee Col. Robert
Collins), who appear in silhouette with voices altered. They
embarrassingly proclaim that the ETs have a preference for Tibetan music
and strawberry ice cream. Robert
Emenegger also appears, claiming he is convinced of the reality of
the alleged UFO contact at Holloman AFB. Paul Shartle describes the
Holloman film footage, saying it shows aliens emerging from a
disc-shaped craft. (presidentialufo.com, “Disclosure Pattern 1972–75”;
Internet Movie Database, “UFO
Cover-Up? Live!”; Don Ecker, “Driven to Destruction,” Fortean Times
121 (April 1999): 40–43; Greg Bishop, Project Beta, Paraview, 2005, pp. 200–202, 211–212)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6722
Date: 10/25/1988
Description: 5:00 a.m. A Miami, Florida, couple is on their balcony
terrace when they see 3 yellow lights moving erratically from west to
east. They pass behind the only cloud in the sky then disappear.
(Herbert S. Taylor, “Mystery Clouds and the UFO Connection,” IUR 29, no.
4 (July 2005): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6723
Date: 10/25/1988
Description: The Dallas, Texas, office of the FBI transmits a 2-page
secret Airtel to headquarters that says the MJ-12 documents have been
getting local publicity and asks if the documents are still classified.
(Kremlin 182)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6724
Date: 10/26/1988
Description: 9:00 p.m. Many residents of the San Joaquin Valley around
Fresno and Kingsburg, California, see a low- flying object with three
red lights in a V-formation. It seems to be circling and is visible for
45 minutes. (“Unidentified
Object Steals
across Valley Sky,” Fresno (Calif.) Bee, October 28, 1988, pp. 1,
16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6726
Date: 10/26/1988
Description: Jim Speiser ejects both Milton
William Cooper and John
Lear from ParaNet for bad behavior and peddling probable
disinformation. (Don Ecker, “Freedom of Disinformation,” Fortean Times
122 (May 1999): 28–31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6725
Date: 11/1988
Description: GEPAN is renamed Service d’Étude des Phénomènes de Rentrées
Atmosphériques (SEPRA), but the Scientific Council is still closed, and
no more technical reports are produced. Velasco is
still tasked with studying UFO reports, but not in making analyses.
(Gildas Bourdais, “From GEPAN to SEPRA: Official UFO Studies in France,”
IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001): 13; Gildas Bourdais, “The Death and
Rebirth of Official French UFO Studies,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 13;
Clark III 547; Swords 448)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6728
Date: 11/10/1988
Description: Assistant Secretary of Defense J.
Daniel Howard holds a Pentagon press conference and reveals the
existence of the F-117A stealth fighter. After the announcement, pilots
can fly the F-117 during daytime and no longer need to be associated
with the LTV A-7 Corsair II for training, flying the T-38 supersonic
trainer for travel and training instead. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
F-117 Nighthawk”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6729
Date: 11/11/1988
End date: 11/12/1988
Description: 5:00 p.m. A truck driver returning from Utah to Baker,
California, goes through a series of bizarre and inexplicable
experiences, some of them ufological, that leave him convinced that his
truck is possessed and “they” have been in control of him all along. The
experiences end shortly after midnight before he returns to Baker and
leave him terrified. During the drive he has been drinking copious
amounts of coffee, which may have contributed to his hallucinatory
excitement. (Ann Druffel, “The Caffeine Zone,” IUR 13, no. 3 (May/June
1988): 18–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6730
Date: 11/12/1988
Description: Aviation designer Brad
Sorensen attends an air show at Norton AFB in San Bernardino,
California, and is taken to a huge hangar by a former high-ranking
Defense Department official to view the Lockheed Pulsar, nicknamed the
Aurora, that allegedly can be anywhere in the world 30 minutes after
launch. Behind a big black curtain are three flying saucers hovering
above the floor. The small saucer is about 24 feet in diameter. The next
biggest one is 60 feet in diameter at the base, and another one is 130
feet. They are referred to as Alien Reproduction Vehicles. A videotape
shows the smallest of the three vehicles making three little, quick,
hopping motions; then it accelerates straight up and out of sight,
completely disappearing from view in just a couple of seconds. There is
a cut-away illustration that shows oxygen tanks and a robotic arm that
can extend out from the side of the vehicle for collecting samples in
space. (Mark McCandlish, “Alien
Reproduction Vehicles,” Filer’s Files, #19-2011, May 4, 2011; Dolan
II 457–461)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6731
Date: 11/15/1988
Description: First and only test of the Soviet Buran orbital spaceplane.
It was the first spaceplane to perform an uncrewed flight, including
landing in fully automatic mode.
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Soviet Union
Date: 11/22/1988
Description: The Northrup Grumman B-2 stealth bomber is first publicly
displayed at United States Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California,
where it is assembled. This viewing is heavily restricted, and guests
are not allowed to see the rear of the B-2. However, Aviation Week
editors find that there are no airspace restrictions above the
presentation area and take aerial photographs of the aircraft’s
then-secret rear section with its suppressed engine exhausts.
(Wikipedia, “Northrop
Grumman B-2 Spirit”; Steve Pace, B-2 Spirit: The Most Capable War
Machine on the Planet, McGraw-Hill, 1999)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6732
Date: 11/28/1988
Description: Physicist Edward
Teller allegedly calls the out-of-work physicist and electronics
technician Robert
Lazar and gives him the name of a contact in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Lazar makes contact, and later receives a call from EG&G, a
high-tech company with contracts at Groom Lake, Nevada. (Dolan II
475)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6733
Date: 11/29/1988
Description: Dr. Edward Teller calls Area-51/S-4 worker Bob Lazar
Type: telephone call
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Date: 11/30/1988
Description: An arranged meeting takes place in Washington, D.C.,
between AFOSI and FBI agents, who request information about the MJ-12
documents. The Air Force tells the FBI the documents are completely
bogus and the FBI should cease its inquiry. (Kremlin 182–183)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6734
Date: 12/1988
Description: Crash Retrieval Program worker Bob Lazar starts working at
Area-51/S-4 (Unclear: Lazar’s book says 1/89 in Preface)
Type: historical event
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Location: Area 51
Date: 12/1/1988
Description: 11:00 p.m. A captain of the Brazilian Air Force flying a
Mirage fighter jet is returning from a mission and is over Jaboãtoa dos
Guararapes, Pernambuco, Brazil, when his radar indicates traffic about
one mile from his position. He requests permission to intercept and goes
after the brilliant disk-like object that has a dull glow like copper.
The CINDACTA III radar still finds nothing. The UFO begins to approach
the jet and suddenly his instruments begin to fail. A red light in the
center begins to grow stronger and the pilot arms his missiles; but the
missiles do not respond to his command and the UFO flies off in mere
seconds. But the chase continues another 10 minutes, during which time
the UFO plays with its pursuer. After landing, the pilot is told that
another aircraft has seen a strange object about 15 minutes earlier in
the state of São Paulo more than 1,242 miles away. (Clark III 207;
Brazil 556–557)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6736
Date: 12/1/1988
Description: Robert
Lazar allegedly interviews at EG&G, but is informed that he is
overqualified for the position in question (Dolan II 475)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6735
Date: 12/4/1988
Description: 5:25 a.m. A police officer en route to his station in
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, notices a brilliant glow in the sky ahead
of him. It is so bright he can hardly see as he drives down a four-lane
road, and he swerves and blocks two lanes. About 150 feet in the air is
a 75-foot-long, highly polished silver object shaped like an ellipse. It
is emitting a humming sound and casting light into and all around his
car. It moves left and right, then shoots straight up into the sky,
stopping again briefly before departing. The officer’s eyes hurt badly
from the brightness and he feels ill. There is a sunburn-like rash on
his face, and he has severe eye irritation, headache, and neck pain
after the incident. He notes that the paint on his car has been dulled
and an unusual powder-like substance is found on the exterior. (“Number
of UFO Reports in State Unprecedented in ’88,” Latrobe (Pa.)
Bulletin, January 9, 1989, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 235
(February 1989): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6737
Date: 12/4/1988
Description: Silvery oval object hovered, brilliant illumination,
physiological effects. UFO maneuvered erratically, emitted silvery white
trail when flew away
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Harrisburg, PA
ID: 438
Date: 12/5/1988
Description: Robert
Lazar interviews at EG&G again for what seems like a part-time
position. (Dolan II 475)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6738
Date: 12/6/1988
Description: Lazar reports
to work at the EG&G building at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas,
Nevada. There he meets with a security officer named Dennis Mariani, who
escorts him on a flight to Area 51 at Groom Lake, where Lazar signs a
secrecy agreement that requires intensive monitoring of his activities.
He and Mariani board a bus with blacked-out windows and ride for 30
minutes down a dirt and gravel road. They arrive at a base near Papoose
Dry Lake known as S-4. Lazar’s ID is prepared, he is given a physical
and treated for allergic reactions to unknown substances, then he begins
work at S-4. Lazar claims he only visits S-4 on six or seven occasions
between December 1988 and April 1989 to learn about Project Galileo,
which deals with gravity and propulsion, and training on an “antimatter
reactor.” He also reads about a second project, Looking Glass, concerned
with seeing back in time. (Dolan II 475; Jacobsen, Area 51, p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6739
Date: 12/18/1988
Description: Milton
William Cooper surfaces on CompuServe online network, claiming that
while working as a quartermaster with an intelligence team for Adm. Bernard
A. Clarey, commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, he had seen two
documents, Project Grudge Special Report 13 and an MJ-12 briefing. He
elaborates on Moore’s
and Lear’s
tales of crashes and alien bodies, adding that the aliens are called
Alien Life Forms (ALFs) and that he has seen photos of aliens that
supposedly landed at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, in 1964 or 1977. (Dolan
II 452– 453; Clark III 367)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6740
Date: 12/28/1988
Description: 7:45 p.m. Many people in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, see a
huge, bright-yellow triangular object in the sky. Mañuel Marcado watches
as two F-14 Tomcats (probably from an aircraft carrier) approach the
object from either side then cross in front of it. The light stops in
mid-air and absorbs both planes, according to Marcado. The object moves
over Lago Samán, then divides itself into two triangles, one of which
shoots off to the east and the other to the north. Allegedly, the
triangular objects were tracked on US Navy radars. (Good Need, p. 379)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6741
Date: 1989
Description: The date provided in an interview by Dr. Eric W. Davis PhD
for the failure of the “Crash Retrieval Program”
Type: historical event
Reference: link
Date: 1989
Description: Year of Area-51/S-4 whistleblower Bob Lazar’s W-2
statement
Type: tax statement
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Date: 1/1989
Description: Leonard
Stringfield issues his fifth Status Report. (Leonard H. Stringfield,
UFO Crash/Retrievals: Is the Coverup Lid Lifting? The Author,
1989)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6742
Date: 1/1989
Description: The Long Island UFO Network begins publishing the Long
Island UFO Reporter, which soon changes its name to the Long Island UFO
Update, edited at first by George McLain in Center Moriches, New York.
It continues through December 1992. (Long
Island UFO Reporter 1 no. 1 (January 1989))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6743
Date: 1/20/1989
End date: 1/20/1993
Description: President George H. W. Bush in office
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 1/28/1989
Description: Evening. A triangular UFO is seen over Tiptree, Essex,
England. Its color changes from bright to dull white before it shoots to
the southwest. Other triangular UFOs are observed in southeast Essex in
January. (Marler 124)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6744
Date: 2/1989
Description: Local concentration of sightings.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Fyffe, AL
ID: 439
Date: 2/1989
Description: Numerous witnesses in Gloucestershire, England, report a
noiseless triangular UFO “ablaze with lights.” One report describes a
series of light beams emanating toward the ground that give it a “tripod
effect.” (Wilts & Gloucester Standard of Cirencester, February 24,
1989; Marler 124–125)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6745
Date: 2/8/1989
Description: 3:40 a.m. A man in Gulf Breeze, Florida, wakes to the sound
of dogs barking outside. He sees a small object descending low over a
nearby lot. It appears to be two connected discs, one on top of the
other, not more than 3 feet in diameter. A white light is on top, and
many other lights are blinking in shades of red, orange, and green. He
approaches it, but it disappears in a flash of light. The duration is
about 12 minutes. (NICAP, “Gulf Breeze,
Florida: February 8, 1989”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6746
Date: 2/10/1989
Description: 8:42 p.m. A woman in Grove Oak, Alabama, tells the Fyffe,
Alabama, police department that she has been watching a curved object
for more than an hour with a pair of binoculars. It has a red light on
each end and a white light in between, with the top of the curve
outlined in green light. Police Chief Junior
Garmany and Assistant Chief Fred Works drive to the site and see the
object at 1,000–1,500 feet, completely silent. It begins moving away as
they approach. The officers drive after the object, following it for 12
miles when it suddenly reverses direction and flies over their patrol
car at 300–400 mph. It is soon seen by law enforcement officers to the
south in Crossville, Geraldine, and Collinsville, Alabama. The DeKalb
County Sheriff’s Office receives more than 50 calls from citizens in
surrounding communities, including Dawson and Dog Town, Alabama, and
Lick Skillet, Tennessee, regarding a “silent thing streaking through the
dark.” (“Friday
Night UFO Remains a Mystery,”
Fort Payne (Ala.) Times Journal, February 14, 1989, via UFO Newsclipping
Service, no. 236 (March 1989): 10; Meghan Mitchell, “Alabama’s
UFO Capital Still Has a Story to Tell,” The Crimson White
(University of Alabama), October 28, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6747
Date: 2/13/1989
Description: 9:00–10:00 p.m. A large, low-flying, cylindrical UFO is
reported by many witnesses in the North Caucasus region of Russia. It
has spotlights in front and back, porthole-like openings along the
sides, fins on its tail, and travels at about 65 mph. As it flies over
Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria, it drifts down to an altitude of 150 feet
then flies off. (Jacques Vallée, UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union: A
Cosmic Samizdat, Ballantine, 1992, pp. 32–33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6748
Date: 2/15/1989
Description: Fyffe, Alabama, police officer Dennison Scott and two other
officers investigate a citizen’s report of a strange object in the sky,
flashing multicolored lights for more than an hour before it moves away
toward the northwest. (Dolan II 472–473)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6749
Date: 3/1989 (approximate)
Description: Lazar takes group near Groom Lake to view UFO’s
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Location: Papoose Dry Lake
Date: 3/1989
Description: The Center for UFO Studies launches a new series of its
Journal of UFO Studies, edited by Michael
D. Swords, who examines the literature relating to extraterrestrial
intelligence in order to provide a basis for judging the ETH as an
acceptable concept for use in analyzing UFO phenomena. (Michael D.
Swords, “Science and the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis in Ufology,” JUFOS
1 (1989): 67–102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6750
Date: 3/1989
Description: Robert
Lazar allegedly sees a disc on his third visit to S-4 at Groom Lake,
Nevada. It is a classic-looking flying saucer, resting on three legs in
a hangar. It is about 35–40 feet in diameter, 15 feet tall, and the
color of pewter. During his stay at S-4, he sees a total of 9 flying
saucers, each distinctive in design and size. His assignment, however,
involves just one craft he nicknames the “sport model,” which he is
allowed to examine on his fourth visit to S-4. The disc has three
levels, and he is cleared for the lower two. Lazar crawls underneath the
craft and sees three “gravity amplifiers” that focus a “Gravity A” wave
from the “total annihilation” reactor in the center level of the craft.
In this level, he sees a control panel and very small chairs—too small
for human pilots. He discovers that part of the skin of the craft can
become transparent, allowing one to look through it like a window.
According to Lazar, the fuel for the craft is Element 115 [later
synthesized in 2003 and named moscovium in 2016, but this is much
different than what Lazar describes], housed in the reactor where it
undergoes bombardment and spontaneous fission, producing antimatter
particles that are converted to electricity with 100% efficiency. This
power operates the amplifier, distorts the surrounding gravitational
field, causes the craft to be invisible, and shortens the distance to a
charted destination. Speed-of-light limitations are irrelevant. But
Element 115 cannot be manufactured on Earth. The aliens have left only
500 pounds of it, but just 223 grams (half a pound) can fuel a craft for
a long time. On another occasion, Lazar witnesses a demonstration of the
craft, which lifts off the ground, moves left and right, and sits back
down. He has access to and reads more than 100 documents dealing with
the craft, its propulsion, and alien technology, as well as photos of
gray alien bodies. The aliens are allegedly from the Zeta Reticuli 1 and
2 star system. The Reticulans claim to have genetically corrected human
evolution up to 65 times over the past 10,000 years using viruses. They
have given humans religion to prevent them from self-destructing and
claim to be able to exert mind control on people when they are relaxed
or sleeping. Lazar allegedly catches a glimpse of a small, gray alien
standing between two men in white coats in a small room inside the
secret S-4 facility. The documents also mention an exchange of
information and hardware between the US government and the Reticulans
until 1979, when some kind of conflict occurred. This is when the aliens
leave and the military begins reverse-engineering what alien tech they
have acquired. Then in May 1987, some scientists take an antimatter
reactor to an underground Nevada test facility, where they are killed
when attempting to cut the reactor open. Lazar claims he was hired as a
substitute for one of these men. (“Billy Goodman Happening, Nov. 21,
1989,” transcript of call-in radio show, KVEG-AM, Las Vegas, Nevada;
MUFON UFO Journal, June 1990; Grant R. Cameron, T. Scott Crain, and
Chris Rutkowski, “In the Land of Dreams,” IUR 15, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1990): 4–8; “S-4
Papoose Lake,” Bob Lazar Debunked; “New
High-Def Photos of S-4,” Bob Lazar Debunked; “Element
115,” Bob Lazar Debunked; Dolan II 475–478; Jacobsen, Area 51, p. 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6751
Date: 3/1/1989
Description: Albuquerque, New Mexico, ufologist Robert
Hastings issues a 13-page statement with 37 pages of appended
documents and mails it to many prominent individuals in ufology. He
claims “Falcon” is Richard
Doty and “Condor” is Robert
Collins, and
that Doty and Moore are
spreading disinformation. (Clark III 370)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6752
Date: 3/9/1989
Description: Night. Susan Stockman, a reporter for the Rainsville (Ala.)
Weekly Post, is with general manager Teri Baker when she snaps three
time-lapse photographs of a distant UFO just above the treetop level,
showing a movement unlike that of an airplane that appears shortly
afterward. (Susan Stockman, “Section
Native Says UFOs Are Real,” Rainsville (Ala.) Weekly Post, March 9,
1989; Susan Stockman, “A
First-Hand Glimpse of the UFO,” Rainsville (Ala.) Weekly Post, March
16, 1989, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 237 (April 1989): 3–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6753
Date: 3/12/1989
Description: 7:30 p.m. Gary
Coker of Skirum, Alabama, sees a large UFO with red and green
flashing lights on the side and two white lights about 6 feet in
diameter on the bottom hovering about 5 miles away. Another man in
Geraldine, Alabama, sees an object the size of a football field hovering
above his chicken house at about the same time. In both cases, the
object disappears after the witnesses go inside to get a camera or
binoculars. (“Some
Say UFO
Is As Big As a Football Field,” Rainsville (Ala.) Weekly Post, March
16, 1989, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 237 (April 1989): 3)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6754
Date: Spring 1989
Description: Bob Lazar takes groups of friends on Wednesday nights into
the desert around Papoose Dry Lake, 15 miles south of Groom Lake. They
appeared to be large glowing, disc-shaped objects. At least one sighting
was recorded on video.
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Location: Papoose Dry Lake
Date: late 3/1989
Description: 9:20 p.m. After a training exercise at Mihai Kogălniceanu
Air Force Base [now Mihai Kogălniceanu International Airport] in
southeast Romania, 18–20 aircraft pilots of Regiment 57 are inside a
building at the base planning future exercises; outside, Col. Aurelian
Dobre notices multiple lights appear above some nearby trees. He alerts
the oher pilots to come out, and they see a triangular formation of
objects at an equal distance from each other, all bathed in a silver
light, moving south to north at a height of 4 miles. Dobre hears a noise
like the rustle of a flight of birds; unlike his colleagues, he thinks
the lights are on a single object the size of a football stadium. Col.
Dan Aloanei is flying a MiG-29 and sees them as a V-formation of neon
lights that disappear to the northeast. The next day, all the witnesses
are required to submit written reports. (Romania 105–109)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6755
Date: 3/22/1989
Description: 8:30 p.m. After telling writer Gene
Huff and pilot John
Lear about his UFO secrets, Lazar and
his wife Tracy drive Lear’s RV to Tikaboo Peak, Nevada, off Highway 375
to view a test flight of a flying saucer at S-4. Lear sees an
elliptical-shaped light through Lear’s Celestron telescope for 7
minutes. Lear videotapes the encounter, and the tape shows a bright
light apparently maneuvering. When the camera zooms in close to the
object, it seems to be spinning. They watch it descend behind a
mountain. (Tom Mahood, “The
Robert Lazar Timeline,” Other Hand, January 1997; Susan Wright, UFO
Headquarters: Investigations on Current Extraterrestrial Activity,
St. Martin’s, 1999 ed., pp. 186–209)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6756
Date: 3/25/1989
Description: The Soviet Mars probe Phobos
2 takes an infrared photograph of what appears to be a large and
long cylindrical object very close to Mars moonlet Phobos. If this
Phobos Mystery Object is at the same distance as the moonlet itself, it
would be roughly 1.2 miles wide and 15 miles long. Its surface
brightness is the same as Phobos. Its sides are parallel and both of the
ends are rounded. The end toward Phobos narrows slightly; the other end
has a short protrusion. This is the last image taken by the probe. On
March 27 it fails to reestablish communications with Earth due to an
onboard computer malfunction and goes into a spin. (Paul Stonehill and
Philip Mantle, The Soviet UFO Files: Paranormal Encounters behind the
Iron Curtain, Quadrillion, 1998, pp. 70–73; Patrick Gross, “Soviet
Probe Meets UFO on Phobos Mission”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6757
Date: 3/29/1989
Description: Lazar records the mean outdoor temp, heads with group to
viewing area for 2nd time
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Location: Papoose Dry Lake
Date: 3/29/1989
Description: Bob and
Tracy Lazar, Gene Huff, John
Lear, and Jim Tagliani drive to Tikaboo Peak, Nevada, to observe
another flight test. They videotape a moving light.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6758
Date: 4/2/1989
Description: Lazar’s 3rd trip with group to view UFO’s near Groom
Lake
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Location: Papoose Dry Lake
Date: 4/5/1989
Description: Robert
Lazar, Tracy
Lazar, her sister, Gene Huff, and John
Lear make a third trip to view a flight test along Groom Lake Road,
Nevada. They are discovered by guards and questioned by the Lincoln
County sheriff.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6759
Date: 4/6/1989
Description: Lazar is
prevented from going to work at Groom Lake and is taken to Indian
Springs Air Force Base [now Creech AFB] for questioning. He is told he
is no longer employed by EG&G, and if he comes near Groom Lake again
he will be arrested for espionage. He is allegedly given a transcript of
Tracy’s telephone conversations which indicate she is having an affair.
(Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 12–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6760
Date: 4/7/1989
Description: Area-51/S-4 whistleblower Bob Lazar’s last day at
work
Type: employment
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Location: Papoose Dry Lake
Date: 4/13/1989
Description: The Kerry Committee report, the result of an investigation
led by Sens. John
Kerry (D-Mass.) and Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.)
by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on Terrorism,
Narcotics, and International Operations, shows that Lt. Col. Oliver
North and other members of the Reagan administration
had set up a private network involving the National Security Council and
CIA to deliver military equipment to the Contras, US-backed right-wing
rebel groups in Nicaragua. This has not been authorized by Congress, and
much of the funding comes from drug trafficking. DEA agent Celerino
Castillo testifies that from 1985 to 1987, he discovered that the
Contras were transporting cocaine through El Salvador’s Ilopango
Airport. Castillo tried to bust the operation, but discovers that the
traffickers were protected by the CIA. The subcommittee determines that
there is “substantial evidence of drug smuggling… on the part of
individual Contras, Contra suppliers, Contra pilots, mercenaries who
worked with the Contras, and Contra supporters.” It does “not find that
Contra leaders were personally involved in drug trafficking.”
(Wikipedia, “Kerry
Committee report”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6761
Date: 4/15/1989
Description: 5:30 p.m. A father and his 16-year-old son watch from their
front lawn in Novato, California, a slowly descending object shaped like
“two spheres connected by together like a stem.” They are golden with a
white halo around them. Through binoculars, they can see four smaller
objects, golden discs, maneuvering near the original dumbbell-shaped
UFO. The father notes a “strange absence of kids and dogs at the time.”
(Richard F. Haines, “Daylight Dumbbell,” IUR 14, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1989): 12–13, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6762
Date: 4/21/1989
Description: Witness aimed rifle at hovering disc, brilliant white light
on underside, humming sound. Light beam engulfed him, rifle misfired,
object sped away
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Crestview, FL
ID: 440
Date: 4/21/1989
Description: Lyrid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 441
Date: 4/24/1989
Description: 10:55 p.m. An object described as three times the size of
an aircraft hovers above Cherepovets, Vologda Oblast, Russia, at a
height of 1,000 feet. (Jacques Vallée, UFO Chronicles of the Soviet
Union: A Cosmic Samizdat, Ballantine, 1992, p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6763
Date: 5/1989
End date: 11/1989
Description: Journalist George Knapp is assigned to research all things
Bob Lazar.
Type: historical event
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Date: 5/2/1989
Description: Pilot Manoel Luiz Christóvão, flying a small plane about 6
miles west of Arapongas, Paraná, Brazil, sees a huge circular light in
the sky as he is preparing to land. Another plane flying nearby cannot
see the light. Christovào continues to land, but the light positions
itself in front of the plane, forcing him to make a sudden maneuver. The
object moves in front of him again, forcing him to maneuver again. The
pilot decides to head directly toward the light, after which the UFO
accelerates abruptly and disappears. The maneuvers last approximately 10
minutes. (“Piloto
se arrisca em prova de fogo no Paraná,” Portal UFO, December 1,
1995; Clark III 201; Brazil 542–543)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6764
Date: 5/7/1989
Description: Hoaxed South African Air Force documents purport to
describe a UFO crash in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana 50 miles north
of the South African border. Two Mirage fighter aircraft allegedly
pursue a fast-moving UFO and shoot it down with an experimental “thor 2
laser cannon.” However, UFO researcher Cynthia
Hind notices ludicrous errors in the documents, not least among them
that they are in English, not Afrikaans. (Wikipedia, “UFO
sightings in South Africa”; Clark III 1096–1098)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6765
Date: 5/14/1989
Description: Bob Lazar, at ex-CIA contractor and ufologist John Lear’s
secure house, is first interviewed by journalist George Knapp.
Type: interview
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar page 213
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Date: 5/15/1989
Description: Robert
Lazar is first interviewed by George
Knapp on KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, Nevada, in silhouette, using the
pseudonym “Dennis.” Lazar discusses his purported employment at S-4, a
subsidiary facility he claims exists near in Area 51. He says the S-4
facility is adjacent to Papoose Lake, which is located south of the main
Area 51 facility at Groom Lake. He claims the site consists of concealed
aircraft hangars built into a mountainside. Lazar says that his job was
to help with reverse engineering the antigravity propulsion system of
one of nine flying saucers, which he alleges are extraterrestrial in
origin. Lazar claims one of the flying saucers, the one he terms the
“sport model,” is manufactured out of a metallic substance similar in
appearance and touch to stainless steel. (Tom Mahood, “The
Robert Lazar Timeline,” Other Hand, January 1997; Grant R. Cameron,
T. Scott Crain, and Chris Rutkowski, “In the Land of Dreams,” IUR 15,
no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1990): 4–8; Don Ecker, “Freedom of Disinformation,”
Fortean Times 122 (May 1999): 28–31; George Knapp and Matt Adams, “I-Team:
The Man Who
Sent Shock Waves through UFO Circles 30 Years Ago,” KLAS-TV, May 15,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6766
Date: 5/17/1989
Description: Kalahari Desert, close to the borders between the Republics
of South Africa and Botswana: UFO shot down by 2 scrambled Mirage jets.
2 live EBE’s and craft debris transported to Wright Patterson AFB. A
South African Air Force Intelligence officer leaks photos of the
EBE’s.
Type: crash retrieval
Reference: AFU Archives, “Space Craft Shot Out of South African
Sky”
Location: Kalahari Desert
Date: 5/23/1989
Description: Milton
William Cooper produces a 25-page document titled The Secret
Government, in which he claims that an unscrupulous group of covert CIA
and other intelligence operatives actually runs the country. He says
they were responsible for murdering one-time Secretary of Defense James
Forrestal in 1949 because he threatened to expose the UFO cover-up.
He claims there have been at least 16 downed alien craft, 65 bodies, and
one live alien retrieved between 1947 and 1952, with at least 10 more
crash/retrievals during the Eisenhower years. Cooper says aliens from a
dying planet orbiting Betelgeuse landed at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, in
1954 and reached an agreement with the government. A second meeting took
place with President Eisenhower at
Edwards AFB, California, and signed a formal treaty with an alien
ambassador, His Omnipotent Highness Krill. But, he claims, the aliens
broke the treaty, abducting humans, conspiring with the Soviets, and
manipulating society through secret organizations. Cooper also claims
that Eisenhower had created a scientific advisory group in 1960 called
the Jason Group to “discover the truth of the alien question.” Much more
spurious and outlandish tales develop. (Milton William Cooper, The
Secret Government: The Origin, Identity, and Purpose of MJ-12, The
Author, May 23, 1989; Clark III 367–368)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6767
Date: 5/24/1989
Description: Bob Lazar interviews on KLAS-TV in silhouette using assumed
identity “Dennis”. Sometime after this, Popular host Billy Goodman
organizes bus trips to the outskirts of Groom Lake for UFO viewing
parties.
Type: interview
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar
Reference: YouTube
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Date: 5/30/1989
Description: 3:46 a.m. TAM Airlines Flight 573 in the vicinity of
Americana, São Paulo, Brazil, is contacted twice by the local control
tower to ask if they can see an aircraft in their vicinity. Both times
the pilot answers no, but at 3:52 a.m. the pilot says he can now see a
strong light near the airplane. It maneuvers near the aircraft and one
of the pilots estimates its size as about 164 feet. About 8 minutes
later, they lose visual contact. (Clark III 201; Brazil 543)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6768
Date: 5/30/1989
Description: 9:15 p.m. A man and his son in Winnipeg, Manitoba, observe
a “silvery, metallic hot dog,” oriented vertically and moving steadily
west. After several minutes, the object is lost in the distance. (Chris
Rutkowski, “The Canadian UFO Wave of 1989,” IUR 14, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1989): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6769
Date: 6/1989
Description: Jacques
Vallée presents “five arguments against the extraterrestrial origin”
of UFOs at the eighth annual conference of the Society for Scientific
Exploration in Boulder, Colorado. (1) There are too many close
encounters to explain them as a physical survey of the earth. (2) The
humanoid body structure is unlikely to have originated elsewhere and is
not biologically adapted to space travel. (3) The behavior of alien
abductors contradicts the idea that advanced aliens are conducting
genetic or scientific experiments. (4) UFOs have been recorded
throughout human history. (5) The apparent ability of UFOs to manipulate
space and time suggests different and richer alternatives to the ETH.
Vallée cites the earthlight theory, the control system hypothesis, and
travel via wormholes as viable explanations. (Jacques Vallée, “Five
Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Origin of
Unidentified Flying Objects,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 4,
no. 1 (1990): 105–117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6770
Date: 6/1989
Description: Robert
Hastings lines up an impressive case against Bill
Moore, saying that the Project Aquarius message was altered by
Moore, that Richard
Doty had forged the Ellsworth AFB document, that Doty’s typewriter
at Kirtland AFB was implicated in the July 1980 Craig R. Weitzel letter,
that Doty had given data to Linda
Moulton Howe that contradicted data in the Eisenhower briefing memo,
and that Moore admitted to faking a government ID card and passed
himself off as an intelligence operative for two years. (MUFON UFO
Journal, June 1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6771
Date: 6/2/1989
Description: Paul Paulsen Frøyen sees two “U-boats” in Sognefjord
between Lavik and Vadheim, Vestland, Norway. He watches them for
two-and-a-half minutes, noting their periscopes and towers. When they
submerge, he can see the spray. The Norwegian Air Force sends two jets
to look for them, and the Coast Guard is also alerted. (Ole Jonny
Brænne, “Observations of Unidentified Submarine Objects in Norway,” IUR
20, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1995): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6772
Date: 6/4/1989
Description: 7:45 p.m. A security guard and an air traffic controller at
Air Force Facility 42 in Palmdale, California, witness a silver flying
object and three orb-shaped UFOs during testing of the B1-B bomber.
There is also a rumor of an abduction occurring on this date at the same
facility. (MUFON UFO Journal, November 1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6773
Date: 6/6/1989
Description: School children near the village of Konantsevo, Vologda
Oblast, Russia, see a luminous dot in the sky. It gets larger, turns
into a shining sphere, lands in a meadow, and moves to the Reka Kubena
river about a quarter mile away. It seems to split, and a “headless
person in dark garb” appears. The entity and sphere become invisible.
Three more spheres are said to land later in the same meadow. (Jacques
Vallée, UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union: A Cosmic Samizdat,
Ballantine, 1992, pp. 11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6774
Date: summer 1989
Description: Night. Edward Chard sees some odd lights hovering in Essex,
England. He looks at them through binoculars and sees a large triangular
object. (Nick Redfern, A Covert Agenda: UFO Secrecy Exposed, Simon &
Schuster, 1997, p. 183)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6777
Date: 6/24/1989
Description: 12:00 midnight. A. N. Olkhovay goes out on her balcony in
Kyiv, Ukraine, and sees a dim, twinkling, rectangular object shaped
“like a loaf of bread” hovering above the Obolon neighborhood. She calls
her neighbors, and one of them named Ivanitsky hastily takes two photos.
The film is developed in the offices of the Pravda Ukrainy newspaper but
it shows nothing. (V. D. Musinsky, “Letter: Soviet Ufology,” IUR 15, no.
1 (Jan./Feb. 1990): 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6775
Date: 6/30/1989
Description: 9:30 p.m. G. I. Lerman and his wife Ann watch a fiery
object with a tail over Lake Radunka in Kyiv, Ukraine, flying at an
altitude of 1,640–3,280 feet, first slowly, then speeding up. After a
minute or two the flames die out and they see a silver-white object.
During the sighting they feel their own movements slowing down. (V. D.
Musinsky, “Letter: Soviet Ufology,” IUR 15, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1990):
21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6776
Date: 7/1989
End date: 10/1989
Description: Several abduction cases. (Vallee, 1992).
Type: abduction
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Soviet Union
ID: 442
Date: 7/1/1989
Description: Bill
Moore makes a stunning presentation at the MUFON UFO Symposium in
Las Vegas, speaking candidly for the first time about his part in
counterintelligence operations against Paul
Bennewitz. Moore
says he provided Doty with
information about Bennewitz’s thinking and activities. Moore suggests
that Doty was chosen by the real Falcon as a liaison person. He says
that by mid-1982 Bennewitz had put together the story that contained all
the elements later circulated by Lear and
Cooper. Moore
decided to go along with the disinformation game in order to keep in
good graces with people who knew something about UFOs and national
security. He withheld and blacked out certain portions of UFO-related
government documents. He says he stopped cooperating in 1984 because he
realized the documents he was receiving from AFOSI were faked, much of
the scenario similar to the alien-contact mythos later spun by Lear and
Cooper. All of it originated in the disinformation directed at Paul
Bennewitz. He gives the names of others who “were the subject of
intelligence community interest between 1980 and 1984”: Leonard
H. Stringfield, Pete Mazzola,
Peter Gersten,
Lawrence Fawcett, Jim
and Coral Lorenzen, and Larry
W. Bryant. Moore
leaves the stage through a back door, his reputation in ruins. (Don
Ecker, “Freedom of Disinformation,” Fortean Times 122 (May 1999): 28–31;
Clark III 370–372; Curt Collins, “Bill
Moore and UFO Disinformation
Accusations,” Blue Blurry Lines, April 29, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6778
Date: 7/4/1989
Description: Night. Members of the Iskuskovs family are on vacation in
the Podgortsy section of southern Kyiv, Ukraine. They watch
silver-suited beings emerge from a landed UFO. (V. D. Musinsky, “Letter:
Soviet Ufology,” IUR 15, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1990): 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6780
Date: 7/4/1989
Description: Twilight. Two women are walking with a 6-year-old girl
along the Dnieper River in a park near Kyiv, Ukraine, when they see a
“boat” with three beings on board. The entities have absolutely
identical faces—extremely pale, long blond hair, large eyes, and
collarless silver shirts that look like nightgowns. They tell the women
they are from another planet and want to show them their spaceship. The
women walk with them but experience odd physical sensations and beg to
be let go. They see a ship behind some trees, and the little girl gets
frightened. The beings relent and board the craft by a ladder that then
retracts. The door closes silently, and the craft departs. (V. D.
Musinsky, “Letter: Soviet Ufology,” IUR 15, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1990):
20–21; Jacques Vallée, UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union: A Cosmic
Samizdat, Ballantine, 1992, pp. 37–39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6779
Date: 7/6/1989
Description: 7:00 p.m. Yasuhiko Hamazaki takes an 8mm videotape
recording of a brightly luminous object that passes nearly overhead in
Hakui, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. At one point he uses a zoom lens to
get a clearer image. The object has a central ring like the planet
Saturn, except that it is squarish and dome-shaped. About one minute of
the video captures the object descending rapidly at a shallow angle,
then suddenly changing direction and rising at a steep angle at very
high speed. Bruce
Maccabee’s photo analysis shows that the object is not an airplane,
balloon, kite, or model airplane. (UFOEv II 297–298; Bruce Maccabee, “A
Rare Photo Coincidence,” IUR 15, no. 3 (May/June 1990): 4–9, 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6781
Date: 7/6/1989
Description: Videorecorder film taken of a white, Saturn-shaped object
with squarish ring that changed direction, rose at a steep angle at high
speed
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Hakui City, Kanazawa Prefecture, Japan
ID: 443
Date: 7/22/1989
Description: Private pilot saw shiny oval object making quick starts and
stops
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Blue Hill Bay, ME
ID: 444
Date: 7/26/1989
Description: 2:40 p.m. R. H. Stepanian, air traffic controller at Sochi
International Airport, Krasnodar Krai, Russia, receives information from
a Tupolev Tu-154 airliner crew flying from Simferopol, Crimea, that they
have seen UFOs from a distance of 20–30 miles. According to the pilots,
first one, then two “strange objects” pace them on their left. One is
almost exactly square, while the other is the shape of an elongated
rhombus. At the time of the radio transmission, the two objects are
swiftly moving away and beginning to separate. Apparently two other
flights report multiple UFOs to the airport. (Paul Stonehill and Philip
Mantle, The Soviet UFO Files: Paranormal Encounters behind the Iron
Curtain, Quadrillion, 1998, pp. 74–76; Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s
USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, pp. 134–135)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6782
Date: 7/28/1989
End date: 7/29/1989
Description: 11:20 p.m. A domed disc-shaped object is seen over the
rocket weapons depot at Kapustin Yar, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia. The
object is flashing an intensely bright light from its underside. It
hovers above the site at a height of 65 feet. Roughly 13–17 feet in
diameter, its hull is illuminated with a dim green, phosphorus-like
color. It circles two or three times and moves toward a railway station,
still flashing its light, then returns to the weapons depot at a height
of 200–230 feet. Soviet soldiers Levin and Klimenko say the object
performed acrobatic maneuvers, at one point dividing into three shining
points and taking the shape of a triangle. A fighter jet is scrambled,
but the object evades it. Two other objects appear at low altitudes of
980–1,300 feet. The last one to appear, a cigar-shaped object, gives off
flashes of red light at constant intervals, then lights of all colors.
At around 1:30 a.m., it flies to the southwest and disappears. (Don
Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing
Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 133–138;
Good Need, pp. 354–
355, 363;
Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle, The Soviet UFO Files: Paranormal
Encounters behind the Iron Curtain, Quadrillion, 1998, p. 79; Nukes
453–456)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6783
Date: 8/1989
Description: Day. A man is walking his dog in a nature preserve between
Wolverhampton and Dudley, England, when he sees a tennis-ball-sized
“soap bubble” that has a white, feathery mass inside floating slowly
about 12 feet above the ground. It floats into a field where there are
several horses, which do not seem concerned about it. Suddenly the
object changes direction and moves into a strong wind, coming straight
toward him. In moments it is just inches away from him, seemingly
surveying him. At close quarters he could see that the object has an
oily look. At the instant he thinks about popping the bubble, it speeds
off to the east, covering about 30 feet in one second, and disappears.
(Jenny Randles, “Don’t Forget the Y-Files,” Fortean Times 405 (May
2021): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6784
Date: 8/2/1989
Description: The Russian tanker Volgoneft-161 is in the Sea of Japan off
the region of Primorsky Krai, Russia, when rew members notice an unusual
shere about 35° above the northern horizon. It is pale yellow and
surrounded by a hazy luminescence. The object movres t the northeast,
ascending, and is visible for 5 minutes. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s
USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, p. 116)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6786
Date: 8/2/1989
Description: Richard L. Huff in the FBI Office of Information and
Privacy affirms in a letter to researcher Larry
W. Bryant that
it keeps a classified personal file on Stanton
T. Friedman and denies access to it. (Nick Redfern, Body Snatchers
in the Desert, Paraview, 2005, p. 191)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6785
Date: 8/10/1989
Description: Videotape taken of hovering object that rotated, split in
two, then faded or “dissolved.”
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Estepona, Spain
ID: 445
Date: 8/10/1989
Description: 9:00 p.m. William Heijster, a Dutch military psychologist
who works at the Ministry of Defence at The Hague, Netherlands, is
driving with his family near Estepona, Spain, when they see an object
hovering over a mountain. Heijster stops the car and videotapes the
object off and on for the next hour. The incident is plausibly explained
by Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos as the flight of a Transmediterranean research
balloon launched from Sicily in a joint operation by CNES (France), INTA
(Spain), and the Italian space agency. (UFOEv II 298–299; Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos, Expedientes Insólitos, Temas de Hoy, 1995, pp. 125–130;
“El
caso ovni acaecido en
Malaga en 1989,” El Blog de Malaga, October 1, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6787
Date: 8/11/1989
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 446
Date: late 8/1989
Description: While working as an engineer on the jack-up barge GSF
Galveston Key in the North Sea, Chris Gibson and another witness see
an unfamiliar isosceles triangle–shaped delta aircraft, apparently
refueling from a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker and accompanied by a pair of
F-111 fighter-bombers. Gibson and his girlfriend watch the aircraft for
several minutes until they move out of sight. He subsequently draws a
sketch of the formation. (Christopher Bellamy, “Oil
Rig Engineer Sketches Secret US Spy Aircraft,” The Independent (UK),
December 14, 1992; Bill Sweetman, “Secret Mach 6 Spy Plane,” Popular
Science 242 (March 1993): 56–63,
98–101;
Bill Sweetman, Aurora: The Pentagon’s Secret Hypersonic Spyplane,
Motorbooks, 1993, pp. 12–15,
88–89;
Susan Wright, UFO Headquarters: Investigations on Current
Extraterrestrial Activity, St. Martin’s, 1999 ed., pp. 154– 155;
Simon Gray, “Chris
Gibson’s Aurora Sighting,” Secret Projects forum, November 1, 2007;
UFOFiles2, p.
144;
Marler 178–180)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6791
Date: late 8/1989
Description: 12:00 midnight. A woman is driving north of La Salle,
Manitoba, when she sees a “cloudlike boomerang” pass over her car.
(Chris Rutkowski, “The Canadian UFO Wave of 1989,” IUR 14, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1989): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6790
Date: 8/22/1989
Description: 2:40 p.m. A circular, flashing light is in view for about 5
minutes near Sunderland, England. At first it is stationary, but then it
moves rapidly upward, leaving a hole in a cloud that then glows red.
(Mark Rodeghier, “Another Hole in the Cloud,” IUR 33, no. 2 (July 2010):
24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6788
Date: 8/28/1989
Description: Larry
W. Bryant files suit in District Court for the District of Columbia
for the FBI to release its files on Stanton
T. Friedman. (Nick
Redfern, Body Snatchers in the Desert, Paraview, 2005, p. 191)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6789
Date: 8/31/1989
Description: Luminous mushroom-shaped object hovered over field, two
smaller objects with red lights emerged, operated independently,
departed at high speed
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Butler Township, PA
ID: 447
Date: 9/1989
Description: CAUS devotes all of one issue of its Just Cause newsletter
to a harshly critical review of Moore’s
activities. (“A
Majestic Deception,” Just Cause, new ser., no. 21 (September 1989):
1–16; Clark III 371)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6792
Date: 9/1989
Description: Marc Leduc begins publishing a newsletter, Lettre
d’Information Ufologique, in Lac-Beauport, Quebec. It runs until June
1993. (Lettre
d’Information Ufologique 1, no. 1 (September 1989))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6793
Date: 9/6/1989
Description: 11:13 p.m. Tong Yuwei, a worker in Ürümqi, Xinjiang
Autonomous Province, China, sees a dark cloud light up with a yellow
flash. A rotating, saucer-shaped object with a black gap on its edge
appears. It makes a noise louder than a car engine. After hovering for a
minute, the red-and-yellow glowing object moves out of sight at high
speed to the southwest. (Central Intelligence Agency, “UFO
Sighted over Urumqi Evening of 6 Sep,” [memo on Xingua news report],
September 13, 1989)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6794
Date: 9/13/1989
Description: A woman is returning home from the grocery store in
Protvino, Moscow Oblast, Russia, when two tall women in tight, silvery
suits jump out from behind some boulders and paralyze her. The women
have light blonde hair, gray-green skin, and hats with antennae. They
take her to a small, disc-shaped craft by the side of the road and
invite their captive for a ride, which they insist will not last long.
She hesitantly accepts. Inside are three chairs, one of them occupied by
a man. The woman offers them some of the bread she has just purchased,
but the women decline, offering her some of their own bread. Without
thinking, she reflexively pops a piece into her mouth and swallows. She
later describes the taste as a lightly sweet rye bread. The craft
ascends and flies over Protvino before dropping the woman off at her
apartment. The space people tell her they will meet again. (Vladimir
Azhazha, Inaya Zhizn’, Golos, 1998; Joshua Cutchin, “The Great Alien
Bake-Off,” Fortean Times 332 (November 2015): 44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6795
Date: 9/15/1989
Description: 3:40 a.m. A woman in eastern Winnipeg, Manitoba, is looking
out her kitchen window when a deltoid- shaped object sails past. It has
lines of “Christmas lights” spreading out from its leading edge and
moves silently out of view in 4–5 seconds. (Chris Rutkowski, “The
Canadian UFO Wave of 1989,” IUR 14, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1989): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6796
Date: 9/15/1989
End date: 9/19/1989
Description: The Center for UFO Studies conducts the first expedition to
the Roswell debris field site near Corona, New Mexico. The 10-member
team includes Mark
Rodeghier, Mimi
Hynek, Donald
R. Schmitt, and Kevin
Randle. They find no unusual debris but survey the site and take
soil samples. (Mark Rodeghier, “Roswell, 1989,” IUR 14, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1989): 4–8, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6797
Date: 9/16/1989
Description: Night. A female employee at a meat packing plant in
Mykolaiv, Ukraine, steps outside for a quick break when a beam of light
strikes her from above. Looking up, she sees a hovering disc-shaped
craft about 130–260 feet in diameter. She feels no fear and has a
euphoric feeling as she begins rising up into the air toward the object.
She also hears a voice extolling her to “fly with them.” Other workers
come to the scene and begin yelling and running toward the woman. The
beam disappears, and the UFO flies away. (Jacques Vallée, UFO Chronicles
of the Soviet Union: A Cosmic Samizdat, Ballantine, 1992, p. 36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6798
Date: 9/21/1989
End date: 10/7/1989
Description: UFO sighting concentration in vicinity. Four landings and
three different kinds of entities reported. Geodesic engineer saw
maneuvering airship-like object September 24
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Voronezh, USSR
ID: 448
Date: 9/27/1989
Description: 6:30 p.m. Several children playing at a park in Voronezh,
Russia, see a pinkish aerial glow approaching them. As it passes
overhead, they see that it is a deep red, ball-shaped object. The object
flies around in circles for a few minutes and then leaves. When it
returns, it hovers briefly, and then descends close to the ground. A
hatch opens and a heavy-set figure emerges. The being moves very slowly
and looks around. It has a small head resembling that of a doorknob, set
in between the shoulders. It has three luminous eyes, the middle one
moving around like “radar.” On its chest is a shield-like object. The
being then closes the hatch and the object lands gently on four legs.
The hatch opens again and three huge humanoids with small knob-like
heads step out. They wear silvery coveralls and bronze-colored boots. A
strange robot-like creature accompanies the giants. All four walk around
the object several times. A beam of light comes out of the chest of one
of the beings and strikes the ground, creating several luminous
triangles that later fade away. At one point the craft and beings become
briefly invisible but then reappear. One of the boys screams in fear.
Then one of the beings looks at the boy and points a tube at him. A
luminous beam comes from the tube and hits the boy, which makes him
disappear. The boy later reappears after the beings and the objects have
gone. Subsequent information reveals that on the craft’s hull and on the
landing prop of another craft is the letter or symbol “zhe,” reported as
similar to the “Ummo” insignia reported in Western Europe in the 1970s.
In a work published by Socialist Industry slightly after the incident, a
self-proclaimed UFO specialist asserts the marks left by the supposed
landing were simply scorch marks from a burnt hay-bale. (Wikipedia, “Voronezh
UFO incident”; “UFO
Lands in U.S.S.R.: Read All about It in Tass,” Philadelphia Daily
News, October 9, 1989, p. 5; “A
Tass Bulletin: Knobby Aliens Were Here,” New York Times, October 10,
1989, pp. 1, 10; “U.F.O.
Landing Is Fact, Not Fantasy, the Russians Insist,” New York Times,
October 11, 1989, p. 6; “Aliens
Visit Voronezh,” Moscow News, no. 43 (October 1989), via UFO
Newsclipping Service, November 1989, p. 12; Jacques Vallée, UFO
Chronicles of the Soviet Union: A Cosmic Samizdat, Ballantine, 1992, pp. 40–61;
Clark III 1229–1231)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6799
Date: 9/28/1989
Description: Night. Long Island UFO Network founder John
Ford claims that a UFO is shot down and retrieved at Moriches Bay,
Long Island, New York. Although UFOs are observed on the southern coast
of Long Island, the crash/retrieval seems to be an exaggerated fantasy.
Ford is convinced the nearby Brookhaven National Laboratory is part of a
UFO coverup and is developing ET-related weaponry. On June 12, 1996,
Ford and LIUFON member Joe Mazzachelli are arrested in a sting operation
on conspiracy charges to poison John
Powell, the head of the Suffolk County Republican Party, who Ford
believes is covering up UFO retrievals and engaging in illegal
activities, by putting radium in his toothpaste. Ford is convicted
without a trial and sent to a mental institution because of his paranoid
conspiracy obsession. (John Ford, “The
Moriches Bay Case of September 28, 1989,” Long Island UFO Reporter
1, no. 3 (November 1989): 2–6; John Ford, “The
Chairman’s Corner,” Long Island UFO Reporter 2, no. 1 (February
1990): 2–4; John Ford, “UFO
Captured at Moriches Bay?” The East Ender, February 9, 1990, via UFO
Newsclipping Service, April 1990, p. 7; Elaine Douglass, “The Ordeal of
John Ford,” John Ford Defense Committee; “The John Ford Affair,” UFO
UpDates, November 26, 1998; Dolan II 489–492)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6800
Date: 9/28/1989
Description: UFO landing and Government attempt at intercept: Six
helicopters circle around an UFO, between 574–1000 ft. in diam. while it
was close to a downed UFO on the beach. The UFOs apparently got away.
The eyewitness took 48 photos of the event. This even occurred in
Suffolk County.
Type: ufo retrieval attempt
Reference: Pea
Research
Reference: Archive.org
Location: Smith’s Point Beach, Shirley, NY
Date: 10/1989
End date: 5/1990
Description: Concentration of triangular UFO sightings, jet interceptor
chases, radar-visual sightings (see November 29, 1989, March 30,
1990).
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: radar-visual sighting
Type: jet interceptor chase
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Belgium
ID: 449
Date: 10/1989
Description: Night. Hundreds of residents of Omsk, southwestern Siberia,
Russia, report seeing a UFO. Major V. Loginov sees an object about 1.5
the size of the full moon passing overhead at an altitude of several
kilometers. It projects four bright lights, some downward, others
parallel to the horizon. Loginov watches it for 5 minutes hovering above
the civil airport before descending. The lights turn off, and a whirling
plume trail appears around the sphere. Pilots taking off from the
airport can see the object, but it is not visible on radar screens. (“USSR:
Media Report
Multitude of UFO Sightings,” Foreign Press Note (Foreign Broadcast
Information Service), November 22, 1989, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6801
Date: 10/6/1989
Description: 11:30 p.m. A woman driving near Tyndall, Manitoba, sees a
bright light flash upward out of sight in front of her car. (Chris
Rutkowski, “The Canadian UFO Wave of 1989,” IUR 14, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1989): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6802
Date: 10/9/1989
Description: 2:50 p.m. A couple and their child are getting into their
car at a wildlife sanctuary in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They see a white
“boomerang-shaped” object hanging silently and motionless in the east
over the city. The mother puts the child in the back seat for safety.
The man continues to watch as the object tilts and moves, revealing a
bulge on its underside. It moves away, and the object goes home. (Chris
Rutkowski, “The Canadian UFO Wave of 1989,” IUR 14, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1989): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6803
Date: 10/9/1989
Description: 11:30 p.m. Carl
Weselak is observing a meteor shower from his third floor apartment
in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, when he sees a large boomerang-shaped
object flying north to south over the city. Over the next few hours he
sees more UFOs ranging from balls of light to other boomerangs. He
telephones a newspaper to have a reporter verify the sightings. However,
UFOROM discovers that several aircraft takeoffs and landings at the
airport correspond to some of Weselak’s observations. (Chris Rutkowski,
“The Canadian UFO Wave of 1989,” IUR 14, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1989):
8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6804
Date: 10/11/1989
Description: A 16-year-old girl in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia,
sees a “net” fall from the sky, apparently surrounding her, in the
center of which is a bright point. She tries to push it away but gets a
shock. She screams, but her voice sounds distorted. Her family rushes
out of the house and sees a flying disc hovering less than 50 feet away.
It soon vanishes. The girl remains paralyzed a while, the tips of her
fingers burned and enlarged, and she is taken to a hospital. (Jacques
Vallée, UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union: A Cosmic Samizdat,
Ballantine, 1992, pp. 36–37)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6805
Date: 10/11/1989
Description: 7:30 p.m. Brad Schmidt, 13, Todd Weinheimer, 13, Paul
Goddard, 12, Kevin Still, and one other boy are skateboarding outside
the town pool in Centennial Park, Langenburg, Saskatchewan, when they
see an object with multicolored lights approaching them from the east.
They wave their skateboards at it, and the lights hover silently 400
feet away at 100–200 feet in the air. They duck down in the tall grass.
The object moves away over nearby Parkside School, pauses for a moment,
then takes off to the west. The boys alert two teachers in the school,
Bob Markham and Mark MacMurchy, and they go out to all watch the object
for another 10–15 minutes. One of the teachers says the object has a
bright flashing light on top and a red light on the bottom. It is more
than half a mile away and only 650 feet in the air. The top light
flashes every 15–20 seconds. Soon it moves away to the west. (“Strange
Lights over
the Park,” Regina (Sask.) Leader-Post, November 4, 1989, pp. C1–C2;
Chris Rutkowski, “The Canadian UFO Wave of 1989,” IUR 14, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1989): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6806
Date: 10/12/1989
Description: 12:20 a.m. A shift worker in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is
returning home through a park when he sees a “shimmering boomerang” in
the sky. He goes closer and hears a high-pitched whine coming from it.
The object starts to move slowly then shoots away making a noise like a
sonic boom. (Chris Rutkowski, “The Canadian UFO Wave of 1989,” IUR 14,
no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1989): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6807
Date: 10/13/1989
Description: 10:20 a.m. Rose Neumeier is in her kitchen 7 miles
southwest of Langenburg, Saskatchewan, when she sees a flash of light
near a shed about 50 feet away. An object like “two pie plates rim to
rim” is motionless in the air about 50 feet above the shed. It is shiny
and metallic, 30 feet long and 10 feet thick, and has a flattened top
and “corrugated” bottom. Light is shining brightly from the joint
between the two halves. It is silent and the dog and cattle are not
disturbed. After a few minutes, it rises slowly, moves north, curves
through the hayfield, circles the barn, and moves away across the
pasture. (“Object
Hovers over Garage,” Regina (Sask.) Leader-Post, November 4, 1989,
p. C2; Chris Rutkowski, “The Canadian UFO Wave of 1989,” IUR 14, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1989): 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6808
Date: 10/16/1989
Description: 7:45 a.m. A woman is driving near Langruth, Manitoba, when
she sees a “star with a tail of smoke going up” in the east. After a few
minutes, the object takes on a dome shape and its tail is no longer
visible. (Chris Rutkowski, “The Canadian UFO Wave of 1989,” IUR 14, no.
6 (Nov./Dec. 1989): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6809
Date: 10/16/1989
Description: 7:45 p.m. A man in Langenburg, Saskatchewan, is driving
with his daughter when they observe an object “as wide as a small
airplane is long” with colored flashing lights. It coasts silently over
the highway “right over our heads.” (Chris Rutkowski, “The Canadian UFO
Wave of 1989,” IUR 14, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1989): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6810
Date: 10/21/1989
Description: Witnesses in Burkhala, Magadan Oblast, Russia, watch a red,
shining sphere maneuvering near an electric power transmission line for
30 minutes. About 7–9 lights are seen along its edge. One witness
estimates its speed as 600 mph. (Vadim K. Ilyin, “KGB’s
‘Blue Folder’ Reveals Shootings, Landings in USSR,” MUFON UFO
Journal, no. 403 (November 2001): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6811
Date: 10/25/1989
Description: 7:45 p.m. A resident of Gilbert Plains, Manitoba, sees a
large object with red flashing lights. It is moving slowly and silently
at an altitude of 200 feet. (Chris Rutkowski, “The Canadian UFO Wave of
1989,” IUR 14, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1989): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6812
Date: 11/1989
Description: “UFO’s: The Best Evidence” multi-part series released by
George Knapp, revealing Bob Lazar’s identity to the public.
Type: TV series
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar (TODO)
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Date: 11/1/1989
Description: 6:50 p.m. A pilot flying a small airplane 20 miles north of
La Ronge, Saskatchewan, sees a pair of blinking lights moving across his
path at 8,500 feet. Air traffic control confirms there are no other
aircraft in the area at the time. (Chris Rutkowski, “The Canadian UFO
Wave of 1989,” IUR 14, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1989): 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6813
Date: 11/4/1989
Description: 5:30 p.m. A couple and their two children are sitting in
front of a large living room window in Hall Beach, Nunavut, watching
television. The family dog begins barking, and soon the man’s attention
is drawn to a strange object in the sky. The family watches the UFO,
which looks like an upside-down cup and saucer. The bottom portion has a
red light in the center, and three windows emitting white light are
across the middle. After only a couple of seconds, the object departs,
seemingly straight up, and disappears. A local employee of the
Department of Public Works also sees the object. (Chris Rutkowski and
Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006,
pp. 142–143)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6814
Date: 11/7/1989
Description: Double abduction case investigated by John Carpenter
Type: abduction
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Western KS
ID: 450
Date: 11/7/1989
Description: 12:40 a.m. Two women in their 40s are driving on Interstate
70 west of Goodland, Kansas, when they encounter a UFO and lose 2 hours
of time. They experience anxiety, insomnia, irritability, and
bewilderment as a result. Neither women claim any interest in UFOs. They
initially believe that they never left their car or observed anything
further. Hypnotic regressions (obtained independently) reveal abduction
scenarios with at least 40 direct correlations between their accounts.
(John S. Carpenter, “Double Abduction Case: Correlation of Hypnosis
Data,” JUFOS 3 (1991): 91–114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6815
Date: 11/10/1989
Description: KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, Nevada, identifies and interviews Robert
Lazar, unmasked and using his real name. Lazar claims that during
his onboarding to the Area 51 program, he read briefing documents
describing the historical involvement of Earth for the past 10,000 years
with extraterrestrial beings described as grey aliens from a planet
orbiting the twin binary star system Zeta Reticuli. The Zeta Reticuli
system was previously claimed by Barney
and Betty Hill as the origin of aliens they allegedly encountered in
their abduction. Lazar’s story quickly garners enormous media attention,
controversy, supporters, and detractors. Lazar admits he cannot support
with evidence his core claim of alien technology. (Tom Mahood, “The
Robert Lazar Timeline,” Other Hand, January 1997; Don Ecker,
“Freedom of Disinformation,” Fortean Times 122 (May 1999): 28–31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6816
Date: 11/10/1989
Description: Communion, a feature film based on abductee Whitley
Strieber’s book of the same name, premieres in the US. Directed by
Philippe
Mora, Strieber
is played by actor Christopher
Walken. (Internet
Movie Database, “Communion”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6817
Date: 11/13/1989
Description: The FBI releases a handful of its files on Stanton
T. Friedman as a result of Larry
Bryant’s lawsuit. (Nick Redfern, Body Snatchers in the Desert,
Paraview, 2005, p. 191)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6818
Date: 11/18/1989
Description: Early evening. A large, black, boomerang-shaped object
glides over downtown Lancaster, California. Low-intensity lights,
similar to stars, outline its frame. Witness Robert Puskas estimates its
size as 800–900 feet wide. Off its left tip he sees a silvery metallic
disc about 30–40 feet in diameter, reflecting the streetlights. (MUFON
UFO Journal, November 1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6819
Date: 11/20/1989
Description: 5:30 a.m. A couple in the rural town of Marieville, Quebec,
wakes up to the sight of a strange blue light shining through the
curtains. They hear a noise like an electric generator and feel a
vibration. But looking outside they can see nothing. About 900 feet down
the road, a neighbor is also awakened by the bright light and observes
four blue objects over the other couple’s house. He also feels a
vibration and describes the lights as intermittent, blinking out and
reappearing in a different spot. At one point, the streetlights along
Route 112 weaken when one of the objects gets too close. He thinks the
lights are about 30 feet off the ground. Two other witnesses also see
the lights interact with power lines. One reports that her power goes
out for 10 minutes. On November 22, a strange pattern is discovered
about 150 feet from the first couple’s residence—a perfectly round
circle, 65 feet in diameter, of flattened (not burned) grass. The RCMP
visits the circle on November 23 and 28, noting a striking difference in
color of the flattened grass within the circle and the straight grass
outside it. (Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report,
Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 149–150)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6820
Date: 11/22/1989
Description: The USAF SR-71 Blackbird program is officially terminated.
The odd thing is that there is no dissension in the military about this.
The alleged additional savings of $300 million is insignificant.
Analysts point out that satellites, though useful, simply cannot perform
the type of missions for which the Blackbird is suited. Some observers
suspect there is a secret, better replacement. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
SR-71 Blackbird”; Bill Sweetman, Aurora: The Pentagon’s Secret
Hypersonic Spyplane, Motorbooks, 1993, p. 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6821
Date: 11/29/1989
Description: Police patrol car illuminated by brilliant light beam,
hovering dark triangular object, humming noise, alternately moved and
hovered
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Eupen, Belgium
ID: 451
Date: 11/29/1989
Description: 5:15 p.m. While patrolling on the road between Eupen,
Belgium, and the German border, two federal policemen, Heinrich Nicoll
and Hubert von Montigny, see an intense light in a nearby field. Above
the field is a triangular object with three spotlights shining down and
a red flashing light in the center. Without making a sound, it moves
slowly toward the German border for 2 minutes and then suddenly turns
back toward Eupen. Nicoll and von Montigny follow it. (Patrick Vantuyne,
“Mystery
Craft: Eupen, Belgium,” Patt Nayeu & Son, June 12, 2010; Kean,
p. 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6822
Date: 11/29/1989
Description: 6:45 p.m. Gendarmes Heinrich Nicoll and Hubert von Montigny
see another object near Eupen, Belgium, which appears from behind a wood
and makes a forward tilting maneuver. It has a dome on top with
rectangular windows. It then departs to the north. (Joël Mesnard, “The
UFO ‘Wave’ of November/December 1989
over Eastern Belgium,” Flying Saucer Review 35, no. 2 (June 1990):
4; Kean, p. 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6824
Date: 11/29/1989
Description: 6:45 p.m. A man is driving alone in his car on the Rue
Mathieu de Lexhy at the intersection with the Rue Hector Denis near
Grâce-Berleur, Belgium, when he sees to his left an immense stationary
object at about 325 feet altitude and 1,600 feet away. He slows down,
lowers his window, and hears a soft sound like an electric motor. The
object is larger than a Boeing 707. It has flashing red, green, and
white lights and a light beam directed toward the ground. He drives away
while the UFO is still visible. (Patrick Vidal and Michel Rozencwajg,
“The Belgian Wave,” IUR 16, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1991): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6825
Date: 11/29/1989
Description: 7:20 p.m. Two federal policemen, Dieter Plummans and Peter
Nicoll, see a triangular UFO near a monastery [Kloster Garnstock?] north
of Eupen, Belgium. The object has three very strong spotlights and a
flashing red central light. It is at an altitude of about 250 feet and
about 300 feet away. It is immobile and silent, but it suddenly emits a
hissing sound and its lights fade a bit. Simultaneously, a red ball
comes out of the center and heads straight downward, but soon veers
horizontal and disappears behind some trees. The object then passes
above the police car, moving northeast. They follow it for 5 miles
before losing it. (Kean, pp. 25–26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6826
Date: 11/29/1989
Description: 5:24 p.m. About 250 witnesses, in 143 separate
observations, watch the same or similar triangular or delta-winged craft
maneuvering overhead at Eupen, Belgium. Two police officers in a patrol
car are illuminated by a brilliant light beam from a dark triangular
object hovering at 600–900 feet and making a faint humming noise. The
light is so dazzling that “we could read a newspaper under it.” The UFO
moves slowly away to the southwest, where it hovers near the Lac de la
Gileppe dam for 45 minutes. Policemen Heinrich Nicoll and Hubert von
Montigny watch it repeatedly emit two red beams with a red ball at the
spearhead of both beams; the beams soon disappear, leaving the red
balls, which return to the object. Then around 7:23 p.m., it moves
further to the southwest and is seen over Spa for 30 minutes before it
disappears. (UFOEv II 50–51; MUFON UFO Journal, July 1990, pp. 3–7;
Société Belge d’Etude des Phénomènes Spatiaux, Vague d’OVNI sur la
belgique: Un dossier exceptionnelle, SOBEPS, 1991; Auguste Meessen, “The
Belgian Sightings,” IUR 16, no. 3 (May/June 1991): 4–5; Wim van Utrecht,
“Triangles
over Belgium: The SOBEPS Report,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 286
(February 1992): 5–6; Steven M. Greer, “UFOs
over Belgium,” MUFON UFO Journal, no, 289 (May 1992): 8–12; Auguste
Meessen, “Étude
approfondie et discussion de certaines observations du 29 novembre
1989,” Inforespace, no. 95 (October 1997): 16–70; Auguste Meessen,
“The Belgian Wave and the Photos of Ramillies”; Don Berliner, with Marie
Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available
Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp.
137–144;
Kean, pp. 24–27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6823
Date: 11/30/1989
Description: 3:15 a.m. New York City resident Linda Napolitano
(pseudonym “Linda Cortile”) is allegedly abducted by aliens from her
12th-story apartment on the lower east side of Manhattan. Five aliens
come into her bedroom while she is still awake. They paralyze her and
move her into the living room. Linda and three of the five aliens are
floated out through her living room window, directly through the window,
to a large hovering UFO. Three independent witnesses to the abduction
are two security intelligence agents (“Richard” and “Dan”), who see the
UFO and abductees from a car near the Brooklyn Bridge, and a VIP
political dignitary later identified as UN Secretary General Javier
Pérez de Cuéllar, who does not confirm any involvement. The UFO then
dives into the East River. Budd
Hopkins delves into the case, although he never meets the two
security guards or even confirms their existence. Music critic Greg
Sandow writes an insightful analysis of the case in 1997. Hopkins’s
former wife Carol Rainey has been critical of the quality of his
abduction research in this case and in that of singer Phoebe Snow, which
he never publicized. (Budd Hopkins, “The
Linda Cortile Abduction Case,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 293 (September
1992): 12–16; Budd Hopkins, “The
Linda Cortile Abuction Case, Part II: The Woman on the Bridge,”
MUFON UFO Journal, no. 296 (December 1992): 5–9; Joseph J. Stefula,
Richard D. Butler, and George P. Hansen, “A
Critique of Budd Hopkins’ Case of the UFO Abduction of Linda
Napolitano,” January 8, 1993; Jerome Clark, “Saucer Smearers,” IUR
18, no. 2 (March/April 1993): 3, 22–24; “The Claims in Question,” IUR
18, no. 2 (March/April 1993): 4–5; Donald A. Johnson, “Why the Linda
Case Is a Hoax,” IUR 18, no. 2 (March/April 1993): 5, 22; Willy Smith,
“The Impossible Testimony of Janet Kimball,” IUR 18, no. 2 (March/April
1993): 6–7, 21; Budd Hopkins, “House of Cards: The Butler/Hansen/Stefula
Critique of the Cortile Case,” IUR 18, no. 2 (March/April 1993): 8–14,
21; David M. Jacobs, “A Matter of Ethics,” IUR 18, no. 2 (March/April
1993): 15–16; John E. Mack, “Stirring Our Deepest Fears,” IUR 18, no. 2
(March/April 1993): 17, 21; Willy Smith, et al., “The Linda Case,” IUR
18, no. 3 (May/June 1993): 22–23; Linda Cortile [Napolitano], “A
Light
at the End of the Tunnel,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 302 (June 1993):
12–17; Budd Hopkins, Witnessed: The
True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abductions, Pocket
Books, 1996; Greg Sandow, “The Linda Cortile Case Analyzed: Part 1,” IUR
22, no. 1 (Spring 1997): 18–23; Greg Sandow, “The Linda Cortile Case
Analyzed: Part 2,” IUR 22, no. 2 (Summer 1997): 3–10, 35–36; Kevin D.
Randle, “A
Response to Budd Hopkins,” A Different Perspective, February 18,
2011; Carol Rainey, “The
Singer’s Hybrid Daughter, Part I,” The UFO Trail, February 5, 2016;
Carol Rainey, “The
Singer’s Hybrid Daughter, Part II,” The UFO Trail, February 22,
2016; Sean F. Meers, “The Linda Cortile UFO Abduction Case: Abstract,”
February 27, 2012).
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6827
Date: 11/30/1989
Description: Linda Cortile’s (pseudonym) abduction from 12th floor
apartment, allegedly witnessed by international figure and security
guards (Hopkins, 1996). 1990
Type: abduction
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: New York City
ID: 452
Date: 12/1/1989
Description: Weather forecaster Francesco Valenzano and his young
daughter are walking in the Square Nicolaï in Ans, Liège, Belgium, when
they see a large, slow-moving craft approaching at low altitude. The
object silently makes a tour of the square; when it passes over their
heads, they notice it has a delta shape with three lights in a
triangular position and a red rotating light in the middle and
positioned lower than the belly of the object. (Kean, pp. 27–28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6828
Date: 12/1/1989
Description: 6:50 p.m. An amateur photographer is sitting in his living
room at Eupen, Belgium, when he sees a lozenge-shaped UFO with two white
lights at each corner. He draws a sketch but fails to take a photo. He
sees a similar object on January 10, 1990. (Auguste Meessen, “The
Belgian Sightings,” IUR 16, no. 3 (May/June 1991): 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6829
Date: 12/2/1989
End date: 12/3/1989
Description: President George
H. W. Bush and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail
Gorbachev meet in Malta, just weeks after the fall of the Berlin
Wall. During the summit, Bush and Gorbachev declare an end to the Cold
War, although whether it is truly such is a matter of debate.
(Wikipedia, “Malta
Summit”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6830
Date: 12/5/1989
Alternate date: 12/12/1989
Description: 9:50 p.m. A couple is driving on the Trierer Strasse in
Aachen, Germany, when they see a flying object cut across the road in
front of them to the right. It has two headlights in front, emitting
beams that slant downwards. There is a flashing orange light on the
underside. The same object reappears at their home around 11:15 p.m.
(Auguste Meessen, “The Belgian Sightings,” IUR 16, no. 3 (May/June
1991): 9–10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6831
Date: 12/11/1989
Description: 6:30 p.m. A 12-year-old boy and his family in Trooz,
Belgium, watch a domed, triangular object for 15 minutes. It is hovering
at first, then passes above their house. (Kean, p. 28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6832
Date: 12/11/1989
Description: 6:45 p.m. Lt. Col. André Amond of the Belgian Army and his
wife spot a strange aerial object while they are driving on the deserted
Rue de Sart Ernage between Ernage and Gembloux, Belgium. It looks like a
series of 3–4 panels of light traveling north to south at an altitude of
650–980 feet. Beneath the series of panels, and close to the center, is
a rotating red lamp. Amond stops where the road dead ends and watches
the UFO pass for 2–4 minutes. Then the object abruptly changes course
and silently heads in his direction. Only an enormous spot of white
light is visible now, “much bigger than the spotlight of a big air
carrier.” They both are frightened, so Amond starts the car again. The
big light disappears, and three smaller white spotlights become visible,
which form a more or less equilateral triangle. The rotating red light
is still there, now seen in profile. The object then performs a turn of
180° to the left. The distance between the white luminous points is
estimated at approximately 33 feet. They cannot distinguish any solid
object around this triangle of three lights. The maneuver is majestic
and slow. Next, the luminous points disappear. Only the red rotating
light is still visible, and it takes off in a south- southwesterly
direction. The duration of the sighting is about 5–8 minutes. (Kean, pp. 28–29;
Wim van Utrecht, “The
Lieutenant-Colonel and the UFO,” Caelestia, January 7, 2016;
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6833
Date: 12/12/1989
Description: 2:15 a.m. A man in Jupille-sur-Meuse, Belgium, wakes up to
a dull throbbing noise coming from outside. He sees an enormous oval
object seemingly jammed between two fir trees. On its circumference,
small lights are changing color from blue to red and back. The object is
metallic, with an oar or paddle at its rear. In the front is a window or
cockpit. On the front part is a logo consisting of several ellipses
crossing themselves. After a few minutes, the object rises slightly, the
sound it emits changing slightly. It moves toward a neighbor’s meadow,
shining down three beams of lights. Some moments later, it emits an
intense and well-defined shaft of light into the sky. The witness goes
back to bed. The next morning, he reports his sighting to the
Gendarmérie, which investigates and finds a gigantic circular trace in
the meadow. At the center, the grass has been cut off, but the cuttings
are nowhere to be seen, and the grass within the circle is yellow.
(Patrick Vidal and Michel Rozencwajg, “The Belgian Wave,” IUR 16, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1991): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6834
Date: 12/21/1989
Description: Belgian Minister of Defense Jean-Pol
Poncelet states that there have been many UFOs reported and that the
ministry and the Army have no idea what they are. (Swords 456–457)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6835
Date: 12/24/1989
Alternate date: 12/25/1989
Description: 3:00 p.m. Pilot Vladimir Kuzmin sees a dark gray,
cigar-shaped object hovering southwest of Chelyabinsk, Russia, while he
is flying a two-seat Aero L-29 Delfin. He estimates its altitude at 4.6
miles. The sighting lasts more than 8 minutes with the object in direct
view for over 4 minutes. Within hours, Kuzmin experiences a strange,
crustlike skin rash on the exposed portion of his face that lasts for
more than 11 days. (Richard F. Haines, “UFO Activities in the Soviet
Union,” IUR 16, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1991): 14; Richard F. Haines,
“Encounter over Siberia,” IUR 16, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1991): 12–13,
21–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6836
Date: 1990
Description: Journalist and lawyer Marek
Rymuszkoz establishes the magazine Nieznany Świat in Warsaw. (Poland
81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6842
Date: 1990’s
Description: USAF argues in court filings that it never used the name
Area 51
Type: court filings
Reference: “Dreamland” by Lazar
Location: US
Date: 1990
Description: Donald
Johnson obtains a copy of UFOCAT on 10 3.5-inch diskettes from David
R. Saunders, courtesy of John S. Derr of the US Geological Survey.
Derr has created the diskette version from one of the tape backups for
use in his own research. Unfortunately, he is unable to read the first
portion of the tape, so it is lacking the first 10,000 records.
Fortunately, the Center for UFO Studies has another backup copy, and
Johnson is able to merge the two sources and recreate the database as it
existed in 1982. Since then, more than 10,000 additional records have
been added. (“UFOCAT Is Back!” IUR 16, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1991): 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6838
Date: 1990
Description: The NORAD Unknown Track Reporting database includes 7,000
incidents since 1971, averaging about 350 a year, representing objects
still unidentified after jet interception, but before ATC analysis and
NORAD/FTC intelligence whittles down the numbers further to about 10%.
NORAD Unknowns are effectively equivalent to Project Blue Book
unknowns—high-strangeness UFOs that cannot be rated until full details
are released. (Clark III 801–802; Swords 348)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6837
Date: 1990
Description: A Gallup survey this year indicates that the belief in
“real” UFOs has declined to 47% from a peak of 57% in 1978 and 54% in
1973. Only 27% report a belief that extraterrestrial UFOs have actually
visited earth, while 14% report they have seen a UFO. (Robert J. Durant,
“Evolution of Public Opinion on UFOs,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993):
20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6839
Date: 1990
Description: Jerome
Clark publishes volume one of the first edition of his UFO
encyclopedia. (Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia: UFOs in the 1980s,
vol. 1, Apogee, 1990; Michael D. Swords, [review], JUFOS 2 (1990): 189–
191)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6840
Date: 1990
Description: Mathematician Arne
Gjärdman replaces Sture
Wickerts as head of UFO investigations at the Swedish National
Defence Research Institute. He holds the position until 1999. During
this time, the institute starts sharing information and ideas with
UFO-Sweden, creating an atmosphere of understanding and cooperation.
(Swords 370)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6841
Date: 1/1990
Description: David
Gotlib begins publishing the Bulletin of Anomalous Experience (at
first under the title of Ratchet Patrol) in Toronto, Ontario, focusing
on abduction experiencers. It folds in December 1994. (Ratchet
Patrol 1, no. 1 (January 1990); Bulletin
of Anomalous Experience 1, no. 3 (March/April 1990))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6844
Date: early 1/1990
Description: 10:30 a.m. Two women are driving southwest near
Thimister-Clermont, Belgium, when they see a bizarre object on their
right, moving at an altitude of 980–1,300 feet. Dark and massive, it
resembles an iron seen from underneath. After a few seconds, it
disappears behind a farmhouse. (Patrick Vidal and Michel Rozencwajg,
“The Belgian Wave,” IUR 16, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1991): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6843
Date: 1/8/1990
Description: Dark round or oblong object with red body light
photographed by several people
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Gulf Breeze, FL
ID: 453
Date: 1/20/1990
Description: 1:15–1:20 a.m. A silvery dome-shaped object with two rows
of lights flies just ahead of a car for two to three miles on Highway
446 at Boyle, Mississippi. The engine and lights fail until the object
departs. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference Reports,
Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6845
Date: 1/20/1990
Description: Silvery object with two rows of lights paced just ahead of
car for two to three miles. Engine, lights failed until object
departed
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Boyle, MS
ID: 454
Date: 1/22/1990
Description: 10:00 a.m. UFOs approach the Santa Cruz Air Force Base, Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil. Air traffic controllers spot them on their radars
but cannot identify them because they do not make movements like an
airplane or helicopter. Interceptors approach, but the objects move away
and disappear. They return about 40 minutes after the interceptors land.
Two other fighters are assigned to chase the objects, which are at an
altitude of 4,800 feet. The case is investigated by an internal
commission of the Brazilian Air Force, which can find no explanation.
(Clark III 205–206; Brazil 553)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6846
Date: 1/24/1990
Description: Fireball meteor observed about 6:15 A.M. arcing from
northwest to southeast.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Central United States
ID: 455
Date: 1/26/1990
Description: British-Armenian orchid hunter Habib
“Henry” Azadehdel (pseudonym “Armen Victorian”) calls Eric
A. Walker and
has an extended conversation about an alleged South African UFO crash
with insect-like aliens. Walker hints that there has been governmental
collaboration with aliens in the past. (Grant Cameron and T. Scott
Crain, UFOs, MJ-12, and the Government: A Report on Government
Involvement in UFO Crash Retrievals, Mutual UFO Network, 1991,
pp. 27–35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6847
Date: 1/26/1990
Description: Long-lasting fireball meteor, blue-green with short tail,
changing to white and orange as it broke up, observed about 7:10 P.M.
moving northeast.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Eastern United States
ID: 456
Date: 2/1990
Description: The Centre d’Études et de Recherches sur les Phénomènes
Aérospatiaux in Marseille, France, begins publishing
Aérospatial-Météorologie-Astronomie (A.M.A.), edited by Bernard Hugues.
It continues until September 1994. (Aérospatial-Météorologie-Astronomie,
no. 1 (February 1990))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6850
Date: 2/1990
Description: Arranged by Norio
Hayakawa, Robert
Lazar is interviewed in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Nippon TV for 3–4
hours. Hayakawa and the TV crew drive out to Tikaboo Peak, where they
film an orange light maneuvering above Groom Lake. (Jacobsen, Area 51,
p. 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6848
Date: 2/1990
Description: The Sauvegarde et Conservation des Études et Archives
Ufologiques is established in Brunoy, France, by Jacques
Scornaux. Its
goal is the preservation and conservation of ufological documents and
information. It publishes a SCEAU Bulletin from 1991 to 2008. (SCEAU
Bulletin, no.
0 (1991))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6849
Date: 2/1/1990
End date: 2/4/1990
Description: An invitation-only research conference on abductions is
held at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in
Blacksburg, Virginia, organized by Rima
E. Laibow and Daniel
Schneck. (Rima E. Laibow, Robert N. Sollod, and John P. Wilson,
eds., Anomalous Experiences and Trauma: Current Theoretical, Research,
and Clinical Perspectives, Center for Treatment and Research of
Experienced Anomalous Trauma, 1992; Michael D. Swords, [review], JUFOS 4
(1992): 201–205)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6851
Date: 2/21/1990
Description: 9:07 p.m. A woman, her mother, and son are driving through
Koblenz-Karthause, Germany, when they notice two lights beaming down at
them at a 45° angle. The woman pulls to the side of the road at an angle
to watch. The object bearing the lights stops almost directly overhead.
She sees a large triangular object, stationary and noiseless, at rooftop
height. The sides of the triangle measure about 65 feet. Three milky,
yellowish-white lights are at each of the corners. In the center is a
larger, primarily gray-blue light, although its colors change as
something rotates on the UFO. The object itself has a metallic
appearance. It has some structures that look like riveted plates. The
object remains for 2–3 minutes then departs suddenly to the southwest
behind the roofs of nearby houses. The woman succeeds in locating two
other witnesses at nearly the same time. (Auguste Meessen, “The Belgian
Sightings,” IUR 16, no. 3 (May/June 1991): 10–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6853
Date: 2/21/1990
Description: Sundown. Norio
Hayakawa, a Nippon TV journalist, takes a crew to the Area 51
Mailbox Site (near the 29 ½ mile marker, Highway 375, Tikaboo Valley) to
watch the test flight of an object from Groom Lake, Nevada. The group
sees an orange-yellow light appear above the hills. They get a second
sighting later that evening when an object moves to the right, descends,
performs a back turn and a 5,000-foot sudden descent, more or less
instantly. (Michael Hesemann, UFOs
and Area 51: Secrets of the Black World, Lightworks
video, 1995; “Norio Hayakawa,”
Dreamland Resort)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6852
Date: 2/23/1990
Description: Prominent fireball meteor changing color from white to
green to orange observed about 7:50 P.M.
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Northeastern United States
ID: 457
Date: 2/28/1990
Description: 7:30 p.m. Gary Schultz goes to the Area 51 Mailbox site in
Nevada with his wife Pearl. He leaps out of his lawn chair when he spots
the first object. Every 45 minutes, a new object arrives, 6 in all. Two
or three of the craft are bright, pulsing, ellipsoid objects. He takes
photos, one of which clearly captures an object shaped like a bell. (“Unknown
Craft over Area 51 in 1990, Photographed by Gary Schultz,” Norio
Hayakawa YouTube channel, January 25, 2010; Michael Hesemann, UFOs
and Area 51: Secrets of the Black World, Lightworks video,
1995)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6854
Date: 3/1990
Description: A classified US Department of Defense document, Joint Staff
Information Report #5049, “Belgium and the UFO Issue,” states that
“Numerous UFO sightings have been made in Belgium since Nov 89. The
credibility of some individuals making the reports is good…
Investigation by BAF [Belgian Air Force] continues.” It notes that
Belgian General Wilfried De Brouwer asked whether the objects were
American B-2 or F-117 military aircraft, stating that he made the
inquiry despite knowing that “the alleged observations did not
correspond in any way to the observable characteristics of either US
aircraft.” The US Air Force does confirm to the Belgian Air Force and
Ministry of Defense that no US stealth aircraft were operating in the
Ardennes area at the time.” (Nick Redfern, “Belgium
and the UFO Issue,” Mysterious Universe, February 11, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6856
Date: 3/1990
Description: Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine breaks the
news that the term “Aurora” has inadvertently been included in the 1985
US budget, as an allocation of $455 million for “black aircraft
production” in FY 1987. According to Aviation Week, Project Aurora
refers to a group of exotic aircraft and not to one particular airframe.
Funding of the project allegedly reaches $2.3 billion in fiscal 1987,
according to a 1986 procurement document obtained by Aviation Week. In
1994, Ben
Rich, the
former head of Lockheed’s Skunk Works division, writes that the Aurora
is the budgetary code name for the stealth bomber fly-off that resulted
in the B-2 Spirit. (Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos, Skunk Works: A Personal
Memoir of My Years at Lockheed, Little Brown, 1996, pp. 309–310;
UFOFiles2, pp. 143–144;
“Aurora Timeline”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6855
Date: 3/1/1990
Description: The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches the first stealth
satellite in STS-36 for
the National Reconnaissance Office. Nicknamed “Misty,” little is known
about it other than it has visual and radar stealth characteristics,
making it difficult to detect. The satellite is seen and tracked later
in 1990 and in the mid-1990s by amateur observers. The second satellite
is launched on May 22, 1999, and by 2004 the launch of a third satellite
is planned for 2009. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the third
satellite might be the payload of the Delta
IV Heavy launch designated NROL-15,
which is launched in June 2012. That launch deposits a payload into
geosynchronous orbit but, given the stealth/deception hypothesis, there
remains the possibility of other, undetected payloads. (Wikipedia, “Misty
(satellite program)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6857
Date: 3/2/1990
Description: Brilliant white pulsating oval paced truck, hovered over
road, instant relocation over truck, cast light beam down
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Beavercreek, IL
ID: 458
Date: 3/4/1990
Description: Sphere with windows seen from boat near lighthouse. Several
objects took off at high speed with loud booms, stopped, hovered,
flashed bright white lights
Type: sighting
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Wood End, Provincetown, MA
ID: 459
Date: 3/7/1990
Description: A woman feeding her infant in Gulf Breeze, Florida, notices
a beam of white light about 3 feet in diameter descend to the ground
beyond her window. She feels a slight vibration and 2 seconds later the
object is gone. The next morning her husband finds a circle of burned
grass 11 feet in diameter near the window. Several people detect a
strong “perfume” odor from the scorched area. (MUFON UFO Journal, May
1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6858
Date: 3/8/1990
Description: Henry
Azadehdel calls Eric
A. Walker a second time. Walker provides some vague and bizarre
information involving MJ-12, ESP, and technology from crashed UFOs. A
third conversation on August 18 is much more guarded. (Grant Cameron and
T. Scott Crain, UFOs, MJ-12, and the Government: A Report on Government
Involvement in UFO Crash Retrievals, Mutual UFO Network, 1991,
pp. 27–35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6859
Date: 3/12/1990
Description: Night. Large, shining discs appear in the sky along the
Yaroslavskoye Shosse outside Moscow, Russia. Their place is taken by
three groups of objects, some like pineapples (with platelets) but about
18 feet long. Others are like “triangular milk cartons,” and the third
group are like upside-down basins about 40 feet across. (“UFO’s Reported
near Moscow,” [telegram], April 15, 1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6860
Date: 3/21/1990
Description: Jet interceptor scrambled to identify radar target, saw two
flashing white lights, locked radar gunsight on object
Type: sighting
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Pereslavl-Zalesskiy, Russia
ID: 460
Date: 3/21/1990
Description: 8:00 p.m.–12:00 midnight. UFOs are seen over a wide area of
Russia encompassing Novoselye, Sergiyev Posad, Yakovlevo, Dubki,
Kablukovo, Fryazino, Khabarovsk, and Kirzhach. Radar stations and
aircraft are put on alert. At 9:38 p.m., a UFO is seen at 6,500 feet
altitude over Pereslavl-Zalessky, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia. Lt. Col. A.
A. Semenchenko is sent up in an interceptor to find it. At 10:05 p.m.,
he sees the object ahead and to the right. He tracks it on the in-flight
radar as it flashes two white lights and changes speed and altitude. It
does not respond to a radio challenge to identify itself. The pilot
turns steeply and flies 1,600–1,900 feet above the UFO, but he can see
only a vague shape. Between 8:00 p.m. and midnight, UFOs are also seen
over a wide area. Witnesses in Khabarovsk watch bright red spheres
flying in complete silence and darting above the icebound Amur River,
and a black cigar-shaped object 160 feet long with a ruby-red exhaust is
seen traveling low above the ground. Radars do not register it. The
commanding officers of several antiaircraft defense units around Moscow
gather more than 100 visual reports from their subordinates, which are
forwarded to the chief of the antiaircraft defense headquarters,
Gen. Col. Igor
Maltsev, who says that the object is a disc between 325–650 feet in
diameter with two blinking lights. It turns on its axis and its course
is “snakelike.” (“UFOs
on Air Defense Radars,” Rabochaya Tribuna, April 19, 1990; MUFON UFO
Journal, June 1990; V. D. Musinsky, “Through the Secrecy Barrier,” IUR
15, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1990): 14–15; Central Intelligence Agency, “USSR:
UFO Sightings No. 2—General Maltsev Comments,”
Foreign Broadcast Information Service PROD Group, May 24, 1990; Patrick
Gross, “FOIA Declassified
Documents”; Antonio Huneeus, “Airplane
Pilot UFO Encounters in the USSR and CIS, Part 2,” OpenMinds, August
20, 2010; Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020,
p. 116)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6861
Date: 3/27/1990
Description: Blindingly bright oval object approached car, passed low
overhead. Driver fled, looked back, saw object hovering over a
field
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Kokomo, IN
ID: 461
Date: 3/28/1990
Description: 11:20 p.m. A silent UFO is seen about 25 miles north of
Chongqing, China. It is about 65 feet long with orange and pale green
lights, and it flies toward the northeast at an altitude of 150 feet.
(Defense Intelligence Agency, [unclassified
report], The Black Vault, p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6862
Date: 3/30/1990
End date: 3/31/1990
Description: 11:00 p.m. The Glons (Belgium) Control Reporting Center
receives reports that three unusual lights are moving toward
Thorembais-Gembloux, Belgium, constantly changing color, in the shape of
an equilateral triangle. It requests the Wavre gendarmerie to send a
patrol car to investigate. Ten minutes later, a second formation moves
toward the first. Traffic Center Control at Semmerzake tracks one object
only on its radar, and an order to scramble two F-16 fighters from
Beauvechain Air Base is given. Throughout this time, in reports after
the event, some people claim that the phenomenon is visible from the
ground, describing the whole formation as maintaining relative positions
while moving slowly across the sky. Over the next hour, the two
scrambled F-16s attempt 9 separate interceptions. On three occasions,
they manage to obtain a radar lock for a few seconds, but these are
later shown to be radar-locks on each other. The pilots never see any of
the claimed visual sightings or the claimed maneuvers, and they never
get a lock on any objects apart from the other F-16. Investigator Wim
van Utrecht suspects that the lights in the sky that triggered these
scrambles were misperceptions of bright stars and planets. The other
contacts are all the result of a well-known atmospheric interference
called Bragg scattering, in which an aircraft’s own radars interfere
with each other. After 12:30 a.m., radar contact becomes much more
sporadic and the final confirmed lock takes place at 12:40 a.m.
Following several further unconfirmed contacts, the F-16s eventually
return to base shortly after 1:00 a.m. Members of the Wavre gendarmerie
sent to confirm the original report describe four lights as arranged in
a square formation, all making short jerky movements, before gradually
losing their luminosity and disappearing in four separate directions at
around 1:30 a.m. They also hear a low engine noise and that it seems to
have a stick coming out one end with a turbine on it, which many claim
shows it was a helicopter. (Wikipedia, “Belgian
UFO wave”; NICAP, “Three
Lights in Triangle Are Also Picked Up
on Radar”; NICAP, “Three
Lights in Triangle Are Also Picked Up on Radar”; “Remarkable
Military Encounter in Belgium,” IUR 15, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1990): 23; Joël
Mesnard, “Belgium
Haunted by Huge Triangular
Craft, Part II,” Flying Saucer Review 35, no. 4 (December 1990):
2–6; Auguste Meessen, “The Belgian Sightings,” IUR 16, no. 3 (May/June
1991): 4–8; Bob Pratt, “The Great Belgium UFO Flap,” MUFON UFO Journal,
no. 267 (July 1990); Marie-Thérèse de Brosses, “F-16
Radar Tracks UFO,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 268 (August 1990): 6–7;
Marie-Thérèse de Brosses, “An
Interview with Professor Jean-Pierre Petit,” MUFON UFO Journal, no.
273 (January 1991): 3–9; Kean, pp. 37–38;
Swords 457; Jean-Michel Abrassart, “In Defense of the
Psycho-Sociological Hypothesis: Another Reply to Auguste Meessen,”
SUNlite 3, no. 4 (July/Aug. 2011): 9– 12; Patrick Gross, “The
Belgium Flap Official Reports,” the full version of the Belgian Air
Force report by Major Lambrechts, VS3/Ctl-Met 1, February 22, 2001;
Patrick Gross, “The
Belgium Flap Official Reports,” summary report on observations 30–31
March 1990, February 22, 2001; Marler 20–23; David Clarke, “Echoes and
Angels: UFOs on Radar,” Fortean Times 403 (March 2021): 44–45)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6863
Date: 3/30/1990
Description: Gendarmes reported luminous, high speed objects. Jet
interceptors scrambled, multiple radar tracks of fast-moving
objects
Type: sighting
Type: official
Type: report or memo
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Brussels and Wavre, Belgium
ID: 462
Date: 3/31/1990
Description: Night. Lucien
Clerebaut (secretary general of the Belgian UFO group SOBEPS), film
director Patrick Ferryn, and
José Fernandez take four photos, using high-sensitivity film, of one of
the triangular objects passing directly overhead about 19 miles
southeast of Brussels, Belgium. Ferryn estimates its altitude is only
1,000 feet with a diameter six times that of the full moon. As a
control, he photographs an ordinary airplane several minutes later in
the same spot, using all the same camera settings. The spotlights on the
UFO, which seemed very bright to the observers, are barely discernible
on the photos. The triangular shape, clearly visible to the naked eye,
is also lost on the film. At the same time, the airplane lights come out
brighter than those on the UFO, appearing just the way it looked from
the ground, even though the UFO was much closer to the observers than
the airplane. Lab experiments show that this is probably due to the
effect of infrared light around the UFO. (Marie-Thérèse de Brosses, “Un
OVNI sur le Radar du F16,” Paris-Match, July 5, 1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6864
Date: early 4/1990
Description: Many observers, including a journalist with Sovetskaya
Estoniya, see UFOs hovering above power lines along the Tallinn Highway,
Estonia, on several occasions. Maj. V. Stroynetskiy and several hundred
other witnesses repeatedly observe UFOs over the Yaroslavl Highway in
Russia, many of which look like large “triangular milk cartons.” The
objects are flying at altitudes of 1,600–2,600 feet. At times, the
entire body of an object “scintillates,” while at other times it becomes
iridescent with “lights of various colors.” The objects fly at great
speeds, make sudden stops in mid-air, and suddenly break off in lateral
directions from the line of flight, “at which time they emitted rays.”
(Central Intelligence Agency, “USSR:
UFO Sightings No. 2—General Maltsev Comments,”
Foreign Broadcast Information Service PROD Group, May 24, 1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6865
Date: 4/4/1990
Description: Patrick Maréchal, a young worker at Petit-Rechain, Belgium,
takes a photo of a delta-shaped object on which three lights are visible
at each corner. Maréchal admits the photo is a hoax in an interview for
RTL on July 26, 2011. He and some friends take a sheet of Styrofoam, cut
it into a triangle, paint it black, embed a flashlight in each corner,
then hang it from a string. Maréchal shows reporters many trial photos
they had taken trying to get the perfect look. (Wikipedia, “Belgian
UFO wave”; NICAP, “Petit-Rechain,
Belgium Photo”; “Classic Belgian Photos a Fake?” IUR 34, no. 1
(September 2011): 6; Wim van Utrecht, “Battle
over Belgian UFOs,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 292 (August 1992): 20;
Wim van Utrecht, “Famous
Belgian UFO Photo a Hoax,” Caelestia; Kean, pp. 29–31;
Auguste Meessen, “The Belgian Wave and the Photos of Ramillies”; Patrick
Ferryn, “La
photo de
Petit-Rechain: Un état de la question,” Inforespace, no. 111
(December 2005): 4–21; André Marion, “Nouvelle analyse
de la diapositive de Petit-Rechain,” Inforespace, no. 111 (December
2005): 22–27; Benôit Mussche, “Le rapport
SeerSight,” Inforespace, no. 111 (December 2005): 28–41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6866
Date: 4/5/1990
Description: 8:15 p.m. A motorist driving near the shore at Gulf Breeze,
Florida, sees what looks like a jet fighter about to crash. Two military
jets approach from the north, and the original object immediately shoots
laterally southward, halting 1–2 miles away. The man gets out of his car
to watch. The object appears to be a white disc with red and green
lights spaced evenly around the side and an unlit dome on top. Slowly,
it begins to rise. He calls a friend and the sheriff’s office. Two
deputies arrive on the scene, and for the next 2 hours all three
witnesses watch a bright light continue to ascend slowly. (MUFON UFO
Journal, May 1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6867
Date: 4/10/1990
Description: A triangular UFO is seen for 10 minutes over Abakan,
Republic of Khakassia, Russia. (Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle, The
Soviet UFO Files: Paranormal Encounters behind the Iron Curtain,
Quadrillion, 1998, p. 110)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6869
Date: 4/10/1990
Description: A couple driving north on the Pensacola Bay Bridge in
Florida see an object that looks like a long isosceles triangle with a
centered red light on the bottom and pairs of white lights at the three
apexes. As they near the end of the bridge in Pensacola, the object
moves toward the west. It hovers, then moves off over the bay and out of
sight. (Dan Wright, “Current
Case Log,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 268 (August 1990): 22–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6868
Date: 4/11/1990
Description: Evening. Several residents of Gulf Breeze, Florida, watch a
red light move toward the southwest and out into the Gulf of Mexico
before winking out. Some think they can see clusters of balloons
associated with the light, but others disagree. (MUFON UFO Journal, June
1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6870
Date: 4/12/1990
End date: 4/13/1990
Description: Night. Two witnesses see a bright red light hovering above
Little Sabine Island off Pensacola Beach, Florida. It stays there for
several minutes before blinking out. It reappears the next night to the
west of Gulf Breeze. (MUFON UFO Journal, June 1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6871
Date: 4/14/1990
Description: At least seven people report a red light to the north of
Gulf Breeze, Florida. It approaches from the east at high speed and
comes to a dead stop. It hovers, moves back and forth several times,
then ascends out of sight. Other red lights appear and are seen in
various locations around Pensacola by other groups of people. Some of
these sightings are undoubtedly hoax balloons. (MUFON UFO Journal, June
1990; Dan Wright, “Current
Case Log,”
MUFON UFO Journal, no. 268 (August 1990): 21–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6872
Date: 4/22/1990
Description: Before 12:00 midnight. Two workers in a factory courtyard
in Basècles, Belgium, watch two enormous spotlights illuminate the area.
A huge trapezoid-shaped “platform” moves slowly and silently above a
smokestack, at one point covering the entire courtyard, 330 by 200 feet.
They observe six lights on the object, which is grayish. Structures on
the bottom of the platform look like “an aircraft carrier turned upside
down.” (Kean, p. 31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6873
Date: 4/26/1990
Description: Mikhail
Gorbachev is visiting the Uralmash plant in Sverdlovsk, Russia, when
he is asked for the first time whether the USSR studies UFOs. He answers
vaguely that “there are scientific organizations which study this
problem.” However, he later tells a group of workers that the “UFO
phenomenon is real and we should approach it seriously and study it.”
(Pravda, April 27, 1990; Sovetskaya Molodezh, May 4, 1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6874
Date: 5/4/1990
Description: 11:15 p.m. A retired archaeologist in Stockay, Liège,
Belgium, is about to return home after checking his greenhouse when he
hears neighborhood dogs barking. He sees, in a field about 325 feet away
from him, a pyramidal or conical illuminated object topped by a “bright
white mushroom cone” floating about 1 foot off the ground. He approaches
to about 165 feet and watches the object change color from white to
orange as its upper part rises. He calls his wife to watch the UFO too.
She sees two small antennas on top. They leave to get their son, but
when they return the object is gone. The next day, he finds four
circular holes about 3 feet in diameter with a thin layer of yellowish
powder sprayed on the grass. Some days later, the traces vanish after a
rainstorm. (Patrick Vidal and Michel Rozencwajg, “The Belgian Wave,” IUR
16, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1991): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6875
Date: 5/21/1990
Description: A joint Russian and Chinese endeavor to study UFOs is
initiated in Dalnegorsk, Primorsky Krai, Russia. An agreement is made to
share videos and photos of new sightings. (Central Intelligence Agency,
“USSR,
PRC Scientists
in Joint Study of UFO’s,” May 21, 1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6876
Date: 5/24/1990
Description: Dark, delta-shaped object with large white lights around
edge hovered. Departed at high speed
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: North Huntingdon, PA
ID: 463
Date: 5/25/1990
Description: Day. A giant reddish-orange disc some 980 feet in diameter
and with portholes around its rim is seen hovering at an altitude of
3,300 feet above Mary, Turkmenistan. Col. Anatoly Kurkchy, chief of the
Air Defense Division of the Russian 12th Army, orders three
ground-to-air missiles fired at it. The UFO makes a slight horizontal
maneuver, and three beams of light coming from its port side destroy the
missiles. Kurkchy then scrambles two jet interceptors, but at a point
about 3,200 feet from the disc, the jets are allegedly thrown to the
ground and destroyed, killing the four pilots. Kurkchy is removed from
his post and transferred to a remote location. (Good Need, pp. 356–357)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6877
Date: 6/1990
Description: Raymond
E. Fowler continues his exploration of the Betty
Andreasson Luca abduction case in The Watchers, which reveals that
Luca is often having an out-of-body experience during her abductions.
She sometimes encounters human-like entities with blonde hair, blue
eyes, and white robes who are apparently “in charge” of the other
aliens. Luca feels that the human race is being “watched” by these
beings, who tell her they foresee serious problems in the future
regarding the survivability of the human species. (Raymond E. Fowler, The
Watchers: The Secret
Design behind UFO Abduction, Bantam,
1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6878
Date: 6/5/1990
Description: Robert
Lazar is arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada, for aiding and abetting a
prostitution ring. The charge is reduced to felony pandering, to which
he pleads guilty on June 18. At sentencing on August 20, he is ordered
to do 150 hours of community service, stay away from brothels, and
undergo psychotherapy.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6879
Date: 6/10/1990
Description: Reporter Craig
Myers announces in the Pensacola (Fla.) News-Journal that a foam UFO
model, seemingly a prototype for a fake UFO, has been found by new
homeowners in the attic of the former residence of Gulf Breeze, Florida,
UFO photographer Ed Walters. Myers writes a series of articles showing
how Walters likely hoaxes some photos using a double-exposure technique.
In late June, Tom Smith Jr., 22, a former Gulf Breeze resident, comes
forward and claims that he has seen Walters fake some of the photos, the
entire Walters family is in on the hoax, and they had tried to enlist
his help unsuccessfully. Investigators apply a voice stress analysis
(VSA) test to Smith’s taped testimony, which he passes. A controlled VSA
test has also been successfully applied to testimony by Ed Walters, in
which he denies perpetrating a hoax. (Craig Myers, “Gulf
Breeze UFO
Model Found,” Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal, June 10, 1990, pp. 1,
8; Craig Myers, “I
Saw UFO Photos Faked, Witness
Says,” Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal, June 17, 1990, pp. 1, 4; UFO
Newsclipping Service, no.
252 (July 1990): 1–6; Geoff Price, “Lie Detection in UFO Controversies,”
IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 31; Kevin D. Randle, “The Truth about
Polygraphs,” IUR 22, no. 4 (Winter 1997–1998): 29–30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6880
Date: summer 1990
Description: The crew of a Russia ship harbored in the Anadyr’ River off
Ust-Belaya, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, sees a perfectly circular
opening in the cumulus clouds above the village. Groups of objects enter
the circle and fly away. Watch officer Aleksandr Polorotov begins taking
photos of them until his camera malfunctions. When the film is
developed, a luminous cigar-shaped object can be seen on some of the
photos, but the open circle of sky is not on any of them. Some crew
members experience severe headaches after the episode. (Stonehill and
Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020, pp. 109–110)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6881
Date: 7/6/1990
Description: Day. Anna Dmitrievna Yerygina is herding goats on a
lonesome road near Zvarykino, Belgorod Oblast, Russia, when a woman
appears, seemingly out of thin air. Dressed in a light-gray,
loose-fitting outfit with a hood, she seems somewhat tall and lean. The
woman greets her and asks whether goats’ milk is tasty. Yerygina says it
is, but she prefers cows’ milk. The woman then abruptly invites her on a
brief excursion that will last no longer than three hours, touching her
on the shoulder and saying, “Do not be afraid.” She takes Yerygina to a
large oval craft in a nearby field, A man awaits them and helps them
aboard. Yerygina sits in the dimly lit interior, then suddenly finds
herself in another room with others dressed in the same gray coveralls.
She feels as if she has been transported to another world. The entities
radiate spiritual warmth and hospitality. One of them offers her some
tasty bread and a strange liquid. After she finishes the meal, her
memory goes blank and she finds herself back in the field with her
goats, the strange woman by her side. The woman says goodbye with a
smile, promising to meet her again. (Priyma Alexey, XX
vek. Hronika Neobyasnimogo: Fenomen za fenomenom, AST Olympus, 2000;
Joshua Cutchin, “The Great Alien Bake-Off,” Fortean Times 332 (November
2015): 42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6882
Date: 7/9/1990
Description: 4:00 a.m. A witness is traveling toward Germany and makes a
stop east of Brzózka near the bridge over the Bóbr River southwest of
Krosno, Poland. He goes for a short walk in the woods when he hears an
odd sound and sees a landed object like an overturned bowl. He estimates
it is nearly 17 feet across and 80 feet tall, and has a nauseating odor
like burned chocolate. About 15 entities resembling mummies are in front
of the UFO, poking plants with a prod and hopping about like kangaroos.
They are about 4.5 feet tall and wear deep-green uniforms and headgear
like welding masks. Their fingers resemble claws. At some point the
witness coughs and loses consciousness, waking up an hour later. (Poland
82; “Bliskie
spotkanie w Brzózce w 1990 roku,” UFO-Relacje.pl, February 12,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6883
Date: 7/11/1990
Description: Belgian Air Force Col. Wilfred De Brouwer gives a public
talk on UFOs at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. He states that
the March 30–31 sightings were highly unusual, witnessed by gendarmes
and others, and necessitated the scrambling of two F-16 fighters. He
says the target was detected on radar and conformed to ground visual
observations. The objects remain unidentified. (Swords 457)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6884
Date: 7/19/1990
Description: Shortly after 12:00 midnight. The base perimeter at Fort
Allen Training Center in Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico, is suddenly
illuminated by a powerful white light. An officer orders that all
personnel must remain in the barracks or other base facilities and not
come out under any circumstances. From a window, the officer can see a
brightly lit, circular, metallic object over the base. It has windows
around a central rim, with yellowish-white lights revolving in them. On
the underside there is a round, turbine-like protrusion with many
colored lights around it. A bright beam of pinkish-white light is coming
from the underside, as if searching for something—this is the light
illuminating the perimeter. Two F/A-18 Hornets (probably scrambled from
Roosevelt Roads Naval Station) fly at high speed over the base toward
the UFO, which departs at high speed to the west with the jets in
pursuit. The officer later tells UFO investigators that Fort Allen
personnel have been briefed on UFOs with training films that show
crashed UFOs, and it is just the most recent of several briefings since
the 1988 Cabo Rojo incident. (Good Need, pp. 380–381)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6885
Date: 7/26/1990
Description: 10:35 p.m. A married couple is driving south through
Grâce-Hollogne, Belgium, when they see a triangular object hovering in
the sky. It seems to measure about 39 feet on each side. A belt of white
light like a large neon tube runs along two sides. The witnesses see
three spotlights beaming down, apparently detached from the object but
connected to each other by a support “bracket.” Two flashing lights, one
red and one green, are on the underside. The man flashes his car lights
twice, and two white lights at the base of the triangle rotate, tilt
toward the car, and flash on and off three times. Keeping these lights
pointed at the moving car, the object moves with its base forward and
positions itself 330 feet away at a height of 200–300 feet, It makes a
banking turn and paces the car, moving with the terrain and maintaining
a constant height above the sloping ground at the same speed as the car
(around 40 mph). When they approach the bridge at Seraing, the object
crosses the Meuse River right next to them, ascending silently and
moving back toward Grâce-Hollogne. (Kean, pp. 32–34)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6886
Date: 8/2/1990
End date: 1/17/1991
Description: Operation Desert Shield
Type: war
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Iraq
Date: early 8/1990
Description: Many witnesses in Rostock, Greifswald, and the islands of
Rügen and Usedom, Germany, see groups of luminous spheres that
accelerate rapidly and abruptly. One witness, Gerald Schwab, watches the
lights stand still for 3 minutes before they accelerate rapidly forward.
(Illobrand von Ludwiger, “The
‘Greifswald Lights,’” MUFON Central European Section, May
2000)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6887
Date: 8/4/1990
Description: Day. Two hikers near the A9 near Calvine, Perthshire,
Scotland, see a diamond-shaped object that appears to be shadowed by an
RAF Harrier jet. The object is visible for about 10 minutes. One of the
hikers takes color photographs of the incident. Desk officers from DI55
suspect the image might show a US Air Force black project aircraft. The
prints are sent to the Glasgow Daily Record newspaper, which forwards
them to the Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre at RAF Brampton
[now closed] for scrutiny. The prints subsequently disappear and the MoD
claims there is no surviving record of the conclusions reached about the
investigation. However, in October 2020 the Ministry of Defence blocks
release of the photos from their scheduled declassification on January
1, 2021, until 2072 without any explanation. Former MoD official Nick
Pope, one of the few people to see the photos and the analysis, says
the photos are authentic and show a material device of unknown origin
that has no wings, no fuselage, no tail, no visible engine, and bears no
inscription. Compared to elements in the landscape, the object appears
to be about 98 feet in diameter. The British government continues to
deny that its US ally has ever been allowed to operate experimental
aircraft in UK airspace, but David
Clarke discovers that a dossier of evidence was shared with US
intelligence after the British expressed “concern about a possible
stealthy platform flying in UK airspace.” A 1992 letter from the British
Defence Staff in Washington, D.C., reveals that one of the Calvine
photos was brought to the US by British Intelligence officials to be
examined by their US counterparts. (UFOFiles2, pp. 148–149;
Paul Sims, “Alien
Mystery: Government Bans Release of Secret
UFO Dossier about Calvine for 50 Years,” Scottish Sun, October 10,
2020; Nick Pope, “‘Dark
Forces’: I’ve
Seen Top Secret Photos of Calvine UFO Sighting—It Left Me
Shell-Shocked,” Scottish Sun, October 10, 2020; David Ramasseul, “Ovni
de Calvine: L’interminable secret,” Paris Match, October 13, 2020;
David Clarke, “The Jox Files: Was a US ‘Special Project’ Captured on
Film in Scotland?” Fortean Times 409 (September 2021): 52–53; Simon
Houston, “What
Was the Calvine UFO Sighting and Are the Photos Real?” Scottish Sun,
May 2, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6888
Date: 8/24/1990
Description: 8:35 p.m. Many witnesses in northern Germany see a
formation of seven luminous objects over the Baltic Sea. They hover for
nearly 30 minutes near Peenemünde (on Usedom) and the Soviet-built
nuclear power plant at Lubmin [shut down soon afterward]. Five people,
including nuclear physicist Ludmilla Ivanova, videotape the event from
Greifswald, enabling researchers to triangulate the lights and
reconstruct their positions. Ufologist Illobrand
von Ludwiger’s group MUFON-Central European Section obtains 6 videos
and 11 photos from different observers and interviews more than a dozen
witnesses. They conclude that two groups of luminous spheres hovered
nearly motionless for about 30 minutes over the sea. The brighter and
closer group forms a circle of 6 spheres. The second group is in the
shape of a “Y,” with some spheres performing individual movements. Some
of them move back and forth between the two groups. They are able to
move extremely fast, estimated by one witness as “supersonic velocity,”
then come to an abrupt stop when reaching the formation. (Jacques
Vallée, “Estimates
of Power Optical Output in Six Cases of Unexplained Aerial Objects with
Defined Luminosity Characteristics,”
Journal of Scientific Exploration 12, no. 3 (1998): 356–357; Illobrand
von Ludwiger, “The ‘Greifswald
Lights,’” MUFON Central European Section, May 2000)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6889
Date: 9/1990
Description: US journalist Tim
Weiner publishes Blank Check: The Pentagon’s Black Budget, based on
his articles on black-budget spending at the Pentagon and CIA for the
Philadelphia Inquirer. Weiner shows that the funding is classified above
top secret and that few, if any, federal oversight investigators have
the security clearances to audit this budget. He estimates its size as
at least $35 billion (although by 2012 is has increased to $52.8
billion, according to information revealed by Edward
Snowden), three times the estimated total of what it was in 1981.
(Tim Weiner, Blank
Check: The Pentagon’s Black Budget, Warner, 1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6891
Date: 9/1990
Description: New York Times journalist Howard
Blum publishes Out There: The Government’s Secret Quest for
Extraterrestrials, describing his investigation—after a tip given him by
a National Security Agency official—of a mysterious agency called the
UFO Working Group, a top secret, interagency body headed by “Col. Harold
E. Phillips” of the Defense Intelligence Agency (actually a pseudonym
for Col. John
B. Alexander). Founded in 1987, according to Blum, after a flurry of
suppressed UFO sightings, including the tracking on radar of a UFO by
the US Space Command Space Surveillance Center, the UFO Working Group,
calling on CIA, FBI, and other resources, has come up with nothing
solid. It has, however, dug into many of the major events of ufology.
Blum also claims that NORAD deep-space radars (the Defense Satellite
Program) have tracked about 500 UFOs (fastwalkers) entering Earth’s
atmosphere every year. (Howard Blum, Out
There: The Government’s Secret Quest for
Extraterrestrials, Simon
& Schuster, 1990; Mark Rodeghier, “In the Black,” IUR 15, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1990): 9–11, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6890
Date: 9/2/1990
Description: Early morning. Residents of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, see a
large illuminated ball above the Arctic Ocean. It is at a high altitude,
gives off no electronic signals, and moves slowly toward the Kola
Peninsula. Soviet Air Defense thinks it resembles a large airship.
Finally, the order is given to destroy it, and it turns out to be an
enormous weather balloon. (Central Intelligence Agency, “Airship-Like
UFO Sighted over Murmansk,” September 4, 1990)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6892
Date: 9/13/1990
Description: Shortly after 12:00 midnight. A Soviet radar unit in
Samara, Russia, tracks an approaching object that apparently causes the
equipment to malfunction and go blank. Going outside, the operators see
a flying black triangle giving off three bright rays pass directly
overhead at no more then 30 feet. It lands nearby and gives off more
bursts of energy for 90 minutes. Cpl. S. Dudnik sees it knock out a
radar aerial with a light beam. Two sentries, A. Blazhis and A.
Varenitsa, allegedly disappear and reappear with no memory of the event
and without realizing they have been missing. The ground where they were
standing guard seems to be blasted by an explosion. Their wrist watches
are running nearly 2 hours slow. Capt. D. Rudzit tells a military
reporter from Za Rodinu who is investigating the incident that nothing
has happened. In November, Deputy Minister of Defense Gen. Ivan Tretiak
claims the incident was all a newspaper hoax. (Paul Stonehill and Philip
Mantle, The Soviet UFO Files: Paranormal Encounters behind the Iron
Curtain, Quadrillion, 1998, p. 50; Good Need, pp. 358–360, 364)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6893
Date: 9/19/1990
Description: The KNM
Stavanger has a sonar contact with an unknown “U-boat” in the
Norwegian Sea off Ona lighthouse, Husøya, Norway. The ship sends
international warning signals but gets no response, so it drops hand
grenades into the water. At 5:30 p.m., it shoots off three Terne
rockets. The sonar contact ends, and the next day the search is called
off. (Ole Jonny Brænne, “Observations of Unidentified Submarine Objects
in Norway,” IUR 20, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1995): 13, 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6894
Date: 9/27/1990
Description: 10:50 p.m. Cosmonauts Gennady
Manakov and Gennadi
Strekalov are aboard the Mir space
station. When Strekalov is looking down at Newfoundland through a clear
atmosphere, he sees a glittering, iridescent, perfect sphere. He calls
Manakov and together they study the object. Strekalov says it “shone
like the balls that hang on trees at Christmas, greenish in color and
all shimmering.” It appears to be 12–18 miles above the Earth. They
watch it for 10 seconds when it disappears abruptly. (Central
Intelligence Agency, “Take
1 of 3—Foreign Press
Note—FB PN 91-014—USSR,” January 11, 1991; Good Need, p. 360;
2Pinotti 119–122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6895
Date: 10/1/1990
Description: William Scott writes an article in Aviation Week on 45
sightings of strange aircraft over the southwestern part of the United
States. Some of the objects move as slowly as 20 mph, then accelerate to
supersonic speed. He concludes that there are at least two types of
vehicles beyond the F-117A and B-2. One is a “triangular-shaped, quiet
aircraft seen with a flight of F-117A stealth fighters several times
since the summer of 1989.” Another is a “high-speed aircraft
characterized by a very deep rumbling roar.” A third is a high-altitude,
high-speed aircraft, typically observed as a bright, pulsating light,
moving much faster than other aircraft, giving no engine noise or sonic
boom. He also writes about some “exotic” propulsion systems used in new
aircraft and comes very close to stating that these might be antigravity
devices. (William Scott, “Multiple
Sightings of Secret Aircraft Hint at New Propulsion,
Airframe Designs,” Aviation Week and Space Technology, October 1,
1990, pp. 22–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6896
Date: 10/8/1990
Description: 11:00 a.m. Near Grozny, Chechnya, Russia, an unidentified
target appears on ground radar screens. Commander S. Prokoshin orders an
interceptor jet scrambled and pilot Maj. P. Riabishev takes off in
pursuit. Something makes him turn his head and he sees to his right rear
two large, cigar-shaped objects. The length of the first is about 6,500
feet and the second about 1,300 feet. They are too distant to make out
details. When he starts closing on them, both disappear from his field
of vision, although ground radar continues to track them. (Central
Intelligence Agency, “Take
1 of 3—Foreign Press Note—FB PN 91-014—USSR,” January 11, 1991; Good
Need, pp. 360–361)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6897
Date: 10/10/1990
Description: Formations of white objects with red and green body lights
alternately hovered and darted around. Unidentified objects also tracked
on radar
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Skibo, MN
ID: 464
Date: 10/14/1990
Description: 7:00 p.m. Frau Wengere and her husband are driving from
Lostorf to Zürich, Switzerland, when she sees two motionless, bright
white lights ahead of them to the left over a range of mountains. Her
husband can’t stop because there is no place to pull over. The lights of
an approaching aircraft are much smaller and paler. They lose sight of
the lights while driving through a village, but they see them again a
little higher in the sky to the right of the road. A third light is now
visible a bit to the left of the others and they watch it moving closer
to the other two lights, which move from a 45° angle to horizontal,
keeping the same space between them. The witnesses see two chains of red
and green lights joining the two. They drive on and lose sight of the
lights. (Auguste Meessen, “The Belgian Sightings,” IUR 16, no. 3
(May/June 1991): 11, 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6898
Date: late 1990
Description: A US Army captain is stationed in the Iraqi desert with his
unit during Operation Desert Shield. He is informed by a superior
officer that his unit is not to fire on any objects that might appear
within a specific, rather restricted, area of the sky. A few nights
later, he and his men see several bright objects maneuvering in an
extraordinary fashion. “We could not have shot them down if we had
tried,” he said. He does not know what they are, although UFOs are
primary suspects. (Dolan II 555)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6902
Date: 10/21/1990
Description: 10:05 p.m. Mme. Henquinet and her 15-year-old son Stephane
are at the intersection of NB47 and N30 near Rachamps, Belgium, when two
lights suddenly drop toward them. But the lights disappear, and as they
turn south on the N30, another light appears behind a hedge bordering
the right-hand side of the road, about a dozen yards from the car. The
light paces the car at the same speed, slowing down when she does. When
they reach the end of the hedge, Mme. Henquinet brakes, and Stephane
runs out of the car to look. They see a dark mass, more than 50 feet
across, rise up rapidly and silently into the sky. On the lower part of
the object is a circle of 7–8 lights. (Patrick Vidal and Michel
Rozencwajg, “The Belgian Wave,” IUR 16, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1991): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6899
Date: 10/23/1990
Description: 9:25 p.m. Four witnesses, ages 15–17, see an unusual object
with very bright lights in Pepinster, Belgium. The have the impression
that the object is taking off at a low altitude about 1,640 feet away.
The object moves silently to the northeast, displaying on its lower part
three bright white lights in the form of a triangle. At the center of
the triangle is a steady red light. The object is shaped like a pyramid
with the apex pointing forward. The sighting lasts for about 30 seconds.
(Patrick Vidal and Michel Rozencwajg, “The Belgian Wave,” IUR 16, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1991): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6901
Date: 10/23/1990
Description: 5:30 a.m. A young woman in Athus, Belgium, wakes up, looks
out the window, and sees a light 1,300 feet away on or just above a
nearby hill. It consists of two bright headlights directed at her. A
smaller blue light is between the two white ones. About 10 minutes
later, the lights rise together and move in toward her. The ground below
lights up as they pass. A few moments later, the object passes silently
over her house. She notices a small red light on its underside. The
object then veers left in the direction of Luxembourg and disappears in
the distance. (Patrick Vidal and Michel Rozencwajg, “The Belgian Wave,”
IUR 16, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1991): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6900
Date: 11/3/1990
Description: The Center for UFO Studies and the Santa Barbara Centre for
Humanistic Studies cosponsor a conference on “The UFO Phenomenon in the
1990s” at the Lobero Theater, Santa Barbara, California. (“The UFO
Phenomenon in the 1990s,” IUR 15, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1990): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6903
Date: 11/5/1990
Description: Around 6:00 p.m. The pilot and copilot of a British Airways
flight from Rome to Gatwick Airport notice a large, silver-shaped object
over the North Sea. They bring two crew members into the cockpit to
observe it with them. Ground radar sees nothing unusual. (Nick Redfern,
A Covert Agenda: UFO Secrecy Exposed, Simon & Schuster, 1997,
p. 169; Good Need, pp. 382–383)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6904
Date: 11/5/1990
Description: 7:00 p.m. French pilot Jean-Gabriel Greslé is standing
outside a gym in Gretz-Armainvilliers, Seine-et- Marne, France, with six
of his martial arts students when a massive UFO comes into view. His
first impression is of a huge crane with many lights. It is about 2,600
feet away at an altitude of 985 feet, moving downward. Another witness
sees it level off and turn. It is projecting two very long, divergent
beams of solid light that do not quite touch the ground. The object
itself is at least 1,000 feet long and 200–250 feet thick with
triangular substructures and many lights. Its rear section is
trapezoidal. When it flies above them at no more than 100 mph, t somehow
tunes out all surrounding noise as if carrying a “zone of silence.” As
Greslé moves around a tree to view it better, it dims and moves away,
disappearing into a cloud. (Good Need, p. 382)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6906
Date: 11/5/1990
Description: 7:00 p.m. Two different explosions are heard in the area
around RAF Rhendahlen in Mönchengladbach West, North Rhein–Westphalia,
Germany. Two RAF Phantom jets are performing practice intercepts under
strict radar control. After the second explosion at 10:00 p.m., one of
the crews sees UFOs heading north in “finger” formation. (Paul
Whitehead, “Special
Report to FSR (May 1991),” Flying Saucer Review 36, no. 2 (Summer
1991): 10; Good Need, pp. 383–384)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6907
Date: 11/5/1990
Description: Night. Witnesses report a large, cigar-shaped object, some
accompanied by spheres, over many localities in southern Poland.
Hundreds of people in Opole see a group of 15–20 spheres emitting bright
trails. (Poland 73– 74)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6908
Date: 11/5/1990
Description: 6:00 p.m. Two RAF Tornados over the North Sea encounter two
large round objects, each with five blue lights and several white lights
around the rim. As the jets close to investigate, one of the UFOs heads
for one of the jets, which is forced to take evasive action. The two
objects then head north and disappear. Nothing shows up on the jets’
radar. Commercial aircraft also report odd lights over the North Sea.
Other high-speed contacts take place along the border of Germany and
southern Belgium. (Paul Whitehead, “Special
Report to FSR (May 1991),”
Flying Saucer Review 36, no. 2 (Summer 1991): 10; Good Need, pp. 383–384;
Nick Pope, Open Skies, Closed Minds, Simon & Schuster, 1996, p. 177;
UFOFiles2, pp. 140–142)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6905
Date: 11/7/1990
Description: 7:15 p.m. An American woman tourist is swimming in the
rooftop pool of the International Hilton Bonaventure Hotel in downtown
Montreal, Quebec, when she sees a yellowish, oval object hovering
directly overhead. Other hotel guests come to view it, as well as the
pool lifeguard, who describes it as “a lighted object with six lights on
the perimeter of a large circle with a ray of light emitted from each
one.” Municipal police and the RCMP are called and they also view the
UFO. Around 9:00 p.m., Marcel Laroche, a journalist from La Presse,
takes some photos. The object disappears around 10:10 p.m. due to
increasing cloud cover. Other people around the city and at the airport
also report seeing unusual lights. (Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman,
The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 172–174; Wim van
Utrecht, “Large
Stationary Object over Montreal,”
Caelestia, September 28, 2007; “OVNI
du Hilton-Bonaventure (17 Nov 1990),” Réseau OVNI Alerte / UFO-Alert
Network Facebook page, November 7, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6909
Date: 11/9/1990
Description: Soviet Deputy Minister of Defense Ivan
Tretyak speaks with a writer from Literaturnaya Gazeta and confirms
that fighter-interceptors have encountered UFOs in Russian air space.
However, most are explainable as natural phenomena, rocket launches, or
satellites. He admits that some pilots report UFOs apparently of
artificial origin, but their real nature remains unknown. (Central
Intelligence Agency, “Take
1 of 2—Foreign Press Note— FB
PN 91-003—USSR,” January 5, 1991)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6910
Date: 11/22/1990
Description: 5:28 a.m. Mme. Bouffioux is lying awake in bed at her home
in Fleurus, Belgium, when she senses an intense light. She looks out the
window, which is covered in vapor, and sees the light about 80 feet away
behind the wall bordering her neighbor’s garden and in an abandoned
field. After a while, the light turns off, and she sees bluish flashes
erupting from a spot to the right of where the object was last seen.
(Patrick Vidal and Michel Rozencwajg, “The Belgian Wave,” IUR 16, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1991): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6911
Date: 12/9/1990
Description: 9:30 p.m. Mme. Cortvriendt and her husband are at the
Waterloo exit of the Brussels Ring Road near Belle-Vue, Belgium, when
they see a luminous triangle off to the right at an altitude of 160
feet. On its circumference are a multitude of white lights that are
“bright as diamonds.” Stretching from the center of the object are four
brass-colored arms in the shape of a cross. They lose sight of it as it
travels away from them to the northeast. (Patrick Vidal and Michel
Rozencwajg, “The Belgian Wave,” IUR 16, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1991): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6912
Date: 1991
Description: Milton
William Cooper publishes Behold a Pale Horse, an elaborate
collection of conspiracy theories and a manifesto of the militia
movement. According to sociologist Paul
Gilroy, Cooper claims to explain the “Kennedy assassination, the
doings of the secret world government, the coming ice age, and a variety
of other covert activities associated with the Illuminati’s declaration
of war upon the people of America.” Political scientist Michael
Barkun characterizes it as “among the most complex superconspiracy
theories” and one of the most influential due to its popularity in
militia circles as well as mainstream bookstores. Historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke describes
the book as a “chaotic farrago of conspiracy myths interspersed with
reprints of executive laws, official papers, reports, and other
extraneous materials designed to show the looming prospect of a world
government imposed on the American people against their wishes and in
flagrant contempt of the Constitution.” (Milton William Cooper, Behold
a Pale Horse, Light Technology, 1991; Wikipedia, “Milton William
Cooper”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6913
Date: 1991
Description: Mark
Rodeghier, Jeff
Goodpaster, and Sandra Blatterbauer conduct a study on the psychosocial
characteristics of 27 abductees for the Center for UFO Studies in
Chicago, Illinois. They conclude from the data that the subjects cannot
be classified as fantasy-prone personalities or as especially
hypnotically responsive. However, a cluster analysis of MMPI scales
reveals two types of abductees, one with higher fantasy-prone scores,
more loneliness as adults, lower levels of happiness, more problems
sleeping, and a greater incidence of sexual abuse as children. (Mark
Rodeghier, Jeff Goodpaster, and Sandra Blatterbauer, “Psychosocial
Characteristics of Abductees: Results from the CUFOS Abduction Project,”
JUFOS 3 (1991): 59–90)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6914
Date: 1991
Description: Psychic Sean
David Morton begins going to Area 51 in Nevada. He and a friend tape
a glowing, disc-shaped object that approaches within a few hundred
yards. Several times it shoots up then descends with a falling-leaf
motion. They return with burned faces and mild radiation poisoning.
Morton later shoots more video showing glowing objects with
extraordinary acceleration and maneuverability. Area 51 insiders
allegedly contact him, including someone who claims he transported large
disc-like and bell-shaped objects that he concludes are alien. He speaks
of numerous underground levels, alien bodies in liquid tanks, and even
several humanoid aliens from the Pleiades. Later Morton leads tours
around Area 51 and suggests that the aliens there are from “Krondac,” a
planet 800 light-years away. Morton is the subject of an article by the
website UFO Watchdog, “The Shameless Psychic and His Prophecy of Lies.”
which throws doubt on many of his claims. Morton sues the site for libel
but the case is dismissed. In 2010, Morton and his wife are charged with
securities fraud by the SEC. In February 2013, Morton is ordered by a
judge to pay $11.5 million to the SEC within 14 days. They are arrested
in 2016 and begin serving federal sentences in 2017. (Wikipedia, “Sean
David Morton”; Carole Masciola, “Mysterious Earthlings
Scour the Desert for Space Alien Tourists,” Seattle Times, May 2,
1993; Royce Myers III, “The Shameless
Psychic and His Prophecy of Lies,” February 2001)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6915
Date: 1991
Description: The Argentine Ministry of Defense creates a small office
devoted to the study of UFO sightings within the Instituto de
Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de las Fuerzas Armadas, a federal
agency in charge of scientific research and development. It lasts until
1997. (Milton W. Hourcade, “Argentina:
UFO Declassification,”
UAPSG–GEFAI, July 29, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6916
Date: 1991
Description: Visión Ovni, a national UFO research organization, is
launched in Victoria, Entre Rios, Argentina, by Silvia Pérez Simondini.
(Wikipedia, “Visión
Ovni”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6917
Date: 1991
Description: The Soviet Union launches the Thread III Project, a
wide-ranging scientific and technical analysis of unusual space
phenomena conducted by more than 15 separate military units, scientific
institutes, and the Ministry of Defense. The organization driving it is
an ambiguously named group called Soveit Military Unit 73790.
(Skinwalkers 115–117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6918
Date: 1/1991
Description: The SOS-OVNI group (formerly Association d’Étude sur les
Soucoupes Volantes) begins publishing Phénomèna, edited by Perry
Petrakis, in Aix-en-Provence, France. It continues through 2001. (Phénomèna 1,
no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1991))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6919
Date: 1/6/1991
Description: 6:00 p.m. Four family members driving along the E411
motorway near Spontin, Belgium, watch a gigantic, plate-shaped UFO with
many lights and a cupola pass overhead heading northwest. At 6:30 p.m.,
a family driving south on the A4 in Beez, Belgium, see three lights
attached to an object hovering above a quarry. An army veteran named
Hardy estimates the UFO to be about 260 feet long and 30–50 feet high,
with the forward three lights in the form of a rectangle and a red light
on the lower rear end. The bottom part is bulged out and dark gray in
color. On the side, 15 portholes are lit up in white light. After
parking their car on the side of the road, the witnesses watch the
object for another minute or so. As soon as Hardy turns on his
headlights, the object moves away to the northeast. (Patrick Vidal and
Michel Rozencwajg, “The Belgian Wave,” IUR 16, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1991):
8, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6920
Date: 1/13/1991
Description: U.S. Air flight crew saw a rectangular, light-reflective
object that flew into clouds
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
ID: 465
Date: 2/1991
Description: 1:00 a.m. A security camera at Birchwood Shopping Mall four
miles east of Warrington, Cheshire, England, picks up a white light,
seemingly tennis-ball sized, moving around an open walkway. It appears
to inspect a garbage bin, climbs a wall, and at one point approaches the
camera. The security guard zooms the camera in on it, revealing a white,
doughnut shape. It flies away, hovering above a tree to the south, and
vanishes. About 8 minutes has elapsed. (Jenny Randles, “UFOs in Focus,”
IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993): 15–16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6921
Date: 2/6/1991 (approximate)
Description: Evening. A woman is walking with two friends near the Etang
de l’Ursine in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine, France, when they see a large
and brilliant star in the west. At nightfall, they return to their
homes. One, named Sylvia, who lives on the Rue Alexis Maneyrol, goes
back to look for the star and notices now that it is moving in a
triangular motion. While walking back through the woods, she is struck
by a beam. Suddenly, she is enveloped by a beam of light that seems to
be trying to trap her, but she escapes back to her house. She goes to
sleep but is surprised by an intruder in her house, a small figure in a
watery-green cosmonaut suit who points to a screen showing the interior
of a spaceship. The screen and figure dissolve. The next day, near a bus
stop, she sees a strange figure wearing a cape who scowls at her
terrifyingly. (Joël Mesnard, “A Failed Abduction at Chaville?” IUR 32,
no. 3 (July 2009): 21–22, 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6922
Date: 2/18/1991
Description: Richard
Haines meets with members of the Expert Group on Anomalous Phenomena
of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow to discuss UFO events in the
US and USSR. (Richard F. Haines, “UFO Activities in the Soviet Union,”
IUR 16, no 2 (Mar./Apr. 1991): 13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6923
Date: 2/22/1991
Description: 12:45 a.m. Three youths driving home from a school reunion
at Maids Moreton, Buckingham, England, see a white, cigar-shaped object
glowing with numerous lights. It comes closer with an unsteady, jerky
motion. They park the car in a field to watch the object, which
approaches to within 100 feet. As they try to leave, their engine and
headlights fail to respond. A brilliant beam of light envelops the car
and they hear a faint humming sound. The light beam and sound disappear
suddenly, along with the UFO, and they restart the car and drive away.
(Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part 1,”
IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6924
Date: 2/28/1991
Description: Operation Desert Storm
Type: war
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Iraq
Date: 3/6/1991
Description: (Maine to West Virginia). 2:50 to 3:00 A.M. Fireball
meteor, green and red sparks, moving east or north.
Type: sighting
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Northeastern United States
ID: 466
Date: 3/6/1991
Description: 7:58 a.m. A glowing turquoise, cigar-shaped object on an
easterly course crosses the path of Air Charter Flight 866 near
Kingston, Ontario, stops ahead of the airliner, then proceeds to the
north. (UFOEv II, 127)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6925
Date: 3/6/1991
Description: 7:58 A.M. Glowing bluegreen cigar-shaped object crossed
path of airliner
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada
ID: 467
Date: 3/12/1991
Description: On two occasions an object is seen over the Tihange Nuclear
Power Station, Belgium. One witness reports a UFO directly above the red
lights on one of the plant’s huge chimneys, where it hovers about 1
minute, beaming one of its lights on the outside structure while another
light points directly down one of the chimneys. After its inspection, it
flies straight through the enormous white plume of steam before
disappearing in the dark. (Kean, p. 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6926
Date: 3/15/1991
Description: Night. An electronic engineer in Auderghem, Belgium, wakes
up and hears a barely audible, high-frequency, whistling tone. He looks
outside and sees a large rectangular object at a low altitude with
irregular structures on the bottom. He walks upstairs to an upper-level
terrace and watches the dark-gray object drift overhead slowly without
lights. The whistling noise has stopped. (Kean, pp. 31–32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6927
Date: 3/18/1991
Description: Captain Zho, the pilot of a regional airliner over Kunshan,
Jiangsu, China, sees a ring-shaped object, two rectangular objects
moving back and forth, and a red blaze of light coming from the ring.
(UFOEv II, 127)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6928
Date: 3/31/1991
Description: For two nights in a row a couple in Palmarejo, Puerto Rico,
hears their two Dobermans howling as if frightened, apparently upset by
a peculiar sound like a phonograph record played at the wrong speed. It
seems to move around the house, but the sound source cannot be located.
Suddenly one of the dogs shrieks, and the husband runs outside to find
two strange beings on his patio. They are 3–4 feet tall, gray, with big
heads, big black eyes, and a slit for a mouth. The beings flee. The
female Doberman is unharmed, but the male is found killed, with empty
eye sockets and internal organs missing. (Clark III 139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6929
Date: 4/11/1991
Description: 7:00–9:00 p.m. A bright, oval-shaped object that changes
color from blue to red flies over the Complexo Penitenciário da Papuda,
a federal prison in São Sebastião in the Federal District of Brasilia,
Brazil. The object is seen by dozens of residents of the Lago Sul area
and by more than 20 police officers on duty that night. The first to see
the UFO is Lt. Damasceno of the Independent Company of the Military
Police. He calls colleagues and is greeted with jokes. But he persuades
them to go outside and see the UFO. He says the object is blue when
vertical but turns red when it changes position. It appears to be no
more than 1,650 feet above the prison. It flies up and down and
horizontally without leaving a trace, and the intensity of its lights
and colors vary. Carloads of people descend upon Papuda and dozens of
people observe the UFO. After 100 minutes, a strange haze begins to
engage the UFO, which disappears about 20 minutes later. Damasceno
informs Sgt. Petronius, a CINDACTA flight controller, that he is seeing
a “strong blue light that changed to red in the direction of three hours
to the right.” Petronius is following the object on radar; it seems to
be rectangular and moving at about 435 mph. CINDACTA confirms that the
object has been tracked over much of the Lago Sul area and close to the
Brasilia airport. Later, it identifies the object as a meteorological
balloon, deemed an inadequate explanation by witnesses. (Clark III 874–
875; Brazil 336–338)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6930
Date: 4/19/1991 (approximate)
Description: Afternoon. Two militiamen on patrol in Almaty, Kazakhstan,
notice a flare at the top of Kok Tobe Mountain. They watch flames go up
and down and then see an array of red light beams. They drive to within
650 feet of a hovering UFO. At that point, a few rays sweep across the
car and it stops dead. The object then dims its lights and disappears.
The men return to the police station but cannot recall how they did so.
(Central Intelligence Agency, “Alma-Ata
Patrolmen Report UFO Sighting,” from Tass, April 19, 1991)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6931
Date: 4/21/1991
Description: 8:00 p.m. Captain Achille Zaghetti and his copilot are
flying a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 Alitalia airliner with 57 passengers.
They are over the English Channel just off the coast of Romney, Kent,
England, and preparing to land at Heathrow Airport, London, when they
see a round object or missile, about 10 feet long, approaching from
their left. It is less than 100 feet away. The control tower confirms a
radar target, which is now behind them. The British Army denies firing
any missiles. The British Civil Aviation Authority concludes that
“extensive enquiries have failed to provide any indication of what the
sighting may have been.” Nick
Redfern notes that the description of the UFO is consistent with a
pilotless drone of the type used for defense practice. (Clas Svahn and
Anders Liljegren, “Close Encounters with Unknown Missiles,” IUR 19, no.
4 (July/Aug. 1994): 13–14; Nick Redfern, A Covert Agenda: UFO Secrecy
Exposed, Simon & Schuster, 1997, pp. 170–172; Nick Pope, Open Skies,
Closed Minds, Simon & Schuster, 1996, p. 196;
“Britain
Releases UFO Files, Dispels Some Mysteries,”
KPIC, Roseburg, Oregon, October 19, 2008; UFOFiles2, pp. 135–137;
2Pinotti 113–116)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6932
Date: 4/21/1991
Description: Alitalia Airlines plane on final approach saw round object
cross its path, confirmed by radar
Type: sighting
Type: landing
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Heathrow Airport, London, UK
ID: 468
Date: 4/21/1991
Description: Lyrid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 469
Date: 4/26/1991
Description: A different security camera at Birchwood Shopping Mall near
Warrington, Cheshire, England, records a similar object to the one
detected in February in a location several hundred yards away. The
camera records it for 20 minutes as it moves across the ground, passes
by a road sign, climbs onto the roof of the mall, and vanishes in the
sky above the M6 motorway. The camera operator lets the object enter the
camera’s infrared spot beam, then switches the beam off; the light
vanishes, then returns when the beam is turned back on. Investigators
suspect that the light was caused by an insect interacting with the
beam. (Jenny Randles, “UFOs in Focus,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993):
16–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6933
Date: 5/1/1991
End date: 5/7/1991
Description: Wendelle
C. Stevens holds the First World UFO Congress in Tucson, Arizona,
which brings together UFO researchers, witnesses, and others from Spain,
Italy, Japan, Russia, Germany, the UK, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Chile,
Brazil, Canada, and the US. (2Pinotti 117–118)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6934
Date: 5/12/1991
Description: 7:00 p.m. Farmer Moisés Campelo is walking home from his
brother’s house in Campo Redondo, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, when a
bright light approaches and stops right above his head, spinning slowly.
His eyes begin to burn and he feels paralyzed, as if he is being sucked
into the light. He remains suspended under the light for about 5
minutes, after which he is dropped to the ground. Campelo starts
crawling home, but the light returns and levitates him again. This time
he is suspended for 15 minutes before being dropped. He remains
traumatized and sustains an eye injury. (Bob Pratt, UFO Danger Zone:
Terror and Death in Brazil—Where Next?, Horus House, 1996, pp. 9–13;
Brazil 340–342)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6935
Date: 5/17/1991
Description: 1:30 a.m. A nurse in Braine l’Alleud, Belgium, hears an
intense hum and looks out her window to see a large triangular object
moving slowly overhead. At the front of the triangle, there is a group
of lights located symmetrically along the edges. They are grouped toward
the front point of the triangle. At least four of these lights are white
and flickering quickly, with approximately two lights on the left and on
the right flickering each second, but never reproducing the same
sequence. She thinks there is also a steady red light. Slightly back
from the central axis, she sees a ray of light, inclined on 45°, coming
from an opening that is larger than the diameter of the flickering
lights. This beam projects to the ground onto the street, and traced a
brief series of figure 8s. Suddenly, after 5 seconds the UFO instantly
reappears far away, its blinking lights (but not the ray) still visible.
(Vague d’OVNI sur la Belgique, Tome 2: Une énigme non-resolué, SOBEPS,
1994, pp. 16–19; Patrick Gross, “The
Belgium Flap”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6936
Date: 5/22/1991
Description: Col. Alvaro Fernández Rodas, head of the Flight Safety
Section of the Spanish Air Staff (where the UFO archives are kept),
issues an Informative Note to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force
Gen. Ramón Fernández Sequieros titled “The UFO Archive and Its Possible
Release.” The note is the result of meetings between Vicente- Juan
Ballester Olmos, who
is developing a catalog of UFO observations by military personnel and
police officers; Maj. Ramón Alvarez Mateus, head of the Air Force Public
Relations Office; and the Flight Safety Section. It mentions that no
investigations have been made since 1980 and that since 1988 cases are
not even archived. The note recommends that UFO cases be declassified.
(Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, “The Spanish Air Force UFO Files,” IUR
18, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1993): 13; Swords 424–425, 515)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6938
Date: 5/22/1991
Description: A husband and wife in Nottingham, England, see an array of
lights in an “elongated triangle” formation. The same object is seen 15
minutes later by another man in the area. He estimates it is about 1,000
feet high and gives off a low humming noise. (Nick Redfern, A Covert
Agenda: UFO Secrecy Exposed, Simon & Schuster, 1997, p. 184)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6937
Date: 6/1/1991
Description: 2:38 p.m. A Britannia Airways Boeing 737 is descending for
a landing at 8,000 feet near Heathrow Airport, London, England, when the
pilots see an unknown object for 1–2 seconds through the windshield. It
disappears rapidly on the left. The missile has a yellow-orange
cylindrical body with a “wrinkled” appearance and is about 10 feet long.
(Clas Svahn and Anders Liljegren, “Close Encounters with Unknown
Missiles,” IUR 19, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1994): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6939
Date: 6/8/1991
Description: 6:00 p.m. Pilot Cesar Escobar and Copilot Angel David
Farina are flying two passengers to Asunción, Paraguay, in his Cessna
210. While monitoring airport frequencies near Concepción, he overhears
a conversation between the control tower and a Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas
airliner, with the pilot reporting a brightly lit object approaching on
a convergent course. The object is also showing on airport radar. He
hears the pilot exclaim as the UFO speeds past. A few minutes later,
Escobar sees a bright, blue-white light approaching on his right side.
Just then radar control radios to ask if he has traffic on his right,
and he replies affirmatively. The object paces his plane for 25 minutes
within about 1,300 feet. Its intense light tends to conceal its exact
shape, but it appears to be oval. Several times it moves in closer, as
if playing a game, and Escobar becomes frightened. When it approaches,
his instruments go crazy, including his automatic direction finder,
which drifts around aimlessly. As he begins descending into Asunción
Airport at 7:22 p.m., the object stops following and hovers. Anibal
Gavigan, the air traffic control specialist on duty, is called by radar
control and informed that a strange object has followed the Cessna 210
into the airport. He is asked if he can see it, and he can see the
luminous object. After the Cessna lands, the airport lights are turned
off to better identify the glowing object, which remains motionless over
the field. At one point a luminous, yellow ray briefly shoots from the
object to the western horizon. When it departs, the object accelerates
so rapidly that it disappears after one sweep of the radar scope. (Jorge
Alfonso Ramirez, “UFO
Intercepts Aircraft over Paraguay,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 310
(February 1994): 8–10; UFOEv II, 144–145; Don Berliner, with Marie
Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available
Evidence, Dell, 2000, p. 145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6940
Date: 6/8/1991
Description: Pilots encountered and radar tracked reddish oval object
that paced a small aircraft and hovered above airport, E-M effects on
plane
Type: sighting
Type: encounter
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Concepcion, Paraguay
ID: 470
Date: 6/16/1991
Description: 1:30 a.m. A businessman stops by the side of the road to
relieve himself near The Bridestones, Cheshire, England, a Neolithic
site with standing stones. He sees a golden beam of light above the
stones from which emerges a shower of sparks. He returns to the car, but
the engine will not start. He begins to run away when a large, glowing
ball heads from the sparks straight toward him. It is so bright that it
causes pain in his eyes and he feels rooted to the spot. He blacks out
and regains his senses several hundred yards away from his car. He is
naked above the waist and his shoes are missing. As he tries to get up,
he brushes down his trousers and finds that they are charged with static
electricity, causing sparks to jump from his body. After staggering
around, he finds his car with the keys still in the ignition. Next to
the door are his shoes and shirt, folded on the ground and warm to the
touch. The car starts without trouble and he drives away, realizing that
it is now 3:05 a.m. (Jenny Randles, “Much More Than Marsh Gas,” Fortean
Times 311 (March 2014): 27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6941
Date: 6/17/1991
Description: 6:30 p.m. Walter Leiss and three other passengers on board
Dan Air Flight DA 4700 from London (Gatwick Airport) to Hamburg,
Germany, see a wingless projectile below and to the left of the plane
flying at an altitude of 4,000–5,000 feet with no vapor trail. The
object is slender, gray, and cigar-shaped. The crew does not see it.
(Clas Svahn and Anders Liljegren, “Close Encounters with Unknown
Missiles,” IUR 19, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1994): 14– 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6942
Date: summer 1991
Description: An effort is made by Raven to encourage the Bush
administration to reveal the US government’s interactions with aliens
and crashed saucers. Meetings are allegedly held in safe rooms at
Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Washington, D.C., with
administration officials and cabinet and agency heads. Much seems to
depend on the confirmation of Robert
Gates as CIA director. A meeting to brief President Bush on
the topic is scheduled for August but canceled due to the Soviet
military coup. (Robert Collins and Richard Doty, Exempt from Disclosure:
The Disturbing Case about the UFO Coverup, Peregrine, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6943
Date: 7/1991
Description: Kevin
D. Randle and Donald
R. Schmitt publish UFO Crash at Roswell, disclosing the results of
their interviews and reconstruction of the Roswell incident of 1947.
They publish an update in 1994. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt,
UFO
Crash at Roswell, Avon,
1991; Richard Hall, “Roswell Matters,” IUR 18, no. 3 (May/June 1993):
23; Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, The
Truth about the UFO Crash at Roswell, Avon,
1994; Clark III 951)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6944
Date: 7/1991
Description: Leonard
Stringfield issues his sixth status report, UFO Crash/Retrievals:
The Inner Sanctum. (Leonard H. Stringfield, UFO Crash/Retrievals: The
Inner Sanctum, The Author, 1991)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6945
Date: 7/5/1991
Description: Customs and bank regulators in seven countries raid and
lock down records of branch offices of the Bank of Credit and Commerce
International, which has been investigated for being involved in massive
money laundering and other financial crimes and illegally gaining the
controlling interest in a major American bank. In addition to violations
of lending laws, BCCI is also accused of opening accounts or laundering
money for figures such as Saddam
Hussein, Manuel
Noriega, Hussain
Muhammad Ershad, and
Samuel
Doe, and for criminal organizations such as the Medellín Cartel and
Abu Nidal. William
von Raab, a
former US Commissioner of Customs, tells the Kerry Committee that the
CIA holds “several” accounts at BCCI. According to a 1991 article in
Time magazine, the National Security Council also has accounts at BCCI,
which are used for a variety of covert operations, including transfers
of money and weapons during the Iran–Contra affair. (Wikipedia, “Bank
of Credit and
Commerce International”; Peter Truell and Larry Gurwin, False
Profits: The Inside Story of BCCI, the World’s
Most Corrupt Financial Empire, Houghton
Mifflin, 1992; David Sirota and Jonathan Baskin, “Follow the Money: How
John Kerry Busted the Terrorists’ Favorite Bank,” Washington Monthly,
September 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6946
Date: 7/11/1991
Description: 12:21 p.m. While many people in Mexico City, Mexico, are
looking to the sky to see the last total solar eclipse of the 20th
century, they also notice a bright object hovering in the sky. Videos
are recorded as far south as Puebla and Oaxaca. Skeptics claim the
object is the planet Venus, but the full eclipse lasts just under 7
minutes, and the object is seen for more than 30 minutes—before, during,
and after the event. Guillermo Arragin, a reporter, videotapes the
object, and Jaime
Maussan, host of the Mexican version of the CBS TV show 60 Minutes,
shows the Arragin footage a week later. He asks his viewers to share any
sightings they had during the eclipse. Fifteen videotapes are submitted,
each taken by a witness in a different location. Maussan enlists the
help of the station’s video experts for digital enhancement and
enlargement. The videos show solid, metallic-looking objects that
reflect light. Maussan looks into balloons, helicopters, and other
conventional objects, but comes up empty. The enhancements reveal a
“hockey puck” shape, and many of the recorded objects pass in front of
clouds. (Unsolved Mysteries Wiki, “Mexico
City UFO”; Tim Printy, “The
July 11, 1991, Mexico City UFOs: Basic Astronomy Ignored,”
February 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6947
Date: 7/15/1991
Description: 5:45 p.m. The copilot of a Britannia Airways Boeing 737 on
a flight from Crete to Gatwick Airport near Crawley, West Sussex,
England, sees a small, black, lozenge-shaped object about 1.5 feet in
diameter, smooth, and some 1,600 feet ahead and above. It is on a
collision course, and within 2 seconds it passes the aircraft’s wing at
a distance of only 325 feet. The London Air Traffic Control Center picks
up a target moving away from the plane to the southwest at 100 mph.
(Clas Svahn and Anders Liljegren, “Close Encounters with Unknown
Missiles,” IUR 19, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1994): 15; UFOFiles2, p. 137)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6948
Date: 7/26/1991
Description: Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Ramón Fernández
Sequieros passes instructions to the Spanish Air Regions to centralize
all UFO registers into Madrid Air Force headquarters. (Swords 425,
515)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6949
Date: 8/4/1991
Description: Night. Seven hikers near Lacul Bucura in the Retezat
Mountains in west central Romania see a bright red light approaching
them from behind. Thinking it might be a lost tourist, they wave their
flashlights at it, but it starts zigzagging and increasing its speed.
Soon they see other lights of varying colors, shapes, and
configurations, all moving in the Valea Rea. Through binoculars they
take on the shape of discs with luminous portholes. (Romania
55–57)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6950
Date: 8/10/1991
Description: US freelance writer Danny
Casolaro is found dead in a bathtub in room 517 of the Sheraton
Hotel in Martinsburg, West Virginia, his wrists slashed 10–12 times. The
medical examiner rules the death a suicide. His death becomes
controversial because his notes suggest he is in Martinsburg to meet a
source about a story he calls “the Octopus.” This centers on a sprawling
collaboration involving an international cabal, primarily featuring a
number of stories familiar to journalists who worked in and around
Washington, D.C., in the 1980s—the Inslaw case, about a software
manufacturer whose owner accused the Justice Department of stealing its
work product; the October Surprise theory that during the Iran hostage
crisis, Iran deliberately held back American hostages to help Ronald
Reagan win the 1980 presidential election, the collapse of the Bank
of Credit and Commerce International, and Iran–Contra. Casolaro’s family
argues that he has been murdered; that before he left for Martinsburg,
he told his brother that he frequently received harassing phone calls
late at night; that some of them were threatening; and that if something
were to happen to him in Martinsburg, it will not be an accident. They
also cite his well-known squeamishness and fear of blood tests, and
state they find it incomprehensible that if he were going to commit
suicide, he would do so by cutting his wrists a dozen times. A number of
law-enforcement officials also argue that his death deserves further
scrutiny, and his notes are passed by his family to ABC News and Time
magazine, both of which investigate the case, but find no evidence of
murder. (Wikipedia, “Danny Casolaro”;
Kenn Thomas and Jim Keith, The Octopus: Secret Government and the Death
of Danny Casolaro, Feral House, rev ed., 2003; Cheri Seymour, The Last
Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS
Software Scandal, TrineDay, 2010; “Danny
Casolaro’s Files and Notes”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6951
Date: 9/1991
Description: 10:45 p.m. Security policeman T/Sgt Anthony W. Keel is
working as an alert response team leader at the Ellsworth AFB Oscar
Flight area 30 miles west of Opal, South Dakota, when he is dispatched
to a missile launch site with multiple alarms. They arrive, clear the
site, and reset the alarms. Then he gets another call for a different
site with the same alarm pattern, which they then reset. On the way back
to the Oscar Launch Control Facility, he gets another call, and the team
can see a blue, pulsating light above the site experiencing the alarm.
The light moves away as they pull in to secure the site. The light is
the size of a small helicopter, semicircular and oblong, and completely
silent. (Nukes 468–469)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6952
Date: 9/9/1991
Description: Self-professed pranksters Doug
Bower and Dave Chorley make headlines claiming they started the UK
crop circle phenomenon in 1978 with the use of simple tools consisting
of a plank of wood, rope, and a baseball cap fitted with a loop of wire
to help them walk in a straight line. To prove their case, they make a
circle in front of journalists; cerealogist (advocate of paranormal
explanations of crop circles) Pat
Delgado examines the circle and declares it authentic before it is
revealed as a hoax. Inspired by the Tully, Australia, crop circle
accounts from 1966, Bower and Chorley claim to be responsible for all
circles made prior to 1987, and for more than 200 crop circles in
1978–1991 (with 1,000 other circles not being made by them). After their
announcement, the two men demonstrate making a crop circle. According to
University of Oregon fractal expert Richard
Taylor, “the pictographs they created inspired a second wave of crop
artists. Far from fizzling out, crop circles have evolved into an
international phenomenon, with hundreds of sophisticated pictographs now
appearing annually around the globe.” (Wikipedia, “Crop
circle”; William Tuohy, “‘Crop
Circles’ Their Prank, 2 Britons Say,” Los Angeles Times, September
10, 1991, p. 14; Jenny Randles, “Round and Round in the Circle Game,”
IUR 16, no. 6 (Nov/Dec. 1991): 17–18, 22–23; Richard Taylor, “Coming
Soon to a Field near You,” Physics World, August 2011, pp. 2–7;
UFOFiles2, pp. 120–123;
“Necrolog: Doug Bower,” Fortean Times 371 (October 2018): 28–29; “The
Man Who Launched a Million Conspiracy Theories,” Daily Mail (UK),
October 20, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6953
Date: 9/15/1991
Description: One of the cameras on Space Shuttle Discovery Flight STS-48 captures
several anomalous, glowing objects that float along and then sharply
change direction, apparently in response to a flash in the lower left
portion of the picture. NASA explains the objects as ice particles
reacting to a Space Shuttle thruster firing. Astronomer Philip
C. Plait discusses the issue in his book Bad Astronomy, agreeing
with NASA. However, physicist Jack Kasher and Mark Carlotto dispute that
explanation, arguing that there are two groups of correlated object
motions involving at least a dozen distinct events. Kasher’s analysis
reveals that the objects behaved oddly for any type of particle, ice or
otherwise, and Carlotto indicates that no thruster was fired in that
timeframe. (NICAP, “STS
Video Footage of Possible UAP Phenomenon in Orbit”; Wikipedia, “STS-48”;
Mark J. Carlotto, “Digital
Video Analysis of Anomalous Space Objects,” Journal of Scientific
Exploration 9, no. 1 (1995): 45–63; Jack Kasher, “Anomalous Images on
Videotape from Space Shuttle Flight STS-48: Examination of the Ice-
Particle Explanation,” JUFOS 6 (1995/96): 80–148; Lan D. Fleming,
“Examination of the Trajectories of Anomalous Objects Imaged during the
STS-48 Space Shuttle Mission,” JUFOS 9 (2006): 71–98)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6954
Date: 9/19/1991
Description: 6:35 p.m. Maria Kulis is visiting Medjugorje, Bosnia, and
takes a photo of St. James Church from a distance of about 500 feet.
When she has the film developed, she notices an odd dark object in the
sky almost above the church. The image is sharp and silhouetted against
a purplish-blue sky. The object would be about 6.6 feet long if it was
at an altitude of 1,000 feet. (Bruce Maccabee, “The Medjugorje UO,” IUR
17, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1992): 12–13, 23; UFOEv II 301–302;)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6955
Date: 9/19/1991
Description: American tourist took photo of church, unexplained image
showed up in picture when developed
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Medjugorje, Yugoslavia
ID: 471
Date: 10/1991
Description: Following a request by Russian cosmonaut Pavel
Popovich, the KGB declassifies several documents from its so-called
“Blue Folder.” The material is obtained by Vadim K. Ilyin from the late
Vyacheslav Shtyepa of the Ufological Committee of the Russian
Geographical Society. (Good Need, p. 353)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6956
Date: 10/1/1991
Description: The Air Force’s Electronic Security Command is redesignated
the Air Force Intelligence Command and reacquires the Foreign Technology
Division. (Wikipedia, “Air
Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance
Agency”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6957
Date: 11/6/1991
Description: The small near-Earth Object 1991 VG is discovered by
American astronomer James
Scotti at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The uncertainty of the
object’s origin and its small size (16–39 feet), combined with rapid
variation in the object’s brightness in images obtained during its close
passage with Earth in early December 1991, leads to some speculation
that 1991 VG might be a spent rocket fuel tank from a space mission, or
even an alien artificial object. However, a detailed analysis of the
available evidence confirms that there is no compelling reason to
believe that 1991 VG is unnatural. (Wikipedia, “1991
VG”; Duncan Steel, “SETA
and 1991 VG,” The Observatory 115 (1995): 78–83; Mark Rodeghier,
“Alien Probe Detected in Solar System?” IUR 20, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1995):
9–10; Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos, “Dynamical
Evolution of Near-Earth
Asteroid VG 1991,” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
473 (2018): 2938–2948)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6958
Date: 1992
Description: The Research Institute on Anomalous Phenomena is
established in Kharkiv, Ukraine, to study UFOs and extraterrestrial
visitation. It has Russian and Ukrainian ufologists on its board, and it
publishes RIAP Bulletin (in English, edited by Vladimir
Rubtsov) from January 1994 to June 2006. (RIAP
Bulletin 1, no. 1 (Jan./March 1994); Vladimir Rubtsov, “Ukraine
Research Institute on Anomalous Phenomena,” IUR 18, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1993): 15– 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6962
Date: 1992
Description: El Ojo Crítica, an independent and skeptical newsletter,
begins publication in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. (El Ojo Crítica, no. 1
(1992); “(Pre)
Historia de El
Ojo Crítica”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6961
Date: 1992
Description: Jerome
Clark publishes the second volume of the first edition of his UFO
encyclopedia. (Jerome Clark, The Emergence of a Phenomenon: UFOs from
the Beginning through 1959, Omnigraphics, 1992; Michael D. Swords,
[review], JUFOS 4 (1992): 181–183)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6960
Date: 1992
Description: A man is driving near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire, England,
when he sees a bright glow approaching from the opposite direction.
Thinking it is from a speeding motorcycle, he stops the car and leaves
the engine idling. As it approaches, the light changes direction and
passes over the roof of the car. The engine stalls. The object seems to
be emitting light all around it, but a few seconds later it disappears.
(Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part 1,”
IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 19–20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6959
Date: 1/15/1992
Description: The Spanish Air Force transfers responsibility for handling
UFO reports to the Air Operative Command (whose head is Gen. Alfredo
Chamorro Chapinal) at Torrejón Air Base in Madrid, Spain, which updates
the procedures for reporting and investigating UFO sightings by military
personnel. The added responsibility is placed in the intelligence
section, commanded by Lt. Col. Ángel Bastida. (Vicente-Juan Ballester
Olmos, “The Spanish Air Force UFO Files,” IUR 18, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1993): 13; Swords 425, 517)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6963
Date: 2/1992
Description: 4:00 a.m. Near Tennant Creek, Northern Territory,
Australia, five people are in a car driving around a bend when they
encounter a huge area lit up from above. The engine, headlights, and
dash lights cut out. They stop the car, restart it, and drive on, but 2
minutes later the same thing happens, then again 2 minutes after that.
(Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part 1,”
IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6964
Date: 2/15/1992
End date: 2/16/1992
Description: The Center for UFO Studies and the Fund for UFO Research
hold the Plains of San Agustin Conference in the Sofitel Chicago Hotel
in Rosemont, Illinois, in order to examine the nature and quality of the
evidence for a reported crash of a UFO and the recovery of aliens—both
dead and alive—on the Plains of San Agustin, New Mexico, in July 1947. A
focal point for the discussion is the testimony of Gerald
Anderson, who contacted investigators Kevin
Randle and Stanton
Friedman with his claim that he had been present on the Plains when
he was 5 years old. The separate stories of archaeologists and Grady
L. “Barney” Barnett at this retrieval are also considered. Moderator
Michael
D. Swords concludes that the evidence for the Plains of San Agustin
crash is “single-witness testimony with no physical or instrumental
evidence to support the story” as well as problematic and inconsistent
testimony. A summary report on the conference is published in June 1992.
(Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, UFO
Crash at Roswell, Avon,
1991, pp. 31–32, 87–90; Thomas J. Carey, “The Search for the
Archaeologists,” IUR 16, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1991): 4–9, 21; Stanton T.
Friedman, Thomas J. Carey, Kevin D. Randle, and Donald R. Schmitt, “The
Search for the Archaeologists: An Exchange,” IUR 17, no. 3 (May/June
1992): 6–12, 22–23; Donald R. Schmitt and Kevin D. Randle, “Second
Thoughts on the Barney Barnett Story,” IUR 17, no. 3 (May/June 1992):
4–5, 22; Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, “Missing Time,” IUR 17,
no. 4 (July/Aug. 1992): 21–23; The
Plains of San Agustin Controversy, July 1947: Gerald Anderson, Barney
Barnett, and
the Archaeologists, CUFOS/Fund
for UFO Research, 1992; Mark Rodeghier and Mark Chesney, “Who’s the
Dummy Now? The Latest Air Force Report,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 8–9;
Kevin D. Randle and Karl T. Pflock, “Barney Barnett’s Crashed Saucer:
Where Did It Come From?” IUR 28, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 15–18, 24–
25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6965
Date: 2/24/1992
Description: 12:15 A.M. Bright green fireball meteor, wavered, split up,
bright illumination, sonic boom.
Type: sighting
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Pacific Northwest (Oregon)
ID: 472
Date: 3/1992
Description: US historian David
M. Jacobs publishes Secret Life, in which he lays out a detailed
study of abduction phenomenology based on his research with numerous
abductees. He finds many accounts of hybrid making and clues that the
aliens exploit human genes to repopulate their planet or perhaps plot a
takeover of the Earth. (David M. Jacobs, Secret
Life: Firsthand Accounts of UFO Abductions, Simon & Schuster,
1992; Mark Rodeghier, [review], JUFOS 4 (1992): 184–189; Clark III
8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6966
Date: 3/1992
Alternate date: 4/1992
Description: 4:30 a.m. S/Sgt Joseph M. Brown is posted to a security
team at the Malmstrom AFB A-3 flight launch facility outside Sluice Box
Canyon near Monarch, Montana. Due to an alarm-system malfunction, two
men are staked out in a security camper. Just after arriving at the
site, Brown sees a bright white light moving erratically through the sky
with sudden direction changes and abrupt stops and starts. He watches it
for 15–20 minutes, then the light moves closer to the facility. He wakes
up his partner, who also watches the light. Another security team at
A-10 about 10 miles away can also see the light, which is less than a
mile away. They continue to watch the light until about 6:30 a.m. when
it shoots up into the sky and stops. With more daylight, they see a
black area around the light. (Nukes 457–461, 466–468)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6967
Date: 3/3/1992
Description: 7:50 p.m. Roger Cross is driving on Highway 3A in Concord,
New Hampshire, when he hears an unusual drumming sound. He pulls to the
side of the road and sees an immense triangular object with pulsating
lights flying 400–500 feet above the road. (Marler 217)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6968
Date: 3/4/1992
End date: 3/5/1992
Description: UFO sightings at the Benito Juárez International Airport in
Mexico City, Mexico, are confirmed by radar. (Don Berliner, with Marie
Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available
Evidence, Dell, 2000, p. 146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6969
Date: 3/5/1992
Description: 6:30 p.m. Military Policeman Luis Ribeiro and a colleague
are hunting in the interior of Ceará state, Brazil, when a domed disc
lands nearby. Five 4.5-foot tall humanoids emerge and take Ribeiro
inside the craft. The beings communicate with him in Portuguese and tell
him they are from “Catandório.” After a 5-hour abduction experience, he
is returned to the encounter site. (Brazil 342–344)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6970
Date: 3/19/1992
Description: Glowing green dome-shaped object maneuvered around patrol
car, E-M effects, officer badly frightened
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Haines City, FL
ID: 473
Date: 3/20/1992
Description: 3:51 a.m. Patrolman Luis Delgado has just checked the doors
on a local business at Haines City, Florida, and turns onto 30th Street.
He sees a green light in his rear-view mirror. The light seems to come
from a small plane that is about to crash. Just seconds later, the
interior of his patrol car is illuminated with a green glow. The object
begins to pace his car which is traveling about 40 mph. The object moves
from the right side to the front of the vehicle several times. When it
has moved to the front for the third time, Delgado slows his car and
pulls off the roadway, fearing he might collide with the object. It is a
color of green he had never seen before that seems to flow over the
surface. It is 15 feet long with a 3-foot-thick center. The object
hovers approximately 10 feet off the ground. The engine, lights, and
radio on his patrol car cease to function. The object hovers in front of
his car and then shines a bright white light into the interior. He exits
and begins to walk backwards away from the object. He tries to radio
Haines City dispatch on his radio, but it does not function. The air
around him has chilled to the point that he can see his breath. The
object is hovering about 20 feet northeast of his car, then it speeds
away after approximately 2–3 seconds. It departs the area in a
northeasterly direction at 10 feet altitude. Delgado loses sight of the
object in only seconds. (UFOEv II 193–194; Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update
on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011):
15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6971
Date: 3/23/1992
Description: Near Amarillo, Texas, radio hobbyist Steven Douglass
photographs a “donuts on a rope” contrail and links this to distinctive
sounds. He describes the engine noise as “strange, loud pulsating roar…
unique… a deep pulsating rumble that vibrated the house and made the
windows shake… similar to rocket engine noise, but deeper, with evenly
timed pulses.” In addition to providing the first photographs of the
distinctive contrail reported by others, Douglass also reports
intercepts of radio transmissions: “Air-to-air communications… were
between an AWACS aircraft with the call sign Dragnet 51 from Tinker AFB,
Oklahoma, and two unknown aircraft using the call signs Darkstar
November and Darkstar Mike. Messages consisted of phonetically
transmitted alphanumerics. It is not known whether this radio traffic
had any association with the ‘pulser’ that had just flown over
Amarillo.” (Wikipedia, “Aurora
(aircraft)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6972
Date: 3/31/1992
Description: The Spanish Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen. Ramón
Fernández Sequieros, issues Instrucción General 40-5, a 28-page set of
procedures for UFO investigations that is issued to all units in June.
Lt. Col. Ángel Bastida admits it is inspired by several questionnaires
that Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos has supplied, including those used by the US Air
Force. (Swords 426, 520)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6973
Date: 4/13/1992
Description: Gen. Alfredo Chamorro Chapinal signs a proposal for full
UFO document disclosure to the Spanish Chief of Staff of the Air Force,
Gen. Ramón Fernández Sequieros. (Swords 426, 518)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6974
Date: 4/22/1992
Description: The Spanish Joint Chiefs of Staff downgrade UFO documents
from secret to “internal reserve” (confidential). (Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos, “The Spanish Air Force UFO Files,” IUR 18, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1993): 13; Swords 426, 519)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6975
Date: 4/28/1992
Description: A crop circle appears in a rapeseed field at Sutton
Scotney, close to Winchester, England. (Chris Talarski, “Going around in
Circles,” IUR 17, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1992): 4–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6976
Date: 5/1992
Description: The Roper Organization releases the results of its “Unusual
Personal Experiences” survey of nearly 6,000 US adults devised by Budd
Hopkins, David
Jacobs, and Ron
Westrum, and conducted in 1991. Its intent is to determine how
widespread the abduction phenomenon might be. Five indicator questions
in the survey assess the respondents’ sleep paralysis, dreams of flying,
missing time, observations of unusual lights inside a room, and puzzling
body scars. The poll, financed by the Bigelow Holding Corporation,
suggests that 2% of adult Americans (more than 3.7 million) think they
have been abducted by aliens. (Geraldo Fuentes, “Abductions:
A Report
on the Roper Analysis Data”; Robert L. Hall, Mark Rodeghier, Donald
A. Johnson, “The Prevalence of Abductions: A Critical Look,” JUFOS 4
(1992): 131–135; Robert J. Durant, “Evolution of Public Opinion on
UFOs,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993): 20–22; Susan Blackmore, “Abduction
by Aliens or Sleep Paralysis?” Skeptical Inquirer 22, no. 3
(May/June 1998): 23–28; Mark Rodeghier, “Counting Abductees: What Can
Surveys Tell Us?” IUR 25, no. 3 (Fall 2000): 20–21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6977
Date: 5/1/1992
Description: University of Connecticut psychologist Kenneth
Ring publishes The Omega Project, in which he argues that ostensible
aliens, angels, and otherworldly entities exist in an imaginal realm, a
“third kingdom” between reality and fantasy that is accessible through
certain altered states of consciousness that undermine ordinary
perception and conceptual thinking. Through extensive psychological
testing, Ring finds that abductees and those who have near-death
experiences are emotionally indistinguishable, with childhoods that
typically involve episodes of abuse, trauma, and serious illness. One
consequence is the development of a dissociative state as a means of
coping with stress; it is the key to experiencing the imaginal realm, a
shamanic journey through which symbolic language and images are
expressed. (Kenneth Ring, The
Omega Project: Near-Death Experiences, UFO Encounters,
and Mind at Large, Morrow,
1992; Kenneth Ring and Christopher J. Rosing, “The Omega Project: A
Psychological Survey of Persons Reporting Abductions and Other UFO
Encounters,” JUFOS 2 (1990): 59–98; David A. Gotlib, “Abductions:
Imagined or Imaginal?” IUR 17, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1992): 18–20; Clark III
886)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6978
Date: 6/1/1992
Description: The US Strategic Command is established as a successor to
the Strategic Air Command in response to the end of the Cold War. Its
principal mission is to deter military attack and, if deterrence fails,
to counter with nuclear weapons. (Wikipedia. “United
States Strategic Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6981
Date: 6/13/1992
End date: 6/17/1992
Description: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology hosts an
Abductions Study Conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, chaired by David
E. Pritchard and John
E. Mack, with
presentations, panels, and discussions about the UFO abduction
phenomenon. UFO researchers like Budd
Hopkins, David
Jacobs, and Mack hold forth beside relative novices and abductees
themselves. Representative non-US research is also contributed (Brazil,
Canada, United Kingdom, Australia). Even skeptics are represented and
speak. The conference marks the cracking apart of the public unity of
American researchers into at least two major schools of opinion, which
deeply disagree to this day. Both continue to believe that the
phenomenon is extraterrestrial. Hopkins, Jacobs, and others are present
to elaborate what some have come to refer to as the “Dark Marauders”
view of abductions. But conference co- organizer and Harvard
psychologist John Mack presents an entirely different spin: These
experiences are extraterrestrially caused but are positively
transformational for the human spirit. Despite the severe disagreements
that follow, this gives researchers like Joseph Nyman a foundation stone
authority figure around whom to rally. The so-called pessimist and
optimist schools take shape right before the attendees’ eyes. A third
major position exists within the US research community, the “probably
extraterrestrial but I don’t know the details” viewpoint, represented at
the conference in the persons of Mark
Rodeghier, Stuart
Appelle, and David
Gotlib. Kenneth
Ring also presents his interesting view comparing abductions and
near-death experiences, and David
Hufford does likewise regarding the “Old Hag” imagery of sleep
paralysis. (Andrea Pritchard, et al., Alien Discussions: Proceedings of
the Abduction Study Conference Held at MIT, Cambridge, MA, North
Cambridge, 1994; Michael D. Swords, [review],
Journal of Scientific Exploration 11, no. 1 (1997): 101–104; John E.
Mack, “Helping Abductees,” IUR 17, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1992): 10–15, 20; C.
D. B. Bryan, Close
Encounters of the Fourth Kind: Alien
Abduction, UFOs, and the Conference at M.I.T., Knopf, 1995; Stuart
Appelle, “The Abduction Phenomenon at MIT,” IUR 20, no. 4
(July/Aug. 1995): 20–21, 24; Thomas E. Bullard, [Book reviews], JUFOS 6
(1995/96): 231–248; Ralph Blumenthal, The Believer: Alien Encounters,
Hard Science, and the Passion of John Mack, University of New Mexico,
2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6982
Date: summer 1992
Description: Héctor and Jaime Feliciano watch a gigantic silent triangle
pass over Salinas, Puerto Rico, heading toward the MATES Camp Santiago
military base. It is a metallic dark gray with a rough undersurface
containing multiple small colored lights and two large white lights.
White beams shine down from the object at three points. (Jorge Martín,
“Triangular
UFOs over Puerto Rico,” Flying Saucer Review 44, no. 3 (Autumn
1999): 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6980
Date: summer 1992
Description: An unnamed family from Albuquerque is hiking and
prospecting about 12 miles from Horse Springs, New Mexico, in the
general area of the Plains of San Agustin, when they discover an odd
piece of metal. They unsuccessfully try to cut it, burn it, and bend it.
The discovery remains unconfirmed. (Kevin D. Randle and Donald R.
Schmitt, “The Hatch Enigma,” IUR 18, no. 2 (March/April 1993): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6979
Date: 7/9/1992
Description: A 450-foot “Snail” pictogram appears in a wheatfield at
Alton Barnes, Wiltshire, England. (Chris Talarski, “Going around in
Circles,” IUR 17, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1992): 4–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6983
Date: 7/17/1992
End date: 7/19/1992
Description: The First International Conference of the Center for Crop
Circle Studies is held at King Alfred’s College in Winchester,
Hampshire, England. (Chris Talarski, “Going around in Circles,” IUR 17,
no. 4 (July/Aug. 1992): 4– 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6984
Date: 7/23/1992
Description: 7:30 a.m. An abduction event takes place in a suburb of
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, involving a rare case of physical
evidence. Businessman Peter Khoury had at least one previous abduction
experience in 1988 that left him so disturbed that in 1993 he forms a
support group to help others like him. The details of his 1992 abduction
slowly emerge through extended conversations with Australian ufologist
Bill
Chalker. Khoury wakes up suddenly and finds two nude females seated
on his bed, one blonde and the other dark-haired with some Asian
features. They are human-like but have some odd physical
characteristics: narrow heads and large eyes. Khoury says that what
happens next feels weird and dreamlike, “like looking through
binoculars, but through the back of my own head.” The blonde reaches out
and forces him towards her. Before he knows what he is doing, he takes a
small bite out of her and swallows it. There is no blood or screaming.
The two beings look at each other in a puzzled way, then vanish. Khoury
has a coughing fit and goes to the bathroom where he discovers a blonde
hair wrapped around a body part. He turns the hair over to Bill Chalker
for mitochondrial DNA analysis in 1999 (by Horace
R. Drew of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation) using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. The
results are startling: DNA from the shaft of the hair reveals very rare
and unusual Asian signatures common to the isolated Lahu people of China
and Thailand, but DNA from the root shows sequences indicating rare
Basque/Gaelic and Asian results—suggesting advanced cloning techniques
and possible hybrid characteristics. (Bill Chalker, “Strange Evidence,”
IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 3–13; Anomaly Physical Evidence Group,
“Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Analysis of a Shed Hair from an Alien
Abduction Case,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 13–16, 31; Bill Chalker,
“Aliens, Hair, and DNA,” IUR 29, no. 3 (Fall 2004): 3–5, 10; Bill
Chalker, Hair
of the Alien: DNA and Other Forensic Evidence of Alien Abduction,
Simon & Schuster, 2005; Bill Chalker, “Peter
Khoury and the ‘Hair of the Alien’: 20 Years On,” TheOzFiles, July
29, 2012; Clark III 651–654)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6985
Date: 8/1992
Description: Crop circles appear in wheatfields near Ipswich and
Strathclair, Manitoba. (Chris Rutkowski, “‘A Looney a Look’: Crop
Circles in Western Manitoba,” IUR 17, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1992):
9–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6986
Date: 8/5/1992
Description: 1:45 p.m. Pilots of United Airlines Flight 934 are flying
at 23,000 feet some 50 miles northeast of George AFB [now Southern
California Logistics Airport], Victorville, California, when an unusual
aircraft comes directly toward them and passes underneath at an
estimated distance of 500–1,000 feet. It resembles the forward fuselage
of a Lockheed S-71, without wings but with a sort of tail. The size is
about 50 feet long and its speed is supersonic. (Aviation Week and Space
Technology, August 24, 1992; Clas Svahn and Anders Liljegren, “Close
Encounters with Unknown Missiles,” IUR 19, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1994):
15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6987
Date: 8/11/1992
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 474
Date: 8/14/1992
Description: Triangular silvery object passed over car, blue flashing
body lights. Made sharp turns, moved out of sight
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Homer City PA
ID: 475
Date: 8/19/1992
Description: 1:00 a.m. A witness is driving near Tucson, Arizona, when
he notices a strange light in the distance. As it approaches from the
northeast, it descends rapidly, moves across a field, and hovers. A cone
of light emerges from the bottom that completely bathes the area,
illuminating the ground. At this point the witness is about 600– 900
feet away and is able to see that it is a solid object that looks like a
manta ray with a dull-black matte finish. He pulls over and can hear no
sound coming from it. The object moves directly overhead, and the
witness gets back in the car and speeds away. He sees the object again
as it stops 15 feet above a nearby farmhouse. Again a bright light comes
from its base, engulfing the entire house for 20 seconds. It moves away
and illuminates a large area of trees behind the house. (“Current
Cases,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 296 (December 1992): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6988
Date: 8/19/1992
Description: Manta ray—shaped object with body lights approached car,
falling leaf motions, hovered, light beam brightly illuminated
terrain
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Tucson, AZ
ID: 476
Date: 9/1992
Description: The first Spanish Air Force UFO document is declassified.
The process lasts until 1999, when 84 files (covering 122 cases between
1962 to 1995) are disclosed. (Swords 427, 521–522)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6989
Date: 9/18/1992
Description: The existence of the US National Reconnaissance Office is
declassified by the Deputy Secretary of Defense, as recommended by the
Director of Central Intelligence. (Wikipedia, “National
Reconnaissance Office”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6990
Date: 9/23/1992
Description: The last US underground nuclear test, Divider, takes place
at the Nevada Test Site. (Wikipedia, “Operation
Julin”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6991
Date: 10/1992
Description: The first official Spanish UFO reports are declassified,
leaving only witness names redacted. (Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, “The
Spanish Air Force UFO Files,” IUR 18, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1993): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6992
Date: 10/9/1992
Description: About 7:50 P.M. Greenorange fireball meteor southwest to
northeast on flat trajectory for about 17 seconds, broke up over
southeastern New York. Large meteorite fell in Peekskill, NY.
Type: sighting
Type: natural phenomenon
Type: newspaper article
Type: report or memo
Type: official
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Kentucky to New York State
ID: 477
Date: 10/9/1992
Description: 7:50 p.m. A fragment of the Draconid meteor stream strikes
a 1980 Chevrolet Malibu owned by Michelle Knapp while she is home in
Peekskill, New York. She goes outside after hearing a crash and
discovers a hole in the trunk of the car and a 6-inch crater in her
driveway. The stony fragment (oval shaped and about 1 foot in length) is
in the crater, along with pieces of the car. The rock is still hot and
weighs about 30 pounds. (Wikipedia, “Peekskill
meteorite”; “A
Hot Rock from Outer Space? Meteorite May Have Hit Teen’s Car,”
Yonkers (N.Y.) Herald Statesman, October 11, 1992, p. 28; Mark
Rodeghier, “UFO/Vehicle Very Close Encounters,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring
2002): 5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6993
Date: 10/15/1992
Description: 6:00 p.m. Witnesses in Lubbock, Texas, see a gray
cigar-shaped object that becomes visible for about 20 minutes after a
cloud disappears. It moves close enough to them so that they can see
windows on the object. The cloud reappears and the object is no longer
visible. (Herbert S. Taylor, “Mystery Clouds and the UFO Connection,”
IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6994
Date: 10/27/1992
Description: Just before 12:00 midnight. A1C Michael R. Reager and A1C
Jason H. Barrier are approaching the operations hanger of the 44th Field
Maintenance Missile Squadron at Ellsworth AFB, Rapid City, South Dakota.
A group of bright white lights suddenly appears in the air, moving
rapidly in rigid formation. Witnesses assume the lights are attached to
a large, dark aircraft. It hovers briefly above the hangar at 300–500
feet then moves away. (Nukes 470–472)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6995
Date: 11/1992
Description: Night. A man in Brighton, England, calls the RAF to report
a brightly lit UFO shaped like a “squashed rugby ball” hovering above
his house. Through windows in its side, he can see two men wearing beige
uniforms standing in front of machinery. When one of the crew members
appears to notice him, the object’s lights go out and the UFO zooms away
over the English Channel. (UFOFiles2, p. 128)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6996
Date: 11/1992
Description: After 10:00 p.m. Three Romanian military helicopters are
flying at an altitude of 328 feet at a speed of 93 mph on a night
exercise near Buzău, Romania. Col. Marcel Smoleanu notices a silent,
bright-red sphere about 60 feet in diameter to his left that begius to
fly parallel to the helicopters. The other pilots confirm the sighting.
After a minute or so, the object accelerates sharply, makes a 90° turn,
and cuts across their flight path. The helicopters slow to a hover and
the object disappears suddenly. The flight exercise is scrapped and the
helicopters return to the military airfield at Buzău. One of the pilots,
Lt. Col. Doru Drăgoi, is called into the radar room where operators show
him more than 10 unidentified targets on the screen making odd movements
northeast of Buzău, including sharp 180° turns near Săpoca. Drăgoi also
sees bright objects crossing overhead from east to west at an amazing
speed. (Romania 110–113)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6997
Date: 11/1992
End date: 12/1992
Description: Numerous sightings in Saguache County
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: San Luis Valley, CO
ID: 478
Date: 11/16/1992
Description: Lt. Col. Ángel Bastida, head of the Intelligence Section of
the Spanish Air Operative Command, establishes an informal agreement of
cooperation with Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos to act as a civilian consultant on the
declassification of UFO reports and establish a direct contact procedure
for future cases. This allows him to personally view, handle, and copy
all of the agency’s original UFO case files. It ensures that all reports
in official custody are released, increases the momentum of the process,
and secures copies of all related documentation. (Swords 428–429;
Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, “Monitoring
Air Force Intelligence (Spain’s 1992–1997 UFO Declassification
Process),” MUFON 1997 International UFO Symposium Proceedings,
pp. 139–178)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6998
Date: 12/16/1992
Description: Night. Werner Noeske observes a large, brightly illuminated
disc with a large triangular window in the base over Leipzig, Germany.
Additional witnesses come forward, but an investigation reveals that two
unrelated incidents contributed to the sightings: a “sky tracker”
searchlight common in European discos, and a cargo plane that makes
routine flights at the same hour. A photograph confirms the latter
interpretation. (Hans-Werner Peiniger, “UFO-Beobachtungen,”
Journal für UFO-Forschung, no. 86 (Mar./Apr. 1993): 3–4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 6999
Date: 12/24/1992
Description: 6:09–8:15 p.m. Twenty civilian witnesses and police south
and west of Monroe, Louisiana, watch a silent, boomerang-shaped UFO with
bright beams of light pass over cars in a forested area and bounce up
and down for 6 minutes. The object is videotaped by one of the
witnesses, Cecil Cullipher, in West Monroe. (W. L. Garner Jr., “UFOs
Compete with Santa for Christmas Eve Limelight,” IUR 18, no. 5
(Sept./Oct. 1993): 8–11, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7000
Date: 1993
Description: Jean-Jacques
Velasco coauthors OVNIs: La science avance, with journalist Jean-Claude
Bourret, in
which he admits the physical reality of UFOs and the probability of
their extraterrestrial origin. He stresses that it’s his personal
opinion, although he has been authorized by CNES to write the book. Its
foreword is written by astrophysicist Jean-Claude
Ribes, president of the French Astronomical Society. (Jean-Claude
Bourret and Jean- Jacques Velasco, OVNIs: La science avance, Laffont,
1993; Gildas Bourdais, “From GEPAN to SEPRA: Official UFO Studies in
France,” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7001
Date: 1993
Description: The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP)
facility begins construction north of Gakona, Alaska, just west of
Wrangell–Saint Elias National Park, funded by the Air Force, Navy,
University of Alaska Fairbanks, and DARPA. Its original purpose is to
analyze the ionosphere and investigate the potential for developing
ionospheric enhancement technology for radio communications and
surveillance. As a university- owned facility, HAARP is a high-power,
high-frequency transmitter used for study of the ionosphere. The most
prominent instrument at HAARP is the Ionospheric Research Instrument
(IRI), a high-power radio frequency transmitter facility operating in
the high frequency band. The IRI is used to temporarily excite a limited
area of the ionosphere. Other instruments, such as a VHF and a UHF
radar, a fluxgate magnetometer, a digisonde (an ionospheric sounding
device), and an induction magnetometer, are used to study the physical
processes that occur in the excited region. (Wikipedia, “High-frequency
Active Auroral Research Program”; University of Alaska Fairbanks,
“About
HAARP”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7002
Date: 1/1993
Alternate date: 2/1993
Description: Night. T/Sgt John W. Mills III is driving back to Malmstrom
AFB near Great Falls, Montana, with another tech sergeant. Near Monarch,
Montana, they watch a bright light in the sky for about 5 minutes.
Suddenly it makes a sharp banking maneuver. Thinking it is a helicopter,
they drive on toward Belt, Montana, where they encounter a roadblock
with cars backed up for miles. The base dispatcher asks if they saw
anything on their drive. When they answer yes, he tells them to proceed
to the Alpha-01 missile launch facility not far away. They are
redirected to Malmstrom, where they find that many “anomalies” have been
reported zooming over missile sites that night. The “anomaly” they had
seen apparently came down and landed near the highway west of Belt.
Another light reportedly flew in and out of the open doors of the base
vehicle barn; at least 4 witnesses say it was the size of a softball and
flew at a height of about 10 feet. At least six balls of light maneuver
around the flight line of the base at high speed and different
altitudes. (Nukes 462–466)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7006
Date: 1/1/1993
Description: 1:30 a.m. A taxi driver has just dropped off revelers at a
remote house in Hethersgill, Cumbria, England. She heads home down a
remote track toward the main road when suddenly her CB radio begins to
crackle then fades entirely. Moments later her car engine and lights
fail, and she coasts to a stop. She gets out, hoping to walk back to the
house, when she sees a ball of light low over the road heading towards
her. It swoops over her car and shoots into the sky, causing her skin to
tingle. The headlights come back on, the car lurches forward, and she
hears her sister talking on the CB asking where she has been for the
past 30 minutes. (Jenny Randles, “The Twelve UFOs of Christmas,” Fortean
Times 374 (Christmas 2018): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7003
Date: 1/14/1993
Description: 7:00 p.m. Residents of Jerzmanowice, Kraków County, Poland,
see a flash of light just before limestone debris falls around them,
breaking window panes and plunging through roofs. A local rock
formation, Babia Skała, has been shattered by an apparent lightning
strike, although some in the village have seen one or two bluish objects
colliding with the rock face. Although the blast is seen in Kraków,
registered on seismic equipment, and observed by the fight controller in
Balice, the Polish Army refuses to disclose any further details. (Poland
119– 120; “Babia
Skała,” Rowerowa Matopolska, May 26, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7004
Date: 1/19/1993
Description: Night. Jackie Chown and her family see a huge triangular
object with flashing lights above their home in Ellastone, West
Midlands, England. They chase after it in their car but lose track of
it. (“UFO
Spotters Chase Mysterious
‘Flashing Triangle,’” Ashbourne (UK) News Telegraph, January 21,
1993, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 283 (February 1993): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7005
Date: 1/20/1993
End date: 1/20/2001
Description: President Bill Clinton in office
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Washington DC
Date: 2/1/1993
Description: 9:00 p.m. A witness is driving in Cedarburg, Wisconsin,
when he sees a large, black, triangular UFO hovering above a water tank.
The object has 9 lights, including a row of lights on one side. Two
police officers had seen bright beams of lights in the vicinity earlier.
(Marler 218)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7007
Date: 2/4/1993
Description: 6:35 p.m. Kevin Crump and his grandmother, Betty Barnick,
spot an object in the sky near Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, that spits out
a blue glowing ball from its tail end, which hangs in the sky over an
old school. Crump gets out and sees the UFO almost directly overhead.
The moonlight reflects off its black metallic surface. It has the shape
of an “oblong triangle” with a light at each point—a red light and a
blue light at the front and a white light in the back. The UFO
eventually moves away but returns with another bright blue light below
it. (Marler 218–219)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7008
Date: 3/1993
Description: US Rep. Steven
Schiff (R-N.Mex.) writes to Defense Secretary Les
Aspin, asking the US Air Force to declassify and provide him with
all material relating to the Roswell crash. There is no response. After
a second request, USAF Col. Larry G. Shockley refers him to the National
Archives, which has no information.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7009
Date: 3/12/1993
Description: Paramount premieres Fire in the Sky, a feature film
directed by Robert
Lieberman that is based on abductee Travis
Walton’s book of the same name. Walton is portrayed by actor D.
B. Sweeney. (Internet
Movie Database, “Fire
in the Sky”; Chris Talarski, “Film Review: Fire in the Sky,” IUR 18,
no. 3 (May/June 1993): 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7010
Date: 3/16/1993
Description: A couple who are viewing aerial activity from a hill
adjacent to Area 51 in Nevada see strange lights that seem to transform
themselves into an automotive vehicle. After the encounter, the
witnesses sense that 30 minutes are unaccounted for. They undergo
hypnosis and recall an abduction by gray-skinned aliens. The man is
taken into a craft, while the woman is taken into a white van. Inside
the van are two men dressed in black with black baseball caps. They
administer intrusive procedures in her eyes, ears, and elsewhere. She
remembers seeing electronic instruments and automatic rifles inside the
van. (William F. Hamilton, “Area
51 Encounter,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 304 (August 1993): 14–17;
Clark III 734)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7011
Date: 3/31/1993
Description: 1:10–1:15 a.m. Dozens of people across Devon, Cornwall,
South Wales, Shropshire, and central Ireland see triangular UFOs
speeding across the sky. An MoD police patrol sees the lights from RAF
Cosford in Shropshire, England. The UFO passes over the base “at great
velocity … at an altitude of approximately 1,000 feet.” It looks like
two white lights with a faint red glow at the rear, with no engine
noise. The RAF police report also contains details on other civilian UFO
sightings that they had learned about in the course of making enquiries
with other military bases, civil airports, and local police. The police
call ahead to alert the meteorological officer at nearby RAF Shawbury
that the UFO is coming his way. The officer at Shawbury sees the object
moving slowly across the countryside toward the base at a speed of no
more than 30–40 mph. He sees the UFO fire a narrow beam of light (like a
laser) at the ground and watches the light sweeping backwards and
forwards across the field beyond the perimeter fence, as if it is
looking for something. He hears and feels the vibrations from an
unpleasant low- frequency humming sound coming from the craft. He
estimates its size as midway between a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft
and a Boeing 747. The light beam retracts in an unnatural way, then the
object accelerates to the horizon many times faster than a military
aircraft. Ministry of Defence UFO Officer Nick
Pope says there are multiple sightings at different times that
cannot be attributed to the reentry, concluding on April 16 that “It
seems that an unidentified object of unknown origin was operating in the
UK Air Defence Region without being detected on radar; this would appear
to be of considerable defence significance, and I recommend that we
investigate further, within MoD or with the US authorities.” However, Jenny
Randles suspects that the sightings are caused by the Soviet Tsyklon
rocket booster 22586U, which launched the Kosmos 2238 radio satellite
into orbit the previous day. Pope later comes around to that viewpoint
after hearing about sightings at the same time in Ireland and France.
(Jenny Randles, “A New Broom at the Ministry,” IUR 19, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1994): 18–20; Nick Pope, Open Skies, Closed Minds, Simon
& Schuster, 1996, pp. 134–141;
Don Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing
Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000, p. 146;
David Clarke, “The Cosford
Case,” Fortean Times 199 (September 2005): 30–31; Kean, pp. 165–167,
251–252;
Good Need, pp. 384–
385, 431–432;
UFOFiles2, pp. 142–143;
Jenny Randles, “Irish Mid-Air Spectacular,” Fortean Times 375 (January
2019): 33; Nick Pope, “The Cosford Incident,” 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7012
Date: 4/1993
Description: Michael
D. Swords examines the position of establishment astronomers on the
existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life in the first six decades
of the 20th century, especially regarding Mars, Venus, and deep space.
He then speculates on the likely advice received by the USAF
intelligence community by astronomical experts in the early days of the
UFO phenomenon. (Michael D. Swords, “Astronomers, the Extraterrestrial
Hypothesis, and the United States Air Force at the Beginning of the
Modern UFO Phenomenon,” JUFOS 4 (1992): 79–129)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7013
Date: 4/1993
Description: Didier Gomez begins publishing UFOmania in Paris, France.
It continues through April 2015. (UFOmania,
no. 1 (April 1993))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7015
Date: 4/1993
Description: Spanish communications technician José
Luis Jordán Peña confesses for the first time to hoaxing the Ummo
letters as well as the UFO sightings at Aluche, Spain, in 1966 and San
José de Valderas in 1967. He says that he used the word “Ummo” because
it suggests the Spanish word humo (smoke) and randomly chose Wolf 424 as
the home star for the imaginary planet. “I wrote the reports on Saturday
and Sunday afternoons, and I took advantage of my trips to France,
England, Mozambique, etc., or those of friends, to send letters from
there.” However, other hoaxers begin copying his style, and after he
receives an invitation to an Ummo conference in Cuba, he decides to
admit the hoax he had started 25 years earlier. (Wikipedia, “Ummo”;
Jim Keith, Casebook on the Men in Black, IllumiNet, 1997)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7014
Date: 4/1993
Description: The Centro de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Inusuales in
Buenos Aires, Argentina, publishes the first issue of Los Identificados,
a journal focusing on Argentine occupant cases. It is edited by Roberto
E. Banchs and runs for 15 issues until 1998. (Los
Identificados, no.
1 (April 1993))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7016
Date: 4/26/1993
Description: 11:20 p.m. A witness in Muskegon, Michigan, is taking her
dog for a walk when she notices two red lights and one white light
arranged like a triangle above Muskegon Lake. The lights separate, and
the white light shoots across the sky. The two red lights move back and
forth like a pendulum before heading south. Another witness in
Whitehall, Michigan, sees a similar display at the same time. (“Two
See Unidentified ’Triangle of Lights,” Muskegon (Mich.) Chronicle,
April 28, 1993, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 287 (June 1993):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7017
Date: 4/28/1993
Description: 11:50 p.m. Jefferson County Air Unit police officers Kenny
Graham and Kenny Downs are on helicopter patrol over General Electric
Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky, when Graham sees something like
a small fire off to his left. Downs shines his spotlight on the light,
which begins to drift back and forth as the spot washes over it. Then it
gradually floats up to the helicopter’s altitude at 500 feet, where it
hovers for a few seconds before moves away at high speed, making two
counterclockwise loops and doubling back to the rear of the helicopter.
Graham pushes his speed up to 100 mph. The object passes them and climbs
hundreds of feet into the air before descending again toward the
helicopter. Graham tries to close the gap, but it eludes him. As it
approaches again on a parallel course, the object releases three
fireballs. Fearing a collision, Graham banks away. When his move is
complete, the light has vanished. Two officers in their squad cars, Mike
Smith and Joe Smolenski, also see the light and the fireballs. Smolenski
tries to follow the light for a full minute before it disappears. (“Police
Officers Describe ‘Dogfight’
with a UFO,” Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal, March 4, 1993, pp. 1,
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7018
Date: 4/29/1993
Description: A Rockwell-MBB X-31 experimental jet fighter designed to
test thrust-vectoring technology successfully executes a rapid
minimum-radius, 180° turn using a post-stall maneuver, flying well
outside the range of angle of attack normal for conventional aircraft.
This maneuver has been called the “Herbst maneuver” after Wolfgang Herbst, a
Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm employee and proponent of using post-stall
flight in air-to-air combat. It looks nothing like a triangular UFO and
cannot match the performance of the Belgian triangles. (Wikipedia, “Rockwell-MBB
X-31”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7019
Date: 5/9/1993
End date: 9/20/1993
Description: Artist and ceramicist Filiberto Caponi has a series of
encounters with a humanoid alien near his home in Pretore, Ascoli
Piceno, Italy. He takes six Polaroid photos of the creature in seemingly
painful physical conditions. (Timothy Good, Unearthly Disclosure:
Conflicting Interests in the Control of Extraterrestrial Intelligence,
Random House, 2001, pp. 140–206; Patrick Gross, “The
Filiberto Caponi Close Encounters of the 3rd
Kind, 1993”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7020
Date: 5/20/1993
Description: Airliner crew saw dark blue, metallicappearing triangular
object
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Ottawa, Canada
ID: 479
Date: 6/1993
End date: 11/1993
Description: Numerous sightings, photographs reportedly taken
Type: sighting
Type: newspaper article
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Antelope Valley, CA
ID: 480
Date: 6/3/1993
Description: 6:00 p.m. A passenger on a flight 15 minutes out of Los
Angeles International Airport in California sees a small cloud moving in
the opposite direction of the aircraft, which has leveled off at 30,000
feet. He watches it fly in between two vertical columns of clouds, then
when it approaches to a point directly in line with his window, it dives
into the cloud mass below at a 30° angle and disappears. (Herbert S.
Taylor, “Mystery Clouds and the UFO Connection,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July
2005): 19, 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7022
Date: 6/3/1993
Description: Ordinary Conversations about Extraordinary Matters, a
documentary film by Allen
Ross, premieres at the theatre of the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago. Illinois. It features interviews with attendees at R.
Leo Sprinkle’s
12th Rocky Mountain UFO Conference in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1991. (“New
Abduction Documentary Debuts,” IUR 18, no. 3 (May/June 1993): 21; George
M. Eberhart, “Postcards with a UFO Theme,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer 2004):
22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7021
Date: 6/5/1993
Description: Reinhard Nühlen founds Deutschsprachige Gesellschaft für
UFO-Forschung in Bad Kreuznach, Germany, and begins publishing DEGUFOrum
in January 1994. It is currently (2020) edited by Nikolaus Bettinger in
Würselen, Germany. (DEGUforum, no.
1 (January 1994))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7023
Date: 6/8/1993
Description: Round UFO with satellite objects
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Antelope Valley, CA
ID: 481
Date: 6/26/1993
Description: 4:00 a.m. Witnesses in Hartcliffe, Bristol, England, see a
large cigar-shaped object (a possible blimp) drifting slowly and
silently over the rooftops. large white light (the planet Venus) in the
southeast climbing slowly upward. It fades into the lightening sky
shortly before dawn. One witness takes many minutes of video of this
object, compressing several hours of its appearance. The same light
appears at the same time for weeks. (Jenny Randles, “UFOs in Focus,” IUR
18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993): 14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7024
Date: 7/13/1993
Description: Cigar-shaped object with red body lights maneuvered at low
level
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Syracuse, IN
ID: 482
Date: 7/20/1993
Description: Round UFO with satellite objects
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Antelope Valley, CA
ID: 483
Date: 7/22/1993
Description: Richard L. Huff in the FBI Office of Information and
Privacy informs researcher Nick
Redfern that it has a file on Majestic-12, although it is in “closed
status.” The file title is labeled “Espionage.” (Kremlin 191–192)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7025
Date: 8/1993
Description: Day. A witness takes a video of an odd figure on a beach at
Rhyl, Clwyd, Wales. As the camera pans through the crowd on the beach, a
strange semi-transparent figure in a silver suit becomes visible for a
couple of seconds standing and facing a wooden fence. Looking up, he
cannot see the figure, which appears to have vanished. Investigators
suspect it is merely someone in odd clothing. (Jenny Randles, “UFOs in
Focus,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7026
Date: 8/1/1993
Description: MARAUDER (Magnetically accelerated ring to achieve
ultrahigh directed energy and radiation) is, or was, a USAF Research
Laboratory project to develop a coaxial plasma railgun. It is one of
several US efforts to develop a plasma-based projectile. It began
development in 1990, and its first published experiment takes place on
this date. The project’s initial success leads to it becoming
classified, and only a few references to MARAUDER appear after 1993. No
information about the fate of the project is published after 1995.
(Wikipedia, “MARAUDER”;
C. R. Sovinec and R. E. Peterkin Jr., “Phase
1b MARAUDER Computer Simulations,” 1990 IEEE International
Conference on Plasma Science, Abstracts)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7027
Date: 8/8/1993
Description: Early morning. Kelly
Cahill and her husband Andrew are returning from a party in Narre
Warren North, in the Dandenong Foothills of Victoria, Australia, and are
near Eumemmerring Creek south of Belgrave when they see a huge lighted
object with windows in front of them on the road. It seems to have
people in it, but it quickly shoots off to the left and disappears. They
continue driving, and about one kilometer ahead they encounter another
bright light. Her husband continues driving, and they do not recall
anything else until they get home. They agree they saw a UFO but can’t
agree on whether they had missing time or saw people. They both can
smell vomit and feel stomach pains. Kelly notices a triangular mark
below her navel, which is bleeding a bit. Kelly has a strange dream
immediately after the encounter, and two subsequent dreams in September,
October 23, and January 1994—all involving entities and a “strange
physical dimension.” A few weeks later, both of them start remembering
that the UFO has landed in an adjacent field and that they get out of
the car to look at it. An abduction scenario ensues involving tall black
beings. They also recall that there is another car stopped by the road
with at least two people in it. By November 17, Phenomena Research
Australia has located the couple in the other car and a woman who was
with them. They have also undergone an abduction experience and have
missing time. These witnesses, unknown to the Cahills, confirm the UFO
landing site, and their drawings of the UFOs and entities closely
coincide with Kelly’s. The second group also recalls seeing a third car
with one male who is gazing fixedly toward the encounter site.
Unfortunately, Kelly’s account of the incident is the only one that has
come to light. (Bill Chalker, “An Extraordinary Encounter in the
Dandenong Foothills,” IUR 19, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1994): 4–8, 18–20; Bill
Chalker, “Aliens, Hair, and DNA,” IUR 29, no. 3 (Fall 2004): 3; Kelly
Cahill, Encounter, HarperCollins, 1996; Bill Chalker, The Oz Files: The
Australian UFO Story, Duffy and Snellgrove, 1996; Bill Chalker, “The
Kelly Cahill Case Revisited: An Extraordinary Lost Opportunity,”
TheOzFiles, March 2, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7028
Date: 8/8/1993
Description: Five people in two separate cars encountered UFO on road,
experienced missing time. Memories returned gradually without hypnosis,
including tall beings who abducted them (Chalker, 1996).
Type: abduction
Type: alien or creature encounter
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
ID: 484
Date: 8/11/1993
Description: Perseid meteor shower (mean date).
Type: natural phenomenon
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location:
ID: 485
Date: 8/12/1993
Description: 12:30 a.m. Two friends are watching the Perseid meteor
shower in a dark school yard in North Lethbridge, Alberta, when they see
a dark, gray-black, triangular object pass quickly and silently overhead
for 4–5 seconds. Each point of the triangle has a red light on it. As it
disappears to the south, it flips upward at a 45° angle. Another witness
in a different location watches a similar object around the same time.
Local radar does not show any unusual traffic. (David Thacker, “Flight
of the Triangle,” IUR 19, no. 3 (May/June 1994): 4–8, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7029
Date: 8/13/1993
Description: Night. Costin and Mariana Popa are driving with their
daughter Diana in a rural area a few miles south of Telega, Romania,
when their car engine stops unexpectedly and the headlights go out.
Examining the engine, they are suddenly hit by a “wall of air” and see a
fog-like rectangular screen on the right side of the road floating 18
inches above the grass. It is pulsating every 2–3 seconds with a
yellowish-white light. They hear no noise and feel no heat. After about
20 minutes the screen begins to move across the road and stops in front
of them, having become a narrow band of light 90 feet long and 3 feet
wide. Soon it becomes brighter and shoots into the sky and disappears.
The car starts normally again. (Romania 58–59)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7030
Date: 8/14/1993
Description: 1:56 a.m. Four UFOs with red and green flashing lights are
seen flying at low altitude above Henri Coandă International Airport at
Otopeni, Romania. They first turn up on radar, then are seen visually
and observed through binoculars. (Romania 75)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7031
Date: 9/2/1993
Description: 6:00 a.m. A black-and-white security camera at a private
company in West Manchester, England, captures a pulsing ball of white
light that appears in the northwest, moving toward the north, for
several minutes. The camera operator also sees it visually. Estimates
place its speed as low as 50 mph. Possible blimp. (Jenny Randles, “UFOs
in Focus,” IUR 18, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1993): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7032
Date: 9/16/1993
Description: 4:00 p.m. Pilots of two airliners preparing to land at
Benito Juárez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, see an
object like a balloon, but it is going too fast. One pilot describes it
as looking like a praying mantis. (Jaime Maussán, “OVNIs sobre la
Terra,” La Epoca (Mexico), November 19, 1993; Antonio Huneeus, “UFO
Chronicle: UFOs and IFOs from Mexico, Part II,” Fate 47, no. 12
(December 1994); Don Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus,
UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000, p.
146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7033
Date: 10/1993
Description: The Foreign Technology Division becomes the National Air
Intelligence Center. (Wikipedia, “National
Air and
Space Intelligence Center”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7035
Date: 10/1993
Description: Rep. Steven
Schiff asks Charles
Arthur Bowsher, head
of the US General Accounting Office, to prepare a report on the status
of records related to the 1947 Roswell incident in New Mexico. (Mark
Rodeghier, “Roswell and the GAO Investigation,” IUR 19, no. 2
(March/April 1994): 3, 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7034
Date: 10/12/1993
Description: Air Force Col. Richard L. Weaver tells researcher Nick
Redfern that USAF considers both the MJ-12 group and its documents
to be “bogus.” However, he concedes that there are “no documents
responsive” to his request on how such a determination was made.
(Kremlin 183–184)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7036
Date: 10/18/1993
Description: A memo on “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Study” from a UK
wing commander to the Sec(AS)2, the Air Staff deputy director, proposes
a secret government study of UFOs, which will become Project Condign in
1997– 2000. Paragraph 2 reads: “I am aware, from intelligence sources,
that xxxxx believes that such phenomena exists and has a small team
studying them. I am also aware that an informal group exists in the
xxxxxxxxxxx community and it is possible that this reflects a more
formal organization.” Leslie
Kean suspects that the first redacted word is “Russia” and the
second is “US intelligence.” (“Unidentified
Aerial Phenomena Study,” October 18, 1993, UK UFO Documents, Part 1,
pp. 198–199; Kean, pp. 238–240)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7037
Date: 10/25/1993
Description: 5:30–9:30 p.m. Multiple sightings of diamond- or
triangular-shaped objects with multicolored light occur around La
Louvière, Hainaut, Belgium. (Patrick Gross, “The
Belgium Flap”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7038
Date: 12/1993
Description: Héctor Escobar begins publishing Perspectivas Ufológicas in
Mexico City, Mexico. The periodical continues until February 1996. (Perspectivas
Ufológicas, no.
1 (December 1993))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7040
Date: 12/1993
Description: The RAAF formally concludes its UFO investigations in a
revised “RAAF Policy: Unusual Aerial Sightings.” (Bill Chalker, “The
Australian Government and UFOs,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7039
Date: 12/1/1993
Description: The European Parliament considers a resolution that enables
the French UFO agency, Service d’Expertise des Phénomènes de Rentrée
Atmosphérique (SEPRA), to carry out UFO investigations throughout the
member countries of the European Community. The resolution was first
proposed in 1991 by Belgian deputy Elio
Di Rupo in the wake of the Belgian UFO wave to set up an
all-European agency to study UFO reports. The EP’s committee on
industry, external trade, research, and energy, chaired by physicist Tullio
Regge, holds
several meetings on the proposal in consultation with SEPRA’s Jean-Jacques
Velasco, and
approves the motion for a resolution. However, the Parliament does not
have the necessary votes to implement and fund the resolution, the
agency is never created, and SEPRA has its own funding problems. (George
M. Eberhart, “The European Parliament,” IUR 19, no. 2 (March/April
1994): 19; 2Pinotti 137–140)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7041
Date: 12/17/1993
Description: The first operational Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth
bomber is delivered to Whiteman AFB, south of Knob Noster, Missouri,
where the fleet is based. (Wikipedia, “Northrop
Grumman B-2 Spirit”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7042
Date: 1994
Description: Wim van Utrecht founds Caelestia in Antwerp, Belgium, to
collect, investigate, and document UFO reports. (Wim van Utrecht, “About
Caelestia,” July 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7046
Date: 1994
Description: Karla
Turner writes Taken, in which she describes accounts from eight
women, none of whom know each other, all of whom consciously recall a
large portion of their abduction experiences without the aid of
hypnosis. She is disturbed to find that at least 10 people close to her
seem to have a pattern of alien intrusions and disturbances. The women
describe a variety of alien types: grays, insectoids, humanoids, blue
humanoids, and dwarves. Several of the women describe not only hybrid
nursery rooms, but also cloning rooms in which living but inert humans
are suspended in liquid-filled cylinders. There are accounts of aliens
apparently taking human souls and placing them into a box. One alien
group appears to harvest “negative emotional energy.” Not all
experiences are harmful or exploitative; some women claim to have had
miraculous healings by aliens. Still, Turner suggests that this does not
make the aliens humanity’s benefactors. If they cared for humans, it
could be the way in which a farmer cares for cattle. Four of the women
describe being abducted by human military personnel and taken to
underground military facilities. Human and alien workers are sometimes
described as being there. The abductees remember being questioned by
military types who ask “What do you know about the alien agenda? What
have they told you? What implants have you received? What procedures
have they carried out on you?” A number of medical problems develop,
apparently related to the abductions: cancer, depression, post-traumatic
stress disorder, sexual dysfunction, and suicide. One thing that
perplexes Turner is why military groups would need to interrogate
abductees about alien intrusions. (Karla Turner, Taken:
Inside the Alien-Human Abduction Agenda, The Author, 1994)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7047
Date: 1994
Description: A video of a UFO is taken by a ground radar station at the
Tolicha Peak Electronic Combat Range, part of the Nellis Range northwest
of the Nevada Test Site. At times the UFO appears to be four globes tied
together; at other times it appears to be a fuzzy, gaseous cloud. The
film is genuine, according to Steven
Greer, who shows it at CSETI’s Congressional Briefing on April 9,
1997, in Washington, D.C. It is aired by the Fox TV show Sightings and a
few other TV networks. (Patrick Gross, “The
Nellis Test Range UFO Video”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7043
Date: 1994
Description: More than 300 pages of Army CIC documents relating to
Operation Harass are declassified after researcher Timothy
S. Cooper files a FOIA request. There is a concentration on frantic
wartime efforts to find the Horten brothers, as
well as an “Intelligence Requirements on Flying Saucer Type Aircraft:
Draft of Collection Memorandum,” undated but prepared prior to October
20, 1947. (“FOIA:
Army CIC UFO Files Various Subjects Including
‘Horten Brothers: Flying Wing,’” Above Top Secret forum, December
17, 2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7044
Date: 1994
Description: Mark
Rodeghier, Stuart
Appelle, David
Gotlib, and
Georgia Flamburis develop and publish an “Ethics Code for Abduction
Experience Investigation and Treatment.” It is approved by the CUFOS and
MUFON boards. (“News from the Field,” IUR 19, no. 3 (May/June 1994): 3;
David Gotlib, Stuart Appelle, Georgia Flamburis, and Mark Rodeghier,
“Ethics Code for Abduction Experience Investigation and Treatment,”
JUFOS 5 (1994): 55–81)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7045
Date: 1/4/1994
Description: RAAF Wing Commander Brett
Biddington informs civilian UFO groups in Australia that the number
of UFO reports submitted to the RAAF has declined significantly in the
past 10 years, saying “there is no compelling reason for the RAAF to
continue to devote resources to recording, investigating, and attempting
to explain [Unusual Aerial Sightings].” He says that reports will be
forwarded to civilian groups. (Bill Chalker, “The Australian Government
and UFOs,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 22, 36; Swords 411–412)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7048
Date: 1/12/1994
Description: Rep. Steven
Schiff (D-N.Mex.) tells the press that he has been stonewalled by
the US Defense Department when he requested information about the 1947
Roswell incident on behalf of his constituents and witnesses. Schiff
calls the lack of response “astounding” and indicative of a cover-up.
(“Roswell Declaration 1994,” IUR 19, no. 2 (March/April 1994): 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7049
Date: 1/15/1994
Description: President Bill
Clinton issues an executive order to create an Advisory Committee on
Human Radiation Experiments to investigate US government records on
radiation studies done at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Certain records
involving programs in and around Area 51, Nevada, are excluded on the
basis that the president does not have a need to know. (Wikipedia, “Advisory
Committee on Human Radiation Experiments”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7050
Date: late 1/1994
Description: The Secretary of the Air Force’s office of Security and
Special Program Oversight directs its research and classification team
to locate any official records on the Roswell incident. (Swords
351)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7052
Date: 1/27/1994
Description: Luminous UFO maneuvered erratically near airliner
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Kazakhstan Republic
ID: 486
Date: 1/28/1994
Description: 1:14 p.m. Air France pilot Jean-Charles Duboc and two
members of his A320 airliner crew briefly observe over
Coulommiers–Voisins Aerodrome, Seine-et-Marne, France, an elliptical
UFO, reddish-brown in color and possibly of large size. Radar at CODA,
the Taverny air operations center, tracks the object for 50 seconds but
places the target closer to the airplane than the pilot’s estimate.
SEPRA investigates the case and determines that based on the radar
trajectory the UFO is about 750 feet long. (Joel de Woolfson, “UFO
‘Evidence’ Grows,” This Is Guernsey, February 5, 2007; Gildas
Bourdais, “The Death and Rebirth of Official French UFO Studies,” IUR
31, no. 2 (June 2007): 16; Kean, pp. 135–136;
Good Need, pp. 401–402;
“1994-01-28:
Sighting of Air France Pilot
Jean Charles Duboc,” Tom Owens YouTube channel, June 16, 2019;
Patrick Gross, “UFO
Sighting of Flight AF-3532”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7051
Date: 1/28/1994
Description: Air France airliner—UFO encounter, tracked on military
radar
Type: sighting
Type: official
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Paris, France
ID: 487
Date: 2/1994
Description: Leonard
Stringfield releases his seventh and final status report on UFO
crash/retrievals. (Leonard H. Stringfield, UFO Crash/Retrievals: Search
for Proof in a Hall of Mirrors, Status Report VII, The Author,
1994).
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7053
Date: 2/1/1994
Description: Cigar-shaped object illuminated car with light beam, E-M
effects
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Badalucco, Liguria, Italy
ID: 488
Date: 2/9/1994
Description: Richard Davis, director of the National Security Analysis
group at the General Accounting Office, writes to Secretary of Defense
William
Perry that the GAO is initiating a review of “DOD’s policies and
procedures for acquiring, classifying, retaining, and disposing of
official governmental documents dealing with weather balloon, aircraft,
and similar crash incidents” to find out whether “proper procedures to
ensure government accountability” were followed. (Mark Rodeghier,
“Roswell and the GAO Investigation,” IUR 19, no. 2 (March/April 1994):
3, 24; Swords 351)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7054
Date: 2/15/1994
Description: Vehicle encounter with glowing oblong object, E-M
effects
Type: sighting
Type: alien or creature encounter
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Enkoping, Sweden
ID: 489
Date: 2/15/1994
Description: 11:00 p.m. Kerstin Hallman is on her way home from work
near Grillby, Sweden, when she sees an oblong light with spikes on top.
The car lights go out and the engine fails. (Clas Svahn and Jorgen
Granlie, “The Light That Stopped a Car,” IUR 22, no. 4 (Winter
1997–1998): 12; Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference
Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 16–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7055
Date: 3/1994
Description: Night. A married couple are driving in Bestwood Village,
Nottinghamshire, England, when they see a huge triangular object hanging
in the sky. It has three steady white, green, and red lights and is
apparently only 200 feet from the ground. Its base has a ribbed pattern.
It moves off slowly to the northwest, then accelerates, changing
direction to the south. (“UFO
Sighting Convinces Hucknall Man,” Hucknall (UK) Dispatch, March 11,
1994, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 298 (May 1994): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7057
Date: 3/1994
Description: In response to Steven
Schiff’s getting stonewalled by the US Defense Department over
information on the 1947 Roswell incident in New Mexico, airline pilot
Kent Jeffrey circulates the Roswell Declaration, a statement calling for
an “Executive Order declassifying any US government information on the
existence of UFOs or extraterrestrial intelligence” and a release from
the security oaths taken by military or civilian personnel involved in
UFO cases. Promoted by CUFOS, MUFON, and the Fund for UFO Research, the
declaration is signed by more than 20,000 people interested in finding
out the truth. (“Roswell
Declaration,” International Roswell Initiative; “The Roswell
Declaration,” IUR 19, no. 2 (March/April 1994): 20–21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7056
Date: 3/6/1994
Description: 4:30 p.m. Two men flying an ultralight aircraft 250 feet
over Termoli, Campobasso, Italy, see a small, spherical object flying
northward. Approximately 4 miles from them, it is lost to sight in a few
seconds. Earlier in the afternoon an unknown dark object crashes on
Monte Mutria, Campobasso. The witness, Angelo Gianbattista, 18, tells
his father, police officer Franco Giambattista, that an airplane has
fallen. Franco goes outside and spots with binoculars two dark shadows
in a ravine. The military police are notified and converge on the site.
At 8:00 p.m., guided by a powerful light beam, eight volunteers climb
the mountain. Three helicopters hover overhead. Nothing is found, even
conventional objects that might be mistaken for something else. (Renzo
Cabassi, “UFO Crash
at Guardioaregia?” Italian UFO Reporter 2, no. 4 (October 10, 1996):
2–4; Clark III 345; 2Pinotti 140– 141)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7058
Date: 3/8/1994
Description: 9:15 p.m. Residents of Holland, Michigan, begin observing
odd lights in the sky. To some, the lights appear to be attached to one
another, or at least coordinated in their movements. The commonest
description is of four lights strung together, high in altitude, moving
from southeast to southwest. The Graves family sees a disk with lights
turning clockwise on its underside. Police officer Jeff
Velthouse is dispatched to investigate, and he watches some lights
through binoculars around 9:40 p.m. The Allegan County sheriff’s office
contacts the Muskegon National Weather Service radar station about 30
miles to the north to ask whether they have any targets. They do, and
the radar operator gives a live report, recorded by the police, of the
returns he is tracking. The majority of the returns are of three,
well-separated targets, sometimes in line, both usually in a triangular
array. An intermittent fourth signal blinks in and out. The visual
sightings last until 11:00 p.m., but the weather radar continues to see
targets for another 20–30 minutes. (Michael D. Swords, “The Holland,
Michigan, Radar- Visual Case, 1994,” IUR 24, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 3–7; Don
Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing
Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 146–147;
Swords 343)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7059
Date: 3/20/1994
Description: “Groom Lake Toxic Burning Alleged” A former worker at the
secret Air Force base says poisonous substances were routinely ignited.
Las Vegas Review-Journal, Mar. 20, 1994, Page 1B.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: link
Location: Groom Lake
Date: 4/1994
Description: The UK government introduces a Code of Practice on Access
to Government Information, a limited right to access government records
from the previous 30 years, as a precursor to a full freedom of
information act. (Campaign for Freedom of Information, “Code
of Practice on Access to Government Information: Guidance on Interpretation,”
April 1994, second
ed., 1997)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7060
Date: 5/1994
Description: Research psychologist Susan
Marie Powers publishes a study on 20 abductees to explore the
presence of PTSD symptoms. The results show that 45% of the abductees
manifest PTSD symptoms and 70% manifest dissociative symptomatology. A
content analysis of the narratives suggests that sexual abuse could be
at the root of some of the stories. (Susan Marie Powers, “Thematic
Content Analyses of the Reports of UFO Abductees and Close Encounter
Witnesses: Indications of Repressed Sexual Abuse,” JUFOS 5 (1994):
35–54; Susan Marie Powers, “Dissociation
in Alleged Extraterrestrial Abductees,” Dissociation 7, no. 1 (March
1994): 44–50)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7062
Date: 5/1994
Description: The Dean of Harvard Medical School, Daniel
C. Tosteson, appoints a committee of peers to confidentially review
Department of Psychiatry Head John
E. Mack’s clinical care and clinical investigation of the people who
had shared their alien encounters with him (some of their cases are
written up in Mack’s 1994 book Abduction). Angela Hind writes, “It was
the first time in Harvard’s history that a tenured professor was
subjected to such an investigation.” Upon the public revelation of the
existence of the committee (inadvertently revealed during the
solicitation of witnesses for Mack’s defense, 10 months into the
process), questions arise from the academic community (including Harvard
Professor of Law Alan
Dershowitz) regarding the validity of an investigation of a tenured
professor who is not suspected of ethics violations or professional
misconduct. Concluding the 14-month investigation, Harvard then issues a
statement stating that the dean has “reaffirmed Dr. Mack’s academic
freedom to study what he wishes and to state his opinions without
impediment,” concluding “Dr. Mack remains a member in good standing of
the Harvard Faculty of Medicine.” (Wikipedia, “John
E. Mack”; John E. Mack, Abduction: Human
Encounters with Aliens, Wheeler,
1994)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7061
Date: 5/21/1994
Description: 11:00 p.m. A witness in Plauen, Germany, is watching TV
when she notices a light outside. She sees a disk with several rings of
lights illuminating a tree and causing it to whip around violently. It
is about 30 feet in diameter, and its top and bottom halves are rotating
in opposite directions. After it hovers silently for a minute, it stops
shaking the tree and moves behind a building and shoots away, leaving a
hole in the clouds above. Two other witnesses see the disc from a
different perspective and feel a strong wind. (Illobrand von Ludwiger,
Best UFO Cases: Europe, National Institute for Discovery Science,
1998)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7063
Date: 6/1994
Description: Day. An object like a balloon suddenly appears in the sky
above US Highway 22 and East Kemper Road in Symmes Township, Ohio,
outside Cincinnati. It remains perfectly stationary until after dark.
One witness takes at least three photos of it. At one point it ascends
to a higher altitude. The object is approached and circled three times
by local air traffic. (Patrick Gross, “The
Symmes Township Orb, USA, June 1994”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7065
Date: 6/1994
Description: The TNS Emnid Institut in Bielefeld, Germany, conducts a
one-question survey on UFO beliefs among 1,069 Germans. Although the
question is ambiguous, 22% respond yes and 78% no, in both the former
West and East Germanies. The belief is much stronger in younger
populations. (Mark Rodeghier, “Do Germans Believe in UFOs and
Extraterrestrials?” IUR 21, no. 2 (Summer 1996): 25, 30)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7064
Date: early 6/1994
Description: A tree farmer named Meng Zhaoguo is at Red Flag logging
camp near Wuchang, Heilongjiang, China, with two other workers when they
see a strange light in the sky. Thinking it is either a downed satellite
or helicopter, Meng goes to retrieve the wreckage. However, at some
point he is hit in the forehead by a shining light and knocked
unconscious. He wakes up at home some time later, with no recollection
of how he got there. A few nights later, he wakes up in his bed to find
that a 10-foot-tall female alien with six fingers and braided leg fur is
in his room. He and the alien have sex for 40 minutes before it
disappears, leaving a 2-inch scar on his thigh. He also claims that on
July 17, he levitates through a wall and meets with a group of
three-eyed aliens on their ship. He asks to see the female alien again
but is rebuffed. The aliens show him images of Mars (or Jupiter), which
they claim is their home world, and tell him that “on a distant planet
the son of a Chinese peasant will be born in 60 years.” His story is
examined by the UFO Enthusiasts Club at Wuhan University throughout
1997. They conclude that while the initial contact may have occurred,
the subsequent reported events are almost certainly untrue. However,
other UFO groups in China think that his ongoing story is true. In
September 2003, Zhang Jingping and the state-sponsored Chinese UFO
Association give Meng a medical exam, a lie detector test, and a
hypnotic regression session to prove his claims. The results supposedly
confirm his story. (John Kohut, “UFO
Group Probes
Claims of Sex with Jupiter Visitor,” South China Morning Post (Hong
Kong), October 30, 1994; Teresa Poole, “Close
Encounters of an Intimate Kind: Peking Days,” The Independent (UK),
March 17, 1995; “Calling Occupants
of Inter-planetary Craft,” China Daily, October 31, 2010; “One
of the Strangest Alien Abduction Cases
in China Ever Told,” Before It’s News, July 20, 2014; Chris
Saunders, “UFOs over China,” Fortean Times 331 (October 2015): 28–30;
Michael Meyer, “Meet
the Chinese Lumberjack Who Slept with an Alien,” HuffPost, October
16, 2015; Bill Chalker, “The
Untold Story of UFOs in China: Lost in Translation or the
Devouring Dragon?” New
Dawn Special Issue 14, no. 1 (January 2020))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7066
Date: 6/24/1994
Description: 2:40 a.m. Three gendarmes at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre,
Seine-et-Marne, France, notice a bright set of lights in the sky. They
drive closer and find that the source is a stationary object with three
yellow-white lights. Its underside is triangular with a central
pyramidal spire that points downward. They stop their patrol car, and
the object moves slowly toward them until it stops directly above the
vehicle. There is no noise, smoke, or odor. As soon as they start the
car again, the object moves west at high speed and becomes a speck on
the horizon within a second. The total duration is 10 minutes. The
police radios stop functioning, and the car becomes hot even though the
windows are open. (“Ussy-sur-Marne
(77) 24-06-1994,” GEIPAN, March 22, 2007; Swords 449)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7067
Date: 7/2/1994
Description: 1:30–1:45 p.m. A resident of Limelette, Belgium, is at home
in the Petit-Ry neighborhood when he looks out a window and sees a group
of 10 white vertical structures with rounded edges moving back and forth
about 180 feet above a vacant lot. They are all about 15–26 feet high
and somewhat translucent, moving in an erratic pattern. The dry grass
below has risen up into the air, forming a tornado shape and spinning
anticlockwise. He watches it for 2–3 minutes, and the phenomenon moves
slowly to the north and disappears. Possibly a wind devil. (Wim van
Utrecht, “Dancing
Ice-Lollies over a Waste Ground,” Caelestia)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7068
Date: 7/3/1994
Description: The first flight of a CIA-developed Predator drone takes
place at the El Mirage Field in the Mojave Desert, California.
(Wikipedia, “General
Atomics MQ-1 Predator”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7069
Date: 7/24/1994
Description: Motorists encountered glowing orange oblong objects, one
followed car. Diamond-shaped object hovered overhead when they stopped
to look. Missing time period discovered upon arrival home (Basterfield,
1997b).
Type: sighting
Type: abduction
Type: occupant or alien or creature encounter
Type: historical event
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
ID: 490
Date: 7/31/1994
Description: Roswell, a made-for-TV movie directed by Jeremy
Kagan and produced by Paul
Davids, premieres on Showtime. It stars Kyle
MacLachlan, Martin
Sheen, and
Dwight
Yoakam, and is based on UFO Crash at Roswell by Kevin
D. Randle and Donald
R. Schmitt. (Paul
Davids, “Roswell: The Movie,” IUR 19, no. 2 (March/April 1994):
15–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7070
Date: 8/23/1994
Description: 5:40 a.m. A delivery man and other early risers observe a
V-shaped object low in the sky above the business district of a western
suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Strobe lights emerge from the object at
both its top and bottom, shining continuous beams of light on the object
both while it is hovering and in flight. It disappears behind some
buildings to the south. (Marler 175)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7071
Date: 8/31/1994
Description: 8:30 p.m. Six witnesses in Mongo, Indiana, see a light
glowing through the treetops to the southwest at a low altitude. It
looks somewhat like the Moon, but it starts moving from behind the trees
into an open area near a road and hovers. It looks like a domed disc
with a white strobe light on top of the dome. A bright red light on the
bottom flashes 3–4 times like a strobe, then the object it disappears to
the south east within 2 seconds. One of the witnesses takes at least
four good pictures with a Vivitar fully automatic 35 mm camera with a
standard lens and loaded with 400 ASA color film. Dogs do not react to
the object. (NICAP, “The
Mongo Photos”; Patrick Gross, “The
Mongo Multiple Visual and Photographic Case, August 31, 1993”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7072
Date: 9/8/1994
Description: In response to Rep. Steven
Schiff’s request for information, Col. Richard L. Weaver, director
of security and special program oversight of the USAF Office of Special
Investigations, publicly releases the Report of Air Force Research
Regarding the “Roswell Incident,” a 23-page executive summary (dated
July 27) that concludes that “the material recovered near Roswell was
consistent with a balloon device and most likely from one of the Mogul
balloons that had not been previously recovered.” (Report
of Air Force Research Regarding the “Roswell Incident,” in
Col. Richard L. Weaver and 1Lt. James McAndrew, The Roswell Report: Fact
versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert, US Air Force Headquarters, July
1995, pp. 5–32; Mark Rodeghier and Mark Chesney, “The Air Force Report
on Roswell: An Absence of Evidence,” IUR 19, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1994): 3,
20–24; Karl T. Pflock, “Roswell, the Air Force, and Us,” IUR 19, no. 6
(Nov./Dec. 1994): 3–5, 24; Swords 351)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7073
Date: 9/9/1994
Description: Green- and red-lighted object with satellite objects
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Racoon Lake, IN
ID: 491
Date: 9/13/1994
Description: 5:30 p.m. As Larry Gardea is hunting for bear near Luna
Canyon in Mora County, New Mexico, he sees a cow lying dead some 30 feet
away. In the place where its rectum should be is a large, cylindrical
hole. Ten feet beyond that cow is another one, apparently alive, sitting
on its knees. At that moment a dozen cattle stampede in the opposite
direction, and Gardea hears a loud humming noise coming from the nearby
woods. A third cow is suddenly propelled through the air nearby at near
ground level, as if carried by an invisible beam. Gardea fires two shots
and the humming stops. (Clark III 138)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7074
Date: 9/14/1994
Description: 8:50–9:05 p.m. A brilliant ball of fire with a long trail
of sparks is seen over a wide range of territory in Zimbabwe, Botswana,
and southern Zambia, followed by a sonic boom. Some people see three
large lights in front, with from 8–20 smaller lights behind. Many report
that the objects are traveling very fast from north to south; others see
it moving slowly, and one man says he walked along with it more than 320
feet. Geologists Euen Nisbet and
Kathy Silva, working in Zvishavane, Zimbabwe, report that the display
takes a minute to cross the sky on a path angled about 10° away from
north to south. Witnesses at Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe, variously see three
orange-red lights with trails, a bright link with a dark center and 14
lights flashing around it, a light flying at treetop level, a row of
green lights with a trail, and an object several times larger than a
Boeing 747. Possibly debris from the rocket that launched the Russian
satellite Kosmos 2290. (Cynthia Hind, “UFO
Flap in Zimbabwe,”
UFO Afrinews, no. 11 (February 1995): 4–18; Cynthia Hind, “UFO Flap in
Zimbabwe,” IUR 20, no. 3 (May/June 1995): 20–21; James Oberg, “Zimbabwe:
1994 Sep 14 near 18:51 UTC,” PowerPoint presentation)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7075
Date: 9/16/1994
Description: Ariel school incident
Type: ce3 event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Ruwa, Zimbabwe
Date: 9/16/1994
Description: 10:00 a.m. Some 60 children in a grassy playground outside
Ariel School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, see three or four objects landing in the
“rough bush area” about 330 feet away. An entity of some kind emerges
from the largest object and stands on top. It has long, straight, black
hair tied back with a headband around its larger than normal head,
stands about 3 feet tall, and is dressed in black. Some of the younger
African children are afraid it is a Tokoloshe, a folkloric entity. After
15 minutes, the craft and entity fade from view. The headmaster asks
each child to draw what they saw. Researcher Cynthia
Hind interviews them on September 17 and psychologist John
E. Mack several
months later. (Cynthia Hind, “The
Children of Ariel School,” UFO Afrinews, no. 11 (February 1995):
19–25; “Never-Before-Seen
Photos Reveal Extraordinary Wedge-Shaped Impressions,” Daily Mail
(UK), May 20, 2022; Internet Movie Database, “Ariel
Phenomenon”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7076
Date: fall 1994
Description: Terry and Gwen Sherman purchase a 512-acre ranch in western
Uintah County, southeast of Ballard, Utah. The couple soon encounter
various types of UFOs and paranormal phenomena, including cattle
mutilations, bigfoot, flying orbs, discarnate voices, crop circles,
poltergeist activity, electromagnetic anomalies, orange portals, and a
giant wolflike creature. Colm
Kelleher and coauthor George
Knapp subsequently write a book, Hunt for the Skinwalker (2005), in
which they describe the ranch being acquired by Robert
Bigelow’s National Institute for Discovery Science in 1996 for
$200,000 to study the sightings at the ranch, soon dubbed the Skinwalker
Ranch after the shape-shifting creature in Navajo folklore. Between June
and August 1997, NIDS personnel observe anomalies on every occasion they
are at the ranch, but they are unable to prove anything scientifically.
Among those involved are retired US Army Col. John
B. Alexander who characterizes the NIDS effort as an attempt to get
hard data using a “standard scientific approach.” However, the
investigators admit to “difficulty obtaining evidence consistent with
scientific publication.” (Wikipedia, “Skinwalker
Ranch”; Colm Kelleher and George Knapp, Hunt
for the Skinwalker, Paraview,
2005; Gildas Bourdais, “Hunt for the Skinwalker: New Challenge for the
ETH?” IUR 31, no. 1 (January 2007): 25–31; Clark III 1073–1075; John B.
Alexander, “From Los Alamos to Skinwalker Ranch,” Fortean Times 363
(February 2018): 39–41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7078
Date: 9/26/1994
Description: An aircraft crash at RAF Boscombe Down in Wiltshire,
England, appears closely linked to US black missions, according to a
report in Air Forces Monthly. Further investigation is hampered by USAF
aircraft flooding into the base. Special Air Service personnel arrive in
plainclothes and in an Agusta 109 helicopter. The crash site is
protected from view by fire engines and tarpaulins, and the base is
closed to all flights soon afterwards. A USAF C5 Galaxy is redirected to
the station, which takes the disassembled aircraft back to the US.
(Dreamland Resort, “RAF
Boscombe Down’s Black Day,” April 12, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7077
Date: 10/1/1994
Description: TV host Larry
King broadcasts “Larry King Live at Area 51,” which includes a
prerecorded interview with former Sen. Barry
Goldwater, who
says: “I think the government does know. I can’t back that up, but I
think that at Wright-Patterson field, if you could get into certain
places, you’d find out what the Air Force and the government knows about
UFOs… I called Curtis
LeMay and I said, “General, I know we have a room at Wright-
Patterson where you put all this secret stuff. Could I go in there?’
I’ve never heard him get mad, but he got madder than hell at me, cussed
me out, and said, ‘Don’t ever ask me that question again!’” (“UFOs:
Oct 1, 1994, Filmed
Outside Area 51,” SmokingMan47 YouTube channel, November 28,
2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7079
Date: 10/7/1994
Description: 10:00 p.m. Jerzy Bulczyński and his family in Biskupice,
Poland, see two identical large discs with rotating rings consisting of
smaller spheres, all grayish-green in color and around 6–8 times the
size of the full moon. (Poland 88)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7080
Date: 10/8/1994
Description: 8:00 p.m. Military personnel at Poligon Nadarzyce airbase
near the village of Nadardyce, Poland, report a spherical UFO surrounded
by a ring of lights. It changes shape to a triangle and an ellipse. In
reaction to the initial report, Krzesiny AFB sends two MiG-21
interceptors that allegedly experience technical malfunctions during
their pursuit. The Polish Army concludes that the phenomena were caused
by a laser searchlight operated by the local Olimpia Circus. (Poland
87–89)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7081
Date: 12/1994
Description: SOM1–01 “MAJESTIC-12 Group Special Operations Manual”
document “leaked” to UFO researcher
Type: majestic document
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: US
See also: 4/1954
Date: 12/1/1994
Description: A strong, flaming light with a train-like rumbling noise
causes destruction to 1,700 square feet of woodland in the Guiyang
Baiyun Duxi Forest Farm near Guiyang, Guizhou province, China. Trees are
broken off at the same height and some roofs are damaged. Although a
probable airburst from a meteor, some Chinese researchers argue it could
be a ufological event. (Bill Chalker, “The
Untold Story of UFOs in China: Lost in Translation
or the Devouring Dragon?” New Dawn Special Issue 14, no. 1 (January
2020))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7082
Date: 12/18/1994
Description: Ufologist Leonard Stringfield dies
Type: death
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Cincinnati, OK
Date: 12/29/1994
Description: 9:45 p.m. A mother and her six children are driving
northwest on Zaring Cutoff Road west of Dusty, Washington. To the east
she sees three bright yellow lights that appear to be sitting in a
snow-covered field. She stops the car to look and realizes that the
lights are attached to triangular objects, each with stubby wings and a
bright light on the nose. They move slowly and pass in front of the car
to a field on the left. Suddenly they pivot 90° and move parallel with
the road toward the southeast, maintaining the same configuration. Each
has a window on the bottom that emits a bluish light and a buzzing
sound. (Marler 225–226)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7083
Date: 1995
Description: Astronomer Carl
Sagan publishes The Demon-Haunted World, in which he aims to explain
the scientific method to laypeople and encourage them to learn critical
and skeptical thinking. He explains methods to help distinguish between
ideas that are considered valid science and those that can be considered
pseudoscience. Sagan states that when new ideas are offered for
consideration, they should be tested by means of skeptical thinking and
should stand up to rigorous questioning. He argues that the chances of
extraterrestrial spacecraft visiting Earth are vanishingly small.
However, he does think it plausible that Cold War concerns contributed
to governments misleading their citizens about UFOs, and writes that
“some UFO reports and analyses, and perhaps voluminous files, have been
made inaccessible to the public which pays the bills … It’s time for the
files to be declassified and made generally available.” He cautions
against jumping to conclusions about suppressed UFO data and stresses
that there is no strong evidence that aliens are visiting the Earth
either in the past or present. He worries that fake news and conspiracy
theories will become the reality of the future, predicting: “I have a
foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time—when
the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all
the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when
awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one
representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the
people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably
question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously
consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to
distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost
without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.” (Carl Sagan, The
Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark, Random
House, 1995; Wikipedia, “The
Demon-Haunted World”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7084
Date: 1995
Description: The National Research Council of Canada announces that it
will no longer accept UFO reports for analysis. As a consequence, the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigations on its behalf ceases.
Ufologist Chris
Rutkowski casually suggests that the NRC could forward any
non-meteoric sightings it runs across. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7085
Date: 1995
Description: The China UFO Research Organization in Beijing has now
collected more than 5,000 reports of UFOs in Chinese airspace. (Good
Need, p. 403)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7086
Date: 1/6/1995
Description: 6:48 p.m. Capt. Roger Wills and First Officer Mark Stuart
are piloting a British Airways Boeing 737 aircraft with 60 passengers
when they are buzzed by a bright wedge-shaped object as they are
preparing to land at Manchester Airport, England. The object appears
only yards in front of the airliner as it flies at 4,000 feet. It is so
close that Stuart instinctively reacts by ducking down inside the
cockpit. It has small lights, makes no attempt to change course, and
makes no discernable sound or turbulence. The object does not appear on
radar. Possibly a fireball meteor. (David Boras, “UFO Nearly Collides
with British Airliner,” IUR 21, no. 1 (Spring 1996): 26–27; “UFO
Near Miss over the Airport,” Manchester (UK) Evening News, February
18, 2010; Good Need, pp. 402– 403;
UFOFiles2, pp. 137–139;
Marler 140–143, 266–269; Patrick Gross, “Air
Misses”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7087
Date: 1/12/1995
Description: Around 5:00 a.m. Farmer Beto Lima is hunting armadillos on
his property near Feira de Santana, Bahía, Brazil, when he finds an
object the size of a Volkswagen beetle floating on a pond. He manages to
pull it to the shore when suddenly liquid flows from it and two
creatures emerge. One of them is hairy and clawed like a sloth, the
other is apparently dead and looks like a child. The object is
lightweight, and Lima carries it into his house. Brazilian soldiers
allegedly retrieve the wreckage and the creatures. (“O
caso Roswell nordestina: Queda da UFO na
Bahia, em janeiro de 1995,” UFOs-Wilson, May 20, 2012; Brazil
521–529)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7088
Date: 2/1995
Description: A Boeing 737 is starting a landing approach at 7,900 feet
at Guiyang Airport [now Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport],
Guizhou province, China, when its anti-collision system detects an
object rushing toward the aircraft. Some 6,000 feet away, the pilot sees
a UFO changing from a rhomboid to a circular shape and from yellow to
red. The pilot lands safely, even though the object remains on his radar
screen for some time before disappearing to the south. (Good Need, p. 403;
Patrick Gross, “Air
Misses”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7089
Date: 2/20/1995
Description: In briefing notes on the safety implications of UFO close
approaches for the Joint Airmiss Working Group in the UK, former British
Airways Capt. Graham Sheppard comments: “It would not be surprising to
discover that, in the past, unexplained aeroplane losses have been
caused by instinctive maneuvering to avoid a conflicting UFO… The
commercial sensibilities of the airlines should now be set aside along
with the media’s inability to give serious treatment to the subject.
Otherwise this discrete and notifiable hazard to aircraft safety will
continue to be concealed and thus gratuitously omitted from the briefing
syllabus.” (Good Need, p. 404)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7090
Date: 2/22/1995
Description: Researcher Timothy
S. Cooper receives a document purporting to be the first annual
report of the Majestic 12 Project, supposedly written in 1951 and
referring to possible virus contamination stemming from retrieval of the
Roswell aliens. Nick
Redfern has examined it and says it is definitely a hoax, though it
could possibly represent disinformation from Russia. (Timothy S. Cooper,
“Research
Synopsis on the Majestic Documents,” The Author, December 30, 1999;
Nick Redfern, “Why
the Majestic 12 ‘1st Annual Report’ Is a Hoax,” Mysterious Universe,
July 30, 2019; Kremlin 202–208)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7091
Date: 3/8/1995
Description: A military radar installation near Luzern, Switzerland,
detects a series of anomalous radar targets that, taken together, appear
to make up the straight-line trajectory of an unidentified object
traveling at a speed near Mach 3. The consistency in velocity and
direction of the three track segments strongly suggests that it is a
single object traveling about 150 miles in just over 4 minutes, which
corresponds to an average velocity of about 2,147 mph. Another track
going in the same direction was picked up 70 seconds after the first one
dropped off the radar, separated by a few miles. This time the system
recorded six consecutive returns, each registering a radial speed
component of about 2,088 mph. Again the system dropped the track. A
minute later the Luzern radar records hits on yet another object, loses
it again, and detects it three more times over 40 seconds before it is
dropped for the final time. (Bruce Maccabee, “Atmosphere
or UFO? A Response to the 1997 SSE Review Panel Report,” Journal of
Scientific Exploration 13, no. 3 (1999): 421–459)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7092
Date: 3/14/1995
Description: 3:40–4:00 a.m. Ismailovich Borovkov wakes up to a bright
light shining in his home on Serebristy Boulevard in St. Petersburg,
Russia. He sees a bright orange light hovering outside the window for 10
minutes, then it suddenly diminishes to a point and disappears. Borovkov
hears a loud ringing in his right ear. Around 4:00 a.m., another
resident sees a UFO over the Pulkov Highway. (“Close Encounters over St
Petersburg, March 14, 1995,” IUR 20, no. 5 (Winter 1995): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7093
Date: 3/14/1995
Description: 7:00–8:00 p.m. A further cluster of UFO sightings, some of
them close encounters and one a radar case, take place around
St. Petersburg, Russia. (“Close Encounters over St Petersburg, March 14,
1995,” IUR 20, no. 5 (Winter 1995): 12–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7094
Date: 3/30/1995
Description: 8:30 a.m. Farmer Jan Pienaar, 45, is driving in the North
West Province, South Africa, when his truck stops dead. About 240 feet
ahead is a huge object on three landing pads. It has the form of two
inverted soup plates with a pudding bowl on top, and the upper level has
portholes. The object buzzes like a “giant electric beater.” He gets out
of the car but feels paralyzed as if a magnet is holding him. After 3–5
minutes the UFO takes off, and he regains his senses and the car starts
up. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part
1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7095
Date: 4/1995
Description: The Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici begins publishing UFO
Forum, edited by Giuseppe Verdi in Vittoria, Italy. It continues through
at least October 2001. (UFO
Forum, no.
1 (April 1995))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7096
Date: 4/10/1995
Description: 7:30 a.m. An 11-year-old boy is on his way to school with
his mother and two younger sisters near Merweville, South Africa, when
they see a strange object on a side road. It looks like a cloud but is
stationary. Then it moves north, although the prevailing wind is to the
west, and disappears behind some clouds. The object is about the size of
a large truck. (Marie van Staden, “A
Peculiar Cloud-Like Object,” UFO Afrinews 13 (February 1996):
10–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7097
Date: 4/14/1995
Description: President Bill
Clinton issues Executive Order 12,958, which establishes a system to
automatically declassify information more than 25 years old, unless the
government takes discrete steps to continue the classification of a
particular document or group of documents. The order takes effect on
October 14, 1995. (US Department of Justice, “FOIA
Update: Executive Order 12,958,” 1995)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7098
Date: 4/18/1995
Description: 9:00 p.m. A woman in Prospect, Chebucto Peninsula, Nova
Scotia, sees a large, brilliant, white light hovering in the sky to the
northwest. She can see its reflection on the surface of the still water.
She calls her husband, who gets binoculars and determines there are two
lights side by side. After several minutes or so, his mother on the
floor above says she can see the light too. As soon as they switch the
deck lights off for a better view, the two lights start moving directly
toward their house, and he watches it slowly fly about 100 feet above
the house. It seems to be a rectangular object about 200 feet long by
100 feet wide. It disappears behind the tree line. (Don Ledger, “The
Flying Triangle Phenomenon,” IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7099
Date: 5/5/1995
Description: 4:15 a.m. A senior master sergeant and an airman are
patrolling the perimeter of the Ghedi Air Force Base near Brescia,
Italy. Suddenly they notice an unusual yellow light zigzagging and
maneuvering in the sky, much bigger than a star and heading toward the
northern part of the airfield. After several minutes it increases in
size and becomes a round, orange object as big as the full moon, moving
at least 186 mph before hovering a while and zooming away. It returns
and leaves twice more, the last time descending to 65 feet above their
patrol vehicle. They think this time it will land, but it ascends and
zooms away again. They prefer not to report the incident. (2Pinotti
150–151)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7100
Date: 5/25/1995
Description: 10:30 p.m. An America West B-757 airliner is cruising at
39,000 feet near Bovina, Texas. To their right and somewhat below their
altitude, Capt. Gene Tollefson and First Officer John J. Waller see a
row of bright white lights that sequence on and off from left to right.
Waller contacts the Albuquerque FAA Air Route Traffic Control Center
while the sighting is in progress and checks with military installations
in the area, but no explanation can be found. As the airliner proceeds
to the west and the object begins dropping behind, the crew sees it
against a background of thunderclouds. When the background clouds pulse
with lightning, the UFO appears as a dark, wingless, elongated
cigar-like object around the strobing lights. Though they do not know
the exact distance, Tollefson and Waller estimate the object to be
300–400 feet long. One of the air traffic controllers at Albuquerque
contacts NORAD, which confirms an unidentified radar target in the
vicinity. But this later proves to be a small aircraft whose transponder
is not initially operative. (NICAP, “America
West Airlines Flight 564 / NORAD/ F- 111
Incident”; Walter N. Webb, Final Report on the America West Airline
Case, May 24–25, 1995, Fund for UFO Research, July 1996; “1995:
The America West UFO Sighting,” ufocasebook.com; Patrick Gross, “Texas,
May 1995”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7101
Date: 5/25/1995
Description: America West airline crew observed cigar-shaped object with
pulsating lights
Type: sighting
Reference: The
UFO Evidence by Richard H. Hall
Location: Bovina, TX
ID: 492
Date: 6/15/1995
Description: 2:30 a.m. A triangular UFO with two other brightly lit
round objects is seen over RAF West Drayton [now closed], England.
(Marler 143)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7102
Date: 6/22/1995
Description: 1:00 a.m. Soldiers guarding a military ammunition dump in
the southern Carpathian Mountains near the Buzau River, Romania, notice
several bright lights in the valley below. They are attached to an
object that begins ascending and approaching them from the southwest. It
is a flat triangular object with rounded edges that passes straight
above their unit, illuminating the ground from a height of about 150
feet. They can hear a loud buzzing noise. It glides to the northeast
over the mountains near Întorsura Buzăului and disappears. The next day
the unit is rounded up and told never to speak about the sighting.
(Romania 94–95)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7103
Date: 7/1995
Description: USAF Headquarters publishes, through the Government
Printing Office, The Roswell Report: Fact Versus Fiction in the New
Mexico Desert, by Col. Richard L. Weaver and Lt. James McAndrew, blaming
the Roswell debris on a top-secret Project Mogul balloon array sent
aloft to detect signs of Soviet nuclear explosions. The first part of
the 1,000+-page document is an introductory summary, supported by 31
attachments, by Weaver that was released in September 1994. The second
part is a synopsis of Project Mogul balloon research findings by
McAndrew, with additional attachments and appendices. A photo section
includes photos of various Air Force personnel and Mogul scientists. The
report claims Mogul flight number 4, launched on June 4, 1947, was
responsible for the Roswell debris. The attachments and appendices are
mostly memos dealing with the Air Force requests of its departments for
Roswell records; statements and interviews with persons connected with
Project Mogul; and New York University progress reports on the Constant
Level Balloon project (a study to determine how balloons and their
payloads could be maintained at high altitudes for long periods of
time). About 95% of the report is padding. (Robert A. Galganski, “The
Roswell Debris: A Quantitative Evaluation of the Project Mogul
Hypothesis,” IUR 20, no. 2 (March/April 1995): 3–6, 23–24; Charles B.
Moore, Robert G. Todd, Mark Rodeghier, and Kevin D. Randle, “Project
Mogul and the Roswell Crash: An Exchange,” IUR 20, no. 2 (March/April
1995): 7–9, 19–22; Col. Richard L. Weaver and 1Lt. James McAndrew, The
Roswell Report: Fact versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert, US
Air Force Headquarters, July 1995; Mark Rodeghier and Mark Chesney, “The
Final(?) Air Force Report on Roswell,” IUR 20, no. 5 (Winter 1995): 5–6;
Richard Hall, “Fact vs. Fiction in the Pentagon,” IUR 20, no. 5 (Winter
1995): 7–8; Swords 352–354; “Air
Force Reports on the Roswell UFO Incident,” Military Wiki; Clark III
32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7104
Date: 7/1/1995
Description: Dusk. As a Varig Airlines flight is descending about 37
miles from Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, the commander sees a very bright
disc-like object spinning in the sky in a curious way. The UFO is about
215 feet in diameter and emits a bright white light. As they approach
the landing, the light speeds up and crosses in front of them. (Clark
III 201; Brazil 543–544)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7105
Date: 7/15/1995
Description: 2:45 p.m. Two witnesses (an emergency room nurse and her
husband) are driving home (probably along State Highway 8, adjacent to
the Naugatuck River) after a fishing trip to Harwinton, Connecticut. A
shadow crosses the road as they are driving north, and they look up to
see a large metallic disc about 500 feet in diameter at an altitude of
about 200 feet, over trees about a half mile away. The object is
traveling 65–70 mph and its surface is metallic gray with a band of
apparent panes of dark glass and facets on its upper portion. It passes
behind trees to the right in about 10–15 seconds. A group of independent
witnesses at another location does not observe the object. (Mark
Cashman, “The Harwinton Daylight Disc,” IUR 25, no. 2 (Summer 2000):
14–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7106
Date: 7/28/1995
Description: The US General Accounting Office releases Results of a
Search for Records Concerning the 1947 Crash near Roswell, New Mexico,
which says that all administrative records from Roswell Army Air Field
in New Mexico from March 1945 to December 1949 have been destroyed, as
well as outgoing messages from October 1946 to December 1949. This is
perhaps not unusual for the time, as record retention and disposition
procedures were unclear; however, Nick
Redfern suggests the possibility that the records were destroyed or
removed to hide evidence of unethical radiation and other experiments on
unwilling human subjects. The GAO agrees with the Air Force that the
wreckage was most likely from a Project Mogul balloon train. The report
is in response to a request by Rep. Steven
Schiff (D-N.Mex.). (Results
of a Search for Records Concerning the 1947 Crash near Roswell, New
Mexico, General Accounting Office, July 1995, reprinted in IUR 20,
no. 4 (July/Aug. 1995): 3–6; Mark Rodeghier and Mark Chesney, “What the
GAO Found: Nothing about Much Ado,” IUR 20, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1995): 7–8,
24; Swords 354–355; Nick Redfern, The Roswell UFO Conspiracy, Lisa
Hagan, 2017, pp. 134–139)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7107
Date: 7/29/1995
Description: 12:15 a.m. Five witnesses in Low Bradfield, South
Yorkshire, England, watch a triangular object, “bigger than a commercial
airliner, “ flying flat side forward. A low humming sound is heard.
(Marler 143–144)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7108
Date: 7/31/1995
Description: 6:10 p.m. Aereolíneas Argentinas Flight 734, a Boeing 727
with three crew and 102 passengers, is in the landing pattern for San
Carlos de Bariloche Airport, Rio Negro, Argentina. Capt. Jorge Polanco
suddenly sees a white light bearing down on the aircraft before halting
only 300 feet away. The object then makes a turn and flies parallel to
the 727. It looks like an inverted flying saucer as large as the
airliner, has two green lights at each end and a flashing orange light
in the center, and very powerfully illuminated, according to the
captain. As Polanco begins to land, the runway and airport lights go
out, so he is forced to climb back to 9,800 feet, accompanied by the
UFO. Airport chief Maj. Jorge Orviedo reports that the airport’s radio
support is cut off, and there is a blackout in many parts of the city.
When the ground lights come back on, the UFO shoots away at tremendous
speed. The object is also observed by a Gendarmeria Piper PA-31-310 that
is flying 1,900 feet above the 727. (Good Need, pp. 403–404;
Patrick Gross, “Air
Misses”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7109
Date: 8/8/1995
Description: Two airliners, one from TAM and the other from Rio Sul
Serviços Aéreos Regionais, watch a UFO over Macapá, Amapá, Brazil. TAM
Cmdr. Marcos Aurélio de Castro reports that he and his copilot see a
metallic glow ahead of them to the right. The air traffic center cannot
see anything but notes that the Rio Sul flight has reported something
similar 5 minutes earlier. Suddenly the silvery object approaches the
TAM aircraft. The sighting lasts about 10 minutes. (Clark III 201–203;
Brazil 544–545)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7110
Date: 8/14/1995
Description: 11:55 p.m. An enormous, roughly triangular object is seen
by three family members near the Brighton Racecourse, Sussex, England.
(Marler 144)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7111
Date: 8/27/1995
Description: 9:30 a.m. Tim Edwards shoots a video of a disc-shaped
object hovering then darting about the sky over Salida, Colorado. A
series of ripples or moving lights are seen to rotate from left to right
on the object, which stays just above the sun while Edwards, his
daughter, and four construction workers also watch. UFO investigators
are not impressed with the video, which might be spider web or
cottonwood fluff. Bruce
Maccabee thinks it might be a genuine UFO. (“UFO
Video Salida Tim Edwards 1995,” UFOvideodotcom YouTube channel,
October 4, 2012; “Colorado
Man and His Films Bring UFO Meet Back to Earth,” Salt Lake City
Deseret News, November 30, 1995; Jennie Zeidman, “The Will to Believe:
Gnats, Moths, and Cottonwood Fluff from Outer Space,” IUR 21, no. 4
(Winter 1996): 14–17; Bruce Maccabee, “Salida: An Analysis of the
Video,” IUR 21, no. 4 (Winter 1996): 17–19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7112
Date: 8/28/1995
Description: Fox TV broadcasts for the first time the “alien autopsy
film,” a 17-minute black-and-white film supposedly depicting a secret
medical examination of autopsy of an alien by the US military. The
program, hosted in the US by Jonathan
Frakes, is
given the title Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction. The film is broadcast by
Channel 4 in the UK as a segment of “The Roswell Incident.” London-based
entrepreneur Ray
Santilli presents it as an authentic autopsy on the body of an alien
recovered from the 1947 crash of a flying disc near Roswell, New Mexico.
The film footage is allegedly supplied to him by a retired military
cameraman who wishes to remain anonymous. Experts, including pathologist
Cyril
Wecht, special effects specialist Stan
Winston, and
cinematographer Allen Daviau, are
shown commenting on the film’s authenticity. The program causes a
sensation, with Time magazine declaring that the film has sparked a
debate “with an intensity not lavished on any home movie since the Zapruder film.”
Fox rebroadcasts the program twice, each time to higher ratings. But
even segment director John
Jopson tells producer Robert
Kiviat that he suspects the entire film is a fake, but Fox makes it
clear that such suspicions will not be allowed. Mike
Maloney, a
former photographer for the London tabloid Daily Mirror, says it is the
same footage that he saw in the late 1970s at a private viewing in the
Los Angeles house of a Disney executive. In 2006, Santilli admits the
film is not authentic but rather a staged reconstruction of footage
(using sheep brains and jelly stuffed into puppets made by a UK sculptor
John Humphreys) he claims to have viewed in 1992, but which has
deteriorated and become unusable by the time he made his film. The
military cameraman is portrayed by a homeless man in Los Angeles.
Santilli claims that a few frames from the original are embedded in his
film, but he never specifies which ones. Producer Spyros
Melaris claims that he has made all the auxiliary footage, including
that of the homeless man. The existence of an original filmstrip of the
alleged autopsy has never been independently verified. Philip
Mantle of BUFORA has spent 25 years examining both the footage and
the story surrounding it. (Wikipedia, “Alien
autopsy”; Internet Movie Database, “Alien
Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?”; “Alien Autopsy,”
Orbitalmedia YouTube channel, February 14, 2013; Richard Corliss, “Autopsy
or Fraud-topsy?” Time, November 27, 1995; Joseph A. Bauer, “A
Surgeon’s View: Alien Autopsy’s Overwhelming Lack of Credibility,”
Skeptical Inquirer 20, no. 1 (January 1996): 23–24; Michael Hesemann and
Philip Mantle, Beyond Roswell: The Alien Autopsy Film, Area 51, and the
US Government Coverup of UFOs, Marlowe, 1997, pp. 182–210;
“Eamonn Investigates: Alien Autopsy,” UFOHighway YouTube channel,
September 19, 2010, part
1, part
2, part
3, part
4; Philip Mantle, Alien Autopsy Inquest, The Author, 2007; Philip
Mantle, “Alien Autopsy Film, R.I.P.,” IUR 32, no. 1 (August 2008):
15–19; Nathalie Lagerfeld, “How
an Alien Autopsy Hoax Captured the World’s Imagination for a
Decade,” Time, June 24, 2016; Philip Mantle, Roswell Alien Autopsy:
The Truth behind the Film That Shocked the World, Flying Disk Press,
2017, revised ed., 2020; Stu Neville, “Effects, Lies, and Videotape: 25
Years of the Alien Autopsy,” Fortean Times 395 (August 2020): 32–36;
Nigel Watson, “Alien Autopsy: The Interview,” Fortean Times 395 (August
2020): 37–40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7113
Date: 9/21/1995
Description: The USAF Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory issues a Report on
Project Mogul by 1Lt. James McAndrew. (1Lt. James McAndrew, Report
on Project Mogul: Synopsis of Balloon Research Findings, Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory, September 21, 1995)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7114
Date: 9/29/1995
Description: 9:30 p.m. Near Vejle, Jutland, Denmark, a 24-year-old man
is driving when the dashboard lights behave erratically, the wipers go
on, and his dog gets agitated. Then the engine goes completely dead.
Without warning, a powerful light explodes over the vehicle, coming from
a huge disc directly above the car. (“Bilstop
med Effekter,” UFO-Nyt 1996, no. 1, pp. 4–5; Herbert S. Taylor, “An
Update on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May
2011): 17–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7116
Date: 9/29/1995
Description: 8:50 p.m. A witness in Stanley, Durham, England, watches a
strange triangular object through binoculars. It flies pointed-end
forward and has a pulsing red light on its front tip and steady white
lights on its other tips. (Marler 144)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7115
Date: 10/1/1995
Description: 11:00 p.m. Fernando Beserra and Wilson da Silva Oliveira
are fishing off the Ilha do Major, a mangrove area near the Rio
Piaçabuçu adjacent to São Vicente, São Paulo, Brazil, when a bright
yellow object approaches swiftly and silently, landing on a nearby
islet. Their boat engine fails as the UFO passes over, but they restart
it and flee the area. They return the next morning and find an area of
dry vegetation twisted clockwise in a circle 18 feet in diameter. Four
marks of apparent landing gear are also found, each measuring 4 by 6
inches and half an inch deep. Researchers from the Instituto Nacional de
Investigações de Fenômenos Aeroespaciais find that in the soil samples
obtained within the burned area seeds germinate easily, but those
planted in the samples harvested outside the circle do not germinate and
are attacked by fungi. (Thiago Luiz Ticchetti, “UFO
Landing in São Vicente:
UFO Lands and Leaves Marks on Ground,” Nexus Newsfeed, October 2,
2019; “Caso
de OVNI avistado em
São Vicente completa 25 anos,” Diário do Litoral (Santos, São
Paulo), March 9, 2020; Brazil 354–360)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7117
Date: 11/27/1995
Description: 6:20 p.m. Mohammad Ahsan and four colleagues see two
triangle-shaped objects emitting laser-like blue rays splashed with red
over Dubai, United Arab Emirates. They are silently moving from the
al-Hamriya Fish Market southeast toward Dubai International Airport.
(“UFO
Sighting in UAE Reported,” Saudi Gazette, November 28, 1995, via UFO
Newsclipping Service, no. 317 (December 1995): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7118
Date: 12/1995
Description: Real-estate developer Robert
Bigelow founds the National Institute for Discovery Science in Las
Vegas, Nevada, to research and advance serious study of various fringe
science and paranormal topics, especially ufology. It holds its first
organizational meeting in December. Bigelow soon hires retired US Army
Col. John
B. Alexander part-time
and biochemist Colm
Kelleher as deputy administrator. Alexander puts together a
Scientific Advisory Board that includes ufologist Jacques
Vallée, parapsychologist Harold
E. Puthoff, astronaut Edgar Mitchell,
mathematician Gian-Carlo
Rota, physicist O’Dean
Judd, physicist
Johndale
Solem, astronaut and Senator Harrison
Schmitt, psychologist
Albert
Harrison, and
Christopher
(Kit) Green as chair. The first official board meeting takes place
in January 1996. NIDS disbands in October 2004. (Wikipedia, “National
Institute for Discovery
Science”; John B. Alexander, “From Los Alamos to Skinwalker Ranch,”
Fortean Times 363 (February 2018): 38–39; Skinwalkers 14–15, 31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7119
Date: 12/12/1995
Description: 2:30 p.m. Farmer Egon Kratz and his son-in-law, Adilson
Marcílio, are working on their Bela Vista Farm off Highway 227 about 5
miles from Ituporanga, Santa Catarina, Brazil, when a bright, silent,
disc-shaped object appears low above some nearby trees, moves swiftly
about 30 feet from the ground, and disappears into a valley. On December
15, Marcílio and some friends return to look for traces and find much of
the vegetation scorched. Technicians from the Federal University of
Santa Catarina arrive on December 20 to collect soil samples and rocks.
Kratz notes in January that much of the foliage and vegetation where the
UFO has passed is dead or defoliated. (Brazil 350–353)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7120
Date: 1996
Description: The Institut des Hautes Études de la Défense Nationale, a
French strategic planning agency, decides to create a 12-member COMité
d’ÉTudes Approfondies (COMETA) to review well-documented UFO cases and
cooperate with agencies in other countries to assess national security
factors. It is chaired by French Air Force General Denis
Letty and begins by interviewing French witnesses, consolidates the
best information, and presents its research to appropriate French
agencies. (Wikipedia, “Rapport
COMETA”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7121
Date: 1996
End date: 1997
Description: Crimean ufologist Anton Anfalov made a map of the Soviet
secret sensitive site “Zhitkur” with instructions on the location of all
sites and drew diagrams of their devices.
Type: document
Reference: link
Location: Crimea
Date: 1996
Description: Nick
Pope, a
former Ministry of Defence official who served on the Sec (AS) 2a UFO
desk in 1991–1994, publishes a memoir titled Open Skies, Closed Minds
that recounts his conversion from UFO skeptic to believer due to his
investigation of cases that seem to be evidential. He concludes that
“extraterrestrial spacecraft are visiting Earth and that something
should be done about it urgently.” (Nick Pope, Open
Skies, Closed Minds, Simon
& Schuster, 1996; Wikipedia, “Open
Skies, Closed Minds”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7122
Date: 1996
Description: La Fundación Anomalía is created by a group of Spanish
ufologists headed by José Ruesga Montiel in Santander, Cantabria, Spain.
It takes over publishing Cuadernos de Ufologia from the Colectivo
Cuadernos in 1997 and publishes a new journal, Anomalía, from September
2000 to 2011. (Anomalía,
no. 1 (September 2000))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7123
Date: 1996
Description: Skinwalker Ranch is purchased by Robert Bigelow
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Skinwalker Ranch
Date: 1/13/1996
Description: 4:00 a.m. Businessman and pilot Carlos de Souza is driving
from Très Coracões to Varginha, Minas Gerais, Brazil, along Highway 491.
About 3 miles from Varginha, he hears a sound like an engine rumbling,
so he stops by the side of the road and gets out of his vehicle. He sees
a cylindrical airship 33–40 feet long and 13–16 feet in diameter flying
about 395 feet above him toward Varginha. It is metallic, polished, and
reflects the morning sunlight. He notices a hole in the right side of
the ship and white smoke pouring out. After it crosses the highway, de
Souza gets into his car and starts chasing it. When it crashes into the
woods, he finds a dirt road that leads him to the scene, which is
covered with debris that looks like tinfoil. He picks up a larger piece
that is thin and light. When he kneads it, he is amazed to see that it
returns to its original state. Further away, he sees an Army helicopter,
two tarpaulins, an ambulance, and three cars. He smells a powerful
ammonia odor and is startled by a military police officer who approaches
him and shouts, “Go away, you saw nothing.” Two more soldiers appear and
force him to leave, so he returns to his car, drives away, and stops at
a restaurant. A man approaches him and asks if he is Carlos de Souza, He
replies yes, and the man calls him over and says, “What you saw, I saw
too. You should not talk to anyone about it.” The man then relates
details about de Souza’s private life. Meanwhile, two soldiers from the
Escola de Sargentos das Armas in Très Coracões contact ufologists Ubirajara
Franco Rodrigues and Claudeir
Covo about the incident to tell them that the area has been cordoned
off and that trucks are loading odd material. There are rumors that
NORAD has alerted the Brazilian authorities that it has tracked a large
number of UFOs over the western hemisphere and that one has penetrated
Brazilian airspace. (Wikipedia, “Incidente
de Varginha”; Clark III 1222; Good Need, pp. 369–376;
Roger K. Leir, UFO Crash in Brazil: A Genuine UFO Crash with Surviving
ETs, Book Tree, 2005; “ET
de Varginha: Caso completa 20 anos com mistérios
e incertezas,” G1, January 20, 2016; Patrick Gross, “The
Varginha Affair”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7125
Date: 1/13/1996
Description: Oralina Augusta de Freitas is watching TV in her home near
Varginha, Minas Gerais, Brazil, when she sees a UFO hovering over the
cattle, which are agitated. She calls her husband, Eurico Rodrigues, and
they watch the object, which is the size of a microbus and the shape of
a submarine. For 40 minutes the object flies less than 20 feet above the
ground, heading toward town. The object has a hole in its structure
through which white smoke is billowing. Pieces of its fuselage sway in
the wind. (“ET
de Varginha: Caso completa 20 anos com mistérios e incertezas,”
G1, January 20, 2016; Clark III 1222)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7124
Date: 1/20/1996
Description: 8:00 a.m. The Varginha, Brazil, fire department receives a
call from someone who asks them to investigate a strange creature seen
in a park north of the Jardim Andere neighborhood. At 10:00 a.m.,
firefighters arrive expecting to find a wild animal, but they encounter
a 5-foot-tall bipedal entity with red eyes and brown skin. Fish peddler
João Bosco Manoel comes across firefighters Sgt. Palhares, Cpl. Rubens,
and soldiers Santos and Nivaldo, who are carrying a net with a strange
being inside it. One of its feet is brown, and the firefighters are
trying to conceal it from curious onlookers. A smell of ammonia
permeates the scene. (Clark III 1222–1223)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7126
Date: 1/20/1996
Description: Around 6:00 p.m. After a hailstorm halts the search for
several hours, the Varginha, Brazil, search units venture back into the
woods. Two plainclothes officers of the Military Police Intelligence
Service, one of them Marco Eli Chereze, locate and capture a fourth
creature, forcing it into the back of their car. They bring it to a
health clinic but are turned away, so they take it to the Hospital
Regional do Sul de Minas, where the first examinations are performed.
(Clark III 1224)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7129
Date: 1/20/1996
Description: 3:30 p.m. Sisters Liliane Fátima da Silva, 16, and
Valquíria Aparecida da Silva, 14, and their friend Kátia Andrade Xavier,
22, are crossing a vacant lot at Rua Dr. Benevenuto Bráz Viêrira in the
Santana neighborhood of Varginha, Brazil, when they encounter a thin,
hairless, dark-skinned creature with dark veins, two legs with enormous
two-toed feet, two arms with only three fingers, a huge head two three
bony protrusions (one on each side and one in the center), and huge red
eyes crouching beside a wall. At first they think it is a statue, but
then it turns its head and they think it is a devil. They run home and
call their mother, Luzia Helena da Silva, but when they return to the
vacant lot, all they find is two footprints and an awful stench.
(Wikipedia, “Incidente
de Varginha”;
Clark III 1223–1224; “ET
de Varginha: Caso completa 20 anos com mistérios e incertezas,” G1,
January 20, 2016; “Caso
Varginha Minuto a Minuto,” João Marcelo YouTube channel, July 13,
2016; Brazil 494– 509)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7128
Date: 1/20/1996
Description: Afternoon. According to testimony by an ex-soldier,
uniformed military men open fire while they are sweeping the small
forest near Varginha, Brazil, where the creature had been found earlier.
A soldier becomes frightened when he sees a creature apparently helping
a wounded comrade. Two shots strike its belly and one its chest. A
fourth shot hits its shoulder. These two creatures differ from the
earlier one and have black hair. Immediately afterward, soldiers come
out of the woods carrying the creatures in two black sacks. Something is
moving in one of them. (Clark III 1223)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7127
Date: 1/21/1996
Description: The strange creatures are transferred to Hospital Humanitas
Unimed in Varginha, Brazil. There are many reports of unusual movements
of the Army, the police, and the fire department between the two
hospitals. Vehicles are also seen arriving at a hospital in Belo
Horizonte, where allegedly one of the creatures dies. (Clark III
1224)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7131
Date: 1/21/1996
Description: 2:00 a.m. Marco Eli Chareze returns home to his mother’s
house to change clothes because his are drenched with rain. He begins to
fall ill. (Clark III 1225)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7130
Date: 1/22/1996
Description: The Brazilian military uses three trucks and several other
vehicles to move the covered bodies. The trucks are parked on the side
of Hospital Humanitas Unimed, and a series of cover-up operations are
performed involving doctors, nurses, soldiers, firemen, and military
police. The bodies inside the three trucks go to the Escola de Sargentos
das Armas in Très Coracões, Brazil. (Clark III 1224)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7132
Date: 1/23/1996
Description: 9:00 a.m. The creatures are delivered in a metal box
punctured with holes to the University of Campinas in São Paulo, Brazil,
where doctors Fortunato Badan Palhares and Conradín Metz begin
performing autopsies. Lab workers are prevented from entering the site.
According to three military sources, at least one creature is taken to
underground labs located at the university. Another creature is referred
to the Legal Medical Institute at the Cemitério dos Amarais in Campinas.
Army officials continue making decisive movements around Campinas
through April. There are rumors that metal fragments of an unknown
origin are taken to the Brazilian Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia
Aeroespacial in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, where they are examined
in secret underground facilities. The same day, a cargo aircraft takes
off from Canoas Air Force Base, Rio Grande do Sul, transporting three
containers, a box, several soldiers, and a sophisticated radar system to
be deployed near Varginha. (Clark III 1224)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7134
Date: 1/23/1996
Description: 4:00 a.m. A military convoy leaves the Escola de Sargentos
das Armas for Campinas, Brazil. (Clark III 1224)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7133
Date: 1/25/1996
Description: The US military arrives in Campinas, Brazil, by helicopter,
where the entire university is on standby. (Clark III 1224–1225)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7135
Date: 1/26/1996
Description: Several scientists and military personnel linked to NASA
arrive at the University of Campinas, Brazil. The cover story is that US
scientists are choosing Brazilian scientists to take part in future
space missions. (Clark III 1225)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7136
Date: 2/6/1996
Description: Marco Eli Chereze, 23, one of the military policemen
involved in the Varginha, Brazil, creature capture, begins exhibiting
strange symptoms and notices inflammation and a small abscess under his
left arm. At the barracks infirmary, physician Robson Ferreira Melo
performs surgery to remove the abscess, found to be due to
staphylococcus. Then Chereze develops a fever and pain all over his
body. (Clark III 1225)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7137
Date: 2/8/1996
Description: Wall Street Journal on Area 51 worker toxic disposal fires
lawsuits: “A Secret Air Base Hazardous Waste Act, Workers’ Suit Alleges
U.S. Cites National Security In Fighting Claims Tied to Toxic Disposal
Fires Plaintiffs Fear Retaliation”
Type: article
Reference: link
Location: Area 51
Date: 2/11/1996
Description: Chereze is admitted to Hospital Bom Pastor in Varginha,
Brazil.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7138
Date: 2/12/1996
Description: Chereze is transferred to the emergency room of the
Hospital Regional do Sul de Minas, Brazil, suffering from intense pain
in the lower back and fever.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7139
Date: 2/15/1996
Description: Chereze wakes up very tired and in a state or torpor, with
signs of cyanosis. He is transferred to intensive care, where his
condition deteriorates rapidly. Chereze dies at 11:00 a.m. An autopsy
confirms septicemia caused by a urinary infection, but the cause of
death is unclear, according to Dr. Cesário Lincoln Furtado, who says it
is highly unusual for a young man to quickly acquire an immunodeficiency
followed by an attack of three kinds of virulent bacteria. Doctors order
his body to be cremated immediately, but his family will not allow it.
The death certificate gives the cause of death as acute respiratory
failure, sepsis, and pneumonia. The family begins a legal challenge to
have the records released. (A. J. Gevaerd and Ubirajata Franco
Rodrigues, “Varginha
Case: New Revelations,”
translation of “Novas
revalações agitaram Varginha,” UFO Brazil, no. 102, August 1, 2004;
Clark III 1225)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7140
Date: 3/1996
Description: Area-51 workers and their widows lose suite against the
federal government in Las Vegas. “..the Air Force could invoke the
common law state secrets privilege to protect military secrets at Area
51, and that once invoked, the privilege is absolute, protecting even
innocuous-seeming information from disclosure.”
Type: lawsuit
Reference: link
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Date: 3/1/1996
Description: 6:00 p.m. A man driving past a field in Southport,
Merseyside, England, sees a triangle-shaped object with a white light in
each corner and a green light in the center. It stays motionless for 5
minutes before it starts circling the field. Then it stops and the
lights merge into one long green light. Without warning, it takes off
and disappears. (“Mystery
in the Evening Skies,” Southport (UK) Visitor, March 8, 1996, via
UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 325 (August 1996): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7141
Date: 3/9/1996
Description: 10:50 p.m. Two groups of motorists at Gallows Corner,
Romford, East London, England, watch a triangular UFO as large as a
soccer field with a white light in each corner and a pulsating orange
light in the center. (Marler 220–221)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7142
Date: 3/12/1996
Description: Two hunters are snowmobiling near Trout Lake, Northwest
Territories, Canada, when they come upon two metallic “spaceships”
blocking their trail. Both objects are about 300 feet in diameter, with
a bright light on their tops and windows on their sides. One stands on
three legs while the other hovers. As the hunters drive around the
objects, the lights go out. Later, Trout Lake officials find large
rectangular impressions in the snow. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in
Canada—1996,” IUR 22, no. 2 (Summer 1997): 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7143
Date: 4/21/1996
Description: Around 9:00 p.m. Terezinha Gallo Clepf is celebrating her
67th birthday at the restaurant at the Parque Zoobotânico Municipal
Dr. Mário Frota in Varginha, Brazil, when she steps onto a porch to
smoke a cigarette. She looks to her left and sees a strange creature
with bright red eyes and a yellow helmet on its head. It is behind a
fence that circles the porch. They stare at each other. Clepf goes back
into the restaurant but soon comes back out and the creature is still
there. She gets her husband to take her home. (Clark III 1225)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7144
Date: 4/29/1996
Description: Luzia Helena da Silva is visited in Varginha, Brazil, by
four men in suits who do not identify themselves. After hearing her
daughters’ story of their January 20 encounter, they offer the family a
large sum of money to record a video denying what they had seen that day
and claiming the whole thing was a joke. (Clark III 1225)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7145
Date: 5/8/1996
Description: Brig. Gen. Sergio Pedro Coelho Lima, commander of the
Escola de Sargentos das Armas in Très Coracões, Brazil, reads a
statement saying that no officer at the school has participated in the
alleged operation. He insists to journalists that nothing unusual has
happened in the city. When asked what the ESA military was doing on
January 20, he replies that the military was “working for the sake of
the Army and the nation.” In 1999, the story is amplified when a Major
Calza says a “dwarf, disfigured and mentally retarded,” was behind some
of the creature reports in Varginha. (Clark III 1225, 1226)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7146
Date: 5/17/1996
Description: 8:00 p.m. Hildo Lúcio Gardino, 20, is traveling from Très
Coracões to Varginha, Brazil, when she sees a strange creature on the
side of the road. She dims her headlights and speeds past as the
creature places its hands over its eyes and flees into the woods. (Clark
III 1225)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7147
Date: 5/22/1996
Description: 3:30 p.m. A motorist on the West Tamar Highway near Bradys
Lookout State Reserve in Tasmania, notices an upright, vapor-like trail
to the north. The trail changes into an upright, bronze-colored cigar
shape that disappears in front of their eyes. (“Northern
Flap,” TUFOIC Newsletter, no. 79 (October 1996): 3; Herbert S.
Taylor, “Cloud Cigars: A Further Look,” IUR 30, no. 3 (May 2006):
13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7148
Date: 5/29/1996
Description: About 1:00 p.m. A vertical, misty cloud is seen against the
clear blue sky above Launceston, Tasmania. It forms into a vertical
upright cylinder that seems to have a long hole. The witness and a
friend look away for a second, and the object is gone. (“Northern
Flap,” TUFOIC Newsletter, no. 79 (October 1996): 3; Herbert S.
Taylor, “Cloud Cigars: A Further Look,” IUR 30, no. 3 (May 2006):
13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7149
Date: 6/17/1996
Description: 10:30 p.m. A witness is driving east on East Kingsfield
Road in the northern part of Pensacola, Florida, when he sees a large,
black triangular object. He pulls to the side of the road to watch, as
does a truck in front of him. The object has a single white light at
each corner and hovers directly above the road. A red blinking light is
at the center. (“Triangular
Shaped Craft Hovers over Witness,” Pensacola Beach (Fla.) Islander,
July 10, 1996, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 325 (August 1996):
5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7150
Date: 6/24/1996
Description: Day. Spasso Maximovitch notices an unusual object in the
western sky over Rosh HaAyin in central Israel. He grabs his video
camera to film it, just as a glowing white oval-shaped object appears
some 20° west of the object and streaks toward it at high speed. Within
3 seconds it strikes the stationary orb, causing a huge explosion in the
sky that seemingly destroys both objects. Stunned, Maximovitch stops
filming immediately after capturing the explosion. (Patrick Gross, “UFO
Mid-Air Crash—or Military Drill—Filmed in Israel”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7151
Date: 7/1996
Description: Day. A private pilot is flying his Piper Cherokee PA-28-140
from Waterville, Nova Scotia, to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, at
3,500 feet. While over Cape Blomidon, Nova Scotia, the pilot’s
father-in-law (next to him in the right seat) spots a chrome-colored
sphere 60 feet in diameter about 2 miles away and traveling at the same
speed as the aircraft but about 500 feet lower. The pilot banks gently
in its direction, and the sphere speedily darts toward Springhill, Nova
Scotia, 20 miles away, and hovers there as a bright dot, then
disappears. The pilot is distressed about the encounter and is
distracted for the rest of the flight. (Don Ledger, “Two Spherical UAP
Cases Witnessed by Pilots in Canadian Airspace,” IUR 33, no. 2 (July
2010): 9, 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7152
Date: 7/4/1996
Description: John
P. Timmerman investigates a mystery crop circle found in a wheat
field belonging to Dan Arend off County Road 126 near Paulding, Ohio.
(John P. Timmerman, “The Paulding, Ohio, Crop Circle,” IUR 21, no. 3
(Fall 1996): 24–26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7153
Date: 7/9/1996
Description: 12:30 a.m. Police Sgt. Marian Mancu and volunteer guard
Maricel Rusu are patrolling on the main road through Cerțești, Romania.
Rusu sees a lighted object descending silently, causing nearby neon
lights to vary in their intensity. Mancu hears a whistling sound and
sees an object with flashing blue and red lights hovering 2 feet above
the pavement. Three small people with elongated heads, white faces, big
eyes, and scaly bodies are moving around inside it. The object is
top-shaped, 15–20 feet across and 8 feet tall, and has a girdle of
lights around the edge like a rainbow. After 2 minutes it rises
vertically, its lights become brighter, and nearby streetlights go out.
It turns northwest and departs with tremendous speed. Other residents of
the town witness unusual light phenomena. (Romania 135–146)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7154
Date: 7/17/1996
Description: Dusk. A woman near Langruth, Manitoba, is startled to see a
disc-shaped object moving quietly and slowly through her farmyard. The
object, 9–12 feet in diameter and 2.5 feet thick, has slitlike lights
along its edge. The next morning, she finds three circular patches of
deep green growth in the area where the object had been. She thinks her
well water has been affected by the incident. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in
Canada—1996,” IUR 22, no. 2 (Summer 1997): 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7155
Date: 8/1996
Description: Sen. Harry
Reid (D-Nev.) attends the fifth meeting of the National Institute
for Discovery Science scientific advisory board in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jacques
Vallée delivers the main presentation. Reid stays in frequent
contact with Robert
Bigelow afterward. (Skinwalkers 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7156
Date: 8/12/1996
Description: 9:40 p.m. A witness in Smithton, Illinois, sees a faint,
dull-red, glowing triangular object as he is looking for the Perseid
meteor shower. It appears from the south, flies north above his house,
and vanishes after 10 seconds. (Marler 171)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7157
Date: 8/17/1996
Description: A couple camping in Riding Mountain National Park,
Manitoba, see a strange blue light dancing behind a hill. When they
investigate, they find an object moving along the ground, occasionally
emitting fames from its base. After a short while, it zips into the sky,
then returns and hovers near them. It then shines a beam of light around
the ground, illuminating them at one point. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in
Canada—1996,” IUR 22, no. 2 (Summer 1997): 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7158
Date: 8/18/1996
End date: 8/20/1996
Description: Journalist Gary
Webb publishes his “Dark Alliance” series in the San Jose (Calif.)
Mercury News, with one long article and one or two shorter articles
appearing each day. It claims that “For the better part of a decade, a
San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and
Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits
to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the U.S. Central Intelligence
Agency.” This drug ring “opened the first pipeline between Colombia’s
cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles” and, as a
result, “The cocaine that flooded in helped spark a crack explosion in
urban America.” The Mercury News continues to pursue the story,
publishing follow-ups to the original series for the next three months.
Other papers are slow to pick up the story, but African Americans
quickly take note, especially in South Central Los Angeles where the
dealers discussed in the series are active. They respond with outrage to
the series’ charges. By the end of September, three federal
investigations are announced: an investigation into the CIA allegations
conducted by CIA Inspector-General Frederick
Hitz, an
investigation into the law enforcement allegations by Justice Department
Inspector-General Michael
Bromwich, and
a second investigation into the CIA by the House Intelligence Committee.
After his resignation from The Mercury News, Webb expands the “Dark
Alliance” series into a book that responds to the criticism of the
series and describes his experiences writing the story and dealing with
the controversy. A revised version is published in 1999 that
incorporates Webb’s response to the CIA and Justice Department reports.
The February 2000 report by the House Intelligence Committee in turn
considers the book’s claims as well as the series’ claims. Webb’s
reporting in “Dark Alliance” remains controversial. Many writers
discussing the series point to errors in it. The claim that the drug
ring of Meneses- Blandón-Ross sparked the “crack explosion” has been
perhaps the most criticized part of the series. Webb commits suicide in
2004. (Wikipedia, “Gary
Webb”; Wikipedia, “Dark
Alliance (book)”;
Gary Webb, Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine
Explosion, Seven Stories, 1998, revised
ed., 1999)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7159
Date: 8/29/1996
Description: 8:00 p.m. A mechanic notices a white mass of light at Port
Arthur, Tasmania. His car acts up a bit, but the light vanishes, and it
returns to normal. At 9:30 p.m., on the return trip, the white mass
returns and paces the car for several kilometers. The engine misses and
the headlights go out. He can now see a cigar-shaped object about 650
feet away, so he gets out, checks the engine, and finds nothing wrong.
The UFO moves off and the car starts again. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An
Update on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May
2011): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7160
Date: 9/10/1996
Description: The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is adopted by the
United Nations General Assembly. It opens for signature in New York on
September 24 and is signed by 71 states, including five of the eight
then- nuclear states. The treaty will enter into force 180 days after
the 44 states listed in Annex 2 of the treaty have ratified it. These
“Annex 2 states” are states that participated in the CTBT’s negotiations
between 1994 and 1996 and possessed nuclear power reactors or research
reactors at that time. As of 2016, eight Annex 2 states have not
ratified the treaty: China, Egypt, Iran, Israel, and the United States
have signed but not ratified the treaty; India, North Korea, and
Pakistan have not signed it. (Wikipedia, “Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7161
Date: 9/16/1996
Description: Day. A witness is repairing a fence on his property near
Valley, Ohio, when his dog starts barking loudly. Going over to his dog,
he looks up to see a low-flying space-capsule-shaped UFO hovering and
moving slowly over one of his cow pastures. He takes six photos of the
object. Black to dark green in the photos, the cone-shaped object, when
enlarged, shows a black Teflon-like covered bottom and a flange or rim
that goes around near the top. In each photo the UFO is shown at a
slightly different position and altitude, making it more difficult to
hoax. (Patrick Gross, “Mysterious
Photos”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7162
Date: 10/1996
Description: Psychologist Stuart
Appelle evaluates factors of deception, suggestibility, personality,
sleep phenomena, psychopathology, psychodynamics, environment, and
event-level alien encounters as origins of the abduction experience. He
argues that no one theory enjoys enough empirical support to be accepted
as a general explanation. (Stuart Appelle, “The Abduction Experience: A
Critical Evaluation of Theory and Evidence,” JUFOS 6 (1995/1996):
29–78)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7163
Date: 10/5/1996
Description: 10:00 a.m. Businessman-pilot Haroldo Westendorff is flying
a single-engine EMB-712 Tupi (Piper PA-28 Cherokee) over Ilha da
Sarangonha, near São José do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, when he
sees a gigantic object about the size of a football stadium. It is
pyramidal in shape with 8 sides, on each of which are 3 protruding
domes. Westendorff follows it for 2 minutes. The UFO is revolving slowly
on its own axis and moving toward the ocean. A hatch opens on top of the
object and three disks emerge and fly away quickly. When Westendorff
tries to get closer, the UFO emits reddish rays, causing him to maneuver
about 650 feet away. Soon the object begins to rise at great speed.
Operators at the Infraero control room at Pelotas Airport visually
confirm the observation. (“Caso
Ufológico Haroldo Westendorff, 1996,” Canal Fenomeno OVNI YouTube
channel, January 18, 2015; “Completam-se
20 anos do Caso Haroldo Westendorff,” Portal UFO, October 5, 2016;
Clark III 203; Brazil 545– 548)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7165
Date: 10/5/1996
Description: 2:00 a.m. Police Constable David Leyland in Skegness,
Lincolnshire, England, sees some rotating colored lights in the sky and
reports them to the coast guard. Police in nearby Boston see a single,
stationary bright light, while the crew of an offshore tanker report
another colored light. Air traffic control radar at Claxby by Normanby,
Lincolnshire, picks up a strong target over Boston, and RAF Waddington
near Lincoln also picks up an unidentified target in another position.
Talk of a UFO wave becomes embellished in the media, and MP Martin Redmond calls
for an investigation by RAF Air Defence. Wing Commander Norman
Hutchinson conducts an in- depth investigation of all the sightings
and radar targets, producing a 23-page report that he completes on
November 13. It’s pretty clear that the mysterious radar blips are a
permanent radar echo caused by the 273-foot steeple of St. Botolph’s
Church in Boston, the stationary white light is Venus, and astronomer Ian
Ridpath identifies the rotating colored lights as misobservations of
Sirius and Vega. (UFOFiles2, pp. 159–162;
David Clarke, “The 1996 East Anglian UFO Flap,” Fortean Times 223 (July
2007): 28–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7164
Date: 10/15/1996
Description: 11:00 p.m. A couple is driving near Trois Rivières, Quebec,
when they see three strange triangular objects flying in the northern
sky. One object, shaped like a “topper” and much larger than an
airplane, aims an intense white light at their car for 20 minutes. They
feel like “time was stopped.” Dozens of other people in the region see
UFOs that same night. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada—1996,” IUR 22,
no. 2 (Summer 1997): 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7166
Date: 10/16/1996
Description: 8:30–9:00 p.m. Many people over a wide area of
south-central Ohio and northern Kentucky phone police to report strange
lights in the sky. A husband and wife watch a fiery orange object near
Ripley, Ohio, for 20 minutes. Charles Fite and Bill Adams in Aberdeen,
Ohio, see several lights to the north in a “T” formation. A man in
Tollesboro, Kentucky, reports 8–10 objects in a group that blink out and
reappear in three-minute intervals. An airport operator in Jackson,
Ohio, receives two calls describing a group of red lights moving
erratically in the northwestern sky. Terry Howard, between Waverly and
Chillicothe, Ohio, videotapes a group of glowing objects at about the
same angle of altitude as the moon. Ohio UFO investigators suspect that
the sightings are a result of military maneuvers by the Ohio Air
National Guard. (Terry Endres and Ron Schaffner, “UFO Flare-Ups in
Ohio,” IUR 23, no. 3 (Fall 1998): 9–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7167
Date: 10/25/1996
Description: 2:00 a.m. A family sees a bowl-shaped disc with five
rectangular windows in Gypsumville, Manitoba. It is seen through
binoculars as it directs a beam of light down at a lake it is hovering
above. Two nights later it returns, moving high above the lake. They
drive to the home of a neighbor who joins them outside to watch four
objects flying in formation. Two of the objects suddenly change
direction and disappear from view, then the other two shine beams of
light on the lake again and disappear by moving into the clouds. (Chris
Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press,
2006, pp. 195–196)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7168
Date: 11/16/1996
Description: During an exhibition by the Brazilian Air Force’s Smoke
Squadron over the coastline of Santos, São Paulo, Brazil, one of the
EMB-312 Tucano aircraft’s wings breaks off and causes it to crash. A
piece of the wing falls on a swimmer and kills him. A video taken at the
time of the accident shows a small spherical object approaching the
aircraft from behind and passing just at the point where the wing breaks
off. Ufologist Reginaldo de Athayde analyzes the video images and finds
that the object is real, metallic, reflective, and boasts a speed five
times greater than the airplane. It measures about 3-by-3 feet in
diameter and has a speed of 746–932 mph. It passes about 6.5 feet from
the wing of the plane. (Clark III 205; Brazil 549–551)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7169
Date: 12/1996
Description: 11:00 p.m. T/Sgt Anthony W. Keel is engaged in a field
training exercise about one mile from the Weapons Storage Area at
Ellsworth FB near Rapid City, South Dakota. He looks at the top of a
hill and sees a light bobbing around and moving west to east. About 10
minutes later, he looks up again and sees it moving east to west and
then back several times. It now moves in a straight line east away from
Ellsworth but stops and hovers 2–3 miles from the base. Then it makes
several short darts in different directions. After about 5 minutes, the
radio operator announces that all flights from Ellsworth are grounded.
The light eventually blinks out. (Nukes 469–470)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7170
Date: 12/11/1996
Description: 7:00–8:30 p.m. At least 31 people in the Yukon Territory,
Canada, witness a giant UFO. Indications are that it may be the size of
several football stadiums. The sightings principally take place in four
locations in the central Yukon: Fox Lake, Carmacks, Pelly Crossing, and
Mayo, with 6, 9, 8, and 8 witnesses respectively. (NICAP, “Dec. 11,
1996: Yukon Territory”; Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The
Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 188–194; Chris Rutkowski,
“The Cold, Hard Facts about UFOs in Canada,” IUR 34, no. 1 (September
2011): 22–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7171
Date: 12/19/1996
Description: A Boeing 757-200 operated by China’s Southern Airlines
takes off from Beijing on a routine flight south to Wuhan. As the
jetliner reaches an altitude of 31,500 feet, the copilot spots a bright
flash in the sky just ahead of them. A silver-gray metallic UFO strikes
the top of the 757’s cockpit, cracking the outer windshield. The pilot
immediately declares an in-flight emergency and radios Beijing’s Capital
International Airport, requesting permission to land. The plane lands
safely 10 minutes later. (Patrick Gross, “Air
Misses”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7172
Date: 1997
Description: ex-US Army Lt. Col Corso appears on Art Bell’s “Dreamland”
radio show
Type: radio appearance
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Rachel, NV
Date: 1997
Description: Contactee Billy
Meier’s ex-wife Kalliope in Switzerland tells interviewers that his
photos are of spaceship models he has crafted with items like trashcan
lids, carpet tacks, and other household objects (verifying the
allegations made by California skeptic Kal
R. Korff in 1981), and that the stories he told of his adventures
with the aliens were similarly fictitious. She also says that photos of
purported extraterrestrial women “Asket” and “Nera” are really photos of
Michelle DellaFave and Susan Lund, members of the singing and dancing
troupe The Golddiggers. It
is later confirmed that the women in the photographs are members of The
Golddiggers performing on The Dean Martin Show. (“Asket
and Nera Photo Deconstruction,” Billy Meier Case)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7174
Date: 1997
Description: Douglas
Torr and Timir
Datta are involved in the development of a “gravity generator” at
the University of South Carolina. According to a leaked document from
the Office of Technology Transfer at USC and confirmed to Wired reporter
Charles
Platt in 1998, the device would create a “force beam” in any desired
direction and that the university plans to patent and license this
device. No further information about this university research project or
the “Gravity Generator” device is ever made public. (Wikipedia, “Anti-gravity”;
Charles Platt, “Breaking
the Law
of Gravity,” Wired, March 1, 1998)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7175
Date: 1997
Description: In his 1997 article “Dead Cows I’ve Known,” cattle
mutilation researcher Charles T. Oliphant speculates that cattle
mutilations are the result of covert research into emerging cattle
diseases and whether they can be transmitted to humans. He suspects the
NIH, CDC, or other federally funded bodies are involved, and they are
supported by the US military. Pazrt of this is based on allegations that
human pharmaceuticals have been found in mutilated cattle, and that
necropsies show cattle mutilations commonly involve areas of the animal
that relate to “input, output, and reproduction.” To support his
hypothesis, Oliphant cites the 1990 Reston Ebola virus case in which
plainclothes military officers, traveling in unmarked vehicles, entered
a research facility in Reston, Virginia, to secretly retrieve and
destroy animals that were contaminated with a highly infectious disease.
(Wikipedia, “Cattle
mutilation”; Ted Oliphant III, “Mad
Cow Disease and Cattle Mutilations?” Our Strange Planet, 1997; Ted
Oliphant III, “Dead
Cows I’ve Known, Part 3,” 1998)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7173
Date: 1997
Description: Chile sets up a new government agency tasked with studying
UFO reports. (Kean, p. 116)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7176
Date: 1/10/1997
End date: 1/12/1997
Description: Roswell witness Jesse
Marcel Jr. undergoes a second series of hypnosis sessions, this time
with Washington, D.C.–area clinical psychologist Neil
Hibler. They
are paid for by Roswell Declaration author Kent Jeffrey, who concludes
that Marcel is indeed describing weather balloon debris. However, this
interpretation is disputed.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7178
Date: 1/13/1997
Description: Morning. A woman driving on Highway 1 from Abbotsford to
Chilliwack, British Columbia, notices a fluffy cloud in a clear sky that
“bursts downward” with a bright white light three times in succession.
It dissipates, leaving behind a black bar. After 5 minutes, a solid
stream of white light comes downward from it and another black bar
appears, about 45° below the first one. They both start moving east in a
wavy motion. She loses sight of them when she gets off the freeway at
the Sardis exit. (Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects and Cloud
Cigars,” IUR 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7179
Date: 1/27/1997
Description: 10:40 p.m. A man is driving on a quiet back road just south
of Llangynidr, Powys, Wales, when he sees a “massive star” moving toward
him. His car radio fails, and he is unable to use his mobile phone to
call for help. He stops and gets out of the car. The glowing tube of
smoky gray and blue light descends and encircles the car, remaining for
5 minutes. The witness can move around in the cloud but can hear no
sound associated with the object. After the glow vanishes, he remains
frightened and a bit sick. The car is coated with dust of unknown
origin. He drives home to Newport, and the following morning he notices
a skin rash. (Jenny Randles, “A Sprinkling of Star Dust,” Fortean Times
392 (May 2020): 33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7180
Date: 2/1997 (approximate)
Description: “Victor”, who claimed to have worked at Area-51 S-4, speaks
in “Area 51: The Alien Interview” by Rocket Pictures. Claims two
psychics were present to interpret the responses from an alien in
custody. Aliens were highly psychic.
Type: interview
Reference: Youtube
Reference: IMDB
Location: US
See also: 5/23/97
See also: 2008
Date: 2/22/1997
Description: Near Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Canada, two
silver-gray objects follow five people along a road. They hover above
the highway then glide smoothly down to the snow behind them. The
objects have rows of windows with bright blue light shining through
them. After 15 minutes, the objects are lost to view as the witnesses
turn along an ice road. (Chris Rutkowski, “1997 Canadian UFO Survey,”
IUR 23, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7181
Date: 2/27/1997
Description: 7:30 p.m. A luminous blue sphere appears over Aviano Air
Base, Italy, and hovers. After it disappears, a larger,
orange-yellow-red sphere appears, and six fighters are scrambled to
intercept it. The jets circle around the sphere but it disappears.
(2Pinotti 155)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7182
Date: 3/1997
Description: Cheltenham, England, researcher Robin Cole and his UFO
group named Circular Forum have looked into the activities of the nearby
Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) facility known as the
Oakley Installation. He issues an unpublished report on their findings,
titled “GCHQ and the UFO Cover-Up,” which includes information on
radar/visual encounters reported by RAF personnel in the 1950s, evidence
that GCHQ studied gun-camera footage of UFOs taken by British military
pilots, the fact that the GCHQ library contains numerous UFO
publications, and evidence that GCHQ still monitors military UFO
encounters. Shortly afterward, he is visited by two Cheltenham policemen
who ask him about a UFO group called the Truth-Seekers. It turns out
they are actually from the Special Branch of the Metropolitan Police, a
counter-terrorism division. (Wikipedia, “GCHQ”;
Nick Redfern, “Paranoia or Surveillance?” IUR 30, no. 3 (May 2006): 7–9;
Nick Redfern, “UFO Encounters,
Saucers, and Secrets,” Mysterious Universe, August 23, 2018; Nick
Redfern, “UFO
Researchers: What
Can Happen When You Go Looking for Secrets,” Mysterious Universe,
September 18, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7183
Date: 3/3/1997
Description: The Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy, chaired by
Sen. Daniel
Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), after conducting an “investigation into
all matters in any way related to any legislation, executive order,
regulation, practice, or procedure relating to classified information or
granting security clearances,” issues its final report. It concludes
that secrecy is a form of government regulation; that excessive secrecy
has significant consequences for the national interest when policy
makers are not fully informed, the government is not held accountable
for its actions, and the public cannot engage in informed debate; that
some secrecy is important to minimize inappropriate diffusion of details
of weapon systems design and ongoing security operations as well as to
allow public servants to secretly consider a variety of policy options
without fear of criticism; that the best way to ensure that secrecy is
respected, and that the most important secrets remain secret, is for
secrecy to be returned to its limited but necessary role; that secrets
in the federal government are whatever anyone with a stamp decides to
stamp secret; and that a new statute is needed to set forth the
principles for what may be declared secret. Moynihan reports that
approximately 400,000 new secrets are created annually at the highest
level, Top Secret. (Wikipedia, “Moynihan
Commission on Government Secrecy”; Donald R. Burleson, “UFO Secrecy
and the Law,” IUR 28, no. 4 (Winter 2003–2004): 16–17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7184
Date: 3/6/1997
Description: 6:45–10:30 p.m. Dozens of UFOs descend from the sky and
briefly hover above Aviano Air Base, Italy. They zoom toward Venice
Marco Polo Airport before heading toward Istrana and Treviso air bases,
where they remain hovering in the sky for a while before returning to
Aviano. The display repeats several times, despite Italian and US
fighters attempting to intercept them. (2Pinotti 156)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7185
Date: 3/8/1997
Description: 3:00 a.m. Folkestone Herald journalist Sarah Hall is
driving through Burmarsh, Kent, England, when she sees a large
triangular object descend and hover above a field some 700 feet away
near Dymchurch. It has a disc attached to it on the back and a big light
on the front. When she pulls to a stop, it shoots away to a spot about
1,500 feet away and hovers. It does this four times, making a humming
sound, and moving westward in increments for only a few seconds at a
time. The UFO seems to be twice the size of an airliner. Other witnesses
to a strange object come forward after Hall writes an article about her
sighting. The residence of Conservative Home Secretary Michael
Howard in Lympne is one epicenter. (Good Need, pp. 385–387)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7186
Date: 3/13/1997
Description: 6:55–10:30 p.m. Aerial lights of varying descriptions are
seen by thousands of people (many of whom are looking for Comet
Hale-Bopp) in a space of about 300 miles from Henderson, Nevada, at 6:55
p.m., through Phoenix to the edge of Tucson, Arizona. Tim Ley and his
family at first see a tiny arc of five white lights just after 8:00 p.m.
in the northwestern sky. They slowly draw nearer (around 30 mph), and
Ley discerns a V-formation flying no more than 100 feet above the
ground. The lights hold this pattern for more than 15 minutes, leading
him to believe they are on one structure. Ley’s report is the most
detailed, but there are many others. There are two distinct events
involved in the entire incident: a triangular formation of lights seen
to travel around 8:10–9:30 p.m. from Paulden to Tucson, passing over
Prescott and Phoenix. Some witnesses see a huge carpenter’s
square-shaped UFO, containing five spherical lights or possibly
light-emitting engines. Gov. Fife
Symington is one witness, although he does not reveal this until
2007; he calls the object “otherworldly.” One overriding characteristic
prevails: The UFO is a massive solid object, not merely lights, and it
appears low in the sky, blocking out the stars behind it. Many witnesses
say it is the size of multiple football fields and up to one mile long.
Reports vary in terms of the number and color of lights and their
movements. The second group of events is a series of stationary lights
seen in the Phoenix area around 10:00 p.m. The Air Force identifies this
group as magnesium LUU2 flares dropped by A-10 Warthog aircraft in a
training exercise at the Barry Goldwater Range in southwest Arizona as
part of Operation Snowbird; news coverage later shows a video taken
around 10:00 p.m. by an amateur photographer that clearly shows the
flares, not the earlier UFO. Phoenix city councilwoman Frances
Emma Barwood is
the only elected official to launch a public investigation, but she
receives no help from any level of government. She speaks to more than
700 witnesses who call her office, including police officers, pilots,
and former military personnel. Minimal coverage is provided at the time
by the media, even in Phoenix. (Wikipedia, “Phoenix
Lights”; NICAP, “The
Phoenix Lights Case: More Than Lights and Flares?”; Tony Ortega, “The
Great UFO
Cover-up,” Phoenix New Times, June 26, 1997; Bruce Maccabee, “Report
on Phoenix Lights Arrays,” 2000; Donald R. Burleson, “UFO Secrecy
and the Law,” IUR 28, no. 4 (Winter 2003–2004): 16; Lynne D. Kitei, The
Phoenix Lights: A Skeptic’s Discovery That We Are Not Alone, Hampton
Roads, 2004; “Former Arizona Governor Says He Saw ‘Phoenix lights’ UFO,”
American Chronicle, March 18, 2007; Thomas E. Bullard, “Defending UFOs,”
IUR 34, no. 2 (March 2012): 12–13, 30; Kean, pp. 247–249, 253–261;
Good Need, pp. 387– 390;
Clark III 901–905; Patrick Gross, “The
Phoenix Lights, Arizona, USA, March 14, 1997”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7187
Date: 3/15/1997
Description: 5:00 p.m. An object explodes in the air and crashes to the
ground near Węgorzewo in northeastern Poland. The debris is allegedly
retrieved by soldiers. The Polish Army denies all knowledge of the
incident, but Col. Zdzislaw Czekierda of the General Staff admits there
is a special division that has gathered information about UFO sightings
since the early 1980s. (Good Need, p. 391;
Poland 117–118)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7188
Date: 3/21/1997
End date: 3/23/1997
Description: A Space and UFO Science Symposium is held at Cosmo Isle
Hakui, a museum of space history in Hakui, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.
Symposium speakers include Richard
F. Haines, Jesse
A. Marcel Jr., Bruce Maccabee, R.
Leo Sprinkle, hypnotherapist
Derrel
Sims, podiatrist
Roger
K. Leir, and
crop circle researcher Colin Andrews. (Richard
F. Haines, “The 1997 Space and UFO Science Symposium at the Cosmo
Isle–Hakui Center, Japan,” IUR 22, no. 2 (Summer 1997): 15–18, 36)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7189
Date: 3/24/1997
Description: 10:00 p.m. Reports come in from the public that there is a
low-flying aircraft over Howden Moors, Yorkshire, England. These reports
soon turn into accounts of bright flashes, loud booming noises, and
“several plumes of black smoke” rising from somewhere in the woodlands
of the open countryside. Several search operations from several
different counties are launched, both on foot and in the air. These
continue through the night. The main concern is that a light aircraft or
a helicopter has come down. However, no survivors or any wreckage is
discovered during the search, which goes on well into the following day.
At one stage, no-fly zones are put in place, an action that some UFO
researchers later find suspicious—particularly when there are commercial
airliners “stacking” as a result. Despite all of this activity, the
official word from the military is that there is no crash at all. It is
simply a mistaken sighting—despite many reports from the general public.
Soon, rumors circulate from the many volunteer searchers. The most
prominent comes from a unit of Yorkshire Water workers who happen to be
in the area. They see a wrecked pile of metal in a clearing and a
“military presence” that is loading “body bags” onto a Sea King
helicopter. When the military is confronted with this, they claim they
are merely moving equipment. An explanation remains elusive, although a
military exercise did take place, at least 3 groups of observers
reported UFO-like sightings, the sonic events did take place, and at
least 1–2 civilian aircraft are reported in the area. (David Clarke and
Martin Jeffrey, “The Mystery of Howden Moors: Part One,” IUR 24, no. 2
(Summer 1999): 13–20; David Clarke and Martin Jeffrey, “The Mystery of
Howden Moors: Part Two,” IUR 24, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 24–28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7190
Date: 3/26/1997
Description: 3:30 p.m. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office takes a 911
call from a man later identified as Richard Ford, reporting a group
suicide in a house in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Two deputies find 39
bodies of identically dressed, androgynous-looking men and women.
Autopsies establish that each had drunk a lethal combination of vodka
and barbiturates then smothered themselves with a plastic bag.
Videotaped statements left behind explain that the suicides, members of
a religious millenarian cult called Heaven’s Gate, were leaving their
“earthly vehicles” behind and expect to board a spacecraft trailing
Comet Hale-Bopp. It was founded in 1974 and led by Marshall
Applewhite and Bonnie
Nettles (formerly called Bo and Peep). (Wikipedia, “Heaven’s
Gate (religious
group)”; Clark III 566–567)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7191
Date: 3/30/1997
Description: A mother and her three children are chased along a highway
near Whitehorse, Yukon, by an object “like a small satellite dish.” At
one point, the object is directly above the car at treetop level. (Chris
Rutkowski, “1997 Canadian UFO Survey,” IUR 23, no. 2 (Summer 1998):
15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7192
Date: 3/30/1997
End date: 4/1/1997
Description: Aerial lights are seen for several nights west of Arica,
Chile, and over the Pacific Ocean, causing some alarm. Witnesses include
civil servants and aeronautical experts at Chacalluta International
Airport. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation issues a public
statement confirming the observations. (Kean, pp. 190–191)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7193
Date: 4/10/1997
Description: Rear Adm. Thomas
R. Wilson, vice
director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets in a
Pentagon conference room with former astronaut Edgar
Mitchell and UFO Disclosure founder Steven
M. Greer to discuss the rogue nature of certain “special access
programs” (SAPs) connected to the study of alien technology that are
dominated by private contractors. Others allegedly there are retired
Cmdr. Will Miller, Adm. Mike Crawford, Gen. Patrick Hughes, Shari
Adamiak (Greer’s assistant), and Stephen Lovekin. Greer claims he has
extracted a pledge from Wilson during the meeting to investigate SAPs
involving UFO technology. But Wilson soon reports that he doesn’t have
the proper security clearance to inspect those files. As Greer informs a
Portland, Oregon, audience in 2001, Wilson says, “‘I am horrified that
this is true. I have been in plenty of black projects, but when we tried
to get into this one,’ he was told, and I quote, ‘Sir, you do not have a
need to know.’ The head of intelligence Joint Staffs. You don’t have a
need to know. Neither did the CIA director, and neither did the
president.” In a July 4, 2008, appearance on Larry King Live, Mitchell
tells the audience he had learned the admiral “had found the people
responsible for the cover-up and for the people who were in the know and
were told, I’m sorry, admiral, you do not have need to know here and so,
goodbye.” Shortly afterward, Wilson admits meeting with Mitchell but
denies he was ever refused access. (Steven M. Greer, “Dr. Steven
Greer Disclosure Project
Talk, Sept. 2001, Portland, Oregon,” UFO Evidence; Steven M. Greer,
Hidden Truth, Forbidden Knowledge, Crossing Point, 2006, pp. 158–160;
“Astronaut
Dr. Edgar Mitchell Recounts Admiral Wilson Story on
CNN’s Larry King Live, 7/4/08,” The Black Vault YouTube channel,
June 17, 2020; “Admiral: Never Looked for UFO Data,” Sarasota (Fla.)
Herald-Tribune, August 6, 2008; Dolan II 538–539; Kean, pp. 234–235;
Joe Murgia, “The
Wilson/Davis Documents: My Twenty-Three Year Journey, Part 1,” Part
2, UFO
Joe, June 21, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7194
Date: 4/20/1997
Description: 1:40 p.m. A woman is sitting on a park bench along the
St. Clair River in Sarnia, Ontario. A grayish-white object suddenly
appears in front of her, suspended vertically, with the bottom party
positioned 25° above the horizon. The object has tubelike shape, rounded
at both ends. She then notices a white spherical object that seems to
have been ejected from the first. It travels a short distance north to
Lake Huron and vanishes. The original object then disappears after
another few seconds. (Herbert S. Taylor, “Satellite Objects: A Further
Look,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Spring 2004): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7195
Date: 5/18/1997
Description: Day. A tradesman sees a “flying entity” near Ponte a
Mensola in the hills northeast of Florence, Italy. It descends
vertically and lands in a field not too far away. He approaches it and
sees that it is a man wearing black overalls with a red belt, helmet,
and dark glasses, and with no apparent flying apparatus. The intruder
notices him and disappears in the long grass, which is flattened where
the man has landed. (2Pinotti 156–157)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7196
Date: 5/23/1997
Description: Art Bell anonymously interviews “Victor”, who claimed to
have worked at Area-51 S-4 (see 2/1997). Claims no successful
communication has taken place and that most psychics used in the program
were frauds.
Type: interview
Reference: Youtube
Location: US
Date: 5/30/1997
Description: About 11:20 a.m. Writer Georgina
Howell is crossing the tarmac at Kirkwall Airport in Orkney,
Scotland, to board British Airways Flight 8773 to Aberdeen when she
notices a silvery chevron about 45° in the sky to her left. She thinks
it is odd, but suspects it is some kind of aircraft. Suddenly she falls
down on her face, sustaining some minor scrapes and bruises. Asked why
she fell, she says she was looking at a sky object, but it is no longer
there. Later, she hears about chevron-shaped objects over Phoenix. (Good
Need, pp. 390–391)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7197
Date: 6/1997
Description: Roswell Declaration author and pilot Kent Jeffrey announces
that he is unable to find sufficient evidence of an extraterrestrial
crash in New Mexico in 1947 and that the Corona debris was probably from
a Project Mogul balloon. (Keau Davidson, “UFO
Fan: Roswell Saucer Story Is Bunk,” San Francisco Examiner, June 23,
1997; Kent Jeffrey, “Roswell:
Anatomy of a Myth,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 350 (June 1997): 3–17;
Kent Jeffrey, “Roswell:
Anatomy of a Myth,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 12, no. 1
(1998): 79–101; Michael D. Swords, “A
Different View of ‘Roswell: Anatomy of a Myth,’” Journal of
Scientific Exploration 12, no. 1 (1998): 103– 125; Robert M. Wood, “Critique
of ‘Roswell: Anatomy of a Myth,’” Journal of Scientific Exploration
12, no. 1 (1998): 127–140)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7199
Date: 6/1997
Description: US Army Col. Philip
J. Corso writes, with William
J. Birnes, The Day after Roswell, a tell-all memoir about the
Roswell, New Mexico, crash and retrieval. Much of the book is an account
of Corso’s claims that he was assigned to a secret government program
that provided some material recovered from a crashed spacecraft to
private industry (without saying where the items came from) to reverse
engineer them for corporate use. Corso was a special assistant to Lt.
Gen. Arthur
Trudeau, who headed Army Research and Development, and was in charge
of the Foreign Technology Desk. In this position, he would take
technological artifacts obtained from Russian, German, and other foreign
sources and have American companies (including IBM, Hughes Aircraft,
Bell Labs) reverse engineer that technology. The book contends that
several aspects of modern technology such as fiber optics and integrated
circuits were developed by using information taken from the craft. Corso
also claims the world was “at war” with extraterrestrials and that the
Strategic Defense Initiative project in the 1980s was part of that
campaign successfully concluded in Earth’s favor. The book concludes
with information about Project Horizon, a 1959 US Army plan to construct
a base on the Moon. When first released, the book contains a foreword
written by Sen. Strom
Thurmond (R-S.C.), for whom Corso had served as an aide. Thurmond
writes, “He has many interesting stories to share with individuals
interested in military history, espionage, and the workings of our
Government.” The foreword does not mention anything about UFOs, since
Thurmond has assumed the book is a straightforward memoir. When he
learns about the book’s contents, Thurmond asks for his foreword to be
retracted, saying, “I know of no such ‘cover-up,’ and do not believe one
existed.” (Wikipedia, “The
Day after Roswell”; Philip J. Corso with William J. Birnes, The
Day after Roswell, Pocket Books, 1997; George M. Eberhart, [review],
IUR 22, no. 2 (Summer 1997): 22–24; Good Need, pp. 424–425;
Nick Redfern, The Roswell UFO Conspiracy, Lisa Hagan, 2017,
pp. 145–151)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7198
Date: 6/1997
Alternate date: 7/1997
Description: Twilight. A Polish passenger on a ferry to Stockholm,
Sweden, watches a large ball of light, 30 feet across, follow the ship’s
course low over the surface of the Baltic Sea. As many as 10 smaller
spheres emerge from the upper part of the object and remain 10 feet away
from it. Some darker colored spots can be seen rotating on the surface
of the original light. After several minutes, the lights go off. (Poland
121–122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7209
Date: 6/1997
Description: Night. Two police officers responding to an emergency call
in Daniec, Poland, see two bright spheres maneuvering 1,000 feet to the
left of their patrol car. The lights stop, then accelerate, and make
sharp turns in the air. One of the lights approaches them to about 40
feet away, while the other is still circling above a field. Suddenly,
both lights depart at high speed. (Poland 110–111)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7200
Date: 6/6/1997
Description: The Gomzyakov family is traveling on the Krutikha River,
Altai Krai, Russia, when they see a luminous flying object moving at a
speed of 300 mph. The object turns around over the Ob River and flies
north. An hour later, they arrive at the vilage of Krutikha, where they
see another object engulfed in brownish gas and emitting powerful
floodlights toward the ground. Another crescent-shaped object appears
carrying a light that is 8 times as big as itself. The family watches
the display for 15 minutes, after which all the objects move off to the
north, leaving behind an odor reimiscent of blast furnaces ar a steel
factory. (Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020,
p. 127)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7201
Date: 6/8/1997
Description: A former police officer sees a turquoise object that seems
to land in a field near a highway he is driving along at Treherne,
Manitoba. It remains on the ground for 10–15 minutes and appears to have
a light on its front and back. The witness is inexplicably frightened.
(Chris Rutkowski, “1997 Canadian UFO Survey,” IUR 23, no. 2 (Summer
1998): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7202
Date: 6/18/1997
Description: USA Today breaks the media silence about the Phoenix,
Arizona, UFOs in a front-page story. NBC and ABC evening newsrooms pick
up the story and nickname the object(s) the “Phoenix Lights.” (Richard
Price, “Arizonans
Say the Truth about UFOs Is Out There,” USA Today, June 18, 1997,
p. 4; “1997
NBC News Report on
the Phoenix Lights w/ Tom Brokaw and Robert Hager,” Roadside
Television YouTube channel, March 8, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7203
Date: 6/18/1997
End date: 6/19/1997
Description: Evening. Grzegorz Nowak and four friends are visiting the
monument to the Battle of Annenberg in Góra Świętej Anny, Poland, when
they see glowing fireballs playing about on the hill and a large orange
sphere. They try to communicate with the fireballs by flashing their
headlights on and off; one of the lights responds with a similar signal.
They watch other aerial objects and two of the youths have some missing
time of more than an hour. The next night, they improve their headlight
signaling. An enormous cigar-shaped object appears, shooting out
multicolored lights that hover almost directly above them. Some of the
orange spheres seem to transform into cloaked beings, each carrying a
light ball. Some Polish researchers consider this a concocted episode
amplified by fantasy proneness. (Poland 85–87; “Seria
dziwnych zdarzeń w Opolu w 1997 roku,” UFO-Relacje.pl, February 13,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7204
Date: 6/19/1997
Description: Arizona Gov. Fife
Symington calls a press conference, stating that “they found who was
responsible” for the Phoenix Lights. He proceeds to make light of the
situation by bringing on stage his 6-foot-4 chief of staff Jay Heiler dressed
in an alien costume and proclaiming him “the guilty party.” He jokes
that the media is taking the story “entirely too serious” as Heiler
removes the mask. Symington also notes that he requested information
from the commander of Luke AFB near Glendale, Arizona, the general in
charge of the Arizona National Guard, and the head of the Arizona
Department of Public Safety. But none of them have an answer for what.
In 2007, Symington responds to an Air Force explanation that the lights
were flares:
“As a pilot and a former Air Force Officer, I can definitively say that
this craft did not resemble any man made object I’d ever seen. And it
was certainly not high-altitude flares because flares don’t fly in
formation.” In a December 10, 2008, episode of the television show UFO
Hunters called “Arizona Lights,” Symington says that he contacted the
military asking what the lights were. The response was “no comment.”
(“Symington
Claims He Saw UFO in Phoenix Sky,” Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen, March 24,
2007, p. 4; Kean, p. 249)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7205
Date: 6/24/1997
Description: 7:30 p.m. A woman in Lachlan, Tasmania, is home alone in
her kitchen when she notices a bright light source on the window blinds.
Looking outside, she sees a large circle of light seemingly at ground
level, some 550 feet to the east of the house. The circle is in a
paddock at a higher elevation and in front of the trees and the other
end. She goes outside, but can’t see any further details or head any
sound. The light does not reflect on any of the nearby trees. Later, the
light disappears. (“UFOs in Tasmania,” IUR 22, no. 4 (Winter 1997–1998):
28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7206
Date: 6/24/1997
Description: USAF releases The Roswell Report: Case Closed, by
Capt. James McAndrew, stating that any alien bodies found at Roswell,
New Mexico, were really anthropomorphic test dummies carried aloft in
high-altitude balloons, and the unusual military activities were balloon
launch-and-recovery operations. Although the dummy tests occurred
several years after 1947, witnesses had been confused about the exact
date. Claims of alien bodies at Roswell Army Air Field hospital are a
combination of two incidents: the June
26, 1956, crash of a Boeing KC- 97G Stratotanker at Roswell-Walker
AFB in which 11 crew members die; and a May 21, 1959, manned balloon
mishap, in preparation for Project Excelsior, at Holloman AFB,
Alamogordo, in which Capt. Joseph
Kittinger is injured. The Project Mogul balloon is still invoked to
explain the 1947 debris field at Corona, New Mexico. (Capt. James
McAndrew, The
Roswell Report: Case Closed, Headquarters
US Air Force, 1997; Mark Rodeghier and Mark Chesney, “Who’s the Dummy
Now? The Latest Air Force Report,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 7–10;
Swords 355–357; “Air
Force Reports on the Roswell UFO Incident,” Military Wiki; Clark III
321)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7207
Date: 6/28/1997
Description: Four witnesses in Blind River, Ontario, watch the flight of
a triangular red object with jagged edges and a “square forward
section.” Within seconds of its disappearance, an egg-shaped object
appears in the same location and flies along a similar path, flaring
every two seconds into a bright white from a dull gray. (Chris
Rutkowski, “1997 Canadian UFO Survey,” IUR 23, no. 2 (Summer 1998):
15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7208
Date: 7/1997
Description: Witnesses, one of whom is an Air Force and Coast Guard
veteran, at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, see a “square of eight lights” in
the sky. Fifteen minutes later, a silent boomerang-shaped object glides
above them “like a huge bat” at low altitude. Its underside is covered
with hundreds of small, dim, rectangular lights. (Chris Rutkowski, “1997
Canadian UFO Survey,” IUR 23, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7210
Date: 7/3/1997
Description: Two witnesses driving along Highway 16 near Nojack,
Alberta, see a “black ring” with faint lines hanging down into a
motionless “big puff of smoke.” It is in view for 5 minutes. (Chris
Rutkowski, “1997 Canadian UFO Survey,” IUR 23, no. 2 (Summer 1998):
15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7211
Date: 7/14/1997
Description: 10:49 p.m. Air traffic controllers at Henri Coandă
International Airport at Otopeni, Romania, are supervising the landing
of an airliner when they notice a light about 3 miles distant between
Buftea and Corbeanca and well below the scattered cloud layer. It does
not appear on radar. The duty officer turns the airport video cameras
toward the UFO and records its image for 2 hours. Through binoculars the
light is seen to have a horizontal band colored white, orange, and red.
When the airport lights are switched on for another landing, the light
blinks out and reappears in a different location, this time looking like
two light balls joined together. The lights appear brighter when the
airport lights are on and dim as soon as they are turned off. The lights
disappear abruptly at 1:10 a.m. (Romania 75–77)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7212
Date: 7/23/1997
Description: ex-US Army Lt. Col Corso appeared on Coast to Coast AM and
again was interviewed by Art Bell. This time, he was accompanied by
Dr. John Alexander who represented that he had gone to Washington D.C.
and gone to the National Archives and other records to verify the facts
of Corso’s public service. He indeed had served honorably as a
Lieutenant Colonel under Lieutenant General Arthur Trudeau and worked in
the White House for four years.
Type: interview
Reference: link
Location: Rachel, NV
Date: 8/3/1997
Description: The New York Times’s William
J. Broad reports on a study, “The C.I.A.’s Role in the Study of
U.F.O.’s, 1947–90,” by National Reconnaissance Office historian Gerald
K. Haines in a CIA journal, Studies in Intelligence, that Project Blue
Book had known that more than half of UFO reports in the 1950s and 1960s
by citizens and aviation experts were based on “fleeting glimpses of U-2
and SR-71 spy planes.” Rather than acknowledging their existence, Blue
Book came up with “false cover stories” like ice crystals and
temperature inversions. Not a single linkage of a reconnaissance flight
to a UFO report is provided. These allegations are treated uncritically
in the news media. One-time Blue Book head Robert
J. Friend says the story is “laughable” and denies ever having to
conceal U-2 sightings. Bruce
Maccabee points out that the greater number of UFO sighting are at
night when U-2s cannot be seen, and even in the daytime a U-2 flying at
72,000 feet is “essentially invisible.” Haines also reveals that in the
1970s and 1980s CIA analysts devoted some time to “counterintelligence
concerns that the Soviets and the KGB were using US citizens and UFO
groups to obtain information on sensitive US weapons development
programs (such as the Stealth aircraft), the vulnerability of the US
air-defense network to penetration by foreign missiles mimicking UFOs,
and evidence of Soviet advanced technology associated with UFO
sightings.” (Gerald K. Haines, “CIA’s
Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90,” Studies in Intelligence, 1997,
pp. 67–84; William J. Broad, “CIA
Admits Government Lied about UFO Sightings,”
New York Times, August 3, 1997, p. 12; Mark Rodeghier, “The CIA’s UFO
History,” IUR 22, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 3–6, 36; Bruce Maccabee, “CIA’s
UFO Explanation Is Preposterous,” 2000; Swords 349–350; Clark III
926–927; Kremlin 187–188)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7213
Date: 8/4/1997
Description: Two forest rangers in different towers near Hadashville,
Manitoba, simultaneously observe a silver ball that hovers above the
trees some distance away. A second object approaches the first and the
two travel away together. (Chris Rutkowski, “1997 Canadian UFO Survey,”
IUR 23, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7214
Date: 8/9/1997
Description: 5:07 p.m. Swissair Flight 127 to Zürich, Switzerland, is
flying northeast over Queens, New York, near John F. Kennedy
International Airport, when pilots Capt. Philippe Bobet and First
Officer Kurt Grunder see a cylindrical, glowing-white object, about the
size of a fuselage of a small light aircraft, heading toward the Boeing
747 at high speed. The airliner is in level flight at 20,000 feet and
cruising at 390 mph in a cloudless sky, and the UFO is 100–200 feet
above it. There is no noise from the object, and no trail or wake
disturbance is detected. The near collision lasts about only one second.
The object is not detected on radar, and it does not trigger the
aircraft’s collision warning system. The object is explained as a
weather balloon, which is spotted by a United Airlines pilot in nearly
the same location and height 72 minutes after the incident. (NICAP, “Swiss
Air Has Near Miss with UFO”;
Don Berliner and Robert J. Durant, Near Miss with a UFO: Swissair Flight
127, UFO Research Coalition, 1999; Robert J. Durant, “Swissair
jet Has ‘Near Miss’ with UFO,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 377 (September
1999): 3–9; Good Need, pp. 405–406)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7215
Date: 8/12/1997
Description: 1:00 a.m. Two police officers are on patrol near Lacock
Road in Corsham, Wiltshire, England, when a triangular object flies past
them at only 30 feet altitude and 45–50 mph. It heads to the northeast
and is joined by a second object that seems to be following it. Their
speed increases as they are lost to sight within seconds. (Marler
144–145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7216
Date: 9/1997
Description: Didier Charnay begins publishing UFO Log in Grenoble,
France. It continues through autumn 2000. (UFO Log, no.
1 (September 1997))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7217
Date: 9/29/1997
End date: 10/3/1997
Description: Through the auspices of the Society for Scientific
Exploration and funded by Laurance Rockefeller, who
has a long-time UFO interest, English physicist Peter
A. Sturrock holds a workshop at the Pocantico Conference Center in
Tarrytown, New York, in which UFO researchers present their best data to
a panel of scientists agreeable to hearing them out. The panel is
charged with deciding whether the available physical evidence can
produce results that will lead to the resolution of the UFO question.
For the panel, Sturrock recruits astronomers (and SSE members) Thomas
E. Holzer and Charles
R. Tolbert, electrical engineer Von
R. Eshleman, geophysicist
J.
R. Jokipii, photoanalyst
François
Louange, geologist H.
Jay Melosh, atmospheric physicist James
J. Papike, radiation
physician Günther
Reitz, and
plant biologist Bernard
Veyret. To present the UFO evidence, Sturrock brings in aviation
psychologist Richard
F. Haines, German ufologist Illobrand
von Ludwiger, CUFOS
director Mark
Rodeghier, retired NASA engineer John
F. Schuessler, Norwegian ufologist Erling
Strand, science
professor Michael
D. Swords, computer
scientist Jacques
Vallée, and
SEPRA director Jean-Jacques
Velasco. The panel makes several observations: The UFO problem is
not a simple one, and it is unlikely that there is any simple, universal
answer; whenever there are unexplained observations, there is the
possibility that scientists will learn something new by studying them;
studies should concentrate on cases that include as much independent
physical evidence as possible; continuing contact between the UFO
community and physical scientists could be productive; and institutional
support for research in this area is desirable. After four days of
presentations and discussions, Sturrock announces that the panel will
issue a statement to be drafted later that encourages UFO study by
scientists. (Michael D. Swords and Mark Rodeghier, “The History-Making
Sturrock Workshop,” IUR 23, no. 3 (Fall 1998): 3–8; Peter A. Sturrock,
et al., “Physical
Evidence Related to UFO Reports:
The Proceedings of a Workshop Held at the Pocantico Conference Center,
Tarrytown, New York, September
29–October 4, 1997,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 12, no. 2
(1998): 179–229; Peter A. Sturrock, The
UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Evidence, Warner,
1999; Clark III 1115–1117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7218
Date: 10/3/1997
Description: The Chilean Comité de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos
begins operations in Santiago, Chile. Air Force Gen. Gonzalo Miranda has
created the agency within the Department of Civil Aeronautics after the
series of sightings in Arica earlier in the year. CEFAA is charged with
compiling, analyzing, and studying every incident involving anomalous
aerial phenomena observed by any aviation personnel, civil or military.
(Kean, p. 191)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7219
Date: 10/17/1997
Description: In an effort to gauge the vulnerability of military
satellites to laser attacks, the US military tests a directed energy
weapon, Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) developed by the
US Navy in 1980, against an aging USAF reconnaissance satellite. From
its location at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, MIRACL
sends two blasts of its deuterium fluoride laser against MSTI-3 at a
distance of 238 miles. The Pentagon claims mixed results because a
computer glitch prevents the satellite from reporting back that the
second shot has struck the target. (“Call
it a MIRACL,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 54, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1998): 5–6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7220
Date: 11/4/1997
Description: 6:00 p.m. Between Minehead and Porlock, Somerset, England,
a man driving home in foggy conditions sees three white beams of light
that suddenly permeate the fog from above and converge into a circle on
the hood of his car. The electrical system fails, and he cannot restart
it. After about 5 minutes the light beam disappears suddenly and the
headlights come back on, so he resumes driving. When he gets home, he
finds that his watch and car clock are 5 minutes slow and that a compass
placed near the car gives a reading 90° from true. (Herbert S. Taylor,
“An Update on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May
2011): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7221
Date: 11/13/1997
Description: Night. Two witnesses are driving home near Lac La Biche,
Alberta, when they see a diamond-shaped object, consisting of three
white lights in the front and one red light in the rear, suddenly “turn
on.” It hovers above trees about 900 feet away, and they can see the
bottom of the object. (Chris Rutkowski, “1997 Canadian UFO Survey,” IUR
23, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7222
Date: 11/17/1997
Description: Night. A woman sees an “inverted triangular object with no
wings” outside her home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It has many rows of
lights across its surface and is “lavender and steel gray” on one side,
which is illuminated. (Chris Rutkowski, “1997 Canadian UFO Survey,” IUR
23, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7223
Date: 11/28/1997
End date: 11/30/1997
Description: The panelists from the Sturrock workshop
reconvene in a San Francisco, California, hotel to draft a statement on
science and UFOs, but the language continues to be hashed out and
debated for months. The process goes on until April 27, 1998, when the
report is sent to the editorial office of the Journal of Scientific
Exploration. The report’s release engenders a mostly positive press
response, but with little effect on scientists’ continuing refusal to
examine UFO reports. (Clark III 1117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7224
Date: 12/1997
Description: Retired Sergeant-Major Cherd Chuensamnaun is deep in
Buddhist meditation at his home in Nakhon Sawan, Thailand, when he
begins receiving communications from space aliens. The following day his
skeptical son and son-in-law Jaroen Raepeth are lifted up from the
living room sofa and thrown outdoors into the yard. His daughter Wassana
sees a 33–50-foot long UFO outside at treetop level. Cherd continues to
transmit messages from the extraterrestrials (who hail from Pluto and
another planet named Loku) until his death in 2000. His family now
continues the tradition, and nearby Khao Kala hill regularly attracts
crowds of meditating UFO enthusiasts. According to the opinions of a
theologian from Silpakorn University, this cult is based on a
combination of beliefs in ghosts, god, aliens, and
Buddhism combined. (Wikipedia, “UFO
Sightings in Thailand”; Richard S. Ehrlich, “The
UFO Seekers Flocking to a RemoteThai Hilltop in Search of Buddhist
Aliens,” CNN, October 6, 2019; “Buddhist Aliens,” Fortean Times 388
(January 2020): 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7225
Date: 12/7/1997
End date: 12/14/1997
Description: The first World Forum of Ufology takes place in Brasília,
Brazil, coordinated by the Brazilian Ufologists Commission. The
coalition of researchers is comprised of Claudeir
Covo, from
the National Institute of Aerospace Phenomena Investigations (INFA);
Rafael Cury, from the Núcleo de Pesquisas Ufológicas (NPU); Reginaldo
de Athayde, from
Ufological Research Center (CPU); Marco
Antônio Petit, from Fluminense UFO Research Association (AFEU); and
Ubirajara
Franco Rodrigues and Ademar
José Gevaerd, both
from the Brazilian Center for Flying Saucer Research (CBPDV), the
largest UFO group in the country. The event culminates in the Brasilia
Letter, a document signed by nearly all ufologists present, representing
their nations and research entities. The letter conveys the position of
ufologists to the Brazilian government to take the necessary steps
required to clarify the UFO question. (A. J. Gevaerd, “Brazilian
Researchers Organize the Biggest UFO Conference Ever,” UFO Updates,
December 8, 1997; Clark III 209; 2Pinotti 161)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7226
Date: 12/8/1997
Description: Night. After two brightly lit objects fly above Surrey,
British Columbia, a large, disc-shaped, pewter- colored craft spins and
bobs around in the sky. The witnesses give chase in their car, but lose
sight of it. (Chris Rutkowski, “1997 Canadian UFO Survey,” IUR 23, no. 2
(Summer 1998): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7227
Date: 12/14/1997
Description: Seven people in Vancouver, British Columbia, see an object
shaped like an “@” sign. It zooms into view and stops in mid-flight,
appearing as a “flattened silver pyramid.” It bobs up and down then
disappears suddenly. (Chris Rutkowski, “1997 Canadian UFO Survey,” IUR
23, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7228
Date: winter 1997
Description: 3:00 p.m. Sgt. John F. Duffy is serving as loadmaster and
radio operator aboard a KC-130R Hercules cargo plane flying at an
altitude of 24,000 feet north of the Horne Islands in the South Pacific.
He notices a white object on the left side of the aircraft. At first it
seems stationary, then appears to jump behind a nearby cloud, moving in
a horizontal direction and disappears after only 2 seconds. (Richard F.
Haines, “South Pacific Sighting, 1997,” IUR 24, no. 2 (Summer 1999):
11–12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7177
Date: 12/22/1997
Description: An object like an “airplane wing cross-sectioned” is seen
by a witness near Halifax, Nova Scotia. It has a solid appearance and is
slow-moving, disappearing after 8 minutes. (Chris Rutkowski, “1997
Canadian UFO Survey,” IUR 23, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7229
Date: 12/31/1997
Description: 11:30 p.m. Many people in the area of Rzeszów, Poland,
watch a spherical orange object. Jan Skobran and Maciej Robert see it
briefly before it disappears. At 11:50 p.m., it reappears and they
videotape it on VHS. After about 40 seconds it disappears, but another
shows up at 12:20 a.m., pulsating with an intense orange glow. Seconds
later it disappears, but another light appears over the Słocina forest.
(Poland 153–154)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7230
Date: 1998
Description: The Roper Organization conducts a second survey on
abductions, using the same indicators as its 1991 survey. This one is
commissioned by Robert
Bigelow’s National Institute for Discovery Science. Results indicate
that the number of potential abductees has dropped from more than 3.7
million in 1991 to 2.2 million in 1998. (Mark Rodeghier, “Counting
Abductees: What Can Surveys Tell Us?” IUR 25, no. 3 (Fall 2000):
21–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7231
Date: 1998
Description: Podiatrist Roger
K. Leir publishes The Aliens and the Scalpel, in which he reviews
his investigation of alien implants since 1995. Leir has performed
surgery to remove small objects from the feet and hands of 17 abductees.
Robert
Bigelow’s National Institute for Discovery Science provides the
funding for the analysis of these objects. Some of the findings are
potentially noteworthy—the objects are found on the left side of the
body, most of them fluoresce under ultraviolet light, some are magnetic,
and most appear metallic and seem to emit radio signals. Calcium,
copper, and iron are the most common constituents. Critics dismiss the
objects as tiny slivers of metal or glass embedded in tissue and find no
evidence for radio emissions. None of the objects reveal any apparent
technological structure. (Roger K. Leir, The
Aliens and the Scalpel: Scientific Proof of Extraterrestrial
Implants in
Humans, Granite,
1998; Roger K. Leir, “Alien Implants and Physical Evidence,” MUFON 2005
International UFO Symposium Proceedings, MUFON, 2005; Clark III
11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7232
Date: 1/1998
Description: David
Jacobs’s book The Threat expresses his belief that the aliens are
not doing research; rather, they are carrying out a deliberate and
massive breeding program using individuals from childhood onward and
families for generations. The aliens create pregnancies, steal fetuses,
and grow hybrids in vats and incubators. When those hybrids become
children, they require emotional nurture from humans to thrive, so the
aliens bring abductees back to touch and interact with the children. The
abductees report seeing hybrids that look less and less like the gray
aliens. Another series of hybridizations occurs as the aliens breed or
engineer early-stage hybrids into progressively more human late-stage
hybrids, who are all but indistinguishable from ordinary people (blond,
blue- eyed Nordics). Some adult hybrids assist the aliens in their work,
while others live on earth and mingle with humans for a time. Jacobs
raises the alarm that apparent benevolence from the aliens is a con to
lull us into complacency and hide their true intentions. (David M.
Jacobs, The
Threat: Revealing the Secret Alien Agenda, Simon & Schuster,
1998; Thomas E. Bullard, “Apocalypse in Gray,” IUR 23, no. 2 (Summer
1998): 20–27; Clark III 9, 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7233
Date: 1/2/1998
Description: 9:30 p.m. Fernando Mariano de Oliveira and Luciene da Cunha
Lopes are in a townhouse on the Rua Luis Augusto Ferreira in the Capão
Redondo neighborhood of São Paulo, Brazil, when they see a small
luminous sphere about 8 inches in diameter moving up and down in the sky
at variable speeds about 500 feet away from them. Other family members
join them to watch the silent white light, and the neighborhood dogs
bark constantly. Fernando’s brother, Alan Bruno de Oliveira, 10, picks
up a camcorder and films the light with the help of his cousin Katiuscia
da Cunha Lopes for 4.5 minutes. The light disappears around 10:00 p.m.
(Brazil 385–392)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7234
Date: 1/11/1998
Description: 1:00 a.m. A pair of dark triangular objects appear to merge
together over Cuddington, Cheshire, England. (Marler 145)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7235
Date: 2/1998
Description: Night. Two young men are driving from Opole to Niemodlin,
Poland, when the car radio goes off and the engine of their Polski Fiat
125p fails just as a large object flies over them. The lights, radio,
and engine come back on by themselves after the object is gone, but they
can still see it in the west as it apparently descends toward the road a
mile or two ahead. From the top of a hill, they see it emitting a
dazzling light and hovering above the trees. Suddenly it approaches
them, flying 65–100 feet off the ground, and they speed ahead into town.
(Poland 84–85)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7236
Date: 2/17/1998
Description: An Army intelligence document summarizes the “Bioeffects of
Selected Nonlethal Weapons,” including microwave, acoustic, and
radio-frequency directed energy devices. As for RF energy, “There is no
sound propagated through the air like normal sound. This technology in
its crudest form could be used to distract individuals; if refined, it
could also be used to communicate with hostages or hostage takers
directly by Morse code or other message systems, possibly even by voice
communication.” And, “The phenomenon is tunable in that the
characteristic sounds and intensities of those sounds depend on the
characteristics of the RF energy as delivered. Because the frequency of
the sound heard is dependent on the pulse characteristics of the RF
energy, it seems possible that this technology could be developed to the
point where words could be transmitted to be heard like the spoken word,
except that it could only be heard within a person’s head. In one
experiment, communication of the words from one to ten using ‘speech
modulated’ microwave energy was successfully demonstrated. Microphones
next to the person experiencing the voice could not pick up the sound.
Additional development of this would open up a wide range of
possibilities.” (US Army, “Bioeffects
of Selected Nonlethal Weapons,”
February 17, 1998)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7237
Date: 2/28/1998
End date: 6/11/1999
Description: Kosovo War and NATO intervention
Type: war
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Kosovo
Date: early 3/1998
Description: William Weitzel and the Fund for UFO Research discover and
later secure copies of the unsanitized, pre- redaction record copy 16mm
microfilm of the Blue Book Files, filmed at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery,
Alabama, in February 1975 that the National Archives inadvertently makes
available at the Archives II facility in College Park, Maryland. (Sparks, p. 6)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7238
Date: 4/22/1998
Description: 9:20 p.m. A former Canadian F-104 pilot watches a UFO
embedded in a cloud of green light fly toward the south over his car as
he is driving near Whistler, British Columbia. It is visible only a few
seconds. Other witnesses further south see the UFO stop over Puget Sound
for 5–10 seconds, jump instantly to another location, and hover again
before speeding away to the south. (George Filer, “Washington Large Disc
with Hole in Its Center,” Filer’s Files, #34-2007, August 22, 2007;
Nukes 495)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7239
Date: 4/22/1998
Description: 9:23 p.m. Civilian Larry Swanson sees a disc-shaped UFO fly
silently north to south at about 300–400 feet altitude over the center
of Naval Submarine Base Bangor [now Naval Base Kitsap] on the Kitsap
Peninsula, Washington. At one point, the disc tilts slightly, allowing
Swanson to view its underside, which is glowing white except for a
central circular area about 30 feet in diameter. It slowly glides out of
sight. (“Sighting Report,” National UFO Reporting Center, January 28,
1999; Nukes 494–498)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7240
Date: 6/5/1998
Description: 10:30 p.m. Paul Best and his girlfriend are driving near
Llanidloes, Powys, Wales, when they notice three triangular objects that
are rounded on the bottom. They remain stationary for 6–7 minutes, then
begin moving slowly before shooting away at high speed. (“UFOs
Spotted near Llani,” Welshpool (UK) County Times, June 12, 1998, via
UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 351 (October 1998): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7241
Date: 6/25/1998
Description: 2:00 p.m. A witness and her children in Cleveland, Ohio,
see 8 white, balloon-like objects moving across the sky into a large
cloud, pausing before entering it one by one. They watch the cloud and
follow it to the horizon, but the objects do not emerge. (Herbert S.
Taylor, “Mystery Clouds and the UFO Connection,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July
2005): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7242
Date: 6/26/1998
Description: Early morning. Two witnesses spot a triangular UFO hovering
above Corbett Hospital in Stourbridge, England. The object has white
lights at each corner and projects a white beam of light onto the
buildings. (“Strange
Shape in Sky,” Wolverhampton (UK) Express and Star, July 10, 1998,
via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 351 (October 1998): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7243
Date: 7/2/1998
Description: 8:00 p.m. A couple working outside in their yard at
Ticonderoga, New York, see a soundless, wingless object moving swiftly
through the sky. The man takes a video of it as it flies past the
eastern side of St. Mary’s Church. Probable aircraft. (Bruce Maccabee,
“‘Flying
Peanut’/Double UFO Video Seems to Be Authentic,” MUFON UFO Journal,
no. 369 (January 1999): 3–7; Wim van Utrecht, “Luminous
Peanut over Ticonderoga, New York,” Caelestia)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7244
Date: 7/21/1998
Description: 11:19 p.m. An object the size of a small trailer appears
suddenly over Napoleon, Ohio. It is emitting a dense fog and stays
stationary for 7 minutes, then branches out and grows until 5 smaller
craft are seen circling it. The large object seems to dissolve and
disappear, the smaller objects still circling for another few minutes.
(Herbert S. Taylor, “Cloud Cigars: A Further Look,” IUR 30, no. 3 (May
2006): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7245
Date: 8/10/1998
Description: 12:00 noon–1:00 p.m. At least four witnesses at Quirindi,
New South Wales, see “20 silver balls” performing complex maneuvers.
Angel hair streams from the objects during acceleration and right-angle
turns. The substance consolidates into long, white strands that slowly
fall to earth, draping on telephone lines and trees. It is white,
cotton-like, and strong, requiring a good tug to break, but quickly
sublimates to nothing on handling. A sample is sent to UFO researcher Bill
Chalker for analysis. Microscopic imaging by indicates it is spider
web. Another witness in Piallaway, New South Wales, reports similar
material at 2:00 p.m. (Brian Boldman, “An Analysis of Angel Hair,
1947–2000,” IUR 26, no. 3 (Fall 2001): 10; Keith Basterfield, “Angel
Hair: An Australian Perspective,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 7; Brian
Boldman, “Angel Hair Physical Analyses: A Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006):
107–108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7246
Date: 8/21/1998
Description: Israeli-American astrophysicist Mario
Livio speculates that extraterrestrials are not particularly rare,
it’s just that the most likely time for them to have developed was 3
billion years ago. (Mario Livio, “How
Rare Are Extraterrestrial
Civilizations and When Did They Emerge?” arXiv, August 21,
1998)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7247
Date: 9/13/1998
Description: A sensationalized TV documentary, The Secret KGB UFO Files,
is released in the US and hosted by actor Roger
Moore, who
recounts a dubious story about a Soviet crash/retrieval in Sverdlovsk
Oblast, Russia, in March 1969 that involved an alien autopsy. (Internet
Movie Database, “The
Secret KGB UFO Files”; “The
Secret KGB
UFO Files, 1998,” M TUFONC YouTube channel, September 24,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7248
Date: 9/14/1998
Description: Lt. Col. Enrique Rocamora, in charge of declassification of
UFO reports for the Spanish Air Force from 1993 to 1999, enters the 57th
staff course at the Escuela Superior del Aire in Madrid, Spain. Along
with consultations and contributions from Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos, he
creates a massive monograph, “The Process of Declassification of UFO
Documentation in the Air Force,” with 10 chapters and 16 attachments
amounting to 296 pages. (Swords 428, 523)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7249
Date: 9/28/1998
Description: UFO researchers Ion
Hobana, Harald
Alexandrescu, and Dan
D. Farcaş establish the Asociația pentru Studiul Fenomenelor
Aerospațiale Neidentificate (ASFAN) with offices in the Admiral Vasile
Urseanu Astronomical Observatory in Bucharest, Romania. (Romania 69–70;
“Association
for the Study of Unidentified Space
Phenomena (ASFAN), Romania”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7250
Date: 10/1998
Description: Scott
Corrales begins publishing Inexplicata: The Journal of Hispanic
Ufology. It persists through December 2004 but continues as a blog in
December 2005. (Inexplicata:
The Journal of Hispanic Ufology, no. 1 (Fall 1998); Inexplicata
blog)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7251
Date: 10/18/1998
Description: 12:40 p.m. Dave Rose is at Sandwell Valley, West Midlands,
England, with his parents when they see a motionless sphere in the sky.
After 20 minutes another object, a metallic-looking triangular UFO, also
appears. The triangle moves from side to side in short bursts before
vanishing completely. The sphere dwindles to a dark spot in another 10
minutes. (“Did
You See This UFO?” Wolverhampton (UK) Express and Star, October 29,
1998, via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 353 (December 1998): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7252
Date: 10/19/1998
Description: Four different radar stations in Hebei province, China,
pick up an unknown target moving above a military flight training base
near Cangzhou. At least 140 observers at the base see the object as a
small star that grows larger and larger as it descends. It has a
mushroom-shaped dome on top and a flat bottom covered with rotating
lights. The base commander scrambles a Shenyang J-6 fighter, which gets
to within 2.5 miles of the UFO over Qing County, whereupon it abruptly
shoots upward. The UFO plays cat and mouse with the jet, appearing and
reappearing. Permission to fire on the UFO is denied by ground control.
The fighter is forced to return after running low on fuel, and the UFO
disappears before other aircraft arrive. (Good Need, p. 393)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7253
Date: 11/6/1998
Description: 3:00 a.m. A man is driving with his wife near Childers,
Queensland, when he sees an object moving quickly across the road. Five
minutes later he sees a green beam of light shining down from the sky.
The light source seems to be about 3,000 feet above them. Both he and
his wife, who is asleep in the car, experience swelling in the hands and
lips, as well as headaches. They both feel compelled to take their
wedding rings off and sense that something else will happen to them.
(“Australian CE2,” IUR 24, no. 2 (Summer 1999): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7254
Date: 11/6/1998
Description: 7:00 a.m. A witness in Bothell, Washington, sees a thin,
horizontal cloud that tilts and descends. A taller horizontal cloud
tilts to the left, but it soon appears to be a dark, cylindrical object.
Two small oval clouds emerge from a larger cloud. All of the objects
slowly descend past the Cascades Mountains. A few jets fly toward them
one at a time, until 9:30 p.m. (Herbert S. Taylor, “Mystery Clouds and
the UFO Connection,” IUR 29, no. 4 (July 2005): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7255
Date: 11/11/1998
Description: 11:55 a.m. Two daylight discs are seen by Ms. R. M. Jones
as she is driving through Alexander, Arkansas: “The first was larger,
more white, more stationary and lasted longer. The second was a white
cigar sort of thing, sort of shimmery.” (“UFOs
Dominate Night Sky over Arkansas,” UFO Roundup 3, no. 49, December
7, 1998)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7256
Date: 11/16/1998
Description: Newspaper Article: “High court won’t review “state secrets”
privilege in ‘Area 51’ case”. The U.S. Supreme Court refused in early
November to hear an appeal of a lawsuit by workers at a “secret” air
base near Groom Lake, Nev., dubbed “Area 51.”
Type: lawsuit
Reference: link
Location: Area 51
Date: 11/27/1998
Description: 7:00–7:30 p.m. A woman is driving east on 25 Mile Road
north of Mount Clemens, Michigan, when she sees a “highly intense,”
basketball-sized ball of white light coming directly at her from the
right at high speed. There is no sound and no time to avoid a collision.
The object hits the car with a low thud, but the car’s motion is not
affected. She does not see it again and continues driving home. Upon
inspecting her car, she finds a cream- colored residue where it hit the
car, forming a streak about 12–13 inches long that is broken in several
spots. The residue is saved and after several months it is sent to
analytical chemist Phyllis
Budinger for tests and analysis. The results show prominent
components of kaolin (aluminum silicate), a hydrated metal (perhaps
manganese) oxide, and a celluloidal material. Only the oxide is not
attributable to the car’s own finish. There is no evidence of heat
transferred to the car’s paint. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFO/Vehicle Very Close
Encounters,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 3–5)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7257
Date: 11/30/1998
Description: Night. Bright blue-white lights are seen throughout Sussex
County, Delaware. One man reports a “large blue light that was moving
all over erratically,” with smaller lights coming from the larger one.
Local researcher Jane Segal receives reports that “fighters from Dover
Air Force Base were flying all over the region.” (“UFOs Seen
by Many in Southern Delaware,” UFO Roundup 3, no. 49, December 7,
1998)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7258
Date: 12/1998
Description: 5:45 p.m. Christopher Cabrera is at the end of his patrol
shift at Area 2 in Nellis AFB in Nevada and chatting with a few other
guards. All four of them notice three extremely bright amber lights in
front of them in the southeast blinking sequentially in a vertical,
triangular formation. The bottom two lights are about 100 feet off the
ground and a quarter-mile away. They seem to be attached to one solid
object that blocks out the stars behind it. It remains eerily silent.
The event lasts about 10 seconds and the lights are so bright that it
looks like daytime. The guards report the incident to the Flight Chief,
who tells them not to repeat the story to anyone or they will be
eligible for dishonorable discharge. (Robert L. Hastings, “Triangular-Shaped
UFO Sighted at the Nellis AFB Nuclear
Storage Area,” UFOs & Nukes, April 23, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7259
Date: 12/2/1998
Description: Night. UFO activity in Brisbane, Queensland, consists of a
bright white light, an orange ball of light, and a missing time
experience, all by different witnesses. (“UFOs
Converge on Brisbane,” UFO Roundup 3, no. 49, December 7,
1998)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7260
Date: 12/3/1998
Description: 11:30 p.m. A witness is driving in Kirkland, Washington,
when she notices a cluster of four white lights and one red light to the
south. They seem to be approaching, and when she arrives home she sees
they are attached to a large equilateral triangle that passes overhead.
(Marler 227–228)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7261
Date: 12/11/1998
Description: During mission STS-88,
the crew of Space Shuttle Endeavor takes photos of an unusual dark
object in low earth orbit. Conspiracy theorists claim it is an alien
satellite, dubbed the Black Knight, in polar orbit around the Earth.
However, the object is later identified as a thermal blanket that became
dislodged and lost during a December 9 EVA by astronauts Jerry
L. Ross and James
H. Newman during their installation of antennas on the International
Space Station. (Wikipedia, “Black
Knight satellite conspiracy theory”; Lorenzen, UFOs: The Whole
Story, Signet, 1969, p. 220; James Oberg, “Phantom
Satellite?” PowerPoint presentation; Martina Redpath, “The Truth
about the Black Knight Satellite Mystery,” Armagh Observatory and
Planetarium, July 18, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7262
Date: 1999
Description: Harvard University psychologist John
E. Mack publishes a second book on abductions, Passport to the
Cosmos, in which he continues to focus on the experience as
transformative and ultimately benevolent. Much of the experience
consists of a life lesson in symbolic form, Mack asserts. The hybrids
combine the human and alien in a shared mission to save the Earth. The
nurturing of hybrid children emphasizes the importance of emotion, and
the otherness of the aliens awakens a sense that humans are not the apex
of existence. The shock and terror of kidnap by unearthly beings breaks
the illusion that the world is under our control. Although Mack hears
the usual accounts of examinations and reproductive procedures from
dozens of other experiencers, he still reads these events as symbolic
agents of the larger purpose to save Earth from humans and humans from
themselves. Whether or not the abductors are extraterrestrial hardly
matters. (John E. Mack, Passport to the Cosmos: Human Transformation and
Alien Encounters, Crown, 1999; Clark III 9, 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7265
Date: 1999
Alternate date: 2000
Description: Retired NASA psychologist Richard
F. Haines founds the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous
Phenomena as a place for pilots, crews, and air-traffic controllers to
report their UFO sightings on a confidential basis. Ted Roe is executive
director and Haines is the chief research scientist. (“New Organization
Promotes Aviation Safety in UFO Sightings,” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter
2000–2001): 22, 30; Richard F. Haines, “NARCAP’s Project Sphere: Are
Spherical UAP a Threat to Aviation Safety?” IUR 33, no. 2 (July 2010):
4–5; Clark III 553)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7263
Date: 1999
Description: Austrian astrobiologist Helmut
Lammer and his wife Marion publish MILABS: Military Mind Control and
Alien Abduction, a review of people claiming to have been abducted by
military personnel who interrogate them about their UFO experiences,
remove or insert implants, and perform medical examinations and memory
eradication. (Helmut Lammer and Marion Lammer, MILABS: Military Mind
Control and Alien Abduction, IllumiNet, 1999; Helmut Lammer, “Preliminary
Findings of Project-MILAB: Evidence for Military Kidnappings of Alleged
UFO- Abductees,”
October 16, 1996; Helmut Lammer, “Further
Findings of Project-MILAB: Looking behind the Alien/Military
Abduction Agenda,” August 13, 1997; Malcolm Robinson, “MILABS:
Military Mind Control and Alien Abduction,” Strange Phenomena
Investigations England, 2001)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7264
Date: 1/22/1999
Description: 7:03 a.m. A witness driving south on State Highway 3 near
the off-ramp to Naval Submarine Base Bangor [now Naval Base Kitsap] on
the Kitsap Peninsula, Washington, sees an orange volleyball-sized light
20 feet above the overpass moving at 60–70 mph toward the base.
(“Sighting Report,” National UFO Reporting Center, February 11, 2003;
Nukes 498)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7267
Date: 1/22/1999
Description: Peter Gersten, executive
director of Citizens Against UFO Secrecy, files a FOIA lawsuit in
federal district court in Phoenix, Arizona, to release documents
relating to the Phoenix Lights and (later) the St. Clair Triangle in
Illinois in 2000. The Department of Defense files a motion to dismiss
the suit. Assistant US Attorney Richard Patrick says the department has
conducted a reasonable search for information requested by Gersten’s
group and cannot find any records. (“UFO
Lawsuit to Get Hearing,” Phoenix Arizona Republic, February 4,
2000)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7266
Date: 2/3/1999
Description: A British Debonair Bae146 charter jet encounters a “long
cylindrical object” the size of a battleship while flying at 28,000 feet
over the North Sea off Denmark. The captain observes rows of square
portholes on the UFO just before it bathes the airliner in incandescent
light. The object comes to an abrupt halt, then accelerates past the
airplane at an incredible speed. RAF radar stations track the object,
which is also seen from three other nearby aircraft. A Civil Aviation
Authority source says the object is tracked by a military radar station
in Yorkshire after it enters British air space. (“North Sea Encounter,”
IUR 24, no. 2 (Summer 1999): 31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7268
Date: 3/1999
Description: Kevin
D. Randle, Russ
Estes, and William
Cone publish The Abduction Enigma, offering a rigorous critique of
the alien explanation for the abduction phenomenon and arguing instead
that abductee personalities, cultural ideas, and investigator influences
have coalesced to create false memories. (Kevin D. Randle, Russ Estes,
and William Cone, The
Abduction Enigma: The Truth behind the Mass Alien Abductions of the Late
Twentieth Century, Forge,
1999; Thomas E. Bullard, [review], JUFOS 7 (2000): 94–106)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7269
Date: 3/5/1999
Description: Midnight. A diamond-shaped UFO is blamed for the
unexplained collapse of a theatre roof in Kimberley, British Columbia.
An object covered with flashing lights is seen by several witnesses
prior to the incident. (East Kootenay (B.C.) Weekly, March 23, 1999;
“Recent UFO Cases,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7270
Date: 3/24/1999
Description: Night. Five people in the towns of Brinsley,
Nottinghamshire, and Crich and Belper, Derbyshire, England, watch a
flying object that looks like a black wedge with two bright headlights.
The blunt end of the wedge is facing forward as it flies at about 35
mph. (“‘Black
Wedge’ Seen in Skies over Town,” Belper (UK) News, March 24, 1999,
via UFO Newsclipping Service, no. 360 (July 1999): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7271
Date: 4/2/1999
Description: Two Chilean national police officers see a UFO hovering
above Mount Balmaceda in Puerto Natales, Tierra del Fuego, Chile. They
see red, green, and yellow lights on the object, which performs several
side-to-side displacements as it hovers near the summit. (La Tercera
(Santiago), April 4, 7, 1999; “Recent UFO Cases,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring
1999): 31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7272
Date: 4/7/1999
Description: 10:58 p.m. A woman is looking through the second-story
window of her home in East Falmouth, Massachusetts. She sees strange,
double, white lights resembling car headlights attached to a triangular
object silently moving across the sky through the maple trees. It is in
view for only 4–5 seconds. (“Recent UFO Cases,” IUR 24, no. 1 (Spring
1999): 31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7273
Date: 6/9/1999
Description: A huge fall of “white filamentous threads” covers hedges,
trees, and power lines over 10,000 square kilometers in Esperance,
Western Australia. Some strands are 30 feet in length. Witness Marilyn
Burnet has a sample analyzed and finds copper, aluminum, zinc, iron,
sodium, manganese, silicon, and other minerals. (Brian Boldman, “Angel
Hair Physical Analyses: A Review,” JUFOS 9 (2006): 108; Keith
Basterfield, “Angel Hair: An Australian Perspective,” IUR 27, no. 1
(Spring 2002): 7–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7274
Date: 6/30/1999
Description: 11:00 a.m. Two witnesses are walking their dog in the Park
Zachodni in Wrocław, Poland, when they see a blue-gray, disc-shaped
object with a row of blue lights pass over the trees to the northeast.
Another similar object follows a similar path shortly afterward. (Poland
83–84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7275
Date: 7/2/1999
Description: Abduction researcher and folklorist Thomas
E. Bullard expands on his description of the abduction experience in
an examination of 437 reports from the literature. He looks at location
and duration, the sequence of the episodes and common events within
each, the appearance and behavior of the entities, interior and exterior
descriptions of the UFO, and the mental and physical controls the aliens
use on the abductees. (Thomas E. Bullard, “What’s New in Alien
Abduction? Has the Story Changed in 30 Years?” MUFON 1999 International
UFO Symposium Proceedings, MUFON, 1999, pp. 170–199; Clark III
13–22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7276
Date: 7/16/1999
Description: A 90-page report, Les OVNI et la Defense: A Quoi doit-on se
Préparer? (UFOs and Defense: What Should We Prepare for?), is published
as the result of an in-depth study of UFOs carried out over several
years by an independent group of former advanced workshop participants
at the Institut des Hautes Études de Défense Nationale in Paris, France,
and by other experts. Before its public release, it is sent to President
Jacques
Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel
Jospin. The
report is prefaced by Gen. Bernard
Norlain of the Air Force and begins with a preamble by André
Lebeau, former president of the Centre National d’Études Spatiales.
The Comité d’Études Approfondies (COMETA) group, collective author of
the report, is presided over by Gen. Denis
Letty of the Air Force. The report analyzes various UFO cases and
concludes that UFOs are real, complex flying objects, and that the
extraterrestrial hypothesis has a high probability of being the correct
explanation for the UFO phenomenon. The study recommends that the French
government should adjust to the reality of the phenomenon and conduct
further research. (Comité d’Études Approfondies, “UFOs and Defense: What
Should We Prepare For?” part
1 and part 2, July 16, 1999; Gildas Bourdais, “The
French Report on UFOs and Defense: A Summary”; Swords 449–450; Mark
Rodeghier, ed., “The 1999 French Report on UFOs and Defense,” IUR 25,
no. 2 (Summer 2000): 20–22, 30; Gildas Bourdais, “From GEPAN to SEPRA:
Official UFO Studies in France,” IUR 25, no. 4 (Winter 2000–2001):
10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7277
Date: 7/27/1999
Description: Day. Several people living near the shore of Lake Backsjön,
near Gunnarskog, Värmlands, Sweden, see and hear a rocket-shaped object
plunge into the water. The object is 6–10 feet long and descends at high
speed, creating a splash in the water before sinking. One witness
contacts the rescue station at Arvika, who in turn contact the police
and military. Stellan Jansson, chief of staff for the I 2/Fo52 Värmland
Regiment, interviews the witnesses. In September, the army begins an
intensive search of the lake under the code name Operation Sea Find
using divers, sonar equipment, and a mini-sub. The operation conducts a
10-day search and examines 75% of the lake, but the search is
discontinued on September 16 after finding no evidence. On October 1, a
secret report is completed for military intelligence in Stockholm. (Clas
Svahn and Eileen Fletcher, “The Swedish Military and UFOs,” IUR 25, no.
3 (Fall 2000): 16–17; Swords 370)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7278
Date: 9/1999
Description: The peer-reviewed European Journal of UFO and Abduction
Studies is launched in Southampton, England, by Totton College
psychology professor Craig A. Roberts. Its editorial board features UFO
researchers in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Ukraine, Russia,
France, and Italy. It continues through the September 2002 issue. (European
Journal of UFO and Abduction Studies, launch volume (September
1999))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7279
Date: 9/30/1999
Description: 10:35 a.m. A serious criticality incident takes place in
the Tokaimura uranium processing facility operated by JCO in the village
of Tokai, Iberaki Prefeccture, Japan. The accident occurs as three
workers are preparing a small batch of fuel for the Jōyō experimental
fast breeder reactor, using uranium enriched to 18.8% with the
radioisotope uranium-235 (with the remainder being the fertile
uranium-238). It is JCO’s first batch of fuel for that reactor in three
years, and no proper qualification and training requirements appear to
have been established to prepare those workers for the job. A
precipitation tank reaches critical mass when its fill level, containing
about 35 pounds of uranium, reaches about 11 gallons. The two
technicians who receive the higher doses die several months later.
(Wikipedia, “Tokaimura
nuclear accidents”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7280
Date: 10/9/1999
Description: The last flight of a temporarily reactivated SR-71
Blackbird takes place. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
SR-71 Blackbird”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7281
Date: 10/9/1999
Description: 7:57 p.m. While fishing off Fort Pickens near Pensacola,
Florida, an ex-Air Force security policeman and a city police officer
watch a triangular UFO with high-intensity blue arcing lights traveling
west over the Gulf of Mexico in a zigzag fashion. It is about 200 feet
in the air, a quarter of a mile distant, and moving at 115–350 mph. At
least four times it seems to hover for 30 seconds. After 15 minutes, it
moves away to the west. (George Filer, “Florida Triangle with Blue
Ionization near Gulf Breeze,” Filer’s Files, #43-1999, October 18,
1999)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7282
Date: 10/10/1999
Description: 11:45 p.m. A couple in Lewiston, Michigan, see a hazy,
pulsing object outside their bedroom window. Other lights seem to be
flying around it, so that it resembles moths flying around a light bulb.
They watch it for 45 minutes, then go back to sleep. (Herbert S. Taylor,
“Cloud Cigars: A Further Look,” IUR 30, no. 3 (May 2006): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7283
Date: 10/29/1999
Description: 5:45 p.m. A man and woman in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, see a
nickel-colored object emerge from a strange contrail-like cloud and fly
back into it. A few seconds later, it shoots out again and circles
around it for 15 minutes. About an hour later, they see jets flying
around, apparently searching for the object. (Herbert S. Taylor, “Cloud
Cigars: A Further Look,” IUR 30, no. 3 (May 2006): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7284
Date: 11/11/1999
Description: A sample of “angel hair” is recovered from a fall in
Sacramento, California, and sent to analytical chemist Phyllis
Budinger for Fourier Transform infrared spectrometry analysis. She
finds that the fibrous material is not spider web but consists of a
silk-like substance containing secondary amide linkages similar to
protein. It also contains volatile hydrocarbons. (Brian Boldman, “An
Analysis of Angel Hair, 1947–2000,” IUR 26, no. 3 (Fall 2001):
14–15)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7285
Date: 11/11/1999
Description: 8:30 p.m. Two men are loading gravel onto a truck in
Tomelilla, Skåne, Sweden, when they see a boomerang-shaped object flying
overhead, blocking out the stars. The object is solid and observed for
5–10 seconds. UFO-Sweden researchers Clas
Svahn and Anders
Persson check with the Swedish military for their radar data at the
time and find that it has recorded many targets. They conclude that a
flock of migrating birds, probably eiders, flying in formation is
responsible. (Clas Svahn and Eileen Fletcher, “The Swedish Military and
UFOs,” IUR 25, no. 3 (Fall 2000): 17–18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7286
Date: 12/1999
Description: Cao Gong, a middle-aged man from Beijing, China, claims he
is abducted by aliens and flown to Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, in a
UFO. The entities look like humans but have large hands and are very
pale. Zhang
Jingping of the World Chinese UFO Association begins to investigate
the Cao case in April 2000 and has him hypnotically regressed by a
psychologist from Suzhou. Cao also passes a lie detector test at the
Beijing Bureau of Public Security. Cao remembers meeting in the
spacecraft a Chinese girl who looks about 13 years old. She tells him
the aliens cured her of a disease. Zhang brings Cao to the Tangshan
Bureau of Public Security in July 2000, where the police construct a
computer reconstruction of the girl’s face according to his description.
In November 2002, Zhang leads a group of students from Beihang
University on a trip to Qinhuangdao to look for the girl. They arrive in
Qinglong County and begin a blind search among the area’s 400,000
inhabitants. On the second day, an old man recognizes the girl in the
image. They locate her and she turns out to be 15 years old. Zhang
brings her back to Beijing to meet Cao Gong, who identifies her as the
girl he met. (Bill Chalker, “The
Untold
Story of UFOs in China: Lost in Translation or the Devouring
Dragon?” New Dawn Special Issue 14, no. 1 (January 2020))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7287
Date: 2000
Description: The National Nuclear Security Administration is created by
Congress in the wake of the Wen
Ho Lee spy scandal and other allegations that the Department of
Energy’s lax administration has resulted in the loss of nuclear secrets
to China. It is a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy
responsible for safeguarding national security through the military
application of nuclear science. (Wikipedia, “National
Nuclear Security Administration”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7292
Date: 2000
Description: Ufologist Chris
Rutkowski and Ufology Research of Manitoba begin receiving UFO
reports made to Canadian agencies, allowing them to create a yearly
statistical report on sightings in Canada. (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s
UFOs: Declassified, August Night, 2022, p. 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7290
Date: 2000
Description: Walter
Andrus retires as director of MUFON and is replaced by John
Schuessler.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7289
Date: 2000
Description: Ufologist Richard
H. Hall completes a sequel to NICAP’s 1964 report to Congress. The
UFO Evidence, Volume II covers UFO sightings since 1964. (Richard H.
Hall, The UFO Evidence, Volume II: A Thirty Year Report, Scarecrow,
2000)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7288
Date: 2000
Description: The results of the Russian Setka program are disclosed by
Boris
Sokolov, coordinator
of Setka-MO, and Yulii Platov, deputy
coordinator of Setka-AN, in an article in the Bulletin of the Russian
Academy of Sciences. According to them, 90% of the anomalous atmospheric
phenomena observed in Russian territory can be explained by the effects
of human activities (especially rockets and weather balloon launches),
while the remaining 10% are unexplained. For the latter cases, they
could be rare or still unknown natural phenomena. However, no evidence
is found of UFO landings, crashes, close encounters, or alien
abductions. No evidence of an extraterrestrial UFO origin has emerged
either. Paul
Stonehill, a
Russian UFO scholar, believes that only the results of Setka-AN’s
studies are disclosed, while those of Setka-MO still remain secret.
Stonehill further claims there is nothing to indicate that anyone in the
Setka program attempted to seriously analyze the cases that remain
unexplained. (Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle, The Soviet UFO Files:
Paranormal Encounters behind the Iron Curtain, Quadrillion, 1998,
pp. 43, 52; Pyotr N. Rybalko, “Bureaucratized
Pseudoscience,” RIAP Bulletin 6, no. 2–3 (Apr./Sept. 2000): 11–12;
Boris Sokolov and Yulii Platov, “A
History of State UFO Research in the USSR,” Skeptical Briefs 10, no.
4 (December 1, 2000))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7294
Date: 2000
Description: Alleged abductee Stan
Romanek of Loveland, Colorado, claims his first UFO experience. He
has many experiences with aliens since then, allegedly discovering
mysterious wounds on his body that glow under a black light and claiming
electronic communications with aliens. He also claims aliens have
followed his car, visited his home, and communicated with him
telepathically. In 2003, he claims he woke up and found himself wearing
a ladies’ flannel nightgown, which makes him suspect he has been
abducted and returned in woman’s clothing. Romanek eventually comes to
suspect that the clothing belongs to another supposed abductee, Betty
Hill. When
asked if the gown has been tested for Hill’s DNA, Romanek claims that it
has not because the test is too expensive. Appearing on ABC
Primetime in 2009, Romanek makes the unsubstantiated claims that he
underwent hypnosis by R.
Leo Sprinkle, a
psychologist who specializes in alien abduction cases. Romanek claims
that under hypnosis he wrote out the Drake equation, a formula used to
estimate the number of communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in
our galaxy, and then added “x100” to it. Skeptic Joe
Nickell suggests the equation is written through simple
memorization. On August 8, 2017, Romanek is found guilty of felony
possession of child pornography. (Erik Dofge, “New
Alien Video Shines (Photoshopped) Light on UFO Hoaxers,” Popular
Mechanics, June 8, 2008; Alan Scherstuhl, “In
Kansas City, Celebrity UFO-Filmer Stan Romanek Finds an Audience
of Believers—and One Reporter,” The Pitch (Kansas City), August 13,
2009; “Man
Claims Aliens Send Him
Messages,” ABC News, August 18, 2009; Joe Nickell, “Abductions
or Hoaxes? The Man Who Attracts Aliens,”
Skeptical Inquirer 34, no. 3 (May/June 2010): 19–20; Jack Brewer, “Ufology
Indicted,” The UFO Trail, August 7, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7296
Date: 2000
Description: Mathematician Karsten
Jöred replaces Arne
Gjärdman as head of UFO investigations at the Swedish National
Defence Research Institute. He holds the position until 2006. (Swords
370)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7295
Date: 2000
Description: Polish journalist and author Igor
Witkowski publishes Prawda o Wunderwaffe, describing a purported
top-secret Nazi technological device or secret weapon called Die Glocke
(“The Bell”). It is later popularized by military journalist and author
Nick
Cook in The Hunt for Zero Point, who associates it with Nazi
occultism, antigravity, and free energy research. Mainstream reviewers
have criticized claims about Die Glocke as being pseudoscientific,
recycled rumors, and a hoax. Die Glocke and other alleged Nazi “miracle
weapons” have since been dramatized in video games, television shows,
and novels. (Wikipedia, “Die
Glocke (conspiracy theory)”; Igor Witkowski, The Truth about the
Wunderwaffe, European History Press, 2013; Nick Cook, The
Hunt for Zero Point:
Inside the Classified World of Antigravity Technology, Broadway,
2002)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7293
Date: 2000
Description: Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos launches UFO FOTOCAT, a project to create a
worldwide catalog of UFO photos. He eventually accumulates close to
13,000 cases in the database. Based on its content, Ballester Olmos
releases eight research reports as of August 2020. (“The
Year 1954 in
Photos (Expanded)”; “Argentina:
The Year 1965 in Photos”;
“Avistamientos
OVNI en la Antártida en 1965”; “Norway
in UFO Photographs: The First Catalogue”; “Spheres
in Airborne UAP Imagery”; “An
Approach to UFO Pictures in France”; “Belgium
in UFO Photographs, vol. 1
(1950–1988)”; and “The Marfa Lights: Examining the Photographic
Evidence (2003–2007)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7291
Date: 1/5/2000
Description: Shortly after 4:00 a.m. The “St. Clair Triangle,” “UFO Over
Illinois,” “Southern Illinois UFO,” or “Highland, Illinois UFO” sighting
takes place over the towns of Highland, Dupo, Lebanon, Shiloh,
Summerfield, Millstadt, and O’Fallon, Illinois. Five on-duty police
officers around these locales, along with various other eyewitnesses,
report a massive, silent, triangular or rectangular craft operating at
an unusual treetop-level altitude and speeds. One of the police officers
manages to get a single yet ambiguous Polaroid photograph of the object.
The incident is examined in the ABC special Seeing Is Believing with Peter
Jennings, an
hour-long Discovery Channel special UFOs Over Illinois, an episode of
the 2004 Syfy series Proof Positive, and a 30-minute independent
documentary titled The Edge of Reality: Illinois UFO, January 5, 2000 by
Darryl Barker Productions. (Wikipedia, “Black
triangle (UFO)”; “Police
Officers in St. Clair County Report
Seeing Early- Morning
UFO,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 9, 2000, pp. D1–D2; “UFO
Sighting Brings Media Attention, Investigative
Team to Southern Illinois,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 12,
2000, pp. A1, A6; “UFO
Baffles Observers,”
Waterloo (Iowa) Republic-Times, January 12, 2000, p. 2; “Buffs
Baffled by UFO,” Chicago Sun- Times, January 20, 2000; David B.
Marler, “Illinois
Police Officers Track UFO near Scott AFB,” MUFON UFO Journal, no.
383 (March 2000): 3–8; Internet Movie Database, “UFOs
over Illinois”; “Illinois UFO, January 5, 2000,” IUR 26, no. 2
(Summer 2001): 16; “Hypothesis:
The Illinois Flying Triangle Is a Department of Defense, Not
an ET Craft,” National Institute for Discovery Science, July 2002;
Darryl Barker, “The
Illinois Triangle? Do We
Have the Technology?” Darryl Barker Productions, August 2, 2002;
Internet Movie Database, “Proof Positive,”
Episode 108, November 24, 2004; Internet Movie Database, “Peter
Jennings Reporting: UFOs, Seeing Is
Believing”; “UFOs:
Seeing Is Believing (2005), ABC Documentary,” Movie Buff Guy YouTube
channel, June 18, 2019; Thomas E. Bullard, “Defending UFOs,” IUR 34, no.
2 (March 2012): 33; Marler 26–60; Skinwalkers 106–108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7297
Date: 1/5/2000
Description: Bill
Sweetman writes in Jane’s International Defence Review that there
are approximately 150 “special access programs” within the Pentagon at
the close of 1999, many of which are unacknowledged. They often have
completely independent systems of classification, with total control
exercised by the program manager. He concludes that most are dominated
not by Defense personnel but by private contractors. He has no idea how
they are funded. (Bill Sweetman, “In Search of the Pentagon’s Billion
Dollar Hidden Budgets: How the US Keeps Its R&D Spending under
Wraps,” Jane’s International Defense Review, January 5, 2000)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7298
Date: 1/10/2000
Description: 9:00 p.m. A young man near Sézanne, Marne, France,
encounters a bright white light near the town water tower. His engine
cuts out and the radio stops working. (Mark Rodeghier, “Vehicle
Interference near Sézanne,” IUR 33, no. 3 (December 2010): 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7299
Date: 3/1/2000
Description: In a campaign press conference in Stockton, California,
Sen. John
McCain (R-Ariz.) acknowledges that the Phoenix Lights incident “has
never been fully explained, but I have to tell you that I do not have
any evidence whatsoever of aliens or UFOs.” (Kean, p. 250)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7300
Date: 3/30/2000
Description: 5:00 a.m. Leah Isaac, a friend, and their small boy are
driving on the Klondike Highway at the west end of Little Fox Lakes,
Yukon Territory, when they spot a 40-foot wide disc hovering some 300
feet away. The UFO shoots across the road at “incredible speed,” then
stopped abruptly for a split second before shooting off at a 90º angle.
The car’s headlights dim and the tape deck ceases working when the UFO
is nearby. Leah’s analog watch stops, and her friend’s digital watch
goes blank. (Martin Jasek and Mark Rodeghier, “Vehicle Interference at
Little Fox Lake, Yukon,” IUR 25, no. 2 (Summer 2000): 23–24, 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7301
Date: 3/30/2000
Description: US District Court Judge Stephen
M. McNamee dismisses the CAUS lawsuit seeking documents on the
Phoenix Lights in Arizona, concluding that “a reasonable search was
conducted” by the Department of Defense, even though no information was
found. (Kean, pp. 251–253)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7302
Date: 4/2000
Description: Sergio Sánchez and Diego Zúñiga launch the UFO magazine La
Nave de los Locos in Santiago, Chile, which continues until October
2006. (La
Nave de los Locos, no. 1 (April 2000))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7303
Date: early 7/2000
Description: Evening. Ceri Kenyon is walking home in Littleborough,
Greater Manchester, England, when he sees a flickering object in the
sky. As he approaches, he hears a buzzing sound and sees that it is a
triangular object surrounded by lights. (Marler 223–224)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7304
Date: 7/17/2000
Description: 10:50 p.m. A witness in Silverdale, Washington, sees four
orange lights descending to the west over the Olympic Mountains. When
the second to last light is gone, the witness sees a flash like an
explosion. About 15 minutes later, another orange light appears, moving
south to north at a speed too slow for a meteor. It descends behind the
same mountain. A Blackhawk helicopter is visible in the same area at the
same time. (“Sighting Report,” National UFO Reporting Center, February
11, 2003; Nukes 498–499)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7305
Date: 8/2000
Description: Two police officers in Halifax, Nova Scotia, watch a large,
triangular-shaped object hovering just above the trees. It is about 660
feet on each side. (Don Ledger, “The Flying Triangle Phenomenon,” IUR
27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7306
Date: 8/5/2000
Description: 11:30 a.m. A witness spots a silver disc in the sky over
Old Noarlunga, South Australia, and calls out his wife to watch. Over
the next 90 minutes they see 3 whitish additional balls and something
that looks like a helicopter, all traveling west to east. Long, silver,
cobweb-like substance falls in large wads or strands. Once touched with
a stick, it shrivels up and evaporates. Similar material falls on Moana
and Aldinga Beach, where one witness also sees a bright light. (Keith
Basterfield, “Angel Hair: An Australian Perspective,” IUR 27, no. 1
(Spring 2002): 8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7307
Date: 8/20/2000
Description: 3:09 p.m. Two blurry round objects appear in a photograph
hovering above the copse of trees next to the High Water Mark of the
Rebellion Monument on the Gettysburg Battlefield, Pennsylvania. They are
not noticed at the time the photo is taken. (Patrick Gross, “Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, USA, 2000”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7308
Date: 9/2000
Description: UFO researchers Karl
Pflock and Peter
Brookesmith organize an invitation-only symposium to re-evaluate the
Betty
and Barney Hill abduction case in depth. It takes place at the
Indian Head Resort in Lincoln, New Hampshire, near the site of the
abduction event itself. The other researchers are Dennis
Stacy, Marcello
Truzzi, Thomas
E. Bullard, Hilary
Evans, Robert
Sheaffer, Joe
Firmage, and Greg
Sandow. Betty
Hill joins the group for an evening’s entertainment and a morning tour
of the site where the abduction took place. The essays written by
participants, along with reflections by Walter
N. Webb and an appendix by Martin
S. Kottmeyer, are compiled in Encounters at Indian Head. (Karl T.
Pflock and Peter Brookesmith, eds., Encounters at Indian Head,
Anomalist, 2007; Robert Sheaffer, “Betty
Hill’s Last Hurrah: A Secret UFO Symposium in New Hampshire,”
Skeptical Inquirer 31, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 2007); Greg Sandow, “The Hill
Case and the Limits of Ufology,” IUR 31, no. 4 (March 2008): 3–7,
19–28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7309
Date: 9/3/2000
Description: 9:30 p.m. A man is out walking in Stroud, Gloucestershire,
England, when he sees a large and unusual aircraft looming up over the
skyline. It is black with no discernible tail section and is shooting
three powerful beams of light from dome-like globes set in a triangular
pattern on its underside. Small red lights appear on the tips of its
swept-back wings. (UFOFiles2, pp. 139–140)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7310
Date: 9/27/2000
Description: 9:45 p.m. Four men are camped in a trailer at a rural
hunting camp near Challis, Idaho. One goes out to the truck for food and
sees a massive, dark, triangular object hovering motionless above him.
He yells for the others to come out, lights on the object turn on, and
it slowly moves toward the nearby mountains. When it reaches one, it
tips upward and ascends the side of the mountain vertically. When it
reaches the top, it tips forward and disappears from sight. (Marler
228–229)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7311
Date: 10/15/2000
Description: Richard
Haines’s National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena
releases a 90-page report that summarizes more than 100 UFO incidents
reported by pilots and their crews, including 56 near misses, all
affecting aircraft safety. Most cases involve multiple witnesses, and
many are backed by ground radio communications and radar corroboration.
Experienced pilots present accounts of objects, ranging from silver
discs to green fireballs, flying loops around passenger aircraft, pacing
planes despite pilots’ evasive attempts, or flooding cockpits with
blinding light. Haines documents cases with electromagnetic interference
on navigation and operating systems. He writes that a crew’s ability to
perform its duties safely is disrupted when the crew is faced with
“extremely bizarre, unexpected, and prolonged luminous and/or solid
phenomena cavorting near their aircraft.” The primary danger is in the
human response, since the objects do not appear to be hostile and seem
to be able to avoid collisions using extraordinary maneuvers. (Richard
F. Haines, “Aviation
Safety in America: A Previously
Neglected Factor,” National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous
Phenomena, October 15, 2000)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7312
Date: 10/31/2000
Description: After sunset. A woman delivering pizzas in Cygnet, Ohio, is
stopped along Cygnet Road when she sees an elongated, football-shaped
object clearly visible just beyond a thin grove of trees ahead of her.
It is slowly moving westward toward and above Interstate 75, which is
busy with cars and large trucks. It hovers for a few seconds and turns
brighter, then shoots off westward in a streak of light. Two men driving
north on I-75 also see the object. (John P. Timmerman, “Possible Close
Encounter in NW Ohio,” IUR 25, no. 3 (Fall 2000): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7313
Date: 11/2000
Description: 7:00 p.m. A retired law enforcement officer and several
friends are cooking dinner over an open fire in a wooded area near
Elsberry, Missouri, when they see a huge flying wing with white lights
on each end. It seems to be flying completely silently at 3,000 feet.
They watch it for 30 seconds before it disappears into the
southeast.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7314
Date: 11/4/2000
Description: 8:45 p.m. A family in Scottsdale, Arizona, sees a
triangular formation of three bright lights in the southern sky blinking
irregularly. The object they are attached to is larger than a commercial
airliner that happens to pass by. (George Filer, “Arizona Formation of
Flying Triangles,” Filer’s Files, #49-2000 (December 11, 2000))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7316
Date: 11/4/2000
Description: Two witnesses near the Del Lago Golf Club north of Vail,
Arizona, see a teardrop-shaped object flying at 300 feet. It has
multiple lights around its perimeter. They drive toward it, flashing
their lights, and the object climbs another 300 feet and moves west
along some railroad tracks. Two A-10 Thunderbolt II fighter aircraft
appear and try to follow the object, but it accelerates and loses them.
(George Filer, “Arizona Formation of Flying Triangles,” Filer’s Files,
#49-2000 (December 11, 2000))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7315
Date: 11/20/2000
Description: 8:45 p.m. An 11-year-old boy on the north side of Phoenix,
Arizona, watches three dark triangle-shaped objects maneuvering and
hovering. (George Filer, “Arizona Formation of Flying Triangles,”
Filer’s Files, #49- 2000 (December 11, 2000))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7317
Date: 11/28/2000
Description: 7:00 p.m. Jason Ingraham sees a flying triangle with a deep
red blinking light on each point in Phoenix, Arizona. It moves northwest
for about 10 seconds, then it leans to the left and begins to rotate in
a clockwise motion. It makes a full rotation before disappearing behind
some distant trees. There are 6 normal airplanes in the sky at the same
time. (George Filer, “Arizona Formation of Flying Triangles,” Filer’s
Files, #49-2000 (December 11, 2000))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7318
Date: 11/30/2000
Description: The UK Freedom of Information Act 2000 is given royal
assent but will not come into full force until 2005. The legislation
creates a public “right of access” to information held by public
authorities. (Wikipedia, “Freedom
of Information Act 2000”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7319
Date: 12/1/2000
Description: 6:45 p.m. A witness in Avondale, Arizona, sees a bunch of
lights in the shape of a triangle to the southeast. Helicopters seem to
be flying around it. (George Filer, “Arizona Formation of Flying
Triangles,” Filer’s Files, #49-2000 (December 11, 2000))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7320
Date: 12/4/2000
Description: The UK Ministry of Defence notes in a “loose minute” that
DI55, the space weapons section of the Defence Intelligence Staff, has
completed a study of UFO reports, concluding that there is nothing of
value in its assessment of “threat weapons systems” and will carry out
no further investigations. It will be released in 2006 as the Project
Condign report. (UK Defence Intelligence Staff, “Unidentified Aerial
Phenomena (UAP): DI55 Report,” December 4, 2000, in David Clarke, comp.,
Project
Condign documents, pp. 46–47; David Clarke and Gary Anthony, “The
British MoD Study: Project Condign,” IUR 30, no. 4 (August 2006):
7–11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7321
Date: 12/13/2000
Description: 10:00 pm. A group of five people is traveling in a
Volkswagen on a dirt road 9 miles from Iturama, Minas Gerais,
Brazil—João Caiana, his wife Valdeir Martins, daughter Magui Martins, a
3-year-old granddaughter, and an 18-year-old friend. Some odd colored
lights in the sky seem to follow them for 2 miles. Suddenly the interior
of the car begins to get hot, and a light gray entity with big eyes
approaches them. Everyone loses control and seems to be sucked into a
UFO for an abduction scenario. (Laura Maria Elias, “Caso
Caiana: Desdobramentos
de um clássico de Ufologia Miniera,” Portal UFO, February 1, 2015;
Brazil 393–396)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7322
Date: 12/19/2000
Description: 6:10 a.m. Reporter Alfondo Reyes is observing the eruption
of Popocatépetl southeast of Mexico City, Mexico, and taking
time-exposure photographs. On one 20-second exposure he catches a bright
luminous object that contrasts with the smoke of the eruption and seems
to make a turn toward the crater. He does not actually see the object
and only discovers it after the photo is developed. (Patrick Gross, “UFOs
Photographed over Erupting Mexico
Volcano”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7323
Date: 12/24/2000
Description: 7:00 p.m. A woman living in the Baranówka neighborhood of
Rzeszów, Poland, sees a light outside her window on the 4th floor of an
apartment building. It makes unusual maneuvers like a figure-8 and
zigzags, and is joined by another light that flies at a constant speed.
Both are about 5 feet in diameter. She snaps two motion-blur photos with
her Minolta that shows an object hovering above the apartment block
opposite her. The second object approaches the first one and they fly
away together. (Poland 151–153)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7324
Date: 2001
Description: Gérard
Brachet, the
new director of CNES, decides to audit SEPRA. It is conducted by an
outsider, François Louange, an
expert in photoanalysis who has participated in UFO studies at CNES.
(Gildas Bourdais, “The Death and Rebirth of Official French UFO
Studies,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7325
Date: 1/1/2001
Description: 12:01 a.m. Five people driving along Highway 3 south of New
Plymouth, New Zealand, spot an orange object about 30–50 feet in
diameter pacing their car 100 feet above them. They pull over to watch
and see three similar objects hovering and swaying around. They look
like they are changing color from metallic glowing orange to metallic
deep purple and shades of blue. One more larger object appears on the
horizon and speeds toward the other four. Each seems to react in a way
similar to an army unit and forms a line and disappears almost instantly
to the south. As they leave several minutes later, they realize they
haven’t seen any traffic for 30 minutes and only see some as they enter
New Plymouth. (George Filer, “New Zealand Discs Start New Millennium,”
Filer’s Files, #2-2001 (January 9, 2001))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7326
Date: 1/5/2001
Description: 10:30 a.m. A white, “self-lit” cigar-shaped object with a
small vapor trail is seen at Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Its hops
forward in its progress through the sky before it moves out of view
behind a mountain. It returns and flies back again. (Mark Rodeghier,
“UFOs in Canada, 2001,” IUR 26, no. 4 (Winter 2001–2002): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7327
Date: 1/14/2001
Description: Late afternoon. Witnesses on both sides of the hill see a
small object appear to strike the telecommunications mast on top of
Snaefell, Isle of Man. Two women on horseback see a 20-foot-long object
that crashes in a shower of sparks and smoke. The emergency services
think a small plane has crashed, because they have lost power and are
using a backup generator. As light fades, however, helicopter crews can
see damage to the mast, but no sign of wreckage. The UK government
blames a model aircraft. (Jenny Randles, “Mysterious Island: The UFO
Legacy of the Isle of Man,” IUR 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7328
Date: 1/20/2001
End date: 1/20/2009
Description: President George W. Bush in office
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Washington DC
Date: 1/22/2001
Description: 12:30 a.m. Barnaul Airport in Altai Krai, Russia, shuts
down after a slightly tilted, oscillating, disc-shaped object is
detected hovering above its runway. The crew of an Ilyushin Il-76 cargo
plane refuses to take off, claiming they can see a luminous object. An
incoming Yakovlev Yak-40 passenger plane also sees an object at Barnaul
and lands at another airport. Sergei Kurennoi, the chief airspace
controller at Barnaul, sees the object at an elevation of 15°–20º above
the horizon above the end of the track. With his binoculars, he
distinguishes a solid structure that radiates light of various colors
(red, green, purple). Nothing is tracked on radar. The UFO noiselessly
takes off to the northwest, changes direction to the southwest, and
vanishes after 90 minutes. (Patrick Gross, “UFO
Shuts Down Russian Airport”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7329
Date: 1/25/2001
Description: In the UK House of Lords, Peter
Hill-Norton asks the Ministry of Defence what is the “highest
classification that has been applied in any MoD document concerning
UFOs.” Its reply is: “A limited search through available titles has
identified a number of documents graded Secret. The overall
classification of the documents was not dictated by details of specific
sightings of UFOs.” (David Clarke and Gary Anthony, “The British MoD
Study: Project Condign,” IUR 30, no. 4 (August 2006): 32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7330
Date: 1/31/2001
Description: 3:30 p.m. As many as 10 witnesses observe two cigar-shaped
“shining lights” in the sky, hanging motionless over the horizon at Gjoa
Haven, Nunavut. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada, 2001,” IUR 26, no. 4
(Winter 2001–2002): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7331
Date: 1/31/2001
Description: The entire USAF Solid State Phased Array Radar System goes
into operation at five units worldwide including Beale AFB near
Marysville, California; Cape Cod Air Force Station in Massachusetts;
Clear Air Force Station, Alaska; RAF Fylingdales in north Yorkshire,
England; and Thule Airbase in Greenland. These radars are designed
primarily to detect ICBM or sea-launched cruise missiles directed at the
US. (Wikipedia, “Solid
State Phased
Array Radar System”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7332
Date: 2/2001
Description: French ufologist Dominique Weinstein creates a massive
catalogue of 1,305 UFO sightings by pilots from 1916 to 2000. She finds
that 606 cases (36.7%) are sightings by military pilots and crews; 444
cases (26.9%) are by civilian pilots; and 196 cases (11.8%) are by
private pilots. In 200 cases (12.1%) the visual observation is confirmed
by on-board or ground radar. And in 57 cases (3.45%) the pilots note
electromagnetic effects on one or more of the plane’s transmission
systems. (Dominique F. Weinstein, “Unidentified
Aerial Phenomena: Eighty Years
of Pilot Sightings, a Catalog of Military, Airliner, and Private Pilots
Sightings from 1916 to 2000,” National Aviation Reporting Center on
Anomalous Phenomena, February 2001)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7333
Date: 3/11/2001
Description: 6:30 p.m. An irregularly shaped object like a cluster of
red spheres flies against the wind above a witness in Calgary, Alberta,
who manages to take a photograph. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada,
2001,” IUR 26, no. 4 (Winter 2001–2002): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7334
Date: 4/1/2001
Description: 10:30 p.m. Farm manager George Hofer and several children
from the Rosedale Hutterite Brethren Colony near Etzikom, Alberta, see a
brilliant fireball falling and apparently striking the Earth only a few
miles away. On April 16, Ken Masson, who farms 13 miles south of
Etzikom, discovers a circular, crater-like formation on his land. On May
1, Pano Karkanis of the University of Lethbridge Department of Geography
visits the site, interviews the witnesses, measures the crater, and
takes soil samples. The crater is 6 inches deep, with an inside diameter
of 7.9 feet, surrounded by a mound of dirt 16 inches high. He notes four
indentations inside the circle that he suspects are caused by rainwater.
The dirt inside is cracked and sere, and he finds some odd reddish-brown
particles of dirt on the mound. He concludes the crater was formed by a
meteorite fragment that vaporized, leaving only the reddish-brown
particles. Meteorite impact expert Alan
Hildebrand the University of Calgary doubts the crater was made by a
meteorite. (Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report,
Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 204–206)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7335
Date: 5/2001
Description: Christian Morgenthaler founds the Sciences et Phénomènes
Insolites du Ciel et de l’Aéronautique in Odratzheim, Bas-Rhin, France.
It publishes the SPICA News from January 2002 to December 2010. (SPICA
News, no. 1 (January 2002))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7336
Date: 5/3/2001
Description: In the UK House of Lords, Peter
Hill-Norton asks the Ministry of Defence why the UFO documents it
referred to in January were classified secret. Its answer is, “One
document was classified ‘Secret’ with a ‘UK Eyes Only’ caveat because it
contained information about the UK air defence ground environment that
could be of significant value to hostile or potentially hostile states.
Associated correspondence was given the same classification. Generally,
however, notifications of and correspondence on the subject of UFO
sightings are unclassified.” (David Clarke and Gary Anthony, “The
British MoD Study: Project Condign,” IUR 30, no. 4 (August 2006):
32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7337
Date: 5/9/2001
Description: Twenty government workers from military and civilian
organizations speak about their experiences regarding UFOs and UFO
confidentiality at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The press
conference is initiated by Steven
M. Greer, founder of the Disclosure Project, which has the goal of
disclosing alleged government UFO secrecy. The purpose of the press
conference is to build public pressure through the media to obtain a
hearing before the US Congress on the issue. Aerospace illustrator Mark
McCandlish testifies that gravity control propulsion research
started in the 1950s and successfully reverse engineered the vehicle
retrieved from the Roswell, New Mexico, crash site to build three Alien
Reproduction Vehicles (ARVs) by 1981. McCandlish describes their
propulsion systems in terms of Thomas
Townsend Brown’s gravitators and provides a line drawing of its
interior. The diagram closely resembles the drawing provided earlier in
Milton
William Cooper’s book Behold a Pale Horse. Another Disclosure
Project whistleblower, Philip
J. Corso, states in his book The Day after Roswell that the craft
retrieved from the second crash site at Roswell had a propulsion system
resembling Brown’s gravitators. Corso’s book also features several
gravity control propulsion statements made by Hermann
Oberth.
Although major American media outlets report on the conference, interest
quickly dies down, and no hearing takes place. (“Group
Calls for Disclosure of UFO Info,” ABC News, May 10, 2001; “UFO
Spotters Slam ’US Cover-Up,’”
BBC News, May 10, 2001; Jean-Pierre Petit, “I
Have a Doubt about ‘Disclosure,’” March 19, 2003; Wikipedia, “United
States gravity control propulsion research”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7338
Date: early 6/2001
Description: A Hellfire missile is successfully launched from an MQ-1A
Predator drone on a replica of Osama
bin Laden’s
Afghanistan Tarnak residence in Area 51, Nevada. A missile launched from
a Predator explodes inside one of the replica’s rooms; it is concluded
that any people in the room would have been killed. However, the armed
Predator does not go into action before the September 11 attacks.
(Wikipedia, “General
Atomics MQ-1 Predator”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7339
Date: 6/23/2001
Description: 9:45 p.m. Three witnesses are sitting in their yard in
Fernandina Beach, Florida, when they see a bright white light with a
bluish tinge descend and hover about 2,000 feet due east of them above
the ocean. After one minute it emits a mist from three points on its
underside so that it appears to be sitting on a cloud. Then it emits
mist from its upper area and becomes enshrouded with the light shining
through. Then the light blinks off, leaving only a cloud that stands
there for about one minute. It disappears 5–10 seconds afterward.
(“Sighting Report,” National UFO Reporting Center, February 11, 2003;
Nukes 506–507)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7340
Date: 6/30/2001
Description: 10:30 p.m. Electrical power goes off in the small village
of Năneşti, Romania, even though the lights in neighboring villages are
still on. A number of witnesses notice a red, round ball moving slowly
in the air. When it stops it begins to spin, turning into a rotating
segmented ring of pale yellow light. The ring becomes larger in
diameter, coming closer to the ground where it gets as large as 600 feet
in diameter. After a short period of time it climbs again, still
rotating but shrinking and turning into a red dot that moves around in
the sky until it starts rotating again and repeating the cycle some 8–20
times over the course of 45 minutes. Some witnesses see it as a dark red
cloud lit from inside by squares of light. The display ceases sometime
after midnight and the power returns mysteriously at around 2:00 a.m.
(Romania 70–73)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7341
Date: 7/4/2001
Description: Art Bell interviews Linda Moulton Howe, Philip J. Corso,
and Bill Birnes were interviewed live in Roswell, NM, about the infamous
UFO crash in 1947.
Type: interview
Reference: link
Location: Roswell, NM
Date: 7/9/2001
Description: 11:30 p.m. A man and his daughter watch six orange, oval
objects flying in a V-formation toward the west at Portage la Prairie,
Manitoba. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada, 2001,” IUR 26, no. 4 (Winter
2001–2002): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7342
Date: 7/14/2001
End date: 7/15/2001
Description: Evening–night. Dozens of Staten Islanders and residents of
Carteret, New Jersey, observe lights in the southwestern sky on a clear,
cloudless night. The lights appear in various formations at about 45°
above the horizon. Witnesses view the scene from Arthur Kill Road and
the West Shore Expressway on the New York side. The Waterloo Cafe,
located opposite the Blazing Star Burial Ground on Arthur Kill Road,
provides the most significant witnesses. The consensus of their
testimonies reveals a series of lights, numbering from 4–5 to as many as
16–20, bright orange or orange-red in hue, and appearing as solid round
objects. Witnesses number about 50, including the owner of the cafe, but
not all come forward. Those who do, agree that there was no sound
emanating from the lights, and no one can see any wings. The lights are
often no more than 1,000 feet in the air, often described as flying in
an inverted V-shaped configuration. Unknown targets without
transponders, some at heights of 99,000 feet, are picked up on radar at
Newark International Airport. (Dennis K. Anderson, “The Arthur Kill
Sightings, July 14–15, 2001,” IUR 28, no. 2 (Summer 2003): 3–6,
26–27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7343
Date: 8/3/2001
Description: Day. A Brazilian Air Force pilot and four others are taking
supplies from Belém to Salvador, Brazil, aboard a C-130 Hercules
transport. One of the military officers draws the colonel’s attention to
a disc-shaped object that is accompanying the plane about 6t0 feet away.
Ground control cannot detect anything on radar. The object has a brushed
gray color and is the size of a bus. It has a dome at the top and flat
at the bottom. The sighting lasts about 10 minutes. (Clark III 208;
Brazil 559–560)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7344
Date: 8/6/2001
Description: Afternoon. Two Turkish Air Force pilots from 122 Squadron
are practicing maneuvers in a Cessna T-37B Dragonfly jet trainer over
the Gulf of Çandarli, an inlet of the Aegean Sea in western Turkey. 1Lt.
Ilker Dinçer and his student Lt. Arda Gunyel are surprised by an
extremely bright object, shaped like something between a disc and a
cone, with a pod on its lower part. Ground control has nothing on its
radar. The UFO approaches the Cessna at high speed, then positions
itself alongside, behind, and above the jet. It plays cat and mouse with
the plane for some minutes before it disappears at high speed. The
Turkish Air Force announces that it is a weather balloon. (Good Need, pp. 393–394)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7345
Date: 8/12/2001
Description: 12:25 a.m. Five people watch seven gray objects flying in a
straight line over Victoria, British Columbia, which change position in
flight into a hexagonal formation and ascend into the sky. They are lost
to view after 15 minutes. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada, 2001,” IUR
26, no. 4 (Winter 2001–2002): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7346
Date: 8/17/2001
Description: 9:30 p.m. An astronomer in Mitchell, Manitoba, hears loud
booming sounds and runs outside to see three steady lights in triangular
formation moving east to west. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada, 2001,”
IUR 26, no. 4 (Winter 2001–2002): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7347
Date: 8/20/2001
Description: Dozens of passengers on the Rogalin ferry returning from
Sweden to Gdansk, Poland, with 50 passengers on board watch an object 10
feet in diameter rise to the surface about 500 feet away. It approaches
the boat, submerges, and maneuvers underwater. After three minutes, the
ferry leaves it behind. (Poland 121–122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7348
Date: 8/25/2001
Description: 3:27 p.m. An astronomer and others at St.-Laurent, Quebec,
watch two solid-appearing objects moving slowly through the clear sky.
They take some photos. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada, 2001,” IUR 26,
no. 4 (Winter 2001–2002): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7349
Date: 9/6/2001
Description: 10:00 p.m. Police on patrol in Sampacho, Cordoba,
Argentina, receive an alert on their car radio about several UFOs above
the Cerro Sampacho. They appear to be silently hovering at an altitude
of 5,000 feet. (“UFOs Seen in Argentina,” IUR 27, no. 2 (Summer 2002):
4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7350
Date: 9/9/2001
Description: 10:30 p.m. A family traveling in a pickup truck between
Achiras and Sampacho, Argentina, notice an intense red light in the sky
moving from the southwest. It looks like an intense red beam with bright
flashes behind it. In the front is something like an arc of light. The
object seems as if it about to fall on top of them, but it changes
course and heads toward the mountains. (“UFOs Seen in Argentina,” IUR
27, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 4)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7351
Date: 9/11/2001
Description: September 11 Terrorist Attack
Type: terrorist attack
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Washington DC
Location: New York City
Date: 10/7/2001
End date: 8/30/2021
Description: Afghanistan War begins
Type: war
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Afghanistan
Date: 11/5/2001
Description: Apache County sheriff’s deputies attempt to arrest Milton
Willian Cooper at his Eagar, Arizona, home on charges of aggravated
assault with a deadly weapon and endangerment stemming from disputes
with local residents. After an exchange of gunfire during which Cooper
shoots one of the deputies in the head, Cooper is fatally shot. Federal
authorities report that Cooper has spent years evading execution of a
1998 arrest warrant for tax evasion. According to a spokesman for the
Marshals Service, he vowed that “he would not be taken alive.”
(Wikipedia, “Milton
William Cooper”; “Arizona
Militia Figure Shot to Death,” Los Angeles Times, November 7, 2001,
p. 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7352
Date: 11/11/2001
Description: An oval object with several lights flies on an irregular
path above Policeman’s Point, Yukon Territory. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in
Canada, 2001,” IUR 26, no. 4 (Winter 2001–2002): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7353
Date: 12/2001
Description: Peru sets up a new Air Force agency, the Departamento de
Investigación de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos (DIFFA), tasked with studying
UFO cases. It is founded and directed by Comandante Julio Chamorro
because “these anomalous events had occurred frequently enough over
national territory to create a danger, and we recognized that they
needed to be taken seriously.” It is first publicly acknowledged in
February 2003 by Col. José Raffo Moloche, but it closes in 2008 (“Perú
reabre oficina para recopilar datos sobre ovnis,” BBC News, October
20, 2013; Kean, p. 189)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7354
Date: 12/11/2001
Description: 8:06 p.m. Pilots of a commercial airliner flying above
Craik, Saskatchewan, see lights that they think belong to another
aircraft at a higher altitude, but air traffic controllers have no other
aircraft on their radar. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada, 2001,” IUR
26, no. 4 (Winter 2001–2002): 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7355
Date: 1/18/2002
Description: The Sirius UFO Space Sciences Research Center opens in
Istanbul, Turkey, with an exhibition area that showcases UFO incidents
in both Turkish and English. (“International UFO Museum Opens in
Turkey,” IUR 27, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7356
Date: 2/2/2002
Description: 2:53 a.m. A witness is driving down a road in Clermont,
Florida, when he sees a silent, bright light over Lake Minnehaha. The
object passes over his car at about 15–20 feet in the air, and his
engine dies. It shoots off like a slingshot and disappears. The car
starts again. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference
Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7357
Date: 2/20/2002
Description: 8:15 a.m. A witness aboard a cruise ship off the southern
coast of Puerto Rico sees an irregularly shaped object like a cloud high
in the sky. He takes a photo, then leaves to attend a meeting. Analysis
indicates that the object is most likely a Tethered Aerostat Radar
System airship used to provide radar data in support of the US drug
interdiction program. (John P. Timmerman and Mark Rodeghier, “Snapshot
from a Cruise: An Aerostat Sighting,” IUR 28, no. 1 (Spring 2003):
13–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7358
Date: 3/15/2002
Description: 9:30 p.m. Lisa Stone is driving with her 16-year-old son
when she sees a triangular object with white lights that is maneuvering
around Magazine Hill, outside Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The object is
massive, perhaps the size of a university football field. She drives
directly underneath, and “hail” starts falling from it. The object does
a figure eight before heading in the direction of Fall River to the
northeast. (Don Ledger, “The Flying Triangle Phenomenon,” IUR 27, no. 3
(Fall 2002): 7, 23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7359
Date: 4/2002
Description: Skandinavisk UFO Information begins publishing UFO-Mail in
Ringsted, Denmark. (UFO-Mail,
no. 1 (April 2, 2002))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7360
Date: summer 2002
Description: Two men see an object over Mosinee, Wisconsin, that shines
a straight, 5-foot-wide beam of light on the Wisconsin River like a
searchlight. The beam does not change shape as the object goes higher
above the water. (Carl W. Feindt, “Beam of Light into a Body of Water,”
IUR 33, no. 3 (December 2010): 23.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7361
Date: 7/26/2002
Description: 1:00–1:55 a.m. Near Andrews AFB, Maryland, just outside of
Washington, D.C., independent witnesses 8 miles apart become aware of
unusual and persistent aircraft activity. In both locations, witnesses
see odd lights or objects pursued by one military jet. Two pairs of
fighters take off from Andrews at 1:00 a.m., remain airborne for 50
minutes, fly at low altitude using afterburners over residential areas,
and pursue an unidentifiable light on three occasions. Gary Dillman,
working late shift at a sand-and-gravel operation in Brandywine,
Maryland, sees the first two fighters at 1:00 a.m., then at 1:30 a.m.
and 1:40 a.m. he sees a glowing, round, hard-edged orange object that
one of the fighters is chasing. The pursuit takes place between broken
clouds at about 4,000 feet and a light overcast at about 6,000 feet; the
unknown object and fighter are about 1–2 miles away. In Waldorf,
Maryland, around 1:35 a.m. Renny Rogers feels the walls of his home
rattling from a low-flying aircraft and goes out to see a single jet
fighter. At 1:40 a.m., he sees a bright, pale-bluish light in the
north-northeast moving at a high rate of speed. He calls a neighbor to
come watch the display. Soon a fighter comes over his house in obvious
pursuit of the light and about 1,000–2,000 feet behind it. The four
fighters return to base around 1:50 a.m. (Kenny Young, “UFO
Violates D.C. Airspace,” MUFON UFO Journal, no. 413 (September
2002): 11; Joan Woodward, “The Washington, D.C., Jet Chase of July 26,
2002,” IUR 27, no. 4 (Winter 2002–2003): 3–7, 22–25; Good Need, pp.
394–396)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7362
Date: 8/2002
Description: The Roper market research firm conducts a telephone poll,
sponsored by the Sci-Fi channel, to ask a national sample of adult
Americans a series of questions about UFOs and abductions. The results
indicate that two-thirds think there are other forms of intelligent life
in the universe, 56% think that UFOs are something real, 48% think that
UFOs have visited Earth in some form, 11.6% have seen a UFO at close
quarters, 72% think the US government is not telling everything it knows
about UFOs, and 21% think that humans have been abducted by other life
forms. (Mark Rodeghier, “Attitudes toward ETI, UFOs, and Abductions,”
IUR 27, no. 4 (Winter 2002– 2003): 10–14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7363
Date: 8/2002
Description: Day. Three witnesses in Szczuczyn, Poland, watch a V-shaped
object with brilliant white lights at each of its corners moving slowly
from west to east with its flat point forward. (Poland 99)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7364
Date: 8/5/2002
End date: 8/18/2002
Description: A third team of Italian researchers, code named EMBLA and
led by Massimo
Teodorani and Gloria Nobili, visits Hessdalen, Norway, and collects
evidence pointing to an unknown atmospheric light phenomenon “able to
produce a luminous power of up to 100 kW.” However, a 2003 analysis by
Matteo Leone demonstrates that the lights reported by the EMBLA team are
consistent with automobile headlights. (Massimo Teodorani, “A Long-Term
Scientific Survey of the Hessdalen Phenomenon,” Journal of
Scientific Exploration 18, no. 2 (2004): 217–251; Matteo Leone, “A
Rebuttal of the EMBLA 2002 Report on the Optical Survey in
Hessdalen,” 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7365
Date: 8/13/2002
Description: 2:15 a.m. A woman watching the Perseid meteor show in Cow
Bay, Nova Scotia, sees a large meteor with a long tail appear out of
Ursa Major and arch over her head to the southeast. Suddenly it
disappears as if it has passed behind something. She also sees a
straight, black line advancing trough the sky, then a “perfect black
triangle of gargantuan proportions” crossing directly over the clearing
around her house. It is pitch black and enormous, moving only about 10
mph and taking 5 minutes to disappear over the trees to the northwest.
Ufologist Don
Ledger investigates and finds that radar at Moncton Center in New
Brunswick had picked up an unidentified target at that time and place.
(Don Ledger, “The Flying Triangle Phenomenon,” IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall
2002): 3–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7366
Date: 9/6/2002
Description: 10:00 p.m. Police in Sampacho, Cordoba, Argentina, receive
an alert about a mystery light. They see 7–8 objects over the Cerro
Sampacho hovering silently at about 5,000 feet altitude. They have them
in view for several minutes. (“Argentinsk
politi ser åtte UFOer,” UFO-nytt, 2002, no. 2, p. 21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7367
Date: 9/9/2002
Description: 10:30 p.m. A family is traveling in a pickup truck
northward along Provincial Highway 24 between Achiras and Sampacho,
Cordoba, Argentina. In the vicinity of Cerro Aspero, they begin noticing
“a very intense red light in the sky” in the southwest. The object looks
like an intense red beam with an arc of light on its front section. The
observation lasts for several minutes as the light approaches then heads
towards hills in the south. (“Another
UFO Spotted near Sampacho, Argentina,” UFO Roundup 7, no. 39
(September 24, 2002)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7368
Date: 9/16/2002
End date: 9/24/2002
Description: Scientists from the University of New Mexico initiate an
archaeological dig at the debris field site near Corona, New Mexico,
funded by the Sci-Fi channel. The team finds a small number of artifacts
of unknown provenance and some soil deformation anomalies, but no furrow
or unusual debris. (Sci Fi Channel, Sci Fi Declassified: The Roswell Dig
Diaries, Pocket Books, 2004; “The Roswell Dig Diaries,” IUR 28, no. 4
(Winter 2003–2004): 11)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7369
Date: late 9/2002
Description: 5:45 p.m. Security Policeman Christopher Cabrera is on
guard an entry control point at the Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary
Field [now Creech AFB] in Clark County, Nevada. He looks toward the base
and sees an amber/red object hovering above it. He stares at it for
about 2 minutes then suddenly a red beam shoots out from the orb and
hits the side of the nearest mountain. The beam lasts about one minute
and Cabrera notices what looked like molten rock dripping from the
mountain. The beam abruptly ceases and the orb just disappears. A few
seconds later, the molten effect on the mountain also dissipates.
(Robert L. Hastings, “Triangular-Shaped UFO
Sighted at the Nellis AFB Nuclear Storage Area,” UFOs & Nukes,
April 23, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7370
Date: 10/2002
Description: A “three-foot diameter orb” quickly moves along the
perimeter fences of Area 2, a weapons storage area of the Nevada Test
Site [now the Nevada National Security Site]. It eventually outpaces the
security teams that attempt to pursue it in Humvees. (Nukes 513)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7371
Date: 10/1/2002
Description: The US Strategic Command is restricted by Secretary of
Defense Donald
Rumsfeld, merging with the US Space Command and assuming all duties
for full-spectrum global strike, operational space support, missile
defense, intelligence, and planning. (Wikipedia, “United
States Strategic Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7372
Date: 10/4/2002
Description: 7:06 p.m. A rotating CCTV camera at Terminal 2 in Kota
Kinabalu International Airport, Sabah, Malaysia, records a video of an
oblong object passing by in seconds. No unusual object is tracked by the
airport radar. A security guard sees the object moving silently west to
east before disappearing in the hills. (Patrick Gross, “Radar/Visual/Camera
UFO Case at Airport in Malaysia?”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7373
Date: 10/10/2002
Description: Day. A military pilot off the coast of Southern California
or Baja California, Mexico, is looking down at the ocean at a 78° angle
and sees, at a 7,238-foot visual slant range, a submerged, white,
egg-shaped object about 20–50 feet below the surface. It is about 130 by
200 feet in size and appears silent and stationary. (Keith Basterfield,
“A
BAASS Data Report of a 2002 Submerged Egg-Shaped Object in the SOCAL
OPEAREA,” Unidentified Aerial Phenomena—Scientific Research, May 13,
2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7374
Date: 10/16/2002
Description: Rear Adm. Thomas
R. Wilson, who has retired as director of the Defense Intelligence
Agency on July 29, has a meeting in Paradise, Nevada, with Eric
W. Davis of EarthTech International Inc., an astrophysicist who is a
member of the National Institute for Discovery Science and an associate
of Harold
E. Puthoff. He talks about his previous meetings with Cmdr. Will
Miller, in which he admits he was denied access to an Unacknowledged
Special Access Program dealing with reverse engineering an alien craft.
Davis takes 15 pages of notes, which are leaked to researcher Grant
Cameron and others in April 2019. (Eric W. Davis, “Eric
Davis Meeting with Adm. Wilson”
[notes], Imgur, April 19, 2019; Richard Dolan, “The
Wilson Leak: Latest Developments,” Richard Dolan Member Forum, June
19, 2019; “The
Admiral Wilson Leak: Evidence of USAPs (Unacknowledged Special Access
Programs) and Reverse Engineering of Extraterrestrial Technologies,”
Metallicman, December 23, 2019; Joe Murgia, “The
Wilson/Davis Documents: My Twenty-Three Year Journey, Part 1,” Part
2, UFO Joe, June 21, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7375
Date: 10/18/2002
Description: A fall of angel hair covers a large area of Alessandria,
Italy, including roofs, cars, and trees. A sample is recovered and
examined by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche in Parma and shows
“unequivocally” that the filaments are not organic, but similar to
synthetic polymer textile fibers. They have a clear alternation of
bright and dark segments. The Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione
Ambientale in Turin disputes the finding and proclaims the material
spider web. (Brian Boldman, “Angel Hair Physical Analyses: A Review,”
JUFOS 9 (2006): 108)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7376
Date: 10/23/2002
Description: 7:40 p.m. Pilot Thomas J. Preziose takes off from Mobile,
Alabama, in a Cessna 208B single-engine cargo plane en route to
Montgomery. Six minutes later, he collides with an unknown object at
3,000 feet and descends uncontrolled into swampy water in the Big Bateau
Bay in Spanish Fort, Alabama. The pilot’s final words are: “Night Ship
282, I needed to deviate, I needed to deviate.” A strange red residue
(“transfer marks”) is found coating at least 14 different areas of the
downed airplane that are widely separated in location both inside and
outside the aircraft. The engine block has been split. The final NTSB
report indicates that the accident is caused by pilot disorientation.
However, an independent investigation finds numerous discrepancies with
regard to both the FAA documentation and the NTSB investigation. The
composition of the red residue is variously found to be tere- and
isophthalate polymer with possible presence of inorganic silicate
compounds; and epoxy material with some inorganic silicate filters. (“NTSB
Solves Riddle of ’02 Small-Plane Crash,” Washington Post, January
11, 2006; Kean, pp. 61–62;
Marcus Lowth, “Just
What Did Happen to Tom Preziose? Contact, or Cover-Up?” UFO Insight,
November 8, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7377
Date: 10/31/2002
Description: Astronomers Margaret
C. Turnbull and Jill
Tarter publish a catalog of nearby habitable stellar systems, each
at least 3 billion years old, stable, and supporting liquid water on the
surface of a habitable planet. (Margaret C. Turnbull and Jill C. Tarter,
“Target
Selection for SETI: 1. A Catalog of Nearby Habitable Stellar
Systems,” arXiv, October 31, 2002)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7378
Date: 11/2002
Description: After an audit, photoanalyst François
Louange recommends the reactivation and redevelopment of SEPRA. The
report is picked up by the French press. (Gildas Bourdais, “The Death
and Rebirth of Official French UFO Studies,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007):
13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7379
Date: 11/8/2002
Description: The Sci Fi channel sponsors a symposium on “Interstellar
Travel and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena: Science Fiction or Science
Fact?” at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Speakers
include astrophysicist Richard
Conn Henry, theoretical physicist Michio
Kaku, astrophysicist
Bernard
Haisch, computer scientist Jacques
Vallée, aviation expert John
Callahan, and
physicist Peter
Sturrock. (“GWU’s
SciFi UFO Symposium,” IUR 27, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7380
Date: 11/16/2002
Description: A boomerang-shaped object surrounded by mist is seen in the
Old Town district of Rzeszów, Poland. (Poland 92)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7381
Date: 11/21/2002
Description: 7:00 p.m. James
Bunnell sees a pulsating light on the side of a mesa near Marfa,
Texas. It is yellow and hovers for 8–10 minutes, then begins descending,
blinks out, and reappears as a bright red light that lasts only 2–3
seconds. (James Bunnell, Hunting Marfa Lights, Lacey, 2009, pp. 67–68)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7382
Date: 11/28/2002
Description: Night. Two policemen in Buenos Aires, Argentina, see a
large light maneuvering in the sky and emitting colored sparks before it
approaches their patrol car. The light reverses its course, and the
engine and headlights fail. About 30 minutes later, the object moves
away, the car starts again, and the siren suddenly comes on. The UFO
paces them to one side before it finally disappears. Five police cars
are involved in the incident. (Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle
Interference Reports, Part 1,” IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7383
Date: 12/2/2002
End date: 12/13/2002
Description: The Sci Fi channel airs a fictional miniseries about UFOs
and abductions titled Taken, produced by Steven
Spielberg. The
show takes place from 1944 to 2002 and follows the lives of three
families: the Crawfords, who seek to cover up the Roswell crash and the
existence of aliens; the Keys, who are subject to frequent
experimentation by the aliens; and the Clarkes, who sheltered one of the
surviving aliens from the crash. (Wikipedia, “Taken
(miniseries)”;
Internet Movie Database, “Taken”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7384
Date: 12/26/2002
Description: Roswell, New Mexico, witness Walter
G. Haut signs an affidavit that asserts he had seen bodies recovered
from the 1947 crash in a temporary morgue at Roswell Army Air Field.
Haut dies December 15, 2005, and the affidavit is released by his
family. (Thomas J. Carey and Donald R. Schmitt, Witness to Roswell:
Unmasking the Government’s Biggest Cover-Up, New Page, 2007,
pp. 215–217)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7385
Date: 1/31/2003
Description: 10:30 p.m. Two witnesses in Villeneuve, Alberta, watch a
large white object described as “two saucers rim to rim” move slowly
through a farmyard and over some houses, then out of sight. (Mark
Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada, 2003,” IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7386
Date: 2/8/2003
Description: 1:00 a.m. Carlos Eduardo Montilho wakes up in his home in
Guará I, Brasilia, Brazil, to tend to his dog in the backyard. An
intense white light comes down about 23 feet in front of him that is
attached to an oval object abut 10 feet in diameter. The grass stirs
beneath it as if blown by wind, and it is making a humming sound. His
wife starts screaming for him to get back inside. He retreats to the
kitchen, where they both watch the object for 3 minutes before it rises
slowly and disappears. The dog is asleep the entire time. (Brazil
400–402)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7387
Date: 2/12/2003
Description: 9:02 p.m. A dark triangular object with some sort of
structured undercarriage is seen flying over Vancouver, British
Columbia. It is in view for 3 minutes by two witnesses. (Mark Rodeghier,
“UFOs in Canada, 2003,” IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7388
Date: 2/15/2003
Description: The National Air Intelligence Center becomes the National
Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), which coordinates a “wide
variety of complex space/counterspace analytical activities.”
(Wikipedia, “National
Air and
Space Intelligence Center”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7389
Date: 2/19/2003
Description: 9:20 a.m. A fast-moving silvery object “like a cruise
missile” flies swiftly across snow-covered fields near Raymore,
Saskatchewan, heading north. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada, 2003,”
IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7390
Date: 2/25/2003
Description: 7:30 p.m. A witness in downtown Bremerton, Washington,
looks up and sees a triangular object with a light at each point flying
silently over Naval Submarine Base Bangor [now Naval Base Kitsap] on the
Kitsap Peninsula, Washington, at an altitude of 800–1,000 feet.
(“Sighting Report,” National UFO Reporting Center, March 4, 2003; Nukes
499)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7391
Date: 3/2003
End date: 4/2003
Description: Second Persian Gulf War (Gulf War II)
Type: war
Reference: link
Location: Iraq
Date: 3/3/2003
Description: 7:55 a.m. The drive and passenger of a truck traveling
along a highway in Houston, British Columbia, watch as a silver object
the size and shape of an Airstream trailer flies alongside them, then
zooms away. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada, 2003,” IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall
2003): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7392
Date: 4/2003
Description: 2:30 a.m. Some Air Force security policemen for Area 2, a
weapons storage area of the Nevada Test Site [now the Nevada National
Security Site], are having a meal outside when they notice a red glow at
their feet. The light is coming from a giant sphere perhaps 100 feet
across approaching them from the south. By the time they notice it, the
reddish-orange object has passed silently overhead at about 75 feet
altitude in a few seconds. Apparently, it projects a zone of silence and
exerts a zone of pressure directly below it, causing the guards’ ears to
pop. It disappears over some mountains to the north, where it apparently
explodes in a burst of white light with no sound or shockwave. Building
in intensity, the explosion keeps growing until it is painful to
perceive through closed eyes, then quickly dies down. The light effects
last for 5 seconds. The security controller orders all outside units to
search for the downed object. They look until 7:00 a.m. but find
nothing. (Nukes 512–515)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7393
Date: 6/2003
Description: The Turkish press announces that Turkey’s National
Intelligence Service has received a top-secret request from the US
Central Intelligence Agency for details on all its latest UFO reports.
The Service accordingly asks the Turkish Air Force, Turkish Airlines,
and other agencies to submit reports. It recommends that the Air Force
should establish an investigative agency headed by a colonel. (Good
Need, p. 394)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7394
Date: 6/5/2003
Description: 4:45 p.m. Shortly after TAM Flight 3287 takes off from
Palmas–Brigadeiro Lysias Rodrigues Airport in Palmas, Brazil, to
Brasilia, air traffic control asks the pilot if he can see any other
aircraft near his plane. He cannot, but ground control says there is
another object in his flight area. When they are over Palmas, the
copilot sees a gigantic object on the right side of the plane. It is
metallic and surrounded by bright multicolored lights. It flies as if it
is sliding with no friction. The UFO follows the aircraft for almost an
hour before moving away. (Clark III 203–205; Brazil 548)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7395
Date: 6/10/2003
Description: Serbian astrophysicist Milan
M. Ćirković theorizes that because it is reasonable to assume that
there is an inhabited planet somewhere 3 billion years older than Earth,
we are likely to encounter an alien civilization significantly older
than 1.8 billion years. (Milan M. Cirkovic, “The
Temporal Aspect of the Drake Equation and SETI,”
arXiv, June 10, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7396
Date: 7/5/2003
Description: The Sci-Fi Channel places a stone marker at the Roswell
debris field site to commemorate the 1947 crash. (Thomas J. Carey and
Donald R. Schmitt, Witness to Roswell, New Page, 2007, p. 223)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7397
Date: 7/7/2003
Description: 10:30 p.m. A witness in Verdun, Quebec, watches a gray,
teardrop-shaped object moving slowly at low altitude over rooftops,
making an unusual whirring sound. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada,
2003,” IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7398
Date: 7/28/2003
Description: 12:45 a.m. Hundreds of witnesses see a large, white,
moon-shaped object flying over the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia,
zigzagging from northwest to southeast and changing direction in some
cases to move over local mountains and drop into valleys. At 1:00 a.m.,
a beam of white light arches across the sky from horizon to horizon and
persisting until at least 2:00 a.m. Dubbed the “Okanagan Arch,” the beam
is seen from Kamloops to Jaffray. (Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman,
The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006, pp. 207–209)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7399
Date: 8/6/2003
Description: 12:32 a.m. Three witnesses in North Bay, Ontario, watch as
a gray, cigar-shaped object, stationary in the sky, becomes “wavy” and
then suddenly disappears from view after 5 minutes. (Mark Rodeghier,
“UFOs in Canada, 2003,” IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7400
Date: 8/10/2003
Description: 2:22 p.m. A large fuselage-shaped object flies low along a
road, under some guy wires, and among trees in Whitehorse, Yukon. (Mark
Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada, 2003,” IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7401
Date: 8/11/2003
Description: 6:00 p.m. Diana Luca and her mother are chatting at the
kitchen table in her home in New Westminster, British Columbia. Out of
the corner of her eye, Luca spots a black object behind the trees in the
back alley. The two step out on the patio for a better look and see a
UFO flying behind the trees and over the top of the shorter ones. The
object, flat and shaped like a Frisbee, flips on its underside, which is
as red and shiny as a Coke can. She calls her husband, Mark Murphy, who
is inside. By the time he gets to the porch, the UFO looks cigar-shaped
and is an estimated 1.8 miles away. Murphy rushes inside to get a
camcorder and gets the rest of the sighting on tape. (“UFOs
over British Columbia,” Vancouver (B.C.) Courier, March 15, 2004;
“B.C. Sighting,” IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 27)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7402
Date: 8/20/2003
Description: Day. Frank Delephine takes a video of a formation of five
yellowish lights leaving a smoke trail above the beach at Nowa Karczma
on the Vistula Spit, Poland. (Poland 125)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7403
Date: 8/23/2003
Description: Three witnesses observe a saucer-shaped object with
protrusions for 30 seconds as it flies above some cars on a highway in
Winnipeg, Manitoba. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada, 2003,” IUR 28, no.
3 (Fall 2003): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7404
Date: 8/26/2003
Description: Members of the Defense Committee on the Chilean Chamber of
Deputies analyze information on UFOs for the first time. It hears
testimony, largely reports from pilots and air traffic controllers,
provided by the Comité de Estudios de Fénomenos Aéreos Anómalos and the
director of OVNIvision (both UFO research groups in Chile). Defense
Committee Chairman Arturo Cardemil tells the media that UFOs have
sometimes disrupted air-traffic operations. (George Filer, “Chile:
Congress Acknowledges Importance of UFO Research,” Filer’s Files, #36-
2003, September 3, 2003)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7405
Date: 9/2003
Description: 10:30 a.m. Arthur A. Larson is sitting in a truck at a
gravel crossroads near Clara City, Minnesota, when he sees a round,
black object at an altitude higher than a passing passenger jet but
below the cirrus clouds. He watches it for 10–12 seconds and estimates
its speed as 3,000–5,000 mph. (Arthur A. Larson, “Recent Minnesota
Sighting,” IUR 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7406
Date: 9/11/2003
Description: A triangular object with red lights flies over two people
in Whitehorse, Yukon. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada, 2003,” IUR 28,
no. 3 (Fall 2003): 13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7407
Date: 12/8/2003
Description: 8:45 p.m. An unusual white, oval object with a ring of blue
lights hovers above a house in Houston, British Columbia, dropping
sparks. It then flies steadily toward the mountains and is lost to
sight. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada, 2003,” IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall
2003): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7408
Date: 12/24/2003
Description: 1:00 p.m. Three people in Airdrie, Alberta, watch a
chrome-colored “marble” hanging motionless in the sky. After about 15
seconds, it vanishes without a trace. (Mark Rodeghier, “UFOs in Canada,
2003,” IUR 28, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7409
Date: 2004
Description: TicTac craft witnessed by Fravor and other Navy personnel
off the coast of southern California
Type: ufo sighting
Reference: TODO
Location: off the coast of southern California
Date: 2004
Description: Afternoon. A Brazilian pilot flying an ATR 42-300 twin
turboprop airliner has a near-miss with a luminous sphere near the São
Paulo–Congonhas Airport, Brazil. The encounter lasts 14 minutes.
(Richard F. Haines, “Near Miss with UAP near São Paulo Airport,” IUR 32,
no. 3 (July 2009): 9–18, 23–24; Robert J. Durant, “Commentary on the São
Paolo Near Miss,” IUR 32, no. 3 (July 2009): 19–20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7410
Date: 2004
Description: Night. Three teams of security policemen at Nellis AFB in
Nevada are sent to investigate a mysterious light seen in a distant
corner of the weapons storage compound in Area 2. Upon arriving at the
location in vehicles, they cannot see any light. However, seconds later,
one policeman spots a towering, silhouette-like, 8- or 9-foot-tall
figure, visible against the moon-lit sky. It quickly turns and runs.
After disappearing over a rise in the terrain, with six Security
Policemen in hot pursuit, the unknown intruder seemingly vanishes into
thin air. (Robert L. Hastings, “Triangular-Shaped
UFO Sighted at the Nellis AFB Nuclear Storage Area,” UFOs &
Nukes, April 23, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7412
Date: 2004
Description: Vadim
Chernobrov registers the All-Russian Scientific Organization,
Kosmopoisk, as an international association. (Wikipedia, “Kosmopoisk”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7411
Date: 1/2004
Description: CNES decides to close SEPRA, perhaps because engineer Jean-Jacques
Velasco is publishing a book, OVNIs: L’évidence, in April. (Gildas
Bourdais, “The Death and Rebirth of Official French UFO Studies,” IUR
31, no. 2 (June 2007): 13; Swords 450)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7413
Date: 1/4/2004
Description: 10:30 p.m. Another Airbus 330-200 is approaching the east
coast of Ireland, bound for Dublin Airport, when the crew sees a
flashing strobe light over Slane, County Meath. As the aircraft
throttles back to 265 mph at 2,500 feet, the UFO takes on a triangular
shape, passes in front of the plane, and gives off a bright flashing
light. The UFO begins circling the Airbus in an aggressive manner. The
crew expects a collision with the object, which is about 360 feet wide.
The interior lights dim (power drain) and the encounter continues for
8–10 minutes as passengers watch. At one point, wake turbulence from the
UFO triggers the wind shear warning device. Other aircraft in the
vicinity are watching the encounter and listening in to radio
transmissions. Just 2 minutes before landing, the UFO shoots away to the
southeast. (Good Need, pp. 407–410;
Dermot Butler and Carl Nally, Conspiracy of Silence: UFOs in Ireland,
Mercier, 2006, pp. 42–43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7415
Date: 1/4/2004
Description: 8:30 p.m. An Aer Lingus Boeing 737 with 135 people on board
is about 2 miles off the east coast of Ireland approaching Dublin
Airport. It is being followed in for landing on Runway 10 by a British
Midland Airbus A330- 200 at a distance of 6 miles. Both are at an
altitude of 3,000 feet and moving at 287 mph. As the 737 approaches
Slane, the A330 crew observes unidentified traffic take off vertically
from a field. The object has bright strobe lights and is triangular in
shape. It begins to circle the 737, which experiences a power drain. The
A330 sees a purplish glow surround the 737, whose captain requests a
course change to avoid the object, which is passing in front of the
airliner. The UFO angles to the port side and the 737 experiences a huge
wake turbulence and an increase in outside air temperature to 327° F.
for about 15 seconds. The A330 also feels the turbulence, and the UFO
heads southeast at great speed. When the 737 lands, the crew cannot
raise the speed brakes on the wings, which are found to be damaged, as
if dented by a hammer. There is also aircraft skin damage and hydraulic
damage to the brakes caused by the UFO wake. (Good Need, pp. 406–410;
Dermot Butler and Carl Nally, Conspiracy of Silence: UFOs in Ireland,
Mercier, 2006, pp. 41–42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7414
Date: 1/17/2004
Description: 7:45 p.m. A witness at Bass River, New Brunswick, sees a
bright, fast-moving fireball. Around 11:00 p.m., a couple near
Saint-Louis-de-Kent, New Brunswick, watch two flashing lights low in the
west. They descend rapidly then fly in front of the witnesses at
tremendous speed. They then stop and settle above some trees on the
eastern horizon and disappear. A man in Caraquet is looking south and
sees two objects, one on top of the other, flying west to east. They
take 5 minutes to cross the sky but do not look like airplanes. In
Moncton, another witness sees a single light moving steadily and rapidly
across the ocean toward the east. In Saint Paul, another witness sees
two lights heading toward the northwest, They make no sound, rotate
around each other, hover, then leave at high speed. (Chris Rutkowski and
Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press, 2006,
pp. 210–211)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7416
Date: 1/20/2004
Description: European Parliament Member Nello
Musumeci submits a proposal to create a Europe-wide “body for the
study of unexplained atmospheric phenomena.” He suggests that the
European Commission should pay special attention to UFO studies by
various European space centers and recommends SEPRA in Toulouse, France,
as a model. (2Pinotti 213)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7417
Date: 1/21/2004
Description: A man is driving on the Trans-Canada Highway 10 miles north
of Sussex, New Brunswick, when he sees a blinking light off to his left,
apparently hovering above the road. As he approaches, he sees the object
is composed of two bright white lights that seem to be attached to a
structured object. It descends and hovers above a field. The witness
can’t pull over, so the light is soon lost to view behind him. (Chris
Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press,
2006, p. 211)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7418
Date: 1/22/2004
Description: 9:00 p.m. S/Sgt Shawn Burke of the 86th Operations Support
Squadron stationed at Ramstein Air Base outside Ramstein-Misenbach,
Kaiserslautern, Germany, sees a row of seven lights directly overhead
and glowing a bright white. When the clouds become thicker, the display
disappears briefly, then reappears and become more elongated, looking
more like lines than dots. Burke takes a few photos. They remain
stationary all night. His cellphone and the internet in his building
goes out when the lights get brighter. Possible light pillars. (Wim van
Utrecht, “Seven
Unidentified Lights over Ramstein Air Base,” Caelestia)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7419
Date: 1/25/2004
Description: 6:26 p.m. A woman and her son watch a strange triangular
object in the sky above Richibucto, New Brunswick. It has sparkling
lights on top and a V shape on its underside. In a telescope, they can
see it is a large gray object with something like a round door on the
bottom. It suddenly speeds up and disappears in the distance. (Chris
Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, The Canadian UFO Report, Dundurn Press,
2006, p. 211)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7420
Date: 1/27/2004
Description: Night. Alec Birch, who has confessed to faking a UFO photo
in 1962, takes a series of color slides showing the town hall in
Retford, Nottinghamshire, England, for a photography competition. He
sees nothing unusual at the time, but on examining one transparency he
finds an image that appears to be an elliptical UFO. Ruling out lens
flares and aircraft, he contacts the Ministry of Defence, which sends
the slide to the Defence Geographic and Imagery Intelligence Agency for
analysis. The agency reports back to the MoD on August 2, saying that no
definite conclusions can be reached, but “it may be coincidental that
the illuminated plane of the object passes through the centre of the
frame, indicating a possible lens anomaly, [for example] a droplet of
moisture.” (UFOFiles2, pp. 147–148)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7421
Date: 2/20/2004
Description: 2:00 p.m. Lt. Ribeiro of the Brazilian Air Force is
retuning on a flight from São Paulo to Recife, Brazil. He is ordered to
intercept a radar return that he can visually confirm as a yellow light.
During the interception, the light remains stationary. Suddenly it
begins moving toward the aircraft and gets very close. The pilot can
only see a sphere of light coming closer, so he maneuvers sharply to the
right. At this point his plane is illuminated by a beam of light.
Seconds later everything is back to normal and the object is gone.
(Clark III 206; Brazil 553–554)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7422
Date: 3/5/2004
Description: Mexican Air Force pilots flying a C-26A Metroliner using
infrared equipment to search for drug-smuggling aircraft record 11
unidentified objects on infrared video and radar near Ciudad del Carmen,
Campeche, Mexico. The objects are not visible to the crew. Secretary of
Defense Gen. Gerardo
Clemente Vega issues a press release on May 12 accompanied by
videotape that shows moving bright lights at 11,500 feet. Mexican
journalist Jaime Maussan interprets
the videotape as “proof of alien visitation,” but science writer and
skeptic Michael
Shermer is critical of witness accounts that vary wildly, saying,
“it was like a fisherman’s tale, growing with each retelling,” while
NARCAP suggests the lights are most likely burn-off flares on offshore
oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. (Mark Rodeghier, “Special Failures
Down Mexico Way,” IUR 28, no. 4 (Winter 2003–2004): 12–13, 28; “NARCAP
Statement on the Mexican FLIR Case,” IUR 29, no. 2 (Summer 2004):
17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7423
Date: 4/15/2004
Description: Ademar
José Gevaerd’s Brazilian Ufologists Commission launches a campaign
called “Freedom of Information Now!” with the goal of convincing the
Brazilian government to publicly release official information on the
Varginha case, the Official Night of the UFOs, and the Trindade Island
photos. (Clark III 209)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7424
Date: summer 2004
Description: Two security guards at a glass factory in Częstochowa,
Poland, watch a large, oblong-shaped object with two bright yellow
lights on both ends fly 90 feet above their guard post. (Poland
110)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7425
Date: 7/31/2004
Description: CNES is now embarrassed by its decision to close SEPRA and
is planning a rebirth. (Gildas Bourdais, “The Death and Rebirth of
Official French UFO Studies,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7426
Date: 8/2004
Description: The National Institute for Discovery Science releases a
report, “NIDS Investigations of the Flying Triangle Enigma,” with
analyses of triangle-shaped UFOs in the US, Belgium, and elsewhere.
(“NIDS Investigations of the Flying Triangle Enigma,” August 2004)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7427
Date: 8/21/2004
Description: Three red lights hovering in a triangular formation are
seen by several witnesses in Tinley Park and Oak Forest, Illinois.
Further observations take place on October 31, 2004; October 1, 2005;
and once again on October 31, 2006. The lights are captured on video by
some witnesses. The video evidence suggests that the lights keep the
geometrical shape and move as if they are attached to each other through
a dark object. The incident is examined in a Dateline NBC episode on May
18, 2008, and in the episode “Invasion Illinois” of the television
series UFO Hunters that premiers on The History Channel on October 29,
2008. (Wikipedia, “Black
triangle (UFO)”;
Marler 211–216)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7428
Date: 8/28/2004
Description: 10:11 p.m. A circular metallic UFO the size of an airliner
is seen above the Pemex oil refinery in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico. It
is accompanied by six luminous spheres at an altitude of about 3,300
feet. The larger craft performs erratic maneuvers at high speed.
(“Recent UFO Reports,” IUR 29, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7429
Date: 9/12/2004
Description: Evening. Laura Simmons sees a “silent, abstract blob almost
like the underside view of a manta ray shape, moving quickly, quietly
across the sky” above Fulton Street in San Francisco, California. She
describes it as “very large, almost gossamer, sprinkled with lights but
almost like dusted with luminous powder.” (“Recent UFO Reports,” IUR 29,
no. 1 (Spring 2004): 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7430
Date: 9/16/2004
Description: 9:00 p.m. Brian Junkin, Chuck Martin, and three children in
Poulsbo, Washington, watch a multicolored light move erratically for 10
minutes about 500–1,000 feet above the canal adjacent to Naval Base
Kitsap on the Kitsap Peninsula. The light keeps changing colors from
green to red to orange. Flashes of light also come from what appear to
be corners of an underlying object. Another light comes speeding in from
the north on a straight course and stops close to the first light, which
continues to dance around. Suddenly, both lights blink out at the same
time. (“Sighting Report,” National UFO Reporting Center, September 29,
2004; Nukes 499–502)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7431
Date: 9/17/2004
Description: 3:39 a.m. A woman in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, wakes up to
a humming sound and lights shining through her window. She runs out and
sees a large object “shaped like a large submarine” with lights. It has
beams of lights shining down the middle of it in a straight line from
one end to another. She hears a loud thunderclap and the object rises
higher until it is lost to sight. (“Recent UFO Reports,” IUR 29, no. 1
(Spring 2004): 25)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7432
Date: 9/27/2004
Description: Early morning. A five-member team of geologists and
glaciologists (including Rajiv Kalia, Sunil
Dhar, Sushil Singh) led by Anil
V. Kulkarni of the Indian Space Research Organization’s Space
Applications Centre in Ahmedabad are on a research trip in the barren
Samudra Tapu valley, Himachal Pradesh, India, at an elevation of 17,000
feet. They spot a strange white, oblong object about 3–4 feet on the top
of a mountain ridge that is floating just a few feet from the ground and
approaches the camp to a distance of 160 feet. Kulkarni and Dhar grab
cameras and take several photos. It has a cylindrical head with 2
balloon-type attachments and looks like a robot walking. The object
hovers motionless for a few seconds, then starts a steep ascent, hovers
another 5 minutes, then rises high in the sky. Kalia says it does not
look like a man-made object. (“UFO
Sighting in Himachal Lahaul-Spiti
District Remains a Mystery,” India Today, February 13, 2006; Mark
Rodeghier, “Scientists Would Investigate Sightings by Other
Scientists—Wouldn’t They?” IUR 30, no. 3 (May 2006): 22–23)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7433
Date: 10/1/2004
Description: The US Air Force 20th Space Control Squadron at Eglin AFB,
Florida, takes over the operation of the US Navy’s Space Surveillance
System until 2009. (Wikipedia, “Air
Force Space Surveillance System”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7434
Date: 10/4/2004
Description: Pilot Brian
Binnie reaches a world record altitude of 367,490 feet in
SpaceShipOne, an air launched rocket plane. (Wikipedia, “Brian
Binnie”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7435
Date: 10/27/2004
Description: Day. The crew of a military jet near Naval Air Weapons
Station China Lake, California, observes a dark gray, egg-shaped object,
approximately 62 feet long, engaging in high-speed maneuvers at 45,000
feet. It is moving east at 575 mph, then makes an aggressive vertical
turn. (Keith Basterfield, “A
BAASS Data Report of a 2002
Submerged Egg-Shaped Object in the SOCAL OPEAREA,” Unidentified
Aerial Phenomena—Scientific Research, May 13, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7436
Date: 10/28/2004
Description: Night. An Iranian Air Force F-14 is on combat air patrol
near the heavy water reactor near Khondab, Iran, when it picks up an
unidentified target at a distance of 50 miles away that is making rapid
changes in altitude, heading, and speed. The pilot is ordered to bank
toward the target after regional command receives a visual confirmation
from an Arak Air Defense Group observer. Approaching at 22,000 feet, the
pilot spots the target at 5,000 feet. The object is spherical and has a
green halo surrounding it and a green light on its tail end. When the
pilot turns toward the light, it disappears then reappears a few miles
away, apparently moving at a speed of Mach 7 or greater. The F-14 is
ordered to turn all lights off and descend to pursue the target. At
7,800 feet the target disappears again, but after the F-14 makes a turn
at 7,000 feet, it picks up the target again and flies 2,000 feet below
it. The F-14 arms its weapons and the pilot requests clearance to engage
the object. Every time the radar officer attempts to lock on the object,
the radio, radar, and other instruments become jammed. Finally, the F-14
ascends to 19,000 feet because it is low on fuel and spots the object
one last time at low altitude. The pilot returns to the 8th Predator
Tactical Fighter Base in Isfahan. (Air Forces Monthly, December 18,
2017; “Iran
UFO Reports Revealed,”
Key Aero, December 18, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7437
Date: 11/10/2004
Description: Navy Chief Petty Officer Kevin Day, stationed on the guided
missile cruiser USS
Princeton,
notices the clear radar traces of 8–10 objects travelling southwards in
a loose though fixed formation at 28,000 feet in the immediate vicinity
of Catalina and San Clemente islands, California. He is startled by
their slow speed of 120 mph but receives confirmation of their presence
from radar operators on other vessels. Regular observations are made of
a similar number of objects over the following six days. The objects are
also faintly detected by an E- 2C Hawkeye plane after Princeton sends
them coordinates. (Wikipedia, “Pentagon
UFO videos”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7438
Date: 11/14/2004
Description: 9:30 a.m. Navy Commander David Fravor and pilot Jim
Slaight, flying two McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets over the California
coast on a routine training mission, are diverted from their exercise to
investigate some unusual radar contacts detected by the cruiser USS
Princeton that
is part of the USS
Nimitz Carrier
Strike Group. They observe a 40-foot-long wingless craft flying at
incredible speeds in an erratic pattern. Controllers on one of the Navy
ships report objects that are dropping out of the sky from 80,000 feet
and going “straight back up.” As they are looking for the object that
appears on the radar, Fravor spots a white disturbance in the water and
a white object (nicknamed “Tic-Tac”) moving in random directions. The
planes fly lower to investigate the object, which seems to be about 40
feet long and then starts to mirror their movements before accelerating
at high speed and disappearing. Fravor and another pilot, Alex Dietrich,
say in an interview that a total of four people (two pilots and two
weapons systems officers in the back seats of the two airplanes) witness
the object for about 5 minutes. The disturbance in the water vanishes.
Soon the same or a similar object reappears at their rendezvous point 60
miles away, but by the time they arrive it has disappeared. Another
plane launched from the USS Nimitz has its radar jammed and is able to
pick up the object on an infrared channel. Two objects emerge from the
bottom of the blip, which takes off and goes off the right side of the
screen. The speed of the object, which has no exhaust trail, is
stunning. However, the Navy claims it “never obtained an accurate” radar
track of the objects reported by Fravor; they are quickly dropped by the
Princeton’s radar when the computer categorizes them as “false targets.”
After the return of the first team to USS Nimitz, a second F-18 team,
led by Chad Underwood, takes off at approximately 12:00 noon, this time
equipped with an advanced infrared camera (FLIR pod). This camera
records an evasive unidentified aerial system on video. Underwood says
“he never had visual, only seeing the object via FLIR.” David Fravor
says that the radar operator on the USS Princeton briefed him that they
had been tracking radar targets for two weeks. The footage is publicly
released by the Pentagon in 2017. This footage is known as the 2004 USS
Nimitz FLIR1
video. It
officially sheds some light on a decade-old story that had been largely
unknown and unreported, aside from a 2015 secondhand story on
FighterSweep.com that, in spite of providing many details, remained
unconfirmed at that time. Jonathan Axelrod [possibly Naval officer John
F. Stratton], investigating the case in 2009 for BAASS, concludes tat
the object “was no known aircraft or air vehicle currently in the
inventory of the United States or any foreign nation,” and that it
remained “stationary with little or no variation in altitude
transitioning to horizontal and/or vertical velocities far greater than
any known aerial vehicle with little or no visible signature.” Analysis
of the FLIR footage by Mick West of Metabunk claims that the impressive
sudden departure is an illusion; the object does not actually move
except when the aircraft’s own infrared camera moves. West thinks the
object resembles an “out-of-focus low-resolution backlit plane” filmed
at a distance. [A second film of infrared footage, known as the GIMBAL
video, is released by the Pentagon alongside the 2004 FLIR1 footage.
Although the media often present the two videos together to illustrate
the 2004 USS Nimitz UFO incident, the GIMBAL video is unrelated and was
filmed on the East Coast of the United States in early 2015 by planes
from the USS
Theodore
Roosevelt.] (NICAP, “Object
Outmaneuvers 2
Jets over Pacific”; Wikipedia, “Pentagon
UFO videos”; “Pentagon
Declassifies Navy ‘UFO’ Videos (Video 1/3),”
ABC News YouTube channel, April 27, 2020; “Navy
Pilot Recalls Encounter with UFO: ’I Think It Was Not
from This World,’” ABC News, December 18, 2017; Keith Basterfield,
“Did
the AAWSA Program / AATIP Really
Start in 2007?” Unidentified Aerial Phenomena—Scientific Research,
May 16, 2018; “2004
USS Nimitz Navy
Strike Group Incident Report,” Scientific Coalition of UAP Studies,
March 3, 2019; “Scientific
Findings Regarding
a Major U.S. Navy Encounter with UFOs,” Scientific Coalition of UAP
Studies, April 25, 2019; Matthew Phelan, “Navy
Pilot Who Filmed the ‘Tic Tac’ UFO Speaks: ’It Wasn’t Behaving by the
Normal Laws of
Physics,’” New York, December 19, 2019; Mick West, “Explained:
New Navy UFO Videos,” Metabunk, April 27, 2020; David Clarke,
“Echoes and Angels: UFOs on Radar,” Fortean Times 403 (March 2021):
40–42; Skinwalkers 45–46, 111–114, 118–119; Bill Whitaker, “UFOs
Regularly Spotted in US Airspace,” CBS News, August 29, 2021; “Famous
Navy UFO Is Camera Glare Hiding Something ‘Really Interesting,’
Researcher Says,” The Independent (UK), March 18, 2022; Internet
Movie Database, “A
Tear in the Sky”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7439
Date: 11/16/2004
Description: An unmanned NASA X-43A hypersonic scramjet, the fastest
free-flying air-breathing vehicle, achieves a speed of 7,546 mph.
(Wikipedia, “NASA
X-43”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7440
Date: 2005
Description: More than 9,500 UFO reports and related documents (of an
estimated 15,000) are digitized by Library and Archives Canada and made
available online. It releases a virtual exhibition titled “Canada’s
UFOs: The Search for the Unknown.” (Chris Rutkowski, Canada’s UFOs:
Declassified, August Night, 2022, pp. 11–13)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7441
Date: 1/1/2005
Description: The UK Freedom of Information Act 2000 comes into full
force. Around 120,000 requests are made in the first year. Private
citizens make 60% of them, with businesses and journalists accounting
for 20% and 10% respectively. However, requests from journalists tend to
be more complex and consequently more expensive. UFOs are one of the
three most popular FOI requests made to the Ministry of Defence.
(Wikipedia, “Freedom
of Information
Act 2000”; UFOFiles2, p. x)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7442
Date: 1/15/2005
Description: UFO researcher Keith
Basterfield interviews a man in Adelaide, South Australia, whose
British father had worked for MI5 after World War II. His father had
told him in 1959 when he was 12 that the American military had been
experimenting in 1947 with monkeys and pigs being dropped in devices
equipped with retrorockets from stratospheric balloons to test them for
eventual space rocket research. In one of these experiments, which were
conducted at night, they used live 2–3 humans with a hydrocephalic
condition (enlarged heads caused by excess cerebrospinal fluid) whom
they obtained from a facility. The retrorockets failed, the balloon
crashed, and a rancher found the material and one of the humans who was
still alive. A medical retrieval team came for it. The UFO cover story
for this crash near Roswell, New Mexico, was concocted to keep the
experiments secret. (Keith Basterfield, “Jacobsen,
Redfern, and an Adelaide Informant,” Unidentified Aerial
Phenomena—Scientific Research, July 8, 2011; Nick Redfern, The Roswell
UFO Conspiracy, Lisa Hagan, 2017, pp. 153–163)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7443
Date: 1/31/2005
Description: 10:00 p.m. Two men ice fishing at Columbia City, Indiana,
encounter a large triangle above the east end of the pond. It crosses
the frozen water at a low altitude, then hovers for some seconds before
rising silently upward, leaving a trail of steam from the surface of the
ice. The men try to call the local sheriff, but their cellphones are
dead, as is their electrical fish locater. After the object disappears,
they find a two-inch hole in the ice where the object had hovered.
(Jenny Randles, “UFOcal Points,” Fortean Times 196 (June 2005):
28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7444
Date: 1/31/2005
Description: 12:00 midnight. A large oval mass is seen floating above a
cornfield at Wood River, Nebraska, by a man leaving his parents’ house.
It rocks slightly from side to side for some 10 minutes and then sends
out bursts of light toward the ground before climbing upward, seeming to
suck up an object, apparently a large cow, from the field below. (Jenny
Randles, “UFOcal Points,” Fortean Times 196 (June 2005): 28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7445
Date: 2/7/2005
Description: 2:00 a.m. In the farming area of El Paraiso, Mar del Plata,
Argentina, a resident hears a noise like a strong wind or turbine and
sees two misty yellow lights drifting above a copse of trees and
climbing slowly. Other witnesses hear and see the phenomena, and others
are wakened by their farm animals going crazy and dogs howling as if in
pain. At dawn, two circular marks are found near the copse. Police
forensic experts take samples of an ash-like deposit that leaves a
greasy smear when touched. Meanwhile, the daughter of one of the locals
involved is having nightmares about a UFO trying to catch her. (Jenny
Randles, “UFOcal Points,” Fortean Times 196 (June 2005): 28)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7446
Date: 2/24/2005
Description: UFOs: Seeing Is Believing, a two-hour American TV
documentary narrated by Peter
Jennings, airs on ABC-TV. The show mentions the Kenneth
Arnold sighting, the Phoenix lights, southern Illinois
triangle-shaped UFOs, and the Roswell incident, which Jennings
sneeringly dismisses as a myth. Guests include James
McGaha, Seth
Shostak, Jill
Tarter, Stanton
Friedman, Budd
Hopkins, Susan
Clancy, and
Michio
Kaku. (Wikipedia,
“UFOs: Seeing Is Believing”; Internet Movie Database, “Peter
Jennings Reporting: UFOs, Seeing Is Believing”; “UFOs: Seeing
Is Believing (2005), ABC Documentary,” Movie Buff Guy YouTube
channel, June 18, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7447
Date: 2/27/2005
Description: Richard
Doty appears on Art
Bell’s Coast to Coast radio program and describes his disinformation
campaign against Paul
Bennewitz. (“Greg
Bishop and Richard Doty, Coast to Coast AM with Host Art Bell, Interview
Transcript,” February 27, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7448
Date: 4/27/2005
Description: Late morning. Air traffic radar detects an unidentified
target in restricted air space near Ronald Reagan Washington
International Airport in Arlington, Virginia, causing President George
W. Bush to be taken to a bunker and Vice President Dick
Cheney to be evacuated to safety. The target gets within 7 miles of
the airport, then vanishes. Although it is not identified, officials
argue it is caused by a radar anomaly. (“Radar
Blip Causes White
House Security Scare,” Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, April 28, 2005,
p. 10)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7449
Date: 5/1/2005
Description: Night. A biotechnologist and his daughter are driving on
the Central Oregon Highway about 50 miles southeast of Bend, Oregon.
They notice three bright blue objects zigzagging around each other about
300 feet away above a field. Suddenly two of the lights move toward them
and through their vehicle. One passes through the windshield and passes
through a window. The second passes through the man’s left arm and upper
body, exiting his right arm. He feels a bit hazy, but notices the light
is spherical and about the size of a softball. Still driving, the man
feels nauseous and scared. The next 45 minutes into Bend seems like 3
hours. Days later, he develops a red rash on the left side of his face
and loses some hair on that side. His ankles swell, and he loses some
sight and hearing on the left. In the next few weeks, he gains about 50
pounds (although exercising and dieting) and sleeps a lot. In February
2007 he is diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in his left chest, a
pre-cancerous condition, and undergoes surgery in May, his health
gradualy improving by the end of 2008. (Skinwalkers 70–75)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7450
Date: 5/3/2005
Description: 5:30 a.m. A witness sees strange red and white lights
crossing the flight path into Dulles International Airport in Virginia,
west of Washington, D.C. (Jenny Randles, “UFOcal Points,” Fortean Times
199 (September 2005): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7451
Date: 5/4/2005
Description: 10:00 a.m. Angler John Walker sees an object the size of a
house, shaped like a large gray bullet, in the sky above Squeaking
Point, Tasmania. He estimates its height at 150 feet. It moves extremely
slowly, taking 15 minutes to cross his view. (Jenny Randles, “UFOcal
Points,” Fortean Times 199 (September 2005): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7452
Date: 5/8/2005
Description: Night. A witness captures video footage of pulsating,
kaleidoscopic lights over the Denbigh Moors near Llannefydd, North
Wales. The lights had appeared for several nights and remained visible
for a lengthy amount of time. (Jenny Randles, “UFOcal Points,” Fortean
Times 199 (September 2005): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7453
Date: 5/9/2005
Description: 9:30 p.m. A man getting into his car in Bradford, West
Yorkshire, England, spots a huge, pulsating mass overhead, shaped like a
double cross, and brilliantly studded with red, green, and white lights.
It stays visible for a long time. The witness goes to bed at 1:20 a.m.,
and the object, or a similar one, is still visible. (Jenny Randles,
“UFOcal Points,” Fortean Times 199 (September 2005): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7454
Date: 5/9/2005
Description: 11:25 p.m. A woman outside her house in Kuujjuaq, Quebec,
watches multi-colored lights heading northeast at a slow pace and low
altitude. (Jenny Randles, “UFOcal Points,” Fortean Times 199 (September
2005): 26)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7455
Date: 5/11/2005
Description: 11:28 a.m. Radar trackers spot a plane entering the Air
Defense Identification Zone around Washington, D.C. As the aircraft
bears down on Washington from the north and officials cannot contact the
pilot, the White House’s internal threat level goes from yellow to
orange and then to red within four minutes. Fighters are scrambled, and
occupants and visitors to the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the White
House are sent scurrying for safety. The aircraft flies over the vice
president’s residence and comes within moments of reaching the White
House and close to being shot down. Officials say 35,000 people are
evacuated from the Capitol and adjacent office complexes. An additional
200 are evacuated from the White House. First lady Laura
Bush and former first lady Nancy
Reagan, who
is visiting, are ushered to a bunker beneath the White House for safety,
and Vice President Dick
Cheney is taken to a secure location. The airplane is a Cessna 150
piloted by two aviators flying with outdated maps from a rural
Pennsylvania airstrip and they are lost. Authorities say the pilots are
so clueless that when officials finally make radio contact and order the
plane to divert at 12:06 p.m., the fliers refuse, asserting their right
to proceed. The F-16s then fire four bright flares across the plane’s
nose, and the two men realize the gravity of their situation. The plane
then veers northwest, out of town, escorted by the interceptors,
security helicopters, and a US customs jet. The 15-minute aerial
encounter is watched by rapt workers in downtown Washington office
buildings. (“Confused
Fliers Trigger Capitol Scare,” Washington Post, May 12, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7456
Date: 5/20/2005
Description: Ademar
José Gevaerd leads a delegation of ufologists who meet with
Brazilian Air Force officials in Brasília, Brazil, headed by Brigadier
Telles Ribeiro, chief of the Air Force’s Center for Public
Communications. In an interview after the meeting, Gevaerd says his
group has been shown information on three specific cases: the testimony
of the head of Varig, Nagib Ayub, on a UFO seen in the airspace in Rio
Grande do Sul in 1954; testimony from pilots who pursued 21 UFOs flying
over São Paulo, São José dos Campos, and Rio de Janeiro in May 1986; and
a Brazilian Air Force investigation of UFOs held in 1977 in Pará by Col.
Uyrange
Hollanda, who
died in 1997. According to Hollanda, “we detected at least nine forms of
objects. Probes, flying saucer-shaped spaceships… All reports were sent
by the 1st COMAR to Brasilia.” (Wikipedia, “Ademar
José Gevaerd”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7457
Date: 6/2005
Description: British author Nick
Redfern publishes Body Snatchers in the Desert, which purports to
show that the 1947 Roswell crash may have been military aircraft tests
using Japanese POWs, suffering from progeria (an early aging syndrome)
or radiation effects. He has interviewed elderly whistleblowers—a woman
he calls the Black Widow, Al Barker, Bill Salter, and a retired military
man he calls the Colonel. In 2001, the Black Widow claims to have worked
at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, in the late 1940s and
early 1950s, at which time elements of the Usgovernment conducted
high-altitude balloon tests with attached gondolas that contained live
test subjects and sometimes dead bodies. These subjects were handicapped
humans, possibly Japanese, including sufferers of progeria. She claims
to know of 3 classified balloon flights in May–July 1947. The bodies
were broiught to Oak Ridge under stringent security. In 2003, the
Colonel states that Roswell and other crashes were a cover for research
linked to high-altitude balloon experiments. He mentions crashes in May
and July 1947 of two experiments with handicapped persons on board.
(Nick Redfern, Body Snatchers in the Desert: The Horrible Truth at the
Heart of the Roswell Story, Paraview, 2005)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7458
Date: 6/19/2005
Description: 3:10 p.m. Three witnesses in Silverdale, Washington, see a
black, rectangular object fly silently in a straight line and constant
speed from south to north almost directly above the town. (“Sighting
Report,” National UFO Reporting Center, June 20, 2005; Nukes
502–503)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7459
Date: 6/28/2005
Description: Early morning. Following reports of unidentified lights
above Dublin Airport in Ireland, a UFO 30 feet wide and 10 feet high
approaches dangerously close to a commercial aircraft flying at 3,000
feet. The plane experiences intense waves of heat and wake turbulence. A
strobe light on the object induces dizziness and nausea; the copilot
vomits a few times, but after a while both pilots feel strangely
relaxed. After heading in the direction of Malahide, County Dublin, the
UFO returns and continues further harassment, causing the aircraft to
become uncontrollable for a few minutes. The pilot reports to London Air
Traffic Control Centre: “Need assistance… We have a hostile craft and we
have made dangerous maneuvers to avoid it.” London confirms the presence
of unauthorized air traffic. Some RAF Tornados are scrambled and reach
the aircraft 25 minutes later, but there is little they can do except
escort the plane to a UK airport, accompanied by the UFO. (Good Need, pp. 409–410;
Dermot Butler and Carl Nally, Conspiracy of Silence: UFOs in Ireland,
Mercier, 2006, pp. 229–232)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7460
Date: 7/2005
Description: The new CNES director, Yannick
d’Escatha, again creates a department for UFO investigations.
Another engineer, Jacques Patenet, replaces Jean-Jacques
Velasco as head. It is under the authority of CNES but reports to a
steering committee (Comité de pilotage) called COPEIPAN, headed by Yves
Sillard. The committee has 15 permanent members: representatives of
civil and military authorities, and representatives of the scientific
world. (Gildas Bourdais, “The Death and Rebirth of Official French UFO
Studies,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 14; Swords 451)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7461
Date: 7/5/2005
Description: 8:50 p.m. A woman is driving home from a fishing trip at
Sargent, Texas, on FM2611 when her lights blink twice and the engine
goes dead. She gets out of the car to check the battery cables, and sees
a bright bluish glow lighting up a wooded area across the highway. The
light gets brighter and moves upward through the trees. The outer edges
of the light seem to vibrate or tremble slightly. The higher it goes the
faster it gets until it disappears. The car starts right up afterward.
(Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part 1,”
IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7462
Date: late 7/2005
Description: 7:30 p.m. Just as an airliner is making its final approach
to the Santa Rosa Airport, La Pampa province, Argentina, the airport
control tower operator notices an unknown, luminous object moving slowly
and parallel to the aircraft. The flight plan operator is alerted, and
they both watch the UFO stop, emit a brilliant flash of blue- white
light, move again, emit another flash, and vanish. The airliner crew
does not see the UFO. (Good Need, p. 411)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7464
Date: 7/22/2005
Description: Industrial chemist Phyllis
Budinger reports on her laboratory tests on stains from the dress
that abductee Betty Hill was
wearing on the night of her abduction in 1961. The samples indicate
protein and oily materials from an external source. She also reports on
materials brought back from a recent abduction by Stan
Romanek, which prove to be bismuth trioxide, used in the making of
ceramics and glass but uncommon in everyday situations. No direct link
between the materials and an extraterrestrial source can be established.
(MUFON 2005 International UFO Symposium Proceedings)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7463
Date: 8/4/2005
Description: 10:30 p.m. A witness in Fernandina Beach, Florida, sees two
rose-red objects approach from the ocean and move silently to the south,
disappearing in about 75 seconds. (“Sighting Report,” National UFO
Reporting Center, September 2, 2005; Nukes 507)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7465
Date: 8/27/2005
Description: 8:45 p.m. Dennis Speed is outdoors at his home in Lenah
Valley, Tasmania, when he sees a formation of six orange lights
approaching from the north. They are the size of bright stars and are
moving slowly below the cloud level. Suddenly, they scatter about 1,650
feet apart, and a white aura appears in the sky around them. He watches
them for 15 minutes. Up to 9 oranges UFOs are seen elsewhere in Hobart.
(“Orange UFOs over Hobart,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7466
Date: 9/1/2005
Description: The 30th Reconnaissance Squadron, which operates Lockheed
Martin RQ-170 Sentinel drones, is activated at Tonopah Test Range
Airport in Nevada. RQ-170 Sentinels have been deployed to Afghanistan,
where one was sighted at Kandahar International Airport in late 2007.
This sighting, and the Sentinel’s secret status at the time, leads Bill
Sweetman to dub it the “Beast of Kandahar.” (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
Martin RQ-170 Sentinel”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7467
Date: 9/17/2005
Description: 10:30 a.m. A man is at his home on 31st Avenue in Peoria,
Arizona, when he sees a bright object approaching from the east. Seven
other objects appear around it, staying in the same spot for about 15
minutes, then moving to the left quickly. They go higher, moving left to
right and right to left, almost hitting each other. They are completely
silent. (“Spherical UFOs in Arizona,” IUR 30, no. 1 (October 2005):
32)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7468
Date: 9/20/2005
Description: Attorney and Army Reserves Brig. Gen. Stephen
Lovekin, who had worked for the Army Signal Corps in the 1950s and
early 1960s, speaks with writer Peter
Janney about the extraterrestrial presence on Earth and the official
coverup. He claims that in 1995 he attended a conference on the
Strategic Defense Initiative in Monterrey, Mexico, that included
high-level US and Russian participants. The purpose of SDI is to protect
both countries from incursions by UFOs, he alleges. (Dolan II 289)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7469
Date: 9/22/2005
Description: The French UFO agency is given the name Groupe d’Études et
d’Information sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés (GEIPAN) in
order to emphasize the “information-gathering” aspect of the agency. At
its first meeting, it renews the agreements with a network of
specialists so that it can work effectively on new cases. (Wikipedia,
“Groupe
d’Études et d’Information sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux
Non-identifiés”; Gildas Bourdais, “The Death and Rebirth of Official
French UFO Studies,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 14; Swords 451)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7470
Date: 9/29/2005
Description: Space scientist Yves
Sillard is interviewed on Radio France International about GEIPAN.
He states that the UFO phenomenon is serious and involves many witnesses
who deserve an answer about what they have seen. The sightings, he says,
include impressive radar-visual cases and landing traces. (Swords
451–452)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7471
Date: 10/2005
Description: Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, formerly the Indian
Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, activates the Joint Unmanned Aerial
Systems Center of Excellence and the 3d Special Operations Squadron (the
latter is the 1st MQ- 1 Predator squadron in the Air Force Special
Operations Command (AFSOC). (Wikipedia, “Creech
Air Force Base”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7472
Date: 10/2005
Description: Cognitive psychologist Susan
Clancy publishes Abducted: How People Came to Believe They Were
Kidnapped by Aliens, in which she describes her psychological testing of
a sample of abductees. These tests reveal a propensity for false
memories and magical ideation, making abductees more likely than average
to imagine, be led by investigators, and integrate cultural scripts like
the abduction story into memory. Clancy demonstrates that alien
abduction stories give people meaning and a way to understand their own
lives and circumstances. It also gives them a feeling that they are not
alone in the universe. New York Times reviewer Benedict
Carey’s takeaway is that “in this sense, abduction memories are like
transcendent religious visions, scary and yet somehow comforting and, at
some personal psychological level, true.” However, Clancy fails to ask
her subjects about their religious beliefs. (Susan Clancy, Abducted:
How People Came to Believe They Were Abducted
by Aliens, Harvard University, 2005; Benedict Carey, “Explaining
Those Vivid Memories of Martian Kidnappers,”
New York Times, August 9, 2005; Clark III 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7473
Date: early 10/2005
Description: 12:30 p.m. The crew of a Magnicharters Boeing 737
encounters a luminous disc in the air corridor over Oaxaca state,
Mexico, at 20,000 feet. The object emerges from one cloud and enters
another at a distance of 12 miles from the aircraft. (Good Need, p. 411)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7474
Date: 11/1/2005
Description: An anonymous email is received by Victor Martinez, who runs
a discussion list for retired intelligence people who are interested in
UFOs. This person, in return for anonymity, passes on a huge volume of
information each month for the next three years, all of it extracts from
an alleged original document—a top secret, 3,000-page report compiled by
the Defence Intelligence Agency in the late 1970s. The major revelations
are: There were two crash sites in New Mexico, one southwest of Corona,
and the second at Pelona Peak, south of Datil. The Corona site was
discovered a day later by an archaeological team, who reports the crash
site to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department. One live entity (EBE 1)
was found hiding behind a rock; it and some dead bodies were later
transferred to Loa Alamos National Laboratory. Roswell Army Air Field
took the craft and sent it on to Wright- Patterson AFB. The second site
was not discovered until August 1949 by two ranchers. It took the
sheriff several days to reach this crash site. He took photos, drove
back to Datil, and notified Sandia Army Base, which recovered six bodies
that were first sent to Sandia then to Los Alamos. The live entity
established communication and supplied the name of his home planet,
Serpo, in our constellation of Zeta Reticuli. It died in 1952 after
being allowed to use a communication device in the crashed UFO to
contact his home planet. An alien/US military meeting was set for April
1964 in Alamogordo, where the aliens (nicknamed Ebens) landed and
retrieved their comrades’ bodies (which had been frozen). In 1965, the
US had an exchange program with the aliens, where one entity was left
behind and 12 trained Americans (10 men, 2 women) left for Serpo from
the Nevada Test Site. They were supposed to stay 10 years, but something
went wrong. In 1978, seven men and one woman returned; two had died on
Serpo, and four others decided to remain. Of the 8 that returned, all
have since died, the last in 2002. A few months after the documents
became known, a UK Ministry of Defence official nicknamed “Chapman”
claims the events were not as described but that the document is real,
as he had seen it in 1969 or 1970 in London. He claims is was a CIA
document authored by Alice
Bradley Sheldon (a science fiction author using the pseudonym James
Tiptree Jr. who worked for the CIA in 1952–1955) in response to Soviet
disinformation in the 1960s about nuclear bombs in the US. (Wikipedia,
“Planetary
objects proposed in religion, astrology,
ufology, and pseudoscience”; Rational Wiki, “Project
Serpo”; Mark Pilkington, Mirage Men: An Adventure into Paranoia,
Espionage, Psychological Warfare, and UFOs, Skyhorse, 2010; Kremlin
161–166)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7475
Date: 12/15/2005
Description: The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, a single-seat,
twin-engine, all-weather stealth tactical fighter aircraft developed for
the Air Force, officially enters service. USAF officials consider the
F-22 a critical component of the service’s tactical air power. Its
combination of stealth, aerodynamic performance, and avionics systems
enable unprecedented air combat capabilities. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
Martin F-22 Raptor”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7476
Date: 2006
Description: The UFO Research Coalition (CUFOS, MUFON, Fund for UFO
Research) launches an Abduction Monitoring Project (later changed to
Ambient Monitoring Project), an effort to create a compact,
multi-instrumental device to be placed in the homes of recurrent
abductees to record magnetic, electrical, and atmospheric anomalies over
an extended period. The goal is to compare any reported abduction
experiences with the anomalies to see if they coincide. After
considerable difficulty with the design and construction of these boxes
through 2008, data are recorded from participating abductees. However,
funding is not available for the analysis needed to reach any
conclusions. (Tom Deuley, “The
Ambient Monitoring Project: Data Colleced in Abductee’s Homes
Being Analyzed,”
MUFON UFO Journal, no. 483 (July 2008): 3–7, 15; Jack Brewer, “What
Happened to the Ambient Monitoring
Project?” The UFO Trail, April 2, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7477
Date: 1/2006
Description: GEIPAN’s Jacques Patenet announces that the organization
will make its UFO files available to the public worldwide and placed on
the CNES website. (Swords 452)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7478
Date: 5/15/2006
Description: The UK Defense Intelligence Staff releases (after a
September 2005 Freedom of Information Act request by David
Clarke and Gary Anthony) a 400-page report on a secret UFO study,
codenamed “Condign,” undertaken by DIS between 1997 and February 2000.
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region, written by
former Marconi Electronic Systems scientist Ron Haddow, draws on
approximately 10,000 sightings and reports that have been gathered by
the DI55, a section of the Directorate of Scientific and Technical
Intelligence (DSTI) within the Defence Intelligence Staff. The report
concludes that UFOs have an observable presence that is “indisputable,”
but also that no evidence has been found to suggest they are “hostile or
under any type of control.” According to its authors, the majority of
analyzed UFO sightings can be explained by the misidentification of
common objects such as aircraft and balloons, while the remaining
unexplainable reports are most likely the result of a supernormal
meteorological phenomenon not fully understood by modern science. This
phenomenon is referred to in the report as “Buoyant Plasma Formation,”
akin to ball lightning, and it supposedly produces an unexplained energy
field that creates the appearance of a Black Triangle by refracting
light. The electromagnetic fields generated by plasma phenomena are also
said to explain reports of close encounters due to inducing perceptual
alterations or hallucinations in those affected. The Condign report
suggests that further research into “novel military applications” of
this plasma phenomenon is warranted, and that “the implications have
already been briefed to the relevant MoD technology manager.” The report
also notes that scientists in the former Soviet Union have identified
the close connection between the ‘UFO phenomena’ and Plasma
technologies,” and are “pursuing related techniques for potential
military purposes.” The report describes people who believe themselves
to have had close encounters as being convinced of what they said that
they had seen or experienced, but also as not representing proof that
such encounters are real. It attributes a number of cases to the “close
proximity of plasma related fields” which it said can “adversely affect
a vehicle or person.” (“Unidentified
Aerial Phenomena in
the UK Air Defence Region (The Condign Report): Summary of
Contents,” The Real UFO Project; UK Defense Intelligence Staff, Unidentified
Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region, released 2006; David
Clarke and Gary Anthony, “The British MoD Study: Project Condign,” IUR
30, no. 4 (August 2006): 3–13, 29– 32; Kean, pp. 173–175;
UFOFiles2, pp. 149–155)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7479
Date: 5/16/2006
Description: At least three green fireballs brighter than the moon but
not as bright as the sun blaze over northeast Australia. A farmer sees
one with a blue tapering tail pass over the mountains of the Great
Divide about 75 miles west of Brisbane, Queensland, then watch a
phosphorescent green ball about 12 inches wide roll slowly down the side
of a mountain, bouncing over a rock along the way. A commercial airline
pilot landing in New Zealand sees a meteor breaking up into fragments
that turn green as the bits descend in the direction of Australia. The
timing of the fireballs suggests they might be debris from Comet
73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann 3, according to physicist Stephen
Hughes at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane.
(Charles Q. Choi, “Mystery
of Green Fireball
‘UFOs’ Solved,” Live Science, November 30, 2010)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7480
Date: 7/13/2006
Description: 11:00 p.m. A woman camping on the beach at Wicie, Poland,
sees several red and blue lights maneuvering within a glow about 10 feet
above the water. Then she realizes that the glow surrounds a huge
metallic saucer- shaped object with lights that are turning on
alternately from left to right. Her cellphone is acting crazy and she
thinks the sea is roaring louder than usual. The object scares her so
much that she hides in the forest nearby. (Poland 125)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7481
Date: 7/28/2006
Description: The Cheyenne Mountain Realignment consolidates NORAD’s
day-to-day operations at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs,
Colorado, with Cheyenne Mountain as an Alternate Command Center.
(Wikipedia, “North
American Aerospace Defense Command”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7482
Date: 9/2006
Description: The UK Secretary of State for Defence, Des Browne, approves
a proposal from the Directorate of Air Staff (the former Sec(AS)) to
transfer all remaining UFO files to the National Archives. Funds are
found to scan approximately 160 files and remove sensitive personal
information. This is described as “the largest release of documents
younger than 30 years in the MoD’s entire history.” (UFOFiles2, p. 170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7483
Date: 9/5/2006
Description: Residents of Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia, see
several types of UFOs maneuvering near the city. One looks like a
radaint sphere with three parts. Other witnesses report four lights. A
police officer sees an object with 10 yellow lights moving around in a
circular motion and hovering above the Sea of Japan at an altitude of 1–
2 miles. Other smaller objects approach it, one of which explodes in a
bright flare-up. The official explanation is that these are candle bombs
used as aerial targets for Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft.
(Stonehill and Mantle, Russia’s USO Secrets, Flying Disk, 2020,
pp. 117–118)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7484
Date: 9/22/2006
Description: The Grumman F-14 Tomcat supersonic fighter is retired by US
Navy, having been supplanted by the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
(Wikipedia, “Grumman
F-14 Tomcat”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7485
Date: 10/6/2006
Description: Night. Ufologist Bill
Chalker is along the Mekong River in Phon Phisai District, Thailand,
for the annual Naga Light (ghost light) festival. He witnesses and
videos many of the Naga light balls arising from the river: “This
phenomenon has a tremendous social and human dimension and while it is
tempting to try to explain the lights, however correctly or incorrectly,
as planted ‘rockets,’ ‘submarine’ firings, Naga Dragons speaking, they
all seem to fall short of entirely convincing explanations.” Orb
sightings are on the increase, with up to 408 counted at the Phayanak
festival on October 24, 2018 (260 in Rattanawapee District and 148 in
Phon Phisai). (Wikipedia, “Naga
fireball”; Bill Chalker, “The
Mystery and Allure of the Naga Light Festival: My 2006 Adventure on
the Mekong,”
TheOzFiles, January 28, 2015; “Buddhist Aliens,” Fortean Times 388
(January 2020): 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7486
Date: 11/2006
Description: Many people in a village in Zhenyuan Yi, Hani and Lahu
Autonomous County, southern Yunnan, China, see seven white hemispherical
objects hovering directly over the property of a local Chinese Communist
Party cadre for nearly two hours. They appear to keep changing shape.
Many people from neighboring villages hear about the phenomenon and
arrive to watch it. People try to pursue the lights, but they soon
disappear. (Clark III 653)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7487
Date: 11/1/2006
Description: John
Schuessler retires as director of MUFON. He is succeeded by James
Carrion of Bellevue, Colorado. (“Schuessler Retires As MUFON Head,”
IUR 30, no. 4 (August 2006): 16)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7488
Date: 11/7/2006
Description: 4:15 p.m. Federal authorities at O’Hare International
Airport in Chicago, Illinois, receive a report that a group of 12
airport employees are witnessing a metallic, saucer-shaped craft
hovering over Gate C-17. The object is first spotted by a ramp worker
who is pushing back United Airlines Flight 446, which is departing
Chicago for Charlotte, North Carolina. The employee apprises the crew of
the object above their aircraft. It is believed that both the pilot and
copilot also witness the object. Several independent witnesses outside
of the airport also see the object. One describes a “blatant”
disc-shaped craft hovering over the airport, which was “obviously not
clouds.” According to this witness, nearby observers gasp as the object
shoots through the clouds at high velocity, leaving a clear blue hole in
the cloud layer. The hole reportedly seems to close itself shortly
afterward. According to the Chicago Tribune’s Jon
Hilkevitch, “The
disc was visible for approximately five minutes and was seen by close to
a dozen United Airlines employees, ranging from pilots to supervisors,
who heard chatter on the radio and raced out to view it.” So far, no
photographic evidence of the UFO has surfaced, although Hilkevitch finds
out that one of the pilots is in possession of a digital camera at the
time of the sighting and may have photographed the event. NARCAP
publishes a 155-page report and has called for a government inquiry and
improved energy-sensing technologies: “Anytime an airborne object can
hover for several minutes over a busy airport but not be registered on
radar or seen visually from the control tower, [it] constitutes a
potential threat to flight safety.” The FAA stance concludes that the
sighting was caused by a weather phenomenon and that the agency would
not be investigating the incident. (Wikipedia, “2006
O’Hare International Airport UFO Sighting”; Jon Hilkevitch, “What WAS
That Thing in
the Sky at O’Hare?” Chicago Tribune, January 1, 2007, pp. 1, 19;
Mark Rodeghier, “Media Take Notice When Media Take Notice: UFO Seen over
O’Hare Airport,” IUR 31, no. 1 (January 2007): 32; Richard F. Haines,
“Report
of an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon and Its Safety Implications at
O’Hare International
Airport on November 7, 2006,” NARCAP, May 14, 2007; Leslie Kean,
“Incident at O’Hare Airport,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 3–7; Richard F.
Haines, et al., “A UAP and Its Safety Implications: O’Hare International
Airport, Nov. 7, 2006,” IUR 31, no. 3 (October 2007): 3–7; Kean, pp. 65–72;
Clark III 835–838; Mutual UFO Network, [case
report])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7489
Date: 11/8/2006
Description: The 42d Attack Squadron is formed at Creech AFB, Nevada, as
the first MQ-9 Reaper drone squadron. (Wikipedia, “Creech
Air Force Base”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7490
Date: 12/13/2006
Description: Fastwalkers, a documentary on NORAD’s Defense Satellite
Program and its detection of UFOs (fastwalkers and slowwalkers) entering
the Earth’s atmosphere, is released. (Internet Movie Database, “Fastwalkers”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7491
Date: 2007
Description: NY Times: Dr. Eric W. Davis PhD, an astrophysicist, starts
working as a subcontractor and then a consultant for the Pentagon U.F.O.
program (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, or
AATIP)
Type: newspaper article
Reference: NY
Times
Reference: NY
Times
Location: Washington DC
Date: 2007
Description: The US National Archives allows the entire collection of
sanitized Blue Book documents to be placed on the web through a private
company called Footnote.com (now called Fold3), totaling nearly 130,000
pages, each one an individual JPG image. (Sparks, p. 7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7492
Date: 2007
Description: John Carpenter launches the Journal of Abduction–Encounter
Research in Springfield, Missouri, which continues until July 2010. (Journal
of Abduction–Encounter Research, no.
1 (January 2007))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7493
Date: 1/11/2007
Description: China conducts an anti-satellite missile test in which a
Chinese weather satellite, the FY-1C polar orbit satellite of the
Fengyun series orbiting at an altitude of 537 miles, is destroyed by a
kinetic kill vehicle traveling with a speed of 8 km/s in the opposite
direction. It is launched with a multistage solid-fuel missile from
Zichang Satellite Launch Center or nearby. It is the first known
successful satellite intercept test since 1985. The kill produces an
estimated 35,000 pieces of one-centimeter-wide debris and another 1,500
pieces that are 10 centimeters or more. (Wikipedia, “2007
Chinese anti-satellite missile test”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7494
Date: 1/12/2007
Description: Afternoon. Amateur radio enthusiasts record the
conversation of pilots in two USAF F-15C fighters on a training mission
just north of RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, England. One fighter gets a
radar lock on an unidentified target 17 miles in front of him. He breaks
the lock and reacquires it to validate the target, which is moving
slowly at 17,700 feet. Closing to 500 feet, the pilot sees a small,
irregular object like a “black rock.” His wingman joins him and they
make three additional passes as they track it on airborne radar.
(Skinwalkers 126– 127)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7495
Date: 3/5/2007
Description: 7:15 p.m. Several witnesses around Bremerton, Washington,
see a steady red light above the smokestack at Naval Base Kitsap on the
Kitsap Peninsula. It moves slowly north for 10 minutes, stops for 3
minutes, then suddenly dims, brightens, and disappears. (“Sighting
Report,” National UFO Reporting Center, March 8, 2007; Nukes 503)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7496
Date: 3/18/2007
Description: Former Arizona Gov. Fife
Symington admits that he witnessed one of the “craft of unknown
origin” during the 1997 Phoenix
Lights event, but notes that he didn’t go public with the
information. In an interview with Leslie Kean in
the Prescott Daily Courier, Fife says: “It was enormous and
inexplicable. Who knows where it came from? A lot of people saw it, and
I saw it too. It was dramatic. And it couldn’t have been flares because
it was too symmetrical. It had a geometric outline, a constant shape.”
(“Former Arizona Governor Says He Saw ‘Phoenix lights’ UFO,” American
Chronicle, March 18, 2007; “Former
Arizona Governor Says He Saw a UFO during the 1997
Phoenix Lights,” Wikinews, March 19, 2007; Kean, pp. 253–257,
262–264)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7497
Date: 3/22/2007
Description: GEIPAN, the French office in charge of UFO investigations,
begins to put all its UFO files on its website. These reports have been
gathered in more than 30 years of investigations since its creation in
1977. Some 400 files, covering the period 1988–2005, are put online
first. (Groupe d’Études et d’Informations sur les Phénomènes
Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés website;
Gildas Bourdais, “The Death and Rebirth of Official French UFO Studies,”
IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 12, 14–15; Swords 452–453; “French
Space Agency Puts UFO Files Online,” Fox News, January 13,
2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7498
Date: 3/30/2007
Description: GEIPAN’s Jacques Patenet appears, with Ciel et espace
editor Alain
Cirou, on
a well-known French TV program called C dans l’air. Questioned bluntly
by host and journalist Yves
Calvi about UFOs, Patenet says unequivocally that yes, there are
UFOs. (Gildas Bourdais, “The Death and Rebirth of Official French UFO
Studies,” IUR 31, no. 2 (June 2007): 14)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7499
Date: 4/2007
Description: French space scientist Yves
Sillard consolidates his ideas on UFOs in the landmark book
Phénomènes aérospatiaux non identifies: Un défi à la science, written in
collaboration with other scientists. (Yves Sillard, et al., Phénomènes
aérospatiaux non identifies: Un défi à la science, Le Cherche midi,
2007)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7500
Date: 4/6/2007
Description: Night. Brian Vike is driving near North Park Lake,
McCandless, Pennsylvania, with friends when he sees a strange light
shining directly on the lake from high above it. They get out and walk
towards the lake. Vike is able to see fish swimming beneath the surface
of the lake under the beam. The object projecting the light moves away
to above the trees and is only the size of a streetlight. (Carl W.
Feindt, “Beam of Light into a Body of Water,” IUR 33, no. 3 (December
2010): 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7501
Date: 4/23/2007
Description: Afternoon. The passengers of Flight A-Line 544 depart
Southampton, England, in a BN2a Mk3 Trislander aircraft at about 2:00
p.m. in fine weather with good visibility for miles around, though a
haze layer is present at 2,000 feet, and a continuous cloud layer at
10,000 feet. They rise to an altitude of 4,000 feet and are cruising on
autopilot about 10 miles south of the Isle of Wight. Capt. Ray Bowyer
notices, exactly in the direction of Guernsey in the Channel Islands
(southwest and 12 o’clock ahead) what appears to be a brilliant yellow
lamp or light. He thinks that it might be an airplane or reflections
from the ground, as Guernsey is immediately behind it. The reflection of
the sun off a greenhouse is a possibility but the UFO persists for a
couple of minutes. It is brilliant yellow, with a dark grey band
enveloping it one third from the right, like a band around a cigar.
Bowyer makes contact with Jersey ATC to check on traffic heading his
way. Paul Kelly at Jersey ATC cannot see any traffic in that position,
but he picks up a faint primary return radar signal. A passenger behind
the captain confirms what Bowyer is seeing and points out a second UFO
immediately behind the first: Bowyer estimates both lights to be “up to
possibly a mile across.” Radar traces also seem to register the presence
of two objects, which Bowyer believes to be correlated with the position
and time of the sighting. The first object is presumed to have been near
the Casquets, west of Alderney, and the second some miles north of
Guernsey. A study by David Clarke, however,
cannot establish a definite link, as the radar reflections of cargo or
passenger ferries may have affected at least some of the readings.
Bowyer disagrees with Clarke’s team on the supposed link between the
radar traces and ferries and proposes that two solid airborne UFOs are
working in unison that day. Captain Patterson, the second pilot witness,
posits some type of “atmospheric phenomenon” as an explanation.
(Wikipedia, “2007
Alderney UFO Sighting”; Kean, pp. 73–81;
UFOFiles2, pp. 166–168;
Jean-François Baure, David Clarke, Paul Fuller, and Martin Shough, “Report
on Aerial Phenomena Observed near the Channel Islands, UK,
April 23, 2007,” February 2008; Jean-François Baure, David Clarke,
Paul Fuller, and Martin Shough, “Unusual
Atmospheric Phenomena Observed near Channel Islands, UK, 23 April
2007,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 22, no. 3 (2008):
291–308)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7502
Date: 6/8/2007
Description: The US Air Intelligence Agency is redesignated the Air
Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency. (Wikipedia,
“Air
Force intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7503
Date: 6/11/2007
Description: The Société Belge d’Étude des Phénomènes Spatiaux in
Brussels, Belgium, is officially dissolved. Its place is taken by a less
formal group, Comité Belge d’Étude des Phénomenes Spatiaux, headed by
Patrick Ferryn. (“Bienvenue
sur le site de COBEPS,” Comité Belge d’Étude des Phénomenes
Spatiaux)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7504
Date: 6/19/2007
Description: Defense Intelligence Agency intelligence officer and
scientist James T. Lacatski contacts Robert
Bigelow for permission to visit the Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, a
project under study by the National Institute for Discovery Science. He
wants to see how the DIA might develop a strategy to characterize the
“potential threat aspects of the phenomena.” (Skinwalkers 17–18,
38–39)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7505
Date: 7/16/2007
Description: 12:52 a.m. A witness is walking a dog in Port Orchard,
Washington, when an orange fireball travels from southeast to northwest
for 30 seconds. It disappears in thick clouds over Green Mountain.
(“Sighting Report,” National UFO Reporting Center, August 7, 2007; Nukes
503–504)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7506
Date: 7/26/2007
Description: Robert
Bigelow accompanies DIA official James T. Lacatski on a visit to
Skinwalker Ranch in Utah. During his 2-hour visit, Lacatski witnesses a
bizarre tubular object hovering in the kitchen of the Homestead 1
building. After 30 seconds, it vanishes. He describes it is as similar
to the object depicted on Mike
Oldfield’s 1973 album Tubular Bells. (Skinwalkers 39–41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7507
Date: 9/2007
Description: Project Oxcart, the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft program,
is declassified. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
A-12”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7508
Date: fall 2007 (approximate)
Description: The Defense Intelligence Agency, at the initiation of
Sen. Harry
Reid (D-Nev.) and the urging of government contractor and Las Vegas
billionaire Robert
Bigelow, quietly establishes the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System
Applications Program (AAWSAP)—purposly misidentified as the Advanced
Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), a Pentagon program to
study UFOs—as a DIA project on the fifth floor of the Pentagon’s C Ring
to evaluate the threat potential of UFOs. With the support of Sen. Ted
Stevens (R-Alaska) and Daniel
Inouye (D-Hawaii), Reid secures $22 million in black-project funding
in the 2008 Supplemental Funding Act directed to the DIA Directorate of
Analysis, specifically the Defense Warning Office. Its goal is “to
understand the physics and engineering of these [advanced aerospace
weapon system] applications as they apply to the foreign threat out to
the far-term, i.e., from now through the year 2050.” The Pentagon will
spend this money between September 2008 and December 2010. (Wikipedia,
“Advanced
Aerospace Threat Identification
Program”; Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean, “Glowing
Auras and ’Black Money’:
The Pentagon’s Mysterious UFO Program,” New York Times, December 16,
2017; Clark III 48; Skinwalkers 41–42)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7509
Date: 10/10/2007
Description: 10:40 p.m. A man sees a silver-gray disc about 70 feet wide
hovering above Lake Easton, Washington, for 3–5 minutes. A beam of
bright greenish light is extended from it, illuminating the lake. He
sees small objects floating up to it, apparently fish. (Carl W. Feindt,
“Beam of Light into a Body of Water,” IUR 33, no. 3 (December 2010):
24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7510
Date: 10/17/2007
Description: 7:00 p.m. A man is driving on Interstate 90 near Cle Elem,
Washington, when he sees a bluish-gray disc hovering about 600–700 feet
in the air. It bobbles slightly for about 5 minutes then disappears.
(Carl W. Feindt, “Beam of Light into a Body of Water,” IUR 33, no. 3
(December 2010): 24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7511
Date: 10/30/2007
Description: Afternoon. Pilot Marin Mitrică is flying a MiG-21 LanceR
fighter on a training flight from Romanian Air Force 71st Base at Câmpia
Turzii, Romania, when he is suddenly hit by an unknown object. The
collision breaks the plastic window covering the cockpit, punches a hole
in his helmet, and wounds his face. He reduces speed and descends from
his altitude of 4 miles to avoid hypoxia and hypothermia. After landing,
an examination of the flight recorder shows two small triangles
approaching from the right. No traces of organic matter are found on the
plane, ruling out birds, and there are no other civilian or military
aircraft or balloons in the area. (“A
Mid Air Collision
between a MiG 21 and a UFO over Romania in October 2007?” Flying
Saucer Review 53, no. 1 (Spring 2008): 1; Romania 114–115)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7512
Date: 11/12/2007
Description: A press conference, moderated by former Arizona Gov. Fife
Symington, is held at the National Press Club in Washington D.C.
Nineteen former pilots and military and civilian officials speak about
their experiences with UFOs and demand that the US government engage in
a new investigation. (Bonnie Malkin, “Pilots
Call for New
UFO Investigation,” The Telegraph (UK), November 14, 2007; “I
Touched a UFO: Ex-Air Force Pilot,” Sydney (N.S.W.) Morning Herald,
November 14, 2007; Marler 23–24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7513
Date: 12/14/2007
Description: 6:45 p.m. Witnesses in Kingsland, Georgia, see a triangular
object with a light in each corner that changes from red to blue to
white, with a bright burst happening occasionally. The object moves
slowly at about 500 feet altitude. (“Sighting Report,” National UFO
Reporting Center, March 4, 2008; Nukes 507–508)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7514
Date: 12/29/2007
Description: 9:00 p.m. Two witnesses driving near the Kitsap Mall in
Silverdale, Washington, see an object with three white lights apparently
hovering above Trigger Avenue near Naval Base Kitsap to the north. As
they approach its location, they see that it is large, triangular and
made out of reflective metal. It is silently hovering 500 feet in the
air over a farm a few yards from the highway. (“Sighting Report,”
National UFO Reporting Center, January 21, 2008; Nukes 504–505)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7515
Date: 2008
Description: Luis
Elizondo, an employee of the Office of the Under Secretary of
Defense for Intelligence, claims that he is the director of the Advanced
Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), a small group of
UFO-curious personnel at the Pentagon who are studying UFOs encountered
by military personnel. Confusingly, it has the same name as the nickname
of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s secret Aerospace Advanced Weapon
System Applications Program (AAWSAP) used in 2008–2010 as a way to mask
its real name. The group has the direct knowledge of their superiors.
The core people in this group will form the basis of what will become
the UAP Task Force, created by Congress in the summer of 2020, but it
now operates without a budget, office, or formal name until Elizondo
resigns from his job in 2017. The Department of Defense has claimed that
AATIP ended in 2012. (Clark III 49; Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and
Leslie Kean, “Glowing
Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s
Mysterious UFO Program,” New York Times, December 16, 2017;
Skinwalkers xxiii–xxiv, 157–158)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7516
Date: 2008
Description: Claimed Area-51 S-4 worker named “Victor” appears
anonymously in bonus footage for the re-release of “Alien Interview”.
“Victor” claims that Donald Rumsfeld has been aware of alien interviews
since 1974.
Type: video interview
Reference: link
Location: US
See also: 2/1997
See also: 5/23/97
Date: 2008
Description: The Swedish Defence Research Agency begins sharing a
database with UFO-Sverige to make all reports coming into the institute
available to the organization’s field investigators. (Swords 371)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7517
Date: 1/8/2008
Description: 6:10 p.m. Truck driver Harlan Cowan is traveling east
toward Stephenville, Texas, when he sees two stationary lights directly
ahead. They are as bright as welding arcs. They split apart and move
rapidly away from each other to the north and south at a high rate of
speed. At 6:15 p.m., private pilot Steve Allen and three other witnesses
5 miles southeast of Stephenville see four lights similar in intensity
to burning magnesium. They come out of the northeast at a speed faster
than a military jet. Allen thinks the lights are spread out over a
one-mile area. They slow down and remain stationary northwest of his
position, then they shift from 4 lights in a horizontal position to 7
lights in a vertical position, emit a white flame, and blink out. Over
30 more witnesses come forward to report odd lights until about 9:30
p.m. Some also see fighter jets chasing the light. Angela
Joiner, a reporter with the Stephenville Empire-Tribune, calls Maj.
Karl
Lewis, spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at Naval Air Station
Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, who first tells her he thinks the lights
are reflections of the sun on high- altitude aircraft. When she asks
about military aircraft reported by witnesses, Lewis volunteers the
information that there were no F-16s from his unit operating that night,
and no other pilots had reported a UFO. On January 16, a FOIA request is
sent to the Federal Aviation Administration for any radar data from
sites around Stephenville. On January 23, the Air Force admits in a
press release that there indeed were 10 F-16s performing training
operations that night between 6:00 and 8:00. Joiner contacts Lewis
again, who now merely reads the press statement and is not helpful. In
February, responses to FOIAs by Robert
Powell and Glen Schulze begin to arrive. Military bases unanimously
respond with “we have found no records responsive to your request.”
However, the FAA releases its raw radar information in mid-February. It
is clear that the unknown lights are not related to F-16 activity, but
there is intense Air Force activity that night. Ten F-16s and one AWACS
jet make figure-8s over the area. Two F-16s from Oklahoma fly south to
the Stephenville area. FAA radar returns also show a target four miles
north of Allen’s sighting that moves at an apparent speed of 2,100 mph.
At 7:20 p.m., two radar sites pick up a target that corresponds to
Constable Lee
Roy Gaitan’s observation of an unknown light. Another radar track
begins at 6:51 p.m. An unknown object without a transponder signal is
tracked with FAA radar for more than one hour. Two different radars (one
at Fort Worth and another at Temple) make contact with the object 187
times as it covers a distance of 50 miles on a constant trajectory to
the southeast. Its speed varies from stationary, to accelerating to 532
mph in 30 seconds, to deaccelerating to 49 mph in 10 seconds. It is
traveling on a direct course to President George
W. Bush’s Western White House in Crawford, Texas. At 8:00 p.m. it is
10 miles from Prairie Chapel Ranch. Two witnesses riding bicycles 2
miles away from the ranch see a light that slowly descends, makes a 90°
turn, then speeds out of sight in 1–2 seconds. But no F-16s pursue this
potential interloper. (NICAP, “Large
Object Seen / Tracked by Radar / Near Bush Ranch”; “Stephenville
2008,” Texas UFO Museum and Research Library; Angela K. Brown, “Military
Reverses Itself, Says F-16s Were in Texas
Area Where Residents Reported UFO,” Brattleboro (Vt.) Reformer,
January 23, 2008; “MUFON
Releases Report
on UFO Sighting in Stephenville, Texas,” Wikinews, July 18, 2008;
Glen Schulze and Robert Powell, “Stephenville
Lights: A Comprehensive Radar and Witness Report Study Regarding the
Events of January 8, 2008,
4pm to 8pm,” December 18, 2010; Swords 344–348)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7518
Date: 2/21/2008
Description: The US Navy destroys the malfunctioning US spy satellite
USA-193 orbiting at 153 miles altitude using a RIM-161 Standard Missile
3 launched from the USS
Lake Erie. The US claims it created no space debris because the
satellite was so close to earth that the particles burned up in reentry.
(Wikipedia, “Operation
Burnt Frost”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7519
Date: 3/5/2008
Description: The 556th Test and Evaluation Squadron becomes operational
at Creech AFB, Nevada, as “the Air Force’s [first] test squadron for
unmanned aerial systems.” The base is home to drone operators for both
the US Air Force and the CIA in missions across Afghanistan and the
Middle East. (Wikipedia, “Creech
Air Force Base”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7520
Date: 4/2008
Description: After publication of the 99th issue of Magonia, John Rimmer
decides to cease print publication. (“History
of Magonia,”
Magonia Archive; Clark III 706)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7521
Date: 4/22/2008
Description: The last F-117 stealth fighter-bomber is retired and
returned to Tonopah Test Range in Nevada. Although officially retired,
the F-117 fleet remains intact and photos show the aircraft carefully
mothballed. Some of the aircraft are flown periodically and have been
spotted flying as recently as July 2019. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed
F- 117
Nighthawk”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7522
Date: 5/2008
Description: Scripps-Howard News Service and Ohio University conduct a
telephone poll on UFOs and extraterrestrial life. 55.8% of respondents
believe that the existence of intelligent life in space is either likely
or somewhat likely, while 33.1% believe it is likely or somewhat likely
that intelligent life has visited earth. Only 7.6% answer that they have
had a UFO sighting. (Mark Rodeghier, “Influences on Opinion about ETI
and UFOs,” IUR 32, no. 2 (December 2008): 19–24)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7523
Date: 5/5/2008
Description: At the request of the Brazilian Commission of Ufologists,
the office of the Deputy Chief of Legal Affairs contacts the Ministry of
Defense and requests access to documents related to UFO material that is
no longer classified and can be turned over to the National Archives.
(Clark III 1072)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7524
Date: 5/6/2008
Description: Political scientists Alexander
Wendt and Raymond
Duvall publish an article, “Sovereignty and the UFO” in Political
Theory, in which they point to the fundamental weakness of anti-UFO
arguments, which claim falsely that no evidence exists. When skeptics
are not arguing along those lines, they use a priori logic, which
insists that if extraterrestrials exist, they would not behave or look
as UFO witnesses describe. Another assertion is that spacecraft could
never get to Earth, given the constraints of distance and speed. The
authors argue that the problem is that the idea of real UFOs challenges
anthropocentric norms, making it a taboo even to acknowledge a
phenomenon that has been declared non-existent. (Alexander Wendt and
Raymond Duvall, “Sovereignty
and the UFO,”
Political Theory 36, no. 4 (August 2008): 607–633; Clark III 537–538;
Kean, pp. 269–281)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7525
Date: 5/12/2008
Description: The first tranche of UFO files is released by the UK
National Archives, whose UFO webpage, set up to provide direct public
access, receives more than 1.7 million visitors in the first few days.
Internet searches on UFOs triple overnight across the globe. (“UK
Releases Classified UFO Files,” New Scientist, May 13, 2008;
UFOFiles2, p. x)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7526
Date: 5/26/2008
Description: New York Times staff reporter Sarah Lyall, based in the UK,
selectively focuses on some of the silliest UFO documents released by
the Ministry of Defence (letters written to the agency by citizens) and
provides readers with standard ridicule and the biased approach
traditionally associated with New York Times coverage. (Sarah Lyall, “British
UFO Shocker! Government Officials Were Telling the Truth,” New York
Times, May 26, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7527
Date: 6/26/2008
Description: 9:20 a.m. At the 27th Annual Meeting of the Society for
Scientific Exploration in Boulder, Colorado, Jerome Clark gives
a lecture on the distinction between “event anomalies” (which cannot be
easily explained) and “experience anomalies” (which are effectively
inexplicable). Event anomalies require a scientific investigation to be
understood, documented, and incorporated into current or future
knowledge. Experience anomalies are indifferent to truth narratives,
supporting false ones just as readily; they embrace the notion of
liminality, in which it is possible to enter a “realm between the
daylight of science and reason and the dark night of dreams and
superstition.” Clark expands on the concept in later books and articles.
(Clark III 444-446; Jerome Clark, “Experience Anomalies,” Fortean Times
243 (December 2008): 42–47)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7528
Date: 7/29/2008
Description: Former UK Ministry of Defence official Nick
Pope offers a rational response to the biased reportage in the May
26 issue of the New York Times, citing the O’Hare Airport and Alderney
UFO cases. He concludes: “The United States Air Force or the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration should reopen investigations of UFO
phenomena. It would not imply that the country has suddenly started
believing in little green men. It would simply recognize the possibility
that radar alone cannot always tell us what’s out there.” (Nick Pope,
“Unidentified
Flying Threats,” New York Times, July 29, 2008)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7529
Date: 8/18/2008
Description: The Defense Intelligence Agency issues a small-business
set-aside solicitation (HHM402-08-R-0211) for a company to handle its
new Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), with
a due date of September 10. The solicitation states that the primary
focus is on “breakthrough technologies and applications that create
discontinuities in currently evolving technology trends.” (Skinwalkers
20–21, 42–43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7530
Date: 8/20/2008
Description: 4:45 p.m. A military witness one mile outside Hrubieszów,
Poland, watches a silvery isosceles triangle hovering and rotating
around its axis in the west. He estimates it is 50 feet long on one side
and less than 2 miles away. It flies over the area at an altitude of 330
feet. At one point it dims and literally vanishes in mid-air in a matter
of seconds. (Poland 94–95)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7531
Date: 9/16/2008
Description: 10:30 p.m. A witness and his fiancée are driving north near
Radomsko, Poland, when they see a black triangle with lights (apparently
gas jets) at its corners slowly floating 500 feet above the road. Two of
the lights are blinking and one is steady. The 30-foot-wide object has
cubical protrusions on its side and a smooth bottom. It seems to be
rotating at first and takes another pass over the highway at a higher
altitude after doubling back. (Poland 93–94)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7532
Date: 9/22/2008
Description: A $10 million initial contract for the Advanced Aerospace
Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) is awarded to Bigelow
Aerospace, the only bidder on the August solicitation, by the Defense
Intelligence Agency. The program contract directs that the “contractor
shall complete advanced aerospace weapon system technical studies” on 12
topics, such as propulsion, power generation, materials, configuration,
structure, and directed-energy weapons. The intent is to research
technology that could shed light on the UFO/UAP phenomenon. Robert
Bigelow sets up the Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS)
project with 40–50 full-time support staff to carry out the contract
through September 30, 2010. DIA intelligence officer James T. Lacatski
becomes the program manager, and biochemist Colm
Kelleher is deputy administrator. (Clark III 48; Keith Basterfield,
“Dr. Colm
Kelleher and the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications
Program,” Unidentified Aerial Phenomena—Scientific Research, May 14,
2018; Keith Basterfield, “Did
the AAWSA Program/AATIP Really Start in 2007?” Unidentified Aerial
Phenomena—Scientific Research, May 16, 2018; Skinwalkers 20, 22–25,
42–44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7533
Date: 10/31/2008
Description: The National Archive in Brasília, Brazil, receives from the
Center for Aeronautical Documentation and History a set of publications
dated 1952–1969 on UFOs. Among them are documents identifying the
government’s System of Investigation of Unidentified Aircraft and UFO
cases investigated from October 1968 to August 1969. Another batch is
received on April 23, 2009, covering the years 1970–1972. (Clark III
1072–1073; Kean, p. 199)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7534
Date: 10/31/2008
Description: 6:00 p.m. An architect in Sandomierz, Poland, sees a
boomerang- or half-moon-shaped object surrounded by a mist filled with
red points of light. It is silently moving 93) northeast at tremendous
speed. (Poland 92–93)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7535
Date: 11/2008
Description: 9:00 p.m. A Polish woman living in Aarhus, Denmark, looks
up and sees a gigantic luminous object silently heading west. It looks
like it s made of glass or jelly and is surrounded by a misty
illumination. (Poland 93)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7537
Date: 11/2008
Description: Robert
Bigelow hires biochemist Colm
Kelleher as deputy administrator of the Bigelow Aerospace Advanced
Space Studies project in Las Vegas, its first full-time employee.
(Skinwalkers 44)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7536
Date: 11/5/2008
Description: Researcher Robert
Powell writes to NORAD’s Gen. Victor
E. Renuart Jr. and Secretary of Homeland Security Michael
Chertoff, with
copies to the FAA and chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on
Homeland Security, asking for an investigation of the Stephenville
Lights case of January 8 as a violation of restricted airspace by
“unknown aircraft” near the Bush ranch.
(Glen Schulze and Robert Powell, “Stephenville Lights:
A Comprehensive Radar and Witness Report Study Regarding the Events of
January 8, 2008, 4pm to 8pm,”
December 18, 2010; Swords 348, 510–511)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7538
Date: 11/17/2008
Description: A teacher is taking his dog for a stroll in Sulejówek,
Poland, when he comes across a triangular object with lights along its
rounded edges and in the center. It flies directly over him. (Poland
93)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7539
Date: 12/22/2008
Description: Maj. Gen. John
H. Bordelon, NORAD
chief of staff, responds to Powell’s
request. He claims an “exhaustive search” in data files was conducted,
and the Air Force “could find no tactical or technical information that
would corroborate this event.” He refers Powell to the National UFO
Reporting Center hotline. (Swords 348, 512)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7540
Date: 2009
Description: The operations and maintenance contract for the day-to-day
management and operation of the US Air Force Space Surveillance System
is awarded to Five Rivers Services, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
(Wikipedia, “Air
Force Space Surveillance System”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7544
Date: 2009
Description: Visión Ovni and many other UFO researchers
in Argentina form Cefora, an organization to study the UFO phenomenon in
detail. Silvia Simondini and others start collecting signatures on a
petition to declassify Argentine military documents on UFOs. However,
since most agencies are not required to keep documents more than 5
years, their efforts are frustrated by bureaucratic deaccession rules,
especially for interesting Argentine reports. (Wikipedia, “Cefora”;
Milton Hourcade, “Argentina:
UFO Declassification,” U.A.P.S.G.–G.E.F.A.I., July 29, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7543
Date: 2009
Description: Denmark and Sweden publicly release more than 15,000 UFO
files each. (Kean, p. 117)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7542
Date: 2009
Description: CUFOS creates an updated version of its UFOCAT database
containing more than 209,551 UFO reports and related information.
(Center for UFO Studies, “UFOCAT
2009”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7541
Date: 1/1/2009
Description: Yvan White takes over as director of GEIPAN from Jacques
Patenet, who continues as an advisor. (Swords 453)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7545
Date: 1/5/2009
Description: 8:15–9:00 p.m. Mysterious floating red lights in the sky
are reported near Morristown, New Jersey. The red lights are also
observed on January 26, January 29, February 7, and February 17. The
events are later revealed as a hoax perpetrated by Joe Rudy and Chris
Russo, who are conducting a social experiment to expose ufology as a
pseudoscience and raise consciousness around the unreliability of
eyewitness claims. They release five flare lights attached to helium
balloons. Reports are concentrated in the towns of Hanover Township,
Morristown, Morris Plains, Madison, and Florham Park. On April 7, Russo
and Rudy plead guilty to charges of disorderly conduct and are sentenced
to fines of $250 and 50 hours of community service. (Wikipedia, “Morristown
UFO hoax”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7546
Date: 1/20/2009
End date: 1/20/2017
Description: President Barack Obama in office
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: US
Date: 3/2009
Description: The UK National Archives releases another batch of UFO
files. (UK National Archives, “Briefing
Document: Unidentified
Flying Objects (UFOs),” 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7547
Date: 5/8/2009
Description: 11:45 p.m. “Derek Jones” is alerted by his two dogs barking
in his backyard in northern Georgia, where his 10- year-old son is
camping out in a tent with a friend. He sees a large triangular object
about 300 feet long with yellowish lights at each apex moving silently
above him. There is a bluish-white light in the center. Behind the
triangle are four small objects, two egg-shaped and two round, with
bluish-white lights that change to greenish to white and back to bluish.
The smaller objects dart up and down soundlessly and erratically. He
attempts taking pictures of it with a camera and a videocamera, but the
batteries fail in both devices. When he points a bright spotlight beam
at the triangle, it responds immediately with a beam of intense
bluish-white light about 2–3 feet in diameter that strikes him for about
3 seconds, causing a burning sensation. He runs back into the house,
where he watches two of the smaller objects move away to the
south-southwest while the other two shoot straight up. He goes to bed,
but is awakened by low-flying helicopters at 2:00 a.m. Around 7:30 a.m.,
he is visited by two men who want to talk about his “sighting report.”
They are driving a black sedan, produce no identification, one of them
is armed, and they behave oddly as they interview him for 30–40 minutes.
After he sees the same men in the black sedan a week later, he reports
the license plate to BAASS, which tracks it to a Department of Homeland
Security carpool. Jones experiences hair loss and general unwellness
within 18 days of the incident. In October he develop lumps on his legs,
groin, and back; they enlarge, multiply to 24, and become painful in
February 2010. One of the lumps is diagnosed as non-malignant lymphoma,
but a BAASS-contracted physician suspects Jones has undergone about 300
grays of ionizing radiation. (Skinwalkers 99–105)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7548
Date: 5/26/2009
Description: 9:52 p.m. A man in Rzesnów, Poland, notices from his
balcony five strange, whirling red-orange lights twinkling above the
suburban villages of Chmielnik and Tyczyn. He captures them on a video.
(Poland 153–154)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7549
Date: 6/2009
Description: The Uruguayan Air Force declassifies its UFO files and
makes them public, including records of 40 cases that remain
unexplained, some involving military pilots. Col. Ariel Sánchez, in
charge of the UFO office, says that the “Air Force does not dismiss an
extraterrestrial hypothesis based on our scientific analysis.” (“Uruguay
Joins the Party,” Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune, June 12, 2009; Kean,
p. 190)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7550
Date: 6/16/2009
Description: 2:00 a.m. A woman in Kansas City, Kansas, is looking toward
a public forest area behind her home when she notices a large white
light moving toward her. It stops, and she uses her binoculars to get a
closer look. The object consists of three large spheres connected
together with a large arm or protrusion extending from beneath it. The
arm is moving around in a circle. It stays in that position until it
just disappears. Shortly afterward, military planes and helicopters move
into the area and seem to be searching for something for about one hour.
(Roger Marsh, “Reports from Louisville and Kansas City,” IUR 32, no. 3
(July 2009): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7551
Date: 6/24/2009
Description: Sen. Harry
Reid (D-Nev.) decides that the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System
Application Program (misidentified intentionally as the Advanced
Aerospace Threat Identification Program) has made such extraordinary
discoveries that he asks for additional security (individuals
“specialized in the areas of advanced sciences, sensors, intelligence,
counterintelligence, and advanced aerospace engineering”) to protect it.
He writes Deputy Defense Secretary William
J. Lynn III that AATIP has made “much progress” with the
“identification of several highly sensitive, unconventional
aerospace-related findings” that will “likely lead to technology
advancements.” He requests that it be designated a “restricted Special
Access Program.” Some of the ongoing projects include power and
propulsion systems (nuclear propulsion, anuclear fusion, positron
propulsion, magnetohydrodynamics, traversable wormholes, warp drives,
antigravity, zero-point energy), materials science (metallic glass,
programmable matter), recalculating the Drake Equation, invisibility,
and weaponry (pulsed microwaves, high-powered lasers). (Harry Reid,
Letter to Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn III, June 24, 2009;
Skinwalkers 27, 90–93)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7552
Date: 6/24/2009
Description: 1:55 p.m. A package handler at Louisville International
Airport in Kentucky sees a reflection in the sky from the south end of a
runway. As it approaches, he sees it is a rotating object, first a
cylinder, then a diamond shape. It moves over the runway in a straight
line and at a steady speed about 1,500 feet high. The object stops at
the end of the ramp and hovers for 30–40 seconds, then moves up into the
clouds and disappears. (Roger Marsh, “Reports from Louisville and Kansas
City,” IUR 32, no. 3 (July 2009): 20)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7553
Date: 7/2009
Description: At the invitation of Robert
Bigelow, naval
aerospace engineer Jonathan Axelrod [possibly John F. Stratton], Jim
Costigan, and David Wilson arrive at the Skinwalker Ranch in Utah to
deploy a wide variety of sensory equipment to detect and record
anomalies. They experience an odd temperature drop, intense anxiety, and
a menacing dark oval shape. After Axelrod returns home to suburban
Virginia, paranormal phenomena plague his family, including a humanoid
shape, phantom footsteps, blue orbs, and a wolf-like creature standing
on two legs. (Skinwalkers 1–8)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7554
Date: 7/5/2009
Description: 9:20 p.m. Retired police officer Buck Scarsdale is sitting
with his son Bo and girlfriend Joanna Fife on the porch of his ranch
home in Lagol, Ventura County, California. They notice seven bright blue
lights silently hovering several feet off the ground in the orchard
about 500 feet away. They jump in a truck and drive slowly with the
lights off toward the display. When they get there, the lights are gone.
After returning to the house, they decide to drive back, this time with
flashlights. After 10 minutes of searching on foot, they hear two loud
clicks coming from some dense bushes, and three others clicks coming
from different directions. They return to the house. Buck’s brother
Roger arrives at 10:30 p.m., and both of them return to the orchard.
Just before 11:00 p.m., Roger sees a silver, gray, and blue flash as an
oblong object disappears into an opening in the sky that closes quickly.
On July 10, Buck, Bo, and Joanna see an intensely blue light at the
northern end of the pasture. Buck and Roger approach it and watch a
floating light 5 feet in diameter maneuvering for 5 minutes 900 feet
away before it vanishes. Two teams of investigators sent by Robert
Bigelow also see lights and orbs the rest of the month, and their
camera and video equipment behaves oddly. (Skinwalkers 59–69)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7555
Date: 8/2009
Description: Robert
Bigelow brings Pentagon technical analyst Juliett Witt to the
Skinwalker Ranch in Utah. Along with Colm
Kelleher, she
experiences a cone of silence and a weird pig-like creature the one
night she is there. Like Jonathan Axelrod, the phenomena follow her back
home to Virginia, where she experiences poltergeist phenomena and sees a
huge owl that attacks her car. (Skinwalkers, 50–58, 81–82)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7556
Date: 8/6/2009
Description: The UK National Archives releases another batch of UFO
files. (UK National Archives, “Briefing Document:
Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs),” 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7557
Date: 8/21/2009
Description: 9:40 p.m. Tomasz Skorupski sees a deep-black object in the
shape of the letter M flying west to east 200 feet above the ground at
50 mph at Kowale Oleckie, Poland. He estimates it is 10 feet in length
and 30 feet at the widest point. Seven dimly yellow lights are
positioned on the craft, while the rest seems dark and obscures the
stars on its flight path. (Poland 100)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7558
Date: 9/2009
Description: 10:00 p.m. Jim Costigan, who had visited Skinwalker Ranch
in Utah two months earlier, is walking his dog with his wife Laila in
suburban Maryland when they see a blue, softball-sized light moving in
their direction about 6 feet off the ground to the left. It accelerates
and shoots between them, grazing Laila’s shoulder as it passes. Within
seconds it is lost behind a house. The dog does not notice it. Laila
becomes lethargic the next day and shows severe flu-like symptoms for
the next few weeks. She is ultimately diagnosed with Hashimoto’s
thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease of the thyroid. (Skinwalkers
77–79)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7559
Date: 11/2009
Description: Sen. Harry
Reid’s request for Special Access Program status for the US Defense
Intelligence Agency’s Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications
Program is denied by a group at the Pentagon consisting of Deputy
Defense Secretary William
J. Lynn III, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Gen. James
R. Clapper, special
programs officer at USDI Susan Jones, Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Legislative Affairs Marcel
Lettre, and
Defense Intelligence Agency defense warning officer Bob Carlsberg.
(Skinwalkers 92- 93; Gideon Lewis-Kraus, “How
the Pentagon Started Taking UFOs Seriously,” The New Yorker, April
30, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7561
Date: 11/2009
Description: The RAF Air Command prepares a briefing for UK Defence
Minister Bob
Ainsworth recommending that the Ministry of Defence “should seek to
reduce very significantly the UFO task which is consuming increasing
resources, but produces no valuable defence output.” (“Britain’s
Defense Ministry Releases Its Final UFO Files,” USA Today, June 21,
2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7560
Date: 11/6/2009
Description: ex-Police Detective and ufologist James Clarkson gives a
presentation at a UFO Conference about ex-Wright Patterson AFB worker
June Crain, who had heard of 3 crash retrievals during her time working
there.
Type: presentation
Reference: Newspapers.com
Location: US
Date: 11/25/2009
Description: 12:15 a.m. A mental health professional in Port Jervis, New
York, is driving home listening to Christmas CDs on the car’s player.
Coming around a bend, he sees an object about one mile away. As he comes
to the next turn, he slows down to 25 mph to get a better look, but by
then he is surprised to see that it is almost on top of him. He stops
the car on the side of the road, putting it in park with the engine
running. The object is cigar-shaped and turning clockwise slowly as it
approaches. It is moving slowly like a hot-air balloon. He hears a sound
like a cat purring at a low frequency. The UFO passes overhead and his
vehicle suffers a complete power failure. His cellphone is also dead. He
opens the driver’s door and looks up, seeing lights on the bottom of the
object, which immediately blink out. The car starts again spontaneously.
(Herbert S. Taylor, “An Update on Vehicle Interference Reports, Part 1,”
IUR 33, no. 4 (May 2011): 20–21)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7562
Date: 12/1/2009
Description: The Defense Intelligence Agency’s AAWSAP program issues the
first of 38 Project Physics position papers (Defense Intelligence
Reference Documents) that define the current and projected state of the
art in aerospace technology, all pertaining to the 12 areas chosen by
the DIA. Bigelow’s group has subcontracted with Harold
E. Puthoff, CEO
of EarthTech International in Austin, Texas, to choose the precise
nature and scope of the papers. The first paper is on “Advanced Nuclear
Propusion for Manned Deep Space Missions” by physicist Friedwardt
Winterberg. (US
Defense Intelligence Agency, [list
of products produced under the AATIP contract], January 9, 2018;
Skinwalkers 47, 122)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7564
Date: 12/1/2009
Description: The UK Ministry of Defence shuts down its UFO hotline and
closes its UFO desk, ostensibly because it has produced “no defence
benefit” and no evidence of extraterrestrial aliens in more than 50
years. But the staff is overwhelmed by public inquiries, which are at a
10-year high. (“UFO
Investigations Unit Closed by Ministry of Defence,”
BBC News, December 4, 2009; “Britain’s
Defense Ministry Releases Its Final UFO Files,” USA Today, June 21,
2013; UFOFiles2, pp. 175–176,
178)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7563
Date: 12/9/2009
Description: Night. A large beam of light is seen and photographed for
10 minutes over all of northern Norway from Trøndelag in the south
through all the counties further north, as well as parts of northern
Sweden. The phenomenon consists of a blue beam of light with a grayish
spiral emanating from one end of it. It moves from behind a mountain,
stops in mid-air, and starts to spiral outwards. A similar, though less
spectacular, event also occurred in Norway the month before. Both events
have visual features of failed flights of Russian RSM-56 Bulava SLBM.
The Russian Defense Ministry admits shortly afterward that such an event
had taken place at the time on December 9. (Wikipedia, “2009
Norwegian spiral anomaly”; Tony Spell, “Estimation
of the Trajectory, Location,
Size, and Altitude of the ‘Norway Spiral’ Phenomenon,” December 29,
2009)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7565
Date: 12/11/2009
Description: Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) directors
James T. Lacatski, Colm
Kelleher, and
Larry Grossman meet at Bolling AFB [now Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling] in
Washington, D.C., with Jack Angelo, director of operations for the
Office of Special Projects of the Air Force Office of Special
Investigations. They brief him on their operations and security, and ask
AFOSI for data on the Northern Tier UFO incursions of October–November
1975. Angelo promised to see what he could do, but BAASS needs to be
accepted into some Special Access Programs to progress much further.
(Skinwalkers 94–97)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7566
Date: 1/2010
Description: The RAF asks the Home Office to cancel standing
instructions to police forces who have, in the past, routinely forwarded
UFO sightings by officers to the MoD. (UFOFiles2, p. 179)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7567
Date: 1/2010
Description: US Navy Petty Officer John Baughman sees a “Tic-Tac” shaped
object from the flight deck of the supercarrier USS
Carl
Vinson off the coast of Haiti. It is a solid, white object, some 20
feet long, that darts into the water and appears to collapse on itself
and disappear. (Ryan Sprague, “New
Navy Witness Says He Saw a ‘Tic Tac’ Operating
Underwater,” Medium: Trail of the Saucers, July 11, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7568
Date: late 1/2010
Description: Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) Director
of Investigation Larry Grossman meets in Washington, D.C., with former
AFOSI Col. Barry Hennessey (Ret.). He acknowledges that AFOSI could not
identify many of the UFOs associated with the Northern Tier air force
bases in 1975. Hennessey suspects that many of the AFOSI investigative
records for those cases have been purged, and hinted to Grossman that
some odd unmanned aerial vehicles could be military projects.
(Skinwalkers 97–98)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7569
Date: 2/17/2010
Description: The UK National Archives releases another batch of UFO
files, more than 6,000 pages of documentation and reports from 1994 to
2000. (“UFO
Sightings from the National Archives,” The Guardian (UK), February
17, 2010; UK National Archives, “Briefing
Document: Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs),” 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7570
Date: 3/2010
Description: The Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) asks
remote viewer Joseph McMoneagle to observe a target designated as 22610
using traditional blind targeting protocols. 22610 is actually
Skinwalker Ranch in Utah. McMoneagle’s sketch of the ranch, its
environment, animals, two ranch managers, and two security guards are
accurate, but he indicates a fifth individual is present. He describes a
male, 60–70 pounds, 4 feet 3 inches high, with no hair. McMoneagle says
this person is invisible to ranch personnel, although he attempts to
ciommunicate with them to see their response. (Skinwalkers
120–121)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7571
Date: 3/3/2010
Description: Evening. S/Sgt. Omar Gonzalez and the crew of Dakota Air
Traffic Control at Ellsworth AFB near Rapid City, South Dakota, pick up
unidentified traffic crossing a passing aircraft, which reports visual
contact with an object 2,000 feet above him. The target appears to be 18
miles south of the Ellsworth AFB runway. Suddenly the object vanishes
from view and the radar track disappears. A few minutes later, the
target reappears on radar behind the aircraft. (Skinwalkers 125)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7572
Date: 3/8/2010
End date: 3/12/2010
Description: Dozens of independent witnesses in Kraków and Rzeszów,
Poland, report a strange disc-shaped object of considerable size with
white or red lights on its perimeter and red-green lights on its base.
(Poland 104–107)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7573
Date: 4/22/2010
Description: An unmanned HTV-2 Falcon hypersonic glider, the fastest
unmanned aerial vehicle, reaches a record speed of 13,201 mph.
(Wikipedia, “Hypersonic
Technology Vehicle 2”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7574
Date: 4/22/2010
Description: The first X-37B, an uncrewed, reusable, robotic spaceplane,
launches on its first mission, Orbital Test Vehicle 1 / USA-212, on an
Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The
spacecraft is placed into low Earth orbit for testing. While the Air
Force reveals few orbital details of the mission, a worldwide network of
amateur astronomers claims to have identified the spacecraft in orbit.
It lands on December 3 after more than 224 days in orbit. (Wikipedia,
“USA-212”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7575
Date: 6/4/2010
Description: First Falcon 9 Technology Demonstration launch
Type: aerospace
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Cape Canaveral SLC-40, FL
Date: 6/14/2010
Description: European Parliament Member Mario
Borghezio calls for the European Union to have its own centralized
information center where anyone can access information on UFOs, even
records held by the military. Borghezio argues that governments should
go public with the information they hold and stop what he believes is a
systematic cover-up. Not satisfied with a central archive, Borghezio
also wants a scientific center to study UFOs that could encourage
research and development. “I think that, under the principle of
transparency,” he says, “the EU member states have a duty to make public
and available to all scientific data on UFOs which today are partially
or wholly withheld.” (“MEP
Calls for Declassification of UFO Files,” Euractiv, July 7,
2010)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7576
Date: 7/7/2010
Description: 8:40 p.m. A UFO is seen hovering above Hangzhou Xiaoshan
International Airport near Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. An airliner
preparing for descent first notices the object and notifies the tower.
Within minutes, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) closes
the airport down, grounding outbound flights and diverting inbound ones
to other airports. Normal operations resume an hour later. Nearby
residents take photos of the UFO. One daylight photo taken earlier in
the afternoon shows an object with a clear, comet-like tail; another,
taken after dusk shows a glowing object emitting golden light. Another
photo clearly shows an airplane with a contrail. CAAC conducts an
investigation but refuses to release it publicly because there is a
“military connection.” MIT weapons analyst Geoffrey
Forden says the most credible photo shows an arc streaking across
the sky around sunset and that the most likely cause is the launch of a
DF-21 missile somewhere near Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and aimed
at a point somewhere in the eastern Gobi Desert. (“Flights
Diverted, Delayed As UFO Detected Hovering,”
People’s Daily Online, July 9, 2010; “UFO Forces Hangzhou Airport to
Shut Down,” China Central Television, July 10, 2010; “Hangzhou
Light Show,” Arms Control Wonk, July 12, 2010; “UFO
in China’s Skies Prompts
Investigation,” ABC News, July 14, 2010; Alexis C. Madrigal, “A
UFO over China? Well, No,” The Atlantic, July 19, 2010 “UFOs
over China? Not Quite, Analyst Says,” CNN, July 20, 2010)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7577
Date: 8/2010
Description: The Nevada Test Site is renamed the Nevada National
Security Site. (Wikipedia, “Nevada
Test Site”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7578
Date: 8/5/2010
Description: The UK National Archives releases another 5,000 pages of
UFO files to the public. This release alone generates 196 separate news
items and reaches a readership of 25 million people. (“Churchill
Ordered UFO Cover-Up,
National Archives Show,” BBC News, August 5, 2010; UK National
Archives, “Briefing
Document: Unidentified
Flying Objects (UFOs),” 2013; UFOFiles2, p. xi)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7579
Date: 8/13/2010
Description: 8:00 p.m. A circle of six yellow lights appears in the sky
above the Jardim Bela Vista district of Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil.
Dentist Daniela Tamarossi and others spend more than 2 hours watching it
maneuver. (Brazil 403– 405)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7580
Date: 8/16/2010
Description: 11:00 p.m. Two people camping on Cumberland Island National
Seashore in Georgia are walking on the beach when they notice above them
a low-flying triangular object with lights at each of its points. It is
moving silently to the south toward Jacksonville, Florida. About 45
minutes later they see it through some trees from their campsite, again
silent and heading south. (“Sighting Report,” National UFO Reporting
Center, November 21, 2010; Nukes 508)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7581
Date: 9/27/2010
Description: Researcher Robert
Hastings organizes a briefing at the National Press Club in
Washington, D.C., that brings together former US Air Force personnel who
testify to the existence of UFOs and their ability to neutralize
American and Russian nuclear missiles. Those appearing include former
Capt. Robert
Salas, retired nuclear missile targeting officer Robert C. Jamison,
and retired Col. Charles
I. Halt. Several of the ex-servicemembers say that when they brought
their concerns to superiors, they were told it is “top secret” or that
it “didn’t happen.” Hastings suggests the presence of such phenomena
means that aliens could be monitoring our weapons and perhaps warning us
about their use. (“Ex-Air
Force Personnel: UFOs Deactivated Nukes,” CBS News, September 28,
2010; Robert L. Hastings, “The
UFOs–Nukes Connection Press Conference,” October 11, 2010; “Military Witnesses
of UFOs at Nuclear Sites: National Press Club,” QUFOSR YouTube
channel, December 15, 2016; Nukes 511–512)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7582
Date: 9/30/2010
Description: The contract for the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Advanced
Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program is extended until December
21, 2010, at no cost to the government. However, there is no
congressional funding available for 2011. One of its most significant
achievements is the development of a Data Warehouse that links 11
separate UFO databases and supporting documentation. The databases are
the NIDS database airline and military pilot sightings, the USAF Blue
Book database, UFOCAT, the MUFON Case Management System database,
Project Colares, the Canadian government’s UFO releases, the UK
government’s UFO releases, BAASS cases investigated, Skinwalker Ranch
database, and a database of Skinwalker Ranch contagious health effects.
Each UFO case is assigned a credibility rating designed by Jacques
Vallée, and
the database configuration is based on a six-layer model developed by
Vallée and Eric
W. Davis in 2003, using layers designated as physical,
anti-physical, psychological, physiological, psychic, and cultural. The
Data Warehouse is not retired at the end of the AAWSAP, but is used by
the UAP Task Force and its successor organization. (Skinwalkers 26–27,
167–170)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7583
Date: 10/11/2010
Description: 8:40 p.m. A man named Qiao sees two luminous objects, one
small one and the other larger, over the Xincheng district of Taiyuan,
Shaanxi, China. They keep circling in a regular pattern. Other luminous
objects are reported above the Sanqianglu district. Soon the media
hotlines are flooded with phone calls. Two luminous objects circling in
the air are seen at 8:55 p.m. in the Xinhuajie district, at 9:01 p.m.
near the Apparel Town area, and at 9:05 p.m. near the racetrack. When
reporters arrive at the plaza of the Taiyuan Railway Station, they see a
large, milky-white, luminous spot circling above the clouds with a
diameter of at least 32 feet. The object first looks like a luminous
spot produced by a searchlight against the clouds, but it has no obvious
light beams. The object circles and moves up and down and from side to
side until it disappears around 9:10 p.m. (“Chinese
UFO Report
Affirms Reality of Manipulative Extraterrestrial Abduction,”
Canadian Business Daily, September 24, 2011)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7584
Date: 10/13/2010
Description: 4:00 a.m. A village in the Qinling mountains of southern
Shaanxi province, China, supposedly disappears overnight after witnesses
contact news agencies to report UFOs in the area. Chinese troops
allegedly cordon off the area with no explanation. A video circulates
online, reportedly showing bright blue lights in the sky over the
village. Subsequent reports deny a military presence in the area and
attribute the story to rumor and misinformation. Other reports indicate
the “disappearance” took place in 1987 and was part of a rural
relocation program to alleviate poverty in the area. (“Inexplicable
Disappearance of a Village in the Qinling Mountains: UFO
Village Vanishing?” Before It’s News, October 14, 2010; “China
Qinling Mountains Village Vanishing after
UFO (13/10/2010),” Marco Maia YouTube channel, October 14, 2010; “UFO
Abduction of Whole Village Exposed
As Rumor,” People’s Daily Online, October 18, 2010; Chris Saunders,
“UFOs over China,” Fortean Times 331 (October 2015): 31; Robert Foyle
Hunwick, “China
Unsolved: The Village That Vanished,” SupChina, July 11, 2018; Brent
Swancer, “A
Mysterious Vanishing Village in China,” Mysterious Universe, June
26, 2019; “Across
China: Revisiting a Disappearing Village in Northwest China,”
Xinhua, June 17, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7585
Date: 10/23/2010
End date: 10/24/2010
Description: Air Force personnel at Francis E. Warren AFB near Cheyenne,
Wyoming, report seeing an enormous cigar-shaped craft maneuvering high
above its missile field. The UFO appears similar to an advertising blimp
but has no passenger gondola or advertising on its hull. On the same
day, the missile site temporarily loses its ability to communicate with
50 of its Minuteman III nuclear missiles. The five Missile Alert
Facilities affected, Alpha through Echo, are responsible for launching
those ICBMs in time of war and comprise the 319th Strategic Missile
Squadron. The Air Force then quickly acknowledges the problem, saying
that a backup system could have launched the missiles if necessary and
that the breakdown lasted only 59 minutes. But according to two missile
technicians stationed at the base, the communications problem, while
intermittent, lasts several hours. These confidential sources further
report that the commander of the squadron sternly warns its members not
to talk to journalists or researchers about “the things they may or may
not have seen” in the sky near the missiles in recent months and
threatens severe penalties for violating security. (NICAP, “Base
‘Loses’ 50 Missiles”; Marc Ambinder, “Failure
Shuts Down Squadron of Nuclear Missiles,” The Atlantic, October 26,
2010; Robert L. Hastings, “Huge
UFO Sighted near Nuclear Missiles during October 2010 Launch System
Disruption,” UFOs & Nukes, June 21, 2011; Nukes 515–517)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7586
Date: 11/5/2010
Description: In a letter to Spanish UFO researcher Ignacio
Darnaude, admitted Ummo hoaxer José
Luis Jordán Peña elaborates on the reason why he began writing the
fake letters. He acknowledges that he used collaborators (Vicente
Ortuno, Norman West, John Child, Mercedes Carrasco, Alberto Borras,
Trinidad Pastrana, Sean O’Connelly, Iker J.) who sent letters from
distant places and that he created the fictional character of John Axee
to better disseminate his knowledge. He claims he was contacted at the
outset by two American doctors, Jonathan F. McGuire and Arnold J.
Lebotski (he previously said that they were CIA agents), working for a
foreign organization who offered him, for a fee, to carry out a
sociological experiment in the interest of western culture. (Wikipedia,
“Ummo”;
Alain Moreau, “Ummo:
Une imposture?” Les Cles de l’Inexplique; Scott Corrales, “The Ummo
Experience: Are You Experienced?” Strange Magazine; UmmoWiki, “Jóse
Luis Jordán Peña”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7587
Date: 11/14/2010
Description: 6:30 p.m. A swiftly moving light is seen maneuvering in the
sky above Logradouro, Ceará, Brazil, apparently following witnesses, for
more than 6 hours. (Brazil 407–408)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7588
Date: 12/22/2010
Description: The New Zealand Ministry of Defence releases 12 volumes of
documents related to UFOs dating from 1952 to 2009. (Suzy Hansen, “Relinquishing
Responsibility? Circumstances Surrounding the Release of the New Zealand
MOD UFO Files 2010/2011,” Ufocus.nz, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7589
Date: 1/2011
Description: Philippe
Ailleris, amateur
astronomer and founder of the Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena Reporting
Scheme, publishes “UFOs and Exogenous Intelligence Encounters” in the
European Space Policy Institute Perspectives newsletter. Although he
makes it clear that a large percentage of UFO sightings are explainable,
an open-minded approach toward the phenomenon is necessary. He argues
that UFOs have had a positive influence on public support for space
exploration and SETI, and that 60 years of UFO sightings have opened our
minds to the inevitability of direct contact with nonhuman
intelligences. (Philippe Ailleris, “UFOs
and Exogenous Intelligence
Encounters,” European Space Policy Institute Perspectives, no. 43
(January 2011))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7590
Date: 2/7/2011
Description: James T. Lacatski provides an in-depth briefing to Jim Bell
and Sacha Mover of the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and
Technology Directorate on the accomplishments of the AAWSAP in an
attempt to transfer the program out of the Department of Defense. He
recounts the BAASS investigations into UAPs and the paranormal events at
the Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, as well as AAWSAP’s research into advanced
technologies. Lacatski works with Sen. Harry
Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Joe
Lieberman (I-Conn.) to attempt to get the BAASS-like project funded.
Negotiations and presentations continue through December, but DHS is
ultimately uninterested and concerned about negative publicity.
(Skinwalkers 28, 142–143, 148–154)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7591
Date: 3/11/2011
Description: 2:46 p.m. A 9.0 Mw earthquake takes place with an epicenter
near Honshu, Japan. Immediately after the earthquake, the
electricity-producing Reactors 1, 2, and 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, automatically
shut down their sustained fission reactions by inserting control rods in
a safety procedure referred to as a SCRAM, which ends the reactors’
normal running conditions, by closing down the fission reaction in a
controlled manner. Because the reactors are now unable to generate power
to run their own coolant pumps, emergency diesel generators come online,
as designed, to power electronics and coolant systems. These operate
normally until a 46-foot tsunami sweeps over the plant’s seawall and
destroys the generators for Reactors 1–5. Large amounts of water
contaminated with radioactive isotopes are released into the Pacific
Ocean during and after the disaster. (Wikipedia, “Fukushima
nuclear disaster”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7592
Date: 3/31/2011
Description: The New Zealand Ministry of Defence releases a further 3
volumes of documents related to UFOs. (Suzy Hansen, “Relinquishing
Responsibility? Circumstances Surrounding the Release of the New Zealand
MOD UFO Files
2010/2011,” Ufocus.nz, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7593
Date: 5/6/2011
Description: The Argentine Air Force creates the Comisión de Estudio de
Fenómenos Aeroespaciales for the study of aerospace phenomena. Capt. Moriano
Mohaupt, Air
Force press spokesman, says that the commission is composed of
meteorologists, air traffic controllers, pilots, and radar experts, who
will look into sightings. Since 2015 it has been managed with rigor and
transparency by Commodore Rubén Lianza. (“Argentina Creates UFO
Commission,” IUR 34, no. 1 (Sep. 2011): 21; Milton Hourcade, “Argentina:
UFO Declassification,” U.A.P.S.G.– G.E.F.A.I., July 29, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7594
Date: 6/6/2011
Description: 8:00 p.m. A Mrs. Beata is walking her dog in the Baranówka
neighborhood of Rzeszów, Poland. She sees an elliptical, dull metallic
object crossing the sky just above the trees about 180 feet away. It is
about 30–50 feet long and 15–30 feet across and completely silent. It
disappears after emitting some flashes of light from its perimeter.
(Poland 155–156)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7595
Date: 7/2011
Description: Igor Kalytyuk begins publishing Novosti Ufologii, an online
UFO newsletter, in Rivne, Ukraine. It continues through December 2016,
accompanied by occasional special bulletins of the Ufology News Project
from 2012 to 2018. (Novosti
Ufologii, no.
1 (July 2011); “About
the Ufology News Project”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7596
Date: 8/2011
Description: The UK National Archives makes available its first batch of
Ministry of Defence UFO files from 1985 to 1995, followed shortly
afterward by files for 1997 and 1998–2000. (UK National Archives, “Briefing
Document: Unidentified
Flying Objects (UFOs),” 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7597
Date: 9/11/2011
Description: 5:00 a.m. An 18-year-old girl in Baborów, Poland, is
awakened by a light from a blue triangular object hovering outside her
bedroom window. Its contours are outlined with white halogen-like lights
and there is what looks like a hatch in its center from which a mist is
emanating. She can feel the heat from the object on her face and
forehead. The object departs to the west but does not disappear until
6:30 a.m. (Poland 100–101)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7598
Date: 11/2011
Description: Out of its 1,170 fully investigated UFO cases, the French
UFO agency GEIPAN shows that 22% are unidentified. (Swords 453)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7599
Date: 2/18/2012
Description: 2:00 p.m. A father and son, both pilots, are in their
propellor-driven Mooney Ovation II flying at 7,480 feet. Shortly after
they cross the border of Virginia from Charlotte, North Carolina, they
prepare to land in Richmond. Above Chase City, Virginia, the father
unexpectedly sees a bright, glowing sphere about 30 feet in diameter
flying alongside the aircraft. As the UFO begins to soar about 50 feet
away from the right wing, the plane loses power. All of the electrical
equipment (including the computer) suddenly turns off. A few seconds
later, the plane regains all systems as the UFO swiftly shoots away at
an incredible speed. (NICAP, “Aircraft Encounters
UFO and E-M Effects”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7600
Date: 3/2012
Description: The Center for UFO Studies publishes the final issue of the
International UFO Reporter.
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7601
Date: 4/13/2012
Description: Afternoon. Mihnea Mustaţa and other observers north of
Ploieşti, Romania, watch a white, hat-shaped object passing over a field
to the east at about 53 mph toward the village of Pleaşa. It disappears
for a few minutes and reappears in a different location. Starting at
2:28 p.m., Mustaţa takes several photos of the object before it
disappears, accompanied by several balls of light. (Romania 80–82)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7602
Date: 5/10/2012
Description: 9:30 p.m. A witness in Hermanowa, Poland, watches a light
approach him until it is only 100 feet away, only 6–10 feet above his
neighbor’s house. An identical object, also about 1 foot in diameter, on
the same flight path appears and stops in the same position above the
adjacent house. After 20 seconds, it veers off at an angle of 130° and
both objects fly away. (Poland 155)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7604
Date: 5/10/2012
Description: 3:00 p.m. Workers at a warehouse in Rzeszów, Poland, see a
group of spherical objects converging from various directions to a point
where a large object shaped like a “screw-thread” is hovering. Two
spheres fly away after maneuvering in the air. The other objects
disappear (Poland 155)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7603
Date: late 5/2012
Description: Evening. Two wind-farm engineers are on top of a 4–5 story
building in Mamaia-Set, Romania, when they see a large V-formation
consisting of clusters of three lights approaching at high speed from
the south. The formation crosses the sky in 4–5 seconds. (Romania
82–83)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7605
Date: 7/2012
Description: The UK National Archives opens more UFO policy files,
covering 1995–1997, 1997–1998, and 2002–2008. (UK National Archives, “Briefing
Document: Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs),” 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7606
Date: 7/5/2012
Description: 10:04 p.m. A security camera at a well site in the Eagle
Ford Shale Field near Cotulla, Texas, snaps an image of what appears to
be a 60-foot-diameter object with an array of four lights hovering above
the caliche pad of an oil well. Later, in October, workers at the site
report UFOs in the night sky. One of them named Xavier Garza takes a
blurry video of a reddish-orange orb in the northern sky. (“Observers
Think UFOs Hovered above the Eagle Ford Shale,”
San Antonio (Tex.) News-Express, January 12, 2013; “Cotulla
2012: Security Camera Shows UFO Hovering
over South Texas Oil Field,” Texas UFO Museum and Research
Library)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7607
Date: 8/1/2012
End date: 8/15/2012
Description: Indian Army troops deployed along the Chinese border from
Ladakh to Arunachal Pradash report as many as 100 UFO sightings. The
14th Corps, which is deployed in the Kargil and Leh districts and
patrols the frontier with China, sends reports to Army headquarters
about sightings by an Indo-Tibetan Border Police unit in the Thakung
district near lake Pangong Tso in the Himalayas. The reports describe
yellowish spheres that appear to lift off from the horizon on the
Chinese side and slowly traverse the sky for 3–5 hours before
disappearing. The Army uses a mobile ground-based radar unit and a
spectrum analyzer to verify the identity of the UFOs, but they cannot
track the spheres on radar. Officials insist the objects are not Chinese
drones. (“Over
100 UFOs Seen along
China Border,” Times of India, November 6, 2012; Dirk Vander Ploeg,
“Chinese,
Russian, and Indian Troops
Jointly Spot UFOs,” UFO Digest, March 16, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7608
Date: 8/3/2012
Description: Kathleen Marden reports on a survey of abductees in which
38% report seeing hybrids, usually in a large facility along with humans
being examined. These respondents see short and tall gray humanoids
along with a few mantis-like, reptilian, Nordic, and occasional rarer
types. One surprise finding is that 40% suffer chronic fatigue syndrome
or mononucleosis. They also report examinations focused on glandular
tissue, especially the thymus, a gland that has been implicated in these
illnesses. (Kathleen Marden, “Abduction Experiencers’ Perception of the
Alien Agenda,” MUFON 2012 International UFO Symposium Proceedings,
MUFON, August 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7609
Date: 9/19/2012
Description: 9:45 p.m. Jennifer Styer is driving north on Antelope Lane
near Roy, Montana, when she sees two V- shaped objects to the northwest
that speed silently toward her. They have orange lights on each arm and
are flying in a straight line quite close to each other. (Robert L.
Hastings, “UFOs
Reported near Malmstrom AFB’s Nuclear Missile
Sites in September 2012,” UFOs & Nukes, November 4, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7610
Date: 9/21/2012
Description: 8:30 pm. Dale Uhler and his wife are driving
north-northwest of Moccasin, Montana, two miles north of the
intersection of North Star and Fieldstone roads when they notice a
bar-shaped, yellow-orange light about 30°– 35° above the horizon. It
then splits into three lights, which persist for about 20 seconds before
disappearing. A second witness on the Old Musselshell Trail south of the
Missouri River, Montana, sees what may be the same display, which
appears to him as four orange lights that appear and disappear in
sequence. A third witness, about 20 miles east of Roy, Montana, also
sees the lights to the north. (Robert L. Hastings, “UFOs
Reported near Malmstrom
AFB’s Nuclear Missile Sites in September 2012,” UFOs & Nukes,
November 4, 2012)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7611
Date: 2013
Description: The Pentagon’s black budget is at $52.6 billion, according
to documents leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden. Although
the government has annually released its overall level of intelligence
spending since 2007, it does not divulge how it uses the money or how it
performs against the goals set by the president and Congress. (“‘Black
Budget’ Summary Details U.S. Spy Network’s Successes, Failures, and
Objectives,” Washington Post, August 29, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7612
Date: 1/4/2013
Description: Night. Dogs belonging to Carlos Torres of Pine Bush, New
York, become noisy and agitated. When he goes outside, he sees a huge
rectangular object blocking out the stars and moving silently overhead.
His young daughter is terrified. It takes 2 minutes to travel out of
sight. (Randle, Levelland, 2021, p. 125)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7613
Date: 1/8/2013
Description: 4:00 a.m. Two policemen in a village near Nysa, Poland,
notice distant lights that appear and reappear. At one point, they stop
their patrol car to observe the light, which is changing shape and
radiating a number of colored lights. The light approaches them and
stops a half-mile away. Small points of light break off from its base,
some returning into it and others disappearing in mid-air. The primary
light then gives off a stroboscopic flash of light that illuminates a
large area. The officers drive away, but the light follows them. They
stop again at a parking lot and see that the light is coming from a
domed disc emitting dazzling yellow lights. Three blue lights are on its
base. They drive off again, but the object paces them at a distance of
about one mile. Both officers experience strong anxiety during the
sighting, and there is a possible element of missing time. (Poland
110–114)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7614
Date: 1/12/2013
Description: 8:20 p.m. A married couple pull out of their driveway in
West Melbourne, Florida, to go out to dinner. As the couple drive west
down their street, they see three bright lights in a row in the sky.
They assume that the lights are Chinese lanterns, since they are all at
or above the same elevation. As they draw closer, they realize that the
lights form a single object. As the object turns, the lights are in a
pyramidal shape (indicating rotation of the object that causes the three
horizontal lights to appear like a pyramid). At the same time, the
object bolts away at an incredible speed and disappears in a few
seconds. (NICAP, “Pyramid-Shaped
Object Observed by Couple”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7615
Date: 3/5/2013
Description: 5:30 p.m. A witness in the Słocina neighborhood of Rzeszów,
Poland, lets her cat outside, but it panics. She looks up and sees
strange lights about a quarter of a mile away. She looks through
binoculars and sees that the lights are attached to an object with a
cupola hovering about 650 feet above some houses in the area. It flies
away to the east. (Poland 157)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7616
Date: 3/19/2013
End date: 3/20/2013
Description: In the early hours of March 19, a couple living in a rural
section of Warkworth, New Zealand, see a blue flash and hear a loud
explosion that causes the building to shake. The next morning they find
their telephone service is out and their fax machine’s circuitry is
melted. Around midnight on March 20, the woman is watching TV while her
husband has gone to bed. She hears a loud sound like jet engines
thrusting and goes outside to see a large, black isosceles triangle
about 800 feet away and 600 feet in the air, slowly rising among the
treetops. It drifts sideways and gradually turns or pivots. The
underside of the craft is flat and smooth, a pale pearly metallic color.
It has three reddish-orange rings with black centers, one at each point
of the triangle, which resemble hot glowing metal rather than actual
lights. In the center of the underside is a white strobe light, rotating
with a circular movement and casting an intermittent short beam of
light. She watches it for 20 seconds as it moves above the house, tilts
its nose upwards, and rises more quietly up the ridge-line behind the
house, briefly pausing near a transmitter mast positioned on the top of
the hill. From there it gains altitude rapidly and suddenly shoots away
at phenomenal speed and disappears within seconds. (Suzy Hansen, “Sightings
of a ‘Black Triangle’ (Air)craft,
2013,” Ufocus.nz, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7617
Date: 3/31/2013
Description: Twilight. A young couple watches a triangular formation of
lights hovering above a forest near Biała, Lower Silesian Voivodeship,
Poland. It looks to be about 400 feet wide. After a change in position
it moves off in the direction of Chojnów to the south. (Poland
95–96)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7618
Date: 4/18/2013
Description: Members of the Brazilian Ufologists Commission meet with
representatives of the Brazilian armed forces at the Ministry of Defense
to discuss gaining access to military documents involving UFOs.
Attendees determine that Navy, Army, and Air Force documents related to
UFOs are to be made public, as established by the law on access to
information. More than 10,000 pages of previously confidential documents
are released to the public and are available at the National Archives in
Brasilia and online. (Alejandro Rojas, “UFO
Researchers Meet with Brazilian
Ministry of Defense,” OpenMinds, April 26, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7619
Date: 4/25/2013
Description: 9:20 p.m. An unknown object flying at a low altitude passes
directly above the Rafael Hernández Airport runway in Aguadilla, Puerto
Rico, causing the delayed departure of a commercial aircraft. No
transponder signal or other communication from the object alerts the
airport tower, creating a dangerous situation with departures and
arrivals. The pilots of an airborne US Customs and Border Protection De
Havilland Canada Dash 8 turboprop aircraft see a pinkish or reddish
light over the ocean in their vicinity, so they film the object on
infrared thermal video. The object is 3–5 feet in length and its speed
varies from 40 to 120 mph. The 3-minute footage shows the flight of an
object that crosses into northwestern Puerto Rico from the Atlantic
Ocean, traverses the space over the airport twice, then returns to the
Atlantic where it apparently submerges. Its speed through the water
reaches a high of 95 mph. Chemist Robert
Powell and five other members of the Scientific Coalition for UAP
Studies later obtain the video and subject it to a thorough analysis.
Their conclusion in 2018 is that the video is the “best documentation of
an unknown aerial and submerged nautical object exhibiting advanced
technology” that the authors have seen. (Robert Powell, et al., “2013
Aguadilla Puerto Rico UAP: The Detailed Analysis of an Unidentified
Anomalous Phenomenon Captured by the Department of Homeland
Security,” Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, August 15,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7620
Date: 4/29/2013
End date: 5/3/2013
Description: Stephen
Bassett’s Paradigm Research Group holds a Citizens Hearing on
Disclosure at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Forty UFO
researchers, along with political and military representatives (Robert Salas, Paul
Hellyer, Nick
Pope), testify to six former members of the US Congress: Carolyn
Cheeks Kilpatrick, Merrill
Cook, Lynn
Woolsey, Darlene
Hooley, Roscoe
Bartlett, and
Mike
Gravel. The
witnesses speak for 30 hours over five days. The panel reaches the
conclusion that the US government and other governments need to share
what is known about UFO sightings and the United Nations should take the
subject of UFOs seriously. (Richard B. Muhammad, “What
Is the Truth about UFOs?” The Final Call, May 7, 2013; “Citizen
Hearing on Disclosure
(2013),” The Unidentified, May 27, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7621
Date: 6/2013
Description: Researcher David
Marler publishes Triangular UFOs, an evaluation of hundreds of
reports of delta-shaped UFOs seen worldwide. Marler assesses whether
these represent an extraterrestrial UFO visitation or a secret project
developed by one or more governments. (David Marler, Triangular UFOs: An
Estimate of the Situation, Richard Dolan Press, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7622
Date: 6/5/2013
Description: Based on material supplied to them by former National
Security Agency contractor Edward
Snowden, The Guardian exposes a top-secret court order showing that
the NSA has collected phone records from over 120 million Verizon
subscribers. Under the order, the numbers of both parties on a call, as
well as the location data, unique identifiers, time of call, and
duration of call are handed over to the FBI, which turns over the
records to the NSA. (Wikipedia, “Global
surveillance disclosures (2013–present)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7623
Date: 6/6/2013
Description: The Guardian and the Washington Post reveal the existence
of the PRISM surveillance program (which collects the emails, voice,
text, and video messages of foreigners and an unknown number of
Americans from Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Apple, and other tech
giants). (Wikipedia, “PRISM
(surveillance program)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7624
Date: 6/14/2013
Description: US prosecutors charge Edward
Snowden with espionage and theft of government property, but in late
July he is granted temporary asylum by the Russian government. The
extent to which the media reports have responsibly informed the public
is disputed. In January 2014, President Obama says
that “the sensational way in which these disclosures have come out has
often shed more heat than light” and critics such as Sean
Wilentz note that many of the Snowden documents do not concern
domestic surveillance. The US and UK Defense establishment weigh the
strategic harm in the period following the disclosures more heavily than
their civic public benefit. In its first assessment of these
disclosures, the Pentagon concludes that Snowden committed the biggest
“theft” of US secrets in the history of the United States. Sir David
Omand, a former director of GCHQ, described Snowden’s disclosure as
the “most catastrophic loss to British intelligence ever.” (Wikipedia,
“Global
surveillance disclosures
(2013–present)”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7625
Date: 6/19/2013
Description: A triangular object with lights in each tip is seen at
Szklarska Poręba, Poland. (Poland 98)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7626
Date: 6/21/2013
Description: The UK National Archives releases another batch of 209 UFO
files, approximately 52,000 pages, covering 2009. The full set of files
show that the Ministry of Defence received an average of 150 sightings
annually from 2000 to 2007, increasing to 643 in 2009. This is supposed
to be the final batch, but more files are discovered later. (“Britain’s
Defense Ministry Releases Its Final UFO Files,” USA Today, June 21,
2013; UK National Archives, “Briefing
Document: Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs),” 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7627
Date: 6/25/2013
Description: The CIA publicly acknowledges the existence of Area 51 for
the first time, following a FOIA request filed in 2005, and it
declassifies documents detailing its history and purpose. (Wikipedia,
“Area
51”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7628
Date: 6/27/2013
Description: 12:20 p.m. An F/A-18F Super Hornet from Strike Fighter
Squadron 11 (VFA-11, the “Red Rippers”), flying out of Naval Air Station
Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia, has an encounter with an “aircraft
[that] was white in color and approximately the size and shape of a
drone or missile” in the W-72 warning area, a patch of airspace off the
coast of Virginia and North Carolina. The jet’s crew visually acquires
it as they see it “pass down the right side of their aircraft with
approximately 200 feet of lateral separation” while flying at an
altitude of 17,000 feet. It is climbing and has a visible exhaust trail.
Neither the Super Hornet nor NAS Oceana records a radar track of the
object. The Navy tells units to be aware of the potential hazards posed
by unauthorized or uncoordinated drone operations. (Tyler Rogoway and
Joseph Trevithick, “Here
Are the Navy Pilot Reports from Encounters with Mysterious
Aircraft off the East Coast,” The Drive: The War Zone, May 12,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7629
Date: 7/15/2013
Description: 10:00 p.m. A 60-year-old postal worker and his wife see a
rectangular-shaped object maneuver through the sky and come within 100
feet of them in Bellingham, Washington. It executes precise turns that
avoid electrical poles, wires, and streetlights. The object’s color
changes from a glowing red to a dull gray as it performs a banking turn
and comes to a standstill. The color change is not uniform because it
begins at the top of the object and moves downward. The object appears
about the size of a large SUV, and at its closest approach it is about
palm-width in size at arm’s length. The wife sees it as tumbling along
its central axis. (NICAP, “Rectangular
Object Viewed at 100ʹ”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7630
Date: 7/19/2013
Description: 6:35 p.m. The pilot of a Thomas Cook Airbus A320 cruising
at 34,000 feet near Reading, Berkshire, England, sees a silvery metallic
object shaped like a rugby ball streak within a few feet of his cockpit
on his left-hand side. The UK Airprox Board rules out another aircraft
or weather balloon. (Phil Davies, “Thomas
Cook Aircraft in UFO
‘Near Miss,’” Travel Weekly, January 24, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7631
Date: 8/1/2013
Description: Night. A group of young people at Góra Ossona in
Częstochowa, Poland, see a triangular object. (Poland 98)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7632
Date: 8/3/2013
Description: 10:30–11:00 p.m. Witnesses in multiple points in Poland
report three successive sightings of unidentified triangular objects. A
woman in Lubliniec walking her dog sees a giant boomerang floating
silently to the west only about 150 feet above her housing estate. It
has dim symmetrical lights that are the same intensity as stars and is
about 65 feet long. A young couple in Łosice watches a dark, triangular
UFO with gray-violet colored lights. An engineer in Dobrzykowice
observes a high-altitude, delta-shaped formation of lights. (Poland
96–97)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7633
Date: 8/14/2013
Description: Night. An amateur astronomer in Lublin, Poland, is tracking
an object in an orbital trajectory. Close-up, it resembles a rocket with
a triangular contour, crimson-red color, and yellowish center. A smaller
isosceles triangle seems to be embedded in it. (Poland 98)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7634
Date: 8/18/2013
Description: 7:00 p.m. A family that owns a dacha in Tyczyn, Poland,
watches a wingless object with spear-shaped panels maneuvering slowly
and silently above them. It has an apparently rotating blinking light
and is making constant turns and ascents. (Poland 101–102)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7635
Date: 8/20/2013
Description: 9:45 p.m. Three vehicles pull over on Homer Watson
Boulevard just west of Doon South Drive in Kitchener, Ontario, to
observe a strange object that is crossing in front of them. The highway
lighting makes it easy to see a spherical object 30 feet in diameter
move very slowly across the freeway just above the utility poles. The
object, only a few hundred feet from the stopped cars, is apparently
solid with a glow that illuminates the trees as it passed by. The
primary witness exits his car and attempts to take a photo with his
cellphone, but its camera functions are dead. He continues to watch the
object for another 45 seconds. Once the object leaves, the cellphone
operates properly again. (NICAP, “E-M
Effects from Sphere near Highway”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7636
Date: 8/28/2013
Description: 9:40 p.m. A three-man hunting party observes a
barbell-shaped object within 400 feet of their camp in rural Ontario.
The object interferes with the operation of their Motorola radio, a
cellphone, and a Sony Cybershot video camera. The object is in view for
about 5 minutes. The primary witness owns a company that receives
Department of Defense contracts and puts together a 17-page report and a
video on the sighting. (MUFON case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7637
Date: 9/9/2013
Description: Two witnesses in Sokółka, Poland, see a gigantic triangular
UFO flying by in a few seconds. (Poland 98) September 12 — Night. A
delta-shaped UFO is seen above Franciszka Hynka street, Warsaw, Poland.
(Poland 98)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7638
Date: 10/2013
Description: Peru reopens its Departamento de Investigación de Fenómenos
Aéreos Anómalos (DIFFA), which had closed in 2008, as a result of
“increased sightings of anomalous aerial phenomena” in the country’s
skies. DIFAA will bring together sociologists, archaeologists,
astronomers, meteorologists, and Air Force personnel to analyze these
events. (“Peru
Reopens UFO Investigation Office,” Homeland Security News Wire,
October 28, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7639
Date: 10/1/2013
Description: The first-generation Air Force Satellite Surveillance
System ceases operation. The main advantage of the system was its
ability to provide uncued data on new objects as opposed to tracking
objects based on existing information. However, the system was also said
to be inherently inaccurate due to its dated design. (Wikipedia, “Air
Force Space Surveillance System”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7640
Date: 10/6/2013
Description: 9:00 p.m. A father and daughter are traveling west on
Highway 40 through Rabbit Ears Pass, Colorado, when the father notices
two white lights in the distance. The dimmer of the two begins to
descend erratically. It seems to wave back and forth, rather than just
move straight down, as it disappears behind a stand of tall pine trees.
Then the brighter light begins to grow as it approaches quickly. He
tells his daughter to look up, and she immediately sees the object as it
speeds toward them. The white light develops a red border that
transitions into a solid red light. A very short bright green line also
appears just below and to the immediate left of the solid red light. The
object then slows and swerves to the north. When the object is
positioned just to the left and in front of them, it drops in elevation
and begins to pass slowly overhead. The father sees that the short green
line is actually a long, flat, bright, rectangular strip. Both note how
crisp and clear the green box angles are and how there is no glow, given
the brightness of the green light. The father, who had previously worked
with low-powered lasers, identifies the green color as exactly 532nm.
They cannot see any reflections on the body or wings. The object slows
almost to a hover as it passes above them. Once the object passes out of
view to the rear, they are unable to see it again out the back window or
in the rearview mirrors. They do not want to stop and get a better look.
The father comments that he has never seen a solid object emit such a
bright green light. (NICAP, “Solid
Object Emits Bright
Green Light”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7641
Date: 10/13/2013
Description: 12:05 a.m. A Mr. Mateusz notices a large boomerang-shaped
object with yellow lights flying above Pabianice, Poland, from northeast
to west. It is surrounded by a hazy mist or glow, making it seem semi-
transparent. (Poland 97)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7642
Date: 11/1/2013
Description: Media outlets report that Skunk Works has been working on
an unmanned reconnaissance airplane it has named SR-72, which can fly
twice as fast as the SR-71 at Mach 6. However, USAF is officially
pursuing the Northrop Grumman RQ-180 UAV to take up the SR-71’s
strategic surveillance role. (Wikipedia, “Lockheed SR-71
Blackbird”; Guy Norris, “Exclusive: Skunk Works Reveals SR-71
Successor Plan,” Aviation Week, November 1, 2013)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7643
Date: 11/8/2013
Description: 4:36 p.m. Two witnesses are driving on the Ring Road around
Bucharest, Romania, near the exit for the Autostrada Soarelui. They see
a light-brown cylinder-shaped object rotating on its axis and hovering
silently above some high-voltage power lines. They watch it for 10
minutes until it disappears suddenly without moving. (Romania
83–84)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7644
Date: 11/18/2013
Description: 12:55 p.m. An F/A-18E Super Hornet from Strike Fighter
Squadron 143 (VFA-143, the “Pukin Dogs”), flying out of Naval Air
Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia, spots an object in the W-72
warning zone via radar off its nose at around 12,000 feet and a speed of
approximately 0.1 Mach. “The aircraft had an approximately 5-foot
wingspan and was colored white with no other distinguishable features,”
according to the pilot, who is able to visually acquire the object and
track it for one hour. The Navy concludes that this object is an
unmanned aerial system (UAS), but that Commander, Strike Fighter Wing
Atlantic and Fleet Area Control and Surveillance Facility, Virginia
Capes (FASCFAC VACAPES), the latter of which is also identified here by
its callsign “Giant Killer,” is not able to ascertain the operator. A
Navy vessel is in the area traveling south, but the Navy is unable to
identify it. (Tyler Rogoway and Joseph Trevithick, “Here
Are the Navy Pilot Reports from Encounters
with Mysterious Aircraft off the East Coast,” The Drive: The War
Zone, May 12, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7645
Date: 11/19/2013
Description: 6:20 p.m. Two witnesses, each with 30+ years experience as
Army and Air Force aircraft maintenance technicians, see a huge
triangular UFO that flies from north to south about 500 feet above them
near Adel, Georgia. The surface of the object is not clear and has a
rippling effect like “a heat mirage down the road on a hot summer’s
day.” There are no anti-collision lights required for all aircraft. The
object has a wingspan larger than a C-5A cargo plane and flies slowly at
12–17 mph with absolutely no noise. The rear of the object displays a
row of white pulsing lights that are set back or surrounded by a shroud.
As the object moves further away, a small drone- like object is seen
flying alongside on the left. Soon it banks to the southeast, allowing
them to see clearly its triangular shape. (NICAP, “Triangular
UFO Observed by Experienced Military Men”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7646
Date: 12/18/2013
Description: 3:00 p.m. Another Super Hornet pilot from VFA-143
encounters a white object visually and on radar in the W-72 warning
zone. (Tyler Rogoway and Joseph Trevithick, “Here
Are the Navy Pilot Reports from Encounters
with Mysterious Aircraft off the East Coast,” The Drive: The War
Zone, May 12, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7647
Date: 2/2014
Description: Day. An aircraft matching the black triangle description is
photographed multiple times over Kansas and Texas. Amateur photographer
Jeff Templin snaps pictures of a triangular aircraft while photographing
wildlife in Kansas. (“Texas
Mystery Aircraft Also Photographed over Kansas,” Deep Blue Horizon,
April 17, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7648
Date: 2/24/2014
Description: US journalist Glenn
Greenwald publishes information in The Intercept about a slideshow
document, The Art of Deception, released by Edward
Snowden and issued by the UK’s formerly secret Joint Threat Research
Intelligence Group concerning “online covert operations.” The slideshow,
probably dating to spring 2012, was shared with the US National Security
Agency and other intelligence partners and reveals existing techniques
to manipulate public opinion and online discourse. The document even
includes three UFO photos as illustrations of these techniques.
Greenwald writes: “These GCHQ [Government Communications Headquarters]
documents are the first to prove that a major western government is
using some of the most controversial techniques to disseminate deception
online and harm the reputations of targets. Under the tactics they use,
the state is deliberately spreading lies on the internet about whichever
individuals it targets, including the use of what GCHQ itself calls
‘false flag operations’ and emails to people’s families and friends. Who
would possibly trust a government to exercise these powers at all, let
alone do so in secret, with virtually no oversight, and outside of any
cognizable legal framework?” (Wikipedia, “Joint
Threat Research Intelligence Group”; Glenn Greenwald, “How
Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and
Destroy Reputations,” The Intercept, February 24, 2014; “The
Art of Deception: Training for a New Generation of Online Covert
Operations,” The Intercept, February 24, 2014; Mark Pilkington,
“Tricksters, Saucers, and Cyber Magicians,” Fortean Times 313 (May
2014): 6–7)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7649
Date: 3/10/2014
Description: Day. Steve Douglass and Dean Muskett photograph a
triangular aircraft giving off a long contrail over Amarillo, Texas.
(Bill Sweetman, “Mystery Aircraft over Texas,” Aviation Week, March 28,
2014; “’Mystery Aircraft’
over Texas Draws Speculation of Real Spy Plane,” Houston Chronicle,
March 28, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7650
Date: 3/26/2014
Description: 4:30 p.m. An F/A-18E Super Hornet from Strike Fighter
Squadron 106 (VFA-106, the “Gladiators”), flying out of Naval Air
Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia, detects a possible radar
track at around 19,000 feet and with a speed of 0.1 Mach in the W-72
warning area. The pilot’s wingman does not have the object on radar and
there is a debate about whether it might be a false track given high
winds that are gusting at over 100 knots at 18,000 feet. “The unknown
aircraft appeared to be small in size, approximately the size of a
suitcase, and silver in color,” according to the report. The pilot is
only able to pass within 1,000 feet of it and cannot identify it. After
that pass, they lose sight of it and never regain visual contact. “I
feel it may only be a matter of time before one of our F/A-18 aircraft
has a mid-air collision with an unidentified UAS [unmanned aerial
system],” the head of VFA-106 comments. The report also says that
“FACSFAC VACAPES has received multiple UAS sightings in the recent
months,” but does not say how many of those sightings resulted in
sending in hazard reports. The jets’ radar has been upgraded, allowing
them to zero in on unidentified targets with infrared targeting cameras.
(Tyler Rogoway and Joseph Trevithick, “Here
Are the Navy Pilot Reports from Encounters with Mysterious Aircraft
off the
East Coast,” The Drive: The War Zone, May 12, 2020; Bill Whitaker,
“UFOs
Regularly Spotted in US Airspace,”
CBS News, August 29, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7651
Date: 4/23/2014
Description: 10:51 p.m. Another F/A-18F Super Hornet from Strike Fighter
Squadron 11 (VFA-11, the “Red Rippers”) has an encounter with multiple
“unidentified aerial devices” while flying out of Naval Air Station
Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and operating in the W-72 warning
area. The crew initially detects two UADs on radar, one at 12,000 feet
and another at 15,000 feet, both apparently stationary or
near-stationary. They then confirm both of these objects using the jet’s
Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) system. While
investigating the first pair of UADs, another two appeared to pass
through the ATFLIR field of vision at high speed. The two moving objects
do not appear on the aircraft’s radar. (Tyler Rogoway and Joseph
Trevithick, “Here
Are the Navy Pilot Reports from Encounters with Mysterious Aircraft off
the East Coast,” The Drive: The War Zone, May 12, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7652
Date: 4/24/2014
Description: 12:47 p.m. Two more F/A-18Fs make radar contact with
another UAD in the W-72 warning area while conducting Basic Fighter
Maneuvering out of Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Both aircraft are able to maintain a radar track with the object, which
is stationary or near-stationary at 11,000 feet. The aircraft are also
able to lock onto the object with CATM-9Xs, a captive-carry training
version of the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile. However, in this instance,
neither one makes visual contact. (Tyler Rogoway and Joseph Trevithick,
“Here
Are the Navy Pilot Reports from Encounters with Mysterious Aircraft off
the East Coast,” The Drive: The War Zone, May 12, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7653
Date: 4/27/2014
Description: The crew of a F/A-18F from Strike Fighter Squadron 11
(VFA-11), flying out of NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and
operating in the W-72 warning area, encounters an unknown aerial device.
This report is the most spartan in its details of the three, but it
describes a “near mid-air collision with balloon-like object.” (Tyler
Rogoway and Joseph Trevithick, “Here
Are the Navy Pilot Reports from Encounters with Mysterious Aircraft
off the
East Coast,” The Drive: The War Zone, May 12, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7654
Date: 6/13/2014
Description: 2:36 p.m. The pilot and first officer of an Airbus 320
flying at just under 3,500 feet and headed into Manchester Airport
observe a man-like object that passes them to the northeast over
Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. They estimate it is about 200–300 feet
above their altitude and only a few hundred yards distant. They cannot
see any parachute or paraglider apparatus. Air traffic control confirms
there are no other radar targets in the area. The object is in sight for
only 3–4 seconds. (Jenny Randles, “Superman vs. Airbus,” Fortean Times
323 (February 2015): 30–31)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7655
Date: 7/31/2014
Description: Gen. Ricardo Bermúdez, director of Chile’s official UFO
agency, Comité de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos, convenes a
three-hour meeting at the offices of the Directorate General of Civil
Aviation (DGAC) in Providencia of 19 experts from a wide range of
disciplines to discuss whether UFOs pose a threat to aerial safety.
Among those present are astronomers, psychologists, meteorologists,
physicists, and representatives of the armed forces. All seem to accept
the premise that UFOs, whatever they are, exist and are worthy of
investigation. The DGAC chief of operations says that because many
witnesses believe UFOs demonstrate intelligent behavior, it is the
government’s duty to look for the intention behind that intelligence.
However, the group concludes that, despite some accidents attributed to
UFOs around the world, they “do not present a threat or a danger to air
operations.” (Leslie Kean, “Chile
Declares UFOs Pose No Threat to Aircraft,” HuffPost, August 12,
2014; “Capitulo
55 DGAC TV,” DGAC TV Institucional YouTube channel, August 7,
2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7656
Date: 9/29/2014
Description: The Air Force Intelligence agency is restructured as the
Twenty-Fifth Air Force and aligns the 9th Reconnaissance Wing and the
55th Wing under the new numbered air force. Its primary mission is to
provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) products,
applications, capabilities, and resources to include cyber and
geospatial forces and expertise. Additionally, it is the service
cryptologic component (SCC) responsible to the National Security Agency
and Central Security Service for Air Force cryptographic activities. It
is headquartered at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas. (Wikipedia, “Twenty-Fifth
Air Force”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7657
Date: 10/5/2014
End date: 10/20/2014
Description: Unidentified drones are observed over seven nuclear plants
in France. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve tells
France Info radio that a judicial investigation is underway. The tiny,
unmanned craft appear late in the evening, at night, or early in the
morning. The nuclear plants are the Superphénix in Creys-Malville
(closed in 1997); the Bugey Nuclear Power Plant, Ain; Blayais Nuclear
Power Plant near Blaye, Gironde; the Cattenom Nuclear Power Plant,
Moselle; the Chooz Nuclear Power Plant, Ardennes; the Gravelines Nuclear
Power Station, Nord; and the Nogent Nuclear Power Plant, Aube. (“Drones
Spotted over Seven French Nuclear Sites, Says EDF,”
The Guardian (UK), October 30, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7658
Date: 10/16/2014
Description: The Swedish military reportedly intercepts a radio
transmission in Russian on an emergency frequency, sparking a massive
search for a Russian submarine thought to be stricken in Swedish waters,
the largest Swedish mobilization since the Cold War. Further encrypted
radio traffic from Kanholmsfjärden in the Stockholm archipelago, Sweden,
and in Kaliningrad, Russia (home to the Russian Baltic fleet), is
intercepted the next day. The search involves stealth ships,
minesweepers, and helicopters, as well as hundreds of sailors, pilots,
and divers. On the island of Korsö, Finland, a mysterious man dressed in
black with a backpack is seen wading to shore and is later photographed
wading off the nearby island of Sandön, Finland. (It later turns out
that the man is a Stockholm pensioner named Ove who is doing some trout
fishing.) At a press conference later in the month, the Swedish navy
shows a photograph of an unidentified foreign vessel (although it later
turns out to be a Swedish ship). A Russian defense ministry spokesman
announces that there have been no emergency situations involving Russian
military vessels. (Wikipedia, “Swedish
submarine incidents”; “Baltic Sub Mystery,” Fortean Times 322
(January 2015): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7659
Date: 10/20/2014
Description: Strands of cobweb-like “angel hair” fibers fall from the
sky in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. (“Cobwebs Like Particles Floating in
Polonnaruwa Skies,” Gossip Lanka News, October 21, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7660
Date: 10/21/2014
Description: Swedish military commander Gen. Sverker
Göranson announces that he aims to force the unidentified submarine
object to the surface with depth charges if necessary. He reveals there
have been visual observations twice on October 17 and once on October
19. (“Baltic Sub Mystery,” Fortean Times 322 (January 2015): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7661
Date: 10/24/2014
Description: Sweden calls off its search for the mysterious Russian sub.
Russia asserts that the vessel was a Dutch submarine, a claim rejected
by the Netherlands. The public has reported 250 sightings, five of which
the navy takes seriously. Rear Admiral Anders
Grenstad says the object could not have been a conventional
submarine but a “craft of a lesser type.” (“Swedes
Call off Search for Mystery Submarine,” USNI News, October 24, 2014;
“Baltic Sub Mystery,” Fortean Times 322 (January 2015): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7662
Date: 10/25/2014
Description: Afternoon. Miguel Monteiro is walking in the parish of
Alverca do Ribatejo e Sobralinho, Portugal, when he sees white, cottony
flakes or fibrous strands falling from the sky and sticking to
electrical wires. They feel somewhat like cobwebs but are whiter and
thicker. Monteiro takes some home and stores them in liquid nitrogen. He
claims that under ultraviolet light the fibers wiggle “as if alive.”
Another witness says the strands fell two weekends in a row. (“Mysterious
Rain of ‘Alien Angel Hair’ Falls from Sky in Portugal,” Metro (UK),
November 26, 2014; “Strands
of White ‘Angel Hair’ Rained from Sky—Which Wriggle under UV Light,”
Metro (UK), December 17, 2014)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7663
Date: 10/31/2014
Description: Retired Swedish naval officer Sven Olof Kviman snaps a
picture of what looks like a 65–98-foot long, black submarine in waters
just outside Lidingö in Stockholm, Sweden. The incident remains
unconfirmed but has been classed by the military as a “potential”
submarine. (“Up
to Four Subs Feared in Stockholm Waters,” The Local (Sweden),
January 24, 2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7664
Date: 11/11/2014
Description: 1:52 p.m. A Chilean Navy Airbus Cougar AS-532 helicopter is
flying northward west of Santiago, Chile, at an altitude of 4,500 feet
and 152 mph. The technician aboard is taking video footage when he
notices an object about 40 miles away. He zooms in on it using infrared
film. The naval pilot sees it as a “flat, elongated structure with two
thermal spotlights like discharges that do not coincide with the axis of
motion.” The video shows a dark, disc-shaped object flying above the
sea, which “in two instances discharged some type of gas or liquid with
a high thermal track or signal.” The official Comité de Estudios de
Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos spends two years studying the film, then
releases the footage, admitting it cannot ascertain what the object is.
CEFAA Gen. Ricardo Bermúdez Sanhueza says: “We do not know what it was,
but we do know what it was not.” (“Conclusive
Proof? Airforce
Probe Finds Navy Filmed Real UFO over Ocean,” The Express (UK),
January 7, 2017; “Chilean
Navy Helicopter
Pilot Shoots Video of UFO,” Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, February 8,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7665
Date: 11/14/2014
Description: Swedish Prime Minister Stefan
Löfven announces that there is “clear evidence” of a submarine
incursion in Swedish waters in October. (“Sweden
Confirms Submarine Violation,” The Guardian (UK), November 14, 2014;
“Baltic Sub Mystery,” Fortean Times 322 (January 2015): 12)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7666
Date: 1/10/2015
Description: John
Greenewald Jr. puts the Fold3 Blue Book files online into his Black
Vault website and makes many of the case files into easily downloadable
PDFs. The work is done by a contributor to the ATS website since 2012.
Unfortunately, the JPG conversion to PDFs is done incorrectly so that
documents with many pages are out of correct order. (Sparks,
pp. 8–9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7667
Date: 1/27/2015
Description: 9:10 p.m. Ufologist Steven
M. Greer is leading a group of UFO watchers at Vero Beach, Florida,
when they spot two UFOs that appear one after another then fade from
sight. A video is taken of the event and posted on Greer’s website.
Greer claims it is the result of the group’s meditation and “coherent
thought” practices, and there are no ships or aircraft in the area at
the time. However, journalist Tom
Rogan determines that the UFO is a Beechcraft Model 76 Duchess
aircraft moving at 85 mph deploying parachute flares. (Tom Rogan, “Did
Steven Greer
Fake a UFO with Flares?” Washington (D.C.) Examiner, July 31,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7669
Date: 1/27/2015
Description: Ancestry.com, the owner of Fold3, illegally demands that Greenewald remove
his Blue Book collection from the Black Vault website, falsely claiming
copyright. They are still unavailable. (Sparks,
p. 9)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7668
Date: 2/2015 (approximate)
Description: Two infrared video recordings, known as the Go
Fast and GIMBAL videos,
are taken by an F/A-18 Super Hornet from the USS
Theodore Roosevelt off the East coast of the US in the vicinity of
Jacksonville, Florida, sometime between January and February 2015. The
two videos are reported by the New York Times to have been taken a few
weeks apart, with the audio of the pair including voices of military
personnel who are questioning what they are observing. The Navy confirms
the authenticity of the videos, stating only that they depict what they
consider to be “unidentified aerial phenomena.” Susan
Gough, a
Pentagon spokeswoman, confirms that the videos were made by naval
aviators and that they are “part of a larger issue of an increased
number of training range incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena in
recent years.” In April 2020, the two videos are declassified and
officially released by the Department of Defense, alongside footage from
the 2004 USS
Nimitz incident. Five pilots from the VFA-11 “Red Rippers” fighter
squadron report sighting UFOs “almost daily” while training for a
deployment to the Persian Gulf. Three of those pilots have chosen to
remain anonymous, while two, Lieut. Ryan Graves and Lieut. Danny Accoin,
have given interviews and appeared on a History Channel program about
UFOs. Radar contacts, infrared detections, and visual sightings by the
pilots and weapon systems officers are reported for several months.
According to Accoin, the objects have “no distinct wing, no distinct
tail, no distinct exhaust plume.” One pilot describes something “like a
sphere encasing a cube.” Another source confirms to “The War Zone” that
the same description is given by several other pilots and that
encounters are commonplace among multiple squadrons including the nearby
E-2 Hawkeye squadrons from Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. Accoin says
that “multiple sensors [are] reading the exact same thing.” Graves
states that the objects are showing up at 30,000 feet as well as sea
level and can accelerate, slow down, and hit hypersonic speeds with
maneuvers “beyond the physical limits of a human crew.” The pilots also
report that the objects persist in the air for long periods of time and
might “be out there all day.” When one of the sightings is made,
“usually we’d just say, ‘we’re seeing one of those damn things again,’”
Graves says. Once, an object almost collides with two jets, prompting
the VFA-11 fighter squadron to submit a Notice to Airmen aviation flight
safety report. According to the pilots, the squadron has speculated that
the sightings could be a classified drone development program, but the
near miss angers the pilots and convinces them that this is a safety
issue and not a black project. (Wikipedia, “Pentagon
UFO videos”; Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean,
“‘Wow, What Is That?’ Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying Objects,”
New York Times, May 26, 2019; Joseph Trevithick and Tyler Rogoway, “Carrier
Group in Recent UFO Encounters Had New Defense Tech Like Nimitz
in
2004 Incident,” The Drive: The War Zone, May 30, 2019; Clark III 49;
“Unidentified:
UFO Testimony from Lt. Ryan Graves (Season 1)
/ History,” History YouTube channel, September 22, 2019; Jan Tegler
and Cat Hofacker, “Mystery
of the ‘Damn
Things,’” Aerospace America, November 2019; “Pentagon
Declassifies Leaked ‘UFO’ Videos (video 2/3),”
ABC News YouTube channel, April 27, 2020; “Pentagon
Declassifies Navy ‘UFO’ Videos (video 3/3),” ABC News YouTube
channel, April 27, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7670
Date: 3/1/2015
Description: Las Vegas Review-Journal Article: “Area 51 worker sees hope
in Supreme Court ruling”
Type: newspaper article
Reference: link
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Date: 4/13/2015
Description: Swedish Rear Admiral Anders
Grenstad tells the media that the Armed Forces reported to the
Swedish government on April 8 that the suspected underwater vessel in
October 2014 was in fact only a civilian “working boat.” (“‘Submarine’
in Sweden Was Only Civilian Boat,” The Local (Sweden), April 13,
2015)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7671
Date: 5/5/2015
Description: In a four-hour long presentation in front of nearly 7,000
people at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, Mexico, journalist and
ufologist Jaime
Maussan presents BeWitness, an unveiling of two Kodachrome slides
that purport to show a dead alien. The slides, discovered in 1998 in the
estate of Sedona, Arizona, lawyer Hilda Blair Ray, whose husband Bernerd had
been a petroleum geologist in West Texas. The slides had found their way
to Chicago videographer Adam
Dew, who wants to create a documentary (tentatively titled
Kodachrome) about the supposed alien. In the process he has gathered UFO
researchers Thomas
J. Carey, Donald
Schmitt, Anthony Bragalia, and
others to lend credence to the authenticity of the images as possibly
related to the Roswell incident, since they seem to have a provenance of
1947. The two nearly identical slides show what appears to be a short
mummy on a glass exhibit case with an undecipherable placard next to it.
Within days of the presentation in Mexico City, a skeptical group uses a
SmartDeBlur program to read the text of the placard, which reveals that
the supposed alien is actually the mummified body of a two-year-old
Native American child taken from the ruins of Montezuma Castle cliff
dwelling in Camp Verde, Arizona, in 1894 by an S. L. Palmer and loaned
to the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum in Mesa Verde, Colorado, where
it had been on display for many years before it was returned to the
Montezuma Museum in June 1947. (David Clarke and Peter Brookesmith,
“From ‘Smoking Gun’ to #Epicfail,” Fortean Times 329 (August 2015):
26–27; Kevin D. Randle, Roswell in the 21st Century: The Evidence As It
Exists Today, Speaking Volumes, 2016; Les Carpenter, “The
Curious Case of the Alien in the Photo
and the Mystery That Took Years to Solve,” The Guardian (UK),
September 20, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7672
Date: 9/2015
Description: In Walking Among Us, David
M. Jacobs explains how 14 abductions have detailed for him how an
alien invasion is already underway. The alien hierarchy consists of
insect-like entities as the leaders, tall Grays the skilled workers,
short Grays the menial workers, and masses of hybrids—the end products
of the abduction program. These hybrids begin as half-human/half-Gray
entities and become progressively more human over four successive
stages. The ultimate product is the human hybrid (“hubrid”), fully human
in appearance, capable of integration into society. Hybrids have become
deeply embedded on Earth, living in their own apartments, mingling with
humans, working their way into positions of influence. Their growing
numbers on earth advance the Change, the day when they and their alien
masters supplant or absorb humankind. (Dana DiFilippo, “Space Aliens
Walk Among Us? Indeed, Claims Retired Temple Prof,” Philadelphia
Inquirer, July 15, 2014; David M. Jacobs, Walking
Among Us: The Alien Plan to Condition Humanity, Disinformation
Books, 2015; Clark III 10– 11, 629–630)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7673
Date: 12/22/2015
Description: Janel Sturzl, 31, an employee of the Daily Mining Gazette
in Houghton, Michigan, dies while in a coma after being diagnosed with
thallium poisoning at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The
police investigate her death as a homicide. (“Poisoning
Still under Investigation,” Houghton (Mich.) Daily Mining Gazette,
October 24, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7674
Date: 2/3/2016
Description: 7:00 p.m. A married couple is driving on Interstate 10 near
Katy, Texas, when they look up through the sunroof and see three black
dots that they at first think might be breaks in the cloud cover.
Watching them while stopped at a traffic light, they see the dots are
part of a vast, noiseless triangular object that emerges from the
clouds. The witnesses think it is generating a kind of night fog low
above the ground. The witnesses try to take a video, but their
cellphones are not working properly; both devices die and do not
recharge the entire night. (Roger Marsh, “Texas
UFO Kills Allegedly Ground Electronics, Creates Fog to Hide in,”
OpenMinds, February 10, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7675
Date: 4/2016
Description: Robert
Bigelow, founder
of Bigelow Aerospace, sells the Skinwalker Ranch in Uintah County, Utah,
to Utah real estate developer Brandon
Fugal. In 2020, he partners with the History Channel on a TV
documentary series, The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, in its third season
in 2022. (Skinwalkers 86, 219–221; Internet Movie Database, “The Secret
of Skinwalker Ranch”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7676
Date: 4/15/2016
Description: Night. The Canadian Air Defence Sector is notified of a
WestJet flight near Toronto, Ontario, that “reported a very bright light
pass overhead of them” when “there was no other traffic in the area.” In
the day’s log, the lines following what’s clearly referred to as a “UFO
report” are all redacted in white. (Daniel Otis, “Credible
UFO Reports
Are Being Ignored, Declassified Canadian Government Documents
Reveal,” Motherboard, November 29, 2021; CADORS
Report, no.
2016O0730, April 24, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7677
Date: 5/13/2016
Description: James T. Lacatski retires from the Defense Intelligence
Agency, following failed attempts to get the AAWSAP program funded agin
through the Department of Defense. (Skinwalkers 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7678
Date: 6/2016
Description: The Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici begins publishing Cielo
Insolito, a journal of UFO history edited by Giuseppe Stilo and Maurizio
Verga. (Cielo
Insolito, no. 1 (July 2016))
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7679
Date: 7/1/2016
Description: NORAD releases figures indicating that radar Tracks of
Interest have averaged 1,800 per year since 2011. It states that it
routinely withholds Unknown tracks and Tracks of Interest data because
the release of any details might affect national defense. (“‘Alien
Cover Up’: Nearly 2,000 UFOs Tracked by Radar System But Details Suppressed,”
The Express (UK), July 1, 2016; Clark III 801)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7680
Date: 8/11/2016
Description: In Roswell in the 21st Century, Kevin
D. Randle upends his previous position and argues that while the
Roswell incident remains shrouded in mystery, it was almost certainly
not generated by the recovery of a downed spacecraft and dead occupants.
(Kevin D. Randle, Roswell in the 21st Century: The Evidence As It Exists
Today, Speaking Volumes, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7681
Date: 9/19/2016
Description: 11:45 p.m. An Air Canada Express pilot flying to Vancouver,
British Columbia, reports “3 red lights 3,000 feet above him and going
slower” while at 25,000 feet over an uninhabited stretch of British
Columbia’s rugged northern coast. Vancouver air traffic controllers
report the incident 20 minutes later to the RCAF in Ontario as a “vital
intelligence sighting.” The RCAF reviews radar data, but finds nothing
near the plane. Within an hour, reports are faxed to the Canadian
government’s transportation department and the RCAF’s secretive
Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Division in Winnipeg.
There is no further follow-up. (Daniel Otis, “Credible
UFO Reports Are Being Ignored, Declassified Canadian Government
Documents Reveal,” Motherboard, November 29, 2021; CADORS
Report, no. 2016P1783)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7682
Date: 10/27/2016
Description: Two Georgia men are arrested on drug charges. They are
reportedly plotting domestic terrorism based on conspiracy theories
about HAARP. The Coffee County Sheriff’s Office says the men possess a
“massive arsenal” that includes AR-15 rifles, Glock handguns, a
Remington rifle, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. According to
police, the men want to destroy HAARP because they believe the facility
manipulates the weather, controls minds, and even traps the souls of
people. Police say the men confess that “God told them to go and blow
this machine up that kept souls, so souls could be released.” (“Georgia
Men Plotted Attack on Alaska Aurora Research
Facility to ‘Release Souls,’ Detective Says,” Anchorage (Alaska)
Daily News, November 1, 2016; “Suspected Terrorists Believe Research
Facility Controls Minds, Traps Souls,” WALB, Albany, Georgia, November
1, 2016)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7683
Date: 12/10/2016
Description: 4:44 a.m. A married couple is driving near Windsor, Maine,
when they observe a “large triangle-shaped object” in two pieces (“like
a carpenter’s framing square”) in the northeast sky. The object has six
flashing red lights and one turquoise light that goes out as they are
watching. It shows a black surface that is about 300 feet long. When
they get out of the car for a better look, the man grabs his wife’s
phone to take photos and a video. He shoots 6–8 minutes of video, but
when he views it, it shows only black. The object seems to move
effortlessly like a boat coasting through the water—“slow enough to
where we could make out some detail but fast enough to where it was out
of sight within 10 minutes or so.” They both feel weird as they watch
the object. The woman becomes nauseous and the man feels strangely
“awestruck.” (MUFON case file)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7684
Date: 2017
Description: The US nuclear stockpile has dwindled to 3,822 bombs. (“Stockpile
Numbers,” DoD Open Government) 2017 — The increasing number of drone
cases posing a risk to aircraft leads the UK Airprox Board to launch a
Small Unmanned Air System (SUAS) assessment that classifies incidents
into one of four categories: drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),
balloons (including toys and weather), model aircraft, and unknown
objects. (UK Airprox Board, “Small
Unmanned Air System (SUAS) Assessment”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7685
Date: 1/1/2017
Description: Richard
F. Haines retires from his role as chief scientist for NARCAP. He
reports: “The fact that no cause- effect relationship has been found in
major UFO airborne safety incidents doesn’t support the notion of
nearby, material objects or phenomena in the air. Finally, the
well-intentioned change of the term UFO into UAP—hoping to reach a
larger scientific audience—served little and no relevant achievement
followed.” (Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, “Haines
Retires from NARCAP,” UFO FOTOCAT Blog, April 17, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7686
Date: 1/20/2017
End date: 1/20/2021
Description: President Donald Trump in office
Type: historical document
Reference: link
Location: Washington DC, US
Date: 4/18/2017
Description: The Washington State Senate passed Resolution 8648 about
the Maury Island Incident. It stated “The FBI’s conclusions and Dahl’s
(the main witness) secret were sealed for fifty years.” It also states
“Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted an
investigation of the deaths of Davidson and Brown and ultimately
concluded that Dahl did not recant his story but that his claim of hoax
was itself a fabrication to avoid further public attention and
ridicule.”
Type: state resolution
Reference: link
Reference: link
Location: Olympia, WA
See also: 6/21/1947
Date: 5/9/2017
Description: Steven
M. Greer releases a documentary, Unacknowledged, on the history of
UFO secrecy. Interviews with George
Filer, Tom
Bearden, Glenn
Dennis, Richard
Doty, Stephen
Lovekin, and
John
Podesta are featured. Narrated by Giancarlo
Esposito. (
Internet Movie Database, “Unacknowledged”;
“Unacknowledged:
An Exposé of
the World’s Greatest Secret,” Free Movies YouTube channel, October
28, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7687
Date: 5/28/2017
Description: Evening. Rik Koops and Harm Duursma see UFOs over Park
Sonsbeek, in Arnhem, Netherlands. Koops shoots a 3-minute video of three
globular objects. A spokesperson for the Defence Helicopter Command at
nearby Deelen Air Base denies that the objects are drones. (“3
bal vormige objecten bewegen in de lucht,” UFO Meldpunt Nederland,
May 29, 2017; “UFO
boven Arnhem? ’Ledeeren die het ziet, zit met open mond van verbazing,’”
de Gelderlander, May 30, 2017; “Het
ufo-seizoen is veer aangebroken,” de Gelderlander, May 31,
2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7688
Date: 6/2017
Description: Majestic document mentions Frank Scully, Aztec crash,
EBE-1
Type: majestic document
Reference: link]
Reference: archive.org
Location: US
Date: 6/2017
Description: Nick
Redfern publishes The Roswell UFO Conspiracy, a sequel to his 2005
Body Snatchers in the Desert. In 2001, Redfern interviewed an elderly
woman (the Black Widow) who had worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
in Tennessee from the mid-1940s to the early 1950s, who told him that
just after World War II she had seen some 15 human “guinea pigs,”
including Japanese prisoners and handicapped persons, who were involved
in government experiments involving exposure to high altitudes in
balloons. Through her testimony and that of other witnesses, Redfern
concludes that the “aliens” found at the Roswell crash in New Mexico in
1947 were likely these humans deemed expendable by the US government,
and that flying saucers and aliens were a convenient cover story. The
experiments were inconclusive and the methods unethical, so all the
records were destroyed. (Nick Redfern, The Roswell UFO Conspiracy:
Exposing a Shocking and Sinister Secret, Lisa Hagen, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7689
Date: 6/2017
Description: Some additional dubious MJ-12 documents (47 pages total)
are provided to Heather
Wade, host
of the Midnight in the Desert streaming radio show. (Nick Redfern, “The
Majestic 12 Documents Are Back,” Mysterious Universe, June 16, 2017;
Kremlin 214–220)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7690
Date: 7/1/2017
End date: 7/2/2017
Description: The second Dulce Base UFO Conference is held at the Wild
Horse Casino and Hotel in Dulce, New Mexico. The event is organized by
members of the Jicarilla Apache, Southern Ute, and Navajo nations and
features speakers Chuck and Nancy Wade; the Paranormal Rangers (Stanley
Milford Jr. and Jonathan Dover), Navajo law officers; abductee Travis
Walton; and actor Alan
Tafoya. (Paul
Ross, “‘The Truth Is Around Here…Someplace,’” Fortean Times 361
(Christmas 2017): 42–47)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7691
Date: 7/14/2017
Description: 7:20 p.m. The pilot of an Airbus A319 is holding at 7,000
feet at Gatwick Airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, when the
First Officer, in the right-hand seat, notices an object close to the
aircraft. He mentions it to the captain, who also sees it. Both believe
the object is not close enough to hit the aircraft and that they will
miss it. It is black and shiny metallic in color and appears to be a
square or cube. It maintains its altitude and takes about 7 seconds to
pass, making them believe it is hovering. They are not certain it is a
drone because they cannot see any propellors. They alert Gatwick, but
the controllers there do not report seeing it. (“UKAB ‘Unknown Object’
Log 2017–2020,” Fortean Times 406 (June 2021): 43; UK Airprox Board,
“Assessment Summary Sheet for UKAB Meeting on 11th October 2017”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7692
Date: 7/19/2017
Description: 9:00 a.m. The FBI conducts a raid on Robert
Lazar’s United Nuclear Scientific business in Laingsburg, Michigan,
in connection with the thallium poisoning death of Janel Sturzl in 2015,
apparently to determine if the company sells or distributes thallium.
Apparently it does, but only a harmless radioactive isotope. (John
Greenewald, “Documents
on 2017 Bob Lazar / United Nuclear Raid—Laingsburg Police
Department,” The Black Vault, July 1, 2019; Tim McMillan, “Bob
Lazar Says the FBI Raided Him to Seize Area 51’s Alien Fuel: The Truth
Is Weirder,” Motherboard, November 13, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7693
Date: 8/2017
Description: Reports begin to surface that US and Canadian diplomatic
personnel in Havana, Cuba, have experienced unusual, unexplained health
problems dating back to late 2016. The health problems typically have a
sudden onset: The victim suddenly begins hearing strange grating noises
that seem to come from a specific direction. Some of them experience it
as a pressure or a vibration; or as a sensation comparable to driving a
car with the window partly rolled down. The duration ranges from 20
seconds to 30 minutes, and always happens while the diplomats are either
at home or in hotel rooms. Other people nearby, family members and
guests in neighboring rooms, do not report hearing anything. Affected
individuals describe symptoms such as hearing loss, memory loss, and
nausea. Some US embassy individuals reportedly experience lasting health
effects, including one unidentified diplomat who now needs a hearing
aid. In October, the Associated Press releases what it says is a
recording of the sound some embassy workers are hearing. Accusations are
made that these are a result of attacks using unspecified technology,
perhaps a sonic or ultrasonic weapon. (Wikipedia, “Havana
syndrome”; David Hambling, “The Sound of Violence,” Fortean Times
360 (December 2017): 14; “Ottawa
Doctor Treating Canadian
Diplomats with Mysterious ‘Havana Syndrome,’” Ottawa (Ont.) Citizen,
November 30, 2018 )
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7694
Date: 8/9/2017
Description: 9:20 p.m. A couple are walking south along North Lake Shore
Drive just north of Schiller Street in Chicago when they notice
something large and dark flying toward them from the east and crossing
ahead of them at an altitude of 20 feet or so. It sweeps upward over the
trees in front of 1400 North Lake Shore Drive, then stops in mid-air
after it reaches a height just below the top of the building. It hovers
with a large pair of wings for about 5 seconds, then dives toward the
ground. As the witnesses quicken their pace toward the building, the
“winged being” descends in front of them, no more than 25 feet away, and
hovers 5 feet above the sidewalk with its wings spread open. They can
see its bright red eyes that vary in intensity. Several people on the
other side of the street also see the being, which hovers for 10
seconds, pulls its wigs in close, and silently shoots up into the sky.
The witnesses describe it as “human-like” with a small head that narrows
at the top, two legs with long tapered feet, and no apparent arms. It is
5–6 feet in height and has wide wings that resemble the top wings of a
butterfly. The sightings is the most recent of 29 reported in the
Chicago area in the summer. (Lon Strickler, “Winged
Humanoid Confronts
Shocked Chicago Witnesses,” Phantoms and Monsters, August 10, 2017;
Joe Vince, “Winged
Freak Terrorizes
Chicago? Wait’ll You Get a Load of These 29 Sightings,” Chicago
Patch, August 11, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7695
Date: 9/2017
Description: The US State Department removes non-essential staff from
the US embassy in Havana, Cuba. (Wikipedia, “Havana
syndrome”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7696
Date: 9/2017
Description: The To the Stars Academy begins offering to the public $50
million worth of stock through a Regulation A+ equity crowdfunding
campaign. The company is cofounded earlier in the year by rock guitarist
Tom DeLonge, engineer
and parapsychologist Harold
E. Puthoff, and Jim Semivan and is composed of aerospace, science,
and entertainment divisions. Its science and aerospace divisions are
devoted to the “outer edges of science,” such as investigating UFOs. It
employs Luis
Elizondo as a key investigator. Its Virtual Analytics UAP Learning
Tool (VAULT) is a public-facing database of UFO sightings. The VAULT
team collects, analyzes, and provides their authentication of UFO
sightings, most famously reported in the media as having been obtained
through declassified government materials. Some evidence suggests that
TTSA is sponsored or heavily influenced by the Department of Defense ,as
there are 11 former DoD counterintelligence and information specialists
associated with it. (Wikipedia, “To
the Stars (company)”; Althea Legaspi, “Tom
DeLonge Announces Stars Academy
for ‘Outer Edges of Science’ Research,” Rolling Stone, October 12,
2017; Tyler Rogoway, “Tom DeLonge’s
Origin Story for To the Stars Academy Describes a Government UFO Info
Operation,” The Drive: The War Zone, June 5, 2019; “The
UFO Information Operation,” Medium: INFO-OPS, November 23,
2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7697
Date: 9/23/2017
Description: 7:50 p.m. Witnesses in Son, Netherlands, watch a white,
U-shaped light for 5 minutes. One witness manages to take a photo of the
light, which by then is diminishing in size before disappearing. (“U-vormig
wit licht
hoog ver weg in die hemel, stilstaand,” UFO Meldpunt Nederland,
September 23, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7698
Date: 10/4/2017
Description: Luis
Elizondo resigns from his Pentagon UFO office to protest what he
says is excessive secrecy and internal opposition. He declines to
identify his successor. He states there is a need for more serious
attention to the “many accounts from the Navy and other services of
unusual aerial systems interfering with military weapon platforms and
displaying beyond-next-generation capabilities.” He tells Secretary of
Defense Jim
Mattis that “there remains a vital need to ascertain capability and
intent of these phenomena for the benefit of the armed forces and the
nation.” (Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean, “Glowing
Auras and ’Black Money’:
The Pentagon’s Mysterious UFO Program,” New York Times, December 16,
2017; Paul Dean and Keith Basterfield, “A
Formal Job Description of an AASWAP/AATIP UFO Case Investigations
Scientist,” UFOs: Documenting the Evidence, May 3, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7699
Date: 10/12/2017
Description: Tom DeLonge Announces To The Stars Academy for ‘Outer Edges
of Science’ Research (TTSA)
Type: company formation
Reference: link
Location: US
Date: 10/19/2017
Description: ’Oumuamua (1I/2017 U1), the first known interstellar object
detected passing through the Solar System, is discovered by Robert
Weryk using the Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakala Observatory,
Hawaii, 40 days after it passes its closest point to the Sun on
September 9. When it is first observed, it is about 21 million miles
from Earth and already heading away from the Sun. ʻOumuamua is a small
object estimated to be between 330 and 3,280 feet long, with its width
and thickness both estimated to range between 115 and 548 feet. It has a
dark red color similar to other objects in the outer Solar System. Its
light curve presents its motion as tumbling,
rather than smoothly rotating, and it is moving sufficiently fast
relative to the Sun that few possible models define a Solar System
origin, although an Oort cloud origin cannot be excluded. Extrapolated
and without further deceleration, its path will not allow it to be
captured into a solar orbit, so it will eventually leave the Solar
System and continue into interstellar space. (Wikipedia, “’Oumuamua”;
“Small
Asteroid or Comet ‘Visits’ from Beyond the Solar System,”
NASA, October 26, 2017; Patrick Gross, “’Oumuamua:
Extraterrestrial Device or Natural Object?”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7700
Date: 10/24/2017
Description: The Cuban government employs about 2,000 scientists and law
enforcement officers who interview 300 neighbors of diplomats, examine
two hotels, and medically examine non-diplomats who could have been
exposed. Cuban officials analyze air and soil samples and consider a
range of toxic chemicals. They also examine the possibility that
electromagnetic waves are to blame and even look into whether insects
might be the culprits but find nothing they can link to the medical
symptoms. The FBI and Cubans meet to discuss the situation, although the
Cubans say that the US declines to share the diplomats’ medical records
with Cuban authorities or to allow Cuban investigators access to US
diplomats’ homes to conduct tests. (“Cubans
Forcefully Reject Blame for U.S. Diplomats’
Mystery Ailments,” NBC News, October 24, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7701
Date: 10/25/2017
Description: The FAA detects an unidentified aircraft flying “fast”
(relative to commercial air traffic) at around 35,000 feet over Northern
California towards Oregon. In an effort to identify the aircraft, the
FAA contacts commercial airline pilots in the vicinity who visually
confirm a white object traveling northbound. After the commercial
passenger jets confirms the position, NORAD scrambles F-15Cs from the
142nd Air Wing in Portland, Oregon, to investigate. Bearing the most
advanced targeting system available (the Sniper pod), the F-15s are
unable to locate or identify the vehicle. FAA and NORAD both confirm the
event and NORAD publicly confirms the launch of the F-15s. (Tyler
Rogoway, “You
Need to Hear These FAA Tapes from That Oregon UFO Incident That Sent
F- 15s
Scrambling,” The Drive: The War Zone, February 15, 2018; US Air
Force, “Sniper
Pod”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7702
Date: 10/27/2017
Description: A group of scientists, former military and law enforcement
officials, and other professionals form the Scientific Coalition for
Ufology [later changed to the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies] to
conduct and encourage the rigorous scientific examination of UFO
phenomena. Its executive board includes Robert
Powell, Richard
Hoffman, and other scientists and professionals. (Scientific Coalition
for Ufology, “Scientific
Study of UFOs
To Be Focus of New Organization,” October 27, 2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7703
Date: 12/5/2017
Description: In Moscow, Russia, covert CIA operative Marc Polymeropoulos
suddenly gets symptoms similar to Havana Syndrome. In the spring of
2018, a private neurologist gives Polymeropoulos a diagnosis: occipital
neuralgia, a condition resulting from damage to the two nerves that run
from the base of the skull, curving toward the front of the head. (Julia
Joffe, “The
Mystery of the Immaculate Concussion,” GQ, October 19, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7704
Date: 12/16/2017
Description: The US Department of Defense confirms the existence of a
Defense Intelligence Agency program used to collect data on military UFO
sightings, the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program
(misidentified as the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program)
that was disbanded in 2010. (Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie
Kean, “Glowing
Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious
UFO Program,” New York Times, December 16, 2017; Clark III 48)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7705
Date: 12/16/2017
Description: NY Times discloses the Pentagon’s AATIP program
Type: newspaper article
Reference: NY
Times
Location: Washington DC
Date: 12/19/2017
Description: Luis
Elizondo states on CNN that he believes there is “very compelling
evidence we may not be alone.” (“Former
Pentagon Official: ‘We May Not Be Alone,’” CNN, December 19,
2017)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7706
Date: 2018
Description: The British UFO Research Association publishes Vehicle
Interference Report, compiled by Geoff Falla and Michael Hudson,
summarizing 1,188 EM cases from 1908 to 2013. (Geoff Falla and Michael
Hudson, Vehicle Interference
Report, BUFORA,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7707
Date: 2018
Description: Jerome Clark completes the third edition of his two-volume
UFO encyclopedia. (Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, Omnigraphics,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7708
Date: 1/2018
Description: A total of 11 satellites carrying Space-Based Infrared
System or Space Tracking and Surveillance System payloads are operating
in medium-earth, highly elliptical, and geosynchronous orbits that
together provide continuous global coverage of infrared energy sources.
Originally designed to detect missile launches, and later aircraft, this
highly sophisticated capability continues to evolve and improve. This
work is being undertaken at the Air Force’s Overhead Persistent Infrared
Battlespace Awareness Center at Buckley AFB in Aurora, Colorado, as well
as its new Data Utilization Lab. (Wikipedia, “Spaced-Based
Infrared System”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7709
Date: 1/5/2018
Description: 1:30 a.m. A woman looking from her bedroom window in
Linden, Michigan, sees a large object emitting red-orange light
approaching her. It stops dead above her head, accelerates, then slows
down. Her husband goes outside and watches it before it blinks out.
(Jenny Randles, “The Twelve UFOs of Christmas,” Fortean Times 374
(Christmas 2018): 29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7710
Date: 1/8/2018
Description: The Associated Press reports that a non-public FBI report
has found no evidence of an intentional sonic attack in Havana, Cuba.
(“Tillerson
Tells AP Cuba Still Risky; FBI Doubts Sonic Attack,” Associated
Press, January 8, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7711
Date: 1/9/2018
Description: The Defense Intelligence Agency responds to an inquiry by
Sen. John
McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Jack
Reed (D-R.I.) regarding 38 projects that the military’s Advanced
Aviation Threat Identification Program [in reality, the Advanced
Aerospace Weapon System Application Program] has been involved with. The
letter is released on January 16 in response to a FOIA request by Steven
Aftergood, director
of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy.
One such research topic, “Traversable Wormholes, Stargates, and Negative
Energy,” was led by Eric
W. Davis of EarthTech International, which was founded by Harold
E. Puthoff, who was formerly involved in the Stargate Project.
Another project called “Invisibility Cloaking” was headed by German
scientist Ulf
Leonhardt, a
professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Yet another
title, “Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra
Dimensions,” was attributed to theoretical physicist Richard
Obousy, director
of the nonprofit Icarus Interstellar. One of those papers was released
to the public by Popular Mechanics on February 14, 2020. Titled
“Clinical Medical Acute and Subacute Field Effects on Human Dermal and
Neurological Tissues,” it is written by Christopher
(Kit) Green, formerly
a CIA agent, forensic clinician, and neuroscientist, who describes it as
“focused on forensically assessing accounts of injuries that could have
resulted from claimed encounters with UAP.”
(Joseph Trevithick, “Here’s
the List of Studies the Military’s
Secretive UFO Program Funded, SomeWere Junk,” The Drive: The War
Zone, January 18, 2019; US Defense Intelligence Agency, [A
list of all products produced under the AAWSAP contract])
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7713
Date: 1/9/2018
Description: At the direction of US Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson, the State Department conveys an Accountability Review
Board to “review security incidents involving diplomatic personnel.”
Retired US Ambassador to Libya Peter
W. Bodde is chosen to lead the board. (“Retired
Ambassador to Libya to Lead Cuba Attacks Review,” CNN, January 10,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7712
Date: 2/2018
Description: The Brazilian Ufologists Commission begins a new phase of
its “UFOs: Freedom of Information Now” campaign called “We Have the
Right to Know.” The campaign demands that the Brazilian Army, the Minas
Gerais military police, and the fire brigade of Varginha release the
secret files on the 1996 Varginha case. (Clark III 209)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7714
Date: 2/1/2018
Description: 6:10 p.m. An Airbus A321 pilot is descending from 10,000
feet into Manchester Airport, England, when he sees a grayish,
thin-profiled object that passes by very close at the same altitude at
great speed down the left side of the aircraft. His initial reaction is
that he has seen an internal reflection, but the First Officer and
another person have also seen it. None of them have a clear view because
it is in the landing-light beam for a split second. (UK Airprox Board,
“Assessment Summary Sheet for UKAB Meeting on 25th April 2018”; “UKAB
‘Unknown Object’ Log 2017–2020,” Fortean Times 406 (June 2021):
43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7715
Date: 2/16/2018
Description: 9:16 p.m. A witness in Driebergen-Rijsenburg, Netherlands,
sees three irregularly flashing lights flying toward the northwest. One
of the lights suddenly leaves the formation and flies off in another
direction. The lights fly slowly and silently for 6 minutes. (“3
rode oplichtende punten aan de hemel,” UFO Meldpunt Nederland,
February 16, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7716
Date: 2/20/2018
Description: 10:00 p.m. A woman in Ede, Netherlands, sees three points
of light (one brighter than the others) on a triangular object that is
moving toward the northwest. She watches it for 2 minutes. (“Driehoek
formatie 3 lichtpunten,”
UFO Meldpunt Nederland, February 21, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7717
Date: 2/23/2018
Description: 6:50 p.m. Two witnesses in Oudenaarde, Belgium, see a
“hanging dot” that ascends at an enormous speed. (Belgisch UFO-Meldpunt,
March 4, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7719
Date: 2/23/2018
Description: 7:30 a.m. Several people traveling to work in Wielsbeke
from the village of Waregem, Belgium, see a hovering triangle with two
bright lights like a star. There are red lights on its wings, and it is
shaped like a B2 stealth bomber. (Belgisch UFO-Meldpunt, March 4,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7718
Date: 2/23/2018
Description: 10:40 p.m. A witness going outside for a smoke in
Biervliet, Netherlands, sees three globes flying in a straight line.
They move closer together and disappear at the same time as they seem to
merge. (“Drie lichtbollen,”
UFO Meldpunt Nederland, February 23, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7720
Date: 2/24/2018
Description: 3:40 p.m. A Learjet 36 belonging to Phoenix Air flying at
37,000 feet reports an object passing above them going in the opposite
direction at about 40,000 feet. Minutes later, Blenus Green, pilot of an
American Airlines Airbus A321 flying on the same air route at 40,000
feet, reports a bright object passing above them in the opposite
direction by about 2,000–3,000 feet. The planes are moving east between
the Sonoran Desert National Monument in southern Arizona and the New
Mexico border. The air traffic controller in Albuquerque is unable to
verify any other aircraft in the area. (Tyler Rogoway, “Learjet
and Airbus Had Strange Encounter with Mysterious Craft
over Arizona,” The Drive: The War Zone, March 8, 2018; “2
Airline Pilots Report Seeing UFO While Flying
over Arizona,” CBS News, March 29, 2018; Jenny Randles, “The Sonora
Desert Incident,” Fortean Times 367 (June 2018): 31; Patrick Gross, “Pilots
Sightings”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7723
Date: 2/24/2018
Description: 1:00 a.m. A man steps outside his house in Mol, Belgium,
when it suddenly becomes light outside. Looking up, he sees an orange
fireball flying past with small fragments falling off it. It is silent
and does not explode. (Belgisch UFO-Meldpunt, March 4, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7721
Date: 2/24/2018
Description: 1:15 a.m. A man in Breda, Netherlands, looks out his
bedroom window and sees an enormous globe of white and turquoise light
as large as the full moon. The light is so brilliant it hurts his eyes
to look at it for 6 seconds. (“Felle
turqouise-witte bewegende lichtbol, grootte van een volle maan,” UFO
Meldpunt Nederland, February 24, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7722
Date: 2/25/2018
Description: 6:45 a.m. A witness in Lendele, Belgium, looks out the
window and sees a large, bright globe without a tail shooting toward the
ground. After a few seconds it disappears. (Belgisch UFO-Meldpunt, March
4, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7724
Date: 2/26/2018
Description: 7:30 p.m. A man walking his dog in Sibculo, Netherlands,
takes a video of a bright, flashing object. (“Snel bewegend
verspringd licht,” UFO Meldpunt Nederland, February 26, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7725
Date: 2/27/2018
Description: 10:10 p.m. A cluster of 3–5 orange-white lights is seen
moving and hovering above Heerlen, Netherlands. (“3–5
oranje witte lichten in de lucht kijk hoek 44° Noord Oosten,” UFO
Meldpunt Nederland, February 27, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7728
Date: 2/27/2018
Description: The Trump administration
requests $81.1 billion, the largest amount ever, in funding for the
black budget that bankrolls US intelligence operations. $59.9 billion is
earmarked for the National Intelligence Program for non-military
efforts. The other $21.2 billion would go to the Military Intelligence
Program for the Defense Department. (“DNI
Releases Budget Figure for FY 2019 Appropriations Requested for the
National Intelligence Program,”
Office of the Director of National Intelligence, February 27, 2018; “Trump
Administration Requests Record
$81.1 Billion for ‘Black Budget,’” Washington Times, February 28,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7726
Date: 2/27/2018
Description: 6:30 p.m. A 13-year-old boy in Briele, Netherlands, watches
two black discs with red lights flying together. (“2
zwarte (met rode streep) schijven die naast elkaar vliegen,” UFO
Meldpunt Nederland, February 27, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7727
Date: 2/28/2018
Description: 6:20 p.m. A semi-transparent oval object flies 30–50 feet
above the A2 highway near Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, Netherlands, before
moving over an adjacent meadow. (“Grijs
semi-transparante bal vloog boven snelweg,”
UFO Meldpunt Nederland, February 28, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7729
Date: 3/2018
Description: University of Pennsylvania researchers examine 21 affected
diplomats from the US Embassy in Havana, Cuba, and the preliminary
results are published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association. The report “found no evidence of white matter tract
abnormalities” in affected diplomats, beyond what might be seen in a
control group of the same age and describe “a new syndrome in the
diplomats that resembles persistent concussion.” While some diplomats
recover swiftly, others have symptoms that last for months. The study
concludes that “the diplomats appear to have sustained injury to
widespread brain networks.” Some experts criticize the study, arguing
that there is “no proof that any kind of energy source affected the
diplomats, or even that an attack took place.” MRI scans and other tests
taken by a chief neurologist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on an
unspecified number of Canadian diplomats posted in Havana show evidence
of brain damage that mirrors the injuries of some of their US
counterparts. Global Affairs Canada withdraws all staff with families.
(“Fresh
Row over Mysterious Sickness
Affecting US Diplomats in Cuba,” The Guardian (UK), February 24,
2018; Randel L. Swanson II, et al., “Neurological
Manifestations among US Government Personnel Reporting Directional
Audible and Sensory Phenomena
in Havana, Cuba,” Journal of the American Medical Association 319
(March 20, 2018): 1125–1133; “Blood
and Bureaucracy: Inside Canada’s Panicked Response to ‘Havana
Syndrome,’” Toronto (Ont.) Globe and Mail, December 12, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7730
Date: 3/2/2018
Description: The US State Department announces it will continue to staff
its embassy in Havana, Cuba, at the minimum level required to perform
“core diplomatic and consular functions” due to concerns about health
attacks on staff. The embassy has been operating under “ordered
departure status” since September, but the status is set to expire. This
announcement serves to extend the staff reductions indefinitely. (“US
Embassy in Cuba to Reduce Staff Indefinitely
after ‘Health Attacks,’” CNN, March 2, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7731
Date: 3/9/2018
Description: The US Air Force officially retires the MQ-1 Predator drone
from operational service. The aircraft was first operationally deployed
in 1995 and in 2011 the last of 268 Predators were delivered to the
service, of which just over 100 were still in service by the start of
2018. While the Predator was phased out by the Air Force in favor of the
heavier and more capable MQ-9 Reaper, the Predator continues to serve in
the MQ-1C Gray Eagle derivative for the US Army as well as with several
foreign nations. (Wikipedia, “General
Atomics MQ-1 Predator”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7732
Date: 3/13/2018
Description: 4:15 p.m. An F/A-18E Super Hornet from Strike Fighter
Squadron 106 (VFA-106, the “Gladiators”) tracks four separate unknown
objects on its radar in the W-122 warning area, which sits off the coast
of North Carolina. The objects are all flying at approximately 0.1 Mach
at altitudes between 16,000 and 22,000 feet. The pilot visually
identifies one at 20,000 feet that “appeared to be a quadcopter-type
drone, 3–4 feet wide.” The objects do not appear to be doing anything in
particular and are stationary or near-stationary. They are also spread
out across an area approximately 40 to 50 miles wide, with the closest
one being 15 miles away from the one boat that the pilot noted seeing
below. (Tyler Rogoway and Joseph Trevithick, “Here
Are the Navy Pilot Reports from Encounters
with Mysterious Aircraft off the East Coast,” The Drive: The War
Zone, May 12, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7733
Date: 4/5/2018
Description: Night. Dogs belonging to a witness in DeRidder, Louisiana,
begin growling in the living room, and cows in the pasture are mooing
excitedly. Outside, he sees a huge white light growing and intensity and
pulsating for 15 minutes. When it disappears, the animals calm down.
(Randle, Levelland, 2021, p. 125)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7734
Date: 5/5/2018
Description: 12:45 p.m. A B757 airliner pilot is approaching Gatwick
Airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, in busy airspace when the
First Officer and Captain see a fairly large, irregular-shaped,
dark-lack object pass down the left side at the same altitude within 200
feet of the aircraft, heading in an easterly direction. No avoiding
action is needed, but the incident is reported to Gatwick control. (UK
Airprox Board, “The UKAB Meeting on 20th June 2018 Consisted Solely of
Consolidated Drone/Balloon/Model/Unknown Object Report Sheet”; “UKAB
‘Unknown Object’ Log 2017–2020,” Fortean Times 406 (June 2021):
43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7735
Date: 5/23/2018
Description: After an employee of the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China,
reports medical symptoms (abnormal sensations of sound and pressure) in
April that are similar to the diplomats in Havana, Cuba, Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo confirms
to the House Foreign Affairs Committee that there are several reports
from diplomatic staff in Guangzhou of symptoms “entirely consistent”
with those reported from Cuba. A medical team arrives at the end of the
month to conduct baseline medical evaluations on consulate staff. Some
are evacuated to the US, including security engineering officer Mark
Lenzi, who has been hearing sounds like “marbles bouncing and hitting
the floor” since April 2017, followed by excruciating headaches and
insomnia. (“US
Embassy Pulls More China Staff over
Mystery Illness,” BBC News, June 7, 2018; Richard Stone, “Sonic
Attack or Mass Paranoia? New Evidence Stokes
Debate over Diplomats’ Mysterious Illness,” Science, June 20, 2018;
“US
Diplomat Mark Lenzi, Who Suffered
Mysterious Injury While Stationed in China, Pledges to Donate Brain to
Science,” South China Morning Post, May 11, 2019; Julia Joffe, “The
Mystery of the Immaculate Concussion,” GQ, October 19, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7736
Date: 7/5/2018
Description: 9:30 a.m. A King Air BE90 pilot is cruising at 16,000 feet
about 10 nautical miles north of Birmingham, England, when he sees a
rectangular or elliptical object pass 500–1,000 feet below the aircraft.
He estimates it is 20–40 inches long, although it is only in sight for 2
seconds below it passes beneath the plane. It is either hovering or
traveling in the opposite direction. (UK Airprox Board, “Assessment
Summary Sheet for UKAB Meeting on 12th September 2018”; “UKAB ‘Unknown
Object’ Log 2017–2020,” Fortean Times 406 (June 2021): 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7737
Date: 7/26/2018
Description: The To The Stars Academy’s ADAM Research Project is
announced to test extraterrestrial materials for commercial and military
applications. The testing will be done through Harold
E. Puthoff’s EarthTech International in Austin, Texas. (To The Stars
Academy, “An Introduction to the ADAM Rsearch Project,” July 26,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7738
Date: 8/6/2018
Description: 11:20 p.m. A resident of Heemstede, Netherlands, is
skywatching when he suddenly sees a silent triangular object with three
white lights moving faster than an airplane. (“Drie
lichtjies in driehoeksvorm leek zwart vlak in het
midden te zitten,” UFO Meldpunt Nederland, August 6, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7739
Date: 8/12/2018
Description: 11:30 p.m. Frédéric K. and a companion are watching the
night sky in Viry, Haute-Savoie, France, when they see a black triangle
with lights at each of its points. The object is nearly motionless, but
it is rotating slightly and is completely silent. K. is struck by its
immense size, which he estimates is several times the size of an
airliner. After a few seconds it moves slowly northeast toward Geneva,
Switzerland. (Daniel Robin, “Les triangles de la nuit (suite),”
Ovnis-Direct, August 23, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7740
Date: 8/14/2018
Description: TTSA’s “ADAM Project” (an acronym for Acquisition &
Data Analysis of Materials) hand delivers exotic materials claimed to be
from a crashed UFO to EarthTech in Austin, TX.
Type: delivery
Reference: YouTube)
Location: Austin, TX
Date: 9/1/2018
Description: According to a New York Times report, Douglas
H. Smith, the lead author of the March study on Havana Syndrome and
director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of
Pennsylvania, says that microwaves are now considered a main suspect and
that the team is increasingly sure the diplomats have suffered brain
injury. Strikes with microwaves, some experts now argue, more plausibly
explain reports of painful sounds, ills, and traumas than do other
possible culprits—sonic attacks, viral infections, and contagious
anxiety. In particular, a growing number of analysts cite an eerie
phenomenon known as the Frey effect, named after Allan
H. Frey, an
American scientist, who in the 1960s found that microwaves can trick the
brain into perceiving what seem to be ordinary sounds. The false
sensations may account for a defining symptom of the diplomatic
incidents—the perception of loud noises, including ringing, buzzing, and
grinding. Initially, experts cited those symptoms as evidence of
stealthy attacks with sonic weapons. (William J. Broad, “Microwave
Weapons Are Prime
Suspect in Ills of U.S. Embassy Workers,” New York Times, September
1, 2018; Beatrice Alexandra Golomb, “Diplomats’
Mystery Illness and Pulsed Radiofrequency/Microwave Radiation,”
Neural Computation 30 (2018): 2882–2985)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7741
Date: 10/11/2018
Description: Ufologist Robert O. Dean dies at age 89. Dean gave public
presentations about secret documents we read at NATO SHAPE concerning
UFO’s.
Type: death
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Tucson, AZ
Date: 10/15/2018
Description: The Five Continents UFO Forum is held in the Cosmos Hotel
in Moscow, Russia, to serve as a platform to launch a worldwide UFO
organization. The nine founders of the World Coalition on
Extraterrestrial Contact include Don
Schmitt (US), Roberto
Pinotti (Italy), Gary
Heseltine (UK), Ademar
José Gevaerd (Brazil), Andrea Simondini (Argentina), Haktan
Ardogan (Turkey), Gabor Tarçali (Hungary), Lachezar
Filipov (Bulgaria), and Anthony
Choy (Peru). The conference is promoted by the Russian Kosmopoisk
group and the International Chinese UFO Association. (2Pinotti
230–231)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7742
Date: 10/26/2018
Description: Harvard astronomer Avi
Loeb and his postdoctoral assistant Shmuel Bialy submit a paper
exploring the possibility that the recently discovered interstellar
object ʻOumuamua is an artificial thin solar sail accelerated by solar
radiation pressure in an effort to help explain the object’s
nongravitational acceleration. Other scientists state that the available
evidence is insufficient to consider such a premise and that a tumbling
solar sail would not be able to accelerate. In response, Loeb writes an
article detailing six anomalous properties of ʻOumuamua that make it
unusual, unlike any comets or asteroids seen before. A subsequent report
on observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope sets a tight limit on
cometary outgassing of any carbon-based molecules and indicates that
ʻOumuamua is at least 10 times shinier than a typical comet. A detailed
podcast produced by Rob Reid provides the full details about the
differences between ʻOumuamua and known comets. (Wikipedia, “’Oumuamua”;
Abraham Loeb, “How to
Search for Dead Cosmic Civilizations,” Scientific American blog,
September 27, 2018; Shmuel Bialy and Abraham Loeb, “Could
Solar Radiation Pressure Explain ’Oumuamua’s Peculiar Acceleration?”
arXiv, October 26, 2018; Matt Williams, “Could
’Oumuamua Be an Extraterrestrial Solar Sail?” Universe Today,
October 31, 2018; “Cigar-Shaped
Interstellar Object May Have Been an Alien Probe, Harvard Paper
Claims,” WPSD-TV, Paducah, Kentucky, November 6, 2018; Kerry
Sheridan, “Scientists
Push Back against Harvard ’Alien Spacecraft’
Theory,” Phys.org, November 7, 2018; Abraham Loeb, “6
Strange Facts about the Interstellar Visitor ’Oumuamua,”
Scientific American blog, November 20, 2018; D.E. Trilling, et al., “Spitzer
Observations of Interstellar
Object 1I/’Oumuamua,” aeXiv, November 20, 2018; Rob Reid, “Nailing
Down the Nature of ’Oumuamua:
It’s Probably a Comet, But…” Ars Technica, November 29, 2018; Oded
Carmeli, “If
True, This Could
Be One of the Greatest Discoveries in Human History,” Haaretz,
January 16, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7743
Date: 11/6/2018
Description: Around midnight. The pilots of a US Army AH-64 Apache
attack helicopter are preparing to take off from an airstrip about 40
miles northwest of Tucson, Arizona, when they spot three objects in a
loose triangular formation in the sky at a low altitude. The copilot
continues to follow the three objects with the aircraft’s multi- sensor
imaging system, the Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night
Vision Sensor. As the three objects approach the foothills of nearby
Picacho Peak, they suddenly appear to rotate around each other, as if
revolving around an unseen axis, all while maintaining a steady eastward
trajectory. Pilot Chris Lehto says they are moving at an unexpectedly
high rate of speed. After several rotations, the objects then resume an
obtuse triangular formation before speeding out of sight as the Apache
begins to take off. (Tim McMillan, Micah Hanks, and Christopher Plain,
“Incursions
at the Border: Homeland Security Agents Tell of Encounters with
Unidentified Aerial
Phenomena,” The DeBrief, May 27, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7744
Date: 11/9/2018
Description: 6:47 a.m. A British Airways 787 is flying eastward just off
the coast of County Kerry, Ireland, near the Dingle peninsula at 330 mph
at an altitude of 39,000 feet. Two other aircraft, a Norwegian Airlines
737 in front of it and a Virgin VA 76 behind, are on the same flight
path. The pilot of the British Airways plane notices a bright light
moving fast on the left and rapidly veers north. She asks Shannon
Airport if there are military planes in the area. They tell the pilot no
and that nothing is showing on their radar. The Virgin pilot has seen it
and thinks it is a meteor or satellite re-entry. The Norwegian pilot has
seen two bright lights. Shannon verifies that other aircraft have
witnessed the event. (Jenny Randles, “Irish Mid-Air Spectacular,”
Fortean Times 375 (January 2019): 33)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7745
Date: 11/9/2018
Description: A report finds that the earlier FBI investigation into the
Cuban health attacks has been stymied by conflicts with the CIA and
State Department. The CIA is reluctant to reveal, even to other US
agencies, the identities of affected officers. Federal rules on the
confidentiality of medical records also hindered the investigation.
(Adam Entous and Jon Lee Anderson, “The
Mystery of the Havana Syndrome,” New Yorker, November 9, 2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7746
Date: 11/17/2018
Description: Day. A Cargojet flight from the Cincinnati area to Calgary,
Alberta, observes bright lights high above Saskatchewan, while a
corresponding Canadian Air Defence Sector log entry describes “bright
shining lights” that are “maneuvering and moving fast.” (Daniel Otis,
“Credible
UFO Reports Are Being Ignored, Declassified Canadian
Government Documents Reveal,” Motherboard, November 29, 2021; CADORS
Report, no. 2018C4984)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7747
Date: 11/19/2018
Description: The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization announces that all 21 monitoring
facilities located in Australia are completed “and sending reliable,
high-quality data” to Vienna, Austria, for analysis. The global
monitoring system consists of 337 facilities worldwide to monitor the
planet for signs of nuclear explosions. It includes 60 infrasound
stations that monitor for micropressure changes in Earth’s atmosphere,
which are caused by infrasonic waves. These waves have a low frequency
and cannot be heard by human ears, and can be caused by nuclear
explosions. (Wikipedia, “Preparatory
Commission for the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7748
Date: 11/21/2018
Description: Morning. The Canadian Air Defence Sector detects an
unidentified radar target approaching North America from the direction
of Greenland. Canadian CF-18 fighter jets are soon launched from CFB
Bagotville in Quebec to locate the “unknown track,” but find nothing. A
declassified report from the following day blames the “spurious data” on
equipment issues at a NORAD radar installation on Canada’s north
Atlantic coast. Later that day, CADS receives a UFO report from Edmonton
air traffic controllers about “3 red lights in the sky, hovering at the
approximate height of a cell phone tower” near High Prairie, Alberta.
This time, CADS responds by notifying Canadian NORAD headquarters in
Winnipeg and Transport Canada, the federal transportation department.
(Daniel Otis, “Credible
UFO Reports Are Being Ignored, Declassified Canadian Government
Documents Reveal,”
Motherboard, November 29, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7749
Date: 12/4/2018
Description: The independent documentary Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying
Saucers is released. The film, available on Netflix beginning in June
2019, “chronicles the challenges and travails of a cosmic whistleblower.
Burdened with a revolutionary secret, he had to choose between his oath
to his country or his conscience. Jeremy
Corbell’s film explores Lazar’s
groundbreaking claims and the devastating impact it has had on his life
over the course of the last 30 years, including rare and never before
revealed footage guaranteed to alter the landscape of the debate.”
“Unfortunately, Corbell busies up the documentary with a barrage of
images of atomic age archival footage and such that after awhile make
the movie seem more like a collage than a film. There is also the
psychobabble narration that is mumbled by Mickey
Rourke; at times poetic, at times it comes off like comic relief.
It’s distracting and unnecessary.” (Internet Movie Database, “Bob
Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers”; “Watch
Bob Lazar:
Area 51 and Flying Saucers, 2021,” News of the World YouTube
channel, November 5, 2021; Amy Zimmerman, “Why
Did the FBI Raid the Home of the Biggest Alien Truther?” The Daily
Beast, December 4, 2018; Carlos, “Bob
Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers,” Cinema365, December 26,
2018)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7750
Date: 12/19/2018
End date: 12/21/2018
Description: Sightings of drones disrupt around 1,000 flights at Gatwick
Airport in West Sussex, England, causing flights to be diverted or
canceled. There are multiple reports but no physical or photographic
evidence. The military are called in with special anti-drone equipment.
Gatwick goes back to normal operations on December 21 after two people
are arrested then released without charge. (Wikipedia, “Gatwick
Airport drone incident”; “Who is
Drone Ranger?” The Sun (UK), December 21, 2018; “Gatwick
Drone Attack Possible Inside Job, Police Say,” BBC News, April 14,
2019; “The Gatwick Drone Enigma,” Fortean Times 406 (June 2021):
40–41)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7751
Date: 12/30/2018
Description: 6:45 p.m. The pilot of an Embraer 175 passenger plane
approaching the runway at Glasgow Airport, Scotland, sees an “object
pass between three and 10 feet from the aircraft at the same level.” The
pilot cannot tell what it is, but it is “lit up in various places and
was more horizontally long than it was vertically.” The Airprox board is
unable to identify the object, but decides there was a definite risk of
collision and luck played a part in missing it. (UK Airprox Board,
“Assessment Summary Sheet for UKAB Meeting on 13th February 2019”; “UKAB
‘Unknown Object’ Log 2017–2020,” Fortean Times 406 (June 2021):
43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7752
Date: 1/2019
Description: Ufologist Jenny
Randles retires the Northern UFO News after its 200th issue is
published. (Jenny Randles, “January
Issue Now Out,” Oz Factor Books)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7753
Date: 1/4/2019
Description: Biologists Alexander
L. Stubbs of the University of California, Berkeley, and Fernando
Montealegre-Z of the University of Lincoln analyze the recording of
a sound made by US personnel in Cuba and release it to the Associated
Press. They conclude that the sound is caused by the calling song of the
Indies short-tailed cricket (Anurogryllus celerinictus) rather than a
technological device. They match the song’s “pulse repetition rate,
power spectrum, pulse rate stability, and oscillations per pulse” to the
recording. (Carl Zimmer, “The
Sounds That Haunted
U.S. Diplomats in Cuba? Lovelorn Crickets, Scientists Say,” New York
Times, January 4, 2019; Robert W. Baloh and Robert E. Bartholomew,
Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story behind the
Embassy Mystery and Hysteria, Springer, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7754
Date: 1/6/2019
Description: The crew of a Vanguard Air Care flight sees an unidentified
light moving parallel to them for about three minutes while they are
travelling at about 265 mph at an altitude of 7,500 feet around the 55th
parallel over northern Manitoba. The CIRVIS report says the brightness
of the light in the night sky is what attracted the observer’s attention
and that NAV Canada’s Winnipeg Air Control Centre assumes that it is
another aircraft. 21 Aerospace Control and Warning Squadron at Canadian
Forces Base North Bay in Ontario is notified of the sighting. An
unclassified intelligence report is then faxed to Transport Canada. (“2019
Sighting of Unidentified Light
in Northern Manitoba Sky Was Reported to Air Force, Vice Says,”
Thompson (Man.) Citizen, April 14, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7755
Date: 1/8/2019
Description: The television series Project Blue Book premieres on the
History channel. The main role of J.
Allen Hynek is played by Aidan
Gillen, with
Laura
Mennell as Mimi Hynek. The series runs for a second season in 2020
before it is canceled. UFO skeptic Robert
Sheaffer, reviewing the first four episodes, points out numerous
historical inaccuracies and falsehoods, some of which he characterizes
as “absurd.” Concerned over misguiding viewers, he concludes that “this
program references real people by their real names, a real government
program, and real incidents. It then mixes in absurd and invented
details, while claiming that the show is based on real events.”
(Wikipedia, “Project
Blue Book (TV
series)”; Internet Movie Database, “Project
Blue Book”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7756
Date: 1/15/2019
Description: 11:40 a.m. An RAF Typhoon pilot is leading a pair of
fighters from Coningsby, England, to an exercise in the North Sea. After
receiving clearance to climb to 30,000 feet from 15,000 feet, he notices
an object at 11 o’clock about one nautical mile away, slightly higher
and maintaining a constant altitude. The radar and data link show no
traffic conflictions. The object reflects sunlight and appears to have a
linear form. It passes down the left- hand side of the aircraft. The
wingman independently sees the same object as it passes over the
leader’s aircraft. He maintains the formation at 15,000 feet until they
are clear of the object. Nothing unusual is noticed by ground radar. (UK
Airprox Board, “Assessment Summary Sheet for UKAB Meeting on 13th March
2019”; “UKAB ‘Unknown Object’ Log 2017–2020,” Fortean Times 406 (June
2021): 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7757
Date: 1/30/2019
Description: The government of Canada announces that it is reducing its
embassy staff in Havana, Cuba, after a 14th Canadian diplomat reports
symptoms of Havana syndrome in late December 2018. (“‘Havana
Syndrome’ Forces Canada
to Halve Its Diplomatic Presence in Cuba,” Radio Canada
International, January 30, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7758
Date: 2/6/2019
Description: The Canadian government is served with a $28 million dollar
lawsuit by five diplomats, on the alleged basis that Ottawa has not
promptly addressed the serious health concerns the Canadian diplomats
and their families have faced in Havana, Cuba, more than 2 years ago.
The origin of these health concerns is unknown, but these ailments
manifest as symptoms that are similar to that of a concussion. None of
these allegations have been proven in court. (“Ailing
Canadian Diplomats Who Served in Cuba Have ‘Visible and Real’ Health
Impacts, Trudeau
Says,” Toronto (Ont.) Star, February 7, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7759
Date: 2/10/2019
Description: Afternoon. Several people in Cogollos de Guadix, Granada,
Spain, observe three mysterious lights flash across the sky at great
speed, each of which falls in a different part of the village. José
María Madiedo at the Universidad de Huelva rules out meteorites because
the objects are only seen locally. (“Seen in the Skies,” Fortean Times
382, August 2019, p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7760
Date: 2/13/2019
Description: 4:35 p.m. The crew of an EA-18G Growler electronic warfare
aircraft from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23 (VX-23), flying out
Naval Air Station Patuxent River in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, and
conducting activities in the W-386 warning area, visually spot what they
specifically describe as “a red weather balloon” at 27,000 feet. Neither
Fleet Area Control and Surveillance Facility, Virginia Capes (FASCFAC
VACAPES), nor the Echo Control team responsible for overseeing
operations in the Atlantic Test Ranges off the coast, are aware of any
scheduled balloon activity. (Tyler Rogoway and Joseph Trevithick, “Here
Are the Navy Pilot
Reports from Encounters with Mysterious Aircraft off the East
Coast,” The Drive: The War Zone, May 12, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7761
Date: 3/2019
Description: NY Times: Dr. Eric W. Davis PhD, Aerospace Corporation (a
defense contractor), gives a classified briefing to a Defense Department
agency about retrievals from “off-world vehicles not made on this
earth.”
Type: senate briefing
Reference: NY
Times
Location: Washington DC
Date: 3/2019
Description: An airline passenger films a supposed UFO over the Aegean
Sea between Turkey and Greece. The film is taken through the airplane
window and shows a massive, gray-black, contrail-like object cutting
through a layer of clouds. Some investigators conclude it is an F-4
fighter jet of the Greek Air Force. (“Seen in the Skies,” Fortean Times
382, August 2019, p. 17)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7762
Date: 3/4/2019
Description: An FA-18 pilot flying out of NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, takes cellphone images of a UAP out of his cockpit in the W-72
warning area off the coast. His weapons systems officer captures three
different objects using the same cellphone. (Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer
Corbell, “The
US Navy Filmed Pyramid Shaped UFOs,” Extraordinary Beliefs, April 8,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7763
Date: 3/30/2019
Description: 2:00 p.m. A B787 airliner pilot flying over London,
England, sees a red object pass down the right-hand side of the aircraft
at 6,000 feet. It is impossible to identify, although it is large enough
to cause concern. (UK Airprox Board, “Assessment Summary Sheet for UKAB
Meeting on Wednesday 15th May 2019”; “UKAB ‘Unknown Object’ Log
2017–2020,” Fortean Times 406 (June 2021): 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7764
Date: 4/2019
Description: The UK National Archives releases 18 more UFO files that
had been missed since the last release in 2013. (“Ministry
of Defence Insider Reveals Contents of Britain’s ‘Final’ UFO Files,”
Metro (UK), January 30, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7765
Date: 4/2019
Description: The Parkes Observatory in New South Wales, Australia, picks
up a 982.992 MHz radio signal, labeled BLC1, emitted from Proxima
Centauri. Researchers from the Breakthrough Listen Project cannot
attribute it to any Earth-based or near-Earth human-created source.
Shifts in the signal’s frequency are consistent with a planet’s movement
and may be suggestive of a third planet within the system. As of
December 2020, follow-up observations have failed to detect the signal
again, a step necessary to confirm that the signal is a technosignature.
(Wikipedia, “BLC1”;
“Signal from Space,” Fortean Times 404 (April 2021): 15; David Appell,
“Meet
the Technosignature
Researcher on the Lookout for Exocivilizations,” Physics World,
February 2, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7766
Date: 4/4/2019
Description: The Argentine Air Force’s Comisión de Estudio de Fenómenos
Aeroespaciales is renamed the Centro de Identificación Aéroespacial.
(Milton Hourcade, “Argentina:
UFO Declassification,” U.A.P.S.G.–G.E.F.A.I., July 29, 2020;
Government of Argentina, “Centro
de Identificación Aéroespacial”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7767
Date: 4/28/2019
Description: 12:40 p.m. An Airbus A319 is climbing out from Gatwick
Airport, near Crawley, West Sussex, England, when the pilot sees an
object a few seconds after breaking through cloud at 17,000 feet. It
passes beneath them from the center of the aircraft and under the
right-hand wing and is clearly contrasted against the clouds. The small
object appears dark green in color with a white light on top. The UK
Airprox Board places this incident in the highest risk category. (UK
Airprox Board, “Assessment Summary Sheet for UKAB Meeting on
Wednesday 19th June 2019”; “UKAB ‘Unknown Object’ Log 2017–2020,”
Fortean Times 406 (June 2021): 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7768
Date: 4/30/2019
Description: In an interview, Dr. Eric W. Davis PhD (who has a security
clearance) talks about the “crash retrieval program” that was terminated
in 1989 for lack of progress.
Type: interview
Reference: link
Location: US
Date: 5/5/2019
Description: 2:00 p.m. An Airbus A320 pilot departing from Gatwick
Airport, England, sees a totally white object resembling a shoebox-sized
cube with a ball on top. It passes down the left-hand side of the
aircraft, slightly above and within 16 feet at 6,000 feet altitude. The
object appears to be in level flight. (UK Airprox Board, “Assessment
Summary Sheet for UKAB Meeting on Wednesday 19th June 2019”; “UKAB
‘Unknown Object’ Log 2017–2020,” Fortean Times 406 (June 2021):
43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7769
Date: 5/13/2019
Description: Ufologist and nuclear physicist Stanton T. Friedman dies
age 84
Type: death
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Toronto, Canada
Date: 5/22/2019
Description: Pentagon spokesman Christopher
Sherwood confirms to the New
York Post that the AATIP program “did pursue research and
investigation into unidentified aerial phenomena,” dispelling rumors
that the program only focused on theoretical physics. (Steven
Greenstreet, “The
Pentagon Finally Admits It Investigates UFOs,” New York Post, May
22, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7770
Date: 5/24/2019
Description: Researchers who examine Canadian diplomats affected by
Havana Syndrome come to the conclusion that neurotoxin exposure is
compatible with the symptoms. Their explanation of the root cause is the
increased use of fumigation as pest control by the embassies themselves,
which is supported by blood analysis. (“Havana Syndrome:
Exposure to Neurotoxin May Have Been Cause, Study Suggests,” CBC
News, September 19, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7771
Date: 5/26/2019
Description: The New York Times reports that US Navy pilots fully
briefed AATIP about encounters they had with unexplained objects during
the summer of 2014 to March 2015 while flying at high altitudes off the
East coast of the United States. (Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and
Leslie Kean, “‘Wow, What Is That?’ Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying
Objects,” New York Times, May 26, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7772
Date: 5/31/2019
End date: 8/22/2020
Description: First season of History Channel’s “Unidentified: Inside
America’s UFO Investigation”
Type: documentary
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: US
Date: 6/2019
Description: The National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous
Phenomena issues an advisory for pilots that offers recommendations on
how to deal with UAPs by Ted Roe. It offers a general history of UAP,
some common profiles of unidentified objects, safety factors that can
arise during an incident, and cautions and recommendations for aircrews
and air traffic controllers. (Ted Roe, “Advisory
for Pilots, Aircrews, Air Controllers, and Aviation Professionals:
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, UAP, UFOs, and Aviation Safety,”
NARCAP, June 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7773
Date: 6/15/2019
Description: Approximately 4:45 p.m. The Skinwalker Ranch project in
Uintah County, Utah, orchestrated by Utah real estate developer Brandon
Fugal (who purchased the land from Robert
Bigelow in April 2016) and led by University of Alabama
astrophysicist and science fiction author Travis
S. Taylor, sends
up three instrumented small rockets to locate the source of strong RF
and gamma radiation apparently coming from about one mile above the
property. Between the rocket tests, the team observes and films on two
occasions a round, white ball that moves erratically around the sky for
a few seconds before disappearing. Cows in a neighboring field are
agitated and group closely together in one spot. (The Secret of
Skinwalker Ranch, Season 1, Episode 4, 2020; Internet Movie Database,
“The
Secret of Skinwalker Ranch”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7775
Date: 6/15/2019
Description: President Donald
Trump tells ABC News’ George
Stephanopoulos that he has been briefed on Navy pilots reporting
increased sightings of UFOs. Trump raises his eyebrows and grins
incredulously when asked what he makes of the reports. “I want them to
think whatever they think,” Trump says of the Navy pilots. “I did have
one very brief meeting on it. But people are saying they’re seeing UFOs.
Do I believe it? Not particularly.” (Matthew Choi, “Trump
Says He Was Briefed on Navy Sightings of UFOs,” Politico, June 15,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7774
Date: 6/20/2019
Description: Bob Lazar and film maker Jeremy Corbell sit down for an
interview with Joe Rogan
Type: interview
Reference: “Dreamland” by Bob Lazar (TODO)
Location: US
Date: 6/23/2019
Description: The catalog of space objects built by the US Space
Surveillance Network lists 44,336 objects including 8,558 satellites
launched into orbit since 1957. 17,480 of them are actively tracked
while 1,335 are lost. The rest have re-entered Earth’s turbulent
atmosphere and disintegrated, or survived re-entry and impacted the
Earth. The SSN typically tracks space objects that are baseball size or
larger. The Space Surveillance Network has numerous sensors that provide
data. They are separated into three categories: dedicated sensors,
collateral sensors and auxiliary sensors. Additionally sensors are
classified as Near-Earth (NE) tracking (observing satellites, space
debris, and other objects in lower orbits), or Deep Space (DS) tracking
(generally for asteroids and comets). This global program consists of at
least 29 distinct worldwide space surveillance systems, featuring the
world’s most powerful radars (including the Solid State Phased Array
Radar System), the DARPA Space Surveillance Telescope, the ground-based
optical GEODSS space surveillance system (which detects “uncorrelated
targets”), the Geosynchronous Space-Based Situational Awareness Program,
and the Navy’s sea-based X-band radar system. The Combined Space
Operations Center (formerly the Joint Space Operations Center) at
Vandenberg Space Force Base and the Space Control Center at Cheyenne
Mountain are both repositories of data from the SSN. (Wikipedia, “United
States Space Surveillance Network”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7776
Date: 6/27/2019
Description: The Storm Area 51 Facebook event is created by college
student Matty Roberts as a joke, unaware of the viral attention it will
receive. He comes up with the idea of suggesting a raid on the Nevada
facility to search for aliens after watching Area 51 conspiracy theorist
Bob
Lazar and filmmaker Jeremy
Corbell on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast on June 20. The event
plans for the raid in Amargosa Valley on September 20. More than 2
million people responded “going” and 1.5 million “interested” on the
event page, which subsequently attracts widespread media reaction and
makes the event become an internet meme. (Wikipedia, “Storm
Area 51”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7777
Date: 7/2019
Description: Subsequent findings by the University of Pennsylvania team
find that, compared to a healthy control group, the US diplomats who
report injury in the Havana, Cuba, embassy have experienced brain
trauma; advanced MRI scans (specifically res-fMRI, multimodal MRI, and
diffusion MRI) reveal “differences in whole brain white matter volume,
regional gray and white matter volume, cerebellar microstructural
integrity, and functional connectivity in the auditory and visuospatial
subnetworks” but find no differences in executive functions. The study
concludes that the US government personnel have been physically injured
in a way consistent with the symptoms that they describe but express no
conclusion on the cause or source of the injury. The New York Times
reports: “Outside experts were divided on the study’s conclusions. Some
saw important new evidence; others say it is merely a first step toward
an explanation, and difficult to interpret given the small number of
patients.” (Benedict Carey, “Were
U.S. Diplomats Attacked in Cuba? Brain Study Deepens Mystery,” New
York Times, July 23, 2019; Ragini Verma, et al., “Neuroimaging
Findings in US Government Personnel with Possible Exposure to Directional
Phenomena in Havana, Cuba,” Journal of the American Medical
Association 322 (July 23/30, 2019): 336–347)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7778
Date: 7/14/2019
Description: 10:00 p.m. Two unmanned aerial systems (UAVs, or “drones”)
are sighted by the crew of the guided missile destroyer USS
Kidd off
the western tip of San Clemente Island, California. The ship immediately
activates its photo expert team (SNOOPIE) and enters into a condition of
restricted communications designed to enhance operational security and
enhance survivability. Less than 10 minutes later, the USS Kidd advises
the USS
Rafael Peralta of
the situation. The USS Rafael Peralta logs show that at around 10:00
p.m. it had activated its own SNOOPIE team. Reports of possible UAV
sightings and a red flashing light come in from the USS
John
Finn. A white light hovers above the flight deck of the USS Rafael
Peralta. The drone manages to match the destroyer’s speed, moving at 16
knots in order to maintain a hovering position over the helicopter
landing pad. By this point, the encounter has lasted over 90
minutes—significantly longer than what commercially available drones can
typically sustain. (Adam Kehoe and Marc Cecotti, “Multiple
Destroyers Were Swarmed by Mysterious ‘Drones’ off
California over Numerous Nights,” The Drive: The War Zone, March 23,
2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7779
Date: 7/15/2019
Description: 8:39 p.m. The USS
Rafael
Peralta again spots unidentified UAVs between San Clemente Island
and San Diego, California, and by 9:00 p.m. the USS
Kidd is
also reporting them. The drones seem to be pursuing the ships, even as
they continue to maneuver throughout the incident. By 9:20 p.m., the USS
Kidd logs simply remark “Multiple UAVs around ship.” 17 minutes later,
the Kidd issues orders for the crew to man what is possibly a Mark 87
Electro-Optical Director to provide surveillance and tracking data. At
approximately the same time, the USS
Russell records
a frenzy of activity, with drones dropping in elevation, and apparently
moving forward and backward, left and right. Meanwhile, the USS
Rafael
Peralta receives a radio call from a passing cruise ship, the Carnival
Imagination, notifying
them that the drones are not theirs, and that they also see as many as
five or six drones maneuvering nearby. The incident continues into the
night, with the USS Rafael Peralta first recording two UAVs and then
four UAVs near their ship. Approaching midnight, the USS Russell reports
a final sighting involving multiple pyramid-shaped objects. Despite the
nearly three-hour duration of the event, none of the warships involved
appear to have been able to identify the drones. The Navy, Coast Guard,
and FBI investigate the natter and are unable to provide an adequate
investigation. Leaked photos and videos said to pertain to this incident
are released by filmmaker Jeremy
Corbell. The
materials consisted of footage of radar screens showing multiple unknown
contacts, video of an object apparently falling into the ocean, and a
brief video of a triangular- shaped light flying over the deck of a
ship. The apparent triangular shape of the object has been strongly
debated, as many have posited it was the result of a common optical
artifact. (Adam Kehoe and Marc Cecotti, “Multiple Destroyers
Were Swarmed by Mysterious ‘Drones’ off California over Numerous
Nights,” The Drive: The War Zone, March 23, 2021; Jeremy Kenyon
Lockyer Corbell, “The
US Navy Filmed Pyramid Shaped UFOs,” Extraordinary Beliefs, April 8,
2021; “2019
the US Navy Filmed ‘Pyramid’ Shaped UFOs: Here Is That Footage,”
Jeremy Corbell YouTube channel, April 8, 2021; “Pyramid
UFO, New Footage: It’s Just Bokeh, Not a Pyramid,” Mick West YouTube
channel, April 15, 2021; “VFX
Artists Debunk Pentagon UFO Videos,” Corridor Crew YouTube channel,
August 15, 2021; Graeme Rendall, “‘Drone
Swarms’: UAPs or Other Actors?” UAP Media UK, April 20, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7780
Date: 7/16/2019
Description: Rep. Mark
Walker (R-N.C.), the ranking member of the House Intelligence and
Counterterrorism subcommittee, asks Secretary of the Navy Richard V.
Spencer to outline what resources the Navy is dedicating to
investigating UFO sightings. He also asks if officials have found
physical evidence to substantiate the claims and whether they are aware
of any foreign nations or private companies that have introduced
breakthrough technologies that could explain them. (Mark Walker, Letter
to Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer, July 16, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7781
Date: 7/17/2019
Description: 7:56–10:39 p.m. The Navy destroyer USS
Paul Hamilton is cruising 80 nautical miles southwest of San
Clemente Island, California, when it spots a UAS (unmanned aerial
systems) about one mile distant. Twenty minutes later, the timeline
indicates two UASs are seen with one of them falling in the water. By
8:26 p.m., multiple objects are spotted. The timeline also indicates
that the bridge was able to see flashing red lights. At 8:50 p.m., the
timeline notes a “UAS swarm.” By 9:11 p.m., the timeline notes that one
of the objects is directly overhead at 2,000 feet. Just a minute later,
all of the objects appear to change course and head away from the ship
at 69 mph. However, eight minutes later, UASs are again seen behind the
ship. The last event noted in the slide takes place when one of the UAS
crosses the ship at approximately 2,000 feet. A photo is taken with a
forward- looking infrared (FLIR) system that is of extremely low
resolution. Three blurry dots are discernible, but there are no other
visible details. (Adam Kehoe and Marc Cecotti, “Navy
Releases Timeline for Mysterious 2019 ’UAS Swarm’
Involving Warships Off California,” The Drive: The War Zone,
February 10, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7782
Date: 7/18/2019
Description: An investigation into the UAS incidents is routed to the
Chief of Naval Operations. (Adam Kehoe and Marc Cecotti, “Harassment
of Navy Destroyers by Mysterious Drone Swarms off California Went on for
Weeks,” The Drive: The War Zone, December 17, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7783
Date: 7/23/2019
Description: 8:50 p.m. Another drone is spotted by a SNOOPIE team on the
USS
Russell at an elevation of about 400 feet. A little over an hour
later, flares are spotted, though the logs do not remark if these are
connected to the ongoing drone sighting. (Adam Kehoe and Marc Cecotti,
“Harassment
of Navy Destroyers by Mysterious Drone Swarms off
California Went on for Weeks,” The Drive: The War Zone, December 17,
2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7784
Date: 7/24/2019
Description: 10:30 a.m. A new term is introduced to the USS Russell log:
“ghostbusters.” A log entry reflects an apparently brief counter UAS
exercise lasting about eight minutes. Though official references are
hard to come by, “ghostbuster” is a term sometimes used to refer to
lower-end counter UAS devices that look similar to rifles. These
anti-drone countermeasures are increasingly being used by security
forces around the world. They operate by using highly-directional
radiofrequency jammers designed to disrupt communications between drones
and their operators. One key limitation of these devices is that they
can only disable drones that are directly controlled by a human
operator. Autonomous systems are far more resilient against such
countermeasures. It is not perfectly clear if the Russell had this
equipment onboard previously, or if “ghostbuster” devices were brought
onboard in reaction to the earlier drone incidents. (Stew Magnuson, “OSD
to Recommend Big Budget Increase for Counter- Drone
Technologies,” National Defense, March 23, 2017; Brett Tingley, “Check
Out the Anti-Drone Weapons Carried
by Security at Biden’s Meeting in Brussels,” The Drive: The War
Zone, June 15, 2021; Adam Kehoe and Marc Cecotti, “Harassment
of Navy Destroyers by Mysterious Drone Swarms off California Went on for
Weeks,” The Drive: The War Zone, December 17, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7785
Date: 7/25/2019
Description: 1:20 a.m. Another unidentified drone incident, lasting 32
minutes, is reported by the USS
Kidd.
(Adam Kehoe and Marc Cecotti, “Multiple
Destroyers Were Swarmed by Mysterious ‘Drones’ off California over
Numerous Nights,”
The Drive: The War Zone, March 23, 2021;)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7786
Date: 7/30/2019
Description: 2:15 am. The USS
Kidd reports
another UAV incident. Its SNOOPIE team remains activated until 3:27 a.m.
Ships’ logs show a sustained, but an intermittent pattern of drone
sightings throughout the month of July by Navy ships operating off
Southern California. These events seem to have spurred additional
training and the rapid deployment of unique capabilities like the
“ghostbuster” counter-UAS equipment. It remains unknown what impact, if
any, this training and equipment has on deterring drone operations. At
least three ships report sighting drones in the very early hours of July
30, with unusual and extensive redactions in the logs of the USS
Russell, but
we do not know what happened the next day, or in the weeks that
followed. (Adam Kehoe and Marc Cecotti, “Multiple
Destroyers Were Swarmed by Mysterious ‘Drones’ off California over
Numerous Nights,” The Drive: The War Zone, March 23, 2021; Adam
Kehoe and Marc Cecotti, “Harassment
of Navy Destroyers by Mysterious Drone
Swarms off California Went on for Weeks,” The Drive: The War Zone,
December 17, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7787
Date: 7/31/2019
Description: In response to the inquiry by Mark
Walker, Navy
Undersecretary Thomas
Modly writes in a brief letter that “the Department of the Navy
takes these reports very seriously and continues to log sightings and
fully investigate the accounts.” (Bryan Bender, “Navy
Withholding Data on UFO Sightings, Congressman Says,” Politico,
September 6, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7788
Date: 8/2019
Description: An anonymous White House staffer who is accompanying
National Security Adviser John
Bolton in London, England, is in her hotel room when she suddenly
feels a tingling in the side of her head that is facing the window. The
intense pressure in her head is accompanied by a tinning in her ears.
When she leaves the room, the symptoms stop. She reports the incident to
the Secret Service because it is uncannily similar to the symptoms
described by American diplomats who had served in Cuba and China. (Julia
Joffe, “The
Mystery of the Immaculate
Concussion,” GQ, October 19, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7789
Date: 8/8/2019
Description: An explosion at the State Central Navy Testing Range near
Nyonoksa, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, triggers radiation levels to rise.
According to official Russian sources, the explosion is the result of a
failed test of an “isotope power source for a liquid-fueled rocket
engine,” possibly a 9M730 Burevestnik cruise missile test or recovery.
Five nuclear scientists die immediately and three suffer from burns.
Russian authorities order the evacuation of the village near the blast
site, suggesting grave dangers due to nuclear radiation. (Wikipedia, “Nyonska
radiation accident”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7790
Date: 9/6/2019
Description: Rep. Mark
Walker (R-N.C.) accuses the US Navy of withholding information about
reports of unidentified aircraft after officially requesting more data
on the mysterious encounters. “While I am encouraged the Under Secretary
of the Navy confirmed that UAP encounters are fully investigated, there
is frustration with the lack of answers to specific questions about the
threat that superior aircraft flying in United States airspace may
pose,” Walker tells Politico. (Bryan Bender, “Navy
Withholding Data on UFO Sightings, Congressman Says,” Politico,
September 6, 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7791
Date: 9/20/2019
Description: The Storm Area 51 Facebook event takes place with about 150
people showing up at the entrance to Area 51. Although no one succeeds
in entering the site, an estimated 3,000 attend the related music
festivals in Rachel and Hiko, Nevada, according to state and local law
enforcement, and up to 10,000 people visit the area over the weekend.
Air Force spokeswoman Laura
McAndrews says government officials are briefed on the event and
discourage people from attempting to enter military property. Nevada law
enforcement also warns potential participants in the event against
trespassing. The event, although intended as a joke, has an effect on
businesses both locally in Nevada and around the US, which prepare
products for visitors for those attending. (Wikipedia, “Storm
Area 51”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7792
Date: 9/20/2019
Description: “Storm Area-51” event planned
Type: event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Area 51
Date: 9/29/2019
End date: 9/30/2019
Description: 11:00 p.m. Security officers at Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station near Tonopah, Arizona, observe 5–6 drones flying at
200–300 feet and showing flashing red and white lights. The objects also
have spotlights turned on during their approach but turned off as they
maneuver above the site. They remain over the plant for more than 80
minutes and are estimated to be at least 2 feet across, ruling out
commercial drones. They return the following night, with 4 drones
operating above the station for an extended period. Polie unsuccessfuly
attempt to track down the operators. (Tyler Rogoway and Joseph
Trevithick, “The
Night a Mysterious Drone Swarm
Descended on Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant,” The Drive: The War
Zone, July 29, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7793
Date: 10/11/2019
Description: The Twenty-Fifth Air Force for intelligence activities is
merged with the 24th Air Force to form a reactivated 16th Air Force
responsible for information warfare. Its headquarters is still at Joint
Base San Antonio– Lackland in Texas. (Wikipedia, “Sixteenth
Air Force”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7794
Date: 10/17/2019
Description: The To the Stars Academy announces it has entered into a
cooperative research and development agreement with the US Army Combat
Capabilities Development Command. The five-year contract will focus on
“inertial mass reduction, mechanical/structural meta materials,
electromagnetic meta material wave guides, quantum physics, quantum
communications, and beamed energy propulsion.” According to the US Army,
no public funding will go the group, but at least $750,000 will be
provided in support and resources for developing and testing To the
Stars technologies. The contract states that To the Stars will provide
samples in its possession of “metamaterials,” any data or “obtained
vehicles” that use “beamed energy propulsion,” and any information or
technology related to “active camouflage” for testing and analysis of
potential application on Army ground vehicles. Doug Halleaux, a
spokesperson for the CCDC Ground Vehicle Systems Center, has stated that
the US government has approached To the Stars because “If materials
represented in the TTSA ADAM project are scientifically evaluated and
presented with supporting data as having military utility by the TTSA,
it makes sense to look deeper here.” According to Halleaux, the Army is
also interested in the results of a collaboration between To the Stars
and TruClear Global, a company that creates custom video screen
billboards, aimed at providing “advanced technology solutions to United
States Government clientele.” (Wikipedia, “To
the Stars (company)”; “Cooperative
Research and Development Agreement between To the Stars Academy of Arts
and Science, Inc., and
the U.S. Army Combat Capavilities Development Command, Ground Behicle
Systems Center,” October 10, 2019; Travis J. Tritten, “UFO
Group Sharing Exotic Materials with Army for Combat Vehicles,”
Bloomberg Government, October 21, 2019; M. J. Banias, “Tom
DeLonge’s UFO Research Group Signs Contract with U.S. Army
to Develop Far-Future Tech,” Motherboard, October 21, 2019; Mindy
Weisberger, “Rock
Star’s Company Seeks
UFOs, Finds Military Contract,” Live Science, October 27, 2019; M.
J. Banias, “The
Army Told Us Why It Partnered
with Tom DeLonge’s UFO Group,” Motherboard, November 4, 2019; To the
Stars Academy, “CRADA FAQ,”
November 15, 2019);
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7795
Date: 10/21/2019
Description: Dr. Eric W. Davis PhD gave classified briefings on
retrievals of unexplained objects to staff members of the Senate Armed
Services Committee.
Type: senate briefing
Reference: NY
Times
Location: Washington DC
Date: 10/23/2019
Description: Dr. Eric W. Davis PhD gave classified briefings on
retrievals of unexplained objects to staff members of the Senate
Intelligence Committee
Type: senate briefing
Reference: NY
Times
Location: Washington DC
Date: 10/27/2019
Description: The fifth X-37B mission, Orbital Test Vehicle-5, lands at
the Shuttle Landing Facility on Merritt Island, Florida, after spending
nearly 780 days in space. The Boeing X37B is an uncrewed, reusable,
robotic spaceplane that is launched by an Atlas V rocket and uses solar
panels for power in space. While the complete payload for OTV-5 is
classified, the Air Force announces that one of its experiments is the
Advanced Structurally Embedded Thermal Spreader II (ASETS-II), which
measures the performance of an oscillating heat pipe. (Wikipedia, “Boeing
X-37”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7796
Date: 11/9/2019
Description: 5:16 p.m. A young couple are driving home on the A629 near
Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, when they see a white glow over the
moorland. They stop and get out to watch as they hear the roar of what
seem to be fighter jets headed for the glow. Other cars also stop and
watch. Some start to film the object and the jets, as d o the couple on
their cellphones, but the footage is blurry. The mother of the driver
starts an appeal on social media for any other witnesses who filmed the
event to come forward. Jenny
Randles determines that two aircraft at that location, but they are
not military and not jets; they are Partenavia P.68 Observers belonging
to Ravenair and flying at 2,200 and 2,300 feet side by side and landing
at John Lennon Airport in Liverpool 25 minutes later. No radar target
matches the UFO itself. (Jenny Randles, “2020 Vision,” Fortean Times 389
(February 2020): 28–29)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7797
Date: 11/11/2019
Description: 5:33 p.m. A commercial aircrew is flying a Boeing 737-800
airliner at 37,000 feet altitude and 506 mph near Marseille, France. The
pilot observes an unusual light flying just above their altitude on a
collision heading from the right side into the 2 o’clock position
relative to the aircraft. It performs a 180° turn and then matches the
speed and heading of the airliner before beginning to cross above and in
front of its flight path. At this point the pilot uses a cellphone to
take a photograph and record 47 seconds of the UFO crossing their flight
path, accelerating, and moving away. (Ted Roe, “NARCAP
Technical Report 19: Analysis of a November 11, 2019, Aviation
Safety-Related Incident Involving a Commercial Airliner and a UAP Over
Europe,” July 2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7798
Date: 11/26/2019
Description: The same White House staffer who had an attack in August is
hit again by Havana Syndrome while walking her dog in Arlington,
Virginia. As she passes a parked van, a man gets out and walks past her.
Her dog starts seizing up. Then she feels it too: a high-pitched ringing
in her ears, an intense headache, and a tingling on the side of her
face. (Julia Joffe, “The
Mystery of the Immaculate Concussion,” GQ, October 19, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7799
Date: 12/2019
Description: The Federal Aviation Administration launches an
investigation into multiple nighttime sightings of unidentified “drones”
with 6-foot wingspans flying in formation at about 150 feet over rural
areas of northeastern Colorado (Phillips, Yuma, Washington, Lincoln, and
Morgan counties) and southwestern Nebraska (Perkins County) for the last
2 weeks in December, and as early as November 23. The objects usually
fly in square grid patterns nearly every night between 5:00 and 10:00
p.m. They have blinking lights and hover, then descend and take off very
fast. Sen. Cory
Gardner (R-Colo.) says he is glad the FAA is investigating. The
Colorado Department of Homeland Security also opens an investigation, as
Gov. Jared
Polis vows to get to the bottom of the case. Sheriffs say the drones
are not breaking Colorado law, but industry experts note that the drone
operators could be violating FAA regulations on flying after dark and
above a certain height. (“FAA
Probes Clusters of Mysterious
Drones Flying over Colorado,” Reuters, December 31, 2019; Sam
Tabachnik, “A
Night on the Plains: Chasing
the Mysterious Drones of Eastern Colorado,” Denver Post, January 3,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7800
Date: 12/3/2019
Description: The CIA team investigating the Havana Syndrome attacks
brings its findings to CIA director Gina
Haspel. According to two sources, after listening to the
investigators lay out their evidence that suggests the Russian security
services are behind the hits on Agency personnel, Haspel challenges
them. She accuses the investigators of both hiding information from her
and lying to her about what their inquiry has uncovered. The director
questions the motives of those looking into the attacks. “This is why we
need to clean out Russia House,” she says, referring to the CIA’s
operations unit focused on Russia, according to two sources. “You’re
just trying to stir up trouble on Russia.” A third source confirms that
“the meeting did not go well.” (Julia Joffe, “The
Mystery of the
Immaculate Concussion,” GQ, October 19, 2020; Ana Swanson, Edward
Wong, and Julian E. Barmes, “U.S. Diplomats
and Spies Battle Trump Administration over Suspected Attacks,” New
York Times, October 19, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7801
Date: 12/20/2019
Description: The United States Space Force Act, part of the National
Defense Authorization Act for 2020, is signed, creating an independent
space service by renaming and reorganizing Air Force Space Command into
the United States Space Force. (Wikipedia, “United
States Space Force”)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7802
Date: 12/31/2019
Description: Dusk. Placido Montoya, a plumber from Fort Morgan,
Colorado, gives chase to a mystery drone in Morgan County after seeing
blinking lights in the sky. But they take off rapidly and he speeds up
to 120 mph before losing them. Vince Iovinella, deputy sheriff at the
Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, receives more than 30 calls from locals
reporting drones “zipping around all over the place.” Iovinella himself
sees one with red, white, and green lights that he also tries to chase,
but it outruns him. (“Attack
of the Drones,” The Guardian (UK), April 18, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7803
Date: 1/6/2020
Description: A meeting of local, state, and federal agencies brings 75
people to Brush, Colorado, to share information and strategy on the
mystery drones. Officials are looking for a command vehicle (such as a
“closed box trailer with antennas or a large van”) that might be
controlling the drones. (“Command
Vehicle Focus of Colorado Drone Investigation,”
Mystery Wire, January 6, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7804
Date: 1/8/2020
Description: Drones are now being seen in Castle Rock and Parker in
Douglas County, Colorado, and Fort Collins in Larimer County. Kerry
Garrison, a vice president at drone vendor Multicopter Warehouse in
Centennial, claims the drone reports are actually sightings of Starlink
satellites launched by SpaceX; although they are at orbital altitude, in
a clear sky they can look lower than they really are. But Garrison also
visited the eastern planes with other aviation experts to view the
drones. He says he saw red lights go zipping by at 100 mph, faster than
any drone. A close call with a drone and a Flight for Life helicopter
near Fort Morgan, Colorado, prompts officials to add ground-based
spotting teams and aircraft equipped to hunt drones. However, an
investigation by Colorado Homeland Security later say the incident is
unrelated to the drone activity. (“Local
Drone Dealer Says Lights Spotted
over Castle Rock Were Satellites,” KDVR, Denver, January 7. 2020;
Paul Seaburn, “Mysterious
Drones Fly
near Denver As Colorado Residents Fear a Government Cover-Up.”
Mysterious Universe, January 8, 2020; Brett Tingley, “Surveillance
Plane Joins Intensifying Hunt for Mystery Drones over Colorado and
Nebraska (Updated),”
The Drive: The War Zone, January 8, 2020; Kevin D. Randle, “X-Zone
Broadcast Network: Drones, Drones,
Drones,” A Different Perspective, February 7, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7805
Date: 1/13/2020
Description: State agencies and the Colorado Division of Homeland
Security announce that they are scaling back investigations into drone
sightings. Between November 23 and January 13, the Colorado Information
Analysis Center received 90 reports of drone activity. Of those, 14 are
confirmed by law enforcement to be hobbyist drones. Between January 6
and January 13, when state officials investigate drone sightings in the
field, there are 23 drone activity reports. Of those, 13 are determined
to be planets, stars, or small hobbyist drones. Six reports are ruled
out as “atmospheric conditions or unidentified commercial aircraft.”
Finally, four reports are confirmed by law enforcement, but the aircraft
are unidentifiable. (“State
Plans to ‘Scale Back’ Investigation of Drones in Northeast
Colorado,” KDVR, Denver, January 13, 2020; “Drone Swarms,” Fortean
Times, no. 416 (March 2022): 19)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7806
Date: 1/20/2020
Description: President Joe Biden in office
Type: historical event
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Washington DC
Date: 1/30/2020
Description: The UK National Archives and Ministry of Defence announce
another “final” release of UFO files. (“Ministry
of Defence Insider Reveals Contents of Britain’s ‘Final’ UFO Files,”
Metro (UK), January 30, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7807
Date: 2/14/2020
Description: A Popular Mechanics article by UFO investigative writer and
retired police lieutenant Tim
McMillan says that Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS)
was contracted under the auspices of the AATIP program to study UFO
reports and purported paranormal phenomena. According to Steven
Aftergood, director
of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy,
the AAWSAP contract “sounds like it was a good deal for the contractor.
But it would be hard to argue that either the military or the public got
their money’s worth.” (Tim McMillan, “Inside
the Pentagon’s Secret UFO Program,” Popular Mechanics, February 14,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7808
Date: 3/3/2020
Description: Science writer Sarah Scoles publishes They Are Already
Here, focusing on the beliefs and attitudes of UFO researchers through
first-person interviews. (Sarah Scoles, They Are Already Here: UFO
Culture and Why We See Saucers, Pegasus, 2020; Curt Collins, “UFO
Culture Examined: They
Are Already Here by
Sarah Scoles,” The Saucers That Time Forgot, Mar h 26, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7809
Date: 3/11/2020
Description: COVID-19 Pandemic: The World Health Organization (WHO)
declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern
on 30 January 2020, and a pandemic on 11 March 2020.
Type: pandemic
Reference: Wikipedia
Date: 3/19/2020
Description: Night. A commercial Boeing 767 airliner is flying from
Mexico City to Houston, Texas. At an approximate position somewhere west
of Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, the plane is flying north at
37,000 feet at 575 mph when the first officer, looking across to the
left side of the cockpit, sees a yellowish-white light descend into view
from above. He first thinks that it is a meteor and begins to say so
when it suddenly stops at nearly the same altitude as the aircraft. The
UFO then projects an illuminating beam of bright white light on the
aircraft and appears to take a collision heading. The captain takes a
defensive attitude and prepares for evasive measures, but the beam of
light illuminating the aircraft ceases, and the UFO suddenly accelerates
to the same speed and heading of the aircraft, maintains separation, and
begins pacing. The captain estimates that the UFO maintains a distance
of 1,000–2,000 feet, near the minimum allowable separation of 1,000
feet. The copilot describes the UFO as a “brilliant yellow white plasma
object, teardrop shaped.” There are no navigation lights or other
features associated with airplanes, and the light seems to have a tail.
During the following 30 minutes, the crew observes and takes 8
photographs and four video segments of the UFO, one of which lasts 4:47.
The video documents that the Airborne Collision Avoidance System SSR
radar does not detect anything while the crew is actively observing the
object. As the aircraft and its attendant UFO approaches the Mexico/US
border, the light begins to flicker, changes colors from yellow-white to
pinkish-purple, and turns on a perpendicular heading away from the
aircraft and parallel to the border without crossing into the US. (Ted
Roe, “An
Independent Analysis of a March 19, 2020, Aviation-Safety
Related Incident Involving UAP, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, over
Mexico,” NARCAP, June 1, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7810
Date: 3/23/2020
Description: Bigelow Aerospace laws off entire workforce
Type: layoff
Reference: link
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Date: 3/28/2020
Description: The US Space Force declares the Space Fence, its
second-generation space surveillance system, operational. The system is
designed to track more than 25,000 artificial satellites and chunks of
space debris in Earth orbit (and UAPs, presumably), some as small as a
marble. The initial Space Fence facility is located at Kwajalein Atoll
in the Marshall Islands, along with an option for another radar site in
Western Australia. The US Strategic Command has data-sharing agreements
with Australia, Japan, Italy, Canada, France, South Korea, the United
Kingdom, the European Space Agency, and Europe’s Eumetsat weather
satellite organization. With this and other surveillance capabilities,
former assistant secretary of defense Christopher
Mellon wonders why the US Air Force has not simultaneously detected
the same UAPs that the US Navy has been doing with less sophisticated
equipment. (Wikipedia, “Space
Fence”; Lockheed Martin, “Space
Fence”; Christopher Mellon, “Why
Is the Air Force
AWOL on the UAP Issue?” The Debrief, February 3, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7811
Date: 4/27/2020
Description: The Pentagon officially releases the three videos (Tic-Tac,
GIMBAL, and GoFast) showing UFOs that were previously released between
December 2017 and March 2018 by the private company To the Stars Academy
of Arts and Sciences. The release states that “the aerial phenomena
observed in the videos remain characterized as ‘unidentified.’” (“Pentagon
Officially Releases UFO Videos,” CNN, April 29, 2020; David Clarke,
“Echoes and Angels: UFOs on Radar,” Fortean Times 403 (March 2021):
40)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7812
Date: 5/1/2020
Description: The US Office of Naval Intelligence holds a classified
briefing to destigmatize the UAP problem and to promote more
intelligence collection regarding UAP incursions and encounters with
active military deployments. (Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell, “The
US Navy Filmed Pyramid Shaped UFOs,” Extraordinary Beliefs, April 8,
2019)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7813
Date: 5/28/2020
Description: Postdoctoral researcher Darryl Seligman and astrophysicist
Gregory Laughlin argue that the interstellar object ʻOumuamua could be a
hydrogen iceberg generated by a giant molecular cloud. The hypothesis
explains the object’s strange cigar shape, as cosmic radiation would
chip away at its edges (in some directions more than others) that would
produce an elongated shape. The fact that it sped up as it entered the
Solar System can be explained because it is outgassing hydrogen
increased by the solar flux. (Darryl Seligman and Gregory Laughlin, “Evidence
That 1I/2017 U1 (’Oumuamua) Was Composed of Molecular Hydrogen Ice,”
arXiv, May 28, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7814
Date: 6/2020
Description: Robert
Bigelow launches a new effort, the Bigelow Institute for
Consciousness Studies, to study the survival of human consciousness
after death. (Skinwalkers 35)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7815
Date: 6/6/2020
Description: Ufologist and ex-NASA mission specialist Bob Oechsler
dies
Type: death
Reference: link
Location: Edgewater, Maryland
Date: 6/23/2020
Description: The US Senate Intelligence Committee, apparently disturbed
by the lack of a coordinated investigatory process, asks the Pentagon
for a detailed, unclassified report on UFOs, or “unidentified aerial
phenomena.” In his report attached to the 2020–2021 Senate Intelligence
Authorization Act, Sen. Marco
Rubio (R-Fla.), acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, instructs the director of national intelligence, the
secretary of defense, and other agency heads to compile data on UFOs.
“The Committee understands that the relevant intelligence may be
sensitive; nevertheless, the Committee finds that the information
sharing and coordination across the Intelligence Community has been
inconsistent, and this issue has lacked attention from senior leaders,”
the report states. It also confirms the existence of an ongoing
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force managed by the Under Secretary
of Defense for Intelligence in collaboration with the Office of Naval
Intelligence, as was its informal predecessor program, the Advanced
Aerospace Threat Investigation Program. The task force is headed until
January 2021 by Naval officer John F. Stratton. (Wikipedia, “Unidentified
Aerial Phenomena
Task Force”; M. J. Banias, “Senate
Intelligence Committee Confirms the US Navy Has a UFO Task Force,”
Motherboard, June 23, 2020; “Classified
UFO Briefings May Have Left Senators ‘Disturbed,’ Expert Says,”
Fox News, June 24, 2020; George Knapp, “More
UFO Heraings? Congress Might Consider Hearing from These
2 Men,” Mystery Wire, May 23, 2022) June 24 – The Intelligence
Committee votes to require the US Intelligence Community and the
Department of Defense to publicly track and analyze data collected on
unexplained aerial vehicles. Reports from the task force are to be
issued to the Intelligence Committee every six months. (Bryan Bender,
“Senators Want the Public to See the Government’s UFO Reports,”
Politico, June 23, 2020; “Senate
Panel Votes to Let Public Access UFO Records,” Courthouse News
Service, June 24, 2020; “Pentagon
UFO Unit to Publicly Release Some Findings after Ex- Official
Says ‘Off-World Vehicle’ Found,” The Independent (UK), June 24,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7816
Date: 7/16/2020
Description: 5:00 a.m. Paul Froggatt sees a glowing orange sphere that
follows him as he is cycling through the Oakwood and Blacklow Spinney
Woods in Warwickshire, England. The usual early morning birdsong has
gone silent. Turning a bend, he encounters a 7-foot-tall, green-colored
creature that stands on two legs and looks like a praying mantis. It has
a triangular head and two large black eyes that stare at him. He thinks
it is trying to transmit evil thoughts into his mind, so he speeds up
and escapes it. (Nigel Watson, “M Is for Mantis and Missile,” Fortean
Times 404 (April 2021): 22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7817
Date: 7/23/2020
Description: Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie
Kean report in the New York Times that Sen. Rubio is
primarily concerned about reports of unidentified aircraft over US
military bases and that China or Russia or some other adversary has made
“some technological leap” that “allows them to conduct this sort of
activity.” Rubio says some of the unidentified aerial vehicles over
military bases possibly exhibit technologies not in the US arsenal. But
he also notes: “Maybe there is a completely, sort of, boring explanation
for it. But we need to find out.” The paper reports that while former
Sen. Harry
Reid “believed that crashes of objects of unknown origin may have
occurred and that retrieved materials should be studied; he did not say
that crashes had occurred and that retrieved materials had been studied
secretly for decades.” News reports also repeat a claim made by Eric
W. Davis that an “off-world vehicle” might be in the possession of
the US government. (Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean, “No
Longer in the Shadows, Pentagon’s
UFO Unit Will Make Some Findings Public,” New York Times, July 23,
2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7818
Date: 7/28/2020
Description: NY Times confirms Crash Retrievals with “retrieved
materials”, all information is classified
Type: newspaper article
Reference: link
Location: New York, New York
Date: 8/2020
Description: The National Academy of Sciences completes a report on
Havana Syndrome, concluding that embassy personnel in Cuba, China,
Russia, and other countries were most likely subjected to “directed,
pulsed radiofrequency energy” in malicious attacks. A committee of 19
experts says that the immediate symptoms that patients
reported—including strange sensations of pain, pressure, and sound that
often appear to emanate from a particular direction or occurred in a
specific spot in a room—are more consistent with a directed “attack” of
radiofrequency energy. The report does not point to a perpetrator,
though it mentions “significant research in Russia/U.S.S.R.” on pulsed
radiofrequency technology, as well as the exposure of military personnel
in Eurasian communist countries to microwave radiation. The CDC
concludes, “The evaluations conducted thus far have not identified a
mechanism of injury, process of exposure, effective treatment, or
mitigating factor for the unexplained cluster of symptoms experienced by
those stationed in Havana.” The report is inexplicably withheld from
congressional and public scrutiny after it is submitted. Only after key
senators learn of its existence later in the fall and press
then-Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo to turn it over does the Trump administration finally provide
the report to a few Senate offices. The New York Times and NBC News
first report on details of the unclassified NAS study, titled “An
Assessment of Illness in U.S. Government Employees and Their Families at
Overseas Embassies,” in early December. (Ana Swanson and Edward Wong,
“Report
Points to Microwave ‘Attack’ As Likely
Source of Mystery Illnesses That Hit Diplomats and Spies,” New York
Times, December 5, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7819
Date: 8/4/2020
Description: Deputy Secretary of Defense David
L. Norquist approves the establishment of an Unidentified Aerial
Phenomena Task Force. The Department of the Navy, under the oversight of
the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and
Security, will lead the effort. The Department of Defense says it is
establishing the UAPTF to improve its understanding of the nature and
origins of UAPs. Its mission is to detect, analyze, and catalog UAPs
that could potentially pose a threat to US national security. Its
mandate includes examinations of incursions that are initially reported
as UAPs when the observer cannot immediately identify what he or she is
seeing. (Wikipedia, “Unidentified
Aerial Phenomena Task Force”; US Department of Defense, “Establishment
of Unidentified
Aerial Phenomena Task Force,” August 14, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7820
Date: 8/29/2020
Description: 6:45 p.m. An American Airlines pilot reports that a man
flying in a jet pack has passed by them about 90 feet away at their
altitude of 3,000 feet coming into Los Angeles International Airport in
California. About 10 minutes later, a Jet Blue Airways pilot spots the
flying man. (“A
Man Flying a Jetpack Was Reported by Pilots above
Los Angeles,” CNN, September 3, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7821
Date: 9/1/2020
Description: 10:13 p.m. A B737 is approaching the runway at Leeds
Airport, England, at 1,800 feet. Both pilot and First Officer suddenly
see a bright light and an object that appears to be headed toward the
aircraft, almost head on, slightly up and to the left. It appears
without warning and gives them no time to act. After landing, the crew
informs Air Traffic Control, who tells them that the West Yorkshire
police helicopter had earlier seen “lanterns” in the area, but neither
crew member thought that matched what they saw. The UK Airprox Board
concludes that a “definite high risk of collision had existed.” (UK
Airprox Board, “Monthly
Meeting October 2020”; “UKAB ‘Unknown Object’ Log 2017–2020,”
Fortean Times 406 (June 2021): 43)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7822
Date: 9/15/2020
Description: Japanese Defense Minister Taro
Kono announces at a press conference that members of the Self-
Defense Forces must make a visual recording of any unexplained aerial
phenomena they encounter and that the footage must be analyzed to the
fullest extent. The military is also being tasked with looking into
reports of UFO sightings from the public. The issue is brought up when
Kono meets with US Defense Secretary Mark
Esper in Guam in late August for a regularly scheduled talk on
regional security issues. (“Japan’s
Defense Ministry Launches
Protocol for UFO Sightings,” The Diplomat, September 18, 2020; “Japan
Orders Military Pilots to Report
UFO Sightings,” Deutsche Welle, September 28, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7823
Date: 10/14/2020
Description: 1:45 p.m. A China Airlines crew member reports what appears
to be someone in a jet pack flying at about 6,500 feet roughly seven
miles northwest of Los Angeles International Airport, California. The
air traffic controller alerts another pilot who is preparing to land,
and the Federal Aviation Administration alerts local law enforcement and
the FBI. However, it’s more likely that the pilots were seeing a
battery-powered electric drone fitted with a mannequin. Jet packs would
take up too much fuel to get to those altitudes. (“A
Man Flying in a Jetpack
Has Been Spotted Again in the Skies over Los Angeles,” CNN, October
14, 2020; “This
Jetpack Maker Isn’t
So Sure That’s What’s Been Spotted over the L.A. Skies,” NBC News,
October 15, 2020)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7824
Date: 11/2020
Description: An official from the National Security Council suddenly
falls ill with symptoms similar to those previously experienced by
diplomats in Havana, Cuba. It takes place on the Ellipse in Washington,
D.C., close to the White House. (“US
Investigating Possible Mysterious Directed Energy Attack near White
House,” CNN, April 29, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7825
Date: 11/2020
Description: The extensive case files of the Center for UFO Studies
(including files originating from the National Investigations Committee
on Aerial Phenomena, Civilian Saucer Intelligence of New York, and J.
Allen Hynek’s Project Blue Book copies) are transferred from
Chicago, Illinois, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where a digitization
project begins that will ultimately make them widely available, headed
by CUFOS board member David
Marler. (“David
Marler: CUFOS Digitization Project 2021,” Project 1947)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7826
Date: 12/2020
Description: The CIA re-launches its task force on Havana Syndrome and
expands its efforts under new Director William
J. Burns, who
has vowed during his confirmation hearings to review the evidence on the
attacks on CIA personnel overseas, which have long been publicly
reported. (“CIA
Launches Task Force to Probe Invisible Attacks
on US Diplomats and Spies As One Victim Finds Some Relief,” CNN,
February 24, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7827
Date: 12/27/2020
Description: President Donald
Trump signs a $2.3 trillion government funding bill—the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2021—containing a number of long-anticipated
provisions, including an Intelligence Authorization Act for 2021. The
latter contains a subheading labeled “Advanced Aerial Threats,” which
requires the Director of National Intelligence (Avril
Haynes under the Biden administration) to consult with the Secretary
of Defense (Lloyd
Austin under the Biden Administration) to submit a report on
“unidentified aerial phenomena (also known as ‘anomalous aerial
vehicles’), including observed airborne objects that have not been
identified” and the potential threats they pose. The premise behind the
provision is that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was
concerned that the US government has no coordinated or comprehensive
process for collecting and assessing intelligence data about
unidentified aerial phenomena. It demands a detailed analysis of UAP
data to be delivered to the Joint Armed Services Committee by the end of
June 2021. It also calls for a streamlined reporting structure under the
aegis of a named official The director of the US Navy’s UAP Task Force,
Brennan McKernan, leads this new Pentagon-wide project. (Helen Lin, “Sci-Fi
Stimulus Secrets: Why Did UFOs Appear in the December 2020
COVID-19 Relief Package?” Reference, July 2, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7828
Date: 1/2021
Description: Ash Ellis, who runs the online site UFO Identified,
compiles a breakdown of 484 sightings reported in the UK during 2020.
The majority (396) were made in England. There is a sharp increase in
March and April due to the launch of SpaceX satellite trains. The most
likely time to see a UFO is between 9 and 10 p.m. on a Sunday, and the
shapes vary from star-like, triangular, oval, disc-shaped, and
cylindrical to unknown. There were only three CE-3s and one abduction
report. (Ash Ellis, “The
UK UFO Report 2020,” UFO Identified)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7829
Date: 1/1/2021
Description: Using Freedom of Information requests, UK reporter Dean
Kirby analyzes 128 separate calls to 16 police forces since 2016 that
mention UFOs. Several are obvious UAVs, including one reported by a
caller to police in Bangor, Northern Ireland, who described a flying
object that appeared to have solar panels. But the true figure could be
much higher, with more than 30 police forces including Police Scotland
saying they have no easy way of counting the calls and three saying they
would each have to search through more than 700 records where the
letters UFO were used. (Dean Kirby, “In
One of the Strangest Years of Our Lives, Reports of UFO Sightings Have
Reached New Heights in Lockdown,” News UK, January 1, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7830
Date: 1/15/2021
Description: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has
conducted a two-year “epidemiologic investigation” of the mysterious
medical incidents suffered by US personnel in Cuba but cannot determine
the nature of the injuries nor the cause, according to its 18-page
report. “The evaluations conducted thus far have not identified a
mechanism of injury, process of exposure, effective treatment, or
mitigating factor for the unexplained cluster of symptoms experienced by
those stationed in Havana, Cuba,” concluded the CDC study. Titled “Cuba
Unexplained Events Investigation—Final Report,” the CDC study was
completed more than a year ago. But its existence was revealed only
after a more recent evaluation by the National Academy of Sciences,
which references the CDC report leaked to the press in December. (Dan
Vergano, “Medical
Records Can’t Explain ‘Havana
Syndrome,’ a Buried CDC Report Says,” BuzzFeed News, January 15,
2021; “CDC
Report on the ‘Havana
Syndrome’: Medical Mystery Remains Unsolved,” National Security
Archive, February 2, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7831
Date: 1/23/2021
Description: Radio and TV host Larry King dies at age 87 in Los Angeles,
CA
Type: death
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date: 2/7/2021
Description: The British UFO Research Association reports that it
received 583 reports in 2020, which is 40% less than in 2019. However,
the number of high-strangeness reports doubled (37). (“An
Overview of Sightings, Photographs,
and High Strangeness Reports in 2020 and Looking Ahead to 2021,”
BUFORA, February 7, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7832
Date: 2/9/2021
Description: 10:30 p.m. An unidentified drone with a green light on its
underbody is spotted from the corner of East Ajo Way and South Palo
Verde Road in Tucson, Arizona, directly adjacent to a fuel terminal just
west of Davis- Monthan. It flies into controlled airspace surrounding
the base and Tucson International Airport after the Tucson Police
Department and US Customs and Border Protection helicopters began to
pursue it. The law enforcement helicopters follow the drone northwest
out of the city for nearl 45 minutes before losing it in the clouds
around 14,000 feet. The CBP is operating an Airbus AS350, while Tucson
police are flying a Bell 206B-3 Jet Ranger. The CPB pilot says that the
drone is highly modified and able to outperform any other he has seen
previously, flying circles around both helicopters at speeds well in
excess of 100 mph. (Brett Tingley, “Police helicopter Crew Says
Mysterious Craft They Chased Was ‘Not Like Any Other’ Drone,” The Drive:
The War Zone, June 22, 2021; Tim McMillan, Micah Hanks, and Christopher
Plain, “Incursions
at the Border: Homeland Security Agents
Tell of Encounters with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,” The DeBrief,
May 27, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7833
Date: 2/17/2021
Description: Tom
DeLonge’s To the Stars Academy files a report to the US Securities
and Exchange Commission, saying that it is restructuring its operations
to “scale back its initiatives in science and commercialization.” This
is given as justification for dropping advisors Luis
Elizondo, Stephen
Justice, and Christopher
Mellon. (Nigel
Watson, “M Is for Mantis and Missile,” Fortean Times 404 (April 2021):
22)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7834
Date: 2/21/2021
Description: 12:19 p.m. An American Airlines Airbus A320 pilot reports a
long, cylindrical object like a cruise missile pass above his location
west of Clayton, New Mexico. The FAA has no reports of objects on air
traffic controller radar screens. (“Intercept:
American Airlines Flight 2292 Reports Close Encounter with Unknown
Flying Object,”
Deep Blue Horizon, February 21, 2021; Tyler Rogoway, “FAA
Releases Statement on Airliner’s Encounter
with Unknown Object over New Mexico,” The Drive: The War Zone,
February 24, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7835
Date: 3/12/2021
Description: The US State Department names a senior official to lead the
agency’s response to the Havana Syndrome attacks. Pamela
L. Spratlen, a
career foreign service officer, will serve as the senior advisor to the
Health Incident Response Task Force, which was created in 2018 to
coordinate the response to the spate of incidents. (“State Department
Names Senior Official to Lead Response to Mysterious ‘Havana Syndrome’
Attacks,” CNN, March 12, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7836
Date: 3/29/2021
Description: Chris
Rutkowski’s annual review of UFO sightings in Canada shows there was
a 46% rise in reports in 2020; 30% of the 1,243 sights were in Ontario
and 24% from Quebec. 13% remain unexplained. (Chris Rutkowski, “The
2020 Canadian UFO Survey,” Ufology Research, March 29, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7837
Date: 4/13/2021
Description: According to the National UFO Reporting Center, there was
an increase of some 1,000 sightings in the United States during 2020,
reaching a peak of 7,200 reports. (“UFO
Sightings in US Rose Sharply during the Pandemic, Data
Reveals,” WION, April 13, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7838
Date: 4/15/2021
Description: Tyler Rogoway of The War Zone summarizes the defense
implications of drone and UAP interference with military aircraft,
ships, and weapons systems, concluding that “at least one of our
adversaries, and possibly two, have played our own cultural norms
against us and have executed what may be among the most successful and
ingenious intelligence-gathering plays of all time. Meanwhile, it seems
that the DoD is either incapable of identifying and evaluating what
should no longer be considered an emerging threat—swarming drones and
radar target balloons—or they are playing along by acting like they do
not know, which could be the case for a number of reasons.” (Tyler
Rogoway, “Adversary
Drones Are Spying on the U.S. and the Pentagon Acts Like They’re UFOs,”
The Drive: The War Zone, April 15, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7839
Date: 4/19/2021
End date: 4/26/2021
Description: The US Navy kicks off a secretive experiment to launch a
missile at a surface target using information from a combination of
manned and unmanned aircraft and surface vessels to test their direct
attack and electronic warfare capabilities. (Joseph Trevithick, “Huge
Navy Unmanned-Focused Experiment Underway Featuring Live Missile
Shoot and ‘Super Swarms,’” The Drive: The War Zone, April 20,
2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7840
Date: 4/26/2021
Description: Letter from Senate Majority leader Harry Reid confirming
the existence of AATIP and Lue Elizondo’s leadership role within the DoD
program
Type: letter
Reference: TODO
Date: 5/2021
Description: During a briefing prior to a planned US Air Force exercise,
USAF personnel observe a slide presentation that explains what to do if
they encounter a UAP. They are clearly instructed to complete the Air
Force reporting form, which features shapes of several different types
of UAP they could encounter (plasma-like balls, tic-tacs, discs). It
also features specific questions, such as whether the UAP interferes
with their radar operation. This is all new, the officer points out to
researcher Robert Powell, something that would not have occurred 18
months previous. He finds the stigma associated with this subject in the
Air Force has significantly changed. (Robert Powell, “Opinion:
When It Comes to the USAF and UAP, the Tide May Finally Be Turning,”
The Debrief, February 7, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7841
Date: 5/18/2021
Description: Former President Barack
Obama admits on The Late Late Show with James Corden that “When I
came into office, I asked … is there a lab somewhere where we’re keeping
the alien specimens and spaceship? And you know, they did a little bit
of research and the answer was no. But what is true, and I’m actually
being serious here, is that there are, there’s footage and records of
objects in the skies, that we don’t know exactly what they are, we can’t
explain how they moved, their trajectory. They did not have an easily
explainable pattern.” (“Barack
Obama Talks
about UFOs Again on Late Night Television,” WIAT, Birmingham,
Alabama, May 19, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7842
Date: 6/4/2021
Description: South China Morning Post: China military uses AI to track
rapidly increasing UFOs. To the People’s Liberation Army they are
‘unidentified air conditions’ and artificial intelligence is the best
way to keep up with them.
Type: newspaper article
Reference: link
Location: China
Date: 6/25/2021
Description: The US Office
of the Director of National Intelligence releases a summary 6-page
report on UAPs, largely centering on evidence gathered in the last 20
years from US Navy reports. It claims that 143 of the 144 are
unidentified, though none of the data is provided. (The full report,
available only to those with proper security clearances, is released in
a redacted version in March 2022.) The report comes to no conclusion
about what the UAPs were, based on a lack of evidence, though in a
limited number of incidents, UAP reportedly appear to exhibit unusual
flight characteristics, including high velocity, breaking the sound
barrier without producing a sonic boom, high maneuverability not able to
be replicated otherwise, long duration flight, and an ability to
submerge into the water. Some of the UAPs appear to move with no
discernable means of propulsion, and it is noted that the alleged high
speeds and maneuvers would normally destroy any craft. These
observations could be the result of sensor errors, spoofing, or observer
misperception, and require additional rigorous analysis. The report
indicates that, in some cases, the UAP recordings are of physical
objects and not false readings, as individual instances had been
detected by different sensor mechanisms, including visual observation.
The report also states that “UAP probably lack a single explanation,”
and proposes five possible categories of explanation: airborne clutter,
natural atmospheric phenomena, US government or industry development
technology, foreign craft, and an “Other” category. The report raises
concerns that the UAPs could be a safety issue, with regard to a
possible collision with US aircraft, and that they could pose a security
threat if they are foreign craft gathering information about the US. The
report indicates that investigation of the topic will continue,
including development of reporting protocols. The report also indicates
that, of the sightings reported, all except one (confirmed as a weather
balloon) lack sufficient information to attribute a specific explanation
or explanations. (Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Preliminary
Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena [6-page summary report],
June 25, 2021; Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Preliminary
Assessment: Unidentified
Aerial Phenomena [redacted full report], June 25, 2021; Julian E.
Barnes and Helene Cooper, “US Finds
No Evidence of Alien Technology in Flying Objects, But Can’t Rule It
Out, Either,” New York Times, June 3, 2021; Andrew Desiderio, “‘We’ve
Got to Get an Answer’: UFOs Catch Congress’ Interest,” Politico,
June 23, 2021; “US
Report on Pentagon-Documented UFOs Leaves Sightings Unexplained,”
ABC News (Australia), June 25, 2021; “Pentagon
Won’t Rule Out Aliens in Long-Awaited Report,” BBC News, June 25,
2021; David Clarke, “Beyond Blue Book: The Pentagon UFO Report in
Context,” Fortean Times 409 (September 2021): 48–51; John Greenewald,
“June
2021 Classified UAP/UFO Report Given to Congress Partially
Released,” The Black Vault, March 23, 2022; Micah Hanks, “Analysis:
Newly Released Version of Once-Classified Report Presents New Clues
about the U.S. Government’s UAP Investigations,” The Debrief, March
24, 2022; Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, “On
the 2021 UAPTF Classified Report,” Academia.edu, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7843
Date: 7/20/2021
Description: Reports surface of American diplomatic officials coming
down with Havana Syndrome in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. (“American
Personnel in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan Reported As among ‘Havana Syndrome’
Victims,” bne IntelliNews, July 21, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7844
Date: 7/26/2021
Description: The Galileo Project, headed by a multi-institutional team
of scientists led by Avi
Loeb of the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University, announces
that it will investigate evidence that could represent defunct or still-
active “extraterrestrial technological civilizations,” or ETCs. The
project, which includes Luis
Elizondo, Christopher
Mellon, Nick
Pope, and Michael
Shermer, will analyze data from astronomical surveys and telescope
observations, and design new algorithms using artificial intelligence,
in order to identify potential interstellar travelers, alien-built
satellites, and UAPs. Ufologist Jacques
Vallée joins the project in January 2022. (Mindy Weisberger, “Harvard-Led
Team to Search Cosmos for Extraterrestrial Space Tech and UFOs,”
Live Science, July 26, 2021; Robert Sheaffer, “Galileos
Galore: Now Including Dr. Jacques Vallée!” Bad UFOs, January 25,
2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7845
Date: 7/30/2021
Description: 11:00 p.m. A bright green fireball illuminates the night
sky over Izmir, Turkey. The visual part of the event lasts several
seconds before the object disintegrates. Several residents report a
sonic boom. According to Hassan Ali Dar, deputy director of the
Astronomical Observatory of Aegean University, the object is part of the
Perseid meteor shower. (Teo Blašković, “Very
Bright Fireball over Izmir, Sonic Boom Reported, Turkey,” The
Watchers, August 2, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7846
Date: 8/2021
Description: Reports of Havana Syndrome come to light among more than 20
US diplomats in Vienna, Austria, since January. The numbers are greater
here than in any city outside Havana, Cuba. The CIA removes its station
chief in Vienna for not adequately responding to the outbreak. (“‘Havana
Syndrome’-Like Mystery Illness Affects Vienna
US Diplomats,” BBC News, July 17, 2021; “CIA
‘Removes Vienna Boss’ over Havana Syndrome Outbreak,”
BBC News, September 24, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7847
Date: 8/29/2021
Description: In a breakthrough interview on CBS-TV’s 60 Minutes, US Navy
pilots line up to recount their experiences with UFOs on the eastern
coast. It happens so frequently that the encounters became commonplace,
Ryan Graves, a retired navy pilot, tells the show. “Every day,” Graves
says. “Every day for at least a couple years.” (Bill Whitaker, “UFOs
Regularly Spotted in US Airspace,” CBS News, August 29, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7848
Date: 8/30/2021
Description: Afghanistan War ends
Type: war
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: Afghanistan
Date: 9/5/2021
Description: Australian journalist Ross Coulthart releases a
documentary, The UFO Phenomenon, which recounts the history of the
Australian government’s involvement with UFOs. (“The
UFO Phenomenon: Full Documentary 2021,”
7NEWS Spotlight YouTube channel, September 5, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7849
Date: 9/15/2021
Description: 4:03 p.m. One adult and two children witness a hovering
metallic object in the Century City area of Los Angeles, California.
After watching it for a few seconds, the adult takes a video as the
object slowly moves toward the east. (“Video
Taken of Hovering Bright, Metallic, Flashing Object,” UFOs
Northwest, October 12, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7850
Date: 10/2021
Description: US diplomats in Bogota, Colombia, and Berlin, Germany, are
being affected by Havana Syndrome. (“Havana Syndrome:
Berlin Police Probe Cases at US Embassy,” BBC News, October 9, 2021;
“Havana
Syndrome Reported
at US Embassy in Colombia,” BBC News, October 13, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7851
Date: 10/8/2021
Description: The Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological
Attacks (HAVANA) Act is signed by President Joe
Biden. It
authorizes the CIA Director and the Secretary of State to provide
financial support for personnel suffering brain injuries. However, while
funding for it has not yet passed, it has been included in drafts of a
Defense Department appropriations bill. (“Biden
Signs Legislation to Compensate Victims of Mysterious ‘Havana
Syndrome,’” New York Times, October 8, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7852
Date: 10/9/2021
Description: Day. Witnesses watch a small, rounded, silver-metallic
object at high altitude (perhaps above 15,000 feet) for 5 minutes during
the Wings Over Houston Air Show at Ellington Air Force Base near
Houston, Texas. The object leaves no trail as it alternately maneuvers
and hovers. One of them takes a photograph. The MUFON investigator
suspects the object might be a US Army Long Endurance Multi Intelligence
Vehicle, a hybrid blimp, making an appearance at the air show. (Kevin D.
Randle, “Coast
to Coast: The National Defense Authorization Act
and Two Interesting Sightings,” A Different Perspective, December
11, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7853
Date: 11/2021
Description: Optical engineer Vincent Costes takes over from Roger
Baldacchino as manager of Groupe d’Études et d’Informations sur les
Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés, the official French UFO agency
in Toulouse, France. (“Un
nouveau responsable au GEIPAN à partir de novembre 2021,” GEIPAN,
November 3, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7854
Date: 11/6/2021
Description: 8.55 a.m. A witness in Marietta, Georgia, photographs a
white, cigar-shaped object moving in a westerly direction. (“Strange
Cigar-Shaped Object Seen and Photographed,” UFOs Northwest, November
23, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7855
Date: 11/8/2021
Description: Night. A couple from Hubbard, Ohio, see a triangular-shaped
object with a bright yellow light on top and two sets of three white
lights along the side, just above the treetops. It appears to be
football-field sized and is hovering about 100 feet above the highway.
As they approach, it swiftly moves to the left and flies over some
trees. Their car begins to act funny and the check-engine light comes
on, indicating reduced engine power and traction control. (Kevin D.
Randle, “Coast
to Coast AM: EM Effects and Current UFO Sightings,” A Different
Perspective, December 17, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7856
Date: 11/11/2021
Description: 11:10 a.m. A witness sees nine white orbs flying in
formation and mimicking a flyby of F-16s during the Leavenworth, Kansas,
Annual Veterans Day Parade. Prior to the F-16 flyby, the witness sees
the orbs forming and reforming into various groups. At times they
disappear and reappear at an incredible speed. One of the orbs is in an
“overwatch” position, while at least six are in a “three-by-two
formation.” After passing the flyby, they form a four-point formation
then disappear to the west at great speed. A photo is taken showing the
orbs and the F-16s. (“9
White Orbs Seen at F16 Airshow,” UFOs Northwest, November 19,
2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7857
Date: 11/19/2021
Description: The governmental Centro de Identificatión Aerospaciale in
Argentina issues an annual report on its investigation into 45 UFO cases
analyzed during the previous year, plus occasional investigations on
older events. CIAE investigates only those UFO sightings supported by
evidence (photography, video, or material). All of them are technically
explained, the distribution of causes being birds & bugs (40%),
balloons and airborne objects (18%), optical artifacts (11%),
astronomical (11%), astronautical (11%), aircraft (7%), or ground
facilities (2%). (Rubén E. Lianza, “Informe
de Resolución de Casos Recibidos en 2021,” CIAE, November 19,
2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7858
Date: 11/23/2021
Description: US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen
Hicks establishes the Airborne Object Identification and Management
Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) to synchronize the detection and
identification of UAPs. It is to be overseen and directed by the
Airborne Object Identification and Management Executive Council
(AOIMEXEC), led by Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and
Security Ronald
Moultrie. (Kathleen
Hicks, “Establishment
of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization
Group,” November 23, 2021; “Ex-Officials
Express Deep Concerns over New Pentagon UFO Unit,” The Hill,
December 1, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7859
Date: 12/3/2021
Description: 6:00 p.m. A woman driving in downtown Green Bay, Wisconsin,
in foggy conditions, spots five lights moving in different directions.
The lights merge into one. Three other oval, blue-purple lights also fly
through the clouds. She then sees green lights moving very quickly. The
sighting lasts 45 minutes and she takes several photos. (“Groups
of Multicolored Lights Move Rapidly on Foggy Night,” UFOs Northwest,
December 4, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7860
Date: 12/15/2021
Description: A new camera system goes into operation at the University
of Würzburg, Germany, designed to detect UAP using artificial
intelligence. Professor for Space Technology Hakan Kayal has set up
SkyCAM-5 on the roof of a university building on the Hubland campus.
“When the camera detects known objects, it recognizes them with a
Convolutional Neural Network, classifies them and stores the
corresponding video sequences in a database,” Kayal explains. (“UAP:
SkyCAM Searches the Sky,” Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg,
December 20, 2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7861
Date: 12/27/2021
Description: President Joe
Biden signs into law the National Defense Authorization Act for FY
2022. It includes an amendment, “Establishment of Office to Address
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” introduced by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.),
that requires the Defense Department to coordinate with other federal
agencies to collect, analyze, and report on UAP cases, including those
with “adverse physiological effects.” It funds a new office, the
Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, to
replace the UAP Task Force program coordinated by the US Office of Naval
Intelligence. The new office will serve as a “centralized repository”
for such information and will coordinate with US allies to “better
assess the nature and extent” of UAP incidents. It requires the office
to submit an annual report to Congress. (“Sen. Gillibrand
Introduces Amendment to Defense Bill
Establishing Office to Study UFOs,” WTI-TV, Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
November 9, 2021; Kevin D. Randle, “Coast
to Coast AM: Official Study of UFOs and a UFO Picture,” A Different
Perspective, November 27, 2021; “Biden
Signs $770 Billion Defense Bill,” New York Times, December 27,
2021)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7862
Date: 12/28/2021
Description: Nevada Senator Harry Reid dies at age 82
Type: death
Reference: Wikipedia
Location: US
Date: 1/2022
Description: Ash Ellis of UFO Identified issues a summary report on 413
UFO sightings made in the UK 2021. The majority originate in England.
(Ash Ellis, “The
UK UFO Report 2021,” UFO Identified)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7863
Date: 1/17/2022
Description: A military-style drone circles the Forsmark Nuclear Power
Plant in Forsmark, Sweden, operating even though there is a high wind.
Similar drones with large wings are reported over the Ringhals and
Oskarshamn nuclear power plants. The previous week, drones are seen
circling the Parliament buildings and the Royal Palacec in Stockholm, as
well as the Kiruna and Luleå airports. A police helicopter is seen
pursuing a drone flying above it at a height of 3,280 feet to the west
of Stockholm, but authorities do not manage to down any of these. All
the drones seem to be larger and have greater endurance than commercial
models. (“Sweden
Drones: Sightings Reported
over Nuclear Plants and Palace,” BBC News, January 18, 2022; “Drone
Swarms,” Fortean Times, no. 416 (March 2022): 18)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7864
Date: 1/19/2022
Description: The CIA announces it has ruled out a sustained global
campaign by a hostile power aimed at hundreds of US diplomats and spies
as the cause of Havana Syndrome symptoms. In about two dozen cases, the
agency cannot rule out foreign involvement, including many of the cases
that originated at the US Embassy in Havana, Cuba, beginning in 2016.
Another group of cases is considered unresolved. But in hundreds of
other cases of possible symptoms, the agency has found plausible
alternative explanations. (“CIA
Says ‘Havana Syndrome’ Not Result
of Sustained Campaign by Hostile Power,” NBC News, January 19,
2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7865
Date: 2/2/2022
Description: An intelligence panel investigating the cause of Havana
Syndrome says that some of the episodes could plausibly have been caused
by “pulsed electromagnetic energy” emitted by an external source,
according to a partially declassified intelligence report. A panel of
intelligence community experts drew up the report after analyzing over
1,000 documents and interviewing affected individuals. They determine
the symptoms associated with the illness to be “genuine and compelling,”
and note that while some cases can be attributed to known psychological
or medical factors, others remain unexplained. The authors sought to
determine the feasibility of five potential causal mechanisms, including
“acoustic signals, chemical and biological agents, ionizing radiation,
natural and environmental factors, and radiofrequency and other
electromagnetic energy.” They assessed the potential of each of these
mechanisms to account for cases that cannot be easily explained by other
means. More specifically, they looked at cases involving a combination
of four particularly puzzling “core characteristics.” These include “the
acute onset of… sound or pressure in only one ear or on one side of the
head,” as well as vertigo, “a strong sense of locality or
directionality,” and an absence of any obvious environmental or medical
causes for such symptoms. Ruling out the possibility that Havana
syndrome could represent an underlying brain disorder, the authors state
that “the combination of the four core characteristics is distinctly
unusual and unreported elsewhere in the medical literature, and so far
have not been associated with a specific neurological abnormality.” On
the other hand, they conclude that “pulsed electromagnetic energy,
particularly in the radiofrequency range, plausibly explains the core
characteristics,” although they do concede that such a theory is riddled
with “information gaps.” Addressing the possibility that Havana syndrome
could therefore be caused by a nefarious device, they go on to explain
that devices do “exist that could generate the required stimulus, are
concealable, and have moderate power requirements” that could produce
the observed symptoms. (“Havana Syndrome
Could Be Caused by Pulsed Energy Devices, Intelligence Report Says,”
IFLScience, February 3, 2022; “US
Intelligence Community Report Says ‘Pulsed Electromagnetic Energy’ Could
Cause Havana Syndrome,” CNN, February 3, 2022; Office of the
Director of National Intelligence, [IC
Experts Panel on Havana Syndrome executive
summary], declassified February 1, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7866
Date: 2/6/2022
Description: Garry Nolan appears on Lex Fridman Podcast’s podcast with
the show title “UFOs and Aliens”
Type: interview
Reference: YouTube
Location: US
Date: 3/25/2022
Description: The Defense Intelligence Agency releases Defense
Intelligence Reference Documents on 37 of the 38 projects that its
Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) has
produced as part of its Project Physics under the direction of Hal
Puthoff. The
topics range from “Pulsed High-Power Microwave Source Technology” to
“Invisibility Cloaking” and “Antigravity for Aerospace Applications.”
(John Greenewald, “The
Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP)
Documentation,” The Black Vault, March 31, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7867
Date: 3/29/2022
Description: Ufologist and pilot John Lear, son of industrialist and
Learjet founder Bill Lear, dies at aged 79
Type: death
Reference: link
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Date: 4/22/2022
Description: 8:52 p.m. The pilot of an Embraer Phenom business jet
flying at 45,000 feet above Kessel, West Virginia, notices a light
10,000 feet above him. It changes to a string of lights. As he passes
underneath, he notices the object’s lights go out and the aircraft’s
avionics system fails. Other pilots can see the light as well. (John
Greenewald, “FAA
Confirmed UFO Sighting April 22, 2022, by LXJ359 over Kessel, West
Virginia,” The Black Vault, May 19, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7868
Date: 5/12/2022
Description: Department of Defense officials choose Deputy Director of
Intelligence and physicist Sean
Kirkpatrick to head the Airborne Object Identification and
Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG). (Douglas Dean Johnson, “Scientist
and Intelligence Officer Sean Kirkpatrick Piced to Head the New
Pentagon-IC Office Empowered by Congress
to Study Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,” Mirador, May 12,
2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7869
Date: 5/17/2022
Description: 9:00 a.m. The House Intelligence Committee’s
Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation
Subcommittee holds hearings on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, as
directed by the National Defense Authorization Act, which calls on the
military to provide an annual report and semiannual briefings on the
topic to Congress. The hearing features Ronald
Moultrie, under
secretary of defense for intelligence and security, who is involved with
the newly created Airborne Object Identification and Management
Synchronization Group (AOIMSG), and Scott
W. Bray, deputy
director of naval intelligence. Bray testifies that their database of
reports of UFOs now includes about 400 incidents, up from 143 assessed
in a report released in 2021. He cites improved sensors, an increase in
drones and other non-military unmanned aerial systems, and aerial
clutter such as Mylar balloons as causes for the uptick. Incidents in
the 2021 report date as far back as 2004 and are based on both sensor
data and observations by military aviators. Bray says that “Navy and air
force crews now have step- by-step procedures for reporting UAPs on
their kneeboard, in the cockpit.” In a back-and-forth with Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio),
Bray agrees that standardizing the civilian reporting process will be
useful. While the military database does include some civilian reports,
the vast majority have come from within. Rep. Adam
Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee,
pushes for the Pentagon and the public to understand that UAPs are
becoming a national security concern. At the hearing, officials play a
declassified video clip showing a mysterious UAP that zipped by a
pilot’s aircraft in a US Navy training yard. It appears to be a
spherical object traveling at extremely high speeds. Bray says that he
does not have an explanation for what this specific object is. Bray and
Moultrie both say they will commit to declassifying more information
when possible and when it does not pose a national security risk, adding
the task force will operate with more transparency than past Pentagon
programs. (Christopher Dean Hopkins, “The
Military’s UFO Database Now Has Info from About 400
Reported Incidents,” National Public Radio, May 17, 2022; Brad
Dress, “UFOs
Pose ’Potential National Security
Threat,’ Lawmakers Warn,” The Hill, May 17, 2022)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7870
Date: 5/27/2022
Description: The Center for UFO Studies launches its first Facebook
page. (CUFOS, Facebook
page)
Reference: Eberhart
ID: 7871
Date: 6/3/2022
Description: Ex-US Navy Aviator Ryan Graves gives a keynote titled “UAP
& Government: The Innovation Imperative” at the SCU AAPC conference
near the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville AL. Graves states at the
conference that aviators are reporting sightings, but are being ignored,
and if this continues they will stop reporting them.
Type: public presentation
Reference: link
Location: Huntsville, AL
Date: 6/4/2022
Description: ex-Col. John B. Alexander states on video at the SCU AAPC
conference near the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville AL that MJ-12 was
real, but then claimed it had nothing to do with UFO’s. Stubblebine said
it was very secret.
Type: public statement
Reference: link
Location: Huntsville, AL
Date: 6/4/2022
Description: Panel held at the SCU APC conference near the Redstone
Arsenal in Huntsville AL: “The National Security Implications of
Scientifically Studying UAP”- Dr. Joseph DiNoto (moderator), Dr. Matthew
Szydagis, Dr. Garry Nolan, Dr. Joshua Pierson, and Mr. Richard
Hoffman.
Type: public panel
Reference: link
Location: Huntsville, AL
Date: 6/4/2022
Description: Dr. Alexander Wendt gives the virtual presentation
“Dangerous Knowledge — UFO Science and the Last Humans” at the SCU AAPC
conference, near the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville AL, on potential
societal collapse and mass panic if Disclosure of the reality of UFO’s
is rushed. Mentions a 20 year process of acclimation focusing on young
people.
Type: public presentation
Reference: link
Location: Huntsville, AL
Date: 12/23/2022
Description: President Biden signs the 2023 NDAA (National Defense
Authorization Act) into law, containing UFO whistleblower protections
and references to back-engineering
Type: law
Reference: link
Location: Washington DC
Date: 1/12/2023
Description: CNBC: “More than 360 new UFO cases have been reported to
U.S. intelligence agencies since March 2021”
Type: ufo sightings
Reference: link
Reference: link
Location: US
Date: 1/12/2023
Description: CBS News: “Hundreds more UFO sightings included in latest
report”. “On Thursday, the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence released an unclassified version of its annual report on
UFOs, or what the government calls unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).
The office tracking reports of UFOs has added nearly 400 additional
sightings to its catalog over the last year, either because of new
sightings or older sightings discovered in existing files, bringing the
total number of UFO sightings to over 500. The assessment revealed that
the office tracking UAPs has had a total of 510 sightings since 2004.
This is significantly up from the 144 sightings included in the initial
report in 2021. Department of Defense has determined that about half of
the additional sightings displayed “unremarkable characteristics.” A
U.S. official told CBS News that none of the incidents have yet been
definitively linked to China, Russia or any other country.”
Type: unclassified report
Reference: link
Location: Washington DC
