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selected ufo cases

North America (including Mexico)

Object tracked on multiple radar flying at 5,000+ MPH

January, 1958 - Fairbanks, Alaska, United States

"I was on duty as a radar ATC operator and observed on my radar an object flying at 5,000mph+ and making impossible 90 degree turns. I coordinated and confirmed sighting with at least 3 other radar sites."  View full report

Source: UFOEvidence.org   ID: 334
Case Type: RawReport    Features:  Radar, Military

Cigar-shaped UFO with occupants seen through windows

December, 16, 1957 - Old-Saybrook, Connecticut, United States

I saw that it was a cigar-shaped object, brightly lit and with square portholes, hovering just above my clothesline. I could see men inside. . ." The object was approximately 20 to 30 feet long and dark grey or black in color. It hovered motionless about five feet above the ground. Through its lighted windows Mrs. Starr saw two figures that passed each other, walking in opposite directions.  View full report

Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon),   ID: 558
Case Type: StandardCase    Features:  Humanoid/Occupant, Portholes/Windows

November, 6, 1957 - Merom, Indiana, United States

Rene Gilham, a 33 year-old ironworker, saw that a brightly luminous object was hovering overhead. Gilham estimated its size as 40 feet in diameter, and its altitude as 1000 feet.  View full report

Source: Herb Taylor / Ohio MUFON Case Notebook / Project-1947 Discussion List, November 5, 2003   ID: 6
Case Type: StandardCase    Features:  Physiological Effects

The Levelland Sightings (Texas)

November, 2, 1957 - Levelland, Texas, United States

This case is perhaps the most important concentration of vehicle interference events in the United States. On the evening of November 2, 1957, Patrolman A. J. Fowler, officer on duty at Levelland, Texas, received the first of several strangely similar phone calls. The first was from Pedro Saucedo, who, with companion Joe Salaz, had been driving four miles west of Levelland when a torpedo-shaped, brilliantly illuminated object rapidly approached the car... as the object passed close over the car, the truck headlights went out, and the engine died. Officer Fowler reported that a total of 15 phone calls were made to the police station in direct reference to the UFO.  View full report

Source: Dr. J. Allen Hynek,   ID: 228
Case Type: MajorCase    Features:  Vehicle Interference

The RB-47 UFO Encounter

July, 17, 1957 - Gulf Coast Area, United States

An Air Force RB-47, equipped with electronic countermeasures (ECM) gear and manned by six officers, was followed by an unidentified object for a distance of well over 700 mi. and for a time period of 1.5 hr., as it flew from Mississippi, through Louisiana and Texas and into Oklahoma. The object was, at various times, seen visually by the cockpit crew as an intensely luminous light, followed by ground-radar and detected on ECM monitoring gear aboard the RB-47.  View full report

Source: Loy Lawhon   ID: 665
Case Type: MajorCase    Features:  Pilot/Aircrew, Military, Radar

Astronaut Gordon Cooper Witnesses UFO Landing at Edwards AFB Featured Case

1957 - Edwards AFB, California, United States

"I had a camera crew filming the installation when they spotted a saucer. They filmed it as it flew overhead, then hovered, extended three legs as landing gear, and slowly came down to land on a dry lake bed! It was a classic saucer, shiny silver and smooth, about 30 feet across. It was pretty clear it was an alien craft."  View full report

Source: John Cooke   ID: 357
Case Type: StandardCase    Features:  Military, Famous Person, Witness Photo

Canadian military pilots see and photograph UFO

August, 27, 1956 - McCleod, Alberta, Canada

The witnesses were two Royal Canadian Air Force pilots who were flying in a formation of four F86 Sabre jet aircraft. One of the pilots saw a "bright light which was sharply defined and disk-shaped," that resembled "a shiny silver dollar sitting horizontal." The first pilot to notice the object took a photograph.  View full report

Source: STUDIOVNI   ID: 255
Case Type: StandardCase    Features:  Photo, Military, Pilot/Aircrew

Low hovering cylinder-shaped UFO with tube seen in Nashville, TN, 1956

1956 - Nashville, Tennessee, United States

Two eleven-year olds were playing when they heard a strange metallic sound. They looked around and saw a cylinder-shaped craft hovering very still a few feet above a tree. It was 20-25 feet in length. There was writing on the belly of the object, and a long silver tube which protruded from bottom. This tube was "sniffing" the leaves in the tree top. The witnesses watched the object for 3-4 minutes, too scared to move, before running home.  View full report

Source: UFOEvidence.org   ID: 767
Case Type: RawReport    Features:  Sound, Witness Sketch

The Kelly-Hopkinsville 'Goblins' Encounter Featured Case

August, 21, 1955 - Kelly, Kentucky, United States

Billy Ray Taylor went out to fetch some water from the Sutton family well, when he saw a large shining object land in a gully about a city block away. A short time later, Carl "Lucky" Sutton and Billy Ray went out to investigate and saw a small 3-to-4 foot creature walking towards them with its hands up, as if surrendering. They later described the creature, one of several encountered that night, as having large eyes, a long thin mouth, large ears, thin short legs, and hands ending in claws.  View full report

Source: Loy Lawhon, About.com   ID: 524
Case Type: MajorCase    Features:  Humanoid/Occupant, Witness Photo

Engineer observes lens-shaped disc in New York

October, 1954 - Cherry Valley, New York, United States

"It seemed to be a large disc or lens-shaped object, and in comparison with the objects below I estimated it to be perhaps 30 or 35 feet in diameter... It was moving like a wheel sliding sidewise and not rotating, and in perspective presented an elliptical appearance such as any circular object would when viewed from an anglel...The color was gray."  View full report

Source: Richard Hall, The UFO Evidence, 1964 (NICAP)   ID: 1096
Case Type: StandardCase    Features:  Silent, Scientist/Engineer

Circular object, appearing as a flaming ring, seen by architect

April, 26, 1954 - Newburyport, Massachusetts, United States

Russell M. Peirce, architect, reported a circular object which made a right-angle turn. "I was standing at the rear of the local High School building talking with two friends... Suddenly we all heard a very loud deep roar as of many motors... The object as I first saw it appeared as a flaming ring. The color was a little on the whitish tone but also had some suggestion of the orange-yellow of the common flame of burning wood, say."  View full report

Source: NICAP / Richard Hall, 1964 (from NICAP case file)   ID: 646
Case Type: StandardCase    Features:  Sound, Witness Sketch

The Kinross Air Force Base Incident (jet disappears while chasing UFO)

November, 23, 1953 - Lake Superior, Michigan, United States

On the evening of 23 November 1953, an Air Force radar controller became alerted to an "unidentified target" over Lake Superior, and an F-89C Scorpion jet was scrambled from Kinross AFB. Radar controllers watched as the F-89 closed in on the UFO, and then sat stunned in amazement as the two blips merged on the screen, and the UFO left. The F-89 and it’s two man crew, pilot Felix Moncla and radar operator Robert Wilson, were never found, even after a thorough search of the area.  View full report

Source: Loy Lawhon, About.com   ID: 610
Case Type: MajorCase    Features:  Pilot/Aircrew, Military, Radar, Witness Photo

Ellsworth Air Force Base UFO Incident

August, 5, 1953 - Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, United States

Shortly after dark on the night of twelfth [sic], the Air Defense Command radar station at Ellsworth AFB, just east of Rapid City, had received a call from the local Ground Observer Corps filter center. A lady spotter at Black Hawk, about 10 miles west of Ellsworth, had reported an extremely bright light low on the horizon, off to the northeast.  View full report

Source: Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, Former Director of Project Blue Book   ID: 41
Case Type: MajorCase    Features:  Radar, Pilot/Aircrew, Military

Round, metallic object near Livermore, California

1953 - Livermore, California, United States

John B. Bean was a flyer with 17 years experience. "it was perfectly round and had a metallic sheen somewhat similar to that of aluminum with a satin finish... It also began to climb at the most terrific rate of ascent that I have ever witnessed."  View full report

Source: Richard Hall, UFO Evidence, 1964 (NICAP)   ID: 1103
Case Type: StandardCase

Technician watches glowing white UFO near Larson AFB

December, 22, 1952 - Larson AFB, Moses Lake, Washington, United States

An instrument technician, while driving from a large city toward an Air Force base on December 22, 1952, saw an object from his car at 1930 hours. It suddenly moved up toward the zenith in spurts from right to left at an angle of about 45°. It then moved off in level flight at a high rate of speed, during which maneuver it appeared white most of the time, but apparently rolled three times showing a red side.  View full report

Source: U.S. Air Force Project Blue Book Special Report #14 (Battelle Institute Study), 1955   ID: 674
Case Type: SummaryReport

B-29 Radar Visual, Multiple Witness Observations

December, 6, 1952 - Gulf of Mexico, United States

When watching the radarscope, Coleman observed two UFOs which he tracked at a speed in excess of 5.000 miles per hour, quite impossible for planes of the day.  View full report

Source: UFOs at Close Sight (Patrick Gross)   ID: 16
Case Type: MajorCase    Features:  Pilot/Aircrew, Military, Radar

The Flatwoods Monster Featured Case

September, 12, 1952 - Flatwoods, West Virginia, United States

Just before dark on September 12, 1952, at Flatwoods, WV, some young school boys saw a fiery UFO streak across the sky and apparently land on a nearby hilltop. Rushing to the site, and gathering a few others along the way, they saw a pulsating red light, encountered a nauseating mist, and turned a flashlight on a pair of shining eyes, revealing a huge creature. As it hissed and glided at them, the group panicked and fled. The next day investigators discovered skid marks and an oil-like substance that presumably came from the UFO.  View full report

Source: Subversive Element   ID: 535
Case Type: MajorCase    Features:  Humanoid/Occupant, Children, Animal Reaction, Physical Trace, Landing, Group Sighting, Witness Photo

'Figures' seen through windows of oval-shaped object

August, 25, 1952 - Pittsburg, Kansas, United States

Among those cases declared Unidentified by the Air Force which are reported to involve alleged occupants is a sighting by William Squyres. He described the object as resembling two turtle shells placed edge to edge. Along the rim where the two halves joined he noticed a series of small propellers six to twelve inches in diameter projecting outward all the way around the object.  View full report

Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon),   ID: 556
Case Type: StandardCase    Features:  Humanoid/Occupant, Physical Trace, Portholes/Windows

UFO seen at close range with appearance of occupant aboard

August, 1952 - Seat Pleasant, Maryland, United States

Sometime in August, 1952 (the exact date cannot be recalled) during the major UFO sighting wave of that year, Mrs. Suzanne E. Knight, a young housewife and mother, saw a UFO at close range with what appeared to be an occupant aboard. The UFO appeared to Mrs. Knight to resemble the wingless fuselage of a plane and was dull silver in color.  View full report

Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon),   ID: 557
Case Type: StandardCase    Features:  Humanoid/Occupant, Portholes/Windows

The Nash-Fortenberry Sighting (aircraft encounter with formation of UFOs)

July, 14, 1952 - Virginia, United States

A Pan American World Airways DC-4 was on a routine flight from New York to Miami. The crew included Captain Koepke, First Officer William B. Nash and Second Officer William H. Fortenberry. Suddenly, they noticed six bright objects in echelon formation streaking toward them at tremendous speed. They had the fiery aspect of hot coals, but of much greater glow.  View full report

Source: Tom Tulien, Sign Historical Group   ID: 92
Case Type: MajorCase    Features:  Pilot/Aircrew, Witness Photo, Multiple UFOs

Engineer and others observe manuevering object in California

May, 13, 1952 - National City, California, United States

From the witness: "To the naked eye the object appeared as a sphere of about 1/16 inch diameter... Through the [6 power] telescope the object presented a larger disc but the brightness did not appreciably increase... In level flight the object seemed to dart from side to side in an oscillating motion without diminishing of forward speed...Its dive from an extreme altitude at possibly meteoric speed, its deceleration, leveling off, and circle of the city twice indicate that it arrived from interplanetary space and was under intelligent control."  View full report

Source: Richard Hall, UFO Evidence, 1964 (NICAP - National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon)   ID: 1097
Case Type: StandardCase    Features:  Group Sighting, Scientist/Engineer, Silent

Scientist Reports Sighting Disc

April, 25, 1952 - San Jose, California, United States

Directly over a building across the street was a small, metallic-looking disc, tilted at about a 20 degree angle and rotating around a vertical axis, wobbling "like the motion of a disc in a water meter". The distance was estimated to be about 50 ft, and the disc appeared to be 4-5 feet in diameter  View full report

Source: NICAP, Dr. James McDonald   ID: 34
Case Type: StandardCase    Features:  Scientist/Engineer

Several groups of UFOs fly over witnesses in Flint, Michigan

April, 20, 1952 - Flint, Michigan, United States

A naval aviation student, his wife, and several others were at a drive-in movie, during which time they saw several groups of objects fly over. There were from two to nine objects in a group and there were about 20 groups. The objects were shaped like conventional aircraft. The unaccountable feature of the objects was that each had a red glow surrounding it and was glowing itself, although it was a cloudless night.  View full report

Source: U.S. Air Force Project Blue Book Special Report #14 (Battelle Institute Study), 1955   ID: 671
Case Type: SummaryReport    Features:  Multiple UFOs, Group Sighting

F-86 intercepts and shoots at saucer-shaped UFO

1952 - United States

In the summer of 1952 a United States Air Force F-86 jet interceptor shot at a flying saucer. This fact, like so many others that make up the full flying saucer story has never before been told... The object was definitely round and flat saucer shaped. The pilot described it as being "like a doughnut without a hole."  View full report

Source: Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, 'The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects' (Credit: NICAP.org)   ID: 1024
Case Type: StandardCase    Features:  Pilot/Aircrew, Military, Radar
Cases per page:  8   16   24