selected ufo cases
Standard / Medium Cases
Commercial Plane Follows UFO over New York State
April, 8, 1958 - New York, United States
April 8, 1956: A very brilliant light was followed across New York State by an American Airlines plane. The pilots were Capt. Raymond Ryan and First Officer William Neff. The chase was described by radio to Air Force and civilian control tower operators. The following account of the sighting is taken from a tape-recorded interview program. View full report
Source: Richard Hall, UFO Evidence, 1964 ID: 1104
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Pilot/Aircrew
Fisherman in Brazil watch UFO with portholes over sea
April, 1958 - Brazil
"When the machine was at a distance of some 40 metres from him and the group of fishermen, and about 15 metres above the water, it began to rock sideways, and then stopped and hung there. It seemed to have three distinguishable parts: the upper half was the colour of aluminium, like an inverted bowl, and on the top of it was a small protuberance or dome." View full report
Source: Gordon W. Creighton, FSR Vol. 10 No. 6, Nov.-Dec, 1964 ID: 624
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Water-Related, Humming, Portholes/Windows
Enormous UFO seen by soldier during Algerian War
March, 1958 - Bouhamama, Algeria
Legionnaire N.G., was on sentry duty at a Foreign Legion camp at Bouahmama during the Algerian War, when he saw an enormous, roundish object descending. It stopped when it was about 35-40 metres above the ground, and began to hover there, motionless and silent. He estimated it to be as much as 350 metres wide. The witness feels that something most unusual happened to him psychologically. View full report
Source: Joel Mesnard, FSR Vol. 19. No. 3 ID: 594
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Military, Physiological Effects
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
Astronaut Gordon Cooper Witnesses UFO Landing at Edwards AFB
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
Metal artifact found after close encounter on Island of Vaddo, Sweden
November, 11, 1956 - Isle of Vaddo, Sweden
Stig Ekberg and Harry Sjoberg were driving on the Island of Vaddo, Sweden, when they were approached by a flattened sphere shaped object. It settled in the middle of the road, about 100 meters in front of them. After about ten minutes, the object lifted off and accelerated away. At the landing site, the witnesses found a shiny "rock" that was hot to the touch. It was a three-sided piece of metal about the size of a matchbox, and had a heavy weight. Upon analysis, the object was found to be composed of tungsten carbide and cobalt. View full report
Source: Jacques Vallee, in Peter Sturrock, 'The UFO Enigma' ID: 837
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Artifact, Vehicle Interference, Smell/Odor, Physical Trace
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
The 1954 Cennina Landing and Encounter with Humanoids
November, 1, 1954 - Cennina, Italy
Rosa Lotti was walking into Cennina, when she perceived a big vertical spindle, "like 2 cones joined at their bases." From behind this craft emerged two little men 3 ft tall, who approached her with friendly expressions, the older one laughing. They were speaking a language that sounded like Chinese, 'liu, lai, loi." Approaching Lotti, they snatched from her the carnations and one of her stockings. Lotti ran away. A deep hole in the ground was later found at the site. View full report
Source: Sergio Conti, excerpt from FSR (Sept/Oct 1972) ID: 703
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Humanoid/Occupant, Landing, Physical Trace
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
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
'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
The Haneda AFB case, Japan, 1952
August, 5, 1952 - Haneda US Air Force Base , Near Tokyo, Japan, Japan
This is one of the cases that the Colorado Project has considered "explained" - a star and an anomalous radar propagation. Not so. On the contrary, as a careful study of the records shows, it is a very interesting case of anomalous flying objects in the sky who fly under intelligent control and cannot be of human origin. View full report
Source: UFOs at Close Sight (Patrick Gross) ID: 10
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Radar, Military
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
Lac Chauvet UFO Photos
July, 18, 1952 - Lac Chauvet, France
Andre Fregnale, an engineer and photographer, walked around France's Lake Chauvet taking pictures of a UFO that came out of the Northwest sky. The photographs have been scrutinized by many experts and all have found them to be real shots of a real UFO. View full report
Source: STUDIOVNI ID: 256
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Photo
UFO with occupants encountered by former mayor in Hasselbach, Germany
July, 9, 1952 - Hasselbach, Germany
Oscar Linke, former Wehrmacht major, and his daughter Gabrielle, 11, had to leave their motorcycle when they had a flat tire. Inside the woods the girl noticed two men in silvery suits examining the ground in a clearing near a pink disk-shaped object, 13-15 meters in diameter, showing a double row of openings around the rim and a black turret on top. One of the men had a flashing box. Both men went inside, and the disk vibrated, rose along the turretlike cylinder, then spun faster and rose out of sight. View full report
Source: Kathimerini newspaper (Athens, Greece), 1952, found in declassfied CIA files ID: 715
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Humanoid/Occupant, Landing, Portholes/Windows, Humming, Physical Trace
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
Canadian Naval Officer Has Close Encounter In Hawaiian Waters, 1952
May, 1952 - Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States
From the witness: "Suddenly one of these objects appeared at close range on our port bow at a low elevation. It was disc shaped and consisted of a very bright light with black windows running around the whole side which was visible to us. It maintained perfect station on us for at least fifteen minutes. I scanned the object with binoculars attempting to see into the windows but saw nothing." View full report
Source: Gavin McLeod, UFO*BC, 3-6-98 (credit: Rense.com) ID: 1078
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Portholes/Windows, Military, Silent, Water-Related
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
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
Puerto Maldonado Photograph (Cigar-shaped object with trail photographed in Argentina)
1952 - Puerto Maldonado, Peru
On July 19, 1952, the attention of Customs Inspector Sr. Domingo Troncoso was called to a very strange cigar-shaped flying object over the river area. The big dirigible-shaped craft was flying horizontally and fairly low in the sky, passing from right to left from the observers position. It was leaving a dense trail of thick smoke, vapor, or substance on its wake. The object was estimated to be over a hundred feet long. View full report
Source: Wendelle Stevens / B.J. Booth / Mark Cashman ID: 876
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Photo, E-M Effects
Squadron of Discs Over Atomic Test Site
October, 1951 - Nellis Air Force Base, Yucca Flat, Nevada, United States
Formation of 18 silvery, rotating, disc-shaped objects, each one with a dome, come down over a nuclear test site, hover for 10 to 15 minutes, and then depart, at an angle, vanishing out of sight in seconds." View full report
Source: NICAP, Walter Webb ID: 35
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Military, Nuclear Facility
Cigar-shaped UFO over Mt. Kilimanjaro witnessed by pilot and passengers
February, 19, 1951 - Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
In 1951 a huge cigar-shaped UFO, which hovered over the famous Mt. Kilimanjaro, was photographed from an East African Airways plane flying in the vicinity, and witnessed by the crew and passengers. After remaining motionless for a considerable period of time, the object suddenly climbed steeply and disappeared. The movie film was developed and reportedly showed a clear and sizeable image of the object, according to the Natal Mercury. View full report
Source: NICAP / Richard Hall, 1964 (citing Nairobi Sunday Post, Feb. 25, 1951) ID: 648
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Pilot/Aircrew, Group Sighting
