UFO Case Report:

Man has close encounter with UFO occupants (the Dawson encounter)

Date: August 6, 1977
Location: Pelham, Georgia, United States

Retired automobile salesman Tom Dawson, 63, was walking with his two dogs from his trailer home to a nearby farm when a "circular shaped space ship" with a dome and portholes, 40-50 ft in diameter and 12-14 ft high, set down in a field in front of him. He found he was unable to move a muscle. A hatch in the object opened, a ramp was extended, and 7 strange looking humans 5 ft tall emerged, five men and two women.

Drawing by Billy Norris as described by the witness. (credit: Story)

Classification & Features

Type of Case/Report: StandardCase
Hynek Classification: CE3
Shape of Object(s): Disc
# of Witnesses: Single
Special Features/Characteristics: Humanoid/Occupant, Landing, 'Dyad Scout Craft'

Full Report / Article

Source: Billy Rachels / Ronald Story (2001)

August 6, 1977, near Pelham, Georgia (20 miles north of Thomasville), in Mitchell County. At 10:30 a.m., retired automobile salesman Tom Dawson (sixty-three years old, at the time) took a walk down to his favorite pond to see how it looked for fishing later that day.

Just as he got inside the fence surrounding the pond, a circular space ship zipped right in between the trees and hovered just a few feet above the ground. At the same time he found himself, his two dogs and twenty head of cattle, frozen in place by an unseen force.

Dawson said the craft was about 15 feet high and 50 feet in diameter. It had portholes all around and a dome on top. It made no sound and changed colors rapidly from one to another. Suddenly, a ramp came down and out came seven hairless, snow-white beings, about 5 feet tall, with pointed ears and noses.

Some had on tight-fitting one-piece suits while others wore nothing. They talked in a high-pitched' gibberish he could not understand.

They conducted what he thought to be a medical exam of some kind. They placed a skullcap-like device on his head and a large hula hoop-shaped thing (connected to a box) around his midsection. After they had collected "some leaves and stuff," they got back on the ship and were gone in the blink of an eye.

Once free, Mr. Dawson ran uphill (about 300 yards) to his trailer. He was having trouble breathing and talking, so he was taken to the Mitchell County Hospital, where the doctor said he had been shaken both mentally and physically from his encounter with the UFO and its occupants. He was treated for hysteria (given something to calm him down) and later released. Dawson said he believed that if he had been a younger man the extraterrestrials would have taken him away.

— Billy J. Rachels

------------------

[Another summary of this case from Albert Rosales' Humanoid Catalog. This summary describes an interesting and bizarre aspect of this case which is not included in the above account.]

Location. Pelham (Mitchell) Georgia
Date: August 6 1977
Time: 1030A
Tom Dawson, 63 and retired, was walking with his two dogs from his trailer home to a nearby farm when a "circular shaped space ship" with a dome and portholes, 40-50 ft in diameter and 12-14 ft high, set down in a field in front of him, hovering several feet off the ground. He found he was unable to move a muscle, and his dogs, as well as the cattle in the field, seemed likewise to be immobilized. A hatch in the object opened, a ramp was extended, and 7 strange looking humans 5 ft tall emerged, five men and two women. The first to leave stepped down cautiously, as if to test the solidity of the ground; then the rest followed, with two taking up sentry positions at the hatch. They were all hairless, with skin "as white as a flour sack," their noses were sharp and turned up, their ears were pointed, and they had no necks. One of the men and one of the women were completely nude. The clothing of the rest-males and females alike-was very beautiful with silk like shoes with pointed, turned up toes. The humanoids cautiously approached Dawson, and gave him a kind of physical examination, placing on his head a skullcap with cords connecting it to a hoop bearing dials. They dropped his trousers and lifted his shirt for the examination, passing the hoop over his body. While the examination was in progress, a loud voice came from the object, shouting three times " I am Jimmy Hoffa" (!) a fourth repetition was cut off, and the voice was not heard again. After completing the examination, all returned to the craft except two men, who walked about 10 feet away and "went into a conference." They had very shrill voices, and although Dawson was unable to comprehend what it was they said, he thought he heard the word "Jupiter." He had the impression they were debating whether or not to take him onboard; at any rate, they did not, and the leader passed his palm across his chest as though to signal good-bye. They reentered the ship, closed the hatch, and took off. He saw the object rise to 75 feet, and then in a wink it was out of sight. Dawson was then freed of his paralysis; he ran directly to his next-door neighbor, but was so excited he could say nothing more than "space ship!" He was taken to a hospital and treated for hysteria.

Humcat 1977-43
Source: Billy Rachels, UFO Bureau of Georgia
Type: B

-----------------

NOTE: Jimmy Hoffa, the famous labor leader, had disappeared about 2 years earlier under mysterious circumstances. Here is more information from the Wikipedia Encylopedia.:

"Jimmy Hoffa (14 February 1913 - 30 July, 1975?) was a noted American labor leader who is also well-known in popular culture for the mysterious circumstances surrounding his still-unexplained disappearance and presumed death... [He] disappeared on 30 July 1975 from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox Restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. His fate is a mystery that continues to this day and there are many guesses as to what happened to him." -- Wikipedia

Case ID: 657 edit: 657

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This website distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for scientific, research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107.