selected ufo cases
Disc / Saucer Shape
Disc-shaped UFO hovers, then evades pursuit by pilot
October, 2, 1961 - Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
A grayish disc-shaped object which hovered, wobbling on its axis, then evaded pursuit, was sighted October 2, 1961 at Salt Lake City, Utah airport. Private pilot Waldo J. Harris, a real estate broker, investigated the object in his light aircraft as 8-10 ground personnel at the airport watched. The object was disc shaped, 50 feet in diameter, and 8-10 feet thick. View full report
Source: NICAP / Richard Hall (1964) from NICAP case report ID: 638
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Witness Sketch, Pilot/Aircrew, Group Sighting
Eagle River Close Encounter (man given 'pancakes' by UFO occupants)
April, 18, 1961 - Eagle River, Wisconsin, United States
Mr. Paul Simonton, a chicken farmer in Eagle River, Wisconsin saw a disc-shaped craft land vertically on his farm. A hatch opened, and when he approached he saw three human-looking men inside. They asked him for some water. They appeared to be cooking pancakes on a griddle, and in exchange for the water they gave him four of the pancakes from griddle. The episode survived a rigorous assessment by the U.S. Air Force and is carried in their files as "unexplained." View full report
Source: Jay Rath ID: 708
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Humanoid/Occupant, Landing, Artifact, Witness Photo, Witness Sketch, Communication
Saucer-shaped object with dome and two occupants inside
July, 13, 1959 - Blenheim, New Zealand
Mrs. Moreland saw a sharply- outlined saucer-shaped object with two extremely bright sources of green light on the underside. The object was approximately 20 to 30 feet wide and hovered at roof-top level, about 15 feet above the ground. Inside a transparent dome, she said, there were two men, "dressed in fairly close-fitting suits of shiny material." View full report
Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon), ID: 559
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Humanoid/Occupant, 'Dyad Scout Craft', Humming, Witness Sketch
Huge disk hovers over bridge in the Grand Beuch river valley, France, 1958
October, 28, 1958 - Pont-la-Dame, France
Jean Boyer was driving home on October 28, 1958. "I had reached the area of Pont-la-Dame and was ready to climb the stretch of road called "Cote des Egaux," when I saw in the sky, right above Pont-la-Dame, in the valley of the Grand Buech river, a motionless and luminous "disk." ...I believe it was about 200 to 400 meters above the ground. Suddenly, after two or three minutes, some sparks flew as the object rose vertically at a dizzying speed..." View full report
Source: Jacques & Janine Vallee, 1966 ID: 951
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Smell/Odor
Sighting by zoologist and UFO researcher Ivan T. Sanderson
October, 2, 1958 - Near Blairstown, New Jersey, United States
Shortly after 5:00 p.m., noted Zoologist Ivan T. Sanderson observed a disc- shaped UFO maneuvering over the Delaware Water Gap. The flat disc looped back and forth, appearing sometimes edge-on (as a very thin line), sometimes oval to circular. It vanished once, but quickly reappeared, and continued its rapid gyrations, finally speeding away to the west. View full report
Source: NICAP / Richard Hall (1964) ID: 643
Case Type: SummaryReport Features: Scientist/Engineer, Witness Sketch
Trindade Island Photographs
January, 16, 1958 - Trindade Island, Brazil
Trindade, a small rocky island in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean 600 miles off the coast of Bahia, Brazil, was the site of one of the most impressive photographic cases in UFO history. View full report
Source: STUDIOVNI / Jerome Clark (CUFOS) ID: 254
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Photo, Water-Related, Military
U.S. Senator Richard Russell Sees disc-shaped UFO in USSR
October, 13, 1955 - Russian Federation
U.S. Senator Richard B. Russell, Jr. (D-GA), then chairman of the Armed Services Committee, was on a Soviet train when he spotted a disc-shaped craft taking off near the tracks. He hurriedly called his military aide and interpreter to the window and they saw the UFO, plus another one that appeared a minute later. View full report
Source: UFOs at Close Sight (Patrick Gross) ID: 9
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Famous Person, Witness Photo
Multiple witnesses observe saucer above road in 1955, UK
July, 17, 1955 - Bexley, United Kingdom
It was July 17, 1955 when Margaret Fry spotted the object as she was making her way to her GP's surgery in King Harold's Way from her home in Hythe Avenue. Mrs Fry described it as saucer shaped with a "blue/silver/grey/pewter texture, yet none of those colours". She said it had three spheres set into its base, one of which "flopped out", landing on the ground at the junction of nearby Ashbourne and Whitfield roads. View full report
Source: The News Shopper, (London, UK), March 7, 2007 ID: 1054
Case Type: PressReport Features: Witness Photo, Humming, Rotary/Spin Motion, Body Lights, Portholes/Windows, Children, Group Sighting, Landing
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
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
Two disc-shaped UFOs seen by marine engineer in Holland
August, 7, 1952 - Kerkrade, Netherlands
On the night of August 6-7, 1952, Will Jansen, a marine engineer and designer, was visiting in Kerkrade, Holland. Just after midnight a disc-shaped craft with visible superstructure swooped down to low altitude, hovered, zigzagged and sped away. A second disc-shaped UFO, similar in outline, was then seen hovering farther away. Finally it tilted up vertically and shot up out of sight. View full report
Source: NICAP / Richard Hall, 1964 (from letter to CSI of Los Angeles) ID: 647
Case Type: SummaryReport Features: Scientist/Engineer, Multiple UFOs
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
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
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
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
