selected ufo cases
Cases by Decade: 1950s
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
Strategic Air Command Officers Watch UFO With Satellite Objects
September, 8, 1958 - Offutt Air Force Base, Omaha, Nebraska, United States
At SAC headquarters in 1958, a group of officers, airmen and missile engineers observed an elongated UFO with satellite objects for about 20 minutes. The case was reported to NICAP by Major Paul A. Duich, USAF (Ret.). Until recently, Major Duich was an Air Force Master Navigator, accumulating 4000 flying hours and 300 combat hours. View full report
Source: Richard Hall, The UFO Evidence, 1964 ID: 1098
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Military, Multiple UFOs, Group Sighting
Strategic Air Command officers watch UFO with satellite objects
September, 8, 1958 - Offutt AFB, Omaha, Nebraska, United States
At SAC headquarters in 1958, a group of officers, airmen and missile engineers observed an elongated UFO with satellite objects for about 20 minutes. According to the report filed by Major Paul A. Duich, USAF (Ret.), "all except a few of the airmen were seasoned, veteran flyers or highly trained missile engineers. We concluded that what was seen by all was no conventional vehicle, nor was it an atmospheric phenomenon." View full report
Source: NICAP / Richard Hall (1964) from NICAP case file ID: 641
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Military, Group Sighting, Witness Sketch
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
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
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
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
The Ubatuba, Brazil Fragments
1957 - Ubatuba, Sao Paulo, Brazil
On September 14, 1957, Ibrahim Sued, a columnist for the Rio de Janeiro newspaper O Globo, printed a letter which he had received, concerning a UFO incident. Accompanying the letter were three small pieces of white metal. The writer of the letter described an event in which a "flying disk" exploded over the beach at Ubatuba, in Sao Paulo Province. One of the samples was analyzed and the results showed a 99.99% pure magnesium. View full report
Source: Billy Booth, About.com ID: 829
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Artifact, Crash/Retrieval
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
