selected ufo cases
North America (including Mexico)
Flying 'ball of fire' seen by 3 children camping in backyard in Redwood Valley, CA
June, 19, 1985 - Redwood Valley, California, United States
Three children were camping in their Redwood Valley backyard when they heard a "whoosh" and saw a bright light. The flying "ball of fire" made three circles above their yard. Debbie, 11, said the object was bigger than a beach ball. The object began to get smaller and increase its speed until it disappeared in the southwest. View full report
Source: Ukiah Daily Journal (Ukiah, CA), June 20, 1985 ID: 944
Case Type: PressReport Features: Children, Sound, Witness Photo
Oblong shaped flying object witnessed by 3 women near Ascutney, VT
February, 5, 1985 - Ascutney, Vermont, United States
Three women were driving to a high school basketball game, when they noticed a bright object in the night sky. They described it as basically oblong in shape, with an extremely bright white light at the front end. There seemed to be a sphere or halo of a grayish-bluish hue around the middle of the object, and lots of tiny flashing lights at the rear. One of these, a. small white light, was stationary for a while but suddenly detached itself from the rest of the lights and sped rapidly away. View full report
Source: Windsor Chronicle (Windsor, VT), Feb. 7, 1985 ID: 950
Case Type: PressReport Features: Body Lights, Witness Sketch
Man sees unusual object with lights in night sky over Amherst, Ohio
1985 - Amherst, Ohio, United States
Arthur Schindler and his wife, Eva, had just returned from Lenten services at St. Paul Church, when he saw a light in the sky. He watched the object for more than an hour. "It looks like a huge dish with two sets of yellow lights around the rim. On top of the dish, it looks like a castle. Kind of like a pyramid. There are lights all over it. The blue and white beams shoot out from the front of it." View full report
Source: Lorain Journal (Lorain, OH), June 13, 1985 ID: 945
Case Type: PressReport Features: Body Lights, Witness Sketch, Witness Photo
Bob White Alien Artifact
1985 - Near Grand Junction, Colorado, United States
White and a friend were driving from Denver to Las Vegas, when they witnessed an object that was about 100 yards in front of him, he said, "and it was huge ... absolutely huge." As the craft flew away, White said, he noticed an orange light falling to the ground. He recovered the object, which is about 7-1/2 inches long and shaped like a teardrop. View full report
Source: Knight Ridder Newspapers, June 22, 2004 ID: 365
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Artifact, Witness Photo, Polygraph Test, Interaction/Reaction
Police officer and others see dirigible-shaped UFO over Keene, NH
October, 16, 1984 - Keene, New Hampshire, United States
On Oct. 16,1984, a mysterious craft was seen over Keene near Route 12. Keene police Sgt. John C. Zeller got the call and drove out to the highway to see what was going on. He caught sight of something in the sky and shined his cruiser's spotlight on a white, dirigible-shaped object before it moved off. The following night it was back, hovering above Keene again. A lot of people reported something strange during those two nights. View full report
Source: Paul Montgomery, The Keene Sentinel (Keene, NH), Sept. 25, 1992 ID: 762
Case Type: PressReport Features: Police, Witness Photo, Interaction/Reaction
UFO follows witnesses home, hovers over driveway
August, 20, 1984 - Mahopac Falls, New York, United States
Mrs. Irene Lunn, the wife of a policeman, and her daughter Erica were driving home when they saw a large object directly over the pond at the Circle A Farm. The object suddenly made a 90-degree left turn and came slowly towards them. It stayed with them as they reached home, until it was directly over their driveway. About one minute after it started hovering, another UFO came out of the west over the driveway. View full report
Source: APRO Bulletin, Vol. 32 No. 11 (May 1985) ID: 359
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Multiple UFOs
Close Encounter at Indian Point Nuclear Reactor, NY
June, 14, 1984 - Buchahan, New York, United States
The object consisted of ten or more lights arranged in a boomerang pattern. It appeared to be hovering about a quarter of a mile from one of the gates to the complex, and at that distance, they could not make out any shape... He estimated the object was at least 300 feet from one end to the other. View full report
Source: J. Allen Hynek, Philip J. Imbrogno, and Bob Pratt (excerpt from Night Siege: The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings) ID: 1080
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Nuclear Facility, E-M Effects, Group Sighting
Ball of fire moves over 4 witnesses in boat on Bear Lake, Florida
July, 1983 - Bear Lake, Forest City, Florida, United States
The four witnesses had gone out in their boat to the middle of the lake, when they noticed a strange light that apeared as a flaming ball, orange and red with flames licking upward then like tongues of fire vanishing over the ball. The light then went out, but after a minute or two the fireball appeared again, directly over the witness' boat, before shooting away. View full report
Source: UFOEvidence.org ID: 932
Case Type: RawReport Features: Water-Related
Close encounter with huge object, 20-30 occupants seen inside
February, 3, 1983 - Mobile, Alabama, United States
Huge object witnessed by Pat Norris of Mobile, Alabama. "As the craft appeared Mrs. Norris' attention was drawn to a top deck with a long window which she estimates 53 feet and through which she viewed 20 to 30 persons, apparently oblivious of her presence, walking about as if they were changing shift." View full report
Source: APRO Bulletin, Vol. 32, No. 2 (May 1984) ID: 267
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Humanoid/Occupant, Portholes/Windows
Unidentified landed enormous craft on legs
1983 - Sooke, British Columbia, Canada
I was astounded by what I viewed., and here it is. What I saw was an enormous dark structure, almost filled up the whole site that was a few hundred ft wide, to me it looked like the size of a football stadium, it was long, thin, rounded edges, lights placed strategically along the top edge casting shallow light downward. View full report
Source: UFO Evidence ID: 78
Case Type: RawReport Features: Landing
U.S. Congressman and Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich sighting of large triangular craft in Washington state
September, 1982 - Graham, Washington, United States
Dennis Kucinich saw a large triangular craft over the home actress Shirley Macline in the 1980's. "He looked up, he saw a gigantic triangular craft, silent, and observing him. It hovered, soundless, for ten minutes or so, and sped away with a speed he couldn't comprehend." View full report
Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), Wall Street Journal, and other sources ID: 1177
Case Type: PressReport Features: Silent, Witness Photo, Famous Person
The Vancouver Island Photograph
October, 8, 1981 - Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
Hannah Mc Roberts is with her husband and their daughter on the East coast of the Vancouver Island. They take a picture of a mountain. Several days afterwards, when photographa are developed, they notice on one of the photograph that there is a discoidal object in the sky. View full report
Source: Gordon Creighton / Richard Haines ID: 241
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Photo
Bell-shaped object with flashing lights seen by 10 people in Queens, New York
September, 5, 1981 - Queens, New York, New York, United States
At least ten people in Corona, Queens, said they saw a bell-shaped UFO with flashing multi-colored lights making a beeping noise on Sept. 5, 1981, at 10:00 p.m. Reportedly, as the UFO hovered over a tenement block, a triangular-shaped ray of green light shot out from the bottom of the object and shone on the face of a teen-aged girl observing the object from the window of her friend's house. View full report
Source: News World (New York, NY), Sept. 19, 1981 ID: 941
Case Type: PressReport Features: Group Sighting, Light Beam, Body Lights, Children, Witness Sketch, Sound
Saucer-shaped object observed entering water in Hamilton, Ontario
August, 1981 - Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
In late August of 1981, three men and two women were driving near Hamilton, Ontario when they observed a red-orange, domed saucer shaped object. The UFO moved towards Hamilton Harbour, slowed down, and gently entered the water. The group remained in the area for seven hours, wondering if the object would resurface. Finally, two objects were seen to partially emerge and remain in that position through the point that the group finally left. View full report
Source: Carl Feindt, WaterUFO.net ID: 774
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Water-Related, E-M Effects
Cigar-shaped object seen landing on the water in South Carolina
July, 15, 1981 - Newberry, South Carolina, United States
Carl E. Moore, 14-years-old, was fishing with friends near Newberry, South Carolina, when he saw a 30-foot long cigar-shaped UFO land on the water. It was flying very slowly over the water, and then settled on the surface of the water causing steam to rise around it. After about 3 minutes it rose slightly and hovered about one foot above the surface. Suddenly, it shot skyward, rising vertically until it was out of sight View full report
Source: Waterufo.net / MUFON Journal, Dec. 1982 ID: 776
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Water-Related
TWA airline pilot sees round metallic object with portholes
July, 4, 1981 - South central Lake Michigan, United States
On a clear day in 1981, Captain Schultz was piloting TWA flight 842 from San Francisco to John F. Kennedy Airport over Lake Michigan. In his written report, he described seeing a "large, round, silver metal object" with six jet black "portholes" equally spaced around the circumference, which "descended into the atmosphere from above." View full report
Source: Richard Haines, 2000 (Credit: CFI / NARCAP) ID: 656
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Pilot/Aircrew, Portholes/Windows
Cigar-shaped object with portholes seen by 7 witnesses over Northern Texas
May, 13, 1981 - Denison, Texas, United States
At least seven persons spotted an unidentified flying object over Texomaland last Wednesday morning. Jim Shelton, mechanic at Jim Graham International, described the sighting and drew a sketch. "It was a flying object with lit portholes. Fire was streaming in sparks from the rear, and it had green and yellow pulsating lights," he said. "It was real. I saw it, and if they lock me up, I still saw it. It was long, a cigar-like shape." View full report
Source: Irene Flaherty, Denison Herald (Denison, TX), May 17, 1981 ID: 948
Case Type: PressReport Features: Portholes/Windows, Silent, Witness Sketch
Low-flying cigar-shaped object sighted over Los Angeles in 1981
April, 19, 1981 - Los Angeles, California, United States
A large, low-flying cigar-shaped object with white lights shining from a row of "windows" and bearing green-blue and white "running lights" was sighted by a West Los Angeles resident on the night of April 19, 1981 at about 11:30 p.m. Taff estimated the object, which made no sound, was about 65 feet in length and about 15 feet high. View full report
Source: News World (New York, NY), Dec. 12, 1981 / APRO Bulletin, 1981 ID: 943
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Witness Sketch, Silent, Portholes/Windows, Body Lights
Large low-flying object with square windows seen by couple in car over Bethesda, MD
March, 15, 1981 - Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Martin Buxbaum was driving with his wife and noticed an unusual object silhouetted against the dark blue evening sky. The object had the wingspan of a 717 but was flying low, he says. It was accented by a row of square windows in the front and two "cherry red" exhaust lights to the rear. But most mysterious of all, the object made no sound at all View full report
Source: Mike M. Ahlers, Montgomery Journal (Chevy Chase, MD), March 25, 1981 ID: 949
Case Type: PressReport Features: Portholes/Windows, Silent, Witness Sketch
Metallic object flew silently overhead at 20-40 mph at 200-400 feet
March, 1981 - Montaulk, New York, United States
I stopped the car and shut the engine. Looking up I saw a metalic object pass slowly overhead at perhaps 200-400 feet. There were no wings or rotors, no visible engines, and absolutely no sound. View full report
Source: UFO Evidence ID: 68
Case Type: RawReport
Trans-en-Provence Physical Trace Case
January, 8, 1981 - Trans-en-Provence, France
On the afternoon of January 8, 1981, a strange craft landed on a farm near the village of Trans-en-Provence in the Var region in southeastern France. Physical traces left on the ground were collected by the Gendarmerie within 24 hours and later analyzed in several French government laboratories. Extensive evidence of anomalous activity was detected. View full report
Source: ISSO ID: 110
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Physical Trace, Landing, Witness Sketch
The Hudson Valley Boomerang Sightings
1981 - Hudson Valley, New York, United States
Between 1982 and 1995, more than seven thousand cases were investigated and documented by a team of investigators led by Philip J. Imbrogno, a high school science teacher and astronomer in Greenwich, Connecticut. The heaviest period was between the end of 1982 and 1986, when more than five thousand people reported seeing the object. View full report
Source: Bob Pratt ID: 1084
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Mass Sighting
The Cash-Landrum Case
December, 29, 1980 - Huffman, Texas, United States
A terrifying encounter with a flame belching UFO on a lonely road near Huffman, Texas, resulted in appalling injuries for the three innocent victims. According to Bob Pratt, "the case remains one of the most important in the history of ufology. It has never been resolved. Someone in the U.S. knows exactly what happened to Betty and Vickie and Colby but they have remained silent despite all the suffering - and ridicule - those three endured." View full report
Source: NICAP ID: 86
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Physiological Effects, Injury
Young boy struck by beam of light from UFO
December, 5, 1980 - Foxboro, Massachusetts, United States
13 year-old boy declaring he had been struck by a beam of light from a UFO that seemed to appear above him from nowhere and to hover so closely that he could estimate its size to be "bigger than a house." View full report
Source: Joseph Nyman, Mass. MUFON Chief Investigator, Mass. MUFON and Edwin 'Ed' Fogg, Jr. ID: 3
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Physiological Effects, Children
