selected ufo cases
Cases with Images or Photographs
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
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
Carlos Diaz Photo and Contact Case (Mexico)
January, 1981 - Ajusco National Forest , Mexico
"The source of light revealed itself to be a large, orange, oval-shaped UFO, slowly hovering about 30 metres from his car... The whole car began to shake violently. Diaz got out of the vehicle and took two more photographs before the craft sped up vertically into the sky..." This encounter marked the beginning of what was to develop into a fascinating and long-running contactee case. View full report
Source: The X Factor, Issue 89 ID: 1091
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Contact, Photo, Vehicle Interference
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
Reinhold Messner, famous mountain climber, sees moon-sized object while climbing in Himalayas
1981 - Katmandu, Nepal
Italian Reinhold Messner, one of the world's foremost mountaineers, said Friday he watched a UFO "the size of a full moon" for nearly three hours while climbing in the Himalayas. On his return to Katmandu after an unsuccessful attempt on 24,248-foot Mount Chamlang, he said he spotted the UFO as it drifted south into Nepal from Tibet over the mighty snowcapped mountains. View full report
Source: News World (New York) / United Press International, Oct. 10, 1981 ID: 942
Case Type: PressReport Features: Famous Person
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
The Rendlesham Forest Incident
December, 26, 1980 - Rendlesham Forest, United Kingdom
What is widely considered Britain’s most extraordinary encounter took place between 26 and 28 December 1980. It involved at least a dozen civilians from villages surrounding Rendlesham Forest, a large pine wood in south east Suffolk eight miles from the large town of Ipswich. However, it also gained a high profile because of its military witnesses, part of a huge USAF contingent at the twin bases of RAF Bentwaters and Woodbridge located beside the forest. View full report
Source: Jenny Randles ID: 279
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Physical Trace, Physiological Effects, Military, Nuclear Facility, Witness Photo, Witness Sketch
Police constable Alan Godfrey's abduction in West Yorkshire, England
November, 28, 1980 - Todmorden, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Police officer Alan Godfrey was on routine patrol when he encountered a metallic disc with a dome and a row of windows. Suddenly, there was a burst of light, and he found himself 100 yards farther down the road, and the UFO was gone. Under hypnosis later, Godfrey recalled being struck by a beam of light which floated him into the craft, and meeting a human-like being named Joseph, whose clothing was very Biblical in nature. Aboard the craft, he was physically examined and asked questions. View full report
Source: Jenny Randles ID: 722
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Abduction, Missing Time, Police, E-M Effects, Portholes/Windows, Witness Sketch, Witness Photo
UFO sighted in Easley (SC)
September, 9, 1980 - Easley, South Carolina, United States
There was something ' strange, and beautiful, and incredibly big floating just above the tree tops in front of Larry Joe Garrett's house on Fruit Mountain Road last Thursday morning. "That's the Goodyear blimp!" was my first thought. Then I realized it wasn't a blimp." View full report
Source: Easley Progress (South Carolina), Sept. 17, 1980 ID: 299
Case Type: PressReport Features: Rotary/Spin Motion
Kirtland Air Force Base 1980 UFO Landing
August, 9, 1980 - Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
On the morning of August 9, 1980, several security guards at the Manzano Weapons Storage Area, adjacent to Kirtland AFB, saw a bright light descend in (a) restricted area. A fourth guard observed a disk shaped light in the vicinity of a bunker used to store nuclear weapons. The incident resulted in a report being filed with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) at Kirtland. View full report
Source: Francis Ridge, NICAP ID: 218
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Military, Nuclear Facility
Vedder River UFO
August, 1980 - Vedder River, British Columbia, Canada
Cynthia and her family were driving home from a camping trip... A large, round, dark object moving to the right hand side of the car suddenly interrupted their pleasant drive. It appeared to be a disc, with a “shiny, metallic surface…" View full report
Source: Richard Tortorella and Martin Jasek - September 2002 (Credit: UFO*BC) ID: 349
Case Type: StandardCase
Large object with lights photographed by police officer, seen by hundreds
1980 - Levittown, Puerto Rico, United States
Hundreds of witnesses observed a disc, illuminated by bright lights, flying at a low altitude over a residential quarter of Levittown. When dozens of people called the local police station, a patrol car was sent. Police Officer Sgt. José Cordero arrived just in time to observe the large disc passing directly over him. He was able to take ten photos with his official Polaroid camera. View full report
Source: Hesemann ID: 408
Case Type: SummaryReport Features: Photo, Group Sighting
UFO Shoots Beam at Four Boys
1980 - Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada
"A UFO moved silently out from the right just above the tree line. Its speed was approximately 5 miles an hour, its size, 50 feet diameter. The UFO stopped directly in the middle of the gravel road approximately 20 feet forward and about 50 feet up. When it stopped a blue beam shot out of the craft directly between the 4 of us." View full report
Source: UFO*BC ID: 345
Case Type: RawReport Features: Children
Forester Encounters Mine-Like Entities in Scotland (the Dechmont Woods Encounter)
November, 9, 1979 - Livingston, Scotland, United Kingdom
Robert Taylor, a forester from West Lothian, Scotland, encountered a strange object and equally strange smaller objects or "entities". The rounded larger object, 20 feet in diameter, hovered above the ground. Then, two small objects, which were round but had appendages, "rushed" toward him. These objects each attached itself to one (each) of his trouser legs and tugged him towards the larger object, at which time Taylor lost consciousness. Ground marks were discovered at the scene of the encounter. View full report
Source: APRO, July 1980 ID: 682
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Landing, Humanoid/Occupant, Smell/Odor, Physical Trace, Witness Photo
Soviet Cosmonaut shadowed by UFO in Earth orbit
April, 1979 - Earth orbit, enroute to Soviet Solyut 6 Space Station,
In April of 1979, Cosmonaut Victor Afanasyev lifted off from Star City to dock with the Soviet Solyut 6 space station. But while en route, something strange happened. Cosmonaut Afanasyev saw an unidentified object turn toward his craft and begin tailing it through space. View full report
Source: Sightings TV ID: 392
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Astronaut/Space, Witness Photo
Mini-UFOs and Metal Pieces in Finland
March, 16, 1979 - Suonenjoki, Finland
Suddenly Jarmo heard a humming sound obliquely from behind. He turned around. At an altitude of about two meters he saw a bell-shaped mini-UFO. Now he started taking photos of the UFO. It radiated blue light and moved forward descending and ascending. After having taken five photos he started walking toward the UFO. Then the UFO disappeared. View full report
Source: APRO Bulletin, Vol. 28, No. 5, Nov. 1979 ID: 410
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Photo, Physical Trace, Artifact, Humming
Filiberto Cardenas Abduction and Contact Case
January, 3, 1979 - Hialeah, Florida, United States
In January 3, 1979 a Cuban exile Filiberto Cardenas was abducted in front of his family. Later, he had an encounter introducing his wife to the entities. This may be the first case on record where the original abductee was able to successfuly introduce another person into the contact events and to actually take them aboard a UFO with them. View full report
Source: Albert Rosales, Humanoid Catalog (1979 Reports) ID: 695
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Abduction, Contact, Water-Related, Communication, Witness Sketch, Witness Photo
Metallic, saucer-shaped object with triangle on underside
1979 - Coast of Florida, near Orlando, Florida, United States
"My husband yelled at me to hurry out and see this. A UFO was travelling under the clouds over the river towards Orlando. I'll never forget it. It was metallic as the sun reflected off it. No noise at all. We all watched in awe! My Dad worked at Kennedy Space Center at the time and he didn't have any answers." View full report
Source: UFOEvidence.org ID: 463
Case Type: RawReport Features: Witness Sketch
Large disc-shaped craft with dome flies low over couple's home
1979 - Santa Clarita Valley, California, United States
From the witness: "I saw a craft approaching the house... it was directly over our house and pool. It was approximately 75-100 feet above us... The craft was about 75-100 feet or less in diameter. It had small porthole and lights around it in the upper dome section, it was solid, metallic and shiny. There was a dome above it and attached to the body with no visible separation, as if it were molded as one solid craft." View full report
Source: UFOEvidence.org / Brian Vike, HBCCUFO ID: 1035
Case Type: RawReport Features: Silent, Portholes/Windows, Body Lights
Two police officers in UK encounter UFO (researcher Tony Dodd's sighting)
December, 12, 1978 - Skipton, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
At 4:30 a.m., a lonely police patrol car was driving on a remote country road along the Cononley Moor. In the car were Sgt. Anthony Dodd and Constable Alan Dale. They saw a bright white light that seemed to be diving towards them in a glide. a big shining disc which flew over their heads at a speed of about 40 mph. At its closest, it was hardly 100 feet away from them, so that they could see a number of details. "It was a huge thing, about 100 feet in diameter, and it made no noise whatsoever." View full report
Source: Michael Hesemann ID: 662
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Police, Body Lights, Silent, Portholes/Windows, Witness Sketch, Witness Photo
Cigar‑shaped object with curved tail seen by several, including police officer
November, 26, 1978 - Clarenville, Newfoundland, Canada
"Both Mr. Lethbridge and Constable Blackwood describe the same thing: A cigar‑shaped object with a curved tail, in the sky with blue, red and yellow flashing lights. It ranged from about thirty‑five to forty feet in diameter and hovered approximately five hundred feet above sea level with no movement. " View full report
Source: Lee Tizzard - Brian Vike, HBCCUFO.org ID: 583
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Police, Witness Sketch, Communication
Landed UFO and humanoid encountered by four hunters in Spain
November, 24, 1978 - Gerena, Seville, Spain
The four witnesses were hunting in the early morning hours near the Guadiamar River, when they encountered a landed object with a humanoid being standing next to it. The UFO looked like a large earthen jar, upside down, with a red light on top. The being seemed strong and tall (some 2 meters or taller), and had on a dark-colored helmet and silvery body suit. The witnesses become frightened when the humanoid approached them, and they left the area running. View full report
Source: Ignacio Darnaude, APRO, Sept. 1979 ID: 681
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Humanoid/Occupant, Landing, Physical Trace
The Valentich Mystery
October, 21, 1978 - Bass Strait , Australia
It was the extraordinary disappearance of pilot Frederick Valentich (left) over Bass Strait on October 21st, 1978, that thrust the subject of UFOs into the news headlines around the world. The Valentich mystery has endured as an insoluble enigma. View full report
Source: Bill Chalker ID: 24
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Pilot/Aircrew, Witness Photo
UFO crash in Bolivia witnessed by thousands of people
May, 6, 1978 - El Taire Mountain, Bolivia
On May 6, 1978, at about 4:15 p.m., something crashed into a mountain near El Taire on the Bermejo River, the border between the Bolivian province of Tarija and Argentina. Thousands of people saw this happening and later described the object as being cylindrical in shape with a flaming tail. It had caused a supersonic bang that was heard up to 150 miles away. View full report
Source: Michael Hesemann, 1998 ID: 635
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Crash/Retrieval, Mass Sighting
