selected ufo cases
Standard / Medium Cases
The Bethune / Gandor Air Encounter
February, 10, 1951 - Gandor, Newfoundland, Canada
US Naval Reserve Lieutenant Graham Bethune, copilot of Flight 125, first sighted a huge object [at least] 300 feet in diameter on a near collision course with their aircraft. "A rough estimate would be at least 300 feet in diameter, over 1,000 miles per hour in speed, and approached to within 5 miles of the aircraft." View full report
Source: Disclosure Project / NICAP website / ufologien.net ID: 980
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Pilot/Aircrew, Military, Radar, Witness Photo, Witness Sketch
Korean War battlefield UFO encounter; physiological effects
1951 - Chorwon, Korea, Republic
"We suddenly noticed on our right-hand side what appeared to be a jack-o-lantern come wafting down across the mountain... It had an orange glow in the beginning... But then this object approached us. And it turned a blue-green brilliant light... and then, we were attacked. We were swept by some form of a ray that was emitted in pulses... then I saw it shoot off at a 45 degree angle, that quick, just there and gone." View full report
Source: John Timmerman, J. Allen Hynek Center For UFO Studies (credit: CNI News) ID: 1076
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Military, Group Sighting, Light Beam, Physiological Effects, Sound
Man encounters humanoids at Varese, Italy (the Bruno Facchini case)
April, 24, 1950 - Varese, Italy
Bruno Facchini heard and saw sparks coming from a dark, hovering object, near which a man dressed in tight-fitting clothes and wearing a helmet seemed to be making repairs. Three other men were seen near the craft. The full realization of what he was witnessing sent Bruno into a full run away from the frightening encounter, at which point one of the beings projected a "light" from a tube and the witness fell to the ground. When the work was finished, a trap through which light had been shining was closed and the craft took off. View full report
Source: Ezio Bernardini, excerpt from FSR 1987 No. 4 ID: 746
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Humanoid/Occupant, Physiological Effects, Physical Trace, Artifact, Witness Photo
Airline pilots observe fast-moving, disc-shaped UFO over Arkansas
March, 20, 1950 - Stuttgart, Arkansas, United States
Chicago & Southern Airlines Capt. Jack Adams and First Officer G. W. Anderson, Jr., were flying a commercial DC-3, when they saw an object approaching the airliner at high speed. It appeared to be circular (disk-shaped), with a diameter of approximately 100 feet. The bottom side appeared to have 9 to 12 symmetrical oval or circular portholes. Capt. Adams estimated the speed to be in excess of 1000 mph. View full report
Source: U.S. Air Force Project Blue Book Special Report #14 (Battelle Institute Study), 1955 ID: 677
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Pilot/Aircrew, Portholes/Windows, Witness Sketch, Witness Photo
CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite's UFO Encounter in the South Pacific (1950's)
1950 -
In the 1950s Cronkite was part of a pool of news reporters brought out to a small South Pacific island to watch the test of a new Air Force missile... a large disc-type UFO appeared on the scene. Cronkite guessed that the object was about 50-60 feet in diameter, a dull grey color and had no visible means of propulsion. As Air Force guards ran toward the UFO with their dogs, the disc hovered about 30 feet off of the ground." View full report
Source: Bill Knell, UFO researcher ID: 1178
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Military, Witness Photo, Famous Person
Employees of aeronautical laboratory see metallic, disc-shaped object
May, 24, 1949 - Rogue River, Oregon, United States
An employee in the supersonic laboratory of an aeronautical laboratory and some other employees of this lab, were by a river, 2-1/2 miles from its mouth, when they saw an object. The time was about 1700 hours on May 24, 1949. The object was reflecting sunlight when observed by naked eye. It was of metallic construction and was seen with good enough resolution to show that the skin was dirty. View full report
Source: Dr. Bruce Maccabee / U.S. Air Force Project Blue Book Special Report 14 (Battelle Study), 1955 ID: 728
Case Type: StandardCase
Maneuvering elliptical UFO seen by trained observers at White Sands Proving Ground
April, 24, 1949 - White Sands Proving Ground , New Mexico, United States
"The object was an ellipsoid about 2-1/2 times as long as it was wide. It had a length of about .02 degrees subtended angle and was gleaming white in color. It did not have metallic or reflected shine. Toward the underside near the tail, the gleaming white became a light yellow. The object was seen under conditions of a cloudless sky and no haze. It left no vapor trail or exhaust. View full report
Source: Richard Hall, The UFO Evidence, 1964 (NICAP - National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon) ID: 1095
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Military, Sound, Group Sighting, Scientist/Engineer
'Tomato Man' Photographs of Alien Body and the Laredo, Texas Crash
July, 7, 1948 - 38 Miles South of Laredo (Texas), Mexico
In 1978, a former Naval photographer released a series of photographs of the charred remains of a head and torso, which he claimed were extraterrestrial. He said that the photos were taken in 1948, when he was flown to Mexico, south of Laredo, Texas, to document the crash of 90-foot diameter "flying saucer" and its dead pilot. View full report
Source: Ron Schaffner, of the former Ohio UFO Investigators League (OUFOIL) ID: 378
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Alien Photograph, Humanoid/Occupant, Military, Crash/Retrieval
Aztec, New Mexico UFO Crash Recovery of 1948
1948 - Aztec, New Mexico, United States
It was the columnist Frank Scully who first alerted the world to sensational stories of recovered flying saucers and little men in his best-selling book Behind the Flying Saucers published in 1950. Scully claimed that up to that time there had been four such recoveries, one of which was alleged to have taken place around Aztec, New Mexico, when sixteen humanoid bodies were recovered together with their undamaged craft. View full report
Source: (Credit: aztecufo.com) ID: 879
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Crash/Retrieval, Humanoid/Occupant
The Villa Santina Case (two humanoids encountered by Italian artist)
August, 14, 1947 - Villa Santina, Italy
Italian artist R. L. Johannis was out painting when he noticed a 30 ft. disc-shaped object landing nearby. Next, Signor Johannis saw two child-sized beings standing alongside the object. The artist hailed the creatures. It is possible that this was interpreted as a hostile gesture, for one of the beings touched the centre of its belt and projected a thin vapour which caused the artist to fall dazed onto his back. The creatures approached, picked up the artist's easel, then returned to the craft. The object then rose, hovered, and disappeared. View full report
Source: Charles Bowen (ed.), The Humanoids, Flying Saucer Review Special Issue (1966) ID: 751
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Humanoid/Occupant, Landing, Witness Sketch
United Airlines Flight 105 pilots witness formation of disc-shaped objects
July, 4, 1947 - Emmet, Idaho, United States
On the evening of July 4th at Boise, Idaho, Captain Smith was walking up the ramp to board his plane, flight 105, for a trip to Seattle when someone mentioned the massive wave of saucers taking place all day over the northwest. Captain Smith joked: "I'll believe in those discs when I see them." Shortly after takeoff five disc-like objects, one larger than the rest, approached Captain Smith's DC-3 head on. View full report
Source: James McDonald, Statement to US Congressional Hearings/UFO Symposium, 1968 ID: 723
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Interaction/Reaction, Pilot/Aircrew, Witness Photo, Multiple UFOs
New Mexico UFO Crash Encounter In 1945
August, 16, 1945 - San Antonio, New Mexico, United States
Reme Baca and Jose Padilla were young boys living in San Antonio, New Mexico in August 1945 when, they say, they literally stumbled across the remains of what they believe to have been an alien spacecraft. Their personal account of the case displays many of the key ingredients of crashed UFO lore. View full report
Source: Ben Moffett, The Mountain Mail, Socorro NM, Nov. 2, 2003 ID: 852
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Crash/Retrieval, Humanoid/Occupant, Children, Witness Photo
Photo of UFO over busy street in China, 1942
1942 - Tiensten, China
Young Japanese student Masujiro Kiryu, going through his fathers scrapbook of photographs fron the China Campaign, just before World War II, discovered a strange cone-shaped object in the sky above a Tsientsien Street. A number of people in the street are looking up and two are pointing up at the object. View full report
Source: Wendelle Stevens, reposted on UFOArtwork.com ID: 259
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Photo
Udo Wartena Contact Case in 1940
May, 1940 - Boulder Mountain, Montana, United States
At an isolated location miner Udo Wartena saw a large disc shaped object about 35 foot high and over 100 feet across hovering above a meadow. The object resembled two soup plates, one inverted over the other and stainless steel in appearance. Wartena then saw a staircase unfold from the bottom of the craft. Out of it came a man who asked him if the ship could take some water. The man then invited Wartena inside the object. Wartena accepted and met another man inside that told him they had come from a distant planet and were 609 years old. View full report
Source: Warren Aston, UFO Magazine March/April 1998 ID: 1032
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Contact, Humming, Water-Related, Physical Trace
1933 UFO stops for repairs in Sasketchwan, Canada
1933 - Nipawin, Saskatchewan, Canada
Witnesses saw "a large oval shaped object that was domed at the top and slightly rounded on the bottom. It was supported by legs and from a central door- way, or hatch, about a dozen figures could be seen going up and down a ladder-like stairway. The Occupants appeared to be slightly shorter than the average man, and were all dressed in what appeared to be silver colored suits or uniforms. All appeared to be wearing helmets or ski caps, and all were busy running around ""repairing,, the craft. " View full report
Source: John Brent Musgrave (FSR Vol 22 # 6 1976) ID: 1143
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Humanoid/Occupant, Physical Trace
Christopher Columbus UFO sighting in 1492
October, 11, - Atlantic Ocean,
In 1492, Christopher Columbus and Pedro Gutierrez while on the deck of the Santa Maira, observed, "a light glimmering at a great distance." It vanished and reappeared several times during the night, moving up and down, "in sudden and passing gleams." View full report
Source: 'The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus' ID: 487
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Famous Person, Water-Related, Witness Photo
UFO sighting over Basel, Switzerland in 1566
August, 7, - Basel, Switzerland
A 16th century woodcutting depicts this scene in which dark spheres were witnessed hovering over the town of Basel, Switzerland in 1566. The spheres appeared at sunrise, 'Many became red and fiery, ending by being consumed and vanishing', wrote Samuel Coccius in the local newspaper on this date. View full report
Source: 16th century woodcutting and newspaper (credit: UFOs at Close Sight) ID: 485
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Multiple UFOs
UFO 'battle' over Nuremberg, Germany in 1561
April, 4, - Nuremberg, Germany
At sunrise on the 14th April 1561, the citizens of Nuremberg beheld "A very frightful spectacle." The sky appeared to fill with cylindrical objects from which red, black, orange and blue white disks and globes emerged. Crosses and tubes resembling cannon barrels also appeared whereupon the objects promptly "began to fight one another." This event is depicted in a famous 16th century woodcut by Hans Glaser. View full report
Source: Various sources ID: 486
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Multiple UFOs
UFOs in the Bible: Ezekiel's Wheel, 593 BC
593 BC - Cheber River, Chaldea (in modern-day Iraq),
Of all the UFO accounts in the Bible, the one mentioned most often is Ezekiel's Wheel. One of the passages reads: "This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like chrysolite, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel." (Ezekiel 1:16) The following is a passage by passage analysis of Ezekiel chapter one that is based on the work of NASA engineer Josef Blumrich. View full report
Source: Jim Aho, 'Ezekiel's Wheel' ID: 493
Case Type: StandardCase
329 BC: Alexander the Great records two great 'flying shields'
329 BC - Central Asia,
Alexander the Great records two great silver shields, spitting fire around the rims in the sky that dived repeatedly at his army as they were attempting a river crossing. The action so panicked his elephants, horses, and men they had to abandon the river crossing until the following day. View full report
Source: Bruno Mancusi, UFO Updates mailing list, Apr. 18, 2003 ID: 491
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Famous Person, Witness Photo
