selected ufo cases
Cases with Images or Photographs
Portage County, Ohio UFO Chase
April, 17, 1966 - Portage County, Ohio, United States
One of the most dramatic encounters by police officers with an apparently structured, low-level UFO. Officers chased the object for eighty-five miles, as it seemed to play a cat-and-mouse game with them. This case was the basis for the UFO "chase" in the film 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.' View full report
Source: Richard Hall, NICAP website ID: 79
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Police, Witness Sketch, Humming
Over 200 students witness saucer-shape object, physical traces left behind (Westall Incident)
April, 6, 1966 - Westall, Australia
More than 200 students and staff from two schools watched as the object landed in a nearby paddock, lifted off and vanished. It was a low-flying, silver/grey shining object, either of classical flying saucer shape or close to it, "a cup turned upside down on a saucer". The UFO appears to have left a circle of scorched grass. View full report
Source: The Age (Australia), October 2, 2005 ID: 591
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Physical Trace, Group Sighting, Children, Witness Photo, Landing, Witness Sketch
Disc-shaped object hovering few feet above road
March, 31, 1966 - Near Vicksburg, Michigan, United States
Jeno Udvardy, a 1956 Hungarian refugee, was driving home from a late work shift near Vicksburg, Michigan. When he reached the crest of a hill he saw a cluster of lights on the road. They were seen to be on a disc-shaped object hovering a few feet above the road and blocking his passage. View full report
Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon), ID: 554
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Vehicle Interference, Humming
Sheriffs Watch High-Performance Discs (The Michigan Sightings / 'Swamp Gas' Case)
March, 14, 1966 - Dexter-Hillsdale, Michigan, United States
Washtenaw County sheriffs and police in neighboring jurisdictions reported disc-shaped objects moving at fantastic speeds and making sharp turns, diving and climbing, and hovering. At one point, four UFOs in straight-line formation were observed. Selfridge AFB confirmed tracking UFOs over Lake Erie at 4:56 a.m. Their stories were backed up by more than 100 witnesses View full report
Source: FUFOR (Fund for UFO Research) ID: 778
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Police, Radar, Witness Sketch, Group Sighting, Mass Sighting
The 1966 Tully Saucer Nest
January, 19, 1966 - Near Tully, Australia
The Tully "saucer nest" has a very special place in UFO lore. The famous Tully "UFO nest" affair of 1966 is one of the best known accounts of an apparent UFO landing report. It is the focus of a very important nexus in the pivotal question of UFO reality. 1966 was a major year for UFO activity in Australia. View full report
Source: UFO Research Queensland ID: 65
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Physical Trace, Landing, Animal Reaction
Landed saucer-shaped craft with ladder and 'turret' in Anchorage, 1966
1966 - Anchorage, Alaska, United States
"I was standing in the middle of our street and there was a craft on stilts or legs with a ladder down from the center. It had just snowed, and I remember windows on the upper round part... The main body was like an upside down saucer with a cylindrical 'turret' on the top. The 'turret' was approximately 3 feet across and 2 to 3 feet high and appeared to rotate." View full report
Source: UFOEvidence.org ID: 892
Case Type: RawReport Features: Landing, Portholes/Windows, Children, Witness Sketch
Huge disk like object with dome top, gray metallic, with rainbow lights
1966 - Lunenburg County, Virginia, United States
I observed a huge UFO in 1966. It was gray-silver metallic...disk shape with dome top. Had windows (portholes as I call them). I could see the turning of the bottom of it going in one direction as the top rotated the other direction. It had rainbow colored lights. View full report
Source: UFO Evidence ID: 69
Case Type: RawReport Features: Witness Sketch, Portholes/Windows
The Kecksburg UFO Crash
December, 9, 1965 - Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, United States
An object landed in the tiny town of Kecksburg, PA on December 9, 1965. It was observed as a fireball in the sky across several U.S. states and Canada. Four witnesses have provided independent, corroborated descriptions of the object and its location in the Kecksburg woods. Dozens of others describe the military presence at the crash site, the cordoning off of the area, and the retrieval of an object transported by an army truck. View full report
Source: Stan Gordon ID: 281
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Crash/Retrieval
Canadian Navy seaman witnesses object on beach
November, 30, 1965 - Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, Canada
Seaman Ian Kinsey, of Her Majesty's Coastal Service, was on his 2-4 a.m. watch at the Cornwallis station. When he looked out towards the shoreline, he saw a sharply oval, yellow object resting on the beach. The UFO was "lit up," but not glaring. Five minutes later a sliding door on the object's side opened and a smaller, cigarette-shaped UFO entered the larger object through the door. A similar sighting took place a few hours before in Springhill, about 125 miles from Cornwallis. View full report
Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon), 'Strange Effects from UFOs', by Donald Keyhoe and Gordon Lore ID: 581
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Military, Landing, Humming, Portholes/Windows
Saucer-shaped UFO with dome seen in Western Pennsylvania
October, 1965 - Pennsylvania, United States
"I saw this saucer shaped disc with a dome on top about 500 to 800 feet up in the sky in front of me. It was silver yellow in color and about 30 feet in diameter. It went vertical for about 1000 feet, then made a sharp angle and disappeared at a high rate of speed, 2 or 3 seconds, no noise." View full report
Source: UFOEvidence.org ID: 765
Case Type: RawReport
South African constables observe disc-shaped object resting on highway
September, 16, 1965 - Pretoria, South Africa
On the night of September 16 two Pretoria, S. Africa, constables came upon a disc-shaped object resting on the highway. The headlights of their police van illuminated the copper-colored object which appeared to be about 30 feet in diameter. On top of the UFO was a small dome. In seconds the UFO suddenly lifted off the road, emitting tongues of flame. View full report
Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon), ID: 555
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Police, Physical Trace, Landing
The Incident at Exeter (Muscarello Case)
September, 3, 1965 - Exeter, New Hampshire, United States
Norman Muscarello, a teenage Navy recruit, was walking down a quiet country highway at night, when suddenly, a huge object loomed above him. Thus began the "Incident at Exeter," a series of sightings officially qualified as "unidentified." The encounters that night took special precedence over other UFO sightings because of the credibility of two Exeter police officers who also saw the UFO, as well as that of the dispatcher and supervising officer who first heard Muscarello's account. View full report
Source: The Portsmouth Herald (Portsmouth, NH), Sept. 2, 2005 ID: 426
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Police, Animal Reaction, Witness Photo
Patrol Car Illuminated by UFO
September, 3, 1965 - Damon, Texas, United States
Purple and blue lights were attached to opposite ends of an enormous object, hovering about 150 feet from witnesses at about a 100-foot altitude. Object appeared to be triangular shaped, about 200 feet wide and 40-50 feet thick in the middle, tapering off toward both ends. View full report
Source: FUFOR, U.S. Air Force-Project Blue Book, Donald Keyhoe 'UFOs A New Look' ID: 38
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Police, Witness Photo
Football shaped UFO hovers near milk barn, scares animals
August, 19, 1965 - Cherry Creek, New York, United States
Sixteen year old Harold Butcher was milking the cows in his father's barn in Cherry Creek, N.Y. Harold heard one of the bulls outside make a noise "like I have never heard come from an animal before." Simultaneously he saw a metallic-looking, football-shaped UFO about 50 feet long and approximately 20 feet thick hovering just above the trees an estimated 450 feet from the barn. View full report
Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon), 'Strange Effects from UFOs', by Donald Keyhoe and Gordon Lore ID: 572
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Animal Reaction, E-M Effects, Physical Trace
Rex Heflin UFO Photographs
August, 3, 1965 - Santa Ana, California, United States
Rex Heflin, an Orange County highway inspector, was at work in a county vehicle at 12:37 P.M when he saw a hat-shaped (disc with dome) object hovering above the road. He grabbed his Polaroid camera and took three photographs of the metallic-appearing object and a fourth of a black "smoke ring" left behind by the object. View full report
Source: STUDIOVNI ID: 253
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Photo
UFO on Australian Beach (Vaucluse Beach)
July, 19, 1965 - Vaucluse Beach, Australia
Disc-shaped object glowed as it sat on a beach. As witness approached the object, the object lifted off from the ground, quickly climbed in the air, and disappeared. Investigation revealed landing traces and effects on the nearby plant life. View full report
Source: UFO Casebook ID: 27
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Physical Trace, Animal Reaction, Landing, Witness Sketch
Valensole, France Landing (Maurice Masse Case)
July, 1, 1965 - Valensole, Basses Alpes, France
Farmer Maurice Masse was inspecting his field of lavender when he heard a whistling sound, then noticed an egg-shaped object with six thin legs and a central pedestal standing nearby. A classic close encounter case from France. At the same time, he also saw two "small boys," humanoid-looking beings less than four feet tall, dressed in grayish-green one-piece coveralls. View full report
Source: Michael Lindemann / Center For Extraordinary Explorations ID: 140
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Physical Trace, Physiological Effects, Humanoid/Occupant, Landing, Witness Photo
Gemini 4 / Astronaut James McDivitt sighting of cylindrical object in space
June, 1965 -
In June 1965, Major James McDivitt saw, filmed, and photographed an object, which approached the Gemini IV (3rd June – 7th June 1965) capsule in which they were orbiting the Earth, passing over Hawaii. He stated: "It had a very definite shape - a cylindrical object - it was white - it had a long arm that stuck out on the side." View full report
Source: Patrick Gross, UFOs at Close Sight (ufologie.net) ID: 977
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Astronaut/Space
Planes chased by elliptical luminous object, EM effects over Japan
March, 21, 1965 - Himeji, Ieshima Islands, Japan
"Inaba was the captain of the Convair-240, with 28 passengers aboard, which encountered the oblong and luminescent object over the Ieshima Islands in the Seto Inland Sea at 7.06 p.m. on Thursday. Fearing a collision, Inaba turned the plane 60 degrees to the right, but the flying saucer made an abrupt turn and flew along with the plane for about three minutes." View full report
Source: Tokyo Japan Times, March 21, 1965 (UPI), Mainichi Daily News (Tokyo), March 22 ID: 628
Case Type: PressReport Features: E-M Effects, Pilot/Aircrew
Huge disc shaped object with bright light around edge
January, 1965 - Dorrington, Brisbane, Australia
"The object had come below the cloud cover and we couldn't believe what we were looking at. This huge disc shaped object with very bright light around it's circumference. It was travelling very slow (about 20 miles an hour), then the noise started.It was a screaming high pitched sound which had my wife in agony, hands over her ears and crying with pain." View full report
Source: Brian Vike, HBCCUFO Research (www.hbccufo.org) ID: 449
Case Type: RawReport Features: Witness Sketch
County councillor reveals sighting of dome-shaped UFO in Cornwall, UK
1965 - Karslake, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Joan Vincent, County and Restormel Borough Councillor, revealed that she and her husband Roy had observed a mystery craft late at night during 1965 in a then rural area. The matter remained "virtually a family secret" over the years because the couple feared that they would be ridiculed if they told their story. The UFO was "a large, dome-shaped object that looked as if it were made of glass," estimated to be 50-70 feet across and 30-40 feet high. View full report
Source: Ian Shepherd, Cornish Guardian (Bodmin, England), Nov. 26, 1998 ID: 729
Case Type: PressReport Features: Portholes/Windows, Witness Sketch, Witness Photo
Idaho 'Mining UFOs'
1965 - Spring Creek Ridge, Idaho, United States
Two men were camped on a bluff overlooking a valley. When they awoke in the early morning they noticed a shiny spot on the ore dump of a Spring Creek Mine across the valley. Using the scopes affixed to their rifles, they observed the "shiny object" which actually was one of four which were hovering over the ore dump. Protruding from the top of the objects were four hose-like devices which were inserted into the slag piles and were moving around. View full report
Source: APRO Bulletin, Vol. 22 No. 2 (Sept/Oct 1973) ID: 300
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Portholes/Windows, Multiple UFOs
Giant spinning top encountered by businessman
June, 29, 1964 - Near Lavonia, Georgia, United States
Businessman Beauford E. Parham was returning home late on the evening of June 29, 1964. "I spotted a very bright light in the sky . . . coming directly toward my car," the witness said in a letter to a NICAP member. "The next instance it was directly in front of my headlights spinning like a giant top. It was shaped like a top and made a hissing sound like a million snakes." View full report
Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon), 'Strange Effects from UFOs', by Donald Keyhoe and Gordon Lore ID: 565
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Physiological Effects, Physical Trace, Vehicle Interference, Portholes/Windows
Close-range sighting of domed UFO
June, 15, 1964 - Lynn, Massachusetts, United States
A close-range sighting of a domed UFO occurred at Lynn, Massachusetts on the night of June 15. The object was shaped like a disc, oriented in a horizontal position, flat on the bottom and with a domed upper surface. When first noticed, the domed disc was approximately 12 feet above the pavement, so that it was seen against the wall of the building on the opposite side of the courtyard. View full report
Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon), ID: 550
Case Type: StandardCase Features: E-M Effects
