selected ufo cases
Close Encounters of the 1st Kind (CE1)
Large reddish disc seen at close range in Draguignan, France
March, 29, 1971 - Draguignan, France
Two young men from Draguignan named Pierre Calafat and Andre Bouchaud, members of a dance band, go to an isolated house which they have rented. When they drive up to the house, they observe a large reddish disc, flying around above a vineyard beside the house, about 150 metres from them. They park and watch the UFO performing zigzag movements, and then see it come to a halt at a height of ten metres or so above the ground and only about 50 metres from them. View full report
Source: J.C. Dufour, FSR Vol. 19 No. 3 ID: 593
Case Type: StandardCase
Large object hovers over TV station tower in Florence, SC, in 1970
March, 1970 - Florence, South Carolina, United States
The witness, who was an employee at a TV station, saw a "UFO in broad daylight hovering on top of the [TV] tower, [and then] ran back inside the station to get the news director, Mr. Bill Fields." The craft was metallic, round, with a round cupola on top of the craft. It was about 100 feet across and about 25 feet tall. The encounter lasted for more than four hours, during which the object moved and stopped a couple of times before shooting off at "blinding speed." View full report
Source: UFOEvidence.org ID: 922
Case Type: RawReport Features: Witness Sketch, Body Lights
Disc with dome hovers over car along rural highway in Tennessee
1969 - Paris, Tennessee, United States
The witness was driving back to college with his roommate. Theirs was the only car on a long stretch of rural highway between Paris and McKenzie, Tennessee. Suddenly, they saw streaks of light coming from the top of their windshield; they stopped the car on the road and got out. Directly above their car was a round disc-like object with windows. It had a raised dome "cockpit" in the center of the top half. It was hovering and spinning effortlessly about 200 feet directly above them. View full report
Source: UFOEvidence.org ID: 953
Case Type: RawReport Features: Body Lights, Sound, Vehicle Encounter
Terrified witnesses observe near-landing of UFO
July, 30, 1968 - Claremont, New Hampshire, United States
A manufacturing plant worker was carrying two buckets of water toward his garden when he saw "a bright round object float in a gentle arc low in the sky to the northeast." It looked like a full moon but was at an extremely low altitude. Shortly thereafter and just two miles away, a land surveyor and his wife witnessed a dome-shaped object. It was about 20 feet wide and hovered approximately 10 feet above the ground, and was 230 feet away. View full report
Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon), 'Strange Effects from UFOs', by Donald Keyhoe and Gordon Lore ID: 576
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Animal Reaction, Witness Sketch, Humming
Two craft flew over mobile home and landed in remote area near home
December, 31, 1967 - Bithlo, Florida, United States
Watched UFO glide over mobile home without sound. UFO was joined by another craft that came from another angle. Both crafts landed in a remote area less than a quarter-mile from mobile home. Moments later, a formation of helicoptors and two jets began flying over the general area of where the two crafts had landed. View full report
Source: UFO Evidence ID: 72
Case Type: RawReport
Close-range sighting of circular craft; missing time
September, 5, 1966 - Columbus, Nebraska, United States
From the witness: "He looked up and a round craft was directly over him at around 100 ft. in the air. It was not very large in size, completely circular, and had green lights, red lights and some yellowish lights on the bottom. There seemed to be some sort of lines in the bottom, like spokes in a wheel look. It was making a low humming sound that resonated. It was almost pitch dark so he couldn't see the color of the craft. " View full report
Source: NUFORC (National UFO Reporting Center, Peter Davenport, Director) ID: 1064
Case Type: RawReport Features: Missing Time, Body Lights, Vehicle Encounter, Humming
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
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
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
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
Cosford RAF UFO Landing
December, 10, 1963 - Cosford RAF, United Kingdom
At around 11.30pm on the evening of December 10, 1963, a dome-shaped UFO touched down on the Royal Air Force base facility at Cosford, near Wolverhampton, bathed the surrounding area in a beam of green light, and was seen at close quarters by at least two RAF apprentices. At least, that has been the accepted story for the last three decades. View full report
Source: 'Cosford: An Enduring Mystery,' Nick Redfern ID: 57
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Military, Landing
Large, metallic saucer-shaped craft at Mattagami River, Ontario
November, 23, 1963 - Mattagami River, Ontario, Canada
From the witness: "We just sat there in silence watching it, as it was watching us... It was huge, with the diameter being... about 30 yards... It appeared to be constructed of dull aluminum and was shaped like a saucer with the exception that the top and bottom halves did not join in a sharp edge. All the way around the center it looked like dark windows, 6 feet tall. As Robert and I watched, the craft tilted with the closest side to us down and the rear of the saucer up. It appeared that whoever was inside was trying to get a better look at us. " View full report
Source: Brian Vike, HBCC UFO Research (hbccufo.org) ID: 1029
Case Type: RawReport Features: Witness Sketch, Portholes/Windows
The Willow Grove Close Encounter
February, 15, 1963 - Near Moe, Australia
Charles Brew, with his 20 year-old son Trevor, was at work in the milking shed on their farm, 'Willow Grove', when he saw a strange object appear and descend very slowly towards the milk shed, to a height of about 30 metres. The object was metallic grey, measured 8 meters in diameter, and had a transparent dome with a 2-meter mast or aerial. After hovering for a few seconds the object began climbed away into the clouds. View full report
Source: Bill Chalker (1996) ID: 623
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Animal Reaction, Witness Sketch, Physiological Effects
Huge disk hovers over bridge in the Grand Beuch river valley, France, 1958
October, 28, 1958 - Pont-la-Dame, France
Jean Boyer was driving home on October 28, 1958. "I had reached the area of Pont-la-Dame and was ready to climb the stretch of road called "Cote des Egaux," when I saw in the sky, right above Pont-la-Dame, in the valley of the Grand Buech river, a motionless and luminous "disk." ...I believe it was about 200 to 400 meters above the ground. Suddenly, after two or three minutes, some sparks flew as the object rose vertically at a dizzying speed..." View full report
Source: Jacques & Janine Vallee, 1966 ID: 951
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Smell/Odor
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
Low hovering cylinder-shaped UFO with tube seen in Nashville, TN, 1956
1956 - Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Two eleven-year olds were playing when they heard a strange metallic sound. They looked around and saw a cylinder-shaped craft hovering very still a few feet above a tree. It was 20-25 feet in length. There was writing on the belly of the object, and a long silver tube which protruded from bottom. This tube was "sniffing" the leaves in the tree top. The witnesses watched the object for 3-4 minutes, too scared to move, before running home. View full report
Source: UFOEvidence.org ID: 767
Case Type: RawReport Features: Sound, Witness Sketch
Multiple witnesses observe saucer above road in 1955, UK
July, 17, 1955 - Bexley, United Kingdom
It was July 17, 1955 when Margaret Fry spotted the object as she was making her way to her GP's surgery in King Harold's Way from her home in Hythe Avenue. Mrs Fry described it as saucer shaped with a "blue/silver/grey/pewter texture, yet none of those colours". She said it had three spheres set into its base, one of which "flopped out", landing on the ground at the junction of nearby Ashbourne and Whitfield roads. View full report
Source: The News Shopper, (London, UK), March 7, 2007 ID: 1054
Case Type: PressReport Features: Witness Photo, Humming, Rotary/Spin Motion, Body Lights, Portholes/Windows, Children, Group Sighting, Landing
'Figures' seen through windows of oval-shaped object
August, 25, 1952 - Pittsburg, Kansas, United States
Among those cases declared Unidentified by the Air Force which are reported to involve alleged occupants is a sighting by William Squyres. He described the object as resembling two turtle shells placed edge to edge. Along the rim where the two halves joined he noticed a series of small propellers six to twelve inches in diameter projecting outward all the way around the object. View full report
Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon), ID: 556
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Humanoid/Occupant, Physical Trace, Portholes/Windows
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
The Gorman Dogfight
October, 1, 1948 - Fargo, North Dakota, United States
On the evening of October 1st, 1948, Lieutenant Gorman was returning from a cross-country flight with his squadron of North Dakota Air National Guard, when he saw an unidentified light source. He closed to within about l,000 yards to take a good look, later saying, “It was about six to eight inches in diameter, clear white, and completely round without fuzz at the edges." For 27 hair-raising minutes, Gorman pursued the light through a series of intricate maneuvers. View full report
Source: North Dakota Public Radio, Dec. 10. 2003 ID: 704
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Pilot/Aircrew
