UFO Case Report:

Scientist Reports Sighting Disc

Date: April 25, 1952
Location: San Jose, California, United States

Directly over a building across the street was a small, metallic-looking disc, tilted at about a 20 degree angle and rotating around a vertical axis, wobbling "like the motion of a disc in a water meter". The distance was estimated to be about 50 ft, and the disc appeared to be 4-5 feet in diameter

Classification & Features

Type of Case/Report: StandardCase
Hynek Classification: DD
Special Features/Characteristics: Scientist/Engineer

Full Report / Article

Source: NICAP, Dr. James McDonald
[go to original source]

Richard Hall:
Features: Scientist sighting, disc, oscillatory motion, extra-ordinary implied propulsion.

Dr. W (biochemist) and Dr. Y (bacteriologist), both employed by a private company, about 11:00 a.m. were driving to their office when Y saw something odd overhead that seemed to be moving against the wind. They entered the company parking lot and got out of the car to look. Directly over a building across the street was a small, metallic-looking disc, tilted at about a 20 degree angle and rotating around a vertical axis, wobbling "like the motion of a disc in a water meter". The distance was estimated to be about 50 ft, and the disc appeared to be 4-5 feet in diameter The wobble allowed them to judge the thickness as about 1.5 feet as the disc proceeded directly over their heads, continuing to rotate and wobble. No sound or exhaust emission of any sort was detected. It moved in an arc about 40-50 feet overhead very slowly, perhaps 8-10 m.p.h. When it neared some railroad yards, the disc curved around and made a fairly distinct turn, heading back toward them.

At this point Dr. Y suddenly saw something else overhead, which Dr. W also then saw: a black object at high altitude hovering motionless under an overcast (later determined to be about 10,000 ft). It was round, and apparently much larger than the silvery disc, perhaps 100 ft in diameter As they watched, two identical objects came into position as if they had dropped out of the cloud overcast, and the three objects jittered around like boats in a stream". About this time the small disc had neared again, still moving slowly. Suddenly it stopped spinning, hung motionless for a moment, then rapidly climbed towards the NNE in the general direction of Mt. Hamilton. At the same time that the small disc began its climb, one of the three black objects left the formation and headed in the same general direction. The black object and the climbing disc seemed to be on a converging course, when suddenly both seemed to disappear into the overcast.

The remaining two black objects maintained their original position for another minute or so, then one of them headed off to the north and out of sight, while the other went directly up into the clouds and disappeared, terminating the incident at about 11:15 a.m. The two scientists immediately went into their offices and dictated accounts of the sighting for a permanent record.

Dr. W felt obliged to make an official report and placed a call to Moffett Field. While waiting on the line for someone to be found to take his account, he had second thoughts about exposing himself to personal ridicule and hung up, so no report was made to the Air Force or other agencies.

Special significance: In addition to the observation by scientifically trained witnesses, and loss of an official report due to the ridicule factor, the scientists' reaction is instructive. They had found it "a most disturbing experience:' They had been forced to the conclusion that they had seen some objects of such unusual propulsion characteristics that it was difficult to think of it as anything other than extraterrestrial. As Dr. W said, "...it utilized some propulsion method not in the physics books." He had been "worried ever since," mentioning historical evidence that inferior civilizations tend to go under when contacted by more advanced technologies.

Source: Interview with Dr. W by Dr. James E. McDonald; complete account including names and identifications in author's files.

Case ID: 34 edit: 34

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This website distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for scientific, research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107.