Note:
The information below highlights important events related
to the UFO phenomenon
since the beginning of World War II. This is a condensation
of major events. Therefore many important events are
not included. (UFOs Northwest is of the opinion that
UFOs - extraterrestrials have been visiting Earth since biblical
times.) Most of the books below can be purchased
from the list of dealers. Also
many
UFO organizations that sell books and videos.

Headlines From July 3, 1893
Tacoma News Ledger Newspaper Article
On
July 3, 1893 several fishermen were awakened in the middle of the
night by the presence of a strange craft that they described as an
"electric monster." Their watches stopped and the
craft/monster emitted electricity and light. The craft also
made a loud sound. Two men were knocked unconscious in the
encounter. The rest of the party fled in terror. They
returned and found their two unconscious friends who were revived.
Apparently the two men suffered no permanent injuries. This
is the first known documented encounter with a UFO in the Pacific
Northwest. You may download a copy of the actual article as
it appeared in the Tacoma Daily Ledger Newspaper by
clicking here (PDF 930K).

Cover of Book by Kenneth Arnold & Raymond
Palmer
(Available on Reprint)
Although UFOs likely have been
spotted since biblical times, the first major reports started
on June 24, 1947 when Pilot Kenneth Arnold spotted nine disk
shaped objects near Mt. Rainier, Washington. Mr. Arnold
described that these objects moved like a rock skipping over
water. Therefore the name "flying saucers" were
coined. Several other sightings occurred in Washington,
Oregon, and Idaho on June 24, 1947. Many of these sightings
involved similar objects to those sighted by Kenneth Arnold. (See
map of sightings for June 24, 1947.) Ten of these
sightings occurred in Washington State on June 24, 1947. (See
table of time and locations of sightings.)
The official
Air Force report (Project Bluebook) made some errors in the investigation of the Kenneth Arnold
Sighting.
(Listen to audio of Kenneth Arnold Interview
on Radio Station KWRC Pendleton, Oregon - June 25, 1947 -).
Suggested reading: A book authored by Kenneth Arnold
and Raymond Palmer titled "The Coming of the Saucers" describes
in detail Kenneth Arnold's Experience.
In the months of
June and July of 1947, 853 sightings occurred in June and
July. These sightings were compiled by Ted Bloecher
in a 1967 publication (see suggested readings). The
sightings were collected from newspaper articles and a few
were collected from Project Bluebook. A
chart of the daily sightings shows how the sightings
gradually increased from June 15 to early July and then gradually
decreased. The number
of sightings peaked on July 7, 1947 when 162 sightings
were reported. (Of course the sighting peak was around
the time of the alleged Roswell crash.) Most of these
sightings were of high quality and involved daytime disk
sightings. (However, not all were unknowns.) California
had the most sightings with 107 cases while Washington was
second with 84 sightings. Oregon was third with 52
sightings and Idaho fourth with 43 sightings. Obviously
most of the sightings were in the Pacific Northwest. See
the graphic which shows the top 15 states that had the
most sightings in June and July of 1947.
Suggested reading: Report on the UFO Wave of 1947
by Ted Bloecher. Available
from the Center of UFO Studies.

Cover of Book of the Maury Island UFO Incident
by Kenn Thomas
This incident
actually happened before the Kenneth Arnold sighting, but was not as
well known to the media. (The incident was said to have occurred
on June 21, 1947.) The incident happened at Maury Island (near
Seattle, Washington) and involved a sighting by Harold A. Dahl who saw
six donut shaped ufos. Dahl took a few photos of the UFOs, and
then one appeared to explode and then ejected some materials which dropped
into the Puget Sound. Dahl said that the debris killed his dog
and injured his son resulting a trip to the hospital. Dahl reported
the sighting to his supervisor Fred Crisman. Dahl collected some
of the debris and mailed it to Chicago publisher Raymond Palmer.
Palmer
subsequently called Kenneth Arnold and asked him to investigate
the sighting. Arnold flew to Tacoma from Boise to investigate the
sighting in late July, 1947. The investigation was inconclusive
and thought to be a hoax. However, later investigators have shown
that the sighting may not have been a hoax. This was compounded
by the fact that it was later learned that Fred Crisman was actually
a CIA agent. Air Force Officers later arrived via A B25 aircraft to the study the incident. The Air Force officers picked up some of the debris, but the B25 crashed on their way back from McChord Air Force Base to Hamilton Field.
Suggested readings/Resources:
1. "Maury
Island UFO: The Crisman Conspiracy" by Kenn Thomas.
2. Detailed Maury Island Incident Report
3. "Coming of The Saucers" by Kenneth Arnold and Raymond Palmer
4. Seattle Museum of Mysteries Press Release on B25 Crash. (April 17, 2007)
5. Seattle Post-Intelligencer Article. (April 26, 2007)
UFO Crash Debris Recovered From B25 Likely Meteor or Lava Rock (PDF)
6. Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber (June 20, 2007)
Maury Island Incident Revisited 60 Years Later. The Mystery Lingers.
On May 11, 1950 Mr. and Mrs.
Paul Trent in rural Oregon near McMinnville took two photos
of a flying saucer which was hovering over his farm. The
photos are considered some of the best ever taken of a UFO. The
photos have been extensively analyzed by experts and are
considered authentic.
Suggested reading: The book titled "UFOs and The National
Security State" by Richard Dolan has information about the Trent
photos.

Headline From Seattle Post
Intelligencer - April 2, 1959
On April 1, 1959 a military C-118 cargo plane collided with what
was described by witnesses as a UFO, burst into flames and crashed
near Orting, Washington (southeast of Seattle - see map below).
All four crew members were killed. The plane was on a
routine training mission and had taken off from McChord AFB (near
Tacoma, Washington) at about 6:30 PM. The plane had been in
flight about 90 minutes when the collision and crash occurred. An article regarding the
incident appeared on the front page of the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer on April
2, 1959 (PDF 815K). An article about the crash also
appeared in the Seattle
Times on April 2, 1959 (PDF 1.3 Megabytes). In the Seattle Times article a sub-headline said: "Collision Unexplained." Bob Gribble (founder of the National UFO Reporting
Center) investigated the case. When he attempted to
reach the site of the crash he was kept out by law enforcement and
military personnel. He interviewed two witnesses who saw a
brilliantly glowing UFO moving rapidly northward near the area
where the aircraft was moving. (See
a report written by Bob Gribble in the April, 1989 MUFON Journal.)
The original investigation in 1959 concluded that the aircraft was flying south and the
UFO that witnesses saw was moving
north (at approximately 8:30 PM). One of the newspaper
articles said that
the aircraft crashed at around 8:15 PM. The aircraft crashed a
few miles to the north of Orting, Washington. The incident is
also briefly described in
a book by journalist Terry Hansen titled: The Missing Times.
According to Hansen right before the crash the pilot radioed that
"We've hit something or it's hit us," just before
the plane's flaming wreckage crashed to the ground.
I have checked
the Air Force Project Bluebook index and found that this incident
was not reported. It is not known if the Air Force reported
this incident as a UFO event.
I have received
a lengthy response to my Freedom of Information Request (FOIA)
that I submitted to McChord AFB regarding the Air Force
investigation of this crash. The report was received from
Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, NM. The report was declassified
25 years after the crash (1984). However, several portions
of the report were "blacked out." After review of the
accident report prepared by the Air Force, the newspaper articles,
and witness testimony I concur with the Air Force explanation that
the aircraft crashed as a result of an engine fire that occurred
during execution of a sharp right hand turn. The aircraft
collided with trees with the right hand wing resulting in the
number four engine catching fire. Ultimately the right wing was
destroyed resulting in the pilot losing control of the aircraft
which crashed to the north of Orting, Washington. The two
witnesses near Tenino, Washington who saw a "streak of light"
moving rapidly northward over the treetops (to the East of their
position) were actually witnessing the aircraft on fire and about
to crash. Prior to the new information that I received from
the Air Force the assumption was made that this northward moving
light collided with the aircraft that was moving southward. The
witnesses thought that this bright light was a UFO. The Air
Force concluded that cause of this crash was pilot error and
flight controller error.
On October 25, 2010 I interviewed a nephew of the pilot of the aircraft. The nephew related that the family believed the Air Force explanation of the crash that the aircraft crashed as the result of collision of one of the wings with a tree (see above). The nephew did say that the family was aware of the "UFO collision rumor" right after the crash and that the rumor persisted through the years. I am not sure where the family found this information as the UFO collision possibility was not in any local newspapers.

Location of Takeoff - McChord AFB
Two Witnesses in Tenino See UFO Towards The East
Location of Crash - Near Orting,
Washington

Picture of a C-118 Transport
Suggested readings:
The Missing Times - News Media Complicity in the UFO
Cover-up" by Terry Hansen . The book makes mention of
the C-118 crash incident
Seattle Post Intelligencer - April 2, 1959 - Front page article on
the above incident.
Seattle Times - April 2,
1959 - Front page article on the above incident.
MUFON Journal, April, 1989 - Bob Gribble "Looking Back Article."
Elk River Mudflats UFO Crash (Western Washington State) - November 25, 1979

Archived Image of 1979 Article About Alleged Elk River UFO Crash
(The Daily World - Aberdeen, Washington)
The first hint that something unusual had occurred in the skies over Grays Harbor County on Sunday, November. 25, 1979, came in to the sheriff’s office around 11 PM. On the line was a Westport, Washington man reporting that a low-flying object with a fiery glow had just exploded in the vicinity of the Elk River mudflats.
Other reports soon followed.
Suggested Readings:
The Daily World- Aberdeen, Washington- November 26, 2009 - Article on
the above incident.
In September
of 1974 Bob Gribble started the National UFO Reporting Center
(NUFORC) in Seattle, Washington. Bob quickly distributed
contact information around the U.S. regarding where to report
UFO sightings. Hundreds of reports were received each
month from around the country and the world. In 1994
Peter Davenport became director of NUFORC. NUFORC now
Suggested reading: Visit the NUFORC web site at: http://www.ufocenter.com.
In October of 1996 Jonathan Reed
allegedly encountered an alien while hiking east of Seattle,
Washington in the Snoqualmie Falls area. The creature
killed his dog. Reed in turn killed the creature and
carried it several miles down a hiking trail and eventually
to his house. Reed then stored the creature in his
freezer. Allegedly the creature came to life and escaped. Reed
was threatened by authorities and allegedly a lady friend
was killed. Although many ufologists question this
story, nonetheless it received international attention and
involved publication of a book (see below). Some ufologists
continue to investigate this case.
Suggested reading: Jonathan Reed and Robert
Raith wrote a book on this encounter titled "Link - An Extraterrestrial Odyssey".
The National
UFO Reporting Center NUFORC) has collected thousands
of UFO sightings throughout the world. Most of the
sightings have occurred in California. (See
bar chart for a listing of sightings by state collected
by NUFORC.) Notice that Washington state is second
after California in the number of sightings reported. A
total of 2,793 sightings have come from California while
1,637 reports have come from Washington state. When
you consider the much higher populace in California Washington
has the most sightings per capita. See also a map
of Washington State sightings for 2002 that were reported
to NUFORC. (Note that high sighting locations like
Seattle and Spokane may have several sightings at the same
point on the map.)
During the second
world war both allied and axis pilots saw strange lights
which would demonstrate non-conventional aerial maneuvers. Both
sides at the time thought that the lights were secret weapons,
but after the war was over it was learned that neither side
had weaponry that could account for these sightings.
Right after the
second world war several sightings were made of rockets over
the skies of Sweden. The sightings began in the spring
of 1946 and later spread to other parts of Europe. Nearly
and thousand sightings were reported and several radar confirmations
were received. Some crashes occurred and debris was
recovered. However, the origin of the rockets was never
explained. There was not evidence that the rockets
were of extraterrestrial origin.
Suggested reading: UFOs and the National Security State by
Richard M. Dolan
This sighting began the
modern wave of UFO sightings. Right after Arnold's
sighting hundreds of people were seeing flying disks in the
skies. Many of the sightings were in the daytime. The
sightings continued into July and dropped off rapidly in
late July, 1947.
No
one really knows the date of the alleged crash. The
general accepted dates are July 2 or 4, 1947. The Roswell
crash remained buried for nearly 30 years until Stanton Friedman
contacted Jesse Marcel in New Orleans, LA in 1978. Marcel
told a story of a crash recovery of remains of a strange
aircraft which he perceived as likely not coming from "this
world" in July, 1947. In the next few years hundreds
of civilian and military witnesses came forward and told
about their experience with Roswell. Many relatives
of decreased participants also related intriguing stories. The
event has spawned a long list of books and documentaries
which continue to be produced. The Air Force has produced
two documents with explanations of the Roswell event. Officially
the Air Force denies that an extraterrestrial vehicle crashed
and that a Mogul balloon launched on June 4, 1947 was mistakenly
identified as a flying saucer crash. The Air Force
says that the alleged crew members recovered from the crash
were really experimental crash dummies. The Roswell
story is long with many witnesses and details involved. Please
refer to the suggested readings below for information about
the Roswell event.
Suggested Readings:
Crash at Corona by Don Berliner and Stanton Friedman
Top Secret/Majic by Stanton Friedman
The Day After Roswell by Col. Philip Corso
The Roswell UFO Crash by Kal K. Korff (debunks Roswell crash)
Established
by the Air Force. Sign's role was to serve as the official
investigation of UFOs. At the time Project Sign was
known to the public as "project saucer". In
Project Sign 243 domestic sightings and 30 foreign sightings
were investigated. About three dozen reports were classified
as unknown. Officially the "bottom line" conclusion: Although
visits from outer space are believed to be possible, they
are believed to be very improbable. In particular,
the actions attributed to the "flying objects" reported
during 1947 and 1948 seem inconsistent with the requirements
for space travel.
Project Sign. - 1948 (Exact Date Unknown). Unofficially
a report was prepared titled the "Estimate of the Situation". The Situation
was "UFOs", the Estimate was "Interplanetary". General
Hoyt Vandenberg (Air Force Chief of Staff at the time) flatly rejected
the report and requested a more "mundane" explanation. All
personnel involved in writing the report were reassigned.
Suggested Readings:
UFOs and The National Security State by Richard M. Dolan
Technical Report: Unidentified Aerial Objects, Project "Sign", February,
1949, Air Materiel Command
Report
prepared by U.S. Air Force (Air Materiel Command - Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base). Of 237 cases examined, 23 percent
were not identified. Project Sign was changed to Project
Grudge on February 11, 1949. The Project Grudge name
lasted until March, 1952 at which time it was changed to
Project Bluebook.
Suggested Reading:
Project "Grudge" Unidentified Flying Objects, Release Data, August,
1949.
The Air Force continued
to investigate UFOs for another 17 years. By 1953 the
more dramatic (harder-to-explain) sightings were handled
by the 4602 AISS (Air Intelligence Services Squadron). Sightings
easier to explain were forwarded to Blue Book. This
an effective implementation of Air Force Regulation 200-2
(AFR 200-2) which ordered that no information of value regarding
UFOs reach the public. Nevertheless Blue Book has been
the last "official" Air Force investigation of
UFO sightings. (See graphic
for year-to-year display of UFO sightings investigated
by Project Blue Book.) Bluebook was terminated in 1969
when it was determined through a report issued by University
of Colorado (Condon Report) that further study of UFOs was
not justified. The conclusion of the report was that "further
extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be justified in the
expectation that science will be advanced thereby."
Suggested Readings:
UFOs and the National Security State by Richard M. Dolan
Above Top Secret, The Worldwide UFO Cover-up by Timothy Good
A wave of UFO sightings occurred in
France. Forty-six "creature" reports in France
occurred between September 10 to October 27, 1954. From this
number, many were dwarf-like beings and frequently a light beam was
sighted and the witnesses would become temporarily paralyzed.
Suggested Readings:
Flying Saucers and the
Straight-line Mystery by
Aime Michael
Passport to Magnolia by Jacques Vallee
Situation Red - The UFO Siege by Leonard H. Stringfield
This case is considered to be one of the
most authentic "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Read More About Case
Suggested Readings:
Close Encounter at Kelly and Others of 1955 - Center For UFO
Studies
The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters - Ronald D.
Story (2001)
Flying Saucer Occupants - Jim & Coral Lorenzen (1967)
The Hynek UFO Report, PP 212-216 - Dr. J. Allen Hynek (1977)
This
report consisted of a detailed analysis of UFO reports received
by the Air Force from 1947 through 1952. The press
release of the report contained a brief synopsis of reports
received in early 1955. This was a good report, but
the Air Force deliberately tried to mislead the public. The
report actually showed that 21.5% of the sightings were unknowns. However,
the first page of the report contains the press release which
stated that only 3% percent of the sightings were unknowns. (This
only represented reports received in early 1955 and not reports
in the actual study which covered 1947-1952.) The Air
Force also tried to weight the report by removing astronomical
phenomena from the study. This had an effect of showing
that known and unknown sightings were more similar (using
characteristics such as color, speed, number of objects,
aerial maneuvers etc.) However, dropping astronomical
phenomena didn't much difference in the outcome of the report,
but it illustrates how the Air Force was trying to deceive
the public. In other words
the Air Force didn't appear to want the public to know the
results of there own study of UFOs! It is also worthy
of noting that Air Force Blue Book recorded 2,344 sightings
in the 1947 through 1952 time period. Special Report
Number 14 said that the Air Force recorded 3,201 reports. This
is nearly one thousand more reports than listed by Blue Book. Where
did the extra reports come from? Many suspect that
these reports were collected by the 4602 AISS (see discussion
above) and that only reports which had more mundane explanations
ever reached Blue Book. (The details of individual
reports were not listed in Special Report No. 14.)
Suggested Reading:
Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 Air Technical Intelligence
Center, Wright Paterson AFB, Ohio
Air Force Project Bluebook File Number 62-83894. (Click
here to read document.)
In
1952 Project Blue Book officially received 1,501 sightings
of which 303 were listed as unidentified. This was
by far the largest number of UFO sightings reported to the
Air Force in a single year for the 1947 through 1969 period
of official investigation. The 1952 flap was highlighted
by the Washington, D.C. sightings which occurred on two weekends
(July 19-20 and July 26-27). Radars at Andrews Air
Force Base and Washington National Airport picked up several
slow moving targets. The radars both agreed on the
location of these targets. F-94 aircraft were scrambled after
these targets, but the targets would soon disappear from
the radar scopes as soon as the aircraft were in flight. When
the aircraft returned to base, the targets would reappear. These
targets were in restricted air space near the Whitehouse. Officially
the Air Force debunked the sightings as due to radar beams
glancing off of temperature inversions and were therefore
picking up ground level targets (e.g. cars). This explanation
was rejected by personnel who operated the radars due to
the fact that they felt that the targets were solid metallic
objects and not due to anomalous propagation of radar beams
(resulting from temperature inversions).
Suggested Reading:
UFOs and The National Security State by Richard M. Dolan.
Captain Edward J. Ruppelt Summer of the Saucers - 1952 by Michael David
Hall and Wendy Ann Conners
Project Blue Book received 1,006
reports of UFO sightings in 1957. This was the third
highest UFO sighting year in the 1947 through 1969 time period
of official Air Force investigations. The year of 1957
was highlighted by the Levelland, Texas sightings which occurred
in November of 1957. Several anomalous lights were
seen in the area on the night of November 2, 1957. Reports
were received by the Sheriff's office all night. In
many cases car engines would abruptly shut off when the UFOs
approached. These sightings were never explained. Many
other significant sightings were reported in 1957. Details
regarding these sightings can be found in suggested readings
below.
Suggested Reading:
UFOs and The National Security State by Richard M. Dolan.
In
the fall of 1961 Betty and Barney Hill were driving home
from a vacation. At 10:05 PM they left a diner in Colebrook,
NH and drove south along U.S. Route 3. A large glowing
object approached the Hill's car and they stopped to look
at it. The next thing that they remembered was driving
35 miles south near Ashland, NH. The Hills arrived
home 2 to 2.5 hours later. They remembered hearing
a beeping sound when seeing the object and another beeping
sound when "waking up" near Ashland, NH. Barney
had a sore back, neck, and mysterious spots (warts) appeared
on his groin. The car also had mysterious circles on
the trunk which later proved to be quite magnetic. Later
in 1964 the Hills underwent hypnosis by a Boston psychiatrist
Dr. Benjamin Simon. Under hypnosis the Hills recalled
a terrifying ordeal whereby they were stopped and taken aboard
a spacecraft by strange beings. They also recall being
subjected to a physical examination. In 1965 a series
of articles appeared in "Look Magazine" recounting
the Hills experience. This is the first publicized
account of "alien abductions." Since then
an increasing number of people claim to have been abducted
by unknown beings. The abductees frequently recall
being taken aboard a craft and are subjected to physical
examinations or handled like for sale pets”. Many people claim to be abducted from
their bedrooms while sleeping, but others claim to have had
experiences similar to the Hills whereby they are taken from
Suggested Readings: Incident at Exeter, the Interrupted Journey:
Two Landmark Investigations of UFO Encounters Together in One Volume by
John G. Fuller
UFOs and The National Security State by Richard M. Dolan.
On April 24,
1964 in Socorro, New Mexico police officer Lonnie Zamora
was pursuing a speeding car when he noticed a strange
craft with a loud, flaming exhaust moving overhead. He
consequently abandoned his pursuit of the speeder and drove
up to the top of the hill where he last saw the craft. Right
below the hill in a gulley Lonnie Zamora saw an egg shaped
craft with two small humanoid entities along side the craft. Upon
observing Zamora the entities immediately boarded the craft
and an explosive exhaust came from the craft as it ascended. The
craft ascended a short distance and then the flaming exhaust
subsided and the craft silently sped away. This strange
craft and occupants has never been explained. This
is considered one of the best UFO landing and occupant cases
Suggested Readings: UFOs and The National Security State by
Richard M. Dolan.
Above Top Secret The Worldwide UFO Cover-up by Timothy
Good.
On December
9, 1965 a fire ball was seen over eastern Canada, Ohio, and
Michigan. The fire ball was observed to have maneuvered
and then crashed in a wooded area near Kecksburg, Pennsylvania
in the early evening hours (around 5 pm E.S.T.). Several
firefighters, state police, and military officers were immediately
on scene. Some of the firemen saw the object before
the military arrived.. It was the shape of an acorn
and had some hieroglyphic type writing. When the military
arrived the firemen were told to leave. Some witnesses
later saw a flat bed truck hauling an object from the area
of the crash. The object was covered with a tarp. One
witness saw the hieroglyphic type writing right below the
tarp. Recently the Science
Fiction Channel aired a documentary summarizing an in-depth
investigation of the Kecksburg incident and has obtained
some convincing forensic evidence that suggests that an object
did crash in the area around 1965. Officially Project
Blue Book says that three military officers were dispatched
to the area and did not find anything. Blue Book concluded
that the object was a meteor.
Suggested Readings: The Military UFO Retrieval at Kecksburg,
Pennsylvania (1987)
by Stan Gorden (Out of Print)
UFOs and The National Security State by Richard M. Dolan.
The
Air Force contracted with the University of Colorado to conduct
a study of UFOs. Dr. Edward Condon was head of the
group who conducted the study at the university. Many
of the cases reported to Project Blue Book were examined. The
conclusion of the report was that UFOs were not worthy
of further scientific study. Most of the report
was "filler" consisting of topics like how radar
echoes are affected by weather anomalies, psychological implications,
optics, plasmas, etc. Little space was allocated to
specific UFO cases and all of the "unexplained cases" were
put in the middle of the report. Dr. Condon also wrote
his conclusions at the head of the report. Most scientific
papers have the conclusions at the end of report. Many
feel that Dr. Condon had made up his mind about explaining
UFOs before the study was ever conducted.
Suggested Readings: Condon Report Online - http://www.ncas.org/condon/
Dr. James E. McDonald's Fight For UFO Science Firestorm by
Ann Druffel
UFOs and The National Security State by Richard M. Dolan.
(Many other books not mentioned have information about the Condon
Report.)
In
December of 1969 it was announced that Project Blue Book was terminated. Air
Force Secretary Robert Seamans announced: "On the basis of recommendations
by Dr. Condon, Blue Book could not be continued because it cannot be
justified either on the grounds of national security or in the interest
of science."
Suggested Readings: UFOs and The National Security State by
Richard M. Dolan.
Air Force Project Bluebook File Number 62-83894. (Click
here to read document.)
On
October 11, 1973 Calvin Parker (19) and Charles Hickson (42)
were fishing on a pier in Pascagoula, Mississippi. They
heard a buzzing behind them, turned around and were terrified
to see an approximately 10-foot-wide, 8-foot-high, glowing
egg-shaped object with blue lights hovering above the ground
about 40 feet away. As they watched, a door appeared at the
bottom of the object and three gray-skinned creatures floated
out. The creatures were about five feet tall, had bullet-shaped
heads without necks, slits for mouths and conical structures
sticking out where their noses and ears would be. They also
had rounded feet, clawed hands and no eyes. Two of the beings
grabbed Hickson, while the third grabbed Parker. The 19-year-old
immediately fainted with fright. Hickson, who remained conscious,
claimed that the creatures floated them into a brightly lit
room aboard the UFO. The two men were examined with some
sort of electronic eye that Hickson reported "hung in
mid-air" with no visible connection to any other part
of the compartment. Twenty minutes after the incredible events
began, Hickson and Parker were returned to the riverside.
The UFO rose straight into the air and shot out of sight.
On October 11, 1973 a very loud "sonic type boom" was heard across a several state area from Ohio and progressed eastward to the East Coast. The sound was first reported at 8:41 PM in Ohio and later at 8:53 PM in Pennsylvania. This incident researched extensively at the time by Irene Scott (MUFON
Board Member). Contacts with NASA and the Air Force ruled out a squadron of jets or a meteor. Ironically after the boom an unusually high number of UFO reports occurred. For example on October 17, 1973 Franklin County, Ohio law enforcement officials received a record 150 UFO reports and officials in Wheeling, West Virginia received 100 reports.
The Hickson - Parker abduction occurred on the same day as the "big boom" occurred across the midwest and eastern U.S. As a matter of fact the time even lines up. The Hickson - Parker encounter occurred around 9 PM Central Time. The loud boom occurred between 8:41 PM and 8:53 PM Eastern Time (7:41 PM and 7:53 PM Central Time). Is this a coincidence? Did something enter our atmosphere that resulted in the Hickson - Parker encounter and a wave of other UFO sightings? Is this a coincidence?
Suggested Readings: UFO Contact at Pascagoula (May 1983) by Charles Hickson & William Mendez
MUFON Journal, March, 2011,"Scientists Should Look Closely at the Big Bang," PP 6-7
(PDF)
On November
5, 1975 a group of loggers in the mountains of northeastern
Arizona observed a strange unusually bright light in the
sky. One of these men, Travis Walton, recklessly left
the safety of their truck to take a closer look. Suddenly,
as he walked toward the light, Walton was knocked to the
ground by a beam of energy. His companions left in
fear. They later returned to the same location finding
that both Travis and the craft were gone. The men reported
their experience to the authorities and were accused of murder. Travis
turned up about five days later disoriented and naked near
a highway several miles from where he was abducted. He
recounted a terrifying experience whereby he had been abducted
and carted away on a craft by strange creatures. To
this day this case remains one of the most documented alien
abduction cases.
Suggested Readings: Fire in the Sky The Walton Experience by
Travis Walton. (Out of print.)
In the early morning hours
of December 27, 1980 two security officers at Woodridge Air
Force Base (England) obtained permission to investigate
some strange lights in a nearby forest. The officers
thought that perhaps an aircraft went down. One of
the officers came across a strange craft which had landed. The
craft looked unlike any craft that he had ever seen. He
approached the craft, touched it, took some "rough" measurements. The
craft then ascended, moved up through the trees and disappeared. Two
nights later Colonel Charles Halt (assistant commander of
Woodridge base) went out with other officers because the
mysterious lights returned. He took a tape recorder
and recorded the events of the night. He was astounded
to see the unconventional lights which defied explanation. Colonel
and other patrolmen saw a light land in a field. They
also saw a craft in the sky which beamed a light down close
to their position as if trying to communicate with them. Radiation
readings were also taken the next day at a site in which
landing marks were left. Radiation levels were 10 times
over background within the landing marks. Recently
the Science Fiction
Channel aired documentary summarizing their investigation
of this incident. This is considered one of the most
documented and unexplained incidents involving U.S. Military
interaction with UFOs.
Suggested Readings: UFO Briefing Document by Don Berliner
Above Top Secret The Worldwide UFO Cover-up by Timothy
Good.
On December 29, 1980
several thousand miles from Rendlesham Forest, England another
intriguing UFO incident occurred. Betty Cash, her friend
Vickie Landrum and her grandson, Colby were driving toward
Dayton, Texas. They noticed a bright, fiery object
with shooting flames which stopped and hovered about 135
feet directly ahead of them. They got out of the car
to look at the object. Betty stayed outside the longest. The
object then departed and was accompanied by several helicopters
(now identified as Chinook helicopters). Betty followed
the object with her car for awhile and then dropped off her
passengers. She then returned home. She immediately
developed severe symptoms which were later attributed to
radiation exposure. The other two witnesses also had
symptoms, but to a lesser degree. Betty eventually
succumbed to cancer several years later. It is not
known if this incident contributed to her cancer illness. Betty
Cash and Vickie Landrum sued the U.S. Government over this
incident, but eventually the case was thrown out of court
due to lack of evidence. This case is considered one
the most significant physical effects cases related to UFOs.
Suggested Readings: The Cash-Landrum UFO Incident by John
F. Schuessler
Above Top Secret The Worldwide UFO Cover-up by Timothy
Good.
From October 1989 throughout
1990, hundreds of reports of lighted objects frequently recorded
as triangular in shape were observed. Several times
Belgium Air Force jets pursued these objects to no avail. The
objects were frequently observed simultaneously on by both
airborne and ground-based radars. These objects were
never explained, but the Belgium government has cooperated
fully with the press and disclosed all details known about
these sightings.
Suggested Reading: UFO Briefing Document by Don Berliner

Headline From USA Today Newspaper - June 18, 1997
On March 13, 1997 several
residents in the Phoenix, Arizona area observed lights
which appeared to be hovering and later disappeared. Some
videos were taken of these lights. Many residents in
Phoenix and across other parts of Arizona observed a slow
moving pattern of lights moving southward on the same night. Some
observers could see a "large black craft inside these
lights. One witness saw jets scrambled from Luke Air
Force Base in pursuit of this object (lights). Officially
the Air Force stated that the lights were due to flares being
dropped for training exercises. However, the flares
do not explain the strange large craft which moved slowly
across Arizona on that same night.
Suggested Readings: The Phoenix Lights by Lynne D. Kitei
USA Today Newspaper Article - June 18, 1997 (PDF)
From September 29 to October
4, 1997 a team of scientists headed by Dr. Peter Sturrock
heard testimony from several UFO investigators about interesting
UFO cases that have occurred during the past 50 years. This
workshop was funded by Laurance S. Rockefeller. The
conclusion of the panel was that UFOs deserve further scientific
study. This was an opinion that differed from the conclusions
rendered by both the Robertson Panel (1953) and the Condon
Report (1969). The panel stopped short of saying that
evidence exists that UFOs are of extraterrestrial origin.
Suggested Reading: Journal of Scientific Exploration, Volume 12,
Number 2, Summer, 1998
The UFO Enigma by Dr. Peter A. Sturrock
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