UFO sightings in the United States

This is a list (incomplete) of alleged sightings of unidentified flying objects or UFOs in the United States.

1942

Main article: Battle of Los Angeles

• The "Battle of Los Angeles," also known as "The Great Los Angeles Air Raid," is the name given by contemporary sources to the fictional enemy attack, and subsequent anti-aircraft artillery barrage which took place from late February 24 to early February 25, 1942, over Los Angeles, California. Initially, the target of the aerial barrage was thought to be an attacking force from Japan, but Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, speaking at a press conference shortly afterward, called the incident a "false alarm." A small number of modern-day UFOlogists say the targets were extraterrestrial spacecraft. When documenting the incident in 1983, the US Office of Air Force History attributed the event to a case of "war nerves," likely triggered by a lost weather balloon, and exacerbated by stray flares and shell bursts from adjoining batteries.

1947

Main article: Maury Island incident

• The Maury Island incident is an early modern UFO encounter incident that happened on June 21, 1947. It allegedly took place shortly after the sighting of the original flying saucers by Kenneth Arnold. It is also one of the earliest reported instances of an alleged encounter with so-called "Men in black suits." Opinions remain divided regarding the case and whether it was genuine or a hoax.

Main article: Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting

• On June 24, 1947, Arnold said he saw nine unusual objects flying in a chain near Mount Rainier, Washington while he was searching for a missing military aircraft in his CallAir A-2. He described the objects as almost blindingly bright when they reflected the sun's rays; their flight as "erratic" ("like the tail of a Chinese kite") and flying at "tremendous speed." Arnold's story was widely carried by the Associated Press and other news outlets, and is usually credited as the catalyst for modern UFO interest, though many less-publicized UFO incidents preceded it.

• On July 7, 1947, Vernon Baird, a pilot of a commercial photographic plane, was mapping the region between Helena and Yellowstone Park. Baird claimed that he was at 32,000 feet when he saw a flying disc. He took an evasive action and the disc appeared to split into two sections and lose altitude over the Tobacco Root Mountains of western Montana. Bozeman's base looked for the UFO on the ground but found nothing. The next day Baird's boss announced that the story was a hoax.

Main article: Roswell UFO incident

• The Roswell UFO Incident involved the recovery of materials near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947 which have since become the subject of intense speculation and research. There are widely divergent views on what actually happened, and passionate debate about what evidence can be believed. The United States military maintains that what was recovered was a top-secret research balloon that had crashed. However, many UFO proponents believe the wreckage was of a crashed alien craft and that the military covered up the craft's recovery. The incident has evolved into a recognized and referenced pop culture phenomenon, and for some, Roswell is synonymous with the term UFO, and likely ranks as the most famous alleged UFO incident.

1948

Main article: Mantell UFO Incident

• The Mantell Incident is among the most publicised early UFO reports: the crash and death of 25-year-old Kentucky Air National Guard pilot, Captain Thomas F. Mantell, on January 7, 1948, while in pursuit of a UFO. Historian David Michael Jacobs argues that the Mantell case marked a sharp shift in both public and governmental perceptions of UFOs. Previously, mass media often treated UFO reports with a whimsical or glib attitude reserved for silly season news. Following Mantell's death, however, Jacobs notes "the fact that a person had dramatically died in an encounter with an alleged flying saucer dramatically increased public concern about the phenomenon. Now a dramatic new prospect entered thought about UFO's: they might be not only extraterrestrial but potentially hostile as well." (Jacobs, 45)

Main article: Chiles-Whitted UFO Encounter

• The Chiles-Whitted UFO Encounter is alleged to have occurred on July 24, 1948, when two American commercial pilots reported that their Douglas DC-3 had nearly collided with a strange torpedo shaped object flying near them. It was an important UFO sighting for several reasons: it was perhaps the first that occurred at close distance (allegedly within a few hundred feet); and it was reported by two very experienced pilots, Clarence Chiles and John Whitted. Both pilots had been decorated for their service as airmen during World War II, and both were regarded as valuable, respectable employees of Eastern Airlines. Chiles, in particular, was highly esteemed by his peers and by his employer. It was a pivotal case for the personnel of the US Air Force's Project Sign, and was a main reason they championed the extraterrestrial hypothesis as the best explanation for UFOs.

Main article: Gorman Dogfight

• The Gorman Dogfight is alleged to have occurred on October 1, 1948, when a US Air Force pilot sighted and pursued a UFO for 27 minutes over Fargo, North Dakota.

1950

Main article: McMinnville UFO photographs

• The McMinnville UFO photographs were taken on a farm near McMinnville, Oregon on May 11, 1950, by Paul and Evelyn Trent.

Main article: Mariana UFO incident

• The Mariana UFO incident occurred during the summer of 1950 in Great Falls, Montana. The event garnered national media attention, as the concept of UFOs and alien invasion was extremely popular amongst Americans at the time.

1951

Main article: Lubbock Lights

• The Lubbock Lights were a v-shaped formation of lights seen over the town of Lubbock, Texas in August, 1951.

1952

Main article: Carson Sink UFO incident

• The Carson Sink Case was a famous UFO incident that occurred over the Carson Sink in western Nevada in the United States on July 24, 1952. The incident is considered especially noteworthy among UFO sightings because of the competency and reliability of the witnesses, two experienced command pilots of the United States Air Force.

Main article: Orfeo Angelucci

• Beginning in the summer of 1952, according to Angelucci in his book The Secret of the Saucers (1955), he began to encounter flying saucers and their friendly human-appearing pilots during his drives home from the aircraft plant. These space people were superhumanly handsome, often transparent and highly religious. Eventually Angelucci was taken in an unmanned saucer to earth orbit, where he saw a giant "mother ship" drift past a porthole.

Main article: 1952 Washington D.C. UFO incident

• The 1952 Washington, D.C. UFO incident was a series of unidentified flying object reports from July 13 to July 29, 1952, over Washington, D.C. This resulted in the implementation of the Robertson Panel, a CIA program to "reduce" interest in UFOs and to spy on UFO organizations.

Main article: Flatwoods monster

• Six local boys and a local woman of Flatwoods, West Virginia reported sighting a UFO landing and later discovered a bizarre-looking creature near the site on September 12, 1952.

1953

Main article: Ellsworth UFO sighting

• Ellsworth Air Force Base UFO incident.

Main article: Felix Moncla

• Felix Moncla, Jr. was a United States Air Force pilot who disappeared with 2nd Lt. Robert Wilson while pursuing an unidentified flying object over Lake Superior in 1953. The US Air Force reported that Moncla had crashed and that the "unknown" object was a misidentified Canadian Air Force airplane, but the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) disputed this claim, reporting that none of their craft were near the area in question.

1954

Main article: Buck Nelson

• Buck Nelson was a farmer who claimed to have had an encounter with an unidentified flying object and its humanoid crew in 1954, while living in Missouri.

1957

Main article: Levelland UFO Case

• The Levelland UFO Case occurred on November 2–3, 1957, in the small town of Levelland, Texas. Levelland, which in 1957 had a population of about 10,000, is located west of Lubbock on the flat prairie of the Texas panhandle. The case is considered to be one of the most impressive in UFO history, mainly because of the large number of witnesses involved over a relatively short period of time.

1961

Main article: Betty and Barney Hill abduction

• Betty and Barney Hill claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrials on September 19–20, 1961. Their story, commonly called the Hill Abduction and occasionally the Zeta Reticuli Incident, was the first widely publicized UFO abduction report.

1964

• In November 1964, Chuck Wakely flew a charter airplane from NASA en route to Florida in the US. Flying over the Bermuda Triangle at about 2000 meters, Wakely claimed that the plane became surrounded by a mysterious light. The light became blinding and all onboard electronic equipment ceased to function. After a while, the light disappeared and the electronics resumed normal functioning.^{[citation needed]}

Main article: Lonnie Zamora incident

• Lonnie Zamora was a New Mexico police officer who reported a UFO close encounter on Friday, April 24, 1964, near Socorro, New Mexico.

1965

Main article: Exeter incident

• The Exeter incident of Exeter, New Hampshire occurred on September 3, 1965. A UFO the size of a barn was seen as close as 500 feet away by a teenager and two police officers.

Main article: Kecksburg UFO incident

• The Kecksburg UFO incident of Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, occurred on December 9, 1965. A large, brilliant fireball was seen by thousands in at least six states and Ontario, Canada. It streaked over the Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario area, dropped reported metal debris over Michigan and northern Ohio, and caused sonic booms in western Pennsylvania. It was generally assumed and reported by the press to be a meteor.

1966

Main article: Portage County UFO chase

• The so-called Portage County UFO Chase was an unidentified flying object encounter that began in Portage County, Ohio on the morning of April 17, 1966, when police officers Dale Spaur and Wilbur Neff observed a metallic, disc shaped object flying in the skies. They pursued the object for about half an hour, ending up in Pennsylvania before losing sight of the UFO. Several other police officers became involved in the chase, and several civilians reported witnessing the same, or a similar object in about the same area, during this time.

1967

Main article: Schirmer Abduction

• Nebraska Police Sergeant Herbert Schirmer claimed that he was abducted by extraterrestrials in 1967. His case was one of those investigated in the Condon Report. He flew to Boulder, Colorado and was examined under hypnosis by psychologist Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle of the University of Wyoming on February 13, 1968.

1969

Main article: Jimmy Carter UFO incident

• Jimmy Carter claimed that he had seen a UFO in 1969. In 1973, while Governor of Georgia, he filed a report with the International UFO Bureau in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

1973

Main article: Pascagoula Abduction

• The abduction of Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, also known as the Pascagoula Abduction is, after the Hill Abduction, among the best-known cases of reports of alien abduction.

1975

Main article: Travis Walton

• Travis Walton claims to have been abducted by a UFO on November 5, 1975, while working on a logging crew in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona. Walton could not be found, but reappeared after five days of intensive searches.

1976

Main article: Allagash Abductions

• The Allagash Abduction is an incident that occurred on August 20, 1976, when four men, Jim Weiner, his twin brother Jack, Chuck Rak and their guide, Charlie Foltz, all in their early-twenties, ventured on a camping trip into the Allagash wilderness of Maine.

1978

Main article: UFO sightings in New Jersey 1978

• A series of UFO sightings reported in New Jersey, on January 18, 1978.

1979

Main article: Val Johnson Incident

• At 1:40 a.m. in August 1979, in Marshall County, Minnesota, Deputy Sheriff Val Johnson was on duty and driving close to the North Dakota border when his patrol car was struck by a blinding ball of light. Johnson was knocked unconscious, and his patrol car was damaged.

1980

Main article: Cash-Landrum incident

• The Cash-Landrum Incident was a reported UFO sighting in 1980, after which witnesses claimed damage to their health. It is one of very few UFO cases to result in civil court proceedings. It might be classified as a Close Encounter of the Second Kind, due to its reported physical effects on the witnesses and their automobile.

1987

Main article: Gulf Breeze UFO incident

• The Gulf Breeze UFO incident occurred on November 11, 1987, in Gulf Breeze, Florida.

1997

Main article: Phoenix Lights

• The Phoenix Lights, sometimes referred to as "The Lights Over Phoenix", is the popular name given to a series of optical phenomena that took place in the sky over the US states of Arizona and Nevada on March 13, 1997. Lights of varying descriptions were seen by thousands of people between 19:30 and 22:30 MST, in a space of about 300 miles, from the Nevada line, through Phoenix, to the edge of Tucson. UFO proponents claimed they were part of aircraft unknown to man,the USAF identified them as flares dropped by A-10 Warthog aircraft which were on training exercises.

2000

Main article: Black Triangle (UFO)

• The "St. Clair Triangle", "UFO Over Illinois", "Southern Illinois UFO", or "Highland, Illinois UFO" sighting occurred on January 5, 2000 over the towns of Highland, Dupo, Lebanon, Summerfield, Millstadt, and O'Fallon, Illinois, beginning shortly after 4:00 am. Five on-duty Illinois police officers in separate locales, along with various other witnesses, sighted and reported a massive, silent, triangular aircraft operating at an unusual range of near-hover to incredible high speed at treetop altitudes. The incident was examined in an ABC Special "Seeing is Believing" by Peter Jennings, an hour-long special "UFOs Over Illinois", produced by Discovery Channel, a Sci Fi Channel special entitled "Proof Positive" as well as a 28 minute independent documentary titled "The Edge of Reality: Illinois UFO, January 5, 2000" by Darryl Barker Productions, St. Louis, Missouri.

2004

Main article: Tinley Park Lights

• A triangular formation of reddish lights were seen at low to intermediate altitude by hundreds of witnesses, on three separate occasions in late 2004 and early 2005, producing multiple videos, photos, and mainstream local news coverage over two suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. The object(s) maneuvered slowly within a busy airspace near O'Hare International Airport. The incident was investigated by MUFON, and reported widely in metropolitan media.

2006

Main article: Chicago O'Hare UFO sighting 2006

• At approximately 4:30 p.m on Tuesday Nov 7th, 2006, federal authorities at Chicago O'Hare International Airport received a report that a group of twelve airport employees were witnessing a metallic, saucer-shaped craft hovering over gate C-17.

2007

• Brian Fields, a retired United States Air Force Colonel, spots what he claims are two UFOs hovering over his home in Van Buren, Arkansas.

• A turquoise-colored UFO was reported by locals and an officer in and around Charlotte, North Carolina.

• Locals said they saw UFOs in the sky over Honolulu, Hawaii at 6:20 p.m. The KHON-TV 2 television station was able to catch the objects in the sky using their SkyCam. The National Weather Service said that no objects appeared on their radar at the time the objects were witnessed. The Federal Aviation Administration said that they also did not pick up anything unusual on their radars.

• From late April to early June 2007, there were a series of "Dragonfly-shaped Drone" sightings, ranging from near Bakersfield through Capitola and even up to Lake Tahoe and Big Basin, California. There were many witnesses to these sightings (producing the clearest known photographs in the history of UFO sightings) and a series of documents have been posted by an individual using the pseudonym Isaac, who claims to know their origin. The drone sightings were referenced in several episodes of the American TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles aired in late 2008 and early 2009, in which the protagonist, Sarah Connor, witnesses a craft of unknown origin, the design of which is based upon the drones sighted in California.
  

• On September 25, 2007, around 6:45 am., a luminescent red object was reportedly traveling fast over the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. Within seconds, it traveled to Kodiak Island air space, upwards of 131 miles away. Many people claim to have seen it descend behind the local peak of Barometer Mountain. Local troopers and Coast Guard personnel went to investigate the UFO but no signs were ever discovered.

2008

• On January 8, 2008, more than 30 residents of Stephenville, Texas reported seeing a large object described as being about a mile long and a half-mile wide with bright lights being chased by what appeared to be fighter jets. The Air Force claims they had no aircraft in the area at the time of the sightings and says the objects may have been an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes. One resident described the object as "an arch shape converted in a vertical shape, and then it split and made two of them, and then these turned into just fire and it was gone."

2009

Main article: Morristown UFO

• On January 5, 2009, five unidentified red objects were seen over Morristown, New Jersey. Major and local news networks covered the story and internet websites including the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) posted information about the incident. On April 1, 2009, Joe Rudy and Chris Russo admitted it was a hoax and came forward with video evidence proving they were the perpetrators, saying they wanted to demonstrate how easy it is to fool the so-called UFO "experts."

See also

• List of UFO sightings

External links

• UFO Sightings Video Compilation of UFO Videos
• MUFON - Last 20 UFO Sightings and Pictures
• UFO sightings in Pensacola - Gulf Breeze, Florida, USA
• MUFON Famous Cases Aurora Texas page 186