Case Files
Famous UFO and UAP Cases
Aurora Airship Crash
Aurora, Wise County, Texas · United States
A newspaper story published during the 1896-1897 'mystery airship' wave reported that an airship crashed into a windmill in Aurora, Texas, and that its pilot was not of this world.
EvidenceNone
Battle of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California · United States
Less than three months after Pearl Harbor, a radar contact off the coast triggered a blackout and hours of anti-aircraft fire over Los Angeles, though no enemy aircraft were found.
EvidenceRadar, Photo, Official documents
Foo Fighters
European and Pacific theatres of World War II · Multiple countries
Allied aircrews in the European and Pacific theatres reported glowing lights that appeared to follow their aircraft, calling them 'foo fighters'.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Ghost Rockets
Sweden · Sweden
Thousands of reports of rocket or missile-like objects over Sweden and neighboring countries in 1946 prompted a Swedish military investigation.
EvidenceRadar, Official documents
Maury Island Incident
Maury Island, Puget Sound, Washington · United States
Harbor patrolman Harold Dahl reported that doughnut-shaped craft dropped slag-like debris near Maury Island, days before Kenneth Arnold's sighting.
EvidencePhysical trace
Kenneth Arnold Sighting
Near Mount Rainier, Washington · United States
Private pilot Kenneth Arnold reported nine fast-moving objects flying near Mount Rainier. Press coverage of his description led to the popular term "flying saucer".
EvidenceOfficial documents
Roswell Incident
Ranch near Roswell / Corona, New Mexico · United States
In July 1947 Roswell Army Air Field issued a press release saying it had recovered a "flying disc" from a ranch near Roswell; the Army soon stated the debris was a weather balloon. US Air Force reports in the 1990s attributed the debris to Project Mogul, a classified balloon programme.
EvidencePhysical trace, Official documents
Mantell Incident
Godman Field, Kentucky · United States
Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Captain Thomas Mantell died when his P-51 crashed while chasing an unidentified object reported over Godman Field.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Chiles-Whitted Encounter
Near Montgomery, Alabama · United States
Two Eastern Air Lines pilots, Clarence Chiles and John Whitted, reported a cigar-shaped object with rows of lit windows passing their DC-3 near Montgomery.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Gorman Dogfight
Fargo, North Dakota · United States
North Dakota Air National Guard pilot George Gorman reported a roughly half-hour 'dogfight' with a small light over Fargo.
EvidenceOfficial documents
McMinnville (Trent) Photographs
Farm near McMinnville, Oregon · United States
Farmers Paul and Evelyn Trent took two photographs of a disc-shaped object over their farm, later published in Life magazine.
EvidencePhoto
Great Falls (Mariana) Film
Great Falls, Montana · United States
Minor-league baseball manager Nicholas Mariana filmed two bright objects crossing the sky over Great Falls on 16 mm color film.
EvidenceVideo
Lubbock Lights
Lubbock, Texas · United States
Across August and September 1951, residents of Lubbock, including Texas Tech professors, reported formations of lights crossing the night sky. Photographs were taken and Project Blue Book investigated the reports.
EvidencePhoto, Official documents
Tremonton Film
Near Tremonton, Utah · United States
U.S. Navy Chief Photographer Delbert Newhouse filmed a group of bright objects moving across the sky while driving with his family near Tremonton.
EvidenceVideo
Washington, D.C. UFO Flap
Washington, D.C. · United States
On consecutive weekends in July 1952, radar operators at Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base tracked unidentified returns and jet interceptors were sent up. The Air Force held a press conference attributing the returns to temperature inversions.
EvidenceRadar, Official documents
Flatwoods Monster
Flatwoods, Braxton County, West Virginia · United States
A group of local residents who went to investigate a bright object in the sky reported encountering a tall figure with a glowing face on a hilltop farm.
EvidenceNone
Kinross Incident (Felix Moncla)
Lake Superior near Kinross AFB, Michigan · United States
An F-89 interceptor flown by Lieutenant Felix Moncla, with radar operator Lieutenant Robert Wilson, vanished over Lake Superior while intercepting an unknown radar target.
EvidenceRadar, Official documents
Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter
Farmhouse near Kelly and Hopkinsville, Kentucky · United States
Members of two families at a rural farmhouse reported a night-long standoff with small, glowing creatures, drawing police and military investigators.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Lakenheath-Bentwaters Incident
RAF Lakenheath and RAF Bentwaters, England · United Kingdom
Radar operators at two U.S. Air Force bases in England tracked unidentified targets, and an RAF night fighter was sent to intercept.
EvidenceRadar, Official documents
RB-47 Radar-Visual Incident
Flight path from Mississippi across Louisiana to Texas · United States
The crew of a U.S. Air Force RB-47 reconnaissance aircraft reported that an unknown light and electronic signal followed their plane across several southern states.
EvidenceRadar, Official documents
Antônio Villas Boas Abduction Claim
São Francisco de Sales, Minas Gerais · Brazil
Brazilian farmer Antônio Villas Boas said he was taken aboard a craft while plowing at night, one of the earliest widely publicized abduction claims.
EvidenceNone
Levelland Sightings
Levelland, Hockley County, Texas · United States
Over one night, multiple drivers near Levelland called police to report a glowing, egg-shaped object and car engines and headlights failing as it passed.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Trindade Island Photographs
Trindade Island, South Atlantic · Brazil
Photographer Almiro Baraúna, aboard a Brazilian Navy ship, took a series of photographs of a Saturn-shaped object over Trindade Island.
EvidencePhoto, Official documents
Boianai Sightings (Father William Gill)
Anglican mission, Boianai · Papua New Guinea
Anglican priest William Gill and dozens of mission staff and villagers reported bright craft and human-like figures over the mission on two evenings.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Betty and Barney Hill Abduction
Near Lincoln, New Hampshire · United States
Betty and Barney Hill reported seeing a light that followed their car through the White Mountains while driving home. Under later hypnosis sessions they described being taken aboard a craft; it became the first widely publicised abduction claim in the US.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Lonnie Zamora Incident
Socorro, New Mexico · United States
Socorro police officer Lonnie Zamora reported an oval object on the ground with two small figures nearby, which then departed. Investigators recorded ground impressions at the site, and Project Blue Book listed the case as unidentified.
EvidencePhysical trace, Official documents
Exeter Incident
Exeter, New Hampshire · United States
Teenager Norman Muscarello and two Exeter police officers reported a group of bright red lights near the town in the early morning. Project Blue Book later listed the sighting as unidentified.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Kecksburg Incident
Kecksburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania · United States
A fireball seen across several U.S. states and Canada was reported to have come down in woods near Kecksburg, followed by a military presence in the area.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Westall Incident
Westall High School, Melbourne, Victoria · Australia
Students and teachers at Westall schools in Melbourne reported a craft descending into a nearby grassy area and departing.
EvidenceNone
Malmstrom AFB Missile Incident
Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana · United States
In March 1967, Minuteman missiles at Malmstrom Air Force Base went offline. Some former personnel later said UFOs were reported near the site at the time.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Falcon Lake Incident (Stefan Michalak)
Near Falcon Lake, Manitoba · Canada
Amateur prospector Stefan Michalak reported that a landed craft burned him when it departed, leaving grid-patterned marks on his chest.
EvidencePhysical trace, Official documents
Shag Harbour Incident
Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia · Canada
Witnesses reported a lit object descending into the water off Shag Harbour, prompting an RCMP and Canadian Coast Guard search.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Herbert Schirmer Abduction Claim
Ashland, Nebraska · United States
Ashland police officer Herbert Schirmer reported seeing a craft on the highway, and under hypnosis later described being taken aboard.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Minot AFB Incident
Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota · United States
Maintenance crews at missile sites and the crew of a B-52 bomber reported a large glowing object near Minot AFB, with the aircraft's radar tracking a target.
EvidenceRadar, Official documents
Pascagoula Abduction
Pascagoula River, Mississippi · United States
Co-workers Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, fishing on the Pascagoula River, reported being taken aboard a craft by humanoid beings. They reported the event to the local sheriff the same night.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Coyne Helicopter Incident
Near Mansfield, Ohio · United States
The four-man crew of an Army Reserve UH-1H helicopter commanded by Captain Lawrence Coyne reported a near-collision with a gray, cigar-shaped object.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Berwyn Mountain Incident
Berwyn Mountains, Wales · United Kingdom
A loud bang and lights on the hillside near Llandrillo led to reports that a craft had come down in the Berwyn Mountains.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Loring AFB Overflights
Loring Air Force Base, Maine · United States
Over several nights, security personnel at Loring AFB reported an unidentified object near the nuclear weapons storage area, part of a series of reports at northern U.S. bases.
EvidenceRadar, Official documents
Travis Walton Abduction
Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest near Heber, Arizona · United States
Logger Travis Walton went missing in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest after his crew reported a glowing object. He reappeared five days later saying he had been aboard a craft.
EvidenceNone
Allagash Abductions
Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Maine · United States
Four men on a canoe trip in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway reported a bright object over Eagle Lake. Abduction accounts emerged years later under hypnosis; in 2016 one of the four publicly disputed parts of the story.
EvidenceNone
Tehran UFO Incident
Tehran · Iran
Imperial Iranian Air Force F-4 jets were scrambled after reports of a bright object over Tehran, and pilots reported instrument and weapons failures during the approach.
EvidenceRadar, Official documents
Petrozavodsk Phenomenon
Petrozavodsk, Karelia · Soviet Union
Residents of Petrozavodsk and other northern areas saw a large glowing jellyfish-like object in the pre-dawn sky.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Colares and Operation Prato
Colares island, Pará · Brazil
Residents of Colares reported lights they said attacked them with beams, and the Brazilian Air Force sent an investigation, Operation Prato.
EvidencePhoto, Official documents
Valentich Disappearance
Bass Strait, between Victoria and Tasmania · Australia
Pilot Frederick Valentich disappeared over Bass Strait after reporting to air traffic control that an unidentified aircraft was near his Cessna.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Kaikoura Lights
Off Kaikoura, South Island · New Zealand
Cargo aircraft crews and a TV crew reported and filmed unidentified lights off New Zealand's Kaikoura coast, with radar also tracking targets.
EvidenceRadar, Video
Rendlesham Forest Incident
Rendlesham Forest near RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk · United Kingdom
U.S. Air Force personnel at RAF Woodbridge reported lights and a possible craft in nearby Rendlesham Forest over several nights.
EvidencePhysical trace, Official documents
Cash-Landrum Incident
Near Huffman, Texas · United States
Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and Landrum's grandson reported a fiery, diamond-shaped object above a rural road, followed by what they said were helicopters, and later illnesses.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Hessdalen Lights
Hessdalen valley · Norway
Lights have been reported in Norway's Hessdalen valley since the early 1980s, with an automated research station recording them.
EvidencePhoto, Video, Radar
Hudson Valley Sightings
Hudson Valley, New York and western Connecticut · United States
Through the mid-1980s, many residents of the Hudson Valley reported large, boomerang or V-shaped arrangements of lights moving slowly and quietly.
EvidencePhoto, Video
Japan Air Lines Flight 1628
Airspace over Alaska · United States
The crew of a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 cargo flight reported unidentified lights pacing their aircraft over Alaska.
EvidenceRadar, Official documents
Gulf Breeze Sightings
Gulf Breeze, Florida · United States
Contractor Ed Walters published a series of photographs of a glowing craft over Gulf Breeze, sparking a local wave of reports.
EvidencePhoto
Voronezh Sightings
Voronezh · Soviet Union
Soviet news agency TASS reported that children in a Voronezh park described a landed craft and tall beings.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Belgian UFO Wave
Belgium · Belgium
Thousands of Belgians reported large triangular objects with lights, and F-16 jets were scrambled after radar contacts in March 1990.
EvidenceRadar, Photo, Official documents
Cosford Incident
RAF Cosford and RAF Shawbury, England · United Kingdom
Police officers, military personnel and members of the public across England reported lights and a large object over two nights, including over RAF bases.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Ariel School Encounter
Ariel School, Ruwa · Zimbabwe
Dozens of schoolchildren in Ruwa reported silver craft landing near their school and small beings approaching.
EvidenceNone
Varginha Incident
Varginha, Minas Gerais · Brazil
Three young women in Varginha reported a strange creature, followed by reports of military recoveries of beings.
EvidenceOfficial documents
Phoenix Lights
Phoenix, Arizona · United States
Thousands of people across Arizona reported lights, including a V-shaped formation, on the evening of 13 March 1997. The US Air Force attributed the later stationary lights to flares dropped during a training exercise.
EvidenceVideo, Photo
St. Clair County Police Sighting
St. Clair County, Illinois · United States
In the early morning of 5 January 2000, police officers from several departments in southwestern Illinois, including Highland, Lebanon, Shiloh, Millstadt and Dupo, independently reported a large, silent, triangular object with bright lights moving slowly across the area. A civilian witness in Highland also reported it. The reports were investigated by the National Institute for Discovery Science, which interviewed the officers and produced a detailed study of the event.
EvidenceVisual
Mexican Air Force FLIR Footage
Campeche Bay, Mexico · Mexico
On 5 March 2004, a Mexican Air Force Merlin C26A aircraft on a counter-narcotics patrol over the state of Campeche recorded infrared video of multiple objects that were also tracked on radar. The footage was later released by the Mexican Department of Defense at a press conference in May 2004.
EvidenceVideo, Radar
Tinley Park Lights
Tinley Park and nearby Chicago suburbs, Illinois · United States
On several nights between 2004 and 2006, residents of Tinley Park and neighbouring suburbs reported and filmed formations of red lights moving slowly across the sky.
EvidenceVideo, Photo
USS Nimitz "Tic Tac" Encounter
Pacific Ocean off San Diego, California · United States
US Navy aviators from the USS Nimitz carrier group, directed by USS Princeton radar, reported an object shaped like a Tic Tac. An infrared video (FLIR1) was published in 2017 and officially released by the Department of Defense in 2020.
EvidenceRadar, Video, Official documents
O'Hare Airport Sighting
O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois · United States
United Airlines employees at O'Hare International Airport reported a disc-shaped object hovering over a gate before shooting up through the clouds. The FAA attributed it to a weather phenomenon.
EvidenceNone
Stephenville Sightings
Stephenville, Texas · United States
Dozens of residents in and around Stephenville reported a large object and bright lights in the evening sky. The Air Force later stated that F-16 fighters had been training in the area that night.
EvidenceRadar
Kumburgaz Video Recordings
Kumburgaz, Turkey · Turkey
Between 2007 and 2009, night guard Murat Yalçın recorded video of objects over the Sea of Marmara near Kumburgaz, Turkey. The footage was presented at a 2009 press conference by the Sirius UFO Space Sciences Research Center and received wide media coverage in Turkey and internationally.
EvidenceVideo
Hangzhou Airport Closure
Hangzhou, China · China
On the evening of 7 July 2010, Xiaoshan International Airport in Hangzhou, China, was closed for about an hour after a flight crew reported an object near the airport. Outbound flights were grounded and inbound flights were diverted, and the event was widely reported by Chinese state media and international outlets.
EvidenceVisual, Photo
Aguadilla Infrared Video
Rafael Hernández Airport, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico · United States
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection aircraft recorded thermal video of a small object moving low over the area near Rafael Hernández Airport.
EvidenceVideo, Radar
CEFAA Navy Helicopter Video
San Antonio, Chile · Chile
On 11 November 2014, a Chilean Navy helicopter crew recorded infrared video of an object off the coast between San Antonio and Quinteros. The case was studied for two years by CEFAA, the Chilean government's UAP investigation office, which released the footage publicly in January 2017.
EvidenceVideo
USS Theodore Roosevelt Encounters (Gimbal and GoFast)
Off the U.S. Atlantic coast · United States
Navy aviators from the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier group reported repeated encounters with unidentified objects during training off the East Coast, two of which were captured on released targeting-pod video.
EvidenceVideo, Radar, Official documents
Navy Destroyer Drone Swarms off California
Offshore Southern California · United States
Several U.S. Navy destroyers operating off Southern California reported unidentified aircraft around their ships over multiple nights.
EvidenceVideo, Radar, Official documents
High-Altitude Object Shootdowns (incl. Lake Huron)
Lake Huron, Michigan (with objects over Alaska and Yukon) · United States
After a Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down off South Carolina, U.S. fighters downed three further high-altitude objects over Alaska, Canada's Yukon, and Lake Huron.
EvidenceRadar, Official documents
Las Vegas 911 Call and Bodycam Footage
Las Vegas, Nevada · United States
On the night of 30 April to 1 May 2023, a Las Vegas family called 911 to report a crash in their backyard and the presence of tall figures, shortly after a bright object was recorded on a police officer's body camera and reported across the region. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police investigated the property and released the bodycam footage and 911 call.
EvidenceVideo
New Jersey Drone Sightings
New Jersey · United States
Beginning in November 2024, thousands of reports of large drones or unidentified objects were made across New Jersey and neighboring states, including near military facilities such as Picatinny Arsenal. The reports prompted FAA flight restrictions, a federal multi-agency investigation, and extensive media coverage.
EvidenceVisual, Video, Photo