Under Strange Skies

UFO Encounters Reconstructed from Witness Accounts

For more than eighty years, people in very different circumstances have reported encounters with things in the sky that they could not explain. Pilots, police officers, military personnel, families, schoolchildren and ordinary people going about their lives have described objects ranging from distant lights to enormous structures close enough to dominate the landscape.

This page presents a chronological selection of those encounters, accompanied by visual reconstructions intended to make the witnesses' descriptions easier to imagine. The purpose is not to settle what the objects were, but to ask a simpler question: what did the witnesses say they experienced?

Foo Fighters — World War II

During the Second World War, Allied aircrews reported mysterious lights accompanying their aircraft. In one well-known episode, Beaufighter pilot Edward Schlueter, radar operator Donald Meiers and squadron intelligence officer Fred Ringwald watched unexplained lights maneuver near them. When Schlueter turned toward the lights, they disappeared; later they returned. The crew could see no aircraft behind the lights, and radar revealed nothing.

Kenneth Arnold — 1947

On June 24, 1947, experienced pilot Kenneth Arnold was flying near Mount Rainier in exceptionally clear daylight when he saw nine objects moving rapidly across the mountains. He compared their positions with landmarks, timed their passage and tried to determine their speed and structure. The objects appeared thin enough to become difficult to see as their orientation changed, while at other moments they flashed brilliantly in the sunlight.

Arnold's report spread quickly through newspapers and helped give birth to the modern flying-saucer controversy. His own description was more complicated than the simple disk that later became the cultural emblem of the phenomenon.

Roswell — 1947

In July 1947, unusual debris recovered near Roswell, New Mexico, became the center of one of the most famous controversies in UFO history. Major Jesse Marcel, the intelligence officer sent to investigate, carried some of the material home before returning to the base. Marcel, his wife Viaud and their young son Jesse Jr. examined the fragments on the kitchen floor and tried unsuccessfully to fit some of them together. Jesse Jr. would later remember a light, beam-like piece bearing strange purple-violet symbols.

The case would eventually become entangled with Project Mogul, disputed memories of extraordinary materials, and competing claims about what had actually been recovered.

Green Fireballs — 1948–49

Beginning in the late 1940s, brilliant green fireballs were reported over New Mexico, including in the vicinity of sensitive atomic installations. Astronomer Lincoln LaPaz and others investigated. The phenomena appeared unusually bright and energetic and became both a scientific puzzle and a security concern.

Great Falls / Nicholas Mariana — 1950

Nicholas Mariana, general manager of the Great Falls Electrics baseball club in Montana, was at the ballpark when he saw two brilliant objects in the clear daylight sky. His secretary Virginia also saw them. Mariana described the objects as highly polished silver disks, without wings, fuselages or visible exhaust, moving together across the sky.

Mariana raced down the grandstand, retrieved a 16-millimeter camera with a telephoto lens from his car, and filmed the objects as they continued southeast. The resulting film became one of the earliest important motion-picture records in the UFO controversy.

Tremonton / Delbert Newhouse — 1952

In 1952, Navy Chief Photographer Delbert Newhouse was driving through Utah with his wife and children when they noticed a group of brilliant silvery objects in a cloudless sky. Newhouse stopped the car and watched roughly a dozen objects moving loosely together. As their aspect changed, he thought they resembled two saucers, one inverted over the other.

His Bell & Howell camera and film were packed away. By the time he retrieved and loaded them, the objects had moved much farther away. He filmed them anyway, producing a record that showed distant points of light rather than the structured objects he said he had seen with his unaided eyes.

Washington National — 1952

In July 1952, unexplained radar targets appeared around Washington, D.C., including in restricted airspace near the White House and Capitol. Radar controllers tracked the targets, and the Air Force sent interceptors. At Washington National Airport, officials, controllers and journalists were able to observe the radar activity together.

During one interception, Lieutenant William Patterson flew an F-94 Starfire toward the lights. He could not overtake them. Then several of the lights appeared around his aircraft at different bearings. Patterson asked the ground what he should do; those watching had no useful answer.

Kelly-Hopkinsville — 1955

In rural Kentucky, several members of an extended family reported that small, bizarre humanoid figures approached their farmhouse during the night of August 21–22, 1955. The witnesses described large heads, strange luminous eyes and movements unlike those of ordinary people or animals. The encounter became famous for the almost goblin-like appearance of the reported beings.

Levelland — 1957

Near Levelland, Texas, motorists reported luminous objects close to highways and an unusual recurring effect: automobile engines sputtered or stopped as an object approached, headlights dimmed or went out, and normal operation returned after the object departed. The reports encouraged speculation about powerful electromagnetic effects.

Boianai / Father Gill — 1959

At the Anglican mission at Boianai in Papua New Guinea, Reverend William Gill and other witnesses watched a strange craft with humanoid figures apparently visible upon it. Gill raised an arm and waved. One of the figures appeared to wave back. Others on the ground waved as well, and the figures responded.

The simplicity of the exchange made the incident unusual: whatever the witnesses believed they were seeing, they experienced it not merely as observation but as reciprocal recognition.

Betty and Barney Hill — 1961

Betty and Barney Hill reported a frightening nighttime encounter while driving through New Hampshire in September 1961. Under later hypnosis, both described being taken aboard a craft and subjected to examinations by strange humanoid beings. The details included medical procedures, questions about human anatomy, and an apparent fascination with the difference between Betty's removable dentures and Barney's natural teeth.

Betty also described being shown a book with unfamiliar writing and, separately, a map containing stars and routes between them. She was not permitted to keep the book. The remembered star map would later become a subject of extensive interpretation and dispute.

Socorro — 1964

On April 24, 1964, Socorro police officer Lonnie Zamora heard a roar and saw what he first thought might have been an explosion. He drove toward the site and reported encountering a white object on or near the ground with two small figures nearby. Investigators later examined landing impressions and disturbed or burned vegetation.

As Zamora approached, he said a tremendous roar began and the object rose, with a brilliant flame visible beneath it. He fled toward his patrol car as the object departed.

Exeter — 1965

On September 3, 1965, eighteen-year-old Norman Muscarello was walking near Exeter, New Hampshire, when five brilliant red lights appeared above the trees. They formed a steeply tilted straight line and illuminated in a repeated sequence along the row and back again. Their brilliance washed fields, trees and even a white farmhouse in red.

When the lights seemed to move toward him, Muscarello threw himself into a roadside ditch. Police later became involved in the case.

Westall — 1966

On April 6, 1966, students and teachers at Westall High School in suburban Melbourne reported seeing strange silver objects in the daylight sky. Students poured from classrooms and school grounds, and some ran after the objects into nearby fields.

Accounts differed in detail, but several witnesses later described objects very close to the ground. Victor Zakry recalled two identical silver craft at ground level, while Terry Peck later described a silver object hovering just above the ground at the Grange.

Dexter and Hillsdale — 1966

On March 20, 1966, Frank Mannor and his eighteen-year-old son Ronald went into marshy land behind their farm near Dexter, Michigan, after strange lights had been reported. Mannor described a broad, oddly shaped object with a textured or waffled-looking surface and changing lights. Police and other witnesses became involved, and the incident quickly drew attention.

The following night, roughly sixty miles away at Hillsdale, another cluster of reports followed, helping produce a major wave of public interest in Michigan.

Portage County — 1966

In the early morning of April 17, 1966, Portage County Deputy Sheriff Dale Spaur and mounted deputy Wilbur “Barney” Neff saw a brilliant object rise from behind trees and approach them. What followed became an extended pursuit through northeastern Ohio.

Farther along the route, East Palestine patrolman H. Wayne Huston heard Spaur's radio reports, went outside and waited. He saw an object approach from the northwest and watched it pass overhead before joining the chase. The pursuit continued into Pennsylvania, where patrolman Frank Panzanella also became involved. Eventually the officers watched the object rise rapidly and disappear.

Malmstrom — 1967

At Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, ten Minuteman missiles assigned to Echo Flight abruptly lost strategic-alert status. Days later, Robert Salas was underground at Oscar Flight when security personnel reported strange lights and then a large glowing red object hovering outside the gate.

As the object was being reported above, missiles under the officers' control began entering No-Go condition. The weapons were not destroyed and could later be restored to service, but the conjunction of the reported object and missile failures became one of the most controversial nuclear-related UFO cases.

Pascagoula — 1973

In October 1973, Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker said they were fishing near Pascagoula, Mississippi, when a strange craft and bizarre occupants appeared. The beings were described as unlike the more familiar humanoids of other UFO reports, with stiff, almost mechanical bodies and unusual facial structures.

Hickson reported being immobilized while an eye-like apparatus moved around his body as though conducting an examination. Both men said they were eventually released unharmed.

Tehran — 1976

Shortly after midnight on September 19, 1976, residents of Tehran reported an extraordinarily bright object in the sky. The Iranian Air Force sent an F-4 Phantom to investigate. As the first aircraft approached, it reportedly lost instrumentation and UHF and intercom communications; the systems returned when the pilot broke off the interception.

A second F-4 was sent up. Its weapons officer reported obtaining radar contact. A smaller luminous object appeared to emerge from the primary object and move toward the fighter. When the pilot prepared to fire an AIM-9 Sidewinder, the weapons system and communications reportedly failed. Another luminous object later appeared to descend toward the ground, illuminating a large area.

Rendlesham Forest — 1980

Late in December 1980, strange lights were reported in Rendlesham Forest near RAF Woodbridge in Britain. Airmen John Burroughs and Jim Penniston went into the forest to investigate. Penniston later described approaching a small dark manufactured-looking object on or immediately above the ground, close enough to examine and draw. He recorded unusual geometric figures in his notebook and later said he touched the object's surface.

Two nights later, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt and other servicemen returned to investigate continuing activity. Halt described luminous objects and a narrow beam of light descending toward the ground near the group; he later reported similar beams in the direction of the Weapons Storage Area.

The Hudson Valley — 1980s

Beginning in the early 1980s, large numbers of people in New York's Hudson Valley and adjoining areas of Connecticut reported enormous, structured objects, often V-shaped or boomerang-like and marked by arrays of white and colored lights. Witnesses described objects hundreds of feet across, moving extraordinarily slowly, hovering, and making surprisingly little sound.

On March 17, 1983, Dennis Sant watched one near Brewster, New York. Later, from near his home, he saw an immense dark structure crowded with lights move toward him and hover nearby. Sant compared the sight to a city suspended in the sky.

The “Kathie Davis” / Debra Jordan-Kauble Case — 1983

In 1983, a young Indiana woman later identified publicly as Debra Jordan-Kauble began reporting a series of experiences that became central to Budd Hopkins's book Intruders, where she was called “Kathie Davis.” In one episode, she went into her backyard with her father's unloaded shotgun and reported seeing six small beings with disproportionately large heads, an intense light, a small brilliant sphere, and a peculiar egg-shaped object standing in the yard.

Japan Airlines Flight 1628 — 1986

On November 17, 1986, Japan Airlines Flight 1628, a Boeing 747 freighter commanded by Captain Kenju Terauchi, was flying over Alaska toward Anchorage when the crew reported unexplained lights and objects. The encounter lasted long enough for Terauchi to communicate with Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center while controllers participated in the event.

Terauchi later described a gigantic dark form off the aircraft's left side, with pale lights toward its extremities. He compared its size to one and a half or two aircraft carriers. Radar data, communications, interviews and FAA records later became part of the controversy surrounding the case.

The Belgian Wave — 1989–90

On November 29, 1989, two Belgian gendarmes near Eupen reported an enormous dark triangular object with brilliant lights, moving very slowly and making little or no sound. Similar reports continued for months across Belgium, often describing massive triangular objects that hovered or moved at unusually low speeds.

Belgian authorities collected reports, civilian investigators studied the wave, and the Belgian Air Force became publicly involved. On the night of March 30–31, 1990, two F-16s were sent up after reports and radar observations, producing intermittent radar contacts that themselves became a subject of debate.

Ariel School — 1994

On September 16, 1994, children at Ariel School near Ruwa, Zimbabwe, were at recess when some noticed objects in the sky and something apparently descending beyond the playground. A number of children ran toward the rough ground beyond the maintained school area.

They later described a strange craft among the trees and small dark figures associated with it. Their drawings differed in detail: some showed a simple disk or saucer, others windows, lights, a dome or more complicated forms. The children also differed about the beings. One described a figure on top of the craft; others saw figures on the ground. Some remembered long black hair, and many emphasized unusually large dark eyes.

The Phoenix Lights — 1997

On the evening of March 13, 1997, witnesses across Arizona reported an enormous formation or object moving south toward Phoenix. Descriptions varied—V-shaped, wedge-shaped, boomerang-shaped—but many witnesses said the lights seemed to be associated with something dark and very large between them.

As it approached Phoenix, some witnesses described a dark structure hundreds of feet across; others thought it might extend for a mile. Stars seemed to disappear behind it, and it moved slowly with remarkably little sound. This earlier moving event should be distinguished from the later arc of lights seen around 10 p.m., which was extensively videotaped and has been plausibly associated with military illumination flares.

Southwestern Illinois — 2000

In the early morning of January 5, 2000, a large dark object was reported moving across southwestern Illinois, appearing first to civilians and then to police officers in different jurisdictions. In Highland, businessman Melvern Noll described an enormous object with window-like lights and red lights beneath it.

Lebanon police officer Ed Barton later saw a narrow triangular or arrowhead-like object with brilliant white lights and a smaller red light. Shiloh officer David Martin and Millstadt officer Craig Stevens also reported the object, but their descriptions of the arrangement of the large white lights differed. The sequence remains especially interesting because the witnesses appeared to be observing the progress of the same enormous object from different locations.

Nimitz / Tic Tac — 2004

On November 14, 2004, pilots from the USS Nimitz carrier strike group were sent to investigate unusual radar contacts off Southern California. Commander David Fravor and Lieutenant Commander Alex Dietrich, flying F/A-18F Super Hornets with their weapons systems officers, reached the area and saw a patch of violently disturbed white water below them. Above it moved a small white object.

Fravor described the object as roughly forty feet long, smooth, white and oblong, with no wings, rotors, windows or visible means of propulsion—like a Tic Tac. As Fravor began descending for a closer look, the object abruptly changed its orientation toward his aircraft and began climbing. When Fravor cut across to close the distance, the object accelerated away with extraordinary speed.

Stephenville / Ricky Sorrells — 2008

Near Dublin, Texas, Ricky Sorrells was hunting on his property around the turn of 2008 when he looked upward through the trees and saw an enormous gray surface overhead. He could not see where it ended. He later estimated that the object extended for hundreds of feet, perhaps more than three football fields, and hovered only a few hundred feet above him.

Sorrells compared the underside to pressed sheet metal. He reported no obvious rivets, bolts or seams, but described enormous circular recesses spaced across the surface and a shimmering effect in the air beneath it. At one point he used the scope of his hunting rifle simply to examine the surface more closely.

Sorrells's account preceded the better-known Stephenville-Dublin sightings of January 8, 2008, when numerous people reported unusual lights and objects. Later investigators Glen Schulze and Robert Powell obtained millions of FAA radar returns from multiple radar sites and compared them with the witness reports, adding another technical layer to the controversy.

What the Reconstructions Are For

Written reports can make extraordinary events feel abstract: an object was “hundreds of feet across,” a light was “above the trees,” a craft was “close to the ground.” A visual reconstruction cannot tell us whether a witness was right about what caused an experience, but it can help recover the scale and immediacy of what the witness said happened.

That is the purpose of these images: not to replace the evidence, but to make the testimony easier to imagine.