UFO Sightings Timeline

1870 'Earliest UFO Photo' Taken From Summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire
It was either shot in 1870, 1880 or 1896, depending on the source. Supposedly this was taken in New Hampshire looking at Mt. Washington. The classic cigar shape UFO, that was seen in the ...
1883 Aug 12 José Bonilla Observation—First Photographing of an Unidentified Flying Object
On August 12, 1883, the astronomer José Bonilla reported that he saw more than 300 dark, unidentified objects crossing before the sun while observing sunspot activity at Zacatecas Observa...
1886 Oct 24 The Maracaibo Incident
"During the night of the 24th of October last [1886], which was rainy and tempestuous, a family of nine persons, sleeping in a hut a few leagues from Maracaibo [Venezuela], were awakened b..." —Walter Cowgill
1897 Apr 17 Aurora UFO Incident
The Aurora crash differs from the Roswell crash in that original documentation was not tampered with by the military nor were the still living eye witnesses debriefed, or told to keep qui...
1908 Jun 30 Tunguska Explosion
[T]he peasants saw a body shining very brightly (too bright for the naked eye) with a bluish-white light... The body was in the form of 'a pipe', i.e. cylindrical. The sky was cloudless, ...
1917 Oct 13 Miracle of the Sun
According to the very words of the Reverend General Vicar of Leiria, who was one of the witnesses, the lady came in an 'aeroplane of light,' an 'immense globe, flying westwards, at modera...
1942 Hopeh Incident
Masujiro Kiru was going through his father's photo album from the China Campaign just before WWII when he found a photograph of a flying object. His father, now deceased, had bought the p...
1942 Feb 24
to 1942 Feb 25
 The Battle of Los Angeles
During the night of 24/25 February 1942, unidentified objects caused a succession of alerts in southern California. On the 24th, a warning issued by naval intelligence indicated that an a...
1945 Jan 15 Time Magazine Publishes Story Entitled 'Foo-Fighter' Regarding Multiple Alleged UFO Sightings by WWII Pilots
If it was not a hoax or an optical illusion, it was certainly the most puzzling secret weapon that Allied fighters have yet encountered. Last week U.S. night fighter pilots based in Franc...
1946 May 18 Swedish Ice Hockey Player Gösta Carlsson Witnesses a UFO Landing
UFO memorial stands at the spot where in 1946 he reportedly saw a local man Gösta Carlsson. As evidence of its local officials pointed stone, which is allegedly harder than diamond, odd-l...
1947 Jun 21 The Maury Island Incident
The incident took place shortly after June 21, 1947. On that date, seaman Harold A. Dahl, out scavenging for drifting logs, claimed to have seen six UFOs near Maury Island (which is now a...
1947 Jun 24 Kenneth Arnold UFO Sighting
While there are no grounds to question his sincerity, some ufologists express reservations about the psychology of the man. His unorthodox speculations about UFOs being space animals wi...
1947 Jul 8 Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) Announces Capture of "Flying Disc"
When the first reports of a crashed alien craft reached the general public, many felt that the long awaited proof of extraterrestrial intelligence had come. The news spread world wide whe...
1948 Jan 7 Mantell UFO Incident
On 7 January 1948, while on a training flight with three other P-51Ds (Mustang) Mantell was directed by the flight tower at Godman Field to pursue an unidentified flying object. While in ...
1948 Jul 24 Chiles-Whitted UFO Encounter
A classic UFO event that has all but been forgotten is the Chiles-Whitted sighting which unfolded over Montgomery, Alabama on July 24 1948. This case was one of the very first reports of ...
1948 Oct 1 Gorman Dogfight
On the night of October 1, 1948, he had been on a cross-country flight with his squadron. Upon return to Hector airport in Fargo, he elected to log some night flying time, so he remained ...
1948 Dec 20 Project Twinkle Established to Monitor Green Fireball Sightings
In December, 1948 a new and strange phenomenon began to be observed repeatedly in the southwestern United States in areas where Top Secret nuclear weapon research was being carried out. P...
1950 Aug 15 Mariana UFO Incident Produces Some of the Earliest Film Footage of a UFO
The Mariana UFO Incident occurred in August 1950 in Great Falls, Montana. Nicholas "Nick" Mariana, the general manager of the Great Falls "Electrics" minor-league baseball team, and his s...
1951 Aug 25 "Lubbock Lights" Sightings First Publicized
At 9:10 p.m. on Aug. 25, 1951, Dr. W. I. Robinson, professor of geology at the Texas technological College, stood in the back yard of his home in Lubbock, Texas and chatted with two colle...
1952 Jul 12
to 1952 Jul 29
 1952 Washington D.C. UFO Incident
On July 29, 1952, International News Service (INS) announced that the Air Force had ordered its jets to shoot down any flying saucers. The order was confirmed by an AF spokesperson. The...
1952 Jul 24 Carson Sink UFO Incident
In a matter of seconds the three aircraft were close enough to the B-25 to be clearly seen. They were not F-86's. They were three bright silver, delta wing craft with no tails and no pilo...
1952 Sep 12 Flatwoods Monster
In modern police parlance a long-unsolved homicide or other crime may be known as a "cold case," a term we might borrow for such paranormal mysteries as that of the Flatwoods Monster, whi...
1953 Jun Otis Air Force Base Incident
In June 1953, Pilot Captain Suggs along with his radar operator Robert Markhoff were flying an intercept mission with a F-94C Starfire of a UFO that was seen over the alert area at Otis A...
1953 Aug 12 Ellsworth UFO Sighting
I first heard about the sighting about two o'clock on the morning of August 11,1953, when Max Futch called me from ATIC. A few minutes before, a wire had come in carrying a priority just ...
1953 Nov 23 First Lieutenant Felix Eugene Moncla, Jr. Disappears While Pursuing a UFO Over Lake Superior
The 23 November 1953 "Kinross Case," wherein a US Air Force F-89C jet fighter was scrambled from Kinross AFB Michigan on an "active air defense mission" to intercept an "unknown aircraft"...
1955 Aug 21 Kelly–Hopkinsville Alien Encounter
Possibly an allusion to Ireland's leprechauns could account for the derisive term of "little green men," in referring to aliens. Whatever the source, the question arises, "Has anyone actu...
1957 May 20 Milton Torres 1957 UFO Encounter
If you believe former fighter pilot Milton Torres' story — and news organizations are running with it — the Air Force was seconds from attacking an alien aircraft over England late one c...
1957 Oct 16 Antonio Villas Boas Abducted from Brazilian Farm
Believe or not, a sexual intercourse was engaged by her. Such relationship was short, but normal (if we can say so). His "pleasure" was sometimes disturbed by what Antonio discribed in hi...
1957 Nov 2
to 1957 Nov 3
 Levelland UFO Case
On November 2, 1957, one of the best documented cases of UFO landings took place in Levelland, Texas, at the time a city of about 10,000 people. This night would be the most unforgettable...
1959 Feb 2 Incident at Dyatlov Pass
In 1990, the chief investigator, Lev Ivanov, said in an interview that he had been ordered by senior regional officials to close the case and classify the findings as secret. He said the ...
1961 Sep 19
to 1961 Sep 20
 Betty and Barney Hill Alien Abduction
A faint pair of stars, 220 trillion miles away, has been tentatively identified as the “home base” of intelligent extraterrestrials who allegedly visited Earth in 1961. This hypothesis i...
1964 Apr 24 Socorro UFO Incident
It has become known as the Zamora UFI Incident, named for officer Lonnie Zamora. While not as publicized as the legendary Roswell Incident, this UFO landing made national headlines at the...
1965 Sep 3 Exeter UFO Sighting
Norman Muscarello, a teenage Navy recruit, was walking down a quiet country highway at night, when suddenly, a huge object loomed above him. Thus began the "Incident at Exeter," a series ...
1965 Dec 9 Kecksburg UFO Incident
The train of the Great Lakes Fireball, seen across at least six states and Ontario, that started the Kecksburg 'UFO crash' story. Photo taken 9 December 1965 4:43 p.m. E.S.T. by Richard C...
1966 Apr 6 Westall UFO Encounter
Over 200 students and teachers witnessed an unexplained flying object on Wednesday 6th April 1966 around 11.00 am. They reported it descended into a nearby open wild grass field adjacent ...
1966 Apr 17 Portage County UFO Chase
One of the most dramatic encounters by police officers with an apparently structured, low-level UFO occurred in the early morning of April 17, 1966. Officers of the Portage County, Ohio, ...
1966 Oct 11 First Reported Sighting of the "Grinning Man"
The Grinning Man is a name given to a mysterious creature that has been reported in various areas over the last century. He is believed to either be an alien or some other type of unkn...
1967 May 20 Falcon Lake Incident
One of the best documented cases of physical trace evidence is known as the "Falcon Lake Encounter." Occurring on May 19, 1967, the lone participant was Stephen Michalak, who was a mechan...
1967 Aug 29 Cussac Close Encounter
Two children saw a sphere-shaped UFO, 2 meters in diameter, and "four little devils" on the ground. One of the humanoid beings was bending over, apparently busy with something on the grou...
1967 Oct 4 Unidentified Object Reported to Have Crashed in Shag Harbor
At least a dozen persons reported seeing the row of lights descend into the water, but as yet no trace of any debris has been found either on the surface or the bottom. The only clue may...
1969 Jan 6 Jimmy Carter Sees a UFO
" It was the darndest thing I've ever seen. It was big, it was very bright, it changed colors and it was about the size of the moon. We watched it for ten minutes, but none of us could fig..." —Jimmy Carter
1971 Sep 4 Lake Cote UFO Sighting
A high resolution camera was mounted on the plane pointing downwards, and programmed to take photographs of the terrain below every 17 seconds. It shows in extraordinary detail all featur...
1973 Oct 11 Pascagoula Abduction
By Sunday night the news people had left Pascagoula. Dr. Hynek was on his way back to Chicago, Dr. Harder to Berkeley. By then, the entire country knew what had happened to Charlie Hickso...
1974 Jan 23 Berwyn Mountain UFO Incident
During the evening of January 23rd 1974, the peace of the Berwyn Mountains was shattered by an incident which has gone down in the annals of Ufology not just in the U.K. but on an interna...
1975 Jan 12 North Hudson Park UFO Sightings
At around 2:45 A.M. on January 12, 1975, George O'Barski was driving home through North Hudson Park, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, when static filled his radio....
1975 Nov 5 Travis Walton Alien Abduction
Travis Walton was a reliable, enthusiastic, honest and sensible person which his character reference has been discussed by those who know him personally on some webpages. Walton Took no d...
1976 Jun 22 Canary Islands UFO Sighting
In 1976 on the Spanish Canary Island an extremely intensive wave of UFO sightings began. The case file is filled with multiple witness sightings, agreeing in great detail as to what was s...
1976 Aug 20 Allagash Alien Abductions
The Allagash incident would involve multiple witnesses, four to be exact, twin brothers Jack and Jim Weiner, along with their friends Chuck Rak and Charlie Foltz. The four men had met whi...
1976 Sep 19 1976 Tehran UFO Incident
At about 0030 hours, the Imperial Iranian Air Force command post at Tehran received four telephone reports from citizens in the Shemiran (north of Tehran). Some of the callers reported se...
1977 Jan 6 Ms. Florida Malboeuf has Direct Alien Encounter in Her Montreal Home
At least one newspaper, and some local ufologists have reported that Mrs. Florida Malboeuf, aged 58, of the 6420th of Casgrain street, in Montreal, was deeply traumatized by her sighting ...