The catalog
Sightings
Witness reports, held as-reported. Each entry keeps its source, its coordinates where the record has them, and its place in the larger pattern.
27,433 entries
March 14, 1953 · 11:00 PM · LIGHT
Unexplainednorth of Hiroshima · Japan
north of Hiroshima, Japan. 11:45 p.m. Witnesses: radar and visual observation by 10 crew members of U.S. Navy P2V-5 patrol plane. Groups of 5-10 colored lights, totaling 90-100, slowly moved aft off the left side of the airplane, as detected visually and by airborne radar for 5 minutes.
March 11, 1953 · 4:00 AM · LIGHT
UnexplainedHackettstown, NJ
Hackettstown, New Jersey. 4 a.m. Witness: Mrs. Nina Cook, an experienced private pilot and wife of a Pan Am flight engineer. A large light, blinking at 10-15 times per minute, moved up and down along a mountain range.
February 20, 1953 · 10:00 PM · LIGHT
UnexplainedPittsburg-Stockton, CA
Pittsburg-Stockton, California. #1 time unknown; #2, 10:30 p.m. Witnesses: USAF B-25 bomber pilots. #1 was a bright yellow light seen for 8 minutes. #2 was a bright light which flew on a collision course, dimmed and climbed away fast.
December 9, 1952 · 5:00 PM · LIGHT
UnexplainedMadison, WI
Madison, Wisconsin. 5:45 p.m. Witnesses: Capt. Bridges and lst Lt. Johneon in USAF T-33 jet trainer. Four bright lights, in diamond formation, flew at 400 m.p.h. and were passed by the T-33 at 450 m.p.h. during the 10 minute sighting.
November 12, 1952 · 10:00 PM · LIGHT
UnexplainedLos Alamos, NM
Los Alamos, New Mexico. 10:23 p.m. Witness: security inspector. Four red-white-green lights flew slowly over a prohibited area for 15 minutes.
October 21, 1952 · LIGHT
UnexplainedKnoxville, TN
Knoxville, Tennessee. No time given. Witnesses: persons at airport weather station. Six white lights flew in a loose formation for 1-2 minutes, and made a shallow dive at a weather balloon.
October 10, 1952 · 6:00 PM · LIGHT
UnexplainedOtis AFB, MA
Otis AFB, Massachusetts. 6:30 p.m. Witnesses: USAF S/Sgt., two other enlisted men. One blinking white light moved like a pendulum for 20 minutes, and then shot straight up.
October 1, 1952 · 6:00 PM · LIGHT
UnexplainedShaw AFB, SC
Shaw AFB, South Carolina. 6:57 p.m. Witness: USAF lst Lt. T.J. Pointek, pilot of RF-8O reconnaissance jet. One bright white light flew straight, then vertical, then hovered, and then made an abrupt turn during a 23 minute attempted intercept.
September 26, 1952 · 11:00 PM · LIGHT
Unexplained400 miles NNW of Azores Islands · Portugal
400 miles NNW of Azores Islands. 11:16 p.m. Witnesses: pilot, copilot, engineer and aircraft commander of USAF C-124 transport plane. Two distinct green lights were seen to the right and slightly above the C-124, and at one time seemed to turn toward it. The lights alternated leading each other during more than 1 hour of observation.
September 23, 1952 · LIGHT
UnexplainedGander Lake · Canada
Gander Lake, Newfoundland, Canada. No time shown. Witnesses: Pepperell AFB operations officer and seven other campers. One bright white light, which reflected on the lake, flew straight and level at 100 m.p.h. for 10 minutes.
September 16, 1952 · 7:00 PM · LIGHT
UnexplainedWarner-Robbins AFB, GA
Warner-Robbins AFB, Georgia. 7:30 p.m. Witnesses: three USAF officers, two civilians. Two white lights flew abreast, at 100 m.p.h., for 15 minutes.
September 16, 1952 · 6:00 PM · LIGHT
UnexplainedPortland, ME
Portland, Maine. 6:22 p.m. Witnesses: crew of U.S. Navy P2V Neptune patrol plane, visually and via radar. A group of five lights was seen at the same time a long, thin blip was being tracked on radar. Note: consideration was given to this being USAF KC-97 airplanes involved in a refueling operation. The sighting involved 20 minutes.
September 14, 1952 · 8:00 PM · LIGHT
UnexplainedSanta Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara, California. 8:40 p.m. Witness: USAF C-54 transport pilot Tarbutton. One blue-white light travelled straight and level, then went up. Seen for 30 seconds.
September 14, 1952 · LIGHT
UnexplainedOlmstead AFB, PA
Olmstead AFB, Pennsylvania. Time not known. Witness: pilot of Flying Tiger Airlines airplane N67977. One blue light flew very fast on a collision course with the airliner. Note: the summary card attached to the file showed completely different information.
September 12, 1952 · 9:00 PM · LIGHT
UnexplainedAllen, MD
Allen, Maryland. 9:30 p.m. Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. David Kolb, of the Ground Observer Corps, using binoculars. One white light with a red trim and streamers flew northeast for 35 minutes.
September 7, 1952 · 10:00 PM · LIGHT
UnexplainedSan Antonio, TX
San Antonio, Texas. 10:30 p.m. Witnesses: chemist J.W. Gibson and others. One orange object or light (the color of 2,000' F.) exploded into view. Seen for from 3-20 seconds by various observers.
September 6, 1952 · LIGHT
UnexplainedLake Charles AFB, LA
Lake Charles AFB, Louisiana. l:3O'a.m. Witnesses: T/Sgt. J.E. Wilson and two enlisted men. One bright star-like light moved about the sky for 2 hours.
September 1, 1952 · 9:00 PM · LIGHT
UnexplainedAtlanta, GA
Atlanta, Georgia. 9:43 p.m. Witnesses: Mrs. William Davis and nine other persons. One light, similar to the evening star, moved up and down for a long period of time. Sept. l, 1952; Marietta, Georgia. 10:30 p.m. Witnesses: Mr. Bowman (ex-artillery officer) and 24 others. A red, white, and blue-green object which spun and shot off sparks for 15 minutes.
September 1, 1952 · 4:00 AM · LIGHT
UnexplainedYaak, MT
Yaak, Montana. 4:45 a.m. Witnesses: Visual sighting by two USAF enlisted men, radar tracking seen by three men using AN/FPS-3 radar set. Two small, varicolored lights became black silhouettes at dawn; flew erratically. One hour.
August 25, 1952 · 5:00 AM · LIGHT
UnexplainedPittsburg, KS
Pittsburg, Kansas. 5:35 a.m. Witness: radio station musician William Squyres. One dull aluminum object, shaped like two meat platters, face to face, estimated at 75' long, 45' wide, and 15' thick. Through a window in the front section shone a blue light; the head and shoulders of a man could be seen. The mid section had numerous windows through which could be seen some kind of regular movement. A series of small propellers were spaced close together along the outer edge of the object, revolving at high speed. The object was hovering about 10' above the ground, 100 yards off the road, with a slight rocking motion. It then ascended vertically with a sound like a large covey of quail starting to fly at the same time. Vegetation showed signs of having been disturbed under the object.
August 23, 1952 · 4:00 AM · LIGHT
UnexplainedAkron, OH
Akron, Ohio. 4:10 a.m. Witnesses: USAF 2nd Lt. H.K. Funseth, a ground radar observer, and two U.S. Navy men. One pulsing amber light was seen to fly straight and level for 7 minutes.
August 21, 1952 · 11:00 PM · LIGHT
UnexplainedDallas, TX
Dallas, Texas. 11:54 p.m. Witness: Jack Rossen, ex-artillery observer. Three blue-white lights hovered then descended; 1.5 minutes later, one of them descended more.
August 15, 1952 · 10:15 PM · LIGHT
Hamilton, OH
Silent bright light passes overhead.
August 13, 1952 · 9:00 PM · LIGHT
UnexplainedTokyo · Japan
Tokyo, Japan. 9:45 p.m. Witness: USAF Marine Corps pilot Maj. D. McGough. One orange light flew a left orbit at 8,000' and 230 m.p.h., spiraled down to no more than 1,500', remained stationary for 2-3 minutes and went out. An attempted interception was unsuccessful.