Best UFO Cases

[jim48]

Our friend Archer17 made an excellent suggestion, something that Smersh or I should have thought of some time ago. Name in your opinion the Top 10 UFO Incidents ever, and why they are your top ten. Or Top 5, if you prefer. This should be very interesting!

[Archer17]

I'll start Jimbo. I only have a couple examples of UFO accounts that I would consider "intriguing" on their own merits and will include a wiki link to the incidents in question so folks here can get a starter on doing their own research if they are unfamiliar with the particulars:

1) 1976 Iranian Incident - This, to me, is one tough nut to crack and is the one UFO incident where I can't even come up with a plausible 'down-to-Earth' explanation. While I don't call it a "smoking gun" (I think one would need more than 'addition by subtraction' to attain that status) this event begs for an explanation. Iran is close to what was known in them days as the USSR but the Soviets had nothing that would account for what the F-4 pilots experienced. I don't think we did either, remember this was back in 1976, and even if we did - why mess with what was then a front-line ally in the Cold War and play with exotic toys right on Moscow's doorstep? This incident is also where Klass totally lost me as a supporter with his inane "debunk" because the best he could do was infer stupidity on the part of the Iranian pilots and invoke the planet Jupiter. Klass should have kept his mouth shut as his "explanation" is harder to believe than any ETH scenario. A true skeptic isn't afraid to shrug their shoulders once in while.

2) Belgian UFO - I think everyone knows about this one that features multiple sightings and an intercept attempt of a triangular UFO. This object has been reported elsewhere as well and like the Illinois triangle is rumored to be a U.S. "black project" craft. Maybe it is but, like the Illinois sightings, the notion that something of Top Secret status is flown around populated areas like this sets off my skeptical "Spidey Sense." Remember, this object flew over a European NATO ally during the Cold War and wasn't exactly shy about being seen. Does it sound logical that the U.S. would pick a NATO ally a couple countries to the west of the U.S.S.R. and test their meddle by flaunting a secret aircraft that they knew couldn't be intercepted? My first question would be "why?!?" Some French ufologists have a 'analysis' posted in the wiki link that's in pdf format where they speculate that helicopters could have caused at least some of the sightings. I think that once word got out about the UFO some could have made that mistake but the chopper notion doesn't fly (pardon the pun) when you look at the whole incident.

3) Illinois UFO - I already covered this one in a nearby thread.

4) Shag Harbour - One doesn't have to be a "flying saucer" believer to find this case interesting. This we know: Something came down in Shag Harbour, something was detected underwater, and then that something left the scene while still submerged. Whether this was a case of underwater Cold War drama involving submarines and secret extractions of de-orbited payloads or something else entirely it has to make my "intriguing" list.

5) Foo Fighters - These "UFOs" pre-dated Arnold's 1947 sighting and were witnessed by both sides during WW2, usually right near the wings of a piston-engine warplane. I had heard that these sightings were due to an electrical effect akin to St. Elmo's fire or ball lightning and wiki touches on that but I haven't heard of this effect being reproduced. If it wasn't, what was it? I gotta put these little guys in the "semi-intriguing" category.

[MeteorWayne]

Thanx for a good starter list Archer.

[Smersh]

Yes, thanks for giving us that list, Archer.

Jim, do you mind if I give mine one at a time? (It's just that I would have to think carefully and probably do some more research to list ten, or even five!)

This I think has to be number 1 on my list. It first came to my attention in April last year and I posted about it elsewhere here at the time. 62 schoolchildren reported seeing a UFO and "strange beings" in their morning break, at the Ariel School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, in 1994. They said they saw one main silver craft that had four others around it that came down on a hill, beyond the school yard that was out of bounds:

... When they ran to the edge of the school yard for a closer look, they saw a small creature walk around on top of the craft while another came down to check out the children. He was all in black, with a very tight suit. The children said he had big eyes ‘like rugby balls’ ...

Full story here.

According to the article, the report was followed up by a BBC TV crew at the time. It's said that these schoolchildren would have been unlikely to have been influenced by reports and documentaries about UFOs, because of little, if any, access to TV. When 62 children all tell the same account, does that really leave much room for doubt? Personally, I'm not certain that it does. Additionally the late John Mack, Pulitzer Prize winning author and Professor of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, saw fit to travel to Zimbabwe to interview the children.

At the time of writing of the article (April 2008,) American film maker Randall Nickerson was visiting southern Africa to make a documentary and was said to have been in the process of tracking down the children, now adults, in various locations around the world and interviewing as many as he could. (Although I haven't since heard any more news about that. Contact details for Mr Nickerson are on the website I linked, for anyone who has any information, or was one of the schoolchildren.)

Here follows a couple of videos showing some of the children giving their accounts and drawing sketches of what they saw. The first one is fairly short (3.31) and I found it last year when I first heard about it:



The second one I only just found and is longer (8.59) and is has a better quality picture:

[jim48]

Good work, guys. A lot of stuff from WWII is still classified, particularly in Great Britain. Something tells me they and the Americans knew more about foo-fighters than they let on. As for Smersh's post, that one is downright scary! I'd like to hear MeteorWayne's thoughts on it.

[johnrambo]

The story with the 62 children is really scary it feels so true.

This is how i see it , every one in those vids are actors the children/teachers etc every one, or they aint.....

[dlee0708]

The story with the 62 children is really scary it feels so true.

This is how i see it , every one in those vids are actors the children/teachers etc every one, or they aint.....

It really hurts the credibility of this case in the fact that John E. Mack (Harvard professor of psychiatry) was already waste deep in UFO stuff. Maybe they couldn't get anyone else to do it, but you do have to keep that in mind.

[MeteorWayne]

I'm not impressed with this one. It seems like a few woo-woo adults caused hysterical panic among some susceptible youngun's. It's one of the lowest credibility events on the list IMHO.

[jim48]

I'm not impressed with this one. It seems like a few woo-woo adults caused hysterical panic among some susceptible youngun's. It's one of the lowest credibility events on the list IMHO.

Smersh is a meticulous and thorough researcher... better than I am, truthfully. I'm sure he has more good 'ns on the way. John Mack becoming involved in this has been a problem for me as well, but if just one of those kids had an alien experience then we are faced with something truly astounding.

[SchrodingersCat]

1) Frederick Valentich Incident - a young Australian pilot reports being followed and engaged by an unidentified craft. His radio transmissions to the tower are abruptly cut off by a strange metallic scraping sound. Valentich and his plane have not been found since.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Valentich

2) Cash-Landrum Encounter - two women and a young boy encounter a "diamond-shaped, glowing craft" that allegedly emits high levels of radiation, causing ill effects in the days following the event. The two women actually filed a lawsuit against the United States Government, because they had claimed to witness helicopters with USAF markings "shepherding" the craft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash-Landrum_incident

3) Kecksburg UFO Incident - an object described by witnesses as a "bell or acorn-shaped metal craft" crashed into the forest in Kecksburg, and the area was promptly sealed off by police and military personnel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kecksburg_UFO_incident

[jim48]

1) Frederick Valentich Incident - a young Australian pilot reports being followed and engaged by an unidentified craft. His radio transmissions to the tower are abruptly cut off by a strange metallic scraping sound. Valentich and his plane have not been found since.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Valentich

2) Cash-Landrum Encounter - two women and a young boy encounter a "diamond-shaped, glowing craft" that allegedly emits high levels of radiation, causing ill effects in the days following the event. The two women actually filed a lawsuit against the United States Government, because they had claimed to witness helicopters with USAF markings "shepherding" the craft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash-Landrum_incident

3) Kecksburg UFO Incident - an object described by witnesses as a "bell or acorn-shaped metal craft" crashed into the forest in Kecksburg, and the area was promptly sealed off by police and military personnel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kecksburg_UFO_incident

My jury is still out on Kecksburg, but the other two are excellent cases!

[Archer17]

I'm going to wait until the community has a chance to post their lists before I start to opine and, among other things, will share a local perspective on Kecksberg which isn't far from Pittsburgh.

[jim48]

I'm going to wait until the community has a chance to post their lists before I start to opine and, among other things, will share a local perspective on Kecksberg which isn't far from Pittsburgh.

I look forward to that!

[MathalomuleM31]

so many fakes and many hoaxes, i dont even know what to believe anymore... you cant believe anything, a good ufo report could just be a hoax that no ones found holes in yet

[SchrodingersCat]

so many fakes and many hoaxes, i dont even know what to believe anymore... you cant believe anything, a good ufo report could just be a hoax that no ones found holes in yet

That's why "belief" should have nothing to do with it. Either a claim is true or it isn't. Evidence is the missing keystone, here.

[jim48]

Bumping this thread up because there is some really kewel stuff coming in! Right here!!!

[jim48]

Bump again! Stop holding out on us. Knowledge is free to all! Share knowledge.

[phaze]

All of the "jets were scrambled to intercept and mysterious things happened tales" are (in my mind) undoubtedly cover stories... the military's way of telling us to buzz off it's none of our business (though I don't think these incidents have anything to do with aliens). I especially like the "our systems became disabled just as we got near.... or were about to fire a missle!" Really??? I think some people have watched a few too many sci-fi movies.

[abq_farside]

Rendlesham Forest incident

Aurora Texas UFO Incident

And I have liked the Shag Harbour incident listed above. And incidents reported by commercial pilots are interesting.

I have never thought much of the Phoenix Lights story. Too easy to explain as slow falling flares.

[Smersh]

... And incidents reported by commercial pilots are interesting ...

Thanks for mentioning that ABQ. Here is one such case (and not very well-known apparently.) I did start a thread here about it a few months back, but I'm not sure if anyone noticed it (apart from Jim.) I think this qualifies as one of my "best" cases:

In the 1970s, the captain of a British Airways Trident, his co-pilot, flight engineer and many passengers witnessed a UFO en-route to Faro in Portugal after being asked to investigate by Air Traffic Control. The UFO was also seen by the crew of another aircraft in the area, a Lockheed Tristar. Other UFOs were also witnessed following the initial sighting.

Here's an interview at the time by BBC Radio 4 with the BA captain. The captain was asked if he was comfortable with talking about his sighting (discussing UFOs openly can potentially end a pilot's career) and he said he wouldn't normally have spoken about it, but felt safe because there were so many other witnesses to back him up.



(All photos in the video are reconstructions.)

(Sorry I can't embed it - click on the video and a link will appear that takes you to the video at Youtube.)