From Ezekiel to AARO

Every case in order, across five eras. Filled markers are cases still unresolved.

Ancient and medieval

to 1600

21 cases

Undated patriarchal narrative (traditionally placed in the 2nd millennium BC)Jacob's Ladder (Genesis 28) Documented
Fleeing his brother Esau, Jacob leaves Beersheba for Haran and stops for the night at a place called Luz, using a stone for a pillow. In a…
Claimed: Year 22 of Thutmose III (c. 1457 BC); first published 1953The Tulli Papyrus Fabricated (admitted)
In 1953 Tiffany Thayer's Fortean magazine Doubt published what it called a translation of an Egyptian papyrus found among the papers of…
Undated; set in the 2nd millennium BC (date and historicity debated)Pillar of Cloud and Fire (Exodus 13-14) Documented
After the Israelites leave Egypt, the Book of Exodus says God led them with a moving column: a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire…
9th century BC (traditional, c. 850 BC)Elijah Taken Up in a Chariot of Fire (2 Kings 2) Documented
In the Second Book of Kings, the prophet Elijah knows in advance that he is about to be 'taken up'. He and his disciple Elisha walk from…
Fifth year of King Jehoiachin's exile (c. 593 BC)Ezekiel's Wheels (Ezekiel 1) Documented
The Book of Ezekiel opens with the most famous 'flying machine' passage in the Bible. A priest deported to Babylonia, Ezekiel says he was…
c. 520-519 BC (second year of Darius I)Zechariah's Flying Roll (Zechariah 5) Documented
Zechariah was one of the prophets active after the return from Babylonian exile, under the Persian king Darius I. His book records eight…
Valmiki Ramayana, composed c. 7th-4th century BCPushpaka Vimana in the Ramayana Documented
The Pushpaka ('flowery') vimana is the most famous flying vehicle in Sanskrit literature. In Valmiki's Ramayana it was built by the divine…
Winter of 218-217 BCLivy's Phantom Ships in the Sky Documented
In the anxious winter after Hannibal crossed the Alps and beat the Romans at the Trebia, the historian Livy lists a run of portents reported…
100 BC (consulship of L. Valerius Flaccus and C. Marius)Pliny's Burning Shield, 100 BC Documented
In Book II of his Natural History, written around AD 77, Pliny the Elder includes a short chapter on 'burning shields' (clipei ardentes)…
Entries span 249-12 BC; most cited 104, 100 and 91 BC; compiled 4th-5th century ADJulius Obsequens' Book of Prodigies: Shields, Armies and a Golden Globe Documented
Julius Obsequens, a Roman writer of the late 4th or early 5th century AD, compiled a year-by-year catalogue of the portents reported to the…
c. 7-2 BC (before the death of Herod, usually dated 4 BC)Star of Bethlehem (Matthew 2) Unresolved
Only the Gospel of Matthew tells this story. Magi, astrologer-priests from the east, arrive in Jerusalem during the reign of Herod the…
c. 743-749 (Annals of Ulster: 749)Ships in the Air over Clonmacnoise, c. 749 Documented
Several sets of Irish annals (Ulster, Tigernach, Clonmacnoise and the Four Masters) record, in one terse line, that ships with their crews…
776 (during the Saxon siege of Sigiburg)Flaming Shields over Sigiburg, 776 Documented
The Royal Frankish Annals, the semi-official chronicle of Charlemagne's court, describe a sky event at the hilltop fortress of Sigiburg in…
793, before the Viking raid on Lindisfarne (8 June 793)Fiery Dragons over Northumbria, 793 Documented
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's entry for 793 begins with dread. That year terrifying omens came over the land of the Northumbrians: great…
c. 815 (De grandine et tonitruis)Agobard of Lyon and the Sky Ships of Magonia Documented
Around 815, Agobard, archbishop of Lyon, wrote a treatise On Hail and Thunder attacking the weather-magic beliefs of his flock. Many people…
Recorded in the Otia Imperialia, completed c. 1211Gervase of Tilbury's Sky Anchor Documented
Gervase of Tilbury, an English lawyer and courtier, compiled the Otia Imperialia ('Recreation for an Emperor') for Emperor Otto IV…
Claimed: Feast of SS. Simon and Jude (28 October) 1290; letter published 1953Byland Abbey 'Silver Disc', 1290 Fabricated (admitted)
One of the most widely repeated 'medieval UFO' reports. In 1953 a letter to The Times of London claimed that a Latin manuscript recently…
14 April 1561, at dawnNuremberg Sky Battle, 1561 Documented
In April 1561 Hans Glaser, a Nuremberg 'letter-painter' and printer, published an illustrated broadsheet describing a terrifying spectacle…
27-28 July and 7 August 1566Basel Black Spheres, 1566 Documented
In summer 1566 the people of Basel saw three unsettling sky events, described in an illustrated broadsheet the same year. On the evening of…
25th day of the 8th lunar month, 1st year of King Gwanghaegun (22 September 1609)Gangwon Province Objects, Joseon Korea, 1609 Documented
The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty preserve an official dispatch from Yi Hyeong-uk, governor of Gangwon Province, entered in the Gwanghaegun…
Dictated 1918-1923; announced 1952; published 1959 (Hindi) and 1973 (English)Vaimanika Shastra Identified
The Vaimanika Shastra ('science of aeronautics') is often presented as an ancient Sanskrit manual for building vimanas. Its own history says…

Early modern to wartime

1600–1946

16 cases

1639 (entered under early 1639 in Winthrop's journal)Winthrop's Light over the Muddy River, Massachusetts Bay, 1639 Documented
Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony kept a running journal of colony affairs, and among the entries for 1639 he set down…
1803 (Toen shosetsu gives 22 February; other versions differ)Utsuro-bune, the Hollow Ship of Hitachi, 1803 Disputed
In 1803, according to several Edo-period manuscripts, fishermen on the Hitachi coast of eastern Japan towed ashore a strange round vessel…
Tuesday morning, 22 January 1878 (reported 23-25 January 1878)John Martin's 'Large Saucer', North Texas, 1878 Reported
On a Tuesday morning in January 1878 a Texas farmer named John Martin was out hunting when a dark object high in the southern sky caught his…
17 November 1896, continuing through December 1896Great Airship Wave: Sacramento and California, November 1896 Unresolved
On the evening of 17 November 1896 a bright light drifted slowly over the eastern side of Sacramento, California, at what witnesses judged…
February-May 1897, peaking in early-to-mid April 1897Great Airship Wave: The Midwest, April 1897 Unresolved
After California went quiet, a second and much larger airship wave began in Nebraska in February 1897 and rolled east through the spring…
Reported as about 6 a.m., 17 April 1897; published 19 April 1897Aurora, Texas Airship Crash, 1897 Disputed
On 19 April 1897, at the height of the airship wave, the Dallas Morning News printed a short dispatch from Aurora, a fading town in Wise…
Night of Monday 19 April 1897 (as published 23 April 1897)Alexander Hamilton's Cattle-Rustling Airship, Le Roy, Kansas, 1897 Fabricated (admitted)
In late April 1897 the Yates Center Farmer's Advocate published a sworn statement from Alexander Hamilton, a farmer and former Kansas…
6:10 a.m. ship's time, 28 February 1904USS Supply 'Remarkable Meteors', North Pacific, 1904 Documented
Early on 28 February 1904 the US Navy stores ship Supply was steaming from Guam toward San Francisco when the officer of the deck, Acting…
December 1909 to January 1910New England Phantom Airship Wave, 1909-1910 Identified
In December 1909, Worcester businessman Wallace Tillinghast claimed he had built a heavier-than-air machine and had secretly flown it from…
About 9 p.m. EST, 9 February 1913Great Meteor Procession, 1913 Identified
At about nine o'clock on the evening of 9 February 1913, people across Canada watched something no one had a word for. A long procession of…
Around midday, 13 October 1917Miracle of the Sun, Fátima, 1917 Unresolved
Through 1917, three shepherd children near the Portuguese village of Fátima, Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto…
About 9:30 a.m., 5 August 1927Roerich Expedition's Shining Oval, Kukunor, 1927 Reported
The Russian painter and mystic Nicholas Roerich spent 1925-1928 leading his family's Central Asian expedition from India across Xinjiang…
December 1933 to March 1934 (renewed reports 1936-1937)Scandinavian Ghost Fliers, 1933-1934 Unresolved
From Christmas Eve 1933, when an aircraft with a brilliant searchlight was reported coming in from the Gulf of Bothnia over Kalix in…
Night of 24-25 February 1942 (firing from about 3:06 to 4:14 a.m.)Battle of Los Angeles, 1942 Identified
Less than three months after Pearl Harbor and a day after a Japanese submarine shelled an oil field near Santa Barbara, Southern California…
Chiefly November 1944 to spring 1945 (earlier reports from 1942)Foo Fighters, 1944-1945 Unresolved
In the last winter of the Second World War, American night-fighter crews flying over the Rhine began reporting glowing balls of light that…
Late May to December 1946, peaking 9-11 August 1946Ghost Rockets over Sweden, 1946 Unresolved
In the summer of 1946, a year after Germany's V-weapons fell silent, Swedes began reporting 'ghost rockets': fast rocket- or cigar-shaped…

The flying saucer era

1947–1969

45 cases

Debris found mid-June to early July 1947; 'flying disc' press release 8 July 1947Roswell, New Mexico Identified
In June 1947 ranch foreman Mac Brazel found a field near Corona strewn with foil, rubber, tape and light sticks. After hearing about the new…
Claimed for 21 June 1947; investigated late July to August 1947Maury Island, Puget Sound Fabricated (admitted)
Harold Dahl said that on 21 June 1947, three days before Kenneth Arnold's famous sighting, he was working a boat off Maury Island in Puget…
24 June 1947, shortly before 3 pmKenneth Arnold, Mount Rainier Unresolved
Flying his small CallAir plane from Chehalis toward Yakima, Idaho businessman Kenneth Arnold broke off a search for a missing Marine…
23 September 1947The Twining Memo: 'Something Real' Documented
Three months into the 1947 wave of flying disc reports, Army Air Forces intelligence asked Air Materiel Command at Wright Field for its…
Project Sign set up 30 December 1947, active through 1948; Estimate drafted about August 1948 and rejected by October 1948Project Sign and the 'Estimate of the Situation' Disputed
Acting on the Twining memo, the Air Force ordered Air Materiel Command on 30 December 1947 to set up a project to collect, evaluate and…
7 January 1948, about 1:45 to 3:50 pmThomas Mantell Crash, Kentucky Identified
On the afternoon of 7 January 1948 the Kentucky State Police called Godman Army Airfield at Fort Knox about a large, round object drifting…
24 July 1948, about 2:45 amChiles–Whitted Encounter, Alabama Identified
In the small hours of 24 July 1948 an Eastern Air Lines DC-3 bound from Houston to Atlanta was cruising near Montgomery when Capt. Clarence…
1 October 1948, about 9:00 to 9:27 pmGorman Dogfight, Fargo Identified
George Gorman, a 25-year-old World War II fighter veteran flying with the North Dakota Air National Guard, stayed aloft over Fargo after his…
17 March 1950 (St Patrick's Day), late morning, with lesser reports 15, 16 and 18 MarchFarmington 'Saucer Armada', New Mexico Unresolved
On the morning of 17 March 1950 traffic slowed on Farmington's Main Street as crowds stood pointing at the sky. For about an hour, the…
11 May 1950, about 7:30 to 7:45 pm (time disputed)McMinnville (Trent) Photographs, Oregon Disputed
Evelyn Trent was feeding rabbits behind the family farmhouse outside Sheridan, Oregon, when she saw a silvery, metallic-looking disc gliding…
15 August 1950 (possibly 5 August), about 11:25 to 11:30 amGreat Falls (Mariana) Film, Montana Unresolved
Checking the wind before an afternoon game at Great Falls' empty Legion Stadium, baseball manager Nick Mariana saw a flash and then two…
Approved 2 December 1950; formally active to 1954Project Magnet (Canada) Documented
Wilbert Brockhouse Smith was a senior radio engineer at Canada's Department of Transport, a specialist in radio propagation and…
25 August 1951 and repeatedly into September 1951; Hart photographs 30 August 1951Lubbock Lights, Texas Unresolved
On the evening of 25 August 1951 three Texas Technological College professors relaxing in a backyard in Lubbock saw a loose arc of twenty or…
2 July 1952, about 11:10 amTremonton Film, Utah Disputed
Driving north from Tremonton, Utah, on 2 July 1952 with his family, Navy Warrant Officer Delbert Newhouse, a veteran aerial photographer…
Nights of 19–20 and 26–27 July 1952 (wider flap 12–29 July)Washington, D.C. Radar–Visual Flap Unresolved
Just before midnight on Saturday 19 July 1952, controller Edward Nugent at Washington National Airport picked up seven unknown blips…
12 September 1952, about 7:15 pmFlatwoods Monster, West Virginia Disputed
At dusk on 12 September 1952, boys playing in Flatwoods, West Virginia, saw a bright object streak across the sky and seem to come down on a…
14–17 January 1953 (report dated 17 January)The Robertson Panel Documented
After the Washington radar sightings of July 1952 alarmed the Truman White House, the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence asked a panel…
23 November 1953, eveningKinross Incident: F-89 Lost Over Lake Superior Unresolved
On the evening of 23 November 1953 radar at Calumet Air Force Station on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula picked up an unidentified target over…
27 October 1954Florence Stadium "Angel Hair" Unresolved
Early in the second half of a reserve match between Fiorentina and local rivals Pistoiese, the 10,000 people inside Florence's concrete…
Night of 21–22 August 1955, about 7 pm to 11 pm, with a reported return about 3:30 amKelly–Hopkinsville Encounter, Kentucky Disputed
Around 7 pm on a hot Sunday, visitor Billy Ray Taylor came in from the well at the Sutton family's rural farmhouse near Kelly, Kentucky…
Night of 13–14 August 1956, about 9:30 pm to 3:30 amLakenheath–Bentwaters Radar-Visual Case, England Unresolved
From about 9:30 pm on 13 August 1956, USAF radar operators at RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk tracked targets crossing their scopes at thousands…
September 1957Ubatuba Magnesium Fragments Disputed
In mid-September 1957 the Rio de Janeiro society columnist Ibrahim Sued opened an envelope holding a letter and three small chips of grey…
4 April 1957, morningRAF West Freugh Radar Tracking Unresolved
West Freugh ran a bombing trials range over Luce Bay, ringed by mobile radar units manned by civilian Ministry of Supply operators. On the…
17 July 1957, from before 4 am CST for over an hourRB-47 Radar and ELINT Encounter Unresolved
In the early hours of 17 July 1957 an RB-47H electronic reconnaissance jet, carrying six officers and gear for detecting enemy radar…
Night of 2–3 November 1957, about 11 pm to 1:45 amLevelland, Texas Unresolved
Late on 2 November 1957, a month after Sputnik, farm workers Pedro Saucedo and Joe Salaz phoned the Levelland, Texas, police: driving west…
16 January 1958, about 12:20 pmTrindade Island Photographs, Brazil Disputed
In January 1958 the Brazilian Navy training ship Almirante Saldanha was at remote Trindade Island, some 1,100 km off Brazil, supporting…
26–27 June 1959, evenings (with earlier sightings in April and June)Father Gill, Boianai, Papua Disputed
Rev. William Gill, an Australian Anglican priest running the mission at Boianai in what was then the Territory of Papua, had written to a…
Night of 19-20 September 1961Betty and Barney Hill Disputed
Driving home to Portsmouth from a holiday in Niagara Falls and Montreal, Betty and Barney Hill noticed a bright point of light that seemed…
24 April 1964, about 5:45 p.m.Socorro, New Mexico (Lonnie Zamora) Unresolved
Late on a Friday afternoon, Socorro police sergeant Lonnie Zamora broke off chasing a speeding car when he heard a roar and saw a funnel of…
1 July 1965, about 5:45 a.m.Valensole (Maurice Masse) Unresolved
At dawn on 1 July 1965, lavender farmer Maurice Masse was starting work on the Valensole plateau in Provence when a sharp whistling drew his…
3 July 1965 (night); part of a June-July run of Antarctic reportsDeception Island, Antarctica Unresolved
In the dark of the Antarctic winter of 1965, men at the military research stations crowded onto Deception Island reported a lens-shaped…
3 September 1965, about 2:00-3:00 a.m.Exeter, New Hampshire Unresolved
In the small hours of 3 September 1965, 18-year-old Norman Muscarello was walking home along Route 150 in Kensington when, he said, a silent…
9 December 1965, about 4:45 p.m. ESTKecksburg, Pennsylvania Disputed
Just before dusk on 9 December 1965, a brilliant fireball streaked across the sky from Michigan and Ontario toward Pennsylvania, dropping…
11-12 January 1966 (further sightings 10 October 1966)Wanaque Reservoir, New Jersey Disputed
On the evening of 11 January 1966 the police radio in Wanaque, a Ramapo Mountains town around the Newark water supply reservoir, was flooded…
19 January 1966, about 9:00 a.m.Tully Saucer Nest, Queensland Disputed
On a clear, hot morning, banana grower George Pedley was driving a tractor past Horseshoe Lagoon on Albert Pennisi's cane farm near Tully…
From 6 February 1966 (letters continued for decades)The Ummo Affair, Spain Fabricated (admitted)
On 6 February 1966 a Madrid man named José Luis Jordán Peña reported seeing a huge circular craft on three legs, its underside marked with a…
20-21 March 1966Michigan "Swamp Gas" Sightings (Dexter and Hillsdale) Disputed
In mid-March 1966 southern Michigan was alive with reports of lights in the sky, some seen by sheriff's deputies. On the night of 20 March…
6 April 1966, late morningWestall School, Melbourne Unresolved
During morning break on Wednesday 6 April 1966, students on the oval at Westall High School in Melbourne's southeastern suburbs began…
17 April 1966, about 5:00-6:00 a.m.Portage County Police Chase, Ohio Disputed
Before dawn on 17 April 1966, Portage County deputy Dale Spaur and auxiliary officer Wilbur 'Barney' Neff stopped to check an abandoned car…
16 March 1967, 8:45 a.m. (Echo Flight); Oscar Flight claim dated by Robert Salas to 24 March 1967Malmstrom AFB / Echo Flight Missile Shutdown Disputed
At 8:45 on the morning of 16 March 1967, all ten Minuteman I nuclear missiles of Echo Flight, controlled from a capsule beneath the Montana…
20 May 1967, about middayFalcon Lake (Stefan Michalak) Disputed
Stefan Michalak, a Winnipeg industrial mechanic prospecting for quartz and silver in the Precambrian rock near Falcon Lake, said a clatter…
29 August 1967, morningCussac, Cantal Unresolved
On a sunny morning on the Cussac plateau in the Auvergne, 13-year-old François and his 9-year-old sister Anne-Marie were minding the…
4 October 1967, about 11:20 p.m. ADTShag Harbour, Nova Scotia Unresolved
Late on 4 October 1967, after a night of odd lights reported by an Air Canada crew over Quebec, a fishing captain off Sambro and callers in…
Study October 1966-1968; report delivered November 1968, released January 1969The Condon Report Disputed
After the 1966 Michigan sightings and Gerald Ford's call for a hearing, the U.S. Air Force paid the University of Colorado to run an…
17 December 1969Project Blue Book Closes Documented
On 17 December 1969, Secretary of the Air Force Robert Seamans announced the end of Project Blue Book, the Air Force's public UFO…

Close encounters worldwide

1970–2016

58 cases

11 October 1973Pascagoula River Abduction Claim Disputed
Late on 11 October 1973, two men from Pascagoula walked into the Jackson County sheriff's office with a story they had nearly decided to…
18 October 1973, about 11:05 p.m.Coyne Helicopter Encounter, Mansfield, Ohio Unresolved
An Army Reserve UH-1H 'Huey' was flying home from Columbus to Cleveland at 2,500 feet when the crew chief spotted a red light on the eastern…
1 September 1974Langenburg Rings, Saskatchewan Unresolved
Edwin Fuhr, 36, was swathing his rapeseed (canola) field north of Langenburg on a Sunday morning when he noticed something sitting just…
23 February 1975, about 6:00-6:30 p.m.Kōfu Encounter, Japan Disputed
Two seven-year-old cousins were roller-skating near their housing estate in Kōfu at dusk when two glowing orange objects appeared overhead…
5-11 November 1975Travis Walton Disappearance Disputed
At dusk on 5 November 1975 a seven-man thinning crew was driving out of the Turkey Springs contract area when, they said, they rounded a…
19 September 1976, about 00:30-03:30 local timeTehran F-4 Intercept Unresolved
Shortly after midnight on 19 September 1976, residents of Tehran's Shemiran district phoned Mehrabad tower about a brilliant object in the…
1977; Brazilian Air Force field operation 20 Oct - 5 Dec 1977Colares and Operação Prato Unresolved
In 1977 people in the fishing communities around Colares, at the mouth of the Amazon, began telling of lights that came down at night and…
1977France Founds GEPAN (now GEIPAN) Documented
In 1977 France did something no other major power had done: it placed the study of UFOs inside its national space agency. The Groupe d'Étude…
4 February 1977Broad Haven School, Wales Unresolved
At lunchtime on a wet Friday, a group of boys playing football at Broad Haven Primary School spotted something in the fields behind the…
20 September 1977, about 04:00 local timePetrozavodsk Phenomenon Unresolved
Around 4 a.m. on 20 September 1977, early-shift dockworkers, police officers and an ambulance crew in Petrozavodsk watched a brilliant…
21 October 1978, about 7:06-7:12 p.m.Frederick Valentich Disappearance Unresolved
On the evening of 21 October 1978, 20-year-old Frederick Valentich took off from Moorabbin in a Cessna 182 bound for King Island across Bass…
21 December and 30-31 December 1978Kaikoura Lights Unresolved
On 21 December 1978 the crew of a Safe Air Argosy freighter flying from Blenheim to Christchurch saw strange lights around their aircraft…
9 November 1979, about 10:00 a.m.Robert Taylor, Dechmont Woods Unresolved
Robert Taylor, a forester for the Livingston Development Corporation, parked his pickup near the M8 on the morning of 9 November 1979 and…
11-12 November 1979, from about 23:00Manises Incident, Spain Unresolved
Flight JK-297, a TAE Super Caravelle carrying 109 holidaymakers from Salzburg to the Canary Islands, had refuelled in Palma and was over the…
28-29 November 1980, about 5 a.m. (dates vary between accounts)PC Alan Godfrey, Todmorden Disputed
Before dawn in late November 1980, West Yorkshire police constable Alan Godfrey was driving round Todmorden looking for a herd of cattle…
26 and 28 December 1980 (dated 27 and 29 December in the Halt memo)Rendlesham Forest and the Halt Memo Unresolved
Around 3 a.m. on 26 December 1980, US Air Force security police at the east gate of RAF Woodbridge saw lights apparently coming down into…
29 December 1980, about 9 p.m.Cash-Landrum Incident Unresolved
Driving home through pine woods near Huffman after dinner on 29 December 1980, Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and Vickie's seven-year-old…
8 January 1981, about 5 p.m.Trans-en-Provence Landing Trace Unresolved
Late on the afternoon of 8 January 1981, Renato Nicolaï was building a small concrete shelter for a water pump behind his house outside…
24 July 1981, about 10:40 p.m.Western China Spiral, 24 July 1981 Identified
On a clear, moonless summer night in 1981, people across China's western provinces looked up at something nobody had a name for. At around…
21 October 1982, about 12:35-12:55The Amaranth Case, Nancy Unresolved
Just after midday on 21 October 1982, a young biologist came home early to his house in a suburb of Nancy and lingered in his tiny walled…
Late 1982 - 1986, peaking March 1983 to summer 1984Hudson Valley Boomerang Sightings Disputed
From New Year's Eve 1982 and through the next two years, people across the commuter towns north of New York City reported a vast, quiet…
Seen since at least the 1930s; peak December 1981–1984; first major field investigation January–February 1984Hessdalen Lights Unresolved
Hessdalen is a remote 12-kilometre valley south-east of Trondheim with only a couple of hundred residents. Odd lights have been reported…
29 January 1986, about 19:55Dalnegorsk 'Height 611' Unresolved
At about five to eight on the evening of 29 January 1986, people in the mining town of Dalnegorsk in Russia's far east saw a reddish glowing…
19-20 May 1986, from about 8 p.m.Official Night of the UFOs, Brazil Unresolved
At dusk on 19 May 1986, the lone controller in the tower at São José dos Campos airport saw three bright lights over the field that kept…
17 November 1986, about 5:10-6:00 p.m. Alaska timeJapan Air Lines Flight 1628 Unresolved
A Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 freighter carrying French wine from Reykjavík to Anchorage was cruising at 35,000 feet over remote Alaska in…
11 November 1987 - 1 May 1988 (photographs); model found June 1990Gulf Breeze Photographs Disputed
In November 1987 the weekly Gulf Breeze Sentinel printed Polaroid photographs of a glowing, many-windowed craft with a bright ring on its…
1 December 1987Ilkley Moor Photograph Disputed
Early on a foggy December morning, a retired police officer who later went by the name Philip Spencer set out across Ilkley Moor to visit…
20 January 1988, about 4:20 a.m. local timeKnowles Family, Nullarbor Disputed
Driving east across the empty Nullarbor in the small hours of 20 January 1988, the Knowles family saw a light on the road ahead. They…
27 September 1989, about 6:30 p.m. (reported by TASS on 9 October)Voronezh Park Landing Disputed
On 9 October 1989 the Soviet news agency TASS told the world that a flying saucer had landed in a park in Voronezh, a city of some 800,000…
29 November 1989 - April 1990 (F-16 scramble 30-31 March 1990)Belgian UFO Wave and the F-16 Night Unresolved
On the evening of 29 November 1989, people around Eupen in eastern Belgium, police officers among them, reported a large, flat, triangular…
Photo released April 1990; confession broadcast 26 July 2011Petit-Rechain Photograph Fabricated (admitted)
At the height of the Belgian wave in April 1990, an anonymous photographer produced a slide showing a black triangular craft against a dark…
4 August 1990, about 9 pmCalvine Photograph, Scotland Unresolved
On a summer evening in August 1990, two young men who had been working at hotels in Pitlochry were walking on the hills above the hamlet of…
11 July 1991Mexico City Eclipse Sightings Disputed
On 11 July 1991 the longest total solar eclipse of the twentieth century swept across Mexico, and at about 1:24 pm the Moon's shadow reached…
1992 onward (peak 1992-1994)Bonnybridge, Scotland Reported
Bonnybridge is an unremarkable former foundry village between Falkirk and Glasgow, yet from 1992 it became one of the most talked-about UFO…
Night of 30–31 March 1993RAF Cosford Incident Disputed
In the early hours of 31 March 1993, people across western Britain saw bright lights speeding across the night sky. Most of the reports…
16 September 1994, about 10 amAriel School, Ruwa Disputed
During the mid-morning break on 16 September 1994, pupils at Ariel School, a private primary school near Ruwa about 22 km south-east of…
20 January 1996 (with claims spanning several days)Varginha, Brazil Disputed
On the afternoon of 20 January 1996, after a heavy storm, three young women in the Jardim Andere neighbourhood of Varginha, Minas Gerais…
Evening of 11 December 1996Yukon Mass Sighting Disputed
On a clear, cold night in December 1996, people along a roughly 120-mile stretch of the Klondike Highway in Yukon reported a huge row of…
Late 1997Chile Founds CEFAA Documented
Chile's official UFO committee was born out of a radar case. In the early hours of 31 March 1997, controllers in the tower at Chacalluta…
13 March 1997, about 7:30–10:30 pm MSTPhoenix Lights Disputed
On the evening of 13 March 1997, people across a 300-mile corridor from the Nevada line through Phoenix to Tucson reported strange lights…
Published 16 July 1999The COMETA Report Disputed
In July 1999 a 90-page study titled 'UFOs and Defence: What Should We Prepare For?' landed in France, sent beforehand to President Jacques…
13 October 2001 and following weeksChulucanas Lights, Peru Reported
Chulucanas, a town in Peru's northern Piura region known for its pottery, has a long reputation for strange lights. On 13 October 2001…
5 March 2004 (released 11–12 May 2004)Mexican Air Force FLIR Video Disputed
On 5 March 2004 a Mexican Air Force crew on a routine anti-drug-smuggling patrol over southern Campeche recorded a cluster of bright points…
14 November 2004USS Nimitz "Tic Tac" Encounter Unresolved
In November 2004 the USS Nimitz carrier strike group was training off southern California when, according to Navy aviators, radar operators…
20 May 2005 (first access); formal releases 2008-2010Brazilian Air Force Opens Its UFO Files Documented
On 20 May 2005 the Brazilian Air Force did something unprecedented: it invited a committee of civilian UFO researchers into its air defence…
7 November 2006, about 4:15 pm CSTO'Hare Airport Sighting Unresolved
During the late-afternoon rush on 7 November 2006, a United Airlines ramp worker pushing back Flight 446 to Charlotte spotted a dark…
23 April 2007, about 3 pmAlderney Pilots (Aurigny) Unresolved
On the afternoon of 23 April 2007, Aurigny Air Services captain Ray Bowyer, a pilot with 18 years' experience, was flying a Trislander from…
8 January 2008, early eveningStephenville, Texas Disputed
Just after sunset on 8 January 2008, dozens of people around Stephenville, a dairy town about 100 miles south-west of Dallas, saw a display…
November-December 2009UK MoD UFO Desk Closure Documented
For roughly six decades the British Ministry of Defence kept a desk to receive UFO reports, latterly staffed by civil servants in the…
9 December 2009, early morningNorway Spiral Identified
Before dawn on 9 December 2009, people across northern Norway saw something astonishing: a blue beam of light seemed to rise from behind the…
7 July 2010, about 9 pmXiaoshan Airport, Hangzhou Investigated
Around 9 pm on 7 July 2010, a flight crew descending toward Hangzhou's Xiaoshan International Airport in eastern China reported a strange…
4-5 November 2010 (reported dates differ)El Bosque Air Base Video, Chile Disputed
During the change-of-command ceremony for the Chilean Air Force commander at El Bosque Air Base in Santiago in November 2010, crowds filmed…
22 December 2010New Zealand Defence Force UFO Files Release Documented
Just before Christmas 2010, the New Zealand Defence Force released roughly 2,000 pages of previously classified UFO material under the…
28 January 2011 (video posted late January 2011)Jerusalem Dome of the Rock Video Disputed
In late January 2011 a video appeared online that seemed to show a bright light descending over Jerusalem at about 1 am, hovering just above…
October 2013Peru Reopens Its Air Force UFO Office Documented
In October 2013 the Peruvian Air Force revived its official UFO office, now called the Department for the Investigation of Anomalous Aerial…
Night of 25–26 April 2013Aguadilla Thermal Video, Puerto Rico Disputed
Late on 25 April 2013, a US Customs and Border Protection aircraft over north-western Puerto Rico recorded about three minutes of infrared…
2014–2015 (Gimbal and GoFast videos recorded January 2015)USS Theodore Roosevelt Encounters (Gimbal and GoFast) Unresolved
From 2014 into 2015, Navy fighter crews flying from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt off the US East Coast reported repeatedly…
11 November 2014, about 1:52 pm (released January 2017)Chilean Navy Helicopter Video Disputed
On 11 November 2014, a Chilean Navy Airbus Cougar AS532 helicopter was on a daytime coastal patrol west of Santiago when its camera…

Disclosure era

2017–2026

22 cases

16 December 2017The New York Times reveals the Pentagon's secret UFO program Documented
On Saturday 16 December 2017, The New York Times and Politico published simultaneous reports that the Pentagon had quietly funded a program…
September 2019US Navy calls the three leaked videos 'unidentified' Unresolved
In September 2019 the US Navy went on the record about the three cockpit videos that had circulated since 2017. Spokesman Joseph Gradisher…
27 April 2020Pentagon formally releases FLIR1, Gimbal and GoFast Unresolved
On 27 April 2020 the Department of Defense officially published the three Navy infrared videos that had leaked years earlier. The clips…
Approved 4 August 2020; announced 14 August 2020Pentagon establishes the UAP Task Force Documented
On 14 August 2020 the Pentagon announced that Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist had, ten days earlier, approved an Unidentified…
25 June 2021ODNI Preliminary Assessment on UAP Unresolved
On 25 June 2021 the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a nine-page unclassified report to Congress, prepared with the…
17 May 2022First public congressional UFO hearing in over 50 years Unresolved
On 17 May 2022 the House Intelligence Committee's Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation, chaired by…
AOIMSG 23 November 2021; AARO announced 20 July 2022From AOIMSG to AARO: the Pentagon's permanent UAP office Documented
Five months after the 2021 intelligence assessment, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks created the Airborne Object Identification…
12 January 2023ODNI 2022 Annual Report on UAP Unresolved
On 12 January 2023 the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, working with the new All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, published…
28 January to 4 February 2023 (shot down 4 February)The Chinese surveillance balloon over North America Identified
In late January 2023 a white high-altitude balloon carrying a large solar-paneled payload drifted from Alaska across western Canada and into…
10, 11 and 12 February 2023Three objects shot down over Alaska, Yukon and Lake Huron Unresolved
In the week after the Chinese balloon was shot down, NORAD tuned its radars to catch slower, smaller targets, and three more objects…
26 July 2023David Grusch testifies to House Oversight Disputed
On 26 July 2023 a House Oversight subcommittee held a hearing titled 'Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security…
12 September 2023'Non-human' bodies shown to Mexico's Congress Disputed
On 12 September 2023 Mexico's Chamber of Deputies held a hearing on unidentified aerial phenomena, weeks after the Grusch hearing in…
14 September 2023NASA's UAP independent study report Documented
On 14 September 2023 NASA published the final report of the independent team it had convened in 2022 to advise how the agency could study…
Introduced 13–14 July 2023; NDAA signed 22 December 2023The Schumer–Rounds UAP Disclosure Act and what survived Documented
In July 2023 Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Mike Rounds, joined by Marco Rubio, Kirsten Gillibrand, Todd Young and Martin…
November–December 2024; federal statement 28 January 2025New Jersey drone sightings Identified
From mid-November 2024, residents across New Jersey began reporting large numbers of drone-like lights moving at night, including near…
Released 8 March 2024AARO Historical Record Report, Volume I Disputed
On 8 March 2024 the Pentagon published AARO's 'Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous…
13 November 2024'UAP: Exposing the Truth' House hearing Disputed
On 13 November 2024 two House Oversight subcommittees, led by Representatives Nancy Mace and Glenn Grothman, held a joint hearing titled…
14 November 2024AARO FY2024 Consolidated Annual Report on UAP Unresolved
On 14 November 2024, the day after the Exposing the Truth hearing, the Defense Department and ODNI released AARO's consolidated annual…
Released July 2026 (covers 2 June 2024 to 30 May 2025)AARO FY2025 Consolidated Annual Report on UAP Unresolved
AARO's report for fiscal 2025, issued by what is now styled the Department of War, covers 2 June 2024 to 30 May 2025 but was not published…
9 September 2025Task Force on Declassification UAP hearing Disputed
On 9 September 2025 the House Oversight Committee's Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, chaired by Representative Anna…
19 February 2026Trump directs agencies to release UFO and alien files Documented
On the evening of 19 February 2026 President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that, citing tremendous public interest, he would direct…
First release 8 May 2026; second 22 May 2026; further releases ongoingPURSUE: the Pentagon's first UAP file releases Unresolved
On 8 May 2026 the Department of War launched WAR.GOV/UFO and published the first tranche of files under the Presidential Unsealing and…