January
January 6, 1969: Jimmy Carter sighting
The future president and other Lions Club members watch a bright object change color and size; it was most likely Venus, and Carter filed a report in 1973.
See it on the timeline →January 7, 1948: Mantell incident
Captain Thomas Mantell dies chasing a large bright object in his P-51, almost certainly a secret Navy Skyhook balloon.
Read the full story: The Mantell Incident (1948): The First Pilot to Die Chasing a UFO →January 8, 1981: Trans-en-Provence case
A retired contractor watches a lead-colored object land in his garden; France's GEPAN finds physical changes in the soil and plants, one of few landing cases with laboratory analysis.
See it on the timeline →January 8, 2008: Stephenville lights
Dozens report a huge silent object with lights; the Air Force first denies, then confirms, that F-16s were flying, and radar data obtained by MUFON shows an unknown track.
See it on the timeline →January 20, 1996: Varginha incident
Three young women see a creature in a vacant lot and the city fills with stories of captured beings; the army says it was a disabled local man.
Read the full story: The Varginha Incident (1996): Brazil's Roswell →February
February 25, 1942: Battle of Los Angeles
Anti-aircraft batteries fire 1,400 shells at unidentified targets over the city; nothing is shot down and a lost weather balloon is the accepted trigger.
Read the full story: The Battle of Los Angeles (1942): The Night the City Shot at Nothing →Also in February
2023: Chinese balloon and the three objects
A Chinese surveillance balloon is shot down, then three unidentified objects, most likely hobby and research balloons, over Alaska, the Yukon, and Lake Huron.
Read the full story: The 2023 High-Altitude Objects: The Chinese Balloon and the Three That Followed →March
March 5, 2004: Mexican Air Force FLIR incident
A patrol aircraft films eleven infrared objects the crew cannot see; analysts identify oil-platform flares over the horizon.
See it on the timeline →March 13, 1997: Phoenix Lights
Thousands see a V-formation of lights over the state and, later that night, a row of lights over Phoenix identified as flares.
Read the full story: The Phoenix Lights: Mass UFO Sighting Over Arizona in 1997 →March 16, 1967: Malmstrom AFB incident
Ten Minuteman missiles go offline at once as guards report a glowing object; the shutdown is documented, the UFO link disputed.
Read the full story: The Malmstrom AFB Incident (1967): The UFO That Shut Down Nuclear Missiles →March 20, 1966: Michigan "swamp gas" sightings
Dozens see lights over marshes; Hynek's "swamp gas" explanation becomes a national joke and pushes Congress toward the Condon study.
Read the full story: Project Blue Book: The Air Force's UFO Investigation Program →April
April 6, 1966: Westall UFO
Some two hundred students and staff watch a silver object land and take off near their school; a stray radiation-sampling balloon is the leading explanation.
Read the full story: The Westall UFO (1966): Two Hundred Witnesses at an Australian School →April 14, 1561: Nuremberg celestial phenomenon
A broadsheet by Hans Glaser describes spheres, crosses, and tubes fighting in the dawn sky over the city; historians read it as a sun-dog display recorded as a religious portent.
See it on the timeline →April 24, 1964: Socorro incident
Officer Lonnie Zamora sees an egg-shaped craft and two figures land and take off, leaving burned brush and landing marks; Blue Book files it as unidentified.
Read the full story: The Socorro Incident (1964): Lonnie Zamora and the Landed Craft →May
May 11, 1950: McMinnville photographs
Farmer Paul Trent photographs a disc over his farm; the two pictures are among the most analyzed in the field and remain disputed between hoax and unknown.
See it on the timeline →May 19, 1986: Night of the UFOs
Radar and pilots track some twenty objects and the air force scrambles jets; the defense minister confirms the events on television.
See it on the timeline →May 20, 1967: Falcon Lake incident
Prospector Stefan Michalak is burned in a grid pattern by a landed craft's exhaust; investigated by the RCMP and the Condon Committee without explanation.
Read the full story: The Falcon Lake Incident (1967): The Man Burned by a UFO →June
June 24, 1947: Kenneth Arnold sighting
Pilot Kenneth Arnold reports nine crescent-shaped objects at 1,700 mph; the press coins "flying saucer" and the modern era begins.
Read the full story: Kenneth Arnold and the First Flying Saucers (June 24, 1947) →June 25, 2021: ODNI preliminary UAP report · milestone
The intelligence community tells Congress it could explain only one of 144 reports; Congress creates what becomes AARO.
Read the full story: UAP Congressional Hearings: What We Learned About UFOs from Congress →June 26, 1959: Father Gill sighting
Anglican missionary William Gill and dozens of villagers watch a craft with figures on top who wave back at them, two nights running.
See it on the timeline →July
July 8, 1947: Roswell incident
The Army announces a recovered "flying disc," retracts it as a weather balloon the same day, and identifies it as a Project Mogul array in 1994.
Read the full story: The Roswell Incident: What Really Happened in 1947 →July 19, 1952: Washington, D.C. flap
Radar tracks unknowns over the capital on two weekends and jets scramble; the Air Force blames temperature inversions and the CIA convenes the Robertson Panel.
Read the full story: The 1952 Washington, D.C. UFO Flap: When Saucers Buzzed the Capital →July 24, 1948: Chiles–Whitted encounter
Two Eastern Air Lines pilots report a wingless, rocket-shaped object with lighted windows passing their DC-3; Project Sign takes it seriously, later analysts propose a bright meteor.
See it on the timeline →July 26, 2023: Grusch testimony · milestone
David Grusch tells a House hearing under oath that the U.S. holds retrieved non-human craft and biologics; two Navy pilots testify beside him.
Read the full story: UFO Whistleblowers: David Grusch and Government Insiders Who Spoke Out →August
August 4, 1990: Calvine photograph
Two hikers photograph a large diamond-shaped object beside a jet; the Ministry of Defence holds the pictures for 32 years.
Read the full story: The Calvine UFO Photograph (1990): Britain's Best UFO Picture and Its 32-Year Disappearance →August 13, 1956: Lakenheath–Bentwaters incident
RAF and USAF radars track objects at high speed while interceptors are vectored onto them; the Condon Report calls it the most puzzling radar-visual case it examined.
See it on the timeline →August 15, 1950: Mariana film
Baseball manager Nick Mariana films two bright objects crossing the sky, the first well-known UFO film; the Air Force suggests jets, the frames show no wings.
See it on the timeline →August 21, 1955: Kelly–Hopkinsville encounter
A farm family says small glowing creatures besieged their house for hours; the leading explanation is great horned owls, and "little green men" enters the language.
Read the full story: The Kelly–Hopkinsville Encounter (1955): The Night of the Little Green Men →August 23, 1974: John Lennon's New York sighting
From the terrace of his East 52nd Street apartment, John Lennon and May Pang watch a flat, round object with a row of lights drift silently over the East River; Lennon prints the date and time on the sleeve of Walls and Bridges.
Read the full story: Musicians Who Saw UFOs: John Lennon, David Bowie, Sammy Hagar, Tom DeLonge, Sun Ra and More →August 25, 1951: Lubbock Lights
Three professors and a student photographer record V-formations of lights; Blue Book proposes plovers, the photos stay unexplained.
Read the full story: The Lubbock Lights (1951): The Photographed V-Formation Over Texas →Also in August
2026: Matthew Brown immunity request · milestone
The Immaculate Constellation whistleblower publicly asks the President for immunity to say more, as new witnesses come forward.
Read the full story: Matthew Brown, Immaculate Constellation, and What "MMTU" Means →September
September 3, 1965: Incident at Exeter
A teenager and two police officers watch a huge object with pulsing red lights over a field; the case became a bestselling book and Blue Book left it unexplained.
See it on the timeline →September 9, 2025: Yemen orb video
A House hearing screens footage of a missile striking a spherical object off Yemen that appears to fly on intact.
Read the full story: UFO Orbs Explained: What People Are Seeing, from the Yemen Video to the Jersey Drones →September 12, 1952: Flatwoods Monster
After a meteor, boys and adults report a tall hooded figure with glowing eyes on a hilltop; investigators attribute it to a barn owl and the fireball.
See it on the timeline →September 16, 1994: Ariel School incident
Sixty-two schoolchildren report a landed craft and small beings; interviewed by John Mack and revisited in the 2022 film Ariel Phenomenon.
Read the full story: The Ariel School Incident (1994): Sixty Children and the Beings in the Playground →September 18, 1976: Tehran incident
Two F-4 Phantoms lose instruments and weapons approaching a bright object; a U.S. DIA report calls the case a classic.
Read the full story: The 1976 Tehran UFO Incident: Iranian F-4s Versus the Object That Killed Their Instruments →September 19, 1961: Betty and Barney Hill abduction
A couple loses two hours on a mountain road and recovers an abduction under hypnosis: the first famous abduction case and the source of the Zeta Reticuli star map.
Read the full story: Betty and Barney Hill Abduction: The First Documented Alien Abduction →October
October 1, 1948: Gorman dogfight
Air National Guard pilot George Gorman chases a small light for 27 minutes; the Air Force concludes it was a lighted weather balloon.
See it on the timeline →October 4, 1967: Shag Harbour incident
An object with lights hits the water; Mounties, boats, and navy divers find only foam. Canada's files still list it as an unsolved UFO.
Read the full story: The Shag Harbour Incident (1967): Canada's Officially Unsolved UFO Crash →October 11, 1973: Pascagoula abduction
Two fishermen say robot-like beings floated them aboard a craft; a secretly recorded conversation shows them terrified when alone.
Read the full story: The Pascagoula Abduction of 1973: Two Fishermen's Terrifying Encounter →October 13, 1917: Miracle of the Sun
Tens of thousands see the sun appear to dance and plunge after three children's prophecy; the Church calls it a miracle, ufologists a mass sighting, and scientists an optical effect of staring at the sun.
See it on the timeline →October 16, 1957: Antônio Vilas-Boas abduction
A young farmer says he was taken aboard a craft and made to mate with a female being: the first detailed modern abduction account.
Read the full story: The Antônio Vilas-Boas Abduction (1957): The First Modern Abduction Account →October 18, 1973: Coyne helicopter incident
An Army Reserve helicopter crew reports a grey object that stops over them and lifts the aircraft nearly 2,000 feet; the case is a favorite of investigators for its four military witnesses.
See it on the timeline →October 21, 1978: Valentich disappearance
A young pilot radios that an object is hovering over his Cessna, then vanishes; spatial disorientation is the leading explanation.
Read the full story: The Valentich Disappearance (1978): The Pilot Who Vanished Reporting a UFO →October 30, 1938: War of the Worlds radio broadcast · milestone
Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre airs H.G. Wells's Martian invasion as news bulletins; about two percent of listeners hear it, some are frightened, and the next morning's newspapers invent a national panic that textbooks repeat for eighty years.
Read the full story: The War of the Worlds Broadcast of 1938: What Orson Welles Did and Whether Anyone Panicked →November
November 2, 1957: Levelland case
More than a dozen drivers report a glowing object that stalls engines and lights; the Air Force blames ball lightning after a one-day inquiry.
Read the full story: The Levelland UFO Case (1957): The Object That Stalled Cars in Texas →November 5, 1975: Travis Walton abduction
A logger is struck by a beam in front of six co-workers and is missing for five days; the basis of Fire in the Sky.
Read the full story: The Travis Walton UFO Incident: Fire in the Sky True Story →November 7, 2006: O'Hare Airport sighting
United Airlines employees watch a disc hover over a gate and punch up through the cloud deck; the FAA calls it weather.
Read the full story: The O'Hare Airport UFO (2006): The Disc Over Gate C17 →November 9, 1979: Robert Taylor incident
A forestry worker says a domed object and two spiked spheres seized him in a clearing; police investigate his torn clothing and it remains Britain's only UFO case treated as a possible assault.
See it on the timeline →November 14, 2004: USS Nimitz "Tic Tac"
Navy pilots led by Cmdr. David Fravor encounter a white oblong object captured on the FLIR1 video; the best-documented modern military case.
Read the full story: The Tic Tac UFO: Navy Pilots' Encounter That Changed Everything →November 17, 1986: Japan Air Lines Flight 1628
Captain Kenju Terauchi reports two small objects and a huge one shadowing his cargo 747 for fifty minutes, with partial radar confirmation.
Read the full story: UFO Sightings in Japan: A History of Unexplained Aerial Phenomena →November 20, 1952: Adamski's Desert Center meeting
George Adamski says a bell-shaped craft lands in the desert and a long-haired Venusian warns him about atomic tests by gesture and telepathy; six companions watching from the road sign an affidavit, and the contactee era begins.
Read the full story: George Adamski: The First Contactee, the Venusians and the Desert Center Meeting of 1952 →December
December 9, 1965: Kecksburg incident
A fireball crosses the Great Lakes and residents report an acorn-shaped object recovered by the military from the woods.
Read the full story: The Kecksburg Incident (1965): Pennsylvania's Roswell →December 9, 2009: Norwegian spiral
A vast blue-white spiral fills the sky; it is a failed Russian Bulava missile test, and it is the clearest example of a spectacular sighting solved within a day.
See it on the timeline →December 16, 2017: AATIP revealed · milestone
The New York Times reports the Pentagon's secret UFO program and publishes the Navy videos; the modern disclosure era begins.
Read the full story: The Pentagon UFO Program: AATIP, AARO, and Official Investigations →December 21, 1978: Kaikoura lights
A television crew aboard a cargo flight films lights tracked by radar off the South Island; explanations range from squid-boat lights to Venus.
See it on the timeline →December 26, 1980: Rendlesham Forest incident
U.S. Air Force personnel from RAF Bentwaters and Woodbridge report lights and a craft in the forest; the Halt memo makes it Britain's Roswell.
Read the full story: The Rendlesham Forest Incident: Britain's Roswell Explained →December 29, 1980: Cash–Landrum incident
Three people see a diamond-shaped object venting flame with a helicopter escort and fall ill with radiation-like symptoms; their lawsuit is dismissed.
Read the full story: The Cash–Landrum Incident (1980): The UFO, the Helicopters, and the Radiation Burns →