UFOs - Close Range Sightings.

"The type of UFO reports that are most intriguing are close-range sightings of machine-like objects of unconventional nature and unconventional performance characteristics, seen at low altitudes, and sometimes even on the ground. The general public is entirely unaware of the large number of such reports that are coming from credible witnesses... When one starts searching for such cases, their number are quite astonishing. Also, such sightings appear to be occurring all over the globe."

Professor James E. McDonald from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Arizona speaking at the AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) in 1968

Firestorm

As I'm sure a lot of people already know, there have been quite a number of UFO incidents over the years with extremely strange object descriptions and eye-witness testimony - secton 4 of this NICAP report has more info on close-range sightings and some of the more (in)famous cases also involve intriguing aspects like radar confirmation, E.M. interference effects, physiological effects, ground trace evidence or separately located witnesses to help corroborate the reports -below are a few examples from ATS member threads and if anyone knows of any others then please feel free to post.

The Portage County Incident - Object:

"They said the craft they chased was about 50 feet across and 15 to 20 feet high with a large dome on its top and an antenna jutted out from the rear of the dome"

Thread

The Coyne Incident - Object:

Just as a collision appeared imminent, the light suddenly stopped and hovered above and in front of the helicopter. They saw a cigar-shaped, gray metallic appearing, domed object whose apparent size filled the entire windshield.

Thread

The Tehran Incident - Object:

The object seemed to change it’s shape. While Pirouzi over several minutes watched the apparent shape seemed to change from cylindrical, with blue ends and a red light going around the middle, to a fan like shape with drooping blades (“starfish” shaped) with fuzzy edges.

Thread

Lake Erie UFO Coastguard Incident - Object:

..THEY WATCHED THE OBJECTS FOR APPROX. 1 HOUR BEFORE REPORTNG THAT THE LARGE OBJECT WAS ALMOST ON THE ICE. THEY REPORTED THAT THE ICE WAS CRACKING AND MOVING ABNORMAL AMOUNTS AS THE OBJECT CAME CLOSER TO IT. THE ICE WAS RUMBLING AND THE OBJECT LIT MULTI-COLOR LIGHTS AT EACH END AS IT APPARENTLY LANDED

Thread

The Bariloche Incident - See 10:45

"The first impression was shock from people inside the plane -the lights of the object were well defined - there was an orange light on top of it, green lights on the side and the solid part of the object was dark".

Flight Captain Jorge Polanco

Thread

UFO Object Descriptions - Government Documents:

"It looked to be about 2000 feet in the air and a white-silverish looking colour -rotating in a counter clockwise manner. It was round in shape and going in a rather fast motion".
Doc




“Object described as flat on top and bottom and appearing from a front view to have rounded edges and slightly beveled. From view as object dived from top of plane was completely round and spinning in clockwise direction.... Object did not appear to be aluminum. Only 1 object observed. Solar white. No vapor trails or exhaust or visible system of propulsion. Described as traveling at tremendous speed".
Doc




"Objects being described as "25 yards in diameter, gold or silver in color with blue light on top, hole in middle, and red light on bottom".
Doc




"There were bright objects hanging over the sea.The closest object was luminous, round and four to five times larger than a Whirlwind helicopter.
The objects separated. Then one went west of the other, as it manoeuvred it changed shape to become body-shaped with projections like arms and legs".
Doc




"DURING THE FOURTH MINS OF OBSERVATION A BLUISH GREEN BEAM OF LIGHT APPEARED FROM THE CENTRAL CORE OF THE CONFIGURATION, EXTENDING OUTWARD AND DOWNWARD TO THE LEFT AT AN ANGLE OF APPROX 45 DEGREES, AND REACHING TO THE FADE OUT POINT OF THE RADIATING RINGS OF LIGHT. APPROX FIVE MINUTES AFTER THE APPEARANCE OF THE BLUISH-GREEN BEAM (SIMILAR IN APPEARANCE TO A SEARCHLIGHT BEAM), THE RADIATIVE CIRCLES OF LIGHT DISAPPEARED, LEAVING ONLY THE CORE OF LIGHT AND THE COLORED BEAM".
Doc




“...pilot of helicopter wished to stress fact that the object was of a saucer-like nature, was stationary at 2000 ft. And would be glad to be called upon to verify any statement and act as witness.”
Doc

More

UFO Object Descriptions - Police Officers:

“It was approximately 50 feet in length. There were portholes on the side but there were no visible signs of propulsion. The ship appeared to be metallic and gave off a bright glow. There was a low whirring sound coming from it.”
Police Constable Brian Earnshaw - Bacup, Lancashire,October 1969
Two other uniformed officers, PC Colin Donahoe and Malcolm Reader also witnessed the object from a different location.




“There was an eerie, greenish-grey glow in the sky. Then I picked out an object about thirty feet long and built up in three sections with the top looking like a dustbin lid. It gave off a high pitched whine. I was paralysed. I just couldn’t believe it.”
Police Constable Colin Perks - Wilmslow, Cheshire,March 1966




"I happened to look up and there was that UFO right above the cornfield, it was just hovering right up above the power lines. -i t was just like the ones you see on TV.
Then it took off like a bullet, just tremendously fast -if I live to be 100, I'll never forget it,"
Henrico County Sheriff A.D. "Toby" Mathews Richmond , Virginia, United States August 9, 1966




"At first I though we were seeing a ship on fire on the horizon towards Ilfracombe. But then it rose out of the water like a blood-red sun, a good deal larger than a full-sized harvest moon.It remained at sea level, then suddenly took off at a fantastic speed towards the Atlantic."
Chief-Inspector Reginald Jones, of "D" Division, Glamorgan Police - object also witnessed by another officer,09-01-1957.




"It was cigar shaped and yellow in colour.It travelled along slowly for a few seconds, then shot off into the night at a fantastic speed. We didn’t know what it was, nor had we ever seen anything like it but many reports have been made at the police station of strange lights and objects".
Police Constable William Bryne -Banbury, Oxfordshire.
Object also witnessed by Police Constable Perry Jackson.




"It was a giant plate of light. It lit up the whole horizon with a glare. It was flying low over the landscape and appeared to be spinning"
Police Constable Eric Pinnock - Warminster, Wiltshire,30/11/65




There was light coming out from little windows and light changed colors several times, from soft blue to red to green and other colors. It didn't spin or anything. It just hovered around there -then the thing just picked up and took off, north west, toward Satartia."
Madison County Sheriff's Deputy Kenneth Creel - Flora, Mississippi, United States,February 10, 1977




"We made several attempts to follow it, or I should say get closer to it, but the object seemed aware of us and we were more successful remaining motionless and allow it to approach us, which it did on several occasions.Each time the object neared us, we experienced radio interference.
The object was shaped like a football, the edges, or I should say outside of the object were clear to us...the glow was emitted by the object, was not a reflection of other lights".
California Highway Patrol Officer Charles A. Carson - California, United States, August 13, 1960.
Object also witnessed by Police Officer Stanley Scott
Object also witnessed by Highway Patrolman Louis Younger




"The bulk of the object was plainly visible at this time and appeared to be triangular shaped with a bright purple light on the left end and the smaller, less bright, blue light on the right end. The bulk of the object appeared to be dark gray in color with no other distinguishing features. It appeared to be about 200 feet wide and 40-50 feet thick in the middle, tapering off toward both ends. There was no noise or any trail. The bright purple light illuminated the ground directly underneath it and the area in front of it, including the highway and the interior of our patrol car.
After arriving at approximately its original position,it went straight up in the air and disappeared at 25-30 degrees above the horizon."
Deputy Sheriff Bob Goode Damon, Texas, United States September 3, 1965
Object also witnessed by Chief Deputy Billy McCoy




He just stood there with his mouth open for a minute, as bright as it was, and he looked down. And I started looking down and I looked at my hands and my clothes weren't burning or anything, when it stopped right over on top of us.The only thing, the only sound in the whole area was a hum...like a transformer being loaded or an overloaded transformer when it changes....
.... it went PSSSSSHHEW, straight up; and I mean when it went up, friend, it didn't play no games; it went straight up."
Deputy Sheriff Dale Spaur, Portage County Incident, Ohio, April 17, 1966
Also witnessed by Deputy Wilbur Neff.




"This object came at us from the west. At first it looked like a red hot piece of coal about the size of a quarter held at arm's length. In a matter of seconds it was as large as a ruler held at arm's length. That is when it came to a complete stop.
"The shape of the object was distinct. The body of the object was solid bright red and it gave off a pulsating red glow completely around the object. The object hovered a few seconds, then made a left turn and again hovered for a few seconds, then went straight up like a shot. We watched it until it completely faded beyond the stars."
Patrolman LeRoy A. Arboreen - Dunellen, New Jersey, United States December 20, 1958
Object also witnessed by Patrolman B. Talada

More

to say aliens dont exist is to say we are alone in the universe. to say we are alone in the universe is crazy talk.

Originally posted by iversusvsversusi
to say aliens dont exist is to say we are alone in the universe.

Yes.

to say we are alone in the universe is crazy talk.

It's as crazy as saying aliens are visiting the earth.

These types of posts makes me think there are bots roaming around ATS posting platitudes

Originally posted by iversusvsversusi
to say aliens dont exist is to say we are alone in the universe. to say we are alone in the universe is crazy talk.

big difference between other life exicting in the universe, and them comming to earth to anal probe hill billies.

Great Karl, great!
Always good threads and news (As usual) from you...
S&F.

Thanks for the replies, here's another extremely strange close range report involving two British pilots and three disc shaped objects in 1952 - the airmen in the interview really do sound pretty spooked.

See 4:30

Fascinating interview with Flight Lieutennant Michael Swiney and Royal Navy Lieutennant David Crofts who both witnessed three disc shaped objects pass over the cockpit of their plane whilst flying over England in October 1952 - the three objects were also confirmed by ground radar.

Thread

Cheers.

The Colares Incident - sketches from classified files of Brazilian Air Force's official investigation (30 hours of missing UFO footage still unreleased by the Brazilian Government) :

Hostile UFO Encounters: Colares, 1977

Two Police Officers encounter a very strange object which exhibits E.M. effects on their radios - one officer stated in the report:

"As we watched the object moved again and performed aerial feats that were actually unbelievable".

California -1960:

During a six-day concentration of UFO sightings in northern California, August 13-18, 1960, at least 14 police officers were among the numerous witnesses. At 11:50 p.m. (PDT) August 13, State Policeman Charles A. Carson and Stanley Scott were patrolling near Red Bluff when they noticed an object low in the sky directly ahead of them.


Witness Sketch:



Link

I've had a close range sighting! I saw two flying saucers real low to the ground! My mother and i were driving her car back home after seeing a movie, and we were stopped in the middle of the road by what seemed at first to be a giant airplane, wait- no- it was actually two Flying Saucers right next to eachother, one just above the other! These things were as high as the telephone wires go, they were right there, just above the road. My mother stopped her car before passing under, she stopped right infront of them and she asked me what to do "do i drive passed them do i turn around do i turn my lights off what do i do?" and i didnt know what to do, so i just stared and stared. It felt like forever that we were in our stopped car, staring. These disc like crafts were slowing rotating clockwise, whilst making a low frequency ocscillating Hum. They had red lights around the perimeters of the disc and they were each about the width of the road ( a small two lane road ). They even had what appeared to be windows on the upper side of the disc. and there were white and green lights on the bottom of each craft, the light from the one above lit up the one below, and even though it was late in night, i could see it clear as day. it was extremely reflective, like a mirror, it seemed to be metallic too.

P.S. one time i explained this story in my intro post, and then got in a scuffle with the moderator about the contents of the post and how i shouldnt explain my experience there, and then i got banned, my thread was closed and no one got to hear this important life experience of mine that i share with everyone i meet. =(
But now i have another chance, and hopefully this last paragraph wont ruin it!
cheers!

edit- And i didnt mention, they took off at the same time, they went straight up vertically, so quick. when did they, the oscillating hum that they make changed in speed and pitch, it increased. They flew straight vertically and made an immediate stop together, and then took off horizontally. When they took off horizontally they also turned together tight together around the tree line... kinda like fighter pilots would when flying in formation.. this has made me suspicious of their origins...


this was between baltimore and frederick, Maryland. Took summer 9 years ago

reply to post by 4th horseman


4th horseman, thanks for sharing your account - it sounds a very interesting one and it's certainly not the first time 'rotating' flying discs have been reported - here's some government documentation which also mentions the objects:

Silver rotating UFO over US Atomic facility


Flying discs over Hanford Nuclear plant


Flying disc over Topcliffe


Circular objects over Langley AFB


Rotating saucer shaped object over Georgia


Maxwell AFB Emergency Report - Flying Saucer


Disc shaped object over Minot AFB - 1966


Flying disc over Chicago's O Hare airport - 1952

Cheers.

More close range sighting reports.

Tuscumbia, Missouri,1967 - Object:


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/13038d8ed863.jpg[/atsimg]

The surface was seamless, “like gray-green silk.” Around the lower rim there were evenly spaced oval openings.They were 12 inches long and 12 inches apart. They were displaying brilliant colors from inside each opening. The colors changed rapidly “as if a color wheel was turning inside the thing.”

Link

West Lothian,Scotland, 9th November,1979 - Object:


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/be163d81bfd1.jpg[/atsimg]

Taylor was checking up on some saplings in the forest that day, when he arrived at a small clearing. There he says he saw a circular object, six meters in diameter, hovering above the forest floor.It was metallic and semi-transparent, and as he watched two smaller spheres detached themselves from the main object and floated towards him.

Thread

Aldershot, England, August 1983 - Object:

Going around a slight left hand bend, Mr. Burtoo saw a large object, about 40 to 45ft across, standing on the towpath, with between 10 to 15ft of it jutting out over the bank on the left of the path. Mr Burtoo thought, “Christ, what the hell is that?”

As they drew closer he could see that this craft had steps going up to it. The steps where off line to the towpath and they had to walk onto the grass to go up them; around the hull there seemed to be portholes and the craft rested on two ski type runners.

Link

Great thread. It's very interesting to see the similarities in some different cases.
The Colares Incident reminds me of the Kecksburg incident. Not the same exact shape, but oddly similar. Kind of hard to imagine how someone trying to make up a story would describe a craft that bland without it being based on some facts.

Too bad all these close sightings are older and don't have anything more than eyewitness accounts and useless sketches. One would think as prevalent as UFO's seem to be (according to many posters here) that in this day and age we would have tons of close-up footage. Instead we are bombarded by useless lights in the sky videos and obvious fakes from posters who, by now, should know better.

reply to post by MainLineThis


MainLineThis, thanks for the reply - as mentioned in the OP, some of the cases also involve aspects like electromagnetic interference effects and ground trace evidence to back them up (as well as separately located witnessess) so I think it could be seen as a bit flippant just to dismiss them all as 'useless sketches' - especialy when some are taken directly from government documents.

Testimony from Police officers also feature in some of the reports - it's been said before they generaly make for better witnessess as 'they're highly trained and experienced in reporting what they see' - I don't know if you agree with that but there is a rather large number of international reports here if you're interested - there's also this relatively recent object description from Texas where several officers all reported seeing the same thing, one policeman even tracked a UFO on his radar gun.

Officers compile drawing of Stephenville UFO:


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ef45b6d2df86.jpg[/atsimg]

"This is what I and several other officers saw. I did not see the back, only the frontal view. The two large lights were bright like landing lights, but solid light blue in color similar to LED. The wing tip lights remained steady. The top and bottom tower lights strobed sporadically. It had three towers on the bottom and two on top. It was bigger than a B1 Bomber. It lumbered around town then headed off towards Mineral Wells..

It was about 500 ft off the ground. The colors above are the actual color. This drawing is a compilation of all the law enforcement that saw the craft."

Link

Thread

Cheers.

reply to post by MainLineThis

Too bad all these close sightings are older and don't have anything more than eyewitness accounts and useless sketches

Really ? hmmm ...... only useless witness reports and sketches and no pictures eh ?

then what's this ?

Colares Brazil UFO

www.abovetopsecret.com...

oh and all these too
easynowsmoonblog.blogspot.com...




reply to post by karl 12


Another Great Thread Karl 12 ! ..... Thanks

The West Lothian event is the one that always intrigued me, even a forensic crime scene was set up due to this case. Although some cases have a very thorough investigation, they are rarely looked at on a forensic level.

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



I was going to post this earlier but had to go out, im glad you brought it up here.

Great thread Karl

This is my personal favorite. The video is from the History Channel: Trace Cases episode. This occurred on the family farm of Edwin Fuhr in 1974. The whole trace case episode from History Channel is awesome in my opinion...



Here is a link to an entry at UFOevidence...www.ufoevidence.org...

Love your thread..

reply to post by karl 12


How about Aliens Waving

Father Gill / Papua New Guinea Sighting 1959


Summary: William B. Gill, an Anglican priest with a mission in Bosinai, Papas New Guinea, observed craft-like UFOs -- one with Humanoid figures on top -- on two consecutive evenings, June 26-27, 1959. About twenty-five natives, including teachers and medical technicians, also observed the phenomena. They "signaled" the humanoids and received an apparent response. This was one of sixty UFO sightings within a few weeks in the New Guinea area.

source - www.ufoevidence.org...


Priest talks about UFO experience in Papau New Guinea
video link - www.youtube.com...

Close Encounter of the Third Kind

Betty and Barney Hill Close Encounter 1961


The night was clear, with a crescent moon shining on the heavily wooded landscape that surrounded US Route 3 in the central part of New Hampshire.

At about a quarter past 10:00 PM, three miles south of the city of Lancaster, Barney noticed what appeared to be a bright star, or planet, which seemed to move erratically. Barney pointed this out to Betty, and they both began to keep track of the object.

The couple began to believe that they were watching a plane appear and disappear, as the movement of their vehicle caused the trees to come and go in obstructing their view. Later, Barney would state that he tried to convince himself that the object was a plane, but that Betty thought it to be something else - an unidentified craft of some kind.

As the two continued to the Flume, just north of North Woodstock, the object appeared to move in an odd way.

As they reached Indian Head, Barney actually stopped the car to have a look at the object with his binoculars. He saw multi-colored lights, and rows of windows on a flat-shaped object, which now seemed to be moving toward him.

As the object moved to within a hundred feet of him, he could see occupants inside. Frightened, he ran back to his car where Betty waited. They climbed inside and sped away. Soon, two hours of their lives would vanish into oblivion.

source - www.ufocasebook.com...


Betty and Barney Hill Abduction Case
video link - www.youtube.com...

What I've been wondering since I first saw a ufo is when will we all see one together.