The case of the captured mini UFO 1972

Japan has had its fair share of UFO sightings over the years, but few encounters have been as peculiar as the one involving the mini-UFO captured in Kochi prefecture in 1972.

I am a moron. Why could you not fit that into one post?

[edit on 31-7-2009 by Zenagain]

"The strange encounter took place in the Kera area of Kochi City. On the afternoon of August 25, 1972, a 13-year-old junior high student named Michio Seo sighted a strange object flying above a rice field while walking home from school. From a distance he watched the small, mysterious object zigzag quickly around the field like a bat chasing insects.

Later that day, Michio told his friends about the curious flying object. “UFO” had yet to become a household word in Japan in 1972, but the boys were intrigued nonetheless. At around 7:00 PM, four of them set out for the rice field in search of the object.

About an hour later, they spotted the object flying over the rice field, lighting up the night with a pulsating silver light. When one of the boys tried to approach to object, it suddenly made a loud “pop” sound and started to glow blue. Frightened, they turned and fled without looking back.

Over a week later, at 9:30 PM on September 4, several of the boys once again saw the bright object in the rice field. And two days after that, on September 6, the boys and a few of their friends found the object on the ground in the field. It appeared to have crash-landed.

One of boys — a 14-year-old named Hiroshi Mori (14) — picked the object up with his hands and carried it home.

The silver, hat-shaped object weighed 1.3 kilograms (3 lbs) and measured roughly 7 centimeters (3 in) tall and 15 centimeters (6 in) in diameter. The bottom surface was perforated with an array of tiny holes and imprinted with designs depicting what appeared to be a bird, some waves, and another flying object. Something rattled around inside the object when shaken.

That night, Hiroshi wrapped the curious object in a plastic bag and placed it inside his backpack. Later, however, the object mysteriously vanished without a trace.
"



Before long, the boys encountered the object again. They once again captured it, but it soon vanished. This happened about five or six times over the next two weeks.

On one occasion, the boys decided to pour water into the holes on the bottom. The object emitted a loud cicada-like buzzing sound and glowed brightly inside. Later, when they ran some wire through the holes and dangled the object upside-down, the top and bottom sections of the object became slightly separated. Through the opening, they could see what appeared to be electronic components.

On the night of September 22, Hiroshi was riding his bicycle with the object in the basket when it suddenly disappeared. They never saw it again.

In 2007, 35 years after the incident, the Japan Space Phenomena Society (JSPS) conducted a new investigation into the case. According to Kazuo Hayashi, head of the JSPS Osaka chapter, all of the witnesses still stand by their original story.

The mini-UFO of 1972 was not the last that would be encountered in Kochi prefecture. Nearly four years later, on the night of June 6, 1976, a 9-year-old girl named Sachiko Oyama in the village of Agawa (now called Niyodogawa-cho) stepped outside to look for her family cat. She noticed a bright yellow luminous object in the eastern sky.

When she went to the street for a better view, the object suddenly descended into the surrounding woods, struck a nearby tree, and landed at her feet. It made no sound when it hit the pavement.

The silver, hat-shaped object appeared to be about 15 centimeters (7 in) in diameter. Curious, Sachiko touched it with her index finger. The object was constructed of solid material, but it was covered in a slimy substance that stuck to her finger.

She suddenly felt afraid started to run home. Over her shoulder, she saw the object start to glow yellow, spin counter-clockwise three times, and shoot quickly back into the sky.

Taken from: www.pinktentacle.com...

reply to post by Zenagain


Woah there, give me a chance.

Just found this on Digg - never heard of it and sharing it with ATS.

Anyway, I thought it was sort of interesting. More interesting is how its shape reflects the era of UFO sightings from that period.

reply to post by timb3r

Thanks for posting that.

What a bizarre story.

This reminds me of the one story of some guy who had approached a larger craft and had touched it while wearing a rubber glove. The craft than emitted some burst of energy or pressure that left a burn pattern on his chest,

The holes pictured in the photo reminds me of this other encounter. I would imagine these are both some type of probe or unmanned craft that collect DNA. I don't recall reading when and if they had taken these photos, so, were these the actual photos?

I have not been able to find any more information about this strange case, but I don't read Japanese, so my options are a little limited.

But I noticed the markings on the bottom of the mini UFO, and especially the wave pattern:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7e7900efba1c.jpg[/atsimg]

This "seigaiha" pattern with overlapping semicircles is typically Japanese, it is used to describe the rolling ocean waves. Here is an excample of this pattern:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/12208bcd76ca.jpg[/atsimg]

The seigaiha pattern uses high-arched, overlapping semicircles to convey the motion of blue ocean waves. The simplicty and elegance of the pattern have contributed to its popularity in Japan since before the Heian period (794-1185), although the pattern first appeared in China. A western artist might use swaths of color to represent water, but the Japanese artist takes a stylized, linear approach, with seigaiha pattern being the result.

3dsoundblog.com...

I don't think is is very likely that a UFO from another dimension or planet, a little UFO which appeared in Japan, would also just happen to have markings which are very typically Japanese. What are the odds?

So I believe this is a hoax. But the "UFO" looks very cool!

Very interesting story. Thank you for posting

It is a strange story. to me it looks like a shower head of some sort. Thank you for posting, it IS interesting.

I bet this is a probe from another planet that just discovered anti-gravity and interstellar travel. They werent quite ready to send astronauts so they sent a little probe instead.

*takes off tinfoil hat*

I must admit, I thought this was a hoax from the moment I read about it - but it does serve as an interesting example of how UFO's appear to be of each 'era'. There almost seems to be a pattern of how people describe UFO's over the past 90 years or so, certainly for each decade. Almost reflecting asthetic design of the time. And a Japanese UFO, has pictograms on it, as pointed out by ziggystar60 - certainly what what you would expect, given Japanese history, art and culture.

perhaps the origine of the wave pattern lies in the UFO???? and the chineese and japanese have taking it over ?

lets face it.. if you want to make a hoax..why decorate it with vintage marks..

reply to post by ressiv


fact is, that explanation is vastly less likely than that of a japanese person having made the etchings.

If that had been an alien spaceship they have no sense of what constitutes as flamboyant or sleek and sexy.They can stay on their planet,probably a very boring race..only kidding of course.I would say a hoax as the other poster pointed out.