Top 10 Strange UFO Encounters

The topic of UFOs is one on which everyone has an opinion. From the strong believer to the condescending skeptic, everyone has deep rooted beliefs regarding the subject. Some believe UFOs are travelers from other planets or dimensions. Others believe them to be experimental military aircraft. I have picked stories from different countries and eras to show that people have been reporting the same characteristics and attributes in UFOs and Extra Terrestrials for decades upon decades, and very often these stories were reported long before the seed of UFO awareness was planted in the mind of the public, through TV, film and literature.

I, personally, believe that, in the future, the existence of intelligent Extra Terrestrial life in the universe will be seen to be self evident, and people will look back and laugh at the ignorance of the past, much in the same way we do today when we remember people used to think the earth was flat, or that it didn’t orbit the Sun. Slowly but surely scientists are beginning to agree that it is mathematically impossible for intelligent life not to exist with our planet in the endless expanse of the universe, and the trillions of planets it contains. We truly live in exciting times, as day by day, more and more is discovered about the Cosmos to show this to be empirically true. I’ll leave you with the words of the pioneer of America’s Apollo Space program, the great Wernher Von Braun. “You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.”

During the night of the 12th of February, 2010, lifelong paranormal skeptic Roy Shaw was walking his dog in Devon, England. Wandering through the quiet streets of his neighborhood, he began to approach his local Lawn Bowling club, when he was startled by an odd object hovering high up in the sky. Hazy and distant at first, it began to descend slowly and move nearer in his direction. Circular in shape, it suspended itself above the bowling club and Shaw entered the grounds to get a better look at the object. He watched in amazement as it zigzagged around, before landing on the far side of the green.

He was astounded to make out a 100ft long space craft, with blue and red lights streaming along it’s underside. At this point a 4ft high white apparition exited from the ship and floated towards him across the lawn. ‘It was about 4ft high and seemed to be translucent and moved very slowly towards us. I was transfixed because it made a droning noise, which sounded like “my, my” repeated over and over’ he later told newspapers. His dog, Sydney – an animal he stated is normally very placid – began growling and bearing its teeth at the spirit. At this point, Mr Shaw ran for his life, with such haste he twisted his ankle in the process. Another dog walker in the area claims to have seen the ship dart off into the sky at a 45 degree angle. Funnily enough, Mr Shaw still claims to be a paranormal skeptic, even after this bizarre encounter. Above is a sketch of the UFO he saw.

A woman telephoned RAF Wattisham, in Suffolk, England, on November 21st, 1989, in a distressed manner to report an encounter she had the night before with a strange man in her area. At around 10.30pm, the woman was walking her dog near a sports field when she was approached by a man with a ‘Scandinavian type accent’ dressed in light brown overalls that resembled a flying suit. A recently released report from the National Archives about the case reads. “He asked her if she was aware of stories about large circular flattened areas appearing in fields of wheat, and then went on to explain that he was from another planet similar to Earth, and that the circles had been caused by others like him who had traveled to Earth.” The man went on that they’re visits were friendly but was ordered not to make contact in case they were seen as a threat. He said he disobeyed his orders as he felt it was important for contact between our people and his to occur.

They talked for 10 minutes until he suddenly ran back in the direction he came. The woman, realizing the gravity of her situation and the strangeness of what had just occurred, ran home in a panic stricken state. Whilst doing so, she heard a thunderous buzzing noise, growing in haste and volume behind her. She turned to see a large spherical object, glowing a brilliant orange and white, rise from the trees and eventually disappear up into the atmosphere. The MOD notes attached to the file described the case as ‘one of our more unusual UFO reports.’ The operator who took the woman’s call described it as ‘a genuine call’.

In 1974, Carl Higdon was hunting in Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming. Taking aim and firing at an Elk something strange happened; his bullet seemed to move in slow motion. As he went to retrieve the bullet a sudden strange feeling came over him. Turning around, he saw a humanoid over six feet tall which he described as having a black jumpsuit, a wide belt decorated with a six-pointed star and emblem of yellow. It had straight hair standing out from his head, no eyebrows, bow-legs and long arms ending with rod-like appendages instead of hands. The being asked him if he was hungry and gave him four pills, telling him if he ate one he wouldn’t be hungry for 4 days. The humanoid then pointed to him, and in an instant he found himself encased in a transparent device and wearing a helmet.

Two more humanoids appeared, carrying the 5 elk Higdon had previously hunted; which were now stiff and in an unnaturally frozen state. He was told he was going to their home planet, some 163,000 light-years away, and subsequently arrived there in a flash. On the planet he said there were many buildings that resembled the Seattle Space needle, and the planet’s sun was of an intense heat. His next memory was of being back in Medicine Bow Park, with 2 and a half hours having elapsed. He staggered in a deranged state unable to find his truck, eventually finding it 3 miles away. He radioed the Sheriff, who found him at midnight exhausted and frantic, shouting ‘They took my elk’. After being taken to the local hospital and examined, they found all his vitamin levels were miraculously high, and tuberculosis marks he had on his lungs had vanished. Higdons wife and 2 other people in the area saw green and red lights in the sky on the night of his abduction.

George Gatay was a well respected local man in the town of Nouatre, in western France. A veteran of WW2, he fought with the French Resistance in Luxembourg against the Nazi’s. On the 30th of September, 1954, he was in charge of an 8 man crew working on a construction site. Whilst working he felt a ‘peculiar drowsiness ‘come over him. He felt compelled to walk, although he did not know where or why, as if some unknown force was guiding him. When he stopped he was in sight of an unknown being some 30ft away on a hill. He described it as having an opaque glass helmet, grey coveralls and short boots. He also noticed a rod like weapon in its hand and a square shaped electronic device on its chest. The creature stood in front of a dome shaped object which hovered 3ft above the ground. The craft also had a cupola shape on top, with blade like devices protruding from its highest point. In total awe of what he was looking at, Gattay stood in a paralyzed silence.

As he gazed in amazement, something even stranger happened. He stated ‘Suddenly, the strange man vanished, and I couldn’t explain how he did it, since he did not disappear from my field of vision by walking away, but vanished like an image one erases. Then I heard a strong whistling sound which drowned the noise of our excavators. Soon the object rose by successive jerks, in a vertical direction, and then it too was erased in a sort of blue haze, as if by a miracle.’ Gattay then ran back to the site to report what he saw, and noted that at his first attempt to do so he was overcome with an unshakable feeling of stillness. After greeting his workers with a panicky ‘Have you seen something!?’ Two of his workers concurred with his account, claiming to have seen a flying saucer and ‘a man dressed like a diver in front of it.’ His seven co workers complained of feeling inexplicably drowsy during the event, and George Gattay himself suffered headaches, loss of appetite and insomnia for the full following week.

In a Top 10 list of strange UFO stories, this one really is strange. The local Councillor for Winchester in Hampshire, Mr Adrian Hicks was in the town centre on a busy Saturday afternoon during the early months of 2004. After having lunch in his local bar and purchasing a few books from a book store, he noticed something odd about a woman walking through the rural town’s main street. Her clothes were somewhat unusual, and everything about her didn’t add up. The way she moved and her general demeanor gave off a strange impression which singled her out from the crowd. He followed her with his eyes for a few moments and came to the incredible realization that he wasn’t looking at a human at all – but an extra terrestrial. ‘It was staggering; I am not usually lost for words but was that day. ‘ He watched her for around 9 minutes, walking ahead of her twice and noticed a tutu like piece of clothing around her waist and a thick head of bright blonde hair. ‘She was a humanoid walking with a penguin like gait. She had very large oval eyes and was twirling her hands in a circular motion. She seemed friendly and totally at ease with us.

She wasn’t scared; she was smiling, and seemed to be enjoying herself among us.’ Hicks was startled when she stopped 7 ft away from him when he uttered ‘What the fuck is that?’ under his breath. ‘She walked very slowly up the High Street. I remember she was very interested in the clock over Lloyds Bank. She was taking it all in’. He has stated that several people noticed her without paying any extra attention and spotted some people taking pictures of her, though no pictures have ever surfaced. Hicks believes that the encounter is to do with a much larger Alien presence in Winchester, due to the secret US and British operations in a nearby base. An orthopedic technician with over 35 years experience, Hicks kept his encounter secret for 5 years in order to secure his place in local government, revealing his story only after securing election as a Liberal Democrat Councillor. He spent £400 of his own money for an artist to perfect her image, which can be seen above. He now lobbies for the government to come clean about its dealings with UFO’S.

During July 2009, an off duty police Sergeant was driving along the A4 motorway during the early hours of the morning. At around 5.a.m, whilst passing Silbury hill, an area long renowned for its druid precedent, UFO sightings and mystical attributes, he noticed 3 exceptionally tall men standing in a field examining a recently made crop circle. He noticed they had shining blonde hair and were dressed in white coveralls with their hoods down, which reminded him of forensic detectives. Intrigued by such a bizarre spectacle, the sergeant parked his car and approached the men. From a distance of 400 yards he shouted at them, but his attempts fell on deaf ears and he was ignored. Upon entering the field, however, the 3 men became aware of his presence and simultaneously turned toward him before making off at a miraculous speed heading southward away from the hill. He followed them for a few seconds, but realized he was no match for their pace and watched in awe as they strode off in superhuman strides. After glancing away for a second, the sergeant looked back in the men’s direction to see they had completely vanished.

“They ran faster than any man I have ever seen. I’m no slouch but they were moving so fast. I looked away for a second and when I looked back they were gone” he told Andrew Russell, the UFO investigator he has chosen to communicate through in favor of remaining anonymous. Walking back to his car, he felt something akin to a static electricity echoing throughout the field. The crops began to ripple and sway in time with a crackle that was pulsing all around him, and he developed a massive headache. “I then got scared. The noise was still around but I got an uneasy feeling and headed for the car. For the rest of the day I had a pounding headache I couldn’t shift.” He contacted his colleagues at Wiltshire Police and they released this statement. “The police officer was apparently off duty when this happened so we have no comment to make because it is a personal not a police matter.” On the night following the sighting, residents of the area reported seeing an unmarked Helicopter hovering for 3 hours over the field were the encounter took place, a sequence that has followed UFO and crop circle reports in the area with increasing frequency. The sergeant continues to remain anonymous.

On the 14th of September, 1985, there had been reports of UFO’s in the skies over Zimbabwe. Two days later at the private Ariel Elementary in Ruwa, 20km from the capital, Harare, 62 school children between the ages of 5 and 12 spotted a glowing ball in the sky during the schools morning break. They watched as it hovered around, appearing and disappearing for a short while before it gradually descended to the ground and landed 100ft away from the school in a bushy area off limits to the children. A ‘small man’, standing around 3ft tall with long black hair, large eyes and a slim neck exited the craft and began to walk towards the children. The schools teachers and staff were indoors attending a meeting at this point, which left the children unsupervised. As he moved in their direction he suddenly disappeared in mid step, reappearing on top of the craft, where he silently stared at the children for a few moments, before re-entering the ship and soaring off at an incredible speed. Many pupils were terrified due to African folklore stories which talk of demons and vampires that kidnap children and devour them. The only adult present in the playground was a parent running a tuck shop near the school entrance, who the children descended upon in stampede like fashion to relate their extraordinary tale.

The schools headmaster, Colin Mackie, contacted the now late Cynthia Hind, who in her time was Africa’s foremost UFO investigator. She interviewed the pupils and asked them to recreate drawings of what they saw. Around 35 sketches and drawings were produced, which were all strikingly similar in their depiction of the ‘man’ and his ship. Upon interviewing the children, Hind became convinced of the stories authenticity. One child told her “I swear by every hair on my head and the whole Bible that I am telling the truth.” The consensus was reached among the parents, school staff and Hind that the pupils were in fact telling the truth; as such a lie would be far too complex for children of a young age to conceive and uphold. On a more bizarre note, the older children told Hind they thought they were being communicated to by the ‘man’ and his stare, which warned them that the planet’s natural beauty and resources were being ravaged and polluted beyond repair. “Those thoughts came from the man, the man’s eyes” a shaken 12 year old told Hind. A drawing one of the pupils produced can be seen above.

On the 5th of November, 1979, Robert Taylor, a forester employed by the Livingston Development Corporation, left his house at 10.30am to check on some saplings he had planted at Dechmont Law, a secluded ,forested hill just off the M8 motorway. Accompanied by his dog, he parked his pickup truck at the beginning of a forest trail and preceded the rest of the way on foot. Turning a corner and coming onto a forest clearing, Taylor was greeted by an unbelievable spectacle. Suspended in mid air was a silent and motionless spherical object, which he recalled measuring around 20ft across by 12ft high. Made of a material he likened to black sand paper, a row of small circular windows ran around the centre of the object. A ring also protruded along the same course, sitting just below the portholes. Parts of the object were transparent and seemed to morph, which gave Taylor the impression the object was trying to make itself invisible, or had the capability to do so. As he went to walk toward the object, two smaller spheres covered in metal rods (which reminded him of old navy mines) ejected from the primary object and began to roll towards him. Attaching themselves to each of his trouser legs, they emitted an acrid, stifling smell which made him gag for air and lose consciousness.

He awoke to find himself face down in the grass, with the UFO long gone and his dog running around barking wildly. Attempting to summon the dog he realized he had lost his voice, and, trying to rise to his feet, he came to the horrible realization he couldn’t stand or walk either. Crawling and staggering back in the direction of his truck, he regained the functions in his legs and voice, but accidentally ditched his truck in wet mud after trying to drive in such a dazed and shaken state. He stumbled and lurched home, and upon arrival his wife thought he had been assaulted as he stood swaying in their doorway: his face grazed, his trousers badly torn and his clothes caked in mud. She called the police and an investigation revealed some interesting facts. The section of land in which he encountered the UFO was covered in peculiar indentations, none of which matched any forestry equipment or vehicles that were being used on the Law. The tears on his trousers were forensically examined and were discovered to have been pierced by an unknown implement, with the nature of the tears determining that whatever tore his trousers had attempted to lift him in an upwards direction. Taylor never gained financially or in any other form through telling his story, which never changed from when it first came to light in the 70’s up until his death at 89, in 2007.The Livingstone case remains unsolved to this day, and is the only UFO case in the UK which has resulted in a criminal investigation. Above is an artist’s impression of what Taylor encountered.

Marconi Systems was a defense and aeronautics engineering firm, contracted by the British government to design and manufacture visionary, top of the line weapons systems and military craft. Now extinct due to its merger with British Aerospace and eventual acquisition by BAE Systems, the firm was never far from controversy and back handed scandal. During the 1980’s, reports of an unusual amount of ‘suicides’ among Marconi’s employees who worked on top secret projects gathered widespread media attention in the UK. Twenty Five engineering experts, scientists and digital communication specialists succumbed to ‘suicide’ and ‘accidents’ over a 6 year period, between 1982 and 1988. A large majority died just before their contracts with Marconi were up ,or when they were on the verge of transferring to another defense systems company. Among those the public were supposed to believe committed suicide were; Shani Warren, a 26 year old personal assistant in a biochemical subdivision of Marconi, who was found at the bottom of a lake with her legs bound, her mouth gagged, a noose around her neck and her hands tied behind her back; Richard Pugh a 37 year old digital communications expert, who was found with his feet tied, a plastic bag over his head and a rope coiled round his neck and body four times; Alistair Beckham, a 55 year old software engineer who supposedly committed suicide by going into his garden shed , connecting his body up to a series of live electrical wires and frying himself to death, and Vimal Dajhibai; a 24 year old software engineer who was in his last week of work for Marconi. His death was ruled a suicide by jumping off a suspension bridge in Bristol. Friends said he spoke of his happiness at securing a new job and saw no reason for him to end his life. The coroner ruled a needle sized puncture wound found on his buttock was caused by his fall.

Many researchers uncovered whispers that the deaths were related to revolutionary infrared radar technology being developed by the company, and the Stars Wars defense initiative, which Marconi played a significant part in, due to America’s literal colonization of British defense innovations, a situation that continues to this day. Looking at these deaths it’s clear that security was something that Marconi took very seriously, and that they were willing to go to unthinkable measures to keep its capabilities and inventions top secret. An important and strategic Marconi complex was situated in the small English town of Frimley, complete with a testing zone, a manufacturing plant and company headquarters. Given what we already know about them, if an intruder were to penetrate deep within the premises, it would rank at the top of the site security alert scale, and that’s exactly what happened in 1976, although this was no ordinary intruder. A security guard doing his patrol at night was passing through the bases’ Old House, a structure that housed the company director’s office and a treasure trove of top secret information on Britain’s Radioactive, Nuclear, Infrared, Sonar, Ballistic and Aviation capabilities.

While walking down one of these corridors, he noticed a blue light emitting from underneath one of the doors. The guard was aroused and drew his gun, as nothing but classified files in locked Cabinets was meant to be on the other side, and the only person who was authorized to be in the building was him. He burst into the room, and was met with a horrifying and epochal sight. In the corner, perched over an open filing cabinet, rifling through mountains of Top Secret documents, was none other than an Extra Terrestrial. Described as being humanoid, and wearing some form of headlight which emitted the blue glow, it quickly turned toward the guard and erased itself in a blue haze right before his eyes and disappeared. Shrieking in terror, the guard ran out of the building to a security outpost, where he informed his colleagues of his encounter and the Complex went into lock down. The following morning the guard was taken away by 2 military psychiatrists, never to be seen by anyone on the site again.

In recent years, the Varginha case has garnered just as much attention and controversy among hardcore UFO enthusiasts as Roswell has among the general public. Many attempts have been made to thoroughly investigate the case and make conclusive findings. The 2002 book ‘UFOS over Brazil’ by American UFO expert Dr Roger Leir, is the closest so far, and his interviews with military officials, hospital surgeons and a wide array of civilian witnesses will form the basis of this account. The NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) tracked an uncorrelated, unidentified object soaring above the western hemisphere on the 13th of January, 1996. It entered Brazilian airspace and the CINDACTA (acronym translates as the ‘Integrated Air Traffic Control and Air Defense Centre’) were contacted, who in turn alerted the Brazilian Army command at Tres Coracoes, giving the instruction that all wings of the Brazilian military were to be put on high alert.

Rumors of mass UFO sightings began sweeping throughout southern Brazil in the days that followed, and events made a significant development on the 20th of January, when witnesses in a rural town in the state of Minais Gerais reported seeing a ‘Submarine shaped craft’ cruising 20ft above the ground, which appeared to be damaged or malfunctioning. Moving at a rickety, slow pace and emitting some form of smoke, it was heading in the direction of Varginha. At daybreak on the 21st, strange creatures were seen wandering around the town in an incapacitated and horribly confused state. Villagers erupted into frenzy and notified the police and fire brigade, telling them the town had been overrun by monsters from Indigenous folk tales and even the Devil himself. The army was quickly contacted and according to several witnesses 2 of the creatures were captured without resistance, with one being subsequently shot dead and the other being transferred to the Hospital Humanitas to receive treatment for the injuries it sustained during the crash. The Orthopedic Surgeon Leir interviewed said he was instructed by armed officers to begin a surgical scrub and prepare to perform a fracture reduction on plainly ‘a leg’. Leir interviewed the other surgeons and assistants that attended the surgery, who all stated the operating theatre was sealed except for one entrance which was manned by armed officers, who were unaware of what was in the theatre. The flow of military officials and hospital personnel into the room was strictly monitored, with only a small essential team of staff being allowed inside. Corrective surgery was performed on a fracture of the femur of its upper thigh, with members of the Brazilian Army S-2 military intelligence division being present at the surgery.

The bipedal creature was described as being around 5ft, with massive red eyes, a thin neck and dark brown skin which looked wet but was dry to the touch. It also had 3 bony protuberances on 3 sections across its head, and from its anatomy alone its sex was indeterminable. All attempts made to communicate verbally with the creature were of no consequence and it’s wound healed completely within 24 hours. After surgery the surgeon turned to see the aliens eyes fixated upon him. He then began to feel ‘hammer- like blows’ to his head and chunks of information began to pound and cram his mind, which he described as being like ‘Thoughtgrams’. The surgeon has never revealed the full extent of what the Alien told him, but among other things it told him that it’s race felt sorry for humans, because we are largely detached from our spiritual selves and are unaware of the amazing things we can accomplish, that it’s race already have. It was then taken out of the room by the officers, along with all X-rays, documents and test results that pertained to it. The surgeon complained of headaches for the 2 weeks following the event and was reduced to a quivering wreck when telling this aspect of the story to Leir. Two days later, several witnesses saw US military cargo planes at Sao Paolo Airport, which were presumed to be collecting the crashed craft and its occupants.

The story was picked up in its most basic form by The Wall Street Journal, who ran it on their front page as a story as centrally dealing with a downed unknown object in Brazil. While some people will perceive the story as baseless and futile nonsense, there is much evidence on the contrary. Ubirajara Rodriguez, an attorney and Varginha UFO case expert obtained a copy of the death certificate of a Corporal Marco Cherez, an officer who died three weeks after he supposedly touched the creature with his bare hands. His death certificate states the cause of death as being from a ‘Toxic substance’ and an ‘Ebola Type Disease’ although the full report of his autopsy has never been revealed. In the weeks that followed the event, a surprise visit was paid to Brazil by Warren Christopher and Daniel S.Goldin who were, at the time, the US Secretary of State and Director of NASA, respectively. Leir was shown several authenticated documents concerning agreements between Brazil and America which allow ‘any material coming from space that is found in Brazil to be turned over to the government of the United States.’ To top it off there are literally hundreds of Witnesses across Varginha, from all walks of life. Police officers, school teachers, peasant farmers and government employees: they are all united under the belief that extra terrestrials crash landed in their city at the turn of 1996, and they all witnessed it with their own eyes. But if you think the case is strange, you should take a look at the explanation Major Eduardo Calza gives as the cause of all this UFO hysteria surrounding Varginha. ‘It was an expectant Dwarf couple and a mentally handicapped dwarf’ he told investigative journalist Bruce Burgess during an interview for his documentary ‘The Brazilian Roswell’. What do you believe?