10 Claims Of Recovered Extraterrestrial Craft

There are thousands of reports of strange lights in the skies, even of close contact with apparent vehicles from other parts of the galaxy. But reports of such craft crash-landing and being recovered by our collective governments are a little more few and far between—not to mention a lot less believed.

Regardless, there are many claims of such instances where alien vehicles, technology, and even dead extraterrestrials have ended up in the possession of a select few at the very top (and dark) reaches of world governments. Here are ten of them; make of them what you will.

10 The Paradise Valley Incident
Arizona, 1947

The origins of the Paradise Valley incident are dubious to many, not least because they come mainly from UFO author Frank Scully, whose sources were questionable according to some. Others defend Scully, stating he was a genuine UFO researcher who was, on occasion, purposely fed disinformation. One of these is one-time leading UFO researcher Timothy Good, who claimed to have met a witness to the incident, Selman E. Graves, four decades after it happened.^[1]

According to Graves, in October 1947, he and several friends arrived at the home of Walt Sayler in order to participate in a preplanned hunt. Sayler would inform them that the area they had planned to hunt in was “restricted” by the military, who were conducting some kind of unknown activity. A little bemused, Graves and two of the group decided to check out some mines in the area, before meeting up with Sayler and the rest in a new destination. While at the mines, which had a view of the entire off-limits area, Graves could indeed see military activity, including many soldiers near a “large, aluminum dome” that resembled the top of an observatory.

Only when Graves read Scully’s account years later did he come to believe that the “observatory dome” was in fact a crashed UFO. According to Scully, an ex-military member of the public had alerted the military to the craft. Graves believes that person was Walt Sayler, who was a military veteran. In a (further) bizarre twist to the account, urban legend states that the crash site is now the Dreamy Draw Dam recreation area, the downed craft destroyed and covered over due its sheer size of and the military’s inability to move it covertly.

9 UFO Crashes Near Kingman Airport
Arizona, 1953

On the evening of May 21, 1953, around 13 kilometers (8 mi) to the northeast of Kingman Airport in Arizona, an unidentified craft allegedly crashed to Earth.^[2] The military quickly sealed off the area and recovered the debris, moving the wreckage to one of two military bases, either the infamous Area 51 in Nevada or Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. (Claims vary.) Government officials discreetly rounded up somewhere close to 40 scientists in various fields, and after having them sign secrecy papers, they transported them (in a windowless bus if some sources are to be believed) to where the craft, and its crew, were being housed so that they could better understand both.

According to researcher and author Preston Dennett, one such scientist, Arthur Stancil, would state to Dennett that their investigations would conclude that “the craft struck the ground at 1,200 miles per hour, but was strangely undamaged and definitely not human-made.” Stancil would further describe the object as “tear-drop shaped [ . . . ] like a streamlined cigar.” Another scientist who spoke with Dennett, Leonard Stringfield, claimed that he managed to get a look inside the crashed craft, witnessing with his own eyes “the dead body of a four foot human-like creature in a silver metallic suit.”

The incident was largely kept under wraps by the military until Frank Scully lit the fuse that would bring apparently legitimate witnesses forward to other UFO researchers.

8 The Kalahari Incident
South Africa, 1989

According to reports made by Quest International in the early 1990s, an unknown craft entered South African airspace on May 7, 1989, and was ultimately shot down by intercepting Mirage fighter jets, crashing in the Kalahari Desert near the border with Botswana.^[3] The South African military quickly retrieved the craft, noting how their electrical equipment faltered as they did so. Once the UFO was recovered, the area of the crash, some of which featured sand and rock fused together due to intense temperatures, was covered over with fresh sand and dirt to hide any disturbance.

According to leaked papers, two crew members were discovered inside the craft following the retrieval team forcing open a hatch on the shiny, silver, and smooth material of its exterior. Both of these extraterrestrials were still alive, according to the reports. Each wore a tight one-piece suit and had heads much larger and out of proportion to their otherwise thin bodies. Each being was around 122 to 152 centimeters (4′–5′) tall.

According to UFO researcher Tony Dodd, the United States would trade the South African government nuclear technology (something international law forbade them to do) in return for the crippled craft and the two alien beings. Furthermore, Dodd’s “source” claimed that a third alien being was withheld by the South African government and was unknown to the Americans. According to the source, that being was taken to Camp 13, an apparent top secret base near the Kalahari Desert.

7 ‘Empty’ Craft Recovered In The Desert
Utah, 1958

One of the many supposed government files released as part of the Sirius Disclosure Project was that of a downed UFO in a nonspecific location somewhere in the deserts of Utah.^[4] The crash happened sometime in 1958 and was recovered successfully by a military unit and was quickly determined to be of alien origin.

That is quite an assertion, given that according to the files, no alien bodies were found. That brings up several questions in itself. How did the military determine it was an “alien craft” if no extraterrestrial bodies were discovered? Did they have previous experience with such things? Was the UFO some kind of drone and simply didn’t contain any live pilots? Or, assuming the craft was intelligently guided, where had the pilots gone? Were they wandering around the Utah desert?

Regarding the actual craft, it was claimed in the files that it was a “technological marvel” and had been analyzed by the “best aerospace scientists” available, but understanding the alien object was still a goal to be realized. They did however, obtain “a large volume of technological data” from this specific recovery. What that data might be or how it might have been used is, of course, anybody’s guess.

6 The Berwyn Mountain Incident
Wales, 1974

Although the official explanation was an earthquake and a meteorite no less, the disturbance was allegedly confirmed to be a UFO encounter following the release of government UFO records almost 40 years later.^[5] Of course, many UFO researchers have conducted extensive research on the case, and between their collective accounts and the declassified files, a fuller picture of what appears to have transpired is available.

A huge explosion rang out from the Berwyn Mountains in Wales at shortly after 8:30 PM on January 23, 1974. The boom registered 3.5 on the Richter Scale, with the British Geological Survey stating the disturbance was “likely” an earthquake. Local residents weren’t so sure.

Margaret Fry, respected UFO researcher, spent considerable time at the scene as it unfolded. She spoke to many locals, all of whom reported hearing a loud explosion that made the ground shake. Very few accepted the earthquake theory. One of them, a nurse named Pat Evans, was driving near the area of the apparent impact that evening. She recalled seeing a pulsating orange glow on the hillside and stated “It had to be a UFO of some sorts!”

Fry would also tell of speaking to local hotel and bar managers in the days following the incident. One particular hotel manager spoke of an influx of American military personnel to the area and of the woodlands near the site being completely sealed off.

In his book Alien Investigator, Tony Dodd revealed a conversation he had with a whistle-blower who claimed to have transported “live alien beings” sealed in advanced chemical containers to Porton Down, well-known to some in the UFO and conspiracy fields who believe such otherworldly beings reside within the walls of the facility.

5 Aztec Crash
New Mexico, 1948

The supposed UFO crash in Aztec, New Mexico, on March 25, 1948, was considered to be a complete fabrication for decades, even by many in the UFO community. The account—another incident that traces its roots back to the controversial Frank Scully—tells of a crippled craft recovered by the US military and moved to various bases over a two-week period. (Such was the size of it.) Perhaps most controversial (or bizarre, depending on your perspective) are the claims that up to 16 dead alien bodies were said to have been discovered (and transported) from the crash site.

The incident has been examined by various researchers over the years, and apparent “further supportive” evidence to the original account would result in the 2015 book The Aztec UFO Incident, by Scott and Suzanne Ramsey and Dr. Frank Thayer.^[6] Not only did they present recently (at the time) declassified intelligence documents supporting the claims but also numerous witnesses who all repeated the same thing: They were required, often under duress, to sign secrecy waivers concerning what they had witnessed.

4 Strange Creature Discovered In Gdynia
(Soviet) Poland, 1959

In early 1959 in Cold War–era Poland (then under the control of the Soviet Union), a strange “radiant object” was seen falling to Earth by several witnesses, appearing to vanish in the dark waters of the harbor.^[7]

Reports were made, and while the Polish Navy did discover an apparent piece of wreckage, which was sent for further study, nothing else was found. The area around the harbor was nonetheless placed under military guard. This was still the case several days later, when a “strange silhouette” was reported dragging itself from the water and lying, exhausted and weakened, on the sand.

According to reports, “the man” didn’t speak any known language, and he appeared to have suffered severe burns to his face. His body was covered by some kind of uniform. When he was further examined at a local hospital, doctors could not remove the clothing, as there were no obvious zips or fasteners, and the material, while thin and soft to the touch, was as strong as metal.

Accounts differ as to the exact details of how the man came to his end and whether he was indeed from another world, but it appears he did die shortly after his discovery. Assuming for one moment that the account is true, the remains of the being are said to be somewhere in an underground bunker under the streets of Moscow.

3 Laredo Crash
Texas, 1948

According to reports in the book Fallen Angel—UFO Crash Near Laredo, Texas, by Noe Torres, two fully armed US military aircraft gave chase to a large “silver-disc shaped” craft of unknown origin, before witnessing the apparently otherworldly object go crashing into the ground near Laredo, Texas, on July 7, 1948.^[8]

The military would soon seal off the area, and a special “retrieval team” was sent to obtain the crippled spaceship so that it might be inspected in secret. According to Torres, the UFO was taken to a secret military base in San Antonio. Further adding to the overall mystery and fascination of the account was that the “badly burned body of a non-human entity” was also taken into the possession of the US military.

Although there were persistent rumors of the encounter, both in the UFO community and locally in Laredo, it was not until the late 1970s that the story began to gain nationwide attention when, amid the sudden popularity of UFOs and aliens in pop culture, various UFO magazines began to pick up on the incident, consequently bringing forth “whistle-blowers” who would confirm the event.

2 Battle Between UFOs
Russia, 1989

An absolute plethora of UFO sightings occurred behind the Iron Curtain in the Cold War days. However, many of them were not reported until after the fall of the Berlin Wall (often many years after they happened). Given the fact that the Soviet regime most often told their citizens that such sightings were the work of the “evil United States” (and so much disinformation ensued), perhaps such reports need an extra pinch of salt. That being said, an incident that is claimed to have happened on September 16, 1989, is too intriguing for most UFO enthusiasts to ignore.^[9]

On this evening, not only did an otherworldly craft fall to Earth, but a full-on “alien battle” ensued beforehand. Over the port of Zaostrovka on the River Kama, several “silver disc” UFOs attacked a different “darker coloured craft,” firing “beams of light” at it, forcing it to crash in a military training ground. Dozens of people apparently saw the battle, and all electricity in the area ceased to work.

The crashed UFO was guarded in the swampland it had fallen into until late November, when the cold weather froze the swamps and allowed Soviet troops to investigate further. All that is known is that the four troops who were sent to investigate the craft soon became “extremely ill” with suspected radiation sickness, and the area was consequently sealed off.

1 The Varginha Incident
Brazil, 1996

Shortly after midnight on January 20, 1996, reports of a strange, glowing craft “crashing to the ground” were received by authorities in Varginha, Brazil.^[10] Unknown to residents at the time was that the Brazilian military was also tracking a UFO entering their airspace.

As bizarre as these events undoubtedly were, even weirder were the reports that emergency departments began receiving of a “strange creature” roaming around the area. Originally treating the reports as a hoax or prank, the authorities (or those representing them) were said to be as surprised as the locals when they came face-to-face with the “dazed and confused” otherworldly being.

The extraterrestrial was quickly captured and held before the Brazilian military took possession of it. From there, the trail goes cold, and those suspected of having performed studies and eventual autopsies on the creature deny any involvement. Whether intentionally or not, the incident is now widely regarded as a hoax.