A UFO Abduction in Japan

by Charles Lear

From Japan comes a case originally investigated by renowned Japanese researcher Kinichi Arai. This writer was unable to locate any sources other than blogs written about the case many years later, but it’s worth sharing.

According to the account on the site Great Plains Paranormal (reader mode is strongly suggested) at around 3:00 a.m. on April 6, 1974, Hokkaido farmer, Yoshihiro Fujiwara, was awakened by a loud knocking on his door, and the barking and howling of his dog. He opened the door and almost collided with a three-meter-tall creature (another account describes it as being 3 feet tall) wearing a transparent vinyl suit.

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French Hairy Dwarves and Whatzits

Chapter 7 In Charles Lear’s Book

While 1954 in America was mostly about the saucers, that year in France was more about the occupants, also known as “humanoids.” It was then that French researcher Aimé Michel came to international prominence as he investigated, collected data, and tried to unravel the mystery. A young Jaques Vallée first became interested in flying saucers at this time. He was later inspired by Michel’s work and went on to achieve prominence as a respected and influential figure in the field.

On September 10, 1954, 34-year-old Quarouble resident Marius Dewilde reported an incident to the local police that received extensive press coverage, not only in France, but worldwide. According to Dewilde, at 10:30 p.m. he was sitting in his house, located next to some railroad tracks, when his dog, Kiki, started barking outside. Equipped with a flashlight, he went to investigate.

Outside, he noticed a large object, which he assumed was a harvest cart, six meters from his front door. He then saw two figures on a nearby path that was often used by smugglers. He pointed his flashlight at them, and there was a reflection on what seemed to be a glass helmet with a head inside. He only got a quick look, but the head seemed especially large. He estimated the figures were both about a meter in height. Read more

A UFO and Humanoids Reported in Canada

by Charles Lear

From Canada comes a case that stands out for the large number of UFO occupants said to have been seen by the witnesses, the amount of time the witnesses reportedly observed them, the trace evidence observed by the investigators, and a visit by two men in black.

The case is described in the November 1974 Mutual UFO Network publication Skylook. The investigators are listed as Jean Roy, P.H. Blaquiere, Marc Leduc, and Wido Holville. The report on which the article, titled “Robot Occupants Report,” was based was written by Holville.

According to the article, at around 1:30 a.m. on June 25, 1974, Mr. L. (the witnesses’ names are withheld) was watching television in his mobile home in St. Cyrille de Wendover, Province Quebec, Canada. He heard a noise like something falling on the ground outside and went to look out a window to see what might have caused it. He lifted a curtain and saw a reddish-orange object hovering over the field to the northeast of his home. It was round and so brightly illuminated that he couldn’t look at it for long.

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A UFO Captured by Children in Japan?

by Charles Lear

Keikuo Fujimoto holding replica

Capturing a UFO in a photo or video is the goal of many UFO enthusiasts, but wouldn’t it be great to physically capture a UFO and examine it? From Japan comes the story of a group of young boys who claimed to have done just that. According to them, it was a small hat-shaped object that eventually managed to escape from them, but not before they were able to make some detailed drawings of it. The story made international news and is still discussed today. Japanese researcher, Otakupapa, wrote a well-researched six-part series about the case titled, “Amazing Japanese Boys Who Captured a Small UFO in 1972,” and published on his site, otakupapa.net.

The story as told by Otakupapa begins with a report by eighth grade middle school student Michio Seo that at around sunset on August 25, 1972, he had seen a small, strange object flying around a rice field. According to him, it would move instantly from one position to another as if it were teleporting.

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Violent UFO Encounters in Brazil

There are many UFO reports that involve injuries to witnesses. A particularly dramatic case from Hobbs, New Mexico, in 1964 involved an eight-year-old boy named Charles who was reportedly burned by a black, top-shaped UFO. While his face swelled up to where his nose reportedly disappeared, he felt no pain. Injury reports come from all over the world, but Brazil seems to have had more than its fair share. Bob Pratt, a UFO investigator who had a long career as a journalist that included a stint as the head of the UFO desk at the National Enquirer, traveled extensively in Brazil and collected UFO and occupant reports that have a common thread of violence to the witnesses.

Pratt wrote a book titled, UFO Danger Zone: Terror and Death in Brazil – Where Next?, that was published in 1996. In his acknowledgements, he thanks the many Brazilian citizens and investigators who helped him. In his introduction, he describes making over ten visits to Brazil between May 1978 and July 1993. He lists the elements peculiarly common in Brazilian reports, including: the sudden appearance of a UFO over a witness’s head followed by “a burst of sunlight” and a subsequent chase by the UFO as the witness runs, attempts to pull the witness up into the UFO using an unseen source and sometimes grappling hooks, and UFO occupants dropping hot liquids on the witnesses to make them let go of whatever they might have grabbed in an attempt to resist being taken away. Read more

UFOs and Creatures Reported in Varginha, Brazil

by Charles Lear

Brazil has a unique place in UFO history, not only for the abundance of high-strangeness UFO reports that come from that region, but also for the fact that people have been reportedly injured and have even died as a result of their alleged encounters. One such case comes from the Brazilian city of Varginha. In this case, not only is there a report of a witness dying, there are also reports that one, and maybe more, extraterrestrials ended their days here on Earth.

Bob Pratt, a UFO researcher who manned the National Enquirer’s UFO desk for a period and covered South American UFO reports extensively, presented a narrative summary of the case in his 1996 book, UFO Danger Zone: Terror and Death in Brazil – Where Next? He was in Brazil shortly after the events and his summary is based on witness accounts and reports from the primary investigators. Read more

A UFO and Creature Report From Kofu, Japan: Part 2

by Charles Lear

Landing Site

In last week’s blog, we took a look at a case from Kofu, Japan, that involved two seven-year-old boys, Masato Kono and Katushiro Yamahata, who reported seeing a saucer-shaped UFO and its occupants in a vineyard in 1975. The creatures were described as having brown heads with pinky-sized, horizontal wrinkles where a face would be; three silver, metallic, two-inch fang-like features where a mouth would be; and two rabbit-like ears with a hole in the middle of each one. One of the creatures confronted the boys and emitted a noise like a sped-up tape recorder in what seemed to be an attempt to communicate. They ran away to Kono’s home where their parents were having dinner and they excitedly told their story. Kono’s mother thought they had made it up as an excuse for being late, but the boys insisted it was true and pleaded with their mothers to go with them and see for themselves. The boys would soon be forgiven for being late and would become the center of attention for many interested parties.

Masako Kono and Hanae Yamahata followed their boys out to a road on the west side of the Hinode Complex where the Konos lived. With them were Hanae’s one-year-old son and four-year-old daughter. From there, they had a view of the vineyard where the boys said they’d seen the saucer and the creatures. Read more

A UFO and Creature Encounter Report From Kofu, Japan

by Charles Lear

In 1975, two seven-year-old boys in Kofu, Japan, reported an encounter with a flying saucer and its occupants. They were taken seriously, and an investigation revealed not only other witnesses, but also physical evidence to back up their story. The case was re-examined almost 40 years later by investigators from the Space Phenomena Observatory Center, and in their opinion, still holds up. A report was given to the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization and the Center for UFO Studies by Matsushito Hayashi of the Japan Space Phenomena Association. Both organizations provided summaries (APRO here on page 5; and CUFOS here on page 13) in their publications. A two-part article using extensive Japanese sources was written by Otakupapa. It is titled Kofu Incident: A Creepy Alien Got Off a UFO and Tapped a Japanese Boy on the Shoulder and is posted on otakupapa.net.

According to the article, on Sunday, February 23, 1975, Masato Kono and Katushiro Yamahata were roller-skating on a concrete slab in a vacant lot at around 6:30 p.m. Looking up, they saw two lights moving towards them from the east. According to the version of events in one of Otakupapa’s sources (Kubota, Hachiro UFO to Uchu (UFOs & Space) June 1975, NO.12, 8-17, Universe Publishing Co.), the lights were seen by the boys to be orange objects as they got closer. At this point the boys could see that the objects were circular with three spinning structures on the bottom. The boys’ descriptions of the objects are very much like the “classic” Adamski-type saucer. According to writer Hiroshi Minamiyama (Otakupapa’s other source for this moment in the story) only one object came over to the boys while the other one flew off.

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A UFO Abduction in Cergy-Pontoise?

by Charles Lear

On November 26, 1979, police in the French agglomeration community of Cergy-Pontoise received a strange missing person report from two distressed young men. According to Jean-Pierre Prévost and Salomon N’Diaye, their friend, Franck Fontaine, disappeared after a ball of light that was accompanied by three or four luminous spheres engulfed the car he was in. This resulted in not only an investigation by the police but also GEPAN (Groupe d’Études des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés), the unit of CNES (Centre National D’études Spatiales) tasked with dealing with UFO reports.

According to an article on the case titled L’Affaire de Cergy-Pontoise, posted on rrO.org, Fontaine, 18, Prévost and N’Diaye, both 25, were loading a Ford station wagon with jeans they were going to try and sell at Gisors market. They saw a light heading towards the ground at a “not too fast speed.” Fontaine drove towards where he thought it might have made impact after telling the other two to meet him there. Prévost and N’Diaye went back to their nearby apartments, N’Diaye to get a camera and Prévost to get another load of jeans. Read more

PART II: A Multiple Witness UFO Abduction

by Charles Lear

Filiberto Cárdenas

In last week’s blog, we wrote about an incident involving Filiberto Cárdenas, a Cuban exile living in Hialeah, Florida. Cárdenas was reportedly seen by his friend and his friend’s wife and daughter to float up in a beam of light into some sort of craft that then flew off. Two hours later, he was found 16 miles away on his hands and knees in the middle of the road. He was taken to a hospital and tested for radiation. The tests came up negative, but he experienced mysterious symptoms including an excessive thirst, shaking hands, and a sulfurous body odor. While this case might have been held up as an argument for the reality of the alien abduction phenomenon, it is rarely discussed and is overshadowed by more famous cases such as that involving Travis Walton. A possible reason for this is that Cárdenas, and then his wife, reported experiences that were similar to those of contactees, who have often been discounted by many in the UFO research community. Read more