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by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

In the late 1960s, Dr. J. Allen Hynek was a key figure in getting members of the scientific community to take flying saucers/UFOs seriously. He was a prominent astronomer who was involved in the mystery at the very beginning as a consultant for the Air Force’s investigation, which operated for most of its existence as Project Blue Book until its termination in 1969. He was born in Chicago in 1910 and worked and lived in Ohio from 1935 until he became chair of the astronomy department at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, in 1960. In 1973, he founded the Center for UFO Studies, which was based in Chicago. Then, in 1984, after spending his entire life in the Midwest, he rather suddenly moved with his family from Chicago to Scottsdale, Arizona. In this blog, we’ll explore what was going on behind the scenes. Read more →

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by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

In August 1979, a case out of Minnesota that was chock full of trace evidence, including physical effects displayed by the witness in the aftermath, was investigated by Allen Hendry for the Center for UFO Studies. The incident and the related activity are described two days afterwards in the August 29, 1979, edition of the local Warren, Minnesota, Sheaf.

According to the article (page 8 of the pdf) headlined “Deputy Johnson Stunned by UFO Monday Morning,” Marshall County Deputy Sheriff Val Johnson was in his patrol car about 11 miles west of Stephen, Minnesota, headed south on TH 220 just before 1:30 am when he saw a bright light about a mile away, hovering over the road. Thinking it might be an aircraft in distress, he sped up.

As he did so, the light came towards him, and as it filled the interior of the car, he heard the sound of glass breaking. He lost consciousness and remembered nothing of about 40 minutes after that. The Warren Sheriff’s office received a 1088 (officer in distress) from Johnson at 2:19 am, and he is described as having sounded rational but disoriented. When he was asked about his situation he said, “Something just hit my car – strange. Something attacked my car – brakes locked up. I don’t know what is going on.” He was asked if he needed an ambulance and replied, “I don’t think so. I don’t think I’m leaking blood. My eyes hurt.” Read more →

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by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

This is the last of a three-part series of blogs covering the case of an Italian security guard (with the company Val Bisagno), Piero Fortunato Zanfretta, who reported a number of encounters with UFOs and their occupants.  After the first incident, he described in conscious recall being confronted by “an enormous green, ugly and frightful creature, with undulating skin, no less than ten feet tall.” Under hypnosis the story came out that he was taken up into a craft where he was interrogated and examined by as many as ten creatures “about 10 feet tall, with hairy green skin, yellow triangular eyes and red veins across the forehead” with metal strips over their mouths. He said they told him they were from the “third galaxy,” wanted to talk to the people of Earth, and would return soon in greater numbers. Italian journalist Rino Di Stefano became interested in the case, stuck with it, and wrote a book about it titled The Zanfretta Case, first published in Italian in 1984 and then in English in 2014. The reader can refer to his website promoting the book for most of the information. What makes this case unique is that there is corroborating evidence in the form of possible landing traces, giant footprints, witness testimony from his co-workers, and observations made during the investigation by the Italian military police known there as the Carabinieri. Read more →

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by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

In last week’s blog, we looked at the first two UFO and occupant encounters reported by Italian security guard Piero Fortunato Zanfretta. The case was investigated by the Carabinieri (Italian Military Police) and evidence was found in the form of possible landing traces in the first and second instances with the addition of huge footprints in the second. In conscious recall, Zanfretta described encountering “an enormous green, ugly and frightful creature, with undulating skin, no less than ten feet tall.” Under hypnosis after the first instance, he said he was taken to a bright, hot place and examined by “monsters about 10 feet tall, with hairy green skin, yellow triangular eyes and red veins across the forehead” (he also described them having metal strips over their mouths) that told him they were from the “third galaxy,” wanted to talk to the people of Earth, and would return soon in greater numbers. Italian journalist Rino Di Stefano became interested in the case, stuck with it, and wrote a book about it titled The Zanfretta Case, first published in Italian in 1984 and then in English in 2014. The reader can refer to his website promoting the book for most of the information. Read more →

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by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

In the last couple of blogs, we looked at the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena 1978 UFO Chronology, which was unusual for the large number of humanoid reports with space suits, helmets and antennas in the descriptions. We also noted that there seemed to have been a flap in Italy in December and that one case listed that month is worthy of individual attention. The principal witness/experiencer was Piero Fortunato Zanfretta, and his story was investigated by Italian journalist Rino Di Stefano, who wrote a book about it that he published in 2014 titled The Zanfretta Case. Read more →

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by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

Ray Stanford, longtime friend of the show and longtime fixture in the UFO/flying saucer scene, passed away on June 14. In the early days of Podcast UFO, he was a regular guest and caller, and was always enthusiastic and passionate in any discussion he was engaged in. He reached out to me when I was just starting out as a blogger with both praise and caution, and in one instance, chastised me for using a picture of a saucer nest as an illustration for one reported in Westall, Australia, for which there was no picture.

Ray was born on June 21, 1938, and was a colorful and controversial figure on the scene, having started out as a contactee, along with his brother Rex. They cowrote a book together titled Look Up, which was published in 1958 when Ray was just 19. He claimed up until 1980 to be in communication with various entities via trance channeling. Books he’s written on his own have subjects ranging from aura reading (What Your Aura Tells Me, 1978) to the Socorro Incident (A Socorro “Saucer” in a Pentagon Pantry, 1976) involving the report of a landed craft and two humanoids by Socorro Police Sgt. Lonnie Zamora. This is what I wrote in a blog way back when about Ray’s involvement in that case:

A researcher and NICAP member, Ray Stanford, had arrived in Socorro after Hynek and had tried in vain to make contact with Zamora. He went to the police station on Wednesday morning and was told by the dispatcher, Mike Martinez, that Zamora was in the southern section of town. Stanford, convinced Zamora was at the landing site, asked Martinez to make a call on the radio. Chavez answered and said they wanted privacy while Hynek was investigating, but Hynek interrupted and invited Stanford to come out as long as he came alone. Read more →

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

In last week’s blog, we looked at the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena 1978 UFO Chronology and noted that there seemed to be a large number of humanoid reports where the creatures were said to be wearing silvery space suits and helmets with antennas. Towards the end of the chronology, in December, a flap seemed to be emerging in Italy, and we broke off to devote this week’s blog to that.

Out of the 27 cases in Italy listed that year (19 of which were in December), more than one involved car failure. There is a case from Giulianova, Italy, dated December 1, 1978, where a car’s entire electrical system is reported to have failed in the presence of 1.5-meter-diameter “luminous, orange and green saucer-shaped UFO” overhead. It is said to have functioned normally after the UFO flew off.

A case dated Dec. 8, 1978, from Portegrandi, Italy, involved a report by three policemen of a domed object with four windows that hovered over a roadway and “emitted rays of light,” and then shot off as they put their spotlight on it.

A case that was quite similar, dated December 9, from Reggio di Calabria, Sicily, involved policemen putting a spotlight on “a multi-colored object with intermittent flashing lights,” whereupon it reportedly shone a beam down onto their car. According to the account, when the spotlight was turned off, the beam went out. Read more →

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

While 1973 was dubbed “The Year of the Humanoids,” by David Webb in his publication for the Center for UFO Studies titled, 1973 – Year of the Humanoids, according to the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena 1978 UFO Chronology, that year had its fill as well. The compiler of this chronology was Fran Ridge, and he wrote the following as an assessment for that year:

I picked 1978 (to start with), by the way, because that’s my judgement for the year that the phenomenon generally took away the rich CE2s and old fashioned CE3s and left us with a much tougher research project. P.S. you remember 1978 was about the time when Bloecher’s Humanoid Catalog project was getting word of a puzzling rise in claims of on-board experiences, and Budd Hopkins became his understudy, collected the core cases for Missing Time, and the field soon ran away to Abduction and Strieber Land. There’s something important that happened there, but how much of it was “us” and how much of it was “them” is the mystery.

 

There are 49 humanoid reports in the 1973 chronology, 36 in the 1977, and 1978 comes in third with 27, but 1978 is a bit unique. There are commonalities throughout the descriptions of the reported humanoids, and this could also be said to be the year of silver spacesuits and helmets with antennas. Read more →

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

It has been determined by many researchers in the scientific community that during hypnosis, false memories are very likely to be generated, and distinguishing them from real memories is difficult, if not impossible without some means of confirmation. This is, for instance, the conclusion of a report for the U.S. Department of Justice by Martin T. Orne et al. titled “Hypnotically Refreshed Testimony: Enhanced Memory or Tampering with Evidence?” published January 1985 in Issues and Practices in Criminal Justice. With the above in mind, it is helpful for researchers attempting to evaluate a case when a distinction can be made between elements of the report derived from conscious recall and elements derived through the use of hypnosis. A case where this can be easily done is that of Judy Kendell of Zamora, California, thanks to a newspaper article announcing her intention to undergo hypnosis to recover around four hours of missing time, and another article in a different paper after the procedure, which was, apparently, well attended. Read more →

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by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

Pictures of UFOs have played a large part throughout the history of investigations into the mystery. The first organization to present them on a regular basis in its publication was the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, which, in 1956, upgraded from using mimeograph and started printing the APRO Bulletin, enabling the reproduction of photos with a reasonable degree of quality. While some cases, such as the one involving a series of photos taken by Rex Heflin in Tustin, California in 1965, stirred up a great deal of enduring interest, others just came and went with little fanfare. An example of the latter is a case from 1977 involving six photos taken by a young boy in Indiana which was first reported in the March 20, 1977, Indianapolis Star. In the April 1977 APRO Bulletin, the photos were reported to have been examined by APRO’s staff and two consultants and “considered to be genuine.” Read more →

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

In 2006, a report of strange creatures being encountered on a farm in North Dakota was looked into by a MUFON investigator who considered the witness to be credible. It was first covered on local radio and then picked up by the Fargo, North Dakota, Forum. The case came to the attention of Patrick Gross, who maintained the UFO Related Entities Catalog up until 2019 it seems (the year of the last update on his website), thanks to a reader who wrote him an email saying he heard about the case on KFYR Radio on October 25 and 26, 2006. The case is detailed with as many sources as Gross was able find and was entered in the catalog.

The e-mail reads as follows:

I was looking for info on a report of 2 or 3 aliens on a hog farm near Bismarck ND in or near Tappen ND attempting to take a hog, man confronted the strange people reported to be 6 to 7 feet tall and woke up some time later with a hog gone and markings of a space ship…reported on KFYR radio 10/25 and 26,2006 also several sonic booms were heard in the area.

Gross provides a transcript of the article by Dave Olson in the October 27, 2006, Fargo, North Dakota, Forum headlined “Creature Sightings Stir Talk,” which can be found on page 3 of the December 2006 UFO Newsclipping Service. Read more →

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

The 1970s saw a shift in what sorts of UFO reports newspapers would print and what UFO researchers would consider worthy of investigation. John Keel wrote an article headlined “Never Mind the Saucer! Did You See the Guys Who Were Driving?” that was published in the February 1967 issue of True magazine. According to Brent Raynes on page 4 of his article, The Keelian Perspective, Keel recalled a visit to the office of the editor at True after the article came out: “He said he had something to show me. And he waved his hand towards the corner of his office and there were about six mail bags. He said, ‘This mail is for you, Keel.’” Raynes describes there being “thousands of letters, many from people claiming UFO abduction and contact experiences, including ‘memory lapses for long periods of time.’” As Keel, and then others, such as APRO founders Jim and Coral Lorenzen, became more and more open to cases involving UFO occupants, the report by Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker that they had been taken aboard a craft in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and examined by strange creatures, hit the papers in 1973. It was taken seriously, and after that, many more UFO and creature cases would be reported, investigated, and make headlines throughout that decade. Read more →