Start with the record, not the legend.
These pages examine documented encounters across different eras and evidence types. The groupings are discovery routes rather than claims that the cases have the same explanation. Each entry points directly to its existing canonical Case File page.
Historic and foundational cases
10 case filesKenneth Arnold
Foundational pilot report and the origin of “flying saucers.”
1947 · New MexicoRoswell 1947
Recovered-debris claims, changing explanations, and the record.
1940s · World War IIFoo Fighters
Unusual lights reported by wartime aircrews.
1994 · ZimbabweAriel School
Schoolyard witnesses and a contested close-encounter account.
1917 · PortugalFátima
Mass witness event and the documentary record around it.
1952 · West VirginiaFlatwoods
A rural encounter shaped by fear, distance, and later retelling.
1955 · KentuckyKelly–Hopkinsville
A family’s prolonged nocturnal encounter report.
1966 · AustraliaWestall
A school sighting remembered through many witness accounts.
1980s–present · NorwayHessdalen Lights
Recurring lights studied through field observation and instruments.
1967 · Nova ScotiaShag Harbour
A reported object impact and the official response.
Military, radar, and government records
12 case filesNimitz Tic Tac Encounter
Carrier-group testimony, radar data, and infrared footage.
1989–1990 · BelgiumBelgian UFO Wave
Police reports, military intercepts, radar, and a compromised photograph.
1980 · United KingdomRendlesham Forest
Military witnesses, a memo, recordings, and competing explanations.
1952 · United StatesWashington, D.C. 1952
Radar returns, visual reports, and the capital response.
2019 · Gulf of OmanGulf of Oman
A modern naval encounter with sensor and witness questions.
1967 · MontanaMalmstrom Echo Flight
Missile-site reports and the question of interference.
1968 · North DakotaMinot AFB
A military sighting near a strategic weapons installation.
1975 · United StatesNorthern SAC Incursions
Security alerts and reported objects near SAC facilities.
1957 · Gulf of MexicoRB-47
An aircrew encounter involving radar and electronic signals.
1976 · IranTehran F-4
Military intercept reports and instrument anomalies.
1942 · CaliforniaLos Angeles
Wartime air-defence confusion over the city.
2015 · TexasPantex 2015
A modern report connected to a sensitive weapons facility.
Close encounters, photographs, and physical evidence
10 case filesTravis Walton
A logging crew, a missing-person case, and disputed testimony.
1961 · New HampshireBetty and Barney Hill
A landmark abduction account and its later reconstruction.
1973 · MississippiPascagoula
Two witnesses, an immediate report, and a contested encounter.
1997 · ArizonaPhoenix Lights
Two events often merged together: flares and a wide formation.
1990 · ScotlandCalvine
A long-hidden photograph and the provenance questions around it.
1979 · ScotlandRobert Taylor
A forestry worker’s report with alleged physical traces.
1965 · PennsylvaniaKecksburg
A reported object, military presence, and an enduring mystery.
1996 · BrazilVarginha
Witness accounts, military claims, and a disputed incident.
1948 · New MexicoGreen Fireballs
Military observations of luminous objects over the Southwest.
2008 · TexasStephenville
Witness reports, aircraft explanations, and a disputed sighting.