April 17, 1966: Portage Country, Ohio: When the bright light suddenly moves closer, it looks nothing like Venus … ‘It seemed to the officers this object was just looking at them’ … ‘There was no jet engine, there was no sound to this’ … Then the object makes a rapid ascent … ‘It waits for them like a cat would wait for a mouse’ … ‘Jets are scrambled to intercept this object’ … They [multiple officers] standing in the road looking at this object … as if it is taunting them … ‘Straight up in the sky’ … None recanted. Close Encounters s2e3: Aliens in the Swamp
March 14th 1965: James Flynn heads deep into the Florida Everglades in his swampmobile … ‘While he’s looking for his dogs he sees a yellow light’ … ‘This object keeps coming in and out of sight’ … ‘He heads towards this object’ … ‘Riveted panels all over this thing’ … ‘The beams of light shoots straight out of the craft’ … ‘He described it as being hit with a sledgehammer’… When James Flynn came too, he was physically blind … He began to regain some sight … He recovers in hospital; he is visited by Air Force officials. ibid.
They find the burn marks still visible on the ground. ibid.
August 12th 1977, Colares Islands, northern Brazil: Off the coast of Brazil friends gather after a day’s work … Strange menacing lights have been reported all over the island … ‘He sees a fiery ball of light coming his way’ … ‘It was as if they were being struck by light beams; these people were being zapped’ … ‘The balls just turned and went away’ … Strange marks were left on people’s bodies. This is a community under seige. Close Encounters s2e4: Fire in the Sky
‘A ball of light is inside the house; suddenly, this thing is in there with him.’ ibid. Nick Pope
‘Hundreds of people were victims of the Chupa Chupa.’ ibid. comment
‘She [community doctor] has not only heard about this, she is a witness herself.’ ibid. Nick Pope
Over the course of 4 months in 1977, some 9,000 inhabitants of Colares, 90% of the population, fled the island in fear never to return. ibid.
Farmer Charlie Brew and his son Trevor, 15th February 1963, Moe, Victoria, Australia: ‘A whirring wind noise’ … Charlie looks outside seaching for the source of the noise … ‘Flying in towards the farm’ … ‘Roundish in shape’ … ‘The object is moving towards Charlie’ … ‘No ordinary object’ … ‘Rotating in an anti-clockwide direction … directly in front him’ … ‘Gone back out of view into the low cloud cover’ … ibid.
Minot Air Force Base: At one of America’s most high-security Air Force bases the night shift begins for a nuclear missile maintenance crew. Close Encounters s2e5: Nuclear Nightmare
O’Connor decides to check it out for himself. The light moves towards one of the missile sites … Then the mysterious object appears on the radar screen. A nuclear weapons security team responds to the distress call … ‘The guys in the B-52 are seeing a second object’ … An investigation is launched. ibid.
During the height of the Cold War, UFOs were reported at 4 other nuclear bases. ibid.
26th June 1959, Boianai, Papua New Guinea: ‘Father Gill was the Anglican missionary’ … Father Gill has been busy documenting strange sightings that the locals believe to be ships from another world … It doesn’t act like any conventional plane … ‘It came down closer’ … And then the mysterious object disappears … This time the sighting is much closer … ‘They see a figure on the craft; it was getting closer to them’ … ‘The object moved away then shot across the bay … ‘The same object back again’ … ‘There were four figures on the stop of the craft’ … ‘One of the figures waved back’ … The ship hovers silently as if waiting for further contact … ‘Imitating the movement of the flashlight backwards and forwards’ … And then the show comes to a stop. ibid.
25 witnesses sign Father Gill’s report. ibid.
September 27th 2000, Challis, Idaho, USA: After a long day of hunting, the brothers head back to their campsite empty-handed. They join their best friend Rob who has been busy getting dinner ready. Close Encounters s2e6: Hunting Season
Right above them … ‘He sees this object … triangular with rounded edges’ … The lights continue to get brighter … ‘He described the way the object moved off as incredibly smooth, just glided.’ ibid.
August 16th 1954, Antananarivo, Madagascar: ‘This thing moved over their heads and across the city’ … The strange object streaks directly over the open-air market … ‘Suddenly not moving’ … ‘Circles around and comes towards them’ … ‘A few hundred metres at most above their heads.’ ibid.
Texas: ‘Things get a little strange: the engine stalls, the lights go out’ … ‘headed right at them’ … The object is directly above the stalled truck … The object seems to seek him out … The object rockets into the sky. Close Encounters s2e7
‘Almost a dozen reports come into the sheriff’s office.’ ibid.
The UFO storm of 1957 … Witnesses throughout the American south-west reported some 118 sightings in the month of November. ibid.
November 9th 1979, Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland: Forestry worker Robert Taylor is carrying out an inspection of the property under his care as he does every morning. ibid.
‘A small clearing. … the distortion disappears and he can make out a clear object. It’s like nothing he’s ever seen before in his life … It’s a broadly circular-shaped object with a kind of rim around it … Two smaller objects seem to emerge somehow … come hurtling towards him across the ground, and as the spike hit the ground a kind of popping sound. Robert tried to run but at that point the two smaller object basically attach themselves to his legs, the spikes were digging into his trousers … some noxious gas … dragging him back towards the main object … He is being attacked. And at that point he passed out …’ ibid. Nick Pope
‘He did found some strange markings.’ ibid.
A forensic analysis of Robert’s trousers finds tears in the fabric from bottom to top. ibid.
The marks in the dirt are still visible when police investigate. ibid.
October 1985, Barra Velha, Guaxupe, Brazil: The men are all too aware of the terrifying local legends surrounding these strange balls of light known as the Mother of God. Close Encounters s2e8
August 29th 1967, Oka, Quebec, Canada: But it’s more than just a light … ‘moving closer to the house’ … ‘Suddenly this beam of light hit him in the face’ … ‘The object was still there but it took on a completely different appearance’ … And the object gets ready for take-off … ibid.
March 20th 1966, Dexter, Michigan, USA: An odd light in the sky gets his [Frank] attention … ‘It slowed, then stopped above the trees’ … Officers Fitzpartrick and McFadden also see a strange object … ‘About the size of a small car perhaps’ … The object resurfaces a few hundred metres from its last position … Close Encounters s2e9
October 17th 1952, Oleron, France: Locals are confronted by a most unusual sight. Something is inching its way towards town past some of its most distringuished residents. And straight for the local college … They see a strange cylindrical-shaped object around the edge of the campus. The craft is once again on the move … and is joined by other smaller objects … The large object seems to expel something into the atmosphere … ‘The material was falling to the ground, it was solid and wispy in long strands’ … ‘It has become known as Angel Hair’ … This strange material doesn’t stick around for long. ibid.
October 31st 2004, Tinley, Chicago, USA: This isn’t the first time that TJ has seen something strange in the sky … ‘He was one of thousands of people who saw something that night’ … It appears to be on the move … It comes back into view … ‘He’s thinking this thing is as big as a house’ … ‘The object rapidly took off.’ Close Encounters s2e10
One of the Top Ten encounters caught on tape. ibid.
3rd June 2008, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA: ‘This dark cloud seemed to be moving towards him’ … ‘He could see it was clearly a structured object’ … ‘No-one else reported what he had seen’ … Cliff Taylor is still haunted by the experience. But his experience is far from over … ‘He looked out his window and there it is again’ … ‘The shape appeared hexagon from his perspective’ … ‘He estimated it at least to be 3/400 yards across’ … ibid.
Bucks County: ‘We had over 300 sightings in a short period of 3 months.’ ibid.
October 18th 1973, Mansfield, Ohio, USA: A US army helicopter crew is returning to their base in Cleveland … ‘A red light … moving parallel to them’ … ‘The light is coming right at them’ … ‘A green beam bathed the whole inside of the cabin’ … They feel like they are just hovering ... ‘Suddenly everthing is operating the way it’s supposed to.’ Close Encounters s2e11
Yorkshire, Burnley Road housing estate: The officer stops within 30 metres of the object … ‘He describes it as a diamond-shaped object, approximately 16 x20 feet’ … ‘almost completely silent’ … ‘He tries his portable radio’ … ‘a blinding light’ … ‘His next conscious memory is he is suddenly a hundred metres, a hundred yards, further up the road’ … As he looks around him, the object is gone ... Nearly an hour of lost time. ibid.
‘Within the circle it was much drier than the outside.’ ibid.
September 3rd 1965, Exeter, New Hampshire, USA: ‘He’s [Norman] alone on the road when he sees something incredible’ … ‘a large red low UFO’ … ‘that very suddenly comes towards him’ … ‘He dives to the ground’ … ‘He sees it is moving off’ … ‘They drive him to the police station’ … ‘He would have two UFO experiences in the same night’ … ‘Suddenly, they could hear the sound of the animals going crazy’ … ‘Officer Bertrand was not expecting to see what he saw’ … ‘Officer Bertrand actually draws his gun’ … The object begins to retreat … ‘Officer Hunt, he shows up in his squad car.’ Close Encounters s2e12
For Norman, the sighting takes its toll. ibid.
Aberrance en Provence: He [Renato] looked up into the sky and saw an oval-shaped object’ … ‘coming rather rapidly toward him!’ … Renato takes cover … Whatever this object is, it’s right in his own backyard … ‘He had a pretty good view of the object’ … ibid.
‘They found two concentric circles … They immediately took soil and vegetation samples … Plant matter taken from the landing spot shows a significant reduction in chlorophyll levels as if the plants had aged with unnatural speed; this effect is consistent with exposure to radiation … ‘This temperature is consistent with microwave radiation.’ ibid.
January 8th 2008, near Stephenville, Texas: ‘Mike notices four very bright lights coming out of the north-east’ … ‘comparable to about six football fields’ … The lights get incredibly bright … The lights change again … ‘Suddenly, it zips off’ … ‘F-16s are trailing after it with afterburners on’ … Close Encounters s2e13
November 1968, Aix en Provence, France: Suddenly, the objects are on the move … ‘They merge into one’ … The single craft is now less than fifteen metres from the house … ‘Suddenly, the craft is gone.’ ibid.
February 21st 1973, Piedmont, Missouri, USA [viz also Mississippi]: ‘What they see, maybe 200 yards away at the most, is an object hovering very low over the field; they see four specific lights’ … Close Encounters s2e14
The Piedmont UFO Flap of 1973. Local authorities receive more than 500 reports of possible UFO sightings. ibid.
August 15th 1968 Nova Scotia, Canada: ‘So now there’s six or seven objects’ … ‘There was no sound’ … Then things take a strange turn … ‘The object seemed to move towards them’ … ‘The lights seemed to divebomb the car’ … Richard swerves to try to avoid the collision … ‘This object passes directly over the car’ … ‘The observer was someone who had good skills in identifying aircraft … [and] we have three witnesses, not one.’ ibid.