Forum members list your top 10 Best UFO Cases

[Unky]

Go look over at The Paracast TV thread, there are links Youtube clips some of the cases presented in Paul Kimball's excellent "Best Evidence" documentary, such as the Kelly Johnson sighting, the Skylab III case (w/photo) and more. Each and every one of them is golden.

I thought it would be interesting to expand this to a list rather than a single case or event because I believe it's a better reflection of where people's heads are at. I would ask forum members who wish to participate to list their top 10 best UFO cases. The cases they consider to be the most evidential. I'd like to cross reference some of the member results with what Paul has put together and see where consensus lies.

My list is:
Colares; Northern Brazil, 1977
Minot Air Force Base; North Dakota, 1967
Malmstrom Air Force Base; Montana, 1967
RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge; Suffolk UK, 1980
JAL-1628 Alaska, 1986
Minot Air Force Base, B-52; North Dakota, 1968
Shag Harbor; Nova Scotia, 1967
Iran; F-4, 1976
Delphos; Kansas, 1971
Varginha; Brazil, 1996

 

[Trajanus]

Roswell 1947
Mantell 1948
Kinross 1953
Kelly KY 1955
Hills 1961
Socorro NM 1964
Coyne 1973
Colares 1977
Cash-Landrum 1980
Phoenix lights 1997

 

[Hoffmeister]

Hm... well i'd have to think about it for longer to give a definitive answer, and I cant be arsed to find all the dates but some ones that spring to mind:
Belgian Ufo case in the early 90's (easily the best imo)
The RB47 case (see best evidence)
Bentwaters
The kelly johnson case
Malmstrom with Bob Salas
The one from out of the blue with that Bob whatshisname where the ufo shoots down the test rocket
The tehran incident
Pheonix lights
Hudson valley


There are quite a few others that i like, with the scariest one being the Frederick Valentich one, although now i'm starting to think that he just landed his plane somewhere and started a new life.

 

[Siani]

In no particular order of preference:

1976 Tehran UFO
Colares
Rendlesham
Socorro/Lonnie Zamora case
Battle of Los Angeles
Malmstrom AFB case
Kaikoura Lights incident
1986 Japan Airlines case
Belgian UFO wave 1989-90
O'Hare Airport UFO

 

[Trajanus]

The one from out of the blue with that Bob whatshisname where the ufo shoots down the test rocket

Big sur '64?

There are quite a few others that i like, with the scariest one being the Frederick Valentich one, although now i'm starting to think that he just landed his plane somewhere and started a new life.

But he wasn't the first. Did Moncla ever turn up somrwhere after starting a new life? And didn't somebody see Valentich's plane going down?

 

[atomic_annie]

Thanks for starting up this thread Unky! I'm still very much in the process of ranking those UFO cases that seem the most evidential to me and I'm paying attention to those cases that members here have been putting in their top ten -- but so far, the Colares case is the one that completely blows my mind so, in my book, it's #1.

 

[Trajanus]

O'Hare Airport UFO

Well publicized but not very spectacular. One unusual old one, involving many witnesses, is Canary Islands 1976.

 

[Hoffmeister]

Big sur '64?




But he wasn't the first. Did Moncla ever turn up somrwhere after starting a new life? And didn't somebody see Valentich's plane going down?

Yes some peolple claimed they saw his plane go down followed by a green light, but people also said they saw a light airplane making a landing on a nearby island so I just figured there are two options:
1. He hoaxed his own death for some reason and landed his plane on a nearby island as told by those witnesses, while the witnesses that saw his plane crashed were just making it up or confused..
2. His plane was brought down by an Alien spacecraft and the witnesses that saw the plane make a landing were either confused or making it up

Based on those options I take the 1st to be more likely, although there are lots of contradictions in the story that could throw it either way.


I'm suprised so many people are putting the soccorro case in their top 10 best evidence. I mean, apart from the testimony of one man there was very little evidence of anything paranormal. Sure there were marks in the ground etc but those could have been caused by any number of things

 

[Trajanus]

He hoaxed his own death for some reason and landed his plane on a nearby island as told by those witnesses

AFAIK investigators haven't determined a motive for that. Also, he reported an unusual craft near him before disappearing. Even if he had a good motive to fake his death, surely there was a better way than to invoke UFOs. Why not just say he was experiencing engine trouble?

I'm suprised so many people are putting the soccorro case in their top 10 best evidence. I mean, apart from the testimony of one man

Yeah but he was a cop--an authority figure--probably better than the bulk of potential witnesses--and one in good standing.

there was very little evidence of anything paranormal. Sure there were marks in the ground etc but those could have been caused by any number of things

Lorenzen reported small footprints. And somebody--Fowler?--wrote a book Socorro Saucer in a Pentagon Pantry or some such, in which he claimed bits of metal from the scene had indications of unearthly origin, but the material was put under wraps.

 

[Unky]

I'm suprised so many people are putting the soccorro case in their top 10 best evidence. I mean, apart from the testimony of one man there was very little evidence of anything paranormal. Sure there were marks in the ground etc but those could have been caused by any number of things

Yeah I noticed that as well. I personally tried to employ a strict criteria for my choices avoiding single witness cases, triangle sightings, abductions, .....all things I put stock in, but because of the controversy I omitted them from my list of cases I feel are the most evidential.

I think Soccorro was a good case. It was big with NICAP and some of the old timers in ufology took the case very seriously. As a result, it appears on a lot their top ten lists.

 

[Paul Kimball]

My own personal list:

1. RB47, southern USA - 1957
2. Minot AFB, North Dakota - 1967
3. JAL 1628, Alaska - 1986
4. Tehran fighter case, Iran - 1976
5. Belgian F-16 encounter, Belgium - March 1990
6. Coyne helicopter case, Ohio - 1973
7. Kelly Johnson sighting, California - 1953
8. Malmstrom AFB, Montana - 1967
9. Michalak close encounter, Falcon Lake, Manitoba - 1967
10. Rendlesham, United Kingdom - 1980

 

[Hoffmeister]

AFAIK investigators haven't determined a motive for that. Also, he reported an unusual craft near him before disappearing. Even if he had a good motive to fake his death, surely there was a better way than to invoke UFOs. Why not just say he was experiencing engine trouble?

All very good points, and like I said, there is a lot of evidence about it both ways. I'm not saying I definately dont think there is anything to it, just that at the moment I am 51/49 against anything paranormal

Yeah but he was a cop--an authority figure--probably better than the bulk of potential witnesses--and one in good standing.

True, but its still not true evidence so to speak. It always amazes me in the UFO field how people take the word of someone who is in a position of authority so seriously. Not to say I think he definately made it up, but i dont think one has to look far to find cases of policemen, military personel, and even presidents lying and making stuff up. Just cause someone is a policeman, doesnt mean they dont have their own problems, their own insecurities, and their own mental illnesses to come up with crazy stories.

Lorenzen reported small footprints. And somebody--Fowler?--wrote a book Socorro Saucer in a Pentagon Pantry or some such, in which he claimed bits of metal from the scene had indications of unearthly origin, but the material was put under wraps.

All i can say to this is from all the sourcesI have looked at, I have never seen any true evidence for footprints or bits of metal

 

[Hoffmeister]

9. Michalak close encounter, Falcon Lake, Manitoba - 1967

The Michalak one has always intrigued me...
Again like Frederick Valentich case, and the socorro case there is literally no evidence other than the word of the person that points to something that must be paranormal. For example he could have got the burns somewhere else.
In my heart of hearts i do believe Mr Michalak did see a geniuine UFO, but if I was taking evidence to congress i'm not sure i'd use his case.
Perhaps the only two cases in my opinion which provide true evidence that is really irefutable are the RB47 case and the belgian UFO... simply because they have such good radar evidence which shows intelligent control alongside all the other stuff

 

[Unky]

Thanks for starting up this thread Unky! I'm still very much in the process of ranking those UFO cases that seem the most evidential to me and I'm paying attention to those cases that members here have been putting in their top ten -- but so far, the Colares case is the one that completely blows my mind so, in my book, it's #1.

Mind blowing sums it up pretty well. I've made no secret of the fact that I have a strong interest in this case. For those of you that have read Richard Hall's The UFO Evidence, the illustrations made by FAB members of Operation Saucer look like decades worth of illustrations cited in his book compressed into a three month period. 'truly amazing flap.

 

[Trajanus]

i dont think one has to look far to find cases of policemen, military personel, and even presidents lying and making stuff up.

Sure, there's plenty of corruption, and some cops are "on the take." But that's diferent. They have an obvious motivation--personal gain--to do that, but why make up crazy stories ? They could lose their job for nothing.

Just cause someone is a policeman, doesnt mean they dont have their own problems, their own insecurities, and their own mental illnesses to come up with crazy stories.

I doubt they'd be hired in the first place if there were evidence of serious issues like that. AFAIK Zamora had no such problems and seemed geniunely shaken by what happened.

All i can say to this is from all the sourcesI have looked at, I have never seen any true evidence for footprints or bits of metal

Did you read Fowler or Above To Secret ?

 

[Trajanus]

The Michalak one has always intrigued me...
Again like Frederick Valentich case, and the socorro case there is literally no evidence other than the word of the person that points to something that must be paranormal. For example he could have got the burns somewhere else.

Well I don't know...he showed signs of radiation sickness, and the burns formed an unusual pattern. I agree he saw a genuine UFO.

 

[Hoffmeister]

Sure, there's plenty of corruption, and some cops are "on the take." But that's diferent. They have an obvious motivation--personal gain--to do that, but why make up crazy stories ? They could lose their job for nothing.

I doubt they'd be hired in the first place if there were evidence of serious issues like that. AFAIK Zamora had no such problems and seemed geniunely shaken by what happened.

Well you could say the same thing about Dr Greer, if he was barking about UFO contact when he was trying to get his job I doubt he would have got it, yet at some point he just turned and decided he wanted some extra attention. Now I'm not comparing Greer and Zamorra, its just that I am not very trusting of the word of one person...

Did you read Fowler or Above To Secret ?

Nope

The most convincing version of events I have heard from the Socorro incident is here:
http://www.nmsr.org/socorro.htm

I think the bloke just misidentified something terestrial.. the same as what I believe for the Roswell case.

 

[Trajanus]

Well you could say the same thing about Dr Greer, if he was barking about UFO contact when he was trying to get his job I doubt he would have got it, yet at some point he just turned and decided he wanted some extra attention

In fact he got much more than that--lots of $$ from books. He had a strong motive, but not Zamora AFAIK.

I think the bloke just misidentified something terestrial.

I've discussed that theory at length on another board. I don't buy it. If a copter was involved, Zamora--who noticed details such as the symbol on the craft--should've seen/heard the rotor, especially since he was looking down at the thing in a gully. Also, considering all the publicity, why haven't researchers come up with conclusive evidence for surveyor, like witness testimony from the two people allegedly involved or their families? It's no great secret so why hasn't anybody come forward?

 

[Rocketsauce]

With the radar reports tracked down by a civilian investigator and it being a relatively recent event, do you guys think the Stephensville case deserves to be bumped up in the rankings?

 

[Trajanus]

With the radar reports tracked down by a civilian investigator and it being a relatively recent event, do you guys think the Stephensville case deserves to be bumped up in the rankings?

OK but I wouldn't put it in the top ten. Not spectacular enough. For that, there should be a disappearance, fighting, physical evidence, humanoids or injuries.