UFO and UAP cases with physical traces

39 well-documented UFO/UAP encounters backed by physical traces, 1897 to 2023: 15 disputed, 13 unresolved, 6 explained, 5 identified. Each case has its sources, timeline and the official or best explanation.

39 cases

• Aurora, Texas airship "crash" 17 April 1897 · Aurora, Wise County, Texas EXPLAINED
• Tunguska explosion 30 June 1908 · Podkamennaya Tunguska River basin, Central Siberia EXPLAINED
• The Trinity crash story 16 August 1945 · The Padilla ranch near San Antonio, New Mexico, north-west of the Trinity test site DISPUTED
• Ängelholm landing report 18 May 1946 · Kronoskogen, Ängelholm, Sweden DISPUTED
• Ghost rockets — Lake Kölmjärv 19 July 1946 · Lake Kölmjärv, Norrbotten, Sweden UNRESOLVED
• Maury Island incident 21 June 1947 · Maury Island, Puget Sound, Washington EXPLAINED
• Roswell debris recovery 8 July 1947 · Foster homestead near Corona, New Mexico EXPLAINED
• The Florida scoutmaster — burned, and called a hoax 19 August 1952 · Palmetto scrub off a back road inland from West Palm Beach, Florida DISPUTED
• Oloron-Sainte-Marie "angel hair" 17 October 1952 · Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques DISPUTED
• Quarouble railway encounter — Marius Dewilde 10 September 1954 · Quarouble, near Valenciennes, Nord, France UNRESOLVED
• Florence stadium sighting 27 October 1954 · Stadio Comunale (Artemio Franchi), Florence DISPUTED
• Ubatuba magnesium fragments 14 September 1957 · Ubatuba, São Paulo, Brazil DISPUTED
• Trancas — lights over the Moreno farm 21 October 1963 · Finca of the Moreno family beside the Belgrano railway, Trancas, Tucumán UNRESOLVED
• Socorro landing (Lonnie Zamora) 24 April 1964 · Socorro, New Mexico UNRESOLVED
• Valensole landing 1 July 1965 · Lavender field, Valensole, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence UNRESOLVED
• Tully "saucer nest" 19 January 1966 · Horseshoe Lagoon near Tully, Queensland DISPUTED
• Westall school sighting 6 April 1966 · Westall High School, Clayton South, Melbourne DISPUTED
• The lead masks of Vintém Hill 17 August 1966 · Morro do Vintém, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro DISPUTED
• Falcon Lake incident 20 May 1967 · Falcon Lake, Whiteshell Provincial Park, Manitoba DISPUTED
• Cussac — two children and four small black beings 29 August 1967 · Cussac, Cantal, Auvergne, France UNRESOLVED
• Six “flying saucers” across southern England (hoax) 4 September 1967 · A line of six sites from the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, to Clevedon, Somerset IDENTIFIED
• Shag Harbour crash-landing 4 October 1967 · Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia UNRESOLVED
• Delphos ring 2 November 1971 · Delphos, Kansas UNRESOLVED
• The Betz mystery sphere 27 March 1974 · Fort George Island, Jacksonville, Florida EXPLAINED
• Langenburg rings 1 September 1974 · Langenburg, Saskatchewan UNRESOLVED
• Zanfretta — the Torriglia night patrol 6 December 1978 · Marzano di Torriglia, Genoa, Italy DISPUTED
• Val Johnson — deputy's patrol car struck by a light 27 August 1979 · Near Stephen, Marshall County, Minnesota DISPUTED
• Dechmont Law — Robert Taylor 9 November 1979 · Dechmont Law, Livingston, West Lothian UNRESOLVED
• Todmorden — PC Alan Godfrey 29 November 1980 · Burnley Road, Todmorden, West Yorkshire UNRESOLVED
• Rendlesham Forest 26 December 1980 · Rendlesham Forest, outside RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk DISPUTED
• Trans-en-Provence landing trace 8 January 1981 · Trans-en-Provence, Var UNRESOLVED
• Dalnegorsk “Height 611” crash 29 January 1986 · Dalnegorsk, Primorsky Krai, Russia DISPUTED
• Knowles family encounter 20 January 1988 · Nullarbor Plain, between Madura and Mundrabilla, Western Australia UNRESOLVED
• Voronezh park landing 27 September 1989 · Voronezh, RSFSR (Russia) DISPUTED
• Crop circles — Doug Bower and Dave Chorley own up 9 September 1991 · The fields of Hampshire and Wiltshire; their first circles near Cheesefoot Head, Winchester IDENTIFIED
• Chelyabinsk meteor — and the “UFO that shot it down” 15 February 2013 · Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia; the air burst south of Chelyabinsk EXPLAINED
• Lights over Seattle and Portland — a Falcon 9 stage re-entering 25 March 2021 · Over western Oregon and Washington; debris in Grant County, Washington IDENTIFIED
• Chinese surveillance balloon 28 January 2023 · Aleutians → Montana → Carolina coast IDENTIFIED
• The “Nazca mummies” shown to Mexico’s Congress 12 September 2023 · Chamber of Deputies, San Lázaro, Mexico City (the figures came from the Nazca area of Peru) IDENTIFIED

By evidence

• Official government documents 158
• Many independent witnesses 135
• Military witnesses 74
• Pilot and aircrew witnesses 57
• Photographs 55
• Video footage 53
• Radar tracking 48
• Police witnesses 36
• Infrared or other sensor data 21
• Audio recordings or radio transcripts 15
• Reported electromagnetic effects 13
• Documented physiological effects 11
• Motion-picture film 6