15 Most Chilling UFO Sightings Ever Recorded
Updated: Jul. 25, 2024
If you're a skeptic, these UFO sightings will convince you the truth is out there—and it may not be from Earth
Eerie UFO sightings we can’t 100% explain
UFOs (and all the weirdness that comes with them) are in the news again after a whistleblower testified to Congress that the U.S. government has secretly been collecting and reverse-engineering UFOs for decades. Another shocking bit of testimony from this hearing: Nonhuman “biologics” were collected from some UFOs as part of this highly classified program. While these allegations haven’t been proven true, they’ve thrust UFO sightings and aliens back into the national spotlight, with the public asking one of humanity’s biggest and oldest questions: Are we alone in the universe?
Everyone has an opinion when it comes to extraterrestrial life. Some think these alien tales are bogus conspiracy theories, some are open to speculation and others are entirely taken with these mysteries of the universe, cameras poised and tinfoil hats at the ready. Whether you’re a believer or a skeptic, UFO sightings bring out a little wonder (and a little fear!) in all of us. Take a look at these stories of UFO sightings and alien encounters, and make of them what you will. Most important, keep looking to the sky.
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Katrina and her friends
Henderson, Nevada, 2024
One of the latest UFO sightings happened on May 31, 2024. According to TMZ, Katrina and her friends were enjoying a night out in Henderson, Nevada, when something extraordinary caught their attention. At around 10 p.m., they spotted a bright, round light shimmering in the sky. TMZ acquired a video showing this mysterious object moving in a diagonal pattern before shifting up and down. At one point, a plane zooms past, but it never gets too close to the potential UFO.
John Shepherd and the lights
Kensington, Prince Edward Island, Canada, 2014
During another recent UFO sighting, which took place on June 4, 2014, John Sheppard was camping near Kensington, Canada, at the Twin Shores campground. Late that evening, as he was extinguishing a bonfire, he noticed several lights dancing in the sky over the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Sheppard captured 22 minutes of this unusual sighting on his cellphone and sent the footage to the Mutual UFO Network of Canada (MUFON), a nonprofit organization focused on studying UFOs. This incident was later listed as one of the top 10 MUFON sightings of 2014.
The Betty and Barney Hill case
Rural New Hampshire, 1961
This may just be one of the most famous UFO sightings and alien abduction cases in history. Betty and Barney Hill were driving on a rural New Hampshire road one night when a bright light seemed to start following them. When they eventually got home, it was daylight, their clothes were dirty and ripped, their watches had stopped working—and they couldn’t remember a thing. During sessions with a psychiatrist, they later recalled being probed and violated by aliens during an abduction. The case was investigated by Project Blue Book and inspired several movies and documentaries.
Barbara Lamb and the lizard man
Claremont, California, 2006
A woman named Barbara Lamb, a psychotherapist who observed crop circles, claimed that a reptilian figure appeared in her house one day, reports Vanity Fair. He was tall and had piercing yellow eyes, she said. While Lamb was normally not fond of snakes and lizards, the reptile appeared friendly and welcoming, so she reached out to touch his hand. Then the lizard man vanished as suddenly as he had appeared. Sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, right?
Zimbabwe children and the end of the world
Ruwa, Zimbabwe, 1994
In September 1994, several UFOs allegedly hovered near a school in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, reports Vanity Fair. The children who observed these UFOs were terrified when they were asked to explain what had happened. They described beings with big heads, no noses (just two holes), no mouths and long black hair. The children said they were dressed in dark suits and communicated telepathically. “I think it’s about something that’s going to happen,” said one little girl. “What I thought was maybe the world’s going to end. They were telling us the world’s going to end. I don’t even know. It just popped up in my head. He never said anything. He talked just with his eyes.”
The Rendlesham Forest Incident
Suffolk, England, 1980
Known as “Britain’s Roswell,” the Rendlesham Forest Incident is one of the most famous UFO sightings ever reported. The reason? The witnesses involved in the December 1980 event were U.S. military personnel and considered highly credible witnesses. They reported seeing an alien aircraft zoom through the forest. When they went to check it out, it seemed as though strange hieroglyphics were written all over the craft. It turns out that this was most likely a prank played on the U.S. soldiers by the British military.
The O’Hare International Airport saucer
Chicago, 2006
On Nov. 7, 2006, United Flight 446 was about to depart from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport when a dozen United Airlines employees spotted an odd metallic craft hovering over the gate. The employees reported that it hung in the air for several minutes before finally shooting into the clouds at breakneck speed. The strangest part? The UFO did not register on the airport’s radar, despite all the witnesses. The FAA declined to investigate, chalking up the alleged UFO sighting to a “weather phenomenon.”
The Melbourne 350
Melbourne, Australia, 1966
This is another tale of a UFO sighting that could inspire the next great science fiction book. Around 350 students and teachers of Westall High School in Melbourne, Australia, saw an unbelievable sight on April 6, 1966, shares the New York Post. They were all looking incredulously at five planes that were attempting to corner and capture a UFO. This went on for a while before the UFO zipped away, out of sight. It is reported that the headmaster of the school and even strange men in black suits told the students and teachers never to say anything about it, even though it was witnessed by hundreds of people.
The Broad Haven Primary School drawings
Broad Haven, Wales, 1977
The BBC reports that in 1977, a group of children from Broad Haven Primary School claimed to have seen a UFO near their playground. The teachers of the school refused to believe them, but when the children were separated and asked to draw pictures of the experience, they all came up with the same drawing of a flying saucer. An interesting fact, indeed.
The Frederick Valentich disappearance
Bass Strait, Australia, 1978
Australian pilot Frederick Valentich was flying over the Bass Strait when he encountered something he couldn’t identify, according to an Australian news source. He got on his radio to notify air traffic control that there was a strange vessel, the likes of which he had never seen before, circling him, as if taunting him. “It is hovering, and it is not an aircraft,” were the last words Valentich said before he and his plane disappeared forever.
Fred Crisman and Harold Dahl
Maury Island, Washington, 1947
In 1947, Harold Dahl was out on Puget Sound with his son and his dog. History.com recounts that Dahl saw six strange aircraft overhead, one of which fell an estimated 1,500 feet out of the sky and into the water below. The metal debris hurt his son and killed his dog. Dahl told his supervisor at work, Fred Crisman, what had happened, and Crisman came and verified it for himself. Soon afterward, a man in a black suit supposedly came to Dahl and warned him not to speak of the incident again—it is said that this UFO sighting inspired the action movie Men in Black.
The Pentagon sighting
Arlington, Virginia, 1952
A 1952 incident in which seven unidentified objects appeared over secure airspace near the Pentagon was captured on film. The crafts were registered on radar, and jets were immediately sent to investigate these suspicious, strange objects. However, when the American jets approached that airspace, the seven objects disappeared from radar. When the jets landed, the objects returned to the radar screen once more.
President Harry S. Truman was notified, and Air Force Intelligence Director General John Samford held a press conference, saying that there were reports “made by credible observers of relatively incredible things. It’s this group of observations that we are attempting to resolve.” There was no resolution, which seems to be the case with many UFO sightings.
The Muscarello Exeter incident
Exeter, New Hampshire, 1965
A hitchhiker named Norman Muscarello saw five strange red, flashing lights in the woods. As TV station WMUR recounts, the source of the lights suddenly came toward him at a frightening speed. Muscarello dove into a ditch to avoid being hit before flagging down a motorist. The police investigated the area, and they saw an aircraft with the same bright red lights speed off out of sight. Today, the event is celebrated with a yearly Exeter UFO Festival.
Steven Allen and the jumbo UFO
Stephenville, Texas, 2008
Years ago, an unfathomably large aircraft hovered above Stephenville, Texas. Many people in the community saw it, and according to NPR, a pilot named Steven Allen reported that the unusual aircraft was flying at an estimated 3,000 miles per hour and being chased by fighter jets. People also claimed the UFO was “bigger than a Walmart” and totally silent as it flew through the air.
Richard French and the drowned UFOs
Coast of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, 1950s
In the 1950s, Lieutenant Colonel Richard French’s job was to explain away UFO phenomena to the government. There was only one problem: Lt. Col. French saw alien ships with his own eyes, reports the Daily Mail.
At a Citizen Hearing on Disclosure in 2013, the then-83-year-old French told the truth for the first time about what he saw as a young man in the waters of St. John’s, Newfoundland: two UFOs that had crashed and sunk … and aliens trying to fix them. They succeeded and took off. He didn’t mention UFOs in his report at the time.
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Sources:
- TMZ: “UFO Allegedly Filmed in Nevada … Shimmers, Dips & Disappears”
- CBC: “UFO sighting in P.E.I. backed by national group”
- CBS News: “UFO hearing key takeaways: What a whistleblower told Congress about UAP”
- History.com: “How Betty and Barney Hill’s Alien Abduction Story Defined the Genre”
- Vanity Fair: “Alien Nation: Have Humans Been Abducted by Extraterrestrials?”
- BBC: “Rendlesham Forest UFO: Are we any closer to the truth 40 years on?”
- Telegraph: “Historic British UFO mystery was ‘prank played on US air force by SAS'”
- NPR: “UFO Is Reported at O’Hare; Feds Are Silent”
Originally Published: June 29, 2020
