List of UFO sightings

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This is a list of UFO sightings, organized by decade. It documents notable reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), a term historically used to label alien vehicles, reconnaissance craft, alien drones, or deep-black project craft developed by humans. Some cases involve non-human beings or direct interactions with beings, while others have been linked to advanced secret space program craft, sometimes with alleged alien technological assistance.

For simplicity and historical continuity, the term "UFO" may be used throughout this article, even though what were once called UFOs are now often understood to be specific types of vehicles such as alien transmedium vehicles, or classified military craft. Each entry provides a summary of the event, focusing on the sighting of the craft or aerial phenonemon. Separate articles, such as List of in-person interactions with nonhuman intelligent beings and list of UFO crash retrievals and the UFO retrieval programs, cover related topics like alleged interactions and crash recoveries.

1940s

• June 24, 1947 - Private pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine crescent-shaped objects flying at high speed near Mount Rainier, Washington, leading to the coining of the term "flying saucer."
• July 8, 1947 - A crashed object near Roswell, New Mexico, later known as the Roswell incident, was initially described as a "flying disc" by the U.S. Army, but later explained as a weather balloon.
• January 7, 1948 - Captain Thomas Mantell died while pursuing a large metallic object over Fort Knox, Kentucky.

1950s

• July 19, 1952 - A series of sightings, known as the Washington, D.C. UFO incident, involved bright objects flying over Washington, D.C., and being detected on radar, prompting widespread media coverage and official investigations.
• November 2, 1957 - Motorists in Levelland, Texas, reported their vehicles stalling after encountering a glowing, egg-shaped craft, which was investigated by Project Blue Book.

1960s

• May or June 1966 - The crew of the USS Tiru (SS-416) reported seeing a metallic, football-field-sized object tumbling between the ocean and the sky near Hawaii.
• March 24, 1967 - At Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, a glowing red object hovered near a nuclear missile silo, with witnesses claiming that the base's missiles temporarily became non-operational.

1970s

• October 11, 1973 - Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker were fishing on the Pascagoula River in Mississippi when they claimed to have been abducted by gray, wrinkled beings with claw-like hands. The craft was described as a glowing, oval-shaped object.
• December 31, 1978 - The crew of an airplane flying over the Kaikoura Ranges in New Zealand filmed and reported strange, glowing lights that were also tracked on radar. The lights were described as spherical and intensely bright.

1980s

• December 26-28, 1980 - U.S. Air Force personnel stationed near RAF Woodbridge in England reported seeing strange lights and a metallic craft in the Rendlesham Forest, often referred to as "Britain's Roswell."
• November 11, 1987 - Fishermen off the coast of Puerto Rico claimed to see a large, disc-shaped craft submerging into the ocean and causing intense water turbulence.

1990s

• March 13, 1997 - Hundreds of witnesses in Phoenix, Arizona, and surrounding areas observed the Phoenix Lights, a series of lights in a V-formation moving silently across the sky. The craft appeared massive, with some estimating its size to be over a mile wide.
• September 16, 1994 - Dozens of schoolchildren in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, reported seeing a disc-shaped craft land near their schoolyard and humanoid beings exit the craft, with witnesses describing telepathic communication.