10. Tehran UFO Incident
On September 19, 1976, Iranian air force commanders in Tehran received civilian reports of strange lights in the sky. With no Iranian aircraft airborne, a general ordered interceptors after confirming the sighting. Lieutenant Parviz Jafari, piloting an F-4 Phantom, visually identified a flashing spherical object. As he approached, a smaller object detached. When Jafari attempted to fire a missile, his aircraft lost all power, which was restored only after he dove away. He then observed another object detach and descend to the desert below.
The following day, investigators found nothing at the purported landing site. They traced a beeping signal to a nearby house, discovering only a small transponder. Skeptics propose the light was the planet Jupiter, notoriously bright. They also note the F-4's known electrical issues and suggest the beeper may have fallen from a U.S. C-141 aircraft during turbulent flight over nearby mountains.
9. Fukuoka Incident
The year 1948 featured significant military UFO encounters, notably the Fukuoka incident involving a radar-equipped F-61 Black Widow night fighter over Japan. The crew detected an unidentified object on radar and attempted an intercept. Each time they closed within gun range, the object demonstrated remarkable performance—accelerating from 200 to 1,200 mph, making sharp maneuvers, and repeatedly evading them. During the final approach, the crew visually described it as a bullet-shaped, stubby craft about 20-30 feet long with no other discernible features.
This event is considered one of the first uses of airborne radar to track a UFO, though ground radars did not detect it. While its strange appearance is cited by UFO believers, it is noteworthy that a crew member compared the object to a captured German Me-163 rocket fighter, which the US Air Force possessed at the time.
8. Gorman Dogfight
In 1948, veteran U.S. Air Force pilot George Gorman engaged in a dramatic aerial encounter with a UFO over Fargo, North Dakota. After intercepting a radar contact, Gorman pursued a flashing ball of light in his P-51. The object outsped him but turned tightly, prompting Gorman to attempt a cutting maneuver. Suddenly, it veered straight toward him, missing his aircraft by mere hundreds of feet before climbing beyond reach. Ground controllers and a nearby Piper Cub pilot witnessed the event.
Known as the Gorman Dogfight, it remains a classic UFO case. The Air Force later attributed the incident to a weather balloon launched just before Gorman took off—a explanation that divided even UFO researchers. While some accept this official account, others note that multiple eyewitnesses corroborated the encounter, leaving the case unresolved.
7. Mantell Incident
In 1948, pilot Thomas Mantell died while pursuing an unidentified object near Fort Knox. After ground controllers reported a stationary bright object, four P-51s were dispatched. Mantell broke away and climbed steeply, but his aircraft later spiraled down and crashed. The official Air Force investigation concluded he likely lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen at high altitude and that the object was Venus, noting the other pilots saw nothing clear.
However, UFO proponents disputed this. Witnesses claimed to see a solid object, not Venus. Astronomers noted Venus was only 33 degrees above the horizon, not in Mantell's flight path. The Air Force later suggested a weather balloon, but no launches were recorded. Skeptics maintain the explanation is insufficient, and many believe an unidentified aerial object led to the pilot's death.
6. Torres UFO Encounter
In 1957, U.S. Air Force pilot Milton Torres was scrambled from England in an F-86D Sabre to intercept a UFO tracked on radar. Controllers ordered him to maintain full afterburner—an unusual command at maximum speed—and later instructed him to fire his rockets at the target once visual. As Torres closed in, the object appeared as a blurred circle before abruptly accelerating away, vanishing from both his radar and ground scopes.
Deeply shaken, Torres was approached after his next mission by a man in civilian clothes who questioned him in private. His squadron commander then forbade him from ever discussing the incident, citing national security. Torres remained silent until 1988, when he finally disclosed the encounter, despite never understanding why the secrecy was lifted.
5. Portage County UFO Chase
In 1966, Ohio police officers Dale Spaur and Barney Neff witnessed a bright, disk-shaped UFO descend and hover near them while investigating an abandoned vehicle. After reporting it, they pursued the object with permission, eventually crossing into Pennsylvania where other officers joined. During the half-hour chase, fighter jets appeared overhead. As the jets approached, the UFO suddenly shot straight upward at incredible speed.
The U.S. Air Force later dismissed the incident as officers first seeing a satellite, then chasing the planet Venus. They also denied scrambling any jets. Despite the official explanation, the case remains notable because officer Neff reportedly exhibited PTSD-like symptoms afterward—a reaction researchers find unusual for someone who supposedly just followed a planet.
4. The Disappearance Of Felix Moncla And Robert Wilson
On November 23, 1953, Lieutenants Felix Moncla and Robert Wilson took off from Kinross Air Force Base to intercept an unidentified radar contact near the Wisconsin-Canada border. As their F-89 Scorpion closed in, ground radar showed the jet merging with the object before the blip vanished, leaving only the unknown contact. Despite search efforts, no wreckage or remains were found. The U.S. Air Force concluded Moncla had crashed after chasing a stray Canadian airliner—a claim denied by all Canadian airlines.
The incident fueled UFO theories, especially since the aircraft was never recovered. In 2006, a group called the Great Lakes Diving Company claimed to have found the F-89 wreckage along with images of a mysterious object it allegedly struck. However, the photos were soon debunked as fabrications, and the diving company vanished, leaving the case officially unresolved and shrouded in speculation.
3. Rajasthan UFO Downing
While most UFO encounters are relegated to past decades, a modern incident occurred on January 26, 2016. Indian Air Force radar detected a balloon-shaped object near the Pakistan border. An Su-30 fighter jet intercepted and shot it down, recovering five triangular metal pieces for analysis. Officials dismissed it as a Pakistani weather balloon.
Local villagers, however, reported hearing five massive explosions during the interception, audible from 5 km away and causing minor structural damage. This has fueled skepticism toward the official story. Alternative theories suggest a secret Pakistani spy craft or even a genuine UFO, drawing parallels to the 1947 Roswell incident. Dubbed "India's Roswell," the event continues to intrigue researchers.
2. Dulce Wars
Dulce, New Mexico, is a little-known town except among paranormal enthusiasts. Conspiracy theorists believe it hosts a secret underground base where aliens and humans collaborate on hybrid technology—though relations between the two have not always been friendly.
According to engineer Philip Schneider, who claimed to have worked on the base in 1979, a violent confrontation occurred when construction crews encountered tall aliens. A firefight ensued, leaving 60 humans dead and Schneider injured. Believers insist such bases exist nationwide to fight hostile aliens. While far-fetched, scholar Michael Barkun notes that Cold War-era underground ICBM facilities likely fueled these rumors, which later merged with alien conspiracies to create tales like the Dulce Wars.
1. Battle Of Los Angeles
Soon after Pearl Harbor, wartime hysteria gripped Los Angeles. Following a Japanese submarine raid on February 23, 1942, military spotters reported strange lights over the city the next night. On the night of February 24-25, a large glowing object was sighted, prompting all anti-aircraft guns to open fire. Despite intense shooting, no enemy aircraft were confirmed hit.
After the barrage, Navy Secretary Frank Knox called it a false alarm, but eyewitnesses and a photo of a disk-like object fueled controversy. Post-war, Japan denied any attack. However, declassified War Department reports cited one to five unidentified aircraft that night, contradicting the official Navy account. These inconsistencies have led UFO researchers to cite the event as an early encounter with unexplained aerial phenomena.
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