Seeing lights in the sky is perhaps one thing, even if these strange, unknown objects are witnessed close-up. However, seeing such craft with humanoid beings on board is completely another. The same can be said of closer, direct encounters with humanoid creatures presumably from another world.
There are more recorded accounts of such encounters than many people might think, ranging from standoffs with mysterious beast-like men who vanish into thin air to outright abduction by dark humanoid figures who spread nothing but feelings of menace and fear. Here are ten of the most intriguing of these alleged otherworldly encounters.
10. The Imjarvi Incident
While skiing near the village of Imjarvi, Finland, in the late afternoon of January 7, 1970, experienced skiers Aarno Heinonen and Esko Viljo each came to a stop on a glade they would regularly use to rest. As they did so, each could hear a strange buzzing sound nearby. As they scanned the darkening sky, they focused in on a strange light moving quickly toward them. The buzzing sound became louder and louder as the light came closer.
When the object came within roughly 3 meters (10 ft) of the pair, it emitted a strange “red gray mist” which cloaked the craft and its immediate surroundings entirely. As the two men looked on, a sudden, intensely bright beam of light shot out from underneath the craft.
As the two men recovered from the temporary blindness caused by the sudden light, Heinonen suddenly felt as if “someone pulled him backwards” and almost fell back to the ground. As his feet became steady once more, both men noticed “the creature” standing in the glow of the lit tube. In its grip was a strange black box, itself appearing to be illuminated from inside by a yellow glow. After a few moments, the creature, which the men would describe as humanoid adult but with the “frame of a child,” pointed the box toward Heinonen, sending red-gray mist and a flurry of sparks in his direction. As the mist’s thickness grew, so did the light, until suddenly, the craft and the humanoid were gone. Heinonen, however, found that his right leg was numb and needed assistance from his friend in returning home. He would later pass black urine.[1]
The incident is believed by many researchers to be genuine, although some of the claims made by Heinonen of interactions with “blond alien women” following the encounter were not received quite so well and ultimately damaged his credibility.
9. The Kinnula Encounters
The following year saw more humanoid sightings in Finland, this time in Kinnula.[2] On February 2, 1971, just after 8:00 PM, two women driving toward Oulu through Kinnula noticed that they were being followed by a strange light above them. The light eventually caught up to their car, which caused the driver to bring it to a halt. As she did so, the light suddenly vanished. However, where it was now stood a 90-centimeter-tall (3′) humanoid in a brown-green suit and a tight-fitting helmet. It looked at the two women before disappearing into the woods at the side of the road. Rather than pursue it, the ladies sped toward their destination.
Three days later, in the same region, two lumberjacks would witness a similar humanoid creature. Petter Aliranta and Esko Sneck decided to pack up for the day just after 3:00 PM as the snow continued to fall and looked to get heavier. As they did so, Aliranta noticed a silver disc hovering silently over a clearing in the trees.
The object would land shortly after, and a moment later, a roughly meter-tall humanoid creature emerged from the clearing. Dressed in a one-piece suit of green and wearing a helmet with a face mask similar to that of a scuba diver, the strange being started toward the two men. Sneck turned his industrial chainsaw toward it, which forced the being to retreat back toward its craft. According to the report, both men then gave chase, with Aliranta even managing to grab the creature’s heel, which resulted in a shot of pain entering his entire body. Seconds later, the silver disc, with the short humanoid back on board, lifted into the air, shot upward, and vanished.
8. The Luumaki Encounter
A third distinct humanoid sighting occurred in Finland half a decade prior to our first two entries in the summer of 1965 in the small town of Luumaki.[3] One particular afternoon, the Kuningas family were picking blueberries in the thick woodland. Parents Matti and Maria and their two children Tapani and Teuvo were the only ones in the area. It was a little after 12:00 PM, and with the entire area to themselves, they decided to spread out so that they could pick as much fruit as possible before heading home.
As the family were doing so, Matti began to hear a strange “bubbling” sound coming from above. Although it took him several moments, a scan of his surroundings revealed a “man-like” figure positioned on a rocky slope above and to the front of him. The figure looked at Matti intently for several moments before it started out in his direction. It was around 100 centimeters (3’3″) tall and of a particularly strong and robust build, with thick, orange skin. Matti watched the creature getting closer and closer, rooted to the spot, his legs refusing to respond to his desire to flee.
Once the strange beast-man was only yards away from him, however, it simply vanished into thin air. Matti spun around, surveying the woodland around him. The creature, though, was nowhere to be seen. The youngest Kuningas child, Teuvo, would later state to his parents when Matti was telling them of the incident that he had seen the creature approaching his father from the other side of the field. He also saw it simply disappear into nothing.
7. The Salzburg Abduction
According to a report in the December 1957 edition of British Columbia’s Prince George Citizen newspaper, an American soldier, while stationed in Salzburg, Austria, in the summer of 1951, was alleged to have been abducted by aliens, largely before such a phenomenon was widespread and part of human culture.[4]
The anonymous soldier worked as a driver and had just finished for the evening. He was making his way home at a little after 11:00 PM and decided to take a shortcut through some abandoned brush. As he did so, he saw a dark humanoid shape head toward him out of nowhere. The figure pointed an unseen device at the soldier, which paralyzed him immediately. The entity then fixed a strange black patch to his torso and, with the device, managed to control the soldier’s movements. It “dragged” him to a waiting craft as if with an invisible rope.
The soldier would claim to have been taken to a transparent room inside the ship, which then took off into space. He described the creature as about 152 centimeters (5′) tall, pale-skinned, and completely bald. Perhaps the most unusual aspect, though, were the eyes, which the witness likened to “that of a fly” and said were “eyes within eyes.” The soldier claimed the ship landed on a “paradise-like” planet, which he said might have been Mars. He was then flown back to Earth and taken to the spot of his abduction.
According to the newspaper article, the investigator who took the soldier’s account tried several times to lead the soldier into revealing his story to be false, but all attempts to trip him up failed.
6. The Encounter Of Filiberto Cardenas
Filiberto Cardenas was not only abducted by aliens, according to his claims and revelations through hypnotic regression only months after his 1979 encounter, but he has given several eerily accurate predictions of upcoming events.[5]
During the early evening of January 3, Filiberto was riding with his friend, Fernando, around the outskirts of Miami, Florida, in search of a pig for a barbecue. Suddenly, their vehicle lost power and came to a halt. Both men exited the vehicle and headed to the hood to see what the problem was. As they did, each could hear a humming sound coming from above them. Then they noticed the strange lights and illumination in the bodywork of the car, while at the same time realizing they were completely paralyzed.
Suddenly, Filiberto began to rise from the ground and into a bright light emanating from the craft. Then, he was gone. Fernando’s paralysis wore off just in time for him to see the craft disappear into the sky. Filiberto would turn up in the middle of a busy road two hours later, around 16 kilometers (10 mi) from where his car had come to a halt. Miami police picked him up, and after contacting his family and Fernando (who had reported Filiberto missing), he was released from their custody. Incidentally, this case is purported as the first time an official police report acknowledged that a person had disappeared as a “consequence of witnessing a UFO.”
Filiberto would seek hypnotic regression around six months later. His revelations were extremely similar to many other alleged alien abduction victims. He told of being stuck in a strange seat in a large room, held in place by a “suction device” on his back. He was subjected to several experiments and remembered several “small needles” piercing his skull. The aliens began to attempt communication with him. They would speak in several languages, adjusting a device in their hands after each one. After going through German and English, they finally settled on Spanish, which Filiberto understood.
Filiberto recalled being given information telepathically while viewing events on strange screens all around him. He would then tell of upcoming events, including a warning of a “city that is going to be destroyed [ . . . ] the capital of Mexico.” Six years later in 1985, Mexico City was struck by an earthquake that did indeed completely level part of city. He also stated that “almost all the great population centers of California will all go into the sea.” In Newsweek in March 1983, an article would tell of several coastal areas that had been lost to coastal erosion, the properties having fallen into the sea. Filiberto is also purported to have predicted the presidency of Ronald Reagan and the AIDS epidemic, among other things.
5. The Abduction Somewhere Between Columbus And Mansfield
As you might have guessed by the title of this entry, the exact details, such as the date and, indeed, the location, are uncertain. Perhaps that is because it came during an absolute wave of UFO and humanoid sightings throughout 1973, particularly the second half of the year.[6] As the witness drove along Interstate 71 in Ohio in late September, he noticed a strange light following his vehicle. He believed he blacked out shortly after spotting the light, as the next thing he knew, his location had changed, yet the car was still speeding along the road with him behind the wheel. He would gather his thoughts and continue on his journey. Only when he realized that he couldn’t account for an hour of missing time did he seek hypnotic regression.
According to his regression sessions, shortly after the strange light had appeared behind his car, he turned off the main highway and on to a lonely dirt road. He didn’t know why he was doing so. It was as if his actions were being controlled. Suddenly, he noticed “three entities” surrounding his vehicle. He then saw a large UFO descending toward them. The next thing he knew, he was on a table with the strange beings all around him. They were conducting various experiments on him and examining his body. One of them placed a device near his head, and an intensely bright flash assaulted his eyes. His next memory is of waking in his speeding car, back on the main highway.
4. The Boianai Visitants Over Papua New Guinea
Throughout the summer of 1959 in Papua New Guinea, missionary Father William Gill and many other witnesses would see strange lights in the skies.[7] For two evenings in particular, beginning on June 26, Gill, along with 37 other people, would witness the UFOs close-up. What’s more, on board these strange, otherworldly ships were four humanoid beings who acknowledged the onlookers by waving at them several times. Among the witnesses were many professionals, such as doctors and teachers, a fact which, along with Gill’s good standing and general believability, makes the case one of the most intriguing and credible.
Although the sightings had been happening for several months, this was the first time the craft had come so close so that the witnesses could make out occupants. The visitors would respond to the welcoming calls of the onlookers by waving back at them. When Gill used Morse Code with his torch, the humanoids used their lights on their craft to respond in kind.
Although many witnesses and, in turn, investigators would conclude the occupants to be of extraterrestrial origin, not least because of the ultra-futuristic craft, Gill himself would state his belief that they were human. Furthermore, he believed the craft was a secret military venture.
3. The Emilcin Encounter
Although as many people cast doubt on the incident as find it genuine, the encounter of Jan Wolski in 1978 now has a stone monument in the place of the apparent meeting between him and humanoid alien beings.[8] In fact, many in the UFO community place this encounter as the first recorded incident of an alien abduction in Poland.
On May 10, 1978, 71-year-old Jan Wolski was driving his horse and cart through the forest area near Emilcin in Poland. It was a little after 8:00 AM, and only he and his horse were on the pathway. That was until he noticed two strange humanoid figures ahead of him. If that wasn’t bizarre enough, as he went to pass these mystery entities, they “hopped” onto his wagon, positioning themselves behind Wolski, who continued forward for want of a better idea of what to do.
Each of the figures was dressed almost entirely in black and was around 152 centimeters (5′) tall. He noticed their faces and hands to be a light shade of green. He would later recall that they spoke to each other in “thin voices” in a language that was “unknown to [him].”
As Wolski came to an opening, he noticed a huge, silver-white, oblong craft “hovering the air.” He likened it to the shape of a bus and noted how it glowed in the morning sun, with no seams or joints anywhere on its exterior. He would enter the craft via a waiting lift. Once inside, one of the beings placed two strange gray discs over his body. They would turn him around so that all of his body was exposed temporarily to these discs. It is possible that these were some kind of scanning or X-ray devices. After that, without incident, the beings motioned for him to leave, which he did after wishing them goodbye with a bow—something they returned to him.
While some believe the account to be false, Wolski attained no apparent financial gain or lasting notoriety following the encounter. Ultimately, opinion remains divided regarding the Emilcin incident.
2. The 1996 Fife Incident
On the evening of September 23, 1996, in Fife, Scotland, two women and a child would witness out-of-this-world events following a last-minute trip to the shops for coffee.[9] Mary Morrison (not her real name), her visiting friend Jane, and Mary’s son Peter set off at a little after 8:00 PM. As they drove along the road, they witnessed a strange, bright light which seemed to “split in two.” As they watched from the car, a huge, triangular craft with red lights on its underside passed overhead. It soon disappeared from sight. Perplexed and shocked, they continued on to the shop.
On the return journey, however, they saw the strange craft again. This time, it came extremely close to their car, hovering overhead for several seconds. After returning home, Mary reported the incident, and then the three of them, along with Mary’s daughter Susan, headed back out at the UFO investigator’s request to see if they could spot anything more of interest. As they approached the place where they had seen the strange craft, each could see an illuminated area at the edge of a field ahead. They stopped the car and positioned themselves behind a wall in order to watch events a little more closely. They could clearly see “several thin figures” moving back and forth to a huge object on the ground. Each of the figures seemed to be carrying a cube or a box.
They would return to the scene a fourth time, this time with binoculars. As they watched the entities that “were clearly not human,” a cocoon-shaped capsule raced toward their location. Although it is not entirely clear what happened following this, initial hypnotic regression would suggest an abduction incident took place before the four people were returned to their car, which is their next clear memory following the capsule’s arrival. The incident remains unexplained.
1. The Corroborative Sighting Of Edith Boatright
Although the sighting of Edith Boatright was intriguing, and ultimately important from a corroborative standpoint, it came off the back of the Piedmont High School basketball team sighting, seen at the time to be the “main” case by UFO investigators.[10] On the cold winter evening of February 21, 1973, following a heartbreaking loss in a high school playoff game, the team coach, two staff members, and three players witnessed an intensely bright craft as they made their way home to Piedmont, Missouri, along Highway 60. They would ultimately watch the craft for several minutes from the roadside as it hovered over a field.
At the same time as their sighting, Edith Boatright was lying in bed when she noticed a strange, bright, flashing light from outside her bedroom window. Her farmhouse was around 19 kilometers (12 mi) from the Piedmont High School bus and the members of the basketball team. She peered out of the window, and to her amazement, she could see a huge craft hovering over a field. Flashing lights of red, green, and white lit up its surroundings, including the window of Edith’s bedroom. Most intriguing of all, however, was her determined claim that she could see people moving about inside the craft. She watched it, and the beings, for several minutes before the ship vanished at great speed. It is almost certain that the craft Edith witnessed was the same one the Piedmont High School basketball team members and coaches saw.
That time UFOs attacked 2,000 people who were hit by light beams
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