1948: December UFO & Alien Sightings

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Date: December 1948
Location: Gumus, Nigde Turkey
Time: noon
Summary: A 15-year old shepherd boy named Behoet Ocal was eating his lunch when a bright light landed nearby on a mound of rubble. From inside the light came three beings, a woman, and two men. They were all of the same height. The woman had long hair and the men were bald. All of the extraterrestrials had a very bright object of plaque on their upper chests. They told the boy they would not harm him and said they came from another world. The woman had slanted eyes and wore a tight dress; the men had “instruments” in place of ears and implements on their belts. They said they would appear to Ocal “often” and “send me pictures.” They left the same way they arrived. Ocal claims he has been in contact with them ever since, and has devised a star map, with their aid; it depicts the center of the universe, from which all things originated, and is identified as “Kur.” He always felt a deep comfort in the presence of the aliens. But three weeks after the first encounter the same three aliens returned to meet Ocal, one of them then suddenly raised his hand and Ocal felt a strong “energy wave” hit him. He fainted and had to visit a doctor who said he was suffering from appeared to be a “strong electrical shock” and a deep sun tan.
Source: Istanbul newspaper, Hurriyet Dec 1977, UFOlar Geliyor

Date: December 1948
Location: Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Time: night
Summary: The witness reported frequent nighttime disturbances by a small “Oriental” looking creature of about 3 to 4 ft tall. The face was almost demonic. Around the same time, inanimate objects moved on their own accord in his room. He also reported being visited by small shadowy figures at night, and loud knocking on the walls and headboard. At times his hands would glow bright blue. On several occasions he also saw a bright blue figure, as well a very tall black-cloaked figure, which was witnessed by three others in the household at the same time.
Source: UFO Sightings UK

Date: December , 1948
Location: Holloman, New Mexico
Time: Night
Summary: Nocturnal lights were reported.
Source: Schoenherr, Luis

Date: Dec 3, 1948 (BBU # 257)
Location: Fairfield-Suisan AFB, California
Time: 8:15 p.m.
Summary: A silent round unidentified white light was first sighted two miles north of the tower at by two air traffic controllers. Its speed was 400 mph while approaching, but it slowed to 200 mph and finally left at 500 mph with a vertical climb. The sighting lasted 25 seconds.
Source: Project Blue Book files counted in official statistics, case # 257; Donald E. Keyhoe, Flying Saucers Are Real, p. 79; Richard Hall, The UFO Evidence, p. 130; UNICAT, case # 626

Date: December 5, 1948
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time:
Summary: More than one object was observed by military witnesses near a nuclear test site for 96 minutes.
Source: MUFON

Date: December , 1948
Location: Sandia Mtns, New Mexico
Time: Evening
Summary: Eight objects were observed at a military facility for 30 seconds (Lapaz).
Source: Ruppelt, Edward J. Report on Unidentified Flying Objects Doubleday, Garden City, 1956

Date: Dec. 5, 1948 BBU
Location: W of Las Vegas, New Mexico
Time: 9:05 p.m. (MST).
Summary: USAF pilot Capt. William Goede, copilot Major Roger Carter, and S/Sgt. flight engineer, flying a C-47 from Lowry AFB, Denver, to Williams AFB, Chandler, Ariz., at 18,000 ft saw a green fireball. 2nd green fireball sighting E of Sandia Mtns. (10 miles E of Albuquerque) at 9:27 p.m. shot up from the ground to 500 ft height. At 9:27P.M. on December 5, an Air Force C-47 transport was flying at 18,000 feet 10 miles east of Albuquerque. The pilot was a Captain Goede. Suddenly the crew, Captain Goede, his co-pilot, and his engineer were startled by a green ball of fire flashing across the sky ahead of them. It looked something like a huge meteor except that it was a bright green color and it didn’t arch downward, as meteors usually do. The green-colored ball of fire had started low, from near the eastern slopes of the Sandia Mountains, arched upward a little, then seemed to level out. And it was too big for a meteor, at least it was larger than any meteor that anyone in the C-47 had ever seen before. After a hasty discussion the crew decided that they’d better tell somebody about it, especially since they had seen an identical object twenty-two minutes before near Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Captain Goede picked up his microphone and called the control tower at Kirtland AFB and reported what he and his crew had seen. The tower relayed the message to the local intelligence people. A few minutes later the captain of Pioneer Airlines Flight 63 called Kirtland Tower. At 9:35P.M. he had also seen a green ball of fire just east of Las Vegas, New Mexico. He was on his way to Albuquerque and would make a full report when he landed. When he taxied his DC-3 up to the passenger ramp at Kirtland a few minutes later, several intelligence officers were waiting for him. He reported that at 9:35P.M. he was on a westerly heading, approaching Las Vegas from the east, when he and his co-pilot saw what they first thought was a “shooting star.” It was ahead and a little above them. But, the captain said, it took them only a split second to realize that whatever they saw was too low and had too flat a trajectory to be a meteor. As they watched, the object seemed to approach their airplane head on, changing color from orange red to green. As it became bigger and bigger, the captain said, he thought sure it was going to collide with them so he racked the DC-3 up in a tight turn. As the green ball of fire got abreast of them it began to fall toward the ground, getting dimmer and dimmer until it disappeared. Just before he swerved the DC-3, the fireball was as big, or bigger, than a full moon.

The intelligence officers asked a few more questions and went back to their office. More reports, which had been phoned in from all over northern New Mexico, were waiting for them. By morning a full-fledged investigation was under way. No matter what these green fireballs were, the military was getting a little edgy. They might be common meteorites, psychologically enlarged flares, or true UFO’s, but whatever they were they were playing around in one of the most sensitive security areas in the United States. Within 100 miles of Albuquerque were two installations that were the backbone of the atomic bomb program, Los Alamos and Sandia Base. Scattered throughout the countryside were other installations vital to the defense of the U.S.: radar stations, fighter-interceptor bases, and the other mysterious areas that had been blocked off by high chain-link fences. Since the green fireballs bore some resemblance to meteors or meteorites, the Kirtland intelligence officers called in Dr. Lincoln La Paz. Dr. La Paz said that he would be glad to help, so the officers explained the strange series of events to him. True, he said, the description of the fireballs did sound as if they might be meteorites –except for a few points. One way to be sure was to try to plot the flight path of the green fireballs the same way he had so successfully plotted the flight path of meteorites in the past. From this flight path he could determine where they would have hit the earth–if they were meteorites. They would search this area, and if they found parts of a meteorite they would have the answer to the green fireball riddle.

The fireball activity on the night of December 5 was made to order for plotting flight paths. The good reports of that night included carefully noted locations, the directions in which the green objects were seen, their heights above the horizon, and the times when they were observed. So early the next morning Dr. La Paz and a crew of intelligence officers were scouring northern New Mexico. They started out by talking to the people who had made reports but soon found out that dozens of other people had also seen the fireballs. By closely checking the time of the observations, they determined that eight separate fireballs had been seen. One was evidently more spectacular and was seen by the most people. Everyone in northern New Mexico had seen it going from west to east, so Dr. La Paz and his crew worked eastward across New Mexico to the west border of Texas, talking to dozens of people. After many sleepless hours they finally plotted where it should have struck the earth. They searched the area but found nothing. They went back over the area time and time again– nothing. As Dr. La Paz later told me, this was the first time that he seriously doubted the green fireballs were meteorites. Within a few more days the fireballs were appearing almost nightly.
Source: Sparks; FOIA

Date: Dec. 5, 1948 BBU
Location: NW of Las Vegas near Montezuma Mission, New Mexico
Time: 9:35 p.m.
Summary: Pioneer Airlines Flight 63 pilot Ernest Van Lloyd and copilot James Smith saw a pale green (later said to be white or whitish-orange) fireball with pale green trail at 9:35 p.m. coming head on, while flying W on 272° heading at 9,000 ft in a C-47, attempted evasive action but object dropped close to ground level. () few secs
Source: FOIA

Date: December 6, 1948
Location: Stocksjo, Sweden
Time:
Summary: An object was observed. Electromagnetic effects were noted. Animal reactions to the object were reported. One object was observed by one witness (Burman). A noise was heard.
Source: Rehn, Karl Gosta

Date: Dec. 6, 1948 BBU
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Time: 10:55 p.m.
Summary: AESS officer Joseph Toulouse driving W saw a green fireball almost directly overhead above Sandia Base nuclear weapons assembly site, slightly to the NW arching slightly downward from E to W, about 1/3 full moon, with a flaming tail.
Source: FOIA

Date: December 7 & 8, 1948
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time:
Summary: More than one object was observed by military witnesses near a nuclear test site.
Source: MUFON

Date: Dec. 8, 1948 BBU
Location: About 20 miles E of Las Vegas, New Mexico
Time: 6:33 p.m.
Summary: 2 AFOSI Special Agents, Capts. Melvin E. Neef and John J. Stahl, Jr., returning from investigation of green fireballs in a Beech T-7, heading E at 90° and 190 mph at 11,500 ft altitude and 5,000 ft above ground, saw green fireball 30° to the left of their flight path, to the ENE at 60° azimuth, at an estimated 2,000 ft above their flight altitude of 13,500 ft., which shot past them maintaining almost level flight until the end to the WSW at 240° azimuth when it seemed to burn out and drop suddenly with reddish-orange glowing fragments which lasted less than 1 sec. Later aerial search of the ground site in daylight found nothing.
Source: FOIA

Date: Dec. 8, 1948 BBU
Location: Chanute AFB, Illinois.
Time:
Summary:
Source: McDonald list; FUFOR Index

Date: December 8, 1948
Location: Hallowell, Sanford & Augusta, Maine
Time: Dusk
Summary: A meteor-like object was observed. One object was observed by several witnesses briefly.
Source: Newspaper

Date: Dec. 9, 1948 BBU
Location: Near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Time:
Summary:
Source:

Date: December 11, 1948
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time:
Summary: More than one object was observed by military witnesses near a nuclear test site.
Source: MUFON

Date: December 12, 1948
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time:
Summary: Silent green fireball seen by Dr. La Paz; not meteor
Source: Dolan, Richard M. UFO’s and the National Security State: An Unclassified History Volume One: 1941-1973 Keyhole Publishing Company, Rochester, 2000

Date: Dec. 12, 1948 BBU
Location: Starvation Peak near Bernal, New Mexico
Time: 9:02 p.m. ±0.5 min (MST).
Summary: Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, USAF Capt. Charles L. Phillips, and CAP intelligence officer Lt. Allan B. Clark, returning from green fireball investigations while looking to the NW saw a green fireball at least stellar magnitude of -4 traveling E to W low above the horizon about 3°-4° elevation in almost perfectly level flight until the last 0.1 to 0.2 sec when it slightly curved downward, disintegrating into 3-4 pieces, no sound. Based on independent witness, an AESS guard at Los Alamos, LaPaz triangulated object’s flight path at about 8-10 miles height along a 25-mile path, speed 39,000 to 43,000 mph.
Source: FOIA

Date: Dec. 17, 1948 BBU
Location: N Ambridge, Pa.
Time: 1:30 a.m.
Summary: 2 witnesses in the railyard, a train conductor Hildebrand and the yardmaster Werner [?], saw a formation of 8 white luminescent rotating spherical objects, like wheels revolving around hubs, approaching from the N high above horizon, 45° elevation, headed S, just before reaching overhead they made a controlled dive and a sharp 90° right turn to the W, with the topmost object leading the others, fading from view while still high above horizon. 30 secs
Source: FOIA; FUFOR Index

Date: December 18, 1948
Location: Great Falls, Montana
Time:
Summary: Two objects were observed by one witness (Doakes).
Source: Doubt Magazine

Date: Dec. 20, 1948 BBU
Location: W of Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time:
Summary: AESS observation post sighted green fireball with a triangulated 7-8-mile W to E flight path calculated by LaPaz based on another independent observation at a different site.
Source: FOIA

Date: December 24, 1948
Location: Ouchy Lausanne, Switzerland
Time: 07:13
Summary: A flying disc was observed. One disc was observed by one witness.
Source: Gillieron, UFO-DOC

Date: Dec. 28, 1948
Location: Los Alamos, NM
Time:
Summary:
Source:

Date: December 30, 1948
Location: Atoka, Oklahoma
Time: 16:00
Summary: An object was observed from a car. One object, about 1 foot across, was observed in clear weather by one experienced male witness for a few seconds (Tinnin).
Source: Herb, Gert

Date: Dec. 30, 1948 BBU
Location: Sweden.
Time:
Summary:
Source: McDonald list

Date: late December 1948
Location: Colonia Santa Ana, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Time: 0100A
Summary: The witness had gotten up in order to use the outside commode when he noticed an area of diffused light next to a nearby wooden fence. The whitish foggy light began taking the form of a woman wearing a white robe like outfit. Her facial features were not clearly seen, but she had long black beautiful hair. Frightened the witness asked the figure who she was. In apparent response the figure raised one of her arms and the witness that always carried a loaded gun, fired his weapon directly at the stranger, which suddenly vanished in plain sight. He walked over to where the figure had been and could not find any footprints or trace of her.
Source: Eduardo Mendoza Palacios

Date: Late December , 1948
Location: Mojave Desert, California
Time:
Summary: Crashed Disc incident. Trace remnants. An object was observed. Metallic traces found. One disc was observed by several witnesses at an airport.
Source: MUFON

Date: 1948 / 1949: Sunrise Beach, Missouri Sighting

Date: December 1948
Location:
Time:
Summary:
Source: