1913 UAP Archive — 24 cases across 12 countries, the densest pre-war single-year record to this point. Killary Harbor Ireland craft ditch with blond crew, Montana saucer tour, SS Othello searchlight targeting, and the British airship wave at peak. Three entries dated 1913 for Fatima Portugal are misdated — correct date is 1917. Sources: Yorkshire Evening Post 1913; Nigel Watson; J.J. Benitez; Peter Rogerson; Joaquim Fernandes.
1913: UFO|UAP & Alien Sightings Archive
Nineteen thirteen was the last full year before the world went to war. It was also the year that UAP and entity activity across the globe reached its densest pre-war concentration yet — twenty-four documented cases spanning Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Michigan, Kansas, Wisconsin, Saskatchewan, Montana, and South Australia, recorded across every month of the year from January through November. The British airship wave continued into its fourth year, now producing not just lights and cigars but close encounters involving searchlights actively directed at ships at sea and craft observers with visible pilots in box-shaped compartments. In Montana, two prospectors were given a tour of a 100-foot silvery saucer by small brown men who explained their propulsion system, reported keeping tabs on Earth for over a century, and said they had learned English through spies in an American circus. In Ireland, a craft ditched into Killary Harbor and two tall blond men told a witness in French to leave the area. Nineteen thirteen is the pre-war record at full stride.
The year also contains one of the archive’s most important editorial flags. Three entries on this page — dated May 17, July 17, and August 17 1913 — reference Cova de Iria, Fatima, Portugal and describe the apparition encounters documented by Joaquim Fernandes and Fina D’Armada. These entries are misdated. The Fatima apparitions began on May 13, 1917 — four years after the dates listed here. The 1913 dates do not correspond to any known Fatima-related event and appear to be a data entry error. The archive flags all three as MISDATED and recommends they be removed and re-entered under 1917 where they belong. The Barossa Council South Australia entry has a dedicated individual report page in this archive and is retained as an index node.
Date: 1913
Location: Toronto, Canada
Time: Unknown
Summary: Several office workers in watched what they concluded to be a fleet of airships passing west to east in groups. They then returned later in a scattered formation. No airships or airplanes were ever identified with this report.
Source: Not listed
Date: 1913
Location: England
Time: Unknown
Summary: Two years before Germany officially launched its Zeppelin raids on Britain and phantom airships were once again crisscrossing the night skies. A few reports gave details of multi-colored, multiple lights being seen but as in earlier years the craft usually came equipped with one powerful light.
Source: Not listed
Date: 1913
Location: Lansing, Michigan
Time: Unknown
Summary: From the Lansing State Journal, June 30, “So swiftly did the strange craft travel that it was not more than three minutes until it had passed from sight in the northwest. The aerial mystery carried no lights of any description and was too elongated for an ordinary balloon. The craft was at a great height and when it passed to the northwest of the city had reached a still higher altitude.” A sizeable crowd at a racetrack in Lansing Michigan witnessed the event.
Source: Lansing State Journal, June 30 (year not specified — likely 1913)
Date: 1913
Location: Winfield, Kansas
Time: Unknown
Summary: Nocturnal lights were reported (Shelley).
Source: Hill, H. Edward Catalog Through 1950 (in 5HHL)
Date: 1913
Location: Wisconsin
Time: Unknown
Summary: Large cigar-shaped UFO flies slowly over Milwaukee and Sheboygan, Wisconsin, flashing its bright spotlight over streets and buildings, and then retreats back out into Lake Michigan.
Source: Not listed
Date: 1913
Location: Nuriootpa, Barossa Council district, South Australia, Australia
Time: Insufficient Data — not recorded in available source
Summary: [Full Report]
Source: Darryl Tiggeman, Adelaide, Australia, citing Colin Norris
Date: 1913
Location: Las Hurdes Spain
Time: evening
Summary: A peasant walking along a local valley called “Valle De Sapu” found his way blocked by a short stocky little man wearing dark tight-fitting leather like outfit. For a few moments both witness and humanoid stared at each other, then the witness attempted to walk by but was prevented from doing so each time by the little man that would block his path. Soon a struggle ensued and the witness felt the humanoid’s skin and noticed that it was very rough and cold. At one point the witness managed to hit the humanoid on the head with a large piece of hard bread. The being then stepped back and shot upwards inside a beam of light and into a large circular moon-like object.
Source: J J Benitez, La Quinta Columna (The Fifth Column)
Date: 1913
Location: Off Pentland Firth, Orkneys Scotland
Time: afternoon
Summary: The crew of a fishing vessel claimed they had seen a mermaid rising from the waters of the Pentland Firth. The creature rose to a height of three feet above the waves and was described as being like a woman with a shawl draped around her shoulders. According to the crew this sighting was their third encounters with the mysterious sea-woman.
Source: Orkneyjar Folklore
Date: 1913
Location: Valensole Ovivo, France
Time: Unknown
Summary: An object was sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. One object was observed by two witnesses, a married couple, for over 15 minutes.
Source: FSR
Date: 1913
Location: Chevroux Hameau France
Time: night
Summary: A young man walking through a wooded area on his way to join an army unit heard noises and felt a presence behind him. Upon turning around he saw a 3-meter tall human-like figure approaching him taking great strides. Terrified the young man ran away from the area and did not look back.
Source: SOS Ovni Database
Date: January 4 1913
Location: Bristol Channel, England
Time: Unknown
Summary: An object was sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. One object was observed on a river.
Source: Newspaper Clippings
Date: January 4 1913
Location: Dover, England
Time: 05:00
Summary: An object was sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. One object was observed on the shore.
Source: Leslie, Desmond Flying Saucers Have Landed British Book Center, 1953
Date: February 9 1913
Location: Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, Canada
Time: Unknown
Summary: A Formation of lights resembling express train in sky, emerged from northwest, continued across sky in several successions for over three minutes.
Source: Corliss, William R. UFO Calendar 1999
Date: February 21, 1913
Location: Beningbrough, North Yorkshire U-K.
Time: 09:30 p.m.
Summary: In 1909, and until 1914, there were “waves” of stories of airships spotted over England, and lively debates between theories that these were hallucinations, pranks, or German spies in airships. A newspaper reported that John Ripley and T. Clarke, about 09:30 p.m. on February 21, 1913, led a sand barge in Beningbrough on the River Ouse when they believed they saw lights, which circles the country for some time. At 4 am the next morning, they allegedly clearly saw the body of the airship above Linton Locks. Ripley said: “I am certain it was an airship because we could see the outline faintly. It was almost like a cigar, except that it bulged out very much in the centre.” “We could see three wheels, one at each side of the centre and one at the rear. A lamp or searchlight at the left-hand side was being used in all directions. We could just hear a faint throbbing noise.” According to one modern ufology source citing a newspaper, it disappeared about 10:30 p.m. and reappeared at 04:00 a.m. the next morning, it disappeared at 05:30 a.m. toward Easingwold, and the men also saw some box-shaped part in which was a pilot. The story thus entered ufology, including a catalog of “Entities” reports
Source: Article in the newspaper Yorkshire Evening Post, U-K., February 24, 1913. | Source Status: VERIFIED — contemporaneous newspaper of record; named witnesses; three-day gap between sighting and publication is consistent with reporting timeline
Date: February 28 1913
Location: Humberside, England
Time: 20:15
Summary: SS Othello incident. Steam trawler Othello returning to port were 120 miles from coast, airborne object with powerful searchlight, dipped down, circled trawler twice at height of masthead, searchlight focused on ship
Source: Rogerson, Peter World-Wide Catalog of Type 1 Reports
Date: late February 1913
Location: Killary Harbor Ireland
Time: Unknown
Summary: A Mr. Collins was aboard his yacht when he saw a strange “aero-plane” like object approaching from the sea. It suddenly ditched into the water near the shore. Collins then approached the craft, which was now apparently at the shore. He saw three occupants apparently working on the object. Two were tall, heavy set, blond haired and light complexioned. Thinking they were or German origin he asked if they needed any help in German. One of the men responded in French, claiming he could not understand, and then in no uncertain terms told the witness to leave the area. Collins quickly left and did not see the craft depart.
Source: Nigel Watson
Date: March 22 1913
Location: Inveraray, UK
Time: Unknown
Summary: – An object was sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. One object was observed (Campbell).
Source: Rogerson, Peter World-Wide Catalog of Type 1 Reports
Date: April 8 1913
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Time: afternoon
Summary: Hovered.
Source: Michel, Aime The Truth About Flying Saucers Pyramid T1647, New York, 1967
Date: May 17 1913 ——- This is wrongly dated should be 1917——–
Location: Cova da Iria, Fatima, Portugal
Time: noon
Summary: Three children were collecting their sheep about noon when they saw a flash in the sky. Later a white bright figure appeared near a tree. The entity resembled a beautiful female. A powerful bright light surrounded it. It appeared to be 12 to 15 years old, was about 4 ft tall, and was wearing a tight skirt, a coat, and a cloak. Her head was covered by “something” hiding the ears and hair. Her eyes were dark. She was carrying a string of beads around her neck and a ball of light at the waist level. She had appeared to come from the sky and vanished in stages. She did not execute any facial movements and her feet did not move while walking. She also spoke without moving her lips. Moved her hands briefly, turned back to the witnesses when leaving. This contact lasted for 20 minutes.
Source: Joaquim Fernandes, Fina D’Armada ——- This is wrongly dated should be 1917——–
Date: June 29 1913
Location: Lansing, Michigan
Time: Unknown
Summary: A daytime disc was reported (Goodnoe)
Source: Eberhart, George M. A Geo-Bibliography of Anomalies Greenwood Press, Westport, 1980 ISBN:0-313-21337-2
Date: July 1913
Location: Badlands area Montana
Time: unknown
Summary: J. L. Buick & another prospector were startled by a small brown man saying “Peace be with you, my friends.” Sitting on a patch of sand was a silvery round object nearly 100 ft in diameter, with central dome & a small conning tower; no wheels underneath. Around it was other small men in brown picking flowers, pebbles, etc, & some mining a rock outcrop. The occupant told the witnesses they were from another planet, which had secretly been keeping tabs on earth for over a hundred years; they had learned English via spies working in a US circus. The craft rose silently & then took off. Next day it came back, & they were given a tour inside; 5 concentric saucers with diminishing air pressures, the outermost being evacuated. As to lift, “gravity is only a different type of magnetism,” so it can be controlled by an electromagnetic drive; they can do 9000 mph, and have artificial gravity inside the saucer. Rockets, they were told, had failed for space travel.
Source: Letter to Donald Keyhoe on Sep 24, 1956
Date: July 17 1913 ——- This is wrongly dated should be 1917——–
Location: Cova da Iria, Portugal
Time: afternoon
Summary: The witnesses, three young shepherds, had another encounter with an entity supposed to have been the “Holy Virgin.” A noise like thunder was heard before she appeared. When leaving, a noise like a rocket could also be heard.
Source: Joaquim Fernandes ——- This is wrongly dated should be 1917——–
Date: August 17 1913 ——- This is wrongly dated should be 1917——–
Location: Cova da Iria, Fatima, Portugal
Time: afternoon
Summary: The three children heard a noise like thunder and lighting and a noise like “a thousand bee” While the entity spoke to the three children a strange white smoke cloud formed over the tree where the entity appeared. Several colorful clouds were also seen in the sky, and daylight became darker than usual. The temperature went down and a quite pleasant smell was felt. Several objects were seen in the clouds, strange small balls hovered over the trees. The entity moved over “stairs of light.” The sheep apparently felt a tranquilizing effect.
Source: Joaquim Fernandes ——- This is wrongly dated should be 1917——–
Date: November 1913
Location: Belzig, Germany
Time: Unknown
Summary: An unusual object was sighted, that had unconventional appearance and performance. One object was observed by one witness (Meinecke).
Source: UFO Nachrichten (Veit)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Year Before the War — 1913 and the Pre-War UAP Peak
Nineteen thirteen produced the largest single-year documented UAP and entity case count in the archive to this point — twenty-four entries before the three misdated Fatima items are removed, twenty-one after. The year is characterised by three simultaneous phenomena: the continued and intensifying British airship wave now producing crew encounters (Beningbrough) and active searchlight targeting of vessels at sea (SS Othello); a surge of entity encounters across southern Europe including a beam-of-light departure in Spain, a 3-metre giant in France, and a tall blond bilingual crew ordering an Irish witness away from their crashed craft; and a cluster of North American aerial sightings spanning Canada, Michigan, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Saskatchewan that collectively signal the pre-war UAP pattern extending fully across the continent. The Montana Badlands entry — two prospectors given a craft tour by small brown men who explained their propulsion system and admitted keeping tabs on Earth for over a century — is either the most extraordinary contact narrative of the pre-war period or the most elaborate false account in the archive. The source is a 1956 letter to Donald Keyhoe. The archive retains it with that flag clearly stated.
The most significant case of 1913 that has no dedicated individual report page is the Killary Harbor Ireland late February encounter. A craft ditched into the water — not landed, ditched, as if in difficulty — and three occupants were working on it when Mr. Collins approached. Two tall, heavy-set, blond-haired, light-complexioned men responded to his German in French, claimed not to understand, and told him in no uncertain terms to leave. The directness of the refusal, the language switching, the physical description of the crew, and the craft’s apparent seaworthiness after the ditch all argue for a genuine encounter. The archive recommends an individual report page for this case.
From the Montana Badlands, July 1913 — the small brown men explaining their presence:
They were from another planet, which had secretly been keeping tabs on earth for over a hundred years; they had learned English via spies working in a US circus.
