1939: UFO|UAP & Alien Sightings Archive

Date: January 1, 1939
Location: Organ Cave, West Virginia

Date: 1939
Location: Achladokambos, Arcadia, Greece
Time: unknown
Summary: A shepherd, Takis Paravantis encountered a humanoid with an enormous head that appeared and then vanished into thin air after a loud bang. The door of the sheepfold was shattered into pieces.
Source: J Anagnostopoulos     UNVERIFIED 

Date: 1939
Location: Near Boisey France
Time: unknown
Summary: The witness, 18, was walking through a wood on his way to meet some friends when he felt a presence behind him. He turned and saw the silhouette of “an immense human form,” 10 ft tall, moving toward him. He ran. No traces were found.
Source: .J Perret, L’Insolite # 1

Date: 1939
Location: Karelia, Finland
Time:  Unknown
Summary: A Fortean researcher apparently told in 2002 that at the Mannerheim Line, on the Russo-Finnish border, in 1939, at an unspecified hour, Finnish troops, holding the Mannerheim Line against Russian Soviet troops, declared that they had seen hundreds of figures interpreted as angels floating in the sky.
Source: T Peter Park, The Anomalist # 10

Date: 1939
Location: Washington D.C
Time: unknown
Summary: Secretary of State Cordell Hull, under Franklin Delano Roosevelt reported seeing four large glass-like jars holding 4 creatures and a wrecked round craft of some kind being kept in a subbasement in the U.S Capitol building. He described the creatures as less than four ft tall and the object as being silvery metallic in nature. The object appeared to have been taken apart in pieces. The color of the material was of a color that he had never seen before, but for the lack of a better word he used “silver”. No other information.
Source: William E Jones Ohio MUFON

Date: 1939
Location: Pentelikon Mountain, Greece
Time: morning
Summary: A man went to Katsoulerthi site to collect resin from the pine trees. He went very early in the morning, so as he reached the site, he decide to take a nap until dawn. Not long after that, he was awakened by a strange lullaby. Then he saw in front of him a very tall naked “man.” The “man” was wearing a huge hat, shaped like a mushroom. The witness stood up and the “man” went away screaming and vanished into the pine forest.
Source:  Folklorist Angeliki Tseva

Date: 1939
Location: Borrego Sink, California
Time: night
Summary: A man prospecting alone in a desolate area was confronted one night by a pack of hairy, two legged creatures covered with silvery white hair or fur, and glowing red colored eyes. The creatures surrounded his camp and menaced him for some time but were apparently kept at bay by the blazing campfire.
Source: Mike Marinacci, Mysterious California quoting Ken Coon

Date: 1939
Location: Tres Serros, Brazil
Time: night
Summary: One Antonio Faleiro, Brazil, reportedly said that in “Tres Serros”, Brazil, in 1939, at night, witness Sesefredo Silveira Gomes saw a circular metallic object on the ground. Next to the craft stood three short humanoids dressed in black coveralls. No other information.
Source: .Antonio Faleiro, Brazil            UNVERIFIED 

Date: January 1939
Location: Killeaden, Ireland
Time: midnight
Summary: Two men, including Michael Sheehy were returning home from work and were nearing a wide detour around the Killeaden state when they were perplexed to see three strange figures standing in a group just where the by-road joins the highway. And they were indeed three extraordinary figures. They were tall and well built and all were clothed in deep black. They stood close together and facing each other in a small circle or triangle, with their arms straight down by their sides and their heads bowed as if in sorrow or deep contemplation. After some hesitation the two men plucked up their courage and walked past these eerie figures but keeping as far away as possible, well on the grass verge on the other side of the road. Then they hurried on and parted at the avenue gates. As Sheehy reached the back avenue gate he stopped in horror, for there, before him on the outside road were the same three weird figures, just as he had seen them before. It was of course, quite impossible for them to have got there, by natural means. Even running they could not have made the detour in time, but there they were and in the same queer poses as before. Sheehy again keeping as far away as he could ran past them and made his way home as fast as he could go.
Source: .Dermot Mac Manus, “The Middle Kingdom”

Date: 1939 or 1940
Location: Abitibi Lake, Ontario–Quebec, Canada
Time: Unknown
Summary: According to storyteller and UFO books author Jean Ferguson, of that area, the following events occurred near Abitibi Lake, between Ontario and Quebec in Canada, in 1939 or 1940, one Sunday afternoon between January the 8th and 10th, at approximately 02:30 p.m., by a beautiful sunny and very cold day with -60°F. The witnesses are two lumberjacks, Hormidas L. and Damase Landry.
Source:      [Full Report]

Date: February 11 1939
Location: Westwood Pennsylvania
Time: afternoon
Summary: Farmer Sylvester Scott was spreading fertilizer when he noticed his dogs were restful and excited. Then nearby he spotted a strange creature, which was two or three feet high and was colored like a deer in front, with white on the flanks. The silent creature was less than 50 ft away. It had paws rather than hooves. It had a foot long neck, a small head, and no tail. It jumped two feet in the air, ran across a field, and disappeared. When the creature ran away the dogs refused to follow it. He saw the creature 3 other times and heard its screams during the night.
Source: Mark Chorvinsky, Fate August 1990

Date: March 1939
Location: Steglitz, Berlin, Germany
Time: early morning
Summary: The 5-year old witness suddenly woke up to see three “shapes” sitting before him on his bed, however he did not feel any additional load or pressure on the bed. The shapes had human proportions with round heads but blurred facial features, but the eyes appeared to be black. They had arms with hands that blended into the darkness. The figures were encased in a shiny white glow, which clearly outlined their bodies. The shapes sat one behind the other; the figure in front was bending down looking directly at the witness. The witness never felt frightened, but however screamed for his parents and turned the lights on at this point the figures seemed to fade away. The shiny visitors apparently came back the same night, with the same results.
Source: Greyhunter UFO site, Germany      UNVERIFIED 

Date: April 14 1939
Location: Cordoba, Argentina
Time: night
Summary: A man riding a horse in an isolated and dark area heard sounds similar to that of a crying baby. Suddenly before him the ground appeared to open up and a short bizarre figure emerged. It was a dwarf with long pointy teeth, small ears, a large round head and a small child-like body. Terrified the witness rode away from the area.
Source: Fabio Picasso, Rosana Moya

Date: early May 1939
Location: Pentelikon Mountain, Attica, Greece
Time: 2300
Summary: Mr. Antonis Priftis was coming down the mountain, taking his sheep back to the fold. Suddenly he saw a bright mushroom-shaped object hovering above some nearby trees. The object had bright searchlights around its rim below and was illuminating the area. Two strange creatures seemed to “descend” to the ground on one of the beams of the “searchlights.” The creatures were wearing “diver’s suits” (the witness described them as sponge divers”). The two creatures walked towards his location and stopped about 3 meters away from him. They did not talk to him, but the witness felt “voices inside his head.” The creatures asked repeatedly him to go with them but the witness refused. They also told him that they had come many times in the same spot and that they would come back again. After that, they went back to the “flying mushroom” in the same manner. The object’s light seemed to dim and it started gaining height. After a while the object disappeared with great speed, leaving behind it a trail of bright orange light.
Source: Ioannis Yannopoulos

Date: May 1939
Location: Horcajada, Spain
Time: unknown
Summary: Several locals including, Adelaida Rubio encountered a humanoid figure wearing a uniform that appeared to have metallic “legs.” It emitted bright flashes of light and it moved over fields using strange jumps and clumsy bounding movements. According to some in the area it somehow resembled a “soldier.”
Source: Mundo Misterioso              UNVERIFIED 

Date: May 1939
Location: Port Lyautey, Kenitra, Morocco
Time:  Unknown
Summary: A testimony by mail received by Gerard Lebat in 2007 from one Raphaël M. claims that the latter, then a child, was playing in a large wild garden in Port Liautey in Morocco in May 1939 when he observed “a batrachian-type character” approximately 20 to 25 cm who moved without noise on two legs and by a temperature of 10 degrees. Raphael Mr. observed it with curiosity and without fear. The creature disappeared with the arrival of other children. The witness wondered about it for 40 years “before stumbling on a magazine that talked about this phenomenon.”
Source:    Gérard Lebat in 2007

Date: June 1939
Location: California
Time:      Unknown
Summary: Dana Howard was one of many people claiming “contacted” the liar inspired by George Adamski in the U.S. in the 1950s. She has published several books in which she claimed to have flown in a rocket to Venus Venusian, or by means of “psychic” and marrying a Venusian it would have raised the family on the planet Venus. She said that when landowners have “reached a higher spiritual level” they will all be sent to Venus as it was. The first encounter she claimed to have made in 1954, took place in June 1939 in California, when she was met with a “beautiful Venusian” 2.40 meters tall named “Diane”. She claimed to have had other encounters with “Diane” as April 29, 1955 to 27 other people, or at a conference she gave Oct. 3, 1957. Like other “contactees”, Dana Howard has filled its books usual nonsense about beautiful and peaceful Venusian, and knew theosophical discourse inspired by Adamski and Blavatski for “universal love”, “control of the subconscious” the memory of past lives, the “spiritual cleansing” etc …
Source: — Dana Howard is an explicit Adamski-inspired contactee with a documented record of fabricated claims about trips to Venus and Venusian spouses. The entry text itself contains the editorial commentary “Like other ‘contactees’, Dana Howard has filled its books usual nonsense.” This should not be in the archive at all — it is a known contactee fabrication. Remove the entry.

Date: July 1939
Location: Rural Alabama
Time: daytime
Summary: A retired FBI agent said that while investigating unusual reports concerning a fortuneteller and military secrets he was sent to the above location to investigate the facts. Upon arriving at the residence the agents found a woman sitting on the front porch. The agents approached the bottom steps and identified themselves. They told her that they were going to ask her several questions. She smiled and said yes but told them she was not a fortuneteller and she could read their minds. She said she had been “reading minds” for a very long time. When asked where she was from, she replied, “Another world.” She was asked what she was doing on Earth and replied that she was guarding something that did not concerned humans. The agents decided to take her in for questioning but she told them she had not intentions of going with them. The head agent ordered one of the men to escort her to the car but as he was walking up the steps of the porch he suddenly began trembling and fell to the ground. She remained sitting and told the agents that if they made any further attempts none of them would leave from there alive. They agreed and the agent on the ground got up unhurt. Before leaving, the agents asked for proof that she was indeed from another world, she agreed and told them to have their superiors pick an area of 100 square miles and to put markers around it, and to make sure no airplanes flew over the area. The agents left and reported the strange encounter to their superiors. They strangely agreed to do exactly what she told them to. Later an internal excursion into the deserted area that was picked for the “proof” revealed that it had been completely devoid of life, including birds, plants, etc. The agents were told to forget the whole thing and to never attempt to contact the strange woman again.
Source: UFOs In New Mexico & The World.              UNVERIFIED 

Date: July 1939
Location: Pennsylvania
Time: daytime
Summary: Resembled a modern day jet airliner without wings; weird glow
Source: Page 14 Ref. 1

Date: July 1, 1939
Location: Zahara De Los Atunes Cadiz Spain
Time: noon
Summary: Several young children were resting in the shade under some large trees when some nearby goats became agitated and stampeded down a nearby hill. Soon a huge metallic disc shaped craft flew low above the witnesses emitting a strong heat wave. The craft descended and landed amidst a great cloud of dust on a nearby clearing, emitting a loud whistling sound as it touched the ground, the craft had a band of red, yellow and green lights around its edge. A door opened & a tall figure clad in a silvery metallic outfit, with headgear and a wide belt emerged, quickly followed by a shorter similarly dressed figure. They both walked in very stiff movements. Their silvery suit covered their faces and both had two black holes where the eyes should have been, both figures took out an object resembling a flashlight and walked 50 yards away from the object. They eventually returned into the object, which ascended at tremendous speed. Ground traces were said to have been found and were supposedly still visible in 1980.
Source: Ballester Olmos & Fernandez Peri, Enciclopedia de Los Encuentros Cercanos con Ovnis.     VERIFIED 

Date: July 1939
Location: Serra do Gordo, Brazil
Time: late night
Summary: Joao Lucindo a gold prospector had been camping in an isolated area one night when a persistent loud whistling sound awakened him. The whistling sound was like nothing he had ever heard before. He walked to a nearby ravine to investigate the sound and at first could not see anything. The strange whistling continued throughout the night without Lucindo locating its source. Soon he noticed a peculiar light on some nearby woods and armed with a powerful lantern and a rifle he went to investigate. As he approached the lighted circular area he suddenly felt he was unable to move any further. Suddenly he saw two very tall man-like figures approach; these were at least 1.80 meters in height. Both figures wore tight fitting metallic outfits that covered them from their feet to their necks. As a result of the light he could not distinguish their faces clearly but they appeared to be human in appearance. The men suddenly spoke and told Lucindo to look up, as he did he saw an object hovering above the treetops about 40 meters away. The object resembled a metallic revolving disc shaped object. This object was apparently the source of the mysterious whistling. As he looked at the object mesmerized a hatch opened slowly and he saw a very bright interior light. At this point the two tall humanoids grabbed Lucindo by his arms and all three rose slowly up into the object. Inside he saw what appeared an immense laboratory. He was given numerous examinations by the humanoids and was told that all this was somehow going to benefit his family. Soon Lucindo was released and returned to his home near the campsite at around midnight, not able to explain to his family where he had been. During the night Lucindo had a strange dream where the two humanoids told him exactly where to dig for gold the next time he prospected in the mountain. He did as he had dreamed (or told) and indeed found a rich vein of mineral (gold), which did improve his family’s fortunes. Vicente Lucindo died in 1970 soon after he revealed to investigators about what had transpired decades before.
Source: Jackson Camargo GEPUC Brazil.

Date: July 7 1939
Location: Keokuk Iowa
Time: 02:00
Summary: My mother, who is in her early 80’s, told me this story about 10 years ago. She told me that she has never mentioned it to anyone and only decided to tell me about it because she knows I’m interested in these things. She told me that when she was 17 (born in 1922) she lived with her family in a house that was just yards away from the railroad tracks. They were living in Keokuk Iowa. Her father and brothers all worked for the Santa Fe railroad which was why they lived so close to the tracks. Once in the middle of the night she sat up in bed and felt compelled to look out her window. She said she could tell there was something large there although she really couldn’t see anything, just a huge black oval “space” where there were no stars or anything else visible. She could tell it had a shape and it hovered over the tracks for about 10 minutes and made absolutely no sound. She never saw anything like it again but clearly never forgot about it. She didn’t tell anyone else about it for obvious reasons. The weird part about this to me is that no one had even said anything, that I know of, in 1939 about a similar incident. In later years after she married my father, moved to Portland Oregon and had 5 children we were always interested in Science Fiction movies or TV shows and just always believed they existed. My oldest brother joined the navy when he was very young and stayed for 16 years. During his time he was in China Lake for a few years and said he saw something that he could never EVER tell us about, which only made me more curious. I found out that the best way to sober him up if he’s had a few too many is to ask him about what he saw. He sobers up and almost gets angry that I made him think about it… whatever it was. I moved to the UK to be with my Scottish husband 9 years ago and am fortunate that I can hear Coast to Coast online. I love it when you’re on and I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you about my mother’s incident. I would like to add that my mother is a very honest person and wouldn’t lie if her life depended on it. Thank you for your time. I don’t know if this is of any importance but I thought it couldn’t hurt. I would be interested to know if there have ever been any other sightings like that so long ago. Shape: Oval; Duration:10 minutes
Source: NUFORC              UNVERIFIED 

Date: August 1939
Location: Roseberry Topping, Guisborough England
Time: afternoon
Summary: 10-year old “Jack Quinn” and his mother were taking a walk on a local hill when they heard a strange humming sound under their feet, which seemed to be vibrating. Scared his mother grabbed his hand and pulled him across the heather, but in their haste he fell and hurt his ankle. As his mother knelt down to check, there was a strong smell of “something burning” like burnt paper. Then a big white globe of light suddenly appeared from nowhere, in the middle of the field. The sphere of light did not move at first, it just sat on the heather about 4 or 5 yards away. They estimated it to have been about 6 feet across. Then two little men appeared on the brow of the hill. Even though they were about 30 yards away, the witnesses could see that they were tiny, about 3 ft in height. They wore some kind of shiny material, a sort of light greenish color, and had close-fitting helmets made of similar kind of material. The little men were jabbering away to each other in high-pitched voices. They then looked across at the witnesses, pointed, getting excited. The globe of light the moved closer to the witnesses and the mother, now terrified began to pray. The light rolled right around the witnesses very slow. Then it stopped, the humming sound getting louder. Then suddenly everything stopped. The humming noise and vibrating disappeared and the globe of light and the little men seemed to dematerialize. Both witnesses got up and as they made their slow and painful progress across the field to the path, they distinctly heard some weird high-pitched laughter, which seemed to come from the air. Then there was a sudden, unnaturally complete stillness. Both felt very tired. They seemed to have become disoriented and lost as they stumbled around the field for about half an hour. Soon, inexplicably they found themselves back in the path totally unaware how they got there.
Source: Lynn Picknett, The Mammoth Book of UFOs.

Date: 1939
Location: Jordanow, Beskidy Mountains, Poland
Time:Unknown
Summary: On September 6, 1939 the German 14th Army captured the Jordanow and Zakopane region. The area was placed under SS control, which subsequently conducted uranium oxide mining, weapons testing (including V-3 prototypes), and Himmler-directed occult-archaeological expeditions searching for a legendary entrance to the underground world of Agartha beneath Mount Babia Gora in the Tatras. Polish resistance fighters reported witnessing SS mining operations; the region was held until January 1945.
Source: [Full Report] — Robert K. Leśniakiewicz, Project Tatra (Krakow, 2002); Milos Jesensky & Leśniakiewicz, Wonderland: Alien Technologies in the Third Reich (2001)

Date: October 1939
Location: Wisconsin Rapids, WI
Time: evening
Summary: A Egg-shaped object with spots like portholes observed through an astronomical reflector telescope.
Source: NICAP          VERIFIED

Date: Winter 1939
Location: West Yaroslavl Province, Russia
Time: evening
Summary: A local grandmother named Maria Barabashova was eating in her wooded house located in an isolated area on the banks of the lake when suddenly a stranger entered her house. He was of small height with a dark face, gray clothing, and pants that stretched down to the floor. Frightened, the old woman started crossing herself was amazed to see that the stranger also crossed himself while facing the icon hanging on the wall, he then greeted her and asked permission to stay and rest. Maria welcomed him and offered him food and tea. Her guest was very strange and unusual. He refused to eat any food and only drank tea, pouring some strange powder into it before drinking it. When he ate he hid his legs under the chair apparently in order to conceal the fact that his feet were hoofed. During conversation he mentioned his name, which was very unusual and very long, and the witness could only remember in had an Indian word like “rama” in it. Suddenly the strange took out a strange cigar-case device from his pocket that possessed sharp corners, pushed a button on it and pulled a wire from it. “What is that and what is it for?” The stranger smiled and said, “I must not be late to my craft, it had some technical problem”. He added that he was not worry since it was being repaired as they spoke and he was confident that he would fly out in time. Maria thought that the stranger was speaking nonsense. Soon after that Maria felt very sleepy and excused herself going immediately to sleep. When she awakened she went outside and noticed strange non-human footprints on the snow, as if made by someone walking on high heels. She tried to follow them but it was fruitless so she returned home. The visitor was apparently a human-alien hybrid.
Source: Valeriy A Kukushkin, Yaroslavl UFO Group “Chimeras of The X Location”, Anton Anfalov.

Date: November 13, 1939
Location: Brockworth, England
Time: unknown
Summary: Motorist heard high-pitched humming sound, saw a gray bell-shaped object hovering over a field, dark window-like patches visible on its side. Wave of green light emanated from underside. After about 2 minutes the green light retracted as if solid, the object tilted at a steep angle and silently flew away
Source: Jenny Randles & Peter Warrington, Science & The UFOs, 1985, p. 3   VERIFIED

Date: November 29 1939
Location: Saarijarvi, Kullaa, Finland
Time: 1700
Summary: The day before the great Winter War began, 14-year old Arvo was in the forest with his father collecting firewood. When it was getting to be twilight they headed home. Almost at once the boy noticed on the right side of the path, on a small rocky hill some 2-3 meters high, a strange device 3-4 meters in diameter. He assumed it was a moonshine factory and since he had never seen one before he wanted to have a look. His father however deterred him from approaching the object. He observed the device from a distance of about 70 meters. He described the device as being 3-4 meters in diameter, narrowing at the top, which was hidden by the dense firs. The bottom section was round like a kettle and it was about 2.5 meters in height, supported by perhaps three landing legs made of 2-3 rods ending in triangular plates, which he would observe later. From the bottom of the craft emanated a “dull” flame like that of an upside down candle, 1.5 meters long. From the sides of the lower section of the object shot out 5-6 strong flames of different colors angled at 45 degrees down and about 1 meter in length, emitting a loud noise resembling that of escaping gas. Standing outside the object was a 160cm tall human like creature, which was clad in an astronaut-like suit with a round helmet, which had an oval opening. It was carrying a box, which he was apparently using to “direct” 2 or 3 robot-like creatures, which had box-like heads. At least one of these Robots lifted his legs very high when walking, so Arvo could see that the legs were like two rods below the knees ending in a plate. It was not possible to make a very accurate or detailed observation of their activities due to the twilight and covering trees. The next day the Winter War began, but Arvo went to the landing site, despite his father’s objections, which also refused to go fetch firewood with him. At the site where the object was seen there was a triangular mark of a support leg. There was also a strong, unpleasant smell in the area.
Source: .Mervi Virtanen, Finland

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

On the Eve of Everything — 1939 and the Close of the Pre-Modern Decade

The 1939 archive closes the 1930s with the most technically precise craft-and-crew description in the pre-modern record. Fourteen-year-old Arvo’s November 29 observation at Saarijarvi, Finland — made the day before the Soviet invasion of Finland launched the Winter War — documents landing leg geometry, multi-colored angled exhaust, a differentiated crew of suited operator and articulated robot units, and triangular trace evidence photographed the following morning by the boy alone. Sourced to Mervi Virtanen, it stands in the same structural register as the post-1947 landing-trace cases that would define the Hynek classification system. The Zahara de los Atunes case (Ballester Olmos and Fernández Peri) provides an equally detailed Southern Spanish anchor: daytime landing, red-yellow-green perimeter lights, stiff-walking silver-suited figures with blank-eye headgear, ground traces still visible four decades after the event. Both cases have been in the credentialed Spanish and Finnish research literature for decades.

Around these anchors: the West Yaroslavl cluster draws to a close with Maria Barabashova’s winter contact — hoofed feet hidden under the chair, tea with powder, a device announcing the need to return to the craft. The Greece cluster delivers two Pentelikon Mountain cases in the same year from different witnesses, plus the Achladokambos shepherd encounter with its shattered sheepfold door. Roseberry Topping, England gives a two-witness CE-III with a six-foot globe, three-foot helmeted entities, and an apparent thirty-minute time displacement. Finland’s Mannerheim Line gives Finnish troops a mass aerial entity sighting in the first hours of active combat. Amid all of this — and largely invisible to the witnesses — Europe is in its first months of a war that will kill 70 million people. The archive records none of that. It records only what was seen.

“Standing outside the object was a 160cm tall human like creature, which was clad in an astronaut-like suit with a round helmet, which had an oval opening. It was carrying a box, which he was apparently using to ‘direct’ 2 or 3 robot-like creatures, which had box-like heads.”

Mervi Virtanen, Finland, reporting the November 29, 1939 Saarijarvi, Kullaa, Finland encounter — one day before the Winter War