August 1946 — four anchor cases from the peak month of the postwar wave: Oklahoma City's twelve-occupant disc, the Sint-Niklaas Belgium dwarf encounter, the Puckett military C-47 case near Tampa, and Danish boy scouts' Struer sighting. thinkaboutitdocs.com.
1946: August UFO & Entity Sightings Archive
August 1946 is the peak of the entire Scandinavian ghost rocket wave — the 9th and 11th are the two heaviest sighting days of the whole year, and this month alone accounts for cigar-shaped and rocket-like objects across Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and France, several with named military and civilian witnesses, ground traces, and one object reportedly crashing into the sea off Sweden’s west coast. But the month’s most extraordinary single entry is American: in late August, a woman in Oklahoma City watched a metallic, lens-shaped disc tilt onto its edge in her own yard, close enough to see twelve silhouetted figures behind its windows — round-headed, possibly helmeted — before it leveled off and vanished in seconds. The case was investigated in depth by Ted Bloecher, a serious and credentialed early ufologist who would go on to co-author the definitive study of the entire 1947 flying disc wave the following year.
Date: August 1946
Location: North of Chicago, Illinois
Time: Daytime
Summary: Charles A. Johnson, working in the motor pool while awaiting discharge at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, was returning on Route 41 along Lake Shore after driving an officer to Chicago when he saw three silver discs moving east to west in triangular formation.
Source: Jan Aldrich, letter to CUFOS
Date: August, 1946
Location: Karlshamn, Sweden
Time: Unknown
Summary: A close encounter with an unidentified craft and its occupants was reported. An unidentified object and its occupants were observed at close range by over 20 witnesses on the shore.
Source: UFO Information Sweden
Date: August, 1946
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Time: Afternoon
Summary: One luminous, rocket-like object was observed and photographed in the city (Sandford), showing a glowing tail.
Source: UFO Information Sweden
Date: August, 1946
Location: Sint-Niklaas, Belgium
Time: 20:30
Summary: A flying disc, pan-shaped, was observed near a road by a 19-year-old male witness for 18 seconds; ground traces were found. A small being holding an acacia branch was seen nearby and entered the object through an opening on its underside. The witness was terrified, and burning traces were left on the ground.
Source: David Webb, HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports
Date: August 1, 1946
Location: Norrland, Sweden
Time: Afternoon
Summary: A cigar-shaped object was observed by over 7 witnesses for over five minutes.
Source: A. Liljegren
Date: August 1, 1946
Location: Near Tampa, Florida
Time: 18:00
Summary: The “Puckett case,” a military incident: three military witnesses, including a pilot named Puckett flying a twin-engine C-47 transport 40 miles north of Tampa at 4,000 feet, sighted a cigar-shaped UFO with luminous portholes, roughly twice the size of a B-29, at a distance of 1,000 yards. It flew in front of the plane on a collision course, covering 75 miles in three minutes, with a stream of fire/exhaust half the object’s length.
Source: NICAP UFO Evidence, 1964, Hall, III
Date: August 3, 1946
Location: Mariestad area, Sweden
Time: Morning
Summary: A cigar-shaped object was observed by one witness.
Source: AFU Sweden
Date: August 5, 1946
Location: Skåne, Sweden
Time: 23:00
Summary: One silver disc was observed.
Source: Flying Saucer Review
Date: August 7, 1946
Location: Norrland, Sweden
Time: Dusk
Summary: A cigar-shaped object was observed by one experienced male military witness (Neckman).
Source: A. Liljegren
Date: August 8, 1946
Location: Gotland, Sweden
Time: Evening
Summary: A cigar-shaped object was observed by two male witnesses, one an experienced observer (Persson). Referred to as the “postal workers incident.”
Source: Flying Saucer Review
Date: August 11, 1946
Location: Stockholm and Mariestad areas, Sweden
Time: 20:45 (22:45 for related sighting)
Summary: A cigar-shaped object was observed by two male witnesses. This same evening, a UFO reportedly crashed into the sea in a fjord on Sweden’s west coast. At 10:45 p.m., a procession of objects passed over the Mariestad area, and a cylindrical object was sighted five minutes later over southern Norrland province. At Châtillon-sur-Seine, France, whistling rockets with glowing contrails were seen this night and on subsequent nights through August 18.
Source: Leonard H. Stringfield, CRIFO Newsletter & CRIFO Orbit
Date: August 12, 1946
Location: Grants Pass, Oregon
Time: Unknown
Summary: Several multi-colored objects were observed at a mountain for 30 minutes.
Source: George M. Eberhart, A Geo-Bibliography of Anomalies, Greenwood Press, Westport, 1980, ISBN 0-313-21337-2
Date: August 12, 1946
Location: Södertälje, Sweden
Time: 21:00
Summary: A spool-shaped “rocket bomb” flew rapidly north, with a magnesium-flare exhaust, observed for over one minute. Two girls out cycling had a close encounter, watching a cigar-shaped object briefly. A noise was heard.
Source: Flying Saucer Review
Date: August 13, 1946
Location: Struer, Ringkøbing, Denmark
Time: Afternoon, around 16:00
Summary: A group of Danish boy scouts observed a rocket-like object moving at great velocity at roughly 500 meters altitude, with small side wings and fins and a blue-white light streaming from its underside. It appeared to be radio-controlled, suddenly curving 35 degrees off its original course before shortly resuming it.
Source: Loren Gross, UFOs: A History, 1946, p. 43
Date: August 13, 1946
Location: Karlskrona, Blekinge, Sweden
Time: 20:00
Summary: An object about 5 feet across was observed by one witness, with appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft.
Source: Flying Saucer Review
Date: August, 1946
Location: Toldboden, Copenhagen, Denmark
Time: 03:30
Summary: A cigar-shaped object was observed by one experienced male witness. Referred to as the “mill worker incident.”
Source: AFU Sweden
Date: August 14, 1946
Location: Between Malingsbo and Krylbo, Sweden
Time: 10:02 AM
Summary: Two witnesses flying a SAAB B-18 bomber on a navigational training flight at 200 meters altitude observed a cigar-shaped object described as 1 meter wide by 15 meters long.
Source: John Schuessler, AFU Newsletter, Issue 44, September 2002 Source Status: VERIFIED — named military aircrew, precise time and altitude detail consistent with a flight log entry.
Date: August, 1946
Location: Northern Sweden
Time: Around 18:00
Summary: A fall of slag-like material was reported. Traces were found. One cigar-shaped object was observed by one witness at a lake for two minutes. A noise was heard.
Source: AFU Sweden
Date: Mid-August, 1946
Location: Châtillon-sur-Seine, Bourgogne, France
Time: Unknown
Summary: Several cigar-shaped objects were observed.
Source: A. Liljegren
Date: August 17, 1946
Location: Laxå, Sweden
Time: Unknown
Summary: A cigar-shaped object, about 10 feet across, was observed by six experienced male witnesses on a railroad.
Source: Karl Gösta Rehn
Date: August 17, 1946
Location: Køge, Denmark
Time: Unknown
Summary: Two cigar-shaped objects of huge size were observed.
Source: AFU Sweden
Date: August 17, 1946
Location: Träskända, Finland
Time: Morning
Summary: A cigar-shaped object was observed.
Source: A. Liljegren
Date: August 17, 1946
Location: Snekkersten, Øresund, Denmark
Time: 20:00
Summary: Two cigar-shaped objects were observed in the city.
Source: Loren E. Gross, Mystery of the Ghost Rockets, self-published, Fremont, 1974
Date: August 18, 1946
Location: Middle Sweden, Laxå, Sweden
Time: 18:30 or 20:00
Summary: An object about 10 feet across was observed by six experienced male witnesses; traces were found.
Source: A. Liljegren
Date: August 22, 1946
Location: Waterford, Ireland
Time: Unknown
Summary: One object was observed.
Source: Peter Rogerson, World-Wide Catalog of Type 1 Reports
Date: August 22, 1946
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
Time: 12:00
Summary: An object was observed and recorded, with animal reactions reported.
Source: Larry Hatch
Date: August 24, 1946
Location: Sweden
Time: 20:45
Summary: An object was observed by two male witnesses at a lake; traces were found.
Source: Flying Saucer Review
Date: August (late), 1946
Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Time: 17:15
Case Status: Unexplained
Summary: A female witness in her own yard watched a metallic, lens-shaped disc, approximately 80 feet across, stand on edge in clear weather for about 90 seconds. The lower right quadrant of the craft was filled with windows, in each of which was visible the silhouette of a head and shoulders — twelve figures in total, their heads round and either bald or wearing helmets. No sound was heard throughout. After roughly a minute and a half, the object rotated and leveled off, then sped away, disappearing within seconds. [Full Report]
Source: Case summary by Ted Bloecher, 14 pages; interviews conducted by Bloecher, Lucius Farish, and Mildred Higgins Source Status: VERIFIED — Bloecher was a credentialed, serious early ufologist, co-founder of Civilian Saucer Intelligence and later a NICAP officer, who went on to author the definitive study of the 1947 flying disc wave; his direct, extensive investigation of this case lends it unusual documentary weight for its era.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
August 1946 — The Wave Peaks, and Twelve Faces in a Window
Historically, August 9 and 11 mark the two heaviest single days of the entire 1946 Scandinavian ghost rocket wave, and this month’s dense list of Swedish, Danish, Finnish, and French entries reflects that peak — cigar-shaped and rocket-like objects reported almost daily, several with named military and civilian witnesses, ground traces, and one reported sea-fjord crash off Sweden’s west coast on August 11. Against that backdrop, this month’s most extraordinary entry comes from Oklahoma City: a metallic disc standing on edge in a witness’s own yard, close enough for her to count twelve individual silhouetted figures behind its windows. What sets this case apart from a typical late-1940s saucer report is its investigator — Ted Bloecher was not a casual compiler but a serious, credentialed early ufologist who co-founded Civilian Saucer Intelligence, later served as a NICAP officer, and went on to author the definitive scholarly account of the entire 1947 American flying disc wave. His 14-page case file and joint interviews with fellow researchers Lucius Farish and Mildred Higgins give this entry unusual documentary depth for an August 1946 sighting.
“Lower right quarter filled with windows, in each was visible silhouette of head and shoulders. Heads quite round, either bald or wearing helmets.”
Ted Bloecher’s case summary, describing the late-August 1946 Oklahoma City disc encounter.
