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UFO|UAP & ENTITY ENCOUNTER REPORT

1952 San Pietro a Vico, Italy: Carlo Rossi’s Serchio River Encounter

Before dawn, heading to the Serchio River near San Pietro a Vico, Italy to fish, Carlo Rossi found a black, circular object hovering over the water — its rim ringed with oval openings, a transparent central tower rising from its middle, five equidistant propellers underneath, and what looked like a long tube drawing water up from the river below. When a face appeared at a porthole in the tower and an arm stretched out toward him, Rossi threw himself over the riverbank — and felt what he described as an electric shock as a green ray passed above him before the object departed “at frightful speed.” Two months later, he says, a strangely tall, thin man with an odd accent approached him at the same spot, asked pointed questions about aircraft over the river, and handed him a cigarette that made him feel faint before snatching it back and disappearing.

Date: July 24 or 25, 1952 (the site’s own source gives July 25; a separately sourced account of the same incident, documented elsewhere in this archive, gives July 24 — reconciled here as the same event with a one-day date discrepancy between sources)

Sighting Time: 3:00 a.m.

Day/Night: Before dawn

Location: Serchio River, near San Pietro a Vico, Italy

Urban or Rural: Rural (riverside)

No. of Entity(‘s): 1 (glimpsed through the craft’s porthole)

Entity Type: Humanoid

Entity Description: A human face, visible at a porthole in the craft’s central tower, which stretched an arm out toward the witness

Hynek Classification: CE-II (Close Encounter, Second Kind — physiological effect: an electric-shock-like sensation from the projected ray)

Duration: Not precisely specified

No. of Object(s): 1

Description of the Object(s): A black, circular disc with oval openings around its edge; a transparent central tower approximately 6 meters in diameter, extending 3 meters below the disc, containing 4 thin tubes attached to a central cylinder with a bluish flame passing between them; 5 equidistant propellers underneath; 3 concentric cones on top; the object appeared to be drawing up river water through a long tube

Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Circular/disc-shaped, black; specific overall diameter not given beyond the 6-meter tower measurement

Distance to Object(s): Close enough to see a face at the tower’s porthole and to be reached by an extended arm and a projected ray

Height & Speed: Hovering low over the river during the encounter; departed “at frightful speed” afterward

Number of Witnesses: 1 (Carlo Rossi)

Special Features/Characteristics: The object’s only sound was described as “like silk rustling”; it appeared to be actively drawing water up from the river through a tube; a green ray was projected at the witness, producing an electric-shock-like sensation; approximately two months later, the witness reportedly encountered a tall, thin, oddly-accented stranger at the same location who questioned him about aircraft sightings over the river and gave him a cigarette that caused faintness before the stranger grabbed it back and left hurriedly — a detail matching the “Men in Black” motif found in other UFO-witness accounts of the era

Case Status: Unresolved — a single-witness account with vivid, highly specific technical detail (propeller count, tower dimensions, tube configuration) that is difficult to independently verify; the later “stranger with a cigarette” episode adds a folkloric element common to, but not independently confirming, other contact-era accounts

Source: Siro Menicucci, for the research group for the Study of UFO Phenomena, Prato, Italy; David Ritchie, “The Definitive Guide to Unidentified Flying Objects and Related Phenomena” (same incident, sourced independently, giving the date as July 24)

Summary/Description: Going to the Serchio River before dawn to fish, Carlo Rossi saw a circular object hovering over the water, apparently drawing water up through a long tube. It was black, with oval openings around its edge, and a transparent central tower 6 meters in diameter extending 3 meters below the disc, containing 4 thin tubes attached to a central cylinder with a bluish flame passing between them. Five equidistant propellers were positioned underneath, and 3 concentric cones sat on top. The only sound was “like silk rustling.” A human face looked out from a porthole in the tower and an arm stretched toward Rossi, who threw himself over the riverbank. He saw a green ray projected above him and felt an electric-shock-like sensation, then watched the object depart at extreme speed. Approximately two months later, he encountered a very thin, tall angler with a peculiar accent at the same location, who asked whether he had ever seen any aircraft over the river and gave him an unusual cigarette that immediately made him feel faint; the stranger grabbed the cigarette back, threw it in the river, and hurried away.

Related Cases: The “stranger who asks about sightings and departs abruptly” motif recurs across numerous unrelated UFO-witness accounts internationally, generally cataloged as a “Men in Black” encounter — worth noting as a recognized pattern in the literature rather than independent corroboration of this specific case

Detailed Report

The case, as documented by Siro Menicucci for the research group for the Study of UFO Phenomena in Prato, Italy, describes an unusually detailed technical encounter. Carlo Rossi was heading to the Serchio River, near San Pietro a Vico, before dawn to fish when he saw a circular object hovering over the water. The object appeared to be actively drawing water up from the river through a long tube — an active, purposeful-seeming behavior distinct from a simple stationary hover.

Rossi’s description of the object itself is remarkably specific. It was black, with oval openings spaced around its outer edge. At its center rose a transparent tower, about 6 meters in diameter, extending some 3 meters below the underside of the disc. Inside this tower were 4 thin tubes connected to a central cylinder, between which a bluish flame appeared to pass. Beneath the disc were 5 equidistant propellers, and on top sat 3 concentric cones. Throughout the observation, the only sound the object produced was described as resembling “silk rustling” — a notably quiet, almost delicate description for an object of this apparent complexity.

The encounter escalated when a human face appeared at a porthole in the tower and an arm reached out toward Rossi. He reacted immediately, throwing himself over the ridge of the riverbank for cover. From this position, he saw a green ray projected above him and felt a sensation he described as an electric shock. He then watched the object depart “at frightful speed.”

The case’s second episode occurred roughly two months later. Rossi encountered, at the same location, a man he described as very thin and tall, with a peculiar accent. This stranger asked Rossi directly whether he had ever seen any kind of aircraft over the river — a pointed question suggesting the stranger already knew, or suspected, that Rossi had witnessed something. The stranger then gave Rossi a cigarette; smoking it, or perhaps simply being near it, immediately made him feel faint. The stranger grabbed the cigarette back from him, threw it into the river, and hurried away.

This same underlying incident is documented separately elsewhere in this archive, sourced to a different book (David Ritchie’s Definitive Guide to Unidentified Flying Objects), which describes a fisherman near the Serchio River encountering a discoid UFO approximately 60 feet in diameter, receiving a green-ray shock, and later being approached by a mysterious foreign-accented stranger — matching this case in every meaningful detail except the specific date (July 24 in Ritchie’s account versus July 25 here) and the witness’s name, which only this more detailed source provides.

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

The Serchio River Case — Extraordinary Technical Detail and a Classic “Men in Black” Coda

The level of technical, mechanical detail in Rossi’s description is unusually specific for a single-witness account. Precise counts of propellers, cones, and internal tubes, along with exact tower dimensions, is either evidence of a genuinely detailed and attentive observation under extraordinary circumstances, or evidence of a story that accumulated specificity through retelling — the surviving record doesn’t allow a confident choice between the two.
The “drawing water from the river” behavior is a distinctive and purposeful-seeming detail rarely found in comparable cases. It suggests either a specific narrative element added for effect, or a genuinely unusual observed behavior worth flagging as unusual within this archive’s broader collection.
The later “stranger with a cigarette” episode fits a well-recognized folkloric pattern (the “Men in Black” motif) rather than standing as independently verifiable evidence. Its presence doesn’t confirm the original sighting, but its consistency with a broader documented pattern in UFO-witness literature is worth noting.
The one-day date discrepancy between this case’s primary source and a separately sourced account of what is very likely the same incident is a minor but real inconsistency. Both details — the exact date and the witness’s name — come from different sources, neither of which cross-references the other, making full reconciliation impossible from available material.
This remains, ultimately, a single-witness account with no independent corroboration located. No second observer, physical trace evidence, or contemporaneous press report has been found to support Rossi’s description.

The Serchio River case combines an unusually detailed technical description with a classic, if unverifiable, Men-in-Black coda — a genuinely striking single-witness account that this archive presents at the level of detail its sources actually provide, cross-referenced to its separately-sourced twin elsewhere in the record rather than treated as two distinct incidents.