1955: August UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive

August 1955 is dominated by one case that changed UFO history: the Kelly-Hopkinsville siege, in which a Kentucky farm family fired on small, glowing, clawed entities for nearly ten hours with no lasting effect, investigated the same night by dozens of police and military personnel. A radar operator’s cat-and-mouse pursuit over Missouri, a French widow’s discovery of metallic trace rings in her meadow, and a cluster of Cincinnati-area “little green man” sightings across three separate Ohio suburbs in a single week round out one of the archive’s most entity-dense months.

Date: August 1955
Location: Chazy Landing, New York
Time: 3:00 AM
Summary: James F. Roddy, seeing a fire-like glow in the woods, approached by car using back roads to within a few hundred feet: “It was off in a clearing, glowing like a batch of 200 watt bulbs.” He then heard heavy footsteps running, and something vaulted over the rear of his car with enough force to rock it — “It had to be a very heavy person to rock my car that way.” The footsteps then ran toward the glowing object. Frightened, Roddy drove back to the main road, where he saw a bluish-green light rise jerkily from the woods, glow bluish-white, and depart at high speed.
Source: C.R. Roseberry, Albany Times-Union

Date: August 1955
Location: Fredericksburg, Virginia
Time: 3:00 PM
Summary: 5-year-old Tom Bricken recalled playing with toy soldiers in his kitchen when he heard the back door and felt someone watching him; turning, he saw a robot-like “machine-man” figure. His next memory was of being placed in a sleep-like state and carried by several short, hairless-headed aliens with entirely black eyes (in which he later discerned a pupil), small ears and mouths, wearing dark blue overalls with silvery boots — beings he was later told had evolved this way on a planet with two suns. Carried to the backyard, he saw a hovering craft with a pole extending from its dome to contact the neighbor’s power lines, apparently drawing electricity; the craft then extended a triangular tripod landing gear and touched down. Aboard, he was examined and taken to a waiting room where he met a more human-like being in an environmental suit with a transparent helmet, breathing apparatus, and chest equipment, and saw another person he believed might have been his sister also being examined. He was then brought to a control room where a gold/peach-suited commander transmitted a report, before being returned to his kitchen in a trance-like state. The next day the neighbor found strange markings on the ground in the backyard.
Source: UFO Watch Site

Date: August 1955
Location: Tlahualilo, Durango, Mexico
Time: Afternoon
Summary: Laborers returning to their ranch on horseback near Huaca Mountain saw a strange figure moving through the brush as fast as a horse but clearly not one. It jumped a barbed-wire fence about 100 meters away, allowing a closer look: roughly 1.5 m tall, with long goat-like legs, two horn-like protrusions on its head, and a face covered in thick beard — a satyr-like creature. One man fell from his horse in shock; the being was quickly lost in the brush. This is a cryptid/high-strangeness account rather than a UFO report and is preserved as recorded.
Source: planetaoculto.com

Date: August 1955
Location: Near Cheltenham, England
Time: Evening
Summary: A witness, his wife, and two friends sitting in their car outside an inn saw an object appear over treetops half a mile away. It traveled toward them, made a near-right-angle turn, and vanished behind trees; its sharply-defined appearance resembled a row of lighted shop windows with visible outlines of “objects” behind the glass. Blue-green rays were visible from each end, accompanied by a noise like a mixture of electric motor and landing jet. Speed was estimated as comparable to an airliner at touchdown. Total observation lasted about 15 minutes.
Source: Norman Oliver, BUFORA Journal Vol. 7 #2

Date: August 1955
Location: Cazeres, Haute-Garonne, France
Time: 10:00 PM
Summary: Mme De Jean, 60, closing her bedroom window, saw in a meadow across the road two egg-shell-shaped objects with multicolored lights, beside them two small (3 ft tall) bald-headed beings. She called her husband, who armed himself and went to alert neighbors; when his dog began barking the objects departed rapidly, leaving neighbors to see only two reddish “stars.” At the site, two rings of metallic droplets resembling melted aluminum were found, 6-10 ft in diameter, 10 ft apart; after the next rain, grass grew everywhere except inside the circles. [Full Report]
Source: Roger Gayral, LDLN #158

Date: August 1955
Location: Near Eagle Pass, Texas
Time: Midnight
Summary: Dan Martin, driving north of town past the Nueces River, felt his legs and arms go numb and pulled over, fearing a heart attack. He heard a noise behind his vehicle and saw a cigar-shaped object emerge from behind his car and stop across the road, hovering 8 ft above the ground. Feeling compelled to get out and approach, he encountered a medium-sized humanoid female in a tight-fitting silvery outfit near the rear of the object and had a brief conversation with her before returning to his car. The object then departed silently at a sharp angle, clearing nearby treetops within seconds.
Source: NUFORC, quoting the Del Rio News-Herald

Date: August 1, 1955
Location: Bronwood, Georgia
Time: Unknown
Summary: Joseph Whaley, 20, cutting roadside grass, saw a 6 ft “gorilla” approach him, covered in shaggy gray hair with tusk-like teeth, grunting like a pig. Whaley struck it with his scythe and ran to his jeep, but it pursued and clawed him, ripping his shirt and scratching his shoulder, moving in a lumbering, slow-moving manner. This is a cryptid/high-strangeness account rather than a UFO report and is preserved as recorded.
Source: Ted Bloecher

Date: August 1, 1955
Location: Salon, near Arles, France
Time: Night
Summary: Two people in a car saw a lighted object dive toward them and hover about 30 m above the road: a disk, 12 m in diameter, which flew around the car before departing without noise. The witnesses, tourists, went directly to the Arles police.
Source: Magonia 367

Date: August 1, 1955
Location: Chardon Road, Ohio
Time: 9:00 PM
Summary: Mr. Sheneman, coming from Willoughby, got out of his car and saw a circular object with a red light descend fast, hover, and emit two beams of light. He fled toward his house, with the object appearing to chase him at under 70 m altitude; it measured about 30 m in diameter with a dome. Sheneman, his wife, and their two children watched it fly away.
Source: Magonia 368

Date: August 5, 1955
Location: Buzancy, Ardennes, France
Time: 2:30 PM
Summary: Messrs. Coisin and Mahieu saw five brown, disk-shaped machines descend and rise again at great speed. One flew beneath the others; two disks appeared to land 300 m away near a German cemetery, while the rest departed south at tremendous speed.
Source: Magonia 369

Date: August 6, 1955
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Time: Unknown
Summary: An oval-shaped UFO was observed ascending at high speed.
Source: UFOE, XII

Date: August 11, 1955 (BBU 3699)
Location: Iceland
Time: 11:45 AM
Summary: USAF 2nd Lt. E.J. Marlow saw 12 gray objects, ranging in appearance from cigar- to egg-shaped, vary their formation repeatedly — from elliptical to a wavy line, to scattered, to a straight line, to trail formation. Speed varied from hovering to an estimated 1,000 mph.
Source: Berliner

Date: August 16, 1955
Location: Bradford, England
Time: 4:30 AM
Summary: Lorry driver Ernest Suddards and his 13-year-old son, driving home, had their headlights illuminate a strange 4 ft tall being in the street, dressed in a skintight black garment covering even the head, with a shiny perforated disc on the chest. It moved forward by jumping with its feet kept together, then turned up a passageway and was lost from view. A silvery, bullet-shaped craft had reportedly been seen low over the area around the same time.
Source: Jack Ibson, FSR Autumn 1955; Magonia 370

Date: August 19, 1955
Location: Bradford, England
Time: 11:30 PM
Summary: About 700 m from Roundhill Street, warehouseman Mr. Wood saw a bright, bullet-shaped, silvery object behind a hillock, roughly 4 m tall and 1.5 m in diameter, with a chromium-like surface, producing a high-pitched buzzing sound. Occurring 3 days after a similarly-described craft was reported in the same town.
Source: Jack Ibson, FSR Autumn 1955; Magonia 371

Date: August 21, 1955
Location: Dogtown, near Evansville, Indiana
Time: Afternoon
Summary: Mrs. Darwin Johnson, swimming with Mrs. Chris Lamble about 15 ft from shore in the Ohio River, felt something grab her from underwater — a “hand” with huge claws and furry palms, gripping her leg and knee and pulling her under. She fought free, was pulled under a second time, then lunged for Lamble’s inner tube; the loud thump apparently startled the creature into releasing her. Neither woman saw the thing directly. Johnson was treated for scratches and marks on her legs and reportedly had a palm-print-shaped green stain below her knee that would not wash off for several days. An individual identifying himself as an Air Force colonel later visited the couple, took extensive notes, and warned them not to discuss the incident further. This is a cryptid/high-strangeness account rather than a UFO report and is preserved as recorded, including the unverified colonel visit.
Source: Humcat, quoting newspaper source & UPI

Date: August 21-22, 1955
Location: Kelly, near Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Time: 7:00 PM through approximately 5:15 AM
Summary: The Sutton family farm was besieged through the night by small, glowing, clawed creatures that repeatedly approached the house and were shot at close range with shotguns and rifles, always fleeing or floating away unharmed rather than falling. The family fled to police around 11:00 PM; a thorough search found bullet damage but no trace of the creatures. The siege resumed after police left and continued until just before dawn. One of the most extensively investigated multi-witness CE-III cases in American UFO history. [Full Report]
Source: Isabel L. Davis for CSI & Bud Ledwith; CUFOS; Kentucky New Era

Date: August 21, 1955
Location: Chalmette, Louisiana
Time: Unknown
Summary: A glowing-white, Saturn-shaped object hovered while rotating, then turned sideways and shot away.
Source: UFOE, XII

Date: August 22, 1955
Location: Casa Blanca, near Riverside, California
Time: 2:00 PM
Summary: Children playing in the garden of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas saw a hovering object that disappeared and reappeared as a spinning disk with curved radiating lines. Additional silvery, semi-transparent objects appeared, seen by all the children present, making musical sounds as they vanished and reappeared. One landed; nearby a creature the size of a 4-year-old, transparent, wearing a belt with a bright disk, was seen. A second creature appeared and spoke to one of the boys. All the children experienced visions of the objects and creatures, including beckoning “arms.” Cross-referenced to a similar, larger episode at the same location a week later.
Source: Isabel L. Davis for CSI & Bud Ledwith

Date: August 23, 1955 (BBU)
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Time: 11:50 PM
Summary: Several SAC USAF fighter pilots saw 3 round, disc-shaped objects making evasive maneuvers — a “dogfight” with the UFOs, first detected by radar.
Source: Weinstein; Blue Book files

Date: August 23, 1955 (BBU 3720)
Location: Arlington, Virginia
Time: 10:45 AM (GMT)
Summary: Witness Park, using a 400-power telescope, saw six or more orange lights moving singly or in groups, circling and stopping.
Source: Berliner; FUFOR Index

Date: August 25, 1955
Location: Winton Woods, Ohio
Time: 10:45 PM
Summary: Four teenagers said their car headlights caught a little man 3-4 ft tall, with large yellow eyes, a dark face, and a glowing body, wearing an odd garment; they also saw a claw-like hand. Driver Bill Wallace, 18, fled in terror and notified police. Part of a cluster of similar small-entity reports across several Cincinnati-area Ohio suburbs within the same week.
Source: Ted Bloecher for CSI

Date: August 25, 1955
Location: Greenhills, Ohio
Time: 10:45 PM
Summary: Four adolescents in a car saw a creature with a luminous body standing near a fire plug. Occurring the same night and same approximate time as the Winton Woods, Ohio sighting nearby.
Source: Magonia 374

Date: August 25, 1955
Location: Bedford, Indiana
Time: Unknown
Summary: House lights dimmed and brightened in correlation with a hovering, pulsating UFO outside.
Source: Unknown

Date: August 25, 1955 (BBU)
Location: Fordland, Missouri
Time: 7:56 PM (CST)
Summary: A ground radar blip at Fordland AFS, moving roughly 1,000 mph, slowed to about 320 mph. Fighter “Dropkick 17” was scrambled and directed toward it; each time the fighter closed to within a few miles, the target faded, then reappeared roughly 20 miles ahead — a pattern repeating 10 to 15 times until the fighter reported low fuel. As DK 17 withdrew, the unidentified target began painting on radar like a B-52, stationary. Named radar personnel: 1st Lt. John N. Oliver (Director), A/2C J.L. Bossom and A/2C Isaac N. Young (radar operators). [Full Report]
Source: Dan Wilson, Brad Sparks, footnotes.com, BB files

Date: August 26, 1955
Location: Camp Washington, Ohio
Time: Evening
Summary: A child went into hysterics after seeing what he described as a “green man” looking through the window of his house. Part of the same-week Cincinnati-area small-entity cluster.
Source: UFOCAT, quoting newspaper clips

Date: August 26, 1955
Location: Cheviot, Ohio
Time: Night
Summary: Independent witnesses in Cheviot and nearby communities reported a strange little man with claw-like hands, large yellow eyes, and a glowing body — in some accounts green in color. The final and most widely corroborated entry in the week-long Cincinnati-area cluster spanning Winton Woods, Greenhills, and Camp Washington.
Source: Ted Bloecher

Date: August 28, 1955
Location: Yonkers, New York
Time: Unknown
Summary: A Board of Education official and others saw a white, Saturn-shaped object through a telescope.
Source: UFOE, XII

Date: August 29, 1955
Location: Casa Blanca, California
Time: 3:00 PM
Summary: 8 or 9 children aged 4-15 saw semi-transparent, multicolored round objects appearing and disappearing with musical “pings”; adults called to look saw nothing. One object, described as large as three houses, descended to hover 3 ft off the ground; beside it appeared a transparent, 3.5 ft tall being with red eyes and mouth and a bright belt disk. Other objects landed, one on a rooftop. One boy started toward a vessel and was forcibly restrained by other children; another saw a beckoning arm in mid-air. A four-armed creature told two boys to climb a tree to be “picked up”; they did, and a UFO approached with small figures riding its rim. One boy climbed down after a garden hose was turned on him; the other slid off a nearby roof, landing on his head unhurt but amnesiac afterward. A larger recurrence of the smaller August 22 episode at the same location.
Source: Bob Boden, Mrs. Jean Rowlands & Mary Starbuck for BSRA

Date: August 30, 1955
Location: Mulberry Corners, Ohio
Time: 1:45 AM
Summary: David Ankenbrandt, driving home, saw a bright yellow light descend; walking to the landing site, he found a 50 ft diameter aircraft with a dome. A beam of green light paralyzed him, and a man over 6 ft tall in a ski-suit-like garment emerged, commanding him in a high-pitched voice to inform the federal government there must be no more wars. After the pilot re-entered, the paralysis ceased. 48 hours later Ankenbrandt returned and was met by the same pilot, who repeated his instructions.
Source: Sgt. O.D. Hill for Project Blue Book & Allen E. Roush

Date: Late August 1955
Location: Near Vienna, Austria
Time: 3:00 PM
Summary: Josef Wanderka, riding his motorcycle through a wooded area, encountered a metallic disc with a door and ramp in a clearing, and felt an impulse to enter. Inside, softly lit, he found 5-6 humanlike beings with beautiful, childlike faces, fair medium hair, and no visible sex difference, wearing dull gray, seamless one-piece overalls and mittens. They communicated in perfect German, expressed concern about conditions on Earth, and said they came from the constellation Cassiopeia.
Source: Thomas E. Bullard, UFO Abductions: The Measure of a Mystery

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A Kentucky Siege, a Missouri Radar Chase, and Cincinnati’s Week of Little Men

August 1955 is defined by Kelly-Hopkinsville, one of the most consequential entity encounters in the history of American ufology — a farm family’s night-long, multi-witness siege by entities impervious to gunfire, investigated the same night by dozens of law enforcement and military personnel. The Fordland, Missouri radar chase, with its named radar crew and a target that played cat-and-mouse with an interceptor for the better part of an hour, and the Cazeres, France case, with its independently-verified metallic trace rings, round out the month’s three standalones.

Beyond these anchor cases, the last week of August produced a remarkable cluster of small, glowing, claw-handed entity sightings across four separate Cincinnati-area Ohio suburbs — Winton Woods, Greenhills, Camp Washington, and Cheviot — all within days of each other, a genuine local flap distinct from, but roughly contemporaneous with, the Kentucky siege three states away. The Casa Blanca, California children’s cases (August 22 and 29) form another connected pair worth reading together.