THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP ENCOUNTER REPORT

1956: Nashville, Tennessee — The Cylinder That Sniffed the Trees

Around noon in 1956, two eleven-year-old boys were building a clubhouse in an empty alley behind some businesses in Nashville, Tennessee when they heard a sound neither of them had heard before — a strange metallic rapping, four quick taps, a short pause, four more. They looked around to find the source. A few feet above a tree, hovering perfectly still, was a cylinder. It was 20 to 25 feet long, dull light silver, possibly slightly rounded at each end. It had skids like a helicopter — same color and length as the body. On its rear was a blue light or blue flame bright enough to throw a glow outward in full daylight. On its belly was writing that wasn’t English — it reminded one of the boys of Chinese characters. And from its bottom rear protruded a long silver tube, which was moving through the leaves at the treetop.

The craft would hover over a tree, probe the leaves with the tube for a few seconds, then slowly move to the next tree. The only sound was the metallic rapping. At 10 yards from a craft 40 feet up, any propulsion system would have been audible — there was nothing else to hear. The boys watched for three or four minutes, too frightened to move. Then they ran home. One of them would spend the rest of his life interested in UFOs. Decades later, his son drew what the father described — “under my father’s supervision, as close to his sighting as can be” — and submitted the account to thinkaboutitdocs.com. The drawing is the closest thing to a record this case has.

Date: 1956 (specific date not established)

Sighting Time: Approximately noon

Day/Night: Day

Location: Nashville, Tennessee — an empty alley opening into a field behind several businesses, near residential areas

Urban or Rural: Urban fringe — behind businesses, near residential

No. of Entity(‘s): None observed

Entity Type: Not Applicable

Entity Description: Not Applicable

Hynek Classification: CE-I (Close Encounter I) — object observed within approximately 30 feet horizontally and 40 feet altitude of the witnesses; no physical effects on witnesses or environment reported

Duration: 3 to 4 minutes

No. of Object(s): 1

Description of the Object(s): A cylinder approximately 20 to 25 feet in length. Dull light silver in color. Possibly slightly rounded at the front and rear ends. Helicopter-type skids running along the bottom, the same color and length as the body. A blue light or blue flame on the rear, bright enough to cast a visible glow approximately one foot outward in full daylight. Writing on the belly in an unidentified script — described as not English, reminiscent of Chinese characters. A long silver tube protruding from the bottom rear, which was used to probe the leaves at the tops of trees.

Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Cylinder; 20–25 ft length; dull light silver; blue flame/light rear; non-English writing on belly; tube probe on underside

Distance to Object(s): Approximately 10 yards horizontally; 40 feet altitude above the treetops

Height & Speed: Hovered a few feet above the tree canopy (estimated 40 feet altitude). Moved slowly between trees during the leaf-probing behavior. No propulsion sound despite close range.

Number of Witnesses: 2 — the primary witness (the submitter’s father) and one friend, both approximately 11 years old at the time

Special Features/Characteristics: The probing tube behavior — moving systematically from tree to tree, inserting or holding the tube in the leaf canopy for a few seconds before moving to the next — is the most distinctive element of this case and has no obvious conventional explanation. The metallic rapping sound (four taps, pause, four taps) was precisely reproduced by the witness decades later using a key tapping the side of a quarter-filled soda can. The blue flame or light on the rear was bright enough to produce a visible glow in full daylight conditions at noon. The non-English writing on the belly suggests either markings of an unknown kind or an organizational identifier.

Case Status: Unverified — single-family account with no independent corroboration or investigative follow-up

Source: Witness account, submitted by son of primary witness to thinkaboutitdocs.com. Drawing prepared by the son under the primary witness’s supervision as a close approximation of the object observed.

Summary/Description: Two eleven-year-old boys in Nashville observed a 20–25 ft silver cylinder hovering over trees for 3–4 minutes at approximately noon. The object had helicopter-style skids, a blue rear flame, unidentified writing on its belly and a probing tube that it moved through the leaf canopy of successive trees. No propulsion sound at 10 yards. Both boys fled.

Detailed Report

The account comes from the son of the primary witness, who submitted it to thinkaboutitdocs.com along with a drawing made under his father’s direct supervision. The father was approximately eleven years old at the time of the sighting; his son describes him as someone who “absolutely does not lie” and notes that this incident was what prompted his father’s lifelong interest in UFOs.

The two boys were in an area where an empty alley opened into a field in Nashville — behind a few businesses, near residential streets. They were building a clubhouse and enjoying the day when they noticed a sound. The son’s account of how his father reproduced it is precise: tapping a key about an inch from the bottom of a soda can filled one-quarter with water, four quick taps, a short pause, four more, repeated — and it took the father half an hour of experimentation to reproduce it accurately. That level of sonic memory, held for decades and reproducible on demand, is unusual in UFO witness testimony and suggests a strong original impression.

Following the sound, they located the source: a cylinder hovering a few feet above a nearby tree. It was 20 to 25 feet in length, dull light silver. The father thought it might be slightly rounded at the front and back. Running along the bottom were helicopter-type skids, the same color and length as the body itself. At the rear was a blue light or blue flame — the father was uncertain which, but it was bright enough to cast a visible glow outward about a foot in full noon daylight, which is a significant luminous output.

Two features stood out most in the father’s memory. The first was writing on the belly of the craft: not English, not any alphabet he recognized, with a character style that reminded him of Chinese writing. The second was the tube — a long silver probe extending from the bottom rear of the cylinder, which was actively moving through the leaves at the tree canopy. The craft would hover over a tree, hold the tube in the leaves for a few seconds, then move slowly to the next tree and repeat. The father described this as “sniffing” — the only word he could find for the behavior.

The only sound throughout was the metallic rapping. The boys were approximately 10 yards from the object, which was hovering at roughly 40 feet altitude. At that range and altitude, any conventional propulsion system — internal combustion, turbine, rotor — would have produced clearly audible sound. There was none. After three or four minutes watching, both boys ran home.

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

What Makes the Nashville Cylinder Unusual Within the 1956 Record

The probing behavior: The systematic tree-to-tree leaf sampling — probe in canopy, pause, move to next tree, repeat — is functionally unlike any behavior described in the 1956 UFO record’s other close encounters. The majority of 1956 CE-I cases involve hovering, approach, departure or E-M effects. A craft actively sampling vegetation in a methodical pattern is a different category of observation, closer to what later researchers would describe as environmental sampling. No conventional 1956 aircraft had a probe designed for vegetation contact at treetop level.
The sound reproduction: The father’s ability to reproduce the precise sound decades later — and the specificity of the reproduction method (key, soda can, quarter-filled with water, one inch from bottom, four taps, pause, four taps) — is an unusual feature of the account. Most UFO witness accounts describe sounds impressionistically. This one provides a reproducible auditory profile, which is either a sign of exceptionally strong memory encoding at the time of the experience or a sign of ongoing cognitive engagement with the memory over decades.
The writing: Non-English writing on the belly of the craft is reported in a small number of 1950s UFO accounts; it appears in at least two other 1956-era cases in the broader literature. The father’s description — not English, character-style reminiscent of Chinese writing — is a specific, falsifiable observation: he knew English, recognized Chinese script from its visual character, and described the writing as resembling but not necessarily being either. Whether this represents an actual marking or a perceptual artifact of viewing an unusual surface under stress is not determinable from the account alone.
Source limitations: This is a family account with no independent investigation, no corroborating witnesses outside the two boys (the friend is not identified), no physical evidence and no contemporary record — the submission to thinkaboutitdocs.com may be the first time the account was formally documented. The son’s confidence in his father’s truthfulness is personal testimony, not independent verification. The case rests entirely on the father’s memory as filtered through the son’s account.
The drawing: The image uploaded to the site — nashvilletn1956.jpg — was made by the son under the father’s supervision as a close approximation of the observed object. It functions as a witness sketch, which in standard investigative practice is a legitimate first-order documentation tool. It is the closest thing to a contemporaneous record this case has.

The Nashville cylinder is not a case that can be independently verified. What it has is internal coherence — a consistent account with specific, unusual details (the sound profile, the writing, the probing tube behavior) that are not the typical features of a fabricated UFO story and that the witness apparently maintained consistently across decades. That is what the archive records: what was said, with appropriate context for evaluating it.

“The craft would hover over a tree, ‘sniff’ the leaves for a few seconds, then slowly move to the next tree. Aside from the metallic rapping, there was no sound — they were maybe 10 yards from the object, and it was only 40 feet up at most. If there was a sound, they would have heard it.”
Son of primary witness, describing his father’s account of the Nashville, Tennessee cylinder sighting, 1956 — submitted to thinkaboutitdocs.com