2150 Poquita Vista, Tucson, February 10, 1977 — Alice Buckner reaches within two feet of a small capsule-shaped craft containing a gray-suited humanoid figure and a flame-like light source. APRO Bulletin Vol. 25 No. 8.
THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP|ENTITY SIGHTING REPORT
1977: Occupant Case in Tucson
On the evening of February 10, 1977, Lois Stovall and her grandmother Alice Buckner watched a small capsule-shaped craft descend into their front yard at 2150 Poquita Vista in Tucson, Arizona, hovering close enough that the elder woman reached to within two feet of it. Through a transparent front section they observed a small, gray, puffy-suited humanoid figure crouching behind a flickering flame-like light source. The case was investigated by APRO, headquartered in Tucson, and published in the APRO Bulletin, Vol. 25 No. 8 — one of the most unusual close-encounter cases in the APRO files, notable for the extremely close range of observation and the concurrent presence of multiple low-flying helicopters whose relationship to the object remains unexplained.
Date: February 10, 1977
Sighting Time: Approximately 7:30 p.m. MST
Day/Night: Night
Location: 2150 Poquita Vista, south of Lillian Cavett Elementary School, Tucson, Arizona
Urban or Rural: Urban (residential neighborhood)
No. of Entity(‘s): 1
Entity Type: Humanoid (small, suited figure)
Entity Description: Approximately the size of a six-year-old child. Human-shaped, entirely gray in color, with a puffy inflated appearance resembling a pressurized suit. Ridges or rings of the same substance ran around the appendages, similar to padding or segments on some space suits. No facial features visible from the front; grandmother Alice Buckner, viewing from directly beneath, reported a window in the front of the head section through which she thought she could barely discern a face but could not distinguish details. No hands or feet visible at the ends of the appendages. The figure stood in a crouched position with hands (or where hands should have been) slightly forward and above the knees, as though holding controls, though no controls were visible. The figure was never observed to move
Hynek Classification: CE-III (Close Encounter III) — animate being observed in association with a craft at close range
Duration: Several minutes (from initial approach over Lillian Cavett Elementary School through departure over the telephone lines to the south)
No. of Object(s): 1
Description of the Object(s): Capsule-shaped: cylindrical with blunt rounded ends, the top slightly more rounded than the bottom. Approximately 6 feet 6 inches tall and 2 feet 6 inches in diameter. The cylindrical side between the top and bottom curvatures was transparent. Behind the transparent front section, dark vertical bars ran from top to bottom. On the floor of the transparent cabin sat a bright light described as a beautiful flame with leaping or flowing streamers of red and blue fire within an overall mass of bright but not brilliant white light. The bottom surface was completely smooth with no visible features
Shape of Object(s): Capsule / vertical cylinder with rounded ends
Size of Object(s): Approximately 6 feet 6 inches tall by 2 feet 6 inches in diameter — barely larger than the occupant
Color of Object(s): Transparent (front section); the interior flame-light produced bright white with red and blue streamers
Distance to Object(s): Less than 50 feet from the witnesses in the yard; Alice Buckner reached to within approximately 2 feet of the object’s underside
Height & Speed: Descended to within inches of the ground when hovering over the school lawn; hovered at low altitude over the witnesses’ yard tree; departed by ascending vertically and then at an angle to the south, eventually appearing as a gold-colored star
Number of Witnesses: Multiple — at minimum Lois Stovall and Alice Buckner; the APRO report references additional neighborhood witnesses and the concurrent presence of helicopters observed by others
Special Features/Characteristics: The object approached from behind Lillian Cavett Elementary School, curved around the southwest corner of the building, descended to within inches of a bare spot on the school lawn, crossed a fence into the Buckner/Stovall yard, and hovered over a small tree. Grandmother Alice Buckner walked directly under the craft and reached up with her right hand to within approximately two feet of its bottom surface. Lois Stovall reported hearing a “click” just before the object began to ascend; Alice Buckner, directly beneath, did not hear the click. As the object departed to the south, its light appeared gold-colored against the silvery-white stars, allowing Lois to track it until it appeared as a point of light. At the time of the sighting, three helicopters with glowing red cabin lights were flying at very low altitude over the school grounds; one passed almost directly over the capsule at below treetop level, apparently without reacting to its presence
Case Status: Unexplained
Source: APRO Bulletin, Vol. 25 No. 8 (February 1977), Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, Tucson, Arizona
Summary/Description: On February 10, 1977, at approximately 7:30 p.m., Lois Stovall observed a bright flame-like light rising near Lillian Cavett Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona, visible through her front window. The light curved around the school and descended to within inches of the ground on the school lawn before crossing a fence into the Stovall/Buckner yard. Stovall and her grandmother Alice Buckner went outside and approached to within 50 feet. The object was a small capsule approximately 6.5 feet tall and 2.5 feet in diameter, with a transparent front section behind dark vertical bars, containing a flame-like light on the floor and a small, puffy, gray-suited humanoid figure crouching in the cabin. Buckner walked directly under the craft and reached to within two feet of it. The figure filled nearly the entire cabin space and was never observed to move. When Buckner reached up, the object ascended vertically and departed to the south, passing over a neighbor’s carport and above telephone lines before diminishing to a gold-colored point of light. Three low-flying helicopters with red cabin lights were simultaneously present over the school grounds during the observation.
Related Cases: 1962 Tucson Westmoreland Sighting (APRO) | 1975 Tucson Hat-Shaped UFO (APRO)
Detailed Report
On the evening of Thursday, February 10, 1977, Lois Stovall was seated on the couch in her living room at 2150 Poquita Vista in Tucson, Arizona. The house faces Lillian Cavett Elementary School, visible through the front window. At approximately 7:30 p.m., Stovall noticed a light resembling a bright star or flame rising just to the left of the school, as an airplane appears to rise when coming over the horizon. The light’s strange beauty captured her attention as it rose and curved around the southwest corner of the school building, passing behind two trees south of the structure, then turning toward her house at low altitude — below the treetops — and descending to within a few inches of the ground on the school side of the school fence, hovering over a bare spot on the lawn.
Stovall alerted her grandmother, Alice Buckner, the homeowner, who was also in the living room. Both women went to the door and watched the object begin to rise and move south toward the school fence and their house. It crossed the fence, entered their yard, and slowed to a hover over a small tree near the street, where it remained for approximately two minutes. The women then went outside into the yard, standing less than 50 feet from the hovering object. It appeared to drift slowly closer as they watched.
The object was capsule-shaped — cylindrical with blunt rounded ends, the top somewhat more rounded than the bottom. It appeared to be approximately 6 feet 6 inches tall and 2 feet 6 inches in diameter. The cylindrical front section between the top and bottom curves was transparent, and behind this transparency the women could see the bright light that had first attracted Stovall’s attention. The light sat on the floor of the transparent cabin and resembled a beautiful flame, with leaping or flowing streamers of red and blue fire within an overall mass of bright but not brilliant white light. Dark vertical bars ran from top to bottom of the transparent section, enclosing the flame.
Behind the bars and the flame, crouching in the cabin, was a small humanoid figure — entirely gray in color, with a puffy, inflated appearance. Its appendages were ringed with ridges of the same material, resembling the segmented padding of a pressure suit. No facial features were visible from the front. No hands or feet were discernible at the ends of the appendages. The figure appeared to be standing in a crouched position with its hands (or where hands would be) slightly forward and above the knees, as though gripping controls, though no controls were visible. The figure completely filled the small cabin and was never observed to move during the entire encounter.
Alice Buckner walked directly under the craft. She was able to reach up with her right hand to within approximately two feet of the bottom surface, which was completely smooth and featureless. She wanted to touch it but it was just out of reach. From her position directly beneath, she could see the small figure more clearly and determined it was wearing a suit, seemingly inflated like a balloon. She could see a window in the front of the head section and thought she could barely make out a face behind it, but could not distinguish any particular features. The strange flame-light was visible on the floor between the figure’s feet.
As Buckner reached up, Lois Stovall reported hearing a “click.” Buckner, directly beneath the craft, did not hear it. The object began to rise vertically, then changed course and continued ascending at an angle to the south. It passed over the corner of a neighbor’s (Mrs. Turner’s) carport and roof, continuing upward until it cleared the telephone wires in the alley behind the homes, then climbed steadily southward until it appeared as a point of light in the night sky. Stovall followed it from the yard around to the back of the house, noting that its light was distinctly gold-colored compared to the silvery-white of the surrounding stars, making it easy to pick out even after looking away and back.
One of the most puzzling aspects of the case is the concurrent presence of helicopters. At the time of the capsule observation, three helicopters with glowing red cabin lights were flying at very low altitude over the school grounds. One of them passed almost directly over the small capsule at below treetop level and continued west without any apparent reaction — something that seemed impossible to the witnesses, given how conspicuous the illuminated capsule was. The relationship between the helicopters and the capsule was never established. The APRO Bulletin report noted this detail without speculating on its meaning.
Researcher’s Notes
The Stovall-Buckner Sighting — Tucson 1977 and the Capsule in the Yard
- Source Chain and APRO Proximity: This case was published in the APRO Bulletin, Vol. 25 No. 8 (February 1977), investigated by APRO on their home turf in Tucson — the third major Tucson case in the archive with APRO as the primary investigative organization, following the 1962 Westmoreland sighting and the 1975 Martinez-Robbins hat-shaped UFO. The witnesses are named (Lois Stovall and Alice Buckner), the address is given (2150 Poquita Vista), and the adjacent landmark (Lillian Cavett Elementary School) is identified — all verifiable details. The APRO Bulletin article provides the level of descriptive specificity (dimensions, angles, colors, positions, behavioral sequences) that characterizes their better-investigated cases.
- The Object’s Unusual Form Factor: The capsule described in this case is unlike the disc, triangle, cigar, or sphere shapes that dominate the UAP literature. A vertical cylinder approximately 6.5 feet by 2.5 feet, barely larger than its occupant, with a transparent front section, vertical bars, and a flame-like interior light source is closer in concept to a single-person escape pod or descent capsule than to any conventional UAP morphology. The object’s behavior — descending to ground level, hovering at treetop height, departing vertically — is consistent with a small maneuvering vehicle rather than a large structured craft. If the description is taken at face value, the capsule was essentially a one-person cockpit with no visible means of propulsion, operating silently at close range in a residential neighborhood.
- The Helicopter Coincidence: Three helicopters with red cabin lights operating at below-treetop level over a school yard at 7:30 p.m. on a Thursday evening, concurrent with a CE-III event, is a detail that resists casual dismissal. The APRO report notes that one helicopter passed almost directly over the capsule without apparent reaction. Two interpretations present themselves: either the helicopter crews did not see the small, illuminated object directly below them — which seems improbable given its brightness — or they saw it and did not react in any way visible to the ground witnesses. The association of unexplained helicopter activity with UAP encounters is a recurring pattern in the literature (sometimes labeled “phantom helicopters”), and this case adds a well-documented instance from a credible source. The archive flags the detail without resolving it.
- Witness Credibility and Mundane Candidates: Alice Buckner, the grandmother and homeowner, demonstrated remarkable composure — walking directly under an unknown aerial object and attempting to touch it. Her independent observation of the suited figure’s details (the face window, the flame between the feet, the determination that it was a suit rather than a body) adds corroborative detail distinct from her granddaughter’s front-on view. No conventional object matches the described form factor. A small advertising drone or tethered display is anachronistic for 1977. A toy balloon or lantern does not account for the described transparency, vertical bars, internal figure, flame-light, deliberate low-altitude maneuvering, click-triggered departure, and ascent to the south. The case is classified Unexplained — a CE-III in a residential yard, investigated by APRO at close range in time and distance, with named witnesses and a school landmark that anchors it to a specific address in Tucson.
The capsule in the Stovall yard stands as one of the oddest objects in the thinkaboutitdocs.com archive — too small for most UAP categories, too detailed for dismissal, too close to the witnesses for comfortable ambiguity. Alice Buckner nearly touched it. Whatever hovered over the tree at 2150 Poquita Vista on that February evening, it entered the record at arm’s length and left heading south, gold against the silver stars.
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