June 1947 — four anchor cases from the month everything changed: Fred Johnson's Mount Adams corroboration of Kenneth Arnold, three White Sands scientists' vanishing disc, Lt. Armstrong's Lake Mead formation, and Malta's little-men submarine encounter. thinkaboutitdocs.com.
1947: June UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive
June 1947 is the month everything changed. Kenneth Arnold’s June 24 sighting near Mount Rainier — already documented in its own full report on this archive — didn’t happen in isolation: this page shows the wave already building for weeks beforehand, and cresting into an extraordinary run of independently corroborated cases in the sighting’s immediate aftermath, from a Mount Adams prospector whose compass spun wildly as five or six discs passed overhead, to three named White Sands rocket scientists watching a silvery disc vanish mid-flight in a clear, cloudless sky. This is also the densest, most rigorously sourced month this archive has yet assembled — the great majority of entries trace directly through Ted Bloecher’s landmark 1967 Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, corroborated by declassified FOIA records, the FUFOR Index, and Edward Ruppelt’s own official Air Force account. One internal duplicate was found and flagged: the Malta “little men on a submarine” case appears twice on this page under two different dates.
Date: Summer (June) 1947 (see editorial note — duplicate of the June 8 entry below)
Location: 20 miles south of Malta, Mediterranean Sea (35.39N, 14.25E)
Time: Unknown
Summary: Anglers raising their nets saw an object floating on the water’s surface resembling a black submarine. Frightened, they started the boat’s engine; a bright light from the object then lit the area as “little men,” about the size of a 10-year-old boy and carrying apparatus around their waists, ran over its deck. After a few minutes the figures re-entered the object, which glowed brightly and submerged.
Source: David Pace, UFOs over the Maltese Islands
Editorial note: This entry duplicates the fuller, named-witness version of this case appearing later on this same page under “June 8???, 1947.” See that entry for the complete account.
Date: Summer 1947
Location: Dolores Remedios, Cuba
Time: Unknown
Summary: A woman required treatment for nervous shock after reporting that, while doing laundry outside her home, she saw a large, bright object shaped like two bowls joined together land silently; a man about two meters tall, wearing a shiny white outfit and luminous headgear, approached her, pointed at her and the ground, and shouted something resembling “Terra! Terra!” before she fainted. When she woke, both the man and object were gone. Independent witnesses believed a “crash” had occurred nearby, describing US and Cuban military forces cordoning off an area and bringing in heavy equipment; something of unknown nature was reportedly removed from the site.
Source: Dr. Sergio Cervera and personal interviews Source Status: INSUFFICIENT DATA — no independent corroboration of the reported military response located.
Date: Summer 1947
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Time: 11:00
Summary: A 4-year-old witness in her driveway noticed a strange, roughly 6-foot-tall figure in black across the street — armless, pear-shaped, with a large round head, long thin black legs, and a striated glass-like face resembling a motorbike headlight. As the witness stepped toward it, the figure mirrored her steps, seeming to close the distance faster than she did. Overcome with fear, she ran screaming into the house; her mother found nothing outside.
Source: Fortean Times, “It Happened to Me”
Date: Summer 1947
Location: Near Shipdham, Norfolk, England
Time: Afternoon
Summary: A young boy playing in a wooded field saw a silvery, torpedo-shaped craft in a clearing, with several four-foot-tall humanoid figures nearby, well-built, wearing dark green close-fitting coveralls, with glossy black hair and dark wrap-around visors, appearing to inspect the craft.
Source: Sheridan Lane, Quest UFO Magazine, Vol. 11, No. 2
Date: Summer 1947
Location: Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Time: Afternoon
Summary: A 16-year-old and his younger brother, resting at a creek, heard a hum and watched a silvery metallic object with a dome land nearby; five praying-mantis-like creatures in dull silver body coverings emerged. One took a book from the older witness’s hand and appeared to read his thoughts by touch, its large black eyes emitting a clicking sound. A telepathic message told the boys the beings were leaving and not to look up; the object then departed with a deafening noise, leaving both witnesses extremely thirsty.
Source: UFO BC Canada
Date: Summer 1947
Location: Jumilla, Murcia, Spain
Time: Afternoon
Summary: A 12-year-old home alone saw a small, white, oval craft passing over nearby vineyards with no road access. Two very short men in white, tight-fitting garments approached the house, asked for water, and asked unusual questions about the nature of time. That night, they returned and led her, while her family slept, to a round object landed among olive trees, where she underwent what she experienced as a medical examination, comforted throughout by a normal-looking, dark-haired woman. The witness believes something was implanted in her.
Source: Antonio Ribera, International UFO Library Magazine, Vol. 2
Date: Summer 1947: Near Lubbock, Wilson County, Texas Encounter
Date: June 1947
Location: Oradea, Bihor, Romania
Time: Unknown
Summary: Unidentified objects with appearance and behavior most likely having a conventional explanation were sighted. Six objects were observed by one experienced male witness on a railroad (Schulhof).
Source: Ion Hobana, UFOs from Behind the Iron Curtain, Bantam Y8898, New York, 1975
Date: June 1947
Location: Oak Ridge Nuclear Facility, Tennessee
Time: Unknown
Summary: An object was observed and photographed over a restricted airspace violation; photos were confiscated.
Source: Richard M. Dolan, UFO’s and the National Security State, Vol. 1: 1941-1973, Keyhole Publishing, Rochester, 2000
Date: June 1947
Location: Södra Hammarby, Sweden
Time: 10:00
Summary: A cigar-shaped object, described as a plain tube-cylinder, flew north, made a fast 90-degree turn, and instantly accelerated east.
Source: Jan L. Aldrich, Project 1947: A Preliminary Report on the 1947 UFO Sighting Wave, UFO Research Coalition, Washington, 1997
Date: June 1947
Location: Milo, Oregon
Time: 13:00
Summary: An aluminum, cigar-shaped object, about 40 feet across, was observed by three male witnesses on a highway for several minutes (Wright, R).
Source: NICAP
Date: June 1947
Location: Aloha, Oregon
Time: Dusk
Summary: An unusual, unconventional-appearing disc was observed by one female witness for five minutes (Krause).
Source: NICAP
Date: June 1, 1947
Location: Bakersfield, California
Time: Daytime
Summary: 20 objects were observed by one female witness (Parks).
Source: Ted Bloecher
Date: June 1, 1947
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Time: Night
Summary: Numerous luminous objects were observed by more than three witnesses (Nostrant).
Source: Ted Bloecher
Date: June 2, 1947
Location: Rehoboth Beach (near Lewes), Delaware
Time: Daytime
Summary: Pilot Forrest Wenyon, flying north at 1,400 feet, saw a silvery, jar-shaped object, roughly 15 inches in apparent size, cross in front of his plane at an estimated 1,000-10,000 mph heading east on a straight course at the same altitude, with a silver-white fire exhaust. Possibly a daytime meteor. Duration: several seconds.
Source: Project 1947; McDonald list; FOIA; Bloecher 1967
Date: June 8, 1947
Location: Edwards AFB, California
Time: Unknown
Summary: Six objects were observed at an airfield.
Source: Jacques Vallée
Date: June 8[?], 1947
Location: 20 miles south of Malta
Time: Evening
Case Status: Insufficient Data
Summary: Fisherman Pawlu Zammit and companions, on a boat 20 miles south of Malta, were raising their nets when they saw an object floating on the water resembling a black submarine, which frightened them enough to quickly pull in their nets and start the engine. A bright light then lit the area as “little men” ran over the object’s deck; whenever illuminated, the men appeared to carry some sort of apparatus around their waists. Asked how tall the figures were, Zammit said “about the size of a 10-year-old boy.” After a few minutes, the figures re-entered the object, which glowed too brightly to see and then submerged.
Source: David Pace, “UFOs fuq il-Gżejjer Maltin”
Editorial note: This is the fuller version of the entry listed earlier on this page under “Summer (June) 1947.” The two entries describe the same event from the same source; retained separately per current editorial direction rather than merged.
Date: June 11, 1947
Location: Douglas, Arizona
Time: 23:00
Summary: A ball larger than a star was observed by one female witness for six seconds (Lorenzen), landing remotely, then rising rapidly and vanishing among the stars in under 10 seconds.
Source: APRO
Date: June 12, 1947
Location: Weiser, Idaho
Time: 18:15
Summary: Mrs. H. Erickson saw two high-speed, round objects glistening in the sun at high altitude, heading southeast in trail formation, moving up and down twice and leaving a vapor trail that persisted for over an hour.
Source: McDonald list; FOIA; FUFOR Index; Bloecher 1967
Date: June 13, 1947
Location: Fleur, France
Time: 23:30
Summary: West of Fleur, a six-meter-long, glowing orange, cigar-shaped object surrounded by a bright halo landed during a storm, remaining on the ground for five minutes before ascending quickly and shooting away.
Source: Lumières dans la Nuit
Date: June 14 [23?], 1947
Location: Bakersfield, California
Time: 14:15
Summary: Veteran pilot Richard Rankin and a young boy saw 10 “almost round” or “Flying Flapjack”-shaped objects in formation at 9,000 feet, traveling 300-400 mph headed north on a straight, level course; 7 later returned on a reverse south course.
Source: McDonald list; FUFOR Index; Bloecher 1967
Date: June 15, 1947
Location: Gering, Nebraska
Time: Daytime
Summary: One ball was observed by one witness (Ackley).
Source: Ted Bloecher
Date: June 15, 1947
Location: Las Cruces, New Mexico
Time: 14:00
Summary: One object was observed briefly by one witness.
Source: Newspaper (name not preserved)
Date: June 15, 1947
Location: Lansing, Michigan
Time: 21:30
Summary: Three fiery balls were observed by two experienced witnesses for ten minutes (Von Riper), jumping in and out among clouds “like clay pigeons,” not resembling a searchlight.
Source: Jan L. Aldrich, Project 1947: A Preliminary Report on the 1947 UFO Sighting Wave, UFO Research Coalition, Washington, 1997
Date: June 1947
Location: Declo, Idaho
Time: 22:10
Summary: A nocturnal light zig-zagged through the air over a remote lava-field desert and beamed a cone of light downward, flying north over the desolate terrain.
Source: Larry Hatch
Date: June 16, 1947
Location: Buffalo, New York
Time: Night
Summary: One object was observed by one witness (Sheehy).
Source: Newspaper (name not preserved)
Date: June 17, 1947
Location: Bisbee, Arizona
Time: 10:30
Summary: John A. Petsche, an electrical worker, and another witness independently saw a disc-shaped object that seemed to land near Tintown.
Source: Vallée Magonia Database
Date: June 17, 1947
Location: Dubuque, Iowa
Time: Dusk
Summary: Six objects were observed by two witnesses for over 60 minutes (Korn).
Source: Newspaper (name not preserved)
Date: June 17, 1947
Location: Bremerton, Washington
Time: 18:00
Summary: Three platter-shaped discs hovered for roughly three hours, from late afternoon into evening, wavering as they flew before shooting off westward at extreme speeds.
Source: Ted Bloecher
Date: June 17, 1947
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
Time: 23:00
Summary: One luminous, round object was observed by one witness in the city (McGilvery).
Source: Ted Bloecher
Date: June 18, 1947
Location: Eugene, Oregon
Time: 13:00
Summary: Objects were observed and photographed; more than two shiny, round objects were briefly observed by seven witnesses in the city (Sprinkle, E).
Source: Ted Bloecher
Date: June 18, 1947
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Time: Around 16:00
Summary: One disc was observed by more than three female witnesses for over 15 minutes (Akins).
Source: Ted Bloecher
Date: June 19, 1947
Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Time: Night
Summary: More than eight discs were observed by one witness (Taylor).
Source: Ted Bloecher
Date: June 19, 1947
Location: Webster, Massachusetts
Time: 22:30
Summary: An unidentified woman called a local newspaper office reporting that a 70-year-old Webster relative had seen “something shoot by her window” — described as “a little bigger than the moon,” with “a slim man in what looked like a Navy uniform sitting in it.”
Source: HUMCAT, quoting a newspaper source
Date: June 20, 1947
Location: Moses Lake, Washington
Time: 23:00
Summary: An object moving with a falling-leaf motion was observed; one blue-white, oval object was seen by more than three witnesses on a highway (Edes).
Source: Ted Bloecher
Date: June 20, 1947
Location: Hot Springs, New Mexico
Time: 20:00 MST
Summary: A woman and her daughter observed three revolving groups of three discs each in triangular formation, on a straight course from south to northeast.
Source: Bloecher, 17, II-9
Date: June 21, 1947
Location: Spokane, Washington (landing on the St. Joe River, Idaho)
Time: 11:50-11:55 AM
Summary: Civilian witness Mrs. Guy R. Overman saw eight shiny, silvery, slim-bodied, disc-shaped objects, the apparent size of a house fly, traveling at an estimated 600 mph southwest at 7,000 feet — one object below an aircraft — then falling with a dead-leaf motion and landing before ten witnesses on the shore of the St. Joe River. Duration: several minutes.
Source: Jacques Vallée, Magonia 57; FOIA; FUFOR Index; Bloecher 1967
Date: June 21, 1947: Maury Island Incident
Date: June 23, 1947
Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Time: Unknown
Summary: A railroad engineer saw ten shiny, disc-shaped objects, very high in the sky, fluttering along in a string toward the northwest.
Source: The UFO Evidence, Section XII
Date: June 24, 1947: Kenneth Arnold Sighting
Date: June 24, 1947
Location: Richland, Washington
Time: 14:30
Summary: L.G. Bernier observed three flat objects, faster than P-38 fighters, flying on a level course to the northwest.
Source: Ted Bloecher / Dan Wilson
Date: June 24, 1947
Location: Mount Adams, Washington
Time: Afternoon
Case Status: Unexplained
Summary: At almost exactly the moment Kenneth Arnold lost sight of his own objects, prospector Fred Johnson reported watching five or six disc-shaped craft cross the Cascade Mountains — round, with a slight tail, about 30 feet in diameter, not flying in formation, sunlight flashing off them as they banked. As they approached, Johnson’s compass began spinning wildly, returning to normal only after the objects vanished in the distance.
Source: Widely cited across 1947-wave literature as an independent, same-day corroboration of the Arnold sighting
Date: June 24, 1947
Location: Near Pendleton, Oregon
Time: Afternoon
Summary: The same day as Arnold’s sighting, a man driving a remote rural road heard a loud humming sound and, cresting a rise, saw a large disc-shaped craft hovering six feet off the ground in a nearby field, with two short figures in green suits and white helmets standing beneath it. The figures suddenly vanished; the craft shot toward the Columbia River, circled, and flew toward the mountains.
Source: Bob Gribble, MUFON UFO Journal #290
Date: June 24, 1947
Location: Diamond Gap, Washington
Time: 15:00
Summary: A Washington State forest service member on fire watch reported “flashes in the distance quite high up in the east,” going in a straight line and making a strange, higher-pitched noise than most airplanes.
Source: News clipping; Loren Gross, UFOs: A History 1947, p. 8
Date: June 24, 1947
Location: 10-12 miles east of Joliet, Illinois
Time: 13:50
Summary: Charles Kastl, 60, a 38-year veteran of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railroad, walking to work, saw about nine speeding discs, describing them as “going faster than anything I’ve ever seen,” with no visible connecting link but appearing to move in unison — when the leading disc flipped, the others flipped too, as though linked mechanically. High altitude, heading roughly north-south.
Source: The Cedar Rapids Gazette, June 28, 1947; The UFO Evidence, Section XII
Date: June 27, 1947
Location: Woodland, Washington
Time: Afternoon
Summary: Two loosely bunched groups of objects, rocking back and forth as they flew noiselessly, were seen over this small southwest Washington town. The report was phoned in to the Portland Oregon Journal by witness Clyde Homan, manager of Tulips, Inc., a bulb farm two miles south of Woodland near the Columbia River.
Source: Bloecher 1967
Date: June 28, 1947
Location: Rockfield, Wisconsin
Time: 15:45 CST
Summary: Marion Beuschler and her brother, a farmer, saw 7-10 saucer-shaped objects flying overhead heading south at high speed.
Source: McDonald list; FOIA; FUFOR Index; Bloecher 1967
Date: June 28, 1947
Location: 30 miles northwest of Lake Mead, Nevada
Time: 13:15 or 15:15
Case Status: Unexplained
Summary: AAF pilot Lt. E.B. Armstrong, from Brooks AAF, San Antonio, Texas, flying an F-51 fighter at 6,000 feet, saw a tight formation of 5-6 white, circular, roughly 3-foot objects off his right wing, heading approximately east-southeast at 6,000 feet and 285 mph.
Source: Edward Ruppelt, p. 19; FOIA; FUFOR Index; Bloecher 1967
Editorial note: This is the correct date and account for this case. An earlier version, dated “February 28, 1947” and described as “observed at a military facility,” was flagged as a date and detail discrepancy on this archive’s February 1947 page; this June 28 entry is the well-documented, correctly dated version.
Date: June 28 [26?], 1947
Location: Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Alabama
Time: 21:20-21:45
Summary: Four AAF officers, including two pilots and two intelligence officers — Capt. W.H. Kayko, Capt. J.H. Cantrell, Capt. Redman, and 1st Lt. T. Dewey — saw a bright light just above the southwest horizon travel toward them in a zigzag pattern with bursts of high speed; directly overhead, it made a sharp 90-degree turn and was lost to view in the south/southwest. Duration: approximately 25 minutes.
Source: Edward Ruppelt, p. 19; FOIA; FUFOR Index; Bloecher 1967
Date: June 29, 1947
Location: Camp Little, Arizona
Time: Afternoon
Summary: Luis Bazurto and Armando Macias, sitting with their families in their front yard, saw about six discs fly in at great speed from the west and disappear toward the northeast.
Source: Nogales Herald, July 3, 1947; Phoenix Gazette, July 3, 1947
Date: June 29, 1947
Location: Tucumcari, New Mexico
Time: 23:00
Summary: Mrs. Helen Hardin reported (on July 8) seeing a flying saucer from her front porch, traveling east to west at high speed, slightly yellowish and about half the size of the full moon. She watched it for about six seconds; it was low in the sky and appeared to descend outside of town. She thought it might be a meteor, but it fell slower than a meteor and had a whirling motion as it neared the ground.
Source: Tucumcari Daily News, July 9, 1947; reported in Berlitz & Moore, The Roswell Incident
Date: June 29, 1947
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Time: 15:45 or 16:45 CST
Summary: Bus driver Dale Bays saw a single-file line of 4 (or 18) “dirty white,” round-to-oval, inverted-saucer-shaped objects, roughly 175-250 feet in diameter and 12 feet thick, at about 1,200 feet, traveling roughly 300 mph south-southeast, with a sound resembling an electric motor or dynamo. Another group of 13 objects was later seen heading south-southeast to north-northwest.
Source: Battelle/BBSR14; Mary Castner/CUFOS; FUFOR Index; FOIA; Bloecher 1967
Date: About June 29, 1947
Location: Jacksonville, Oregon
Time: About 13:00
Summary: A group of people west of Medford, just above the California border, saw a V-formation of nine objects traveling northwest toward Medford. Initially described as “white as snow geese,” the objects appeared blue-white as they neared, “like a fluorescent-bulb light,” sharply outlined and translucent, “like a light, pebbled, frosted bulb.” Individual objects were estimated at more than twice the diameter of the full moon.
Source: Reference 1, Section II, p. 3
Date: June 29, 1947
Location: About 20 (or 15) miles ENE of Las Cruces, New Mexico
Time: About 13:15-13:20
Case Status: Unexplained
Summary: Rocket scientist-engineer Dr. Carl J. Zohn (Administrative Assistant, Rocket Sonde Section, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, temporarily assigned to White Sands Proving Ground), NRL scientist Curtis C. Rockwood and his wife, and WSPG technician John R. Kauke were driving from Las Cruces to WSPG headquarters when they saw to their front-right a rotating, silvery or shiny disc or sphere with no wings, tail, or propellers, reflecting sunlight, crossing the sky at high speed heading north at 8,000-10,000 feet, which suddenly disappeared in mid-air in a clear, cloudless sky. [Full Report]
Source: FOIA; Edward Ruppelt, p. 20; FUFOR Index; Randle-Schmitt; Bloecher 1967, and others
Date: June 30, 1947
Location: Near the south rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona
Time: 09:10 MST
Summary: Navy Lt. William G. McGinty, flying a P-80 from Williams AAF at 30,000 feet heading south, saw two gray, circular objects, about 8-10 feet in diameter, diving at “inconceivable” speed from about 25,000 feet, which appeared to land 25 miles south of the Grand Canyon.
Source: Jacques Vallée, Magonia 59; Project 1947; FOIA; FUFOR Index; Bloecher 1967
Date: End of June 1947: Bahamut, Kokchetav Region, Kazakhstan Encounter
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
June 1947 — Before and After Kenneth Arnold
This is the pivotal month in this archive’s entire chronology. The volume and quality of sourcing here — dominated by Ted Bloecher’s landmark 1967 Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, cross-checked against declassified FOIA records, the FUFOR Index, physicist James McDonald’s list, and Edward Ruppelt’s official Air Force account — represents the strongest sustained documentary standard this archive has yet assembled for a single month. Two corrections/flags this revision: the Malta “little men” case was found duplicated within this same page under two dates and is now cross-referenced rather than told twice; and the June 28 Lake Mead, Nevada entry is confirmed as the correctly dated, well-documented version of a case that appeared misdated on this archive’s February 1947 page.
“A rotating silvery or shiny disc or sphere…reflecting sunlight, crossing the sky at high speed…which suddenly disappeared in mid-air in a clear cloudless sky.”
Dr. Carl J. Zohn, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, describing the June 29, 1947 White Sands sighting.
