1936 Archive — Five cases across five countries: Halandri Greece landing with white-suited occupant (Summer), Pavlodar Kazakhstan flying humanoid HUMCAT 1936-1 (Winter dawn), Pilar de los Muertos Spain Spanish Civil War CE-III with telepathic contact (July 25), B'Bugia Bay Malta multi-witness zeppelin occupant sighting (July), Port Colborne Ontario boarding invitation (Winter). Sources: Podotas/Greek UFO File, Rubtsov/FSR, Perez, Pace, Bartholomew/Musgrave. thinkaboutitdocs.com.
1936: UFO|UAP & Alien Sightings Archive
In the summer of 1936, twelve-year-old Maria K and five or six other children playing in a sparsely populated suburb of Athens watched a large egg-shaped silvery craft land on legs one hundred meters away. A small humanoid in a white outfit and broad belt studded with small lights stood beneath the object, turned toward the children, held their gaze, and raised its hand in what looked like a salute before vanishing. A loud hiss followed and the craft lifted vertically into a cloud of dust. In the same year, a fifteen-year-old in Port Colborne, Ontario watched a metallic saucer land in a nearby field, approached it, encountered human-like occupants, and was invited aboard and shown machinery. A teenager on a snowy Kazakhstan road at dawn watched a helmeted black-garbed figure flying toward her at a 60-degree angle to the road — arms rigid, a rucksack-like device on its back, no discernible face — before it vanished within forty meters. Three witnesses in wartime Spain were engulfed in a blinding white light and found themselves four meters from two tall white-garbed humanoids who apparently communicated with them telepathically.
The 1936 archive is the richest entity-contact year of the mid-1930s and one of the most geographically diverse in the pre-modern record. Spanning Greece, Kazakhstan, Canada, Spain, Spain again, Malta, France, England, Wisconsin, and Maryland, the cases draw on source chains from Vladimir Rubtsov in FSR, Makis Podotas’s Greek UFO file, Robert Bartholomew’s Ufolore, Ballester Olmos’s Spanish catalogue, and multiple Fortean Times and Strange Magazine researchers. Three separate individual report pages are linked from this archive — the 1936 Black Forest Germany crash, the 1936 Pacific Ocean sightings, and the 1936 Eklutna Alaska sighting — marking this as one of the most document-rich years in the 1930s archive. Against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, the Italian conquest of Ethiopia, and a Europe moving toward continental conflict, these cases accumulate without reference to the world burning around them.
Date: 1936
Location: Black Forest, Germany — near Freiburg
Time: unknown
Summary: A crashed saucer was reportedly discovered in the Black Forest near Freiburg. German writer John Von Helsing describes the technology as subsequently combined with Vril Society channeled information and developed into the Haunebu project. No entity encounter; CE-II classification on the individual report page.
Source: Individual report page linked
Date: 1936
Location: Dourdan Woods, France
Time: unknown
Summary: A lone witness reported encountering in a wooded area a 3-meter tall humanoid female figure wearing a long black cape and dark outfit. There is no other information.
Source: .Denys Breysse, Project Becassin
Date: 1936
Location: Great Falls Maryland
Time: 0200A
Summary: A night security guard at the local “Maryland mine” while doing his rounds encountered a bizarre being in one of the shafts. The being was described as a man-like creature with fiery eyes and a ten-foot long tail. The creature crawled out of the mine and disappeared into the forest.
Source: .Mark Chorvinsky & Mark Opsasnick, Strange Magazine # 5
Date: 1936
Location: Nottingham, England
Time: morning
Summary: Young Marjorie T Johnson was lying in bed enjoying the early morning sunshine which streamed in through the low, open window, suddenly she felt compelled to sit up in bed and turn her eyes to the empty fire grate. There, on a filmy cobweb on the bars, sat a strange little creature. It seemed quite unafraid and, from the broad grin on its face, appeared to enjoy the witness’s observation. As the witness stared, it blinked back at her with a blank expression, which showed very little intelligence. Curious she climbed out of bed. The elf like creature then immediately disappeared. Marjorie climbed back, and when she looked again the creature was perched in the same place. This went on for several minutes until she brushed away the cobweb. She never saw the creature again. She described it as about 4inches to 6inches in height; with very large ears and a glimmering green colored body.
Source: .Janet Bord, Faeries Real Encounters with The Little People
Date: 1936
Location: Pacific Ocean Sightings
Time: Daytime
Summary: Russian civilian transport steamer Maria encountered an anomalous transparent vessel that had surfaced from the ocean. Five sailors rowed to investigate and boarded. The craft accelerated away. Three survivors were later found adrift in a transparent boat; two had voluntarily remained with the entities. The three survivors described webbed-fingered frogman-like beings communicating telepathically who informed them there was no return. The captain filed a report with the Ministry; he was interrogated, pressured to recant, and subsequently transferred to another vessel.
Source: Individual report page linked
Date: 1936
Location: Near Jefferson Wisconsin
Time: night
Summary: A night security guard making his rounds came upon a strange creature that was apparently digging a hole at an old Indian burial mound. The creature turned around and looked at the witness that was now terrified and began to pray. The creature seemed to show some fear and uttered something like sounded like “Gadara.” The creature was described as huge, black in color & emitting a putrid smell, it had long finger like claws, a man like built, pointed canine like teeth, pointed ears and a muzzle like nose. The creature slowly disappeared into the nearby woods.
Source: .Linda S Godfrey, Strange Magazine # 11
Date: January 1 1936
Location: Potterne, England
Time: night
Summary: A man was driving to meet his wife from a New Year’s party when he saw a young woman in a green suit with a dark collar, at the side of the road. He stopped and asked if he could give her a lift. She got into the back of the car and he drove on. Suddenly the air grew dreadfully cold and when he glanced back to the girl, no one was there.
Source: . Ken Rogers, The Warminster Triangle
Date: March 1936
Location: Arran Stirlingshire England
Time: daytime
Summary: The witness was walking along a wooded path when he heard the sound of high-pitched conversation from somewhere nearby. As he walked over to the path to investigate he confronted a group of tiny man like beings that seemed angry and were hurrying along the path. They ran away as he approached.
Source: .David Lazell, Fortean Times # 71
Date: April 1936
Location: Hertfordshire England
Time: daytime
Summary: The witness was driving along a quite lane concentrating on his vehicle when as he rounded a bend in the road he caught a glimpse of a short round-faced humanoid wearing a pointed cap, sitting on top of a tree stump and looking straight across the road ahead of him. As the witness slowed down to get a better look, the being had already vanished.
Source: .David Lazell, Fortean Times # 71
Date: Summer 1936
Location: Halandri, Athens, Greece
Time: noon
Summary: Maria K, 12, was playing with 5-6 other children in an area that was then sparsely populated. As they played the area was suddenly filled with clouds of dust. They stopped playing and looked at the direction from which the clouds had come from. There, they saw a large egg-shaped silvery object, slightly bigger than an airplane. It had landed on the ground on small legs, 100-150 meters away. They did not see any open door on the object, but on the ground under the object, there was a small humanoid wearing a white outfit and a broad belt, with small lights. The creature had long white hair and turned to their direction for a while. After that, it waved its hand like a salute. Suddenly it disappeared. A loud hiss was heard and the object took off vertically between clouds of dust. It rose into the sky until it was gone. The children were shocked and were not in the mood to continue their game until their parents called them for lunch. The parents did not believe them.
Source: .Makis Podotas, UFO Greek File
Date: July 1936
Location: Palm Springs California
Time: unknown
Summary: Undocumented report of an encounter with three helmeted humanoid figures, that in spite of being wingless, appeared to be flying over the area. No other information.
Source: .Aldrich/Project 1947, quoting Gray Barker | Case Status: INSUFFICIENT DATA.
Date: July 1936
Location: B’Bugia Bay Malta
Time: evening
Summary: Several witnesses watched a “zeppelin” shaped object moving at great speed over the sea. One of the witnesses was a soldier that had a telescope. He said he was able to see people inside a cabin wearing strange helmets.
Source: . David Pace, UFOs over The Maltese Islands
Date: July 25 1936
Location: Pilar de los Muertos, Guadalajara, Spain
Time: night
Summary: Lieutenant J V and two other soldiers were returning to base after a scouting mission when a potent white light suddenly surrounded them. Moments later they found themselves only about 4 meters away from two tall white garbed humanoids, which stared at the men. Apparently a short telepathic conversation between the men and humanoids ensued. To this day J V is not sure if the language was Spanish or if it was some type of maverick mental communication. Several minutes later, the two humanoids and the bright white light vanished. (This occurred during the bloody Spanish Civil war).
Source: .Antonio Perez, Spain
Date: 1936
Location: Eklutna, Alaska — Sighting
Time: Evening
Summary: Two men hitchhiking to Anchorage witnessed a very bright light approaching at high speed. The object hovered above them, causing them to dive into a snowbank to escape
Source: Individual report page linked
Date: Winter 1936
Location: Near Port Colborne Ontario
Time: unknown
Summary: The fifteen-year-old witness watched a metallic saucer shaped craft fly low overhead and land on a nearby field. He approached the object and apparently encountered some human like occupants and was invited inside the object where he was shown some “machinery.” No other information.
Source: .Robert E Bartholomew, Ufolore, quoting Musgrave
Date: Winter 1936
Location: Pavlodar Region Kazakhstan
Time: dawn
Summary: Mrs E E Loznaya recalled, how as a teenager she had a strange and unforgettable encounter. Fifteen at the time, she was on her way to school along a deserted, snowy, country road on a fine cold winter morning, just before sunrise. She saw a dark object some distance away in the air moving in her general direction. As it drew closer she could see that it was a man like figure dressed in black and seen in profile. Its direction formed a 60-degree angle with the road. The “man” was of medium height and the black garment covered him completely—she saw no hands, and on his head was something like a helmet. He held his massive arms tightly against his sides. On his back was a device something like a rucksack. He suddenly changed course and headed straight for the student. She could now see his right arm was slightly bent at the elbow. As he came closer, she was unable to make out any features on his face—only a black surface. At this point she became aware of a rumbling sound that increased in intensity and it occurred to her that this thing might be more machine than man. The distance then was no more than 40 meters. Thoroughly frightened, she turned to search for some place to run; there was no place to hide on the barren snow covered steppe. When she turned, the figure had vanished as if into thin air; it occurred to her that he might have dived into a nearby snow bank. She fled to her home. The sighting had lasted about one minute and was so remarkable she could never forget it.
Source: .Vladimir V Rubtsov, FSR Vol. 24 # 4 | Source Status: VERIFIED
Date: 1936
Location: Guipúzcoa, Spain
Time:
Summary: A sighting in the midst of the Spanish Civil War. English novelist and former soldier Valentine Williams and two others were driving from General Franco’s headquarters in Burgos to Biarritz, France. The sighting occurred at 4:18 pm in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa, about 75 miles from San Sebastian. Williams’ companions gasped in amazement; he turned to see what he thought was a flare or traced round on a course at right angles to the road, heading northward at an amazing velocity. Williams later described it as ‘like a streamer of white smoke… As it went, it burst into a bright orange flame. There was no sound or explosion.’ When they reached Biarritz, they told their story. Tom Dupree, from the British Consulate at Hendaye, said the had been at San Sebastian (about 30 miles west of Biarritz) at the same time of that day and had seen the same object. This UFO could have been a particularly large fireball, burning brightly enough to be visible by daylight. However, the accounts give the impression that the object was traveling paralleled to the ground, not falling towards the earth
Source: Loren E. Gross, UFOs: A History — The Early Years, or Aubeck & Randle as applicable.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Entity Contact Across a World at War — The 1936 Archive
The 1936 record is the most internationally distributed entity-contact year in the pre-modern archive to this point, and it arrives against a specific historical backdrop: the Spanish Civil War is active, Italy has just completed its conquest of Ethiopia, Japan is moving through China, and Europe is eighteen months from Munich. Not one entry on this page references the political context around it. The phenomenon operates with complete indifference to human geopolitics, and 1936 demonstrates this with unusual clarity. The July 25 Pilar de los Muertos case places a UAP entity contact on a Spanish Civil War scouting road — Lieutenant J.V. and his men returning from a military mission in a country at war, engulfed in a white light and confronted by two tall telepathic humanoids. The Guipúzcoa fireball account comes from the pen of a novelist embedded with Franco’s headquarters. These are not civilian peacetime encounters; they are anomalous events penetrating active military landscapes.
The strongest cases in the year are the Halandri Greece multi-child landing — egg-shaped craft on legs, white-suited occupant with illuminated belt, formal wave, vertical departure, sourced to the Greek UFO File — and the Pavlodar Kazakhstan flying humanoid (HUMCAT 1936-1), a solo teenager encounter with a helmet-and-rucksack aerial figure in pre-dawn steppe conditions, sourced directly to Rubtsov in Flying Saucer Review. The Port Colborne Ontario boarding invitation and the Malta telescope observation of helmeted cabin occupants round out a year that offers four independent cases of occupant or humanoid contact across four countries with no shared cultural or media context. The entity type spectrum is also the widest of the decade so far: flying humanoid, landed-craft occupant, giant forest humanoid, mine-shaft cryptid, fairy-type elementals, phantom hitchhiker, and 3-meter cloaked forest figure.
“As it drew closer she could see that it was a man like figure dressed in black and seen in profile… He suddenly changed course and headed straight for the student. She could now see his right arm was slightly bent at the elbow. As he came closer, she was unable to make out any features on his face — only a black surface.”
Vladimir V. Rubtsov, FSR Vol. 24 #4, reporting the Winter 1936 Pavlodar Region, Kazakhstan flying humanoid encounter (HUMCAT 1936-1)
