THINK ABOUTIT SIGHTING UFO|UAP|ENTITY REPORT

1967: Circular object with dome and two ‘figures’

On the night of December 8, 1967, fifteen-year-old Marilyn Wilding of Idaho Falls, Idaho stepped into her front yard and found a brightly glowing, car-sized circular object with a transparent dome hovering just above the end of her house. As the object tipped and rotated, she could make out the indistinct outlines of two figures inside the dome — though the intense glare prevented her from resolving any detail. The object then began rotating clockwise, wobbling as it moved north, its light dimming from brilliant white to orange as it receded. The encounter lasted approximately three minutes and occurred just five weeks after the well-documented Ririe, Idaho CE-III — both cases investigated by the same NICAP field representative, C. Reed Ricks.

This is a NICAP-investigated case with a named primary witness, named neighbors (the Schuldt family) cited as additional witnesses, and a written report filed by the witness herself. The proximity in time and geography to the Ririe incident — and the shared investigator — makes it a significant companion case in the southeastern Idaho cluster of late 1967.

Date: December 8, 1967

Sighting Time: 7:40 PM (MST)

Day/Night: Night

Location: Idaho Falls, Bonneville County, Idaho

Urban or Rural: Residential

No. of Entity(‘s): 2 (indistinct figures observed through transparent dome)

Entity Type: Unknown — outlines only; no detail resolved due to glare

Entity Description: Two indistinct figures visible inside the transparent dome of the craft. The witness could make out their outlines but could not resolve any physical detail — clothing, features, or proportions — because of the intense brightness of the object’s body.

Hynek Classification: CE-III (Close Encounter III) — Animate figures observed in association with a structured craft at close range

Duration: Approximately 3 minutes

No. of Object(s): 1

Description of the Object(s): A circular, brightly glowing object estimated as car-sized, with a transparent domed top. The body glowed so intensely white that no other color or surface detail could be discerned. When the object tipped and rotated, the dome became visible, revealing two indistinct figures within. The object rotated clockwise (as seen from below) while maintaining a tilted attitude, giving an appearance of wobbling. As it departed northward, the light dimmed and shifted from white to orange.

Shape of Object(s): Circular with domed top

Size of Object(s): Estimated as approximately car-sized

Color of Object(s): Brilliant white (close range); transitioning to orange as it receded

Distance to Object(s): No more than 100 yards at closest approach; initially hovering just above the end of the witness’s house

Height & Speed: 50 to 100 feet above the ground. Departed slowly to the north with a rotating, wobbling motion.

Number of Witnesses: Multiple — Marilyn Wilding, age 15 (primary witness, close-range observation); younger brothers and sister (observed departure from inside the house); Schuldt family (neighbors, named in written report as witnesses)

Special Features/Characteristics: Transparent dome with visible occupants. Object so bright it prevented color or detail perception at close range. Tipping/rotation revealed dome structure. Clockwise rotation with wobbling departure motion. White-to-orange color shift during recession. Light source reflected on snow, alerting the witness. Object close enough that the witness told the NICAP investigator someone could have thrown a rock and hit it.

Source: C. Reed Ricks, NICAP field investigator (Idaho Falls); published in NICAP files (Section VII); reproduced at nicap.org and ufocasebook.com

Summary: A fifteen-year-old witness in Idaho Falls observed a car-sized, brightly glowing circular object with a transparent dome hovering near her house. Two indistinct figures were visible inside the dome. The object rotated clockwise, wobbled, and departed slowly northward, its light shifting from white to orange. The encounter lasted approximately three minutes and was investigated by the same NICAP representative who handled the Ririe, Idaho case five weeks earlier.

Case Status: Unexplained

Detailed Report

On the evening of December 8, 1967, Marilyn Wilding, age fifteen, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, stepped out onto her front porch at approximately 7:40 PM to watch for a friend who was coming to pick her up. The evening was dark, overcast, and cold, with snow on the ground. Her attention was drawn to a light source reflecting off the snow. Looking upward, she saw a large light above, partially obscured by the roof of her house.

Stepping further into the yard for a clear view, she saw a large, brightly illuminated object hovering not far above the end of her home. The object was so intensely bright that she could not perceive any color other than white. It was circular in shape and she estimated it to be approximately car-sized. She later told the NICAP investigator that the object was close enough that someone could have thrown a rock and hit it.

As she watched, the object tipped and rotated partially, exposing its upper surface. She could now see that it had a domed top, and the dome was transparent. Inside the dome, she could make out the indistinct outlines of two figures, but the intense glare from the body of the craft prevented her from resolving any detail — she could not describe clothing, features, size, or proportions.

Wilding ran inside and called for her younger sister to come look, but the sister was barefoot and did not come out into the cold. Wilding then ran back outside in time to see the object begin rotating in a clockwise direction as seen from below. It maintained its tilted attitude while rotating, which gave it an apparent wobbling motion. With this movement, it began traveling northward. As it receded into the distance, the intense white light dimmed and changed to an orange color.

The departure of the object was observed from inside the house through windows by Wilding’s younger brothers and sister, who had been alerted by the witness. The parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wilding, were not home at the time of the incident. In her written report, Wilding also named the Schuldt family, neighbors, as additional witnesses, though the extent of their observation is not detailed in the available record.

The incident lasted approximately three minutes from first sighting to the object’s disappearance to the north. It was investigated by C. Reed Ricks, a NICAP field investigator based in Idaho Falls, who forwarded the details to NICAP headquarters. Ricks was the same investigator who had handled the Ririe, Idaho CE-III case just five weeks earlier, on November 2, 1967 — giving him direct field experience with the cluster of southeastern Idaho sightings during this period.

The original NICAP report notes striking similarities between the Wilding observation and a New Zealand case from July 13, 1959 — the encounter reported by Mrs. Eileen Moreland of Blenheim, who described a circular object with a transparent dome and visible occupants hovering near her farmhouse. Both cases feature a domed circular craft at close range, transparent dome revealing occupants, intense illumination, and a residential setting.

Researcher’s Notes

The Wilding Sighting — Idaho Falls 1967 and the Southeastern Idaho CE-III Cluster

Source Chain and Investigation Quality: This case has a strong source chain for the era. The primary witness, Marilyn Wilding, is fully named and filed a written report. The investigation was conducted by C. Reed Ricks, a NICAP field investigator based in Idaho Falls, who forwarded the results to NICAP headquarters. The case appears in the NICAP files (Section VII) and is reproduced at nicap.org and ufocasebook.com. Additional witnesses include Wilding’s siblings (who observed the departure) and the named Schuldt family neighbors. The witness was fifteen years old at the time — old enough for a detailed, coherent observation, but young enough that her account should be weighed with awareness of age-related factors in perception and recall.
The Southeastern Idaho Cluster — November–December 1967: The Wilding sighting occurred on December 8, 1967, precisely five weeks and one day after the Ririe, Idaho CE-III encounter of November 2, 1967. Ririe is approximately 25 miles west of Idaho Falls along Highway 26. Both cases were investigated by the same NICAP representative, C.R. Ricks. Both involve domed craft with transparent domes and visible occupants. In the Ririe case, two Shoshone-Bannock men (Guy Tossie and Will Begay) encountered a small domed craft on the highway, and one of its 3.5-foot occupants exited, entered their car, and appeared to direct it into a field. Ricks also confirmed an anonymous third witness on the same night as the Ririe event. The geographic concentration of three CE-III events within 25 miles over five weeks — all investigated by the same field representative — is one of the tightest documented clusters in NICAP’s files. Whether this reflects a genuine localized phenomenon, social contagion after the Ririe case received attention, or coincidence is an open analytical question.
Observational Detail and Limitations: Wilding’s description is specific where it can be and honestly limited where it cannot. She provides distance (within rock-throwing range, approximately 100 yards), altitude (50–100 feet), size (car-sized), shape (circular with dome), dome characteristic (transparent), occupant count (two), and departure behavior (clockwise rotation, wobble, northward movement, white-to-orange color shift). She is equally specific about what she could not see: the glare prevented any detail of the figures. This is the kind of observational report — precise about what is known, forthright about what is not — that scores well on credibility even from a young witness. The snow-reflected light that initially drew her attention is a plausible alerting mechanism for a winter evening in Idaho.
Mundane Candidates and Classification: Idaho Falls is located approximately 50 miles southeast of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL, formerly the National Reactor Testing Station), a major nuclear research facility with associated air traffic. However, no conventional helicopter or aircraft matches the described behavior: hovering silently at rooftop level, tipping to reveal a transparent dome, rotating with wobble while departing at low speed. The object’s light characteristics — so bright that no color was perceptible at close range, dimming to orange with distance — are consistent with high-energy luminous phenomena but not with conventional navigation or landing lights. CE-III classification is appropriate: figures were observed in association with a structured craft at close range. Case status is Unexplained — named witness, NICAP investigation, multiple corroborating observers, no identified conventional match.

The Wilding sighting earns its place in the record on straightforward merits: a named witness, a written report, a professional investigation, named corroborating neighbors, and a description that is both detailed and honestly bounded. Its greatest analytical significance lies in its position within the southeastern Idaho CE-III cluster of late 1967 — a five-week window that produced three investigated encounters within a 25-mile radius, all handled by the same NICAP field representative, and all featuring domed craft with visible occupants. Whether that cluster represents a genuine localized phenomenon or something more prosaic, it is one of the more concentrated CE-III sequences in the American record.