Top 20 UFO Sightings That MIGHT BE REAL

Top 20 UFO Sightings That Might Be Real

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most popular and convincing UFO sightings from around the world.

#20: Green Fireballs
1948-Present
Everyone knows the general shape of your typical UFO. It’s been a mainstay in pop culture for decades. But what about …green fireballs? The earliest observation of this bizarre phenomenon dates to December 5, 1948, when a green fireball was observed over New Mexico by two airplane crews. One of the crews was military, lending further credence to the event. Sightings have continued ever since, with reports even coming in from Japan and Australia. Some believe these fireballs are exceptionally bright meteors, while others at the time thought they were some type of foreign weapon. However, no consensus has ever been reached.


#19: Exercise Mainbrace
1952
In the fall of 1952, NATO conducted Exercise Mainbrace in the North Atlantic Ocean. It was an extensive military operation, involving 80,000 soldiers, 1,000 planes, and hundreds of ships. Military personnel witnessed a number of strange aircraft throughout the exercise, including a silver sphere and a triangular-shaped object that emitted a blue light and traveled an estimated 900 miles per hour. And on September 19, RAF officers in Topcliffe, England witnessed a UFO hovering above a fighter jet before zipping off at unbelievable speeds. It was this sighting, according to Edward Ruppelt of Project Blue Book, that made Britain “officially recognize the UFO.”


#18: The Westchester Boomerang
1983-84
In the early 1980s, the Hudson Valley region was visited by what some people call the Westchester Boomerang. Witnesses described the craft as “a V-shape or a circle” “outlined in brilliant lights of white, red or green.” The incident was debunked as a group of Cessna 152s flying in tight formation. The Cessna pilots reportedly found the UFO reports hilarious - and may have done it as a prank. But some UFOlogists remain unconvinced. Some eyewitnesses insisted that what they saw was not a group of planes, or that some sightings were planes, sure, but that there was a UFO up there too. J. Allen Hynek, the former scientific advisor to Project Blue Book, claimed: “There’s no logical explanation for it.”


#17: The Trans-en-Provence Case
1981
Popular Mechanics has called the Trans-en-Provence case “perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time,” so buckle up. It occurred in France on January 8, 1981, when farmer Renato Nicolaï saw a UFO land about 160 feet from where he was working. It quickly took off, leaving behind burn marks, and Nicolaï informed the authorities. The gendarmerie took samples of the area and sent them off for testing. Analysis proved that the ground had been compressed by a force of about four tons, and best of all, it had been scorched by temperatures of 600 degrees Celsius. The French Space Agency conducted an investigation into the event but were unable to find a satisfactory conclusion.


#16: The McMinnville Photos
1950
When people say we don’t have any clear evidence of UFOs, show them the McMinnville photos. These famous pictures, taken by farmers Paul and Evelyn Trent, show what looks to be a very clear UFO hovering above their Oregon farm. These photos were widely circulated in May of 1950, appearing in national newspapers and Life magazine. Of course, many people are skeptical, suggesting that the Trents staged the photo using a model or a side-view mirror and some thread. However, UFOlogists remain convinced that the craft is real - an opinion bolstered by the Trents’ behavior, as they never sought money or fame from the photos.

#15: The Invasion of Washington
1952
When the aliens start coming for the nation’s capital, we know we’re doomed. Have you ever seen “Independence Day?” Well, if reports are true, that movie almost happened in real life in the summer of 1952. A huge number of UFO sightings occurred over Washington, D.C., with UFO historian Curtis Peebles stating, “Never before or after did Project Blue Book and the Air Force undergo such a tidal wave of (UFO) reports.” At one point the supposed UFOs hovered over the White House and the Capitol, attracting the attention of Andrews Air Force Base. The incident scared both the Truman administration and the CIA, who feared the potential of mass hysteria. The Robertson Panel was created as a response and was tasked with analyzing reports of UFO sightings.


#14: The Lubbock Lights
1951
At around 9pm on August 25, 1951, several people, including three professors from Texas Technological College, observed about a dozen lights flying over Lubbock. Just a few nights later, a young man named Carl Hart, Jr. witnessed lights flying in a v-formation and snapped some photos. Becoming known as “the Hart photographs”, they were widely circulated in the media, adding to the nation’s deepening interest in UFOs. These lights were attributed to the undersides of birds reflecting the city’s new street lights. However, some experts have disputed this theory, including the head of Texas Tech’s biology department, J.C. Cross.


#13: Space Sightings
1965-Present
Believe it or not, there are several spooky accounts from astronauts describing what appear to be UFOs. This lends incredible credence to their existence, as astronauts could be considered highly dependable witnesses. The first instance occurred during the Gemini 4 mission in 1965, when Jim McDivitt spotted what he described as a “white cylindrical shape.” What he saw has never been officially established. Fast forward to 2020, when Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner was filming the Aurora Australis from the ISS. He captured what he personally refers to as “space guests.” The Russian space agency Roscosmos admitted that the video was “mysterious.” Or how about that object that sped past a SpaceX capsule in 2021? Space is creepy, man.





#12: The O’Hare Sighting
2006
It was November 7, 2006 when a ramp employee at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport saw what appeared to be a metallic craft hovering above Flight 446, which he was in the process of pushing back. But he wasn’t the only one. In total, 12 United Airlines employees spotted the craft at the same time, describing it as silent and dark gray. The only thing they disagreed on was the size, with estimates ranging from 6 to 24 feet in diameter. The incident was officially reported to the FAA but they refused to investigate, claiming that it was probably just a “weather phenomenon.” [suggested SB: Cardi B: “That’s suspicious. That’s weird.”]


#11: Disappearance of Frederick Valentich
1978
It was October 1978 when a pilot named Frederick Valentich called Melbourne flight services, claiming that a strange aircraft had been following him. Officials told Valentich that radar showed nothing in the sky with him, but he wasn’t convinced, continuing to ask for help against his pursuer. He described the object’s design, stating it had a metallic surface and bright green lights… And moments later he reported that he was experiencing engine trouble. The last words heard from Valentich were extremely chilling, because when he was asked to describe the aircraft even further, he bluntly stated “it isn’t an aircraft” just before communications were cut off.

#10: Warren Air Force Base UFO
2010
Do aliens really aliens “come in peace,” as the movies say? This 2010 encounter began when the Warren Air Force Base reported losing total control over the nuclear missiles they were storing, with their many engineers unable to communicate with them via their intricate computer network systems. Shortly thereafter, a massive cigar-shaped object, believed to be a UFO, was said to be seen hovering above the Wyoming base. You probably think there’s a connection between the UFO and the malfunctioning missiles, right? Well, it gets freakier. Supposedly the military base received transmissions from the UFO threatening them not to call for help due to the missile disruptions. Spooky stuff.



#9: Olympics
2012
The 2012 London Olympics were packed with athletes and audience members during the opening ceremony. Well, packed on the ground. Word is there were no aircraft of any kind scheduled to be in the area at the time, especially considering the fireworks display. But if that were true, then what were those ominous lights hovering overhead? As stated, helicopters, planes, jets and every other aircraft vehicle right down to hot air balloons was banned from being anywhere near the Olympics that day, leading many to theorize that the saucer-shaped, metallic object could be an indication of visitors from outer space. To be fair, the Olympics are a huge event, so maybe aliens just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

#8: Kecksburg UFO Incident
1965
One night in 1965, residents across American states and in Ontario, Canada witnessed a blazing fireball fall from the sky and crash to the earth in Pennsylvania. The thunderous impact caused shockwaves and sonic booms to ripple across the landscape, and started grass fires. It didn’t take long for members of the government and press to be all over the incident, which they wrote off as a simple meteor. However due to the unusual ‘sonic booms’ and the fact that many people said they saw trails of blue smoke in the sky where the object crashed, there was still speculation that the huge fireball was something out of this world – literally.

#7: Hopeh Incident
1942
When Japanese student Masujiro Kiro was looking through his father’s old belongings, he probably never expected to discover a photo apparently taken in Hebei, China with a potential UFO smack dab in the middle. The object has a half-dome, half-disk-based appearance, and if you look closely at the photograph, you can see many of the people below pointing up towards the sky at it. Naturally, many skeptics have since shut down the UFO conspiracies surrounding the photograph, claiming the blip in the sky to be either a bird or a hat being tossed up into the air. To this day, the jury’s still out on this one, so it’s possible it was indeed little green men.

#6: Cash-Landrum Incident
1980
Referred to as a Close Encounter of the Second kind, due to the direct physical and mental impact it had on nearby citizens, the Cash Landrum UFO encounter is like something out of a sci-fi horror film. After reports surfaced of military helicopters chasing a huge diamond-shaped UFO through the area, many individuals began to feel sick and cars stopped working altogether. Two women and a young boy claim to have seen the UFO up close, and say they felt an intense heat surging through them. Over the course of the next few days, they all grew increasingly sick, with one woman allegedly developing skin cancer due to whatever was in the sky that day.

#5: The Pentagon UFO Videos
2004-
OK, now the freaking Pentagon is releasing UFO videos and shrugging their shoulders, saying, “We dunno.” In 2017, three leaked recordings from advanced infrared cameras aboard Navy fighter jets were published online, which the Pentagon later admitted were genuine. In 2021, the Pentagon confirmed the authenticity of another video, taken aboard the USS Russell, showcasing a triangular object over the ocean. And in 2023, yet another video followed, showing a small metallic orb gliding over the Middle East. So just what the heck are these things? Well, explanations vary wildly, from unknown foreign devices to system malfunctions and “atmospheric phenomena.” Hey, what about aliens?!


#4: Gorman Dogfight
1948
25-year-old WWII veteran George Gorman was soaring through the skies of North Dakota on October 1st, 1948 when he noticed a blinking light in the distance. Gorman immediately contacted a nearby airport to ask if anyone was in the sky with him. They radioed back that, other than a small Piper Club plane he’d already noticed, the skies around him were empty. Gorman decided to get a closer look and an aerial dogfight ensued, but even with his jet shooting through the clouds at 400MPH, the supposed UFO was able to effortlessly avoid him at every turn. Just when Gorman thought he had the UFO caught, it fired vertically upwards and disappeared.


#3: Westall UFO Encounter
1966
On April 6, 1966, students of two schools in Westall, Australia had their classes cancelled in the most bizarre fashion. A grey saucer-shaped object was seen descending from the sky and then landing not far from one of the school’s locations. There are conflicting reports as to the shape and color of said UFO, with some claiming it had hints of purple and others stating it had a more greenish hue. But one detail is constant; the UFO remained immobile for 20 minutes, doing nothing as nearly 200 people looked on. Eventually, the UFO shot back to life and gained altitude at a blistering speed, joining five similar looking ships as they all vanished into the distance.

#2: Lonnie Zamora Incident
1964
Police officer Lonnie Zamora was driving alone in his patrol car one evening in Socorro, New Mexico when, out of nowhere, a loud ‘roaring’ sound shook his car while he was chasing a speeding driver. He then saw a flaming object fall from the sky. Moving in for a closer look, Lonnie says he saw an oval-shaped object that’d landed in the distance, with what looked like two small men – or at least four legs – standing next to it. Lonnie could barely register what the object was when suddenly that same ‘roaring’ sound came back even more intensely than before and the object rocketed towards the sky, leaving our atmosphere.

#1: Battle of Los Angeles [aka The Great Los Angeles Air Raid]
1942
On the night between February 24-25, 1942, at the height of WWII, air raids sirens blared in Los Angeles County. Pretty soon, the United States Coast Artillery Brigade opened fire on a supposed attacker from the sky. Initially, many believed it to be Japanese forces, as tensions were high between the two after the bombardments of Pearl Harbor and Ellwood. But ultimately, military officials labeled the event a false alarm. While many skeptics argue that wartime nerves had everyone suddenly firing a barrage of bullets into the sky, the fact that the shooting lasted for at least an hour led many to believe there must have been some sort of target – specifically extraterrestrial in nature – for them to aim at.

Have you ever witnessed what you thought to be a UFO? Tell us your story in the comments below!