Nebraska UFO timeline

These excerpts are from the original authors. If you are the author and would prefer a summary rather than an excerpt, please let me know.

1857-1858

"Back in the hard times of 1857-58 there were stories of a flying serpent that hovered over a Missouri River steamboat slowing for a landing. In the late dusk it was like a great undulating serpent, in and out of the lowering clouds, breathing fire, it seemed, with lighted streaks along the sides."

(Mari Sandoz, Love Song to the Plains, 1861)

September 24, 1860

Nebraska City, USA

Three unexplained objects in apparent formation After sunset Mr. Joel Draper and ferryman Mr. Beebout saw a bright object low in the West. "While gazing with amazement at that, which in size, color, brightness and shape resembled one-fourth of the sun taken from its edge, we soon discovered another spot further to the right and a little higher, which was about one-third the size of the first; then another directly above the first, one-third the size of the second. All of these we soon discovered to be moving towards the south, or to the left of their former position, with great rapidity (...) as they moved, they all retained the same relation to each other as when they first appeared." The account goes on: "This took place after sunset, but, by means of the brightness of these bodies, it was as light as some ten or fifteen minutes before sunset. There were no clouds or vapors in the sky in that direction. They could not have been sun dogs or mock suns, for (such phenomena) remain, as long as they continue, in the same relative position to the sun."

(Jacques Vallee and Chris Aubeck, Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects from Antiquity to Modern Times, 2010)

1866

A "fiery serpent" spitting fire with illuminated stripes seen over Nebraska. (Location unspecified.)

(UFO/UAP Event Chronology Search Engine v1.46, 10/3/2023)

June 6, 1884

One of the oddest events in Nebraska’s history was said to have taken place about thirty-five miles northwest of Benkelman on June 6, 1884, when a “blazing aerolite” crashed almost within view of a group of Dundy County cowboys, who found metal machinery scattered over the prairie in the wake of the mysterious object. Intense heat at the crash site prevented them from investigating much further. The Daily Nebraska State Journal’s reports of the singular event (and of the following disappearance of crash debris) have been the source of much interest and controversy ever since.

[...]

Predating by a dozen years the wave of airship sightings across America in 1896 and 1897, this odd tale from the yellowing pages of old newspapers has been given new life by the ready availability of today’s microfilmed periodicals and the Internet. Although widely regarded as a practical joke, itis considered by some UFO enthusiasts to be evidence of early extraterrestrial visitors to the plains of Nebraska. It’s been linked with another early “crash” story, which supposedly occurred in April of 1897, when a mystery airship collided with a windmill in Aurora, Texas, leaving the body of a Martian in the wreckage.

[...]

The Nebraska State Journal in 1927 exposed the two 1884 stories as a hoax, created in the fertile brain of James D. Calhoun, then managing editor.

(Patricia C Gaster, “‘A Celestial Visitor’ Revisited: A Nebraska Newspaper Hoax From 1884,” Nebraska History 94, 2013)

December 1896

From December, 1896, to February, 1897, reports of moving lights in the heavens over Nebraska continued to mount, yet many still attributed the sightings to "distorted imaginations and befogged fancies." One rumor which gained in popularity from day to day was that the world's first successful airship was being tested secretly under the cover of night, for many reports told of lights moving swiftly through the air after sundown.(18).

The Omaha Bee carried a news dispatch from Hastings, Nebraska, on February 2nd telling of the presence of an "immense star" in the night sky. A short time afterward "airship sightings" came in from the Nebraskan towns of Inavale and York. Reports of strange lights then came in from Beatrice, North Platte, and Kearny. At Grand Island, t,ebraska, witnesses reported a mystery light that shifted about in the heavens for over an hour. A sighting at Wymore, Nebraska, described a dazzling flying light that circled the town and then zoomed up and down. (19.)

(Loren E. Gross, Charles Fort, the Fortean Society, & Unidentified Flying Objects, 1976)

Unless otherwise noted, the following all come from Robert L Welsch, “‘This Mysterious Light Called an Airship’: Nebraska ‘Saucer’ Sightings, 1897,” *Nebraska History* 60, 1979

February 2, 1897

The strange sequence of events opened on February 2, 1897, in Hastings: Several Hastings people report that an air ship. or something of the kind. has been sailing around in the air west of this city. It was first noticed some time last fall when it was seen floating in the air about 500 feet above ground. and after standing nearly still for about 30 minutes it began to circle about and then took a northerly direction for about two miles. after which it returned to its starting place and sank into oblivion. Since that time it has not been seen until last Sunday evening. when it was observed standing nearly still. a few miles west of Hastings and seemingly about 800 feet in the air. At first sight it has the appearance of an immense star. but after a closer observation the powerful light shows by its color to be artificial. It certainly must be illuminated by powerful electric dynamos for the light sent forth by it is wonderful. At 9:30 last Monday night the large glaring light was seen to circle around for a few minutes and then take a northerly direction for about three miles. It then stood perfectly still for about five minutes and then descended for about 200 feet. circling as it traveled at a most remarkable speed for about two miles and then slowing up it circled about for fully 15 minutes , when it began to lower and disappear as mysteriously as it had made its appearance .... A close watch is being kept for its reappearance.

February 5, 1897

On February 5, 1897, the Omaha Daily Bee reported that the ship had been seen at Inavale, about 40 miles south of Hastings. It had been spotted several times, once by a pious party of 10 returning from a prayer meeting. This obviously was a slap at the Norfolk cynic who accused those who believed they had seen the craft of drinking. This sighting was more detailed, including a description of the lights along the side of the ship. The onlookers heard the sounds o f the engine and voices and laughter of passengers. Observers reported: "It seemed to be conical shaped, and perhaps 30 or 40 feet in length, with a bright head light and six smaller lights, three on a side, and seemed to have two sets of wings on a side, with a large fin shaped rudder."

February 16, 1897

The Beatrice Daily News reported on February 16 that five men had spotted the ship over that city the night before, "moving slowly and very perceptibly toward the west." However, the light-hearted nature of the report suggests that the rumors were still not being taken seriously by all editors.

[...]

However , the same editor swallowed his pride the next day and ran a story in serious mien, that the ship had been spoiled by reputable people and there could no longer be doubt that something was paying nocturnal aerial visits to the town. Indeed, sightings seem to have affected even social life: "Several airship' parties will watch for the strange phenomenon each evening [from[ now on and an effort will be made to get more accurate descriptions."

February 23, 1897

The Beatrice Daily Express carried a story about a second sighting in that city on February 23:

It has the appearance of a greatly magnified star with luminous rays shooting out unevenly from the disc. There is no suggestion of an airship about it, but it has rather the resemblance of the frame of an opened umbrella without the cover. It is Venus, and the swaying motion and peculiar rays are the results of atmospheric conditions.

March 14, 1897

On March 14th E. mysterious glowing thing sailed into view over southern Omaha about 9:30 p.m., coming out of the southwest. The light floated to the west, and then to the north, before passing out of sight. It was visible for thirty minutes. A group of citizens on the way home from an evening church service saw the light. Among them was a Mr. J. J. Copenharve who testified:

We thought at first it was a balloon ... if there is such a thing as an airship, however, I believe now that it was one. There was a bright light, about a foot in diameter, and some of us who saw it thought we could distinguish some dark body below the light, but we might have been mistaken in that. (20.) Railroad men working in the Omaha railroad yard said the light altered its course to a northwest heading before disappearing below the horizon. (21.)

(Gross)

April 9, 1897

From the Auburn Granger, April 9, 1897, came a story that is baffling in light of the fact that the author's name is given and there is attestation of his character:

James Southard, a farmer on the bottoms north of Peru, was in Auburn on Wednesday and made this office a call. Mr. Southard tells a story which a great many will doubt, and were it not for his reputation as a truthful man we would hardly care to repeat the story. He has resided in Peru precinct for the past 20 years and has always been known as a truthful and honest citizen.

Some time during Monday a number of cows belonging to Mr. Southard strayed away from his farm and were not missed until evening. A hunt for the missing cattle resulted in Mr. Southard finding himself several miles from home when darkness came on. He soon became lost and wandered about for some time in the dense growth of willows, becoming all the time more confused as to his whereabouts.

About two o'clock in the morning he saw a light on a bar in the river, and finding a place where the bar ran into the bank, made his way to the light. Imagine his surprise when he found that he had stumbled on to the airship which has attracted so much attention and been the occasion of a great deal of speculation as to what it really was, of late.

A number of men were moving about the ship, or machine, and seemed considerably surprised when Mr. Southard appeared; nevertheless, they were nothing loath to talk when he had explained how he came to be there. Something had gone wrong with the searchlight on the ship, and not daring to proceed in the darkness, the ship had been brought to the ground. It is cigar shaped, about 200 feet long and SO feet across at the widest point, gradually narrowing to a point at both ends. Mr. Southard was allowed to examine as much as he pleased and all his questions were answered. At each end of the ship is a large, steel, snail-shell-shaped device. This, he was informed, was the apparatus by which the strange machine was propelled. Large gasoline engines caused whichever one of these in use to revolve rapidly, and to bore into the air, dragging or pulling the ship along at a wonderful rate of speed ...

The craft is loaded with several tons of dynamite and is bound for Cuba. Spanish troops are being massed in the cities for transportation to the Philippine Islands, and it is proposed to sail over these cities and drop the dynamite into the camps of the soldiers and on the transport ships. Besides destroying the camps and transport ships it is proposed to destroy the Spanish navy ... They expect to sail or ny for Cuba yet this week, and reach there by Sunday or Monday. When they do, Spain is likely to hear something drop.

April 16, 1897

The mysterious airship ... was seen in Table Rock Tuesday night by reputable citizens. It was going from the southeast to the northwest and seemed to be about 20 x 40 feet in size and so brilliantly lighted that it lighted the sky for a great distance around it. Over Table Rock it was going very slow, seemingly almost at a standstill, as though something unusual was transpiring on it; there were windows in the side and the passengers seemed to be hurrying to and fro about its compartments; just how many persons were aboard could not be ascertained even with the aid of a powerful glass brought into operation, but there were at least two ladies in the company, one of whom seemed to have her hands fastened as though chained to the seat, and the other seemed to be waiting on her, while the figure of a man, holding a huge revolver and sitting directly opposite her, left the impression on the minds of the onlookers that there was foul play aboard.

Suddenly the windows darkened and at the same instant the ship shot out into space so rapidly that in the space of a few seconds it was out of sight and the awe-stricken crowd looked at each other terror-stricken. It is safe to say most of them fell into a disturbed slumber when they went to sleep, while visions of the beautiful prisoner on the mysterious airship filled their dreams.

Those who vouch for this story are among the most reliable citizens, and are not given to imbibing bug juice, and lay no claims to vivid imaginations, and the Argus gives the story for what it is worth.

mid-April 1897

Checking only a limited number of Nebraska papers between April 16-22, sightings were reported at Clarks, Clay Center, Havelock, Harrison, Lyons, Hastings, Nebraska City, North Platte, Portal, Juniata, and Franklin, Nebraska; Villisca, Waterloo, and Jefferson, Iowa; Pierre, South Dakota; and one location in Illinois. Papers consulted were the Omaha World Herald and Bee, Hastings Republican, Nebraska City News, North Platte Telegraph, University Place Times, and Juniata Herald.

April 18, 1897

Witnesses of the visit to Harrison (near the Wyoming border) on April 18 reportedly were able to discern the form of the ship, and could so clearly see two passengers that they tentatively identified one as Albert Whipple, who had disappeared from Crawford after robbing the Crawford Baking Company. Whipple had told a friend he was "working on an airship, and that some day he would startle the world. " Many believed this solved the mystery; that it was really an airship; and that its inventor, a fugitive from justice, was afraid to land in daylight and make his wonderful invention known. Lest anyone be impressed by the certainty of this account, it should be noted that another witness asserted that the ship resembled a huge man with wings; others were so certain that it was a meteor that a party set out to "the butte" where it had disappeared to search for the pieces.

April 20, 1897

The North Platte Daily Telegraph carried an article on April 20, 1897, that the airship had again been spotted, and an explanation was advanced for its presence. John LeMasters, a local craftsman and inventor, told Te le graph reporters that he had been visited a week before by two "mysterious looking gentlemen" who made a bargain with him to devi se a working model of an idea they had wanted to enlarge on. LeMasters agreed to the arrangement and in secrecy they drew their plans for him and he executed them in miniature, described by LeMasters as "a box 3 1/2 inches square, with four windows, one on each side, of red, green, amber and white colored glass. Over each window an arm 6 inches long projected, to which was attached a fan or wing-like attachment." The men complemented LeMasters on his work and lack of unwelcome inquisitiveness. They packed the box, "silently folded their tent and disappeared."

(End of Welsch article sightings)

August 29, 1903

CALLAWAY, Neb. — A spook of the old style fire displaying, man pursuing brand is racing around the country southeast of this city, and many wield stories of narrow escapes and fearful experiences are told by belated' travelers upon the road. So panic stricken is the neighborhood that it is difficult to get coherent stories about the spook, and when discussing the phenomenon the farmers keep close watch over their shoulders.

The apparition appears to have fixed upon the old Swan place, a farm of once unsavory repute, for its habitation. The old house is otherwise untenanted. The ghost is said to have leaped into the buggy of Farmer Dickson, who was driving home late at night with his wife. Both describe the apparition in the same phrases, and both leaped from their buggy the moment it clambered in. The frightened horse careered down the road and was found the next morn-ing five miles away. The ghost sprang out after riding a charter of a mile and disappeared in the woods.

Another young man, returning home from escorting his girl from a country dance, saw the thing rise suddenly in the roadside, He lashed his horse into a gallop, and, turning in at the next farmhouse, could not be induced to stir a step until daylight. A searching party went back over the road, but could find nothing. Others tell of similar experiences.

They describe the ghost as a large ball of fire, from which can be seen arms and legs protruding in disorderly array. It moves with lightning speed, and invariably appears at a lonely spot in the road, where there is a small bridge crossing a creek, the banks of which are thickly lined with brusil. The occupants of the farm house near by say they are awakened in the night by rappings upon the doors, first one and then another. Upon opening them were is nothing in sight.

The first time the noise was heard a feminine member of the family opened the door, only to have it slammed in her face. She could not open it again. The father and son tried to force it open, but were unable to move it an inch. The next morning it worked easily upon its hinges. This family is panic stricken and has practicaiiy abandoned the place. Callaway whisky has some powerful properties, but none of those who have seen the ghost partake of it. An effort is to be made next week to lay the ghost.

(The Daily Herald (Everett, Washington), August 29, 1903, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-herald/163531156/)

August 29, 1903

A fireball is seen by numerous residents of Callaway, Nebraska, on several occasions, usually appearing near a specific spot on a deserted road. In one instance, it entered a buggy causing the driver and passenger to immediately abandon it. (“Fiery Spook Chases Them,” Everett (Wash.) Daily Herald, August 29, 1903, p. 2; Clark IV 265, 301)

April 14, 1906

A short time ago the two sons of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Stone, formerly of Lincoln, Neb., who live on the Russell place south of town, saw a strange sight while they were at the barn doing their chores. At about dusk, the smaller boy, George, was on the outside of the barn when he saw what at first looked like the moon coming out of a cloud in the southwestern sky. It came rapidly toward him and hovered over the barn, apparently looking at him. He was so startled and frightened at the sight that he could not speak or move. He tried to call his brother, Charlie, who was in the shed milking, but could not speak. He made some strange sound, however, for Charlie came running out to see what was up and was himself horrified to see the strange visitor in the air just above them.

They both agree in their description of the apparition, that it appeared to be a woman with long flowing golden hair, with white wings and a white dress. Its face wore a pleasant expression, or, as George described it, as though “she had a million dollars.” The visitor hovered near the roof of the barn, though not touching it, in a reclining position, face down, looking at them. A moment the frightened boys gazed at the sight, then awoke from their terror to flee into the barn. A little later they saw the angel, they call it, flying rapidly away and disappear behind a cloud. They, of course, went to the house and reported the scare to their parents, who waited outdoors for some time to see if they could not discern the mystery, but to no effect.

("Moon-woman seen by boys", Lincoln Star, April 1906)

June 1906

A ufologist interested by cases of encounters with mysterious entities reportedly received an email towards 2005, form one Bill Carson, telling a story his father had told him.

The latter, when he was 17-year-old, one evening of June 1906, in Burt County, Nebraska, the USA, went by horse-drawn carriage to a dance party in Bertha. Little the sun set, he reportedly saw two young men walking before his carriage, at a distance of half a mile.

When he had approached within some 6 meters of them, he saw that each one of these young men had his jacket hung at the shoulder. He did not see their faces.

He intended to invite them to go up in his carriage, but the horse became nervous when he called the two young men. The horse was now almost impossible to control, it stopped, started to move back, and Carlson spent less than one minute to take control. When he succeeded, both young people were not there any more.

(Patrick Gross, "June 1906, Bertha, Nebraska, USA, Mr. Carlson," URECAT, July 21, 2009)

April 1916

McPherson County - In April 1916 and again in August 1917, a flying disk was observed and reported by residents.

(Frank Graham, "Deputies investigate UFOs near Jeffrey Lake", North Platte Bulletin, December 11, 2008)

August 1917

Location: McPherson County

The witness, a young girl at the time, (involved in other encounters) was lying on the grass resting and gazing into the clear sky, when suddenly to the right of her, she noticed a white cumulus cloud. Where this cloud come from so quickly? she will never know, as she stared at the cloud in amazement a silvery object slowly glided in behind it for protection. She was certain she saw ‘faces’ peering at her from the windows as it slipped into the white mist.

(Flying Saucers Magazine, February 1958) - Probably related to the above sighting.

February 22, 1922

Another fantastic story is that told by a man who allegedly observed a UFO on February 22, 1922, at 5:00 am. in Hubbell, Nebraska: A hunter, William C. Lamb, was following mysterious traces when he heard a crackling noise followed by a high-pitched sound and realized that a circular object was flying above his head, masking the stars. The witness allegedly hid behind a tree and saw this object, now brilliantly lighted, land behind a depression. Where he thus lost sight of the disk, he saw a magnificent flying creature that landed like an aircraft and left traces in the snow. It was at least eight feet tall; it came toward the tree where Lamb was hiding, passed by and disappeared. Lamb followed the traces for five miles, then gave up the chase (30).

(Jacques Vallee, Anatomy of a Phenomena, 1965) - In Why UFOs?, John Keel says a second winged creature was sighted somewhere in Nebraska, but John Keel also has a well-known allergy to footnotes.

September 13, 1923

O'Neill, Neb., Sept: 12.— Professor Rigge, of Creighton university, professors of the state university and savants of other institutions of learning in Nebraska may be asked to investigate the ghostly lights which nightly appear on the ranches of James Connolley and Thomas Gallagher in the northwest part of Shields township, north of O'Neill. A material increase in the number, intensity and brilliancy of the lights since just preceding the Japan earthquake lead local authorities to believe that some internal disturbance of the earth may have been responsible. Incidentally the only rocky section of Holt county is along another branch of Eagle creek, a few miles north of the scene of the lights, and Rock Falls on Eagle creek, the only water fall in the county is composed of a ledge of lava rock. No other volcanic matter is known to exist in the county except on the ranch of L. E. Skidmore near Ewing, more than thirty miles from the destrict of the ghost lights. Ranchmen Gallagher and Connolley, on whose places the lights nightly play and flit about estimate that more than five thousand people from O'Neill and neighboring towns have visited their ranches in the last two weeks to see the lights. Some remain until nearly morning on nights when the ghostly visitations are more prominent than usual. An average of fifty automobile parties a night visit the scene.

("Professors May Be Asked to Look Into Ghost Fires, Omaha World Herald, September 13, 1923, https://cufos.org/PDFs/UFOI_and_Selected_Documents/cases/Spooklight1r.pdf) - A 1933 World Herald article (see same link) claim the lights are caused by wet weather and decomposing animal remains.

November 1923

Sightseers by scores are trooping to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Michael O’Neil, where 12-year old Regina O’Neil declares she was visited by a heavenly apparition, an angel standing on a flood light. Faintly outlined handprints of the spectral visitor can be seen in Regina’s room, it is claimed. The girl describes the angel as being dressed in blue and white, and declares she heard her speak.

(San Mateo California Times, November 12, 1925)

1927

Piloy Barney Oldfield spots several objects that look like manhole covers near Scottsbluff.

(A CENTURY OF UFO - UFO Roundup, Dec. 1999, ed. Joseph Trainor)

1940

John Foster, who claims repeated alien abductions, reports his first one around this date. A circus booth materialized on their farm, and a voice emerged claiming "eternal knowledge and wisdom." Foster entered the booth, where more disembodied voices spoke to him, before he met first someone he described as a middle aged man wearing street clothes, then a creature he described as lizard or alligator-like who laughed at Foster as he passed by. John was shown the pilot compartment of the craft. John and the man sat and listened to classical music before he was released from the craft.

Foster had an encounter later that summer with the alligator-like animals who told him they were there to help mankind.

(John Foster, Eminent Discovery Volume 1: Living within and beyond the five senses, 2019; To Earth from Heaven: UFOs – Affecting science religion & history, 2019)

**Note: I am choosing to omit most Foster encounters from this timeline. He has numerous reported encounters of varying degrees of believability. Albert S. Rosales collected many of the cases in his Nebraska Cases document.

1943

Date unspecified. Place unspecified. A gold-colored object follows a couple for a few miles in broad daylight.

(Philip L. Rife, It Didn't Start With Roswell, 2001)

Summer 1945

The young witness and his father reported seeing seven large white disc-shaped objects flying together over the farm. The objects then shot straight up and left. When his fatherwent to check the cattle, he found one dead one. It had been burned, like a curling iron.

His father called the Federal Government to report the death of the cow, because of rationing they were not allowed to kill their own cows. They came and took the cow away.The main witness was 15 years of age and has had other experiences since then. He recently fell and hit his head and doctors told him he had a piece of metal in his headnear his spine. He has no idea how the metal got there.

(Albert S Rosales, History of entity encounters and other strange events in Nebraska, December 2024, from a MUFON investigation)

1946

O'Neill

One O'Neill merchant, who declined use of his name, insisted that he and his wife saw objects in the sky a year ago that corresponded to the popular descriptions of the saucers. He said they assumed the "objects were something experimental."

("Lack of 'saucer' makes news here," The (O'Neill) Frontier, July 10, 1947)

Fall 1946

1946, Fall — 9:00 p.m. Gladys McCage and her 4-year-old son see a yellowish-orange light coming from the northwest at a “terrific speed” toward their farm 8 miles north of O’Neill, Nebraska. Its color changes to red as it approaches, and soon it is hovering above the witnesses. They run toward the house and the cigar-shaped object swings up to the northeast. McCage says it is as big as a football field, has windows, and is making a loud noise. A yellowish- blue-green flame is shooting out near the back, and it is traveling too fast for any plane at the time.

(George M. Eberhart, UFOs & Intelligence: A Timeline, 2025, https://cufos.org/PDFs/pdfs/UFOsandIntelligence.pdf)

March 13, 1947

Benkelman

"At first glance (the object) looked like it might be a vapor trail left by a high flying plane. But the white streak that was in the sky never changed its shape or did it change in the direction of travel. It traveled much faster than any plane I have seen traveling in the sky high enough to leave a vapor trail. As near as I can describe this sight was that it might appear to be a streamlined train traveling ata very high altitude at a very high rate of speed. This rocket or whatever it might have been was high enough to disappear from sight while it was yet far above the horizon....The silver streak in the sky traveled as if it were a long connected streak. This did not resemble a line of smoke left by a train traveling along; it moved altogether as a unit.

(Bruce Maccabee, The FBI-CIA-UFO Connection: The Hidden UFO Activities of USA Intelligence Agencies, 2014)

June 23, 1947

An interview in Tuesday's ‘ Scottsbluff Star-Herald’ reports in detail Mrs. Hanna Smith's experience at about 4:00 pm of that day, when noticing her chickens running for cover, she scanned the sky for possible hawks and witnessed 'two flat, platter-shaped objects' soaring from northwest to southeast at a height 'of about two miles.

Mrs. Smith immediately called her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Earl Smith, but before she arrived, the discs had disappeared in the sky down the valley. Mrs. Smith described them (UFOs) as being flat, and occasionally dipping, reflecting therays of the sun.

(John Scott Chace, Project Blue Book, Top Secret UFO Files - The Untold Truth, 2019)

June 23, 1947

On the other side of the state, interestingly, a L. Kaderabek reported he and his family saw "objects in the western sky that seemed like rockets shooting from among the clouds at about 15 or 20 seconds apart" near Ohiowa, Nebraska. A Lincoln Star article from July 5 on the sighting mentions also the Scottsbluff incident, as well as an Omaha sighting I don't yet have an article to.

(Lincoln Star, July 5, 1947, found on Project Aquarius archives, https://projectaquarius.mufon.com/news-clippings-gallery-general-ufo-articles/)

July 6, 1947

At 11:45 p.m., a rolling disc was seen over Omaha. (Note: Roswell was the next day.)

(Omaha World-Herald, July 7, 1947)

February 18, 1948

A streak of light is seen flying over Nebraska, which many people claim was a UFO but was likely just a bolide, as a fragment of it was found.

https://www.tucsonmeteorites.com/mpodmain.asp?XX=2&DD=8/10/2014

Summer 1949

A married couple was traveling by car on a deserted highway when they had an encounter with a UFO. At first, they thought nothing of seeing a bright light far of the highway. They thought it was the light of a pipeline pumping station or even a large farmhouse. Then the light began to move, and in seconds it began pacing their car. They could clearly see that it was an object made of metal with bright porthole type lights in the middle. Then the car engine stopped running and the object landed on the road in front of them. Two “insect-like” creatures materialized in an instant. The headlights were still working and the little head of the Pontiac Indian on the hood was still lit. The creatures seemed to be doing a little dance and reached out to touch the amber glowing head. After a minute or two, the creatures vanished. In seconds, the “saucer” or UFO flew away at astonishing speed.

(Rosales, citing an old about.com "Your True Tales" story hard to find in the Wayback Machine)

July 26, 1949

Saucer-shaped UFO whirring and occasionally tipping reported by H.G. Lauback in Mitchell, Nebraska.

(NICAP, The UFO Evidence, 1964)

September 26, 1949

September 26, 1949, Lexington, Nebraska 6:30 PM. Six members of a farming enterprise were threshing wheat when they saw three objects coming from the general direction of the sun (SW). As the objects proceeded they gave off a dazzling brilliance. They maintained a level flight with two of the objects changing positions as they flew. The power of the illumination remained constant throughout the incident (i.e. no pulses or flashes). Once the objects reached a direction NW of the observers, they made a smooth 90 degree turn straight upwards and climbed rapidly out of sight. One of the farmers was a recent graduate of a two-year course in aeronautical design and thought the objects looked like a domed-disk when viewed face-forward, but were actually like a stubby, wingless, tailless fuselage when seen from the side. About five miles away, four other persons saw what they felt were two fast-moving objects flying in the distance at level flight before abruptly turning straight up and flying away from the Earth. This group of people did not know their distant “neighbors.” (Lester Wolfe case)

("90-Degree Turn Straight Up", NICAP, https://www.nicap.org/490926lexington_dir.htm) - Also recorded by Project Blue Book - https://www.nicap.org/docs/490926lexington_docs.pdf

September 29, 1949

An oval-shaped object that had several transluscent rings flies over Humboldt.

(Loren E. Gross, UFOs: A History" 1949)

March 5, 1950

Several witnesses see a bright object maneuvering over Gering at 7 a.m. The witnesses reported that at one point it changed shape, and was headed toward the southeast.

(UFO/UAP Event Chronology Search Engine v1.46, 10/3/2023)

1951

A UFO landed near our home outside Kearney back in 1951. My late grandfather was a young man at the time and he snuck up on it with a rifle in case he needed to defend his family. He told me that there was a saucer shaped craft with two alien beings scanning the ground looking like they were searching for something on the ground. He said they looked like kids with giant heads.

He watched them doing that for a few minutes, and then they got back in the saucer and took off. I always wondered what would have happened if he would have shot one of them?

(Anon author, "Aliens UFO Sighting from Kearney, Nebraska 1951," UFO Sentinel, May 10, 2016 https://www.ufosentinel.com/16/ufosighting_16001698.html)

December 1951

Peru (Nebraska). A man from Lincoln was driving to Indiana when he saw a blue light in the northwest sky. It vanished to the southeast. The witness missed a turn, had to go back toward Auburn, and had reached a point northwest of Peru when he saw an orange glow in the sky. Coming near, he observed the glow came from a cauldron-shaped object on the ground, about 12 m from the road, lie stopped to examine the object, which measured about 10 m diameter and seemed to be made of cast iron. Thirty cm from the top was a row of windows, 25 cm in diameter, from which the orange light was coming. On the other side was a blue flamelike glow. There was no noise, no sign of life or activity, and no antenna or protrusion. The witness drove away.

(Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia, 1969) - name given in some sources as "Mr. Barry"

June 5, 1952

Offutt AFB, Omaha, Nebraska. 11 p.m. 2nd Lt. W. R. Soper, a Strategic Air Command TOP SECRET Control Officer, former AFOSI agent; and 2 others saw a bright red stationary object for 4.5 mins before speeding away with a short tail.

(Brad Sparks, Comprehensive Catalog of 2,200 Project Blue Book UFO Unknowns: Database Catalog (Not a Best Evidence List), 2020, https://cufos.org/PDFs/pdfs/BB_Unknowns.pdf)

January 1, 1953

Rural West Central Nebraska, Jan. 1, 1953 – A woman told her child, who was only 4-years old the night the incident happened, that they were traveling by car when a light came from the sky and lit up the area so bright that she could see every blade of grass if it were daylight. She told her daughter that the car stopped and they just sat there. She said she didn’t know how long but that the light left and she started the car again and drove them home. She remembered the incident and all the details at age 82.

(Graham)

July 20, 1953

Offutt AFB, Omaha, Nebraska. 9:35 p.m. (CST). Lt. Dupray and Airman Smith. Possible IFO debris of RAWIN balloon tracked by SCR-584 radar. (Basterfield; Sparks; BB files; McDonald list; Saunders/FUFOR Index)

(Sparks)

October 12, 1953

Offutt AFB, Omaha, Nebraska. 9:05 p.m. (CST). S/Sgt Harold A. Washington and Airman 2nd Harold M. [o W?] Napier, 1st Weather Group, Base Weather Station, Offutt AFB. Target appeared in SCR-584 radar “A” scope in NE, 54° elevation, height 22,500 ft [~4 miles ground range] on a 250° heading for 10 minutes. Gradually changed heading to 70°, height increasing to 37,000 ft [~7 miles], disappearing at 10,000 yards slant [ground?] range [~6 miles] at azimuth 70°. Possible weather balloon IFO (radar size similar) drifting at about 10-17 [?] mph and rising at about 400 ft/min (very slow for normal 100 ft/min standard ascent rate). Initial heading opposite of wind direction from 190° to 240° at 20,000 to 30,000 ft (5-19 knots). (Sparks; McDonald list; Saunders/FUFOR Index)

(Sparks)

November 9, 1953

Red cigar shaped object seen over Omaha at 11:45 p.m. with several smaller objects orbiting it.

(Harold Wilkins, Flying Saucers Uncensored, 1955)

July 25, 1955

A fireball streaked across Iowa and into Nebraska. The light at one point burst into flames and appeared to descend southeast of Waverly.

(Council Bluffs (Iowa) Nonpareil, April 25, 1955)

July 29, 1955

Columbus, Nebraska. 10:45 p.m. (CST) Morrice Raymond saw 4 orange flashing lights and a white flashing light move up and down like yo-yos.

(Sparks)

Description from Project Blue Book:

"Four orange objects and one white object appeared similar to an explosion and back again. The objects appeared as flashing lights. Appeared east of station like a yo-yo, and seemed to fade as going through a cloud.

August 9, 1955

A bright object that appeared the same size as the moon in the sky hovered over Moon Lake, a lake about 40 minutes outside of Cody. At least three families witnessed the object, which had lights coming off of it.

(APRO Bulletin, August 1955)

August 23, 1955

Elizabeth Reams (involved in other encounters) spied a big object, silver colored towardthe setting sun. It was standing still, high above the cotton wood trees. It was there forone hour. While it stood there in the sky a small craft left it and went skimming outpassing the tip of the crescent moon. She saw figures inside it. “It had windows like theships Adamski photographed”. Later the big object glowed orange and lifted straight upinto the heavens. She saw another object the next day but no occupants.

(Rosales, citing Flying Saucer Magazine, February 1958) - It should be noted that Reams comes up in other places and contexts and seemed to be involved in spiritualist and occult movements. She founded the Chapel of Spiritualistic Knowledge in North Platte, frequently listed in the classifieds of The Psychic Observer. In an ad seeking penpals in the January 1958 Imaginative Tales, she reports, "Age 50: “I’m a taxidermist by profession, also holding a degree as a Dr. of Psychic Science. I’d like to correspond with anyone interested in Atlantis, Lemuria, and particularly those who would like to discuss the interpretations of the symbols, metaphors and allegories of the ancient histories, myths and legends.”" Reams also reportedly wrote for Search, Fate, Flying Saucers, Psychic Observer, and similar magazines, according to a January 20, 1958 North Platte Bulletin article that noted her "unusual interest in things out of this world."

October 7, 1955

It seems that a book on the "UFO abductions" of the end of the 80's reported that in Nebraska, at an exact location not stated, on October 7, 1955, in the night, a young girls, or a young woman, recalled being alone in her bedroom when a being appeared, floating outside her bedroom window.

The being is described as a humanoid, less than 4 feet tall, wearing a tight white skullcap, with an egg-shaped hairless head, a waxy grayish complexion, a slit as a mouth, a tiny nose and eyes like two large dark slits.

Using telepathy, the humanoid forced her to follow him and floated into a hovering bowl-shaped craft nearby. The girl or woman also floated towards the object and entered right through a wall in the extremely cold UFO.

The humanoid, with several other smaller similar humanoids then placed the witness on a silver metallic table where clamps appeared, a blood sample was taken from her, and she felt pain. She was later returned to her bedroom.

It appears that the report of this experience was obtained by putting the witness under hypnosis.

(URECAT, https://ufologie.patrickgross.org/ce3/1955-10-07-nebraska.htm / Rosales, who cites Jenny Randles' Alien Abductions: The mystery solved, 1988) - To add, the Randles account includes the detail that there were scorch marks outside on the tree by her window the next day.

June 9, 1956

Ravenna

A woman was awakened by a noise like an aeroplane going overhead, but then appeared strange. She had a sense of a looming presence and then a brilliant light came right through the roof into her room. When she put her hand over her eyes to protect them, she could see its bones as if through an X-ray. The beam passed through the room in a few seconds and disappeared. After this occurrence, her watches no longer kept good time.

(Rosales)

Fall 1956

A fascinating account of a "winged weirdie” was given to me several months ago by the witness to the event. The name of the witness is on file, and available to serious researchers. We will refer to the gentleman as Mr. Hanks, because of his request for anonymity.

On a beautiful autumn afternoon in 1956, Hanks and his family were returning home from an outing. The family had unloaded their car, and gone into the house, while Hanks readied some equipment he needed at work, in his pickup truck.

As he was going about this, he noticed what he at first thought was a kite, about 3 blocks away from his home. As he watched, the kite drew closer, and Hanks assumed that it had gotten away from whoever was flying it.

As this object fluttered to within about a block of his position. Hanks realized that it was not a kite, but a human-like form, with wings. As the thing came closer. Hanks was able to see the creatoress face, which he described as ”very frightening, almost demonic."

"It's eyes were very large, blue in color, and watery. They were shaped and placed on his face almost like horse’s eyes. The skin on his face was like tan leather. It was very wrinkled, and seemed to overlap in folds. I had a good look at his face-he was only about 25 feet away, and hovering maybe 15 feet above the ground. He was between eight and nine feet tall.”

(Ray Boeche, "Winged Wonder Over Falls City?", Journal of the Fortean Research Center, April 1986)

February 13, 1957

Lincoln AFB, Lincoln, Nebraska. 2:30 a.m. USAF SAC (98th Bomb Wing?) Director of Operations and 3 tower controllers at 2 radar sites, and the GCA’s NCOIC, tracked several targets flying behind an airliner at a distance of 5-6 miles traveling 2x as fast. No IFF response. Objects could hover and move at high speed, one split into 2 objects, another did 180° turn. Blips the size of a B-47.

(Sparks)

May 18, 1957

Here is a flying saucer story which had everyone scratching their heads. About 4am the telephone rang at the Dr. J. D. Hoeft residence about a mile northwest of Grand Island and a well-modulated woman's voice informed Mrs. Hoeft that there was a lighted object in the backyard.

Dr. Hoeft, an optometrist, looked out and at first saw nothing and then he saw a lighted object, but it appeared to be from a half to three-quarters of a mile away and from 100 to 150 feet in the air, traveling against the wind. He said it appeared to be six to eight feet in size, but he could not determine its apparent shape. It had 100 or more lights, he said.

Before the woman, who has not been identified, hung up, she cautioned the Hoeft’s not to go back to bed. No one else reported seeing the object.

(Rosales, original text seems to come from a May 19, 1957 article from the Beatrice Daily Sun)

September 20, 1957

Three supersonic objects seen over multiple states, including over Nebraska near Omaha. It was believed to be headed toward Strategic Air Command. The UFOs sent radio replies but eventually disappeared. Possible Russian missiles were suspected.

("Multiple Radars Track 4,500 MPH Target", NICAP, September 20, 1957)

November 5, 1957

On a farm in Scotia, Nebraska, November 3, Roger Groetzinger (10) was milking the cows when he noticed an oblong object circling low over the barn. He thought it was a plane about to land, and went outside to the pasture fence to watch. The object was at low altitude emitting a humming noise. Suddenly Roger found that he could not move. As the UFO gained altitude and started moving away, the paralysis left. When Roger's mother returned home, she found a thoroughly frightened son. Where the UFO was seen low above the ground, heavy fumes lingered in the air.

(NICAP, The UFO Evidence, 1964)

November 5, 1957

U.S., Kearney, Nebraska: Reinhold Schmidt, a grain buyer from California, experienced engine failure of his car. He then found himself near a silvery, blimp-shaped object. it was 100 feet in length and 30 feet wide, standing on four legs. Two "men" from the object searched him for weapons and took him inside. There were two women already inside the craft. The occupants were working on wiring of some type and paid him very little attention. They eventually told him to leave the craft; he did so, after which it lifted silently into the sky. His car could then be restarted with no trouble. (Flying Saucer Occupants, Jim and Coral Lorenzen)

(Mark Rodeghier, UFO Reports Involving Vehicle Interference, October 1981, https://cufos.org/PDFs/books/UFO_REPORTS_INVOLVING_VEHICLE_INTERFERENCE.pdf) It should be noted that Schmidt is a known conman. Massive grain of salt on this story. Schmidt alleged that the UFO left beyond a mysterious green substance and a can of green motor oil was found nearby. Given the full-of-shitness of Schmidt, I am omitting a 1958 encounter reported by Rosales.

November 6, 1957

TWA pilot Irving Kravitz reports seeing a "bright light source in high speed flight" near Kearney, Nebraska.

(UFO Experience) - There is no effin way this has anything to do with Reinhold Schmidt

December 5, 1957

A radio station in Ainsworth is interrupted by an indentified beeping sound. The signal lasted for about three minutes, and people in the area suspected it may have come from Sputnik II, but this is unconfirmed.

("Unidentified Beeping Heard on KBR Power Radio on Thursday", Ainsworth Star-Journal, December 12, 1957)

April 16, 1958

Nine strange lights seen in the sky over Lincoln, moving back and forth and up and down in east to west orientation.

(UFO Experience)

September 8, 1958

The sighting began at approximately 6:40 p.m. on September 8, 1958, at Strategic Air Command (SAC) headquarters, Offutt AFB, Omaha, Nebraska. Major Duich was crossing an open area between the Officers Club and the Visiting Officers quarters (VOQ) when something caught his eye. He noticed a short vapor trail in an otherwise clear blue sky. There were no clouds, and the sun had just set. He had seen thousands of vapor trails, but this one was peculiar. He did a double take when the short vapor trail became a brilliant source of light, similar to a magnesium flare. He stopped abruptly and watched.

The light was intense; in a second peculiar development, the vapor trail hung motionless (rather than continue moving). He watched for two or three minutes before calling it to the attention of another officer, who stopped to look, as did several others. As a small crowd gathered, Duich hurried into the VOQ office and called the Offutt tower operator to tell him what he saw. The tower operator said it looked like a short vapor trail, but odd.

(International UFO Reporter, Spring 2004, https://cufos.org/PDFs/pdfs/taylor.pdf)

1959

(No date given)

The subject was "Maxine," who consciously recalled driving by "hundreds" of paralyzed rabbits on a Nebraska road in 1959 and encountering a brilliant light followed by a two-hour time lapse. In 1983 she filled in the missing time under hypnosis with an emotional, gut-wrenching account. Tearfully, she asserted that her car was stopped by three entities in the road and that she was abducted.

(Walter N. Webb, "Massachusetts MUFON Forum," MUFON UFO Journal, November 1984) - Oh who did she recall it to? Budd Hopkins. So take it with a cube of salt.

May 13, 1959

May 13, 1959; Offutt AFB, Omaha, Nebraska - Listed as an unsolved on Project Blue Book

PBB summary:

Oval object twice the size of a pinhead. Blue-white (at intervals object had sligh yellow tinge which appeared to be a burst). Object traveled without tail for more than two minutes, then intermittent bursts of 10 seconds duration trailing flame approximate six times the length of the object.

(Project Blue Book, 1959, https://archive.org/details/1959-05-8406028-OffuttAFB-Nebraska/mode/2up)

July 19, 1959

A father and daughter driving on highway 77 near Ceresco when they saw a bright, light white that gave way to a sixty-foot-wide disc-shaped object with a dome and several windows.

(Project Blue Book files counted in official statistics, report dated July 24, 1959)

October 1959

In 1989, at a UFO and UFO abduction conference, a woman named Joyce Updike reported that in August 1967, a UFO landed in her farmyard and consequently visited her, but she was not aware of that then, although she apparently saw a light filling the house and the backyard and said she woke up with her clothes on despite the summer heat.

Watching a TV show about UFOs and aliens, she heard of Dr. Leo Sprinkle and went to see him. Dr. Sprinkle used hypnosis on her, and she thus learned that she had been abducted by aliens not only in 1967 but also in October 1959 in North Platte, Nebraska, USA.

Dr Sprinkle's hypnosis convinced her that she met two space people there, to her embarrassment because she was not properly dressed when it supposedly happened.

She further explains that all knowledge come from the "Akashic Record", that her daughter no longer needs to work in her studies as she can read the answers of the tests in her teachers minds. she tells her other children that they were in the spacecraft too but they do not remember. She says that she cannot trust clocks anymore: when she goes, the clock stops; when she stops, the clock goes.

She said the aliens have beautiful helmets with a little nose guard and little golden wingtips. They are a peaceful people, but she remembers little of what they told her, something about some Earth changes, and something should have been done a 1000 years ago, but if it isn't done in a week "then the result will be blah blah blah!"

A ufology catalogue adds that they wore "space suit like" outfits, thick soled shoes, one of the men was holding two metal rods that he was aiming at her, while the other climbed over a nearby wire fence and walked to a landed object, partly hidden by a hill. She then found herself inside the object on top of an examining table, two men of average height and well built stood next to her, another man wearing a three piece loose fitting "surgical" outfit with a hood and a smoke colored visor over the eyes, stood by a circular, glass covered instrument panel, and he also wore gauntlet gloves with pointed pincer type clamps. This man approached her, raised her right arm by the elbow, "at this point all conscious recall ended."

(Patrick Gross, "1959, NORTH PLATTE, NEBRASKA, USA, JOYCE UPDIKE", URECAT - UFO Related Entities Catalog, 2008)

Oct. 6, 1959

Lincoln, Nebraska. 8:15 p.m. Selective Service Lt. Col. L. Liggett and wife saw a round, white-yellow light make several abrupt turns at high speed.

(Sparks)

October 12, 1959

The Treasurer of the State of Nebraska, while returning to the State Capitol in Lincoln from an out-of-town trip early October 12, saw a pulsating UFO which made a siren—like noise as it maneuvered above the highway. He was questioned by an officer at Lincoln Air Force Base. Richard R. Larsen was approaching Lincoln on Cornhusker Highway about 4:30 a.m. when he heard a noise like a siren. Than he saw the UFO, a glowing object, moving slowly "like a glider" and pulsating. Stopping his oar to watch. Mr. Larsen saw the object rise abruptly, cross the highway twice, then hover near the air base. Moments later, the UFO began moving again parallel to the high—way. After about 30 minutes it dis—appeared in the distance moving in the general direction of Omaha.

("State Official Reports UFO Over Highway", NICAP Bulletin, November 1959)

November 18, 1961

Theodore Goff, who lives on a farm near Chadron, reports watching an object streak across the sky at about 3 p.m. and shed thin, metallic fibers that covered his farm. He described it as a ball spinning as it moved along. The fibers were about the width of a spider web and can only be seen in direct sunlight.

(Bob Gribble, Looking Back November 1961, National UFO Reporting Center website)

November 22, 1961

It was a clear starlit night about 7:00 p.m. (CST). Mr. and Mrs. Vagle were traveling north on U S. Highway 81 approaching Grafton. A red light in the sky west of the highway up ahead attracted their attention, then other associated lights made them think it might be an aircraft. As they neared the site and pulled alongside they saw "a cigar-shaped object hovering at a sharp angle over a plowed field. . At the lower end. . . there was a bright 'flashing white light ann at the upper end there was a steady red light. Along the length of the fuselage there was a row of square-appearing ports, illuminated with a white yellowish light."

The UFO seemed to be motionless until, when the Vagle's son started crying, they drove on. Then the UFO appeared to drift westward across the highway. Earlier the same evening a farmer in the Grafton area had seen a reddish cigar-shaped UFO west of Grafton and reported it to an area newspaper. Accompanying Mr.Vagle's report to NICAP was a letter from the farmer confirming the basic points of his sighting, which occurred at sunset. The farmer could not see any "ports", only a dull reddish glow from the UFO. The object vanished behind a dark cloud after about 10 minutes.

(NICAP, The UFO Evidence, 1964, https://www.nicap.org/ufoe/section_6.htm)

June 21, 1963

Cedar Rapids, Nebraska

Vice-president of the Research Organization on Phenomenal Occurrences ... Tom Rupprecht saw a pouch-shaped UFO that pulsated. The object was in sight for about 3 seconds and then "dematerialized".

(The Weekly Research Magazine's Summer Look-See, July 10, 1963)

Summer 1965

Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Omaha, Nebraska, on summer 1965, at 01:00 a.m. or 02:00 a.m., a family was driving in their camper (a pickup truck) near Omaha and the stockyards. Three beings raced across the road in front of them. The third stopped right in the road and they were going to hit it. It made a huge bounding thirty- to forty-foot leap from the Interstate and over a fence. The entities were small with large heads and eyes, no hair and very pale looking. The stepfather was an ex-FBI man and wanted to stop to investigate, but the mother said, "No. No. Let's get the hell out of here." Later that morning they heard a radio report that some cattle had been found dead in the Omaha stockyards. The father then remarked, "Well, they probably dissected them to see what they're composed of."

(Albert Rosales, 1965 Humanoid Reports, 2007)

August 1, 1965

Beginning at 1:30 a.m. on August 1, 1965, various personnel at F. E. Warren—including the base commander—telephoned the Air Force's UFO Project Blue Book at Wright-Patterson AFB to report several UFOs near the base's Minuteman Launch Control Facilities (LCFs) designated Echo (E), Golf (G), and Quebec (Q), and at Launch Facilities (LFs or silos) designated B-4, E-2, G-l, and H-2

[...]

2:50 a.m.—Nine more UFOs were sighted, and at 3:35 a.m. Colonel Williams, commanding officer of the Sioux Army Depot, at Sydney, Nebraska, reported five UFOs going east.

(Robert L. Hastings, "Remarkable reports from the missile field," International UFO Reporter, August 2008)

August 2, 1965

Don Tennopir of Beatrice, Nebraska reported to the Abilene Reflector-Chronicle:

I was driving north on Highway 15 about 25 miles south of Abilene. I was carrying a full load of peanuts and was en route to Lincoln, Nebraska. I guess it was about 1:30 a.m. when all of a sudden all of the lights on my truck went out. Then they came back on, then off, then back on again. About this time this thing, UFO, or whatever, went over my truck with a sizzling or wind-like blowing sound. It scared the hell out of me.

It seemed to almost touch the cab-maybe it was 20 feet in the air-and it just swooped down over the road and hovered there not more than a hundred feet in front of me. I tell you, I was standing on those brakes! I just didn't know what was happening. It looked like it was going to fall right in the middle of the road, but it didn't. I got my rig stopped and about that time this thing raised up a bit and slowly took off to the west and then headed south. I don't know how long it was there. It seemed longer than 20 seconds, but I was just too damned scared to tell time or anything like that. The thing looked round to me. I'd guess it was about 14 or 15 feet in diameter and sort of orange-colored. The color reminded me of those reflectorized jackets worn by highway repair crews. Anyway, this thing was shooting off reddish rays, kind of in spurts.

The rays weren't really steady, kind of flashing. The object appeared to be like a disc, I'd guess it was about two feet thick and the edge was round. There was a hump, or something like that, in the middle. This hump stuck up about four feet or so. There was a dark spot in the hump and this might have been a window or something. I just don't know. I tell you, I have never been so scared in my life. I've still got a pain in my chest. I regained my senses while this thing was hovering over the road and watched it disappear into the southwest. Where it came from or what it was exactly, I'll be darned if I know. I know this sounds silly, but it looked like a big plate with a cup in the middle. It really did!

After the thing took off, I thought about getting out and walking around, but then I got to thinking there might be more of these things around. I ground gears, and I haven't done that in years, and got the hell out of there.

Coming into Abilene, I got to thinking about all of the reports going around recently, and how I'd thought everybody was just seeing things. Brother, I can tell you, these things are for real.

(A. Schopick, A Study of Secondary Effects, 1966, https://cufos.org/PDFs/books/A_Study_of_Secondary_Effects-An_Unpublished_Manuscript_of_UFO_E-M_Cases.pdf) - I realize this encounter is technically in Kansas, but I had never heard it before and it's just wild.

August 2, 1965

Judi Hatcher spots UFO in Valentine, Nebraska and sends a photograph to J. Allen Hynek. Hynek refers to it as in the midst of a UFO flap in the Midwest.

(from a photo insert page in J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, 1972) - The scan I have of this is poor and Hynek provides no other detail.

August 3-4, 1965

The state of Nebraska was deluged with reports of red, blue and white lights which hovered and darted over the towns of Valentine, Ainsworth, North Platte, Scottsbluff and Sidney during the night of August 3 and morning of August 4. In perhaps the last report of the morning, at 6:15, a couple in Culbertson reportedly watched a strange craft shaped like a long cigar and silvery colered move across the skies in a north-westerly direction.

(Schopick)

April 7, 1966

Several bright, red lights seen over Lincoln.

(Richard Hall, The UFO Evidence Volume II: A Thirty Year Report)

July 5, 1966

The state of Nebraska has a long and complicated history of UFO sightings. During the heavy but little- publicized flap of July-August, 1966, some very definite patterns emerged. On Tuesday, July 5, 1966, at 10 P.M. a group of four witnesses reportedly viewed "a large octagon-shaped object with colored lights.... The light dimmed and brightened, and the object swooped twice over a field and then went back into the air." This took place about 3 miles northwest of Norfolk, Nebraska.

On the ninth and tenth of July, there were sightings in North and South Dakota, the states north of Nebraska. On July 11 there were several sightings in Iowa, the state bordering Nebraska on the east. The South Dakota sightings took place in the southwest corner of the state, close to the northwest corner of the Nebraskan border. If we had been able to collect this data fast enough, we could have successfully predicted that a flap was due in Nebraska, and statistically the odds were that it would take place on a Wednesday night at 10 P.M.

Shortly after 10 P.M. on Wednesday, July 13, 1966, a blazing object hurtled across the skies, heading southward from the northwest. About 10:10 P.M. scores of people in Muny Park, Cozad, Nebraska, saw "a very bright object with multicolored smaller bright stars trailing it."

(John Keel, Why UFOs?, 1970)

September 5, 1966

Location: Columbus, Nebraska, United States

From the witness: "He looked up and a round craft was directly over him at around 100 ft. in the air. It was not very large in size, completely circular, and had green lights, red lights and some yellowish lights on the bottom. There seemed to be some sort of lines in the bottom, like spokes in a wheel look. It was making a low humming sound that resonated. It was almost pitch dark so he couldn't see the color of the craft.

He immediately tried to accelerate the bike to get away from it because he was absolutely terrified and realized that he was staying in one place in the road, even though the bike was still running and it seemed that the tires were still moving. He had driven that road so many times throughout his life and knew every bump in it. He realized later that during this initial few seconds that if he were still driving fast like he had been before seeing the craft he would have already been past the RR tracks. He remembered cranking the accelerater real hard and the bike didn't speed up.Then he doesn't remember anything AT ALL until suddenly he was back on his bike in almost the same spot, with the bike moving, only he was going real slow, like 25mph, instead of 65mph from before. He proceeded to come to see me and never mentioned a thing to me or anyone else.

From my vantage point, I was waiting at the farm and watching the clock, excited to see him and couldn't figure out why he was late. He had called me right before he left town and should have been to my place in 5 minutes. Instead he arrived in about 25-30 minutes later. I asked him what took him so long and he acted really weird. I noticed that he looked pale and was quiet all nite. In fact I noticed a change in his personality from then on but kept it to myself. "

(UFOEvidence.org using NUFORC case, April 26, 2004 http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case1064.htm)

January 21, 1967

Jan. 21, 1967; Gering, NE 4:15 a.m. MST. Two men saw a white or silver object with red, white, and blue pulsating body lights. It hovered for about 2 minutes and then seemed to follow their car. (Hall letter, Scottsbluff, NE., in NICAP files.)

(NICAP, The 1967 UFO Chronology: The 'Mother of all Sighting Waves', 2006, updated 2021, https://www.nicap.org/chronos/1967fullrep.htm)

February 27, 1967

Feb. 27, 1967; Omaha, NE 8:00 p.m. CST. A couple saw a round bright light, pulsating and changing color. Red lights were either blinking or moving around the main white light (body lights). The object moved slowly north and remained in view for 20 minutes, observed part of the time through binoculars. (Omaha World Herald, 2/28/67, copy in NICAP files.)

(NICAP 1967 chronology)

March 23, 1967

March 23, 1967; Omaha, NE 3:00-3:30 a.m. CST. A nurse, a nursing supervisor, and an aide saw a slowing white light that at times had a surrounding red glow (halo effect). The shape was said to be " like a bowl atop a plate" (domed disc).

March 23, 1967; Omaha, NE During the same time period, a woman in another area of Omaha saw two large (moon-size) lights making turns (maneuvering) in the sky. (Omaha World Herald, 3/23/67, copy in NICAP files.)

(NICAP 1967 chronology)

March 26, 1967

Minitare, Nebraska

The Cecil Bailey and Robert Lore families had observed UFOs in the area on several occasions. On the evening of March 26, they were back, and Lore and Bailey were in a car driving north of their farms to look for lights that had appeared to land on the ground. In an isolated section of farmland the two men passed a human-appearing figure in white coveralls standing alone by the roadside; their dog, in the car, "really kicked up a fuss," appearing to be terrified. When the men got home, the lights were once more visible in the sky, one bright enough to light up the hill behind it. On returning to the site where they had seen the stranger, the next day, they found numerous nearly rectangular foot-prints, some of them 9.75" long and other 8.5" long.

(HUMCAT Index, 1967)

April 9, 1967

Grand Island, NE

Dusk. Confirmed by MUFON Field Investigator and State Section Director Eldon E. Ervin. A building contractor, his wife and three children were traveling east on Interstate 80 when the wife first no­ticed a bright object to the north, just north of the intersectio of U.S. Highway 80 and Nebraska Highway 281 and adjacent to a Drive-In theatre. The observers stopped the car, got out, and watched for 15-20 minutes while the object fluttered across the Cornhusker Ordinance Plant some 3 miles west of the theatre. At times the object wobbled as low as 40 feet from the ground. Later it disappeared to the north. The family drove as far north as Silber Creek but could not sight it again. Upon returning to their home, they called the Grand Island Weather Bureau. They were told an investigator would be out in the morning, but none appeared. The local police were also called, but no one came to investigate. (Credit: Elmer A. Krai, State Director for Nebraska)

(NICAP 1967 chronology)

December 3, 1967

Ashland (Nebraska). Police Officer Schirmer observed a bright, aluminum-colored object just above the road and approached within 14 m, when the object rose, emitting a shrill beeping noise and a red-orange beam. Under hypnosis at the University of Colorado, the witness reported that a small human form, about 1.30 m tall, came from under the craft and approached him to communicate a message stating that "they” came from space and would meet him again.

(Vallee Magonia) - Note, Vallee attributes this to a 1968 issue (#4) of Flying Saucer Review I was not able to get a digital copy of. There are so many stories of Schirmer floating about. "The Ordeal of Herbert Schirmer" from Beyond Earth: Man's Contact with UFOs by Ralph and Judy Blum provides a good overview of the hypnotic regressions. It can be found reprinted in UFO Abductions: True Cases of Alien Kidnappings edited by D. Scott Rogo. Reportedly, Schirmer may have had subsequent encounters, but refused to talk about them due to the harassment he received after his first report.

December 25, 1967

Between Ashland and Lincoln

Gary Lambert/ a student at Omaha, was driving home at Christmas when he saw a dimly-outlined object with a row of lights hovering over an underpass; the sighting precipitated a number of vivid dreams, in which he believed he had somehow been "contacted" by the beings aboard the object, and that he may have experienced an actual abduction, the memory of which was erased from his mind. There was no evidential proof of such an abduction that the witness was able to provide.

(HUMCAT) - Wow, copy Herb Schirmer much?

May 12, 1968

It was dark when we left the restaurant; I believe it was about 9:00 PM. As we walked out the door into the parking lot we noticed a school bus in the lot full of what appeared to be high school students. Several were leaning out the windows, screaming and pointing upwards behind us.

When we turned to look we got the shock of our lives. Directly over the restaurant's parking lot, at an altitude I estimate at no more than one hundred feet, was a UFO.

The object was circular, with a flat bottom and an opaque dome on the top. I estimate the diameter of the object at 35 to 50 feet. It held absolutely still and made absolutely no noise. On top of the dome was a single, steady white light. Around the rim were solid white lights in the shape of rectangles with rounded corners, separated from each other by unlit space. The lights flashed around the rim in a counter-clockwise direction like lights on a theater marquee, but I assure you, this was not a theater marquee we were looking at.

(NUFORC case, http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case1133.htm)

July 28, 1968

The observer sighted a tear drop shaped object that was "Incandescent-ultra-violet" in color. The phenomena was slightly higher than the high tension lines in the area but in way connected to them, The phenomena disappeared in a shower or gold colored sparks. (Cuming County)

(Project Blue Book report, https://archive.org/details/1968-07-7201824-CumingCounty-Nebraska)

March 17, 1969

Lincoln

Herbert Lancaster told police that a saucer shaped UFO landed in front of his car at a crossroads and “turned off the car’s engine.” An occupant “an ordinary average guy," who was either ‘Japanese or Chinese’, was seen peering from a window in the UFO and standing in front a panel of instruments. A short time later, the saucer “took off at a high rate of speed.”

(Rosales, citing HUMCAT)

August 1969

Omaha

The witness, (involved in other encounters) as a child was alarmed and cautious as though something was wrong, but didn’t know why. One night, he left his bedroom, heart racing in fear. He crept toward the living room and peeked around the corner to discover his father facing something, but his father seemed unaffected by the bewildering sight, and appeared groggy in his face, yet he stared ahead at a creature as though he wasn't alarmed by it. The creature kept changing form and his memory has it holding for a timeas a human sized, upright furry form. Light to mid-brown or dak blonde hair all over. Today, he might describe it as a Wookie, though obviously that is not what it was. His father, though apparently anesthetized, kept nodding occasionally, as though in some sort of conversation with it.

(Rosales, from MUFON casefiles)

September 1969

Maurice Colbert of Nebraska City reports seeing an 18-inch, purplish-pink blob near his car while on a date at lover's lane.

("Where's Steve McQueen When You Need Him", Journal of the Fortean Research Center, April 1986)

December 29, 1969

Future Fortean Research Society founder Ray Boeche photographs a UFO over Nebraska City. He reported seeing a black disk at 2:30 p.m., and the disc hovered and wobbled for about five minutes before disappearing to the east.

("UFO Photographed over Nebraska City", Nebraska City News-Press, January 8, 1970)

1970

(No date given)

near Grand Island

A woman was driving her sleeping husband outside of town but on a relatively unfamiliar road. To her fight the land dropped off into a little valley and a side road went down into it. Stretched across the valley below was a curtain of red light. You could not see any landmarks or object on the other side of the curtain. Another car had gotten off the road and was driving toward the curtain. It drove right through it and disappeared. The witness said, “Boy, which was really a strange feeling because I would have liked to have seen where that car went."

(Rosales)

February 28, 1970

Culbertson, Nebraska, farmer Dale Nowka stepped outside his rural home shortly after 1:00 a.m. on February 28, 1970, to feed some young hogs. [...] UFOS or for that matter IFOs were the last thing in their minds that winter evening.

But as 47-year-old Nowka walked across his farmyard, he noticed a strange red light in the northwest sky.

"At first I thought it was one of the running lights of the Frontier flight to North Platte but then I realized it was too late for that," he said. "It was about 1000 feet up and moved south until it came to an area next to the Western Union relay tower, about two miles from the house."

(Dick Henry, "1970 UFO over Nebraska," Fate Magazine, September 1970)

July 25, 1972

Thurston, Nebraska (a mostly-white town just outside the Winnebago Reservation)

A group of boys stumble across a bright object in a field they described as a "building" — "The windows were all there was---no real outer walls---it was all windows. The windows were about 5ft wide x 10ft tall or 6t x 12 ft, he was not sure exactly but that was the proportion of them. The “building” was shaped like two disks with windows separating them." The boys reported seeing occupants in line with typical grey-type aliens moving around the object, as well as taller beings that seemed to be in charged described as follows: "These had very small leg joints, and elephant-trunk type resembling a ponytail, but it was actually part of the skin on the head. It was the size of their head and tapered down to the tip, which was blunt at the end, like the fat end of an egg. This “ponytail "reached down to mid-back and was segmented like a cartoon inchworm (the witness was only 9-years old)." The main witness said one of the greys communicated that he was worth no more to him than cattle were to a rancher. Some of the boys were reportedly taken aboard the craft. but the main witness does not remember what happened after, only that he had returned to his grandmother's house.

(Rosales)

March 1973

A wave of sightings and possible cattle mutilations seen in Sarpy County.

(The Choppers - and the Choppers, Mystery Helicopters and Animal Mutilations, Thomas R. Adams, 1991)

Fall 1973

1973, Autumn — Late night. 1st Lt. Walter F. Billings is a deputy crew commander at the Francis E. Warren AFB Golf launch control capsule missile site northwest of Sidney, Nebraska. Over UHF radio, he hears the crew at LCC India, southwest of Sunol, Nebraska, order its security guards to investigate an alarm at one of India’s 10 launch sites. The guards find that the inner security alarm has also been triggered, meaning that something has penetrated the security fence surrounding the site. They find a large, bright UFO hovering above the site. One minute later, the UFO moves off slowly for several thousand feet then zooms off at a high rate of speed. All crews on duty that night are told not to say anything to the public or media about anything they heard on UHF radio that night.

(Eberhart)

December 19, 1973

Red and blue lights seen hovering over Grand Island at around 9:45 p.m.

(https://www.ufo-search.com/timeline/search.html?q=nebraska)

March 31, 1974

A mutilated cow and calf are found on a farm near Callaway with tails removed, blood drained, and incisions made to the udders.

(Omaha World Herald, April 9, 1974)

July-November 1974

Several cattle mutilations reported in Nebraska and surrounding states.

(UFO/UAP Event Chronology Search Engine v1.46, 10/3/2023)

June 1975

Omaha

The main witness, Linda, claimed that she was visiting her parent’s house when she observed something bizarre. [...] They were sitting out in the front yard when her sister in law noticed a strange light and said, “Look”. This was North Omaha and the way the airplanes came into North Omaha was from the north to what is called Eppley airfield. And she said, “Look at the airplane, Linda, doesn’t it have odd colored landing lights?” And she looked at it and they were orange. She thought they were not airplane lights since airplane did not have any orange landing lights. And as it got over an area of a cemetery which was a half mile to a mile from her parent’s house, it suddenly stopped dead. It was circular and it was hovering just above the cemetery. It then changed into different colors, orange, blue, green and then it turned an absolute blood red. It then looked like it settled into the cemetery.

[...]

The next morning while having coffee with her father and husband, her father asked her where exactly the object had descended. She told him it was at the highest point in the cemetery. So, her father decided to go there and look around. And so, Linda, her father, her mother her 21-year old brother and her husband along with her baby drove up to the highest point in the cemetery. [...] All of the sudden, out of nowhere, appeared an old black vehicle. Her dad thought maybe it was an old Packard or a Dodge. The driver got out and stood by the car and others then starting coming out the car, according to Linda it seemed very surreal as one of the strangers approached and asked the group, “What business do you have here? And her dad said, “We are just looking around”. And the stranger then said, “If you have no further business here, leave immediately!” The strangers were wearing vintage WW2 clothing, and black sunglasses. On later visits the witnesses did not see the strangers again, but it appeared that someone “had cleaned up the graveyard”.

(Rosales, citing a 1997 Coast to Coast AM episode)

August 22, 1975

About 10 P.M. on August 21st, 1975, an unidentified helicopter was reported heading into Logan County (Colorado) from the east. Sheriff Graves and his deputies went into action. Seventeen ground units took part in the chase, and the sheriff rented a private plane with its pilot, tak-ing two deputies with him. There was no cloud cover and the night sky was clear. During the pursuit there were some odd interventions in the form of radio messages from individuals claiming to be Air Force officers relaying radar information from Warren Air Base, later found to be fraudulent. However, the most interesting aspect of the incident is the way the chase ended, about 4:30 A.M. in southwestern Nebraska occupants of the sheriff's plane saw the lights of the unidentified helicopter beneath them clearly, then the lights went out. The sheriff and the pilot assumed that the helicopter had landed, but when the pilot brought his plane down to an altitude of slightly over 100feet fora close look, the only thing visible was a missile silo.

(George C. Andrews, Extraterrestrials Among Us, 1992) - Note, this was in the midst of a rash of cattle mutiliations in the area, and this excerpt comes from a chapter on those.

August-September 1975

Multiple cattle mutilations and mysterious helicopters reported throughout the state, including in Kimball.

(UFO/UAP Event Chronology Search Engine v1.46, 10/3/2023)

January 2, 1976

JANUARY 2, 1976, Omaha, Nebraska, 1:50 AM (CEIII, one witness) The witness was outside using a small telescope when he noticed some flashing lights in the sky. The red, green and white lights were on a triangular-shaped object that was moving slowly from east to west about 300 yds. in the air. As the silent object moved overhead, the witness saw "some sort of beings" moving about inside. The witness watched the object through his 40X telescope for about 40 minutes, until it moved out of sight in the distance. (Original source: letter from witness)

(Center for UFO Studies News Bulletin, June 1976, https://cufos.org/PDFs/CUFOS_Bulletin/Bulletin012.pdf)

February 17 1976

In the early morning in question, Ralph, was driving to work, in Lincoln, when, quite out of the blue, he heard a voice in his head warning him of a looming worldwide disaster of a viral nature – a disaster that would see the overwhelming majority of the human race wiped out. Billions would be dead in a matter of weeks. The voice identified itself as “Caumuan”, an emissary from a faraway world. Terrified that he was going mad, Ralph pulled over to the side of the road, in a near-panic state attack state. Two days later, the message was repeated – this time as Ralph woke up for work. What was going on? Had he, at the age of 28, suddenly developed schizophrenia? It is unlikely, as there was no repeat experience, ever. And, of course, our civilization was not exterminated as a result of a deadly virus. To this day, however, Ralph has his suspicions that, one day, the terrible disaster he was told about, will indeed occur.

(Rosales) - Damn, do you think Ralph knew about 'rona?

July 1976

The other case involved a large circular area in the midst of a corn field in northeast Nebraska. No object was reported seen at that location, but an unusually bright light "like lightning-which lit up the whole sky" was seen shortly before the damaged corn field was found.

Arden Wild, of Stanton, Nebraska, was asked to investigate the report and advise CUFOS of his findings. He has done so and we submit his report here to share with our ASSOCIATES some of what is involved in seeking the answers to the mystery of the UFO phenomenon.

The series of photographs taken by George J. Myers were used to locate the exact site, three miles southeast of Winnebago, Nebraska, on U.S. Highway 73. Mr. Wild visited the area during November, 1982, and found that the present owner of the field in question is a new owner since 1980. The previous occupant was a tenant farmer, an Indian, who had moved from Nebraska and cannot be located.

[...]

The 1976 soil sample was recently taken to be analyzed by University of Nebraska agronomist and it is highly significant that the 1976 soil sample shows definite evidence of chemical spill.

("Large Physical Trace Identified", CUFOS Associate Newsletter, February/March 1983)

1977

Kearney, no date given

Sandy (no last name given) reported seeing a UFO hovering roughly 50 feet off the ground behind their friend, who was on horseback. "My very first thought was the UFO was so big; it would cover the football stadium. It was a dull gray and had white and red lights. It didn't make a sound. It had what appeared to be be hatches and windows. There were no markings or emblems of any type. I saw it for three or four minutes. [...] Finally when I looked back at the craft, it was gone. No noise. No trace."

(UFO Sentinel, https://www.ufosentinel.com/20/ufosighting_20002888.html)

March 1977

Pleasanton

A woman reported that she was awakened early one morning by flashing red, green, and white lights shining through her bedroom window. She felt exhausted and strange, she couldn’t seem to move as if hypnotized or ‘something’. She then heard 'people' talking about the lights. At first, she thought it was her children when she asked them later, they said they hadn’t heard or seen anything. Her husband didn’t either. The woman said that when she first saw the lights, she thought it was an emergency vehicle of some sort. Then she remembered her backyard was situated so there was no way to see any lights from the street; especially since a high fence surrounds the yard.

(Rosales)

August 12, 1977

Larry C. a counselor was abducted by four beings. He came to his senses in a strange room with four walls, on which there was a pattern of white lines on a dark background. There was a similar pattern on the ceiling. There were no doors or windows, and there was nobody with him. An invisible being telepathically questioned him about mathematics, counseling, religion, etc, and after this interrogation, asked him to join their form of existence.

(Rosales)

August 17, 1977

2:00 p.m. James R. Leming is driving on Interstate 70 westbound about 15 miles west of the Nebraska– Colorado state border. He sees a strange object moving swiftly in the sky and pulls over to watch. It moves to the north, then veers back to the highway and runs a parallel course along the interstate. Directly over the road it remains stationary for 3 minutes, and Leming is able to take three photographs, only one of which is not blurry because the object began speeding away. He estimates it was 600 feet away, its altitude at about 500 feet above the road, positioned at a 40° angle above the horizon, and 40–45 feet from tip to tip with a downward curve at each end. Ground Saucer Watch explains the photo as a chip in the glass of Leming’s windshield, but Leming contests that.

(“1977 Photograph/Sighting and 1982 Sketch Similarity,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 4 (Aug./Sept. 1983): 1; Fred Adrian, “Letter,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 5 (Oct./Nov. 1983): 2–3; James R. Leming, “Letter,” CUFOS Associate Newsletter 4, no. 6 (Dec. 1983/Jan. 1984): 2)

September 22, 1977

Three UFOs were tracked on radar as they streaked over Omaha, Nebraska at 3 p.m. One of the four radar controllers who observed the targets gave this description of what happened: "As I was looking at the scope something popped in that was pretty weird to me after working with radar for 17 years. What we were seeing was three objects that gave the appearance of aircraft. The size was much larger and they appeared out at about 430 kilometers and the speed of these things was terrific. One of the objects was moving in front and there were two of them behind at a distance of about 20 kilometers behind the first one, moving side-by-side at the same speed also.

We kept watching these things and they were gone from our scope in less than a minute. I figured the speed with my calculator and came up with the fantastic figure pushing 17,000 miles per hour. I have worked on radar S long enough to know what radar interference looks like and that was not it. The size of the targets at that distance was tremendous compared to regular aircraft."

(MUFON UFO Journal, March 1983)

January 1978

Cattle mutilation and mysterious helicopters reported in Perkins County.

(The Choppers - and the Choppers, Mystery Helicopters and Animal Mutilations, Thomas R. Adams, 1991)

February 15, 1978

FEBRUARY 15, 1978, PENDER - WAYNE, NEBRASKA, USA: Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

Davis webb's catalogue reportedly listed a CE3 case without information for February 15, 1978, in Pender - Wayne, Nebraska, USA.

(Gross, https://ufologie.patrickgross.org/ce3/1978-02-15-usa-penderwayne.htm)

March 11, 1978

A "ZAPPED" CASSETTE 3-11-78 OEM 9-28-78 Yet another EM (electromagnetic) interference case: driving with a friend through a rural residential area north of town, a 20-year old woman who worked for a steel company saw a dark cone much larger than a full moon noiselessly approaching her 69 VW from the right as she drove south. It had three very bright white lights on the bottom which appeared to be moving back and forth (but they were not flashing). It slowed down and dropped back to the east, flying low. The two women passed it by in their car. During this encounter, a pre-recorded tape which was being played in the VW's underdash tape player became erased. Nothing can now be heard on this tape even on another tape player; yet the car's player had no provision for erasing a tape and all the other tapes that were sitting in a cardboard box on the car seat are still just fine .. . these play well in the car's player and at home. IUR has been promised the tape for a careful examination.

(International UFO Reporter, July 1979, https://cufos.org/PDFs/IUR%20issues/IUR%20Vol.%204%20No.%201%20July%201979.pdf)

June 17, 1978

North Platte, June 17, 1978 – Numerous witnesses reported an object hovering in the sky for more than one hour at approximately 11 p.m. The witnesses made numerous police reports about the encounter.

(Graham)

July 3, 1978

Four cousins in Fremont report seeing an object emerge over the tree-tops. The object was very dark. The cousins reported seeing two occupants through a rectangular window. It moved to hover over a nearby airfield and brightened, then followed a series of train tracks until it flew away.

(Rosales)

September 14, 1978

On the evening of September 14, 1978, the wit-ness concluded his business activities in Washing-ton, D.C., and departed for Sioux City, Iowa. His ultimate destination was Randolph, Nebraska, about 55 miles southwest of Sioux City, where he had scheduled a business meeting for the following morning. After arriving at the Sioux City airport, he obtained a rental car (a 1978 Chevette) and left for Randolph at about 9:30 PM, MDST.

Traveling west on Interstate 20, he stopped in Laurel, Nebraska for a cup of coffee. Laurel is about 40 miles west and slightly south of Sioux City. He then continued his journey, still on Interstate 20, and passed through the small community of Belden, about 6 miles west of Laurel. Several miles beyond Belden, he noticed an extremely bright light projected downward by a descending object. At first he thought is was meteor, or possibly a helicopter equipped with floodlights. He quickly realized it was neither, however, as he watched an object — the source of the Illumination — descend on a column of white light and land on the road ahead of him.

He stopped his car about 20 yards from the object which had landed partly on the road and partly on the shoulder. It closely resembled an army tank. It appeared to have treads but he did not see them move. It also appeared to have turrets (but no guns) and perhaps a standard camouflage paint scheme. Some light was still being emitted by the object but he heard no sound.

The witness opened the car door and started to get out. He was partially out of the car with one foot on the ground when a door in the side of the object opened and a man stepped out. The witness stated that the man appeared to be a normal human in every respect — dark haired, of normal size, and wearing white duck pants and a white shirt. The man then spoke to the witness, addressing him by his first name:

"Well, Bob - what do you think of this?"

The man then re-entered the object, the door closed, and the object then lifted off in the same manner it had landed, ascending on a brilliant column of light. The witness did hear a sound when the object lifted off — a high pitched whine — but it in no way resembled the sound of an aircraft or helicopter engine. The light was so intense that he could not look directly at it and had to shield his eyes as he watched it ascend.

He does not remember getting back into the car, but the next thing he recalls is that he was back in the car and was driving down the road. An object — perhaps the same one — was following him closely, beaming a light through the roar window with such intensity that the interior of the car was as bright as daylight. He then realized he was no longer on Interstate 20 but was on an entirely different road. The witness stated that his family had owned property in this section of Nebraska (Cedar County) since 1880, and he was therefore thoroughly familiar with all its towns, highways and backroads. In a few moments he had determined his new location—ho was near the town of Hartington, heading south on Route 16, and was 12 to 15 miles north of where he had been, apparently only an instant earlier.

Understandably, the witness had become frightened by this time and tried to outrun the object, driving as fast as possible. The object, however, stayed right behind him. He knew that the road would eventually intersect with Interstate 20 at Belden, so he continued racing south at speeds of 90 to 95. When he neared the spot where he had made his initial sighting, the object suddenly stopped following him and zoomed off. He then continued on to Randolph, arriving there at about 11:00 PM, and immediately placed a phone call to the Sioux City police department.

(Dave Kenney, APRO Bulleting, December 1978)

October 9, 1978

Deanne Kearns had a close encounter near Ord, Nebraska on the morning of the 9th. She observed a grey, metallic disc hovering 200 to 300 feet off the ground and, as she watched, a beam of light shot downward from the disc to the ground and two "things" floated down to the ground in the beam. They were five to six feet tall, looked around, took some samples of shrubs and soil, and then ascended back into the disc in the beam of light. The tenth grade student described the two "things" as being blackish-brown in color, their heads were blob-like, and they had tentacles on their sides. After about ten minutes or so, the disc shot straight up into the sky and was out of sight in a few seconds.

(Bob Gribble, "Looking Back", MUFON UFO Journal, October 1988)

August 2, 1979

CULBERTSON -- There seems to be little doubtC.) that some type of object was flying around Northwesterm Kansas and Southwestern Nebraska Thursday night, Aug. 2. The question is, what was it?

The GAZETTE has received a report from the Alfred Rippen family who lives four miles southwest of Culbertson that they also saw a strange object about11:30 p.m. last Thursday.

Todd Rippen, 12, and his cousin, Mark Wilson, 13, of Concord. Calif., spotted the object first and summoned Todd's twin brother, Troy, and the twins' mother, Mrs. Jackie Rippen.

The group described the object as being about the site of an airplane or perhaps a little larger. They said it was triangular shaped, similar to a drawing which was submitted to the GAZETTE by Dawn Toogish of Herndon. The object had what appeared to be two headlights and a red light on the bottom. Todd noted there was a yellow light on top and several yellow lights on the bottom asfptnd the edge.

All said that the object came from the south and seemed to hover over their farm for three or four minutes and then started up again and headed north.

("A Bird? A Plane? No, It's ...", McCook Gazette, August 9, 1979)

August 8, 1979

At least 12 adults and two children sighted what appeared to be a flying saucer or UFO about 11:45 Thursday night. The large object, estimated to be as large as a jet plane, hovered over the Wallace Elevator and the Burlington Northern tracks for about five minutes while they watched. It then moved northward. Glenn Garner of Wallace re-ported that the object had been pen by workers at the Gerald Gentleman Power Plant Thurs-day night also.

("Wallace Residents Think They Have Enough of Strange Visitors: UFO's", Grant Tribune Sentinel, August 8, 1979)

August 25, 1979

North Platte, Aug. 25, 1979 – Two friends were star gazing at 10:30 p.m. when one suddenly saw an object flying through the northern Milky Way. He reported it was nearly 60,000 feet in altitude and traveling due south. He said the object was dark with jagged edges and appeared to be the size of three football fields. Two other similarly shaped objects were traveling in a split formation behind the lead craft and four more followed those, the report said. All were traveling extremely fast. They bolted from the far northern view of the Milky to the south under 10 seconds. The friend pointed them out to his buddy who then saw them too. The report said they could distinguish them as separate because they could see the stars between objects.

(Graham)

August 26, 1979

Cattle mutilation and two unmarked helicopters reported in Perkins County.

(The Choppers - and the Choppers, Mystery Helicopters and Animal Mutilations, Thomas R. Adams, 1991)

December 3, 1979

A metallic, dome-shaped UFO follows two teenagers near Fairfield at a distance of 400 meters.

(APRO Bulletin, April 1980, p. 6, citing Hastings Daily Times, December 14, 1979)

July 17, 1980

North Platte, July 17, 1980 – Two people who were attending a party at the skating rink were walking home a little after 10 p.m. and looked up about 30 degrees at the corner of Custer Avenue and West 13th Street. They reported spotting several rock-shaped objects with jagged edges flying across the sky. The objects went north to south and passed overhead silently, the report said. The pair watched the objects for about eight seconds until they vanished into a puffy white cloud. The report said one of the boys went home and told his parents what he saw but they were not the least but interested because they were watching Ronald Reagan giving his acceptance speech for nomination of the Republican Party for President that Thursday evening, which also happened to be the boy’s fathers birth date. He said he highly doubted anyone believed his story because he was only fourteen years old when it happened.

(Graham)

Summer 1980

The autumn 1990 Communion Letter reports three separate sightings of short humanoids in Nebraska, but does not give any locations, according to Rosales.

(Rosales) - Honestly I don't place much faith in what comes from the Whitley Strieber Cinematic Universe.

October 19, 1981

North Platte, Oct. 19, 1981 – Objects were tracked by radar and sighted visually. Three multi-colored discs were observed by five witnesses.

(Graham)

November 14, 1981

Wahoo

The witness was driving home from watching a Nebraska football game, he lived in Fremont, 50-miles north of Lincoln, and the midway point is approximately at Wahoo. He was listening to the car radio, so he decided to take the longer way home at around7:30 pm. North of Wahoo, Highway 77 turns east 5 miles, then turns north again toward Fremont. He had just made this turn north when his radio started cutting out. The early winter hours made it dark by this time, and nobody was on this road. He began to fidget with the radio tuner thinking it was going out, and within 100 yards – in front and to the left of the road – a bright craft rose up behind a row of trees flanking a run-down shed. It was a weird neon green color – surrounded by a halo. It rocked back and forth quickly and several times in a jerky, erratic movement. It was in his sight for so longthat he was able to make out something like “windows”, and inside these "windows" he saw these weird, creepy “things” – silhouettes of beings or something – flitting backand forth. The craft accelerated to the right – over the highway to the east, and the minute it passed entirely over the road, it fizzled out like a fireworks display. His radiocame back on gain, and he looked at his watch wondering if he’d lost time, but it seemed about the same as before – around 730pm. He then hit the gas and flew the last10 miles back to Fremont. He told his family members over the next couple of days, and they didn’t know what to think.

(Rosales)

January 11, 1981

A series of lights and flashes are seen over Nebraska City, many of which cause animals great disturbances.

(UFO/UAP Event Chronology Search Engine v1.46, 10/3/2023)

August 8, 1983

near Haigler

Michael Shermer was driving west of town on a lonely highway when a large craft with bright lights appeared and was, he was somehow forced inside the object. After regaining consciousness 90 minutes later, he found himself back on the road with only a vague memory of what transpired inside. He remembered tall human like aliens that apparently examined him. No other information.

(Rosales)

November 15, 1983

Sutherland, Nov. 15, 1983 – A Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy was on patrol in the Sutherland area when he found some kids drinking beer. As the kids were dumping the beer at the deputy’s direction, one of them yelled, "Hey, what is that?" The deputy reported he looked toward the northwest and observed a craft floating above the ground. He reported the dark metallic craft was about 2,000 feet above the ground and about 1,200 feet away from him. He said the craft was moving slowly toward the south. The deputy reported the craft had rows of square objects that looked like windows but were dark. The deputy watched the craft move to the south and over the Village of Sutherland. He reported he called another deputy in the Wallace area and asked him to start heading north and see if he could catch it. Just then, the deputy said, three circles at the rear of the craft flashed a bright white and the craft sped up in the direction of the Gerald Gentleman Power Plant then veered to the southeast. The second deputy then reported he could see the craft and estimated it was going about 400 miles per hour towards Dickens. The craft was reported to be as long as a C5 Galaxy aircraft and twice as wide. He observed it for an estimated 15 minutes. He said he and the teens all felt the hair on their arms and legs stand up when they saw it.

(Graham)

December 26, 1983

Omaha, Nebraska: Several witnesses observed a square object descend between two buildings and stop at about the second story level. Estimated to be about three feet in diameter, the object had an X-pattern of white lights on its underside.

(Bob Gribble, MUFON UFO Journal, December 1983)

January 8, 1984

On I-80 near Cozad

The object was, they said, as large as a baseball diamond; had it landed, they indicated it would have covered the eastbound lanes and shoulder of l-80 and a part of the neighboring field. The lights were evenly spaced along the rim of the OFO, and all three were insistent that some of the lights were distinctly pink others blue, but that the majority were white. The object was not rotating, but its motion, if any, would have been small. As the car passed nearly under it, (its estimated height above the road was 75 to 100 feet) at a slow speed, they did not detect any motion of the object itself. They had a good view of the bottom and a part of the sides, but the top was entirely hidden. They heard no noise.

(J. Allen Hynek, "Nebraska Close Encounter", International UFO Reporter, March-April 1984)

November 15, 1984

Maxwell, Nov. 15, 1984 – The man who reported this UFO said he was driving east down Hwy. 30 toward Maxwell taking a friend home at 6 p.m. on a cold, misty, rainy day. He said he did not like driving on that road as the trains on the track perpendicular to the road often had their front lights on bright. The man said he saw a light that he first thought was a train but quickly realized it was twice as high as it should have been. He said he and his friend went silent as they got closer and observed the light was coming from a football shaped craft floating above the railroad tracks. The light was on the front of the craft was pointing straight ahead and there was another he said he could not see at first pointing directly down onto the tracks. It also had several small colored lights at different areas on it. They stopped the car and got out, walking towards the craft as it approached. The passenger got back in the car and yelled for the driver to get in and drive off. But the driver stayed outside and observed the craft as it passed. He said there was no sound coming from the craft and it just glided over the tracks. They watched as it passed by and disappeared from sight into the mist. The man reported that he and his friend never could make sense of what they saw. He said the sighting took about five minutes but after dropping his friend off and driving back home, he learned he had been gone six hours. They reported the sighting to the Nebraska State Patrol.

(Graham)

Between 1986 and 1989

Specific, right?

A FOIA request sought details of a UFO seen by a security officer near Cooper Nuclear station, who could not recall in 2010 the exact date. Two nights in a row a UFO was seen hovering for a few minutes near the plant before flying away.

(FOIA document obtained by John Greenwald in 2017 https://www.scribd.com/document/387047608/FOIA-2017-0368-NRC-UFO-1)

October 1986

John Foster is a soft-spoken down home kind of man who would make you think of a young Joel McCrea. He is both an engineer and abductee and his contact experiences began back in 1950 while he was in grade school. While he and his classmates at Bethany Grade School in Lincoln, NE were outside watching a movie, Foster recalled seeing an object resembling a helicopter with swirling lights appearing out of the sky. He remembered being fascinated yet feeling strange. When he looked around, everyone seemed frozen in time-looking like statues. Then he saw three little men appear and try to fix the craft which by then had landed. He had an overwhelming desire to get inside, and when he did, it was something totally different than he had seen from the outside.

Foster was then taken to an examining room by creatures that resembled frogs or lizards. One he somehow knew was a female and she told him that they were the educators who would supervise his learning experiences. Among other strange things, Foster recalled that they encouraged him to join Masonic Lodge. After being examined, Foster was sent back out of the craft to the crowd below. Another female spoke to him in a scolding tone and told him he was to be a good boy and mind his parents. She seemed to know a lot about him including the fact that he and some other boys had stolen some candy and gum from a store across the street.

For over 30 years, Foster seemed to have forgotten about his abductions until in October of 1986 when he went camping with his wife and children at Niobrara Park where he had a short visitation which awakened more memories of previous abductions. By December he had recalled at least 50 such experiences and by January that number had grown to about 3,000! When he was later introduced to a larger group of contactees, he remembered all of them from previous abductions. "Alien abduction is a terrifying and traumatic experience," Foster declared."Psychiatric counselors don't know how to deal with this-even if you can get them to believe you.I believe that UFO experiences are directed at you personally. But there are also times when they can address the population in general."

(Patricia Ress, "Nebraska man recalls over 3,000 abductions", source unknown, retrieved from https://nebraskarules.tripod.com/id4.html) - Including this because, at the very least, it gives more context for Foster.

June 10, 1988

The 13-year old witness said his mother and brother had just gotten home from an event,they lived in a horseshoe street which was somewhat surrounded by tall trees. They hadjust pulled into the driveway and as they were getting out of the car his mother pointedup to an object hovering over the tall trees. The object was silent and was saucer shapedabout 6-8 diesel trucks in length. The saucer hovered over the trees for 5-10 minutes. Ithad several white lights around the outer part. After 10 minutes it began to rise slowlyand within a few seconds it took off at an angle leaving just a tracer of its patch and itwas gone. Perhaps a few days later the 13-year old witness was sitting on his bedreading a book and his back was to the bedroom entrance. As he read, he suddenly felt 3taps on his left shoulder and immediately assumed it was his brother, but as he turnedover his shoulder, he saw a white figure with an oval shaped head and black oval-shapedeyes. Terrified, the witness jumped up and ran out of the house.

(Rosales)

January 1989

Bellevue

A husband and wife suddenly felt compelled to go to a late-night movie show. After the show they drove around somehow unable to find their way back home. Every road seemed to be blocked by some kind of construction. After what had appeared to be hours, they finally made it home. Something in their memories appeared to have been blocked. Years later under hypnosis they remembered being in a church’s parking lot and seeing a disc shaped object hovering nearby. Several short, now familiar gray type creatures came up to their car and took the wife inside the object where she was, somewhat painfully examined, and then returned to the car. Later it was realized that she had somehow been cured of a previously diagnosed blood clotting disease in her circulatory system.

(Rosales)

1993

Early in 1993 a bright blue UFO was spotted above Gage County, Nebraska, by numerous witnesses, including two deputy sheriffs and two pilots, who watched it streak across the sky and crash into a wooded area.

A deputy sheriff sew it as he was driving on a gravel road a mile and a half north of Blue Springs about nine thirty in the evening. At first, he said, he thought it was somebody spotlighting for deer—but when he turned off his car lights, he could no longer see the blue glow.

Later, when he drove into the town of Blue Springs, a man told him that he had seen a blue ball streak across the sky at the same time.

By 9:50 P.M. reports of the blue UFO were coming in from the nearby town of Wymore. A number of witnesses there claimed to have seen the object crash-land in the woods.

While he was on duty in his patrol car, a reserve deputy in Liberty reported a blue UFO moving north of town, and he stated that he heard an explosion when the object crashed.

At about the same time, two airborne pilots called the U.S. Weather Service in Lincoln to report the blue UFO they had sighted streaking over Gage County.

"Eerily," stated author-physicist Dr. Franklin Ruchl, "despite two reports of a possible crash from two law enforcement officers and two trained pilots, extensive searches for the downed UFO revealed no signs of wreckage."

Had a UFO crashed into the woods in Gage County, Nebraska? Reputable witnesses answer in the affirmative.

What, then, happened to the evidence of such a crash?

The simplest explanation is that the witnesses—honest and knowledgeable though they might have been—were mistaken.

Some UFOlogists will insist, however, that highly trained specialists from a secret branch of the government arrived on the scent and spirited away all signs of the incident before local officials could arrange for a proper search of the area.

(Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger, UFOs are Here!: Unmasking the Greatest Conspiracy of our Time, 2001)

July 15, 1996

Gothenburg, July 15, 1996 – A man reported that he saw a red round flashing light similar to a taillight on an old car cross the night sky from the west horizon to the east horizon five to 10 times faster than any jet he had ever seen. He said it went from horizon to horizon in about 30 to 45 seconds and made absolutely no sound. The object was observed at 11:30 p.m. The same object was reportedly reported to a Denver radio station.

(Graham)

August 1996

The witness was driving an 18-wheeler semi-truck on highway 4 going east between Upland and Campbell when he saw a bright light above a pasture where an “unearthly” creature, like a crab/scorpion combined was on the back of a co bellowing in pain. The light was a pale whitish-yellowish color about 10 feet in diameter. It was hovering about 10 to 15 feet above the treetops. TheThe witness was about 100 to 150 yards from the light. The creature looked like a cross between a crab and a scorpion. The cow was probably about 1200 pounds, so the creature was as big as a cow since it covered it. It was lying on top of the cow, but the legs were like about half down it. The creature itself was probably about three to four feet long. It was like three legs over the back and another leg was kind of shorter and on the back toward the rear. The witness hit the break and backed the truck up. When he did this something like a tail curved up over this creature and disappeared on the other side of the cow’s neck. The cow had its head back and neck kind of turned to the side and its mouth was open. And the cow was making a weird noise like it did not like what the creature was doing. The creature was pale reddish in color. The witness stopped his truck, but the creature simply seemed to ignore him. He could see a pinkish fluid running through the tail like a tube. When he saw the light moving, he left the area at highspeed.

(Rosales)

January 23, 1998

A father and son report a triangular-shaped craft at around 6 p.m. that hovered for about 6-7 minutes before flying away.

(Peter Davenport, National UFO Reporting Center, Seattle, Jan. 1998 webpage)

February 1998

Scottsbluff

I had driven to a neighboring town to pick up photos at Wal-Mart of my son. On my way back I saw a strange large craft hovering over a wheat field. It was low about 50 feet above the field but the crops were not moving. Others pulled over next to me. We were in awe. It looked like the photos I've seen here but there were more outer lights like a ring. I stepped out of my car and approached closer but heard no noise and saw no ground disturbance. It just hovered. Then poof. Gone. My mind is still blown.

(UFO Sentinel, https://www.ufosentinel.com/20/ufosighting_20002379.html)

September 18, 1998

Cozad, Sept. 18, 1998 – A licensed practical nurse reported a triangular shaped object, whose margins were unspecific, at 1:45 a.m. The night was clear and the star field exceptionally sharp. The trajectory was from north to south and there were no visible lights. "I am a trained observer by profession," the nurse wrote in the report.

(Graham)

July 16, 2000

Columbus

The 17-year old witness reported encountering a large glowing ball shaped object on a field. The object had small protrusions at the bottom. Stunned and unable to move he stood watching the object when a five-feet tall gray colored humanoid with huge pitch-black eyes that seemed to sink into his head approached him, the being stared at him and seemed to analyze him. It had small holes for ears, no nose, and a small slit for a mouth that never changed position. After about 5minutes or so the figure and the object disappeared. The witness remained paralyzed an additional10 to 15 minutes.

(Rosales)

November 30, 2000

near Lincoln

A farmer heard his dogs barking very loudly. He looked outside and noticed a very bright light in his field. He decided to walk over the field with his dogs. The dogs were apparently afraid andrefused to go. As he neared the area where the lights were located, they suddenly blacked out. He decided to return home. His dogs acted very violently toward him, apparently not recognizing him.He ran up to the second floor and used his binoculars to search the field. He now could see a lighted disc shaped object. He was able to see what appeared to be lighted windows on the object. He then noticed movement in a thicket near the disc. Suddenly a figure moved quickly from the thicket to the object. Shortly after the object brightened and took off.

(Rosales)

March 26, 2001

A 600-foot cigar-shaped craft spotted over Valentine around 9 p.m.

(Peter Davenport, National UFO Reporting Center, Seattle, report uploaded April 1, 2001)

August 15, 2001

A driver reports an intense white light flooding his car near Red Cloud at about 10 p.m.

(Peter Davenport, National UFO Reporting Center)

August 29, 2001

A black triangle appeared over Omaha briefly at around 6 p.m.

(National UFO Reporting Center)

September 21, 2001

A cigar-shaped craft with a metallic appearance spotted near Offutt Air Force Base.

(Peter Davenport, National UFO Reporting Center, Seattle, September 2001 webpage, report uploaded October 12, 2001)

November 19, 2002

• Mullen, Nov. 19, 2002 – A couple reported that they observed brilliant lights moving at incredible speeds and doing strange maneuvers for four nights in a row. They reported that they got scared and observed the lights appearing to follow them until they reached town then shoot straight up into the sky about 11 p.m. They observed them for several hours one night and even videotaped the event.

(Graham)

August 6, 2003

"75 miles west of Lincoln" describes a lot of places, frankly, but that's all we've got. Aurora maybe?

While driving home in an isolated stretch of road the witness saw a very large egg-shaped ship of some sort in an open field. He stopped the car and saw 3 beings of some sort walking around the ship. They apparently saw the witness and then boarded the craft. The craft hovered for about 45 seconds and drifted away slowly.

(Rosales)

October 17, 2003

• North Platte, Oct. 17, 2003 – A woman reported that he observed an aircraft apparently chasing a formation of yellowish and orange lights quite a bit bigger than the aircraft. The eastbound formation of lights accelerated and left the aircraft far behind, according to the woman. She observed the chase for about three minutes, she reported.

(Graham)

March 25, 2004

In the early evening hours of March 25, 2004, a Northwest Airlines Airbus 319 on a flight From Milwaukee, WI to Los Angeles, CA radioed air traffic control in Minneapolis, MN, and reported two flights of two unidentified aircraft (a total of four aircraft).

The pilot said the unidentified aircraft were about 15 miles in front of him and traveling in a westerly direction. (In the same general direction as the airline.)

The pilot and crew had the unidentified aircraft in sight for about 15 minutes until the UFos grew quite small and were no longer visible.

(Sighted between Des Moines and Omaha.)

(William Puckett, MUFON UFO Journal, November 2004)

July 26, 2004

• Sutherland, July 26, 2004 – A man was cutting cross-country from Tryon and was on his way to Sutherland at 11:40 p.m. when he observed a needle nosed, triangular-shaped object in the sky. It appeared to be hovering halfway between Sutherland and Hershey. It soon began moving to the south very slowly. "I would say the object was about 300 yards long and 100 wide at the triangular front end. I continued to the south until I came onto the two-mile road north of Sutherland and turned to the east. I stopped and got out to get a better look. I heard a low-pitched hum, which seemed to be coming from the object which was heading south towards I-80 and Hwy. 30. It seemed to be moving about 3-5 miles per hour at about 1,000-foot altitude or so. It seemed to me it was about a mile or two away to the east. I watched this object for several minutes until it disappeared to the south and the lights of the rest area on I-80 interfered. I came on home and reported what I saw." He reported that he observed the craft for 25 minutes.

(Graham)

December 3, 2004

• Hershey, Dec. 3, 2004 – A man was driving on Hwy. 30 when he noticed lights in the sky just south of the highway and east of Hershey. It appeared to be a rectangle that spun slowly counter clockwise and took about 10 seconds to make a complete revolution. It was drifting west. Suddenly, the rotation stopped and the craft began moving directly to the north. "At this point I had pulled off to the side of the road and got out of my truck. The lights were shaped in a Trapezoid formation with a spot light in the center that would come on intermittently. What ever this craft was it did not make the sounds that a helicopter makes. The only thing I heard was a low continued whooshing sound heavy on the osh part. I stood there for about four minutes watching this object light up the country side with a bright white circle until it was about a mile or so north then the craft shot straight up and out of site. The whole time I watched this craft it was about 700 feet above the ground and I also saw the normal passenger jet aircraft in the sky but they were traveling at their normal altitudes – 20,000 feet or so."

(Graham)

January 31, 2005

A large oval mass is seen floating above a cornfield at Wood River, Nebraska, by a man leaving his parents’ house. It rocks slightly from side to side for some 10 minutes and then sends out bursts of light toward the ground before climbing upward, seeming to suck up an object, apparently a large cow, from the field below.

(Eberhart, re-reporting a Jenny Randles Fortean Times piece called "UFOcal Points" from June 2005)

June 29, 2007

• North Platte, June 29, 2007 – A man reported that as he walked toward his pickup truck, he looked up in the sky and saw three very bright lights moving in a triangular shape at 11:30 p.m. He reported the triangle moved to the north slowly. He said he then observed a fast moving plane fly under the lighted triangle. The UFO then shot straight up and disappeared, the man reported.

(Graham)

November 2, 2007

• Hershey, Nov. 2, 2007 – A man reported that he was walking to his truck when he looked into the sky and noticed an airplane flying from west to east. He said then he noticed a very bright light in the sky further "toward Zenith" from the plane. He said he quickly checked the Constellations to orient himself. He reported the light four times the size of Venus. He observed it for about 20 seconds when its intensity began dissipating. He said he could see a round ball in the center of the light. He said he went back into his house, saw it was 10:34 p.m. and filed his report.

(Graham)

December 11, 2008

Two deputies investigated the sighting of unidentified flying objects in the sky south of Brady Nov. 21, according to Lincoln County Sheriff Jerome Kramer.

Although both deputies and the man who called to report the lights dancing in the sky observed them for more than 15 minutes, they could offer no explanation about what they were.

"One deputy, who has an extensive amount of military experience and has witnessed a lot of military maneuvers first hand, said he’d never seen anything like them," Kramer said. "They could not explain what they were."

A man who lives near Jeffrey Lake reported the lights in the sky to the 911 Center about 7:30 Nov. 21, according to an LCSO report. A dispatcher reported the call to on-duty deputies, who responded to the call.

Kramer said both deputies observed the lights first hand.

"The report says they first observed a blue light with a red tail fall out of the sky toward a field," Kramer said. "It stayed stationary for a short time then disappeared."

Kramer said the deputies observed lights that appeared to hover then take off in one direction or another. He said the deputies reported that they never saw more than three lights together at one time and that there was no sound coming from them.

Kramer said the deputies reported that the lights were "too fast to be helicopters and too agile to be jet aircraft."

The lights were reported to be blue and white, according to Kramer.

(Frank Graham, "Deputies investigate UFOs near Jeffrey Lake", North Platte Bulletin, December 11, 2008)

May 3, 2010

On the University of Nebraska-Omaha campus, a pedestrian reports that a diamond shaped object followed them on campus until they took shelter in a building on South campus.

(UFO/UAP Event Chronology Search Engine v1.46, 10/3/2023, citing Peter Davenport, National UFO Reporting Center, May 2010 webpage, reported May 3, 2010 and uploaded May 12, 2010)

September 2010-April 2010

Between late September 2010 and early April 2011, there were credible reports of cigar, cylinder, spherical and triangular-shaped objects maneuvering near and hovering low over various missile silos in Banner, Kimball, Cheyenne and Morrill Counties in Nebraska. Other sightings occurred in Laramie County, Wyo., north and east of Cheyenne.

(Robert Hastings, " What’s Going On In the Skies Over Western Air Bases?", NICAP, August 3, 2011)

September 10, 2000

Scott Colborn, Fortean Research Center, reports that a woman relayed a UFO sighting to him:

She said she and a friend were near Killdeer Lake when the bugs went silent and a light hovered about 40 feet above the ground that then became aware of the pair. A beam of light illuminated their vehicle before the craft flew away. The woman reported orbs of light in her basement in the weeks after.

(Scott Colborn, MUFON UFO Journal, November 2000)

late-September 2010

In any case, among the reports that came in over a several-week period are the following. Witness A, who lives on the east side of Sidney, Nebraska, emailed me on December 16th and wrote:

…It was late September or early October. It was a little chilly out. I had taken a blanket and gone out and sat on my patio...a partly cloudy evening and there was a full moon. That was why I had gone out, because the moon was so big and yellow and very bright in the eastern sky. I sat outside…I dozed off for a few minutes. When I opened my eyes, I looked above me and there was an object…

(Hastings NICAP)

December 6, 2010

July 2013

Grand Island

30-40 foot disc allegedly landed in a field off of Sky Park Road

(UFO Sentinel, https://www.ufosentinel.com/13/ufosighting_13000123.html)

October 4, 2015

Omaha

Witness reports a V-shaped craft just after dusk that at first seemed like a white cloud before turning to a dark grey. The object was reportedly 10 feet above the witness and 50-70 feet in length. "It was so close that I couldn’t make out the whole of it, just the wings." The craft reportedly changed shape to something more cloud-like and then took off.

(Alejandro Rojas, "Massive UFO drops to 10 feet from Omaha witness," OpenMinds.tv, October 23, 2015, https://openminds.tv/massive-ufo-drops-to-10-feet-from-omaha-witness/)

July 26, 2016

Black triangular craft reported over Plattsmouth. (NOTE: This is very near Offutt Air Force base.)

(UFO Sentinel, https://www.ufosentinel.com/16/ufosighting_16001846.html)

August 11, 2016

La Vista

Last night, weird glowing disk! In the sky, flying by gently and quietly. Got the impression it was on patrol or something. When I saw it I told my wife to take a picture of it with her phone but she was too slow to react. It wasn't very big, like a very small car and very flat. No way it could fit a human size being comfortably, maybe it was unmanned (or unaliened...) . Whatever it was it wasn't made on this planet.

(UFO Sentinel. https://www.ufosentinel.com/16/ufosighting_16001874.html)

March 3, 2018

Elkhorn

A witness reported watching a “disc of light,” followed by their vehicle being engulfed in light and a possible alien encounter, according to their testimony. The witness was out driving in search of UFOs. This was probably his hundredth search for UFOs, since about 2001, he had gone out driving near his home every once in a while. He had never, before this, encountered anything more than a probably misidentified ball of light. The witness was driving in a remote area of rural Douglas County, somewhere to the north of Elkhorn.

When he first noticed the object, it was a disc of light in the sky off to the west. It disappeared after approximately five seconds. Approximately 30 seconds later, his car was engulfed in light. Almost immediately afterward, a large (18-wheeler size) disc of light similar to incandescent bulb warm light had landed in front of him. After about a minute, a bright blue ball (then varying shape) of light (or entity?) appeared in his car on the passenger’s seat next to him. It was about six feet tall and had an irregular shape. The being (?) constantly varied in shape, although more or less taking the shape of the seat it was on. However, it never was anything other than a blue light. About 30 seconds later, his car overheated, stopped, and nearly injured him. As soon as the car began to become insanely hot, the alien and light disappeared. The temperature, according to the meter in the car, reached 114 degrees. He needed to open the door, which was now possible with the lack of UFO. He could not remember one hour before the incident.

(Rosales)

December 2019

Multiple mystery drones sighted in eastern Colorado as well as Perkins County, Nebraska. Described as flying in a square pattern with blinking lights, flying near-nightly for the last two months of December in evening hours.

(Keith Coffman, "FAA probes clusters of mysterious drones flying over Colorado", Reuters, December 31, 2019)

January 7, 2020

Reports of mysterious drones have been in the news since late December, but on Tuesday night, 6 News experienced — and recorded — such an encounter first-hand on a rural road a few miles outside of Omaha.

6 News was on the scene outside of Mead, Neb., (near County Road R, to be specific) when a 4- to 6-foot drone flew overhead. The drone flew so close to the ground, the sound of the propellers was caught on camera.

(Lileana Pearson, "CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Nighttime drone activity recorded in rural Saunders County", WOWT, January 7, 2020)

December 18, 2024

Residents in Sarpy County are reporting mysterious drone sightings. Recent reports of drones flying around the country have sparked speculation everywhere.

(Eddie Messel, "Sarpy County residents reporting mysterious drone sightings", KETV-7, December 18, 2024)