Around the world
Soviet and Russian cases, and reports from Japan, China, India and the rest of Asia. 41 events, newest first.
Government18 Dec 2007
Answering a question from opposition lawmaker Ryuji Yamane, Japan's cabinet formally stated it had not confirmed any UFOs believed to come from outer space. Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura then told reporters he personally believed they exist, and the defense minister weighed in.
Photo: Cabinet Public Relations Office, Japan, CC BY 4.0
Sightings25 Sep 2002
A bright bolide exploded about 30 km above the Vitim River near Bodaybo, seen by residents and detected by U.S. satellites. Russian Academy of Sciences expeditions found felled trees and tiny spherules but no craters or meteorite fragments.
Photo: Serj Kras, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sightings1 Dec 1994
Night-shift workers at a forest farm near Guiyang reported a roar, bright light and violent wind, and trees across a wide strip were snapped. A local UFO group proposed a hovering craft; academician Ouyang Ziyuan attributed the damage to a thunderstorm downburst.
Photo: Akira CA, CC BY-SA 3.0
Close encounters1994
Chinese and foreign media reported that a craft had landed on Phoenix Mountain at a forest farm in Wuchang, and farm worker Meng Zhaoguo claimed he was abducted by aliens. Astronomer Liu Yan analyzed the accounts and in 1995 concluded it was likely hallucination or delusion if not invented.
Photo: Jay Fang, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sightings12 Apr 1991
A powerful midnight blast near Sasovo, Ryazan Oblast, broke windows across the town and left a crater about 28 m wide. Pravda reported theories from buried munitions to a meteorite or UFO; military visitors suggested stored ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded.
Photo: Max071086 at Russian Wikipedia, Public domain
Sightings27 Sep 1989
On October 9, 1989, the Soviet news agency TASS reported that a craft had landed in a Voronezh park on September 27 and that tall three-eyed beings had emerged. TASS stood by the story when questioned; it drew worldwide attention and wide skepticism in the glasnost era.
SightingsMay 1980
A UFO enthusiasts' liaison office set up at Wuhan University in 1979 grew by May 1980 into the China UFO Research Association, which later claimed dozens of branches and thousands of members. It gained legal standing under a state-linked umbrella body in 1988 and lost it in 1997.
Photo: Howchou, CC BY-SA 3.0
Government1978
After the 1977 Petrozavodsk reports, the Soviet Union added two parallel studies of anomalous phenomena to its state research plan, one under the Defense Ministry and one under the Academy of Sciences. Participants later said most cases were explained by rocket launches and balloons.
Sightings20 Sep 1977
Before dawn, residents of Petrozavodsk in Soviet Karelia reported a huge glowing object shedding beams of light for about 10 minutes, and Soviet papers carried the story. Soviet researchers later attributed it to the launch of the Kosmos-955 satellite from Plesetsk.
Photo: Antonio Bonanno from Milan (Italy), Italy, CC BY-SA 2.0
Military19 Sep 1976
Iranian Air Force F-4 jets were sent after a bright light over Tehran overnight, and crews reported losing instruments and communications as they closed in. A U.S. Defense Attache report on the incident, circulated by the DIA, was later released under FOIA.
Photo: Unknown author, Public domain
Government29 Feb 1968
Pravda ran 'What? Flying Saucers Again?' by astronomer Ye. Mustel and two other senior Soviet scientists, saying UFO reports had natural explanations and no facts supported their reality. U.S. government translators and the Condon report recorded it.
GovernmentNov 1967
Moscow Aviation Institute astronomer Felix Zigel appeared on Soviet television asking viewers for UFO reports. In November 1967 AP reported that a commission led by Air Force Gen. Stolyarov was studying UFOs; the group was closed after about five months.
Sightings1955
UFO researcher Arai Kin'ichi founded the Japan Flying Saucer Research Association in 1955. It reportedly grew past 1,000 members; novelist Mishima Yukio joined in 1956 and wrote for its bulletin Uchuki in 1957.
Photo: Ken Domon, Public domain
MilitaryAug 1952
Control tower operators at Haneda AFB in Tokyo watched a bright light over Tokyo Bay that ground radar tracked at the same time; a scrambled F-94 got a brief radar lock before losing it. Ruppelt said the Far East Air Force investigators rated it among their best cases.
Photo: Project Blue Book, Public domain
Sightings15 Mar 1951
A chief aircraft engineer at the Delhi Flying Club and about 20 others reported a long, bullet-shaped object trailing a white cloud that looped over the field and left at high speed. The case is in the Project Blue Book files, and NICAP says Blue Book listed it as unidentified.
Photo: Ashish Bhatnagar, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sightings12 Feb 1947
A brilliant daytime bolide broke apart over the Sikhote-Alin mountains north of Vladivostok, leaving over 100 pits. Soviet scientist E. L. Krinov investigated; a historian later suggested his mistaken flight path may have led U.S. meteor expert Lincoln LaPaz to suspect a missile.
Photo: H. Raab ( User:Vesta ), CC BY-SA 3.0
