Cases and themes
Sightings by groups of schoolchildren, such as Westall in 1966 and the Ariel School in 1994. 12 events, newest first.
Select any year above to see what happened that year.
Open Schools and children as a timeline
Media20 May 2022
Randall Nickerson's feature documentary Ariel Phenomenon was released for streaming. It revisits the 1994 Ariel School case in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, through interviews with former pupils who, now adults, still describe seeing a craft and beings near their school.
Media10 Jun 2011
Paramount released Super 8, written and directed by J.J. Abrams and co-produced by Steven Spielberg. Set in a 1970s Ohio town, it follows children filming a movie who witness a train crash that unleashes a mystery. Critics compared it to Close Encounters and E.T.
Media6 Oct 1999
The WB premiered Roswell, a teen drama based on Melinda Metz's Roswell High novels in which a small-town high schooler learns that a classmate is an alien tied to the alleged 1947 crash in Roswell, New Mexico.
Photo: 20th Television, Public domain
Close encounters16 Sep 1994
About 60 children at the Ariel School outside Harare said they saw a craft land near the playground and figures beside it. A BBC crew filmed interviews days later, and Harvard psychiatrist John Mack interviewed pupils. Skeptics cite mass suggestion after a rocket re-entry fireball days earlier.
Sightings14 Sep 1994
On the night of 14 September 1994 a bright fireball display was reported over Zimbabwe and seen as far as Zambia and Botswana, two days before the Ariel School sighting. Investigator Cynthia Hind logged dozens of reports; astronomers attributed the display to meteors.
Government4 Dec 1985
Speaking at Fallston High School after the Geneva summit, President Reagan said he had told Gorbachev privately that a threat from another planet would make the two nations forget their differences, adding that they could not wait for an alien race to bring that about.
Photo: President (1981-1989 : Reagan). White House Photographic Office. 1981-1989, Public domain
Sightings4 Feb 1977
About 15 Broad Haven Primary pupils said they saw a silver cigar-shaped craft in a field behind the school; some described a figure in a silver suit. The MoD got their drawings but offered no explanation. An RAF officer suspected a prankster; a local man admitted a silver-suit prank in 1996.
Photo: Bob Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0
Close encounters29 Aug 1967
Two children watching cattle in Cantal said they saw four small dark figures and a bright sphere that rose away. Gendarmes visited that day. GEPAN re-investigated in 1978 and called it unexplained; skeptics have argued for a misperceived helicopter.
Photo: Sancta floris, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sightings22 Apr 1966
Several residents and two police officers in Beverly, Massachusetts reported lights and a disc-like object over the high school field, one passing low over a witness. The Condon Report (Case 6) attributed most of the long observation to Jupiter but left the close encounter unexplained.
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sightings6 Apr 1966
Students and teachers at Westall High School in suburban Melbourne reported a silvery object that descended toward a nearby property and then left; hundreds gathered on the oval. Local papers covered it, but authorities said they knew nothing and no official explanation was given.
Photo: WestallSC, CC BY-SA 4.0
Media1960
MGM released Wolf Rilla's British film Village of the Damned, adapted from John Wyndham's novel The Midwich Cuckoos. A whole English village falls unconscious, and the women later bear telepathic children; the BFI describes it as tapping fears of alien invasion and mind control.
Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Public domain
Sightings15 Feb 1954
Thirteen-year-old Stephen Darbishire took two blurry photos of a disc near the Old Man of Coniston that were reproduced widely. He later said at various times that the picture was genuine and that it was a hoax, and it is generally treated as a fake.
Photo: Strider52, CC BY-SA 3.0
