I am very grateful to Mark Rodeghier of the J. Allen-Hynek
Centre for UFO Studies (CUFOS) for allowing me to
reproduce the following cases from Ted Phillips' celebrated
Physical Trace Catalogue. The catalogue was published in 1975 by
CUFOS and its proper title is Physical Traces Associated with
UFO Sightings, A Preliminary Catalogue.
Ted Phillips was born in 1942 and has lived all his life in
Missouri. He is still alive today and his career in UFO research
stretched from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s. Phillips had a
varied career and at various times was an inspector for the
Missouri State Highway Department, a professional photographer
and also an amateur jazz musician. According to Ronald Story's UFO
Encyclopedia Phillips investigated more than five hundred UFO
cases in his first twelve years of UFO research. His position
statement (written in the mid 1970s) concluded "I believe,
after thirteen years of investigation, [that] the data indicates
a non terrestrial origin."
This summary is based on only a partial listing of the
catalogue as many of Phillips' cases appear extremely dubious in
nature. Cases from the early 1950s are particularly unreliable
because many of the early UFO books were written by people who
automatically assumed that they were describing encounters with
alien spaceships. Jenny Randles tells me that cases reported in
the "hysterical" Spanish and South American media
should be treated even more skeptically because these cases were
often complete fabrications ! Furthermore many of the early cases
have no proper source, eg Phillips quotes Vallee describing cases
which appear to have been anecdotally reported to Vallee. This
means that we often have no idea whether or not a specific case
was investigated by anyone let alone whether it was a
contemporary investigation or whether the investigator was in any
sense someone capable of undertaking an objective scientific
evaluation.
In addition to these problems we have a major definitional
problem concerning cases which feature circular ground traces
because of the current confusion which exists over the
authenticity of the archetypal crop circle. Doug and Dave claim
to have actually created the phenomenon of a sharply-defined
swirled circle, but they apparently based their hoax on the Tully
reeds circles, which themselves were sharply-defined swirled
circles. Given this regrettable fact what do we include in our
definition of a crop circle ? Do we include roughly circular
shapes of depressed but not swirled circles or do we stick to
sharp-edged circles ? How about burned circles or circles where
the crop has been denuded or completely removed ? Given these
problems its probably wise to merely highlight all cases
involving circular traces but not assume that they are
necessarily caused by the same causal mechanism. It is quite
possible that there may be several natural circle-forming
mechanisms which all create different types of circular ground
trace. One of these mechanisms could still be Meaden's postulated
plasma-vortex but it is wise not to assume that any particular
category of circular ground trace must be caused by the
postulated plasma vortex. In any event we will be trying to track
down case material referred to by Phillips and will report back
in a later issue.
Cases are listed in date order and each case has a unique case
number, the location, a brief summary and (usually) a primary
source. Some have local times noted. CUFOS only have one
copy of this catalogue left so please do not write to CUFOS
requesting copies of this case material. CUFOS can be
contacted at the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, 2457 West
Peterson Avenue, Chicago, IL 60659, U.S.A.
Case 013: June 12th 1790 FRANCE, Alencon. Time 05.00
Several farmers caught sight of a large globe which was
surrounded by flames. A whistling sound was heard. The object
slowed, made some oscillations and moved toward the top of the
hill, unearthing plants along the slope. The heat was so intense
that grass and small trees started burning. In the evening the
sphere was still warm. Witnesses: 2 mayors, a doctor, 3 other
authorities, in addition to the dozens of peasants who were
present. A kind of door opened and a person came out of it. The
person was dressed in a strange way, wearing a tight-fitting suit
and, seeing all the people, said some words that were not
understood and ran into the woods. The sphere exploded silently,
throwing pieces everywhere, and these pieces burned until they
were powder. This report [is based on an earlier report made] on
June 17, 1790, by Police Inspector Liabeuf. Source: Vallee III,
p60.
[PF Notes: This case has always attracted more than the
usual amount of skepticism, although we are not aware that it has
been exposed as a hoax. Quite a few of Vallee's original folklore
cases were later exposed as dubious or hoaxed, but this case
sounds like something straight out of Jules Verne - perhaps we
have a retrospective hoax ? Also, were there really Police
Inspectors in 18th century France ? I thought Peel didn't found
the first police force in Britain until the 1830s so how can we
have a French Police Inspector in 1790 ?]
Case 683: 1842 U.S.S.R., Orenburg
"Small metal objects, perfectly hexagonal, fell out of
the sky after a 'strange cloud' was seen hanging over the town
for a considerable time" (UFOs from Behind the Iron
Curtain, page 278).
[PF Another weird case ! Sounds a little bit like the
infamous First Fourth Norfolk Regiment that allegedly disappeared
inside a strange cloud during the siege of Gallipoli in 1916.
This too was a retrospective hoax that has only recently been
admitted to. On the other hand Charles Fort's books were full of
'strange clouds' that did peculiar things. Its a pity there isn't
more information. Difficult to evaluate.]
Case 006: Date Unknown. U.S.A., Silver City, NC.
The mystery circle, as it is called locally, has not for many
years produced plant growth. Transplanted grass has died. It is
said that insects, birds and animals avoid the area, which is a
40-ft circle. (Skylook)
[PF This doesn't sound like a crop circle at all.]
Case 007: Date Unknown. U.S.A.
A Mrs Fulton saw an occupant with a large head as he sat down
on the rim of a round object. The object suddenly glowed and gave
out rays of yellow light. The bottom revolved anti-clockwise and
the object rose vertically at a high speed. It left the smell of
hot pepper in the air. Three weeks later every tree in the
orchard was dead. (Personal files)
[PF Another entity case which sounds very much like a
hoax. If there were physical traces - as alleged - why has this
case not been published elsewhere in the literature as a classic
CEII/CEIII ?]
Case 008: Date Unknown. U.S.A. Darrington, WA.
UFO landed, bark on tree trunks damaged, trees spread outward.
No other details. (UFO-INFO).
[PF Not enough detail to comment on really]
Case 014: December 7th 1872. ENGLAND, Banbury. Time:
10.00
At King's Sutton an object resembling a haystack flew on an
irregular course. Sometimes high, sometimes low, it was
accompanied by fire and dense smoke, and produced the same effect
as a tornado, felling trees and walls. It vanished suddenly. (VALLEE
III)
[PF This sounds like a haystack caught in a vortex!]
Case 015: July 1880. CANADA, East Kent, Ontario.
David Muckle and W.R. McKay heard a sudden loud report. They
turned to see a cloud of stones flying upward from a spot in a
field. They examined the spot, which was circular and about 16
ft. across. There was no sign of an eruption nor anything to
indicate the fall of a heavy body there. The ground was simply
swept clean. (Scientific American, July 10, 1880).
[PF This is the classic case discussed in all our work as an
early account of a sudden explosive vortex creating a circular
ground trace. It is listed along with other accounts of explosive
vortex events in Corliss' Tornados, Dark Days and Anomalous
Precipitation]
Case 040: September 27, 1950. U.S.A. Philadelphia, PA.
Police officers John Collins and Joseph Kennan saw an object 6
ft. in diameter float to earth in an open field. They approached
the object with flashlights. Collins tried to pick the object up,
the part touched by his hand dissolved leaving a stick, odourless
residue. Within a half hour the entire object had evaporated. A
spot remained at the site. (News slips).
[PF This sounds to me more like some kind of industrial
pollutant rather than a spaceship ! Jenny Randles has informed me
of some fascinating work by Louis Frank (summarised in a paper by
Frank, Sigworth and Craven, International Geophysical Research
Letters, 1986). Frank was intrigued by abnormally high water
vapour levels in the upper atmosphere as well as by UFO reports
and reports of strange things falling out of the sky. He
postulated that every day the earth's atmosphere is struck by
thousands of mini comets - comets composed of inter-stellar ice
but only a few metres in size. Such comets would presumably
evaporate in the upper atmosphere, where they might be mistaken
for UFOs. A few might conceivably reach the lower atmosphere
where they might behave in the manner described in this case.
Frank's controversial theory has been widely debated in the
scientific press and has attracted a good deal of skepticism.
I've not heard of Frank's theory before so perhaps it is wise to
reserve judgement.]
Case 047: 1952 U.S.A., Lamonte, MO.
Former director of the Sedalia ASCS office was
contacted by Joe Thompson and asked to look at an unusual area on
his farm which had appeared overnight. He found a perfect circle
16 ft. across with the plants wilted and dead. The soil was
examined and no cause could be found. (Personal files).
[PF Another inconclusive case]
Case 815: June 1952. U.S.A. Little Spring Creek, TN
Marks of legs and center spike in chirt (sic), along with
small heelless footprints. Around 11 p.m. man hears strange
sounds and weird music, sees a shiny thing on the ground, with
bright lights coming through an open door. 4 or 5 men, 4.5 to 5
ft. tall dancing and singing in high-pitched voices. Object
aluminium coloured, glowing orange and blue in spots, some of
which were too bright to look at directly. Rotating lights on
translucent ball at top. Object on 4 legs, each with a ball at
the end, and a center spike. Stood 3-4 ft. off the ground, 7-8
feet thick at center, like 2 saucers stuck together. Men reloaded
object, advanced toward witness with things in their hands that
looked like guns, but stopped, apparently unwilling to cross a
creek. men walked up ramp or steps into object, which rose
vertically in a twisting, cork-screw motion, glowing brighter as
it rose. (Stanley L. Ingram "Recent Sightings" page 65
in Unidentified Flying Objects Over the Tennessee Valley
by W.A. Darbro and Ingram, South Publishing Co., Huntsville, Ala.
1974. Via Fred Merritt).
[PF Well ! This is a classic early close encounter case
that exceeds the boggle threshold by some way. I don't like
single witness entity cases, particularly ones where the
entities, despite having travelled from goodness-knows-where,
were incapable of crossing a creek ? It could so easily turn out
to be a hoax .]
Case 704: July 15th, 1952. GERMANY,
Gleimershausen. Former Mayor Oskar Linke and his 12-year-old
stepdaughter saw a landed circular object and occupants.
Witnesses moved to within 30 ft. Object was 50 ft. across with
two rows of holes along the side, each about 1 ft. in diameter. A
black cylindrical tower was seen at the top center; it was about
10 ft. high, went through the disk and the object was resting on
it. Object slowly ascended, whistling sound was heard. Several
people in a nearby village saw it flying overhead. A circular
depression where the tower had rested was found. (The New York
Enquirer. 07-21-52).
[PF. Another awkward case. Its difficult to come to a
rational solution unless we conclude that "it can't be
therefore it isn't"!]
Case 676: August 6th, 1952. U.S.A., Lumberton, NC.
Time: 21.00
James J. Allen, 51, saw a round object 8 ft. long, 6 ft. high
land within 10 ft. of him. Small occupant seen. Footprints found.
(The Robesonian, Lumberton, 08-07-52).
[PF. Not really enough information here.]
Case 052: May 20th, 1953. U.S.A., Brush Creek, CA.
Time: 18.30
A miner, John Q. Black, saw a silvery disk, 7 ft. in diameter
and 6 ft. thick land on a sandbar within 50 ft. of the witness.
He saw a creature about the size of a midget get out of the
craft, scoop up water in a shiny pail and hand it inside. The
witness and his partner John van Allen saw marks in the sand
about 1 ft. wide that looked like "elephant feet". (The
Humanoids, p. 146)
Case 051: May 30th, 1953. NEW ZEALAND, Christchurch.
White filaments seen coming to ground at time of UFO sighting.
(Stringfield).
Case 826: June 20th, 1953. U.S.A., Brush Creek, CA.
Time: 18.30 Incident identical to that of May 20th, 1953. (Humanoids)
[PF The standard explanation for these "Angel
Hair" cases is that spiders' cobwebs have coalesced and then
disintegrated. The only real question is how the spiders' webs
coalesce at cloud level].
Case 053: June 24th, 1953. U.S.A., Hampton Bay, NY.
Time: 00.18
Woman saw a round object 100 ft. in diameter. Lighted red band
around the middle, oscillating motion. Noise similar to swarm of
bees. Four portholes seen in top section along with red lights.
Seen for 3 minutes. Two days later a yellowish moss was observed
at the site. Object hovered over water. (VALLEE III).
[PF: I think it was John Keel who first drew attention
to the "swarm of bees" sound frequently heard during
close encounter cases. The trace is not very typical of a CEII
and may not even be related to the object seen.]
Case 054: July 2nd, 1953. SPAIN, Villares des Saz.
Time: 13.00
Maximo Munes Olivares, 14, saw a "big balloon" on
the ground when a faint whistling sound attracted his attention.
It was metallic. Three dwarfs emerged, they were dressed in blue.
they re-entered the object, which glowed very brightly, made a
soft whistling sound and went off "like a rocket".
Footprints and four holes 2 in. deep forming a perfect square of
14 in. were found by police. (VALLEE III)
[PF. Another single witness entity case. Don't forget
Jenny's comments about a "hysterical" Spanish UFO
press. The traces - even the case itself - may have been
fabricated by the witness or the newspaper.]
Case 055: August 17th, 1953. MEXICO, Ciudad Valles.
Time: 18.00
Salvidor Villanueva, 40, noted failure in his auto engine. As
he tried to make repairs he was approached by two men, 4 ft. tall
wearing gray coveralls and carrying helmets. An object 40 ft.
across, disc-shaped with a dome and humming sound was seen. It
ascended vertically at high speed. Bushes and sticks were found
broken at the site. This formed a circle 40 to 45 ft. across. (FSR
1-70)
[PF Sounds more like a hoax to me !]
Case 056: August 18th, 1953. U.S.A., Ashboro, NC.
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Dixon found a perfect 18 ft. circle in
their front yard. The circle had a substance that appeared to be
some kind of powder and had a burned odour, although it did not
kill or scorch the grass. (George Fawcett)
[Again not very convincing evidence of a crop circle]
Case 057: September 4th, 1953. FRANCE, Tennerre. Time:
21.30
A woman saw two objects on the ground and 3-5 ft. tall men
running towards the object. They had large heads and wore helmets
and boots. One entered the elongated object which was 18 ft.
wide. It took a vertical position resting on a tripod and took
off with a spherical object into which the other two creatures
had gone. Traces were found. (Vallee III).
Case 059: November, 1953. NORWAY, Gjersjoen Bridge.
Mr. Tygve, Mrs. Buflot and a neighbour saw an object rose from
behind a hill and follow their car, stopping ahead of them just
above the ground. They stopped, and felt "pricklings"
until the craft took off vertically. A watch stopped working, and
numerous people vouch for the fact that the paint on the car
changed from beige to dark green. (Vallee III).
[This sounds a promising case. The "pricklings" may well be due to the presence of static electricity. There are numerous cases on record where the UFO followed a vehicle - this could be because the car was electrically charged by the proximity of a natural electro- magnetic field. There are also plenty of cases where car bodies apparently changed colour, although it is not really clear if this was just a temporary illusion (eg at night) or a real effect witnessed in daylight. We'll try and find out more details (Clas do you know anything ?)].
Case 061: December, 1953. CANADA, Sherbrook, NS.
Witness saw two "indescribable" shadows, a while
later a large round object took off some 350 ft. away with a
blue-green light. Police found broken bushes as evidence of an
enormous weight. Animals reacted. (Vallee III)
Case 062: 1954. MEXICO. A flying object was witnessed by many citizens. It was watched by all at a distance of less than 50 ft. until it finally left, leaving behind a circle of flattened corn. To date nothing grows in the circle. (Data-Net)
[PF At last, something which sounds like a crop circle
! We will be trying to find more information on this case for a
future issue. The lack of a precise date and location is not very
encouraging. It could be the "1953" case we published
in our historical list in CW14]
Case 063: 1954, CANADA, Vivian.
Circular area devoid of plant growth to date (1971). (H.H.
McKay)
[PF Again this doesn't sound like crop circles as we have come
to know and love them .]
Case 662: January 4th, 1954. FRANCE,
Marignane Airport. Time: 21.00 Witness saw a round object
landing, trace found. (MUFOB)
Case 663: February 1954. U.S.A., San Bernardino, CA.
Time: 19.00
Engineer A.P. Wheeler driving when he saw a metallic object
resting on the road ahead. He stopped 10m from it. The object was
a disk on which a hatch was seen. Object ascended disturbing
gravel below. Object disappeared in 30 seconds. (MUFOB)
Case 789: May 20th, 1954 ENGLAND, Bruton, Somerset.
Time: 02.00
Nigel Frapple, cycling home from a dance, saw first a terrific
light in a field and then a huge circular metallic object, 50 ft.
across, with a brilliant flame-coloured light coming from a
central cockpit, hovering 20 ft. above the ground about 80-100
ft. away. After a minute it moved off towards the northwest,
climbing and increasing speed. There was a slight swishing sound
heard. The same sort of object was seen near Ringwood in
Hampshire the same night. The next day Mr. Frapple and a reporter
examined the field and found "grass pushed flat in an area
100 ft. in diameter, and scorched in places". (The
Humanoids)
[PF: This is one of the early classic crop circle
cases, often referred to as the Redlynch case. Like many of the
earlier case the trace was in grass, thus disqualifying it as a
crop circle according to some researchers]
Case 065: June 21st, 1954. CANADA, Ridgeway, Ontario.
Time: 01.00
Mr. & Mrs. Guy Baker reported a round object some 50 ft.
in diameter. They reported a dome and multi-coloured lights. The
Baker car would not start during the observation. There was a
large, brown circular area where the object was seen. (VALLEE
III)
[PF. Again, probably not a crop circle, but interesting
nevertheless.]
Case 097: December 12th, 1954. BRAZIL, Campinas.
A lady observed three UFOs, dull gray, emitting a strong light
as they dived low over her house. A liquid substance dropped from
one, like a silver rain. She ran to the spot where it had fallen
and found a brilliant glowing stain, spread over the cement near
the washing tank. The stain was quite hot. The material was
analysed by Chief Chemist, Dr. Visvaldo Maffei, Young
Laboratories, 584 Francisco Deodoro Street, Campinas. "The
sample analysed is a combination of chemically pure tin-88.91 %
and oxygen-11.09 %." (FSR)
[This is another peculiar case which sounds potentially
explicable. We'll get back to you on this one !]
Case 098: December 19th, 1954. VENEZUELA, Valencia.
Jose Parra, an 18-year-old jockey was training when he saw six
small men loading rocks into a disc hovering near the ground. He
tried to run but a violet-coloured beam from a device held by one
of the men stopped him. Footprints were found. (FSR)
Case 099: December 29th, 1954. FRANCE, Bru. Time: 21.00
A Mr. Gamba saw an oval red object 175 ft. away. When he tried
to approach it, he found he was unable to move. As soon as this
"paralysis" subsided, he ran to get his brothers and
came back to the object, which turned white, then red. It rose
and flew away toward the east. It had been on the ground at least
15 minutes. Traces were found, as if the ground had been dug up.
Small trees near the river were found damaged, as if they had
been cut with a knife. (VALEE III)
Case 101: 1955, U.S.A., Elking, AK.
Frank Huson reported the following incident which took place
on his farm. After a heavy rain, 'I walked up to an almost
perfect circle, which was formed by the peculiar disposition of
the dead weeds that had been uprooted. Inside this circle, no
weeds stood at all. The uprooted weeds, where they were thick,
were lying along the outer rim of the circle, against the weeds
that were still standing, as if they had been pulled up, and
moved by some force. The ground was soft, and there were no marks
showing that anything had sat down there. This circle was about
25 ft. across. (Lucius Farish)
[PF. Well, what an intriguing case. What a pity it only
involves weeds rather than mature vegetation. It would be very
easy to read too much into this case so again we will try to find
out more before coming to a conclusion.]
Case 790: March 30th, 1955. U.S.A., near Tuscon, AZ.
Time: 03.15
Andy Florio, a musician, was driving from Tuscon to El Paso on
Highway 80 when he saw a "disc-machine "... at least
100 ft. in diameter, 25 ft. thick, dirty gold or bronze with
circular openings around its rim from which amber-coloured lights
protruded. Bluish-green lights were "shining and flickering
upward" from its roof. "It made the sound of electrical
humming with stronger and softer volume. It yawed, swayed back
and forth and turned over on its axis once as I stood out of my
car on the driver's side ... It tipped over on its side and shot
a brilliant, blinding white-coloured beam of light at me,
bubbling the dome of the paint on the car as well as burning my
elbow." Mr. Florio felt a needle-like tingling sensation and
heat all over his body and nausea a few weeks later. The radio
stopped, lights dimmed and the motor chugged at a speed of 12-15
miles an hour "as though it might stall any second."
When he arrived at a garage in El Paso the next afternoon,
"half the acid was gone from the battery, I was running on
three plugs, and my radio was burned out completely."
(Modern People, Oct. 27, 1974 and personal communication to CUFOS)
[This is a good CEII report with valuable clues about the
nature of the natural energy forces involved. Again note the
reference to a "tingling" sensation and the affect on
the car bodywork. We will be searching for more information about
this case and will report back on what we find.]
Case 521: July 22nd, 1955. U.S.A., Cincinnati, OH.
Time: 17.30
Mr E.M. had been mowing his lawn and kneeled down near a peach
tree, when suddenly "a peculiar liquid substance dark red in
colour began pelting me and the tree". He looked up and saw
a pear-shaped object about 1000 ft. high moving slowly from west
to east. As he watched, his hands and arms began to burn
painfully, but washing them immediately eased the pain. When Mr.
M. went out and examined the peach tree the next day, he found
that most of the leaves had turned brown and fallen, the twigs
and limbs were brittle, the peaches seemed "petrified"
and the trunk had turned so hard that a nail could be driven in
only with great difficulty. The grass below the tree had also
died. (C.R.I.F.O. Orbit, Sep 2, 1955)
Case 105: August 6th, 1955. U.S.A., Bedford, Indiana.
Semicircular imprints. (NICAP)
Case 251: October 1955. AUSTRALIA, Port Augusta; Case
107: October 2nd, 1955. U.S.A., Uhrichsville, OH; Case
108: October 10th, 1955. U.S.A., Cincinnati, OH and Case
109: October 27, 1955. U.S.A., Cincinnati, OH. All listed as:
White filaments seen falling to ground at time of UFO
sighting. (Stringfield) [More "Angel Hair" spiders'
cobwebs]
Case 111: 1956. FRANCE. Circular trace found.
Case 110: 1956, U.S.A., Stover, MO.
A bright light was seen ascending from a wooded area. When
neighbours investigated, they found the ground blackened in a
circular area 56 ft. across. Several small trees were broken and
pushed outward from the blackened area. In 1968 a bright light
was seen again in the same place. (Personal files)
Case 706: Summer, 1956. U.S.A., Nellis Air Force Base,
NV.
Gear marks in triangular pattern, individual impressions
similar to Case 247. 100 ft. diameter domed disk with
three circular landing gear. Car stopped. (Lorenzen, Coral and
Jim, Flying Saucer Occupants Signet, New American Library,
N.Y., 1967, page 29. Via Fred Merritt)
Case 112: Fall, 1956. U.S.A., Bethel, CT.
Danti Vaghi and a friend found a circle of grass 18 ft. in
diameter in a field just off Federal Road C. In the center, a 3
ft. circle of grass stood intact. Around the outside of the
burned area, the grass still contained traces of nickel and
chromium. (Bethel Home News, 11-25-69)
[PF Some confusion exists in the UFO literature over
the alleged "burning" inside circles. This is sometimes
wrongly assumed when plants rot and turn black. It would be
interesting to find out who analysed the grass and found such
interesting metals. Were these metals already present before the
circle was formed ? We'll be trying to track down more
information]
OK folks. That's enough to keep you going for the next couple
of months ! Now you can appreciate the sorts of problems
UFOlogists have when they investigate close encounter cases. What
would YOU do if a witness claimed that he saw a spaceship land,
disgorge four little entities and then leave behind a circular
trace whilst firing a ray gun at you ? Fear not, for we
UFOlogists are searching for the answers.
P.F.