Decades
Browse incidents and key figures by decade.
2010s: 25 incidents, 166 figures
25 incidents
- Military encounter
- Mass sighting
- Abduction
- Crash and retrieval
- Radar and visual
- Humanoid encounter
- Photograph or film
- Physical trace
- Contact
- Sighting
- Other
- Documented
- Contested
- Fringe
- Debunked
166 figures
Alexander ImichParapsychologist, paranormal researcher, and founder of NYC's Anomalous Phenomena Research Center who became the oldest living man at age 111.Walter H. Andrus Jr.Electronics engineer and MUFON founder who built the world's oldest and largest UFO investigative organization.Zecharia SitchinRussian-born author who pioneered the ancient astronaut theory linking Sumerian civilization to extraterrestrial contact.Walt AndrusCo-founder and longtime International Director of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), who ran the organization for three decades and shaped it into a national civilian UFO investigation group.Robert J. FriendTuskegee Airman and the only Black director of Project Blue Book (1958–1963), whose final interview before his death at 99 hinted the program was shut down because officials "knew what it was."Zacharia SitchinProlific ancient astronaut theorist whose reinterpretation of Sumerian texts shaped modern extraterrestrial intervention narratives, despite scholarly rejection.Albert K. BenderPioneer UFO researcher and founder of the International Flying Saucer Bureau who claimed contact with mysterious Men in Black.John Herschel Glenn Jr.First American to orbit Earth and a lifelong advocate for UFO/UAP investigationNorman R. BergrunAerospace engineer who studied Voyager photographs of Saturn and concluded its rings were built and maintained by gigantic living electromagnetic vehicles.Credo Vusamazulu MutwaZulu sangoma and author who integrated alien abduction accounts into African oral tradition, linking UFO encounters to ancestral spiritual knowledge.Norman Riley BergrunAerospace engineer and space analyst who claimed to detect massive extraterrestrial craft in Saturn's rings using Voyager imagery.Donald L. WorleyIndiana UFO investigator who conducted 150+ abduction case interviews and developed a Christian theological interpretation of extraterrestrial contact as spiritual warfare.Alfred 'Al' O'DonnellManhattan Project and Area 51 nuclear engineer who revealed classified Roswell details to Annie Jacobsen.Salvador FreixedoExcommunicated Spanish Jesuit priest who became Iberian and Latin American ufology's foremost theologian of contact, arguing that UFOs and religion are the same phenomenon in different costumes.Freeman DysonLegendary theoretical physicist who proposed Dyson spheres and revolutionized the search for extraterrestrial technosignatures.Admiral Stansfield TurnerCIA Director under Carter who confronted UFO policy gaps and emphasized technical intelligence reform.William Mills TompkinsAerospace engineer who claimed to have designed mile-long Navy spacecraft in a classified Douglas Aircraft think tank and acted as a WWII courier for intelligence on Nazi UFO programs.Wendelle C. StevensUSAF lieutenant colonel who founded the world's largest private UFO photo archive and spent six decades investigating contact cases across the globe.Sir Patrick MooreBritish astronomer and broadcaster who skeptically investigated UFO claims while remaining open to extraterrestrial life.Paul HellyerFirst G7 defense minister to publicly advocate for extraterrestrial existence and government UFO disclosure.Berthold Eric SchwarzPsychiatrist who brought clinical psychiatric analysis to UFO and paranormal investigations.Jimmy CarterThe only U.S. president to file a formal UFO sighting report — a nuclear engineer who saw something over Georgia in 1969, promised disclosure as a candidate, and was quietly rebuffed by his own government once he had the office to deliver on it.Peter SturrockStanford solar physicist and founder of the Society for Scientific Exploration who applied rigorous scientific standards to the study of anomalous phenomena and UFO reports.Glenn DennisRoswell mortuary worker whose story of child-size caskets and a nurse's autopsy account became a pillar of the Roswell mythos, later undermined by his own admission that he had fabricated her name.W.C. LevengoodBiophysicist whose peer-reviewed research documented anomalies in crop circle plants and developed the MIR agricultural technology.Gabriele AmorthItalian Vatican exorcist who performed 60,000 exorcisms and viewed UFO phenomena as demonic deception.Trevor James ConstableUFO researcher who proposed that flying saucers are living atmospheric organisms animated by orgone energy, not spacecraft.Ann DruffelPioneering UFO researcher and abduction investigator who documented systematic case studies and defense techniques against alleged alien encounters.Frank Boyer SalisburyPlant physiologist and Utah State University researcher who brought empirical rigor to UFO sighting investigations in the American West.Alfred E. BielekAlleged Philadelphia Experiment witness and time traveler who claimed involvement in classified military projects spanning decades of temporal anomalies.Vladimir AzhazhaSoviet naval officer and leading Russian UFO researcher specializing in declassified underwater encounter records.Harold AspdenBritish theoretical physicist and electrical engineer who developed alternative physics theory linking aether dynamics to UFO propulsion concepts.Robert M. WoodAerospace engineer and UFO researcher who led classified propulsion research and authenticated Majestic-12 documents.James W. DeardorffAtmospheric scientist who pioneered peer-reviewed analysis of extraterrestrial visitation strategy and the 'embargo hypothesis'.Fabio ZerpaSouth American UFO researcher and paranormal investigator; pioneered institutional UFO research in Argentina and documented 3,000+ casesZbigniew BrzezinskiU.S. National Security Advisor who attended the 1977 White House UFO discussion with Grenadian PM Eric Gairy.Frank BormanNASA astronaut and military pilot who commanded Gemini 7 and Apollo 8; reported unidentified spacecraft during December 1965 Gemini VII mission.Robert O. DeanRetired US Army NCO and self-described UFO researcher from Tucson who claimed to have seen a secret 1960s NATO assessment of UFOs, a document NATO's historians say was never produced.Robert O. DeanRetired US Army Command Sergeant Major turned UFO lecturer whose claim to have seen a 1964 NATO document on alien threats, 'The Assessment', became one of the most-cited and most-disputed disclosure stories of the 1990s.Ted BloecherPioneering UFO historian and meticulous researcher who comprehensively documented the 1947 flying disc wave.Robert O. DeanNATO intelligence officer who claimed access to classified UFO briefings concluding Earth under extraterrestrial surveillance.Hilary EvansBritish pictorial archivist and paranormal researcher who championed the psychosocial hypothesis of UFOs as culturally-shaped visionary experiences.Victor MarchettiCIA insider turned prior-restraint test case whose 1979 essay argued that Washington was running a 'classic intelligence cover-up' on UFOs.Edgar MitchellApollo 14 lunar module pilot who, after leaving NASA, publicly asserted that aliens have visited Earth and that governments cover it up, while conceding his evidence was secondhand.Bruce CathieNew Zealand airline pilot and engineer who proposed that UFOs navigate along a global energy grid using harmonic mathematics.Frank DrakeRadio astronomer who founded modern SETI and authored the Drake Equation, transforming the search for extraterrestrial intelligence into legitimate science.R. Leo SprinkleCounseling psychologist who pioneered large-scale clinical work with UFO abductees using hypnotic regression therapy.Albert N. Stubblebine IIIINSCOM commanding general who classified remote viewing programs and later became a prominent UFO and paranormal researcher.Dr. Shirley WrightEinstein's assistant who claimed she and the physicist examined extraterrestrial crash debris and beings at Roswell in 1947, documented via 1993 taped testimony.Paco RabanneRevolutionary fashion designer who publicly claimed extraterrestrial visitations and divine encountersNeil ArmstrongFirst human to walk on the Moon; alleged to have witnessed unidentified objects during Apollo 11 and other spaceflight missions.Thomas Patten StaffordApollo 10 commander and Pentagon aerospace development chief; experienced anomalies during crewed space missions.Mike GravelFormer Alaska senator and Pentagon Papers filibusterer who in 2013 argued at a National Press Club hearing that UFOs were being covered up by the US government.George D. FawcettNorth Carolina UFO researcher who investigated 1,200+ sightings and founded regional MUFON chapters.Robert G. JahnPrinceton physicist and consciousness anomalies researcher who bridged engineering rigor with parapsychology.Stefano BrecciaItalian electrical engineer and documentarian of Italy's largest mass UFO contact case (Amicizia), which involved over 100 witnesses across decades.Omar FowlerBritish UFO researcher and founder of the Surrey Investigation Group, pioneering investigator of the Flying Triangle phenomenon.François BruneFrench Catholic priest and paranormal scholar who bridged institutional theology with near-death experiences and explored Vatican connections to extraterrestrial phenomena.Georgy GrechkoSoviet cosmonaut and engineer who reported a contested UFO sighting from orbit in 1977, later claiming it was misidentification or a prank.Dolores CannonPioneering hypnotherapist and author who used past-life regression to investigate UFO abductions and extraterrestrial contact claims.Charles HicksonPascagoula abductee and 40-year public advocate for the legitimacy of the 1973 encounterBudd HopkinsPioneer of alien abduction research; founded the Intruders Foundation and authored influential books on UFO abductions.James W. "Jim" MoseleyIrreverent editor of Saucer News and its successor Saucer Smear, one of ufology's most combative and self-mocking critics of its own figures.James W. MoseleyPublisher, prankster, and self-described "grave-robbing ufologist" whose Saucer News and Saucer Smear chronicled — and gleefully sabotaged — six decades of UFO culture.Ion HobanaPioneer of Romanian ufology who brought Eastern Bloc UFO evidence to international attention during the Cold War.Marina PopovichSoviet test pilot and UFO researcher who claimed Soviet recovery of five crashed UFOsJohn Anthony WestAmerican alternative Egyptologist and documentarian who challenged mainstream archaeology through theories of ancient Egyptian sacred science and the reredating of Giza monuments.Ervin LaszloSystems theorist and philosopher who bridged quantum consciousness, non-local phenomena, and their implications for understanding non-human intelligence.André LebeauFrench aerospace engineer and CNES president who wrote the preface to the 1999 COMETA report on UAP phenomena.Alan BeanApollo 12 lunar module pilot and Skylab 3 commander whose 1969 in-flight report of unexplained 'streaks of light' resurfaced in 2026 as part of the Pentagon's declassified UAP file releaseMarjorie FishAmateur astronomer and teacher whose 3D star map model became central to the Betty & Barney Hill case analysis, later retracted with scientific integrity.Carl Hart Jr.Texas Tech photographer whose 1951 Lubbock Lights images became the most famous UFO photographs of the early Cold War era.Ingo SwannRemote viewing pioneer, Stargate Project participant, and UFO contactee whose claimed extrasensory experiments bridged military intelligence and paranormal claims.Jean SiderFrench ufologist and systematic UFO researcher who documented five decades of French aerial phenomena and established rigorous investigative methodology.Gene CernanApollo 17 commander and last person to walk on the moon; reported unexplained observations during final lunar mission despite skeptical stance on UFO interpretations.Stanton Terry FriedmanNuclear physicist who brought the Roswell incident into the mainstream and pioneered scientific UFO research.Len KastenUFO researcher and author who documented 30+ years of extraterrestrial contact evidence and classified military programsAlexei LeonovSoviet cosmonaut and first human to conduct a spacewalk; made pioneering observations of space from beyond Earth's atmosphere.Dr. Roger LeirPodiatric surgeon who claimed to have surgically removed more than a dozen alleged alien implants from self-described abductees, making him one of the most controversial figures in UFO research.Frankie RoweRoswell witness and author who claimed her firefighter father recovered alien craft debris and non-human beings in 1947.Erich von DänikenSwiss author and ancient astronaut theory pioneer whose 1968 bestseller 'Chariots of the Gods?' transformed public discourse on extraterrestrial contact and human origins.Paul LaffoleyVisionary artist and architect who mapped a claimed alien brain implant into decades of intricate cosmological paintings, becoming a singular bridge between contactee testimony and outsider art.Stella LansingPioneer UFO videographer whose 50+ reels of Super 8 film documented humanoid encounters, geometric anomalies, and Men in Black phenomena from 1961 to 1991.Brad SteigerProlific paranormal and UFO author whose syndicated investigations documented extraterrestrial encounters and contactee phenomena across 170+ books and decades of field research.Elisabet SahtourisEvolutionary biologist and systems theorist who integrated consciousness studies with extraterrestrial intelligence and Gaia hypothesis research.Dr. Jesse A. Marcel Jr.Flight surgeon and physician who claimed to have examined Roswell debris as a child, testifying for 35+ years.Lucius Oscar FarishArchivist and organizer of systematic UFO data collection through the UFO Newsclipping Service and founding director of the Ozark UFO Conference.Illobrand von LudwigerGerman physicist and aerospace engineer who founded MUFON-CES in 1974 and led five decades of rigorous scientific UFO investigation across Central Europe, investigating over 600 anomalous cases and developing a theoretical framework for anomalous propulsion based on Burkhard Heim's field theory.Wang SichaoNanjing astronomer and near-Earth-object pioneer who spent four decades applying spherical astronomy to Chinese UFO reports, and who became China's best-known academic voice on the subject.Gordon NovelPrivate investigator and electronics expert who spent decades investigating alleged U.S. government possession of reverse-engineered UFO technology.Ray StanfordSelf-taught Texas UFO researcher known for controversial photographic evidence claims and Project Starlight International.Gildas BourdaisFrench ufologist and author who championed the extraterrestrial hypothesis and championed French government disclosure.Rauni-Leena Luukanen-KildeFinnish physician and UFO researcher known for claims about alien implants and government mind controlHarry ReidNevada senator and Senate Majority Leader who pushed the Pentagon's secret UFO research program (AATIP) into existence in 2007 and later said he believed crashes of unknown objects may have occurredBarbara BartholicPioneer UFO abduction researcher who documented reptilian contact and the crystal meth connectionThomas C. Van FlandernAstronomer and physicist who developed alternative theories on gravity, propulsion, and celestial mechanics relevant to UFO physics.Brian O'LearyPlanetary scientist and NASA astronaut who transitioned to UFO and consciousness research, bridging institutional space exploration and fringe disclosure.Ira Einhorn1970s paranormal and UFO researcher who connected remote viewing, psychic weapons, and government conspiracy; later imprisoned for murder while claiming CIA frame-up.Larry KuscheArizona State University research librarian whose 1975 book, The Bermuda Triangle Mystery—Solved, became the classic debunking of the Bermuda Triangle legend.Reg PresleyThe Troggs frontman who spent his later years investigating crop circles and UFO phenomena.Bruce S. MaccabeeOptical physicist and Navy scientist whose rigorous analysis of photographic UFO evidence brought scientific credibility to UFO research.Wallace 'Wal' ThornhillPhysicist and co-founder of Electric Universe theory, whose plasma cosmology framework is cited by UAP researchers seeking naturalistic explanations for aerial phenomena.John Olsen LearCIA pilot and son of Learjet founder who became one of the most influential UFO conspiracy theorists of the 1980s–90s, claiming government contact with aliens and moon bases.Stephen HawkingRenowned theoretical physicist who warned against contacting extraterrestrial civilizations but skeptically dismissed UFO visitation claims.Richard C. NiemtzowRetired USAF colonel and radiation oncologist who invented Battlefield Acupuncture and, in 1980, co-authored a paper on medical injuries from UFO close encounters.Marcus AllenUK publisher of Nexus Magazine and pioneering alternative researcher investigating UFOs, crop circles, and space-program anomaliesPaul MuradAerospace engineer and Defense Intelligence Agency technology analyst who applied rigorous physics to UAP propulsion research.Ted PhillipsPioneering physical trace researcher who founded the Center for Physical Trace Research and catalogued over 4,000 UFO landing cases worldwide.Jim MarrsInvestigative journalist and bestselling author whose systematic investigation of UFO cover-ups became the world's definitive non-fiction work on the subject.Carla L. RueckertLibrarian and channel who transmitted the Law of One, a multi-volume cosmological teaching attributed to the extraterrestrial intelligence Ra (1981–1984).Rex GilroyAustralian cryptozoologist and UFO researcher who documented 50+ years of paranormal activity in the Blue Mountains and cataloged thousands of UFO sightings and cryptid encounters.Dr. Fred BellNASA/DoD consultant and Pleiadian contactee claiming extraterrestrial technological transferKary MullisNobel Prize–winning biochemist who publicly disclosed a close encounter experience and remained open to paranormal phenomena.Elaine DouglassMIT-educated military policy analyst who bridged DoD expertise with grassroots UFO secrecy activism and abduction research.Gabriel L. ValdezNew Mexico state police officer who investigated 1970s cattle mutilations and concluded the U.S. military was responsible.Joe NickellWorld's first full-time professional paranormal investigator and critical skeptic.Michael A. PersingerNeuroscientist who proposed that UFO abductions and paranormal experiences originate in temporal lobe activity triggered by electromagnetic fields.Art BellLegendary broadcaster who built Coast to Coast AM into America's highest-rated late-night radio program, giving 15 million nightly listeners a forum for UFO research, paranormal testimony, and government secrecy.Enrique BarriosVenezuelan author and UFO contactee whose Ami book series conveyed extraterrestrial messages of universal love to millions.Preston B. NicholsLong Island electronics engineer whose 1992 book The Montauk Project launched the Camp Hero time-travel and mind-control legend.Stuart AppelleExperimental psychologist who spent two decades critically evaluating alien-abduction research and argued that conventional explanations were insufficient.Sheldan NidleAmerican Sirian contactee and founder of the Planetary Activation Organization; channeled messages about galactic first contact for three decades.Nigel KernerBritish UFO theorist who argued Grey aliens are bio-mechanical probes engaged in 40,000-year genetic and consciousness manipulation of humanity.Anne StrieberAbduction researcher and co-founder of Unknown Country; curated 200,000+ first-person accounts of close encounters.Lloyd PyeAlternative knowledge researcher and proponent of extraterrestrial intervention in human evolution, known for leading the Starchild Skull Project investigation.Dennis StacyTexas-born UFO journalist who edited the MUFON UFO Journal for twelve years and co-founded the fortean magazine The Anomalist.Karl WolfeUSAF sergeant who testified to witnessing classified Lunar Orbiter photographs depicting artificial structures on the moon's far side.David MacDonaldMUFON Executive Director (2012–2026) and aviation entrepreneur with lifelong UFO research commitment.Paul A. LaViolettePhysicist and systems scientist whose electrogravitics research connected classified antigravity programs to potential UAP propulsion mechanisms.Timothy Green BeckleyProlific UFO publisher and editor who shaped discourse on extraterrestrial phenomena for over 50 years.Edgar FoucheFormer Air Force cryptographic specialist who claimed insider knowledge of the TR-3B antigravity craft and classified reverse-engineering programs at Area 51.Edd DamesU.S. Army Star Gate remote viewer, founder of Matrix Intelligence Agency, and vocal proponent of catastrophic solar-flare predictions.Lee SpeigelPioneering American broadcast journalist whose four-decade career — from a 1975 CBS documentary to decades at HuffPost — helped move UFO reporting from tabloid fringe toward mainstream news.Karen HudesWorld Bank whistleblower who later became prominent in UFO and alien conspiracy circles, claiming extraterrestrial control of global finance and institutions.Robert "Bob" OechslerNASA robotics contractor turned UFO investigator whose Gulf Breeze photo analysis and claimed high-level government contacts made him a fixture of early-1990s ufology — and a lightning rod for skeptics.Clifford StoneRetired Army sergeant who claims involvement in classified UFO crash retrieval operations and communication with non-human beings.Rosemary Ellen GuileyProlific paranormal researcher who investigated UFO abductions, interdimensional contact, and connections between alien encounters and folkloric entities.Jerry E. SmithUFO researcher, National UFO Museum founder, and conspiracy theorist who investigated HAARP and weather modification.José EscamillaFilmmaker and UFO researcher credited with discovering the 'rods' phenomenon and producing influential UFO documentaries in the 1990s-2000s.Mark McCandlishAerospace illustrator and Disclosure Project witness who drew the 'Flux Liner' antigravity craft and died under disputed circumstances weeks before a planned Senate briefing.Tsuruhiko KiuchiJapanese astronomer and UFO researcher who founded Japan Flying Saucer Research Association and developed mathematical methods for UFO trajectory analysis.Curtis PeeblesAerospace historian and Smithsonian-affiliated writer whose 1994 book Watch the Skies! is a skeptical history of the flying saucer myth.Calvin Parker Jr.American abductee and co-witness to the legendary 1973 Pascagoula UFO incident; later authored memoir and produced UFO documentaries.Sean David MortonParanormal researcher, UFO documentarian, and Coast to Coast AM fixture whose remote-viewing claims and apocalyptic predictions led to federal conviction for investment fraud.Kenn ThomasParapolitical researcher and Steamshovel Press founder who connected UFO incidents to JFK assassination via Fred Crisman.Carl GrillmairCaltech astrophysicist fatally shot in 2026; pulled into UFO conspiracy theories about missing scientistsChristopher O'BrienInvestigative journalist and paranormal researcher who documented over 1,000 unexplained events in Colorado's San Luis Valley.Angelia JoinerStephenville journalist who broke one of the most well-documented UFO cases and sacrificed her career for investigative truthAdemar José GevaerdBrazilian ufologist, editor of Revista UFO, founder of CBPDV, CBU, and IBEXO; chronicler of the Varginha case and Brazil's most influential researcher of his generationMassimo FratiniItalian medical radiologist and pioneering UFO researcher who founded Rome's first ufological research group and organized landmark international conferences.Michael S. HeiserBiblical scholar who bridged academic theology with paranormal discourse, critiquing ancient astronaut theories through Hebrew textual analysisFrank MaiwaldNASA JPL Principal researcher and spectral imaging expert whose mysterious death in 2024 became part of a federal investigation into deceased and missing scientistsVadim ChernobrovSoviet/Russian aerospace engineer and founder of Kosmopoisk, the world's oldest independent UFO research organizationNick PopeFormer British MoD UFO investigator who became the public face of government disclosure advocacy for 30 years.James "Tony" MoffattNASA aerospace engineer and Army aviation officer whose April 2026 death became part of a UFO disclosure-era missing scientists narrative.David WilcockNew York Times bestselling author, Ancient Aliens personality, and major UFO disclosure advocate whose media presence brought ET narratives to mainstream audiences.Philip CoppensBelgian author and investigative journalist who championed ancient astronaut theory through publications and television.Melissa CasiasLos Alamos administrative assistant whose 2025 disappearance and 2026 death became focal point of federal investigation into cluster of missing scientists tied to classified research.Aidan ShafferNew Mexico UFO researcher and aerospace enthusiast who died in custody in March 2026, amid broader investigations into deaths of scientists linked to UAP research.Nuno LoureiroMIT plasma physicist and PSFC director killed in 2025; retrospectively linked to UFO-era "missing scientists" narrative.Jason ThomasNovartis pharmaceutical chemist whose 2025-26 disappearance became central to federal investigation into cluster of scientist deaths tied to classified research.Robbie GrahamFilm scholar and UFO researcher who examined how Hollywood and popular culture shaped narratives of contact and disclosure.Matthew James SullivanAir Force veteran whistleblower who planned congressional testimony on classified UFO programs, died under disputed circumstances in May 2024.Matthew Alan LivelsbergerU.S. Army Master Sergeant and Green Beret who alleged classified UAP programs used gravitic propulsion systems, made public in manifesto one day before his death in the 2025 Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion.Amy EskridgeExotic scientist and gravity modification researcher whose 2022 death under contested circumstances has been linked to broader investigations into deceased researchers with ties to advanced propulsion and UAP programs.Joshua LeBlancNASA aerospace engineer working on nuclear propulsion who died under suspicious circumstances in 2025, part of a broader cluster of scientist deaths connected to classified programs.