Rex Heflin

The Sighting

On August 3, 1965, at approximately 12:30 PM PDT, Rex Heflin, a 44-year-old highway accident investigator for the Los Angeles County Highway Commission, was working near the intersection of Myford Road and Walnut Avenue in Santa Ana, California. While stopped in his work van, he observed a metallic disc-shaped object with a dome—described as "hat-shaped"—hovering above the road at an altitude of roughly 150 feet. Heflin noticed a rotating band of light on the object's underside and attempted twice to radio his base during the encounter, but the radio would not function. He grabbed his Model 101 Polaroid camera and captured four successive photographs as the object moved eastward across his position.

Investigation and Credibility

The Los Angeles Subcommittee of NICAP, headed by investigator Idabel Epperson, conducted a comprehensive investigation of Heflin's case. Their work included detailed character and background evaluation, which found Heflin to be straightforward, technically competent, and entirely credible—with no history of fabrication or exaggeration. On-site measurements and photogrammetry analysis ruled out the possibility that the images were produced using strings or scale models. UPI photographic specialists examined the original Polaroids and independently pronounced them genuine, having compared them against test photographs taken with identical equipment.

The initial investigations were regarded as highly credible for decades. Richard Hall, a NICAP researcher, later stated in The UFO Evidence, Volume II that these photographs "meet all the criteria for significant evidence of a real, structured, craftlike UFO." Scientific scrutiny intensified in the late 1960s and beyond, with various researchers proposing explanations ranging from experimental aircraft to hoaxed models. However, no conclusive proof of a hoax has ever been demonstrated.

Modern Analysis

In 1993, Heflin's original Polaroid photographs resurfaced under mysterious circumstances, allowing renewed analysis with contemporary techniques. Teams of scientists subsequently reanalyzed the images using state-of-the-art computer technology. Their findings, published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, detected previously unreported details in the photographs that further supported their authenticity and ruled against common hoax mechanisms. Throughout his life, Heflin maintained the truth of his account, and the case remains among the most thoroughly investigated and credible photographic UFO evidence on record.

Heflin died on May 13, 1978.