Original subtitles

Narrator: A deputy sheriff collides

With a bright, hovering object.

Could this be evidence that this is an otherworldly craft?

Narrator: Officers listen to the sound,

Never before heard on national television, of a glowing orb.

We have three corroborating sources

Saying that it was mostly likely a real ufo.

Narrator: Police cruisers give chase

To an unidentified triangular aircraft.

It was witnessed and reported across four different precincts.

Narrator: And incredible visual evidence

Uncovered in the most famous ufo case in europe.

[ sirens wailing ]

Could the detailed accounts of ufo activity

By law enforcement provide proof that we are not alone?

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

August 27, 1979, not far from the north dakota border,

In the northeast corner of minnesota,

Near the town of stephen.

It's about 2:00 a.M.

As deputy sheriff val johnson drives his police cruiser

On a dark and deserted rural highway.

What happens next will be seen by ufo investigators

As a landmark case involving law enforcement

That almost cost val johnson his life.

♪♪

He was doing, I assume, a routine patrol

In a fairly quiet stretch of the area.

♪♪

And he sees a bright light off to the side, out his window.

♪♪

Initially thinking it was an aircraft,

He thought it was unusual

And followed around to get a better look at it.

And next thing you know,

This thing is low over the ground.

It's a little smaller than a basketball,

A glowing ball of light, which then seemingly

Almost instantly accelerated at his vehicle.

[ siren wailing ]

All of a sudden, it crashed into his car.

It broke the headlight.

It broke off the antenna, and it broke the windshield.

It was a brilliant ball of light.

It obviously had substance to it

To do all of that damage to his cruiser.

♪♪

Narrator: 40 minutes later, deputy val johnson

Calls for help over his radio.

Another sheriff's deputy reaches

The scene of the accident within minutes.

He finds johnson's car sideways in the road

And johnson in a daze.

The officer was obviously extremely shaken by all of that.

When backup arrived,

They claimed he was in a true state of shock.

Narrator: Deputy val johnson can only remember

Making visual contact with a strange object

Hovering just above the ground,

Being blinded by a bright light,

And hearing the sound of breaking glass

Just before passing out.

The next day, photos are taken of johnson's squad car,

Which shows damage from a collision.

Dolan: This ball of light left evidence in the form

Of a broken headlight and damage to the windshield.

It would be as if something hit his vehicle from the air.

That is what it would look like to me,

But no visible damage to the body of the car.

It is a bit odd.

Clearly it wasn't another car or an airplane.

There would have been wreckage.

There would have been debris.

And he would have seen it and reported it as such.

But we don't really have any certainty

About what we're dealing with.

Narrator: Strangely, the doctor who examines

Val johnson finds indications

Around his eyes of welding burns.

In the process of arc welding,

The intense arc light emits ultraviolet radiation

And can damage a person's skin as if sunburned.

But val johnson had not been welding.

The police and the highway patrol investigators

Believed that this was some kind of anomalous experience.

They were never able to find a reasonable explanation

For what had occurred.

♪♪

Narrator: Ufo researchers recently uncovered a transcript,

Never before seen on national television,

Of an interview with deputy val johnson

Shortly after his close encounter.

It reads in part,

"I got to the intersection of 5 and minnesota state 220

"when I noticed a very bright, brilliant light

"8 to 12 inches in diameter, 3 to 4 feet off the ground.

"the edges were very defined.

"I thought perhaps at first that it appeared to be

"a landing light from an aircraft.

"I proceeded south on 220, about a mile and 3/10,

"when the light intercepted my vehicle.

"the brakes were engaged by forces unknown to myself,

As I do not remember doing this."

♪♪

A photo taken at the encounter location reveals skid marks

Going in a straight line for 99 feet,

Then suddenly veering to the left.

Not long after the incident in 1979,

Val johnson was interviewed on local tv

About his strange encounter.

The light was coming at me. It was extremely bright.

The inside of the car lit up. I remember that.

And something did strike my vehicle.

Something didn't want me there.

I really don't know how to classify it.

Narrator: The official findings of a confidential investigation

Report filed the day after the incident says

That val johnson's patrol vehicle

Was involved in an accident with an unknown object.

But what kind of unknown object was it?

And could what was described as a brilliant light

Actually cause all the damage to deputy johnson's car?

Bob spearing, a field investigator

And visual analysis expert for the mutual ufo network,

Attempts to answer this very question.

Val johnson claims that he skidded 99 feet.

His car was turned sideways when he was found.

He claims he was unconscious for 39 minutes.

Basically, all of the damage to the car

Was done on the left side, the driver's side.

The headlight, the windshield, and the antenna, all right,

Was bent at a 60-degree angle.

An engineer from ford motor company --

He was unable to determine what caused the cracks,

But he said that a pressure by some unknown force

Caused the cracks in the windshield.

I would classify this as probably an orb ufo sighting

Which attacked his car.

Narrator: Since 1979, val johnson's close encounter

Has gained worldwide attention, in part, many believe,

Because johnson was a police officer.

But what makes a ufo incident reported by law enforcement

More convincing than claims by other witnesses?

The police officers tend to be some of our best witnesses

Because they're not only trained observers,

They're not prone to fantasy,

And it's not in their nature to lie.

For him to come out and say something like this,

To put his job at risk,

To me adds a lot of credibility to this case.

Pope: Here is someone who holds

A responsible position in the community.

He's a deputy sheriff.

And yet here he is, talking about not just a ufo sighting...

♪♪

...But a ufo sighting that ended with his police vehicle

On one side.

People like that don't speak out lightly.

When someone like that tells you this is what happens,

You can take that to the bank.

Narrator: Although the evidence in this case is compelling,

Many believe it's circumstantial at best.

Proof of a ufo encounter would need physical evidence

And eyewitness corroboration.

One such case like that

Has gone unequaled for nearly 40 years.

Coming up...

We actually have a recording of the ufo.

And the recording suggests that the object was close by.

There's no aerial object that we had that was able

To do the kinds of things that are described here.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: When it comes to ufo sightings,

The police are regarded

As far more reliable witnesses than most.

Even so, they need corroborating evidence

To make their cases truly credible.

March 17, 1981, 4:03 a.M.,

20 miles north of portland, oregon, near st. Helens.

It's an early Tuesday morning,

And sergeant russell yokum of the oregon police department

Is driving along highway 30.

♪♪

Suddenly, out over the columbia river,

A bright orb lights up the entire area.

♪♪

[ siren wailing ]

[ metal crashes ]

It was red, orange.

It appeared to be large, maybe 30 feet in diameter.

And it was hovering 80 to 100 feet above the water.

Sergeant yokum believed it was moving

Toward the portland airport.

So, he's watching this.

He radioed in to headquarters.

♪♪

And two state police officers heard him.

♪♪

Narrator: Sergeant yokum meets the two officers at a turn-out

With a view of the bizarre aerial object over the river.

♪♪

A couple of civilians also are there,

So you've got about five people watching this,

A very bright, unusual light.

Now you got to wonder, "what is this thing that's just making

Such a bright light at this time of day?"

No one could figure this one out.

Narrator: On the opposite side of the columbia river,

In washington state,

Someone else is also watching the bright orb,

And he's a lot closer to it.

♪♪

There was a ham radio operator

Who was monitoring the police communications.

[ static ]

And he was also watching the object.

He got in touch with the officers,

And he noticed that the object was making noise.

♪♪

Narrator: The ham radio operator,

Known as lucky 13,

Volunteers to hold a microphone out his window

So the police can hear the sound he claims

Is coming from the glowing orb.

Here, for the first time on national television,

Is the audio recording of the conversation

Between oregon police and lucky 13.

[ static ]

[ static ]

We actually have a recording of the ufo,

And the recording suggests that the object was close by.

But the second thing is,

This actually implies it's a physical object.

This is clearly a craft of some kind.

The question is, with the noise, is it an engine?

Is it a type of propulsion?

♪♪

There's on aerial object, particularly in 1981,

That we had that was able to do the kinds of things

That are described here,

That looked like this looks,

That sounded like this thing apparently sounded like.

♪♪

Narrator: The police officers and lucky 13 observe the ufo

For another 14 minutes, until 4:43 a.M.,

Just before sunrise,

When the object goes dark and disappears.

♪♪

But was this mechanical-sounding,

Glowing orb really from out of this world,

As investigators believe?

And if so, might it be similar to the spherical orb

Reported by deputy sheriff val johnson?

[ siren wailing ]

And if we accept these light spheres

Are from a distant world,

The big question is --

Why are they here?

Searching for answers, ufo investigators note

That the columbia river basin

And the nearby yakima indian reservation in washington state

Have long been the site of unexplained aerial phenomena.

Could there be a connection between orb ufos

And nearby native american tribes?

The indigenous tribes have always been well aware of ufos

And alien sightings for many thousands of years.

Narrator: In 2010, orb ufos have been spotted

Near the yakima reservation.

The yakima indians call these alien observers

Their star brothers.

What we're looking at here are two apparent orbs

Circling each other

In the yakima valley in washington state.

Washington state is known for earthquake lights

Because it sits on a fault line.

So, there's a theory that these lights,

Which are seen by many, many people

Over hundreds of years, may be a natural phenomenon.

As you can see a car right here passing very close

To the objects,

We can gauge how big they might be.

They might be as wide as five feet across.

Is it a natural phenomenon?

Is it some sort of ufo?

We just don't know enough at this point

To be able to tell what it is that we're looking at.

♪♪

Narrator: For ufo researchers,

Questions about the origin of glowing orbs

And ufos in general come down to whether or not

They appear to be under intelligent control.

And the answer can only be determined by the evidence.

With the columbia river case, this ufo made a sound,

And we were fortunate enough that the people involved in this

As the witnesses taped it.

The sound starts up again,

And they say, "it sounds like it's revving up its engines."

That sounds to me like they're describing, clearly, a machine,

A craft of some sort.

Narrator: But is it possible that even cases

With multiple police witnesses

And hard evidence can be dismissed by skeptics?

Perhaps.

Then again, sometimes the truth seems more obvious

When numerous police are chasing the same unidentified

Aerial object from town to town.

Coming up...

We have in real time what the police officers

Were actually experiencing.

Ufo activity was witnessed

And reported across four different precincts.

[ siren wails ]

♪♪

Narrator: Ufo researchers believe the glowing orbs

Encountered by law enforcement could be a natural phenomenon

Or they could be from another world entirely.

But what about ufos that appear to be unidentified spacecraft?

In a more recent police ufo file,

What began as an odd civilian sighting

Grew to involve multiple police departments

In numerous neighboring townships

And perhaps reveal

A military cover-up.

January 5, 2000,

Wednesday morning in highland, illinois,

Shortly before sunrise, around 4:00 a.M.

Melvern noll, a truck driver and owner of

A local miniature golf course,

Is about to head home

When something overhead catches his eye.

He looks up, and he sees this very large, low object.

♪♪

No sound.

It looked like it was two stories high.

And then out of nowhere, this single-story ranch

With a penthouse on top slowly floats

Over his miniature golf course.

It appeared to be rectangular in shape.

This object had a series of

Windows that ran down the side.

The object was so large, it was the size of a football field.

♪♪

And clearly it was reported to police.

Narrator: Immediately afterward, the sheriff's dispatcher shares

The unlikely details with officers in the field.

Lebanon police officer ed barton responds to the call.

Within minutes, the officer relays what he sees in the sky,

Documenting the events as it unfolds.

We've got the whole conversation as it transpired that morning.

We have in real time what the police officers

Were actually experiencing,

And that is really valuable to us.

Officer barton, who is looking into this --

Suddenly he sees lights himself.

And it's one of those situations

Where a police officer goes from

Investigator to witness

And actually becomes part of the story.

Narrator: As the unidentified object

Approaches his location,

Barton pulls over to listen.

And as the ufo passes directly overhead,

The officer notices there is no sound.

After resuming his chase, strangely,

Barton gives a completely different description

Than previously reported.

Pope: Officer barton describes a huge,

Triangular-shaped object.

And we know it's big because he describes

How it's blocking out the stars

As it goes overhead.

Narrator: Was this a different ufo being observed?

Or did the officer's training allow him

To provide a more accurate description?

He describes how the movement of this thing is very different

To that of a conventional aircraft.

It doesn't bank, he said, like an aircraft would.

It pivots.

It moves from side to side.

And, again, this is an experienced,

Trained observer.

Narrator: Thinking quickly, officer barton decides to see

What the military might know about the situation.

Man: 10-4.

Scott air force base was called

When the craft was only two miles away.

They had no knowledge of this craft.

It didn't show up on radar.

Very perplexing.

Narrator: Is it possible the military was really unaware?

And could the ufo be using some form of stealth technology?

It went from town to town, and the greatest part about it

Were the witnesses calling each other, the dispatches.

Police officers were talking to the next town over

And letting them know, "well, you should be seeing it."

♪♪

Narrator: In nearby shiloh,

Officer david martin is on patrol

When he spots the object about 1/4 mile away.

He pulls over and observes the huge triangle

Flying slowly in the distance, without making a sound.

As the craft leaves shiloh, the officer estimates the craft

Accelerates from about 15 miles an hour to 100 in an instant.

What really lends a lot of credibility to the case

Is it was witnessed and reported across four different precincts.

There was a ton of radio chatter that happened

As they were trying to figure out what they were witnessing.

Even the military was contacted,

Which adds a ton more credibility,

When they call the military and they tell them,

"we think we have a ufo."

Narrator: Is it possible, as researchers claim,

That one or more objects observed in the skies

Of illinois were, in fact,

Off-world alien spacecrafts that blocked out the stars,

Moved without sound, and defied the laws of physics?

Carson: Nobody's telling us exactly what it is,

And it's been cited across many counties.

So, what could it have been?

We're thinking that it probably was a ufo

That could have been using alien technology.

Narrator: The illinois ufos were witnessed

By multiple police officers who documented what they saw.

But amazingly, the police chase will continue

Through three more townships

And under the noses of military air-traffic control.

Coming up...

There was no radar. It was complete denial.

Dolan: Scott air force base is two miles away.

They say, "nope, we got nothing."

So, what's that all about?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: In the early morning hours of January 5, 2000,

A large and very bizarre object

Is reported to be flying over highland, illinois.

But within the hour, police in nearby townships

See something completely different --

A large, triangular flying object.

Could there have been two different ufos in the air,

Causing confusion on the ground?

Or might the difference be due to more reliable information

Provided by police?

These are the different configurations that were seen

By multiple eyewitnesses on the night January 5, 2000,

Including at least three police officers.

Multiple triangle configurations.

Eyewitnesses reported a mechanical under-structure,

Like stacked legos or plumbing,

Probably 60 to 80 feet across.

♪♪

Narrator: As the triangular object continues over the state,

At about 4:30 a.M.,

Craig stevens, with the millstadt police department,

Sees it flying overhead

And immediately reports the sighting

To the sheriff's dispatcher.

Craig stevens and other police officers

Stated that when it departed the area,

It departed like a spark off a grinding wheel

And made no sonic boom.

Absolutely immediate accelerate, made no sonic boom.

Narrator: Minutes later, the ufo is spotted

By yet another police officer working for the town of dupo.

He and officer stevens from millstadt

Have the following conversation.

Just before sunrise,

The triangular craft finally flies out of sight,

Leaving police officers across several townships

To try and make sense of the case.

Here you had something over the state of illinois

For around nine hours.

One or multiple objects came in to the north of chicago,

From lake michigan, and then zigzagged slowly over the state,

Seen in multiple locations by numerous witnesses,

Including police officers,

And then was last seen

Somewhere in the vicinity of st. Louis.

Clearly, we're dealing with something unexplained

And some would say, something otherworldly.

Police officers are some of the most reliable witnesses

In the world.

And then throw in the fact that you've got a nine-hour period

Where their voices were being recorded over dispatch.

If that's not credible, I don't know what is.

Narrator: But strangely, when police dispatchers

Again contact nearby scott air force base,

Desperate for answers, the military again

Claims to have no idea what's going on,

This despite the fact that, according to police,

The triangle's flight path was directly through the area

Of military traffic control.

Scott air force base is two miles away from this sighting.

That's an amazing thing to consider.

You have all of these police officers

In this animated series of conversations and observations,

And they're asking,

"is this something from scott air force base?"

And yet here's scott air force base --

"nope, we got nothing."

So, what's that all about?

It was complete denial. There was no radar.

And it's really hard to believe if they just flat out denied

The public any answers whatsoever

And just covered everything about this event up

For reasons that only they can --

They can understand.

Narrator: Does the military response

Add to the conversation about government conspiracy

And cover-up in regards to ufos?

What if the military isn't talking

Because they already know that these triangular craft do,

In fact, come from other worlds

And they don't want the public to know?

Incredibly, there is more evidence

Of these alien craft available elsewhere,

In europe's most famous police ufo file.

Coming up, for more than an hour,

The belgian air force attempts to intercept

A triangular object without success.

These ufos had the capability of out-maneuvering

Any military craft that was sent after them.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Despite law enforcement reports

And eyewitness accounts, neither the u.S. Military

Nor government has ever acknowledged

The illinois ufo incident.

But what if these types of sightings

Have been seen before by hundreds,

Maybe even thousands of witnesses?

November 29, 1989.

On a crisp and clear Wednesday evening in eupen, belgium,

Just five miles from the german border,

Frightened residents call police to report

A large, triangular-shaped craft

In the skies directly over the town.

Two federal policemen immediately respond.

What they find is described as absolutely extraordinary.

♪♪

A couple of belgian police officers

Got a very, ultra-clear view

Of a very low, perfect triangle.

♪♪

Maybe a couple of hundred feet altitude at the most.

And it just moved like no other aircraft would move.

It was very, very deliberate, very slow,

And then just moved off and was gone.

And that was only the beginning.

Many witnesses were mesmerized by this,

And there was chatter about it over the police radios,

Civilian sightings coming in,

Which matched up with the police sightings.

This is about as good as you can get in terms of evidence.

Narrator: As the night progresses,

Three sets of police officers

And hundreds of eyewitnesses watch the triangular craft

Move above the countryside,

Not unlike what was reported in illinois.

And it wasn't exclusively belgium, either.

Northwestern germany, which is right over

The other side of the border,

And, in fact, there were quite a few ufo sightings

Even going into central europe and even russia.

Narrator: Sightings continue throughout

Europe for four months.

Thousands of people report

Seeing triangle craft again and again,

Craft that appear to defy physics and logical explanation.

The belgian police are at a complete loss.

But could the triangles really be extraterrestrial spacecraft,

As ufo researchers believe?

We don't know if they were actually military-owned,

If they were arvs, alien reproduction vehicles.

But they were moving and flying in a way

That did not match with our current technology,

Leading us to believe that these were probably more advanced

Type of ufos from another world.

I built these models based on eyewitness testimony.

You'll notice here that it has a white light at each corner.

This is almost virtually silent, making this low-frequency,

Electrical humming noise like a transformer.

That's something that we've heard many times.

Narrator: A few months later, on March 30, 1990,

Things take a dramatic turn when the belgian air force

Reports that two sets of objects were observed

And tracked by the glons air force base, a nato facility.

Tindal: Just look at the radar of these ufos over belgium.

Clearly, they were real.

Clearly, they had mass to them

Or they wouldn't have appeared on radar.

Narrator: For more than an hour, the belgian air force

Attempts to intercept the triangles, without success.

♪♪

These ufos had the capability

Of out-maneuvering any military craft

That was sent after them, again,

Adding credence to the fact that they may be otherworldly craft.

It departed their area

At about 1,600 kilometers per hour in less than a second.

So, we're looking at about a 40-g maneuver,

Something that pilots couldn't withstand.

During these events or sightings,

There were nine attempted interceptions.

That is incredible.

Narrator: For the first time on national television,

New evidence reveals general de brouwer

Of the belgian air force explaining why nato f-16s

Are no match for the flying triangle.

What these pilots detected

Was well outside the normal

Flying envelope,

Varying from speeds

Between 150 knots to 990 knots,

An acceleration which occurred in a few seconds.

Our best technology was absolutely no match

For the things that they witnessed.

This is a straight-up acknowledgement

From the belgian military in the aftermath.

These objects had maneuvering capabilities

That we just don't have.

They would have instant acceleration,

From near-hovering, loitering,

To 1,000-miles-per-hour-type speeds,

And then also just altitude drops of nearly,

I think, 4,000 feet in one or two seconds.

That's nearly a mile.

I mean, incredible changes in altitude that --

Again, our craft -- we have no capability of doing this.

Narrator: Skeptics claim that the triangles

Reported by the belgian air force

Are nothing more than an advanced, top-secret,

Experimental aircraft that was misidentified.

Skeptics trot out the explanation,

"well, people probably saw stealth technology."

Why? Well, because the stealth fighter

Had just recently been unveiled.

But the only unique thing about the stealth aircraft

Is that they are radar-stealthy,

So they're not easily detectable on radar.

But in terms of performance,

Stealth aircraft can't do any of the things that were reported

During the wave of the so-called belgian triangle.

Narrator: General de brouwer's absolutely

Incredible analysis continues.

Visual observations always

Describe a machine

Which hangs and hovers above the surface

At quite a low altitude without making any noise.

Now, with the current technology,

That would be impossible.

And, of course, the speeds would be impossible

To tolerate for a human being.

Narrator: Might the evidence regarding

Triangular ufos in belgium

And illinois finally be clear and conclusive?

And what of the orb ufos seen in minnesota

And in the columbia river basin?

If these events are evidence of interstellar intelligence

Visiting our world, could there be truth to the theory

That such visitations have been happening for a very long time?

There are those who believe

The answer may lie back in the u.S.,

In the legends of native americans.

Coming up...

The people have been having encounters for centuries --

Thousands of years, actually.

Some of these things that our ancestors saw

Look remarkably similar to what we're seeing today.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Researchers believe the evidence gathered by police

About the interstellar origin of triangular aircraft

And orb ufos is hard to deny.

But what can we make of their visits

To specific locations in america,

Places like the yakima indian reservation

In washington state

And even illinois?

These triangular-shaped craft passed over illinois,

Over land that is considered by

Native americans to be sacred.

And this suggests that they've been here for a very long time.

♪♪

Narrator: According to researchers,

The illinois territory may have been visited

Because of a mysterious and sacred connection

To its earliest inhabitants.

We have the native american reports

Going back hundreds of years,

And it all paints a picture of an area

Where there have been a long history of strange sightings

In the same location, but over many, many years.

Narrator: The upper mississippi valley

Was inhabited long before the arrival of europeans

By the illini people,

Who the french called the illinois.

Scholars have long noted that the legends of the illinois

Are filled with powerful, supernatural entities

They called thunderbirds.

We have a very fragmented record of the thunderbirds.

We see many images of them in art,

Carved onto stones on the top of monuments.

The thunderbirds were deities that lived up in the sky.

So, when we see a lot of the images of ancient

Native american warriors dressed up in bird costumes,

They're dressing themselves as those protector spirits,

The thunderbirds.

This goes back centuries, apparently, of sightings

And stories about a large,

Winged creature with a wingspan of 40 feet

Or more that made a sound like thunder --

Hence, "thunderbird."

And it was something that they would talk about in their

Oral history tradition for many, many years and generations.

Narrator: Although mainstream historians contend

That the thunderbirds legend is based on sightings of real birds

That were somehow threatening to the illinois people,

Is it possible, as ufo investigators suggest,

That thunderbirds were aerospace machines observed by the people

With no understanding of technology, aircraft, nor ufos?

♪♪

Were they trying to describe

What they saw the best way they can?

Because when you look into legends,

Sometimes they're trying to describe technological devices.

Many ufo researchers believe that the depictions

By the indigenous people

Might have been the same exact type of ufo

That was seeing flying across illinois.

Narrator: For the ufo community, questions remain.

Are the triangular craft of illinois

Related somehow to those seen in the skies of belgium?

And are they connected to the glowing orb ufos

Encountered by deputy sheriff val johnson

And witnessed by numerous police over the columbia river?

And if so, how far back in time

Might such ufos have appeared on our planet?

So, the question is, well,

Could any of this be more than just myths and legends,

But be a retelling

Of actual events?

And it seems that some of these things

That apparently our ancestors were seeing

And then recording, you think,

"wait a minute. That looks very similar

To some of these modern descriptions of ufos."

♪♪

Narrator: The observations, testimony,

And reports by police play a decisive role

In better understanding the ufo phenomenon.

For researchers, the evidence of extraterrestrial visitation

Is overwhelming.

So, too, is the recognition that interstellar entities

Continue to visit our world, as they did in the distant past.

♪♪