It's a little unnerving to know that there are things flying in space that we know nothing about. Whether they have come from different countries or outer space, it raises a lot of speculation and sometimes fears. Although many feel that the UFO sightings all have a logical explanation, others are beginning to wonder if some of the past stories of alien encounters may be true. 

 

One thing is for sure—UFO sightings are on the rise. Although many of these can be explained away as balloons, airborne debris or drones, many others are still unexplained. In fact, some of the sightings leave people convinced that they have witnessed some type of extraterrestrial visit.

 

Whether you believe this is possible or not, the following reported UFO sightings are enough to make you question what people are really seeing and where the objects are coming from. Here are stories of some of the most chilling sightings.

 

Multiple UFOs were reportedly witnessed in 1966 at Westall High School in Australia. There has been a lot of speculation over the years as to what actually happened and whether or not it was the government testing new technology. However, a recorded interview between the science teacher, Andrew Greenwood, and an American physicist, Dr. James E. McDonald, provides the most chilling description.

 

Greenwood had witnessed the event and described it as a round, silver object about the size of a car with a metal rod sticking up in the air that was hovering close to the powerline. Then, five airplanes came and surrounded the object, trying to get close.

 

However, every time they got too close to the object it would accelerate and then move away from them and stop. Then, they would take off after it again and the same thing would happen. After about 20 minutes, the UFO suddenly flew away and disappeared.

 

In November 2006, a saucer-like object was reported over Concourse C at Chicago O'Hare Airport. Airline management and other witnesses said the object was silent and appeared just below the 1,900-foot cloud deck. When it made a vertical rise off into the clouds, it left a circular hole shape in the clouds. The FAA dismissed the event as a weather phenomenon. The crazy thing is that even though hundreds of people witnessed the object, the government never said anything about it.

 

Observers both in Henderson, Nevada and in northern Arizona, reported a large group of amber-colored lights moving together in a V-shaped formation. They reported the formation to be hovering silently overhead in a wide arc that moved slowly and occasionally disappeared and then reappeared. As speculation about UFOs grew, the Phoenix Lights became part of the local legend.

 

On September 16, 1994, 62 students at the Ariel School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, claimed to witness a silvery disc come down from the sky and land in a field nearby. Although the students interpreted the phenomenon in different ways, they all described the object and figures in the same way.

 

A Harvard professor of psychiatry, John Mack, interviewed the children. The children reported receiving telepathic messages from the "aliens," spreading an environmental message.

 

Many argue that since Mack arrived months after the incident, the children could consolidate their stories in their minds. It is also supposed that he prompted the children to recall these telepathic events. Plus, Mack interviewed the children in groups of four to six, which made the similar stories less impressive.

 

On December 6, 1978, a night watchman, Pier Zanfretta, was on patrol in Torrogilla village. At around 11:30 p.m., he entered the backyard of the villa and saw an oval-shaped red object which he estimated to be around 33 feet in diameter. He saw lights coming from the garden and then allegedly came face to face with several figures that he described as huge green, frightful and ugly creatures with mottled skin.

 

His supervisors said that he had called in screaming so they went to find him and he was laying down unconscious. Later, the Italian police carried out an investigation, and they found two unusual marks that were nine feet in diameter.

 

On May 10, 1978, Jan Wolski claims to have had an alien encounter. The farmer told his friends and family that on that day, he was driving a horse-drawn carriage when all of a sudden, two small beings appeared next to him. Apparently, they had olive skin, webbed hands and slanting eyes. They led him to a small clearing, where a UFO was waiting. Then, they brought him inside the craft to examine him. 

 

When people went to examine the site, there was no flying saucer anywhere. However, there were strange footprints all over the clearing.

 

Calvin Parker and Charles Hickson contacted the Jackson County Sheriff's Office claiming they were abducted by aliens while fishing from the bank of the Pascagoula River in 1973. Parker described the incident as a big light, shaped like a football, coming out of the clouds. He said three legless creatures floated from the craft. One had no neck with gray wrinkled skin. Another had a neck and appeared more feminine. Parker described their hands as being shaped like mittens or crab claws.

 

On September 1, 1969, the Reed family claimed they had an encounter with a UFO. Nine-year-old Thom Reed described what he saw as three objects. There were two spheres of light and a shell that made a triangle with the Reeds' car in the middle of it. The family lost consciousness and when they finally came to, Nancy Reed and her mother had mysteriously switched positions in the car and the car ignition and lights were off. That night across Berkshire County, about 40 residents reported seeing a UFO. 

 

On April 12, 1969, pilots from the Finnish Air Force were conducting training exercises above an airfield in the city of Pori. Seven objects were seen in the air at an altitude of between 5,000 and 10,000 feet above the ground. One pilot, Tarmo Tukeva, described the objects as round, like balls, and pale yellow in color. After the flight, Tukeva declared that as he had approached, the objects retreated away much faster than his jet was capable of. No sensor detection was made at Pori, but it was reported that the objects were seen on radar in the town of Vaasa which was approximately 125 miles away.

 

The tiny fishing community of Shag Harbour has always had its stories of giant sea serpents, man-eating squid, and ghost ships so it's not surprising that they also have a UFO story. Witnesses saw orange lights in the sky that flashed in a sequence. The lights then dove down to the surface of the water and just seemed to float there.

 

On August 29, 1967, a 13-year-old boy and his 9-year-old sister told local police they were watching cows in a field and saw four small black beings who appeared to rise in the air and enter a round spaceship that was hovering over the field. The police found a sulfur odor and dried grass where the sphere allegedly took off. The children's story is just one of the reports of UFO sightings investigated by the French government.

 

The Valensole UFO Incident

In Valensole, a farmer, Maurice Masse, spotted what he thought was a helicopter that landed in his lavender field. He was annoyed and approached it only to find out it was actually an oval-shaped object resting on four legs. Masse claimed that in front of it stood two figures, not quite four feet tall, dressed in tight gray-green clothes. Their heads were oversize and with sharp chins, their eyes were large and slanted, and they were making a "grumbling" noise. One of them pointed a pencil-like object at him and he was paralyzed where he stood. When he regained his mobility, the object had already flown off.

 

In September 1961, Betty and Barney Hill claimed to have been abducted by aliens. Apparently, a strange light in the sky began to follow them. When they finally got home, they were dirty and their watches stopped working. There were also two hours of lost time that neither of them could remember. With the help of a psychiatrist, they recalled that gray beings with large eyes had walked them into a large metallic disc. Once inside, the beings examined the couple and erased their memories.

 

Socorro police officer Lonnie Zamora reported having a close encounter with an unidentified craft on Friday, April 24, 1964. This UFO case is one of the most famous and best-documented. Zamora claimed he saw two people beside a shiny object that later rose into the air accompanied by a roaring flame.

 

On the evening of August 21, 1955, five adults and seven children arrived at the Hopkinsville police station claiming that small alien creatures from a spaceship were attacking their farmhouse. Apparently, they had been holding them off with gunfire for almost four hours. Two of the adults, Elmer Sutton and Billy Ray Taylor, claimed they had been shooting at twelve to fifteen short, dark figures who kept popping up at the doorway or looking in the windows.

 

Kentucky Air Force Captain Thomas F. Mantell died in 1948 while pursuing a UFO while flying a fighter plane. Mantell had described the incident to the tower crew as a very large metallic object or possible reflections of the sun from a metallic object. He said the object was above and ahead of him moving at a fast speed. Communication broke off at that point and Mantell ended up crashing to his death.