Although Virginia doesn’t have as close a connection to unidentified flying objects, known as UFOs, as Roswell, New Mexico, it’s still had its fair share of sightings throughout the years.
Ranging from busy portions of the Hampton Roads area to quaint Appalachian towns and from the 1940s up to the present day, these sightings run the gamut.
Here are the freakiest UFO sightings in Virginia history you likely didn’t learn about in school.
1945 Fort Lee sighting
The first sighting in Virginia listed by the National UFO Reporting Center is from Jan. 1, 1945, with 25 observers spotting a multi-colored object near the front of Fort Lee military base in Prince George County on Route 36.
It’s reported that cars stopped so that people could get out and watch as the object sped away.
1945 red flashes in Portsmouth
The second reported sighting listed by the center is from July 1945. The person reported that they were sitting on a wall at the waterfront overlooking Portsmouth’s skyline when they spotted flashes of crimson red crafts forming a “V” shape at a 45-degree angle.
Moving downward, they were said to be traveling as fast as a lightning bolt. The waves came in four flashes.
The citizen called a local newspaper the following morning and was informed others had spotted it as well. The paper told the citizen that a report of a 50-foot white glowing globe landing across from the town.
1959 Mineral family disappearance
Surprisingly, UFOs were ruled out as being the cause of the 1959 disappearance of a family from Mineral. In fact, the four-member Jackson family seemingly disappeared without a trace.
An exhaustive search ensued, with investigators not ruling out the possibility of an alien abduction. The investigator spearheading the search told the “Richmond Times-Dispatch” at the time that he wasn’t ruling anything out until the family was found.
As it turned out, foul play of the terrestrial kind was to blame.
“Cigar-shaped” UFO near Staunton in 1964
Perhaps one of the most talked-about UFO sightings occurred on Dec. 21, 1964, outside of Fishersville when Horace Burns, a gunsmith, spotted a sizable metallic object descending while traveling on U.S. 250. Upon spotting it, Burns said his car’s engine stopped. The object then crossed the road before touching down in a field.
His description painted a picture of an upside-down spinning top, well over 100 feet wide and nearly 90 feet tall. A blue color shone below. After only a minute, the object floated into the air and disappeared following a loud sound.
Project Blue Book investigators from the U.S. Air Force looked into what Burns observed that day.
Burns wasn’t the only one to spot a UFO in the area that day. In fact, a 14-year-old Staunton student named Kenneth Norton Jr., who also happened to be a Civil Air Patrol cadet, reported seeing a cigar-shaped object outside his bedroom window not long before the encounter Burns had. Norton provided a similar description of the object.
Despite being discouraged from reporting it, Norton’s mother allowed him to do so after learning what Burns saw.
Additional reports from the Shenandoah Valley followed; however, Project Blue Book concluded that no evidence supported the theory that a UFO had touched down in the area.
1987 Wytheville sightings
Wytheville became known for something other than the site where Interstates 77 and 81 merge in 1987, when it cemented its place among commonwealth UFO lore. In October that year, residents began frequently reporting unexplained objects and lights in the sky.
The sightings caught the attention of Danny Gordon, a reporter for local radio station WYVE at the time, after discovering during a check-in with the county’s sheriff’s department that deputies reported seeing unidentified flying objects.
Given the novelty of the sightings, he reported on them, which triggered an outpouring of similar reports from locals. Over the coming months, Gordon held call-in sessions, and over 1,500 sightings were reported. Reports ranged from bright spinning carousels near Interstate 81 to semicircles of white lights passing over homes.
Gordon’s reporting led him to assume that an experimental military aircraft was the culprit, but he later experienced a sighting of his own. He observed a large dome-shaped object with various lights, accompanied by a smaller red object. He even captured some of the objects on camera.
Officials told him the sightings were likely caused by refueling aircraft, but the explanation didn’t sit right with Gordon. He documented his findings in a book called “Don’t Look UP: The Real Story Behind the Virginia UFO Sightings.”
Memories of the sightings continue to this day, with the Wytheville UFO Fest being held in 2024. The episode was even chronicled in a segment of “Unsolved Mysteries.”
2023 Harrisonburg sighting
The Shenandoah Valley once again gained UFO fame in November of 2023 when a man told WHSV that he witnessed what initially appeared to be a large plane while traveling along Neff Avenue in the afternoon.
He described it as traveling upward in a straight line and having a red silhouette. Unfortunately, it disappeared from the clear sky while he was attempting to capture it on his phone.
He later spotted two more objects on the same street: a silver tube and another colored object. Once again, the objects vanished before he could document them. He stressed that he’s aware of civilian and military aircraft and that what he spotted was something different.
Prevalence of sightings in Virginia Beach
Another sighting 10 miles off the Virginia Beach coast made headlines in 2023 during a congressional hearing. The incident was a 2014 encounter in which two U.S. fighter jets encountered a dark cube inside a clear sphere that came within 50 feet.
A former pilot testified that the object hovered without movement against the wind at the GPS location and altitude where air combat training was supposed to occur. The jets eventually took evasive action, and the mission was terminated.
Despite submitting a safety report, the pilot said no formal acknowledgment was offered.
Such incidents, the pilot said, were commonly known and talked about by Virginia Beach air crew.
Richmond’s legacy of UFO sightings
As of last year, Richmond ranked second in UFO sightings in Virginia as documented by the National UFO Reporting Center.
The phenomenon really kicked off in the city in September of 1959 when tens of calls from pilots were received by the air traffic control towers at Byrd Field. They were reporting an unidentified object moving through the sky, leaving trails of green flames in its wake.
Those driving in the vicinity were said to have stopped to watch the cigar-like object. However, officials advised the object was simply a meteor
Later reports emerged in the 1960s, with 1966 proving to be an unusual year. Both a Richmond policeman and a Henrico County officer reported seeing sizable dirigible objects moving roughly 300 feet above the ground on the same night.
Sightings spiked again in 1973 with reports clustered around Franklin Street in the city’s downtown area. The Virginia State Police also received several dozen reports that same year of UFOs in the area.
Alexandria is a UFO sighting hub
Perhaps surprisingly, Alexandria ranks third in UFO sightings in the commonwealth, according to the National UFO Reporting Center. As of last year, the city has accumulated 118 sightings since 2001.
Sightings range from white oval objects to helicopter-like objects that collapse in bright bursts.
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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