Close encounter
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 📖 Term
Contents 5
| Type | Term |
|---|---|
| Also known as | close encounters |
| On the Timeline | 2 events, 1972–2005 |
A close encounter is a UFO sighting at close range, where mistaking an ordinary object is considered less likely. The term and its classification were introduced by astronomer J. Allen Hynek in his 1972 book The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry, and were made famous by Steven Spielberg's 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.[1]
Hynek's scale
Hynek divided UFO reports into six kinds. Sightings more than about 150 metres (500 feet) from the witness were classed as:[1] - nocturnal lights — lights seen in the night sky; - daylight discs — objects, usually disc- or oval-shaped, seen by day; - radar-visual — sightings confirmed on radar.
Sightings closer than about 150 metres were "close encounters": - close encounter of the first kind (CE1) — an object seen at close range in some detail; - close encounter of the second kind (CE2) — an encounter with alleged physical effects, such as interference with vehicles or electronics, marks on the ground, scorched plants, reactions of animals or effects on the witness's body; - close encounter of the third kind (CE3) — an encounter in which beings such as humanoids or robots are seen in or near the object.
Ufologist Ted Bloecher later proposed six subtypes of the third kind.[1]
Later additions
After Hynek's death in 1986, his colleague Jacques Vallée added two categories in his 1990 book Confrontations: the fourth kind, in which a person is abducted, and the fifth kind, in which an abductee suffers a physical effect such as injury or healing; these were adopted by the Mutual UFO Network. Separately, Steven Greer used "close encounter of the fifth kind" to mean contact deliberately started by humans, for example through meditation, and this meaning became popular. Further categories proposed by other writers have not gained wide acceptance.[1]
In film
Spielberg's film took its title from the third category. Its posters explained Hynek's three kinds of close encounter, and Hynek made a brief appearance near the end of the film.[1][2]
On the UAP Timeline
- Hynek's The UFO Experience (May 1972) — Blue Book adviser J. Allen Hynek writes that Blue Book was a cover-up and the problem was glossed over.
- Kit Green's injury database (2005) — Kit Green begins a database of people injured in close encounters.
References
- Close encounter — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "What's Behind Steven Spielberg's Lifelong Obsession With Flying Saucers and Extraterrestrial Visitors?", Smithsonian Magazine · smithsonianmag.com · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
No discussion yet.