1973 in UFO history
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 📅 Year
Contents 5
| Year | 1973 |
|---|---|
| Events | 6 |
| Decade | 1970s |
| Topics | Beings & bodies (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Nuclear & missile sites (topic), Crashes & retrievals (topic) |
| Timeline | 1973 on the UAP Timeline |
1973 in UFO history — the UAP Timeline records 6 events in 1973, mostly about beings & bodies and secrecy & cover-up. People named in these events include Robert Emenegger, William Coleman, Leonard Stringfield, Linda Moulton Howe, Michael Jenkins.
Overview
In 1973 J. Allen Hynek, then chair of astronomy at Northwestern University, founded the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS), a privately funded research group.[1] He devoted the rest of his life to it.[2] The year's best-known case was the Pascagoula abduction. On 11 October Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker said they saw an oval craft near the Pascagoula River in Mississippi and were taken aboard by "robots" for examination. Hickson declined a polygraph, but Hynek said the men's testimony was sincere.[3] The timeline notes that the site was near the Ingalls shipyard, then owned by Litton Industries, which designed advanced suits for the Air Force and NASA. It asks whether the encounter could have been a military test.[3]
Other 1973 entries concern secrecy. In May, according to the timeline, Air Force colonels William Coleman and George Weinbrenner encouraged documentary maker Robert Emenegger to make a film on UFOs. They offered access to classified footage of a 1971 UFO landing at Holloman Air Force Base, but the permission was later withdrawn. See UFOs: Past, Present, and Future.[4] On 27 October Harold Puthoff told Jacques Vallée that a secret UFO project with an "official charter" sometimes asked whether remote viewing could locate UFO bases.[3] On 28 December Senator Barry Goldwater said he had been refused access to a "room" at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where UFO information was said to be stored, and that General Curtis LeMay had told him never to ask again.[3]
There were also military accounts. In June a Great Lakes Naval Base instructor said the Navy had shot down a UFO over the Pacific and moved it secretly by rail.[5] In October Sergeant Michael Jenkins said his security police squadron at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, was armed and sent out after a large spherical object appeared near nuclear-armed B-52 bombers. See Dyess AFB weapons storage incident.[5]
Events
- UFOs: Past, Present, and Future documentary (May 1973) — Two Air Force colonels reportedly encourage filmmakers to make a UAP documentary.
- Great Lakes shoot-down claim (1973) (June 1973) — A Navy instructor claims a UAP was shot down by a missile and secretly moved by rail to Great Lakes.
- Dyess AFB weapons storage incident (1973) (October 1973) — A security policeman at Dyess AFB says his squadron encountered a UAP near nuclear bombers.
- Pascagoula abduction (11 October 1973) — Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker say they were taken aboard a craft near Pascagoula, Mississippi.
- Secret project asks about remote viewing (1973) (27 October 1973) — Puthoff tells Vallée a secret UAP project with an official charter asked about remote viewing.
- Barry Goldwater and the Wright-Patterson room (28 December 1973) — Sen. Barry Goldwater says he was refused access to a UAP 'room' at Wright-Patterson.
People
- Robert Emenegger — Producer of the 1974 documentary UFOs: Past, Present, and Future.
- William Coleman — Former Air Force spokesman linked to official UFO policy and the 1974 Emenegger documentary.
- Leonard Stringfield — Former Air Force intelligence officer and NICAP researcher who collected anonymous crash-retrieval accounts from 1978 to 1994.
- Linda Moulton Howe — Journalist and filmmaker who runs the Earthfiles website and has reported many crash-retrieval claims.
- Michael Jenkins — Air Force security policeman who described a 1973 incident at Dyess AFB.
- Robert Hastings — Researcher who has collected accounts of UFOs at nuclear weapons sites, author of UFOs and Nukes.
- Charles Hickson — Shipyard worker in the 1973 Pascagoula abduction case.
- Calvin Parker — Shipyard worker in the 1973 Pascagoula abduction case.
- J. Allen Hynek — Astronomer and Air Force UFO consultant from 1948 to 1969 who later founded the Center for UFO Studies.
- Philip Klass — Aviation journalist and leading UFO skeptic.
Nearby years
1972 in UFO history · 1974 in UFO history
References
- Center for UFO Studies — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Unidentified flying object — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- UAP timeline published with Michael Shellenberger's 2024 congressional testimony, entries for 11 October to 28 December 1973 · oversight.house.gov
- UAP timeline (Shellenberger testimony), entry for May 1973 · oversight.house.gov
- UAP timeline (Shellenberger testimony), entries for June and October 1973 · oversight.house.gov
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia articles “Center for UFO Studies”, “Unidentified flying object”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
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.
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