Fort Dix–McGuire incident
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 6
| Date | 18 January 1978 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Beings & bodies (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| People | Leonard Stringfield, Jeffrey Morse, Richard Hall, George Filer |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 83 |
| Year | 1978 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1978 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 10 |
The Fort Dix–McGuire incident is an alleged event of 18 January 1978 in which, according to later accounts, a military policeman at Fort Dix in New Jersey shot a small grey being that then died on the runway of the neighbouring McGuire Air Force Base. A document said to confirm the story surfaced in the 1980s and is widely considered a hoax, and no official records support the case.[1][2]
The story
According to the account, a military policeman at Fort Dix encountered a small grey creature early on 18 January 1978 and shot it; the wounded being crossed onto McGuire, where it was found dead on a runway. Air Force security police guarded the body until a team from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base arrived to take it away.[2][3]
Investigation
The story came from an Air Force security policeman whom researcher Richard Hall came to know through Leonard Stringfield; he was later identified as Jeffrey Morse. Hall and Stringfield investigated together, and Stringfield presented the case at the 1985 MUFON Symposium and in his Status Report IV (1985). Researcher Fran Ridge later re-investigated it. In 2019 retired Air Force Major George Filer, who said he was serving at McGuire at the time, published a book supporting the story.[1][2][4]
The document
In September 1985 the CAUS Washington Report, published by Citizens Against UFO Secrecy, hailed an "incident form" as a breakthrough confirming the events. It could not be authenticated, and researcher Barry Greenwood noted that fake government documents were circulating at the time. In 2002 the National Institute for Discovery Science also suggested the case was a hoax. The incident remains unproven.[1][2]
People and topics
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — The Ohio air base that housed Project Blue Book and is linked to the Hangar 18 legend.
- Leonard Stringfield — Former Air Force intelligence officer and NICAP researcher who collected anonymous crash-retrieval accounts from 1978 to 1994.
- Jeffrey Morse — Air Force security policeman linked to the 1978 Fort Dix–McGuire story.
- Richard Hall — NICAP assistant director and author of Uninvited Guests.
- George Filer — Retired Air Force major who promoted the Fort Dix–McGuire story.
- NIDS — Robert Bigelow's research institute (1995–2004) that studied UFOs and other anomalies.
On the Timeline
- NASA physical evidence policy (1978) (17 January 1978) — A NASA memo describes a program to analyze physical UAP evidence.
- State Department "no records" reply (1978) (19 January 1978) — The State Department says it has no UAP records; a requester sends it one of its own documents.
See every 1978 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "McGuire AFB / Fort Dix, January 18, 1978", NICAP · nicap.org · archived copy
- "Fort Dix–McGuire AFB case", NOUFORS · noufors.com · archived copy
- "Alien shot dead in 1978 at Fort Dix/McGuire AFB?", Metabunk · metabunk.org · archived copy
- Leonard Stringfield, "Status Report IV: The Fatal Encounter at Ft. Dix–McGuire" (1985), ThriftBooks listing · thriftbooks.com · archived copy
- 'Alien shot dead in 1978 at Fort Dix/McGuire AFB?' — Metabunk · metabunk.org · archived copy
- app.com · app.com · archived copy
- web.archive.org · web.archive.org · archived copy
- web.archive.org · web.archive.org · archived copy
- paradigmresearchgroup.org · paradigmresearchgroup.org · archived copy
- centerforinquiry.org · centerforinquiry.org · 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.
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