The 1950s and 1960s were a golden era for UFO hype, and the pages of the intriguing newspaper were plastered with reports of little green men.
Why These Intriguing Newspaper Accounts Still Captivate
From bizarre letters on parchment to scorch‑marked scout hats, each story offers a quirky glimpse into a time when the extraordinary was reported as fact.
10 Letters From Space Beings
A woman from Newtown, NSW, claimed she was receiving letters from extraterrestrials who had taken up permanent residence Down Under. The missives arrived on parchment, each covered in a “mass of gold symbols and drawings” that she insisted foretold Australia’s bright future.
Her neighbour, unnerved by the idea of alien post arriving next door, rang her insurance provider to ask what would happen if a spaceship actually crashed into her house. The insurer reassured her that any damage caused by “aerial devices, or articles dropped therefrom” would be covered.
9 Green Space Dwarfs Attack Farm
In the summer of 1955, the Sutton family of Kentucky reported a midnight visit from “space invaders” they described as “little green men with saucer eyes.” The pint‑sized visitors, about a meter tall, glowed with an inner illumination that lit the entire farm.
Pa Sutton and his relatives stayed up all night battling the luminous intruders. By morning, townsfolk had swarmed the farm, but police found no trace of any “space visitors.”
8 Shot By Ray Gun
Winter 1969 brought a UFO landing in Pirassununga, Brazil. Nineteen‑year‑old Tiago Machado approached the craft, only to be met by four diminutive green beings. One of them whipped out a ray gun and fired, leaving Tiago with swollen legs before the aliens zipped back aboard and vanished.
Witnesses described the saucer as a “ball of fire” pressed between two plates. Investigators later found a circular patch of crushed grass with three symmetrical indentations—presumed tripod marks—at its centre.
7 Alien Rumspringa
Fall 1968 saw two New Zealand youths cruising when a saucer swooped down and began tail‑chasing their car. Panic‑driven, they floored the accelerator, crashing straight through the window of a fruit shop.
Police corroborated the UFO sighting, and the insurance company—already accustomed to fairy‑tale claims—accepted the alien‑related damage without hesitation.
6 Alien Photographers
In a 1954 newspaper account, Petersen recounted an encounter that was printed four years after his death. While walking home, he witnessed two hovering saucers; one landed, its lid popping open to reveal a “handsome” group of alien men and women.
The extraterrestrials pointed a “photographic machine” at Petersen, snapping a colour portrait—a novelty for the era. They also swiped his book, fountain pen, watch, and wallet before spiralling back into the sky.
5 Monster In Flying Saucer
July 1952 in West Virginia, a group of six, led by a 17‑year‑old, trekked up a hill to investigate a reported saucer landing. The teen shone a light into a tree and saw a “bloody red face” atop a glowing green body.
The creature allegedly grew from two metres to three metres within 24 hours. Police arrived, had a good laugh, and noted that nothing further materialised.
4 Little Red Heads
Spring 1950 found the British Air Ministry fielding frantic calls. A bus conductor reported a saucer in the sky packed with “little men with ginger hair.” A second caller, a woman, described a “boomerang thing” with black dots, admitting she couldn’t see the hair because she’d left her glasses in the kitchen.
The mystery was solved when a parachute‑training centre revealed that a stray parachute balloon had drifted away, masquerading as a UFO.
3 Visiting The Italian Alps
In 1952, a man and his wife were scaling the Italian Alps when a saucer touched down on a glacier. A humanoid figure, clad in what resembled a diving suit, stepped out, inspected the craft as if checking for a flat tire, then slipped back aboard and vanished without a sound.
2 Learn The Language Before You Travel
Summer 1954 saw two Norwegian women picking berries when a saucer landed nearby. An alien man with long hair and dark skin emerged, approached them, and seemed eager to converse.
The women tried English, German, and French; the visitor understood none of it. He resorted to gestures and crude drawings, but communication failed. He soon returned to his ship and sped away, leaving the bewildered pair to report the incident to local police.
1 Singed By Flying Saucer
Summer 1952, a Scoutmaster cruising the edge of Florida’s Everglades with three scouts spotted flashing lights. He parked, approached the source, and found a saucer shaped like a half‑rubber ball hovering inches away.
The craft fired a “ball of fire” that singed the hair on his arms and punched a hole through his scout hat. He blacked out, later describing a lingering tingling sensation and a total loss of feeling.