Nightwatch Files

Real encounters.
On the record.

We retell encounters that left a paper trail: a police report, a military memo, a local paper from that week. We tell them from the witness's side, in the order things happened, and we leave the doubts in.

8 case files · 6 countries · 1952–1996 · every source listed

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Case files

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A new file every two days. Each one shows who saw it, what was written down at the time, and the sources we worked from. Image credits are in each video's description.

  1. NW-0031952

    Flatwoods, West Virginia · September 1952

    The 1952 West Virginia MONSTER Encounter

    A group of boys, a mother and a dog climb a hill after a light falls from the sky. They come back down running.

    Witnesses
    A group of boys and a mother
    On record
    United Press report, 15 September 1952

    Sources

    • United Press, "The Monster of Braxton County", Washington Daily News, 15 September 1952
    • Joe Nickell, "The Flatwoods UFO Monster", Skeptical Inquirer 24(6), November 2000
    • Gray Barker, "The Monster and the Saucer", Fate (1953)

    Reconstructed scenes are labeled ILLUSTRATION on screen. Corrections: none so far.

    Watch the file
  2. NW-0041964

    Socorro, New Mexico · April 1964

    The 1964 New Mexico UFO LANDING

    A police officer chasing a speeder hears a roar and turns toward a gully. What he finds there ends up in a Project Blue Book file.

    Witnesses
    1 police officer
    On record
    Project Blue Book case file and FBI documents

    Sources

    • Project Blue Book case file and FBI documents, summarized by The Black Vault (2025)
    • Paul Harden, "The 1964 Socorro UFO Incident", Socorro County Historical Society (2008)
    • Brian Dunning, "Lonnie Zamora and the Socorro UFO", Skeptoid #582 (2017)

    Reconstructed scenes are labeled ILLUSTRATION on screen. Corrections: none so far.

    Watch the file
  3. NW-0071964

    Cisco Grove, California · September 1964

    The 1964 Cisco Grove ROBOT Encounter

    A bow hunter lost in the Sierra climbs a pine tree for the night. Something with glowing eyes waits at the bottom until dawn.

    Witnesses
    1 bow hunter
    On record
    Project Blue Book documents

    Sources

    • NICAP, "Cisco Grove, California: Alien Encounter" (citing Strange Effects From UFOs, 1969, and The Hynek UFO Report, 1977)
    • NICAP, Project Blue Book documents index for the case (2012)
    • Noe Torres and Ruben Uriarte, Aliens in the Forest: The Cisco Grove UFO Encounter (2011)

    Reconstructed scenes are labeled ILLUSTRATION on screen. Corrections: none so far.

    Watch the file
  4. NW-0061966

    Westall, Victoria, Australia · April 1966

    Australia's Most Controversial UFO Sighting: Westall, 1966

    Hundreds of students and teachers watch an object come down behind a school in suburban Melbourne. The official story never quite settled it.

    Witnesses
    Hundreds of students and teachers
    On record
    Newspapers of that week (The Age, 7 April 1966)

    Sources

    • The Age, 7 April 1966; Dandenong Journal, April 1966
    • Richard Saunders, "The Westall UFO of 1966", Australian Skeptics (2026)
    • Star News Group (Dandenong), 60th-anniversary report (April 2026)

    Reconstructed scenes are labeled ILLUSTRATION on screen. Corrections: none so far.

    Watch the file
  5. NW-0051967

    Falcon Lake, Manitoba, Canada · May 1967

    The 1967 Falcon Lake UFO Incident

    A prospector walks up to a craft that has landed on a rock ridge. When it lifts off, he is left with a grid of burns across his chest.

    Witnesses
    1 prospector
    On record
    RCMP reports, Library and Archives Canada

    Sources

    • RCMP reports of 26 May and 10 August 1967, held at Library and Archives Canada
    • Library and Archives Canada, Discover LAC podcast, ep. 53, "UFOs at LAC: The Falcon Lake Incident" (2019)
    • CBC News Manitoba, "Falcon Lake incident is Canada's 'best-documented UFO case'" (2017)

    Reconstructed scenes are labeled ILLUSTRATION on screen. Corrections: none so far.

    Watch the file
  6. NW-0081970

    Imjärvi, Finland · January 1970

    The 1970 Imjärvi UFO Encounter

    Two men skiing near Heinola stop in a clearing at dusk. A light comes down through the mist, and a small figure stands inside it.

    Witnesses
    2 skiers
    On record
    UFO journals of the time (FSR, APRO Bulletin, 1970)

    Sources

    • Terry Hooper-Scharf, "The UFO 'Borderline': The Case of the Imjarvi Skiers" (2022), citing Flying Saucer Review vol. 16 (1970) and vol. 26 (1980) and AFU Newsletters 18-19 (1980)
    • "Remarkable UFO & Humanoid Incident Near Imjarvi, Finland", compiled from GICOFF, APRO Bulletin (1970) and HUMCAT
    • Donald A. Johnson, UFOCAT chronology, January 7 (citing FSR, May 1970, and APRO Bulletin, 1970)

    Reconstructed scenes are labeled ILLUSTRATION on screen. Corrections: none so far.

    Watch the file
  7. NW-0011980

    Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England · December 1980

    The 1980 Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident

    US Air Force personnel follow lights into the forest outside RAF Woodbridge. Their deputy base commander records what he sees on tape.

    Witnesses
    US Air Force personnel
    On record
    USAF memorandum to the MoD and the field audio tape

    Sources

    • Lt. Col. Charles Halt, memorandum "Unexplained Lights" to the UK Ministry of Defence (13 January 1981)
    • Charles Halt, field audio recording (December 1980)
    • UK National Archives, Ministry of Defence UFO files

    Reconstructed scenes are labeled ILLUSTRATION on screen. Corrections: none so far.

    Watch the file
  8. NW-0021996

    Varginha, Minas Gerais, Brazil · January 1996

    The 1996 Brazil CREATURE Encounter

    Three young women cut through a vacant lot and see something crouched against a wall. Weeks of army movement follow.

    Witnesses
    3 young women
    On record
    Army military police inquiry (IPM), released January 2026

    Sources

    • Estado de Minas, original reports, February to May 1996
    • Brazilian Army military police inquiry (IPM), archived 1997, released by the Superior Military Court in January 2026
    • Moment of Contact, dir. James Fox (2022)

    Reconstructed scenes are labeled ILLUSTRATION on screen. Corrections: none so far.

    Watch the file

How we work

Sources first

Before a script is written, every claim in it goes into a fact sheet with the source next to it. If we can't trace a detail back to a report, a newspaper of the time or a named researcher, it stays out or we say it's disputed.

Both sides of the case

Every file gives the best skeptical explanation we could find, and then the part of the witness's account that it doesn't cover. We don't tell you what to believe. The comments usually do that for us.

What's real on screen and what isn't

Archive photos, documents, maps and recordings are real, licensed and credited. Night scenes nobody photographed are illustrated reconstructions, and they carry an ILLUSTRATION label on screen. Some of those illustrations are made with AI image tools. The narration is a synthetic voice.

People in the stories

We never invent a face for a real person. Witnesses who were children at the time appear only as silhouettes. We use public archives, public domain and Creative Commons material, and we don't reuse other creators' videos.

Corrections

No corrections filed yet. Log checked 7 November 2026.

If you think we got a fact wrong, send it through the form below with your source. When we were wrong, we correct the video description, pin the correction under the video and list it here with the date.

About the archive

Nightwatch Files is an independent documentary channel. We stay off screen on purpose: the witnesses and the documents are the story. This page is the public record behind the videos, so anyone can check what each case rests on.

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