Visitors 1975
We were watching Watergate hearings on television, the war in Vietnam was still at the center of national concern, and bell bottoms were still cool. It was 1975. It’s also the year that the people in Elmwood, WI began having some serious UFO visitations.
This series of articles Visitors 1975 documents the local UFO flap for 1975 in Western Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Northern Iowa. The series includes high-profile cases like the Elmwood sightings, the Mellen, WI encounter, and the famous Medford, MN story as well as several less well-remembered but no less astonishing “close encounters” from the same general geography that occurred over the same general time frame.
Frederic, WI
Dec 2, 1974: Frederic WI William Bosak encounters an object beside road with occupant.
Durand, WI
Jan 21, 1975: Durand, WI Two boys witness a bright hovering object.
Jan 21: Durand WI Odd things in sky seen by several persons.
Jan 29-31: Durand WI Mrs. Al Gund observed a nocturnal light.
Jan 26: Chippewa Falls, WI Keven Guibord observed a nocturnal light.
Feb 1-6 Durand, WI Additional witnesses.
Plymouth Abduction Story
Jan 1975: Plymouth, MN A freaky encounter with a UFO over a Plymouth home.
Jan 1975: MPLS Suburb A woman driving home late at night seems to undergo a frightening abduction.
Posts:
Milwaukee
Jan: Milwaukee George Koleas had a close encounter of the first kind. (W-Files, 61)
Jan 29: Milwaukee Nocturnal light observed, also on July 10 and August 17. (W-Files, 61)
Slush Pump Bar
Feb 24: Frederic, WI Ray Kurkowski observed nocturnal lights at the Slush Pump Bar. (W-Files, 69)
Carole Forster Story
Mar 2: Elmwood, WI UFO pursues and harasses the car of schoolteacher Carole Forster and her three children.
Mar 2: Matton, WI Jim Zahn observed a nocturnal light.
Mar 3: Wausau, WI Nocturnal light observed. (W-Files, 86)
Mellen Story
Mar 13: Mellen, WI An object appears outside a farm on road into Mellen. Authorities called. Same object appears the subsequent day hovering in daylight.
Mar 13: Ashland, WI Ashland WI deputies in Ashland and Iron Counties see four UFOs.
Mar 14: Plum City, WI Snowmobilers encounter a lit craft at night.
Madison
Mar 14: Madison, WI Charles Larson and wife use binoculars at 9PM to watch object that looked like “two plates held together, with one inverted over the other” and a row of lights along the edge.
Superior to Kenosha
April 2: Cass Lake, Bemidji, MN Snowmobilers at Cass Lake, including Mayor Neises and police officer Jim Davies, see lights moving in the sky and view them through binoculars for about an hour.
Apr 3: Across WI State Patrol receives reports from across Wisconsin from Superior to Kenosha in 40 counties of blue-orange object moving through sky.
George Wheeler’s First Encounter
Apr 6: Maiden Rock, WI Jim and Donna Koehler and see bright lights inside and outside neighbor’s empty mobile home, changing colors, blinking red, white, and blue. UFO reacts to them turning lights on and off in their home. They flee in a vehicle and UFO pursues before seeming to land in nearby field. Several other sightings that same night in western Wisconsin and Fox River Valley.
Apr 7: Elmwood, WI Early in the AM hours after midnight, Elmwood Police officer, George Wheeler, sees and apparent flaming ball of fire large cigar shaped craft “big as a football field” pass over Elmwood.
Apr 15: Onalaska, WI Disc seen hovering for a few minutes, and then shot off out of sight. (Mn Mufon/NUFORC)
Summer Close Encounters and Nocturnal Lights
July 8: Washburn, WI Daylight disc observed.
July 28: New Berlin, WI Nocturnal light observed.
Aug 2: Appleton, WI Close encounter of the first kind. (W-Files, 61)
Aug 6: Sturgeon Bay, WI Nocturnal light. (W-Files, 83)
Aug 9: Greenfield, WI Close encounter of the first kind. (W-Files, 71)
Aug 14: Hayward, WI Nocturnal light observed. (W-Files, 71)
Aug 14: Twin Lakes, WI Nocturnal light observed. (W-Files, 84)
Lake Superior
Aug: Duluth, MN and Keweenaw Peninsula, MI Air Force radar base tracked 10 UFOs on radar over lake at 9,000 mph, seven others then appeared over Duluth. (W-Files, 74)
Bayfield, WI
Sep 15: Bayfield, WI Daylight disc observed by Garner Hadland.
Luverne, IA
Sep 19 (or 26): Luverne, IA Six children chased by “falling star” which then hovers over barn through the night.
Tuttle Hill
Oct 20: Elmwood, WI Paul Fredrickson and son see UFO on Tuttle Hill above Fredrickson home.
Algona Stories
Oct 25: Algona, Iowa Bright light seen hovering over highway.
Medford UFO
Nov 2: Medford, MN Object seems to land in football field in Medford, MN.
- Medford, MN UFO Landing
- Video of Medford UFO (UFOdays.net)
Nov 2: Washburn, WI Nocturnal light observed. (W-Files, 85)
Nov 4: Lancaster, WI Close encounter of the first kind. (W-Files, 74)
Nov 5: Fennimore, WI nocturnal light observed. (W-Files, 68)
Nov 6: Patchgrove, WI Harold Posten observed a nocturnal light. (W-Files, 80)
Chasing Tale
Nov 8, Big Stone County, MN Ortonville and Lac Qui Parle County deputies attempt to pursue football shaped object. Reports as far east as Paynesville and far south as Granite Falls, MN and far north as Fergus Falls far West as Sisseton, SD.
Nov 13: Fort Atkinson, WI nocturnal light observed. (W-Files, 69)
Nov 13: Whitewater, WI nocturnal light observed. (W-Files, 86)
Algona Stories
Nov, Algona, IA Eight sightings reported by total of 21 witnesses including two boys near Wesley setting trap lines and a waitress near Algona.
Nov 11, Kossuth Co, IA Oval shaped object seen hovering near Algona Upper Des Moines.
Nov 19, Mount Vernon, IA Three Mount Vernon Iowa residents reported they spotted an UFO southwest of Mount Vernon Monday night.
Nov 23, Algona, IA Bright lights shining on car, hovering, took off Nancy Retzlaff and Dot Smith
George Wheeler’s Second Encounter
Apr 22, 1976, Elmwood, WI George Wheeler’s second encounter
UFO Days and UFO Stories 
