THE STORY
On November 11, 1987, Ed Walters, a contractor in Gulf Breeze, Florida, was allegedly immobilized “briefly by a blue beam”, after which he took five Polaroids of an object in the sky outside his home. Walters reported seeing the object hover about 200 feet (61 m) above the ground, describing it as being “‘right out of a Spielberg movie’”. He claimed to have made multiple subsequent visits to the UFO, recording videotape and taking 32 photographs of the object.
Walters further reported witnessing the craft land on Soundside Drive and “deposit five aliens on the road”. He stated that one of the aliens stared into his window, at which point the aliens communicated with him in English and Spanish via telepathy and presented him with a book showing pictures of dogs. A blue beam of light then caused him to be lifted three feet (0.91 m) off the ground. Walters stated that the immobilization in the blue beam happened again on December 2, 1987.
On February 7, 1988, Walters allegedly photographed his wife attempted to outrun the blue beam. Walters also claimed to have communicated further with the aliens; he or his family reported nineteen sightings or encounters over time. On May 1, 1988, Walters reported feeling the alien presence while he was at Shoreline Park after midnight, saw the UFO and took a photo of it, then “lost consciousness for an hour”. Walters stated that the UFO leaked some kind of liquid that continued to boil even nineteen days after he captured it.
FACT OR FICTION?
The Gulf Breeze UFO incident was a series of claimed UFO sightings in Gulf Breeze, Florida, United States, during late 1987 and early 1988. Beginning in November 1987, the Gulf Breeze Sentinel newspaper published a number of photos supplied to them by local contractor Ed Walters that were claimed to show a UFO. UFOlogists such as Bruce Maccabee believed the photographs were genuine; however, others strongly suspected them to be a hoax.
Pensacola News Journal reporter Craig Myers investigated Walters’ claims a few years later, criticizing the Sentinel’s coverage of the story as “uncritical” and “sensationalist”. In 1990, after Walters and his family had moved, the new owners of their house discovered a styrofoam model UFO hidden in the attic. Myers was able to duplicate the object in the Walters photographs almost exactly using the model UFO. Walters later claimed that the model UFO had been “planted” in the attic.
Source: Wikipedia
SIGHTINGS
After the Sentinel published Walters’ photos, both the paper and MUFON received numerous UFO sighting reports in Gulf Breeze. Witnesses described glowing lights, beams, and oblong crafts. A woman reported seeing an orange-lit UFO in her yard at 2 AM. In July 1988, Fenner and Shirley McConnell claimed to see a wingless, disc-shaped craft shining lights on their pier, which Shirley later recognized from Sentinel articles.
On March 17, 1988, Gulf Breeze councilwoman Brenda Pollak saw an orange light over treetops while driving. Her husband, Buddy, was at Shoreline Park with others looking at Walters’ photos when flashes appeared. They returned to find Walters had taken new UFO Polaroids. Brenda later reported another sighting on January 8, 1990. Santa Rosa County Commissioner John Broxson also described a parade of colorful lights hovering above his home.
In November 1987, Art and Mary Hufford saw a gray, silent, oval craft over the treetops, matching Walters’ photos. On February 8, 1989, Jeff Thompson and his son watched a small craft for ten minutes. When Thompson approached with a flashlight, the craft crackled, turned white, and vanished. He also saw a UFO being pursued by two military jets. Tollbooth operator Jerry Thompson and a group witnessed 13 pink-lit objects blinking in an unknown pattern. On January 8, 1990, residents saw eight helicopters chasing a UFO, a claim the U.S. Navy denied.
