The Gulf Breeze UFO Incident (1987)
Starting in November 1987, contractor Ed Walters claimed to have been briefly immobilized by a blue beam before repeatedly photographing a ring-lit, saucer-shaped craft above his town of Gulf Breeze, Florida. His photos caused a sensation in the local press, and for over a year, hundreds of residents in turn reported strange lights in the town's skies.
Witnesses
1 photographer, hundreds of residents
Why it endures
A collective phenomenon that outgrew its original witness, with hundreds of independent residents reporting similar sightings for over a year.
Official version (contested)
Ed Walters' photographs were discredited in 1990 when a styrofoam model of the object was found in the attic of his former home. The other testimonies remain unexplained.