1957 Levelland, Texas UFO Case

Let’s be honest—over the last century, alleged UFO sightings have not been a rare occurrence. All it takes is an internet search with the right keywords and one can find enough anecdotal stories to fill volumes. What’s one of the most important questions to ask when a sighting occurs…? How many people saw it, of course! For that reason, the UFO sightings that occurred on the night and early morning of November 2nd and 3rd, 1957 present a strong case that something truly unexplained happened on the Texas prairie that fall night.

Manning the police station on that night was Patrolman AJ Fowler. Over the course of two and a half hours, Fowler would receive fifteen separate calls from witnesses near Levelland. Each of them reported seeing an unidentified craft as they were driving. Some reports were that the craft was only flying. Many, however, reported that the craft was either sitting on the road when they approached it or that the flying craft stopped and landed on the road. It was described as cigar or egg-shaped, between one hundred twenty-five and two hundred feet long, and wide enough to cover the entire road when it was on the ground. The craft was said to be either reddish-orange or bluish-green. Also, most of the witnesses that called into the station experienced engine trouble as they approached the object. In each account, the craft eventually departed the area, and each time the vehicles engines suddenly sputtered back to life.    

After receiving many of the calls, Officer Fowler called other police patrol cars in the area to investigate. Subsequently, Fowler received reports from two separate officers that they had seen two objects in the sky with extremely bright lights. The most credible accounts came around 1:30 in the morning when Sheriff Clem saw a bright red object moving in the dark night above. Shortly thereafter, Levelland Fire Chief Ray Jones saw an object in the sky, too. Unlike the other officers who had not experienced engine problems, Chief Jones’ vehicle’s engine and lights sputtered. Then, the excitement died down, and no other sightings occurred.

The claims were investigated by the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book, which was created for the purpose of investigating UFO reports across America. After interviewing eyewitnesses, Project Blue Book attributed the events of that night simply to ball lightning. 

So, what really happened that night near Levelland, Texas? As is usually the case with UFO’s, we’ll probably never truly know. However, much more than a lone, drunk person who saw “something” in the sky, these fifteen reports build an impressively comprehensive case. Due to that, the Levelland UFO sightings are much harder to dismiss with a simple roll of the eyes than many other UFO encounters.