Wisconsin’s Strangest UFO Cases
For decades, Wisconsin was home to 3 separate UFO festivals, with flying saucer parades, extraterrestrial beauty pageants, and tinfoil hats. There’s a good reason for that: We have a lot of UFOs.
Elmwood, Belleville, and Dundee all lay claims to the title of “UFO Capital of Wisconsin.”
There were strange things in the skies even back in the 1930s, when a young Coral Lorenzen witnessed something inexplicable soar over Barron County. This inspired her to seek out and study similar reports – first across the state, and then the world – as she formed APRO, the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, to connect with other researchers, contactees, and abductees across the globe.
While there are innumerable reports of strange lights in the sky or something spooking livestock in the field, there are a handful of particularly bizarre Wisconsin UFO cases that stand out.
Let’s open up those files and take a look.
1. Alien Pancakes in Eagle River
Joe Simonton showing one of the alien pancakes
On April 18th, 1961, a UFO landed at Joe Simonton’s house in Eagle River, Wisconsin. Joe went outside to investigate, and one of the small extraterrestrial men inside handed him a jug to fill with water. Joe brought them water, and then watched as they proceeded to make pancakes. They gave some to Joe, which he said tasted like cardboard. “If that’s what they lived on,” Joe said, “no wonder they’re small.”
2. Mayville Crop Circles
Aerial view of the crop circles in Mayville
Retiree Arthur Rantala was sipping his morning coffee and watching as crop circles formed right before his eyes in the field across the street near Mayville on July 4, 2003. He saw no visible UFO, no beams of light, nothing to indicate the presence of anything that could cause it. It was an unprecedented case, the first known eyewitness to the formation of crop circles. Paranormal investigators, MUFON, and even the US military came out to investigate.
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3. Mellen UFO Landing
Illustration of the UFO that landed in Mellen, WI
An alien craft landed on the dirt road outside the Baker house in the town of Mellen on the evening of March 13, 1975. Jane Baker was outside rounding up the cats for the night when she saw the brightly-glowing object making strange sounds on the road. She ran into the house to get her father Philip. They approached the craft on the road and got a better look at it. It was a large saucer about 12 feet in diameter with a dome about six feet high, giving it the appearance of a turtle. The object was emitting a high-pitched whine, with loud banging sounds emanating from within. The Bakers went back in the house and called the sheriff, but then they heard a loud boom, and the craft was gone. Other Mellen residents reported seeing a glowing object in the sky throughout the night. Jane even saw the UFO hovering nearby in the daylight when she left for school the following morning.
4. Long Lake Crop Circle
A photo of the Long Lake crop circle at Bill Benson’s UFO headquarters
Crop circles usually happen in fields, right? So the fact that this happened in the reeds of Long Lake makes it unusual. Residents of the quiet Long Lake shore awoke one morning in 1995 to discover the reeds in the southern end of the lake had all been bent over, pressed down, and interwoven into a flat circular shape so tight-knit that people were able to walk on them without falling through into the water. Even stranger is that it occurred right by the Kettle Moraine’s official UFO Headquarters of Benson’s Hideaway, where locals and visitors alike had already been gathering for years to discuss their extraterrestrial experiences at the annual UFO Daze.
5. Aliens Love the Packers
Alien artwork by UFO Bob on display at UFO Daze
Robert Kuehn, better known locally as “UFO” Bob, was another Dundee area resident with a history of close encounters. He and Bill Benson started UFO Daze in 1988. But UFO Bob hadn’t just seen a light in the sky. He was in direct telepathic contact with a female alien named Eveata from the Plaidian star system. Eveata visited Dundee frequently, and also liked to catch a Packers game when she was in town.
6. Killed by a UFO in Elmwood
George Wheeler’s UFO encounters in the Eau Claire Leader Telegram
The town of Elmwood (home of the world-famous Elmwood UFO Days) had already been experiencing a bizarre rash of UFO sightings for at least a year when police officer George Wheeler had his fateful encounter on April 22, 1976. Wheeler had driven his cruiser up to Tuttle Hill overlooking the quarry to investigate what he thought to be a fire. When he got there, however, he discovered a glowing, saucer-shaped object. He told his wife that he could see people moving around inside.
“My God, it’s one of those UFOs again,” Wheeler’s voice crackled over the radio back at the station, and then it went dead.
A farmer found Wheeler still sitting in his car at the top of the dark hill. He was dazed, and the vehicle’s electrical system was dead.
Wheeler said the UFO had “zapped” him with a bright blue light, and then didn’t remember anything after that until the farmer arrived.
In the following weeks, Wheeler started to not feel well, and complained of nightmares. He became increasingly more ill, and died less than a year later on February 12, 1977.
Sketch made by George Wheeler of the UFO that zapped him
Have you seen a UFO or had an extraterrestrial encounter in Wisconsin? Tell us about it in the comments below or send us a message.
