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MAY 20, JUNE 20, 1953, BRUSH CREEK, CALIFORNIA, USA, JOHN B. BLACK AND JOHN J. VAN ALLEN:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

John B. Black and John J. Van Allen were two miners who set up a camp on the side of a mountain in Butte County, California, USA. Three years long, they dug there, without having filed a claim, and told about looking for "fissile material" - although later sources said they were digging for titanium or gold. The men's activity rose suspicion of the guard forester as he feared that their campfires could set the brush on fire. Nobody in the area knew exactly were they came from, they just dug each summer and went away in the winter.

On June 24, 1953, Black saw the County Sheriff Captain Fred Preston and asked him whether he knew of flying saucers reports in the area. The Sheriff didn't, and Black then told him that he and Van Allen saw saucers seven times, four times in the air and twice on the ground. He told him that the saucer landed on May 20, and again on June 20, and proposed that it might possibly land again on July 20.

When the saucer landed on June 20, Black had seen its pilot, whereas Van Allen who had see the saucer in the sky on the previous occasions but only saw some traces on the ground this time. The men were not much impressed with the saucers in the sky and did not remember the exact dates, but as for this June 20 landing, Black has much details to tell:

At 06:30 p.m. Black was in the woods, and looked towards the Brush Creek and Jordan Creek junction, when he spotted a small sized person leaning above the water. He thought that it must be a young boy fishing, and thus he wasn't puzzled that much. But later Black went down the hill leading to the creek and saw this person again at only 12 meters of him, taking water in a bucket. He then saw the saucer and understood that the little chap was not a fisherman.

Whimsical saucer magazine editor Gray Barker is practically the only ufological source to provide the description of this character, as obtained by one Paul Spade who stayed four days camping with the two witnesses to win their trust and get their full story.

Black told Spade that the small man was wearing green trousers, a jacket, a tie, a green cap, and had brown hair on the head. Only his shoes seemed weird because they appeared to be of a remarkable flexibility, and although they were easily recognizable as being shoes, they seemed to form an integral part with the feet. He had a walk as if his muscles were stiff, broad shoulders, a robust stature, a nice look, a very pale skin, black stating "he resembled somebody who would never have remained a long time in the sun." Except his small size and his moderately odd clothing, he looked like a normal man.

Black said he watched the small man drew water from the creek with a flat-bottomed and round bucket, which had a handle, but was different from all other buckets, because "the sides were rounded like the segments of a cone," and it seemed to be made of aluminum or some other shiny metal.

Black advanced, but walked of a piece of dry wood, it made noise which was heard by the small man who then looked around the creek but apparently did not spot Black who was hiding in the trees and bushes. The small man then rushed all the same to the saucer not far from him, he climbed its tubular infrastructure with his weird flexible shoes rapped around each bar of the ladder. Then the tubular base of the saucer was withdrawn into the craft's body, which oscillated in the air a few seconds, then took off in a whistling noise.

The saucer description is entirely classical and of the science-fiction movies type. It was shining with a metallic aspect and without visible rivets, of a diameter estimated by Black as of approximately 2.50 meters, and 1.30 meters in height in its center. It had some sort of window on the side. No gas odor nor other substances was perceptible and no visible means of propulsion was observed.

For either the May 20 or the June 20 sighting, Black specified that the saucer was under intelligent control because it was in the middle of trees and tried to take altitude, without having the space to cross the summit of the trees, so it maneuvered intelligently to get out of the woods before taking altitude.

On another occasion, Black had agitated his hat at the saucer and it seemed to answer by oscillating a little.

Whatever Black told the Sheriff on June 24 happened to come to the ears of the Press and received a national attention. Newspapers generally ridiculed the story, but because the saucer might return on the 20 of the next month, on July 20, more than two hundred people arrived in the course of the day to see the saucer and its pilot land again.

Among the curious and Press people were also two cameramen of the Movietone films of United Press and Telenews Corporation with their heavy cameras, one George T. Wolfer, a sales manager of Milwaukee equipped with a modified Bolex cinema camera which allowed shooting in three dimensions and color. Black was interviewed and recorded for KXOC, the Chico local radio station. There was also an archer who planned to knock the space visitor unconscious with pointless arrows to capture him, but other people dissuaded some, recommending a friendlier approach. Lastly, two telepaths had come to read the thoughts or communicate with the space visitor.

No saucer came, and the crowd dispersed.

US Air Force's head of the Air Tactical Intelligence Center had wondered about the stories of the saucer at Brush Creek he had read in the newspapers, and had ordered an investigation. The local Air Force representatives first interviewed local authorities; which revealed that while the two men had not caused trouble in the area previously, their background and origin were quite unclear. As no saucer showed on June 20, the Air Force stamped the report "case closed: hoax."

Gray Barker's correspondent Paul Spade returned in the area for to check if the saucer might return on September 20. He found out that Black and Van Allen had unexpectedly left the area, started to watch for lights in the sky, and ultimately, the County Police found him and thought he was some nut who didn't realize how dangerous it was to spend nights in the mountains haunted by bears and pumas, without carrying a gun. They put him in jail for the night for his own security. Spade, or Barker, seemed to make a federal case of this; Barker used the story in a rather paranoid book about "men who know too much about flying saucers" and the Police intervention at Spade came handy.

Later, the case entered in the US ufology literature, although never being cited as a classic or bulletproof case. Coral Lorenzen, head of APRO, provided a very shortened version on the event, noting that at the time, APRO was just started and they had no ufologists to indicate. she noted that US Air Force was said to have investigated, but as the report was confidential she could not know that they found no evidence and no credibility in the story and labeled it a hoax. She seemed not willing to describe the incident fully and notes that the newspaper had not told all the details. It is apparent that Mrs Lorenzen did not fully believe the story but was nevertheless thinking it was fascinating. She and other sources started to strongly believe that on both landings, the spaceman did exactly the same collection of water in a bucket, although nothing of the sort seem to have been specified initially. The "repetition" of the landing events obviously fascinated ufologists who wanted to reason that aliens are two absurd to be aliens so the landing is of course not a hoax and not an alien landing but something much more paranormal.

Jacques Vallée then put down the alleged saucer landings in his catalogue with two entries, one as of May 20, 1953, the other as of June 20, 1953, without checking anything and in the US version where the man in green suit, tie, and brown hair had become a creature in a parka-like spacesuit. Later still, footprints in the sand Van Allen claimed to have seen became "physical traces" of the saucer landings. From then on, with the exception of "ultraskeptic" ufologist Martin Kottmeyer, who seems to be the only one to remember that the alien had a tie, the deformed and incomplete story lived on and appears today on various website in the form popularized by Vallée.

Basic information table:

Narratives:

[Ref. af1:] U.S. AIR FORCE, PROJECT BLUEBOOK:

The Air Force conclusion was that the case was a hoax:

[Ref. hw1:] HAROLD T. WILKINS:

Harold Wilkins indicates that on June 20, 1953, two miners, John Black, and John Van Allen, reported to Sheriff Captain Fred Preston of Marble Creek, California.

These men were working in a titanium ore mine at Marble Creek, and on May 20, and again on June 20, 1953, they saw a strange silvery object composed of two large disks of metal, 12 feet wide, and 7 feet thick, land on a sand bar, 100 feet from them.

The object was cambered, and on its crown was a plastic observation dome.

A being, like a man of 4 feet tall, human in look, with hair and broad shoulders, came down a rope ladder from the machine which rested on four metal retractable legs.

The being wore a long parka reaching to below the knees, and had a hood thrown back from the head, and sort "of gabardine trousers," forest-green, tied at the ankles, and very flexible-toed shoes of dull black. He had a green cap, black hair, good looks, fair skin, and walked stiffly, and it seemed as if he had not been much in the sunlight.

He took a thing of gleaming metal with flat round bottom, flared out like a section of a cone, drew water, and went back to the machine, inside which something took it from him. Seeing the watching miners, the object took off in a flash over the trees.

When he raced for the thing, the little man put his foot onto a step, and climbed into the saucer through the bottom. He went in as far as his knees, and then raised his legs. Then the landing-gear came up, the disk hung in the air a few seconds, and went off at an angle of 45 degrees, with a hiss. Black saw no rivets, and there was a window on the top side, through which Black could not see from outside. When he waved his hand as the saucer went off, and it seemed to wobble in reply.

Black said he had found two campfire sites near the sand bar, rocks still warm, where these beings had made fires, and five-inch long footprints they had left. He found his compass spun wildly and thought it was caused by an invisible disk near. He has seen them seven times, and always on the 20th day of the month.

The disks he saw are like two soup plates fastened together, and convex, traveling soundlessly, and slip sideways between trees of a wood until altitude is gained. The disk rested on a projecting cylinder.

A correspondent told Wilkins that on July 20, 1953, 200 people turned up near the sand bar, but no saucer-men turned up. The two miners are said not to drink any alcohol, and very indignant to talk about "Buck Rogers comics and bourbon and rye whisky."

Wilkins indicates that the sources are reports from various American newspaper and others.

[Ref. gb1:] GRAY BARKER:

Gray Barker first explains that at the end of the year 1953, he had turned into "what many people who are interested in the phenomenon" call a saucers-freaks. He wanted to understand from where they came, and thoroughly checked the newspapers for saucers news, which were plenty, and thus he stumbled on the Bush Creek, California, case, as reporters and chroniclers abundantly covered the event. The press had generally ridiculed the story, although they noted that owner of the community store had stated that the two witnesses "were not drinking."

Barker then indicates that it was one of the many civilian investigators who helped him gather material for his ufology bulletin "The Saucerian" who stumbled on the story in the press and made him aware of it.

John Q. Black and his associate, John J. Van Allen, carried out excavations in the search of titanium close to Brush Creek, in the county of Hillock, in California. Barker specified that Black saw a flying saucer on seven occasions, four times in the air, and once taking off under his nose.

According to newspapers, Black saw a small man filling a water bucket in Marble Creek. Automatically, he supposed that it was a kid, but quickly changed his mind when he watched the silhouette of the little man climb in a saucer-shaped craft which took off.

Barker says that not knowing why, the story appeared veracious to him, and he wanted to try to solve it, and Paul Spade, an Californian amateur astronomer who had proposed his services in his area to him went to Brush Creek to carry out an investigation that Barker found to be objective. He indicates that what Spade reported was "in final analysis, obviously not a hoax."

Barker indicates that Spade had discovered that the saucer had been observed seven times, including four times in the air but apparently not too close to the ground since the witnesses had not been impressed enough to note the dates of four of these observations.

It was observed twice in the air by Van Allen who never observed it close or on the ground, Black being the only witness for the close range observations.

On April 20, 1953, the saucer was seen within approximately four hundred meters of them, going noiselessly from north to the south against a hillside, and they did not make a great case of that.

On May 20 at 06:30 p.m., Black had climbed the top of a rock located at approximately three meters of the place where Marble Creek and Jordan Creek are joined, and he saw the saucer in hovering above a sandbar at approximately fourty-five meters of him. It then rose in the sky while going towards the east, then descended in the creek with a whistling noise. Black had considered the size of the saucer, not indicated by Barker, and described its shape in detail, and had stated that insofar as he could judge it was the same saucer than in the previous sightings.

That May 20, it was also discovered that "somebody had made a campfire" by the two men who found charcoal floating in the water of the creek and noted that a fire had been lit on a rock. The press had deduced that it was the takeoff of the saucer which had caused this fire. Black had also discovered small footprints of 12.5 centimeters beside this fire and the needle of his compass went crazy although there was no saucer here at this time.

On June 20, Black was in the woods, and looked towards the creeks junction. He saw a person of small size leaning above the water, and thought that he could be a young boy fishing, which thus did not puzzled him.

He later went down the hill leading to the creek and saw again this person at only 12 meters of him, taking water in a bucket. He then saw the saucer and understood that "if he was a fisherman, he came from far away", and moreover he had never seen a fisherman dressed like the little chap.

Barker provides the description of this character obtained by Paul Spade who remained four days camping with the two witnesses to win their trust and get their full story. They told him that the small man was wearing green trousers, a jacket, a tie, a green cap, and had brown hair on the head.

He had particularly weird shoes because they seemed to be of a remarkable flexibility, and although they were easily recognizable as being shoes, they seemed to form an integral part of his feet.

He had a walk as if his muscles were stiff, broad shoulders, a robust stature, a nice look, a very pale skin, black stating "he resembled somebody who would never have remained a long time in the sun."

The two men said that except his small size and his moderately odd clothing, he looked like a normal man.

Black carefully monitored his activity: the small man drew water with a flat-bottomed and round bucket, which had a handle, but was different from all the buckets seen before by Black, because the sides were rounded like the segments of a cone, and it seemed to be made of aluminum or some other shiny metal.

Black advanced, but walked of a piece of dry wood, it made noise which was heard by the small man who then looked around the creek but apparently did not spot Black who was hiding in the trees and bushes. The small man then rushed all the same to the saucer not far from him, he climbed along its tubular infrastructure with his weird flexible shoes rapped around each bar. He climbed in an opening under the saucer, until Black saw no more of him than his legs to the knees, he seemed to sit down and put the legs inside. At the time when he entered the saucer, the craft shook a little. Then the base of the saucer was withdrawn into the craft's body, which oscillated in the air a few seconds, then took off in a whistling noise at a 45 degreed angle.

The saucer was described as two plates stuck face to face with the whole having a convex form. It was shining with a metallic aspect and without visible rivets, of a diameter estimated by Black as of approximately 2.50 meters, and approximately 1.30 meters in height in its center. It was posed on a cylinder, an infrastructure in the shape of a tube with handles at regular intervals, like the iron bars on the telephone poles. It had what Black called a window, because it resembled a window, on the side, but Black could not see inside. The saucer did not have an "observation turret." No gas odor nor other substances was perceptible and no visible means of propulsion was observed. Barker notes that Black could not give a better description.

For either the May 20 or the June 20 sighting, Black specified that the saucer was under intelligent control because it was in the middle of trees and tried to take altitude, without having the space to cross the summit of the trees, so it maneuvered intelligently to get out of the woods before taking altitude.

On another occasion, Black had agitated his hat at the saucer and it seemed to answer by oscillating a little.

On June 24, the chief of the local police, captain Fred Preston, was in the area of Brush Creek to investigate a burgling, and he met Black by chance. According to articles of the press, Black asked to him whether he knew of saucer reports, and as Preston said he hadn't, Black told him: "Well, I've seen one" and told him of the incident, and thus the story was publicized for the first time in the whole world.

Barker notes that although the story was not proven, it drew a national attention, and newsrooms and the Sheriff's office were pressured with phone calls. The chief of the police force could neither confirm nor explain what had occurred, but specified that it was allowed to photograph or capture men from space but forbidden to shoot at them. On this matter, Barker indicates that the press had reported that the two men had asked the Sheriff for the permission to shoot at the visitor from space, but Black had actually simply jokingly asked the sheriff if "the opening of the hunting season gave the right to shoot at spacemen."

After the publication of Black's account in the press, there was a flap of other sighting reports in the area.

As Black and Van Allen had seen their saucer on April 20, May 20 and June 20, they thought that it was not silly to expect its return for July 20.

Paul Spade continuing his investigation, thus decided to visit the Brush Creek area as soon as July 16 in order to be ready for the event, and he was well received by the two witnesses, who did not seem to seek publicity, and spontaneously told him the what had already occurred. Spade stayed with them camping and spending the day fishing from a vantage point for any saucer arrival, but no saucer came.

However, one of these four nights, whereas Spade had left his observation post, Black came to see him and asked him to follow him on the top of the road to observe a light in the canyon. Both saw "a gleam which did not seem to come from only one direction, but from all the sides at the same time." Spade went down in the canyon and managed to see a light which flickered beyond the trees, also seen by Black also saw, but it disappeared quickly. Spade says he also distinguished beams which came from the sky that same night.

On July 20 at 06:30 p.m., more than two hundred people arrived in the course of the day to see the saucer looked at a tree which, according to Black, was the spot where all the saucer landings occurred.

Among these people were Eric Mayell and Thoreau Willat, cameramen of the Movietone films of United Press and Telenews Corporation, who carried heavy cinema cameras focused on the infinite and ready to film. George T. Wolfer, a sales manager of Milwaukee, was there with a modified Bolex cinema camera which allowed shooting in three dimensions and color. Black was interviewed and recorded on tape recorder for KXOC, the Chico local radio station. There was also an archer provided with pointless arrows, the only weapon present. He explained that he would knock the space visitor unconscious with the arrows to capture him, but other people dissuaded some, recommending a friendlier approach. Lastly, two telepaths had come, saying they would read the thoughts or communicate with the space visitor.

At 06:30 p.m., and until hours later, no saucer had come at all and Black was asked if he still expected the return of the small man. He answered; "Of course! I hope to see him during this summer!" He was talking like a man who believed what he said.

He also explained that he did not have a conclusion to offer for "this story," "much too complicated for me. I am only a one minor. I have a clear consciousness, and my criminal record is empty. I know that I will see him again."

The gathering dispersed without incident and with indulgence for Black, and speculations continued. For example a woman of Comstock, Michigan, begged Black and Van Allen not to hurt space visitors, and explained that since they came the 20th of each month, they must come from the Moon. John Gray, a reader of the Chico Company Record, estimated that "no matter what is told about the flying saucers, they do not come from space. A fish can swim because it has a muscle in its tail; but it is not enough. It must also be in an element which is called water. Put it out, pose it on the ground and to you will see it is incapable of surviving. If it had been in water, two undulations only would have been enough to make it leave out of sight". Planes, saucers, "like those that are said to have been seen landing to take of water, are in their element. Their tail turns instead of undulating." To put a flying object out of its element would be catastrophic. Still according to Gray: "When the apparatus crosses the layers of the atmosphere, nobody ca hear the explosions of his rocket engine anymore, since it would not have anymore air on which to rest, and thus it couldn't fly any more... The apparatus would fall down on the layer of the atmosphere, and would probably become unable to fly again."

In San Francisco, an Immigration Services agent laid the basis of the interplanetary laws on immigration, announcing that these interplanetary tourist trips to the United States should be discouraged: "Brush Creek is not an entry point. The men of Mars are not citizens. They are foreigners. Foreigners without a visa delivered by the American consulates cannot enter the territory. There is no United States consulate on Mars, or elsewhere in space." He agreed however to grant hearings to the Martians, and found "inconceivable, however, that this affair does not end in an order of expulsion towards the point of origin, on board the means of transport which brought them here, whatever they are" and at their own expense.

Robert Coe Gardner, a lecturer of San Francisco, explained to the members of the Chico Art Club that Black and Van Allen had been victims of "a psychic aberration" which "resembled a mirage."

Barker adds that in his own bulletin, as a footnote, he noted that Paul Spade had decided to stay to check for a saucer's return on September 20, but was put in jail and had been ordered not to come back in the area ever again. Barker reproduces the text of Paul Spade, which indicates what follows.

Spade arrived at Oroville by bus on September 18 and hitch-hiked to Brush Creek. Going to the general store of the city, he learnt that the witnesses had suddenly disappeared, whereas the other years they hadn't left before the winter storms dislodged them. Spade went to sleep at their camp, looked for traces of the saucer the next day and found none. He was visited by a forester which looked at him "suspiciously". Space spent the next night skywatching and saw a shiny yellow light hovering, "about the size of Jupiter observed by a 20x telescope", he hoped it would land but it left to the south. During the night, the country police came to see him, and took him to the police station for his own safety because the area was infested with bears and pumas and he should have had a weapon. He tells the police that he came to see the flying saucers, and spent the night at the police station.

The next day, the police force thought to let him go, but as he stated that he wanted to go back in the forest to hunt for the saucer, he was asked whether he had already been interned in a psychiatric hospital, and that if anything happened to him while in the mountains the blame would be on the County. Spade sees some sort of conspiracy there. He was not released, his identity was noted and he was interviewed by a psychiatrist in front of the chief of the police force and the prosecutor. He was asked about the saucer which he claimed he saw the night before, but ultimately the psychiatrist proposed to let him go and the judge agreed. The police stressed to him again how dangerous the mountains are, that it is not prohibited to go there, but that they disadvised spending the night there, but Spade wondered whether this was true.

[Ref. cl1:] CORAL LORENZEN:

APRO director Coral Lorenzen indicates that two goldminers, John Q. Black, and John Van Allen, working on their claim near Brush Creek, California, reported two encounters with UFO occupants and announced that there would be a third one.

The first was on in May 20, 1953, when exactly at 06:30 p.m., a flying saucer of silver color, about seven feet in diameter, six feet thick, with a tripod landing gear and a "little dome" in front landed on a sand bar 50 meters from Black.

A "little man" got out, scooped up a bucket of water in a shiny pail and handed it to someone inside the craft. When the little man saw Black, he hurriedly jumped into the "saucer" which took off at high speed, making a hissing sound which resembled "the sound of steam coming out of a boiler."

Black described the little man as "about the size of a midget," very broad-shouldered, wearing "something like a parka", a piece of clothing which covers the head as well as the trunk of the body, and his arms and legs were covered with a heavy tweedlike cloth fastened at the wrists and ankles with "buckles or ties of some kind."

Only Black said he had seen the little men, while Van Allen had only seen the landing marks which he said were a foot wide and looked like the tracks of elephant feet.

The second encounter was on June 20, and was exactly the same event at the same hour of day, with the same saucer, the same little man, the same buckets, the same 50 meters distance.

The owner of the Brush Creek store said the two miners had a very good reputation and were not "drinking men." Both of the men unhesitatingly told their story to Sheriff's Captain Fred Preston four days after the second encounter.

The two men said they expected that the extraterrestrial beings would return on July 20, 1953.

Thus on July 20, 1953, publicity had brought huge crowds of people who wanted to see the "little men" and the saucer. Snack bars were set up so that no one would go hungry during the waiting, but the aliens did not come.

Coral Lorenzen half-jokingly says that as Black had obtained permission from the sheriff to shoot one of them, and that bow hunters were present in force with blunted arrows with which to stun and capture the little fellows, they might have been frightened away.

Because they did not show up, some people conjectured that Black and Van Allen and others had fabricated the story in order to publicize the area for reasons of commerce, but Lorenzen does not buy this theory "mainly because the disappointment of not seeing the little men or their craft on July 20 precluded the appearance of any more sightseers later."

Coral Lorenzen indicates that some of the details were not published in press reports, and at the time APRO was only one and a half years old and did not have a member in that part of California who was willing to make the long trip in the brush country to interview the witnesses.

The U.S. Air Force was notified of the incident, but Lorenzen indicates that she doesn't know whether or not an investigation was implemented.

[Ref. jv1:] JACQUES VALLEE:

In his listing of UFO landing cases, the author indicates that on May 20, 1953, at 06:00 p.m., in Brush Creek, California, miners John Q. Black, aged 48, and John Van Allen, reported that an object, silvery, 2.5 meters in diameter, 2 meters thick, with a tripod landing gear, landed on a sand bar 50 m away from them. An occupant described as a broad-shouldered dwarf wearing clothing that covered the head and the trunk was also seen. His arms and legs were covered with tweedlike cloth fastened at the wrists and ankle. He filled a shiny pail with water and handed it to someone inside the craft. He then appeared to notice Black and jumped into the craft, which made a hissing sound and departed. Vallée indicates that his source is "Humanoids 53".

As a separate listing entry, he adds that on June 20, 1953, again at Brush Creek, California, at 06:30 p.m. the same John Q. Black observed an exact repetition of the scene, including the "little man." Van Allen saw only the landing marks, about 30 cm wide and resembling elephant tracks. The source is the same.

[Ref. ls1:] LEONARD H. STRINGFIELD:

Leonard Stringfield illustrates that there were only very few UFO with occupant cases that arrived to him directly at its CRIFO desk. As exception, he mentions one of these accounts dated 1953, which had two workmen of a gold mine close to Brush Creek, in California as protagonists. These workmen had two encounters, at a one month interval, in the same mining lot, and both had quietly reported to the police force that they had seen a small man dressed of some sort of parka to descend from a silver apparatus posed on the ground on a tripod. The "dwarf" had gone to take water in a bucket, but seeing he was observed, it returned in haste towards his apparatus which left at once while thundering.

[Ref. fr1:] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:

The authors indicate that many world cases show beings which were seen drawing water from a river or a lake, among those, the case which follows, from the Vallée catalogue.

On May 20, 1953, in Brush Creek, California, two miners, John Q. Black and John Van Allen, reported that an object with a tripod landing gear landed on a sand bar. A dwarf with broad shoulders filled a shining bucket with water, carried it in the craft, and seemingly noticing Black, jumped in the machine; which took off emitting a whistling sound. A second being was in the apparatus, who had taken the bucket that was handed to him.

[Ref. tp1:] TED PHILLIPS:

Ted Philipps included this case in his catalogue of UFO physical traces noting that on May 20, 1953, in Brush Creek, California, USA, at 06:30 p.m., miner John Q. Black, saw a silvery disk, 7 feet in diameter and 6 feet thick land on a sandbar within 50 feet of him. He saw a creature about the size of a midget get out of the craft, scoop up water in a shiny pail and hand it inside. The witness and his partner John van Allen saw marks in the sand about 1 feet wide that looked like "elephant feet".

Phillips indicates as source: "The Humanoids, p. 146."

[Ref. un1:] UFONET.IT:

In some sort of "1953 Chronology" list at www.ufonet.it, a summary indicates that in June 1953 at Brush Creek in Butte County, California, two miners watched a very small man "dipping water" [sic] from the creek.

The page has an interesting detail: "A friend of Gray Barker investigates and is soon run out of town by the local sheriff."

[Ref. jt1:] JOSEPH TRAINOR:

[Ref. mk1:] MARTIN KOTTMEYER:

The author indicates in a list of "UFO predictions" that in 1953, two miners reasoned that because flying discs had appeared at Brush Creek, California on April 20, May 20, and June 20, they might reappear on July 20. The June 20 encounter is described by the author as so close that the witness John Q. Black even saw the flying saucer's pilot, "a little guy dressed in green trousers, a tie, a jacket, and a green cap." This witness is quoted saying "He looked like someone who had never been out in the sun much."

Kottmeyer reminds that a crowd of over 200 people gathered to see the saucer come back, including cameramen from United Press Movietone and Telenews Corporation "and a pair of telepaths", but the saucer did not show up and someone attributed its absence to bow-hunters being present.

[Ref. kp1:] KARL T. PFLOCK:

Ufologist Karl Pflock tells that he was a 10 years old kid at the time of the Brush Creek sightings. He recalls that he had his own UFO sighting back then and was a saucer movies buff, already very much interested in the UFO issue.

He indicates that at the time of the Brush Creek sightings, many adults who had previously laughed when flying saucers were mentioned were no longer laughing but instead were watching the skies, as the mysterious disks were an acceptable topic in serious conversation, including around his and other campfires as news of the Brush Creek sightings continued to build over several days.

He indicates that the Brush Creek story came to light on June 24 and quickly received national attention and wasn't brushed off as a tall tale. On that day, titanium miner John Q. Black asked a county sheriff if he'd heard any flying saucer reports lately. When the lawman said he hadn't, Black replied, "Well I've seen one", and began to relate a remarkable story, one of the more unusual and, oddly, neglected in saucer lore.

He continues in the second part of his article:

"Butte County, California, in front of the Brush Creek general store, June 24, 1953, miner John Black relates a difficult to believe story to a county Sheriff, a story he soon would be telling over and over to newspaper, radio, and newsreel reporters. Seven times during the past few months, he and his partner John Van Allen had seen a flying saucer, or at least what looked to be the same saucer each time, near their mine a few miles east of Brush Creek."

"On the first four occasions the silvery disk was flying quite high, and the men didn't take enough interest to note any details, dates, or times of the appearances. On April 20, they saw it much more closely, passing at a distance of about a quarter mile, flying low and silently, north to south in front of a hill. Then, at about 6:30 on the evening of May 20, Black was startled to see the saucer just 150 feet away, hovering over a sandbar at the junction of Marble and Jordan creeks. Moments later, the craft sailed rapidly away to the east, emitting a hissing sound. When Black investigated, he found the remains of a campfire and numerous five-inch, human-appearing footprints in the sand."

"Then the little man showed up. Black was... But this will have to Be Continued, as I have just enough Space left for..."

These were unfortunately Mr. Pflock's last word on the case, as he was severely ill, unable to contribute more, and died soon later.

[Ref. jb1:] JEROME BEAU:

The author indicates that in 1953, May 20, at 06:30 p.m. in Brush Creek in California, two minors, John Q. Black, aged 48, and John Van Allen, saw a silver object of 2,5 meters in diameter, 2 meters in thickness, with a tripod landing gear which landed on a strip of sand 50 meters away. An occupant described as a dwarf with broad shoulders and wearing clothing which covered the head and the body was also observed. Its arms and legs were covered with a clothing of the tweed kind tightened at the wrists and the ankles. The occupant filled a shining bucket with water and brought it to somebody inside, then it seemed to notice Black, jumped in the apparatus which left while emitting a whistling sound. The source is indicated as "Bowen, Humanoids 53".

[Ref. fw1:] FRANK W. WILKINSON:

The author tells about one of the aliens that George Adamski claimed to have met, named "Firkon". Adamski claims he had asked Firkon about the reality of other saucers sightings than his, and Firkon answered that one of the real sighting was the Brush Creek, California, incident in which two titanium miners watched a diminutive humanoid draw water from the creek, then fly away in a hissing metal disc. "Firkon" stressed to Adamski, however, that contacts were being made all over the world by a variety of extraterrestrial groups, and that those involved at Brush Creek were not from the group in contact with Adamski.

Points to consider:

See the summary of the case.

List of issues:

Evaluation:

Hoax.

Sources references:

* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.

• [---] ? Article in the newspaper San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, California, July 19, 1953.
• [---] ? Article in the newspaper Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, July 21, 1953.
• [af1] USAF Blue Book files, available at www.blubookarchive.org.
• [---] ? Investigation files of Ted Bloecher, June 25, 1953.
• [---] ? Article in the ufology magazine APRO Bulletin, APRO, USA, September 1954.
• [hw1] * "Flying Saucers on the Attack", book by Harold T. Wilkins, Ace Books publisher, USA, pp 254-255, 1954.
• [gb1] * "They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers", book by Gray Barker, University Books publisher, USA, 1956.
• [gb1] * "Ils en Savaient Trop sur les Soucoupes Volantes", book by Gray Barker, French translation of "They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers", Bibliothèque des Prodiges, Presse du Chatelet publisher, France, pp 81-83, pp 88-103, 2002.
• [cl1] * "Flying Saucer Occupants, book by Coral Lorenzen, Signet Books publisher, USA, pp 118-119, 1967.
• [cl1] * Article par Coral Lorenzen in "The Humanoids: FSR Special Edition #1, compiled by Charles Bowen, page 53, 1966.
• [cl1] * "UFO occupants in reports from the United States", chapitre par Coral Lorenzen dans "The Humanoids", livre par Charles Bowen, Neville Spearman, 1967.
• [cl1] * "Occupants d'OVNIS dans les témoignages des Etats-Unis", chapitre par Coral Lorenzen dans "En quête des Humanoïdes", livre par Charles Bowen, traduction française de "The Humanoids", J'ai Lu éditeur, pp 176-177, 1974.
• [---] ? Rapport Data-Net, janvier 1970.
• [jv1] * "Passport to Magonia - On UFOs, Folklore, and Parallel Worlds", book by Jacques Vallée, Contemporary Books publisher, USA, 1969.
• [jv1] * "Chronique des Apparitions Extra-Terrestres", French translation of "Passport to Magonia", book by Jacques Vallée, Denoel publisher, France, 1972.
• [---] ? "Les Extra-Terrestres", book by Jader Pereira, page 28, 1974.
• [ls1] ? "Situation Red: The UFO Siege!", book by Leonard Stringfield, Doubleday publisher, USA, page 133, 1977.
• [ls1] ? "Alerte Générale OVNI", French translation of "Situation Red: The UFO Siege", book by Leonard Stringfield, France Empire publisher, page 121, 1978.
• [fr1] * "OVNI - Premier Dossier Complet des Rencontres Rapprochées en France", book by Michel Figuet and Jean-Louis Ruchon, Alain Lefeuvre publisher, France, pp 100-101, 1979.
• [tp1] ? "Physical Traces Associated With UFO Sightings", catalogue by Ted Phillips, CUFOS, page 52, 1979.
• [---] ? Computerized Catalog (N=3173), #0474, by L. Schoenherr.
• [---] ? "HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports", catalogue by David F. Webb and Ted Bloecher, circa 1977.
• [---] ? "World-Wide Catalog of Type 1 Reports", case #0271, catalogue by Peter Rogerson, circa 1980.
• [---] ? "A Geo-Bibliography of Anomalies", by George Eberhart, #0093, 1980.
• [un1] * "1953 Chronology", web page at www.ufonet.it, dated February 21, 1995.
• [jt1] * "The Saucers of June", article in the ufology bulletin UFO Roundup, by Joseph Trainor, Volume 1, #18, June 16, 1996.
• [mk1] * "Still Waiting... A List of Predictions from the "UFO Culture" - Part 2: The List", article by Martin S. Kottmeyer, in the Fortean magazine The Anomalist, 1998.
• [kp1] * Article by Karl T. Pflock in the ufology satirical bulletin Saucer Smear, edited by James Moseley, Volume 52, #7 (Whole Number #383), August 15, 2005, continued in Volume 52, #8, September 15, 2005.
• [jb1] * "1953", web page by Jérôme Beau, circa 2006, at rr0.org/data/1953/
• [fw1] ? "The Golden Age of Flying Saucers", book by Frank G. Wilkinson, New Paradigm Press, USA, Part IV, 2006.

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