Van Nuys, CaliforniaJuly 1956

On the evening of July 16, 1956, a resident of Van Nuys, California woke to the sound of his dogs barking loudly. When he went outside to quiet them, he saw a golden, sphere-shaped object hovering about 150 feet away and 40 feet above the ground. As he watched, the sphere moved toward his front yard and descended slowly. Its weight or some kind of force caused one trunk of a large California Elm tree to split and crash to the ground. The object settled 8 to 10 inches above the lawn. Three blonde men, each about six to seven feet tall, emerged from the object without using any visible door or opening. They walked through the wall of the sphere. One of them spoke to the witness in a voice that sounded like a tape recording, saying, "We are from what you call Venus, we are your friends." The witness shook the man's hand and noticed it felt unusually soft. When his dog snapped at one of the men's wrists, all three backed into the sphere, which then glowed and departed silently. The witness felt a rush of warm air but heard no sound.

Three days later, on July 19, the object returned and hovered just above the roof of the house. The witness shouted to his neighbor, and the sphere vanished immediately. He called the police and the local newspaper. The police officer laughed and suggested he had been drinking. A reporter at the Hollywood Citizen News said they had received two other calls about similar sightings that day and offered to interview the witness, who agreed on the condition his name not be published.

On the evening of July 30, the witness was in his backyard feeding his dogs when the object appeared again, hovering 8 to 10 inches off the lawn. Two men motioned for him to come over, and despite his fear, he walked to them. They invited him for a short ride to what they called the "Guide Craft." The witness agreed and entered the sphere alongside the two men. When he asked how they could walk through the wall, he was told they did so by "reversing the polarity of the atoms." From inside, the sphere appeared to be made of translucent glass or plastic. During a rapid ascent of about 30 seconds, the witness glimpsed the ground for only a couple of seconds and felt extreme hunger. He arrived at the "Guide Craft" located 700 miles above Earth's surface. The craft held several sphere-shaped objects attached to its bottom. The witness was taken inside through an airlock into what the beings called the "Master Control Room," a circular space about the size of a high school gymnasium. Several beings worked at desks and instruments, ignoring the witness. He was offered a glass of water with a slightly sweet taste that made him feel calm and relaxed.

The beings answered the witness's questions. They said they were 500 years old and had conquered disease. They reported being 5,000 years ahead of Earth in advancement. When asked about their power source, one being responded with a confusing sequence of words and numbers. The beings said the Guide Craft was 150 feet in diameter and their smaller sphere was 8 feet across. They apologized for breaking his tree and said it was one of only seven accidents they had had in ten years. They told him that over 300 Earth people had experienced similar rides, but none from Russia, which they described as having an evil government (though they added that America's government, while also evil, was the best on Earth to date). The witness saw a television screen showing what they called the "Giganta-Liner," a Venusian ship 15.5 miles long with 37 decks that took 110 years to construct. After about 25 minutes inside, the witness was returned to his backyard. The time was then about 6:25 p.m.

The witness noticed that the lawn where the sphere had landed showed a depression about three and a half inches deep and signs of burning with a strong odor resembling acetic acid. He also discovered that a portion of the broken tree from the first sighting bore marks suggesting it had been pushed or pulled apart rather than cut with a tool.

The Air Force investigated after a long-distance phone call reached the Air Technical Intelligence Center on July 31, 1956. When Lt. Colonel Max Mitchell of the Air Force's Western Office attempted to contact the witness for a preliminary interview, the witness insisted that television reporters and newspaper journalists be present, indicating this was a planned publicity stunt. Mitchell discontinued the investigation. The Air Force later learned that the witness worked as a property and scenery technician for CBS Television and was also a part-time actor. A man associated with the witness who worked at a nearby facility had experience with UFO reports and was authoring books on the subject. The investigator noted that two other callers had reported identical sphere sightings on July 19, but both refused to give their names, which suggested possible collaboration to create a hoax.

The split in the tree could not be definitively explained. While lightning was considered, the Air Force's weather office reported no conditions existed on that date that would produce a bolt of lightning in the Van Nuys area. The wood was not rotten, and the split appeared to have been made by pushing or pulling rather than by cutting. Turf samples from the depressed and burned area were later analyzed. The burned soil showed unusually high levels of cobalt and lead compared to normal soil samples from the surrounding area, though the analysis could not confirm the cause. Various possible explanations were considered, including residue from burning trash containing cobalt glass or the use of lead-containing insecticide or fuel, but no definitive conclusion was reached.

The Air Force evaluation concluded this was a hoax. The witness was described as sincere, intelligent, and high-strung. After suffering public ridicule, he wanted to avoid further publicity, yet the preparing officer noted the possibility of collaboration with the man authoring UFO books to publicize his forthcoming titles. The file contains 47 pages as held by the National Archives.