The Kingman UFO Crash – A Discreet Downed UFO That Slipped Under The Radar?

Although it is perhaps lesser known than other alleged UFO crashes such as the Roswell incident in the summer of 1947, an apparent crash and recovery of an extraterrestrial vehicle in Kingman, Arizona in the spring of 1953 is potentially one of the most controversial and credible of such claims. In most instances, despite the obvious caution, most such claims usually fall into one category or another. With the Kingman UFO crash, though, compelling arguments are made for both it being a genuine event or something explained with more down-to-earth reasons.

The Kingman UFO crash has been debated for decades, and, as things stand right now, looks set to continue to be so for decades to come, even though the events occurred three-quarters of a century ago, in the first years of the modern UFO era.

As with most such cases concerning downed craft from another world, if there is any truth to the claims, if only in part, it would not only shine considerably more light on the UFO and alien question, but it would force us to alter how we view our own collective reality. Are extraterrestrials coming to Earth and have they been for over 70 years, at least? And if certain discreet agencies have recovered extraterrestrial technology, perhaps even aliens themselves, just how has this been utilized, and just how far ahead have these projects taken them than could even begin to consider?

Indeed, as is clear as we examine this most fascinating case, there is ample reason to continue to investigate such cases, for a variety of different reasons.

The Family Friend With Firsthand Knowledge Of A Downed UFO

According to a chapter written in the book Exposed, Uncovered and Declassified by fellow author and researcher, Nick Redfern, the origins of the apparent UFO crash in Kingman, Arizona can be traced back to 1971. ^[1]

Redfern relays that two young UFO investigators, Jeff Young and Paul Chetham, were investigating reports of the alleged crash, which included not only the recovery of the craft but an extraterrestrial body. He would continue that the pair obtained much of their information via a friend of the Young family, Arthur Stansel, who further claimed that he himself had “firsthand knowledge” of the incident.

Stansel, for the most part, and at least on the surface, appeared to be a credible and reliable witness. He was a veteran of the Second World War who had taken part in the D-Day landings, no less and had since obtained a master’s degree in engineering. Of more interest to the investigators, at the time of the incident in early 1953, Stansel was walking at the “ultra-secret Nevada Proving Ground”, where many atomic bombs were tested, particularly between the spring and summer of that year as part of Operation Upshot-Knothole.

On the evening of 21^st May 1953, however, Stansel would be witness to something a little more otherworldly than nuclear weapons tests. And what’s more, the incident, according to Stansel, was investigated by the official UFO investigations of the 1950s and sixties, Project Blue Book, which at the time, Stansel was even a part of.

A Crippled Craft And The Remains Of At Least One Alien Occupant

On the night in question, the base commander at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio made an out-of-the-blue phone call to Stansel. He would order him to make his way to Phoenix, Arizona, where he would be picked up by a waiting military vehicle and taken to the location of a recently crashed vehicle several miles outside Kingman – a vehicle he was told was a top-secret military project. When he arrived there, however, he felt the downed craft – or what was left of it – was not of any design he had ever previously seen.

He recalled that it was across between a “teardrop and a cigar” shape and was approximately 12 feet long. We should note, that further details were offered years later in 2016 by another UFO investigator, Preston Dennett, who claimed that the object was “metallic, 30 feet wide, and three and a half feet high” as well as being “oval shaped with portholes”. ^[2]

More astonishing, inside the crippled object were the remains of a humanoid occupant – although they were certainly not human. According to Stansel, this humanoid figure was around four feet tall with dark skin and facial features that were unlike a human being. Once more, we should highlight the comments of the previously mentioned Preston Dennett, who claimed there were “two to four, four-foot-tall humanoids” inside the craft, all of which were dead and wore “metallic suits” and had “large dark eyes”. Indeed, we will return to this version of events shortly.

From there, as Redfern further relays, the investigation grew cold. An article did appear, though, in the 23^rd April 1973 edition of the Middlesex News – an article that caught the attention of UFO investigator, Raymond Fowler. Intrigued by the claims, Fowler himself began investigating the alleged crash.

In a bizarre twist, Fowler would eventually discover that Stansel was employed by the same company he himself worked for, and contacting him was decidedly simple. On the afternoon of 4^th May 1973 – almost 20 years to the day that the apparent incident occurred, Fowler walked into Stansel’s office in order to speak to the witness further of what he knew of the controversial claims of downed alien craft and extraterrestrial occupant. And it was here where the tale began to take a series of twists.

Differing Details

Stansel began to tell his account to Fowler. However, it was immediately apparent that there were several distinct differences between this version of events and the one he had recalled to Young and Chetham.

Fowler confronted Stansel with this, to which he responded that he was simply the worse for several martinis at the time he had first told of the incident. Still, at least a little suspicious, Fowler continued with his investigation based very much on the details that Stansel had offered.

The witness had stated to Fowler that upon arriving in Phoenix that May afternoon, he was placed on a bus with blacked-out windows and driven to the location in question. As opposed to what he had told the two young UFO investigators in 1971, his version of events now matched the one that was put forward by Preston Dennett.

Stansel elaborated that when the investigative team looked inside the object, they could see a cabin that was oval in shape and contained several technical screens and advanced devices, as well as two swivel-type chairs. Despite being told that the vehicle was a top-secret military craft, once more, he stressed that everything about it was unlike anything he had ever seen before, and he had sincere doubts that the object was made on Earth.

According to the research of Preston Dennett, the craft, and the occupant, was quickly moved to a discreet military facility – either Area 51 in Nevada, or to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Further studies of the craft, according to information volunteered by Stansel, the craft likely struck the ground at around 1200 miles per hour. Despite this, though, it was only damaged in a very minor way.

Fowler would discover that Stansel had indeed worked in a variety of positions at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio between 1949 and 1960. And what’s more, many of these departments and programs would have indeed dealt with recovered military vehicles, at least officially. In short, despite the discrepancies, Fowler appeared to be a credible witness. And when other witnesses began to approach Fowler over the coming years with their accounts, it appeared that Stansel’s overall version of events appeared to be corroborated.

The Investigations Of Leonard Stringfield

Several years later beginning in the late 1970s, respected UFO researcher and investigator, Leonard Stringfield began writing and speaking of the case. The first of these was at the annual Mutual UFO Network Symposium in 1978.

At the symposium, Stringfield told of an account that had been told to him by a fellow UFO researcher, Charles Wilhelm, who had, in turn, been told of the account from his father that involved a Major Daly, who claimed he had been taken to the site of a UFO crash some time around April 1953 (only a month out from the date offered by Stansel of May 1953).

Further resonating with Stansel’s account, the location was somewhere in the desert, and Daly had arrived there after being placed on a bus and blindfolded. Daly would describe the downed craft as being largely undamaged, of a metallic material, and around 30 feet across.

Stringfield would reveal further details of his investigation into the account two years later in 1980. According to his account, during the summer of 1977, he was approached by a pilot following a UFO lecture at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio. The pilot claimed to Stringfield that he had been present at a UFO crash site in Arizona at some point in early 1953 – a site somewhere in the desert. What’s more, there were several alien bodies recovered from the craft and taken to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The description of these alien entities was remarkably similar to that offered by Stansel, in that they were humanoid but with distinct differences, not least the large eyes and the fact that they were only around four feet tall. This anonymous pilot further offered that one of these aliens was alive when the team arrived but died shortly after.

Stringfield, now more convinced than ever of the possible credibility of the account – at least the basic details of it – would continue investigating it and taking in new information as the years went by. And, by the mid-1990s, had further information to reveal.

It was in February 1994 when Stringfield next revealed new, significant information regarding the alleged UFO crash at Kingman in 1953. According to the researcher, a source he identified only as “JLD” had approached him. And what’s more, he had knowledge of not just one UFO crash in Arizona in 1953, but two of them. However, in a further disappointing twist, Stringfield died a short time later. The identity of JLD remained a complete mystery.

Several years later, though, another UFO investigator would step forward with apparent new information.

The New Information From Judy Woolcott

Following the death of Stringfield, UFO investigator, Don Schmitt came forward following information he had received on the alleged UFO crash at Kingman from a woman by the name of Judy Woolcott.

According to what she told Schmitt, in 1965, she received a letter from her husband who, at the time, was serving in Vietnam, and to say the letter concerned her would be an understatement. In it, her husband told her of a bizarre event he had witnessed 12 years previously (in 1953). What’s more, the location of this apparent crash was near Kingman in Arizona.

Judy would continue that her husband, who was a military officer at the time, and who also happened to be on duty on the night in question, claimed that an unidentified object had been picked up by military radar. It had appeared out of nowhere and appeared to be losing altitude at a rapid rate. Then, it simply disappeared from the screen. According to her husband, something otherworldly had crashed somewhere in the desert near Kingman. And what’s more, several alien occupants had been recovered from the wreckage.

Of more concern to Judy, though, was the intense feeling that her husband that he wouldn’t make it home from Vietnam alive. Whether it was connected to the information he had relayed in his letter or not, Judy confirmed that her husband did indeed die in Vietnam.

The story, though, would take on further twists and turns in the opening decades of the twenty-first century – over half a century after the alleged UFO came crashing to the ground in May 1953.

An Already Strange Case Turns Even Stranger

Woolcott’s claims stood for around a decade. However, in 2010, researcher, Kevin Randle reexamined the case, including the testimony of Judy Woolcott, who had since passed away. Ultimately, he would find ample evidence to treat Woolcott’s version of events with suspicion, to say the very least.

As relayed by Nick Redfern in the previously mentioned book Exposed, Uncovered, And Declassified, Randle would discover that much, if not all of Woolcott’s version of events simply didn’t add up. According to Randle’s research, her husband had not died while serving in Vietnam. And perhaps more damaging, her own daughter offered to Randle that her mother often lied and made-up stories regarding events in her life.

However, in the age of the Internet and instant access to information, debate still raged over just how credible the account of the Kingman UFO crash was, even if such accounts as those from Stansel and Woolcott were off the mark. Might it be that the basic notion of a downed UFO in the Arizona desert at some time in 1953 be more credible than most people might think?

We might keep in mind that the alleged crash occurred in between particularly heavy UFO waves across the United States in 1952 and 1954 respectively. So we know that – whatever they might have been – there was a prolonged and persistent UFO presence over the United States during this time. With that in mind, that one of these otherworldly vehicles might have crashed to the ground during their many missions for unknown purposes.

Unfortunately, along with Woolcott, Stansel has also since passed away (in 2006) and so meaning the Kingman UFO crash will likely remain in doubt – both ways – for the foreseeable future.

Further Revelations Of The Twenty-First Century – The Claims Of Bill Uhouse

Redfern also highlights several developments regarding the Kingman crash of the 2000s. For example, another apparent whistleblower surfaced – Bill Uhouse – who claimed to have worked on several top-secret government projects in Nevada decades previously. ^[3] One of these locations, Uhouse claimed was none other than Area 51.

As well as working with alien technology from downed alien vehicles, Uhouse also claimed that several alien entities – referred to as Extraterrestrial Biological Entities, EBEs – were also housed at the top-secret locations. Even more remarkable, some of these aliens were alive and well, and were even divided into categories for study – small, medium, and grey aliens.

Perhaps of further interest, was the assertion that the reason the public is kept in the dark regarding extraterrestrials and alien technology goes back to a deal organized by President Eisenhower. He would elaborate before his death in 2009 that a “peace pact” of sorts was signed, something arranged between Eisenhower on behalf of the United States, the United Nations, and the extraterrestrial race concerned.

Of course, this would resonate nicely with the assertions that Eisenhower had made a deal with an extraterrestrial race in February 1954 (less than a year after the alleged Kingman crash) for advanced technology in return for a base to work out of in America, as well as access to the population for experimental purposes – essentially, permission to abduct people.

Perhaps of particular interest to us here, though, are the claims from Uhouse that one of those projects was the UFO that had crashed just outside of Kingman in 1953. And what’s more, he would state – the same as Stansel – that four extraterrestrial occupants were recovered from the wreckage, one of whom initially survived but died a short time later.

You can see a short video concerning the claims of Bill Uhouse below.

New Corroborating Evidence?

There was one other particular point of interest that Uhouse offered that could have been corroborated by the release of information that appeared online from an anonymous whistleblower who claimed he used to work for United States intelligence.

Uhouse had offered that several of the recovery team at the Kingman incident had gone on to develop a multitude of health problems that appeared to have been from coming into contact with either the wrecked craft, the extraterrestrials, or both.

According to what this anonymous source stated, the Kingman UFO crash was an actual event, and it was one that did indeed result in the recovery of four alien occupants. The alleged former intelligence officer, however, claimed that of the four, two of the extraterrestrials survived the crash. Perhaps the crucial detail, though, is the assertion that several of the recovery team went on to experience ill health, and this was due to the fact they had come into particularly close contact with the wreckage.

As we might imagine, there have been several different reactions from inside the UFO community from this testimony. While some believe it offers further proof to the fact that an alien vessel did indeed come crashing to the ground in the spring of 1953 in Arizona, others believe that it is merely another false statement with little evidence to back it up.

While it is certainly possible that the anonymous intelligence officer is a credible source – after all, if one was to divulge such secrets they would surely do so under anonymity for obvious reasons – we might suspect that if someone was looking to manufacture such an account, they would not do so anonymously. What would be the point? On most occasions, those who submit false reports do so for attention and/or the possibility of monetary reward, something they could not get while remaining unknown.

There is, of course, a third possibility. That the government or intelligence agencies purposely planted this information in the UFO community as a disinformation exercise. A way of making the waters much murkier than they already are, and possibly to be able to dismiss other testimonies as false all that easier.

Further Information And A More Reasonable Explanation?

We will stay with Redfern’s summary of the case a little further, as he highlights the claims of Marion Shaw, who in 2009 came forward with apparent further corroborating testimony regarding the Kingman UFO crash.

She claimed she had worked as a secretary in the early 1950s at the Pentagon, and what’s more, she worked her way up to working with high-security documents. She went on that she had once been asked to type a report on the apparent Kingman UFO one – a lengthy one at that – and that this report mentioned the recovery of both the craft and extraterrestrials. She would elaborate that the report featured details of the craft and why it was thought it crashed, as well as autopsies on the dead alien bodies.

Despite these many claims, there could indeed be a more rational explanation. Indeed, Redfern summarized by offering such an explanation – that the downed craft was, in fact, a QF-80 aircraft that was remotely piloted and featured a chimpanzee in the cockpit as part of tests relating to the nuclear weapons test – specifically, how the planes and pilots would fair if they had to fly into an atomic cloud.

It is just possible that one of these planes could have crash-landed in the Arizona desert, and, if we assume the wings were lost, the fuselage, as Redfern points out, would appear very much like a cigar-shaped object. As for the apparent alien, it is perhaps reasonable to think – given these animal pilots were wearing basic pilot equipment, including helmets – that these pilots, who would only have been seen fleetingly and from a distance, would mistake them for alien entities.

Furthermore, if we assume these tests did involve the flying through atomic clouds, then that might explain why some of the recovery team felt unwell in the days that followed.

In short, something did happen that day, but it was, as Stansel claimed he was briefed, an accident with a top-secret military aircraft, involving tests the military – in the Cold War environment, no less – wished to keep as close to its chest as possible.

As we might imagine, many people maintain that Kingman UFO crash has more to it than we currently recognize.

Despite The Required Pinch Of Salt, Investigations Must Continue

With of this in mind, then, just what should we make of the allegations that a UFO, a vehicle from another world piloted by extraterrestrial occupants, crash-landed in the desert of Arizona, just outside of Kingman? While the accounts offered by Stansel, and most certainly Woolcott, should be treated with a pinch of salt, there still appears to be something in the suggestion that a vehicle from another world did crash to the ground in early 1953 in the Arizona desert.

That said, we should perhaps mention how credible the suggestion that what was recovered that day was indeed a downed top-secret military aircraft, with the “alien” being nothing more than a chimpanzee.

As we have seen from Redfern’s compelling argument makes perfect sense. And given everything we know of the claims surrounding the apparent crash, this conclusion is arguably the most likely.

We can’t fully discount the idea, though, of alien craft crashing to the ground during the 1940s and fifties (predominantly, although certainly not exclusively) is not that much of a stretch of the imagination. Especially when we consider the sheer wealth of claims that have come from whistleblowers, albeit, many of whom remain anonymous. And while we should by their nature treat these claims with a pinch of salt, there are enough of them to continue to keep poking away at these claims. After all, if only one of them is even partially true, it changes things for all of us.

The video below examines the alleged Kingman UFO crash a little further.