---
title: "Reported UFO sightings in Virginia history"
url: "https://usubjects.com/article/reported-ufo-sightings-in-virginia-history-3887"
updated: "2026-10-01T16:22:37.552Z"
description: "The article compiles reported UFO sightings from Virginia’s history. The provided material contains no details about the individual cases or evidence supporting them."
sources: ["https://vadogwood.com/local/history/ufo-sightings-in-virginia/"]
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Reported UFO sightings in Virginia history

Published: 2026-09-30  
Source: [Google News](https://vadogwood.com/local/history/ufo-sightings-in-virginia/)

### Overview

Virginia lacks the cultural association with UFOs that Roswell, New Mexico, has developed, but reported encounters have appeared across the Commonwealth for decades. The incidents summarized by Virginia Dogwood range from **military installations and waterfronts in Hampton Roads to communities in the Shenandoah Valley**, spanning the 1940s through the modern era. The reports are based largely on eyewitness accounts and historical records; they do not, by themselves, establish that extraterrestrial craft were involved.

Among the earliest cases listed by the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) occurred on **Jan. 1, 1945, near Fort Lee in Prince George County**. According to the account, 25 people observed a multicolored object near the front of the military base along Route 36. The sighting reportedly drew enough attention that motorists stopped their cars and exited to watch as the object rapidly moved away. The available description does not identify the object’s origin or provide independent physical evidence.

### Portsmouth Reports

A second 1945 report came from Portsmouth in July, when a witness said they were sitting on a waterfront wall overlooking the city. The observer described **crimson-red flashes forming a V-shaped pattern at roughly a 45-degree angle**. The lights allegedly moved downward at extraordinary speed, appearing in four separate flashes.

The witness told a local newspaper the following morning and was reportedly informed that others had seen the phenomenon. The account also referenced a separate report involving a **50-foot, white-glowing globe** said to have landed across from the town. However, the material available does not identify the other observers or document an official investigation into either event.

### The Mineral Disappearance

Virginia’s most unusual entry is not technically a UFO sighting. In 1959, the four-member Jackson family disappeared from Mineral, prompting an extensive search and widespread uncertainty. Investigators reportedly considered numerous possibilities, including the possibility of alien abduction. The investigator leading the effort told the *Richmond Times-Dispatch* that he was not prepared to rule anything out before the family was located.

The case ultimately had a **terrestrial explanation involving foul play**, rather than a UFO-related one. Its inclusion illustrates how extraordinary circumstances can become associated with UFO speculation even when later evidence points to conventional criminal causes.

### The 1964 Fishersville Encounter

The most extensively described incident occurred on **Dec. 21, 1964, outside Fishersville near Staunton**. Horace Burns, a gunsmith traveling on U.S. 250, reported seeing a large metallic object descend near the roadway. He said his vehicle’s engine stopped, the object crossed the road and touched down in a field.

Burns described it as resembling an upside-down spinning top, more than 100 feet wide and nearly 90 feet tall, with a blue glow beneath it. After about a minute, he said, the object rose and disappeared following a loud noise. A 14-year-old Civil Air Patrol cadet, Kenneth Norton Jr., independently reported seeing a similar cigar-shaped object outside his bedroom window shortly beforehand. Norton’s mother permitted him to report the sighting after learning of Burns’ account, despite alleged discouragement from doing so.

### Official Review and Context

The U.S. Air Force’s **Project Blue Book** investigated the Burns report, while additional sightings were reportedly made in the Shenandoah Valley. The source material states that Project Blue Book concluded there was no evidence supporting the claim that a UFO had landed, though it does not provide the investigation’s full findings or a definitive identification of the object.

Taken together, the cases reflect Virginia’s long record of unexplained reports—not proof of extraterrestrial activity. **Eyewitness testimony can preserve important historical details, but it is not equivalent to corroborated physical evidence.** Weather, aircraft, astronomical objects, military activity and misidentification are among the possibilities that must be considered when evaluating such accounts.

## Provenance

This USUBJECTS page is a summary or digest of the linked original source. Any accompanying generated visual is an illustrative reconstruction, not evidence.