On the afternoon of July 26, 1975, three Dutch hikers (B., his brother H., and their friend M.), were about to take on the last kilometres of a two-day mountain trip in the Swiss Alps when, at approximately 3 p.m., they allegedly encountered a circular object hovering in the air in front of them. According to the witnesses, the unidentified object seemed to be made of "some sort of metal, not unlike aluminium". It had a dull grey colour and its shape resembled that of an inverted soup plate. According to the witnesses, the strange contraption was "at least 15 metres [approximately 50 feet] in diameter" and appeared to be suspended over the small village of Zwischbergen, at a distance of 100 to 500 metres [328 to 1,640 feet]. B. succeeded in taking a colour slide of the phenomenon. Immediately after the photo was taken, the object started to move and glided behind the trees where it disappeared from view.
The much publicized "Saas Fee" photo from 1975. The picture, taken not in Saas Fee but near the village of Zwischbergen, is a stereotype image of a "flying saucer"-type UFO from the seventies.[© Bernard RIKKERT DE KOE - used with permission]
A picture from 1989, taken by witness H. from almost exactly the same position where his brother was standing when he took his famous UFO photo 14 years earlier. To give an idea of the distances: the tree to the immediate right of the unidentified object in the UFO shot is 115.5 m (approximately 380 feet) away from the camera.
[© Hans RIKKERT DE KOE - used with permission]
Back in the Netherlands, B., H., and M. showed the slide to a fellow member of a local parochial choir, whom they knew was a co-worker of the country's largest (now defunct) UFO group NOBOVO. In the years that followed, the case received worldwide publicity. The slide is usually referred to as "the Saas Fee photo", because of the proximity of this well-known ski resort to the much smaller village where the photo was taken.
The late Dr. J. Allen HYNEK, an astrophysicist who served as a scientific consultant to the U.S. Air Force UFO projects Sign and Blue Book, once referred to the "Saas Fee photo" as one of the best UFO photos ever. At the time HYNEK was generally regarded as the pre-eminent authority on UFO phenomena. In 1977, after conducting a computerized image evaluation, another reputed investigator, UFO photoanalyst William H. Spaulding, concluded that the size of the object was "25-30 feet in diameter" and that it was "'removing' some of the fog/haze layer as it moved toward the camera".
A closer view of the unidentified object. (click image for more detail) [© Bernard RIKKERT DE KOE - used with permission] |
Eight years after details of the case had been published, additional eye-witness testimony surfaced: a group of Belgian tourists reportedly photographed "something odd in the sky" on that same day, at the same time. This second photo was taken from the village of Eison, 49 km (30.4 miles) west of the location where the three Dutchmen had taken their picture.
Corroborative evidence? This photo was taken in the Swiss village of Eison, less than 50 km from Zwischbergen and on the same afternoon of July 26, 1975. An unknown object is visible close to the top frame of the picture.
[© Guido ABTS - used with permission]