Val Johnson Incident
Encyclopedia
In UFOlogy
, the Val Johnson Incident refers to an alleged encounter by Marshall County
, Minnesota
Deputy Sheriff
Val Johnson with a UFO
in 1979.
When the story received national publicity, Johnson told reporters the sudden attention had caused he and his family a great deal of emotional strain. On September 11, 1979, Johnson appeared as a guest on ABC
-TV's Good Morning America
program.
of the Center for UFO Studies
investigated the damage to Johnson's car along with other aspects of the incident and concluded that Johnson had not hoaxed the event. According to UFOlogist Jerome Clark
, Johnson refused to take a polygraph test because he felt that doing so "would only satisfy people's morbid curiosity". In his 1983 book UFOs: The Public Deceived, UFO skeptic Philip Klass
argued that the entire event was a hoax
, and that Johnson had deliberately damaged his own patrol car.
Ufology
Ufology is a neologism coined to describe the collective efforts of those who study reports and associated evidence of unidentified flying objects . UFOs have been subject to various investigations over the years by governments, independent groups, and scientists...
, the Val Johnson Incident refers to an alleged encounter by Marshall County
Marshall County, Minnesota
Marshall County is a county located in the U.S. State of Minnesota. In 2010, the population was 9,439. It's county seat is Warren.-Geography:...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
Deputy Sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
Val Johnson with a UFO
Unidentified flying object
A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...
in 1979.
Incident
Johnson reported that while he was on patrol near Stephen, Minnesota about 2 AM on August 27, 1979 he saw a beam of light just above the road. According to Johnson, the beam sped towards him, his squad car was engulfed in light, and he heard glass breaking. Johnson said he was unconscious for 39 minutes and when he awoke he realized his wristwatch and the vehicle's clock had stopped for 14 minutes. The windshield was shattered, a headlight and red emergency light was damaged and a thin radio aerial bent. Deputies responding to Johnson's call for help found the squad car sideways on the road. Johnson suffered bruises and eye irritation that a physician compared to "welder's burns".When the story received national publicity, Johnson told reporters the sudden attention had caused he and his family a great deal of emotional strain. On September 11, 1979, Johnson appeared as a guest on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
-TV's Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
program.
UFOlogists
UFOlogists consider the incident one of the most significant and best-publicized UFO events of the 1970s. Allan HendryAllan Hendry
Allan Hendry is an American astronomer and ufologist. UFO historian Jerome Clark calls him "one of the most skilled investigators in the history of UFO research." He was the main investigator for the Center for UFO Studies in the 1970s....
of the Center for UFO Studies
Center for UFO Studies
The Center for UFO Studies is a privately-funded UFO research group. It was founded in 1973 by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the Chairman of the Department of Astronomy at Northwestern University in Illinois....
investigated the damage to Johnson's car along with other aspects of the incident and concluded that Johnson had not hoaxed the event. According to UFOlogist Jerome Clark
Jerome Clark
Jerome Clark is an American researcher and writer, specializing in unidentified flying objects and other anomalous phenomena; he is also a songwriter of some note....
, Johnson refused to take a polygraph test because he felt that doing so "would only satisfy people's morbid curiosity". In his 1983 book UFOs: The Public Deceived, UFO skeptic Philip Klass
Philip J. Klass
Philip Julian Klass was an American journalist and UFO researcher, known for his skepticism regarding UFOs. In the ufological and skeptical communities, Klass tends to inspire strongly polarized appraisals. Klass has been called the "Sherlock Holmes of UFOlogy"...
argued that the entire event was a hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
, and that Johnson had deliberately damaged his own patrol car.