Within Alabama UFOs
Why Did Alabama See So Many UFOs in 1973?
Alabama's 1973 wave mixed credible police observations with the disputed Metal Man photographs and the effects of intense public attention.
On this page
- The Evergreen police sighting
- The Falkville Metal Man photographs
- How publicity shaped the wider wave
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Introduction
Alabama’s October 1973 sightings are remembered because two sharply different cases appeared within little more than a day. Just after midnight on 16 October, three police employees in Evergreen watched an unusual stationary light for roughly 15 to 20 minutes. The following night, Falkville police chief Jeff Greenhaw said he encountered and photographed a reflective, human-shaped figure after responding to a report of a landed spacecraft.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comformer evergreen police officerDispatches from the LP-OPDispatches from the LP-OP: Former Evergreen police officer remembers Oct. 16, 1973 UFO event…
Together, the incidents capture both sides of the nationwide 1973 UFO wave. Evergreen was a multiple-witness observation by public officials but produced no photograph, radar record or physical trace. Falkville produced striking photographs, yet depended almost entirely on one witness and showed what many viewers considered an ordinary person in a homemade metallic costume. The wave therefore matters less as proof of one extraordinary explanation than as an example of how credible witnesses, ambiguous lights, spectacular claims and intense publicity became mixed together.
The Evergreen police sighting
A few minutes after midnight on 16 October 1973, Evergreen police officers Henry Vickery and Johnny Blackmon walked outside the city hall and noticed an unusually large light in the sky. Vickery later recalled that it had an odd shape, appeared lower than the stars and remained in approximately the same position. The officers summoned radio operator Snow Turner so that a third person could observe it. According to Vickery, the three watched for about 15 to 20 minutes before the light disappeared.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comformer evergreen police officerDispatches from the LP-OPDispatches from the LP-OP: Former Evergreen police officer remembers Oct. 16, 1973 UFO event…
The sighting was not described as a classic disc or a clearly structured aircraft. Vickery was careful in his later account, calling it an unusual light rather than claiming that he had positively identified an alien craft. He placed it in the direction of Cemetery Street or what later became Martin Luther King Drive, rather than directly above city hall as some reports suggested. His caution is important: the surviving testimony establishes that several people saw something they could not identify, but it does not establish its distance, altitude, size or physical form.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comformer evergreen police officerDispatches from the LP-OPDispatches from the LP-OP: Former Evergreen police officer remembers Oct. 16, 1973 UFO event…
The officers followed the reporting procedure available to them. Turner contacted Gene Dubose at the local Alabama state trooper post, and Dubose notified superiors in Montgomery. Television journalists from WSFA subsequently travelled to Evergreen, while the local Evergreen Courant reported the incident in its 25 October edition. This chain of communication gives the case more historical substance than an anonymous story collected decades later. It shows that the observation was reported promptly through police and state channels and attracted contemporary media attention.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comformer evergreen police officerDispatches from the LP-OPDispatches from the LP-OP: Former Evergreen police officer remembers Oct. 16, 1973 UFO event…
Even so, no surviving evidence appears to turn the sighting into a strong technical case. There is no known radar confirmation, astronomical measurement, photograph or official investigative report identifying an unusual vehicle. A bright planet, aircraft seen almost head-on, distant helicopter, celestial object distorted by atmospheric conditions or another light source could all appear nearly stationary when direction and distance were uncertain. None of these explanations has been demonstrated from the available information, but the lack of basic positional data prevents meaningful reconstruction.
The Evergreen case is therefore best classified as unresolved but weakly specified. The witnesses’ occupations and the duration of the observation make casual fabrication less likely, yet police experience does not automatically provide expertise in astronomy, atmospheric optics or estimating the range of a light at night. What makes the report valuable within Alabama’s UFO history is not proof of extraordinary technology, but the combination of three named witnesses, immediate official notification and restrained later testimony.
The Falkville Metal Man photographs
At about 10 pm on 17 October, Falkville police chief Jeff Greenhaw reportedly received a telephone call from a woman who said that a spacecraft had landed in a field outside the town. Greenhaw drove to the area carrying a Polaroid camera. He said he found no spacecraft but encountered a small or human-sized figure beside the road, covered in a highly reflective material. He took four flash photographs before the figure moved away and, according to his account, ran across rough ground with an unusual mechanical gait.[nicap.org]nicap.orgfalkville oct 17, 1973 GreenhawAfter a cursory look around, he found no trace of a spaceship. As Greenhaw continued his search of the are…
Greenhaw described the head and neck as appearing joined together and compared the surface to polished metal or mercury. In later recollections he said that the figure did not respond when addressed, reflected the patrol car’s blue lights intensely and seemed to move as though it had springs in its feet. He claimed that he pursued it in his vehicle at up to about 35 miles per hour but could not catch it.[nicap.org]nicap.orgfalkville oct 17, 1973 GreenhawAfter a cursory look around, he found no trace of a spaceship. As Greenhaw continued his search of the are…
The photographs made Falkville one of Alabama’s most visually memorable UFO stories. Unlike most night-time reports, they present an apparently solid humanoid form rather than a distant point of light. Their existence also protected the case from being reduced to a completely unsupported verbal tale. Copies entered UFO archives and were reproduced in newspapers, magazines and later television programmes; even a press cutting preserved in the CIA’s digitised reading-room collection shows that the photographs circulated beyond local reporting.[CIA]cia.govDAILY NEWSHERE ARE TWO of the shots taken by Falkville, Ala, policeman Jeff Greenhaw (below) of creatures he said were standing in mid…
Yet photographs are useful only to the extent that their origin and contents can be independently tested. Greenhaw was apparently alone at the encounter site. The caller who supposedly reported the landing has not become a well-documented corroborating witness, and no spacecraft was found. There were no reported landing marks, unusual materials, verified physiological effects or independently measured speeds. The pictures show a reflective human-shaped subject illuminated by flash, but they do not demonstrate what the subject was, how it moved or whether the scene was spontaneous.
The simplest sceptical interpretation is that the figure was a person wearing a suit made from aluminium foil, reflective insulation or similar material. Its proportions appear broadly human, while creases and folds visible in reproductions resemble flexible sheeting rather than a rigid machine. The photographs offer no reliable scale because the distance, camera settings and exact terrain were not documented to modern forensic standards. Assertions that the subject ran beyond human capability rest on Greenhaw’s estimate during a night-time vehicle pursuit, not on timed footage or measured tracks.
The case is sometimes defended on the ground that Greenhaw suffered rather than profited. He said that he was ridiculed, received hostile telephone calls and withdrew from public attention. Accounts also associate the episode with the loss of his police position and later personal difficulties, although sources disagree over the exact sequence and whether every setback was connected to the sighting. He later maintained that the original Polaroids were stolen from his home in a 1983 burglary along with firearms.[nicap.org]nicap.orgfalkville oct 17, 1973 GreenhawAfter a cursory look around, he found no trace of a spaceship. As Greenhaw continued his search of the are…
Personal cost can support the possibility that a witness sincerely believed his story, but it cannot authenticate the subject in the photographs. A sincere witness could have been deceived by a prank; alternatively, ridicule and later hardship could follow a failed hoax as readily as an honest report. The strongest conclusion supported by the surviving material is that Greenhaw photographed a reflective humanoid figure. Identifying it as extraterrestrial, robotic or even genuinely unexplained goes beyond what the pictures establish.
How publicity shaped the wider wave
The Alabama reports did not occur in isolation. The Center for UFO Studies’ later reconstruction of 1973 reporting found that national newspaper and television reports increased from late August, reached a peak on 16 October and then gradually declined. That peak date coincided exactly with the Evergreen sighting and came one day before the Falkville photographs.[Center for UFO Studies]cufos.orgCenter for UFO Studies
The timing matters because southern newspapers were already carrying dramatic UFO stories. On 11 October, Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker in nearby Pascagoula, Mississippi, claimed that strange beings had taken them aboard a craft. Their story spread rapidly through regional and national media. Reports elsewhere included police observations, alleged landings and the highly publicised encounter between an Army Reserve helicopter and an unidentified light near Mansfield, Ohio.[Wikipedia]WikipediaPascagoula incidentPascagoula incident
This environment could have increased reporting without requiring all witnesses to be dishonest. Once newspapers, radio stations and police dispatchers were discussing unusual lights, people were more likely to watch the sky, interpret ambiguous stimuli as noteworthy and report experiences they might otherwise have ignored. Journalists also had an incentive to seek local examples of a national story. The immediate arrival of television crews in Evergreen shows how rapidly a modest police observation could become news during the wave.[Dispatches from the LP-OP]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comformer evergreen police officerDispatches from the LP-OPDispatches from the LP-OP: Former Evergreen police officer remembers Oct. 16, 1973 UFO event…
Public attention can affect reports in several ways:
- More observation: people spend longer looking at the sky and notice aircraft, planets, meteors and unusual lighting conditions.
- Lower reporting thresholds: a witness who would normally dismiss a strange light may contact police because similar stories are already in the news.
- Narrative borrowing: descriptions of robots, landed craft or abductions can provide a ready vocabulary for interpreting a confusing event.
- Pranks and copycat incidents: intense coverage creates an audience for staged photographs or costumed figures.
- Selective preservation: spectacular cases such as Falkville are remembered, while ordinary reports and successful identifications disappear from popular retellings.
The wave also unfolded without the central federal reporting structure that had existed during Project Blue Book. The US Air Force terminated Blue Book in December 1969 and ceased operations in January 1970; its personnel no longer routinely received or investigated civilian UFO reports. By 1973, police departments, journalists and civilian UFO organisations were filling that gap, producing uneven standards of documentation and no single authoritative case file.[National Archives]archives.govNational ArchivesPublic Interest in UFOs Persists 50 Years After Project Blue…December 4, 2019 — 5 Dec 2019 — Blue Book operated until…
That helps explain why Alabama’s two best-known October cases survive so differently. Evergreen rests mainly on a local newspaper account and Vickery’s later recollection. Falkville survives through widely reproduced photographs and Greenhaw’s repeated narrative, but lacks the independent documentation needed to establish their circumstances. The imbalance between memorable imagery and reliable evidence allowed the Metal Man to overshadow the more sober Evergreen observation.
What the two cases actually show
Placed side by side, Evergreen and Falkville do not form a coherent sequence of one kind of craft or visitor moving across Alabama. Evergreen involved a distant light watched by three people; Falkville involved a nearby humanoid reported by one person, with no confirmed aerial object. Their proximity in time is significant as evidence of a reporting wave, but not necessarily as evidence of a shared physical cause.
The Evergreen sighting has the stronger witness structure. Three police employees reportedly observed the same light, the event was relayed through official channels and the principal witness later remained cautious about its meaning. Its weakness is the absence of detail capable of separating an extraordinary object from an ordinary light seen under difficult conditions. It remains unidentified largely because the information needed to identify it was never recorded.
Falkville has the stronger visual legacy but the weaker chain of corroboration. The photographs demonstrate that something reflective and person-shaped was in front of Greenhaw’s camera. They do not verify the anonymous landing report, the claimed running speed or an extraterrestrial origin. The costume hypothesis fits the visible evidence without requiring unfamiliar technology, although the identity of any possible prankster has never been conclusively established.
Later reporting has therefore strengthened the historical record more than the extraordinary claims. Interviews preserved names, locations and Greenhaw’s account of the personal aftermath, while archives confirm that the incidents circulated during a genuine national peak in UFO reporting. They have not produced independent film, physical traces, instrument data or additional witnesses capable of resolving either event.[blogspot.com]leepeacock2010.blogspot.comformer evergreen police officerDispatches from the LP-OPDispatches from the LP-OP: Former Evergreen police officer remembers Oct. 16, 1973 UFO event…
Within Alabama’s UFO history, October 1973 is best understood as a concentrated lesson in evidence quality. The state experienced real public concern and several sincerely reported observations, but the surviving cases range from an unresolved light to a probable staged or misinterpreted humanoid encounter. The wave shows how quickly uncertainty can become folklore when official witnesses, dramatic photographs and national publicity arrive at the same moment.
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Endnotes
1.
Source: leepeacock2010.blogspot.com
Title: former evergreen police officer
Link:https://leepeacock2010.blogspot.com/2011/10/former-evergreen-police-officer.html
Source snippet
Dispatches from the LP-OPDispatches from the LP-OP: Former Evergreen police officer remembers Oct. 16, 1973 UFO event...
2.
Source: nicap.org
Link:https://www.nicap.org/falkville731017dir.htm
Source snippet
falkville oct 17, 1973 GreenhawAfter a cursory look around, he found no trace of a spaceship. As Greenhaw continued his search of the are...
3.
Source: cia.gov
Link:https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010012-8.pdf
Source snippet
DAILY NEWSHERE ARE TWO of the shots taken by Falkville, Ala, policeman Jeff Greenhaw (below) of creatures he said were standing in mid...
4.
Source: nicap.org
Link:https://www.nicap.org/chronos/1973fullrep.htm
Source snippet
UFO ChronologyOct. 17, 1973; Falkville, AL Alleged humanoid photo. Police Chief Jeff Greenhaw photographed a 5' foot being in a silvery s...
5.
Source: cufos.org
Title: Center for UFO Studies
Link:https://cufos.org/PDFs/CUFOS_Bulletin/Bulletin017.pdf
6.
Source: Wikipedia
Title: Pascagoula incident
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascagoula_incident
7.
Source: archives.gov
Link:https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/project-blue-book-50th-anniversary
Source snippet
National ArchivesPublic Interest in UFOs Persists 50 Years After Project Blue...December 4, 2019 — 5 Dec 2019 — Blue Book operated until...
Published: December 4, 2019
8.
Source: archives.gov
Title: National Archives Project BLUE BOOK
Link:https://www.archives.gov/research/military/air-force/ufos
9.
Source: nicap.org
Title: NSID DBListingby State Country
Link:https://www.nicap.org/NSID/NSID_DBListingbyStateCountry.pdf
10.
Source: nicap.org
Title: NSID DBListingby City
Link:https://www.nicap.org/NSID/NSID_DBListingbyCity.pdf
11.
Source: prologue.blogs.archives.gov
Title: saucers over washington the history of project blue book
Link:https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2019/12/19/saucers-over-washington-the-history-of-project-blue-book/
12.
Source: unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov
Title: project blue book looking to the film record
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13.
Source: prologue.blogs.archives.gov
Link:https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2018/03/report.pdf
14.
Source: archives.gov
Title: nr20 19
Link:https://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2020/nr20-19
15.
Source: archives.gov
Link:https://www.archives.gov/files/citizen-archivist/images/05-17-2018-sightings.pdf
16.
Source: prologue.blogs.archives.gov
Title: invasion of privacy
Link:https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2018/04/09/invasion-of-privacy/
17.
Source: archives.gov
Title: presidential libraries
Link:https://www.archives.gov/research/topics/uaps/presidential-libraries
18.
Source: declassification.blogs.archives.gov
Title: how to build a flying saucer
Link:https://declassification.blogs.archives.gov/2012/09/20/how-to-build-a-flying-saucer/
19.
Source: Wikipedia
Title: Homme de métal de Falkville
Link:https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homme_de_m%C3%A9tal_de_Falkville
20.
Source: Wikipedia
Title: List of reported UFO sightings
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reported_UFO_sightings
21.
Source: cia.gov
Title: FOIA CASE LOG CALENDER YE[16111550]
Link:https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/FOIA%20CASE%20LOG%20CALENDER%20YE%5B16111550%5D.pdf
22.
Source: leepeacock2010.blogspot.com
Title: today marks 41st anniversary of strange
Link:https://leepeacock2010.blogspot.com/2014/10/today-marks-41st-anniversary-of-strange.html
23.
Source: cryptidz.fandom.com
Title: Metal Man
Link:https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Metal_Man
24.
Source: pdsh.fandom.com
Title: Falkville Metal Man
Link:https://pdsh.fandom.com/wiki/Falkville_Metal_Man
25.
Source: strangeco.blogspot.com
Title: jeff and metal man
Link:https://strangeco.blogspot.com/2025/01/jeff-and-metal-man.html
26.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGYG-FS32VM
27.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4r1dAm-LtQ
28.
Source: thechurchofufology.blogspot.com
Title: jeff greenhaw tin foil alien picture
Link:https://thechurchofufology.blogspot.com/2010/10/jeff-greenhaw-tin-foil-alien-picture.html
29.
Source: metacast.app
Title: The Falkville Metal Man
Link:https://metacast.app/podcast/mostly-true-alien-stories/jM1Brt2V/the-falkville-metal-man—alabama-s-strangest-alien-encounter/ppwB9dkV
Additional References
30.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py2tETQBlRA
Source snippet
"Jeff Greenhaw & The Falkville Metal Man" (The Goods from the Woods Episode #351)...
31.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2V3ViH1Se4
Source snippet
Metal Man of Alabama - Extraterrestrial, Cryptid, or Hoax? Aliens and UFOs in Falkville, AL?...
32.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Metal Man of Alabama
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EDCm-mRAVA
Source snippet
Mysterious Beings Not From Earth Caught On Camera - Part 7...
33.
Source: cullmantribune.com
Title: The Cullman Tribune Do you believe in the Metal Man?
Link:https://www.cullmantribune.com/2021/07/10/do-you-believe-in-the-metal-man/
Source snippet
The Cullman TribuneDo you believe in the Metal Man? - The Cullman Tribune...
34.
Source: youtube.com
Title: The Alien Police Chase of Alabama: The Falkville Metal Man
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q43bT0RqRs
Source snippet
Chief of Police Jeff Greenhaw talks about his 1973 encounter with the Falkville Metal Man...
35.
Source: academia.edu
Link:https://www.academia.edu/47932563/UFO_Abduction_Reports_The_Supernatural_Kidnap_Narrative_Returns_in_Technological_Guise
36.
Source: af.mil
Link:https://www.af.mil/Portals/1/documents/2024SAF/DAF_CRG.pdf
37.
Source: thehorrorcollection.com
Link:https://thehorrorcollection.com/alabama-metal-man-1973-cryptid-or-hoax/
38.
Source: nwcouncil.org
Link:https://www.nwcouncil.org/sites/default/files/AppA_CascadeWildlifeAssessment.pdf
39.
Source: reddit.com
Link:https://www.reddit.com/r/HighStrangeness/comments/e8aq57/jeff_greenhaw_the_officer_who_snapped_a_photo_of/