Photo Credit: martinroell (Creative Commons)

Gulf Breeze, Fl

The city of Gulf Breeze is situated in Santa Rosa County, Florida. The town proper (as opposed to the wider region with the same postal designation) consists of some 6,500 people and is mostly famous for as the home of the Zoo of Northwest Florida. To tourists with an interest in the weird it is famous as a UFO sighting hotspot, in particular the UFO flap from the 1980s.

The 1987 Incident

The main witness in the 1987 Gulf Breeze UFO incident was Ed Walters, a local building contractor. Beginning on November 11th 1987, Waters reported a number of UFO sightings and encounters. According to Waters he not only witnessed the UFOs but was spoken to telepathically by them.

Waters describes a grey-blue Adamski-saucer shaped UFO which emitted a distinctive humming noise. After he started photographing the craft, it reportedly used a blue beam of some form to immobilise him whilst a voice in his mind told him not to be scared.

What makes this incident more interesting than many other similar ones is that Waters took a number of photographs of the UFO over a period of weeks. These pictures were published in the Gulf Breeze Sentinel, the local newspaper, and the story attributed to an anonymous "Mr. X" rather than Waters.

Sighting or Hoax?

Any "close encounter" is controversial and the Waters incident is no exception.

Doubts were raised about the Waters photographs when it was reported that the occupants of his old house had discovered a model UFO in the attic. The model was a match for those appearing in Waters' photos - and inside the model were house plans in Waters' hand. This discovery has led many to conclude that the whole incident was a hoax.

Waters has denied that any hoax took place, saying that the model was not his work. He attributes the finding of the model to professional debunkers and a misinformation conspiracy.

Despite the apparently damning evidence of the model, there is no concensus on the validity of the Gulf Breeze Incident. It's often forgotten that although Waters was the main witness he was not the only one - his reports were merely the first and hence most famous of a wave of sightings. Many other people also reported seeing the UFOs and some also took photographs.

Personally I agree with those who find it inconceivable that someone could fake the sighting and photos with so much skill then do something as stupid as leave a complete model in the attic! Of course even if the 1987 incident was real it doesn't necessarily mean the UFOs were alien spacecraft. The town of Gulf Breeze is near a naval station and an airforce base, so the idea of a secret military experiment is plausible.

Whatever the truth behind the 1987 flap, Gulf Breeze today remains a hot spot for UFO reports and a popular destination for ufologists, both believers and skeptics.