Kera small-UFO capture
- Date
- Sep 1972
- Place
- Paddy fields of the Kera district, eastern Kochi, Kochi prefecture, Japan
- Record
- Curated case
- Assessment
- Explained
- Evidence strength
What was reported
In August and September 1972 several junior-high-school boys said they saw a small glowing object flying over rice paddies and then captured it: a silver hat-shaped object about 18 cm across and 1.3 to 1.5 kg, which repeatedly vanished and was recaptured. Nine pupils and some parents saw the object, but only four claimed to have seen it fly, and only one distant photograph exists. Amateur astronomer Tsutomu Seki first publicised it; he later said a teacher had been told by the central boy that it was made up, and an adult who saw it compared it to a silver-painted ashtray, a cast ashtray matching the description having since been identified.
What officials concluded
No conclusion stated
No official explanation has been given.
Strongest ordinary reading
A schoolboy prank using a painted ashtray, admitted by a participant
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- Yes: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- Yes: Civilian
- No: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- Yes: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Outside sources
- Wikipedia (ja): Kera incidentja.wikipedia.org
On the map
33.56° N, 133.60° E, plotted at the town or city
Show on the map