The Allagash Abductions
Four friends fishing by canoe at night saw a glowing sphere over the lake, and back at camp, their large fire had burned down to coals.
What was reported
In August 1976, four young men, art students from Boston, were on a canoe trip in Maine's Allagash Wilderness. Night-fishing on Eagle Lake, they said a large glowing sphere rose above the trees and moved towards them, and a beam of light swept over their canoe.
The next thing they remembered was being back on shore, where the big campfire they had built to guide them back had burned down to embers. More than a decade later, under hypnosis, all four described being taken aboard and examined.
Explanations offered
Sceptics point to the unreliability of memories recovered under hypnosis. In 2016, one of the four said the group had exaggerated the abduction part of the story. The other three rejected that and stand by the full account.
- When
- August 1976
- Where
- Eagle Lake, Allagash Wilderness, Maine, USA
- Witnesses
- Four art students on a camping trip
- Status
- Disputed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.