Close Encounters

2012•2 series

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Most accounts of UFO sightings can be explained by and attributed to normal earthly phenomena. Those that cannot be solved, however, have police investigators, government officials and researchers puzzled, even decades later in some cases. In each episode of `Close Encounters', two stories of alien phenomena around the world are investigated, re-created and reviewed by researchers. In the telling of each one, the programme reveals to viewers facts about thousands of reported occurrences.

Episode 1Terror on the Ranch

A couple spot a huge blimp-shaped craft hovering over Michigan's Lake Erie in 1988. In 1963, two sisters and their housekeeper report being knocked down by a UFO emitting flames. (S2, ep 1)

Episode 2War of the Worlds

In 1993, a teenage girl walking her dog in Shropshire, England, witnesses a cylindrical object in the sky. School kids in Florida report multiple UFO sightings in 1967. (S2, ep 2)

Episode 3Aliens in the Swamp

In 1966, two Ohio police officers spot a strange light in the sky, triggering a chase across state lines. An ex-military man in Florida is knocked out by a beam of light in 1965. (S2, ep 3)

Episode 4Fire in the Sky

In 1977, Amazonian village locals have a frightening encounter when a UFO shoots beams of light at them. An Australian farmer sees a strange object descend from the sky in 1963. (S2, ep 4)

Episode 5Nuclear Nightmare

In 1968, airmen in North Dakota spot a huge UFO over one of the US' most high security Air Force bases. Papua New Guinea village locals report strange objects in the sky in 1959. (S2, ep 5)

Episode 6Hunting Season

In 2000, two brothers spot a UFO the size of six football fields after a hunting in Idaho. A Madagascan city is plunged into darkness when a metal craft hovers overhead in 1954. (S2, ep 6)

Episode 7Alien Assault

Texan farm workers are confronted by a 200-foot long object in the sky in 1957. In 1979, a UFO releases spiked spheres that leave a man unconscious in Scotland. (S2, ep 7)

Episode 8Alien Vampires

In Brazil, three men escape a close encounter. In Canada, a thirteen-year-old boy is blinded temporally after investigating a bizarre object. (S2, ep 8)

Episode 9Bogged Down and Rows and Flows of Angel Hair

A father and son see mysterious lights near their property and call the sheriff's office. A large craft covers a French town in an odd material. (S2, ep 9)

Episode 10Caught on Tape

Local authorities receive over 50 UFO reports in the Chicago area on Halloween night. Multiple sightings of a large flying craft in PA are known as the Buck's County Wave. (S2, ep 10)

Episode 11Hot Pursuit

Four US Air Force reservists are pursued by odd lights. Constable Alan Godfrey loses consciousness when he investigates a strange disruption in West Yorkshire. (S2, ep 11)

Episode 12Screaming UFOs

A hitchhiker is terrified when lights appear to attack him. A sighting in France becomes one of the most investigated cases in UFO history. (S2, ep 12)