This is also known as the flagship case of alien abduction. Betty and Barney Hill were returning home from a vacation in Canada. On the drive back, Betty observed a bright spot in the sky, which appeared like a falling star. They got out of the car to check the source of the bright light in the sky, and to walk their dog. When they used a pair of binoculars to check the object in the sky, it seemed like it was moving in their direction. What they interpreted to be a commercial plane was actually an odd-shaped spacecraft with multicolored lights, that had started following them. They instantly got back into their car and started driving. The spacecraft then descended very low on the couple's car, and Barney had to stop the car in the middle of the road. They saw several humanoid figures in the spacecraft. Suddenly, there were buzzing and beeping sounds, and the couple lost consciousness. A second set of similar noises brought them back to their senses. Approximately two hours later, when they regained awareness, they were 35 miles towards the south. Also, they had absolutely no memory of what had transpired within those two hours. They took a sudden turn only to see a fiery orb in the middle of the road. When they returned home, Barney's shoes appeared to be scraped, while Betty's dress was torn and had pink powder residue on it. Not only this, but the trunk of their car had marks of shiny, concentric circles. When taken near the circles, the needle of a compass would rotate rapidly, and when it was taken away, the needle would drop. Later, Betty had dreams in which she saw that they both were abducted by gray-colored humanoids to conduct a physical examination to determine the difference between them and humans. Betty also drew a 'star map' which the leader of humanoids had shown her. Today, the spot on the highway where the Hills were abducted bears a marker. This incident has been fictionally portrayed in many films, television series, and books as well.

This is perhaps one of the most believable cases of alien abduction, as it is corroborated by photographic evidence. Police officer Alan Godfrey was crossing the Ilkley Moor in the morning, when he saw a small green humanoid creature. It got startled on seeing him, and started running away. It halted at a safe distance and started giving a signal by waving its right arm and raising it. As Godfrey was carrying his camera, he took a shot of the creature. However, it ran off again and hid behind a rock formation. As Godfrey chased it, he saw a silver colored disc-shaped spacecraft before him which immediately took off. Godfrey later reported that he had a missing time gap of two hours and had absolutely no memory about the same. After hypnotic regression sessions, Godfrey recalled being taken inside the spacecraft, where he was examined by some sort of shiny device. He also recalled that the humanoids had shown him horrible images of the earth's environmental destruction along with other images which he declined to discuss as he had vowed secrecy. He said that the humanoids were four feet in height, had pointed ears, big black eyes, and three large sausage-like fingers. The photo taken by Godfrey was blurry due to the less-than-perfect lighting conditions and fog on the moor. However, the photo was later verified by Kodak, which determined that the object in the photo was original and not added later on. The photograph was also analyzed by a wildlife expert, who claimed that the being in the photograph did not resemble any known animal. Godfrey also noticed that after the encounter his watch had stopped working and his compass was pointing towards the south.

Twenty-three year-old Brazilian farmer Antônio Vilas-Boas was plowing his field when he saw a red star in the sky. The star started approaching him and growing in size. He then observed that it was actually an egg-shaped spacecraft with a rotating cupola and flashy red lights. The aircraft landed on the field on its three legs. Antônio tried to flee from the sight using his tractor, however, when the tractor failed, he started running. He was then abducted by four 5-feet, blue-eyed humanoids in gray overalls and helmets. Inside the spacecraft, he was stripped and covered in a gel-like substance. He was then led to a semicircular room with strange symbols written in red. Here, samples of blood were taken from his chin. He was then escorted to another room, where a certain type of gas was pumped that made him violently sick. After about half an hour, an attractive female humanoid entered the room and they both had physical relations. After it was over, the female humanoid rubbed her belly and pointed upwards, which meant that she planned to raise their child in space. His clothes were then returned to him, and he was given a tour of the ship before being led out. The entire incident had taken place in a span of four hours. Antônio Vilas-Boas later became a lawyer, got married and had children. It is interesting to note that he never recanted his story till just before his death in 1992.

This is one of the most intriguing alien abduction cases, as it had several witnesses. This case was handled by Budd Hopkins, a prominent figure in abduction phenomenon. Linda Cortile was abducted from her bedroom in Manhattan. Around 3:00 am, she floated through thin air to an oval-shaped spacecraft, which was hovering near her window, with gray-colored humanoids with very large heads and no hair. At first, she could not recall many details due to memory loss. However, after regressive hypnosis sessions, she could give details of the spacecraft, her journey, and the medical examination conducted by the humanoids. She explained that she was overcome by a sense of fear of falling when she floated around. The spaceship opened like a clam and she was escorted inside. In the UFO, there were benches, sliding doors, several lights, buttons, and a long table. This abduction was witnessed by two bodyguards and United Nations statesman Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, who was visiting Manhattan. However, the statesman never went public with his testimony. The two bodyguards, who were later revealed as CIA agents, abducted Linda twice to interrogate her as they thought she had a hand in the alien abduction herself. There has been a mention of few other witnesses as well. It is noted that Budd Hopkins did an exceptional job in handling the case.

A group of four men in their early twenties - twin brothers Jack and Jim Weiner, Charlie Foltz, and their guide Chuck Rak - were camping near the Allagash area. On the second night they observed a bright light in the sky, which they ignored thinking it to be a helicopter. However, suddenly the light imploded. On the fourth night, when the men were fishing in Eagle Lake, they saw the bright light again above the tree line. It appeared to be much bigger this time. Foltz took a flashlight and started sending an SOS signal. Suddenly, a bright beam of light flashed from the bottom of the spacecraft and started approaching the canoe carrying the four men. Rak went into a sudden trance while the other three tried to paddle their way towards the shore. However, the light beam from the aircraft covered the entire canoe and the four men. When they got their senses back they were back at their campsite. The spacecraft was still hovering above them; it suddenly imploded and reappeared on other side of lake, and was sky bound again. The fire lit by them just before the abduction was almost out. They did not discuss the incident. Later, Jack Weiner started having nightmares about humanoids having long necks and large heads. He saw the beings examining his arm, while the other three men watched passively. After regressive hypnosis sessions, they all had memories of physical examination, which also included skin and fluid samples. They helped the investigation by painting sketches of the humanoids. They were subjected to psychiatric examinations, and it is interesting to note that all four passed lie-detector tests.

Whitley Strieber, a cult classic horror book writer was vacationing with his family in the Northern part of New York state, where he and his family were staying in an isolated cabin. Due to safety reasons, he had recently installed a security system. At around 11 pm, he switched on the system and the family went to sleep. A few hours later he heard a strange sound and thought it was a burglar. However, when he went to check, he found a humanoid creature in his bedroom. The next thing he realized was that he was in the woods which surrounded his cabin. However, he had no memory of what had happened to him. Through regressive hypnosis, he found that he had floated through the air into a UFO which was waiting in the woods. He then witnessed four different aliens on the ship - one was a robot type, the other was a short humanoid, the third was a thin and frail one with slanting eyes, and the fourth one had button-type eyes. Inside the spacecraft, he was then subjected to many medical procedures, which involved the insertion of a needle in his brain and an object in his rectum, before he was returned to the wooded area. A blood sample was also taken from his finger. Dr. Donald F. Klein diagnosed him with temporal lobe epilepsy, which leads to hallucinations. However, he did not believe in the diagnosis and continued to write extensively on this subject. He went on to form a foundation for supporting alien abductees.

Betty Andreasson was working in her kitchen while her father, mother, and seven children were in the living room. At around 6:30 pm, the lights in the house blinked and there was a bright red beam of light coming from the kitchen window. Her father peeked outside the window towards the source of the light, and saw five beings hopping and approaching the house. They entered the house through a closed wooden door. The leader was about five feet tall, while the others were comparatively shorter. They had pear-shaped heads and wide eyes. They only had a slit in place of the mouth, which did not move. However, they communicated with each other through their minds. They had a blue-colored outfit which bore a bird logo on the sleeves, and a wide belt. Another peculiar thing about the humanoids was that they only had three fingers. The whole family was left in a state of suspended animation. One creature went to Betty's father, while the other four started to have telepathic conversations with Betty. They released Betty's eleven-year old daughter when she showed worry for her children. They took Betty to the spacecraft which was later joined to a mother-ship. On the spacecraft, she was subjected to bizarre medical tests. She was then returned to her house where one of the beings was waiting with her family. Then the humanoids left after removing the family from their trance-like state. She claimed that the aliens had hypnotized her into not recalling any details of the abduction till a certain period of time.

This case is a landmark case, as it helped in understanding the impact and aftereffects of alien abduction on the abductees. Three best friends - Mona Stafford, Louise Smith, and Elaine Thomas - from Liberty, Kentucky had traveled 35 miles from their town to a restaurant to the South of Lancaster. They wanted to have dinner to celebrate the occasion of Stafford's birthday. Sometime after 11:15 pm, on their way back in Smith's 1967 Chevy Nova on Highway 78, they spotted a bright red object in the sky. Suddenly, Smith lost control of the car; it was now going at the speed of 85 mph as if someone else was controlling it. A UFO then came up at the driver's side and then moved ahead. This left the car in a bluish-white beam of light. The car was filled by fog-like air, and was then backed into a pasture entrance. After 1 hour 20 minutes, when the ladies gained awareness, they were in the Chevy en route to Liberty. They were extremely shaken, and had painful burn marks on their body and exposed flesh. There was an inexplicable time gap in their journey which should not have taken more than 45 minutes to complete. Post their UFO encounter, all three women experienced adverse psychological and physical impact. Stafford had an eye inflammation, Smith was finding it difficult to do her duties at work, and all of them had physical scars. Smith's pet parakeet behaved in an odd manner when it saw her after the abduction; it died in March that year. It was strange that changes were observed in objects like the clock, watch, and the car. All three suffered from extreme weakness, ill-health, and weight loss. They went through regressive hypnosis and gave a detailed account of the painful medical tests that were conducted by the humanoids on them. There is also an account of other people who saw the UFO hovering in the sky in and around the area where the abduction took place.

This case is interesting as well as controversial, because of several witnesses and the extensive time spent by the abductee in the custody of aliens. Travis Walton, along with other people, was at work thinning scrub brush and other undergrowth near Turkey Springs, Arizona. Around 6 pm, they started to return to Snowflake in their truck when they saw a silver-colored disc hovering in the sky. As his friend Rogers stopped the truck, Walton leapt out and ran towards the disc. When Walton came nearly below the disk, it started to wobble and make loud noises. Fearing his life, he started walking away, but the disc shot out a beam of blue-green light that struck Walton. He was raised about 10 feet above and was shot back stiffly to the ground. His body lay limply on the ground. Roger sped the truck away thinking that Walton had died. Later, his friends returned to the site where Walton fell to ground. They were surprised to find that he was gone along with the spacecraft. Walton's friends and the police searched for Walton extensively but to no avail. After five days, Walton called his brother-in-law Grant Neff from the Heber gas station. He had nearly collapsed in the phone booth due to weakness and was wearing the same clothes which he had worn on the day of his disappearance. It appeared that he had lost some weight and had not shaved for days. Walton recalled that inside the spacecraft when his consciousness returned, he saw that he was surrounded by three gray humanoid figures wearing orange jumpsuits. He also saw a hangar-like room with other disc-shaped spacecraft. After meeting a few other human-like figures in blue overalls and glass helmets, he was taken to a table where a human-like woman put an oxygen mask on his mouth. When he awoke, he was at the gas station. He noticed that the spacecraft was still hovering in the sky, but soon disappeared. This incident was met with a lot of skepticism, and Travis had to undergo a lie-detection test. Based on his experience, Walton authored a book called 'The Walton Experience' which was later adapted as a film called 'Fire in the Sky'.

Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker were fishing on the West bank of the Pascagoula river in Mississippi, when they heard a loud whizzing sound. There were two blue lights in the sky, and an oval spacecraft appeared near them. Hickson and Parker were immediately paralyzed or numbed. Three humanoid creatures appeared from the craft and took the men inside the craft. Parker initially said that he had lost his consciousness due to fright. However, he recanted his story twenty years later and said that he was conscious during the abduction. The humanoids were five feet tall, their skin was pale and wrinkled, they had slits for mouths, discerning eyes, no neck, and lobster-like claws. They appeared to have one leg with elephant like feet, three carrot-like structures for a nose and two for ears. Their movement was robotic. The abduction lasted twenty minutes, during which they were subjected to a body scan by a round mechanical eye. Parker's medical exam was conducted by a petite female humanoid who communicated with him telepathically. Parker claimed to see the spacecraft again 19 years later. He voluntarily walked aboard the spacecraft and met the same female humanoid. He said that this time she communicated with him in English and gave him a religious message.