Cape Girardeau Crash, Missouri Spring 1941

In the annals of ufology, the topic of UFO crashes is particularly intriguing, with many researchers citing the Roswell incident as the most famous of the alleged crash and retrieval events. However, there was another purported crash that occurred nearly six years prior to the Roswell, New Mexico incident.

Leonard Stringfield, an early UFO researcher and a former civilian consultant to UFO operations at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in the 1950s, published a report in 1991 about an alleged UFO crash near Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in the spring of 1941. This report appeared in the July 1991 issue of his "Status Report," a monthly publication dedicated to UFO research and investigation, and was based on the testimony of Charlette Mann, who was a child in Cape Girardeau at the time. Her grandfather, Reverend William Huffman, pastor of the Red Star Baptist Church in Cape, was reportedly summoned by the local police in the spring of 1941 to a site outside the city where an airplane had crashed. His role was to provide spiritual services to the crash victims. Upon arrival, Rev. Huffman encountered police officers, firefighters, FBI agents, medical teams, and numerous military personnel, whom he assumed were from the nearby Army air base in Sikeston. They were surrounding a disc-shaped object that contained a small metal chair, gauges, dials, and hieroglyphic-like inscriptions on the consoles and interior walls. Additionally, Rev. Huffman observed three entities, or "non-human people," on the ground near the object. Two were positioned just outside the craft, and a third lay a bit farther away. He noted that the beings were hairless, with oversized heads, large eyes, small mouths, and diminutive ears.

After the disturbing experience of viewing the lifeless bodies, Rev. Huffman was asked to pray over them, performing the solemn duty of giving them their last rites. Once he completed this significant task, he was swiftly escorted by military officials to a nearby location where he was subsequently sworn to secrecy. During this encounter, he was given a stern warning to never discuss the crash with anyone, irrespective of the circumstances. Huffman remained unaware of the directives given to others present at the scene, but he distinctly recalled being told, “This didn’t happen; you didn’t see this. This is national security, and it is to never be talked about again.” Given the substantial number of individuals present at the incident, it was highly likely that the secret would eventually be leaked or revealed. Although Rev. Huffman intended to maintain silence regarding his involvement in this extraordinary affair, he found himself not entirely successful in doing so. Among those who eventually learned of the hidden truth were his devoted wife, Floy, his inquisitive granddaughter, Charlette, and the brother of Cape Girardeau County Sheriff Clarence Schade, who would go on to partially confirm the story in a notarized, sworn affidavit, shedding further light on the events that took place that fateful day.

In addition to the numerous accounts of the UFO crash that were passed on to her by her grandmother, Charlette was able to vividly recall one of the very first times in which she became aware of it: “Well, the very first awareness that I had of it (the dead bodies) is actually a picture that my father had, and it was taken during a particular dinner party. At that time, I had overheard various rumors and snippets of information exchanged over conversations, but it was really that picture, an old photograph, because it had … it was like the old Kodaks, with little lines and scallops along the edges. In this memorable image, there were two men holding up a non-human figure, is the best way I can describe it—a little entity...a little person who appeared to be about 4 feet tall. They had him firmly underneath the armpits with arms outstretched on either side of him.” Unfortunately, that intriguing picture was not in Charlette’s possession, and despite the earnest efforts of UFO researchers, they have been unable to locate or uncover it in any archives.