August 1, 2025 • 30 mins
In 1972, a group of schoolboys in Kera, Japan, claimed to have encountered a tiny silver UFO—and even captured it, twice. What followed was a bizarre tale of vanishing evidence, strange lights, and one of the most overlooked close encounters in UFO history.
Written by Diane Hope and produced by Richard MacLean Smith
Find us at youtube.com/@unexplainedpod, tiktok.com/@unexplainedpodcast, twitter @unexplainedpod, facebook.com/unexplainedpodcast or www.unexplainedpodcast.com for more info. Thank you for listening.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, it's Richard mccleinsmith here with a quick update before
we dive into today's episode. Unexplained is very excited to
be a part of Crime Wave at Sea this November,
joining forces with some of the eeriest voices in the
world of true crime and the paranormal four Nights in
the Caribbean, with amazing podcasts like Last Podcast on the Left,
(00:20):
Scared to Death and many more live shows Meet and greets,
Creepy Stories under the Stars and you can be there too,
but don't wait. Rooms are nearly sold out. Head to
Crimewave Atsea dot com forward slash Unexplained to grab your
fan coat and lock in your cabin. We'd love to
see you on board. Mid Ceo. CEO had nothing in
(00:54):
particular on his mind as he walked home from school
in Kerr, on the outskirts of Cossi City on Japan's
southern island of sik Outside of its main cities, Sikoku
is largely rural, with farm land, mountains and a picturesque
coast line. It's known as a place people go to
(01:14):
to get away from the bustle of city life, and
it was a very quiet afternoon on August twenty fifth,
nineteen seventy two, as the thirteen year old Misio walked
home down the street, surrounded by rice paddies, the stalks
of the rice wavering languidly in the breeze, as dragonflies
(01:34):
flitted about. Small clusters of houses and trees were dotted
all around. Sitting under the watchful eye of the mountains
to the north, just visible behind a dense summer haze,
it seemed just like any other day in the teenager's
daily routine. Just then, the boy, as he would later
(01:57):
describe it, glimpse something strange out of the corner of
his eye. It hovered low over the ground, then began
rapidly zigzagging back and forth across the field. It reminded
Midzio of a bat, with sudden, sharp, darting changes of direction,
except that the movements seemed unnatural, al most robotic, and
(02:20):
the object was most definitely not a bat or a bird.
It was a small, dull, silver metallic object with a
bell shaped dome, a flat base, and a narrow rim.
It looked a little like a miniature metal brimmed hat. Mesmerized,
Midzio stood frozen in place, not sure whether to feel
(02:43):
excited or scared. With his curiosity getting the better of him,
he began making his way into the rice paddy, cautiously
walking towards the object, picking his way around the muddy
patches and small puddles of standing water. But just as
he began to approach it, the object stopped, suddenly hovered
(03:04):
in mid air, then lit up with a faint blue glow.
A beam of bright light shot out in Mitzio's direction. Terrified,
the boy turned on his heels and ran frantically all
the way home, without stopping for breath or once turning
to look back. It was the beginning of one of
(03:26):
the most unusual supposed UFO encounters of all time, because
not only would the object be seen again and again
by the schoolboy and his friends. According to them, they
also captured it. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard
McLean Smith, as the story goes. By the time Mitzio
(03:56):
got home, all he wanted to do was tell someone
else else about his extraordinary experience, but not his parents.
He knew they wouldn't believe him, so he quickly called
on his four closest friends, Hirosi, Maury, Katsuoko, Kojima, Yasuo, Fujimoto,
and Yuji, and invited them all back to his house.
(04:19):
In an excited huddle in Mitzio's bedroom, the boys leaned
in expectantly, waiting for Mitzio to tell them his secret.
From his glowing eyes and slightly disheveled appearance, they could
tell that what he had to say was going to
be something worth hearing and maybe a little bit frightening.
But when Mitzio was done sharing his story, he was
(04:42):
met only with confused and blank stairs. Was this some
kind of a joke, his friends asked, No, said Mitzio,
insisting it was all exactly as he described it, But
the friends weren't convinced. Nonetheless, they were in read enough
to take up Mitzio's offer to try and find the
(05:03):
thing again. The five teens jumped onto their bikes and
set off for the rice paddy in search of the
supposed strange object. They arrived sometime around seven pm, during
the magic hour, when all about was bathed in the warm,
golden haze of dusk. Together they stood in the quiet
(05:25):
of the countryside, staring out over the paddy fields as
insects chirped and chirruped. The boys would later recount how
they sat down to wait, patiently, passing the time with
idle chitchat. Then, after almost an hour, they heard a
faint clicking sound. Looking toward where it was coming from,
(05:48):
the boys watched, open mouthed as one after another court
sight of the weird object hovering over the rice field
twenty yards away. They discos arribed it later as being
like a little tin hat or a bell shaped dome
that was flitting about to and fro, just like Mitsio
(06:09):
had apparently seen earlier. As darkness began to fall, the
boys continued to watch as the object began emitting a pulsating,
multi colored array of lights. Wanting to get a closer look,
the boys ventured out into the rice paddy together, but,
just like it had apparently done with Mitsio, as they
(06:31):
edged closer, the object suddenly let out a series of
loud clicks and then a tremendous bang. Frightened out of
their wits, the boys turned and ran for their lives. Later,
when the boys had finally made it back home, like
a new gang with a big secret, they all agreed
(06:52):
to a pact of silence more than a bit nervous
about what the object was or what it might do
to them. The boys avoided the rice paddy for days,
but they couldn't stop talking about it. What was it,
where had it come from? Was it being controlled remotely?
Or was there something inside it that was flying it?
(07:21):
One thing was clear. If the boys could just get
a photo of the weird device, then perhaps they could
tell their parents what they'd seen, and then they'd be
believed and so. Having built up their courage. A few
days after their first encounter, the boys headed back into
the paddy fields, this time with a camera. Around nine
(07:44):
thirty pm on September fourth, they spotted the strange object again.
This time, it was flying lower than before, about three
feet above the ground. As soon as the boys saw it, unnervingly,
the object began heading straight for them, glowing brightly. Once again,
(08:06):
the teenagers got scared and ran off. The following evening
of September fifth, the boys claimed they returned to the
fields but saw nothing. Then on September sixth, everything changed.
That night. The boys emerged from their homes shortly before
sunset again. As they approached the usual spot, the boys
(08:30):
were excited to find the object had returned. Hovering extremely
low to the ground. One of the boys took hold
of his camera and hurriedly snapped a picture. In a
seeming response to the flash, the strange object instantly burst
into motion, spinning rapidly as it ascended straight up several
(08:52):
feet into the air. Then it flashed brightly too, before
sinking back onto the ground, where it spun around it place,
and then it stopped. The boys looked nervously to each other.
After a few tense minutes, as the others hung back
to watch, a fourteen year old Hirossi Maury plucked up
(09:15):
his courage to approach the motionless object. He reached out
and picked it up. Hirossi would later claim that he
could feel or see something moving inside it, although he
could never describe exactly what that was. One of the
other boys snapped an iconic photograph of Hirosi holding the
(09:36):
object out at harm's length. Another took some shaky, sinny
footage of the scene. The boys were ecstatic they had
captured the object, with the bizarre device seemingly still. The
(10:00):
boys first wrapped it in a plastic bag before putting
it in a backpack. Then together they took it to
one of the boys's homes. Safely inside one of the
boy's bedrooms, the five teams huddled around the backpack, nervous
and excited at what they'd found. Cautiously, they removed it
from the bag. Measuring around eight inches wide and four
(10:25):
inches high, it weighed just over a kilo. Turning it
over on the base, they found a series of concentric
circular ridges and grooves, almost like a vinyl record. In
the center was a square plate punctured with thirty one
small circular holes in a grid pattern. In between this
(10:47):
grid and the ridges were three engraved designs which appeared
to represent waves, clouds, and two birds or flying craft
of some kind, one of which was crossed by an
elongated design the boys took to be a flower in bloom.
They later said they could hear a faint buzzing sound,
(11:09):
as if something was running inside, though they couldn't get
inside it. They could see what looked like electronics behind
the holes. Then the device went silent. When they shook it,
something inside rattled. They studied it closely, turning it over
and over, but it was as if their capturing it
(11:31):
had somehow deactivated the object. One of the boys is
said to have tried to scratch the metal to no avail,
while another, emboldened by the object's apparent deactivation, used a
hammer to hit it repeatedly, but no matter how hard
he struck it, the object remained weirdly undamaged. Next, they
(11:53):
are said to have filled a jug of water and
poured it through the holes, But after pouring in farm
more than the device could hold, it never seemed to overflow.
With no way to open it and no obvious engine
or propulsion system, they decided it was time to speak
to someone with real scientific knowledge who could inspect it.
(12:16):
What about Yasayu Fushimoto, one of the boys suggested. Yasayu's
father was the director of the Center for Scientific Education
in Koshi. The boys stood about eagerly as mister Fushimoto
unwrapped their find and gave it the once over. He
couldn't be sure what it was made of exactly, saying
(12:39):
only that it looked like cast iron, but was far
too light to be made from that. Peering through at
the electrical looking components inside, he said it looked a
lot like what you might expect to find in any
everyday radio. All in all, he was decidedly nonplussed about it,
telling the boys it was probably nothing stranger than a
(13:02):
fancy ashtray. Deflated, the boys put the object back into
Hiroshi's backpack and dejectedly returned home. The following day, the
young Hiroshi looked into his backpack to inspect the object again,
(13:25):
only to find it had completely vanished. The boys couldn't
locate the device anywhere. Devastated to have lost it, the
boys arranged to meet again in the fields that evening,
hoping it might have somehow found its way back there.
When it didn't appear, they returned the following day and
(13:46):
then the next. After two weeks of hopeful observing, it
appeared again. As they apparently continued to observe it over
the next few nights, the boys began to notice a
curious pattern. They never saw the object on a rainy day.
It gave them an idea how to catch it for
(14:08):
a second time. On September nineteenth, they arrived at the
fields carrying buckets of water and some damp rags. When
the object appeared again, the boys watched patiently as it
zipped about until finally it came to a stop on
the ground. Breaking cover, they rushed forward and quickly threw
(14:30):
their wet rags at it, then poured water over it.
Grabbing the thing, they turned it over and poured water
into the holes on the underside for good measure. Almost instantly,
the object began to glow. It emitted an ear splitting
buzz like an amped up cicada. Suddenly nervous again, the
(14:51):
boys backed away and threw rocks at the object until
finally it went silent. They returned with the recaptured object
to Kat's Awoker's home. This time they apparently managed to
prize the top and bottom apart ever so slightly to
see what looked like several levers and other items of
(15:12):
miniaturized mechanical equipment, as well as what they described as
a strange, mushy substance in what they took to be
the cockpit area. Again, they hit the object several times
with a large hammer, but failed to leave as much
as a scuff. That night, the boys wrapped up the
(15:32):
strange device in wet rags in the hope that that
would keep it from disappearing again. They all agreed to
take it to their school the following morning. Two of
the boys stayed together to watch over it while the
others headed to their respective homes for the night. The
(15:57):
boys would later say that by this day they had
decided that the object was some kind of surveillance device,
probably remote controlled, but with no idea where it came from,
who had made it, and who controlled it. The following morning,
despite being under the watchful eye of two of the boys,
(16:18):
the object mysteriously disappeared again. Thankfully, this time, it had
apparently only made it as far as the neighbour's garden
before the boys found it again. A few days later,
the boys decided to cycle it over to mister Fushimoto's
house again to update him on everything that had happened
(16:39):
since he last inspected it. This time, they sealed it
meticulously inside a plastic bag full of water and tied
a rope from the corner of the bag to the
wrist of the boy who was carrying it. They then
put the plastic bag into a canvas bag, which was
passed from boy to boy as they cycled to share
(17:00):
the load. As they approached the rice paddy where the
object had repeatedly appeared, the boy who was carrying it
at the time said that he felt the rope pulling
on him with great force, He pulled up the bike
and hurriedly looked inside the back. The bizarre object was gone.
(17:21):
Over the next few months, the boys claimed to see
the device several or more times. They said they made
further attempts to capture it, but all failed miserably. Then
the bizarre hat like object supposedly vanished altogether, and the
boys never saw it again. Four years later, in the
(17:44):
village of Agawa, not far from where the boys lived,
a nine year old girl named Sassiki Oyama was out
on the street looking for her cat. Looking up into
the sky, she suddenly noticed what she said was a small, yellow,
luminous object floating in an easterly direction. She walked into
(18:05):
the middle of the road to get a better view
and watched as the object hovered over a nearby wood.
Overcome by curiosity, she followed it. Satsiko claims that when
she reached the woods, she saw the object hit a
tree and then fall to the ground. She described how
it landed silently near her feet, then emitted a hissing sound.
(18:30):
When questioned years later, Sasiko described the small object as
resembling a silver dome or hat that was roughly seven
inches in diameter, remarkably similar to the flying object the
boys in Terror had apparently encountered. Sashiko or Yama said
(18:59):
that she touched the object with her finger. She described
it as being constructed of solid material, but covered in
a slimy, viscous substance. Suddenly gripped by fear, the girl
turned and ran, and when she looked back over her shoulder,
the device had started to glow yellow again. Stopping in
(19:20):
her tracks, she watched incredulously as the objects spun counterclockwise
three times, then climbed into the air and shot skyward
out of sight. Thirty years later, when questioned about the incident,
Sasseko still maintained all the details of her story were correct.
(19:41):
Both the events in Kra and the sighting in Agawa
made surprisingly little news in Japan at the time, and
the whole episode sank into obscurity three decades later. In
two thousand and four, a Japanese magazine called UFO Comics
published and ill illustrated account of the events from back
(20:02):
in nineteen seventy two, igniting the interest of a whole
new generation of UFO enthusiasts, so much so that in
two thousand and seven, the director of the Japan Phenomena Society,
Shinikira and Amaki, opened an investigation into the case. He
sent the head of the organizations Osaka chapter, Katsu Hayashi,
(20:25):
to speak with the Kera witnesses. Even after all that time,
or five confirmed the details given in their original accounts.
Other reporters have been more skeptical, pointing out that the
object does look remarkably similar to a type of cast
iron ashtray that was common in Japan in the nineteen seventies. Today,
(20:49):
we might recognize the description of a small autonomous object
flying in sometimes erratic darting movements as a drone, and
drones have around longer than you might think. In eighteen
ninety eight, genius engineer and inventor Nicola Tesla, perhaps best
(21:10):
known for developing the alternating current electricity supply system, presented
a new invention at the Electrical Exposition in New York's
Madison Square Gardens. Known as the Tell Automaton, it was
a boat about three feet long, propelled by a small
motor and rudder. What made it groundbreaking was that it
(21:33):
was controlled by radio waves, demonstrating for the first time
the possibility of controlling machines remotely. In many ways, The
tell automaton was well ahead of its time, and it
sparked the idea of using remote controlled machines for various purposes,
including military applications. Because of it, many consider Tesla to
(21:56):
be the father of the drone. These papers of the time,
Errold did the dawn of a new age with the
invention of the device which could be controlled from a
physical distance, as if by magic. The very first flying
(22:18):
drone is thought to be the Dhavland DH eight two
B queen Bee. Launched in nineteen thirty five. It was
used by the British Royal Air Force for aerial target practice.
The United States began its own drone development program in
nineteen thirty six, but these early flying drones looked like
(22:40):
model planes, nothing like the hat shaped object the Keraboys photographed.
The Japanese military is known to have begun developing drone
technology in the mid nineteen nineties, when their Technical Research
and Development Institute is known to have developed an unmanned
aerial vehicle for Japan's Air Self Defense Force. Is it
(23:04):
possible that the Japanese government had been experimenting with drone
technology largely in secret as far back as the early
nineteen seventies. In recent years, the phenomenon of unidentified aerial
phenomena or UAPs has apparently begun to be taken more
seriously by governments in the United States. In twenty twenty two,
(23:29):
officials at the Pentagon created the All Domain Anomaly Resolution
Office or ARRO to track and identify UAP sightings with
a focus on their potential threat to national security and
air safety, and in November twenty twenty four, they released
a report revealing the scale of the phenomenon, with seven
(23:51):
hundred fifty seven cases of UAP sightings in a recent
twelve month period. On subsequent investment litigation, many of these
reports have found the objects to be variously misidentified balloons, birds,
or satellites, but there are still UAPs which continue to
(24:12):
defy easy explanation, including an incidence of a near miss
between a commercial airliner and a strange cylindrical object over
the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of New York
sometime between May twenty twenty three and June twenty four.
The specific date of the incident has not been released,
(24:35):
and to date ro's official position is that there's no
indication that any of the cases they have investigated have
an unearthly origin. Their official position is that there is
no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology. With its
small size, consistent eyewitness reports, and photographic ag evidence that
(25:00):
it was captured and handled, the Kera incident is in
a class all of its own. Was the object a
UFO in the classic sense of an interstellar vehicle, or
rather some sort of early prototype drone developed as part
of a secret program by the Japanese government, its military,
or an electronics corporation two decades before drone research in
(25:25):
the country is thought to have started. Or is the
whole affair simply the fevered imaginings of a group of teenagers,
a product of youthful imaginations and wish fulfillment, embellished with
hoaxed photos and primitive, sinny camera footage. But if that
were the case, why was the incident corroborated by science
(25:46):
educator mister Fushimoto? And how did a girl in a
different part of the region, who'd seemingly never met the
boys from Terror or heard their accounts, apparently describe an
almost most identical object four years after the nineteen seventy
two sightings. Several journalists who have interviewed the five Carer
(26:15):
participants have been impressed by the consistency of the details
in the story they tell decades after the events. There's
even been speculation that the incident didn't become more well
known at the time because local government officials instructed the
boys to keep quiet about it. The most fanciful speculations
(26:38):
proposed that the device was an alien drone, either sent
to Earth on a reconnaissance mission, or one that had
lost its way temporarily. Some believe it slipped through a
rift in space time from another dimension, which is how
the object seemed to vanish on three separate occasions. Either way,
(26:58):
it seems strange that, despite the five boys from Kerr
having supposedly captured and examined this alleged UFO, from those
extraordinary reports are the eyewitness accounts, a few grainy photographs,
some shaky, sinny footage, and a lot of unanswered questions,
(27:19):
and so to this day, the kr UFO incident remains unexplained.
This episode was written by Diane Hope and produced by
Richard McLain Smith. Diane is an audio producer and sound
(27:43):
recorded in her own right. You can find out more
about her work at Dianehope dot com and on Instagram
at in the sound Field. Thank you as ever for
listening Unexplained as an Avy Club production. The podcast created
by Richard McClain Smith. All other elements of the podcast,
including the music, are also produced by me Richard mclin smith. Unexplained.
(28:07):
The book and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide.
You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, and
other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever
you get your podcasts, and feel free to get in
touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've
heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation or
(28:28):
a story of your own you'd like to share. You
can find out more at Unexplained podcast dot com and
reaches online through x and Blue Sky at Unexplained Pod
and Facebook at Facebook dot com, Forward Slash, Unexplained Podcast,
(29:04):
ounper d D, Counter Time, Time t
Hello, it's Richard mccleinsmith here with a quick update before
we dive into today's episode. Unexplained is very excited to
be a part of Crime Wave at Sea this November,
joining forces with some of the eeriest voices in the
world of true crime and the paranormal four Nights in
the Caribbean, with amazing podcasts like Last Podcast on the Left,
(00:20):
Scared to Death and many more live shows Meet and greets,
Creepy Stories under the Stars and you can be there too,
but don't wait. Rooms are nearly sold out. Head to
Crimewave Atsea dot com forward slash Unexplained to grab your
fan coat and lock in your cabin. We'd love to
see you on board. Mid Ceo. CEO had nothing in
(00:54):
particular on his mind as he walked home from school
in Kerr, on the outskirts of Cossi City on Japan's
southern island of sik Outside of its main cities, Sikoku
is largely rural, with farm land, mountains and a picturesque
coast line. It's known as a place people go to
(01:14):
to get away from the bustle of city life, and
it was a very quiet afternoon on August twenty fifth,
nineteen seventy two, as the thirteen year old Misio walked
home down the street, surrounded by rice paddies, the stalks
of the rice wavering languidly in the breeze, as dragonflies
(01:34):
flitted about. Small clusters of houses and trees were dotted
all around. Sitting under the watchful eye of the mountains
to the north, just visible behind a dense summer haze,
it seemed just like any other day in the teenager's
daily routine. Just then, the boy, as he would later
(01:57):
describe it, glimpse something strange out of the corner of
his eye. It hovered low over the ground, then began
rapidly zigzagging back and forth across the field. It reminded
Midzio of a bat, with sudden, sharp, darting changes of direction,
except that the movements seemed unnatural, al most robotic, and
(02:20):
the object was most definitely not a bat or a bird.
It was a small, dull, silver metallic object with a
bell shaped dome, a flat base, and a narrow rim.
It looked a little like a miniature metal brimmed hat. Mesmerized,
Midzio stood frozen in place, not sure whether to feel
(02:43):
excited or scared. With his curiosity getting the better of him,
he began making his way into the rice paddy, cautiously
walking towards the object, picking his way around the muddy
patches and small puddles of standing water. But just as
he began to approach it, the object stopped, suddenly hovered
(03:04):
in mid air, then lit up with a faint blue glow.
A beam of bright light shot out in Mitzio's direction. Terrified,
the boy turned on his heels and ran frantically all
the way home, without stopping for breath or once turning
to look back. It was the beginning of one of
(03:26):
the most unusual supposed UFO encounters of all time, because
not only would the object be seen again and again
by the schoolboy and his friends. According to them, they
also captured it. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard
McLean Smith, as the story goes. By the time Mitzio
(03:56):
got home, all he wanted to do was tell someone
else else about his extraordinary experience, but not his parents.
He knew they wouldn't believe him, so he quickly called
on his four closest friends, Hirosi, Maury, Katsuoko, Kojima, Yasuo, Fujimoto,
and Yuji, and invited them all back to his house.
(04:19):
In an excited huddle in Mitzio's bedroom, the boys leaned
in expectantly, waiting for Mitzio to tell them his secret.
From his glowing eyes and slightly disheveled appearance, they could
tell that what he had to say was going to
be something worth hearing and maybe a little bit frightening.
But when Mitzio was done sharing his story, he was
(04:42):
met only with confused and blank stairs. Was this some
kind of a joke, his friends asked, No, said Mitzio,
insisting it was all exactly as he described it, But
the friends weren't convinced. Nonetheless, they were in read enough
to take up Mitzio's offer to try and find the
(05:03):
thing again. The five teens jumped onto their bikes and
set off for the rice paddy in search of the
supposed strange object. They arrived sometime around seven pm, during
the magic hour, when all about was bathed in the warm,
golden haze of dusk. Together they stood in the quiet
(05:25):
of the countryside, staring out over the paddy fields as
insects chirped and chirruped. The boys would later recount how
they sat down to wait, patiently, passing the time with
idle chitchat. Then, after almost an hour, they heard a
faint clicking sound. Looking toward where it was coming from,
(05:48):
the boys watched, open mouthed as one after another court
sight of the weird object hovering over the rice field
twenty yards away. They discos arribed it later as being
like a little tin hat or a bell shaped dome
that was flitting about to and fro, just like Mitsio
(06:09):
had apparently seen earlier. As darkness began to fall, the
boys continued to watch as the object began emitting a pulsating,
multi colored array of lights. Wanting to get a closer look,
the boys ventured out into the rice paddy together, but,
just like it had apparently done with Mitsio, as they
(06:31):
edged closer, the object suddenly let out a series of
loud clicks and then a tremendous bang. Frightened out of
their wits, the boys turned and ran for their lives. Later,
when the boys had finally made it back home, like
a new gang with a big secret, they all agreed
(06:52):
to a pact of silence more than a bit nervous
about what the object was or what it might do
to them. The boys avoided the rice paddy for days,
but they couldn't stop talking about it. What was it,
where had it come from? Was it being controlled remotely?
Or was there something inside it that was flying it?
(07:21):
One thing was clear. If the boys could just get
a photo of the weird device, then perhaps they could
tell their parents what they'd seen, and then they'd be
believed and so. Having built up their courage. A few
days after their first encounter, the boys headed back into
the paddy fields, this time with a camera. Around nine
(07:44):
thirty pm on September fourth, they spotted the strange object again.
This time, it was flying lower than before, about three
feet above the ground. As soon as the boys saw it, unnervingly,
the object began heading straight for them, glowing brightly. Once again,
(08:06):
the teenagers got scared and ran off. The following evening
of September fifth, the boys claimed they returned to the
fields but saw nothing. Then on September sixth, everything changed.
That night. The boys emerged from their homes shortly before
sunset again. As they approached the usual spot, the boys
(08:30):
were excited to find the object had returned. Hovering extremely
low to the ground. One of the boys took hold
of his camera and hurriedly snapped a picture. In a
seeming response to the flash, the strange object instantly burst
into motion, spinning rapidly as it ascended straight up several
(08:52):
feet into the air. Then it flashed brightly too, before
sinking back onto the ground, where it spun around it place,
and then it stopped. The boys looked nervously to each other.
After a few tense minutes, as the others hung back
to watch, a fourteen year old Hirossi Maury plucked up
(09:15):
his courage to approach the motionless object. He reached out
and picked it up. Hirossi would later claim that he
could feel or see something moving inside it, although he
could never describe exactly what that was. One of the
other boys snapped an iconic photograph of Hirosi holding the
(09:36):
object out at harm's length. Another took some shaky, sinny
footage of the scene. The boys were ecstatic they had
captured the object, with the bizarre device seemingly still. The
(10:00):
boys first wrapped it in a plastic bag before putting
it in a backpack. Then together they took it to
one of the boys's homes. Safely inside one of the
boy's bedrooms, the five teams huddled around the backpack, nervous
and excited at what they'd found. Cautiously, they removed it
from the bag. Measuring around eight inches wide and four
(10:25):
inches high, it weighed just over a kilo. Turning it
over on the base, they found a series of concentric
circular ridges and grooves, almost like a vinyl record. In
the center was a square plate punctured with thirty one
small circular holes in a grid pattern. In between this
(10:47):
grid and the ridges were three engraved designs which appeared
to represent waves, clouds, and two birds or flying craft
of some kind, one of which was crossed by an
elongated design the boys took to be a flower in bloom.
They later said they could hear a faint buzzing sound,
(11:09):
as if something was running inside, though they couldn't get
inside it. They could see what looked like electronics behind
the holes. Then the device went silent. When they shook it,
something inside rattled. They studied it closely, turning it over
and over, but it was as if their capturing it
(11:31):
had somehow deactivated the object. One of the boys is
said to have tried to scratch the metal to no avail,
while another, emboldened by the object's apparent deactivation, used a
hammer to hit it repeatedly, but no matter how hard
he struck it, the object remained weirdly undamaged. Next, they
(11:53):
are said to have filled a jug of water and
poured it through the holes, But after pouring in farm
more than the device could hold, it never seemed to overflow.
With no way to open it and no obvious engine
or propulsion system, they decided it was time to speak
to someone with real scientific knowledge who could inspect it.
(12:16):
What about Yasayu Fushimoto, one of the boys suggested. Yasayu's
father was the director of the Center for Scientific Education
in Koshi. The boys stood about eagerly as mister Fushimoto
unwrapped their find and gave it the once over. He
couldn't be sure what it was made of exactly, saying
(12:39):
only that it looked like cast iron, but was far
too light to be made from that. Peering through at
the electrical looking components inside, he said it looked a
lot like what you might expect to find in any
everyday radio. All in all, he was decidedly nonplussed about it,
telling the boys it was probably nothing stranger than a
(13:02):
fancy ashtray. Deflated, the boys put the object back into
Hiroshi's backpack and dejectedly returned home. The following day, the
young Hiroshi looked into his backpack to inspect the object again,
(13:25):
only to find it had completely vanished. The boys couldn't
locate the device anywhere. Devastated to have lost it, the
boys arranged to meet again in the fields that evening,
hoping it might have somehow found its way back there.
When it didn't appear, they returned the following day and
(13:46):
then the next. After two weeks of hopeful observing, it
appeared again. As they apparently continued to observe it over
the next few nights, the boys began to notice a
curious pattern. They never saw the object on a rainy day.
It gave them an idea how to catch it for
(14:08):
a second time. On September nineteenth, they arrived at the
fields carrying buckets of water and some damp rags. When
the object appeared again, the boys watched patiently as it
zipped about until finally it came to a stop on
the ground. Breaking cover, they rushed forward and quickly threw
(14:30):
their wet rags at it, then poured water over it.
Grabbing the thing, they turned it over and poured water
into the holes on the underside for good measure. Almost instantly,
the object began to glow. It emitted an ear splitting
buzz like an amped up cicada. Suddenly nervous again, the
(14:51):
boys backed away and threw rocks at the object until
finally it went silent. They returned with the recaptured object
to Kat's Awoker's home. This time they apparently managed to
prize the top and bottom apart ever so slightly to
see what looked like several levers and other items of
(15:12):
miniaturized mechanical equipment, as well as what they described as
a strange, mushy substance in what they took to be
the cockpit area. Again, they hit the object several times
with a large hammer, but failed to leave as much
as a scuff. That night, the boys wrapped up the
(15:32):
strange device in wet rags in the hope that that
would keep it from disappearing again. They all agreed to
take it to their school the following morning. Two of
the boys stayed together to watch over it while the
others headed to their respective homes for the night. The
(15:57):
boys would later say that by this day they had
decided that the object was some kind of surveillance device,
probably remote controlled, but with no idea where it came from,
who had made it, and who controlled it. The following morning,
despite being under the watchful eye of two of the boys,
(16:18):
the object mysteriously disappeared again. Thankfully, this time, it had
apparently only made it as far as the neighbour's garden
before the boys found it again. A few days later,
the boys decided to cycle it over to mister Fushimoto's
house again to update him on everything that had happened
(16:39):
since he last inspected it. This time, they sealed it
meticulously inside a plastic bag full of water and tied
a rope from the corner of the bag to the
wrist of the boy who was carrying it. They then
put the plastic bag into a canvas bag, which was
passed from boy to boy as they cycled to share
(17:00):
the load. As they approached the rice paddy where the
object had repeatedly appeared, the boy who was carrying it
at the time said that he felt the rope pulling
on him with great force, He pulled up the bike
and hurriedly looked inside the back. The bizarre object was gone.
(17:21):
Over the next few months, the boys claimed to see
the device several or more times. They said they made
further attempts to capture it, but all failed miserably. Then
the bizarre hat like object supposedly vanished altogether, and the
boys never saw it again. Four years later, in the
(17:44):
village of Agawa, not far from where the boys lived,
a nine year old girl named Sassiki Oyama was out
on the street looking for her cat. Looking up into
the sky, she suddenly noticed what she said was a small, yellow,
luminous object floating in an easterly direction. She walked into
(18:05):
the middle of the road to get a better view
and watched as the object hovered over a nearby wood.
Overcome by curiosity, she followed it. Satsiko claims that when
she reached the woods, she saw the object hit a
tree and then fall to the ground. She described how
it landed silently near her feet, then emitted a hissing sound.
(18:30):
When questioned years later, Sasiko described the small object as
resembling a silver dome or hat that was roughly seven
inches in diameter, remarkably similar to the flying object the
boys in Terror had apparently encountered. Sashiko or Yama said
(18:59):
that she touched the object with her finger. She described
it as being constructed of solid material, but covered in
a slimy, viscous substance. Suddenly gripped by fear, the girl
turned and ran, and when she looked back over her shoulder,
the device had started to glow yellow again. Stopping in
(19:20):
her tracks, she watched incredulously as the objects spun counterclockwise
three times, then climbed into the air and shot skyward
out of sight. Thirty years later, when questioned about the incident,
Sasseko still maintained all the details of her story were correct.
(19:41):
Both the events in Kra and the sighting in Agawa
made surprisingly little news in Japan at the time, and
the whole episode sank into obscurity three decades later. In
two thousand and four, a Japanese magazine called UFO Comics
published and ill illustrated account of the events from back
(20:02):
in nineteen seventy two, igniting the interest of a whole
new generation of UFO enthusiasts, so much so that in
two thousand and seven, the director of the Japan Phenomena Society,
Shinikira and Amaki, opened an investigation into the case. He
sent the head of the organizations Osaka chapter, Katsu Hayashi,
(20:25):
to speak with the Kera witnesses. Even after all that time,
or five confirmed the details given in their original accounts.
Other reporters have been more skeptical, pointing out that the
object does look remarkably similar to a type of cast
iron ashtray that was common in Japan in the nineteen seventies. Today,
(20:49):
we might recognize the description of a small autonomous object
flying in sometimes erratic darting movements as a drone, and
drones have around longer than you might think. In eighteen
ninety eight, genius engineer and inventor Nicola Tesla, perhaps best
(21:10):
known for developing the alternating current electricity supply system, presented
a new invention at the Electrical Exposition in New York's
Madison Square Gardens. Known as the Tell Automaton, it was
a boat about three feet long, propelled by a small
motor and rudder. What made it groundbreaking was that it
(21:33):
was controlled by radio waves, demonstrating for the first time
the possibility of controlling machines remotely. In many ways, The
tell automaton was well ahead of its time, and it
sparked the idea of using remote controlled machines for various purposes,
including military applications. Because of it, many consider Tesla to
(21:56):
be the father of the drone. These papers of the time,
Errold did the dawn of a new age with the
invention of the device which could be controlled from a
physical distance, as if by magic. The very first flying
(22:18):
drone is thought to be the Dhavland DH eight two
B queen Bee. Launched in nineteen thirty five. It was
used by the British Royal Air Force for aerial target practice.
The United States began its own drone development program in
nineteen thirty six, but these early flying drones looked like
(22:40):
model planes, nothing like the hat shaped object the Keraboys photographed.
The Japanese military is known to have begun developing drone
technology in the mid nineteen nineties, when their Technical Research
and Development Institute is known to have developed an unmanned
aerial vehicle for Japan's Air Self Defense Force. Is it
(23:04):
possible that the Japanese government had been experimenting with drone
technology largely in secret as far back as the early
nineteen seventies. In recent years, the phenomenon of unidentified aerial
phenomena or UAPs has apparently begun to be taken more
seriously by governments in the United States. In twenty twenty two,
(23:29):
officials at the Pentagon created the All Domain Anomaly Resolution
Office or ARRO to track and identify UAP sightings with
a focus on their potential threat to national security and
air safety, and in November twenty twenty four, they released
a report revealing the scale of the phenomenon, with seven
(23:51):
hundred fifty seven cases of UAP sightings in a recent
twelve month period. On subsequent investment litigation, many of these
reports have found the objects to be variously misidentified balloons, birds,
or satellites, but there are still UAPs which continue to
(24:12):
defy easy explanation, including an incidence of a near miss
between a commercial airliner and a strange cylindrical object over
the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of New York
sometime between May twenty twenty three and June twenty four.
The specific date of the incident has not been released,
(24:35):
and to date ro's official position is that there's no
indication that any of the cases they have investigated have
an unearthly origin. Their official position is that there is
no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology. With its
small size, consistent eyewitness reports, and photographic ag evidence that
(25:00):
it was captured and handled, the Kera incident is in
a class all of its own. Was the object a
UFO in the classic sense of an interstellar vehicle, or
rather some sort of early prototype drone developed as part
of a secret program by the Japanese government, its military,
or an electronics corporation two decades before drone research in
(25:25):
the country is thought to have started. Or is the
whole affair simply the fevered imaginings of a group of teenagers,
a product of youthful imaginations and wish fulfillment, embellished with
hoaxed photos and primitive, sinny camera footage. But if that
were the case, why was the incident corroborated by science
(25:46):
educator mister Fushimoto? And how did a girl in a
different part of the region, who'd seemingly never met the
boys from Terror or heard their accounts, apparently describe an
almost most identical object four years after the nineteen seventy
two sightings. Several journalists who have interviewed the five Carer
(26:15):
participants have been impressed by the consistency of the details
in the story they tell decades after the events. There's
even been speculation that the incident didn't become more well
known at the time because local government officials instructed the
boys to keep quiet about it. The most fanciful speculations
(26:38):
proposed that the device was an alien drone, either sent
to Earth on a reconnaissance mission, or one that had
lost its way temporarily. Some believe it slipped through a
rift in space time from another dimension, which is how
the object seemed to vanish on three separate occasions. Either way,
(26:58):
it seems strange that, despite the five boys from Kerr
having supposedly captured and examined this alleged UFO, from those
extraordinary reports are the eyewitness accounts, a few grainy photographs,
some shaky, sinny footage, and a lot of unanswered questions,
(27:19):
and so to this day, the kr UFO incident remains unexplained.
This episode was written by Diane Hope and produced by
Richard McLain Smith. Diane is an audio producer and sound
(27:43):
recorded in her own right. You can find out more
about her work at Dianehope dot com and on Instagram
at in the sound Field. Thank you as ever for
listening Unexplained as an Avy Club production. The podcast created
by Richard McClain Smith. All other elements of the podcast,
including the music, are also produced by me Richard mclin smith. Unexplained.
(28:07):
The book and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide.
You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, and
other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever
you get your podcasts, and feel free to get in
touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've
heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation or
(28:28):
a story of your own you'd like to share. You
can find out more at Unexplained podcast dot com and
reaches online through x and Blue Sky at Unexplained Pod
and Facebook at Facebook dot com, Forward Slash, Unexplained Podcast,
(29:04):
ounper d D, Counter Time, Time t
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.