September 29, 2025 • 7 mins
by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear In August 1979, a case out of Minnesota that was chock full of trace evidence, including physical effects displayed by the witness in the aftermath, was investigated by Allen Hendry for the Center for UFO Studies. The incident and the related activity are described two days afterwards in the August 29, 1979, edition of the local Warren, Minnesota, Sheaf.According to the article (page 8 of the pdf) headlined “Deputy Johnson Stunned by UFO Monday Morning,” Marshall County Deputy Sheriff Val Johnson was in his patrol car about 11 miles west of Stephen, Minnesota, headed south on TH 220 just before 1:30 am when he saw a bright light about a mile away, hovering over the road. Thinking it might be an aircraft in distress, he sped up.As he did so, the light came towards him, and as it filled the interior of the car, he heard the sound of glass breaking. He lost consciousness and remembered nothing of about 40 minutes after that. The Warren Sheriff’s office received a 1088 (officer in distress) from Johnson at 2:19 am, and he is described as having sounded rational but disoriented. When he was asked about his situation he said, “Something just hit my car – strange. Something attacked my car – brakes locked up. I don’t know what is going on.” He was asked if he needed an ambulance and replied, “I don’t think so. I don’t think I’m leaking blood. My eyes hurt.” Read more →
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
The nineteen seventy nine case of Deputy Sheriff Val Johnson
by Charles Lear. In August nineteen seventy nine, a case
came out of Minnesota that was chock full of trace evidence,
including physical effects displayed by the witness in the aftermath,
that was investigated by Alan Henry for the Center for
UFO Studies. The incident and the related activity are described
(00:36):
two days afterwards in the August twenty ninth, nineteen seventy
nine edition of the local Warren, Minnesota Sheaf. According to
the article headlined Deputy Johnson stunned by UFO Monday morning,
Marshall County Deputy Sheriff Val Johnson was in his patrol
car about eleven miles west of Stephen, Minnesota, headed south
(00:57):
on th h two twenty just before one thirty am,
when he saw a bright light about a mile away
hovering over the road. Thinking it might be an aircraft
in distress, he sped up. As he did so, the
light came towards him, and as it filled the interior
of the car, he heard the sound of glass breaking.
He lost consciousness and remembered nothing of about forty minutes
(01:19):
after that, the Warren Sheriff's Office received a ten eighty
eight officer in distress from Johnson at two nineteen a m.
And he is described as having sounded rational but disoriented.
When he was asked about his situation, he said, something
just hit my car. Strange, something attacked my car, brakes
(01:40):
locked up. I don't know what is going on. He
was asked if he needed an ambulance and replied, I
don't think so. I don't think I'm lenking blood. My
eye's hurt. Stephen Deputy Gregg Winslow was dispatched and got
to the scene at around two thirty a m. Johnson
was brought by a Stephen ambulance to Warren and was
(02:01):
checked out at Grand Forks. His eyes were burned and
doctors described the condition as being similar to burns suffered
by welders, which is known medically as actinic conjunctivitis. Evidence
that something had collided with the car consisted of a
broken head light which one is not identified, with no
(02:22):
damage to the frame around it, a dent and cracks
in the wind shield, damaged to the red light on
the roof, and two antennas bent at almost right angles.
One of the more intriguing aspects of the case is
that both the clock in the car and Johnson's watch
had stopped for fourteen minutes. An investigation of the scene
(02:42):
showed that from the location where the glass from the
headlight was found, Johnson had traveled eight hundred and fifty
four feet before applying the brakes. Tire marks after that
went for ninety nine feet to where the car came
to a stop perpendicular to the road with the front
wheels on the east shoulder. Henry is described as a
UFO expert from Chicago and the chief investigator for CUPHOS
(03:06):
and CUPHOS is described as a private organization which took
over from the Air Force after they abandoned investigating UFO
incidents in nineteen sixty nine. Henry said that this was
as credible a case as he had seen, and estimated
that he investigated three such incidents a year throughout the US.
(03:28):
CUPHOS was obviously impressed with the case, as the September
October nineteen seventy nine issue of its publication The International
UFO Reporter is almost entirely devoted to it, banner style
diagonally across the bottom of a picture of Johnson's patrol
car is this notice stop the presses. How you are
(03:49):
presents a special double issue deliberately delayed in order to
provide you with the details of the dramatic Deputy Johnson
case in Minnesota. The average of the case starts off
the section headed us Sightings on page four and continues
to the end of page nine, after which there are
(04:10):
eight cases, most having less than a full column devoted
to them. What is noteworthy is that the coverage is straightforward,
just the fact style reporting, with very little speculation and
no sensationalism. Johnson and his credibility are examined in the
section Val Johnson a personal profile, which takes up the
(04:31):
left side of page four. It has explained that everything
we have learned about Val Johnson speaks a man of
professional integrity and fastidious professionalism. He is described as a
thirty five year old, married father of three who had
been a member of the department for two and a
half years and a deputy sheriff for over a year
(04:52):
after working as a tool and die maker. The sheriff,
Dennis Brecky is quoted regarding Johnson's credibility what he's seen,
He's seen none of us are trained to explain things
are not used to seeing. He is said to have
described Johnson to Henry as highly intelligent, not a drug user,
(05:12):
and Nobody's alcoholic Chief Deputy Everett Toolittle is said to
have echoed these sentiments and to have added that Johnson
was almost annoyingly fussy about his time in log keeping.
Brecky added, I know Vell, and if he said it happened,
it happened. The rest of the article goes into great
(05:32):
detail regarding the investigation by Henry and the Sheriff's department
that led to the conclusions presented in the Sheaf article.
Six points of damage are listed as follows. One head
light was smashed to pieces. There was a circular dent
in the upper part of the hood. The wind shield
in front of the steering wheel was smashed. The red
(05:53):
plastic filter on the police light on the roof was
punctured and dislodged from its housing. The whip antenna on
the roof was bent back at the base. The whip
antenna on the trunk was bent back at ninety degrees
near the top under the heading plane. Near collision. A
newspaper editor is said to have come up with the
(06:14):
most popular theory, which was that the damage to the
car was caused by debris being kicked out by the
propwash of a plane and that the antennas were bent
by the propeller hitting them. While it is acknowledged that
there are over a dozen crop dusting companies listed in
the Yellow Pages for the area and that drug smugglers
have flown planes in the area at night, it is
(06:36):
argued that the crop dusters don't operate at night, and
that a propeller hitting the front antenna would have likely
sheared it and taken out the police light just in
front of it as well. Presented as further arguments against
the plane theory are the lack of noise and the
acceleration of the UFO described by Johnson, his eye burns,
(06:57):
and the time discrepancy of his watch the car clock.
Charles Lear is the author of The Flying Saucer Investigators,
available in its second edition at Amazon dot com.
The nineteen seventy nine case of Deputy Sheriff Val Johnson
by Charles Lear. In August nineteen seventy nine, a case
came out of Minnesota that was chock full of trace evidence,
including physical effects displayed by the witness in the aftermath,
that was investigated by Alan Henry for the Center for
UFO Studies. The incident and the related activity are described
(00:36):
two days afterwards in the August twenty ninth, nineteen seventy
nine edition of the local Warren, Minnesota Sheaf. According to
the article headlined Deputy Johnson stunned by UFO Monday morning,
Marshall County Deputy Sheriff Val Johnson was in his patrol
car about eleven miles west of Stephen, Minnesota, headed south
(00:57):
on th h two twenty just before one thirty am,
when he saw a bright light about a mile away
hovering over the road. Thinking it might be an aircraft
in distress, he sped up. As he did so, the
light came towards him, and as it filled the interior
of the car, he heard the sound of glass breaking.
He lost consciousness and remembered nothing of about forty minutes
(01:19):
after that, the Warren Sheriff's Office received a ten eighty
eight officer in distress from Johnson at two nineteen a m.
And he is described as having sounded rational but disoriented.
When he was asked about his situation, he said, something
just hit my car. Strange, something attacked my car, brakes
(01:40):
locked up. I don't know what is going on. He
was asked if he needed an ambulance and replied, I
don't think so. I don't think I'm lenking blood. My
eye's hurt. Stephen Deputy Gregg Winslow was dispatched and got
to the scene at around two thirty a m. Johnson
was brought by a Stephen ambulance to Warren and was
(02:01):
checked out at Grand Forks. His eyes were burned and
doctors described the condition as being similar to burns suffered
by welders, which is known medically as actinic conjunctivitis. Evidence
that something had collided with the car consisted of a
broken head light which one is not identified, with no
(02:22):
damage to the frame around it, a dent and cracks
in the wind shield, damaged to the red light on
the roof, and two antennas bent at almost right angles.
One of the more intriguing aspects of the case is
that both the clock in the car and Johnson's watch
had stopped for fourteen minutes. An investigation of the scene
(02:42):
showed that from the location where the glass from the
headlight was found, Johnson had traveled eight hundred and fifty
four feet before applying the brakes. Tire marks after that
went for ninety nine feet to where the car came
to a stop perpendicular to the road with the front
wheels on the east shoulder. Henry is described as a
UFO expert from Chicago and the chief investigator for CUPHOS
(03:06):
and CUPHOS is described as a private organization which took
over from the Air Force after they abandoned investigating UFO
incidents in nineteen sixty nine. Henry said that this was
as credible a case as he had seen, and estimated
that he investigated three such incidents a year throughout the US.
(03:28):
CUPHOS was obviously impressed with the case, as the September
October nineteen seventy nine issue of its publication The International
UFO Reporter is almost entirely devoted to it, banner style
diagonally across the bottom of a picture of Johnson's patrol
car is this notice stop the presses. How you are
(03:49):
presents a special double issue deliberately delayed in order to
provide you with the details of the dramatic Deputy Johnson
case in Minnesota. The average of the case starts off
the section headed us Sightings on page four and continues
to the end of page nine, after which there are
(04:10):
eight cases, most having less than a full column devoted
to them. What is noteworthy is that the coverage is straightforward,
just the fact style reporting, with very little speculation and
no sensationalism. Johnson and his credibility are examined in the
section Val Johnson a personal profile, which takes up the
(04:31):
left side of page four. It has explained that everything
we have learned about Val Johnson speaks a man of
professional integrity and fastidious professionalism. He is described as a
thirty five year old, married father of three who had
been a member of the department for two and a
half years and a deputy sheriff for over a year
(04:52):
after working as a tool and die maker. The sheriff,
Dennis Brecky is quoted regarding Johnson's credibility what he's seen,
He's seen none of us are trained to explain things
are not used to seeing. He is said to have
described Johnson to Henry as highly intelligent, not a drug user,
(05:12):
and Nobody's alcoholic Chief Deputy Everett Toolittle is said to
have echoed these sentiments and to have added that Johnson
was almost annoyingly fussy about his time in log keeping.
Brecky added, I know Vell, and if he said it happened,
it happened. The rest of the article goes into great
(05:32):
detail regarding the investigation by Henry and the Sheriff's department
that led to the conclusions presented in the Sheaf article.
Six points of damage are listed as follows. One head
light was smashed to pieces. There was a circular dent
in the upper part of the hood. The wind shield
in front of the steering wheel was smashed. The red
(05:53):
plastic filter on the police light on the roof was
punctured and dislodged from its housing. The whip antenna on
the roof was bent back at the base. The whip
antenna on the trunk was bent back at ninety degrees
near the top under the heading plane. Near collision. A
newspaper editor is said to have come up with the
(06:14):
most popular theory, which was that the damage to the
car was caused by debris being kicked out by the
propwash of a plane and that the antennas were bent
by the propeller hitting them. While it is acknowledged that
there are over a dozen crop dusting companies listed in
the Yellow Pages for the area and that drug smugglers
have flown planes in the area at night, it is
(06:36):
argued that the crop dusters don't operate at night, and
that a propeller hitting the front antenna would have likely
sheared it and taken out the police light just in
front of it as well. Presented as further arguments against
the plane theory are the lack of noise and the
acceleration of the UFO described by Johnson, his eye burns,
(06:57):
and the time discrepancy of his watch the car clock.
Charles Lear is the author of The Flying Saucer Investigators,
available in its second edition at Amazon dot com.
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