August 12 in strange history
3 strange events from history happened on August 12, plus 135 Canadian UFO sightings.
- 1883Famous UFO case
José Bonilla's objects across the Sun
Zacatecas Observatory, Zacatecas, Mexico
A Mexican astronomer watching sunspots saw hundreds of dark objects cross the Sun and photographed them: often called the first UFO photo.
- 1886In the old newspapers
Fifty people watch the serpent off Pigeon Cove
Rockport, Massachusetts
On a calm, sunny afternoon about fifty people, among them two Boston school principals and a music professor, watched through glasses as something about 80 feet long moved north for twenty minutes, showing ten to fifteen humps at once.
- 1909In the old newspapers
San Francisco Bay's airship was Venus and Jupiter
San Francisco, California
For two days, Bay Area residents reported an airship's lights swinging across the sky a few hundred feet up. Astronomer R. Tracy Crawford of the University of California said the two lights were Venus and Jupiter.
Canadian UFO sightings on August 12
The Canadian UFO Survey logged 135 sightings on August 12 between 1989 and today, most in 2025 (29). Most came from Quebec, British Columbia, Ontario.
The strangest ones
- 1995 · Surrey, British Columbia · Close encounter, 2 witnesses
Humming noise; circular object over house, slow moving; returned twice again - 1996 · Surrey, British Columbia · Daylight disc, 2 witnesses
Witnesses observed object while driving. Disappeared before they could get - 2012 · Kingston, Ontario · Close encounter
Witness drove under large stationary object - 2023 · Lunenburg, Nova Scotia · Physical traces
Photo: zoomed/enhanced object with structure/details? - 2023 · McNeills Mills, Prince Edward Island · Daylight disc
Shiny object beside "kem trail," "just sitting, then it was gone" - 1995 · West Vancouver, British Columbia · Daylight disc
Object not seen by witness; appears on videotape only, 3 times, moving in sky
Source: the Canadian UFO Survey, Ufology Research. Explore every Canadian sighting.
The US Air Force opened 1,178 Project Blue Book files for sightings in August, 1947 to 1969. Browse the Air Force files.