Plot Synopsis

Using archival footage, re-enactments, CGI animation, and interviews with experts, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS chronicles UFO encounters from around the world that have puzzled police investigators, government officials, researchers, and medical practitioners. Each 30-minute episode features two primary cases, including those of: 16-year-old Ron Johnson, who suddenly saw a mushroom-shaped object appearing in the field; three police officers from a number of small towns in southern Illinois, who tracked an unknown object flying in the sky; the Landrums, who encountered a diamond-shaped craft shooting fire out of its base; Stephen Michalak, a geologist searching for quartz when a disc-shaped metalic object landed yards away; several dozen witnesses who reported seeing a fiery object falling through the sky and landing in nearby woods in rural Pennsylvania; thousands of people who were watching the Arizona sky for the Hale-Bopp Comet -- but many saw something else; a Japanese airline crew en route from Paris to Tokyo, who encountered blindingly bright lights flying in their airspace; Sheriff Val Johnson, who encountered a light beam that engulfed his entire car while on patrol in Minnesota; and many more people with strange stories of the unexplained. As part of its "Are We Alone?" month-long collection of programs, Science Channel aired the U.S. premiere of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS on Tuesday, March 4, 2014 at 10pm ET/PT, showing back-to-back episodes.