In 2008, somewhere between the central Texas towns of Stephenville and Dublin, hundreds of people saw mysterious lights in the sky. One witness tipped off the local newspaper to what he saw, and what transpired next opened an investigation that gained both global attention and skepticism.
That’s just one story documented in Encounters, the explosive new docuseries from Amblin Entertainment, Vice Studios, and Boardwalk Pictures (Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?). The four-episode deep dive also explores confounding submersible spacecrafts lurking off the coast of a Welsh village, nonhuman intelligence interfering with the operations of a Japanese nuclear power plant, and an alien encounter experienced by a group of children in Zimbabwe. In addition to these remarkable stories, Encounters includes revelations from military whistleblowers and clandestine Pentagon programs, asking audiences to put skepticism to the side.
“UFOs, UAPs, nonhuman intelligence, whatever we might call it… I didn’t before, but now I think it exists,” director Yon Motskin (Generation Hustle) told Netflix. “It’s out there. People are just now starting to accept it as something that’s acceptable to talk about.”
With stories told firsthand by the humans who experienced these phenomena, Encounters uses science to guide believers to answers during a time when the question of whether or not humans are alone in the universe feels particularly urgent.
“The leak of the Pentagon videos in 2021 allowed people to let their guard down a little bit,” Encounters executive producer Jordan Wynn told Netflix. “It gave everybody license to say, ‘Here’s some verifiable empirical evidence that there’s something here — and if that’s the case, what other accounts might we have dismissed in the past?’”
The series includes four different but eerily similar stories about encounters with alien life-forms and otherworldly phenomena on Earth.
Episode 1, “Messengers”
In early 2008, residents in and around the small central Texas town of Stephenville experienced something unexplainable: UFO sightings, reported by hundreds of people, including local business leaders and law enforcement. Trucking company owner Steve Allen described blinding lights and a feeling of great peace. Pat Leatherwood, a bank chairman, saw a “flying Dorito.” Constable Lee Roy Gaitan and his son watched an orb appear in the sky and then suddenly zoom away. According to one former military analyst, the Stephenville event and surrounding data prove we should no longer be asking, “Are UFOs real?” but rather, “What’s your version of reality?”
Episode 2, “The Broad Haven Triangle”
In 1977, the Cold War was raging, Close Encounters of the Third Kind was in theaters, and a group of boys spotted a cigar-shaped spacecraft rising from the trees beyond their playground. Suddenly, the area surrounding the Welsh coastal town of Broad Haven was gripped by over 450 reports of UFO and alien encounters — the largest mass sighting in UK history. As investigators and media dug into the sightings, they realized many bore a close resemblance to tales from Welsh and Celtic folklore, in which faeries are known as tricksters with sinister intent. So, were the otherworldly visitors in Broad Haven a new phenomenon, or had they been there all along, hiding in the sea?
Episode 3, “Lights Over Fukushima”
In 2011, the chief monk of Enmyoin Temple off the coast of Japan walked out onto the temple’s plaza and saw what he describes as an undeniable UFO. Just afterward, an earthquake hit, sparking the massive tsunami that set off the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster. During that event, many residents saw mysterious balls of light over the reactors in the wake of their meltdown — many believe they indicated the presence of alien life-forms.
Episode 4, “Believers”
It was a bright and sunny day in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, when 62 young students at Ariel School saw spaceships and strange humanoid figures in their playground. The 1994 encounter — considered by many to be the most significant of the 20th century — profoundly changed the lives of the children, the headmistress, and even the preeminent Harvard psychiatrist who came to investigate what they’d seen. The story raised some important questions in the search for truth: Are kids reliable witnesses?Why isn’t eyewitness testimony in UFO cases enough evidence, when it is in many other situations? And finally, how can we bring empathy to credible witnesses, even as so many of us still struggle to embrace their truth?
Encounters premieres on Netflix on Sept. 27.
