Gulf Breeze Begins: Ed Walters Photographs UFO, Multiple Independent Witnesses
On November 11, 1987, Ed Walters, a building contractor and member of the Gulf Breeze City Planning Board, takes the first five photographs of an unusual UFO near his home in Gulf Breeze, Florida. The object has the shape of a top with a glowing ring, dark squares separated by portals, and hovers above the road. Walters claims he was lifted by a blue beam, heard a voice say 'Don't worry, we will not harm you,' and saw images enter his mind. Critically, three independent witnesses confirm sightings of the same object earlier that day: Billie Zammit at 2:30 AM sees it hovering over a canal with a blue beam, Jeff Thompson at 8:15 AM watches it zoom upward as jets approach, and Charles and Doris Somerby (former editor of the Gulf Breeze Sentinel and wife) see it moving toward Walters' location about an hour before his sighting. Walters submits photographs anonymously as 'Mr. X' to the local newspaper on November 17. MUFON begins an investigation that will consume the field for years.
Background
On November 11, 1987, Ed Walters, a building contractor in Gulf Breeze, Florida, claimed to have photographed a UFO near his home. This event marked the beginning of a series of reported sightings and photographs that became known as the Gulf Breeze UFO sightings.