Ellsworth AFB

LOOK CLOSER
The visual record
Illustrations, recordings and archival references — each with its own provenance. A documented source is a starting point for investigation, not a verdict on its explanation.
B-1B landing at Ellsworth AFB (2018)
A B-1B Lancer of the 28th Bomb Wing lands at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. In 1977 the base's Minuteman field was the scene of a disputed security-police report. Official Air Force photograph · context.
U.S. Air Force/Airman 1st Class Thomas Karol · 2018 ↗Public domain — US government workLicence terms ↗Mario Woods · 0:09:28
Open the source at the cited time. The episode thumbnail is video packaging, not a photograph of the reported subject.
American Alchemy / Jesse Michels ↗YouTube-hosted preview and player; not relicensedA Minuteman base near Rapid City, South Dakota. Veterans interviewed on the show describe objects over launch facilities, including the 1977 Mario Woods case, and Hastings recounts his collection of security-police reports. The base is documented; the incidents rest on witness testimony and partial records.
Where the pin is
44.1450, -103.1040 exact
Public gazetteer: Ellsworth AFB, Meade County, South Dakota.
Rapid City, South Dakota, United States
What is claimed
Woods testified that around 9:15-9:40 p.m. he exchanged light signals with a stationary object east of the November control facility — four rounds of facility-light flashes answered by off-on patterns — with partner Michael Johnson present and flight security controller Bill Hollman inside on the phone.
- 0:09:28 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
all of a sudden this thing goes out on out on out and on and it just sent shivers up me and I went wow they do see me so I literally thought it okay cuz I've had them do Wing waves at me before like fighter aircraft or helicopters they'll do a little swing like that at
- 0:09:28 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
Woods testified that at the site they found a sphere 'the size of a Walmart building' ten feet over the blast door, that a light release nearly blinded him and stopped his breathing, that a black vented ball bounced around the truck, that an ammonia stench filled the cab, and that he saw four gliding beings — three small identical ones and a taller one with a pulsating chest device — before blacking out.
- 0:30:59 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
I see these four I'm going to call them beings and they are not walking as you and I walk they are just gliding across the ground maybe I don't know how high off the ground I couldn't really see that but they have these little Uniforms on and the one on the far right he had some
- 0:30:59 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
Woods testified that Johnson sat catatonic with eyes open gripping the steering wheel through the event and for hours after, that Woods checked his pulse and put a finger in his ear without response, and that Johnson told him weeks later he had seen and heard everything — the craft, the black sphere, the smell, 'do not fear' — but could not move.
- 1:11:34 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
he saw the craft he saw the black sphere in front of the vehicle jumping up and down he smelled the smell he heard do not fear he heard
- 1:11:34 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
Mario Woods testified that in November 1977 he was a 23-year-old PRP-cleared security policeman at Ellsworth AFB working Minuteman sites, with no mental-health history, subject to the Personnel Reliability Program's screening, random blood tests and urinalysis.
- 0:02:44 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
anyone that works around any type of nuclear devices uh Weaponry or construction of or the storage of uh nuclear components whatever it may be plutonium uranium or
- 0:02:44 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
Woods testified that at about 12:15 a.m. a two-pronged alarm (above-ground and below-ground sensors) at launch facility November 5 dispatched him and Johnson to the site.
- 0:15:12 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
sit for November 5 which is a two-pronged alarm it's an above ground and a below ground sensor that has been affected and as I said the temperature was between 9 and 13 degrees that night so it was cold sat on my long johns fatigue pants and shirt you know and uh
- 0:15:12 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
Woods testified that three alert teams searched for them, that wing security control requested outside assistance bringing two Sturgis sheriff's deputies and a state trooper, and that the base triangulated their position through 20-25 radio location checks.
- 0:38:47 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
not only did they were they searching for us but Wing security control or the or base control or whoever they were asked for a federal or state assistance so they sent out two Deputy officers from Sturgis and one state trooper that that area was his area and I've I've got a guy
- 0:38:47 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
Woods testified that his debrief in Colonel Spraker's office included the deputy base commander, an unnamed man in a gray tweed suit, OSI Captain Jack Reed, and new OSI man Rick Doty; that the incident was declared classified; that he signed a non-disclosure agreement; and that he was refused a copy of his own written report.
- 1:06:23 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
this was a this was now a classified incident mhm it's what
- 1:06:23 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
Woods testified that two flight surgeons examined him with OSI behind a divider, checked his gums first at length, noted burns above his right eye and on the back of his right hand, and clipped skin samples from both into corked stainless cylinders.
- 1:02:47 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
you have a couple of burns on your body right and I said excuse me he goes yeah above your right eye and on the back of your right hand well I didn't have a glove on this hand and then my Beret came down like this you know as my Beret was on my head and it
- 1:02:47 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
Mentioned in the corpus
Passages this record cites, with the stamp of the block each quote sits in.
Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction 16 January 2025
- 0:02:44 ▶ Mario Woods Mario Woods testified that in November 1977 he was a 23-year-old PRP-cleared security…
anyone that works around any type of nuclear devices uh Weaponry or construction of or the storage of uh nuclear components whatever it may be plutonium uranium or
- 0:09:28 ▶ Mario Woods
all of a sudden this thing goes out on out on out and on and it just sent shivers up me and I went wow they do see me so I literally thought it okay cuz I've had them do Wing waves at me before like fighter aircraft or helicopters they'll do a little swing like that at
- 0:15:12 ▶ Mario Woods Woods testified that at about 12:15 a.m. a two-pronged alarm (above-ground and…
sit for November 5 which is a two-pronged alarm it's an above ground and a below ground sensor that has been affected and as I said the temperature was between 9 and 13 degrees that night so it was cold sat on my long johns fatigue pants and shirt you know and uh
- 0:30:59 ▶ Mario Woods
I see these four I'm going to call them beings and they are not walking as you and I walk they are just gliding across the ground maybe I don't know how high off the ground I couldn't really see that but they have these little Uniforms on and the one on the far right he had some
- 0:38:47 ▶ Mario Woods Woods testified that three alert teams searched for them, that wing security control…
not only did they were they searching for us but Wing security control or the or base control or whoever they were asked for a federal or state assistance so they sent out two Deputy officers from Sturgis and one state trooper that that area was his area and I've I've got a guy
- 1:02:47 ▶ Mario Woods Woods testified that two flight surgeons examined him with OSI behind a divider, checked…
you have a couple of burns on your body right and I said excuse me he goes yeah above your right eye and on the back of your right hand well I didn't have a glove on this hand and then my Beret came down like this you know as my Beret was on my head and it
- 1:06:23 ▶ Mario Woods Woods testified that his debrief in Colonel Spraker's office included the deputy base…
this was a this was now a classified incident mhm it's what
- 1:11:34 ▶ Mario Woods Woods testified that Johnson sat catatonic with eyes open gripping the steering wheel…
he saw the craft he saw the black sphere in front of the vehicle jumping up and down he smelled the smell he heard do not fear he heard
- 0:02:44 ▶ Mario Woods Mario Woods testified that in November 1977 he was a 23-year-old PRP-cleared security…
On the map
Ellsworth AFB. Open the full map filtered to this record.
Sources on this record
- Ellsworth AFB — Wikipedia
- 0:09:28 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
all of a sudden this thing goes out on out on out and on and it just sent shivers up me and I went wow they do see me so I literally thought it okay cuz I've had them do Wing waves at me before like fighter aircraft or helicopters they'll do a little swing like that at
- 0:30:59 Nuclear Guard Speaks Out About UFO Abduction · Mario Woods ▶
I see these four I'm going to call them beings and they are not walking as you and I walk they are just gliding across the ground maybe I don't know how high off the ground I couldn't really see that but they have these little Uniforms on and the one on the far right he had some
Built from graph nodes N-CASES_EXP-0105, N-CASES_EXP-0104, N-CASES_EXP-0078.