Riverside, CA being encounter — November 8, 1958

Charles Wetzel reported encountering an unusual creature while driving near the Santa Ana River at Riverside on November 8, 1958. The river was said to be overflowing and his radio to have stopped working. In the road or near its edge he saw an upright figure, generally described as approximately six feet tall, which he said approached his car. Wetzel described very long arms, clawlike hands and a body covered with leaflike scales. Its rounded head reminded him of a scarecrow; he reported luminous eyes, no visible nose or ears, and a protruding mouth producing a gurgling sound. According to the story, the creature struck or scratched the windshield. Wetzel accelerated away and believed the car passed over it. Later marks on the windshield were presented as associated evidence, but no body was recovered to establish what had been there. A contemporary UPI dispatch and local press carried the report. The Daily Sun subsequently discussed the possibility of a costumed prankster; later writers classified the figure variously as a monster, reptilian or hairy creature. Those classifications do not demonstrate its identity. No spacecraft was reported in the encounter. The Atlas’s inclusion therefore does not turn it into an observed UFO landing. The plate shows the roadside figure before the alleged contact, preserving the description without depicting injury or treating the car marks as proof.