Gary Wilcox encounter — Newark Valley, April 24, 1964

At about ten o'clock on the morning of April 24, 1964, dairy farmer Gary Wilcox was working near Newark Valley in Tioga County, New York. A flash in one of his fields drew his attention to a metallic object that at first resembled a discarded tank. When he approached, he realized that the smooth egg-shaped body was hovering just above the ground rather than resting on it. Wilcox said he walked close enough to touch the surface. Two small figures then appeared beside the object. They were roughly child-height and completely enclosed in silvery-white protective suits with fitted hoods or helmets, leaving little facial detail visible. Each carried a shallow tray containing turf or soil. Their behavior suggested sampling rather than an ambush, and Wilcox described the encounter as a prolonged conversation rather than an attack. According to Wilcox, one figure spoke understandable English and reassured him. The visitors claimed to be from Mars and said they were studying terrestrial agriculture and the atmosphere. Much of the discussion concerned farming, soil and fertilizer—subjects familiar to Wilcox and unusually practical for a contact story. The conversation reportedly lasted close to two hours, although there was no independent witness to its duration or content. Before leaving, the figures asked about fertilizer. Wilcox agreed to obtain a bag and leave it at the site. They returned to the egg-shaped object, which then rose and departed rapidly and quietly. Wilcox later placed fertilizer in the field and said the bag had disappeared by the next day. That disappearance was not observed and does not establish who or what removed it. Wilcox told others and the report reached police, newspapers and UFO investigators. HUMCAT later summarized the case and identified Walter Webb, Owen Lake, the Binghamton Press, NICAP material and Flying Saucer Review among its source chain. Investigators treated the apparent sampling, the close approach and Wilcox's willingness to repeat the story as reasons the report deserved documentation. The evidentiary limits remain substantial. No verified photograph of the object or figures exists, no sample was recovered from the visitors, and the fertilizer exchange cannot be independently confirmed. The claim that the beings came from Mars reflects what Wilcox said they told him; it is not an Atlas conclusion. A practical farm object, fabrication, perceptual error or later narrative shaping remain possible alternatives. The case endures because its imagery is specific and internally coherent: broad daylight, an ordinary dairy field, a farmer confronting a hovering metallic egg, and two small suited figures carrying trays of sod. The Atlas portrait reconstructs that reported moment and avoids the grey aliens and saucer shapes that later popular culture might otherwise impose on it. It is labeled as an illustrative reconstruction, not evidence that the conversation occurred.