Case description
Fifteen-year-old Marilyn Wilding was standing on the front steps of her Idaho Falls home at about 7:40 p.m. on December 8, 1967, when she reportedly saw a very bright, white, circular object descend and hover nearby. The NICAP account compares its size with a car. Hatch records estimates of roughly one hundred feet in altitude and three hundred feet in distance.
The object tilted, exposing a transparent bubble-like dome on its upper surface. Wilding could make out two small upright figures inside, apparently looking downward, but the surviving description does not resolve their faces or clothing. It continued to rotate while tilted, creating a wobbling appearance as it moved away. Its illumination reportedly dimmed and became orange in the distance. She called her younger brothers and sisters, who saw the object before it disappeared.
C. Reed Ricks investigated the report, which was summarized in NICAP’s UFOs: A New Look and later Richard Hall’s compilations. The siblings’ observation concerns the departing object; it should not automatically be treated as independent confirmation of every detail Wilding saw in the dome. The report describes occupants seen at a distance, with no landing, spoken exchange or physical contact.
