Cosenza, ITL being encounter — September 21, 1978

On September 21, 1978, a young man near Cosenza reportedly saw a field and nearby ground suddenly illuminated as brightly as daylight. An oval object appeared to be resting on a hill, with a humanlike form beside it bearing two antenna-like projections. The imported record gives 7:40 p.m.; a detailed International UFO Reporter account gives 8 p.m. The witness said he attempted to flee, fell, and saw four figures approach in bounding movements before losing consciousness. On recovering, he described four beings about 1.5 metres tall, wearing buttoned jackets, backpacks or rucksacks, and helmets with antennae. Their hands appeared pincer-like. He then reportedly fainted again, waking around 8:30 to find both figures and object gone. The compressed ledger also codes paralysis and a power interruption, but the fuller narrative does not establish a separately investigated electrical failure. The detailed version was published years later, including in the July–August 1989 International UFO Reporter. The witness is unnamed in the consulted summaries and the underlying interview record was not available. The case should therefore retain its reported chronology without converting the blackouts into independently verified missing time or an abduction. The illustration preserves the unusual helmet, backpack and hand descriptions while combining separate glimpses into a single interpretive scene.