Close encounter over Lake Champlain

By Timothy Page

In the summer of 1968, a private girls’ camp in Vermont became the site of a mysterious and unsettling event that would go on to become one of the most well-documented cases of alleged alien abduction in UFO history. The incident, which took place at Buff Ledge Camp on the shores of Lake Champlain, involved two teenage camp counselors who claimed to have been taken aboard an extraterrestrial craft. The story of their experience, though not publicly reported until a decade later, has since been the subject of extensive investigation and remains a topic of fascination and debate among UFO researchers and enthusiasts.

Buff Ledge Camp

Buff Ledge Camp, located just north of Burlington, Vermont, was a popular summer destination for young girls during the 1960s. The camp, situated on the picturesque shores of Lake Champlain, offered a range of activities, including swimming, boating, and horseback riding.¹ The camp was run by directors Mary and Maskel Hunt, who believed that campers should pursue activities that fulfilled their “deepest interests,” maintaining that “we do best those things which we enjoy most.”²

In 1968, the camp was bustling with activity, but on the evening of August 7, it was unusually quiet. Most of the campers and staff had traveled to Burlington for a swim meet, leaving the grounds nearly deserted.³ It was during this quiet evening that two camp employees, 16-year-old Michael Lapp and 19-year-old Janet Cornell, found themselves at the center of an extraordinary encounter.

Lapp, a maintenance worker, and Cornell, a water-ski instructor, were relaxing on the camp’s boat dock as the sun began to set.⁴ The two were enjoying the peaceful view of the lake when they noticed a bright light in the sky. At first, they thought it might be the planet Venus, but the light soon began to move in ways that defied explanation. According to Lapp, the light descended rapidly toward the lake, and as it approached, it released three smaller objects that darted across the sky before one of them came closer to the dock.⁵

The Encounter

As the object hovered above the lake, Lapp and Cornell could make out its shape—described by Webb as a “glowing, cigar-shaped object” from which three smaller objects emerged.⁶ Inside what appeared to be a dome, they claimed to see two small, humanoid figures. Lapp later described the beings as having large heads, elongated necks, and large, wraparound eyes. He also recalled a strange sense of mental communication with the entities, as if they were trying to convey a message to him.⁷ The alleged telepathic message included the phrase “We are not here to hurt you,” with the entities explaining they were on a mission to Earth to obtain “some kind of energy.”⁸

At one point, Lapp slapped his knee, and to his astonishment, one of the beings mimicked the gesture.⁹ What happened next would haunt both Lapp and Cornell for years. According to their accounts, the witnesses reported that the disc shone a beam of light on them before they lost consciousness.¹⁰ They were then allegedly taken aboard a larger craft, where they were subjected to what appeared to be a medical examination. Lapp remembered being placed on a table while the beings examined him, and he saw Cornell lying on a similar table nearby. Cornell, under hypnosis years later, recalled feeling cold and experiencing pain as the beings pulled her hair and pinched her neck.¹¹

After what felt like hours, both were returned to the dock, disoriented and confused. They claimed to have awakened to the voices of campers returning from the swim meet, observing the UFO emit rapid flashes before disappearing.¹² They agreed not to speak of the incident, and as the summer came to an end, they went their separate ways. For years, neither discussed the event, but Lapp began to experience disturbing nightmares about being abducted. These dreams eventually led him to contact the Center for UFO Studies in 1978, a decade after the incident.¹³

The Investigation Begins

The case might have remained unknown had it not been for a phone call made on Halloween night, 1978 – exactly ten years after the alleged incident. Michael Lapp contacted Walter N. Webb, a UFO investigator and former senior lecturer at Boston’s Hayden Planetarium, who was working with J. Allen Hynek’s Center for UFO Studies at the time.¹⁴

Webb initially approached the case with considerable skepticism. As he later wrote, the account included “almost every aspect of UFO phenomenon ever reported,” making the story seem “too good to be true.”¹⁵ The fact that Lapp was reporting the incident a full decade after it allegedly occurred only added to Webb’s reservations.

Webb’s Methodology and Investigation

Despite his initial skepticism, Webb embarked on what would become a five-year investigation characterized by unprecedented thoroughness and attention to detail.¹⁶ His methodology included several key components:

Witness Verification: Webb’s first priority was locating and interviewing Janet Cornell, the second witness, to verify Lapp’s account independently. This proved crucial to the investigation’s credibility.

Hypnotic Regression: Webb arranged for both witnesses to undergo regressive hypnosis to recover more details about their experience.¹⁷ Under hypnosis, both Lapp and Cornell provided remarkably consistent accounts of the abduction. Lapp described the interior of the craft, the appearance of the beings, and the procedures they performed. He also recalled the beings communicating telepathically, telling him that their mission was to “make life like ours…other places.”¹⁸ Cornell’s hypnosis sessions corroborated Lapp’s story, with her describing the cold examination table and the sensation of being physically manipulated by the entities.¹⁹ Remarkably, Cornell had not previously recalled the incident until she was hypnotized, yet her testimony under hypnosis proved consistent with Lapp’s account.²⁰

Corroborating Evidence: Webb’s investigation also uncovered additional witnesses who had seen strange lights over Lake Champlain on the night of the alleged abduction. Two other camp employees even reported a similar experience earlier that summer, claiming to have seen unidentified flying objects hovering over the lake for about 20 minutes. These corroborating accounts lent further credibility to Lapp and Cornell’s story.²¹ Furthermore, Webb discovered that several other employees at Buff Ledge had witnessed strange lights and objects over Lake Champlain on the same evening, and two additional employees reported to Webb that they suspected they too had been victims of abduction.²²

Webb’s Conclusions and Publication

At the conclusion of his exhaustive investigation, Webb reached a surprising conclusion for such an initially skeptical researcher: he believed that Lapp and Cornell were telling the truth about their experience.²³ This conclusion was based on the consistency of their testimonies under hypnosis, the discovery of additional witnesses to unusual phenomena that evening, and his assessment of the witnesses’ credibility over the course of his multi-year investigation.

Webb’s investigation culminated in the 1994 publication of “Encounter at Buff Ledge: A UFO Case History,” published by the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies.²⁴ The 300-page book stands out in UFO literature for its meticulous documentation and scientific approach to investigation. Webb included complete transcripts from the hypnotic sessions and detailed his methodology throughout the investigation process. The book is notable not only for its documentation of the alleged UFO encounter but also for its insight into Webb’s investigative process.²⁵

The Investigation’s Significance

The Buff Ledge Abduction remains one of the most thoroughly investigated UFO cases in history and occupies a unique position in UFO literature for several reasons:

Investigative Thoroughness: Webb’s five-year investigation is considered unparalleled in its depth and scientific rigor among UFO abduction cases.²⁶

Delayed Reporting: The case is particularly notable because the two primary witnesses did not discuss their experience with each other for years after the event, reducing the likelihood of collusion or shared delusion.²⁷ The ten-year gap between the alleged incident and its first reporting provides an interesting case study in memory and trauma response theories.

Multiple Witnesses: The presence of multiple witnesses and corroborating accounts of unusual phenomena that evening distinguishes this case from many single-witness UFO reports.

Academic Credibility: Webb’s credentials as a former lecturer at the Hayden Planetarium and his association with J. Allen Hynek’s Center for UFO Studies lent academic weight to the investigation.

Controversy and Skepticism

However, like many UFO cases, the Buff Ledge incident has its skeptics. Some locals and former camp attendees have dismissed the story as a hoax or a misinterpretation of natural phenomena. Others point to the lack of physical evidence and the reliance on hypnosis as reasons to doubt the account.²⁸ Despite these criticisms, Webb’s thorough investigation and the consistency of the witnesses’ testimonies have kept the case alive in the annals of UFO lore.

The case represents a particular type of UFO encounter narrative that emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s, characterized by alleged abductions, telepathic communication, and missing time experiences. As 2018 marked the 50th anniversary of the alleged incident, the case remains a subject of debate between those who view it as compelling evidence of extraterrestrial contact and skeptics who attribute the accounts to false memories, suggestion during hypnosis, or other psychological phenomena.

The Site Today

Today, Buff Ledge Camp is no longer in operation, and much of the infrastructure has been removed or altered over the decades. The property is now owned by Jessica Ebert Edelmann and her husband Peter, who have transformed it into a co-op equine community.²⁹ While most of the camp’s original cabins were demolished by previous owners, Edelmann has worked to preserve the historical significance of the site, maintaining some original structures and allowing the UFO legend to remain part of the property’s lore.

The dock area where the alleged encounter took place has been modified, with a smaller dock replacing the original wooden planks that once stretched from the beachfront.³⁰ Despite the changes, the location continues to attract curious visitors drawn by the case’s notoriety in UFO literature. The site remains a point of interest for UFO enthusiasts and researchers, with the story of Michael Lapp and Janet Cornell’s encounter continuing to captivate those who seek to understand the mysteries of the universe and the possibility of life beyond our planet.

The Buff Ledge abduction case stands as one of the most thoroughly documented UFO incidents in Vermont’s history and represents a significant chapter in American UFO lore. While the truth of what occurred on that August evening in 1968 remains a matter of belief and interpretation, Walter Webb’s meticulous investigation provides a valuable case study in both UFO research methodology and the complexities of witness testimony.

Whether viewed as evidence of extraterrestrial contact or as a fascinating example of how unusual experiences can be interpreted and remembered, the Buff Ledge case continues to offer insights into both human psychology and the persistent cultural phenomenon of UFO encounters in American society. The case serves as a reminder of the importance of rigorous investigation and documentation in examining extraordinary claims, regardless of one’s ultimate conclusions about their veracity. Webb’s work remains a model for how such investigations might be conducted, emphasizing the need for skeptical inquiry combined with thorough documentation and respect for witness testimony.

Footnotes:

1. Jessica Ebert Edelmann, as quoted in “On the shores of Buff Ledge,” The Colchester Sun, September 27, 2017, updated October 4, 2019.
2. “History Space: Boys and girls camps of Malletts Bay,” Burlington Free Press, October 8, 2016.
3. Walter N. Webb, Encounter at Buff Ledge: A UFO Case History (Chicago: J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, 1994), 15-17.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. “On the shores of Buff Ledge,” The Colchester Sun, September 27, 2017, updated October 4, 2019.
7. Webb, Encounter at Buff Ledge, 20-22.
8. “On the shores of Buff Ledge,” The Colchester Sun, September 27, 2017, updated October 4, 2019.
9. Webb, Encounter at Buff Ledge, 20-22.
10. “On the shores of Buff Ledge,” The Colchester Sun, September 27, 2017, updated October 4, 2019.
11. Webb, Encounter at Buff Ledge, 45-50.
12. “On the shores of Buff Ledge,” The Colchester Sun, September 27, 2017, updated October 4, 2019.
13. “The Buff Ledge Abduction,” UFO Casebook, accessed July 23, 2025, https://www.ufocasebook.com/1968buffledge.html.
14. “On the shores of Buff Ledge,” The Colchester Sun, September 27, 2017, updated October 4, 2019.
15. Ibid.
16. Amazon book description for Encounter at Buff Ledge, accessed via Amazon.ca, https://www.amazon.ca/Encounter-Buff-Ledge-Case-History/dp/B0006QBOH8.
17. “About Walter N. Webb,” NOUFORS, accessed July 23, 2025, https://www.noufors.com/Walter_N_Webb.html.
18. Webb, Encounter at Buff Ledge, 60-65.
19. Ibid.
20. “On the shores of Buff Ledge,” The Colchester Sun, September 27, 2017, updated October 4, 2019.
21. “The Buff Ledge Incident,” Our Strange Skies, accessed July 23, 2025, https://www.ourstrangeskies.com/the-buff-ledge-incident.
22. “The 1968 Alien Abduction At Buff Ledge,” UFO Insight, November 22, 2021, https://www.ufoinsight.com/ufos/sightings/buff-ledge-abduction.
23. “On the shores of Buff Ledge,” The Colchester Sun, September 27, 2017, updated October 4, 2019.
24. Webb, Encounter at Buff Ledge: A UFO Case History (Chicago: J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, 1994).
25. Book review excerpt from AllBookStores.com, accessed July 23, 2025, https://www.allbookstores.com/Encounter-Buff-Ledge-Case-History/978B0006QBOH8.
26. Amazon book description for Encounter at Buff Ledge, accessed via Amazon.ca, https://www.amazon.ca/Encounter-Buff-Ledge-Case-History/dp/B0006QBOH8.
27. “This now-obscure 1968 abduction in Vermont known as the ‘Buff Ledge Case,'” Reddit, January 27, 2022, https://www.reddit.com/r/aliens/comments/sejw0u/this_nowobscure_1968_abduction_in_vermont_known/.
28. “The 1968 Alien Abduction At Buff Ledge,” UFO Insight, September 22, 2018, https://www.ufoinsight.com/ufos/sightings/buff-ledge-abduction.
29. “On the shores of Buff Ledge,” The Colchester Sun, September 27, 2017, updated October 4, 2019.
30. Ibid.