Sighting waveGulf Breeze Wave (1987–1988)

Contractor Ed Walters published photographs of a domed UFO in the Gulf Breeze, Florida *Sentinel* throughout 1987 and 1988; a model matching the craft was later found in his former house.

One of the contested Gulf Breeze, Florida photographs (1987–88), later widely held to be a model on a string.Wikipedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 de · de:Benutzer:Dr.Lantis · 2014

Model of the Gulf Breeze UFO, reproducing one of Ed Walters' photographs — widely held to demonstrate the original was a model on a string.Wikipedia Commons · CC0 · Tbrighamphd · 2025

What's documented

Beginning 11 November 1987, residential contractor Ed Walters of Gulf Breeze, Florida published a series of photographs in the local Gulf Breeze Sentinel of a domed disc-shaped object he claimed was hovering over the streets near his home. The photographs were widely circulated through MUFON and Reader’s Digest and were credited with triggering a regional sighting wave; MUFON formally adopted them. In June 1990, after the Walters family had moved out of their Gulf Breeze residence, the new owners discovered a Styrofoam model in the attic that closely matched the design of the photographed craft. MUFON director Walt Andrus initially defended Walters; investigator Rex Salisberry’s contemporaneous photographic analysis, presented at the 1990 MUFON Symposium, demonstrated that the photographs were consistent with a small model photographed with a double-exposure technique.

Notable & intriguing

In June 1990, after the Walters family had moved out of their Gulf Breeze residence, the new owners — Robert E. Menzer and his family — discovered a Styrofoam-and-paper UFO model in the attic that closely matched the design of the photographed craft. Photographs of the model were published by the *Pensacola News Journal* on 10 June 1990.

*Pensacola News Journal*, 10 June 1990; Rex and Carol Salisberry, '*The Gulf Breeze UFO Photographs Re-examined*,' presented MUFON Symposium 1990
MUFON state director (Florida) Walt Andrus initially defended the Walters photographs publicly; MUFON investigators Rex and Carol Salisberry, who had independent access to the original photo equipment, demonstrated in 1990 that the photographs were consistent with double-exposure techniques using a model.

Rex and Carol Salisberry, MUFON resignation correspondence, 1990; *Reading Magazine* (MUFON) Symposium proceedings, 1990
Despite the model's discovery and the Salisberrys' photographic analysis, the Walters case continued to appear in published UFO literature throughout the 1990s; Walt Andrus and MUFON did not formally retract their endorsement until 1996.

MUFON Journal No. 339, July 1996; Walt Andrus letter to MUFON members