Beyond the Beyond: The Gulf Breeze UFO Photos
Beyond the Beyond: The Gulf Breeze UFO Photos

When I was a kid, my friend had a series of books called Time-Life Mysteries of the Unknown. These were the types of books advertised on TV where you would purchase the set and they would send you one book a month, each one on a different subject having to do with the paranormal. One month would be ghosts, the next would be psychic phenomenon, and so on and so on. The one we practically wore out was simply titled “UFOs.” In the pages of this book were stories and pictures of the most famous documented UFO cases up until, around, say 1991, when the books came out. I’m not sure if this is where I first saw the Gulf Breeze sightings, but I’m pretty sure this was it.
One evening in November 1987, Ed Walters had a very peculiar encounter in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Ed, a building contractor, reported seeing several strange lights outside of his home which he eventually took photographs of. They appeared to be disc-like and metallic, and hovered outside his home silently.
As he took the photos with his Polaroid camera, he was struck with a blue beam that paralyzed him and lifted him off of the ground. He heard a soft voice in his mind say “Calm down. Stop it.” The voice seemed to change from male to female, and then the light went out and he dropped to the ground. There were no witnesses, but he had the photos.

On November 17, 1987, he sent his pictures to a local paper, The Sentinel, under the alias of Mr. X, and on November 19, The Sentinel ran the story.
The pictures soon circulated widely, bringing a great deal of attention to the area. And Ed wasn’t the only one to see strange lights in the sky. A city council member claimed he saw a hovering, orange light above the highway. A doctor, a chemical engineer, and his wife did, too. In fact, over a hundred witnesses all backed Ed’s unusual claims.
On November 20, Ed began to hear a hum in his ear. He walked outside to see a craft in the sky and shouted at it to leave him alone. In response, he heard another voice say “Be calm. Step forward.” As he snapped more photos, he seemed to hear a conversation above the ship with a woman saying not to expose them and not to be afraid, that this was only a series of tests being conducted, nothing more. The voice then told Ed, “We will come for you.”

Another person came forward and said he saw a UFO being chased by two jets. What in the world was going on in Gulf Breeze?
A month later, Ed would have a close encounter with a boxy looking gray alien outside of his residence in the middle of the night. Attempting to confront it, he was once again struck with a blue beam that paralyzed him. Another blue beam shot to the ground and seemed to pick up the alien, and the craft disappeared into the night sky.
On December 17, Ed and his wife were awakened in the middle of the the night to find three dark figures standing at the foot of their bed. As Ed got up to attack them, he was hit with a sudden, sharp pain in his head. The creatures vanished, and Ed was released from the intense pain. As he ran outside with his gun, he was able to snap another picture of a craft hovering in the distance.

The Sentinel began to receive more photographs from someone who described themselves as “Believer Bill.” The photos were placed next to Ed’s in the next issue of the paper, and the crafts shown in them appeared to be identical.
On January 12, 1988, Ed was working on a construction site when a UFO struck him with a white light from above. Slowly and painfully, he was able to get hold of his Polaroid photo and was able to take what is now considered to be the most famous of his photos. A voice again instructed Ed to come forward, and while doing so shot five blue beams down on to the street. With each beam, a small creature appeared in the road. Each one held a glowing, silver rod. Ed was able to start his truck and leave rapidly.

On February 10, MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) gave Ed a Nimslo 3d camera, a fixed focus camera with an automatic exposure system that would be extremely hard to tamper with because of an internal locking mechanism. This would make it impossible to use any type of double exposure technique, something that many had accused Ed of after looking at his photos. On February 26, Ed used the camera provided by MUFON to take pictures of a UFO. These pictures were revealed in public, but the features of the supposed “mothership” were hard to make out.
On May 1, 1988, Ed went down to the beach and took two more photos. These would be the last photos he would take of UFOS.
Many experts poured over these photographs. Dr. Bruce Maccabee, a physicist, supported the authenticity of Ed Walters’s photographs and claimed they were genuine. Now, he’s a physicist and not a photography expert. I’m reminded of this somewhat well-known clip:
Another supporter was Don Berliner, a self proclaimed ufologist, who thought there was some validity to the sightings and photographs, as did a researcher named Bill Monroe, although he later became more skeptical of them.
A setback for Ed’s story happened when a man living in his previous home supposedly found a model of a UFO in the attic after living there for a few months. The model, made with plastic foam plates and drafting paper, appeared to closely resemble the various UFOs that were presents in the earlier photographs. Ed, of course, denied that the model belonged to him, suggesting that it had been planted by the owner, or maybe by some government agency to discredit him. “If I were trying to pull a hoax,” he told the Tampa Bay Times, “and I’m not, then it would have been stupid to leave it there.”

It is also worth noting that Ed Walters served eighteen months in prison in the late 1960s for fraud, and that he made quite a bit of money from his UFO photographs, including a $200,000 advance for a book he wrote on the subject from publisher William Morrow and Co.
There are also the stories of Ed hoaxing ghost photos for his children using a double exposure technique.
Interestingly enough, I was able to get Ed’s email through a contact in the community, and the exchange is below:
Hello,
I am trying to reach out to Ed Walters. I write a paranormal column for Eastern Sierra Now in California and would like to ask him some questions about an article I am writing. Please get back to me at your earliest convenience.
Here is a sample of my work:
https://www.easternsierranow.com/tag/beyond-the-beyond/
TMR
Mr. Rush,
I do know who Ed Walters is but I’m not sure how I can help you. I haven’t spoken to him in years but I do wish you good luck on your research!
My thinking is that there was indeed a UFO flap in Gulf Breeze, FL in 1988. There are dozens of witnesses who have come forward to tell their stories. Perhaps it was some military craft begins tested. Perhaps it was a legitimate aliens craft. I wasn’t there. But maybe Ed Walters saw this as a way to make money. Maybe he double exposed photos using models he made and sold his photos and stories to various outlets over the course of several years, including to a book publisher who eventually made him a large sum of money. There was, according to some sources, a $450,000 deal in the works with ABC for a television mini-series deal.
If only Ed would clarify some of this mess.
What do YOU think of the Gulf Breeze UFO photos? Comment below or DM me on Instagram @beyondthebeyond1.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Eastern Sierra Now. Readers are encouraged to conduct further research and consult with relevant experts or professionals before making any decisions or taking any actions based on the information provided in this article.
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