Within John Lennon
Why Lennon's Album Note Matters Most
Lennon's handwritten album note fixes the sighting to a precise date and time only weeks after the event.
On this page
- The wording and placement of the note
- How close it was to the reported sighting
- What the inscription proves and cannot prove
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Introduction
Among the surviving records connected with John Lennon’s reported UFO sighting in New York on 23 August 1974, no piece of evidence is more important than the handwritten note printed in the artwork of Walls and Bridges. It is significant not because it proves what Lennon saw, but because it documents, in a commercially published artefact issued only weeks after the alleged event, that Lennon himself was already claiming to have seen a UFO at a specific date and time. That makes the album packaging the strongest near-contemporary documentary evidence for the existence of the claim itself, distinguishing it from later memoirs, interviews and retellings.[John Lennon]johnlennon.comJohn Lennon Walls And BridgesJohn LennonWalls And Bridges - John Lennon with The Plastic Ono Nuclear Band/Little Big Horns/and the Philharmanic OrchestrangeSeptember…
For historians, investigators and readers assessing celebrity UFO accounts, this distinction is crucial. The note does not verify an unidentified craft, but it substantially strengthens the historical record by demonstrating that Lennon’s account was publicly fixed in writing before decades of memory, myth-making or retrospective embellishment could reshape it.[John Lennon]johnlennon.comJohn Lennon Walls And BridgesJohn LennonWalls And Bridges - John Lennon with The Plastic Ono Nuclear Band/Little Big Horns/and the Philharmanic OrchestrangeSeptember…
The Wording and Placement of the Note
The handwritten inscription appears in the artwork accompanying Walls and Bridges, first released in the United States on 26 September 1974 and in the United Kingdom on 4 October 1974. The note reads:
“On the 23rd Aug. 1974 at 9 o’clock I saw a U.F.O. J.L.”
The statement is remarkably brief. Lennon did not describe the object’s appearance, speculate about its origin or attempt to persuade readers. Instead, he recorded only three essential pieces of information:
- the date;
- the approximate time;
- the simple assertion that he saw “a U.F.O.”
Its understated wording is one reason historians regard it as unusually valuable. Rather than appearing in a sensational interview or promotional campaign devoted to paranormal subjects, the statement was tucked into the artwork of a mainstream commercial album that otherwise focused on music, lyrics and personal artwork.[John Lennon]johnlennon.comJohn Lennon Walls And BridgesJohn LennonWalls And Bridges - John Lennon with The Plastic Ono Nuclear Band/Little Big Horns/and the Philharmanic OrchestrangeSeptember…
The note also bears Lennon’s initials, reinforcing that it was presented as his own personal statement rather than an editorial addition or later annotation.[John Lennon]johnlennon.comJohn Lennon Walls And BridgesJohn LennonWalls And Bridges - John Lennon with The Plastic Ono Nuclear Band/Little Big Horns/and the Philharmanic OrchestrangeSeptember…
Why the Timing Makes the Note So Valuable
The principal evidential strength of the Walls and Bridges note lies in its proximity to the reported event.
According to the inscription, the sighting occurred on 23 August 1974 at about 9 pm. The album reached the public roughly five to six weeks later, an unusually short interval compared with many well-known UFO stories that became widely documented only years or decades afterwards.[John Lennon]johnlennon.comJohn Lennon Walls And BridgesJohn LennonWalls And Bridges - John Lennon with The Plastic Ono Nuclear Band/Little Big Horns/and the Philharmanic OrchestrangeSeptember…
This short gap matters because it greatly reduces several common historical problems:
- Memory drift. Human recollections naturally change over time. A statement written weeks after an event is generally less vulnerable to reconstructed memory than one first recorded decades later.
- Legend formation. Celebrity stories often accumulate dramatic details through repeated retelling. The album note predates most later narratives.
- Retrospective reinterpretation. Because the statement was fixed in print in 1974, later interviews cannot reasonably be dismissed as inventions created long after the fact.
The note therefore serves as a chronological anchor. Whatever Lennon later said about the experience, researchers know that by September 1974 he was already publicly asserting that he had seen what he identified as a UFO on the specified evening.[John Lennon]johnlennon.comJohn Lennon Walls And BridgesJohn LennonWalls And Bridges - John Lennon with The Plastic Ono Nuclear Band/Little Big Horns/and the Philharmanic OrchestrangeSeptember…
What the Inscription Establishes
The album note supports several conclusions with relatively high confidence.
First, it demonstrates that Lennon genuinely wanted the claim placed into the public record while the event was still recent. Publishing the statement on a major album carried reputational risk; it was not a private diary entry discovered after his death.
Second, it fixes a precise date and approximate time. Many historical UFO reports become difficult to evaluate because witnesses cannot later agree when an event occurred. Lennon’s note avoids that uncertainty by recording the observation as occurring on 23 August 1974 at about 9 o’clock.[John Lennon]johnlennon.comJohn Lennon Walls And BridgesJohn LennonWalls And Bridges - John Lennon with The Plastic Ono Nuclear Band/Little Big Horns/and the Philharmanic OrchestrangeSeptember…
Third, the inscription corroborates the broad timeline found in later interviews and in May Pang’s recollections. Although those later sources provide far more descriptive detail, they are consistent with the basic date and time already preserved in the album artwork.[Dangerous Minds]dangerousminds.netjohn lennon sees a ufo in new york city 1974Dangerous MindsJohn Lennon sees a UFO in New York City, 1974…
For these reasons, the note is often treated as the strongest contemporary documentary evidence that Lennon sincerely reported the experience soon after it happened.
What the Note Cannot Prove
The evidential limits are just as important as its strengths.
The inscription does not establish:
- that the observed object was extraterrestrial;
- that it was impossible to identify by conventional means;
- the object’s size, altitude or speed;
- that Lennon correctly interpreted what he observed.
The wording records only a personal claim. It contains no description of the object’s appearance, no corroborating photographs, no measurements and no supporting physical evidence. Even the use of the term “U.F.O.” reflects Lennon’s own description rather than an independently verified classification.[John Lennon]johnlennon.comJohn Lennon Walls And BridgesJohn LennonWalls And Bridges - John Lennon with The Plastic Ono Nuclear Band/Little Big Horns/and the Philharmanic OrchestrangeSeptember…
Consequently, the note should not be read as proof of an extraordinary aerial phenomenon. Instead, it is evidence that a well-known witness made a contemporaneous claim which can be historically dated with unusual precision.
Why Historians Give the Album Note Special Weight
Researchers evaluating eyewitness testimony generally distinguish between evidence for an event and evidence for a person’s report of that event. The Walls and Bridges inscription falls firmly into the second category.
Its importance comes from several characteristics rarely found together in celebrity UFO cases:
- it was published close to the alleged sighting;
- it identifies a specific date and time;
- it was distributed commercially rather than recalled years later;
- it predates many later interviews and memoirs;
- it can still be examined in surviving editions of the original album artwork.[John Lennon]johnlennon.comJohn Lennon Walls And BridgesJohn LennonWalls And Bridges - John Lennon with The Plastic Ono Nuclear Band/Little Big Horns/and the Philharmanic OrchestrangeSeptember…
Because of these qualities, the note has become the documentary foundation for discussions of John Lennon’s 1974 UFO report. Later testimony may add descriptive detail, but the album packaging remains the earliest widely circulated record showing that Lennon himself publicly attached his name to the claim while the experience was still fresh.
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Endnotes
1.
Source: johnlennon.com
Title: John Lennon Walls And Bridges
Link:https://www.johnlennon.com/music/albums/walls-and-bridges/
Source snippet
John LennonWalls And Bridges - John Lennon with The Plastic Ono Nuclear Band/Little Big Horns/and the Philharmanic OrchestrangeSeptember...
2.
Source: dangerousminds.net
Title: john lennon sees a ufo in new york city 1974
Link:https://dangerousminds.net/comments/john_lennon_sees_a_ufo_in_new_york_city_1974/
Source snippet
Dangerous MindsJohn Lennon sees a UFO in New York City, 1974...
3.
Source: storeuk.johnlennon.com
Title: walls and bridges shm cd
Link:https://storeuk.johnlennon.com/products/walls-and-bridges-shm-cd
Source snippet
And Bridges: SHM-CD - John LennonMay 8, 2026 — * Image: John Lennon, Yoko Ono - Walls And Bridges: SHM-CD WALLS AND BRIDGES: SHM-CD £23.9...
Published: May 8, 2026
4.
Source: weirddarkness.com
Title: JOH N LENNON’S UFO ENCOUNTER: The Night The Sky Became Magical
Link:https://weirddarkness.com/johnlennonufo/
Source snippet
JOHN LENNON'S UFO ENCOUNTER: The Night The Sky Became Magical - Weird DarknessMay 12, 2025 — Image: JOHN LENNON’S UFO ENCOUNTER: The Nigh...
Published: May 12, 2025
5.
Source: conexaoufo.com
Title: iframe During
Link:https://conexaoufo.com/en/john-lennon-saw-a-ufo-and-met-aliens/
Source snippet
John Lennon saw a UFO and met aliens - Conexão UFOOctober 9, 2023 — JOHN LENNON SAW A UFO AND MET ALIENS Em 1974, John Lennon afirmou ter...
Published: October 9, 2023
6.
Source: inquisitr.com
Title: john [lennon album sleeve]({{ ‘john-lennon-s/’ | relative_url }}) art recalls alleged 1974 ufo sighting
Link:https://www.inquisitr.com/john-lennon-album-sleeve-art-recalls-alleged-1974-ufo-sighting/
7.
Source: fabfourstore.com
Link:https://www.fabfourstore.com/john-lennons-ufo-inspired-art-fetches-big-bucks
8.
Source: johnlennon.com
Title: john lennon on the dennis elsas show wnew fm 28 september 1974
Link:https://www.johnlennon.com/news/john-lennon-on-the-dennis-elsas-show-wnew-fm-28-september-1974/
Published: september 1974
9.
Source: youtube.com
Title: The Night John Lennon Saw a UFO
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWACOycqTmc
Source snippet
JOHN LENNON'S UFO ENCOUNTER on Strange Universe (1998)...
10.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2axtgni0qmQ
Source snippet
Did John Lennon See a UFO over NYC?...
11.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Did John Lennon See a UFO over NYC?
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J22gZspEWFU
Source snippet
John Lennon on witnessing a UFO from his New York apartment in 1974...
12.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdic7NdLQF0
Source snippet
John Lennon interview with Dennis Elsas, 28 Sept 1974 Part 1 of 4...
13.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfU_b5nsvrU
Source snippet
John Lennon UFO Walls and Bridges Lennon's "Lost Weekend" music era #johnlennon #music...
Additional References
14.
Source: beatlesstory.com
Title: Stories Zurück zu den Geschichten 30.6.23 1 min geles
Link:https://www.beatlesstory.com/de/blog/john-lennon-ufo-sighting/
Source snippet
„Über New York sind UFOs“ – John Lennons UFO-Sichtung – The Beatles Story Museum, LiverpoolJune 30, 2023 — Image JOHN LENNONS UFO-SICHTUN...
Published: June 30, 2023
15.
Source: beatlesstory.com
Link:https://www.beatlesstory.com/blog/john-lennon-ufo-sighting/
Source snippet
The Beatles Story Museum, Liverpool...
16.
Source: alanehunter.com
Title: Close Encounters: The Beatles John Lennon and UFO’s. – Alan E. Hunter
Link:https://alanehunter.com/2018/04/24/close-encounters-the-beatles-john-lennon-and-ufos/
17.
Source: paranormalium.pl
Title: Z Kart Historii: John Lennon i jego UFO:: Radio Paranormalium
Link:https://www.paranormalium.pl/900%2Csluchaj
18.
Source: readmedium.com
Link:https://readmedium.com/theres-ufos-over-new-york-c0f8025f0520
19.
Source: medium.com
Title: There’s UFOs Over New York | Point of Contact
Link:https://medium.com/on-the-trail-of-the-saucers/theres-ufos-over-new-york-c0f8025f0520
20.
Source: ghosttheory.com
Title: The day John Lennon saw a UFO – Ghost Theory
Link:https://www.ghosttheory.com/2016/03/10/the-day-john-lennon-saw-a-ufo
21.
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com
Title: When John Lennon Spotted a UFO in New York
Link:https://ultimateclassicrock.com/john-lennon-ufo/
22.
Source: stillnessinthestorm.com
Title: This Beatle Saw UFOs, Met With Aliens
Link:https://stillnessinthestorm.com/this-beatle-saw-ufos-met-with-aliens/
23.
Source: grenzwissenschaft-aktuell.de
Title: Auch John Lennon hat ein UFO gesehen
Link:https://www.grenzwissenschaft-aktuell.de/john-lennon-ufo20151209/