The witnesses said the incident started on August 20, 1976 when four men, all in their early-twenties, ventured on a camping trip into the wilderness near Allagash, Maine. The group comprised twin brothers Jack and Jim Weiner, their friend Chuck Rak and their guide, Charlie Foltz.

They say their first day went by without incident. However, on the their second night, they noticed a bright light not far from their campsite which they first passed off as being a helicopter or weather balloon, but later noticed it displayed a strange quality of light. Suddenly, the object imploded and disappeared. The following day went by without incident, as the first. The men were unlucky in their fishing so they decided to try it at night. They set camp on the shore of Eagle Lake on August 20. As darkness settled,  Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire built a blazing campfire which they expected to burn for several hours to be used as a beacon for their campsite while out on the lake. They then headed out in a canoe.

After a short time, Rak noticed the bright light they had seen two nights before in the distance above the tree line. He called the others' attention to it. They watched the object intently and noticed it appeared to be much larger this time and made no sound. Foltz grabbed a flashlight and began flashing an SOS.

Suddenly, a bright beam of light shot out from the bottom of the craft and it quickly made its way towards the men. All men, minus Rak, began to paddle furiously back towards shore. Rak seemed entranced by the object as it closed in on them. Suddenly, the light enveloped the canoe and the four men.

The next thing the men knew, they were back on shore at their campsite. They stood at the edge of the water and stared blankly at the craft, which was hovering no more than a few dozen feet from them. After watching for several minutes, the craft suddenly imploded as it had done two nights previous, and reappeared over the treetops on the other side of the lake. It then shot upwards into the sky.

The men suddenly all felt exhausted and decided to sleep for the night. The large fire they had made only minutes previous was now a pile of burnt embers. Without much conversation following the unusual incident which just took place, the men went to sleep.

The next morning, the men spoke little of the incident and packed their belongings to move to a new campsite.