Zanfretta, the Night Watchman of Torriglia
The account
A night watchman said he was taken several times by enormous beings, in episodes that repeated over the years.
What investigators found
He underwent tests and hypnosis with no signs of lying, but no physical proof of an abduction ever emerged.
The story
In December 1978, night watchman Pier Fortunato Zanfretta was making his rounds at a house in the hills of Torriglia, near Genoa, when he lost radio contact. Found in a state of shock, he said he had seen lights and a gigantic creature. Over the following years he reported new encounters, and local residents also described lights in the sky during that period.
The case became the most famous in Italian ufology. Zanfretta was put through hypnosis and medical exams, which showed no sign of lying or obvious mental illness. Even so, no material proof of a craft or of beings was ever presented. Skeptics suggest psychological causes and note that the press coverage may have fueled the later accounts.