Jim Wheeler

Motorist

Jim Wheeler was a motorist whose report was pivotal to the Levelland UFO case of November 2–3, 1957. Driving approximately four miles east of Levelland, Texas, Wheeler encountered a "brilliantly lit, egg-shaped object, about 200 feet long" sitting in the road, which caused his vehicle's engine and lights to fail until the object departed.

His account, along with those of other witnesses like farm workers Pedro Saucedo and Joe Salaz, contributed to the incident being classified by ufologists as one of the most credible in history due to the consistent reports of electromagnetic interference and multiple independent observers. The U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book later dismissed the sightings as likely caused by ball lightning or an electrical storm, a conclusion disputed by scientists like J. Allen Hynek who noted the absence of such weather conditions that night.