Beginning in November 1987, the Gulf Breeze Sentinel newspaper published a number of photos supplied to them by local contractor Ed Walters that were claimed to show a UFO.

Pensacola News Journal reporter Craig Myers investigated Walters' claims a few years later, criticizing the Sentinel's coverage of the story as "uncritical" and "sensationalist".

On November 11, 1987, Ed Walters, a contractor in Gulf Breeze, Florida, was allegedly immobilized "briefly by a blue beam", after which he took five Polaroids of an object in the sky outside his home.

[3] Walters gave his photographs of the purported UFO to the Gulf Breeze Sentinel newspaper, using the aliases of "Mr. X", "Mr. Ed" or "Jim" out of concern for being ridiculed and to protect his family.

[6] Paranormal investigator Ray Stanford focused on the clouds in the background of Walters' photos, initially believing they could not have been taken on November 11, 1987, due to incorrect weather information he had received.

[8] Jerry Brown, Gulf Breeze's chief of police, thought that locals were mistaking activity on the base for UFO phenomena, which he blamed on the "domino effect of hysteria that began with Walters' photos".

[2] After the Sentinel published Walters' photographs, both the paper and the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) received dozens of reports of sightings in the Gulf Breeze area.

[4] In July 1988, Fenner McConnell and his wife Shirley claimed to have seen a "disc-shaped" airplane with no wings flying over water, with landing lights shining on their pier.

[10][2][11] Brenda Pollak, a Gulf Breeze councilwoman and acquaintance of Walters, reported seeing an orange light along the treetops while driving across the Pensacola Bay Bridge on March 17, 1988.

When the group left to get hot chocolate, leaving Walters alone at the park, they saw flashes of light and rushed back to find that he had taken Polaroids of a UFO.

[2] Another local dignitary, Santa Rosa County Commissioner John Broxson, claimed that he and several acquaintances saw "something bright ... hovering above his home: a parade of lights of different colors and intensity.

"[12] Art and Mary Hufford claimed to have seen "something gray, oval and silent fly over the treetops" that stayed in view for several minutes when they were driving in early November 1987, recognizing the object in Walters' photographs.

[15] Donald Ware, the group's Florida director, stated, "I am convinced the reason one man [Walters] was given so many photographic opportunities is because the aliens wanted us to see those photos".

[1] Mark Rodeghier and Robert Boyd, also of CUFOS, were informed by friends of Walters that he was "known as a practical joker and prankster" who had told people he was going to "pull off 'the ultimate prank'".

[16] On June 10, 1990, Pensacola News Journal reporter Craig Myers published that a model, closely resembling the UFO seen in the photos and made up of "four plastic foam plates and some drafting paper", was found in Walters' former home in Gulf Breeze.

[20] Contrary to claims by his supporters that he had refused money for telling his story, the News Journal reported that Walters had been given a $200,000 book advance and offered $450,000 by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) for miniseries rights.

The paper also reported that Walters had previously served eighteen months in prison for a 1967 forgery and auto theft charge; he was granted a pardon by Governor Bob Martinez in March 1990.

[20][22] In response to the Gulf Breeze sightings, MUFON held its first annual UFO symposium in nearby Pensacola in 1990, attracting hundreds of attendees; the conference continued for the remainder of the decade.

[24] While the Gulf Breeze Six were in the area at about the same time as the conference was taking place, it is not clear that any member of the group of United States military deserters attended.