Tag: close encounters

Mysterious footage captures peculiar ‘eight-pointed star’ streaking across sky: UFO files

Mysterious footage released in the Pentagon’s UFO files on Friday appeared to capture a bizarre “eight-pointed star” streaking across the sky several years back.

The infrared clip, submitted by US Central Command personnel, showed the strange-shaped object appearing to float around in 2013, according to the newly released files.

The footage, which lasts nearly two minutes, was apparently shot from an “infrared sensor aboard a US military platform.”

“This video depicts an area of contrast resembling an eight-pointed star with arms of alternating length,” a description on the UFO files website reads.

A note on the site later warns that the video description is for informational purposes and that “readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination.”

The footage was among the trove of 162 files made public when the Department of War unveiled its highly anticipated website dedicated solely to UFOs.

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Trump admin releases highly anticipated files documenting UFOs, ‘extraterrestrial life’

The Trump administration on Friday released a batch of “never-before-seen” files and videos on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon (UAP) as part of an effort to increase transparency on government knowledge of extraterrestrial phenomena.

“The latest UAP videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire United States government are all in one place – no clearance required. While past administrations sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, President Trump is focused on providing maximum transparency to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files,” the White House said in a statement to Fox News.

The release is a function of President Donald Trump’s Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) program.

Photos from the initial disclosure, which a White House official told Fox News is the first of a series of releases, show strangely shaped objects captured on film during the Apollo 12 and Apollo 17 space missions.

One photo taken from the surface of the moon appears to show a cluster of three tiny dots in the sky.

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Mysterious ‘dumbbell-shaped’ UFO spotted for 45 minutes over Joshua Tree before vanishing

A family hiking in Southern California has revealed stunning images of a mysterious craft flying overhead during a solar eclipse. 

The four hikers spotted a large dumbbell or H-shaped UFO flying slowly and erratically near Ryan Mountain in Joshua Tree National Park on October 14, 2023.

According to the witnesses, they followed the object for about 45 minutes, watching it disappear and reappear several times before it vanished completely.

Images of the craft, shared with safeaerospace.org, a nonprofit group focused on aerospace safety and national security, captured a clear view of the UFO, which was made of a highly reflective material described as silver.

It was described as looking like a ‘capital I’ or ‘sideways H’, and its two large panels on each end gave it a shape reminiscent of a TIE fighter from the Star Wars films.

Skeptics sharing the sighting online have suggested that the craft may have been a box kite or an escaped letter H party balloon.

However, the hikers estimated that the craft was the size of a car or small plane, which would make the object significantly larger than the typical kite and balloon.

While the Pentagon has maintained that physical evidence of UFOs or extraterrestrials has never been found, the sighting took place near several US military bases, including one that has tested experimental aircraft for decades.

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Would-be UFO whistleblower died of accidental drug overdose after agreeing to testify to Congress

An Air Force veteran who agreed to testify before Congress about secret government UFO programs died just months before the hearings of an accidental drug overdose, The Post has learned.

Matthew James Sullivan, 39, died at his home in Falls Church, Va., on May 12, 2024 from a lethal mix of alcohol, alprazolam, cyclobenzaprine and imipramine, according to the Northern District Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Alprazolam is generic Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication; cyclobenzaprine is a powerful prescription muscle relaxant that works on the central nervous system; imipramine is a drug for children used to treat anxiety and bedwetting.

The mysterious death is of “grave concern” to Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), who referred the matter for investigation to the FBI due to “implications for national security,” according to a letter obtained by The Post.

“Mr. Sullivan’s death was a local Virginia medical examiner case, and the manner and circumstances of
his of death raise substantial questions, as he was preparing to provide testimony to Congress,” the April 16 letter addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel read.

“The sudden and suspicious circumstances surrounding his death raise significant concerns about potential foul play and the safety of other individuals involved in this matter.”

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Trump Promises Major UFO File Releases ‘Very, Very Soon’ After Finding ‘Many Interesting Documents’

President Donald Trump teased the imminent release of government documents on UFOs and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) during a speech on Friday at a Turning Point USA event in Phoenix, Arizona.

Trump said he recently directed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to begin declassifying the files.

“I recently directed the Secretary of War … to begin releasing government files relating to UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomena,” Trump told the crowd. “And I figured this was a good crowd because I know you people–– you’re really into that, I don’t know if I am.”

The president added that the review process is already well underway and has uncovered notable material.

“This process was well underway, and we’ve found many interesting documents, I must say, and the first releases will begin very, very soon,” the president stated.

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UFO cluster spotted over mysterious base tied to missing Air Force scientist

A massive cluster of unknown flying objects was spotted near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, a military installation long rumored to be linked to UFO activity.

Witnesses near the Ohio base captured the craft on April 8, showing a silent triangle of glowing lights moving in perfect formation before splitting apart mid-flight.

The lights appeared to drift slowly downward, flickering, pulsing and changing brightness individually as they hovered in the night sky.

Reports described the sighting as having ‘no sound, no standard navigation lights, movement unlike any known aircraft, drone swarm or satellite.’

The video was reportedly taken from Rainbow Lakes, a 60-acre outdoor recreational retreat in Fairborn, about four miles from the base.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) has drawn renewed attention in recent months, as its research laboratory was previously led by retired Major General William Neil McCasland, who disappeared earlier this year.

McCasland, 68, went missing from his New Mexico home on February 28, reportedly leaving with only hiking boots and a .38-caliber revolver.

He led the Air Force Research Laboratory from May 2011 until his retirement in 2013, a facility long associated in UFO lore with alleged materials recovered after the 1947 Roswell incident.

WPAFB leads development in aerospace technology, advanced materials, sensors, human performance and AI.

The Daily Mail has contacted WPAFB for comment on the video.

The clip has flooded social media, where users are debating whether the lights are extraterrestrials or parachutists with flares.

One user on X claimed the lights were ‘non-human intelligent orbs,’ while another user on Reddit shared: ‘This is exactly what it looks like when parachuters have flares attached as they’re falling.’

‘I agree that is what this looks like. A free-fall team, whether it be military or civilian, gets into their final descent stack after their chutes have already deployed,’ a Redditor shared.

‘My issue with this is that the cloud ceiling is super low. If this is a training jump, this low a ceiling would cause it to get pushed or canceled. 

‘Obviously, it is hard to get an ideal grasp on everything since the video is short and in low light. That said, it looks like we lose visual on the flares intermittently as they pass through the clouds.’

Another Redditor joked, saying, ‘They’re coming for more scientists,’ likely referring to McCasland, who managed the Air Force’s $2.2 billion science and technology program along with additional customer-funded research.

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Newly Released Records Reveal Drone Incursions, Including Triangular Object With Spotlight, Above U.S. Nuclear Sites

Liberation Times has obtained records detailing drone incidents around sensitive U.S. nuclear facilities. The documents point to a spate of activity around critical infrastructure between September 2022 and February 2023. 

Among the most striking cases is an incident at the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station in Pennsylvania – a nuclear plant – where a triangular object appearing to carry a large spotlight was reported within the site’s airspace and perimeter for more than two hours.

The material, provided by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) under the Freedom of Information Act, relates to records the NRC sent to the Pentagon’s dedicated Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena office, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, between 1 January 2020 and 24 November 2025.

In total, 22 drone-related incidents were documented. 

The Susquehanna nuclear power plant accounted for eight incidents in just over a month. In contrast, the Columbia Generating Station in Washington state accounted for nine across a period of nearly three months. 

Taken together, those two sites made up 17 of the 22 incidents.

Several incidents around Susquehanna involved multiple drones approaching from multiple directions.

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Nearly a century of wondering: The American UFO saga, in reality and in fiction

On June 24, private pilot Kenneth A. Arnold reports seeing nine objects flying near Mount Rainier in Washington state. His was the first widely reported UFO sighting in this country and set off a wave of other reported sightings. On July 2, A ranch foreman checking on sheep finds strange debris spread over a prairie near Roswell, New Mexico. Authorities initially say the material is from a flying disc, but later say it is from a weather balloon.

U.S. Air Force launches Project Sign, an investigation into UFOs; renamed Project Blue Book in 1953. More than 12,600 reported sightings were investigated between 1948 and 1969.

Release of the spy film “The Flying Saucer.”

Radar operators, pilots and others pick up or see up to a dozen unexplained objects in the sky above Washington, D.C. in July.

Construction begins for what would become the Area 51 site northwest of Las Vegas as an Air Force facility. Area 51 becomes a hotspot for UFO conspiracy theories. In 2013, the CIA acknowledged the existence of the site.

In November, dozens of people in Levelland, Texas, west of Lubbock, report strange lights in the sky that interfered with their vehicles and lights.

In September, “Star Trek” premieres on NBC, launching the most enduring space drama in history.

Dec. 17: Air Force says it found no evidence of any UFO that was extraterrestrial in nature or that threatened national security; terminates Project Blue Book.

Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” released.

U.S. Air Force personnel stationed in Great Britain report seeing strange lights above Rendlesham Forest, northeast of London, in December. Officers reportedly see a metallic object in the forest after investigating the lights.

Spielberg’s “E.T. the Extraterrestrial” is released.

Roland Emmerich’s “Independence Day” is released.

Residents report seeing lights from a large flying object in the sky over or near Phoenix in March.

U.S. aviators track an unidentified blob which was dubbed “Gofast.” In another video from that year, labeled “Gimbal,” an unexplained object is tracked as it soars high along the clouds, traveling against the wind. “There’s a whole fleet of them,” one naval aviator tells another, though only one indistinct object is shown. “It’s rotating.” The videos are leaked and later released by the Pentagon.

Navy acknowledges the three clips of declassified military footage as unidentified aerial phenomena.

Pentagon announces a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena) Task Force.

Investigators say in a U.S. government report that they did not find extraterrestrial links in reviewing 144 sightings of aircraft or other devices apparently flying at mysterious speeds or trajectories. They highlighted the need for better data collection.

Congress holds first hearing in 50 years on UFOs following reports of unexplained aerial phenomena by the military. Lawmakers from both parties say UFOs are a national security concern. NASA announces that it is launching a study of UFOs as part of a new push toward high-risk, high-impact science. The space agency says it’s setting up an independent team to see how much information is publicly available on the matter and how much more is needed. The agency releases its findings in 2023, saying the study of UFOs will require new scientific techniques, including advanced satellites as well as a shift in how unidentified flying objects are perceived. The All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) set up in the Pentagon to track reports of unidentified objects in the sky, under water and in space.

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Are UFOs real? Have they been spotted in Alabama?

Across the United States, residents have been noticing unusual phenomena in the night sky, from streaking meteors to unexplained glowing orbs.

Surging reports of strange lights are fueling speculation in big and small cities alike. The curiosity about what might really exist out there spreads quickly, amplified by social media buzz.

Alabama has not been immune to these sightings. Building on the national trend, the National UFO Reporting Center notes that the state has logged 1,517 UFO reports over the years, ranging from fast-moving objects to massive glowing orbs that have captivated eyewitnesses.

Have there been any recent UFO sightings in Alabama?

The most recent report came on March 24, 2026, in Dothan, where witnesses described a huge yellowish-white orb drifting slowly from north to southeast.

Residents reported seeing it “scan” or emit a subtle downward light as it moved slowly and deliberately, the report said.

The sighting attracted attention on local social media, and residents shared videos and photos.

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FAA Records Detail Pilot Encounter with Unidentified Object Pacing Aircraft Over Nevada

A newly released set of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), documents an unusual aerial encounter involving a business jet over Northern Nevada in May 2025. The records include air traffic control (ATC) audio and internal FAA logs, though key data, specifically radar information, was withheld.

The FOIA request, originally submitted May 30, 2025, sought comprehensive records related to an Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon (UAP) observed by flight PWA192 during its return trip from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Chicago Executive Airport (PWK). The FAA issued a partial denial response under case number FAA-2025-03957, releasing limited material while withholding others under federal exemptions.

The case first came to light through an anonymous tip submitted to The Black Vault. While anonymous sources are typically treated with caution, the details provided were corroborated through FAA documentation and audio recordings released under FOIA.

The most direct official acknowledgment appears in the FAA’s Daily Record of Facility Operation (Form 7230-4), which documents the event as it was recorded in real time by Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZOA).

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