Light over Boston, MA
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Jet's Chasing Lights in Sky Over Boston
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center. Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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For a dated, located U.S. sighting, FAA radar data and ATC communications are the records most likely to exist. Through Aletheca, the house instrument, anyone can commission the request — filed, chased, and published in the open, refusals included. The draft goes over already written: the records sought, and the date window they would live in.
Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2001-02-10 → 2001-02-27
From the same sky
Related entries
October 3, 2023 · 2:50 AM · CIRCLE
Boston, MA
Airline Capt for major US carrier. 25 yrs airline, 28 years USAF (they overlap). Flying to Europe from NY, 50ish miles before Boston at 35000' heading 060 deg I notice a light ahead and above come into view, grow very bright, looked to move right and down then dim till gone. Then another one, or the same one, appears, grows bright, and dims as it moves away. I noticed this for several minutes before pointing it out to my first officer (highly experienced and also ex-military). Lights were not consistent - sometimes one followed by another then another, sometimes 2 or 3 at once, sometimes movement from left to right was pronounced. This went on for approx 20 min. I have several videos (taken with phone). NOT starlink, not other satellites, not a planet, not space station, not ships at sea - we both know what all of those look like and we both agreed that this was not any of those. Only possibility is military aircraft. Problem with that is 1) lights were very bright and came on dim to bright to dim which aircraft lighting is set (just on bright); 2) white lights NOT green/red navigation lights or strobes; 3) the light looked very similar to how airliners look as we come in to land - with our gear down, landing lights and nose gear lights on. No aircraft has their landing gear out at 35000' plus; 4) We both felt that the objects were 10000 or more above us. VERY high for even military activity. For videos - 1) you will see venus (?) in lower right corner. Bright. Not what I am talking about. 2) The perspective from the videos makes them look lower than us, but we both watched them and were sure these objects were above us and by a lot. Not sure why it appears that way. -City in video is Boston -Bright light on right edge is a planet -No moon, no clouds (video quality makes it appear there is low clouds - no) -Very few stars out except if you looked very high and to the north -Objects in question are in middle/middle high of videos
July 18, 2023 · 8:00 PM · FIREBALL
Boston, MA
I was sitting on my porch watching the sunset and I saw a bright ball of fire come down and then quickly go back up. It disappeared with no trace. I kept looking to see it reappear or to be recognized as a plane. The shape it made was like the letter U. Reminded me of a shooting star in color and brightness.
July 5, 2023 · 8:25 PM · CIRCLE
Boston, MA
I'm not sure if this is an actual UFO, and I anyone who knows what this is to let me know in the comments. At first I thought it was a helicopter carrying cargo, which would be a rare sight around here. I then realized that was no helicopter, and it was definitely not an airplane of any kind. By the end I completely lost sight of it, but I kept recording with zoom trying to see if I could find it again as it was almost impossible to do so with the naked eye at this point, but I could not find it and gave up. Later that same day I was checking the last video I took (the one where I couldn't find it, and I realized that for a fraction of a second you can see it very quickly go left, and then right in a spiral motion right before disappearing. Thank God I have the building wall to the right in the shot to prove it was not due to a camera shake. The most logical explanation would have been a balloon, and I genuinely thought it was until I realized how it takes off at the end. I cut that last part and added various versions of it by the end, zoomed in, slow motion, black and white, and color corrected. Any other logical theories are much appreciated. [NUFORC annotation: Balloon - Possible]
May 13, 2023 · 3:45 PM · EGG
Boston, MA
Was definitely not a balloon and not a drone. Was about the same size as a beach balloon but not completely round…..more like Rugby Ball shaped. Shiny silver appearance.
April 2, 2023 · 2:32 PM · CIRCLE
Boston, MA
Saw a reflection in a mirror. Looked out the window and saw a silver sphere/ball gliding in the sky. At first I thought it was a plane due to altitude but it was moving slow enough for me to get a really good look. Definately a ball shaped sphere, completely silver gliding across sky. Then I thought it might be a balloon but again, altitude was way to high. No clouds in the sky and little to no wind. It is a very sunny clear day today. Wow!! [NUFORC annotation: Balloon - Possible]
October 16, 2022 · 8:20 PM · CYLINDER
Boston, MA
I was looking into the night sky over Boston Harbor and Logan Airport. I spotted a bright light at a high altitude that I first thought was a star but I realized it was moving in West/Northwesterly direction over Boston Harbor just south of Logan Airport. I took a photograph of the object with my IPhone. When I zoomed in/enlarged the image it appeared to be a white rocket with two side booster rockets attached, one blue, the other red. There were no lights flashing on the three cylinders, nor any visible exhaust coming from any of them. The object moved slowly and steadily in a straight line from southwest to northeast and disappeared from view as it passed over tall buildings in downtown Boston. I wonder if it is a SpaceX rocket or a rocket connected to the international space station or a rocket used to launch a military, research or commercial satellite.