Light over Sylmar, CA
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
saw a light suddenly shoot down from a flying object towards the groud.
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center. Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
Ask for the records
What would the paper say?
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 2003-10-05 → 2003-10-22
From the same sky
Related entries
May 5, 2021 · 9:00 PM · LIGHT
Sylmar, CA
UFOs sighted May 5, 2021 around 9pm. Lights in a single line flying similar distance from one another. It had been seen by my husband first. I went outside about 1 to 2 minutes after his sighting. I saw the last 10 lights flying south west. My husband said there were about 100 lights flying in the form I saw of the last 10.
February 8, 2018 · 1:00 AM · OTHER
Sylmar, CA
Brilliant white object hovering on the southeastward of Sylmar. Object was recorded for about 22 minutes by a security camara.
January 1, 2018 · 8:00 PM · FORMATION
Sylmar, CA
FROM 2ND STORY BALCONY 8PM. AGAINST OUTLINE OF DARK MOUNTAINS FEW CITY LIGHTS. OBS. HORIZONTAL ROW OF RED LIGHTS NO FLASHING. HOVERED ABOVE HOUSES IN HIGH HILLS. IT MOVED UP DOWN UP DOWN, LIKE A ELEVATOR. IN A BLINK OF EYE IT WAS GONE. THEN, IT APPEARED IN ANOTHER AREA OF THE SKY AWAY FROM HOUSES MOUNTAINS. I NOTICED A SMALL PLANE, BUT THE PLANE WAS MUCH HIGHER MOVED SLOW. THE OBJECT HOVERED ABOUT 2 MIN. THEN DIRECT QUICKLY BACK OVER THE HOUSES. IT APPEARED TO DESCEND... SAW NO MORE. HAD INTERESTING DREAM LATER.
August 5, 2017 · 9:15 PM · FLASH
Sylmar, CA
Obtained field glasses and noted when the object was to the East of us, there were multiple lights that were more dim and there was distance between them. 17 08 05 - ((initials deleted)) Rep.
November 20, 2016 · 2:00 PM · UNKNOWN
Sylmar, CA
I went outside for something, and looked east and saw something just above the horizon (somewhat of a hill behind our house). It was not moving very fast at all. As it got closer it passed by almost directly above me, but I still had enough view of the side, as I was not directly below. I live near a hospital and a freeway, and often see helicopters for the hospital, the traffic news, firefighters, and police... so i'm quite familiar with how they look and the altitudes they typically fly at. The craft I saw appeared to be at or below what a police helicopter would fly at, and it was roughly the same length as one. It was metallic, and shiny (reflective) and was roughly the shape of a Manta-Ray... but on it's side. There was a small protrusion coming out of the (bottom?) and then extending toward what I would call the "back". I would say that it almost looked like a Mylar balloon, however it was more of a brass or copperish color. It was slowly rotating along a vertical axis, at a consistant speed and did not roll to the side at all, and did not pitch up or down. It simply rotated (roughly 1 revolution every 8 seconds) as it slowly passed overhead at a steady rate. After it passed over and was moving away from me, I realized I should take a photo but I didn't have my camera, or my phone with me. I ran inside, and grabbed my Canon 5D Mk2 and my 70-200mm lens but for whatever reason all of the batteries were dead (nothing else was affected like this, i'd say the dead batteries were my fault and unrelated) so I grabbed my phone... and let my daughter (only 4 at the time) know there was a UFO outside and she should come outside and look. I ran out to the driveway, and she saw it and said it looked like a manta ray (otherwise I would not have come up with how to describe it). By this time it was much further away, and had gained altitude. I started recording with my iPhone 7 Plus telephoto camera... and by this point it was pretty much just a dot in the footage, but I zoomed in, and you could somewhat see some shimmering of the light off the reflective surface, and can somewhat tell it is rotating because of the blurry dot changing shape. Watching the footage later on, it appears that the object changes direction right before I stop. Asking my daughter about it now, she does not remember the event. She said she sort of remembers going outside to see something but cannot recall any details now. I created a map of where I was, and roughly the path the craft took. Lining up where I was standing with my neighbor's roofs in the footage shows approximately where it was. I labeled points where I saw it, where I ran inside, and when I came back outside. Here is a link to the map, and I've included an image of it in the files. I'm also including a video of a 3D model that I just made of the object, trying to remember as best I can what it looked like in the files, as well as an image of the file. I have never seen anything this shape, even in UFO videos. What stood out the most was the constant stable rotation, it was silent, and had to have been at least 20ft long, maybe longer. If it was even half the size I'd just dismiss it as a large mylar balloon but there's just too much about it that doesn't supprt that. I saw no fins, wings, ports, windows, lights. It was shiney and had a sort of shimmer to it. I don't mind if someone contacts me, but I'm not sure I can remember much more than this.
September 16, 2016 · 9:00 PM · TRIANGLE
Sylmar, CA
Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD