Light over Sumter, SC
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Point of light
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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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 2004-12-28 → 2005-01-14
From the same sky
Related entries
September 23, 2022 · 10:00 PM · SPHERE
Sumter, SC
I was driving to base to meet up with friends around 10pm. I was on a straight road which had a T-intersection looking onwards I see two orange UAPs(not glowing but visibly bright) over a forest. I slow my vehicle down to gaze upon this marvel because I’ve lived here for half a decade and I’ve never seen anything in the night sky near base. I had to turn left and I no longer had visual of the orbs. Lasted 20 seconds or so before turning. Maybe it was from this world but definitely some type of UAP. You tell me what I saw cause it was drifting in the sky and not like anything I’ve seen before. I didn’t hear anything either with my windows down. Just the night air and breeze from the sky.
October 16, 2021 · 5:00 PM · SPHERE
Sumter, SC
While sitting on our patio watching birds coming in to roost as the sun was just below the horizon, we both noticed a round object flying from left to right above our treeline about a mile out (max) and perhaps 1,000 to 2,000 foot altitude. Due to the white color I assumed it was just an aircraft reflecting the setting sun making it appear white. I then realized I could actually watch the while smoothly become black, then white in a steady transition. The darkness was rotating from the left as would the white during the light dark light transitions of the object. By the time I realized this was unlike anything I had seen before, it was too late to grab a camera as it moved behind my treeline as It moved along . Background on me, I served in the US Army Infantry airborne for 12 years. I work on a Airforce based, and have a clearance. Ice seen plenty of things in my time, I am 62. I doubt we have this type of technology. No sound at all. We have a bombing range nearby and only F16's here. No jet looks like this. I would describe this as a ball that is light and dark which slowly rotates whileovi g smoothly and not terrible fast.
April 11, 2018 · 9:00 PM · TRIANGLE
Sumter, SC
I saw a triangle shape. Alone. No stars. No airplanes. At each corner of the triangle, there was a flashing orange light. The triangle was moving in a circular motion... then a triangular motion. And kept doing that on and off. Would get closer to me. Then would go back closer to te sky. They seem as if they wanted to communicate and send a warning... I was by myself. I watched this for 30 minutes and I got bored bc they kept doing the same thing. So I went back inside while they continued to do this for a long time. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD
January 18, 2017 · 9:00 PM · TRIANGLE
Sumter, SC
Was outside walking my cousin's dogs with her 11 year old son. We were marveling at Orion, as he was pretty high in the Eastern sky. We turned and walked with our back to Orion, and I looked up (towards the West) and saw a triangular object moving EXTREMELY slowly towards the N/NW in the direction of Charlotte, NC (I'm 2.5 hours from there, but just trying to give some perspective of its movement). We were able to observe it for 15 minutes before the dogs and the 11 year old got restless. I came back outside, but the object was beyond the far tree lines. I live with open fields around me in a rural area close to an Air Force base (Shaw AFB). The object was definitely an equilateral triangle with a slow-blinking red light in the middle. It was low enough that I would be confident in saying the light was at the bottom of a convex/downward dome. The points of the triangle had white lights that were not blinking. I would estimate the width of the craft to be on par that of the wingspan of a Boeing 747. Ahead of the object and to its left was a much smaller craft that was simply a red light as though it were "towing" the larger craft--definitely guiding the path for sure. The light on that smaller craft was not blinking. I could not make out the shape of this object, but the red light appeared as a dot from my vantage point. I heard zero engine noise. Since Shaw AFB is home to an F-16 fighter wing, so I know what F-16 engines sound like, even at idle. This object wasn't making any noises that any aircraft would make, much less an F-16. I was stunned at how slowly the craft was moving and amazed it was able to stay in the air without me hearing any engine noise.
August 15, 2016 · 11:00 PM
Sumter, SC
A few minutes later, the urge returned and something in my head said go out side, there's something you must see. So, I jump out of bed, half naked, and rush to the back door. My wife said what's wrong, are you having a nightmare? I said, I don't know what the hell is going on, but I have to go outside. I went outside, and while standing on my porch, within a few seconds this big bright light appeared directly in front of me. I froze! It scared so bad, it was so bright it made the moon look like a dim light bulb. I called my wife, and she ran to the back. She said, "Ooh my God, what is that thing?" The light was very big, and oval shaped. No noise. It silently move away and disappeared. We spoke via telephone with the witness who submitted the report, and we found him to be quite sober-minded. We suspect that he is a highly reliable witness. PD
November 12, 2015 · 8:22 PM · DISK
Sumter, SC
An object moving very fast approximately 700-800 mph with no sound. It was approximately 300 feet above the ground. It was heading north toward Shaw Air Force base. This object was seen over Ashbrook Plantation Subdivision.