Light over Cortez, CO
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Sitting on my front porch, I saw in the western sky past the house across the street a glowing red ball of light. There were fireworks heard earlier in the night, so I was expecting it to be fireworks. However, it descended slightly, and then hung in the air. I continued to watch it expecting it to pop like fireworks, but it just stayed there glowing. It then suddenly shut off and zipped off upwardly very quickly leaving a faint white trail. A few seconds later a green glittery patch of lights appeared that then turned into a red glowing ball of light and then it was gone. I thought to use my phone camera I was listening to only then but was too late. The fireworks were earlier in the evening at the golf course behind the house. I didn't hear anything or feel anything like fireworks, but I was listening to my phone at the time.
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #135815). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2017-08-16 → 2017-09-02
From the same sky
Related entries
September 18, 2023 · 9:10 PM · SPHERE
Cortez, CO
I was closing my upstairs bedroom window which overlooks Cortez at around 10:15 pm when I saw this strange red light. At first I thought it was the moon, but it was in the wrong position in the sky. I called my two sons to look at it and they saw the same thing. It was red, glowing, elongated upright that grew taller and then shorter a few times. At one point it looked like a thin cresent moon, hanging cockeyed in the sky. At one point we couldn't see it, then it came back before disappearing. I am a lab technician, one of my sons is a college graduate. My other son works in Durango. My dog was acting scared and wouldn't be left alone. We did take pictures with my cell phone but they are not clear.
October 27, 2022 · 7:20 PM · CYLINDER
Cortez, CO
I stepped outside of my hotel room and this massive light shooting across the sky immediately caught my eye. A light as big as a full moon was moving south southwest of Cortez Colorado. I ran back into the room to grab my phone and was able to get a picture of it however the street light kept me from getting a good picture. As I was trying to get to a area where the light would not interfere a large plume of smoke I guess came from the front of the object and the entire light passed through it and then was quickly out of sight.
October 18, 2019 · 7:00 PM · TRIANGLE
Cortez, CO
UFO siting 10/18/2019 We were standing on the balcony of our room at the Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde National Park in Cortez, Colorado on October 18, 2019 at dusk, just before 7pm. The hotel is 15 miles inside of the park, so we were very isolated and miles away from all building, street or car lights. The balcony faces south and we had just photographed the sun setting in the west at 6:30pm. After the sun had gone down, yet still light, we were commenting on how dark and clear it was without any buildings or street lights for miles. We looked up and it was not yet totally dark. We commented on the amazing view and the distance we could see. There were no clouds in the sky, as my photos will show, and no stars were out yet. My friend and I were looked out and saw 3 lights in the shape of a triangle right in front of us. It was flashing, then 2 of the lights on one side stopped flashing then quickly disappeared. The one remaining light got brighter then went out completely. I saw nothing else in the sky. No planes, no stars, no clouds. My friend and I looked at each other and stated that we had both seen the same thing at the same time. It lasted less than 30 seconds in total.
June 9, 2018 · 9:18 PM · LIGHT
Cortez, CO
A light seen stationary approx. 1/4 of a degree to the east of the star Arcturus. It and the star increased in magnitude for a moment before the light faded away. The light was a white-blue color. The previous night (06/08/18) the light moved clockwise around Arcturus before disappearing and Arcturus' light dimming back down to normal Possible flare from an Iridium satellite?? PD
September 26, 2014 · 1:30 AM · CONE
Cortez, CO
UFO Sighting Sighting: September 26, 2014, 1:30 a.m., hovering above Mesa Verde, viewed from the west side of the formation. It appeared to be approximately 300 feet above Mesa Verde near Cortez, CO. Red and blue lights appeared on the top of the object, which randomly went off and on. On the bottom of the structure were blue lights, alternating to yellow lights. From vantage point, object looked to be cylinder in shape about 80' tall at one end, and 40' tall at the other end. Shape of the object was deduced from the illumination of the lights. Object remained hovered over Mesa Verde for approximately two hours in duration. First spotted at 1:30 a.m. Sky was filled with stars, but object appeared large and brightly lit in photo taken.
August 23, 2007 · 10:00 PM · OTHER
Cortez, CO
A football field size bright light with a multicolored beam in the middle