Light over Somerville, MA
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Bright pure white light streaked across the sky above my house in a densely populated area. No sound and moving very fast. Was not a drone, helicopter or plane. The light was very bright and moving at a high rate of speed in a north-northeast direction.
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #136372). 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 2017-09-22 → 2017-10-09
From the same sky
Related entries
August 13, 2022 · 11:00 PM · LIGHT
Somerville, MA
I’m a skeptic, but open minded when something defies my understanding. This is one of two unexplainable physical objects I’ve perceived outside of dreaming and experimenting with substances. This is also the first sighting I’ve had with another person present and aware. My partner and I went out at 10:00pm on Saturday (August 13th) to watch the Perseid meteor shower in his backyard (located in Somerville, Massachusetts). It was surprisingly clear, and we saw a total of three meteors heading south before rotating our lawn chairs at 11:00pm. My partner went to chat with our neighbor at her door while I pleaded for him to return (I was giddy at witnessing two more impressive meteors shooting southwest). He returned and immediately commented on the neighbors outdoor lights—and how they were not automatically turning off at a reasonable hour—when I perceived something big flying overhead in the opposite direction of the previously observed meteors. I said, “is that a bird?” before realizing that it did not resemble anything I had ever seen before. My question prompted my partner to silently observe with me. The object was almost plane shaped, but somewhat transparent like matte plastic. It was catching some light—I could make out it’s overall shape—but light or electricity seemed to cascade off of it in waves or sparks (like when you push your hand through water). I remember cursing when it suddenly changed direction. It flew faster than anything I have seen in the sky, and it did not obey the laws of gravity or momentum. The weirdest part—that still haunts me—is that it made no noise. It flew overhead in a matter of seconds, and changed direction in ~15 degree increments about four times before leaving sight. For a moment I hesitated. Then, my partner and I started talking over each other. “What was that? A bird? No, right? It was transparent. Light was cascading off of it. It changed directions!” Within 15 minutes we were both trying to pretend nothing happened. “Nobody would believe us” was my first thought, and my partner basically lost interest in trying to have conversations about it. The lack of noise and observable detail prevented any guess as to its size or altitude, but subjectively it seemed like a plane that had taken off a few minutes before. That’s basically my entire report—I need to get some rest before work tomorrow—but, my partner and I do believe whatever we saw was entirely real (although unrealistic). It looked like a hologram or CGI, and I think it will have a massive impact on my life for the next several years at least.
December 19, 2017 · 5:30 PM · LIGHT
Somerville, MA
Driving home from work on route 16 heading towards Assembly Row and a ball of light, non-blinking shot across the sky and towards the ground. Lasted 2 seconds and very very fast. It was a normal light color and i dont know how far it really was but i know it was way too fast to be a plane becasue planes fly higher up with the blinking lights and dont go as fast as this was moving. It happened in a blink of the eye and the way i was facing it went from my right across to the left and looked like it was heading to crash into the ground but i didnt see where it landed, too far away from where i was
February 4, 2017 · 5:00 PM · OTHER
Somerville, MA
Walking outside at 17:00 to dinner with family, looked up at the rising moon and noticed a bright object just to the left—looking exactly like a planet (size and brightness). On our walk to the car (about 100 yards) we looked up again. The object was now higher in the sky than above, which doesn’t make sense if it was a planet. Once we reached the car the brightness had diminished significantly. It actually looked to have disappeared…but upon closer focus there seemed to be multiple objects, smaller and dimmer. Luckily, I had a pair of 10x40 binoculars in the car. We got those out as quickly as possible and focused on the spot where the object(s) originally existed. This is when I noticed what looked like debris in the area where the object was originally. The largest “piece” of what was originally there started to fall toward earth. I shared the use of the binoculars with my wife. She verified that the object was there and falling toward earth. We kept watching until it vanished from our view.
July 31, 2016 · 5:30 PM · UNKNOWN
Somerville, MA
On July 31st @ 5:31 pm I was coming out of Home Depot in Somerville, MA, when I looked up and saw something hovering in the sky that I did not recognize. I took a quick video and some pictures and because I did not have time to spare, I headed home. The object made no noise, and just hovered. It was up in the sky to far to be a kite and if it was a drone it appeared to me it would have the capability of holding passengers. The shape was not an airplane, helicopter or kite The pictures need to be rotated (they are sideways. Picture #3 gives good perspective of distance and size of object. Not sure how to convert video but I can text it.
November 7, 2015 · 12:10 AM · CIRCLE
Somerville, MA
looking at stars on clear night... Then saw a light circling rather quickly, in a horisontal strobe, making a big circle. I only it flashing past the white clouds as it passed by them, I saw nothing against the dark sky, only as it circled back around to hit the white clouds. I saw no beam originating from anywhere. It quickly circled around many times, in a perfect circle. When the clouds floated away, I no longer saw the light....very strange, never saw anything like this before.
November 2, 2013 · 2:00 AM · CIRCLE
Somerville, MA
Multiple lights on a round ufo over Boston, MA, Nov. 2, 2013.