Light over Artesia, NM
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
My wife, myself, and the neighbors we were visiting had just stepped outside onto their porch. We were standing there talking about how great the weather felt and was looking at the stars. My wife said, "Do ya'll see that?" Our neighbor said, "I am glad someone else is seeing stuff". Yet when I looked and my buddy we did not see anything and said its probably just an airplane or a bright star. My wife said, "There were lights and they did not look like airplane lights or stars." I of course am, was, very skeptical and said (thinking she thought she saw a UFO), "Well I don't see anything." Then right in front of us, up in the sky, we witnessed these yellowish, orangish circles of light. They appeared out of nowhere. First one, then another up and to the left of the first one, then they multiplied. There were all the sudden three circles of lights above and two below. Then the three upper circles of light merged. The lower circles then combined to one. The two upper circles then became side by side. Then one moved quickly in front of the other in a straight like fashion. Then the lower circle of light disappeared, then the one above it, and then the last upper one disappeared. Just like someone was switching the lights off. And switching the lights off what exactly? After seeing that, I sat outside of our home for quite a while. Then all the sudden, it looked like a shooting star fell and that was all I saw the remainder of the time I sat out there. I must have stayed out there for a good four hours just looking in the direction where I saw the circles of light. It was like something out of a movie, I have never seen anything like it. It was a feeling of fear, excitement, anxiety all rolled into one. I went inside my house and googled anything I could find on this kind of phenomenon, then watched hundreds of youtube videos. Which lead me to the National UFO Reporting Center. I even called Peter at the center. I was and still, am just trying to wrap my head ar ound what I experienced. This all happened in Artesia, New Mexico, which is 57 miles south of Roswell New Mexico. Another reason I was so skeptical. I have always thought it was a humongous scam, UFO's and Aliens. I am not so skeptical any longer. I know what I saw was no airplane, no star, no kind of technology, at least none I have ever witnessed before. I do have everything I explained recorded on my phone.
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #146664). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2019-06-02 → 2019-06-19
From the same sky
Related entries
February 2, 2023 · 7:15 PM · FORMATION
Artesia, NM
Driving southbound on 285 from Roswell to Artesia, me, my wife and two adult age sons observed a total of six lights In Formation. My wife had asked what the bright celestial body was to our west, low on the horizon. As I looked west and said Jupiter, we both saw a dull orange light appear in the southwest sky, not low in the sky near lights or towers, but high in the southwest sky. Within seconds a send and third light appeared in a straight line. The lights each went out in sequence as three more lights appeared a short distance south of the first three. The new three appeared in similar sequence and in a formation like an echelon. At this moment the first three reappeared in sequence and the same echelon formation. The six moved laterally a short distance. As I realized that these were likely not flares, because they turned on and off, as they appeared and disappeared and moved laterally I called to my boys in the back seat, who saw the formation starting from the second group. I also asked my wife to film it with her phone. As she was digging in her purse to find her phone, the lights went out for the last time. The entire thing lasted around 30 seconds. As we continued to scan the sky, approximately 5 minutes later we could see what appeared to be condensation trail in the sky in that same area as lights. I describe it as a con trail although it was too dark to have actually been a con trail, but that’s what it looked like. This trail was visible for another two minutes. I’m not sure these two events are connected but I’ve never seen anything like either and the proximity would suggest they were related.
September 24, 2019 · 11:00 PM · TRIANGLE
Artesia, NM
i was outside smoking the other night dk when exactly... i swear on my momma i seen a light appear, then another horizontally a ways away creating the base of the shape, then other lights began to just appear one by one, stacking and forming a triangle. then gone. please if anyone else saw this POST IT SO IK IM NOT CRAZY.
October 22, 2017 · 8:42 PM · FIREBALL
Artesia, NM
Stepped outside for a chore, looked up and saw a rather huge, fiery ball of something moving at a high rate of speed. At first I thought it was a comet, but it never seemed to get smaller and picked up in size and color as well. if i were to accurately describe it, i'd say it was as if a plane was on fire, still in flight, headed towards Roswell, NM...
July 12, 2017 · 12:45 AM · FIREBALL
Artesia, NM
It flew for about .5 km before disappearing. From the time of the first flash to the time it disappeared was about 3-5 seconds. ((ADDENDUM FROM WITNESS)) I was thinking the same thing. It seemed to have landed near or in Brantley Lake. Because of the lights not covering the entire area of its surface and it being visible between flash and skid I'm uncertain what it was. I have seen meteors before. Because of the similarity to a report from the same area 2 hours prior, I'm almost certain it was not a meteor. There was a barking and whining band of coyotes running from the area after we heard a coyote yelp. We were startled by this and left the area. Thank you for your response. I honestly do not feel what I saw can be as easily explained. ((END ADDENDUM))
July 11, 2017 · 10:30 PM · LIGHT
Artesia, NM
And for the third time I was able to get them on video and this is what I recorded
May 24, 2015 · 11:30 PM · SPHERE
Artesia, NM
My girlfriend and I were leaving from visiting my parents house. We were saying out goodbyes and noticed a very bright light moving at a very high rate of speed, coming from a west-southwest direction. My father dismissed it as a satellite. I have seen satellites and honestly, I felt this was nothing of the sort. No sound, nothing odd in trajectory as it moved east-northeast. Simply larger than any satellite I have ever witnessed. It moved further on its course but never faded. We then re-attempted to get ready to leave. Within a minute of the first light losing our interest, we noticed three more lights coming from a similar west-southwest position. I could tell they were not moving in straight lines. The first of these three was a little smaller than the light that had passed moments before. The third in line was similar to this size and brightness. The second of this line was the slightest bit smaller. The second light started to move off of its course and got behind the third light. When they were approximately at a 90 degree above us, the smaller second light sped up and seemed to contact the third light that was ahead of it. The entire time there was no sound what so ever. The second and third light continued to "dance" across the sky until they we at a 45 degree, still following a general east-northeast path. Here they moved into a line. I relate it to Orion's belt. They stayed in this position for many minutes, with binoculars we watched them for ten minutes or more, almost as if they had paused in place. We had to attend to animals so we said our goodbyes in awe.