Circle over Belchertown, MA
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Walking in a parking lot, I spotted a light, what I suppose a craft, that flew across the sky at speeds beyond any plane, drone, military device etc. Flew around the height of a helicopter and wasn't high enough to be a plane. Flew in a straight line. I've seen a shooting star before, and this was definitely not that. I suspected at first a fighter jet, as we see them in my area. This object made no sound so a jet was ruled out, and besides that it was moving at an insane rate of speed. It crossed the skyline that I could see - maybe 4 miles - in less than a second. The object gave off a single light and faded out into the distance obtaining the same direction and elevation.
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #167209). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2022-03-19 → 2022-04-05
From the same sky
Related entries
October 18, 2023 · 7:00 PM · TRIANGLE
Belchertown, MA
Driving down the hill from the center of town, on the way to pick up my wife from work at Christopher heights, me and my children saw three solid orange lights in the shape of a big triangle hovering silently in the sky for about 5 seconds then we could not see it any longer. After waiting about 15 minutes for my wife we headed home the same direction we came, again seeing the same lights hovering over the old state school grounds where there are two new rotaries. I pulled into one of the rotaries to stop and look at the craft it was very big was not a helicopter or a plane and had like I said three orange solid lights shaped like a triangle we watched it for about 2 minutes before the lights just went out and disappeared.
December 27, 2022 · 8:00 PM · CIRCLE
Belchertown, MA
Bright light like a star traveled like a satellite and then stopped over my house. it traveled a straight line from the South east to the north west.It stayed in this position for over two hours and moved side to side and back-and-forth periodically I gave up watching it after two hours
October 7, 2020 · 7:21 PM · UNKNOWN
Belchertown, MA
I was traveling east with my fiance on Bay Rd. in Hadley MA around 7:20 (right before Atkins) when I first noticed a single low, bright, color shifting object just above the tree line. I had seen lights exactly like this before several times, all near or above water sources (see my previous post from January 2019 of seeing a diamond shaped craft hovering low over the Connecticut River while traveling home from work in Northampton/Holyoke on rt. 5). For this particular sighting, initially I only saw 1 light. It was definitely not a plane, helicopter, or drone as the light pattern was a rapidly changing almost opal or diamond like random color pattern, not a standard FAA color scheme or pattern that planes and helicopters have. I asked my fiance who was driving at the time if he saw it too and he confirmed that he did. It was not moving in the sky and remained stationary as we headed into Belchertown continuing on Bay Rd. and turned off on our street shortly b! efore Bay Rd. merges onto rt 9. When we got to our home, we could still clearly see the same light from our front yard. It had not moved. We went inside and about an hour later came out again and it was in the same spot. I noticed now that it looked like there was a small helicopter flying near it, like it was observing the strange light from a close distance. It was a much smaller, much dimmer flashing white light next to it. We watched this for another couple of minutes and the strange light began to go from bright, almost sparkling like color shifts to pure blackout (this could have been due to some clouds). It appeared to be right over Quabbin reservoir near the Belchertown/Pelham line which is a few miles from our house. After watching it for a few more minutes, it made a pretty sudden and small shift in direction, looking like it was headed towards us (headed west) in the sky. We could tell it was moving towards us because it got slightly larger in size and brightness! very fast. Once it appeared to have stopped moving, we headed! out bac k (traveling west) towards Bay Rd. to get some food on rt 9 when I looked up and saw that there were actually several of these lights lining what appeared to be the outline of the lower portion of the Quabbin reservoir along rt 9 heading into Ware. I counted about 4 or 5 that were low and close enough that I could see them clearly before we had to turn onto Bay Rd. and they would be completely behind us from the car. The lights seemed to be in a type of line or formation or like I said, lining the reservoirs edge or at least the lower portion of the water from my vantage point. I had only seen these kinds of lights in a diamond shape per my previous sighting so to see them individually spread out like that was the only difference from my first sighting. The lights/crafts were far enough apart that it couldn't have been 1 craft but rather a series of possible sentinels or smaller crafts hovering over different points along the water. As we headed toward rt 9 via Bay Rd, I noticed another single light like the ones we just saw but it was over the Northampton/Hatfield area. It was also pulsating at a fast rate several different brilliant colors and was also low in the sky. It was the same type of light/craft but by itself, possibly over the Connecticut River. I am not sure why every time I see these lights they are hovering over or traveling along a river or other waterway, but I can't deny what I saw. After seeing the same type of light multiple times, this time having my fiance also see them and confirm what I was seeing/what I said I had seen befor! e, it made me feel like I wasn't crazy and legitimized my/our experience. We are moving to Belchertown shortly and even though this wasn't the first time, I suspect it won't be the last time I see some unexplainable things in the night sky near Quabbin.
January 29, 2019 · 6:12 PM · FORMATION
Belchertown, MA
As it got about 50 feet in front of the car it broke from a bean of light to three small white lights in a triangle formation. Slowly other lights started to materialize around it, including a red light. Now there were 5 small lights in a triangular formation hovering and bobbing in front of the car. We watched it go out over the trees and slowly hover and make a jagged triangle shape over the landscape. Suddenly, all of the small lights came together to form one glowing orange light and the light came flying at an unbelievable speed towards the car and then disappeared into thin air a couple hundred yards away. I jumped out of the car and heard no sound other than our car. Truly unexplainable. Waited long enough to watch other planes pass over the same area and no planes moved or materialized like what we had seen.
October 3, 2016 · 5:00 AM · FIREBALL
Belchertown, MA
At 5:00 am on October 3, 2016, my son and I were awakened by an incredibly loud, ripping or tearing sound coming from outside. We looked out a south window and saw 3 fireballs moving East and losing altitude. The whole thing was over in under 5 minutes. Very loud disturbance. Three red fireballs low in the sky descending slowly overhead. (Addendum) 2 Addendums: 1) Weather conditions Monday morning during the sighting: Pre-dawn dark with pea soup fog. Lights from aircraft took on a fiery, blurred and diffused glow. 2) This article appeared the next day on wwlp.com: "TSgt Amelia Leonard of Westover Air Reserve Base told 22News that five F-15 fighter jets left Westover at around 5:00 A.M. Monday. Leonard said that the pilots had stopped at Westover to rest in-between long flights. Leonard did not disclose where the jets were coming from, or where they were going." http://wwlp.com/2016/09/26/f-15-jets-took-off-from-westover-early-monday-morning/ https://www.facebook.com/Westover.Patriot/posts/10154575536972884 Official says fighter jets taking off early mornings from Westover for overseas mission 'are in the fight' CHICOPEE — Officials at Westover Air Reserve Base said they have been flooded with complaints about fighter jets flying overhead and waking residents up at 5 a.m. and earlier. Officials apologized for the inconvenience and are warning residents the early morning flights will continue this week and possibly other times in the near future. "These are not practice, they are in the fight," Lt. Col. James Bishop, chief of public affairs for Westover, said. "They are supporting operations overseas." For security reasons, Bishop could not say where the F-15 fighter jets are heading, but he said Westover is simply a stop-over spot for them. The crews are also coming from different bases, including Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, and some may be returning from Europe as well. Bishop said he has not received a schedule beyond this week and could not release specifics on when the jets will be flying overhead this week for security reasons. Westover is the closest base in the United States to Europe, so crews are stopping at the base to refuel and allow pilots to get some sleep. The base is a common location for stopovers of a wide variety of planes because of its location, Bishop said. Westover is not involved with the mission, and officials have limited information about it. The base is really just serving as a "garage" for the planes, he said. The complaints are mainly because of the 5 a.m. takeoffs that are waking people up and have also frightened people because they are so loud and atypical. The actual flight paths vary depending on wind conditions and many other factors, Bishop said. Pilots are taking off so early because of the time difference between here and Europe. When they leave at 5 a.m., it is already 10 a.m. in England, Bishop said. http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/10/westover_5_am_fighter_jets_hea.html Witness indicates during a telephone conversation that the news report, which reported that the noise had been caused by F-15 fighter aircraft, which were thought to have been headed to Europe. We have requested an addendum statement from the witness, and will add it here, if one is submitted. PD
May 3, 2013 · 11:00 PM · FIREBALL
Belchertown, MA
Orange/red lights in sky.