Unknown over Seattle, WA
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
On the evening of 4/12/23, I was shooting stock night footage of Seattle for my drone company. I had not looked over all the full resolution videos on my PC until last night, 4/16. Upon watching one of the videos, I saw what looked like a rocket powered aircraft or missile in the sky above Seattle. I played the video back multiple times and could not rule it as lens flare since the light source in the video had a definitive tail that did not change direction as the camera panned the cityscape. I reviewed the evening flight traffic using https://www.flightradar24.com/ at the specific time I was filming, which the plane traffic matched my clip, but zero westbound flights are in view on the map. In the attached video clip, the object enters frame from the left (east) moving right (west) at a high rate of speed. The aircraft traveling towards the camera are going north, at approximate speeds of 300+ mph, per flightradar24 records of those flights at those locations. If you feel this clip is worth investigating, I have a higher quality original video directly from the camera that has not been compressed for upload.
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #175306). 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 2023-04-09 → 2023-04-26
From the same sky
Related entries
November 11, 2023 · 11:59 PM · UNKNOWN
Seattle, WA
Did not see craft was in home when green blue light like a scanner came into home and all of outside too scary also saw something big floating outside home thru drapes .
November 8, 2023 · 6:29 PM · FORMATION
Seattle, WA
I don’t think they were airplanes, but there were many lights above the horizon moving individually. It wasn’t close to the airport, and there were planes I could see around.
October 12, 2023 · 6:44 PM · CYLINDER
Seattle, WA
On my way home on the Edmunds to Kingston ferry. I had seen a large part of orca on my way there, so I got out of my car with my phone ready to take photos. There were three lights in a triangular patent at a moderate altitude off the coast of SeaTac airport and Boeing Field. The brightest of the lights had a fluid movement in a vertical Position, the light was very bright. The objects at times seemed physical when they were at their brightest, and then more oblique as they dimmed. Spontaneously they disappear. I have timestamp on all my photos and it will show you that they were there one moment and then gone.
September 23, 2023 · 10:00 AM · UNKNOWN
Seattle, WA
What appeared to be a decently low flying commercial airplane did not move *at all* for several minutes, and then suddenly vanished from that spot in the sky. It was a completely clear sky. [NUFORC annotation: Aircraft - Possible]
July 15, 2023 · 6:20 PM · OTHER
Seattle, WA
We noticed a strange metallic object reflecting light in the sky and spinning around and drifting. It looked to be the same distance away as the jet planes we also saw flying that day, but further away than the planes taking off from the nearby SeaTac Airport. Based on this distance it was around the same size as a small jet plane. It was S shaped (letter Z, number 2 or 5, etc). It spun around but did not follow the same direction of the wind that the clouds were being blown in. It changed direction, descended a little bit once, changed direction again, and then ascended out of view. It is unclear if the lights that we were seeing were from the aircraft or if it was reflecting sunlight, but it did seem to be propelled by its own power source. [NUFORC annotation: Balloon - Possible]
June 24, 2023 · 6:45 PM · OVAL
Seattle, WA
I observed suspicious aircraft ~6:45 PM 6/24/2023 northeast of Seattle. I was located on my patio in the viscosity of the ferry terminal in downtown Seattle. Objects observed as being northeast of my location, eventually traveling south of my location. My initial concern was that they were weather balloons floating towards SEATAC / Boeing in the path of aircraft. I took a 3x telescopic zoom video (iPhone 14s) of the objects wherein they maintain similar positions and relative distance to each other, but observed them off camera to drift, and then nearly contact each other. They appeared to have an aura/halo that persisted as they moved south in the general direction of Olympia, and eventually disappeared. One object remained visible for ~20 minutes after the other was no longer in field of vision. I did not see either object disappear from sight - but lost contact while adjusting my recreational telescope. I was able to use my telescope to observe the object in greater detail, and successfully sighted both objects with a clear view. I observed what appeared to be two undulating, elliptical shapes (iridescent, mainly orange and purple) with distinct attached tendrils / trails. My first thought was that they appeared organic, resembling jellyfish, but appeared to be visibly and uniformly energized / glowing. I did not count at the time, but recall 3-5 trails, roughly 1/5th in size relative to the elliptical shapes. Trails/tendrils were not a wake, and appeared attached to the overall shape. Given their height relative to commercial aircraft flying overhead, they appeared to be very far away (safely above commercial airlines flying past Seattle at cruising altitude, not ascending/descending). Objects remained relatively stationary overhead for 10-15 minutes, before traveling in the direction of Olympia. Objects did not appear to lose altitude, or maintain any particular course/velocity. Objects were moving quickly enough that 10x telescope view could only keep objects in field of view for ~10 seconds before requiring readjustment. They appeared to be moving in a coordinated manner, but appeared to separate / end coordination as they began moving in the direction of Olympia. Second observer was also able to view the objects through the telescope, and can provide separate corroborating account. Both observers are early 30s, gainfully employed, established professionals. Both have masters degrees in their field, and professional credentials/certification. Oddly, I lost complete cell phone service for roughly 5 minutes, and called the non-emergency police using WiFi. I was located in my home at this time, and have never in 2 years had my phone enter SOS mode within my home.