Light over BOWIE, MD
A conventional explanation is favored by the record but was never formally confirmed.
The report, as filed
Me, my neighbor and two adult kids saw and I recorded strobing, white colored spotlight patterns in the sky that would spread apart and then come back together. I was able to capture this event on video. [NUFORC annotation: Searchlight - Probable]
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #175758). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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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 2023-05-10 → 2023-05-27