The catalog
Sightings
Witness reports, held as-reported. Each entry keeps its source, its coordinates where the record has them, and its place in the larger pattern.
3,270 entries
June 29, 2015 · 12:30 PM · CYLINDER
Chapel Hill, NC
On June 29, 2015, about 10 miles outside of Chapel Hill, NC, travelling south towards Charlotte, NC, I witnessed an object that looked very much like a disc or possibly cylindrical craft. It was apparently a considerable distance away, so it was difficult to ascertain whether it was truly a disc, or whether it was a cylinder; however, it appeared to have no wings and did not have any type of propulsion mechanism that could be seen. It was clearly a silver or gray color. I cannot provide an accurate distance of the object from my vantage point, but it seemed to be somewhat equidistant between the locations of frequently sighted high-flying commercial jets and lower flying, small, private airplanes. I realize this estimate is not very helpful, but it was just too difficult to give a good estimate of distance. Although based on the uncertainty introduced by the distance of the craft from my vantage point, one could perhaps attempt to explain it away as some type of mundane craft; however, it was the observations regarding the apparent shape, coupled with the speed of the object that made me decide to report it. The speed truly caught my attention. I originally sighted the craft directly ahead of my vantage point looking south and at about 30deg up from the horizon against a clear blue sky. From the time I spotted the object until it moved across the south to western span of the sky to below the tree line on the western horizon, only about 4-5 seconds passed, maybe a little less. As I watched it move, it was clearly far faster crossing the sky than the apparent movement of a high-flying commercial jet (which appears to move very slowly as most anyone knows who has seen a high-flying jet followed by its contrail). Likewise, it was much, much faster than the apparent speed of low flying, small, private planes. It appeared to move across that expanse of the sky even faster than the speed of some lower-flying military jets that I have seen in the past. From the time I saw it until I could get my daughter's attention to try to look at it, the object was already out of sight behind the trees on the western horizon. If the distance I had estimated was accurate, then this craft was moving at an extremely high speed. It was truly moving faster than any conventional aircraft that I have seen. So, in summary, it was not only the apparent disc or cylindrical shape of the craft that caught my attention, but also the speed that made me think it was something truly unusual. Although I was unable to take a photograph, it looked very much like the object in the photo of the High Plains, Oregon, sighting of June 14, 2015, at 1230hrs (Pacific), which is shown on the NUFORC website (although the object I saw was quite a bit more distant and probably a third of the apparent size as seen from my vantage point). Furthermore, I was in a car when the sighting took place, so I cannot make any comment about the possible sound of the craft. ((ADDENDUM #1 FROM WITNESS Dear Mr. Davenport, Thank you for your interest. Your work on the NUFORC site is admirable. First, the size, as compared to the moon at that same location (on a hypothetical full-moon night), was estimated to be about 1/10th the size of a full moon (at a 30-35 degree location and not exaggerated by atmospheric effects). Again, I estimate this based on envisioning a cylinder/disc sitting over a full-moon and deducing the amount of the moon covered. The following is my best estimate regarding movement: As I stated, the object originally appeared to be about 30-35 degrees above the horizon, directly in front of me. When it went out of sight about 4-5 sec later, it was hidden because of the interference of the tops of trees on the western horizon. Those tree tops were approximately 10 degrees from the horizon. So, I suppose one could say the object traversed an expanse from 30 degreess to 10 degrees in about 5 seconds. Does this help answer your question? If you need more detail, let me know, and I'll do the best I can. Remember, I have a chemistry background, not physics. Ha! I will leave the heavy lifting to you. And to the last point - no, my daughter was never able to see the object. It simply moved too quickly. Best regards, ((name deleted ((END ADDENDUM #1 ((ADDENDUM #2 Dear Mr. Davenport, I hope my contacting you so soon after my response to your inquiry about my initial UFO report does not damage my credibility as a witness; however, the more I think about my response, I believe I have let that Oregon photo on your site cloud my objectivity. I simply do not believe the object I saw was as large as 1/10 of the full moon. Please pardon my excitement and erroneous description in response to your question. To explain, I responded by saying that I thought the object I saw was 1/10th the size of a full moon, but the more I consider it, I believe this quick response is not accurate. Considering my difficulty in judging the shape of the craft (disc vs cylinder) leads me back to a more reasonable estimate of size as 1/20th the size of a full moon. I feel that this is a far more accurate reflection of what I observed. The object was quite small, but still clearly a disc or cylinder shape and apparently not a plane or commercial jet due to its speed. It becomes clear to me, as I honestly endeavor to provide accurate information, how difficult it is to obtain reliable witness testimony, especially when there is only one witness. I so wish that my daughter had also observed the object, so that I would have some confirmation of my perceptions. Please consider this updated information as an addendum to my initial report. Best regards, ((END ADDENDUM #2 ((BEGIN ADDENDUM #3 Dear Mr. Davenport, I recently reported a sighting (Chapel Hill, NC on June 29) and was perusing the NUFORC database to see if any other similar reports had been made on that day. I noticed at the bottom of my report entry there was a NUFORC note saying that we had spoken by phone and that I describe myself as an aviation expert. That information is incorrect. I am writing simply to inform you that I believe you are mistaken and possibly have me confused with someone else. We never spoke by phone, and I am a chemist and polymer/chemical patent research professional - nothing to do with aviation. I assume you might want to correct this data entry for the integrity of the report. Thanks for all of your great work. Best regards, END ADDENDUM #3))
June 28, 2015 · 1:30 AM · UNKNOWN
Charlotte, NC
Four, evenly spaced, bright, star like lights moving from East to West at approximately 60 degrees in the sky. The lights did not trail, fall, or speed up. They vanished.
June 24, 2015 · 10:05 PM · LIGHT
Asheboro, NC
Coming back from McDonald’s on North Fayetteville St., I took Old Liberty Rd. home; on this road, at about 10:05 p.m., I see a small orange-ish light skip across the tops of the trees, going to the left. I turn to look, and see a small, glowing (not shining) red-orange light flying smoothly across the neighborhood just over the tops of the trees. I decided to turn left onto Balfour Ave., and was able to take a few pictures (though not the best, I was driving, at night, and there was a windshield in the way). It slowly climbed higher, and as I neared the intersection of Fayetteville and Balfour, I was able to stop and take a decent look at it; now high above the trees, it started off toward the direction of North Asheboro Middle School. I turned right instead, and went home. The night sky was overcast, save for one small section where the moon and a couple of stars shone through, but other than that, no other night sky lights were visible. This light, w! hile closer to the ground, appeared to move/spin as it flew forward, and seemed to flicker at the sides like a fire ember, only much, much larger. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD
June 17, 2015 · 10:00 AM · LIGHT
Holden Beach, NC
On the night of June 17, 2015 multiple people witnessed the same event of what we can only describe as an unidentified flying object sighting. Four of us were sitting and star gazing on the back porch of our ocean front rental house in Holden Beach, NC. It was a perfectly clear night with no clouds in the sky. I pointed out 3 perfectly arranged “stars” as I called them. They really looked like stars because they were just light. After about 5 seconds of us saying how odd it was to see stars that close together and forming a perfect, downward pointing, triangle we saw what none of us could logically explain. The arrangement below is what we saw, they are labeled for reference. A B C At the same time, A and C moved farther from B. Object A moved horizontally to the left. Object C moved straight downward. They did not travel very far, but object A stopped moving before Object C did. A B C Once objects A and C stopped moving, both object A and C disappeared immediately. They didn’t continue moving the light just faded into nothing. About 2 seconds after A and C disappeared, object B disappeared. We were all completely baffled by this and all went online to see if there were any military operations listed as happening that night, but we found nothing.
June 15, 2015 · 10:30 PM · CROSS
Cary, NC
This is actually something I saw around this time last year. That time I got a clear view of it because I had dropped someone at the airport when it was dark outside and that area is very dark and there was no traffic as it was nearing dawn. It reminded me of when you drive and the moon seems to be chasing you. It was very bright and looked like a cross. As much as I rubbed my eyes and expected it to be like a circle, it never changed. I was not sure if it was some kind of a message or what. This appeared to be the same thing, but farther away from where I was standing. It looked like a star shape but longer at the bottom, or a cross but was farther away. Much more defined shape then when you see a star. I thought it might be a satellite but it was not moving and there were a couple. One closer or larger and the other smaller but they belonged together, you could tell. I stopped a few people in the parking lot and asked what they thought and they were very serious about it and said my thoughts and that they were just sitting there and what are they. I drove off and looked over and then there was a third one. I know this is the same thing I saw last year. My neighborhood is wooded and I lost the view once I returned home. I did not get any photographs. I will if I see it again.
June 13, 2015 · 10:30 PM · CIRCLE
Wake Forest, NC
Outside with dog. Very clear sky, many stars out. Noticed what I first thought was a plane at high altitude but it had no flashing lights and made no sound. Just a single white star-like object moving at moderate speed. It did not fly in a straight line but rather a strange "S" type motion. I tracked it across the sky where it soon dimmed out and disappeared completely. Stayed outside another 5 minutes or so and saw nothing further. I am familiar with airplanes, meteors, comets, etc. It was not any of these.
June 11, 2015 · 10:30 PM · RECTANGLE
Waxhaw, NC
Saw lights that appeared in the sky in a large rectangular shape. For at least five minutes the lights were stationary but would fade out and become bright again, could not have been stars. The lights faded out at different times. Six individual lights were visible and were equidistant from each other. They were eventually covered by a cloud so the exact duration of the event is unknown. The lights were white.
June 10, 2015 · 10:00 PM · CIRCLE
Kill Devil Hills, NC
Sitting outside on our deck, looking at the stars, noticed what we thought was a star, but it had a red light in addition to the white and did not appear to be moving. Thought perhaps it was a helicopter hoovering but seemed too high in the sky. After observing it for at least 30 minutes, the star/aircraft never moved. Began looking around the skyline and noticed at least 5 other stationary objects with the same red/white lights and they were also not moving. Took out the binoculars and it was clear these were not stars, but stationary objects with the red and white lights. Will continue observing but for now these objects have not moved for over an hour
June 8, 2015 · 9:47 PM · FORMATION
Hatteras, NC
2-3 glowing fireballs. Saw formation disappear several times in various spots above coastline. Intermittent display of several objects.
June 7, 2015 · 6:07 PM · OTHER
Jacksonville, NC
The object has something protruding from underneath it. It is hard to make out in the photo, but at the time that I took the photo, there were no sounds of any aircraft around my house. When I looked up again the craft was gone. Object appears to us to be an insect in flight, possibly a cicada. PD
June 6, 2015 · 11:30 PM · OTHER
Asheboro, NC
Off of mack road at 10:30, an orange orb appeared behind the tree rising and sinking 3 times. One witness stated it was over his head, and then went to the tree line. Where it hoover and then sank. It hoovered and sank twice more.
June 5, 2015 · 9:30 PM · FIREBALL
Cornelius, NC
Neither of us could come up with a rational explanation of what we had saw.
June 5, 2015 · 9:00 PM · FIREBALL
Surf City, NC
Fireball shape, red in color. Floating above the surf condos. Very low. Rose up and faded out of sight. Video proof. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. Hence, we are unable to correspond with him/her about the video. PD
June 5, 2015 · 8:20 PM · CHEVRON
Fuquay Varina, NC
We turned away from our home to follow the lights. We came upon a family, Dad and 2 or more kids walking back from the pool. We stopped and asked, "Did you just see that?" He said, "Yes, that why we left the pool." We couldn't see the lights because of the trees for about 1 minute, and the next time we saw the things, the lights were no longer white, they were red and blue. We drove another 5 yards to get to the open area of the subdivision and it was gone, and we had a 90 degree sight line. The 2 V's very close together and you could see sky in between and flying low and no noise. I didn't call this in until I heard a similar sighting tonight on Coast to Coast.
June 2, 2015 · 9:30 PM · FIREBALL
Avon, NC
At approximately 9:30pm on 6/2/15 I was with a group of people fishing and having a small fire on the beach in Avon. The night was warm, the weather clear except for some small patches of clouds and a little haze but the moon was out and visibility was good. I was looking over the water when I noticed a bright orange object had just appeared a good distance down the coast and over the water. At first I thought it was a low flying plane that had broken out of the hazy clouds, but then the object did a short, quick dip down and suddenly one object “blinked” or “split” into six to eight other similar orange objects and into a V-formation. This formation moved across the sky for a few moments and then almost in perfect unison “blinked out” and disappeared. Of the 12 or so people on the beach, only myself and one other witness witnessed this particular part of the event. Five minutes later, at about 9:35pm, two orange fireballs appeared in the sky closer down the beach to my location. These two craft came out of the clouds flying nearly parallel and almost mimicking each other’s movements. They looked very much like planes at first, but then they would pulse bright fireball orange on and off. They sped across the sky inland, at one point coming to a complete stop and hovering for about a 20 second time period. The two craft then reversed and started heading back over the sea where they shone bright orange and then blinked out and disappeared. The odd thing about this second part of the sighting, which all members of my party now witnessed, was there was an actual sound for a brief time. Whether or not the sound came from the craft or not, I cannot say, but it was deep and sounded like a jet engine at first, but then it kind of mimicked the sound of the surf and waves of the beach, but noticeably louder. It was at the time of this sound that the craft disappeared. One more of these orange balls were spotted well inland at approximately 10:15pm moving over Avon and its beach houses. It too moved well across the sky only at one point coming to a near complete stop and hovering. It stayed like that for a few seconds before moving on then blinking out and disappearing. Three people witnessed this. Fireworks, military flares, light effects off the clouds—this was none of that. These things seemingly moved with purpose and intelligence. I have never seen anything like it. Oddly enough, it was noticed that hardly any commercial aircraft or aircraft of any kind were in the skies on this night. After some quick research and checking online to see if anyone else saw what I did, I found on Youtube some footage taken in 2012 at Myrtle Beach which shows exactly what I saw, but I saw a more intricate V-formation of sorts. If interested and if it can be included in this report, the video can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD2cHAOsbTM&spfreload=1
June 1, 2015 · 9:00 PM · FIREBALL
Avon, NC
Sighting was around 10 pm 6-1-15. Saw first fireball appear 2 witnessed this. The fireball was bright yellow orange and lasted 15 seconds. It just appeared burning bright and the gone. As we where wondering what we just saw 2 more people came out to join us. Then we all 4 saw this fireball several more times. It looked the same every time and in the same location. After looking in the same spot we noticed 2 red lights that move around in the sky. These lights didn't make a sound. The stayed in the same area of the sky appearing not to move for a time. then started moving came across island turned south. Witness provides no contact information. PD
May 31, 2015 · 1:00 AM · SPHERE
Tarawa Terrace, NC
My husband and I were taking a walk at night like we usually do. We then notice what we thought at first was a shooting star, but the extreme bright greenish coloring and size caught our eye. The object stopped and hovered over Camp Lejuine area. It then moved slowly through the sky downward (away from base) at the second my husband pointed to it and said, "Look at that." We then stopped and watched it until it disappeared, it moved slowly down to the treeline, but before it was close to the line where it would actually be out of our sight, it just vanished. It moved with a diagonal downward movement and wasnt "falling" like spring stars do... it looked controlled in its movements. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD
May 28, 2015 · 9:10 PM · SPHERE
Willow Spring, NC
Heard loud roar like from a low flying jet for about 10 minutes so I went out to see how low it was flying and how many planes/jets there were since it went on for a while. Did not see anything at first but still heard the noise, then I saw a small red sphere/orb high in the sky moving south, then it suddenly went north and then started almost dancing up and down, and back and forth for about 15 minutes. While I was watching it it looked almost like something shiny or some sort of light dropped from it and then the roar stopped. It stayed in the sky for another minute and then disappeared. Unsure if it is a "UFO" but I have never seen or heard a jet/aircraft do or sound like this thing.
May 25, 2015 · 3:40 AM · FLASH
Fayetteville, NC
Ok, I was outside just smoking a cigarette, when out of my preferral (sic. peripheral), I saw this bright flash of light, so naturally it caught my attention and at the time nothIng was there. Then, next thing I know, about 10-15 seconds after the flash, this little orangish red (more orange than red) light started to appear and it was getting brighter and brighter, and bigger and bigger. It got so bright it just FLASHED, and then disappeared. I kept watching and it would do this every 15-20 seconds traveling west to east. I watched this for about 15 minutes. It seemed like the light would build up to maximum potential and then just flash then dissapear. Also, the brightness of the flashes would vary, but still very bright. At one point the flash got so bright I could see that it looked as if though the lIght was coming from the inside because I could see very distinct black spots which I assumed were the spaces between windows and I could see 4 windows that the light was emminating (sic. emanating) from.
May 24, 2015 · 10:48 PM · TRIANGLE
Hendersonville, NC
Moving fast, pacing back and forth they come back and forth moving extremely fast. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD
May 24, 2015 · 10:30 PM · LIGHT
Ash, NC
Approximately 22:30 to 23:30, LOW IN THE NW SKY, THERE WAS A BRILLIANT BRIGHT WHITE LIGHT, THAT SEEMED TO SHIMMER AS IF IT WAS SLOWING DRIFTING OR MOVING BACK AND FORTH. I WATCHED FOR APPROXIMATELY 10 MINUTES, AS IT WAS STATIONARY THE ENTIRE TIME. WENT INSIDE, CAME OUT 5 MINUTES LATER AND IT HAD MOVED ABOUT 5 DEGREES MORE TO THE WEST, EVEN LOWER ON THE HORIZON RIGHT ABOVE THE TREES. AT THAT TIME IT STARTED TO BLINK OUT PERIODICALLY, REAPPEARING IN THE SAME PLACE. AFTER DOING THIS ANOTHER 10 MINUTES OR SO, IT WENT OUT AND NEVER REAPPEARED. ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT OBJECTS I HAVE EVER SEEN IN THE NIGHT SKY. IT WAS BRIGHTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN THE SKY, AND CAN ASSURE YOU IT WAS NO KIND OF AIRCRAFT. IT WAS COMPLETELY SILENT! We suspect that the witnesses probably were looking at Venus, which is in the western sky, currently. PD
May 24, 2015 · 12:00 AM · UNKNOWN
High Point, NC
I was out tonight looking for Saturn's because it was still at opposition. I had my telescope out looking for Saturn. I had my dog out and my mother came out to help me look, as I did not know where to look (and still don't) for saturn. I was casually looking to the Southeast from my houses perspective and mine. I had noticed a fast, bright red light flying across the sky going at a incredibly fast speed. It then disappeared from my view. I then observed a 2nd ship (or possibly the same one, I'm not entirely sure.) with white lights flying the same speed as the first one. However, this one had a white light instead of a red one and it flew in a different direction. This one flew in the flight path of the Red one, going through the flight path at the side, instead of straight like the Red one or when it had it's red light on. The white one or different crafts (since I'm not entirely sure, I cannot rule out the possibility of there being more then one.) danced around in the sky, seeming to do impossible movements that any known aircraft to my knowledge could do. My mother tried to signal it with a Android Smartphone light. The craft responded by blinking its light once again.
May 16, 2015 · 10:00 PM · CIRCLE
Thomasville, NC
First of all, I am not the type of person who looks for UFOs and have never been particularly interested in the topic, but what my husband and I saw last Saturday night was so extraordinary I felt the need to report it. We were in our backyard between 10:00 and 10:30 pm and my husband had walked out to the middle of the yard to throw the ball for our dog. He looked up and told me to come look at something. It was a round, very vivid deep orange circle of light moving across the sky at a fairly slow and steady pace. It was very low and so close that it appeared to be right above our neighbor’s roof. Another one came behind the first one and as we were watching these I saw several more coming through the trees in the back of our yard. When they cleared the trees we could see that it was three in a perfect triangle formation. These three stayed the exact same distance from each other the whole time. One more followed after that. They were coming from the southwest and moving northeast, and were completely silent. We watched each one as they passed over our neighborhood and then seemed to “disappear.” We could see the flashing navigation lights of planes much higher above and I do know that these were not planes. Unfortunately, we were so mesmerized and in disbelief at what we were seeing that we didn’t run inside for our phones to document it. It is so difficult to comprehend the fact that we actually saw what we saw and at this time I have no explanation for it but would truly love one. I don’t know what it was that we saw but I have never seen anything like it in my life. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD
May 13, 2015 · 11:20 PM · LIGHT
Charlotte, NC
Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD