The oldest phenomenon in the record, and the most often explained
Orange orbs that hover in silence, hold formation, and go out one by one. Ghost lights, spook lights, lights that recede when approached. This is the largest part of the record and the part most likely to have an ordinary answer, which is exactly why the ones that survive checking are interesting.
The classic account is an orange or red orb, or several, low and completely silent. They hover, they hold a formation, and they go out one at a time rather than flying off. Others describe a light that keeps its distance, receding as you walk toward it, which the older records call a ghost light or a spook light.
The silence is the detail people return to. A light doing what an aircraft does, without the sound an aircraft makes, is what turns a sighting into something a person writes down years later.
This is the oldest and broadest part of the record, and it carries the most names. UFO and UAP for the modern sighting. Foo fighters for the ones pilots chased in the war. Ghost lights, spook lights and will-o-the-wisp for the ones that haunt a particular road or marsh. Earthlights for the geological theory. They are not all the same thing, which is the point of keeping them apart.
More of these have a mundane answer than any other kind of account here, and we check for it before anything else: aircraft and helicopters, the planet Venus low and bright, Chinese lanterns on a still night, satellites and Starlink trains, and the occasional real fireball. Every cluster is cross-referenced against those records automatically.
That is exactly why the ones that survive the checking are worth reading. When the aircraft, the planet, the lanterns and the fireball are all ruled out and the account still stands, it has earned the attention.
hovering 3102an orange orb 1971moving in formation 1925red lights 1611pulsing light 926vanishing suddenly 663
Lake Milton, Ohio: Summer 1972 About the time my siblings and I were entering that turbulent period known as our "teens", my family had the great good fortune of having moved into a house flanked on either side by a pair of brothe…
voices with no source · a triangle shape · vanishing suddenly
The Backpack trip Draft 9-8-2014 Background: Biologist at a major biotech company. No previous experience with Sasquatch or similar, but have seen a couple shows on television (1 episode of finding BF, and one episode of Survivorm…
knocking · buzzing · screaming or howling
November 15-19. Witness: James Scott. HUNTING. Heard: During the night (whole trip) -Heard what appeared to be loud squirrel barks and trees being knocked down during the middle of the night. -Something running around the tent. (T…
knocking · wood knocking · whooping calls
Upon request of Chris Bradley (BFRO investigator) I am submitting this report of what I believe to have been an encounter with a Bigfoot or Sasquatch. I Rodney Frank Williams (Rod) DOB 12/19/42 residing at P.O. Box 140 Joyce Washi…
growling · voices with no source · moving in formation
April-May 1978 Hope, Arkansas. Hempstead county Sighting was at a farm house (no longer there) on hwy 73 between hwy 278 and hwy 195. My family lived on a farm with all of your typical farm animals, and we all worked on the farm.…
screaming or howling · heavy footsteps · red lights
I want to start with tonight, while it is fresh in my mind. My girlfriend and I let the dogs out to the bathroom around 1am. She instantly said she thought she heard something in the valley below our home, and shined a flashlight…
screaming or howling · vanishing suddenly · a very tall figure
One night this past Spring at about 10:00 PM, when it was warm enough to be outside at night without a coat and with just shorts and a t-shirt on, and when the leaves on the trees were budding but not fully grown-in, our Border Co…
screaming or howling · growling · voices with no source
The reason I never told anyone was because I found it hard to believe myself, much less what other people would say or think about me. I recently began working at an ARMY hospital and befriended someone who had a very near experie…
screaming or howling · vanishing suddenly
On October 2 and 4, 1954, several people in the municipality of Poncey-sur-l'Ignon (21) witnessed phenomena that intrigued them. The official report covers two series of distinct events in the same area, treated here in chronologi…
an orange orb · police or officials present
Thanks to new technical means (software) and the investigation experience gained over all these recent years, this re-examination sometimes leads to new remarks or even a change in classification. This observation case, previously…
an orange orb · a beam of light
Thanks to new technical means (software) and the investigation experience acquired over all these recent years, this re-examination sometimes leads to new remarks or even a change of classification. This observation case, previous…
an orange orb · a beam of light
Thanks to new technical means (software) and the investigation experience acquired over all these recent years, this re-examination sometimes leads to new remarks or even a change of classification. This observation case, previous…
an orange orb · a beam of light
I am 47 yrs old and have been hunting since a small boy. I have heard deer, elk, bear, cougar and all of the different noises they make. What I experienced recently while hunting was something I have Never in all my life seen or h…
moving in formation · a photograph or recording exists
Upon my initial encounter, I did not think at all that I would be attributing it to something like this. However, the more I read, the more certain I am that me and my friends had a close encounter with a bigfoot. It was early spr…
knocking · screaming or howling · growling
| 1930s | 1 | |
| 1940s | 7 | |
| 1950s | 65 | |
| 1960s | 147 | |
| 1970s | 326 | |
| 1980s | 275 | |
| 1990s | 1345 | |
| 2000s | 3515 | |
| 2010s | 3579 | |
| 2020s | 107 |
Counts follow reporting rather than the world. Why that matters
Seattle, WA (59) · Phoenix, AZ (42) · San Diego, CA (42) · Las Vegas, NV (35) · Tinley Park, IL (34) · Portland, OR (32) · Los Angeles, CA (30) · Orlando, FL (27)
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The same dream, the same place, or the thing before it happened.
The moment the forest goes quiet.
Hours that cannot be accounted for.
What the record actually holds from the dead of night.
Anomaly