Article/Document:

Like a Boomerang in the Sky

Loy Lawhon, About.com

original source |  fair use notice

Summary: A firsthand sighting report from the Hudson Valley sightings, as well as an overview of characteristics of the sightings.

Over the last few weeks, I have received several e-mails about the famous Hudson Valley UFO sightings of 1983 & 1984. Some of these came from an actual witness of the Hudson Valley UFO. Here's his firsthand sighting report:

My sighting took place in Millwood, NY in the summer of 1984. I believe it was sometime in July. I can remember it was still light outside but rather late around 7pm. I was on our porch with my mother and my sister. I can recall that several of our next door neighbors were doing the same thing, just sitting around, barbecuing and enjoying the summer weather.

Our porch and backyard face the NE. It seemed like out of the blue because I don't remember seeing the object at a long distance. It sort of just appeared right above the tree line . I said,"what the hell is that." I can remember everyone on our block just pointing to the sky in amazement. My details of the sighting our fresh in my memory. It was not like anything I had seen. Even when I watch specials on UFO's and see video or pictures of some of the most convincing evidence it does not even come close to what we witnessed. I think the main reason was the closeness. I could have literally thrown a rock at it. I would estimate that it was 300 feet above the ground and that is being conservative.

The three things that stick out in my mind was the sheer size, coupled with the almost stationary movement and the fact that it made absolutely no sound, not a peep. It was massive! It looked like a floating city, I would guess the size of 3 football fields. Its shape was triangular and it had different color lights, green, white, and red. You could easily tell as it passed almost directly overhead that it was a solid object, you could see the bottom. It was moving towards the NE at maybe 5 miles per hour,again there was no noise it was very eery. How could something this big, moving so slowly not have any sound?

We viewed the object for about 4 minutes as it disappeared heading towards Connecticut.

I have heard about the phantom flyers in ultra lights, simply not possible. I don't know if it was ET but even if it was some highly classified govt. project that's news in itself because it defied the laws of gravity.

Let me know if you have any other specific questions. On a side note are you familiar with the sightings that took place in Belgium, I believe in 1994? I have heard accounts of those sightings and it sounds exactly like what we witnessed.

I know what I saw and there were thousands upon thousands of other people who saw the same thing.


If you have read the book Night Siege by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Philip J. Imbrogno, and Bob Pratt, you'll recognize that the eyewitness' sighting is typical of the many sightings that were reported in 1983 and 1984 in New York & Connecticut:


The object seen is huge with a wingspan of from 75 feet up to three football fields or more.

The object, or the lights on the object, form a V shape, a boomerang shape, a triangle, or a semicircle. In most reports, the lights move as if they were a single unit. When the object turns, it does so as if it were a single unit, not like a formation of small planes banking.

The lights are variously colored. Sometimes they all change colors at once; sometimes the lights go out all at once.

Some witnesses saw nothing but darkness between the lights, other say they definitely saw a solid structure. Some say that the stars in the background were blocked by something solid as the object passed over.

The object is either completely silent, or it makes a low humming noise. No sound of airplane engines is heard.

The FAA and other authorities gave as an explanation a group of pilots flying either ultralights or small planes in formation, perhaps with special lights that they turned on and off in unison. These planes were supposed to have taken off from the Stormville Airport. Indeed, some of the sightings may have been of a formation of small planes, perhaps even the Stormville Flyers as they were called. However, some of the sightings were made on nights when all conventional aircraft were grounded due to the weather, and some were made on nights when observers watching the Stormville airport reported no planes took off from there. The main argument against the small plane explanation is the lack of engine noise and the slow speed of the object. Small planes are rather noisy, and ultralight engines sound like lawnmowers. According to many witnesses, the objects that were seen often hovered, which no small plane or ultralight can do, and they often moved at speeds below the stall speed of a small aircraft. Many people who saw both the small planes flying and also saw the UFO said there was no comparison between the two, it was easy to tell them apart.

Hudson Valley residents continue to this day to report similar sightings.

Read more articles on this topic:

Hudson Valley Sightings