1984 Hudson Valley UFO sightings

1984 Hudson Valley UFO Sightings
DateMarch 1983-June 1984
LocationWestchester County, Dutchess County, Putnam County and Fairfield County U.S.A.

The 1984 Hudson Valley UFO Sightings also called the "The Westchester Boomerang"[1] were UFO sightings that stretched throughout 1983–1984[2] in New York and Western Connecticut. Authorities explained the sightings as pilots flying Cessna 152s in tight formation in order to hoax residents, calling themselves "The Martians". UFOlogists believed that extraterrestrial spacecraft were responsible for some of the reports.

Event

Reports occured from March 1983 through the summer of 1984, in "northern Westchester County, Dutchess County, and Putnam County and western Connecticut". Residents reported seeing objects about the size of an American football field, "usually in a V-shape or a circle", according to the New York Times, "absolutely noiseless and outlined in brilliant lights of white, red or green". The objects were also described as being able to shoot straight up in the sky and hover in the air for extended periods of time.[3][2]

Indian Point power plant sightings

Center for UFO Studies investigator Philip Imbrogno stated he was approached by several guards from the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. According to Imbrogno, on June 14 and July 24, 1984, the guards saw a 900-foot UFO hovering over the plant for 15 minutes. One security guard said it was 100 feet long and 300 yards above the plant and looked like helicopters in a V-formation. The security guard said "that the guards broke out the shotguns". Imbrogno told The Journal News that "the commander gave the order to pull out the shotguns, and they summoned Camp Smith, but we have no documentation".[4]

A power authority security coordinator, John Branciforte said, "I think people are going to publish stories on hysteria (and) misinformation. As far as I'm concerned, it's pure speculation."[4] Branciforte stated that officers don't break out the shotguns, and that Imbrogno "could possibly be making it up or he took what they (witnesses) gave him and stretched it out."[4] Spokesman for the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and Sergeant Spiro for Troop K of the New York State Police said "they believed the sightings were Cessna 152s flown by pranksters out of Stormville Airport." Patrick stated that "pilots of private and commercial planes use the plant as a 'handy landmark' when flying nearby. 'From the air it is easy to pick out ... I don't know of any regulations that restrict the airspace around Indian Point'".[4]

Spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Brian Norris said they received the FOIA request from Imbrogno for the Indian Point incident, but had "no documentation of the sighting".[4]

Reports

William A. Pollard driving on Interstate 84 recounted to the New York Times that he saw off in a field an object hovering about 30 feet from the ground, "a gigantic triangle with lights", it shot straight up after turning off it's lights. Pollard said he had seen the lights many times, but the first time was very different from everything he saw later, it was "rigid".[3]

Mahopac resident Irene Lunn reported a sighting on Monday, August 20, 1984, about 9pm. She said it was heading South over a pond, "just clearing the trees" ... "'There was no sound at all, you could hear the crickets. ... about three-quarters the size of my house, with an L-shaped structure suspended underneath it. ... At one point, all the lights went green, then red, then they went back to a pattern of green and red and white. I felt like it was letting us know it knew we were watching it. That was scary. It went on for about 10 minutes.'"[3]

In 2017, paranormal researcher Brian Dunning asked his friend Joe Miale, director of the film Revolt about Miale's remembrances as a ten-year-old seeing the Hudson Valley UFO, "'I am ten years old, standing in my pajamas on the front lawn, with both of my parents and my elder brother. The neighbors were outside too. It's a warm summer night in the suburbs of New York, and all of us are looking up at the sky where there is a triangular craft with colored lights moving slowly over our houses with a distinctive hum. The most remarkable thing for me at the time was actually the reaction of all these adults. They all seemed so alarmed and confused and they were swearing and shouting. My mother tried to take a picture, and when the flash went off, the lights on the craft went dark. Everyone reacted again. She called the police, and they said they were inundated with calls. In the coming days, the sighting was all over the local news. Traffic had pulled over on major roadways to watch the craft go by. The government called it a prank. I always thought it might be something military, but it certainly was an unusual aircraft. Something that would get such reactions from so many different people. As a kid, it was a true moment of wonder. I was already a fan of science fiction, and this sighting sealed the deal.'"[5]

Investigation

A State police officer of Troop K followed the lights to the Stormville Airport which is a small deserted field in Dutchess County and reported back to Sgt. Kenneth V. Spiro, "'It was a group of light planes. They fly in formation. The undersides and under the wings are painted black, so they can't be seen from the ground. The planes are rigged with bright lights that they can turn from one color to another. It's the lights that give the shape to the U.F.O.'" According to the police officer who spoke to a couple of the pilots, "'they're getting a big kick out of it. There's no violation of the law here.'"[3]

According to Timothy L. Hartnett, the deputy director of the Eastern region of the FAA, planes "'can fly as close together as they feel safe ... in areas of sparse population, planes could fly as low as 500 feet.'"[3] In February 1984, a pilot interviewed by the Poughkeepsie Journal said he and other pilots "test their skills flying in a V shape using a rotating beacon and navigation lights. The formation might appear motionless because it is so wide and can be seen from long distances."[2]

Discover Magazine in 1984 reported that a group of pilots practicing their formation skills, first in the day time then when they became more confident, at night, "'became tight formations of aircraft with as little as 6 inches between wingtips.'" The pilots, amused, began calling themselves the "Martians". They would turn off their exterior lights at the same time which would make the aircraft appear to disappear from the sky. "'They vary their formations, from crescents and circles to crosses that looked from the ground like diamonds or V's, giving rise to reports about different and sometimes startling UFO shapes.'"[5][6]

Brian Dunning speculated why, despite these explanations, the "Hudson Valley UFO phenomenon" was popularized and books like Night Siege were written. According to Dunning, "These were not journalists or objective reporters. They were all UFO authors who made their careers out of sensationalizing these little stories they found by keeping an eye on the newspapers. None had any serious academic credibility." And though the UFO investigators have acknowledged that some of the sightings were pilots flying light aircraft, practicing formations with lights that match the lighting on the aircraft, they continue to state that besides this known explanation, a UFO was also likely in the area. "'The UFO looked the same, behaved the same, it flew in the same way and in the same place. Would that not be a staggering coincidence? Isn't it more likely that our human perceptual errors and confirmation bias and selective memory and all the other cognitive phenomena that shape our perceptions played some role here? Personally, I think it is.'"[5]

UFOlogists

According to UFOlogist Peter Gersten, in the summer of 1984, his organization Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS) received hundreds of reports of a large boomerang object hovering over trees with lights with a "slight buzz". Gersten had at that time not interviewed the pilots who had claimed they were responsible. He intended to hire a private investigator to look into the timing of reported sightings possibly corresponding to the flights by the pilots. Gersten believes that some of the eye-witness reports were explained by the flight of the pilots flying in a V formation, but not all of the eye-witness reports.[2]

Gersten stated "'It could be explained as extraterrestrial. We had someone try to photograph (the object). But it has avoided being filmed'"[2] According to the manager of CPI Photo Finish in Yorktown, "'We're seeing quite a few U.F.O. pictures'" customers state they photographed something flying over their homes.[3]

As of September 1984, Gersten's group was offering a $1,000 reward for information of the pilots flying the light aircraft out of the Stormville airport.[7] Hynek described the incident as "'absolutely weird. There's no logical explanation for it.'"[6]

Further reading

  • Hynek, J. Allen and Peter Imbrogno and Bob Pratt (May 1, 1998) Night Siege: The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings[8]
  • Zimmermann, Linda (February 15, 2014) Hudson Valley UFOs[9]

External links

  • December 23, 1985 - Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filed by Robert Todd to the General Counsel of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission [2]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ofgang, Erik (April 18, 2021). "Examining some of Connecticut's most spectacular UFO sightings". ctinsider.com/. CT Insider. Archived from the original on December 11, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e LaRue, William (June 28, 1984). "Probe of Mysterious V Shape Widens". Poughkeepsie Journal. p. 15.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Schmalz, Jeffrey (August 25, 1984). "Strange Sights Brighten the Night Skies Upstate". The New York Times. p. 25. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e Craig, Jon (January 12, 1985). "UFO and Indian Point continued". The Journal News. p. 10. Retrieved December 1, 2023. Article continued [1] on page 1A
  5. ^ a b c Dunning, Brian (November 21, 2017). "The Hudson Valley UFO Mystery". skeptoid.com. Skeptoid. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Sheaffer, Robert (2011). Psychic Vibrations: Skeptical Giggles from The Skeptical Inquirer. Charleston, South Carolina: Create Space. p. 41. ISBN 978-1463601577.
  7. ^ "'Odd' UFOs spotted". The Evening New. September 2, 1984. p. 1. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  8. ^ Hynek, J. Allen (May 1, 1998). Night Siege: The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings. Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-34213-3.
  9. ^ Zimmermann, Linda (May 1, 1998). Hudson Valley UFOs. Eagle Press. ISBN 978-1937174019.