Hudson Valley: Lights, Triangles and Boomerangs

This is my first real attempt to follow in the big footsteps of ATS’ finest thread makers like Internos, Karl12, Slayer, Mike Singh and many more. Skepticism isn’t always a bad trait and this thread is wide open to interpretation. The amount of evidence available covers many interpretations and I’ve yet to draw my own conclusion. I’ve searched ATS for recent threads and didn’t find any so maybe the events below are worthy of a revisit?

I read about one sighting in Hudson Valley and started to read around it. This thread is a summary of the research done by others. The amount of evidence is persuasive that at least one 300 foot wide black triangular craft entered the airspace above the Hudson Valley area on numerous occasions. Other than cover of night, it made no efforts to conceal its presence and moved at speeds that left witnesses in no doubt that they had seen a single, huge craft.

The sightings occurred over a 1400 square mile area covering Westchester, Putnam, and neighbouring Fairfield and New Haven Counties in Connecticut. The time span of the subsequent sightings stretches from the early 80s until today.

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Video evidence and eye-witness testimonies from all sections of society still exist to be seen. Military, police and civilian reports indicate that something interesting was experienced by some of the people of Hudson Valley. The most interesting UFO accounts often contain the same elements and the Hudson Valley flap was no different…

Multiple witnesses…Check
Video evidence…….Check
Nuclear facility…….Check
Triangular craft…….Check
Hoax explanation…..Check
Media disinterest…..Check
Abduction claims…..Check

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It all begins with a retired cop on New Years Eve 1982 and maybe one drink too many…The ex-cop went outside to celebrate the New Year and smashed the bottle of champagne he had. He went back inside for another one and went back out to clean up the broken glass. As he did, he noticed some unusual lights in the sky and called his wife and kids to have a look. By the time they came out, the lights were almost above the house...

They seemed to be connected by some type of structure. The thing was a boomerang or V shape. I could hear a faint, deep hum. It sounded like a factory with a lot of machines operating in the distance. The lights were so bright I could see the ground all around me

Night Siege by Hynek and Imbrogno

Another witness that night was a warehouse foreman called Edwin Hansen. He was driving home and noticed what he thought was a helicopter. When he realized that it wasn’t, he slowed the car down and wished that it would come closer so he could see it clearer. To his surprise it appeared to do just that…

At first I thought it was a helicopter scanning the ground with a searchlight. It was projecting a beam of white light onto the ground. I knew it wasn't a helicopter then because it was just ahead of me and wasn't making any noise. It was shaped like a boomerang with lights running up and down its wings. Part of what seemed to be a long, triangular tail section loomed behind the boomerang pattern of lights. It was so huge it filled the entire sky.

From 'Night Siege'

The object switched off the multi-colored flashing lights and now returned to a single white beam. It continued to approach Hansen’s car until it was 100 feet above him. He was now quite terrified and began sounding his horn to ‘scare it away’ and shouting at it to leave him alone.

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The sightings of a boomerang or triangular craft continued sporadically until they spiked significantly on March 24. During the night of February 26th a large craft was sighted again and I like this account. It shows human nature in all its glory and offers the first close-up description I’ve read of a black triangle. It reminds me a little of Close Encounters of the Third Kind for its excitement…

Monique O Driscoll and her daughter were returning from her mother’s and saw an unusual light formation in the sky. Naturally, Monique was intrigued and watched them. She described around fifty very bright lights in a boomerang configuration. The lights moved very slowly and she decided to follow their direction until she parked the car near White Pond and got out to watch. They came towards her at a low altitude. Her daughter became frightened and cried to Monique to get in the car and tear out of there.

Red and blue lights were reflecting off the ice. There were a few amber lights in between and the one in the middle was a big amber light. Three or four minutes later, the object started to move away, I thought "Please don't go, I want to look some more." The object then stopped, turned and moved slowly toward me. My daughter started screaming, "It's gonna take us!"

Night siege
By Joseph Allen Hynek, Philip J. Imbrogno, Bob Pratt

The object moved away towards Farmers Hill Road and she jumped in the car and followed it. She got to a point ahead of the object and was joined by a car full of young men that had also been following it. It passed overhead and she described it as being “..larger than my mother’s house. 200 to 300 feet from tip to tip” and that the underside reminded her of bridges…

The heavy metal part and the criss cross effects, the diamond shape work, with tubular things here and there

Night siege
By Joseph Allen Hynek, Philip J. Imbrogno, Bob Pratt

On March 24th 1983, multiple witnesses reported sighting strange lights (red, blue, amber and green) moving very slowly in the sky and others described a huge boomerang or triangular object. Estimates ranged from 300-600 feet in length. The object or objects cruised across the Taconic Parkway prompting some drivers to pull over to watch it pass. It then moved away over York Town with further sightings being reported from as far away as New Haven, Connecticut, and as far north as Brookfield, Connecticut.. Police switchboards were jammed with calls and apparently prompted concerns that emergency calls were at risk. Police would later attribute the sightings to small airplanes flying in formation. This answer is, at least in part, a plausible one as a group of pilots later claimed to have carried out the hoax, ‘
The Stormville Flyers. Local papers likened it to a siege or the panic caused by the War of the Worlds broadcast by Orson Welles.

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The local press coverage caught the attention of investigator, Dr. J. Allen Hynek. He travelled over there and met Philip J. Imbrogno. Together they set up a UFO hotline and began an investigation. The results of that investigation became the book, "Night Siege: The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings (as sourced in this thread). On the first night (March 26th) they fielded 500 calls relating to the sightings of March 24th.





Sightings continued in the area throughout the 80s and Imbrogno continued the investigation with Hynek’s support.

Nice work indeed

I find it interesting that a couple of witnesses mentioned it reacted to their thoughts. Coincidences you think?

The UFO sighting I had was in the Hudson Valley. It actually looked kind of like the third picture. I looked up and a clearing between a tree I saw a triangle shaped thing with three round lights on each corner.

It's interesting because that was before I was interested in this stuff, and way before I read about other sightings on here. When I read posts and articles like yours it made it seem like what I saw was real.

Thxx much ,second time TODAY I thanked you, very well put together, I just finished reading the thread on Night Vision , Can you imagine this hot spot with night vision?


S F

The most dramatic account of the reported sightings was that at the Indian Point Nuclear Plant where a large triangular object had reportedly hovered over the reactor for some time.

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Two UFO appearances, one of which was verified by Carl Patrick, director of nuclear information for the New York Power Authority (NYPA), and later documented by the press and the 1987 book Night Siege, apparently put the normally tight security of the plant to a severe test. The first event entailed the brief flyover of a huge craft, witnessed by three security policemen on June 14. That was followed ten days later by a UFO incident of unprecedented impact.

Ufoevidence



Incident at Indian Point

Incident at Indian Point by Imbrogna

Indian Point Close Encounter

There's a lot more information available on these incidents. The area has reported sightings going back for decades. A brief look at New York area latest sightings shows that people are still claiming UFOs are in the area.

Edit to fix ATS media link

[edit on 13-3-2009 by Kandinsky]

reply to post by Chadwickus
I find it intriguing that the witnesses report their thoughts influencing the activity of the object. It's difficult to comprehend and raises even more questions. The accounts of witnesses that had very close encounters with the UFO describe thoughts and feelings that were somehow coming 'from elsewhere'. The links highlight several accounts of some form of communication from the craft.

John Edward Mack MD investigated abductee accounts and after years of study and research said...

I would never say, yes, there are aliens taking people. [But] I would say there is a compelling powerful phenomenon here that I can't account for in any other way, that's mysterious. Yet I can't know what it is but it seems to me that it invites a deeper, further inquiry.

J E Mack MD

I'm fairly skeptical, but people believe that what they describe happened. As Mack says, it invites deeper study.

Living in the Hudson Valley, it's interesting that a lot of this never makes it into the daily conversations of most people living here. Especially when a good portion of Westchester County lives under the specter of the Indian Point plant and all it's failings, you'd think that more would come forward....

reply to post by enjoies05
Thanks
Have you any more details of your sighting? The description by Monique of cross braces and tubular struts is compelling for being the only description I've read that emphasizes the material construction of a large UFO. It somehow adds realism to her account.

There are a lot of explanations for the sightings. The main one is the small airplanes in formation. Those light aircraft pilots must have been wealthy enough to fly hundreds of miles and lucky enough to encounter witnesses that couldn't hear engines. At 100-500 feet altitude, flashing lights or not, their fuselages would be apparent.

reply to post by Kandinsky


Another excellent mass sighting.

I am beginning to wonder if it really is a top secret military aircraft. Why would the military want a craft so large? It would make a very good target to enemy anti-aircraft fire, especially those stinger missiles. It does not seem logical.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
reply to post by Chadwickus

 

I find it intriguing that the witnesses report their thoughts influencing the activity of the object.

Some 35 years ago six of us watched a large low flying disk approach us. As it approached and appeared to be headed right for us our initial reaction of, "Cool, a flying saucer", changed to, "That sumbitch is headed right for us and it's getting too close for comfort". At the exact moment my wonder changed to fear the object stopped in mid air. It remained motionless for ten or fifteen seconds and then headed away from us on course about 90 degrees from what it had been flying. I later learned three of the other guys I was with started feeling scared at exactly the moment it stopped. So the question for me has always been: Did it respond to our fear or somehow cause it?

Nice post. I live in western New York and have always wanted to go see some of the sites in Night Siege. It's close to 500 miles from me so I haven't made it yet. I'm going to be close to there next month so maybe I'll get a chance to at least see what the area looks like.

I don't know how many sightings there have been and if there's one thing I'm sure of is that if all of them were in nightime, I wouldn't trust them to be what some claim: alien craft. I remember that at least one early formation was debunked as being small planes (piper cubs or similar) flying in a formation that wouldn't hold since the planes were drifting.


reply to post by Kandinsky

Originally posted by Wasco
Nice post. I live in western New York and have always wanted to go see some of the sites in Night Siege. It's close to 500 miles from me so I haven't made it yet. I'm going to be close to there next month so maybe I'll get a chance to at least see what the area looks like.

About 6 miles south of Indian Point are the River Towns that make up the lower Hudson between Ossining and Yonkers, they for the most part are a lot of quiet little villages (like Sleepy Hollow and the like)

reply to post by Kandinsky


Nope, unfortunately.

Just looked up and saw the object as it flew out of sight. That image has been stuck in my mind ever since.

By the way, I have this book, Unsolved UFO Mysteries: The Worlds Most Compelling Cases Of Alien Encounter and they have a section about the Hudson Valley. Talks about crafts that sound a lot like the one I've seen and the others you talk about.

Of the 7000 reported sightings in the area several claimed more personal encounters. The accounts share striking similarities regarding the apparent beings' insistence that no harm would come to them and their physical appearance. I'm neutral regarding abduction experiences, but these do make for interesting accounts and the similarities they share are hard to overlook...

In April 1983 a woman called Jane contacted the Hynek team and related what she believed was an encounter with occupants of the UFO…

...these images started to flash in my mind...images of lights flashing different colors. Then it seemed that someone was trying to speak to me. I saw this image of a being with clay-like skin and a large head with large eyes. He had no hair and no mouth. He assured me that I would come to no harm and said I was being tested. He told me, in my mind, that he was part of a team of explorers studying the people.

Another witness described pulling over his Jeep so he and his kids could look at the object in the sky. He next describes being in a room with five short guys with large heads and eyes, grey-looking and wearing black clothes. He looks round and sees his two kids also being examined by the beings…

One guy came up to me and said, 'Don't worry, we won't hurt you.' They told me it was some kind of study of the people in the area. They said their mission to our planet was a peaceful, scientific one. The inside of the ship looked like mass computers with different color lights flashing all over the place. It hurt my eyes to look at them. 'The kids were also in the room with me...they kept telling me they would not harm me or the kids when all of a sudden, boom! I'm back in the Jeep with the kids crying and the object is drifting slowly away to the north.

Monique O Driscoll ( from OP) underwent hypnosis and described waking up around 2am and seeing the lights in the sky. To summarize, she dressed and went outside. The lights seemed to approach her and her legs grew heavy and tired. She then describes being in a room with small guys with large heads, large eyes and a bank of flashing lights. They reassured her she would not be harmed and used some metal apparatus attached to a hinged arm to scan her body.

"Ray's" Abduction ----------------- While the object was passing over his car, "Ray" somehow was drawn out of the car window and into the UFO. He found himself lying on a table in a dark room. There were several beings standing on each side of him, and the being next to his left side was moving some type of instrument around his head. He tried to move but his legs felt paralyzed. Ray described the beings as typical "greys", that are often described in UFO literature. He noticed their eyes were round, and not slanted, as often reported.

Source

Another interesting account involves a very close encounter and more detailed description of the underside of the alleged craft. One night, Bill was driving down Route 51 near Stormville (home of the alleged microlight hoaxers) when he noticed a large object in a farmers field. As he looked on, it rose into the air and lights came on. His radio began to play up and he became very nervous. He realized he was alone on the road and sped up to avoid attracting the attention of whatever it was. The object began to approach his car and Bill was scared enough to pull to a halt and turn lights and engine off in an effort to hide. He was later interviewed by Imbrogno...

Bill told me “I don't want to make light of this, but the ship looked like one of the star destroyers in Star Was" The underside was the same shape, although I did not see the top. The object passed over Bill, as he looked up he saw circular areas underneath the UFO. These circular areas seemed to be like tunnels leading into the object. Inside these circular tunnels there was a white flashing, similar to the flashing of a white strobe light (we had several reports of this white flashing effect from past CE cases in the Hudson Valley, also the circular areas have been reported numerous times before). Bill told me there was no sound. He estimated its size to be at least 300 feet from end to end.

Source

Bill then had a 'jump cut' experience as he suddenly realized that he was now at the bottom of the hill and his car was facing the wrong way. When he got home his wife was waiting up and he was an hour late. Following several nights of nightmares and disturbed sleep, he approached Imrogno who arranged hypnosis.

Bill" I see it now its that thing! Its coming in my direction!. Iam going to turn off my car lights. maybe then wont see me and go away. Its huge......Oh my God what is it!. Theres someone standing in the road he is now walking toward the car. Who are yo u!...... He's saying something to me "don't be fearful we need you...you have been selected". Selected for what,get away!. I feel strange like I am floating in the air,its all dark. I am now on this table and these guys are all around me,six of them. Two a re at my head and two on the sides(two on each side). My legs and arms are like dead weights I can't move them.

(Bill is then asked to describe them) "These guys are small, large heads with round eyes,the eyes are all black I can see no pupils in them,they remind me of sharks eyes. They are dressed in sometype of black and white skin type suits. I can't see their hands. The one at my head is moving so me type of device that looks like a portable car vacuum cleaner up and down the left side of my head. It vibrates my entire head,it feels like a drill going through my head... STOP! it hurts.. He tells me that they are looking for something and found it. I now can feel my legs and arms they are allowing me to get up.

They are very small only up to the bottom part of my chest (Bill is six foot one inch) The others are now over some type of panel. Two of them are leading me by the arms. I asked them where they were from"The one on my right leading said"We are from here" I didn't understand the answer. I asked him if they planned to let me go. he replied "Yes but we will see you again" He told me that they need us because they have trouble living in our wor ld. He said they come from a place which is very ugly when compared to our world and they would rather live here,but can't. I told him that I would remember and tell every one about this. He said I would remember in time but there are forces in your own(?) which will stop you from telling anyone about this experience."

source

These accounts are fascinating. It's unfortunate that the investigative standards of the 1980s weren't as rigorous as today. Hypnosis is much more controlled nowadays. Nevertheless, the similarities are interesting.

Undoubtedly the most famous account of abduction is that of Whitley Strieber. He claimed to have undergone an abduction experience in the same area on December 26th 1985.

Originally posted by kidflash2008
reply to post by Kandinsky

 

Another excellent mass sighting.

I am beginning to wonder if it really is a top secret military aircraft. Why would the military want a craft so large? It would make a very good target to enemy anti-aircraft fire, especially those stinger missiles. It does not seem logical.

Hi Kidflash, If the accounts are taken at face value and Hynek's investigative methods were rigorous, I think it seems unlikely that the object was ours. 20 years later, we still aren't building aircraft that exhibit the reported behavior of that craft. Descriptions of struts, tunnels (intakes?), holes that strobe lights and the slow, silent progress make it pretty anomalous to our technology.

We can't be sure there isn't a built-in 'reporting bias', but the uniformity of the sightings makes the events more interesting than a variety of inconclusive lights in the sky. It's possible that a hoax snowballed out of control, but the amount of reports over the years makes it fascinating.

Originally posted by Learhoag
I remember that at least one early formation was debunked as being small planes (piper cubs or similar) flying in a formation that wouldn't hold since the planes were drifting.

Have you read Night Siege? The formation flying light planes fooled very few, if any, of the witnesses. Imbrogno and Hynek found a number of witnesses who saw both and said there was no comparison. The more interesting question is who was flying the light planes and what were they flying? Flying in tight fomation at night with non-standard lights over populated areas violates a whole host of FAA rules. All of those pilots should have lost their licenses. Beyond that there was no group local to the area that could have pulled off the precision flying required to create and maintain the formation. So the obvious question is where did the pilots come from and why were they there trying to debunk the authentic ufo sightings?

reply to post by Learhoag
Events will more than likely remain inconclusive. As explanations go, anonymous guys in light aircraft is ambitious...

In 1984 sightings of UFOs were widespread...

Munich, Germany

1984 UFO Chronology

Soviet Merchant Ship

Originally posted by Kandinsky
reply to post by Learhoag

 

Events will more than likely remain inconclusive. As explanations go, anonymous guys in light aircraft is ambitious...

Haha, yes it was, but it worked. Local media jumped on the explanation and promptly proclaimed all the sightings, and all future sightings, were hoaxes. Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public gratefully put down their paper or turned off the TV news and breathed a sigh of relief that all was still right with the world. The relatively small number who actually saw it were relegated to fringe kook status allowing them to be safely ignored or ridiculed.

I've personally heard first person UFO accounts from half a dozen commercial pilots and none of them reported the sightings to authorities or employers because of the certain knowledge it would end their career.

Ah This thread is newer The first one I found was 2005

I don't see these videos in here yet that TeslaandLynn sent me

Posted at Youtube February 03, 2009






Most significant point in that movie IMO is...

The pilots who hoaxed the later sightings only flew on THURSDAYS yet the UFO sightings were not all on a Thursday

That would be very significant

[edit on 27-6-2009 by zorgon]