Table of Contents
California UFO Sightings Analysis
We analyzed all 355 UFO sighting reports in California from 2021 to identify possible patterns and gain insight into the phenomenon:
- The most commonly reported UFO shape or appearance is "light" (66 reports, 18.59% of total).
- May is the month with the most reported UFO sightings (68 reports, 19.15% of total).
- Saturday is the weekday with the most reported UFO sightings (68 reports, 19.15% of total).
- 05/05/21 is the single date with the most UFO sightings reported (10 reports, 2.82% of total).
- Sightings occur more often during the night, between the hours of 20:00 - 23:59 (119 reports, 33.52% of total).
California UFO Sighting Reports in 2021
This is a sampling of 20 California UFO reports from 2021, presented as they were submitted other than paragraph breaks added for easier readability where necessary.
You can click the 'Report' link to view the original report along with any photos that may have been submitted to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC).
Full Report Text:
We thought it was fireworks but no sound and it moved oddly, was a fiery orange ball and then sort of burned out. We were outside on my porch and I was facing my friends. I thought I saw a firework but there was no sound at all, and I realized no, it wasn’t a firework.
I said “what’s that?!” And my 3 friends turned around and all said “…I don’t know?!” And we watched as it streaked through the sky, fiery and orange and eventually trailed off and appeared to burn out. It was fast, but all 4 of us knew we had seen a UFO. The shape, the color, the lack of sound and the movement of it were all really strange.
Full Report Text:
I'm a pilot and what I saw did not resemble an aircraft. 4 red lights. Might have been a single "aircraft" might have been 4 separate.
Moving west to east. Apparent altitude above ground @5,000 ft. Apparent shape diamond.
Very close together. Lights were steady red. Moving as a single aircraft".
Lights were south of my location @5 miles. I didn't not see an object, only the lights.
Full Report Text:
I was shooting multiple shots of the sunset, last night I was scanning through them and saw an anomaly go up,down, and up again. After spotting the anomaly in 8 pix I blew up the photos, revealing groups of lights. Thought maybe a 2 stage missile, but the arrangement of the light spots did not look like any missile motor nozzle arrangement.
And there were no contrails. The anomaly just showed up and disappeared over 2 minutes. So examining the close up of the anomaly, there are a few frames that the light arrangement looks different.
The anomaly showed up in the photo, went up vertically , maybe 15-20 miles offshore, then back down, then up again and a couple of zig zags and disappeared. I have seen Vandenburg's launches, and this was different. Backlit, I would have seen a ship or sub launch, and this would have been a Large Rocket, so sub, ship or platform was not possible.
No aircraft in the sky, and I dont know of any aircraft dropping 2 stage missiles. It was a UFO. I did not notice it live, but 2 days later scanning through photos.
(Our sunsets are very pretty, so when it is clear I am shooting.). After blowing up the anomaly it does not look man made.
The pictures were taken with a Samsung S7+ tablet, on an open hillside on our property. Not through a window. This was not a flare or reflection.
The video is me shuttling through the 8 pictures, back and forth. I have never witnessed a UFO previously, I have seen rockets and high altitude balloons, this was neither. Pix taken 39.
185203552246094, -123.75308227539062 I have a video sequence of the pictures there are 8.
Full Report Text:
MADAR Node 57 .
Full Report Text:
MADAR Node 57 .
Full Report Text:
Out of my bedroom window I saw a red light moving diagonally with high speed across the sky and in other ways, but then it vanished. It was christmas morning at about dawn. Me and my siblings were watching for Santa Clause when all the sudden we saw this red light.
I could tell this was no military air craft by the way it went so swift and fast diagonally in all directions. Thinking it was Rudolf the red nose reindeer I thought it over and realized it must be a U-F-O.
Full Report Text:
I was talking on the phone with a friend looked up and saw red orbs in the far distance. Not once but twice. Around 12:20am on 12/25/21 I was on the phone with a friend outside my house in Los Angles, CA.
I was looking up at the beautiful sky with intermittent clouds overhead. That's when I spotted the "orbs" in a loose formation heading west, northwest. Maybe 8-10 of them, but as they got closer to the clouds 9 became 6, which became 4 and they went into the clouds.
I could see them being lost as they traveled upward(I'm assuming). I told my friend what I just saw and said I wish I had filmed it. I tried to understand what they were - Helicopters? Not a chance, they moved too smoothly around each other.
Planes? forget it, no way. Drones?? That seemed like the most likely answer, but they were WAY up there and would drones move like I saw? If I knew the height of the clouds, I could easily figure out the distance from where I was and they size of the objects. They were red, it was Christmas, could it be some sort of filming for a movie? I live in Los Angeles, you never know.
I told my friend what I saw and that it was unlike anything I've seen. I kept talking and looking and the orbs came back! In a different pattern, but they were back moving in the same direction. I got off the phone and filmed.
I happened to have hanging lights up in the direction I was filming, but there is ZERO chance this was any type of lens flare. And there they are on my phone.
Full Report Text:
White dots flying slowly to west then moved faster to east, then disappeared. Clear sunny sky, after a plane past above me, I spotted a white dot, then three more closely in triangle form then three moved to line up straight. They were all moving slowly to west direction.
The distance between them were not consistent; sometimes one got very close to another. I lost them when I tried to take a photo. Moments later I spotted three moving to east.
One had dark rectangular shape on both sides but soon they become invincible. This is when I started recording with my iPhone. They moved faster in distance and disappeared.
Zoom in on the right side of my video. You will see white dots blinking before disappeared.
Full Report Text:
Orange Ball changing to Black Round Object Moving Rapidly Across Sky and Descending into Ocean We were watching eating dinner along the beach north of the Honolulu Zoo. We saw an orange glowing sphere moving across the sky in a southerly direction. The object changes direction and moves westwards.
No visible aviation lights associated with a plane or helicopter. The object turns into a distinct solid black sphere that clearly stands out in the sky and can be tracked with the naked eye as it rapidly moves westwards 2-3 miles out before descending into the ocean. We ruled out a helicopter, plane, drone, baloon, or paper lantern.
We captured one photo from our phone and a 40-60 seconds of video as the object moved westerwards before descending into the sea. No blinking lights or noticible sound. A commercial airliner was flying in a perpendicular direction.
The speed of the unkown sphere was travelling noticably faster than the commerical airliner as we compared the speed of both the object and airliner.
Full Report Text:
3 Boomerang shaped craft flying in formation I was looking up at the full moon from a balcony on the 11th floor. I saw 3 flying triangles headed straight south as they were flying directly past the moon. They were shaped like boomerangs and made no sound at all as they flew past.
There were large circular dim lights at each of the three points of the triangle. They were flying in a V formation. I observed the craft until they disappeared from view.
Full Report Text:
Pilll shaped object (vibrating) While traveling on the cabrillo highway southbound towards the 46 I saw this pill or football shaped object over the ocean maybe 3 football fields away. the object was going roughly 55 mph as the object was matching our vehicles speed. The strange thing about this object is that the object was sort of vibrating or moving back and forth really fast at the same time the object was traveling south.
Full Report Text:
near the Foster farms feed mill in Traver Ca 93673 there is always alot of ufo activity going on there.They also scream Covid 19.Also first heard a loud bucket launch sound then 6 circle ships flying around the mill.
They were using pulse vibrations they say and call me covid 19!!! they are torturing humans in the city in chambers underground. Please send help! also the foster farms mill is like a transformer and is used for alien technology.
Full Report Text:
Saw triangular shaped object I was driving home and I saw what I thought was a helicopter and it was really low but it wasn't loud like helicopter and I looked up on my front windshield looking for a spotlight but there was not one and when I looked it was a shape of a black triangle but the middle was open and clear I could see through it with a few lights here and there then as I turned into our parking lot it seemed to be flying away but very low.
Full Report Text:
Viewed some red lights in the sky appearing to be moving north and slower than an airplane. Saw multiple red lights moving in the sky in what appeared to be uniform motion, but could be wrong. Lights appeared to be traveling north or northwest slower than a plane.
I viewed the phenomenon standing outside the planet fitness gym on Demaree and walnut in visalia CA, and I was facing west while filming them. The weather was cloudy at the time, very clouds where no stars were visible and I viewed the phenomenon at exactly 9:43 pm. Eventually the lights faded into the clouds and disappeared.
I was able to capture footage of the event on my Samsung galaxy s10e smartphone. I drew an image of the phenomenon on a screenshot of a map and my location, although I believe it was much farther away. Hope this helps!.
Full Report Text:
Observed UFO on picture taken in 12/2021 I took pictures of the snow fall we had here in Mojave. I was using my cell phone. After showing friends I just let the pictures stay in my phone.
A month ago I started cleaning out all the pictures I no longer wanted when I saw the cylinder shaped object in my picture I had not noticed. I enlarged and it is definitely something I cannot identify so I am sending to you professionals to evaluate.
Full Report Text:
Took picture and later identified an object I could not identify I went out to take pictures of the snow we had the night before on 12/15/21 Mojave California. I took pictures and did not noticed what I had captured in the picture until I was clearing out pictures I no longer had a use for. In the picture I provided just to the left of center was a cylindrical object.
I enlarged it and I could not identify what the object is so I'm sending to your staff to identify. NUFORC: reflection.
Full Report Text:
A light in the sky over San Francisco Bay in close proximity to OAK airport. From the San Leandro Marina looking West over the San Francisco Bay, we noticed a small cluster of clouds with a pulsating pin point of light within the clouds This light would illuminate to the same brightness as the moon and then fade to a much dimmer light. This was repeated in the same section of sky for 30 minutes until we left the area.
The light was the same size as you would see on a jet aircraft as it heads toward you. This light kept pulsating very slowly. It would be dim for about two to three minutes and then brighten up for a minute before rwturning to a dim light.
This was happening within a very small cluster of clouds and stayed in the exaxt same area of the sky for 30 minutes.
Full Report Text:
Flying in a line from west to east, coming from around north Long Beach CA My Nephew ask me to come and look and tell him what this was in the sky. I went out and saw a line of six objects in the sky moving from the west to the east. You could see more were coming up from the horizon and this continued for about 20 mins.
They were in a straight line and were disappearing as they got higher in the sky. They were orange, had three lights in a triangle shape and a white light in the center. The pictures and video don't look like what we were seeing.
( to far away) Blowing them up didn't help because they were moving.
Full Report Text:
seen dark rectangle moving slowly thru the sky. There was no illumination of light. Kind of like a bird swam or bugs but rectangle.
I was in a hot spring and as i goy in the water and couldnt see l.
Full Report Text:
Object and lights forrest illumination I'm a long haul truck driver. I got a short load that picked up in Tracy California and delivered in Sparks Nevada. Driving on interstate 80 eastbound at 2057 the sky was clear on Thursday December 9th 2021, I saw an object to my right which would be due south of Cisco Grove towards Monumental Ridge.
It was 6 lights amber to milky white in color in the shape of the number 3 if you were to turn the number 3 clockwise a little and have it look like an odd W. The lights were peculiar in that they were reaching towards the tops of the trees but the lights never touched the tops of the trees nor did they illuminate them even though the object and lights were only about 50 feet above the trees. I saw this object and lights for all of 7 to 9 seconds then the object and lights both slowly faded out once they did a cherry kool-aid or stop light color light brightly lit the forrest floor the trees were dark but behind the trees it was brightly lit,an intense red colored light.
I was still driving and could not see that side of the mountain anymore so I have no idea how long the red light lasted.
California UFO Sightings From 2021 By Shape
This is a standardized set of shapes a UFO report can be filed under.
Shape / Appearance | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
Light | 66 reported sightings | 18.59% of all reports |
Circle | 39 reported sightings | 10.99% of all reports |
Sphere | 27 reported sightings | 7.61% of all reports |
Formation | 25 reported sightings | 7.04% of all reports |
Triangle | 25 reported sightings | 7.04% of all reports |
Other | 23 reported sightings | 6.48% of all reports |
Unknown | 19 reported sightings | 5.35% of all reports |
Changing | 18 reported sightings | 5.07% of all reports |
Disk | 16 reported sightings | 4.51% of all reports |
Oval | 16 reported sightings | 4.51% of all reports |
Cigar | 14 reported sightings | 3.94% of all reports |
Fireball | 12 reported sightings | 3.38% of all reports |
Cylinder | 8 reported sightings | 2.25% of all reports |
Rectangle | 5 reported sightings | 1.41% of all reports |
Flash | 4 reported sightings | 1.13% of all reports |
Egg | 4 reported sightings | 1.13% of all reports |
Diamond | 4 reported sightings | 1.13% of all reports |
Teardrop | 2 reported sightings | 0.56% of all reports |
Chevron | 2 reported sightings | 0.56% of all reports |
Cross | 2 reported sightings | 0.56% of all reports |
Star | 2 reported sightings | 0.56% of all reports |
Orb | 2 reported sightings | 0.56% of all reports |
Cone | 1 reported sightings | 0.28% of all reports |
California UFO Sightings From 2021 By Month
This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the month the sighting occured in.
Month | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
May | 68 reported sightings | 19.15% of all reports |
February | 36 reported sightings | 10.14% of all reports |
December | 32 reported sightings | 9.01% of all reports |
June | 31 reported sightings | 8.73% of all reports |
September | 31 reported sightings | 8.73% of all reports |
January | 31 reported sightings | 8.73% of all reports |
July | 29 reported sightings | 8.17% of all reports |
November | 24 reported sightings | 6.76% of all reports |
October | 22 reported sightings | 6.20% of all reports |
August | 19 reported sightings | 5.35% of all reports |
April | 16 reported sightings | 4.51% of all reports |
March | 16 reported sightings | 4.51% of all reports |
California UFO Sightings From 2021 By Weekday
This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the day of the week the sighting occured on.
Weekday | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
Saturday | 68 reported sightings | 19.15% of all reports |
Friday | 67 reported sightings | 18.87% of all reports |
Sunday | 53 reported sightings | 14.93% of all reports |
Thursday | 51 reported sightings | 14.37% of all reports |
Wednesday | 45 reported sightings | 12.68% of all reports |
Tuesday | 36 reported sightings | 10.14% of all reports |
Monday | 35 reported sightings | 9.86% of all reports |
California UFO Sightings From 2021 By Date (Top 5)
This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the date the sighting occured on, limited to the top 5 dates with the most sightings.
Date | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
05/05/21 | 10 reported sightings | 2.82% of all reports |
05/07/21 | 8 reported sightings | 2.25% of all reports |
05/22/21 | 7 reported sightings | 1.97% of all reports |
02/18/21 | 6 reported sightings | 1.69% of all reports |
05/30/21 | 6 reported sightings | 1.69% of all reports |
California UFO Sightings From 2021 By Time
This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the time of day the sighting occured during. We took logical 4 hour windows in order to split the day into early morning, morning, afternoon, evening, night, and late night buckets for this analysis.
Time Of Day | Hours | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|---|
Night | 20:00 - 23:59 | 119 reported sightings | 33.52% of all reports |
Evening | 16:00 - 19:59 | 84 reported sightings | 23.66% of all reports |
Late night | 00:00 - 03:59 | 45 reported sightings | 12.68% of all reports |
Afternoon | 12:00 - 15:59 | 43 reported sightings | 12.11% of all reports |
Early morning | 04:00 - 07:59 | 40 reported sightings | 11.27% of all reports |
Morning | 08:00 - 11:59 | 24 reported sightings | 6.76% of all reports |
All California Cities with reported UFO sightings in 2021
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports were filed per city in California, in 2021
Other Years with Reported UFO Sightings in California
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports are filed per year in California.