Table of Contents
Iowa UFO Sightings Analysis
We analyzed all 45 UFO sighting reports in Iowa from 2011 to identify possible patterns and gain insight into the phenomenon:
- The most commonly reported UFO shape or appearance is "light" (12 reports, 26.67% of total).
- July is the month with the most reported UFO sightings (8 reports, 17.78% of total).
- Sunday is the weekday with the most reported UFO sightings (9 reports, 20.00% of total).
- 09/04/11 is the single date with the most UFO sightings reported (3 reports, 6.67% of total).
- Sightings occur more often during the night, between the hours of 20:00 - 23:59 (25 reports, 55.56% of total).
Iowa UFO Sighting Reports in 2011
This is a sampling of 20 Iowa UFO reports from 2011, 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:
Bright golden light seen twice on the same road to home. Coming home from school at 8pm (20:00), from Cedar Falls to Stout, my father and I saw a bright golden light out in the country side road on the way home. The light was, by my guess, 4 or 5 miles away.
The light was too high above the trees and houses to be a light on a pole or a decoration. Since we were in the car, it’s hard to tell whether or not the light moved as well. There were no other lights with or on the light to define it as an airplane.
The road we took was long, 5 miles or so. From turning onto that road to the end of the road, the light went from bright to dim to finally gone. Also, the night sky was full of clouds, there were no star light nor moon to be seen.
One more thing: My father and I have seen this light twice. On 12/28/2011 at 5pm (17:00) and 12/29/2011 at 8pm (20:00). Both on the same road in the exact same area.
The second time we saw this, I tried taking a picture with my cell, but the footage made it show two very dim lights. I’m not sure if there were two lights. From the naked eye, I only saw one.
Full Report Text:
I saw a large fireball pass over my house at about 1000 feet --no noise, traveling about 15mph. From an upstairs window, I observed an orange crescent shaped object flying toward my home. I hollered for my wife who was in another room as I thought it might be a plane on fire.
I ran downstairs and on to our driveway as the object was approaching and passing directly over my house at about 1000 feet or so. (estimate) The object was a fairly large glowing orange fireball with what appeared a "hot" white core. It was not like any flame or fire I have ever seen before.
It did not produce any smoke or emissions that I could see--the fireball was completely silent. It was on a straight trajectory at a consisent speed of approximatley 15 mph---it appeared the flame was propelling its movement--I could no detect any mechanical structure around the flame---it was a clear, calm, starry night, and the flame emitted a rectangular shaped lit area around the top of it with what appeared some type of heat waves around the flame which were lit up againts the black sky! ---the fire was from three to ten feet in size.my wife also saw this fire from the window--she is from China and says she has never seen anythihng like it--that makes two of us.
I am very familiar with aviation, astronomy, meteors, and as a broadcaster and journalist for 25 years, I am a keen observer. This was not a Chinese lantern, a plane, a flare, a meteor, a hot air ballon, lightning, or a piece of debris. I have seen similar descriptions on this website.
Please feel free to contact me to learn more. I'd like to learn more and find some answers. Thank you!.
Full Report Text:
while in hot tub, looking east saw object, bar or cigar shaped, traveling north to south it veered off to south east speed like falling star reappeared short time later traveling east to west and veered off to south west this the second sighting,maybe months earlier color seemed to be dim but reddish.
Full Report Text:
Strange ball of light moving slowly across central Iowa. This happened on the night of the 17th of December at 5:45pm. I was outside and looking at this star off to the west of us.
I started to go inside and remembered I had forgot something. I told my wife that this star is sure bright tonight, and I looked to the south of us and that's when I seen this ball of light moving rather slow. I said to my wife look at this thing, it was moving to the west, had no flashing lights, or no sound.
It was at a low altitude, lower than what the smaller airplanes would usually fly. I kept watching it and all of a sudden it dissapered, just like you would turn a lamp off. Strange ball of light.
Full Report Text:
green light ufo We seen a slow moving light that seemed only 200 to 300 feet of the ground it was green with what seemed like a cloud around it one of my coworkers said the word spaceship and it took off at a incredible speed. ((NUFORC Note: Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD)).
Full Report Text:
Stationary High-Magnitude Light Dimming Out Returning home from a long bike ride shortly after the fall of night I was walking my bike in an open area along a bike path in the countryside --about 7 miles north of Cedar Rapids -- with open farm fields to my right & left when I noticed a striking pairing of objects. Both objects were stationary and appeared to be stars at first, although I wondered if one might be a planet. They were perhaps 2 to 5 degrees apart (uncertain exactly but not right next to each other).
In retrospect 24 hours later I would hazard two finger widths apart. Jupiter was visible about 50 degrees to the left of the pair and at roughly the same height above the horizon. My thought was it might be something that would be mentionable in a current astronomical magazine due to the strikingness of the combination.
Only minutes to moments before, I was checking out 3 high-flying aircraft in the northern sky. I had been out at night on my bike frequently all throughout this year and it must have seemed unfamiliar enough to me to zero-in on it so quickly when I first looked in another direction. The upper object was the brightest shining with almost approximately the same magnitude as Jupiter (although it seemed a bit smaller than Jupiter).
The lower object was not especially exceptional other than possibly being a brighter star for a lower altitude. Both objects appeared whitish. Jupiter appeared to be about 25 to 30 degrees above the horizon incidentally.
Muddling the matter were high and elongated thin cirrus clouds nearing the pair. Anyway as I was looking at the two the brighter one dimmed into nothingness quite abruptly (but it did breathtakingly dim as it wasn’t quite instantaneous). This occurred before any obscuring by clouds [emphasis: certainty].
The puzzling aspect however was that it appeared absolutely stationary and not moving like a satellite would be moving out of solar glare. Once years ago I viewed the ISS at Kennedy Space Center and that seemed to travel at a fair pace across the sky, though I wonder now how it would appear at the very end of visibility. I noted the time via my cell phone at 18:05 hours.
I then resumed riding and as best as possible given conditions continued to observe that area of the sky for almost 30 minutes but high and thin clouds had more or less covered that region of the sky preventing visibility in that region. I was unable to get a clear fix on the second object which might have dimmed out soon after the first one or it may have been a star slowly masked by the cloud cover.
Full Report Text:
Bright orange lights moving slow across the sky. Six bright orange lights moving low across the sky. Saw three.
Then another three. Would stay bright for 3-5 minutes then would go dark. Another light or two would then appear, move slowly across the sky, then dim out.
Went on for 15 minutes or more.
Full Report Text:
Saw a UFO landing on 10/29/2011 Last night 10/29/2011 I saw a very large round shaped object descending slowly in the sky. It had large round bright lights on the side of it blinking. I watched as it slowly descended behind a hill.
It was too big to be an aircraft. I waited for it to ascend and fly away but I never did see it go, only land.
Full Report Text:
five bright yellow lights leading huge craft Looking to the south east three very bright lights appeared and moved slowly north west. They were following each other and then turned due east. Suddenly the first blinked out and the other two did the same.
About the time the first three blinked out, two more appeared in the same location the first came from, now the count is five. The fourth and fifth were following the same route as the first three and they turned at the exact same location as the first, how do I know that? It was at the upper point of Andromeda. The last of the five was the most spectacular, it had the same bright yellow light as the first four but this light was suspended below the object and illuminated the craft above it.
The craft above this light was round and it was huge, all I could see was the very bottom of the craft and it was light up by the light {same as the first four} directly below it.excuse this, but I had to laugh when I realized what I was hearing was myself saying.! .
WTF,WTF over and over again.it made me laugh.at me!.
Full Report Text:
Three bright lights in the sky in the shape of a triangle I was driving on highway 61 towards the west along with two friends when I looked out into the sky to the north and saw some bright lights. I am an avid astronomer and didn't make the lights out to be any stars or planets. Shortly after my two friends noticed the lights as well and we were all looking.
We made them out to be three bright points, each about as bright as Jupiter, which made the shape of a long, skinny, isosceles triangle. We kept an eye on them as we quickly turned and stopped onto a side road. I got out of the car and watched them as they faded into the distance to the east (this is the way they were generally moving).
They didn't make any noise that any of us could hear. After they faded into the distance, I got back into the car and we drove off. We later saw on Facebook a similar report of this sighting in the same place.
The status read that there were jets chasing it but none of us saw this.
Full Report Text:
An unexplained, unidentified flying object. On Tuesday, October 11th, at 7:40pm, I was heading home when I saw something that resembled an object on fire. It was a reddish-orange light, about the exact color of fire, and was traveling in a northerly direction.
I stopped the car on the off ramp and got out for a better look. There was a nearly full moon behind me as I watched the light move across the sky. I hold a private pilot's license, and although at this time I am not "current", I've been around aircraft all my life, and I've never seen anything like this.
There was a thin/broken layer of clouds I estimated to be about 4,000 to 5,000 feet above ground level. The light was below the clouds and appeared to be the size of a BB held at arm’s length. I applied 'critical thinking' in my attempt to identify the light.
I asked myself "Why couldn't this be _____?" No aircraft I know of produces a reddish-orange light. Plus there were no position, navigation, or anti-collision lights visible. Also, this was not a landing light, as it was Omni-directional, not shining ahead as a landing light would.
Then I considered it may have been the ROSAT satellite, which is due to re-enter the atmosphere and burn up. The light had no trail of fire in its wake, and it appeared to be traveling in straight and level flight. Also the light appeared to be moving fast, so this was no "Chinese Lantern".
I would guess the light was at least 3,000 feet, and traveled from horizon to horizon in less than 90 seconds. I have also filed this report with MUFON.
Full Report Text:
White bright orb, (circular) craft in eastern sky, slow moving, at times still. Much brighter than any star, or planet, silent. White bright light, at slow to mid ranging velocities in the eastern horizon.
When filmed with digital camera, an entire color spectrum appeared to display from the object, in a strobe sequence, which none of us could see with the naked eye. Later the object stopped all movement, and 5-10 minutes of still hovering occurred, followed by a falling star, and the appearance of other distant objects. When studied these two new craft displayed not only a color sweep of red, green, white, and blue, but also formed a perfect triangle shape with the original object, almost as if creating the first object of notice, as some sort of elaborate light show.
? In the distance to the southeast, a jet aircraft with standard blinking white, red, and blue lights was visible. Moving from the west to a south-southeastern heading.~~ ~~~ Object observed by 3 young adults, after a event.
Full Report Text:
Bright orange lights taking an unusual flight pattern and then disappearing in the same area in the sky. My boyfriend witnessed bright orange lights in the sky & ran into the house to wake me up. He told me he didn't want to be the only one to see the lights.
The lights took an unusual flight pattern and all disappeared in the same area of the sky. There wasn't any noise coming from them to suggest they were some type of airplane. The orange lights were much brighter then something you would typically see in the sky.
They all took a similar flight pattern but did not appear to be part of an aircraft formation. Never in my life have I witnessed something like this before!.
Full Report Text:
Ten lights in a strange formation moving east over I235 Was driving east on I-235 heading over the west mix master, a very strange set of lights. Many lights at first they moved in a line then they split into two groups of three and one group of four, they were moving in an easterly direction. They were so low to the ground none of us in the car could believe it, luckily I had enough people in the car we got a good description.
We knew they weren’t planes or helicopters because we could not hear them and we would have heard it if it were a plane. I’m not lying about this, it is not a hoax, this was the first sighting for all four of us in the car. We are all believers but have never actually seen a UFO tonight we can say we have.
Full Report Text:
4 large orange orbs moving across sky My dad and I were were walking home when we saw 4 bright orange orbs moving steadily across the sky. All four seemed low flying and were fairly large. They were the color of fire.
They made no sound, were NOT flashing or blinking, and moved very fast and smootly. ((NUFORC Note: Witness elects to provide no contact information. PD)).
Full Report Text:
A fiery Red Orb like ball floated through the sky. Around 9:45 PM (20:45) Sunday Night There was a Fiery Red Orb With a black like sides Floated through the sky then disappeared into the clouds. There were many people who saw it but did not know what it is.
It was obviously not fireworks or it would have exploded and been smaller. This is not a Hoax. Thank you for your time.
Full Report Text:
Sometime after 8:30, I went home with my mother and after parking in the driveway, I looked up (facing north) as always. Everything seemed to be normal and I could hear fireworks going off. After looking for awhile I could spot the Big Dipper on the left of me and the moon on the far right.
In between that, more towards the left (West), there was just a random dot of light, then it disappears, and another would show up but far from the first. This happened around 5-7 times and in different section of the sky between Big Dipper and the moon. ((NUFORC Note: Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate.
PD)).
Full Report Text:
Bright organge light- goes off and looks atom-shaped. Was going on a walk about 8:30. Noticed a very bright yellow/orange object moving east/west.
Thought it might be a plane, but it was too bright. Light was emitting from the front, but not the sides (like the wingspan of an insect). As it proceeded to fly overhead, the light suddenly went off.
It was high enough that it was momentarily lost in the clouds. Still could see a small faint red light circling around the dark object. Then, it started to "fall", descending closer to us.
The faint light disappeared. Now the object appeared to be only a few hundred feet above. This time it looked like the object was atom-shaped.
There was a dark mass in the center, with three "spheres" orbiting around the object. It also seemed to have condensed into a 4 x 4 foot object (which is strange because when it was higher in the sky it looked like it could have been a plane). It looked like it could potentially land somewhere, so we started sprinting towards the direction of the object, but lost it in the house lines.
The object made no sound the entire time. We tried walking around the neighborhoods, but because it is a suburban area, most backyards are fenced and we couldn't see. There was also a wooded area nearby where it could have possibly landed.
We couldn't find anything and no one seemed to be outside, which was strange. ((NUFORC Note: Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD)).
Full Report Text:
Siting looking at the stars was moving fast and steady rusty dark look no lights but had a glow and was heading west it came out of sight over a tree and tree line.
Full Report Text:
One multi-lighted triangle-shaped UFO sighted over West Des Moines, Iowa at 9:25 PM on 08/23/2011 by two people driving home. One triangle-shaped airborne vehicle with what appeared to be approx 6 white, round "light-bulb" lights on the outside of each side with paralell similar lights on the inside of those. It seemed still for about 15 seconds .
My husband and I were driving home from our son's house going west on University Ave. It was about 1000 - 2000 feet above the ground, approx 1 block west of Barnes and Noble Bookstore.When we tried to turn the car around to get a better look, we lost track of it and did not see it again.
My husband is a professional photographer, but did not have his camera on him and I am his studio manager at his business.We are both artistic: I also tap dance and I enjoy live jazz music when I can.
Iowa UFO Sightings From 2011 By Shape
This is a standardized set of shapes a UFO report can be filed under.
Shape / Appearance | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
Light | 12 reported sightings | 26.67% of all reports |
Circle | 8 reported sightings | 17.78% of all reports |
Triangle | 8 reported sightings | 17.78% of all reports |
Fireball | 4 reported sightings | 8.89% of all reports |
Other | 3 reported sightings | 6.67% of all reports |
Egg | 2 reported sightings | 4.44% of all reports |
Unknown | 2 reported sightings | 4.44% of all reports |
Formation | 2 reported sightings | 4.44% of all reports |
Oval | 1 reported sightings | 2.22% of all reports |
Disk | 1 reported sightings | 2.22% of all reports |
Sphere | 1 reported sightings | 2.22% of all reports |
Iowa UFO Sightings From 2011 By Month
This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the month the sighting occured in.
Month | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
July | 8 reported sightings | 17.78% of all reports |
May | 6 reported sightings | 13.33% of all reports |
September | 6 reported sightings | 13.33% of all reports |
August | 5 reported sightings | 11.11% of all reports |
December | 5 reported sightings | 11.11% of all reports |
October | 4 reported sightings | 8.89% of all reports |
March | 4 reported sightings | 8.89% of all reports |
June | 3 reported sightings | 6.67% of all reports |
November | 2 reported sightings | 4.44% of all reports |
January | 2 reported sightings | 4.44% of all reports |
Iowa UFO Sightings From 2011 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 |
---|---|---|
Sunday | 9 reported sightings | 20.00% of all reports |
Saturday | 8 reported sightings | 17.78% of all reports |
Tuesday | 7 reported sightings | 15.56% of all reports |
Thursday | 7 reported sightings | 15.56% of all reports |
Monday | 7 reported sightings | 15.56% of all reports |
Wednesday | 4 reported sightings | 8.89% of all reports |
Friday | 3 reported sightings | 6.67% of all reports |
Iowa UFO Sightings From 2011 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 |
---|---|---|
09/04/11 | 3 reported sightings | 6.67% of all reports |
07/23/11 | 2 reported sightings | 4.44% of all reports |
09/10/11 | 1 reported sightings | 2.22% of all reports |
07/21/11 | 1 reported sightings | 2.22% of all reports |
07/10/11 | 1 reported sightings | 2.22% of all reports |
Iowa UFO Sightings From 2011 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 | 25 reported sightings | 55.56% of all reports |
Late night | 00:00 - 03:59 | 7 reported sightings | 15.56% of all reports |
Evening | 16:00 - 19:59 | 6 reported sightings | 13.33% of all reports |
Afternoon | 12:00 - 15:59 | 3 reported sightings | 6.67% of all reports |
Morning | 08:00 - 11:59 | 3 reported sightings | 6.67% of all reports |
Early morning | 04:00 - 07:59 | 1 reported sightings | 2.22% of all reports |
All Iowa Cities with reported UFO sightings in 2011
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports were filed per city in Iowa, in 2011
Other Years with Reported UFO Sightings in Iowa
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports are filed per year in Iowa.