Table of Contents
Gastonia, North Carolina UFO Sightings Analysis
We analyzed all 40 UFO sighting reports in Gastonia, North Carolina to identify possible patterns and gain insight into the phenomenon:
- The most commonly reported UFO shape or appearance is "light" (8 reports, 20.00% of total).
- September is the month with the most reported UFO sightings (7 reports, 17.50% of total).
- Sunday is the weekday with the most reported UFO sightings (11 reports, 27.50% of total).
- 2011 is the year with the most UFO sightings reported (8 reports, 20.00% of total).
- 09/03/14 is the single date with the most UFO sightings reported (2 reports, 5.00% of total).
- Sightings occur more often during the night, between the hours of 20:00 - 23:59 (18 reports, 45.00% of total).
20 Most Recent UFO Sightings in Gastonia, North Carolina
These Gastonia, North Carolina UFO reports are 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:
Tumbling large red circular shape that was changing shape and moving NNW and didn’t appear to be too far above the ground Spotted as I was coming down Dixon, it was ahead of and above me on that road, traveling or rather tumbling and was emitting a dark red light from within. It looked transparent and seemed to have small points of red light within it. The inside area of the outer shape seemed to be illuminated, which is what made me think its light was internal And coming out of a transparent object.
I’ll try to draw something and attach it, but I’m no artist at all. There was no discernible sound, but there was some general noise from traffic around me. The craft was oval or oblong, an odd roundish shape that was either changing or tumbling as it moved smoothly in a straight line.
Its edges weren’t static, but also not undulating - this is very hard to describe. If you could imagine a sentient blob from a Hollywood movie, more round than any other shape, and it’s exterior was bulging or being pushed out from within slightly but constantly in various directions, it’s like that. But it also appeared translucent and not solid.
I just now remembered a cartoon from a couple decades ago called Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which has a character called Meatwad. It kind of moved like Meatwad does in that show. Not undulating, but tumbling, if a YouTube clip of that character may better explain the type of similar motion I saw on this object.
I turned North onto Burtonwood to whip into a church parking lot so I could jump out of the car away from most of the trees. Jumping out, I now noticed the single-engine prop plane which appeared initially to be following it as i was turning into the parking lot was now farther from it. I considered my initially seeing the two together may have been a forced perspective and that the plane perhaps wasn’t following it, and they were at two different altitudes and going in two different trajectories.
If it’s possible to research small aircraft air traffic in that area at exactly 8:07p on Oct 11, 2023, then it’s also possible that pilot or any passengers may have also seen it. In the 20 seconds or so of me trying to get into the parking lot and out of the car to record it, it had already moved a considerable distance and now appeared much smaller, and had turned from the deep red to an almost white color. Looking at my included map, I first saw it above Dixon, just 50’ or so to the west of Burtonwood, traveling NNW over First Presbyterian Church.
It was heading towards, and then across, E Garrison Blvd, and the Middle School. As it was crossing over E Garrison, I could still see the ‘tumbling’ but now instead of it looking like it had originally, with dark red lights within that were initially visible and with the craft appearing translucent, now the craft itself seemed to be a solid not-bright white color and was still on its same path it had been from when I’d first seen it. It disappeared behind the trees as it crossed over the William P Grier Middle School and there was no way I could’ve tailed it with the amount of traffic and red lights and stop signs all around that area compared to its speed.
And, as per what is apparently necessary to occur in practically all of these events, my iPhone 13 Pro’s camera, which was designed especially for videography and creating movies, was stumbling all over itself trying to decide what to focus on with so many things in its view. Zooming in didn’t help much. The larger white blob in the video is the object, the Cessna is now appearing above and much farther from it than it had just moments before.
If their respective altitudes in the vid are correct, then the object would have possibly been too far below them for any occupants to see it but, again, initially it looked to me like the Cessna was right behind it when the object was red. If an investigator would like to contact me, you may do so with my included information. ATTACHED MEDIA: In the attached map pic, the yellow egg is me traveling W, then cutting N on Burtonwood for a clear shot away from trees.
The red egg is the craft when I’d first seen it, the blue line it’s trajectory. The white egg is where I next saw it after jumping out of my car to record, before it disappeared behind trees at the middle school. My attempt at drawing a rough shape of the initially-transparent craft is attached.
Imagine a smooth yet ‘moving’ slate gray outer surface, with dark red light reflecting on the inside of that outer ring, and points of light inside. How it can be transparent so it appears as a hollow-yet-3D ring to me, with depth and lights inside it and moving around - it defies anything I’ve ever seen before and is confounding And frustrating to attempt to describe. In the attached vid, you can see the Cessna now some distance away from the object, where just moments before it appeared to be tailing the object which was perhaps my mistake from a forced perspective of the aircraft and the object.
Then again, it’s also possible the Cessna was tailing it then suddenly became concerned and veered away from it. I hope this information is helpful, as it’s the first object in the air that I could not identify since the last one I’d seen back in 1997, so I’ve had a very very long dry spell. Thanks!.
Full Report Text:
Orange/Red fireball seen in sky I was on my way back from walking my kids to the bus stop. It was still dark outside. I got to the third house from the corner when I looked up and saw a orange/red colored light moving fast through the sky.
I live near an airport so at first I assumed that that was what it was. There were also other planes flying. Then the light began to zig zag really fast.
I knew then that it wasn't a plane or drone. Next it stopped moving and just hovered in that spot for 3 sec, then started moving again . When it got directly over me, it disappeared.
I could have sworn I saw a larger craft with no lights sitting/hovering exactly where the smaller light disappeared. I'm not crazy and I know what I saw!.
Full Report Text:
A bright moving light in the sky-light has blue and pink hue. Moves fast in video I see this object from my work Parking lot around 6:15. I have seen it in the sky since December 2021.
It has a blue and pink hue to the lights. It moves very fast in videos that I have taken of it.
Full Report Text:
Accidentally took picture of ufo. Was going into work this morning and saw alot of chemtrails in the sky. So I was going to take a picture of them .
I used my phone and took 2 quick snap pictures. Was showing them to friends at work and they pointed the ufo out at that point I zoomed in and noticed it was something strange.
Full Report Text:
I had a friend take a of a fish I caught and we didn’t see the craft in the upper right hand corner at the time put when I got home I seen it I enlarged the picture and couldn’t believe my eyes it was a rectangular craft and out to the left there is a smaller ship you can see the vapor trail going back toward the bigger ship I can send you the pictures of it so you can see what I am talking about I just need to know where to send them to this is not a prank it’s real so please call me and let me know what you find out my # is 704 ((deleted)) thank you.
Full Report Text:
The object stayed in front of moon as if basking in light of moon&sun.I have 3 pics.
Full Report Text:
Sitting out looking into the sky like I do every other night. Rural area so your eyes catches everything the sky shows. Clear! A light just appeared out of nowhere like it zap in its current space then appeared to be falling.
Thought it was a rocket but now that I think about it it was fire or light behind something invisible. The pattern of the light resembled like a object crashing but was shrinking through the skies really low. I could see the trail of light or fire clear enough to hear a sound.
It dispersed as quick as it appeared but long enough to question it. Sounds weird but kinda like a glitch or how people say. a glitch in The Matrix.
I could not follow it because the light or fire dispeared. Hard to explain but it wasn’t normal . ((NUFORC Note: Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information.
PD)).
Full Report Text:
Well over a hundred little blinking dots was heading South. They were in a scattered formation across the sky. They were flying so fast as if the sky was moving.
They were very high up, and to high to be a airplane.
Full Report Text:
Two, separate bright red, flashing simultaneously, balls of light flying in formation, very low in sky, with no sound. Moving N to S, slowly. Two bright red separate flashing simultaneously balls of light flying in formation, low, with no sound.
Heading N to S direction and slowly moving. Husband/restaurant owner for over 40 years. Age 56 Wife /Real Estate Broke and mother of three.
Age ((fifties)) Two sons, ages ((deleted--thirties)) and ((deleted((twenties)). ((deleted--older)) is a full time professional ((deleted--works in biological field)); ((younger is a full time student at the University ((deleted)), and ((deleted)) at Park City. We are average very normal, God-fearing people, who love to star watch, and none of us have ever seen anything like this EVER! Son , ((name deleted)), has video of this sighting on his phone.
Full Report Text:
4 objects rose up in the sky slowly all together and 5th object rose fast to the other 4 then slowly all went up and across sky. ((NUFORC Note: Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD)).
Full Report Text:
Object appearing amd disappearing, with three planes chasing it. It was silver and shiny, it only appeared for about six or seven seconds and then disappeared, it did this three times, about thirty seconds after the third time of appearing and disappearing, we saw three planes chasing it.
Full Report Text:
Silver Ball in Lightning storm - update - not a hoax! Hi I filed this report, and put my phone# at work, but you think I am hoaxing you. I am NOT, I supplied you with my work# but, here is my work mobile #704-xxx-xxxx The company I work is funny about emails to my work address and I generally don't give out my personal address. Please feel free to call me.
My original report - Silver ball in lightning storm. ((NUFORC Note: We wonder whether this report is an attempt to hoax us. Even though though the report appears to be carefully prepared, the witness does not provide an e-address, and the telephone number is not his…it belongs to someone else.
We can only conclude that the report may be a hoax. PD)) Hello, I witnessed something last night I cannot explain. I got home around 6:30 and decided to take a load off and chill on my deck.
I wear prosthetic legs and those things really rub me raw sometimes. So I tossed them on the bed and quickly made my way to the deck to enjoy a beverage. I was sitting there relaxing when a storm began rolling in from the west.
I figured I had few minutes before I had to drag myself back into the house, so I watched the clouds forming and lightning flashing in the distance, amazing stuff! As the storm was about a mile off, I noticed a shiny object in the clouds, lit up by lightening. I thought it was a jet liner trying to get to CLT before it got diverted. Boy was I wrong! The more I watched the more I realized it was not a plane.
It would seemingly tele-port from one area to the next in and out of the storm, and then far away. Needless to say I was stunned, and I totally lost track of the time and the storm. Within minutes the storm was right on top of my house, and so was the silver object, which I can now see was a huge ball! I watched, helplessly as it danced in and out of the clouds seemingly feeding off the lighting.
I was terrified more of the object than of being struck by lighting. I've watched enough shows on cable to know what happens next. I could feel all the hairs on my arms and stumps standing up! But I wasn't sure if it was from the object or the storm! The thing was no farther than 300 ft from the top of my house at one point! It appeared to be about 100 feet in diameter and changed colors rapidly.
Unbelievable! Of course this is the one time I left the phone on the kitchen table. That is the last thing I remember doing last night after I saw that damn thing! I woke up today a bit disoriented, and sore. Any help or explanation from you guys would really set my mind at ease.
Full Report Text:
Silver ball in lightning storm. ((NUFORC Note: We wonder whether this report is an attempt to hoax us. Even though though the report appears to be carefully prepared, the witness does not provide an e-address, and the telephone number is not his…it belongs to someone else.
We can only conclude that the report may be a hoax. PD)) Hello, I witnessed something last night I cannot explain. I got home around 6:30 and decided to take a load off and chill on my deck.
I wear prosthetic legs and those things really rub me raw sometimes. So I tossed them on the bed and quickly made my way to the deck to enjoy a beverage. I was sitting there relaxing when a storm began rolling in from the west.
I figured I had few minutes before I had to drag myself back into the house, so I watched the clouds forming and lightning flashing in the distance, amazing stuff! As the storm was about a mile off, I noticed a shiny object in the clouds, lit up by lightening. I thought it was a jet liner trying to get to CLT before it got diverted. Boy was I wrong! The more I watched the more I realized it was not a plane.
It would seemingly tele-port from one area to the next in and out of the storm, and then far away. Needless to say I was stunned, and I totally lost track of the time and the storm. Within minutes the storm was right on top of my house, and so was the silver object, which I can now see was a huge ball! I watched, helplessly as it danced in and out of the clouds seemingly feeding off the lighting.
I was terrified more of the object than of being struck by lighting. I've watched enough shows on cable to know what happens next. I could feel all the hairs on my arms and stumps standing up! But I wasn't sure if it was from the object or the storm! The thing was no farther than 300 ft from the top of my house at one point! It appeared to be about 100 feet in diameter and changed colors rapidly.
Unbelievable! Of course this is the one time I left the phone on the kitchen table. That is the last thing I remember doing last night after I saw that damn thing! I woke up today a bit disoriented, and sore. Any help or explanation from you guys would really set my mind at ease.
Full Report Text:
Bright green ball with a blue tail… Looked like a meteor. Bright green with blue tail of light. Then it was gone.
North i-85. Between Exit 17 & 14.
Full Report Text:
Large rectangle shape hovering over I85 N. near Gastonia NC. Around 6:30 pm traveling I-85 S.
past Bessemer City Exit. As I checked my rear view mirror, I saw a large rectangle shape hovering over I85 N. Inside the rectangle was like a hologram and it had multicolored light that moved or resembled flames.
((NUFORC Note: Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. Possible hoax, we suspect. PD)).
Full Report Text:
3 cones hover over back yard/trees. Hi, I am from Miami, by way of Cuba, and believe me when I say I have seen some odd things in my day, but this one beats them all. I suffer from severe sleep issues and often fall asleep at work as a result.
So I am up late, all the time. That night I was unable to sleep as I had eaten too much quacamole for my 10pm snack. I was standing in my cocina looking for some food, when I noticed some lights shining through the woods into my back yard.
I watched in amazement as 3 cone shaped objects appeared just over the tops of the trees. I dropped the fudge cycle I was about to eat, and ran outside. I saw these 3 things hover silently for about a minute, the dogs were going nuts, whining and crying.
Then just like that they disappeared! Not sure what I saw but I told my brother and he suggested I contact you guys. What do you think this could be? I am really scared they will come back and I don't know what to do!.
Full Report Text:
Orange fiery light that flickered then disappeared. My friend and I walked outside around 9:50 on May 31, 2013. We were going to my car, and when I pulled from out of her driveway, we saw a big rounded rectangle that was a bright fiery orange.
We just jokingly said, “Look it’s a UFO!” then, as we watched it we noticed its flying pattern (south to north). It had no blinking lights and it hovered more than it flew. As we watched it, it started to flicker and while it was flickering, we saw three light sources.
It then disappeared. We used logic to discount anything that was illogical. We did not have a camera on us to take a picture or video.
We proceeded to go inside and do some research. We read many accounts that saw the same things we did. ((NUFORC Note: Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information.
PD)).
Full Report Text:
Red pulsating light hovering in sky over Gastonia, NC. I noticed a red light above the tree line to the southwest of my apartment’s patio and it caught my attention because it did not look like any aircraft beacon I have seen. I work at a major international airport in the vicinity for airport operations on the airfield and have spent over seven years in the aviation and airport industry, so I know pretty well what an airplane or helicopter looks like flying at night.
This definitely didn’t look like either. This red light was several miles away but clearly visible. It pulsated very slowly, I would guess 5 times slower than an aircraft’s red beacon light, but it never faded or disappeared.
At times it would get brighter and almost to an amber color then back to red. At one point it appeared that another smaller red light appeared just slightly above the main light but soon went away. The light hovered in the same area for about a minute and a half just slowly moving left and right ever so slightly before finally starting to pick up speed and move toward the West where I lost sight of it behind the trees.
In total, the event lasted about 2 minutes. I called my girlfriend over to the porch and she witnessed the light as well and suggested that it may be a planet or satellite, but this was not possible as there was cloud cover in the sky behind the object.
Full Report Text:
Orange/Reddish objects traveling at constant slow speed with no sound. At 19:45 on 02/13/13 I noticed an Orange/Reddish object approaching from the west. Then another and another.
About 30 in all. Traveling at a constant slow speed in random patterns. The glow of the objects never really changed as they approached, passed over, and departed.
They appeared below the ceiling but hard to determine actual altitude. There was absolutely no sound as they passed. I have some good pictures and 2 short videos taken with my iPhone.
I zoomed in on 2 different objects and received some interesting shots, but I can not be sure my camera was in focus while on zoom. I am sure others saw the same. Let me know if I can help.
Thanks.
Full Report Text:
2 orange orbs traveling east to west under low cloud cover. app. dime size at arm length.
no sound.
Gastonia, North Carolina UFO Sightings By Shape
This is a standardized set of shapes a UFO report can be filed under.
Shape / Appearance | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
Light | 8 reported sightings | 20.00% of all reports |
Sphere | 7 reported sightings | 17.50% of all reports |
Fireball | 7 reported sightings | 17.50% of all reports |
Rectangle | 4 reported sightings | 10.00% of all reports |
Circle | 3 reported sightings | 7.50% of all reports |
Triangle | 2 reported sightings | 5.00% of all reports |
Unknown | 2 reported sightings | 5.00% of all reports |
Oval | 2 reported sightings | 5.00% of all reports |
Cone | 1 reported sightings | 2.50% of all reports |
Formation | 1 reported sightings | 2.50% of all reports |
Flash | 1 reported sightings | 2.50% of all reports |
Other | 1 reported sightings | 2.50% of all reports |
Diamond | 1 reported sightings | 2.50% of all reports |
Gastonia, North Carolina UFO Sightings By Month
This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the month the sighting occured in.
Month | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
September | 7 reported sightings | 17.50% of all reports |
July | 5 reported sightings | 12.50% of all reports |
November | 4 reported sightings | 10.00% of all reports |
June | 4 reported sightings | 10.00% of all reports |
February | 3 reported sightings | 7.50% of all reports |
December | 3 reported sightings | 7.50% of all reports |
April | 3 reported sightings | 7.50% of all reports |
August | 3 reported sightings | 7.50% of all reports |
March | 3 reported sightings | 7.50% of all reports |
October | 2 reported sightings | 5.00% of all reports |
January | 2 reported sightings | 5.00% of all reports |
May | 1 reported sightings | 2.50% of all reports |
Gastonia, North Carolina UFO Sightings 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 | 11 reported sightings | 27.50% of all reports |
Wednesday | 8 reported sightings | 20.00% of all reports |
Monday | 6 reported sightings | 15.00% of all reports |
Saturday | 4 reported sightings | 10.00% of all reports |
Thursday | 4 reported sightings | 10.00% of all reports |
Friday | 4 reported sightings | 10.00% of all reports |
Tuesday | 3 reported sightings | 7.50% of all reports |
Gastonia, North Carolina UFO Sightings 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 |
---|---|---|
09/03/14 | 2 reported sightings | 5.00% of all reports |
07/04/10 | 1 reported sightings | 2.50% of all reports |
04/15/13 | 1 reported sightings | 2.50% of all reports |
04/01/93 | 1 reported sightings | 2.50% of all reports |
09/05/20 | 1 reported sightings | 2.50% of all reports |
Gastonia, North Carolina UFO Sightings 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 | 18 reported sightings | 45.00% of all reports |
Evening | 16:00 - 19:59 | 10 reported sightings | 25.00% of all reports |
Early morning | 04:00 - 07:59 | 6 reported sightings | 15.00% of all reports |
Late night | 00:00 - 03:59 | 4 reported sightings | 10.00% of all reports |
Morning | 08:00 - 11:59 | 1 reported sightings | 2.50% of all reports |
Afternoon | 12:00 - 15:59 | 1 reported sightings | 2.50% of all reports |
Years with Reported UFO Sightings in Gastonia, North Carolina
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports are filed per year in Gastonia, North Carolina.
All North Carolina Cities with UFO Sightings
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports are filed per city in North Carolina