Table of Contents
New York UFO Sightings Analysis
We analyzed all 203 UFO sighting reports in New York from 2021 to identify possible patterns and gain insight into the phenomenon:
- The most commonly reported UFO shape or appearance is "light" (30 reports, 14.78% of total).
- May is the month with the most reported UFO sightings (26 reports, 12.81% of total).
- Saturday is the weekday with the most reported UFO sightings (41 reports, 20.20% of total).
- 12/04/21 is the single date with the most UFO sightings reported (5 reports, 2.46% of total).
- Sightings occur more often during the night, between the hours of 20:00 - 23:59 (62 reports, 30.54% of total).
New York UFO Sighting Reports in 2021
This is a sampling of 20 New York 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:
MADAR Node 165 .
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MADAR Node 163 .
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MADAR Node 164 .
Full Report Text:
A white light moving very erratically. I noticed a white light in the dark but clear sky. At first I thought it was a plane until I noticed the strange moving patterns.
It was moving in a straight line when it suddenly appeared to drop down lower in the sky very quickly. Then it suddenly and quickly rose up higher than where it started. It even moved backward very quickly at one point and then assumed it’s original direction.
These odd movements continued until it was out of my range of vision. I have never seen movement like this before. I am sorry I didn’t have my phone with me to record it.
I am a retired high school science teacher who never expected to see something I cannot explain. I was outside with my dog when I saw this object.
Full Report Text:
Object appeared shot towards the ground & took a sharp right turn before disappearing On Hoosick Street in Troy NY looking North East towards town of Brunswick NY over the tree line a bright circular object appeared instantly then shot rapidly towards the ground. Right before making the tree line of the woods/lake area object took a sharp hard right turn and then disappeared without leaving a trail or any visible trace of the object. Witness works in healthcare and was outside of building when looking over the tree line.
Full Report Text:
unknown floating object recorded by Ring Indoor Camera Reviewed RING indoor video security camera on 12/17/2021 at 0329 hours. Round moving object was picked up by camera. As can be seen on video, all blinds were closed at time of recording.
Object changed directions multiple times and can be seen rotating then disappeared. Image lasted at least five seconds.
Full Report Text:
“Fireball” of green light, vertically descending then rapidly leveling to fly horizontally and disappearing like a light switch snapped I am an Air Traffic Controller working the overnight shift at a local airport. The night is extremely slow like any other as we typically stay open in case of emergencies, weather diverts, delayed arrivals or cargo planes. I was sitting kicked back in my chair and looking at an array of screens and equipment in front of me that are spanned out horizontally across a low sitting desk so I have a good field of view of the sky.
Its a clear night, visibility is well beyond our farthest reportable value of 10 miles. The lowest level of the trace clouds in the sky are 20,000 feet above the ground level. There are very few stars visible, and not a single airplane or even a radar blip of a moving object anywhere within 60 miles of me.
These radars are accurate enough to often mistakenly pick up large birds momentarily, so there was surely nothing typical in our skies on this night. Counting the minutes until my shifts end, gazing blankly across my desk and into the dark night, is when I saw what I have no other explanation for than a UFO. Like nothing I have ever seen before, what appeared to be one object with two vibrant glowing green lights in a fixed orientation next to each other appeared several thousand feet in the sky in a rapid downward trajectory.
The object was definitely several miles away from my position based on my day to day observations looking out these same windows when there are dozens of airplanes in the area. But the size of the object being several miles away, appeared as large as an Airbus only a mile away, flying into the ground, lit up like a glowing green Christmas tree. The object had appeared at what looked like several thousand feet above the ground, and within seconds it has descended to barely above my horizon view and a ridge line in the distance when it appeared to “pull up” like a modern aircraft would, but being its size and speed and trajectory, no modern aircraft would be able to pull up to a horizontal flight path that abruptly.
Just as the object appeared to level, the lights vanished as instantly as any light would turn off from the flick of a switch. I have never seen anything like this, there have been no signs or even a flicker of light anywhere in that area or the surrounding sky in hours… I have been spooked, chilled and at an uncomfortable loss of words since.
Full Report Text:
I saw a green meteor like thing with a tail fall out of the sky. It was red/yellow (pale) in the center with a green flame tail. From its relative size and speed I knew it was something big and close (moving too slowly to be far away).
Way bigger than a plane (I was under a flight path). I asked someone if they saw that and they said no. I was surprised because with how close it seemed and the angle it was flying I would have expected it would have crashed and made a noise.
Full Report Text:
Saw unusual bright star? Satellite in sky Saw unusual bright light in sky. Watched it for 20 min and went back in house.45min later it was still there in same place.
Took pictures and continued to watch it. It remained stationary for at least another hour. Just before I went to bed, an hour after last stationary sighting it had moved counter clockwise from initial location remaining in Hurley sky.
Two weeks after sighting I remembered photos and downloaded them onto computer where I was able to enlarge them. I have not enhanced them other than enlarging and there is no photo shop. What you see is exactly what the camera captured.
I hope someone will be able to explain the face in lower left of picture.
Full Report Text:
I was recording some shooting stars and ended up catching a ufo do a 90 degree turn. I was driving home around 10:30pm EST with my roommate when I saw a shooting star. When we had pulled into the driveway I had seen about 4 shooting stars at that point.
We then continue to sit outside of our house and watch the sky for about 45 minutes. I then began recording in hopes of catching a shooting star on camera. I continued recording in hopes of making a 10 minute video.
Just after the ten minute mark I was about to shut off my camera when I saw a ball of light shoot across the top left of my cameras view. I was in disbelief so I ended the video and reviewed it.
Full Report Text:
At first I saw a blinking light that changed color hovering in place. When it didn't move for several minutes, I videotaped it with my I was out with my dog out back of the house when the object caught my notice. I live in a heavily wooded area off a county road, and it was pretty dark that night, even though there was a half moon.
I took the dog in and went out on the porch and videotaped the object. For most of the video, there's only one object, but towards the end, another one becomes visible nearby--it may or may not have been generated by the principle object. It blinked constantly, and changed color--white/red/white/red, but not always consistently, or so it seemed.
At first, I thought it might be an aircraft, but it made no noise, at least none I could hear from my vantage point. Eventually it moved off below the tree line and out of my line of sight, but it took a good long while for that to happen. When I got inside, I expanded the image and was surprised when it looked very much--I know this will sound funny, but I'm serious--a circular nipple with four lines set at regular intervals radiating from the edges, but stopping short of the center circle.
The image is grainy, but distinct enough to show at least that much detail. Since that night, I saw it briefly a few nights ago, but it was low on the horizon and disappeared below the treeline before I could take another video. I sent the video to a friend of mine who's an experience pilot, and he couldn't identify it.
At times it appears that the object changes direction very quickly and abruptly.
Full Report Text:
Just noticed unusual object near world trade center from my trip to new york 2 years ago Recently discovered a photo of world trade center and hadn't previously seen object near the building, curious as to what it it could be.
Full Report Text:
Stationary white trapezoidal object seen popping in and out of fast-moving clouds. Shortly after 12:30 in the afternoon, I had gotten out of my parked car and happened to glance to my left, when I caught sight of a pure white trapezoid-shaped object just above the top of an adjacent portion of the building that was oriented SE-NW to right off from Hoosick Rd. I was at the SE end.
The object appeared to be perfectly still within fast-moving low overcast flowing in from the south (left to right in the photo) that sometimes broke up enough for just a few seconds to enable it to be seen, thus popping in and out of view. It appeared to be slightly semitransparent and seemed two-dimensional. It was clearly trapezoid-shaped with straight edges and was about the size a medium-sized jet airplane might appear viewed from a about a mile away and a mile in altitude.
I believe the object was either within the upper portion of the cloud deck or at some height above it. Immediately when I saw it, I shifted my head about to make sure it wasn’t a spot or reflection on my glasses I was seeing. But then I was sure it was there when it popped in and out of view.
The sighting lasted about 10 seconds, and I waited another couple of minutes to see if it would appear again so I could snap a picture, but the overcast had thickened too much. The object was almost due west and about 15 or 20 degrees above the horizon. It was a slightly wide trapezoid; all straight edges with parallel top and bottom angled slightly down and right; the right edge at about a 90-degree angle to that, and the left edge angled downward to the left at about 135/45-degree angles.
Because it seemed two-dimensional, it was as if I was seeing it head on. My reaction to this event was that as soon I saw it, I was sure it was nothing conventional, as it was large enough and clear enough to be interpreted with no doubt. I’ve included a photo of the view from my vantage point, taken about an hour after I spotted the object.
It was almost exactly in the center of the image…just above the top of the building. I’ve also provided a drawing of the outline of the object as I saw it.
Full Report Text:
I long string of blinking lights. Impossible to tell if it was 100 feet up or 50,000 feet. Slowly moved in a straight line.
Blinking lights maybe 30 yards long. I am attaching a photo, but I also have a short video upon request.
Full Report Text:
AT APPROXIMATELY 6:30PM EST I OBSERVED A STRING OF LIGHTS MOVING THROUGH THE SKY. IT TRAVELED SLOWLY SOUTH TO NORTH. THERE WERE PLANES IN THE AREA BUT THIS WAS NOT A PLANE.
IT APPEARED THAT THERE WAS SOME MASS ATTACHED BUT COULD NOT DEFINITIVELY SAY A SHAPE. THE STRING OF LIGHTS DISSAPPEARED AFTER APPROXIMATELY 2 MINUTES OF TRAVEL THROUGH THE SKY. THERE WAS NO SOUND OF ANY KIND COMING FROM THIS LIGHT STRING.
THE LIGHT WAS NOT A CONSTISTANT STRAND. IT HAD SPACES BETWEEN THE LIGHTS AT DIFFERENT DISTANCES BETWEEN THEM.
Full Report Text:
Single row of 15 to 20 lights drifting across sky and ascending to fade away The object looked like it had a strand of lights trailing behind it. It moved in a direction of its length as it moved across the sky it slowly faded away until it was no longer visible.
Full Report Text:
We observed a line of bright lights in the sky. The sighting started as one light then one by one about 20 lights appeared in a line. The lights were moving at a fair rate of speed and travelled about halfway across the sky in about two minutes.
The lights then disappeared one by one.
Full Report Text:
MADAR Node 163 .
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MADAR Node 163 .
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MADAR Node 184 .
New York 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 |
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Light | 30 reported sightings | 14.78% of all reports |
Circle | 22 reported sightings | 10.84% of all reports |
Sphere | 11 reported sightings | 5.42% of all reports |
Fireball | 9 reported sightings | 4.43% of all reports |
Triangle | 9 reported sightings | 4.43% of all reports |
Other | 9 reported sightings | 4.43% of all reports |
Formation | 8 reported sightings | 3.94% of all reports |
Cigar | 7 reported sightings | 3.45% of all reports |
Rectangle | 7 reported sightings | 3.45% of all reports |
Disk | 7 reported sightings | 3.45% of all reports |
Oval | 6 reported sightings | 2.96% of all reports |
Unknown | 5 reported sightings | 2.46% of all reports |
Changing | 3 reported sightings | 1.48% of all reports |
Teardrop | 2 reported sightings | 0.99% of all reports |
Flash | 2 reported sightings | 0.99% of all reports |
Egg | 2 reported sightings | 0.99% of all reports |
Cylinder | 2 reported sightings | 0.99% of all reports |
Diamond | 2 reported sightings | 0.99% of all reports |
Cube | 1 reported sightings | 0.49% of all reports |
Orb | 1 reported sightings | 0.49% of all reports |
Cone | 1 reported sightings | 0.49% of all reports |
New York 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 |
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May | 26 reported sightings | 12.81% of all reports |
June | 24 reported sightings | 11.82% of all reports |
August | 23 reported sightings | 11.33% of all reports |
December | 19 reported sightings | 9.36% of all reports |
November | 19 reported sightings | 9.36% of all reports |
March | 18 reported sightings | 8.87% of all reports |
February | 17 reported sightings | 8.37% of all reports |
September | 16 reported sightings | 7.88% of all reports |
January | 13 reported sightings | 6.40% of all reports |
April | 12 reported sightings | 5.91% of all reports |
October | 10 reported sightings | 4.93% of all reports |
July | 6 reported sightings | 2.96% of all reports |
New York 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 |
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Saturday | 41 reported sightings | 20.20% of all reports |
Thursday | 34 reported sightings | 16.75% of all reports |
Monday | 29 reported sightings | 14.29% of all reports |
Sunday | 29 reported sightings | 14.29% of all reports |
Wednesday | 25 reported sightings | 12.32% of all reports |
Tuesday | 24 reported sightings | 11.82% of all reports |
Friday | 21 reported sightings | 10.34% of all reports |
New York 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 |
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12/04/21 | 5 reported sightings | 2.46% of all reports |
08/05/21 | 4 reported sightings | 1.97% of all reports |
11/01/21 | 4 reported sightings | 1.97% of all reports |
05/16/21 | 4 reported sightings | 1.97% of all reports |
02/04/21 | 3 reported sightings | 1.48% of all reports |
New York 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 |
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Night | 20:00 - 23:59 | 62 reported sightings | 30.54% of all reports |
Evening | 16:00 - 19:59 | 51 reported sightings | 25.12% of all reports |
Late night | 00:00 - 03:59 | 31 reported sightings | 15.27% of all reports |
Early morning | 04:00 - 07:59 | 21 reported sightings | 10.34% of all reports |
Afternoon | 12:00 - 15:59 | 20 reported sightings | 9.85% of all reports |
Morning | 08:00 - 11:59 | 18 reported sightings | 8.87% of all reports |
All New York Cities with reported UFO sightings in 2021
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports were filed per city in New York, in 2021
Other Years with Reported UFO Sightings in New York
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports are filed per year in New York.