Table of Contents
South Carolina UFO Sightings Analysis
We analyzed all 2,240 UFO sighting reports in South Carolina to identify possible patterns and gain insight into the phenomenon:
- The most commonly reported UFO shape or appearance is "light" (492 reports, 21.96% of total).
- October is the month with the most reported UFO sightings (266 reports, 11.88% of total).
- Wednesday is the weekday with the most reported UFO sightings (413 reports, 18.44% of total).
- 06/23/14 is the single date with the most UFO sightings reported (12 reports, 0.54% of total).
- 2014 is the year with the most UFO sightings reported (260 reports, 11.61% of total).
- Sightings occur more often during the night, between the hours of 20:00 - 23:59 (1,305 reports, 58.26% of total).
20 Most Recent UFO Sightings in South Carolina
These South 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:
Object was translucent, traveling northwest, much faster than familiar aircraft, and large. On 3 April 2024 at 9PM, my wife and adult son were hanging out in the backyard. I was looking at the sky.
My wife and son were not looking at the sky at the time. I saw an object. It was extremely difficult to see.
It appeared translucent and its colors matched the sorrounding sky. It was difficult to identify any specific shape due to parts of the object fading in and out of the background. It distorted the sky, but I could see it.
Most of the time, which was only 4-6 seconds, it was boomerang shaped. It was traveling faster, maybe two times faster, than any aircraft I’ve seen. It was traveling mostly north and slightly west.
It appeared at a higher altitude than the many military fighters that pass over us. It was much lower than the commercial aircraft landing at Savannah Hilton Head Airport who pass over us. I immediately pointed and called out that there’s a UFO.
My wife turned and searched the direction I was pointing. The object was extremely difficult to see. It kept blending within its surroundings.
I called out that its invisible and corrected myself later that I should have said it was translucent. Neither my wife or son saw it. It made no sound.
My wife and I satellite hunt at times. I mention this because she is often fast at spotting any movement in the night sky. I wish to emphasize why I called out immediately.
I knew there was a chance she would see it. I knew she would reflexively turn and search. And I knew immediately I was seeing a UFO.
I thought it could be ours with a type of cloaking. I couldn’t explain there being no sound especially that low moving that fast. The only additional information I can offer is our location to give an easy perception.
If you were to follow the coast of Georgia north into South Carolina and slightly leaned left/west continuing north toward North Carolina, that would be the direction of the object.
Full Report Text:
Broad daylight. No noise. Looked white metallic Came straight over ocean to seaside homes where I was leaving beach.
Stopped and descended at a quick right angle then vanished.
Full Report Text:
Object moving slowing across the sky, suddenly turning, increasing speed and fading. The object moved slowly across the sky in a NE direction. After 15-20 seconds, it abruptly turned South and its speed increased.
Ot took about 10 seconds for the light to slowly fade.
Full Report Text:
Orb of fire flew/floated silently over and past me to meet up with a second I was getting home from the grocery store after work. I was about to pull in to my drive way. Looking left (south) I saw an orange ball of light.
It was low, maybe 100 to 200 feet above the trees. Maybe 150 yards away. Thinking it was odd I slowed to a stop to give it a good look.
My window was down and I heard nothing. I opened the vehicle door, pulled out my mobile phone and began recording. It looked like a tumbling ember from a camp fire moving through the air with the forward moving direction side having multiple short “arms” reaching out randomly.
Or maybe like a fire turned on its side with most of the flames being horizontal. It was following the direction of the power lines moving roughly south to north. Passing almost directly over me it then passed behind some trees and was out of view for a few seconds.
Next I saw the orb I noticed a second orb and the first was moving toward the other similar orb. Seeing a second one made me immediately think military because I usually see aircraft in pairs. Mind racing, I went from a million miles an hour in my brain to disappointment.
I stopped recording. Still watching the orbs I realized that the second orb as stationary and seemed to be waiting for the other. I was now thinking I was mistaken about my assessment.
The first orb then stopped and both were just sitting there silent About 3 seconds later the first orb disappeared in a blink of an eye by shrinking down to nothing. I ran to my front door unlocking it quickly knowing I had my night vision device just inside the door. By the time I made it back out the other orb as gone as well.
Full Report Text:
Unmoving blinking light. I observed a blinking light (very much like aircraft) in the same spot in the sky for about 30 mins until I had to go to work. It never stopped blinking and it never moved.
The light would only flash about every 1 minute and 10 seconds to 1 minute and 15 seconds. I'm not sure of exact space between blinks as I was counting on my own. The light never moved from the same location which was approx.
at M4 (according to Google Skymaps). The light seems to be coming from an altitude of satellites or further. Reason for report is that the object stays in the same location.
I've never seen that before.
Full Report Text:
White object in the sky over Myrtle Beach I was doing yardwork when I noticed in a corner of my eye on the sunny beautiful day out here there’s a white object floating in the sky about 60,000 feet I started videotaping the object it changed shapes on me. It barely moved. It went from looking like a jellyfish to look like a TicTac and it kept changing shapes I went on Facebook to see if there was anything on it and of course the news media was on there asking the public if they knew what it was or have they seen anything I reported my video to the local news and they claimed it was a weather balloon from Albuquerque New Mexico, but this balloon kept changing shapes, so I don’t believe it was a weather balloon.
Full Report Text:
What I thought was a crescent moon; ended up recording something else! Well I sometimes will record video of the sky mostly at night and I thought i was witnessing a really bright crescent moon but it was some kind of large craft and looked like something was open and it was letting smaller crafts out and it even looked like some things were going in the craft and then like out of a sci-fi movie the hatch or what not closes and then you can see the craft fly off into the distant space. A couple of key facts is unbelievably when i went to view it outside most of it could not be seen clearly with the naked eye but was visible due to the night vision on the camera. ALSO I would like to add that i have been a witness to multiple sightings of the only way I can describe them is In certain areas and in certain images I see these mostly metallic looking spheres shiny and smooth surface and of different sizes but mostly about anywhere from a couple foot in diameter to about several feet and the colors usually depend on environment possibly because of a reflective surface.
Full Report Text:
Just observed in sky over ocean Sighted this object and trail in sky 5:10 pm coming south to north along beach.
Full Report Text:
2 UAP traveling about 150-200mph being followed by a single jet. No propellers or turbines on the UAP were seen These 2 UAP resembled jellyfish like UAP. They had many angles and did not have a singular shape.
Very complex looking design. My first thought was a Lockheed E-2D plane. But I seen no turbines, propellers, or tail of a plane for that matter.
Maybe 1000-2000 feet in the air at most. Traveling slowly but steadily at 150-200 mph. President was recently in town.
Unknown if military drills are running today. ABS exchange flight radar did not show the 2 UAP or the jet following them.
Full Report Text:
Stationery ufo object was viewed from the outside of home. Round-shaped sphere in nature, but was made of spindles that extended out in sections. Red and white lights appearing as dots flashed.
The object remained stationary. I took videos from outside with my iPhone, When viewing visually from the outside, I saw the intricate details of the object. The quality of the iPhone videos taken do not pick up these details.
Over the last summer, in this exact same siting area, I visually saw a stationary v-formation of five ufos….
Full Report Text:
Observed amber lights dancing in the sky with a green drone, creating a mesmerizing cosmic scene for 5 minutes. Witnessed a mesmerizing celestial display tonight as unidentified objects adorned the sky. Initially, a singular amber-orange light gracefully danced, casting an ethereal glow.
Its transient presence was followed by the emergence of two more enigmatic entities, creating an awe-inspiring cosmic ballet. Amidst this celestial spectacle, a green drone or helicopter traversed the firmament, momentarily converging with one of the luminous amber orbs, creating a momentary illusion of celestial convergence. This captivating cosmic performance unfolded across various sections of the night sky, enchanting the observer for a duration of approximately 5 minutes.
In the middle of writing this i was able to get it on video not the best camera but it should help. The time was around 7:25pm till now, 7:48 PM. It's still on.
Full Report Text:
4-5 orange solid lights arranged in a triangle shape 4-5 solid orange lights in a triangle shaped pattern observed during a training flight by PIC. The lights appeared to be situated on one airborne craft. The lights observed were not consistent with standard aircraft lighting, space dwelling objects (such as stars and systems), or normal weather phenomena.
Observation aircraft altitude 2,500ft; observed unidentified object/aircraft altitude unknown, estimated to be between 4,000-5,000ft. Unidentified object/aircraft was approximately 3-4 NM offshore, and was only observed briefly before vanishing. No movement of the object was observed.
No ADSB data received from the object. Sky was clear with no clouds or visible moisture present. Object was observed by airplane CFI during a training flight.
The student on board was wearing a vision limiting device preventing them from seeing outside as a training measure. As a result, the student did not witness the unidentified object.
Full Report Text:
Light was observed, likely stationary then it just extinguished and disappeared I was a passenger with my wife traveling by car to see "The Christmas House" in Inman, SC on Dec 14. I am a retired 29 year Navy vet with heavy aviation background. It was just before official twilight time.
As we were heading North on Compton Bridge Rd I noticed off to my right at about 030, my 1330 o'clock relative position, a single light in the sky and roughly 15 degrees above the horizon. Being a licensed pilot and having spent much time flying and in and around airplanes and airports I thought it was just a aircraft landing light and likely heading to either GSP or GMU airports near Greenville, SC. I didn't give it much thought but glanced at it every 20-30 seconds expecting it to likely cross my path overhead.
It didn't seem to be changing position or getting any closer after a few minutes so I started to think that it might be further away than I had thought it to be and coming straight at me. I started to watch it for longer periods of time to try and determine a relative motion. I also noticed that the "landing" light appeared to be larger than a normal general aviation aircraft landing light would look like at night from 10-15 miles out.
I looked away for a couple of seconds to say something to my wife. As I returned to watching the "aircraft" the light went out within a few seconds after. No filament fade out, it just instantaneously vanished.
It was then that I noticed no strobe or position lighting remaining at all. This was a totally clear night. All aircraft have to have their lights on especially at night and no pilot would ever purposefully turn off all of their lights in the air! I must have uttered a comment to my self.
The wife asked me what's wrong and I said that the "aircraft" I was just watching vanished. Even though there was a small amount of background twilight left I could not discern any solid shape where the light had been. I kept looking but no movement, shape or lights ever reappeared.
I'll have to chalk this one up as my second UFO observation, my first being around 1975 with 3 of my friends. That one made the local newspaper. We were interviewed about it.
Full Report Text:
Object flying in many directions I was driving south on highway 17 south toward Litchfield Beach, SC. In front of me in the clear blue sky was what appeared to be something flying in all directions. Up, down, left, right.
As it would turn and flip and flash of light would be seen.
Full Report Text:
This craft was soundless, seemed to float extremely quickly across sky as if it was water We often enjoy star gazing from our hot tub at night and because my husband works in aviation we like to guess where airplanes are heading and then check them on a radar to see who is closest. This craft was disk or space shaped and was traveling south at a high rate of speed. It was soundless and moved more like it was in water than the sky.
It was made of lights but they were not blinking or alternating and were nothing like airplane lights. I would say that it was more or less glowing as it slid across the sky. I first thought it was a shooting star but once my eyes adjusted I realized it was just a fast and unrecognizable craft sliding across the sky.
Although it was quick, I had enough time to point it out to my husband and he saw it too and agreed with me that it was a UFO. It’s such a cool, exciting, and eerie feeling!.
Full Report Text:
Fleet of blue orbs in front of passenger plane A fleet of 20 blue orbs in a zig zag pattern going east, in front of plane UAL2049.this is the third time it has happened in 2023 each time in different spots in the sky and at different heights.
Full Report Text:
Woke up on the couch in my living room, to seeing changing colors of light coming from above the house. I woke up on the couch in my living room, to seeing changing colors of lights coming from above the house from outside my window. I remember looking at my phone and it said it was 4:54 am but I don’t remember anything after.
I then woke up again in a panic, around 6:20 am, not remembering until later in the day what I had seen.
Full Report Text:
Happened to see them, 3 white lights, 1 red I was outside with my children and saw four lights in the sky. The objects appeared to be silver and three had white lights and 1 red. They moved about freely and moderately in speed.
Two almost touched.
Full Report Text:
Desending. I was walking my kids to the school bus stop for houses down we saw it descending it had red yellow and green lights flashing. This is not the first time I’ve seen it it’s usually higher up in the sky this time it came down close.
It’s always out at 6:20 AM. We ran back to the house and it disappeared.
Full Report Text:
A starlike object with a gas-cloud camouflaging. Moves in several directions. More than one.
No sound. A flicker of light with a gas like cloud moves from my sight as another gas cloud movement behind it. I had to prove to my mother that I was not on drugs with a visit to my doctor.
I have a picture but you can’t really see it like you can in real time. It slows down as if it knows I see it, then takes off to its destination. Quick shooting beams emit from the star like light.
Almost as if it was a headlight or a beam of light shooting to another starlike light but doesn’t stay on like a head light. Just a shooting beam of light, it’s how I was attracted to pay closer attention. I have one daytime photo of two metal objects peaking out of clouds as it was a rainy day during that time during photo.
I don’t know exactly how to explain what I seen so I hope that this makes sense to someone reading this.
South 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 | 492 reported sightings | 21.96% of all reports |
Circle | 276 reported sightings | 12.32% of all reports |
Triangle | 196 reported sightings | 8.75% of all reports |
Sphere | 175 reported sightings | 7.81% of all reports |
Unknown | 160 reported sightings | 7.14% of all reports |
Fireball | 157 reported sightings | 7.01% of all reports |
Other | 127 reported sightings | 5.67% of all reports |
Disk | 98 reported sightings | 4.38% of all reports |
Formation | 80 reported sightings | 3.57% of all reports |
Oval | 75 reported sightings | 3.35% of all reports |
Changing | 66 reported sightings | 2.95% of all reports |
Cigar | 50 reported sightings | 2.23% of all reports |
Flash | 46 reported sightings | 2.05% of all reports |
Cylinder | 36 reported sightings | 1.61% of all reports |
Rectangle | 33 reported sightings | 1.47% of all reports |
Diamond | 29 reported sightings | 1.29% of all reports |
Chevron | 21 reported sightings | 0.94% of all reports |
Orb | 18 reported sightings | 0.80% of all reports |
Teardrop | 16 reported sightings | 0.71% of all reports |
Egg | 10 reported sightings | 0.45% of all reports |
Cone | 7 reported sightings | 0.31% of all reports |
Cross | 6 reported sightings | 0.27% of all reports |
South 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 |
---|---|---|
October | 266 reported sightings | 11.88% of all reports |
June | 260 reported sightings | 11.61% of all reports |
July | 246 reported sightings | 10.98% of all reports |
September | 211 reported sightings | 9.42% of all reports |
August | 190 reported sightings | 8.48% of all reports |
January | 180 reported sightings | 8.04% of all reports |
December | 179 reported sightings | 7.99% of all reports |
November | 164 reported sightings | 7.32% of all reports |
May | 162 reported sightings | 7.23% of all reports |
April | 139 reported sightings | 6.21% of all reports |
February | 117 reported sightings | 5.22% of all reports |
March | 103 reported sightings | 4.60% of all reports |
South 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 |
---|---|---|
Wednesday | 413 reported sightings | 18.44% of all reports |
Thursday | 395 reported sightings | 17.63% of all reports |
Tuesday | 343 reported sightings | 15.31% of all reports |
Saturday | 301 reported sightings | 13.44% of all reports |
Monday | 276 reported sightings | 12.32% of all reports |
Friday | 257 reported sightings | 11.47% of all reports |
Sunday | 232 reported sightings | 10.36% of all reports |
South 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 |
---|---|---|
06/23/14 | 12 reported sightings | 0.54% of all reports |
10/24/12 | 11 reported sightings | 0.49% of all reports |
06/26/14 | 11 reported sightings | 0.49% of all reports |
10/22/14 | 10 reported sightings | 0.45% of all reports |
10/08/14 | 9 reported sightings | 0.40% of all reports |
South 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 | 1,305 reported sightings | 58.26% of all reports |
Evening | 16:00 - 19:59 | 320 reported sightings | 14.29% of all reports |
Late night | 00:00 - 03:59 | 242 reported sightings | 10.80% of all reports |
Early morning | 04:00 - 07:59 | 142 reported sightings | 6.34% of all reports |
Morning | 08:00 - 11:59 | 108 reported sightings | 4.82% of all reports |
Afternoon | 12:00 - 15:59 | 100 reported sightings | 4.46% of all reports |
Years with Reported UFO Sightings in South Carolina
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports are filed per year in South Carolina.
Cities with Reported UFO Sightings in South Carolina
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports are filed per city in South Carolina