Table of Contents
Analysis of Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 2001
We analyzed all 3 UFO sighting reports in Richardson, Texas to identify possible patterns and gain insight into the phenomenon:
- The most commonly reported UFO shape or appearance was "light" (1 reports, 33.33% of total).
- December was the month with the most reported UFO sightings (2 reports, 66.67% of total).
- Saturday was the weekday with the most reported UFO sightings (1 reports, 33.33% of total).
- 11/05/01 was the single date with the most UFO sightings reported (1 reports, 33.33% of total).
- Sightings occured more often during the night, between the hours of 20:00 - 23:59 (3 reports, 100.00% of total).
UFO Reports in Richardson, Texas from 2001
These Richardson, Texas UFO reports from 2001 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:
Triangular shape ship with red light on bottom moving a circular motion. Went very slowly. Slow moving shop going NW.
Zig zag direction then due NW. Red lights underneath the craft. Ship was in a blunt shaped triangle.
There were red lights going in a circular motion. It was silent.
Full Report Text:
This encounter consisted of a brief sighting of several fireballs and related streaks seemingly flying in formation. On the evening of December 1, 2001, my mother (54) and I (35) were walking our dogs when we observed an unusual aerial phenomenon. With the exception of some high, thin clouds, the sky was clear; major constellations, such as Orion, were plainly visible.
As we were walking north on Yale Road in Richardson, Texas, between its intersections with Blake and Linda Lanes, we observed a formation of two large fireballs in the sky to the north, perhaps twenty-five to thirty degrees above the horizon, apparently accompanied by several smaller streaks of light. They moved across the sky from west to east, at a speed similar to that of an airplane; I got the impression that they were quite distant. One of the two larger fireballs was slightly higher than and ahead of the other; the smaller streaks, which were very faint, lay between and behind the two.
Another thin streak seemed to lead the leading fireball a small distance. I got the impression that the fireball was attached to the thin streak leading it. No such phenomenon was observed for the lower, trailing fireball.
The entire formation was moving at a very slight angle to the ground, only a few degrees at best; it seemed almost parallel to the ground. We observed it only briefly before it passed behind some trees and was lost. The presence of nearby streetlamps also affected our ability to view it more clearly.
We heard no unusual sounds during the experience. During the sighting I noticed at least one aircraft pass nearby, so there may have been other sightings of this phenomenon as well. The large fireballs themselves each consisted of a large, luminous head trailed by thick contrails of smoke or vapor.
The were primarily white, but toward the end of the sighting seemed to sputter briefly red/orange, then green. The other, faint streaks may have been smaller fireballs. Let me stress that I am certain that these were not conventional aircraft.
We live relatively near both Dallas Love Field and the Dallas/Fort Worth airport (one of the busiest airports in the world), so we see planes constantly, and are familiar with their night-time appearance. Neither do I believe that they were alien interstellar craft. I thought at first that they were some sort of burning objects being towed by small aircraft, given the faint streak I saw preceding one of the fireballs.
However, I saw no running lights that would indicate the streak was an airplane. At the moment, I believe that the most likely explanation is that we saw a large meteor in the process of breaking up. The annual Leonids meteor shower occured just two weeks ago.
In this scenario, the fireballs were portions of the meteor that included low-density icy or organic materials (common to the Leonids, which are fragments of Comet Swift-Tuttle, if I'm not mistaken), while the faint streaks were smaller, rockier fragments. This would explain the impression that they were flying in formation. The sputtering and vapor trails would have been caused by outgassing as the objects burned up in the atmosphere.
However, this explanation fails to explain why it was moving so slowly, or why it passed across the sky at such a shallow angle. I do know a small asteroid has been observed to do this before bouncing out of the atmosphere (in 1974), and that there is theory that hundreds of mini-comets burn up in the Earth's atmosphere daily. Clearly, I prefer to consider this a natural phenomenon.
Other possibilities -- that this was indeed several planes towing burning objects (but why?) or we witnessed some sort of government experiment. The latter theory seems overused an unlikely. Why test something near a major population center.
I suppose it could also have been a satellite burning up in the asteroid, or even the space shuttle, except the next shuttle mission is on hold for the moment. No, I'm not an astronomer, though I am very interested in astronomy. I am a technical writer with degrees in history and anthropology, and I worked for more than five years as a professional archeologist.
((NUFORC Note: We suspect the witness is describing the re-entry event that occurred at approximately 2120 hrs. (Mountain) on Saturday, December 01, 2001. Please see following URL for details: .
Full Report Text:
there was a row of lights that was changing formation and seemed to be hovering on the right side of the moon. my friend called me from her house because she had seen a strange light to the right of the moon when she was in arlington. she wanted me to see what i thought so i went out side and and it was still there.
they were white and yellowish lights and kept changing formation. it look as if there were to or three of them and they would line up horizontaly and then verticaly. my friend had been watching them for over an hour when she finally called me and then we watched them together for about another 30 minutes.
last time i went outside they were still there. i couldn't really se much detaile with the necked eye so i got a pair of benoculars and still couldn't really made out there shape. i could just see the bright lights.
((NUFORC Note: Our guess would be a bright, and/or twinkling, star. PD)).
Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings From 2001 By Shape
This is a standardized set of shapes a UFO report can be filed under.
Shape / Appearance | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
Light | 1 reported sightings | 33.33% of all reports |
Triangle | 1 reported sightings | 33.33% of all reports |
Fireball | 1 reported sightings | 33.33% of all reports |
Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings From 2001 By Month
This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the month the sighting occured in.
Month | Sightings | % Of Total |
---|---|---|
December | 2 reported sightings | 66.67% of all reports |
November | 1 reported sightings | 33.33% of all reports |
Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings From 2001 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 | 1 reported sightings | 33.33% of all reports |
Monday | 1 reported sightings | 33.33% of all reports |
Friday | 1 reported sightings | 33.33% of all reports |
Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings From 2001 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 |
---|---|---|
11/05/01 | 1 reported sightings | 33.33% of all reports |
12/28/01 | 1 reported sightings | 33.33% of all reports |
12/01/01 | 1 reported sightings | 33.33% of all reports |
Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings From 2001 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 | 3 reported sightings | 100.00% of all reports |
Other Years with Reported UFO sightings in Richardson, Texas
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports are filed per year in Richardson, Texas.
Year | Number of Reports | View Reports |
---|---|---|
2023 | 3 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 2023 |
2021 | 3 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 2021 |
2019 | 1 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 2019 |
2016 | 1 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 2016 |
2012 | 1 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 2012 |
2011 | 2 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 2011 |
2010 | 1 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 2010 |
2005 | 1 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 2005 |
2004 | 1 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 2004 |
2003 | 2 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 2003 |
2002 | 5 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 2002 |
2001 | 3 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 2001 |
1995 | 1 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 1995 |
1980 | 1 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 1980 |
1978 | 1 UFO Reports | Richardson, Texas UFO Sightings in 1978 |
All Texas Cities with reported UFO sightings in 2001
These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports are filed per city in Texas in 2001. You can also view the state-level list of UFO sightings in Texas in 2001.