NUFORC UFO Sighting 184095
Occurred: 2024-11-13 21:30 Local
Reported: 2024-11-13 23:52 Pacific
Duration: One minute
No of observers: 1

Location: Aptos, CA, USA

Shape: Orb
Color: Bright Red
Estimated Size: Not sure. Possibly 150 feet diameter
Viewed From: Land
Direction from Viewer: Southeast
Angle of Elevation: 30
Closest Distance: Half mile
Explanation: Flares - Possible
Characteristics: Changed Colo

A brilliant red light hovering over the ocean, expands and retracts a couple times

It was around 9:30 pm. I was parked on a cliff overlooking the ocean in Aptos, CA, catching up on the UAP hearings on my iPad from earlier that day (I realize this might make me sound less credible or biased) when, suddenly, a brilliant red light caught my eye to the southeast, above the water, about half a mile away and at an elevation of roughly 500-750 feet. My first thought was that it was much brighter than any plane I've seen—maybe four times the size and brightness. The only explanations I could come up with were that it might be a flare or a helicopter with an unusual spotlight. The brilliant, orb-like red light hovered at the same intensity for about 15 seconds, then slowly shrank to a small speck, almost disappearing, though I thought I could still make out a faint trace of it.

I thought, 'Well, that was bizarre,' and then the light expanded again, even larger than before. I went to reach for my phone, trying my best not to take my eyes off it, as I've heard these things have a habit of disappearing when you reach for a camera. But as I fumbled for my phone in the dark and looked back up, it was no longer an orb—it had transformed into a giant cone, almost like a spotlight, but the edges of the light were too sharply defined. By this time, I was stepping out of my truck. The light was slowly retracting again, and this time I could make out the faint speck of light that remained. I traced the small light for a another minute but nothing happened.

There were around six other vehicles there, and a couple stood outside their front door, looking in the same direction I was. I should have asked them if they saw what I did. Several cars left shortly after. I suppose it could have been a flare shot from a boat, though I didn’t think to look for boats at the time. The intensity of the light was comparable to a comet or a flare—extremely bright but also a solid crimson red. When it retracted to a spec of light it was slightly yellow. If it were a flare, I’d imagine it would have stayed illuminated longer and arched slowly. It definitely wasn’t a comet, which leaves a small Cessna-like plane or helicopter, neither of which seem likely to me.


Posted 2024-11-17

NUFORC UFO Sighting 144799
Occurred: 2019-02-05 22:10 Local
Reported: 2019-02-06 16:43 Pacific
Duration: 3-5 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Aptos, CA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted other objects, Aircraft nearby

Fast light in the sky slowed, dimmed, and disappeared as an aircraft approched.

MY wife (a skeptic) and I were walking the dog a little after 10pm and I was looking up at the stars, as I always do, and I saw a small light in the sky. I called out the UFO, pointing at it, to my wife. I always do this with what is obviously planes which amuses her, and I actually did think this was a plane at first. As usual, I asked her if she saw any blinking (planes have blinking lights), and she watched it ready to tell me she sees it blinking. This took longer than usual and we both stopped walking. She said “there, it blinked. Wait, no it just got dimmer… I don’t like the way it’s moving.”. This was as the light started moving faster, faster, in my opinion, then most planes move across the sky. In all this time there was no blinking lights, though the light did get brighter and dimmer. I noticed some barely seen substance, or objects, falling from the light as it was moving, It almost looked like dust, but faintly glowing just as it dropped and then stopped glowing. I told my wife that I thought that was a real one. And I flashed my flash light at it, not that I thought my light would even reach that far, but immediately after I flashed my light at it, the UFO blinked and then started to fade out as it seemed to rise in the sky. Looking to the right, I saw that an actual airplane was flying in the general direction the light seemed to be. As the plane got closer the light faded completely and did not reappear. My wife still doesn’t want to admit it was an actual UFO, but she has no explanation for this one. - It's not an option below, but I'd prefer to be emailed than called.



NUFORC Note:

We assume the date of the sighting was February 05th, and have amended the original date. We will confirm the date with the witness, and repost the report. PD


Posted 2019-02-07

NUFORC UFO Sighting 137964
Occurred: 2017-12-22 17:36 Local
Reported: 2017-12-22 17:46 Pacific
Duration: 17:39
No of observers: 4

Location: Aptos, CA, USA

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Left a trail, Emitted beams, Changed Colo

Lights in the sky

Saw very strange lights in sky. Like a burst and the craft hovered there and then went off toward Monterey.



Posted 2018-01-12

NUFORC UFO Sighting 125083
Occurred: 2016-01-01 20:00 Local
Reported: 2016-01-03 01:22 Pacific
Duration: 2 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Aptos, CA, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object

Driving northbound on highway 1 coming through Aptos. Noticed three bright orange/yellow lights in the sky. They formed the shape of a triangle.

They all seemed to be moving simultaneously suggesting to that they were all attached to the same object.

Then one by one the lights went out.

Posted 2016-01-05

NUFORC UFO Sighting 120622
Occurred: 2015-07-23 23:15 Local
Reported: 2015-07-24 16:03 Pacific
Duration: ~2 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Aptos, CA, USA

Shape: Sphere
Characteristics: Lights on object

Two bright orange spheres headed w/sw were sighted in Aptos, California, at 11:15 on July 23, 2015.

Two bright orange lights appeared in the eastern sky, about 5 degrees apart. They were headed in a west/southwesterly direction about twice as fast as the other visible airplanes at the time. When viewed through the binoculars (7X35) they looked like spheres lit from within and the light source appeared to be at the relative top of the sphere to me.

My friend who also looked through the binoculars saw the light at the bottom of the sphere. We watched them long enough to call to our friend sleeping upstairs, have him get out of bed, come to the balcony, view the objects with us for maybe 45 seconds more before they began to dim. One sphere appeared to stop and then head 90 degrees from its first trajectory. A few seconds later they both faded to nothing.




NUFORC Note:

We spoke at length via telephone with the witness, and she sounded to us to be quite eloquent and sober-minded. We suspect that she is a very good witness. PD


Posted 2015-07-31

NUFORC UFO Sighting 113858
Occurred: 2014-09-23 03:40 Local
Reported: 2014-09-24 13:45 Pacific
Duration: 1 hour
No of observers: 1

Location: Aptos, CA, USA

Shape: Light


Flashing star, moves in small increments all directions varying speeds. Ascends 45 degree angle in 1 hr. Stops flashing static.

Flashing star like object scene from upstairs bedroom window. In the sky. Moved in sporadic up down, side to side and diagonal directions. Speed would vary. I spotted it rising in sky over eucalyptus trees near Cabrillo College. I suspect it was in the Watsonville area, but don't know. The flashing star continued to rise in a 45 degree angle ( to the right ) for an hour. Stopping at times, but always with tiny ricochet movements that seemed random. At times fast and at times slow. Around 5:00 AM it completely stopped moving and flashing and stayed put. There were two tiny stars on each side that appeared dim. Husband woke up and saw the static bright star with two tiny dim stars. By that time there was no ricochet movement. I fell asleep.

Posted 2014-09-25

NUFORC UFO Sighting 103011
Occurred: 2013-10-05 21:30 Local
Reported: 2013-10-06 18:12 Pacific
Duration: one hour
No of observers: 2

Location: Aptos, CA, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted beams, Changed Colo

Disc shaped object with multi-colored light array on bottom observed in Santa Cruz County, CA.

My wife first saw the object from the upstairs deck of our home. It appeared to the northeast of our position in the Aptos hills of Santa Cruz County and we would estimate it was perhaps 3 to 7 miles away at approximately 30 degrees over the hill beyond our home. It appeared to be positioned in the area over the San Andreas Fault. When viewed through binoculars it was producing a changing multi-colored light array on what appeared to be the bottom of the object. My wife could make out a dome or disc shape above the light array. I thought I could also. The array stayed essentially horizontal most of the time. At one point my wife said a ray of light come out of the object.

The object appeared to rock slightly from side to side and at one time seemed to be completely sideways with the light array going into a vertical position.

The evening was dark except for the stars and some ambient light from San Jose, Watsonville and Monterey. No moon was in evidence. During the hour that we checked in on the object it remained in the same approximate position except for its slight wavering.

The stars continued their upward movement during that time. In particular I noted the Pleiades rising about 20 degrees to the right of the object while it remained essentially in the same location. If the cloud cover doesn’t interfere, we will be checking again tonight to see if it returns.




NUFORC Note:

We suspect a sighting of Capella, but the witness insists it was not Capella. We have invited the witnesses to check the sky again. PD


Posted 2013-10-14

NUFORC UFO Sighting 92981
Occurred: 2012-09-12 16:30 Local
Reported: 2012-09-22 13:09 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Aptos, CA, USA

Shape: Changing
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Emitted beams, Changed Colo

Pulsating star changes to cylinder, portal shape, late afternoon, Aptos, CA

Appearance: I initially saw in the sky, what appeared to be a bright star.

Within seconds it began pulsating and seemed to send an energy wave at me. My dog was going crazy and my internal alarm went off and said RUN! I quickly ran inside to get my camera, came back outside and saw it change into a cylindrical shape - top and bottom, bright white and slightly larger than the middle, which was a more transparent white.



Posted 2012-09-24

NUFORC UFO Sighting 91966
Occurred: 2012-08-18 02:05 Local
Reported: 2012-08-19 14:49 Pacific
Duration: 40 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Aptos, CA, USA

Shape: Sphere
Characteristics: Lights on object

12 objects observed on Monterey Ca coast

Husbands report of sighting on 8/18/2012 at Aptos, CA near the Monterey Bay My wife woke me about 2:15 A.M. and said to hurry out to the back deck to look at something strange in the sky. I immediately went out on the deck and looked to the Southwest toward the Ocean. (Later verified as 266 degrees SW) There I saw 12 orange lights in a pattern 3 across at the top, then the next 4 was to the right, then 4 down in a straight line. There could have been another below the tree line. They were stationary, but while I was watching the pattern shifted a couple of times, but was still stationary. It was very quiet and we did not hear any engine noise. They all started to slowly move away towards the NE and went behind a tall Redwood tree in my neighbor’s yard. I then went to the door on the N end of the house and could see them moving away to NE and they disappeared about 2:40 A.M. My wife said she had looked out about 2:05 A.M. so they were in view for about 35 minutes.

Each of the objects looked to be about one half the size of the moon in the early morning sky. I would guess the size was equivalent to 8 morning stars. The shape was spherical. We live on the Rio Del Mar side of Aptos about 800 yards from the Ocean and I estimate the objects were about another 800 yard over the Ocean, or approximately a mile from the house. The elevation here is 82 feet.



Wife’s report of sighting on 8/18/2012 at Aptos, CA near the Monterey Bay: At approximately 2:05 A. M. on Saturday morning August 18/2012, I looked outside and saw several bright orange lights just above the tree tops out over the Ocean. They were almost due West. When I walked outside some more rose over the tree tops. I saw 12 in all. They moved around some, but at first they were in a pattern.

I ran in and woke my husband and we watched for a total of about 40 minutes and they started to move away slowly and disappeared to the Northeast.

Posted 2012-08-19

NUFORC UFO Sighting 22918
Occurred: 2002-05-18 21:30 Local
Reported: 2002-05-19 17:21 Pacific
Duration: 5 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Aptos, CA, USA

Shape: Formation
Characteristics: Lights on object

7 unidentified aircraft speeding across the night sky and leaving no trace (vapor-trail, sonic boom)

I was standing in the driveway of our house in Aptos. I looked up to the sky to see if the clouds were forming or if an on-shore flow would produce fog for the night. I noted the weather was clear and the moon was one-quarter full and at a 30 degree arc from straight up. It was during my weather evaluation that the UFO or UFOs came into view. Their movement was rapid, and were only in sight for about 5 seconds. They moved across the sky at an 85 degree arc in less than 5 seconds. There were at least 7 lighted objects, blue in front and mostly red in back, but they did not have a tail like a shooting star. They came side-by-side and their formation was straight. They flew past me and then ascended rapidly upwards to the point where I could no longer see them. I realized these were not military aircraft of any kind, and this discovery was quite startling to me. I was listening for a sonic boom as they passed, but it did not happen so I went inside the house and called 911 who stated to call the UFO Center.

Posted 2002-06-12

NUFORC UFO Sighting 15054
Occurred: 2000-11-24 23:00 Local
Reported: 2000-11-25 00:00 Pacific
Duration: a few seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Aptos, CA, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object, Left a trail

Green fireball falling to the ground

A green fireball appeared quickly, looked like it was falling from the sky, lasted only seconds. I've never seen anything like it before.

Posted 2000-12-02